Sunday breakfast that will last all week

Ahhhh weekends. Today I made a huge batch of homemade granola that will last my little family of two at least 2 weeks. We usually have granola with plain yogurt with whatever fresh fruit we have, along with our morning coffee. Quite a lovely and convenient daily breakfast. (You can see a bit of my tiny kitchen from the granola picture. Just goes to show that you don't need a spacious updated kitchen to make scrumptious food!)

I also had some lentils in the pantry that I needed to find a use for. This lentil soup from Moosewood Cookbook did the trick. It's a fat free soup full of protein and doesn't require a ton of chopping and dicing.

Let me know what you think of the recipes. Also, lentils always confound me. If you have full-proof lentil recipes, please share!

Mom’s (as in Sam’s Mom) Hippie Granola
*All amounts are approximate. Use whatever you have.
1 canister of 42 oz. oats
1 bag of sweetened coconut
1 cup unshelled sesame seeds
1/3- 2/3 cup dry milk
½ cup ground flax seed oil (we leave this out just because we don’t have it around)
½ cup canola oil
1 ½ cup honey
1-2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp allspice
2 tbsp nutmeg
2 cups of peanuts

Preheat oven to 325. Mix ingredients in two large baking dishes. Cook 10 minutes.
Add peanuts. Cook 5-10 minutes longer.
Remove from oven. Press granola flat down in dish.
Allow to cool before breaking apart into chunks.
Enjoy! One batch will provide a quick and delicious breakfast for weeks!


LENTIL SOUP
3 cups dry lentils
7 cups water
2 tsp salt
6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 cups chopped onion
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
black pepper to taste
2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, chopped

Place the lentils and water in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and let cook 20- 30 minutes. Add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and spices. Simmer another 20 minutes.

Heat a medium pan full of water to boiling. Drop in tomatoes for 10 seconds. Take out, peel, chop up, add to soup. Cook the soup at least 5 more minutes.

So maybe I'm going a little overboard today

A day off work means a day full of food. I can dice, cook, bake, and taste for as long as I gosh darn please! It's mid afternoon and I've already made 2 loaves of the best banana bread I've ever tasted for breakfast, homemade all organic minestrone soup with mozzarella grilled cheese for lunch, and organic cranberry sauce to snack on throughout the week! Best part: I have food for days now. There's a quart of soup left over, the second loaf of banana bread is being saved in the freezer for another week, and the cranberry sauce is jarred and in the fridge for whenever we feel like nibbling on it. Have I mentioned that I really life autumn? It's true. Autumn and cookbooks. Glorious. Here are the recipes! The bread is glorious, the cranberry sauce is yummy and easy, and the soup was delicious- it was the first homemade soup I've ever made and I didn't think it was intimidating at all. Just takes about an hour of loving attention.

BANANA BREAD
The spices and the orange zest do wonders. Plus, no gooey middles!
1 cup (2 sticks) butter softened but not melted
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla plus 1/4
tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. grated orange rind
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana pureed with 2/3 cups black coffee banana pureed with (honest, it's tasty!)

Instructions:Beat in large bowl, beginning with sugar or honey and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add remaining ingredients and beat until light in color. Add flour mixture and banana mixture alternately to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.After each addition mix gently to combine, but do not over mix. Generously butter 2 loaf pans. Divide batter and bake at 350 F. for 40-50minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes in the pan then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

MINESTRONE SOUP
Keeps you warm and well-fed.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
5 cloves crushed garlic
1 cup celery -- minced
1 cup carrot -- cubed
1 cup eggplant -- cubed (Or zucchini)
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup fresh parsley -- chopped
1 can canneli beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup dry pasta
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 teaspoon basil
2 cups tomato puree
3 1/2 cups water or stock

In a soup kettle, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until they are soft and translucent.Add 1 tsp. salt, carrot, celery and eggplant.(If you use zucchini, add it with the green pepper.) Mix well.
Add oregano, black pepper and basil.Cover and cook over low heat 5-8 minutes.
Add green pepper, stock, puree, and beans.Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Add tomatoes and remaining salt.Keep at lowest heat until 10 minutes before you plan to serve.
Then, heat the soup to a boil, add pasta, and boil gently until pasta is tender.
Serve immediately, topped with parsley and parmesan.

WHOLE CRANBERRY SAUCE
Incredibly simple sweet treat.
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
12 oz bag of fresh cranberries

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You're done!

Recipe coming soon...

Shockingly Simple

When I think of rich decadent desserts like chocolate mousse, I assume there must be some complicated work required to make it. Usually, I'm totally wrong.

Last night I made chocolate mousse in about 15 minutes while watching clips of Tina Fey on SNL. Incredibly easy. I just left it in the fridge over night and it was amazing. Try it. I swear, it's a cinch.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

• 8 oz dark chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp rum
• 1 cup of cream, whipped

1.) Melt chocolate in a small pot over boiling water.

2.) With electric beaters, beat eggs and sugar for 5 minutes.

3.) Fold chocolate and rum into eggs and sugar.

4.) Fold in whipped cream.

Spoon into ramekins or glasses and let chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Unrelated

We went to the Italian Festival a few weekends ago. I was looking forward to cute children, happy people, funny stuff, gnocchi, tiramisu, and espresso. Unfortunately, the festival was pretty lame. The thing that saved it: I convinced Sam to join the pasta eating contest! Very amusing.

Yummy in my tummy. That's right. I said it.

It's been a while. Does anyone still read this?

Anyway, I just made a glorious pizza. Basic pizza dough, with homemade pasta sauce on top, a slices of fresh mozzarella, followed by chopped spinach that had been sauteed with garlic, and topped with a whole container of feta. Yum.

