I had a craving yesterday, for cucumbers and mozzerella. So I unvented this salad:
2 cukes, sliced into rounds
8 oz fresh mozzerella, sliced
Bottled Italian dressing
Layer cukes and mozzerella in a casserole – I had 3 layers of cucumber slices and 3 layers of mozzerella. And the cheese doesn’t really slice; don’t sweat, it’ll be delicious. Drizzle with Italian dressing. Or slather, if you feel like it. Refrigerate overnight. Serve chilled.
I wish I had more of it right now!
I’ve had a hankering for some strawberry lemonade (possibly influenced by the McDonalds coupon on my desk). Yesterday afternoon, realizing I have lemons, strawberries, sugar and water in the house, I made it fresh. And I will never drink another can of pseudo-lemonade again. (Yuck.)
[ok, to be fair, Minute Maid products aren't disgusting until you put them into a single serving can. With glycerol ester gum of rosin. Mmmm. But the frozen and boxed drinks don't look that bad.]
This morning I’m blogging from the front porch. I’ve already done my yoga and I’m half an hour early for the dentist. It’s a cloudy, damp morning – reminds me of the mountains, except for the traffic noise. I’m redecorating, as you can see – It’s time to refresh the look of the blog! Much easier than moving the TV.
Have a marvelous day!
… it’s all black beans, all the time. Fortunately he was only gone for 48 hours; otherwise, I might have had some serious digestive issues to deal with …
These are black bean sopes, made from a recipe in James McNair’s Beans and Grains. Essentially, they are round chalupas made from masa (I can’t buy fresh masa here, so reconstituted it from masa harina), fried first in a dry skillet, then shaped and deep-fried. The filling is roughly based on Mexicali beans, though I didn’t plan ahead spice-wise – they came out a bit bland. Then top with salsa, cheese, and sour cream. Tasty, healthy and inexpensive: four servings for about $6 total, and enough beans and masa harina left for another eight.
For the sopes:
1 lb fresh masa [or combine 2 c masa harina and 1 1/3 c water, cover and let stand 30 min for reconstituted masa]
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter or lard
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Knead together until light and fluffy (I didn’t get it as light and fluffy as I should have – though much better than the last time I tried). Divide into 12 walnut-sized balls of dough.
Heat a griddle or skillet. Flatten each ball into a pancake, about 3″ in diameter. Working with one at a time, cook 1st side until slightly browned, about 1 min; flip and cook the 2nd side until just set, about 30 sec.
Flip, less-cooked side up, onto a plate. While it’s still hot, with your fingers, pinch the edges to make a “rim”. (If it’s too hot, dip your fingers in cold water first.) Set aside. Repeat these steps for all 12 sopes. At this point, they can be tightly covered and refrigerated up to 2 days.
Prepare the beans (he recommends Mexicali or Southwestern-Style beans, both recipes in the book) and salsa. Just before serving, preheat oven to 250F. Heat about 1″ of oil in a skillet, until a piece of bread dropped into it turns golden brown in 30 sec. Working with 1-3 at a time (depending on the size of the skillet), fry each in the oil until lightly brown and crispy, about 1-2 min. Remove and place on a rack over a baking sheet in the oven, to keep warm.
To serve, fill each with ~2tbsp beans, top with queso fresco (or farmer cheese) and salsa. Mmmmm. I didn’t have queso fresco, so used shredded jack and sour cream.
These will be added to my Football-season repertoire. Only with any-kind-but-black beans, since Paul can’t stand them. Which is why I gorge on them when he’s away, of course.
I can’t recommend McNair’s book highly enough. I bought it in the late 90s, when I was on a bean kick (and the healthiest I’ve ever been – must get back to eating more beans and grains). It’s got information on about every kind of bean and grain I’d ever heard of, and more besides. Want to know how to prepare quinoa, teff, hato mugi, amaranth? It’s in there. Along with recipes for combinations – Tomatoes stuffed with millet and lentils; hoppin’ john; bean and barley “risotto”, using barley instead of rice. Excellent stuff.
