Bring on the Chili!

There will be ghosts, goblins, witches, glowing pumpkins and little children dressed in adorable (or scary) costumes for Halloween! This year in California, there will likely be rain as well on Halloween night.  But that doesn’t stop us; in fact, we love the rain!  We now have a great reason to bring out our “Three Bean Chili” recipe.  This one, like so many others, is a neighborhood favorite.

Just follow our simple recipe and you will have the best chili EVER!  Whether it’s your children or your grandchildren going out for Halloween, or you invite some neighbors over for a bowl of chili before you all set out for Trick or Treating, this chili is sure to delight.  Our Three Bean Chili is a meal in itself or you can serve with garlic bread or over a bed of rice.  If your Halloween night is a quiet one, no worries,  leftovers freeze great for up to six months.

Happy Halloween and Happy Trick or Treating!

Magical Foodlore Moments – Cauliflower Comes of Age

The days of children turning up their noses to cauliflower are long gone.  It’s hard to decide which is better, roasted cauliflower, cauliflower soup, or pizza crust made from cauliflower.  All of these are great recipes which we will be sharing on our website in the weeks and months ahead.  They are all crowd (and children) pleasers.   Today, we have a new competitor in town – Cauliflower Rice with Zucchini and Red Pepper!  It is easy to make, incredibly delicious, and oh so healthy.  It is a sure winner as a side dish and with added vegetables (such as zucchini and red bell peppers), it can also be the main course for any week night meal.

This week our Magical Foodlore Moments brought so many laughs at the community table as our guests shared their funniest (and worst) stories about vegetables.  There’s the story of burying the boiled peas in the mashed potatoes, so you wouldn’t have to eat them, the story of trying to slip the dog your steamed brussel sprouts under the table (even the dog wouldn’t eat those), and many of us had to endure creamed corn at least once a week.  Back then, steamed cauliflower was right up there with our worst vegetable stories.

Well times have really changed – and for the better!  We love our fresh vegetables.  They are simple to make, fresh and so good for you.  We can roast them, grill them, or sauté them.   And, as with our Cauliflower Rice recipe, we can put them in the food processor and turn them into an amazing side dish.  So many things can be added to our cauliflower rice; our creativity is our only limitation.

Not only is this recipe delicious, it is also beautiful.  The rich colors from the zucchini and red bell peppers makes for a beautiful presentation! Try our recipe first and once you get the right consistency for your rice, add the things you or your family love best to create your own unique version of this recipe.

If you create a winning recipe using our cauliflower rice as your base, be sure to share it with us so we can share it with others.    Your clever adaptations never cease to amaze us!

Magical Foodlore Moments:  A Grandmother and her Granddaughter

Linda has been cooking with her Granddaughter Maia, since she was about 8 months old.  Maia’s love of being in the kitchen inspired our first-in-a-series children’s book Someone’s Making Pancakes with Grandma.  The book is about a child having fun cooking in the kitchen with her grandmother.

At Two Friends in a Kitchen, we believe that special memories and favorite stories (we call them Magical Foodlore Moments) are created as people cook and prepare meals together.  When you are in the kitchen, there is time for chopping, mincing, dicing, mixing, blending, and grating in addition to creating and tasting.  And, there is also time for fun, laughter, serious conversations, problem solving, creative thinking, life lessons, and so much more.  Those Magical Foodlore Moments are the kind of memories and moments that last a lifetime!

Our book Someone’s Making Pancakes with Grandma is all about creating special moments in the kitchen.  The book tells the story of a special time between a granddaughter and her grandmother as they make healthy pancakes together.  The book includes our famous pancake recipe and a word list that can be used to help teach early reading skills.  Our book can be a favorite bedtime read aloud, a young child’s early reader, or an inspiration to try cooking up something special in the kitchen with a child you love, so you too, can create your own Magical Foodlore Moments!

Our book can be purchased from our webstore at www.twofriendsinakitchen.com along with many of our favorite kitchen items.  It can also be purchased at Amazon.com. Our book gift sets are available exclusively at our webstore (shipping is free for orders over $25).

If you have a Magical Foodlore Moment to share with us, we’d love to hear from you.  Write to us at www.twofiriendsinakitchen.com to share your Magical Foodlore Moment or photo as so many others have.  We love hearing from our followers!

Magical Foodlore Moments: Homemade Marinara Sauce – Tuscany Style:

Ever wonder why people choose to make their own Marinara sauce rather than take the easy way and buy it off the grocery store shelf? I have to confess, that until last week, I had never made homemade marinara sauce; something Linda makes at least twice a month. Well, now I know why she makes her own. It’s easy peasy and it tastes so much better than store bought Marinara sauce. This week we are posting the Two Friends Basic Fresh Tuscany Style Marinara Sauce recipe: http://twofriendsinakitchen.com/recipe/fresh-tomato-sauce-tuscany-style. With a little twist, you can turn it in to another type of red sauce (see tips below).

The fun thing about this recipe, is that you get to go to the farmer’s market and take the overripe tomatoes off their hands. I live in Oakland and we have a huge farmer’s market that is just buzzing with energy every Saturday in the Montclair Shopping Center! So on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago, for the very first time, I went to the Farmer’s Market shopping for the best overripe tomatoes to make Marinara sauce.  I was going to make a big batch of sauce so I’d have lots to freeze. To do this, I needed 20 pounds of very ripe tomatoes – yes that’s right, 20 pounds!

