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A slightly refined classic green bean casserole

11 Nov

Click on this photo to go to the video demo

Watch me make a slightly refined classic green bean casserole at BKTV.

Green bean casserole is an essential side dish at any Midwestern Thanksgiving dinner, and when I was a kid, it appeared on the table at least once every month. Upon moving to Brooklyn and making my own, however, I realized this was not at all my mom’s green bean casserole, but the recipe from every brand of French-friend onion can, cream of mushroom soup can, and cookbook in the world. But not every ingredient has to come from a can, as I demonstrate in this video from BKTV (the Brooklyn Kitchen‘s video series).

A Missouri girl through and through, though I blanched a pound of fresh green beans for this demo, I still used canned cream of mushroom soup and canned French-fried onions. If you really want to get fancy, you can make your own cream of mushroom soup (it’s really not that hard) and your own French-fried onions.

Thanks to the Brooklyn Kitchen and Daniel Delaney for asking me to share one of my favorite childhood casseroles.

P.S. All of these demos are making me realize I need to smile more on camera. (Here’s one from EatTV.com, I’m still working on embedding. I had a Casserole Party hangover when I made it) .

The full recipe is after the jump.

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Five Things to Expect at the 6th Annual Brooklyn Casserole Party

18 Oct

The Brooklyn Casserole Party is exactly one week away. And you still have five days to register.

If you need a little more encouragement, here are five things to expect at the Sixth Annual Brooklyn Casserole Party, happening Monday, October 25 at The Brooklyn Kitchen.

1. Camille Ford, host of the Travel Channel’s “Food Wars,” will judge your casserole, along with Corey Henderson of the Universal Records Database (URDB.org, as seen on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,) and Ann Kansfield from the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen.

2. Corey will be helping us set some casserole-related records for URDB. No word yet on whether Jimmy Fallon will be his date, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

3. New this year: the beer is lovingly provided by the Brooklyn Brewery.

4. Also new this year: since you don’t have to buy beer, I’m going to pass the Pyrex for the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen while we’re all stuffing our faces with food we probably don’t need but absolutely want. So bring your dollar bills, yo.

5. As usual, the grand prize will be a lovely Le Creuset.

Please read the Rules & Regulations and register for the Sixth Annual Brooklyn Casserole Party.

Crazy in Life, Not Just Casseroles

18 Dec

I’ve been terrible about updating this blog lately. And I apologize. I was just interviewing Rachel Kramer Bussel for SXSW World and though she has a full-time job and edits books, she manages to update Cupcakes Take the Cake at least six times a day. She is obviously doing something right that I am not.

Anyway, part of my craziness involves the fact that I’m planning a move to Kansas City in, oh, two days. I ran out of boxes and still have to pack my entire vintage Pyrex collection (save the green mixing bowl my friend broke when she was trying to be helpful by doing the dishes).

Part of the reason for the move is I need more mental and physical space to write, and well, I want a bigger kitchen.  I promise to update the blog more in the new year and I can’t wait to tell you all about the new book I’m working on, but I will—wait that is.

Until then, check out all the great press I’ve gotten for the book. Or listen to my call-in to WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show today.

Day After Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner

5 Dec

Better late than never, right?

I hadn’t cooked Thanksgiving dinner since 2001 and decided that this year, my last year in New York, Thanksgiving was going to be perfect. I had two guests coming into town, my friend Lacey was coming over for dinner and my roommate would be around. That Monday, I went to Whole Foods and bought the smallest organic, free-range turkey I could find (11 pounds), Brussels sprouts, red potatoes and ridiculous amounts of butter.

Tuesday, my roommate and I got into a fight. Wednesday, my friends called to say they had to cancel their trip due to a family illness. Lacey is a vegetarian.

I asked around to see if anyone needed a place to go, but everyone already had plans. Lacey and I, being Thanksgiving orphans, were able to attend another friend’s dinner. But I still had an 11-pound turkey in the fridge.

This gave me an idea: The Day After Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner. I had a turkey to get rid of, people would want an excuse to leave their families early and, damnit, I still wanted to host the perfect Thanksgiving. I sent out an email to a few friends I figured would be around and… forgot to brine the turkey.

In the mean time, I asked the friend who was taking Lacey and me in what she would like us to bring. But she didn’t need a turkey or Brussels sprouts or even mashed potatoes. No, she needed stuffing.

In my family, stuffing came from a box, Stove Top to be exact. I would fill my plate with it as a kid, with a little turkey and cranberry sauce on the side. But, being the casserole queen and all, showing up with a fake casserole would be a little, um, bad? So, I came up with this recipe, headed over to Lacey’s with the ingredients on Thursday morning and crossed my fingers it would turn out okay. What follows is the recipe for The Best Vegetarian Stuffing Ever:

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Bad, Bad Blogger

28 Jun

I’ve been a little lax in posting lately, but there’s been quite a bit going on in my real life (vs. my cyber life). I met my editor for the first time, I signed my contracts, and I’m planning my trip to the Museum of Glass in Corning, New York to learn more about how companies like Pyrex and Corningware played a role in the casserole’s popularity in the United States during WWII.

I’m already overwhelmed by what I’ve found in their online catalog, but post-research I’ll head up to Lake Ontario to relax. (Read: get really sunburned and drink beer out of a koozie.)

To Quote the Backstreet Boys…

19 Jun

I want it that way.

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