concept: daddy cookies

my entire life, my daddy has been responsible for eating-- and enjoying-- every, single, ugly, ridiculous thing i've baked. it's pretty much his sworn duty. even when it's a "cake" that took three hours in the easybake oven and is frosted black, and not by using chocolate frosting and black food dye (oh, yeah, they have that!), but mixing all the colors together. mmmmm, delicious, sweetie.

for whatever reason, i've been having a slightly bad run with cookies this year. my peanut butter cookies are a little too short and hard. (but pretty, damn it!) my first tray of oatmeal cookies spread too much and browned too much. my pinwheels are three different sizes (totally my fault). my first tray of sugar cookies stuck to my greased cookie sheets. so did my first batch of slightly misshapen spritzes. my second go at sugar cookies came out beautiful but my second batch of spritzes came out horribly misshapen. horribly.

ugly or slightly irregular cookies do not go on trays. they're called husband cookies. we feed them to our husbands. (i know, you think you want to feel bad for the poor husbands eating ugly or irregular cookies all month-- don't. they're eating delicious, homemade cookies all month, okay?) i make so many husband cookies that bill has to spread the wealth a little bit. hence the concept: daddy cookies.

last night i made a whole batch of husband/daddy spritzes. a whole batch. that's, like, six dozen. they're perfect in every other way, but all kinds of ugly. i don't know why. my press is messed up-- there's too much pressure or something-- it's really hard to press out the cookies and dough leaks, spills, really, in between cookies, leaving little cookie tails. and, to top it all off, somehow, the christmas tree plate broke. it's broken. unusable. do you think wilton sells them individually? no. wilton and i are totally in a fight. except... i really want a couple of food dye sets (the 12-pack, the 8-pack, primary, pastel and garden tones, and maybe throw in some white-white, no-taste red and copper), one of those spinny cake holders, a frosting spatula and... and... a cordless electric cookie press.

for now? i soldier on. chocolate-orange-almond biscotti tonight. (chocoralmond, for short.)

springerle cookies (2008)

that? is not what my springerle cookies look like. it's from thespringerlebaker.com, which has all kinds of information about springerle cookies, including a recipe.

fun fact about springerle cookies: you make the dough, roll it out, cut it out, set it on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with anise seeds and then... elave them out over night to get stale. no shit. it's the funniest thing. it's the kind of thing that makes me wonder, you know, whose idea was that?? like blue cheese or vodka or thousand-year eggs.

i guess there are two kinds of springerle molds: rolling pins (like i use) and stamps. the thing about rolling pins is... i think the dough needs to be much thicker, because the rolling pin flattens it while it presses in the pretty designs. i think.

so, mine suck. this year they are thicker than last year, but they were still too thin. and i have no idea what they're supposed to taste like. plus? i cut them out with an ancient ravioli trimmer (because then the egdes are pinked, not just cut and they look more intentional) and that messes up the angles of the corners. i should try springerle's sometime between now and next christmas, but they're soooo haaaaaard and they make me pout and swear and growl. and growling at cookie dough? is pathetic.

but, anyway. they're done. and ugly. they will not go on trays because a) they are ugly, b) they are hard to make and one batch does not make many and c) i feel like anise in this form-- that is, straight up anise seeds on the cookies-- will get all into everything on the tray. besides, i really only made them because when i asked my dad for his cookie preferences he said pinwheels which i think are about the dullest cookie in the world. which? i'm making tonight!

springerle's will get better, i'm sure. coming up: peanut butter cookies (with comparison shots of the traditional fork-cross decorating and our pretty-bottomed glass decorating!), the battle of oatmeal no-raisin and pinwheels. after that, i take a quick break from cookies, but i'll be cooking mini cheesy biscuits, twice-baked new potatoes, spinach dip, white bean hummus and deviled eggs.

christmas cookies 2008

on the first day of modern christmas, also known as black friday, i hit the stores like every other nutcase. only i had them almost all to myself. i was at the grocery stores.

