It's about time!

Yup, it has been a several months since I last posted....AGAIN.  Seriously, where has the time gone?  Well after the Thanksgiving post things went a bit, well let's just say things got a bit crazy.  Let's break it down.
My boss gave her notice (at the end of October), HR did not post the job until mid-November, I applied, waited, waited and waited some more.  I finally got an interview mid-December, all while we were crazy busy at work.  I was offered the job and accepted.  YEAH!  Well to keep my long drawn out story shorter, lets just say I started my new job on January 3rd and had a crash course.  My days since the last week of December have been insane to say the least.
It is now September....where has the time gone? We made it through wrestling, baseball (2 teams), wrestling camp, football camp, 2 week vacation, school starting, football & Labor Day weekend horseshoe tournament camping extravaganza.  We are now back in the swing of all things routine.  Well except we now travel twice a week for football and our son is starting drivers education next week.  May all of you stay safe on the roads!

I have been doing little cooking since my schedule became so incredibly crazy at work, but still have managed to make a few recipes.  Today is also the day that my son and I spend in the kitchen for him to get his clock hours for his culinary class.  So far he has made zucchini bread with only a few words of wisdom from Mom.

Here is the recipe we used:  Zucchini Bread 
Just a couple of things.  For breads such as zucchini or banana, I like to butter and sugar the pans instead of flour.  Makes a nice crust and tastes really good.  Also, my son made one batch as written and I made a second batch substituting 1 c. unsweetened apple sauce for the 1 c. oil.  They both turned out great!


In addition I have a few of other favorites from the summer.  Try them out!

Watermelon salad with Balsamic Reduction

Cut up fresh watermelon
Chiffonade (thinly slice) fresh mint leaves

1/2 - 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

In a small pan over medium heat mix balsamic, sugar and water.  Reduce until syrup consistency.

Drizzle the balsamic reduction over the watermelon salad.  YUM!


Rhubarb Compote
4 cups diced rhubarb
1 1/2 cups sugar
1-2 T. lemon juice
1 T. corn starch
1-2 T. water

In a medium pan add rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice.  Cook until tender but not mushy.  Mix in a separate bowl the cornstarch and water.  Add to the rhubarb mixture.  Cook a few more minutes until thickened slightly.

This compote is great for topping French toast, ice cream or toast.

Last but not least here is MY recipe for stuffed pablano peppers....they may sound and look a little, well, interesting but they taste AMAZING!

Stuffed Pablano Peppers
4-5 Large Pablano peppers
1 package reduced fat pork sausage
2-3 ears of corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch cilantro
1 tsp. cumin
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2-4 oz. Cotija cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cut tops off of peppers and set them aside.  You will use them later.  Seed the peppers. In a large skillet, brown sausage over medium heat.  Pour off any remaining fat.  Reduce heat to medium-low. Add chopped garlic. Shuck and cut corn off of the cobs, add corn to the skillet.  Add black beans, smashing them slightly with the back of a spoon.  Chop up about 1/3 cup cilantro, add to pan along with 1 tsp. cumin (more if desired).  Stir until well combined.  Crumble in 2-4 oz. of Cotija cheese. Stir to combine and warm through.  Remove from heat.  Stuff peppers with mixture until almost to the top of pepper.  Replace the pepper top and stick with toothpicks to hold into place.  Grill peppers on the bbq, over medium-low heat until outside of peppers are soft and cooked through. Serve with sliced avocado & Mexican crema or sour cream.

This dish goes extremely well with homemade corn cakes, flat bread or tortillas.

This recipe is a great free-form recipe.  Change things up, add whatever sounds good to you.  Don't have Cotija cheese but have cheddar, then use the cheddar.  Don't have fresh corn, use canned or frozen. Do what sounds good to you!  Enjoy!

Thanksgiving ..... it's really a 4 letter word.