I’ve started a new knitting project – Irish Moss from Aran Knitting, using the brown lambswool I’ve been spinning up two-ply. I don’t particularly need another wool pullover. In fact, I’d been thinking of a cardigan for this yarn. Maybe I’ll rework the front, make this a cardi instead. The yarn is dark brown, but still showing the texture of the stitches.
Well, not really. I am having fun. But learning new skills is exhausting! I dream every night about people, and their needs, and trying to get them to perform – sometimes the dream turns into the Westminster Kennel Club show. Disturbing.
I did manage to knit 
a bit this week. The cashmere cardigan (left front shown here, not a sleeve) is progressing. Plain stockinette, knit back and forth, on tiny needles. Boring Soothing knitting. Since it’s nearly time for the armscye and neck decreases, I started the right front. Maybe by working both at the same time I can get matching shaping on both.
Despite the busy-ness this week, I did take some time to celebrate making this list. It’s not a Nobel prize or anything, but it is a goal I set when I took over circulation management three years ago. Mom & Gigi sent these flowers to remind me to take time to celebrate even the small accomplishments. Thanks, guys! They smell heavenly – I think it’s the stock – and look so pretty on my desk.
Last Sunday, I made June’s recipe for lo mein. Always on the lookout for excuses to buy tools, I acquired a pasta roller for the Kitchenaid. What a blast! The noodles came out just right. The only adjustment to the recipe for next time: Take it easy on the garlic chili sauce. It was alarmingly spicy. This weekend I’m on the lookout for a spaghetti recipe made without semolina (I had to order it, couldn’t find any in my local stores – not even Wegmans). The roller will also make pepperkakor much easier – rolling the dough paper-thin for really crisp cookies.
Also on the menu this weekend: Corned beef and cabbage. It wouldn’t be St Patrick’s Day without it, even though I make it almost every month. Don’t boil it – though it gets the job done, you can’t be sure it won’t come out tough. Braise it instead: put the meat (fat side up) in a baking pan, add 1″ of water, cover tightly with foil, and cook ~4 hrs at 200F. When it’s done, pour the liquid from the pan into a pot and use that to boil the carrots, potatoes and cabbage. I like my cabbage still firm, so I add it when the carrots & potatoes are almost done.
I’ll also be baking carrot cake cupcakes, to display on this. (Actually I scored the large one on clearance – they must have sold out already, I can’t find it on the site.) The recipe on the back of the Betty Crocker carrot cake mix, which calls for crushed pineapple, coconut, raisins & nuts, makes an amazing cake. And it feels like you actually baked, not just adding oil and eggs to a box mix.
After wrangling for most of the weekend, and losing only one post, I think I’ve got this stinkin’ thing working now.
Note that adding functionality only creates yearning for more functionality. I’m sick of trying to get images to upload and wrap/align properly. It’s not happening; I think I’ve got it right in the stylesheet, but will have to edit the HTML for each image.
On the plus side, I now have thumbnails and “click for bigger” – something I’ve always envied on other blogs, but which were too much of a hassle to code every time.
On to the partially-recreated post of Sunday, which was lost in the Great Database Corruption of 2006.
This week’s intentional cooking will be episodic, as we’re having so many communal holiday meals this week. Saturday I made Cranberry Chutney, from cooking.com (the same email as the rolls I made last week). It’s made with cranberries (duh), apples, onions, raisins, celery, vinegar, cinnamon, ginger & cloves. Tangy and tasty, but the vinegar gives it a wassail-y odor. It cooked up pretty quickly, and tastes great with both turkey and pork chops (mmm).
The other Thanksgiving must-have: corn casserole. This one’s an easy recipe I may have made up: one package of corn muffin mix; one can of creamed corn; one can of whole kernel corn, with liquid; one stick of butter, melted; one cup of sour cream [Ed: and two eggs - Thanks Mom!]. Mix the lot together and bake at 350F until set, about 45-55 min. It’s like a super-moist cornbread, or … I don’t know. It’s really corn-y, and Paul says it’s a lot like the cornbread his mom used to make.
