FFwD - Chicken, Apples and Cream á la Normande

Less than two weeks before Christmas.  I imagine all the French Friday cooks are rushing around like crazy trying to make a happy holiday for their families.  So much to do so little time.  All of the wonderful Christmas cards are helping to keep my spirits bright:)

Chicken, Apples, and Cream á la Normande

Luckily for us this week's recipe was easy and delicious!  When my husband heard what the dish would be he said "Noodles!".  "I want noodles!"  Not one to stand between anyone and a pasta product I cooked noodles and I have to say it was a great call.

I followed Dorie's serving suggestion and made Lemon-Steamed Spinach.  Delicious pairing! 

The next time I make this (and there will be many next times) I will either chunk the chicken or pound it (gently of course) into thinner pieces to help it cook faster.

I'm off to visit my grandson for a few days.  I know I'll be there for Christmas in just over a week but I need a visit NOW:)  Love that sweet baby!

FFwD - Creamy Cauliflower Soups sans Cream

How is it possible for a few vegetables and chicken stock to produce something so creamy?  So velvety?  So smooth?  So delicious?

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

We love cauliflower.  We love it in a gratin, boiled, mashed, roasted or fried.  I can't believe it never occurred to me to blend it into a soup.  That's why I need French Fridays.  That's why I'm thankful for Dorie's cookbook Around My French Table.

I topped my soup with bacon, thanks to a heads up from Cher and some fried thyme leaves.  I'd never fried thyme before but it is actually quite good with a bit of salt.  Just be sure its really dry before dropping the leaves into hot oil!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season.  My out of country Christmas cards went out yesterday.  The rest will go today.  Thank you to everyone participating in the card exchange.  I LOVE Christmas cards:)

TwD - Baking with Julia - Gingerbread Baby Cakes

I'm back!  Its been a couple of months since I participated in Baking with Julia but I've been missing the baking lately so decided to jump back in this month.

Baking with Julia - Gingerbread Baby Cakes

While I really like these little cakes I think they should be called molasses cakes instead of GingerBread Cakes.  I love the dense, chewy texture and the spicy bite provided by the fresh ginger and pepper make for a very sophisticated taste combination.  This is NOT a children's gingerbread cake!

Alas they were not a hit with my husband but that's why there are so many different recipes, right?  So everyone gets what they like!  I paired this with a little scoop of Starbucks Chocolate Chip ice cream and it was divine.

All I had on hand was sorghum and I'm not going to get into the whole sorghum vs molasses debate.  If you're a southerner you know what I mean!  I had sorghum.  I used sorghum.  It was good.  End of story.

Sadly my mustard yellow hand mixer that I received as a shower present from a dear neighbor 41 years ago died recently.  While she was a work horse and wonderful kitchen companion my new mixer is amazing!  Technology has indeed changed!!!

I'm happy to be back and I'm planning some catch up baking.  Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories was the host for Gingerbread Baby Cakes and you can find the recipe on her site.  You can find all the bakers at Tuesdays with Dorie.

FFwD - Cheekless Beef Daube with Carrots and Macaroni

No beef cheeks.  No Le Creuset.  This week's French Friday was chuck roast in a crock pot!  But oh what Dorie can do with chuck roast.  And now I can do it too!!!

Beef Daube with Macaroni

I would love to try this with beef cheeks sometime but not even our butcher shop can get them.    Chuck roast makes a delicious substitute though and this was probably the best pot roast I've ever made.

Since I'm not feeling well (head cold, ugh!) I decided after browning the meat to use the crock pot and it worked out perfectly.  My husband gave it two thumbs up, then added two toes:)  AJ tried it out and also gave his approval...and wanted more:)

AJ asking for another bite!

The secret ingredient, bittersweet chocolate, added depth and just a touch of sweetness.  Or maybe the sweetness came from the wine.  Or a little of both.  I had a zinfandel and a cabernet on hand and decided the cab might be too heavy.  The zin was a tad sweet which is odd because it was also dry but worked out well and was delicious served with the daube.

This was one of the best French Friday recipes so far and will definitely be made again at my house!

A couple of weeks ago we made Goat Cheese Mini Puffs but I didn't blog them.  I just didn't love them and for me they weren't worth the effort.  Maybe for a party they would be nice just because they are different but I'd rather have the goat cheese spread on a crunchy cracker.

Goat Cheese Mini Puffs 

Oh yeah, I've made my olives from last week but we haven't tried them yet!  I'll let you know.

Herbed Olives

Check out all the French Friday results!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

FFwD - Top Secret Chocolate Mousse

Some things cause me to pause.  The first leaves falling in an autumn wind.  My grandson making eye contact with me.  Eating raw eggs.  Call me an impaired gourmand if you choose but that's who I am.

Top Secret Chocolate Mousse

I thought about whether to skip this recipe but I wanted to make it.  Thanks to a new Whole Foods I was able to find pasteurized eggs.  End of dilemma right?  Nope.  Pasteurized egg whites will not whip up into a light and airy meringue!  Will not!  The picture below shows egg whites that look more like...I'm not sure what.

Pasteurized egg whites whipped for 3 minutes

So I switched to regular egg whites and voila...after 1 minute look what I had!

Egg whites whipped for 1 minute!


