Smoothie Sob Story

Edited: Had a funny little story here about trying to get a smoothie at my favorite place. Decided to remove it because that place is now gone, it appears. Sorries!

That is the true smoothie sob story. I am so so so sad.

The good news is – it’s really easy to make smoothies at home. This is how I do it up in my kitchen – one of those non-recipe recipes, if you will. Eric really likes these for breakfast on the weekend! I love to use fresh fruit if I have it on hand, but frozen is fine in a pinch. Blend it up, pour into a glass and enjoy! The most time consuming part is hand washing the blender – which, if I’m being honest, is what keeps me from making smoothies at home more often.

I am nothing if I am not lazy. Even in the kitchen.

SUPER SPEEDY SMOOTHIES (Recipe Source: Me)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups fruit (this time I used a combo of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries)
• 1/2 cup yogurt – any flavor (well, maybe not ANY flavor, I probably wouldn’t use that Boston Cream Pie flavor or whatever, but to each his own. I used peach this time)
• 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey (or to taste)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of low fat milk (or to taste – depends how thick you like yours)
• Ice (this is optional – if I’m using all fresh fruit, I add some ice to make it thick and frothy. If I use some frozen fruit – my strawberries were frozen this time – I don’t bother with the ice)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into tall glasses and garnish with fruit. This made enough for about three servings.

ENJOY!

V is Victory!

I came. I cooked. I conquered.

Oh, the road was a long and weary one. One that involved nearly 5 hours of my Sunday. One full of cursing and causalities. Handfuls of quartered mushrooms tumbling off the counter and on to the floor. CRAP! The unfortunate discovery of a (newly purchased the day before) sprouty head of garlic. DAMN! The side of my thumb slipping off the potholder and sizzling against the handle of a dutch oven that had just spent the last three hours in a hot oven. $#&@!!!!!!!!

Ah, but in the end – with my feet tired, my hair a mess and my shirt stained. With my mushrooms rescued, my garlic desprouted, and my thumb thoroughly bandaged, the sweet (or savory, if you want to get technical) taste of victory – the rich, meaty, tenderness of success – it was all worth it.

I came (armed with nothing but a big ole’ pot, good intentions and a heck of a lot of prayers). I cooked (Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon.) And I conquered (the H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS out of that stuff.)

Ah yes, Beef Bourguignon – the quintessential Julia recipe. The recipe that introduced Americans to the art of the French cooking. The recipe that inspired a thousand home cooks to take on a challenge and really impress their families. The recipe that, literally, changes lives. Maybe even mine, in a roundabout way.

I won’t go on and on again about my recent epic epiphany regarding the novel Julie & Julia – you can read that here, if you are so inclined.

This recipe, upon first glance at the ingredients, does not seem all that intimidating. There is nothing unusual about any of them. Beef, bacon, veggies, spices, stock, wine. They are readily available and, dare I say it, CHEAP even. Well, except for the wine, of course, you can spend as much or as little as you want there. Personally, I don’t spend much over $8 for a bottle of wine I’m planning on cooking with, but that’s just me. How hard could it be, right – brown meat/veggies, add wine, stock and spices, simmer, braise, stir and serve, right? Piece of cake.

Well. In theory, yes, that’s it. In practice, no, definitely not.

This is the most time consuming meal I’ve made to date. There was little reason or planning to making this meal – I just kind of went for it. I sat down to do my meal planning for the week this past Saturday and it just kind of hit me – Julia’s Beef Bourguignon. For dinner. Tomorrow. YES!

I went about my usual Sunday chores – laundry, errands, baking (is that a chore? Heh.) Then I sat down on the couch with my computer to take a little break. It was then I decided to really take a good look at this recipe I planned to make for dinner. So I’m reading along, smiling and nodding. Got that. Okay. I understand. Yep. Then I get to part where it says to braise the meat in the oven for….3 to 4 hours. 3 to 4 hours?? Yikes! How did I miss that on my first read through? Panic set in as I looked at clock – 2:30 p.m. If I had any hope of getting this meal on the table at a decent time, I needed to get started, um, NOW!

I jumped off the couch like someone lit a rocket under my butt and bolted for the kitchen. I’m slicing bacon and drying meat and chopping veggies. I’m moving along as quick as can be – following Julia’s detailed instructions. I needed to get the pot ready for its three hour siesta in the oven as quickly as possible. In my haste, naturally, by the time I heaved slid my pot into the oven at about 20 to 4, it literally looked like a tornado had gone through my kitchen. Cabinets and drawers were wide open, assorted bowls and spoons and measuring utensils littered the counter tops, discarded veggie skins covered cutting boards, pointy knives jutted out at dangerous angles, and how the heck did I manage to splash beef stock all the way up onto the cabinets above my oven?

Ugh.

Commence deep cleaning of kitchen! I wiped, scrubbed and washed my way through easily an hour of my meal’s cook time. Then it was time to get started on the onions and mushrooms. So off I went to dirty up the very kitchen I just meticulously cleaned. Blarg.

Now, I diverted from Julia’s recipe in two places – 1. The bacon. I’m not really sure where one goes about purchasing chuck bacon with the rind intact, etc. So the store-brand center cut that was on sale this week was just going to have to do, thankyouvermuch. That said, I skipped the entire first step of the recipe. And 2. The small onions that are added to mix just before serving.

