Milk, Sugar, Musings and Love

Celebrate Love & Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

2012-02-11T12:48:00.001-05:00

This is the first of two (delicious, chocolate) Valentine's Day desserts. Everything is better in pairs. And I do have two special loves this year. Although, one of them is not yet old enough and will have to settle for the organic carrots Mommy made for him in lieu of cake. Daddy will be happy to eat his share.

Every day I wake up to Barrett's beaming, smiling little face and my wonderful husband, I fall in love...again and again.

With this, who couldn't...

For me, every day is an occasion worth celebrating because it is within that love, I get to live my dream come true.

I never subscribed to the commercialism of Valentine's Day; cards, candy, flowers, but the celebration of love, I know what that's all about, and there's nothing sweeter.

Dear friends, May you be every day~living out your dreams in love.

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte:

Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Joy of Baking

1/2 cup (70 grams) hazelnuts

1/4 cup (30 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

6 ounces (170 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

6 ounces (170 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar (divided)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Toasting Nuts: Turn oven to 350 degrees to preheat, making sure rack is placed in center of oven. Add nuts to baking sheet and place in oven for about 15 minutes or until skins begin to crack and loosen from nuts. Remove baking sheet from oven and add nuts into a clean dish towel. Twist towel so no air can get in or out and allow nuts to steam for 5 minutes. Use towel to remove the skin from nuts by rubbing. I could not get them all off and that was fine. Allow to cool.

Ground Hazelnuts: When your hazelnuts have cooled completely, add into food processor, including flour and salt, pulse until hazelnuts are finely ground. Put aside.

Prepare and Bake Torte: Turn oven temperature up to 375 degrees. Prepare 8 x 3 inch springform cake pan by lining with parchment paper. I used a tart pan.

While eggs are still cold, separate, placing egg whites and egg yolks into different bowls. Allow to come to room temperature covered.

Add chocolate and butter to heatproof bowl and place on top of saucepan of simmering water. Stir while chocolate melts and remove from heat. Set aside.

Combine egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar in bowl of electric mixer or, using hand mixer and bowl, beat until mixture becomes thicker and pale yellow in color, about 3-5 minutes. (Lifting beaters from mixture should create silky ribbon.) Mix in vanilla extract. Using rubber spatula, fold in melted chocolate mixture and nut and flour mixture, taking care to be gentle. Put aside. In clean, preferably glass bowl, use whisk attachment to beat egg whites, mixing on medium speed. When egg whites become foamy add in cream of tartar. Beat continuously until soft peaks have formed. Slowly add in remainder of sugar, 1/4 cup, with mixer turned to high, and beat until egg whites just become stiff.

Lighten chocolate mixture by folding in small amount of whisked egg whites. Fold in remainder of egg whites quickly. Be careful to gently incorporate just until mixed as to not deflate batter. Add batter into prepared pan and level top.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until inserted toothpick in center of cake removes with moist crumbs. Allow torte to cool completely on wire rack. Once cooled, torte will fall in center and may crack on top. This cake is dense and moist. I liken it to a hazelnut brownie. I served it with homemade ganache and gently whipped cream. So good!

An Update & A Sweet and Simple Salad

2012-02-09T10:34:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends,

May I just start by saying how much I've missed everyone. My last post was just before Christmas, which means I didn't get to wish you all a very happy and vibrant new year. I hope the start of 2012 has shown a lot of promise and reason to look ahead.

My new year has been dedicated to restoring my health, hence my absence. Ever since giving birth to the love and light of my life, my son Barrett, last July, I became increasingly ill. This affected my life drastically and limited what I could and could not do as I did my best to navigate being a Mom, wife and continuing to do the other things I love, like cooking, while being sick and enduring test after test in pursuit of a diagnosis.

I'm happy to say, I've adjusted and getting a lot better at managing to cook, document, keep pace with a highly active 7-month old, and slowly incorporate all of my old passions back into my life in spite of everything else.

This post was mostly about catching up, but I'm also including a quick and yummy salad.

Since I've been gone...

We celebrated our first Christmas together.

Barrett got to experience his first snow.

His first taste was carrot.

He loves his monkey and the quilt his "Gigi" made for him.

We took him to one of our favorite places, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

And he took his first ride in a swing.

I'll be back with new dishes, and more Milk, Sugar, Musings & Love(s) of my life soon. In the mean time...

Cranberry Walnut Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Mix of greens, your choice
Handful dried cranberries
Small handful of candied or lightly toasted walnuts
Chopped feta cheese
Top with pita chips

Raspberry Vinaigrette

I used this recipe and whisked in 4 raspberries.

Honey-Vinaigrette Dressing

Ingredients:

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup red wine or distilled white vinegar (I used the latter)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon red onion or shallot, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

In medium bowl, whisk together vinegar, honey and mustard. While continuing to whisk gently, add in oil slowly. Add in onion, whisk again. Repeat after adding salt and pepper. Whisk again gently just before serving over salad.

Gifting & Fuji Apple Honey Lemon Jam

2011-12-19T13:52:00.000-05:00

When I came across this recipe a few months back on Food in Jars, I knew it was something I'd love to try my hand at making to send along with Raspberry Jam as Christmas presents this year. Alas, as it goes, I was derailed the past week and a half or so by the winter "uglies", but finally showing signs of improvement, and with no time to delay, I was able to get back into my laboratory (the kitchen) and give it a go. If you haven't yet made jam, it's super easy and a fantastic way to make use of fruit. I just love it! I knew my grandmother would, too. She really misses being my taste-tester since moving to Kentucky. And last year's Raspberry Jam was one of her personal favorites.
I have to tell you, she's going to have to make room for a new favorite. My husband loved it so much he asked if we could keep a jar for ourselves. So, her package will be a little lighter, but just in time for Christmas.

Honey Lemon Apple Jam
Recipe courtesy and adapted from Food in Jars

12 cups chopped apples ( I used a mixture of mostly Fuji and some green apples)
2 cups lemons juice
2 cups honey
3 cups sugar
1 envelope of liquid pectin (can be omitted if you use a few firm, green apples). I did not use pectin because of the green apples.
zest of three lemons

*I used a quarter of the above recipe and filled three pint (8 oz.) mason jars. (3 cups apples, (mostly Fuji and a couple of green). 1/2 cup lemon juice. 1/4 cup raw Arizona honey. 1 and 1/4 cups sugar. Zest of 1 small lemon. No pectin because of the green apples.)

Directions:

Add water to canning pot (or large pot) and ready your jars, 7 pint jars for this recipe as written. Prepare jars by boiling for ten minutes and then allow to fully dry. Boil lids and screw bands at a more gentle boil in a smaller pot for 7 minutes, allow to fully dry.
To large, heavy-bottomed pot (or Dutch oven), add chopped apples and lemon juice. Stir frequently over medium-low heat until apples break down. (This took me longer because I used firm Fuji and Green apples, and then I still had to use a fork before adding final mixture to jars to break apples down further to achieve the consistency I was looking for.) When your mixture looks like a chunky applesauce, add in honey and sugar. Stir until thoroughly mixed in.
Allow fruit to come to a rolling boil and cook for at least five minutes. (Be careful as mixture can splatter a bit, especially in a more shallow pot, and sugar gets very hot.) Add pectin, if using, boil a few minutes longer to activate. When you've reached a good jam-like texture, remove pot from heat and add in lemon zest. Stir.
Carefully add jam into your jars, clean rims with towel. Vinegar can be used on towel to clean rims if needed to remove sticky mixture. Cover jars with lids and screw the bands on securely. Boil jars, covered with water, in water canner for ten minutes.
Test jars for seal by pressing lids. If you do not hear a clicking sound, they have sealed properly.

Thanksgiving & Cran-Raspberry Cheese Tart

2011-11-22T11:02:00.007-05:00

I just love, love, love fall in New England. I've said it before, I'll say it always: It's my favorite magic! This year has been especially wonderful getting to experience fall for the first time through the eyes of my son, Barrett, who is just fascinated by all the colors of the vibrant trees, now nearly gone. And the bright, chirping birds, soon to depart.

Photos taken on Boston Common.

Not to mention, the food, of course. The cool, sometimes downright bone-chilling cold air begs for things that feature cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves... to be baked--filling your home with deliciously intoxicating warm air.

I came across this recipe about a month back on the Joy of Baking website, and even though it was almost identical to a recipe my grandmother found under the top of a tub of cool whip we've been making for years, with the exception of real whipped cream in place of cool whip, I just loved the festive addition of cranberry topping on a simple dessert I make every year over the holidays with Thanksgiving and Christmas just days and weeks away. Can you believe I never thought to use cranberries? Maybe you'll remember I made something very similar last year, Pear-Cheese Tart
with a Chez Panisse Gingersnap Cookie crust.

I will make this harmoniously blended mix if sweet and tart confection again tomorrow, along with last year's favorite: Green Apple-Cranberry Pie, to serve on Thanksgiving. It was delicious.

Cranberry-Raspberry Cheese Tart
Recipe courtesy and adapted from Joy of Baking

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 cup (100 grams) graham cracker crumbs or digestive biscuits (crushed)
1/2 cup (50 grams) crushed ginger cookies (homemade or store bought)
2 tablespoons (30 grams) granulated white sugar
5 - 6 tablespoons (70 - 85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
zest or lemon or orange (I used the latter)

Filling:

One 8-ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature, preferably Philadelphia in the rectangular package.
1/4 cup (50 grams) confectioner's sugar
1& 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream

Cran-Raspberry Sauce:

3 cups (300 grams) frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 cups (200 grams) fresh cranberries
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar (or more to taste)
Zest of a lemon or orange (optional)

For Crust: Process graham crackers and ginger cookies until finely ground. Add lemon zest, if using and pulse again. In processor (or bowl), mix graham cracker and cookie crumbs with sugar, and melted butter. Pour into bottom of a well greased 8-9 inch tart pan. Evenly press mixture over bottom and up sides of pan. ( You can also use a springform pan, evenly spreading mixture over bottom and up sides, about 1 inch, of the pan. I've even done this in a pie plate.) Cover with plastic and refrigerate while you prepare your filling. *You can choose to bake crust at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes, allow to cool and then cover and refrigerate, if you like a firmer crust like me.

For Filling: Using electric, or hand mixer, mix cream cheese until smooth. Add in sugar and continue mixing until light and fluffy. Scrape mixture down from sides of bowl. Add vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.
In medium, clean, cold bowl, mix or electric whisk whipping cream, forming soft peaks. About 2 minutes. For light filling, gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. For more dense cake (which is what I prefer), mix whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until combined. Use plastic wrap to cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

For Cranberry-Raspberry Sauce: Add all ingredients into large saucepan. Over medium heat, cook, stirring often until the fruit bubbles and thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Taste for sweetness and add more if desired. Store, covered in the refrigerator.

Assembly: Once all of your components have cooled/chilled, simply add cream cheese mixture into crust and spread evenly. Top with fruit mixture. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

The First Four Months & My Happiest Me

2011-10-30T15:59:00.012-04:00

Well, some of you may have been wondering where I've been, but first things first...

My little cub, Barrett will be four months young tomorrow, Halloween. To say my life 'has changed' would be an understatement. My life has bloomed, flourished, ignited with joy and love and completeness. All the things I dreamed for his Dad and I when he flew in from Paris to meet me for the first time when we were still (just barely) 'young enough in the world' to question the wisdom of our bold chance have come true.

From the moment Barrett was wheeled into the hospital room he was smiling and looking over for Mommy's voice when I called his name. Watching him develop into a curious, giggling, book loving, cuddly, lady loving, brilliant, talking, attempting to walk and jumping, sweet, beautiful, blue elephant best-friending baby boy has been my honor.

I have no prior experience with children, never having even held a baby before, but as far as baby's go, I think he's spectacular. I love him madly!

This isn't to say life has been without its challenges. If you've read one of my pregnancy update posts', you may remember me talking about discovering I had massive fibroids (uterine tumors) during my pregnancy which complicated the pregnancy. As a result, I went into labor a just over couple of weeks early and delivered by emergency c-section. Following that, I've been battling some difficult symptoms exacerbated by the delivery and subsequent healing that have kept me out of the kitchen for the most part. And made blogging all but impossible...Until now!

Recently I started to experience longer periods of time sans any pain or sickness and I've been eager to get back into the kitchen, give attention to my poor, neglected blog, visit you and yours and share the Milk, Sugar, Musings & Love(s) of my life.

Since My Last Post, Barrett has changed quite a lot. Here are the first four months...

My brother, Billy came over to visit on my 32nd birthday (the day my son was originally due) to meet my greatest gift and his brand new nephew.

When Barrett was just a few weeks old, we took him for a stroll through Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Being so small, he really caused a stir.

Again at five weeks. His growth spurt began.

He just loves to be in Daddy's arms.

Barrett's grand-mere flew in from Paris to meet her grandson. She was thrilled!

Week 6.

Week 10.

Month 3.

For weeks I worked to get our new room ready with a fresh coat of paint and putting together the baby's crib.

He loves his new space!

With Love from Ree, Daph & Barrett. Thank you for sharing.

Our Greatest Blessing & Deepest Joy

2011-07-16T12:41:00.004-04:00

I woke up Sunday feeling absolutely wonderful and full of energy. A feeling that had become familiar to me in my last two months of pregnancy. I danced. I cleaned; did laundry. I prepped food for the BBQ Daph and I were planning later that night. The day before, Saturday, I had a pressing feeling something was in store for me on Monday, 7-11-11, so I rushed to prepare the house, myself and get things in order for what might come. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but...

We ate late and shortly thereafter something told me I should shower quickly if I was expecting to get one. I did. Approximately one minute, literally 60 seconds after stepping out of the shower, my water broke. I shrieked and started to hyperventilate. I didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. I immediately called an ambulance because I was concerned I may need a c-setion quickly even after being assured I shouldn't.

Everyone I encountered in the first hour, from the EMT to the the nurse who signed me in to the E.R.said I may have jumped the gun and could have waited until I, 1. had contractions, and 2. they were closer together. By then I only had 1 or 2 fifteen minutes apart. I felt naive and foolish for over-reacting. When the fetal heart monitor was placed around my belly 5 minutes after intake, a nurse came in and then stepped out after saying 'your baby wants attention'.

A doctor followed her to review the baby's heart rate. While she was asking me questions I noticed her countenance change to one of concern. She excused herself. Several nurses appeared in the room at once all poking and prodding some part of me and hooking me up to different machines, followed by two doctors who were telling me they were going to do everything they could to keep my baby safe, and then an anesthesiologist who wanted a brief medical history, explained what was about to happen, and obtain my signature of consent.

I was rushed into the operating room for an emergency c-section to remove my little cub whose heart beat was dropping during contractions. I lay on my side and watched the baby's heart rate drop to below 100 during contractions while they struggled for 20 minutes to get the epidural in. 'You're doing a great job, Mommy', they said. I prayed. At 4: 05 on the morning of 7-11-11, my little cub, Barrett Leo Alemy, was born just over two weeks early weighing 6 lbs. 1 oz. at birth. He is perfection!

We are blessed to be able to hold and hug and give kisses and caress that ever-so-soft skin and experience this most precious, brilliant little miracle of ours. It's the greatest gift in the world being able to say I'm his Mom. And I only hope that one day he feels as proud of the job I did for him as I am of the one he has to make his way into the world healthy & strong, and into hearts of his Mommy and Daddy.

We're just mad about about him!

Our New Favorite & Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

2011-07-08T14:44:00.008-04:00

When I was a little girl, my grandmother brought me to the home of a family friend named Richard who lived in Canton, Ma. He had the most beautiful garden. I remember being fascinated as he walked us through his backyard to share with us all the strange and wonderful things he was growing. One of which, rhubarb, immediately caught my eye--it was so interesting and new to me. Years later I threatened to bake a pie using the vegetable I remember seeing in my childhood, but just never got around to it. Would I even like rhubarb(?)

When I learned Daph, who is French, never had pie before, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use it. That way we'd both be trying something new. Upon peeling and cutting the vegetable I decided immediately I'd hate it because the smell wasn't very appealing.

Hours later the pie was baked and ready to be cut into and served with the vanilla ice cream I made...Well, how do you describe love at first bite? The perfect marriage of sweet and tart. The quintessential taste of summer. The essence of home baked goodness. I could on, but this pie speaks for itself. I've made Triple Berry and Peach and Green Apple and Sweet Potato, but Strawberry Rhubarb pie stands alone as the best and favorite among everyone in my home. Maybe it will come to be in yours too.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Recipes Courtesy and Adapted from Simply Recipes and What's Cooking America

Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 cups red rhubarb stalks cut into 1/2 inch pieces (Trim outside stringy layer of large rhubarb stalks; make sure to trim away any and discard of the leaves which are poisonous; trim ends.)
3 & 1/2 cups strawberries, stemmed and sliced
(The ratio of strawberry and rhubarb is pretty flexiable. 6 cups total was my goal)
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons of quick cooking tapioca (I used corn starch and it worked out great)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

*Unbaked pastry for two-crust 10 inch pie (See below)

Method: (Start with pie crust then return to begin filling)

1. Set oven to 400 degrees F to Preheat. In large bowl, add strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, tapioca or corn starch and lemon juice. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.

