Ah, feel the burn...

There were a number of meals that I grew up with that I really have little love for as an adult. Just mentioning ham and bean soup can trigger a gag reflex. Another of those is Chili. My biggest problem with chili is the beans. Red kidney beans are just wrong! Ok, I know that many people really enjoy them, but I just can't do them. And I luckily married a man that also has little use for them.

One day I stumbled on this recipe from Ezra Pound Cake for Taco Soup. I looked at the picture and thought, that looks like Chili. Part of me thought, bleh, but the other part was curious. I wanted to try it, but I really didn't want a big batch of it hanging around if we didn't like it. Fate stepped in and I was slated to prepare a meal for a family that recently had a baby. I decided, this would be perfect. With the size of this recipe, even pulling out 2 or 3 bowls there would still be plenty for the family in question, and we'd get to give it a shot. I researched Fritos and found that they were nut safe (shocking!) and we were set to go.

I made up the batch and it smelled quite yummy. I didn't add the called for pinto beans before serving up bowls for Sean and myself. Both kids flat out refused to try it. The boy kept saying, you said Tacos! Well, it is tacos, just in a bowl. Nothing would sway him. The girl just looked at my bowl and said, No! Sean and I both dug in and it was Yummy. We were a bit sad to actually give it away. And it still had the black beans, something we both regularly turn our noses up at. Go figure. Enough other good stuff and we can handle the black beans.

This weekend I decided to make a batch as the cafeteria at work is closed and this seemed like a nice thing to have handy. I have made a few tweaks to Ezra's original to make it suit is better (obviously removing most of the beans).

Bad Wife, Bad, Bad Wife

I love potatoes. I don't think I've ever met a potato dish that didn't call out to me. Add in any sort of dairy and I'm in heaven. I grew up adoring potato soup. And the week I had my tonsils removed, all I ate was mashed potatoes. Ok, there's probably some sort of therapy issue there. Oh well.

Somehow I married a man that doesn't like potatoes. And yes, Scotch-Irish boy that doesn't love potatoes, what's up with that! One night about 2 years ago he tried some garlic baby baked potatoes after the house reeked of garlic and he really liked them. He's tried a number of different potato conconctions and finding they aren't all poison. Yea for me!

Leeks are another thing he hates. Potato Leek soup is one of my favorites, but as soon as he smells the leeks cooking, he starts turning up his nose. Yesterday I decided I wanted some potato leek soup, and I had a lovely leek in the fridge. For some reason I got it in my head to add some garlic. Do you sense a theme? I finished the soup and had it on the counter. He walked into the house after being outside with the kids and announced something smelled good. He tried the soup and said it was yummy. I then told him what it was. He hates when I do that. I offered him some for his lunch and he declined. But I am going to work on him. Although I'm not sure why, that would mean I would have to share!

Am I thinking about beer because it is October?

Ok, so Oktoberfest is actually in September, not October, but we Americans aren't known for standing on tradition. I'm not actually a beer fan, but I do love German food. German potato salad is one of my favorites. For my husband's birthday, we made a trip to Full Throttle Bottles to replenish his beer stock. As if it was in fear of running out! I think that got my brain heading towards thoughts of beer. Although, he purchased a lovely bottle of chocolate wine for me on the trip, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Today I decided I'd raid some of his older beer and make some beer bread. It just sounded so yummy on a cool yet sunny Seattle day. I really wanted some cheddar beer bread, but already had plans to use the remains of my cheddar cheese making Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes and I didn't really feel like making a trip to the grocery. So I started thinking about what might sound good and what was handy. I had some lovely parm and garlic, and well, how can you go wrong with that combo!

When it came out of the oven, Sean was ready to jump all over it. My hope was to have a bit with dinner and then I'd have some left to join my potato leek soup this week. He opted to cut some and start sharing it with the kids, the neighbor, and the neighbor's kids. Blargh! Luckily there is still half a loaf left, so I should be good for a day or two. Next time, I hide the bread!

You'll notice I've split the butter in half. I did this due to a lucky accident I had with a beer bread mix a number of years ago. I wasn't paying attention and accidentally added the melted butter to the mix. I realized too late, so I melted another 1/4 cup and poured it on top. It made the box mix so much better.

