Shazam in the Kitchen

Chocolate Pork Chops

2010-02-10T19:10:00.007-05:00

Whoa! CHOCOLATE AND PORK!!! That sure gets your attention doesn't it?

The Brain and I have been playing a new "game". (Get your mind out of the gutter.) Every weekend he picks three packages of meat out of the freezer and I find some way of cooking them. We started this little ritual after he realized that I could take an entire evening to make my weekly meal plan. Yes, I like to know what I should be eating for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner every day. (Unfortunately, there sometimes appears something delicious like oatmeal cookies that throw a wrench in any meal planning and I eat them until they're gone.) It's been working out pretty good so far. I've been trying to loosen up and go with the flow at mealtime and we're slowly eating all of the meat in the freezers.

This week though, things really came into line. Monday night I was sitting around watching TV, wondering how bad the storm was going to be, wondering if school was going to be cancelled on Tuesday (it was), when I flicked to Paula Deen making these beautiful pork chops. I was stunned. I was hungry after watching. I had already made dinner. D'OH!

So at the earliest opportunity (the next day), I pulled the thawed pork chops out of the freezer and had at it. Fortunately I had most of the ingredients in the cupboard because we were snowed in. I kind of tweaked what I had to make do for the stuff I didn't have. I was sad to see my package of pork chops only had two in it. (All our meat is wrapped in butcher paper so it's like opening little presents.) But I'm saving the extra rub for next time the Brain pulls out a pork chop package. The dry rub is super easy to mix together and the pork chops cook really nice and quick. If I liked gravy, I might make a gravy out of what I'm sure are the delicious drippings still in the pan. Even the Brain, who eats whatever I make and doesn't really comment, remarked that these were some delicious pork chops.

I sure wish there were leftovers...

Chocolate Spiced Pork Chops
adapted from Paula Deen's recipe

2 Tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 Tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground black pepper
4 (1 1/2 inch thick) bone in pork chops
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, Italian seasoning, onion flakes, cocoa powder, garlic salt, paprika, red pepper, cumin, and black pepper. Rub the mixture evenly over the pork chops.

Add the oil to a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add the pork chops and cook for 3 minutes per side. Put the skillet in oven and bake the pork chops until cooked through, about 8 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the oven, transfer the chops to a serving platter and serve.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2010-02-09T13:23:00.004-05:00

Last night Super G and I had an interesting phone conversation. She was complaining that I was anticipating not just one snow day, but two if the full 12 inches of snow hits like it's supposed to. It started at 7am this morning. Right on schedule! (As it turns out, Super G can no longer whine about there being no snow days in New York City. School is cancelled for her tomorrow too!)

To make her feel better Super G and I were discussing the benefits of living in New York City. Not that I really know, because I've only lived in what seems like every major metropolitan area in the Midwest not the East Coast. So I pointed out things like being able to find rice flour, or marscapone cheese and being able to go to places like fancy chocolate shops and Murray's cheese shop, and if she wants Indian food she doesn't have to cook it herself. Super G then started to feel better because, as she pointed out to me, she was able to have some Scharffenberger cocoa powder delivered to her house with her groceries.

I don't think I can find Scharffenberger cocoa out here. Well certainly not in this county anyway. Askinosie isn't available either. I have to admit that I was starting to feel a little blue. The best cocoa I can find is whatever Walmart carries. But then I started to think of the advantages of being out here in the middle of Nowhere, Ohio. For example, all of our meat is raised lovingly by little kids and is pretty near organic. Also, the secretary at the school I'm doing my student teaching at sells farm fresh brown eggs from her very own chickens.

Super G may have access to fancy expensive specialty foods, but I know where mine comes from. I know the 15 year old 4H "farmers". And sometimes you just don't need fancy specialty foods. Some good old fashioned oats will do. And some raisins. And there you have an iconic cookie. The Oatmeal Raisin cookie.

Sometimes when I'm lying awake at night trying to go to sleep I create impossible stories in my head. Nothing that will ever come about, but fun to think about kinds of things. Like owning a bakery. That would be fun. Well except for the whole employees and taxes and inventory and rent and electricity bills and stuff like that. But if I ever did own a bakery, these would be the oatmeal cookies I would sell. They are sturdy and yummy and yet down-home and delicious. I think the oatmeal cookie recipe from the Quaker Oats box has just been bumped from my recipe collection!

The recipe comes from a Christmas present cookbook from my brother and his beautiful wife. The Grand Central Baking Book. The recipes are easy to follow. The photos are drool-worthy. And frankly, if every recipe in the book is as good as the oatmeal cookies, then I may have to make a trip to Portland (or Seattle) and eat at the Grand Central Bakery. As it turns out, they celebrate the same food philosophy I do. They are all about foods that are locally grown, artisan breads, and homemade scratch cooking. Yum! (If you perhaps live out in the Pacific Northwest, you should really check them out. The bread is apparently in grocery stores, and there are bakery locations in both Portland and Seattle.)

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

from The Grand Central Baking Book

1 3/4 cup (8.75 ounces) all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/4 cups (11.5 ounces) rolled oats

1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 5 baking sheets with parchment paper (or if you don't have that many sheets, only line 2, but you will have to wait while cookies cool on the baking sheets.)

Whisk to combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, and sugars on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scraping the bowl occasionally. While the mixer is running, crack the eggs into a liquid measuring cup and add the vanilla extract. Reduce the speed to low and pour the eggs, one at a time, into the batter. Allow the first egg to be fully incorporated into the dough before adding the second. Scrape the bowl again.

Add the dry ingredients in 2 or 3 additions with the mixer on low speed. Scrape the bowl again. Mix the oats and raisins in the now empty flour bowl and then add them to the dry ingredients. Mix just until everything is well distributed.

Weigh out scoops of dough that are approximately 1.5 ounces each. Roll these scoops into balls. Place 6 balls on each cookie sheet and then gently flatten them to about 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through cooking time. When they are done they should look a little underdone in the middle, but golden at the edges. Pull the sheets out of the oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets. (The cookies continue to bake on the hot cookie sheets.)

These aren't the quickest batch of cookies to make, but they really are worth the time spent making them!

Narangi Keema

2010-01-29T16:42:00.007-05:00

This month the Brain and I celebrated 6 years of togetherness. Well celebrated is a little strong of a word. We noted the passing of time. See we're not shmoopy traditionally romantic people. I can honestly say I've never gazed into the Brain's eyes for any long period of time, despite the fact that he has the most beautiful blue eyes and really long lashes. We don't hold hands very often and if we do it tends to be something of a silly moment. That's just how we are.

(3 weeks after we met)

Don't get me wrong. We are very compatible and live a life full of love and laughter, but we're not traditional. Did I ever tell you we met on the Internet? Indeed. I met his requirement of being a Catholic without any children and he met my requirement of being bald. Yes. I like bald men. A lot.

This is us about 8 months later (when I already knew there was no going back.) Aren't we cute? That's one fine looking bald man...

So yeah, sometimes I like things a little different than the next person. For example, I have always had a certain soft spot for a bald man. I think I get it from my mother who thinks Danny DeVito is a wildly sexy man. I'm not even making that up.

Given some ground lamb and a craving for Indian food most people make Ground Lamb with Peas (or Mutter Kheema). It's delicious. But I had just gone to the library and checked out From Curries to Kebabs, recipes from the Indian Spice Train by Madhur Jaffrey. In this very interesting cookbook is a recipe called Narangi Keema, which is short for Hyderabadi Ground Lamb with Orange. It's a really unusual, really delicious dish. I didn't alter it too much from the original recipe. The only difference is that at the end of the recipe she says to add the garam masala, but doesn't include it in the ingredients list. and the unit of measurement is missing from the coriander leaves. It just says 1. 1 what? 1 bushel? 1 tsp? 1 cup? Yes, it's the standard how to annoy a math geek moment. But anyway, this was really different and tasty way to try a new Indian ground lamb recipe.

Narangi Keema
from From Curries to Kebabs with alterations previously noted.

1 large orange
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt

3 Tbsp peanut oil
2 medium onions, sliced into fine half rings
2 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp ground coriander
2 Tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, crushed to a pulp
4 Tbsp plain yogurt
2 pounds ground lamb
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 1/2 tsp salt

3 serrano peppers, sliced into very fine rounds
1 cup lightly packed cilantro, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala

To prepare the orange, peel off the orange rind, making sure to leave the white pith behind. Cut the rind into very fine, 1 inch long julienne strips. Combine the turmeric and salt with 6 cups of water in a pan and bring to a boil. Pour half into a measuring cup and reserve. Add the rind to the boiling liquid in the pan and boil rapidly for 1 minute. Empty the pan through a sieve set over a sink. Pour the reserved turmeric water back into the pan and bring back to a boil. Put the rind back into the pan and boil again for 1 minute, then strain again through a sieve set over the sink. Rinse the rind under cold running water and set aside.

To prepare the lamb, pour the oil into a large, nonstick, lidded pan set over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, stir in the onions and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, or until a dark caramel color. Add the cumin and coriander and stir for 30 seconds. Add the ginger and garlic. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the yogurt 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting for the previous tablespoon to be absorbed before adding another. Put in the lamb, turmeric, and cayenne. Stir and cook for 5 minutes, breaking up all the lumps in the meat. Add the orange juice, rind, and salt. Stir and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently for 40 minutes. Add the chilies, cilantro, mint, and garam masala. Stir to combine. Cover and continue to cook for 10 more minutes. Serve.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2010-01-21T22:44:00.008-05:00

Hello. How are you?

Have you dropped a little weight?

You're looking pretty good!

I've been dieting some. I've also been working out more.

Why?

Because there's so much going on in the world today that I can't do anything about. I can't help those people in Haiti besides write a check. I can't do anything about all the poor people (and self employed people) who have very limited access to healthcare. I can't adopt one of the hundreds of thousands of little orphaned Haitian babies. I can't find Osama Bin Laden. (Okay, I haven't looked either.) It seems to me that every time I listen to the news it's just more and more that I can't do anything about. I find it a touch depressing.

What I can do, and the reason for the dieting and working out, is ride my bike. I have a teensy little seat and I'm seriously hoping it gets MUCH more comfortable in the next 7 months. Because July 29th - August 1st I will be riding 328 miles in Pan Ohio Hope Ride. I will be riding to raise funds for the American Cancer Society and their Hope Houses. In fact, today, when I learned yet another person I love very much has been diagnosed with cancer, the only thing that made me feel the tiniest bit better was to put on my biking clothes and ride my bike. So if you'd like to support me, here's the link to my page. If you'd like to join the team I'm on (Adam's Army- named after a soldier who was a good friend of my team leader Mike) we'd love to have you! Just click on the button that says "Join My Team."

Also, expect to see updates ocassionally on how the training is going.

And yes, those noodles are made from scratch, not a box.

If it weren't for the Pan Ohio Hope Ride, I would be doing what every other chubby, emotional eater, in rural Ohio does and eating plates and plates of this delicious Spaghetti and Meatballs. Okay. I did eat plates and plates of Spaghetti and Meatballs, but in my defense, yesterday was my birthday, and I seriously think The Complete Meat Cookbook is one of the top 5 cookbooks in my library (one of the spare bedrooms, not the public library.)

Meatballs and Sauce
adapted from The Complete Meat Cookbook

meatballs:
1 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp minced onion
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley (I used 1/4 cup dried because it's what I had)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

sauce:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
2 medium stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup beef stock
3 cups canned tomatoes
1 tsp Italian seasoning. (Ok, it supposed to be basil, but somehow I have none in the pantry)

In a large deep bowl combine all meatball ingredients. kneading and squeezing until everything is well blended. Shape the meat into 24 meatballs (approximately 1 1/2 inch balls). Place the meatballs on a cooking sheet lined with parchment and place in a preheated 500° oven and bake for 10 minutes, ocassionally shaking the pan.

Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to a Dutch oven, add the onions, celery, and garlic and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring once in a while. Pour in the red wine and bring to a boil. Cook until the red wine is reduced to about 1/4 cup. Add the stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Add the Italian Seasoning (or basil) and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes and then using an immersion blender puree the sauce to as smooth as you prefer.

Put the meatballs into the pan and simmer over low heat for another 30 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and serve over the cooked pasta of your choice.

Serves 8.

Egg Tomato Curry

2010-01-05T11:34:00.005-05:00

It's snowing outside. It's been snowing for several days. Okay, maybe just two whole days, but it feels like longer. It's the perfect kind of weather to snuggle under an afghan, drink a steamy mug of hot chocolate and eat something robust and hearty like beef stew and homemade bread with thick slabs of butter. Real butter, not margarine.

But it's January. Which means one of two things. 1) You have New Year's resolutions and are avoiding things like snuggling all day under an afghan (you need to get moving!) and thick slabs of butter. Or 2) You are sick and tired of rich foods and butter and chocolate (hard to believe THAT happened!) and instead are desperately craving something with a vegetable in it. Or maybe you feel like you can only afford to eat Ramen Noodles (BLECCH!) after looking at the credit card bill. Ah January. What a month.

Because there was a -1 billion degree windchill outside, the Focus does not have heated seats, and I needed to eat something quick and warm and delicious and healthy (and fairly cheap), I told my sister Super G, while driving home from work on Sunday that I would be making Egg Curry for dinner that night. Super G regularly follows my blog and informed me that she didn't think I'd ever posted a recipe for that and she Google searched to be sure. I told her that was ridiculous because I must have posted an egg curry recipe before. It's my go to quick, easy, delicious, cheap, and healthy recipe. Super G insisted I hadn't because she is curious about trying it.

I'm embarrassed to say Super G is correct. I have somehow neglected to post a recipe for egg curry. This is even more embarrassing because I have two different egg curry recipes that I've used in the past. Ooops. Deepest apologies. This is without a doubt super comforting food for me and although it took a moment of courage to get over the idea of hard boiled eggs in tomato sauce, it has squarely landed in the rotation as a meal I cook often. So without further ado, Here's the recipe...

Egg-Tomato Curry

adapted from Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking (don't judge, it's a really good cookbook)

1 Tbsp canola oil

1 medium onion

2 medium cloves garlic

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp turmeric

2 (15oz) cans of petite diced tomatoes

1 cup water

4 large hard boiled eggs, cut in half

2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro

Quarter the onion and process in the food processor with the garlic until very finely chopped. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for several minutes until all liquid has evaporated and onions start to turn brown (about 5 minutes).

Stir in sugar, salt, cumin, coriander, cayenne, and turmeric. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes stirring constantly. Stir in tomatoes and water. Simmer uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes.

Gently stir in eggs and simmer for another 1 to 2 minutes to warm eggs. Remove from heat. Gently stir in cilantro.

Two Houses

2009-12-27T09:11:00.006-05:00

Well hello there!

Remember me? You may think that I've fallen off the planet, but in reality life just got a little too busy and I had to let something go for a while. So what's been going on? Well, I just finished another observation class where I was teaching 11th and 12th graders at a rural school. That was interesting and demanding. So yeah, I had some lesson plans and papers to write and I managed to keep the 4.0 GPA going after a successful final evaluation. (I realize grade point averages in graduate school are pretty unimportant, but I've never been a good student before and I'm pretty stoked about it.)

Also, I got a part time job at an Ostermann Jeweler's in the mall. It's got your standard baloney that goes along with a part time retail job in the mall, but for the most part I'm really enjoying it. There's some big honking blingy rings that it's fairly interesting to see who will buy them.

SO school and work, that's not too bad right? Well then we moved. This is one of the really cool things about living in a small town. We moved to the other, much nicer side of town and the only thing in our address that changed was the street name! We definitely upgraded too! I've got the library painted a lovely indigo and am still contemplating color choices for the guest room...

Yeah, that's what's been happening here. It's been pretty fun. And when I saw this month's Daring Baker challenge I decided that perhaps I'd give it a shot. After last time's disastrous results, I was curious to see if the new house had a humidity problem...

It didn't. (Sorry about the photos, my camera is in Michigan.)

Here's the fine print:

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Except I used my own gingerbread recipe. And my house is not free standing. I am a firm believer in gluing the heck out of the house with royal icing. It is definitely all edible though. Even my naughty dog got a taste of the fence. I used the gingerbread house plans from Bob Villa too. I figure he knows how to build houses.

Potage Veloute aux Champignons

2009-10-04T22:38:00.004-04:00

SO, I know I didn't post last week. See, because I don't work during the day at the jewelry store I mostly end up working on Sundays. Although last Sunday I was in Michigan for a wedding reception for a wonderful cousin of mine. No problem you could say, why not cook these Julia Child recipes during the week? Well, I'm still in school. So two days a week I'm observing and sometimes teaching. This week, I'll be subbing for two and a half days. And really, if I just make the soup on Sunday night, if I were to make the next recipe on Monday I'd have multitudes of leftovers. Oh who am I kidding. I made the french onion soup on Monday. see? I did it anyway.

In the spirit of being in school, let me give you the cliff notes version of me making the soup.

Monday:

Me: So what's the next recipe?

Super G: I've been eyeing the cream of mushroom soup for a long time so I pick that one.

Me: Hmmm. okay. That sounds good.

Tuesday:
Me: Crap. My course advisor wants to come observe me teach again. Okay, let's do it next Tuesday.

Naughty Obnoxious Boy! You are getting a detention!

Secretary #1: So you know, Naughty Obnoxious Boy came in to speak to the principal about how you pick on him.

Me: (poof brain exploded!)

Wednesday:
observe observe observe

Sell big piece of jewelry. Sell another big piece of jewelry. Yay!

Think maybe I should get started on this soup.

Thursday:
Bake cake for teacher I'm observing. Think about getting that soup started. Finish the french onion soup leftovers. yum!

Friday:

Stomach flu and dizziness hits. Whhhheee.

Saturday:

Still recovering from the Friday fun. Sleep most of the day. No desire for cooking.

Sunday:

Yay! feel human again! Work a full day selling a little bit of jewelry. Race through Meijer on the way home and pick up some mushrooms and heavy cream. Throw some tequila marinated pork kabobs on the grill. Eat dinner with the Brain. Chop mushrooms and get the Cream of Mushroom soup started. CRAP!!!! I'm out of eggs (and to be discovered later, cash). Race through WalMart. Grab eggs. Count out a ridiculous amount of change and make mental note to stop at the bank tomorrow. Get back home just as the 20 minutes of simmering is done. Finish the soup.

