Eggs X3

Because of my newly-rediscovered love of spring, because of the extra-low prices on cartons of eggs, because of the goodness of my 3 boys, who just wanted to dye eggs this Easter, well all of these things are to blame for my most recent predicament.

I’m drowning in hard boiled eggs.

Oven Fried Chicken

Um?  What can I say?  If you’re looking for a recipe calling for butter and white flour, a serve-it-with-mashed-potatoes-and-soak-it-all-in-gravy dinner that’s the epitome of comfort food (and it’s easy to make, too), then this is for you!

Just, yum!

If you were to stop by my house today, you might think I’ve lost my mind. You’d wonder about this because of the state of my kitchen, which looks like it exploded.

It all started with my friend Phyllis and her giant chest freezer. In it, she had a big hunk of meat neatly wrapped in white butcher paper. All she knew about it was that it was beef, and that she’d grown tired of lifting it from one side of the freezer to the other, back and forth, as she reached for other, smaller items, like a chicken or a bag of tater tots. “It might be chuck,” she said with a shrug.

I got it home and unwrapped it to find a beautiful standing rib roast. Which I thawed, and cooked, and we all ate a big meal at the dining room table, as if it were already Christmas.

And now today, the real work began. I cubed the leftover meat and put it in the crockpot with ingredients for chili. Then, I roasted the bones and put them in a pot for soup. And, because I am completely, crazily adverse to wasting even the tiniest bit of food, when the soup was done I gave the bones to Bailey.

While all this was going on, I decided, Why not roast the huge squash, too? And its seeds? And while I’m at it, Why not begin a little holiday baking?

So I did. All of it. The only good thing about this craziness is that I can wrap and freeze the food I made today, and some distant night in the future, when I’m too tired to even think about what to make for supper, I can pull out a meal and by then, I will have (mostly) forgotten about the hard work, and it will almost feel as if dinner were made by magic little freezer elves.

The best success of the day was the holiday baking. I tried a recipe for raspberry chocolate bars that I adapted from Kraft Foods (mine has less sugar, more nuts and more chocolate). I used a jar of jam that Avery and I had made last summer and just like always, the memories made me smile (I think they’re what make the jam taste so good.)

Raspberry Chocolate Bars

1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup flake coconut
1 cup chopped almonds
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 jar (12 oz.) raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Cut in butter, work until batter resembles coarse crumbs. Add oats, coconut, almonds and mix lightly.

Press half of the crumbs into a greased 9×13 pan. Sprinkled with chocolate chips. Spread jam over chips. Top with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake 30 min. until lightly browned. Cool. Enjoy!

Harvest Bisque

for Vicki

This is my favorite fall soup recipe; I got it from my sister-in-law Elizabeth years ago. The handwritten card fluttered down from the spice cabinet while I was unpacking, and I took it as a sign that it was time to make it.

1 butternut squash, or a small pumpkin,
1 pound carrots
5 ribs celery
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1 pound mushrooms
5 strips bacon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
1 quart chicken stock
1 quart milk

Peel squash and cut into peices. (This is the only hard part of the recipe). Roughly chop the carrots, onion and garlic. Slice the mushrooms. Set aside.

Chop the bacon and fry it over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add the onions, cook until soft. Add the rest of the veggies, salt and pepper, and thyme. Let the mix sweat. Add the chicken stock, cover, and lower heat. Simmer until veggies are tender.

Take pot off the heat and puree. Add milk (or cream, even better!) and return to the stove to warm through. Adjust seasonings, serve.

Fresh Rhubarb Cake 2 Ways

Rhubarb is one of those plants that seems to jump for joy with abundance: when you have rhubarb, you have a lot of it (I’m thinking here of zucchini, too, and the old joke about the only time you have to lock your car in town is August, because if you don’t, someone will put a zucchini in it.)

But I digress! Rhubarb is a fair source of potassium, contributes minor amounts of vitamins, and is low in sodium. The crisp, sour stalks are loaded with vitamin C and dietary fiber. And here’s a delicious recipe for a moist, rich cake that you can serve one of two ways:

For the cake

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh rhubarb, diced

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly butter a baking pan and dust with flour. In a medium-size bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, beat well. In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk and vanilla. Into a third bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and mix well. Beat in half the buttermilk/vanilla. Add another 1/3 of the flour, then the rest of the buttermilk/vanilla, ending with the remaining flour. Stir in the rhubarb. Spread in the prepared baking pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

If you like, cut warm cake into wedges and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, then drizzle with a simple vanilla sauce:

Vanilla Sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter

In a 1-quart saucepan, combine all sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil; simmer for about ten minutes.

