Home Is Where The Haggis Is

  • Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Monthly Archives: November 2014

    • Giving Thanks

      Posted at 9:11 am by Lisa Cavallari
      Nov 27th

      IMG_4056

      The bird is in the oven, the table is set and the desserts and cranberries are done.  In just a few short hours our families will arrive laden with more food and a few early Christmas presents.  I am enjoying the quiet for now, but I am thankful for family who are healthy, happy and for those able to spend the holiday with us.

      Tomorrow, we are doing something entirely different.  There will be no china, no crystal or silver; it’s something that means a lot to not only us, but the ones that we help.  A future blog post will cover this so stay tuned.  In the meantime, I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving.

      Share this:

      • Tweet
      • Share on Tumblr
      • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
      • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
      Like Loading...
      Posted in Cooking, Holidays | Tagged Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Table
    • Gnocchi Made Simple

      Posted at 8:00 am by Lisa Cavallari
      Nov 18th

      Gnocchi

      This recipe comes straight from Grandma Cavallari’s kitchen.  She pronounces it “yon-key” and it was one of the first recipes I learned to make from her.  Although I experienced a couple of hiccups after my first lesson due to lack of flour (you can never use too much in this recipe), it really has proven to be an easy and tasty way to enjoy homemade pasta.  I think my jaw hit the floor, and my husband too, when she showed us her secret tomato sauce…Prego Traditional Pasta Sauce.  Grandma swore that it tasted almost as good as the homemade version that she made, but this took a lot less time so we only use Prego now.

      Oh, and can I also mention how inexpensive this recipe is too?   Give it a try this winter and let me know how it worked for you.

      Homemade Gnocchi

      • Servings: 6-8
      • Time: 1hr15mins
      • Difficulty: moderate
      • Print

      Ingredients:

      • 4 large Russet potatoes (factor 1/2 potato per person)
      • 1/2 bag of Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour
      • 1 large jar Prego Traditional Pasta Sauce

      Tools:

      Potato Ricer – a stainless steel kitchen tool that presses potatoes through a sheet of small holes leaving them light and fluffy without mashing.

      Directions

      1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Peel potatoes and place them carefully into pot of boiling water.

      2. Allow potatoes to cook until tender when pierced with a fork, roughly 15-20 minutes.  Take potatoes out of pot by  placing them into a bowl.  Drain pot and refill with fresh water.  Add salt and bring water back to a boil.

      3. Place pot near your work surface, preferably a clean countertop.  Place half of a potato into ricer and press down so that potato pieces fall into a mountain-like pile.  Continue to press remaining potatoes through ricer.

      4. Working quickly while the potatoes are still hot, place a pile of flour equal to the pile of potatoes next to one another.  Combine potatoes and flour until you have formed a nice dough into a ball.  Be careful working with the hot potatoes. The mixture must be hot or it will not be the consistency you want it.

      5. Sprinkle flour on your work surface and roll out your dough with a rolling pin.

      6. Using a knife cut strips about 1/2 inch to an inch wide.

      7. Using more flour, roll each strip into a rope shape.

      8.  Cut each strip on the diagonal into 1 inch pieces.

      9.  Once pieces are cut, place them into the remaining pot of water.  Stir constantly.  They don’t take long to cook and once they begin to float, you know they are fully cooked.  Drain pasta and place in a large, rectangular dish.  Pour Prego on top as well as grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

      Enjoy!

      Using the ricer.  See the steam?  I wasn’t kidding when I said it’s hot!

      Ricer

      Cutting pieces of potato pasta.   They look like cute, little pillows. Tip: we accidentally used bread flour instead of all-purpose (long story) and it made the pasta more al dente.  I would try that mistake again.

      Gnocchi

       

      Cutting Gnocchi

      Share this:

      • Tweet
      • Share on Tumblr
      • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
      • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
      Like Loading...
      Posted in Cooking | Tagged Homemade Gnocchi, Potato Dumplings, Potato Gnocchi
    • Leaf Piles

      Posted at 10:00 am by Lisa Cavallari
      Nov 11th

      IMG_4024

      My husband originally dubbed them ‘leaf piles.’  We had been dating for over a year and after celebrating the holidays together he still craved the corn flake wreaths with the cinnamon candies on top.  Instead of going to the trouble to dye the melted marshmallows green, he left it white and instead of forming cute little wreath shapes he just plopped the marshmallow and corn flake mixture down on a cookie sheet.  It was just like a Rice Krispie Bar, but with corn flakes.  So good!

      Corn Flake Treats

      Fast forward eleven years later and now our children are addicted to these gooey, yummy treats.

      If you are looking for something easy and somewhat healthy to make for Thanksgiving at the kids table then try this recipe.  My kids don’t care for pumpkin or pecan pie so this is what they will be munching on this year. They don’t even want Rice Krispies anymore, they are strictly Corn Flake treats addicts(aka Leaf Piles).  You could also add red, orange or yellow food coloring to the mix to make your leaf piles look more vibrant.

      Leaf Piles

      • Servings: 4-6
      • Time: 10mins
      • Difficulty: easy
      • Print

      Ingredients:

      • 1 stick of unsalted butter
      • 1  10 ounce bag Jet Puffed Miniature Marshmallows
      • 5 heaping cups Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
      • Colored sprinkles (optional)

      Directions

      1. In a large pot, slowly melt the butter with the stove set on medium-low heat.  Be careful not to burn the butter.  Keep stirring until it is completely melted.

      2.  Add marshmallows and continue to stir until all the marshmallows are melted.

      3.  Pour Corn Flakes into melted marshmallows and stir until combined.

      4. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with non-stick spray, drop cereal mixture by heaping spoonfuls.  You should end up with 12 leaf stacks.

      5. Sprinkle with colored sprinkles such as orange, red or yellow.  Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

      IMG_4026

       

       

       

       

      Share this:

      • Tweet
      • Share on Tumblr
      • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
      • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
      Like Loading...
      Posted in Baking | Tagged Corn Flake Treats, Gooey Corn Flake Snack, Marshmallow Corn Flakes
    • Breakfast At Tiffany’s Anyone?

      Posted at 2:31 pm by Lisa Cavallari
      Nov 2nd

      How has your Halloween weekend been so far?  My husband and I went to a costume party last night.  Here we are.  🙂

      Tiffany's

      I love Breakfast At Tiffany’s and, of course, Audrey Hepburn.  So classy and beautiful on the outside and inside with a touch of humour sprinkled in her too.  This is a costume I have been dying to try, but never had the right occasion to wear it.  I definitely couldn’t pull this off at a family-themed party.  It ended up giving me an excuse to try out my Roland Mouret dress.  Remember that post?  (wink)

      Audrey Hepburn Costume

      IMG_3992

      Have a great week!

      Oh, and congratulations to Laura for winning the bottle of balsamic.  When I told Galena Garlic Company about my blog they offered to throw in some seasoning packets as an added bonus so enjoy!

      Share this:

      • Tweet
      • Share on Tumblr
      • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
      • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
      Like Loading...
      Posted in Baking | Tagged Breakfast At Tiffany's, Halloween Costume, Holly Golightly
    • Recent Posts

      • Know The Signs
      • Popovers
      • Wine On Wednesday: Pride
      • Chicken Piccata
      • Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie
    • Categories

      • Wine (47)
      • Baking (41)
      • Cooking (31)
      • Holidays (16)
      • Kids (16)
      • Shopping (10)
      • diy (10)
      • Uncategorized (8)
      • Travel (7)
      • Health (5)

Start a Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Home Is Where The Haggis Is
    • Join 82 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Home Is Where The Haggis Is
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d