hopeful

I'm just a few short weeks from completing my first school year as the full time working mother of two, and I think that overall it has been a success. When I am home, I'm happy to be home; when I am at work, I'm happy to be at work...so I guess that is a win. But on those occasional days when I've got a sick kid who has to stay home from day care, I like to pretend I'm still a stay at home mom. The thing is, I'm really good at it. My boys and I spent those two and a half years fine-tuning a highly functional system, and when I'm unexpectedly handed a day at home with the kids, it comes back so naturally. Don't get me wrong, having a sick kid is, hands-down, the hardest part of being a working parent, particularly when you work in education and have to deal with subs and sub plans and the terror of finding out what happened in the library in your absence the next day. But once I've got the professional details handled, I sink so happily into the familiarity of being home with my boys.

Emmett came down with an out of nowhere crazy high fever at dinner time last night. Finn could have gone to school but, as he so eloquently explained to me this morning, "I just kind of feel like I need a day at home." Don't we all, kid? So home we stayed. Sean actually spent the morning with the boys and passed the baton to me at lunchtime when I returned from a morning at work. And how did I spend my afternoon? In between stories and snuggles and naps, I made a batch of homemade chicken broth which led naturally into making a wonderful pot of risotto.

Risotto is, in my opinion, the perfect dish for enjoying the experience of being in the kitchen. It's not super quick, and it is definitely not hands-off, but for those evenings when you have the time and inclination to stand at the stove stirring, it can be a really blissful process. Tonight was that night for me. This recipe features the beautiful spring flavors of asparagus and baby peas...so if your farmer's market, like mine, kicks off the season this weekend, get your hands on some early asparagus and make some of this. You won't regret it.

Happy spring, all!

1. In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook three minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove all the asparagus from the broth. Set asparagus aside to cool.
2. Lower the heat under the broth and keep at a simmer.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic; cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until coated with the oil, about 1 minute. Stir in the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until it is absorbed. Add the simmering broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it is absorbed before adding more, until the rice is tender but firm in the center, about 20 minutes total.
4. Stir in the asparagus and peas with the last addition of broth. Stir in the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

It snowed here yesterday. A lot.


Ignoring the fact for a moment that it is March 25th, it is a beautiful snow - the trees are decked out in thick layers of white, their delicate bud-covered branches weighed down by the heft of it. We spent most of Sunday afternoon watching from inside and waiting for the snow day to be called. It was.



I wasn't planning on making anything particularly impressive for dinner; it was, after all, the last day of spring break. But when it started looking more and more like spring break was going to last one day more, I got creative, with delicious results. This is a combination and modification of several recipes from my newest favorite cookbook - The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. There are admittedly a lot of steps, but none of them are difficult and many are hands-off. I had some roasted tomato sauce in the freezer that I blended to a puree and used to top the eggplant, but feel free to use a jarred sauce - I'd recommend something somewhat light.

This recipe is infinitely adaptable by switching out the type of bean and seasoning. As written in the book, the recipe calls for black beans and cumin, which we might try next time with plain couscous and salsa in place of the tomato sauce.

Hope you enjoy it - it was a big hit around here.



Couscous and Bean-Stuffed Eggplant with Garlic Tomato Sauce
Adapted from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook

Makes 6 eggplant halves

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3 medium eggplants
1 5.6 oz box couscous with toasted pine nuts
1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups prepared marinara
grated Parmesan

1. Cut off the stem ends of the eggplant and slice in half lengthwise. Slice a tiny bit off the rounded side to allow the eggplant to lie flat. Place eggplant shells in a 9x13 baking dish and set aside.
2. With a sharp knife, carefully cut away the pulp. Don't worry about making it pretty or uniform - you are going to chop it in a minute. Leave a sturdy shell about 1/2 inch thick. 
3. Chop the eggplant pulp finely and steam until tender (about 10 minutes). Set aside.
4. Prepare couscous according to package directions. 
5. In a large bowl, combine prepared couscous, steamed eggplant, beans, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Preheat oven to 375. Evenly divide couscous mixture among six eggplant halves. Cover loosely with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. 
7. Uncover and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until shells are tender but have not yet collapsed.
8. During the last 10 minutes of baking time, warm up the marinara sauce.
9. Top each eggplant half with warmed marinara and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan.

Enjoy!

We take St. Patrick's Day pretty seriously around here. In the old days, that meant a lot of loud Irish punk and some serious pub carousing. Now we settle for excessive amounts of green clothing, nothing but traditional Irish music on the iPod, and cold beverages in a can poured perfectly into pint glasses (see here) enjoyed from the comfort of our own couch. For the last few years, we've attended our church's St. Patrick's Day program, and this year we somehow landed ourselves on the planning committee. It was a blast - Irish stepdancing, snake hunts, cake walks, an appearance by St. Patrick. With all that on the agenda, we managed to talk my parents into coming down for the day...and they brought along my aunt, my eleven-year-old niece, and my eight-year-old nephew. My boys were completely surprised, and the day was subsequently even more fun than anticipated. There is nothing quite as exciting as a group of surprise visitors at the door, especially when the group includes cousins.

