How to make dinner

Ahhh, Autumn Dinners. Nothing compares to the yummy foods of this time of year- Roasts, Stews, Soups, Baking, Gravy (Gravy!), Braises…you name it, Fall is the time for it. I’ve recently begun using Pinterest to help me plan my meals- what’s better than a list? A visual list!

This week I tried a few new recipes that came out quite good, as well as let myself relax about time spent in the kitchen, and all-in-all it’s worked out for a happier, healthier Autumn so far! Here’s what I did to change it up:

Salad- I love salad, but I don’t love making it anymore. I want LOTS of choices, which translates to LOTS of prepwork, which I just don’t have time for anymore. So we’ve found a few places that do amazing salads, and go there for date-night a couple of times a month. (one of them is our favorite pizza joint, which makes it a win-win for Mr. Awesome. And yes, I just gave my hubby a bloggy nickname. We’ll have to see if it sticks, shall we?)

Man food- It’s been all-chicken-all-the-time around here this summer, so I wanted to make sure I plan in some Man Food nights to the ol’ dinner rotation. Steak and Bleu Cheese is a huge favorite, I just make sure I get small, organically raised (which, due to the cost, helps keep the portions small) steaks with minimal marbling. Sausage is an old favorite which got left by the roadside years ago, but now that I’ve discovered chicken sausage, is back on the table (you put enough red pepper in those bad boys, he’ll eat them all day long-even if it is chicken!) Pizza is a by-product of Salad Night (yes!), and ooey-gooey desserts happen at the other salad place (oddly enough, I don’t have as huge of a sweet tooth anymore, so I grab a small cookie, sit back and watch the carnage).

Pinterest boards for menu planning- this is an interesting recent development. I do tend to have a love/hate experience with social media, but Pinterest has more or less been a random bingey kind of thing for me. Until I came across people using theirs as file storage. Now, instead of just mindlessly clicking everything that looks good, I throw images into two categories: Dinner; or Baking Board. Then, every Thursday I look through those files and research what I’ve pulled for the week, clicking over to the source site for the recipe, tweaking what I have to change for our diet, and drawing up my shopping lists. I also delete any ideas that didn’t work, or make the cut from last week, which helps thin the board down to a manageable size. (I hate ginormous Pinterest Boards, that I have to scroll through for hours just to get to the end if it. I have more important things to waste my time on!)

So far, I’ve tried 3 new recipes (Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup; Sausage, Zucchini, Squash and Onion Foil Packets; and Zucchini and Mushrooms Sauté), cooked dinner 4 times since Saturday, and cut down on the amount of wasted food for the last month (you know when you have a fabulous idea for a series of meals, but they are all untried and untested, and no one wants to eat the strange new food- including the chef? lol, yeah, that happens too often lately. Back to the basics! Now if only I could convince the Faeries to take up teacup piglet farming…)

Spring Reading

We use our Public and County Libraries a lot in this bookish little family of mine- so much so that sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming. Ahem. (they let you check out so many! And it’s free! what’s one more? picture me hidden behind the stack of books in my arms…) So lately I’ve given myself a 3-book maximum rule: One for research, one to read, one for fun. It works out pretty good, too- two libraries, once a week or two, 6 books. More if my husband brings something good home. It can overlap though- right now I’ve got 7 books to post on the reading list to the right over there (they are going back this weekend) to be replaced by the 6 I picked up last night (holds that came in midweek are too tempting to leave at the library!). I’ll order books I see in the bookstores, or titles I find recommended in my blog reading online. With so many titles lying around I thought I’d round them up and make a list!

Julie Czerneda’s A Turn of Light- This is so good! Wishing Magic, with invisible Dragons, armored House Toads, traveling Gypsies, and pie…all against a backdrop of Frontier Homesteading and Doorways to the Otherside. Yummy.

Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent- Alternative Victorian fanciful piece with Dragons  of all sorts, a tragic love story, Russian folklore, and even a  bit of amateur sleuthing? It was read in a mere 4 days- worth every second of lost sleep!

