We've been cookin'

Since my schedule has been fairly unpredictable, I've taken to making LOTS of food on the weekends, and since it's been so cold, it's been a whole lotta soup.  Each time I make one of these, it's about 6-8 servings...my freezer overfloweth with soupy goodness :)

veggie beef

mushroom, beef and barley

 I got the crazy idea to try to make my Grandma's homemade noodles.  These things are VERY finicky, but my hopes were high.

The hardest thing is rolling out the dough so thin.  It's very elastic, so it takes a lot of work to get it this thin.

So the whole point is to let these noodles dry out, cut them into strips and then cook them.  Here's where things went wrong.  I let them get too dry before I tried to cut them, and when they were crumbling instead of cutting, I tried to get them a little damp.  Epic fail.  I have no pictures of the disaster that occurred after.  Needless to say, I learned a lesson.

I've had this ridiculous fascination with Tom Yum soup lately.  I find that there's nothing better for a sore throat, and I've had a few, but the Thai restaurant where I get it is rather unpredictable when it comes to the chili oil they add.  The last time I asked for the most mild soup they could make, yet it was still painful to eat. It was because of this that I decided to learn how to make my own.  It calls for some rather exotic ingredients (kefir lime leaves) but thank goodness you can find nearly everything under the sun on Amazon.com, so that's what I did.

Tom Yum soup WIN!!!

The soup turned out AMAZING.  No, seriously..amazing.  I think I had 6 cups of it yesterday, and 4 today. I'm strangely addicted.

Last night it was fajitas.  I've got a freezer full of meat, and have been slacking when it comes to cooking it.  It seems so much easier in the summertime, but Joacim suggested fajitas, and I was all over it.

the peppers look so pretty in the cast iron skillet

chicken from our meat CSA...a special treat having boneless chicken breasts

and the lovely ensemble, made ever so much more wonderful with pico de gallo (courtesy of The Pioneer Woman)

and one of my favorite dishes...Penthouse Pasta (you can guess where the recipe came from....don't ask)

About 2 months ago, I got about 10 pounds of chicken bones from our meat CSA to make stock with.  I really had no idea what to do with it...it just seemed so intimidating.  But after talking it through with a co-worker, I felt I was armed with enough info to be dangerous (and hopefully to produce a stock that I'd eat).

This process seriously took 2 whole weekends.  With roasting the bones and aromatics, and letting it cook for 5-6 hours, plus time to cool..well, it left little time for anything else.

But I did it, and ended up with about 10 quarts of chicken broth.  And I think it's going to be delicious!!!

Recipe of the Day : My lame attempt at sushi rolls

i actually tried this quite awhile ago, but just found the draft so I thought I'd share. I could use a little culinary inspiration anyway :)

This was some asian cucumber salad I made with thinly sliced seedless cucumbers, some toasted sesame oil, a little soy sauce and some sesame seeds. Easy, light and yummy!

Ahhh..my attempt at making rolls.  I was originally going for rice balls because I thought that would be easier, but the balls were so large because I was trying to stuff to much in them that they became rice baseballs.  Completely incapable of being eating in any shape or fashion.  So I settled on trying to make the rolls instead.

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Recipe of the Day : Breakfast egg muffins

I posted this on my FSGS blog, so sorry if you've already seen it.  Not everyone reads that one though, and I used to post recipes and stuff I make over here.  

Breakfast started to become a big issue when we got here  We were getting up at 5:30am (and for anyone that KNOWS me, they know that this is hysterically funny).  Anyway, I had to figure something out that would fill me up and not make me nauseous.  After I was diagosed with colitis, I noticed that I would wake up nauseous most days, so I didn't really eat much breakfast, and I've always preached that it's the most important meal of the day, so I had to figure out what to do.  I needed protein to last me through the day, and I wasn't getting enough.  And since I'm not a morning person and can't make eggs before work, I decided to make these breakfast muffins on Sunday, which gives me enough for 6 days.

I start off by filling a muffin tin with about a 1/2 cup all-nature shredded potatoes.  I put these in the oven until they start to turn golden brown.

