What's for Dinner? 10/30/05

It's very hard to get good seafood in Indiana or sometimes any seafood at all. Our local grocery stores have a very shabby selection, shameful really. I can get good seafood in a town about 40 minutes away, but the location is obviously not convenient and you have to be willing to pay at least $12 a pound and the prices go up from there.

It was a treat to see that Meijer (our best local resource for seafood) had swordfish on hand last week, so I snapped up a piece and put it in the freezer. I'm usually at a loss as to what to do with fish, so I searched through my cookbooks and found the recipe below. It was easy to put together and was very flavorful. The recipe made quite a bit more sauce than was necessary (and we like a lot of sauce), so I froze the remaining sauce for use at a later date. I served the fish with whole wheat couscous and roasted asparagus. I realized later into the dinner that this dish has not one drop of oil, so no added fat - an added bonus.

Fish Tagine with Chermoulla

Ready for the oven

Pumpkin Waffles and Baked Apples

I don't often cook up a big breakfast, but I do love a big breakfast, especially on the weekends. So this morning I decided to surprise the guys with a breakfast when they come home from church. I have a hankering for something with pumpkin - here it is the end of October and I have not made one pumpkin recipe.

In fact, we have not even decorated for Fall or Halloween - we haven't even so much as bought a pumpkin to carve. Sad. But between illnesses and being out of town, there just hasn't been much time or, truthfully, much motivation on my part. And now my oldest son is sick, but we might have to go out and get a pumpkin without him. We need SOMETHING to put on the porch for Halloween. I usually decorate quite a bit with skeletons, cobwebs, spiders, bats, a stuffed man sitting by the door with a scary mask, ghosts hanging from the eaves, etc. Each year I try to add to my collection. Unfortunately, one of my biggest sources for great Halloween stuff went out of business - Martha Stewart's catalog had a lot of great items. I like the scary decorations - no cutsie stuff here!


Anyway, I am taking you along on a guilt trip here....back to the food.

This morning we'll be having Pumpkin Waffles and Baked Apples. The boys love pumpkin waffles and often ask me to make them. Won't they be surprised when I make them without being asked? My November Cooking Light just arrived this week and I remembered a baked apple recipe that looked easy and delicious and it sounded like a prefect accompaniment to the waffles.

Pumpkin Waffles

Baked Apples*

Stay tuned tonight for Fish Tagine with Chermoulla from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites.

*Photo Courtesy of Cooking Light

WDB #7

Okay, I get a big old "DUH" for posting my dog blog last week, but never sending my link to Sweetnicks. I'm sure my error did not throw the universe out of kilter, but still, I felt a bit dumb. As I did when I realized that I have two posts about the same recipe.....oy.


Anyway, here's my entry for this week. It's a photo from back in March, but it shows Bailey doing one of the things he loves best - cuddling with shoes (or clothing or pillows or whatever may be lying about). Sometimes you'll find him lying with his nose actually INSIDE the shoe. I suppose the stinkier, the better as far as he's concerned.

I have a dirty little secret.

The shame. The horror. It's in my kitchen.....or at least it was.

I'm talking about the inside of my refrigerator. Gross! I'm usually pretty good about keeping it cleaned out but every once in a while I let it go WAY too long. And darn it if this blog didn't make it impossible for me to try to gloss things over and pretend that things hadn't been there all that long. But now I have dates. Irrefutable evidence as to how long things had been sitting there, left to rot.

The Rich and Simple French Onion Soup wasn't so bad, that only dated back about 12 days, to October 17th. Same for the Creamy Tomato Balsamic Soup - 13 days....not beyond the ordinary for this household. But then it starts to get scarier.....I found the Chicken with Artichoke Hearts from 1o/3, but surprisingly enough, it wasn't rotted and revolting. Even the Corn and Shrimp Soup from 9/30 wasn't too bad. The Mexican Rice from 9/25 held up pretty well too. The Easy Layered Beans and Rice from 9/20, my first entry for this dish, won the oldest thing I can accurately date. But there were other, scarier things that I'm sure were much older. Like the really, really moldy leftover tomato soup from a can. It had a solid layer of mold that held its form when removed from the container. MMM...MMM...good.

Anyway, the refrigerator is now void of scientific experiments and looks sparkling clean once again. I'd like to say that's the worst it's ever gotten, but I'd probably be wrong.

Soup Night

I love soup night. Soup is so warm and cozy, especially when the air turns chilly outside. I'm a vegetable-lover for the most part, but the rest of my family is more reluctant. My husband has come around and will at least eat vegetables, even if he doesn't particularly care for them because he knows they are good for him. My boys are slowly coming around and I think they do quite well considering they are still young. Since they've been exposed to so many different kinds of foods, and eat things a lot of kids wouldn't even recognize (like sushi and pesto, just to name two), I think they will turn out to be great eaters.

Anyhow, I gave my youngest son a taste of my Muir Glen Vegetable Soup and was shocked when he said that he really liked it. It gave me courage to try out this vegetable soup on him and my other two reluctant vegetable eaters. The whole family loves pesto and that is certainly the dominant flavor, so I figured this would be a good way to help disguise those veggies.

The verdict: DH and youngest son liked the soup very much. Oldest DS is sick, so he was not interested in any dinner at all - poor guy. I liked the soup quite well, but something was off. Perhaps it was just that I imagined the soup a certain way and it came out differently. In any case, I would certainly make a similar soup again, but perhaps not feel limited to the recipe, feeling free to just throw something of my own together.

Vegetable Soup with French Pesto

Fresh Fruit

Crunchy Bread

Trying to fit in a little blogging.....

Well, I guess I finally went a day without a posting. This will probably happen more than I'd like over the next month as I adjust to work and as we move into the new house.

Last night was pizza take-out. A new pizza place we hadn't tried yet posted an offer on our door that we couldn't refuse - 35% off and a free pint of Ritter's frozen custard. I was dead tired from work, so we went for it. The pizza wasn't bad - good pizza is pretty rare in Indiana - but the custard was downright yummy.