2. Add filling mixture to pie crust lined pan. Add top crust and either fold edges underneath and pinch dough around or trim edges and crimp upper and bottom crust together. Make slits over top crust to allow steam to escape while baking.

3. Place pie in 400 degree preheated oven and allow to bake for 20 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees F. Continue to bake pie for another 30-40 minutes, or 40-50 if baking 10-inch pie. Place on cooling rack to cool. If serving warm pie, juices will definitely run, but pie will still be delicious!

Shortening-Butter Crust:

2 1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour, plus extra for rolling
2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup Plus 1 teaspoon chilled vegetable shortening
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

Tools:

Rolling Pin
Wax Paper

To Sprinkle over bottom of crust before adding fruit:

Mix together 1 tablespoon each, flour and granulated sugar. This will help prevent pie filling juices from soaking through bottom of crust.

*Serve pie with softly whipped cream or Vanilla Ice Cream.

To Make Crust:

In standard sized food processor, or large bowl, process, or mix with hand mixer, flour, salt and sugar until combined. Add in shortening and process or mix until mixture resembles coarse sand, approximately 10 seconds. Add pieces of butter over flour mixture and process in 1 second pulses, or mix, turning hand mixer on then off, until pieces of butter are no bigger than small peas. Add 6 tablespoons ice water to mixture and, using a rubber spatula or hand mixer on low, fold in, or mix until just combined. Pinch dough with fingertips to be sure it sticks together, If not, add an additional 2 tablespoons ice water. Do not process or mix more than 30 seconds.
Turn dough onto work surface and gather into ball. Divide dough in half and flatten each into a round disk-like shape. Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.

After an hour, remove one round of dough from refrigerator. Measure out and lightly flour two equal pieces of wax paper. Place dough, in center, between two pieces of wax paper, begin to flatten round of dough with rolling pin. Give wax paper square a quarter turn after each roll. Roll dough two inches larger than inverted pie plate. (Place pie plate, upside down, over dough to make sure it's big enough.) Carefully remove only top layer of wax paper. Turn remaining wax paper holding dough, so that the dough is facing down, into pie pan. Make sure dough is even in pan. Carefully remove second piece of wax paper, which should be bottom side up. Brush off excess flour. Roll hanging dough under itself to crimp or cut off excess. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Reserve both pieces of wax paper and repeat process of rolling with second dough round, only this time, leave rolled out dough in wax paper and refrigerate until needed.

Immediately start making pie filling.

4th of July & Red, White & Blueberry Cupcakes

2011-07-04T11:11:00.003-04:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! No matter where you are in the world, I hope today is spectacular.
Last night Daph and I put the grill together. No easy feat for a French guy and a girl who takes the 'directions are optional' approach to putting things together.

I've been looking forward to grilled summer squash all year long. And something I've never tried before but looks oh-so-irresistible, fresh peaches grilled and served over vanilla ice cream.
At over 9 months pregnant, I've decided it's best I don't venture Downtown Boston and attempt navigating through blustering crowds of people for the annual fireworks display over the Charles. Surely something to see at least once if you're ever here! Instead Daph and I will stay home and enjoy the show my neighbors put on every year that's pretty impressive in its own right. The legality of which notwithstanding. What is it about fireworks that bring out the kid in us all?!
I've issued an everything goes on the grill policy all day long, so we're guaranteed a good time that's not only bursting with things that go boom in the night, but delicious too.
Might I add, these cupcakes...or muffins (you decide) are a perfect way to start a day like today.

Red, White & Blueberry Cupcakes

Recipe courtesy and adapted from My Recipes.com via Cooking Light

Cupcakes Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (about 6 3/4 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
10 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
(I used homemade whole milk buttermilk plus whole milk because it's what I had on hand.)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
For the "red" I added 1/4 cup fresh raspberries

Frosting Ingredients:

1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Fresh blueberries (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin/cupcake pan with 12 liners. In large bowl, sift together 1 and 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In separate large bowl, mix melted butter and egg. Allow butter to cool just a minute so egg doesn't cook. Using whisk, stir. To butter-egg mixture, add buttermilk and milk. Stir with whisk. Add in lemon rind, stir. Slowly pour butter-milk mixture into sifted dry ingredients. Gently stir just until combined. Using remaining 1 tablespoon of flour, toss berries in small bowl until coated with flour. Gently fold berries into cupcake batter. Filling cups 3/4 full, spoon batter into lined muffin cups. Bake for 25 minutes in 350 degree oven, or until inserted wooden pick comes out clean.

To Prepare frosting: In medium bowl, add cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon lemon rind, vanilla and 1/8 teaspoon salt. On medium speed, use hand mixer to beat ingredients until just combined. Carefully add in sifted powder sugar. To save from washing an extra bowl, I sifted sugar into same bowl. Beat until just combined. Use fork to stir in lemon juice. Spread evenly over cooled cupcakes. If desired, garnish cupcakes with fresh berries. Cover and store in refrigerator.

The 9th Month & My Final Pregnancy Update

2011-06-27T15:03:00.023-04:00

I'm so happy to report on what will be my final pregnancy update...Daph and I have been trying to prepare for the arrival of our son. It seems as though, just when we think we're done, there's still so much more to do. I've been feeling a lot more useful these days. Several weeks back my Dr. pushed the baby down lower in my belly, albeit unintentionally, during an exam. This gave me immediate relief. Before then I was in the worst pain I've experienced my entire pregnancy for weeks. And I've endured a lot of pain these past 8 plus months!

One of the complications being pregnant with huge uterine tumors (fibroids) caused me was the baby was higher in my body than a baby should be for most of my pregnancy, a result of trying to find enough space to grow. Incidentally, your organs being crushed, feels exactly like one might imagine it would. I would have endured that and much more for much longer only to know he was safe inside of me.

During my last visit to the Dr. I was informed that the baby is ready, he's no longer breech, and I could go into labor at any time and it would be fine. My body has already begun the process of labor. A month before my due date, this was a surprise. I was just getting used to relishing the joy of pregnancy sans the fear and worry and pain that beleaguered me up until just weeks before then. Even though I have bouts of extreme fatigue, contrarily, I also have sudden bursts of energy which allow me to walk around the city, go out to eat, dance... I even made a pie!

I gained a 1/2 lb. which brings my total weight gain during pregnancy to a 1/2 lb. (this, after losing 13), but I can feel how much bigger and heavier the baby is. He no longer has the space to move. And as my grandmother says, 'You can see my belly come around the corner five minutes before I do.'

The time is literally flying by, so I don't suffer from any of those last weeks' 'Oh, I just want to get this over with already' gripes I was told I could anticipate feeling. I love being pregnant. In fact, I'll be quite sad when I no longer am. I'm thrilled that all the dreaming and wondering about what it will be like, what he'll be like, is a time soon to come. And I'm reconciling that with the fact that he'll no longer be just "mine"; In my belly, connected to me, kicking, punching, turning in ways that only I can feel.

His Dad and I are overwhelmed with a flurry of emotion as we nervously enjoy these final hours, days or weeks until we meet our little cub. Thank you all for your continued and endless support through this entire journey.

--With Love, Ree

Time of the Season & Raspberry Sorbet

2011-06-09T11:15:00.010-04:00

Raspberries are back! I look forward to raspberry season, increasingly fleeting as it is, every year. It seems as though we had to wait a bit longer for the crops to come in and the benefit and availability to reach the fruit and vegetable market where I stock up on all my favorite summer fruits and veggies...cheaply. Fast approaching the end of my pregnancy, nearly 8 and 1/2 months, it's hard to find the stamina and drive to walk there in the heat, but yesterday, Daph (my husband), was sweet enough to take care of all of the shopping for me--Something he's been doing nearly all of lately. It's also hard to cook and bake, make everything look pretty and photograph all of it, too, but when I came across this simple and refreshing recipe for raspberry sorbet, I couldn't resist. I just adore fresh fruit sorbet during the warmer months. Just like last year's Watermelon Sorbet , this has easily made its way into seasonal rotation as a light treat I can get excited about.

Raspberry Sorbet
Recipe courtesy and adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients:

•1 & 1/4 cups sugar (taste for sweetness after adding corn syrup and add more sugar if desired)
•2 cups water
•2 quarts raspberries, hulled and sliced
•Pinch of lime zest
•1/4 cup fresh lime juice
•1/2 cup white corn syrup

Directions:

Add 2 cups of water and sugar, plus lime zest to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until boiled. Once boiled, simmer mixture of low heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Approximately 3 minutes. Do not stir. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool completely.

Add raspberries and lime juice to food processor. Mix until completely pureed. Transfer liquid mixture to strainer placed inside of bowl to remove seeds. You may have to press the mixture in strainer to push liquid through. I had to repeat process three times to completely remove seeds. It's worth it! Pour completely cooled simple syrup mixture into bowl with raspberry puree, add in corn syrup and stir well, until completely combined.

Carefully pour raspberry mixture into ice cream maker and churn according to your machine's directions. Sorbet will be soft when done but get firm in the freezer. Transfer sorbet mixture to freezer safe bowl and freeze until firm.

My 3rd Trimester & A Baby Update

2011-05-10T17:11:00.003-04:00

Nothing has challenged every aspect of my being more than being pregnant with the complications I've battled these past seven months. The feeling of helplessness can be overwhelming, however, contrarily, so too is the imploring need to go on fighting and hoping and believing that everything will be okay.
Last Friday saw the start to my seventh month and third trimester. Several weeks before that I was dealt another in a growing list of scares when I experienced spotting and cramping. The baby and I appeared fine at the time so I was sent home. My doctor told me it seems my body is thinking it wants to go into labor and sent me for a seventh month ultrasound. My husband has been here visiting from Paris, France for weeks, so I was thrilled that he would get to see his son for the first time. It's been very hard for us enduring an international long-distance pregnancy. As one could imagine!

During my ultrasound the tech was very aggressive in an effort to see my cervix. As a result I began spotting, but felt fine otherwise. The doctor there told me that because of the size of my fibroids (benign uterine tumors), it's like I'm a month further along than I am... with multiples. That hasn't stopped my baby from growing to 2 lbs. 12 oz. already!
The following night, Saturday, I felt strange. It was as though the baby, who had been higher in my belly than is normal for months, had now moved lower and began turning. I also started to have more pains, contractions and pressure. On Monday I discovered I was bleeding and began to have a lot of pressure, almost as though my water was going to break. Daph rushed with me to the doctor's office so I could be examined. My doctor believed I might be going into labor and sent me to the bigger hospital, Brigham & Women's, for more testing.
There, they also believed I was possibly going into labor and did testing that disproved I was. After an ultrasound it was discovered the baby is now breech (turned head up, bottom down). The doctor said: 'Unfortunately, you just have some really gigantic fibroids and need to be monitered week to week.'
So that's where we find ourselves today...In truth, I know there's not much that can be done medically. My son's strength and fight astounds and encourages me. I continue to believe in him, and the miracle of his life, and the power of belieiving in good things. That's where I draw my strength. My husband and I are so proud of this little life that has blessed us with his existence and know we'll cherish this journey evermore when he's finally safe in our arms.

Celebrating My Blogiversary & A Week late

2011-04-10T08:27:00.036-04:00

When I began blogging a year ago I couldn't have imagined all the ways it would change and enrich my life. I started, like a lot of people, because I thought it would be fun to chart and share my experiences in cooking and navigating through the world as I was entering a new stage in my life where rebirth was the theme.

What surprised me was not so much the awakening of old passions, but the discovery of new ones. New friends. New ideas. New challenges. In many ways, a whole new life altogether. Though currently pregnancy with my first child and greatest blessing has temporarily slowed my contribution to the blogging community significantly, this is still my home online; The place I'll come back to when I resume cooking, when I've gone some place new, when My Pot Garden is sprouting, to share big news and, most importantly, to be a part of your journey too.

Expecting a baby boy this July on my 32nd birthday and moving to Paris, France shortly thereafter means there's yet so much to be lived and to be blogged about. Thank you to all my friends for the kindness and support you've shown me throughout this most magical year. I couldn't have done it without you.

My year in Milk, Sugar, Love...

Soft Pretzels

My very first endeavor in working with yeast and dough, Soft Pretzels were an instant hit that got better and better with practice. Baked with a brushing of butter and covered in mustard, eating one transports me to sunny days, late 1980's with my Gram on the Boston Common with a cup of lemonade and pretzel from the cart in front of Park St. station or front row seats at Fenway Park every time!

Chocolate Walnut Fudge Cake (with chocolate buttercream frosting)

Hands down my favorite Chocolate Fudge Cake. Rich, so incredibly moist, with the addition of a cup of hot coffee you can't taste but adds an unmistakable layer of complexity--This is my bliss!

Caribbean Chicken Salad

When it comes to cooking, there's probably nothing more satisfying to me than re-creating dishes and foods from restaurants and grocery stores at home in your own kitchen. Sweet and savory Caribbean Chicken Salad, re-created from a suspect in the chain restaurant Chili's lineup, had me going back for seconds sans the questionable ingredients and guilt.

Carrot Pineapple Cake

Last July on my 31st birthday I had my Carrot Pineapple Cake and ate it too. Never being a big fan of it before, I decided to expand my horizons and give it another go. Something I've learned to do since blogging...try new things. Consider me converted! Moist, sweet, subtly spicy with surprise pieces of juicy pineapple and luscious vanilla cream cheese frosting--this is worthy of celebrating any occasion.

Watermelon Vodka Sorbet

The dog days of summer hit hard this past August, but Watermelon Vodka Sorbet brought welcomed relief to my burning heart. After an agonizing wait for it to harden in the freezer, I gained a whole new appreciation for my favorite summer fruit.

Coffee Cannoli Ice Cream

I giggle a little whenever I think about Coffee Ricotta Ice Cream because that's where I got the (not so) brilliant idea to attempt making waffle cones using tape and parchment paper sans a waffle cone maker. Needless to say, that was a miserable failure. But the delicious ice cream, perfectly impressive on its own in a bowl, left me missing nothing!

Corn and Two Bean Salad

Summer in a bowl, Corn and Two bean Salad is no short of a fiesta for your mouth. This confluence of vibrant, summer flavors was love at first bite.

Homemade Feta Cheese

My proudest cooking achievement to date, Feta Cheese took two attempts to succeed, but to try, try again taught me lessons I'll keep for a lifetime. Learning to trust my instincts yielded me the creamiest, freshest most delicious cheese I've ever had. And underscored the case for hard-work over convenience.

Tomato Feta Pasta Salad

Maybe my most gratifying of all the things I've made. Enjoying the fruits of your labor is one of the many rewards for time and effort. Using home grown basil, parsley, yellow cherry tomatoes and homemade feta in Ina's Tomato-Feta Pasta Salad added an extra note of satisfaction to this seasonal delight.

Lemon Lavender Sables

One of my birthday presents last year was a ticket to see Cirque Du Soleil's 'Ovo'. I wanted to savor the feeling of living out one of my dreams for the first time with something special. I used lavender from my pot garden to create these buttery 'ovo' (egg) & butterfly shaped Lemon-Lavender Sables. Which perfumed my home with the most divine scent that will linger in my heart along with the great memories of the show.

Peach Berry Pie

The second of four pies I've made in my lifetime, Peach Berry Pie will always hold a special place in my heart for giving me confidence and teaching me that the elusive flaky pie crust was a lot easier to attain than we've all been taught. Served with homemade vanilla ice cream, this was one sweet send-off to summer.

The Breads: Harvest Squash Bread

Honey Oatmeal Wheat Bread (with)Homemade Raspberry Jam)

Harvest Squash Bread for its dense, chewy rustic richness for which I savored dipped into Red Lentil Soup and then again with chunky peanut butter and jam slathered in between. Honey Oatmeal Bread, so sweet and soft. Heavenly covered in Homemade Raspberry Jam or turned into a turkey sandwich to end all turkey sandwiches.

Red Lentil Soup

Simple. Warming. Healthful. No need to wax poetic when something like Red Lentil Soup features only a few delicious ingredients, takes twenty minutes and refuses to boast herself. Add spoon, rustic bread and enjoy.

Cheese Stuffed Crust Veggie Pizza

With endless possibilities and, in this case, lots of cheese melted over chewy bread stuffed with more cheese, Pizza has got to be my favorite food EVER! I find something new, I fall in love, but it's Pizza I always come back to.