Dessert: I'm whipping up a batch of gingerbread people. I made soft gingerbread cookies a while ago and LOVED them but the hubby prefers a harder ginger snap or ginger person, so I'm giving this recipe a go. The dough is sitting in the fridge until morning, so we'll see what happens then.

While cooking, you should listen to archived episodes of This American Life so you're never left waiting for the next week's episode to come out as a podcast. Wonderful public radio.

Enjoy your weekend, mystery readers!

Bicycles, Aubergines, and Lounging

Sam was making eggplant parmesan for dinner. YUM. A baked version. Baked is almost always better than fried.

Anyway, he didn't have the parmesan, so I hopped on my bike and rode to the grocery store to stock up on produce, spices, and the always essential orange juice. SO much better than sitting in traffic. The weather was great; very pleasant ride overall. I think it's funny that now that gas is always on the rise people act like it's not so crazy to ride your bike. The idea that a young adult would ride her bike for the sheer joy and convenience would still seem crazy to most... I think.

Anyway, eggplant parmesan, Moosewood Cookbook Page 132 style: Yummy.

Don't be fooled by the gross Olive Garden version. This was a million times better than what you'd get in most restaurants. Try it!

Someone typed out the recipe here if you don't already have this cook book.

Fall is now official!

...and that means acorn squash.

Acorn squash is the most delicious squash on earth. You can stuff it with anything and it will taste wonderfully. Usually we make a filling of bread crumbs, cheddar, celery, onions, sunflower seeds, and some stuff that I'm forgetting at the moment. This time, I tried a variation of apples, brown rice, sauteed onions, garlic, cinnamon, allspice, honey, and almonds. Yum. I like our classic version better but this is still very savory and satisfying.

Cut the squash in half, place it upside down on a greased baking sheet, and cook for 30 minutes at 350. Take it out, fill the squash, bake again for 20-30 minutes.

And for dessert, it doesn't get more autumnal than pumpkin pie!

Magazines Motivate Me

I have been feeling a little ornery and off-kilter the last few days.

How will I deal with this? Magazines.

1.) I subscribed to Vegetarian Times because I WANT IT and it will hopefully make me happy repeatedly and provided recipes for good food that will make me happy.

2.) Look at Runner's World Online. Be inspired to get my but in gear. I need endorphins to make me happy. The left-over birthday pizza I just ate will not accomplish the same feat.

Today's run of choice: Bike ride the mile from home to Hermann Park and run at least the 2.5 mile loop. Now I feel accountable and will actually follow through...

Disasters and Successes

I am in love with this cookbook. That is decided.

However, I have had one disappointment with it so far. After an exhausting day at work on Thursday, I was excited to try another new recipe. I waited in Houston traffic to get to the grocery store to get fresh spinach, stayed on my feet when I got home so I could clean the kitchen, diced and spiced, and made Spinach Rice Casserole (Pg 135). When I took the first bite, I wasn't a big fan. By the fourth bite, I no longer wanted dinner. When Sam packed the left-overs in my lunch on Friday, I ended up eating a lunch of brownies and apple slices instead.

Even though I disliked that recipe, I ADORED another. There's this darling cafe down the street where you can get heavenly white chocolate bread pudding for $7. I've often wondered if I could pull off the same divinity at home. Yesterday, I did! The oatmeal raisin bread that I didn't eat fast enough transformed into one of the easiest and tastiest desserts that I have made to date. And please, realize that when I say easy, I mean it. All I had to do was cut up the bread, put it in a pan, mix together eggs milk and some spices, and pour that stuff over the bread. I think it took 5 minutes total. Glorious. Plus, all the ingredients together for an entire pan probably cost me about $2. Good savings and great food.


WHITE CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

3 to 4 packed cups cubed bread (OK if stale or frozen)
3 eggs
3 cups skim milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350. Have ready a 9x13 inch baking pan.
Spread the bread in the pan. Sprinkle white chocolate in along with the bread.
Beat together remaining ingredients. Pour the custard over the bread.
Sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon.
Bake about 35 minutes.
Eat warm with vanilla ice cream and/or strawberry slices.

MOOSEWOOD!

I just got the Moosewood Cookbook.

It is amazing. Everyone should have it.

Our first recipe made was asparagus-mushroom sauce (Pg 770) over whole wheat spaghetti. Delicious. Try it.

Why didn't anyone tell me about risotto!?!

I had my first taste of risotto at a friend's for a dinner party and I was amazed. This dish is SO good! Strong flavor, creamy, filling... good. In a word- good.


So what I'm confused about is: why don't I hear more people lauding the glory of risotto. It's not that hard to make. If you and a dining partner (kid, significant other, random person you want to feed) prepare the dish together, you'll have an enjoyable evening and your hands won't be too full.

I have also never cooked anything using heavy cream, so I can't be sure that the reason I'm in love with this dish isn't because I've never experienced the joy of such a heavy ingredient.

So, here it is. I made this today and am still basking in the stupor of creamy goodness.

ARTICHOKE RISOTTO
(adapted from a recipe from The Food Network)

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 2 TBS unsalted butter
• 3/4 c. chopped onion
• 1/4 c. red bell pepper
• about 2 TBS of garlic, chopped or pressed
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 5 c. vegetable stock
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 tsp. salt
• ground black pepper
• 1/2 c. chopped green onions
• 1 can of artichoke hearts, rinsed and quartered
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1/4 c. Parmesan
• some parsley to garnish

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add butter and then onions, bell pepper, and garlic; cook until vegetables are wilted.

