Yard work and sustenance

Part of living in an old house is that there is always something that needs doing. Same goes for having a yard. And if there isn't something that needs doing, there's usually something that you want to do to. Since getting outside is good for my soul, I took on another yard project this week - installing a border around the umbrella stand. Walter wanted this border because it will make mowing the yard easier by reducing corners. I have a vision of filling it with rocks and pots of succulents to add something interesting. It's also good practice for the project I want to take on in the front yard. But that's a story for another day. 

This particular project involved pulling up some grass, installing a metal border in an arc, and laying down some anti-growth cloth before filling it in. We didn't have rocks, so I filled it in with mulch that we had leftover from a previous project, and I think it looks pretty good. It took me about 90 minutes, and I'm not quite done. I am going to go back outside today and pound the border down a bit further with a sledgehammer. 

After that work out in the sun, and yes I was slathered in sunscreen, I was a bit tired in the evening. So Walter made dinner! He put together an Italian tomato sauce, sauteed some chicken meatballs we had in the fridge, and boiled some pasta.  He put them all together to flavor each other, and dinner was served! We also grated some cheese on the top, as a finishing touch. My contribution was garlic cheese bread. I mixed some butter, olive oil, peccorino romano cheese, and chile flakes together, spread it on bread, and broiled it until it got bubbly. 

I'm off to study a few things, some job hunt related, some yard project related. Have a safe, healthy, and sunshine filled day!

Muffins of a different sort

I find my food inspiration from all sorts of different places and cultures. Before I culled my cookbooks, there were multiple cookbooks from all different perspectives - Indian food, Paleo, old fashioned, Thai, Vietnamese, and the list could go on forever. When we jumped on the Marie Kondo bandwagon, I took a look at my cookbooks and only kept the ones that gave me joy. Whether that joy came from looking at them, or from using them, it didn't matter. I have one book that I have never cooked from, but I love reading the stories and looking at the recipes. I have others that have food on the pages because we cook from them so often and they're always in the middle of the action where we're mixing and cooking. Two of those cookbooks, and website, is Well Fed 2 and Well Fed Weeknights. They're paleo, and practical, and take a similar attitude to my own on cooking - let's start with a base and jump off from there. Melissa Joulwan (@meljoulwan), the author, has an abbreviation for that process, "You know how you could do that / YKHYCDT." She gives variations on the recipe, usually on the same page.

Cooked and ready to go

One of the recipes that we cook from her templates is spinach muffins. These are muffins made with spinach, eggs, seasonings, and ground meat. I've used tons of different mixes - Italian sausage and added in sundried tomatoes. Ground lamb with Mediterranean spices. Chorizo and diced chiles. The possibilities are endless. Anyway, the last time I went to Western Daughters (@westerndaughters), our local meat market that sources from local farmers and ranchers, I saw a bright pink sausage in the case labeled "Wellness Sausage." I found that funny because I don't associate sausage of any kind with wellness, so I asked what was in it. Turns out it's made from pork, and the wellness part is roasted garlic and beets. I bought it, and it went into the muffins I made today. It was a little weird to see the sausage when it had cooked - it was still hot pink! But it tasted wonderful, full of garlic, bright tasting and actually made me feel healthier just looking at it (hah!).

MUFFINS!

The recipe calls for 3 bags of frozen spinach (http://meljoulwan.com/2008/10/26/eat-your-vegetables-spinach/), but we only had 1.5, and the meat wasn't quite a pound, so the improvisation started. I cut the eggs back to 2, combined the spinach, wellness sausage, salt, pepper, and garlic powder together. Shaped them into little balls, and popped them in the oven. They came out in about 40 minutes, and look pretty good, if I do say so myself. They are a little shaggy because I took them out of the muffin tin before they were completely cooled, and some of them wanted to stay in there. We'll use them as stand alone food, or crumble them up in a pan as a base for a scramble most likely. Any way you slice it, they're a good, quick food to have on hand, or in hand, as the case may be.

Today I'm off to ride my bike - it's 72, sunny, and only slightly breezy here today, which is perfect for getting out and about. I'm grateful that I am able to jump on my bike, and am grateful that I have a home to leave from and come back to. What are you grateful for today? Let me know in the comments if you get a chance. Be well and be safe!

When in doubt, go back to your roots

Growing up, enchiladas were a staple in our house. They were usually for dinner, but did make an appearance for breakfast / brunch on weekends. These enchiladas are flat, not rolled, layering lightly fried corn tortillas with beans, chile, and cheese, and are topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, and if you're really lucky, an over medium fried egg. There were usually saltine crackers with them, to push the bites you cut onto your fork, and as another vehicle for the chile, cheese, egg combo on the plate. For family gatherings or parties, enchilada casserole would appear - giant pans of layers of chile, cheese, tortillas, and either chicken or beef, depending on whether the casserole was made with green or red chile. It's all incredibly delicious, whether fresh from the oven or reheated for another meal later on. This is the height of comfort food for me, and always makes me feel all warm inside.

Two alligator approvals!

Last night was for that comfort food, but with a twist. My husband is a mole lover - he gets excited when he sees one of our favorite Mexican restaurants with it on their menu or as a special. He especially likes the dark moles, full of the flavors of  chiles and chocolate, spooned on top of a rolled chicken or cheese enchilada. So, it's not a surprise that we had a jar of mole in our pantry, and seeing that jar, and knowing that I had a pound of ground bison thawed out in the fridge was the inspiration for dinner last night: Mole enchilada casserole. I fried up a potato with the ground beef, added some spinach, and layered that with the mole sauce, corn tortillas, and grated cheddar cheese. I baked it at 350F until it was bubbling and the house smelled of melted cheese and mole. We let it sit for about 10 minutes to calm down, then scooped it into bowls, and then into our mouths! Together with a nice dark beer, it was heavenly!