Or, let cake cool, then cut it in half (it’s a very forgiving cake) to make a layer cake. Spread strawberry jam, then whipped cream, for the filling. Reassemble cake and frost with more whipped cream, then top with a light dusting of sugar, or flaked coconut.  (This was how I made it for the boys’ birthday–it’s a very pretty, festive cake).

Cinnamon rolls

So the other day I just happened to mention that I’ve been eating all these fantastic cinnamon rolls, did you think I wouldn’t share?  This recipe is by far my most favorite:  it makes a lot of rolls (a good thing, in my book) and they freeze well.  Too, the dough is very forgiving (I think the secret is in the cake mix) and it’s a great recipe to use when you have kids helping in the kitchen. 

Cinnamon Rolls

1 package white cake mix
5 cups white flour
2 packages dry yeast (1/4 oz each)
2 1/2 cups warm water (not lukewarm, but warm to the touch.  But not too hot, or you’ll kill the yeast)
Softened butter
Cinnamon
Brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar, for glaze, plus 2T water

Grease two 13×9x2 inch pans.  Combine yeast and water and a bit of sugar in a bowl, set aside until the yeast is bubbling.  In a larger bowl, add the cake mix and the flour.  Stir until well-blended.  Make a little hole in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the water/yeast.  Work the flour into the water, turning the bowl as you go, with a big wooden spoon.  When you have everything roughly combined, dump it out on the counter and continue to knead the dough until it’s shiny and springs to the touch.  Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled (about 1 hour). 

Punch down the dough and divide it in half.  With a rolling pin, flatten each half into a large rectangle and cover with softened butter and sugar and cinnamon, to taste (I like a lot).  Beginning at a long end, roll up each rectangle (like a carpet) then cut into 12 slices.  Place the slices in pans so that the swirls of cinnamon and butter and sugar face up, cover, and let rise again (about 30-40 minutes for the second rise).

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes, or until golden.  Remove.  Combine the powdered sugar and water to make a glaze, drizzle over baked rolls, and enjoy!

Coconut Cream Pie

I won a pie recipe contest!  Which means I have an award-winning pie recipe!  (Forgive me!  All the exclamation points!  I never win anything!)  Thanks go to killashandra at Fulltime in NM for all the excitement, which now inspires me to bake, you guessed it, another pie.  This one is creamy and sweet and full of coconut flavor:

1  13.5 oz. can coconut milk
1 1/2 cups milk (whole or 2%, your choice)
3 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup toasted flaked coconut
2 (9 inch) graham cracker crust pie shells
1 container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Toast 1/4 cup coconut by spreading on a cookie sheet and baking at 350 degrees until just golden, about 5 minutes.  (Don’t overcook or coconut turns bitter).

In a medium saucepan, combine milks, eggs, sugar, flour and salt.  Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, and stir in 3/4 cup flaked (untoasted) coconut.

Pour into a pie shells (today I’m using a premade graham cracker crust, but you can use whatever you like) and chill 2 to 4 hours, until firm.

Before serving, spread each with whipped cream and sprinkle the toasted coconut across the tops.  Makes 2 pies; one to have and one to share.

Arugula pesto

Our little grocery store had organic baby arugula specially marked all the way down to 50 cents a package (such a good deal!):  I think because no one knew what to do with it.  But I know what to do!  Make pesto! 

Carter helped me and when we were done, he said, “How do you eat it?”

 ”Well, you could put it on hot, salted pasta, or you could mix it with cream cheese and make a dip.  You could add it to mayonnaise and use it on a turkey and havarti sandwich, or you could spread it on dough and make pizza….”

“Yum!” said Carter, and I couldn’t agree more.  Here’s my recipe (and I used the chickpeas):

Arugula Pesto

6 oz. organic baby arugula
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 cup shredded Pecorino-Romano cheese
1/2 cup chickpeas or 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts or 1/2 cup toasted walnuts

In a food processor, add a handful of arugula and chop on the “pulse” setting.  Add the cheese and the chickpeas or nuts, pulse again.  Add the garlic, pulse.  Add another handful of arugula, then pulse.  Drizzle in a bit of the olive oil.  Add more arugula, alternating with the olive oil, until everything is well blended (but not mushy). Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days, or freeze. (The flavor is similar to Basil pesto, but with a spicier, more peppery flavor.)

