Just Exactly What the Rollercoaster of Good and Bad Has Been

Most of you know that I co-own a restaurant, for which I have been the executive chef and chief visionary now for 3 years.  That restaurant, while very popular, has unfortunately had to close.  The tug of war between good news and bad this past month has exhausted me.  There were several chances of us staying open, but not any more.  The final switch was pulled this morning. 

I want to remind my customers again how much they mean to me.  How much I've enjoyed cooking and creating for them.  You can find many restaurant recipes here in my index, and many more to come, especially in the cookbook!I want to tell my kitchen staff - Travis and Kyle - how awesome they both are.  How I couldn't have done this without them.  How we gave it one hell of a ride in a tiny kitchen not designed to do all of the everything we accomplished in it.  To the rest of the staff, some of you I know, some of you I don't.  But you all are appreciated.  To staff past, you are still missed and thought of well.  All of you.  And boy did I learn a lot about being an effective manager from you.  Thank you.

The guilt I have felt this past month has been terrible.  I haven't been able to share this with anyone for a variety of reasons, many of them legal.  It is so hard to talk to your staff with this level of uncertainty.  I'm sorry.

We gave it our all.  It was an amazing experience.  I learned a lot.  Pushed myself further than I ever thought I'd go.  And it is my sincere hope I have another opportunity to continue to express my culinary point of view somewhere.  That's been the hardest part for me to swallow.  While my kids are fulfilling, and this blog too, without a platform to cook for, I feel lost.  Cooking is my passion.  Cooking is me.  Without it, a part of me is missing.

But in every rainstorm there is a rainbow.  In every shut door, an open window.  At this point, I have to trust in God that something good is on the horizon - no matter how far the horizon may seem. 

I am worried about my family's financial security.  That is why I did the Bean and Rice Challenge.  That is why I have $75 a week for groceries.  I have been searching for coupons I can use for food I believe in purchasing, and have found some, so that is encouraging. 

I have been the woman that needed to go in search of a job, yet couldn't afford the gas to put in the car to go looking.  That woman was younger, true, and didn't have the added worry of 2 children.  But that woman prayed.  And that woman received a check in the mail from a distant relative.  That check paid for the gas for the car.  That car trip netted a job.  God is real.  He answers prayers, it's just not always what we want, but always what we need.

My parents, the hard-working souls behind it all, right before we opened in October of 2008.

The table scape for the Valentine's Day Wine Dinner 2009, which I didn't select, by the way.  This was our first wine dinner and everyone thought I was crazy for thinking we could pull it off.  Pull it off we did!

Me - Triumphant and drunk on both adrenaline and wine after the first wine dinner ever, Valentine's Day 2009.

The cash-wrap and the door to the kitchen, circa 2009.

Me - pregnant with Liam - prepping the Valentine's Day Wine Dinner 2010.

Brian, being the awesome spouse he is, in to help with dishes for the Valentine's Day Wine Dinner 2010.

Me - I am apparently very pleased with my white chocolate seafood chowder for the Valentine's Day Wine Dinner 2010.

My parents before the Valentine's Day Wine Dinner 2010. 

As the dust cleared after the New Year's Eve 2011 Wine Dinner.

The printed menu card from the New Year's Eve 2011 Wine Dinner.

Travis, my executive sous chef and wonderfully amazing partner in all of this, cleaning up after the New Year's Eve 2011 Wine Dinner.

Me after the New Year's Eve 2011 Wine Dinner trying not to look like my sciatica was killing me (thus the lean) or that I wasn't exhausted (which I was). 

A cheeseboard circa 2009.

Chardonnay Onion Dip (aka Crack on a Cracker) circa 2009.

Brian and I dancing our first dance at our wedding reception, March 2009.

More Beans, Another Movie, the Weekly Meal Plan, and an Unfortunate Restaurant Review

Happy Birthday to my adorable, hard-working, loyal, and all-around amazing husband, Brian.  Every year I treasure the 3 months and 20 days I can boss him around (since I'm "older"), and that time has passed for another year.  C'est la vie. :)

This week has been much like the last - ups and downs and turnarounds.  But again..... that's life.  :)  We made it through our beans and rice week with just a few impromptu off-menu meals.  The meals were tasty and more outside-the-box than just red beans and rice or baked beans and sausages (not that either of those aren't delicious), they were filling, economical, and healthy to boot.  So healthy, in fact, that Brian and I are sitting as I type this in our fat pants guzzling ice water so that we can eliminate the memory of the restaurant, very much not beans and rice, meal we just shared for his birthday from our bodies and minds. 

Meal wouldn't be the right classification, really.  It was less than a meal.  *sighs* It was the bar food we both were craving (burgers after our week of beans), but not even good bar food.  It was a local establishment called DC's Pub, just down the road from us.  We only went there because Friendly's Tavern is closed on Sudays for some inexplicable reason, but thought we'd give another local Zionsville restaurant a shot.  I was encouraged after reading the menu's fine print where much boasting was made about their use of local beef, house-ground (three times, it said) to achieve the right texture, then seasoned with special seasonings/sauces.  Yes! Bar food done well! Sign me up! I read the sides and along with your run-of-the-mill fries and onion straws lay items with names like Tuscan Potatoes.  Again, encouraging, no? 

Because the true test of any place boasting a good burger is really its french fry, I made a point to ask "the server" if the fries were frozen or made fresh?  The reply came that they were frozen, but he assured me he loved them and that if I didn't like them he'd replace them free of charge.  Points for the bartender attempting to be a waiter, so I ordered the frozen fries and hoped for the best.  Brian also ordered a burger with fries, and when specified he'd like his medium-well, he was told all burgers would be cooked through with no special exceptions.  Alright.... strange thing, since you know where your beef is from, but ok.

Before I continue with the burger/fry descriptive result, let me set the scene for you.  It's a Sunday night.  I get it - not exactly busy pub night.  We are 1 of 3 tables seated, yet the "server" appears to always rush around, barely stopping at our table in his quest to be as efficient as possible.  Nor does he ever ask, "Is everything ok?"  or, "How do you like the fries?" since he had made a point to tell me he would replace them if I didn't like them.  In my opinion, a food establishment that doesn't pay a courtesy visit to a table after food has been delivered just doesn't care.  I will also tell you now that I happen to know the owner of this establishment, and it would be my hope that if he ever reads this, he takes the critique of a serious food professional to heart to improve his place of business.  I am not in the habit of slandering restaurants.  I am not that type of critic.

The plates arrived.  The fries were the same square frozen french fry that Wendy's just abandoned after realizing that their customers would actually stop in for a burger then drive to another restaurant for fries.  Yes.  They were that bad.  And they weren't even cooked crisp.  They were a mushy pile of steamy frozen potato mash that had no seasoning whatsoever.  The much-hyped burger arrived, was cut-into, and discovered to be medium-rare.  Yes, it does say on the menu that seasonings and sauces would adjust the color of the burger, but no.  Brian's wasn't hardly pink and mine was almost moo-ing in places.