I know I've mentioned this before, but it's sometimes hard for me to share recipes that I don't make from a book or website. Not because I don't want to, but because I cook by look, feel, taste and smell. I had a friend ask me to give her my recipe for red and green chile recently. I said I'd be glad to, but she would need to come over and cook with me. She and her husband came and we got to cooking. Her husband is an engineer, so he was not pleased when I couldn't give measurements for the red chile beyond take the stem off, shake the seeds out, and fill the blender. He asked how many, and I said, I don't know, until it's full - depends on how big the pods are. He adapted and both chiles were tasty, although the green one was almost to hot to eat.

Spring is slowly moving into summer here in Denver. When we're not under shelter in place orders, that usually means parties in the backyard full of grilled food. Well, we can still have the grilled food, so don't be surprised if the backyard and Walter start making more appearances in future posts and pictures. However, it won't be tonight - although it's amazingly sunny and warm, the wind is insane so we'll be cooking inside, even if we go outside for other activities. Stay safe, stay grateful, and fill your day with joy!

Breakfast is just the first meal of the day

I'm always confused by the idea that there are certain foods that go with specific times of day. Often in the states, breakfast is full of pancakes, french toast, hashes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. You can also find some regional specialties - in the south, fried chicken and waffles. In the southwest, chilaqueles and red or green chile. In the northwest, salmon appears on menus. And in the northeast, bagels reign supreme. But there always seems to be a notion of what breakfast is, and what it isn't.

Deliciousness!

For me, each meal is the chance to eat whatever I feel like eating. I'm not saying I'm opposed to traditional breakfast foods; I'm just not willing to limit myself to those foods. This morning is a good example of this idea - we made lamb fried rice. When I opened the fridge I saw some leftovers (by the way, tonight is leftovers night...), and also amazing potential meals. There was some rice, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, a couple of lamb chops, chimichurri, some amazing rajas cheese sauce, corn tortillas, and a couple of hamburger patties. And of course, lots of bread from my baking experiment. What my eyes were drawn to were the veggies and rice. So, I cut up some carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms, sauteed them in a bit of bacon fat (which I save and keep in the fridge for all my cooking needs). I cut up one of the lamb chops, trimming off the fat as I cut them. I diced up the fat and added it to the veggies to render and add more flavor. When the veggies were done enough, I added the rice and lamb. Finally, I made up a quick stir fry sauce by mixing some gojuchang, fish sauce, and some sweet soy sauce. Tossed that in at the last minute and added a soft scrambled egg that finished cooking in the heat of the rice. It was a breakfast bursting with veggies and flavor, and it was super satisfying.

One of my favorite breakfast memories is the breakfast my Nana would make me when I was sick. It wasn't often, because I was a really healthy kid, but every so often I would come down with something, maybe run a fever, or generally feel icky so would stay home from school. On those days, I would go to Nana's and crawl into her bed. She would make me soft boiled eggs, take them from the shell, and lightly smash them with salt, pepper, and butter. There would always be toast with them and usually hot tea with milk and sugar. I'd sit up with pillows behind my back, and she would bring in a bed tray. I remember it had a green top, and it fit at the exact right height for me to eat. She'd bring in the breakfast and tea, and I'd have a fantastic breakfast in bed. I might sleep afterwards, I might feel better and get up, it all depended on how I felt afterwards.

I'm off to mow the lawn, then do some computer research. Have a great day, and take care of yourself, whether that means working out, binge watching something on Netflix, or making yourself a comforting meal.

Bread and burgers

Now that some basic supplies are hard to find, we've started ordering things online, like lots of other people. That's led to a lot of great purchases and to some purchases we might never have made otherwise. One of those purchases was a 50 pound bag of bread flour. That's why you see so many bread pictures - not only do I love doing it, I have oh-so-much material to work with. However, finding yeast is hard to do right now, both in the grocery store and online.

A few weeks ago Walter and I were talking about the lack of yeast, which is where the yeast starter I talked about in a few posts came from. What I didn't mention, is that he did a little research and found out that bakeries used to be located next to breweries because they would use the yeast from the beer to make their breads. You see, when you brew beer, you add yeast to the wort, a sweet infusion of ground malt or other grains and water that you make. The yeast eats the sugar in the liquid, multiplies, burps out CO2, and converts the sugar to alcohol. When the sugar is gone, the yeast goes dormant, but is usually still kind of floating around in the beer. To get it to settle out, you "crash" the beer by putting it in the fridge. The yeast settles to the bottom of the container in a kind of sludge (sounds tasty, I know!!). That sludge is sleeping yeast, and it can be woken up by adding a sugar or malt solution to it. You then add that liquid to the flour and salt, and make your bread. Because of that research, we bought some chardonnay yeast thinking that he would make a starter from that as well and I could experiment with it. Yesterday was the day of the experiment!!!

So I made two batches of bread, one with the bread yeast starter and one from the chardonnay yeast starter. I tried to keep the recipes identical with the exception of the yeast, so I measured everything before starting either batch. I started with the bread yeast solution and decided to knead both batches by hand instead of in the mixer because I wanted to really feel the textures. The recipe said to knead for about six minutes, or until it felt smooth. I was listening to music so I kneaded each batch for two songs - nothing like working bread to Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This..." I also know why bakers are always buff in old pictures - my arms and shoulders got a workout.

