Easter! Nummy Bread!

I was inspired by my Mother last night.  She said she was making Pork Roast for Easter dinner and we have a guest in town so...it seemed fitting to make a nice dinner.  It was great.

Roast Pork w. Mustard and Herb coating (I don't like the word coating, it feels kind of gross.  But I can't call is a rub or a glaze because it's not either of those things.) It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Found it on epicurious.com.  Also made Seared Rainbow Chard w. Leeks (I added beet greens too) also found on epicurious.com, had I been away from my computer I would have used my handy-dandy iPhone app. Unnecessary statement.  Lastly, I threw together some mashed red potatoes w. garlic.  The most exciting part is that the Swiss Chard, the leeks, the beet greens and the green (!!) garlic all came from my farm share. Oh farm share, how I love you.

The highlight of today is that I am making a Banana Cranberry Walnut Cornmeal Quick Bread. I can't wait to show it to you. I tweeked the recipe from Joy the Baker. Here it is for you.

Banana Cranberry Walnut Cornmeal Quick Bread

adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients

• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup medium or fine ground cornmeal
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup honey (or pure maple syrup if you have it on hand)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 super ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (reserving a small handful for decorating the top)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour one 9x5x3-inch loaf pan, or two slightly smaller loaf pans.  Set aside the greased and floured loaf pans.  

In a large bowl, whisk together both flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder.  

In a smaller bowl whisk together honey, eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, bananas and vanilla extract.  Make sure you really mash up the bananas.  If you don't have buttermilk - and who does, you can make some.  I took a cup of milk and added 1 1/2 teaspoons of cream of tartar.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until blended.  

Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.  

Divide batter between two smaller loaf pans or into one large loaf pan. Spread evenly in pan and tap out the any bubbles.  Add the whole walnut halves and place in preheated oven.  I probably should have made two smaller loaves because I have bits of batter spilling over onto the bottom of my oven.  For smaller loaves bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes of clean.  For the larger loaf, bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. I baked mine for like 80 minutes. (yikes!)

Cool loaves in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.  Invert onto a plate or board.  Serve warm with butter. 

xo

things to remember

50 WAYS TO COPE WITH STRESS

Get up 15 minutes earlier. Prepare for the morning the night before. Don’t rely on your memory ... write things down. Repair things that don’t work properly. MAKE DUPLICATE KEYS. SAY “NO” MORE OFTEN. Set priorities in your life. Avoid negative people. Always make copies of important papers. ASK FOR HELP WITH JOBS YOU DISLIKE. Break large tasks into bite sized portions. Look at problems as challenges. Smile more.  Be prepared for rain.  SCHEDULE A PLAY TIME INTO EVERY DAY. Avoid tight fitting clothes. Take a bubble bath.  Believe in you. Visualize yourself winning.  Develop a sense of humor. Stop thinking tomorrow will be better today. Have goals for yourself. SAY HELLO TO A STRANGER. Look up at the stars. PRACTISE BREATHING SLOWLY. DO BRAND NEW THINGS. Stop a bad habit.  TAKE STOCK OF YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS. Do it today. Strive for excellence, NOT perfection. LOOK AT A WORK OF ART. Maintain your weight. Plant a tree. Stand up and stretch. Always have a plan B.  Learn a new doodle. Learn to meet your own needs.  BECOME A BETTER LISTENER. Know your limits and let others know them too.  THROW A PAPER AIRPLANE. Exercise every day. Get to work early. Clean out one closet.  Take a different route to work.  LEAVE WORK EARLY (WITH PERMISSION).  Remember you always have options. Quit trying to “fix” other people.  GET ENOUGH SLEEP. Praise other people. RELAX, TAKE EACH DAY AT A TIME ... YOU HAVE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

got this from cup of jo and she found it here. easy enough, right.

Friends and good ol' comfort cures

I just got back from a week out of LA. It was great, it was needed and even though I've come back a little sick (I think OR it's allergies) it was awesome.

We road tripped to San Francisco for my birthday and for Rory's CD recording. We stopped in Monterey, had a birthday beer.