Turkey Chocolate Cupcakes

You might say that Thanksgiving just is not Thanksgiving without the turkey.  I say nonsense!  This year we did a traditional, non-traditional Thanksgiving.  Tradition in the sense that we all got together for good food, good fun and good family.  Family in my book is anyone coming to the gathering.  Blood or not if you are there you are family.  That is the best tradition in my humble opinion.
What we did do differently is the meal.  No turkey, no stuffing, no mashed potatoes & gravy, no cranberry sauce, no pumpkin pie.  None of it.  My husband, brother and father got together and pow-wowed about the dinner.  They decided to do the non-traditional dinner.  By the time they told my sister-in-law and I we were having perch and bass.  Can anyone say VETO!  I can do the non-traditional dinner, but it was not about to be perch and bass for the main course.
My father called to ask me if I would put together a menu and do the cooking.  When all was said and done we got input from the little kitchen helpers (my nieces) and had a nice menu.  We also came to an agreement that we would still have perch and bass, it would just be as an appetizer....and boy was it delish! 
Menu:
Crown roast of pork
Twice baked potatoes
Creamy Gorgonzola brussels sprouts
Roasted green beans
Homemade rolls
Bourbon pecan pie
Cranberry pie
Apple cheesecake
....and the best most amazing turkey chocolate cupcakes (see photo above)

I have to put a little about the turkey chocolate cupcakes....These were made by my two nieces and my brother.  They were the most amazing cupcakes I have ever seen.  Tasted great too!  These kids have talent, I see a cupcake business in their future.

I wish I had pictures of the dinner, but alas I was the cook not the photographer.

I spent the day in the kitchen, even getting help from the SIL....boy do I love her.  She can make a great cocktail too.  We managed to squeeze 12 around a table for 8 and all said what we were thankful for.  I have to say there were some really great things said around the table last night.  Many tears and lots of laughs.  We had two Marine vets with us (my baby sister and her boyfriend) and my baby brother was with us in spirit since he is currently deployed to Iraq.  So needless to say we were all very thankful for them and their selfless choices they have made for all of us.  One of the things that was really special is what my sisters BF said.  He told us how thankful he was to have all of us.  With our crazy antics, corrupt sense of humor and all that goes with being a big family, he was thankful for us showing him what it means to be family. He had never experienced the "family traditions" like our family has.  You see, we don't just get together for holidays to celebrate family and time together, we try to do it on a regular basis.  He has been to many of our gatherings and can't believe how much we enjoy being together and how important it is to our family to make time for each other.   We are very blessed to have him in our family.
My father is amazing.  He has taught us what is important in life...family.  It was so evident last night when he was saying what he was thankful for.  Now mind you it is not often that he gets worked up over anything.  He is the most even keeled, level headed, patient person I know.  Last night he had us all in tears.  He decided to tell us about a letter my brother had wrote from Iraq.  He told my father that he was so thankful to him for teaching my brother to be the best person he could be.  Well, my father, through the tears, told all of us how incredibly proud he was of each and every one of us and that we are who we are because of our choices, not because of him.  Now, I have to agree and disagree with him.  We are who we are because of our choices and because of his guidance and his complete faith in us.  He has been an amazing father and I could not ask for more.  He is my rock, my teacher, my guide, my Daddy.  He is amazing!  What he said was not just directed at me and my siblings, but to our spouses as well.  He is proud and loves each and every one of us.
I guess it all comes down to what is really important.  It is not the turkey, it is not the stuffing or the pumpkin pie.  It is not the meal at all.  It really is about family and about the time we take to be together.  It is really a 4 letter word.  Love.

My Bliss.

I guess you could say that I am easily entertained.  Who would think that someone would get so excited over their kitchen.  Well if you knew me you would understand completely.  My favorite place in the house is the kitchen.  My favorite thing to do at home is cook and entertain.  My favorite place to shop is Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma.  My favorite kitchen tool is my kitchenaid....thank you Mom-in-law you are the best!  I bake my own bread, make my own pasta and experiment endlessly.  Sometimes success, sometimes not so much and the pizza joint in town sings a happy tune. 

I enjoy a good cocktail like a fresh raspberry mojito or a pomegranate pear martini.  I like to experiment behind the bar too.  Give me a shaker, some ice and a booze cabinet and you never know what you will get but guaranteed a buzz maybe more.

Last Saturday night was homemade pizza night and UFC Fights with the family and some friends (watching UFC not pretending to be in the UFC - seriously I'm not crazy).  What a blast.  Spent the entire day cleaning and prepping for the pizza.  Had my nieces and a friends little girl helping me in the kitchen.  Made the pizza dough from scratch and then prepped all the "condiments" since it is really all about the crust.  We made everything from basic pepperoni & cheese, "the works", margarita, to prosciutto with caramelized onion & goat cheese.  What a range of tastes and flavors and oh so yummy!  The best part is they were all cooked on the BBQ.  Yup, really.  The BBQ is not just for ribs and burgers anymore people.  Pizza on the BBQ is one of the best things ever!  Next to my kitchenaid, I think the BBQ is the next best kitchen invention. 

