Recipes That Worked by Mandy Higgins View RSS

Recipes from Christmases past 21 Dec 2023 1:25 PM (last year)

Cranberry margaritas and brandy milk punch - two great cocktail recipes for your holiday arsenal 29 Nov 2013 1:23 PM (11 years ago)

A fast winter weeknight dinner, and an easy-to-make, popular cake 28 Nov 2013 12:35 PM (11 years ago)

Soup, speedy potatoes and tomatillos 7 Oct 2013 2:28 PM (11 years ago)

Three Pepper Pork Tenderloin and Grilled Bratwurst 9 Sep 2013 2:01 PM (11 years ago)

Late summer recipes: Paloma; Black Plum Ice Cream 3 Sep 2013 1:30 PM (11 years ago)

Grilled Lamb and Halloumi Skewers, Broiled Plums with Mango Sorbet, Zucchini Carpaccio 26 Aug 2013 12:52 PM (11 years ago)

Vodka-Grape Sparkler, Herb Green Beans with Feta, Summer Twang, Raspberry Pops 12 Aug 2013 1:35 PM (11 years ago)

More terrific summer recipes - pastas, salads, appetizers, cake! 7 Aug 2013 1:33 PM (11 years ago)

A whack of great summer recipes 6 Aug 2013 1:40 PM (11 years ago)

Hate the idea of frying donuts? Try fonuts! 30 May 2013 2:29 PM (11 years ago)

I've always liked the idea of making donuts at home, but I’m frankly terrified of cooking with hot oil.

Keep out the slow cooker for these springtime recipes 27 Mar 2013 1:37 PM (12 years ago)

You may be thinking of putting your slow cooker in storage after a long winter of use, but I’ve got a couple of recipes that will make you want to keep it out for some springtime meals.
    I chose both recipes because they required no advance cooking of the meat contained within the dish. That is one thing that irritates me greatly about many slow cooker recipes: The meat requires some type of browning.
    To me, that just defeats the purpose of a slow cooker, as it interferes with its primary attractive feature: Convenience.
    All I want to do is chuck a bunch of ingredients in and turn the thing on!
    That’s what you can do with these two slow cooker recipes, which are both very easy to make.

Pasting supper together 19 Feb 2013 1:06 PM (12 years ago)

Recently my husband and I made two dishes that required paste.
    Not glue, of course, but spice pastes: Harissa in one dish, and green curry paste in the other.
    Both recipes, from the pages of Martha Stewart Living, are intensely delicious and very easy to make, making them ideal for weeknights. Both are terrific vegetarian dishes, too.

Get some Italian sausage in your stew 11 Feb 2013 1:11 PM (12 years ago)

My husband and I have always been fans of Italian sausage, the sweet or mild variety. (No hot stuff for us!)
    Italian sausage delivers a hit of awesome to the three things to which it is most commonly added: Pasta, soups and stews (except when it is eaten on its own as a breakfast sausage or grilled and served on a hot dog bun – also delicious, by the way).
    Italian sausage is pork sausage seasoned with fennel and/or anise. It is easily found in supermarkets, most often in the breakfast sausage section. It is packaged in two ways: In links, or in bulk, which does not have casings, similar to ground beef.
    If you know someone who has never eaten sweet or mild Italian sausage, you’re in luck: You’ll really wow them if you make a dish with it in it. They will wonder about the wonderous sweet meat they are eating. How did they go through life without it so long?
    Here is a stew and a soup that use Italian sausage to its delicious utmost. Both are fantastic to make on a chilly weeknight. Add some crusty bread on the side and you’ve got supper.

Three coffee-style cakes to warm up your winter 4 Feb 2013 1:15 PM (12 years ago)

With winter still in full swing, there is still lots of time to hunker down and enjoy the coziness of home with a cup of coffee or tea and a slice of delicious coffee-style cake.
   Although I’m personally not a tea or coffee drinker, I know that there are many of you that are, and that you’ll probably love a piece of one of the three cakes I’m going to tell you about with your favorite hot beverage.

