hi everyone!
once again i need to comment on a freakin’ comment in the blog post below this one…jo says that i shouldn’t blog what i cook/bake because tht’s "alexis’" thing…
okay…. i know that alexis is the gifted cook/baker of the two of us…duh!
i am just learning/trying/bettering myself…and taking you all along for the ride.
i also post my insecurities, my challenges, my hopes, my thoughts, my "whatever."
yesterday i got really ambitious and decided to make two things…both were in addition to the tomato sauce i made the day before (from canned tomatoes and canned tomato sauce from italy- the kind that’s just tomatoes and needs seasoning) and the guacamole keith made yesterday morning.
i had pre-chopped carrots and celery and onion and realized i chopped more than i needed for the chicken and dumpling recipe i had planned to make- so i figured i’d throw together a vegetable and bean soup (cause novice cooks like myself can so easily throw together anything…not!)
i tried to follow a giada de laurentis recipe for spicy bean soup but i don’t like cumin and other smoky spices so i left them out…and i left out the bell pepper as well. i used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock
and i used my tomato sauce instead of tomato juice.
here are the ingredients for the vegetable and bean soup:
these are the chopped tomatoes i used:
carrots and celery and onion and garlic sauteeing nicely:
added the tomato ingredients and parmegian cheese rind:
with all the veggies…yummy.
i pureed some of the soup and although it tasted good (not as good when it wasn’t pureed but good enough) i couldn’t dare show a picture since it looked like poop.
then i made an alton brown recipe for chicken and dumplings.. omg this was so delicious. perfect football food!
here is the organic roasted chicken i bought from whole foods… i cut it up ahead of time so putting this dish together would be easy.
the recipe starts with sauteeing carrots, celery, onions and garlic…
add to that the chicken stock (i used broth)…
while it simmered i made the dumplings.
alton brown says to freeze the butter and use a cheese grater to grate it into the dry mixture…
dry ingredients mixed with butter:
forming the dumplings:
dumplings in the soup pot:
finished chicken and dumplings even though you can’t see the chicken under all that other stuff…
keith enjoyed his version of corona with chicken and dumplings:
and i had a beer too!
ok not really…
i’m still looking for a recipe for diner type jumbo cookies with sprinkles baked into them…kind of like this one i found online but prettier- i wouldn’t use these color sprinkles!
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if you have a recipe please let me know.
we are live today…in case you were wondering.
xoxo
jennifer
aim:whateverradio
Hey Jenn,
Love your blogs, especially cooking/baking. I’ve been cooking/baking since I was a kid and love it, but as an adult/mom, I often find myself in a cooking/baking slump. Your blogs give me the kick in the butt I need to step out of my comfort zone.
Also, give WW recipes a try, I have made some great ones.
I too need to get back on the WW wagon…sigh…it never ends….
Keep up the great work
CSH
Jennifer your blogs are great and I love that you are posting cooking/baking pictures. Alexis has inspired me to also become a better cook and baker. So if the other people think you are just copying Alexis. Let me tell you, youre not the only one. So eff the other people and keep on cooking.
Hi Jennifer, I live in Norway and read your blog all the time. It makes me upset to read some idiot’s comment about your cooking/baking skills. It’s about trying and learning new things, and most of all having fun while doing it. I used to be a pastry chef ( I now design jewelry) and still love to bake on occasion. As long as YOU enjoy it, do it! By the way, those dumplings look great! Will have to give those a try!
Rock on!
Hi Jennifer, I enjoy your cooking info as much as I enjoy Alexis cooking info. and I must say I can relate to you more. I say blog WHATEVER the heck you want to blog about and screw the smart a** people that just have to whine about something.
Beverly
Jennifer,
Your posts are great. Love your cooking pics and recipe ideas. Don’t know if you would use a “cake mix” or not, but I make “cake mix cookies” using a Pillsbury white cake mix, 2 eggs, and between 1/3 and 1/2 cup cooking oil. Makes a very nice cookie and you can add sprinkles to these. Roll the dough in balls, you could do small or large and bake at 375 for around 10-12 minutes.Keep posting, I look forward to them!
Jennifer, I LOVE your blogs and sooo glad you started adding more cooking and baking segments, pictures and all! Good for you for trying new things and making it your own. Blog whatever you like! I look forward to each one. Always anxious to see the next YouTube post too!
Alright, the ‘Martha’ in me is going to say it’s spelled…….’parmesan. Ok, enough said.
I too, enjoy when you blog about cooking and baking. You cook real food for your family…I like that!
Jennifer,I admire that you post ‘whatever’ you do – cooking, partying, family, etc. It’s great. Forget (and mainly don’t listen) to those who make snide remarks or try to compare you to others. It’s likely that those who make comments as such are probably unhappy in their lives and feel the need to hurt others. I came to cooking late in life and practice really does make perfect. Both you and Alexis give such great ideas. Keep it up!