A few things to note - The chardonnay yeast smelled "winey" which wasn't surprising. There are hundreds of different kinds of yeasts, each one with different fermentation characteristics and flavor profiles so it's not surprising that this one would have a smell like wine. There was also more liquid, and I suspect yeast, in the bread yeast starter than in the chardonnay starter. It did take the chardonnay yeast batch about 30 minutes longer to rise, which could have been because of the type of yeast or because of the volume of yeast present in the liquid.

Regular yeast on right -
 chardonnay on the left

However, both sets of bread came out looking pretty much the same, although the taste is a bit different. The chardonnay yeast has a more interesting flavor. It's not anything I can put a name to, just more interesting. The texture of the two batches is pretty much identical, and they are both super tasty. I had planned to make something like tacos or enchiladas for dinner, but with four loaves of fresh bread, we decided to put the ground beef I had defrosted to a different purpose - burgers!

Please excuse the
dirty counter!

I took the ground beef out of the fridge and added salt, pepper, garlic powder, and tarragon to it, and made 4 patties. Walter cooked up some bacon in the toaster oven so that it stayed flat. I chopped up the roasted peppers from earlier in the day (remember that from yesterday's blog??) with some garlic powder (LOVE GARLIC) and tomatoes to make chile caribe. We assembled the burgers on slices of the fresh bread, and toasted them in the skillet with some butter. To say they were spectacular is really selling them short. A really good burger is a thing of beauty, especially served with some rippled potato chips.

And that's a wrap folks!! I hope you all find joy today in the small things and you find gratitude in all you do.

Visiting our neighbors to the south

This morning is glorious. The sun is shining and warm, the air is cool and just a little breezy, and the birds are singing like they're holding a concert for the world. When I took Zia out for a walk this morning, I started thinking about the two Anaheim peppers and the poblano sitting on my counter. We ordered them last week,  and they were starting to look a little wizened. So I decided to make rajas for breakfast.

I've had rajas several times at Mexican restaurants, usually as an appetizer. In my head, they were poblano strips, cream, and onions, usually served with warm corn tortillas. When I got home and looked them up, they were very different. The recipe I found (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/213710/rajas-poblanas-poblano-strips/) had corn in it, which I liked, and it also had a lot of things I didn't have, like cream cheese and crema. Since I was hell bent on having them, I did a lot of improvisation. I did roast the peppers, but then Walter said he had a morning meeting starting in 45 minutes, so there was no time to let them cool enough to peel them. So I pulled a bag of roasted red chile pods out of our freezer. I sauteed onions until they were soft, then added the corn and sliced red chiles to let them defrost and the flavors to meld together. I also added some garlic powder because who doesn't like garlic with chiles?I then pulled out my creme fraiche, which I figured was close enough to crema, and grated some gruyere cheese to give it that cheesy feeling. Added in some 1/2 and 1/2, and whizzed those three ingredients up in my food processor, and added it to my skillet with the onions, chiles, and corn. Finally, I cut some corn tortillas into strips and fried them, and scrambled some eggs because it is breakfast. I think it came out really good, but there were too many onions in it for Mr. Gude. He ate most of it, but shoved the onions around in the bowl so he could get at the good stuff.

There was quite a bit of the rajas left over, so I whizzed it up in the food processor and am going to use it as a sauce on some tacos or baked enchiladas tonight. It's a Mexican food kind of day I guess.

For a little sunshine in your day, here's a super cute picture of Zia. She was looking out of the doggy window Walter put in our fence. Our yard is about 3 feet above the sidewalk, and the window is about a foot above that, so she is right about head height if you're on the other side. It's really funny to see and hear people's reaction when she is looking them straight in the eyes as they walk by.

All for today - I'm off to plan the next meal, and take on the rest of my day!

Be well and take care of each other.

Life is more exciting with dessert!

While I've been focusing on the lovely dinners and breads I've been making, I haven't been talking about the best part of dinner - Dessert! I firmly believe that one of the best parts of being an adult is being able to decide to have whatever you want as a meal, and sometimes that means being able to have dessert, just dessert, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It seems to be ok to do this for breakfast, with pancakes and french toast on every breakfast menu ever. It seems less common for lunch or dinner. In fact, it seems that dessert is usually part of dinner menus only, which I think is unfair. Dessert fits into every meal, and sometimes should be the meal. We haven't done that often, but we have done it on occasion while in quarantine, and if I'm honest, even when we're not. One of my favorite things to make is cookies. I do find it difficult to understand just how to get all of  the cookies each recipe promises from each batch. I read a recipe for chocolate chip cookies the other day that said it makes 50 cookies! Sure, if they're the size of a quarter. I prefer my cookies worthy of eating, which means they're likely closer to the size of a small saucer. I understand that preference is partly why I'm chubby as well.

One of my favorite things to make is chocolate chip cookies. They're easy, familiar, and oh so good when they come out of the oven. The chips are all gooey, the cookie itself is both crunch and squishy. Not a lot better than that. So, I've been making chocolate chip cookies while we're home. Sometimes the chips are wrapped up in a peanut butter dough, sometimes just a plain one. But one thing is sure - there's usually way more chips in there than the recipe calls for because I believe that the dough is only there to hold the chips together. If it's a plain chocolate chip cookie, there's usually nuts added in as well. I prefer walnuts because their slight bitterness offsets the sweet of the cookie perfectly. Here's my latest batch - as you can see, the chips are almost bursting from the batter, just as it should be.

