Oh really? How nice...

Are you ready to crummmmbbbbbble?!?!? (apple crumble, that is!)

2011-11-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

Heh, heh, see what I did there? Heh.

It’s apple season in New England, and almost everywhere you look there are apples. So whether you pick your own from an orchard or from the grocery store, here’s a simple, delicious recipe for Apple Crumble.

Hardware:

A large, rectangular baking dish
A large mixing bowl
A pastry blender (not an actual blender, look here) ((if you don’t have a pastry blender you can use a large serving fork, but it’s a LOT more work))
A cutting board
A knife
An apple corer (or just use the knife)

The good stuff:

4 to 6 apples, cored and sliced (leave the peels on, that’s where all the awesomeness hides!)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup raw granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened butter (not melted) ((real butter, really))

For Apple Crumble you don’t want just any apple. Stay away from the softer table variety of apples like Golden Delicious or Red Delicious as they will tend to break down and get mushy. What you want is a firmer, tarter baking apple. I like Macintosh or Courtland, but you could also use a Granny Smith.

So before you start, take out the butter and let it sit to get to room temp (or slightly soft). Then set your oven to 350 degrees.

For the apples you want to core them, and then slice so they are a little thinner. If you peel them first, baby kittens will cry and your mom will be unhappy. As soon as your done slicing the apples place them in a lightly buttered baking dish. Mix the water and the lemon juice together then pour over the apples. Toss a little so that each apple gets the lemon-water treatment, this will keep them from browning will you prepare the crumble.

For this next step I really prefer (and recommend) a clear glass mixing bowl. This will allow you to lift the bowl to check that all ingredients are properly mixed so that you aren’t left with a schmear of butter and two lumps of flour at the end. Place the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt into the bowl and mix well. Then slice your butter on top of the flour-sugar-etc mix and, using your Pastry Blender (or some forks) begin cutting the butter into the dry mix. You want to continue doing this until all the butter and dry mix are incorporated together. Don’t use an electric blender or mixer, you will end up with a paste instead, and it won’t work when you bake it. In the end you want crumbs of butter and flour-sugar-etc. Take your butter-flour-sugar-etc crumbs and evenly distribute them on top of your apples.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes, then you can omnomnom to your heart’s content! Apple Crumble goes really well with ice cream or whipped cream on top, especially if the apple you’re using is more on the tart side. Enjoy!

I forgot to take a picture when it was done, but it sure was delicious! I promise that next time I make this, I'll take a picture of the finished product and post it here :)

Pulled Pork Sammichs (Oven-baked)

2011-11-12T18:24:00.000-05:00

Shout out to this recipe, which I used as a jumping off point: Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Yet another foodstuff that is EVERYWHERE in the South, and I’m not talking about mega-chain restaurants; I mean small mom & pop shops where they’re using a recipe that’s been in the family for generations. Consequently, I never learned how to make it.

Now if you don’t have a smoker (and I don’t), you can actually make a delicious pulled pork right in your oven. The trick is the dry rub and the cooking method (slow and low). Also, this dish has to sit overnight (at the very least 8 hours) with its dry rub on, so remember that prep time has to begin the day before.

The three basic components in this dish are:

Dry Rub
Large Hunk of Pork (pork shoulder or Boston butt, 5 pounds or so, with a layer of fat on one side, bone in is good)
Sauce (not from a bottle, trust me, please)

Before we go any further you should know that I don’t actually measure ANYthing in this recipe, it’s all eyeball estimates. The only thing I’m a stickler about is the internal temp of the meat.

So for my Dry Rub I use:

1 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons smoked paprika
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dry mustard (a spice, not a condiment)
3 Tablespoons of sea salt (or any large-grain salt)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground red cayenne
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon allspice

Once you’ve mixed this all together in a large bowl, gently sniff it (DO NOT stick your whole face in the bowl and breath in deeply, unless you’re a fan of uncontrolled coughing fits and burned nasal passages!) Lean into the bowl and waft the scent up toward your face. Does the dry rub smell like you want your pulled pork to taste? If so, you’re ready to go..!

Now, the pork will eventually cook fat-side down, so I’ll typically set the pork fat side down into the bowl of dry rub and press down lightly, then flip it over and press down lightly again. Then I’ll take the pork and lay it on a clean flat surface (cutting board or cookie sheet, use whatcha got), and continue patting the dry rub into the meat, pulling more dry rub from the bowl as needed. Don’t forget the sides, and any crevices you can find. Once you’re done, place the meat back into the large bowl, cover it securely and place it in the fridge overnight.

SLOW AND LOW is the way to go.

So, 7-9 hours before you want to feed people…….turn the oven on to 300 degrees and let it heat up completely. Place the pork shoulder into a baking dish large enough to hold it without touching the sides. Place the fat or skin side down, and put it in the oven. The pork should cook at 300 degrees until it begins to fall apart. The internal temp should reach 170 degrees at the thickest part of the pork, but honestly once it starts to fall apart, there really shouldn’t be any part of the pork that is uncooked. Once it has cooked for 7-8 hours or so, is at least 170 degrees internally, and is falling apart, remove the pork from the oven, take it out of the dish you cooked it in and set it to the side. If you sneak a piece of the pork before pulling it, it will probably be too salty and you’ll think you’ve ruined it. You haven’t; just be patient, my friend.

IF the internal temp reaches 170 degrees, and you have starving people on your hands but the pork isn’t falling apart yet, all is not lost. Congratulations, you’ve made chopped pork instead of pulled pork. So long as the internal temp is correct in the thickest spot (I do several readings in different locations), you can serve it; you’ll just have to chop it instead of pulling it.

The dish you cooked the pork in should have some delicious (and probably burnt looking) drippins in the bottom of the pan. While that pan is still hot, toss in about ¼- ½ cup of apple cider vinegar and begin scraping the drippings from the bottom of the pan to mix them with the cider vinegar (use a rubber spatula for this step). Fancy school-taught chefs (or people who watch the food network) call this step “deglazing”, and this is the beginning of your barbeque sauce. (Authenticity hint: if it comes from a bottle and you don’t know the first name of the person who put it there, then it isn’t barbeque sauce, it’s just flavored ketchup).

The Sauce will require:

Drippins (see above)
An additional 1-1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar (depending on taste)
½-1 cup spicy brown mustard (the condiment, not the spice)
¼ cup ketchup (optional, but listed here because some people think it has to have a red component to be barbeque sauce)
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
A pinch of sea salt
A squirt of lemon juice
1 teaspoon cayenne
A pinch of pepper (black pepper)
A pinch of curry powder
A pinch of allspice
A small shake of ground ginger

Take your drippins & apple cider vinegar mix and place it in a sauce pan. Add the remaining vinegar and begin to simmer. Then add all the other ingredients listed above and allow to simmer until the sugar dissolves completely. WARNING: taking a deep whiff of this stuff while it’s cooking will probably knock you the h-e-double-hockey-sticks out! If you feel the need to smell it, waft your hand over the pan toward your nose and breathe gently. Allow to simmer on LOW while you prep the meat.

After the meat has rested for 10 minutes or so, you can begin pulling the meat apart with 2 forks. The easiest method is to have 2 cutting boards; one with your big old hunk of meat and one that you are shredding on. In whatever you are planning to serve the pulled pork from, add a 1/3 cup of the simmering sauce, then begin adding the pork to the bowl once it is pulled, tossing occasionally. Once the bowl is ½ full of pulled pork, you can add another 1/3 cup sauce and continue. There should not be much sauce at all on the pork until you’ve built your sandwiches, because *that*, my friend, is when you add the sauce!

A pulled pork sandwich is best served on a warm, soft bun, topped with more sauce, with a little pile of cole slaw on top. Pickles on the side if that’s your preference.

Another option is a pulled pork loaded baked potato:

One good-sized potato, baked
Little butter
Little sour cream
Lotta pulled pork
More sauce
Omnomnom!

Here's a little bit of insanity

2011-07-07T20:57:00.004-04:00

So....the entire nation is supposedly so broke we can't afford to pay attention, and yet Oak Park, Michigan is prosecuting and potentially jailing someone for planting vegetables (nicely) in their front yard?

Here's the story:
http://www.theagitator.com/2011/07/07/does-michelle-obama-know-about-this/

What on earth?