HI JENNIFER….I LOVE TO READ BOTH YOUR BLOGS. PLEASE KEEP POSTING YOUR COOKING AND BAKING. I MADE YOUR BUTTERMILK COOKIES A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO….EVERYONE LOVES THEM. I’VE INCLUDED THEM IN MY FAVORITE COOKIES. NEXT TIME I’M GOING TO TRY THEM WITH ORANGE ZEST INSTEAD OF LEMON. KEEP THE GREAT BLOG AND PICTURES. IN FACT THE PICTURES OF THE BUTTERMILK COOKIES, ARE WHAT MADE ME WANT TO TRY THEM. THEY LOOKED SO-O-O GOOD.
fun catching you on aim last night. i don’t like to bother you. ok it’s just my opinion most of us out here can relate to your level of cooking. alexis is in another stratosphere especially her baking. i really enjoy the cooking blogs you do. makes me think hey maybe i can make that. i was going to ask you for the link for the chicken and dumplings. never tried it but i might now! thanks, everything looks delish!
Jennifer, I’ve been reading your blog for a long time as well, and I love the fact that you are cooking & showing what you are making on your blog. I am not the best cook, and you have completely inspired me to learn more as well! Don’t listen to people’s negative comments.
HI Jennifer
Your blog including your cooking and baking projects are great. Remember there is only one Alexis and we all want to bake and cook like her. You show the rest of us, the regular folks, that we can attempt the challenge and succeed. You insire the timid to give it a try. Hey if Jennifer can make it, I can too. You are our Hero! Eff the evil ones that just respond to your blogs to be mean. They need to get a life. Happy Monday!
Can you fix the site so the two blogs are side by side again?
Jen I think it’s great that you’re trying new recipes, and cooking for your FAMILY!!! That’s what it’s all about! Keep up the cooking, I do enjoy seeing the recipes and food. I have a great veggie and bean soup, my family love it!!!! Keep cooking. Liz
If baking/cooking is what you do and you enjoy sharing it, why not post it? Aren’t you guys on the Martha Stewart channel after all? I love both of you guys (and your blogs) 🙂 And…I love the picture of the beer going down the drain – too funny!
Hi Jennifer. Love the cooking blogs! Jo can suck it! I love to cook and am a better cook than baker but I never, and I mean….NEVER get sick of seeing what others cook and how they did it. Keep those cooking blogs coming!
1 cup chicken & dumplings = 7 points
(times the three cups Jenny ate) = 21 points
Yikes!
Jennifer, I do enjoy both blogs, it’s great that you try new recipes and share the results with all of us.
For a pretty good sugar cookie recipe, you should try the one from Cook’s Illustrated. I’ll find the recipe and blog again later. You roll the dough into balls with wet hands, then roll in sugar. I think you could dip half a ball in sprinkles and it would look like the cookie pictured (only in prettier colors.)
Also, Fancy Flours has a really good selection of different colored jimmies.
I think its great that you post
what your cooking/baking. this just gives you the encouragement to do more. don’t worry about what other think.
I did not really know how to cook when I was first married, (46 yrs ago). Now I cook and bake everything. And I totally bake from scratch.
Hi Jennifer-I really look forward to reading your blog every week, its such a shame there are people out there who sit around thinking of nasty things to say…trying to get a reaction I suppose. The soup looks fantastic, I will have to save that one for winter to make because it is too hot to make at the moment, its middle of summer here. Have a great week!!!
Hey I love your blogs also! Could you post the biscotti recipe? I make about 10 different kinds at a time and freeze them for my Hubby. I would love to try that one!
Thanks!
Good Grief! Would you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE stop letting comments push your buttons.
It insults MY intelligence and the intelligence of all of your readers when you do that.
Hey Jennifer-
Don’t listen to that crap. I enjoy seeing what both you and Alexis are whipping up in the kitchen, and the pics are great. It’s always fun to find a new recipe. I made a few of the things Alexis posted over the holidays and everyone loved them.
I do have a recipe in a new book I got called Mom’s Big Book of Baking by Lauren Chattman, and it is called Sprinkle Cookies. I haven’t tried them yet but they caught my attention the other day and they might be what you are talking about. I can type the recipe up later if you don’t get what you are looking for.
Jennifer, I love your blog. Its so funny. You are not boring. You are perfectly normal and that why every one likes you!!
I love reading both of the blogs–always very entertaining and informative. Could you PLEASE post the sprinkle cookie recipes if you get any? They look exactly like my favorite cookie from a bakery at home (but they had prettier colors), that is now closed. I have tried several recipes that came close, but weren’t exactly right. Thanks.
Jen, please keep the cooking /baking blog that you do going…I LOVE it!! You are Martha Stewart Radio.
Hey Jennifer, out of all of your cooking blogs I thought this was the best looking. The lighting on the food made it look bright and beautiful. Keep it up.
i hope this is not too much of a personal question, but i dont understand your situation with drinking… you just dont like it…or?????
There is more than one gifted cook/baker in the world – I’m one and I don’t try to deflate anyone’s efforts in the kitchen. I think your blog is a reflection of you and it’s great just as Alexis’ reflects her true self. Don’t let people get to you – what really matters is YOUR friends and family. Not what strangers think. Your show is doing great – so no comments about how the public figure has to appease everyone – take a clue from John Mayer. Also – can we fix this blog so that they are split again – everything is on the left side of the screen – your blog isn’t on the right any more.