Mark Alan Hewitt’s Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Farms- Lovely pictures and line drawing of the houses, furniture and landscapes of the Arts and Crafts movement, some background info of how it came to be, and an in-depth look at the attempt of one man to create a Utopian community.

Michelle Obama’s American Grown; The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America- I’m enjoying this for all the information and background on kitchen gardens, the White House Gardens in general, and the impact food has on our health and well-being.

Bob Thomson’s The New Victory Garden- Love this one! Broken down by month, with colour pictures and beautiful line drawings, this is a gold mine of gardening information, with a little bit of personal history that keeps it from being a dry text book.

Gladys Taber’s The Book of Stillmeadow- A personal account from the 1930’s of running away to live in the country. Susan Branch quotes her constantly in her books and artwork, so I wanted to see what she has to offer. Lovely anecdotal and lyrical writing, and bits are truly funny- she has a ton more that I might check out too.

Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone- A really big, heavy book (not convenient for reading in bed) with lots of really good ideas, some simple, some rather complex looking. Why do these vegetarian books always work out to be behemoths? Vast encyclopedic monstrosities with every single recipe the author can think of, very few (if any) pictures, and rather a lot more commentary and “instruction” than I want to wade through. I am finding ideas, but it’s taking forever to get through it, and I get bored every other page. Very disappointing really. 

So there you have it- some research, some reading, some fun (some not so fun…but necessary). What can I say?

I love to read.

A New Chapter

It's been feeling like I've turned the page recently, and started a new chapter in my life. Some things which never really made sense are now clear; old hurts- don’t hurt as much anymore; old ways of thinking are suddenly replaced with new, healthier ones. I woke up one day and found that I have become a Quilter:
     

This is Ray’s Four-Square Quilt…I made it yesterday. No, it’s not a full size quilt, more of a lap quilt, and no it doesn't have it’s label yet, but it will get done this weekend. It was more important to finish it in time for Dad’s birthday party (which admittedly was a week early, but hey- who cares when it’s a party?!) So I went and picked out some blue flannel fabric Wednesday evening, cut it out Thursday morning, pieced it Thursday mid-morning, and sewed it all together Thursday afternoon. Whew! And suddenly there was a quilt on my work table, where just 7 hours before there had only been a few strips of cloth.
May is turning into the month of quilts- I’ve started my next one already, not counting dad’s. This one is all pretty pinks, greens and lavenders in a Log Cabin pattern- I’m calling it the Alchemy Quilt because combining all the different colours and patterns makes me feel like a medieval Alchemyst:

Combining all these different components to make a brand new…thing is rather awe inspiring in a way. It’s like that in my cooking, too. All my recipes are different now- Diabetes is changing my life in so many different ways it’s hard to keep up with it all. Next week I’ll be reworking my Menu Planning Binder, and working on a couple of recipe ideas all my research has inspired. Today’s Grand Experiment is Hummus (the Garbanzo Beans are soaked and cooked and ready to blitz) and Black Bean Burgers (cakes? patties? fritters? not sure what to call them- other than good! But the recipe needs tweaking- it’s stability is a bit…lacking shall we say?) so it’s off to the kitchen for now.
Funny how one person’s drudgery is another’s bliss…

A rainy Fall morning…

From a high of 90* to cold,wet, rainy mornings- all in the space of a week, this Fall is behaving strangely, indeed! So glad I washed the floors while it was hot and dry a few days ago. Now it’s on to prepping dinner for the weekend (a Pot Roast, Indian Tacos, Lemon Chicken and lots of Mashed Potatoes! Oh, and a trial run of a new Stuffing recipe. Only it’s not going into a bird, so maybe it’s a Dressing recipe? Hmm…), making a Quilt Sandwich (it’s about time, I know), and lots of tinkering in the Christmas Workshop. I love this time of year, lots of new ideas flying around (some even landing on paper), tables strewn with half-finished  projects, slivers of paper, hanks of yarn, swatches of fabric and bottles of paint. Bliss!