Bonus: Vanilla Extract

File this under the 'Why did I think of that before?' category. When I began blogging I started baking a lot more and thus found myself going through bottles and bottles of Vanilla Extract. Since I came across the über simple make-it-yourself version, made it and, after a month, got to taste how pure and rich it was, this is the only vanilla I use.

An Everyday Favorite & Squash Provencal

2011-03-21T13:08:00.020-04:00

My grandmother stumbled across this recipe in one of her magazines. Now, I must tell you, most of her "finds" are downright inedible. She has a knack for coming across dishes that should have stayed undiscovered. But this gem was an instant favorite of mine. So much so, that several months into my pregnancy, completely void of an appetite and losing weight, this was the only thing I felt those nearly forgotten pangs of desire for once again. No bells and whistles here. Just simple, baked goodness. We usually have this as a main course, but it would work perfectly as a side to something light like fish, too.

Squash Provencal

Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

2 cans (14-1/2 oz. each) stewed tomatoes, diced small (Or one 28 oz. can)
2 medium zucchini, sliced 1/4-1/2 inch thick
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 cup 10 minute white rice (uncooked) or Brown rice, partially cooked (I use the latter)
3 Tbsp. butter, divided
2 medium yellow summer squash, sliced 1/4-1/2 inch thick
Tsp. Garlic Powder
Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Pepper
Pinch of oregano
A dash of salt-free garlic and herb seasoning (Optional)
1-1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Strain tomatoes over bowl, reserving juice; set aside. Grease 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish (I use a 33x23x5cm baking tray). Add layer of onion across bottom of baking dish, add layer of zucchini over onion, then sprinkle rice over zucchini. Dab casserole with Tbsp. butter. Add layer of yellow squash, top with tomatoes.
Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano and garlic and herb seasoning, if using, to reserved tomato juice, pour juice over tomatoes. Dab casserole with remaining butter.
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until squash is tender when inserted with fork.
Remove baking dish from oven and uncover. Add layer of cheese. Return baking dish uncovered and bake until cheese melts and begins to brown, approx. 15-20 minutes. Allow to set up for a minute or two. Salt and pepper to taste.

Pregnancy Update: Week 19 & The Kick Inside

2011-02-28T13:06:00.010-05:00

So much has transpired in the past 9 weeks. I don't quite know where to begin...

When I announced my pregnancy on my blog two months back I was merely 10weeks along. When I learned of some of the things that were going on with my body, I knew I would be facing a lot of challenges as the weeks and months unfolded. I couldn't have foreseen just how challenged every aspect of my life would become. I've been in some measure of pain since week two. The first three months of my pregnancy were spent in bed for the most part. One morning I woke up experiencing the worst pain followed by contractions I had ever felt. The contractions eventually subsided, but the pain persisted for days afterward. I was wrong when I thought it couldn't get much worse than that.

Come the arrival of week 14 I noticed myself become less fearful and more confident that, despite the abnormal amount of pain, everything was going to be okay. This would be helpful as I approached week 16 when the baby begins a three week growth spurt. Ouch! Weeks 17 and 18 were by far the worst. I was rushed to the hospital twice, the second time by ambulance. After days of what can only be described as horrifically excruciating pain, an inability to sit and lay, or stand without collapsing or upright at all, I found myself in the emergency room. Thank God for Dr. Melanie Smith!

My body had become so septic I remained very sore, weak and exhausted for several days after returning home. After everything the baby and I had been through, I was eagerly looking forward to making my 18 week ultrasound appointment; What's considered your first "official" ultrasound, where I'd hopefully learn the sex of the baby. There were several attempts, but finally the ultrasound tech announced: It's a boy!
Two doctors came into the room and looked mystified as they reviewed the poor shape I'm in internally, and this active, jumping, kicking, punching baby boy that continues to thrive and defy the odds. Of that, I had no doubt. Doctors still have no explanation for the pain I'm in. Or why my body is reacting the way it is to pregnancy. Or how it's possible I've been able to feel the baby move and flutter distinctly since week 7 or 8. Daph says the baby and I have a rare and unique connection. What I can tell you for sure is that this remains my greatest blessing and the most rewarding experience I've ever encountered. And if I vow to never do one thing in my lifetime, it would be question the existence of miracles and their ability to happen to you.

February 24th "official" ultrasound picture.

Thank You & Ginger Glazed Mahi + Shrimp

2011-01-03T11:05:00.012-05:00

I want to thank everyone who commented on my previous post. Your words, kindness, support and encouragement deeply touched and mean so much to me. Blogging has been a happy occasion in what, over the past two years, has shaped up to be a very happy life. I'm so thankful to all of you for being a part of it.

Being pregnant can leave you in suspense a lot of the time. I never know from one minute to the next how I'm going to feel, or what and how much I'll be able to accomplish throughout the day. As a result, I attempt one thing each day in earnest, hope it gets done and live with everything else that hasn't. You'd be surprised at the things that start to fall apart after just a few days of neglect! Strangely, I find it liberating.
Alas, this also means some of the things I love so much, like blogging and reading yours, have taken a backseat to the precious and foremost priority I'm carrying.
Not to mention, my enjoyment of food these days ranges from fleeting to intolerant. Which poses a challenge for a mostly food blogger like myself.

I do have a few recipes that remain to be posted, and this is one of them. Heather of Girlichef selected the film "The Ramen Girl" as her movie of the month over at Food 'n Flix. I was excited to step outside of my culinary comfort zone to make something with a Japanese flare inspired by the film. This recipe was simple, quick and delicious. I loved the shrimp especially!

Ginger Glazed Mahi and Shrimp
Recipe courtesy and adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, crushed or to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 (6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets
Or 1 lb. Shrimp
(I used a mix of both)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. Add honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil to shallow glass dish or baking pan. Stir together. Lightly season fish fillets with salt and pepper; peel shrimp (tail can be left on), add fish and/or shrimp to marinade, placing fish skin side down if has skin. Cover and place in refrigerator for 20 minutes.

2. Add and allow vegetable oil to become heated in large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove fish and shrimp from marinade, reserve marinade. Fry fish 4 -6 minutes on each side, turning only once halfway through, until fish flakes apart with fork. For shrimp: Repeat same process, cook shrimp on one side until becomes pink, turn and repeat on second side. Approximately a minute on each side. Both fish and shrimp could also be baked in oven.

3. Add the reserved marinade to skillet, over medium-high heat. Reduce until becomes glaze consistency. Pour marinade reduction over fish and shrimp. Serve immediately.

Seriously, try these shrimp!

The Miracle in Me & My Greatest Gift

2010-12-28T08:35:00.004-05:00

When I noticed a bump, I suspected, but I said to myself 'too soon.' At that point, I would have only been within my first week. As the weeks progressed, and the tell-tale symptoms along with time, there was no more denying. I finally confirmed my pregnancy nearly four weeks later. When the pain in my lower back and abdomen began and then persisted, along with the growth of my belly, I knew something wasn't quite right. I had been feeling this way for a couple of weeks. Upon the reassurance of women who've had children before: 'You're fine', 'I experienced the same thing with my first.' 'That's normal.' and so on, I tried to let their words ease my fears, but in my heart, I knew differently.
After an agonizing 3 weeks of self imposed bed rest, my appointment with the Ob/GYN finally arrived. After the needles, exam and two types of ultrasound, my fears were confirmed. The size of my abdomen and pain were indeed an indicator of a problem. No poetic way to articulate this: I have a fibroids. Such is the case, my pregnancy is high risk. But my hopes remain higher than any risk could be.

Ultrasound: 12/21/2010

Today, I will venture out in the blizzard of '10 to my first appointment with the high risk Ob/GYN at Brigham & Women's hospital, where they specialize in such pregnancies.
Now upon my 10th (or so) week, I've decided I will allow myself to relish the glory of this tiny being becoming inside of my body, come what may. Something I, hitherto, was reluctant to do. Daph and I are overjoyed! We're becoming parents. WE'RE HAVING A BABY! I never thought I would be able to say those words, but it's true. I'm not dreaming.
I couldn't have imagined the fearlessness and unconstraint with which you could love another human being until the moment I learned that human being was beginning inside my own being. What an incredible thing!

Update: Earlier today I trenched through the 17 inches of snow and made it to my ultrasound appointment in tact. After a more in depth ultrasound I learned I have "innumerable fibroids" and an ovarian cyst. I'm the kind of person who thrives on information, no matter how bad or difficult it is to hear and deal with. So, aside from the natural fears and concerns, I also feel empowered. The baby's heart is beating at 171 beats per minute, and she/he is active. The baby seems as determined as I am to pull through okay.

Ultrasound: 12/27/2010

My Dearest Baby,

I will fight for you, with you, to keep you growing and strong in only the way a mother could. There is nothing stronger than the will of a mother for her child. 32 years ago on the day you are due to be born, I was born. This confirms everything I believed that, despite it all, ultimately only the best things were meant for my life. And equally, only the best things will be dreamed for yours.

I love You,

Mommy

& The Winner Is...

2010-12-15T08:21:00.004-05:00

Katrina, number 5. Congratulations Katrina! I'm sure your daughter will enjoy her trunki.
Check your email shortly for the promotional code.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

CSN Stores Giveaway & I'm So Excited!

2010-12-07T13:17:00.005-05:00

When CSN Stores contacted me and asked if I'd like to host a giveaway for my readers, I was super thrilled. Whether you're looking for Leather Messenger Bags, home decor, awesome cook and bakeware, or anything in between, CSN Stores has got you covered. If you haven't yet visited one of their 200+ websites, CSN Stores offer virtually everything. And today, they've generously offered a $55 dollar promotional code to one of my lucky readers. Now you're excited too, right? Good!

Here are just a few of the things I love.

David King Three Compartment Messenger Bag

Blissliving Home Gemini Pillow

Rachael Ray “Bubble & Brown” 2-Piece Stoneware Baker Set

Nordicware Kugelhopf Bundt Pan

*To Enter You must be a U.S. or Canadian resident. Sorry to the rest of my international friends.

*Leave a comment telling me how you'd like to spend the $55 dollars at CSN Stores.

* Additional entries can be made by leaving separate comments letting me know you've liked CSN on Facebook or follow CSN on Twitter.

*Don't forget to include your email so I can contact you when you win.

Giveaway ends December 14th, 2010 at 11: 59 p.m. EST. Winner will be chosen via random number generator.

Good Luck, Everyone!

Thanksgiving Pt. 2 & Cranberry Apple Pie

2010-12-03T09:10:00.011-05:00

This, the second of our two Thanksgiving pies, is my new absolute favorite pie of all time. Hands down! Hitherto, I thought I didn't like apple pie very much (because I don't like most apples), but when I came across a recipe that called for green apples (the only apple I do like) I was eager to give it a try. And the addition of cranberries made it all but impossible for me to not make it. I had exactly two cups of Lee's lovely cranberries remaining in the freezer, waiting for the perfect excuse to be used. This. Is. Quintessential. New England. Served with homemade ice cream, whipped cream, or both, cranberry apple pie will happily make an annual return to the dining table come every holiday season. And maybe yours, too!

Cranberry Green Apple Pie
Recipe courtesy and adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

1 & 3/4 cups sugar (I cut this down from the original two cups)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon*

1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice*

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg*

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

4 cups sliced peeled tart apples

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon each flour and sugar, mixed

In place of the spices called for, I used 1/2 teaspoon homemade apple pie spice blend and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.

Apple Pie Spice Blend

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Add all ingredients to small bowl or zip shut bag and mix (or shake, in bag). Store remaining mix.

Directions:

Add first 7 ingredients to large bowl and stir to combine. To same bowl, add in sliced apple and cranberries; gently toss to coat. *See below for pie crust directions.
Sprinkle bottom crust with flour-sugar mixture. Add apple mixture to bottom pie crust. Add 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of butter in small pieces over apples. Add top crust; fold hanging edges underneath and crimp to seal. When pie is assembled, cut vents in top of crust to allow air to escape while baking.

Refrigerate pie while preheating oven to 450 degrees. Add pie to preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, lower heat to 350 degrees and bake for 50-60 minutes or until top of pie is golden brown and filling is bubbling. Allow to cool and set before cutting.

Shortening-Butter Crust:

2 1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour, plus extra for rolling
2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup Plus 1 teaspoon chilled vegetable shortening
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

Tools:

Rolling Pin
Wax Paper

To Sprinkle over bottom of crust before adding fruit:

Mix together 1 tablespoon each, flour and granulated sugar. This will help prevent pie filling juices from soaking through bottom of crust.

To Make Crust:

In standard sized food processor, or large bowl, process, or mix with hand mixer, flour, salt and sugar until combined. Add in shortening and process or mix until mixture resembles coarse sand, approximately 10 seconds. Add pieces of butter over flour mixture and process in 1 second pulses, or mix, turning hand mixer on then off, until pieces of butter are no bigger than small peas. Add 6 tablespoons ice water to mixture and, using a rubber spatula or hand mixer on low, fold in, or mix until just combined. Pinch dough with fingertips to be sure it sticks together, If not, add an additional 2 tablespoons ice water. Do not process or mix more than 30 seconds.
Turn dough onto work surface and gather into ball. Divide dough in half and flatten each into a round disk-like shape. Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.

After an hour, remove one round of dough from refrigerator. Measure out and lightly flour two equal pieces of wax paper. Place dough, in center, between two pieces of wax paper, begin to flatten round of dough with rolling pin. Give wax paper square a quarter turn after each roll. Roll dough two inches larger than inverted pie plate. (Place pie plate, upside down, over dough to make sure it's big enough.) Carefully remove only top layer of wax paper. Turn remaining wax paper holding dough, so that the dough is facing down, into pie pan. Make sure dough is even in pan. Carefully remove second piece of wax paper, which should be bottom side up. Brush off excess flour. Roll hanging dough under itself to crimp or cut off excess. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Reserve both pieces of wax paper and repeat process of rolling with second dough round, only this time, leave rolled out dough in wax paper and refrigerate until needed.

Thanksgiving & Sweet Potato Pie

2010-11-29T15:20:00.016-05:00

Even though there was only my grandmother and I celebrating Thanksgiving this year at my house, we were both really looking forward to it. Due in large part to the FOOD. But that seems to be a universal sentiment this time of year. And of course, I had so much to celebrate and be thankful for, but that's not limited to just one day. I'm grateful everyday. I hope you, too, have many reasons to feel thankful.

This year was different in that we ventured away from our usual store bought desserts and I made everything from scratch. Believe it or not, I have less than a year total baking experience. Before then, most of the things I cooked were pre-packaged, frozen and re-heated. What a difference a year can make! Most of the food you'd find in my kitchen these days are things I made myself.

I, myself don't eat any pie with egg in it, but when my grandmother requested a sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving, I was happy to oblige. If you've seen my previous posts' Here, and Here, you know I've fallen in love with pie making over the months.

I chose this one especially for its inclusion of maple syrup, which I thought sounded perfect for the Holiday.

Sweet Potato Pie
Recipes courtesy and adapted from Simply Recipes and MomsWhoThink

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoon real maple syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes
1 &1/2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

To Make Filling:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Poke holes in two sweet potatoes. Cover in aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour and ten minutes or until soft. When ready, continue to next step.

3. In large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Turn speed to low and add in eggs 1 at a time.

4. Add in remaining ingredients: remove skin from sweet potatoes and measure out 1 and 1/2 cups filling, maple syrup, vanilla, cream, nutmeg and cinnamon, mix on low or stir until combined.

*See below for crust instructions.

Cover sides and top of pie crust completely with aluminum foil. Use fork to create holes in bottom of crust. Place pan with bottom crust in oven and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until bottom crust lightly browns on 375 degrees. Remove pan from oven. Carefully remove aluminum foil.

Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Pour sweet potato filling into pie crust and bake for 40 minutes, or until firm.

To Make Crust:

In standard sized food processor, or large bowl, process, or mix with hand mixer, flour, salt and sugar until combined. Add in shortening and process or mix until mixture resembles coarse sand, approximately 10 seconds. Add pieces of butter over flour mixture and process in 1 second pulses, or mix, turning hand mixer on then off, until pieces of butter are no bigger than small peas. Add 6 tablespoons ice water to mixture and, using a rubber spatula or hand mixer on low, fold in, or mix until just combined. Pinch dough with fingertips to be sure it sticks together, If not, add an additional 2 tablespoons ice water. Do not process or mix more than 30 seconds.
Turn dough onto work surface and gather into ball. Divide dough in half and flatten each into a round disk-like shape. Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.

After an hour, remove one round of dough from refrigerator. Measure out and lightly flour two equal pieces of wax paper. Place dough, in center, between two pieces of wax paper, begin to flatten round of dough with rolling pin. Give wax paper square a quarter turn after each roll. Roll dough two inches larger than inverted pie plate. (Place pie plate, upside down, over dough to make sure it's big enough.) Carefully remove only top layer of wax paper. Turn remaining wax paper holding dough, so that the dough is facing down, into pie pan. Make sure dough is even in pan. Carefully remove second piece of wax paper, which should be bottom side up. Brush off excess flour. Roll hanging dough under itself to crimp or cut off excess. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Reserve both pieces of wax paper and repeat process of rolling with second dough round.