i went to the local supermarket first, hoping to buy everything in one shot. i was mostly prepared. i had edited last year's list (removing cookies that didn't work out, adding some new ones, changing amounts) and mapped out the recipes on my christmas cookie spreadsheet. what, you don't do that? huh.

i estimated, generously, how much i'd need of everything and prepared a comprehensive list of things i needed to buy. it is as follows:

• rolled oats
• 10 pounds flour (i already had 5)
• 1 bag confectioners sugar
• 10 pounds granulated sugar
• 4 pounds brown sugar
• 24 teaspoons vanilla extract (who said my system is perfect? i bought two bottles of the store brand and i hope it's enough. if not, i think trader joe's brand is cheaper, actually.)
• almond extract
• 18 ounces of milk chocolate chips
• 48 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips
• 28 ounces of white chocolate chips
• 1.5 cups slivered almonds (i take the shortcuts as they come)
• 2 cups walnuts
• 1.5 cups unsalted macadamia nuts
• 2 cups dried cranberries
• 3 chocolate-orange cake mixes
• a lemon
• candy canes
• peanut butter
• seedless raspberry jam
• 13 pounds of butter
• 4 dozen eggs

so, i bought nearly all of it at the supermarket and then moved on to trader joe's. there i bought the butter (because it was, like $1.30 cheaper per pound, and that adds up when you're buying thirteen!), the almonds, the macadamia nuts, the eggs ($1.50 cheaper, at least, i forget the exact amount), the white chocolate chips and the milk chocolate chips (i try to avoid buying either hershey or nestle for political reasons. i bought store-brand semisweet.) and tried to buy the chocolate-orange cake mixes. but they didn't have them. so i might have to actually make my biscotti dough, which might mean more flour and definitely means a trip to the supermarket for orange essence.

there was other stuff, too, of course. stuff i already had (mostly not shown):

• instant coffee
• 3 ounces semisweet bakers chocolate
• molasses
• light corn syrup
• decorating sugar
• vegetable oil
• cream of tartar
• anise seeds
• cinnamon, cloves, ginger
• gluten-free flour

and stuff i wasn't sure would keep until i had that confection scheduled, namely, heavy cream. which i can buy next door or at any supermarket/grocery/dairy store. so i'm not worried.

i also picked up some decorating frosting in little tubes and what appear to be markers for use on... food. creepy. but possibly very useful for the making of gingerbread people with a four year old. and a boneless turkey breast-thing, a box of stuffing and a ritter sport bar (totally for bill)

cookie-related shopping came in about $14 under budget (without the cake mixes and heavy cream, though) and $11 over estimate (so far). but really, good enough for me!

next up, look for springerle cookies (which i've actually already baked) and 4 batches of peanut butter cookies (which i'm baking tonight as soon as i get the pretty-bottomed glass from my mom-- i'll explain later).

autumn double-cake (part one)

okay, i forgot to blog this phenomenal cake that i invented because i intended to play it close to my chest until almost thanksgiving, and now thanksgiving is tomorrow and i haven't posted it and i meant to do it in time for thanksgiving, so here are instructions, if not a recipe.

basic plan:

1. in a spring form pan, bake a spice cake from the recipe of your choice. (i use the spice cake adaptation of the "lightning cake" recipe from the joy of cooking but use pumpkin pie spice blend instead of whatever the spices called for are.)
2. next, in the same pan (or same-sized pan), make a cheesecake with crust only on the bottom and the crust mixture spiced with pumpkin pie spice blend. (i use this recipe, sans topping-- and the helpful hints? they are totally helpful.)
3. after both cakes are cool, so, several hours later, plate the cheesecake and put the spice cake on top of it. (you can use a little caramel sauce or cream cheese frosting to secure it if you want, but probably don't need to.)
4. either frost with a crumb coating of cream cheese frosting and top with butterscotch pudding or drizzle with caramel sauce and top with lightly-spices whipped cream.

so, what i really love about this cake is, once you get the idea, you can make it ANYTHING. you can make it chocolate and vanilla. neapolitan. chocolate-cherry. strawberries and cream. gingerbread. do you see where i'm going with this?

i'll post the full recipe later.

