how i roll

Oh yes I did.  Radio silence for two months, then back with an atrocious pun.  Pow!

I may never buy store-bought hamburger rolls again.  I won't if The Awesome Husband has anything say about it, anyway.

These were somewhat time consuming in a plan-ahead sort of way, but not overly difficult.  My perspective may also be different now because the process of cleaning up after cooking finally involves putting bowls and spoons in our dishwasher rather than into the sink where they'll mock us until we wash them by hand.  So now everything feels easy-peasy.

Anyway, yeah, homemade hamburger rolls.   We had these with black bean burgers, sweet potato fries, and a salad.  Yum!

settling in means being festive

Let's take an intermission of sorts from the posts about our old house.  I suppose you could also call it an intermission from not-blogging.  That wouldn't be inaccurate.

We're about 90% settled in at the new house.  There are some boxes left to unpack, which drives The Awesome Husband nuts but doesn't phase me much.  There's some art left to hang on the walls, but I'd rather wait until we're sure of where we want things to go before we go hammering nails every which way. 

Thankfully the kitchen's pretty well put together at this point.  Pots and pans and mixers and appliances are all where they need to be, which made it much easier to make some festive treats last weekend.  There was this wonderfully adaptable recipe, which I made as cranberry lime bread.  And then, because I wanted to make something for someone allergic to eggs, peanuts, and dairy -- the horror! -- I also made a small batch of candied orange peels.  

I think they turned out pretty well.  And hey, in the background and stuff, that's our new kitchen!  

   

Kale!

From what I've heard, kale is a cool-weather vegetable.  I was thinking I'd be able to grow some in the spring and a second batch in the fall.  I planted it from seed at the end of March, but nothing happened. No kale. I tried again a few weeks later: still nothing.

At the beginning of August, I'd given up on some other things I'd allocated space to that weren't succeeding either (thanks a lot, cucumbers), so I used that section of the garden to give the kale one last shot. Finally, they've germinated.

To celebrate, here's a salad I made a few weeks ago, using grocery store kale (BOR-ing, but what can you do?).  Hopefully it'll be in the rotation again before the end of the summer, if the stuff in the garden can keep from being eaten by bugs and woodland creatures.

Sweet Potato Kale Salad

Big bowl full of kale, washed and torn into pieces
Sweet potato, peeled and chopped
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Lemon juice
Garlic, 2-4 cloves, minced
Chives, to taste, minced
Feta

Roast the sweet potatoes, tossed with olive oil and kosher salt, in a baking pan at 400F until they're soft in the middle and browned on the edges.  I think I stirred them around at about 15 minutes, and they may have needed another 10, but it depends on how small the pieces are chopped. 

Add the chives, garlic, feta, a splash of lemon juice, and a splash of olive oil to the big bowl full of kale. Plop the sweet potatoes, piping hot and right out of the oven, on top of everything else and toss.

That's it!  Enjoy!

(to be fair, it disappeared long before it would've dried out)

When I mentioned yesterday that I suspected I may have found a new go-to cake recipe, I was 100% correct.

I made this recipe for German Chocolate cake, and it was excellent. It's not health food, but it also won't break the nutritional bank. Ordinarily, I'd type out a modified repice for you here, but since I didn't change anything (I KNOW, who am I?!), I'll just give you the link. America's Test Kitchen deserves all the credit here, for sure.

Oh wait, I did leave out the coconut it calls for on top of the cake. And I used walnuts instead of pecans because that's what we had in the house. Eh, those aren't substantial alterations (but I do feel better now and more like myself).

The other thing I might change, if when I bake this again, would be to make more frosting than it calls for. There was just barely enough, and the recipe called for 8 ounces of evaporated milk from a 12 ounce can. Next time I'll likely just use the full 12 ounces and increase everything else accordingly.

As an added bonus, I got to use our cake stand. It keeps the cake from drying out and makes it extra stylin'.

Best Ever Broccoli

No, we didn't grow this. Broccoli takes up a lot of space, and so far things in that category (see also, zucchini) haven't proven their worth of real estate in the garden.