When we decided to remodel our house I designed the kitchen to have a bar (one to sit at, sheesh) and open to the dining and living room and also open to a large back deck...besides a 1969 build house really just needs to be remodeled or leveled and rebuild if you have the funds.

I cook to nourish, I cook for fun, I cook for stress relief, I cook for family, I cook for friends, I cook for entertaining a crowd, I cook because I can.  So I guess it goes without saying that I love my kitchen and love to cook.

In short, since this is a short story for me, you now know...... my bliss.

Ummmm Clams & Cookies....

(Photo from Palace Kitchen)
I have to share a recipe (if you can call it that) that we made the other night.  A little history.  My husband & I had our first weekend away in a year.  It was definitely much needed since he had worked every day except one since January 31st...count them...47 days on with one day off.  No I'm not kidding.  Anyways, we decided on just heading to Seattle for the weekend.  We went to a wonderful restaurant called Palace Kitchen.  We ordered clams (of course) and they were amazing.  They were by far the best clams I have ever had and I have eaten a LOT of clams!  So the best part was the smoke flavor they had.  So here is our take on those amazing clams.

Smoked Clams

Steamer Clams
Butter
Chopped Garlic
Chopped Onion or Shallot
Stock
White Wine
Fresh Thyme
Chopped Tomato
Lemon
Pancetta or Bacon (cooked & chopped)
Salt & Pepper

Soak hardwood chips in water (we used hickory for this recipe).  Start your BBQ.  Temp around 400.  Add wood chips. 

Use a shallow pan that is safe for the oven as well (cast iron would work well).  On the stove top over medium heat melt butter, add garlic & onion or shallot.  Saute until soft.  Add stock, white wine, 1/2 lemon squeeze (you can add the entire 1/2 lemon), fresh thyme, salt & pepper.  Continue to cook to reduce slightly.  Add Pancetta or bacon & clams.  Stir until well mixed.  Move entire pan to BBQ.  Be sure that you are getting a good smoke first!  Do not cover you want the smoke flavor.  Cook on the BBQ for 6-10 minutes until clams open up.  Remove from BBQ, add tomato, more butter & stir.

Serve with crusty bread to soak up all the yummy juices!  Enjoy.

NOTE: Be sure to soak clams in cold water for at least an hour to purge the sand.  I usually change the water a couple of times and sometimes add cornmeal to the water.


 (I don't have exact measurements because I don't use them except for baking.  Here is what I think we used.  I have found that too much wine gives the clams a bitter aftertaste so we incorporate stock as well.  We used about 5 lbs of steamers, 1/4 onion, 5 cloves garlic, 4 Tablespoons butter divided, 1 cup stock, 1/2 - 3/4 cup wine, small bunch of thyme, 1/2 large tomato, 4-5 slices bacon,  S & P to taste.  Also get the BBQ really smoking, we soaked our chips for approximately 1/2 hour first.)



OK so the title is Ummmm Clams & Cookies right?  My 5 year old niece came to spend the night and brought "her" recipe and insisted we make "her" special dessert.   So off to the kitchen we went.  Thank you to her for this sinfully good recipe!  Kids in the kitchen, you gotta love it!


Simple Deep Fried Oreos
or as I so fondly call them "heart attack in a bite"

1 cup dry pancake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
6-8 oreo cookies
Powered sugar
Small paper bag
Oil for frying

In a bowl combine pancake mix, egg and milk.  Stir until lumps gone.  Let rest a few minutes.  In a medium sauce pan heat about 2 inches oil to 350༠.  Dip cookies in batter covering completely and  slowly drop into oil.  Fry until golden on each side (just a couple of minutes.)  Remove from oil and drop into a bag of powered sugar.  Shake bag, remove cookies and eat-em-up!


(I thought I might try different cookies and maybe experiment with flavorings in the batter.)



Hope you all enjoy.  Please let me know how your clams and cookies turn out and what changes you made.

Holiday stress? What holiday stress?

If you are anything like me the holidays tend to be really stressful. Starts with the gift buying. You go and get all of the gift buying done and then you realize you forgot someone or you have been invited somewhere and need to take a hostess gift or exchange gift. Your child comes home and wants to get a gift for a couple of friends. You feel guilty because the gift you bought for Sally was more expensive then the one you bought for Mikey so you go and get something else for Mikey....and it goes on and on and on and by the time you are finished making all of the gift purchases you have exceeded your budget by hundreds. Now to wrap them all, tag them all and distribute them all. Humphh.

