Sweet & Saucy

Lemon Couscous with Asparagus and Tomato

2011-12-25T22:49:00.000-08:00

This is a great side dish for summer. The citrus undertone works well with the veggies and sharp flavors of the cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain dried quick-cooking couscous
• 12 ounces asparagus, tough ends removed
• Cherry or grape tomatoes, halved.
• Finely grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons (2 tablespoons zest and about ½ cup juice)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Prepare the couscous according to package directions. Transfer to a bowl.
Fill a large bowl with ice water. Bring a shallow pan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook for 4-6 minutes, until just tender. Transfer the asparagus to the ice water; cool for 5 minutes. Remove and dry the spears; then cut into ½ inch lengths.

Add the following to the couscous: asparagus, tomatoes, lemon zest and juice, 2 tablespoons of the oil, salt and pepper to taste; toss to combine. Taste, and adjust the seasoning as needed. If the couscous seems dry, add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Garnish with parmesan cheese.

Serve immediately. (This is best served right after it is made; otherwise the lemon juice will discolor the asparagus.)

African Peanut Soup

2011-12-25T22:17:00.000-08:00

From the Colophon Cafe, one of my favorite hangouts in college.

Blend in food processor to create soup base:

1 oz fresh ginger root, scrubbed and diced
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp crushed chili peppers
3 ¼ cups diced tomatoes, canned or fresh
1 ¾ cups dry roasted unsalted peanuts
1 small onion, chopped

Add the following and cook to 165 degrees:

1 ½ cup chicken stock
3 cups water

Make a roux paste and add to thicken:

1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour

Finally add:

2 cups diced tomatoes, canned or fresh
½ lb cooked and cubed turkey or chicken

Hints: Whisk warm roux into soup and simmer to thicken. Add final tomatoes
to thin and add chunkiness to soup. Thin with water to desired consistency.
(For vegetarian version, leave out the turkey and use vegetable stock instead of
chicken stock.)

Garnish with peanuts and cilantro (optional).

Serves 6-8 people.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Peppermint Frosting

2011-11-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

I love the peppermint/chocolate combination, and it seems to be most readily available during the holidays. Why I can’t get peppermint M&M’s year round is beyond me, but I’ll take what I can get. Every year I make a vow to discover the perfect peppermint hot chocolate, and every year I find myself disappointed when the holidays come to a close. If anyone knows of an amazing hot chocolate distributor in the Portland, OR area, please...hook a girl up.

Also, Trader Jo's Candy Cane Joe-Joes are pretty much the best thing on Earth. If you've never tried them, leave your house RIGHT NOW and buy a box. You'll be glad you did.

To satiate the chocolate/peppermint craving, here’s a recipe for Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Peppermint Frosting. They're not quite Joe-Joe's, but close enough. As you’ll notice from the photos, this baking frenzy happened during a rare Seattle snowstorm (perfect backdrop!), and I added crushed candy canes for added zing. More peppermint! MORE!

Chocolate Cookies
1 2/3 cups flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, softened

Peppermint Frosting
3 1/4 cups (about 14 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon peppermint flavoring or extract
Pinch of fine salt

For the cookies, whisk together flour, cocoa and salt in a large bowl; set aside. In a second large bowl, beat sugar and egg together with an electric mixer until pale and thickened, about 2 minutes; beat in vanilla. Add butter and beat again until smooth, about 1 minute more. Add flour mixture in two parts and beat until combined. Shape dough into two logs then wrap each snugly in parchment paper, twisting the ends in opposite directions. Make it uniformly round and about 8 inches long. Chill for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut dough crosswise into ¼-inch thick slices and transfer to prepared baking sheets, arranging cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake until puffed and just cooked through, 9 to 10 minutes. Set aside to let cool completely.

For the frosting, put sugar, milk, butter, peppermint flavoring and salt into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Spread the flat side of half of the cookies with some of the frosting, then sandwich with remaining cookies. Serve immediately or store cookies in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Homemade Cracker Jack

2011-02-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, a friend of mine had a birthday and invited a group of about 15 people out to a ball game. I wanted to make snacks for everyone and after some thought on how I could stay in line with the baseball theme, I decided to make homemade Cracker Jack.

I used this recipe and doubled it. For the “prizes”, I headed over to Archie McPhee and pawed through their ‘small toys’ section. I had a lot of fun with this project!!

Deluxe Caramel Corn

Pop 4-6 quarts of your favorite popcorn and place in a large buttered roaster. Preheat oven to 200 degrees, put the popcorn in the oven while you make the syrup.

In a deep pot, stir together constantly while heating, then boil together at a full boil for 5 minutes without stirring:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey OR corn syrup

Remove syrup from heat, stir in:

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 cups toasted pecans, almond slices or other choice nuts

Syrup will foam high when you add the soda. Stir down and as it cools slightly, pour in a thin stream all over the popcorn. Stir in well with two large spoons or gloved hands. Put the well mixed popcorn in its roaster into the oven uncovered, increase temperature to 250 degrees. Stir thoroughly every 15 minutes for 1 hour 15 minutes. Break apart and cool before eating or storing.

The toys:

Slide whistles, spy glasses, warbling bird whistles, siren whistles, “sports fan” (get it?), and hamburger yo-yo’s. Anything that wasn’t already wrapped in plastic I put into small snack-size Ziploc bags.

The popcorn:

The recipe says to make enough to fill a roasting pan. Since I wanted to double the recipe, I made a full roasting pan plus two large-ish bowls. If you look closely, you can see that I buttered the pans.

In the oven:

Of course, I checked to make sure all three containers could fit comfortably in the oven. I let the popcorn sit in there at 200° while I worked on the caramel sauce.

The syrup:

One full cup of butter – melting, melting, melting.

Plus two full cups of brown sugar:

At this point, things started to get a little hairy. I had hot, sugary butter cooking on the stove and slow-moving honey that I was trying to measure out and I just didn’t have enough hands to handle the camera on top of that. But I did get a shot of everything all mixed up and bubbling away:

Now the recipe says to let the mixture sit and bubble without stirring for a full 5 minutes. This was probably the hardest part of the entire recipe for me. I’m an overzealous stirrer. If something is on the stove, I can’t just leave it alone. I must stir! For this reason I am the world’s worst omelet maker, and whenever I make fajitas the meat and veggies end up battered and torn from all the stir treatment they got. Knowing I had to follow the recipe, I gave the syrup a final quick stirs, set the timer for 5 minutes, and forced myself to walk away. I busied myself with dishes and cleaning up while the syrup bubbled.

After 5 minutes, it looked like this:

You can’t really tell from the photo, but it nearly doubled its size in the pot.

Next, a full teaspoon of baking soda:

I was a little nervous about this step, because the recipe warns that the syrup will omgfoamhigh when the soda is added.

I was a bit disappointed, as it didn’t really do anything:

But then I added the vanilla and holy cow WHOOSH:

It even started to smoke/steam a bit, as you can see from the steamy haze in the picture.

I had 12 oz of peanuts in the cupboard, as well as a partial package of chopped pecans. I roughly chopped all the nuts and mixed them in with the syrup, took the popcorn out of the oven, and started to mix the syrup over the corn.

Again, time was crucial at this point because I didn’t want to ruin the syrup. Once I took it off the heat, it immediately started to thicken up. Since I had 3 large containers to drizzle and mix hot syrup into, I really didn’t have a chance to take photos.

But once everything was mixed together, I stuck it all back in the oven and increased the temperature to 250°:

I stirred the popcorn every 15 minutes like the recipe said. However, at about 40ish minutes I did a little taste test with some popcorn that had fallen from my stirring spoon. It had just the slightest taste of char to it, so at 45 minutes I took all the popcorn out. (It’s a good thing I did, because later I asked a few other people if they thought it tasted burned. At first they said ‘no’, but after a moment they said, ‘Yeah. But only just a little!’ Can you imagine what would’ve happened had I left it in for the full 75 minutes??). Next time, I’ll leave it in the oven for 30 minutes and call it good. Or maybe keep the temp at 200 instead of 250 and cook for 45.

I took it all out of the oven and set it out on wax paper to cool. As you can see, the popcorn darkened up in true Cracker Jack form:

While that was cooling, I set out to create the containers. I had looked high and low for some sort of box to put my Cracker Jack in, reminiscent of actual Cracker Jack boxes. But later that afternoon I was at my local QFC picking up popcorn kernels and I noticed some Cracker Jack in the aisle. Did you know Cracker Jack comes in ONE OUNCE boxes?? One ounce, people! Entirely unacceptable! Anyway, QFC just happened to have Cracker Jack on sale. Three (one ounce!) boxes are normally $1.79 (the boxes were taped together and packaged in three). They were on sale at 10/$10. So I bought three boxes of CJ for a buck and thought I’d somehow use the boxes for inspiration.

Later at home I got a brilliant idea:

Lunch sacks! I cut off the front of the Cracker Jack box and scanned it to my printer, then printed up the image and glued it to the front of lunch sacks. I liked the end result. Gave it more of an authentic feel, somehow.