I don't like medium-rare burgers, especially after I've been told all burgers would be cooked through with no exceptions.  This is a glaringly obvious indicator that whoever is in the kitchen either just doesn't give a d*mn, or is inept.  It's a toss-up.  The burger lacked seasoning and flavor (a surprise, again, after the disclaimer about seasonings/sauces on the menu), the texture was off, though I attribute that to its medium rare temperature.  The bun was greasy and way too soft to hold up to the texture of the burger - the result was just a mushy glob without flavor.  If for one second the "server" had just asked me if everything was alright, I would have politely explained that the fries were not to my liking and my burger was under-done. If I'm not asked, as a consumer it is not my responsibility to see that guest service recoveries are made.  Disney taught me that.  A lot of people pay a lot of money for Disney to teach them that.  I got to learn it while sweeping streets, cleaning up vomit,  and getting paid to do it.  Go figure.

It boggles my mind that a food establishment that takes the time to purchase local beef and house-grind it not once but three times, crafting perfect clean, local patties, wouldn't bother to think about the french fry.  Yet this has happened to me not just here.  Sides are simply cast-off as insignificant, yet I still pay for them in my $10 price tag for this burger.  If it serves no purpose, why put it there in the first place? If it serves a purpose, why not make it delicious and important?  Why sully what amounts to a gourmet-style burger (albeit improperly executed) with frozen Wendy's french fries that weren't even good enough to continue being sold by Wendy's?  Think about it.  Get back to me.  The burger could have been great.  Toast that mushy bun, slap some seasonings on the patty and cook it properly, and I do think it's probably worth at least $8.  I balk at $10, though much of that balking has to do with the side.  I would also suggest offering artisan cheeses to go on it.  There are some great local purveyors of a variety of gouda's, as well as strong italian cheeses.  All it takes is a trip to the farmer's market and a handshake or two.

All in all, I was disappointed to say the least. I ate one fry to test it out, acknowledged its awfulness, and abandoned them.  I ate 4 bites of the burger before the texture of the patty/bun combo and the grease overwhelmed me. The bartender didn't ask why I ate so little, nor did he offer a box, which would have given me an opening to explain my dissatisfaction.  He just whisked it away, not wondering why most of my plate was about to go in the bin.  This lets me know, again, that either he doesn't give a d*mn, or is accustomed to this amount of food waste.  If the latter is the case, then the owner should be tracking his food waste more carefully.  It's the best indicator of food quality, profit/loss, and customer satisfaction one can get. (At my restaurant I track the plates like a hawk.  Rarely does the not-empty plate come back.  If a plate isn't empty and a box wasn't requested/given, I make a beeline for the table and make sure everything was to their liking.  It's simple logic and I'm not sure why more owners don't practice this.)

I feel greasy and bloated, a testament to the fact that we rarely eat out and even more rarely select to eat food of this kind when we do eat out.  I hate eating out and feeling like I'm wasting my money, yet I even more hate eating out and feeling like I can't escape my own cooking sensibilities.   Point blank, I have reached a point in my cooking career where I am a tough customer.  I try to be a polite tough customer, yet tough I remain.  This would not be an issue if we made more money, yet selecting an affordable restaurant that I will feel is worth the money has become problematic.  What does this tell us about mid-priced restaurants in America?

*sighs* So not trying to be a food snob, yet it appears its inevitable.  I have high standards for myself, so I expect the same.  It's different if someone cooks a home-cooked meal and serves it to me.  I don't judge it's execution or flavor profile.  I just eat it with thanks and gratitude that someone is brave enough to cook a meal for me.  It actually really means a lot.  Yet, when I'm at a restaurant, this is something I'm paying for.  So the value associated with it is much much different.  I'm going to be picky because I don't have a lot of money to spend.  When I spend it, I want it to be a good purchase. 

So anyway.  Enough critical restaurant reviews.  I will devote a brief paragraph about the better part of Brian's birthday date before moving on to the really important part of the post - the recipes and food. :)  In short, we went to our local Arts Cinema (it screens mostly independent films) and saw Woody Allen's new release "Midnight in Paris."  I posted a simple status update about it on facebook, to which a friend responded that it must have been amazing if it made me cuss. Yes.  I cussed.  It was cuss words good.  Go see it.  :)  Brian loves art, I love art, I love literature (I had to explain a few literary figures and writing styles to Brian for him to get some of the jokes, but that's because he rarely reads fiction and instead favors philosophy and science tomes), we both love Paris - it's like the movie was made for us.  :)  So. Awesome.

(and break for bed.  will finish in the morning.)
OK, enough of that, let's get crackin'!  Here's the week in food pictures!

Here are the Fry Bread Tacos from my post Beans, Magic, and Memories.  They were nearly perfect, and I think the "nearly" bit is an error of execution. Recipe posted below.



This week's pizza was a simple homemade bbq sauce with some leftover pulled pork topped with two kinds of cheeses.



I got a hankering for lasagna, yet lacked the items I wanted to put in it.  I realized I was craving some pasta so decided to make a vegetarian 3 bean chili and serve it Cincinnati-style: thin spaghetti noodles, chopped onions, cheese, and ketchup.  Think about it, the ketchup is a tomato-based sweet vinegar.  Nothing weird there that isn't tasty as a condiment on chili.  If you like Steak n Shake's chili mac, that red sauce? Yeah.  Ketchup. Recipe outline posted below.

This was a really simple dinner I put together after a day at the farmer's market and the grocery store on Saturday.  It was yummy, elegant and special enough for a dinner party, and would be a filling vegetarian main course with a salad and another side. As it was, I felt like I was eating an appetizer for dinner and I was more hungry than that.  So, we ate this, dug through some coupons, and wound-up ordering a pizza.  I order delivery pizza like once every 3 to 4 months.  The place I tried I will not order from again....... Recipe outline posted below.

Fry Bread Tacos
Yield: up to 8 servings unless you've got big eaters

Fry Bread:
3 C all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C warm water
oil for frying

In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients with a whisk.  Add the warm water and stir until a soft dough forms.  Lightly flour a board and knead the dough just a few times, until it finishes coming together, but be careful not to overwork it.  Set it in an oiled bowl and refrigerate at least 1 hour, but overnight is best.

In a heavy skillet heat heat 1 inch of vegetable oil to 350 degrees.  Separate the dough into about 8 even pieces, like a pizza is easiest. Roll each piece into a ball then roll it out on a very lightly floured board until it's 1/4 inch thick and about the size of a personal pizza - about 6 to 8 inches.  Cut a slit in the very center of each round with a knife.  Place in the hot oil and fry about 1 1/2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and cooked all the way through.  Set on a tea towel to drain and continue cooking the remaining rounds.

You can top with taco toppings/beans, or sweet items like sugar, jelly/jam, honey, etc....

The Taco Toppings:
Here's what I did for toppings -

crockpot refried beans that I stirred a few dashes of hot sauce into and just a touch more cumin were spread around as like a "sauce"

a homemade salsa with more black beans, plenty of sweet corn, and chopped green onions was sprinkled onto that

shredded cheddar cheese

sour cream (optional)

I cut the kids into pizza form and called it taco pizza to help encourage them to try it.  Brian and I ate ours with a knife and fork and loved it. Soooo filling.  :) 

3 Bean Vegetarian Chili Mac Supreme
OUTLINE

This is a recipe outline because I cannot divulge my family secret chili recipe.  It's a secret.  :)  I *can* tell you that my chili contains cannellini beans, black beans, and dark red kidney beans, diced sweet onion, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce.   I can also tell you that while it contains chili powder, that is not the most important seasoning by far, and I will remind you that I am obsessed with finding a balance of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter in my cooking.  So, make sure you find an acid or two, a sweet... or two, season it well with salt, and find a pungent and incredibly aromatic spice that reads very bitter when tasted plain on the tongue.... or two.  In fact, one of these two bitters would most closely be associated with a sweet.  A smoky spice doesn't hurt either. :)  I will also tell you, that tomato sauce is the base, but 3 other liquids are added that are very important.  1 of those liquids acts as a sweet, 2 of them act as an acid.