Black Cat Cookies

Today I was trapped at home with two sick kids. By early afternoon they were feeling better and getting ratherly squirrely. I've been wanting to make RecipeGirls' Black Cat Cookies and this seemed like a perfect time.

I followed her recipe without any changes. I did make one small mistake, I should have used my medium scoop rather than my large scoop, so I ended up with 20 cookies rather than 24. As a result, I had to cook them 15 minutes. Oh well, note to self for next time. I also didn't put sticks in them. While cute, I'm quite happy to get my fingers dirty eating them.

I am planning to have kids make this Sunday at a Halloween Craft Party. I'm going to premake and measure the dough, then each kid will smash, whisker and decorate 2 cookies. Nothing like chocolate cookies.

Sadly I do not know of a nut safe black chocolate. :( I guess I'll just need to keep looking.

Ian's cookies left, Lucy in the middle, then mine.

This made for some fun this afternoon and helped get us through a hump where they were bound to get into trouble.

Fall is here, time for meat in the oven...

Last week the weather began to turn here in Seattle. I pulled out the flannet sheets, made some hot chocolate, and broke out the long sleeved tshirts. Of course, as soon as I did that, we are back in 70 degree weather. You're welcome Seattle.

While it was cold, I decided it was time for a big, warm meal. I just happened to have a lovely Living Social Whole Foods deal and was going to be near a Whole Foods, so I decided to look for a brisket. They had 1. It was fate telling me to make a brisket! I actually didn't take the whole brisket, it was more than my family needed, and the lovely people at Whole Foods will give you a smaller piece if that's what you want.
This recipe calls for a big brisket. This recipe is a party recipe. Or you have a family of serious carnivores. I've made it with as small a brisket as 1-1/4 lb. I generally do a 2-3 pound brisket. I don't reduce the sauce. The sauce is my favorite part! Especially as it drips down your chin! So don't be put off by the chunk of meat it says in the recipe, use whatever size you're comfortable using.

This wonderful recipe is from an old friend in Ohio. She got it from someone when she lived in Louisianna. I have lost this recipe a couple times and she has kindly shared it again.

30 seconds too late

Someone asked me if I would help them out by providing some muffins for an event. We chatted about what to make and settled on some pumpkin muffins. I happened to have some canned pumpkin guts in the pantry (doesn't everyone?) I pulled it out and opened it. I like to make sure everything from the pantry looks good after it is open before doing mise en place for all the known (daily used) baking ingredients. I opened the can, it looked good, and 30 seconds later I get a message, never mind, I don't need them.

Blargh!

So now I have an open can of pumpkin guts and I'm wondering what to do. I had scanned recipes for pumpkin chip muffins, so I decided half the can would go to that endeavor and half would go to a pumpkin pie. The pie will make the hubby very happy as it is one of his favs. So I looked at a few different recipes and came up with this. I might add some buttermilk next time to up the moisture. But I wanted to avoid the huge amounts of oil that are in many pumpkin bread/muffin recipes. It was a huge success. And when I asked my son for a nibble of his he replied, no, you can get your own.

And in case you can't tell, I'm not really a pumpkin fan, hence pumpkin guts. I gave it a proper name in the recipe.

Waffles!

Who doesn't like waffles? I mean really, those adorable little holes that suck up whatever yummy goodness you put on them? I remember loving to pop them in the toaster and gobble them up as soon as they popped. It wasn't until I was older that I realized waffles came from an appliance other than the toaster! Not long after I was married I purchased a waffle iron. I used it a few times with a simple box mix, and they were ok, but not great. I would probably pull out the waffle iron once a year. But it was handy to have around.

5 years ago I gave birth to a beautiful son with peanut and tree nut allergies. As a result, processed food and box mixes have been removed from my pantry. I started working to find the best recipes for many items. Our family loves Brinner (breakfast for dinner), we make waffles or pancakes, bacon, sausage, fried potatos, fruit, and orange juice and end the day with a bang! There are many great recipes out there, but the other essential part of the recipe for me was simplicity. I started with a simple recipe and I combined the flavors I use in my angel food cake, almond and vanilla, to make a waffle that tastes good even plain. These make a lovely, flavorful waffle that are great topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Brinner is served!