Plus, I was able to fit much more than one measly ounce of snack into each bag:

The final touch was a sticker on the back of the bag to keep it shut:

Everybody seemed to enjoy it and I had tons of fun, too. Here are some photos from the game:

Center Field:

He couldn’t get over the fact that I actually put prizes in with the popcorn:

Pass me some of that!

Hummingbird Cupcakes

2010-10-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law came to visit me in Seattle for the weekend.

Here’s a photo of us on the ferry from Seattle to Bremerton. I’m on the right, my SIL is on the left:

We had a blast doing all sorts of touristy things, including a visit to Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford.

Due to a filling and scrumptious dinner earlier that evening, we decided to purchase one cupcake and split it between the two of us. We opted for a “Hummingbird Cupcake” with cream cheese frosting.

Hummingbird Cake is a banana-bread based cake with pineapple and coconut mixed in. I figured I could replicate it, so here are the results.

Hummingbird Cupcakes

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 large)
1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup coconut flakes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center. Line cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, vanilla, and sugar until combined, about 2 minutes.

4. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next. Beat at medium speed until mixture is pale yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

5. In a medium bowl, stir together banana, pineapple, walnuts, and coconut. Add to egg mixture, mixing until combined. Stir in flour mixture.

6. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes.

7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Serve at room temperature.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and vanilla until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.

2. With mixer on medium speed, gradually add butter, beating until incorporated.

3. Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add sugar, beating until incorporated. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before using.

Makes 3 cups.

Notes
• I obviously didn’t frost my cupcakes. I opted for a dusting of powdered sugar instead. Yum.

• Cream cheese frosting would still be delicious, though.

• Next time I’ll add more pineapple. I think these cupcakes weren’t quite moist enough and the extra pineapple would’ve helped.

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

2010-10-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I wanted to try my hand at some sort of traditional Scottish dish. I had reason to observe and celebrate Scottish heritage that day, and what better way to salute the Scots than in the kitchen.

Combing the internet for recipes that would not a) be incredibly difficult or time-consuming, and b) make my insides scream and lash out in abject protest (haggis, I’m looking at you), I came across several interesting dishes, but none of them spoke to me quite like Cock-a-Leekie soup.

It’s Autumn. I’ve pulled out my winter coat and came very close to wearing it today, as the air has a bite to it and the breeze here in Seattle is quite nippy. Well. If ever a people knew how to make it through the cold winter months, it’s the Scots. And if ever there was a dish to chase away the chill, it’s Cock-A-Leekie soup. Also, it’s fun to say. When your friends, family, or roommates ask what smells so wonderful simmering on the stove, you can reply with enthusiasm, “Cock-a-Leekie soup!” then watch as their faces transform into utter confusion.

This recipe has a quaint and ancient history. Evidently, when the widowed Mary Queen of Scots left France to claim the Scottish throne in 1561, she brought her cooks along with her. One of the dishes the Queen’s kitchen created was Coq au Leek. Over time and transformation with Scottish dialect, Coq au Leek became Cock-a-Leekie. (Coq au Vin is another traditional French soup. It means “rooster in wine” in French.) Most self-respecting Scots serve Cock-a-Leekie as an intro dish for Burns Night.

Onto the bigger conundrum: What, exactly, is Cock-a-Leekie soup? Cock-a-leekie soup is a Scottish soup dish! It’s made primarily of leeks, chicken, and chicken stock. The original 16th-century recipe added prunes during cooking, and traditionalists still garnish with a julienne of prunes. It’s been suggested that the reason for adding the prunes dates back to times when only boiling fowls were available and prunes were added to increase the nutritional value of the broth.

Amazingly, so few ingredients (chicken, leeks and prunes) can result in such a flavorful soup. I’ll admit I was hesitant to add the prunes, but wanting to stick to a traditional recipe, I added them in. And I was not disappointed.

I cobbled together a recipe based on all the other recipes I looked at. I knew I wanted to start with a roux for the base, and add some milk to make it a creamier stock. (Oh, oops. Roux is totally a French thing. Sorry Scotland. Hey, the Industrial Revolution was a good thing for you guys, wasn’t it? Quit yer whinin’.) I also knew I had some veggies in the fridge that needed to be used up, and because this was all new territory for me, the added celery and carrots gave it a traditional American feel that squelched my fears of the unknown. (Again. My apologies to Scotland. If Americanizing your dish gets your kilt in a twist, that’s your problem, not mine.)

I did not measure ingredients or pay much attention to amounts, so this recipe should be loosely interpreted. Sorry!

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

1. Melt about a tablespoon of butter in a pan. Slice up one leek and add it to the butter, stirring until soft.

2. For the roux, melt about 6 Tbsp butter over medium heat, then stir in 6 Tbsp flour (roux should always be a 1:1 ratio). Stir it all up until it gets all brown and bubbly. Mmmm.

3. Next, add in some cream or whole milk. I didn’t have either in the fridge, so I used 1%. I don’t necessarily recommend that, but it is what it is. Pour in about a 1 ½ cups, give or take. Stir that all together until it thickens up.

4. Add 32 oz of chicken broth and stir well.

5. Add the softened leeks.

6. Cut up two boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and throw them in the pot.

7. Cut up 2 celery stalks and one medium-sized carrot and add it to the broth mixture.

8. Now boil the heck outta that mess, making sure you stir it around a lot.

9. When the chicken is cooked through and the veggies are soft, ladle it into a bowl.

10. Slice up 1-2 prunes into bit-sized chunks and add it to the soup.

11. Get a fuzzy blanket. Bonus points if it's plaid.

12. Wrap yourself up in it, and eat your soup.

13. Praise Scotland.

Cherry-Almond Bread with "Amaretto" Glaze

2010-10-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I was tasked with bringing a breakfast treat to a potluck.

Thinking about my pantry, I remembered I had a large bag of dried cherries needing to be put to good use. I wondered if I could make some sort of fruity sweet bread using the dried cherries in lieu of raisins or other fruit. Then I thought about how well cherry and almonds go together, and voila! Cherry-Almond Bread was born.

I searched the internet and cobbled together a recipe based on a few separate sites. I liked the idea of using an Amaretto glaze, but since I don’t drink alcohol and really didn’t want to go buy a bottle for just one recipe, I chose to improvise.

I brought the bread to the potluck and one particular co-worker raved about it so much that next time around, I made an entire loaf and sent it home, just for her and her family.

Here’s the recipe:

Cherry-Almond Bread with “Amaretto” Glaze

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups dried cherries
1 cup chopped almonds

Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp. almond extract
2 tbsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Grease 3 standard loaf pans, or 2 standard pans and 1 mini pan.

2. Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add milk, sour cream, and vanilla; mix until blended.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture, cherries, and almonds to wet ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are absorbed.

4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers of breads comes out clean, 70 to 75 minutes for large loaves and 60 minutes for mini loaves.

5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar with almond and vanilla extract. Glaze should have consistency of thick maple syrup or corn syrup.

6. Let loaves cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack. Drizzle with “amaretto” glaze so that it coats the top and runs down the sides.

Notes:

• I found an amaretto glaze recipe that called for 2 cups powdered sugar and 6-7 tablespoons amaretto. I used almond extract instead, but because it’s kinda potent, I toned it down a bit with vanilla extract.

• Make sure to have your dry ingredients mixed ahead of time. Once the eggs, milk, vanilla and sour cream go into the mixture, the batter starts to get lumpy and weird. I worried that I’d somehow curdled it. I had to move fast and start adding the dry stuff right away to keep it from wigging out more.

• The cherries regained their moisture during the cooking process and rather than hard chewy cherry bits in the bread, you end up with nice succulent fruit with tons of flavor.

• I chopped half of the almonds up real fine, and the other half I left chopped coarsely. I liked the way it turned out – a bit of crunch, but not too much. You can also sprinkle a bit of slivered almonds over the top of the glazed loaves, if that floats your boat.

• This recipe makes a LOT. Two full regular-sized loaves and one mini loaf, or 3 regular loaves filled about 2/3 full. Oof!

Strawberry-Glazed Edamame with Bacon

2010-10-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hello, world!

You may have noticed that Sweet & Saucy has been on a bit of a hiatus lately. There are several reasons for this:

• I started a new job in July and it has taken up a lot of my time and energy.

• The days are getting shorter and daylight is harder to come by. I like to take photos with good, natural light since my camera is just a simple point and shoot. Arriving home at 7pm or later during the week doesn’t allow for much natural light photography.

• Certain trolls keep posting Viagra marketing links in the comments section of my posts. This makes me never want to post again, because it annoys the heck out of me.

Needless to say, it’s hard for me to stay out of the kitchen much more than a week or two at a time. I’ve had fun cooking and experimenting over the last few months, but haven’t bothered to post because it does take time, patience, and natural light…all of which I seem to be running low on as of late. Regardless, this recipe is too good to keep to myself, so I thought I’d revisit the ol’ Frim Fram Sauce and give all my dear readers an update.

