Nigella Feasts

"The interesting thing about food is that it's both reality and escape. …Before you know it, you have made something that seduces people."--Nigella Lawson


photo by James Merrell


And seduce them, she does.

I began hearing about Nigella Lawson a few years ago. I would read a phrase here and there, get a quick glimpse on the television, etc. Basically I knew she cooked and she was something of a sex symbol to male foodies.

Last year when FoodTV started commercials gushing about Nigella in their fall show lineup, I already had a preconceived notion that I did not like her.

I was wrong.

I have found that I like Nigella very much.

Last night FoodTV's Chefography series featured Nigella. I learned so much about her. She has had quite a tragic life (although she does not describe it as tragic). She lost her mother, her sister and her husband before she was forty years old.

You can tell she loves food and has a passion for cooking as well as eating. I like to see people who have a healthy attitude toward food. Aren’t you tired of people who turn down their nose everytime something with more than 50 calories is offered?

All in all, I like her charmingly British accent, curvy shape, and healthy attitude toward life. I do believe she is fast becoming my current favorite FoodTV personality!

Making Comfort Food for a Cold January Weekend

I watched Alton Brown last night and he made meatloaf.

That's not so amazing, but he did something I have never seen a TV chef do--it's one of my biggest cooking pet peeves ever (and you all know I have a few FoodTV peeves!).

Alton wore latex gloves while mixing the meatloaf. Finally a chef followed a sanitary procedure while cooking.

Everyone has their favorite meat loaf recipe.
I thought I would post mine. I use only ground beef (I think Alton mixes pork and lamb in his). When I take the time to make this, I always make an extra for the freezer. It's just as easy to make two and I will have a dinner waiting to pop in the oven.

Meat Loaf ala Zo

4 lbs. ground Chuck
1 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
3 medium-sized onions
3 stalks celery

Throw the milk, eggs, bread crumbs, salt & pepper in a big bowl. Mix them all up with a fork and let them sit for at least 1/2 hour.







While the bread crumbs are being absorbed into the liquid mixture above, I like to caramelized the onions. It eliminates those little hard chunks of onion that do not cook thoroughly as well as adding a little more flavor. Throw in the celery when the onions are within 5 minutes of being done. Just cook the celery a few minutes to soften.
When the bread crumb mixture looks like this, you can add the meat.Put those latex (powder free) gloves on and gently mix. (the wonderful thing about wearing gloves is that you will not have any dead cow flesh to scrape from beneath your fingernails).

Pat into two free-form loaves and bake at 350 degrees until they are as done as you like them. I like them well done, so I cook them about an hour, depending on how thick they are.

Don't stuff the meat into a bread loaf pan (as I used to do). You want the sides exposed to get brown and a little crisp (it adds flavor). About 20 minutes before they are done, I usually mix up some ketchup and Karo light corn syrup and slather it all over the top. Personally, I like the meatloaf, gravy, mashed potatoes thing, but DH doesn't like gravy. It's HEINZ ketchup all the way for him. (no Hunts, gotta be the Heinz--He is a man with a very refined culinary palate).

Secondary subject: Yesterday's Mail

I think I have received every magazine offer imagineable this month.

Yesterday I received 4 of them, all of which went in the trash--3 were gardening related, one was for Oprah. I get about all of the magazines I can read already. Unless, of course, I get a per issue price so low I just cannot refuse. Fine Gardening is a good magazine, but at $5/issue, I can easily pass.

I don't know if you can clearly see the picture on the Keepsake Quilting catalog, but that is one fine log cabin quilt adorning it's cover. It's $20 just for the pattern. I don't know about you, but I think that is pretty high for one pattern. I can buy an entire quilting book FULL of patterns for that price.

Jacuzzi Mermaid in Margaritaville

That's what I was this weekend.

Last Friday the weather was so nice that I couldn't resist a little getaway.

I decided to call and get reservations at that casino where we attended that play, Tina and Bob's wedding (or whatever it was called). I got a room with a jacuzzi for two nights.

We left as soon as I got out of work and drove for three hours. There was no play or anything special there this weekend. In fact it was not busy at all.

We got there about 7 p.m. on Friday night and we didn't go to bed until 4:00 a.m. We met a nice couple celebrating their anniversary and sat next to them and gambled most of the evening. We all laughed a lot. The other couple thought I was such fun to sit next to. I told them it was probably due to the three glasses of wine as I'm usually quite quiet and reserved.

On Saturday night after enjoying the jacuzzi, I wanted something festive and alcoholic to drink. I rarely drink alcohol, except for wine. Therefore, I know next to nothing about drinks.

