Cathy Burnham Martin's Blog, page 128

Sorry, but being a lifelong Red Sox fan has also made me aware of other team’s sufferings from various “curse” experiences. I only wish the World Series could have been Cubs v Red Sox.

All good. SOOOOOO happy for Cubs fans everywhere. (Sorry Cleveland. It is not easy to be playing against the year of Destiny.)

WARNING!!! Don’t let this book fall into human hands!!!!  That’s Bandit’s strong advice regarding his new book.  A Dangerous Book for Dogs is filled with insider tips and secret strategies to help canines get and keep their humans in line.  Some wonderful advice was also shared by his various canine pals, too.

You’ll find many chuckles along the way as you recognize how some of your own human friends try to understand and cope with their own paws-itively wonderful friends.  Bandit… sometimes known as 7 Pounds of Fun, Fur, and Fury… serves up some superb FREE Bonus treats as well.

If you are a big fan, you can also get the full, unabridged text in a full-color edition by the same title.  Only the cover photographs differ.  The regular paperback (with Bandit lounging on a striped pillow on the cover) contains the same nearly 150 photographs inside as the full-color edition, although they are in black-and-white.

For the full-color edition, look for Bandit propped up on a white pillow.  Always the Pillow Puppy… helping him rest as he shares his wisdom.  Now Bandit will start producing the full, unabridged edition as an Audiobook.  That is scheduled for release this Spring!

[image error]The latest book, narrated by Cathy Burnham Martin, is entitled “The Hormone Fix: Naturally Rebalance Your System in 10 Weeks.”

While it may sound wild, hormonal imbalance affects more people than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined!  Yikes!  Written by Dr. Julius Herrera, “The Hormone Fix” explains the reality of the science within us AND delivers a natural approach to feeling healthy and balanced, regardless of the “time of the month” OR the time of your life.

Check the new Audiobooks page on my blog www.GoodLiving123.com to see how I’m celebrating my new career twist in the New Year.   After doing voiceover work for decades, I am a Johnny-Come-Lately to narrating Audiobooks, and I am loving it!!!!  I will keep updating the list as I complete works… I am narrating my own books as well as those by other authors.  They’re available on sites like Audible.com, Amazon, iTunes, and such.

I’m learning a lot as I narrate nonfiction works, but I’m also having a blast portraying so many characters in novels.  Oh, and I was told to try romance, so I did.  OMG!  Hubby suggested that I simply “pant” a lot, but I found that was not necessary.  He’s such a wise guy.  

Since I first made these gems in the late 1970’s, folks have asked why I didn’t sell them.  That’s not my focus, but I figured someone else would… someday.  That day is now.

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“Fresh Gourmet” is the name under which they are manufactured.  I’ve now seen them in supermarkets in both the North and South.  They offer two varieties… Parmesan and Asiago.

I bought a bag of each.  (Beware… the price approaches $5 for a small bag.)

The contents match my simple one-ingredient approach.  Cheese.  Just cheese.  100% real, gluten-free, dairy-rich cheese.  Nothing else.  Nada.  Bupkiss.

While the supermarket variety is a small 1” size disk, I advocate making them in a variety of sizes, to suit your needs.  Small ones to replace crackers.  Large disks to top a salad.  I also do some other “shape” treatments for visual interest when placing my Cheese Crisps out with cocktails and other tapas items.  You can “crinkle” each disk a bit or roll them into tubes, but you must do this while they are still fresh and hot from the oven, since they cool very quickly to a nice crispy texture.

Before I give you the recipe again, let me answer the questions I have already gotten from personal friends.  No, I have no plans to buy them again.  They are just too super simple to make.   I could imagine myself buying a bag if I was traveling and wanted a cheesy snack for the road.  If you want a zero carb snack with all the crunch of a cracker, these babies deliver!

Plus, I make them in lots of flavor varieties, beyond Parmesan and Asiago.  Favorites include Pepper Jack and Muenster, by the way.  The original idea came from picking at cheese that had melted off my nachos and gotten crispy on the foil-covered baking pan.  Oh, yeah!

So, here’s the recipe for you.

Super Simple Cheese Crisps 

Sandwich-size deli square slices of cheese, such as Muenster, cut in 4 squares

Space 4 pieces of cheese in a Pyrex pie dish or 8” square baking dish.  Microwave on high 1 minute (or up to 90 seconds depending on your microwave.  (It helps to start with a warm plate, or you may need to flip the first batch of cheese over and cook 15-30 sec more.)  Cool on paper towels.  Make as many as you like!  Store in airtight containers at room temperature or they will lose their crispness.

KISS Notes:  A popular restaurant at a Sheraton hotel started serving my Parmesan version of these beauties atop their Caesar salads in 1976.  While such crisps pop up frequently in restaurants now, they were quite the novelty in the 1970’s and even ‘80’s.  I refined them in 1980 to this microwaved technique & with more varieties to serve as AWESOME carb-free crackers for friends trying the Atkins Diet long before carb-free items appeared in stores.  I also served them as a super snack with wine… I still do.