Tonight DH helped out and got some Linguine with Red Clam Sauce going while I walked the dog. All I do is take my marinara recipe and add clams, a bit of the clam juice, a few more red pepper flakes and some garlic to jazz things up. With sauce already made and in the freezer, this makes a really yummy but quick and easy dinner.

Speaking of the dog....he's been another casualty of me going to work full time. I am usually pretty good about taking him for a 30 minute walk just about every day. That just hasn't happened lately. DH and I decided that we would try alternating dinner and dog walking duties - one will walk while the other gets dinner ready. I'm sure Bailey is all for that arrangement!

Tune in tomorrow night for a new recipe we're trying: Vegetable Soup with French Pesto from The Occasional Vegetarian. I hope the boys like it - the more vegetable-laden dishes I can find that they'll eat and enjoy, the better!

Ho-hum.....yawn....

...it's looking like leftovers night. The fridge is packed with several leftovers and DS #1 suggested leftovers, so who am I to deny him?

Just to keep things interesting here, I'm going to share 3 of my favorite appetizer recipes. I have quite a few appetizers that I like, but I'll just add them a few at a time. The common theme for these 3 appetizers is that you can make them ahead of time and freeze them - something that is very handy with the holidays just around the corner. Did I just say the holidays are just around the corner???? Ack!!!

Enjoy!

Mini-Spanakopitas

Photo Courtesy of Cooking Light

Mushroom Crescents

Spinach Balls

Cookies

My goal is to try to bake at least one new thing every weekend. For you avid bakers, I'm sure that doesn't sound like much, but with everything going on lately - work and moving - I need to keep things simple.

What to bake? Looking through my Mastercook "Recipes To Try" cookbook, this recipe from Martha Stewart sounded tempting: Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate-Chunk Cookies.



I always use chocolate chips in place of chunks - it's easier and usually more economical. Strangely enough, I seek out the cookies in the batch that have the least amount of chocolate chips. Because of this, I cut the amount of chocolate chips down to 10 ounces and there were still plenty. This was a very thick batter and didn't seem like it would need to be chilled first, but I chilled anyway since chilling tends to reduce the amount of spreading. I almost never make big cookies unless I'm giving them away. I like to snack too much and smaller cookies are better for snacking. I made regular-sized cookies and baked them for about 12-13 minutes.

I've tasted the first cookie and it's very good. If you like oats and nuts - and I do - you'll love this cookie. Crispy on the outside, tender and chewy on the inside.

Just for the heck of it, I'll throw in another Martha Stewart recipe - Kitchen Sink Cookies. As the title suggests, this cookie is chock-full of anything and everything. It's a very tasty cookie, but I find that the quality definitely goes downhill quickly, so eat fast or share because they taste best if eaten in the first few days.

Chicago and What's for dinner? 10/23/05

Well, we had a blast in Chicago, but I'm not sure I'll be up for this kind of trip again. I love going to Chicago - it's a great city with so much to offer - but I usually go for the food and the shopping (food shopping and regular shopping). We didn't shop at all. What a shame.

We got to Chicago Friday evening around 5:00 or so and went to my friend's sister's apartment for a few glasses of wine before heading out to dinner. Dinner was the highlight of our visit. We went to a Lebanese restaurant called Maza - I wanted to try something different and I was excited that we all agreed on this place. We ordered their appetizer special and I thought I would be exaggerating when I came here to tell you all that we must have had 15-20 different little plates of food, but according the link above, I am remembering correctly. I tried just about everything and most of it was very good. The lentil soup we had to start was excellent.

After dinner at Maza, we headed out to a string of bars. I can't even tell you where we were or what bars we hit - I was just along for the ride and didn't pay much attention at all. Fortunately she gave us an intinerary beforehand, so I was able to recreate our path of partying. We went first to Star Bar. I really wanted to try some champagne, but the group agreed to order pinot grigio instead. That was fine, but bubbly would have been more fun. We also hit Cherry Red but didn't like the music, so we left. I think there was another bar in there somewhere before we ended up at Hang Ups. It was insanely crowded, but the music was fun (I remember belting out John Denver's Country Roads at some point) and we danced until it closed at 3:00. I had no idea it was so late - good thing or just the thought of being out that late would have turned me into a party-pooper.

I'm almost 40 and way too old for this kind of night out! Next time I'll take a nice lunch and some shopping, please. But it was fun......

I got home around 4:30 yesterday but was too tired to cook, so we headed to our local Mexican restaurant, Las Limas for some yummy food.

Tonight we're having:

Grilled Pork Chops with Cherry Barbecue Sauce

Gorgonzola Polenta

Zucchini Pecan Sauté

The barbecue sauce is a bottled sauce by Brownwood Farms that we picked up on our trip to Traverse City, MI this summer. One of the wineries we visited had lots of yummy cherry goodies to sample and we really liked this one. According to their website, it placed 5th in a big BBQ competition.

Shopping for the new house

Fun, fun, fun! We need a few things for the new house and it's going to be a lot of fun shopping! Please excuse this post - it is utterly self-indulgent and has nothing whatsoever to do with cooking.

There is always a very long list of wants and needs when you move into a new home, but there are a few things that we feel are most important and we'll concentrate on those first. On the priority list is a new king-sized bed. Woohoo! No more small full-sized bed. I'm going to be in heaven. Room to stretch. Room to get away from a snoring DH. Or vice versa. So obviously this means a new mattress, bedding, and frame. We're going to stick with the cheap metal frame for now and eventually get a real frame - either in black or a dark wood finish like mahogany. My vision of the room is framed after a hotel we stayed in in Chicago where everything was simple, neat and uncluttered. The walls were sage green, the furniture was dark and rich, the trim was crisp and white and the accents were black. I loved it - so soothing and comforting.

I was surfing the net in search of a quilt and wasn't finding anything I liked. Then I happened to look through my Room and Board catalog and found a duvet that is pretty much what I had in mind - something neutral, tailored and simple. My tastes have definitely evolved toward the minimalist, more modern styles - with some antique thrown in for an eclectic look. I love Room and Board and we've purchased a table from them before - like this one, only square and in cherry. We love it.

