That's Salty!!!

preachy post!!!!

i've read from a few semi-reliable sources that the USDA is giving some serious consideration to lowering their recommended daily allowance for sodium.

i'm stoked, if it's actually true, and more so if it actually happens.

currently the allowance is about 2300 milligrams, which is equivalent to a teaspoon. i know, some of you are balking-- ONLY A TEASPOON!?!?! it seems like a small amount. go measure it out and dump it on a plate. it looks like this:

i hope to high heaven that you don't put that much salt on your food throughout the course of a day.

the new amount that they'll be pushing for (per hearsay) is 1500 mg, closer to the recommendations made by other world health organizations.

the problem doesn't lie so much in the salt that you're sprinkling (but don't dismiss your shaker as inconsequential just yet), but in the salt that you don't even know you're consuming from processed products like breads, pastas, sauces, dressings, tv dinners, fast food and a host of other options we've created to help our busy lives seem a bit less frantic. i'm by no means opposed to frozen dinners. we have tons in our house. but i made them all from scratch. and truth be told, i don't have a problem with store bought bread, freezer section mac'n'cheese, a few mcdonald's nuggets or a $5 pizza here and there. as with everything, moderation is key. if all three of your major meals are coming from a vending machine, frozen food section, or restaurant (fast food or not), you're doing some serious injustice to your body, particularly to your heart.

life gets tough. in an economy like this one, sometimes you're too tired from those 2 jobs you're working to come home and make a gourmet meal fresh from the farmer's market you shopped at earlier in the week. so start shopping smarter at your grocery stores.

buy unsalted butter, ALWAYS. chances are that most people already add extra salt to everything, so cutting it out of the butter you use can only help you.

start looking for unsalted frozen and canned veggies.

consider making some of your own dressings, sauces and marinades or look for lower sodium varieties.

experiment with other flavors-- don't downplay the power of black pepper! look at spices used in other cuisines and try for savory instead of salty. nutmeg isn't just for holiday cookies--it can also be used to flavor salad dressings, meats, and marinades! :)

try some substitutes. lemon and lime both lend that great bite to the flavor that we all hope to get from salt. i'm not a proponent of actual salt substitutes like NoSalt or AlsoSalt on the grounds that i don't need more weird chemicals in my body and generally they taste horrible.

here's a recipe for no salt-salt from my husband's barbeque cookbook. we haven't used this recipe yet and it is admittedly more expensive than regular salt, but we're going to be making it soon and using it for all of our grilling/seasoning (not baking) needs!

2 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground celery seed

put all of the ingredients into an airtight, dry container. shake a ton until it's all well combined. it can keep for up to a year!

really, all this comes down to is paying a little closer attention to what you're eating. if you grab a big mac and fries for lunch, make your dinner as salt free as you possibly can. take care of yourself. i want you to be alive as long as possible.

because if you aren't alive, who will i rant to?

Haul Out the Holly!

i want to be the poster child for ann taylor by the time i'm 40. i say that on every shopping trip and closet cleaning expedition. this whole notion began in college with casserole clothes.

i'm hoping to one day copyright that phrase.

when you are older and established as an adult, you get invited to nice holiday parties by friends who have a fireplace, and perhaps a pet, in their cozy, well furnished townhome/home/apartment/loft/etc. everyone is asked to bring a favorite comfort food and a few people always show up with bottles of wine that are worth displaying and cost more than $6 at the local liquor mart.

because it's cold you and your date/partner/husband/fiance/whatever will be wearing military style wool coats casually slipped over a snugly tied scarf and warm leather or suede gloves (there's wiggle room on that one). your partner is wearing an argyle sweater and comfy khakis and you are wearing nice pants/skirt or a dress. and you brought a casserole.

casserole clothes are the kind of things you'd wear to a party that you'd show up to with a nice bottle of wine or a steaming, heavy casserole.

we do not wear casserole clothes quite yet.

what we DO wear are cookie exchange clothes!!! still classy, but not wine and casserole classy.

the cookie exchanges we've attended for the past 2 years have been small-- only a handful of people. that's a by product of moving every 8 months. it's hard to make a lot of friends! but they have also been a blast. this year was no exception.

i made kolaches and my grandmother's soft raisin cookies.

growing up outside of chicago, i was exposed to a fairly significant number of cultures--big cities always have melting pots with a long list of ingredients. because of that, i was also lucky to receive exposure to foods and drinks that would have otherwise been unknown to me.

since our move from illinois in 1999, i have not seen a kolache cookie, which is unfortunate because i loved them the most at cookie exchanges as a child. i hoarded them, let's be honest.

googling them was daunting because i wasn't sure that was their real name and describing them is vague-- a cookie with jelly in the middle.

but land'o'lakes has a recipe right up on their website. i followed, but instead of an egg wash, i sprinkled powdered sugar over top once they cooled.

the first one that i ate took me right back to my childhood, stealing kolaches from everyone's plates and being so disappointed when they were gone within a day of getting to our house.

the second recipe is one i will not share. while the recipe is by no means top secret, passed only to one woman in each generation (i think every woman, blood or nuptially related, in our family has this recipe), i do feel that it was only meant for our family. my grandmother created this recipe herself and it's a classic for everyone on my paternal side, and for quite a few on my maternal side i have recently found out. for many of us, holidays aren't holidays unless we're eating these.

i do love making them for my friends, however. i feel like i'm honoring my grandmother's cooking spirit every time i watch someone marvel at how good and unusual the cookies are. i think she probably gets a kick out of a legacy that came from a simple recipe that was made because my grandfather and most of their kids didn't like the texture of oatmeal.

what kinds of things do you like to do for the holidays, aside from the actual holiday traditions? do you throw or attend any sort of yearly shin-dig? are semi-secret family recipes a part of that?