We started the day with St. Patrick's Day brunch. This recipe was soooo yummy, and really easy to throw together. I made the biscuits the night before so all I had to do when everyone arrived was warm the biscuits, fry up some eggs, and stack it all together. Yum. As written, the recipe makes 8 to 10 biscuits, but because you only use half a biscuit for each serving, you end up with a lot of extra biscuits. If you are serving a bigger crowd, just make more eggs. The ham is totally optional; use it if you like it, skip it if you don't. I opted to double the recipe and freeze lots of leftover biscuits; we had them for dinner tonight with baked potato soup and enjoyed them all over again.

In addition to tasting good, the biscuits are really pretty to look at. I did not manage to take a decent picture, but the one on the Betty Crocker website gives you a good idea.

It wouldn't be a holiday without a little custom applique...

Happy March!

St. Patrick's Day Biscuits
Adapted from Betty Crocker

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Makes 8-10 biscuits / 8 servings + leftover biscuits

1 package frozen creamed spinach, thawed
2 3/4 cups Bisquick mix
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
2 Tbsp. butter
8 eggs
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/4 lb. sliced deli ham (optional)

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. In medium bowl, mix spinach, Bisquick, cheese, and ground mustard just until dry ingredients are moistened. It seems like you need to add liquid, but you really don't - there is enough in the spinach.

3. On a lightly floured work surface, knead dough eight to ten times. Pat to 3/4 inch thickness; cut with 3 inch round cutter. You should get 8-10 biscuits.

4. Place rounds one inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until golden brown (can be done in advance).

5. In a nonstick skillet, fry eggs to desired consistency in butter. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Split 4 biscuits and spread cut sides with softened butter. Reserve extra biscuits for a later use.

7. Top each biscuit half with a slice of ham and one fried egg.

My husband Sean is not a fan of recipes; he is far too casual a cook to follow someone else's instructions. His favorite day to make dinner is the day when I look at the crossed-out list of meal options on the fridge and swear there is nothing to eat. He then opens the fridge, roots around, and comes up with something delicious and surprising.

While not a recipe guy, he is very much a technique guy. Most recently, he caught a video on chow.com about how to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie and decided he had to give it a try.

I concur. They were the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had -- chewy and chocolatey and sweet and moist. They tasted best -- of course -- right out of the oven, but we had no trouble eating the rest after the boys went to bed. Don't judge; I know you do it too.



The recipe came from The Bon Appetit Cookbook, but Sean swears it is not the recipe but the techniques that made them so crazy good. Here are his specific tips:

• The eggs and the butter should be room temperature. You can speed the eggs along by putting them in a cup of warm water for about ten minutes.
• Use the whisk attachment on your stand mixer to beat the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat it really well. Switch the whisk for the paddle attachment before adding the flour.
• Mix the flour in as minimally as possible - just until incorporated.
• The better the chocolate, the better the cookie. A no-brainer, but worth mentioning before you head to the store. Sean recommends using an equal amount of flour and chocolate chips. This makes really, really chocolatey cookies.
• Sean made our cookies extra big and thus adjusted the time accordingly. As a general rule, remove the cookies from the oven before they look completely done. You'll be glad you did.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from The Bon Appetit Cookbook
Makes about 30

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Nonstick vegetable oil spray
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Spray a large rimmed baking sheet with spray.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Add sugar and brown sugar; beat until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until creamy and well blended.

Switch whisk attachment for paddle attachment. Gradually add flour mixture, beating just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Working in batches, drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet, spacing three inches apart. Bake cookies until pale brown, about 15 minutes.  Cool 15 minutes on sheet. Transfer to racks to cool completely.

Our house has been overtaken by bugs -- not the six legged variety, but the itty bitty kind that manifest as aches, chills, fevers, nausea, coughs, headaches, and runny noses. No one is super sick, but everyone is a little bit sick with a whole spectrum of different symptoms. It was therefore not difficult to declare this chilly Saturday a stay-at-home-and-take-it-easy kind of Saturday. It's 5 pm and the boys are still in their pajamas, and I think we're all feeling a little stronger for the R and R.

With the boys deeply entranced in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (the latest obsession around here - they spend most of their days chasing each other with chopstick wands), I found myself on Pinterest whilst half watching the film. As a result, I added a dozen projects to my sewing and knitting boards, found a DIY washing machine cleaner that I am presently testing out, and decided to make a healing pot of chicken noodle soup.

I didn't change too much about the original recipe, save for the addition of roasted garlic. It just seemed that a soup commissioned with eradicating various and sundry bugs from the house should have some garlic in it, and since I had time while the stock simmered, I threw a handful of cloves into the oven to roast. Suffice it to say, the house smells amazing.

With wishes of health from my family to yours...



Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Adapted from Simply Scratch

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To begin, prep the chicken: dice the white and dark meat and put it in one bowl, throw the bones and skin and little leftover pieces into a large stock pot. Place the diced chicken in the refrigerator for later. You should have about 2 cups.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Brown the chicken parts in the stock pot over medium high for a few minutes. Then throw in the roughly chopped carrot, celery, onion, parsley, thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns. Pour in 12 cups of water and scrape up any browned bits that are on the bottom of the pot. Cover and bring up to a simmer with the lid on, for one hour and thirty minutes.

Place the unpeeled garlic cloves on a square of aluminum foil. Top with the olive oil and wrap, lifting and twisting the corners to form a small packet. Roast at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until soft. Set aside to cool.

After the hour and a half is up, drain the stock through a strainer into another large pot. Discard the remaining bones/vegetables.