This recipe appears in a couple of my cookbooks, including Volume 1 of “Fifty Years of Fabulous Family Favorites” along with the recipe for my original baked version.  The cookbook “Dockside Dining – Round One” also gives some clever tips on turning these into Cheese Crisp Canapes.  Enjoy on this New Year’s Day… with love and laughter.

Fresh Cranberries

‘Tis the season to start savoring the tartly delectable cranberry!  My Cranberry Cooking cookbook (in paperback and digital formats) celebrates one of America’s most under-rated fruits.  Whether you enjoy them in breads or desserts, sweetened in a sassy sauce, nestled into a perfect pork or poultry entree, or sprinkled over a sweet potato casserole, “yum” comes to mind with all these recipes, more than 100 in categories from breakfast to dessert, and this is the time of year when we can enjoy them with all their popping crisp freshness.  Naturally I love giving a couple of the recipes free, because while we don’t mind paying for good cookbooks, FREE is always appreciated, I know.

We just had some friends over for a rack of lamb dinner party, so lamb is on my mind right now.  While most folks typically think of cranberries in sauces, desserts, breads, or beverages, their entrée applications are marvelous.

[image error]Lamb with Cranberry Chutney

2 T olive oil

¾ c sweet onion, diced

1 c fresh or frozen cranberries

1/3 – ½ c orange marmalade

2 T brown sugar

2 T orange juice

Salt

6 lamb rib chops

In the olive oil in a heavy sauce pan, sauté onion 3-5 min over med heat, stirring frequently.  Stir in cranberries, marmalade, brown sugar & orange juice; salt to suit your taste.  Cook over med heat 5 min, stirring frequently, till sugar dissolves & cranberries pop.  Remove from heat; set aside.  Arrange lamb chops on cooking-spray coated grilling rack in foil-lined, shallow roasting pan.  Broil 6” below heat source for 2-4 min per side, or until desired degree of doneness.  Serve chops with chutney.  Makes 2 servings of 3 ribs each.

KISS Tip:  Broil 2 min per side for med-rare, 3 min per side for medium, and 4 min per side for med-well.

Now, I realize that lamb may or may not be a favorite of yours, so I also include a poultry entrée to tantalize your tastebuds.

Cathy’s Crocked Cranberry Chicken

I created this recipe in 2007, inspired by a childhood favorite that used apricot preserves. 

4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded flat & folded around your favorite stuffing with ½ c dried cranberries & ½ c chopped apple added

Paprika

1 env dry onion soup mix

16 oz whole berry cranberry sauce

1 bottle cranberry vinaigrette

¼ c cranberry liquor, peach schnapps, or Grand Marnier

Place stuffed breasts in bottom of slow cooker.  Sprinkle liberally with paprika & soup mix.  Spread cranberry sauce over them; pour on the vinaigrette.  Cover the cooker; cook on low for 4-5 hrs.  Pour liquor over top & stir a bit.  Cook 5 more min & serve with long grain & wild rice and a green vegetable.

To further entice you, here is a list with a few of the other recipes from Cranberry Cooking:

Appetizers:  Cranberry Orange Hazelnut Dip, Turkey Cranberry Brie Quesadillas, Cranberry Crab Rangoon

Baked Non-Dessert:  Cranberry Kissed Cinnamon Rolls, Spiced Cranberry Muffins, Sweet Potato Praline Coffee Cake

Beverages:  Frozen Cranberry Margarita, Hot Percolator Punch, Smooooth Cape Cod

Desserts:  Chocolate Cranberry Cupcakes, Cranberry Streusel Bars, Crumbling Cranberry Peach, Baked Cranberry Apples, Peachy Pecan Foster, Cranberry Mousse, White Chocolate Cranberry Tart

Entrees:  Maple Cranberry BBQ Sauce, Cathy’s Cranberry Stuffed Chicken Rolls, Spirited Pork Chops, Cranberry Turkey Burgers

Fruits:  Blushing Cranberry Pears, Cranberry Apple Dumplings

Salads:  Cranberry Waldorf Salad, Cranberry Orange Spinach Salad, Cranberried Broccoli Salad, Cranberry Wild Rice Salad, Cranberry Vinaigrette

Sandwiches:  Caramelized Cranberry Apple Peanut Butter, Zippy Cranberry Turkey Wraps

Sauces and Condiments: Honey Cranberry Barbeque Sauce, Mushroom Cranberry Sauce, Chunky Cranberry Apple Rhubarb Sauce, Tex Mex Cranberry Salsa

Side Dishes:  Roast Turkey and Cranberry Sausage Stuffing, Spiced Sweet Potato and Cranberry Couscous, Wild Rice Cranberry Pilaf

Snacks:  Nutty Snack Mix, Spiced Cranberry Popcorn

Soups:  Cran-Apple Turkey Stew, Cranberried Turkey a la King

The Keep It Super Simple kitchens delighted in compiling this collection of scrumptious cranberry recipes… from appetizers and sauces to salads and entrees… for the KISS™ cookbook Super Series from Quiet Thunder Publishing.  Cranberry Cooking, plus all the other books in the Super Series are conveniently bound in a handy 5×8” format.  If you prefer digital editions, you will also find them on Kindle.

Cranberry Cooking is a special book of Super Simple recipes to help make Good Living as easy as 1-2-3.  Enjoy… with love and laughter!