OK.  So after simmering my chili in the crockpot, I just cooked some thin spaghetti noodles, chopped up some onion, and got the bottle of Simply Heinz (corn syrup free) Ketchup out of the fridge.  Ta da! Dinner. :)

White Bean Bruschetta
Approximate, I kind of threw it together without thinking overmuch

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
a good 1/2 C or up to 1 C of diced tomatoes.  I used some yellow tomatoes from our garden
1/2 C kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 C fresh basil, chopped
4 ounces goat cheese
3 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped
pepper.  A very small amount of sea salt (the olives are your salt)
a drizzle of olive oil

Combine everything in a bowl.  Slice some baguette bread and toast it for 1 to 2 minutes in the oven. Top it with the mixture and toast for another 5 minutes.  Serve. :)

OK.  Very sorry for the poor picture quality.  Not sure what happened there, but I'm running out of posting time and cannot take a new picture.  Sorry.  If you squint it's not so bad. :)  This is what's coming up this week, obviously.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I also managed to get 15 pounds of tomatoes at the farmer's market and 6 pounds of peaches that I'm canning today.  Again, I'm nowhere near a canning expert, but I will say that the instructions I followed to easily peel tomatoes were genius.  I was elated and have 15 pounds of peeled, ready to go tomatoes waiting on me in the fridge right now.  That's the hard part, so hooray! :)

I also have more tomatoes ripening on our plants, so I hope to have even more to work with here soon. 

I think thats all for now.  Going to be a gorgeous day out and I may or may not be having Brian's youngest brother over for dinner.  I hope we get to see our niece, too, because it's been a while.  Anyway.  Hopping to it! :)

Beans, Magic, and Memories

Well Chloe just met her new preschool teacher for the year, and I'm pleased to report that I think it's going to be a great school year! I love our Church preschool for a lot of reasons, but these home visits from the teachers are a huge part of that love.  Not only does Chloe now know her teacher by name, know what she looks like and has already developed an affection for her, but I feel like the teacher understands us as a family a little bit better because she's now seen our home and can place Chloe in that environment. 

The first day of school jitters are something easily tackled now because the huge "What if" scenario about her teacher is all gone.  She even gave her a hug then went around the house looking for her after she left.  So cute.

The kids and I are doing really well.  Yesterday Liam and I came down with a head cold, so I went off my menu plan a bit to make my magic healing chicken noodle soup for dinner.  Again, it's probably been about a year since I last made it, and so I was excited to finally get it again last night.  The smell of it cooking made me happy, eating it did exactly what the title advertises.  I felt better, felt more relaxed, felt less stuffy, and just smiled.  You know a meal is good when you can't stop smiling while you eat it. :)

magic healing chicken noodle soup.  MMMMMMMM.

Liam drank the broth from a sippy cup and ate the veggies, meat, and noodles separate.  Chloe ate/drank her soup with a spoon out of a bowl.  It's so funny, but in typical little kid fashion, she shies away from foods that are all mixed together (casseroles, etc...), but soups she just loves.  Can't get enough of them.  Good thing soup weather is nearly upon us, because heaven knows I've got hundreds of soup recipes!

Tonight for dinner I'm making Fry Bread Tacos.  Well, the real name is "Indian Tacos," but I have a hard time using that name because I am in no way Native American and just don't feel right about saying the word "Indian."  I know I know.  I live in Indiana of all places, but that name has come to mean something else entirely than "place of Indians." 

Anyway, as a young girl I developed a certain fascination with Native American culture - probably that Earth Mother side of me so many people have commented on throughout my life.  In high school, then, when our church went on a mission trip to Pine Ridge in South Dakota (the Oglala/Lakota Sioux Reservation.  You've seen it if you seen Dances with Wolves), I jumped at the chance.  Hiking, camping, Native American culture, and Christian fellowship = one of the best weeks of my entire life! We attended a Pow Wow and then a bunch of the local women came back to where we were staying and made us all something they called Indian Tacos.  And they were delicious.  Like, one of the best food memories I have, and I've never been able to recreate it since.

I was too young to pay attention in that chef-way I do now, which helps me copy cat so many of my favorite culinary experiences.  But now, a mom I know has given me a recipe for her fry bread, which is really the key component that makes it an Indian Taco.  I've googled fry bread over the years, but hers is a little different with a key fact that I've been missing, too.  Anyway, I'm making that for dinner - fry bread with crockpot refried beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream, etc.... on top.  You know, Fry Bread Tacos! :) I will document it all and hope like heaven it's delicious so I can share with you all.

For now, I resurrected any photos I had of my time in South Dakota, scanned them in, and have a few to share with you all.  Some of them are damaged, so I tried to crop out the damage as much as I could.

This is the whole group in South Dakota at the Crazy Horse National Monument.  I am all the way on the right side next to the mountain-man with shoulder length hair. :)  Hair up, blue sweater.  I'm like 15 in this photo, so be nice.   

This was a herd of wild horses.  Awesome.  And this was the view across the street from where we stayed.  Also awesome.



This was me and friends playing in a teepee, also at Crazy Horse, I think.



This is one of my very best childhood friends, Elizabeth, and.... someone I don't remember..... at the top of a mountain (name which I also don't remember).  :)

So yeah.  I'm excited.  :) 

Anyway, two nights ago I made the Mediterranean Bean Hobo Dinner on my menu plan and thought it was really tasty! It was super filling, super good for you, and super easy.  All wins. :)

Mediterranean Bean Hobo Dinner
Yield: 4 adult servings

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 large sweet onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 C red wine vinegar
the juice of 2 lemons
1/2 C sugar
1 T ground oregano
1/4 t ground coriander
1/2 C kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
5 roma tomatoes, sliced and slow-roasted OR 1 C sundried tomatoes
cracked pepper and a very small amount of sea salt
about 3/4 C olive oil
a handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

feta cheese
couscous, prepared

In a large mixing bowl, add the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, coriander, pepper, sea salt, and sugar.  Mix with a whisk then, while whisking constantly, drizzle in the olive oil to form a salad dressing.  Add everything else but the feta cheese and couscous and combine thoroughly.  You may continue on to cook immediately after, or you can marinate everything together for up to 2 days in advance before cooking.  You may also simply serve this cold as a salad, and stir in the cheese and prepared couscous.  It's up to you.

If cooking, dump everything into a foil packet on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for 1 hour or a little more.  Stir feta cheese into the hot mixture, and serve over or with couscous. 




A Bedtime Prayer

There will come a day when I no longer need to find his monkey and pacifier for him.  When I can no longer smile at him and get a giggle in return.  When his mind is not occupied by the simple act of rolling a train around our house. 

There will come a day when a kiss no longer makes it all better.  When she no longers wants to crawl into my bed in the mornings.  When a request to snuggle is met with happy smiles and an hour-long hug.  When all the wonderful words she's come to use as her own will disappear in favor of proper pronunciation.  When asking her to help me knead bread does not end in excited giggles of appreciation.