Living and Learning

lesson learned: when you're about to embark on a 10 day vacation, write some draft blogs before you go so you aren't forced into a giant hiatus from writing when you can't access a single picture of your food or an editing program! ;)

as my son approaches his first birthday, i can say without a doubt that this year has been full of learning curves and growth--not just for him, and not just in height and weight!

year-end nostalgia is ubiquitous, particularly in eventful years (which always seem to be the ones that pass too quickly! isn't that unjust!?). this year i have fallen victim to long periods of laying around and reminiscing, especially about this:

and this:

and who could forget:

this doesn't seem possible. but it is. 12 inches, 15 pounds, mountains of toys, 20 words, hundreds of different foods, thousands of tiny steps, 1 emergency room injury, several colds and 6 clothing sizes and 5 shoe sizes later, we have a toddler! 

we were able to celebrate his first birthday while in chicago, surrounded by family and friends alike. he devoured an awesome cake decorated in honor of the bears (who were giant losers over the weekend) and elmo (who was a giant winner in that same weekend) and got some stellar presents!

more importantly, i had a chance to spend some quality time with the family i was born in to and the family i've chosen throughout my life. it was a beautiful, warm night and i couldn't be more grateful for that addition to my already nostalgic state.

i was asked for a flatbread recipe while in town. here's the one i use:

simple flatbread

1c flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2c hot water

mix everything together and let rest, covered and in a warm spot, for 30 minutes. 

form into whatever shape you need and bake at 350 until golden brown

AAAAAAAAnd We're Back!

sorry i've been out of touch! it's been a busy and wonderful holiday week for us and i wanted to soak up every minute of it because this guy was here:

he helped us make this:

which consequently put me into a food coma! we were privileged to be able to share our day with 3 other soldiers who are either single or separated from their families during school, so leftovers were sparse. my dad and E ended up smoking some fish and pork tenderloin as well! we didn't get pictures of those, we just inhaled them :)

i could go on and on and on about thanksgiving dinner, but instead i'll offer up a leftover idea. it's a little off the wall and pretty inexact. are you ready?

lettuce wraps

lettuce or large leaves (we used turnip leaves from about 8 turnips, so a lot of them!), steamed
a combination of your leftovers--mix together stuffing, corn, a little cranberry sauce and some turkey!

essentially, all you do is lay out the leaf and place a small spoonful of your mix into the very center. in this picture i have a rice and chicken mixture:

fold over one side:

then fold the bottom up:

roll it up:

devour.

if you took a spoonful of your cranberry sauce, 2 tsp mustard, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, and 1/3c olive oil and whisked it all together with a bit of salt and pepper, it would make a delicious dipping sauce.

i can't wait to share more of what's been going on around here! much love!!

Chick. En. Chicken.

i should mention that there was a thai peanut chicken sandwich as well that i couldn't get a picture of as well as 2 bags of chicken in the freezer-- one bag of shredded chicken and one chicken breast :)

buffalo chicken sandwich

lettuce wraps

salad with homemade croutons and sliced jalapenos

whole wheat ravioli

buffalo chicken pizza

and that's just a taste of what you can make with ONE whole chicken. bear in mind there was another sandwich, a leftover breast, and some extra shredded chicken that could have been used to make any one of these things over again, or in chicken pot pie, enchiladas, chicken salad sandwich, soup, or a host of other great dishes!

i can't wait to share some great thanksgiving pictures with everyone!

The Infamous Soft Pretzel

both E and i love soft pretzels. i think our love for them is a bit different-- E is all about the salty, greasy nature of a giant soft pretzel. i am all about a nice, sweet, soft dough and a brown, slightly crunchy crust. for E it's about the taste, for me it's about a great dough cooked perfectly.

i started making soft pretzels for us 2 years ago. it wasn't until recently that i thought to make large batches and freeze them to save myself some work. thankfully the idea DID finally dawn on me--pretzel making is a bit labor intensive.

i've gone through nearly a half a dozen recipes in my quest for a perfect make-it-yourself soft pretzel. the original recipe i used didn't rise enough and the pretzels were more chewy than fluffy. the second recipe somehow made every pretzel look lumpy after its water/baking soda bath (we'll get to the bath in a jiff!). the third recipe was difficult to manipulate, so on and so forth.

and then i found the recipe that finally had every element i was looking for: a nice, soft, fluffy bread, slightly sweet, a crunchy crust, a smooth and uniform dough, great smell and the ability to be reheated without becoming inedible.

we have a bagful of these hanging out in the house and i decided to try using them for things other than snacks. a soft pretzel sandwich was the obvious thing to try, and try i did. E loved it.

then came this:

according to my husband, this was a delicious alternative to the normal bird's nest that i make for him. granted it's not all that innovative or creative. it's simply a different type of bread. but it is certainly a different texture than a normal slice of bread and has a much saltier taste than what i usually use. 