And yes. There are two kinds of cream of mushroom soup. There's the kind you make tuna noodle casserole out of. And there's this kind. Silky, decadent, delicious. If only I didn't have a mountain of dishes to do before I get to go to bed....

And I welcome any tips on getting soup made lade at night to photograph well!

Check out how Tracy and Super G did!

Soupe á l’Oeuf, Provençale

2009-09-20T21:09:00.004-04:00

So I picked this weeks Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe, Soupe á l’Oeuf, Provençale or Garlic Soup with Poached Eggs. I guess I felt the potato leek soup was a little too easy in a book I have always pictured in my mind as tres difficile (very difficult). So yesterday, I strapped on my pearls and my very girliest of aprons and tackled this recipe.

Really it is two recipes in the same challenge. In order to complete the Garlic Soup with Poached Eggs, I figured I probably needed to learn how to poach some eggs first. Well really simultaneously as I was making the garlic soup/ broth and making these oh so delicious apple cardamom cupcakes with the carmel frosting.

The cupcakes turned out delicious.

The eggs that I simply poached in water following the directions on page 116 were the best poached eggs I've ever had. Really. I've been a lifelong, hard-core dieter, and I can tell you poached eggs tend to be fairly watery and gross. These poached eggs were different though. They were downright decadent.

As for the soup, it's made from garlic, water, and your standard pantry herbs, thyme sage, bay leaf, etc. In the introduction, Julia says, " Enjoying your first bowl of garlic soup, you might never suspect what it is made of. Because the garlic is boiled, its after-effects are at a minimum, and its flavor becomes exquisite, aromatic, and almost undefinable." She is 100% spot on. I don't know how to describe the flavor of this soup. It's delicious. It's savory.

Trying to describe what it tastes like though is like trying to describe the color orange. Maybe Tracy or Super G will have a better description.

Potage Parmentier

2009-09-13T20:46:00.005-04:00

So like many many people I saw the movie Julie and Julia. And I liked it. And I was happily surprised (although it wasn't really a big surprise) to see a girl I went to elementary school with was in several scenes with Meryl Streep.

I also have a long standing love affair with the idea of Julia Child. She was a bigger and not terribly dainty woman (like me). She smoked (like I used to). She was madly in love with her husband (like I am). She was close, as an adult, with her sister (as I am with mine). Who happened to be taller than her (I'm the only family member nowhere close to 6 foot tall). And when asked by her husband what it is that she really like to do, she responded "eat" (ok the parallel here is obvious).

And she had such joy in her life. I want that.

So, when my much taller sister Super G, approached me and asked me if I would cook my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking (volume 1 although I have both), the first thing I said was "not in one year." She explained that she had heard that this was how good cooks got to be great was cooking their way through Julia's cookbook. I think it sounds like fun so I hopped aboard.

This week Super G picked the very first recipe in the book: Potage Parmentier or Potato Leek Soup. It was delicious! Boiling it for 50 minutes seemed like an eternity, but I was stunned that potatoes, leeks, water, salt and some butter could taste so absolutely delicious! I'm not going to be posting the recipes because we're going to cook all of them and it wouldn't be right. But Super G, her friend Tracy, and I are going to rotate picking a recipe every week and blogging about our results on Sundays.

If this first recipe was an indicator, this will be a very fun and delicious experience.

Daring Bakers' Dobos Torte!

2009-08-27T08:20:00.005-04:00

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonfulof Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular DobosTorte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: ExquisiteDesserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

This torte turned out to be pretty tasty. As usual, I cannot be trusted with an entire chocolate cake in the fridge, so I took some to the Brain's office, took some into the jewelry store (did I mention I got a job? I work in a jewelry store! I like it.) and I have a chunk to give to my friend A if she ever gets back from vacation! The general consensus however, is that the caramel layer is too lemony. The ladies at the jewelry store think that a salted caramel would have been much tastier. They really liked the chocolate buttercream though.

There are thousands of Dobos Tortes floating around the internet today. Go check out the rest of the Daring Bakers! Also take a peek at the Daring Store!

Beef Tamales!

2009-08-13T21:14:00.004-04:00

So look at me! Two posts in one week! Wheeeeeee! And to top it off these were dinner tonight. Wow am I on top of it!

Let me start at the beginning. I love tamales. I mean I LOVE tamales. I had my first tamale in 1993 when I was flunking out of the University of Michigan and fairly lost as to who I wanted to be. My very good friend and I decided to take a massive road trip from Ann Arbor to Texas. One of our mothers told us we had to pick a direction we were going and the other told us we had to narrow it down to a state. So four days later, when after a beautiful trip down the Natchez Trace Parkway, my friend L and I were sitting down having lunch in San Antonio. I had my first tamale and I. was. hooked.

From then on, if I could find a tamale on the menu I was likely to order it. My aunt mentioned at one point that she got together with her husband's family every year at Christmas to make tamales. We had a lovely swap for several years where I would trade her an enormous box of Christmas cookies for a homemade tamale lunch.

Then I moved to Kansas. Besides having a hard time adjusting from the big city life of Chicago (where I finally got my degree at Loyola and would have stayed if I could have found a job), I suddenly found myself tamale-less. Yikes! While I consoled myself with a far more than healthy dosing of barbecue, occasionally I would find myself wishing I could find a tamale.

Courtney, over at Coco Cooks, had an event last March called the Tamale Open and I seriously thought about entering, but I was chicken. Tamales seemed to go together like magic and I am really no good at magic. So don't ask me why last month, when I was wandering around Detroit's Mexican Village with my family, listening to my sister M explain how the I-75 improvements were being built (she works for M-Dot) I decided I would bite the bullet and make my own tamales. Call me inspired by the delicious food, but I was determined to do it. I even picked up some masa harina.

I learned a whole bunch of things too. First- there is a reason that tamales are made to celebrate All Saints Day (Nov. 1) or Christmas Eve. My cozy little house is now a toasty 700 degrees inside from running the oven for an hour and a half and then steaming for an hour. Second- tamales are traditionally made with groups of women. I imagine they end up doing this assembly line style because I only made these with my good friend Two Buck Chuck and I ended up with dough and filling all over the place. Third- It is a good idea to read the entire recipe before starting. Dinner at 9:30pm is running a little late for me. And I don't think I would have made them the hottest week of the year so far if I had read about the cooking times. and Finally- It is important to check and make sure you have all the ingredients you need. I simply assumed we had another packet of beef stew meat in the freezer of meat. But we've been working hard to empty it (the fair is next week) and I had to substitute round steak.

So with all this learning. I was seriously doubting my wisdom in making these tamales. I even felt that it would be a good idea for me to taste one when they were done before calling the Brain and either offering to bring him some or order him a pizza. I was sure of failure. But hey these were pretty good! So good I'm not sure there's any point in sticking the leftovers in the freezer.

Beef Tamales

adapted from Cooking Light

Filling:
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 pound round steak cut into 2 inch pieces

1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

14 large dried corn husks

Dough:
3 cups masa harina
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water

Remaining ingredients:
aluminum foil

salsa

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare filling, heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Add beef; sauté 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Stir in 1 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt; bring mixture to a boil. Cover and bake 1 1/2 hours or until beef is tender.

Transfer beef to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Pour drippings into a glass measure. Add enough water to drippings to equal 1 cup. Shred beef into bite-sized pieces. Heat pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Return beef to pan; sprinkle with flour. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in cayenne pepper; stir in drippings mixture. Reduce heat, and cook 7 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring often. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature.

Place whole corn husks in a large bowl; cover with water. Weight husks down with a can; soak 30 minutes. Drain husks.

To prepare dough, combine masa and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add butter and oil; stir well. Add broth and 1 cup water; stir until a soft dough forms.

Working with one husk at a time, place about 1/4 cup masa dough in the center of the husk; press dough into a 4 x 3-inch rectangle. Spoon about 2 tablespoons beef mixture down one side of the dough. Using the corn husk as your guide, roll tamale up, jelly-roll style; fold bottom ends of the husk under. Wrap each tamale tightly with foil to hold closed; stand upright in a vegetable steamer. Repeat procedure with the remaining whole corn husks, masa dough, beef mixture, and corn husk strips. Steam tamales, covered, 50 minutes, or until the dough is firm, checking water level periodically. Remove tamales from steamer; let stand 5 minutes. Serve with salsa.

Deep Dark Chocolate Sorbet

2009-08-11T10:24:00.003-04:00

Hello. So much for frequent blogging.

I have finally returned from our annual "Family Vacation" with my husband's family. We left the unusually nice and cool summer up here in rural Ohio and headed for Hilton Head Island. There was a lot of golf, swimming in the ocean and the pool, happy kids running around, some wine, and general family enjoyment. Other than a minor jelly fish sting on my foot, and leaving my purse in a dive restaurant in West Virginia it was a really pleasant week. (The foot was just fine by the next day and we recovered the purse about 3 hours later after driving through West Virginia again to get it. Nothing was stolen and my credit cards were untouched. Whew!)

But now that we're back home, we've made the unhappy discovery that the lovely cool summer we were enjoying blossomed into a sweltering hot one. This is not fun. There's no ocean in rural Ohio. And we don't have a pool. I could drink wine, but that would be counterproductive. It's so hot that I've been cooking without turning on the heat in the house. Yeah for the grill! But before I get to any of those recipes (and really the camera needs new batteries so who knows how long that will take me!) let's enjoy a scoop of this rich, chocolaty sorbet. It's easy, delicious, and totally refreshing.

Deep Dark Chocolate Sorbet

from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine the water and sugar in a heavy saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the cocoa and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Stir the cool mixture and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Daring Bakers' Mallows and Milanos

2009-07-27T09:01:00.006-04:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I did the challenge with my sister. And I'm glad I did. The Milan cookies were really easy to make and the batter went together in a snap. But apparently, I'm super bad at sticking them together with chocolate. I personally prefer the smaller and crunchier cookies, but I ate the bigger chewier cookies too because they were also delicious.

Then we did the Mallows. The recipe said 10 minutes of prep time, 5 minutes of inactive prep time, and 10 minutes baking time yields 2 dozen. I think that's wrong. We spent the entire day making these cookies. Trying to roll the cookies out was like trying to roll out chocolate chip cookie dough. We solved the problem by splitting the dough in thirds and continuously rotating pieces we weren't using into the freezer. And I think you can see we got a LOT more than 2 dozen. We got 2 gross. Super G and I are math geeks and when we finally counted the cookies we had 200 and we had been sampling cookies all day. So we figured 244 was probably not a bad estimate. I think if the base cookie had been tastier these would have been excellent cookies. But to me, the base cookie just tasted like pie crust. blech.

Photos curtesy of Super G. I forgot my camera.

You can find the recipes here and check out the rest of the Daring Bakers and see what they did!

Cheap Pork and Pea Pods

2009-07-25T15:19:00.004-04:00

Um, okay, so if you haven't noticed, we're in a recession. The unemployment in my county just dropped down to 15.0% from a high of 18.3%. I think we can come to one or two conclusions here. 1) the economy is getting a teensy bit better and/or 2) recessions are not good in rural areas that depend on the automotive industry. Either way, it pays to be cheap.

I'm very very blessed that my garden is flourishing and that we have a chunk of pig and lamb to eat up before the county fair next month where we will most likely be buying a new pig and lamb to eat. We also have what seems like 30 pounds of green beans in the fridge. Anyone know something good to do with green beans?

Last month, while hunting for a job (which I've pretty much been doing all summer), I just happened to be wandering through the Borders ( fyi- you need to apply to them online) and found this book Eat Cheap but Eat Well by Charles Mattocks. Charles Mattocks is apparently "TV's The Poor Chef" but I'm sorry to say I've never heard of him. Anyhow, I've made a couple recipes from the book and they are tasty! He has a recipe for Stuffed Pepper Jack Peppers that's worth the cost of the book, but we ate those so fast I didn't have time to take a photo.

On the next page is a recipe for Beef with Pea Pods. Now, we do have a bunch of beef in the freezer also, but we don't buy a cow at the fair. And remember that chunk of pork? Well that's what I used instead. I believe it was a fresh ham steak package. The peas in my garden had become home to a family of rabbits by this point so I bought the peas. I have to tell you that this was delicious, cheap, and really fast to make. And I really like Mr. Mattocks' idea that just because you are eating cheap, it doesn't mean you have to eat crap (like a certain TV "chef" who decorates her kitchen to match her "tablescape" and uses prepackaged processed garbage instead of just chopping a vegetable).

Cheap Pork and Pea Pods

as adapted from Eat Cheap but Eat Well

1 pound pork (I used a fresh ham steak, but I think any cut would work)

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp canola oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 pounds fresh snow peas, stemmed

1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained

2 cups hot cooked white rice

Cut the pork into bite size slices about 1/4 inch thick. Set aside

In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, sugar, salt, and pepper. Blend in the soy sauce and 1/4 cup water. Mix well with a wire whisk to remove any lumps.

Heat 2 Tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until a sprinkle of water causes it to "pop". Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until they begin to release fragrance, about 30 seconds. Add the snow peas and water chestnuts and cook, stirring until the pea pods are crisp tender. 1 to 2 minutes. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Add another 1 or 2 Tbsp of oil to the skillet and then add the pork. Cook, stirring, until the pork is done, about 3 minutes. Pour the soy sauce mixture into the pan, stir with a whisk, and then add the cooked vegetables. Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute.

Serve with the rice.

Faux Creamsicles

2009-07-19T18:00:00.000-04:00

I'm at a baseball game today, but if you don't live in the Northeast, and you are living somewhere where the temperature might actually be scorching, try a popsicle. These tasty and delicious popsicles are way more healthy than those delicious orange and ice cream popsicles. The recipe is super easy, super delicious, super cheap, and pretty much made from stuff I had on hand. If you don't have popsicle molds, you could try just freezing the popsicles in dixie cups for about an hour or two and then sticking a popsicle stick in until it freezes solid.

yum yum yum!

Vanilla-Orange Freezer Pops

from Eating Well

1 1/2 cups orange juice

1 1/2 cups nonfat vanilla yogurt

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl. Pour among 6 popsicle molds and freeze until solid.

Steamed Clams and Tomatoes with Angel Hair Pasta

2009-07-18T22:17:00.004-04:00

So, I've had a couple exciting days since I posted last. I had another interview for a teaching position teaching 7th and 8th grades (which I would LOVE to teach), but I didn't get it. Sigh. I found out that I passed my Praxis II PLT (which was a really hard and huge test). Yay! I got to spend some time with my baby sister. My mom made me an awesome sundress for the annual Family Vacation with the in-laws. The Brain and I spent a day boating and I almost went overboard (don't worry, I'm fine) and then at a baseball game. I also purchased some fun stuff this week that hopefully I'll be blogging about fairly soon. Hooray for summer!

Today was no less exciting. Today I got to meet Lisa.

You know. THE Lisa. Co-creator of the Daring Bakers. The extraordinary talent behind La Mia Cucina. Yeah. HER. Wow. And you know what? She's awesome! After a moment of fear that I was going to miss my exit and end up in Pennsylvania, I arrived way over on the other side of Cleveland and met Lisa, her terrific husband, and 6 of her good friends for breakfast. We then spent the day shopping at the West Side Market and Trader Joes and we ate lunch at this neat little Polish restaurant.

I took advantage of being around Lisa and picked her brain pretty thoroughly on how to steam clams. See, if I am going to buy seafood, I want good seafood. And pretty much, I don't think I'm going to find good seafood in rural North Central Ohio. (If you know of a place, please fill me in!) So I decided to take the West Side Market and meeting Lisa opportunity to be daring and make clams. I should also interject that I don't think I've ever had a clam before. I mean, I've had clam chowder and those battered fried ones that taste like rubber bands. But I've never actually had a steamed clam before. So I was a teensy bit nervous. Okay, nervous isn't the right word. Scared would be a better word. Teensy probably isn't right either.

But after much reassurance from Lisa, helpful hints from her husband, constant ice, and a friendly fishmonger, I'm happy to report that these were not hard at all. Yay! The fishmonger gave me some pretty clean clams. Lisa let me know that I should scrub the clams before cooking them. Her husband reminded me that if a clam is open before cooking it (and doesn't shut after tapping it) that I should throw it out, and if it is closed after cooking to also throw it out. And then I sort of followed the Cooking Light recipe that I had. They were not hard at all and super delicious! Yay!

Steamed Clams and Tomatoes with Angel Hair Pasta

inspired by Cooking Light

8 oz. uncooked angel hair pasta

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 cup water

2 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed

1 Tbsp butter

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm.

Heat oil in large nonstick pot over medium high heat. Add tomato, garlic, and pepper to pan; saute for 1 minute. Add wine and water and bring to a boil. Add the clams and cover. Cook for 7 minutes or until shells open. Remove the clams from the pot with a slotted spoon. Add the butter to the cooking liquid and stir until it melts.

Combine the cooking liquid, pasta and clams and serve.

Oh and I also have FINALLY managed to mail out those prizes that I owed people. I am so sorry it took me so long.

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

2009-06-30T17:24:00.004-04:00

Let me let you in on a little secret. I generally don't like seafood. I realize this makes me an odd duck, so to speak, but really if seafood is on the menu I'll usually only eat enough to be polite. The Brain loves when we go to a wedding or a benefit or some function like that and a surf and turf platter is served. He somehow always ends up with extra surf. Crab legs, lobster, blecch. Sometimes I will actually enjoy a bi-valve. I do find mussels fairly delicious.

Because I am a nice and loving wife though, I will occasionally make shrimp. I can stomach shrimp. I don't need to worry about overeating it at least. And it falls massively in the Acts of Love category (from this fairly silly book). And I can see the nutritional benefits of shrimp. It's very low in calories and fat and yet it's super high in protein, selenium, and zinc.

So imagine my surprise (and the Brain's) when I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day! This Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta is really good! It's the yummy dinner I made before making the Daring Bakers' Bakewell Tart. The recipe comes from a magazine I found while waiting in line at Walmart called EatSmart with Ellie Krieger. (I'm starting to really like her and her book just got added to my Amazon wish list!) The tomatoes, feta and parsley give make it warm and comforting and yet somehow fresh tasting at the same time. It's the kind of meal that I could imagine eating on some Mediterranean island maybe.