MoreThan Meatloaf

2011-03-05T23:03:00.006-05:00

Meatloaf is one of the easiest dishes to make, but it's also one of the easiest to really screw up. Using a really lowfat meat without adding more flavors, or using too dense a filler are just a few ways to screw it up, and are both reasons that many people serve meatloaf with a tomato-based sauce topping it. (Obviously, some people serve meatloaf with a tomato-based topping because they like it that way, but I'd argue it's because they never had it made like this). This particular version is also stuffed with full-of-flavor veggies; it is hearty, nutritious AND delicious!

For meatloaf you basically need some ground meat, some starchy filler, something to bind it and something to flavor it.

My Basic Ingredients:

2-3 lbs ground beef

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 egg

packet of dried onion soup

ground savory

smoked paprika

Madras curry powder

tarragon

sage

garlic

tyme

salt & pepper

The "MoreThan" Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper

10-14 baby carrots

baby spinach

The onion, mushrooms, a few more carrots and small red potatoes go around the loaf before baking it, cuz unless there's mushrooms and potatoes, it ain't really meatloaf! I actually used a 90/10 ground beef, and I wouldn't really recommend going much lower in fat content than that. Normally I'd go slightly higher in fat content, but this one was on sale (and I lub me some stuff on sale).

So, the first step is to set the oven on 375 and let it start warming up.

Next, take a large handful of the baby spinach leaves, roll them into a cylinder and start slicing so that you are making baby spinach ribbons. I did about 1/2 the bag. I know there's a fancy chef-name for this technique, but I'll be damned if I know what it is! You can always cut your ribbons a little smaller if they look to big when you're done, but remember that spinach starts big and ends small, so don't make the pieces too little.

Next comes the carrots. Now I like raw carrots, but cooked carrots are probably my least favorite vegetable. I put them around the outside of the meatloaf for other people (and because the color is so pretty). I know they're good for me, so I trick myself (HA!) into eating them by shredding them and mixing them into the meatloaf. Here's a picture of carrots I shredded using my little $10 mini-chopper.

Next chop the red bell pepper into relatively small pieces. Depending on the size of your pepper, you may want to only use half of it, but you'll definitely want to chop the pepper by hand, it's too delicate for the mini-chopper.

Now you'll need a bowl larger than you think you'll need. I used the largest one I had, and I wished it was larger. In the bowl, put:

the ground beef (2-3 lbs)
the bread crumbs (about 1/2 cup)
the onion soup packet
the egg (sans shell, obviously...)
the baby spinach ribbons
the shredded carrots
the chopped red bell pepper
all your herbs & spices (go easy on the salt because your bread crumbs and onion soup already have salt in them

Mix it all well, but not harshly. I use my hands, and strongly recommend you do the same. If you're creeped out by mushing raw meat, feel free to use gloves. Shape it into a loaf and place it in the center of your baking dish, then lovingly surround it with small red potatoes, baby carrots and mushrooms, and garnish it with the sliced onion. Add a small amount of water 1/4 to 1/3 cup, depending on the size of your dish. This will augment the "drippins" from the meat, which will allow you to make a better gravy. Clicking on the image to the right --> will show you the little pieces of peppers, carrots and spinach, NOMZ!

Bake at 375 degrees, uncovered, for approximately an hour, perhaps slightly longer. I recommend that you always use a meat thermometer and cook to the appropriate internal temperature! I don't have the fancy kind that you bake along with the meat, I have the kind you poke into the meat when you take it out to check the done-ness, and it works fine.

I wish I had a better picture of it to show you, but to be honest I was starving and ready to eat!

Easy Peasy Mac-n-Cheesy!

2011-01-23T18:48:00.001-05:00

Giving a shout-out to this recipe, though I didn't follow it, I did learn some tricks!

You'd think that, growing up in the South, I'd have learned how to make real mac-n-cheese at quite a young age, but I didn't. I do, however, LOVE mac-n-cheese, and even the boxed stuff is okay on occasion. This, is not that occasion!

This particular recipe is super easy and super tasty, so you really have no excuse to grab the box!

What you'll need

Sharp Cheddar (shredded, 9 ounce bag)

Mild Cheddar & Monterey jack (about 9 ounces, I just used what I had left)
Spiral/elbow pasta (or mini shells, or penne, if you prefer)
Raw Baby Spinach (9 ounce bag)
1 pint half-and-half
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Cook the pasta to al dente http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_dente While it's cooking, prep the spinach. Now here's the trick. You really only want the spinach blanched or wilted, you don't want it cooked all the way through. So while the pasta is cooking, I set the spinach up in another pot.

Once the pasta is finished, I drain the boiling pasta water into the pan with the spinach. Set the pasta aside and drain the spinach. It will look like too much before it's cooked, and like not enough after it is cooked. Don't worry, it'll be perfect, just set it aside :)

Now your pasta and your spinach are good to go.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Put 1 & 1/2 cup half-and-half in a sauce pan and set it to the low side of medium, you want to bring it up to a simmer.

While that's doing it's thing, put 3 tablespoons of flour into a bowl and add the nutmeg and the sweet paprika. You could use regular paprika, or even smoky paprika, but for this dish I really prefer the sweet paprika. Mix the dry ingredients, and then add the remaining 1/2 cup half-and-half. Whisk it until it is well mixed. If there are a few lumps, it’s okay, but they should be small lumps. Once the milk in the pan has reached a simmer, add in a dash of olive oil, then add in the flour mixture and whisk until it begins to thicken (about 2 to 3 minutes).

Take the flour & milk mixture off the heat and begin to add in most of the cheese, slowly, mixing gently until it is melted. I sprinkle a handful at a time over the milk-flour mixture and stir in until melted. Reserve a portion of the cheese to sprinkle on top.

Spray your baking dish, or put a little olive oil in it.

Add the pasta and spinach to the dish and mix it up a little.

Pour your cheesy mix on top, and then using a large spoon, poke into the pasta so that some of the sauce settles in.

I top with chopped bacon and more cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 400.

Enjoy!

Hello 2011

2011-01-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

Yep, I've got a whole list this year. Last year I resolved to try a new recipe every month. In my defense, I did try new things last year. There were a few that were such abysmal failures that they never made it on the blog. This year, I'm recognizing that intention and setting the tone is every bit as important as actually being 100% successful with your resolutions, so here goes. In 2011, I plan to:

Cook more with real food, and less with anything in a package.
Actively look for products with less packaging, so that there is less in the waste-stream.
Reduce my plastic footprint.
Before making a purchase, ask myself these questions:

Can I really afford it?
Do I really need it?
If I can afford it, but don’t really need it, just want it, how much do I really want it? What am I willing to give up to have it?

Be a little more thoughtful and a little less reactionary.
Smile a little more and preach a little less.
Worry less about whether my jeans are the right style for this year (really? Bootcutskinnyjeanslowriserelaxedfitstonewash? My only question is do they fit. If they do, we’re all good.)
Dance more often
Sing even when I don’t know all the words
Take the weather with me.

A Message For You

2010-12-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas Mice

2010-12-04T10:57:00.005-05:00

This is my absolute favorite Christmas Treat. This is another great dish for kids to help you with, though fine motoro skills can be important for certain steps (and you do NOT want to start a holiday tradition of stress and frustration!), so be careful when assigning the different steps to your sous chefs.

Software:
Maraschino cherries WITH stems
White chocolate or almond bark for melting
Sliced Almonds
Red piping

Hardware:
Double boiler or similar setup*
Wax paper

*melting white chocolate in a microwave will work, but it is very tricky to get it right and you have to reheat it eventually and it starts to get grainy or lumpy. If you don't have a double boiler, one large pot with a smaller pot suspended inside it will accomplish almost the same thing, though you do have to be careful cuz you are working with boiling water. I don't have a double boiler, and worried about burning the white chocolate because my stove top is electric, so I used a glass bowl in the microwave, then set it inside a second glass bowl filled with hot water from the tea kettle. This worked ok, except I think I might have nuked it a bit too much because it started to get chalky in some spots. The key is to nuke for 10-15 seconds, then FOLD (not stir) the melty bits into the unmelty bits.

