This weekend is the 56th Super Bowl. The Big Game is the annual playoff championship game of the National Football League. It has been the last game of every NFL season since 1966. And beginning this year, the game will be played on the second Sunday in February. We’re posting game-day food ideas all weekend long on my TikTok page @MarthaStewart, so be sure to check them out.
This is my Martha Stewart Kitchen Four Cheese Macaroni & Cheese. It comes with an indulgent combination of sharp cheddar, fontina, parmesan, and gruyere cheeses with buttery panko breadcrumbs. Click here for a listing of stores carrying my Collection of delicious frozen foods.
One can place the macaroni and cheese in a large baking dish, or in oven-safe ramekins like these. I topped them with bacon, tomatoes, and grated white cheddar cheese.
Lastly, I added a sprinkling of the panko breadcrumbs before putting them into a pre-heated 400-degree oven.
Bake for 30 to 33 minutes until bubbly and lightly golden brown on top. These look so delicious.
This is our Game Day Chili con Carne with Skillet Cornbread from Martha & Marley Spoon. This comes with flour, unsweetened cornbread mix, kidney beans, black beans, tomato paste, taco seasoning, ground beef, fresh cilantro, garlic, and a large red onion. Just add your own wet ingredients salt and pepper. It’s so easy, and one of our favorite comfort foods for cold winter days. Martha & Marley Spoon continues to be a great meal-kit delivery service that’s full of delicious recipes and helpful cooking tips.
While the chili is cooking, make the cornbread in a cast iron skillet and bake until golden and risen.
Another idea is to serve it with a toppings bar – include avocado, diced tomatoes, sour cream, cilantro, onion, jalapeno peppers, and of course, tortilla chips.
And here’s the finished bowl – mine with avocado, sour cream, cilantro, chips, and a piece of cornbread – ready to eat while still piping hot.
I also cooked about three pounds of chicken in the oven for our wings recipes. As a general rule, when making wings, allot for about six wings per person, and up to 12 per person if it’s a main dish.
The important thing is to be sure to soak and coat the wings very well. I placed one pound of wings in a large glass bowl of sauce and tossed them until they were fully coated.
This is the maple-dijon sauce. Once these are thoroughly tossed, bake them in the oven until the glaze has thickened.
If you’re making all three types of chicken wings, be sure to plate them in big platters.
Here they are – these Maple-Dijon Chicken Wings are so easy to make. All you need are dijon mustard, maple syrup, and chicken.
I also made Sriracha-Buffalo Chicken Wings. We made these classic hot wings even better with the addition of sriracha, a Thai-style hot sauce. Serve them with lots of crumbled blue cheese and celery sticks.
These Sweet-and-Sour Orange Chicken Wings recipe uses sherry vinegar for a wonderful kick of flavor. Garnish the platter with citrus slices.
This year, I am happy to partner with Goldbelly, the curated online marketplace for regional and artisanal foods crafted by local food purveyors throughout the United States. Order some of my favorite pastries including rich butter croissants, apricot danishes, and addictively delicious cookies. They come in these charming boxes – give as a host or hostess gift, or buy for yourself.
My Collection of cookies includes my daughter Alexis’ Chocolate Chip, Extraordinary Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Pecan, and Kitchen Sink cookies, which are loaded with rolled oats, coconut, dried apricots and cherries, dark chocolate, and toasted pecans… everything but the kitchen sink! And these cookies are so big, you’ll be able to nibble on one all day long.
And don’t forget – for those who need their cookies with milk, serve it in fun glass bottles. Enjoy whatever you serve for your Big Game party. And be sure to watch the annual Puppy Bowl. I’ll be coaching alongside my friend, Snoop Dogg, Sunday at 2pm ET on Animal Planet and Discovery Plus.
It's still winter, but here at my Bedford, New York farm, it's feeling a little like spring - and the animals are happy, especially my five fun-loving donkeys - Rufus, Billie, Clive, Jude “JJ” Junior, and Truman “TJ” Junior.
Yesterday, with temperatures rising to 50-degrees Fahrenheit, the donkeys got to spend a little more time in their paddock just outside my stable. This quintet loves the outdoors where they can frolic and bray. In the late afternoon, the five are brought back inside, where they are groomed and fed.
Enjoy these photos.
The erratic weather in the Northeast continues. We’re expecting temperatures in the 50s for the next couple of days. Yesterday, the donkeys were very playful and ran as soon as someone came near. This is Truman “TJ” Junior – he’s about six years old and very charming.
Donkeys are herd animals, so they are often seen together in one group. Here are my five donkeys – Jude “JJ” Junior, Billie, Rufus, Clive in the back, and “TJ” on the far right.
Ideally, the outdoor space should consist of donkey-safe grazing pasture, and at least half an acre of land per donkey – more if possible. My donkeys have a very large paddock where they can run, play, and roll to their hearts’ content.
Whenever someone comes near, the donkeys start walking over to say hello. Do you know… a donkey is capable of hearing another donkey from up to 60 miles away in the proper conditions? They have a great sense of hearing, in part because of their large ears.
Here are “TJ” and “JJ” at the fence gate hoping for treats. The donkey’s sense of smell is considered to be similar to the horse. Donkeys greet each other by smelling and blowing in each other’s nose. The smell of breath imparts important information to the donkey.
Here they are running around the paddock – wherever one goes, the others follow.
When the weather is wet or windy, donkeys need access to a warm and dry shelter. A run-in is essential for donkeys. Donkeys originated in a desert climate, but are very hardy, provided they are given adequate accommodations.
And they’re off again – Billie, Rufus, and “TJ” in the distance.
There is an automatic waterer in every paddock that is checked every day to ensure it is in good working order. During the winter, when the grass is dead, or at other times of year when there’s not enough, we also give them good quality meadow hay in their paddock mangers.