Strawberry-Glazed Edamame with Bacon

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hosting some friends, Todd and Austin, at my house. They had recently moved from Arizona to Seattle and stayed with me for a few days while they looked for a place to live and got settled into a new city.

One evening Todd cooked dinner and threw together the dish featured in this post. I was blown away at his ability to scan my cupboards and freezer, pull things out, dump random stuff into a pan, and wind up with results that make you want to die from the sheer amazingness of the flavors exploding in your mouth.

I was especially impressed with what he did with the package of frozen edamame he found in the back of my freezer. I love edamame, and cook with it frequently, as you may have noticed. If you hadn’t noticed, here’s a post where I sing edamame praises, and here’s a more recent post where I experimented with these wonderful magic soybeans.

Now, edamame straight out of the bag isn’t much to write home about. While still scrumptious, it isn’t all that exciting. So I’m always looking for ways to dress it up. Todd’s recipe did the trick. I have since made it 3 or 4 times for myself, once for my brother, who loved it so much he called me the next day for the recipe, and once for a potluck-style staff meeting brunch for my co-workers. Of course, it was a hit.

Thank you Todd for this wonderfully delicious and simple recipe. It’s a keeper!

Strawberry-Glazed Edamame with Bacon

1 16oz package frozen, shelled edamame
1-2 Tbsp. strawberry preserves
4-6 rashers of bacon, coarsely chopped
1 tsp. garlic powder
Freshly ground black pepper

Boil edamame according to package instructions. In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy. Drain excess fat, reserving about a teaspoon of drippings. Add cooked edamame to skillet and stir to coat. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry preserves into the mixture and stir well to combine. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon garlic powder and a liberal amount of fresh ground black pepper.

Notes

• You can use any kind of preserves you’d like or have on hand. Apricot, apple, blueberry, orange, etc. I liked the sweet tanginess that the strawberry added to the dish. It complimented the bacon well and gave a certain depth to the flavors.

• If you’d like to further dress it up, I recommend sautéing finely chopped shallot or sweet onion with the bacon.

• You could also omit the garlic powder and use fresh minced garlic instead, sautéing with the bacon onion until soft.

• This is actually quite yummy with breakfast/brunch, or as a side dish with pasta or veggies.

Glass Noodle Chicken Salad

2010-08-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is a light - yet hearty - summer dish. Sorry the photos aren’t great quality; the camera settings were awry and dusk was approaching.

Glass Noodle Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 package uncooked mung bean threads (cellophane noodles)
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tbsp. lime juice
1 ½ tbsp. gluten-free soy sauce
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. red chili flakes
2 cups shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
1 cup cooked, shelled edamame
½ cup grated carrot
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro leaves
½ cup chopped cashews

Preparation

1. Cook noodles and edamame as per package directions.

2. Combine vinegar and next 4 ingredients. Stir well. Combine chicken, edamame, carrot, and cilantro, tossing well.

3. Drain and rinse noodles with cold water; drain well, squeezing to remove excess water. Snip noodles several times with kitchen shears. Combine noodles and chicken mixture, tossing well to combine. Drizzle noodle mixture with vinegar mixture; toss well to coat. Top with cashews.

Notes:
• This salad truly is better the next day. In fact, I’d recommend letting the noodles “marinate” in the sauce overnight, then throwing the chicken/veggies on top the next day to serve.

• The measurements are approximate. Play with the sauce so it fits your liking.

• You could use fish sauce instead of soy, granulated sugar instead of honey, peanuts instead of cashews, add different veggies (grated zucchini, sliced red or yellow pepper, radishes, etc.), or spice it up with chili paste.

Sun-dried Tomato Scones

2010-08-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

This is a ridiculously easy recipe. Throw a scone or two in with lunch for a snack, or serve with brunch. Mmm.

Sun-dried Tomato Scones

Ingredients

2 cups buttermilk baking mix
¼ cup shredded parmesan
1 ½ tsp dried basil
2/3 cup milk
½ cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
¼ cup chopped green onions

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450° Combine baking mix, cheese, and basil. Stir in milk, tomatoes, and onion. Carefully mix until moistened. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.

Notes:

• I originally made these to go with dinner, but they are also pretty good for breakfast. I had a leftover scone with some eggs and it was just perfect!

Strawberry Shortcake

2010-08-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

One year I volunteered at the Bellevue Strawberry Festival. The strawberry goodness inspired me, and later that weekend I made strawberry shortcake.

These photos are old, but remind me of a very happy afternoon.

Strawberry Shortcake

Shortcake

2 cups All-Purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup cream + 3 Tablespoons

Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cups cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Strawberries

A couple pints of sliced strawberries, sprinkled with sugar.

Pre-heat oven to 350°

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add in the butter, and combine with the flour until the dough becomes the consistency of a coarse meal. Add the almond extract and cream and mixing by hand for until the dry and wet ingredients are just combined. Be careful not to over mix. Place on a floured countertop and roll until 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Cut into circular pieces, about 2" in diameter (I used the round open end of a drinking glass, because I couldn’t find my biscuit cutter). Brush each piece with milk and top/garnish with a sprinkle of raw sugar. Place on a buttered baking sheet and bake in oven for 18-20 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In another bowl, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla. Whip with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.

Take a shortcake and remove the top. Place a dollop of whipped cream on the bottom layer and a spoonful of strawberries. Place the top of the shortcake back on, and top with another dollop of whipped cream and spoonful of strawberries. Serve.

Serves 8 – 12

Thai Beef Wraps

2010-08-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

I’m on a quest to find/create healthy, yummy recipes that I can pack into a lunch.
I keep telling myself that I will get better about packing lunches to bring to work, but for whatever reason I always end up grabbing something from the cafeteria, heading home and making lunch there, or subsisting on whatever I can find in the bottom of my “snack drawer” at the office. It’s a bad habit and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to break it.

Last night I threw together a wrap for dinner. As I munched away I thought that maybe…just maybe…it might be a good recipe to use for on-the-go lunches. Hmm.

Thai Beef Wraps

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. honey
Tortillas
Lettuce
Thin-sliced deli roast beef
1 medium carrot, grated
Sesame seeds
Cilantro

Preparation

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place tortillas on a work surface; brush lightly with 2 teaspoons juice mixture. Arrange lettuce on each tortilla; top with beef. Combine carrots and cilantro; arrange carrot mixture over each serving. Sprinkle sesame seeds. Drizzle each serving with a little of the remaining juice mixture; roll up. Serve.

Notes:

• Feel free to use sugar in place of honey. I used honey because I preferred the consistency.

• Use up to 2 tsp. soy sauce, if you’d like. I’m not a fan of too much saltiness, so I used just 1 tsp. of low-sodium soy sauce. Your mileage may vary.

• Mint can be used in lieu of cilantro, or just omit altogether.

• You may want to cut up your carrots into matchsticks, but I find that tedious. I like to “grate” my carrots with a vegetable peeler. The carrot slices come out nice and thin and easier to pack into a tortilla. (I use this trick for salads, too…carrots are so heavy and always fall to the bottom of the bowl. If they’re sliced with the veggie peeler, I don’t have this problem.)

• This would be good with some finely chopped cashews or peanuts sprinkled inside. I didn’t have either on hand, so I went with the sesame seeds instead.

• I gobbled this down with a few potato chips and a plum. A serving of roasted veggies on the side or some veggie fried rice would also pair well.

Blueberry-Oatmeal Muffins

2010-08-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

While visiting family at home, I made Blueberry-Oatmeal Muffins. They didn’t last more than about 2 days. My folks are both diabetic, so I reduced the brown sugar to ½ cup. No complaints!

Blueberry-Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fat-free buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 large eggs
2 cups fresh blueberries
Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Place oats in a food processor; pulse 5 to 6 times until oats resemble coarse meal. Place in a large bowl.

Add flours and next 5 ingredients (through salt) to oats in bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture.

Combine buttermilk, oil, rind, and eggs in small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Gently fold blueberries into the batter.

Spoon batter into 16 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pans immediately. Place on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

• If you opt to use frozen blueberries, toss with 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour before adding to the batter mixture. This will keep the juices sealed in and your muffin batter won’t turn purple.

• For a slightly sweeter muffin, sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top of the filled muffin cups before placing in the oven. I like to use Sucanat or Turbinado sugar, but regular ol’ granulated will work just fine.

Gluten-free Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-07-26T17:09:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates to Sweet & Saucy lately. I recently started a new job and have been busy learning all sorts of new and exciting things, so cooking hasn’t been high on the priority list.

A new job means a new team of people to work with…and my new team seriously ROCKS! Everyone is sharp, fun, hard-working, and professional. I actually enjoy coming in to work these days. Hooray!

Two of my new co-workers, my boss and my office-mate, adhere to a gluten-free diet. When I first found out about their diet restrictions, I was a little intimidated because I’ve never cooked a gluten-free ANYTHING. Turns out it isn’t as difficult as I expected…the biggest hassle is buying the ingredients (which tend to be a bit spendy). Other than that, well, it’s easy peasy!