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

From EatSmart with Ellie Krieger

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Two 14.5 ounce cans no salt added diced tomatoes, with their juices

1/4 cup finely minced fresh flat leaf parsley

1 Tbsp finely minced fresh dill

1 1/4 pounds peeled deveined medium shrimp

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

2/3 cup crumbled reduced fat feta

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat the oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley, dill, and shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the feta over the top. Bake until the shrimp are cooked through and the cheese melts, about 12 minutes.

Serve over rice or orzo.

On a side note, I'm sorry I've been sporadic to say the least in my blogging. Downright negligent really. I was going through a bit of a dark moment. But I've realized that I miss blogging. I miss being involved with the food blogging community. So I plan on doing a bit more blogging in the future. Thank you for continuing to read.

Daring Bakers Blackwell Tart

2009-06-27T21:11:00.003-04:00

So, yes, it's posting day for the Daring Bakers and after I spent the whole day with the Brain and made a super yummy dinner which I'll be posting on later, I decided I better get to it and make the Blackwell Tart. The hesitation comes in because the base of the tart is pie crust. They can make it sound all fancy and call it a shortcrust pastry and put egg yolks and sugar in it, but it's still a pie crust. And frankly, pie crust makes me nervous. So does the price of almond meal. But I really don't have a good excuse for missing the challenge and I already had some of this yummy plum-ginger jam in the pantry, so I rolled up my sleeves (or really changed into a tank top- turning on the oven in the summer turns our cozy little house into a sauna) and got down to it.

This was not a difficult challenge. I did have to grind up some almonds, but that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I have been reminded of how yummy my jam is. I also made an emergency substitution of vanilla extract for almond extract. The almond extract seems to be on vacation from my pantry. Grating frozen butter into a flour mixture in a really warm kitchen was a bit trying. Unfortunately, I blindly followed the instructions for the baking portion. The recipe says to pop it in the oven for 30 minutes and to add 5 minutes if you ground your own nuts. So that's what I did. And as you can see, my tart is a little teeny bit on the well done side of life.

So what's the verdict? This tart is delicious! And I'm totally going to make it again!

Here's the fine print! The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart.. er.. pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England. Make sure you check out the rest of the Daring Bakers. If you haven't already.

Bacon Waffles

2009-06-16T12:42:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I can be not so bright. Yes, I managed to pull off all A's for the whole year in school despite my busy schedule. But that's books. When it comes to life I can be a complete moron. Sorry, I'm not going to go into the details on my silly little blog that I would be surprised if anyone still reads.

One fairly stupid thing I managed to do recently was place a whole stick of butter in the butter dish. This would not be stupid in and of itself, but see, I've been dealing with some personal problems by cleaning. And so I was soft-scrubbing the counters and rearranging everything and I moved the butter dish to the opposite counter. Still not stupid per se. But then I agreed to work the rummage sale at church(so much fun!) and decided to make these pork chops. Which wouldn't have been stupid if I hadn't put the crock pot right in front of the butter dish. D'Oh!

Three days later I noticed that my nice stick of butter had turned into a melty ball of nonuseableness. I don't think that's a word, but you get my drift.

Now because I've been kind of blue lately and dealing with some not so nice people, the first thing I thought to do with my melted stick of butter was to turn it into some comfort food. And comfort food it was. I pulled out my little waffle maker, thawed some slices of bacon, tweaked a recipe from the Joy of Cooking and did my best Paula Deen impression. The furry sous chef was hopping up and down waiting for the drippy edges that I would throw at her. And there are now 6 waffles in the freezer waiting for another day that I might need them.

Bacon Waffles

adapted from the Joy of Cooking

1 3/4 cups all purpose-flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 Tbsp melted bacon fat

3 eggs

1/3 cup melted butter

1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat waffle iron. Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl combine bacon fat, eggs, butter, and milk. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to combine. Stir in crumbled bacon and cook waffles according to your waffle irons specifications. Serve warm with maple syrup.

Daring Bakers do Strudel!

2009-05-27T07:07:00.002-04:00

I gotta tell you I loved this month's challenge. Surprising as that might be for a person who doesn't like fruit or pie. And the whole time I was making it I imagined various grandmothers and great grandmothers in my family making it exactly the same way. But let's get the fine print out of the way...

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

This strudel was really not hard to make. I cut the recipe in half and it went together as easily as some people throw together a pie. And I have to tell you. The walnuts make the apple filling just that much better. I think they were my favorite part! Although I think the pastry was lovely and flaky and I really enjoyed the Cinnamon and sugar and rum traditional apple raisin filling too!

Thanks Courtney and Linda for such a fun challenge!
Please check out the rest of the Daring Bakers.

Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs

2009-05-18T10:05:00.004-04:00

Sometimes things work out beautifully. Take for example this quick, easy and supremely delicious recipe for chicken thighs. Beautiful. Spicy. Quick. Perfect.

Sometimes things do not work out perfectly. Like, say sitting behind a woman at the opera who's hair was eerily reminiscent of the Weight Watcher muppet for Hungry.

(image curtesy of http://www.shrinkingsisters.com/)

Things didn't work out so well for Carmen and Don Jose either.

Or say, that I just got clearance to work out because the whole Wilma situation was a year old last month. That worked out beautifully. That I then managed to break my fibular sesamoid bone in my foot is not so beautiful. And it's a nice hearty break. Hello crutches. We'll be spending a lot of time together for the next 3 weeks. grrrr.

Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs

from Cooking Light

2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Cooking spray
6 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken to bowl; toss to coat. Place chicken on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil chicken 5 minutes on each side.
Combine honey and vinegar in a small bowl, stirring well. Remove chicken from oven; brush 1/4 cup honey mixture on chicken. Broil 1 minute. Remove chicken from oven and turn over. Brush chicken with remaining honey mixture. Broil 1 additional minute or until chicken is done.

Flattened Chicken Breasts with Piquant Basil Sauce

2009-05-13T20:18:00.005-04:00

Oh my. Yet again I have disappeared from the bloggosphere. But I can for sure say that I am now back for good. How can I say this? Well, my semester ended and I earned another 4.0 GPA. And I no longer have to stress about last minute deadlines and PowerPoint presentations and reading philosophies. I actually even cooked tonight. And I'm not talking spaghetti. But I'll get to that in a minute.

First, let me point you in the direction of the lovely Susan over at Not Quite June Cleaver. I won her April Spring giveaway and she sent me the cutest apron ever!! My wonderful friend A is modeling it for me because unfortunately my physique trends more towards Julia Child's than Giada De Laurentis. But it's a beautiful apron and my friend A loves it tremendously and I have a wee bit of apron envy. I also received a neat vintage pie tin, a recipe booklet, and some very cool heirloom seeds. Thanks Susan!

The other neat thing Susan did was to post this delicious pie recipe. See the Brain's friend Mac just opened a pizza joint and bakery called The Pie Factory (which if you're ever in Sandusky you should check out because it's seriously delicious and won second place in the Sandusky Pizza Bake Off!) Anywho, Mac has a delicious raspberry cream pie. And I keep wanting to go buy it, even though I don't like pie typically. So I was telling Susan about it and she gave out a recipe that's similar. The crust on Mac's pie is a shortbread crust, but I like Susan's too. Her recipe is here.

Ok, so today has been all about 7th grade. Remember 7th grade? Awkward. Uncomfortable. Hormones running amok. Still a kid, but not really. Well, today one of the 7th graders I taught took his rifle (hunting is very big here and all the kids seem to have rifles) and stole the neighbor's truck and last it was on the news he's driven to Kentucky. This kid is a good kid. He had a little trouble focusing in class, but the other kids seemed to like him and he seemed to enjoy them too. Unfortunately they searched his locker and found his diary and there are 31 students and faculty that he "threatened" in this diary. Now the media is calling this a "hit list". I challenge you to look at any 13 year old kid's diary and not find scribbles about how they don't like people. I'm fairly certain that my entire diary in 7th grade was filled with ramblings about how much I loved Chris S. and Brian B. and multiple pages on how John M. was a big fat jerk. And Mrs. Juntenan was a horrible teacher. (I lost touch with Brian, Chris and John by 9th grade and I'll still tell you that Mrs. Juntenan was the very worst teacher I've ever had.) And besides the boy asked a family member to watch after his pet turtle. He's not the twitchy could-be-killer the media is making him out to be. So I'm worried about the kid and I'm starting to get annoyed at stupid hillbilly people making ignorant comments on the local newspaper website.

Then, my best friend T. is going through a divorce. Her hopefully soon to be ex husband is a real jerk and she's having a hard time. So by the time I got off the phone with her and had heard about the 7th grade boy, I needed to pound something. I chose chicken breasts. I was spending some serious time searching through my plethora of cookbooks and I wasn't finding anything good until I remembered this recipe my friend Scott made for me when we both worked at Victoria's Secret in Chicago. We had both picked up Celebrating the Midwestern Table by Abby Mandel on clearance at Borders and he invited me to his apartment for dinner. It was common back then for him and I to invite each other over for dinner. It was always good company and good food, and the best cheap wine we could afford. We were poor college kids after all.

So flattening these chicken breasts had dual purpose. I got my worry and frustration out and it took me back to the happy days of college in Chicago. And the chicken was exactly as good as I remembered it. Tomorrow will be a better day, it has to be, I still have one breast left over for lunch!

Flattened Chicken Breasts with Piquant Basil Sauce

adapted from Celebrating the Midwestern Table

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

2 tsp honey

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

6 Tbsp chicken broth

cooking spray

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp julienned basil leaves

One at a time, place a chicken breast half between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound it to about 1/8 inch thinness. Repeat with the remaining breasts. Place on a plate and set aside.

Combine the honey, mustard, vinegar, and chicken broth in a small dish and set aside.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place the breasts seasoned side down in the hot skillet two at a time. Cook for 2 1/2 minutes. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the top (uncooked) side and gently flip over. Cook for 2 1/2 more minutes until done. Transfer the cooked breasts to a platter and tent with foil. Repeat with the remaining two breasts.

Once all the breasts are cooked and on the platter, add the honey mixture to the hot skillet. Cook for about 20 seconds until slightly thickened. Return the breasts to the skillet, spooning the sauce over them. As soon as they are warmed through, transfer them to a warm serving platter and garnish with the julienned basil. Serve hot.

Sorry, no cheesecake.

2009-04-27T07:31:00.002-04:00

Well, yet again I have become overwhelmed and did not participate in the Daring Bakers challenge. The cheesecakes that are springing up all over the net are lovely, but there won't be one here. Go check out all those people who did participate.

The good news is that this is my last week of classes for grad school. I am doing another full-time substitute teaching gig, but I'm pretty sure after this week my schedule will lighten up considerably!

Spicy Meatloaf

2009-04-14T11:06:00.005-04:00

Two years ago today, on a cold and snowy afternoon, I married the love of my life. Yes, the Brain and I have been married two years ago today. To celebrate we're having lunch because tonight I have to give a presentation on alternate methods of finding trigonometric identities using the unit circle and the Brain has a golf outing. I think he gets to have more fun. So, as I run off to lunch, I leave you with this delicious and comforting meatloaf that is good for your body and super comforting. I even romanticized the photo... (meatloaf isn't the most photogenic.)

Spicy Meatloaf

adapted from the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

2 tsp olive oil

8 oz. package of baby portabella mushrooms finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped

1 carrot finely chopped

1 celery stalk finely chopped

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 large egg

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

5 garlic cloves

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme

pinch dried sage

1/2 tsp sirracha sauce

1/4 cup tomato sauce

Preheat the oven to 350°F; spray a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil and saute the vegetables for 5 minutes or until softened.

In a large bowl, combine the sauteed vegetables, beef, oats, egg, tomato paste, Worcestershire, garlic, rosemary, sage, thyme, and sirracha sauce. Place in the pan and shape into a loaf about 7x5x2 inches. Bake 30 minutes. Top with the tomato sauce and bake another 30 to 45 minutes. Cut into 8 slices and serve.

Cheerio Bars

2009-04-08T13:05:00.003-04:00

Pretty much my standard breakfast is cereal and milk. For a little bit in college I went with Apple Jacks. And for about a year I became a fan of Kix. And I've toyed with Post Raisin Bran (for the fiber). But for the most part, I am a Cheerios girl. I'm not even talking about all those fancy Cheerioses that are out on the market now. I'm talking about good old fashioned regular cheerios. And no, I don't put fruit or sugar on my cereal. I don't mix anything in. I pretty consistently just eat my regular cheerios with some skim milk and call it breakfast and I'm perfectly happy. (I do sometimes shout CHEEERRIIIOOOOOOOOEEEOOOOOOSSSS! but that only happens when I'm alone and it freaks out the furry sous chef.)

This information about me loving Cheerios becomes important to know because my grandmother recently passed down her cookbook of clippings and little handwritten recipes to me. She's 91 and lives in a retirement community and doesn't really cook that much anymore. In the middle of the binder, was a love note from my grandpa which was short and very sweet. There also was a handwritten recipe with no title. This recipe contained Cheerios, marshmallows, and peanut butter. I think that may be considered the trifecta of yummy.

I'm always looking for a reasonably healthy snack that will keep me filled up as I run around rural Ohio keeping my life together. These most definitely fit the bill. Yes, there are marshmallows and butter in them so they cannot be considered "health food". But really, Cheerios are good for you. People feed them to babies so they can't be horrible. The Brain said he didn't care either way about them, but then chipped away at the pan and ate almost half of them in the first night. I think he likes them too.

I'm also submitting this to Laura over at The Spiced Life. She's having a blog event about recipes handed down from our grandmothers.

Cheerio Bars

from Grandma Shazamer

3 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (I used Jiff)

one 10.5 ounce bag of mini marshmallows

6 cups Cheerios

Melt the butter and peanut butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the marshmallows until everything is a gooey and consistent mass. Remove from heat. Stir in the Cheerios and make sure the peanut butter marshmallow mass evenly coats the cereal. Press into a greased 13"x9" pan. Chill to set.

Rhubarb Ginger Muffins

2009-04-04T10:48:00.004-04:00

I've been asked a couple times last week about what foods mean springtime to me. I drew a blank. And then after thinking about it while driving back and forth to school, I came up with the short list of asparagus and fiddleheads. So really it's only a list of one. Because honestly, I have no idea where I could get fiddleheads out here in downtown Nowhere, Ohio. And then, on Wednesday, I was up in the next county running errands and had to run into Meijers to pick up a few groceries. That's when I saw them. Ruby red stalks of rhubarb. Rhubarb is so definitely spring that I forget about it at other times of the year. Or, it's definitely not a plant you can find while firmly in the icy grip of winter.Elated, I grabbed a couple stalks.

Then I got home and wondered what the hell I was going to make with them (which apparently happens every time I buy rhubarb.) I should have checked my blog because apparently I had blogged about rhubarb muffins before. Instead I looked through a pile of cookbooks and finally dragged out the massive Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking. There's a basic muffin recipe in there. There's also a variation on the basic recipe that tells how to make them with buttermilk (and I have buttermilk to use up!) And I figured I have some crystallized ginger I could throw in there too. Really it was an experiment.

A darn tasty and quick experiment that I found perfectly satisfying as an after-school or before school or late-night-whew-I'm-home snack.

Oh and if you love aprons, like me, you should check out Not Quite June Cleaver. She has a really fun blog and has monthly apron giveaways. This month's apron is all about spring.

Rhubarb Ginger Muffins

an original Shazamer recipe with help from Mary Margaret McBride

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp sugar

1 egg, well beaten

1 cup buttermilk

3 Tbsp melted butter

1 stalk rhubarb, minced

1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Combine the buttermilk, melted butter, and egg in a separate bowl and then add to the dry ingredients stirring just until combined. Fold in the rhubarb and ginger.

Line a muffin tin with papers and spray briefly with cooking spray. Divide the dough between 12 muffin cups. Bake in a hot oven at 425 degrees F. for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Daring Bakers Bake Lasagna?

2009-03-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

This was a difficult assignment for me. Partly because I had to add an egg and some extra water to make a coherant pasta dough. Partly because I have really very little time. A lot because I just don't like a bechamel sauce and we have a lactose intollerance problem. (Yes, I probably could have figured out how to make a bechamel with soy milk, except there's an even bigger soy intollerance problem). And I let more curse words fly in the hand rolling of the dough than I have all year. At one point I was ready to give up and quit the Daring Bakers. But then I decided that the purpose of the Daring Bakers was to stretch myself and that I was being a sissy for lack of a better word.

I also think the person who wrote the recipe didn't have this hungry little helper watching her every move. Otherwise the suggestion of draping the rolled out pasta over the back of chairs would have never been encouraged. I skipped that step. That's why there was some for me and the Brain to eat.

And I didn't use the three meat Country Ragu recipe either. I used this. The busy woman's fairly good pasta sauce.

I had such a rough time making the lasagna that I cooked it and left it on the counter to cool and drove through the Taco Bell drive through for dinner. (To be fair, I was on my way to school.) When I got home the Brain had had a hefty portion. And I decided to have a nibble.

Oh it's good. Really good. I'm not sure if I'll make it again because lasagna is a very rare treat in our house.

Go check out the rest of the Daring Bakers. And make sure you check out the new Daring Kitchen website!

Broccoli Pie

2009-03-26T21:52:00.004-04:00

Last weekend I had a couple of my girl friends over for a candle party/ Sunday brunch. Mostly it was an excuse to hang out with my lady friends with no husbands or kids allowed. As a single woman I was pretty familiar with how to throw a dinner party. Or a cocktail party. I could gather people together in the evening and I knew what to make. I gotta admit though. The idea of Sunday brunch intimidated the crap out of me. All I could think of was Ina Garten saying that the first time she entertained she made omelets and it turned out horribly because omelets are hard to keep warm and serve everyone at the same time.

Oh the anxiety.

