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We went to the Spokane Garden Expo, where we saw this sign. I got a very nice brochure about composting from this group.
B made calzones (using boule dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day).
I made cream-cheese blondies (from Martha Stewart’s Cookies).
I initially got both of these books from our library (I test recipes before buying). I am thankful for the selection at our library, and I like to think that all our taxes go there (and Manito Park).
These little loaves come from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I saw a post by All Buttoned Up Melissa, was intrigued, and got the book from our library. I have been happily surprised by the results.
The authors have set up a site (make sure to check out the errors page).
Here’s the first-try loaf (B’s hand showing scale)
Here’s the second loaf
So far, so good.
A little gardening, a little baking, and a little hoping for warmer weather.
(photo of three-leaf zinnia by B)
This is a coconut swirl brownie from the Martha Stewart’s Cookies book.
These are almond macaroons, from the same book.
Update: I have been set straight (see comments). These are biscuits. As such, I am updating the wording of this post.
First, I found this recipe (for biscuits) which called for golden syrup.
Second, while searching for the golden syrup, I found some honey and some bagels. This reminded me of when we visited Dublin (almost six years ago) and discovered a little indoor market that sold bagels. They were spread with a delicious concoction of honey, toasted almonds, and cream cheese.
Today, I attempted to eat a bagel with my own cream cheese/honey topping, and successfully got it everywhere.
Which made me think of the following: While visiting us, my sister had chided one of her daughters for eating something messy on our couch. Kids get reprimanded a fair amount for good things (look both ways while crossing the street, etc.) and I didn’t want this little girl to be scolded for something silly like potential spills on our very-washable furniture. But, I didn’t want to undermine my sister’s parental authority, either (I assumed she was attempting to teach good manners, etc.)
What was especially ironic is that the two people who live here are notoriously clumsy. There is *nothing* children could do to our furniture/household that we won’t get around to ourselves (grape juice? done! chocolate ice cream? done! very sticky honey? done as of today!).
So I had to laugh, because I think most people assume that children “grow out of” certain things. I think I’m still waiting for that day.
I’m going to try to make those biscuits. I will wear a washable apron.
There are times when you hope the mail carrier has a parcel, simply because you wish to open the door and share the delightful scent of baked something-or-other.
It’s too cold to open windows, and there are few people out strolling anyway. Most passersby are moving quickly to keep warm, their attention on slippery sidewalks…not on the lingering fumes of chocolate shaking hands with flour, greeting the eggs, and kissing sugar on both cheeks.
I have no idea how this is going to taste, but it smells lovely. The scent is sort of nondescript comfort-ish, and rather nice. I can’t place it, but I’m appreciating it anyway.
Pantry Shelf Chocolate Orange Cake comes from this recipe book.
Start with the following quote:
“The way to succeed is to double your error rate.”
–Thomas J. Watson
This is true up to a point (quilt squares: yes, delicate surgery: probably no).
Mix in a recipes-to-download-for-free site.
Add a large helping of reading the Orangette blog.
End up thinking you could make quite a few superb changes to that lentil-soup recipe. And if they aren’t superb, well, maybe that’s upping your error rate on the road to success?
In the end, I trusted half my instincts (and added more pepper, some barley, some carrots, a potato, more coriander, and more cumin. The other half of my instincts I ignored (ginger, pumpkin, celery, tomato paste, curry).
The result was a spiced-up version of the soup I always make. Warm, filling, and just…nice. It’s not going to win any awards for originality, though.
Lentil soup recipe to change, add, subtract, alter, and generally ignore
1 cup lentils
garlic (2-4 cloves), browned first (either with olive oil or butter)
coriander 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp
cumin 1/2 tsp to 3/4 tsp
pepper (1 tsp to 1 Tb)
salt (2 tsp to 2 Tb)
plus whatever else sounds good to you
Some recipes add lemon juice and onion (I am actually not an onion fan, and use them only in special B-centered meals).
