"notmartha" news and stories

Remember the bacon mat that swept the interwebs last summer? That intrepid food/craft/knitting blogger Megan at Not Martha has taken the basic idea of the bacon mat (it is the premise that bacon, if given the proper support, will bond to itself and hold shapes as it cooks) and turned it into bacon cups! Is there anything that bacon can't do?

She designed them as a breadless BLT, using them to hold small salads of lettuce and tomato. The commenters on her site have run with the idea, suggesting other uses for the crisp, porky vessels. How would you fill them?

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I have been subscribing to Everyday Food, Martha Stewart's squat cooking magazine, since it's inception January 2003. I still have every single issue I've received (although right now I'm using issues 1-34 to hold up the corner of a wall-mounted cabinet in my living room that is falling apart). A couple of weeks ago, Megan at Not Martha posted about her own collection of Everyday Food mags, prompted because a commenter on her site had mentioned that the original issue of the magazine had sold for $50 on eBay. The best part of Megan's post is the list she put together, complete with links, to all the recipes from EF that she likes and uses.

Her post got me thinking about my own collection of EF mags and started me flipping through some of my old issues (the ones that aren't anchoring said piece of furniture, at least). I stumbled across a recipe in the December 2006 issue that I made once last year and remembered loving. It's for Braised Chicken with Shallots and is perfect for these cooler winter days. It's also easy and makes good leftovers. The recipe is after the jump.

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Feeling crafty this Halloween? Not Martha came up with some really creepy creations that are perfect for a Halloween party. The little cakes use primarily ready-made ingredients, which not only take the pressure off a busy cook who already has more important dishes in the oven, but adds another level of scariness for those of you who are not inclined to consume packaged snack cakes on a regular basis. The bodies of the cake critters are all based on Twinkies, Glo Balls and Ding Dongs and can easily be made with other, similar cakes. The slightly moist surface allows colored sugar and sprinkles to stick readily if you want to change the color of the cake or add a design to the body. The legs are all made with Pocky and used a brilliant method of construction. Each Pocky was cut in two and then the two pieces were fused back together, at the appropriate angle, with chocolate. Matching the color/texture of the Pocky to that of the cakes will give you the most "realistic" outcome, but if your spiders end up with pink legs, you'll have fun putting them together anyway.

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