The Gong Show of Everyday Life. Now with Ratatouille!

The GOOD:
I am still alive.

It's been fun, though. Teaching and rehearsing for a high school show that finished up on Friday - an incredible time but it meant not a lot of energy to devote to other things. I'll spare you the details but basically, even my need to keep my hands busy while sitting faltered.  I embraced the potato-esque and stared zombie-like at the tv for a few minutes each night until told like an over-tired toddler to go to bed. Sleepy "oh-kay." Trundle trundle yawn trundle.... Well worth it. Every minute.

No sewing happened.  Not really.  I did manage 15 minutes on my thread-painting the other day but just as a diversionary tactic with a fussy nephew.  He sat on my lap and we used the "sew-ming ma-sheen."

So here's where I'm at now.

The BETTER:
I did find a little time to actually cook something last weekend.  I've been trying to keep up with last year's mission to make one new recipe a week.  A lesson with some new English speakers led me to this video, and then to some marvellous ratatouille.  Seriously, the toughest part was the slicing, and honestly, how tough is slicing?



From this:

To this:

Easy. Delicious.  Served on brown rice with cold roast beef on the side. We all went back for seconds.

The UGLY:
Trying to get caught up on my interwebs after yet another absence. I've been away from Flickr, in email correspondence I'm woefully behind, and my reader is jammed packed with 15-16 days worth of unread goodness. It will take me days, maybe weeks. We're looking at massive numbers here.

Oh! and on that score, since folk are panicking:  I use Reeder as my RSS reader.  Apparently, although it syncs with Google Reader, it will still go on after Google drops its reader, which caused me a huge sigh of relief since I didn't want to have to go hunting for a new one.  Again. (Curse you, Mail!!) Why I like it:  1)I can sync between my computer, my phone and my tablet, 2)it's clean and has a decent interface, 3) the learning curve on it was steep and once I got the hang of it, it was better than what I was using before. As far as I know though, it's Mac and iOS only.

The UPCOMING:
I'm also working on a post for the Meet: My Machine Blog Hop this week - thank you to Erin and Stacey for the invitation!  My day is Wednesday.  You can read more all about the hop here, catch up with the other participants, and learn all about their sewing machines.  GREAT if you're considering an upgrade or second machine. Better if you're looking for more blogs to fill your Google Reader replacement.

Here's the schedule:

SUNDAY, MARCH 17

Erin @ Sew at Home Mummy 

Angela @ Heart of Charnwood

Shannon @ Crafty Turtle

Amy @ Stitchery Dickory Dock

MONDAY, MARCH 18

Ebony @ Love Bug Studios 

Jaclyn @ Jaclyn Quilts

Amy @ Diary of a Quilter

TUESDAY, MARCH 19

Kara@ Me and Elna

Beth @ Plum and June

Nerissa @ Nissa Made 

Elizabeth @ Don’t Call Me Betsy

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20

Carly @ Citric Sugar 

Celine @ Espritpatch 

Patti @ A Yankee in Queen Liz’s Court

THURSDAY, MARCH 21

Stacey @ The Tilted Quilt 

The Jolly Jabber Staff (Chelsey, Kimberly, Debbie)

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After! 

FRIDAY, MARCH 22

Erika @ Sews it All 

Lisa @ Vintage Modern Quilts

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side

Hope you enjoy it!! Okay - I've got to go do some stuff so that I can come back here sooner rather than later...

Soup to Nuts

As part of my endeavour to make one new recipe a week, I've been trying a bunch of different things.  While I probably average that, often it's been a one day-three new recipes deal.  It's not quite my goal but it's working.  The bottom line is that I'm cooking more, period, even dragging out old favourites that have long been ignored, and that makes me happy.

I am a sucker for cake, and a fan of things I can eat with my hands, so a good snack cake is always welcome.  In flipping through old cookbooks, I have often come across the old Soup to Nuts Cake recipe which contains, as one of its ingredients, a can of condensed tomato soup.

