Welcome and Giveaway!

Welcome to Cooking to Save's new home! I am excited about our new space and in the next few days you'll see more activity here. The cookbook section will be completed and you'll be able to find all my recipes in one complete location. In the meantime, enter to win the contest for my favorites prep bowls. They are so great; I promise you once you have them you won't need anything else. I love having many bowls(that all stack into 1) of all different sizes - you don't always want a huge mixing bowl!



Here's how to enter:

1.   Leave me a comment here and tell me if you like my new home or feel free to leave a suggestion!

2.  Follow me on Twitter here. (@cookingtosave) Then please retweet the giveaway to share it with all of your friends!

3.  Become a Fan on Facebook.. (I love fans!! :) ) My facebook page is here. Leave me a comment on my fan page.

So, as you can see, you can have up to 3 entries to win. I will randomly select a winner Friday at 5:00pm, EST. (Unfortunately, this giveaway is only for US readers).

Thanks again for stopping by! I have some great new recipes coming this week so stay tuned! In the meantime, check out my past recipes and posts by clicking on the tab “Old Stuff” (witty, aren’t we?!) at the top!

Cookies for Easter!

I’m getting in the Easter mood here! The weather has been so nice, you can actually see a few buds on the trees. Spring and Easter go hand in hand in my mind! But unfortunately, rain has come to New England so this afternoon I decided to work on some cookies for Easter. I have a great shortbread cookie recipe that I love and I somehow came up with the idea that it would be fun to turn them into a delicious chocolate dipped sandwich cookie. The result? So yummy! Let’s just say I will need to make more for Easter! And, to make it even better, you can’t imagine how easy these cookies are. You make the dough, put in the fridge for an hour or more, slice and go! Try them and watch them disappear!



Chocolate Raspberry Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup Confectioner’s Sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour

6oz, chocolate chips
1 tblsp Crisco
Raspberry Jam
decorative sprinkles

With mixer on medium, mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Add salt, vanilla and flour and mix on low, just until dough comes together. Remove from bowl and form into 2 logs on wax paper(see picture at bottom) Refrigerate until chilled. (at least 1 hour).
Remove from refrigerator and slice about 1/8” thick. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 300 for 20 -25 minutes. (Take them out before they brown, they will firm up when cooling). When cool melt chocolate and crisco in microwave. Stir until smooth. Make sandwich with 2 cookies and a thin layer of jelly. Dip each sandwich into chocolate 1/2 way down (top only) and then dip in sprinkles, if desired. Let cool on wax paper. ( Store in tin).

Balsamic Flank Steak

Well, the party is over here. After being away for a few days, we are back on track of eating at home. Since we all over indulged a little while we were away (more on that in another post), tonight I wanted to have a big salad. My boys need some substance with it though so I decided a little beef would perk it up. And, since it is spring, Flank Steak came to mind. Flank Steak is one of those meats I don’t make very often, but when I do, everyone loves it. Then I forget about it again for a few months! Flank Steak can be a little dull though, so I concocted a marinade to spice things up. I love marinades but don’t love buying the store bought ones; always so much sodium. It’s amazing what you can throw together to make a marinade. I whisked the marinade together about 3:00 and poured it over the meat. At 6:00 tonight all I had to do was put together a salad and grill up the meat. I ended up pouring some Caesar Dressing on top of the salad - it was yummy! Not a morsel left. The meat turned out wonderfully; Brittany suggested that next time I serve it with rice and a vegetable. In her words, “It tasted like steak tips”. Not a bad review! So, if you haven’t already done so, time to break out the grill!



Balsamic Marinade for Beef(I used a 2 1b Flank Steak)

1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tblsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tblsp Dijon Mustard
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp Italian Seasonings(preferably no salt added, if not, omit salt)

Whisk ingredients together and pour over meat. Marinate for at least 2 hours.
Remove meat and place on grill. Discard marinade.

Big News and Giveaway!!