Apple-Walnut Cake (click for the recipe) is a bit of a miracle. It’s exceptionally easy to make, with just one bowl and no mixers required to prepare it, but it yields fantastically-delicious results. It is very family-friendly, and pieces can easily be packed with school and work lunches as much as they can be enjoyed with coffee.

Ancient-sounding Onion and Ale Soup is perfect for winter 31 Jan 2013 12:11 PM (12 years ago)

The recipe for Onion and Ale Soup with Blue Cheese Croutons (click for the recipe) first attracted me because it had the word “ale” in it.
    This conjured up an image of men clad in animal robes, swords in scabbards on their belts, holding up humongous beer steins and grunting out appreciation for their mug of ale.
    It could have been onion and beer soup, but’s not – it’s onion and ale soup, which seems somehow more ancient and more cool.
    Upon further examination of the recipe, I saw it looked like a nice twist on traditional French onion soup. The onions are plentiful and there is cheese-topped bread on top, but there is none of the extra work of putting the cheese-covered soup bowls back into the oven before serving.
    This soup is delicious and terrific for a cold winter day. My husband was particularly fond of it, especially the blue-cheese covered croutons. The croutons sink into the soup, getting nice and soft and slurp-able.
    I was amazed to find how well leftovers warmed up the next day. I put the soup in a container with some croutons on top and sealed it with the top. The next day at work, I popped the whole thing in the microwave for lunch and was rewarded with a hot and fresh soup that was just as good as it was the night before.
    The recipe calls for pale ale such as Saranac or Sierra Nevada. These are both American brands not available in our local liquor store.
    There was a Canadian brand of pale ale, Original 16, that my husband bought and I used in the soup. It was brewed by the Great Western Brewing Company in Saskatoon, a city right in my home province of Saskatchewan.
    I have a couple bits of advice for this recipe. Abide by the recipe’s instructions to cut the sourdough bread into one-inch cubes. They are quite big, but need to be so that pieces of blue cheese can be put on them with ease, and so the blue cheese in turn has a large surface area on which to melt.
    Make sure, too, to use a soft blue cheese such as Gorgonzola, which the recipe advises. It will melt more easily. The recipe says to “sprinkle” the blue cheese on the croutons, but I took the time to put a piece of blue cheese on each piece of bread.
    Thinly-sliced yellow onions are cooked in a Dutch oven or other heavy-duty pot for up to half an hour.
    Pale ale is added and brought to a boil. This will take just seconds, after which the heat is turned down slightly and the ale and onions cooked until nearly all the ale has evaporated.
    Chicken and beef broths are added (I used storebought) and the mixture is brought to a boil, then simmered for about 10 minutes.
    Meanwhile, bread cubes cut from sourdough bread are tossed with olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet, then baked in the oven for about 10 minutes. Blue cheese is put on top, then the croutons are baked until the cheese has melted.
    The soup is served in bowls with the croutons and a sprinkling of fresh chives on top.

Celebrate citrus season in style with Blood Orange Margaritas 28 Jan 2013 12:40 PM (12 years ago)

It’s the time of year when citrus fruit is tumbling off the stands at supermarkets, and I’ve got a drink that will help you celebrate this abundance in glorious style.
    Blood Orange Margaritas (click for the recipe) are absolutely fab. You won’t go wrong mixing up a batch of these easy cocktails.
    Combined with the acidity of the lime juice, the puck-er-i-ness of the tequila and the salty rims of the glasses, the blood orange juice takes margaritas to a whole new level.
    As I suspected when I first read the recipe, blood oranges are a perfect fit as the main component of a margarita, as they are both sour and sweet at the same time. My husband and I always comment that blood oranges taste like sour candies.
    Blood oranges are so named because they have a crimson flesh that’s nearly the colour of blood. I love to slice open blood oranges and see the beautiful flesh.
    In Canada, you may or may not find the label “blood oranges” at the supermarket. Most likely, you’ll find them named as “Moro,” the only variety I’ve ever seen.                     
    You’ll need to make these margaritas now, as moros are only to be found in supermarkets in Canada during the December-early March citrus season.
    The margaritas are very easy to make. I used an electric juicer to juice the oranges and limes. Take note that the recipe makes 12 servings, so be sure to half the ingredients for six servings or divide the ingredients by three for four servings.
    Fresh blood orange juice, juiced from blood oranges, is mixed with fresh lime juice, Cointreau or triple sec, and silver tequila in a pitcher and refrigerated until chilled, at least 30 minutes.
    The rims of margarita or martini glasses are moistened with an orange wedge, then dipped into kosher salt to lightly coat.
    Ice is added to the pitcher of margaritas and stirred well, then the margaritas are strained into the prepared glasses. I used a small mesh strainer for this step, pouring the margarita through it into each glass and gently pushing on any solids left behind with a spoon to make sure all the juice was squeezed out of the pulp that will be left behind.
    I skipped garnishing the margaritas with blood orange wedges and sage leaves.     
    Serve the margaritas.