I decided to christen my gluten-free baking experience with a batch of chocolate cupcakes. And, for all you purists out there, it just so happens that these cupcake are vegan in addition to being gluten-free. Win win!

Gluten-free Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups brown rice flour
½ cup tapioca flour
½ cup dark cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon sea salt
⅔ cup grapeseed oil
1 ⅓ cups Sucanat sugar
2 cups non-dairy milk (rice milk or almond milk, I used almond)
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper muffin cups.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, and sea salt.

In a separate bowl whisk together the oil, sugar, milk, vanilla, and almond flavoring.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk together until the batter thickens and is very smooth. (Batter will be thin at first, don’t worry….the flours are thirsty and soak up the liquid ingredients within a couple minutes).

Fill prepared muffin cups about ¾ full. Bake for about 25 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Agave Frosting

This frosting has the perfect amount of sweetness, and a rich chocolatey flavor. It is fluffy, yet smooth. The best word I can think of to describe this frosting is “silky”. I just wanted to run my hands through an entire vat of it!

For frosting a dozen cupcakes, make a ½ batch of this recipe.

2 cups organic palm shortening
¾ cup dark cocoa powder
¼ cup arrowroot powder
1 cup agave nectar
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond flavoring (optional)

Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Spread or squirt onto cooled cupcakes

Notes:

• I adapted this recipe from a website that features gluten-free recipe ideas. I have since forgotten the website and can’t find it again despite oodles of Googling. If this is your recipe, let me know and I’ll give credit where credit is due!

• I was extremely skeptical of gluten-free cupcakes and worried that they tasted like…well...like something other than cupcakes. My co-workers said they tasted great, especially being gluten-free, so I guess I did something right!

• Sucanat sugar can be found at Whole Foods or any other natural market. It’s basically pure dried sugar cane juice. I’m guessing you could use Turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw) as well, but don’t quote me on that.

• Don’t try to cheat and use all brown rice flour and no tapioca flour. The tapioca flour is what gives these cupcakes a fluffy texture. Fluffiness is difficult to come by with gluten-free baking, so don’t skip that step.

• Xanthan gum is wicked expensive. Fortunately I was able to borrow a few tablespoons from my office mate instead of paying $12-$15 for a few ounces of the stuff.

• Did I mention how much I loved the frosting? It is soooo smooth!! I don’t think I’ll ever make frosting any other way ever again.

• You can use regular cocoa powder instead of the dark chocolate stuff. The only reason I did was because that was all they had on the shelf at Safeway.

• I made a full batch of the frosting because I knew it would be good on graham crackers, strawberries, other baked goods, or just licked straight from the spoon. Mmm!

Belated Father's Day Post: Biscuits and Gravy

2010-06-21T15:01:00.001-07:00

Recently I visited my family in Spokane, WA and while I was there, I especially wanted to pamper my mom. Being the kind and loving daughter that I am, I offered to make a scrumptious breakfast for her, and suggested gingerbread pancakes with poached pears (a recipe I’ve been itching to make for over a year now). She said it sounded good, but wanted to think about it for a couple days. A few days later, I asked her again, “So, Mom. What would you like for breakfast tomorrow? Gingerbread pancakes? Huh? Huh? You know you want it!” Mom just got this guilty expression on her face, looked up at me, and said, “How about biscuits and gravy? Please?”

Biscuits. And gravy. Please. No.

Backstory: When I about 13, my mom enrolled me in some community school summer cooking class. I remember it was one of those short classes – 10am to noon for two Saturdays in a row or something like that. I was excited for it because it was held at the local junior high, and I was entering junior high in just a few short months. I could scope everything out! Figure out the lay of the land! Know my way around the buildings and find my classrooms without having to stress out on the first day of school! Yesss!

I hadn’t really thought much about the cooking aspect, as cooking really didn’t interest me at that time, but I figured I might learn something.

The first day of class, we learned how to make biscuits. I don’t remember much about that class, other than the fact that I spent every bathroom break walking the dark hallways, trying to memorize the different wings of the building, peeking into quiet classrooms, and wondering which locker would be mine.

Somehow, despite my short attention span and lack of interest in the task at hand, I left with a plate of warm biscuits. Handmade by me. My attitude was entirely lackadaisical – “Eh. Biscuits. Neat. I guess?”

Mom picked me up at the school, I showed her the biscuits, she said something along the lines of, “Really? Biscuits? I've never been able to make good biscuits.” I scoffed at her (in typical pre-teen fashion) assuming she was just saying that in an effort to “connect” with me (as most parents of difficult, self-absorbed pre-teens do), and we headed for home.

Halfway there, I asked, “Hey. Can we stop by Dad’s office? Maybe he’ll want to try these.” We made a quick U-turn and within 10 minutes we were pulling up to the square, brown brick building Dad spent most of his time in during the week.

I pranced in, past his secretary and into the back where he sat at his large walnut desk, and presented him with my plate of biscuits. “Look what I made today, Dad!”, I shouted. He looked up at me and smiled, then looked down at my plate of biscuits. His eyes lit up. His nose twitched. Drool started to pool at the corners of his mouth. His hand shot out in utter greed as he grabbed a still-warm biscuit from the top of the pile.

“Mmm,” he said through a mouthful of dough, “Your mom never makes biscuits.”

I looked at Mom, surprised. She shrugged as if to say, “See? Told ya.”

“Oooh!” Dad exclaimed after the first bite, “I know what would be perfect with this!” And with that, he got up from his office chair, went into the break room next door, and rummaged around in the refrigerator. He came back carrying a jar of strawberry jam.

“Yes,” he said, as he smeared big red globs of seedy jam across the remaining biscuit half, “yesssss.”

Well, needless to say, I left the plate of biscuits there for him to devour. The next morning, dad asked me, “Say. Do you know how to make sausage gravy?”

“No, dad. I don’t really know how to make anything,” I said.

“Oh, that’s not true! You know how to make biscuits! And I bet those biscuits would be soooo good with some gravy to go with them!”

So, Mom found a gravy recipe and made the gravy that morning while I made the biscuits.

And that was the birth of what ended up being a long, long string of biscuit breakfasts. From that summer Sunday morning when I was 13, all the way up until I left home to go to college, I probably averaged making biscuits and gravy roughly 3 times a month. Saturday or Sunday mornings were Biscuits ‘n’ Gravy mornings, and it seemed like every stinkin’ weekend Dad would ask me to make them.

It got to the point where I hated, and I mean HATED, biscuits and gravy. I hated kneading the dough, frying the sausage. The smell of the meal made my stomach turn and the taste even more so. Moving away from home was liberating…not because I was leaving the nest, but because I had finally broken free of slaving over the oven and stove every weekend, making a meal that I couldn’t seem to escape. Yet even after I moved out on my own, Dad ask me to make biscuits and gravy every time I came home for holidays or visits. Usually I’d protest a bit, but eventually concede and venture into the kitchen in search of the pastry cutter, complaining under my breath.

I can’t quite recall the last time I made biscuits and gravy for Dad, though I’m pretty sure we both knew it would be the last. Dad had become paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair at that point, and I had moved back home to help care for him. He probably asked me to make biscuits and gravy, and I probably did, grudgingly. I probably knew I’d never make them for him again, as his health was rapidly deteriorating and he wasn’t in the mood to eat much anymore. I probably fed it to him myself, since he had limited use of his hands, and I probably wiped gravy off his chin. I probably cried in the kitchen afterwards as I was cleaning up, and I probably didn’t let him see my tears.

I hadn’t made biscuits and gravy since then (at least 8 years ago), until Mom requested them with just a hint of (totally warranted) apprehension in her voice. At first, I winced. Biscuits. And gravy. Nooooo!!! But then I thought….maybe, just maybe…I might enjoy it.

So here you go, dear readers. Biscuits and gravy. In memory of my father and all those years of biscuit breakfasts. I love you, Dad.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The first key to making good biscuits is to use a 50 year old cookbook:

This Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook belonged to my maternal grandmother, Marian. I never met her (she died when my mom was 17), but I’ve been told by many people that her and I are a LOT alike in the way we look, act, dress, etc., so using her cookbook always give me warm fuzzies.

The copyright is 1956. My mom inherited the cookbook in 1971 and has been using it since. I’ve been using it for approximately 15 years. It’s been a staple in our kitchen for forever. Only recently did I take the time to flip through some of the front pages of the book:

Can you get any more 50’s than this? “Domesticity is pleasing and cheery and restful! Cook and clean with a SMILE on your face!”

Hey! The Terrace Kitchen offers every known home-type convenience! Neat-o, Daddy-o!

I didn’t get a shot of it, but there’s another page that offers tips and advice, and one thing they suggest, I kid you not – “If you start to feel tired or overwhelmed, take a few moments and lie down on the floor with your arms above your head. Close your eyes and breathe deeply in and out for 5 minutes, then return to your housework.” Above this blurb is a picture of a woman in a dress, heels, and an apron, lying on the kitchen floor with her arms above her head, smiling. I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Anyway, I didn’t spend too much time reading that junk, because I had biscuits to make. It seems as though the cookbook naturally falls open to page 83. Which is unsurprising, because it’s been opened to page 83 dozens and dozens of times over the years.