It’s hard to believe it was so hot last weekend, sitting here today with the rain coming down right outside my window, the chilly air making the house cold and brisk. That sweet face up above greeted us to Julian last Saturday, just as he has a few times this year- very quiet and curious, such a pretty boy! The trees are turning from green to brilliant reds, oranges and yellows up in the mountains this month- so refreshing! And exhilarating really. Our house in the city is on a bit of a ridge, so no trees around us here, just windswept streets with the occasional bush. There’s no shelter from the heat, sun or rain here- very different from our last house, come to think of it. That was more of  Hobbity-hole, all surrounded by trees, huddled under the stairs on the first floor. This place feels more of an Aerie- a windswept nest of Eagle people perched high atop a vast mountain…hmmm, she’s quite poetic today, isn’t she?

So- cooking, baking, cleaning, crafting, sewing and maybe even some Gaming to do today. Busy, busy, busy. Where are my Faeries? No time for dawdling today boys, there’s work to do!

Friday recap

Finally! The first storm of the season- clouds filled the sky as far as the eye could see:

Lovely aren’t they?

I love a good rainstorm to ring in the new Fall season, don’t you?

Today is filled with all kinds of cold weather projects:

Work on the Watercolours Quilt has begun again- adding borders to fill it out a bit…

The weekly food prep is underway in the kitchen- Roasted Butternut Squash is featured again this week. So yummy…

On the baking front- Blueberry Muffins, Buttermilk Biscuits and maybe a chocolate chip cookie or two…

The knitting needles are out in full force- a new Pixie Pouch, a hat, and maybe some socks finally…

All that, plus Christmas Crafting Lists, Thanksgiving Meal Planning, and even a Winter Solstice idea or two are in the works. Oh my, I do love cold weather!

Happy Weekending everyone!

Orange Broccoli

So, I was fooling around in the kitchen last week and came up with a new way of doing Orange carrots. Put Broccoli in it! Here’s what I did:

Peel and slice a carrot or two. (This was just for my lunch, after all). Now, cut up a bunch of broccoli, stem and all. Kinda small pieces here, you want them to be able to cook in the same amount of time as the carrots. Chuck everything into a saucepan, add a half cup of orange juice, slap on the lid and gently steam until the carrots are tender and the broccoli is bright green and tender when stabbed with a knife. (What? it was lunchtime, and I was hungry! Niceties are for leisurely dinner making.) Now, crack the lid and throw a tablespoon of honey butter in there, put the lid back on and let it all melt together. Now, take the lid off, turn up the heat slightly and let the orange juice evaporate off for a minute or two. This will make a nice, slightly thick sauce to slick the vegetables with. Reheat some leftover rice, and you’re done.

Wait, what? I’m done?? Where’s the elaborate ingredients list? I thought this was for Orange Broccoli? Where’s the soy sauce? Where’s the minced ginger?

Forget the minced ginger- you don’t need it anymore! Just try this easy-peasy recipe (which is more of a technique than a recipe anyway, am I right?) and enjoy your lunch- guilt free I might add! All those veggies! And rice! No starch guilt here, no fattening sauces, no sugar slump after lunch!

What? You need a recipe for Honey Butter too? Okay- stir a tablespoon of honey into a softened stick of butter. Boom! Oh, I’m on a roll today folks. Who needs a recipe? I got your recipe right here…

The World’s Biggest Meatloaf

Did I ever show you this?

I don’t think I did. This is the quilt I made for the new baby in the family. A nice, simple, basic, old-fashioned Winnie-ther-Pooh print, and some soft cotton flannel. Yummy and soft. Easy-Peasy to make, and done in a flash. Well, okay- it took me two weeks to make, but that’s because I took my time and broke it up into steps. And the binding gave me some trouble, so I had to rip out the stitches and do it again. ahem.