Then if your family is like mine, it is big and crazy! You have your family (you, husband, child(ren)) to celebrate with, your Fathers family (your siblings & children), Mothers family, Husbands family, then with your Fathers side of the family (your Aunts, Uncles, Cousins), Mothers side of the family and so on and so on and so on. By the time you are done, you have cooked 15 different things to take to the gatherings, spent more time in your car then time with the family traveling to each of these places all to get home and be completely exhausted. And good golly if you miss one of the events because then you will be cornered and told how you spend time with one side of the family more or how you never get together with this side and you should make more of an effort. Don't even think about leaving early either. You better plan on a full day for each because to leave one event for another....I don't think so. Now mind you this traveling does not include the school functions, holiday concerts, parties and social gatherings. Those are all in addition. Ughh, really some of us have all of these things to do too. Crazy I know.

So now that you have survived but barely, you sit back sometime after the new year and reminisce on the events of the last few weeks. You look at your bank account and/or credit card bills and say "holy bat crap I spent that much?" You have exceed your budget, your bank account is looking like you may be living on Top Ramen (that you get on sale 12/$1.00) until the next pay day and just think of the interest you will pay on the charges you made to your credit card. Now that $10 ITunes card you bought for Mikey is going to cost you $50 by the time you pay it off. You still try to find the bright side and think about all the happy faces you saw opening the gifts you purchased. Well, they were really happy faces while ripping the wrapping off, then those gifts you put a lot of thought into are now thrown under the tree only to be looked at when they have to be packed up to take home and probably not used, played with or appreciated in the future. Money well spent, again.

But hey it was all worth it. You got to spend more than you had, spent so much time in your car traveling that you now need another oil change and you just had that done before the holidays hit and try to appease everyone for everything. No stress in any of that.
So........after the last 15 years of this same "tradition" I have decided to try something new this year. No holiday stress! None! Nope, not gonna do it! I said NO! Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more!

How am I doing this? I thought you would never ask! Well easy. The only gift we are buying is for our son. I have allotted $25 for my husband and $25 for myself to buy each other stocking stuffers. $25 is not much when our stockings usually cost around $100 each (ridiculous I know). Now we have to be creative. We have told our families that we will not be traveling all over and making all gatherings this year and that we will not be giving gifts. We explained that we would really love to take the commercialism out of the holidays and just enjoy each others company, talking, laughing, playing games, eating snacks and watching football (for the guys). I'm taking the "no worries, it's all good" attitude.

What I decided to do was have a nice dinner for our family (those that were close enough to drive and not everyone decided to attend) and a few of our closest friends. There ended up being 12 of us total (14 if you count the two that showed up after dinner). I prepared a big meal, naturally. Do I ever really do anything small? Uhhh, no, seriously? I will tell you all about the meal in another post. We had a wonderful time, enjoyed a great meal and I even did it with a limited budget. We got to spend time with most of the "most important" people to us and created another wonderful memory without any stress (well except for my husbands 5 minute freak out - but he got over it and we moved on).
"Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays" I say. I love my family & friends and could not have been happier nor could I think of a better way to spend the evening (well except in Tahiti maybe).

Job? Who has time for a job?

For the first time, really in my life, I find myself feeling like I am living in "The Land of the Lost". I was laid off from work on October 14th after having hours reduced from 32/week to 10/week back in May. Since then I have been religiously looking for a job. As anyone will tell you, it is like finding a needle in the haystack to actually get a job right now. So you may ask where "land of the lost" comes from....Well, you see there has always been a reason I have had a job. Bottom line is....I'm a better Mom, wife and person when I am working. I am more productive and I am just happier. Since I have been at home I have had to come up with ways to kill the urge flee for some retail therapy or worse HSN/QVC therapy (yes you can get food from them too). I've been feeling quite lost with this change that I am forced to face, it is really unfamiliar territory. Who knew it would be so difficult? It never was before. As the saying goes, drastic change calls for drastic measures. So it goes.......

I have always loved to bake & cook, but have only done basics. You know what I am talking about - soup out of a can, grilled cheese, tater-tot casserole, tacos, pork roast, chicken with rice..you get the idea. It has only been in the last couple of years that I have really started to experiment with food and baking (yup, some gets thrown away because even the dogs won't eat it...but not much).

