Fall BBQ'ing and Bison...tasty!

It has officially begun.

That seasonal shift from summer to fall that we all know so well. The air around here has started to feel a bit cooler at night and we've spotted the fleets of big yellow buses out on the road again-back to picking up their charges for another year of academia.

In the kitchen, we have been busily preparing, tasting, and testing all sorts of new recipes. Just recently, we had the pleasure of partnering up with High Plains Bison and creating some great, new, very healthy dishes. Bison meat is exceptionally low in fat content and cholesterol, but still really great tasting. After we put the videos together, the entire office was hooked, and most of us tried them out all over again in our own kitchens. Check out the videos on our Summer Kitchen site, if you're looking for an easy and delicious new recipe that's a little different...hmmmm, maybe to serve at that Labor Day bbq coming up in, oh, 3 days...?

Try the kabobs-trust us, they're amazing. Not to mention simple. Served over a tasty cous-cous salad, these kabobs take no time at all to prepare. You can make enough cous cous to feed an army in a matter of minutes! And the marinade for the kabobs is one of the best we've come up with-collaborating with the High Plains chef was a great learning experience for us! In case you need any more friendly nudges, we decided to go a step further and simply post the video for you below:


Enjoy and happy grilling from the foodies at Handmade Kitchens!


ps-enjoy this last glimpse of summer:

The Handmade Van, arriving soon to a beach near you!

Let the BBQ'ing begin!

So...it's been awhile! And, as we're sure you've noticed, we've re-organized a little bit. We are proud to now introduce our delicious video recipes under the umbrella, "Handmade Kitchens," which will make it easier for us to keep expanding! And speaking of expanding, we have some great, new, food content for you-a whole new kitchen! We developed the Summer Kitchen videos in early April, right in the middle of a heat wave. It definitely put everyone in the mood for the warm weather grilling season. We really put together some fabulous recipes and tips for you-everything from how to make a chicken moist using a beer can, to creating an amazing bbq sauce that will leave everyone asking for seconds. You'll learn how to prepare the most refreshing, simple, cold soup, how to put together perfectly mouth-watering kabobs (or is it kebabs? kababs?), and finish it all off with dessert right on the grill. Following our mantra that cooking should be fun-not stressful-just about all of our recipes can be made outdoors in the sunshine and can be put together pretty quickly. Plus, for those of you who spend summer after summer staring warily at your Weber, we have a great video you can follow to get the fire started! Fourth of July is tomorrow, people, so visit our newest website (promotional plug here!): SummerKitchen.tv and get cooking!
And we promise to write more soon! Happy cookouts!

St. Patrick's Day and Spring Vegetables

Well folks, it's that time of year again-green beer and corned beef for all!
...
If you're not exactly thrilled with the prospect of sporting some seriously stained teeth and boiling meat and potatoes, don't worry-you're not alone. While we are all big fans of the Irish-and don't necessarily mind the once-a-year corned beef and cabbage dish-we can certainly come up with something a little more appealing to celebrate with.
Something appealing, something green....hmmmm.....
Well, for starters, as soon as March rolls around you should pretty much know that winter is coming to a close. This weekend marks the "spring forward" in daylight savings time and the winter chill is finally starting to wear off.
Birds all across the New York metro area have been chirping.
Fortunately, the coming of spring means a whole new season of delicious vegetables and herbs to choose from. Our favorite green this month is the artichoke. Delicious and versatile, this veggie is truly one of nature's gifts to us-and March is one of the best times to buy it. If you've never prepared an artichoke, the task may seem a little daunting. Please don't fear it-the pay out is amazing. There are a number of great websites out there to help you with the basic preparation of an artichoke. We love the Becks and Posh blog for the breakdown. And, after you work on technique a bit and come to realize that you can never live without this particular vegetable again, you will be ready for our Artichoke Dip Recipe. It is a classic.
Although the dip uses canned artichoke hearts, you will need to prepare at least 2-4 actual artichokes, so that you can serve the leaves. If you live in the New York metro area, visit Fresh Direct to get both tasty canned hearts, and fresh produce. And of course, if you're feeling adventurous, and you have some time on your hands, feel free to skip the can and go for the real thing!
Have fun bragging to your friends this holiday about who's really the MOST green this year!
Erin Go Bragh!