Now I need one. No, seriously- this is the best thing I’ve ever made, and I want one in my size, pronto. Except it’s summer, and 80 degrees in the shade, and I am running the air conditioner just to bake a meatloaf for dinner tonight. Ack!

Meatloaf you say? Yes, I did. Want to know how to make one? Here’s how:

2 packages of ground beef- this can also be made with ground turkey, it’s yummy either way. I bought a 1.75 lb and an 1.80 lb package. We are making enough meatloaf for two weeks- it’s part of the Summer Plan. You’ll see how later on.

1 large onion, minced.

4 medium carrots, minced.

2 large stalks of celery, minced.

2 packages sliced white mushrooms, minced.

I washed, peeled, sliced and chopped all these as appropriate to it’s condition, then threw them into the food processor and blitzed them a few times, then dumped it all together into the biggest bowl I could find. And yes, I washed my mushrooms- they were dirty! Let them sit over the sink in a colander, and they don’t get mushy.

4 slices of bread- including the heel, and the crusts. I like the crust! It adds color, and tastes good. Blitz them too into fine crumbs, add a quarter of a cup of milk and stir until all the crumbs are good and soaked, then add them to the bowl of vegetables.

Now, stir everything together well, divide into two equal parts and put them into two separate bowls. We’re working with a lot of meat, and it’ll be too big to fit into one bowl- plus, it’ll be easier to combine.

To each bowl of vegetable/bread mixture add two beaten eggs, a quarter of a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, a teaspoon of steak and chop spice mix, and a half a teaspoon of dried thyme. Add a package of ground beef to each bowl, and mix thoroughly. I like to take off my rings, wash my hands, and just get in there! It will be really wet at first, but just mix everything together well, then shape it into a ball.

Now grab a cutting board and lay out your foil onto it- about double the length of the board should do it. Turn the meat out onto this and shape it a long rectangle, about two inches thick. You want a big long shape, to take advantage of the amount of meatloaf mix, but not too high or it will crack and cook unevenly. Wrap the extra foil over the top and seal all the edges. Leave the whole thing on the cutting board, set the two packages side by side, and place the whole kit-and-caboodle in the freezer. Voila! Dinner in the freezer.

So, what do you do with two gigantic meatloaves? Well, first off it will take almost two hours to cook them, so plan accordingly. I start them at 45 minutes, then start basting them with the pan juices (make sure you give them a half a cup of water in the pan to get those lovely juices going, too). My first one was done in about an hour and a half. I like to cook them off in the cool of the morning, then slice off servings and pan fry them in the evening. Served with mashed potatoes and orange glazed carrots, that’s your basic meat-and-potatoes-meal. Next, I fry slices in a pan and serve them in sub rolls with cheese melted over the top and drenched in marinara sauce for meatball subs. Then, I use some slices for spaghetti and meatballs. Ohh, I’m getting hungry! And that’s three meals from one recipe!

Now, I paid about 12 dollars for two packages of meat this Sunday. Yikes! But- that made enough meatloaf for 6-7 meals for two people! That’s about a dollar a meal. And that’s pretty good for the first week of summer, I’d say! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a meatloaf sandwich to put together for my lunch…

Right here, right now-

I am reading: Joelle Hoverson’s more Last Minute Knitted Gifts (it’s all knitting, all the time around here again- funny how the urge to knit is seasonal, isn’t it?) Also Jane Austen’s Emma, since I haven’t read it since college, and this time I read the introduction- which is helping to figure out the irony of it all.

Scored two new – old books this weekend: a lovely old Children’s Classics edition of Little Women, complete with coloured illustrations on the end pages, and line drawings I haven’t seen before all throughout  the interior. Bliss! And Gardening Essentials by Barbara Pleasant. It’s chock full of gardening information, with beautiful colour pictures of gardens, plant lists, tips, project ideas and step-by-step instructions for things like stone walls, and brick walkways. I dream in crushed gravel nowadays. . .