Key Lime Pie

The neighbors up the road, the ones who invited us for coffee, have chickens.  As we left, the wife shared a dozen eggs with me, and when I got home I opened the carton to find the prettiest eggs, with shells that were brown and blue and pale green and yokes the bright orange color of a marigold.  What to do with such fine eggs?  Make a Key Lime Pie, of course!

Crust
6 ounces animal crackers
2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Mix ingredients and press into a 9-inch pie plate. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, until toasted. Let cool.

Pie
4 large egg yolks (save the whites for something else)
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup fresh key lime juice (about 20 limes); if you can’t get it, use the bottled key lime juice; if you can’t get that, use the juice from fresh limes (about 3).

Beat egg yolks with a fork until they are thick and frothy; add condensed milk.  Mix.  Add half the key lime juice, mix until blended.  Add the rest of the key lime juice. Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, to set the yolks. Remove, cool.  Top with whipped cream, toasted coconut and slices of fresh lime.  Serves 1 (just kidding!).

And to give/receive more great pie recipes, visit Fulltime in NM where there’s a pie auction going on!

More soup!

Gypsy Soup

3 T olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup peeled and diced sweet potato
1 cup peeled and diced squash, such as butternut or acorn or turkish hat
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
3/4 cup chopped sweet peppers (red, green or yellow) or substitute a handful of chopped kale or a handful of chopped fresh spinach
1 can garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas), drained
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 T tamari soy sauce

In a large pot, saute onions, garlic, potatoes and squash in the olive oil. Add all seasonings (except stock and tamari). Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, to bring out the flavors of the spices. Add remaining ingredients, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

This soup serves 4, and it’s even better the next day!

It’s a chili day!

Black Bean Chili

3/4 lb. ground beef, ground turkey, or a combination of both
3/4 cup chopped green onion
1 small green or red sweet pepper, chopped
1/3 cup coarsely shredded carrot
1 can whole tomatoes, with juice
1 can black beans, rinsed
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 T chili powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried basil
shredded cheddar cheese
fresh basil
avocado slices, if you have them

In a large pot, cook ground meat, onion, sweet pepper and carrot, until meat is brown. Drain fat. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheese, or fresh basil leaves, or avocado, or extra hot sauce. Serves 4.

Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound lentils, rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon cumin
lemon juice
chopped fresh parsley

Place the olive oil in a pan and set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot and salt and sweat until the onions are translucent, approximately 6 to 7 minutes.

Transfer to a crock pot; add the lentils, tomatoes (with juice), paste, broth, cumin and stir to combine.

Cover and cook on low until the lentils are tender, approximately 4 hours. Ladel into bowls and add a splash of lemon juice and some chopped parsley to each serving. This makes a lot of soup, but it freezes well and is wonderful on a cold fall day!

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Pie dough
2 c. pumpkin puree
1 1/2 c. evaporated milk
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. grated orange peel (zest)
2 eggs, beaten

Clean and slice pumpkin meat from the rind, then cut into squares and bake in a covered dish at 400 degrees, for about 30 minutes or until pumpkin is very tender (save seeds for another recipe).

Remove and put into a blender and puree.

For Pie: Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix 2 cups pumpkin puree with remaining ingredients, pour into pie shell.

Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees. Bake another 45 minutes or so, until a toothpick comes out clean.

I love

strong coffee in the morning
dark chocolate
orange, gold and red
wood stoves
apples
huckleberry pie
sunshine
good books
laughing
fresh bread
clean laundry
the smell of lavender
pillow cases hung in the sun to dry
the color of my children’s hair
Tom’s smile
the way Bennett tells a joke
the way Avery hugs me
the way Carter says “Mom”

The three best Halloween candies,

according to 8-year-old Carter, are:

1) Tootsie rolls

2) Nerds

3) M&Ms

Me: “And what’s the best thing about Halloween?”

Carter: “The candy, of course!”

Orange is:

Turkish Hat squash and Butternut squash and Sweet Potatoes, which aren’t really potatoes at all but are my favorites,

The third color on the ring of candy corn below the white and the yellow,

The color of Larch needles,

The Chinese Maple leaves,

The three pumpkins made from construction paper by each of my sons,

The sunset in the evenings, as it drops below the mountains to the West, in the cool, clear air that no longer smells of forest fires, but now of woodsmoke (which is an entirely different scent),

The color of the home-grown jack o’lantern, waiting for that perfect moment to be split open, flesh scooped out, everything saved– because we just can’t bare to say good-bye to summer, and because the seeds from this year mean there will be a next.