Artichoke Dip

We thought it would be fun to post the video for you this week. No going back and forth between the website and the blog!

An Update from the Kitchen

Our apologies, dear readers, for neglecting you this long.

Time slips away so fast and before we knew it, Valentine's Day had come and gone without a post. Well, we've been busy as usual, and although it's no excuse, we've been working very hard to bring you more quality content. As you are well aware, we have a parent company, HandmadeTV, which will be producing close to 1,000 more video recipes in 2008. Our hopes are, that very soon, the Holiday Kitchen will be part of a larger family of ever-expanding video libraries.

For now though, we're finding that our initial 67 recipes were really a great starting point. Along with almost 3 million views across the internet, we've received tons of great feedback! People seem to like the fact that we take the home cook seriously, and have produced this fantastic resource especially for them. And, as we've pointed out (almost to death), at least half of our holiday fare can be repurposed into fabulous dinners and snacks and enjoyed all year long-not just for November and December, thankyouverymuch! So what are we waiting for? Let's get cooking!!!

Again!

Of note, we happened to be up in Lake Placid, NY recently, visiting a good friend. This cozy, little Adirondack metropolis is well-known for hosting not one, but two, Olympic games-1932 and 1980. Just in case you don't believe this after seeing the olympic museum, skating arena, and toboggan run, the impossibly high ski jump remains to prove it. Currently buried under about 3 feet of snow, the town pretty much revolves around winter sports and...winter sports.

Our friend tends to be the opposite of us in most regards-especially on the subject of food. Where we're more adventurous, he is meat and potatoes. But, he definitely knows his meat and potatoes-the same way a good sommelier knows their wine-and, after a long day on the slopes, decided to take us out for his idea of the best shepherd's pie in town. We have to say, it was absolutely the perfect, simple comfort food for the end of a long winter day.

So what could possibly top it? How about a healthy take on the classic? The next day, we tested the Holiday Kitchen's vegetarian version of shepherd's pie on our dubious friend. Not only did he love it (and not even miss the meat), he insisted on downloading the video recipe so that he could make it himself, on a regular basis.

Success!

If you haven't tried it yet, make this favorite of ours-which will give you a healthy dose of vegetables without keeping you in the kitchen for too long.

Perfect for the inner olympian in you.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie



Ingredients

4 medium potatoes
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup of the grated cheese of your choice
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 stick of celery, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 cup of cauliflower florets
1 tsp of Italian seasoning

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Peel and cut potatoes. Cook in boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender and drain.
3. Pour milk over the potatoes and mash until smooth.
4. Stir in the grated cheese of your choice and season to taste.
5. Heat Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic, celery, leeks, carrots and cauliflower florets.
6. Saute all these veggies gently for 10 minutes if the pan dries out too much, add a little water from the boiling potatoes rather than more oil.
7. Next add a can of beans that you've drained and rinsed andd add Italian seasoning.
8. Spoon the beans and vegetable mixture into an ovenproof dish top with the cheesy potato mash.
9. Sprinkle over with the top with another quarter cup of cheese.
10. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes until the topping is golden brown.

Visit the website to download the video for yourself!

*Also, coming soon to this blog:

A weekly, seasonal guide to vegetables and herbs, which we think will help you greatly in all of your future cooking endeavors!

For the Love of Chocolate

Obviously, the Holiday Kitchen hearts food and cooking in a big way. But we're like everyone else-sometimes we crave certain ingredients more than others and sometimes, we just can't get enough of a good thing. So that's what today's post is for-and some that will surely follow-a dedication to the one food, spice, herb, or general ingredient that is currently driving us crazy and how we're choosing to alleviate the pain. :)

The doctor wouldn't see us if we told him what the ailment was this week...the old sweet tooth. That's right, chocolate. Maybe it was all the candy in our Christmas stockings, but we just can't get enough-and we're not ready to start sticking to any New Year's resolutions yet.

The recipe below is for an amazing little slice of heaven we like to call Chocolate Pecan Pie. It has been known to inspire intense feelings of euphoria-especially great when you're riding high on a chocolate bender. Don't feel bad when you find yourself up at 3am, polishing off the entire thing.
We've been there too. We're there right now.



