It's Been Way Too Long...

I was at a barbecue with my parents yesterday and my mother mentioned to another attendee that I had a foodie blog that I hadn't made a post in since (Gasp) May! So today I sat down and decided I would attend to said blog. But then I noticed my dogs pacing in circles around the kitchen and dining room and realized it was nearly 6 pm and they hadn't had their evening walk. So, again, I walked away from the lap top... and the blog. I've been busy, doing what exactly, I have no idea.

The dogs have been walked and fed and now I'm on on my patio with a pale ale and my lap top and I'm ready to rock. The point is that I'm back, and possibly in full effect.

Unfortunately I don't have an idea for an "official post" but here are some photos to let you know what I've been up to in the last few weeks.

Poor Man's Coq au Vin

Turkey Spinach Meatloaf with Mashed Red Potatoes and Zucchini

My Husband's Grilled Chicken

Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Pork Chop Over Polenta with Chardonnay Gravy

Enchilada Suizas with Refried Black Beans and Basmati Rice

Wild Mushroom lasagna served with Filet and Broccolini

Thai Pork 2 ways with Yellow Curry and Sesame Lime Jus

Breakfast of Cranberry, Orange & Pecan Scones with Cherries

Above Scones with Homemade Blackberry Cherry Jam

Tonight with Happy Dog and Lap Top

Epicurious Top 30 Cake Recipes

So I decided to start a little diet yesterday and this morning my boss sent me an article, Thirty Top Rated Cakes from Epicurious.com. She's the devil. By cake number 2, I was literally salivating. Coconut cake... I pine for you.

But Seriously, how good does that look. I'm thinking about trying a healthier version of a carrot cake for a dinner I'm having this weekend. Substituting whole wheat flour and then applesauce for some of the oil. I'll still do a yummy cream cheese frosting, just with less sugar. I'd love to try to make a coconut cake healthier, but even in theory, it just won't work.

I'll let you know how everything turns out.

Diet!!! Yuck

So I want to lose 14 pounds and a lot of my recipes don't exactly fit into the diet category. Almost everything I make is nutritious, I'm lucky that I love vegetables and whole grains, but it's not exactly diet-worthy. So now I have to somewhat overhaul the way I eat, which is no fun. I feel like my bread making hay day may be coming to a standstill.

I know that cutting out the sugar is my first step. Sad, that means no more honey pecan pork chops... Is a tablespoon of honey okay? I was thinking of maybe doing a citrus garlic pork chop instead. That might work. Then there's carbs, ugh.

I like to run, so I am a strong believer in carb loading on bread and pasta. Oh, and beer. I cut out the beer last weekend, so I'm a step ahead of the game. Now I just need to find a good substitute for pasta and bread. But I still need to get my fiber. I love spaghetti squash, so I think I'll be eating much more of that. I'll let you know what I find as a good substitute for bread.

If you guys have any good suggestions for healthy, high fiber desserts and breads, help me out. I know I'll need it.

Wonder Box and Vanilla Beans

For almost every holiday my mother in law sends me an awesome care package. When I was growing up my grandmother used to send these too, filled with toys, games, candies and odd yard sale finds; my parents always referred to them as "wonder boxes." I hadn't received one for more than 10 years, but then I married my husband.

My mother in law has a great eye for things and she seems to know exactly what I like. For instance, this package included new tongs (which I really needed), a citrus zester, a hand towel that perfectly matches the decor of my bathroom, some vegetable seeds, and dried spices. She also put in some sugar free peeps that were surprisingly delicious, but the spices are the reason I'm writing this post.

One of the containers she sent holds 2 Madagascar vanilla beans.

I have never used a vanilla bean in my life. I love vanilla bean ice cream and vanilla bean cake. I mean, come on, how could you not? But since I've only used vanilla extract, I'm a little worried about using the bean itself. I searched for a bunch of recipes, but they were a little mundane and if I'm actually going to use the bean, I want it to be for something reallllllly tasty.

So, I was looking for a really tasty recipe and what caught my eye instead, was an article on making your own vanilla extract. And it uses VODKA. If there's Booze, I'm so in.

Thanks to KitchenProject.com for the full recipe and step by step instructions:

How to Make Vanilla Extract

Ingredients:2 Cups (16 oz.) vodka You may also use Brandy, 6 Vanilla Beans
You can easily cut this recipe in half and use 3 vanilla beans and 1 cup of vodka, brandy or rum.
You can use any kind of bottle you want, but I do recommend glass.

Cut the vanilla beans the long way with a scissors except the last inch. This way the bean stays intact.

Pour the vodka into the container you will be making your extract in. Here you see a quart mason jar.

I like to use clear glass, so I can see how the extract is developing. The darker it gets the stronger the extract is. There is no exact time that the extract is done. I like to wait at least 8 weeks.

Put the cut beans in the vodka and push them down until they are completely covered. They usually won't go down completely on their own as you see in this picture, so they need to be pushed down even farther.
Cover the vanilla extract and let it sit in a cupboard out of the light. You will start to taste some vanilla flavor even after a few days. How long you let it sit is how potent your vanilla extract is.