I stood at the grocery store surveying my options. Hm. What to choose? In the end, I picked up a package of small, white boiler onions. The package said “Great for Kabobs!” Which I took to mean “Great for Julia’s Beef Bourguignon!” Heh. Hey, I was desperate. Julia’s recipe calls for browning the onions in a skillet in their skins.

In their skins? Then what? Peel them later? Eat the skins? I consulted the recipe for my answer but it was not to be found. Hm. I decided I just couldn’t see myself eating onion skins and since these little babies really did look like mini-onions complete with the hairy little root at the bottom, I decided I would peel them and cut off the ends. Seemed like the most logical way to go about this. I blanched them for a minute to make peeling easier, cut off the onion-looking parts and then proceeded with the recipe as written.

And then promptly became impatient. It smelled so.freakin.good in the house I just couldn’t wait to eat. I’d set my oven timer at 3 hours and by the time I finished with the onions and mushrooms it had been in there for about 2 hours, 40 minutes. So I peeked. I’m sure Julia would frown on my peeking, but I just couldn’t help myself. The sauce had reduced down to thick, delicious yumminess and the meat was perfectly fork tender. I deemed it done. My pieces of meat were a bit smaller than the two inch chunks called for in the recipe so that’s probably why it cooked a little bit faster.

This meal is the definition of pure, sinful decadence. It is so rich and so delicious. The meatiness of the sauce with the wine in the background was an exceptional flavor combination. Sweet mellow onions and earthy mushrooms put everything in perfect balance.  We love red wine so we thought it was great that the flavor remained prominent. Those that are not lovers of red wine, consider yourself warned! This dish is worthy of any special occasion (or a boring Sunday in September, apparently.) Eric was in HEAVEN – he kept thanking me for making it all night. We loved it. Absolutely loved it.

Will I make it again? Maybe.

Anytime soon? Um, no.

JULIA CHILD’S BEEF BOURGUIGNON (Recipe Source: Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck, 1961)

This picture SUCKS, I know and I apologize…but after 5 hours of cooking. Well, you know… yeah…

INGREDIENTS:

One 6-ounce piece of chunk bacon (I used about six pieces of sliced center cut bacon)

3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 carrot, sliced

1 onion, sliced

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons flour

3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy)

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cloves mashed garlic

1/2 teaspoon thyme

A crumbled bay leaf

18 to 24 white onions, small (I used about a dozen white boiler onions)

3 1/2 tablespoons butter

Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)

1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered

DIRECTIONS:

Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry. (I skipped this part)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.

Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes.

Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust).

Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered.

Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind (I omitted rind). Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.

Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet.

Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins (I removed the skins). You cannot expect them to brown uniformly.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet.

Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. (I didn’t have quite as many onions, so I only simmered mine for about 30 minutes) Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.

Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms.

Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.

Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top.

Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. (I skimmed off some fat but I really did not find the sauce to be overly fatty at all.)

If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.

Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times.

Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.

Now take a load off and ENJOY!

One Year Ago:

Chocolate Chip Orange Muffins – So easy and so delicious
“Grown Up” Mac & Cheese – Cheese, pasta and bacon? Yes, please!
Pumpkin Spice Kiss Oatmeal Cookies – A great way to use up those pumpkin Hershey kisses!

Interesting (non) weather we’re having here

What would you say if I told you we’ve had absolutely NO weather here in Northeast Iowa over the last three weeks.

That’s right, no weather.

That’s crazy talk, isn’t it? Unless your orbiting outer space somewhere in a black abyss of nothingness there is weather to report each and every day.

That may be true – but we haven’t had any of the kind of weather that gets people talking. Rain gets people talking. Snow and ice for sure get people talking. So do hurricanes, typhoons, and tornadoes. Heat and humidity has people lamenting. Cold and wind get people chattering. Too many clouds and people are complaining.

We have not had ANY of those. Every single day for the past three weeks it has been sunny, not a cloud in the sky, with temps near 80. This doesn’t sound so bad but, wow, it is insanely boring! Not a drop of rain, not a breath of wind and not even the tiniest hint of fall. There has been NOTHING to talk about weather-wise. Maybe I’m just a huge nerd because I like to talk about weather? If I am, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.

Since we are sans weather here as of late, I was actually starting to forget we were plowing through September here! I’m not sure what season it feels like out there but it’s certainly not fall. This is quite worrisome. The worst possible thing could happen here — There could be no fall. No fall! No sweatshirts, no crisp days, no gentle rains. Nope. We’re going to skip fall completely and go straight to winter. We’re going to wake up one day after weeks and weeks of this non-weather and there will be TONS to talk about. As in, TONS of snow. And TONS of ice. And TONS of winter headaches and woes.

I’m shuddering just thinking about it! Hurry, Fall! Don’t pass us on by!

I thought maybe I would try to help fall along a little bit here this weekend. Maybe if I cook and bake enough fall-y foods, fall will appear. Well, good thing I got my pumpkin fix a couple weeks back because now the stores around here either A) don’t have any because of said pumpkin shortage. Or B) They’ve pulled it from the shelves and are hording it in a back room somewhere so they are able to meet demand for the holidays. Either way, it’s nowhere to be found.

