cooking, critiquing, and more

This isn't a cooking blog, really. . .but then women cook together, cook and talk. I do that a lot.
So, in Indiana Rachel and I made a key lime pie. Brett squeezed all the key limes. We ate it and critiqued it. . .
Brett made a few gracious suggestions for next time. Dave ate it up-no critique (but I think Dave is content with whatever Rachel cooks for him).
The next morning I offered to make scones-my recipe.
"I think the recipe is in my head." I told Rachel.
"After last night's pie-I don't trust you. . ." she said.
hmm, I thought I'd posted the recipe on this "non-cooking" blog, but I guess not-so here goes:

Darcie's Cranberry Scones
(this recipe comes from Southern Living, but I've been making it for a long, long time. . .)
2 cups flour
2 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or more)
Mix the dry ingredients, cut in butter til crumbly, add cranberries, mix in buttermilk.
Pat dough into an 8" round on floured surface, cut into 8 pie wedges, place on lightly greased baking sheet, brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes. (careful not to over bake)

a week of sweets

So, when we visit our Syracuse family, sweets abound-like a little drawer in the kitchen with shortbread (for me) and dark chocolate (for John) for tea time-with the white teapot. . .and more.

On Thursday we planned a day trip to Buttermilk Falls in Ithica, but early in the morning Abi and I worked on dessert for the evening. . .Strawberry-rhubarb Pie was preferred, but there wasn't time for a pie that day.
Instead we made sauce, and really, it was abolutely perfect- a bite of sweet strawberry and tart rhubarb, spooned over vanilla ice-cream.

Rhubarb-Strawberry Sauce
3 cups strawberries, 3 cups rhubarb, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water.
We defrosted Abi's local fruit, cooked the rhubarb in a saucepan with water and sugar for 10 minutes, then added the strawberries, simmering for about 7 minutes.
That evening we took our sauce and ice-cream to a gathering . . .tart, sweet, smooth, cold, red, white-just perfect.

3 kitchens and a recipe

Last month my kitchen was 100 degrees and Gabrielle's kitchen was under construction. Sometimes it's easier to face a challenge in someone else's space.
So, one day I offered to make dinner for the family at her place. I tried a new recipe-Mediterranean Orzo with Olives and Feta; between our kitchens I collected all the ingredients, and we agreed- it's good.


Last week in Syracuse , Abi and I cooked together in her kitchen. We had some lovely hospitality opportunities and one evening I made the orzo salad-try it!

Mediterranean Orzo. . .
Cook 2 cups orzo, drain and rinse
Add: 2 cups chopped raw spinach
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomato (oil packed)
1/2 cup feta cheese
3/4 cup sliced kalmata olives
chopped red onion
1 (6 oz) jar marinated artichokes, drained and quartered
reserve marinade and add to your liking, tossing pasta lightly. Serve with extra feta.


(And invite some folks in to share. . .)

friday morning and blueberry buckle

Sydney comes to my house Friday mornings. We work on Spanish-and we talk and eat a little . . . last Friday we ate breakfast tacos and I made blueberry buckle.
I didn't have blueberries but subtituted blackberries from my freezer, Yuumm. . .
So, this blueberry buckle is a family favorite with a nice memory-
15 years ago-or so, we spent a summer vacation with good friends attending seminary in Mississippi. My friend made Blueberry Buckle for Sunday morning breakfast.
And back in Texas I did the same-years and years of blueberry buckle for Sunday morning!

Blueberry Buckle
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. salt, 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup mil
1 egg
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
blend first 4 ingredients; melt and cool butter, mix with milk, and egg. combine and beat 30 seconds. carefully stir in blueberries; spread batter in pan (I use a 9" round) and top with:

Crumble: 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup butter; mix ingredients until cumbly. Bake @ 350 for 40-50 minutes.
I love this coffe cake because it's not too sweet and the berries are mixed all through the batter. I like to eat it with a scoop of plain yogurt on the side!
try it some time-any day of the week.

an occasion for cookies

I was in Dallas last week with Noah, Jamey, and sweet Adalyn Grace. Jamey expected friends to visit us-mainly to hold Adalyn, you know. . . so, we decided to make cookies and a sour cream coffee cake; I planned to whip up the cookies, but Jamey beat me too it. So-she mixed, measured, baked while I held our newborne.

In our family, Jamey gets the prize for the best chocolate chip cookies ever- here's the Cook's Illustrated-Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, but we simply call them:

Jamey's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups +2 T unbleached flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

coarse salt for sprinkling

So-mix together the dry ingredients; next mix sugar and butter together; beat in egg, yolk, vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until combined. Stir in chips.