You can see little bits of crusty dried biscuit dough, splatters of shortening, and all other sorts of nameless grease and grunge smeared across the pages:

The biscuit recipe is pretty straightforward. What’s more, this cookbook offers several variations on the standard recipe. I typically made Southern biscuits or buttermilk biscuits growing up, and the last time I made them, I opted for the buttermilk.

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 450°.

Step 2: Sift together 2 cups flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp. baking soda.

Step 3: Cut in ¼ cup shortening.

When I was 16, I finally went out and bought a pastry cutter so I didn’t have to use a fork to cut in the shortening. Using it for the first time, I’m pretty sure I squealed with delight. Cutting in shortening had never been so easy! I left the stupid thing at home when I moved away, because I didn’t plan on doing much cooking, and certainly not any biscuits! I rummaged around my mom’s kitchen looking for it, but couldn’t find it, so I used a fork instead.

Step 4: Slowly stir in ¾ cup buttermilk.

Step 5: Look around for the rolling pin and cutting board to prepare for kneading and rolling out the dough.

Step 6: Find the blasted pastry cutter while searching for the rolling pin. Shake your fist and curse at it. Stupid pastry cutter!

Step 7: Work the dough into a big ol’ doughball.

Now is a good time to get the gravy started. It needs some time to thicken up, and when I was young, it took me several trial breakfasts to figure out the timing. I learned that if I start frying the sausage and let that cook while I’m rolling out the biscuit dough, stirring occasionally, it works out just perfect. I add the liquid as the biscuits go into the oven, and that gives the gravy about 10 minutes to bubble and thicken.

Step 8: Add about a ½ to 1 pound of sausage to a skillet over medium high heat.

Step 9: Season as desired. I usually add some pepper, garlic powder, and minced onion. A dash of cayenne or red chili flakes would be good too, but Mom has a sensitive stomach so I left the hotness out.

Step 10: Get out your rolling pin.

This is the rolling pin we use at my mom’s house. It’s older than the cookbook, and also belonged to my grandma Marian. As long as I can remember, it’s been missing a handle. I’m pretty sure Mom has never owned another rolling pin in her life. She admits that she should just go buy a new one, but I doubt she ever will.

Behold: The wear and tear of 1,000 biscuit breakfasts and just as many batches of cookies:

Step 11: Roll out the doughball to about ½ an inch thick.

Step 12: Cut the dough into biscuit-sized shapes. At one point I had a set of actual biscuit cutters – 3 different sizes – but I’m sure those are either long gone or packed away in storage somewhere. A standard cookie cutter will do, or, in my case, the mouth of a plastic cup.

Step 13: Continue cutting up the dough into biscuit shapes. Lightly knead together the scraps, roll it out again, and cut up more. At the very end, you’ll have a small little doughball that you can shape into a tiny mini biscuit. If you have a dad and brother like mine, they will fight/bet/sham/rock-paper-scissors/have a contest over who gets the mini biscuit. Every time. It's the coveted extra bonus biscuit.

This is what my mini biscuit looked like this time around:

Wait. Does that look like…? Could it be…? A biscuit-crack?

*zooms in*

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, it does!!

Step 14: Lay out all the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet.

Step 15: Pop them in the oven and set the timer to 10ish minutes.

Step 16: Bring your attention back to the gravy. The sausage should be browned. If you lowered the heat while you rolled out the biscuits, be sure to set it back to medium high (I’ve made this mistake more than once). Add the liquid to the pan. (4-5 cups of milk with 6 or 7 tablespoons of flour whisked in.)

Step 17: Heat, stirring constantly (and I mean CONSTANTLY), until it begins to bubble. It’ll start to thicken up. Just be sure to keep stirring. If it looks like it’s getting too thick, add a bit more milk to thin it out.

Step 18: Remove biscuits from the oven.

Step 19: Remove gravy from stove, stir one final time, and sprinkle with paprika.

Step 20: Slice open a biscuit or two, smother them with gravy, and serve the whole mess to your mom with some sliced fresh cantaloupe and pears on the side (even though the out-of-season cantaloupe costs about 7 dollars, but that doesn’t matter because it’s her favorite and it’s her special day).

Step 21: Return to the kitchen, by yourself, and slice open another biscuit. Spread a bit of butter on it, then add a huge glob of strawberry jam.

This one’s for you, Dad.

Marshmallow Pops

2010-06-07T16:04:00.001-07:00

The other day I made Death Cakes for a co-worker’s Daycare Center dessert auction. Of course, I didn’t call them “Death Cakes”. Who would bid on Death Cakes at a Daycare Center? Instead I came up with some bogus fancypants name: Black and White Tuxedo Cupcakes. I guess it worked out okay, because apparently the dessert auction alone raised over $1,000. Hooray!

Anyway, I had a ton of leftover ganache, so I made marshmallow pops. These are extremely easy and lots of fun for kids.

You’ll need:

• A bag of large marshmallows
• Lollipop sticks (You can get 50 of them for under $2 over at Amazon).
• Ganache
• Candy sprinkles

Stick a marshmallow on a lollipop stick. Dip the tip in ganache. Dip the ganache’ed marshmallow in candy sprinkles. Fill a cup, jar, or small bowl with rice, lentils, stones, or whatever you have on hand (I used split peas) and stick the finished pops in upright to dry.

I brought these in to work and several people asked for my ganache recipe. It’s super simple:

Throw a bag of chocolate chips* into the bowl of a double-boiler pan. If you don’t have a double-boiler (like me) stick a metal bowl over a simmering pot of water and use that. Once the chocolate has melted, add a splash of whipping cream. I really don’t have an exact measurement for you; maybe about ¼ cup? Stir the mixture constantly until it’s all warm and melty. Voila! Ganache!

*Don’t get icky generic chocolate chips. Use a good brand like Ghirardelli. 60% cacao or more.

Also, DON'T microwave the chocolate. The double-boiler method is such a better way to make ganache. It turns out much smoother and tastier, in my opinion.

Wookiee Cookies

2010-05-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you! Nyuk, nyuk!), and at the last minute, I invited some folks over to watch The Empire Strikes Back. We cooked up some Princess Leia buns, served Yoda Soda, and had a great time. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to bake Wookiee Cookies. The good news is I have some old Wookiee Cookie photos and the recipe in my head, so for those of you who wanted the low-down on Wookiee Cookies, here ya go.

Let me preface this post by saying I am not really a Star Wars fan. Growing up, my only exposure to Star Wars was a small collection of action figures that belonged to my friend Jared. Jared was about 5 or 6 years my senior, the son of my mom’s friend, and I thought he was too cool for school. He had a thick mop of blonde hair, bright blue eyes, he could walk to 7-11 without an adult accompanying him, and he listened to Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, and Led Zeppelin. I was completely enamored.

In an effort to get Jared to notice me, I tried to feign interest in his little figurine collection, which rested on his bedside table on top of a mat of silky white faux fur. One afternoon we were both in his bedroom. Looking back, he was probably babysitting me, but deep in my hopeful heart I dreamed he had actually done everything in his power to get out of going dirt-biking with his friends, just so he could stay home and spend time with me. With tremendous effort, I pulled my starry eyes away from Jared’s dimples and tousled hair and focused my attention on the small plastic figures beside me. I mean, we all know the way to a man’s heart is to get him talking about himself and his interests. Am I right ladies?

“Hey Jared,” I said as casually as a 7 year old could, “who’s this green alien guy?”

“That,” Jared said, rolling his eyes at me, “is Yoda. He’s only the most wise and powerful Jedi Master in the entire universe, duh!”

“Oh,” I replied.

I had no idea what a Jedi Master was. What I did know was that Jared had just said “duh” to me. Any self-respecting 7 year old knows that when someone says “duh” to you, you better shape up quick and say something smart lest you look like a complete fool.
I knew I was in over my head, and I knew there was a very slim chance of sounding intelligent about anything related to Star Wars, but I couldn’t stop. The future of my life with Jared was on the line! I had to continue this conversation for the sake of the children we would eventually have together.

“Hey,” I said, picking up a small likeness of Carrie Fisher, clothed in a flowing white robe, “so um…why is this girl wearing earmuffs?”

“Those aren’t earmuffs, that’s her hair.” Jared ripped the figurine from my hands and looked at me in disbelief.

“This is Princess Leia,” he said. “Don’t you know who Princess Leia is?”

“Sure,” I lied. “She’s...a princess.”

“Right, and she’s also Luke Skywalker’s sister!”

“Oh. Right, right. I forgot about that. Heh, heh.”

My cover was nearly blown. I had to redeem myself if I ever wanted Jared to invite me to eat Pop Rocks and throw dirt bombs with him and his buddies down by Oak Creek. I could tell he was already disinterested. His back was to me and he was rooting around in his closet for his favorite AC/DC t-shirt. I picked up another action figure and asked, “So, this is the Princess’s bodyguard, right?”