Yes.  Soup.  When you remember that tomatoes are technically fruit, it seems far less weird.  After all, we throw veggies in cakes all the time. Carrots, zucchini, I've even heard tell of beets!  Perhaps you've heard of these cakes.  I imagine they've come from a long lost soup can label or brand-name recipe book.  The recipe is far older than I am.  As this is the summer of making new things, I decided that what has long intrigued me would be made and tasted.

Oh, the colour!  No amount of late-night, poorly lit, kitchen photography can capture that orangey-red.

The smell when mixing reminded me quite a lot of pumpkin cookies.  The spices would be mostly responsible for that, I'm sure, but even the soup helped to evoke that scent.  The batter was delicious!

Again, the camera let me down here and shows the cake as kinda saffron-y instead of more pumpkin-y hue.  Perfect with a brown sugar frosting but lovely without.  It was moist and delicious, improving in texture the next day but it didn't last much longer than that.  I'm not going to lie, I loves me some cake, people! This one did not disappoint so I'll definitely be making it again - in fact, I have since the original photos were eaten in the two weeks lost in the Great Computer Crash of Twenty Twelve.

The recipe called for walnuts but since we had pecans, I used them instead.  I prefer pecans to walnuts anyway. I skipped the currants.  I have even subbed in craisins.  I baked it in a 8x12 pan! It's a very forgiving recipe. By changing the butter to margarine, you could very easily make this cake vegan, since there are no eggs in it. I double-checked the ingredients on the soup can to be sure, so I was impressed with that, though eating vegan is always more incidental than intentional for me.  I'm little and pale so going meatless will likely never be a viable option for me, (and I believe not-so-secretly that margarine is evil) but it's nice to have recipes when inviting vegan friends for tea or taking to potlucks when you know there'll be people with dietary restrictions. Until such an occasion, I'm using butter.

Mmmmm, butter....

Pulled Pork: Easier Than It Sounds. Now with Coleslaw and Pie!

Where does a week go?  I had started writing a post a couple days ago regarding a cake recipe I'd tried.  Then I went to find my photos and ....???? Apparently, they exist solely in my memory.  Alack and alas.

So, on to something saucier.*  After Mothers' Day's culinary triumph, I had to follow up with something delicious for Dads' Day.  I decided I'd finally try Pulled Pork sandwiches with coleslaw and pie.  I'd skimmed a bunch of recipes online that needed a smoker or involved a number of ingredients I'd never tried or took too long so I said, "Heck with it, I'm just going to the store and I'll make it up when I get there."

After a little wandering down the aisles, I grabbed a tasty sounding jar of salsa (and it was)

 

and a couple bottles of a barbecue sauce I had never heard of or seen prior to a random mention on a food blog that morning.  And it was on sale. Score!!!

I also grabbed some multigrain kaiser rolls and some shredded broccoli/cabbage slaw mix (lazy, I know) for dinner, and scoped out the fruit aisle.  Apricots and plums sounded like pie to me!**

Pulled Pork:

• 1 pork butt roast - get a bigger one than you think you'll need, if it turns out to be a little fattier than you planned, you'll still have enough for a number of people. All the better if it yields leftovers!
• 1 jar salsa - I used PC Smoky Chipotle Salsa (picked both because I love chipotle and I'm a sucker for a beautiful label.  It's a medium hot salsa but you can go hotter than you normally would for just eating since the spice diffuses quite a bit)
• 1-2 bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce (or your favourite - you have to like it or this will be a terrible meal for you. If you have a large roast, you'll probably use a bottle and a half to two bottles.  Smaller roasts might be fine with one.)

Note: Try your salsa and bbq sauce before committing to throwing them in the slow-cooker.  You want to be sure they work together because they will get to know each other intimately.  Very intimately..

Place roast in a slow cooker and cover with salsa.  Squirt 1/4 cup of bbq sauce over top.  Cover and roast 3-4 hours on High (if you're short of time) or preferably 7-8 hours on Low.  Meat should be tender enough to come apart into nice juicy shreds when pulled with a fork.  Remove pork to a baking pan or rimmed plate and shred, discarding any fatty, grisly bits.

Skim fat off liquid remaining in slow cooker and remove about 1/3 of liquid remaining after that.  Leave as much of the salsa chunks as possible.  Return shredded pork to cooker, add rest of bbq sauce - until thoroughly coated but not quite soupy - and cover.  Cook on Low for 20 minutes to an hour.

