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.

Vegetarians get hungry too!

My husband and I eat a lot. We are the people that some choose to hate because our metabolism doesn't know when to stop and the hunger pains crop up again right after we eat. That being said, we eat some pretty hearty meals around here. All this talk about veg head food being "rabbit food" is silly. I love produce- love it- but that does not mean we live off of watercress. Looking for a yummy, fiber-filled, protein-packed, and comforting meal? Read on!

Spicy Bean and Lentil Loaf

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 cups red kidney beans (buy dry, soak overnight, then boil)
• 2 cups lentils (buy them dry and just boil them until they feel soft)
• 1 egg
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1/2 cup cheddar, grated (use cheese that is organic so you know you're not pumping your body with Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone. also choose a block of cheese and grate it yourself; the kind you buy shredded usually has added preservatives)
• 1 cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs (just rip up a piece of toast)
• 1 TBS tomato paste
• 1 TBS ketchup
• 1 tsp each of cumin, coriander, and chili powder

1. Saute the chopped onions, celery, and garlic for 5 minutes with the oil. Let cool for a sec.
2. Fill your food processor with the beans and lentils (rinsed and drained), all the stuff from step #1, and an egg. Let the machine mix it all up!
3. Move the mixture to a bowl, add everything else, and mix.
4. Fill a greased loaf pan with the mix. Bake it at 350 for an hour.

Makes for easy and filling left-overs too! Just serve it with some salad greens and/or whatever fresh veggies you happen to have. Let me know how you like it!

I got this recipe from one of my new favorite cookbooks. Vegetarian:Over 300 healthy and wholesome recipes chosen from around the world. Consultant Editor: Nicola Graimes. I found it on the bargain table at Barnes and Nobles. Book stores are great.

Brought to you by...

my dear friend ashley has inspired this blog. we've been best friends for about a decade now and at least half of that relationship has been long distance. now, as wanna be hippies working in the service field and trying to save money and the earth, we talk a lot about what we eat. she posts on her blog, i... well now maybe i'll post on mine!

Let's get to know each other!
Here's a list of some of the food items that I make all the time and adore:

• "Mom's Hippie Granola" -a great, easy recipe i got from my mother-in-law


• Apple Carrot Bran muffins- yum!


• Making my own yogurt (an adventure in the making)


• Fair trade coffee. YUMMMMM. We get ours from Whole Foods. Yuppy, I know.


• Nut burgers- making veggie burgers from scratch tastes better and cuts down on waste


• BEANS! Anyway, anyhow! Buy dry organic beans from the bulk section, soak overnight, and make millions of masterpieces in the morning.


• Rice- also go organic, bulk products


• Burritos. Classic.


• Veggies from the local co-op or organic grocery store (if only we could fit a garden in our apt complex... the herb garden pot will have to do for now)


• Spicy chickpeas- yum. cumin, coriander, and masala will get you far.


• Tofu Stir Fry


• BROWNIES!!!! The exclamation points do not do them justice.

Why did I make that list? I'm not sure. This blog is mostly a way to procrastinate from planning for grad school applications for 2009-2010 or planning for my killer 6th grade class in the fall. Anywho, here are some of my favorite recipes. Use them at will:

Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 ¼ cups of wheat flour
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg
1 ¼ cup skim milk
Mix, cook, and eat. Feel free to throw in any fruits, nuts, or chocolate chips!

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!

Beer Bread
3 cups self rising flour
3 Tablespoons of sugar
12 oz. beer
Mix together, bake in greased loaf pan at 375 for one hour

Health Nut Blueberry Muffins
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 banana, mashed
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper muffin cups. In a large bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, oat bran, quick-cooking oats, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir in the blueberries and walnuts. In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed banana, buttermilk, egg, oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix just until blended. Spoon into muffin cups, filling all the way to the top. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly touched.

Apple Carrot Muffins
1 3/4 cups raisin bran cereal
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup finely chopped peeled tart apple
3/4 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In a small bowl, beat the egg, buttermilk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apple, carrots and walnuts. Fill paper-lined muffin cups or cups coated with nonstick cooking spray three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.

Nut burgers
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup sunflower seeds
1 cup canned, drained chickpeas (or black beans)
¼ cup diced red onion (we normally use white onions if it’s all we have)
1 beaten egg
1 tbsp chopped parsley
¼ tsp pepper
1 tbsp seasoning (whatever you want)
2 Tbsp olive oil
Toast the walnuts and sunflower seeds in a frying pan on the stove, then mix everything together. Make into patties and cook on the frying pan just like the carnivore version!

Guacamole
2 avocados
Handful of fresh cilantro
1 Tablespoon of lime juice
¼ cup of chopped onion
Salt
Throw it all in the food processor and mash it up! The amount of each ingredient that you use really doesn’t matter. Get some chips or make some burritos. Grab a beer, and relax!

Heavenly Brownies
1 cup butter
3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 ½ cup flour
1 cup cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Mix it all together and bake in a greased 9x13 pan for 35-40 minutes. Delicious!!!!! We always add walnuts too!

Cinnamon Rolls
3 ¼ tsp yeast
¼ cup warm water (soak the yeast in the water for 10 minutes)
½ cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
1 cup milk (scald in a pot on the stove. Just bring it to a boil)
1 egg
4-5 cup sifted flour
Soak the yeast. Scald milk and pour it over the butter. Add sugar, salt, and cool. Add yeast and beaten egg. Add flour. Knead and put in well oiled bowl to rise 1 ½ hours. Once the dough rises, spread it or roll it out. Cover the dough in cinnamon, brown sugar, and raisins. Then cut strips, roll them up like a jelly roll, and put them in a 9x13 pan to bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.