Life and Sundry RSS

Changes...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 03:07:49 +0000

May has come and gone, and this site has remained undisturbed. My regular readers may be somewhat used to this, as my creativity, hand in hand with my free time, tends to come in fits and spurts. I am ever working on this, but in the meantime, thank you for being patient with me. :)

This time around, I actually have a somewhat legitimate reason for not blogging. In May, my husband and I took the leap and bought a house! We are rather ridiculously excited. As of tomorrow, we will have been living here a full week. It's a bit surreal, but yet, it almost instantly has felt like home, it fits us so well. Today I put in my garden, and tomorrow we will be setting up our first official guest room! (It's not air mattresses on the office floor anymore!)

In any case, due to all the craziness that is buying a house, packing, moving, and setting up our home, I've been absent. I hope to be back very soon with some fresh ideas and more kitchen basics. I may post a few pictures of our home as well, though I'm not promising anything as there are still boxes all over the place. See you soon!

Kitchen Basics: How to Roast and Carve a Chicken.

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 02:38:20 +0000

I used to look at the packaged whole chickens and wonder, 'what in the world do I even do with that?' Never mind that I had no idea how to cook it, they were usually way too much meat for my family, even taking into account that the weight of the bones were factored into total poundage. Anyway, I figured, why pay for bones when I can just buy boneless skinless chicken breasts?

I have since learned that bones lend flavor, and they make wonderful stock. (More on that in another post.) What's more, one chicken doesn't just feed my family for one night, it often lasts through three nights of meals, if I don't make chicken noodle soup, and if I do, it's even more! It's worth the investment, and, frankly, it's just plain tasty.

Don't be intimidated by raw meat. I hate touching raw meat, but I can get through this, and relatively quickly too, when I don't stop for photos. :) Some chickens come 'with giblets' and sometimes other parts, depending on how who packaged them labels it. I prefer the ones that are sold without, simply because it's less work, and I don't have to dig for a plastic bag inside a chicken. There's only so much I set out to do when making dinner, after all. It's up to you, of course, what you choose, but check the package before you delve into this, just to be sure. You don't want to accidentally bake a plastic bag inside your lovely chicken dinner.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Fill a small bowl with salt and pepper, set aside.

Roll the lemon, or lemons, if you have two small ones, on the counter to soften them up a bit.

Stab the lemon(s) all over with a knife, fork, or other sharp implement at least twenty times.

Take your chicken out of its package. Make sure to check if it comes with giblets/extra parts or not. Mine did not, but I checked anyway, in case of mislabeling.

Take off any extra bits of fat, feathers, or anything else that doesn't seem that it should belong.

Be smarter than me and move your sponge before getting the chicken near it. (We changed sponges after these pictures.) Rinse chicken. Some people say you don't need to rinse chicken anymore, but I usually do, mainly to make sure the inside of the chicken is fully thawed before roasting, for even cooking. Also, if giblets are included, and my bird has been frozen, this is usually the only way I can get them out.

Rub salt and pepper all over your bird. You can add other seasonings as well, if you like. Fresh rosemary is especially nice. The simplicity of plain salt and pepper sometimes just can't be beat though.

When you think you've put enough salt and pepper, put a bit more. Don't forget to get the underside of your bird as well.

Get lots of salt and pepper inside too.

Wedge the lemon or lemons inside the chicken.

Cut a long length of twine or floss, longer than you think you'll need. (I didn't cut mine long enough and had to try again. ) Tie legs loosely together. I'm not going to lie, I'm no master at this, but as long as the string stays mostly attached, it'll be okay.

Pull a bit taut, enough that you don't have to worry about the lemon(s) popping out while cooking.

Hook under the wings and neck and tie where the strings meet together.

Place in baking pan breast side down.

I threw in some garlic cloves around the chicken as a last minute treat. (If you leave the peel on, you can find them after it's all roasted. If you peel them, they melt into the sauce.) Place in oven and roast for 30 minutes. You don't need to baste it or add any fat or oil to the pan. The chicken won't stick; thanks to the lemon it's self-basting.

Grab some meat tongs, forks, or anything you think you can lift the chicken with and not burn yourself.

Flip the chicken so that the breast side is facing up. Don't be freaked out, it may be a little bloody and ugly at this point. Roast for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven up to 400ºF. Roast for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until the chicken reaches at least 165ºF with a meat thermometer that is NOT touching the bone. You can calculate about 20 minutes of cook time per pound of chicken to figure out total time. Don't be afraid to leave it in the oven longer if it doesn't seem quite ready.

Once the chicken passes the meat thermometer test, take it out of the oven.

Don't squish the lemon!!! The juice inside is VERY hot!

Take the chicken out and set it on a large cutting board. You don't necessarily need not this big, but the extra space is nice. If possible, use a cutting board with a bit of a rim to catch juices.

To carve your chicken, use a fork to pull a leg to the side and slice through the skin near the joint.

Once you slice in far enough to see the joint, place the tip of your blade in the joint and cut through. this will be difficult at first, but be careful not to cut through the bone itself. (I've done that, I did it with this bird, in fact, on another joint. It makes more work, and it's not as nice looking.) Repeat with the other leg.

Same with the wings. You can cut through the joint at the shoulder or at the elbow. I usually do the elbow, because its easier to find. See where I accidentally cut through the bone there? Oh well, never said I was great at this carving thing. :)

Find the joint where the thigh connects and cut through the joint there on both legs.

Place your fork as near to the breastbone as you can and slice down, close to the bone, until you run into ribs, then slice outwards until the breast is free.

Repeat on the other side. Again, don't poke the lemon!

Here's all the carved pieces. You're nearly done!

Make sure you clean the meat off the remaining bones after they've cooled. There's still a fair amount of meat there that can be used in casseroles, tacos, soup, chicken salad, or whatever else you can think of.. Don't throw the bones away either. Those will make great stock. If you're not ready for that undertaking quite yet, throw the bones in a gallon freezer bag and save them for when you've got a free afternoon. There'll be a post coming soon about how to make chicken stock. Now, go and enjoy your lovely roasted chicken!

Roast Chicken with Lemons, from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, by Marcella Hazan

Ingredients:

1 3 to 4 pound chicken

Salt

Pepper

1-2 small lemons (if using one it can be slightly larger.)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Fill a small bowl with salt and pepper. Roll lemon(s) on counter to soften, then stab all over with a sharp knife, fork or other implement. Cut a very long length of twine or floss.