So I called my mom. Zucchini pie is always good she said. I called my sister Super G and asked her what to make. Zucchini Pie, she responded. I'd only barely even heard of Zucchini Pie. So Super G talked me through the ingredient list as I wandered through Meier. First major trauma came in the produce department. The zucchini were small and shriveled and far from fresh and tasty looking. Super G suggested broccoli. But she said if I went with broccoli I needed to change the cheese to cheddar too. Oh boy. So the next major trauma happened when I realized I'd never actually bought crescent rolls before. I had no idea what they looked like or where to find them. I'm a freak. I know this. Super G talked me off that cliff and then I went home and discovered another trauma. I didn't have the recipe for Zucchini Pie. Crap.

Remember I mentioned how my mom had given us all cookbooks she had written out good recipes in? Well the Brain has a problem with lactose and although it was in everyone else's cookbook, Mom figured something laden with cheese was probably not something I'd be making and she left it out of my cookbook. Fortunately, I called Mom and she quick emailed it to me. Whew. I then took a long nap.

Sunday came around and I have to say, Zucchini Pie, er Broccoli Pie is one easy and delicious recipe to make. It's not horrible bad for you, but it's apparently no fail and it's really very delicious. And now if I invite people over for brunch I know of at least one thing I can make and have it all go smoothly!

Broccoli Pie

an adaptation of a family recipe

1 8oz package of Crescent Rolls (use the Pillsbury type)

4 cups chopped broccoli

1 cup diced onion

2 Tbsp butter

2 eggs well beaten

8oz package shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Over medium-high heat saute vegetables and onion in butter until tender, approximately 8 minutes. Add spices except mustard and stir well. In a large bowl combine eggs and cheese. Add vegetables to cheese mixture and combine thoroughly. Separate crescents into triangles. Smoosh dough into bottom and up sides of ungreased 10 inch pie pan. Press seams to seal completely. Spread mustard on bottom of crust. Fold in vegetables and cheese mixture. Cook for 18-20 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Note: cover edge of crust with tin foil strips the last 5 minutes of baking if crust becomes too brown.

Grape Jelly Meatballs

2009-03-22T18:42:00.005-04:00

Well, I'm going to try this again. I really am going to put more of an effort into staying up and current on the blog. I've at least started taking photos of what I've actually cooked. If, say, I've actually cooked. So yes, more of an effort coming your way.

So how was your week? My week was interesting. And it flew by. Last weekend I was up in Michigan doing a four mile race walk with my mom. I came in third in my age group and she came in fourth in hers. Mom and I have done a couple of these type of races. I'm not supposed to run and Mom hates to exercise. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were going along pretty good until about 20 yards from the finish when a 90 year old man started to pick up speed and gain on us. I put in a final burst of speed and Mom wanted the guy to feel good about himself. I crossed the line seconds before him and then waited for Mom to cross seconds later.

The race drama was then followed by a nasty bought of bubonic plague, or the cold that just won't die. Fevers were abounding in the Shazam household. But I'm tired of being sick so I didn't call the doctor. Instead I substitute taught some very dull English classes and attended my university classes at night. I make a really bad English teacher. I just don't know how to make a class interesting when the lesson plan is read pages 160-176. hmmmm.

I also discovered that I'm turning into a fast food junkie. I have a funny feeling that maybe stopping at Taco Bell twice in one week might be contributing to not feeling so well (but those silly beef meximelts are so yummy.) Just a thought. I've decided Wendy's needs a rest because they keep screwing up my order. Who eats a baked potato with nothing at all on it? I did. After I asked the girl to make sure there was a fork in the bag and she didn't check to see if there was any butter or sour cream or anything in there too.

The Brain had a poker night since the last time I blogged. Centuries ago. And poker night always means fun food. This time I sent him over with a crock pot full of Grape Jelly Meatballs. They sound weird, I know. But really they are super delicious. The recipe is from a cookbook my mom gave me for Christmas several years back that she had hand written some of her good old recipes. She has written this recipe comes from Cooking Light, but I really really doubt it. And it's not on their website. She's been making these meatballs forever and they're a family favorite. They're now a poker night favorite too!

Grape Jelly Meatballs

from my mom ala "Cooking Light"

2 pounds ground beef

1 cup breadcrumbs

2/3 cup skim milk

1/2 cup minced fresh onion

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp pepper

1 large egg, lightly beaten

cooking spray

1 cup ketchup

1 cup grape jelly

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine first 9 ingredients in a bowl; shape mixture into 54 (1-inch) meatballs. Place half of the meatballs on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining meatballs.

Combine ketchup and jelly in a large nonstick skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook until well blended- stirring frequently. Once sauce is smooth pour the sauce into a crock pot. Add the meatballs and keep warm in the slow cooker.

My mom uses her fondue pot to keep the meatballs warm.

Crispy Rice Treats?

2009-03-09T22:50:00.003-04:00

Well, the good news is that I have finally gotten out of my rut and I've started cooking again. Thank you to the 4 people who still read my blog (other than family and people who love me)! I'm cooking again and it's pretty good and for the most part healthy. Yay! Unfortunately, the amount of time I'm limited to because of school and subbing has gotten even smaller thanks to my furry sous chef.

Who would think that this fluffy little dog would leave mountains of dog hair around our cozy little home? Like for the first time in my life I understand the need to vacuum every. single. day. And with all the rain and mud in the back yard, yep, there's mopping pretty damn often too. It's a good thing she's so cute and loveable and happy or I'd start to get annoyed that my dog has turned me into a clean freak.

Also, challenging and new, I've given up both butter and dessert for Lent because I'm Catholic and that's what we do. Although I have relaxed the rules a little because I will eat things made with butter. And I have had a cookie or 15 as "after school snacks". In fact yesterday I had a slice of pie at midnight, which didn't follow a meal, so clearly that was a "midnight snack".

These delicious Crispy Bars are another fine example of a snack. Except these are really healthy. While I was on the couch with my bronchitis/stomach flu blend I was watching Ellie Krieger during a brief moment of consciousness (before I realized that the Food Network wasn't the best thing to watch while nauseous) and she made these and immediately I was curious.

Fast forward a week or so and I was healthy again and on a mission to make these bars. The most difficult thing about them (besides waiting a half hour for them to set) was finding the crispy brown rice cereal. I never did find it. I found puffed brown rice. Then I was praying that they turned out okay because I did NOT want to eat this cereal without slathering it in peanut butter and honey. And the peanut butter I used is my new favorite. It's Mighty Maple and mighty delicious! Overall I was totally pleased with this snack. It's healthy! It's delicious! I am definitely making it again to get rid of the excess puffed brown rice cereal!

Crispy Rice Treats

from Ellie Krieger

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup mighty maple peanut butter

6 cups puffed brown rice cereal

2/3 cup assorted chopped fruit (I used apricots and cherries)

cooking spray

Combine honey and peanut butter in a large pot and heat over medium-low heat until melted, about 2-3 minutes. Add brown rice cereal and dried fruit and stir to combine until mixture is sticky. Press into a 9x13x2" pan sprayed with cooking spray. Let cool, then chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Cut into 15 squares.

Daring Bakers Flourless Chocolate Hearts with Rose Ice Cream

2009-02-28T07:18:00.004-05:00

Fortunately for me, and for my family, I made these tasty little cakes before I came down with the cold from Hell. Which then turned into bronchitis. You really don't want to know much more of the details.

But these little cakes were delicious! They were easy to make and super tasty. I made them in individual heart shaped silicon cupcake holders and got 15. The only problem was that I only had 12 little heart shaped cups. The last three ended up in my silicon cups with feet. I know. I should have taken a photo. But I was busy eating them.

I made Wendy's vanilla ice cream recipe, mostly because I got a little lazy and didn't feel like dealing with eggs. As a last minute addition I added a tablespoon of rosewater that I picked up last time I visited my mom. If you like the taste of eating roses this makes a pretty good ice cream too! I didn't want the ice cream to overpower the chocolate cakes so I molded little tiny ice cream hearts.

This was a fun one!

and here's the fine print!
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Now go check out the other Daring Bakers!

Lentils and Chorizo

2009-02-20T16:33:00.004-05:00

Um, well I guess this isn't Legume Wednesday. It's more like Legume Friday... But really I made the lentils because I am so tired of listening to the news and hearing about how terrible the economy is. And I'm tired of unemployment being through the roof where I live and not being able to find a job. It's pretty depressing.

So I decided to revert back to the simple and delicious food I ate in college. Yes the cheap eats that I survived on for about 10 years. And NO I'm not talking about Ramen noodles which I hate with a burning hatred that I would rather literally starve to death than eat them again. Seriously the smell of them makes me gag. Ramen noodles are cheap, but they are far from delicious. I'm talking about lentils. Yummy in the tummy lentils.

The chorizo had been hanging out in the freezer for a while so I figured I might as well use it up. Then I sauteed up a bunch of veggies and added some cooked lentils and a can of tomatoes. It's cheap. It's delicious. It's filling. And it's just right for the economy right now. What more could you ask for? Perhaps something like my new and furry sous chef?

Her eyes are really brown, not glow in the dark creepy yellow....

Lentils and Chorizo
an original Shazamer recipe

1 cup dried lentils

4 cups water

2 links (about 6 ounces) fresh chorizo

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large stalk of celery, chopped

1 (15 ounce) can of petite diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Bring the water to boil in a saucepan. When the water is boiling add the lentils and continue to boil for about 13 more minutes or until the lentils are tender.

Meanwhile, cook the chorizo in a frying pan until it is no longer bright red and is cooked all the way through. Add the vegetables to the pan and saute in the rendered fat until they are tender. Turn off the heat and wait until the lentils are finished cooking.

Once the lentils finish cooking, drain them and add then to the pan with the chorizo and vegetables. Add the can of tomatoes and cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes to blend the flavors and reduce the tomato liquid. Turn off the heat and stir in the balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

And I'm off to rolling on the floor with my dog!

Buffalo Wings

2009-02-13T21:24:00.005-05:00

Now this is getting embarrassing. I have completely fallen off the blogging ball. Really I've completely stopped cooking. I don't have a good excuse even. My long term sub job ended on Tuesday (you can read more about it on my other blog). I've been a little bit blue, but really...

I did try Taco Bell for the first time since the early '90s though. It was pretty tasty, but I think I'm good for the next decade.

Fortunately, my loving husband has a poker game tonight. Which means that I actually cooked something. See we've been eating leftovers all week of this bean and ground beef and brown rice and tomato kind of slow cooker mushiness that wasn't anywhere near good enough to blog about. And there was so much of it (and it wasn't really all THAT bad) that I felt I shouldn't, with today's economy, just toss it. So when the Brain told me he was going to play cards tonight I ran to the next county to pick up some frozen chicken wings (that were on sale). And while he took a nap (because he was working late into last night on important legal documents) I steamed and baked and tossed these wonderfully delicious wings.

I love Good Eats. And I think Alton Brown is so appealing to my OCD and dorky ways. So last week I caught an episode where he made buffalo wings and printed out the recipe hoping I'd have an opportunity to make them. Alton's recipes rarely let me down. So even though they seem a little complicated to make, I hated to part with them and send them off to some hungry men who probably are going to inhale them in 3 minutes flat. Either that or they will be upstaged by some complicated and fancy wild bear tacos or something like that. I think it's better that I don't know exactly what goes on at these poker night events. Although the little bit that I hear sure is interesting!

Buffalo Wings

from Alton Brown

1 (4 pound) package frozen chicken wings, thawed

3 ounces unsalted butter

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup Frank's hot sauce

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Place a soup pot with a steamer basket and 1 inch of water in the bottom over high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Clean wings of any hanging pieces of skin or fat and place into the steamer basket. Steam for 10 minutes.

Line a sheet pan with paper towels and a cooling rack. Lay the wings on the rack and carefully pat dry. Refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Replace the paper towels with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter with the garlic. Add the hot sauce and salt and pour into a bowl big enough for all the wings. When the wings are done cooking, immediately toss in the hot sauce. Serve warm.

Trailer Park Beans

2009-02-04T14:54:00.006-05:00

OK, I have been terrible at blogging. really really bad. But it's been a bad week overall really. We got the foot of snow that was, for the most part, expected. And they cancelled school. So I decided to check out the new Chinese restaurant in town. Unfortunately, I learned that although the Cadillac is a big heavy car that does well on slippery roads, it does not plow snow. I got the behemoth stuck in the driveway. So I called my friend to pick me up in what can best be described as a monster truck.

While waiting for her to arrive I decided that it would be a good idea to get the car all the way back into the driveway. In order to do that I had to shovel. SO my neighbor came over to help me and the two of us (and his little son) were all shoveling away when WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I went flying. I should explain here that I have a gravel driveway that we normally don't shovel and so the snow pack under the fresh foot of snow was pretty much ice.

So there I was sitting on my butt in a foot of snow with Wilma the Knee twisted behind me. Wilma the Knee apparently does not like flying and flailing and has been swollen and crunchy ever since. The rest of the day was spent with an ice pack and some electric stim. See if you have 3 knee surgeries they let you have all kinds of fun toys. Fortunately nothing is ripped, because yes, I've seen the doctor. The doctor should be naming a wing of his house after me. Apparently I knocked loose some scar tissue or irritated my arthritis or something like that. He prescribed me some great anti-inflammatory medicine and my knee is slowly starting to recover. Whew.

Life hasn't returned to normal though because shortly before seeing the doctor I must have been sneezed on by a high school kid and I have come down with the worst cold ever. The congestion is truly amazing. I'm starting to sound like Fran Drescher even.

Fortunately I made these beans. Yes, the only thing I've cooked all week. These beans are killer spicy. And delicious. And really you should try them. But you may want to cut down on the pickled jalapenos! They were originally called Drunken Beans and the recipe called for a dark Mexican beer. But I'm not fancy like that and all I had were Bud Light and Tequila. Which makes me feel less than upscale with my beans....

And the winners of the Big Blog Giveaway Part Deux are....

The cupcake towels, napkins and spatula go to teresa!

The finger spatula, band aids, and bookmarks go to Standing Still!

and the apron goes to Siri!

So ladies, email me (at the bottom right) your address and I will get them sent out! By the way, I've been asked where I found the band aids. I found them at Borders.

Drunk Beans

adapted from epicurious

1/2 pound bacon chopped

1 large white onion chopped

1 Tbsp oregano

1 garlic clove, minced

1 pound pinto beans that have soaked in water for 6 hours

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sliced jarred pickled jalapenos

12 ounce can of Bud Light

2 shots of Tequila

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.

In a frying pan, cook bacon, onion, oregano, and garlic over medium high heat until onion is browned slightly. Scrape the bacon mixture into a bean pot (or Dutch oven) and add beans, water, jalapeno, beer, and tequila. Stir to combine. Bake mixture in covered bean pot for 2 hours or until beans are soft. Stir in salt and brown sugar and bake for 10 minutes more without the lid.

Big Blog Giveaway (part deux!)

2009-01-27T19:09:00.003-05:00

It happened again. I missed a week. I can explain though. I didn't cook. Well, not a lot anyway. I went out to dinner twice last week for my birthday. I made the trusty spaghetti standby one night when I got home late and didn't have anything prepared and roasted a chicken with just salt and pepper another night. I zipped through the Wendy's drive through last night at about quarter to 10 when I was finally heading home. (I had the worst baked potato I've ever eaten and they forgot to give me a fork. Next time I'm driving the mile across town to go through Burger King!) And then I was up in Michigan Saturday night for Girls' Game Night and really mostly that's about drinking and junk food. So yeah, other than making another loaf of this bread, which I sometimes think I'm existing on, I haven't cooked. I apologize.

But I can tell you that I have used the random number generator and came up with winners for part one of the Big Blog Giveaway! YAY!

The first winner, and winner of the pincushion, is cdziuba! She just started blogging at CeeCeeBlogger and I'm excited to see what her blog turns out to be!

The second winner, and winner of the cupcake liner bowls and potholders, is The Blonde Duck! The Blonde Duck is a writer and an all around fun girl who has some pretty interesting stories going on.

So being that I have no recipe for you this week, lets just skip ahead to the prizes I'm giving out this week...

The first prize is this cute set of cupcake kitchen towels, a couple silicone spatulas one of which is emblazoned with cupcakes, and some cute pink cupcake napkins. Hooray for cupcakes.

The second prize is much less girly. It's some bacon and egg band aids, a finger shaped spatula, and some magnetic page holders so you can mark your recipes without slews of post it notes. I figure because I do have some male readers they might appreciate something not pink or semi-ruffly.

The third prize isn't pink, but it's sort of peach and semi-ruffly. It's also not finished. It will be an apron similar to my Christmas/winter apron shown below. It doesn't have the appliqued gingerbread men on it, but it's still very retro and totally cool. You could also check out my everyday apron (as modeled by my lovely mom). Don't worry, if we get the forecasted 10 inches of snow tonight I'll have plenty of time to finish it and I promise to post a photo as soon as it's done!

So there you go! Leave a comment! Let me know if you prefer one or the other prizes. And once again I will use the random number generator to pick the winners next Monday night. Good luck!

Big Blog Giveaway (part one!)

2009-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read that correctly. This is part one of the BIG BLOG GIVEAWAY! Sorry for the shouting but the phrase big blog giveaway makes me think of Al Roker giving the Sunday football forecast on the Today Show on Fridays.

So I'm now 37 years old. Whoo. Where did the time go? Anywho, to celebrate, I baked 7 dozen cupcakes so I can jazz up a bunch of 7th graders. And because I can't give all of you lovely readers a cupcake I'm having a BIG BLOG GIVEAWAY! And I'm doing it in two parts so that there's plenty of opportunity to win.

Prize #1 is this oh so cute cupcake pincushion that I made just for this giveaway. Yeah, my mom made one for me for Christmas and I decided that it's so cute that I had to give one away. Not the one she made me. I'm using that one. By the way, these are filled with walnut shells to keep the pins sharp, but if you're allergic to nuts that might not be such a good thing.

Prize #2 is this cute set of cupcake potholders and cupcake liner bowls. I saw these and thought that perhaps some of you happy cupcake bakers might really like them.

So yeah that's it for part one. But I'll be announcing part two next Tuesday. How do you win one of these fun prizes? Well leave a comment and let me know which prize you would prefer. That's it. Super easy. And on Monday night I will have the random number generator pick out the winners. SO you have until 5:00pm Eastern Standard Time on Monday January 26th to leave a comment.