(oh, and i also made this for my mom's birthday. hi, mom's boss!)

squash'd tomato flor-n-bean

this soup is one of the varieties i call "veggie sludge." it's thick, flavorful and easy to make. generic veggie sludge is really easy to make, but if i don't feel like thinking about what veggies to use, i go with this insanely simple one.

ingredients:

• 2-3 yellow squashes/zucchinis
• 1 can of tomato paste
• frozen spinach
• 1 can of white kidney beans
• mirepoix (chopped celery, carrots and onions, which i buy prepared from trader joe's because i'm lazy and it's good)
• veggie broth (a quart? or chicken, i guess, or ham would probably be tasty)
• olive oil

prep:

• chop your squash into, eh, chunk-sized chunks
• rinse the beans

actual cooking:

• coat the bottom of your (not huge) pot with olive oil
• add mirepoix and stir
• give that a minute
• add broth
• add spinach, beans, tomato paste and squash
• simmer for 45 minute to an hour, depending on how sludgy you want it (i want to be able to eat it with a fork, so 45 minutes mostly covered and 15-20 uncovered to boil off the extra water)
• salt & pepper to taste

this soup is delicious alone, over chicken, as a pasta sauce, with some grated cheese, with some melted cheese, hot, cold, whatever. it's good.

cheese ravioli filling

okay, i made these several weeks ago with the intention of boiling them, dipping them in egg wash and drenching them in breadcrumbs, then toasting them on a lightly greased baking sheet sprayed with olive oil (on top). instead i just bagged them to be eaten when we felt like raviolis.

i'm a little lazy, so for the actual pasta recipe, go to my turkey florentine ravioli recipe. i'll wait.

so, for a regular cheese filling, you kinda just bullshit around a little bit.

ingredients:

• ricotta cheese (the not-huge size)
• 1 egg
• chopped fresh basil
• a dash of garlic powder
• about 1/4 cup scratch cheese

then i mixed them together and filled my raviolis. ta-da! delicious. and easy. i'm pretty sure this made about 25 large triangles (they were supposed to be appetizers, remember) and 15 or so small (1.5") squares. i also got a little tricky with the filling-- i used a pastry bag. next time i probably won't bother with a tip, because who cares if it looks pretty? no one will see it.

regularly scheduled baking: christmas cookies

when i was growing up, my mother made christmas cookies. thousands of them. hundreds of thousands. million, maybe. a whole damn lot. candies, too! fried walnuts and almond brittle. but, umm, that's crazy hard. CRAZY. now, with two teenaged boys in the house and one only half out, she can't set a batch of cookies aside, anyway, so why bother?

but christmas cookies are so NICE. two years ago, i guess i made some pretty regular cookies: chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal, and some gluten-free meringues. there might have been shortbread and spritzes. i don't remember. it just seemed like the thing to do, newly married in our own little apartment.

always trying to outdo myself, last year i made chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal, shortbread, springerle, spritzes, other spritzes, pinwheels, these insane chocolate pillows with maraschino cherries on top that are made with cake mix and never made it onto the trays because they looked a little obscene, gingerbread SNOWMEN-- each frosted and decorated because i bought cookie-cutters too late to find gingerbread people, sugar cookies, chocolate-orange biscotti, vanilla meringues, white chocolate cranberry-walnut fudge and candy cane fudge. i think that's it.

this year's plan includes choco-chip, pb, oatmeal raisin, shortbread thumbprints, springerles (which all go to my daddy), spritzes, pinwheels, gingerbread snowmen, sugar cookies, chocolate-orange biscotti, snickerdoodles, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, meringues, chocolate-pb oatmeal squares, white choc cra-lnut fudge, candy cane fudge and almond brittle. plus, some gluten-free gingerbread ladies (yadies), but that's just for fun.

ingredient shopping is scheduled for black friday (when everyone else is in a gift-shopping frenzy the supermarket will be all mine!), with springerles that weekend and everything else commencing december 1st.