Bring the stock back up to a simmer and add in the two diced carrots, celery and onions. Add in the teaspoon of kosher salt, the half teaspoon of black pepper and the chopped thyme. Squeeze the garlic out of the the skins into the soup. Cover and let simmer until the vegetables are tender, about ten minutes.

Meanwhile bring a second pot of water to boil (I reused my original stock pot so as to save dishes). Season with sea salt and drop in the noodles. Cook according to package directions. Drain and then add into soup along with the diced chicken and stock concentrate.

Stir and simmer until chicken is warmed through.

Enjoy!

The morning before we left Montana, I ran to the grocery store and bought sixty bottles of assorted Montana beers that you can't get in Illinois (lucky for me, it was 8:03 when I checked out, as you can't buy alcohol before 8 am...). There was ample room in the minivan to transport our goods, so the bottles traveled with us from Montana to Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico (where we left a few), then back northeast through Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. This previous weekend we invited a few neighbors over for a Montana-themed happy hour to share our bounty:


Because we like a theme, Sean and I also made a few appetizers with Montana-y flavors. I found smoked trout at our local grocery store, which we served with crackers. I baked up this incredible brie in puff pastry using huckleberry jam and huckleberry syrup we brought home with us. And Sean grilled up mini buffalo burgers that we served on slider buns with homemade ketchup on the side. The homemade ketchup was a last-minute addition to the menu; we often watch videos on the chow.com channel on our Roku streaming device, and it was something they featured. It's delicious - not quite as smooth as bottled ketchup, but spicy and rich and oh so good. The recipe calls for canned tomatoes, but this would be a great one to file away for late summer when you've got lots of juicy ripe tomatoes in the garden (be sure to peel them first in that case).

Hope you enjoy it!

Party favors

From left: baked brie, buffalo sliders, smoked trout

Homemade ketchup

I read cookbooks the way some people read novels, and I've got a new favorite. I love it so much, in fact, that I won't let the library have it back until I absolutely have to. Marion Cunningham (who is a real person, not the mother from Happy Days...) is best known for her work on The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Back in 1987, she also wrote a book called The Breakfast Book and I simply can't get enough of it. This is not a brunch book - "brunch," she writes in her introduction, "with its undefined ingredients and preparations, is entirely different from breakfast." Nope, this is a cookbook for breakfast (or, as is often the case in our house, breakfast-for-dinner) and includes 288 recipes for all things morning with an emphasis on grains. In addition to the recipes, there is extensive narrative and explanation which, in my opinion, is what makes a cookbook both fun and functional. There are also recipes for such odd-sounding items as baps, bannock, scrapple and rusk, so you really can't go wrong.

I've cooked a few things out of this in the last month or so. One of the first things I tried was a recipe that grabbed me both for its uniqueness and its simplicity -- homemade English muffins. Unique in that they are a yeast-based dough that you do not bake. Simple in that they only require 8 ingredients but yield something far greater than the sum of the parts. This is not your average grocery store muffin - these were fluffy and soft and absolutely delicious.

To make English muffins, you need rings. I picked up a set at the kitchen store for about $6. Alternately, you can use tuna cans with both ends removed.


After the first rising, the muffins are cut out from the dough and left to rise on a cornmeal-sprinkled cookie sheet.


They are then cooked in a skillet back inside the rings. I was crazy nervous about placing metal rings in my nonstick skillet as I am kind of nuts about taking care of these. The rings don't really move at all, though, so it wasn't a problem as long as I was careful. You can only cook as many muffins as you have rings at a time, so account for this in your timing. I ended up making 8 then freezing 8 in their pre-griddled format - they defrosted beautifully another day.


The rings also came in handy for making circle-shaped eggs for breakfast sandwiches. And what divine breakfast sandwiches they were...


Enjoy!

English Muffins
Adapted from The Breakfast Book
Yield: 16 muffins

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1/2 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 cup milk, warmed
3 1/2 cups flour
3 tbsp. oil
1/2 cup cornmeal

Pour the water into a  large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over, and stir.  Let stand for 5 minutes to dissolve. Stir in the salt, sugar, warm milk, 2 cups flour, and the oil. Stir briskly with a spoon for a minute to mix well. Add the remaining flour and stir to blend smoothly.  This dough will be very soft. Cover and let the dough double in bulk - about an hour.

Flour a board and your hands. Put the dough on the board, and add a little flour if it is too sticky to manage. Knead the dough three or four times. Pat and push the dough out so it is about 1/4 inch thick. Using a 3 inch ring as a cutter, cut the dough out and place the muffins 1 inch apart on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. When the muffins are all cut, cover them lightly with a towel and let them rest for 30 minutes.

Heat a griddle until medium hot and spray with cooking spray. Spray the inside of the rings and place on the griddle. Put the muffins in the rings and cook for about 10 minutes on one side and 5 minutes on the other. Watch closely and lower heat as needed.

Before serving, split the muffins in half with a fork and toast. Butter generously and serve warm.

While I'm generally a great big wimp when it comes to cooking without a recipe, I'm pretty good about substitutions. Many a baked good in my kitchen has included a tablespoon of mayonnaise instead of an egg, and I'm pretty good about concocting combinations of milk and yogurt to resemble various thicknesses of cream. I think it comes from the Mongolia years, when I really didn't have any choice but to substitute and when I ate pretty darn well despite the limited ingredients.

