Last night I stopped by the repair shop and picked up my Kitchen-Aid mixer. It's been broken for 3 (really long) months now. It's finally fixed. I was so excited to see it, I patted it on the "head" and said, "hi, baby!" just like it was a kenneled pet. I know that sounds crazy, but I've had this mixer for almost 13 years. It's white, with 325 watts of power and a 5-quart bowl. It's moved with us 5 times (usually in my car, not in the moving van), lived with us in 4 states and been repaired 3 times. So it's practically part of the family. It's made countless cakes, buttercreams, yeast breads, bagels, muffins and even a few sweet-potato casseroles. I still can't believe I made it through an entire holiday season without it. (It broke just before Thanksgiving. Bagel dough was the culprit.)
Anyway, it's back and I'm a happy girl. It's too bad that I gave up sweets for Lent, or I'd be downstairs right now mixing up a cake. I'm going to make bagels tomorrow. I'm going to watch the mixer VERY carefully. If it breaks tomorrow, I might just kill myself. Wish me luck!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Thanksgiving in February
Kevin's company gave him a turkey for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I went to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving and Kevin and Ian went down to Uncle David's house (Ian still talks about going to Unka David's. He always mentions that Unka David has a fireplace and we don't). So the turkey went in the freezer and sat there for 2 and a half months. I got it out this weekend and made it. I found a menu on epicurious. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/menu/views/cometogether
This was a southwestern style turkey dinner, which suited me perfectly since I didn't want anything too traditional. I didn't make every recipe in the menu. Here is what I did make.
Adobo Turkey with Red Chile Gravy: The adobo sauce was really good. Toasting the chiles gave off a noxious gas that caused our eyes to sting. Kevin hustled Ian out of the room and I turned the fan on. It eventually cleared. At least you soaked the finished chiles in water and then pureed them. When I have to grind chiles in my coffee grinder they never seem to get fine enough. The instructions for the turkey were very exact, so it was easy to make. I made the adobo and slathered it on the turkey the night before. The gravy was good, but it would be a little hot for a lot of people. (I didn't even try to give it to Ian.) Next time, I would use half of the adobo sauce.
Clementine Jicama Salad: This was very good. The red onions took over a little bit, so I would use less next time. Note to self: Kevin will not eat anything with pumpkin seeds on top.
Cornbread Chorizo Stuffing: Technically "dressing", as Kevin pointed out, since it didn't go in the turkey. This was great! I would make this again with other turkey recipes. And yes, I did make the cornbread a day ahead. Their recipe used only cornmeal, no flour. It was a little rubbery to eat by itself, but it was fine in the dressing.
Roasted Chayote Squash: I'd never had these before, so this was something exciting. This was really easy to do. Take the squash, peeled and cut into wedges and toss with olive oil and salt. Roast for 30 minutes and then toss the garlic in and roast for 30 more. They are juicy like summer squash, but without the seeds. I would definitely make these again. Since they roasted at 425 degrees, I had to make them in my Cusinart toaster/convection oven. (The turkey and stuffing cooked at 350.) They got done a little quicker than the recipe stated.
Sweet Potato Coconut Puree: This was very good too. I had to cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave, since I was all out of oven space. This was a nice change of pace. The coconut flavor was there, but not too pronounced. Kevin made these. He added cinnamon. I think that was a good call.
Desserts: Since this was Valentine's day weekend, we had plenty of sweets hanging around. Two kinds of brownies, vanilla iced cookies with pink sprinkles, gingerbread cake from Zingerman's and Fran's chocolates and caramels (my gift from Kevin. Yum!)
So that was my big turkey dinner. It took about two hours the night before and then from 10 am until around 2 pm. No wonder I hate Thanksgiving (okay, maybe "hate" is a little strong.) We have tons of leftovers. It's going to be up to Kevin and me to eat them. Ian has decided that he "no like turkey". He ate a little of the cornbread dressing, but he wouldn't touch the squash, sweet potatoes or the salad. Oh well. I guess he's a traditionalist.
