‘Barefoot Contessa’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Recipe: Ina Garten’s Meatballs

April 29, 2016 · Meat and Poultry, Narrative

Juicy, tender, and oh so easy to make, these are meatballs you’ll want in your life.

This week has seriously been a bit of a blur.

Madeline makes her First Communion tomorrow, and there has been a rush of last minute activities.

Finding a cross topper for the homemade cake she requested for dessert.

Mani/pedi appointments with one of her best friends.

Figuring out the menu for the after-party.

Rehearsal at the church.

Coordinating rides and drop-off times for the friends going with us.

Trying on that special dress one last time.

Hair cuts tonight.

A sleepover with the same bestie since they’re making Communion together tomorrow.

We have affectionately called this week Communion Week.

It’s much like the flurry of activity right before you get married. So much excitement, and fun, and nerves.

But very much all good times.

Madeline is positively gleeful about tomorrow, and a wee bit nervous, but seriously cannot wait.

Pictures to come!

Natch.

So in periods like this, I am forever grateful for a well-stocked freezer and the fortitude to (sometimes, but not always) think ahead.

I made a new recipe for a client that yielded me a dozen Egg Cups, which is perfect for a grab-and-go breakfast.

I made two Broccoli Pies (one to keep, and one to repay a favor), which makes a delicious and easy lunch.

And meatballs.

These meatballs.

I originally made them to celebrate #NationalMeatballDay last month. More specifically, I made a ginormous batch of them for our Girl Scout dinner, and saved some for Nick to have as part of a sandwich that night for his own dinner. AND I froze a bunch of them, which means dinner during this crazy COMMUNION WEEK has been made that much simpler. …

Recipe: Barefoot Contessa’s Baked Fontina

November 10, 2011 · Narrative

So here’s the thing. Over the years, I’ve learned a few things when it comes to cooking.

You can’t go wrong with a Barefoot Contessa recipe.

Melted cheese is good. Damn good.

And when you combine Barefoot Contessa + melted cheese + a cast iron skillet, amazing things happen.

Even if it’s a recipe that was supposed to be served right away and had to wait oh fifteen or twenty minutes for company to arrive.

Even if you reheat it the next day.

Even if when you reheat it the next day, and you’re all out of crispy pieces of baguette and you have to use stale Wheat Thin crackers because some kids refuse to close cracker bags properly.

Even if the leftovers happened to be your lunch the next day. At 2:45 pm.

There is no way that you can go wrong by making this recipe. Unless, of course, you can’t eat cheese. And then I feel really bad for you. Because out of all the things I’ve given up eating over the years, cheese was hands down the hardest. Especially the hot bubbly melted kind. I, like, practically lived on the stuff when I was pregnant with Madeline.

Perhaps that’s why she doesn’t like it.

And no, this is not a pregnancy craving.

It comes from the Barefoot Contessa’s last cookbook, How Easy Is That? I’m personally not a fan of the title of the cookbook, but I can overlook it when it contains this type of goodness within. Just promise me you’ll make it. Pretty please?

Tomorrow? We tackle laundry. Two products were sent our way recently, and I’ll share them with you. One might be as potentially life changing as this Baked Fontina. And it saves you money. Really, is there any better combination?

November 10, 2011 – Bonus Photos

Madeline is certainly quite at home in our new beast. For those that asked, I downsized and got a Ford Explorer. Sniff, sniff. You have no idea how much I miss my old truck. It had been with us for nearly eight years. Some awesome, awesome memories in it. And it had everything I needed, exactly where I wanted it. Although I’m happy we have this SUV to break in, and it’s a humongo (that’s Nick’s word of the week lately, right up there with “iffy” and “creepy”) savings in gas, I’m going to mourn the loss of my old one just a little while longer, mkay?

…

Recipe: The Best Buttermilk Dressing Ever

December 30, 2010 · Narrative

I couldn’t decide what to write about tonight. It was either going to be this salad dressing or about one of my big goals for 2010. Sarah chose the dressing for me, so if you wanted to hear about the goal, blame her. And come back Monday, when I’ll tell you all about it, along with our new Eat. Live. Be. for a Better 2011 challenge (come join our facebook page!). In the meantime… let’s talk dressing.