There will come a day when two of them no longer fit on the slide.  When games and happy play sounds no longer come from their bedrooms.  When chase and hide and seek cannot keep them occupied on rainy afternoons.  When both of them won't fit on my lap at the same time.  When Sesame Street and its happy tune is not the song that runs in a continuous loop in my head.

There will come a day when I will want to hold my children.  Read to them.  Sing and dance with them.  Snuggle.  And I won't be able to.  There will come a day when I am no longer their world.  When my face won't bring a smile and my smile a giggle. When I am even simply not wanted.

But that day isn't here yet. 

God grant me the sight I need to never take this time for granted.  To not waste it.  To drink in my childrens' joy and the innocence of their youth.  To love and honor them.  To always do my best. 

Thank you for blessing me with such wonderful children.  May they grow into equally wonderful adults. 

The Bean and Rice Challenge Kick-Off

Well, it has been a heckuva few days, hasn't it? If you speak to me in real life or anyplace outside of this blog, then I apologize if I'm acting out of sorts or distant.  I'm doing my best and feel better today than I have since Wednesday night.  Of course, I have a dishwasher again, revived back into life for another month or two by my very handy husband.  That, I'm finding, is helping my mood A LOT because my kitchen isn't a mess of drying, rinsed, and to be washed dishes. 

We did go grocery shopping and managed to stay at my $75 budget for the week, so I'm pleased about that.  I got everything I needed for this week and a few things that set me up for a more successful next week (you know, in case this $75 a week thing is a new trend).  I didn't have enough money to purchase anything at the farmer's market to help me get canning for the winter.  That bums me out because peaches and the last of the summer berries should only be around another week or two.  On the bright side, though, I harvested about a quarter of our potatoes and carrots yesterday, and was so pleased with them I took a picture.

We also have the promise of GOBS of tomatoes here soon if they decide to ripen.  I'll be elbow deep in tomato preservation, which I look forward to immensely.  I'd like to make marinara sauce, tomato jam, and then just diced tomatoes.  I'm not the most talented canner and am very new to the concept, but I've got a few good websites I go to with step-by-step instructions plus some friends that can no doubt help me out if I get stuck.  :)

We started some fall-crop seedlings in an old egg container or two a few weeks ago and those are starting to sprout finally, so there's hope yet for a good garden this year.  I also went berry picking, which I told Brian made me feel quite like Little Red Riding Hood, heading into the woods with my basket.  I didn't get many as the elderberry bush isn't quite yet ready, but I just had to test it out.  Here's what those looked like.

They aren't a sweet berry.  They remind me a little of juniper berries, so I think it would make a dandy savory jam or syrupy sauce to pair with meats and cheeses.  That's the plan, anyway.  I stuck these in the fridge, though I'm not sure they'll hold-out for when the rest of the berries are ready.  Oh well.  It was just practice. 

Yesterday Chloe made friends with two girls, about 8 years old, here in the neighborhood.  I told Brian it made me feel like a grown-up for the first time ever.  Every other friend she's made has been someone I've set-up, playdates or children of friends.  I was in complete control.  This time, I was in the kitchen making garlic n herb pesto salad dressing in the blender and then turned around to see my daughter and two new faces (and a dog!) peering at me from the cracked-open garage door.  I had to introduce myself, get them all settled with drinks and snacks, got water for the dog, gave them rules and know-how because they were in love with Liam and wanted to help him play outside.  Then when they wanted Chloe to go to their house and play (gulp) I had to give them a curfew to have her back, instructions on that, and then waved goodbye to my little girl for the first time - off to a friend's house without me being there.  It was weird. 

I remember my mom doing this for me.  I can remember it so clearly that I felt surely I wasn't old enough to now be "Mrs...." or "Chloe's Mom" to those girls - the purveyor of yummy snacks.  :)  Alas.  I am.  I am almost 30 and it's time to be a grown-up, I guess.  Now or never!

Anyway.  Let's get to some food-talk.  On Friday I made a bean challenge meal that wound-up being a kind of vegetarian tortilla soup.  It was really good and also very filling. 

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
Yield: about 2 quarts

1/2 pound dried pinto beans
2 quarts water
sea salt and cracked pepper
3 chile peppers (I used yellow and orange), seeded and diced
1 sweet onion, diced
1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
2 C sweet corn
3/4 t smoked paprika
1/2 t ground cumin
1/4 t chili powder
the juice of 1 very ripe and juicy lime
1 bay leaf
5 cloves garlic, minced

4 flour tortillas
1/2 C olive oil
a few drops of lime oil or lime zest
a few dashes cayenne pepper
a few dashes garlic powder
sea salt

Soak the beans overnight, or (this is what I did) cover the beans with water, bring the pot to a boil for 5 minutes, cover, remove from the heat and let set for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans.  Then cover with 1 1/2 quarts water and boil by themselves for 2 to 3 hours until the begin to soften and crack.

Add everything to the pot except the lime juice and let simmer at least 2 hours, though longer is better.  I'm sure this would work in a crockpot, though I didn't test it in one.  At the very end of simmering, stir in the lime juice.  

To make the tortilla strips, cut a tortilla into long and thin strips.  Combine everything but the sea salt in a bowl with a whisk.  Drop the tortilla strips into the flavored oil, mix around with your hands, then lay them out evenly on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 6 to 10 minutes, or until crisp.  Season immediately with sea salt.  Serve warm on the soup. 

Last night for dinner I used the potatoes and carrots fresh from our garden to make a root vegetable gratin.  This was a delicious and really satisfying vegetarian main dish!

Root Vegetable and Cabbage Gratin
Yield: about 6 servings

1/2 C salted butter plus 2 T
1/2 poudn potatoes, any variety, peeled and thinly sliced
about 4 carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1/2 head cabbage, sliced into thin strips
3 ounces flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 C whole milk
1/2 C flour
1/2 C cheese of choice: swiss, cheddar, mozzarella, gruyere, gouda, etc...
1/4 C parmesan cheese
4 eggs
plenty of sea salt, cracked black pepper, and ground white pepper
2/3 C bread crumbs

Melt the 1/2 C butter in a very large and deep skillet over medium heat.  Add the potatoes and carrots and cook for about 7 minutes, tossing in the butter until they are soft.  If the butter begins to burn, add about 1/4 C olive oil to raise the smoking point of the butter enough to finish cooking.  Add the cabbage, green onions, and parsley and cook in the butter another 2 to 4 minutes. 

Meanwhile, stir together the milk, flour, eggs, cheeses, and seasonings until smooth.  Set aside. Melt the 2 T butter in the microwave then stir the bread crumbs into it until moistened. 

Grease a gratin dish, a deep-dish pie pan, or a baking dish.  Add all of the contents of the skillet, including the butter.  Then pour the liquid over it.  The liquid should just reach the top of the vegetables and the cheese shold settle naturally on top.  You may top with more cheese, if desired, then sprinkle the bread crumbs over.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until filling bubbles for at least 10 minutes (at least 45 minutes).  Serve warm. 

That's it! Tonight for dinner is the Mediterranean Hobo Dinner.  Then I also have a mom that is going to give me her recipe for Indian Tacos, complete with homemade fry bread, so I am beyond excited for that.  If I have the ingredients to make it yet this week we will definitely be sneaking that onto the menu.  Yay!

