Good Press

One way to put a special touch on a holiday table is to mold the butter. I used my collectible Pampered Chef stoneware cookie molds that were just taking up room in my cupboard to make molded butter for Thanksgiving dinner. We set six tables at the community feast and each table got it's own heart-shaped butter. The technique is simple. 1. Place your stoneware mold in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. 2. At the same time, set out a stick of butter to soften for 20-30 minutes. 3. Remove the mold from the freezer and unwrap the butter. 4. Using the heel of your hand or the back of a metal spoon, smoosh the butter into the mold evenly. 5. Refrigerate the mold with the butter until the butter is firm. 6. Run a knife's thin blade around the outside of the butter, then use the tip of the knife to carefully pry up the butter in corner. Turn it out onto a plate. I wrapped my butter hearts individually to protect them from odors. I packed them in a plastic lidded container to store and tr...

I almost added the word "easy" to the headline on this post. The recipe for Christmas Spice Butter is easy. Admittedly, the other technique -- for making dinner rolls shaped like doves -- requires some time and an eye for detail. If you like the sweet, spicy butter at Texas Roadhouse, this is a good knock-off. It is great on rolls and sweet potatoes. CHRISTMAS SPICE BUTTER 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1 tablespoon sugar Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy and well-combined. Transfer to a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Makes 1 cup. Shaping the doves is the hardest part of making the rolls because you're using thawed frozen rolls. It's no harder than rolling the bread dough into a rope and tying a knot. You'll need clean kitchen shears to snip the tail into feathers. Whole cloves are the eyes and sl...

I do this thing -- well, I used to do it more often, when I had a bigger grocery budget and reason to be near a big-city grocery store -- where I see an ingredient that I consider hard to come by in rural parts. Rose water, for example. I used to snap up the hard-to-find ingredient -- one time it was haluski noodles -- and bring it home only to find that I had misplaced the recipe I'd been saving to try if I ever found the elusive ingredient. The ingredient would spoil or go stale and I'd toss it, never having found the recipe I wanted to try. That's why I never bought the rose water when the nearest Kroger opened its ethnic section a few years ago. I was tempted, but I knew that recipe would be nowhere to be found at home. But that fear and reasoning didn't stop me from snapping up a package of chorizo, a Spanish link sausage, at a fancy Giant Eagle a few months back. And it stayed in my freezer until I found a good recipe to try. But to try that recipe required some s...

This is a tasty way to sneak in a vegetable and stretch a pound of ground meat. BURGERS WITH MUSHROOMS AND ZUCCHINI 1 pound lean ground turkey 1/2 pound mushrooms, wiped clean, trimmed and finely chopped 1 cup whole-wheat or Italian breadcrumbs (see bonus tip) 1/2 cup grated zucchini 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 heaping tablespoons ketchup 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper Nonstick cooking spray 1 tablespoon oil 4 bagels, split and toasted Steak sauce or ketchup for topping Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Use a food processor to chop the mushrooms and grate the squash. In a large bowl, mix the meat, mushrooms, breadcrumbs, zucchini, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, salt and pepper until well-combined. The mixture will be moist. Form into eight patties. Coat a large nonstick ovenproof (like cast-iron) skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil. Add the burgers and brown on one side for 4-5 minutes. Turn the burgers, then ...