It ended up being one of the best side dishes we've made in quite a while, though, so clearly grocery store produce can be pretty good.

Oven Roasted Broccoli
Broccoli, cut into spears
Olive oil
Rice vinegar
Garlic powder
Cumin

There are no quantities because it really, for sure, I promise, doesn't matter. This will taste good. I washed and drained the broccoli, then drizzled olive oil over it and tossed to coat. Then I drizzled some rice vinegar over it and tossed again. After that, I spread the broccoli out on a couple of cookie sheets and shook the garlic powder and cumin over it all. It went into a 375 degree oven (because that was the temperature for the chicken The Awesome Husband was making), and I flipped all the pieces when they had browned on the bottom.

Cook until it's done. For me, that means there's still a bit of crunch in the stems. For you, that might mean until it's solidly cooked through.

Enjoy!

recipe card: easiest, tastiest pork

We don't give a recipe card to just any old list of ingredients, no sir.  It has to be something we're rather impressed by and want to be able to recreate.  I could certainly make this again without referring back to my notes, but the other purpose served by the recipe cards is to remind us to repeat dinners in the first place.  If we're stumped for ideas, sometimes we'll flip through the cards and get re-inspired by something we'd completely forgotten about. 

We can't forget about this one.  It would be a travesty. So easy. So delicious.

Easiest, Tastiest Pork Chops
- fresh basil (I used 15 large leaves), chopped
- garlic (I used 4 cloves), minced
- juice of one lime (lemon would work also)
- pork chops (I used 5 or 6 of the really thinly cut type because they were on sale)

Put everything in a bowl and toss to coat the pork.  Let it sit for at least 20 minutes.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  Place the pork in the skillet - if there's no sizzling sound, the skillet isn't hot enough.  Cook until it starts to brown, then flip and reduce heat to just under medium.  Depending on how thick the pork chops are, it could be another 2 to 10 (I'm guessing) minutes.  When the chops feel less wiggly when you stab 'em with a fork, you can remove one to a plate and cut to the center to see if the pink is gone.

And that's it! Enjoy!

pleasantly surprised: spiced banana ice cream

I'm not a huge fan of banana flavored confections. I do love me a peanut butter banana smoothie, but otherwise, given an alternative, I'll usually choose the other thing. Unless the other thing involves black licorice. Then it would be banana all the way.

The Awesome Husband is a huge fan of both actually: banana-flavored everything and black licorice. I've not yet seen a recipe for black licorice ice cream (and no, you don't need to send me a link if you know of one, thanks!) but I did find this banana-centric ice cream recipe, and we took it out for a spin today. And modified it. Of course.

Spiced Banana Ice Cream
Adapted from this recipe.

2 c whole milk
1 c 2% milk
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c cinnamon-infused simple syrup (which we had an excess of because we keep it on hand for iced coffee, yummmm)
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
Several shakes of ground nutmeg
10 cardamom seed pods
5 whole cloves
1 medium banana, pureed
6 large egg yolks
generous splash of vanilla extract

Combine everything from the milk through the banana in a saucepan and bring to just barely a boil. Remove from heat and let stand, uncovered, for 30 minutes, to allow the cloves and cardamom to steep.

Bring back to a low boil. In a separate heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Pour the milk mixture slowly into the eggs, whisking constantly. When it's all combined, return it all to the saucepan and continue cooking on low heat (no really, it's important) until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat entirely and stir in the vanilla, then chill it. Once it's cooled completely, put it in your ice cream machine and away you go!


This was much better than I expected it to be. The banana flavor is actually quite subtle and the spices are prominent. The batch may or may not be polished off within 24 hours. Or 12. Let's go with 24; it's good to have goals, right?

How's this for another goal: before the end of the week, I'll blog about something other than ice cream, peas, or Cecil. Promise.

The recipe cards are piling up...

There was another successful homemade ice cream project over the weekend, so we have a new recipe card filed away.  (In light of all the ice cream we've been making, I suppose it's a good thing that there was a 5k over the weekend too, but I digress.)