I started to make homemade bread when I figured out it would save us between $40-$50 a month....just on bread (this includes loaves, rolls, bagels, etc.) Wow...that is a great savings and I will know what actually goes into the bread I make (kinda makes you think eww doesn't it?). Well as luck would have it, I actually like making bread. I've made white, wheat, honey-wheat, oatmeal, dinner rolls, sandwich rolls, slider rolls, cinnamon rolls, bagels, baguettes & french. I started out by using my bread machine to make the whole thing (yes a faux pas to those who spend hours and muscles kneading by hand - craziness I say), moved onto just using it for dough and now everything is made in the kitchenaid (unless I am crunched on time) and baked in the oven. Kitchenaid = the best invention since sliced bread! I have a couple new recipes bookmarked to try: English muffins & brioche. Maybe this week.

I can't forget autumn/winter transition. 'Tis the season for pumpkin. Oh, how I love anything pumpkin. I have an incredible recipe for pumpkin cookies (that seem to disappear faster than I can get them finished) and just found a great pumpkin muffin recipe. Yah, they don't last long either. Boys eat a lot when they are teenagers. Speaking of pumpkin, I made a fabulous pumpkin soup with bacon, toasted pecans & blue cheese....I know sounds kind of yucky, but it was really tasty. Two teenage boys and one happy husband gave the green light to make it again. Trust me I am just as surprised as you are.

So, I got really lucky in my life. I have one fabulous boy who pretty much eats everything, literally. When I say everything, if you looked in my fridge and cupboards, you would understand. Why didn't anyone ever tell me that teenage boys have two hollow legs? Seriously? The best part is it makes it easy to try new things. The only things I have found that he didn't like were the butternut squash ravioli and butternut squash soup....I think it might be the butternut squash, huh. Oh and the crazy thing he won't eat...tacos. I'm not sure if he really is my child because that just happens to be my very favorite dinner ever. Was he switched at birth? Not likely since he looks just like his Dad. Call me crazy, but who doesn't like tacos? That is just plain wrong. Whatever, he is missing out. I guess to his defense he really eats everything else, even stuff I would not dare try...I'm kind of a sissy with some things. Yes, it is true, I admit I am a complete wimp when it comes to some food items, think slimy or wild.

Anyways, as I said I have been experimenting a lot lately. Tonight is was the pumpkin soup, two nights ago it was homemade Cinnamon-Pancetta Carbonara. Now when I say "homemade" I really mean it. The only store bought pasta you will find in my house is orzo or fusilli (you know the cork screw kind for salad) or maybe once in awhile penne. I have been making my own pasta for a couple of years now and once you make your own, the store bought stuff just doesn't do. I do have to admit I use the kitchenaid with the pasta attachments, much to the dismay of a very dear friend who's Italian heritage finds that to be just shameful. But alas, it is the way I make it and I have not had any complaints, just ask the teenage boy who ate four helpings, a stuffed husband, sister and father. I am really expanding my food repertoire.

All of this just to say that I have enjoyed being in the kitchen preparing savory meals, sweet concoctions and breads, lots of breads. Really it all just started because I'm a terrible stay at home person and needed to find an outlet without breaking the bank. So now I ask, do I really have time for a job?

Is there ever enough fresh bread?

So lately I have been on a HUGE cooking/baking streak. (I really don't see any weight loss in my near future.) On Saturday morning alone I baked the best sticky buns I think I have ever had. My Dad, son and husband will happily agree, since they ate most of them. Not only did I bake those, I also ventured into the world of baguettes. Not as hard as I had thought, but still very time consuming since they do raise three different times. Turned out pretty darn good for my first try. After that was the homemade jalapeno dip to go with the fresh baguette. Seriously, the bread lasted a whole hour till it was gone! Nobody waited for the dip to be done.....hummmm. Remember that was just Saturday morning.

For the past two weeks I have been baking a ton of different breads. White, wheat, bagels, french bread, more wheat, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, more white and baguettes. None has gone to waste and I am having a blast and really saving money too! Now just to clarify, I have not eaten all of it, nor has my husband or son. We shared the baguettes and one sticky bun, oh and a slice of french. Ok, so we are complete bread people. What is wrong with that? Really!?

Cool part is I get to trade homemade wheat bread for fresh garden vegetables! Yahoo! What a great deal. Yup, I do eat vegetables too. Lots of them actually. You have to have an accompaniment to go with the bread - right? I am so very excited to see where all this baking will take me, other than the gym.

So my question...Is there ever really enough fresh bread?

If you have the baking bug or any thoughts....please let me know. Send your favorite recipe or post your best advice.