Until next time. :)

Bad Becomes Good

It's early.  It's dawn.  I love that I can look out my back door and see the sunrise between the trees.  My daughter woke me up before dawn by climbing into our bed in a heap of "Mommy? Daddy?" wimpers, and snuggled, just like she did when she was a baby. 

The past 48 hours drained me.  I went to bed last night sick to my stomach, emotionally overwrought, and listless.  I woke up this morning envigorated.  I know everything will be just fine.  I know it.


Bad things happen.  Often, the bad things can push us or push life towards something good.  And I think that's what's happening to me. 


So I sit here.  I revel in the simplicity of a chilly late summer morning.  The warmth of my coffee mug as I hug it with the palms of my hands.  And I wait.  It's Saturday and the farmer's market opens in half an hour.  :)

Good and Bad: The Bean and Rice Challenge

I have had both amazingly good news and disturbingly bad news this week, often in the same day.  I hate roller coasters because they make me dizzy, and yet I find myself tumbling along on one, experiencing all the highs with abandon, and all the lows with a measure of sadness but acceptance. 

Today is Thursday.  I won't publish this post yet because I just need to sit on it for awhile to make sure I've said everything right.

Bad news: to begin, my week began with the discovery that my local Curves closed, which spelled the end to my morning me time I'd come to relish, and I was pretty grumpy about it.

Good news: yesterday morning my day began with a surprising message from someone I really don't even know, but is one of those random facebook connections one has from networking in a group.  This person happens to be a writer for a very small, local Indiana newspaper.  She wants to feature The Stay-at-Home-Chef permanently in their publication.  I was beyond thrilled and immediately said yes!

I love writing, that's part of why this blog is so wonderful an exercise for me.  In college I actually tutored at the writing center, something I found immensely fulfilling, though not quite so creatively fulfulling as cooking.  For me, branching into newspaper publishing is a way to marry these two great loves of mine, so it makes a lot of sense.  I have the freedom to write new articles for the newspaper, though if time isn't on my side, they will simply pull blog posts and edit them to make a new article. 

I texted Brian that I had some enormously exciting news to tell him.  He responded that he could use some good news.  Uh oh.  Bad news: see, Brian works for a very small business and things have been somewhat uncertain lately.  We're receiving mixed signals from his boss about the company's future, so we've gone ahead and turned in a few resumes elsewhere.  Good news: so far, he's had amazing response and there's a few offers that might be coming in. Yay. Boo, though, because Brian loves his job and it's hard for him to think about leaving. 

Brian was just having a rough day.  It's hard to work for such a small company when things are uncertain because the owner's mood can seep into day-to-day operations.  I decided to cheer him up in whatever way I could.  So, I made I nice dinner, mowed the lawn (usually his chore, but something I did to be nice) and went about my day.

Then I got some bad news.  I am part of a community of local moms, and one of our number suffered an unspeakable loss.  Her 8 month old baby girl, in need of a heart transplant, died in her arms.  I still tear up at the thought.  I know other moms who have suffered the loss of a child, and I think the hardest part is that I can imagine it.  I can imagine it and it's the worst thing I can think of, beyond my own death, yet I know that even my imaginings don't compare to actually experiencing it.  I have been distraught over this since.

Then I got more good news.  A good friend of Chloe's from school (and his guardian and little sister) came over for a playdate and that was fun.  We said goodbye right as Brian came home and dinner was ready which was wonderful.  Then I got a text from my mom: call me when the kids are in bed.  Uh oh.

Liam is cutting practically all his teeth, it seems.  I've lost count.  So he's been extra tired and going to bed early.  Chloe was extra tired, so she went to bed early.  I called my mom. 

I got bad news. Very bad news.  And I've been reeling with emotions since.

For now, just know that it's bad.  And, in typical me mode, I guess, I'm turning the bad into something good.  A challenge.  I love a good challenge.  I have $75 to spend for groceries this week, so I'm going to do The Bean and Rice Challenge.  How many exciting and yummy ways can I think to serve beans?  C'mon, you know it'll be fun. 

So far, this is what I have:

The mushu pork is a rollover recipe for shredded pork, because I have some in the freezer.  Boston Butts are on sale again this week, so I've included buying one in my budget, even though I won't use it.  Obviously, they're good to have around and are pretty versatile, so it'll be useful in weeks to come.  Pizza night gets done every week now, because no matter what I can always make a pizza.  Similarly, we have pasta night.  If you require an explanation as to how and why I always have pizza and pasta ingredients, then please revisit the Living and Cooking with Leftovers series Parts 2 and 3. 

The other 4 meals all use bean as the protein, so good news for you vegetarians out there.  I'll try to keep the flavor and textured varied to keep it interesting.  We'll see, I guess.

And now for something completely different - I re-made the crockpot chicken pad thai for the first time in a year this week.  It's my most googled recipe behind crockpot baked beans and sausage, so I thought it deserved a nice new photo.  It's also pinned on pinterest, and I just couldn't have that photo represent the dish like that, though I'm pretty sure I'll have to keep that photo and just post a new and better one under it, or all of those pins will be lost.  Bummer.  I also have a slight tweek to the recipe.

crockpot chicken pad thai

For now, I'm going to revisit the grocery list a smidge and see if I can't squeeze farmer's market peaches in there so I can get canning for the winter.  The kids request peaches as much as they request chocolate, so I'm one lucky momma. 

So yeah. I will divulge what the bad news is when I'm ready.  For now, much love, thanks, and admonishments to keep moving forward, no matter what. 

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long.  We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we're curious.... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

Walt Disney

Margarita Pizza = Perfection

We have been one busy family since I last updated!  Rarely do we have a weekend booked this solid with fun stuff, so it was pretty awesome. :)  I spent the first part of it doing the marketing for the week - grocery shopping at 9pm on Friday night (who would have thought it'd have been that busy?!) then at the farmer's market for us at 8am, then for work with Travis at 8:30am.  I snagged one vendor's entire selection of roma tomatoes because they looked and tasted divine - perfect for marinara - then realized belatedly that I am currently without a canning pot.  *forehead smacks* I also picked up some amazing white flesh peaches that I intended to slice and can for the kids, then use the peach syrup for jam.  Again *forehead smacks* no canning pot.

So this week has been the dance of the canning pots.  I had a very tall restaurant grade aluminum stock pot that was my mothers and makeshift canning pot.  I hated it because it was a poor conductor of heat and I always felt unsure of my waterbath and therefore food safety as a result.  She never used it for anything because it was aluminum and she was nervous about its conductivity with acidic foods (and rightly so).  I did not bring it with us when we moved because it was my full intention to purchase a pressure canner for this season.  Though, when one did not present itself at a rock-bottom price, I balked and went back to mom's in search of the old stock pot.  Which wasn't there.  Because she threw it away.  *forehead smacks* :)

I've been scrambling ever since and may have just found one off craigslist, if the seller agrees to my price, though it comes with a 2 hour round trip drive.  How fun.  :)

After the market on Saturday, though, on we met up with my brother and his family (from Michigan) at the Children's Museum.  Soooo fun! Then all hung out with my parents at their house until late late late that night.  Sunday we went to DeLury Farm to practice with more cheese, hang out, and even help harvest 2 roosters.  Well, Brian helped harvest the roosters, I stayed inside fervently watching Chloe to make sure she was going to be ok. 