Coffee Break Muffins

2009-01-18T17:24:00.002-05:00

Today I was struck by the inexplicable urge to make muffins. I don't usually eat muffins, but I recently won Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours from CB's blogaversary giveaway and I'm still trying to figure out how to plan my schedule so that I eat on a fairly regular basis throughout the busy busy day instead of consuming the contents of my fridge in one fell swoop when I finally get home at night. So I was thinking maybe muffins might be something I can eat while I'm running from one school to the next. (Which, by the way, if you are at all interested in my reflections and thoughts on schools that I go to or teach I have a new blog that I had to start for a class.)

I usually avoid muffins because really they're a baby step away from cake and eating cake on a regular basis makes me fat. Really. I have the metabolism of a sloth. You know those furry things that live in trees in the jungle and move soooo slooooow that nobody really notices them. Yeah I have a metabolism like that. But, these muffins seem to be a little on the lighter side.

There's no milk in them either (which is a big plus in our little house). Instead these wonderfully tasty muffins use coffee for the liquid and have an extra little shot of espresso just to ramp up the coffee flavor. Yeah, I adjusted the recipe to add just a little more espresso. I figure these muffins might help me stay awake on the long drive back home at night. And because I've heard that protein helps people feel full, I added some walnuts. And Holy Moly! These muffins are really great! They form a nice little crust that gets a little bit of crunch to it. I think I might enjoy my running around when I get a muffin like this to snack on. I'm so glad I won this cookbook! If you don't already own it you should go buy it.

And don't forget to check back on Tuesday for the Big Blog Giveaway! There's going to be some cool stuff.

Coffee Break Muffins

adapted a touch from Baking From My Home to Yours

2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tbsp instant espresso powder

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup strong coffee, cooled

1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Fit 12 molds in a regular size muffin tin with paper cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, espresso powder, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, making sure there are no lumps. In another bowl, stir together the coffee, butter, egg and vanilla until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring to combine. Do not over mix. Fold in the walnuts.

Divide the batter among the 12 cups and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack.

Lentil Soup (the non-Crock Pot version)

2009-01-15T16:45:00.003-05:00

I have finished the first week back to school and I have come to the conclusion that although I think I usually plan things pretty well, I need to plan better. Apparently, substitute teaching all day and then driving an hour and taking graduate school courses at night leaves very little time for much else. Like making dinner. Or eating it. I think basically this week I lived off of this bread. (Which will be included in the weekly Yeastspotting over at Wild Yeast, seriously check it out, there's always a mouthwatering yeasty roundup over there.)

So, although getting paid for today would have been nice, I can't say I was disheartened to find out that I'd gotten the call at 5:30 this morning that school was cancelled. Actually, I was snoring loudly at 5:30 this morning and the Brain is awesome because he took the call and let me know there was no school when I did wake up. The nice thing is that this makes a 5-day weekend then. See, tomorrow is a teacher-in-service and I stayed late yesterday to grade all my exams so I don't have to go. And then Monday is Martin Luther King Day. And this 5 day weekend is going to be followed by a great and rewarding day. My birthday. Which I will be celebrating with a school double header. Whee. And a BIG HUGE blog giveaway. Make sure you check back here on the 20th to see what's going on.

Today was spent cleaning the house. Because once the house is clean, THEN I get to play. And I have loads of projects to play with. And it wouldn't be a frigid cold winter day at home without my brain turning to soup. Yummy lentil soup. It started off as a Cooking Light soup, but I got way sidetracked. Overall, it's pretty yummy. And yeah, I'm hoping it makes up for skipping Legume Wednesday. sorry.

Lentil Soup

a sort of original recipe

6 servings

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 small bulb fennel, chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups brown lentils

4 cups fat-free, low sodium, chicken broth

1 cup water

1 (15 ounce) can petite cut tomatoes

the juice of one lemon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots, fennel, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf and saute for 12 minutes. Add the lentils and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Stir in the broth, water, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes until the lentils are very tender. Remove from the heat. Discard the bay leaf, add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and stir to combine.

Casatiello (Salami and Cheese Bread)

2009-01-10T14:03:00.005-05:00

I know I said I was going to celebrate my love of vegetables this month, but as I was fighting the mass of people worried about being snowed in and stocking up on groceries at Walmart I came to a realization. The realization happened as I was looking at some limp and obviously imported asparagus and was furthered by the snow that has been falling since yesterday afternoon. To celebrate my love of vegetables would go completely against eating locally, or seasonally. The only reason to celebrate vegetables in January would be to fight against winter weight gain. And although I'm eating vegetables, the vegetables aren't coming from my garden, which looks like this:

the tastiest and best quality vegetables I'm finding right now look like this.

So I think I'm going to postpone my vegetable celebration until I have some fresh vegetables that are in season and local.

Instead I bring you my fun project for passing the time while snowed in. Well, besides shoveling snow, which burns a ton of calories and I consider to be strength training as well. And I think it's possible that I may be the only dork out there that actually likes shoveling snow. But I digress. My fun project yesterday was Casatiello bread. I know, I said I probably wouldn't post bread until I start really playing with recipes. But I've made this bread twice already and I love it. It's so super delicious. Chunks of salami and pockets of cheese melted in the fairly rich brioche dough. The bread is much richer if you make it the way Peter Reinhart's recipe suggests. I personally felt that I could deal with less fat, so I cut some of it out.

The Brain and I traveled with the first loaf up to Michigan for Christmas Eve. The drive was pretty much freezing rain the entire time, until it changed to snow when we hit Detroit. And let me tell you the Detroit area roads were not good. There weren't any plows or salt trucks or anything. I think they've cut back. Anywho, the Brain and I traveled at 35mph the entire trip and the smells wafting from the warm loaf of Casatiello in the back seat were mighty tempting. Almost torturous. And the bread is so worth the wait. This is the type of bread that I have to cut myself a slice and then freeze the second loaf and put the rest in the fridge and walk out of the room to eat because if I were left alone with a loaf I don't want to know how much I would eat.

I'm totally loving my bread book Christmas present!

*update!* My bread will be included in this week's Yeastspotting over at Wild Yeast! Go check it out!

Casatiello

adapted from the Bread Bakers Apprentice

Sponge:

1/2 cup all purpose flour (bread flour would be better though)

1 Tbsp instant yeast

1 cup low fat buttermilk

Stir together the flour and yeast in a bowl. Whisk in the milk to make a pancake like batter. Cover with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 1 hour. The sponge will bubble and should collapse when you tap the bowl.

Dough:

4 ounces hard salami

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (again you could use bread flour)

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter

7 oz. Parmesan cheese cut into chunks

While the sponge is fermenting, dice the salami into cubes and fry it until it gets a little crispy. Transfer the salami to drain on a paper towel saving the rendered salami fat.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the eggs and the sponge and mix with a paddle attachment on low speed for 1 minute. If there is any loose flour, add some additional buttermilk a little bit at a time to gather it into the dough.

Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Divide the butter into 3 pieces. Add the salami fat to the dough mixing on medium speed until it is incorporated. Do the same thing with the butter, one piece at a time. The dough will be soft. Continue to mix with the paddle attachment for 4 minutes. Then switch to a dough hook and mix for 8 minutes more.

When the dough is smooth, knead in the salami pieces. Once those are evenly distributed, add the cheese chunks. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it ferment at room temperature for about 90 minutes or until it increases in size by about 150%.

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it in 2 pieces. Form each piece into a boule or ball shape and place in lightly oiled 8-inch round cake pans. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover with a towel and let ferment for another 60 to 90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and move the rack to the lower third of the oven. Bake the pans of bread for about 40 minutes. Rotate the pans halfway through to get an even golden brown crust. Bits of cheese will be oozing out.

When the bread is done, transfer it to a cooling rack and try to wait an hour for it to cool before slicing and eating it.

Mr. Reinhart's instructions are way more specific and I think the recipe as originally written is better than this somewhat lower fat way. I love The Bread Bakers Apprentice and really encourage people new to making bread like me and who want to learn more about how to make really good bread to buy the cookbook!

Orzo with Chickpeas

2009-01-07T15:26:00.010-05:00

I like to have the television on when I'm puttering about the house. I grew up in a big family and sometimes the house gets too quiet for me. I don't always pay attention to it, but the noise is soothing when I'm folding laundry or mopping floors. So, last Saturday, while I was cleaning our cozy little house, or knocking over liquor stores on facebook, I don't remember which. (I think I'm addicted to Mob Wars, but there's something fun about saying, "I just knocked over a liquor store!")

Anywho, I had the television on and all of the sudden there's Rachel Ray in all her EVOO, Yummo! and Delish! glory, making this really tasty looking orzo and chickpea salad. So then I had to sit down and watch and it looked pretty good. So I looked up the recipe and made it for lunch. It's really really good! I did lighten it up a little. I cut down the oil and added more zucchini. And ta-daa! Legume Wednesday starts 2009 on a light and healthy note. And yeah, this salad is good warm OR cold. Deeeeeelish!

Orzo with Chickpeas
adapted from Rachel Ray

1/2 pound orzo
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium zucchini, chopped
1 small red onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
2 ounces goat cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook to al dente.
Heat oil in a skillet, add zucchini, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook 6 to 7 minutes until tender, add chick peas and heat through. Toss with herbs, orzo and cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Maple Sweetened Buttermilk Cornbread

2009-01-04T20:04:00.002-05:00

We have a pretty full fridge so I was nosing around figuring out what I could make to go with the ham steaks I made for dinner. I found some buttermilk and I have to admit I was torn between biscuits and cornbread. See, I got this really excellent cornbread cookbook a bit back and although I didn't used to think cornbread at every meal, I'm starting to consider it. So anyway I was leafing through this cornbread cookbook and I came across Crescent Dragonwagon's recipe for Vermont Maple-Sweetened Cornbread. It sounds really good. I didn't quite make it though. I really wanted to use that buttermilk and I didn't have the full amount of maple syrup. What I made turned out really good. With some salty ham steak and some peppery roasted potatoes the hint of maple comes through pretty nice.

This cornbread would be good for breakfast with some syrup, or for lunch with some beans or leftover ham, or just as a snack. I really liked it.

And I should mention that somewhere between my three tips to Michigan in a week and a half I received a wonderful package from London. I happen to love the sending packages by mail exchange kind of things I can sign up for as a blogger. Remember when Siri sent me that delicious black currant jam? Well Molly at Batter Splattered did another exchange, this time with cookies. I was lucky enough to have Rebecca in London (no blog that I know about) get my name. She sent a nice package full of some terrifically tasty cranberry and white chocolate biscotti that I have to admit I inhaled before I got a photo of. She also sent some caramels that went the way of the biscotti. Then she sent this here cute little mini Christmas pudding and some gingerbread cookies. To finish the whole thing off I got three handmade red, gold, and white star shaped ornaments. It was so exciting to get a little taste of so many different things!

I also got a little present in the mail from my bloggerganger. The other Shazaam if you will. She sent me a black cake. It's gone now too. I took it to my mom's who commented that it tastes like her fruitcake without the fruit. I think she nailed the description, but if you haven't had Mom's fruitcake, then you'll just have to be happy with the description: "Wow yummy!".

And now the cornbread recipe!

Maple Sweetened Buttermilk Cornbread

inspired by Crescent Dragonwagon and The Cornbread Gospels

Cooking Spray

1 cup all purpose white flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup low fat buttermilk

1/3 cup melted butter cooled

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray an 8 inch square pan and set aside.

Stir together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk the eggs, syrup, buttermilk, and melted butter together in a smaller bowl.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using as few strokes as possible.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Quick Carrot and Raisin Salad

2009-01-02T13:49:00.003-05:00

I think it's natural when starting a new year to think about changes you can make to your life to make it better. Whether they work or not is a whole different story. And while resolutions at this time of year are a dime a dozen, you won't find any of them here. Any lifestyle changes I'm making, I've been making for a couple months now. And really, they're personal. Sorry.

What I can share here, besides this really delicious Quick Carrot Slaw from Cooking Light, are some things to look forward to with this blog.

1: There will be a big exciting blog giveaway this month, just in time for my birthday. I'm pretty excited about it.

2: January will again be a celebration (for the most part) of my big love of vegetables. Yippee carrot salad! It's really good. I promise!

3: There will be much much more yeast bread here. I've been dabbling in it a little bit and haven't posted because I'm not changing the recipes at all. But as I get more confident in my bread baking I'll be sharing with you!

4: Perhaps you may remember me mentioning that Chester and Louise are in the freezer. While I am tremendously enjoying the pig and the lamb, the Brain informed me yesterday that we are getting 1/4 of a cow in the next two weeks. Sorry vegetarians, but I've got a hearty portion of pig and lamb to cook up to make room for the cow. and most likely there will be more meat going on. There still will be some vegetarian recipes sprinkled in though. Like this delicious carrot salad.

5: Yes, I'm in school for another semester and that means I'm going to continue to rely on the slow cooker. SO look for more easy to prepare meals for people on the go!

6: I still love legumes and Legume Wednesday will be continuing through 2009. Starting next week.

7: I have been really crappy at responding to comments and I'm going to try much harder to respond when you comment.

Yikes! That last one sounds like a resolution so I'm going to stop here. Have some carrot salad.

Quick Carrot and Raisin Salad
adapted from Cooking Light
Yield 4 servings

1/3 cup raisins
1/2 small red onion, minced
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 pound matchstick-cut carrots
3 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cloves garlic, minced

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.

Combine mayonnaise and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Spoon dressing over carrot mixture; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes.

A Year of Daring Baker Challenges!

2008-12-28T20:28:00.003-05:00

Perhaps I'm a complete dork, but sometimes marking special anniversaries make me a little loony. Okay, I am definitely a complete dork, but that may have more to do with telling every single family relative I've encountered over the holiday that my terrific husband bought me a Super Peel. It's a seriously cool thing.

So yes, anyway, I find anniversaries to be pretty cool. And this month will mark my one year anniversary of being a Daring Baker. My mom even made me this cute little cupcake pincushion. This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand

Yeah, I had no idea what that was either. I thought we did it last December. But apparently the French have two logs and this one is more of a frozen dessert. Actually this one was WAY more complicated than the first one. There were six elements to my "log": A coconut daquoise, a dark chocolate ganache, a dark chocolate mousse, a white chocolate coconut crisp layer (that there was a teensy error in the recipe resulting in what is best described as white chocolate and coconut coated Special K), a vanilla creme brulee, and a dark chocolate glaze. Make sure you check out the rest of the Daring Bakers to see what flavors they came up with. Everything went really well except that I'm a rebel and just made the whole thing in a 9 inch springform pan. The glaze then didn't really cover the whole cake.

And I have to say, we taste tested today after spending the day celebrating Christmas with my dad and stepmom. So there we were. My sister M., Super G and the Tummy, me and the Brain, my mom and my stepdad. And really by this point in the holiday celebrations (I've already had 3 separate, but equal, Christmases) none of us really wanted to eat yet another sweet thing. So we were kind of dreading the cake. But it was REALLY REALLY tasty! I did leave it up at my mom's, but all of us tasted it and not one of us had anything negative to say about it. It was rich and chocolaty and the coconut was subtle. I will definitely make this one again. But probably not after a week of feasting on approximately 9 million Christmas cookies.

I'm not emotionally stable enough to get on the scale after the past week and a half.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2008-12-23T12:48:00.003-05:00

If I manage to accomplish the Daring Baker Challenge for December, I'll post it, but otherwise I think I need a little break from things. It's just gotten to be too much for me right this minute. So I wish you all a very merry holiday season and the happiest of new years. Please don't forget about me and check back in January.

Shazam

Celebration Cookies for OBG!

2008-12-18T21:35:00.005-05:00

I am terribly behind. I'd like to say it's not entirely my fault. But really I'm behind because I have been poor at time management. See, I put off baking the Christmas cookies until I finished with school (last Thursday). But the teacher who I'm long term subbing for just had her baby on Tuesday so my Christmas cookies had to be baked around teaching math to about 60 or so 7th graders.

So while I've been off enjoying myself with 7th graders, I've had this package sitting here to send off to Kevin for Operation Baking Gals. My team this month is hosted by my bloggerganger the every so lovely Calamity Shazaam in the Kitchen. She's awesome. I have filled his package with Celebration Cookies from my mother-in-law's excellent recipe, candy canes, red and green m&m's, and a loaf of home-made stollen. I'll post on the stollen later, because you really want my mother-in-law's cookie recipe. Trust me on this one, it's like a peanut butter cookie wrapped around a Snickers bar. It's at the bottom of the post. But, before you go look at the recipe, let me show you my week in the kitchen in random photos.

Thank God I'm done baking the cookies because I'm so sick of eating cookies right now. Who knew that could happen? I'm also sick of having spaghetti for dinner. But don't you love my 6 tiers of stackable cooling racks? They would make an excellent Christmas present for a cookie baker on your list. Another very nice Christmas present is my lovely salt box that I purchased here. If you live in Minneapolis you might be able to get one by Christmas. Sorry, I meant to post about it MUCH sooner. The box was made by the lovely Marti the Potter who blogs over here.

Megan pointed me in the direction of my happy smiley faced spoons that I got at TJ Maxx for about $3 each. They would make an excellent stocking stuffer if you can find them at TJ Maxx, or a present for yourself because you can order them here and yeah, probably not in time for Christmas.

So I apologize for posting on these so late, but I really wanted to show them to you. Because I love them. Both the box and the spoons make me smile every time I see them. Well, the spoons make me smile because they're so silly, and the box makes me feel like I'm some jazzy classy chef type person as I grab a large pinch of salt to stir into my spaghetti water. I really need to start cooking again...

Celebration Cookies

from Peggy my mother-in-law

2 sticks butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

3 1/2 cups flour

2 bags mini Snickers bars

Cream butter and sugars, add peanut butter, eggs, vanilla, soda and flour. Mix together well. Chill 2 hours. Roll into balls a little bigger than a walnut. Make an indentation in the center the size of the candy, place the candy in the indent and wrap the dough completely around the candy bar. Bake 350 degrees 10-12 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and transfer to a cooling rack. Yield: about 4 dozen.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

2008-12-14T20:47:00.004-05:00

Um. I appear to have lost a week. Sorry about that. See, I had finals week. And I had a last minute meeting with the very pregnant teacher I'll be subbing for in January (unless baby comes sooner and I have to sub before Christmas break). And I met with my hairdresser and I'm not blond anymore. And there's some other stuff going on.