“Yeah,” he replied, his head buried in a mound of clothes, “kinda. Chewbacca is pretty much everyone’s bodygua...”

I looked up. Jared had emerged from the closet, a screen print of Malcolm & Angus in hand, his gorgeous hair even more disheveled than normal. He was staring down at my sweaty, balled up fists, which were gripping the hard, plastic statuette as if my life depended on it. Slowly, his eyes made their way to my face, and he stared at me with what I imagined was intense, unbridled passion. Finally!, I thought, Jared has recognized his true feelings for me! He’s going to ask me to be his girl, I just know it!

“Aimee,” he said, trying to control himself, “that is nobody’s bodyguard. That is Darth Vader. And…you…just…broke…his…LIGHTSABER!!”

I looked down and saw a pink, thin bit of plastic on the floor, with a black gloved hand attached to it. And then I started to cry.

Needless to say, our love story never panned out, and I carried a permanent disdain for all things Star Wars-related into early adulthood.

That is, until I met my dear friend Wren in college. Wren and I first lived together one summer when my lease expired and I needed a place to stay for 2-3 months before the school year started. There was an opening in her house, and I gratefully took it.

I soon learned that Wren is a hardcore Star Wars fan. My internal response to this, naturally, was “Great. Just what I need – another Star Wars nutso.” Wren tried in vain to explain the Star Wars story to me, and I adamantly fought her tooth and nail. Not only did I not care a lick about Star Wars, I also found it too complicated and confusing. So many people that may or may not be related, so many weird names to keep track of, so many solar systems and planets and spacecrafts...it was just too much!

Wren persisted though, and one evening in the midst of finals, I became weak. She had made popcorn, and I emerged from my bedroom, my olfactory senses following the aroma of buttered goodness. I felt weary from staring at and proofreading an essay on global systems in social services, and as I rubbed my tired eyes, I was oblivious to the videos sitting out next to the TV. Wren offered me some popcorn, and I gladly accepted. I sat there munching for a minute or two, my thoughts lost in service delivery models and best practices, when Wren suddenly piped up and said, “So...wanna watch a movie?”

“Sure,” I said, barely noticing the glimmer in her eyes, “I could use a break. Anything to get my mind off of this paper.”

“Okay!” she responded gleefully, “I’m going to show you Star Wars!”

I didn’t even have time to protest as she zoomed to the TV at a hyperspeed pace and turned on the VCR. I sat there in a stupor as she disappeared upstairs, then came rushing back down with a plastic bucket bearing the faces of the Star Wars cast. Slowly she began to unload its contents on the living room coffee table. One by one, she set out the entire cast of every Star Wars film ever made…in the form of Pez dispensers.

That’s right, kids. I was schooled in all things Star Wars with the help of Pez and an over-zealous Star Wars fanatic. My dear friend was wise enough to recognize that, as a kinesthetic learner, I needed solid representation of what I was learning. I think we used a Nerf ball to represent the Death Star, and an empty Tupperware container to represent the Millennium Falcon.

That night we had a Star Wars marathon. We watched the original trilogy, staying up until around 2am and pausing as necessary if I had questions or became confused. The next night, we watched episodes 1 & 2. (Revenge of the Sith hadn’t come out yet.) Wren was very patient with me, sometimes explaining a particular sequence two or three times so I could get it.

In the end, I enjoyed the films. I certainly didn’t LOVE them like so many other people did, but I could at least carry on a conversation about Star Wars at a party (if I absolutely had to).

A year or two later, Wren showed me a menu she’d made for a Star Wars party. It included items such as Princess Leia cinnamon buns, Yoda soda, and Wookiee cookies. I was blown away. The detail and creativity that had gone into making the menu was so clever and fun. I’ve since begged Wren to send me a copy of her menu, just so I can pull it out every once and awhile and chuckle at it. But she continues to keep it secret.

I can, however, recreate the Wookiee cookies, because Wren made them dozens of times during the years we’ve lived together. The recipe is pretty easy and a lot of fun...

Wookiee Cookies

1. Find your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe for the dough. If you don’t like peanut butter cookies, use a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Here’s the recipe I used:

1 1/4 cups flour, sift or stir before measuring
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside. Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars; beat in vanilla and egg. Stir in flour mixture, blending well.

2. Get a bag of Snickers Minis, unwrap a few, and cut them in half. Like so:

3. Smoosh a bit of Mini into a ball of cookie dough, then roll the dough around to completely cover the Mini, so it’s in the center of the cookie.

4. Place the cookies an inch or so apart on a cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes.

5. Wren suggests drizzling a bit of melted chocolate over the top of the cookies, to give them a bit more character. The ghetto Safeway chocolate chips I had didn’t melt very well, so drizzling really wasn’t an option. It was more like “splattering”. Hmm. Let’s just say the chocolate was squirted on with plasma-converting, laser-firing, “blaster” rayguns. Yeah. That sounds about right.

The best part is when you get a cookie that has melted a bit and spilled out the Snickers center onto the baking sheet, like this:

Crispy, crunchy, caramel! So tasty!

Now, you’re probably wondering why these beauties are called Wookiee Cookies. The answer is clear to anyone who knows anything about Star Wars. The reason they’re called Wookiee Cookies, dear readers, is because...there’s a Chewie inside. Of course! Enjoy, friends.

And believe it or not, I still have not seen Revenge of the Sith in it’s entirety. So sue me!

Special thanks to my ex, Andy. These photos were taken in his kitchen.

Nutella & Mascarpone Grilled Cheese Sandwich on Brioche

2010-05-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

In a couple weeks, Pike Place Market will host the annual Seattle Cheese Festival. I believe this is the 4th year and counting. The Cheese Festival falls the weekend before my birthday, so in past years I’ve been unable to attend due to being out of town or otherwise celebrating another year on planet Earth.

I’m bound and determined to attend this year’s Cheese Festival. And, to really show how dedicated I am in this endeavor, I decided to enter the Grilled Cheese Sandwich Contest.

Earlier today I posted my first entry in the contest, here is my second entry. I've gotten the most positive feedback from this recipe, and truth be told, it's my favorite of the two. Onward!

Nutella & Mascarpone on Brioche

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. Nutella spread
4 generous Tbsp. Mascarpone Cheese
Brioche
Big ol' dash of cinnamon (optional)
Powdered sugar
Sliced strawberries for garnish

Method

Preheat skillet over medium heat. Generously butter one side of a slice of bread. Spread Nutella on other side. Place bread butter-side-down onto skillet bottom. Butter a second slice of bread on one side, spread with Mascarpone. Sprinkle cinnamon if desired, and place butter-side-up on top of sandwich. Grill until lightly browned and flip over; continue grilling until bread is golden. Remove from pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and top with sliced strawberries.

Inspiration: I love, love, LOVE Nutella, and have been looking for more reasons to cook with Mascarpone. I decided to try my hand at a dessert grilled cheese sandwich for this competition. I was not disappointed! The mascarpone absorbs the chocolate/hazelnut flavor, and the powdered sugar almost caramelizes as it melts on the warm buttered bread. It is basically heaven on a plate. Seriously. Try this sandwich.

I got my brioche at Le Panier Bakery in Pike Place Market. I've gotten eclairs from this bakery before, but never ordered a loaf of bread. I should order loaves of bread more often, because apparently it's their specialty.

Here's the girl who sold me my loaf of brioche. Her name is Alice. She was so helpful and encouraging. Thanks Alice! You're the best.

Here's some naked brioche. No more, no less.

A generous helping of Mascarpone on one slice:

Thin layer of Nutella on the other:

Don't forget that hefty dash of cinnamon!

Throw it on the skillet.

Flip it over...

See that Mascarpone oozing down the side? Can ya see it??

Why yes it DOES taste as good as it looks!

The final product.

Notes:

+ Brioche is a good bread to use, as it's fantastic for French toast and other sugary treats. But any other type of egg bread would work. You just don’t want anything too flavorful, as it’ll take away from the overall integrity of the sandwich.

+ Though the cinnamon is optional, I highly recommend it. The bitterness of it complements the sweetness of the Nutella so nicely. If you add it, don't skimp!

+ The strawberries do not need any sugar - a bit of tartness is actually good for the sandwich.

+ I brought a sandwich into my boss for breakfast on Monday morning. She ate a few bites and saved it for later. Around 4pm, she polished off the rest of the sandwich. She came bursting into my office a few minutes later to tell me that even after sitting on her desk all day, no longer warm and melty, the sandwich was still very tasty. Good to know. :)

+ UPDATE: This is also phenomenal with cardamom in place of cinnamon. OH MY YES.

Bellavitano Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Sundried Tomato, Basil Pesto, & Arugula

2010-05-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

I love Seattle. If I were to make a list of all the things I love about Seattle, it would probably fill at least a dozen pages. At least. One thing I love about Seattle is the amount of festivals around these parts. During any given week, a person could most likely find some fun, free, and interesting festival to attend. Food fests, cultural fests, music fests, art fests, fests fests fests.

