Carma Spence has been experimenting in the kitchen since she was four years old and loves trying out new recipe ideas. She is the author of Bonkers for Bundt Cakes and Your Perfect Pie, as well as author and contributor to several more non-food-related books. With Carma's Cookery, she is taking her passion for empowering people and blending it with her passion for cooking, gift-giving and entertaining.
About a week ago, I received a pitch email letting me know about IKEA’s new advert for IKEA’s new IKEA METOD Kitchen range. I clicked on the link to watch the video and had two reactions:
1. This is clever.
2. Some of this imagery is slightly disturbing and makes me very uncomfortable.
The video literally cooks up a kitchen, using miniaturized IKEA products as “raw ingredients” to highlight the fact that the new METOD range of kitchens can be put together according to very personal tastes.
Like much of IKEA’s products, METOD is a modular system. Each piece allows for easy installation in your kitchen, efficient measurement and accessible combinations of doors, interior fittings, hinges, colors, drawers and frames, etc.
I liked the idea of a modular kitchen and asked for more information. I thought they’d send me more information about the METOD kitchen. Instead, I received pictures from the video and a document with a story about the video.
Strange, huh?
Since Carma’s Cookery is about creativity, and this video is creative, I’m going to share it. It’s clean … you don’t need to worry about the kids seeing it … but I’d love to read your thoughts about the imagery. The scene with the screws gave me the willies.
Public domain image via pixabay.com.Over the Labour Day weekend, I got to meet my in-laws-to-be for the first time. We all met at my fianceé’s mother’s house for a salad potluck. Given my love of salads — my favorite restaurant is Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantation — I was delighted by the array of salad choices and made sure to have a little bit of each one.
Some were better suited to my palate than others, but for me the stand out salad of the day was — get this — Popcorn Salad.
I would never have thought of putting popcorn in a salad, and, frankly, I didn’t even recognize that as an ingredient until I tasted it. I asked my mother-in-law-to-be for the recipe.
If I had seen this recipe before I tasted it, I would have left out a couple of ingredients. I’m not a big fan of celery and I might have tried to find a substitute for the mayo. But it was so good, I knew I had to share this with you as it was presented to me.
I think it could be your next hit — with kids and adults alike — when it comes time to bring something to the buffet again.
So now put on your creative thinking caps: How could you use this basic recipe to come up with something uniquely your own? Here are some ideas that came to the top of my mind:
Use cheddar popcorn instead of plain
Toss in some ranch dressing mix
Add Craisins for color and a touch of sweetness
Increase the chives or add in chopped green onions
Add in 1/4 cup shredded purple cabbage for flavor and color
Share Your Kitchen Creativity!
I hope you enjoy this salad as much as I did. If you do — and if you experiment with it and come up with something new — please tell us about it in a comment below. And be sure to share it in social media using the hashtag #carmascookery.
Here’s an unusual salad that you can bring to buffets or serve with a weekend BBQ. It is surprisingly good and people will enjoy the whimsical flavors.
Public domain image via pixabay.com.
Ingredients:
10 slices bacon
¾ cup mayonnaise
1 cup diced celery
1-¼ cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided (1 cup and ¼ cup)
1 8-oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained
¼ cup shredded carrots
2 Tablespoons minced fresh chives
6 cups popped popcorn
Directions:
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly browned. Drain and crumble. Set aside. NOTE: It might be easier and faster to cook the bacon if you cut the strips in half before cooking.
In a large bowl, combined the mayonnaise, celery, water chestnuts, carrots, chives, 1 cup cheese and ½ cup bacon. Mix well.
NOTE: Complete this step that last minute, otherwise the popcorn will become soft and not as tasty. This dish does not make good leftovers! Add popcorn and stir to coat. Sprinkle in remaining ¼ cup cheese and the rest of the bacon. Serve immediately.
If you’re looking for a meatless meal that satisfies, look no further. This isn’t exactly a recipe, but is meant to inspire you for our next veggie-only dish.
Ingredients:
Chopped fresh vegetables
Chopped fresh herbs, such as basil, parsley and oregano
Olive oil
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Chop up some veggies, herbs and toss them in some olive oil.
Mix all your ingredients and wrap everything in foil on a baking dish. Bake at 350°F for about 40 minutes or so.
Drizzle with your favorite balsamic reduction and serve over rice, quinoa or just have it by itself.
Here pattypans, peppers, onions and tomatoes are used, but mushrooms, eggplant, garlic and plenty of other veggies also work well.
