dining well

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” 

― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

photo 4: candy cane

Have you ever eaten these? They're delicious. The only place I can consistently find them is Cracker Barrel (and I don't make it there often,) but I have seen them in other places.

Find the original post of this series here.

photo 3: a cup of cheer

In this particular case, that cup of cheer is filled with gingerbread coffee.  Mmm.

See the original post here.

carrot fail

Guess carrots aren't my forte. Might need to try again.  They did mature fully and they're a good color, but clearly there's something lacking....

Perhaps I'll try again. Fewer seeds.  And I'll need to do more research (my specialty) to figure out what happened.

passion tea lemonade in a new cup

While on pinterest (a favorite recreational activity of mine), I stumbled across a pin linked to this blog post.  After a quick glance, I realized I had to try to make Passion Tea Lemonade.  Can you imagine a better drink to start summer?  (Well, maybe sweet tea....but this is still pretty high up there.)

I modified her technique a bit.  I used three teabags in the pitcher instead of the whole box, and I left the tea bags in my pitcher while it cooled in the fridge. More time to steep!  My tea was a bit weaker, but still tasty.

When I added the ingredients, I mostly eyeballed it. Ice, two thirds passion tea, one third lemonade.

Boy! was it good!

I'm sure you're all wondering (not really), but that's a new cup!  Hubby and I have been to a few baseball games already this year, and last week they happened to be having a sale on this particular cup.  I'm sure you can all guess how much I love things that are on sale. I had to have it.

It's the perfect size for a tasty summer drink!

DRP

On Monday, hubby and I decided to try a new restaurant. We trekked out to a new neighborhood that we hadn't visited very often and picked a place that looked good.  Happy coincidence! We stumbled upon a pizzeria that had delicious pizza and a claim to fame: Obama has picked up pizza there before.  It's called Del Ray Pizzeria.

We ordered the "barack my world" pizza (yes, that's a thing) and watched the preview to hockey games that evening and had a positively lovely time.

Doesn't it look tasty?  We ate two thirds of the pizza and took the rest home for one of us to have for lunch the next day.  Win all around.

carrot update!

 

They're doing so well! Don't you think?  A few more of the seeds germinated than I expected, so the bottle is going to be a bit crowded, I believe. But, oh well.  It's only the first attempt.

 

(In case you missed it, here's the original post on the carrots.)

on liquids

I'm sure you're all dyyyying to know if we survived our soda-free clean drinking challenge.  The mister and I decided to go TEN days drinking only coffee, water, milk, tea, and natural fruit juice.  if we had alcohol, it was supposed to be cider or red wine.

(I originally got the idea from this post, but I loosened up the rules a bit.)

Well, I'm happy to say we wrapped up our ten days on Sunday, and we survived.  Why is this such a big deal, you ask?  As I mentioned before, I've had a Diet Coke almost every day since I was 17.  Whoa. There have been short breaks when travelling or if I have had a crazy amount of coffee or when I feel like my insides are turning brown from all the soda, but other than that, not many exceptions.

For a couple of days in our "challenge," I definitely wanted to run to the store or the nearest McDonald's and get a giant Diet Coke. Not many things can satisfy that craving for bubbles, caffeine, and artificial sweetener. But, I survived.  I had to talk myself down, but I survived. Hurrah!

Unfortunately, we did not quite make the cider and red wine only goal.  Husband and I went to the soft open of a restaurant during the 10 days, and they asked us to try a cocktail or two to give the new bar staff some practice.  Oops!  Oh, well.  And there was a baseball game or two in there...

But I'm very proud of neither of us having soda or those "fruit" drinks.  (You know the ones I mean.  The ones you think might be awesome, but then you read the ingredients and the first two are water and high fructose corn syrup? Yeah, those.)

All things considered, I'm counting this one a victory! 

in pursuit of health

We have decided!  And it is a big decision!  Husband and I are going to go 10 days without soda and other less-than-ideal drinks.

Let's take a moment to let that sink in.

I, the Diet Coke Queen, who has had a diet coke almost every day since her senior year of high school, is going to give it up for ten days. TEN days.  TEN DAYS.

via

And, not only that, but when I have that craving for anything fizzy, it's not allowed. This is going to be...super exciting.

Drinks I'm allowing myself to have:
1. Coffee
2. Tea
3. Milk
4. Water
5. Actual, natural fruit juice

If I'm going to indulge in an adult beverage, it must be:
1. of the cider variety, or
2. of the red wine variety.

(The glaring exception here is at baseball games.  It would be just plain silly to sit in the bleachers of a baseball game with red wine. Hilarious, even.  Only allowed drinks at games are water and very limited beer.)

If my mother reads this, she might gasp that I'm posting something that mentions alcohol.  But, since I decided to share our mini-fast with you guys, I figured I would at least be honest with the few of you that actually read this.