My dad requested "something with blueberries" for a Father's Day dessert.  We had blueberries in the freezer, and we've been keeping general ice cream ingredients in the house for weeks, so the what-to-make decision was simple.  We alllso had a bottle of this blueberry vodka in the freezer, which helped with the flavor as well as the consistency (the alcohol content keeps the ice cream from freezing too solidly).

Now, I'm not a huge fan of fruit ice cream.  Given the opportunity, I'll choose chocolate (or caramel... or peanut butter... or coffee... or or or) any day.  But lemme tell ya, this was GOOD. 

Blueberry Ice Cream
(adapted from this recipe)

2.5 c 2% milk
.5 c sugar
pinch of salt
2 t vanilla extract
3 T cornstarch
.5 oz blueberry vodka
.5 c blueberries, fresh or frozen

Mix 2 cups of the milk with the salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until steaming.  In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining milk with the cornstarch, then add it gradually to the saucepan, stirring constantly.  Keep stirring over medium-high heat, just until boiling, when the mixture starts to thicken.  Reduce heat to low and keep stirring another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, then chill.  Once it's cooled completely, stir in the vodka and put it all in an ice cream maker, adding the blueberries at the end.

I'll be trying this out in different variations, for sure.  Up next is either cinnamon or coconut...

lovely weekend

Once again, the weekend wasn't as productive as I'd have liked. Really, isn't that always the way? Perhaps I should have posted an ATDL (warning: that is one boring bunch of posts there) for the sake of accountability. The outdoor agenda items got rained out, so gardening, vacuuming the cars, and kayaking will have to wait.

As it was, I cleaned the fridge and sorted through about 80% of my clothes to put the winter ones in storage and send a fair amount of them on their merry way to Goodwill. I vacuumed Saturday morning -- and lamented the pet hair covering the carpet on Sunday evening, so thank goodness the pets are cute -- and did several loads of laundry.

I also woke up Saturday morning to find Senor Terrific standing at the stove, flipping pancakes.



And I put the finishing touches on a sweater I knit.



(It's getting a mention instead of its own post because I don't love it. It's cotton, and it's pretty heavy, so the weight of the sleeves causes the neckline to slip off my shoulders. I might re-knit it at some point in a different kind of yarn.)

Perhaps most exciting, we were able to take Mr. Cecil on walks over the weekend. He got clearance for 10-minute walks as of Wednesday. I didn't get any shots of us actually walking (or, um, exuberantly jumping around with excitement and trying to keep the heart patient calm, respectively), but I do have this one, which I'll use just because I like it so:

Easy Peasy Kabobs and Time Consuming Ice Cream

Like I mentioned yesterday, one of the highlights of my weekend was an excellent meal: grilled shish kabobs and homemade mint chip ice cream. The ice cream was a bit labor-intensive -- it was worth it, for sure, but it involved more effort and time and steps and containers than I'm used to.

The kabobs, on the other hand, were right up my alley:

Easy Peasy Shish Kabobs
red wine vinegar (I think I used about a cup, but it depends on how much stuff you're marinating)
extra virgin olive oil (a few tablespoons, again, depending on how much vinegar you used)
worcestershire sauce (um... there was maybe two tablespoons left in the bottle, so that's what I used)
garlic powder (several vigorous shakes)
beef, cubed, though I bet this would work with chicken as well
zucchini, cut in generous slices (maybe an inch)
green peppers, cut in inch-ish squares
vidalia or other sweet onion, cut in similarly sized pieces

Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl that's big enough to fit everything else as well. Add in the beef and veggies, then toss to coat. Toss a few more times over the course of (at least) an hour, to distribute the marinade and let it soak in, then skewerize it all. Grill over charcoal until the beef is done; we used the briquettes from Trader Joe's that apparently are made with fewer chemicals, and we were really pleased.

And the ice cream, which was adapted from this recipe:

Mint Chip Ice Cream
.5 c (it's what we had left) 2% milk
2.5 c (or whatever will get you to 3 cups total dairy liquids) whole milk
.75 cup granulated sugar
7 egg yolks
Fresh mint leaves -- I used several sprigs, or maybe .25 c packed
.25 c chocolate chips, chopped

Stir together everything except the egg yolks and .25 c of the sugar in a large-ish saucepan, over medium heat. Once it simmers, remove it from the heat and let the mint steep (the recipe says half an hour, but 15 minutes was just fine), then simmer again.