Wash your chicken inside and out, and remove giblets, if there are any, and any loose fat you see. Rub salt and pepper all over the bird, inside and out, and then place lemon inside. Close opening by pulling any skin flaps there closed and crossing twine over the area and around the legs. Don't pull the legs tight, let them rest in their natural positions. Pull the rest of the twine up and under the wings and neck and tie closed. (Alternately, start at the neck and wrap under the wings and down around the legs. However you do it, as long as the twine doesn't readily fall off or the lemons easily fall out, is fine.)

Put the chicken in the pan, breasts facing down. Don't add cooking fat of any kind, its not needed. The bird is self basting and will not stick. Roast for 30 minutes, then turn the bird over, breasts facing up. Roast for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the heat up to 400ºF. Roast for another 20 minutes. Calculate about 20 minutes of time per pound of chicken for the total cooking time. When the chicken has reached 165ºF by a meat thermometer not touching a bone, the chicken is done.

Separate the chicken pieces at each joint, by cutting through the joints rather than the bones. Set aside bones for making stock, and any leftover chicken for another meal. Enjoy!

The Devil in Pew Number Seven.

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 04:28:55 +0000

Sellerstown, North Carolina. A community so small it wasn't technically a township. It was here, in the early 70s, Rebecca Nichols lived through the worst six years of her life. Rebecca's father, Robert, was a preacher. For most of his life, he'd been a revival preacher, traveling all over the south preaching where he was needed. In 1969, however, he became the pastor at the Free Welcome Church in Sellerstown, and settled with his family there. Soon after moving, he made some changes at the church, and, in doing so, upset the man who would then make his life hell for the next six years.

Horry Watts instigated a reign of terror against the preacher and his family, vowing to make them leave the town "...crawling or walking, running or riding, dead or alive…" The phone calls in the night, the hateful letters received, were only escalation to the bombings and shootings that followed. And yet, Robert Nichols vowed he would not leave unless Lord told him to, not the devil. And so they endured.

This book are the true memories of Rebecca's childhood, laid bare, as it was. It is terrifying to look into, to see what people are capable of, just because they feel like it, and also amazing to see what can be forgiven, with God's help. I highly recommend reading this book.

Horchata.

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Horchata is a drink that is made different depending on what country you're from or happen to be in, and often depending on whose house or restaurant you happen to be sitting in at the time. It can be made from almonds, cashews, tigernuts, sesame seeds, rice, and even, rarely, barley. In my home, it's made from rice, cinnamon, water, a bit of vanilla, and some milk, though sometimes cream, if I want it to be rich. You can follow exact measurements, or you can mix to taste each time you make it. My favorite part about horchata, besides of course the fact that mine tastes like drinkable rice pudding, is that it's ridiculously easy to make, as long as you have a blender, and you think ahead.

I begin making horchata by throwing about a cup of rice and one or two cinnamon sticks in a blender, and then filling the blender just shy of full with water. You don't want the blender completely filled, or when you turn it on some could leak out. (Or at least it does with my blender.) Once you've blended the mixture together for about a minute, let it sit on the counter for at least three hours. At least. You are making cinnamon infused rice milk. I usually let mine sit all afternoon, and I mix in the other ingredients about an hour before I want to drink it, so it can chill.

When you are ready, strain the mixture, pressing the rice and cinnamon mixture against the strainer to get all the liquid out. You'll need a relatively fine weave mesh or cheesecloth to strain this. Once strained, pour the rice milk into whatever pitcher you intend to serve out of, making sure there's lots of extra room. Add some sugar, (I use brown sugar,) and milk or cream. The amounts of both vary to taste, but I usually use around 2-3 cups of milk or cream, (sometimes a mixture of both), and 1/2 to 2/3 cup of sugar. Chill, and enjoy! (For the easier to read recipe, see below.)

Horchata

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice

roughly 5 1/2 cups water

1-3 cups milk, cream, or both

1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon (or 1-2 cinnamon sticks)

2/3 cup brown sugar

Directions:

Pour the rice, water, and optionally, cinnamon sticks, into the bowl of a blender; blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1 minute. Let stand at room temperature for a minimum of 3 hours.

Strain the rice milk into a pitcher and discard the rice. Stir the milk, vanilla, optional ground cinnamon, and sugar into the rice water. Chill and stir before serving over ice.

Enjoy!

Granola Love.

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:04:46 +0000

I'm not a big fan of breakfast cereal. For a few different reasons, I've just never taken to much more than the super sweet, brightly colored "kid cereal". However, were I to eat that every day, (or really ever, let's be honest), it'd be really bad for me. So, for the mornings when I don't have a lot of time to make breakfast, I choose granola.

Store bought granola is expensive, and often I'm not fond of some element in the mix. Thus I've been on a search for the recipe I could make my own. I found it! This recipe has the added bonus of only taking about 25 minutes start to finish, before I can eat it, and it makes enough to store for awhile as well. I make this about every other week or so, and it keeps me and my family happy with the occasional bowl. Try it, please, and tweak it as you wish to your own tastes.

Cranberry Nut Granola, adapted from The Prudent Homemaker

(p.s. check out the prudent homemaker blog for great ideas on how to save money, stock your pantry well, and eat from it. I love it!)

Ingredients:

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I've used olive, peanut, and corn oils, all with great success)

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 t. to 1 T. pumpkin pie spice mix, cinnamon, or whichever spices you like best

1/3 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or both (or whichever nuts you prefer)

1/4 cup coconut

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup golden raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º.

Mix all ingredients, except dried fruit, together in a mixing bowl.

Spread mixture on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Bake mixture for 15 minutes, stirring once in the middle of cooking.

Remove granola from the oven, and stir. Let cool for 2-3 minutes. Add fruit in and stir to combine. When granola is cool, move to an airtight container. Will keep for 2-3 weeks. Serve over yogurt, with milk, or on top of oatmeal.

Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Muffins.

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000

These muffins are delicious, slightly chewy and mildly sweet. They are quite easy to make, though I would recommend either doubling the batch or making another item to go with them. These are not the sort of muffins that have staying power all on their own to get you through a busy morning, but more the type that wonderfully complement some sausage, eggs or other sort of filling breakfast.

Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Muffins, found here, but adapted from Simply Scratch

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a six cup muffin tin, or line with paper, and set aside.
Melt the butter and set it aside to cool.
In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar, and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk to combine the buttermilk, egg, and granulated sugar. Fold in the butter.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir just until combined.
Fill each cup just under halfway full with batter. Spoon in a little less than 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar cinnamon mixture. (I used more than this, and still had extra to sprinkle on top.) Then spoon the remaining batter on top. Use the handle of a teaspoon to swirl the brown sugar into the batter in each cup.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are a very light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs.
Cool for 5 minutes, and serve. Enjoy!

