Madison House Chef

Welcome to Madison House Chef

Welcome to Madison House Chef where favorite recipes blend with a handful of food photos and a sprinkling of memories centered on family, friends and food. MHC is the electronic recipe box and digital cookbook where I store recipes for those who are looking for them, including myself. It's not unusual for me to first search my own website to confirm an ingredient or a measurement for family favorites. Through cooking and sharing food our family celebrates special events, explores new cultures, research new and unusual ingredients, and chronicles cooking lessons that are passed from one generation to the next. Enjoy! ~

What’s for Supper Tonight?

• cedar planked Steelhead Trout
• edamame in natural shell liberally sprinkled with kosher salt
• fresh fruit (apples, pineapple)
• spinach salad
• …a few leftover lentils
• chocolate chip cookies from yesterday’s left over cookie dough after the brownie-cookie creation

Key Lime Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream Frosting

This key lime cupcake recipe makes not only remarkable, standard size cakes, but amazing mini- and micro- cupcakes for single or two bite desserts. Simply reduce the baking time, removing the cupcakes when they are just beginning to become golden and a testing toothpick comes out clean.

What is a micro-cupcake?

What’s for Supper Tonight?

• grilled portabella mushroom “burger”
• Ken/GDG: burgers and MELG: wiener sausage
• fresh pineapple
• brownies studded with chocolate chip cookies for dessert

Brownies studded with Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is it a brownie?

Is it a cookie?

A brookie or a brownkie?

Doesn’t matter what you call it – it’s a decedent rich, chocolate, fudgy treat.

 

Canning Green Beans

My sister in law, Susie, grew a beautiful garden this year and now has the harvested green beans. She sent me this photo showing off her new found talent for canning and pronouncing the production a minor success.

Honestly, she has homegrown, french cut beans canned in tightly sealed jars ready to be enjoyed when the snow flies…  I call this a major success.

Looking forward to hearing about the picante sauce she’s going to do next weekend.

What’s for Supper Tonight?

• Ken’s not-yet-but-should-be-famous meatloaf
• baked potatoes (loaded)
  the potato was the centerpiece of my meal and was topped with pico, a pinch of shredded cheese, and lentils (yes, lentils) 
• broccoli
• caramel stuffed apple cider cookies for dessert

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

 

This is an amazing cookie!

It tastes of autumn: apples, cider donuts, fresh apple cider and cinnamon.

It reminds me of hayrides, bonfires, dry leaves crackling under foot, and evenings cool enough for a sweatshirt.

Ah, autumn.

This little delight captures the tastes and scents of fall in each bite. 

Continue on for an easy to put together recipe and my commentary.

What’s for Supper Tonight?

• Moroccan Style Chicken the original recipe
• lentils, mixed with the seasonings from the chicken; I of course set the kids’ lentils aside before mixing them with the spices.
• broccoli

A protein and fiber laden meal.
Delicious and ‘good for you,’ too!

Moroccan Style Chicken (with photos)

After experimenting with a new Moroccan Chicken recipe the family requested I make the “original” version that dates back to the early days of Madison House Chef. Knowing that I wanted to blog the recipe I went in search of my original copy.

However, I couldn’t remember it’s original source.  A website? A newspaper clipping? A cookbook? 

What to do??

 

Lentils

  
In praise of lentils!
Nutritious. Delicious. Fiber-loaded. Nutty on their own and take to a variety of flavors easily. Inexpensive. Easy to cook on stove top.

Ken and I both enjoy lentils, and even the kids will eat them; Madeleine especially when she puts cinnamon and sugar on them.

We always kind of liked lentils, but then we re-discovered them in Spain (2009) where they were prevalent and quite inexpensive.

Red lentils. Green lentils. Yellow Lentils.

GREAT RECIPE:  Moroccan Chicken and Lentils (and broccoli)

 

Moroccan Chicken and Lentils

 

 

Bon Appetit ~ January 2004

The original recipe that inspired my Moroccan flavored lentils, plus commentary on preparation and personalization.

 

 

 

 

What’s for Supper Tonight? Sunday Pizza Edition

It’s Pizza Day …
Today’s pizza pies include

• pepperoni
• mega cheese (fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, goat cheese, bleu cheese)
  
  
   
• red onion and goat cheese
• pepperoni, jalapeno, bleu cheese

German Style Soft Pretzels

For our German Oktoberfest celebration I wanted chewy, soft Bavarian pretzels. Not surprisingly, no bakery in the Valley carries such a thing (you’re shocked, I know). What a great excuse to bake pretzels from scratch.

Truth be told, I’ve never made soft pretzels that included the ‘boiling’ step. What I had read convinced me that this is a necessary step for a better finished product. Now by first hand experience I’m all the more convinced.