So, for the last day of class, my Effective Instruction class decided to mutiny and have a party instead. I brought cupcakes. I can pretty much be counted on to bring cupcakes.

When I was growing up, my dad always had the same birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake. And my mom would get one of those great big peppermint sticks and beat the living daylights out of it. She then would mix the crushed peppermint into the fudgey chocolate frosting in the middle layer and then frost the whole cake with just the chocolate frosting. I was thinking about that cake and decided to see if it would translate into cupcakes. Of course, then I got sidetracked (probably obsessing about my 8 page research paper analyzing my own adolescence for my psych class) and added mint extract. Shoot.

Being that I happen to love marshmallow frosting, I figured I'd try that on top and I already had the smashed up peppermints so I sprinkled them on too. All the while hollering Christmas carols at the top of my lungs.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting
an original Shazamer recipe.

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract
2 large eggs
1 cup milk

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the mint extract and then eggs one at a time, making sure each is incorporated.
Alternate adding the flour and the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Beat for 30 seconds.
Fill 18 paper lined muffin cups and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for 11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely.

Marshmallow Frosting:
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
6 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
pinch of salt

Cream together all ingredients.

To assemble:
8 crushed peppermints
Frosting
Cupcakes

Spread each cupcake with frosting and sprinkle with crushed peppermints.

Lamb Stew with Spinach and Garbanzo Beans

2008-12-08T10:40:00.005-05:00

There's a nasty cold/flu that's going around. It flattened me for the weekend. It flattened the Brain for most of last week. That's one of the things about being married. We usually make each other sick. HAHAHAHAHA! (sorry, I couldn't resist.) But really, it happens with roommates or brothers and sisters. It's the nature of the beast. The nice thing is we have someone to take care of us once they've passed the bug on. For example, the Brain was right there with the Sprite and the cold medicine. He turned up the heat and gave me extra blankets. He was very nice.

When the Brain was sick, I made him this Lamb Stew. It's nice and hearty and full of healthy vegetables. The lamb gets so tender in the tomatoes that it almost falls apart. I suppose if you didn't buy an entire lamb at a county fair or lamb is hard to find, you could probably substitute some pork or beef, but I think the lamb adds a nice quality. This is a nice stick to your ribs kind of stew and it's really pretty easy to throw together.

Lamb Stew with Spinach and Garbanzo Beans

inspired by Bon Appetit

1 pound lamb stew meat

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed

1 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup tomato sauce (one small can)

1 can petite diced tomatoes with juice

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach thawed and drained

Sprinkle lamb with salt, and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add lamb and saute until brown, about 10 minutes. Add onion and carrots and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute 1 minute more. Add garbanzo beans, broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and lemon juice and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer gently until lamb is tender, about 1 hour.

Add spinach to stew. Bring back to a boil and cook for 5 minutes or until spinach is warmed through.

Vermont Baked Beans

2008-12-03T17:42:00.008-05:00

Sometimes I feel like living in rural Ohio is similar to living in a Laura Ingles Wilder book. It's not quite the prairie, but it's certainly flat. Really. And as I drive back and forth to school I travel between huge fields of farmland. I see cows and sheep and deer and corn and wheat and soybeans. And there is a huge dead zone of probably 25 miles that I have no cellphone coverage. So when I travel the 30 miles back and forth through sleet and snow and rain, I become a very careful driver. And there has been a lot of sleet and snow and rain going on here.

This cold and dreary weather combined with Legume Wednesday, makes it the perfect time for baked beans. With salt pork. Yeah, salt pork is available in rural Ohio. Salt pork is actually a deliciously chewy addition to baked beans. The maple syrup is a nice tasty addition to the beans too. And the house felt all cozy and smelled so great as these beans cooked all morning. They really made such a cold and dreary snow soaked day much much better. And the urge to put twin braids in my hair passed nicely.
Vermont Baked Beans
from Cooking Light

1 pound dried navy beans (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup diced salt pork (about 4 ounces)
5 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup maple syrup, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)

1. Sort and wash beans; place in a large bowl. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours or overnight. Drain beans.
2. Preheat oven to 325°.
3. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and pork to pan; saute 5 minutes. Add beans, 5 1/2 cups water, 1/2 cup syrup, mustard, salt, and pepper sauce; bring to a boil. Cover and bake at 325° for 2 1/2 hours or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup syrup.

Daring Bakers Caramel Cake

2008-11-29T07:54:00.003-05:00

This month the Daring Bakers were hosted by Delores of Culinary Curiosity, Alex of The Blondie and the Brownie, Jenny of Foray into Food, and the lovely Natalie of Gluten a Go Go helped with the alternative Daring Baker side of things. We made a Caramel Cake created by Shuna Fish Lydon. Her recipe can be found here.

I wanted to like this cake. I mean brown butter and caramel sounds amazing. I was excited to make this cake and it's been done for weeks. But as reports from other Daring Bakers trickled in about it being mighty sweet, I got worried. Then I started thinking that maybe if I made tiny little bite sized petit fours I could handle the sweetness. Unfortunately no. These were far too sweet for me of the Brain and eventually most of it went trashward bound. The frosting was simple, and the salt made it excellent, but it was super sweet and on top of a sweet cake it was a bit of overkill. I even tried pouring some very dark chocolate over the top to cut how sweet they are a bit. But that only made them seem sweeter in contrast.

I think I would make the cake again. And I probably would make the frosting again, but I wouldn't make them together.

Make sure you check out the rest of the Daring Bakers!

Bond, Butterfly, An Apron and a Meme

2008-11-25T01:14:00.004-05:00

OK, so this was a bit of a big weekend for me. I didn't cook a damn thing. And dinner tonight, although fairly tasty wasn't anything terribly exciting and so there's no food being posted today. Instead I'm going to let you know what happened this past weekend and fill you in on my ideas about Thanksgiving. And yeah this one's a little long, so you may want to go get a snack or something.

First this weekend I went and saw Madame Butterfly at the Michigan Opera Theatre with my best friend T. I'd like to say we had a lovely time and really enjoyed ourselves. Butterfly is actually one of my favorite operas and although this is the first time I've seen it live, I have seen it on PBS. Really PBS is a great place to catch an opera. The singing was absolutely beautiful as the Michigan Opera Theatre usually has a good show. The scenery was another story. The entire opera was set in the house that Pinkerton buys for himself and his Geisha bride Butterfly (Cio Cio San). This house is supposed to be up on a high hill that faces the ocean. The problem was there was a walkway set high up on this hill for the actors to get to the house. From our fairly cheap balcony seats, it was difficult to see what action was actually going on on that walkway. Mostly we could only see mid-calf and below of actors on that walkway. Memo to opera scenery group: Test out what the balcony people can see when designing a set. The other problem was that people continued to be sat for the first 15 minutes of the opera. While I understand that unforeseen circumstances happen, I just don't get how people can feel justified crawling over me to get to their seats because they just couldn't get to the opera anywhere near when it actually started. And this happened a LOT on Friday. My friend and I got climbed over and missed a bit. The people in front of us got climbed over and we missed a bit. And two rows in front of them got climbed over too. Then the guy behind us started opening bags of potato chips (we know because he littered the opera house floor with them). My friend T. and I came away really discouraged with how inconsiderate some people are.

OK, so sorry about the rant. Then we went and saw the new James Bond movie and all I can say is Daniel Craig is freakin' HOT. Like sizzling hot. Before I was uninterested in him as James Bond and now I'm regretting not actually having watched Casino Royale. Oh yeah, and if I had watched Casino Royale I might have a better idea about the plot of this one. I really liked the pissed off, butt kicking Latino woman too. And I thought the villain (Mr. Greene) was nice and sniveling. The naked girl drenched in oil was slightly reminiscent of the gold girl in Goldfinger, but overall there really wasn't enough sex. It's a Bond movie for crying out loud. There's supposed to be loads of sexy scenes. Have I mentioned Daniel Craig is dreamy? He's bumped Matthew McConaughey for the top spot in my head.

Also at my mom's this weekend I made a pretty fun apron.

Here's a lovely photo of my mom modeling it. She's trying to look domestic. Even though she doesn't cook, somehow we always get photos of her in the kitchen. You'll have to check Mom's blog for a photo of me. She does wash dishes. Unfortunately, my stepdad (who does the cooking) had to have surgery today. He came out of it just fine, but now he's got to deal with my mom and her ubiquitous stir frying until he's fully recuperated. They do have a plan for Thanksgiving though. They've ordered it from Bob Evans.

And finally, Amanda has tagged me for a Thanksgiving Meme. I'm not sure who has time to do it with all the cooking coming up, so I'm not tagging anyone specifically, but instead I tag people generally. If you'd like to do it, go ahead!

1.) Which do you like better, hosting Thanksgiving at home or going elsewhere?

Um I used to like hosting Thanksgiving in my home, but given the number of people I'd have to invite if I hosted, I'm now preferring to go elsewhere.

2.) Do you buy a fresh or frozen turkey? Organic? Free Range?

I buy whatever is cheapest and not injected with anything. Which most often is frozen. However I just learned last week that most of those frozen turkeys come from somewhere around here so I may find a fresh one next year.

3.) Do you make stuffing or dressing? What kind?

I make this Betty Crocker stuffing. And I love it.

4.) Sweet potato or pumpkin pie?

Neither. I don't like pie. I did make a pumpkin mousse one year. Pumpkin ice cream is good too.

5.) Are leftovers a blessing or a curse?

Blessing. Definitely.

6.) What side dishes are a must in your family?

Salad. I just don't understand big family meals without a salad. I'm just weird that way.

7.) What do you wish you had that might make Thanksgiving easier?

A Viking 6 burner stove. Or a turkey baster.

8.) If/When you go to someone else's house for the holiday, do you bring a dish? If so what is it?

Um. Salad. And wine.

9.) What do you wish one of your guests would bring to your house?

Booze. There's always room for more booze. Or pie. Other people seem to like pie and I'm pretty bad at making it.

10.) What do you wish one of your guests would NOT bring to your house?

Olives. I hate them. They give me the heeby jeebies.

11.) Do you stick with a particular menu from year to year, or do you mix it up?

I go with how I'm feeling. There's no hard and fast rules except that one about having to have salad.

12.) Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday in your home?

I think it's both. We celebrate family (secular) and we definitely thank God for our blessings.

13) Share one Thanksgiving tradition.

I have no Thanksgiving traditions. Unless you count thanking God for my blessings.

14.) Share one Thanksgiving memory.

When I lived in Chicago, I didn't go home for Thanksgiving because I was on a budget that didn't afford trips home. So I would cook Thanksgiving dinner for any of my friends who also couldn't make it home. One year, my friend Scott, my friend Amy, and I had Thanksgiving. There was far too much food to all fit on the table and we pulled up a coffee table and filled that full of food too. We ate and drank wine and laughed ourselves silly for hours. It was the Thanksgiving that taught me that friends can be a family too.

15.) Name 5 things your are thankful for.

-my very sweet and oh so sexy husband who I love very much.

-that my stepdad is going to be just fine.

-that my baby sister Super G. is a math teacher and that she helps me with my homework all the time.

-my very supportive family.

-that I have everything I really need.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding

2008-11-21T10:41:00.003-05:00

Inspired by those Tuesdays with Dorrie girls who have inundated the Internet with their chocolate and vanilla rice puddings, I have made some Pumpkin Rice Pudding. It's really good. Comforting and homey. It makes the snow that nailed us again last night seem not too bad. This rice pudding also isn't nutritionally defunct. There's pumpkin and that adds some really good vitamins. It is a vegetable after all. I made it with 1% milk instead of whole milk and there's no butter in it. I'm not sure if there's usually butter in rice pudding, but anytime I don't cook with butter it could be seen as a lighter meal.

And now there's some leftover pumpkin puree in the fridge. Which will always remind me of the time my sister M. came home after work and reached for the pumpkin in the fridge thinking it was leftover sweet potatoes. The next morning she told us that the sweet potatoes we made for dinner were really bland. We laughed pretty hard once we figured out what she was talking about. We had baked sweet potatoes with dinner. So now every time I put pumpkin in a container in the fridge I giggle and think of M.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding

loosely adapted from Pumpkin A Super Food for All 12 Months of the Year

5 cups 1% milk

1/2 cup arborio rice

1/2 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin

1/3 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Heat the milk, rice, pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon stick, and salt in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tiny bubbles form around the edge of the pan and steam rises.

Reduce heat to low and gently cook, uncovered, for about an hour and rice is tender and pudding is thick. Stir frequently (with a wooden spoon with a flat bottom if you have one.)

Beat the egg with a fork in a small bowl. Spoon some of the pudding into the egg. Slowly add this egg mixture to the pudding, stirring constantly and keeping the heat low. Cook for 1 to 2 more minutes, or until the pudding thickens some more.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Cool slightly before chilling completely.

Country Lima Beans

2008-11-19T20:59:00.003-05:00

Call me nutty, but all week I've been craving baked beans. I even went on line and starting searching for good baked bean type recipes. This week I was determined to make some kind of baked beans for Legume Wednesday. Then I got sort of sidetracked playing Scramble in Facebook. It's like playing Boggle. Remember Boggle where you have to shake the thing up and you get a grid of letters and you have to write down all the words you can find where the letters are all connected? My sister M. is a whiz at it. I am not. But I find it far more addictive than solitaire (which any given day you can find my mom playing when she's not quilting or sewing or blogging.)

So while working my way through some of the three pound bag of tortilla chips that we got as part of our Costco bounty and we've been nibbling on pretty steady for the last 2 weeks, I decided I didn't want a sweet baked bean recipe. I wanted something warm and comforting and mushy, but not sweet and still really tasty. Et VOILA! I found these lovely Country Lima Beans from the good people at Cooking Light. Whew! I sort of just happened to have big dried Lima beans in my bean cupboard and I didn't actually have to go out and buy any ingredients. Which undoubtedly would have taken away from my Scramble playing time...

Country Lima Beans

from Cooking Light

2 cups dried large Lima beans

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3 bacon slices, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

3 1/2 cups water

2 Tbsp butter, softened

Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours or overnight. Drain the beans. Return beans to pan.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Cook bacon slices in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon; set bacon aside. Add onion and carrot to drippings in pan; saute 5 minutes or until golden. Add onion mixture, bacon, 3 1/2 cups water, and butter to bean mixture in Dutch oven; stir well. Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 2 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Stir every half hour adding more water if necessary and adding salt and pepper in final half hour.

Hot Chocolate

2008-11-18T16:06:00.006-05:00

Because when I woke up it looked like this outside...

and it hasn't melted.

I'm thinking I might have to declare the rosemary bush a loss, but I have some good ideas from Jennie at Straight From the Farm about how maybe to keep it going all winter. I'm also wondering how I'm going to get my bulbs in the ground. We don't usually get lake effect snow, so getting this much snow this early was a touch of a surprise. The nearest "big" city got 6 inches, but I'm thinking we got maybe 4.

I get to drive the 40 miles to school soon and I haven't wormed up yet. So I made myself this yummy hot cocoa and I should be warm in no time! And the nice thing about this particular recipe besides the hint of cinnamon is that I don't have to choose between enjoying a cup of hot cocoa OR eating. It's fairly low calorie so I can do both. Yay!

Hot Chocolate
adapted from Ellie Krieger
serves 1

1 cup milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp Hershey's Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp water
15 mini marshmallows

Heat the milk and the cinnamon stick in a small saucepan until just simmering. In a mug, combine the cocoa, sugar and water and stir to make a paste. Remove the cinnamon stick from the milk. Pour the milk into the mug and stir to mix well. Add the vanilla extract and stir. Place as many marshmallows as you like in the hot chocolate and eat the rest.

Ciabatta (poolish version)

2008-11-14T16:42:00.003-05:00

Today, I'm mighty thankful that there is an offshoot of the Cleveland Public Library in the county north of me and that I get to check books out of it. See it has a pretty extensive cookbook selection that serves as a happy compromise (most of the time) between me wanting to buy new cookbooks and the Brain wanting me not to buy new cookbooks all the time. Really. I haven't bought a new cookbook in months. Which is good, because really our cozy little house doesn't have room for more cookbooks. So this week I went up to the library and found a book that I've asked for for Christmas. Yes, I get my letter to Santa out WAY early.

The book I checked out is Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. So why did I check it out if I want it for Christmas? Well, because I have his Whole Grain Breads and frankly, it intimidates me and I was nervous that this book might be too difficult for me. Although the more bread I make, the less nervous I get. And I am now happy to report, I REALLY want this book for Christmas. Especially because I followed the advice of my absolute favorite alternative baker Speedbump Kitchen (I so love love love her blog and it's a tremendous resource for anyone dealing with an allergy) who told me that I can get instant yeast at GFS. Hooray! I now have instant yeast! (She also told me about Peter Reinhart's Pizza book and I want that too. And a pizza stone. Oh the list really could be endless...)

So the nice thing about The Bread Baker's Apprentice is that it's very good for semi-obsessive compulsive people like myself who happen also to be sort of science geeks and math nerds. The directions are very explicit. Well except for the sticky dough versus tacky dough comments. I really don't understand the difference. But I followed the directions and have eaten some mighty delicious Ciabatta bread. Okay, maybe I've eaten more than necessary. Maybe I should stop eating it so that the Brain can taste it.

And yes, it's a long recipe. And you might want to go check it out at your local library, or buy the book so that you can see the photos and learn in detail about what specifically to do.