Using a cookie cutter, cut out the shape you desire using to decorate top of crust. Place shapes on lined cookie sheet, remove excess dough, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.
(I used maple leafs.)

Once pie has cooled, baked shapes in preheated 400 degree oven for about ten minutes, or until lightly browned. Allow shapes to cool and assemble over top of pie.

Vanilla, Mint & The Extract Experiment

2010-11-26T11:22:00.009-05:00

Hi Everyone,

For those of us who celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S., I hope you enjoyed a wonderful holiday filled with love, family, friends, delicious food and a lot to be thankful for. And for my friends around the world, I wish you all the same and a joyous holiday season ahead.

Today's post is simple and short, but something I'm really excited to share. All of us bakers, often or occasional, know how quickly we can go through vanilla extract, so when I came across the recipe for vanilla extract quite some time ago and saw how easy it was, I knew it was something I'd definitely get around to making.

Because I also use a lot of mint in homemade ice cream, I thought I'd give that one a try, too.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

You only need two ingredients:

Vanilla Beans, 3-4, split down the middle
1 Cup Vodka

And patience for one month.

For the mint, I used a handful. (But wait, we'll talk about this version in a minute.)

Simply fill a clean jar with 1 cup vodka and 3-4 vanilla beans split down the middle. Cover tightly, shake well and store in a cool dark place. You'll keep the jar stored in a cool, dark place for 1 month, continuing to give the jar a hearty shake once or twice a week...

After one month, you'll be left with an all natural, old-fashioned, full-bodied delicious vanilla that will easily take the place of anything you could buy in the store. I just can't stress enough how much I LOVE this vanilla. I've already made a second jar in preparation for the holiday season. Only this time, I mixed Tahitian and Bourbon Madagascar beans, where the first time I only used Tahitian.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the mint extract. The principle is the same; Store in a cool, dark place, shake, wait a month...
After a week the mint started to turn brown and the vodka took on notes of the dying herb (imagine cut flowers that have been left to die in a vase). Curious, I tasted it and it is very minty, but stale nonetheless. Alas, that extract will be thrown out.

My grandmother said this homemade vanilla ice cream reminds her of her childhood. I'd say that's a ringing endorsement for making your own extract.

North End & The New England Aquarium

2010-11-22T16:36:00.021-05:00

After returning from Maine, my body, in what was obviously a sign of disapproval, responded to me leaving that gorgeous town by getting sick. After a week and 2 days stuck at home, most of which were spent in bed, I was glad to be feeling better and eager to get out and enjoy the time I had left with Daph.

We searched and searched for restaurants worthy of a try before giving into the glowing reviews about the awesome food at Giacamo's in The North End of Boston.
If you live or have ever visited Boston and are familiar with Hanover St., you know you can't trip without falling into an Italian restaurant, bakery or eatery of some kind. Much to my gluttonous delight!

No special treatment here! You wait on line outside and are seated according to how many people are in your party and how many chairs they have available.
Being only two, Daph and I got seats pretty quickly overlooking the kitchen.

Giacamo's is a tiny space where our waitress, Jenny, encouraged us to "crowd in and get close like family."
They don't bother with menus either. Which I liked. You peer over to the left wall where the entire menu and daily specials are listed in colorful chalk on a large chalkboard.

I started with a small fried calamari served with the house red sauce for dipping. This was my first calamari experience and I loved them.

Daph ordered the caprese salad. This was standard, but he really enjoyed it.

For the main course, I went with something else new to me, pumpkin tortellini, with sage and marscipone sauce. It was creamy and sweeter than you might expect. I thought the flavor was great, but after a few bites grew tired of the sweetness and wished I'd ordered something more savory.

Daph ordered the fettucini with salmon in traditional red sauce. We both thought this was delicious. He was kind enough to share, so we ate from his plate together.
(I'll post a red sauce recipe you can make at home that rivals Giacamo's soon!)

We loved our overall experience. We read reviews about rude waitresses/waiters, but saw none of that. Jenny, our waitress, couldn't have been anymore charming and welcoming. Giacamo's only takes cash.

As the restaurant is so small, no dessert is served. For dessert we walked up a block to Mike's Pastries for cannoli's. After pushing our way through the ravenous crowd (which you're encouraged to do), I called out my order from what I gathered they might have. Mike's is so crowded you can't see the cases, and you have to order quickly.

We came home with Pistachio, chocolate chip, and lobster claw cannoli's (the latter is filled with traditional lobster claw filling, not ricotta), a whoopi pie, a piece of Boston creme pie (which is actually custard filled cake) and an eclair for my grandmother.
The pistachio cannoli's were our favorite!

Later in the week we used the free passes I got from the Boston Public Library to visit the New England Aquarium. If you have a library card in Boston, free passes are available at the library to most of the Museums and other attractions in the city. You just have to call to request a day and pick them up!

I hadn't been to the aquarium in years and didn't remember it being so small (the outside is misleading), but it was. The things we did see were beautiful, but unfortunately, we saw no sharks in the ascending spiral tank! That's what we were really looking forward to. And the penguins. No fear, the adorable penguins still greet you upon entrance into the aquarium.

The month Daph was here was magical for the both of us. I couldn't imagine it was possible, but I fell in love with him all over again, deeper than ever before. He arrived the man I planned to spend the rest of my life with, and left...(after eloping November 5th), My Husband. And the man I always will.

I'm so happy I could share that month with all of you, My Blogger Friends.

So Good & Honey Oatmeal Wheat Bread

2010-11-20T12:06:00.014-05:00

When I sent pictures of this bread to my husband, he asked which I liked best, the Honey Oatmeal Wheat, or the Harvest Squash Bread I made a couple of months back. Without hesitation, I answered: "They're both so good, there's just no choosing."
The Honey Wheat for its soft, chewy, ever so slightly sweet, perfect for sandwiches and toasting ability. And the Harvest Squash Bread for its rustic, overnight developed, hearty, earthy, perfect alongside or dipped into soups quality. I haven't been working with yeast very long, but I can tell you if you haven't yet, it's addictive. There's something primitively satisfying about pulling a loaf or two of bread you nurtured, developed and worked with your own two hands out of the oven, and confirming with each bite thereafter. If I haven't convinced you already, don't deprive yourself of that magic any longer.

Honey Oatmeal Wheat Bread
Recipe courtesy and adapted from The Fresh Loaf And AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 Cup boiled water
1 Cup rolled oats
2 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 Cup honey or molasses
1/3 Cup warm water
2 packets active dry yeast
3 Cups white bread flour
2 Cups whole wheat flour
Plus Additional bread flour for kneading, up to 1 cup. If using all white flour, you may need more. If using whole wheat flour, you should need less.
2 tablespoons honey, warmed slightly. 2 tablespoons oats. (Optional)

Directions:

1. In medium saucepan boil 2 cups water. Remove from heat (turn stove off), add oats, honey and butter. Allow to soak for 20 minutes. After the oats have soaked for 10 minutes, begin preparing remaining ingredients.

2. In large bowl, sprinkle yeast over 1/3 cup warm water. Let stand 5-10 minutes. While yeast is soaking, in separate bowl, measure out flour and stir salt into flour with fork. Once the oats have soaked 20 minutes and have cooled some, add soaked oats into bowl with yeast. Stir and let stand 5 minutes or until foamy.

3. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, into bowl with foamy yeast. With wooden spoon, stir ingredients to incorporate. (A lot of the flour will remain after mixing, this will be fully incorporated after kneading.) Turn ingredients out from bowl onto clean surface or countertop. Form into mound with hands. Incorporate ingredients and begin to knead. If dough is too sticky, add in additional flour 1 teaspoon at a time. (I needed an additional 2 teaspoons). Continue kneading dough for approximately 15 minutes, or until dough becomes smooth, soft and feels lighter.

4. Clean and thoroughly dry large bowl. Use canola or vegetable oil to lightly oil bowl. Place dough in bowl and turn to coat with oil. Use plastic wrap to cover bowl and allow dough to rise in warm place until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

5. Once dough has risen, punch dough down to remove air and turn out onto clean surface. Cut dough in half and form into 2 loaves, big enough to fit bread pans. Lightly oil two bread pans and add 1 formed loaf of dough to each pan. Cover and let double in size in warm place, for approximately 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once loaves have risen, use serrated knife to make slits if desired and baste each loaf of dough with melted butter or beaten egg.

6. Turn oven up to 375. Bake bread for 30 minutes or until tops have turned golden brown and, when tapped with fingertip, bottom of bread sounds hollow. Remove loaves from pans and transfer to cooling rack. Brush top of each loaf with slightly warmed honey and sprinkle with oats, if desired.

Just out of the oven, still warm and covered in honey, this bread glistens and begs to be eaten.

Toasted or plain, spread with Homemade Raspberry Jam, this bread really shone.

The Real Deal & Raspberry Jam

2010-11-17T11:48:00.009-05:00

Just around the corner from my house is a great little fruit and vegetable store that sells most of their fruits, vegetables and herbs for $ 1. 50 or less. I usually bring my beloved "granny cart" and walk out with a big haul--cart filled to the brim for less than 20 bucks. I can't even look at produce in traditional grocery stores anymore without feeling like I'm being robbed. Charging four times the price! Ugh. Going to that jewel around the corner, especially in the summer, for peaches and berries, lemons and limes, melons and lettuce, et al., has got to be one of my single most treasured joys in life. And one of the greatest things about living just outside of Boston Proper, in the real Boston; The true heartbeat of the city. Sans the pomp, circumstance and ungodly prices. Whether they're in-season or not, I can't pass up berries at 1 dollar a box, so when I came home with 5 boxes a few weeks ago, I thought it the perfect time to try my hand at jam making. The end result is something more vibrant, magical and lovely than even the best jam you can buy in the store. And a great way to reinvigorate out-of-season fruit.

Old-Fashioned Raspberry Jam
Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:

4 cups (1 liter) granulated sugar
4 cups (1 liter) raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Add sugar to shallow pan and place in preheated oven for 15 minutes. This step really helped the sugar to dissolve better.
2. Clean and dry large stainless steel or enamel pan. Add berries to pan. Allow berries to come to complete boil on high heat. Use potato masher to mash berries while they're heating, if desired. My berries fell apart on their own. Stir constantly as berries as berries come to a hard boil for 1 minute.

My notes: The original recipe advices against not reducing amount of sugar or changing cook time, Two things I did. After adding 3 cups of sugar, I tasted and found the berries very sweet, so I didn't add the 4th cup. As a precaution, I cooked the berries longer to help ensure they would gel properly.

3. Carefully add in warmed sugar (Again, I only used 3 cups). Stir. Return berries and sugar to boil. Boil sugar and berry mixture until gel begins to form, approximately 5 minutes. To test mixture for doneness, quickly insert then remove metal spoon into jam, flip spoon upside down; In the beginning, mixture will run down spoon thin and syrupy. A minute or two later, mixture will be thicker. Jam is ready when same test yields two thick drops more slowly running down spoon and coming together before falling off.

BE CAREFUL! Sugar gets very hot.

4. Carefully ladle jam into sterilized jars. Leave 1/4 inch between jam and top of jar.

To Sterilize Jars:

Add amount of jars needed for canning (In the case of this recipe, I used 4 half pint (8 oz.) jars), to large pot, cover jars with boiled water. Boil over high heat for 10 minutes. Add jar tops to smaller pot and bring to a gently boil for 7 minutes. Drain water and use very clean utensils or canning kit jar remover and magnet to remove jars and tops from water. When safe to handle, empty to dry jars. If you have a dishwasher with a "sterilize" setting, this can also be used to sterilize jars.

5. After ladling jam into sterilized jars, clean any jam from outside of jars and rim. Cover jars by placing center round on first. Push down middle of center round while screwing on the cover ring. Add jars of jam to large pot of boiling water; One large enough to hold jars and cover them with 2 inches of water. Boil for 6-7 minutes. Placing a small round cake rack in the bottom of pan before adding jars of jam stops them from rattling.

6. Use jar lifter to remove jars from water and allow to cool overnight in a place with no drafts. Once the jars have cooled, make sure the lids have sealed by pushing the center top of cover. If you hear a "popping" noise, jars have not sealed. If you refrigerate jar right away, it's still eatable, but do not store this jar outside of refrigerator. Properly sealed jars should store and remain fresh for several months.

Lee's Cranberries & Cranberry Walnut Vanilla Coffee Cake

2010-11-13T16:07:00.014-05:00

In my last post I mentioned my Uncle taking Daph and I to meet and say goodbye to the lovely Lee who, along with her husband Roger, own Blue Water Inn. While we were there I noticed sitting on her kitchen counter two very large zip loc bags filled with the plumpest, most beautiful cranberries I'd ever seen. I was not shy about asking if I could have some for baking. Thinking she would transfer a couple of cups into a smaller bag, I was surprised and so grateful when she flashed a big smile and happily handed over one of the two bags. "They're yours," she said. She went on to explain that a friend gathered them fresh that morning from one of his cranberry bogs in Maine. I didn't even know Maine produced their own cranberries, and such beautiful ones at that. You hear lots about Maine blueberries in New England, of which they're famous for, but never cranberries. We generally think of Cape Cod when talking cranberries. These particular berries were perfect for baking; Cooking down more than any I've worked with before. And sweeter. I've never really been much of a coffee cake person, but everyone in my house agreed, this one was really good.

Cranberry Walnut Vanilla Coffee Cake
Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Gourmet via Epicurious

Ingredients:

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups fresh or thawed frozen cranberries (6 ounces)
1/2 teasponn lemon zest (Optional)
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, divided
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (Optional)

Garnish: Dust with confectioners sugar

Directions:

Place rack in middle of oven, close door and Preheat to 375 degrees F. Butter 8-by 2-inch rounded cake pan generously. Cut parchment paper into round to fit bottom of pan. Line pan with parchment and butter again generously. (It never calls for this, but I also make strips to line around buttered sides of pan with parchment then butter again, as well.)

To food processor, add sugar. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean pod and add to sugar in food processor. Pulse to combine. Add sugar to small bowl. Reserve bowl. In food processor, pulse cranberries with 1/2 cup of the vanilla sugar from reserved bowl just until chopped finely but NOT puréed.

In separate smaller bowl, add 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt and whisk until combined.

In medium bowl, add 1 stick butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 cup vanilla sugar from reserved bowl of vanilla sugar (1/4 cup vanilla sugar and 1 tablespoon butter should be remaining). On medium-high speed, beat until light, fluffy and pale in color. Add in eggs one by one, beating to combine after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl. While mixing on low speed, alternately add in flour mixture and milk, starting and finishing with flour mixture, just until combined. Gently fold in chopped walnuts to batter, if using.

Add half of the batter to lined cake pan and spread evenly. Just before adding cranberries to cake, mix in lemon zest if using. Leaving 1/2 (one half) inch border around edge of batter, spoon cranberries over-top of batter. Completely top with remaining batter, using knife or back of spoon to smooth.

Add tablespoon butter to remaining 1/4 cup sugar and use fingertips to blend. Sprinkle crumbled mixture over the top of cake.

Cake should be baked when sides begin to pull away from sides of pan and tester inserted into cake (not cranberry filling) comes out clean, approximately 45 to 50 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes before removing. Allow to cool completely on cooling rack, crumb side up.

I'm Back & Ogunquit Pt. 4: Coming Home

2010-11-11T12:15:00.024-05:00

I know I've been pretty sparse over the past month. As some you already know, my husband was here, in Boston, visiting from France through November 7th. Alas, Daph returned to Paris on Sunday. As broken-hearted as I am, I will not let the amazing time we had while he was here be overshadowed by the small matter of a thing that will heal.

I want to thank everyone so much for your patience, support and kind messages. It meant a lot to me that my blogger friends from around the world kept in touch while I was away.
I'm eager to see what everyone has been up to over the past four weeks!

You may notice the words on my blog posts' appear to be out of sequence and running alongside pictures, as opposed to on top. A couple of weeks ago I had Windows re-installed. When I got the computer back I was frustrated to see my blog had changed. Please bear with me as I try to fix the problem...Hopefully soon.

Okay, Okay, so technically it took me for weeks to re-cap a four day getaway in Ogunquit, but you know how sometimes life gets busy, unforeseen thing occur and before you know it, a whole month has passed? Well, that's what happened.

Ogunquit Pt. 1

Ogunquit Pt. 2

Ogunquit Pt. 3

Without further ado, the fourth and final Ogunquit post.

Located next to the beach is a quaint little joint (best way to describe it) called Blue Water Inn. It's a popular bar among the locals in Ogunquit owned by two of the loveliest people you'll ever meet, Lee and Roger.

