Cooking With Margaret

Garlic Dip With Herbs Makes About 4-6 Cups of Dip Ingredients 3- 8oz boxes of cream cheese, softened  3 cups cottage cheese 2 tablespoons milk/heavy cream 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 bunch of chives 1 bunch of parsley 10 cloves of garlic Salt to taste Paprika, for garnish Directions  In a bowl of a mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whip cream cheese, cottage cheese and milk, and Worcestershire (*adding more milk at end if needed to adjust consistency*)   In a food processor combine the remaining ingredients and pulse until finely chopped Add to mixing bowl and whip until fluffy Taste to adjust seasoning Sprinkle with paprika Serve *Can be made ahead (recommended*) so the flavors can blend and get stronger

Gemmeli Carbonara Serves 4  Ingredients 1 pound of gemmeli pasta 1 large onion, diced  3 garlic cloves 6 egg yolks 2 whole eggs 1/2 pound thick cut prosciutto, diced (putting in freezer, 30-60 minutes before cutting makes it much easier to cut) 1 bunch of parsley, minced, divided  1 cup grated of parmesan, plus more for serving  Salt and Pepper, to taste Directions Bring water to boil, add generous amount of salt. Add pasta, cook according to package directions, stirring often.  While the pasta is cooking sauté onion and garlic, with olive oil and salt until onion is translucent. Set aside.  In another bowl whisk together eggs, 3/4 of the minced parsley and grated parmesan. Set aside.  Chop prosciutto up into small pieces. Drain pasta, reserving about 1 cup of pasta water. Return pasta to hot pot, stir in egg mixture, making sure they don't scramble by adding a little pasta water (start with about 2 tablespoons) until a sauce coats the noodles. Fold in...

Tips And Tricks To Making Boxed Cake And Brownie Mixes Taste Homemade Everyone loves a good cake, or a delicious brownie, but quite a few people can be intimidated by making a  (or just baking alone) recipe from scratch based on all the measurements and “work” that can go into just cake.  Which is why many choose to use box mixes for a shortcut or just because they don’t have time. This post is to help those who use boxed mixes make them taste homemade. Everything below are tips and tricks used by friends, family and myself when using a boxed mix.  **Some of these changes may alter the cooking time of the cake Sift the mix, this allows all of the ingredients to get recombined after sitting on a shelf, in a box, for who knows how long  Oil vs Butter Now when it comes to using boxed mixes it should always be a 1:1 ratio of whatever fat you use, but changing out the oil for butter that has been melted, then cooled, can make a delicious difference  Water vs Milk, Cr...