So here are the steps:
1. Drain cherries but do not remove stems
2. Melt white chocolate or almond bark
3. Grasp cherry by stem and dip into white melty stuff, but leave the tail red
4. Lay on wax paper with stem down to the side (like a tail!)
5. Dip second cherry and lay down
6. Return to first cherry you dipped and press in 2 almond slices to make ears and a white chocolate chip to make the 'face'**
7. Repeat steps 3-6 until all cherries have been transformed into an army of Christmas mice
8. Once melty stuff hardens, pipe on 2 little red eyes, and a nose if you're really steady with your hands.

** Depending on the temperature and humidity in your kitchen, you may need to dip several cherries and lay them down before returning to place the ears and noses. They key is to do the ears/face when the white chocolate starts to get pretty stiff so they don't slide down, but before it hardens, so they still stick.

Be on the lookout for stealthy hands trying to steal your mice!

A Christmas Mouse striking a pose with a Peppermint Brownie

These mice have found their way into a box of brownies! Sneaky mice!

Christmas Mice also go very well with Haystacks

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED to meet donor Challenge to build Safe House dorm 4 Lakota Youth. on Betty Tuininga's TwitWall

2010-11-07T20:31:00.000-05:00

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED to meet donor Challenge to build Safe House dorm 4 Lakota Youth. on Betty Tuininga's TwitWall

A good cause, this season spend a little on some folks you don't even know.

ˈtʃɪli Weekend!

2010-10-21T22:23:00.010-04:00

Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the astonishing rescue of the miners after 68 days underground, I can't really say, but it was on my mind last weekend. Chili. I need some. Want some. Gotta have some.

So I made some.

Now chili doesn't really have a recipe, it's more of a loose affiliation of companionable ingredients. Sure, you can find a recipe online somewhere, but honestly, it's just not that kind of dish! I cannot begin to even estimate the amounts of the spices I used, because chili is an All-Day Taste-And-Season Meal. The honest truth is that (unless you're using dried beans) the ingredients in chili really take about an 30 minutes to cook, and you could dish it up and eat it then. But for it to really have The Soul of Chili, you gotta cook it all day. If you're making chili for a party, I highly recommend making it the day before and it will be *bangin* on the following day.

So.....if we were to have a "recipe" for chili, it would consist of:

Some meat

Some beans (purists may be shocked, but it's my blog so make yer own if you disagree!)

Some spices (the spicey, peppery kind)

Some veg (specifically tomatoes, peppers, onions)

A Whole Lotta Time

So here's how I make it...

Team Spicey consists of:

Ground Red Cayenne Pepper

Smoked Paprika - the flavor of smoked paprika is really an excellent addition to chili, but if you don't have it, sweet paprika is fine as well.

Garlic Salt - you can use fresh garlic if you prefer

Ground Cumin - an oft overlooked spice, invite it to the party, it has a lot to say (but in an interesting way, not in an "omg who invited him, he never stops talking" kinda way).

Chili Powder

Cholula Chili Garlic Hot Sauce (zomg tasty!)

But yanno, you mix and match, make it your own! If you want fresh hot peppers, use them instead! (Me? I'm afraid of capsaicin in my eyeballs!)

Team Veggie:

Sweet Spanish Onion - or vidalia, or whatever. I recommend a sweet onion though, because you're already going to have a lot of heat in this dish (well, you will if you add a lot of spices!)

Ripe Tomatoes - you're gonna be cookin' tha bajeebers outta this, your tomatoes don't need to be beautiful and easy to slice, they need to be sweet and full of flavor! Don't get a beefsteak or a sandwich tomato, get plums, romas or some other juicy tomato.

Red Bell Pepper - my mom would say, "Use green peppers, too much red in this dish already". I'd say, "Use what you like best, and I like the red bells".

Okay "meat" isn't really a team, but it is a critical component in chili. Many people use ground beef, or ground pork, or a mixture of ground meats. There are even some fabulous recipes for white chili made with chicken, so use whatever you'd like (though fish chili sounds really disturbing, I'm sure it exists somewhere *shudder*) ((holy smokes, why on earth did I google "fish chili"?!?!?))

At any rate.....I usually use stewing beef, since it's going to cook all the live long day, you can use a less expensive cut. On this particular occasion, some big-ol honkin' steaks were on sale (like, a really good sale) so I got those instead and cut them up.

By cutting against the grain of the meet, and by cooking it all day at a low temperature, you can almost guarantee that the meat will be falling-apart-tender by the time you serve it.

Now if you're anything like me, about the time you start dicing up the meat (slightly larger than bite sized, against the grain of the meat), a little Helper VonHelpington will show up. This ones name is Major Tom. He and his brother Randy adopted us from a shelter, and we thought the name was pretty awesome so we kept it. He's pretty awesome too, he can leap tall buildings in a single bound (okay, maybe not tall buildings, but he can jump unbelievably high). Randy was busy napping. He's got no truck with people-food unless it is cooked roast beef. Yep, he's a snob.

Now where were we? Oh yeah, the meat. What I do is put a little olive oil in the bottom of a large, heavy-bottomed stew pan. I put it on a medium-low heat and I start adding all my spices above. Again, can't tell you how much to add, just....well, a lot. If your chili turns out too hot (for some people there is such a thing, don't be a spice-snob) you can always add a little sour cream at the end to cool it down a bit, or add a little granulated sugar. Add your diced meat to the pan and commence to cookin'.

Now start chopping up your veggies and adding them to the mixture. For this pot of chili I used 4.66 pounds of meat, 1.3 pounds of tomatoes, 1 medium onion, one medium red pepper and two cans of dark red kidney beans, and I added them in that order, cooking at a low temperature the entire time. Once the meat has cooked all the way through you can begin to taste and adjust your spices. I actually wait until the chili has been cooking about 3 or 4 hours before I add the beans, because otherwise they can turn super mushy. (Yes, my stove top is messy. If you're not making a mess you're not really cooking, you're just heating up!)

Because I live in a really small apartment with someone with asthma and multiple allergies whose condition is aggravated by raw onions, I have a little trick. I use my small, $15 counter-top chopper doohicky. I turn on the vent, quickly peel the onions and dispose of the peels, do a rough chop of the onions, toss them in the chopper-whatsis, put on the lid, then rinse the cutting board and knife and wash my hands. Then I activate the chopper-thingamabob, dump the onions in the pan and put the lid on the pan. Done and dusted with minimal fuss.

Soooooo, let that chili simmer for a looooooooong time. Take a nap (but don't forget to stir!)

About a half hour before you just can't stand the deliciousness wafting from your kitchen any more and have to dive in to a big old bowl, make yourself some cornbread muffins!

NOMZ!

This meal was cooked under the influence of Grandmaster Flash, Talking Heads, Parliament Funkadelic and David Bowie. Food tastes better when it's made with joy, and music is joy so crank it up.

Joel Burns tells gay teens "it gets better" http://www.joelburns.com

2010-10-19T23:00:00.000-04:00

Tortilla-Fried Egg Breakfast Something

2010-09-05T19:52:00.003-04:00

I really have no idea what to call this. Quite possibly it already has a name somewhere, as I am reasonably sure someone somewhere must have wanted a fried egg sandwich for breakfast before, but not had any bread in the house.

You will need:
A frying pan of some sort
A spatula
A plate
Butter (for frying, so feel free to use whatever you would normally use to fry an egg)
2 Eggs per "sandwich"
1 Tortilla per "sandwich"
Chili Powder
Hot Sauce
Cumin
Some cheese
Some salsa
Some sour cream

Firstly, you'll want your pan on medium heat or just barely higher than medium. Add your butter/margarine, perhaps a little more than you would normally use. While your butter is melting, add several dashes of hot sauce, a sprinkle each of chili powder, cumin and whatever else you take a fancy to. A little garlic would've been nice, now that I think of it...some cilantro would also compliment the flavors.

Add your eggs and commence to cookin'. Over easy is the way you'll want these eggs, with the white completely cooked but the yellows still runny.
I added more hot sauce, cumin and chili powder on top of the eggs after I dropped them in the pan. Flip your eggs just as they start to bubble.

As soon as your eggs are done, slip them onto a plate, then drop your tortilla into your still hot and only a little greasy pan. I used flour tortillas because that's what I had (and personally I think they fold better). Let the tortilla cook a few seconds on one side, watch for poofiness, then flip. As SOON as you flip it, sprinkle one half with cheese, put your cooked eggs back in on top of the cheese, sprinkle more cheese, the "close" it up. CAREFULLY flip it one more time so the cheese is all melty on both sides.