This was a southwestern style turkey dinner, which suited me perfectly since I didn't want anything too traditional. I didn't make every recipe in the menu. Here is what I did make.
Adobo Turkey with Red Chile Gravy: The adobo sauce was really good. Toasting the chiles gave off a noxious gas that caused our eyes to sting. Kevin hustled Ian out of the room and I turned the fan on. It eventually cleared. At least you soaked the finished chiles in water and then pureed them. When I have to grind chiles in my coffee grinder they never seem to get fine enough. The instructions for the turkey were very exact, so it was easy to make. I made the adobo and slathered it on the turkey the night before. The gravy was good, but it would be a little hot for a lot of people. (I didn't even try to give it to Ian.) Next time, I would use half of the adobo sauce.
Clementine Jicama Salad: This was very good. The red onions took over a little bit, so I would use less next time. Note to self: Kevin will not eat anything with pumpkin seeds on top.
Cornbread Chorizo Stuffing: Technically "dressing", as Kevin pointed out, since it didn't go in the turkey. This was great! I would make this again with other turkey recipes. And yes, I did make the cornbread a day ahead. Their recipe used only cornmeal, no flour. It was a little rubbery to eat by itself, but it was fine in the dressing.
Roasted Chayote Squash: I'd never had these before, so this was something exciting. This was really easy to do. Take the squash, peeled and cut into wedges and toss with olive oil and salt. Roast for 30 minutes and then toss the garlic in and roast for 30 more. They are juicy like summer squash, but without the seeds. I would definitely make these again. Since they roasted at 425 degrees, I had to make them in my Cusinart toaster/convection oven. (The turkey and stuffing cooked at 350.) They got done a little quicker than the recipe stated.
Sweet Potato Coconut Puree: This was very good too. I had to cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave, since I was all out of oven space. This was a nice change of pace. The coconut flavor was there, but not too pronounced. Kevin made these. He added cinnamon. I think that was a good call.
Desserts: Since this was Valentine's day weekend, we had plenty of sweets hanging around. Two kinds of brownies, vanilla iced cookies with pink sprinkles, gingerbread cake from Zingerman's and Fran's chocolates and caramels (my gift from Kevin. Yum!)
So that was my big turkey dinner. It took about two hours the night before and then from 10 am until around 2 pm. No wonder I hate Thanksgiving (okay, maybe "hate" is a little strong.) We have tons of leftovers. It's going to be up to Kevin and me to eat them. Ian has decided that he "no like turkey". He ate a little of the cornbread dressing, but he wouldn't touch the squash, sweet potatoes or the salad. Oh well. I guess he's a traditionalist.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sharing the Wealth
One thing I really like to do is bake. Since Kevin and I are on perpetual diets, that means I have to stay away from calorie and fat-laden items. Plus, Kevin is not a big sweets guys, so if I make anything like that I end up eating the whole thing. So I bake a lot of bread. I tend to bake artisan-style loaves, the kind that you dip in olive oil. Kevin has a serious olive-oil habit, and we're already working on addicting Ian. I made the herb fougasse tonight out of The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table. I picked it up at the library. The bread was very good with chicken ravioli (from Trader Joe's) and green beans. Ian just picked at it, though. I think it was too much crust and not enough bread. There seem to be a lot of great recipes in this book. Plus, it is beyond gorgeous. They spent a mint on photos and printing for this baby. If the recipes taste half as good as they look, I may have to invest in it.
