Starting over

Ok, so my first attempt at blogging failed.  Rick was right, it’s easier to start a blog than to maintain one.  We’ll see if I can do better this time around.

This time around, I’m expanding my scope.  It may surprise all my readers (that’s all two of you) to know that I have more to say about life than food.  So while I still hope to post share some great culinary discoveries I’m also going to be sharing about motherhood, faith, world politics and anything else that strikes my fancy.  Because let’s face it, this is more for me than you anyway.  Enough explaining…

I just had my second baby and am loving life, although I forgot how insecure the first several weeks of motherhood make me feel.  I’m spending an extraordinary amount of time, energy and love caring for this precious new little baby and all she does in return is dirty her diapers, eat at most inconvenient times (ie- when I have to go to the bathroom, when I’m trying to fall asleep, or the worst- when I just sit down for dinner), and sleep the day away.  No hugs, no giggles, no “I love you Mama”s, nothing.  If I’m lucky, I may catch a smile as she’s drifting off to sleep but every child-rearing book will tell you that the smile has nothing to do with me and everything to do with passing gas.

Babies are supposed to start smiling around 4-5 weeks.  Until then, all I can do is change her, feed her, soothe her to sleep, kiss her, sing to her, etc. etc.  and hope that somehow, in someway she interprets these actions as markers of what they truly are- unconditional LOVE.

I’ve had the privilege of my mom staying with me the past three weeks in an effort to help make this transition smoother.  It’s intimidating to know that my mom loves me as much as I love my own daughters.  Because unfortunately, no matter how much I love my mom (which is A LOT!), it’s a different kind of love than the love I have for my children.  Mom warned me about this before I had kids and I didn’t believe her then, but I do now.

Well, speaking of daughters, both mine are sleeping at the moment which means I should get more stuff done (or lay down for a nap!).

So grateful.

Must. Post. Now.

Wow. I am a mess- still in pajamas, hair = rat’s nest, haven’t showered, scarfing down cold oatmeal at 3:45pm as my first meal of the day (thank you motherhood!) and I couldn’t be happier. I might have just made the best cake EVER. Sometimes, I end up liking cake or cookie batter more than the intended result, so I will post after I’ve consumed the final project…but for now, this cake is in serious gold medal territory. What is this cake you ask? The peculiar Red Velvet Cake, of course. Why peculiar? Because who really knows what velvet tastes like? And why does it have to be red? Is it nothing more than so-so chocolate cake imbued with a copious dose of food coloring? Maybe so, but the recipe I found is somehow extraordinary. You can read it here.  

I fully divulge my weakness for batters.  Katie and Tova might even recall my habit of eating dry Pillsbury cake mix by the spoonful!  But this cake batter has taken me to new lows (or would they be highs?)!  I licked every beater, bowl and utensil in sight.  I used my finger to slop up the batter on the counter.  Licked that too!  And it still wasn’t enough.  I dunked the spatula back into the mix a couple times and licked away…against all hygienic impulses.

My only reservation is that the cake calls for a cream cheese frosting, of which I’ve never been a devoted fan.  But if it suits the cake just right, I may be wooed.  Only time will tell…

Katie’s Famous Gingersnaps & Pumpkin Dip

A couple weeks ago, our friends Katie and Judd came over for dinner, games, and dessert. My dinner was forgettable but Katie’s dessert was not! She made the best gingersnaps I’ve ever had in my life and a unique dip to go with them. Since then, I’ve given out the recipe to a few friends albeit secretly, just in case Katie wanted to keep the gingery goodness in her family (I believe it’s actually her mother’s recipe). But upon request, she has graciously allowed me to post the recipe for the whole blogging world to read and marvel! So read. Bake. Eat. Marvel!

Katie’s Famous Gingersnaps
2 C flour
1 Tbs Ginger
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Mix the dry ingredients and set aside.

3/4 C shortening* (see note)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1/4 C molasses
granulated or coarsely ground sugar

Preheat oven to 350

Beat shortening until creamy, gradually adding 1 C sugar. Beat in egg & molasses. Sift in 1/4 C dry mix at a time & combine well before adding more. Chill dough at least an hour. Form balls of dough (about a Tbs), roll in extra sugar. DO NOT FLATTEN. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased sheet and bake 10 minutes or until tops are slightly rounded and crackly. Cool on racks.

* Although I typically use butter in all my baking, Katie specifically recommends using shortening for this cookie, since it helps give it the “crunchy on outside, chewy on inside” effect.

Katie’s Pumpkin Dip
Cream together:
1 brick cream cheese
2 C powdered sugar (can be reduced to 1 C)

Add in all at once until creamy with no lumps:
1 can pumpkin (straight pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp nutmeg)
1 tsp vanilla

Serve with gingersnaps and slices of tart apples. Dip is better the next day.