Where did I get this crazy idea, you ask?

I've always been interested in food (mainly the eating of it), but in the last couple of years my interest has expanded to a little cooking and a little research on what food does to the body.  If I'm going to start changing some eating habits, I have to start somewhere, and I figured a baby step (cutting out my daily fix) would be a good place to start.

There are some people out there who jump into things with both feet, but I'm just not one of those people.  Seriously, even getting in the pool in the summer I have to ease myself in rather than cannonball or dive-bomb.

In light of that, I figured we would start with the easiest step: cutting out non-awesome liquids.

Our ten days starts TODAY.

I'm already craving a Diet Coke just looking at that picture.

Here goes nothing.

carrots!

Now, you will probably all think I'm silly because of this post, but I don't mind.  I wanted to try an experiment, so I did.  The mister found it difficult to hide his mild contempt at my eccentricity, but he did a splendid job, and I expect you all to appreciate my experiement, as well.

 

It all started when I found this post on Pinterest, which led me to this blog post.

 

Do you see why I was interested?

 

I'm sure many of you know that, at the moment, we live in a teensy studio apartment and space is limited.  My only room for a "garden" is on one particular windowsill in our little 2'x4' "kitchen." Exciting!

 

So, what's a girl to do when she wants to garden but doesn't have space?!  She does it anyway!

 

I followed the ideas/directions in the post, in my own way.  I  picked up a bottle of soda on sale, shared it with the hubby for a few days, chopped off the top with some scissors (yes), left the label on to protect the dirt from too  much sun, and planted carrots! Yes, carrots!

 

Here's what they looked like last week when I was feeling snap-happy with my camera:

 

 

Aren't they cute?! They've germinated and everything!

 

Since then, the little tops are bigger than ever and even have real leaves.  They're 68-day-cycle carrots, so I can't "harvest" for a while, but it's a fun little project/experiment.

 

I threatened to line the other windowsill with bottles of carrots, but that suggestion was vetoed. Guess bigger harvests of veggies will have to continue to wait until I have an actual garden.  C'est la vie. One bottle at a time.

 

Happy Monday!

Sunday prep

I have a secret to share with you: my mother dislikes cooking.

I, on the other hand, love it.  The main problem is the dirty dishes after you've made something tasty.  If I had a magical dish fairy to do all my dishes and a bigger kitchen to cook in, I would cook soooo much more often and try so many new recipes!

There are, however, several things that I learned from my mother about life in the kitchen.  One of those is to get as much done on Sunday afternoons as possible.  Now, I don't always do this.  In fact, I usually don't -- our household of two doesn't usually require it.  Usually, we get our veggie delivery farmshare thing on Thursday mornings, so most of my cooking gets done the Tuesday or Wednesday before (to use all the stuff that's left) and the prep gets done gradually.

However, this week I saw a few blog posts and things on pinterest about doing lots of prep on Sundays and thought I would give it a go.

How do you think I did?  I made freeze-ahead breakfast burritos (not shown here -- they're in the freezer), cut all my veggies, cooked some of the baby zucchini, and made my own hummus for the first time!

Feeling rather accomplished.

P.S. In the background, you can see the other fruits of my labor -- some of the dishes I used in the process. (Also, you're looking at about half of my kitchen in this photo. Yes, it's that small.)

preparing for thanksgiving

Since we live in a small apartment, cooking and preparing for the holidays is a little different. Because I also like lists, I thought I might write down a list of things I'm attempting to keep in mind and learn myself, in the hopes that you can share in my adventures.

1.  Don't get overwhelmed.  The apartment is small, the kitchen is two feet wide (literally), there are books everywhere (sorry I'm not sorry), food to cook, spaces to try and decorate, and cleaning to get done. It's alright. Breathe. It'll be okay.

2.  Do something fun or relaxing every day. In between the preparing for holidays, it's nice to do something just for yourself or just with your significant other or family that is relaxing and fun.

3. Start with a clean workspace. I don't enjoy doing this. I don't particularly like handwashing all the dishes, cleaning the bathroom, washing the rugs, hanging all the darn laundry in the teensy closet, and changing the sheets, etc., but holidays, cooking, and life are all made easier if your workspace is reasonably tidy when you start.  Expecially the kitchen.  If you're cooking, starting with a clean space is sooooo much easier.  And there are less gross germs that way. Ew.

4.  Make lists. Or set calendar reminders. Or make a diagram. Or set a million alarm clocks, one for each task. Whatever you do, organize yourself for a plan of attack.  I'm currently in the process of finishing choosing recipes and sending the husband out for the last of the ingredients -- he has the days off (I don't) and it transfers things from my to-do list to his, which is occassionally helpful.  Whatever cooking you're doing, have a plan.