My Uncle took Daph and I there to have a few drinks and enjoy a low-key evening before leaving for Boston the following day.
We all had Mudslides, Daph and I for the first time. Since Daph doesn't like the taste of coffee, I was happy to help him by finishing his before ordering a third of my own.

Our bartender, Ben, was super nice about posing for pictures when I slurred at him to hold still so I could take his photo. Again, I had three Mudslides. The sixth time was a charm. What a Cutie!

Earlier that day my Uncle was so kind to take Daph out for a few driving lessons. In the first Ogunquit post I told you about our ordeal at Hertz. This time, it was a success! Daph grasped the German engineering a lot better and managed to take over driving duties all day. Okay, I'll be honest, he was our sober driver.

Here's my Uncle John after a few of the aforementioned Mudslides. Hence the need for a sober driver.

The next day we said goodbye to the house before heading off...

Before taking us to the train station, my Uncle stopped by Lee and Roger's house (they own Blue Water Inn) so we could meet them and say goodbye. My Uncle was heading back to Florida the next day. Lee is a bundle of energy and what a spitfire! Her Husband, Roger, is fluent in French and spoke with Daph while I snapped pictures of one of their gorgeous apple trees.

Randy's dog Bubbles accompanied us to the train station. We took care of her over the weekend, so it was sad saying goodbye.

As it was just about to leave, we made it to the Downeaster just in time to buy our tickets and board.

It's a beautiful train ride when, before you know it, you're pulling into Boston's North Station.

What an awesome four days. So long, Maine...

Ogunquit Pt. 3, The Beach & The Lobster Pound

2010-10-28T11:12:00.030-04:00

A quick note:

To my fellow bloggers,

I just wanted to thank everyone again for being so patient with my absence these past few weeks. As you can imagine, when you only get to spend time with your husband once a year, you cherish, savor, immerse yourself in every second of it. In a far too short 10 days from now Daph returns to France and life will return to my usual slower pace. Aside from the broken heart I'm sure to have, I look forward to catching up with you and your blogs. I hope everyone has been enjoying themselves. Doing new things. Making delicious food. And staying inspired.

'til soon,

--Ree

Ogunquit Pt. 1

Ogunquit Pt. 2

Ogunquit Pt. 4

Ogunquit Continued, Part 3:

The Lobster Point Lighthouse marks the end of Marginal Way. It was good to see the old girl again.

From there we headed towards Ogunquit Beach. You have to navigate your way through some side streets and houses to get there...

But it's totally worth it. The weather turned windy and cool once we made our way out onto the beach, Daph and I found it exhilarating. It was gorgeous! Getting so close to this seagull was super cool, too.

Later that night my Uncle John and his friend Randy treated us to dinner at The Lobster Pound.
That's where I tried Manhattan's, two of them...for the first and last time.

While we were waiting for our table at the bar, we went outside to the tank to pick out our lobsters. Males, never over 2 & 1/2 lbs. are the sweetest and most tender, I learned.

While we were seated, Randy stepped out for a moment. When she returned she announced, "Hey Daphny, I found a French guy for you." "From Quebec." The man, we've since named 'Perry', greeted Daph like they were old friends. After several Manhattan's and vodka tonics, we laughed hysterically as they shared impassioned discourse and hugs for twenty minutes. Nice to meet you "Perry"!

Steamer clams.

Daph and I tried fried oysters for the first time. They were absolutely delicious!

Daph tried onion rings or, 'those round things' as he would say, for the first time and couldn't get enough of them.

I will not lie to you. Almost any place you go to eat in Ogunquit will be pricey. Ogunquit is an expensive town. We absolutely LOVED our dinner, but be prepared to spend.

The next day we all pitched in to help my Uncle John make a seafood chowder with the leftover lobster from the night before. He says his secret is the clam juice. Lunch on the screened in deck, listening to Sinatra with a cold glass of Bailey's was divine. And so was our time there.

One Bite & Into the Mystic...Pizza

2010-10-24T10:56:00.015-04:00

Over the past several weeks maybe you'll remember me telling you about Food 'n Flix? A blog started by my friend Heather over at Girlichef and co-hosted by me. Since hosting duties are interchangeable, switching every other month, and my month happened to fall in October, I knew exactly which movie I would feature: 'Mystic Pizza', and thus what I would be making.

Ever since last year's visit, Daph has never stopped talking about the pizza I made for him. He says that finding really good pizza in France is next to impossible and since having homemade pizza I've spoiled him for, even the best, pizza he can find in the stores there. Not bragging. Homemade anything is almost always better than pre-made, prepackaged, store-bought anything else.

Pizza just happens to be my favorite food that isn't ice cream. We were both eager upon our return from Ogunquit for the pizza I deprived myself of for months and promised to make Daph for a year. It was well worth the wait. Not bragging.

Maybe a little bit.

Making at home Vs. Ordering Pizza, The Pros:

Pizza is really easy to make. And super fun.
You can tailor it to suit your own taste and diet.
The freshness of ingredients is unmatched.
You home smells A-MA-ZING!
Nothing beats the feeling of pulling your own handmade, delicious, bubbling, oozing with cheesy goodness, vegetables roasted to perfection, Mmmm, so good, everyone will love this: Pizza!

This is an overnight dough. Yes, overnight. And yes, it's worth it. So give yourself at least 18-24 hours before you plan to make your pizza so the dough has time to work its magic in the refrigerator.

Dough Ingredients:

Recipe Courtesy and Adapted from Alton Brown.

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon kosher salt*

1 tablespoon pure olive oil

1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning (Optional)

3/4 cup warm water

2 cups bread flour (for bread machines)

1 teaspoon instant yeast

2 teaspoons olive oil

Olive oil, for the pizza crust

Flour, for dusting the pizza peel

Add sugar, olive oil, water, 1 cup of flour, yeast to bowl of stand mixer or large bowl. Use paddle attachment or wooden spoon to incorporate ingredients at low speed. Mix salt (and Italian seasoning, if using) into remaining 1 cup of flour and add to ingredients in bowl. Mix until incorporated. If using mixing bowl, allow dough to form ball at low speed. If using spoon and large bowl, incorporate ingredients as much as you can with spoon then scrape contents of bowl onto clean surface and knead dough with hands for about 7 to 10 minutes, or until dough forms into smooth ball. If using mixer, oil hook attachment with cooking spray, secure hook attachment to mixer and allow to knead for 15 minutes at medium speed.

Pull off small piece of dough and form into thin disc. Holding dough up to light, check for "netting effect." If dough appears to have "netting effect," and does not tear, your dough is ready. If not, continue to knead for 3 to 6 minutes by hand or 5-10 minutes with hook attachment.

Form dough into smooth ball on clean countertop. Lightly oil glass or stainless steel bowl, place dough in bowl and turn to coat. Use plastic wrap to cover bowl and refrigerate for 18 to 24 hours.

When ready...

This is where Alton directs you to place pizza stone or tile onto the bottom or lowest rack of cold oven and turn oven to its highest setting, generally 500 degrees F. When I did this and proceeded to cook my pizza, I smelled burning within a few minutes. DO NOT let this discourage you. I only tell you that so I can explain I used an inverted cookie sheet to bake my pizza instead of a pizza stone. When doing that, I bake my pizza on the middle rack at 410 degrees F for 30 to 45 minutes. When I returned to my usual method, the pizza baked beautifully.

For thinner crust, divide dough into two equal parts. Flatten each piece, then fold each piece over onto itself, forming into ball. For thicker crust, leave dough whole. I leave it whole, as I use a lot of toppings.
Use very little water to dampen hands and rub them over countertop. With the heel of your hands, roll dough until it tightens. Cover with clean dish towel for 30 minutes. Repeat with second half of dough.

I skip the aforementioned step altogether. I simply remove bowl with dough from refrigerator and allow to rest on counter while I prepare my ingredients and preheat the oven, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Either way, from here you will either use dough immediately or spray inside of of zip shut bag with cooking spray and store dough refrigerated in bag for up to 6 days.

Use hands or rolling pin to stretch dough over pizza peel or inverted cookie sheet, shake stretched pizza dough on peel to ensure it moves and slide it onto stone or tile (if not using cookie sheet). Top and bake immediately for more crisp crust or allow to rest for 30 minutes then top for chewier crust.

Topping Ingredients:

11 logs string cheese (I use Frigo for this), cut into pieces in necessary

Sauce, Homemade or in Jar

Handful fresh basil leaves

A block and a Half of Mozzarella, Shredded ( I ONLY use whole milk Sorrento block mozzarella)

1/2 Green, Red and Yellow Bell Peppers, sliced

1/2 Large or Whole Small Yellow or Red Onion, sliced

7-8 Ounces of a 10 ounce package whole white mushrooms, sliced

Salt-free Garlic and Herb seasoning (I've tried it and Italian seasoning in not nearly as good for topping)

Leave enough dough to wrap around logs of string cheese. Place logs around outer rim of dough, cutting into pieces to fit if necessary.

Fold excess dough over logs, covering completely. Pinch dough to bottom crust to seal.

Layer dough (inside covered logs) with sauce and torn pieces of fresh basil.

Cover with cheese. I added diced pieces of sun-dried tomatoes. Sprinkle cheese with salt-free garlic and herb seasoning.

Layer with sliced fresh vegetables.

I also added sliced ball of fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle again with salt-free garlic and herb seasoning.

After about 40 minutes in the oven, the pizza is ready!

This calls for a celebration...

To Warm You Up & Red Lentil Soup

2010-10-16T14:05:00.012-04:00

The weather here in New England has been so cool, crisp and quintessentially fall. I thought I'd take a break from my remaining two Maine posts' to share a delicious soup I made last week.
Come this time of the year I'm always looking for recipes that are warm, comforting, delicious, and if at all possible, recipes that manage to be packed with goodies to keep us healthy, too. This soup happens to fall under all those categories. This was my first experience with lentils; They're nutty, rich and filling. If I could liken them to anything, it would maybe be the garbanzo bean. Small as red lentils are, they share some of the same hearty characteristics. The soup was so quick and easy to make. And served with my second batch of Harvest Squash Bread, this has easily become a new seasonal favorite.

Red Lentil Soup

Recipe courtesy and Adapted From Epicurious

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 carrots, chopped (1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped fresh or canned tomato (I used both)
1 celery rib, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried red lentils
3 cups water
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place heavy 5-quart sauce pan or Dutch oven over medium/high heat, add oil and heat until oil becomes hot but NOT smoking. Add in chopped onion and sauté for about five minutes, or until tender and light golden in color. Add garlic, carrots, tomato, celery, cumin, and salt. Sauté (stir), continue stirring for two minutes. To vegetables, add dried red lentils, water and broth. Turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in lemon juice, fresh parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ogunquit Pt. 2 & Marginal Way

2010-10-13T11:51:00.023-04:00

My Uncles' Pat and John have owned a home in Ogunquit, Maine for 20 years. In all the summer's and one other fall I've visited, I've never walked Marginal Way, the one and a half mile cliffwalk that overlooks the ocean and leads to Ogunquit Beach, in its entirety. Daph and I were so fortunate to have gorgeous weather during our stay over Columbus Day weekend. Which also happens to be the last weekend all the stores and restaurants are open and the trolley is running. There are less than 1000 residents off-season.

Ogunquit Pt. 1

Ogunquit Pt. 3

Ogunquit Pt. 4

Daph and I started at the very beginning of Marginal Way. We snapped several pictures of the gorgeous scenery before deciding to get lunch in preparation for our full day of walking.

We stopped for lunch at Oarweed. If you're sitting by a window or outside, you're able to look out at the water while you eat. The salty beach air was intoxicating.

We ordered appetizers, salad and seafood chowder. Daph had Haddock broiled in butter and I had the Seafood trio (Haddock, Stuffed Shrimp, Scallops) cooked the same way.

After lunch we headed outside and began the trail along Marginal Way.

We just couldn't get over the beauty along our walk. I'm thrilled I was able to share my favorite place on earth with my favorite person on earth.

{Click Picture to Enlarge}

What a day! And this was just the beginning...

Not Without a Hitch & Ogunquit, Pt. 1

2010-10-12T14:51:00.014-04:00

Ogunquit Pt. 2

Ogunquit Pt. 3

Ogunquit Pt. 4

On Thursday Daph and I headed to Hertz to pick up our rental car. From the onset, it was clear we were in for some trouble. Daph never having driven outside of Europe and me with no license, we admitted defeat after a few hard stalls around the Hertz parking lot, unloaded our luggage and returned to the office, a little embarrassed, to return the car.
We finally decided to take the train to Wells, Maine which isn't far from Ogunquit, only to discover we went to the wrong station. After lugging our bags all around the city of Boston, by T (Massachusetts Transit system) all day long, we were exhausted...and hungry. I called my Uncle to let him know we wouldn't be coming, but having already heard of our troubles he was planning to drive to Boston the following day so he could bring us up there himself. As he was already delaying his return to his husband, My Uncle Pat in Florida, by four days to host us at their home in Maine, we were so grateful he did all this for us.

Our first day in Maine was low key and welcomed relief from the hours spent traveling the prior two days. We went to Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus, Mass. where I ordered my favorite drink, the headhunter (or coconut mist), A mixture of coconut milk and rum. Well, two of them, and a Mai Tai. The food was delicious also, but after two and a half drinks on an empty stomach, I don't trust my assessment as being wholly unaltered.
Later My Uncle John, Myself and Daph tagged along with my Uncle's friend, Randy, to see her son, Michael play in a football game where the Wells Warrior's took on and defeated Cape Elizabeth.

Go Warriors!

We spent a fantastic four days in Maine. My Uncle was incredibly kind and worked so hard to make sure we felt at home. We did! And we'll never forget.

My Uncle John and Daph.

I'll be posting the gorgeous pictures of Ogunquit and our trip one post (for each day) at a time to keep from overwhelming you. I look forward to sharing with everyone!

Ultimate Happiness & A Quick Update

2010-10-07T13:14:00.026-04:00

I'm so excited! The day I've been telling you about, Here, Here, and Here has finally come...Last night my fiancé, Daph, arrived in Boston from Paris for what I'm sure is going to be one of the best months of our lives. Words couldn't express how happy we are to be together again after nearly a year apart.

In the weeks leading up to this day I've been so busy tying up loose ends and preparing that I haven't been very present in the blogosphere. I apologize to everyone for my absence and all the blogs I haven't been able to read. I look forward to catching up on all the things I've missed and will miss over the next four weeks soon.

In the mean time, I will continue to keep everyone updated with pictures, "Musings and Love." And if time allows, some "Milk and Sugar," too.

Today, we head off to my favorite place on earth, Ogunquit/Kennebunk, Maine for a long weekend at my Uncles' summer home. I'm giddy to be going back after several years away and thrilled I can finally share this piece of heaven on earth with the love of my life.

I'm bringing my camera and extra batteries!

Some Milk and Sugar before I go:

He brought several different kinds of chocolate from A La Mére de Famille, Chocolatier A Paris, Fauchon, Paris, and Moët.

These artisan chocolates are beautiful. The milk chocolate with hazelnuts and hazelnut and almond truffles (in the box with the picture of a squirrel on it above) were my favorite.

And this adorable tote from his stop in London.

"Chocolat" & "Chocolat(e)" Graham Crackers

2010-09-29T15:12:00.017-04:00

Several posts' back I mentioned Food 'n Flix, a blog started by my friend Heather over at Girlichef, who was so kind to ask if I would co-host along with her. Every month we feature a different movie that, directly or indirectly, relates to food. We invite everyone to watch the movie then cook/bake/make something that ties in to the movie of the month and blog about it. Fun!

This month's selection was "Chocolat," a film I described in my Chocolate-Walnut Fudge Cake post as a "sweet confection." What I should have said, however, is that along with Juliette Binoche, the film also stars Johnny Depp, that sweet confection of handsome. And waxes poetic about the wonders and magic of, what is inarguably, the sixth major food group; Begging, imploring, soliciting you to do only one thing, conjure up a little confectionery magic of your own and do it with Chocolat(e). Of course.

These graham's were rich, easy-to-make and delicious. They could just as easily be transformed into a crust for a fabulous pie or cheesecake, eaten alone, or topped with something equally yummy.

Chocolate Graham Crackers
Recipe courtesy and Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (2 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) Whole Wheat Flour, Traditional or White Whole Wheat (I like King Arthur best)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) honey
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) cold milk

Method:

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Add all of your dry ingredients to medium sized bowl and whisk together. Using either pastry blender, two knives, or the tips of your fingers, cut butter into dry ingredients until coarse crumbles form. In small separate bowl, mix honey in milk until dissolved. Add milk-honey mixture to dry ingredients and, using fork, mix until dry ingredients become moistened and dough clumps. If necessary, add a little more milk.