Of course, there are other ways to usher in fall in the kitchen – apples, cranberries, spices and, for me, nuts! Especially pecans! Now, nuts may not seem like a fall food but something about buttery, toasty pecans just makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. Perfect for hoping for bringing in a new season.

I decided to make Ina’s Pecan Shortbread and they turned out WONDERFUL. Tender, buttery and crunchy. I love shortbread because it’s kind of a grown up cookie. I love how they aren’t too sweet and the pecans really shine through. Sugar-obsessed kids probably wouldn’t love these but they’d be perfect along side a cup of coffee with the ladies.

PECAN SHORTBREAD (Recipe Source: Ina Garten-Barefoot Contessa Cookbook via Foodnetwork.com)

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups small diced pecans

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla and almond extracts. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter/sugar mixture. Add the pecans and mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut into 2 1/2-inch squares with a plain or fluted cutter (I used a 2 1/2 circle instead and then cut little leaves out of the scraps with a mini cookie cutter). Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (20 minutes may be a tad long, check after 15), until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature and serve.

ENJOY!

About a year ago:
Pumpkin Cheesecake – If you can find pumpkin, this is a GREAT way to use it.
Roasted Applesauce – Mmmmm…more fall goodies
Mom’s Bohemian Pork Roast with Bread Dumplings – My absolute FAVORITE meal my mom makes. A family tradition.
Brown Rice Chicken Chili – Easy and flavorful!

He’s Gone

My husband left me.

Yup, you heard that right. Last Friday he packed his bags and walked out the door. I begged him stay, pleaded with him to reconsider, professed my love, graveled, cried, whined. Nothing worked. He still left. There may or may not have been tears. The horror! The heartbreak!

Oh, three days later, he came back, of course. You didn’t think I meant he left for good, did you? Like LEFT me, left me. No, no, no, of course not. He went to see family and friends for the long weekend and I stayed behind. I could have gone with him, of course, but all my summer travels had left me tired and craving a little bit of me time. Just because I decided to stay home doesn’t mean I didn’t pout a little bit when he left. I just tend to be a little…overdramatic when he leaves. Why? Because I’m needy like that.

Just call me a Stage Five Clinger very loving wife.

The only plus side of my husband leaving town with out me is the opportunity to cook up something I know he wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. I love him and I miss him terribly when he’s away but it’s nice to cook for me. I have a tendency to put his tastes before mine in my cooking because, well, it’s just easier that way. All that goes right out the window when he’s gone.

The first thing I did when he left was run down to the farmer’s market and stock up on fresh veggies to eat over the weekend. Tomatoes, zucchini, red peppers, oh my! And let’s not forget eggplant – cute and purpley eggplant! Yum! I love to enjoy a nice meatless meal loaded with veggies when he’s away. I’m STILL waiting for him to get just a TINY bit better about eating his vegetables. He’s gotten a million times better in the last year but there is room for improvement (sorry, babe, it’s true. but I still love you!)

When I saw this recipe for Spicy Sesame Noodles over at Joelen’s blog What’s Cooking, Chicago, I immediately thought Mmmmm! Then I thought, boo, Eric won’t like that. Bummer. It immediately got pushed into the never ending Recipes to Try when Eric’s Not Home file.

With the abundance of late summer veggies available, I thought this would be a great recipe to load up with freshness and turn into a main dish instead of a side. Turns out, I was right! I added a chopped red bell pepper, a zucchini sliced thinly into long ribbons and planks of delicious grilled eggplant. Mmmmm…

For the noodles, I was going to scope out the Asian foods aisle at the store to see what kind of noodle offerings they had. I forgot. I do this a lot. I don’t think I have once in my life ever been to store without forgetting SOMETHING. Even with my list I can’t seem to remember everything. So, needless to say, I had to go with my usual store-brand 100% whole wheat penne that I always have on hand. In the end, I think the nuttiness of the whole grain pasta paired well with the sauce.

Speaking of the sauce – I really enjoyed it! I did end up adding about of a cup of the starchy pasta water to thin it out a bit before tossing with the noodles, but that’s just my personal preference. I don’t care for really thick, goopy sauces. Since this sauce has a peanut butter base, it was pretty thick. The pasta water was the perfect addition. In the past with similar recipes I have used a dark toasted sesame oil and I think that it really provides an intense sesame flavor. I didn’t have that on hand this time and used a regular light sesame oil. While still good, I did miss the really intense sesame flavor. I also knocked back the cayenne at bit because I didn’t use quite a whole pound of pasta. Next time, I’ll go ahead and do the entire 1/2 teaspoon. I’m not afraid of little kick! Overall, this meal totally hit the spot. Perfect comfort food when I’m missing my hubby. And tasty cold for lunch all week!