My cookies usually turn out of all sizes, which means some are more chewy, some more crunchy due to the cooking time being the same. However, I've discovered a perfect way to get big cookies that are pretty uniform in size - a batter scoop. I know this may be old hat for some of you, but it's kind of a revelation for me. I've been using the 1/4 cup size, partly because I like big cookies, but partly because I put so many chips in there, smaller scoops just can't seem to hold all that goodness in!

I hope this little sweet note made your day a little sweeter as well. And I hope that wherever you are, you are safe, warm, and happy!

Some days are easy, some days are hard

Today has been harder than usual getting to my blog. It's one of those days where everything is moving much more slowly than expected, and I'm taking it easier than I usually do. So, let's keep this short and sweet!

Chicken Korma

Last night's dinner actually started on Wednesday. I made Chicken Korma, a northern India dish that has yogurt, coconut, and a slew of spices in it. It starts with mixing garlic, plain yogurt and turmeric together, and marinating the meat in it over night. I used chicken thighs because that's what we had in the freezer. Next up, you cook an onion with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, coriander seeds, cumin and chile powder in some oil or ghee, and add chicken and dried coconut in when the onions are soft. simmer for about 45 and out comes amazingly tender chicken in a fragrant sauce. We made up some saffron rice to go with it, and dinner was  ready to go! I got this recipe from the Complete Indian Cooking cookbook by hamlyn. I tried to find the recipe online, but all I could find was links to buy the book, which I decided not to put in this post.

MMMM, bread!

Earlier in the day, I also made a loaf of bread. I've been trying lots of different recipes, and I think I finally found one that I'm going to focus on until I've got it down by heart. It's from Jamie Oliver (https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/easy-homemade-bread/), and has basically 4 ingredients - flour, water, yeast, and salt. I used the yeast solution from the yeast starter Walter made me, and baked away. I think it came out pretty good, although it seemed to be done before the very middle was completely cooked. It's not raw, just squishy instead of firm. When I looked up the online version of the recipe, I noticed that the temperature had been lowered, and the baking time was a bit longer. Interestingly, that was what I was thinking I'd do next time - lower the temp and leave it in longer to give it a chance to cook through before the crust burned. So, there you are - sometimes instincts are just as good as instruction!

My fabulous yeast starter

That's all for now. I'll see you on Monday, when we'll start another week. In the meantime, be safe, be well, and take care of yourselves and others.

Hey Brain, what do you want to do tonight?

Same thing we do every night Pinky. Try to take over the world!! - This line from one of my favorite cartoons seems really appropriate right now (For those of you interested, here's the opening clip to the cartoon -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBkT19uH2RQ). My days seem less separated by free time and work time, and more separated by the specific tasks I'm going to accomplish each day. While all of the days seem to blur together, each separate day seems to have it's own rhythm. Today the day started with snow blowing and shoveling, followed by breakfast, moved into Spanish lessons ( Duolingo is a great program if you're trying to learn a new language), and then into bread making. I know that I can still buy bread at the store, but I find something really grounding about making my own. Mostly I like the kneading and waiting for it to rise. For me, it is so satisfying to create the food that is going to nourish my body and my soul.

Back to the every day blending into the others - It was leftovers clean out last night again. The last leftovers night was totally different because our meals were totally different last week. This week, we are finishing up our delivery of produce, had some pita bread, as well as a few slices of pepperoni, and some bolognese that our neighbors shared with us. So guess, what? Pita Pizzas!!! We made three different kinds, with toppings that ranged from cherry tomato, to radicchio, to poblano peppers. Into the oven until the cheese melted and the pita got crunchy. They were really tasty and warm on a chilly night.

Tulips in the Snow

Speaking of chilly nights, we woke up to about 5 inches of snow, and as I am typing this now, it's still snowing. This would have been a perfect day to stay in bed late, but that snow isn't going to clear itself. Nor is laundry going to wash itself, so I'm off to continue my day. Benjamin Franklin said "the only certain things in life are death and taxes." I'd like to add a couple more - laundry and dishes. I guess since he had someone doing those things for him, they didn't count...

Until next time, be well, be safe, be healthy, and tell someone you love  them today!

Sometimes you just gotta sleep in

And Monday was that day for me. It was snowing  and cloudy, and it was also Walter's turn to walk the dog. So I stayed in bed while he walked the dog. When they got back, Zia and Magic (one of our cats) jumped on the bed with me. And I stayed a little longer. When I finally got up, it was 10:00 am!

Which means I didn't get a jump on the day. But I did get a jump on making a delicious meal! I've been doing a lot of talking about my baking, and baking takes yeast, and yeast is getting harder to find in the stores, so what's the deal? Well, I bought quite a bit of yeast before the stay in place order, when I was planning bakes because I wasn't working. And Walter's also been helpful as a brew master. You see, he often cultures yeast when he is going to make beer, so knows how to grow it in a bottle before putting it in the beer. So, he's got a yeast starter going for me, in a flask, so that I have a renewable supply sitting on my counter.  What did I make with that yeast? Pita bread! Using a recipe I found on Delish (https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a28143766/homemade-pita-bread/), I made some tasty pita to go with our main dish, Greek-ish stuffed peppers.

The peppers were stuffed with a mixture of sauteed onions, the diced up tops of the peppers, some ground beef, and some brown rice. I seasoned it with mint and lemon zest, mixed it all together, and baked them at 375 for about 45 minutes. I served them with the pita, and some tzatziki sauce that I made earlier - grate a cucumber and squeeze the water out of it. Mix it into some Greek yogurt, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and mint. I like to let mine sit for a few hours to let the flavors really meld together.

What went well: The pita was soft and pillowy, just like I like it. And the peppers were still firm, which I like.