Another item or items we need to get are new chairs for our dining room table. I inherited a lovely table from my grandmother, but I really don't like the chairs. They creak a lot and are uncomfortable to sit in. This hasn't been a big problem because we tend to only use our dining room table for special occasions or when we have guests. Our new house does not have a dining room, so our dining room table will be in our breakfast nook and will be used every day, so new, comfortable chairs are definitely in order. The more I look at that dark carpet and the dark drapes, the more I can't wait to get away from them! Funny how pictures make our walls look so yellow - it's actually got a lot more brownish tones that what appears in photos.

I'm contemplating blending new with old and instead of trying to find wood chairs that would match the table, I'm thinking of getting a more modern chair with a black metal or wood finish - no arms. All arms really do is add cost. Perhaps we'll look for something like the stools we got for our bar/counter table. Not sure yet.

We'll also need stools for the breakfast bar - it would be easiest to just buy something that matches the table chairs, but we'll see.

One of the other big things will be new countertops for the kitchen. I have several samples that I like quite well, but I'll need to wait until we actually have access to the house before I decide for sure.

And of course there's the long list of things like window treatments (the new house has lots of ugly venetian blinds which I can't stand), a tv and tv stand for the living room, a new chair to provide more seating in the living room, etc. We'll add things piece by piece and take our time - getting exactly what we want instead of just rushing to fill space - that never leads to much good as I've learned from experience.

WDB #6

Once again it's time for the weekly roundup of dog blogs over at Sweetnicks.

I have yet another picture of us driving Bailey crazy with the laser pointer. He simply can't get enough of the red dot - he charges after it full speed and never seems to tire. When play time is over, he spends at least 5 or 10 minutes searching for the dot. Bailey loves the dot.

Silly mutt.

Chicago!

After much deliberation, I am headed off to Chicago with a couple of girlfriends for a night out on the town. I was seriously considering not going - I felt like any free time I have these days needs to be spent constructively - but I decided I'd better take the opportunity while it's there. I can see that working full time will bring on the guilt factor a bit!

My friend's sister is making all the arrangements (and we are staying at her place - gotta love free accomodations) so I'm not quite sure where we're going to eat yet, but apparently we have reservations at two appetizer places. I love appetizers - just nibbling on lots of little things. After that it's drinks and dancing and there are quite a few places she has lined up for us to choose from. Hopefully the World Series revelers won't be out in full force yet or we may be forced to retreat to her apartment.

So much for spending the weekend baking and such. Too bad - it's chilly and damp - perfect baking weather. I'm afraid that Sunday will be spent playing catch-up and that I won't allow myself any baking time, but you never know.

I don't want my cooking blog to be devoid of cooking talk again for 2 days, so here are a few more of my favorite recipes. Let's make the theme desserts - chocolate desserts....

Chocolate Chunk Bread Puddings

Chocolate Cream Pie*

Chocolate Frangelico Fondue*

Warm Brownie Cups

These are absolutely fabulous.

I'll be back later this weekend to review the restaurants and bars we visited this weekend and don't forget that WDB #6 will be posted at Sweetnicks on Sunday. Bailey will be participating once again...

*Photos Courtesy of Cooking Light

What's for Dinner? 10/20/05

I had no plans at all for dinner, but I remembered a dish that was praised highly on Cooking Light that is perfect for just such an occasion. One of my goals as a working mom is to NOT fall back on ordering out or going out to eat - that would only cut into what little money I'll be making at this job (the pay sucks, but the schedule is good). I may need to go to easier dishes, and that's fine, but I don't want to slack off and spend money.

This dish doesn't knock my socks off, but it is quite tasty and it's easy, nutritious and uses ingredients that I always seem to have on hand. There are endless possibilities for varying the ingredients and many of those variations are discussed on this thread over on Cooking Light.

Easy Layered Beans and Rice

I'm off to a middle school dance - they are calling it the Candy Dance. I volunteered to chaperone, but I have no idea what will be going on or what I will be doing. I'd rather stay home and cuddle up with a nice glass of wine! I'll see if I can get a decent picture to post later, but it's doubtful...........

Is it nap time yet?

Okay, it definitely hit me more today. It was busy, busy, busy with sick kids at work today, plus all the training. I hit the grocery store after work, but all I really wanted to do was go home! I'm a whimp! But I'll toughen up over time......

Tonight we had spaghetti and meatballs, using the my recipe for marinara. I barely had the energy to make the meatballs, but they really are not hard at all. It was good that DH was traveling and wasn't going to be home until 7 the earliest - it took some of the pressure off of getting dinner ready - I usually aim for 6:30 at the very latest. It's funny how the little things (tonight's little thing was grating some fresh Parmesan) can add so much time to dinner preparation. By the time dinner was done, I was so ready to sit and eat that snapping a picture first didn't even occur to me. However, I did manage to get a few meatballs with sauce together for a quick shot. I continue to be amazed by the cooking blogs that take such great photos - mine are definitely an after-thought. Not to mention I just can't get the focus thing down either...

I am hoping to get some time to bake and putter in the kitchen on Friday and over the weekend. I'm really feeling the need to bake something! Or maybe I'm just feeling the need to eat something baked......hmmmm.......

Tonight's recipes:

Marinara

Beef Meatballs

First day of full time!

Man, have I been spoiled the last 12 years! That's how long it's been since I've worked full time. And even then, I didn't do it with kids, a dog and a house to take care of. I do like it, but I can tell I'll have to be a lot more organized and on top of everything. No more leisurely mornings to myself to fit in shopping, errands, working out or just nothing. Welcome to the real world, huh? Hey, at least my first week is a short one - school is closed on Friday for fall break.

Tonight will be a quick and easy dinner of Mrs. T's Pierogies with whatever else I can scrounge up to go with it. I'd like to get a head start on tomorrow's dinner - spaghetti and meatballs - by putting on a pot of my marinara tonight that would just need to be reheated tomorrow, along with making the meatballs. I love having marinara and meatballs on hand in the freezer - a great homemade meal that you cook once and can keep in the freezer for really easy meals later on.