Ciabbata Bread

from The Bread Baker's Apprentice

Poolish:

2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

1 1/2 cups water at room temperature

1/4 tsp instant yeast

Stir together flour, water, and yeast in a mixing bowl until all of the flour is hydrated. The dough should be soft and sticky and look like very thick pancake batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours, or until the sponge becomes bubbly and foamy. Immediately refrigerate it. It will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Ciabatta:

3 1/4 cups poolish (all of the recipe previous)

3 cups unbleached bread flour

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

6 Tbsp water, lukewarm (between 90 and 100 degrees F.)

cornmeal for dusting

1. Remove poolish from refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough to take the chill off.

2. To make the dough, stir together the flour, salt, and yeast in a 4 quart mixing bowl. Add the poolish and the 6 Tbsp of water. Mix in a stand mixer on medium speed with the paddle attachment for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. Switch to the dough hook for the final 2 minutes of mixing. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. You may need to add additional flour to firm up the dough enough to clear the sides of the bowl, but the dough should still be quite soft and sticky.

3. Sprinkle enough flour on the counter to make a bed about 8 inches square. Using a bowl scraper or spatula dipped in water, transfer the sticky dough to the bed of flour and dust the top liberally with flour patting the dough into a rectangle. Wait 2 minutes for the dough to relax. Coat your hands with flour and lift the dough from each end, stretching it to twice its size. Fold the dough over itself, letter style, to return it to a rectangular shape. Mist the top of the dough with spray oil, again dust with flour, and loosely cover with plastic wrap or a food grade plastic bag.

4. Let rest for 30 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough again the same as step 3; mist with spray oil, dust with flour, and cover. Allow the covered dough to ferment on the counter for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It should swell but not necessarily double in size.

5. Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper, spraying with oil and dusting with cornmeal. Carefully remove the plastic wrap from the dough and proceed to shape the dough. Using a pastry scraper that has been dipped in water, divide the dough into 2 or 3 rectangles, taking care not to degas the dough. Sprinkle the dough generously with more flour and, using the scraper to get under the dough, gently lift each piece from the counter and then roll it on both sides in the loose flour to coat. Lay 2 loaves on one baking sheet and the third on the other baking sheet. Gently fold each piece of dough, from left to right, letter style into and oblong about 6 inches long.

6. Proof for 45 to 60 minutes at room temperature, or until the dough has noticeably swelled.

7. Prepare a hearth oven by placing an empty heavy duty pan on an upper rack and a baking stone or baking tiles on a lower rack. If you don't have a baking stone or tiles, you can bake on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

8. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with cornmeal and very gently transfer the dough pieces to the peel or pan, using the pastry scraper if you need support. Lift the dough from each end and tug the dough out to a length of 9 to 12 inches. If the dough bulges too high in the middle, gently dimple it down with your fingertips to even out the height of the loaf. Slide the 2 doughs (or bake one at a time if you prefer) onto the baking stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan.) Pour 1 cup hot water into the steam pan and close the door. After 30 seconds, open the door, spray the side walls of the oven with water, and close the door. Repeat twice more at 30 second intervals. After the final spray, turn the oven setting to 450 degrees F. and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the loaves 180 degrees, if necessary, foreven baking and continue baking for 5 to 10 minutes longer, or until done. The bread should register 205 degrees F. in the center and should be golden in color (but the flour streaks will also give it a dusty look). The loaves will feel quite hard and crusty at first but will soften as they cool.

9. Transfer the bread from the oven to a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing and serving.

Cranberry Merlot Sorbet

2008-11-13T09:36:00.006-05:00

By now, you are probably a little bit tired of reading the number of things I'm grateful for. So I won't dwell on telling you why I'm grateful that in order to go to Target, or Meijer's, or Starbucks in the "big" city in the county north of me I have to pass farmland, one herd of sheep, and two herds of cows. I just am. It makes me happy.

What I will elaborate on is that I was reading an article a couple days ago about stress and gratitude. I can't seem to find the article anymore so I may have read it in the line at the grocery or in the doctor's office. But the point is that it is apparently impossible to be both stressed out and grateful at the same time. I thought it was an interesting idea and I'm thinking it's been working in my life. But don't worry, I won't keep posting what I'm grateful about. That could be a bit much. I did manage to find a similar article on the web, it's a little old, but interesting none the less. Check it out here.

Another reason to be grateful is that Trader Joe's sells a pretty cheap, ($3 if you want to travel all the way to Cleveland), but drinkable wine called Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck for those in the know). This wine, in the Merlot variety, really sent my cranberry sorbet over the moon! Somehow a Dinner of Giving Thanks doesn't seem right without the cranberry in it somewhere. I admit it. I love the jellied cranberry stuff that comes out in the shape of the can. But I just didn't feel like eating the leftovers of it. Besides I tried the cranberry sorbet out of The Ultimate Ice Cream Book for a Christmas dessert a while back and while it was tasty I wanted to take it up a notch. So I followed Bruce Weinstein's instructions for the Spiced Cranberry Sorbet and then added my good buddy Chuck to give it a zing. Wheeee! Yummy this is good. It's something to be grateful for.

Cranberry Merlot Sorbet
adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

1/2 pound fresh cranberries (about 2 cups)
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups Merlot
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
zest of 1 lemon

Place all ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture comes to a simmer. Continue to cook for 2 minutes or until the cranberries pop and begin to soften. Remove from the heat and allow the cranberry mixture to cool slightly.

Puree in a blender. If necessary, do this in 2 batches. Pass the puree through a sieve to remove the skins. The puree will be thick and may need to be pushed through using a wooden spoon. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Stir the chilled mixture and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Mini Pumpkin Muffins

2008-11-10T14:27:00.003-05:00

I am thankful that fall is here and the holiday season is approaching. I am looking forward to the cookie baking, the caroling, the general feelings of goodwill, and gifts are fun too. But right now what's making me happy is the preparation for the season. See, the Brain and I made our semi-annual trip to Costco this weekend. We picked up a 50 pound bag of flour.

And loads of butter, chicken, broth, canned goods, a 3-pound bag of tortilla chips, and many many other foodstuffs. Oh and a 50 pound bag of sugar.

For a while, I delighted in my savvy bulk shopping. The savings on the 3 dozen eggs, 12 pounds of butter, the flour and the sugar alone came to more than $25. And I make enough Christmas cookies that I know the savings will be realized. As I was admiring the bounty of our Costco trip, it occurred to me that my mother was right. (She should be happy to hear that.) My kitchen needed some serious organizing. SO I spent the better part of Sunday and today making my kitchen cabinets work for me. Seriously. I pulled everything out of the cabinets and sorted according to "keep" "store elsewhere" and "must go" piles. The "store elsewhere" have been packed in plastic bins in the basement and the "must go" are probably going to stay in the garage until the Brain decides he's ready to let them go. The rest of the stuff went back into the cupboards. And now I have a very nicely organized kitchen.

See how shiny the counters are? And seriously my stove is probably 30 years old, but you can't tell anymore thanks to Mr. Magic Eraser.

My stepdad is thankful for these Mini Pumpkin Muffins. They really were delicious. He took the rest of them home with him. Which turned out to be a very good thing. I was having trouble resisting their pumpkiny goodness. And it was so easy just to pup them like candy.

Mini Pumpkin Muffins
adapted from Cooking Light

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2/3 cup canola oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 7 ingredients (through nutmeg) in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine canola oil, eggs, and pumpkin in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Spray mini muffin tins and scoop batter into cups. Bake until a toothpic inserted in one mini muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes or so. Turn out onto rack to cool.

Honey Sesame Crescents

2008-11-06T16:47:00.004-05:00

I'm thankful for those wonderful days in fall when the sky is blue and the sun is shining and it itsn't quite so cold outside. These days are perfect for some heavy duty house cleaning. So today I got all the windows washed. Now it's like that comercial on TV where the husband is snoozing in his easy chair and the wife washes all the windows and he wakes up and thinks he's in the wrong house. Of course, the problem arises when I moved the furniture to get to the window then I felt the need to dust. Or pull all the dead leaves off the plants. Or sweep, vaccuum and change the sheets. I will be especially thankful if my husband doesn't have a heart attack when he sees how clean the house is!

I'm also thankful on these bright and sunny falls days that I get to appreciate all the beauty of the colored leaves. And how nice it feels to have the leaves crunch underfoot.

The Dinner of Giving Thanks also had a lovely bread basket. I made the lavash crackers from that Daring Baker Challenge. This time I did manage not to eat them all by myself. Yay! I also made these really good Honey Sesame Crescents. I like crescent rolls and the idea of whole wheat sesame ones intrigued me. I thought they were really good and they weren't too difficult to make. I made them the day before though because they do take some rising time.

Honey Sesame Crescents

adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp lukewarm water

1/4 cup (3 oz.) honey

3 Tbsp (1.5 oz.) unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces

1 large egg, separated

1 1/2 tsp dark sesame oil

2 cups (6.75 oz.) whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 cups (6.375 oz.) unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

Heaping 1/2 cup (1 1/4 oz.) dried potato flakes

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/3 cup sesame seeds

Heat 2 Tbsp water to 100°F and add the yeast. Allow to proof for 5 minutes. Mix the yeast mixture with the rest of the water, honey, butter, egg yolk, oil, flours, salt, and potato flakes by hand or in a mixer until you have a fairly stiff dough. Cover and allow the dough to rise until it's quite puffy, though probably not doubled about 1 to 2 hours.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Divide the dough into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a 9-inch round, about 1/2 inch thick. Brush the rounds with the egg white mixed with 1 Tbsp water. Then sprinkle each round with a generous 1 Tbsp sesame seeds. Cut each round like a pie into 6 wedges. Roll up each wedge, beginning at the wide end, and then curve the ends in to form a crescent shaped roll.

Place the rolls on the prepared baking sheets. Brush them with more beaten egg white, and sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds. Cover and let the rolls rise in a warm place until they've puffed a bit but are definitely not doubled in size, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Don't let them rise too long; If they do, they'll uncurl in the oven. Toward the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Uncover and bake the rolls until they're a light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove them from the oven. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yukon Gold & Sweet Potato Mash

2008-11-05T14:51:00.005-05:00

Today, I'm ridiculously thankful that this man is our president.

I'm thankful that America rose up and made such a historic election and that we are sending a message to the world that hillbillies do not represent America. I am looking forward to a year of eloquent and intelligent speeches that do not include the words: dang it, doggone it, and ya know. And that's all the politics I'm going to give you.

I am also thankful for mashed potatoes in any form. When I was little, mashed potatoes were probably my favorite food. We would go to my Grandma and Papa's house for a holiday with my 19 cousins and 13 aunts and uncles and I would sit by my godfather, Uncle T., and respond to his question about how much potatoes I would like with the ubiquitous "two scoops please!" I think I may have had potatoes confused with raisin bran. Which would explain my gently expanding waistline.

As an adult, I find that I love the combination of mashing sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. The nice thing about this recipe too is that it still has that yummy factor without the thousands of extra calories that potatoes made with sour cream and heavy cream and tons of butter have. Don't get me wrong, those kind of potatoes are fabulous too, but remember my ever expanding waistline? These potatoes are delicious without the two scoops of guilt that comes with traditional mashed potatoes.

I'm also thankful that M. peeled the potatoes and sweet potatoes!

Isn't she pretty?

Yukon Gold & Sweet Potato Mash

from Eating Well

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks

1/2 cup low-fat milk

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp brown sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Place potatoes and sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until very tender when pierced with a fork, 20 to 25 minutes.

Drain the potatoes, then mash in the pan to get the desired consistency. Place milk and butter in a small bowl and microwave on High until the butter is mostly melted and the milk is warm, 30 to 40 second. Stir the milk mixture, sugar, salt, and pepper into the mashed potatoes until combined.

Obama photo from here.

Maple Glazed Carrots

2008-11-04T13:27:00.004-05:00

I am thankful because today I get to express my wishes and desires for the direction of this beautiful country. I get to stand up and say this is what I want and this is what's important to me. For the first time ever, I carefully went through and looked up each candidates position. Well, okay not all the candidates. I didn't look up those people from the Green Party, the Socialist Party, or Ralph Nader. And I overlooked the Ohio Supreme Court people by accident. And then there were three separate people on my ballot that were somehow peripherally people I knew. My breakfast buddy A's mother-in-law, another lawyer's dad, and a friend of the family's brother were all running for things, one Republican, one Democrat, and one Independent (sorry, my town may be the county seat and twice the size of Wasilla, but it's still pretty small). But, other than that I made informed decisions. I looked up who was running for sheriff. I looked up the issues. I listened to both sides and I thought about things and I made decisions for myself and I VOTED. This is a truly great country that we get the chance to vote. And for that I'm thankful. And if when tonight is over, Barak Obama gets elected I'll be even more thankful. That's right, I've voted for Mr. Obama. It's done. So none of your political arguments are going to change that. Or those damn robo-calls. Man those are annoying.

What's most important is that YOU actually make an informed decision about what's important to you and you go out there and wait in line and vote too. And besides if you take one of these stickers to Ben and Jerry's, they'll give you a free ice cream. That's something to be thankful for. Especially if your nearest Ben and Jerry's isn't hours away.

These lovely Maple Glazed Carrots were part of my Dinner of Giving Thanks. They were super easy and completely delicious. And yes, I just ate all of the leftovers for lunch. I might have to make these again...

Maple Glazed Carrots
from Real Simple

3 pounds carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick on the diagonal
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Kosher salt and black pepper

In a large skillet, combine the carrots, syrup, butter, 1/3 cup water, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, stirring once, until the carrots are tender and the liquid has reduced to a glaze, 12 to 15 minutes. (If the carrots are tender before the liquid has thickened, uncover, increase heat to medium-high and cook until the liquid forms a glaze.)

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans

2008-11-03T20:56:00.003-05:00

So what exactly am I thankful for? Besides my happy family and my hunk of a husband? Well, today I'm thankful the brakes and headlights are good on my trusty Ford Focus. I'm thankful for my eye-foot coordination. And I'm thankful for the 4 feet of pavement that separated me from a pretty big male deer (it had horns) that happened to be standing in the middle of the road. It wasn't crossing the road. It was just standing there. Like it was suicidal or something. I hyperventilated for the next 10 miles, but I'm very thankful. Whew.

These Brussels sprouts are also something to be thankful for. It was kind of funny because my mom kept raving about them and how sweet they are. And my sister told me on the way out that if they were cooked that way at home she might actually eat them. I think that's massive praise considering M. is not a fan of vegetables in general. And even better these are a no-fuss vegetable dish.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans

courtesy of Real Simple

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil

kosher salt and black pepper

(the original recipe called for 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, but I seem to have forgotten to add them. oops!)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the Brussels sprouts, pecans, oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Turn the Brussels sprouts cut side down. Roast until golden and tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

First Annual Dinner of Giving Thanks!

2008-11-02T19:54:00.004-05:00

Today was the First Annual Dinner of Giving Thanks. It was delicious. My mom and step dad, my sister M., and Grandma joined the Brain and me for dinner. I've decided this is going to be an annual event on the first Sunday in November. It works out good because it's smack in between the Canadian Thanksgiving and the United States Thanksgiving, and after all Canada is just across the lake from us. (Which would give me foreign relations experience, except I can't see it from my house.) But I digress.

I liked this way better than holding a Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday. Number one is Christmas. My third favorite would be my birthday and there are only 68 shopping days until then. But this was better than Thanksgiving itself because there's no drama about having to invite family. Whatever family was available could come. Maybe next year I'll invite friends. Mom was put to work making gravy and bringing a pie, but there wasn't any rules about having to have cranberry sauce or sweet potato marshmallow casserole. I figure we'll get all those traditional side dishes when we go off to the real Thanksgiving dinner. And I'll have recipes in the next posts.

But doesn't it beg the question that shouldn't we have dinners of giving thanks regularly? Shouldn't we stop and take a moment to realize how fortunate we really are? It's not necessary for us to cook a turkey (although I do love the leftovers) and get dressed up and drink heavily and endure having to be around family (I'm speaking in generalities here and not directing the remark at any of my family in specific). But really when the economy is so bad and so many people have lost their jobs and are facing dire situations, wouldn't it be a good idea to sit down and think about what a multitude of good things we do have?

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

2008-10-31T11:49:00.004-04:00

So today is the last day to get a cupcake in for October's Cupcake Hero: Squash. So I made pumpkin spice cupcakes with molasses cream cheese frosting and toasted pecans. That would make far too long of a name. So I'm calling them Thanksgiving Cupcakes because on Sunday, in my never ending quest for turkey leftovers, I'm having my mom and stepdad, sister M., and Grandma down for a Dinner of Giving Thanks. Dinner of Giving Thanks should not be confused with Thanksgiving Dinner. This is just a small dinner with a big turkey so that I can have my favorite November lunch: A turkey sandwich on white, nutritionally negligible, bread, with Miracle Whip. Yes, it's plain. It's also the only time of the year where I will buy either Miracle Whip or fluffy white bread. I'm so excited.

Oh my, I've gotten way off track here.

So my little cupcakes. It's been sort of a hellish week. I've had something due in every class. One class I had a test AND a paper. So yesterday afternoon, the project due in that class was something we were doing in class, I whipped up these cupcakes. They were yummy! The molasses complimented the pumpkin cupcake and the toasted pecans just took it over the top. My class really enjoyed them.

Meanwhile the Brain stayed home and passed out Halloween candy. Why would our little town, and lots of other little towns across the Ohio, celebrate Halloween on the 30th? Because the 31st is a pagan holiday and they don't want to celebrate it. Does this make sense to anyone? I celebrate Christmas on the 24th. Does that mean I'm not celebrating Christmas? Ugh.

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

3/4 cup Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin butter. Add the eggs one at a time and allowing each one to be absorbed before adding the next one. Beat in the milk. Then slowly add the dry ingredients, making sure they are fully incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly among cupcake wells. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs. The center should also spring back when lightly pressed.

Cool pan on rack for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz. package cream cheese

3 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp molasses

4 cups powdered sugar

Beat together the cream cheese and butter. Beat in the molasses. Slowly add the powdered sugar. If the consistency is to soft, add more powdered sugar.

Pecans:

1/2 cup pecan chips

Place the pecans in a dry pan over moderate heat. Toast the pecans just until they start to smell.

Assembly:
Frost the cooled cupcakes with molasses frosting. There will be leftover frosting. Sprinkle cupcakes with toasted nuts.

Daring Bakers do Pizza!