Kitchen Basics: How to read a recipe.

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I know, I know. To some of you, this is silly. You know how to read, so what's the problem? Here's the thing — I know how to read, too. Yet, I've made so many mistakes that could have been solved if I had carefully read, rather than skimmed, the recipe in question.

For example, the other night I set out to make cinnamon rolls following a recipe I'm familiar with and have made at least a dozen times before. I managed to mess it up, badly, and didn't realize at first what had gone wrong. The first batch of dough was basically ruined for cinnamon rolls (I turned it into a pan of bars). I then made the same recipe, and the same mistake, again, and then finally realized what I'd done. I'd not miscounted how many cups of flour I'd added, as originally thought, but misread how much milk was called for.

Read the recipe.
This sounds redundant, but take the time to sit down and read every ingredient and every direction so you don't get halfway through the recipe and find you've missed something.

Re-read the recipe.
Just to be sure. :)

Estimate the time the recipe will take to prepare before you begin.
This way, you aren't a half hour from dinner and getting to the "refrigerate overnight" step. Also, beware of "Sauté onions until brown/carmelized/soft/whatever…" Sautéing onions takes awhile, and it's never as quick as the five minutes most recipes give it.

Know your measurements.
Tablespoon can also be written as 'Tbsp' or 'T'. Teaspoon can also be written as 'tsp' or 't'. Cup as 'C'or 'c', pint as 'pt', quart as 'qt', gallon as 'gal'. There are three teaspoons to a tablespoon, sixteen tablespoons in a cup, two cups in a pint, two pints in a quart, and four quarts in a gallon. Check to see if your recipe is measuring by weight; if so, have an accurate kitchen scale handy and learn how to zero it out. (For more on cooking by weight, see here.)

Misé en place.
Which means, everything in its place. Assemble all ingredients, bowls, spoons, and anything else required for the recipe, before you begin. This way you don't have to run across the room when you're supposed to be stirring, or wash a dish when something is near burning on the stove. Also, the order that the ingredients are listed in a recipe are usually the order in which they're used. Usually.

Pre-measure your ingredients.
Even if you have a full bin of flour and only need a cup, its best to measure out all ingredients before beginning the recipe so you don't find you've only got half of what's called for and have to run to the store when you've already got things cooking.

Pay attention to how the ingredients are listed. For example, if your recipe calls for '1 cup peanuts, chopped', you measure out a cup of peanuts and then chop them. If your recipe calls for '1 cup chopped peanuts', you chop the peanuts first and then measure them.

Make sure that none of your ingredients are divided, that is to say, some goes in earlier, some goes in later. If that is the case, measure them out separately so you don't forget and dump everything in at once.

Grease the pan.
Right away. If the recipe calls for greasing or flouring the pan, do it immediately. This saves you from pouring in your cake batter, popping the pan in the oven and then remembering you were supposed to grease that pan.

Nearly every "or else you'll make this mistake" listed above, well, I've made that mistake. And more. The goal here is to save you from making some of those same mistakes. Can you think of any other tips? Have you made any mistakes in the kitchen that could have been avoided by reading the recipe more carefully? Please share, and remind me I'm not the only one. :)

The Secret Life of Bees.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000

The Secret Life of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is a story about Lily, a young girl raised in South Carolina in 1964. She is cared for by Rosaleen, her nanny, and alternately abused and neglected by her father T. Ray. When Rosaleen's life is threatened in their small town, and her father does nothing, Lily conspires to run away with Rosaleen. They follow clues left behind by her mother, who'd passed away ten years before, and find a life neither Lily nor Rosaleen knew anything about.

This novel is both heart wrenching and inspiring. It is filled with life and death, joy and pain, all intertwined so tightly that they are nearly indistinguishable at times. I found myself drawn into Lily's story, not wanting to let go of the book until she was at least a bit happier, a bit safer than where I found her. This story shows that finding your true family doesn't always have to be limited by blood, and that it can come in many forms. If you don't mind your heartstrings being pulled often by a story, I do recommend this. Enjoy this with a large cup of tea, a comfy blanket, and a box of tissues handy if you so desire, but don't miss this one.

Kitchen Basics.

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:14:01 +0000

I'll be beginning a new series on this site called Kitchen Basics. The goal is to teach different basic skills in the kitchen that everyone should know, but perhaps not everyone does. Please let me know if you have any requests. If it's something I'm not familiar with, then we'll all be learning something! Please know that I won't be teaching how to cook fish or ham/pork, as my family doesn't eat either.

Wild Rice Dressing.

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:00:10 +0000

As it gets chilly out, I tend to want to cook more. Couple that with the fact that I have a really hard time picking out side dishes for my meals, and you can end up with some very odd dinners. I've begun to keep a dinner diary to log meals, partly to keep me motivated, and partly to have something to look back at when I'm meal planning to see what worked in the past. This is one recipe that definitely worked, but was also WAY too big for my family. I was eating the leftovers. ALL. WEEK. LONG. Still, this is definitely something I'm considering making to bring to the massive Thanksgiving get-together we do most years. This would easily feed that crowd. :)

Wild Rice Dressing, from Real Simple

Ingredients:
32-ounce low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup wild rice
1 1/4 cups brown rice
1 stick unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves , finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh sage, finely chopped
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1 cup dried apricots or cranberries , roughly chopped
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:
Heat oven to 350° F.

In a pot, over medium-high heat, bring the broth and 2 cups water to a boil. Add the wild rice and brown rice, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer until tender, about 45 minutes.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 10 minutes. Add the cooked rice, parsley, sage, pecans, apricots or cranberries, salt, and pepper and toss. Transfer to a buttered casserole. Cover and bake for 25 minutes.

Glorious Morning Muffins.

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:00:50 +0000

When my husband and I first moved to Lincoln, we discovered that there is a fabulous farmers market here. (There's actually several, but we didn't know that at the time...) One of the things I looked forward to the most, besides the delicious fresh produce, and the honey, was this one particular muffin sold by a local smoothie shop stand. They called theirs the Morning Glory muffin, and I would purposely avoid eating breakfast so that I could enjoy this muffin that was the size of two normal muffins. Filled with carrots, walnuts, apples, coconut, and raisins, it also tasted healthy, if a bit rich. Here's the problem though. The farmers market ends in October, every year. Yes, I could drive down to the smoothie shop, but I never really want smoothies mid-winter, while I often desperately want these muffins.