In the future, I'd love to try to get my grocery shopping done on Sundays, but until soccer is over, that probably won't happen. I'll try to get to the store tomorrow after school since the sauce will already be made and I won't have so much to do for dinner. Guess I'd better come up with some kind of plan for the weekend too....

Tune in tomorrow for the beef meatball recipe - it's a recipe from Cooking Light that calls for baking the meatballs which is much easier than doing them in batches in the pan. Tasty too.

What's for Dinner? (10/17/05)

It's chilly and raining, so soup is on the menu again. Still don't have my appetite back, but I need to eat something and I still have all these ingredients from all the things I didn't get to make last week.

We were all too hungry for me to take too much time taking pictures (I find that the hardest part - trying to photograph dinner when it's late and we're starving). I'd love to get proper crocks for the onion soup, but I don't know that we'd use them all that often.

Overall we agreed that we liked the soup, but it wasn't fantastic. It lacked a depth of flavor. Part of that must be due to using canned beef broth. I do make my own chicken stock, but I don't often cook cuts of beef that produce a stock, so I need to find something store bought that is good for producing a richer beef broth.

I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the salad - not only is it delicious, but it's very pretty too. If you try it, I highly encourage you to try the dressing, it really makes the salad special.

Rich and Simple French Onion Soup

Mixed Greens with Goat Cheese and Candied Almonds

When it rains, it pours.

This has been one month for changes!

I currently work at my son's elementary school part time in the office. Last spring a full time position opened up as the secretary was leaving. Our principal asked me to apply for the position, but ended up passing me over in the end. I was a bit bitter about it, but I also reveled in the extra time I had with my kids this summer by not getting the job and I think everything worked out for the best in the end.

Fast forward to October.....first we finally sell our house and now the secretary who did get the position I applied for is leaving already. I start training tomorrow! It will mean working in June and August when the kids are not in school (so far I've always been off when they are off), but it will still allow me to be on their schedule for the most part - for vacations, snow days, etc. And I have the month of July off - it's still a heck of a lot more vacation time than most jobs ever have. The big downside is that I now have to take vacation on the school's schedule instead of having all summer to fit one in.

The upside is the money will lift a big financial burden with this new house. I also really need to get myself out of the house and doing something more productive. I just hope that my brain can take all of these changes and that I don't totally flake out!

Funny - when we first knew we were finally going to get this new house, I thought I might have to start running a regular "Dinner on a Dime" column. Now my focus will more likely be "Quick and Easy Dinners"! Maybe I'd better go to the library and see if they have any of Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals - I have a feeling they are going to come in very handy!

Back later with the results from dinner.......

What's that I smell?

Is someone cooking????

Yes, there is actually cooking happening in my kitchen once again. It's been 4 long days or more, but it's really happening. I'm finally feeling better. Not 100%, but at least the fever is finally gone. The odd thing about this cold and fever was that it has also greatly effected my appetite - I have had very little appetite at all. That never happens! So between feeling bad and not having any appetite, there was little hope for any kind of cooking.

Poor Mom (who left today, just as I was feeling better) was more than a tad neglected - not only did I not cook one thing for her, but I was also not a whole lot of fun to be around. We did manage to treat her to some sushi and a nice bottle of wine last night, so I feel a little bit better.

We went to see Seinfeld on Friday as planned (I took ibuprofen and whatever other drugs to get me through) and really enjoyed it - Seinfeld, not the drugs. Even the parts that weren't laugh-out-loud funny were still amusing and fun. He did have me snorting, choking and gasping for air in a few parts - especially his bit on kids. Before the concert we went to Catablu for dinner. I didn't have a huge appetite so I got an appetizer tasting plate. The best thing on it was the tempura butternut squash with a savory sauce - excellent.

I wish I could say that tonight's dinner would also bring a fabulous new recipe for me to post, but alas, we FINALLY made the Creamy Tomato-Balsamic Soup that we were supposed to have almost a week ago. I thought that a simple soup would be good for my still-sensitive stomach. I couldn't eat much, but it was very good and DH raved over it. I think the boys were lukewarm, but they liked it. To keep things really simple, I put everything in a soup pot and used my immersion blender and did not strain the soup. Although I liked it chunky, I might try it strained next time. The only other thing I did differently was to keep the juices from the tomatoes aside and add it back to the soup. We did not feel that the tomato juices diluted the flavors too much - good thing because I really hated to throw out all that thick tomato sauce.

I also wish I could say that my kitchen will continue to get busier and busier this week but there are many factors working against that happening. First, I will be working full time again for the first time in a very long time - over 11 years, actually. Second, I'm going to Chicago with a friend on Friday (woohoo!). But more on those things later.........hope everyone is having a restful Sunday.........

WDB #5

Time for WDB #5 over at Sweetnicks:

We actually have 3 dogs in the house this weekend. My mom is here for a visit and brought her two dogs along. 3 dogs is quite a bit for this little house, but the boys love it and so does Bailey. I did manage to snap a picture, but it wasn't easy.

L to R: Lilly, Daisy and Bailey

In this picture you'll also see the cranberry carpet that is not at all Bailey-friendly. Now I like the color as an accent color, but as a carpet color, it's maddening. We won't miss that carpet when we move. I'm happy to say that in the new house, all of the carpet is Bailey-colored.

Here's a picture of Bailey doing something that he isn't allowed to do very often but he sure looks comfy, doesn't he?

Kind of a karma thing...

Between not feeling well and then our phone lines going dead (which means our DSL also goes out), I wasn't sure I'd get a post in today. Fortunately the phone company came out first thing this morning and I think I'm feeling better. I say "I think" because the fever came back last night, so you just never know.

But back to the Karma/Kismet thing........Tonight we are off to see Seinfeld. It's kind of - what's the word - when something all kind of comes together and makes sense....????