2008-10-28T23:42:00.007-04:00

This month our lovely Daring Baker Challenge was hosted by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums. Rosa picked Peter Reinhart's Pizza Dough. Go check out Rosa's Yummy Yums for the recipe and the story behind why she picked it. I found this recipe to be not too difficult. Of course finding instant yeast is just not happening here in rural Ohio. You'd have a better chance of spitting and hitting a political candidate. Not that I'm advocating spitting on political candidates. But I digress, I substituted active dry yeast instead of the instant and proofed it in 2 oz of the water (which I'd heated to 100°F.). It worked out just lovely. Oh yeah, and I cut the recipe in half because we simply don't need that much pizza floating around our happy little family of 2.

And I did try tossing it. (look an action shot!)

But I had a hard time with the catching it part.

And taking a photo of it. This would be my kitchen after some pizza dough went flying through the air.

And because I wanted something a little upscale and I figured the Brain (and his secretary) would like "normal" pizza, I decided that mini pizzas would be best. The Brain (and his secretary) got sausage, green pepper, and mozzarella with roasted tomato sauce.

I got a Parmesan, olive oil, kosher salt, and cracked pepper pizza that was supposed to get a salad on top, but I ate it in the car on the way to school instead. Just a little itsy bitsy note though, Parmesan doesn't need more salt. But overall it was tasty.

And I also made myself this pizza, with Trader Joe's goat brie, honeycrisp apple slices, and a sprinkling of Kraft caramel bits. It was super good! I may make this pizza dough recipe again just to make this particular pizza!

Overall I would say the pizza was tasty. But I am more of a thick crust than a thin crust kind of pizza gal. I like my pizza to have some chew and bread to it. Although I can see that this thin crust has it's advantages in some types of pizza and judging from the Brain's lackluster response to it, we'll be making my regular thick crust pizza dough more often.

Make sure you check out all the other Daring Bakers to see what kind of pizza they made!

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

2008-10-26T21:06:00.003-04:00

For the most part I am considered to be a maker of "fancy" food. Ask my mother. Even though I think that my food is fairly simple to prepare (there's a growing selection of slow cooker meals), and uses ingredients that mostly I can find out here in rural Ohio, I still get labeled as an elitist in the food department. I apparently don't cook for the people. This alone has been troubling, but this past week, some good friends of our family had a death in the family and I wanted to send over a casserole.

Yeah, yeah, you're thinking. Big whoop. This was actually a fairly difficult job. First, I had to think of a "farmer food" casserole. The patriarch of the family isn't particularly fond of vegetables. About this time, a classmate of mine told me that farmers like potatoes (or noodles), meat, and cheese. She was an expert because her dad wouldn't eat vegetables. (I should also make the disclaimer here, that I'm sure farmers exist who eat vegetables and this is probably a mere stereotype, but the patriarch of the family I was cooking for does not in general.) So the task to make a meat, cheese, and potatoes casserole, was a little daunting because there's a lactose intolerance problem in our happy little family, so for the most part I don't cook with cheese. Or at least not large proportions of it. I finally came across this delicious Scalloped Potatoes and Ham recipe from my trusty St. Columban's Catholic Church cookbook. I also came to the conclusion that we'd be having ham steak for dinner, not extra casserole.

Then the delivery of this casserole posed some more problems. See I had class the night that I made this. And unfortunately, by the time I finished it, the family was at the viewing. So it went in the fridge for the night. The next day, I tried to call and deliver it before I left town, but that happened to be right in the middle of the funeral. I was having no luck. Fortunately, the Brain is a wonderful husband. He took it over after he got home from work. He's also friends with the couples children. I really hope they enjoyed it and that they are receiving some comfort in this sad time.

On a thoroughly happier note, I went up to Michigan this weekend to see my family and because the 2008-2009 season opened at the Michigan Opera Theater. The season opener was the opera Margaret Garner based on a true story of an escaped slave. The libretto is written by Toni Morrison and is incredibly powerful. My best friend T. and I came out of it marveling at the symbolism, thankful for waterproof mascara, and a little annoyed that Black History wasn't included more in our education. The opera has left the Michigan Opera Theater, but the entire cast is going to Chicago to perform at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University November 1-9. If you can get the chance, go see it!

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

adapted from the St. Columban's Catholic Church Cookbook submitted by Rudolph York

1 1/2 lb. ham, cubed

1 large onion, diced

10 raw Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced

4 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese

2 cups milk

4 Tbsp butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In greased 9x13" casserole arrange half of the ham cubes. Top with half of the onion and half of the potatoes. Sprinkle with half of the flour, salt, pepper, and cheese. Repeat with remaining half of everything. Meanwhile, heat the milk with butter until butter melts and pour over all. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer or until potatoes are done.

Bacon, Onion, and Brown Lentil Skillet

2008-10-22T21:26:00.005-04:00

So besides using the slow cooker a lot (seriously, it rarely goes back in the cupboard), I'm also finding speedy recipes super handy. And lentils are a legume that leans on the speedy side of life. I won't call it the Ferrari of legumes because c'mon, a lentil is not exactly a sexy bean. I'm not sure which bean would be the "sexy" bean, but a lentil isn't it. And yes, it's Legume Wednesday! Whoopee! This would be the late-night version of Legume Wednesday. OH boy. Pillow talk with the lentil. Maybe it is a sexy bean.

This recipe popped off the page of October's Cooking Light at me. It's a big-time pantry recipe for me. Really, in recent years it's been rare for me to be without bacon, and with Chester in the freezer I've got almost enough bacon to last until next summer. So yeah, bacon, lentils, carrots, celery, onion and stock. And the whole thing took definitely less than 30 minutes. And it's one of those seriously damnass good recipes. The portion size is pretty big and it's a nice smoky dinner with a great mouthfeel. Oh look! I used a "foodie" word! It's basically nice and chewy and delicious.

And joining me this Legume Wednesday is Zylo with her Mashed Black Eyed Peas with Garlic Puree. It sounds super delicious! Go check it out. Would you believe I've never had a black eyed pea? It's something I've been meaning to try out.

Bacon, Onion, and Brown Lentil Skillet

from Cooking Light October 2008

4 servings

6 slices bacon

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped carrot

1 cup chopped celery

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

6 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth

1 cup dried brown lentils

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 tsp drippings in the pan. Crumble bacon and set aside. Add onion to drippings in pan. Saute 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add carrot, celery, thyme, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add broth and lentils. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or until lentils are just tender. Uncover and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook for 6 minutes or until the liquid is almost completely evaporated. Remove from heat. Stir in the parsley and pepper and sprinkle with bacon.

Remember to make sure your ID, Voter Registration, and Social Security card all have your name typed EXACTLY the same way so that your vote will count too!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns

2008-10-21T14:34:00.006-04:00

Fall has definitely hit. It's chilly outside. And this morning there was a cold looking rain. I wasn't going outside. Actually, I was trapped inside all weekend with a nasty case of the flu. The Brain, I think, was worried I was going to permanently meld with the couch. Fortunately, yesterday I took a turn for the better. And by last night I was back to my normal self. I even was back to yelling at the TV during the Rachel Maddow Show. And rooting for Warren Sapp as he hustled across the dance floor. I admit it. I'm a Dancing With the Stars junkie.

So at some point this weekend while I lay on the couch staring at my bookshelves, which are full of cookbooks, I realized that I do really have a bunch of cookbooks that I haven't cooked from. One of them is Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. Now this book was a birthday present (that I picked out for myself) last year. And I just haven't planned ahead enough to make any of the breads out of it. So there I was with the time to plan and no real desire to cook. Yes I was definitely sick. But the thing is, I have a loaf of Zingerman's Whole Wheat Farm Bread on my counter that I've been slowly working my way through. I really didn't need any more bread.

But I did find a recipe in this cookbook / bread making manual for some Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns. Fabulous! The recipe reminds me a little bit of the Julia Child French Bread Recipe. It's very long. But in the margins is a nice little commentary that gives the bread profile (Enriched, medium soft dough; delayed fermentation method; commercial yeast) and tells how many days it will take to make (2) as well as a breakdown of how long each step will take. So I feel like the recipe really wants me to succeed. I still haven't found any instant yeast and am seriously thinking I may have to pick some up online, but earlier in the book there is a little commentary that says if you want to use active dry yeast, that's fine, just increase the amount by 25% and hydrate in 2 oz. of the lukewarm water (about 100°F.) for 2 to 5 minutes. So I tried to do that. But then I ended up adding a lot more flour because the final dough recipe called for more instant yeast, but no additional liquid. So I did what I figure I had to do and added 2 ounces of water. I sort of figured that if I added the yeast without any extra hydrating it wouldn't do anything. If anyone has a better idea I'm open to suggestions.

As a result, I did have more than the 8 to 10 buns that the recipe called for. I got 12. And I think they are really good. The Brain came home for lunch and he thought they were like eating whole wheat bread. But to be fair, he took an end piece that maybe I didn't get the cinnamon and sugar all the way to the end on. And he took it without frosting. I took a bite of mine and went back and made more frosting to dribble on top. They aren't as sweet as say those sickly sweet deep-fried ones at the grocery store, but I think they're better than them. And really, this is the kind of cinnamon roll I could eat for breakfast with a steaming hot cup of coffee. And best of all, although hard to believe, these are low fat (only about 2g each), high in fiber (over 7g each!) and they're made with whole wheat flour exclusively so you could even convince yourself they're sort of healthy.

Time for a healthy breakfast!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns

closely adapted from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads

Soaker:

1 3/4 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp (.14 ounces) salt

3/4 cup (6 ounces) 1% milk

Mix all of the soaker ingredients together in a bowl for about 1 minute, until all of the flour is hydrated and the ingredients form a ball of dough.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight (12 to 24 hours).

Biga:

1 3/4 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp (heaping) active dry yeast

3 ounces 1% milk (a little more than 1/3 cup)

2 ounces lukewarm water (about 100°F./ 38°C.)

1 large egg slightly beaten

Hydrate the active dry yeast in the 2 ounces of water and let stand for 5 minutes.

Mix all of the Biga ingredients together in a bowl to form a ball of dough. Using wet hands, knead the dough in the bowl for 2 minutes to be sure all of the ingredients are evenly distributed and the flour is fully hydrated. The dough should feel very tacky. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead it again with wet hands for 1 minute. The dough will become smoother but still tacky.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.

About 2 hours before mixing the final dough, remove the biga from the refrigerator to take off the chill. It will have risen slightly but need not have risen significantly in order to use it in the final dough.

Final Dough:

Use all soaker

Use all biga

7 Tbsp (2 oz.) whole wheat flour

5/8 tsp (.18 oz.) salt

3 3/8 tsp active dry yeast

2 ounces lukewarm (100°F./ 38°C.) water

3 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

6 Tbsp brown sugar (or more to taste)

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon (or more to taste)

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

4 Tbsp 1% milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Hydrate the yeast in the 2 ounces of lukewarm water for 5 minutes.

Using a pastry scraper, chop the soaker and biga into 12 smaller pieces each (sprinkle some additional flour over the pre-doughs to keep the pieces from sticking back to each other.)

Put the pre-dough pieces in the bowl along with the 7 Tbsp flour, salt, yeast, honey, and butter. Mix on slow speed with the paddle attachment for 1 minute to bring the ingredients together into a ball. Switch to the dough hook if need be and mix on medium-low speed, occasionally scraping down the bowl, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the pre-doughs become cohesive and assimilated into each other. Add more flour as needed until the dough is soft and slightly sticky. (If you're using active dry yeast and extra water, you will need to add a bunch of flour).

Dust a work surface with flour, then roll the dough in the flour to coat. Knead by hand for 3 to 4 minutes, incorporating only as much extra flour as needed, until the dough feels soft and tacky, but not sticky. Form the dough into a ball and let it rest on the work surface for 5 minutes while you are preparing a clean, lightly oiled bowl.

Resume kneading the dough for 1 minute to strengthen the gluten and made any final four or water adjustments. The dough should have strength and pass the windowpane test, yet still feel soft, and very tacky. Form the dough into a ball and place it in the prepared bowl, rolling it to coat it with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for approximately 45 to 60 minutes, until it is about 1 1/2 times it's original size.

When the dough has risen, dust the work surface with about 1 Tbsp of the extra flour and gently transfer the dough to the floured work surface with a plastic bowl scraper (try not to rip or tear the dough). Roll the dough out to a 9-inch square approximately 1/2 inch thick. (My square turned out to be more of a 12-inch square). Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon sugar all over the surface (making sure to get the edges) and roll it up into a tight loaf. Slice the dough into 1 inch thick slices and lay them out, 1 inch apart on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Mist the top of the buns with pan spray, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for approximately 45 to 60 minutes, until the buns are nearly double in size.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (240°C.) Place the pan on the middle shelf, lower the temperature to 350°F (177°C.) and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes. While the buns are baking mix together glaze ingredients. The buns will be a rich brown and very springy when poked in the center. If they still seem doughy, continue baking.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool the buns for 5 minutes before glazing.

I'm a real American and I'm voting for Barak Obama. Although I do have the urge to point out that all you big city people aren't real Americans. You bunch of phonies! hee hee!

Mushroom Sauce Pork Chops

2008-10-20T17:07:00.004-04:00

I'm stuck in classes most nights and starting in January (or maybe December) I'll have a long term substitute teaching position to replace a pregnant math teacher. The Brain also works long hours for some clients who would test the patience of a saint. Thus our happy little family has become fairly dependent on the slow cooker. It didn't start out so well. In the beginning the slow cooker produced some of the very worst dinners yet. But, now that I've got the lovely Chester Pig in the freezer and found some delicious slow cooker cookbooks, I think I'm getting the hang of it!

This is the Brain's all time favorite slow cooker meal. He's also a really big fan of the Party Beans, but these Mushroom Sauce Pork Chops are his favorite. I think. I know he really really really likes them. I like that some time in the morning I just have to sear the chops and then throw them and a whole bunch of really inexpensive pantry items into the slow cooker and when I get home tired and hungry from school this delicious pork is all ready for me. And this pork is so tender usually just the bones are left in the slow cooker.

Mushroom Sauce Pork Chops

from Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes

4 pork chops

1 Tbsp canola oil

1 medium onion thinly sliced

2 Tbsp quick cooking tapioca

1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup sherry

1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3/4 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp garlic powder

egg noodles

Trim fat from chops and brown on both sides in a skillet in hot oil. Drain off fat. In 5 quart slow cooker place onion and then chops. If you have a mortar and pestle grind tapioca to a powder, otherwise place tapioca in a plastic baggie and whack away at it with a meat tenderizer. In a bowl, combine tapioca, soup, sherry, mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and garlic powder. Pour over chops.

Cover and cook on low for 8 or 9 hours. Serve over egg noodles.

Barefoot Summer Borscht

2008-10-16T15:01:00.004-04:00

Tonight I do my first peer teaching. Pretty exciting. Nerve racking really. I've created a worksheet. I've thought about what I'm going to say. I've found a nifty SOHCAHTOA video. I've got the Mt. Sohcahtoa poster all finished. And although I'm only teaching for 10 minutes, I'm nervous. Do I have too much content for 10 minutes? What if it all goes over my classmates' heads? What if I get a smartass in class who decides to ask questions that I don't have the answer for? I'm sure it will be fine, but these questions have me nervous.

Unfortunately, I can answer what black bean soup tastes like when you add cinnamon instead of cumin. It tastes like dirt. So there will be no black bean soup recipe posted today. Instead, I give you a delicious soup I made this summer instead. It's Ina Garten's Summer Borscht as printed in her cookbook The Barefoot Contessa at Home. I checked the book out of the library and now I understand what all the fuss is about the Barefoot Contessa. Ina's recipes were easy to follow and totally delicious. I'm adding this particular cookbook to my Christmas wish list, but I'd be happy with any of her cookbooks. Hint. Hint.

And because it's such a beautiful pink color I'm entering it in Cilantro & Lime's Baking For Breast Cancer, even though it's not actually baked. I believe it was so hot outside when I made it that I was baking, but that's a stretch really. But seriously, breast cancer awareness is important to me. I just spent part of the weekend at a party for a close family friend who is now a survivor of breast cancer. The good news is that when breast cancer is detected early then there is a 98% 5-year survival rate. So remember to give yourself a breast self exam at least once a month! (I got my information from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.)

Summer Borscht

adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home

Serves 6

5 medium fresh beets (about 2 pounds without tops)

kosher salt

2 cups chicken broth

16 ounces sour cream

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 English cucumber, seeds removed and diced

1/2 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts

2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill

Place the beets in a large pot of boiling salted water and cook uncovered until the beets are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the beets to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and also set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the beet cooking liquid, the chicken stock, sour cream, yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, 1 Tbsp salt, and the pepper. Peel the cooled beets with a small paring knife or rub the skins off with your hands. Cut the beets in a small to medium dice. Add the beets, cucumber, scallions, and dill to the soup. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Season to taste and serve cold.

Farafalle with Sausage, Cannellini Beans, and Kale

2008-10-15T12:05:00.003-04:00

Have you ever been so angry you walk around your house completely useless because you're muttering to yourself about how angry you are? Well, I've had a rough morning and as a result I'm just about angry enough to spit (like spitting would help). In the interest of not leaking that anger (or mentioning the person with which I'm angry), today's Legume Wednesday will be fairly without commentary.

All I can say is it's a truly delicious dinner and I'll definitely be making it again. Yum!

Farafalle, with Sausage, Cannellini Beans, and Kale

adapted from Cooking Light

16 ounces uncooked farafalle (bow tie pasta)

1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 pound pork sausage

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp dried Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 (14 oz.) can fat-free less-sodium chicken broth

1 (16 oz.) package fresh kale

1 (15 oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Keep warm.

Drain tomatoes in a small sieve over a bowl, reserving 2 tsp oil; slice tomatoes. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add sliced tomatoes, reserved 2 tsp tomato oil, onion, and sausage to pan; cook 10 minutes or until sausage is browned, stirring to crumble. Add garlic to pan. Cook 1 minute. Add seasoning, pepper, and broth to pan. Stir in kale; cover and simmer 5 minutes or until kale is tender. Stir in pasta, reserved 1 cup cooking liquid, and beans. Sprinkle with cheese.