Checked into our hotel, rested and relaxed and went out to celebrate my 30th birthday. Went to the Elbo Room in the Mission, a bar that has arcade games and a photo booth plus great cocktails. This is where Rory surprised me with one of my birthday presents.

Then we went to Delfina, a lovely Italian (DUH!) restaurant in the Mission. We had a lamb ragu, a spicy cauliflower pasta, roast chicken and a buttermilk panna cotta with balsamic strawberries. Yum. Yum. Yum. We also had a lesson in determining if our wine was good or not.  We got a bad bottle, thought it was okay and the sommelier wasn't so sure, so she tried it and brought us a different bottle. We were thankful that she was so honest. I enjoy San Francisco, a lot.  Rory had two awesome shows and I'm pretty sure he's going to be happy with his album. 

Then I drove 9 hours to Vegas - long long trip but I drove through San Luis Reservoir and it was gorgeous. Had birthday dinner with my family. 30 candles!

Hung out with this guy, Aadi. He's pretty adorable.

Got to hug my super pregnant friend, Tiff, while hanging out with a ton of friends.

And now, I'm home and a little under the weather, so, I made chicken soup. Easy and delicious. 

Old Fashion Chicken Soup 
slightly adapted from here
serves 12 or more

16 cups chicken stock (low sodium or not)
1 4lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I forgot this step!)
2 leeks, sliced
8 oz dried wide egg noodles (I poured the whole bag in...oops!)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley


Break down your chicken. I demolished my chicken...not the way I was supposed to I don't think. You can always buy pre-brokendown chicken or you can goggle breaking down a chicken and follow someones steps.


Combine chicken stock and chicken in a large heavy pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Take the chicken out, let it cool. Let broth cool and skim the fat off the top. Discard the skin and bones (you can keep the bones for your own stock! I forgot and put the bones into a freshly bleached sink), tear chicken into bite-size pieces and reserve.


Return the broth to a simmer, add onion, carrots and celery.  Simmer about 8 minutes.

Melt butter in a heavy skillet, add the mushrooms and leeks, saute until the mushrooms are a little brown.  Add to the broth, stir in the noodles, parsley and chicken.  Simmer until noodles are tender, season with pepper and salt if you need it. And enjoy. 


xo

project in mind...

Hey you.  You who read my blog. :) I have a project brewing in my brain and I'd love a little help.  Is there something you want to learn how to cook?  Or do you have a go to meal that delicious and satisfying that you make after a hard days work?  If you're willing to share, I'd love to know about it!!

what do you get

When you put a rutabaga, a fennel bulb and a celeriac root together?  SOUP! Simple, simple soup.  I'm home alone, it's later than making dinner time, I'm hungry. I have the last of my root veggies from the CSA so, I made soup.  It was a little nippy today, why not?

This is similar to that soup I made at home awhile ago.  I think you could probably throw anything in a pot cook it up and eat it. Sometimes it tastes good, sometimes its terrible...this soup is AWESOME. As awesome, if not more awesome was my garnish.  I made a sorta tzatziki, this I could eat by itself every morning, it's fresh and simple. Yum!

Ruta-celer-nnel Root Soup w. Simple Tzatsiki

Makes 2 bowls of soup

• 1 medium celeriac root, roots & dirt removed, roughly chopped
• 1 small/medium rutabaga, rough chop, sans skin
• 1 small fennel bulb, rough chop
• 2 garlic cloves, whole & smashed
• red pepper flakes
• olive oil
• salt & paper to taste

First, heat a saucepan on medium heat, add olive oil and garlic, let this crackle a bit, shake in enough red pepper to give it a kick.  You know your palate I don't, so, if I told you how much, it might be too much.  Then add the fennel, rutabaga and celeriac root and saute for maybe 10 minutes.  Then add water (or broth, if you want) to cover the veggies.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes or so.  Just keep checking to see when the bigger pieces of veggie are soft.

While the soup is simmering, in one bowl put 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt, a small Persian cucumber with the skin cut off and diced teeny tiny.  Add the zest of a quarter of a small lemon, then the juice from that quarter and stir. That's it!

Once the soup is done, pour into a big enough bowl that you can put your emulsion blender into and blend until smooth.  Put in your favorite bowl add the simple tsatzki and eat up. So good!!

