A womans place is in the kitchen- Part I

I thought that might get your attention! A woman's place is also anywhere else in the house, including the couch with a remote control and Oprah on the tele (see previous post).

In my quest to make something new everyday, I have made some excellent new things (berry crumble), as well as some things that I probably would not make again (hear that potatoes au gratin? oui). This week, my good friend Felicia has let me borrow a stack of Cook's Illustrated magazines, and I am planning on choosing one recipe a day from this stack. Cook's Illustrated is a sneaky publication, you can't just browse their website and look up a recipe, you need to *gasp* pay to access their recipes. Good thing Felicia lives around the corner and gets the magazine, because I am unemployed and it's not in my budget to buy a recipe. I suppose I could buy a recipe one day and the ingredients for that recipe the next...come to think of it, that may be THE big new thing in dieting...ahem, sorry I got distracted by visions of helping millions lose weight they don't need to lose in the first place.

I have sorted through the stack of magazines, and I think this is what is on tap for the week:

1. Chicken Pot Pie in Half the Time (Chicken Pot Pie with Savory Crumble topping)
2. Indoor Pulled Pork
3. Skillet Lemon Souffle
4. French Pork and White Bean Casserole
5. Beef Empanadas
6. Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling
7. Roasted Smashed Potatoes with Crispy Pan Fried Pork Chops

I may not get to making all of these this week, but it will be some combination of the above. Once the week is over, I will post my favorite recipes on here, along with photos and notes. If you don't want to wait that long, or you have enough disposable income to pay to look up these recipes online, feel free to visit Cook's Illustrated.

In the meantime, here is one of my favorite recipes that I have made in the last couple of weeks:
Blackberry Crisp (from Nigella Express)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter                       1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup rolled oats                                           1 teaspoon ground cinnamon**
1/2 cup flour                                                    4 cups blackberries***
1/2 cup light brown sugar                                 1/4 cup vanilla or granulated sugar
1/2 cup flaked almonds*                                  2 teaspoons of cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter and put to side
2. Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, almonds, sunflower seeds, and cinnamon  in a bowl.
3. Put blackberries in a baking dish and mix in sugar and cornstarch
4. Stir the melted butter into the dry mix, then spoon over the blackberries to cover but not completely
5. Bake for about 25 minutes and serve with ice cream or heavy cream

*I substituted pecans
**I used more cinnamon. Not because I wanted to, but because I accidentally took the top off the container instead of popping the top, and when I thought I was shaking some cinnamon into the mix, I was actually dumping half the bottle of cinnamon into the mix. But it turned out ok!
***I used strawberries instead of blackberries and it was delicious. But, I think you could pretty much use any type of fruit that you would like in a pie...go wild!

For more Nigella recipes (I have tried many and have been very happy with the results), visit her website.

P.S. I pilfered the photo above from my sister's Facebook page:)