Coolest thing today: The first measurable snowfall, 2″ worth, turning the whole world white. I’m in total stay-at-home mode, having canceled my birthday dinner out in favor of fireside wine and pizza. (Thanks, Mom!) Until then, I’ve got some angora to spin – one of my favorite things, though I generally make a very homespun mess of it. Once it blooms, though, you’ll never see the uneven bumpy yarn at all.
because I screwed up my “intentional” meal last night. I was all set for a chicken-thigh masterpiece, with sweet potatoes and dumplings and stuff. But then Paul remembered that I’d promised to make fried chicken bits for the football game.
They were good, but not a Meal. Pithy directions: Slice boneless chicken thighs into roughly finger-shaped pieces. Coat in egg and breadcrumbs. Deep fry until done. Heat some Sassy Sauce (or your favorite buffalo wing or barbecue sauce), and toss the fried chicken pieces in it. Serve with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks.
Good news – I finally remembered what the cranberries were for: Ted’s Down East Apple Pie. Between that recipe, and Uncle Pete’s comment about apple pies piled so high, I just had to make one.
Naturally, after I put it in the oven, I sat down with “America’s Test Kitchen” and discovered I’d done it all wrong. I don’t care – it still tastes wonderful.
A nice roast, potatoes, and a vegetable.*
This week’s dinner: Melt in your mouth meat™, sweet potatoes, peas, and flaky, buttery dinner rolls.
The meat is an old favorite: Take a fresh brisket, place in a 9×13 pan, pour a can of french onion soup over top of it, cover tightly with foil, bake for several hours at ~200-250F. To serve, slice across the grain. You’ll need a very sharp knife; I get the best results when the meat rests for 15 min or so after coming out of the oven. Pour the juice into a bowl for dipping. It’s quite salty; I don’t know if Campbell’s makes a low sodium version, nor if it would be as good.
I’ve never cooked sweet potatoes before, so I vamped on this one. I got one huge potato, peeled it, and cut into 1″ cubes. 
Mix 3T melted butter with 1T brown sugar; pour over cubes, toss to coat. Put into the oven with the roast for a couple of hours.
The rolls were a new recipe I got by email yesterday, from Cooking.com. I didn’t get the timing quite right, so they rose a bit less than they should have; but they were buttery and delicious. Fairly easy, too. I didn’t spray the tops with cooking spray (yuck!) but brushed them with a bit more melted butter. The results were quite stunning.
Paul loved the meal – “Shouldn’t we feel guilty for having a holiday meal tonight?” I think that’s the point of cooking: celebrating regularly, through food, the people and relationships we’re thankful for.
* My brother and I used to tell this joke to my mom, then break into hysterical laughter when she didn’t get it. I think we were always laughing too hard to explain it to her; but the joke was more about tradition, and sibling sharing, than an actual joke. The point is that people think other cultures are funny, or odd, but never see that their own is viewed that way by outsiders.
My dinner with intention for this week: Comfort food, but outside my comfort zone. Fried chicken, baked beans & peas, with home made bread. We don’t usually have fried chicken, because I buy it in the frozen section of the grocery store (yuck). This time I tried Shake n bake instead, with 49 cents/lb. leg quarters. Huge improvement.
The bread is June’s recipe for white whole wheat sandwich bread. It really does take all day, but is well worth it. I added two tsp each of whole wheat gluten and potato starch to the 2nd addition of flour, which didn’t seem to hurt anything.
The beans – ah, the beans. We love Bush’s baked beans, eat them several times a week. But I found a recipe for perfect baked beans in the America’s Test Kitchen cookbook. I’ve never cooked baked beans from scratch, and revised the recipe a bit anyway because my grocery trip didn’t yield any bacon. I also seriously underestimated the cooking time – these suckers took as long as the bread. But they are dee-lish, and may cause Bush’s some competition in my house.
4-6 oz salt pork, rind removed, cut into cubes
1 small onion, chopped fine
1/2 c regular molasses
1-1/2 T yellow mustard
1 lb white beans, washed & picked over (but NOT soaked)
9 c water
Heat oven to 300F. Brown the salt pork in a large pot over medium-high heat, until it’s browned. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent. Pour in molasses, yellow mustard, beans and water. Bring to a boil. If your large pot is ovenproof, just cover and toss into the oven for 2 hrs. If not, swear alot; then pour everything into a 4-qt casserole dish, because if you use a 3.5 qt casserole, you will make a burned mess in the oven.