I picked up some rhubarb at the grocery store today, along with a whole bunch of strawberries. At the time I was thinking, naturally, of making a pie. However, as we have plans to picnic this evening, I thought perhaps it would be wise to make something more portable, so I started searching for a recipe for strawberry rhubarb bars. I loved this one that I found on the EatingWell website. The first ingredient on the list is 1 cup of chopped nuts or oats. I knew that I had just used up all of my oatmeal and nuts on the last batch of granola...but I thought perhaps I can use a cup of the granola instead. It proved an excellent substitution. Because the granola is sweetened (and includes sweetened coconut), I cut back on the sugar a bit. I also halved the recipe because, really, a 9 x 12 pan of sweets in the middle of the week is just not a good idea. If you want to make more, I'd recommend following the proportions in the original recipe as I was a bit footloose with my math in dividing the ingredients.

Enjoy!



Strawberry Rhubarb Bars
Adapted from Eating Well

Makes 9 bars

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For the crust:
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. granola (preferably without dried fruit)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the filling:
2 c. diced strawberries
1 c. diced rhubarb (from one large stalk)
2 Tbsp. orange juice
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. To prepare crust: Combine 1/2 cup granola, whole wheat flour, white flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add butter; pulse until well incorporated. 
2. Whisk egg, oil, and vanilla in a small bowl. With the motor running, add the mixture to the food processor. Process, then pulse, scraping down the sides, if necessary, until the mixture begins to clump, 30 to 45 seconds (it will look crumbly).  Measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture and combine in a bowl with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of granola. Set aside for the topping.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously coat an 8x8 square baking pan with cooking spray.
4. To prepare fruit filling: Combine 1 1/2 c. strawberries, 3/4 c. rhubarb, orange juice, sugar, and cornstarch in a saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes.  Stir in the remaining fruit and the vanilla. Set aside.
5. Transfer the crumb mixture to the prepared baking pan. Spread evenly and press firmly into the bottom to form a crust. Spread the fruit filling over the crust. Sprinkle the reserved topping over the filling.
6. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake until the crust and topping are light brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into bars, at least 1 1/2 hours.

It's May now, and my thoughts are very much on the fact that come August, I'm going back to work full time. I have mixed feelings about this, admittedly, but am very blessed in that I have the wonderful opportunity to go back to a job that I absolutely love working with people I adore and doing work that I believe in. And that takes some of the sting out of imagining life without my little sidekicks filling my days.



In addition to thinking realistically about my actual future, I also like to dream about what I would be doing if I could patch together all the things I love into one fantastic reality. Wouldn't it be great if we could turn those tiny experiences in life that bring such joy into steady employment? Among the bullet-points on my imaginary resume would be such fantastical details as:

• creates beautiful customized hand-knit hats

• sings and plays guitar for adoring preschoolers

• bakes really good bread  

• writes wildly successful early chapter books that get kids super excited about reading

• runs family-friendly coffeeshop full of engaging playtime opportunities for children (I'm thinking treehouse), comfortable armchairs for parents, and perfect lattes

• prepares and delivers meals for friends and families in need

I've thought a lot about that last one lately. I absolutely love to make food for people who may not be up to making food for themselves. I believe so strongly in the importance of food during times of transition. Is there a business plan in there somewhere? Perhaps. In the meantime, I'll just keep churning out casseroles and quiches and loaves of bread for friends who have just had a baby, or who are caring for a sick relative, or who just need help getting a meal on the table.

Our friends brought home a new baby girl last week. We dropped off a few meals for them, including this yummy frittata. I hope it was good for their bodies and souls...which is in turn good for their beautiful baby. This recipe, like the one I posted a few weeks ago for stuffed peppers, comes from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. We had it for dinner, but it would also make a lovely main course for brunch. The recipe requires roasting the various vegetable before assembling the fritatta; this can be done in advance to save time.

Enjoy!

Just before adding the cheese and the egg mixture

Spanish Frittata
Serves 6-8

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2 to 3 cups peeled and sliced potatoes (1/2 inch thick)
3 tbsp. olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. paprika
2 cups thinly sliced onions
2 cups sliced bell peppers, any color
1/4 tsp. cayenne
6 eggs
3 oz. cream cheese
1 tbsp. flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sliced Spanish olives
1 cup grated Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a 7 x 11 inch or 9 inch square baking pan (I doubled the recipe and used 2 8" cake pans).

In a bowl, toss the potato slices with 2 tbsp. olive oil, half the garlic, the paprika, and a dash of salt. Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet and roast for about 20 minutes, until tender and golden brown. In the same bowl, toss the onions and peppers with the cayenne and the remaining oil and garlic. Spread in an even layer on a second baking sheet and roast until tender and brown, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the eggs, cream cheese, flour, milk, and salt in a blender and puree to a smooth custard.

When the vegetables are roasted, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Layer the roasted potatoes in the prepare baking pan. Spread on the roasted onions and peppers, sprinkle with the olives and the grated cheese, and pour the custard over all.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until the custard is set and the top is golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

So for years I have wanted a set of soup and sandwich platters from Uncommon Goods; since I came across these lovely sets four or five years ago, they have had a permanent place on my wishlist.  Aren't they neat?


Besides the obvious soup and sandwich combination (which is usually featured at least once a week for dinner around here), they are perfect for soup and bread, or cereal and toast, or fruit and a muffin, or soup and a salad...just think of all the things that can go together!

Long story short - Sean got me a set for my birthday, and I am ridiculously excited about them. They made tonight's dinner (which was essentially reheated chili that I found in the back of the freezer accompanied by big slabs of corn bread) so much nicer, and I foresee extensive use in our future.