Add rice and saute 1-2 min. stirring constantly, until grains begin to look opaque. Add wine and cook until evaporated, stirring constantly. Add 3/4 c. stock, the lemon juice, and some salt and pepper. Keep stirring. Continue to stir constantly, adding 3/4c. more of stock every time it looks like the rice has absorbed most of the liquid in the pot.

After rice has cooked for 10 min, add green onions and artichoke hearts. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add heavy cream and Parmesan. Stir well. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 min. before serving. Garnish with parsley.

Fresh green beans made a great side dish.

This meal was incredibly rich. I looked in some of my cookbooks and found a lot of other recipes for risotto that do not call for any cream; I'll have to experiment with those another time. Since we were stuffed (but never willing to go without dessert), I cut up some fruit with a little bit of vanilla yogurt. Scrumptious.

Side note- We're finally going back to school post hurricane so I will have less of this crazy abundant free time to spend baking, cooking, and blogging.

Finding Great Recipes

• Mollie Katzen, beloved author of the Moosewood Cookbook, has a great website with a healthy sampling of nutricious recipes for soups, salads, casseroles, etc.
• Post Punk Kitchen is a vegan publication with some really interesting options!
• Veg Web is a bit of a hodge podge, which makes it difficult to navigate, but the reviews are really helpful.
• Whole Foods has a good collection of recipes neatly categorized. Obviously, the ingredients are easy to find if you shop there.
• And, of course, my beloved King Arthur Flour. Baker’s Banter is their blog and they also have recipes listed on the main website.
  
  There are also the staples:
  www.allrecipes.com
  www.epicurious.com
  www.cooks.com
  

Scrumptious, Easy Bread

This bread is amazing. It's super easy to make and works great by itself, as toast, as sandwich bread. It's moist and versatile. Don't be fooled by the raisins; this isn't a spiced dessert loaf. It is yummy, though.

OATMEAL RAISIN BREAD

(adapted from one of King Arthur's recipes)

• 3 cups white whole wheat bread
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 1/2 tsps. salt
• 3 TBS honey
• 2 teaspoons of yeast
• 1 1/4 c. lukewarm milk
• 3/4 c. raisins

1. Add the yeast to the lukewarm milk with a pinch of sugar. Give the yeast about 10 minutes to activate.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients into a fairly moist shaggy dough. Knead by hand for 10 minutes until it's smooth.
3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it rise for an hour.
4. Shape the dough into a log and then place it in a lightly greased 9x5 loaf pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let it rise for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until it crests 1 to 2 inches over the rim.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Paired with a classic cup of black tea and a Graham Green novel

King Arthur Flour is wonderful because it is an employee-owned business. They treat their employees well and the profit they make is distributed equally.

Wholesome Sweeteners is also a wonderful company to support because their products are organic and fair trade. That means they are treating - the land, your body, and the many people who help to make the product - well. Always nice.

Mix these two wonderful, ethical foods with some vegetarian fed organic cage-free eggs, sugar and spice, and you have a scrumptious guilt-free (in the responsible consumer sense of the phrase) soft gingerbread cookie to nibble with your fair-trade tea.

SOFT GINGERBREAD COOKIES

(recipe from King Arthur's amazing collection)

• 1 cup ( 2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 large eggs
• 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose FlourSugar
• sugar for coating
  
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they’re light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add the eggs, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Stir in the flour.
• Scoop the soft dough into 1 ½" balls; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. Roll them in granulated sugar. Space the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 ½" between them. Bake them for 10 minutes. The centers will look soft and puffy; that’s OK. Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool thems on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Health benefits are sweet: making the most of what was left sitting in our powerless fridge during the hurricane

There was a head of broccoli left in our fridge that we needed to consume before the elements got to it. Broccoli does not seem to stick around long. However, it is so gosh darn delicious and nutritious! It is a cruciferous vegetable, like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and radishes- so it's full of phytochemicals and shown to prevent many kinds of cancer. (Everything seems to cause cancer and everything seems to prevent it... grains of salt need to be spread all over I guess.)

Anyway, I was psyched that my stir fry finally came out just the way I wanted. The trick was to read the tofu box. Mori-nu had a great recipe that told me to bake the cubed tofu covered in sauce and it worked out much better than my usual attempts to brown it in a skillet.

Eileen's Work-With-What-You've-Got

Successful Broccoli Peanut Honey Tofu Stir-fry!

• 6 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tsp. honey
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed or diced
• 1 package of extra-firm tofu (We used Mori-nu because it was safe and sound in it's little box in the pantry while the refrigerator was in the throws of the storm.)
• 1 head of broccoli
• a bunch of honey roasted peanuts

1. You start out following Mori-nu's recipe: Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a small bowl. Cube the tofu and lay it in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Pour the sauce over the tofu and cook it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. (The sauce that spills all over the sheet leaves quite a mess so you may want to just marinate the tofu in the sauce and then lay it on the pan.
2. While the tofu is baking, rinse and cut your broccoli. Cook it in a skillet with about a half cup of water so the broccoli steams but stays crisp. After the water cooked off, I added a bit of soy sauce and honey to the mixture and kept cooking. I also threw in a good amount of honey-roasted peanuts since we bought a ton of them to eat while we were "hunkering down."
3. You should also be making some rice. Cook it in a pot with water like you always cook rice. White rices like basmati are good for this recipe.
4. Once the tofu is done, add it to the broccoli concoction and stir it all up. I cooked it for a minute or so with everything mixed together so it would taste like it all works together.
5. Serve the broccoli/tofu/peanut mixture over rice. It's surprisingly good.

Hurricane staples and luxuy foods post-hurricane.