A few weeks ago, I was at a party where bow-tie pasta with mushrooms and pink sauce was served. It was incredibly delicious. So, I went into research mode to find out how to make pink sauce myself.
Turns out, it is pretty much marinara sauce with added cream.
That gave me the idea for last night’s meal. I purchased a small container (one pind) of whipping cream and mixed it into a jar of basic marinara sauce.
Voila! Very tasty results.
I also sautéd some onion, garlic and mushrooms. Tossed that with bow-tie pasta and mixed in my off-the-cuff pink sauce. Dinner took about 30 minutes to make and it was a hit!
This is what Kitchen Creativity is all about … using simple skills you currently have, with simple ingredients that are easy to buy, to create meals that taste like those made by a fancy, shmancy chef!
Have you recreated restaurant fare in your kitchen? Please share in a comment below.
Michael Barera [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Michael Barera
[CC BY-SA 4.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL],
via Wikimedia CommonsOne of the best ways to live organically is to buy farm fresh foods. The best way to do that is to frequent you local farmer’s markets. Here is Long Beach, Calif., we have several and one is being held somewhere within 10-15 miles of my home almost every day of the week!
So why not look up and remember when your local farmer’s markets are? They’re often cheaper than the grocery store, and you can ask directly about how the food was grown. Why would you do that? Well, not all food has to be labeled “Organic” to be healthy. And, there are different levels of “organic.” If you’re buying directly from the farmer, you can ask how it was made and make more educated purchasing decisions.
Want to save even more money at the farmer’s market? Stay to the end — they’ll often give out last minute deals to clear out inventory.
What if you don’t have a local farmer’s market, or it occurs at an inconvenient time? There are now alternatives to trekking out to get fresh produce. You can now sign up for your local fruit or veggie boxes. Farmers will deliver fresh organic produce straight to your door. Even some national companies offer such services that deliver local foods, too. Here are some services to check out:
Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.
This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.
Public domain image from the United States Department of Agriculture via Wikimedia Commons.
Public domain image from the United States Department of Agriculture via Wikimedia Commons.One of my favorite side dishes when I was growing up was acorn squash. My mother would bake it and then serve it with melted butter and brown sugar. Yum!
In honor of National Acorn Squash Day, which is today, I thought I’d share information about this hearty fall vegetable that can be so versatile.
Although like other winter season squashes, such as the pumpkin, it has a firm outer shell … kind of like a gourd … it is actually related to the summer squashes, such as zucchini and yellow crookneck squash.
Acorn squashes provide a decent amount of nutrition. They contain vitamin A, niacin, folate, thiamine and vitamin B-6. In addition, a 1/2-cup serving of cooked, cubed acorn squash provides approximately 20% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C for healthy adults following a 2000-calorie diet. Of course, how much vitamin C you receive from your serving depends on how your prepare it.
If you want to get the most vitamin C out of your acorn squash, use it 3-4 days after purchase and cut it just before cooking. Also, steam or bake it — boiling will leach the vitamin C out into the water.
Acorn squash is also a good source of potassium and magnesium. That same 1/2-cup serving provides 13% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of potassium and 11% of magnesium.
Acorn squash provides fiber and antioxidants, as well.
Given its nutritious content, acorn squash is able to impart several health benefits:
Its Vitamin C helps boost your immune system
Its Vitamin A helps improve vision and contributes to good skin
Its fiber help regulate digestion, blood sugar and cholesterol
Its potassium helps to regulate the fluid balance in the cells and tissues, thus helping with blood pressure. These effects are strengthened by its magnesium content, which regulates the uptake of potassium
Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squashes Photo by thebittenword.com via flickr under Creative Commons licenseMost people probably serve acorn squash the way my mother did, but that’s not the only way you can cook this vegetable/fruit.
Roast it and mash it up with potatoes
Stuff it with rice, sausage and savory seasoning — or your favorite other stuffing
Glaze it with citrus such as orange or grapefruit
Season it with rosemary
Pair it with mushrooms, apples or other autumn produce
Puree it into a creamy soup
Cube it and add it to pasta (Mac & Cheese and Acorn Squash anyone?)
Instead of butter and brown sugar, try other ingredients such as mustard and honey
If you do search with the keywords “acorn squash recipes,” you’ll find a wide variety of ways to prepare this seasonal squash.
Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.
This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.
Share Your Kitchen Creativity!
A few weeks ago, I was at a party where bow-tie pasta with mushrooms and pink sauce was served. It was incredibly delicious. So, I went into research mode to find out how to make pink sauce myself.
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