Cooking

Leaving the Food Rut Behind

Lora Knows...
citrus is a great acid that adds freshness

During the holidays I spent some of my client-free time cooking the wonderful dishes that brought back childhood memories, but also the dishes we’ve come to love through the years that are now tradition at our table.

Then the holiday season ended, the new year began, and 2020 work goals kicked in, which means less time to cook. By the end of the first week of January I was busy, had little to no time for the kitchen, and we were quickly entering into the food rut we were in last fall. I knew there was no way we could choke down another piece of chicken with the same old stand-by sides. I needed help, and the sooner the better.

That’s when I came across a post by Tieghan Gerard of “Half-Baked Harvest“, she shared “The 25 Most Popular Recipes of 2018“. I clicked through and started looking at the variety of dishes, and how delicious they seemed and that’s when I decided they were the recipes that would rescue us from our food rut!

I printed several and chose to start with “One Skillet Lemon Butter Chicken and Orzo“. It was quick prep, easy to cook in one pot, and the final result was amazing. We loved how fresh it tasted with the herbs and lemon, plus the orzo was a nice change for us. Better yet there were yummy leftovers, which fits in with my cook once, eat twice belief. Leftovers make eating healthy at home a snap and takes the guess work out of what’s for dinner tomorrow night.

Thanks to Tieghan and her recipe I have found my kitchen inspiration. I look forward to sharing how the other recipes are, and to no boring dinners.

Reading

“The After Party”

Lora Knows...

26150788When life was a bit slower I always had a book to read. Now life is more busy and I find time for reading to be rare. These days there are convenient ways to carry a library of books around on an e-reader or a tablet, however I don’t enjoy reading an electronic book. There is something about going to a bookstore or library and browsing through the shelves to find the perfect book. To hold the weight of the book and to feel the texture of the pages when turning, it is all part of the experience for me.

Recently I went to Barnes & Noble and on their “Previous Best Sellers” table I found a book by Anton DiSclafani titled “The After Party”. Anton wrote a story about a lifelong female friendship set in the 1950’s glamorous Houston social scene. The relationships are complicated, obsessive, consuming, and captured me from the first page to the last.

Cooking, Holidays

Pumpkin Surprise

Lora Knows...

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and that means more than family, football, and turkey. It means pumpkin. Through the holidays we will be on pumpkin overload. Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin soup, pumpkin risotto, and of course pumpkin pie.

I don’t mind pouring all the love and time into a traditional pumpkin pie, but it really isn’t my favorite. My fave isn’t even a recipe that has been handed down, or even one that has to be put in the oven. It is a no-bake “Double Layer Pumpkin Pie”.

It has been lovingly renamed “Pumpkin Surprise”, because the whipped topping is on the bottom. I also think it has become my favorite, because it has started a tradition with my nieces. They love helping me make this quick and easy recipe. Plus, their giggles are priceless when they shout “surprise, it’s upside down!” when someone cuts into the pie.

INGREDIENTS

84 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 1/2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

1 cup cold milk

2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix

1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, whisk together cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of milk, and sugar until smooth. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spread into bottom of crust.

Pour 1 cup of milk into large bowl, and thoroughly mix in pudding mix, pumpkin, cinnamon. When thickened, spread over cream cheese layer.

Refrigerate 4 hours.

NOTE: Chilling the crust before adding the first layer and then again after the first layer helps the pie to set and will help avoid the layers mixing together.