Ingredients

4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of dark corn syrup
3 squares of unsweetened chocolate
2 cups of pecan halves
1 pie shell

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a mixer bowl, place eggs, sugar and dark corn syrup.
3. Attached with a flat beater turn to speed 6 for 1 minute then Stop and scrape the bowl.
4. Reduce the speed to 4.
5. Gradually add melted unsweetened chocolate and beat for 1 minute until well blended.
6. Reduce the speed to stir and add pecan halves.
7. Now pour the mixture into an unbaked pie pastry in an ungreased pie plate.
8. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until slightly soft in the center.

Lots of whip cream and chocolate shavings on top finish off the job.

You say party, I say POTLUCK!

So, the other day, we mentioned the idea of Potluck for your Super Bowl party. We received a bunch of emails in response-some asking more questions, some giving advice. The info was too good not to post, so, you'll find everything you need to know below-sure to make your next potluck party a fabulous success!

*Potluck dinner party*

Hosting a dinner party is quite a production unless you decide to kick up your heels, have some fun, and split up the work between your guests. Enter the Potluck Recipe Swap Party! The party that gets everyone involved. The concept is that everyone brings one dish and with it a few printed versions of the recipes, so people can bring them home to save and try later.

As the host there are some things you should keep in mind.
1. You want an idea of what everyone is bringing. You want to make sure there are no duplicates or dishes that are too similar. This will make sure that you have a nice variety.
2. Make sure you touch all the bases. You want a little bit of everything-appetizers, sides, mains and desserts.
3. Make sure you have extra dishes and utensils; some dishes that arrive might not be "serve- ready."
4. Remind your guests that all dishes that arrive must be fully prepared in advance. The only thing that should be done in the kitchen is re-warming.
5. And, let your guests know this is fun, and the dishes don’t necessarily have to be fancy. The best dishes are the ones passed down from generation to generation.

The best part of this party is that everyone who brings a dish will be bringing a printed version of their recipe as well. So you’ll be able to leave with a full stomach and a new collection of recipes and cooking inspiration!

In a Nutshell

Ha! Here's a little HK humor. A friend sent us these images the other day. What do you think?

"The World's Most Essential Cooking Tool..."



...Even for the Pros!

Food for Football?

Happy New Year!
We've been extra busy around here lately. After much party-planning, video-sharing, and of course, recipe-creating, we can definitely report that we are exhausted...but in a good way. And, we're not ready to stop yet! Come on people, Super Bowl is right around the corner-which means you're hosting or attending yet another party. Granted, Super Bowl parties don't usually fall under the category of "fancy soiree," but they do require a little bit more planning than your typical weeknight dinner. A new year calls for a new approach, so why not suggest something different to your friends and family this year?
We're thinking Potluck. Potluck suppers aren't just for church functions anymore! They're an easy way to entertain a lot of people and experience a lot of food for very little effort. The basic concept is that each person coming to the party brings one dish to share with everyone else. Combine this with Super Bowl Sunday and you'll have one perfect party! And, the best thing about all of this is that we've already pulled together a list of great recipes for you to make and share (and packaged them in a convenient player that we discovered online-see below. If you click on the bottom navigation of the player, you can scroll through all of the recipes we put in it).

Now, possibly, the idea of having something like chocolate pot de creme for Super Bowl, doesn't seem to make much sense. But remember how we were advocating new year, new ideas? Well, here you go! We found that certain recipes, such as this one, worked great for the holidays because they could be made quickly and easily, and always came out tasting absolutely delicious. They will do the same duty for your Super Bowl party.
A lot of these recipes can be made ahead of time and then served potluck-style, as a spread of finger food. Trust us, hungry football fans will appreciate the variety. Chocolate pot de creme is really just a chocolate pudding. It's a quick, no-bake dessert that can be made ahead of time. Plus, unlike cakes or pies, there's no cutting involved-make in seperate ramekins and put out as part of the spread for guests. All you need to know is how many people are coming (and plan on making some extra!). Another great recipe is the baked camembert, which can be assembled and then stored in the freezer for a couple weeks before baking. On game day, take it out and pop it into the oven. It's that simple. And for a fast munchie, try the sugar glazed pecans. One batch will keep a houseful going strong all night.
So, lesson learned today: Super Bowl party does not equal the same old tortilla chips and dip. Have fun. Try something new. And keep on cooking with us!