Yes, I let her watch.  And she was totally cool with it.  I just explained the connection between chicken (pointing at the live chicken) and chicken nuggets, then said that Daddy was going to cut the chicken and she would then see blood, which is red.  She just took it all in stride and went about her business, occassionally pointing at the chickens (through various stages of harvest) and saying "chicken nuggets!"

I really appreciate all the opportunities the DeLury's have given us to come and learn, and it was a wonderful teaching moment for me to share with my kids.  I don't want to raise kids so far removed from their food source that they refuse to eat meat with bones in it (like I did when I was in high school because it was "morbid."). 



Just a good example of someone who's a bit too far removed from his or her food source, no?

 So, we ask a lot of questions and get a lot of answers and all in all will figure out this whole self-sustainability thing a little at a time.  Already we're progressing beyond our expectations, so that makes me happy.  We've got chickens picked out for next year and I think I've got Brian talked into at least 2 or 3 turkeys! :)

Anyway, we didn't get home from the farm until nearly 8pm.  So I did a quick presto-feedo for the kids then packed them into bed.  Liam had missed all of his naps the entire weekend and was pretty zonked, and Chloe had had so much excitement she was in that awkward toddler bi-polar phase where she's alternating tears with giggles.  Monday morning we were supposed to meet my mom and my niece to go to the waterpark, but I had to put the kibosh on it.  Liam slept in until nearly 11am, got up and ate lunch, then went back to bed at 1 and slept until 3:30.  :) 

Which gave me ample time to scrub our entire house top to bottom and inside out then do it all over again.  I'm not exaggerating.  I happened to see a few fleas over the course of last week - not many, maybe 1 or 2 every other day, but still, a flea is a flea and made me wonder how many I'm not seeing.  Then I happened to notice bites on Liam's legs, right where his diaper rubs.  Put two and two together and you get one momma determined to wage war on any fleas and prevail. 

It started with Pumpers, our kitty.  She's a sweet, gentle girl but is also pretty lazy (the vet's words, not ours lol) and doesn't bathe herself.  She's also an extremely thick-furred calico.  So, despite frontline applications, we're dubious it was totally effective against her matted and uber-thick fur. 



This is AFTER a lengthy hair cut.  Just imagine the before. :)

Giving a cat a bath is something not for the feint of heart.  I've gotten pretty good at it over the years, though, so we managed, despite her total indignation at the whole thing.  If we'd had hair buzzers I would have just done that to thin out her mane, but we don't (though note to us, buy some and keep her hair shortened during the summer months - duh!).  After nearly 45 minutes of brushing her wet and conditioned hair, I still couldn't get the mattes out, so she got a haircut.  And she hates it.  But she feels soooooo much better.  Shame on her for not bathing herself like a normal cat, and shame on me for somehow losing her brush in the move and just not buying her a new one because I constantly thought, "Surely I'll find it.  It's got to be here." 

After the cat bath came the intense clean.  Then we met with my niece and mom at the kids' favorite splash park.  Then I made pizzas and fed everybody. 

The pizza feast was delicious! A big salad with roma tomatoes and italian red bell pepper with homemade raspberry balsamic, then I made a large margarita pizza and a medium pepperoni with hot peppers. 



The margarita pizza is one of my most favorite pizzas, and so yummy the recipe is posted below! :)



Around 9:30 at night, as I sat waiting on our sheets to finally be dry so I could go to sleep in an exhausted heap, I realized that I really was exhausted and that I should designate tomorrow (today) to be a movie day.  So then I ran to the grocery to get some redbox movies, beer for Brian, and some fruit smoothies for me. /End scene.  Bed. :)



So yeah. *whew* Oh and did I mention our dishwasher broke yesterday? Yes.  I get to hand-wash everything now, but as my friend Melody pointed out, the dishwasher now works as a handy built-in drying rack.  Silver lining. :)

Pizza Margarita
Yield: 1 large pizza and extra dough for 1 medium

3/4 recipe my basic pizza dough (make the whole batch and just take a larger half for this pizza)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 C olive oil
sea salt and pepper
8 to 10 fresh ripe roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 C fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 C mozzarella (fresh if you've got it)
1/2 C parmigiano reggianno, grated
1/2 cubanelle pepper, diced (optional)

Prepare the pizza dough according to that recipe, being sure to knead it for several minutes, let it rise, then smoosh it out onto a pizza pan with your fingers. 

Bake the pizza dough in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until the bottom is toasty and crisp, but the top remains soft. 

Drizzle the olive oil onto the crust, add the chopped garlic, and season with sea salt and cracked pepper.  Add the mozzarella cheese, then the tomatoes, then a little more sea salt and pepper, then the parm reg (and cubanelle if using).  Preheat the broiler and broil the pizza under the element for 5 to 7 minutes, or until it is bubbly hot and crisp to your taste preferences.  Remove and immediately set the chopped basil on it.  Slice into even slices and serve.

It IS Fall!

Perhaps not officially, but my body must have been feeling the coming shift in the weather last week because it is BEAUTIFUL! It started with the breeze, preceeding a much needed summer storm.  The breeze smelled cool and crisp.  Now the mornings are chilly, the afternoons a delight, and the breeze has stuck around, even after the storm.  *content sighs* :)

I get excited with each new change of the seasons, which is why I think I'm very well-suited to a climate like Indiana.  Yet, fall is my favorite.  Always has been, always will.  :)  Way back in March when we began looking at this house, I stood in what is now our dining room, peering out at the long forest of trees behind us and knowing that come fall, all of that beautiful golden, orange, and brown light would be reflected right to where I was standing.  We had that in the house I grew up in, tucked into some fairly thick woods, it was always magical to me - like the fairy harbinger of fall had come to visit, only she was too small to see.

Perhaps this fall won't stick around and next week we'll see 90 degree days with little air moving, but for right now, its a wonderful reminder of the fluiditity of Earth: that even when change seems hopeless, when bad news beats us down, life is moving along in one direction, consistent since the dawn of time.

I have had a very rocky week.  It started last week with me just not feeling well, then ended up with this week me realizing (finally) I was having a bought of iron-defiency anemia.  Not a fun discovery, but useful in that I was finally able to combat what was ailing me.  I no longer have any of my prenatal vitamins or iron supplements in the house from when I was pregnant with Liam, so I just forced lots of iron-rich foods into my body, steered clear of iron-suck foods like milk and coffee, and kept up with Vitamin C to help the absorption of iron.  It took about 3 full days for the dizziness and extreme fatigue to subside, but now it's all gone. 

Between the crazy fall-like weather and my sudden anemic incapacitation, I did not follow my menu plan on Monday or Tuesday whatsoever (though I did warn you all I wouldn't). :)  I started back on the meny band-wagon last night with veggie lo mein because it's so very easy and I was still feeling a bit rough around the edges.  Tonight for dinner I've got some pinto beans soaking and some cornbread to make and then it's going to be chipotle tamale pie, minus the cilantro because the heat and raccoons tag-teamed the poor plant to pieces.  I also am out of chipotle chilis, so will have to use chipotle chili powder. I also don't have ground turkey, which isn't so bad because the ground beef contains a little more iron, anyway, so that plus the pinto beans should kick any lingering issues to the curb.