Well, Hurricane Ike. You got us. Power lines are down all over. Beautiful huge old oak trees have turned into dangerous obstacles, and I don't get to see my students again until at least Thursday.

The foodie in me was very ready to get back to my own kitchen with running water and a working stove after two days basking in the hospitality of someone with a larger safer home with boarded up windows. Refried beans, tortilla chips, Lone Star beer, Hershey's bars, and trail mix, and clementines were the staple foods of our hurricane experience.

Last night, we got power back and made linguine with home-made sauce and these great eggplant rolls. It was so nice to be able to use an oven again.

EGGPLANT, SMOKED MOZZARELLA AND BASIL ROLLS

• 1 large eggplant
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 6 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese cut into 8 slices
• 2 plum tomatoes, each cut into 4 slices
• 8 large basil leaves
• balsamic vinegar, for drizzling
• salt and freshly ground pepper
  Serves 4
  
  1) Cut the eggplant lengthways into 10 thin slices and discard the two outermost slices. Sprinkle the slices with salt and leave for 20 minutes. Rinse, then pat dry with paper towel.
  2) Preheat the broiler and line the rack with foil. Place the eggplant slices on the grill rack and brush liberally with oil. Broil for 8-10 minutes until tender and golden, turning once.
  3) Remove the eggplant slices from the broiler, then place a slice of mozzarella and tomato and a basil leaf in the center of the each eggplant slice, and season to taste. Fold the eggplant over the filling and broil seam-side down until heated through and the mozzarella begins to melt. Serve drizzled with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar, if using.

After enjoying a filling and enjoyable meal with some chardonnay, it was starting to feel like we didn't just have a hurricane. This morning, the ultimate luxury. We could use our stove to make coffee. Wonderful. We also made some apple spice pancakes. Just take my classic whole wheat pancake recipe, and add some cinnamon, nutmeg, and a diced apple. It was good. Top it with apple sauce.

APPLE SPICE PANCAKES

• 1 1/4 c. wheat flour
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 c. skim milk (Thankfully, we had some dried milk we could mix with bottled water since our milk spoiled during the storm.)
• 1 apple, finely diced
• a healthy amount of shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg

Mix it all together, cook it on your stove top. Top with apple sauce or maple syrup.

Hope you're all safe and sound.

Fall Favorites

PUMPKIN APPLE MUFFINS WITH STREUSEL TOPPING

I've been craving pumpkin. It still feels like summer here in Houston but I've decided to act like it's fall in the Midwest. This muffin recipe was delicious with a cup of freshly brewed coffee from our french press. I chose to forgo the oil and just added a couple of tablespoons of apple sauce.

Life is great. I'm very lucky. The school year is going well, my friends are all back from their world travels over teacher summer, my husband has a new job that he enjoys, and I have nothing to stress about. Hope you enjoy the recipe!

I'm back to being busy now

The school year has started and I'm back to being a busy bee.
No more blabbering on, just recipes I love.

Both are quick, comforting, and so yummy.

Apple Crisp
Broccoli Rice Casserole
Vegetable Lasagna

Hi Sarah. Here's the pizza recipe! :)

Add 1 tsp of yeast to a cup and a half of warm water with a pinch of sugar. Let that sit for about 10 minutes.

Put 4 cups of bread flour in a bowl. Make a well in it, add the yeast mixture and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Leave it in a floured bowl (covered with a damp cloth) to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Make pizza! Once you've added topics (I use green and red peppers and onions or artichoke hearts and red onions), cook it on an oiled cookie sheet at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

Turns out making a latte is really pretty simple

You just need a french press.

Get some really good coffee. You can find Espresso varieties in Whole Foods. Grind it on a coarse setting, thicker than you would for an automatic pot.

Brew the coffee in your french press. (That just means you take some water that has been boiled and then let to sit for about half a minute, pour it in the french press container over the coffee grinds. Then you rest the lid on top. Let it brew on its own for about 4 minutes and then slowly push down the lid.)

Pour out the coffee into mugs, fill 1/3 to 1/2 of each mug.

Clean out the french press.

Warm some milk on the stove. Don't boil it. Just make it warm enough that your finger gets hot when you test it.

Put the warm milk in the french press. Move the plunger up and down to create a froth.

Pour some frothed milk into each coffee mug.

Yummy.

The Fruit of Our Travels

We're getting ready to leave Indiana and drive the last stretch back to our home in Houston, TX.
All of our visits have given me a couple of ideas. I have loved seeing family and friends but I'm also excited to get back to our own place where we control our own schedules, sleeping arrangements, activities... I like control.

• In Chicago, we tried deep dish pizza. It was great company, but I like my home-made version much better.
• Also in Chicago, Jenn made awesome grilled vegetables that I want to try. Red and yellow peppers, corn and asparagus. All heavenly. I don't know why I ever boiled asparagus.
• My mom is getting us bikes as an early Christmas gift (awesome) so I'm psyched to have no excuse. From now on, I will ride my bike the 3 miles to the co-op to get locally grown produce. I'll have to get more creative since you get what you get. The bikes will make it more convenient to get to the park where we drop off our compost too.
• Sam's grandma made a scrumptious Italian dish called pasta fasul that I want to give a try.
• I WILL MAKE MY OWN LATTE! So delicious but so expensive when you buy one at a time. I got a discount french press from Marshall's (I love that place because they sometimes have shoes that fit my huge size 11 feet) and am on the look out for a milk steamer. I hear it's just a little kettle/pot gig with a thermometer. Anyone know where I can find a very simple inexpensive version?
• Oh and we officially do not eat fish now. I used to say I was open to eating fish because my mom wanted to be able to make something that the whole family would eat. Now she realizes that you can make vegetarian dishes that carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores can all enjoy.

cross country

I ran cross country in middle school and high school. I was horribly slow and not at all competitive but it was so nice to be on a team. We had great fun together. I still run... but nowhere close to every day. Nowhere close. I wish. I should. We'll see.

