Advent Day 4 :: New Holiday Mix and Recipe

I recently completed the Holiday Mix CD and Recipe Swap over on Swap-bot. I was super pleased with what my partner Alyson sent to me. The mix is a perfect combination of classics, and new to me songs that I now love. I thought I would share the playlist and recipe that I received here:

Alyson's Holiday Mix

1. Boogie Woogie Santa Claus - Preacher Lee
2. Cha-Cha All the Way - Capitol Studio
3. Deck the Halls - Cuba L.A.
4. Feliz Navidad - Bobby Rodriguez
5. All I Want For... - Spike Jones
6. Indian Giver - Squirrel Nut Zippers
7. Winter Weather - Squirrel Nut Zippers (This is one of my new favorite songs!)
8. Baby It's Cold Outside - Brian Setzer
9. Sleigh Ride - Harry Connick
10. Merry Christmas Family - Dixie Chicks
11. Winter Wonderland - Eurythmics
12. Make Me a Present - Dinah Washington (Another new favorite)
13. Marshmellow World - Brenda Lee
14. Lasso Santa Claus - Brenda Lee
15. Santa's Messin' with the Kid - Eddie Campbell
16. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
17. Blues for Christmas - John Lee Hooker
18. Swing Them Jingle Bells - Fats Waller
19. White Christmas - Louis Armstrong
20. Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby
21. Sleigh Ride - Glenn Miller Orchestra
22. Hands - Jewel
23. Silent Night - Stevie Nicks

Alyson's Nutmeg Cookies

Cookies:

1 cup soft butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp rum (or rum flavoring)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Frosting:

1/3 cup butter
2 tsp cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp rum
2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

For cookies: Mix wet ingredients in a large bowl. Mix dry ingredients in a smaller bowl. Add/mix dry into wet a bit at a time until well combined. Roll dough into cylinders about 1" in diameter and chop into cookies. Bake at 350 F approximately 12-15 minutes. Dough also works well with cookie cutters. Frost and sprinkle with nutmeg while fresh!

***

Sounds tasty, huh? I can't wait to try this recipe out!

Cheers, Sarah

P.S. I have to add a note: Today I am SUPER THANKFUL that my friend Gemma has found a job! I'm over the moon thankful for this! Hurray!

Kale and Potato Soup with Chili

Well, hey Mom! What are we cooking today? I'm here to help.



Cassie decided that tonight was the perfect night for soup. In an effort to add a little more green vegetables to our diet, I bought The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison with a gift certificate that I received on my birthday. The following is my favorite recipe thus far, tweaked to my liking.

Kale and Potato Soup with Red Chili based on Deborah Madison's recipe from The Greens Cookbook

Ingredients

1 bunch of kale
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 small dried red chili, seeded and chopped
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
4 red potatoes scrubbed and diced
7 cups water
crème fraîche

Rip the ruffled kale leaves off of their stems, into small pieces, roughly 2 inches square. Wash the leaves well and set them aside.



Heat the olive oil in a soup pot, add the onion, garlic, chili, bay leaf, salt and cook over medium low heat stirring frequently. Add the potatoes, plus a cup of the water. Stir together, cover and cook slowly for five minutes.



Add the kale, cover, and steam until it is wilted, stirring occasionally. Pour in the rest of the water, bring to a boil, then simmer slowly, covered, until the potatoes are quite soft, 40 minutes.

After simmering, purée a cup or two of the soup in a blender and return it to the pot.

I finished with a garnish of crème fraîche.



The results were so good. Creamy, healthful, with a slight aftertaste/feeling of warmth from the chili. A perfect soup for winter!
,

I'm Good Lookin' and I've Been Cookin'

I will be the first to admit, this whole 9-5 thing puts a bit of a damper on my normal domestic diva activities, especially cooking. And, dear friends, when I neglect to plan and cook, I fall prey to the the easy convenience of...