OK, here's what the week has looked like so far:



fall pot roast is so very very yummy.  One of my favorite fall dishes, only I had to force myself to eat this because I didn't feel hungry and was super dizzy. 



homemade cinnamon ice cream, which I didn't eat, though I'm told it was fabulous. :) It was that recipe minus the cardamom - so add about 1/2 t ground cinnamon instead, and then simmer some stick cinnamon in your half n half for a good 30 minutes. 



broccoli cheese chicken casserole - an oldie but a goodie! (recipe below)



my chocolate chip cookies.  recipe will be in the cookbook!

Broccoli Cheese Chicken Casserole
Yield: 1 8 x 11 baking pan

olive oil
2 chicken breasts, butterflied in half then diced
1 C rice
1 1/2 C chicken stock
1/2 t curry powder
1/4 t white pepper
sea salt and pepper
1 C matchstick cut carrots
1 head broccoli, cut into florets, and steamed in the microwave
1/2 large sweet onion, finely diced
2 T butter
2 T flour
2 C milk
1/2 C colby jack cheese, shredded
1 C plus 1/2 C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 C parmesan cheese, grated
1 sleeve whole wheat ritz crackers, ground and tossed with 4 T melted butter

Combine rice with chicken stock and cook until halfway done (about 10 minutes).  It will finish cooking as it soaks up the excess liquid from the cheese sauce in the oven.

Add broccoli to a heatproof container (or measuring cup covered with a plate, as I do), add a 1/4 C of water, and steam in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, add a few turns of the pan of olive oil to a skillet and add the chicken.  Seasonw ith sea salt and pepper and cook until nearly done.  Add the carrots and onions, season with a little more sea salt  and pepper, then add the curry powder and white pepper.  Cook 2 minutes then add the butter, melt, then add the flour and stir.  Cook for 1 minute before adding the milk while whisking vigorously.  Let the milk come up to a boil and let cook 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the cheeses until melted (You may use whatever combination of cheeses you like: gouda, gruyere, and swiss are all delicious additions!)

In a large 8 x 11 baking pan, combine the cheese/vegetable mixture with the rice and add the steamed and drained broccoli.  Stir until everything is well distributed then press to flatten into the pan.  Top with the extra 1/2 C of cheddar and the ground and buttered ritz crackers.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes. 

That's it for now.  :) I'm finally starting to feel myself again so am taking this day to put the house to rights and get laundry done.  My poor kids have had an awfully boring week as I struggled to get through even menial tasks without wanting to take a nap.  I've already started planning a fun-filled week of friends and activities to make-up for it next week, so I don't feel quite so bad that this week has been a movie-fest.  At least they've gotten plenty of swing-set time with the nice weather. :)

Peace everyone!

Updated in February 2012:
I made this comforting casserole tonight because I have a terrible cold and it just sounded awesome.  I added about 1/3 C of lemon juice to the cooking chicken as well as about 1/2 t garlic powder.  I also steamed cut-up carrots and onions with the broccoli this time and dumped in about 1/4 of a brick of Velveeta because I had one lurking in my fridge from the Holidays still.  I will admit, the Velveeta made it. :) I did not add any other cheese other than that. Oyster crackers went on top because that's what I had and I loved it.

Feeling like Fall

So sure, it's still in the 90's, it's not very breezy, and there's still a full month and a half before the Fall Equinox, but hey - a girl can dream, right? :)  I *am* feeling a bit of fall tingle, though it certainly isn't weather-driven.  Perhaps I'm conjuring some sort of response to all the hot weather of this summer in self-defense.

Don't get me wrong, I still love summer and I'm still glad it's here.  We've got our annual beach vacation still to come at the very end of August and I do not want to miss it. :)  But, it's a good thing for me to be looking ahead so early this year.  While I usually wait for that first crisp morning with the light so specific to fall to plan my fall menus for work, that usually means I'm pretty rushed to get everything ordered and in place for the menu debut - which always happens on the Equinox. 

This year I just felt fall.  I put a sweater on (I genuinely was chilly for some reason), sat under a blowing ceiling fan in our bedroom and closed my eyes.  Then I was there - crunchy leaves crushing under my feet, the dance they do as they blow in the breeze and warm light, the oranges, golds, and brown colors, the scents of cinnamon and nutmeg heady in the air.   From this meditation on what I love about fall, a fall menu blossomed,  as did my September Wine Dinner (not my Harvest Wine Dinner, which is in October).  I'm happy with it, too.  I've got 1 dish yet to create, and a few other odds and ends, but all in all - it's solid. 

I am at this very moment simmering some homemade apple cider with some of the bad apples that never got eaten from the market and plan to make fall pot roast (apple cider pot roast) for dinner tonight.  My whole house smells like fall and it's putting the silliest grin on my face.  It's a fun feeling full of the same kind of exhiliration that comes from taking a hike through the woods in October.  :) 

This is such a schizophrenic time of year.  Sunday and today I've been all about fall, while Saturday my feet were firmly planted in summer.  I met my executive sous, Travis, at the farmer's market and we bought a wellspring of goodies for the restaurant.  Together we conceptualized two dishes that are being featured Monday through Wednesday, a weekly treat I'll do from now until the end of the market and the debut of the fall menu. That was a different kind of exhiliration - creativity is so simple when there's so much around to inspire you. 

It was a lot of fun and I feel really pleased with the dishes coming out of my kitchen, a credit to Travis and his hard work.  Alas, I did not get to purchase anything for my home! The kids and Brian usually come with me and we all do the market together, but both my babies were having issues on Saturday, each for their own reasons.  The end result being they didn't go anywhere.  I almost came home after my restaurant market excursion, regrouped, and went back into the fray, but for some reason I didn't.  So I'm bummed. 

But we do have a garden in full swing and there's some stuff to work with out there.  I'm using some of our potatoes and carrots for the pot roast tonight.  I spied some big tomatoes that will hopefully ripen if we can get some more rain.  The raccoons have eaten all of my corn as it has developed and so I have none.  :( :( <----- downside to living at the edge of a forest. 

I did write out a menu and have most of what I need for it, so I'll publish it. Last week I was not good about following the menu at all, which explains the lack of recipes coming out of me at present.  I just felt off my game all week - I get that sometimes, especially after weeks of really high creative production.  So yeah, I feel good and re-grouped, so this week will surely be better.  Homemade apple cider is a good omen to that effect. :)

Here's what it looks like

recipe links: chipotle tamale pie, veggie lo mein, vegetarian texas hash (references it then links to the meat version)

Already I'm off menu and it's only Monday! :) No, the fall pot roast isn't listed - it took shape after I found a good looking chuck roast on sale and decided to use-up these bad apples for cider.  I also found some chicken for this week so I'll probably do a meal with that, too, that isn't on the menu.  Oh well.  C'est la vie. :)

My apple cider just finished, so I took a brief pause in writing, and the pot roast is now simmering with 2 cups of that cider. The apple-steeped cinnamon sticks went towards some ice cream that is now cooling in the fridge before its big churn later. :)  I've been a busy girl today!

I do have 2 recipes to share.  I've been keeping at my breakfast challenge, though I don't cook something every morning.  I did finally try those no-fry (baked) yeast donuts.  Perhaps it's just because I've now been spoiled by the best donut in the world that I drool over every week at the farmer's market, but these just didn't pass the mustard.  I'll likely try it again with some alterations, but I'm guessing I simply won't achieve the super light, pull-apart, melt in your mouth, perfectly balanced sweet vs bread  taste of Le Dolce Vita Bakery in Zionsville. 

