Veggie Table

Eggplant, Squash, and Tomato Saute adapted from this Serves 4 1/4 c. chopped onion 1 clove garlic, chopped 1 Tbsp. olive oil 1/2 c. diced eggplant (I found that this was about four 1/4-inch thick slices of a mondo eggplant) 1/2 c. diced yellow squash 1/2 c. diced tomato 1 Tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped or 1 tsp. dried oregano 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat; saute onions and garlic for 4-5 minutes or until onions start to brown. Add eggplant and squash. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the eggplant starts to get soft, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook another 5 minutes or so. Serving suggestion: Spoon it over hot rice with plain yogurt on top. Sounds weird? Absolutely. Try it though, and tell me what you think. The first time I made this, I added some sweet corn (maybe 1/2 cup?) somewhere in there - maybe when I added the tomatoes - and also substituted fresh basil for the fresh oregano (I know, I know. They're not interchangeable. But they are both fresh, which beats dried in my book). The second time, I forgot the corn, but it was still really good. I even got my husband to eat it. And he had told me he wasn't a fan of eggplant. BAH! I showed him. A few little snippets of thought: 1. I love poetry so much, and I think my parents are to blame. Mom used to make us memorize a poem a week if we wanted to have the privilege of watching TV on the weekend. I'm totally going to pull that one on my kids. Last night at the dinner table, something that my husband said made me think of a poem, so I pulled my copy of Best Loved Poems of the American People off the shelf and proceeded to sing a poem about dried apple pies. He laughed at me, but then we read poetry together for another few minutes and decided that we were going to subject our own children to Casey at the Bat in utero and that poem about Paul Revere when they're in diapers. (By the way, this isn't a subtle disclosure of any sort. Just a thought). So, in honor of my poetry-stuffed childhood, I have composed a simple end-of-summer Ode to Veggies:

Peppers and squash

Apples and berries

Picking and eating

Cooking and sharing

Freezing and jamming

Preserving and drying

This poem isn't much

But at least I'm trying.

2. I'm going to see the movie Julie and Julia tonight with 4 girlfriends. I am really excited and will share my thoughts in a coming post!

3. Does anyone have knowledge of dehydrating? I'm thinking of borrowing a dehydrator from a friend and working up some apples, but I don't know how long home-dried fruit will last, and where I should store them. Any dried apple skills you have would be appreciated.

Blueberry Summer

Blueberry Buckle 2 c. flour 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 c. shortening 3/4 c. sugar 1 egg 1/2 c. milk (or substitute 1/2 c. buttermilk or sour cream) 2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries Grease a 9-inch square pan. Set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, beat shortening on medium speed for about 30 seconds (it gets a little fluffy). Ad the 3/4 c. sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add dry mixture and milk (or buttermilk, or sour cream) alternately to beaten egg mixture, beating until smooth after each addition. Set aside. Just kidding. Pour it into the greased pan. Sprinkle evenly with blueberries.

Prepare topping by mixing:

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cut in 1/4 c. butter until the topping looks crumbly.

Sprinkle over blueberries.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until golden and knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Makes one 9-inch square pan of blueberry coffee cake, which can be as many or as few servings as you like. The recipe says 9. We downed it in 6 (one dessert and two breakfasts). As you wish.

I think the only food I love more than blueberries is ice cream. I'm a little sad now that I've started to notice that summer is coming to a close ... BUT, to cheer me up all year long, I've been picking blueberries at a nearby farm and have now squirreled away 2+ gallons of the delicious fruit. The summer has been so delicious in so many (literal and figurative) ways that it's a little hard to see it go.

Sigh.

Blueberries, though.

That's where it's at.

You can't think of blueberries and not smile.

Or at least, I can't.

Goodbye summer!

Trial and

Error: my favorite pizza dough recipe doesn't work in the bread machine. Instead of rising to three times its size and having a lovely, soft, airy texture, it turned into something that looked like pancake-batter syrup. I guess it's a tender dough and should not be beaten as vigorously as my BreadMaster2000 thought. I used it anyway, and it turned out ... well ... OK. Just OK though. After letting it rise its regular 20 hours, I poured it into two 8-inch cake pans and baked it at 450 for 15 minutes or so. It was chewy but ... weird. Just thought I'd share that.

The Europe Post

Crepes with Creme Chantilly

Cousin Becky's advice to me regarding French pronunciation: "Say the word like you have marbles in your mouth." Open mouth. Insert marbles. Say it: "crepps," "crem," and "shontee-YAY." See? The marbles work. Crepes 2 beaten eggs 1 1/2 c. milk 1 c. flour 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil 2 Tbsp. sugar

Combine eggs, milk, flour, oil, and sugar; beat until well mixed. Lightly grease a small (6-inch) skillet, remove from heat. Spoon in 2 Tbsp. batter; lift and tilt skillet to spread batter. Return to heat; brown on one side only. Invert over paper towels; remove crepe. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet occasionally. Creme chantilly 2 c. heavy cream 2 Tbsp. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla

Beat ingredients in a large mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Refrigerate any leftovers (like that's really going to happen in my kitchen).

To serve, fold two crepes in half and place on a plate. Top with creme chantilly. Serves 8-9.