I have an active sourdough starter that I made myself. (I killed the one I bought from King Arthur's Flour. That was a real shame. I don't know what kind of beasties took up residence in that thing, but BOY did they stink!) Nancy Silverton is my patron saint of baking. I have her Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur book. I've been baking out of it for 10 years. She doesn't screw around with sourdough. If you want to bake with her recipes you have to be dedicated. But they're worth it. I make better bread than most of the bakeries around here. The Common Market does sell great baguettes. I can't seem to get my crusts thin and crispy like that. Mine tend to be tough. I've made Nancy's bagel recipe more times than I can count. It is the best bagel recipe ever, hands down. (even better than Peter Reinhart's "Bread Baker's Apprentice" bagel recipe. And Peter's recipes rock.) I haven't made the bagels lately because my KitchenAid mixer is broken. I WILL get it to the repair shop soon.
Since there's always a chance that I may inadvertantly contaminate my sourdough and kill it, I'm always looking to give some away to friends who bake/cook. It's a great form of insurance. I am taking some to Alan and Summer at work tomorrow. I haven't decided exactly how to wrap it so that it doesn't leak all over the bottom of my bag, but I'll figure it out. It's important to get it right, because that sourdough smell will NEVER come out. Hopefully, I can spread the sourdough obsession around a little.
I have an active sourdough starter that I made myself. (I killed the one I bought from King Arthur's Flour. That was a real shame. I don't know what kind of beasties took up residence in that thing, but BOY did they stink!) Nancy Silverton is my patron saint of baking. I have her Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur book. I've been baking out of it for 10 years. She doesn't screw around with sourdough. If you want to bake with her recipes you have to be dedicated. But they're worth it. I make better bread than most of the bakeries around here. The Common Market does sell great baguettes. I can't seem to get my crusts thin and crispy like that. Mine tend to be tough. I've made Nancy's bagel recipe more times than I can count. It is the best bagel recipe ever, hands down. (even better than Peter Reinhart's "Bread Baker's Apprentice" bagel recipe. And Peter's recipes rock.) I haven't made the bagels lately because my KitchenAid mixer is broken. I WILL get it to the repair shop soon.
Since there's always a chance that I may inadvertantly contaminate my sourdough and kill it, I'm always looking to give some away to friends who bake/cook. It's a great form of insurance. I am taking some to Alan and Summer at work tomorrow. I haven't decided exactly how to wrap it so that it doesn't leak all over the bottom of my bag, but I'll figure it out. It's important to get it right, because that sourdough smell will NEVER come out. Hopefully, I can spread the sourdough obsession around a little.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Costco
Yesterday, Kevin, Ian and I went to Costco. Yes, on the day before Super Bowl Sunday. We went around 12:30 so we could eat our way through the store. Most warehouse clubs give out free samples on the weekend to entice you to buy their products. These are usually the products with the highest mark-ups, prepared desserts or entrees, flavored sausages or meatballs, or snack foods. We had a blast sampling, but we didn't buy anything that wasn't already on our list. My favorite thing was the Aidell's buffalo chicken meatballs. Kevin liked the spinach dip on bread squares. Ian's favorite was the kiwi fruit or maybe the corn chips. (That boy likes his salt.) Just for the record, Ian dropped a teriyaki meatball, half a kiwi, a bagel chip and the crust from a piece of raspberry-almond cheesecake. If you're thinking that all those things sound unhealthy, then you're not getting into the spirit of Super Bowl Sunday. Kevin remarked that this has almost become its own holiday. God knows we need something to keep us going until Spring. Still, no wonder we're in such bad shape as a nation. We have a "holiday" dedicated to watching TV, drinking beer, and eating pizza, nachos and hot wings. Hmmm. That doesn't sound like such a bad thing. I just got a recipe for buffalo chicken bites. Maybe I'll make them tonight.
What DID we buy? I finally got the new dishes I'd been eyeing for six months. These will replace the white dishes that we've been using for the last 15 years, so this is a big deal for me. They're made by Dansk, called Khaki Plateau. They look like handmade pottery. I'll post a picture later. We also bought double-A batteries, a coffee grinder to replace the one that died three months ago, and face cleanser for me. The only food we bought was 5 lbs of ribeye steaks, a 4 lb. beef brisket (I have another slow-cooker recipe I want to try), a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and a bag of frozen green beans. I almost bought some Martha Stewart chicken slab pies. They were pretty cheap, they looked great, and I could pronounce most of the ingredients. The deal breaker: One (rather small) pie was two servings and each serving had 550 calories and 32 grams of fat. You could easily eat one pie yourself-- 1100 calories and 64 grams of fat. Yikes! So maybe I'll look into making my own chicken pocket pies. Stay tuned...