Enter my bag of flour. Awhile ago I remember reading that I should check out the recipes included on the bags and cans and boxes that I buy. Many are gems, and they just get thrown away! This particular recipe came on the back of my Gold Medal Flour bag, along with another recipe, of which I have no recollection. This recipe eclipsed it in awesomeness.

I now make these muffins somewhat regularly, though still not quite often enough, and I try to keep a few on hand for market mornings. Usually though, unless I hide them, all 18 are gone before I can set those few aside. Oh well, they're delicious. I can always make another batch.

Glorious Morning Muffins, from Gold Medal Flour

Ingredients:

2 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup milk

2 t vanilla

2 cups (Gold Medal) unbleached flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 t baking soda

2 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (2 to 3 medium)

1 cup shredded peeled apple (I don't always peel it)

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup raisins

3/4 cup sliced almonds (we prefer walnuts, so I used those)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350ºF. Place paper baking cup in each of 18 regular-size muffin cups, or grease with shortening or cooking spray (or butter!).

In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, milk and vanilla with wire whisk until well blended. Add flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in carrots, apple, coconut, raisins and 1/2 cup of the almonds. (Or all of the nuts...I don't bother saving any for garnish.)

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup almonds over batter.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. (I removed them almost immediately with a spatula with no ill effect, but be careful, they may stick.)

Makes 18 muffins. Enjoy!

Grenadine Syrup.

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:01:04 +0000

Homemade grenadine. Why bother? Surely there's tons of ingredients, its a huge hassle, and who wants to mess with juicing cherries? Here's the thing. Grenadine syrup is NOT cherry syrup. So you can cut that complaint out, no cherries involved. Tons of ingredients? Nope, two. That's it. Huge hassle? Takes about ten minutes total, mostly of just stirring a pot. Simple. Why bother? Because its so good! Trust me, try it, you'll thank me later. :)

Grenadine Syrup, from Kitchen Riffs

Ingredients:

equal parts of

Pom pomegranate juice

sugar

Directions:

Combine and heat over medium heat until sugar melts and mixture becomes a bit thicker and syrupy. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Boiling changes it's flavor and while its still useable, it doesn't taste quite as good. How long you heat it depends on what you want. Thick syrup? Keep stirring and heating till its the consistency desired. Thin syrup? Pull off the burner almost immediately after sugar is fully dissolved. Store in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator. Keeps for a month, if it lasts that long. Enjoy!

Blueberry Nut Crunch Cake.

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:49:41 +0000

I made this recipe twice in one week for two different events, and, while I intended to photograph it, it was gone too quickly. You'll just have to trust me, it looks delicious, and it tastes even better. This is also possibly the easiest cake ever to make. Seriously, I considered having Jonathan make it all by himself. (He could have, but he was 'not in the mood for baking' that day.)

You could easily substitute another fruit for the blueberries, though I wouldn't suggest changing out the pineapple, purely for the liquid content needed. Though, you may be able to try mandarin oranges in their juice...

Whatever you do, don't be surprised if this doesn't last long!

Blueberry Nut Crunch Cake, from Susan Stogsdill

Ingredients:

1 can crushed pineapple

2 to 3 cups blueberries (frozen or fresh, I usually use frozen)

1 pkg yellow cake mix (original recipe specifies Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix)

1 to 2 sticks butter, melted (one stick=more cakelike, 2 sticks=more barlike. I do 1 1/2.)

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

DON'T STIR EVER! Grease 9x13 pan. (Or not, I usually forget to do this.) Spread pineapple in bottom of pan, pour blueberries on top of pineapple. Sprinkle cake mix on blueberries. Pour melted butter over cake mix. Sprinkle pecans on top. Bake at 350ºF for 35-40 minutes. (Might take up to 50 if you use 2 sticks of butter. Just watch it. It will also firm up a bit as it cools.) Enjoy!

Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread Cookies.

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 15:00:32 +0000

This cookie recipe could possibly be the easiest recipe I've made yet. Three ingredients before the customization, and a short baking time until nearly instant gratification. Also, this are one of the few cookie recipes I know of where the baked cookies tastes better than the dough. The only downside of these is they kind of need to be doctored, hence the lemon poppyseed. Next time I'm going to mix a bit of vanilla and brown sugar and use that in place of the white sugar. Should be great!

Lemon Poppyseed Cookies, from Anyone Can Cook, by Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. flour

3 T. sugar (or a mixture or vanilla and brown sugar, perhaps?)

1/2 c. butter

a generous sprinkling of poppyseeds

1/2 T. lemon peel, or to taste

Directions:

Mix the flour and sugar together, along with the poppyseeds and lemon peel, then cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or a knife. Roll out the cookies to desired thickness, very thin if you like shortbread crispy, slighly thicker if you prefer it crumbly and slightly moist. Cut in traditional rounds, simple squares, or fun shapes. Bake in a 325°F oven for 20-25 minutes or until bottoms just start to brown. Cool on a wire rack.

This makes slightly under two dozen cookies. Enjoy!

Grilled Zucchini.

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 20:31:56 +0000

Oh how I love summer grilling. Looking back at what I've posted lately, it would seem that I've only been cooking dessert, but that, I assure you, is not the case. We've been breaking out the grill often, which, while making delicious food, it is not usually especially unique and so I've remained silent. But now, now I MUST share this. Zucchini. Have you grilled this? It's not so much a recipe as an idea. Cut the zucchini into long thick planks, don't bother to skin it, and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle a bit of seasoned salt on top and let the grill do its work. SO GOOD. If you've been hesitant about zucchini in the past, or simply prefer other vegetables to it, I implore you, try this.

Apple Hand Pies.

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 20:35:42 +0000

Happy 4th of July! My family is definitely going low-key this year, hanging out at home and watching what fireworks can be seen from our deck. Nevertheless, there's going to be some delicious 4th of July fare, grilling and such, going on. One thing that always seems to be touted as a perfect 4th of July dessert, beyond the red, white, and blue trifles, is apple pie. I love apple pie, but frankly, in July, especially in this heat wave we've been having, I don't want my oven on that long if I can help it. I had some apples to use up though, and I do really like apple pie, so I decided to see if I could make mini pies that didn't take as long to bake. Success!

Apple Hand Pies, by me! (with help from my mom's pie crust recipe)

Filling Ingredients:

Chopped apples (I used about three apples, but had some left over. You could probably make these with two.)