Add the remaining .25 c of sugar to the egg yolks and whisk in a large heat-proof bowl. Add the newly-re-simmered milk to the bowl gradually, whisking continuously. Once it's all incorporated, pour it back into the saucepan and continue heating and whisking until it thickens enough that it coats the back of a spoon: if you draw your finger across said spoon, the milk should stay where it is and not fill in the line you traced.

Take the ice-cream-to-be off the heat and chill it. The recipe suggested using a larger bowl of ice, but I had a rare moment of patience, I suppose, so I just used the fridge and waited. Once it's cold, put it in your ice cream maker of choice and let it do its thing.

At this point, I contemplated making Mint Fudge Swirl ice cream, because I don't always like having crunchy things added to my ice cream. Mint Chip won out, however, because it's much easier to chop up a handful of chocolate chips than it is to dirty yet another saucepan to make chocolate sauce. Even though I make the best chocolate sauce ever. The chopped up chocolate chips got stirred in at the end.

Sorry, no photos of the finished product. Just these:

The KitchenAid has landed!

Back in September, The Awesome Husband and I (when the husband part went into effect) were given a KitchenAid stand mixer and an ice cream maker attachment for it.  Both have been sitting in their respective packaging in our basement since then.  For the long Memorial Day weekend, we set as our only goals finding a proper home for the mixer in the kitchen and taking the ice cream maker attachment for a spin.

The inaugural batch was, to be honest, a little disappointing, though I suspect it's my own fault.  Apparently some flavors allow for lower fat dairy components and others do not. Pumpkin ice cream made with 2% milk, for instance, was underwhelming, and really more like a pumpkin sorbet. Not horrible, but not really what I, at least, was expecting.

Undaunted (well, that, and we were staring at a bunch of 2% milk to use up), we forged ahead.  I suspected that a flavor incorporating fat via other ingredients would be more forgiving of us not using cream or half and half, and I was right.  Chocolate peanut butter worked like a dream.

We used this recipe, but with 2% milk (obviously).  I'd almost hesitate to ever use a richer dairy base for this one, because it's plenty rich as it is.

Somehow, The Awesome Husband and I managed to only eat half of this batch yesterday and save the remainder for today... which is fortuitous because looking forward to it is getting. me. through. my. afternoon.

Our trip to Germany: cuisine

I'll do a separate post tomorrow about the places we went and the sights we saw in Germany, but first things first: we ate really well. I didn't get a picture of everything (the Chicken Gorgonzola, in particular, haunts me still), but I snapped enough food and beverage photos to do a culinary post much like I did after our honeymoon.

Hefeweizen!

Served in a hefeweizen glass!

One more hefeweizen for good measure.

The other main category of beer options was the pilsners. The Bischoff brewery wasn't far from where we stayed.

Bitburger, another maker of pilsners, also offers cola-beer (pilsner mixed with cola): definitely the most surprising beer find of the trip.

Lest you think we shunned solid food in Deutschland, here's a sampling of the confections we enjoyed:

apfelkuchen

mokkatorte

The list of cakes at this cafe was particularly impressive.

black forest cake

Miraculously, I found it within myself to choose a cup of tea to pair with my black forest cake, thus declining the highly-recommended hot chocolate with rum in it. Not sure how I managed that one. I suppose rather than questioning it, I'll just chalk it up to a win for moderation. Or something.

As they say in Germany, "prost!"

Happy Birthday from 60 Minutes

I had a really great weekend, you guys.  I'd been kicking around a culinary blog post at the back of my mind since Saturday afternoon, when The Awesome Husband put the finishing touches on the carrot cake he baked for my birthday and slathered with cream-cheese-sour-cream frosting (yes, it was as delicious as it sounds), but a) I didn't really take any pictures of the deliciousness, and b) by the time Sunday night rolled around, I was overwhelmed with how fortunate I am in lots of ways, not just with the tasty vittles.

