Culinary Favorites From A to Z

The Harvest Eating Cookbook

Given perfect five-star reviews from the Amazon customers who have purchased it, The Harvest Eating Cookbook is a gathering of recipes that will help you put together meals that use the best of the harvest produce something many of us look forward to doing every summer and fall. The recipes included in this cookbook are simple recipes featuring the best, fresh ingredients.

Read more about The Harvest Eating Cookbook by clicking right here.

See you
in the kitchen!

QUICK LINK:

Order The Harvest Eating Cookbook on Amazon.

Marinated Snow Pea and Cherry Tomato Salad Recipe

If you are looking for a very fresh, wonderfully nutritious, extremely delicious and boldly colorful salad, this marinated snow pea and cherry tomato salad is the one for you. It is a simple salad or side dish, consisting of just eight ingredients. Four are vegetables and four are in the marinade.

This salad is a salad that I always serve when we celebrate Christmas in July or June or August or whenever. However, it would be good whenever you need a fresh and crunchy addition to any meal. It also makes a great addition to a potluck dinner like your annual Christmas party though for that occasion you want to at least double the recipe.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

MARINATED SNOW PEA AND CHERRY TOMATO SALAD RECIPE

From Culinary Favorites From A to Z

Ingredients

1/4 lb. snow or sugar snap peas (ends trimmed if required)
1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
1/2 cup water chestnuts sliced (we like ours cut in half)
1/4 cup green onions sliced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Instructions

So easy. Just prepare your vegetables first, slicing as indicated. Our water chestnuts come in a can, pre-sliced. Blanch the peas for about 2 minutes in boiling water. Drain, rinse immediately with cold water and drain again. Add the tomatoes, chestnuts and green onions.

For the marinade, mix the last four ingredients together and pour this mixture over your vegetables. Toss gently and chill until supper time at which time you simply drain the vegetables and serve.

Snow Pea Watercolor Painting on a Bookmark

Find this beautiful hand painted snow peas bookmark

on Etsy by clicking here.

MORE SNOW PEAS

Crisp Snow Pea Salad Recipe from GroupRecipes.com
Chefelaine on GroupRecipes calls this a refreshing salad and recommends serving it with grilled salmon or chicken.

Cat Cora's Asparagus and Snow Pea Salad Recipe From Oprah.com
Oprah Winfrey's guest Cat Cora shares a delicious salad of asparagus and snow peas.

MORE CHERRY TOMATOES

Chickpea, Cherry Tomato, and Feta Salad Recipe From Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart shares a nutritious chickpea, cherry tomato and feta salad recipe.

Cherry Tomato Salad from Food and WineAnother simple sounding recipe, Food and Wine shares this one for their cherry tomato salad.

See you in the kitchen!

Brenda

Author's Note: This recipe originally published elsewhere in 2011.

What Is A Moka Coffee Pot?

A Moka coffee pot is a small coffee pot used on top of the stove to make coffee. You may never have used one but I am sure it looks familiar to you. It works by passing hot water that has been pressurized by steam through ground coffee beans and produces a hot beverage similar to espresso.

The New York Times says, "The Moka Express is a beautifully designed example of the ingenuity that can arise from adversity." It was invented by Luigi De Ponti in 1933 for use at home. In the 1930s, Italy was in an economically difficult time, which made making coffee at home appealing. This simple little device crafted from aluminum was extremely popular and is still crafted by Bialetti, the same firm that produced it in the 1930s. The original model is called the Moka Express.

The Moka is more popular in Europe and Latin America than it is in North America and, according to the New York Times, 9 out of 10 Italian households own a Moka pot.

On this page, learn a bit more about the Moka coffee pot, watch a video that explains the simple method used to make Moka coffee and let us know what you think of Moka coffee. In the interest of full disclosure, please note that I am not a coffee drinker. I put tea in my coffee mug but I have a coffee-loving family!

The picture of a Moka pot in action shown here was shared kindly by Beat Rice on Flickr who says that the only thing missing from this page is, "a mention of the coffee smell spreading throughout the house in the morning, which is the only thing that can cheer up an Italian who gets up too early to face a working day..." I expect that the aroma of freshly brewed Moka coffee would work for you, too, even if you are not an Italian.

Why Is Moka Coffee Stronger Than Drip Coffee?

Moka coffee is stronger than drip coffee because the temperature of the water and steam is higher, which causes a better removal of caffeine and flavours from the coffee grounds. Not only is it stronger but it also has a different flavour.

How Do You Brew Moka Coffee?

I am not going to try to answer that question myself. However, I am happy to recommend Brewing Italian Coffee With A Moka Pot, which does a fine job of summarizing what is involved in making moka coffee.

How Does Moka Compare to Espresso Coffee?

The coffee produced from a Moka pot is considered similar to the coffee from an espresso machine. A Moka pot can produce foam emulsion (crema) that is similar to but not exactly like espresso's. (And yes, espresso is spelled with an 's' and not an 'x' as in expresso, a common spelling error.)

You can learn more about the variety of sizes and colors of Moka pots available on Amazon by clicking right here.

Would you recommend Moka coffee? Would you like to try it?

See you
in the kitchen!
Brenda

More Moka Resources

Who Made That Moka Express? - NYTimes.com
"In 1933, when Alfonso Bialetti introduced the Moka Express, Italy's economy wasn't doing much better than it is today. The Great Depression was in full swing, major banks were failing, unemployment was rampant and Italians were forced to curtail the

The Best Fondue Maker is By Cuisinart

Amazon's Best Fondue Maker

Amazon's best fondue maker is not an inexpensive one but it is a quality one and it is on sale today at more than 50 percent off, making the price pretty reasonable for the unit that ranks ahead of all others on Amazon. PLUS, of course, it qualifies for Amazon's FREE shipping.

AMAZON CUSTOMER REVIEW:

"If you like fondue, but find Sterno fuel a pain to use, not to mentioned potentially dangerous... you will love this fondue pot... Just plug it in, turn the knob to the setting you desire and put in the make fondue! Couldn't be easier!" ~ Eric Pruss

Is there a fondue pot in your future?

See you
in the kitchen!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Buy this Cuisinart fondue maker from Amazon.

Author's Note: This originally appeared as part of a post on another site.

Martha Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres and Drew Barrymore Cook Up Some Fun In The Kitchen

As part of the promotion for her new book, Martha Stewart appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show with Drew Barrymore. Together they had a bit of fun creating recipes from Martha Stewart's Appetizers: More than 200 Recipes. The cookbook shares recipes for dips, spreads, snacks, small plates and other delicious hors d'oeuvres plus 30 cocktails. Mostly, Martha led the way and Ellen and Drew had fun. I do wish I had been there to join in the fun.

Here's the video so that you can check out the fun for yourself. It is just over 7 minutes long and shares the ideas though not exactly the recipes that are included in the video.

If after watching you decide you'd like to try some of those recipes, you'll find the cookbook on Amazon by clicking right here. I don't normally prepare many appetizers but I would love to try these recipes. They all look tasty and I think it would be fun to put guests work in the kitchen creating them with a glass of Martha's apple cider sangria in hand. The recipe for which is in the book, of course.

See you
in the kitchen!
Brenda