After two hours, take off the lid and give it a stir. Then put it back in the oven, lidless, so the liquid is reduced. Oh, about four or five hours. Don’t rush it. If you’ve got bread that must be baked at 350F, and you’ve already gotten so hungry that you’ve sent out for pizza, and the beans will be eaten tomorrow night, just take it out and finish cooking the next day, with the chicken.
The last step (which I forgot, and they were still completely edible): Stir in 1 T cider vinegar and 1 T molasses when you take it out of the oven. Let stand a few minutes, then serve.
Flipping channels yesterday afternoon, Paul happened upon America’s Test Kitchen. (It was on our local PBS station, but the web site is very commercial.) They were making a German chocolate cake, which happens to be Paul’s favorite food. Well, his favorite after meat loaf, taco salad, chicken wings, corn, Neapolitan ice cream, macaroni salad, hamburgers, and ketchup.
Most cooking shows I watch, and it goes in one ear & out the other. This one was riveting, though. They explained the science of creaming butter, for example (my Christmas cookies will be SO 
much better this year!). And they’ve authoritatively proven that bittersweet chocolate makes a better-tasting cake than German chocolate. Who knew?
Hey, I thought, I’ve got all the ingredients right in my kitchen. I printed out the recipe… oops, I’ve got sort-of the right ingredients: sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated, baking chocolate instead of bittersweet, natural cocoa instead of Dutch processed, walnuts instead of pecans, and only salted butter. So at 3 pm I hit the grocery store.
By 8:30 pm, we had this. Believe it or not, we haven’t tasted it yet. Since the Bills game was on, we had beer and chili, which filled us up too much for cake.
* * * * * * * *
If I ruled the world:
1. You’d always have room for dessert (and it would have no calories, if you’d eaten a balanced meal first).
2. TV cooks would have to spend a proportionate amount of air time washing dishes.
3. Cat puke, upon exiting the cat, would evaporate instantly – leaving no stain or odors. Actually, this would apply to all puke.
4. Fibercrafts would be as restful and refreshing as a good night’s sleep, and could replace same.
5. Laundry would be done by a single machine – which would gather, sort, wash, dry, fold and put away, all automatically.
6. Complaining about anything for more than 60 seconds would generate enough static electricity that the complainer, and anyone within spitting distance of him/her, would get a sharp shock. (This would only apply to useless bitching. Problem-solving can sound like complaining, but would generate an intense feeling of well-being instead of a shock.)
7. People who passed a “Road Work Ahead – Merge Left” sign, whilst driving in the about-to-be-closed lane, would be forced to wait until ALL the traffic had cleared from the through lane before they could proceed. No budging.
8. Whenever I thought lovingly about someone, like my kids or my parents, they’d know it instantly.
9. Kids really could learn from what their parents tell them, instead of having to go through it themselves.
10. No wars. All conflicts would be settled by mediation.
Thank you Miriam for the idea.
Lisa’s home! She flew in last night for a long weekend, and tonight we’re having a shindig. Pulled pork, corn on the cob, baked beans, burgers and dogs, coleslaw, the works. I loves me a summer picnic.
In preparation for this celebration, we got an ice cream attachment for the Kitchen Aid. Note: this is not a new appliance, it’s just an attachment for an existing appliance; so it doesn’t count toward the small appliance ban in our storage-space-challenged kitchen. We also got (thanks to Amazon’s “you might also like” feature) Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. (Excuse me – I just drooled on the keyboard.) We are big ice-cream lovers, so had to immediately try it out.
We learned a few things from Batch No. 1 (Cherry Garcia).
Now I’m off to the grocery store for produce (and more cream). Trying to decide whether to make Ben’s Chocolate (ultra-rich) or Jerry’s Chocolate (lighter, with great “mouth feel”) for the kids. I’m tending towards Jerry’s, because the dinner is pretty rich itself. We’ll see.
Tweets