Brown sugar

Lemon juice

Vanilla

Butter

Cinnamon

Pumpkin pie spice/apple pie spice (I had pumpkin pie spice on hand)

salt (optional)

Crust Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

6 Tbsp cold butter

1 1/2-2 T cold water

a pinch of brown sugar and cinnamon, if you like (I liked.)

Directions:

For crust: Mix flour and salt together. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or knives. Slicing it up into small chunks first makes this easier. Once the butter and flour mixture is well blended, and resembles small peas, add in the water, a little at a time. Blend as you go, adding just enough water till everything holds together. You probably won't need it all. Set aside in the fridge until your filling is ready.

For filling: (Sorry for the generalities ahead, everything is to taste.) Chop apples into small chunks. Throw some brown sugar over top, add some lemon juice, and stir together. Taste an apple, and add more brown sugar or lemon juice as needed. Add a healthy splash of vanilla. Add some butter for flavor. (I used around 2 Tbsp, but you can use more or less, it's for taste, nothing else.) Add cinnamon and pie spice, stir everything together. Taste again, balance flavors if needed. Sometimes adding salt will help meld flavors, so if needed, add a little salt here.

Take the crust out of the fridge and roll it out thin. This may take a bit of work, this particular crust is rather flaky and doesn't like rolling much. If it gets too sticky, just ball it up and pop it back in the fridge to cool down for a couple minutes and try again. Once you've got the crust as thin as you want it, tear off palm sized chunks and place them on a greased tray. The edges don't have to be smooth or pretty, that's part of the charm with these.

Once all crust is on the pan, spoon filling into the center of each crust and fold the edges of the crust up around the filling. Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 350ºF oven. Let cool for a couple minutes on the pan, remove, and enjoy!

Moloka'i.

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 17:00:59 +0000

Moloka'i, by Alan Brennert

Moloka'i is the life story of a young Hawaiian girl named Rachel Kalama, who contracts leprosy, (later known as Hansen's disease,) at the age of 8. It is a rich tale, at times both grotesque and beautiful. Much of the story takes place on Kalaupapa, the leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i. Those who are afflicted with leprosy are quarantined there, with no medical aid beyond what the priests and nuns who volunteer there can provide.

This story is based on true events, with some of the characters being based on real people. Some true accounts are woven in, painting a vivid picture of what life was like for those suffering from leprosy at the beginning of the 20th century. Mr. Brennert pulls no punches when discussing the hardships faced, including what leprosy can do to each and every part of the body. For this reason, I can't recommend this book for any but adults, as some content is simply very mature. However, it is so well written that I can't help but recommend to any adult who finds the premise intriguing. I gained a new perspective on the actual historical events woven in throughout the story that I knew of, and learned of many more. Wonderful read.

Games.

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:00:52 +0000

Jonathan LOVES to play board games. Up to this point, we've been playing traditional toddler games, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, things like that. This week, after yet another request to play the endless Chutes and Ladders, I decided to try something different. I pulled out the Sorry! game, a technically one of our adult games, (its an ages 6+ game...) and we taught him how to play. It was wonderful. I lost both games, but Chris, Jonathan and I were all entertained for the full length of each game! (Chris and I get bored pretty quick with 'ruled by the spinner' games.) While Chris and I have different tastes on what a game night should look like, (we can agree on the toddler inappropriate poker night...) its nice to find a game we all enjoy.

Things I Love, Part 2.

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:00:11 +0000

Time for another Things I Love post! First of all, I love etsy.com. All kinds of cool stuff there.

These are unpaper towels. They look great. Eventually I hope to get some and switch over, not needing paper towels anymore. Buy them here.

These are just plain fun. :)

I plan to get one of these when I actually have dirt to plant in. Each notch is an inch, so it helps you accurately plant seeds and bulbs to the correct depth.

Just. So. Cute! Buy here.

Makes me laugh. Every time. Buy here.

P.S.

I don't get any money from any of these links, these people don't even know who I am. Just want to share the cool stuff I've found. :)

Cook School.

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:00:06 +0000

Cook School, by Amanda Grant

Jonathan loves to help in the kitchen. At three, there are a few things he's learning to do, such as how to use measuring cups, how to stir without spilling, and how to mash things. Sometimes though, I'm at a loss as to how he can help. This book is wonderful for not only teaching him techniques, but also for giving me guidance on what's age appropriate to teach.

Cook school is sorted into three stages. Stage 1 is for ages 3 to 5, Stage 2 is for ages 5 to 7, and Stage 3 is for ages 7 to 11. (I love that this will be useful for years to come!) Each recipe lists the skills that it teaches, tools needed, and, of course, ingredients and directions. This book is clearly made for children to work with – the font is clear and easy to read, the instructions are simple and short, and VERY few instructions in any of the recipes call for adult intervention. (Of course adults should always supervise, especially with younger kids.)

Jonathan's favorite recipe so far is the berry crunch, mainly because he gets to mash strawberries with a potato masher. :) He's also looking forward to making fizzy strawberry crush, a strawberry orange fizzy drink, for the same reason. Overall, I can't wait to delve deeper into this book with him and see what he creates!

Cinnamon Sugar Birthday Cake.

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:37:50 +0000

On June 9th, Chris turned 27. On June 10th, I left for northern Minnesota for a few days to participate in a fairly young family tradition called Chick Week. (Only girls attend, for the most part...) In any case, I wanted to be sure that Chris' birthday was extra special this year, with very little packing on my part, and lots of celebrating instead!

We started the morning early, at 6:15, so that Chris could run a charity 3K race in a nearby neighborhood. He finished a full minute quicker than last year! Then we came home, regrouped, and headed out for a victory beignet at The Green Gateau, a great place for a date night, but even better for a nice brunch.

After brunch and a quick nap, I sent Chris out for a break to do some writing, and I scrambled to make a cake and get some cleaning done for the mini surprise party that night! We had some lovely friends over, Steve and Laurie, and their ADORABLE little girl Noelle over, enjoyed some great food and even better company. All in all, a great birthday!

This cake is dead simple to make, and it's completely delicious. I'd suggest serving it with some ice cream, or some barely sweetened whipped cream. Not too much extra sweet though, as the frosting is plenty sweet on its own. I will definitely be making this again. Yum!

Cinnamon Sugar Cake with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting, from Pastry Affair

Ingredients:

Cake:
8 Tbsp (1 stick) Butter, room temperature
1 cup Sugar
3 large Eggs
1 cup Sour Cream
2 tsp Cinnamon
Pinch Of Nutmeg
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 cups Cake Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Salt

Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, room temperature
⅓ cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 tsp Cinnamon
4 cups Powdered Sugar
4 Tbsp Heavy Cream
1 tsp Salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease 2 8 or 9-inch cake pans and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in sour cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract.