Boil everything in about 8 cups of water for 30 minutes. Then let simmer for another 30 minutes. If you have the time, take it. It won’t hurt it to cook even longer.
the finished product, above
the ingredients, below
(I use this filling recipe, but I bake the samosas instead of deep-frying them; also, I use egg roll wrappers)
make a wish
Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake recipe comes from this charming book
My oldest niece used to call this day “Valentimes.” (Now she’s almost nine and fancies herself too old for juvenile language.)
(card is from smudgeink.com)
We’re not the only house with a birthday in it today: There are at least two more (one, two).
The best gift ever
And, as birthdays sometimes get people talking about aging…
It’s B’s birthday but my hair.
The last time I got my hair cut (by someone other than B), the stylist suggested that I color my hair. I protested, saying that color would cover my gray hairs! It’s no wonder they give me odd looks when I go in there.
B calls this “smoothie warmed-up,” and let’s me eat it all by myself.
The basic recipe:
2 to 3 cups of berries, frozen work fine
1-2 cups orange juice
1-2 cups yogurt
nutmeg and cinnamon
honey
Mix together (you can cut up/smash the larger berries). The original recipe says to chill before serving. But the first time I ate this soup, it was warm. It was during finals week when I was in college, and I have come to associate it with everything-is-going-to-be-ok-ness.
So I have made it warm since.
I heat everything in a pan. You can serve over fruit, yogurt, ice cream, or eat it plain.
The weather is warming here (39 degrees F!). When I realize that winter is going to end, I start to get sentimental about the cold, snow, and other things I have been complaining about for the last four months. And I start eating soups.
Because when one comes into a room to find a loved one snuggled in a home-made quilt, it warms the heart.
One might then feel inspired to bake.
Breakfast cookies, Small Life version
(two recipes combined, and changed to suit me…please alter to suit you)
A
2 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
B
3/4 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp orange zest (I use orange extract instead, about 1/2 tsp)
C
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
D
1 cup finely grated carrots (peel them first, if you like)
1 apple, grated (peel first)
1 cup dried cranberries (the original recipes used raisins)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
Pre-heat your oven (350 degrees F). Ready your baking sheets (parchment paper, oil, whatever you like).
Combine all A ingredients in a bowl.
All B ingredients get mixed together in a separate big bowl (in a mixing bowl or with the mightiness of your arm). Then add C ingredients to B. Then add D ingredients to BC. Lastly, add A mixture to BCD, mixing just until incorporated. The dough will be soft and sticky.
Using a measuring cup or large spoon (you’re looking for about 1/4 cup), scoop small mounds of dough to your (prepared) baking sheet(s). Space the mounds about 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time, for about 20-25 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet another 5-10 minutes, just to make sure they’re done in the middle.
They are cake-like and quite good on a Sunday.
I didn’t thaw the peaches first.
Next time: I could either increase the baking time (and cover the top with tinfoil so it doesn’t burn), or pre-cook the peaches.
pre-baked
baked
Taste? We were a house divided. I couldn’t give it higher than about 5. But someone seemed to like it rather more than that.
I could swear that the fruit around here takes turns being particularly good in a given year. Last year we had really lovely huckleberries, but things weren’t so good in the peach and raspberry departments.
So the options (for peaches) are canned or frozen. Or, I suppose, not eating a crisp…which is a viable choice.
I think we gave this one a 7 of 10 for taste.
If you want to give this a go, try this (it’s the same recipe I always use, with a few variations)
for the topping
1/2 cup flour (unbleached, organic, all-purpose)
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup nuts (my favorite are pecans)
1/2 cup butter, cut into slices
1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
for the fruit
some kind of fruit (peaches, berries, whatever you’ve got)
sugar to taste (I typically use between 1/4 and 1/2 cup sugar)
cornstarch (or whatever you use for thickening)…I’ve yet to get this measurement right. I start with three tablespoons…that’s not enough. 1/4 cup is too much.
Some kind of spice, if you feel like it (nutmeg? cinnamon?)
I bake it for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Fruit in the bowl.
Fruit with the cornstarch and sugar mixed in. (I mix the cornstarch and sugar with the fruit in the baking dish to save washing a mixing bowl).