About two weeks ago I returned from Cousin Kat and Cousin Becky's Awesome EuroAdventure, 2009 Edition, to find that I was so exhausted I couldn't blog. It's taken me a full 16 days to recoup my energy, get over jet lag, fight a nasty sinus infection/flu/cough, get the house back in order, and restock my refrigerator. So, I do apologize that it's been so long. Here's a short recap of the trip ... We stayed with friends in Madrid and got to see my best-friend-from-childhood on her way out of the country, spent one night in Basque country at the largest street festival I've ever been to (Fetes Bayonnes is a post-Running of the Bulls party that lasts five days. Frankly, I don't know how they do it for a whole five days), and then took a train to Paris, where we were picked up and given a midnight tour or the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysses, and the Arc du Triomphe by my mom's college friend Michelle. We decided to jump at all major sights/attractions, instead of taking regular snapshots of smiling faces like the other, more normal tourists were doing:

(word to the wise: hold your dress or skirt DOWN when you jump.)

We tried to look French (notice the baguette strategically placed under the arm) ...

After five days in Paris we flew to Barcelona and got our beach time in. We stayed with friends of friends there and were shown the old part of the city, treated to typical Catalonian and Spanish food (escalivada, pan con tomate, and some meat dish that was absolutely succulent but whose name I have forgotten), and given the most lovely welcome ever. After three days of that, we headed back to Madrid for a day of shopping at El Rastro (the world's loveliest flea market/ripoff center/home of $3 scarves, in my opinion) and lunch with the Madrid family. My Spanish "mother," Maria Jose, who had treated us to this lovely paella on our first day in Madridmade us a full five-course Sunday afternoon lunch (well ... we ate from 2 PM until 7 PM so I'm not sure what to call it) of three types of ham, Manchego cheese (my favorite), Spanish tortilla (egg and potato omelet), salad, steak, some type of fish (we couldn't figure out what to call it in English), the first dessert of fruit ("to help push the steak down," she said) and the second dessert of Rum Ice Cream Cake and coffee. We waddled to the Catedral de Vallecos to snap this very Spanish-looking picture (notice my scarf and Cousin Becky's snazzy $4.50 dress): We flew out the next day and barely made our connecting flight in Boston (by barely, I mean we ran through the terminals and asked security guards to let us jump forward, and made it to our gate after the door was already shut. Fortunately, the capitan was also late so they let us on.) It was awesome, that's all there is to it.

flying the coop

I'm leaving town. I'm leaving the state, actually. More specifically, I'm leaving the country. In three days. I'll be searching for some new recipes, and hopefully creating some new stories to go with them. Adios, faithful reader! See you in a few weeks!

Fowl Obsession

Chicken Salad 1 c. chopped cooked chicken 3 Tbsp. mayonnaise (the real stuff, none of this fake lite "spread" now, you hear?) 1 Tbsp. chopped dill pickle (or 1 Tbsp. pickle relish) 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill 1/4 c. chopped red or green sweet pepper 1/4 tsp. black pepper 1/8 tsp. curry powder (only if you like curry, though) 4 slices of the best quality bread you can get your hands on (or the free kind that occasionally ends up at our house - you know, like when a grocery store or bakery gets rid of its day-old bread? We've got half a freezer full of day-old bread. It's best when toasted ... kinda hides the staleness factor.) Toast bread. Combine all ingredients. Place filling on two bread slices and top with other two. Or, forget that you made enough for two people and heap the entire amount on one slice of bread, top with the other slice, eat it, and feed the two leftover slices to your spouse/roommate/friend in the form of a PB&J. I don't know what has come over me in the past week. I've had chicken salad SIX TIMES in seven days. You'd think I'd be tired of it by now, but not yet. I'm kinda wishing I were tired of it. I'm running out of chicken. This is so unlike me. I usually don't get obsessed about food, or have cravings for specific foods (unless, of course, you count the 3 half-gallons of ice cream and the tub of sherbet in the freezer ...). Food is food. Yes, I love it, but I usually don't come home at the end of the day thinking, "Man, I'm craving a [insert food here] tonight. I have to make it or I can't go on living." I made myself (another) chicken salad sandwich to bring to work today - I added about 1 tablespoon of mustard and a few drops of tabasco sauce. Left out the dill and black pepper. It was good ... but I think I prefer it the other way. With the curry and dill and peppers. But I do like the mustard in it, and I might run with that for a while. You can add or delete ingredients to your liking - I will say though that it's nice to have a little crunch in there (pickles or sweet peppers) and some seasoning/herb, especially fresh, adds a little something eggstra (sorry. I couldn't help it. Puns run in my family). Good cluck to you all! OK. I'll stop. No more paltry puns.

Five Threes

Fruit Sherbet 3 bananas, sliced 3 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced 3 c. strawberries, capped and halved 3 c. sugar 3 c. water Combine bananas, peaches, strawberries, and 1 cup of water in blender or food processor - pulse until almost smooth. Mix in remaining 2 c. water and sugar. Mix well. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Only a quick note on this one - SO good! I had a hankering for homemade ice cream and stole ... er, borrowed ... my parents' ice cream maker. I decided to go with this sherbet because (a) I had all the ingredients on hand, (b) I didn't have much milk on hand, and (c) one of my friends doesn't eat dairy and I wanted her to be able to have some. The recipe came from my dad who said that his mom (my Nano) used to make this - and I feel like if a recipe has been around for that long it's bound to be good. None of this crazy fad stuff ... just good old fruit sherbet. You could use other fruits for the bananas/peaches/strawberries ... I think Nano made it with oranges, grapefruit, and bananas. Go. Make Five Threes now. Or Four Threes and a Four. Or Seven Threes and a Two. Whatever. Just make it and let me know!