Gradually add in cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until smooth. Batter will be very thick. Ridiculously so.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and spread out batter until level. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Mine were done at about 42 minutes.)

Cool in pans for at least 10 minutes before removing cake and allowing to cool completely on a cooling rack.

For the Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Beat in the ground cinnamon and salt. Extra cinnamon is wonderful here. Beat in the powdered sugar and cream, alternating a cup of powdered sugar with a tablespoon of frosting until it's all incorporated. If frosting is too thick, add a small amount of cream until desired consistency is achieved. If frosting is not thick enough, add powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved. (I found the frosting is rather thick, but it is still a nice consistency for this cake, and doesnt need too much thinning.)

To Assemble:

Put a dab of frosting on your cake plate to hold cake in place. Place a cake layer on cake plate. Top cake with ⅓ of the frosting and spread evenly. Top with second cake layer and the rest of the frosting, spreading it evenly across the top and down the sides. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon for decoration, if desired. (Definitely do this!) Enjoy!

Strawberry Pie.

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:00:41 +0000

Strawberries are on sale again. That doesn't entirely mean they're in season locally yet, but they're in season somewhere, and that was enough for my husband to bring home a 2 lb. container from the grocery store the other day. The thing with that many strawberries in the presence of two adults and a toddler...well, we cant make it through all of them quickly enough — they start to grow beards. I decided that this time they'd become a pie instead.

I rarely make a strawberry pie (or any pie for that matter, much to my husband's dismay) mainly because the chopping of the strawberries takes awhile, and I'd rather be doing something other than slicing two pounds of strawberries to manageable pieces. Still, the reward is worth it at least once a year...

Strawberry Pie, from Where's Mom Now That I Need Her?, by Betty Rae Frandsen, Kathryn J. Frandsen, Kent P. Frandsen

Ingredients:

3 T. strawberry gelatin

1 C. sugar

3 T. cornstarch

pinch salt

1 C. water, divided

3 drops red food coloring (I didn't use)

3 C. sliced strawberries

1 baked 9-in. pie shell (recipe follows)

Whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

Combine gelatin, sugar, cornstarch, and salt to make a paste with 1/8 cup of the water. Set aside.

Boil 7/8 cup of the water and gradually add the paste, stirring constantly to prevent lumping. Cook until thickened. Cool two hours.

Bake pie shell, if you're making your own.

Arrange sliced strawberries in pie shell. Stir food coloring into cooled glaze, if you like, and pour over strawberries. Chill completely. Top with whipped cream.

Pie Crust, from Gayle Van Camp

This is actually my mom's quiche crust, but I use it for everything, as it's delicious.

Ingredients:

1 c. flour

1/4 t. salt

1/4+1/8 c. butter flavored shortening (6 T.) (I use regular unsalted butter)

1 1/2 to 2 T. cold water

Directions:

Combine flour and salt in mixing bowl. Cut in shortening/butter with pastry blender till it resembles peas.

Add water, a little at a time. Form ball and roll out to fit a 9" pan. (I find this crust somewhat difficult to roll out, so I usually just press it into a pan.)

Bake crust for 8 or 9 minutes at 375°F. Enjoy!

P.S. This crust is also great when spices are mixed in and you wrap it around a peeled apple and bake for 20 minutes. DELICIOUS! But that's for another post…

Granola Bars (or loose granola).

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:35:55 +0000

A while back, we bought some granola bars to help tide us over for the long car ride home from wherever we were. Jonathan LOVED them. A bit later, we bought some CLIF bars to have on hand in case of 'emergency' (needing to leave right away and realizing we'd forgotten breakfast, or to help tide through an extra long meeting, etc.). Again, the one bar Jonathan had, he loved. And obsessed over. Nearly daily, he begged that his snack/breakfast/lunch/dinner/whatever could be a CLIF bar. This was getting out of hand! I decided that if he loved granola bars so much, I'd rather make them and know exactly what was in them.

Then, for my birthday, Jonathan got me a new cookbook, and lo and behold, there was a granola bar recipe in it. It seemed destined to be. :)

Granola Bars, or Loose Granola, from The Supper Club, by Susie Cover

Ingredients:

3 1/4 c. old-fashioned oatmeal

1/2 c. flaxseed (recipe specifies golden, I used the regular that I had on hand.)

1 1/2 c. shredded coconut, preferably unsweetened (I used sweetened, what I had)

1 c. dried cranberries, chopped coarsely (ended up using raisins in second batch, ran out of craisins)

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

3 T. honey

3 T. maple syrup

2 T. canola oil (I used corn oil)

2 T. vanilla extract (yes, Tablespoons, not teaspoons!)

3/4 t. kosher salt

nonstick cooking spray (opt.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Spread the oats (and flaxseed, though I chose not to put it in at this point,) on the prepared baking sheet and toast in the oven until lightly golden and aromatic, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, stir together the coconut and cranberries. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until the brown sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture is a smooth syrup, about 5 minutes. (I frequently walked away, and there were a few granules of brown sugar left in the bottom of my syrup, but they got blended in well in the next step.)

Pour the syrup over the cranberries and coconut, add the toasted oats (and flaxseed!), and stir and toss with a rubber spatula until everything is evenly coated with the syrup and blended well.

To make loose granola, discard the parchment paper and spray your pan with cooking spray. Spread the oats mixture in a single layer on the pan and bake in a 325ºF oven, until golden brown. (Recipe says 30 minutes, but I scorched my first batch black in that time...15-20 should be fine.)

To make granola bars, lightly spray the parchment paper with cooking spray (or not, I forgot to!) and spread the oats mixture evenly across it. Press down until everything is one large, evenly layered rectangle. Bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes in a 325ºF oven. Let cool till only slightly warm, then cut into bars. Transfer to the refrigerator and let the bars set and cool completely, about 1 hour. Then, using a thin spatula, remove bars from the pan and serve. (I removed the bars from the pan when I cut them, and packed them in a container in the fridge to cool.) Enjoy!

New Name, New Address, Same Great Taste.

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:34:50 +0000

There are going to be some changes around here. Don't worry, the content will remain of the same vein, it's how you get to it thats changing.

The site is renaming to Life & Sundry. The new address is lifeandsundry.com (the current address will work for a little while, but please switch your bookmarks and such to the new one).

I'm also switching to a combined RSS feed for your feed readers. Right now, everyone has to subscribe to all four feeds. Now, people can subscribe to one feed and get everything. Click this for the new feed.