What could have gone better: There were no pockets in my pita, and I'm not sure why. I'll need to try it again and see if I get different results. And the meat in the center of the largest pepper wasn't cooked all the way through, so I'll have to either adjust the timing, or try to find peppers that are all closer to the same size.

Yesterday I had a virtual happy hour with my sisters, my brother in law, and a friend of ours. It was amazing. We all got a bit dressed up, like we were going out, had drinks, and laughs. Alicia even made appetizers, which made me wish I was there with her even more than usual. We had a kind of junk food dinner - tater tots with bolognese sauce and chocolate chip cookies. And it was really delicious, and as filling to my tummy as the happy hour was to my heart.

Until next time, be safe, be healthy, and be happy!

Getting a little too comfortable with spring

Well, my last post sang out praise for the good weather we were having. And just like that, the weather changed on me! Starting on Saturday night, we have been getting snow. Not a lot of snow, just enough to remind us that spring's not here yet! 

I had another first on Saturday - I made tortillas for the first time. As another little trip down memory lane, I can remember my Nana, Grandma, and Mom all making tortillas. Each woman made them differently. My Mom's were thin, soft and pliable, perfect for scooping up food in an edible spoon. My Grandma's were thick, and not really pliable. The were better for pushing things up onto the spoon or fork. My Nana's were somewhere in between. Up until my Nana and Grandma died, they made tortillas regularly, so they were almost always in the house. I found a few recipes online, and they all used the same base ingredients: water, flour, salt, baking powder and lard. The only thing that varied was the amount of each one. I mixed a few up, and made my dough. A couple of things you'll notice, and a few that I noticed: 

First, all of my balls were not the same size, so my tortillas were really different sizes. I've gotta work on that a bit more. Second, there wasn't enough fat in this batch - by day 2 they were pretty brittle so I'll add more next time. Finally, my skill at rolling them out got better as I worked through the 11 balls. The tortilla on the right was the first one, and the one on the left is the last one I rolled. They're not round yet either, but that'll come as I practice I think.

It was also Easter yesterday. One thing I loved in my childhood was making and playing with "confetti eggs," or cascarones in Spanish. When I was little, I remember having scrambled eggs a lot starting some time in February or March, depending on when Easter was. My Nana and Mom would make a small hole in the tip of the raw egg shell, and a pin hole in the other end so that they could blow the egg out of the larger hole. Often the eggs were scrambled because the yolk would burst on the way out. They would rinse the egg shells and set them to dry. When they were dry, they were stored away until it was time to color them. In the meantime, we would also save up the Sunday color comics pages so that we could cut them up for the confetti. Whenever it was time to assemble, we would paint the eggs, and when they were dried, we would fill them with confetti, glue some tissue paper over the hole, and put them back in egg cartons. On Easter, we would burst them over each other's heads, and confetti and egg shells would go everywhere. It was a lot of fun then, and it's still a lot of fun to play, and to watch the kids in our family do the same thing. 

On Easter, I made lamb, twice  baked  potatoes, and a berry cobbler. Unfortunately, the only thing that made the picture is the cobbler. Our resident alligator is guarding the cobbler jealously, but has left the cascarones out for you to see. 

There will be other incarnations of the lamb later this week, because leftovers day is coming... And I made a 7.5 lb leg of lamb. 

Be safe, be well, and remember to reach out to people you want to talk to this week!

Leftovers everywhere

The last couple of days have been days of leftovers. Leftover cleaning up from the pergola removal and umbrella stand creation. Leftover laundry because I wear so few good clothes now that I'm not going out anywhere. Leftover food because the smallest quantity I can cook serves four.

At some point during the week, usually by Wednesday, we have lots of partial containers of things in the fridge. This week we had some shakshuka sauce from the eggs we had on Sunday. And we had some leftovers from meals I didn't talk about, like the curried rice and veggies we had for breakfast on Tuesday. Or the four pieces of fried red snapper from the dinner I made on Sunday night. Or the bits of hashed browns we had from breakfast on Monday. And don't forget the mashed broccoli and potatoes from Tuesday night! We also did our 2-week grocery shopping, so we have a lot of fresh produce and a leg of lamb for Easter Sunday. So, the last couple of nights have been spent cleaning out the leftovers, combined with some fresh produce, or a frozen potato product. Last night was a bowl filled with waffle fries topped with red chile and cheese (did I mention I made red chile last Thursday, and we sill had a little bit?), which did not get the picture treatment.

A  few weeks ago, when winter still felt like it was in firm control of our future, I made a beef braise and a twice baked cauliflower potato mash. I'm starting to see that I really like making variations on a lot of the same meal, with slight tweaks. And I seem to really like twice-baking things. I guess it's because potatoes get better when you cook them that second time. The things you add to them get melded in, and everything seems a little creamier and more delicious. Anyway, for the braise, I bought a small chuck roast, seared it off in the Dutch oven and took it out, sauteed some diced onions, carrots, celery in the fat in the pan, then added tomato paste. Put the meat back in, added a bottle of red wine (!!!), some broth, salt, pepper, and bay leaves, then put it in the oven on 300 for about 4 - 5 hours. I'd check it occasionally - when the meat is super tender, you're good to go. For the mash, I cooked the potatoes and cauliflower, mashed them together and topped them with some rye breadcrumbs I made from the stale end of the loaf. Popped that in the oven for the last 30 minutes of the braise finishing, and voila! Comforting, warm, delicious!