We finally have our car back! I called the body shop over and over to tell them I absolutely needed it back by today and they just kept pushing it back. This morning, Sam called and they totally blew him off saying it would be "today or tomorrow" after they had told us yesterday that it would be done at 9:30am today. Reluctantly, I had to call and be really forceful today- I hated it!!!! But, surprise surprise, the car was read 20 minutes after the call. Grrr. My friend Sara is my saving grace for driving me too and from work while it was in the shop. Grace.

Cross country- We're off to the CHARMING midwest. 18 hour drive and then we'll be in Chicago to see my college friend Jenn. She's great; you should meet her. Better yet, you should go out with her in Chicago. Yay! Then it's off to Indiana to see Sam's parents at their beautiful calming and rural home. Stop 3- Northeast Ohio to visit my parents and my great ever-since-middle-school-girlfriends! I'm super excited about seeing these girls. We've been hanging out as a group since we were... 14? The interesting thing is that we're really different in a lot of ways but growing up together makes it easy to realize how great they are. Gab gab gab. Why I am I writing this? I have no idea.

Last night, Sam and our friend John cooked dinner for Sara and I because I was being a SPAZZ. They made spicy chickpeas. I had tried the recipe a few times and made it... not so well. Sam and John, being patient skillful people, followed the recipe and it turned out wonderfully. It was yummy. The end.

speaking of sam

check him out.
http://www.artbreak.com/wukusick
(you know you want to buy his art)

guest chef

Teacher summer has been threatened lately by the imposition of professional development. Yuck. I came home tired and hungry. So... GUEST CHEF.

SAM is making bread and veggie burgers!

We love this ridiculous picture, because it is ridiculous. This was Sam's first attempt at bread and I forgot to tell him that you have to let the yeast dissolve before you start. He also put the dough in the fridge to rise... which I'm pretty sure is a bad way to rise.... but I'm not sure.

Starving and tired, I realized that the dough was in the fridge and we gave up on this dinner. Instead we walked about a mile from our apt and got some Thai food. It was sufficiently yummy and I was full. All is well- until I drag Sam through Urban Outfitters asking his opinion about clothes I will never buy.

When we got home, I put Sam's bread in the oven and started making my own back-up batch. My back-up has been "rising" for an hour and doesn't seem to have risen at all. Not good.

Sam's bread however... turned out like bread! It's edible and kind of good. Go Sam!

Rereading this, I realized I said "Sam" far too often. I teach English. I should learn to use pronouns.

indulgences

1.) The Bachelorette (or the Bachelor... depending on the season)-


For a long time I thought I was not a big cheeseball. Actually, I think I thought I was a kind of rough around the edges, closer to tomboy than girly girl, kind of concoction of a human being. However, I now realize that I am a big mush. I gush. I cry about Deanna giving out her last rose. Season finale: annoying as all get out because they show you the same clips over and over and over again for two hours BUT adorable because they seem happy! Don't you want everyone to fall in love and have a perfect marriage (if they so choose)....? I do. Woah, cheeziness. If you haven't been watching, you can watch the full season on-line on abc.com. Sickening corporate promotion. What is wrong with me!?!
2.) Socially Responsible Ice Cream!!!!!


Ben & Jerry's rules the world and rocks my socks. Their commitment to running a socially responsible business proved to people with money (and without it) that socially equitable companies can succeed and improve their communities. Also, on my beloved instant Netflix, you can watch a documentary about B&J in the Special Interest-Wine and Food Section. great.

Boulder Ice Cream. New treasure I picked up at Whole Foods. I've only tried the Italian Espresso so far but it was heaven... while watching the Bachelorette. This company is possibly/probably better than Ben & Jerry's (B&J had to sell out to a major corporation in the 90s and still has influence about social responsibility... but not as much.) Check out their website and read the sweet things they are doing.


I love socially responsible businesses. I would work for Boulder Ice Cream in a heartbeat. Hear that BIC? Hire me. Or send me free ice cream.*

*If you go to their website you can click on a free ice cream tab and get a coupon for $1 off two pints. I guess that's $1 of free ice cream.

3.) Books! I love them. I swear I don't spend all my time watching horrible television and eating fattening foods.

My library books are overdue. I'm going to leave it at that for now.

Peace, love, and RBGH free dairy.

again with the fruit

you know how you have that plain yogurt you bought for the moussaka? and the fruit from the pancakes? and the honey for the home-made granola that is five million times more delicious than any kind you can get in a box?

Do this with it.

Drizzle the honey and dollop the fruit over the yogurt. Then eat your breakfast. Go on. Take it slow. Sip your tea. Read your magazines or your book. Stay in bed for hours.

Simple and Glorious

I love pancakes. Love LOve LOVe LOVE. They are so simple and so perfect. Quick but wholesome. Light and fluffy. Easy and PERFECT.

I do not love maple syrup. The real thing is better than the corn syrup in a squeeze bottle version, but I still don't like it.

Instead, just heat up whatever fruit you have in a pot on low heat and use that as a topping. It's much more delicious, very easy to make, and I'm sure it's better for you. Today I used frozen peaches and a frozen berry mix (organic frozen fruits from Whole Foods are a good bet) just because that's what I had. Fresh fruits are great if you have them around. Bananas, peaches, and berries are my favorite.