a note about this recipe: you really do need the baking soda bath. without it the pretzels end up being small pretzel shaped loaves of bread. what i mean by that is they don't end up with the characteristic crust of a soft pretzel. just do it! it's worth it :)

soft pretzels

2c milk

2 packages or 1.5 tbsp yeast

1/3c packed brown sugar

4 tbsp (or 1/4c) butter

2 tsp salt

about 5c flour

about 1/4c baking soda

warm the milk in a saucepan, or in a microwave on power level 1 for about 45 seconds

add the yeast to the warm milk, let sit until foamy.

add brown sugar, mix well. add 2c of flour, the salt and butter. mix mix mix

start adding the rest of the flour, 1c at a time until you have a smooth, elastic, sticky but firm ball of dough.

knead for a few minutes. put into a greased bowl and cover, let rise for about an hour or until doubled in sized.

once it's risen, get a pot of water boiling. at least a 2qt pot, ok? ok. 

as your water is coming to a boil, start rolling out palmful size chucks of dough into the pretzel shape. 

once the water is boiling, add the baking soda and IMMEDIATELY put a soft pretzel in, ONE AT A TIME! it will drop to the bottom and about 30 seconds later (or sooner) it will rise back up to the top. take it out and put it on a baking sheet. do this with all of your dough and bake at 400 until golden brown, 15+ minutes

TIPS! continue to roll out pretzels while each pretzel is in the bath. if you have to take a break from putting pretzels into the bath, you need to turn the heat off or the bath will literally create a foam that will ooze over the side of the pot and smell notsogreat. 

if you find the act of rolling out dough exhausting, experiment with other (thin) shapes that require less work.

roll your dough out to just a tad slimmer than the thickness you like your pretzels. they will only rise a little bit in the oven, so what you see is more or less what you're going to get :)

my fondest memories of soft pretzels are in new york. and yes, i have other memories of soft pretzels to hold these memories up to. 

i was there with dear friends both times i went.

and ended up marrying one of those friends a year after sharing street vendor soft pretzels with him.

so here is a bit of nostalgia for me, and for you my friends and husband.

pretzel cart!

k and me '07

k and e at ring weekend!

me and k at the ball

a and me '08

a and me at times square!

Women Be Shoppin!

i mentioned that my husband went to a beer fest over the weekend-- here's a pic!

we also went to the local farmer's market and scored some hot pepper jelly, peach jam, turnips and jalapenos!

that whole bunch of turnips was $3. 

we picked up some large hunk of fatty beef (i think a top round? does that make sense?) and threw it into a crockpot with a few of the turnips, a sliced jalapeno, a sweet potato or two, some onion and a few other spices and voila, meals for a week!

i shredded up some of the beef and added a spoonful of hot pepper jelly to it and my husband will be eating some killer sandwiches all week long :) jp and i are enjoying the veggies. 

i pureed some sweet corn into the turnips because turnips alone are a pretty strong, peppery taste for a little guy like him. he's gobbling the puree down, which makes me happy happy happy and makes him healthy healthy healthy.

the point of this whole post is to encourage you to look into events and markets in your area!! those turnips were $3!!!!!! and they are completely organic. the leaves are edible. if you cook those turnips and add some butter and spices, turn the leaves into a salad and add some sort of meat/less main piece, you have a dinner. that bunch could feed a pretty large family for one meal or a small family for 2-3 meals. 

when E went to the beer fest he met up with some local home brewers that have monthly meetings. he's planning on going next month-- he'll be able to score some great tips from experienced brewers and avoid some of trial and error that a lack of guidance or know-how would bring. 

there's a whole world of amazing food out there. amazing and healthy food. amazing food that maybe isn't healthy but makes you feel good, which is healthy for your mind! go explore your community! change up your routine! go try some crazy beer at a beer tasting festival! buy a random vegetable at crazy low prices at a farmer's market! 

don't be afraid to talk to people, get to know them. everyone has something to offer :) you do too! don't rob other people of yourself :)

Just A Couple 'o Foodies

my husband was deployed to iraq from november 2007 to january 2009. before that he was at west point. before that, home with his folks. point: my husband never had to fend for himself in terms of food. there was always someone around to make it. it might not have been gourmet or even homemade, but the only preparation he put into his meals was to scoop things on to a plate.

his exposure to vegetables was pretty limited to the normal canned goods and the normal preparations. this is not a critique on his family-- my exposure was EXACTLY the same as his when i left home. but thanks to a very good friend (who just so happens to be a blogger as well), her mother (who is quite literally the most incredible home cook i know that isn't practically teaching lessons to friends and family) and an ever rising eyebrow of skepticism at the dietary suggestions the USDA has set out for us compared to other health organizations in the world, i was convinced i should explore the world of vegetables a bit more deeply.

my husband became a victim in my crusade for higher food truths.

canned green beans, limp cafeteria carrots and mashed potatoes from a box are a poor representation of the texture and flavor vegetables have to offer, but that's what most of us get in a convenience store world supported by a double income home. needless to say, E wasn't stoked about the prospect of having more plant on his plate than animal, but his total lack of know-how in the kitchen sort of gave me the upper hand. did he want to eat what i was making? probably not. but he didn't have to make it and that mattered more to him than what was actually going into his mouth.