Unfortunately, I ate two of these after!

change of plans

The plan for this post was to talk about an enchilada recipe I made a few weeks back. ... again, I forgot to take pictures, I think. I'll work on that maybe I should put my camera in the kitchen so I REMEMBER to take pictures of my food....

So, here's what I wanted to talk about.  Libya.  All I listen to when I'm in the car alone is NPR, non-stop.  It's where I get my news, my information.  For the last several weeks every time I've heard anything about Libya I start to cry.  It's not sobbing but it's this emotional frustration and sadness for the people living in Libya.  This morning there was the announcement that the NY Times is missing 4 journalists and there was this wave of fear and empathy for them, their safety, their family members and friends.  Then there was the story about the people living on the outskirts of the conflict torn cities, they go on with life sort of normal just waiting for something to go wrong, terribly wrong.  So wrong that they could lose their loved ones.  Then there's all these stories about how Colonel Qaddafi refuses to step down and threatens his own people...pays people to kill his own people...it's unbelievably tragic.  It's sickening.  There's the story of the immigrant workers who are stranded in Libya and can't do anything to get out because they don't have the money or they don't have their papers...I mean, there was even a woman who was saying that she was working for an American diplomat, who has fled the country and has left her totally stuck with no offer of.  Fine, I don't know the details but this is what it seems.  And then there's the Libyan who is doing everything he can to help, he brings the stranded immigrats food and water and whatever else he can do.

kjfhgiurnvkjf I don't even know what to say.  I'm horrified by the situation.  I feel fucking terrible and I wish there was something, anything, I can do.  I think I (we) take so much for granted.  We think we are so safe and so removed from any potential problems or issues with all of this suffering going on around us.  The tsunami, the poverty in third world countries...the poverty in our own country.  Not us.  Not next door.  Not even close.  But this shit happens.  It's so so real.  I'm not sitting here thinking I know anything about any of this, I'm just trying to understand the conflict.  To understand my own feelings and it's a fucking shit show.

Sorry for being crass.  I'm just stuck with all these feelings.  I can't fully explain, its just this constant weight and pain. 

Thanks for listening.  I'll get that enchilada recipe soon.

xo

sweet and simple

Why haven't I ever made candied orange peels before? So simple and so sweet.  I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but we're part of a CSA here in California (which is still weird to say) and it's one of the best decisions we could have made. Oh the bounty each week! As it is winter, we've had a lot of root veggies, as expected. What I wasn't prepared for was all of the citrus, I know it's the season but on the East coast everything is shipped in so, if you're buying locally you don't have total access to it. 

For the past few weeks, we've been getting pound of navel oranges and like I pointed out, we have an orange tree in our backyard and man are those puppies good. Long story short, I candied some orange peels and here's how.

I took two medium to large oranges and peeled them, I washed the oranges before I did any of this, duh. Take a small paring knife and get rid of some of pith, that white stuff on the inside of the peel. Then into a pot of cold water that just covers the peels. Bring to a boil for about 15 minutes, then drain and rinse and do this again, they need a bath BIG time. Then, three cups of water, two cup granulated sugar and one cup light brown sugar bring this to a boil.  Stirring often so that the sugar dissolves. I think next time I do this, I might divide the sugars (1.5 of each), the brown sugar gives the orange a real hardy flavor. Once this comes to a boil, put peels in pot and bring back to a boil then reduce and simmer for about 45 minutes.  While this is boiling, mix together 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar. Cooks note: I would use 1/4 cup of each...this time around felt like a lot of sugar.  Drain the peels, don't rinse them, then put them back in a bowl and toss with the sugar.  Go on, toss 'em with your hands...it'll make you feel very connected with your sugary sweets. Once coated, spread the peels out on a cookie rack over a baking sheet.  

The drying process will take a day or two, you can try them as they are drying to make sure they aren't dry yet. Then, pop them in a cute mason jar you have lying around the house and snack on or chop up and add to oatmeal, yogurt, whatever. You can also add them to muffins or quickbreads. Sweet - and I mean seriously.

Finished product