In addition to bragging about my new favorite product, I thought I'd share a quick corn bread recipe with you all. I posted this several months ago, but it is worth posting again. Why, you may ask?

• Making cornbread from scratch (rather than from a mix) takes maybe two or three minutes more. Seriously. The first step is to mix all the dry ingredients. When you buy a mix, that is the only part that is done for you. But chances are the dry ingredients in your cupboard are fresher than those in a boxed mix, and I'm pretty sure this recipe uses more baking powder than the average boxed mix.
• Making cornbread from scratch yields the fluffiest, lightest cornbread I have ever tasted. See above re: baking powder.
• Homemade cornbread does not crumble into a million pieces when you cut it. It stays in nice wedges that are, coincidentally, perfect for putting on the square part of a brand new soup and sandwich platter.

This is the recipe on the canister of Quaker Yellow Corn Meal. Nothing fancy, but oh so good!

Easy Corn Bread

1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites or one egg, beaten

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8 or 9 inch pan.

Combine first five ingredients.

Stir in milk, oil, and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Serve warm.

This week's menu was largely inspired by this week's sale paper; when peppers go on sale (10 for $10!), we eat a lot of peppers in a lot of different colors for a lot of nights in a row. Since I had recently made my standby roasted red pepper soup, I went searching for something new. This was a delicious and beautiful meal that I found in Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, a favorite tome of mine. The cookbook recommends serving the peppers with a tangy salad, which would be lovely, but I think it would also be great with black beans on the side. You could also serve it with eggs as a brunch dish.


This makes a lot of peppers - between the four of us, we ate five halves, saved one, and packed the other six up for a friend who just had a baby (you know who you are!). While there is a bit of preparation involved in this meal, you could make and stuff the peppers in advance then do the final bake just before dinner.

Enjoy!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics
Serves 6

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1 cup raw quinoa
6 medium bell peppers, any color
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp. salt, or more to taste
1 cup peeled and diced carrots
1 cup diced zucchini
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse well under running water. In a covered pot, bring quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the quinoa is soft and the water is absorbed.

While the quinoa cooks, cut the peppers in half lengthwise and, leaving the stems intact, seed them. Brush the peppers on both sides with oil. Place peppers cut side down on an oiled baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes, until softened and slightly browned but not collapsed. When the peppers are roasted, remove from oven to cool and reduce the heat to 350 degrees (or turn off oven if you are going to bake them much later).

In a large skillet, warm 1 tbsp olive oil and saute the onions and garlic on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onions have softened. Stir in the spices, carrots, zucchini, and corn. Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender.

Combine the sauteed vegetables and the cooked quinoa and add salt to taste. Turn over the pepper shells and spoon filling into each half. Sprinkle each bell pepper half with some cheese. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until the filling is hot and the cheese is melted.

I am proud to say that since posting the recipe for slow cooker yogurt, I have consistently made a batch a week, and we've all enjoyed having that bowl of thick, creamy yogurt on  hand. As the weather turns warmer, we've also been experimenting with yogurt pops. Super easy, super delicious, and much healthier than a popsicle...so I thought I'd share a few tips with you today.

 
A homemade yogurt pop is essentially a frozen smoothie on a stick, so you basically make a batch of fairly liquidy smoothie then freeze it in a popsicle mold. I have found that it is necessary to make the smoothie a bit sweeter than you do for a smoothie that you drink - it seems to lose some of its oomph in the freezer. Go ahead and experiment to find what works best for your family. These are the general proportions that we use - it is of course very flexible:

1 cup plain yogurt
1 ripe banana
1 cup berries (fresh or frozen)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup milk

Blend - pour - freeze!

BONUS: When you make popsicles out of smoothies, you have the option of offering them at breakfast time, which makes you a VERY popular parent. It was a Mom of the Year moment, for sure.

As mentioned previously, Sean and his father spent a few days over spring break constructing a swing set in our back yard. So what used to look like this...


...now looks like this!


These are the guys who built it...


...and these are the guys who watched.


And here are a few pics reminding us why we wanted a swing set:



While Sean and his dad put the finishing touches on the set on Saturday morning, I threw together a quick batch of muffins. A few comments about this:

• Muffins are one of those things that remind me how quickly and easily one can bake something homemade. They typically require only about fifteen minutes of hands-on time. I feel that way about scones, also. 


• Muffins are also one of those things that I love because you generally have what you need to make them. I had no intention of making breakfast on Saturday morning - we were planning on stopping somewhere on our way out of town. But as the last few swing set details were still underway, I decided very last minute to make them. And boy were they yummy.


• The recipe comes from an ancient paperback Betty Crocker cookbook. It doesn't even have an ISBN. I use the term "paperback" very loosely, as that implies that the book is bound when, in fact, the book has fallen into four sections and is held together by a rubber band. I believe, however, that everyone needs one cookbook on hand for the essentials.  This is the one I turn to if I need to make a basic white sauce, or pancakes from scratch. 


• I got to wear my new apron for the first time. It was an early birthday gift from my in-laws. Not at all relevant to the muffins, but isn't it cute?

And now, onto the recipe. Included below is the basic sweet muffin recipe included in the quick breads chapter of Betty Crocker's Cookbook. There are several variations that follow. I made Apple Muffins and used chopped pecans in the topping.