Slip your Breakfast Something back onto the plate. Top with a few tablespoons of salsa and sour cream. ENJOY! This is one of my new favorite breakfast foods, I'd love to hear any other suggestions :)

Resolution Recipe: Apple Easy Turnover

2010-07-10T22:55:00.001-04:00

I really should change the name of my blog to Super Easy Food You Can Make Without Trying Too Hard And Probably Not Screw Up Too Badly. Maybe some day I'll tell you why it's called "Oh really? How nice..."

*grin*

I've been wanting to make this for awhile, and this week the local supermarket (oxymoron??) had premade pie crust on sale, so I kinda felt like I had run out of excuses. It's very easy to make, and even easier to eat!

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups thinly sliced apples (2 medium)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tablespoon water
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons flour
1 Tablespoon raw sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 pie crust (I used the refrigerated ready-made kind)
1 egg
a sprinkle of ground ginger, and of allspice

I used an apple corer, then sliced the wedges to be a little thiner, so in the end I had pretty thin wedges. After wedging with the corer, I scooped out any bits of core that was left. If you choose to peel the apples first, well, I guess that's your right, but you're missing out. So there.

Use a medium sized saucepan and put the apples, 3 Tablespoons of water, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and the quarter cup of packed brown sugar into the pan. Put it on a medium heat and stir until it's nice a bubbley, then turn it to low. Add your spices, then let it simmer on low for 5-7 minutes, until the apples are soft.

While the apples simmer, get a small bowl and mix the flour, raw sugar and salt together. Once the apples are soft, you'll want to slowly (spoon at a time) add this flour mixture to the apple mixture in the pan, mixing and cooking until all the flour is incorporated and the mixture it the pan is thick.

Take the thickened apple mixture off the heat. I put it in a bowl so it would cool more quickly. Here's a picture. You'll want it to be pretty cool before placing it on the dough.

Take the pie crust out of the fridge and set it out to warm up a little. Set the timer for 15 minutes. Now si the time to start preheating the ove. to 375 degrees (f). You'll also want to take this time to rinse out the pan you cooked the apple in, otherwise it will turn to apple glue!

Once the pie crust has been sitting out for 15 minutes (or so), un-roll it onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I was so eager to get this made, I neglected to take a picture of this step. I made you a picture of it in Paint. I'm really sorry. (it's harder than it looks!)

Place the cooled apple mixture filling 1/2 of the crust, leaving about 1/2 inch on the edges.
Beat the egg, mix in 1 Tablespoon water, then brush the egg wash over the edge that you left oncovered.

Fold over the half of the crust that is bereft of apples. Using a fork, crimp the edges together. Brush more of the eggwash over the entire thing.

Using a knife, cut some vent holes on the top. Be creative, make a design or a picture. I was going for a half sunburst.

Bake in your 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve with a delicious cup of fresh coffee and enjoy!

a wish to be flying

2010-07-03T11:31:00.000-04:00

cat chatters at birds

a wish to catch them or fly

coffee ready yet?

Spread the Word to End the Word

2010-06-20T13:00:00.003-04:00

I took the pledge.

I pledge to stand up and speak out. The r-word marginalizes and devalues people, and I will no longer be silent.

This image is a link. You should click it. Be a fan of respect.

Scrambled Pizza

2010-06-19T09:58:00.002-04:00

Tired of the same-old, same-old? Want to try something a little different, even though all you have is the same old ingredients? Breakfast Pizza to the rescue! I'm a huge fan of breakfast, no matter what time of day. So this is a dish you could have for breakfast, as a brunch, or even for supper! It's also a pretty easy dish, and one that even younger kids could act as your sous chef.

You will need:

1 pre-made pizza crust
about ½ cup of Alfredo sauce or a white gravy of some kind (red eye, sausage, whatever)
about 1 cup of shredded cheese (or more, to taste, whatever flavor you’ve got)
about 4-5 eggs, scrambled
some bacon or sausage, cooked & chopped or crumbled
some veg (I picked mushroom, but some baby spinach or red bell peppers would go nicely, as well)
herbs and spices of your choosing
a cutting board
a cookie sheet or pizza pan
a frying pan & spatula
oh, and an oven

Firstly, check the directions for the pre-made pizza crust, as those are what you’re going to need to follow for the oven portion of this dish. Could you make your own crust? Sure! But I’m not brave enough, so you’re on your own (though we do expect pictures!).

Pre-heat your oven per the directions on your pre-made crust (mine says to preheat to 400 then turn down to 350 after you put the pizza in, so that’s what I do).

While your oven is heating up you’ll want to prep your bacon, or whatever you’re using. You’ll want it cooked close to crispy, then either chopped or crumbled (depending on how crispy you went with it). If you’re using ham (and who wouldn’t?!?) you’ll probably want to chop it before cooking it, so that you get a nice little brown crispiness to the edges.

When scrambling for more than one, the general rule of thumb that I follow is “two per person and one for the pan”, so I would typically make 5 eggs for 2 people. I’ll add a little crushed garlic, some tarragon, maybe a small pinch of sweet Hungarian paprika. You want your eggs on the stiff side, otherwise the pizza will seem mushy.

Now I left the mushrooms raw, but if you wanted to you could sauté them beforehand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saut%C3%A9ing . If I were using sweet red bell peppers, I would leave them raw but chop them rather small. For the mushrooms I just sliced them like you would for any other pizza ;)

Okay, so are we all ready? Let’s build us a Scrambled Pizza, then!

Slather on your sauce, then spread your scrambled eggs, bacon and your mushrooms (or whatever veg you opted to use). Add the cheese on top.

Then bake according to the directions for the crust.

and Enjoy!

Easy Peasy: Little Cheesy

2010-05-31T13:05:00.001-04:00

Yeah so, somewhere (probably on the internet) I read that "quesadilla" means "little cheesy thing". Of course, now all I can find is that it means "cheese tortilla", which I guess makes sense, but isn't nearly as cute. So here's your wiki-link for quesadilla.

Now this isn't really a recipe, so much as a sandwich idea. Again, no rocket-science involved, unless you plan on making the tortillas and cheese from scratch, then yer on yer own (but I do hope you'll do a little guest-blog-spot and show us all the pictures!)

You Will Need:
Some Tortillas (make 2 tortillas per person, you'll probably have leftovers, but yummers)
Cheese (of the shredded variety, I used Cheddar and Monterey Jack, cuz they're deLISHus)
Some cooked chicken** (or ham, or yanno, what ever sounds good)
Some fresh, raw spinach (I use the baby spinach)
Some mushrooms
Any other kinda stuff you want to add :)

**I tend to cook large quantities of meat once a week, then use it throughout the week in various cooking endeavors. This week it was chicken, I got the boneless, skinless tenders on sale.
On this particular occasion I cooked:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken tenders
1 can consomme (found in the soup isle)
1 can water
Some garlic
Some turmeric
Some tarragon

Put it all in a large covered pan, on a low-medium-low heat for about an hour, maybe 45 minutes, check it with a meat thermometer to make sure you're reached an internal temp of at least 165 (f). You can use it for all sorts of things :)

You will want to have all of your stuff prepped before you start cooking, because you will

construct one
begin cooking
construct another
flip the first, then remove
start cooking the second
construction the 3rd
etc and so forth, until you're done

So I shred the chicken with 2 forks then I chop the spinach (not TOO small) and slice the mushrooms (not TOO thick).

So, at the begining, I probably should have asked if you have a George Foreman Lean Mean Grillin' Machine. Yeah? Cool. We love ours and use it for all kinds of deliciousness. So then, carry on with the "recipe". (If you answered no, skip to the end for a different technique).

So, if you're using a sandwich press or grilling type of device as noted above, plug that bad-boy in and then construct your quesadilla by covering only 1/2 of the tortilla, thusly:

1. Cheese first, then chicken

2. Then a layer of chopped spinach and sliced mushroom

3. Then a bit more cheese to seal the deal

Fold'er in half and (using a largish spatula) transfer from construction site (plate) to cooking surface (grill).

While that one cooks, start constructing your next quesadilla. Rinse and repeat until you have:

Then NOMZ.

If you don't have a grill, then you'll construct your quesadilla covering the entire surface, just be careful not to over fill.