To back up and be entirely trivial for a second, though, the carrot cake was only the tip of the culinary iceberg, my friends.  There were fancy sandwiches (pesto/tomato/mozzarella; roast beef/caramelized onion/cheddar) and vichyssoise (potato leek soup).  There was good coffee and bagels with cream cheese.  There was even a second birthday cake, people!  Chocolate with chocolate ganache frosting and white chocolate mousse filling, because my mother is a cake-baking overachiever.

Lots of people (like, a crazy amount) wished me well, and several were way too generous with the gift-giving (after they'd been instructed that gifts weren't necessary, natch).  It was a little overwhelming, and a good exercise in "graciously accepting the generosity of others."  (Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable without the opportunity to give something to the gift-giver as well in situations like that?)

So yeah, by Sunday evening I was filled with joy and gratitude.  And then we watched 60 Minutes, because I'm a big nerd and of course I think it's a great way to cap off one's birthday.  (In fact, I was a little bummed that the earlier celebrations of the day conflicted with Meet the Press.  Nerdy nerd nerd!)

Now, did anyone else watch 60 Minutes last night?  They ran a story on this gospel choir for teenagers in New York, and these kids, my gawd!  They're so talented and they have so much to deal with.  Like, friends being shot and parents they've never met and parents they live with who don't show up to watch them sing kind of stuff to deal with.  I almost started crying right there in my living room, thinking about how lucky I am to not have any IDEA what that's like.  I wouldn't re-live my teenage years if you paid me (standard shy wallflower stuff) but there was never one day, ever, when I felt unsafe or questioned whether my parents were proud of me.  I can't even fathom how my life would be different now if that hadn't been the case.  Would I have had the resources I needed to succeed academically, and professionally?  Would I have had the self esteem to be patient and wait longer than I'd envisioned to meet and marry the absolute best-fit-for-me, bakes-me-cakes-from-scratch, hugs-me-when-I'm-overwhelmed person in the whole wide world?  Thank goodness I'll never have to know.

I am so lucky, I can't even stand it.

Saving Grace of the Day

Sometimes you just have to set yourself up for success by planning for a bright spot in your day by bringing delicious leftovers to work for lunch.  Mmm hmm.  Guess what I was eating this afternoon (oh, who am I kidding -- at 11:15 this morning)?  Black bean salsa with mangos and avocados, that's what.  Highly recommended at the end of a tough day, or preemptively packed in a tupperware just in case.

Black Bean Salsa with Mangos and Avocados
1 large can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 mango, peeled and chopped
Sweet onion, minced (I used three slices of a large onion)
Splash of olive oil
Generous splash of lime juice
Pinch of brown sugar
Basil, mint, or cilantro, to taste
1 avocado, peeled and chopped

Mix everything except the avocado in a bowl; let it sit so the flavors can combine, at least an hour.  Add the avocado immediately before serving. 

We had this for dinner yesterday in wheat tortillas, but it's just as delicious on its own.

Improvised Dinner

Faced with a sparse refrigerator and minimal motivation, "what's for dinner?" threatened to be a challenging question this evening.  Thankfully, a bag of corn meal on the top shelf of a kitchen cabinet reminded me that I've been meaning to try my hand at cooking polenta.  The Awesome Husband has deemed the result worthy of a card in our recipe box, so I'm calling it a success.

Polenta with Garlicky Tomato Reduction

Prepare polenta according to corn meal package directions.  I aimed for the consistency of whipped potatoes, then I added about half a cup of shredded parmesan and stirred until it was melty and thoroughly incorporated.

For the reduction (which actually makes sense to start before the polenta, based on their respective stirring and attention needs):
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 generous cup crushed tomatoes (left over from homemade pizza earlier this week -- I would have used any tomato base)
Splash of red wine
1 teaspoon anchovy paste

Sautee the garlic in enough oil to coat a medium sized pan.  Add everything else, stir, and simmer uncovered, allowing much of the liquid to cook out.