Planning the week’s meals: a spinach Gratin, maybe chicken crepes with mushroom sauce, definitely pork chops and sauteed cabbage, and something with fennel, my new favorite this spring. Or it could just get eaten up raw- I served it sliced paper thin and sprinkled with lots of lemon juice this weekend, and loved it!

Starting a new sewing project this week, and thinking of creating a sew-along for it.

And lastly, it’s time to fertilize my plant babies again, so it’s off to the garden I go!

Does anyone else feel like it’s the middle of summer suddenly? The weather here is so strange this year. . .

Friday Musing

This has been a very busy week:

Hamburger bun experimenting- taste really good, but they’re really dense!

Dinner rolls were awesome-

Asparagus crepes with mushrooms sauce were a hit- that made 5 new vegetable dishes this week!

Lettuce seedlings are in, and showing their lovely sleepy green heads as of this morning. . .

Chervil seedlings are in, but taking their time- did I plant them too deep? Is my potting soil too rough for them?

Borage seedlings are being shy as well. . .

Chamomile seedlings are up and taking stock of their little egg carton home! They are so tiny. . .

New dice bags are on the sewing table!

All the fabric for the watercolour quilt is cut out- now for some piecing. That’s the big project for next week.

We got in 2 walks this week! I made a pictorial study of the moss I kept seeing along the way on the first one- that was a loong walk! Then we hiked up the mountain on Wednesday- so good to get outside in the fresh air! It smells soo good out there this week. . .

Our first harvest of Lavender came in this week. . . drying flowers and leaves are making the house smell wonderful!

And of course, the sun came out in full force this week. . .

What have you been up to this week?

Grand re-opening

I just realized I never announced the re-opening of The Grimoire last week. I decided that it was relevant since I still like it’s Fantasy elements- plus, my writing schedule here on Magickwyrds isn’t allowing me the space for any posts about my gaming life (ahem. which is HUGE right now! So much to tell- go see if you’re interested in table top gaming, rpg’s, mmo’s, Star Wars, World of Warcraft, or kitsunes. Points if you know what those are folks!) 

Err, I just had to add all those words to my writing program’s dictionary.

Today I am working on my Jedi Counselor, a new quilt, and dice bags. I’ve also been cooking up a storm in the kitchen this week using recipes from Mollie Katzen’s  The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without –  the Spinach and Artichoke Gratin came out fabulously, even though I went without the artichoke. The Bok Choy and Broccoli Rabe with Shiitake dish turned out great, and tonight I am attempting Asparagus Crepes with Mushroom sauce- can’t wait! I’m planning on making extra crepes and using them saturday morning for breakfast with lemon and orange zest. Perfect!

Now if I could just find my rotary blade. . . hey you faeries! That’s not a pizza cutter!

Ogling the garden path-

Happy Wednesday! I thought I would pull out all the books I’ve been reading these past few weeks and make a wishlist for my birthday. Ahem.

New Booklist for 2012- doesn’t everybody have a list like this?

Jessica Houdret’s Practical Herb Garden. This is such a beautiful book, crammed full of plant lists, advice, full colour pictures, instructions for rose potpourri, how to lay out a cook’s garden (gah!  A Potager! stop me now. . . ) and oh, for heavens sake- Lavender sugar!

Cory Schreiber And Julie Richardson’s Rustic Fruit Desserts is a must have- not just for the recipes in the book (which all look fantastic!) but for the ideas that get me ruminating about summer and fall fruit desserts. . .

Mollie Katzen’s The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without. The title says it all. Although I could mention the Brussels Sprouts with shallots and hazelnuts. . .

Harriet And Carrie Hargrave’s Quilter’s Academy Vol. 1&2. Oh yes I did! And I am cutting the fabric out as we speak. . .

Sunset: An Illustrated Guide To Organic Gardening- did anyone else’s parent’s have various and sundry editions of the Sunset series laying about? I love the line drawings in this book- they make me reminisce so hard about my childhood gardens!

