Simply Cooking with Wine

Red and White. Sometimes that is as deep as some people go into deciphering the difference between wines. Some might even throw in what some call a rose' (the pink wine people).

For me wine is much more complex. In fact, wine is an art. The complex flavors and smells are tantalizing. I love the smell of oak barrels and I dream of living on a winery. Those who know me, know this, and for that reason one of my Christmas gifts this year was a wine package (decanter, wine stoppers, and a "Wine Lover" glass) - catchy idea for those who have a hard time deciding on gifts.

However, as we know, here on MMW - we like to keep it simple. So we'll delve into the basic reasons why you would choose between red or white for cooking, as I most recently discovered by trial and error. Many recipes call for wine in their ingredients, but many may not realize why one recipe may call for white and some red. Some of you may, admittedly, not be very familiar with wine but it's a MUST to have in your kitchen. It adds some complex flavors that you will be sure to enjoy (and if you are anti-alcohol, don't worry it burns off in the cooking process).

In choosing meats (no fish today), you have the white meats and the red meats. Pork, chicken and turkey (not the dark meat) fall into your white meats. Steak (any cut), lamb and duck fall into your dark/red meats. Fun side note: Any poultry that sticks to the ground and doesn't fly will have white meat except in the legs. Poultry that flies (geese and ducks) are dark throughout.

Click Read More Below to continue the article..

Christmas Cookies... Your Way

Who doesn't love Christmas cookies?? I would go to wager a great deal that even those who don't celebrate Christmas, love Christmas cookies. Personally, I can't live without them and one of my most favorite parts of Christmas, besides decorating the tree, is making Christmas cookies. It's a family tradition that my mom and I make the cookies together each year, but now that I feel like I have a little more cooking savvy, I felt that it was time to give the cookies an MMW twist.

While searching through the magazines and cookbooks, I decided that I wanted non-bar cookies with almonds. Conveniently, there were no non-bar cookies with almonds. SO we created them. I took another cookie and replaced the walnuts with almonds and "Walla!" non-bar cookies with almonds. And oh are they fabulously tasty! Now you may  be saying to yourself, "wow what a change," in all your sarcasm, BUT surprisingly enough many individuals will not take the risk to deviate from the cookie recipe. Especially if they don't bake often.

Allow me to empower you. While you may not bake often, you always know what good cookie dough tastes like, and ultimately how a good cookie tastes. As long as you start with a basic cookie dough (try making the dough for chocolate chip for example and not putting in the chocolate chips yet), you can make any type of cookie with easy add-ins. Try cranberries, or walnuts (though I don't like them), or chocolate chips and walnuts and cranberries. You'll be surprised with how crafty you feel and how good the cookies taste. You might even go as far to have your friends call you "chef". I warn you against this one unless you can back it up in the kitchen with a killer meal.... But I digress.

I remind you not to forget the fallback of the pre-made cookie dough for those who don't want to make the mess in kitchen.  While it's not my preferred cookie, you can always decorate these to your preference, such as the sugar cookie with lots of icing! Or you can use the sugar cookie dough and mix in what you want (just pull out all the cookie dough and put it in a mixing bowl and mix in your add-ins). Remember however, to adjust your time of cooking for your add-ins. I might suggest you do a sample (1 or 2 cookies).

The most important detail to remember is: Don't feel limited by the cookie recipes that you have. The worst that can happen is you throw a batch away, but if you stick to basic changes, I doubt that will happen - unless perhaps you decide to put in a crazy add-in.

Happy Homemaking!

Steak House Cometh... but with a MMW twist

Some of you may be wondering what is MMW? In order to shorten the title for blog post purposes, Millennial Modern Woman will be referred to as MMW in blog posts from here on out. BUT moving on!

How many of you wish you could afford to have a great steakhouse meal every week? Well at least once a month? I know I would, and so I do - on a budget. For our first recipe article, I'm going to give you some quick and easy tips to create a blue cheese encrusted Filet Mignon with sautteed spinach and rosemary potatoes. YUM!

Everyone likes a good filet, and all you need for this is: a filet cut, a small tub of crumbled gorgonzola or blue cheese from the super market, some olive oil (extra virgin is fine), salt and pepper (fresh cracked salt and pepper is the best - McCormick has grinders!) and you're good to go. Visit your neighborhood meatshop or favorite gourmet store and purchase a filet or what some will call a beef tenderloin cut. I purchased a nice piece that cost me about $10. It was a large steak a with little marble (I prefer less fat but you can go for all the marbling you want).

For your sauteed spinach, you can either purchase spinach in the bag or fresh spinach (just make sure to rip off the leafy tops off your fresh spinach if you prefer this option - it was fun to cook!). You will also need some olive oil (light olive oil works), salt and pepper, and about 2 cloves from a head of garlic - minced.

Finally, for your potatoes, I like the baby golds (they're small and cute and easy to cook). They come in a netted bag in your supermarket. You will also need rosemary (you can use a couple sprigs fresh out of your garden like me or you can use dry - about a tbsp.), olive oil and salt and pepper. Are you seeing the theme with the olive oil, salt and pepper? (Click below to read more)