Place your tortilla in the pan (hot, with just a SMIDGE of oil)
Add layer of cheese other stuff, then a smidge more cheese
Once nice and melty, flip HALF over onto the other half
NOMZ

Super Simple, Super Delicious! Keilbasa with Apples and Onions

2010-05-29T18:31:00.000-04:00

I remember my mom making this when I was a kid and I thought, "how weird! apples and onions together??"

While I didn't appreciate them as a kid, I sure do now. This is another one of my favorites, and it's so simple to make.

What you'll need:

1 Keilbasa (I use the kind shaped like a U, should serve 4 people)
1 Medium Onion (I think I used Sweet Vidalia)
1 Large Granny Smith Apple (or you can use any tart baking apple, but not the Red or Green Delicious variety, they are a bit too mushy for this task)
1 Large Pan (frying)
1 Cutting board
A knife
Optional (but not really) some Perogies (yeah, you can use the frozen kind, I did)

So, if you're going to have perogies with it (and why wouldn't you??!) go ahead and start the water to boiling with a little salt and a dash of olive oil.

Slice the keilbasa on the diagonal and drop it into a fairly hot pan. You'll want the heat a bit on the high side so you get some nice browning on the keilbasa, but not so high that it burns. So keep and eye on it and stir periodically to get both sides done.

While that is getting nice and browned, slice your onion. I've heard a million tricks to slice an onion without tears, but I prefer to just suck it up, it's part of the fun of cooking! Now you want your onion slices kind of on the large side. Even if you think you don't like onions, these are going to be so delicious you're going to change your mind!
Once the onion is sliced, toss it into the browed keilbasa and turn the heat down to a fair medium.

By now your water for the perogies should be boiling, so go ahead and toss them (don't toss, they'll splash, pour them gently) into the water and cook according to instructions on the package.

Now let's pretend that I wasn't in such a hurry and that I actually remembered to take a picture of the chopped Granny Smith Apple before I tossed it in after the onions. You want to core the apple, then slice into wedges and make sure all the seeds and tough bits are done. But don't peel the apple, that's where all the vitamins are! Besides, if you peel the apple, you make baby kittens cry, and we don't want that. Once the apple is cored, wedged and de-seedified, chop each wedge into 3 or 4 pieces and toss them ito the pan.

Add: a few shakes of tumeric. Yep, that's all.

Continue to stir, but gently. You want everything cooked equally, but you don't want to mush up the apples.

Once the perogies are done, drain the water and add the perogies to the pan and allow them to absorbe some of the color and flavor.

ENJOY!

Sorry the last picture is so fuzzy, but I was hungry and wanted to eat!

World's Easiest Recipe: Cinnamon-Sugar Tortilla Crispies

2010-05-23T19:12:00.000-04:00

So, by now you've probably figured out that none of the recipes I post are very complicated or difficult. If you want complicated and difficult, you'll need to convince my brother or sister to start a blog. No, really, my brother is a musician/chef, and my sister is a rocket scientist who makes her own fondant and whipped cream (but not together, that'd be odd...)

I'm the slow one in the family :)

But that's good news for you, because it means none of these recipes should require anything more than the most basic kitchen would normally have.

So, without further ado, the World's Easiest Recipe! No really, it's as easy as making toast!

What you need is....

a tortilla (I used flour)
a smidge of butter or margerine
a sprinkle of cinnamon
a sprinkle of sugar
a cutting board
a cookie sheet (foil is optional)
a spoon
a pizza cutter (or knife, if your pizza cutter is in the dishwasher!)

Preheat your oven to 350(f)

So, place 1 tortilla on the cutting board.

Schmear with a smidgen of butter. (I find this task infinitely easier when I use the back of a spoon instead of a butter knife)

Sprinkle with cinnamon

Sprinkle with sugar (I used raw, cuz I like the taste better)

Cut into 8ths and place on cookie sheet.

Bake for 5 minutes at 350(f), then crank the oven up to BROIL, BABY! Watch closely and remove when the crispies are bubbly and just starting to brown.

Enjoy!

Taste Like Home: EggInnaHole for Breakfast

2010-05-01T13:41:00.004-04:00

In the chaotic ballet that was my childhood, there were some repeat players in the form of Rick, Clara and Angela. Angela is actually my baby sister's age, and for one reason or another it seems we were constantly at one another's houses. Happy times to see Amy and Angela running around playing while the grown-ups chatted and the older kids (that’d be me and Michael) were torn between kidsplay and grownup discussions. The very first time I remember eating this dish, Rick made it.

For me memories are mostly vignettes: short moments in time caught on the grainy, slightly jumpy super8 of my memory, with the color, focus and cropping all slightly out of whack. In this particular vignette the kitchen is filled with light, people are happy and there is an air of anticipation. Sometimes the best part of a meal is the memories that come with it. Memories can make even the simplest ingredients come together to form your favorite dish, and this is one of mine.
________________________________________

EggInnaHole is a very easy dish, and requires very little in the way of prep or cooking. This is a GREAT dish to cook with kids who are just beginning to show an interest in cooking. I've also heard it called Egg in a Basket and Toad In a Hole, though I understand that typically refers to a different dish.

Here are your Implements of Construction : If you’ve got those things (or an adequate substitute for them), then you’re ready to go!

Eggs (2 per person)

A Hearty Bread (2 slices per person)

Butter or Margarine (but not cooking spray or oil)

A few herbs or spices of your choice

A cutting board

A butter knife

A small tea-cup or round cookie-cutter

A frying pan

A stove

Once you’ve gathered your materials, it’s a pretty simple operation.

Butter the bread on both sides (This is why you want a good, solid bread. Floppy white bread just can’t stand up and talk back to being buttered on BOTH sides!)

Turn on the stove to a medium – medium high heat.

Lay the buttered bread on the cutting board, and use either a round cookie-cutter or a teacup with a small rim to cut a hole in the center of the bread. (We save the bread “hole” and fry that up in the pan with everything else.)

Place the Bread With a Hole in the pan, and crack an egg into it.

Cooking two at a time is perfectly acceptable, provided your pan is large enough
I never actually crack the egg into the pan because I am MORTALLY FEARFUL of eating eggshells. I crack them, one at a time, into a bowl and then into the pan.

Cook for a few moments, as you would an “over easy” egg. Flip and repeat, adding a few spices for some extra flavor if you’d like. (I really love chili powder, cumin and a little Madras curry on eggs!).

These are really great if you serve them while the eggs are still a little runny.

Awesome with other breakfast foods like bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, slice tomatoes, or whatever floats your boat. Best served with fresh ground coffee and good friends!

Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project

2010-04-11T09:28:00.000-04:00

Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project

Ms. Q: and undercover teacher/blogger writing on a really important topic. For all of 2010, she is eating school lunch, just like the kids do. Follow her. (note, this is not about weight, it's about health and processed food).

~Kathy

Resolution Recipe: Split Pea Soup

2010-03-28T18:02:00.001-04:00

One of my all-time favorite soups, but oddly enough I have never made it myself! Since warmer weather is on the way here in New England, this will probably be the last time I make it for awhile. This recipe was inspired by seeing Paula Deen's husband enjoying her split pea soup so much, and with a nod to Alton Brown's recipe.

2 Cups of Split Peas (I used 1c. each of yellow and green)

4 Cups Chicken Stock

2-3 Cups Water (depending on how soupy you want it)

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Keilbasa sausage or ham (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)

1 medium onion, chopped

3/4 Cup Carrots (grated or chopped small)

2 Tablespoons curry powder

Sage or other savory herbs of your choice

small shake of ground ginger, nutmeg and cinammon

**This recipe doesn't call for salt because you're using chicken broth and cooking with sausage or ham, all of which have plenty of salt. If you're doing a vegetarian version of this dish, you'll need to add salt at the beginning of the cooking process, and then check it again at the end.

Before cooking, shake the split peas onto a cookie sheet (or other clean, flat surface) and sift through them for small rocks. I only found 1, but man you do NOT want to find that the hard way (with your teeth!). Measure out desired amount (for our purposes, 2 cups) then set aside.

For optimal cooking, we (yeah, that's the royal we) recommend a heavy-bottomed pot.

Melt your butter in the pot, then add the chopped onion (you may also add a clove of garlic if you are so inclined, and who isn't??). You really only want to sweat the onion, so cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat, and watch carefully so the onion doesn't brown. I add the curry powder and other spices and herbs to the onions (mostly because I love the way it smells!)