Anyway we had tickets to see Seinfeld 2 years ago. This is exciting stuff in a rural Midwest town - we don't get many big names without having to drive 2-3 hours to Chicago, Indianapolis or Detroit. But Seinfeld was coming to town just a short 40 minutes away. It was not meant to be. Shortly before the concert, DH was diagnosed with colon cancer at the ripe old age of 38. He had surgery shortly before the concert, so there was no way for us to go. We ended up giving our tickets away - as a gift to a professor who took over DH's university classes for a while - but we have the sinking feeling they never went.

Now, two years later, DH has remained cancer free and Seinfeld is back in town. We didn't know if it would be a jinx to try to see him again, but I decided that it was the perfect way to celebrate his 2-year surgery anniversary (which was about a month ago). Of course DH is pointing out how I got sick, but I told him I'm still going!

Before the concert, we are meeting friends (who are also going to the concert) at a restaurant called Catablu. We have really enjoyed this place before, but have not been in a while. This area does not tend to be overwhelmed by really good restaurants. Folks around here tend to favor quantity over quality and are not all that receptive to interesting and creative cooking. Fortunately, the town we are traveling to is much larger and can support a more creative and exciting restaurant selection. We won't decide until the last minute whether we go to dinner or not. It's one thing to sit in a seat and watch Seinfeld if I'm not feeling 100%, but another thing to go out and spend money on a nice dinner that I might not enjoy.

Best of all, Grandma is babysitting - can't beat a free, sleepover babysitter! This doesn't happen all that often considering that Grandma lives 12 hours away (the other grandma is a plane ride away).

Since we won't have to rush back to get a babysitter home, we were thinking about stopping by Club Soda for a drink or two. I doubt we'll do that since I've been sick, but we'll see. We have not been impressed with their food in the past, but they have good bands and a great atmosphere - better for drinks than for dinner. And I hear tell that Harrison Ford was spotted at the bar at least once.

Back tomorrow with reviews of our evening and a dog blog. Since we're going out tonight and tomorrow night, there won't be any cooking going on until Sunday. Some cooking blog, huh?

Home Inspection

Another non-food post.........but at least it's mostly about the kitchen....

We had our home inspection today and I think things went pretty well. I took time to look over the house more thoroughly. The good news is we found that there was a gas line to the stove, so I can go shopping! I also counted nine kitchen drawers (not counting the bread-type drawers) which will triple what I have now! It also has a small pantry closet and a cabinet with pull-out drawers for my pots and pans. I was also excited about the narrow cabinet that will be perfect for storing my baking pans.


                The Breakast Nook                                      The Kitchen

If you saw my current kitchen, you'd understand my excitement. I have one of those long, deep cabinets where you have to almost crawl inside of it to reach anything. It's in this cabinet where all of my pots, pans, and bakeware is stored. It's a huge pain to get to anything and, as a result, it's a big mess most of the time because I can't deal with it. Not only will our new kitchen give us A LOT more storage, it will be much more efficient and organized.

As much as I'd love to do things like replace the cabinets and flooring with things more my style - that pickled wash on the cabinets isn't terrible, but it's not me - we'll have to live with most of it as is - we won't be able to afford to do anything major for quite a while. I'm so not loving the huge, recessed, flourescent lighting fixture - I truly DO NOT remember it spanning the whole ceiling! The 3 things we will do is replace the stove, replace those lovely seafoam green countertops, and buy 3 stools for the breakfast bar.

Feeling a bit better today, but still dragging. Hopefully I'll be posting later with some actual cooking news.

Dinner Interrupted

Having to rethink my pre-posting of what I'm going to do.......it's too confusing to come back and explain how this or that didn't get done after all.

See, DH spends most of his evening on the computer, so I tend to get in my computer time during the day. This is when I like to get my posts here done, adding a bit at the end after we've eaten. But after dinner is a hectic time, so sometimes I post and publish before dinner. Sometimes this works, but sometimes it just doesn't. The tomato soup, for a variety of reasons, just isn't going to get made this week.

How is it that I can plan my menu, make out my grocery list and yet somehow leave off critical ingredients for said menu?? I was all set to make the tomato soup last night (but found that I had purchased only one can of tomatoes. I happened to have the half and half needed, but only because I had purchased it for something else. In any case, the soup was moved to tonight's dinner. I whipped up a hasty pesto pasta and a salad in place of the soup. No big deal - everyone was happy.

So, the plan was to make the soup tonight. Wrong again. I have had a cold/cough for a few days, but now I've added a fever to the mix - I never get fevers! I'd like to blame it on my DS who also had a cough and fever a couple of weeks ago, but not sure if he's responsible or if it's all the sick kids I tend to at school. In any case, not feeling much like cooking which really stinks because a bowl of soup sounds really good right now. I suppose I could try to start The Husband Cooks Wednesdays, like Sweetnicks, right this very evening, but DH is traveling and I'm not sure when he'll be home.

I was already wondering how I was going to get the cleaning done for Mom tomorrow (busy, busy), but now I might just have to a very minimum and let it be. My Mom is totally acclimated to dust and dog hair - thank goodness it's not my MIL coming - she doesn't own any pets and doesn't like them much.

I hope to be back tomorrow night with the onion soup and salad recipe posted....even if it's Mom who ends up making it.... :-D

Oh my. I just have to mention this one last thing. I don't like posts without pictures, so I was going to look for a picture or graphic of someone who looks ill here, just for fun. So, I did a search for (warning)"pictures of a sick person"(warning) on Yahoo. Um, not THAT kind of sick person! Don't look with your kids around or if you get easily offended. Now I need to figure out how to give Yahoo a piece of my mind for not filtering that stuff out. Don't think I'll look for any more pictures - I think I'll go back to bed......

A new soup to try and menu planning.

After a night out and a night off from cooking, it's back to the kitchen. Tonight we're having grilled cheese with Cooking Light's Creamy Tomato-Balsamic Soup. This recipe caught my eye and has been receiving very good reviews from the folks over on the Cooking Light bulletin boards. I am a big fan of Cooking Light's Tomato-Basil Soup, but it's always nice to have a change of pace and a recipe that uses canned tomatoes for fall and winter. Eventually I'd like to get in the habit of keeping homemade tomato soup in the freezer as a way of having a quick meal instead of relying on Campbell's. It seems like a nice, wholesome soup until you read the label and see that it's made with corn syrup.