In a couple weeks, Pike Place Market will host the annual Seattle Cheese Festival. I believe this is the 4th year and counting. The Cheese Festival falls the weekend before my birthday, so in past years I’ve been unable to attend due to being out of town or otherwise celebrating another year on planet Earth.

I’m bound and determined to attend this year’s Cheese Festival. And, to really show how dedicated I am in this endeavor, I decided to enter the Grilled Cheese Sandwich Contest.

Now, the deadline to submit recipes was Saturday May 1st. I found out about the contest Friday April 30th at about 9pm. I had a little over 24 hours to come up with a recipe idea, test it out, and mail it off to the good folks who sift through the entries to be judged.

Not only did I manage to get my entry in three whole minutes before the stroke of midnight on Saturday, but I also submitted 2 (yes, TWO) recipes to the competition. Yep yep. I’m cuh-razy.

Anyway, here’s recipe #1. Stay tuned for recipe #2!

Bellavitano with Sundried Tomato, Basil Pesto, & Arugula

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. Basil Pesto (see below for homemade recipe, but you can purchase premade at the store if you want)
1 Tbsp. Sundried Tomato (packed in oil), diced
1/4 cup Arugula
2 slices Bellavitano Cheese (available at DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine)
Italian bread
Butter

Method

Preheat a panini or Foreman grill. Generously butter one side of a slice of bread. Spread basil pesto on the non-buttered side. Spread sundried tomato on 2nd slice. Layer cheese on the pesto slice, add arugula to the sundried tomato slice. Combine both slices of bread. Butter outside of second slice of bread. Grill for about 4 minutes. Serve warm.

Inspiration: I wanted to use ingredients that I could find at Pike Place Market, and especially at DeLaurenti's, since the winning sandwich will be featured on their menu during the week of the festival. I found sundried tomatoes and cheese at DeLaurenti's and Italian bread just down the alley at Three Girls Bakery. I bought fresh basil and garlic from a produce stand and pine nuts from a vendor for the pesto. I'm a sucker for Italian cuisine, so naturally my sandwich is Italian-inspired. This is a vegetarian version, but to give it a meatier flare, I recommend a few slices of thin-sliced prosciutto, as well.

Notes

+ Bellavitano cheese, made by Sartori in Wisconsin, is a parmesan-cheddar hybrid. It the sharpness and elegance of a Parmigiano-Reggiano and the smoothness of a Fontinella (soft and creamy cheese), but with a little crunch and certain flakiness to it. It has good melting characteristics, so it was perfect for a grilled cheese sandwich!

+ I got the proportions wrong when I sent in my recipe. I originally suggested 5 Tbsps of pesto and 2 Tbsps of sundried tomato. Really folks, just eyeball it. Spread pesto liberally over the bread, then smear some sundried tomato over the other slice.

+ I recommend a higher pesto : tomato ratio. The tomato has a very rich flavor that can overpower the cheese and pesto, so going light with the tomato is a good idea. Please note: Do not use the same amount of tomato as pictured here! It's just too much and overpowers the rest of the sandwich. Use a lighter spread of tomato. Roughly 1 to 2 Tablespoons oughtta do it. You should still be able to see patches of bread.

+ This is an oily sandwich. Between the butter, the olive-oil based pesto, and the oil in the sundried tomatoes, it can get a little greasy. Be sure you have a tray to catch the oil that comes off the grill, and you might consider draining these sandwiches on paper towels before serving.

Homemade Basil Pesto

Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil leaves
½ cup toasted pine nuts
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup grated hard Italian cheese (Parmesan, Asiago, Romano etc.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste

Method

In food processor, pulse basil leaves and pine nuts for several seconds. Slowly add olive oil and continue to pulse. Add cheese and garlic and pulse until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Yield: 1 cup.

I don't own a food processor. *sniff, tear* It's been on the ol' wishlist for about 3 years now. (Hi Mom. I hope you're reading. My birthday is this month! *hint, hint. wink, wink. nudge, nudge.*) In a pinch, you can use a blender if you have to, like I did here. But really, a food processor is your best bet. If I had one, I'd totally use it. Often. Did I mention a food processor is on my wishlist?

This is Shane. He works at DeLaurenti's and helped me pick out the cheese. He doesn't know I took his photo. I hope he doesn't mind. And look behind him there, on the wall! There's a poster for the Cheese Festival! Hooray!

This woman sold me fresh basil and garlic for the pesto. I didn't catch her name, because this particular produce stand is always really busy and things were rather chaotic there, but she was a sweetheart. Thanks, mystery lady!

I grabbed some Italian Como bread at Three Girls Bakery. (As far as I can tell, they don't have a website, so that link takes you to Yelp.)

Naked bread!

Tomato.

Open-faced.

Look at these layers!

All grilled up.

Oh yes. Cheese.

CHEEEEEEEEEEESE.

Cut this puppy in half, it's a bit messy!

Just look at that beautiful sight.

Sun Dried Tomatoes

Periodic Table of Cupcakes

2010-04-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Karen is celebrating a birthday today. She’s a middle school math and science teacher, and loves all things Mathy and/or Science-y. So, for her birthday this year, I made her a Periodic Table of...Cupcakes!

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of these snapshots. I had a hard time fitting the entire table into the frame of the shot, and that last pic was taken late at night (I finished around 11:30pm), so the lighting is terrible.

Also, I'm well aware that the icing letters for each element look as though they were written by a person who is using their non-dominant hand. I had not idea squeezing frosting out of a can could be so challenging. Definitely not one of my strengths!

Hydrogen, Lithium, Sodium, Beryllium, Magnesium.

Silver & Gold

Me last night, in my PJs, posing with the table.

You can read Karen's reaction here.

Final stats:

Total time from start to finish: 4 hours, 52 minutes.
Total cupcakes: 110, plus 7 rejects.
Total cake varieties: 5 (White, Yellow, Butter, Chocolate, Orange)
Butter: 1 ½ lbs.
Powdered Sugar: 7 cups.
Cream cheese: 16 oz.
Oil: 1 ¾ cups
Eggs: 16
Colors of dye: 7
Uttered swear words: Zero.
Times I wanted to swear: 6
Cycles through my iTunes “pick-me-up” playlist: 1 ½

Cadbury Mini Egg Nest Cookies

2010-03-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Confession time. I have a lech for Cadbury Mini Eggs. I can’t stand their humongous distant cousins, the Cadbury Crème Eggs, with they’re saccharinely-sweet white and yellow gooey centers. But those mini eggs…boy howdy. There’s something’ about ‘em, man, and I just can’t stay away.

Perhaps it’s the ultra-thin outer candy shell that splinters into fine shards of candy goodness when you bite into a mini egg. Or maybe it’s the rich, almost velvety chocolate inside that nearly melts in your mouth. It could be the springy-pastel-baby-nursery colors they come in, with that very faint be-speckling of brown that adds a sense of authenticity to each and every egg.

Whatever it is about these tiny treats that makes them so addictive, it’s dangerous. Without proper self-control I may be tempted to eat an entire bag in one sitting. Which is exactly why (after buying a bag on Friday) I decided I would have to make something with them, and quick, dispersing to friends and roommates, lest I morph into a premature Easter glutton.

After wracking my brain about what to do with these lovely little orbs, I finally settled on what seemed to be the logical choice: Nest Cookies.

I modified a butter cookie recipe, adding a few extras, and with a bit of magic, nest cookies were hatched.

Cadbury Mini Egg Nest Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg -- separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Finely chopped nuts (I used almonds)
Powdered sugar
Lemon juice
More shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Dump a bag of coconut onto a baking sheet and pop it in the oven, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until it's toasty brown.

Meanwhile, mix the butter, brown sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, and 1/2 cup coconut. Sift together then add flour and salt. Beat egg whites and set aside. Roll cookie dough into small balls (about 1 inch). Dip in beaten egg whites, then roll in finely chopped nuts.

Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet (I lined my baking sheet with parchment paper). Bake 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and quickly press thumb gently on top of each cookie. (Umm, hi. Those cookies are fresh from the oven, and therefore hot. Ain’t no way I’m stickin’ my thumb on these buggers! I opted for the handle of a rolling pin instead.)

Return to oven and bake 8 minutes longer.

Remove from oven and make a lemon glaze. Mix together about a full cup of powdered sugar, and 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Spoon a dollop of glaze into the thumbprint, then squish some toasted coconut into the impression. Next, dip one or two mini eggs into the glaze, and position them on top of the coconut. (The glaze keeps everything together, so the eggs and coconut don't fall off of the cookies).

Uh-oh…looks like one egg is ready to hatch! I wonder what would pop out of a mini egg? A fluffy Easter bunny-chick? A chocolately Cadbury hatchling? Hmmm.

Notes:

+ If you double the recipe, it should make exactly 30 cookies.