Once the onion is cooked, add in your split peas, your chicken broth and the water. Increase the heat to bring to a boil.

While it's heating up, grate or shred the carrots and chop up the sausage or ham (or both, heck why not??), then drop them in as well. After it reaches a nice rollicky boil, turn it down to simmer and cover it.

Cooking time should be about an hour and a half, but watch to add more water if needed, and stir occasionally.

I served this with a little cheese sprinkled on top and some French bread on the side. You could also serve it over rice (since peas are a legume, they are really good friends with grains like rice, and your body will get more nutrition out of both of them if you serve them together!).

Buffalo Soldiers

2010-02-21T13:17:00.104-05:00

Page last updated 09/29/2011

This list was compiled with the assistance of the stalwart keyers/arbitrators of Buffalo Soldiers returns on the US Military Records forum (ancestry.com World Archives Project). Big shoutouts to mabnightowl, johnnowlin60, kgawne66, scrapma1, rrnatsch, for sharing their resources, and I sincerely hope I didn't forget anyone!

It is important to note that these tools should only be used to deciphering information and handwriting, not for correcting it. As keyers and arbitrators in the WAP project, we're entering data from historical documents. We're not charged with correcting what was written, we're charged with documenting what was written. Making assumptions that we know more than the person who was there and actually wrote the document will lead to misinformation.

The purpose of this list of links is to assist folks who are working on the WAP Buffalo Soldiers project as keyers or arbitrators of data records. You can learn more about the project by clicking on the link above. If you'd like to volunteer for this (or any other) keying project, you don't have to have a paid membership at ancestry.com, but you do need to be a registered user. We will not asnwer questions about Buffalo Soldiers WAP Keying project here. Please use the appropriate forum for any questions.

Mary Ann (mabnightowl) put together a GREAT how-to image for keying Buffalo Soldier returns for WAP. UPDATED to new tool 8/15/2010!!

NEW RESOURCE: A Facebook Group has been started for WAP keyers (not Buffalo Soldiers-specific, but useful)

Lists- people (enlisted, officers, troops, regiments, etc)

West Point cadets from the 1870 era
U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914
Smith's First Directory of Oklahoma Territory - Active Military Personnel (1890 census extracts, etc
Buffalo Soldiers Of New Mexico - 1880 census extraction of Buffalo Soldiers (new link)
Officers and Enlisted Men of the 9th United States Cavalry Regiment - 1910
ROSTER - 9th UNITED STATES VOLUNTEER INFANTRY 1898 to 1899
10th Cavalry Roster - Spanish American War 1898
Fort Davis
Enlisted 9th Cav buried at Ft. Bayard; NM
Buffalo Soldiers Buried at Fort Bayard, MN (slightly longer list) (NEW)
Buffalo Soldiers from the 9th & 10th buried at Fort Bayard (alphabetized list) (NEW)
Roster of Officers of the 9th and 10th United States Cavalry Regiments - July 28, 1866 (NEW)

LISTS - locations (forts, camps, barracks, ships)

Place Names in the US
Alphabetical list to (some of the) US Forts (clickable links):
"Indian Era" Forts
9th Cavalry and Fort Naco, Ariz
Kansas Forts: Western US Army Frontier Forts
North American Forts - List of forts with very brief historical notes.
Western N. America (note that there are links to updated info, but it has not all been incorporated into the original site)
Wikipedia - List of United States Army installations
Burial Registers for Military Posts, Camps, and Stations, 1768-1921 (some narrative at the begining)
Frontier and Colonial Forts of the United States
Links to Old West Forts and Towns
ZC (Ship) Files - Navy Department Library - list of ship names, useful particularly for working on documents from Philippines
Towns of the USA
Ghost Towns (warning, midi file starts when page loads, just a little annoying)
Colorado Places by County
List of Forts in Philippines (Wiki) (NEW)
US Military Bases in Philippines Over Time (NEW)
Utah Forts of the Old We st (NEW)

Useful Books

PDF format downloadable book, "Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U. S. Military academy, from 1802 to 1867. Rev. ed., with a supplement continuing the register of graduates to January 1, 1879" - Mary Ann says, "Using the search tool once you download it, you can find even some of the hardest officers to locate (though likely not ALL!)"
THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY. By LIEUTENANT JOHN BIGELOW, JR., U. S. A., R. Q. M. TENTH CAVALRY.
Army wives on the American frontier: living by the bugles By Anne Bruner Eales
Biographical register of the officers and ..., Volume 1, Pages 92-5115
Don's Google Book List - A great list of useful books
Internet Text Archive
Domestic United States Military Facilities of the First World War 1917-1919 By Robert Swanson

Narratives

THE NINTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY
Chronicles of Oklahoma -Volume 2, No. 4 December, 1924 THE NINETEENTH KANSAS CAVALRY IN THE WASHITA CAMPAIGN
The Fort Arbuckle Collection
Kansas Historical Quarterly - The Military Post as a Factor in the Frontier Defense of Kansas, 1865-1869
VisionQuest: Buffalo Soldiers of History - includes unit histories showing names and places
Buffalo Soldiers Buffalo Soldiers and Indian Wars
Wikipedia on Buffalo Soldiers
Forgotten American History Page - narratives histories of 9th & 10th Cavalry, 25th & 24th Infantry, and much more from 1866 to 1944 (WARNING: includes a VERY ANNOYING pointer animation)
History of 10th Cavalry 1866-1921 - a downloadable, digitized book
1878 Adobe Barracks, Fort Robinson Nebraska - downloadable, digitized book
Brief History - 2 page narrative on Buffalo Soldiers
Invisible Men: Buffalo Soldiers of the Sierra Nevada
The 28th Cavalry: The U.S. Army’s Last Horse Cavalry Regiment
Buffalo Soldiers at San Juan Hill - US Army History
THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY - US Army History
TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY - US Army History
Legends of Kansas
Utah Forts of the Old West (NEW)

Handwriting tools

Deciphering Old Handwriting - From a genealogy course taught by Sabina J. Murray
Commonly Confused Letters in Old Handwriting and Script
Basic Handwriting Tip: The Long S
Reading Old Handwriting
Image Analyzer (free software)
Irfanview Image Analyzer - you can make notes on this one (NEW)

Other

~~MAP: The Trans-Mississippi West~~
Historical Maps of the US
Fort Huachuca with photos
Ft Huachuca Timeline (post commanders, etc.)
Nationwide veteran gravesite locator - can be helpful to find someone on your image you can't decipher too well
Mary Ann (mabnightowl) put together a GREAT how-to image for keying Buffalo Soldier returns for WAP (link updated 8/15/2010 to new tool)
Various Buffalo Soldiers links, several actually helpful
Map - Indian Territory
Timeline: US Army - African Americans in the US Army (very minimal info, really basic stuff)
General Order #143 - May 27, 1863 (regarding the organization of African American troops)
MAP with names "Western Indian Wars 1860-1890, battles, army posts, and the general location of tribes" (NEW)
MAP: New Mexico Map 1895 (NEW)
MAP: Texas Frontier Forts 1849-1852 (new)
MAP: Texas Frontier Forts 1852-1862 (new)
MAP: Texas After the Civil War (new)

Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Banana Bread!

2010-01-18T17:34:00.001-05:00

Sorry, but the banana phone was out of service!

Everyone knows that the trick to really awesome banana bread is to use those bananas which are all spotty and really just past the point where you want to peel and eat them. It’s hard to time your banana bread craving to the availability of The Perfect Bananas. Either they’re all yellow and perfect for slicing into your cereal bowl, or they’re perfect for cooking and you have No Time. So…..here’s a little trick.

Toss the bananas into the freezer overnight. (Also great for keeping bananas in that banana-bread-perfect state, once they’re all spotty, toss them in the freezer. They’ll turn black and look unappetizing, but trust me, they’ll work perfectly!)

Sooooooo, that’s your tip, don’t spend it all in one place.

You will need:

¼ pound (yes, pound) of butter (yes, butter) @room temp
½ cup raw sugar (it has more flavor, dagnabbit)
1 ¼ cup self-rising (unbleached) flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
3 or 4 bananas
¾ cup of sour cream (oh yeah…)
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
3 shakes of ground ginger
1 shake of nutmeg

Start with the butter and sugar. If you’ve got the butter to about room temperature, it will cream with the sugar more easily. If it isn’t quite as soft as you want, DON’T MELT IT!