I racked my brain to think of the name of something that sounded good. "Margarita" came to mind. Don't ask me why as I didn't even know what was in it. I ordered one anyway and mmmmm was it ever good! I think I have found an alcoholic drink I actually like. The tender asked, "Do you want the rim salted?" Of course, I did. That's about the only thing I knew about a margarita before I ordered it. I only had one, but I will certainly remember it the next time I get the urge to imbibe.

We left early this morning and were home by 11:00 a.m. I had to allow a little time to get some work accomplished in the house. I just scrubbed floors and spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV as I worked on my quilt block trivets.

It was a great weekend -- good fun, good company, good drinks, not-so-good food (my filet mignon was on the dry side, but DH enjoyed his T-bone). I won money....life is good............I can't wait to go back!

(I left my camera home, so this is one of my very few posts without photos. That's a good thing because very few people would enjoy seeing me as a jacuzzi mermaid!)

For TWT

who asked about a few recipes from Thanksgiving.
The dressing has no recipe. I just throw stuff in. I used unseasoned croutons. I did caramelize about 4 medium onions before tossing them in (about double what you see here, I did two batches), about 4 cups chopped celery, about 2 tsp poultry seasoning, salt pepper and quite a few of my very own sage leaves.
The plant on the deck is still producing sage. I've been growing it for two years and this is the first time I've used any of it.

I took those little sage leaves rolled them into a tube and produced a rather nice little "chiffonade" of fresh herbs (not to be confused with a "julienne", which is a less delicate cut. LOL, see I've learned a little something from all that Food TV I watch!

Lovely as the "chiffonade" was, I decided I wanted them smaller, so I sliced through them a few more times and ended up with more of a "dice".
I used chicken broth for the liquid (about 3 - 4 cups).


The cranberry sauce is one 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries, one apple peeled and chopped, 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Boil just until the cranberries pop. Remove from heat and put in a splash of strawberry extract (that's what I'm holding in the photo). Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

And last, but not least, those buttery flaky rolls..........Go to your local Walmart bakery. I've found that they do a better job than I, so why compete? :)

A Perfect Saturday

I did not leave the house today.

Early this morning I reset the table so it’s already done for Thanksgiving. I did a few loads of laundry and fiddled with the blog post below. Sue, it was easy as you said in your comment, but it took a while to get Blogger to take it. I redid it about 4 times. I am going to delete it because I think it slows down the page way too much.

I had planned to get a lot more done, but it just didn’t happen. DH was flipping channels and came across a movie he remembered I liked. He was about to take an afternoon nap and asked me if I wanted him to leave it on that channel. He knows I rarely watch movies. He also knows I think Something’s Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton is one of the most romantic movies of all time. Since becoming middle aged I have taken to movies portraying romance in the later years.

So I spent two hours this afternoon re-watching this wonderful film while doing some hand quilting on the Starry Log. I loved the movie even more than I did the first time.

Toward the end of the movie, DH woke up. I poured a glass of my favorite Relax wine and we watched the end of the movie together.

I put some pork chops in an onion tomato sauce in the oven and let them cook for a few hours. When they were done I boiled some bow tie pasta and made a quick salad of romaine lettuce, red onion and Muenster cheese. Voila! Dinner was ready.

I just finished watching a pie contest on Food TV and went to their site and printed off 3 of the winning pies that interested me.

I am now watching another Food TV contest where they are preparing a 5-course Turkey day dinner in 5 hours. They are cooking a 12lb bird just like I am going to cook. Maybe I will get some tips for my little Thanksgiving meal.

Ah, it’s been a perfect Saturday.

I hope yours has been equally as wonderful.

Rainy Day Food TV Musings

It's a rainy, cold day today. I can't do anything outside. I made a big pot of chili this morning and did some cleaning. I've cleaned about all I'm going to for this weekend.

I also went to Walmart and loaded up on all the necessities I was out of.
Joy, I was looking for that "Root Boost" you mentioned, but could not find anything in a dark blue aerosol can. Could you tell me what company makes it and where you buy it ?


Now I am watching FoodTV while I'm blogging. It just happens that Nigella Feasts is on. I have never seen Nigella Lawson before, though I have read about her. I understand she is very well known and highly acclaimed in foodie circles.

I have been watching about 10 minutes and already I've found one thing I don't like. It's the same irksome habit I see in most TV chefs. They are always playing in the food with their hands.

She's put the salad dressing on a big bowl of salad and then begins tossing it with nice tossing utensils. Way to go, Nigella. I like that.

Then she says, "Oh, who am I kidding? It's much easier to use my hands."

And she sticks both hands into the salad which is already full of sticky salad dressing. It turns my stomach. Does she not know the crud that lives under fingernails?

As long as I'm airing my peeves, here's another one. These same chefs are always tasting their creations and not getting a clean spoon for each taste. Paula Deen is one of the worst. I once watched her tasting hot soup. It was so hot it made her jump back and some of the soup fell from her mouth right back into the pot!