Serve on buns with coleslaw.

Carly's Coleslaw Dressing

It's no secret that I despise mayonnaise.  I have often seen creamy coleslaws but have refrained from eating them, knowing I would be disappointed and disgusted at the first bite.  I also knew that these sandwiches needed coleslaw.  So I invented my own, very tangy dressing.  Adjust all of these ingredients to your own taste.  I didn't measure precisely - I used mostly tasting and tweaking.  However, I've made it since and seem to have cracked the proportions. By tablespoon, I mean a well-rounded regular old spoon.  I did not use my trusty measuring spoons.

• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

Combine. Taste.  Add to slaw mix of your choice and to the moisture level you prefer. 

Dad was definitely happy.  I'm calling it a huge success!

And yes, I made rosemary potato wedges and more aioli. I'm so deeply in love with aioli that with a dish of raw carrots, I consider it the best late-night snack though garlicky. :-)

*I realize that this recipe is in no way vegan, vegetarian, kosher or halal.  However, the pie, if you skip the butter, could be all of the above.  The coleslaw, if you sub in vegetarian/vegan mayo for the yogurt could be vegan as well.

** I used my basic, sub in random fruit pie recipe.

The New Recipe Rule: Aioli, Steak, and Cake

At the end of April,  I decided to try at least one new recipe a week.  I've had some interesting results so far - the sourdough being the most (and unexpectedly) challenging.  But I've enjoyed myself and tend to get ridiculously excited when I find the next one I plan to try...

When I saw this list posted at littlebrownpen, it sounded amazing but I was skeptical about the aioli My understanding of aioli was that it was a fresher, fancier version of mayonnaise.  I loathe mayonnaise.  I won't even use a knife that's been used to spread mayonnaise even if it's been wiped clean on a piece of bread.  I ask every server at every restaurant what exactly I can expect if I order a particular sandwich and ask for them to hold the mayo every time.

However, I figured I had nothing to lose by trying it and I'd always heard that fresh was amazing, etc. I hadn't bought a Mother's Day gift....

HOLY AIOLI!  It's definitely not mayonnaise.  It's definitely a workout. It's definitely worth it.

I made the other recipes, too.  It's probably one of the best meals I have ever made in my life.  One of the best I've eaten, too.  Seester was in charge of the bbq.  She cooked the steaks perfectly.  She'd want me to tell you that.  I want to tell you that the fresh parm on top melts into the steak and adds just the right bite...

I did use potatoes that were larger than large apparently so I'll be wiser next time. But dipping them in the aioli was delicious!

For dessert, I stuck to a old family favourite from a community fundraiser cookbook that lost its cover decades ago.  I had already tackled three new ones in a single meal - I figured I was safe.  And it's new to you. :-)

You can tell from the picture that it's well-loved and oft-made. It's not too sweet, has a rustic texture, and a really nice flavour.

I top it with balsamic strawberries and frozen vanilla ice cream or yogurt.  For the strawberries, hull and slice (or quarter) two pints of strawberries.  Add a few tablespoons of brown sugar and a couple tablespoons balsamic vinegar (trust me!) and let the berries macerate.  I leave the bowl on the counter and stir it once every 15-30 minutes for a couple of hours... Delicious.

Recipe links - found via littlebrownpen:
The Creamiest Aioli  - lots of garlic and lemon goodness
Baked Potato Wedges - it's the garlic and fresh rosemary that make these special
Grilled Filet Steak and Arugula - I used mixed field greens with herbs instead of 100% arugula with great success

Enjoy!


PS:  If you borrow recipe books, magazines, etc., and forget to photocopy or type up the recipes you want to try until 3 seconds before you were going to give the book, magazine, etc., back to the lender, whip out your phone or camera and snap a picture of it. You can also take a picture of complicated technique photos or the finished dish photo.  That way, if you never end up making the recipe, you haven't spent a ton of time or photocopier money, copying the recipe.

I invented a pie!

No, I didn't have time to do it but I saw bonino mauro plums at the grocery store.