5.  Eat food. Seems silly, no?  But while you're doing all that cooking and cleaning and organizing, eat some food.  Don't forget to eat just because you're standing over the stove all day.  And no, cookies don't count as a meal. 

A short list, but I have to start somewhere.  This is my first Thanksgiving without the large extended family, so the cooking and cleaning are divided between just the hubby and I this year.  The good news? I can use all the butter I want and I'll have food to last me for ever.  The bad news? Making Thanksgiving food for two is actually pretty difficult.  Everyone creates recipes for 10 or 20 or 592 instead of just for two. Oh well. Guess we'll just have to eat it all!

acorn squash

Have you ever eaten acorn squash?  I hadn't, until Tuesday evening.




photo via

 Last night, our Wednesday night group had a Thanksgiving potluck.  Boy, was the food delicious.  Most of the food was provided, and attendees were asked to bring desserts.  I broke the rules a little and opted to bring a side dish. (I was out of apples for a pie!)

Looking around my teensy apartment, I wondered what would be the best thing to bring.

Aha! Acorn squash!

How daunting.  I had never cooked acorn squash in my life.  Not to worry.  When I'm short on ideas, the Pioneer Woman always comes through with a delicious recipe.

I was so excited while cooking that I forgot to take pictures, so I apologize.  I will say, though, that mine turned out as beautiful as Ree Drummond's (Pioneer Woman), except that I went ahead and spooned them out of their skin and into a square dish after they were all finished cooking.  The result was delicious, sweet acorn squash that looked like golden brown mashed potatoes. 

It disappeared at the pot luck in the first 20 minutes!

I don't know how much of that was true enthusiasm and how much was mistaking my squash for sweet potatoes, but whatever the reason, I'm glad it was eaten.

Now to sort out how to use my pie pumpkin and spaghetti squash.  Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures next time.

eggs



image via

 Check out this new bit of research from the folks at Mother Earth News about the value of free range chicken eggs. 

"Our previous tests found that eggs from hens raised on pasture — as compared to the official USDA data for factory-farm eggs — contain:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• Two times more omega-3 fatty acids
• Three times more vitamin E
• Seven times more beta carotene"

If those are not several good reasons to buy free range eggs from a local farm, then I don't know what is!

stir fry!

The other day I made my first stir fry at home!  Seems like a small accomplishment, but since I'm not a terribly experienced cook, many things are an accomplishment that might not be to others.

However, perhaps you're in the same boat as I am and never tried this before.

Well, I don't have any pictures of the process to share (got too excited), but perhaps I can share the summary version here and a more detailed recipe/method later when I can talk the mister into taking pictures.

1.  Gather all the veggies and meat you want.  Just about anything goes.  I used whatever I had in the fridge with our farmshare veggies.  I had carrots, green bell peppers, little onions that I chopped up, chicken, big spinach leaves, and bok choy.

2.  Cut up all your veggies into bite sized pieces.  For the big leaves like spinach and bok choy, cut those up too, but set them aside.  They go into the skillet or wok last.

3.  Heat up some sesame oil in your pan.  If you happen to have fresh ginger or fresh garlic (I didn't), the earlier you add it, the better.  You don't want to burn it.  Add the veggies (minus the leaf-y things).

4.  Stir around a bit until everything looks sizzling and partially cooked.  Cover with a lid for a few minutes.  Maybe 2-3 minutes.  Add the chicken before you cover if you're using any.  We did.

5.  If you need to, add a little water.  I didn't need to, but it could be nice to steam the veggies a little.  Add the leaves and cover the skillet or wok again.  You only want to cook these until the leaves wilt.  Don't cook too long or everything will be soggy and unappetizing.

6.  When the leaves are wilted, take it off the burner.  Add some soy sauce.  Add some organic peanut butter (it's more runny than the commercial stuff and works as a make shift peanut sauce).  Add a little honey for some sweetness. Season with these things to taste.  Stir to mix.

7.  Serve warm over pasta or rice.

Voila!

Easy enough, right?

Right. I thought so.

Turned out to be a hit with the husband, although we have differing levels of comfort with the amounts of soy sauce that should be added. Ah, well.  I added a little more to mine after it was on my plate!

kale chips

Okay. I know, I know.  Chips made of veggies? Sounds crazy, right?  I think they're absolutely delicious. Salty, crunchy, and actually pretty good for you. The hubby gave a resounding "NO" to them, but he tends to dislike vegetables attempting to be other foods, anyway.  He likes all other veggies, just not veggies trying to be things like chips. I, however, devoured them. 

I found a great video to use, but I lost the link (I'm sorry) so I'll have to give you my pictures, instead.