Photo from Cooking Light

My mom is coming for a visit starting on Thursday. The boys have said recently that they would like to try French Onion Soup - I was so excited! I think I'll try to scare up a good recipe for that and serve it with one of my favorite salads - Mixed Greens with Goat Cheese and Candied Almonds.

Friday night we'll be going out to see Jerry Seinfeld! I'm so excited! I offered to try to get a ticket for my mom, but she chose to be our babysitter instead. Can't pass that up. So she'll be on her own for Friday - she'll probably order pizza with the boys.

Not sure about Saturday. We'd like to take her out for sushi - she loves it and doesn't get it all that often where she lives. Sunday I'd like to do something with a pork loin. Not sure what yet.

Stay tuned for recipes and a review of tonight's soup!

Recipes to Share (10/10/05)

I am going out tonight to a local Mexican restaurant to say farewell to a friend who is moving to Buffalo, NY, so there will be no cooking tonight. I didn't really even have time for baking or candied apples because I joined my friends for coffee this morning, then work, and after work, I took take my boys shopping for clothes - they are almost out of pants that fit properly.

Since I like to post every day, I try to fill the days I don't cook with other little tidbits and I thought a nice way to fill the void would be to post a few of my favorite recipes. They will not have pictures (unless I can borrow them from another site), but it will help begin to fill my recipe pages with some goodies and hopefully make this site a little more interesting.

These recipes will be tried and true, pulled from my Favorite Recipes cookbook in my Mastercook files. Seems only fair to make them seasonal as well. This time, the category will be fall fruits.

Cinnamon Apple Cake from Cooking Light

Cinnamon Apple Cake

Cranberry Scones

Maple-Walnut Apple Crisp

Pear, Leak and Gruyere Turnovers

Winter Fruit Salad with Lemon-Poppyseed Dressing

That's all for today! Looking forward to some yummy, fattening Mexican food.....

It's a beautiful day...

...but I'm feeling not-so-beautiful. I was up most of the night - partly my mind in a whirl and partly my stomach. I don't know what caused my stomach to act up - maybe the brownies - but I do know what has my mind racing....

This past April, we put our house on the market in an effort to upgrade to a bigger home across town. After 6 months on the market, we had finally resigned ourselves to staying in our small home (it's about 1800 square feet) as our contract expired at the end of this month and we did not want to keep it on the market over the holidays. Just when it looked hopeless, we got a showing, a second showing and an offer all within two days! So, we are now set to close on our new home on November 25th (not the best timing, but we can make it work)! Now my mind is whirling with all we will need to get done between now and then, what we need to buy for the new home, etc. It will be a hectic month and a half, no doubt.

Here's a view of the new house from the golf course. Our property ends over near the basketball court and spruce, so not all of that is our yard. I'll post more on the house later. It's double the size of our present house, but there are some things that will be an adjustment - like no fireplace and finding out if I can hook up a gas range. Please, please, please I hope so! Don't make me go electric! The kitchen is not exactly my style, but it's not bad. And it will have to stay "not bad" because we won't have the money to re-do it with our new, bigger mortgage.

Today we are grilling out steaks and making a grilled veggie-pasta salad as the side. I was originally planning to only do the pasta salad - I like to try to eat vegetarian at least once a week and preferably more. With the move, however, we'd like to use up as much meat in the freezer as possible, so we may be eating a bit more meat than we normally do. It's only across town, but there are still the logistics of moving our freezer, getting it cold, storing the meat in the interim, etc. Whew - makes me tired just thinking about it.

The salad we are making is a combination of two Cooking Light recipes that we really enjoy. Part Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad with Grilled Chicken and part Summer Vegetable Salad with Grilled Bread. When I want to do this salad as a vegetarian main dish, I use grilled vegetables, pasta, beans, and feta or goat cheese. This makes for a very substantial salad. We always grill the vegetables, no matter which salad we make. It seems silly to roast the vegetables if you're going to grill the chicken, doesn't it? Besides, I think that grilled vegetables are soooo much tastier than roasted. Still, it's nice to have the roasting option for winter when it might be too cold to grill - you could roast the vegetables and do the chicken on the stovetop. My favorite vegetables for either of these salads are bell peppers (red, yellow and/or orange), mushrooms, asparagus, red onion and sometimes green and/or yellow squash. I also often add cherry tomatoes - usually raw as the boys don't like them grilled - but I forgot them this time.

I would have liked to have done a little baking, but it's no fun to bake and not have the appetite to sample. Another day......

My Favorite Gadgets

Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets. I love gadgets!

Here are some of my favorites:

1. The Microplane Zester. I love this for zesting, for grating fresh nutmeg and for grating ginger.



2. Silicone Brushes. No more stray hair and no more melting my brush as I spread oil in my pan! They don't have quite as delicate a touch as a regular pastry brush, but I love 'em.

3. It's a thing of beauty.... my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. No more tired arms from stirring cookie dough. Making bread or pizza dough is so much easier with the dough hook. Love it!

4. Economical and fun....my FoodSaver. I use this to freeze meat when it's on sale and to re-package cheeses. It keeps things so much fresher than using a baggy.

5. Summertime fun with the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. I have made yummy ice cream and sorbet in this machine. I'll have to post some recipes some time.....yum.

6. Nothing sticks to Silpats. I use them all the time for baking cookies, but I'd like to get the larger Rollpat for making pie or bread dough. Worth every penny!

7. A kitchen scale can take the guesswork out of figuring out how many apples out of a 5-pound bag will equal 3 pounds. Just today I needed to know how much would 3 ounces of chocolate chips from a 32-ounce bag be? No problem! I just got out my Soehnle Vera Kitchen Scale and weighed the chips. Easy!



8. I didn't think I'd use the Cuisinart Hand Blender that my mom got me one Christmas, but I was wrong. No more trying to pour hot soup or marinara sauce into a blender to puree - not only is that easier and safer, but it also creates less mess. Although the cordless kind seems easier, I chose the corded since I don't seem to have much luck with rechargeable appliances - the batteries seem to die on me.