The important thing is to keep the donkeys from overeating. Eating too much protein and other nutrient-rich foods can make them sick. They also tend to gain weight very easily. I am very glad these donkeys are active and enjoy running in their enclosure.
The donkey or ass is a domesticated member of the horse family, Equidae. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African wild ass, E. africanus. The donkey has been used as a working animal for at least 5000 years.
Here they go around the paddock again. At the fastest, a fit donkey can run up to 15 miles per hour. They are also quite vocal. Donkeys have a two-toned call that sounds pretty comical. In English, the sound is called braying.
By late afternoon, the donkeys are brought inside to their stalls, where they are groomed and fed. Helen and Dolma walk them in at the same time. Donkeys bond very closely with the others in their herd, so these five are always kept close together.
One always knows it’s afternoon because the peacocks and peahens are out and about.
Inside, the donkey stalls are all clean with fresh shavings.
Billie and “JJ” are in one stall, while the three males are in another. All the donkeys have very different and fun personalities. And look closely, Donkeys usually have a dark stripe of fur down their backs and across their shoulders and can be born with a wide range of colors.
“TJ” and the others are all eagerly awaiting their dinner. “TJ” hopes it comes soon. Donkeys are generally calm, intelligent, and have a natural inclination to like people. Donkeys show less obvious signs of fear than horses. In fact, “TJ” always seeks attention and interaction.
Here’s Truman with his front up on a platform looking through the bars of his stall to see what’s going on in the stall next door. He always makes sure “his girls” are okay.
Yes, “TJ”, they’re just fine. Billie and “JJ” are the only females, or jennies, in my stable. Male donkeys are known as jacks.
Using a hoof pick, Dolma carefully picks out the dirt and mud from Clive’s hooves. This is done with each donkey and horse every day. Dolma also goes over their coats with a curry brush to remove any debris and dirt.
And then Dolma wipes all their faces clean with a washcloth. Grooming every day allows Dolma to check for any abnormalities such as cuts, scrapes, or other skin irritations, etc. And, they seem to enjoy it.
Finally, it’s dinner time. Donkeys require a diet low in protein, sugar, and starch, but high in fiber.
But it’s always petting time to a donkey. Here’s Rufus waiting for a good ear rub – or maybe even a cookie.
Another outdoor chore is checked off the list - my crew is getting so much done.
My Bedford, New York farm sits on 153 acres of pastures, woodlands, and gardens. Every day, I tour the entire property to visit my animals and to make sure everything is in excellent working order. I also assess the many groves and allees, and discuss with my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew what needs to be done. It's an important part of my day and an important part of maintaining this working farm. One day this week, the team tackled the area behind my tennis court. They pruned the hydrangeas and "limbed up" the spruce trees.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
In late summer, the area behind my tennis court is filled with blooming white hydrangeas – the flowers are so big, they can be seen from the carriage road.
This is how it looks from a distance. This photo was taken last August. I started planting hydrangea shrubs many years ago and they’ve always bloomed so profusely from year to year.
The following photos were taken when these stunning hydrangeas were in bloom. Hydrangea is a genus of at least 70-species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. The Hydrangea “flower” is really a cluster of flowers called a corymb.
Panicle hydrangeas are known for their cone shaped flower heads. These large blooms typically start white and may turn a slight pink. All the paniculatas are very cold hardy.
And here is a hydrangea that blooms with lovely lacecaps. The lacecap is very similar to the mophead, but instead of growing round clusters of showy blossoms, this hydrangea grows flowers that resemble flat caps with frilly edges.
This time of year, the hydrangea flower heads that don’t fall off are dry and brown and can remain through the season if not removed.
Hydrangeas should be pruned in late winter or early spring, before the shrub begins any active growth. Here, one can see one side pruned and the other still to be done.
Domi snips off spent blooms just below the flower head and removes any wayward or straggly canes.
As with any pruning job, it is important to remove any dead, diseased, damaged or crossing stems. These hydrangeas are quite tall, so Chhiring uses a a long-reach pole pruner.
To maintain a tidy appearance, Chhiring cuts everything at the same level so there is consistent shape to the shrubs.
Here, the cut in the center was made last year, resulting in more vigorous growth. The outer cuts were just done.
After a few hours, all of them were pruned. The hydrangeas look so good and level. With proper care, they will continue to bloom profusely for many years.
Behind the hydrangeas and the tennis court is a grove of spruce trees. Some of these trees were actually moved from the other side of the tennis court some years ago to create a privacy barrier. Over the years, they’ve grown so much and look so beautiful.
Evergreens such as these don’t need a lot of pruning at all, and their sweeping lower branches can be left alone, but I wanted some to be “limbed-up” for better light to the plantings below, a better view under the trees, and easier access for my off-road Polaris vehicles and mowers.
The best time to prune evergreens is from late winter to early spring, well before any new growth will take off for the new season. Here, Pasang uses this telescoping pole pruner from STIHL. It has a quiet, zero-exhaust emission, and is very lightweight. Plus, with an adjustable shaft, the telescoping pole pruner can cut branches up to 16 feet above the ground.
It is important to always use sharp tools whenever pruning so that the cuts are clean. Dull tools are difficult to use and could even damage the tree. A straight, clean-cut promotes quick healing of the wound and reduces stress on the specimen.
All the branches are collected and neatly piled. They will be loaded onto the dump truck and taken to our collection area for the chipper.
After the spruce trees were done, there is ample light through the trees and a clear view.
Here is a view of my tennis court in winter – everything is covered with snow and ice. Today’s temperatures are expected to be in the high 40s – good for melting.
And here’s another heart – I wonder who made it? A good reminder that Valentine’s Day is just four days away.
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