Breakfast Muffins
Yield 12 muffins

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1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cups flour (I used half white and half wheat)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups.

Beat egg. Stir in milk and oil. Mix in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter will be lumpy.

Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan.

VARIATIONS

• Apple Muffins - Stir in 1 cup grated apple and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Sprinkle with Nut-Crunch Topping: Mix 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup chopped nuts, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Bake 25 to 30 minutes.
• Blueberry Muffins - Fold 1 cup fresh blueberries or 3/4 cup well-drained frozen blueberries (thawed) into batter.
• Cranberry Orange Muffins - Fold 1 tbsp. grated orange peel and 1 cup cranberries, cut in half, into the batter.
• Surprise Muffins - Fill muffin cups only half full. Drop 1 tsp. jelly in center of each and add batter to fill cups to two-thirds full.

This is something I have always wanted to try, and if I had known how easy it was going to be, I would have tried it a long time ago. The ingredients couldn't be any simpler, the steps are very straightforward, and the end result is absolutely marvelous. I came across the recipe in Stephanie O'Dea's Make It Fast, Cook It Slow (it is also included in More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow, which I like even better) - but you can also find it on her website, A Year of Slow Cooking.

O'Dea recommends making this on a day when you are going to be around, as there are different steps to follow throughout the day. I started it at 8:30 am and put it in the fridge to drain around 9:30 pm. When we woke up this morning, we had a huge bowl of the thickest, richest yogurt imaginable.

A vertical spoon!

The recipe is included in full here. A few things to note:

- After the eight hour stretch, the yogurt is ready to eat.  If, however, you follow the suggestion to drain the yogurt, you end up with Greek-style yogurt, as thick as sour cream. This is mentioned in the notes if you read all the way through the recipe, but I'll detail it again here. Line a strainer with a few paper coffee filter and set it over a big bowl. Pour the entire contents of the slow cooker into the strainer and stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours. This separates the whey, which can then be discarded.

- I used full fat Vitamin D milk. From what I read on the website, you can use lower fat milk but then you might need to thicken it up with gelatin. Your call.

- The yogurt lasts for 7-10 days in the fridge, and you get a lot of it, so prepare for lots of smoothies. And the cost effectiveness is pretty startling, as detailed on O'Dea's site:

• One 6-pack of yo-baby is $6.50 (24 ounces) 
• One gallon of almost totally organic milk is $3.00 (128 ounces) 
• One gallon of yobaby would be $34.67 or 10 times what it cost you to make it, more or less.

So go make a batch this weekend, and throw together some granola while you are at it!


Enjoy!

Mmmm....smoothie! (cup design can be found here)

I'd say that nearly 90% of what I cook for dinner can be made in 45 minutes or less, and I would venture to guess that the same is true for many of you. I put a lot of effort into planning and making good meals for my family, but I generally avoid recipes that require a lot of time; I'd rather spend that time with aforementioned family, after all. There are, however, a handful of super special recipes in my stash that take a lot of time and effort but that are so worth the time and effort. This recipe is one of those.


If you ever have the opportunity to visit Chico Hot Springs in Pray, Montana, do. It is an incredibly special place with a rich history, year-round geothermally heated pools, and an amazing gourmet restaurant. It also happens to be up the road from Yellowstone National Park and in the foothills of the Absaroka Mountains. I have been fortunate enough to spend some time at Chico, and on my first visit, I picked up their cookbook, A Montana Table by Seabring Davis. Of all the recipes I've made from this book, this recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Soup is the one I go back to again and again.  



The recipe as transcribed below includes several tweaks I have made over the years. Additionally, here are a few tips:

- The original recipe calls for 2 quarts of homemade chicken stock. I have always used vegetarian Better than Bouillon to keep the recipe meatless.

- I typically take two days to make this recipe - one to roast, peel, and seed the peppers and a second to throw the soup together. I have always used fresh bell peppers (this is my go-to recipe when red peppers are really cheap at the farmer's market) but I suppose you could use jarred. Eight peeled and seeded roasted peppers yields about 3 cups.

- The recipe calls for 1 cup of sherry. I typically use super cheap cooking sherry with great results. You can also use red wine if that is what you have around.

- Because the soup gets pureed in the end, don't waste your time with precision cutting on the veggies. Just give them a rough chop.

- The original recipe has 1/2 tsp saffron whisked in with the cream. I have always skipped this since I generally don't have saffron around, but if you do, by all means use it.

- As noted in the cookbook, you can add steamed mussels, clams, or other shellfish as a last-minute topping. You can also add a generous sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Enjoy!

Image courtesy of A Montana Table

Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Adapted from A Montana Table

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6 to 8 large red bell peppers
2 quarts soup stock
canola oil
2 large yellow onions, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
4 large shallots, peeled and chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup sherry, divided
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp of hot sauce (optional but oh-so-good)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Roast whole red bell peppers over an open flame on a gas burning stovetop or grill; remove from flame when skin is mostly blackened and immerse in an ice bath to remove skin easily. Seed and dice. ALTERNATE METHOD: Roast peppers in a 450 degree oven, turning occasionally, until blackened. Put peppers in a paper bag and close the top for 10-15 minutes to loosen the skin. Peel, seed, and dice. Set aside. (Can be done one day ahead - store in fridge).