You can also get site updates on Twitter from @lifeandsundry.

Egg Fried Rice.

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:00:27 +0000

My first real date with Chris was to a school dance. We went on a double date with mutual friends, and we left the pre-dance dining choice up to them. They chose a local Chinese restaurant that I enjoyed and had been to many times with my family. Unbeknownst to me, at this time, Chris hated Chinese food. He was, (and still sometimes is), a notoriously picky eater, and didn't know of a single dish he enjoyed there. He wanted to impress me though, and didn't protest the restaurant choice (especially after I made known that I enjoyed going there). If I remember correctly, he discovered he liked beef fried rice that night. I ordered the chicken fried rice, which was my favorite dish there, and is my go to dish to order at any new Chinese restaurant we're trying out. Since that night, Chris has found many Chinese dishes he enjoys, as have I, but we keep coming back to our mutual favorite — fried rice.

I usually halve this recipe (it's huge!) and it barely fits in my wok. I also tend to throw in whatever vegetables I have on hand. In fact, I don't think I've actually followed this recipe to the letter yet! It's very flexible, and forgiving if you accidentally put too much soy sauce or too little ginger, or any other adjustment you may find yourself making. Fresh ginger is a wonderful thing in this, and completely worth buying if you don't keep it on hand, but ground ginger can be substituted in a pinch. Make sure to precook any larger/thicker veggies you want to use, otherwise they will end up undercooked.

Egg Fried Rice, from Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong

Ingredients:

6 eggs

2/3 cup finely sliced spring onions (scallions)

2 T light soy sauce

1 T finely diced ginger

2 T vegetable oil (I use peanut oil)

1 small red onion, finely diced

4 cups steamed rice

1 T light soy sauce

1 1/3 c. finely shredded chinese cabbage leaves

optional other vegetables: peas, broccoli (precook), corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, etc.

Directions:

Place eggs in a bowl with spring onions, soy sauce, and ginger, and beat lightly with a fork.

Heat oil in a hot wok until the surface of the oil seems to shimmer slightly. Add onion and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Pour in egg mixture and leave to cook for 10 seconds before folding egg mixture onto itself with a spatula and lightly scrambling for about 1 1/2 minutes or until mostly cooked through. Add rice and extra soy sauce and stir-fry for about 1 1/2 minutes, using the spatula to break the egg up into smaller pieces. Lastly toss in cabbage and any other veggies you choose and stir-fry about 20 seconds, or until vegetables are combined and heated through. Enjoy!

New Quilt.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:30:26 +0000

Guys, I just had to share this with you. I'm not paid anything for this, full disclosure, I just happened to get myself this quilt and wanted to share the deal with you.

These quilts are $20-30 dollars right now, depending on what size you get, and the shipping is $5. They are thin but rather heavy, making for a nice winter quilt with another blanket, or possibly a nice summer quilt all on its own. (Have yet to test this, as I've only had ours a couple weeks.) I bought mine when they were on sale for $12.50 (the queen, we bought the blue one) but at $25 (again for the queen size) they are still a steal. I highly recommend you check them out. Also, these quilts, same prices, are great looking, though I don't own one myself and so cannot attest to the quality, (it's probably good though).

Tender - A cook and his vegetable patch.

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:00:33 +0000

Tender - A cook and his vegetable patch, by Nigel Slater

This book is pure romance. Surprised? I was too. Mr. Slater writes of his garden as many would the love of their life. There is a charm in the way he waxes poetic about asparagus, cheerfully grumbles about the friendly foxes that invade his garden, and with surprising frankness names those vegetables he could do without the existence of. Transformed from a young boy who would eat no vegetables other than peas and, if forced, finely chopped carrots, to a man who revels in the hearty flavor of the rutabaga, Mr. Slater shares recipes, tips and tricks to bring out the best in all those that he loves, (and even some of those vegetables he still doesn't.)

Tender has me itching for the day I have ground of my own to cultivate, and hurrying to the store to experiment with those vegetables that I have long thought I hated. (Beets being at the top of that list...) I can't wait to wade through the beautifully laid out recipes provided hear and I mildly lament that this is a library book, and not one I can turn back to infinitely for inspiration,

The printed book is rather larger than I was expecting when I went in search of it. I was expecting a small paperback, perhaps an inch thick, and what I found was a hefty hardcover nearly three inches thick. Not that I'm complaining...this book has a joy to it that very few cookbooks choose to delve into. Humor, too, though that seems to be more pervasive in the cookbook world. All in all, I would heartily recommend that you get this book, especially if you have a love for gardening, as it is equally a gardening manuel as a cookbook. The price tag is higher than I would usually be willing to spend on a cookbook, at $40.00, but in this case it would be worth it.

Picking up.

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:44:00 +0000

As I type this, Jonathan is picking up his blocks for bedtime, jumping from place to place rather than walking. He looks as though he's practicing for the long jump each time. He falls down every other jump or so, and just says, "Whoa..." and gets back up and jumps again. He throws his arms back in classic superhero fashion before dashing between rooms to look for more blocks and pauses for a drink of water when he needs it. The actual pick up time is probably tripled by all of this, but I don't really mind. All I can think is that he's not a toddler anymore. At 3 1/2, he's really a little boy.

Update:

Almost as soon as I hit publish, Jonathan took to spinning while jumping, with poor result. He fell and scuffed his nose. As I said, really a little boy.

Dishes.

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:21:00 +0000

I always put off doing dishes. It's not that I terribly despise doing them, and I definitely enjoy the result of having a clean kitchen, but there are just so many other things I'd rather be doing. My mom has always taught me that it makes things much easier if you wash dishes as you go, as in washing as you make them, so when you're done cooking you don't have a mountain of dishes left behind. Also, she recommends finishing any meal dishes immediately following said meal. I've never mastered either of these things. Sometimes I think it would make life much easier if I looked forward to them, if I enjoyed the actual washing of dishes act. Who knows...

The Books of Pellinor Series.

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:00:25 +0000

The Books of Pellinor are an epic tale of a girl named Maerad (pronounced MY-rad) who discovers that she is expected to save the world she's only recently come to know as her own. It takes place over the course of a year and a halfs time, during which she goes from being an orphaned slave to a free woman who makes family and friends out of those she meets along her way. She also discovers more enemies than she's known could exist.