this is the big one, people. the great christmas cookie flood of ought-eight.

gluten-free/egg-free chocolate birthday cake (licensed character merchandise optional)

this recipe is incomplete, but i'm hoping not to have to make it again until next year, so i'll try some variations then, okay?

there's a pair of littles in my life who have some special dietary needs: no gluten for either of them, and no eggs for one. loving them as i do-- and loving kitchen experimentation as i do-- i spend lots of time thinking about how to accommodate their allergies without making them feel left out. their fourth and second birthday party was saturday and i made them this delicious, mostly-hypoallergenic cake. i've also included adjustments for dairy allergies and no allergies, just for the hell of it.

i bought some of my ingredients from amazon.com, so...

special ingredients:

• gluten-free flour blend-- i totally forget what brand i got, but next time, i'm going to try for one that doesn't smell like ass. i'm a super-smeller, though, and no one else had a problem with it. i think the ingredients are potato starch, corn starch, garbanzo beans and fava beans. the cake was originally going to be half chocolate and half vanilla, but the vanilla smelled so unappetizing that i had to make the whole thing chocolate. really, really chocolate. if dealing with a chocolate allergy, too, i'd make this cake with another STRONG flavor. like gingerbread.
• egg replacer-- i forget what the vendor for this was, too, but i suspect you can pretty easily find it in supermarkets or fancy food stores.
• gluten-free/egg-free frosting mix-- total. ripoff. you know what was in it? confectioner's sugar and vanilla flavoring. i had to add butter and milk (or margarine/butter flavored crisco & soy/rice/almond milk). just make a butter cream. it's cheaper.

ingredients:

• 3 1/4 cups flour OR flour blend
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs OR 6 tbs egg replacer & 8 tbs warm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter OR margarine, softened to the consistency of mayo (butter flavored crisco might work, too, and it doesn't have any major allergens in it)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• (1 tbs instant coffee powder, optional, but makes it taste chocolatyer)
• 3 ounces chocolate, chopped very fine (semisweet, unsweetened, whatever you have, just watch ingredients if you're going hypo-allergenic)
• 1 1/2 cups milk OR soy/rice/almond milk
• 1 tbs vanilla

prep:

• preheat to 375
• chop/grind chocolate
• soften butter or margarine

actual cooking:

• combine dry ingredients
• add wet ingredients
• mix it all up
• pour into greased baking pans (2 8" squares, i guess, it doesn't rise as much as you think it will)
• bake at 375 degrees until a cake tester (or toothpick, or sharp, unserrated knife) comes out clean
• cool completely before frosting

so, the issue i'm left with is HOLY CRAP was that cake dry. HOLY CRAP. next time i'm going to try adding either a can of tomato paste (no, really, this is a good idea!) or some vegetable oil/more butter. it could probably also use a bit more sugar.

i frosted mine to look like the magic carpet from disney's aladdin and decorated it with figures of the characters. it's not my favorite way to decorate, but it works.

the kids loved it and even a couple adults said it tasted like food. so i'll call it a success. next up in my allergy test-kitchen: gluten-free/egg-free gingerbread people.

bill's awesome procuitto & asparagus pizza

i'm not going to lie, my husband is a pizza-and-beer guy. just, you know, a GOURMET pizza and beer guy. on a recent trip to visit family, he invented this insanely easy pizza. i wanted him to guest blog, but, alas, he thinks you'll miss my dumb jokes. or something.

ingredients:

• pizza shell (pre-made crust)
• tomato sauce
• one of those mozzarella/prosciutto/basil roll-ups
• about a half-pound of asparagus

optional ingredients:

• scratch cheese (which, btw, means your choice of those grated aged cheese combinations, like peccorino-romano and shit)
• crushed garlic/garlic powder
• olive oil spray
• oregano (et cetera)

prep:

• chop asparagus into about one inch chunks, steam or blanch
• slice cheese roll thinly

actual cooking:

• (spray crust with olive oil, sprinkle with herbs, spices and scratch cheese)
• spread tomato sauce VERY THINLY over the shell, almost to the edge
• spread out your sliced cheese roll to cover sauce (a little space between is fine, it will melt)
• add asparagus on top
• bake (about 350?) until ooey-gooey and delicious-looking

ohmygod, so good. i'm starting to think i should make him cook more often.

potatoflower soup

this delicious soup makes a great lunch, and all it takes to convert the recipe to a healthy alternative to mashed potatoes is omitting the water. sweet. and? it's SO EASY. i always thought soups would be hard to make and then last fall: click. i get it. you need one of the following to make this soup: an immersion blender, a huge blender, a potato masher, a big food processor, a hand mixer or a fork and infinite patience.

ingredients:

• 4 large potatoes
• 1 quart chicken (or veggie) broth
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 onion
• water
• sea salt & fresh ground pepper (should we just assume that every savory recipe needs these?)
• a drop (or spritz) of oil

prep:

• cube potatoes (and skin them if you or your eaters are wusses)
• trim cauliflower into florets
• chop onion

actual cooking:

• put a big pot over high heat, spritz with oil
• add onions, stir
• add cauliflower, stir
• add potatoes, stir
• add broth and about 1/2 quart of water
• cover, cook for, oh, you know, a while... until both potatoes and cauliflower are a bit soft
• remove from heat and mash it all together with whatever implement you're working with (i used a potato masher & hand mixer. i bet an immersion blender is freaking AWESOME, but i don't have one.)
• salt & pepper to taste

tada! easiest. recipe. ever.

so, like i said, all you have to do to make this seem just like mashed potatoes is omit the water and maybe add a bit of butter at the end. mmmmmmm.

(by the way-- cauliflower is a cabbage. so it kinda smells. which apparently makes people think it tastes gross. it DOES NOT. it is delicious. and versatile. and potato-like.)

falafel & israeli cous cous

tonight we had falafel & israeli cous cous for dinner. SO yummy. and EASY. possibly because i cheated.

ingredients:

• falafel mix (this is the cheating part... available in your grocer's "ethnic" section)
• olive oil
• water
• israeli cous cous (different from regular cous cous)

prep:

• combine falafel mix with water as directed (manichevitz brand wants 1/2 cup water to one packet mix)
• let stand ten minutes

actual cooking:

• in a small sauce pan lightly brown 2/3 cups cous cous in a tablespoon of olive oil, stirring frequently for about five minutes
• add about 1 cup (a smidge less) water, bring to boil, turn way down and cover (check occasionally so you don't burn it!)
• set about 1/2 inch of oil in a pan to heat
• roll falafel mix into one inch balls
• fry falafel in oil until browned (you'll have to turn them once and maybe roll them around a bit if you went light on the oil like i did which is kinda pointless since you're DEEP FRYING for christsakes!)
• remove falafel and drain on paper towels

SO GOOD. seriously. but israeli cous cous has NO TASTE. a tiny sprinkle of sea salt made it perfect, since the falafel was kinda spicy. if you thought ahead about this meal, you might want it to have, oh, i dunno, a vegetable? or something? i think wilted baby spinach would be perfect. you could dump your falafel oil, not clean the pan, and toss in the spinach while the falafel drains. yum!

(spell check HATES this recipe.)

serves 2 or 3, depending on your eaters.

i got behind again...

this weekend i'll be making rosemary-olive oil bread, lasagna and maybe a gluten-free, egg-free cake. also expect an apple pie (THE ONE?) and a quick write-up on last weekend's raviolis and pumpkin pie.

turkey florentine raviolis

well, after breaking down and admitting that not EVERYTHING i touch turns into culinary gold, it is only appropriate that i should post culinary platinum. turkey florentine raviolis. i whipped up forty good-sized raviolis on sunday-- really, like biggish. maybe 3 inch squares. maybe bigger. or smaller. this is not a geometry blog, okay? you're going to have to settle for "biggish."