I also love playing Scrabble while eating pancakes. I was in a great mood this morning kicking my hubby's bottom... until his very last turn. I was winning by about 30 and we both felt like the game was over. Then, at the last minute, he got over 50 points on a long triple word score. Oh the sting of defeat. Oh well, the pancakes were great.

Protein Heaven

I had two great discoveries yesterday: workout videos that play instantly on Netflix and Vegetable Moussaka. First, I love Netflix. When you're between movies, you can get instant movies. The pickings are slim but it's nice to be able to watch something on computer screen with no hassle and no wait. It's even better when you think, "Hey, I feel like working out but it's too hot to go running and I can't get to the gym since my car is in the shop. I'll look on Netflix for work-out videos!" You check the Sports and Fitness genre and voila! I did kickboxing. It was fun and felt like a great workout. Good times.

It's also very fun when you discover a new recipe to add to your repertoire. At first when I saw this, I couldn't stop thinking about how I had no clue what "moussaka" really was. That problem was somewhat solved by looking it up on Wikipedia. Yeah... I was still a little confused but up for an adventure! I'm normally really intimidated by eggplant and try to avoid it, but it was great here. If you have some spare time, give this one a go. The left-overs will last for quite a while in the average 20-something's apartment fridge. This recipe takes a good deal of time and assembly but it's pretty easy. It also earned the "4 Stars: Make This Often!" award. It's really flavorful and chock full of protein. It's not the prettiest dish, but it's certainly tasty.


Vegetable Moussaka

• 1 pound eggplant, sliced


• 1/2 cup whole green lentils


• 2 cups vegetable broth


• 1 bay leaf


• 3 tablespoons olive oil


• 1 onion, sliced


• 1 garlic clove, crushed


• 8 oz sliced mushrooms


• 2 cups chickpeas (soak the dry beans for about 6 hours and then boil them before using in this recipe)


• 2 cups diced tomatoes


• 2 tablespoons tomato paste


• 2 tsp dried herbes de Provence


• 1 1/4 cup plain yogurt 3 eggs 1/2 cup aged Cheddar, grated

1. Sprinkle the eggplant slices with salt and place in colander. Cover. Let sit for at least 30 minutes to allow the bitter juices to be extracted.



2. Meanwhile, place the green lentils, broth, and bay leaf in a saucepan. Cover, bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes, until lentils are tender but not mushy. Drain.



3. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring for 5 minutes. Stir in lentils, mushrooms, chickpeas, tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, and 3 tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occassionally.



4. Preheat the oven to 350. Rinse the eggplant slices, drain and pat dry. Heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan and cook the slices in batches for 3-4 minutes, turning once so both sides are browned.



5. Season the lentil mixture with salt and pepper. Arrange a layer of eggplant slices in the bottom of a casserole dish, then spoon the lentil mixture on top.



6. Beat the yogurt, eggs, and a bit of salt and pepper together and pour the mixture over the vegetables. Sprinkle generously with the grated Cheddar. Bake for 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown and bubbling. Serve immediately, garnished with the flat-leaf parsley.

eggs- i feel like i'm cheating, but i'm not vegan. catholic guilt i suppose.

I wrote out a post and then Blogger got angry and ate it. Grrrrr.

I don't have a lot of experience with eggs for eggs' sake so I decided to give the frittata/quiche/souffle family a try. Since I don't have a souffle dish, the frittata won the contest for my attention. It turned out okay and made for a very filling brunch. The sun-dried tomatoes are really powerful... the original recipe called for adding a few spoons of the soaking liquid from the tomatoes to the egg mix but I think that made it too pungent. The best parts about this dish were that (1) it's light and fluffy- always a plus, and (2) I was really proud of myself for managing to flip the frittata from the pan to a plate and back again. It felt like a magic trick.

Frittata with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

• 6 sun-dried tomatoes
• a few tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• pinch of fresh thyme leaves
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• salt and ground black pepper

1. Place tomatoes in a small bowl and pour on enough hot water to just cover them. Soak for 15 minutes. Lift tomatoes out of the water and slice them into thin strips.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Stir in the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and thyme and continue to stir over moderate heat for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Add the grated parmesan.
4. Raise the heat under the pan. When the oil is sizzling, pour in the eggs. Mix them quickly into the other ingredients and stop stirring. Lower the heat to moderate and cook 4-5 minutes on the first side until the frittata is puffed and golden brown underneath.
5. Take a large plate, place it upside down over the pan and, holding it firmly with oven mitts, turn the pan and the frittata over onto it. Slide the frittata back into the pan and continue cooking until golden brown on the second side, 3-4 minutes more.
6. You're done!

banana pancakes!

I very much enjoy the song Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. I don't think I've heard it for a year but it just came on Pandora while I was preparing Frittata with Sun-Dried Tomatoes... fancy name for a recipe, huh? In that book Julie and Julia, all the recipes sounded fancy and important because they were in intimidating French. Later today I'm making Vegetable Moussaka... whatever that is. Sounds a little more intimidating, right? I've decided that I will be making all of the recipes that I've put a tab on.

Sam just looked over my shoulder to see what I'm writing and I immediately pointed out, "It's silly. No one reads it but Ashley." So, Hi Ashley! :) Hope the big move was stellar.

Boundaries

I need boundaries. I need limitations.

My idea to experiment with cooking has no limitations at all. That also means no starting point and no direction. I've realized that it's mostly been about baking breads, muffins, cookies, and drinking tea and coffee. Actually cooking is a little more tricky. Following recipes for dinner foods seems much more difficult and requires finding more obscure ingredients in the grocery store. I find that I end up eating the same staples (beans, rice, vegetables thrown into everything, pasta, and left overs). My only real adventures here have been a couple of things with lentils and homemade tortillas. The problem is my lack of limitations.