SPICY SESAME PEANUT NOODLES WITH GRILLED EGGPLANT (Recipe seen at What’s Cooking, Chicago, adapted from About.com)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 box whole wheat pasta
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• juice from one lime
• 1/2 tsp. canola oil
• 1 medium bell pepper, diced
• 1 smallish zucchini, cut into thin ribbons
• 1 smallish eggplant, cut into diagonal slices 1/2 inch thick
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook pasta, reserve one cup of cooking water, drain and set aside
2. Heat canola oil in small saute pan. Cook red pepper until tender. Set aside.
3. Combine peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, green onions, sesame oil, ginger, cayenne, and lime juice in a sauce pan, stirring until smooth.
4. Brush a tablespoon or two of sauce on eggplant slices. Prepare outdoor grill or grill pan to medium heat.
5. Add red pepper, zucchini ribbons, and cooking water to sauce mixture. Stir to combine.
6. Grill eggplant for about a minute per side until just tender.
7. Toss pasta with sauce, add eggplant and garnish with sesame seeds

ENJOY!

One year ago: A MANLY meal – Bacon Cheeseburger Calzones with Spicy Cajun Ketchup

Surprise! A Stomachache!

When word got around to my family that I started this blog, saying they were merely surprised is a serious understatement. Shocked. Amazed. Baffled, is more like it.

“Erin has a blog about food?” They all asked, scratching their heads in confusion I’m sure. “Our Erin? But…but…but…SHE DOESN’T EAT ANYTHING!”

Their concerns are valid. It’s true. I don’t eat much. Surprised? I know, right? All these yummy treats, delectable dinners and I eat like a bird! It’s not that I don’t like food – clearly, that’s not the case. I love food. Making it and eating it. I think about food pretty much all the time. I just…can’t have very much of it at one time. I don’t know what it is about me, but I get full way quicker than any normal person probably should. At home, my portions are tiny. When we go out, I typically eat about a quarter of what’s on my plate and then I take the rest home. Waitresses are forever asking me if everything was okay. It must look like I hated my meal by how much I ask to take home (happened just the other night, actually.) It’s not you, Restaurant Meal…it’s me. I just physically cannot overeat.

Oh, don’t get me wrong – I’ll try to overeat every now and then. Well, not on purpose -that’s a bad idea. But sometimes it just kind of happens, especially when I have a free weekend day and I want to cram as much food-related fun into it as I possibly can. Oh, it’s fun all right…so much fun it comes that awful sick feeling that just ruins the rest of your day.

That’s what happened to me today. Why, oh, why do I do this to myself? It happens so rarely these days that it totally sneaks up on me.

Oh, man…my stomach hurts…I just can’t figure out why — oh wait, now I remember.

Just so everyone can laugh at my misfortune, I give you Erin’s Easy, 10-Step Guide to Giving Yourself a Wrenching Gut Ache. Got a dentist appointment you’d like to miss? Creepy neighbors want you to come over and watch a slide show of their two week vacation in Niagra Falls? No problem – just follow these simple instructions and prepare to call in sick.

• Step 1: Go raspberry picking. Be sure to sample liberally while you pick – you want to make sure you are getting the best raspberries, after all.
• Step 2: Decide that it’s pretty warm out and all that picking has left you hot and thirsty. Stop at Sonic. It’s on the way home.
• Step 3: Go ahead and get the large Cranberry Limeade – it’s after 2:00 p.m. so it’s only a dollar. (For the record, no one really needs to get a large anything ever – small or medium will suffice.)
• Step 4: Commence immediate chugging of limeade
• Step 5: Make frosting for cupcakes when you get home. Be sure to lick beater completely clean.
• Step 6: Continue sucking down that limeade
• Step 7: Once cupcakes are frosted, take a giant bite out of one of them in the name of blog photography, as it would be helpful, at least this time around, for your readers to see the inside.
• Step 8: Stare at half chewed cupcake for a second, decide there’s really nothing you can do with the damn thing besides eat it. Inhale the rest of the cupcake in approximately three seconds.
• Step 9: Wash it all down with the last of that giant limeade.
• Step 10: Wait about ten minutes. When tummy is thoroughly ablaze and face is sufficiently green, grab Pepto and pray for relief.

So, now that you are positively grossed out, on to the recipe! It was for sure eating all of that last cupcake that pushed me over the edge into Sickdom today. Two words, people: Worth. It.

I was craving fall flavors today, even though the way I got all sweaty raspberry picking proves that summer is not quite over. I just got way too excited to bake something with pumpkin – when I saw these pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting over at Smitten Kitchen, I was hooked!

These are phenomenal! Moist, tender, spicy and delicious! The cupcakes are a great orange color and the whole house smelled of fall while they were baking. I decided to add some mini chocolate chips to the batter because I like the combo of cinnamon/spicy things and chocolate. I think the chocolate helps cut some of the overwhelming pumpkin flavor and adds depth. I made a cinnamon cream cheese frosting to go on top instead of maple. Maple is not one of my favorite flavors and I didn’t want to have to hunt down real maple syrup (which is hard to find) and pay out the wazoo for it (it can be pricey.) I also added a splash of vanilla to frosting. Otherwise, I kept the cake recipe the same. I highly recommend these bad boys – it’s like fall in the palm of your hand!

Take it from me though, go easy. Pick the cupcake OR the cranberry limeade – don’t try to be the hero and do both.