+ Chopped pecans might be better, but I had almonds in the cupboard to use up, so that’s what I used.

+ The cookies are really buttery and not too terribly flavorful, so they complement the richness of the mini eggs quite nicely. The coconut and lemon add a bit of flavor too.

Orzo with Chickpeas, Goat Cheese and Oregano

2010-02-18T14:50:00.001-08:00

Occasionally I look to old issues of Bon Appetit magazine for dinner inspiration. This recipe is from the June 2008 issue. I’ve made this dish nearly a dozen times in the last year or so. It’s tasty, healthy, vegetarian, quick, easy, and made with inexpensive ingredients. I can’t recommend it enough!

Orzo with Chickpeas, Goat Cheese and Oregano
1 1/2 cups orzo (about 9 ounces)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 5-ounce log goat cheese, crumbled

Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 8 minutes. Drain the orzo and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. Add the chickpeas, orzo and oregano. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Gently stir in the goat cheese.

Olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic:

Fresh oregano mixed into the olive oil mixture:

The finished product:

Dessert! Organic dark sweet premium cherries from a local orchard here in Washington:

Notes:

• Don’t skimp on the oregano. It adds flavor to an otherwise simple dish. You could probably also add more freshly ground black pepper, or experiment with other herbs like basil, rosemary, or thyme.

• Sometimes all you can find in the grocery store is a 4 oz. container of goat cheese, so I typically use 4 ounces instead of a full 5. It’s plenty cheesy for my tastes, but your mileage may vary.

• I obviously mixed the olive oil in a small bowl (oops!). When it was time to add the orzo and chickpeas, I transferred everything to a larger bowl. Save yourself the trouble and extra dish washing and start with a large bowl.

Blueberry Orange Loaf

2010-02-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

This post goes out to my pal Nicki Terry, a dear friend and old roommate who used to beg me to make this recipe on at least a weekly basis. Love you, Nicki. Miss you dearly.

Blueberry Orange Loaf

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons orange juice, divided
4 teaspoons grated orange peel, divided
1 egg
1 cup sugar
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries, or frozen blueberries (thawed)
2 tablespoons honey

Put boiling water in a small boil; add butter and stir until melted. Add 1/2 cup orange juice and 3 teaspoons of the orange peel. Beat egg with sugar until light and fluffy. Add sifted dry ingredients, alternating with orange liquid; beat until smooth.

Fold in berries. Bake in a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan in a 325° oven for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Turn out onto a rack or tray. Mix 2 tablespoons orange juice with 1 teaspoon rind and the honey. Spoon over hot loaf; cool before serving.

Alien Vegetables

2010-02-07T23:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, though not often, I entertain the thought of having children. And almost every time I have these thoughts, I think about being the mother of a little boy.* And when I think about being the mother of a little boy, I can’t help but wonder if he will be like little Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is exactly what I imagine a son to be. He makes me laugh, cry, cringe, roll my eyes, and face palm. But at the end of the day, you just want to overlook his craziness, give him a big hug and a kiss on the forehead, set him down by the fire and bring him his tiger, a comic book, and a plate of soda crackers with peanut butter and honey.

But Calvin at dinner time? Well. That’s another story.

I used to hate oatmeal. I refused to eat it. I recall sitting at the breakfast table one Saturday morning. I must've been about 6 at the time. For at least 2 hours after everyone had cleared their dishes, I defiantly stared down my parents while my cold oatmeal congealed into a lump of inedible grainy goo. When my father told me I would eat my oatmeal or sit there all day, and didn't change his mind despite begging, pleading, tears, and bargaining on my part, I took a bite and promptly vomited all over the dining room rug. Drama Queen, much?

Later that year, my parents had a few concerns after taking me to the pediatrician for a check up: 1. I was eating way too many lemons. To the point that the enamel on my teeth was starting to disintegrate. (More on that here). 2. I wasn't drinking enough water. I suppose this might be a common concern for small children, but according to my doctor, it was a huge problem for me. My dear parents tried bribing me with rewards, giving me a 'special cup' to drink out of, threatening to not let me read my books if I didn't finish my glass of water (Hey, shut up. I was a bookworm, okay? Book-deprivation was the highest form of punishment as far as I was concerned), and everything else short of pinning me down in a headlock and pouring water down my throat.

Finally, one summer day, my dad had an epiphany that changed my life forever. "Aimee," he said, "I have something very special for you. Come look." Together we went to the refrigerator. Dad pulled out a bluish-green, pear-shaped, smooth glass jug. It had a cork in it instead of a screw-top lid, and appeared almost translucent as the water swirled around inside. I'd never seen anything like it. The container in front of me was beautiful, and I was completely enthralled. He set the bottle on the counter and it immediately began to attract tiny droplets of condensation. "Aimee," Dad said, "see this water in this jug? This is water like you've never tasted before. It's as cold as a river. It's the water I drink when I come home after a looong day at work. It's Daddy's special water. It keeps me strong so I can protect you and your brother and your mom. Now that you're old enough, I'm going to let you try it, too."

Well. You can probably guess what happened after that. I was drinking so much water I probably wet the bed at least a dozen times that year. I refused to drink water straight from the tap, and would only drink what I eventually started calling "Coldy River Water" (cold-as-a-river water). I wonder whatever happened to that enchanting glass jug.

Anyway. Considering the grief I gave my parents, I have a hunch I’m going to end up with a persnickety child who only eats smooth peanut butter and seedless raspberry jam sandwiches on white bread (not the weird grainy bread!) cut diagonally. Toasted. With a half-glass of milk (in a special cup) on the side. And potato chips. But not any of them that have brown spots or are broken in half.

Sigh. I probably deserve it.

I like to cook. I like to experiment with new spices, ingredients, and recipes. I like to try exotic unique foods and different methods of preparation. Often, my experiments are pleasant and satisfying. Occasionally, they’re a culinary train wreck. Someday I may face the arduous task of feeding a family and planning healthy meals, rather than stuffing whatever sounds good at the moment into my gaping maw, or skipping a meal altogether because I’m too lazy to throw on sweatpants and head to Safeway. I mean let’s face it: a family can’t survive for 4 days on Nutella, lemons, and Life cereal like I can.

But I digress. The point is, someday I’m gonna make a meal, and it’s not gonna be all perfect-Martha-Stewart-let’s-invite-the-Jones-over-for-dinner, and my family is probably gonna suffer. And I might get some grief from that future persnickety son who now only remains a figment of my imagination.

Like this:

Doesn't your heart just go out to Calvin's poor mother? I thought of her the other day when I stumbled upon a curious vegetable at Pike Place Market: Romanesco. A broccoli/cauliflower hybrid. I believe the colloquial term is "broccoflower". It's bright green. It's pointy. It's a vegetative oddity, and it looks like it came from Neptune. See?

I'd never tried it before. Ergo, I had to buy some.

Now since this stuff was supposedly a cross between broccoli and cauliflower, and according to the charming produce guy who sold me the mystery vegetable (along with the last 2 lbs. of bing cherries that he practically forced on me), it has a "sweet, peppery flavor", I figured the best way to prepare it was using the method I always use when I cook broccoli or cauliflower: roasted.

Here's what you do. You cut up your veggies. Preferably in bite-size pieces, but for the sake of a cool photo, here's a broccoflower autopsy straight down the center:

Next, stick those pieces in a bowl and drizzle about 2 Tbsps of good-quality olive oil over the mess. Toss to coat. Season with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Lay it all out on a cookie sheet. I opted to make this a light meal and added a slice of Great Harvest jalapeno-cheese cornbread sprinkled with Tillamook cheese on the side. Both the veggies and the bread fit nicely on the pan.

Pop everything in the oven at about 425 and cook for roughly 20 minutes. (Please note, if you're also cooking the bread, DO NOT leave it in for 20 minutes. Take it out after about 5 or 6 minutes, just long enough for the cheese to bubble and the bread to toast.) Be sure to stir the veggies every 5 minutes or so to allow them to crisp up evenly. Yums!

Now, you're probably wondering what all this has to do with Calvin and/or me bearing my future fastidious children. Well, dear readers. Just like Calvin's fantastic mom, I plan to feed my child healthy, wholesome foods. Including vegetables (I know! How could I??). And when the little bugger protests, or pulls the "I'm gonna vomit on the dining room rug" card, or refuses to eat anything but PB&seedless-raspberry-jam on white bread cut diagonally with a special cup and perfect potato chips. Well. I'm gonna buy me a bunch of Romanesco, and tell him I found it in the back yard, and oh my goodness look how weird this is, have you ever seen anything like it? Why, it must've fallen out of a UFO. I bet it got left behind by some alien family. Maybe we should cook it up and see what it tastes like, hmm?

Thanks, Dad. And thanks, Bill Watterson.

*Yes, for some reason I have a hard time entertaining the thought of ever having a little girl. Don't know why...I just seem to connect with boys better. Unless, of course, I had a little girl like Amelia.

10 second rule

2010-01-27T13:06:00.001-08:00

Click on the image for a larger, more readable version.