The world is at my finger tips and I have NO CLUE what to do with it. Sam always says that artists need some kind of limitation to explore to get better. You can't just start throwing paint on a canvas and have it work, but if you have some kind of limitation it will help you find your way. An example would be basic art assignments where the professor has you break up a canvas into a grid and then try different paint applications in each grid. It gives you a vague clue of where to start and you will definitely know when you have finished.

I just started reading a book called Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen. Julie is 30 and in the throws of a life crisis (do they ever go away?) and deals with it by making herself a project. Within the space of a year, she will make all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Since she has these limitations, she knows what she needs to make and uses the slightly crazy project to work out all of her frustrations and gain some crazy culinary skills. I don't know what to do in my tiny apartment kitchen! I went through and put those post-it tabs on recipes I thought looked good a while back (not something I imagined myself ever doing until I actually did) but haven't tried most of them. Maybe I should make that my mission... instead of obsessing over graduate school applications.

This is the real problem. Sam's applying to 10 or more schools for the fall of 2009 to get his Masters of Fine Art in studio painting. I've spent the last two days researching grad schools and teaching jobs in all the cities where he's considering applying. It's starting to make me crazy. I think I know what kind of career I would find most fulfilling. Working in a community outreach/ social justice/ service organizing office at a university sounds splendid. I can easily see myself being fulfilled and happy in a job like this... and doing it well. There aren't a lot of things I can say that about. I signed up for the GRE today, I've made spreadsheets, and sent emails to people who have the kind of job I want, spazzed, and spent hours pouring over websites. I have no clue if it is getting me closer to any kind of plan. Options in the air right now: (1) Get a Masters of Public Administration. (2) Get a Masters of Theology. (3) Get a Masters of Higher Education. (4) Don't find a good grad school fit and just find some way to make money while Sam is in his first year of the MFA program. Hopefully choices 1-3 could get me to that dream job or something similar... or better... but I don't know which I want, which is available, RANT, RANT, RANT.

I need boundaries.

Soothing Saturdays and Eco-friendly Kitchens

Teacher summer is wonderful. Glorious. I'm already sad that it will end in about 7 weeks. However, it's nice to know that I'll have my equally wonderful Saturdays all year 'round.

Yesterday, Sam and I slept in and then went for a walk. We're lucky enough to have a little apartment amidst some really amazing (and crazy expensive) houses on streets that are overflowing with gigantic oak trees. So I tossed on my Tevas and some work-out clothes, chopped a banana and a peach into some plain yogurt with just a tiny tad bit of honey, and was ready to go. First stop, the lovely community garden that we happened upon a few months ago when we were walking/exploring. We were finally getting around to dropping off the compost that had been collecting for more than two weeks now. (The picture is of the garden in question.) I love living in an urban area- fourth largest city in the country, holla!- and yet being so close to great parks, outdoor activities, surrounded by palm trees and all kinds of plants and foliage, and stumbling upon things like community gardens a few blocks away. After we dropped off the compost, we walked to the museum where Sam used to work to pick up his last paycheck. The museum district in this city is another glorious component of a city that I expected to hate before I moved here. By the time we got back from this 5 or 6 mile walk in the 97 degree weather, I was pleasantly exhausted. The day got better though! After a break, we walked a mile to the Borders to look at books and relax and walked from there to the Houston Pride Parade. I think the point of all this ranting is that I like to walk.

On that note, here's
WHY YOU SHOULD COMPOST:

• If you put all those scraps in the trash, you're filling landfills more than you need to.
• If your trash bag fills up less quickly, you're cutting down on all the fuels used to transport trash to those landfills.
  
• "Organics in landfills break down anaerobically, producing methane gas„a substance 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a contributor to climate change."


• It will keep your kitchen trash from getting gross!


• "About one-third of residential waste is compostable. Costs for waste collection and disposal can be significantly decreased by reducing garbage volume."


• The compost turns into really great soil to be used for gardening. Topsoil is becoming less and less readily available and, in order to grow enough food- especially organic food, you have to have areas with a ton of topsoil to grow in.


• As I was trying to think of more reasons why you should do this, I came across this site that probably explains it better that I am.
  

WHAT SHOULD YOU COMPOST? egg shells, any scraps of fruits, vegetables, grains, tea bags, paper plates and scraps of paper, coffee grinds and filters, peels

In closing, a jumble of thoughts...

• I just finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and loved it! I had started it once before, gotten bored with it, and moved on. This time, I gave it a chance because my friends and I were trying to have a book club. The book club fell through (because we're flaky) but the book was very recommendable.


• Today I tried to make these Easy Morning Glory Muffins. After I put all the dry ingredients in the bowl, I realized that we were out of carrots and apples. Horror! Instead, we had improvised muffins. I used apple sauce instead of vegetable oil. They were edible. If anyone tries following the actual recipe and likes it, let me know.


• I need to get my act together and start applying to grad schools... and figure out what the heck I want from school and/or future jobs.

knead it out

I woke up on the wrong side of bed. I had a dentist appointment today that I was not looking forward to and I had to make a phone call to a car insurance company that I was looking forward to even less. Weeks ago, on our very first wedding anniversary, Sam and I went to the grocery store to get ingredients to make dinner together and some wine and champagne to celebrate. On our way back, a girl ran right into us.We were taking a protected left and she ran through her light. The back seat door on the passenger side is mangled to the max. It's been about 3 weeks now, I've given them a statement, I've gotten an estimate for the damage, but the company still hasn't established liability. Annoying. Grrrr. Called today and still no word.