Meh....What's up Doc?

Two years ago my in-laws were visiting. My father-in-law and husband built a deck on the front of our house and a play house for my children. My mother-in-law watched the children. I went to work. I would come home each day to find more things done to my home. One day I came home to find that my mil had found an old cookbook on my shelf. It was a cookbook she gave me for my bridal shower almost 20 years earlier. Each family member filled in a page of the book with a favorite recipe. That summer and fall I prepared a large number of the recipes in this book with my children and took pictures of them preparing the food. I also scanned in all the recipes. I then compiled it into a book for my mother in law.

This recipe is from that book. It is for a food that I'm not overly fond of, carrot cake. While I was making the book for my mil, I was doing my best to prepare as many of the recipes as possible. I skipped things that would kill me, like shrimp ones. I also adjusted those with nuts or just plain skipped peanut butter ones. But I ended up doing almost all the recipes. That includes making carrot cake. The kids and I made it and took it to a neighborhood party. It was a huge hit. I started getting requests to make it for neighborhood birthdays and other parties. So I have made it a few times and the carrot cake people all seem to really like it. I actually will eat it. Anything with cream cheese frosting I'll eat at least a bit just for the frosting.

I'm strong to the finish....

I am generally not a healthy eater. Ok, I'd rather live on chocolate and potato chips. But now I have children and I'm over 40, so I try to eat better. One thing we do regularly is baby spinach salad. My friend Kathy shared her wonderful dressing and we just love it. Now, it says it makes 8-10 servings. I try to use about half of a normal serving just because I worked out the calories on it. :) And I like to add extra goodies to it.

Brownies for babysitting

Saturday I was supposed to have my monthly afternoon of crafting. I host a Friday night event every other week in my home, but once a month I go somewhere else and am completely without children. It is *me* time. This month I had my date all set and was ready to go when one child was invited to a birthday party, but the other was not. I debated what to do, and then finally put out a status on Facebook whining about my need for a playdate for my other child. Luckily one of his classmate's mom was kind enough to jump in and help me out. In return for taking him for the day I prepared a pan of brownies. That same morning I had checked out 3 new cookbooks and found this recipe. It was for a 13x9 pan of brownies, so I made 1.5x of the batch to make two 9x9 pans. I couldn't make brownies and then keep none at home.

These brownies are rockin' I tweaked it and rather than using 6 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips, I used 3 types of chips equalling the weight. Next time I'm going to add more chips to replace the cup of nuts I omitted. And maybe next time I'll add a layer of caramel to try to recreate the Dorothy Lane Market Killer Brownies. The recipe says Fudgy, cakey, fudgy, cakey...can't make up your mind? These brownies combine the best of both worlds - the fudge brownie's ulltramoist texture, and the nice rise of a cake brownie.

Shaken, never stirred

I can honestly say that I am not a James Bond fan. Never have been. I believe I have managed to watch one movie in its entirety, but only one. But I do like the line. Especially now that I have found martinis. I number of years ago a friend introduced me to a dirty martini. It was nice. I do enjoy olives. But it didn't make me rush out and order one on a regular basis.

In October of 2009 my husband and I had fun doing "30 days of cocktails" We purchased copious amounts of alcohol and each night we would pick one and make cocktails. Ever since then we have kept a fairly well stocked liquor cabinet. In the month of April I felt the need to once again consume copious amounts of alcohol. On two different evenings scrapbooking I made martinis, lemon drops one night and chocolate martinis another. I found martinis that did make me rush out and have more. I have purchased my third batch of meyers lemons so I can create another round of lemon drops. The second batch was consumed during a ceramics party. Ok, so yes, I craft and I drink, it works for me.

Maybe with enough martinis I could get the appeal of Bond, James Bond.