TAKE-OUT

DUN - DUN - DUUUUUUUN!



When I eat take out, my bank account sounds like this...



My favorite poison of choice is Panera Bread. I can not resist the tasty soups and salads and lemonade, and there is one right around the corner from where I work. It is evil!!!

I knew that I could do better, so it was back to the stove with me.

Yesterday I made a yellow dal, that was a bit lacking. It was my first attempt at Indian food, and I omitted some of the chilies to be kind to Matt's poor sore throat. This was a major mistake, yielding bland split peas over rice. My fault!

My lunch for the week was much more successful. I made maple roasted butternut squash soup.



This was wayyy tastier than anything Panera could've whipped up. The recipe Is from the Shelburne Farms Cookbook, and was a snap to put together.

Tonight I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and now my kitchen smells dreamy!

During lunch today, I poured over recipes while chatting with my co-worker E. Lately I've been inspired by an idea that I came across at the Progressive Pioneer's blog. Amy does a dinner co-op. Once a week she makes a meal large enough to feed all of the people in her co-op. They, in turn, do the same, and they all swap meals, to lighten their cooking load. I told E. about it, and she was game, so we are going to start a little dinner co-op of our own. We're just going to start with the two of us, and see how it goes. I'm excited!

Have you been making anything tasty in your kitchen lately? What are your favorite recipes?

Penny Pinching with Pizza, Again! :: Spinach Walnut Pizza

And I quote: "You need to make this for dinner every day. It is SO good." - the Hub

Not too shabby for something I threw together on the fly!

Spinach Walnut Pizza

1/2 recipe of amazingly simple pizza dough I substituted a cup of wheat flour in the dough for this pizza.
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon herbs de provence
1 1/2 - 2 cups of baby spinach
1 tablespoon of crushed walnuts
4-6 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Roll out your dough. Spread olive oil over the surface. Sprinkle with herbs de provence. Layer spinach, walnuts, cheddar and parmesan. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Orrechiette with Peas and Fresh Mint

Wowza - I've got the blogging fire lately! I think I have too much to say since I wasn't able to write for practically all of June!

I'd like to interrupt the Christmas programming to share with you the delicious meal that I whipped up this evening. The star of the show is fresh spring peas, which have a short season, so this post could not wait.

Orrechiette with Peas and Fresh Mint

Ingredients

1 lb. Orrechiette (or another short pasta)
1 cup of peas
Zest of 2 Lemons
1 cup of Pecorino Romano, grated
3/4 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of chopped mint leaves

Directions

Cook your pasta as directed. While that's happening, zest the lemons, grate the romano and chop up the mint. Drain the pasta. Return the empty pasta pot to the stove over low heat. Combine the cream, lemon zest, 3/4 cup of the cheese and the peas in the pot. Stir until heated through and slightly thickened. Return to orechiette to the pot, with the mint and toss to combine. Add salt and pepper if you so desire, although I skipped it this time around and it was still delicious. Garnish with extra cheese and a mint leaf.

Quick, springy and delicious - let me know if you try it! Enjoy

Five Senses

Hello friends! I have so missed blogging regularly, but life has just been so busy lately. To sum it up there have been some amazing developments in the dream job arena. In addition to Taking Steps, Citydance and administrative work, now I've been approved to substitute teach for the children's program and I'm going to be trained as an Adaptive Dance instructor. Sometimes I pinch myself to make sure this is all real.

Aside from all of that big stuff, I've had scarcely any time for myself! So, I thought I would dedicate this blog post to the little things that are making me happy these days.

see

New treasures in my home...and that's not all! There is much more to be shown soon!



smell

A nice lemon grass candle my dancers bought for me

Open windows. Yes.

taste

Orange date bars that I made with my mum. These are ridiculous!



touch

The feel of my super cozy new jersey dress which you'll be seeing many pictures of in the future, I'm sure.

yarn through my fingertips


hear

I Don't Know by Lisa Hannigan - The video is amazing, and makes me smile.