Since I have never purchased 20 pounds of ripe tomatoes, I really didn’t know what to expect. I went to the first vendor and asked if she had any tomatoes perfect for sauce making. She didn’t have any. I scouted out another vendor and asked if she had any. Her enthusiastic response was “I sure do!” She directed me to a bin to sort through. I chose heirlooms, red, yellow, orange, purplish, round, oblong, big and very small tomatoes for my batch of sauce. Honestly, I’d never seen so many varieties in one place, ready for the picking. I got the bargain of the day – 20 pounds of great, organic tomatoes for $1.00 a pound! She was happy. I was happy.

After spending a couple of hours at the farmer’s market trying their many samples, I headed home to make my sauce. I followed the Two Friends recipe and soon (I mean very soon) had a great marinara for dinner AND I had lots of jars for the freezer. I call that a win, win!

Here a few tips about Marinara Sauce made with fresh, ripe tomatoes:
Some times depending on your tomatoes, the sauce might be a little watery. If it is, just let it simmer 20 minutes or so longer without a lid so it thickens. Once you are satisfied with the consistency, remove it from the stove and let it cool. Once it’s cooled put it in glass jars or plastic containers (remember to leave a little room at the top for expansion) and place them in the freezer if you are freezing for later use. The frozen sauce will last in the freezer for up to six months. Don’t forget to save a little sauce for tonight’s dinner!

Here’s another tip to change that sauce up a bit:
Another option is to use your yummy fresh Marinara in place of canned tomatoes. You can use it in place of canned tomatoes to make your favorite red sauce, meat sauce, Bolognese, or as your pizza sauce.

If you love Italian cooking, (and who doesn’t), check out our website store and purchase La Cucina Marinello, the Italian cookbook that Linda and her two sisters wrote.It’s much more than a cookbook; it’s also the story of growing up Italian in southern California. The cookbook is filled with fantastic Italian dishes and pasta, pizza, salad, soup, chicken, fish, and meat recipes that everybody will enjoy.

Check out our recipe at:  http://twofriendsinakitchen.com/recipe/fresh-tomato-sauce-tuscany-style/

Magical Foodlore Moments:  Lemon Cake   We’re always thinking up easy, fun recipes, but they also have to be super delicious!  This week’s favorite is our Lemon Yogurt Cake.  It is so lemony yummy and easy to make.  The greatest thing about our Lemon Yogurt  Cake recipe is you can make a round cake, a square
cake or you can use cute little molds and make 50 or more little heart or star shaped cakes.  This one is great for Valentine’s day or the Fourth of July.  You can offer your family and friends a hefty slice of cake or a bit size morsel of deliciousness!  The recipe can be found at:  http://twofriendsinakitchen.com/category/dessert.

I spent a couple of hours on a Saturday recently making little bite-size, heart shaped “cakes.”  By the time I was done, I had made almost 90 little hearts.  However, I doubled the recipe in preparation for a big event that Linda and I were hosting for our closest family and friends.  I digress for a moment to fill you in on this amazing debut party!

The event was to celebrate the official launching of our first-in-a-series children’s books, which of course centers around cooking and having fun in the kitchen.  This first book, Someone’s Making Pancakes with Grandma was inspired by Linda’s granddaughter Maia, who loves to cook with Linda!  Maia and her little sister Harper love making and eating our delicious zucchini and carrot pancakes.

At the event, our guests also had a sneak peak at our cooking classes by making homemade gnocchi and two fabulous no cook sauces (Ricotta and Red Pepper sauce and  Linda’s best-in-the-world pesto sauce.   They shopped in our store where they not only found great products, but great bargains as well.  Check out our website and go to the Store tab to purchase our wonderful  products:  http://twofriendsinakitchen.com/two-friends-shop.

We ended the celebration with dessert which of course was  our lemon, yogurt cakes, in the shape of little hearts.  Our way to say “Thank You” to the special people in our lives.  I pulled them from the freezer, put a little dollop of lemon frosting on them, arranged them on a gorgeous platter and had dessert for 50 ready in a flash – doesn’t get any easier than that!

A Tip for our Lemon Yogurt Cake:
These cakes are fabulous without any extras, but we encourage you to try them with slices of raspberries.  As you finish making the batter, just fold in your raspberry slices for a tasty little surprise.  Add a dollop of lemon frosting (yes, you can use canned frosting) on top of each heart an extra, extra little treat.

Linda and Cindy have been friends for over thirty years.  Together they have created many magical foodlore moments for their family and friends.  After retiring from successful careers, Linda as a software entrepreneur and Cindy as school superintendent, they decided to fulfill a lifetime dream of working together to teach others how to enjoy the art of creating foodlore stories together with family and friends.

Two Friends in a Kitchen – The Art of Creating Foodlore Moments…Linda and Cindy cherish meals at the family table.  The family table is the place where everyone comes together to catch up on the day’s excitement (the good and the challenging), laugh, talk politics and sports, solve problems, share touching moments, celebrate birthdays and holidays, and to honor their traditions, family, and friends who they both cherish more than anything life has to offer.

Two Friends in a Kitchen will unlock the secrets of preparing simple, healthy, and home cooked meals while enjoying creative moments with those you love.  Two Friends will take the work out of cooking and help you discover or rediscover the fun of preparing a meal as a group of friends or family, the accomplishment of spending an afternoon preparing foods in bulk and freezing the dishes for a rainy day, or how to experience the pride of creating a scrumptious meal in less than 30 minutes.

Whether you want to try great new recipes, become a better cook, have more fun in the kitchen, or learn how to cook from your heart, there will be something for everyone each week on this website. Whether you decide to follow them yourself, or with a special friend(s), or with your son, daughter, spouse or partner, join them at www.twofriendsinakitchen.com.