I am moving!! Well, not me, but my blog! I have a new home with a new, easier web address:  www.cookingtosave.com. This new site will allow me to have more features and you to be able to access recipes in an easy, concise way.  To thank you for following me to my new home, I am having a giveaway this week!  One lucky reader will win a set of my favorite glass prep bowls:

These are the best bowls! I use them everyday for more things then I could ever have imagined. It is so nice to have a bowl in any size, from the tiniest to the largest.  And they nest so they don't take up much room at all. I know you will love these; my guess is that, like me, you won't need any others!  Here's how you enter to win:

1.   Visit my new site, www.cookingtosave.com, leave me a comment  and tell me if you like my new home or feel free to leave a suggestion!

2.  Follow me on Twitter here. (@cookingtosave) Then please retweet the giveaway to share it with all of your friends! You'll receive another entry in the giveaway. 

3.  Become a Fan on Facebook.. (I love fans!! :) ) My facebook page is here. Leave me a comment on my fan page.(If you are already a fan, just leave me a comment and I will give you another entry!)

So, as you can see, you can have up to 3 entries to win. I will randomly select a winner Friday at 5:00pm, EST. (Unfortunately, this giveaway is only for US readers).

Please make sure to change your bookmark or RSS feed to www.cookingtosave.com !  I am really excited about the changes, please come see me at my new home, enter to win the giveaway and  get ready for some new recipes this week! Spring is here!

Inspiration and Excitement

Cooking to Save is on the road for some inspiration!  And... couldn't we all use some inspiration :)?  Or at least a little excitement?  So, check back on Monday... I will have some excitement to share with you.  And, I definitely mean share!  

Fresh Eggs

Here in New England, there really is no fresh produce to be had this time of year.  Too cold, too snowy, too...winter.  Everything in the stores is shipped from some distant universe so by the time it gets here, it doesn't last long and it is always a little less flavorful. Yesterday, I had a small field trip to the one place where winter doesn't mean "closed until spring": the local farm. As I walked in, they urged me to go see the new baby cows. But I was there for some other goodness.  And, I was not disappointed! Here's what greeted me when I entered the barn:

Oh, I was so excited!  Have you tried really, really fresh eggs?  There is a huge difference from the ones that come on a truck to your grocery store.  God only knows when some little chicken gave them up. Or, in what conditions that chicken lived.  I know all about the chickens at that farm.  In fact, my kids have gone to summer camp there and spent time collecting the eggs from the chickens. Really fresh eggs have wonderful flavor; you taste one and suddenly remember what an egg really is like.  Suddenly you remember what you have been missing.  And suddenly, you have inspirations to make so many egg dishes!  So, even if  there is nothing green growing yet where you live, try and find a farm with chickens.  I promise you, it will be worth the extra drive!

Irish Soda Bread

One day to go before St. Patrick's Day!  Why not make a quick, easy Irish Soda Bread?  I must admit, I have never made one before.  But this year, in my Cooking To Save spirit, I decided to make one instead of buying it.  My neighbor gave me her mother's recipe; I couldn't believe how easy it was! There's no yeast so don't get worried.  Her recipe was simple and quick to put together.  For classic recipes, I do think old recipes are usually the best.  As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".  As it baked away, my whole house smelled delicious.  The one downside to Irish Soda Bread is that it doesn't last long; definitely best eaten warm or within a day.  My oldest, Ryan will attest to that... he walked in last night, decided he had to grill a piece and slather it with butter.  It was gone in a heartbeat! I love this recipe though, it calls for golden raisins.  The golden raisins really add a sweetness to it and make it extra good.  Why not surprise the family with a little Irish?  Depending on your wardrobe, it might be easier then wearing green!

Irish Soda Bread  from the files of Grace Davis

3 ½  cups sifted flour
2/3  cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½  cups golden raisins
1  Tbl. caraway seeds
2 eggs
1 ½ cups buttermilk
2 Tbl. melted butter

Preheat  oven  to 375 (350 for glass).  Grease a 9” loaf pan or   2 ½ quart bowl.  Sift together flour, sugar,salt,powder,and soda.  Add raisins and caraway seeds to dry ingredients and toss to coat raisins.  In a small bowl mix eggs,buttermilk and melted butter.  Pour onto the dry ingredients, mixing just until moist.  Bake for  1 hour.  If using a glass bowl, leave in the oven  about 1 hour more with the heat off.