One thing I do make that I happen to think is the best in the world is biscuits n' gravy.  Not quite the technically challenging impressive display of the perfect yeast donut, but whatever.  Good gravy is good gravy. 



Biscuits with Bacon Gravy

I don't make sausage gravy.  Rarely do I have breakfast sausage and it's just not as good as people think it is, in my opinion.  No.  I make bacon gravy.  MMMMMMM.  I start with my light and fluffy baking powder biscuits (again, I don't mess with yeast in the morning unless it's a weekend or it's something for much later in the day).  Then I bake about 1/2 pound of bacon on a sheet tray in the oven at 375 until incredibly crisp.  I would normally place parchment under the bacon to help absorb some grease and to prevent the bacon from breaking as I remove it from the pan, but since this is gravy and a) I need all that grease and b) the bacon is getting pieced-up anyway, this works. 

Then I dump the bacon grease into a large skillet, turn the heat on and add some flour.  A 1/2 pound of bacon should render at least 1/4 C of grease, which is about the minimum for any gravy to be flavorful.  But per 1/4 C I usually add about 2 T of flour, or a 2:1 ratio.  I stir and cook the flour for several minutes, letting it slowly brown and getting all that starchy taste out.  I season it judiciously with sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and freshly ground white pepper, which is the key ingredient so don't you dare leave it out. 

Then I whisk in about 2 to 3 cups of milk. If you're squirmy about getting lumps in your gravy, you can heat the milk in the microwave before adding it, or you can just do what I do and pour the milk with one hand and whisk with the other as if making a salad dressing.  Works just fine. :) Continue stirring and cooking until it bubbles.  Taste for seasonings and make sure there's plenty of salt and white pepper in there, then add the crisped bacon pieces and cook it for at least 2 minutes to finish the flavor.  Serve it over split biscuits. 

Bacon Gravy
1/4 C bacon grease
2 T all purpose flour
sea salt, pepper, white pepper to taste
2 to 3 C of milk, 2% is best
1/2 pound bacon, crisped and broken into pieces

Lastly, I have a confession to make.  I never went grocery shopping last week.  Nope.  For some reason, it never happened.  This is another part of why nothing got made that was supposed to be made.  Needless to say, meals were....creative.  I hit on one that I found clever and that the kids really dug into, so I thought I'd share.



BBQ Chicken Mac n Cheese

 BBQ Chicken Mac n Cheese
Yield: about 4 adult servings

1/2 pound penne, cooked al dente
3 chicken breasts, diced
1/4 C Old Bay Seasoning
sea salt and pepper
olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
4 ounces grape tomatoes
1/2 C flat leaf italian parsley
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 C tangerine red pepper bbq sauce (posted below) or another fruity and sweet bbq sauce
1 C heavy cream
1/2 C parmesan cheese
1 1/2 C sharp cheddar cheese

Optional additions:
bacon
mushrooms
peas
corn
gouda cheese

In a skillet, heat a few turns of the pan of olive oil over medium high heat.  Toss the chicken with the Old Bay Seasoning then place in the pan.  Season with salt and pepper and brown the chicken.  Add onion and cook 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the garlic, tomatoes, and parsley, then season again with salt and pepper and cook 1 minute more.  Add the bbq sauce and stir, then the heavy cream.  Stir and simmer 5 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in the cheeses.  Toss with cooked penne pasta and serve.

The optional additions are veggies or other items that I think would be tasty in the dish, but that I didn't have on hand when I made it.  With the exception of the bacon, all should be tossed into the dish with the onions.  The bacon should be cooked first, then set aside and crumbled, stirring it in with the cheese. 

Tangerine Red Pepper BBQ Sauce (very approximate - I made this a week before I decided to write it down)
4 ounces tangerine red pepper marmalade
8 ounces tomato sauce
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C honey
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
2 t yellow mustard
sea salt and pepper
1/2 t smoked paprika
1/4 t garlic powder

Combine everything in a saucepan and cook over medium low heat for 1 hour.  Refrigerate.  This was originally made for a bbq chicken pizza, and it was killer.  KILLER.  :)

Alright, that's it for now.  Have a great Monday everyone!

Cowboys and Aliens and Bipimbap

Last night marked the first official date Brian and I have had in..... I can't even remember.  I don't count the IKEA road-trip we took when we first moved in because that was all business.  This was a real date: dinner with reservations for patio seating, movie that was not rated G or PG.  :) It was a very needed night out and once again, a night so memorable I just have to share a few tidbits with you all.

First of all, I got to pick the movie.  While my heart went to Harry Potter, Brian has not read the books (I know, right?) and I still haven't gotten to see Part 1, and did not want to see Part 2 first.  So I did what any sensible woman would do - I picked the one with my old high-school crush Harrison Ford in a cowboy hat and prepared to at least be entertained with his "intense eye acting" (see Conan O'Brien for that one). What I got was way better.  Cowboys and Aliens uses traditional Western and Science Fiction archetypes in unexpected and new ways, the end result being a movie that bows to what's good about those genres and also forges a new path of unbelievable believability.  How's that for a sentence? :)

It was AWESOME! Cowboys, Indians, The Lone Ranger, the Greedy Land-owner, The Chosen One, the Monstrous Aliens - I mean, what's not to like? I can only imagine that's how the pitch meeting went.  It was scary, compelling, thrilling, well-plotted and well-acted.  All around I loved it! Now go see it. :)

After the movie we had dinner reservations for a local Zionsville restaurant called Noah Grant's.  I still remember this space on the main street strip as being Proffit's, a good place for a sandwich and homemade root beer when I got out of ballet class or kindergarten with mom.  Then I grew-up and it became Brix, which I ate at once and thought pretty tasty, then Brix has now given way to Noah Grant's. 

We had a nice quiet table outside, which was wonderfully shady and cool by the brick.  The bread they brought out was yummy warm white bread with a pesto oil dipping sauce.  I inquired about cocktail specials and was informed they have something called "New Age," which I impressed the waitress by immediately pouncing upon, as I had already touted this particular drink's praises last year.  Apparently I'm the first person to have ever heard of this drink, which means I must remind you all of how delicious it is again.  :)

I opened the menu and scanned the whole thing, then immediately knew I wanted the bipimbap.  Brian got something boring like lobster tail.  :)  I have heard of bipimbap and never been in a position to be able to try it.  Basically it's sticky fried rice (this time shrimp) in the bottom of a clay pot, topped with some other kind of protein (this time marinated, incredibly tender steak), then topped with the quickest way to my heart - a runny egg.  A lid is popped on the pot, it's cooked together, then brought to the table where a quick open of the lid reveals steam and scents of wild delight. :)  It was cuss words delicious.  I was not disappointed after my long bipimbap wait, and I thoroughly intend to make my own bipimbap, sans clay pot, now that I have a general taste direction.  Yum!

For dessert I selected the butter cake souffle.  When the waitress asked if I'd heard about it, I said no, but it's the most interesting selection.  Always go for what's different, not what's the same at restaurants.  Usually out-of-the-box thinking is where the chef gets to truly shine.  The souffle was a bit much for 2 people to share, but it was also very delicious. :) 

The best part was we had a restaurant.com giftcard for $25 off our meal. :) Delicious food, delicious drink, delicious movie, delicious company, delicious atmosphere PLUS a coupon?! Get outta town. :) It was a night to remember and I'm very glad we tried something new.