Spoon a little of the reduction over each serving of polenta, top with shredded parmesan, and enjoy.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to write a grocery list.  This kind of yummy-dinner-idea-lurking-in-the-cabinets lightning isn't likely to strike twice...

You're welcome.

You need to make this breakfast pizza.  The one I linked to in my last post.  The one over here at Smitten Kitchen.

I made a few modifications.  Instead of shallots, I used caramelized onions.  I didn't have chives, so they were left out and replaced with more of the parsley and scallions.  I also used turkey bacon instead of the real stuff.

One other note:  I used store-bought pizza dough instead of that which is indicated in the recipe.  Turns out, the recipe doesn't translate well to not using a stand mixer.  (Yes, we own a stand mixer.  No, we haven't figured out yet where in the kitchen it can live.  Yes, it's still in its original packaging in the basement.)

I might request this for my birthday instead of cake.  It's that good.

Simpleton Taste Buds and a Recipe(ish)

I like elaborately prepared food as much as the next gal, but it struck me this morning how some of my hands-down favorites are simple combinations of a handful of ingredients. Green olives and avocados in mustard vinaigrette salad dressing? Best part of my work-lunch salads (and I would totally make a batch of just that if it weren't for needing to eat vegetables too). Romaine lettuce, light mayo, and melted American cheese on whole wheat toast? Possibly better than a BLT (possibly). And then there's the homemade muesli I've started making, inspired by the breakfasts we ate on our honeymoon. We don't set out platters of meats and cheeses and vegetables each morning like they did for us in Reykjavik, but the muesli is here to stay.


Easy Peasy Muesli
Oats. A bunch of oats. Maybe 3 or 4 cups.
Chopped walnuts. About a cup, give or take.
Craisins, to taste. I use a quarter cup, if I had to guess.

Mix the oats and the walnuts together in a baking dish. Place in the oven on the bottom rack. I always do this while I'm pre-heating the oven to make something else, so I don't think an exact temperature is important. When the oats start to turn golden brown, either shake them and turn the pan around (if a lot of the oats are still pale) or take them out of the oven (if the browning seems pretty uniform). Once they've cooled, pour the oats and walnuts into an airtight container, add the craisins, and shake to distribute.

This stuff is highly, highly recommended sprinkled over yogurt. I mix plain and vanilla to balance taste and the "wow, that's a lot of sugar on that nutrition label" factor, but I bet any flavor would work well.

That said, it's already been decided that we're totally having this for breakfast tomorrow morning. The drooling has already begun.

It's Awesome Husband Day!

And that's the birthday cake we'll be eating this evening.

True to his superlative Best Husband Ever moniker, he'll be spending the day traveling between our dismantled bathroom and the aisles of our local Home Depot. Well, he's also buying a tile saw (did I mention that we got more ambitious with this project?), so that's kind of fun and exciting.  But still.  Manual labor on his birthday.  He's an awesome husband.

Happy birthday, honey!

Who needs turkey?

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are now enjoying a relaxing weekend with plentiful leftovers!

Probably shouldn't take the same approach to running...

Guess what's a thousand times tougher than planning a wedding?  Incorporating a dog into your household when your workplace implodes (not really, but it feels that way) and you end up working tons more hours than you did when you didn't also have to schedule 4 miles of walking every day, no exceptions.

You could say I'm a little frazzled.  And grumpy.

I miss lots of stuff I don't have time for right now.  I've made up for lost time in one area, though: cooking. In the past 24 hours, I've made:

pizza with mushrooms and caramelized onions (yummy)

chicken, leek, and potato soup (good, but nothing to write home about)

Black beans and rice (always good, even, apparently, when you're out of onions)

stuffed shells (to stock the freezer of some new-parent friends)

string bean ricotta casserole (ditto)

And we've still got ingredients to use up for ham and swiss quiche and shrimp scampi later this week.  Well, more likely this weekend, to be realistic.  I don't expect to be home from work in time to make quiche any night this week.

(Note:  Yes, The Awesome Husband is more than capable of cooking.  Yes, he has dinner covered most evenings of late.  My point is that I enjoy cooking, and *I* want to have time to cook quiche.  Harumph.)