We loved it!  An easy and elegant dessert!  Its great eaten immediately but the next day its kind of like a chocolate truffle.  Nothing wrong with that!  Oh yeah...I would like to report no illness as a result of eating raw eggs.  I didn't expect there would be but we all have our phobias

There has been much cussing and swearing as I write this!  See how I can't get out of the photo box!  I give up!  ANNOYING!

Check out all the French Friday cooks!

FFwD - Mushroom and Shallot Quiche

Many of the blogs I've read over the years talk about Nick Malgieri's pie crust so I decided to try it for this quiche. It worked great but it is quite different from a traditional flaky crust. It's more like a cookie crust which might seem odd with a mushroom quiche but somehow it goes together beautifully.

Mixing the quiche I was thinking it was a bit fussy with the sprinkle the thyme then the mushrooms and top with scallions and cheese so while I'm thinking about it being fussy I forgot to spread the mushrooms! Yes I forgot the mushrooms for the mushroom quiche! Luckily I wondered what was in the bowl on the counter...duh! I sort of dropped them on top and all was well.

I'll definitely make this again. I brought it to my daughter's in law house to share with her and we both enjoyed it. My son, the non mushroom eater wonders why I didn't substitute tomatoes... Maybe next time:)

I've just written my first post on my ipad. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one! Sorry but I don't know how to link back to the French Friday page. If anyone knows how I'd appreciate the info.

Happily so far all our NE Doristas seem to be in good shape. So sorry for all the folks with no power. Hope it will be back soon!

Cranberry Coffee Cake

Pioneer Woman Nantucket Cranberry Pie

About a year ago, before I discovered pinterest, I came across a recipe for cranberry coffee cake while surfing the net and gave it a try for a ladies coffee date at my house.  We all loved it and I made it a couple of times before moving on to something else and it totally went off my radar.  Until I saw fresh cranberries in the grocery store recently.  Now I can't find the same recipe.

I found this one from The Pioneer Woman and tried it today.  Its good but its not quiet what I'm looking for.  But this one is worth a try.  The topping is a lot like a crumble with a delicate almond flavor.  The one I had before was a bit more like coffee cake.

If anyone has a recipe for cranberry cake, pie, or coffee cake please let me know!

FFwD - Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes and Soup Catch Up

B having breakfast with GiGi and Thunder:)

I know that's not a picture of Chicken Tagine or Spur of the Moment Soup but I can't resist the impulse to tell you why I missed last week's post.  He was at my house:)  Having our grandson spend a week with us without his parents was heavenly!  For us at least, not so much for his Mom and Dad.

B stayed at Camp GiGi Thunder (I'm GiGi, Gary's Thunder......I know, I know its weird but there's a story) while his parents settled into their new home.  A chance to know B more intimately was not just rewarding it filled our hearts to near bursting.  Being grandparents IS as wonderful as people say!!!  The problem is we miss him so much now.  We are going through serious baby withdrawal pain.

Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes

The Chicken Tagine.  It was wonderful.  The chicken was moist and tender.  The prunes and onions almost melt in your mouth.  Sweet potatoes are always a hit with us.  I served it with rice because that's what I had but I would love to try it with couscous.  I might not make the recipe as is often but I will use the technique often.

Spur of the Moment Vegetable Soup

And last week's Spur of the Moment Soup - Loved it too!  I used carrots and potatoes, once again its what I had and it was quick and easy and delicious!  October has been a great month of Dorie recipes!

Visit the French Friday website to see what everyone else did with the recipe.  Now we're on to November's recipes and it looks like another great line up.  Happy Halloween everyone:)

FFwD - Crispy, Crackly Apple-Almond Tart

Crispy, Crackly Apple-Almond Tart

Its not pretty.  I want a dessert to be pretty.  When I bring it to the table I want people to gasp, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but I want the people eager for a taste.  This apple-almond tart looks okay.  It looks like the sturdy older sister of desserts that will be a perfectly adequate dessert but not a fun, flirty younger sister of a dessert that will leave you wanting more!

That being said it probably would have been prettier had I run it under the broiler (as Dorie suggests) to brown the apples up a bit.  I served it with Brown Sugar Bourbon Ice Cream.  The recipe was in my new bon Appétite magazine and I was able to fulfill my goal of cooking at least one recipe from every magazine that comes in the house:)  Gary thought the ice cream was too sweet but I thought it was great and it will probably make an appearance at Thanksgiving to escort the pecan pie!  I might even add toasted pecans!

Aside from appearance this tart is good and very easy to make.  Gary's hoping I'll make it again soon!

I just took at peek at the other French Friday cooks links and it looks like everyone loved it!

FFwD - Hummus

Hummus from Around My French Table



Hummus may not seem very French but Dorie says its become popular and on the menu at many restaurants and in many homes.  If I were composing a book of recipes from 'around my American table' there would be things like ravioli and tacos and posole and other things not necessarily thought of as typical American food.

A friend came over and we shared a bottle of Grgich Hills Cabernet with our hummus.  Its a wine that is out of my typical budget but we split the cost making it fun and affordable for us both.  Grgich Hills was our favorite winery on our Napa tour.

Be sure to check out everyone's results with this easy and delicious recipe at  French Fridays with Dorie!