50 pounds of mini chocolate chips

You might think, who in their right mind would buy 50 pounds of mini chocolate chips. You're looking at her. With a child with nut allergies, you spend time finding things that will be safe. Guittard chocolate is one of those things. Luckily our local grocery carries Guittard chocolate chips. But alas, they do not carry mini-chips, and there are just some days you want a to use mini-chocolate chips. After a couple months deliberating such a purchase, I decided, oh what the heck, just do it. I did let those around me know I was doing such a purchase in case anyone else wanted some chips. The price is actually comparable to grocery store chips, and well, it's a much nicer chocolate. Yes, I do have 3 large (10 lb) Guittard blocks in my kitchen as well. I'm a fan of their chocolate.

I ended up with 30 pounds of mini-chips and decided I needed to try out some new things. I admit, I never had chocolate chip pancakes before. Wow are they good! And I plan some chocolate chip bagels, in my copious free time. But my new favorite thing is Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. As I mentioned in a previous post, I love banana nut bread. But our home now being nut free, I don't get to indulge unless I buy a slice at work or some other event. And honestly, my homemade version is much better. (modest, huh?) I have found that the chocolate chips make up for losing my beloved banana nut bread.

Luck O' the Irish, Eh?

I set myself a task about a month ago to come up with a cookie tray. I wanted a mix of cookies, not just simple chocolate chip cookies. Why did I decide to do this? Because I'm insane? Probably. For my childrens' school auction I signed up to bring 2 desserts for the dessert dash. Don't know what a dessert dash is? Well, each person at a table says they will put in X amount of money towards a dessert. The money is pooled. Then you are competing against the other tables to select a dessert. Fun, right? Anyone who knows me will tell you, there is nothing fun sounding in this to me but creating desserts.

I decided I wanted to come up with something different for my desserts. First I came up with a tray of mousse shots. I found little cups and spoons and everything. I'm sure I'll blog about that later as I tried out a few different recipes for that as well. Then I decided the cookie tray. That's how I came up with my task to select a unique mix of cookies. My co-workers were great. I took in a set of cookies one day and made them rate them most to least favorite. I also bribed them with cinnamon rolls that day. It helped me pick 3 great recipes for my tray. I decided to look for a few more. I then stumbled on Maple Sugar Cookies in the All American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett. The picture was of these beautiful maple leaf cookies with little bits of sugar. I saw them and thought, oh those look so pretty, I must make them. Of course, I have no maple leaf cookie cutter, but that was quickly remedied by a shamrock in honor of the season.

That's where the fun really began. Yes, I really do know the meaning of the word fun, honest. I set out to find maple sugar that was nut safe. Online they all seemed to be packaged in a facility that packaged other products with nuts, so that was out. I called my MIL who lives in NH near a maple sugar house and she talked to the owners. They didn't actually make maple sugar, but knew somewhere that did. In the mean time I found a sugar house in VT and emailed the owners. They were great. They took the time to answer my questions and address my concerns. I can't say enough good things about Mount Mansfield Maple Products. If you need maple goods, I say, check them out. They are awesome. 

Happy St. Patty's Day!

For the past few years, I've had a tradition of trying to kill my husband for St. Patrick's Day. You may think that sounds a bit harsh and well, rather stupid to admit publicly, but I think saying it is murder would be tough to prove. Technically, he pulls the trigger, I just hand him the gun.

I don't remember when I actually stumbled upon the recipe for Steak and Guinness pie. It's been enough years ago to have actually blurred. I don't know what I was looking for that would have made me find this. I'm not really a big beef eater. I assume I was trying to find some good recipes for a St. Patrick's Day dinner. I found this. And it has been a yearly staple ever since. And when you see the terrible (yes, terrible!) ingredients, you'll see why I only make this once a year. For you see, I do truly love my husband, and I don't want him dead, but he does so love this little slice of meat heaven.

Angel Food Cake vs Angel Foodcake

I love Angel Food Cake. I didn't used to, but I've come to appreciate it. Especially with the lovely recipe I'm about to share. I bake for special occassions at work. Ok, I just bake and make up occassions, but whatever. We had an intern this past summer and he celebrated a birthday while being part of our team. We all went for lunch and I made a cake for his birthday. One of my co-workers and I spoke and I said I'd make angel food cake and she agreed to bring the strawberries. I mentioned my plan in front of the team and got nods of approval.