I also grabbed a bag of cranberries.

Used a ridiculous amount of butter.

Washed, chopped, sliced, blended, baked.

Enjoyed.

Carly's Plum-Cranberry Pie
Filling:
3 cups plums, pitted and sliced (approx 1/2 lb)
1 cup cranberries, halved
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper (trust me)

Streusel:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4-1/3 cup butter (1/4 cup melted gives you a crunchier streusel, 1/3 cup cold and cut into dry ingredients is crumblier but more butter than you need considering the amount in the crust)

Crust:
I use Martha's Perfect Pie Crust recipe.  It makes enough for a two-crust pie so there is currently a half-batch in the fridge in case I get pie-crazy again...  This crust is so good; it's a little heavier than those made with lard or shortening but the taste and texture make up for it.

1 egg, beaten

Make your crust and chill an hour or so.  Roll out and put in pie pan.  Fancify your edge.  I know some prefer to just fork around it, but I like to flute it.  Brush inside and edge with egg.

Autumn leads to Soup

I managed to find a few minutes in the last week to make the first pot of Potato, Ham and Cheese Soup for the season. 

Using a variety of potatoes (blue, yellow, red) makes it prettier.

Using a Vermont-style ham gives a maple sweetness that balances out the chill flakes.

Making focaccia to dunk means no boring store-bought crackers.

It also means I have an excuse to use the pretty pink Himalayan finishing salt I received as a gift.

Pot of soup to myself means lots of yummy leftovers.

And not having to share strawberries for dessert!

Recipe found in a piece of junk mail years ago...  It is not kosher, halal or vegetarian (my apologies to those with dietary restrictions!)

3 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes (or a hand-full of new potatoes with the skin on (prettier)

2 cups of water

3Tbsp butter

1 med onion, chopped

3Tbsp flour

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Chili flakes, to taste

1tsp sugar

3cups milk (not skim, it's better the higher fat content you go, but 1% will work if it's what you've got on-hand)

1 cup cooked ham, cubed (Vermont-style is nice but use your favourite, or bacon)

1 cup shredded old cheddar (spring for the best cheese you can, I use 2-year old white cheddar)

Boil potatoes in 2 cups water in a medium pot for 10-15min or until fork tender.  Drain, reserving 1 cup of potato water.  (Add water if you are short). Add potato water to sugar and milk.  Set potatoes and milk mixture aside.

Melt butter over medium heat.  Saute onions until translucent but not brown, about 5 min.  Sprinkle flour, pepper, and chili flakes over onions and stir constantly, until flour is browned and onions are thoroughly coated, 3-5 min. You may want to lower the heat to med-low for this step.

Gradually and gently add potatoes and stir until coated with flour mixture.  Slowly add milk mixture, small amounts at first, stirring well with each addition.  Add ham and cheese. Bring to a low simmer.

Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 min.  Serves 4, or more if you get a little crazy with the potatoes and ham.  I always seem to add more...  It's yummier that way.

Scott's Chicken Wings

This recipe was passed onto me by Scott.  Scott is my good friend's sister's boyfriend. (uncle's cousin's dermatologist's paperboy - which makes us as close as Helmet and Lonestar.  Spaceballs, anyone? No?)  I met him once when a large number of us went carousing.  But before we caroused, there was wine.  And tapas.  And these incredibly, ridiculously easy and delicious wings.  I begged him for the recipe.  Begging works.

Ingredients:  

Chicken drummettes or wing tips, or go crazy and get both
Lime juice, about one cup for every 20-30 pieces of chicken  (You can use the RealLime bottled stuff.  It'll be okay.  It's not considered cheating. But using lemon juice would be.  Use the lime.  Do it.)
Montreal Steak Spice.

Yup.  That's the good stuff.

Marinate your chicken in the lime juice for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.  We were lazy today and used ziplocs so that we could turn and flip and toss without a lot of mess.  (Little did we know...  Mess will find you other ways...)
Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Place your chicken pieces on greased or lined cookie sheets.  Sprinkle liberally with Montreal Steak Spice.

