The Hot Cookie

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!

2011-10-16T02:05:00.005-04:00

Hello! Long time no see. I hope you all have had a great summer. I've been not too far from my kitchen. Here are a few goodies, I've baked up within the past few months.

Caramel Chocolate Shortbread

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

Blueberry muffins - three ways

And LOTS of sourdough bread. I've been devouring one of Peter Reinhart's books.

Now, after gutting and gouging our pumpkins, it's time for roasted pumpkin seeds. These seeds are impossible to mess up.

Sort the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin guts. Wash the seeds a bit in a colander. Set the oven for 300 degrees F. Lightly grease a sheet pan. Spread the seeds out evenly and mist them with a bit of oil. Sprinkle generously with whatever seasonings you like. This year I chose salt, garlic powder, and dill. Salt, thyme, and rosemary is also nice, or any ol' pre-mixed seasoning will do. Salt, pepper, and vinegar might also be tasty. You could even make them spicy with cayenne and paprika. Toss to coat and put them in the oven for 10 minutes. Stir and spread evenly again. Bake for another 10 minutes. Check to see if they are light and crispy. If not, bake for another 5 minutes or so. They should be just very slightly browned. Keep in an airtight container for a few weeks.

Happy Halloween!

Karli's baby shower!

2011-05-02T19:28:00.007-04:00

Hot Cookie Karli is so prego! Karli and Travis's first little one will be arriving in late August. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Handicrafter Aubrey of Backwoods Belle, and I threw a vibrant baby shower. Here's what was served and gobbled up:

Electric cupcakes! It's Martha's Devil's Food Cupcake with this no fail icing. I found that the icing needed more cream. I just kept adding - slowly - until I found the desired consistency and taste.

Aubrey rocked out the decorations. I'm sad that I didn't get a photo of her banner. :(

The Spread:

Caprese style marinated mozzarella and tomatoes adapted from this recipe. I used whole cherry tomatoes and a lot of chopped basil. Tossed all of the ingredients into a zip-top bag and let the flavors muddle for a day.

Turkey tea-sandwiches with a special cream cheese spread adapted from Ina Garten. I just combined 8oz. of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of fresh basil, 1/4 cup of caramelized onions, 1/4 cup of dried cranberries, and salt and pepper to taste - whipped together in a food processor and spread on artisan bread.

Chocolate covered strawberries and buttermilk biscuits with jam and honey butter. Be sure to use unsalted butter or cut the salt down by half for the biscuits. They were a touch too salty, but I heard no complaints.

Sea salt chocolate chip cookies from the chocolate genius, Jacques Torres.

And I pulled a super sweet mocktail out of the blue. It was a blueberry limenade made with 50 fl. oz. of sparkling, unsweetened blueberry juice (found at Trader Joe's), 1 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice, 1 cup of sugar (I used turbenado sugar), a handful of fresh mint, and a load of ice. This one got rave reviews.

The party was super fun to plan. Congrats, Karli and Travis!!!

Carrot Cake for zee Easter bunneh

2011-04-23T14:06:00.006-04:00

I totally meant to post this earlier, but whatever. Carrot cake isn't a seasonal thing, it's just nice to make it for such occasions like Easter. Easter bunnies dig carrot cake. This recipe comes from a random, great baker from AllRecipes.com. I will NEVER use another recipe. That's how flippin' good this one is. This recipe makes an excellent layer cake. I've done this in the past and got ooos and ahhhs. Make it with or without nuts; both ways are great.

A food processor makes the carrot shredding easy work, and the cake comes together in minutes. You'll need 3 cups of shredded carrots.

Eggs in oil. Odd looking, yet pretty.

Adding the dry ingredients to the wet.

Not the best looking batters. Not even the nicest looking cake, but the taste makes up for it. The icing hides any ugliness anyway.

The icing for this beast is awesome. Whip it until it's nice and fluffy.

Schmear it on. For a sheet cake, I cut out an entire cup of powdered sugar. If I'm making a layer cake, I'll definitely put the 4th cup in. Tastes great either way.

Happy Easter!

Schnack bars!

2011-04-10T13:10:00.002-04:00

Those snacky folks among us probably spend a nice wad of money on snack bars/granola bars. The truth is is that they're easy to make, they're customizable, they make a lot per batch, and are pretty darn tasty.

These bars are layered, but I think it might work to just stir all of the ingredients together, but don't quote me. The layers aren't that much trouble anyway. To begin, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line a square, 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper or foil, extending the paper/foil over the pan edges. I suggest you do this and not just grease the pan like I did. I ended up with many broken bars.

First, combine 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of rolled oats, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, a pinch of salt, and (optional) 2 Tbsp of flax seeds. Pour 1/4 cup of melted butter into the flour/oat mixture and stir until combined. Divide this mixture in half. Spread half of the mix evenly on the bottom of the lined pan. Press down a bit; like you would a graham cracker pie crust.

For the center layer, combine 3/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk, 1 cup of (preferably unsweetened) flaked coconut, 1 cup of nut of choice (I used walnut), 1 cup of dried fruit of choice (I used cherry), and 3/4 cup of chocolate chips in a separate bowl. Stir well, and pour into the pan - on top of the first layer. Spread it out evenly.

Now pour the remaining oat/flour mixture on the top. Spreading that layer out evenly. Now give it a nice press to bind the layers together. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly golden. Let it cool, then cut into bars or squares. You can package them individually with a little plastic wrap. Store them in the fridge, and take them on the go!

Coolest Easter egg ever!

2011-03-27T00:19:00.002-04:00

I stumbled upon a very cool how-to blog called not martha. Not martha has some very fun/creative tutorials. This one was about how to make hollow chocolate eggs inside of real egg shells. I would like to try to make these one day...not any time soon though because it seems quite labor intensive. This blog post was just too great not to share. Check it out here.

Creme Brulee Party

2011-03-17T22:35:00.004-04:00

Creme brulee is dessert of the gods and a recent obsession for me. I've had it here and there, but I didn't fully appreciate this decadent dish until I made it with some friends. I couldn't believe how simple it is. It takes just five ingredients and patience for the cooking and chilling time.

Let's do this thing.

It all starts with a half cup of sugar and some eggs: one whole egg and four egg yolks. Beat until just combined - no whipping.

Scald three cups of cream, and SLOWLY pour into the bowl with the sugary eggs while the mixer is on. Don't pour too fast or you'll have scrambled eggs in your creme brulee. That's just gross.

Flavor that creamy sauce with vanilla (1 tsp.) and booze (1 Tbsp.). An orange flavored liquor was suggested. Pour into six ramekins and place them in a sheet pan with a tall lip.

This, I'd say, is the most risky part. The oven is preheated to 300 degrees, and I'm pouring boiling water into the tray, making a water bath. Just be careful and get some assistance. If you're using small, deep cups, you'll need to bake them for at least an hour. Wide, shallow cups will cook more quickly.

You have the option of skimming the foam from the tops of custard, but it's going to be covered with sugar anyway. A little foam never hurt anyone. Now put them in the fridge to chill.

After they have chilled for at least a couple of hours, with a kitchen torch, you can slowly melt the sugar, rotating the flame around until the desired golden brown crust appears. If you don't have a torch, I suggest you get one because even if you only use it to make sugary crusts on top of creme brulee, it's worth it.

I used Ina Garten's recipe, and she's got a short clip from one of her shows illustrating how easy it is to make creme brulee. Oh, next time I make this, it's going to be chocolate flavored.

Irish Brown Bread

2011-03-13T10:00:00.006-04:00

I love St. Patrick's Day. I don't even know if I have any Irish in my blood, but I still love the holiday. In America, we wear green and drink a lot of green beer, but actually in Ireland, it's a quiet, holy day. Either way, this bread is great for the occasion.

I think I love Ireland because of the culture, the landscape, and the cute, red-headed rascally boys that live there. I dig those red heads; that's why I nabbed one. He's not rascally, thank goodness. Now if only I could get him to speak with an Irish accent....

This quite a wholesome loaf that comes together in minutes. It's leavened with baking soda, so there's no resting and rising time.

Use a mixer (or a spoon) to get the ingredients together. Turn out the sticky blob onto a well floured surface. Gently knead it until it stays in a ball shape. Don't handle it too much or you'll get rock hard bread. Divide the dough in half and reshape into a ball.

You can add a bit of flair to the tops of the loaves by giving them a light coat of milk or egg and then sprinkling seeds or oats on top.

Bake them at 425 degrees for 10 minutes then lower the temperature to 400 degrees and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Check to see if they are done by tapping on the bottom and listening for a hollow sound. I like to check with a thermometer. When the internal temp reaches 185 degrees, then they're done. I had to bake mine for an additional 5 minutes.

If you didn't over knead, you'll have a light crumb. Look at all of those whole grains. Yay, happy colons.

Generously slather with butter, honey, peanut butter, almond butter, jam, cream cheese, etc. Try toasting it and topping with Greek yogurt and honey. So good!

Happy St. Patrick's Day and enjoy!

Macaroni Madness

2011-03-06T21:42:00.003-05:00

Like many college kids, when I moved out of my parents house, I had to figure out how to cook for myself. I loved this challenge, but in the beginning, I was calling to ask Mom and Dad lots of questions. This Chili Mac recipe was one that I made quite often. It's easy, quick, and satisfying. It's been probably seven years since I first made this dish on my own. I've made a few tasty adjustments since then. You can make this kid friendly by cutting out the spiciness. They'll eat it up like...well, like macaroni.

Spiffed Up Chili Mac

Ingredients:

- 1 lb. ground beef

- 1/2 cup of chopped onion

- 1 1/4 cups of elbow macaroni

- 1 15oz can of tomato sauce

- 1 15oz can of diced tomatoes (preferably with chipotle or diced chilies)

- water (save the tomato sauce can and fill it to the top with water)

- 4 to 5 large jalapeño-stuffed green olives, chopped (optional)

- 1 tsp chili powder

- dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

- 1 tsp salt

- shredded cheese (optional)

Directions:

In a large skillet, brown ground beef and sautee the onion on medium heat. Drain fat. Add all remaining ingredients except for the cheese. Stir until incorporated. Cover and simmer on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately and top with cheese.

BAGELS!

2011-02-26T23:11:00.006-05:00

I've been craving carbs like mad lately, and bagels are at the top of my list. Bagels are something that I've always wanted to make. They are a cousin to soft pretzels and have the same degree of difficulty, which I'd say is moderate. As long as you follow the recipe instructions well, you're golden. I looked to fellow bagel-lover, Smitten Kitchen for this bagel run down.

It all starts with a "sponge" which is 1 tsp of instant yeast, 4 cups of bread flour, and 2.5 cups of room temperature water well blended and left to bubble for 2 hours. (PS - My notations are merely notations - a condensed version. Be sure to read Smitten Kitchen's very thorough instructions if you want to make these fantastic bagels.)

After the sponge has rested and is nice and bubbly, add to it 1/2 tsp of instant yeast, 3 cups of bread flour, 2.75 tsp. of salt, and 1 tbsp. of honey. Stir or mix until a ball forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes or for 6 minutes with a mixer. I've always gotten the best results when I use good ol' fashioned human elbow grease.

It should look a bit like this after the kneading process. Pliable and not sticky.

Now is the time to divide the dough ball into little balls. It's best to weigh your dough out equally so that they all cook evenly. My dough balls were weighed to 3 ounces each and they made an in-between standard and mini sized bagels. If you'd like the standard size, weigh your doughs to 4.5 ounces. I got 21 bagels from this recipe.

Cover the now mini dough balls with a damp towel and let them rest for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, it's time to make the bagel shape. There is more than one method to forming the bagels, but I like the method of poking a hole in the center of the dough ball and slowly squeezing/stretching into the bagel shape with your fingers.

On a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper and lightly greased, place the bagels at least 1 inch apart. Cover the pans with plastic wrap and tuck them into the fridge for the night. (Or let them chill for 4 hours.) The longer you let them sit, the more the flavors will develop. You can leave them in the fridge for up to 2 days.

When you are ready to bake your bagels, fill your widest pot with water, 1 tbsp of baking soda, and 2 tbsp of sugar or molasses - this will give your bagels a bit of color - and bring it to a boil. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, spray them lightly with oil and sprinkle them with a bit of cornmeal. Working in batches, gently drop about 4 bagels in at a time. Boil for 2 minutes, flip over with a slotted spatula, and boil for another 2 minutes.

Place the bagels on a cooling rack with a sheet pan underneath to catch the hot water, toppings, and egg wash. There are a couple of ways to apply your toppings:

Before adding the toppings, beat an egg and coat the bagels with a light layer of the wash. You may then either sprinkle the toppings over the bagel or dip them in a shallow plate/container as pictured above. Toppings are optional. I'm a huge fan of flax seeds so I used flax meal, whole flax seeds, and poppy seeds for my bagels.

There's little need to worry about expansion during this baking process. I snuggled about 11 bagels on my sheet pans.

Bake them in an oven preheated to 500 degrees. Set the two racks in the center. You can bake both sheet pans at the same time or individually. I choose to bake them together, baking them for about 7 minutes then rotating each pan 180 degrees and switching the top pan for the bottom pan and baking for another 7 minutes - lowering the temperature to 450 degrees after the rotation.

You can bake them longer if they aren't brown enough. Mine turned out just perfect!

The texture is great! Nice and chewy. If you like a tougher exterior, I'd suggest baking them for a minute or two longer. I can't believe how nicely they turned out for my first bagel-making attempt. I know you can get a bagel for under $3, but it's TOTALLY worth it to make them on your own. Trust me.

POM Muffins!

2011-02-06T14:34:00.007-05:00

In December, POM Wonderful contacted us about using their 100% pomegranate juice in one of our baking experiments. Excited, I immediately rose to the challenge! It took me awhile to even decide what to make, but I rested on the idea of infusing breakfast muffins with POM. This recipe has been fiancée, friend, and co-worker approved. Here's how you make them:

In a medium bowl (or measuring cup), combine 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of POM juice, 1 beaten egg, 3 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1 cup of sugar.

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix well and then toss in 1 and 1/4 cups of frozen berries. I chose a blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry mix. Toss the berries in the flour. This will help the berries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin batter.

Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture. Be careful to not over stir the mix. It's OK if there's a bit of flour that isn't mixed in. It will bake just fine, and the muffins will be nice and tender.

Coat your muffin pans very well with butter. I've found that butter works better than spray oil. Pour the batter into each hole up to the top. This sounds like too much batter, but it works well.

Perfect muffin tops! Baked in a preheated oven to 350 degrees for about a half hour.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast. They are fruity, tender, dense, and filling. This recipe makes about 12 to 14 muffins. Bake and share some with the ones you love.

Thanks for the juice, POM!

Paprika Chicken and Cornbread Muffins

2011-01-28T18:18:00.004-05:00

Instead of going out for our anniversary this year, we decided to cook a meal at home. I found a paprika-rubbed chicken from Martha Stewart magazine. (Oh, Martha, I love-hate you.) The recipe calls for 8 heads of garlic to be roasted on the same pan with the chicken. While my fiancée is still a vampire, we skipped the garlic all together.

The chicken was fantastic on it's own. The skin was nice and crispy. The only thing I would change is to rub the paprika, oregano, and salt under the skin and add a little black pepper to the mix.

It was so tender and juicy. Be sure to cover the bird with foil and let it rest for at at least 10 minutes after removing it from the oven so that the juices can climb back into the bird. Get the recipe here. I would love to try the recipe completely, garlic and all. The garlic would round it out nicely.

As we were cooking a full meal: a roasted whole chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, a fresh salad, and cornbread, we cut a few corners with a boxed cornbread mix. I don't see any harm in grabbing a box once in a while, especially when you can spice it up.

This cornbread box twist comes from a random old lady that I encountered in the baking isle at the grocery store once years ago. As I was grabbing a box of cornbread mix, she told me that to make the mix even better to add a 1/2 cup of self rising flour (or 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, 1/4 tsp of salt, and 3/4 tsp of baking powder if you don't have self rising flour), an extra egg, and 1/3 cup of honey.

I found this method to make 10 regular sized muffins. For me, it cooked in the same amount of time as the box suggested - no difference at all. The after photo doesn't exist due to the complete inhalation of the cornbread muffins.

Enjoy your weekend! Happy cooking and baking!

Soup for the winter blues

2011-01-16T23:27:00.004-05:00

Hello again. I hope you haven't forgotten about this humble blog. I've been taking some time off to fight off the winter blues. That blasted winter gets me every year. I find myself loading up on vitamins (B complex, C, D, and 5HTP if you were wondering) and pining for sunshine. Behind the scenes, I've been working on a recipe using POM Wonderful's delicious pomegranate juice and a savory cocoa bread for ReadyMade Magazine. I hope POM and ReadyMade will like what I have in store. For today, I've got a roasted veggie stew that will warm the cockles of your soul.

First I have to show you my new knife. My pal, Natalie, brought it back from her stay in Japan. It cuts so extremely well. I was amazed at how I barely had to use muscle to slice through a potato. If you're interested in knowing how this knife and other sharp iron objects are handmade, check out the two blog posts that Natalie wrote on the subject. Part 1 and part 2. It's really interesting and makes you appreciate the hard work that is put into such a "simple" object.

On to the soup. Can I tell you how utterly in love I am with fennel bulb? I may never use celery again. For this soup, I chopped up one fennel bulb, 3-4 medium sized red potatoes, half of an onion, and about a cup of carrots. What's great about soup-making is that you can use whatever veggies you have on hand.

I chopped them to about the same thickness and drizzled & tossed them with a hearty pinch of sea salt and olive oil. Roast them in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes, toss/turn then put them back in for another 15 minutes. Let them cook until they are a bit brown. Just a touch of brown.

While those are roasting, get your herbs together. I've got a couple of bunches of thyme, some rosemary, 3-4 cloves of garlic, and a bay leaf. Use your favorite herbs. I've bundled mine in some cheese cloth so they'll be easy to retrieve from the soup before eating.

Heat up 4 cups of broth and a couple of 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes. Toss in the bundle of herbs. Keep a low simmer and add the veggies after they've browned. You can add leftover chicken or beef at this stage. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 10 minutes or until all ingredients are the same temperature.

Crackers are optional. Chins up. Springs on it's way.

Cookies for the New Year

2011-01-03T13:57:00.004-05:00

Greetings and happy new year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of friends, family, and love. Although the festivities are over, there's always an occasion to bake cookies. This sugar cookie recipe is one that is close to my heart. It's a simple recipe that my family has been using for a couple of decades. We first discovered it in one of my favorite childhood books - a costume/decoration/cookbook for Halloween. We've used this dough not just for Halloween, but for every holiday. (As you might notice, the Christmas cutters below.)

This isn't your typical sugar cookie. I don't really care for regular sugar cookies that are tough and loaded with extra sugar. This cookie is mild in flavor and has a soft, light texture. They puff just slightly in the oven while baking.

I do love those old-timey cookie cutters. I believe this was a great grandmother's cutter.

This dough doesn't spread too much so you can place them about one inch apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Here are the lightly puffed delights. There is an icing battle in my household. Whenever we take the time to ice them, we have to leave half of them bare. Dad and I prefer them sans icing and my brother and mom like them iced. Again, this cookie dough is great for any occasion: weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, cookie exchanges, and every holiday that a cookie could be involved. Enjoy and best of luck in the new year!

Puffed Sugar Cookies

-1 cup butter

-1 cup sugar

-3 eggs

-1 tsp. vanilla

-3 cups all-purpose flour, divided

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. baking powder

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and 1 cup of flour. Mix until combined. Sift together the rest of the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Fold into the wet mixture. Let chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. (This part can be done a day in advance.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet (or use parchment paper).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to somewhere between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick. *** Cut out dough with cookie cutters of choice and place on baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 min. or until very lightly browned. Transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool before icing.

***It's easier to roll out the dough in sections. Divide the dough into quarters. Take out only one quarter at a time and roll it out. Put the scraps back into the fridge while you are rolling out the second quarter. Keep the dough as cold as possible. When it gets to room temperature or warmer, it can become a bakers nightmare. If you divide the dough, touch it as little as possible, and chill the rest, you'll be just fine. Happy baking!

Here's a recipe for simple drizzle icing:

Combine 2 cups of powdered sugar, 3 tbsp. milk, 1 tbsp. melted butter, 1 tsp. of vanilla extract, and a few drops of food coloring if desired.

Separating the boys from the (gingerbread) men

2010-12-20T10:22:00.006-05:00

Santa is about to make his arduous journey around the world. Why not treat the old man to some gingerbread cookies with a kick? Yep, these are not gingerbread boys; they're full grown gingerbread men made with a healthy dose of spiced rum. Although they are robust and rum-y, kids can eat these, too as the alcohol evaporates during baking.

I prefer metal cookie cutters because they have a sharper edge, cutting all the way through the dough. And the older the cutter, the closer it is to my heart.

To lessen the amount of times you have to roll out the dough, try to get as many cookies from the dough each time you roll.

Boozy Gingerbread Men

-1/2 cup softened butter

-1 cup sugar

-1 cup molasses (If you don't care much for molasses, you can substitute some of it with sorghum, maple syrup, and/or honey. Example - 1/2 cup molasses & 1/2 cup honey.)

-1/2 cup spiced rum

-4 cups flour, plus a little bit more for rolling out the dough

-1 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. baking soda

-1.5 tsp. ground ginger

-1/8 tsp. ground clove (optional)

-1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)

To make the dough:

Beat butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until well combined. Add molasses (and honey/maple syrup/sorghum if desired) and rum. Beat until fully incorporated. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices. Add the dry mixture slowly to the wet mixture until combined. Don't over stir. Flatten dough slightly, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (This dough can be made two days in advance if it's kept in the fridge.)

Tips for rolling out the dough:

Keep the dough as cold as you can. Divide the dough into six smaller pieces. Use one small piece at a time and keep the other pieces in the fridge. This will make it easier for you to roll out as well.

Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch. Work on a lightly floured surface or between sheets of parchment paper. If the dough is sticky, it's better to roll it out on flour.

Having trouble lifting the cookie from your work surface? Slide a thin spatula under it to transfer from the surface to the cookie tray, then next time you roll out the dough, add a bit more flour.

Bake on a greased or parchment paper lined baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 6 min. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet.

Decorating: if you like dried fruit, nuts, or seeds, you can dot the cookies with them before they go into the oven.

If you like a drizzle of icing, here's a good recipe:

Combine 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 3/4 tsp. of vanilla extract, and 1 tsp. of milk. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Let dry.

Store cookies in an airtight container. Enjoy!

It's POM time

2010-12-14T20:40:00.004-05:00

Hello guys! Sorry no recipe this week, but I had to share some good news. Last week, Karli and I got a very cool email. A fella from POM Wonderful messaged us to see if we would come up with a recipe using their delicious and nutritious pomegranate juice and blog about it. My internal response was something like, "Hells yes!" The POM fella is sending us a case to experiment with. I can't wait to get started! Unfortunately, my experimentation won't begin until after this crazy holiday season. Speaking of, boozy gingerbread cookies are coming next week. See you then!

Potato & Leek Soup

2010-12-06T12:55:00.002-05:00

Leeks are perhaps one of the most beautiful vegetables. Their interiors are so vibrant. This soup is a great way to use left over mashed potatoes. Just whip them right into the broth. This soup can be made vegetarian or vegan as well. It's just a nice soup to make on the fly for a cold day.

There is fennel bulb in this soup that mustn't be overlooked. The subtle fennel flavor adds a lot to this simple soup. The fennel fronds can be used as a tasty garnish, too.

Here are the cooked, wilty veggies after about 8 minutes. They were cooked in olive oil, but to really add some flavor, cook some bacon in the pot, discard and reserve the bacon to garnish the finished soup, and cook the veggies in the delicious, fatty bacon grease. Yes, I know, it's a heart attack waiting to happen, but what a tasty way to go.

Potato and Leek Soup

- 1 Tbsp olive oil

- 3 leeks, cut into 1/4 inch pieces (Discard the coarse, green leaves at the top.)

- 1 fennel bulb, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

- 1/2 tsp of salt

- 3 cups mashed potatoes

- 4 cups chicken broth OR 2 cups of broth and 2 cups of milk

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the leeks, fennel, and salt - cook stirring occasionally until soft - about 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the mashed potatoes and broth (and milk if using) and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until heated through - about 4 to 6 minutes.

Puree the mixture in the pot using an immersion blender (or use a stand blender).

Season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Dish out and serve with crackers.

Makes about 4 servings.

Pot Pie!

2010-11-29T10:00:00.009-05:00

What to do, what to do with all of that left over turkey?! Well, you could make a sandwich every day for a week, but that's boring. My favorite cure for leftovers is to make a pot pie. You can turn this pie into whatever kind of pie you like: chicken pot pie, turkey pot pie, even ham pot pie. I've made them all...many times. This recipe is a no fail and an instant hint. It's my most requested dish at home. Here it goes...

Let's make a roux. First chop some onion.

Melt the butter and lightly cook the onions. Toss in the flour, pepper, and salt.

Stir to combine, and cook it for a little bit to make it taste less floury. This should just take a minute. Then pour in the milk and broth.

This is what your brothy roux should look like. Not too watery and not too thick. Check it with a wooden spoon.

Hooray for frozen veggies! You can put in your favorite veggies. I like the ol' carrot, corn, and green bean mix. Then toss in your meat of choice - precooked!

You can bake it in one big pan (9x13) or in two 8 inch pie plates or mix it up however you want. I like to make one pie plate and then make a few mini pies to freeze and eat later.

"C" is for chicken because I made this batch a while ago. I'll be putting "T"s on this new batch. Oh, you might have noted that I only use a top crust. You can use a top and a bottom crust, but I find that my bottom crust gets soggy. One top crust works for me just fine.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

· 1/3 cup butter or margarine

· 1/3 cup of flour

· 1/3 cup onion

· ½ tsp. salt

· ¼ tsp. pepper

· 1 1/3 chicken broth

· 2/3 cup milk

· 2 cups chicken

· 1-10 oz. packaged frozen veggies (carrots, broc, cauli, etc.)

· 1 or 2 Pillsbury pie crusts

How to:

· Heat butter over low heat until well blended.

· Add flour, onion, salt, and pepper.

· Cook over low heat stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly.

· Remove from heat.

· Stir in broth and milk.

· Heat to boiling, stirring constantly – boil and stir 1 minute.

· Stir in chicken pieces and frozen veggies.

· Pour in crust and cover with top crust.

· Bake at 425 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

Cabbage - it's good for you

2010-11-22T00:06:00.003-05:00

Hello! I'm keeping it really short this week. I'm feeling a bit under the weather and having a strange desire to consume cabbage. This is a rare occurrence, craving cabbage, but I hope it doesn't detour you from trying it out. Cabbage gets a bad rap, I think, and it's unfortunate. Tis delicious and easy to fix.

Chop-a-da cabbage.

Lightly cook zee cabbage with carrot and onion. Just wilt them a bit. Don't over to it. Mushy cabbage = ew.

Place the wilted veg in a dish. Whip up the milk, egg, and cheese and pour over zee veg. I advise you to top it off with more cheese. Cheese makes everything even better.

Ta-da. Easy cabbage side dish.

My apologies for the laziness. See you next week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Birthday Sweets - part 2

2010-11-15T10:00:00.001-05:00

Here is another one of the dessert items that I brought to Aubrey's 30th birthday party. Berry Cobbler; it's great for a carry-in. People love this simple dessert. You can make it with fresh or frozen berries, and it works just fine. Any berry will do. I used mostly blueberry with a few raspberries for extra measure.

This cobbler is sort of upside down. Usually in cobblers the berries are on the bottom and the bread is on top, but not here. I have found that it's best to sprinkle the berries a bit heavier around the edges. The berries tend to wander into the center of the pan, making an uneven ratio of berries to bread. (See last photo.)

A bit of extra sugar on the top makes a nice little crunch. I cut out a LOT of sugar from the original recipe. You can cut out even more to turn this dessert into a breakfast item.

Berry Cobbler adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

- 1 stick butter, melted

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup milk

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 cup flour

- 1 tsp salt

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1 1/2 cups berries, fresh or frozen

- a few teaspoons of sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small baking dish (like an 8x8 or 9x9). Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix melted butter, sugar, milk, and vanilla together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Pour into greased baking dish. Layer the berries on the top of the batter, and sprinkle with a small amount of sugar to finish. Bake for about an hour or until the edges brown. Let cool for a few minutes to set up before serving.

Birthday Sweets - part 1

2010-11-08T10:00:00.002-05:00

My crafty friend Bobbie threw a fantastic 30th birthday party for her wonderful sister, Aubrey. Bobbie gave me the honor of baking up the desserts. I happily obliged. I baked up a storm, making pumpkin cake, an apple tart, and a berry cobbler.

Let's start with the apple tart. (Ha, that rhymed.) This dessert looks very impressive, but takes SO little time or effort. The recipe came from Martha again, but I cut out the unnecessary steps/ingredients. Martha, Martha, there's no need for such complexity.

Step one: buy apples and puff pastry. Two: peel and slice apples. Three: roll puff pastry out into a rectangle.

Four: score a 3/4 inch border around the edge. Don't cut all the way through.

Step five: in a large bowl, toss apples in sugar with a dash of cinnamon. Six: arrange the apples on the pastry dough, keeping within the edges.

Step seven: bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. (Optional) step eight: glaze with warmed apricot or apple jelly for a pretty sheen.

Thanks for the recipe, Martha. I'm going to paint my fingernails with the extra time that I saved.

Apple Tart adapted from Martha Stewart

You will need:

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed, rolled out to about an 8x14 inch rectangle
flour for work surface
2-3 tart apples, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1/3 cup of sugar
a few dashes of cinnamon
a Tablespoon or two of apricot or apple jelly (optional)

Impress your friends with this fall favorite. Berry Cobbler coming next week.

Slice of heaven: the only quiche you'll ever make again.

2010-11-01T10:00:00.003-04:00

Oh, Martha Stewart, why do you make such good things? I think you often over complicate your recipes, but with this quiche, you hit the money.

Quiches are one of those adaptable foods that you can alter to suit your own taste. Basically you can plug in different ingredients like this; pick at least one ingredient from each of the following categories:

Aromatic - onion, shallots, scallions, etc.

Cheese - Parmesan, Gruyere, Romano, Asiago, etc.

Filling(s) - mushroom, zucchini, broccoli, spinach, kale, arugula, shredded carrot, sausage, bacon, prosciutto, chicken, etc. (Precook the meat or use cured meat before adding it to the egg mixture.)

The veggies will have to be at least half cooked otherwise they will be crunchy. Quiches should not be crunchy. And when you see the heavy cream listed among the ingredients, don't freak out. This 1980's non-fat/low-fat fad is outdated garbage. If you're going to take the time to make food, use the best ingredients; and that means using real butter or cream sometimes (for example). I'm not talking about in excess. Paula Dean is a forerunner for heart disease, but in moderate portions, you can eat anything and be perfectly fine.

Here's the recipe. Martha uses morel mushrooms, but obviously you can choose a more affordable mushroom for this quiche. With this quiche base, you could put in whatever filler ingredient you want. I used shiitake mushrooms, red onion, and spinach. You could use zucchini and prosciutto OR shallot, bacon, and arugula OR just broccoli. Try this recipe word for word, ingredient for ingredient to see if you like it. Then experiment, experiment, experiment to make it your own. I found that Martha uses too much salt, so I cut back by half. The cheese adds a lot of salt, too.

This recipe makes one tall quiche or two shorter quiches. I like splitting the filling into two crusts because we like a little more crust in our household. See, it's all about adaptability. Give it a try. This recipe is definitely one to make to impress the in-laws.

Pumpkin bread (or cake)

2010-10-25T17:15:00.002-04:00

What to do, what to do with that pumpkin puree.... I've got the perfect thing - pumpkin bread. It tastes great, it's perfect for autumn, it makes a wonderful gift, and it travels well. Let's get to it!

Whip up all of the wet ingredients in a large bowl. (I like how the non-oily ingredients are suspended in the oil. It looks so trippy, similar to a lava lamp.) Sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. It's best to sift or whisk the ingredients together so you can avoid little flour balls in your finished loaf. You can see said flour balls in my loaf. *sadface* Add the dry to the wet, and be careful not to over mix.

Pour into greased bread pans or a baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the center to check for done-ness. If it's clean, your bread is ready to come out of the oven.

Pumpkin Bread
2 cups pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

How to make pumpkin puree - no cans allowed!

2010-10-18T13:30:00.004-04:00

Have you been searching desperately for pumpkin puree on the grocery store shelves? Due to the pumpkin crop casualty of last growing season, we're still seeing the effects. Although some stores have a few cans to offer, you won't find canned pumpkin-y goodness as easily. I say quit searching, head over to a farmers market or pumpkin patch, and pick an eating pumpkin to puree yourself. It's easier than you think. Here's how it goes:

Picking a pumpkin: ask your vendor for an eating pumpkin. You can cook and eat all pumpkins, but only a "pumpkin pie" pumpkin or an eating pumpkin will taste good. Don't feel like you have to get a gargantuan gourd like I did. After eating one of these, I now prefer the little pie pumpkins. They are small, round, and vibrant orange. One small pie pumpkin will be enough for an average recipe, but if you're going through the motions to make your own puree, it's better to pick up and puree two. It's not that much more work.

Now wash your pumpkin(s), slice them open, scoop out their guts, and cut into manageable pieces. (If you have a pie pumpkin, cutting them in half will be manageable enough.)

Place them in a deep dish or oven-safe pan, cut side down. Don't over crowd your pan like I did. (It will take longer and then you'll have to cover the pile with foil.) Pour an inch of water into the pan with the pumpkins. Place in a preheated oven (350 degrees), uncovered for an hour to an hour and a half - just until the pieces are soft and the skin peels easily.

When the pieces are soft, let them come to room temperature or until they are cool enough to touch. They will look sad and wilty, but the skin will peel easily. Peel them...

...and place the pieces into a food processor, food mill, or potato ricer to achieve a nice, smooth puree. It's better to work in batches so that you don't bog down your machine.

If not using your puree immediately, I like to line a cupcake pan with a layer of thick plastic wrap (don't use the cheap stuff, it tears) and measure out 1/2 cup portions. Freeze it, pop out the portions, and transfer to a freezer zip-top bag. When you need pumpkin puree, just take out a few pumpkin-sicles and thaw in the fridge. Use them in your oatmeal, put them in cookies, make pumpkin pancakes or muffins, make a fancy risotto, put it in a soup.... It's pumpkin season! Enjoy!

Eating St. Louis

2010-10-11T10:00:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, my fine friend, Natalie, and I drove to the good ol' city of St. Louis to sell cookies. We participated in the Strange Folk Festival again this year. To prepare, we baked and baked and baked our little hearts out, in attempt to keep up with the demand from last year. Despite our efforts, we sold out - yet again! - around the same time, even though we brought many more cookies. Hurrah! We were very pleased to supply our faithful customers with cookies. Next year...double the cookies! (I hope.)

So during our down time, Natalie and I ate. It's our favorite activity and what a fantastic city in which to indulge! Though we didn't get around town like my mom and I did last year, we ate the hell out of Grand boulevard!

First stop - dinner at Al Waha Restaurant. They serve Bedouin and Afghani cuisine. I'm beginning to think that Middle Eastern cuisine is my favorite ethnic food. Man, it's a close call. I do love Caribbean grub, too.

At Al Waha, they serve you a complementary, traditional coffee as a sign of welcome and friendship. We had a great eggplant dish, a creamy yogurt dip, and a pan-fried fish that melted in our mouths. This was my favorite meal of the trip.

Dinner number two - Lemon Grass Restaurant. Here, we had Vietnamese food. I ordered a tasty curry veggie dish, and Natalie had her favorite sweet and sour soup. It contained a few vegetables I had never eaten before. One was reminiscent of Styrofoam. I stuck to my curry.

Breakfast on the last day - City Diner. This was a really fun place. It was decorated with vintage art, records, posters, chairs, tables, etc. Our waitress was very sweet. Natalie was good and ordered an omelet. I needed some feel good food - biscuits and gravy. They were exactly what biscuits and gravy should be.

St. Louis, we love you. See you again next year!

Soup Season! Corn & Carrot Bisque

2010-10-04T10:00:00.006-04:00

Soupy Sunday is commencing. What's Soupy Sunday? Well, back in my college days, a few Art-Kid friends and I would take turns making soup for each other every Sunday. When it was your time to cook, you just cooked and people came over, bringing their own bowls, spoons, and drinks. No extra dishes for the cooks. This event was wildly popular amongst the Art-Kids. I miss it, so I declare an encore. For this week's Soupy Sunday, I made a corn and carrot bisque adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe.

This is a two pot soup, but I think it could be turned into a single pot dish. Just sauté the onions in a heavy bottomed pot until transparent, then toss all of the other ingredients in after. The veggies can steam/cook in the simmering broth and milk.

Red onions, I'm partial to them even though they sting my eyes and make my noes run.

At the end, you get to choose what kind of soup you'll eat. A bisque is a soup that has been pureed until velvety smooth. You can leave it chunky or partially chunky if you like. I suggest that if you don't have a good stand blender or immersion blender, don't attempt the bisque. The corn can be hard to puree, leaving a texture to be desired. As with any soup or stew, heat and time can help create a whirlwind of flavors.

Corn & Carrot Bisque

3 cups whole milk

2 ears of fresh corn, kernels cut from cobs, cobs broken in half and reserved

6 medium carrots, peeled, thinly sliced or diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 celery stalk, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, pressed OR 1 tsp of garlic salt

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock/broth

2 large fresh thyme sprigs

2 fresh rosemary sprigs

1 bay leaf

dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Bring milk and corncob halves (not kernels) just to boil in heavy medium pot. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep while sautéing vegetables.

Melt oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sprinkle with salt and pepper; sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes (do not let onion brown). Add corn kernels, carrot, celery, and garlic; cook until vegetables are soft, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add 2 cups broth/stock, herb sprigs, bay leaf, and milk with corncobs. Increase heat and bring to boil. Cover partially, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors.

Discard corncobs, herb sprigs, and bay leaf. Cool soup slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until very smooth.

Yields about 5 servings. Can be made a day in advance.

Overnight Oatmeal

2010-09-27T10:00:00.008-04:00

I've come to grips with Fall's presence. (Although it's quite a warm fall so far. I'm not complaining.) I'm ready for flowing scarves, warm sweaters, hot beverages, soups of the day, and oatmeal, oatmeal, oatmeal. I love steel cut oats and groats especially, but they take some time to prepare - from 20 minutes to an hour. Some people can cook their oats on the stove while they shower or take the dog for a walk. I can't. I've had to jump out of the shower at exhilarated speeds one too many times at the smell of burnt wafting up from downstairs.

To avoid stress, hunger, screaming smoke alarms, and scalded pans, I make my breakfast before I go to bed. Crockpot oatmeal is a wonderful thing. Even if it's just you eating it, it keeps well in the fridge for the next few mornings to come. Tweak it to your taste. This batch had some pumpkin puree and flax seed meal in it.

I am always delighted to see how nice and mushy it is when I open my crockpot in the morning. The groats fully absorb the water and become very tender; almost creamy.

Overnight Oatmeal

-1 cup of steel cut oats or whole groats

-4 cups of water

-1 cup of dried fruit of choice OR 1 cup of pumpkin puree OR 1.5 cups of chopped fresh apple*

-1 tsp of ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie/apple pie spice blend

-1/4 tsp of salt

-1/4 cup of flax seed meal (optional)

-sugar/honey/maple syrup to taste

*Note* If using pumpkin puree, use only 3.5 cups of water. The pumpkin adds a lot of water on it's own. Same goes with the fresh apple. They are loaded with juice.

Combine ingredients in a crockpot, cover, and set on low for 8-9 hours. Add chopped nuts right before serving if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Eating Chicago

2010-09-20T10:00:00.009-04:00

Last, last weekend I got to visit Karli in her new home, Chicago. She and her hub, Travis, picked me up, and away we went on our eating/shopping extravaganza. We were super excited to attend the Renegade Craft Fair. (An event that I was too busy absorbing to take photos of.)

After being in Chicago for only a few mere minutes, while Travis was stopped at a red light, Karli and I jumped out of the car to get a bag of Garrett's popcorn. Whoever thought to eat caramel corn and cheddar cheese flavored popcorn together is a flippin' gastronomical genius. Don't knock it until you try it, for reals.

For dinner Saturday evening, we ate at the Fireside Restaurant. This place had so many appetizing dishes. It was hard to pick just one. The cheesy rice balls with marinara sauce were sooo good.

After dinner we proceeded to stuff ourselves further with George's Ice Cream. There were so many flavors to choose from and the line was long, long, long. My coffee milkshake was worth the wait. I did feel like I was waddling home though....

A Taste of Heaven is the name of a cafe not too far from Karli & Travis's place. It's an appropriate name for such a cafe. The food is delish. We shared our entrees. Karli got a velvety French toast. I ordered pancakes layered with a berry compote and topped with whipped, sweetened cream cheese. Hell-o! Travis ordered a dish with cornmeal biscuits and a strangely tinted gravy. It was very tasty, but on the orange side. That didn't hinder me from eating the last of it. I'll have to get that again next time.

I came, we ate, we shopped, we conquered. I hope to eat my way around Chicago with Karli and Travis again soon.

End of summer. Sad face.

2010-09-13T10:00:00.011-04:00

Instead of being a total grump about the near departure of summer, I'm lining up three, THREE fresh recipes that can only be enjoyed during this short, sweet season. (Unless you are the luckiest people in the world and live in California. I bite my thumb at you folks in jealousy.) So, feast on the last days of summer!

Alright, I lied when I told you "no more tomatoes". My apologies, but you need this one. last. recipe. It's only right for a farewell to summer. This one is an uncooked pasta sauce. Yes, uncooked sauce sounds weird, but it sums up summer food to a tee: it's clean, refreshing, and quick. I'll name it Summer Spaghetti Sauce.

In a food processor, add 3 large tomatoes (or 3 cups of cherry tomatoes), 1 clove of garlic, 1 small onion, 8 basil leaves, 1 Tbsp of oregano, 1 tsp of rosemary, 2 tsp of salt, 1/2 cup of olive oil, juice of one lemon, and pepper to taste. Pulse to desired chunkiness or non-chunkiness. Let flavors meld in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least a half hour. This recipe makes about 4 servings. Serve over pasta or cooked, chilled spaghetti squash.

*If you're like me and prefer little to no chunks, use a food processor. If you like your sauce chunky, I recommend hand dicing the tomatoes & onions and mincing the garlic & herbs.

I know, this photo looks less than appetizing. Aaaand when you read the ingredients, it will still sound unappetizing, but trust me and try it. I think you'll like it. This is Mexicorn, or at least that's what I'm calling it. It's inspired by the street corn I've eaten in Mexico. How they fix it: roast or boil an ear of corn, dip it - while it's piping hot - into mayonnaise, roll it in Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle it with paprika. Eating it this way is messy, Messy, MESSY.

How I fix it: cook a fresh ear of corn (or two) via your method of choice. Cut the kernels from the cob and pour into a bowl. Add a dollop of mayo, a dash of salt, a heavy hand of Parmesan, a heavy dash of paprika, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Mix until combined and the cheese is slightly melt-y. Serve immediately. Eat daintily.

I'll call this one Cantaloupe Salad. This is another recipe that you can fix for one serving or make a bunch for a crowd. Cut a cantaloupe into bite sized pieces. Put desired amount into a bowl. Crumble a bit of goat cheese, cut up a few fresh basil leaves, cut some slices of prosciutto into strips, and add all three to the bowl. Sprinkle with black pepper if desired, and toss to combine.

Au revoir, summer. I'll miss your sunshine and sweet fruits. Hello squash and spice season.

Fancy spread - Tomato Jam

2010-09-06T10:00:00.002-04:00

With an abundance of tomatoes (This is the last one for the tomato recipe streak.) and a ReadyMade magazine in hand, I gave this unusual appetizer a try. Tomato jam: it sounds like a sweet and labor intensive dish, but it is neither. I adapted and halved the recipe from the pages of ReadyMade. Let's jam.

Jam is completely an incorrect term for this dish. There is no canning, pectin, or freezing involved. It's simply a thickened tomato spread seasoned with cinnamon, clove, and cardamom. Start by halving or quartering 2.5 pounds of tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the tomatoes with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and pepper - just a light, even coating of each. Roast for about an hour or until the skins crackle and start to brown. (I think I should have let mine roast a bit longer. Sadface.)

When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skins and seeds. (I did not because I'm lazy.) Transfer tomatoes to a food processor and pulse until still slightly chunky. In a cheesecloth or a tea bag, place half of a cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, and 2 cardamom pods.

Pour the tomatoes into a heavy pan with the bagged spices. Add to the pot: 1/4 cup of red wine or apple juice (whichever you have on hand), 1.5 Tbsp of agave nectar or honey, and 1 Tbsp of aged balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmering.

Stir often and simmer for about an hour or until the sauce is thick and pasty. Remove and discard the spice bag. Season with more salt and pepper if desired. When jam is cool enough to work with, spoon into an air tight container, like a jelly or jam jar.

I highly suggest deseeding your tomatoes. It looks better and you can achieve a smoother texture - optimal for spreading on crusty bread with a sprinkling of cheese on top. Be brave. Turn those last tomatoes into jam. PS - the recipe is easily halved, so you don't have to make the whole yield of 3 cups if you don't want to.

Fresh Tomato Basil Bruschetta

2010-08-30T10:00:00.002-04:00

Before we begin, let's learn the proper pronunciation of this dish, bruschetta. It is not "brew-shet-a". There is no "shh" sound. It's "sket" with a "k" and a short "e". "Brew-sket-a". Now all together: "brew-sket-a". Bruschetta!

Bruschetta actually refers to the crusty bread part of the dish. So, really any crusty bread appetizer topped with some sort of antipasto is bruschetta. I'm covering the one that we, as Americans, normally think of: made from tomatoes and basil. OK, enough schooling. Let's get to it!

This is the ultimate summer appetizer. Fresh, garden tomatoes, aromatic basil, onion, and garlic are like old friends who never grow apart. Any time they're together, it's a damn good time. Bruschetta is good enough to eat straight with a spoon, but it's best with some buttery, crusty bread.

With a food processor, this dish comes together within minutes. A little chopping action by hand will give you the same results. Just chop to desired chunkiness, let rest for at least a half hour, then spread onto some buttered French or Italian bread.

Bruschetta

Combine 3 cups of chopped tomatoes, 1 to 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/4 cup (packed) freshly chopped basil, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of pepper, 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, and 3 Tbsp chopped onion. Let rest, covered, in the refrigerator. Spread onto bread and top with a sprinkling of Romano or Parmesan cheese.

All fired up! Habenero Salsa!

2010-08-23T10:00:00.001-04:00

This summer has been the perfect summer for growing tomatoes. I've been getting loads of free tomatoes from my family, so the next few recipes will be very tomato-y. This week I'm going to set you on fire with some homemade salsa. This recipe can be adapted to different heat strengths, so no fear weenies, you can tone down the pepper to suit your pallet. Onward!

Once you make your own salsa, you will have a hard time returning to the canned stuff. Fresh salsa is just...so...fresh. And refreshing! Start by quartering 1 and a half pounds of Roma or cherry tomatoes. Add them to a food processor. Roughly chop a quarter of a medium onion, a 1/4 cup of cilantro, and add them to the tomatoes. Add 1/2 tsp. garlic salt, 1/4 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. sugar, and 1 and a half Tbsp. of fresh lime juice. Carefully mince one large habanero and add as well. (See notes below.) Pulse 12 times and store in an air tight container. Let the flavors meld for at least a half hour. (If you don't have a food processor, just dice everything to desired chunkiness.)

Please note the glove. If you don't have gloves, it is possible to cut a habenero pepper barehanded without making yourself cry for hours afterward. You just have to be careful and follow my instructions: slice, dice, and mince the pepper; DO NOT TOUCH YOURSELF OR ANYONE ELSE; put the pepper pieces into the salsa; wash your knife and cutting board; wash your hands vigorously with generous amounts of dish soap; while your hands are still soapy rub your fingers into the lime pulp/inner peel, getting under your fingernails the best you can; rinse well; repeat washing steps if you feel the slightest bit of heat.

This isn't just an old wives tale. The dish soap has anti-grease properties releasing the capsaicin, the pepper's heating element, from the oily crevasse of your fingers. The lime acts as a brush and counteracts the heat as citrus juice tends to do.

Here's how to customize the spiciness. For mild salsa, use only a quarter of the habenero, discarding the membranes and seeds. For medium, use half of the pepper, deseeded. For hot, use the whole pepper, deseeded. For volcanic, cut up the entire pepper, seeds, skin, membrane, and all.

Pick up a chip and enjoy! I hope I didn't "burn" you out. Har har har.

Get to the State Fair!

2010-08-16T10:00:00.003-04:00

Ah, the Indiana State Fair. It's really all about the food. It's a celebration of what our Hoosier soil, plants, animals, and hard working farmers give us every year. So come and eat heartily!

I took the above photo because this sight was the epitome of state fairs: abundance and indulgence. It's only once a year, so why not?!

This was the year of the pig and the winning food item for 2010 was the Garbage Burger. Yes, it does look like garbage, but it's pretty darn tasty. A Garbage Burger is a pork burger topped with BBQ pulled pork between a hamburger bun. Get to the Indiana Pork Farmer's tent to order one.

Hook's Drug Store is a must see. I love the artifacts and how well preserved the store is. There are so many fun facts to read about throughout the place. They have a working soda fountain with real phosphates and floats. They even have the old timey Green River soda.

Fried cheddar cheese. You can't go to the state fair without eating something that's been battered and plunged into boiling oil. It's just un-American. Every year, I swear to order a fried candy bar, but I always punk out. Some day, greasy candy bar, some day!

There is a giant cheese sculpture in working progress. It is pig and Colts themed. It's oddly shiny. Should cheese be shiny?

Taffy. It's really easy to eat in this stifling weather. At a temperature of 95 degrees, taffy becomes significantly less taxing on dental caps and fillings.

I finished this regional gastronomic tradition with honey ice cream, which is surprisingly frothy, but perhaps it's the heat again. I hope you don't let the weather detour you from attending your state fair.

Come for the pineapple whip ice cream and a Garbage Burger. Stock up on Indiana maple syrup and local honey products like soap and other beauty products. Any way you look at it, there's a little something for everyone at the state fair.

Guacamole for Two

2010-08-09T10:00:00.003-04:00

So these fancy friends of mine got me a beefy mortar and pestle for my birthday. I named it Brutus. It smashes things. Cracks, crushes, and mashes things. Yes, indeed. Brutus really throws his weight around in the kitchen. I don't mind, less muscle use for me.

Brutus makes great guac for two. Chop up one avocado, five cherry tomatoes, a thick slice of onion, and four basil leaves - or you could use cilantro.

Pour in 1 Tbsp of lime juice, 1/4 tsp of garlic salt, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Mash, mash, mash. Mush, mush, mush. Guacamole for two. If you don't have a beefy mortar and pestle, you can use a food processor, a fork, or even your hands if you're feeling frisky. Enjoy!

Not Your Kid's Granola

2010-08-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

We could probably all agree that granola is good. It's very versatile and can be adapted to please many pallets. That's a very good thing for me because I don't like chewy dried fruit in my crunchy granola. I also don't like the enormous sugar content in the typical, grocery store stuff. That's why I make my own. Here's my lightly sweetened, home-baked, yogurt topping granola.

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F, and grease a 9x13 inch metal sheet pan. In a medium sized bowl, I combine 2 cups of rolled oats, 1/2 cup of wheat bran or germ, 1/4 cup of ground flax seeds, 3 Tbsp of kasha (whole buckweat), 2/3 cup of walnut pieces, 2 Tbsp sesame seeds, and 3 Tbsp pumpkin seeds. Mix to combine.

In a small mixing bowl, combine 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. water, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 cup honey, 1 Tbsp sorghum, and 3 Tbsp of canola oil. Stir to combine and pour into the oat mixture. Stir to coat.

Bake for 30 minutes and stir. If you like dried fruit in your granola, now is the time to stir it in. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the mixture becomes lightly browned.

Store in an air tight container. Again, granola is completely adaptable. If you don't like walnuts, use your favorite nut. If you don't like seeds, omit them. If you'd rather have your granola sweeter, add some brown sugar. Granola is hard to mess up, so just experiment. Oh, if you like it clumpy, press the pre-cooked granola into the pan and don't stir it at all. See, something for everyone!

Fig and Prosciutto Pizza Revisited

2010-07-26T10:00:00.004-04:00

Ok, it's fig season again. I had to make another fig and prosciutto pizza, but this time it's quick.

I began with flat bread, whole wheat naan to be specific. I love naan, and now I love naan pizza.

Brush the naan or flatbread of choice with olive oil. Layer with some cheese (I used asiago) and basil.

Next layer - the prosciutto and more cheese. The cheese acts as glue to help hold the slippery, sliced fig onto the pizza.

Then, zee sliced fig! And of course more cheese.

Toss into a hot oven (400-450 degrees F) until the cheese gets slightly brown and the prosciutto's edges a bit crispy - about 20 minutes.

This super quick, fancy meal couldn't be easier. Give it a try!

Save That Sweet Corn!

2010-07-19T10:00:00.004-04:00

Summer is short - very short. Fortunately, summer is still with us. Sweet corn is finally in season, and now it's time to get kernels in your teeth and butter all over your face. Dig in while you can. But wait, how about digging in now AND later?! The frozen corn in the grocery store just can't compete with our Indiana ears, so let's preserve this amazing summer food.

Get some fresh ears. The fresher the better. If you can, preserve the same day that the corn has been picked. You'll be so happy you did. I'm partial to our Indiana corn and very partial to My Dad's Sweet Corn from Tipton. If you can find this family business at a farmers market, you'll see how popular they are. Folks LINE UP for this stuff. It's like crack on a cob.

Shuck your ears. Try to get most of the silks off, and trim all of the "tails" as short as possible - shorter than pictured so they'll fit better in your hot pot and cold bowl.

Get the biggest pot you own and fill it with hot water. Let it get up to a rolling boil and keep it there. Put 3 to 4 ears in at a time. Depending on the size of the ears, let them cook for 5 to 7 minutes.

Take them out of the hot water and place them into an ice bath for the same amount of time. This photo is a "what not to do" photo. I should have had a bigger cold bowl. If you don't have a giant bowl, just use your kitchen sink and fill it with ice and cold water. I also needed WAY more ice. Those hot ears turned the water warm within seconds. Keep working in batches until all of your corn is blanched and cooled completely.

Now you can cut the corn from the cob. Don't forget to scrape the cob to get the little bits off.

Break the kernels apart and spread them thinly on a tray and put in the freezer. After the kernels are completely frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag.

You might be wondering why even go through all of the cooking steps. Why can't I just cut it off the cob and freeze it? Well, the fresh ears contain enzymes that will break down the sugary goodness inside the kernels. The blanching process kills off the enzymes allowing us to preserve that amazing sweet flavor and crisp texture.

Just think, when it's cold and lifeless outside, you can be inside reminiscing about summer and munching on sweet, delicious corn. Now what to do with your corn this winter: put it in a soup/stew, in a salad, in a pot pie, on a pizza - seriously, put it on a pizza. The possibilities are endless! Enjoy!

Pineapple Whip Ice Cream! (or sherbet if you want to get technical)

2010-07-12T12:24:00.005-04:00

I don't know about you, but my family and I go to the State Fair every year pretty much for the food. I know, that sounds appalling, but it's a once a year thing. Our arteries have a year to recover. One of the treats that we can't leave without is pineapple whip ice cream. The state fair is the only place we've found it. My mom used to Jones for it until she found a recipe that is as close as you can get to the real deal.

The coolest part is that it's made of only three ingredients: pineapple juice (one 46oz can), sugar (2 cups), and half & half (2 cups OR 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup milk).

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and beat well with a mixer until frothy.

Pour the pineapple-y goodness into your ice cream maker of choice and churn according to the directions of your specific machine. Ours churned for about 35 minutes.

Oh, flippin' yeah. Just like at the fair, except you don't have to encounter the grumpy man who dishes it out for you. Ah, the State Fair.

At the Lakes

2010-07-05T10:00:00.001-04:00

Alright, I'm kind of on vacation. Only "kind of" because I still have to work from a distance thanks to the wonderful interweb, but I'll take what I can get. I'm back at my old summer stomping grounds on Lake Tippecanoe. My grandparents have had a tiny place here for decades. It belongs to my parents now, and my dad has been making good use of it all of his life. Every weekend of every summer, we drove up north to this sacred place. I can only make it up about once a year now, and every time I come I'm reminded of how beautiful it is.

Mushy memories aside, there's a cool, new hangout restaurant/bar that's walking distance from our place: Pie Eyed Petey's. The owners won the lottery so they opened up shop in a rinky-dink, vacant marina. I remember that marina being very creepy with it's old, abandoned boat houses, but now it's hopping with lake chatter and a wafting smell of oven baked pizza.

You have to love lake mentality. You can come in from the water, dock, eat/drink, and set back out again. I'm surprised there aren't more lakeside eateries like this one.

It was July 4th and PACKED!!! Our waitress was super strung out because of the crowd, but very nice. The wait for our food was, as expected, very long, but that's not a problem here at the lake because when you're here, time isn't important. There are no watches or clocks. The only time you set your alarm is when you want to wake up at dawn to ski on the water that's as smooth as glass. To tide over our hunger, we ordered fried green beans as an appetizer. These beans must have been local because they were so huge, green, and fresh.

A great thing about Petey's pizza is the crust. You can choose between deep dish, thick, or thin. We got their cracker thin crust. A 10 inch pizza filled us up just enough. With the pizza and beer down, we could relax and wait for the homemade ice cream to finish churning before the sun set.

A day in the life of The Hot Cookie

2010-06-28T10:00:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. I thought I would update you on the latest happenings of The Hot Cookie. Karli and I have had our hands very full. Life has thrown us many new challenges and opportunities. I don't know if you've heard, but our cookies were featured in the "I heart snail mail" section of the June issue of ReadyMade magazine. (Check out our friend, Neal's post about it.) It was a huge honor to be printed in such a flippin' cool mag. Because of this, we've gained lots of attention from all over the country. Our etsy store blew up with orders. It was an awesome turn of events, but is quite a challenge to keep up on baking and shipping.

So far, we're doing a pretty good job juggling our cookie business with our other jobs. I've been doing hella amounts of writing for Metromix Indy. I blog for them 5 days of the week and write restaurant reviews almost weekly. I recently had the honor of writing a review of the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange for VenusZine. I'm technically now a contributor for them. Sweet action! On top of writing and baking, I have two other jobs that keep me hopping. Sigh, there aren't enough hours in a day. My cookie partner in life, Karli, has been loaded with multiple freelance graphic design jobs. She's knocking them out like a champ. She and her hub have recently completed renovating their basement. It looks fabulous. Busy times, busy times.

Now for the big kicker: Karli's hub got a sweet-tastic job in Chicago. So, sadly, this means that my cookie partner in life must move to Chicago as well. She'll be sticking around until she weeds through and finishes all of those freelance projects, somewhere at the end of July. But this is only bittersweetness because Chicago is a short, three hour drive away, and this also means that The Hot Cookie will slowly branch into the Chicago scene! So, Chicago, look out, The Hot Cookie is coming to town.

We would like to thank everyone for their support. Owning a small business with literally no capital is no walk in the park. Props to those who make it look easy. Please continue checking on us. With time so tight, I will only be posting once a week - Mondays usually. I'll have a new, wicked recipe for you fans next week. Thanks again for your love and enthusiasm. Have a great week and a safe Independence Day!

Roast a Chicken!

2010-06-21T10:00:00.002-04:00

I rarely cook meat. I don't like having to wash my hands every half second when I'm handling the raw product. I don't like the chance of under cooking it and poisoning my dinner company. Therefore I overcook meat often, then get ticked that I served meat leather to my guests. Having said this, it was a big step for me to roast a chicken - an even bigger step for it to turn out very well.

I picked up this simple recipe from a grocery store. It looked easy enough, and it turns out it IS really easy.

Get a fresh roasting chicken at the store, and pick up a lemon and an orange while you're there. At home, get out a roasting pan or a dutch oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Make a mixture of salt and pepper in a little dish. Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper would be ideal. Make about a tablespoons worth. It doesn't have to be exact.

Here's where the trickiest part comes in. Carefully loosen the skin from the meat. Don't remove the skin, just lift it enough so that you can get a hand or a few fingers in there. Once the skin is loose, on both top and bottom of the bird, liberally rub the meat - under the skin - with the salt and pepper mixture on both sides.

Cut that lemon and orange into wedges and fill the cavity with them. For crispy skin, roast on a roasting pan with the built in drainage thingy so that the juices can run off of the bird. If you don't care for the skin, you can roast it in a dutch oven - uncovered. The chicken will cook in it's own juice leaving the skin soft and easily to peel off.

Let it roast for about one and a half to one and three quarters of an hour or until the meat is no longer pink, the juices run clear, and the drumsticks move easily or fall out of the socket. If you have a handy dandy meat thermometer, your bird is ready at 165 degrees.

I was amazed at how well my bird turned out. It was delicious! Not a stitch dry, completely cooked, and was a hit with my roommates. I'm SO doing this again.

Summer INDIEana Handicraft Exchange

2010-06-17T08:00:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday was the Summer 2010 INDIEana Handicraft Exchange. It was amazing! We got to catch up with a lot of crafty friends, meet some new cool people like the lovely ladies from So Silly and we sold out of cookies 2 hours before the event ended! Thanks so much to all the people that made it out and to everyone who stopped by our table to say "Hi" and purchase a bag of cookies.
This year there were a lot of new vendors who impressed us greatly with their handmade merchandise. It seems like at the IHE we end up spending more than we make because there are so many amazing things we want to take home.

Karli ended up with these lovelies:

Clockwise from top: Amazing hand-embroidered linen and velvet pillow from White Nest, up-cycled leather journal from The Binding Bee, sterling silver pebble hoops from Sara B Jewelry, screen printed shirt from The Bare Tree, felted sterling silver hoops from The Biggie, letterpress card from Paper Parasol Press, another screen printed shirt from The Bare Tree (this one for my husband) and a screen printed toddler tee from So Silly.

Sarah snagged these fine things:

Sweet T-shirt from So Silly, orange cream lip balm by Independence Natural Skincare, magnet and Scrabble pendant from Sunday Afternoon Housewife, and a Humpty Dumpty magnet from Backwoods Belle.

If you would like to get your hands on some of these items you will be able to starting July 10 at Indy's own homespun: modern handmade in Irvington. Check out their site for more details.

INDIEana Handicraft Exchange - Article for Venus 'Zine!

2010-06-16T15:28:00.004-04:00

A Handmade Extravaganza at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange

Each June I look forward to spending every cent of my savings on one-of-a-kind, handmade goods from some of the craftiest folks in the Midwest. The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange brings modern craftspeople and indie art supporters together. Last Saturday, 100 vendors spread their wares across their tables and set to work, greeting and exchanging with enthusiastic customers. It feels like the return-to-craft and buy-local movement is growing. People really do appreciate homemade things now, and it’s comforting to see it unfold.

The Binding Bee (1), Matty Cipov (2), Eric Stine (3), Urban Posture (4)

All things involving paper and ink suck me in. I don’t know if it’s the matte sheets, the crisp lines of the font, or the inspiration I gain from holding a blank paged book, but paper hits the soft spot. There were many printmakers, illustrators, and the like this year. This kind of (very affordable) stuff is what turns a bland apartment into a showcase.

Alexander Design Group (1), Sunday Afternoon Housewife (2), Studio AMF (3), sara b jewelry & metalsmithing (4)

I am tickled to see what un-jewelry-like objects can be transformed into wearable art. These artists seem to say, “Paper, not a problem. Felted wool, a cinch. Board game pieces, no sweat. Shrink art, why the hell not?” I agree; we liked it when we were kids, and we like it now. I love such out-of-the-box creativity. It fills life with whimsy and spunk. Don’t get me wrong, though. I dig a finely fabricated, silver pendant or a hand carved wooden ring. These pieces are timeless.

Cordial Kitten (1), morninglori (2), Steff Bomb (3), Bebito (4)

Even though I’m well into my 20’s, I’m still enamored with funky plush creatures. The little kid inside me wants to fill a Pet Net full of these completely unique…things. They’re not quite dolls or animals, but I wouldn’t call them monsters. Whatever you want to call them, I call them awesome.

So Silly (1), Jerry Lee's Western Wear (2), Bare Tree Apparel (3), Mama Kate's (4)

Being able only to sew a straight line, my jaw drops at the sight of tailored clothing and accessories. Screen printed items always catch the eye. How could you walk away from the perfect printed T? T-shirts are the ultimate souvenir, but why stop at a T-shirt? (I say this as my wallet aches.)

VSA Indiana (1), b.makemake (2), Curat (3), The Hot Cookie (4)

Soaps scented so sweetly they seemed good enough to eat, cookies which were definitely good enough to eat, and ice cream served in bowls made by special needs kids kept our taste and smell senses alight. Some vendors demonstrated their skills right at their table. The deep connection of from hand, by hand, to hand is truly what the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is all about. It’s a good thing my wallet has time to recover before next year.

NEW FLAVOR - Coffee Toffee Crunch!

2010-06-14T13:55:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to give all of our fabulous fans out there a heads up that we debuted a new flavor at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange and it was such a hit we are now offering it in our Etsy shop. It is called the Coffee Toffee Crunch and is our chewy oatmeal dough infused with premium roast coffee and chock-full of rich, buttery toffee. Pick up a dozen for yourself today!

Crazy Squash and Beet Casserole

2010-06-14T09:04:00.002-04:00

I adapted this recipe from a dish I had while I was in Canada. It comes together in minutes thanks to a handy-dandy food processor. I would have never thought to put butternut squash in the food processor, but what a good idea!

Set up your food processor to grate a medium butternut squash, two beets, and a small onion (or half of a huge one like mine.) Even better, you don't have to peel the veggies. That's right. Leave that tough squash skin on. You'll never even know it's there. Just take the seeds out first and trim the tops off of those beets.

Grate them all up and toss the little pieces in a big bowl with a sprinkling of olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. I believe I threw in some sage, but I wouldn't suggest this. I wasn't a fan of the sage in this.

Spread it out in the biggest glass dish that you have and bake it at 350 for 45 minutes or so. It makes a great side dish and serves about 6 people. Enjoy!

Ryaninjun Bread

2010-06-10T10:00:00.001-04:00

Let me explain the name of this bread. The Book of Bread tells me that this New England born loaf was created due to the abundance of rye and corn produced there. Corn meal or Indian meal ("Injun" meal if you pronounce it with a racist accent - hence the name) was paired with rye flour, yeast, and water and baked in a brick oven. If only I had a brick oven. Sigh. I helped build one once. They are pretty nifty. On the the racist bread.

On the first rise (not pictured) the dough is very wet and spongy. It's left to rise over night. When the time comes to turn it out and knead, the directions said that it "must be kneaded only briefly". I was skeptical, but obeyed. I regret this decision later.

I love books with pictures. I firmly believe that every book should contain pictures. I get the gist of what they're doing...

Here's my attempt. Looks similar to the drawing. I'm hopeful at this point.

Flat flat flat. This is two hours later. I'm wondering if I let it rest for an hour too long.... Bread is so flippin' picky!

After baking: it didn't move a frickin' inch. Whatever bread, whatever.

Dense and half the height it should be, here's my Ryaninjun bread. It is reminiscent of beer bread in taste. I wouldn't make it again, honestly. Therefore, no recipe for you. Trust me, it's not worth your time. Chalk another win for the bread and another loss for me. I'll get you bread, if it's the last thing I doooooooooooo!

Pseudo Hummus

2010-06-07T10:00:00.003-04:00

I love hummus, and my Canadian vacation reminded me how easy hummus is to make. I've made it a handful of times, but never ate my own. At the time, I didn't care for it, so I was giving the gift of hummus to friends and family. This batch is just for me.

I like all flavors of hummus, so I looked for worthy ingredients in my refrigerator. I found: sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, green olives, and a lime. Perfect! I also added some pinto beans to the mix because I'm lacking in the protein department. A few dashes of salt, a clove of garlic, the juice of that lime, whiz whiz, whirl whirl, and hummus appeared.

As you can see, this is a far cry from hummus. I'd put it in the bean dip/paste category. Next time, I'm going to reserve some of the water from the beans and add it to the food processor until the dip becomes a bit runnier, like dip and hummus should be. Noted.

Though it's a tad thick, I really like how it tastes. I'm glad that I sneaked in the pinto beans for some added protein. I've eaten my pseudo hummus on toast and with tortilla chips, but you could add it to any spread worthy surface.

Pseudo Hummus

1 15oz can of garbanzo beans

1 15oz can of pinto beans

1/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes

1/4 cup of olives, green or black

1 clove of garlic

Juice of a large lime

Salt to taste

Paprika to taste

1 Tbsp of olive oil

Reserved water from the canned beans - use as necessary to achieve desired consistency

Combine all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Store in refrigerator.

Herby Baked Potatoes

2010-06-03T10:00:00.000-04:00

I used to not like baked potatoes. I didn't like how the skin was tough and dry. I didn't like how I had to cover up it's bland flavor with mounds of sour cream, butter, and chive or cheddar cheese and bacon. I just wanted a simple, flavorful potato. Is that too much to ask? I think not!

Start with clean potatoes. Pierce them with a fork or knife several times. This will prevent a potato explosion and helps the flavors sink beneath the skin.

Start an assembly line. Foil on the bottom, pierced potato on top, drizzle of olive oil, hearty pinch of salt, and a smattering of your herb/s of choice. I'm down with rosemary and sage. Now, massage your potato into the flavor enhancers. Don't be afraid, get into it.

Wrap your spuds up and place them in a 450 degree oven - seam side up. Set the timer for an hour. For giant potatoes, allow for a longer baking time.

There you have it: soft, edible skin, perfectly seasoned, simple potato. Feel free to drizzle on another shot of olive oil. Enjoy!

Make your own Honey Graham Crackers

2010-05-31T10:00:00.002-04:00

I recently had the super-munchies for graham crackers. My first thought was, "I'll make some." I'd say, that's kind of cool because usually the first thought would be, "I'll go to the store and get them." You don't have to go to the store though. Graham crackers are very easy to make. Just let Alton Brown show the way.

With Alton's recipe, it comes together within minutes in a food processor. Blend the dry ingredients, then toss in the cold butter cubes - pulse until the mixture resembles corn meal, then add the wet ingredients. Flatten to a half inch thickness, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

After the chill time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment. Roll to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into whatever shape you like and dock each section with a fork several times.

If you happed to be out of parchment paper like I was, grease your baking sheet well. When the grahams come out of the oven, retrace your cut lines and scrape the grahams off of the sheet with a spatula. If you don't release them from the sheet, you'll have a crumbly mess on your hands. Scrape and let them cool on the sheet.

Tada! They even look like real graham crackers! Get the recipe here: Alton Brown's Graham Crackers, and I invite you to watch the episode so you can grasp Alton's techniques.

Videos from his cracker episode: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Side note: Alton uses molasses in his graham crackers, but I'm partial to honey flavored grahams. Simply substitute the molasses with honey. It worked well for me. Have fun!

Oh, Canada - part 2

2010-05-27T10:00:00.001-04:00

On Sunday, Brother and I ventured to Sherbrooke, a city about a half hour away from the farm, where the kids go to college. We, full from breakfast, just had to stop at Chef Jaqualine's Creperie. Creperies - why aren't there more of them in Indiana?

Brother ordered this beast: La Quebecqoise, a crepe drowning in sugary buttery goodness topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was too much for Brother to handle, so I handled it. I don't mess around.

I washed it down with a cappuccino.

This was my crepe, simply filled with strawberries.

In Sherbrooke, we walked around a bit and desperately searched for the year-round farmers market. We eventually gave up and took to the supermarket - Maxi. Brother loaded up on his gummy and hard candy stash. The Kinder egg was mine. I love those German kid treats.

Brother would take a daily, literally DAILY, nap on the kitchen table after lunch. Teenagers!

Brother was elated to see that burgers were on the menu. Not just any burgers, but organic, firewood grilled burgers.

We eventually had to depart. Before leaving we stocked up for the road. Baguette, apple juice soda, cheese curds, orange, and a hazelnut candy bar.

Our last item on the list of things to do: eat Poutin. Poutin is apparently THE Quebecqiose junk food. It consists of French fries and cheese curds dredged in brown gravy. Brother was more enthused about it than I was.

On our drive home, we kept seeing this fast-food place called Tim Horton's. I'd never seen it before, but it had more stores than McDonalds. We had to investigate. I guess this chain was started up by a hockey player. They specialize in coffee and donuts. We got some. They were donuts.

Our last real meal of the trip was eaten in Rochester, NY at Olympia Family Restaurant. We were hoping to get Mediterranian grub, but the place didn't look like much from the outside. It was rather discouraging actually. We went in anyway and found it to be quite pleasant. We each ordered the Gyro Platter which was twice as much as we were able to stuff down. It was very satisfying and I would recommend Olympia to anyone. High five for hole-in-the-walls!

Overall, we had a great trip. We met a super cool family, ate some fantastic food, covered some serious ground, and had a lot of laughs along the way.

Oh, Canada - part 1

2010-05-24T10:00:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, my brother and I took off to Canada for a workation. I think this was my last workation. I've done two now, and I've decided that I would just rather take a vacation that doesn't involve work. The principle behind a workation is that you can travel and meet new people for cheap because instead of paying a lot of money, you're working. It's a good option to have. We both heard of WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) from friends and decided that it was high time to take a brother/sister road trip. Brother wanted to practice his French, so Quebec was our destination. We picked out a wonderful family to stay with and started our drive on Mother's Day. (Sorry, Mom!)

On our way up, we made a detour to Ann Arbor, Michigan. I love this city. We walked around, indulged in some much needed bubble tea and picked Conor O'Neill's for lunch. Brother got a roast beef sandwich and I got Conor's Ploughman: Sauteed vegetables served on grilled seven-grain bread with farmhouse cheddar and pesto mayo. It was amazing.

We bunked in a hotel just outside of Toronto, then kept on driving the next day. Our second lunch was had at a hole-in-the-wall pizza shop in Kingston: Paradiso. It was fully loaded and hard to finish, but we did our best.

We made it to the farm after about 950 miles of driving. The family was very warm and welcoming. Brother picked this farm because they have kids about our age, which made things more fun. Our first assignment was to help Mimi, the oldest, cover the greenhouse/tunnel with it's plastic top. After seeing how easily one of these comes together, Brother and I want to build one at home.

Here's the dinner table where we shared three square meals a day. I absolutely loved that they kept a wooden cutting board on the table at all times. It was there for slicing the bread and for keeping hot pots from scorching the tablecloth. We had an abundant salad every evening with dinner, and for breakfast there was fresh homemade bread. Almost everything we ate was organic. Bonus!

Since we did such a good job on the first greenhouse/tunnel, we ripped off and re-covered their other one. It looked so nice when we were finished. We also weeded some of their garlic patch. Their primary crop is garlic. They sell the bulbs, the flowers, and beautiful braids of garlic at their local farmers market.

A couple of evenings we went for a walk/hike on their 150 acre property. The cats were desperate to come with us, but we had to scare them away because they just can't keep up with our pace.

Saturday morning, we were surprised with homemade crepes! I had mine with some real maple syrup, of course (it's Canada after all,) and others were topping their crepes with yogurt and apples. Yum!

They had some chickens in a coop that their grandfather had built. They move their coop daily so the chickens can get new grass and bugs. They especially like grubs found from the gardens.

We went lumber jacking Saturday afternoon. We pulled a couple of fallen trees from the ski/hike trail, chopped them up, and lugged them back for fire wood. The family lets the local cross-country ski lodge use some of their trails for skiers. There are many many trails.

Flippin' cool, fresh milk! Mimi took Brother and I to their dairy farmer friend down the road. He was from Switzerland and his cows were very happy. The family gets their milk from him for wholesale price. Score! You can't get fresher milk than this. And it's raw so it can be digested easier. It tasted magical.

Mimi and I made a pretty dang good dinner Saturday night. We shredded some butternut squash and tossed it with some garlic and olive oil and baked it. The soup was made from the chicken stock that was brewing all day long. It was the best chicken noodle soup I've ever had.

Mimi showed me how to make cream cheese. She's getting into cheese making. She has made goat cheese and feta cheese as well. I used the cream cheese to make a batch of St. Louis Specials. They were a hit with the family after dinner with garden-picked bergamot tea.

Check back on Thursday for part 2 of our Canadian adventures.

Ooout of Town (That's "out" in Canadian)

2010-05-20T17:35:00.004-04:00

You may have noticed my absence this week. I just got back from a workation in Canada. I will fill you in on my adventures next week. For the time being, feast on some randomness.

You can't beat fresh pasta. I picked up some pappardelle at one of the local farmers markets. The girls who run it are about my age, so I bonded with them immediately.

It's so pretty! And so fresh! They have so many other shapes and flavors, but I never get to the market in time. Damn, early birds getting the...pasta.

Breakfast discovery shortly after Easter, obviously. Schmearing avocado on toast - with a sprinkle of salt. I'm addicted.

My first harvest! This spring and summer, I'm attempting to grow my own veggies. I picked my first spring lettuce leaves right before I left. Not bad for a window garden crop. I just finished potting three different types of peppers, butternut squash, acorn squash, zucchini, cucumber, Roma tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes. Let's see if anything produces! See you on Monday, regular time, with the down low on my venture.

Not your standard yogurt.

2010-05-13T10:00:00.001-04:00

There has been a whole lot of hoo-ha about how cow's milk is bad for us to drink. I don't know what to believe, honestly. Some say that you can drink raw milk and be OK. Some say that as humans, we don't have the proper enzymes to digest milk. I happen to love milk - especially 2% organic milk. And don't get me started on half & half and cream. The more fat, the better. Anyway, to be on the safe side, I suppose, I ventured to Whole Foods to see what alternatives they had in the yogurt department. I found three different types and took them home to taste test.

#1 - Goat Milk Yogurt. I know, it's still dairy, but some say that goat's milk is easier to digest because...the goat has a smaller stomach compared to a cow who has four (or at least one giant stomach with four compartments - however you want to break it down.) I found this yogurt to have a perfect texture, strong like Greek yogurt. On the other hand, in terms of flavor, the goat yogurt was my least favorite. It tasted like straight up chevre. No surprise there. I just couldn't get over how cheesy it was. Not a fan.

#2 - Soy yogurt. Supposedly ladies aren't supposed to have too much processed soy either. I'm kind of sick of all of this catch 22 crap. Food scientists, please just admit that you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Thanks. Anyway, the texture was a bit separated. I had to stir it up for consistency. Of the three, this one had the most bite, like sour cream with a hint of rice. This was my second choice in terms of flavor.

#3 - Coconut Milk Yogurt. I knew right off the bat that this one would be my flavor favorite. It was slightly tangy and just sweet enough. The coconut milk flavor definitely came through. It was the farthest from tasting like traditional cow's milk yogurt, but I still liked it.

Now, let's talk Nutrition Facts. I compared the calories, fat, protein, sugar, and calcium content of all three. Here's the rundown:

Calories (G) 100, (S) 110, (C) 130
Fat (G) 4.5g, (S) 2.5g, (C) 7g
Protein (G) 7g, (S) 3g, (C) 1g
Sugar (G) 7g, (S) 13g, (C) 12g
Calcium (G) 20%, (S) 30%, (C) 30%

There you have it, folks. I'll let you do your own research and be the judge. I'm going to the store to get some Greek yogurt.

Chocolate Porn

2010-05-10T10:00:00.006-04:00

I've already raved about Mast Brothers Chocolate, but that was before my dear, dear friend, Karli, brought ME a bar from the Big Apple. Watch this 4 minute video so you can fully grasp this chocolate's greatness - well, as much grasping you can get without eating the chocolate itself.

I still can't get over that they INDIVIDUALLY wrap each and every precious bar of chocolate. Their efforts shine through in the details.

So pure. So fresh. Que the burlesque music!

Oh, baby.

Now we're talkin'.

This chocolate is seriously, deeply dark and delicious. The salt, olive oil, and almonds are a great addition. Karli, thanks for introducing me to my latest addiction. I can't wait to try their other flavors!

No Fail Broccoli & Cheese Cornbread

2010-05-06T10:00:00.005-04:00

Ah, good ol' fashioned carry-ins. Or pitch-ins. Or pot lucks. What ever you call them, they are a good time. I went to one with a group of total strangers for the first Chew On This event in Indy. The event was about bringing people together to talk about local food and related food issues like: what to do with our crops, teaching our children where their food comes from, how to get fresh food to low income families, etc. It was a wonderful experience. I encourage you to start your own Chew On This event. Let's take charge of our food! For this carry-in, I took my no fail Broccoli and Cheese Cornbread. I found this recipe a few years ago on Allrecipes.com. It's the easiest thing you will ever make.

This recipe is a good way to sneak in veggies for the kids. Well, it's not really sneaking because they can see green chunks in their cornbread, but hey, once you get them to take one bite, the green chunks won't bother them.

I literally threw this thing together in under 10 minutes. It's so easy and very difficult to mess up. Seriously.

Here is what the cornbread looks like before it's baked. And did I take an after baking photo? Of course not. Why would I? This is what happens to a chronically late person who never gets to public functions on time. Indeed. But the cornbread was a hit, as usual. Everyone always likes it, even those who don't care for broccoli. I don't know, it must be magic. Oh, and my car now smells like broccoli because of the transportation from house to function. Sigh. Broccoli car.

Broccoli Cheese Cornbread

4 eggs

1 (10 oz) pkg of frozen broccoli, thawed and chopped

1 cup cottage cheese

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 (8.5 oz) box of self rising cornmeal

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease an 11x8 inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine corn meal, salt, and pepper.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs, butter, cottage cheese, and onion.

Pour the wet into the dry and mix. Fold in the broccoli and pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Eating My Way Through NYC Part II

2010-05-03T10:51:00.010-04:00

For the second day of our trip to NYC, Travis and I headed over the bridge into Brooklyn. We wanted to explore the Park Slope/Prospect Park areas because I had heard a lot about them from bloggers like design*sponge who lives there. After walking around the neighborhood and strolling through the park we were starving and in need of a New York staple - a hot dog. We could not settle for just any old hot dog, however, but made our way over to Bark Hot Dogs where they serve artisan hot dogs, burgers and sides made from local ingredients.

I devoured the bacon cheddar dog - a griddle roasted dog smothered in white cheddar cheese sauce, braised bacon and homemade pickled onions - while Travis enjoyed the slaw dog.

We shared an order of salt & pepper fries and to wash it down I had the most delicious cream soda of my life from Foxon Park Sodas. Hot dogs and fries never tasted so good.

After lunch we headed over to Bklyn Larder, a retail cheese and provisions store committed to finding international and local producers of cheeses, meats, dairy, jams, honey and oils who showcase their local identity and respect for the earth.

One of my most favorite things on earth is a grocery store filled with delicious, local, high quality goods. In addition to their deli counter and cheese case, Bklyn Larder carries Mast Brothers chocolate bars that Sarah has been raving about for weeks so I had to buy her a dark chocolate, almond and olive oil bar.

I also purchased some fleur de sel chocolate covered caramels from Nunu Chocolates (another local Brooklyn chocolatier) and a freshly baked fudge brownie to eat on the spot.

After filling up on delicious foods and desserts and with a bag of goodies to take home, Travis and I got on the subway back to our hotel in Manhattan. It was a wonderful trip!

Eating My Way Through NYC

2010-04-28T09:44:00.012-04:00

Hi, it's Karli again. My husband, Travis, and I were lucky enough to spend the past weekend in New York City and I wanted to share some of the amazing food I got to eat. We arrived Saturday morning and made our way from Midtown to the Upper West Side navigating the subway all by ourselves. That is what three master's degrees between two people will get you. Once we go to the Upper West Side I had to go to Zabar's, a gourmet grocery store and New York legend. We picked up a freshly-baked baguette, salami and provolone, blueberries and some Boylan Cream Soda and headed over to picnic in Central Park.

Later that evening we went on an adventure to find the reportedly best burger joint in NYC. It is in a swanky hotel in Midtown and only denoted by a neon sign of a hamburger and the line of people waiting by a velvet curtain in the hotel lobby.

(Sorry for the poor image quality. It is difficult to take a picture of a neon sign while trying to look nonchalant.) Once inside it was as if you were part of a cool club that not many people knew about. It was a small room and you ordered at the back.

If you were not ready with your order they admonished you to the back of the line. Then you tried desperately to get a seat. I happened to sit where Duffy had apparently sat before me.

So let me just tell you, it was worth all the trouble. Delicious, juicy, no-fuss burgers, perfect french fries with a smattering of salt and an ice cold beer to wash it down. Travis and I were in heaven. Plus our whole meal was under $30 which is pretty unheard of in Manhattan.
After dinner we made our way to the Magnolia Bakery.

I had heard that Magnolia has the best cupcakes on the planet and being a major cupcake addict I had to find out if all the hype was true. IT WAS!!! Apparently there is such a run on cupcakes at Magnolia that they are putting out new batches every 15 minutes. There is a team of people in the back just icing the cupcakes once they have cooled. We ended up getting red velvet with whipped vanilla icing, chocolate with chocolate buttercream and vanilla with whipped vanilla icing. Those cupcakes were freakin' heaven! Rich, dense cake with a delicate crumb and whipped icing that was light and airy, yet packed with intense flavor. You must try these cupcakes.

After that Travis and I found our way back to our hotel in a sugar-induced euphoric state and waiting in anticipation for the following day's trip to Brooklyn which I will write about on Monday.

Corny Pancakes?!

2010-04-26T10:00:00.003-04:00

Hello all! As you may know, I've been a spring cleanin'. Sorting and finding and tossing and organizing. I found my old cookbook/binder from my FCSFN 110 course. (That's a cooking class for college kids.) It's loaded with simple, easy recipes. I found a recipe for Corn Fritters or Corn Pancakes. It gave the option of deep frying the batter for fritters or frying the batter on a griddle for pancakes. I have made an oath to myself to never deep fry anything. I know if I do it once, I'll see how easy it is and how delicious and then I'll be the size of Jupiter. So, pancakes it is.

The recipe asked for 1 and 1/2 cups of flour. I was going for something gluten free, so I used buckwheat flour, but I believe that any flour would work. Whole wheat or oat would be great, but of course all-purpose would turn out the best.

On top of the flour, salt, and baking soda, I poured in a can (14.75 fl oz) of creamed corn, 2 eggs, and a tiny dash of vanilla bean paste. Mix well, but don't over mix. No one likes tough pancakes.

On to a hot, greased griddle they go. Buckwheat tastes really good, but man, it makes an ugly pancake.

Silly me, this was not a silicone brush. Poor brush, you've been good to me. Note to self: get a silicone brush to evenly distribute oil on griddle.

Dones! These guys were a bit tall. Next time, I'll toss in a dash of liquid. You can use some crazy liquids in pancake batters. I've used Sprite even, but milk is a safe bet.

Storage for left over pancakes: layer them with wax paper and put into a freezer bag. They'll keep for a few months. Pop them into a toaster to warm them up.

Corn Pancakes

-1 1/2 cup of flour

-2 tsp. baking soda

-1/8 tsp. salt

-1 (14.75oz.) can of creamed corn

-2 eggs

-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

-1/4 cup of sugar (optional)

-splash of milk if you like thinner pancakes

Mix all ingredients together. Cook on greased griddle. Serve warm with copious amounts of real maple syrup.

Julia Child's Crème Anglaise

2010-04-22T10:00:00.002-04:00

One evening while finishing dinner, my roommate, feeling cheeky, pulled my Mastering the Art of French Cooking from my bookshelf and said, "You will make the thing that is on the page I open." He then closed his eyes and turned to page 588 - Creme Anglaise.

The recipe looked easy enough, but I didn't even know what a creme anglaise was supposed to look like. I didn't let that bother me and just went on anyway. A creme anglaise is a light custard sauce apparently. Beat 4 egg yolks and a half cup of sugar in a large mixing bowl.

Beat until the color is light yellow and forms "the ribbon".

Pour, very slowly and gradually, 1 and 3/4 cup of near boiling milk into the egg and sugar mixture. Do not pour too quickly or you will cook your eggs. That would be gross. This photo is blurry because I was accidentally pouring hot milk on my foot. The things I do for food and friends!

Return this mixture to the stove on a very low heat setting. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the mixture thickens.

You can tell when it's done because it turns a darker shade of yellow and coats the back of a spoon well.

Important: strain the custard through a fine sieve just in case you cooked your eggs. (I did a little bit.) I'm so glad I strained it. No one wants eggy chunks in their custard. Now is the time to flavor your custard. Julia suggests 1 Tbsp of vanilla extract (I used 2 tsp of vanilla bean paste.) or 1 tsp of vanilla extract AND 1 Tbsp of rum, kirsch, cognac, flavored liqueur, or instant coffee.

After making and tasting my creme anglaise, I thought of many ways to eat it: over ice cream, pound cake, or tarts; for using fruit in which to dip; topped with nuts or granola, etc. It can be served hot or cold and adds a bit of fancy to any dessert.

Perfect Roasted Potatoes

2010-04-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

Flipping through my list of favorite blogs, I found the answer to all of my roasted potato questions on Chocolate & Zucchini. After I read her post, the clouds parted and the sun shone down on me. I set to work immediately, scrubbin' and choppin' my potatoes.

All kinds of potatoes will work for this recipe. Fill up a large pot with salted water while you clean and cut your taters.

Cut them into bite sized pieces.

When the water reaches a boil, toss them in and let them cook for 5 minutes. They won't be fully cooked; this is just a head start. Turn your oven on to a very high heat around 450 degrees.

Carefully toss your hot potatoes in a drizzle of olive oil and season to taste. I made these spicy with chili powder, pepper, and chili pepper. Don't forget the salt.

After 15 minutes, toss and turn the potatoes and cook for another 15 minutes. They will be crispy on the outside and perfectly tender on the inside. I'll never struggle with potatoes again! Thanks Chocolate & Zucchini!

Lowery's Candies: Muncie's Sweetest Specialty Store

2010-04-15T22:45:00.001-04:00

In the little ol' city of Muncie, there is one of the sweetest places on earth: Lowery's Candies. Upon entering this humble shop, a wave of delicious scent hits like brick, like a brick of chocolate to be exact. Lowery's Candies is a family run company and has been in business for 69 years. It has been a cornerstone for the Muncie and Yorktown communities for decades. Every single piece of candy has been handmade and hand-dipped the old fashioned way. Their love and effort shines through in their delectable chocolates.

Having grown up in the area, Lowery's was a big part of gift giving and receiving in my family.

Inside, peer through the glass and pick out your favorites. Assorted boxes are available to satisfy all tastes: Nuts & Chewies, Assorted Cremes, or both.

I used to get one of these giant chocolate eggs from my grandma every year at Easter. They were always filled with chocolate covered toffee, my favorite.

I love sending these Indiana shaped chocolates to my friends from afar. Lowery's was one of the first places I would show off to foreign exchange students. They became immediate fans.

I cannot leave Lowery's without a Tiger Paw (you might know them as a turtle.) What could possibly be better than chocolate, caramel, and pecans? That's right, nothing! The little item on top was a new discovery for me. (I was shocked myself; having been around Lowery's all of my life.) It's called a Dark Secret. Dark, obviously because it's covered with dark chocolate, and secret because the thick creme's recipe is unknown to most of the staff. Those sneaky chocolatiers!

I know you're drooling because I am, too, but please know that Lowery's Candies close up shop or the summer. The heat and humidity are very unkind to the candies. Lowery's is open for Mother's Day and then usually shut their doors soon after. They reopen sometime in September. Give them a call if you're wondering. It truly depends on the weather. Lowery's will ship all over the US, and you can order online! Hooray for the internet! Hooray for Lowery's Candies in the mail!

This Only Happens in Movies...or on MTV!

2010-04-12T10:00:00.005-04:00

I have to tell you about our wild Saturday. It's one for the books; a roller coaster day full of twists and turns. The day begins very early (well, very early for me) at 7am. I loaded up my car with a bunch of crap to sell at Karli's yard sale. I was grumpy and still half asleep when I was trying to shut the door with my hands full - broke a hand-blown glass vase. Grrr! In my angry fit, I tossed a box into my car/fell into my car and clothes-lined myself in the car door frame. Ah, a pleasant way to start the day.

Things got better when I arrived at Karli and Travis's house. We set up shop in their front lawn. We had visitors even before all of our stuff was put out. THEN, while we were selling and customers were buying, one of the customers collapsed and had a seizure. Karli called 911, and a fire truck and an ambulance full of paramedics came to help. The woman was OK. Thankfully she didn't hit her head too hard when she fell. She recovered after a few minutes with a peanut butter sandwich and milk - hypoglycemic apparently. She actually returned later in the afternoon to thank us and continued shopping!!!

Our yard sale went very well, but at noon we had to cut out and head to a TV shoot produced by a handful of lovely folks from MTV!!! Because The Hot Cookie is a member of the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange, and Amanda and Neal Tafflinger won one of the Pepsi Refresh Everythinggrants for their future store, Homespun, we got to participate! Renowned MTV corespondent,SuChin Pak conducted interviews with all of the Handicrafters present. It was very interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes. All of the crew members were very nice, and LOVED our cookies. We are honored to have been a part of it.

Here we are being interviewed by SuChin.

She had just taken a bite of one of our Sea Salt Chocolate Chunkers and is showing the camera. She nibbled on them between questions.
The rest of our mock Handicraft Exchange. We did a pretty good job. The wind was a bit naughty.

And if that weren't enough, one of the producers bought pizza for us all; and not just any pizza, but Jockamo's pizza! Could life get any sweeter? The one minute segment is supposed to run sometime within the next couple of weeks and (potentially) be on MTV, VH1, TeenNick, Comedy Central, Hulu.com, and SpikeTV.

Ha Ha! Success! Buckwheat Bran Bread

2010-04-08T10:00:00.006-04:00

Hello everyone! You may know the story of how bad I am at making yeast bread. That yeasty beast has been tangling with me for some time. I've had a break through I think. I made a more than edible, actually tasty loaf of hearty whole wheat bread. Check it out!

This bread contained a lot of fun ingredients such as buckwheat flour, whole buckwheat (kasha), bran flakes, milled flax seed, whole wheat flour, etc. Those ingredients gave the bread a distinct earthy, nutty flavor WITHOUT tasting like dirt. I'm so happy!
This was a very sticky stage. I decided to hand knead this bread - a test to see if hand kneading gets better results than a stand mixer. I tossed on quite a bit more flour. No need to get crazy messy.
Lookin' good right before the first rise. This dough is very easy to work with and has a nice color.
The second rise: it rose just like the recipe said it would, and while it was uncovered, too. The mysteries of bread! I'll never get over it.
I will never bake bread again without this thermometer. It really does take all of the guess work out. No more tapping on the bottom of the loaf. No more poking it with a fork. Thank you, thermometer, thank you.
I didn't burn it! A great success! A slathering of butter gave it this nice shine.
And it has an even crumb as well! I attribute that to hand kneading. I don't doubt that a stand mixer can do the job, I just haven't figured out how to do it. Besides, a little muscle work never hurt.
Ahhh, delicious! It tastes slightly nutty like a whole wheat bread should. I love how the little kashas give a little crunch. I am very pleased! This will be a bread to make again. Maybe next time I'll throw in some herbs, spices, or nuts. Oh, the possibilities!

Adapted from The Book of Bread by Judith & Evan Jones

1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup bran flakes
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup milled flax seed
1/4 cup kasha (whole buckwheat)
1/4 cup of honey
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 -2 1/2 cups white flour

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast and honey in warm water. Stir in the bran, buckwheat flour, oil, salt, flax seed, kasha, and about 1 cup each of the whole wheat flour and the white flour. Stir together - should be quite stiff.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface to rest while you clean and grease your large bowl.

Knead the dough, adding more of the whole wheat and white flour as necessary. Knead for about 10 minutes. Put the dough into the greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise and double in bulk for about an hour and a half to 2 hours.

Turn the dough out and punch down. Form into a loaf and place in a greased 8 inch bread pan. Leave it uncovered and let it rise for exactly 35 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 190. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Makes 1 loaf, and can easily be doubled!

The Hot Cookie's First Wedding!

2010-04-05T10:00:00.001-04:00

Look how fancy Karli is. She put together these adorable sample packs for our first wedding clients, Ari and Valerie. We are providing cookies for their wedding in June.

Ari sought us out specifically because our cookies are all natural and because he's awesome and wants to support local business. When the guests arrive at their reception, they will be greeted with a tasty bag of cookies! What a sweet way to thank their friends and family for coming!
The sample packs allow the bride and groom to taste and choose the cookies that will best suit their guests. It's probably one of the hardest decisions of their wedding plans, I'm sure. Ari confirmed that this was true.
Karli and I are looking forward to this momentous occasion.

Also, more big news for The Hot Cookie: we've just been accepted into the Carmel Farmers' Market this summer! There were 55 vendors competing for the only two available spots at this prestigious market, and we got one! Please come and check out the Carmel Farmers' Market. We'll be looking for you!

Fancy Colored Pasta!

2010-04-01T10:00:00.004-04:00

Black spaghetti! Yes, it kind of looks like a pile of worms. I found this interesting pasta at Target. It's colored naturally with squid ink. Mmm, squid ink. You can't taste it at all. I bought it for a special Halloween dinner, but that was a very busy night and this sad pasta got pushed aside. I served it this week with a simple bolognese sauce and some garlic bread. (Actually, it was garlic naan bread. I'm a fan of crossing cultures.) My dinner guests were pleased.

AND check out this cool pasta that my very thoughtful brother brought me from Italy!

So many colors! The colors come from spinach, tomato, beet, turmeric, blueberry, and of course, squid ink. The pasta's colors bled into the boiling water while it was cooking. I drained off pink water. Weird!
I wanted a light sauce for this special pasta, so I thought a simple tomato sauce would do the trick. Into a small sauce pan, I poured 2 (15oz.) cans of diced tomatoes (my cans included basil, garlic, and oregano) and a small palm full of chili peppers...
...and this amount of dried shallots...
...and this much basil, from Mom's garden no less. I added a big pinch of pepper and a heaping 1/2 tsp of salt and let it simmer for a half an hour.
And no pasta dish is complete without some shredded cheese. Yay, colorful pasta!

Instant Gratification: No-Bakes

2010-03-29T10:10:00.001-04:00

Recently I had a sweet tooth attack. I needed something chocolaty and chewy. I didn't want to leave the comfort of my apartment, and I didn't want to wait on a batch of brownies. NO! I dug deep into the depths of my recipe collection and found this prized recipe. I scalped it from my fella's grandmother. She makes many-a tasty candy and other sweet things. This recipe is tried and true. Fo sho.
Bert's No-Bakes

1 cup sugar

5 tsp. cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 cup of milk

1/3 cup of peanut butter

Bring sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk to a boil on medium-high heat in a sauce pan. Stir well.

Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla until combined. Add oats.

Scoop with a tablespoon and drop onto wax paper. Let cool...or not.

Store in an air tight container.

Day at Fountain Square

2010-03-25T10:00:00.006-04:00

Afternoon girl time is a must - especially when life decides to throw lemons. Screw making lemonade, we noshed on fantastic, traditional English food at the Red Lion Grog House in the Fountain Square district in Indy.

We ate juicy blanket bangers. (Warning: those go in like a sunny day, but out like a hurricane.)

And some Scotch Eggs. (Karli makes some good Scotch Eggs, and she bakes them so they aren't so hard on the gut.)

The Fish N Chips. Oh, the Fish N Chips. I don't even know what to say about them. I'm still salivating. If you're interested you can read my full review of Red Lion Grog House here.

After gorging ourselves, we goofed off at this funky vintage shop next door, indySwank. If you're looking for the perfect gift for the guy who has everything, there's a pretty baller smoking jacket there. Don't forget to pick up a pipe while you're out.

At Days Gone By Antiques, we found lots of fun, old timey kitchen gadgets and this awesome scale from the no-longer Vonnegut Hardware Company. Yes, that's the same Vonneguts you've got in mind. Kurt Vonnegut's great-grandfather was the founder of this store which was established in 1858. Read more fun historical info here.

To finish off a perfect afternoon, we indulged in a handmade chocolate milkshake at the Smokehouse on Shelby. There was so much milkshake, it wouldn't fit in the glass. That was perfectly fine by me!

Fountain Square is an interesting neighborhood that takes more than an afternoon to soak up. I hope to make another trip with Karli soon to see what else can we get into.

Packaging Makes the Product

2010-03-19T10:46:00.010-04:00

Hi, everyone! It's Karli here. I don't often get to post things because I don't do all of the baking and cooking experiments like Sarah. I wanted to share a little of my knowledge, though, as the one in our partnership that worries about how The Hot Cookie looks and what kind of message we are sending to our potential customers. If you want to sell your baked goods, or lip balm, or stationery, or soap it is important for you to consider how you package your item.

If your product is all-natural, made from eco-friendly materials, etc. you might consider recycled cardboard packaging with soy ink printing. Like this packaging from Lindsay Faye Sherman.

You can also use pattern, font choice and color to grab the customer's attention. The colors and patterns you choose don't necessarily have to be bright or overpowering, but can be interesting if they are different than the majority of packaging in the market for your particular product.Products whose packaging showcase a simple elegance often attract customers and position themselves as higher quality like this packaging for organic honey from designer Marcel Buerkle.

Even if you think your product will best be served by a more traditional package design, there are ways to do this that exude professionalism and quality. This butter packaging gives you the feeling of straight from the farm, yet you know that great care has gone into its production.

Even if you are just packaging your items for friends and family there are plenty of resources on the web that enable you to do it in style like these boxes from Twig and Thistle.

If you have any resources or photos of your own packaging please share them with us all!

Candied Kumquats

2010-03-18T10:00:00.002-04:00

This is not a kumquat peel. It's a clementine peel. I just liked how it looked. Now on to the kumquats - nature's Tear Jerkers!

If you've never eaten a kumquat, you must! They are quite unusual. They're not really sweet, but not really sour. You eat them whole; rind and all, and they sort of "pop" in your mouth. I found that I could only eat 2 or 3 at a time in their raw state, so I wanted to find a way to eat them faster. What makes everything taste better? Sugar, duh! Mary Poppins couldn't have said it better.

Get yourself some adorable kumquats. You'll need 10-12 ounces. Wash them well, and find a sharp knife.

Slice and slice and slice into small sections. You'll probably find some seeds. Pick those buggers out. No one likes to chomp on citrus seeds.

This is a two part cooking process: blanching then cooking. In a medium sauce pan, bring 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp. of salt to a boil. Add the kumquat slices and let simmer for 2 minutes. Drain off the water. Next, add 1/2 a pound of sugar (240g), 1 cup of water, and 3 oz. of corn syrup to the kumquats. Stir and bring to boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes or translucent. Scoop out the kumquats with a slotted spoon, and place on a screen or baking sheet. Separate them so you don't have giant blobs of kumquat.

Fancy yourself a cocktail drinker/maker? Use the reserved sugar water to make a kumquat infused simple syrup. Bring the sugar water to a boil. Let it lightly boil until a lot of the water has dissolved. The consistency should resemble honey. Let it cool a bit and pour into a bottle or lidded jar in the refrigerator.

Now let them dry. It's best to let them dry on a screen, but if you don't have one, like me, you can just put your soggy kumquat slices on a baking sheet and put them in the oven on a really low temp (175 degrees F) for a few hours. Worked just fine for me. Just don't forget that they are in there.

Toss them in a bit more sugar to coat.

Ta-Da! Candied citrus always makes an impression, and kumquats are just so danged cute!

Store your little gems in an air tight container, and mix yourself a cocktail.