The cake arrived for said party, and a number of my teammates looked confused. Now, I should mention that I work with a diverse group, a number of which English is a second language. And well, I talk fast. So they all thought it was Angel Foodcake. I'm not sure what foodcake is, but they seemed surprised by what arrived. It seemed to be pleasantly surpised as all but one snarfed it down. He proclaimed it too sweet. A concept I truly don't understand.

This wonderful recipe is thanks to Eric Todd a wonderful pastry chef from Seattle. If I could find him, I'd link to him. I would even ask his permission to include this. But he seems to have disappeared. I love this recipe and I misplace it on a regular basis. My original goal was for just this type of recipes, ones I love but can't keep track of! And yes, I know I promised more lemon recipes, I'm getting there. Just with all the baking I've done this week that required egg yolks, I had more than a dozen egg whites calling out to be used!

Lemons into Lemonade

So generally when someone says that, they have had something sad happen and they are trying to make the best of it. Well, not so in this case. I had a wonderful thing happen, I was the lucky recipient of box of lemons from Greenclogs. I am going to post a number of recipes that will use these wonderful lemons, but the most basic, most simple, most perfect use is lemonade. I had used a number of lemons for their wonderful rind to steep in vodka for limoncello cream. My lovely daughter announced, I want lemonade! The DH replied, I don't think we have any lemonade. I looked at him, with a lemon in my hand, and said, um, how about lemons?

Lemonade is really quite simple, and one wonderful tip, make a simple syrup rather than using straight sugar, and you won't get a grainy batch of sugar in the bottom of your container

Which level of hades is the grocery?

I hate going to the grocery store. I will do just about anything to avoid it. This includes sounding pathetic while talking to my husband to convince him to stop and pick up one or two items for me. I have most of my groceries delivered. Why yes, I am yuppy scum. Safeway delivers for $5. I'm a working mom, it's worth $5 to get back that time in my day. Plus it keeps me from doing impulse shopping.

This weekend I saw that we were out of mini-wheats. I also saw that the new Costco coupon book has mini-wheats. So I wanted to hold out until that coupons start. To ensure we had breakfast (Sean, Lucy & I eat mini-wheats), I needed to do a bit of cooking. Did I mention I hate going to the grocery? Times that by 100 and you have Costco. :) Don't get me wrong, I love Costco, I just need to be in the right frame of mind.
I took a look around my kitchen and I had stuff for Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner) Sunday night. I had the makings for pancakes (tried a new recipe, going to tinker with it, but it's a good base), sausage, bacon and hash browns. I decided to make enough for breakfast for most of the week. After the kids were in bed I realized that I didn't really want that for breakfast, I wanted coffee cake. I decided to look around for a new recipe. I was rewarded with this loveliness, Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake. Mmmm...

And all so I could avoid going to the grocery. And the kids still had pancakes for breakfast, I was the only one to snag coffee cake. Mwahaha...it's good to be the mom!

I'm obviously not a vampire... Garlic! Again!

In case it wasn't already obvious, I'm not a vampire. For that matter, I never enjoyed the Anne Rice books, nor have I read any of the Twilight series. Good thing with my obsession for garlic. Yes, it probably is an obsession, not just a love. As soon as I see something with the world garlic in it, my head will twist any direction necessary to check it out.

Last week a friend shared that her husband made garlic risotto for dinner. Garlic risotto? Well, of course, why not! And then my research began. I found a lovely roasted garlic risotto and had to give it a shot. It was great. And the true miracle, my husband loved it. Until now he has refused to touch risotto. Granted, the problem is I make mushroom risotto and he hates mushrooms. So he took a tiny spoonful and tried it, eyes lit up, grabbed the spoon and heaped it on his plate. I only made a half recipe because until now I didn't really have to share, plus I was down to two heads of garlic. Well, I did, with Thing 2, and she can chow, but it wasn't like sharing with the whole family. I also made this as a side dish, not a main. And the main, why chicken marsala, of course. Let's throw all those calories in at once!