9. It's apple season...how could I forget this gadget? The Apple Peeler, Corer, Slicer! My son's second grade teacher made apple pies with the kids one day while I was in helping in the classroom. She had one of these gadgets and I helped the kids get all the apples peeled, cored and sliced. I was hooked and immediately went to get one of my own. Not only does is it a snap to whip up an apple pie or any other goodies that require a lot of apples, but it's a great tool for the kids to safely prepare their own apples for snacking.




10. My magnetic knife rack. We don't have a lot of counter space and even if we did, I hate knife blocks - they aren't generally attractive, gather dust and are hard to keep clean Drawer space is also at a premium, so my wall-mounted magnetic knife rack solves all of those problems.



This next tool is not really a cooking tool, but it IS a handy kitchen gadget. The Bagel Biter. It's a quick and safe way to slice bagels. Quick and safe is very nice when you're slicing through 18 bagels at a time (our bagel source is not nearby, so I have to stock up).

I'll keep adding as I think of more.............

Apples, Brownies and a Salad.

Finally some time to play in the kitchen.

It's perfect weather for baking now. Most of the day it was cloudy and barely 50º. A bit chillier than I would like considering various sports are still going on, but great for baking and heating up the kitchen.

The Apples: We simply melted caramels from a package for these. Not only am I candy-phobic (a fear and a jinx that I do hope to overcome some day), but using caramels from a package and melting them in a microwave meant that DS could do it almost completely be himself. The boys decided on sprinkles for their apples and DH and I chose a drizzle of bittersweet chocolate. We don't quite have the technique down - most of the caramel ran off. I tried to dip them again, but that made the caramel come off even more. Not sure how to correct that - will have to do some research. I also hope to master caramel some day - I'd much prefer a caramel made with butter rather than one made with partially hydrogenated soy oil. Yuck.


The Brownies: For my next attempt at the perfect brownie, I went back to an old recipe that I thought was pretty good. I took Cook's Illustrated's Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies and tweaked it a little. When I first made them as written, I felt they had a good texture, but were not chocolatey enough. The next time, I added 1 ounce of chocolate, along with 1 tablespoon of butter - not huge changes because I wanted to get the right flavor by adding as little fat as was absolutely necessary. This produced a better-tasting brownie, but it still wasn't quite there. With today's attempt, I added the 1 ounce of bittersweet chocolate and 1 additional tablespoon of cocoa, but I skipped the added butter. Not only would I like to keep the fat down, but it's simply convenient to use one stick of butter. Update: It is the next day and I like these brownies even better. They have a very nice chocolate flavor, are a little fudgy in the center but a bit chewy on the edges and they cut easily, holding together very well. I have had very little luck with brownies holding together well, so I am very pleased. Ideally I'd like a slightly chewier brownie, but this recipe is a winner. I may play around with using more unsweetened chocolate versus bittersweet and increase the sugar to see if I can get a chewier brownie. Stay tuned!

The Salad: Over the summer we became quite fond of grilled chicken salads. As soon as the weather turns a bit warm, we gravitate toward the grill. Grilled chicken salads are healthy, easy and very versatile, not to mention tasty. One of our favorites is a Mexican Chicken Salad. I don't really have a recipe, just a list of ingredients. Along with the grilled chicken and obligatory greens, we add black beans, grilled corn, red bell pepper, shredded cheese, avocado, scallions (or red onion) and crushed tortilla chips. I put the avocado, cheese and tortilla chips on the side, since they don't tend to fare well for very long if we have leftovers. For the dressing, I mixed together salsa, ranch dressing, a bit of lime juice and a pinch of ground chipotle powder. Running this mixture through the blender will produce a nice, more evenly textured dressing, which I prefer to a chunky dressing. That's it! You may notice in the picture that the greens look like spinach. It is spinach. I prefer Romaine lettuce for this salad, but apparently I forgot to get some at the store, so spinach it was.

That's it for today. I hope to get more baking accomplished tomorrow and perhaps some candied apples too.

WDB #4 - Dog Blog!

It is once again time for the WDB over at Sweetnicks. She will have the round-up posted sometime Sunday evening, so stay tuned.

My picture this week is of what OFTEN happens when you try to catch Bailey doing something cute or funny...............

Curiousity may have killed the cat, but it's no stranger to dogs!

Cute story of the week. Bailey is trained to go out the front door and retrieve our morning paper. During the week, he's lucky enough to have an evening paper to retrieve as well - double prizes. The other day, DH was thoughtless enough to bring in the evening paper himself, so there was no second paper for Bailey to retrieve that evening. But he knew it was time and he wanted to get that paper, darn it (and, subsequently his treat, no doubt the true motivation). As he's sitting outside watching DS ride his bike, he suddenly sprints off to the neighbor's yard, proudly returning with THEIR paper. I couldn't help myself, I had to give him a treat. But we did return the paper.

The Treasures Behind the Truck Stop

Since we are going out tomorrow night and we will be busy, I am going to cheat and pre-post. When I have free time, I like to write up posts that I can save for days when I'm not cooking or am too busy to post and tomorrow seemed like the perfect day to put this particular post to use. My mom is coming for a visit next week, so I'll be putting in orders from Wade's Mill and maybe some wine....

I suppose this could be considered a shamless plug, but it is food-related and in any case, it's near and dear to my heart.

My parents live in a small town called Raphine, VA.. If you drove past it on Interestate 81, all you see is a large truckstop. One might never guess that there are a few foodie and wine gems, just off that tacky little strip, back in the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley . But if you get off the highway....

As you wind through the beautiful countryside on Route 606, the first gem you would come upon is Rockbridge Vineyard. This little winery has some great finds. We particularly loved what used to be called their Cabernet, but is now called Heritage (it's technically a blend and they were told they could not call it a Cabernet). The older vintages are particularly good, but we like the Heritage as well. It's been a long time since we've tasted their wines, so we plan to do a complete tasting when we visit my parents over Christmas.


Continuing on Route 606, the next stop would be Wade's Mill. This mill still grinds flour the old-fashioned way, using mill stones powered by water wheel. It is owned by a Jim and Georgie Young - Jim is the miller while Georgie (the Georgie of Georgie's Pesto), his wife, offers dinners, luncheons and cooking classes. They also have an ever-expanding kitchen shop with great cookware, untensils, and much more. My mother helps out occassionally with their food events and often sends me little goodies from the Mill. One of our very favorites is the Buckwheat Pancake Mix - I will never eat a plain old pancakes again! And for you dog-lovers out there, they used to have a dog named, appropriately, Barley.

Right next to the mill is the simply gorgeous Buffalo Springs Herb Farm which has been beautifully restored by Don Haynie and Tom Hamlin. I like to go there just to see the lovely gardens, but they have much more to offer.

Visiting my parents is always a peaceful and serene experience. They live far enough out in the country that generally the only noises you hear are cows and wild turkeys. There have even been occasional bear sightings. However, my mom has convinced me to bring our dog Bailey on our 12-hour drive this Christmas, so I'm not sure how peaceful and serene getting there will be!

What's for dinner? (10/06/05)

Whew - I'm feeling a bit stressed today. I spent all morning cleaning up for our afternoon showing today, then had a bit of a crazy day at work. I came home to relax a bit and realized that I needed to finish up an online course and that the last day to complete it is tomorrow.

While I was finishing up my classes and preparing for the exam (an easy exam, but an exam nonetheless), we got a call that the folks who looked at our house today want to look at it again tomorrow afternoon. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but I am leaving before 8 in the morning to go on a field trip with my youngest. DH will take care of everything just fine and the cleaning is really done since we had a showing today, but there are still beds to be made, etc. I'd just rather be here and be in control!

I'd love it if it would all be over after we get home from the field trip, but we have another showing scheduled tomorrow! The other showing is at 6:30. We'll be dropping the kids at the YMCA for Parent's Night Out at 6. It's too bad that we'll be spending the first hour of our alone time together fussing with a showing, but the night out lasts until 10 p.m., so we have plenty of time to fit in dinner out somewhere. I'll SOOO ready to be waited on and to drink a big old glass of red wine (or two)! I'm counting the hours until then......

I'm sad that I haven't had time to bake or play in the kitchen - the weather really cooled off today and that always triggers a baking response in me. However, baking just dirties up too many things (I'm very messy when it comes to flour) when you're trying to keep the house really neat for showing and makes cooking stressful, so I haven't been doing much this week. But just wait until Saturday - as long as no one calls for a showing! I might have to say no even if they do.....

Here's the plan for tonight. I haven't had time to come up with any sides and it's too late to do brown rice, so I'll just have to wing it:

Photo Courtesy of Cooking Light

Honey-Ginger Glazed Salmon with Arugula Salad
Source: Cooking Light, October 2005

If sage honey isn't available, substitute alfalfa or another light-colored, mild honey. For bolder flavor, try a dark honey, such as gallberry.

2/3 cup sage honey
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, divided
2 tablespoons warm water (100° to 110°)
1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
4 (6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets (1 inch thick)
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups trimmed arugula

Preheat oven to 350°.Combine honey, 2 tablespoons juice, water, ginger, and garlic in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Pour honey mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; arrange fish in pan, skinned side up. Let stand 20 minutes. Turn fish over; sprinkle fish with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake at 350° for 7 minutes. Remove from oven.

Preheat broiler.

Brush fish with honey mixture; broil 7 minutes or until fish is browned and flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons juice, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, oil, and pepper in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Add arugula; toss gently to coat. Serve salad with fish.

Wine note: Honey intensifies the rich meatiness of salmon in this dish, which requires a clean, crisp wine. I love Havens Albariño 2004 from Napa Valley, California ($24). (Albariño is a Spanish white grape.) -Karen MacNeil

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 fillet and about 1/2 cup salad)

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 396(38% from fat); FAT 16.6g (sat 3.6g,mono 8.2g,poly 3.6g); PROTEIN 36.9g; CHOLESTEROL 87mg; CALCIUM 56mg; SODIUM 378mg; FIBER 0.5g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 25g

Marcia Whyte Smart Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2005

My notes: This dish was quite good. I really got all the great flavors on my first bite, but had a problem tasting after that - I probably just needed to drizzle on more sauce. The sauce glazes the salmon when you broil it, but it also gets thick and syrupy after it's been out of the oven and has cooled down a bit - perfect for drizzling. It didn't knock my socks off, but it was very easy to put together and quite good.

I ended up serving it with some leftover whole wheat couscous and a broccoli slaw salad with cashews.

Pesto

Unfortunately I don't have much time to post tonight.....I got a call late this afternoon that they want to show our house tomorrow between 12 noon and 1:00. I'd like to say that my house is neat and tidy and ready to go, but, uh, well, no.

Tonight's plan is to do a quick and easy pasta dish with a whole wheat blend spaghetti and some homemade pesto that I have in the freezer. I make my pesto with very little oil so that I can use it for various things - such as a spread for crackers. By adding some broth, oil or half and half (or a combo of any), I can turn the pesto into a sauce for pasta or pizza. We'll have a salad to go with it.

I freeze basil in small portions to use as needed. The basil does get a little brownish, but you can brighten it up very easily by taking it for a whirl in the food processor with a little fresh spinach. Or, use a lot of fresh spinach if you want to turn it into a lighter, healthier pesto. I use a spinach-enhanced version of pesto on salmon for a recipe that I will post later when I have more time. Until then.....

Here is the recipe that I use. It calls for a very large amount of oil - I probably only add a tablespoon or two - just until it starts to come together. I call it Georgie's Pesto - I got the recipe from a friend of my mom's.

Photo Courtesy of Cooking Light

Georgie's Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves
4 large cloves garlic
1 cup nuts (pecans, walnuts or pine nuts) (I've tried all 3 nuts and personally prefer pine nuts)
1 cup olive oil
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until all ingredients are well-combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.