(photo at beginning of post shows the topping, before the rest of the butter was added)
Mixing the topping.
Adding the topping to the fruit.
After baking.
It’s a winter wonderland outside (and let’s do remember to sing while we’re shoveling all that delightful snow). I thought we could use a warm sweet treat. Or several.
First up, a Raspberry Mega Scone (as a rule, I avoid anything purporting to be “mega,” but I do like scones). I halved the recipe, and we still had more than we could handle.
Then, when that was but a memory, a crisp (using the last of the saved summer-huckleberries and my stand-by recipe). I should mention that I now use 1/2 cup of the ingredients, instead of 3/4.
It’s nice to come into a warm dwelling, full of the smells of cooking. Mittens off, kettle on, blessings counted.
I am close on 30 years old, and I hadn’t ever carved a pumpkin.
No time like the present.
This process took quite a bit longer than I thought it should, er, would. I’ll save you the gory photos of me scraping out the inside of the pumpkin.
The sketch (from a book about the villages of the Loire Valley)
After gutting the pumpkin and scraping, scraping, scraping the sides…cutting out the little bits
The finished pumpkin, with all the lights off
The finished pumpkin in the light
On trip No. 2 to Kenya, I had dinner at a family’s home. And I ate these. They are known (to me) as Jimmy’s Mom Chapati. Mrs. Ayonga, if you ever read this, I mean no disrespect. You are a perfect crumpet of a person: sweet, generous, nice to hug, and you make the world’s best chapati. (Chapati? Chapatis?)
Over the years, I have gone on a bit about these chapati. B found a recipe in a book at the library, quietly checked it out, and made some for me. I have no idea how I found this man.
The ones on the left are done, the ones on the right are waiting to be cooked.
Recipe (there are about 100 recipes for chapatis…this is just one)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
oil
(makes 4 servings)
Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Add enough water to make a fairly stiff dough. Knead well.
Roll out on a floured board into a fairly thick circle. Brush with oil. From the center of the circle, make a cut to one edge. Roll up dough into a cone, press both ends in and make into a ball again. Repeat four times. Divide dough into four or five balls and roll each one into a thin circle.
Heat a frying pan over moderate heat and dry out each chapati in the pan quickly. Brush pan with oil and fry chapati slowly until golden on each side.
There is quite a lot of talk about huckleberries here in the Pacific Northwest. I have lived here most of my life…and had never eaten them. How this is possible is a bit beyond me (except that they are on the expensive side and I am frugal about most things; fabric being the notable exception). We bought some at the farmer’s market and they were surprisingly delicious. Now I feel a bit dim for not having had them sooner.
There was a timely article about them in MasterGardener (they send it to me because I took a gardening class…I’m betting they’ll cancel my subscription when they find out I am a container gardener).
I made a crisp (and forgot to put in the cornstarch; I’m not used to such fresh fruit, I usually have to use frozen). I added about two tablespoons of sugar to the fruit, but I like tart better than sweet.
When you’ve mixed your fruit (berries, peaches, apples, cherries, pears, whatever you’ve got) and sugar/cornstarch together, toss it in a baking dish (remember that your topping will take up a bit of room, so be cautious as to how close to the top of the sides of the dish your filling sits).
The topping recipe is one that I can usually get to work:
3/4 cup walnuts or pecans
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup butter (I used unsalted)
3/4 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup brown sugar (Huckleberry’s Natural Market carries this brand)
1 or 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Smush everything together. I use my hands. I bought a nifty tool but it doesn’t work as well as I hoped.
Sprinkle the topping over your fruit filling and bake for about 35-40 minutes (give it a look at 35 minutes, it might be ready) at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or your favorite equivalent.
We also got some lovely local honey, which is currently drizzled over this morning’s yogurt.
We use canvas grocery bags. I dressed them up with some home-made patches. They are well-used, well-washed, and well-loved. I have seen some cute ideas (one, two, three) lately with making grocery bags entirely from scratch. It’s a good idea for if/when these wear out.