While those are cooking, I chop up some low-sodium ham and bacon, but you could add onions, green peppers, whatever you wanted.

Then I take anywhere from 12-16 eggs, add about a 1/4 cup of milk and beat them.  I also add in some fresh chives and dill from my window herb garden.

Once the potatoes are done, I add the egg mixture to the pans, and then add the meat and some cheese.  I let it bake about 20 minutes.

And voila!  Yummy, easy breakfast muffins full of protein (and probably more salt than most are comfortable with but it works for me.

I let them cool, add them to a plastic bag, and in the morning, I take out 2 of them, pop them into the microwave for a minute and eat them with some salsa.

I'm really into the "real" food movement.  I use real butter, I don't use low-fat or fat free or sugar free anything.  For me, it's all about as natural as possible, and moderation. I'm not perfect, nor do I claim to be, but I also believe that if it all came down to nutrition, we'd all be cured, so I'm a realist trying to strike a balance doing the best I can and keep my life "normal".

Pre-Christmas 2011

(Since it's New Year's Eve, I figure I better catch up while it's still 2011!)


We had a few things left to finish up the week before Christmas.  I was smart this year in getting a bit of a head start, and really focusing on the whole gift-giving.  It made it MUCH easier.  One of the most important things Izzy had to finish was her Pappa's gift!   While he was away in Sweden, she made him a cast of her hand print, and she had to finish painting it.

I don't even remember when I took this photo, but it's probably going to be one of my favorites.  These two were SO tired.  Joacim worked most of the week before Christmas, and when he finally rested, he REALLY rested.  And my little princess fell asleep with her crown and family jewels on :)

A little time was spent combing Barbie's hair.  I got this for her at the Children's Museum the day we went there because she had so much fun playing with Barbie's hair there.  I had one of these when I was a kid, so it only made sense that she should too, right?

And THIS is what we had for Christmas Eve dinner.  I usually make it in the shape of a wreath, but since it was just the 3 of us (and Izzy hardly counts when it comes to eating) I made it this shape instead.  I'd link the recipe, but I CAN NOT find it online, so eventually I'll get around to digitizing it.  Needless to say, it's got chicken, mayo, dijon mustard, and cranberries (and some other mixers) and it's baked in this croissant shell. So.  Good.

And, we mustn't forget all of the Christmas Carols that Izzy learned this year.  There's no real video to go along with these since I took them in the car at night, but just listen.  ADORABLE I tell ya!

Recipe of the Day - The Penthouse Meal

You might be wondering why I call this "The Penthouse Meal".  The answer is because I got it from Penthouse magazine (don't ask :).  I could come up with another name, like the tomato pepper garlic fettucini noodle thing, but "The Penthouse Meal" sorta rolls off the tongue, non?

Start off by dicing one medium-sized onion, and mincing 3 garlic cloves (add more if you like it really garlicky).  Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent (around 5 minutes or so) and then add the garlic.  Make sure to watch the garlic closely so it doesn't brown...if it does it adds a very strange flavor.

 While that's cooking, cut up 2 peppers in large chunks (I used one yellow and one orange).  When the onion and garlic is done, add the peppers and continue to saute. 

 Meanwhile, get your fettucini cooking.  It's ok if it finishes a bit earlier and cools, as we're going to add it to the pepper mixture while it's still hot and toss.

 Once the peppers are soft but still don't give to the touch, add a pint of cherry tomatoes that have been halved.  Cook this for 5 minutes or so...until the tomatoes soften (but not so much that they turn to mush)

 When the pepper/tomato mixture and fettucini are done, add them together and toss.  Voila!

Now, me personally...I'm not done yet.  I like to add another layer of flavor.  Normally, I'm lazy and just drizzle Italian dressing and Parmesan cheese over it.  However, Joacim (bless his heart) cleaned out the refrigerator the last time and threw out the Italian dressing.  Sooooo...I made my own little champagne Dijon vinaigrette and drizzled that over it instead.

Champagne Dijon Vinaigrette
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup champagne vinegar (you can adjust this depending on your tastes..start out with less)
2 T Dijon mustard
1 medium-sized shallot, finely diced
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together (I use an immersion blender for this) until blended.  This keeps in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

Enjoy!

Recipe of the Day - Bavarian Beef

Joacim and I  REALLY like German food, so I thought I'd try to make something like sauerbraten (for those that don't know, it's kind of a sweet/vinegary beef thing).  I ran across this recipe a few weeks ago but realized that I could only make this on a weekend where I could baby it, and I'm glad it did.  Lots of work, but WELL worth it (AND I had another reason to use my new cast iron pot)!
I had a small but VERY lean pot roast that I browned in olive oil (seasoned with salt and pepper before)

When the roast was brown on all sides, I removed it and sauteed a large onion in a little more olive oil until they were golden, but not really translucent. The recipe only calls for a tablespoon of oil TOTAL, but I didn't find that to be enough, so I added another. I stirred the onions quite a sop up the nice beef drippings too.

When the onion was done, I put the roast back in, added a bay leaf, a little more salt and pepper, some carraway seeds and about a 1 1/2 cups of water. I let the liquid come to a boil, then reduced to simmer, covered, for an hour.

While THAT was cooking, I decided to make some homemade bread. I have this WONDERFUL cookbook called Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day, and there's a recipe in it for a deli rye, which was perfect for the Bavarian Beef.

Mixing the water, yeast, salt and caraway seeds

 After the rye and unbleached flour had been added.  Let it sit for 2 hours in a covered (but not airtight) container.

 And here's my little helper

 And while everything ELSE was cooking/rising...I made some homemade croutons.  I'm obsessed with croutons lately, but the ones you buy in a store are not so great nutritionally speaking (not that any crouton is , probably, but if I'm gonna eat 'em, I'd rather know what was in 'em.).  I had some stale ciabatta bread that was going to go to the trash or the birds, but I decided to make the croutons out of it.  I cubed the bread, added some salt, pepper, and garlic-infused olive oil and tossed.  Then I added a little parmesan cheese on top.  I put some parchment paper on a baking sheet (cause I'm lazy and hate washing baking sheets) and baked them at 400deg for about 15 minutes.

And here they are after they're done. And they're YUMMY.  I let them cool completely and put them in a ziploc bag.  They should keep about a week or so (but probably not that long since I'll eat them all before they have a chance to go bad :)

Ok, back to the main dish.  After the hour was up of the meat and onions cooking, it was time to add the sugar, vineagar and cabbage.  I took a small head of red cabbage, quartered it, and l.placed it on top of the meat, then covered it back up and cooked it for 45 more minutes.

And in the meantime, Izzy and I had a little tea party

Once our tea party was over, she decided to snuggle with Joacim

(He was actually holding the blanket up for her like a fort)

Back to the dish again.  After the 45 minutes were up, I checked on the cabbage, and it just wasn't cooked enough, so I took out the quarters, cut them into smaller strips and added them back into the pot to cook for awhile.

And now the bread...yummy yummy rye bread.  The loaves aren't even or symmetrical, but who the heck cares when they taste THIS good!

It's a very heavy, dense bread, but soooooo good

Here's everything after it's all done.  I think I ended up cooking the cabbage for another hour after I sliced it, and it STILL was crunchy, which is perfect.  You definitely don't want to overcook it.  Now, I'm not much of a food plater (meaning I wanna get it on the plate and eat it), but I'm going to start working a little more on the photography aspect of this to make the photos more appealing.

I thought it was DELICIOUS!!!  Highly recommended...but there was one thing I forgot!  The Gingersnaps!  The recipe called for adding 1/4 cup of crushed gingersnaps to the remaining liquid, to make a sort of gravy.  I was amazed at how thick it got just by adding the gingersnaps.  Now I haven't eaten the gravy on the meat yet (saving it for tomorrow's lunch) but it smells so good1

A little more playtime with Pappa.  I don't normally use a flash for photos, but there was no other way to catch the static electricity in this little lady's hair.  It's sticking STRAIGHT up!

And then a little snuggle (and sleep) for me :)  Great day