Grapefruit-tangerine hybrid makes for yummy salsa with coconut shrimp 22 Jan 2013 1:48 PM (12 years ago)

It was all in the name: Tangelo.
   When I read the name of the of the citrus fruit it made me think of Jell-O because the two words rhymed, which in turn made me feel happy and want to try the recipe for Baked Coconut Shrimp with Tangelo Salsa (click for the recipe).
   Truth be told, it wasn’t just the name. First, I’d always wanted to try making coconut shrimp at home, and the recipe looked like a good one.
   Second, I saw tangelos in the grocery store one day, cementing my decision to give the recipe a try. (Tangerines can be substituted, by the way).
   A tangelo is a hybrid between a tangerine and a pomelo or grapefruit. The type of tangelo I used, a Minneola, is cross between a grapefruit and tangerine.
   The shrimp and salsa turned out very well.
   The shrimp was covered with a perfect amount of coconut, and the salsa was a fresh, bright accompaniment.
   Rather than serving them as appetizers, my husband and I ate the shrimp and salsa for supper with a side of jasmine rice. Make sure to heap lots of salsa on each of the shrimp before you eat them – the combination of tastes is part of the allure of the dish.
    The shrimp is cooked using an excellent technique which ensures they are properly cooked and don’t have coconut falling off everywhere when they are removed from the pan and then eaten.
  The shrimp are butterflied by cutting halfway through the back to the tail. The shrimp is dredged in a flour mixture, then stood tail-up on a baking sheet.
   We followed the recipe’s advice and used unsweetened coconut. Make sure also to use large shrimp (21-25 per pound) as the recipe says, as anything smaller will be much more difficult to butterfly.
The recipe is easy to make.
   The tangelos or tangerines, red bell pepper, a scallion (also called a green onion or spring onion), jalapeno pepper and salt are combined in a food processor or blender and pulsed to form a chunky salsa. (We skipped the cilantro, which we hate!)
   Eggs are beaten in one dish; flour, paprika and garlic powder are combined in another dish; and unsweetened shredded (or desiccated) coconut and salt are combined in a third dish.
   The shrimp is peeled and deveined, but the tail is left on (we skipped this step by using pre-peeled and deveined shrimp with the tail left on). After the shrimp is butterflied, it is dredged in the flour mixture, dipped in the egg then coated with coconut. The shrimp is stood tail-up on a baking sheet.
   The shrimp is baked until cooked through and the coating is starting to brown, about 10 to 12 minutes.
   Serve the cooked shrimp with the salsa.

Quinoa-Leek Pilaf is a stellar holiday dinner side dish 8 Dec 2012 1:07 PM (12 years ago)

Christmas cookie baking begins with Walnut Snowball Cookies 7 Dec 2012 11:44 AM (12 years ago)

Texture almost outranks taste of Brown Sugar Almond Cake with Caramel Frosting 27 Nov 2012 3:42 PM (12 years ago)