Goat-cheese a couple ways

For my birthday last year, I received a wonderful Martha Stewart cookbook and a subscription to MS Living. It’s true. I confess that I LOVE the woman. Don’t agree with her business practices, but her complete perfection in all things “homey” is enviable. If I only had a million dollars I would certainly have turkeys in my backyard and fresh cut flowers in every room. Even then, I’d never be able to do it with such class and refinement. But that’s ok! As a young woman and a young mom in particular, I’m coming to grips with who I am and who I’m not…which isn’t to say there’s no room for growth. It just means that I’m trying to be gracious with myself as I learn new skills and attempt new challenges. Like this blog for instance! Since I’ve started this little webpage, I’ve been reading other peoples’ food blogs and have come up against some serious stage fright. There are so many wonderful chefs, photographers and writers out there. What else could I possibly contribute to the internet foodie culture? I’m not sure yet, but I know the answer won’t come by silencing myself prematurely. So here’s the deal. In being patient with my shortcomings (and being realistic with my current stage of motherhood), I’m not going worry about perfection. I’m going to post my favorite recipes and share some stories and leave it at that!

Without further ado, I’d like to share a couple ways of preparing goat cheese for salad. They have both come out of Martha’s cookbook that I was talking about: Great Food Fast. They’re simple in technique but boast complex flavor.

We’ll call the first recipe Walnut-Crusted Goat Cheese Medallions. First, toast 1/2 C walnuts at 350 until they smell delicious, about 10 minutes. After they’ve cooled, chop them finely and place in a shallow dish (you can use a bread pan, casserole dish, pie plate, cake pan, whatever you’ve got). Then, take a log of goat cheese, separate it into 12 pieces (if using a 6 oz log) and form them into balls. Roll them one at a time in the walnuts and then gently with your fingers, flatten them into disks.

The second recipe we’ll entitle Baked Goat Cheese Medallions. First, chill a 12 oz log of goat cheese in the freezer. In a shallow bowl, whisk an egg with a pinch of salt and pepper. Place 1 1/2 C plain breadcrumbs in another shallow bowl. Take the cheese out of the freezer and slice it into 8 rounds (freezing makes it easier to slice). Then, pat the rounds into 1/2 in thick disks. Dip them in the egg and then evenly coat them with the breadcrumbs. Spread them out on a baking sheet and brush them with 1/4 C olive oil. Broil until crisp, about 5 minutes. Make sure to watch your oven! If baked for too long, the cheese will come out of the breadcrumb casing. This happened to me and although they were still tasty, they weren’t very pretty! Next time, I think I’ll try adding some herbs to the breadcrumb mix. I bet rosemary or thyme would be delicious. It’d also be fun to try this with herbed goat cheese as my dear friend Katie suggested.

As I mentioned above, I like these tricks because they’re easy…yet they can dress up any salad. Yum! If only I had some goat cheese in my fridge, I’d be making these tonight! Better yet, if I were Martha Stewart, I could go out back, milk some of my own goats and make my own cheese! Then again, I probably wouldn’t have time to take Maren to the park, which is a must on days like today. 75 and sunny! Hello Birmingham!

Sour Cream Banana Bread

Ok, so as I’ve stated previously in my first entry, I can hardly make any recipe without modifying it in someway.  The other day we had a million brown bananas and since Rick’s favorite food group is banana bread, I figured I’d put them to good use!

I found the skeleton of the recipe on recipezaar.  You can read it by clicking here.  I’m sure it’d make a wonderful bread if you followed it exactly.  But for those who ate my version and would like to bake one similar to it, I’ll write a new recipe with my modifications below.

Whole-wheat Yogurt Flax Banana Bread (doesn’t have a very catchy ring to it, does it?!)

Ingredients:
1/2 C butter (room temperature)
1/2 C brown sugar 
1/2 C white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla (you can use 1 tsp, but I prefer a more robust flavor)
3/4 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C white flour
2-3 T Flax meal (you could also use whole flax seeds)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C mashed banana (about 3-4 large overripe bananas)
1/2 C plain low-fat yogurt

Cream the butter with the sugars, add in eggs one at a time, add vanilla, mix until incorporated.

Sift dry ingredients together, add to sugar mixture, stir in bananas and yogurt. 

Bake at 350 F for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

The Most Amazing Salad I’ve Had In My Entire Life.

Seriously.  I’ve eaten many salads in my lifetime.  What girl hasn’t?  But this one tops them all.  Swiss chard, apple, squash, maple syrup, and bacon…for a hearty fall meal, can it get any better?

The title of the recipe is: Pan-Roasted Chicken, Squash, and Chard Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette.

It comes from the October 2008 issue of Cooking Light and you can find the recipe online here.

A couple notes: I used 2 whole bone-in chicken breasts (not halved like the recipe calls for) which increased the baking time.  Rick and I shared one breast and I shredded the other to use in a soup.  It’s a fairly time consuming recipe, but totally worth it (in my opinion)!

My first post!

Hello!  Welcome to my blog!  If you know me, you know that I love good food.  Furthermore, I love sharing good food with family and friends.  Since many of my loved ones live far away, I figure this will be a useful forum to spread my enthusiasm for Sour Cream Banana Bread, White Bean Kale Soup, Crisp-Goat Cheese Salad and the like.  And I confess from the start that most of these recipes will not be my own!  I am just the messenger!  Even so, I can never follow a recipe perfectly.  I’m always adding a bit of this, leaving out some of this, or exchanging this for that.  I suppose that’s enough about me for right now.  On to more important things…like The Most Amazing Salad I’ve Ever Had In My Entire Life.