You and Alexis are two different people cooking/baking different things. No one can tell you what to write in your blog — that ‘s like changing a poem that someone wrote. Love your show.
Love the blog but hate the way its all on left side now – why???
Jennifer I love your (and Alexis’ too!) blog. I don’t get why people come here to bash you or tell you what to write. I think it’s pretty awesome that you both take time to document all this stuff…It’s nice to see, and makes me very hungry!
It’s so funny that you made chicken and dumplings too. I just posted my family recipe on my blog. They are so different!
https://dayinthelifeofthemorgans.blogspot.com/2008/01/chicken-and-dumplings-recipe-just-for.html
I don’t understand the problem some of you are having with the blogs. Mine are in the same format they always have been. Maybe something is up with your computer.
i’ve noticed it too. every so often the blog is all on the left side and jennifer’s is under alexis’s.
I enjoy Jennifer’s blog a bunch! It’s interesting because she is the family lady (married with kids) and Alexis is single with no kids. I think Alexis had a great teacher, you know! I learned mostly from my grandmom as my mom worked. I like trying new twists on tried and true recipes. What a great idea with the frozen butter being grated in the flour mixture! And remember that Jen has meat recipes and Alexis doesn’t.
Jennifer…I’ve made Giada’s Spicy Bean Soup now 5 times. I’ve omitted the broccoli and used Spinach once, Kale another. When I didn’t have Tomato Juice, I had Bloody Mary Mix, and I liked it WAY better. It’s one of my favorite soups to make. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I do. The kicker is how much Chili seasoning you need! Both you and Alexis are quite the chefs these days. Take Care!
Jenny, I know it’s hard for sensitive people like us to ignore casual insults, but please don’t give this “Jo” character any more importance than he deserves… Also remember that no one (and I mean NO ONE) has a monopoly on cooking and baking… If you want to experiment with new recipes until the warranty on your Viking stove expires, then damn it, you go right on ahead and experiment! p.s. It’s 3:20am in Texas, and I still can’t fall asleep – ugh.
it IS odd, thouh that your photos are almost exactly the same, with the ingredients placed out just like on alexis’s blog
I can never let snyde remarks of people go. I have to do whatever I can to embarrass the person that made the comment or make sure they know they hurt me. People that say stuff like that probably don’t care if they hurt people but I feel better if I don’t sit back and take it and try to put them in their place anyway though. You can bake and post anything you want. Your baking has really improved since the first blogs and it’s obvious you’ve learned a lot. It’s something to be proud of and I think it’s interesting. Of course it’s interesting if both of you mix it up and post baking plus other things about your lives but the baking is just fine!!! Take care and best wishes!!!!
Jennifer–I love reading what you are cooking/baking DON’T stop
But could you please post alton brown’s chicken and dumpling receipe? please?
Jennifer, Did you know that the best commercially canned tomatoes are the whole ones. You are more sure of the quality that way…when they are chopped they can sneak any old tomato. Also, organic is fine, but you can’t go wrong with the brand San Marzano. They are Italian, therefore, they are grown to exacting standards, and this area of Italy is known for growing wonderful tomatoes.
One question…why is it bloggers and callers to Whatever always feel like they have to re-assure you and Alexis that you are wonderful and they love you? Seems so superficial to me, and I am a SOUTHERNER!
I am a Southerner, too. I’m also one of those bloggers and callers who reassures the girls that they are doing a wonderful job. On the heels of yesterday’s topic regarding underappreciation, why would you say something like that?
Holy f’in crap…I’m originally from NY…left about 10 years ago – I love the big cookies with sprinkles! I haven’t thought about them in years but (and I know it sounds crazy) – I miss them. If you find a recipe…a real one – please post it and name them “you can’t get these in North Carolina cookies”.
housekeeper??
Scarlett, I didnt say they were doing a good job. On the contrary, I see them as self-assured, confident and competent young women, therefore, not in NEED of constant superficial praise from stangers. The fact that I blogged at all atests to my like for the show. The information I included about the tomatoes was meant to be helpful.
I added the Southern barb only to register an objection to the oft verbalized stereotype of Southerners. You have made my point for me.
Opps!! meant to put a “not” after the were, so it would read:
“Scarlett, I didnt say they were not doing a good job.”
Serves me right for blogging in the first place.
Feel free to participate on this blog, it’s here for all to enjoy… I didn’t mean to scare you off, just get some clarification on your Southerner quip… Had the comment not been so non sequitur, I wouldn’t have said anything at all. p.s. What did you mean when you said “You have made my point for me” – is it because I chose Scarlett O’Hara as my psudenym?
Diner cookie recipe ? I think if you just use the toll house cookie recipe and use all white sugar instead of both brown and white. Skip the chips and put the sprinkles on each blob before baking –maybe this is what you are looking for? i whipped them up one day and everyone liked them. use the pastel Easter colors. the ones on the cookie you show don’t look too appetizing. ugh.