Transfer dough from bowl to floured surface. Gently fold dough onto itself 10-12 times, until completely formed together. Cut dough in half. Set one half aside and cover.
Place one half of dough onto parchment paper (the piece you used to line your cookie sheet). Roll out, into slightly larger than 10 x 14 rectangle. Approximately 1/16 inch in thickness. Neaten edges by trimming with knife or pizza cutter. Using dough docker or fork, prick dough evenly. Repeat with second half of dough and return to baking sheets (on parchment paper).
Add cookie sheets to oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the most gorgeous scent of chocolate begins to waft throughout your kitchen. Take sheets out of oven, place on flat surface and use pizza cutter or knife to cut into squares immediately. Remove from cookie sheets and allow to cool on cooling rack.

Store crackers, securely wrapped, in cool place.

Part 2 Of 2 & Pear-Cheese Tart (with gingersnap crust)

2010-09-25T14:02:00.017-04:00

*This is a continuation of a two-part post. The first of which can be opened in a separate page HERE.

When I started cooking again more seriously several months back, after not for nearly a decade, I endeavored to accomplish two things: Be more adventurous. Try something new. I have a bad habit of falling into a comfort zone and staying there. Once things become pro forma, I get bored and quit.

Case in point, Clarinet: Quit after 100 sum odd torture inducing solo performances of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. High school: Quit! After 9 years of formal (what I guess the Boston Public School System is passing for) "education," I left with what little of my dignity remained and a letter of dismissal. Kickboxing: Training 4-6 hours a day became my life. I lived and breathed this sport which, to this day, remains my love. Alas, eventually the routine grew tiring and I quit!

What I've since come to realize about myself is that it's not "routine" that wears on my fortitude, as much as it's the frame in which my perspective is held. "Change the way you look at something, and the thing itself changes." If I learned to play a song I enjoyed on the clarinet, maybe I would have stuck with it. If I transferred to a school with a less traditional approach, maybe I would have felt challenged enough to not drop out. If I expanded my method of training to include...well, you get the point. I'd still have those gorgeous abs!

I do come back to the things I love eventually, if they're good for me. I always do. Only, with the lessons quitting has taught me and a new perspective. Hundreds of books and essays and articles read, I've always loved and valued learning. Kickboxing has worked its way back into my daily routine without becoming routine. And I prefer listening to rather than making music. So it goes...

This dessert is a favorite in my house and something I make often with graham cracker crust and seasonal fruit, like pineapple or strawberries.

Today's version was born out of a willingness to try something I wouldn't have expected in a sweet treat, like ground black pepper in Gingersnap Cookies. Which I now see totally makes sense. And a desire to change my opinion about something I've never been too fond of: pears. A fruit I learned I can enjoy if pictured in the right frame.

Pear-Cheese Tart with (Chez Panisse recipe) Gingersnap Cookie Crust

Recipes couresty and Adapted from The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution (Clarkson Potter) by Alice Waters, via David Lebovitz. And Moi.

Topping:

4 Sweet Bartlett Pears (Or a mix of Bartlett and Bosc)
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon orange zest (Optional)

Crust:

2 cups crushed Chez Panisse recipe Gingersnap Cookies
3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)

Filling:

1 1/4 cup heavy/whipping cream (Prepared)
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

One 8 oz. package Philadelphia cream cheese
1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar

Method:

Peel pears. Cut in half and remove core. Cut pears in slices. Add slices to medium sauce pan with lemon juice, zest, brown sugar, and corn starch. Cook over medium heat until ingredients have combined and pears have broken down some, about 5 minutes. Cover and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Crush gingersnap cookies in food processor. Slowly add in melted butter until combined. Pour mixture into pie pan and, with the heel of your hand, form into crust around bottom and sides of pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Add cream cheese and 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar to medium bowl and mix until creamy. In separate bowl, lightly whip heavy cream, 2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar and vanilla into soft peaks. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese until mostly combined. Using mixer, mix until completely combined and smooth. Taste for sweetness and adjust as necessary.

Assembly:

Scrape cream cheese mixture into cooled crust. Spread evenly. Spoon cooled pear mixture over cream cheese. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 hours, or until set up.

Part 1 0f 2 & Chez Panisse Gingersnap Cookies

2010-09-23T14:39:00.010-04:00

*This is part one of a two-part post. The second of which can be opened in a separate page HERE.

Initially I considered graham crackers, which is what I've always used for the crust of the dessert I was making. In honor of fall, I thought I would try something that spoke to the flavor and tradition of the season, and make a gingersnap-cookie crust instead. But first, I needed gingersnaps. I found one recipe, on David Lebovitz' website, that separated itself from all the rest and intrigued me with its inclusion of ground black pepper. So, off to bake I went. From the moment I opened the jar of molasses, the main ingredient, I was...well, nervous. I recoiled as the smell reached out from the jar and smacked me in the face. I haven't worked with molasses in over ten years and had forgotten how much I don't like the smell of it.
I've had gingersnaps before. I knew I liked the flavor, but the smell of molasses threw me a bit. Until I placed the cookies in the oven to bake, I was convinced I made a mistake in not sticking with the graham cracker crust I was used to. Five minutes in, something happened. Something magical. The aroma of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg married and settled in, perfumed the air, transforming my kitchen into something that, if I closed my eyes, I would have mistaken for a gingerbread house. I felt, at once, warmth and welcomed home. What I pulled out of the oven was delicious, full-bodied, with an ever-so-slight surprise kick of pepper delightfully ending each bite.

"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity;
but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?"
--Hal Borland

Ginger Snaps
Makes 40-50 cookies

Recipe couresty and Adapted from The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution (Clarkson Potter) by Alice Waters. Via David Lebovitz

1/4-1/2 teaspoon Cardamom, Allspice or Cloves could also be added.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
11 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar (I mixed white and brown)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup mild-flavored molasses* (sometimes called ‘light’ molasses)
1 large egg, at room temperature
Coarse or Granulated Sugar for topping, Optional

Directions:

1. In medium bowl, stir dry ingredients together with fork.
2. In separate large bowl, or bowl of an electric mixer, mix butter on medium speed until light and airy. Add in sugar and mix until silky in appearance. Scrape down side of bowl and mix until combined.
3. Add in egg, molasses and vanilla. Mix to combine.
4. Spoon in dry ingredients while mixing until thoroughly combined.
5. Half the dough into two portions equal in size. Lightly flour surface and separately roll each into logs, approximately 2-inches around. Pat in ends to even out.
6. Separately wrap each log of dough in plastic and refrigerate or freeze until firm to touch.

When ready to Bake:

8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Using parchment paper or silicone liner, line two large cookie sheets.
9. Add coarse or granulated sugar to bowl (if using sugar). Using sharp knife, slice 1/4 inch dough for each cookie. Press one side of each cookie into sugar firmly. Place sugar-dipped cookies onto lined cookie sheets, two-inches apart, sugar-side facing up.
10. Add pans to oven and bake 10-14 minutes, or deep-golden in color. Turn pans halfway through so cookies are evenly baked.
11. Allow cookies to cool for two minutes before transferring to cooling rack with spatula.

Wrapped well, dough can be refrigerated for as long as five days, or frozen for three months. Store cookies in air-tight container.

The Y-Word & Harvest Squash Bread

2010-09-17T10:36:00.016-04:00

Since making Soft Pretzels for the first time several months back, which required the use of yeast, I've been having fun finding and making as much use of it as possible. Though I don't blog about it nearly as much as I use it. I figure 'tis the season to change that.

I, like a lot of people, was tentative to start, having heard the lore about how difficult yeast is to work with. I now stand convinced, the bread makers, along with the pie crust and the cheese makers have been working in collusion for years to create and propagate fear in the minds of would-be at-home cooks to keep us buying their products. If they knew that we figured out how relatively easy to make, and delicious their homemade counterparts were, those companies would be in BIG trouble.

Okay, so maybe we wouldn't spend our days and nights in the kitchen kneading dough and bringing milk to temperature in lieu of a store-run, but we would think twice about where our food comes from; What's in it, how it gets to our home and eventually our plate.

I'm all for a revolution on the matter! Now, I'm not going to start it, or plan for it. I'm not that organized. But I will attend and bring snacks. I might not even attend if it's before noon. Or if this is going to require a lot of walking. Or shouting. I don't like loud noises. Or sticks and throwing things. Hey, hey, Let's not get crazy here.

Okay, so maybe a revolt was a bad idea. How about we all just commit to try making something with yeast at least once if you haven't already, as a fun weekend project, some time after noon, in the quiet and peace of your own home.

This dense, chewy, nutty, earthy bread is my 6th and favorite hitherto. I've had it with butter, and then peanut butter, and toasted for breakfast this morning.
*Update: This bread makes the BEST peanut butter & jelly sandwich I've EVER had.

Harvest Squash Bread

Recipe courtesy and adapted from Cookingbread.com

Ingredients:

Squash Ingredients:

1 acorn squash
2 teaspoon butter
2 teaspoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons maple syrup

Day before Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

Day of Ingredients

2 3/4 to 3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup mashed squash ( above )
2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 Teaspoon Maple Syryp
1/4 cup flax meal (Ground Flax)
2 tablespoon flax seeds

*Total yeast will be one packet if using packet.

Method:

Cut acorn squash into half, lengthwise. Remove seeds with spoon. Using a fork, make holes around interior of the squash.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place squash onto parchment-lined cookie sheet (one with sides), or baking dish. Add piece of butter to each half of squash. Divide between two halves of squash, brown sugar and maple syrup. If using baking dish, add an inch or two of water to pan.

Add pan with squash to preheated oven and bake 1 hour or until squash feels soft when inserted with fork. If there are any juices remaining in squash, carefully pour into small bowl and reserve. Scoop inside of squash into separate bowl, reserving 1 cup, and mash with fork. (This can be done day before along with "day before" mix).

Using wooden spoon, add "day before" ingredients and mix together. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on counter or stove-top for 12-16 hours, or overnight.

12-16 hours later, or the next day, add mashed squash, water, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, reserved juices from baked squash (if any remain) and remaining yeast to "day before" mixture with wooden spoon, mix until smooth. To this, add flax meal and flax seeds. Mix until combined well.

Add salt to 2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour and combine with fork. Add half of whole wheat flour to mixture and stir until smooth. Slowly add in remaining flour 1 heaping tablespoon at a time. When mixture becomes too difficult to mix, scrape out onto flat surface. Mixture will appear very dry. You may add a little water if needed, but remember that as you knead and squash is incorporated, mixture will become sticky. (Which is what you want.)

Knead dough for 8 minutes. Add in remaining 1/4 cup flour if needed.

After kneading, place kneaded dough into lightly oiled bowl. Turn to coat dough. With plastic wrap, cover bowl and leave to sit on counter or stove top for 1 & 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. Keep bowl in place with no drafts.

Press to release gas from dough and remove from bowl. Divide into 2 equal parts. Form each half into round dome-shaped balls. Line large cookie sheet (or two small) with parchment paper and sprinkle with cornmeal (if using cornmeal, optional). Place each ball of dough, several inches apart, onto lined cookie sheet. With plastic wrap, cover and allow to double in size, approximately 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap. Using sharp/serrated knife, score bread by making an X-shape into dough. Using egg white that's been beaten until foamy or melted butter, brush tops of dough. (Bread will have a sheen and flax seeds will stay on better after baked if brushed with egg white, but I prefer the flavor of butter.) Sprinkle tops of dough with flax seeds.

Place bread into oven on cookie sheet or baking stone.

On bottom rack inside oven, add cast iron skillet or small baking dish. To skillet or dish add 1 cup of water and close oven door. This will create steam.

Bake 30 minutes or until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped, and tops have lightly browned.

Same Time This Year & Brown Rice Pudding

2010-09-14T15:16:00.013-04:00

This time last year I was myself preparing for the arrival and meeting of, who would come to be, the most wonderful man I know and love of my life, just weeks from then. And now, here again, I find myself in the same place, waiting--My Love just weeks away. Only this time, I'm a lot less nervous and relishing the eager anticipation. I've been trying to keep myself busy: cooking, recipe hunting, reading, P90X workouts, watching the leaves change color, just to prevent myself from spontaneously combusting.

Finding comfort helps to pass the time. Fall always puts me in the mood for things that make me feel warm; Socks with cats wearing scarves, Henri Bendel vanilla bean & fig candles, the smell of freshly grated nutmeg, something simmered to creamy perfection and delicious, like brown rice pudding. The epitome of this glorious season in a bowl, until it's his arms that are warm and comforting around me.

Je t'aime, Babi. See you soon.

Brown Rice Pudding

Recipe courtesy and adapted from Joythebaker.com

Ingredients:

4 cups water
1 cup brown rice (About 3 cups cooked)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cups whole milk
(Yes, you can use almond milk instead)
2 Tablespoons Plus 1 Teaspoon dark brown sugar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split open and scraped (Optional)
1 cinnamon stick
A Pinch or 2 of ground nutmeg
A Pinch or 2 of ground allspice
1/2 cup dried sour cherries (or raisins, or whatever fruit you'd like)

Directions:

In strainer, run cool water over brown rice. Place aside.

To medium/large sauce pan, add 4 cups of water and bring to boil. Add in brown rice and salt. Reduce heat to medium and allow rice to simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Occasionally stir. Once your rice is cooked, pour water and rice into strainer (or colander), allow rice to sit in strainer for 10 seconds. With heat turned off, pour rice back into the same pot it was cooked, place cover on top and allow to steam for 10 minutes.

Gather the rest of your ingredients.

After 10 minutes, put rice in a bowl and set aside. To saucepan, add 4 cups milk, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla bean to pan. Turn heat to medium and allow milk to come to very low boil. Stir frequently to prevent burning.

Add in cooked rice, butter and raisins or cherries. Turn your heat down between medium and low. Stir and continue to stir frequently until milks reduces and is mostly absorbed by rice, approximately 30 minutes.

Transfer rice to a large bowl and smaller individual serving size bowls. Refrigerate or serve at room temperature. Store refrigerated.

The Break-Up Letter & Peach-Berry Pie

2010-09-09T16:35:00.011-04:00

Dear Summer,

We've spent a memorable three months together. We had a great time watching fireworks on the Fourth of July.You worked so hard to make My 31st Birthday special. And I'll never forget seeing Cirque Du Soleil for the first time with you right there. During the past month or so, I think it's become glaringly obvious to the both of us it's just not going to work out.
In short, your hot temperament is too much for me and more than I'm willing to deal with. I deserve better than drudging through the swelter of your unpredictable tantrums.

I've taken the liberty of packing your things: Flowy skirts, those sandals that show off your freshly pedicured toes, and the straw fedora's you love so much.

I know you've heard it through the grapevine, and yes, it's true, Fall and I have rekindled our romance. The truth is, I never stopped thinking about him; His bright and colorful personality, The way he smells like maple in the morning, that butternut squash dish he makes that tastes like home... He's so thankful and giving.

This may sound cruel, but Summer, so were you!

To show you there are no hard feelings, I made this delicious pie to take with you on your way out. It's Peach--your favorite.

Sincerely,

--Ree

This is my second pie. Since baking the first pie: Here, I fortuitously learned a trick for making no-fail pie crust every time. This is a by-product of a failed attempt at waffle cones (sans a waffle maker) when I made Coffee Cannoli Ice Cream last month.
The method utilizes wax paper and can be used for crust, cookies and anything else that's difficult to roll out without sticking and breaking.

Peach-Berry Pie

Recipes courtesy and Adapted from Joy of Baking and
What's Cooking America

Ingredients Peach Filling:

5 cups fresh peaches (I used about 11 peaches)
1 Cup Sliced fresh Strawberries or Raspberries
1/2 Cup Plus 2 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
3 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca Or corn starch
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon (unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Garnish:

1 tablespoon cream or milk
Granulated white sugar

'P' is for Peach.

Shortening-Butter Crust:

2 1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour, plus extra for rolling
2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup Plus 1 teaspoon chilled vegetable shortening
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

Tools:

Rolling Pin
Wax Paper

To Sprinkle over bottom of crust before adding fruit:

Mix together 1 tablespoon each, flour and granulated sugar. This will help prevent pie filling juices from soaking through bottom of crust.

*Serve pie with softly whipped cream or Vanilla Ice Cream.

To Make Crust:

In standard sized food processor, or large bowl, process, or mix with hand mixer, flour, salt and sugar until combined. Add in shortening and process or mix until mixture resembles coarse sand, approximately 10 seconds. Add pieces of butter over flour mixture and process in 1 second pulses, or mix, turning hand mixer on then off, until pieces of butter are no bigger than small peas. Add 6 tablespoons ice water to mixture and, using a rubber spatula or hand mixer on low, fold in, or mix until just combined. Pinch dough with fingertips to be sure it sticks together, If not, add an additional 2 tablespoons ice water. Do not process or mix more than 30 seconds.
Turn dough onto work surface and gather into ball. Divide dough in half and flatten each into a round disk-like shape. Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.