Paul Heiney’s Country Life: A Handbook For Realists And Dreamers- um, I am in deep trouble folks! I want a cow, and a goat, some chickens, and a patch of corn in the worst way right now. Do not read this book if you even look at the chickens at the fair every summer. Just sayin’. Save yourself the heartache. He just makes it all look so easy . . .

Anna Pavord’s  The New Kitchen Garden will blow your mind. It has colour illustrations of every kind of kitchen garden you can imagine. Traditional? Check. Formal espaliered apple trees? Natch. Cottage garden? I am going to go live at the one she has pictures of in this book, as well as an illustration. As a matter of fact, I’m about to go on a world tour of all the gardens she has outlined in this book- be back next year. . .

Winter is the perfect time to check books out from the library, just to drool over the pictures and make lists of all the thousands of seeds and plants I plan to buy in the spring to create the most awesomely perfect garden in the whole and entire universe. Oops- my evil genius/scientist/gardener slipped out for a moment there, sorry ‘bout that. Don’t mind the woman behind the curtain, folks. It will pass- as soon as the sun comes out and I see just how small my balcony gardening space really is. Plenty of room in the kitchen for a few more basil plants though. . .

How to roast a chicken

How boring is that? How to roast a chicken. Is she kidding? Everyone knows how to roast a chicken. Who wants to roast a chicken? We want beef! Or veal- yeah, how about a nice veal recipe? Or some cookies. We’d rather have cookies, wouldn’t we?

Oh you think so, do you? Well, can your cookies do this?

Kapow! Blam! Whoosh!

Whoosh? Roast chicken doesn’t go “whoosh”. But it does go pretty fast and easily, and makes a wonderful meal, leftovers, broth, sauces, sandwiches, chicken parmesan and pot pie!

Did she say chicken parmesan? Yes, she did. But that’s a post for another day. Right now, let’s get to the recipe, shall we? Turn the oven on to 375 degrees, then go get washed up.

Step one- get a chicken and take out it’s gizzards. I like to rinse it off with icy cold water. Now place in a pan. I use a cookie sheet lined with foil, but anything big enough to set the bird in will do. Make sure it has raised sides- we don’t want those lovely juices getting away from us. Place the bird on its back with its wings folded underneath it.

Step two- squeeze a lemon over said bird, and place the two halves (you washed them first, right?) into the cavity of the bird. Now drizzle some olive oil all over the bird. I use about two tablespoons, maybe three if I’m feeling generous. Then sprinkle it with dried oregano, thyme and freshly cracked pepper. If you put the herbs on first, the liquids will just rinse them all off the bird.

Step three- put the bird in the oven and pour a cup of liquid into the roasting pan- that way you won’t spill it all over your floor when you put it into the oven. Yes, I speak from experience. I use water, but use whatever you like: wine, water, broth, etc.

Step four- Roast it! Ok, ok- baste it every half an hour with the juices from the pan, and make sure they don’t burn away. You can put another half cup or so of liquid in there if you didn’t get enough in it to make a nice juicy broth to baste it with in the beginning. (But you did remember to put some liquid in there in the beginning, right?) Wiggle the leg bone when you think it’s done, and look at the juices collecting in the cavity. Red juices= undone chicken, put it back in the oven to finish cooking. Otherwise, the leg should move freely in its socket and the skin should be really crisp and a golden burnished brown colour. It will take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours- so plan the rest of your dinner accordingly. Those pan juices are perfect just the way they are, but skim the fat off the top of them before serving. I don’t make gravy, just serve them as is in a gravy boat, or poured over the chicken and potatoes in the kitchen while plating up dinner.

There you have it!. Yes, there are faster ways of cooking chicken and yes, there are more complicated recipes that take a lot more ingredients and steps. But, this is the chicken I have made for about 15 years, so I know it’s good. And it makes for a lip-smacking, finger-licking, husband-pleasing good meal.