I'm also having a little trouble being in the kitchen the last couple of days because it is absolutely beautiful outside. Spring is busting out all over in my yard and neighborhood, and being outdoors is a real joy. I've been puttering around outside, planning my next project. Wait until you see it!!! Although it's supposed to snow here on Sunday and Monday, I know summer is coming, when we'll turn to cooking outdoors more and the food seems to get easier. For now, here's a look at what's growing in my backyard.

 As always, stay safe and healthy. See you here tomorrow!

Summer looks different this year

I am a complete summer baby. I would rather be hot than cold, and if my skin would let me, I would be tan all summer long. For me, there aren't many things that feel better than the sun on my skin, and the heat of the day. I love the longer days and the way the plants wake up and seem to feel their best! I spend most summer weekends and evenings out doors, soaking it all in, in my back yard, on my bike, or on some random restaurant patio. However, this summer is shaping up very differently for me, just like for you all.

Umbrella!

For me, this summer is an opportunity to spend time outside whenever I want. I don't have work setting the rhythm of my day, so I have been wandering outside when I feel like it. Yesterday, Walter and I finished the umbrella stand in the middle of the afternoon when he had a break in his day. We prepared a couple more bags of concrete, and set some black stones in the base. We are also the proud owners of our first wheelbarrow! The finished product is pretty cool, even if I do say so myself. Maybe this is a new career opportunity... But it's not likely.

Yesterday was also full of cooking. I felt like making more than just dinner, so I went to the internet to look for a recipe for an apple cake. Why? Because we had about 8 apples in the fridge, and I had a craving for  something sweet. I found one that I liked on Pinch of Yum (https://pinchofyum.com/cinnamon-sugar-apple-cake), and got to work. We still had some rosemary from the batch that Melissa gave us, so I added some of that to the cake, and to the topping. I also added a little too much apple, because the two apples that I had were obviously bigger than the ones the recipe called for. It came out really delicious. In fact, even our resident alligators wanted a bite!

For dinner, we decided on pork steaks and mashed potatoes with broccoli mashed with them. Walter took over the pork preparation as he's good at all things meat, whether on the grill or in the house. He put some lemon olive oil and rosemary salt on them, and worked them in the toaster oven. I worked on the potato broccoli combo. I decided to put it all together and bake it to get the flavors really melded. I had a thought as I was doing the prep work - why not show what it looks like to make the stuff we made? Most cook books, blogs, and even this blog don't show all of the steps in all of their messy glory. So, here's what the potato broccoli prep looked like:

The potatoes were already in the pot, boiling away. The broccoli was waiting for it's turn to hop in the pool, and the rest of the ingredients were just waiting their turn.

Fast forward to end of prep and right before the eating. Walter made a gravy out of the pan drippings to go on the pork and potatoes. We also had a bit of baguette to soak up any leftover gravy. Looks like the alligators approve of this part of the meal too!

On a separate note, did any of you see the moon last night? It was one of the most amazing full moons I've ever seen. I walked out on the front porch and looked at her in all her glory. My pictures don't do the view justice, but they do show just how brightly she shined last night. Sometimes in the mornings, I will see the moon in the daytime sky. In fact, the moon is visible in daylight almost every day, if you know where to look and have the right equipment. Which makes me think that no matter where she is, she is shining brightly, but you can see her light best in the dark. I think I'm going to take a lesson from the moon, and shine no matter the day or night, and do my best to be a light when things seem dark. Be well everyone, and see you tomorrow!

When things need doing, get them done

Most of my life, I've not been a big fan of yard work of any kind. Even after we bought our first home together here in Denver, I pretty much stayed out of the yard work. For design consultation, our neighbor Melissa worked with Walter, and took the time to walk around the yard with him, looking at what was growing, which spaces needed to be filled, and in general, talking about the yard. We jokingly call it "walking the perimeter," and I am so grateful for her patience and care in doing this so that Walter had an engaged partner. This spring, along with cooking, I've found I have a lot more time on my hands since I'm currently looking for my next job and things have slowed down. So, I've taken more of an interest in what's happening in our yard, and much more engaged in making it a better place to spend time. 

Umbrella stand

Over the weekend, we took down a pergola that had honeysuckle on it to give a volunteer maple more room to grow. When we did that, we had four 4x4 beams that were in pretty good shape. So, we decided to build a pad for our deck umbrella with them so that we could permanently mount the base there, and get rid of an ugly plastic base filled with sand. Part of making it permanent was to pour concrete. Neither of us had ever done that before. However, I have a memory of watching my Dad and brothers make and use concrete or cement, and so I thought that with a little internet research, I could do it. And I was right! Not only was I able to mix and lay the concrete by myself, I made the umbrella stand perfectly level!!!

BOOM!

Because, Pizza!

After that, a hearty meal was in order. And it was pizza. Melissa also has an incredible green thumb, and shares her bounty with all of us. We found a delivery of fresh rosemary on our porch, and so we added it to Bobby Flay's crust recipe (https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza-dough-recipe-1921714). We topped it with ground lamb, some radicchio and a jalapeno we had in the fridge, and some feta and mozzarella. Popped it in the oven on 400 for about 25 minutes, and voila! So, what did we drink with our pizza? Red wine of course. 

Wash after every wear!

Now that the CDC and Colorado's governor Jared Polis have recommended wearing a mask in public, we've started to do so. Our other neighbor Meghan made us a couple, which we have worn to the grocery store and Costco. In fact, in the spirit of showing support, we've given our front lawn creatures masks of  their own. And Lazy Eyed Susan and Rusty will be wearing them until we can all take them off again!

Lazy Eyed Susan and Rusty

If I had a cooking show...

