Everyday Food

I used my birthday money to buy a subscription to Everyday Food Magazine – the one from Martha, not Rachel Ray. You may recall that a long time ago I was a devotee to this publication. In fact, I started with issue number one and I think went through the 50s or 60s. (The first year of issues are apparently highly prized, going for quite a few bucks on ebay. I’ve heard tell of $50 for the first issue. Mine are far too splattered and beloved to sell.) But after a few years the recipes got repetitive and I got bored. When I noticed I was no longer cooking out the issues I canceled my subscription.

But now my cooking is stale and I needed inspiration again. I realized that it wasn’t the novelty of the recipes that was so great. It was the seasonal ideas, the pretty pictures, and the simple preparations that inspire me to get in the kitchen. My first issue arrived a couple weeks ago and it has served us well. The following recipes are all from the current issue.

Pulled pork shoulder barbecue sandwiches slathered in Big Hoss sauce. The honey glazed carrots are also from the magazine.

Simplified Paella. I omitted the shrimp and added saffron.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake. This was delicious and served at Movie Club. Unfortunately, it was so tasty that there were no leftovers for me to eat later!

A fresh salad made with a variety of ingredients. It had me hunting the aisles of Sunflower Market to get everything. In fact, I tried three stores for Israeli couscous, aka pearl couscous, aka Middle Eastern couscous -the name by which I finally found it at Whole Foods. It was sold in bulk and I’m happy I bought extra since we really enjoyed it’s texture! The salad also has steamed green beans, cucumber, golden raisins, pistachios, and feta cheese.

Yesterday afternoon I made their basic muffin recipe. I added dried sweetened cranberries (again, hooray for bulk foods at Sunflower!) and topped them with a crusty raw sugar coating. They are deliciously creamy and have just the right amount of sweetness.

I have a couple things left on the meal plan from this issue. We’re going to have their Thai chicken with noodles (substituting udon for glass noodles) and their two pea pasta – made with snap peas, frozen peas, and ricotta. I might also make the artichoke linguine. Yum yum yum.