for this recipe, you NEED a pasta roller of some kind. i use the attachment for my fucking awesome small appliance of all trades: the standing mixer. maybe YOU can roll them by hand, but i don't have that kind of patience. so.


equipment:

• standing mixer (with flat beater & dough hook)
• pasta roller
• pastry brush

ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups of flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• about 1/8 cup of water (more or less as needed)
• 6 eggs
• about a pound of ground turkey (i used 1.2 cause that's how much was in the package)
• garlic (fresh or powder)
• basil (fresh or dried)
• fresh parsley, chopped finely (like... 1/4 cup. ish.)
• whatever other spices you like in your pasta
• sea salt
• grated parmesan (or whatever...)
• 1/2-1 cup of finely chopped frozen spinach, cooked
• 1/2-3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• homemade or jarred red gravy of your choice

prep:

• saute turkey and spices together (this makes your filling harder to work with, but more flavorful. feel free to skip it if you want to sacrifice the awesome deliciousness or if your fine motor skills aren't up to par.)
• make sure your cheeses are shredded and your herbs are chopped

actual cooking:

• combine flour, four eggs, salt & water in mixer (or by hand) with a flat beater at low speed. you've got the right amount of water when a small bit of dough sticks together if pressed. it will look too crumbly if you're not squishing it. that's okay.
• knead with dough hook or by hand until all stuck together (if you're using a dough hook it may need a couple hand squishes)
• cut dough into quarters
• cover 3/4 of dough with damp cloth
• run dough through pasta roller at the lowest setting, fold in half and repeat (3 or 4 times)
• gradually increase the setting until the pasta is as thin as you like (i went with a 4 even though five or six is recommended for raviolis because i didn't want to deal with a very thin dough on my first try)
• when the first piece is done lay it flat, dust it with flour and flip it over to lay flour side down
• do the other 3 pieces, same as the first
• combine one raw egg, cheese, meat and herbs with a bit of sea salt to taste
• score a piece of dough in half (try folding it over vertically to get the center)
• score one side into raviolis (2 rows x however many you can fit)
• brush the scored side with beaten egg
• drop rounded spoonfuls of meat mixture into the center of each square
• fold over the other side VERY GENTLY
• press layers together from the center out (so you don't get air bubbles in your raviolis, which will pop in cooking)
• cut raviolis apart with a ravioli edger, CLEAN pinking shears or a knife
• do the other 3 the same way

the raviolis can either be cooked immediately or frozen in a single layer on a floured baking sheet. one frozen, they can be bagged for later use. this recipe made 40 raviolis for me and 30 were eaten that night. five were lunch the next day, and fiver remain in the freezer for my grandmother-- she likes to taste the wonderful things i make and tell me i'm just like her mother, and to be careful of the evil eye, which can be warded off by making that horn sign with your hands, but it's less conspicuous to tie a red ribbon on your bra. i can't even make this shit up.

serve them with a cheesy or creamy red gravy, salad and bread. and wine. definitely wine.

pie, pie, me oh my

okay. this is the ugly truth: not everything i cook comes out perfect. there. i admitted it. most things that come out wrong the first time are great the second time. some things... are not. like pie.

apparently, i can't bake a pie to save my life. oh, yes, it's true. PIE. my nemesis. i just popped my fourth apple crumb pie in as many weeks into the oven. and it's WRONG. let's break it up into its parts, shall we?

PIE CRUST: pie crust is deceptively simple. four ingredients (flour, fat, salt, water) are gently combined, rolled out beautifully, dropped into a pie plate, decoratively edged and bake up to flaky perfection. right? right. easy enough. i can't do it. i got a pastry blender. i tried it with ice-cold shortening, butter, room temperature shortening, ice water, cool water... every possible adjustment. i've followed the recipe to the letter and i've relied on my instincts. i've conjured up memories of my mother tossing pie crust together like it was nothing and i've stared at the frozen pie crust at trader joe's wondering if anyone would notice if i used one. the same batch of crust that was a perfect base to a pretty good pumpkin pie yesterday is a total crap base to yet another apple crumb pie today. did ya catch that?? THE SAME BATCH of pie crust is acting totally different today. i don't know what to do.