Once in a rare while, I will make a dish or dessert whose texture almost outranks its taste.
   Almost.
    The texture of Brown Sugar Almond Cake with Caramel Frosting (click for the recipe - but watch out, it's missing an ingredient and has too much of another, read below*) is truly amazing. It’s moist yet fluffy, and it stays that way for about three days if kept in the fridge.
   A few samplers of this cake remarked on the cake’s terrific texture.
    I think the secret behind the texture is the unusual and clever step of blending canned pear halves with almonds to a thick purée, then blending that further with buttermilk and other ingredients.
    Not only is the texture great, the cake is also delicious. It is very family friendly, and works well for all sorts of occasions and situations from brunch to packed lunches.
    Another great feature of the recipe is an easy caramel frosting for which the refrigerator does most the work of thickening up the base caramel.     
    *The recipe I linked to above is the closest thing I could find on the Internet to the recipe I used from the cookbook Bon Appetit: Desserts. It is nearly identical to the one I used from the cookbook, with two glaring exceptions – it’s missing an amount of white granulated sugar, and has too much golden brown sugar.
    The recipe tells you to put both sugars in a blender, but only the golden brown sugar is listed in the cake ingredients.
    The recipe, according to the one I used, needs 3/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup golden brown sugar.
    The cake easy to make.
    Canned pear halves, drained well, are blended with blanched, slivered almonds in a food processor. Buttermilk, white sugar, golden brown sugar, butter, two eggs, and vanilla and almond extracts are put into the processor and the mixture is blended well. As the recipe says, it may look curdled, but this is fine.
    The wet ingredients are added to dry ingredients of cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and everything is stirred together to blend.
    The batter is poured into a nine-inch square cake pan that’s been lined with buttered wax paper. The cake is baked, then cooled slightly before being turned out of the pan and cooled completely.
    The frosting is made by combining dark brown sugar, whipping cream and dark corn syrup in a saucepan, then stirring over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. After two minutes of boiling, the mixture is poured into a bowl and chilled until cold and beginning to thicken, about one hour.
    Butter and powdered or confectioner's sugar are beaten together until smooth, then the cold brown sugar mixture and vanilla are beaten in.
    The frosting is spread over the cake, and toasted sliced almonds are sprinkled on top.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies are not the best I've ever had, but they're pretty darn good 21 Nov 2012 12:59 PM (12 years ago)

One would think that cooking magazine editors have tasted the whole gamut of mighty fine-tasting cookies.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting one of the best I've baked, husband says 16 Nov 2012 12:44 PM (12 years ago)

My husband says it’s one of the best cakes I have ever baked, and I have baked a lot of cakes.
    Banana-Chocolate Chip Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting (click for the recipe) was a hit with us from the very first bite.
    The banana cake was beautifully moist, studded with the perfect amount of chocolate chips. The peanut butter frosting was soft and heavenly.
    It’s a very family-friendly dessert. Everyone will dig into this one.
    Because it’s a double-layer cake, it has an extra bit of fanciness that makes it a nice ending to a family gathering meal.
    On the website epicurious.com, this recipe received mixed reviews. Some loved it, others not at all.
    This puzzled me, because I found, obviously, that it worked very, very well.
    My guess is that people who didn’t find it successful may have not followed the recipe to the letter. This is the fastest way I know to ruin a perfectly good recipe.
    Make sure to use very ripe bananas, just as the recipe directs. It gives the cake a terrific depth of flavor, contributing greatly to its success.
    And use full-fat sour cream – that’s going to help the flavor too.
    The cake is easy to make.
    Two 8x8x2-inch square cake pans are coated with non-stick spray, lined with parchment, then sprayed again.
    Sugar, butter, and brown sugar are beaten together until light and fluffy, then eggs and vanilla are added and mixed in. A mixture of flour, baking soda and salt is added, then mashed bananas and sour cream are added and beaten in. Mini chocolate chips are folded in.
    The cakes are baked for about 35 minutes. To ensure even baking, halfway through the baking time I switched the position of the pans, and moved the parts that were facing the back to the front. After they are baked, the cakes are cooled for 10 minutes, then turned out of the pans and left to cool completely.
    The frosting is made by beating creamy peanut butter, powdered sugar, room temperature butter and vanilla together.
    The frosting is spread on top of one cake, and the other is put on top. The rest of the frosting is put on the sides and the very top of the cake.

