2 (of my many) problems solved!!

I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear this, my blog reading friend, but I have problems.  Some big and important, some pretty small and stupid.  Some which I just need to take by the horns and fix, and some are totally out of my control.  My job on the last group is to fix my attitude to accept that I don't have any control and find happiness in spite of them.  I know I am no different than anyone else in these declarations of problems, and solutions and non-solutions.  No one gets through life without their share of things to work through or around, or whatever.  

(Stick with me while I digress for a moment)  I was reminded of the importance of feeling gratitude no matter what you are going through just recently.  My good friend lost her child in a tragic accident.  This child also happens to have been one of my seminary students!  He was a smart, handsome, good young man, who loved his life, and the people in it.  To see his life cut short was a shock and as I said before, a tragedy.  My friend spoke at his funeral, and related how the thought came to her (in the form of a recent General Conference talk by Pres. Uchtdorf) about being grateful in any circumstance.  She took note of the magically folded and put away clothes in her dresser, the balanced meals that her kitchen seemed to produce from nowhere, and the texts that came to her phone at just the perfect time. (She voiced it much more eloquently)  Of course, these things were all facilitated by her friends and family, and she was able to, in the midst of her seemingly devastating grief, to recognize the service of others to her and her family.  Is she still grieving her son?  Of course, and most likely will be doing that in some form the rest of her life.  Is she debilitated by it?  Probably at times, but for the most part, she is using her gratitude to carry her through this horribly difficult time.  What a great example to me and to those at the funeral!!  I'm grateful for her!

(Ok, back to the original subject.  Although, after that, my "problems" seem pretty ridiculous, even absurd!!  If I could think of a different term to use, I would.  Maybe as I type it will come to me.)

So, what are these great "problems"?  First of all, I love to buy journals.  I am especially tempted when I go to TJ Maxx and take a peek at their inventory.  They always have something that catches my eye, and I usually succumb.  Now, a girl can only use some many of these, and as I'm not writing very often in a paper journal these days, I can't just keep buying them on a whim or my kids will curse my name for my empty journal collection when I die.  They will have enough things to curse me about.  I don't want my love of journals to be in that category.  So, what to do with this latest one I  bought?  I love it.  A bike?  Hello!  Reminders to enjoy the ride?  Hello!  Love both of those things.   

And, look inside.  Such cute pages.  (The pages rotate between about four or five different patterns.)  I <3 journal.="" nbsp="" p="" this="">

Now to the second dilemma (that's a good substitute for problem).  I love to cook, and I love all the recipe options available on the MANY blogs in the internet!  So many recipes!!  I have my favorites - ourbestbites.com, and smittenkitchen.com, just to name a couple.  Of course, allrecipes.com is a great place to go, and the foodnetwork website and pioneerwoman.com always have something.  Now how is a girl supposed to keep track of the recipes she tries, likes and wants to use again?  I was copying them into a recipe book but that is about full, and obviously redundant.  I don't need to reinvent the wheel here.  

Enter my new journal!  I realized I could make a record of the recipes I want to use again in it.  Great idea right?  But how to keep track of them and find them again?  I numbered the pages and created an alphabetical index at the back of the journal.  Now it doesn't matter if the entries aren't in any order.  I can easily find them as long as I remember to enter the page number they are on in the index.

When I thought of this last week, I couldn't help patting myself on the back for a brilliant idea.  (Now I realize someone has probably already figured this out, and posted it on Pinterest, or something like that, but I am not a very good Pinner and haven't seen anything so am feeling very creative and dilemma solving!  And you can be un-impressed if you choose, but I choose to be excited and a bit giddy about the whole thing.  And of course, grateful...

A New Discovery

While I'm not one to shy away from new food, and certainly not from squash, I have never done much with Spaghetti Squash.  I may have bought it years ago, or had a fresh one from someone's garden, but I'm not sure I made it into something that we all really loved.  In fact, I am sure of it, given that it has been so long since another one has come home from the grocery store.  But all that changed when I decided on a whim to buy one a few months ago, and then searched the internet (the fountain of all cooking wisdom) for some way to use it.

And now, Baked Spaghetti Squash with Beef and Veggies is the new recipe that is getting rave reviews around here. (Not my photo, my dishes aren't near that nice, and flat leaf parsley is not something I usually have hanging out in my vegetable drawers :)  I do like to make it with ground Italian sausage, and I'm not sure I use the exact amounts of red and green peppers, but so far, everyone has liked it.  Actually, I can't say everyone.  Even as I type, Trevor is wondering why we have been having it so often, so I guess not all are fans!  :)



So, in the interest of good food, I'm sharing it with you.  Give it a try, maybe it will become a favorite at your house too!