After 8 weeks the vanilla extract has the nice amber color and I am pouring it into small bottles for gifts.
I like to put a vanilla bean in each bottle. This way the extract will keep gaining in flavor and you can tell them that by adding a little vodka when it is halfway used up will replenish your supply of vanilla. It will dilute it for a while but it will regain strength quickly.
Some people will add some simple sugar syrup to the extract to sweeten it. . This is what they do in most commercial varieties so it has a nice sweet aftertaste. I like to use a little dark rum in my extract instead.
(1 teaspoon per cup of vodka)

New Life and a New Camera

Man, it's been a busy weekend. Not seeing my husband for a week means we have to cram in 7 days of stuff into 2. Then it was also a holiday weekend so that added a little stress with entertaining and such. There's also been some excitement, my husband works in music and one of his projects' release dates was announced on Perez Hilton. Good news because Perez is great marketing especially to a crowd that may not have otherwise been introduced to the musician, Regina Spektor.

The excitement for me is that I got a new camera, well it's not exactly new, but new to me. And, although I'm a firm believer that it is the artist and not his tools, this camera takes such good photos. Way better than the old camera, anyways, so yay.



That is a baby green bean plant, less than a week old. A few months ago, late February I think, my husband and I started germinating seeds for vegetables. Our first attempt was halfway successful, we got a bunch of zucchini, a few onions and one lettuce plant going. But the carrots and chives didn't make it. It must be the warmer weather, but the plants are literally exploding. I am so excited to post new recipes and dishes made from our home grown vegetables. Stay tuned.

A Taste of Spring...and spring cleaning

It's sad to say how little I've been cooking, but I'm looking forward to cooking tomorrow for my family. It's supposed to be a beautiful day which calls for being outdoors, grilling some meat and drinking some good beer.
I plan to make a a loaf of white bread which I never do; something light and airy and wonderful. And I'm extra excited because I just cleaned my oven. And I love my oven!! It's one of those necessary evils of spring cleaning, but it's so nice to see the usually crusty greasy enamel surface glistening.

Our house was last remodeled in 1966 and the age is visible in our oven alone.



I thought about painting it but have decided instead to remodel the kitchen around it. It's not just retro, it's a great effing oven. The temperature is perfect which is amazing, but it also has a rotisserie, which is crazy and awesome...and yet to be used.

I digress.

For the menu tomorrow I plan to do filet mignon, some grilled vegetable skewers, and perhaps a pasta salad. Nothing too difficult, but tasty all the same. I want to do something fresh that actually tastes like spring. If anything turns out especially good I'll post the recipes.
Enjoy your Sunday

Recipe Make Overs

As I've stated in 2 previous posts, I made a pasta with browned butter and sage for a party I had this weekend. It was a wonderfully tasty concoction, but healthy it was not. One of my guests actually said to me "You know how I know this is good? I just watched you poor a bowl of melted butter into the pasta."
It's true, butter makes everything better. Some recipes just need butter, that's all there is to it. But some recipes can be recreated fabulously with a fraction of the fat and calories. So this is my focus for the coming month, healthy recreations of fabulously fatty foods, and healthy recipes all around. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Happy to Tell You

My birthday was a success. We had a great little party on Saturday that I catered myself. I estimate about 25 people showed up, which is quite a few people to cook for. I had an easy menu of browned butter sage pasta, beet and goat cheese salad and cold blanched asparagus with coarse salt. There were a few missteps, but no epic failures.

I prepared everything ahead of time, good news in the sense that all I had to do when the guests got here was boil water; bad news because I forgot a few key elements.
#1. I forgot to salt and pepper everything to taste, so it was a little bland. Luckily, I keep these super cute doggy salt and pepper shakers where the s & p comes out of their butts, on the table out in the dining room. Hopefully everyone was able to fend for themselves
#2. I forgot to put the asparagus out all together. This was a total bummer because I bought 4 pounds of it at the store. It was perfect asparagus, slim stalks and super green, and on sale. So now my husband and I will be eating asparagus for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I also made a mistake with the cake, but it turned out totally fine. I made a 2 layer cake with a whipped cream frosting and blackberries. The whipped cream frosting is super easy

1 1/2 c sifted powder sugar
3 cups whipping cream

beat the whipped cream until thick then slowly add the sifted sugar

Easy enough, but I forgot to sift the powdered sugar and just poured everything in together. It worked out fine, but the frosting had a few lumps in it that worried me, but I was like "oh well." After the cake was in the refrigerator for a few hours, the lumps melted and the cake turned out perfectly. Next time I will make the frosting according to directions, but I was very lucky this time that everything turned out ok.

I Just fell in Love with Pithy and Cleaver

You need to look at their site!
http://pithyandcleaver.blogspot.com/
and
http://brokeassgourmet.com/
is pretty great so far too