Soul of a Man (Live) by the Legendary JC's - This diva-tastic song popped up on one of my Pandora stations. Love it.

Epic. Cooking. FAIL.

GAH! Why have I suddenly lost all of my meager kitchen prowess?! First there was the potato pancake fiasco yesterday and today I completely ruined a stash of perfectly good vegetables.

This is how my cooking FAIL is making me feel. VOMIT FACE



It all started innocently enough. I had a ton of veggies, and I was flipping through one of my favorite cookbooks when my eyes landed on ratatouille tart. Perfect! I thought, naively, that will use up all of those veggies. I am a thrifty domestic GODDESS. How soon the proud come tumbling down.

First off, I over-roasted some of the veggies. Over-roasted, meaning kinda burnt. I tasted them...and they were okay-ish. Too salty, too smokey. I thought to myself, hey - mix it with egg and throw it in a delicious pie, let's throw caution to the wind and proceeded onwards! Wheeee!

Then I par baked a beautiful savory crust. BEAUTIFUL. I should've known better than to go any further. I filled it with the kinda icky veggies and egg and put it in a 400 degree oven for 50 minutes. The recipes said 450 degrees for 55 minutes, but I thought that was just craziness. My oven scorches stuff at that temperature.

Well, I had the right instinct at least. Fifty minutes later I had a burnt pie, even though I had cooked it at a lower heat for less time. While I wisely lowered the suggested heat, I never checked on the thing like a dummy! The veggies that were already burnt, just burnt more. My beautiful crust, that I was so excited about, was just dark enough brown that it tasted like burnt cardboard.

I absolutely hate wasting food, but I think I'm going to have to throw the pie directly into the trash. Sniffle.

I did, however, manage to make a delicious roasted chicken.

Kitchen: 2 Me: 1

Weekend Highlights :: Parsons and Pizza!

This weekend was really wonderful!

Saturday night I had the opportunity to go and see Parsons Dance Company at The Music Hall. First of all...if you're local, holy jeebus, have any of you seen the renovated lobby yet? It's crazy awesome. The only way I could describe it would be Hogwarts meets Deco. Weird, but very cool. Second of all, if you haven't heard of Parsons Dance Company you're going to stop what you're doing and visit that link right now! Humor me, your bloggy friend, by at least watching the video intro to the website. EDIT: Okay you don't even have to go to the website, I found the intro video on YouTube and have embedded it below. How nice am I? The show was so exciting. Parsons is right up there with Trey McIntyre Project as far as favorite companies go. Check out their company montage below:



I was very nervous to go to the show because many of my old students were there. It ended up being very nice though. It was so good to see "my girls." They all crowded around me during intermission like the paparazzi at a press junket. It was too cute. I miss them so!

Anyways, back to the dancy dance-ness. Parsons does this incredible signature solo work called "Caught" where the dancer creates an illusion of flight by tour de force jumping all over the stage and the use of a strobe light. Usually it's performed by a man, but this time it was performed by a woman, dancer Julie Blume (from NH!), and she was incredible! The amazingness of it doesn't quite translate to film, but I've found a decent video of the company founder, David Parsons, dancing the solo, if you're interested to get the idea:



If you're interested in seeing more Parsons related vidoes, check out Suspension Production's YouTube Channel. The videos are very high quality, I'm assuming that Suspension works directly with the dance company.

On to cooking!

My mum generously gifted a ball of home made pizza dough to me the other day,



so I made Apple Walnut Pizza!



This was delicious, and very easy to make. For the most part, I followed the recipe at Stephen Cooks. I omitted cooking the apples in butter first, and cooked the pizza for slightly longer, (about 26 minutes), at a lower temperature, (375F). My oven tends to be unpredictable at 450F, so I didn't want to take my chances on burning dinner! It's a very good recipe, and I would definitely make it again.