And in the interest of movies about food, if you haven't seen The Hundred Foot Journey, with Helen Mirren, you may want to give it a try!  It's both sweet and funny, and we all enjoyed watching it!

Bon Appetit!

An experiment in dough...

We love the ciabatta rolls from our favorite warehouse club!  LOVE LOVE them.  (Well, I think most of us do anyway.  Some among my group my just really like them.)  Anyway...
Imagine my glee when I found this recipe in the King Arthur Flour catalog!!!

Of course, the name is different, but they look enough like the real thing to draw my attention.  I knew I had to try them.  The recipe starts with a biga, which is defined as the following...Biga is a type of pre-ferment used in Italian baking. Many popular Italian breads, such as ciabatta, are made using a biga. Using a biga adds complexity to the bread's flavour and is often used in breads which need a light, open texture with holes. .

My pre-ferment for Italian baking so my bread will have complex flavor and a light open texture with holes

You have to make it 12-20 hours in advance, so mine sat on my counter from about 4:30 yesterday afternoon until about 2:30 this afternoon, which appears to be 2 hours over the required time.  Oops.  Not off to a good start.  

I mixed up the rest of the ingredients (I thought) but my dough was very stiff and I ended up adding more water which was good, because I realized I left out the 1/2 tsp of yeast.  Hmm, is this project doomed?? 

The rising ciabatta

 After I added a little more water, with the yeast dissolved in it, it seemed more like it was supposed to be.  I let it proof for about 2 hours and then formed the rolls.  I thought I should make them smaller than was specified in the recipe, so I did.  Mistake #3.  (I am on a roll!  Ha, pun intended!!!)

They rose again, although, I wouldn't say they really got puffy.  But into the pre-heated oven on the pre-heated pizza stone they went.  

After they were done baking, I let them cool for a few minutes, and sliced one in half and tasted it.  They may not be pretty on the outside...

The finished product

but glory be, the inside looked just like I wanted it to.  The crust was a little too crisp on the bottom, but I am hoping that it will soften after they cool.  They were also a bit salty, but they tasted like they were supposed to!!  O happy day!!!  We'll have them with soup tomorrow for dinner!!  Soup seems appropriate since it is only supposed to get to 19 deg tomorrow, and the low will be 6!!!  Brr!

There is hope!!!

Will I make them again??  YES
Will I follow the directions more closely?  YES
Will I decrease the salt to about 1 1/2 tsp? YES
Will the recipe work better if I actually use 1/4 cup wheat flour in the biga?  MAYBE
Will any major characters on Downton Abbey die this season?  Oops, got off topic there. :)

Final analysis.  I doubt my ciabatta will ever look like Costco's, but these are easy enough and they turned out well enough, I will make them at least as many times as I would buy them.

Here is the recipe if anyone is interested in trying them.  (Courtesy King Arthur Flour Company)
Chewy Italian Rolls
BIGA
1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 oz) white whole wheat flour
1 cup (8 oz) water
1/8 tsp instant yeast

Mix all of the ingredients until well blended.  Cover the bowl, and let rest at room temperature for 12 to 20 hours, until the biga is very bubbly.

DOUGH
biga (See above)
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (4 oz) water
2 tsp salt (I will cut it down next time)
1/2 tsp instant yeast

Mix the biga with the remaining ingredients for 2 to 4 minutes, using an electric mixer set on slow speed.  Increase the mixer speed to medium, and mix for about 4 minutes; the dough will be soft and slightly sticky.  Add additional water or flour if necessary.
Let the dough rise, in a greased, covered bowl, for 1 to 2 hours, until very puffy.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and shape it into a 6 x 12 square.  Cut out 8 - 3 in. square rolls.  Place the rolls, floured side up, onto parchment paper.
Cover the rolls, and allow them to rise for 45 mins or until puffy.
Place a baking steel or stone in the top third of your oven, and preheat the oven to 450 deg.
Bake the rolls for 13 to 15 mins, until they are golden brow.  Remove them from the oven, and cool on a wire rack.
Yield - 8 rolls.

Ciao and Buon Appetito!!!  (Just a little nod to my Italian heritage!!)

a few random things...