it was during this phase that E discovered a sort of obsession with mushrooms. he found one acceptable form of potato--baked and doused with wing sauce (anyone noticing the pattern here? he loves wing sauce) and realized that he loves all peppers. every single one. bell, sweet, yellow, red, cayenne, jalapeno, habanero, large, small, raw, sauteed, roasted, you name it.

suddenly a roasted bell pepper stuffed with a rice, goat cheese and mushroom mix sounded delicious.

as i became a more proficient cook his taste buds (and mine) started lighting up in ways neither of us had known were possible.

last year a light bulb finally went off for E--i blame this on all of the summer bbqs we were privileged to attend.

i think we all have fond memories of the smell wafting through the yard as our dad, or someone else's dad (or mom!) flipped hotdogs, burgers, ribs, brisket, chicken, or some other slab of meat all around an open grill. the taste of a true smoked turkey is synonymous with thanksgiving for me. when you're a child grilled food is one of life's happiest wonders. it's so delicious, and yet for some reason we don't grill every day.

grilling must be some sort of magic.

it's certainly daunting when you barely know how to work an oven. but E was confident that he could pick the art up if just given a chance. more than once in his yearnings for a grill i heard him say "it's in our genes: man+meat+fire=good".

when i left my parent's house this summer they unloaded quite a bit of unwanted furniture on us, which we were totally stoked about. we got a dresser, a bookcase, a coffee table, a dining room table and chairs, a rocking chair... a lot of things.

and a stellar grill.

years ago my mom and i picked out a new grill for my dad as a surprise. his old weber was 17 years old and hurting quite a bit. still entirely functional, but the legs were breaking and it was just tired. so we picked out a shiny 5 burner grill with a side stove top, a rotisserie function, a space for wood chips, a griddle plate... it was impressive.

in 3 years he had used it less times than he could count on one hand, and all of the times were when i was home. he has a portable propane grill and a small charcoal weber that work just fine for him and my mom.

so he gave E the grill.

GAVE us an outrageous grill that we wouldn't be able to afford on our own until E had 30 years of paychecks under his belt and all the kids were out of the house. i'm not sure if grateful is an appropriate word for this situation. it's simply not powerful enough.

the best way to show gratitude for a gift like that is to use it. and use it he does.

last week he made this:

bacon wrapped chicken, stuffed with goat cheese

here's the recipe in pictures:

chicken breasts, flattened, cheese in the middle, roll them up

wrap 'em in bacon, use toothpicks to secure

grill them! yummm

don't ask me about time, temperature, or technique. this is not my area. i can bake bread on a grill and make some mean veggies, but meat isn't my area! especially not meat wrapped in meat! :)

after 2 years i think it's safe to say that i am turning my husband into a foodie. maybe not a gourmet vegetable chef, but an incredible griller in his own right. we get a lot of compliments when we have people over and we cook for them, and it's something we really enjoy doing. i think that food is becoming one of the things we're remembered for.

that and E pantsing himself.

we still have a way to go....

Toss Me A Natty Light. Scratch That. Toss Me A Vintage Pinot Grigio.

pizza.

what vision overwhelms you when you think about it? a grease filled, thin-crusted slice folded in half new york style? perhaps an oozy, cheesy, enormous piece of deep dish pie? a cardboard box held up by a miniature three-legged table in the center of a mass produced precisely measured corporate money maker? maybe a true italian flatbread, doused in olive oil and garlic?

maybe you just gag at the thought of all that orange fat seeping onto your plate (or into your arteries).  or perhaps your stomach rumbles when you think of what the gluten could do to your poor body (K, i don't envy your allergies).

maybe you see a cold glass of milk, a giant squirt of ranch dressing, an icy beer.

here's what we saw this week:

tomato, onion and goat cheese pizza; chicken and turkey bacon pizza

using the ciabatta recipe from the book we made what i would consider 3 gourmet pizzas. here's how it all came together:

1. mix part of the ingredients in the ciabatta recipe. let sit for 4 hours 

to ferment. it will look like this when it's ready

2. mix rest of ingredients into fermented batter. 

let sit 2 more hours

roll out pizza dough into desired shape(s). 

let rise for one hour in warm place

top it off

top another while you're at it!

bake

drool

the pizza directly above this line of writing is a buffalo chicken pizza. hands down is is the least nutritious of the pizzas i made-- it was for my husband and most of it was frozen so he'd have some good food to eat when i'm gone next month for a week.

to say that pizza is the least nutritious is saying a lot. the worst part about it is probably the sodium level because of the buffalo wing sauce. but because i made every bit of this from scratch, i can control the rest of the sodium that went in. guess how much salt was added aside from the wing sauce: none.

here's the break down of each pizza's toppings:

tomato, onion and goat cheese*:

olive oil infused with garlic, oregano and thyme

thinly sliced tomatoes

thinly sliced onions sauteed in olive oil with a little white wine

crumbled goat's cheese 

a little parmesan cheese

*vegetarian! 

chicken and turkey bacon:

all of the above ingredients

shredded rotisserie chicken

turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled

buffalo chicken:

all of the TOGC ingredients

shredded chicken tossed in your favorite wing sauce

that's it. now, let's talk cost really quickly. one of your favorite frozen pizzas costs around $5, maybe less if you buy the super cheap small guys or the off brand ones. take out pizza is $5-$20 depending on size, delivery, toppings. 