Mexican Noodle Soup: Just like something my grandmother would make 31 Oct 2012 2:29 PM (12 years ago)

Making Sopa de Fideo marked a cooking first for me: Never before have I made a soup with such homestyle comfort food appeal.
    Sopa de Fideo translates as Mexican Noodle Soup (click for the recipe), and I made a pot of it this past Sunday.
    It was an immediate hit with both my husband and I.
    Besides the fact it was absolutely delicious, I also loved that it was so homey, so comforting, thick with noodles and happiness.
    While still having a nice flavor, even the pickiest of the picky eaters will likely give it a chance. It’s absurdly family-friendly.
    It was like a soup my grandmother would make: Warm, simple, beautiful in its simplicity, and tasty, tasty, tasty.
    Although there was a bit of chopping and wait time involved, this was quite an easy soup to make.
    The recipe says it makes six-eight servings, but I would say count on only four if you are serving the soup as the main part of a meal (and it will disappear because it’s so good).
    In the absence of fideos (Mexican noodles) I used the substitute, rice vermicelli noodles, easy to find in the Asian foods section of supermarkets. I used the very thinnest kind available, which seemed to be the right one.
    A local supermarket luckily had queso fresco cheese in stock, so I could use it as directed. There is no recommended substitute in the recipe, but I think you could probably use mozzarella cheese in a pinch, and I have also seen feta suggested as a substitute for queso fresco in other recipes.
    In a large saucepan or soup stock pot, garlic, celery, carrots and onion are cooked in oil until soft, about 10 minutes.
    Chicken stock (I used store-bought chicken broth) and a can of whole tomatoes that have been crushed by hand are added, and the mixture is brought to a boil.
    The liquid is reduced to medium-low and is cooked about one hour. It’s strained through a fine-mesh strainer into another soup pot and is returned to the heat (I did this instead of straining into a bowl, then putting the strained soup back into the original pot, as the recipe directs).
    You may be put off by the fact, as I initially was, that the garlic, celery, carrots and onion are strained out and in effect thrown away (unless you save them for another use).
    But one mouthful or the soup and it will all make sense. The vegetables give the tomatoes and broth a mild salsa-like flavor that’s essential to the success of the soup.
    Fideos and vermicelli noodles are added to the soup and cooked (I did it for about 5 ¼ minutes, as opposed to the four suggested in the recipe).
    To serve, crumbled queso fresco is divided among soup bowls. The soup is ladeled overtop and it is garnished with parsley.

Orange-Scented Carrot Soup a good first outing with Ten Dollar Dinners cookbook 19 Oct 2012 2:04 PM (12 years ago)

I’ve only caught bits and pieces of a few episodes Melissa d’Arabian’s Food Network TV show, Ten Dollar Dinners, but I liked it enough to buy her first cookbook when it came out in August.
    Named Ten Dollar Dinners like the TV show, the cookbook is full of delicious-looking and nutritious ideas for weeknight meals.
    I tried a recipe from the book for the first time this past week and was very impressed.
    Orange-Scented Carrot Soup (click for the recipe) was quick to make and required few ingredients, but had an amazing depth of flavor.
    The secret ingredient was dried oregano, which infused the soup with an earthy feel.
    The description “Orange-Scented” is a good one – there is a very slight orange taste on the edges of the soup, but nothing at all overwhelming.
    Serve it with some crusty bread and a salad, and you’ve got a great weeknight meal.
    I made this soup by myself, and took about 45 minutes from start to finish without any rushing.
    Roughly-chopped carrots and an onion are cooked in olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot, then minced garlic, finely-grated orange zest (orange peel) and dried oregano are added and stirred for a bit.
    The recipe I linked to on the Food Network website says to “deglaze the pan with white wine.” The recipe in the cookbook is clearer on this matter, saying to increase the heat to medium-high, add the wine and stir for about a minute.
    Chicken or vegetable stock (I used store-bought vegetable stock) and water are added to the pot, brought to a boil, then reduced to a gentle simmer.
    The soup is cooked for another eight to 10 minutes until the carrots are tender.
    The recipe says to let the mixture cool for five minutes before processing it in a blender or food processor. This is good advice, but if you’re using a hand-held (immersion) blender like I did, you don’t need to wait for the soup to cool first.
    The soup is served with a swirl of sour cream in each bowl.