Kristin's wallet went missing at the DECA trip last week.  No trace to be found.  Lost - money, her driver's permit, school ID, and library card, as well as at least 2 gift cards.  We don't know for sure that someone stole it, but we don't know for sure that someone didn't steal it.  Disappointing anyway you look at it.

We woke up to a broken heater on Sunday morning, right in the middle of the cold snap we are having.  Last night it was 2 deg. at one point and the high yesterday was only about 18 or so, if that much.  We had the repairman out today, he diagnosed and fixed the problem quickly, and we are back in business.  Luckily, we had one warm side of the house yesterday, and spent a lot of time there!!  And, who knew 3 hours of church would be so welcome??  Needless to say, we are grateful to be warm again!!

Our Rexburg co-ed is also in the middle of an Arctic weather pattern, and all of Rexburg and surrounding areas were without power for most of Wednesday.  She and much of the rest of BYU-I spent the day in the one building on campus with a generator, so was able to stay warm and no doubt, get some serious social time in to boot!

We got our tree on Saturday and started decorating it and the house on Sunday.  This poor wise man lost his head. Maybe this is what would have happened to the real wise men if Herod had gotten a hold of them when they didn't go back to see him after seeing Christ.  My elf who dropped this felt incredibly bad, but as with other Willow Tree statues that I, myself, have broken, it was easily put back together, and none the worse for the wear.  For as many years as we have had that nativity set, its pretty amazing that this is the first broken piece!

John and Trev also put up the lights in the front, which was no small feat, given the weather.  I can't remember the temperature exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was in the teens!!  Yikes! The front of the house looks very festive when you come in the driveway!  Lovely!

Saturday, I also made caramel corn.  It was a thank you for the people who performed at our Ward Christmas party on Friday.  And, yes, now that you ask, the popcorn popper is from the 80's!  John and I got it for a wedding gift, and it dutifully pops corn for me every December so I can make this treat.

It may be old, but like many of us, is still very useful!

Butter, brown sugar and light corn syrup.  Notice that little gem of a rubber scraper, spatula, whatever you call it.  It is from Williams Sonoma.  It came in a set of 3 and I use them ALL the time!  One of the best kitchen purchases I have made in the last few years.

The finished product!  Crunchy and buttery and yummy!!!  See the recipe below...

Oven Caramel Corn

6 quarts popped corn (one of those big tupperware bowls that used to be so popular), old maids removed

2 sticks butter (1 cup)                                         1 tsp salt *

2 cups brown sugar                                             1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup light corn syrup                                       1 tsp butter flavoring (optional)**

In a large pot (at least 3 quarts) boil butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt for 5 minutes, stirring often.  Remove from heat and add 1 tsp baking soda and butter flavoring, if using and mix well.  (The mixture will foam up)

Pour over popped corn and stir to coat.  Place in 2 greased 9 x 13 pans and bake at 200 deg. for 1 hour.  Stir every 15 mins.
Let cool and store in airtight container.  I put mine on large baking sheets to cool.

*I didn't add salt on Saturday and didn't miss it at all.

**I did add butter flavoring, and thought it was a great addition.  I usually don't have any, therefore don't use it.

And then there was one...

...piece of cake that is.  My birthday cake, baked by Kristin, with homemade frosting made by me and Trev.   It was a really yummy cake, and I know others thought so also, as I think I have only had 2 pieces.  Hee hee. As I was making the frosting, I wondered why I have been possessed in the past to purchase store bought frosting!!  Such a waste when a person can easily whip up some butter (1/2 cup) add about 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, a few tablespoons of cocoa, 1 - 2 tablespoons of milk, and a splash of vanilla!  After whipping that until its very fluffy, nothing can compare!  (my veiled recipe is because I may have gotten that recipe from someone who said the person they got it from didn't want to share it.  Although, the cocoa is my modification, so its all good, right??  :)

At any rate, I am now one year older (plenty of evidence on that count) and I would hope one year wiser, (time will tell on that one.)  
I thought of sharing a list of 51 things I have done/accomplished in my life, but will spare you that, and just say that I have lived and continue to live a blessed life full of people I love and who love me.  I have the Gospel in my life, and the knowledge that Heavenly Father loves me enough that he let his son give his life so I could have the Atonement to use to someday live with him again.  I have a warm home to come in out of the cold, and I have safe water to drink, and more food to eat than I need.  I also have the blessing of health which I realize more everyday is HUGE!!  I often think as I pull on one of my favorite sweatshirts, Life is Good!! which is the saying on that favorite sweatshirt, which if you look in the mirror and read it says "boog si efil!  I'm weird, I know!!!
Here is something that cracked me up as my birthday approached...I saw somewhere (probably Facebook) that there are so many birthdays this time of year because 9 months before is Valentine's Day.  After I read that, I began to realize there are a lot of people I know who were born around this time.  It does make me chuckle...

Soup weather

Last week Mother Nature threw me a bone and we had several days of really beautiful Fall weather!  Really beautiful!!  

Well, this week we are back to grey, chilly days, which only means one thing!!  Its Soup Weather!!

Tuesday, Kristin had a soccer game, (they won, and Kristin had a great assist on one of the goals!!)  It was deceptively chilly at the game which means I took some time warming up (read - I ate dinner with my fuzzy bathrobe over my clothes!  Its very effective!)

Anyway...dinner that night was lasagna soup.  This is from the website, Our Best Bites, which is full of really yummy recipes.  It was warm, cheesy and flavorful!  I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta, since I never have ricotta in my fridge, and I didn't add as much sausage as it called for, although John thought it needed more.  I made it a few hours early and put it in the crock pot to keep warm until after the game.  It's a keeper!

Another of my favorite recipes from OBB is black bean soup.  It is deceptively flavorful, although, don't leave out the cilantro - it is a key player.  The other thing I love about this soup is the nutrition information.  Really low cal, low fat,  Winner, winner!!  (Of course, the cheese you add before you eat it isn't included in the fat count!  ;)

One more favorite from OBB is Baked Potato Soup.  Unlike lasagna soup (Trev didn't love the chunks of tomatoes) or black bean soup (truth be told, I am the only one who loves, although I think Amber and Kristin will humor me and eat it), everyone loves this soup!!  What's not to love? Cheese, bacon bits, sour cream!!  Yummy, warm and delicious!!

Soup weather means I get to pull out my imitation Le Crueset pot.  It is an authentic Le Costco.  I know some may scorn the substitution, but its either this or nothing as I am far too frugal (read - cheap) to put out the money for the real thing!!

My favorite soup pot sitting on my favorite toile tablecloth.

Happy Soup Weather from me to you!

Today I have something to say...

yesterday, I did not.  Hence, no blog post.  It was late when
Kristin had me help her with learning Latin American countries and capitals, and I realized when it was time to blog that I had nothing rattling around in my head to blog about!  I decided that rather than just rambling about nothing, I could feel good about skipping a day and spare whoever is reading this a dull, stupid blog post.  You are welcome!!  :)

But today, I had several different thoughts.  Should I blog about books I have read lately?  Should I blog about the class I signed up for at Big Picture Classes that has been eliciting all kinds of memories from my childhood?  No, I thought I would leave those for another time and revisit my good friends of late, summer squash!!

We are having a potluck for our RS Meeting tonight, with the main dish being this ridiculously easy pulled pork recipe.  The pork is being made by others and we are also supposed to bring a dessert or side dish, and as I still have more summer squash than I can possibly use before the next wave comes, I decided to make this recipe.

It is a good one.  I modify it a bit, as I never have radishes.  When I have tons of summer squash, I also have tons of cucumbers, so I put in a cup of julienned cucumbers and a cup of chopped onion (preferably a Walla Walla Sweet).  You will note that my "sticks" of veggies are nowhere close to uniform in size.  If I had a mandoline, I am sure it would look much better.  My limited experience with a mandoline left me missing a small chunk of my pinkie, so I choose to take a little extra time to cut them with a knife, and risk having them non-uniform.  (As if there is even a chance that they will be uniform!!  ;)

Btw - before I started this blog experiment, I had no idea how to get from my blog to a link using a word or phrase.  I'm sure for most others, this is common knowledge and you are at this moment rolling your eyes at this.  But...I am pretty excited that I figured it out all by myself.  I didn't even have to Google it!  Kudos to me!!

Try the salad if you so feel inclined and/or have a kitchen counter being overrun by green and yellow vegetables.  I think you'll like it.  (Here is a funny thing relating to zucchini - when I was buying Amber some food to get her started at school, she wanted a zucchini!!!  It took a little cajoling for me to actually pay money for one knowing what I had waiting for me at home!  As a mom, how could I turn down a request that included a vegetable???)

Even better red peppers...Day 7 GBE

I'm not sure anyone is keeping track besides me, but it is day 7 and I am still getting it done!!  Believe me, no one is more surprised than I am!!!

Now on to more peppers and a summer recipe...

I was so excited with my previous "best red pepper ever" but I have to amend that and say that the pepper on the left is now the best red pepper I have ever grown!!  Of course, it isn't perfect, and I photographed its best side, but who doesn't like that to happen?   I have to say it is definitely the best one to date.  I can't even hope to top it, but what a treat it will be if I do!!!  (Let's give credit where it is due...I have a feeling my pepper success has to do with the fact that John had a big part in making sure the garden got watered every day, and my kids who were often the ones I sent down to turn on that water.  So really, maybe its the best red pepper they have ever grown!!  :)

At any rate, here is a favorite summer recipe that uses garden veggies, and is really yummy!  (I could have used a red pepper in it, but chose to save these to roast and use on paninis!!  Also yummy!!

Fire and Ice

6 large firm, ripe tomatoes (I like to use romas I often use two smaller ones to equal one)

1 large green pepper, seeded

1 red onion (I always use a yellow, or a Walla Walla Sweet if I have one.)

1 cucumber

DRESSING:

3/4 cup vinegar

1 1/2 tsp celery salt

1 1/2 tsp mustard seed

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

4 1/2 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp red pepper (cayenne)

1/4 cup cold water

Cut tomatoes into 4 or 8 parts.  You can skin them if you want, I never do.  Slice green pepper into strips.  Slice onion into rings.  Place in a bowl.  Heat dressing ingredients until boiling.  Let boil hard for 1 minute.  While hot, pour over vegetables.  Chill, stirring occasionally.  Just before serving add sliced cucumber.  (I often add them with the other vegetables.  (The tomatoes will keep for days in the fridge.  Fresh cukes can be added as they will get soft.

Serves 8

Enjoy!!! 

Day 4 - Summer Harvest and Vegetable Tian

The garden has been producing zucchini and yellow squash, plus cucumbers for about a month, but just recently the tomatoes and peppers have come on.

This is the best red pepper I have EVER grown!!  I know its not much, but I'm so proud!!

The zucchini has given me fits because I have tried all season to get them when they are small like the one pictured.  If you've ever grown this vegetable, you know that in the morning it won't be quite big enough, so you intent to pick it in the evening, but of course, you forget, so the next morning, it is large enough to be Fred Flinstone's club!!  AAUUGGHH!!!  (Actually the same goes for the crookneck squash!!  What is it about summer squash anyway?)

At any rate, there have been some successes, and tonight I was able to create this yummy and very pretty dish.  Its called a vegetable tian.  Maybe you know what tian means, but I didn't, so here is a definition for all of us.   

"Tian is a French word that describes an earthenware square or rectangular casserole dish.  A tian can be a variety of dishes but originally referred to a Provencal-style mix of vegetables that are cooked, baked or roasted in a gratin style."  

This definition comes from this website http://aspoonfulofthyme.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-is-vegetable-tian.html

Well, that explains why I was attracted to this dish!!  French Provencal-Style? I am there!!  This is from a recipe Chelsie posted on Pinterest, and it is yummy, but here is a tip...When it says to season the dish, really season it, don't just sprinkle a little salt, pepper and italian seasoning on it.  It can take some serious flavor.  And I didn't use potatoes, because the first time I made it, I didn't care for them, so they are gone!

This is a perfect way to use up those fresh vegetables, and is a nice change from sauteed, or steamed then mashed squash.  YUM!!

Lasagna Night

There's nothing like a man in the kitchen, and I had a cute one helping me today. Trevor tried his hand at putting together a lasagna and declared it easy. He also ate his larger than asked for helping in no time flat, supporting the theory that things you make yourself taste better than usual.


Here's Trevor's recipe for "Lazy Lasagna".

Brown 1 lb mild Italian sausage. Drain and mix with one large can spaghetti sauce and 1/3 cup water.

Mix together in large bowl - 12 oz of cottage cheese, 2 beaten eggs, basil, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper.

In the bottom of a 9x13 pan, sprayed with Pam, spread a large spoonful of the spaghetti sauce mixture. Top with 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of sauce, 1/2 cottage cheese mixture and 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering. Spread remaining sauce on top of noodles and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 deg. until noodles are tender and most of sauce is absorbed. Can remove foil towards the end and let it brown on top if desired. Cooking usually takes about 45 mins or so.