Just cut it into thin slices, and you’ll be able to blend it with the sugar to a creamy, slightly chunky mixture.

Once you’ve got that all creamed, add allllllll the other ingredients and fold them all together. If you’ve used formerly frozen bananas, you won’t need to mash them first.

If you haven’t (you naughty cook, you), then you probably want to mash them a bit before mixing them in.

Butter and flour a loaf pan and pour all the gooey, banana-y goodness in.

Now if you’re like me and forgot to preheat the oven, this is a perfect time to turn your oven to 350 degrees(f) and wash out the mixing bowls and implements of cooking. Because hardened banana bread batter is a %#@% to get out!

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour- I set the timer for 45 minutes and do the toothpick test. This is a pretty dense bread, so I actually let it cook for about 8 minutes after it passed the toothpick test.

This banana bread is great on its own, or slathered with butter, with a dab of whipped cream, or if you are so inclined, a serving of French vanilla bean icecream.

Potato Soup (better for what ails you than chicken soup, srlsy)

2010-01-10T12:27:00.003-05:00

Okay so I realize now that sharing my recipes may be a bit of a silly idea, because I hardly ever measure. So, if I’m sharing a recipe for anything that requires actual measurements, I’ll be sure to let you know. For everything else, it’s really just an estimate, and based entirely on taste. If you don’t like bacon, don’t add bacon (But really, who doesn’t like bacon??)

In preparation for the cooking of the soup, I browsed my old friend Google and read through several recipes, but I didn’t really follow any of them, so no links back today, mmkay?

Here’s what I did, it worked for me:

3 to 4 Lbs of small white and red potatoes, diced (this was really more like 4-5 smallish potatoes of each kind)
1 small onion, minced small
1 TBSP chicken bouillon powder (you could use stock, if you’d like, I suppose)
1 tsp homemade curry powder* or Madras Curry Powder
Enough water to cover the potatoes and then a little more

Bring the above ingredients to a nice rollicking boil and cook until just past al dente. Drain and set aside (I put them in a large mixing bowl and just used the same pot for the next step).

Ham or bacon (thick cut), diced (I used ham, I think it was about 1 ½ - 2 cups after chopping)
Green Onions, chopped (ohhh, I didn't measure, enough to wrap my hand around the stalks I guess)
1/2 stick butter (real butter, really)
A little more curry powder
1 TBSP Tarragon
sprinkle of nutmeg (yep, really)

Sauté until onions are wilty and bacon or ham is well, close to crispy.

Once you’ve got your Onion/Butter/Bacon mix to its wilty-crispy perfection, then add;

The cooked potatoes
1 cup water
1 TBSP chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

Bring up to slow boil then reduce to simmer.

I cooked mine for a few hours, but it probably would have been ready to eat in about 45 minutes.

Top with cheese of some cheddary variety and serve with cheesy-toast!

I’ve got to say this is my favorite new recipe, and I’m going to make it again, it was de-LISH-us. Srsly.

*Homemade curry powered – I cannot tell you how to make this, as my friend Ira made it for me. She was kind enough to label the containers, so I could tell you what’s *in* it, but she’d probably kill me. And then I wouldn’t be able to make more potato soup, so you can see my dilemma, right?

my cats

2010-01-09T11:22:00.004-05:00

my cats

     do not make a distinction

         between weekdays when the alarm

               goes off

and Weekend

         when

              it does not

they cuddle up

     and

          Purrrrrrrr

              contently on

my bladder

*sigh*

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-06T21:14:00.002-05:00

I really don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. They always seem to be about depriving yourself, or making yourself different. How often have you seen anyone resolve to Like Myself The Way I Am, or Stop Trying To Make My Spouse Into Something They Are Not? No, people resolve to make up for perceived deficiencies. I’ll Read More Books, Go To The Gym, Lose 20 Pounds, Donate More To Charity, Volunteer More, Balance My Checkbook More Regularly, Quit Smoking, Stop Drinking, Make More Money, Meet Mr/Ms Right And Not Screw It Up This Time. Bah-humbug.

A study on teh intertubes ( probably not terribly scientific http://www.quirkology.com/UK/Experiment_resolution.shtml) , showed that typically 52% of people who make resolutions feel optimistic about their success in attaining the goals of their New Year’s Resolutions, really only about 12% actually end up succeeding. Now I’ll admit that I would buy a $1 lottery ticket with worse odds than that, but New Year’s Resolutions just seem like setting yourself up for failure on something you really care about. If you want to make a change in your life, make a change, but don’t tie it all up in one big giant all-or-nothing last chance.

All that being said…..this year I’ve got a New Year’s Resolution.

Someone I follow on Twitter who shall remain nameless (@Uncucumbered) had a really great resolution last year– to try a new barbeque sauce every month. Now how cool is that? There’s not even really any pressure, I mean if you fail it just means you don’t get to enjoy barbeque that month!

So, this year, my New Year’s Resolution is (drum roll, please) every month I will add some new dish to my cooking repertoire, whether it be a new recipe I find, or something new I just make up. I’m not saying any of these will be culinary masterpieces, but that’s not really what’s important here, at least not in my mind. And since it’s my resolution, off we go!

Here are the rules:

1. Every month I’ll cook something I haven’t made before, or
2. Cook something I have made before but in a totally different way
3. There are no roll-over recipes, so if I try 2 in one month, that doesn’t get me off the hook for the next month.

I’ve already done 2 new things in January, and I look forward to sharing them!

Snapshots and Memories

2009-12-21T20:31:00.002-05:00

My dad passed away on December 17, 2009. I’m 43 years old, and we had been estranged for almost all of those years, with brief and infrequent interludes of acquaintance.

I’d actually been wondering for years if he was still alive. The last time I saw him was about 10 years ago (maybe even more), when his daughter Jessica, from his second wife Sherry, dragged him on a road trip so she could meet her brother and sister from his previous marriage. I think we tried to make peace with each other, but we were strangers, and broad stretches of awkwardness were filled only briefly by shared memories…. I think we all wanted more, but we just weren’t sure how to make it happen. How do you wash away that awkwardness? We tried scotch, but it really didn’t work all that well. I still feel guilty about that, since my father was an alcoholic (something he admitted, so I’m not really sharing secrets out of school here).

I think I started this post wanting to lecture people about holding on, about not letting things, or people get away from them. It’s too late now; I can never have that relationship with my father. But we’re all adults now. We make choices and we live with the consequences, whether they be regret or relief. There are large chunks of my father’s life of which I know nothing at all. I don’t know the man that Jessica and Elizabeth knew, we aren’t really grieving the same father. I forgave him a long time ago for being gone, I know it wasn’t just him, it was them. Neither of them could make it work. But it remains a fact that I have very little to remember my father by.

But these are my memories, and I hold them dear, and I cherish them.

I remember us driving around the world (okay, it was really just the Southeast) when I was a little kid in our big old tricked out bus. The bus was tricked out like an RV, with bunk beds, a kitchen and even a working bathroom. We stopped at a spring for some spring water, I think it was really early in the morning because Dad woke us up to look out the window at two little bear-cubs playing in the woods near the spring.

I remember Dad laughing, because I turned my sandwich upside down to eat it, just like Mom did. I remember him getting very mad and threatening to spank us because Michael and I were running around while he was working on the bus and almost tipped over the bus battery. And I remember him feeling bad about it, and explaining how dangerous it was to play there, and that he was afraid we’d get hurt. I remember him cooking cabbage soup, which I refused to try because it smelled so bad.

I remember a Christmas; I couldn’t have been more than 3….maybe 4. I remember Mom waking us up and Dad was drinking coffee, and we came into the living room and the tree was so huge, and so fat, and so sparkling with lights and shininess. It was a shimmering tower of golden fairy lights surrounded by a lake of presents. I don’t even remember what the presents were, but of all the Christmases, that’s the one that really means Christmas to me. In that same apartment I remember that Mom had this lovely old rocking chair with woven rattan in the seat, and that I watched Dad re-weaving the seat for her.

I remember when we lived with him for several months at Toad Hall and he had to come home from work to take me to the hospital because I’d stepped on a rusty nail. I remember going to work with him one day, and finding a possum out in a ditch. I remember him coming home drunk one night, and I didn’t understand, I thought he was sick. I suggested he drink some water so he would feel better. He looked sad when he said he didn’t think water would make him feel better. I remember him building a rocking horse without using any nails at all. He used straw for the tail and the mane.

