cooking help tagged posts

Cookie swaps are one of our favorite holiday traditions at Kathey Jo’s Kitchen. Everybody loves baked goods, even more when you have a wide assortment to choose from. What’s a cookie swap? Invite a group of your friends over to your home. Encourage them to bring their favorite kind of homemade cookie, and the recipe – if they’re willing to share! Sample the treats, then trade amongst yourselves. As part of the festivities, the host should offer cute boxes to be decorated at the party. You can host it every year, or rotate the duties among your friends. Share your favorite cookie recipes in the comments below with your fellow Kathey Jo’s Kitchen readers.

Snow Globe Cookie Jar

1. Use a fine-tipped brush to place white dots on the outside of a spacious glass jar.
2. Put Mexican wedding c...

Hello, Kathleen Raskin of Kathey Jo’s Kitchen here, hoping you are ready to begin your Christmas preparations. Comedian Jim Gaffigan once said, “Everyone has the unspoken agreement that what happens in December stays in December.” The holidays are filled with parties at Kathey Jo’s Kitchen, and nothing gets a hungry crowd of people going quite like a fun and delicious appetizer. I’ll be sharing a few of my favorite recipes below. Do you have any favorites that you circle back to every year? Or, maybe there’s something you’d like to try differently this year? Let the Kathey Jo’s Kitchen audience know in the comments below.

Pumpkin-Carrot Soup Shooters with Coconut Cream

Prep time: 35 Mins

Total time: 1 Hour 25 Mins

Yield: Makes 6 cups

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 la...

This is Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, hoping you had a great Thanksgiving! I hope that my Kathey Jo’s Kitchen audience had a wonderful holiday. The anticipation of the holidays means you’re probably already in clean-up mode, especially if you hosted at your home this year. All the food you need to put into smaller containers, all the pots and pans to clean, the trash that needs to be taken out. There are probably methods that you’ve already incorporated into hosting successful parties over the years that have made clean-up a breeze. I’ve shared a few of my time-honored traditions below, and if there’s one that I’ve missed, share it in the comments below with your fellow Kathey Jo’s Kitchen readers.

Pre-Party

When you’re cooking, line the bottom of your oven with a large she...

Hello everyone, Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas here, wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving! Today at Kathey Jo’s Kitchen, we’ll discuss why you should – or shouldn’t – stuff a turkey before you put it in the oven. You probably have your own personal preference, or you’ve been following your grandma’s approach because that’s what’s always worked. But I think I’ll make a good case for both. If you’ve done it one way all these years, try it a different way this year, and see how it works out. You may be surprised by the response you get this year from your family and friends. What’s your favorite way? Let the rest of the Kathey Jo’s Kitchen family your preferred way.

To Not Stuff

Alton Brown abhors stuffing a turkey. Full stop...

Happy Thanksgiving from me, Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas! At Kathey Jo’s Kitchen, I’m excited about Thanksgiving. It’s so close! The smell of the turkey cooking, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, the anticipation of everyone arriving… there’s no time like the holidays. Of course, no matter how well you plan your menu, there’s the inevitable leftovers to worry about. So today, we’re going to discuss how to take care of your leftovers, so you can enjoy them for up to four days. What’s your favorite meal using Thanksgiving leftovers? Let the rest of Kathey Jo’s Kitchen know in the comments.

Keep Hot Foods Hot and Cold Foods Cold

You should start packing up, and refrigerating the leftovers within two hours...

I am Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas, and there’s a quote that always pops in my head when I cook. Maybe you’ve heard of it? “I read recipes like I read science fiction, I get to the end and I think, ‘well, that’s not going to happen.’” Haven’t you ever had that feeling, my dear Kathey Jo’s Kitchen readers? Fantasy and sci-fi are far out of my comfort zone, so I decided to find a couple of popular recipes that people who would enjoy if they were fans. Is there a dish you’ve wanted to try from a science fiction series? Share your ideas with your fellow Kathey Jo’s Kitchen readers below!

The Third Age in Middle-Earth: Elven Lembas Bread

From the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R Tolkien 

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of honey
• 3 whole kumquats (substitution: orange zest and ju...

Hello, Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas back with another post here at Kathey Jo’s Kitchen. I like to pair a good wine with my meals from time to time. You’ve probably done the same. For the uninitiated, what is wine pairing? The Golden Rule of wine pairing is that red wine goes with meat; white goes with seafood, and poultry. As a corollary, the Fight Club rule is you do not speak of the Golden Rule, and drink what you want with your meal. You might have a different palate for the combinations of flavors you’ll get from an unusual pairing. Today, we’ll talk about a few pairings you wouldn’t think would go well together. Do you have a favorite nontraditional wine pairing? Share it with the Kathey Jo’s Kitchen audience below.

Sides, Starters, and Desserts

• Champagne: sushi
• Red wine: c...

Hello, this is Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, and today at Kathey Jo’s Kitchen, I’m going to share a fun little themed playlist about food and drink. Music is a universal art that encourages involvement, much like food does. If you play air guitar, clap when the musician tells you to put your hands together, then you already know the power of music. There will always be a song out there that echoes the thoughts and feelings that you have. Imagine Star Wars without the iconic John Williams writing “The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme),” or Christopher Nolan’s Inception without Hans Zimmer’s magic wand...

The weather in Kathey Jo’s Kitchen neck of the woods is cool, breezy, and insists upon warm clothing from head to toe. I decided to dust off the old crockpot, and make soup that could cook while I was at the office. If you don’t already have a crockpot, I recommend you get one. There’s crockpots of all shapes and sizes. There are some small enough for individual meals, or you could invest in a sizable one, so you have leftovers that you can freeze to enjoy later. Do you have a favorite recipe? I encourage you to share it with the Kathey Jo’s Kitchen audience. You’ll find a couple of my go-to recipes below.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 1½ pounds boneless chicken breast
• 3 medium peeled and diced carrots
• 3 stalks diced celery
• 1 medium diced onion
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 6 ...

Happy Halloween from Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas! Halloween is an exceptionally American holiday. Nobody does it like the United States. We love our costumes, our fun, themed parties, trick or treating, pumpkins, and everything in between. But have you ever wondered how – and if – Halloween is celebrated in other countries? Today, we’ll be exploring these traditions at Kathey Jo’s Kitchen. It’s never too late to start incorporating how other cultures look at Halloween into your own yearly celebrations. In fact, you’re probably already doing a lot of these already. Do you have a favorite? Let your fellow Kathey Jo’s Kitchen readers know in the comments, and make your own recommendations.

Where It All Began…

It’s mutually agreed upon that Ireland is where the tradition of Hall...