I kid you not.

I almost had to turn the channel after that one.

I am tempted to send a case of sanitary latex food gloves to FoodTV.

The next Food TV star

Is anyone watching The Next FoodTV Star?

I saw two episodes Sunday night.

I am predicting that Guy will win (his name is Guy).

After just two episodes I think he stands way out in front of the rest.

I must say that I was quite surprised that one of the contestants did not even know how to julienne a carrot. I would think any aspiring chef would know a basic skill like that!

Food TV Chefography

I must say I have been glued to the Food TV channel lately. For the past four nights they have been doing a series of their household-names-chefs (Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen, Giada DeLaurentiis, Ina Garten )& their humble beginnings. I have found the series very interesting.

Last night Giada (in the picture) was the featured chef. She has a show called "Everyday Italian". I was very surprised to find out how shy she was and how she really did not want to do TV. Now that the show is in its third season, she has blossomed into a great tv chef. She is passionate about cooking and it really shows.

I am hoping tonight is Ina Garten as I like her show, too.

All this Food TV has cut into my quilting time. I have missed my goal of sewing for one hour a day two of the four days this week. Maybe I will catch up this weekend.


Is anyone else watching this?

I've Been Tagged

by Dianne. I have seen this on so many other blogs and thought it was one of the more interesting ones, so I will give it a try. I am not tagging anyone else, but if anyone would like to do it, feel free to jump right in.

Four jobs I've had:
waitress at an A&W Restaurant way back in the days of taking orders from the car window, a fast food place called, Arthur Treachers Fish & Chips (anybody remember them?), secretary to the General Manager at a manufacturing plant, hotel sales and admin. for the past 20 years.

Four movies I could watch over and over:
hmmmmmm…none. I rarely watch movies and sure don’t want to watch the same thing once I’ve already seen it.

Four places where I've lived:
Ft. Leonardwood, MO (born there),
Ft. Lauderdale, FL,
Glenview, IL,
Bad Axe, MI (couldn’t leave this one out because I just LOVE that name)

Four favorite tv shows
I don’t know any of the hit shows from the past 10 years, unless they are on HGTV/ Food Channel or Fox News. So I watch a lot of cooking shows, gardening & decorating shows, and now & then I check out the news of the nation.

Four places where I have been on vacation:
Las Vegas (3 times),
Disneyworld in Florida,
A fishing lodge in Canada (you have to land in the water in an airplane to get to it – may moons ago, can’t remember what it was called, someplace near Wawa),
Upper Penninsula of Michigan, where they have beautiful places like this:





Four favorite foods:
Macaroni and Cheese
Lobster Tail
Butter (the real stuff)
Milk Chocolate

Four places I'd rather be right now:
Sitting on my deck sipping wine and watching humming birds while flipping through a good gardening magazine

Four sites I visit daily:
I could not even list all the sites I visit daily! I counted just my “Quilt & Crafty” blogs and there were 121. I have hundreds in my favorites.
Of course, I don’t hit them all daily.
This morning I visited all of these:

Anchovies, Anyone?

As I am posting these pictures I am watching Alton Brown on Food TV. I just learned something from him--did you know that worscheshire sauce has anchovies in it? Yes, that is what Alton says. Who would have known?


After I finished spending half an hour watering all the deck plants in near 100 degree heat, I decided a frosty glass of white zinfandel was in order. I put it in the freezer until little ice crystals formed. It had a frosty white color, but as soon as I walked out onto the deck, it melted. Darn! The frosty glass would have made a nice picture. Isn't it a beautiful color? I thought it went quite well with the pink zinnia.

I made Paula Dean's Loaded Oatmeal Cookies today. They were very good. If you are a butter lover like I am, you will especially love the browned butter icing. I think they are called "loaded" because they have more spices than the normal oatmeal cookie--cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, ground cloves. I did not have any ginger, so I just left it out. You can find the recipe on the Food TV website

http://foodtv.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25193,00.html
They also have ratings from many people who tried the recipe. It has a 5-star rating.




Paula's Loaded Oatmeal Cookies Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Brown Butter Icing, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease 1 or more cookie sheets. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, shortening, and sugar in a bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and beat until mixture is light in color. Add buttermilk. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice; stir into creamed mixture. Fold in oatmeal, raisins, walnuts, and vanilla, blending well. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Drizzle with Brown Butter Icing.


Brown Butter Icing:
1/2 cup butter
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 tablespoons water
In a small saucepan heat the butter over medium heat until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in 3 cups sifted powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in enough water (3 to 4 tablespoons) to make an icing of drizzling consistency. Drizzle on warm cookies.

Yield: enough to ice 5 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Ease of preparation: Easy