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES WITH CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING (Recipe Source: Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from David Leite)

Before we move on – Like my super cute plaid cupcake liners? Do ya, do ya, do ya, huh, huh, huh??? Get thee to Hobby Lobby! They’ve got a TON of cute fall baking supplies. And…pssst… ::whispers:: they are including them in the 50% off sales on the fall decor items! YAHOO!

Note on the yield: The original recipe says it will make 17 or 18 cupcakes. I ended up with 22 and I think I overfilled a couple of my cups (I always do that…grrrr…) so I bet you could easily get 24 out the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips, tossed in 1 tsp. of flour (keeps them from sinking)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° (175°C). Line a cupcake pans with liners.

2. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.

3. Add the eggs 1 at a time to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition. Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips. Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners — filling about 3/4 of the way. Rap the filled pans once on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.

FOR THE FROSTING:

• Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add sugar and cinnamon and beat until desired consistency. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with additional cinnamon.

ENJOY!

Lunch Break

Okay, honestly, was lunch not the most spectacular part of the day back when we were in school? English class = boring. Math? Yeah, ew. And gym?! Please God, let a giant lightning bolt strike the locker room so I don’t have to play dodge ball today. Please? All these just paled in comparison to lunch – the greatest 40 minutes in the history of the American School Day.

I don’t know about you, but I lived for lunch. Only three more periods until lunch. Now two. Next hour is lunch. HOORAY! My friends and I sat huddled around one of those long collapsible tables, laughing hysterically and jabbering back in forth in the strange tongues of adolescent inside jokes (“At least I don’t back up when I beep.” “Stupid bug! You go squish now!” Yep. Ten years later….still funny.)

Of course, lunch was much more about the social interaction than it was about food. No one ever ate what I would call a complete or balanced meal. Ever. Looking around our lunch table you saw things like plain bagels. Breadsticks with marinara. Soft Pretzels. French fries. Really, they should have renamed 5th Hour “Carb Fest ’96-‘00.” When I look back at what I ate for lunch in high school, it’s kind of amazing I even managed to function. It boggles my mind to this very day. From home I brought a piece of fruit and a granola bar of some kind. I’d supplement that with a purchased drink – a bottle of water or my favorite sugary drink in the history of all sugary drinks – Green Squall Powerade. Then I’d buy one other thing completely and totally void of any nutritional value whatsoever – a small bag of Chex Mix or one of these reduced fat snack bar things that were marketed as somehow being related to the brownie family. That’s it. Maybe that’s why I’ve forgotten everything I ever learned in high school – I stopped paying attention after my blood sugar crashed and that groggy “I’m hungry” headache set in. Blah. Clearly I wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box.

Anyway, that was all in high school – long after the days where mom packed lunch were gone. Now, in all honesty, I’m starting to look forward to BEING the mom and doing the packing of the lunch for my kid myself. Isn’t it funny what a difference ten years can make?

I can already tell you what kind of lunch box packer Mom I’ll be – I’ll be the kind that gives my kid a little treat. I won’t be able to help myself – he’ll get a little homemade love from the oven to enjoy at lunch time each day. Just a little something small, nestled between whole grain bread and raw carrot sticks. Yummy enough to be special, but small enough so that if he tried to eat just that, he’d have to starve the rest of the day. Everything in moderation, right.

This cake came about by accident, but it is delicious! It’s perfect for lunch boxes because it’s sturdy and packed with oats. Nothing worse than a mushed up brownie, crumbled cookie or smashed cupcake and frosting in a lunch box, right? No need to worry about that with this! This cake will withstand just about anything a kid could do to his lunch box….drop it, kick it, throw it into the bottom of his locker, play keep away on the bus. No worries, this cake will be in tact come lunch. Maybe I’ll even go crazy and embarrass him by including a little note. “For my special baby boy. Love, Mom.” Ha! Okay, maybe not!

Like I said, this cake was kind of an accident. It started as a cookie recipe. Had I made cookies, I think they would have been a cakey cookie – so maybe the cookie part is the accident. Hm. Anyway, I wasn’t really feeling cookies, but rather something in bar form. I took that even a step further and decided to pursue a more cake-like texture by adding baking powder so they would get all light and fluffy in the oven. The results are a moist and hearty cake with the nutiness of oats, a great banana flavor and just a hint of spice. The crunchy top and creamy chocoloate and peanut butter chips inside are the best part of all! It doesn’t look like much, but sometimes its the simple things in un-fancy packages that are the most important. Like a lunch packed with love in a boring brown paper bag – it’s not the outer package that’s important, it’s what inside that counts!

OATMEAL BANANA LUNCHBOX CAKE (Recipe adapted from: Betty Crocker’s 1963 Cooky Book)

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
• 1 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, nuts or a combination of any or all! (I used half chocolate chips, half peanut butter chips.)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 9×9 inch pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly add flour mixture to electric mixer, beating after each addition until fullly mixed. Stir in oats and fold in chocolate chips.
4. Pour mixtured into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

ENJOY!

Hidden Potential

Sometimes you try a recipe and think, hey, this is pretty good…but it could be better. It’s tasty enough, but immediately on the first bite, those foodie gears start turning and you can’t help but think of ways to improve it. It’s a recipe with hidden potential.