One of the cookbooks I received for Christmas was the new Barefoot Contessa, How Easy is That? I totally get the concept of the title, but hate it just the same. When I saw a recipe for an easy Buttermilk Ranch Dressing, I folded down the page and made it right away. Nick likes ranch dressing, and I thought it would be perfect over a simple salad. Well, it turns out Nick likes regular ranch dressing. Not so much this buttermilk kind. Luckily I liked it enough for both of us.

Make this and you will never buy bottled dressing again. With a recipe like this, why would you? You completely control what is going in it, and it’s thick enough for a dipping sauce for your carrots and celery stalks, yet thin enough for dressing a simple salad. Ina Garten suggests just Bibb lettuce, ripe tomatoes and a sliced red onion. Hello Clean Eating, my name is Cate!

Project 365
December 29, 2010, Photos #324-329
The kids and I were at The Christmas Tree shop yesterday and Nick spotted this big engagement rings. They’re about the size for a napkin ring, but what a fun way to propose to someone! $2.99 each. *Photo by Nick.

The traffic heading down the shore yesterday was insane, largely due to the snow plowing that was going on. Don’t even get me started. Standstill traffic, however, is a good opportunity to break out the camera.

We arrived just as the sun was setting over the water.

Twenty-eight inches of snow and three days for the neighborhood to get plowed out.

Sometimes when I download pictures from my camera, I find little surprises from the littles grabbing it when I’m not looking. This is Nick’s handiwork, a tree in my parents’ kitchen down the shore.

The budding photographer.

Project 365
December 30, 2010, Photo #330-339
Sunrise this morning, SOOC (straight out of camera). Love the colors.

One of my goals for 2011, and I have many, is to not make sneakers my go-to choice when I’m wearing jeans. These ballet flats from Target are a good way to start. $9.98 clearance. Love.

Loved this shirt (another clearance for $10) nearly as much as Madeline.

Madeline got these sneakers from my parents for Christmas and adores them. Enough so that she even took the empty box into school to show her teacher.

We spotted these at Wal-Mart, and they would have been perfect for Madeline, but she went with the princess ones instead.

Never was a fan of playing in the snow. But maybe that’s just as a grown-up because it’s SO much more work for us. The kids? Can’t keep them away.

Caught her eating snow on more than one occasion. Luckily it was clean and white.

You know it’s time to come in when your cheeks resemble rosy apples.

Sonic is a must-stop for the ride home. Cheese fries and Slushies. Some of us were even awake enough on the ride home to drink the Slushies.

I’ll be back tomorrow night with a few pictures, just to finish up Project 365. Heaven help me if there is nothing photo-worthy tomorrow. That would be terrible to be so close and not finish.

…

Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

November 2, 2010 · Narrative

Tuesday is our day for forced relaxation. We go nowhere. We do nothing. We have no plans. We just be. My friend calls it being anti-social, kiddingly, of course. It’s our Homebody Day. True, there are other nights where we end up at home with nowhere to be and nothing to do. But Tuesday is different. It’s one specific day a week where we don’t allow intrusions. Distractions. Interruptions. None of it. It’s about family. Me and the kids. Doing anything. And nothing. And everything in between. At home. Together. Like one deep exhale in the (almost) middle of the week.

Tonight, while Madeline was finishing a wicked long nap, Nick made Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Well, technically, we attempted the frosting, but clearly I am terrible at reading directions and I couldn’t save the frosting after I added too much butter and didn’t have enough confectioners’ sugar to save it. So we did without. I happened to skim through a copy of the new Barefoot Contessa cookbook, How Easy Is That, today and knowing we had three very sad overripe bananas sitting on our kitchen counter, it was perfect timing to find this recipe.

Healthy? Well, not so much. There’s an awful lot of sugar in it. But I can’t remember the last time we baked together, and it was the perfect activity for us to end our day with … the measuring, the stirring, the baking, the waiting, the eating. As for the taste, Nicholas summed it up best:

“Mom, no offense, but this tastes like banana bread.”

He’s not wrong. It does. The lack of frosting certainly drove that point home, but we can always use another good banana ~~bread~~ cake recipe, right?

Project 365
November 2, 2010, Photo #202

Excuse the crappy picture but there was a minor crisis at home when I couldn’t find my camera card and I had to make due with a BlackBerry picture. I didn’t get there until nearly 7 pm, and we hadn’t had dinner yet, and both kids piled into the voting booth with me … but I voted. And I do every election. Even the small ones. Even the ones where it seems like my one little vote won’t matter. I do it because I can.