After an hour, remove one round of dough from refrigerator. Measure out and lightly flour two equal pieces of wax paper. Place dough, in center, between two pieces of wax paper, begin to flatten round of dough with rolling pin. Give wax paper square a quarter turn after each roll. Roll dough two inches larger than inverted pie plate. (Place pie plate, upside down, over dough to make sure it's big enough.) Carefully remove only top layer of wax paper. Turn remaining wax paper holding dough, so that the dough is facing down, into pie pan. Make sure dough is even in pan. Carefully remove second piece of wax paper, which should be bottom side up. Brush off excess flour. Roll hanging dough under itself to crimp or cut off excess. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Reserve both pieces of wax paper and repeat process of rolling with second dough round, only this time, leave rolled out dough in wax paper and refrigerate until needed.

Immediately start making pie filling.

To Make Peach Filling and Construct Pie:

To easily remove peach skins, set a large pot of water to boil. Add peaches to boiling water for 30-60 seconds, after 30-60 seconds remove peaches and immediately put into an ice bath (large bowl of ice water). The skin of the peaches should easily peel off by rubbing. Slice peaches in half to remove stone. Cut each half into slices.
Mix together sugar, tapioca OR corn starch, lemon juice, lemon zest and cinnamon in small bowl. In large bowl, add sliced peaches and strawberries or raspberries. Pour sugar mixture over peaches and toss or use spoon to gently combine. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

After bottom half of dough has been refrigerated in pie plate for 30 minutes, sprinkle bottom crust with mixed tablespoon each, flour and sugar mixture.
Add peaches that have been sitting for 30 minutes to prepared pie shell.
Brush edges of dough with cream. Remove flattened top crust from refrigerator. Carefully remove one layer of wax paper. Lift wax paper and turn pie crust over onto top of pie. Carefully remove second layer of wax paper. Roll hanging dough under itself to crimp or cut off excess. Cut slits around top of pie to allow steam to escape.
Brush top of pie with cream and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Place constructed pie onto cookie sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes or until top of pie is completely golden brown in color.

Cirque Du Soleil & Lemon Lavender Sables

2010-09-05T12:16:00.034-04:00

Last Saturday, I know, I know--a whole week ago! I finally had the opportunity to fulfill one of my dreams and see a performance by Cirque Du Soleil. I was thrilled when I found out they would finally be coming to Boston. In the months leading up to my birthday, I dropped some not-so-subtle hints to Daph about how much I wanted to see the show, something he already knew. But this show in particular, 'Ovo',' which means 'Egg' in Portuguese. The story is told through the eyes of insects. The premise of the story revolved around the search for this 'Ovo', and the love story between two bugs.

I've long been fascinated by a bugs life, and creatures too small too matter in any significant way until you're bitten or find yourself swatting at one that's buzzing around your head. If you read my birthday post, you already know that Daph got me a ticket to the show for my birthday.

As this was my first Cirque Du Soleil experience, I haven't any other of their shows to compare it to. I loved it. Despite being there alone on, what was apparently "couple's night", I was very close to the stage, so it was easy to get caught up in the magic. One of my favorite things is how interactive the show was.
From the moment we entered the big top we were greeted by men wearing bee keeper uniforms who searched us all for bugs. Throughout the show different cast members would come into the audience which made you feel a part of the show. I laughed out loud. I was drawn in by the acrobats, synchronized balancing performances, costumes and, what could only be described as, a gravity defying use of bodies.
A headstand on the seat of a unicycle while riding back and forth on a rope suspended in the air, Really? Wow!

Being part Portuguese but growing up in an English speaking home, I also had a special appreciation for the music, which was all sung with a live band playing background, in Portuguese.

During intermission we were treated to a 10-minute fireworks display that was pretty spectacular. But I always find fireworks spectacular. Not sure if that display is something that takes place often over Boston's New Waterfront or not. Nonetheless, I really appreciated it.
At the end of the show all of the cast members came out onto the stage to sing, dance and take their bow. Everyone cheered the masterful performances while gold and orange butterflies rained down on the stage and first few rows of the audience.

With my handwritten directions from google maps to guide me, I headed down Seaport Blvd., over the bridge, by foot.

In the distance I spot what appears to be a blue and yellow big top. Cirque was set up to look and feel like a traditional circus.

Finally! Running a few minutes late, so no interior shots, but I made it.

*This recipe is essentially Joy the Baker's Citrus Sables which I've blogged about Before. I adapted the recipe by omitting the lime, doubling the lemon, adding extract and lavender (flowers, buds and sugar).

Lemon Lavender Sables (Suh-Bleez)

Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted before measuring
1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably sea salt
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-2 Teaspoon(s) culinary lavender (dried is fine)

Zest of 1-2 lemons, Two teaspoons
1 teaspoon lemon extract

To Finish:

Dust cookies with confectioner's sugar (Powdered sugar)

Directions:

1. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment or hand mixer, add butter to bowl and mix on medium speed until light and creamy. In small bowl, add sugar and, using your fingertips, rub lemon zest into sugar. Pour granulated sugar and sifted confectioner's sugar, salt and lemon extract to bowl with creamed butter, mix on medium speed until until smooth and satiny, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and mix in egg yolks one at a time, mix until blended.

2. Turn mixer off, In medium bowl, add lavender and flour, mix with fork, Add flour to bowl with creamed butter and other ingredients. You may want to partially cover bowl with clean dish towel before proceeding to next step. Once flour is added, pulse mixer five times on low speed for 1 to 2 seconds. Remove towel. If flour remains that has not incorporated, stir to incorporate for about 30 more seconds. You want the dough to be moist throughout, and soft, but remain clumpy.

3. Lay plastic wrap over clean, flat surface. Scrape dough out of bowl onto work surface. Gently work dough into ball, If making shapes with cookie cutters form dough into ball and flatten, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready. If slicing round shape cookies form dough into ball then cut into two equal parts. Shape each divided half into log shape. Wrap both logs individually, using two separate pieces of plastic and place in refrigerator to chill for no less than two hours. Dough can be stored in refrigerator for 3 days or kept frozen for 2 months.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees For Cookie Cutter Shapes OR, 350 degrees For Round Shape. Use parchment paper to line baking sheet.

5. For cookie cutter cookies: Remove ball of dough from refrigerator and unwrap plastic. Place dough onto wax paper. Roll out ball of dough to between 1/2 & 1/3 thickness, cut out shapes using cookie cutters.For round shape cookies: If edges of log are not smooth, trim off so log if uniform in size and shape from end to end. Slice cookies to 1/3 inch thickness.

6. Leaving an inch of space between each cookie, place cookies on baking sheet and bake for Cookie Cutter Shapes, 10-13 minutes OR for Round Cookies, 17 to 20 minutes. Turn baking sheet around halfway through baking. Once baked, cookies will be light golden brown around edges, even lighter on top and golden brown on the bottom. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before using metal spatula to transfer cookies to cooling rack.
Once baking sheet has cooled completely repeat same process with second log of dough if using now.

7. If dusting cookies with confectioner's sugar, allow cookies to cool completely. Place cooled cookies on wax or parchment paper and lightly sift with confectioner's sugar.

Butterfly and Ovo shaped cookies cooled and ready to be shared.

The Swell Season, Tomato-Feta Pasta Salad & Growing Things: Update

2010-08-28T10:58:00.024-04:00

There are few things I love more than fall in New England. Being a mere 27 days away from it, I can barely contain myself! September brings the start to three months of unadulterated magic.
Oh sure, there's nothing like the bite of your first summer tomato grown in a pot (or from the ground) in your own yard, and other seasonal fruits and vegetables sprung from the same earth you call home, sweetest under the surrender of sun. I would never argue that. However, for me, that's where the allure of the burning season ends.
Only weeks away from the season where, leaves, in a final act of rebellion against their inevitable fall, rage into red, yellow and orange, and fade into the ground from which they began only to be reborn into spring two seasons from now, I am antsy. I am impatient with eager anticipation.
Nothing...NOTHING is more exhilarating than the wind dancing; The air, fig and harmony upon the dawn of winter; Perfume, thick and pregnant with glowing maple. September, October, if I should ever have a daughter I will name her 'November'. The swell season is nearly here. The commencement of once and sometimes twice daily workouts--something I dread in the summer but adore come fall. And the return of *Jason Mraz Sunday's. Sing. Dance. Eat. Rejoice!

*Jason Mraz Sunday's are characterized by dancing and singing along to Jason Mraz's entire discography and are primarily exclusive to Sunday's. During which time phone calls are not responded to. Sometimes ice cream may be involved.

Tomato-Feta Whole Grain Pasta Salad
Recipe Courtesy and Adapted from Ina Garten

I was excited to use the Homemade Feta from Last week's Post, Here, and home grown basil, parsley and cherry tomatoes to make this very tasty salad.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) whole grain pasta (or white) (I started with two cups dry)
Kosher or Sea salt
Good olive oil
1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
1 pound good feta cheese, medium-diced (I used homemade)
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

" For the dressing:

5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1 teaspoon capers, drained
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1/2 cup packed flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup sweet basil, thinly sliced

Directions:

In large pot of boiling salted water, add 1/2 teaspoon olive oil and pasta. Cook until al dente, or to your liking. Pour into colander to drain and set aside to cool.
In large bowl, add cooled pasta, tomatoes, olives, feta and diced sun-dried tomatoes.

" For Dressing:

In food processor, add sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt and pepper and, process until combined and tomatoes are broken up. Add dressing to pasta along with basil and parsley, and gently stir until completely combined.

Growing Things

Maybe some of you will recall my first Growing Things post, Here. This year we planted fruits and vegetables, a lot of which were new to us, and had very good success despite transplanting some things late in the season and our unfamiliarity with other things.

One morning last week I opened my front door and was greeted with a surprise, not only had one of the lavender sprigs grown four inches, but it also bloomed.

In Growing Things One, Here, these cucumbers looked hopeless. I transplanted and showered them with love. They gratefully recovered and grew strong and delicious.

In addition to plum tomatoes, we also grew yellow cherries. They were sweet and the tastiest tomatoes I've ever had.

The flesh of home grown bell peppers is usually thinner and the taste is more vibrant than most of their store-bought counterpart.

Everyday I would treat myself to freshly picked strawberries as I gardened.

Though the jalapeno's weren't transplanted until late in the season, we're going to get at least one good batch.

Homemade Feta & Food 'n Flix

2010-08-21T14:30:00.026-04:00

This month, after dipping my toes into the proverbial "kiddie pool" by making (what was almost too easy) Ricotta Cheese, I was feeling adventurous enough the attempt Feta cheese. And with the help and guidance of Heather over at Girlichef, who is a self-proclaimed "cheeseslut," and member of the fabulously inspiring team behind Forging Fromage, I knew I was in good hands. However, being as stubborn as I am...There, I said it. I stubbornly ventured to go-it alone and, to no surprise, wasn't very successful. My first attempt resulted in what's known in the cheese making world as a "bad batch," and an entire gallon of milk going down the drain.
The following day I was left with a half gallon of milk--enough for a half batch, new resolve, some valuable lessons learned and a willingness to try again. I reserved a couple of the tips I found helpful from other blogs and web sites, but stuck, for the most part, to just one recipe.
This time, I successfully made my very first piece of feta, albeit half the size I originally intended. I was, nonetheless, very proud.

I won't let you make the same mistakes I made.

1. Don't panic! Trust the process and stay the course.

2. Sterilize your equipment; Fill the the pot you're using with water, add measuring cup, spoon, knife and boil for five minutes. Carefully drain water from pot along with your tools. 30-60 minutes before cutting and draining cheese curds, boil cheese cloth in smaller pot. Drain, allow to cool enough to handle and squeeze out the excess water. Line colander with a double or triple layer damp cheesecloth.

2b. Wash surfaces with warm soapy water: Counter/ Table, your hands before handling cheese.

3. Some web sites suggest cutting the feta into slices (like I did), before salting, but to prevent over salting, only cut the feta in half. That's what I'll do next time.

4. Don't be discouraged; Anything you attempt for the first time (or 2nd or 3rd, in some cases) is bound to have some kinks. It's important to exercise patience and know that practice will pay off.

5. Let's do this!

Feta Cheese

Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Girlichef, via 'The Home Creamery' by: Kathy Farrell-Kingsley

Tools:

Ultra-fine cheesecloth (Or butter muslin, Or sterilized unused hankerchief)
Table (butter) knife
Measuring Cup
Slotted spoon
Dish/Bowl that can hold feta and be covered

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 lb. Make at least 24 hours before needed.

1 gallon milk
1/4 c. cultured buttermilk (Or 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt with live cultures)
1/4 tsp. liquid rennet (or 1 half rennet tablet)
1/4 c. cool water (55-60 degrees F)
1/4 tsp. calcium chloride
coarse salt

*Note: I subtracted 1/4 cup milk from the gallon I was using to make homemade UN-cultured buttermilk (made with vinegar)and, much to my surprise, it worked out just fine.

This is what a clean break looks like.

After cutting lengthwise and crosswise into 1-inch squares.

Stir to break curds and carefully pour into cheesecloth.

1. In large heavy-bottomed pot, heat milk to 88 degrees over low heat. Stir occasionally to prevent milk from scalding. Heating milk to correct temperature will take about 10 minutes. Once the milk has been heated, stir in buttermilk OR yogurt. Place cover over pot and turn heat off. Leave pot undisturbed for 1 hour.

2. Either, break up to dissolve tablet or stir liquid rennet into cool water. Pour this mixture, and calcium chloride into into milk mixture. Stir for 60 seconds to dissolve. Milk will still be warm. Return cover over pot and allow to sit undisturbed for 1 to 3 hours, until coagulated. Mine took 3 hours.

3. After one hour, You can test for a "clean break" by inserting a very clean finger; Dip little (pinky) finger about 1-inch into coagulated mixture and pull up. If finger removes clean and liquid (whey) pools, you have a clean break. If not, allow to sit for another 2 hours.

4. Starting lengthwise and then crosswise, insert sterilized blade of table (butter) knife to cut curds into 1-inch squares. Stir mixture gently 3 or 4 times to break up curds. The temperature should still be at 88 degrees. Mine was not, so I turned the heat to low and allowed mixture to come to temperature. Turn heat off.

5. Place colander in a large bowl. Slowly pour curds into ultra-fine cheesecloth (or butter muslin) lined colander. Use a tool, such as a wooden spoon, to lay across colander and make a "bag" by tying the four ends of ultra-fine cheesecloth over the spoon, so that the bag is suspended higher than the liquid (whey) that is being released. At this point, a lot of the liquid should have been released. Temporarily place colander into clean sink. Transfer liquid remaining in bowl to a smaller bowl that can be covered and refrigerate. This will become our brine. Return colander to bowl, adjusting so that the ends of spoon are laying flat on either side of colander (or bowl). You could add folded dish towels to each side of the bowl and lay ends of spoon securely on towels for more height, if needed. Refrigerate cheese until drained, approximately 4-6 hours.

6. After 4-6 hours, remove bowl with cheese from refrigerator. Wash hands before handling cheese. Untie cheesecloth and remove ball of cheese. Yes, it's exciting and looks delicious, but don't eat it...yet.

7. Cut the ball of cheese evenly down the middle, giving you two halves. Transfer cheese halves to something that can be covered, such as a baking dish. Salt the entire surface of both halves of the cheese and cover dish. Allow dish to sit out at room temperature for 24 hours. I was skeptical, too, but trust me.

8. 24 hours later, you'll have cheese that is sitting in the liquid that has been drawn out by the salt. Carefully drain excess liquid; Salt surface of the cheese once more and cover dish. Allow cheese to sit at room temperature for 2 more hours.

After all the hard work and patience, you can eat your cheese now or, Stir in 3-5 tablespoons of salt to the brining liquid we reserved earlier and add pieces of cheese. Cover and refrigerate up to 4 weeks.

*Note: If you accidentally threw the brining liquid away (this happens), simply cover cheese with water that you've salted, cover and refrigerate.

Once you've removed the cheese from the cheesecloth, only cut mound into half and NOT into slices like I've done below. This will help prevent over-salting.

After 24 hours, the salted cheese will be sitting in a pool of water. Heather had a lot of water, but I only had very little. That's okay! This was just after salting.

After a full night and day, your cheese is ready to eat.

Food 'n Flix

At the start of this post I mentioned Heather over at Girlichef, who guided me through my cheese making endeavor. Well, Heather has started a new blog called Food 'n Flix and was so kind to ask if I would co-host it with her. The premise is, once a month we'll feature a film that relates to food, either directly or indirectly, watch the film, and prepare a dish or dessert inspired by that month's film. Our first month is September and we'll be starting with the film 'Chocolat' starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. That means chocolate is the star ingredient. The best part is, everyone is welcome to join in and participate. We'd love to have you over to share in ideas, dishes, movie suggestions, and what's sure to be a lot of fun.