That’s what happen this recipe. A couple weeks back, my grocery store had a great sale on boneless country style pork ribs. It’s not a cut a typically buy, mostly because I worry about them being tough. But since it was a such a great deal, and I’m always up for something new a different, I snatched them up and then searched out a way to prepare them in the crockpot. Turning tough cuts of meat into tender morsels of yumminess is what the crockpot does best!

I loved the flavor combo in the sauce for these ribs, sort of sweet and spicy with a bit of an Asian flair. But I  found adding all the sauce at the beginning of cooking resulted in a dryer texture at the end. I like my ribs wet an’ saucy, I guess. Heh. Next time, I’ll reserve half the sauce to add to the crockpot just before serving. Also, you’ll notice there’s no real cooking liquid added to the crock. I think this is a mistake. There needs to be a least a tiny bit of liquid to keep the meat from drying out. I didn’t find the meat to be overly dry without the liquid, but the ribs did not get as tender as I think the would have if there was a bit of liquid. Next time, I’ll add just a bit of beef broth to bottom of the crock, not enough to cover the meat, but just enough to keep the cooking environment moist. I made both of these changes to the recipe below.

Hidden potential…UNLOCKED!

SLOW COOKED SESAME COUNTRY STYLE RIBS (Recipe adapted from: About.com)

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger, or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 3 to 4 pounds boneless country style pork ribs (I only used about 1.5 pounds. This was enough for two with a some leftovers. I would still make all the sauce though)
• 1/2 cup of water or low-sodium beef broth
  
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion, with green

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine the first 9 ingredients in a large bowl. Pour about half the mixtured into an airtight container, refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Line bottom of slow cooker with onions. Add water or broth. Place ribs in sauce and turn to coat. Add to slow cooker on top of onions and pour sauce over ribs.
3. Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours. Pour reserved sauce over ribs and cook until just heated through. Place ribs on serving platter and sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion.

ENJOY!

One year ago: Tomato Soup with Pasta and Basil – This is delicious! Use up those summer tomatoes and fufill that fall soup craving all at the same time!

Make Mine Spicy

There are two different kinds of people in this world:

1. The ones that live for anything spicy. The hotter the better, they say, bring it on. The most firey hot sauce, the buffalo-iest (ha) buffalo wing, the zestiest salsa. They can handle ANYTHING.

And 2. The wimps who won’t touch it. (Sorry wimps. Time to man up…. I kid, I kid. If you don’t like spicy food, that’s okay…but you probably won’t be real interested in the recipe below. So fair warning!)

I guess I fall somewhere between person #1 and person #2, which, really, if you want to get technical, totally negates the argument that there are only two kinds of people in this world. Hm.

Moving on!

I really do enjoy spicy food. Most likely because it was always around when we were growing up. My mom and dad like spicy, so that’s what we ate. Once upon a time, I thought I was pretty tough when it came to handling the spicy stuff. Then came The Day I Accidentally Ate the Pepper in the Kung Pao.

There’s a fabulous Mandarin restaurant in Schaumburg, IL called Yu’s. It.is.so.good. Now, I’m no world traveler (I’m not even much of a US traveler, to be honest) but Yu’s is the best Chinese food I’ve ever had and it was right in our backyard! Everything is so fresh and delicious – big chunks of meat, crunchy veggies, homemade noodles, perfectly flavored sauces. Oh, yum. I need a napkin over here! I’m drooling all over myself. I haven’t been there in forever. Need to think about making a stop when I go back home sometime soon.

The Shrimp Kung Pao is one of my favorites there. It sure does pack a punch! WOWEE! Super spicy and delightful. However, you must, at all costs, avoid the skinny little red peppers that are in there. Unless you are some kind of spicy food eating champion, those peppers will knock you right on your butt. I always make sure to pick them out and push them to the side.

One day I dug into the leftovers from dinner the night before, thinking all the peppers had been picked out. Oh, how wrong I was. A stray had been left behind. I crunched down on that thing on my very first bite. HOLY CRAP. I have never felt a fire in my mouth quite like that. It was so intense, I immediately lost my appetite. Even long after the burn subsided, I really didn’t feel like eating. I was sure my tongue had been permanently seared.

I have recovered from the infamous Kung Pao Pepper incident, and I still enjoy a good kick of spice every now and then. It did not sour me for life. I was craving some really fresh, tasty, spicy salsa this week so I hunted down some ingredients at the farmer’s market. I already had the onions and garlic on hand so I picked up some great looking tomatoes and jalapenos and went to town chopping and dicing.

I looked around a variety of different recipes. The best thing about salsa is it’s pretty customizable – it can be spicy or mild, red or green, super chunky or a little thinner. I like a fresh tomato salsa, with some well defined chunks and a big old kick of spice. I have to admit – I leave out the cilantro. I know, I know…  I just don’t care for cilantro. I kept trying to like it. I felt like I HAD to like it – like I had to give up my Foodie License because I didn’t like it . I’ve given up on that. I just can’t like it. My salsa is a cilantro-free zone.