 Liberally!  With intent.  In fact, just to be sure, when you think you've added enough, turn your cookie sheet one-eighty and check there is no nekkid chicken from the other angle.

Now, I will point out that I over-crowded my chicken today.  Try to only marinate as much chicken as will reasonably fit in your oven.  Also, use a rimmed baking sheet, especially if you plan to over-crowd your chicken.  Why? You can either cook your chicken on rimmed sheets or use one to hold the scrapings of chicken juice-turned-charcoal from the bottom of your oven.  (I did say that mess finds you in other ways...)

I had made these wings before on a non-lipped sheet without incident but today..., today, I over-crowded and it bit me in the ash.  We had three fans going for a half an hour and had to interrupt cooking for a quarter so just use rimmed sheets.  Do it.

Bake your wings for 30-35 minutes.  Flip and be a libertine once more with the steak spice.  Sprinkly wantonly!  Return to oven for another 30-35 minutes or until chicken is browned and beginning to crisp.

Serve with napkins.
Also goes nicely with a side of sports, particularly if your team is doing well.  Go, Riders!

Bean there.

Beans.

I always decide I want to make a bean-filled recipe about twelve hours too late. Legumes have oft been recommended to me as (surprise, surprise) I am a little on the anaemic side. The virtually transparent side. As a matter of fact, I've often been accused of having no blood in my blood and rather than dine on me, a vampire would more likely ask what I use for SPF.

But I can be an impatient cook and never remember to think ahead for beans. This weekend, in a fit of cupboard and closet cleaning, I made a plan! I budgeted some time, orchestrated enough bowls on the counter and proceeded to soak four varieties of beans. The next day, I cooked, parcelled, labelled and froze.

Now, I have a freezer full of magic beans ready for when I lazily wish to eat the same day I pick a recipe... 21.5 cups in fact. I'm thinking delicious soup some day soon. And maybe THAT will shush the naysayers asking me, "What's with all the beans?"

Either that, or I won't hear them over the beans' effects! :-D

The Good, The Bad, and The Oven ( the good is a recipe, sort of..)

If you're Canadian, then yesterday was Thanksgiving. If you're American, it was Columbus Day. If you're neither, it was probably just Monday.

I, like most Canadians, ate turkey on Sunday surrounded by friends and family, and laid about Monday eating turkey buns and doing very little, save coming within rows (rows!) of finishing a pair of socks before my hands revolted and refused to knit another stitch! Sigh.

The Good: My favourite appetizer - ridiculously easy

Sweet and Spicy Baked Brie - original recipe can be found here (Their granola is also awesome!)

You take 1 tbsp chili paste and 3 tbsp brown sugar and smoosh them up.

Score your brie and slather it on top. Bake at 350 for 20-30, or if you are me the other day at 400 (turkey temp) for 15 minutes or so. I have a brie baker

to speed the process but you can use a small casserole or even an uncovered pie plate - it is not even remotely associated with rocket science.

Serve it with crackers or bread rounds. I imagine you could use almost any chili paste - I just really like this one. DO NOT use a brie with a "blooming rind". Trust me.

The Bad: Supper tonight was boxed macaroni and cheese made in the microwave.

Why...?

The Oven: My mother decided Monday would be a good day to try the self-cleaning feature on her relatively new oven. I'd cleaned it once for her months ago using the overnight baking soda and water method (so slick!) and offered to do that again. But she wanted to do the self-clean. Three hours later, it won't stop beeping. It shows an error message but when you press cancel, it just starts up again. And again. And again. We tried throwing the breaker to reset it. Nope. So she tried turning off the breaker and letting it cool. Nope. And we're locked out of it. An online search reveals little and the manual directs us to call for service after we locate the serial number. INSIDE the door. Sigh. We did eventually get a hold of service people (who managed to track down the serial number using just a phone number - scary) but they aren't available until Friday.

Thank goodness we're creative people around here. :-) I'm also very thankful that this minor kitchen glitch is the worst thing with which we have to deal. We're lucky for health and family and a roof and the luxury of a new oven to break down...

Especially since mum also said, just before turning on the self-clean:

"Your father's outside, on a ladder, with a chain saw..."

Very thankful!