remember the cost of an entire chicken. you can make all 3 of those pizzas with the meat from one breast. if you make the dough and all you have is pasta sauce and a handful of some random cheese in your cheese drawer, you can make a healthier, larger, much tastier pizza. in fact, you can make 2 or three. if you're in a small family like we are, put all of them into the oven. slightly undercook all but one. freeze the slightly undercooked ones and treat them like you would any frozen pizza when you're ready to eat them.

let me just warn you, if you make the above mentioned pizzas, you will not be eating college frat food. this is not your party pizza. this is food that you want to savor and lose yourself in. this deserves a nice glass of wine and a good movie (or football game in our house), after the kids have gone to bed and nobody is around to threaten to steal a single bite.

the ciabatta recipe is as follows (quick warning, you need to start it 7 hours before you want to put the pizzas in the oven. i know that's a long time. there are lots of quick recipes for pizza dough online-- google it. they're all pretty darn good, but the texture and flavor in this crust made it well worth the planning it required)

paul hollywood's ciabatta bread:

about 4c flour

generous 1 1/2c water

1.5 tbsp or 2 packets yeast

1 tbsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

thoroughly mix together 2c of the flour, 3/4c warm water and all of the yeast. cover and let sit for 4 hours. it will begin to ferment--that means it will puff and become bubbly.

add the last 2c flour, 3/4c water, all of the salt and olive oil. mix until a nice smooth dough forms. cover again, let sit for 2 hours.

take dough out and shape into pizza dough. you may divide it as many times as necessary to get the sizes you're looking for. roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick and transfer to a greased or lined baking sheet(s). it is going to rise, if not on the counter, then in the oven, so this will not give you a thin crust pizza. let the rolled out dough sit while you prepare the toppings.

after about 45 minutes, feel free to preheat your oven to 400 and start topping your pizzas. put the pizzas in and cook for about 25-35 minutes, until golden brown.

cut into slices and enjoy it hot :)

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

this summer was my first time to live in a home with a full, personal, fenced in yard since 2004. for about a year or so i was pining for an herb garden. in mid 2009 i was given a tomato plant that unfortunately died during a short vacation when i thoughtlessly left it in its windowsill home with no extra water. we promptly moved to colorado after that deadly vacation, where we lived in a second story apartment. plenty of sunlight streaming in, but no yard and pretty horrible growing conditions.

when i got to my folk's in june of 2010 i hit a bit of a depression in the first few weeks. i literally dug my way out of it with a tomato plant, some herbs, a bunch of seed packets and a couple of bags of dirt. my parents graciously allowed me to tear up parts of their backyard and spill dirt all over their patio. i loved the constant movement of transplanting seedlings to new homes and bigger plants from pots to ground. i was hooked.

i brought a fairly large number of plants down to florida in the moving truck and found a yard full of sand and a prolific ground covering. we didn't own a shovel at the time so whatever work needed to be done to clear was done with a trowel and lots of ripping. not much was done at first. my tomato plants went through their first flowering and not a single one pollinated. i went out almost a month ago to rip them up and make some decisions about winter plants when i saw another round of blossoms. armed with a paintbrush, i gently self-pollinated every 3 days for nearly 2 weeks. 

it worked. i now have over a dozen nice sized tomatoes growing and ripening.

it also sparked some life back into my hopes of a garden that could help feed my family-- and my soul. peas, beets, and squash went into the ground and some weeding was done. much needed tLc was given to my herbs and smaller potted plants.

and finally the spark lit into a fire. jp and i went out to get a shovel and a bag of dirt. my only real intention was to dig up a bit more ground so i could start some seedlings and transplant them in with ease once they were ready. a walk around the garden center at lowes resulted in this:

my new 5x5' garden, fenced off with chicken wire and 100% soil. no sand (except in the areas with plants that like some sand!). i have broccoli, squashes, spinach, beets, carrots, peas, tomato plants still going strong, lettuce, a fig tree and all of my herbs. the beets, carrots, spinach and squash were all planted from seed. i'm not sure what the success rate on those will be, but i'm definitely hopeful.

it's euphoric to look out at the mess constructed in our (rented) backyard. i love farmer's markets, but i have to say that i am looking so forward to the day when i rarely have to go, when i can simply walk out into my yard and pick the freshest gem i see laying out in the sunshine. 

i encourage everyone to find a local farmer's market-- the food is usually comparably priced, unbelievably more flavorful, and organic. you get to know the people your food comes from. and you can usually find some pretty intense jellies, jams, and preserves. yummmmm. 

and give gardening a try, if you can and want to. it might surprise you to find how addicting it is!!!

Buuck buck buck buck buUUck buck buck BAKAW!!!

i mentioned cooking entire chickens in my earlier post about some of the thing we do to save moolah on our food bill. well, we made one this weekend using a technique that was new to our kitchen: rotisserie.

sorry that the picture quality isn't 100%, my husband took it with his phone just before he dug in. i could not have stopped him for a second longer to take a pic with my camera if i had begged him. and rightfully so--this bird smelled and looked amazing. i'm sort of shocked that he was able to stop himself long enough to snap a photo. but snap (and brag) he did.

so here's the deal-- i'm going to keep track of everything this chicken gets made into, and once it's all gone i will make a picture blog of the uses we got out of it.

but for now, let me give a few whole chicken tips:

*always start with a completely thawed chicken. 3 days in the fridge should do it, but heavier birds might take longer. don't rush it. i let chicken from the store thaw out for an extra day in my fridge just to be safe.