That’s my roast chicken.

Menu planning and stocking up

I’m taking some time this week to work on my menus and recipe lists for February. This basic maintenance has kept us sane and the budget under control for the past four years. This is what my meal planning area looked like in our last home:

I also used the front of the refrigerator to hold things like recipes, coupons, calendars, schedules, etc. That was to the immediate right in this picture. Alas, the kitchen I have now is too small for this setup, so I’ve been “auditioning” new ideas for my new planning center ever since we moved last summer. The only thing I’ve succeeded in doing is to get more and more frustrated with my kitchen, cooking, the meals I have cooked, and even the grocery shopping (which I love to do!) as the months have gone by. We were eating out more and more, not liking anything we were eating, and not understanding why we were getting so grumpy and feeling sick all the time.

Enough was enough! I finally sat down last week and the first half of this week to really look at my old menus, collection of recipes and cookbooks, and the blogs and websites I like to get my ideas from. The more I read, the worse it looked. I had thrown out all our favorite recipes in favor of “trying something new”! All our comfort foods, reliable meals and yummy snacks had disappeared from my repertoire.

No wonder we’ve been eating out most every week this winter!

In my research, I discovered that it also turns out that we have seen a huge improvement our personal and financial resources , so I had to do something about the quality of our meals at home, and fast! That’s when I figured out what I had been doing wrong for the last seven months- I had stopped using my meal planning skills! So today I am stopping everything (but the laundry!) and designing a plan for February. I am halfway done, and already I feel happier and calmer than I have for ages. Well, ok- maybe a month or two, but you get the idea. I just needed a plan. Nothing drastic, or too complex. let me show you what I do-

I make a list of my husbands favorite dishes, and mine, too.  Then I pare that down to seven main dishes.

Then I make a list of all the vegetables we like to eat- that actually worked out to be 14 items- perfect!

When I go to make my meals, I will double the recipes, and put the extras in the freezer. Voila! 14 meals. The vegetable dishes I make for sides are generally easy enough to make the day I serve them, but things like broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and spinach I will make a bulk batch to keep in the fridge for a few days worth of dinners and lunches. ( For example- I’ll steam a couple heads of broccoli and stash them in the fridge, and peel, slice and steam a whole pound or two of carrots plain and doctor them up later for different dishes.)

Now when I have a day or two during the week, I’ll make a batch of my magical vegetable broth, white beans (I still have some black beans in the freezer I need to use up), marinara sauce (for spaghetti, pizza and lasagna sauces, and in minestrone soup), a few different cookie dough's, and various scone, biscuit and bread recipes I like to keep on hand to make dinner special, or to whip out for lunchtime on the weekend.

Okay- 14 meals does not a month make, I know. But I only have two mouths to feed- so it’s easy to make a meal stretch into two nights of dinner or a few lunches, maybe even a weekend meal (if I’m lucky, or if we really liked it!). It also leaves room for one of my favorite hobbies- experimenting in the kitchen.

By taking the time to prepare for the upcoming month, I know I will save time, money and maybe even a little of my sanity!

Now, where did these little footprints on the counter come fro. . . hey! you faeries get outta that cookie jar! Those are for dessert!

Buttermilk Bread

Oh how quickly these winter weekends go by! Hanging out with friends, shopping at Ikea (Ikea! Finally!), hitting our favorite Mexican restaurant, and making a library run for my weekly load of books- this month it’s all gardening, all the time. Grocery shopping, too. I love the first few days of new groceries, when my possibilities seem endless, and the veggies are still fresh and green. I’m loving the purple grapes in the stores right now- although I did pick up another bag of Cuties. . .
But today, it’s time to focus on the work of the week, and I finally noticed that there is no bread in this house!
and so, without further ado- My favorite Buttermilk Bread recipe:

1 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk 

3 cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons honey

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons yeast

This is a recipe from my favorite bread book “Bread Machine Magic” by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway. I give this book to anyone who says they are getting a bread machine. ( I have found my extra copies at the used bookstore! They are worth their weight in gold. I always buy them when I find them, to give as gifts, too.) I also like the basic white bread recipe in James Beard’s “Beard on Bread” but that’s a post for another day.
So, you place all the wet stuff in the bread pan first, then place the dry on top, then you hit the start button, and go do something else for a few hours. I always make dough, then knead it a little, shape it then,  let it rise again for an hour (sometimes I can only give it a half an hour, but it’s good no matter how long it gets!) then pop it in the oven at 350* for 30 minutes. Then I usually decide I want a really crusty loaf, so I pop it back in for 15 more minutes. Generally, you lean it out of it’s pan and knock on the bottom of the loaf to check if it’s done- a nice firm crust with a hollow knock is perfect. Let it cool and then prepare to fight against the temptation to eat the entire loaf. No no- I am serious. Put the knife down and back away slowly, and you might make it out of there with just a quarter of the loaf, but don’t go thinking you can eat just a thin little slice and sneer at the rest of us. You are playing with fire here, missy. Oh, you think you can do it, eh? Well, you just go right ahead and make it then! Just remember, I warned you. Don’t come crying to me when you have nothing to show for that amazing smell wafting through your house but a plate of crumbs!
hey- you faeries get outta that bread tin! And what’s with the jelly smeared all over the counter. . .

All turkey, all the time...

While goblins and witches traipsed past our house (where, or where have all the trick-or-treaters gone?), this was peering at them from the fence:

we brought them inside before they could get too chilled from the icy shoulders of the costumed revelers streaming past to the fair up the street.



Nowadays, parents seem to take their kids to an organized function, rather than expose their kiddlings to the vagarities of society around here. Sigh. It makes for a rather lonely Halloween. We didn't even have one single pumpkin casuality in the neighborhood that I can see. Which, I suppose, is rather a good thing for the pumpkins...

And so, on to November! Already we have made turkey chili, and asian turkey meatballs are tucked away into the freezer for sanity-saving-non-thanksgiving-flavors later in the month. But around here, November is All-Turkey-All-The-Time month. This is the month I get to go all out, and experiment with recipes to my little heart's content! Stuffing vs. dressing, homemade green bean casserole, sweet potato biscuits, gravies galore, and cranberry sauces-chutney-relish-and jellies. Yum. Bring it on, I say. Bring it ON!

Portobello Road...

I love mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms to be exact. Thankfully, the Faeries do not. Loudly and vociferously they do not. And if I don't listen to them? Why, they go away, in disgust, and leave me to my indecent appetites:

This one was Portobello mushrooms marinated in garlic, thyme and balsamic vinegar, on a bed of wilted spinach. Yum. To the nth degree. Lots of muttering and razzberries coming from the Faerie house that afternoon. I adore cooking, especially vegetarian dishes. Lots of color, texture and crunch in veggies, just waiting to make you feel better about yourself. And the world in general. I aspire to find the perfect farmers market in my city, and spend every sunday perusing its offerings. In the meantime, we have the local Henry's Markets, and a few Trader Joe's to choose from, with the odd run to Albertson's when they have a good shipment of corn or tomatoes in. This summer has been all about cooking. Dinner parties for the gamers, lunches and dinners for the man of the house, who is home for the summer. Burger nights, with oven roasted sweet potato fries, before it got too hot to even think about turning on the oven. And this was definately the summer of the S'more- we discovered how to do them in the microwave. BIG mistake there. But worth every calorie. Of course, S'mores don't have calories, cause there is no cooking involved. And everyone knows, if it isn't cooked, there aren't any calories in it. Am I right? Hmm..I don't think the Faeries are buying it. Unfortunatley, I think I gave them some ideas, 'cause one just dragged an eensy weensy weber grill out onto the balcony of the house, and is spraying it with lighter fluid- excuse me, got to go!