2. In a large soup pot, warm stock on medium-high heat until boiling. Add roasted red peppers and let simmer.

3. Heat a large saute pan with canola oil and saute onion, carrot, shallots, celery, and garlic until browned (about ten minutes). Add tomatoes and heat through. Transfer vegetables to soup pot. Use 1/2 cup sherry to deglaze the saute pan and add to soup pot. Cook over medium-high heat, allowing mixture to reduce to half, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

4. The next step is to puree the soup. I have found that this is both difficult and dangerous to do while the soup is hot unless you have an immersion blender. If you don't, let it cool a bit before transferring it to a blender or food processor and pureeing until smooth.

5. Return to soup pot on low heat. Whisk in cream, lemon juice, remaining 1/2 cup sherry, and the optional hot sauce. Add salt and pepper to your taste, simmer for ten minutes, and serve!

Every once in a while I get on a homemade granola kick, and every time I am amazed at how good it is. This particular kick was inspired by a project referenced in an earlier post: in the process of weeding through my stacks of old cooking magazines, I came across this recipe from Molly Wizenberg, who writes at Orangette and, until recently, was regularly featured in Bon Appetit. I'm not sure why she is no longer writing for Bon Appetit, as her article was always one of the highlights of the magazine for me. Her book was really amazing, too. But I digress.

Here's the thing. Homemade granola is exponentially better than store-bought granola in just about every way. It is cheaper, you have total control of the ingredients (which means you can control the sweetness and fat), it tastes far fresher, and it stores beautifully. I made a batch a week ago, and I am amazed every morning at how light it is; I don't think I have ever tasted a store-bought granola that I would describe as "light."  Anyway, I strongly encourage you to give this a go. Homemade granola, vanilla yogurt, and a cup of coffee - in my world, there is really no better way to start the day.

The recipe below is a tweaked version of the Wizenberg recipe. It is infinitely adaptable - feel free to switch out the nuts, add seeds, change the sweetener, throw in some dried fruit, crumble up a chocolate bar - and will probably look different the next time I make it. In the Bon Appetit article in which her recipe was featured, Wizenberg recommends aiming for about 1/2 cup of liquid for every five to six cups of dry ingredients. She also strongly recommends allowing the granola to get golden. This is a delicate matter, as it can go from golden to scorched in seconds, so keep an eye on it.




Everyday Granola
Adapted from Molly Wizenberg
Makes about 5 cups

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3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I use sliced almonds; she uses pecans)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (the original calls for unsweetened; I use sweetened)
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
Optional stir-ins: 1 cup dried fruit, 1 cup chopped up bittersweet chocolate

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment.

Mix first six ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir maple syrup and oil in saucepan over medium-low heat until smooth.

Pour syrup mixture over oat mixture; toss.

Spread on prepared sheet.

Bake until golden, stirring every 10 minutes, about 40 minutes total.

Once cool, add optional stir-ins. Store in an airtight container.

I have kind of a love-hate relationship with my slow cooker. There was no slow cooker included among my wedding shower haul; in fact I did not own one until about a year ago, so I'm kind of late coming to the game. The thing is, I love the idea of the slow cooker, and for the past year I've been checking out slow cooker cookbooks from the library, reading blogs, searching online for recipes, and trying desperately to make it work for our family.  I constantly find something that sounds like it will be really good, but four times out of five, it ends up overcooked. I almost feel like my slow cooker is a bit too good; I always follow the lesser recommended time, but more often than not my dinner is mush. So I've still got some experimenting to do.

On the cookbook front, I'll take a moment to highly recommend Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: it's from Stephanie O'Dea of crockpot365 and is chock full of good stuff. I particularly like the chatty tone and the inclusion of personal comments and occasionally snarky reflections with each recipe. So if you haven't seen it, and you are interested in upping your crock pot game, check it out.

This recipe, however, comes from the old stalwart Fix It and Forget It. Not my favorite cookbook, admittedly, but I occasionally find a few gems. This recipe was super easy, the chicken remained very tender (I have more luck with dark meat in the slow cooker than with white meat, as a general rule), and the flavor was nice. The potatoes were a little soft, but it actually worked in this recipe. I served it over rice with mango pickle, plain yogurt, and grocery-store naan. Yum.

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
Makes: 6 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 - 10 hours

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1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, quartered
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks, about 2 cups
1 apple, chopped
2 tbsp. curry powder
1 14 1/2 oz can chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped

1. Place all ingredients in slow cooker. Mix together gently.

2. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or on high 5 hours, or until chicken is tender but not dry.

3. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Spinach and feta has to be one of my favorite flavor combinations of all time: there is just something about how creamy feta balances the delicate texture of cooked spinach. Growing up in Chicago, spanikopita was available at just about every corner family restaurant and I have long loved it. This recipe replaces the typical phyllo dough for store-bought pizza crust. The result is a super yummy, super easy weeknight dinner that was a huge hit around here.

While I have not yet actually done this, I like the potential adaptability of this recipe. There are so many things you could seal into two triangles of pizza dough, from the obvious pizza ingredients for a quick calzone to an adaptation of samosas, with potatoes and peas and curry. I got this recipe from the free magazine they give you at my grocery store if you spend $50 or more. You never know where a good recipe is going to pop up.