If I had a cooking show, it would be about how you can take what's in your fridge, regardless of what it is, combine it with a few pantry or fresh items, and come up with something totally new. It might be called something like "What I had last night, and why it's better today," or, "What's in the fridge?" Anyway, I'd leave that to someone more creative with catchy titles.

Which leads me to Saturday morning. We got up a bit late, and were pretty hungry, so as soon as I'd brushed my teeth and washed my face, I wandered down to the fridge and opened it up. And there it was, breakfast cleverly disguised in multiple containers. We had a lamb sausage with roasted peppers, dill, and peas in one container, some hummus, tomato sauce, and feta. I pulled it out with only one thought on my mind: SHAKSHUKA!!

Shakshuka is a dish from the Middle East and North Africa made with tomatoes, roasted peppers,eggs, and spices. Some recipes have meat, some don't. Some are spicy, like chile spicy, some are not. Traditionally it's served with pita or challah bread for breakfast. The first time I had it was for brunch in Chicago at my friend Joncarl's restaurant, Home Bistro. Joncarl is one of the most amazing human beings I've ever met. He is kind, funny, fiercely loyal, and incredibly talented. Walter and I went in for dinner one night, and he was working the front of the house. We didn't know it was a BYOB, but he happened to have an unopened bottle of wine in the back that someone had left the previous night, so he offered it to us. We had a fantastic time with him as our server - we talked and laughed together, and he was a big part of why that meal was so amazing. The next day, he called our home number. Walter happened to be working from home, and answered the phone. Joncarl said that he hoped that we wouldn't mind him calling, but he wanted to tell us how much fun he had with us the night before. Walter promptly gave him my cell phone, because "You have to tell her yourself." So, he called, and we became friends. He has introduced me to many things - Lambrusco, soft-shell crab, artichoke and edam fritters - the list could go on forever. Joncarl is in Philly now and has three restaurants, Noord, The Dutch, and Winkel. It's tough for him right now, like it is for everyone that owns a restaurant. Even through this, his charm and spirit show through. I'm grateful for meeting him, and that he's still part of my life.

Back to Saturday's breakfast - I put some oil in the pan, and added some diced onions. When they had turned translucent,  I added the tomato sauce, the diced up sausage, and the veggies that were with the sauce, and added some Ras al Hanout,which is a Middle Eastern spice blend with pepper,cumin, sumac, and other lovely things. When it had had a chance for the flavors to marry, I added some chopped kale because I had some in the fridge, and I like kale. When that had cooked down, I made  two little wells in the sauce and dropped in a couple of eggs. I turned the heat on low, put the cover on, and let the eggs poach until the white was set but the yolk was still runny. I served it with pita bread, because we had some leftover, a dollop of hummus, and some crumbled feta.

All in all, another successful breakfast. On to the next day, and opportunity to do, make, or eat something new!

Sometimes you gotta order in

We used to go out to eat 2 - 4 times a week. I love going out and having someone take care of me. Since that's not possible right now, we have been ordering in once a week, partly to support our local restaurants that are trying to stay open and partly to give us a break from cooking. Yesterday we both got an email from Edible Beats, a local group of four restaurants that we like. They have started delivering a limited menu that has dishes and cocktails from all four menus, and had one package deal called "The Tiger King Special." I don't know if you've been watching The Tiger King on Netflix, but if you haven't, let me just say that just when I think it can't get crazier, it does. Anyway, the special is 2 sliders, sweet potato fries, and FOUR cocktails. Needless to say, we got that. We also ordered a beet salad and some hummus.

About an hour later, our food came. The delivery guy called when he arrived, set the food on a table on our front porch, and checked my ID through the window on the door. I was going to take a picture but I forgot. It was really delicious - the beet salad had arugula and goat cheese, and had 4 different dressings. Now I know why it's so amazing!! 

I did remember to take a picture of my cocktail in front of the fire. It snowed yesterday, so we ate our dinner in front of the fireplace. There's nothing like a fire for warmth and beauty. I always thought that the heat from a fire was different than from a heater, so I looked it up to see if it was just my perception or if it was real. Turns out it's real - a fire not only puts out heat, it puts out infrared light, which penetrates the skin and makes it warmer. SCIENCE RULES!!! 

I also realized that I've been taking pictures off all the cool stuff that we make, and neglecting to talk about the simple meals that we make at other times. One of the really great things that has come of us being at home together is that we actually spend a lot more time doing things together, like sitting down for breakfast and lunch. Lunch is usually leftovers from what we made the night before. However, breakfast is usually a from scratch meal, but pretty simple.It might  be a hash made from potatoes, veggies, and whatever leftover meat we have. It might be pancakes from a mix with bananas and peanut butter (I love this one, although it's a rare treat). Today it was eggs scrambled with peppers, onions, and kale, topped with half of a small avocado and a drizzle of chile oil. Simple and delicious - warm eggs, creamy avocado, and little hits of spice every once in a while. In the words of my nephew Jose, you don't have to gourmet it every day.

Stay safe, stay warm, be joyful!

Making memories

When I say making memories, I don't just mean creating them. I mean that yesterday I made things from my memory and from stories I've heard from my Mom and my auntie Lorraine. First, from my own. Do you remember a few posts back (A slight detour on the way to India) I talked about my Nana making bread? How it looked and made me feel? Well, we were out of bread yesterday, and so I decided to make some. I opened my Joy of Cooking, and looked up yeast bread. As I was looking, I found a recipe for parker house rolls (https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/parker-house-rolls-360791) which sounded like what I remember. Soft, not crusty. Slightly sweet. So I pulled out my handy Kitchen Aid, and got to work. After making the dough and letting it rise the first time, I started to shape the rolls. I remember my Nana getting a lump of dough and kind of pushing it through her thumb and fore finger, then twisting and pinching until it came apart in a smooth round ball, so I gave it a shot. And it worked. She also put them in the pan so that they would touch when the finished the second rise and bake, so I did the same. She had some large square pans, which I don't have, so I put them in my cast iron skillet and made a circular pattern.