I'm frustrated. How will I deal with it? I will make bagels. Kneading is therapeutic and you can just punch the dough if all else fails.

I followed the directions from King Arthur's Flour. Their account of the process looked so pretty, neat, and perfectly rounded. I found the process to be a little bit bumpier... but, it worked! Homemade bagels in the Wukusick apartment!

We're hoping the bagels make the aforementioned car crash and now a huge dentist bill go away.

anything goes

oh so simple and oh so lovely.

Throw everything in a pot. That pretty much sums it up.

Today is Sam's first day as a full-time stay home painter.. fine artist kind, not painting your house kind... although he will do that if you'll pay him! Offers anyone? It's fun that we both get to be home all day on a Monday. For lunch, we made one of our staples. Pasta with lots of veggies.

For a while we were buying jars of

spaghetti sauce at the

store and that was okay, but at some point I realize that it is much more delicious and less expensive to make our own.

Your Own Spaghetti Sauce

• any vegetables that you happen to have
  
• a big can of organic tomato sauce (less than half the price of a jar of "spaghetti sauce")

Put a little bit of oil in a pot. Chop up all your vegetables and throw them in the pot to cook for a while. We used summer squash, zucchini, onion, red pepper, and yellow pepper today. While that's cooking, add some spices- basil, oregano, fresh garlic, sage, whatever you want.

Boil some noodles and enjoy your meal. Make a big mess with the spaghetti slurping and the experience is even more entertaining.

Many thanks to my goofy food model. Your fake and forced smiles make the meal.

4 stars

Rosemary and Rock Salt Focaccia

Whenever I bake something new, I make Sam rate it on my made up scale- "never make this again," "make this once more and see if you like it better," "make this every now and again," or "make this all the time!" This bread won the
"make this all the time" honor and made for a yummy dinner when served with fontinella cheese and tomatoes with basil.

• 2 cups unbleached bread flour (try King Arthur)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBSP yeast
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed and chopped
• 1 TBSP olive oil

1. Mix the flour, salt, yeast, garlic, and rosemary leaves in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add 2/3 cup warm water and the olive oil. Mix into a dough.


2. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes and let rise for 45 minutes in an oiled bowl covered with a damp cloth. The dough should double in size.


3. Turn out the dough, knead it again, and then roll in into an oval about 1/2 inch thick.


4. Put the dough on a greased baking sheet covered with oiled plastic wrap or a damp dish towel. Leave it for 25-30 minutes to rise again.


5. Preheat oven to 400. Make indentations all over the top of the bread using your fingertips. Drizzle 4 TBSP of olive oil over the top. Sprinkle 2 tsps salt and another sprig full of rosemary leaves.


6. Bake for 25 minutes until golden. The bread should sound hollow when you tap underneath.

Calzones, Wine, and Good Times

My university was wonderful. The people I met there are glorious and I love when I get the rare chance to see them again. It's especially great when close friends get hitched and you get to turn it into a huge reunion. However, it's also been surprisingly wonderful to scatter around the country after graduation. Before I got to Houston, I heard about massive cockroaches, flooding, and humidity that would drive me bonkers. No one told me that I'd get to spend wonderful friday nights with close and interesting friends over for a dinner of calzones (and healthy doses of wine) talking about religion and relationships and laughing... and then go to the great park down the street to play Scrabble while we listened to the free symphony concert. Why do people seem to leave those things out?

Calzones
First, make pizza dough:

• Add 1 tsp of yeast to a cup and a half of warm water with a pinch of sugar. Let that sit for about 10 minutes.
• Put 4 cups of bread flour in a bowl. Make a well in it, add the yeast mixture. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Leave it in a floured bowl (covered with a damp cloth) to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Once the dough has risen, roll out small circles (about 6 inches) of thin layers of dough on a floured surface. Fill them with whatever you want! I used equal parts cooked spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella with oregano, basil, and parmesan. Put the filling to one side of the circle, fold the other half over, and pinch sides together or use a fork to make closed edges. Use a knife to poke a small hole in the center of the calzone to ensure that it bakes properly. Bake at 375 for 20- 25 minutes.

moment of luxury (honk if you love PBS!)

Last night I tried to make falafel and it turned out to be a big oily mushy mess, bummer. Today I'll skip the new tries in favor of some classics. The coffee is brewing now. (wooooooooonderful) Next up, oatmeal raisin cookies. Can't go wrong... as long as you don't forget to add a key ingredient.... which I have done on more than one occasion.

Oatmeal cookies

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 1/2 c brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups oats
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup raisins

Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs and mix. Add oats, flour, b. powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix on low. Add nuts and raisins. Scoop onto greased pan and cook for 10-13 minutes at 350.

While the cookies are in the oven, I'm enjoying my wonderful fair trade coffee and reading my favorite magazines that just came in the mail!!!! The Week compiles all the weeks news and shows up in our mail box, to our delight, every seven days. This magazine and NPR are pretty much my main sources for news these days. We also love Utne. It's a compilation of the best indie press and just has lots of interesting articles about anything and everything. Utne comes every two months, so we get a little more excited when that arrives. I used to never read magazines but Sam's family gets these and whenever we'd visit I'd bask in their glory. At some point, I converted and now I read them both cover to cover at every opportunity. While I'm in teacher mode, I also get a good kick out of Time for Kids, but I'm not sitting at home reading a magazine made for 4th-6th graders... right now, at least.

Anyway, cookies, coffee, and magazines are great. No big surprise there. Enjoy the cookies and check out this ever so interesting issue of Utne where a chunk of the articles are dedicated to thinking about creativity and how it's changing with the times, for better or worse.