Jeanette - Off The Cuff

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My name is Jeanette, and I was born in Sweden, but unlike the famous Muppet, I am not a professional Swedish Chef. I actually went to school for art, design, and photography. Beyond that, I worked as a freelance indie-rock critic for several magazines in the late 90s and early 2000s. I even took a crack at running a PR company for a while. However, cooking has always been in my DNA--my dad's brother was a chef and culinary arts instructor, my dad's father was a pastry chef, and my mom's mother was a caterer, and at the age of 92, she published a cookbook of traditional Finnish breads and pastries. Everyone else in my family loves to cook, too, and we're not afraid to experiment. Usually I end up inventing dishes (with or without outside inspiration) with whatever I have on hand, hence "Off the Cuff." I might make very Scandinavian dishes (meatballs, and salmon with dill-potatoes) or ethnic like Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Italian or Spanish. By the way, you can put bell peppers in almost all cuisine! (Drop me a line, at o f f t h e c u f f c o o k i n g "at" g m a i l followed by the dot-com. :)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

I know, I know...

Hello faithful readers -- all 16 of you at last count.  .... Happy Fall!  First off, my apologies.  I'm SO delinquent in updating the blog lately. I've been sick, hubby was sick, things just got kind of uninspired, tired, and just flat-out busy there for a while.  But, if I maybe can whet your appetite, stay tuned for my upcoming theme of CHILI-week, where I will be featuring several chili recipes, including:
1. My trademark "Black Bean chicken chili with cilantro"
2. My mother-in-law's recent experiment with the regional favorite, "Cincinnati Chili"
3. My husband's aunt's cook-off-winning "Real Texas Chili"
4. ...and a potential fourth recipe from another friend who recently placed in a chili cook-off as well.

In the meantime, go check out some cookbooks on Amazon for inspiration

Oh, and by all means try this recipe out for pumpkin cookies that have the texture and flavor of a spice-cake, and are just amazingly delicious.  For my own variation I drizzle a tangy icing that I make from powdered sugar, and lemon juice.  There's no exact measurements-- just take about 1/3 cup of powdered sugar and add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice and stir ... add more juice or more sugar to control the thickness.  It is meant to be drizzled, and not spread.  Lemon sounds like a  strange contrast to the spicy pumpkin flavor, but believe me it's really good.

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3 comments:

  1. I love chili! I'm looking forward to seeing all of these recipes!

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  2. I know... I am excited to do these, myself.

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  3. Ooo, I can't wait to try some chili!

    Your comment about sleeping on the pillow was so funny. I actually thought about that before.

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