I didn't remember to take pictures of the bread in progress, but I did get some pretty good shots of the finished product.

Although the shape is not what I remember, the look and taste definitely is. In the background of the second picture, you can see the next memory for the day - Donuts!!

I don't remember my Nana making donuts, but I do remember my Mom and my Auntie Lorraine telling me about it. My Nana didn't make them for every day eating; she made them fund raisers, like  when my mom ran for Fiesta Queen (and won), or when my auntie Lorraine ran for Princess. People loved her baking because it was delicious. I think that's because she made things with love, and I believe that makes a difference. So, on to the actual activity.

I don't have the recipe that my Nana used, so I looked up a recipe for a donut that I like to eat - Buttermilk Old Fashioned (https://www.barbarabakes.com/old-fashioned-buttermilk-donuts/). Like I said before, I don't tweak baking recipes so I followed it exactly as it is written.

I rolled out the dough and cut them. You may notice that my donuts are not the perfectly round with hole in the middle confections you buy at Dunkin Donuts. This is because I do not have a donut cutter. I didn't even know there was such a thing until I read the online recipes I read. So, I had to make do.

As you can see, I used an English muffin mold and a shot glass. I don't know what those of you that don't drink would use to get the center hole out. I just know that by dipping the shot glass in flour between each cut, and being careful not to push too hard, I was able to get a hole out of the center of each donut.

Deep frying has it's own rhythm; one that I think is faster than other cooking methods. So, finding my rhythm of rolling, cutting, frying, dipping (into glaze), and moving the donuts off the rack and into a tray was a work in progress. Here's what it looked like, as the process evolved.

The donuts and donut holes in the back have been glazed, while the ones closest to the bottom are fresh out of the oil. They certainly don't look like the picture in the recipe (much smaller and skinnier), nor are they really round. I blame the way they went into the oil, although it could have been the way I put them in the oil.....

I came out with about 2 dozen donuts and holes, including one vaguely misshapen one, which was the end of the dough. I was done cutting so that last one was the remnants. We gave a lot of them to neighbors, wrapped in parchment and foil so that they could wipe down the package if they chose. Walter laid them in the wrapping so that it would look cute - we recreated it on a plate so you can see.

All in all, it was a pretty good batch of donuts. Next time, I'll roll them a bit thicker to see if I can get more heft to them.

Original Poster - ImDB

I'm guessing it's pretty apparent that I think of food as an expression of my love. I think that how you feel about making the meal shows in the taste and how it makes others at your table feel. One of the best expressions of this idea that I've ever seen is  "Like Water for Chocolate," a book, and then a movie that was released in 1992. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It is in Spanish with subtitles, and none of the emotion and connection is lost because of this.

That's all for now - stay safe and warm. Maybe make or break out a treat to share with your family.

When the pit master needs to BBQ

I always knew that Walter liked to grill, but didn't realize just how much until we moved to Denver. When we lived in Chicago, we lived in a condo and didn't have any outdoor space except for a shared roof deck. There was a gas grill on the roof deck and all summer we were up there with our friends, both that lived in the building, and those that we invited in, for time in the sun. Walter was always at the grill, cooking lots of tasty things. 

When we decided to move to Denver, we looked at houses with a yard. Not a lot of yard, but enough for us to have a private space. And we found what we were looking for in our current house. We closed on the house in April 2013, and planned to move in May. Here's where I started to see Walter's obsession with grilling and BBQ start... He ordered a Weber grill that arrived at our house before we did. Within a coupe of months, he had ordered his first pellet smoker. Then came the orders of pellets by the pallet (he did split the pallet with  a couple other people, but there are still a lot of bags in our garage). Then came the conversation about ordering a bigger smoker. And a bigger Weber. 

A few weeks ago he got a new temperature controller for his current smoker, which he installed over the weekend. So, when I went grocery shopping on Monday, he asked me to bring home a big pork roast, maybe a shoulder. So I did. And he smoked it on Tuesday. I'm happy to say that the new controller works really well. So, what did we do for dinner last night? Tacos of course!!! Here's how it went down.

Since he was making the meat, sides were my job. I really only made one - Spanish rice. I did a traditional tomato based rice, with one exception. Instead of using tomato sauce, I subbed in salsa, which added in most seasonings for me. To make it, I cooked a half a small onion in a couple tablespoons of oil. When they were translucent and starting to brown, I added in a cup of rice and let it fry until it was white. Added in a cup of chicken stock and a cup of chunky salsa in,  along with some garlic powder. Stirred it up and put it on low with a cover for 15 minutes, then let it rest for 5 minutes. While it rested, Walter brought out the pork!!!

While he pulled the pork, I toasted some tortillas, mixed up a slaw to go on the top, and grated some cheese. 

One thing that I sometimes do when adding cheese to tacos is to melt the cheese on the tortillas as part of the final warming process. It's kinda nice when its oozy sometimes. Now, to pull it all together!!!

Even though we're all in our homes, that doesn't mean we can't have our own private parties. In the spirit of that thought, I got myself dressed up for the taco fiesta we were going to eat.

Party on people, and we'll see you back here tomorrow!!