*once it's thawed, open up the cavity. you can remove the fat around the neck are if you wish. reach your hand in and scoop out anything that's remaining inside the cavity and rinse the bird in and out with cold water.

*pat it dry and start your seasoning process. the options here are unlimited, so i'm going to just break down into cooking styles and mention a few ideas in each one.

crockpot (or slow cooker)

*cook on high for about 6-8 hours depending on the size of your chicken and what your pot can do.

here's the beauty of a crockpot: your chicken is going to be insanely moist. so will everything you put in that pot. when you try to take it out, it will literally start to fall apart. crock pot chickens are perfect for tearing and shredding and adding chicken to other dishes like enchiladas, sandwich meat, and naturally soups. 

you can make a soup in a crockpot in one day. stuff the chicken with a potato and season it with salt and pepper. add diced celery and carrot to the crockpot, put the bird on top, add a little water (or chicken stock!) and any herbs you might have on hand (thyme, rosemary or basil would be great) and set on high. cook for 6-8 hours. once the chicken is done, take it out to cool a bit. all of your veggies are cooked and you should have a decent amount of liquid. chop and add peppers and onion to the pot (and pasta if you want!) and then add enough water to double the amount of liquid that was in there. let it cook while you chop up the potato and shred some chicken. add both back in, set to warm, and voila: chicken (noodle) soup. you'll have plenty of chicken leftover and with any luck, some soup too. throw it into reusable containers and freeze it. it also makes a great (cheap!) gift.

other ideas: make a dry rub of 2 tbps chili powder, 1 tbsp garlic salt, and either 2 tsp black pepper or 2 tsp cayenne for a kick. massage the rub into the skin all over the chicken. put 2c water or stock into the crockpot and the amount of rice that would cook into 2c water according to the directions on the rice package. when all is said and done you can pair a tasty chicken breast with beans and rice, shred up some of the legs and wings and make into cheesy rice/chicken enchiladas, or toss some corn and black beans in with the rice, place a slab of chicken on top and squeeze lime juice all over the top! enjoy!!

roasted

this can work in an oven or a free standing roaster. set the apparatus of choice to 350, cook for 20 minutes per pound, plus 20 minutes. you might need more/less time, so make sure you have a thermometer to check the internal temp. you're looking for a temperature of about 170. you can cook the first or last 20 minutes at 450 to get a really crispy skin, but i wouldn't try that if you aren't familiar with your oven or if you aren't confident in your chicken cooking abilities. it's easy to dry chicken out, so do one at a constant temp first to make sure you know how long it takes :)

the glory of a roasted chicken v. a crock pot is that a lot of the fat sinks away from the meat rather than staying in the pot with it. when you roast a chicken, you want it elevated above a baking pan that's at least an inch deep. you can elevate it with a metal rack like this one. cheap!!!

roasted chicken screams classic to me, so i would definitely stuff the cavity with lemon and onion slices and sprigs of fresh herbs. brush the skin with olive oil (or vegetable oil. nobody is judging you here!) and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. you can roast vegetables in the bottom of the baking sheet. just clean and put them down there, no special work needed. carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash are great bets because they need a while to cook themselves and this is the perfect way to do a whole bunch at once. squashes will need to be cut in half and deseeded before roasting. everything on the bottom will pick up the fat that's being melted from the chicken, so the skins will get a nice brown crunch sometimes. yummmmm.

this is dinner by itself. take everything out, slice up the chicken and serve with vegetables. you can also drain the fat from the pan into a skillet and make gravy while everything sort of cools. if you roast white potatoes instead of sweet potatoes you now have mashed potatoes and gravy. and chicken. and a food coma.

my feeling on roasted chicken is that it deserves to be enjoyed in its purest form, so my suggestion for this is to use it as a show stopping centerpiece for a dinner with friends or family. save a few lemon slices when you cut them up to put into the cavity. if you take the bird off and surround it with the vegetables, you can garnish with those lemon slices and make a snip or two of the fresh herbs you used. that will impress the mother in law!

beer can chicken is a version of a roasted chicken. you essentially take a half full (how you get rid of the other half is really up to you.... ;) ) can of beer and place the chicken on top so the mouth of the can is in the cavity of the chicken. while it cooks the beer evaporates and the flavor only has one place to go: into the chicken. safety point: you need a contraption that will SAFELY hold the chicken upright for the duration of its cook time. something like this.

rotisserie

you have to have a special apparatus for rotisserie cooking. luckily for us, we have an attachment on the grill my dad so graciously gave us this summer. it does all of the work. rotisserie chicken is cooked by spearing a large bar through the chicken and rotating it near a single heat source. this is the classic cartoon of a pig tied to a stick hanging over a fire. except chicken, a metal rod, the heat source is on the side, and it's real life :)

this is another option that will allow the fat to melt away from the chicken. doing this on a grill also gives you that fabulous outdoorsy summer deliciousness. aaaaaaaah i love summer!!!! and grilling!!! 

back on track! 