Self Said & Corn and Black Bean Salad

2010-08-17T11:48:00.023-04:00

On Sunday, Coming back from the grocery store, I enter my home through the back door (which is the kitchen), My grandmother practically rushes to greet me and I notice she's wearing a sheepish grin. Without being prompted, she proceeds to tell me that while I was gone she came into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door to get some bean salad. She told me she said to herself: "Self, Terri(anne) wouldn't like you not leaving any for her." So, she closes the refrigerator door and walks away. She tells me that after a second conversation with herself 30 minutes later, which went something like: "Self, Terri(anne) is always complaining about you not eating healthy or getting enough protein, so I think she'd want you to eat the bean salad," She returned to the kitchen to get a bowl of the salad for dinner. She was quite proud of herself as she was telling me how she finished nearly all of it. "Self made me do it," She insisted. In truth, I was happy my grandmother (and Self), who is adverse to trying anything new and rarely eats salubriously, loved the salad so much.
For dinner, I also prepared myself a bowl of what little was left. As I was walking by my grandmother with the bowl of salad, she yells at me: "DID SELF SAY YOU COULD HAVE THAT?!"

She was also kind enough to relay a message where 'Self instructed me to buy all the ingredients I need to make this again when I go to the store this week.' Self is bossy. Hopefully she'll share better next time.

This was delicious! Just ask Self.

Corn and Black Bean Salad with ~~Basil-~~ Lime Vinaigrette
Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Giada De Lauretiis

Ingredients Salad:

2 ears fresh corn or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 &3/4 Cup Black beans, prepared, Or (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 & 3/4 Cup Garbanzo beans, prepared, Or (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 mango, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1/2 jalapeno, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (I used a mixture of Sweet and Thai basil)

If starting with raw beans, salt the beans before preparing the salad.

It's more work, but I always start with raw beans.

" Vinaigrette:

*Note: The original recipe called for adding the basil to the vinaigrette, but I thought it would be easier just to add it in with the salad.

2 limes, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 Clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea or Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions For the salad:

Indoor Method: Place skillet pan over medium heat. Add enough canola oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Remove silks and husks from fresh corn. Remove corn kernels from cob and add to heated pan. Saute for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside.

Outdoor Method: Preheat outdoor grill. Peel down, but do not remove corn husks. Pull off silks and discard. Return corn husks to cover corn. Add prepared corn to a large bowl of cold water to soak for 30 minutes. Remove corn from water, shake to remove excess water or pat dry with clean towel. Grill corn for 10-15 minutes. Remove corn from grill and allow to cool. Remove husks and, using a sharp knife, hold corn upright and cut down to remove corn from cob.

In large bowl, add garbanzo beans, black beans, corn kernels, red bell pepper, mango, red onion, jalapeno and scatter basil over top.

" For the vinaigrette:

In a small bowl, add zest and juice of lime, balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic, and cumin. Whisk while slowly incorporating the oil until mixture thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add vinegar over-top of bean salad and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Mix again before serving.

Homemade Ricotta & Coffee-Cannoli Ice Cream

2010-08-11T13:00:00.020-04:00

Do you remember Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream, HERE, Or Chocolate-Walnut Fudge Cake, HERE, When we made our own buttermilk using lemon juice (or vinegar, as it were)? Well, homemade ricotta cheese is essentially buttermilk, in that, it begins by using the same process, but is heated to cause a reaction producing more curd (The solids that separate from the whey; liquid). You don't need any particular skill set, I.E. Cooking acumen, an ability to decipher and follow directions, a knack for keeping measurements straight...The latter two of which I'm spectacularly bad at. With only a few ingredients and simple steps, ANYONE can do this.

Add milk, cream, heat, stir, keep stirring, boil. Add lemon juice (or vinegar), stir gently as the curds (solids) separate from the whey (liquid). Remove from heat, cool, drain, done! The whole process takes about ten minutes. That's it.

You do not need any special equipment, like a thermometer. And if you have a fine mesh strainer (Or clean, preferably unused plain white t-shirt), you don't even need the cheesecloth.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Recipe Adapted from Eggs On Sunday And Gourmet on Epicurious

Note: I misread the measurements and doubled the amount of heavy cream to 1 cup and the lemon juice to 3 tablespoons, but it was absolutely delicious; creamy and perfect for desserts. This yielded me 2 and 1/4 cups Ricotta cheese. The original source for the recipe says it yielded 1 cup. If your yield is less than the amount needed for the ice cream recipe, simply make up the difference by adding more half and half or milk.

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

*This recipe doubles easily.

Place colander or fine mesh strainer over large bowl, line colander with fine mesh cheesecloth. Set bowl aside. In separate small bowl, measure out lemon juice, set aside. In large heavy bottom saucepan, pour in milk, cream and add salt. Turn heat on between medium and high. Allow milk to come to a simmer while stirring consistently. Continue stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scaling on the bottom of the pan.

When milk begins to come to a gentle (not rolling) boil, add in lemon juice and gently stir as the curds (solids) separate from the whey (liquid). Reduce heat to low and stir gently for another two minutes. Remove pan from heat. Allow to rest and cool for twenty minutes before draining. Once cooled, pour mixture into lined colander that's been placed over bowl. If the liquid that has drained is so much that it has risen and the cheesecloth is sitting in liquid, remove colander from bowl, empty liquid into sink, place colander back into bowl and continue to drain for 1 hour. If your liquid hasn't risen over the cheesecloth, proceed by allowing liquid to drain into bowl for 1 hour.

Note:If your milk starts to boil over, it's okay to remove pan from heat briefly, just until bubbling reduces. Reduce heat to low, add lemon juice and continue to stir gently over heat for two minutes.

Store ricotta in an air tight container for up to two days; refrigerated.

Coffee-Cannoli Ice Cream
Recipes' inspired and Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis And Canela Kitchen Recipes

Ingredients

1 & 3/4 cups homemade ricotta cheese
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup half and half
1 cup coffee simple syrup, recipe below
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 Bourbon Madagascar vanilla bean, Scraped (Optional)
1/2 Cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

In large bowl, whisk together ricotta, milk and cream until completely blended. To this, add in coffee simple syrup, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean caviar. Stir until blended. If you have an emulsion blender, blend this mixture until completely smooth. If not, stir until as smooth as possible. Pour mixture in air tight container and refrigerate until cold. Once mixture is cold, carefully pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers instructions. During the last 5 minutes of churning, add the chocolate chips. Or reserve for topping.

Coffee Simple Syrup

*Note: I made coffee that was a 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon to 1 cup ratio.

3/4 Cup Coffee

3/4 Cup Sugar

In medium sauce pan, add coffee and sugar. Stir until combined. Over medium heat, bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat between medium and low and simmer for five minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Waffle Cones

This is where I level with you. I ~~made~~ attempted to make waffle cones, sans a waffle cone maker. This process involved tape, wax paper and a glue stick. You see where I'm going with this, right? Okay, so it wasn't a shining culinary moment. Next time I'll make traditional cannoli shell pieces. Moving on...

Planning & Lobster with Peach Salsa

2010-08-08T13:32:00.025-04:00

I don't know how people do it--plan for vacations in advance. Or at all. Since Daph told me he'd be visiting for a month come this September, I...We've been trying to map out our whole trip online, but I'm completely overwhelmed. I have a whole new respect for the organized. Something I aspire to be one day. You see, when he was here in Boston this past November, I was clueless as to how best "show-off" this city of mine I love so much. It was then I realized, that as central a part Boston is to who I am, in many ways, I've taken her for granted. I promised him that the next time he was here I would show him what makes this little corner of the Northeast so special, and that he would go back to Paris feeling about Boston as I do, passionate. Only this year, we've taken to include the love of my life, Kennebunkport, Maine, a place I've never been even though it's so close, Canada, and...Well, I'll save the 'and' for a future post, as, it's a pretty big 'AND'...The truth is, I miss him so much that I'd be happy to go absolutely nowhere and see nothing, just as long as it was with him.

Our favorite place to go and see last year was the MFA, Boston (Museum of Fine Arts)

Joseph Mallord William Turner is one of his favorite painters.

I loved this Egyptian Lion.

And Sekhmet.

They made a statue of Us. We both loved this.

And then a kind lady who worked at the Museum offered to take our picture.

Maine Lobster & Peach Salsa with Honey-Balsamic Vinaigrette

Whenever lobster goes on sale I find it hard to pass up. At $4.99 a lb. it was practically a steal.

Boiled Lobster

The general rule is 10-12 minutes per lb. plus 3 additional minutes per additional lb. E.g. A 1 and 1/2 lb. lobster would be boiled for approx. 15 minutes.

In large pot, bring at least 1/2 gallon water to a rolling boil. Add 1/4 cup sea salt to water. Add lobsters, head first, to water and cover pot immediately, leaving a crack to help prevent water boiling over. Run away from the pot and scream (That's what I do anyway). Allow water to come back to a rolling boil, and from there you'll time the cooking. If lobsters are different size, boil in different pots and keep time according to the weight of the lobster. If lobsters are similar weight, you can boil them together.

I wanted something light to go with the lobster, but also bold enough to balance the taste of the sea. After being so disappointed about not liking the Watermelon & Feta salad from last week, I surprised myself with a willingness to give another fruit and savory concoction a try, only this time, with success. I loved the combination of sweet from the peach and honey, heat from the jalapeno, brightness from the red onion, liveliness from the fresh lime juice and tang from the balsamic vinegar.

Honey-Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 cup Honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

In medium bowl, whisk until thoroughly combined.

Peach Salsa

3-4 Firm, but Ripe Peaches (About 1 lb.), diced

1/4 Red Onion, chopped

1/2 Jalapeno, finely chopped

Juice of 1 large Lime, or 3 tablespoons

1-2 teaspoons Chopped Parsley

In medium bowl, combine peaches, onion, jalapeno and stir to combine. Add lime juice and combine. Scatter parsley over-top. Dress with vinaigrette and stir until salsa in evenly covered.

Thank You & Watermelon 2 Ways

2010-08-01T13:28:00.023-04:00

Recently, I was surprised to find that myself, along with three fellow bloggers, were mentioned on Bo's wonderful blog, Bo's Bowl.
Bo, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I'm truly grateful.

The experience of blogging has been nothing short of inspiring to me. The kindness and generosity and support I've experienced since being a part of the blogosphere resonate with me in a way no other online social medium has been able to. In an age where things that once held meaning have been relegated to ephemeral, inconsequential, and ultimately, disposable, I find that blogging has been able to transcend the mishegoss and tap into the pulse of others' because to keep people in tune with what you're doing, sharing, writing about, you're only asked to adhere to one rule, do it from the heart. Whether you're observant & witty, bemused & random, open & healing, cooking, eating, photographing, reviewing, traveling, Sunday cat(ting), anecdotal, and on ad infinitum, I appreciate everything you do, because you do it with heart.

Watermelon & Feta Salad

One morning my grandmother comes downstairs and starts "Terri..." (Terri is what she calls me even though she knows I ~~hate~~, ~~loathe~~, ~~strongly dislike~~, would rather be called Terrianne or "T", or given my druthers, Ree, as it goes). So, "Terri," she says, "I was watching 'Chopped' last night (on The Food Network), and one of the contestants made a watermelon salad." She continued. "The judges said it was one of the best things they've ever had."
Although I had heard of watermelon salad before, the concept of combining fruit with something salty/ savory like feta or vinaigrette is faily new to me.
Re: Strawberry & Spinach Salad
I'm all about trying new things, so I began by making a watermelon salad that consisted on red onion, mango, feta, basil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I'll be honest, I really did not like it. In fact, I only ate the feta and threw the rest away. And I never like to throw food away! Not one to give up easily, I tried the salad again with just watermelon, feta, basil (you could also use mint) and a drizzle of fresh lime juice. Though the flavor was an improvement over my former endeavor, I still did not like and ended up only eating the feta.

In the end, even though this salad wasn't to my taste, I'm always glad for a new experience.

The same cannot be said for the watermelon-vodka sorbet, which I adored! As much as I love Alton Brown and his erudite approach to cooking, and how much I learn from that, I found the original call for 1 & 1/4 cups sugar excessive, so I cut it down by more than half. As fruit varies in sweetness, I suggest starting with 1/2 cup sugar and adding more if necessary. But please, whatever you do, make this!

Watermelon-Vodka Sorbet

Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Alton Brown

2 heaping cups diced watermelon, muskmelon or honeydew

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons vodka

1/2 cup sugar, more to taste if necessary

Directions:

Add melon to bowl of food processor and process until liquefied. To liquefied watermelon, add in freshly squeezed lemon juice, vodka, and sugar, process until completely blended, about 30 seconds. Pour mixture into air-tight container and refrigerate until cold, about an hour. Once the mixture has chilled, pour into ice cream maker and churn or according to machine's directions. Place churned mixture in freezer and allow to freeze at least 4 hours before serving.

If NOT using an ice cream maker, pour mixture into freezer safe bowl, cover securely and place in freezer. Every hour, remove from freezer and stir to break up ice crystals until mostly frozen. Allow mixture to continue freezing until ready to serve.

My 31st Birthday & Carrot and Pineapple Cake

2010-07-28T10:02:00.025-04:00

Some time last year, before I was turning 30, I decided that I would take an honest look at my life and get real about the business of making change. I saw the dawn of a new decade as the perfect opportunity to do the things necessary to move forward. To move...at all. Hitherto my life had been plagued, ravaged, imprisoned, 13 years of it, by all the things I never faced. In the year ahead, when I was turning 31, I wanted to look back on the year prior and be able to say that I had indeed achieved my pursuit of happiness and true freedom. The kind of happiness that is in spite of everything else and the kind of freedom that has wings.

"To fly as fast as thought," he said, "to anywhere that is, you must begin by knowing you have already arrived." -- "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"

In my My Mother's Day Post I included a picture of my Mum holding me on my very first birthday. I think every first birthday is a celebration of the life that could be and a hope for the best from all the people who love you. But no one ever knows if or how long that will take to happen. It's taken me 30 years to learn that it's only the 'if' and not the 'how long' that matters.

Yesterday, I arrived at my 31st birthday and I was greeted by the best gift anyone could receive: I am alive! I am alive and from there the possibilities are endless.

"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."--Joseph Campbell

I had a fantastic birthday. All of the wishes from friends and family meant the world to me. My grandmother surprised me with a new Cuisinart ice cream maker to replace the one I over-filled and also a soft serve ice cream maker.

And she gave me these really cool sunglasses.

My fiancé, Daph got me a ticket to Cirque Du Soleil's: "Ovo" and surprised me with the. best. news. ever. He's planning to come back to Boston in two months!!!

I was really tempted to make the Chocolate-Walnut Cake I made a few months back as it was the best chocolate cake I've ever had, but instead I went with something else from Ina, and wow, I'm glad I did!

Carrot and Pineapple Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe courtesy and Adapted from The Goddess Herself, Ina Garten

Ingredients (for the cake):

2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup raisins (I omitted the raisins)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 pound carrots, grated
1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple
1/3 cup crushed pineapple (The original recipe DID NOT call for this, and it's optional whether or not you use it. I added it in with the wet ingredients.)

Ingredients (for the frosting):

3/4 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 & 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
Half of 1 Vanilla Bean, scraped (Optional)

For the decoration:

1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple and/or 1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans (this will act as the "glue" for the parchment). Line the bottom and sides of each pan with parchment paper, then butter and flour each pan.

Directions (for the cake):

In large bowl, mix sugar, oil, and eggs on medium speed until completely blended. Add in vanilla. In a separate large bowl, sift 2 and 1/2 cups flour, plus cinnamon, baking soda and salt together. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients until completely blended. In small bowl, mix raisins and walnuts in 1 tablespoon of flour. Add carrots and pineapple and fold into batter. Add nuts and mix until incorporated.
Split the batter equally among two pans. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until inserted cake tester (or toothpick) comes out clean. Cool cakes completely in pan on wire rack.

Directions (for the frosting):

In bowl of electric mixer or large bowl, blend together cream cheese, butter and vanilla just until combined. Add vanilla bean pearls and mix. Carefully add in sifted confectioners' sugar and mix until incorporated.
On large flat plate or cake pedestal, turn 1 of the cakes flat-side up. Using knife or offset spatula, frost the flat-side of the bottom layer of cake. Place the second layer on top of the frosted first layer, this time, rounded (or dome) side up, and evenly spread frosting over top and around sides of cake.

The 92 degree temperature didn't help my first attempt at rosette making, but I was happy with them.

Decorate: Use remaining half cup of diced pineapple to decorate cake. For the nuts, I placed the prepared cake on wire rack and used my hand to apply nuts around sides of the cake.

♪Happy Birthday to you, I mean me, but you too if it's your birthday. ♫