APPLE FILLING: my apple fillings ranged from sticky and squashy (when i forgot to cut in the butter!) to sour and crispy (pretty much every other time!) i'm trying to find rome apples, but so far i've been stuck with granny smith's. not. working.

CRUMB TOPPING: probably impossible to get WRONG, but still never quite RIGHT. there's no definition to my crumbs. but, seriously? sugar, butter, spice, flour. it's always delicious.

my fourth attempt at apple crumb pie is smelling delicious just now, almost half an hour into baking. i think the little bastard is lying-- just taunting me with it's perfect smell so that, later, after our guests enjoy the turkey, spinach and parmesan raviolis i made FROM INGREDIENTS, then can be shocked at appalled at how very, very BAD my pie is. but at least bill won't have to eat ANOTHER mediocre apple crumb pie all by himself.

veggie fried rice

this is a per-serving recipe. i can't think of any reason not to multiply the number of people (+ at least two, for safety) by the amount of each ingredient. if you have a big enough pan, that is.

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup leftover (or chilled) rice
• 1/2-3/4 cup mixed veggies, chopped (i used a frozen blend form trader joe's [organic foursome] 1/4 of a small onion and 3 asparagus spears)
• 1 egg
• canola oil (a spray is ideal)
• soy sauce

prep:

• cook your rice yesterday

actual cooking:

• spray a medium-sized frying pan (at medium-high heat) with canola oil
• add veggies, stir
• add rice, stir
• (spritz with oil)
• add a drizzle of soy sauce to taste
• cover and let the flavors blend (two minutes, tops, and make sure everything's well lubricated)
• push rice mixture to the sides of the pan (basically, make a very big well)
• spray pan with oil
• pour in scrambled egg
• scramble the egg alone until almost done, then pull in rice mixture

believe it or not, it is very important to salt your rice water, but not too much, or this dish is really bland-- even with the soy sauce. and a small note on veggies: the organic foursome is perfect with julienned carrots, corn, peas and chopped green beans, onion is pretty much a must and asparagus is just yummy. i've also enjoyed veggie fried rice with mung sprouts, brussel sprouts, broccoli and a bunch of other veggies i'm forgetting. be creative!

bagel-rolls

this was my second attempt at bagels. the first time, operating with very vague shaping instructions, i elected to cut the bagels out like biscuits and then cut out a hole in the center. it worked fine, but the hole was too big, and then i was stuck re-rising, re-rolling and re-cutting three times before i gave up and went ahead with the bagel-holes as if they were bagels too. i also had to throw out some dough. this time around i was smarter than the dough. another problem i had the first time around was that, owing to the VERY vague recipe, i didn't dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm enough water. thus, my bagels didn't rise quite right.

also: my instructions are for those working with a standing mixer (and dough hook!). if you're not... um, deal. i don't really know what to tell you. i guess you'll be kneading your dough.

ingredients:

• 1 package of active-dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups of water at the temperature suggested on the yeast package (110?)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 4 cups flour
• (toppings or flavor to be mixed in, if you like)

prep:

• dissolve yeast & sugar in water
• put your biggest pot on to boil
• preheat oven to 375 degrees
• sit around for 10 minutes

actual cooking:

• add flour & salt, mix until dough comes away from the edges pretty much completely and picks up most of the scraps (and whatever you want to flavor with: herbs, spices, garlic, bacon bits, whatever! [within reason])
• cover dough with a cloth and leave in a warm place until almost doubled (a while-- like, maybe 40 minutes to an hour)
• punch down dough and put it on a floured surface
• roll dough into a log about 3 inches in diameter
• cut into 8-12 pieces (8 gives you big rolls, 12 gives you dinner rolls) and hand shape into flatish circles
• place the dough on a floured baking sheet and cover with a cloth to rise about 30-40 minutes
• (don't panic if they're still small, they'll rise more in the next step)
• simmer the dough, uncovered, in small batches, for 7 minutes
• drain dough on a towel
• place dough on a greased baking sheet
• (put on any toppings, like sea salt, parmesan cheese, etc.)
• bake bagel-rolls for 30 minutes or until golden brown

and... that's it. don't eat them all in one sitting, i know it's tempting. oh! and one other thing. these last for ABOUT 18 hours. if you want them to last longer, freeze them.