there is no real wrong answer with this style of cooking. here's what we did: use a whole, uncut lemon or  potato in the cavity of the chicken (lemon will be much easier to pierce) to keep the chicken filled out and prevent it from caving as it cooks. before you even begin the chicken, take 1/4c olive oil (or vegetable oil! again, no judgement here!) and add 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme, 1 of rosemary, and 1 tablespoon minced garlic. you want to give all of the flavors time to sit in the oil and absorb. (you could also use 1 tsp dried thyme and 1/2 tsp dried rosemary. same amount of garlic) set up the chicken, sat and pepper it, and use a brush to baste on some of the oil you created earlier. about every 30 minutes baste again. keep cooking until the skin is a crunchy, deep golden brown and the internal temp of a thigh (not touching bone!) reads 170.

covering a chicken in a beloved bbq dry rub would be genius for a great summer treat. and we all know that bbq tastes better the next day. with how far you can stretch a 5# chicken, the flavor might reach foodgasmic.

keep an eye out for the picture post of all our chicken uses in a week or so! i will tell you that we made ciabatta crusted pizzas last night and they will be included on that post... and probably one in between... 

ENJOY!

Seeds: Bread; Boardwalk: Park Place

how did you do on the verbal section of your SATs?


it doesn't matter. you don't need high scores to make these:

and turn them into this:

i love fall. the colors of autumn are inspirational to me and watching death knowing it will bring life once spring comes is a tender reminder of the balance we are all subject to.

i also love fall foods, by which i mean comfort foods. thick, hearty soups, crusty, warm breads, heavy, creamy casseroles, gourds galore... it's a wonderful time.

these are pumpkin seeds leftover from a joint-family pumpkin carving night. we all gutted our pumpkins and split the seeds once they were separated from the pulp. most of our seeds went into a bag for my husband to snack on at work, but i saved some for my own purposes also.

it's something as simple as toasted pumpkin seeds (or any gourd seeds! save them when you take the pulp out of squashes) that can take a loaf of homemade bread from special to extraordinary. what it costs to make a loaf of bread is minimal-- EASILY less than a dollar. what a great gift for all of your fall, winter, and holiday parties. useful, cheap, and tasty. what more could you ask for in this economy!?

here's how we toast seeds:

remove as much pulp as possible. best way i've found? fill up a huge bowl with cool water. a lot of the pulp will sink.

spread the seeds out in more or less a single layer and let them dry out for a while in a warm place-- an hour or two is fine if you've got it pretty thin, but overnight is is also pretty great.

once you're ready, preheat to 400.

mix together about 1/3c olive oil for the amount of seeds you'd get from one medium size pumpkin. you're going to have to eyeball it, honestly. add a little less than a tablespoon of salt and the same amount of pepper. (you could also use old bay, garlic salt, any seasoning you love!!!) toss the seeds and olive oil mixture to coat.

cover a baking sheet with foil (so much easier to clean), grease it, lay out the seeds in a single layer, and roast in the oven. you'll know they're done when you can smell them and they're turning a nice, deep golden brown.

enjoy them alone, or roll them into the top of a loaf of bread. they would also work in trail mixes, granola bars, or crushed up and added to oatmeal for a nice salty crunch.

ENJOY FALL!!!!

Yams? Sweet Potatoes? Huh?

ready for a long blog that appears to be about nothing and ends in a recipe!? here we go!

there is a root plant called a cassava that grows prolifically in a region of africa. it is a basic staple there and their rate of naturally occurring twins is 4 times higher than the rest of the world's numbers. studies have linked that bump in percentage to this cassava, which is a type of wild yam. something in the yam encourages egg release, often 2 eggs at once.

i've read plenty of "trying to conceive" forums over the last two years and women buy canned yams by the cartful in hopes that it will stimulate their systems into giving them the chance for a much desired baby (or two!) when their insurance companies can't foot the bill for more technical procedures.

the thing is, i'm not sure if any of those women were actually buying YAMS. yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing at all, though american supermarkets have lumped them into the same category. i don't know many people that can distinguish between the two. heck, i don't know for sure that i can. the basic rule for differentiation as far as i know is that true yams are ENORMOUS, pale, and not at all orange. they are very low in beta-carotene, the substance that gives a sweet potato that delightful color. we can't grow yams here in the states, so finding them can be a bit of a challenge.

most of our friends and family know that E and i are hoping to have a second kiddo as soon as possible. twins run in both sides of our families (my dad is a fraternal twin whose twin brother had identical twins, E's brother/sister are twins.) and we've both agreed that we would LOVE to have twins. we appreciate the bond that twins have and i would love to knock two kids out of labor in one sitting. and when they both move out, it's like a double pay raise! HOLLA!!! we've joked quite a bit about wives tales that guarantee the conception of twins and i've told him numerous times that i'm going to eat nothing but yams until we get pregnant.

that will never happen, i love cheese too much to cut it out of my diet ;)

but i sent him out friday night to get me some sweet potatoes because i was really craving one and i needed some more veggies for jp (i always need more veggies for "jp". such a great excuse to get goods at 6pm on a friday!). i got a call from him asking if i wanted sweet potatoes or yams and if it really made any kind of difference. "yams? they have yams at sam's club?" "that's what it says on the box. yams/sweet potatoes" "oh, so they're just falsely advertised sweet potatoes. get 'em anyway, maybe it'll work!". so he got them and came home.

i wasn't listening very well when he called--he told me the weight, it did not register.

he came home with a 10lb box of sweet potatoes.

that should be enough tuber to satisfy my jones....

i baked 5 at once. i ate 2 with hot sauce and butter (don't judge me!), mashed one up for jp, and put the other two into the refrigerator with an internal promise to make sweet potato bread today.

here's where it starts getting.... interesting. i love sweet potato bread, but i'm truly not in the mood for muffins or muffin-like bread. sweet potato bread is generally a southern thing and thus is loaded with butter, sugar, and maple syrup. i wanted a healthy alternative. rather than googling "healthy sweet potato breads", i decided to experiment.

the theory i had was to take one of the breads i really loved the taste of and substitute the sweet potato in for the butter the recipe calls for.

are you baffled? would you like a glimpse into the logic of an overly confident cooking diva?

applesauce is an acceptable sub for butter in baking recipes. sweet potatoes, when mashed, are... almost... not really... but, maybe sort of close... to the texture of applesauce. do you think i've lost my mind? i think i have. so if applesauce can work, maybe sweet potatoes can too! WHO KNOWS?!!? NOT ME!!!

so i made the bread as i usually would. warm water+yeast until foamy, and then the rest of the ingredients. except no butter. mashed sweet potatoes.

it ended up needing significantly more flour than the original recipe, but the dough was the right consistency.

it didn't rise as high as the butter version did, but it's also much cooler in our house right now than it was when i made the original bread.

here's the real kicker. halfway through its bake in the oven, our power went out for the first time in our marriage. ooooooooof course. we located some candles, realized we need to buy a flashlight, and E quickly turned the massive grill on for me and the bread was thrown in.

here's the final result:

it has a really nice crunchy crust and a very slight sweet potato taste. i suppose i could always try it again later with more sweet potato and whole wheat bread for an extra healthy version, but this is pretty good! i'm excited to use it for sandwiches--a little extra nutrition packed into every bite!

here's the recipe

northern sweet potato bread

6 tbsp mashed sweet potatoes
1c warm water
2 packets dry yeast, or 1 1/2 tbsp
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
about 4c white flour

put the warm water and yeast into a bowl, let sit until foamy.

add the potatoes, salt, sugar and 3c of flour. add flour 1/2c at a time to the dough until it reaches a smooth, good bread consistency.

knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until it feels uniform. put the dough into a well greased bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for an hour in a warm place.

preheat to 425

grease a baking sheet. take the dough out. grab 2/3 of the dough and shape it into a ball. lay it on the baking sheet and flatten it out just a tad. roll the other 1/3 into a ball and put it on top of the first one. using a sharp knife, cut slits from the center out toward the bottom all around the bread.

bake until golden brown, about 30-40 minutes

Let Them Eat Cake!

i'm officially into french breads until i can locate some rye flour and do some back work on my basic loaves!

today i made these:

brioche tetes

brie and brioche packages

in the book Paul Hollywood's explanation of brioche says "The immortal line uttered by Marie Antoinette, allegedly, 'Let them eat cake,' is more likely to have been 'Let them eat brioche.'"

after making these, i believe him.

the texture of these "muffins" is unbelievable. between bites i found myself staring at the pores and air pockets, admiring the consistency and the unexpected sweetness. it's not that i expected them to be bland or sour--they have quite a bit of sugar in them after all. it was the nature of sweetness, its flavor... it was so rich and somewhat mellow. it was decadent.

the brie+brioche calls for one entire 9oz wheel of brie. i took some creative liberties and made a few with goat's cheese and a few with small squares of brie instead of an entire wheel. the point of this was 1) to save money because i simply can't see two of us eating an entire wheel of melted brie cheese in one night, and 2) E wasn't even home when i made it, so it would have just been me trying to eat it. bad on soooooo many levels.

i'm going to modify mr. hollywood's recipe just a tad. i don't know how different flour is in the UK, but almost every recipe, this one in particular, has required more flour. fyi, i used a combination of bread flour and all purpose white flour. they cost nearly the same when you buy in bulk (which we do!) and the bread flour definitely adds an element of sweetness and fluff, for lack of a better word, that plain all purpose does not have.

brioche tetes

about 3c, maybe more, flour
1/3c sugar
1 package or 3/4 tbsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1/3c milk
3 eggs, +1 for an eggwash
1 1/2 sticks butter
cupcake liners (about a dozen)

mix everything except the butter and the eggwash egg until smooth. then add the butter, mix until smooth. (don't ask me why you can't add the butter with all the rest, you just can't, and i won't question the method because these were outstanding) cover the bowl and stick it in the refrigerator overnight.

next morning! the dough will be pretty stiff. get out your muffin tins and liners. line 'em up and grease 'em up!

make balls from the dough that are approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. it's not rocket science, just eyeball it. they should fit cozily into the cupcake liners. top each one with a smaller ball-- about 1/2 inch in diameter. do that until you have no more dough!

leave your happy little snowmen out in a warm place to rise for one hour. once time is up, preheat your oven to 400 and brush your little guys (or gals!) with the eggwash.

bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

you don't need to put anything on these guys. they're amazing. Uh. Maze. Ing.

to make the brie and brioche, do all of the same things the night before. the next day, on a VERY VERY VERY well and evenly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/4inch thickness instead of forming it into balls. cut out circles big enough to completely envelope discs or squares of brie or goat's cheese. brush each one with eggwash, refrigerate for 1 hour.

preheat the oven to 400. take the packages out and brush once more with eggwash, bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

eat while warm.