When Clinton ran for re-election years ago, we had recently moved and there was a screw-up with my registration in the new town and I couldn’t vote. I didn’t find out until the day of the election when I was actually at the polls, and I was crushed. It took me days to get over that. When Obama was elected, Nick and I sat glued to the tv that night, watching the map fill up with reds and blues, guessing which way it would go, asking and answering questions.

Tonight, the kids came into the booth with me and I held Madeline’s hands carefully as we pressed the buttons together (the only way to make sure the right buttons got pressed!) and Nick got to press the “cast vote” button and they both had big smiles on their faces as they bopped out. She, of course, doesn’t get it (I won’t even get into the shenanigans she pulled at the polling place), but Nick is starting to put some pieces together. When we arrived and I signed in, I asked if they had the “I voted” stickers and yet again, they didn’t. My mom always seems to vote at places that have them. I’m not so lucky. The last few elections, they had just run out. This time, the volunteer said that the stickers had been cut because of lack of money. It’s something so small and, I know, insignificant, but I love the sticker and, when I’m lucky enough to get one, wear it proudly.

Forgive the soapbox, but I hate when people don’t vote. When people think it doesn’t matter because everyone else will get out and vote for them. It does matter. The all-important school budget votes passed earlier this year, but by only a very slim margin in our area, driving home the point that every vote counts. I don’t always follow everything politically as well as I should, but then I research and I ask questions so I can make the best decision possible. For me. For my kids.

Beyond that, I always make sure to take them with me when I can. It would be heaps easier to duck in and out without them with me, but this isn’t about easy. It’s about another teaching moment. An opportunity to lead by example. To explain why it’s so important. That we are all a part of this. That we have a choice, an opinion and the opportunity to express it. The people I vote for don’t always win. That’s life. But my little voice will still be heard … and counted … regardless.

…

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

April 19, 2010 · Narrative

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. Divine. Simply divine.

I love the steely concentration Sweetnicks readers have. Homemade fruit roll-ups? Nah. Let’s hear about the cupcakes. My kind of peeps!

One of our neighbors had a birthday last week and, although I didn’t get my act together to make the cupcakes actually ON her birthday, I did make them this weekend. Only a few days later. I’ve got to think that a little chocolatey goodness makes tardiness seem as unimportant as Kate Gosselin’s standing on Dancing with the Stars.

I found the cupcake recipe on a non-food blog that is on my Regular Reading List. As soon as the first few people tried the cupcake this weekend, it quickly registered on the OMG scale. But I’ve got to say … it is as complicated as a boxed cake mix and break-and-bake cookies. I always feel a little sheepish when someone loves a baked good and asks for the recipe, only to have to fess up that it’s a MacGyver’d recipe from a box or two. But I shouldn’t really. No need.

When I make cupcakes, the kids go through phases. Most of the time, they’re good with just one or two and then want nothing to do with them. Occasionally, they go through them a bit faster. This batch? The latter. I’ve caught Madeline more than once this weekend dragging a chair over to the counter in an attempt to pilfer her own cupcake when I’ve said no. Little weasel. Nick has figured out that sometimes if I say no to a cupcake, I’ll say yes to half a cupcake. I’m flexible that way. After the fruit and greens have been eaten off their dinner plate.

For the frosting, I went with Barefoot Contessa’s chocolate frosting recipe (below). I don’t know what I missed or did wrong, but when the recipe was done, there was no way it resembled the right consistency for frosting. Since I had already invested the time and ingredients to it, I didn’t want to trash it, so went about saving it. I added confectioner’s sugar until it was finally the right consistency. Um, to the tune of some 3 cups or so. I didn’t measure, but it was a lot. The good news? I managed to salvage the frosting and some even thought it was better than my famous buttercream frosting. Of course, I have a ton leftover, but that can be easily rectified by baking another batch of cupcakes. And methinks this recipe will be making another appearance in our kitchen soon.

Project 365
Photo #79, April 19, 2010

My mom discovered this fun whisk recently in an issue of Ty Pennington’s magazine. It’s made by Wilton, and the center spiral is supposed to make whisking more efficient, and allow for more air to get into the mixture.

…