I'm still a little bit under the weather, but I'm in good spirits. Today promises to be a fun one, because after work I'm taking a cheese-making class! I'm so excited! Laura Ingalls - watch out!

Today I'm thankful for seeing an inspiring dance show this weekend. For rolling out of bed and doing my ballet barre. Tiny steps. What are you thankful for today?

Mixed Beans in a Maple Glaze

I adapted my recipe from a summer squash recipe in an old maple cook book. I lowered the proportion of syrup to vegetable considerably, 1 cup to 1/4 cup, because I didn't want the beans to get all mushy.

Here's what I did:

Take about two cups of beans, I had green and wax beans on hand, and saute them over medium heat in two tablespoons of butter and 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Season with salt and pepper. When the syrup starts to bubble, cover the pan. Check and stir periodically. You want to allow the beans time to soak up the glaze, but you don't want them completely mushy.

Easy. Super good. Super local. :)

OMGIS...and Corn Chowdah

OMGIS!

Okay, let me explain that.

My roommate from college, another Sarah, and I used to have a special language of our own. Abbreviations and inside jokes abounded! "Outsiders" would often listen with confused looks on their faces as we would start in on a rant that was gibberish to anyone but ourselves.

OMGIS is a phrase from those old university days. OH MY GOD I'M SWEATING!

It's freaking hot here people! I'm trying desperately to be productive, and I have not succeeded in finishing my party preparations, HMPF. I'm having a procrastination/blogging/sipping on Sea Dog Blueberry Ale (which I had to drive to no less than FIVE STORES to find)/cool down session.

So tomorrow I'm having my birthday partay - and this year's theme is a local food potluck. A celebration of all that is tasty in New Hampshire. For a main course I whipped up a batch of corn chowder. Corn is plentiful this time of year in New England, and I hybridized two recipes to make my own version of this classic "chowdah."

Sarah's Corn Chowdah aka Corn Chowdah Made With What Was In My Fridge:

You need:


Two strips of bacon
Two large onions
Four tablespoons of butter
Four sprigs of thyme
Six ears of corn
Three potatoes
Six cups of milk
A couple of cups of chicken stock (eyeball it, I think I add two or three)
Two tablespoons of corn starch mixed with two tablespoons of water


Take a big pot. Chop up the bacon and cook it over low heat until it's tasty lookin'.

Chop up onions. Cry. A lot. Pretend you're Tita crying over Pedro from Like Water for Chocolate. Wipe your eyes and move on.

Add onions and butter to the bacony goodness.

Go pick thyme from the porch. Swear a little when you can't break the sprigs with your fingers.

Shuck corn and cut all of it off of the cob. Try not to spray your laptop with corn juice like I did.

Chop potatoes. This is more fun if you sing the "Potato Song" .

Add the potatoes and the corn to the pot, raise heat to medium.

Add milk.

Realize that the only stock that you have is frozen in a tupperware. Try to defrost it.

3 min 45 sec...

Still frozen.

7 min 30 sec...

Still frickin' frozen!

Put frozen glop of stock into pot. Raise heat to high and mash at it with a wooden spoon until it breaks up and melts.

Bring chowdah to a boil.

Cover and simmer for ten minutes.

If you like, you can blend some of the solids in a blender to thicken up your chowdah at this time.

Stir in cornstarch mixture. Let sit for a bit.

Serve or refrigerate. If you're not eating it right away, reheat on the stove over low heat. Don't boil!

Enjoy!

One Local Summer :: Week #6

Whoops! I missed last week due to the holiday. Fear not, Week #5 was full delicious local burgers and buns, Appledore Cove country ketchup and salad. Alas, no pictures, I gobbled it all up too quickly!

This weeks local fare was a Roasted Beet and Chevre Grilled Cheese Sandwich, recipe via CHOW:



Local ingredients:

Goat Cheese
Beets
Bakery Bread
Butter

Non-local ingredients:

Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

This recipe was easy, delicious and utilized simple, local ingredients. I would make it again in a heartbeat!