This recipe contains two jalapenos. For less spice, cut out all the ribs and all the seeds. That’s where the heat lives. For more spice, of course, chop the whole pepper. I removed all the seeds from both peppers, removed the rib from one and left some of the rib of the other. It’s plenty spicy that way. It’s not too spicy for me, but it’s got a kick for sure. If you are nervous, don’t leave in any ribs or seeds – it will make it much more mild. Or knock back the jalapenos from two to one.

SPICY HOMEMADE SALSA (Recipe inspired by a whole slew of recipes – especially this one at Dinner & Dessert and this one over at Annie’s Eats)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound of fresh tomatoes, diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)
• The juice of one lime

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, stir to combine.
2. Customize it. You can either leave it as is, puree the entire mixture in a blender or food processor for a smooth consistency, or you can do what I did and puree about half the mixture and leave the other half chunky.
3. Place in an air tight container and refrigerate at least two hours before serving.

ENJOY!

Confidence? What Confidence?

Have you ever had those moments where you have absolutely no confidence that the outcome of any given situation will end favorably? You have accepted defeat. Failure is imminent. You just want to get it over with already so you can shake it off and move on. It’s one of those things that happens to everyone at one time or another. Nobody’s perfect, after all.

Example: Let’s say you are cramming hard for finals in a crowded university library. You’re jamming to some Matchbox Twenty on your Sony Discman (no iPods yet!) and highlighting away in a textbook with your favorite purple highlighter. You are in the zone. You’ve got this in the bag. You are surrounded by at least a hundred of your closest friends doing the exact same thing. It’s been a long evening, so you decide to take a break. You put down your highlighter and take off your headphones. You stretch out your legs and pull your arms up over your head. Ahhh. That feels good. But those legs need just a bit more stretching. You tip your chair back a bit to really get at those muscles.

Then it happens. You realize there is no stopping it. It’s going to end badly. You realize you have absolutely ZERO confidence in your ability to stop yourself from falling backwards in your chair. In the library. In front of everyone. CRASH! A nanosecond later, you are on your back staring up at the ceiling.

Ah, crap.

Another example: Let’s say for three to five months of every year, your lovely Midwestern state with it’s miles of lush farmland and pefect glowing sunshine becomes a terrible, arctic wasteland of wintery doom. The snow flies, the wind blows, the ice builds up so much on your driveway you could go there and start training for Olympic speed skating events. It’s bad enough when you are standing in front of a window in your pj’s inside your nice, warm cozy house looking outside at it. It’s quite another to be out in it. But life must go on. You feel that little pang of jealousy toward your brothers in southern states where entire cities shut down just because three inches of snow falls. But, alas, you’ve lived in the Midwest for nearly thirty years and you know that it’s business as usual when winter weather strikes.

So you’re driving down a fairly busy residential street one evening after the snow’s been falling all day. You inch along slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves. Your eyes are wide with panic, your knuckles white with the fear that can only come from trying to navigate a particularly hairy snow covered street. Behind you, giant SUVs and pick up trucks are piling up, irritated to be stuck behind one THOSE people who won’t just move her ass already. You see another car approaching the road from a side street in front of you. It’s moving way, WAY too fast.

The car tries to slow down but slides out into your path. You are helpless. You have absolutely ZERO confidence that you will be able to avoid hitting that car. You move your foot to the brake and brace yourself. You are about to get into an accident.

Oh no!

A third example: Let’s say you have a bag of lemons on hand that’s just begging to be turned into lemon bars. You find a recipe that looks tasty and sounds easy so you go to work measuring, mixing and beating things into a crust and a filling. Your recipe calls for beating four eggs until thick. You turn on your trusty KA mixer and let it go to town. After 5 or 6 minutes, you take a look and decide that said eggs are not really thick. Well, maybe they are kinda thick. Thicker, maybe, than they were? You can’t really tell. Meh. Good enough, you decide, and off you go adding the rest of the ingredients.

When it’s all said and done, you realize your lemon bar filling is thin. Like really, REALLY thin. Hm. So you beat it some more, even going as far as to switch out your paddle attachment for your beater attachment. It is clear that your lemon filling is not going to get any thicker. You decide to press forward. Panic sets in as you pour your filling onto your par-baked crust. It flows like water, with definite splashback. The evidence is on your shirt. Maneuvering the pan to the oven prooves challenging, as you try not to spill this awful, runny filling all over the floor.

This can’t be good. There’s NO WAY this right. Where did you go wrong? What happened? You have absolutely ZERO confidence that these lemon bars are going to turn out. What a waste of time and ingredients.

Dang it!

Ah! But a wait a minute! Things are not always as bad as they seem. Tsk, tsk, tsk, Oh Ye of Little Faith, for assuming the worst.

Fall backwards in your chair at the library? No worries. Everyone around you is so focused on the task at hand that not one person notices. Not a soul looks up and sees you sprawled on the floor like a rag doll. You are either extremely lucky…or you are a really quiet faller.

About to hit a crazy driver who slides into your path on cold winter’s night? No problem. You some how manage to slow down just enough to let the guy get his bearings in your lane and move forward. WHEW! Thank goodness! You are either extremely lucky…or you are quite the tactful and alert winter driver.