Maerad is rescued from slavery by Cadvan, a man who she later learns is a well-known bard. In this world, bards have abilities that are intended for use in service to those they live amongst - abilities to heal, promote growth of crops and herds, and create works of art and song, not the least of these abilities. Most still continue in this service, but some have chosen to turn away from that, seeking instead power over all. The leader of these, most often known as The Nameless One, seeks to destroy and rule all in his path. Maerad and Cadvan soon discover that Maerad has been foretold as the one who is to defeat The Nameless One. As she struggles with this destiny, she overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds and grows into a discerning young woman.

These books are intended for a teen/young adult audience, but the level of writing makes them appealing for adults as well. The story is well crafted, engaging and unpredictable. The tale is reminiscent of the Wheel of Time series, though, in my humble opinion, of a better length. Each book is hefty, but with only four, there is an end in sight. :) Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a fantasy tale. With the exception of rather dark foes and desperate situations at times that dissuades this from being for a young (preteen or younger) audience, there is little within these stories that could cause offense. I highly recommend that you lose yourself in this series as soon as possible.

The Naming, by Allison Croggan

The Riddle, by Allison Croggan

The Crow, by Allison Croggan

The Singing, by Allison Croggan

Bagels.

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:37:43 +0000

Bagels are a lovely thing. Made well, they are chewy, lightly browned, with a lovely light texture. Poorly made, they are so tough your jaw may just wear out before you finish eating them. Now, I do not claim to be a bagel connoisseur, I have not had the famed H&H bagels or anything like that, but I do know that I do not want to wear my jaw out on food that is supposed to be tasty. On top of all that, storebought bagels, the ones that are usually the worst offenders of the toughness issue, are much too expensive per bagel for me to justify buying regularly.

Normally, I would attempt to solve these problems by making them at home. You see, though, I've tried that. Back when I was a newlywed, still trying to figure out what I needed to learn in our little postage stamp sized kitchen, I attempted to make mini bagels. After several hours in a hot, steam-filled, noisy kitchen, (our smoke alarm was ridiculously sensitive - it went off every time the oven door was opened, no matter what temp it was set to!), the only passable results convinced me that bagels simply had to be purchased, not made.

Recently, I came across a few different bagel recipes that made me rethink my stance on bagels. Many called for ingredients I didn't readily have on hand, though, so I kept putting off the attempt. Then, yesterday, I found this recipe. I decided the wait was over and the same day began the process of making what resulted in delicious bagels.

My advice to you, if you choose to attempt these, (and you should), make sure you read through the entire recipe and consider how much time they take to make. They are very time consuming, at least in the "hurry up and wait" department. You work with the dough a bit, and then put it in the fridge. Then you pull it out, shape it, and put it back in the fridge. Then you leave it overnight, and then pull it out, let the dough rest for an hour, and then you begin the baking process. Consider yourself warned, but know that it's totally worth it. Enjoy!

Ratatouille.

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:00:38 +0000

This is NOT a traditional ratatouille recipe. If you think I could get eggplant in any form past my guys, you don't know us very well. :) Still, this is a delicious sauce-like creation to serve over pasta, that changes it just enough that I'm not bored, and is similar enough to other pasta dishes that my guys will still eat it. Jonathan even agreed to eat one of the tomatoes! (After which he promptly declared he still doesn't like tomatoes.)

Ratatouille, from the Hy-Vee Test Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 T garlic-flavored olive oil (or chop some garlic up and toss it in when you heat the plain olive oil.)

1 med onion, chopped

1 green pepper, seeded and chopped (or any color) (:

2 cans diced tomatoes (preferably no salt added)

2 med zucchini, cut into 1-in chunks

1 tsp herbes de Provence

salt and pepper, to taste

penne, optional (this recipe is great served over pasta, but you technically can eat it on its own. We always have pasta.)

Directions:

Heat oil, (and garlic) in a large pot over medium heat. Cook onions and green pepper, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes, zucchini and herbes de Provence. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cover and simmer until vegetables are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. During this time, cook pasta according to package directions.

Serve ratatouille over pasta, if desired. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:45:21 +0000

My senior year of high school, I convinced my dad that, despite having never owned one previously, I would prefer an apple laptop for college instead of a dell. The iBook I received then held up quite well through most of college until a shirley temple was spilled on it accidentally my junior year. After that, while it still worked, thanks to the quick rescue made by my husband, (then fiancé), it had a weird faded stripe running down the center of the screen. It was also noticably slower than it had previously been, partly due to the spill, and partly due to software updates that quickly outstripped its hardware. These issues combined with a fraying power cord inspired the purchase of an iMac, which has since served me well.

Lately, though, my iMac has been having, well, "issues". Nothing too concrete, save a few hard drive hiccups, increasing slowness, and a mic that has not worked well for as long as I can remember. It is showing its age though, and my husband and I have been considering replacing it for some time. This Christmas, he surprised me with an early christmas present of a MacBook Air! I love it, and I no longer have to worry about my computer dying on me unexpectedly.

What does this all mean for you, my lovely readers? Well, anyone who has been around here for awhile has probably noticed that I'm rather inconsistent about posting. The fact is, I'm rarely in the office with a quiet bit of time to type up a post. Most of the time I chase our lively toddler around the apartment, and when he's sleeping I'm likely doing clean-up, damage control, preparation for the following day's whirlwind, or simply unwinding. Now, with a laptop again, I hope to be able to be more consistent sharing here. Here's to hoping!

The Art of Eating In.

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:00:57 +0000

The Art of Eating in: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove, by Cathy Erway

This is the tale of how the heroine, Cathy Erway, gave up eating out in New York for two years. She goes through all the different varieties of not eating out, from simply cooking at home, to supper clubs, to foraging and dumpster diving. Along the way she shares other details of her life: romance and heartache, new jobs and boredom, failures and discoveries. It's inspiring and demonstrates that anyone, anyone, can cook at home if they only have the desire and tenacity to do so.

There are recipes included throughout, most that are more adventurous than I would normally make, and some that are extremely appealing to try right away. There are asian influences in many of the dishes, which makes sense as Cathy is half Chinese, and comes from a family in which experience and community are shared over delicious food of many varieties.

As I generally try to cook at home, the concepts in this book weren't earth-shattering to me, but rather commiseratingly wonderful. I enjoyed following along with her cooking adventures, and was intrigued by the foraging chapter especially. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone with even a mild interest in either learning to cook or eating in more often. Great read.

Facelift.

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 02:10:56 +0000

I love using Squarespace to host my site. Their service is impeccable, and they make it ridiculously easy for me to customize and play with my site. Today Squarespace released a bevy of new site templates, and I found three that I loved for this site. What you see is what won out in the end. (The other two may be cycled through at various times throughout the year, maybe...) Anyway, hope you enjoy the redesign as much as I do!