What’s For Supper Tonight?

• Ragu
• Pasta (brought home in the suitcase from Italia)
• tofu (topped with ragu; not only do I find the combination to be satisfying, I don’t end up with the bloated feeling of having eaten pasta)
• green salad

Shrimp Tacos with a hint of Lime

shrimp cooked with lime and spices, served on a fresh corn tortilla, avocado, and chipotle infused sour cream

Here’s a new (to MHC) recipe that has already gone to “family favorites” status.

Rick Bayless’ Soft Taco Filling offers a no-fail, delicious (delicioso!), fresh tasting recipe that takes only a few minutes to cook. The shrimp can be served hot, for example on tacos, or cold as on a salad.

What’s for Supper Tonight?

Happy Oktoberfest!

• Weiner Schnitzel
• garlic sausage (sadly, not Usingers… it’s time to order)
• saurkraut
• pomme frites
• German style soft pretzels (homemade)
• senf (Bavarian mustard)
• dessert: mini key lime cupcakes

Oktoberfest Celebration: Weiner Schnitzel

Weiner Schnitzel, kraut, pomme frites, soft pretzel, and bavarian senf (Bavarian mustard)

My husband Ken and I have long enjoyed Munich as a place to relax, to eat good food and drink exceptionally good beer. This year after leaving Florence, thirsty for a tall Augustiner Edelstoff and wanting to show the kids the amazing Deutsches Museum, we spent several days in Munich. During the time there both kids discovered a love for Weiner Schnitzel.

Soup Stock and Saturday Morning Stirring

My eyes popped open this morning at 5:13 a.m.. Not that this should surprise me, really since during the week my alarm is set for 5:00 a.m.. In theory, I slept in today! The conundrum arose at 5:18 a.m. when my eye lids were still open. To stay in bed and “rest” with the hopes of falling asleep again for another hour or two, or get up and start the day off with a cup of coffee and a little quiet time… oh, and make soup stock….which to choose? The absolute latest I would be permitted to sleep, barring any other noise, distraction, or eyelid popping, would be 7:15 a.m.. I have a professional meeting to attend this morning that begins at 9:00 a.m. with registration beginning at 8:15 a.m. with coffee/breakfast. Sleep/’rest’ OR get out of bed?

Chickpea “burgers”

 
Chickpea Burgers

These were delightful, full of flavor, not too spicy – perfect for a Meatless Monday. Ken remarked that he didn’t even miss the meat. That’s a true endorsement.

As we rethink our eating habits, it's nice to begin to discover some meatless options. 

 

 

Leftover Wine Ice Cubes

 

 Who has leftover wine!????  

…couldn’t resist posting this photo. It’s a great idea, I suppose, but honestly…leftover wine?

~Enjoy!

Packers Cupcakes

In honor of the first Packers game of the NFL season, I’m sending Packers cupcakes to UTPA with Ken tomorrow. One of the other guys in his department is from Wisconsin and is also a diehard fan. Together they can celebrate with these Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with a Dark Chocolate Ganache filling. The “grass” frosting is vanilla butter cream.

Go Packers!

 

Tiramisu

This is one of the ugliest pieces of tiramisu I’ve seen in a while, but it was one of the few
pieces left because it was light and delicious!

Last night we had dinner with the other faculty that went to Florence summer 2011. We, of course, ate an Italian dinner and I brought a Tiramisu for dessert which I came to realize that I have never blogged.

I plan to make tiramisu in Florence during summer 2012 since last year we were able to buy the most delicious Lady Finger cookies that had a hint of citrus. They were amazing! Plus, the moka coffee is a delight and will add depth to the flavor that even Italian roast cannot match.

Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese and Sprouts Sandwich

Delicious!

Since the MHC household is back into the school year routine, it’s packed lunches for us all. This morning I put a Smoked Salmon sandwich with cream cheese, capers, and alfalfa sprouts on Nature’s Own Sandwich Rounds (a recent find). Their Nutrition Facts show a decent product and they rate an A on Fooducate.

Here are the layers for this satisfying sandwich.

The Aroma of Christmas via Chex Mix

Oh the weather outside is frightful … 102 degrees. But the fire is so delightful … in the BBQ grill at least. And since we’ve no place to go … at least not until it’s time to pick up Gregory … Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.  Don’t I wish!

Okay. I admit that the above may seem like a non sequitur, but hang with me for a moment, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.

 

Red Curry Glazed Salmon

One evening not long ago the four of us sat at the kitchen table playing the card-board game Sequence. Just for the record, Ken and Madeleine managed to beat Gregory and me 2 games to 1. To what shall we attribute this victory? Luck? Good strategy? Cheating? (No!)

We shall attribute their win to the fact that Madeleine had eaten BRAIN-FOOD: salmon.