Lemon bars looking like a huge, embarrassing failure? It’s okay, because after 20 minutes in the oven, they have set beautifully with not even the slightest quiver of runniness in the center. And after cooling and chilling, they cut like a dream with a perfectly tart, smooth, creamy filling that’s just makes you want to run screaming down the street proclaiming your Kitchen Greatness to your entire neighborhood. You are either extremely lucky…or… Oh, heck with that, you knew they’d be okay from the start, right? There’s no way you’d mess up a recipe for lemon bars, for goodness sake. I mean, really…..

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you can change all the “yous” in the stories above to “me, mine, I, my,” etc. etc. All three of those are true stories that did in fact happen to yours truly. The Great Lemon Bar Saga of 2009 being the most recent, of course.

I really honestly thought these weren’t going to turn out. I had trouble from the get go. Right off the bat, I overpulsed the butter for the crust mixture in my food processor. Let’s just say I did not have coarse crumbs. I had what looked, well, flour. I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to press it into my pan with any kind of positive result. I was wrong! Crust came together wonderfully despite my error. And then, of course, there was the filling fiasco. I was so sure I had a stinker on my hands, I was already rummaging around to see what else I could bake today to fill the void left by the loser Lemon Bars.

I was so pleasantly surprised at how wonderful they are! They held up great after being cut into squares and the filling is wonderful. Sometimes I find lemon bars to be too sweet…I want to taste LEMON for crying out loud! I want that tiny bit of pucker on the inside of my cheeks. These are perfect. Smooth, creamy and sweet without being too sweet.

Oh, the only thing…I did end up with tiny bubbles all over the tops of my bars probably because I beat the snot out of the egg mixture before pouring it into the pan. All worked out great though, because they’re dusted in powdered sugar! Bubbles? What are these bubbles you speak of? I see no such thing, be gone with you!

Give these a try today! And DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT panic when your filling looks too thin. They’ll be fine. I promise!

LEMON BARS (Recipe Source: Martha Stewart, Everyday Food)

FOR THE CRUST:

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for sifting
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

FOR THE FILLING:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4 medium lemons)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center. Coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray; line pan with two crisscrossed rectangles of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.
2. Make the crust: In a food processor, pulse flour with confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into bottom and 3/4 inch up sides of prepared pan. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
3. Bake until crust is lightly browned 20 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan. Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees.
4. Meanwhile, make the lemon filling: In a bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer until thick. Beat in granulated sugar, lemon juice, flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour over warm crust. Bake until set, about 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature; refrigerate about 1 hour.
5. Using paper overhang as an aid, lift square from pan. Sift remaining tablespoon confectioners’ sugar over the top. Cut into 16 squares.

ENJOY! (with confidence)

One year ago: I wasn’t doing much cooking because Eric and I were enjoying a long weekend in St. Louis! Check out all the fun we had!

Ch-Ch-Changes

This blog needs a makeover. Bad. If Stacey and Clinton from What Not to Wear were here, they’d be massacring this blog’s lack of style in the 360 degree mirror.

I’d like to change up the look, which is, of course, a massive undertaking. And considering I have ZERO computer ability (really, I’m lucky I figured out how to put a picture in my posts. Ha.) you’ll need to bear with me while I figure it out. Before I dive into all that. I need to do some reorganization, clean up and make sure I have all the information I want on my page.

First on the reorganization/clean up list is to fix the categories list. Somewhere in the last year and a couple months, I got really lazy when it came to tagging my entries. Oops. Stuff was all over the place. I had a brownie recipe tagged as just “cookies.” Um, yeah. That’s pretty inaccurate. Ha. If you clicked on a tag, it’s very unlikely you would find everything that should be there. Not cool.

I’ve come to the conclusion that less is more when it comes to tags. A huge list of every single possible ingredient you have ever cooked with is distracting. What I did was keep it simple and narrow down the categories to make them more broad. I picked out one item that best categorizes the recipe (example: Cookies) and then added one other main ingredient in the recipe (example: chocolate, fruit, peanut butter). I think this just makes everything easier for everyone. I have removed most of the more specific ingredients and made them broader (example, I tagged everything apple, banana, blueberry as simpley fruit.) It’s pretty obvious, that if I’m looking for a blueberry recipe I can click on fruit and find it there.

In all honesty, if you are looking for something specific, you are much better off navigating the Recipes tab at the top of the page. Every recipe I make is added there, with a quick clicky link to get to the post. They are arranged by category and in alphabetical order. Easy-peasy. See, the thing is, even though every recipe is tagged, you may find that clicking the tag doesn’t help you. At all. Two reasons. 1. I never title my posts with the name of the recipe. Ha. Sorry, you gotta look for that. And 2. It’s very unlikely you’ll have any clue what the recipe actually is from the first couple sentences that are shown when you click a link to a tag. I have to tell my story first.

What can I say? I’m a rotten, mean food blogger…making you read my pointless dribble before you get to the food. I can actually hear the masses shouting “SHUT UP, WINDBAG, AND GET TO THE DAMN RECIPE ALREADY!”

I can very safely say, that with all the changes I have planned, THAT (the pointless dribble, that is) is the one thing that WILL NOT change. Take or leave it, my friends.

I hope you’ll take it.