so much to blog...

not enough time.

in the past four days i've made: bagel-rolls, a turkey-taco casserole, a 3rd apple pie (several posts on that, i think), rosemary-olive oil bread and the newly dubbed "autumnal equinox double cake" which i might keep under my hat until closer to thanksgiving.

later.

pilgrim's stew

when i was a kid, my mom always gave her casseroles names like "fireman's stew" or "cowboy stew" to make them sound cool, i guess, so we'd eat them. well, this is "pilgrim's stew." (by me, not my mom.)

ingredients:

• 3/4 poundish of your choice of short macaroni (i used fusili)
• brick of sharp cheddar
• 1/2 pound sliced american cheese
• 1 pound fresh asparagus
• pint of half and half (or milk, heavy cream, skim, whatever)
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1/4 cup of flour
• package (i dunno how much it was...) ground turkey breast
• sea salt & fresh ground pepper

prep:

• chop asparagus in one inch chunks
• cube or shred cheddar
• cube or tear up american
• cook macaroni per package instructions, rinse in cold water
• cook turkey in nonstick skillet (with about a half cup of water in there you can cover it and not pay too much attention, then let the water boil off when it's done or near done)
• preheat oven to 400

actual cooking:

1. melt butter in medium saucepan
2. add flour and whisk until evenly combined
3. immediately add half and half and continue whisking until combined
4. (now is a good time to add ground pepper and a little salt to taste)
5. add cheese, stirring or whisking until smooth
6. combine cheese sauce, asparagus, macaroni and turkey in a casserole or baking dish
7. bake at about 400 degrees until you think it look browned (about 20 minutes for me)

this turned out to be SO MUCH more delicious than i'd expected. really, wonderful. obviously the base is your average mac and cheese, but the turkey and asparagus make very special.

cooking, bb (before blog): lisa's last birthday cake

i do the bulk of my cooking on the weekends, but just for fun i'm going to post now about a cake that has long since been devoured because i have a picture of it. good idea, right?

lisa may never have another birthday. she's twenty-four and holding. no, no, she's not terminally ill. why would i blog about that? she just doesn't want to get old, and who can blame her? so, for her massive, blow-out, last birthday EVER party, she had a fabulous luau (about three months ago). i got it into my head to bake her a birthday cake and make it SPECTACULAR.

my only ALONE cake-making experience up until then was molded lamb and bunny cakes last easter. they turned out okaaaaaaaaay. next year's will be better. so i enlisted the help of my fabulous friend meg, who can watch 4 kids, decorate a spectacular cake and carry on a serious-ish conversation all at the same time. in my book, that makes you a goddamned superhero. (yay meg!)

so, i told meg what i wanted to do (three tiers: ocean with floor, ocean with fishies, island with hula boy) and she sketched it out. i'm gonna repeat that, because it bears repeating, she sketched it out. then, through some kind of sorcery, she made fantastic yellow and orange fishies that you can EAT. and then she made frosting that coordinated and looked all pretty together. i, meanwhile, bought a wiggily dashboard hula boy from archie mcphee. glorious. i also bought 3 cake carriers in which to transport the three tiers of cake up to west bumble (no offense, lisa, but it is) where the party was. go me.

meg and i made plans to get together and DO IT on the sunday before the (friday) party. that morning i called meg and said something to the effect of, "uhduuuuuuuuuuuuur, whud r we doin wif dis here cake thinger today?" meg, very patiently, told me that we were decorating it. i? had not made the cake. so we made it out of mixes (eh.) and i watched while meg decorated it. things didn't QUITE work out as sketched because the mix cake didn't get tall like a real cake would have. my bad. but it DID turn out kind of amazing: