Friday, October 21, 2011
Lucky Me
I have the best husband in the world. This was waiting for me on the stove when I got home from a rough Friday. Photos do not do justice to the beauty of these beets.
Lucky me.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Eggplant Parm
I guess sick days = blog days for mandi. This is my third today. I give myself a pep talk after every blog I post, saying "I should do this more often" or "I should just blog about one thing" or "I should blog every time I think about it." But I'm sure I'll continue on with sporadic posts, 3 in one day then none for another 3 weeks. Again, the artisan in me. Another recipe:
Eggplant Parm (I'm sure there are kudos to a multitude of online sources, but tonight this was mostly from my husbands spurts of input while he was writing emails planning an arts event for Imago) (you should really check it out, I'm kind of proud of him, shamelessly so).
Needs:
eggplant (we only had one tonight, I'm sure 2-3 would be more appropriate)
tomato sauce
mozzarella cheese
olive oil
cornmeal or Panko
Slice the eggplant in thin slices. I peeled it this time, sometimes we don't but the skin tends to be a little tough. (By the way, eggplant is my favorite vegetable; I think it is sexy.) Salt it and let it sit for 30 minutes to sweat out some of its' moisture (it really beaded up! I guess I've never actually done this myself before, but always known about it). I mopped up some of the moisture with a paper towel, I'm not sure if this is normal or not but I did. I then spritzed both sides of each slice with my MISTO olive oil mister (thanks mom! my new favorite kitchen tool!), and dredged in cornmeal. Bake the slices for 15-20 minutes on a cookie sheet at 350˚.
When the eggplant is done, layer it in a baking dish: eggplant, tomato sauce, mozzarella; layer till it's all in there, and make sure to end with cheese. Bake at 475˚ for another 15 minutes then broil so the cheese is browned at the end. Voila! Tasty vegetarian lasagna, essentially. Enjoy!
By the way, on the theme of finishing things, I also finished another book today, Picket Line, written by our oh-so-talented friend Breena (who also did the artwork for the PUB linked above). Dad started and finished it over one pot of coffee while he was here. It's a graphic novel, so it's a quick read. Buy it! Read it! Support independent art! Check out her webcomic while you're there, and there's a free soundtrack too. Like I said, shameless. Dinner time!
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| Sweat beads on the eggplant |
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| Our Misto Mister |
Eggplant Parm (I'm sure there are kudos to a multitude of online sources, but tonight this was mostly from my husbands spurts of input while he was writing emails planning an arts event for Imago) (you should really check it out, I'm kind of proud of him, shamelessly so).
Needs:
eggplant (we only had one tonight, I'm sure 2-3 would be more appropriate)
tomato sauce
mozzarella cheese
olive oil
cornmeal or Panko
Slice the eggplant in thin slices. I peeled it this time, sometimes we don't but the skin tends to be a little tough. (By the way, eggplant is my favorite vegetable; I think it is sexy.) Salt it and let it sit for 30 minutes to sweat out some of its' moisture (it really beaded up! I guess I've never actually done this myself before, but always known about it). I mopped up some of the moisture with a paper towel, I'm not sure if this is normal or not but I did. I then spritzed both sides of each slice with my MISTO olive oil mister (thanks mom! my new favorite kitchen tool!), and dredged in cornmeal. Bake the slices for 15-20 minutes on a cookie sheet at 350˚.
When the eggplant is done, layer it in a baking dish: eggplant, tomato sauce, mozzarella; layer till it's all in there, and make sure to end with cheese. Bake at 475˚ for another 15 minutes then broil so the cheese is browned at the end. Voila! Tasty vegetarian lasagna, essentially. Enjoy!
By the way, on the theme of finishing things, I also finished another book today, Picket Line, written by our oh-so-talented friend Breena (who also did the artwork for the PUB linked above). Dad started and finished it over one pot of coffee while he was here. It's a graphic novel, so it's a quick read. Buy it! Read it! Support independent art! Check out her webcomic while you're there, and there's a free soundtrack too. Like I said, shameless. Dinner time!
The Farm to Table
Part dos of mom and dad's time in Portland. Time with loved ones always involves food and drink, no? We are foodies, and I think one of my goals for this blog, apart from sharing with all you faithful readers (whether you are out there reading or not), is to keep a little archive of our recipes, a box full of index cards that doesn't get smeared with butter and oil. We find a lot of our recipes online anyway, and print them out then fish them out of a too-stuffed file folder on the shelf. And here I know exactly where to go to find them.
We cooked in a lot with mom and dad here, which I love. And we went out a little too. I'll let recipes and pictures tell the story. We'll start at The Farm Cafe on Burnside...
On the home front...
Roasted Squash Risotto with Chicken Apple Sausage
adapted from Aidells (yeah, the recipe on the package from Costco. We don't always use Gourmet)
2 cartons low-sodium vegetable broth
2 T butter or olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 links Chicken Apple Sausage (Aidells is pretty good, and we made it again with some from New Seasons that I dare say was a little superior)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine (I prefer Chardonnay, but we made it with a Reisling too)
2 cups roasted squash (butternut, acorn, summer, winter...)
1 tsp fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
Asiago or parmesan
Roast the squash: cut in half, spritz or brush with olive oil then roast in 350˚ oven 45 min or more until soft when stabbed with a fork. Let it cool before gutting it out.
We cooked in a lot with mom and dad here, which I love. And we went out a little too. I'll let recipes and pictures tell the story. We'll start at The Farm Cafe on Burnside...
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| Best beet salad in town |
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| Mom was daring with the tofu |
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| Snapper & Acorn squash |
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| Fall vegetable galette...obviously being enjoyed |
On the home front...
Roasted Squash Risotto with Chicken Apple Sausage
adapted from Aidells (yeah, the recipe on the package from Costco. We don't always use Gourmet)
2 cartons low-sodium vegetable broth
2 T butter or olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 links Chicken Apple Sausage (Aidells is pretty good, and we made it again with some from New Seasons that I dare say was a little superior)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine (I prefer Chardonnay, but we made it with a Reisling too)
2 cups roasted squash (butternut, acorn, summer, winter...)
1 tsp fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
Asiago or parmesan
Roast the squash: cut in half, spritz or brush with olive oil then roast in 350˚ oven 45 min or more until soft when stabbed with a fork. Let it cool before gutting it out.
Place the stock in a large pot on the stove and bring to a simmer.
In a large heavy skillet or big stock pot, over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Stir in the onion and sauté until fragrant. Add the sausage and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, until the sausage begins to brown slightly. Add the rice and stir to coat with the olive oil. Stir in the wine and one ladle of the stock. Stir until the liquid is almost absorbed. Add the squash and another 2 ladles of stock. Cook, stirring, until almost absorbed. Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice is plump and tender, about 15-20 minutes. Add the herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat. Garnish with Parmesan.
We made some Chebe bread with it too:
Gluten Free Pao de Quejo ~ Cheese Bread
Makes 12 – 1 1/2 inch wide biscuits/rolls
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups tapioca flour/starch
2 cups shredded cheese
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons herbs (paprika, dill, chili flakes)
2 teaspoons dried chives
Directions:
In a large heavy skillet or big stock pot, over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Stir in the onion and sauté until fragrant. Add the sausage and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, until the sausage begins to brown slightly. Add the rice and stir to coat with the olive oil. Stir in the wine and one ladle of the stock. Stir until the liquid is almost absorbed. Add the squash and another 2 ladles of stock. Cook, stirring, until almost absorbed. Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice is plump and tender, about 15-20 minutes. Add the herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat. Garnish with Parmesan.
We made some Chebe bread with it too:
Gluten Free Pao de Quejo ~ Cheese Bread
Makes 12 – 1 1/2 inch wide biscuits/rolls
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups tapioca flour/starch
2 cups shredded cheese
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons herbs (paprika, dill, chili flakes)
2 teaspoons dried chives
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 450F.
- Mix together all ingredients in your mixer well.
- Form in to balls (about 1 1/2 inches or 2 inches) and slightly flatten. like what is in the picture… or leave them as puffed balls! You decide!)
- Place on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 – 10 minutes or until golden brown
Cross It Off the List
I am a master at starting things. I took a "quiz" at a convention during grad school and it labeled me as an "Artisan"; it described an Artisan as one with great enthusiasm for new ideas and energy for starting new projects, yet prone to fizzle out and not follow through to the finish. Make a to-do list but not cross the last thing off. That describes me pretty well. Today, I finished some things. I finished a baby gift which will now be a Christmas gift. I finished my book club book, Sometimes a Great Notion (if you haven't read this Oregon classic, go check it out! It's long but a great read). And I've been starting and finishing dozens of Christmas ornaments. Yes, I said Christmas. I'm getting an early start while I'm excited, anticipating the fizzle out come December.
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| Bird mobile pattern from Spool Sewing. |
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| The ornaments were hung on the hooks with care... |
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| Watch your mailboxes for your very own swatch! |
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| Shelf from Ikea for $35. It almost fit in the Subaru... |
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| Mini quilt for Dad |
Sunday, October 2, 2011
July's Babes
| I'm finally getting to our summer babes! After all that anticipation and visiting friends with growing bellies and stories to tell, July brought 3 new babes into the world (well, 3 in our circle of friends, I should say). Here are just a few shots of them. Afton & Ruthie were anxious to see the world, so they came a little early and were so itty bitty. We like to claim them as our own in conversation...they are just too darn precious not to. And we finally finished our collaborative quilt project for the twins this week! They are backed in flannel and turned out so stinking soft I almost didn't want to give them up. We hand tied them (thanks girls!) and they came together so perfect. Enjoy some baby drooling! |  | ||
| A few days old in the NICU |
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| 2 weeks old wearing the onesie I made. Not sure which this is...Ruthie maybe? |
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| The finished quilts! |
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| Ruthie is glad her sister won't steal hers. |
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| Look how big they are! 11 weeks here and their first trip to "Uncle & Auntie's" house |
We finally got to meet Juniper down in Eugene last week, and she has already gotten so big! It's such a contrast to go from the twins to her, both in size and personality. She is so smiley and giggly! Her nursery is covered in bike stuff, so the pink fabric was a perfect fit (duh, that's why I picked it). I haven't finished one of the projects I started for her way back in March, but by golly, Christmas is-a-comin'.
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| Burp cloths |
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Kitchen
We just had an amazing dinner. I take pictures of most of the meals that are prepared in this house, at least the ones that are somewhat aesthetic in nature. But this one, it was so good it could not even be caught on camera. Amazing.
It all started with the simple question: What are we having for dinner? Pasta. Shoot, the sauce is frozen. We still have fresh tomatoes, really they need to be used soon. It grew from there.
We roasted the tomatoes with a few cloves of garlic and onions. A random radish and sweet pepper. Tossed it with some olive oil, salt, pepper, basil and oregano, and roasted it at 350˚ for about an hour, then pureed it in the food processor (I left out about a cup of chunks to give it some character.) Brown rice pasta, again? How about polenta instead? Even better, baked polenta. And then Gourmet piped in and suggested Baked Polenta with Parmesan. That not so difficult recipe is below. It was amazing, and now our house smells like baked cheese. We started it off with a tomato/cucumber salad with vinaigrette, and finished with the leftovers of my friend Kim's gluten free apple crisp. She swears it's vegan, I swear it's covered in butter (coconut oil, it turns out). I'm full. I'm satisfied. I want more but will leave it for tomorrow.
Most of all, I'm happy to be able to create such delicacies on a simple budget, in a small kitchen, with my husband along side. There are many things in our marriage that I wish we could do without, ways I wish he was different, or did things my way, etcetera etcetera (I'm sure this is true for all marriages, and anyone who disagrees is lying, right?). But the kitchen; I'm grateful for the kitchen. It's one place we share that we both enjoy. We can switch roles, be the head chef or the sous chef, give input and share expertise. Yeah, sometimes we don't agree on things, and the kitchen is by no means immune to being a warzone on a given day. But we always come out with something to show for it. Usually something good to show for it. Enjoy.
Baked Polenta with Parmesan (adapted from Gourmet)
1 cup polenta or yellow cornmeal
1/2 stick unsalted butter
6 tablespoons Parmesan-Reggiano (I supplemented a little asiago too)
Bring 4 cups water and 1 tsp salt to boil in a 2-3 quart heavy sauce pan. Add polenta in a thin stream (if you can!), stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low (or it will spit like lava), stirring constantly till the polenta is thick, about 15 minutes.
Remove polenta from the heat, add the butter and some ground pepper. Spoon polenta into a shallow 8-inch baking or casserole, not glass and smooth top; sprinkle with cheese, then cool (they say 1 hour in the fridge, we did 10 min in the freezer).
Bake at 400˚ or until heated through, then broil till the cheese is lightly browned. Serve immediately with the roasted tomato sauce and enjoy!
It all started with the simple question: What are we having for dinner? Pasta. Shoot, the sauce is frozen. We still have fresh tomatoes, really they need to be used soon. It grew from there.
We roasted the tomatoes with a few cloves of garlic and onions. A random radish and sweet pepper. Tossed it with some olive oil, salt, pepper, basil and oregano, and roasted it at 350˚ for about an hour, then pureed it in the food processor (I left out about a cup of chunks to give it some character.) Brown rice pasta, again? How about polenta instead? Even better, baked polenta. And then Gourmet piped in and suggested Baked Polenta with Parmesan. That not so difficult recipe is below. It was amazing, and now our house smells like baked cheese. We started it off with a tomato/cucumber salad with vinaigrette, and finished with the leftovers of my friend Kim's gluten free apple crisp. She swears it's vegan, I swear it's covered in butter (coconut oil, it turns out). I'm full. I'm satisfied. I want more but will leave it for tomorrow.
Most of all, I'm happy to be able to create such delicacies on a simple budget, in a small kitchen, with my husband along side. There are many things in our marriage that I wish we could do without, ways I wish he was different, or did things my way, etcetera etcetera (I'm sure this is true for all marriages, and anyone who disagrees is lying, right?). But the kitchen; I'm grateful for the kitchen. It's one place we share that we both enjoy. We can switch roles, be the head chef or the sous chef, give input and share expertise. Yeah, sometimes we don't agree on things, and the kitchen is by no means immune to being a warzone on a given day. But we always come out with something to show for it. Usually something good to show for it. Enjoy.
Baked Polenta with Parmesan (adapted from Gourmet)
1 cup polenta or yellow cornmeal
1/2 stick unsalted butter
6 tablespoons Parmesan-Reggiano (I supplemented a little asiago too)
Bring 4 cups water and 1 tsp salt to boil in a 2-3 quart heavy sauce pan. Add polenta in a thin stream (if you can!), stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low (or it will spit like lava), stirring constantly till the polenta is thick, about 15 minutes.
Remove polenta from the heat, add the butter and some ground pepper. Spoon polenta into a shallow 8-inch baking or casserole, not glass and smooth top; sprinkle with cheese, then cool (they say 1 hour in the fridge, we did 10 min in the freezer).
Bake at 400˚ or until heated through, then broil till the cheese is lightly browned. Serve immediately with the roasted tomato sauce and enjoy!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Learning Curves
I feel like with that title, I should have something witty about things I've been learning lately. But in reality, I just want to show off my curves! Shannon inspired me earlier this year to try curves (they're really not that hard! she said), so I finally took the opportunity on some squares for the next family heirloom quilt. Two of my cousins became papas to their second daughters this week, on the same day! These are squares I put together for Emma (who by virtue of her birthdate 8(?!) years ago missed out on the new tradition begun only last year), and her new little sister Addy. (Magdalena Rosalie is going to have to wait a bit for her quilt.) I can't wait to see the whole quilt when it is finished, but it's always fun to share a snippet of what I contributed. I used this little know-how page below to help guide, and it was super easy to follow...which is so key for a person like me who has to follow directions to a T. So there you have it, a nice learning curve.
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