Happiness, for an 8-year-old, is easy:

A home-grown pumpkin.

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Why I love apples

Sweet, tart, juicy. Red Delicious or Ginger Golds or Honeycrisps or Granny Smiths. But McIntosh apples are my favorites, and they’re best after the first fall frost. This week, night time temperatures have been in the high 30s. Soon….

Rasberries make the best jam

It’s time!

Carter’s Best Lemonade

1 cup lemon juice (fresh or bottled, or both)
1 cup organic sugar
6 cups water
1/2 cup ice

Makes 2 quarts.

(you can also add 1 cup frozen huckleberries, slightly smashed, or 1 cup frozen raspberries.)

Mix all ingredients in a pitcher and stir until sugar is disolved. Serve over ice in a tall glass with a bendable straw.

Enjoy!

An email from Joan Guthrie Medlen,

who is the author of my favorite book on nutrition and feeding kids, called The Down Syndrome Nutrition Handbook: A Guide to Promoting Healthy Lifestyles offers a special promotional code, good for 10% off all orders through August 1.

The promotional code is: srt456 when submitting your order from the website or on the mail-in/fax order form.

To learn more, go here.

Rice pudding for a rainy day

1 cup cooked Basmati rice
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup raisins
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tb. cornstarch

In a medium saucepan, blend cornstarch and milk until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, stirring constantly until pudding thickens (it will continue to thicken as it cools, too).

There’s something about the creamy, sweet, taste of this pudding that soothes even the crankiest toddler.

What’s your family’s favorite “comfort food”?

Roasted Rosemary Cashews

My son Carter was born on New Year’s Eve, two hours shy of midnight. One of the nurses explained to me that if I could just “hold off,” Carter could be the first baby of the new year and we would get prizes. After the long wait (he was weeks overdue) and the worry (labor was slow and difficult) I didn’t even ask what the prizes were; I merely frowned at the nurse, and motioned for Tom to get me more ice chips.

Carter was born a short while later, and of his birth day, someone said, “Oh, too bad, a holiday baby.” But I didn’t feel that way; I knew that for the rest of his life, wherever he was, Carter would always have a party on his birthday.

This year, we had an afternoon party at our house. It was snowing and the older boys went outside in search of the sleds; while they did, the moms stayed in, seated around the kitchen counter eating Roasted Rosemary Cashews and talking about the year that had passed, and the year to come. I promised Sarah the recipe, and finally, here it is:

Roasted Rosemary Cashews

Toast 1 1/2# raw cashews in a warm oven (325 degrees) for 10 minutes or until fragrant.

In a large bowl, combine:

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon melted butter

(optional: 1 teaspoon cayenne)

Toss ingredients, add hot cashews, mix. Spread on a cookie sheet until cool, serve.

Sesame Noodles

Tom makes this recipe when he is feeling in the mood to be in the kitchen. I love the way these noodles taste, and I love that he cooks them for me.

1/2 lb. linguine
1-inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled and cut into small pieces
I clove garlic, peeled
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons strongly brewed hot tea
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
2 tablespoons Chinese hot-chile oil

Begin cooking the pasta. In a small food processor, pulse the ginger until finely chopped. Add garlic, pulse. Add peanut butter and pulse until thick paste forms. With the machine running, add remaining ingredients. Yields about 3/4 cup, enough to cover the linguine. Drain noodles, toss with sauce. Add sliced scallions, seeded and diced cucumbers, shredded carrots, and bean sprouts, if you like.

Montana Monster Cookies

This recipe, like all good ones, has been passed around. It came from my friend Phyllis, through her sister Callie, and before that, I don’t know, though I’m sure if I asked Callie, she could tell me. I do know that at some point it was called “Wyoming Whoppers,” but was changed when it crossed the state line into our Montana kitchens.

2/3 cup margarine
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cups chunky peanut butter
6 cups oats
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the margarine, blend in the sugars, add the eggs and the peanut butter. Mix until smooth. Add the oats, baking soda, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Batter will be sticky. Drop on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake about 10 minutes or until just golden. Cool on cookie sheet a few minutes, then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.