(Preheat oven to 300 degrees)
1.  Wash and pat dry the kale leaves.
2. Remove leaves from the stem. (You can actually leave the stem on, but it's harder to eat and I just decided to save mine for when I make stock.)

3.  Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces and put all the pieces into a large bowl.

4.  Drizzle in a little olive oil (don't need much -- just enough to give a light coating) and a little sea salt (you need less than you think, trust me).   Toss with your hands!



5.  Spread out all the leaves onto a baking sheet, preferably one lined with parchment paper or an equivalent.

6.  Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes or until crispy! Voila!

muffins!

The other day, I noticed I (and we) didn't have enough breakfast food.  Mostly, I notice this in the mornings, obviously.

But! This weekend I took a look at my food, looked at the leftover apples, realized the need for breakfast food, and set out to make a batch of apple cinnamon muffins.

Aren't they pretty?  I used this recipe, but instead of use 2 cups of apples, I used two whole (and good sized) apples.  They don't rise and expand as much, but I got several smaller muffins out of the batch and the apples made them very moist and delicious.

bread!

The first bread I've ever made by myself!

The bread is on the small side, and I used whole wheat flour in a recipe meant to white flour, so it didn't turn out quite perfect.  It ended up being too hard after only a couple of days. Oops!

Although the hubby loved this bread while it was around -- and I'm quite proud of it -- I'm not ready to share the recipe until I find one that works more perfectly.  Just thought I would share my triumph!

egg noodles

Alright, so my first attempt at making egg noodles only went so-so.  The noodles turned out very edible and I used them in soup, but they were a little too thick for my liking.  C'est la vie.  Lesson learned.  Next time, I'll roll them thinner. Mind ended up kinda like chunky noodles.

To make them, I started with this recipe.  However, the dough ended up a little too dry and leaving it for too long in the fridge made it unusable.  I started a new batch and did it my own way!

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 tsp of salt
flour (however much you need)

Directions:
1. Put the two eggs into a medium or small bowl and beat with a fork like you would for scrambled eggs.

2. Add in the salt and mix again.

3.  Continue mixing with your fork and add in flour a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together.  When using a fork isn't practical, use your hands and knead in enough flour to make the dough not sticky.

4.  Cover and throw in the fridge for half an hour or an hour or so.

5.  On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough (half of the dough at a time!) to the desired thickness.  I did mine a little thicker and ended up wishing I had made them much more thin.  Rotate the dough when you need to and make sure it doesn't stick.  It's awfully hard to pull stuck noodles off!

6.  Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut your noodles!  Leave them out while you get that soup started.

chicken stock in the crockpot

A couple of weeks ago, I made stock for the very first time.  I had no idea it was so easy!  I did some recipe comparisons, mostly of this one and this one, and decided to try it for myself. Since I was going to be simmering the stock while I was at work, I went with the crockpot. I've done it a few times since, and I generally stick to this recipe. It tastes great, and it's full of vitamins (and not grease or sodium).

Ingredients:
1 chicken's worth of the leftover bits and bones (I made chicken the night before using a whole chicken, and used the leftover non-edible extras here.)
Carrots (I used a couple of organic carrots, cut into chunks)
Celery (same here...a few stalks cut into chunks)
Leftover veggies -- you don't have to add these. When I'm cutting up veggies for another meal and have leftover pieces like the tops of tomatoes or the leaves of celery or ends of cucumbers, I save them in a baggy in the freezer to use in stock. More vitamins!
Vinegar -- I used apple cider vinegar, but you don't have to

Directions:
1.  Put the chicken bits and bones into the crockpot.
2.  Fill crockpot with at least 4 quarts of cold, filtered water.  Add one or two tablespoons of vinegar.  I think I added one tablespoon, and I just fill up the crockpot with cold water.
3.  Let sit for an hour or two. I used the time to pick up the kitchen and cut up the veggies.
4.  Add veggies and turn crockpot on high for a little while.  I did this for about an hour before I went to bed.
5.  Turn crockpot down to low and let simmer for 18-24 hours.
6. You're done! Pour through a colander into a container (like a large bowl or pitcher), then pour into your final jars/containers.  I pour mine slowly into pint sized jars, let them cool, then put them in the freezer. I pull a jar or two out and put them in the fridge a day or two before I know I'll be making a big meal and using stock.

This is the richest stock I think I have ever tasted, and I didn't add any salt, so it's not at all sodium-packed like the stock you can buy at the store.  I generally end up with five or so pints of stock, but don't freak out if you don't. I don't use exact measurements for the water; I just fill it.

One more note: If you're putting stock in jars, make sure to fill them slowly.  Glass breaks if you change the temperature too quickly, and you'll be so sad if a jar breaks! I've broken one or two already, and it's very disappointing to lose both the jar and the stock in it.

(Sorry there aren't any pictures! I got so excited about making it that I forgot to photograph!)