What DID we buy? I finally got the new dishes I'd been eyeing for six months. These will replace the white dishes that we've been using for the last 15 years, so this is a big deal for me. They're made by Dansk, called Khaki Plateau. They look like handmade pottery. I'll post a picture later. We also bought double-A batteries, a coffee grinder to replace the one that died three months ago, and face cleanser for me. The only food we bought was 5 lbs of ribeye steaks, a 4 lb. beef brisket (I have another slow-cooker recipe I want to try), a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and a bag of frozen green beans. I almost bought some Martha Stewart chicken slab pies. They were pretty cheap, they looked great, and I could pronounce most of the ingredients. The deal breaker: One (rather small) pie was two servings and each serving had 550 calories and 32 grams of fat. You could easily eat one pie yourself-- 1100 calories and 64 grams of fat. Yikes! So maybe I'll look into making my own chicken pocket pies. Stay tuned...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Our Debut
So, let's try this again. I started a blog a year ago and didn't get past the third post. This blog will be more focused and maybe longer-lived.
A confession: Food is one of the most important things in my life. Okay, it's behind my family, but way ahead of music or tv shows or sex (sorry, Kev). If I don't get to eat, I am one unhappy girl. And if I have to eat crappy food (read: fast food or frozen dinners), it is deeply unsatisfying. A friend from Oregon told me, "Life is too short for bad beer, bad coffee or bad wine." I would add that life is too short to eat pre-packaged heat and eat foods that taste only marginally better than the box it came out of.
A second confession: I work as a graphic designer. I have a husband and a 2 year old son. I have a dog and a cat. I have a house to clean and laundry to do and errands to run. I don't have time anymore to make my own tortillas or create multicourse meals that take hours to concoct.
So I try to find the right balance for me. It's important to me to put good, healthy meals (that taste good) on the table, but it's also important to sit on the floor and play with Ian, talk to my husband, and vacuum up the dog hair (at least occasionally.) So I'll talk about life, recipes, eating out, grocery shopping, and baking (I LOVE to bake.) If I like a recipe, I'll link to it. If I really hate something that I tried, I'll give you the heads up, so you can avoid it.
At least that's the idea. I keep hearing the quote: "no battle plan survives contact with the enemy" or something like that. We'll see how it goes. Stayed tuned...
A confession: Food is one of the most important things in my life. Okay, it's behind my family, but way ahead of music or tv shows or sex (sorry, Kev). If I don't get to eat, I am one unhappy girl. And if I have to eat crappy food (read: fast food or frozen dinners), it is deeply unsatisfying. A friend from Oregon told me, "Life is too short for bad beer, bad coffee or bad wine." I would add that life is too short to eat pre-packaged heat and eat foods that taste only marginally better than the box it came out of.
A second confession: I work as a graphic designer. I have a husband and a 2 year old son. I have a dog and a cat. I have a house to clean and laundry to do and errands to run. I don't have time anymore to make my own tortillas or create multicourse meals that take hours to concoct.
So I try to find the right balance for me. It's important to me to put good, healthy meals (that taste good) on the table, but it's also important to sit on the floor and play with Ian, talk to my husband, and vacuum up the dog hair (at least occasionally.) So I'll talk about life, recipes, eating out, grocery shopping, and baking (I LOVE to bake.) If I like a recipe, I'll link to it. If I really hate something that I tried, I'll give you the heads up, so you can avoid it.
At least that's the idea. I keep hearing the quote: "no battle plan survives contact with the enemy" or something like that. We'll see how it goes. Stayed tuned...
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