Spinach Feta Turnovers
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 10 minutes
Serves 6

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1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray large cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook 4 to 5 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally. Add spinach and stir until well combined. Remove skillet from heat; stir in feta, dill and pepper. Let filling stand at room temperature 5 minutes to cool slightly.
3. Unroll dough onto prepared pan. Cut dough into 6 equal squares. In center of dough squares, evenly divide spinach mixture. Fold 1 corner of dough over filling to the opposite corner to form a triangle. Press edges of dough to seal tightly. With sharp knife, cut 3 small slits in top of each turnover to allow steam to escape. Brush tops with beaten egg.
4. Bake turnovers 10 to 12 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is hot. Serve turnovers warm.

When I started this blog back in October, one of my goals was to bake more bread. I'm now several months in and, looking back, I've done alright. I feel like with every new bread recipe, I get a better sense of the basics of breadmaking, and I've enjoyed seeking out new recipes to try. If Finn does indeed become a baker, maybe I can convince him to give me a few shifts in his bakery.

I think one of the greatest lessons I've learned is that baking a homemade loaf of bread does not have to be that difficult. It takes some time (though, in many instances, not as much as I would have guessed), but the hands-on is fairly minimal and the payoff extraordinary. The cost effectiveness is pretty remarkable, too, when I see what the grocery store bakery charges for a loaf of whole wheat artisanal bread. Admittedly, I have the privilege of being home with my boys this year so I can get a loaf of bread going in the morning while they are playing...but I think I could just as easily make a loaf in the evening in the hours between dinner and bedtime. Bread turns a simple dinner (soup, for example) into something kind of special; I think of it as an upgrade of sorts. It also makes your house smell really good.

Today is a great example of the use of bread to step up a meal. My friend dropped off a great big container of gumbo for our family to try for dinner. Since the effort required by me for this meal is exactly zero, I thought I'd make some bread to go with it. I found an interesting recipe in what I think is the very first cookbook I ever owned: Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (1995 edition). I remember getting my hands on this book when I was in college and realizing for the first time that cooking could be a joyous process as well as a means to an end. It's still one of my favorites. As an added bonus, it's got a great basic illustrated guide to making yeast breads that is super useful for getting started.

I was looking for something kind of dense and flavorful, and I came upon this recipe. Unlike most of the breads I've been baking lately, this is not a yeast bread. Rather, it's a savory batter bread. I honestly don't think I've ever made a savory batter bread before; batter breads in my world generally come with bananas or pumpkin in them. The wonderful advantage to a batter bread is that it takes minutes to throw together and is then ready to put in the oven; no rising, no punching, no kneading. I made the recipe exactly as written  and it turned out really well. I think I would cut back on the sugar next time, as it was a bit too sweet in combination with the herbs, but I will definitely be making this again. I would also consider trying different herb combinations, or maybe different savory ingredients like olives or sun dried tomatoes.  I didn't get any help from Finn on this one; in fact, I had it made and in the oven before he even realized I was making bread. Emmett was in the mei tai, so I guess I can give him a cooking credit here.

Yogurt and Herb Bread
adapted from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

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15 minutes to prepare (seriously!)
40 to 45 minutes to bake
Yield: 1 medium sized loaf

a little butter or oil for the pan
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup plain yogurt
5 tbsp. melted butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey or sugar
2 tsp. dill
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. basil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a medium sized loaf pan.

2. Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the dried herbs.

3. In a separate bowl, beat together the yogurt, butter, eggs, and honey/sugar.  Pour this mixture into a well in the dry ingredients.  Mix with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended (it will be stiff).

4. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it sit for about 5 minutes then rap the pan sharply to remove the bread.  Cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

If your love for cooking and recipes is anything like mine (and I would venture to guess that for many of you it is), you have a recipe problem. Not a problem with the recipes per se but a problem with organizing the recipes in a way that they are usable. They are everywhere, in all kinds of formats, and they are driving me bananas.

Way back when I was in library school, I picked up a key phrase in the world of library and information science. It went something like this: information is only as usable as it is findable. I'm sure that the scholar who coined the phrase said it far more elegantly than that, but you get the idea. What's the point of having a bazillion recipes if, when you are making your grocery list for the week, you can't find the recipe you want?

At present, my recipes are in the following places:

• in cookbooks - These are the easiest to find as they have indexes and are all together on a shelf. They subsequently get used the most.
• in magazines - If the magazine in question is Everyday Food, then they are on the top shelf in chronological order going back to 2005. A print index is occasionally released, and I think there is an index on the website as well. If the magazine in question is any of the countless other magazines to which I subscribe, the recipes are likely still in the magazine with the corners bent over. They are then in a huge pile waiting for the day when I get a system figured out. On a side note, I find it hilarious that all of my January magazines want me to "get organized" when one of the areas in my life most needing organization is...figuring out what to do with my magazines.
• in a folder on my hard drive - Those that I download from the Internet get saved in an aptly named "Recipes" folder. This does not mean I ever look at them again.
• in a folder in my email - Those recipes that I receive by email often end up here. Per the above re: ever looking at them again.
• in my allrecipes account - Those recipes that I save in allrecipes get saved in the "recipe box" feature.  The catch is remembering what recipes I saved there when I am looking for a recipe.
• on my pinterest board - Again, there if I remember to look.
• on sheets of paper in a folder on my shelf - These are generally recipes that I find online then print out or recipes that I photocopy from books I check out from the library. This collection may also include recipes clipped from magazines or recipes given to me by friends. To be filed into aforementioned desired system, of course.
• on this blog - With a grand total of 33 entries at present, I can generally remember what recipes I've included here...for now.

Does anyone out there have this figured out? Or have any brilliant ideas?Anyone?