P.S. I'll also be able to use the leftover greens later to make one of my favorites: Beet Greens Over Polenta

In Ze Kitchen du Cost - Local-Ish Recipes

I've been cooking up a few new local-ish recipes that I thought I would share with you here.

beet greens, shallots, sun dried tomatoes and garlic waiting to go in the pan...


The first has become a delicious new favorite in our kitchen Beet Greens over Polenta by Matt Armendariz via Design Sponge. I substituted the pancetta with bacon, which I could probably seek out locally, but I didn't in this case. I bought the beet greens, garlic and shallots at my farmer's market from Wake Robin Farm. I highly recommend this recipe if you're looking to add a little more leafy greens to your diet. It is simple and tasty.

sip this with a straw and it will be gone, lickety split!


This recipe for Rhubarb Citrus Soda is from my newly acquired copy of Cooking with Shelburne Farms. (If you click on that link, it's currently available new and used from $2.95 - I got my copy a few weeks ago for .99 cents!) This is definitely one of my new favorite cookbooks. Not only does it contain recipes, but it's interspersed with stories of local people who work in and around the Vermont farm. The format of the book is interesting as well. It's broken up into sections by nine ingredients that are indigenous to Vermont; milk and cheese, maple, greens, lamb, mushrooms, game and fish, pork, root-cellar vegetables and apples. These sections make the recipes very applicable here in New Hampshire, as our local food economy depends on many of the same products. The tasty looking recipes combined with the insightful stories really make me want to go visit Shelburne Farms! I don't want to infringe on any copyrights by posting the full recipe here, but if you've made natural sodas before, you could the ingredients are rhubarb, water, orange juice, lemon juice, honey and seltzer, plus I garnished the finished tonic with my orange mint and the first strawberries of the season!

Tonight is Stitch n' Bitch and tomorrow I'm going rock climbing at Pawtuckaway with the hubby and best bud, Allison. Cheers everyone!

Bits and Bobs of Random Goodness

Let's catch up, shall we...

:: Knitting ::

Knitting is definitely my gateway drug *cough* craft addiction which has opened my world to all of the crafty goodness that currently occupies my life...and the majority of my apartment! I have recently re-fallen in love with knitting because of the amazingly awesome, though slightly sinister time-killing, Ravelry. I'm a little obsessed...

I finished the Broadripple Socks,



And last night I started the Umbilical Cord Hat from the first SnB book at 11:00pm...and finished in a crazed knitting stupor roughly around 3:00am!



The hat is one of a few I'll be making for the upcoming baby showers in my life. I'm might do a little embroidery embellishment on them, we'll see.

:: Christmas Gifts ::

Speaking of baby gifts, I finished another teddy bear! Two down, one to go! This one is wonky and a little asymmetrical. I like him - Matt thinks he's ungiftable. I think Matt's silly! What do you think?



:: Shopping ::

I've made some fun Etsy purchases in the last few days. First off, I bought a golfer window decal for my dad for Father's Day. Secondly, and not to be missed, my sensational artist blog friend, Flossy-P, has made some of her works available in form of a super affordable post card! I was able to purchase two of my all time favorites, String Theory and the set Looking for Love/Sometime Soon. Very exciting, indeed.

:: Cooking ::

Still with me? I made the Asparagus and Morel Bread Pudding sans the morels from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Very tasty, and it made a TON! Oh my, has it been more than a week since I've sung the praises of this book?! If you haven't read it, please do. It will likely change your life, give the warm fuzzies, make you feel like you can change the fate of the planet by doing your little bit.

Made the Rhubarb Crisp from Slow Food by Alice Waters again. Came out scrumptious, again. **EDIT** I just popped over to my mum's blog and she's posted a delicious looking recipe for Rhubarb Bread. I'll have to give that one a go!

So that's what I've been up to - how about all of you? Having a productive week?

Until next time, cheers!