I remember when we lived on Lischey Avenue and he came to visit. He brought Michael a remote controlled airplane and we played with it out in the field. I think he brought me a camera and a watch. I was really sad when I lost that watch. That was the visit when he said he wanted us to come live with him. I packed my stuff in a pillow case and was ready to go, but Mom wouldn’t let me. I think I was 10 that year.

I remember when we lived in that big old Victorian house near Centennial Park and he came for a visit and put new breaks on my bike. I think that might have been the year Mom and Dad officially got divorced.

I remember when we got a letter from him with pictures of him, Sherry, Jessica and Elizabeth.

And I remember the visit with him and Jessica. I remember that we all cooked dinner together, that we laughed, and he told me that yes, despite my mother’s insistence that it did not happen, I actually rode a giant tortoise at the zoo when I was a very (very) small child.

I remember crying with him on the phone when Grandpa died. And we promised each other we’d be better at keeping in touch.

Every now and then we’d write each other, or call. But what do you say? What do you say when you’re so far apart in both space and time? When you feel conversation with an absolute and total stranger might be less awkward because at least there are no expectations on either side. What do you say…?

My advice, and yeah, I can preach a little, I think I’m allowed to right now….my advice…say anything, but just say it. And when the phone rings…..answer it, and say ‘hello, I’m glad to hear your voice’.

Every life, and the passing thereof, deserves a remembrance. I know that Jessica and Elizabeth have other memories, and I hope they share them, because I would really like to hear them. It would make me feel better about everything to think that my father achieved some measure of happiness or joy in life. And I sincerely hope that none of this makes anyone feel bad, I really only wrote this for a little bit of healing for myself.

If anyone has any memories of my father, I sure would love to hear them.

Jim Custer

July 22, 1943 - December 17, 2009

Rest In Peace, Daddy

How My SmoothiePro 600 ™ Saved Christmas

2009-12-06T13:43:00.017-05:00

You know the drill; it’s the same every year. You finally get the tree wrestled into submission and mostly straight, and it’s time to start on the lights. Dig out the box from the back of the closet. Put all the stuff that was covering the Christmas box back into the closet. Wrangle the box to the tree. Return to the closet to remove the cat. Dig the other cat out of the Christmas box. Dig the lights out of the box and start untangling them. Remove the cat toy from the Christmas lights. Remove the cat from the Christmas lights.

Plug in the lights to make sure they work. Swear and stomp around looking for the replacement bulbs that you’ve been saving “in a safe place” for the past three years because you knew you’d need them eventually. Replace the bulb, lights are all plugged in and strewn across the floor, blinking merrily, and now you’re ready to start trimming.

Look at the tree.

Look at the lights strewn across the floor.

Look back at the 9 foot tree.

Look at the lights strewn across the floor, taunting you with their Christmas cheer as you flash back to last year when you almost cancelled Christmas after fighting with the tree and everyone in the house while trying to get those damned lights on.

*sigh*

Okay, I need a tool, right? There has to be something, somewhere. I start rifling through the kitchen drawers.

“What are you looking for?” queries Dave.

“I don’t know!”

“Well,” the ever helpful Dave continues, “what do you need it to do?”

“Make world peace, dammit!” yes, I get testy when frustrated.

“AHA!” I return triumphantly from the kitchen.

“Um, what are you going to do with that??”

Okay I’ll be honest, this looks a little, well, phallic to me, but it’s really just the plunger for the smoothie maker.

Wrap the lights (plug end first) around the plunger and then it’s a simple walk around the tree!

Yeah, yeah, I know there are probably tools you can buy to do this, or even better tools people have laying around the house, but it works.

The tree is all decked out in lights, and the cats weren’t even tempted to help. They mostly just supervised.

(I should point out that Dave and I have a deal. He puts up the tree, I string the lights, we put the ornaments on it together. I do not want help (!!) with stringing the lights! It makes me grumpy lol.)

Someone's Grandma's Recipe, redux - Pancakes from Scratch

2009-11-14T18:21:00.000-05:00

It’s really all Cheyenne’s fault, she was bragging about having pancakes one day and I started to crave them. I do feel compelled to note that Cheyenne is allowed to brag; she is a talented, smart, funny, beautiful, graceful and engaging young woman striking out on her own and she can brag about anything she wants. That being said, I was jealous that she had pancakes and I didn’t!

Now, I’ve always been proud of the fact that growing up, my mom really didn’t feed us pre-packaged anything. Food was made from scratch with fresh ingredients. I don’t remember how it came to be that I use pre-packaged foods, but I suspect it happened gradually, over time (like most bad habits form). Lately we’ve been trying to get away from the prepackaged food (I mean really, do you have any idea what is in that stuff??), but I don’t think I’ve ever made pancakes from scratch before.

Normally I use Bisquick, it’s easy, fast, and tastes fine. Unfortunately, I was out of Bisquick, and I kept forgetting to buy it. Not having any idea what went into a pancake batter if it didn’t come from a box, I consulted my good friend, Google, where I came across this little gem:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/Detail.aspx

A quick check of the cupboards revealed that I did indeed have all the ingredients required to make pancakes from scratch, so my adventure began! Because I have a hard time taking orders, you just know I had to change the recipe a little….

First I assembled my wet team, and set them out to achieve room temperature (it’s a really important step, don’t skip it!)

The wet team consists of:
1 ½ cup milk (increased from recipe by ¼ cup, because the batter seemed pretty stiff)
1 Egg (jumbo)
3 Tablespoons butter, melted (yeah, I mean butter, like real butter!)
½ teaspoon REAL vanilla extract (an addition from the recipe, next time I might try almond extract)

While the wet team was getting all cozy and room temperature, I measured out and mixed the dry team:

1 ½ cups flour
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt (reduced from recipe by ½)
1 Tablespoon Raw Sugar (recipe calls for white, I like the flavor of raw better)
2 shakes of ground nutmeg
2 shakes of allspice
(these last 2 were not called for in the recipe I found, but I’m a rebel, so I added them anyway)

After I assembled the dry team by putting them all in a large glass mixing bowl and mixing them together, I realized by wet team was still a little chilly. While waiting for them to warm up, I got bored, and I always get into trouble when I’m bored. In the freezer I found some frozen blueberries and though, “hrmmmm, blueberry syrup!”.

So, my Blue Team consisted of:

2 cups frozen blueberries
½ Cup of water
2 Tablespoons of honey
½ cap (perhaps a half teaspoon??) of the vanilla
4 shakes of ginger
1 tablespoon of cornstarch (melted in cold water)
About 2 tablespoons of raw sugar

Toss the blueberries in a saucepan and set to low-medium heat. Add the water, honey, vanilla and ginger. Once the berries begin to bubble a little (low simmer), you need to dissolve the cornstarch in a few tablespoons of cold water (just from the tap). I use my finger to mix it, because then I can tell all the lumps are completely gone. Weird (mostly unpleasant things) happen when you mix un-dissolved cornstarch into a hot mixture. This is the voice of experience, people, ignore at your peril.

Anywho, stir the dissolved cornstarch into the berries and crank up the heat a bit until you get a nice little low boil going. You really only need for this to be at a low boil/strong simmer for a few minutes (a few, like 2), then you can shut off the heat and let it cool.

By now, your wet team has warmed up and is ready to come to the party (yes, I do watch too much Alton Brown, why do you ask??). So, make a little well in the center of dry ingredient mixture.

Add in the melted butter, milk and the egg (already beaten), then blend in until it is, well…. all wet. If you stir it too much the flour will glutenize and your pancakes will be a bit rubbery, so leave it a little lumpy. The reason I use a glass mixing bowl for this is because I can check the bottom of the bowl visually to make sure there are no large areas of unmixed flour.

You're now ready to commence cooking. I use a butter substitute for cooking pancakes. Butter burns too easily and cooking spray just don’t work as well for pancakes. I used my ½ cup measuring cup and only poured about ¼ cup (perhaps a little more) for each pancake, and came out with a baker’s dozen.

Dave has declared this pancake recipe “great!”, but wishes the blueberry syrup had been a little sweeter (it wasn’t very sweet, but I kind of liked that about it!). I recommend turning on your favorite radio station and doing a little dancing and singing while you cook. I'm convinced it makes the food taste better.