Roll golf ball size dough and place 2 inches apart. Cook 12-15 minutes @ 325 degrees

Pull the cookies out of the oven and sprinkle tops with any coarse salt. Salt on cookies? Jamey says that's the way Noah likes them-and we all agree!

As expected, Jamey and I hosted visitors every afternoon that week, women who came to cuddle Adalyn-and talk. . .

I got to serve the cookies!

a good vinaigrette

on Monday, for my dear house guests, I made a new recipe for dinner (do you ever do that? new recipe for company?) -one from a favorite cooking magazine with all the best ingredients: couscous, asparagus, chicken, lemon juice. . .
the dish was fine- maybe next time I'll tweek it just a bit, however, the best part of the meal was the salad- lettuce and radishes from the garden. . .and I dressed the salad with Naomi's Vinaigrette.
And later we ate leftovers, the main dish, cold with the vinaigrette-yu-um
Naomi's Vinagrette
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar (1/2 balsamic)
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp worchester sauce
2 tsp dijon mustard
pressed garlic
3/4 cup good olive oil, emulsified with whisk
mix all the ingredients in a bowl except for the olive oil; then add the oil in a slow steady stream, whisking continually until the oil is emulsified (or using the food processor, slowly pour in oil while machine is running.)
Enjoy!

breakfast on Monday

This morning I hastily flipped through my recipe binder, searching for something yummy to bake. . . and to take along to gift a new friend; then I remembered these banana blueberry muffins- one of those long lost recipes; a lick of the batter and the aroma of baking muffins reminded me that this recipe is delicious!
So, I ate one for my breakfast-on-the-run, along with plain yogurt and hot tea; then throughout the day I gave away the remainder of the dozen (with one set aside for John!).

healthy banana-blueberry muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup frozen blueberries
Preheat the oven to 350; beat butter and sugars til fluffy, add eggs one at a time, beating well; in another bowl, mash bananas (you should have 3/4 cup), stir in milk and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients and gently mix all together, lastly fold in the frozen blueberries.
Divide the batter among lined muffin cups and bake 20-25 minutes; let cool 10 minutes. (I enjoyed mine warm with cool smooth yogurt!)
today I had all the ingredients on hand-but if not, I would substitute flours and perhaps add bran or oats instead of wheat germ. Enjoy!

Tea and Oats. . .

I love oats-mmmmm, oats in any form; so when I came across this recipe for Oatmeal Shortbread, I had to give it a try; here's the recipe, take care to carefully measure the flour, not adding too much:

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter

So-preheat oven to 325 and toast the oats on a cookie sheet til lightly browned; cool completely.

In food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt, 1/2 cup cooled oats; process until finely ground; add butter and pulse until mixture is texture of fine meal.

Press into 8 inch square pan (I used round pie plate) and sprinkle remaining oats on top, press in lightly. Bake until firm and lightly brown (I baked for 20-25 min.)

Immediately score the shortbread with a sharp knife into squares or triangles; let cool completely on a wire wrack before removing from pan. gently break along scored lines.

This shortbread kind of reminds me of the round biscuit cookies I enjoy with coffee when visiting my children in Spain. . . so-today I'm taking a break with oatmeal shortbread and tea, Earl Grey with milk, and musing about my upcoming visit to Spain and London. . .

the queen of spices. . .

Cardamon, grown in tropical Guatemala-they say it's the queen of spices. . .I love its sweet-mysterious aroma and flavor (what does it smell like? I ask myself eveytime I unskrew the jar!) they say Cardamon is added to most Scandanavian pasteries; I like to think that my Danish grandmother put Cardamon in her Chritmas stollen!

So, most years I make a Swedish coffee bread in December, to eat and to give away-a simple yeast bread, braided and with Cardamon. Hmmm, how I love the aroma of the spice when added to the hot milk, sugar, and melted butter.

When I make Swedish coffee bread I think of my neighbor in Portand, Oregon who 30 years ago gave me this recipe. We made it together, maybe 20 loaves that year-a recipe from her father who came from Sweden. I make the bread, add the Cardamon and think of how God graciously placed this sweet woman in the corner house in my neighborhood, not just for Swedish coffee bread at Christmas, but because I needed her. . .mostly to teach me by example to love my husband and to lovingly train my little daughter.

About potatoes, men, and tradition. . .

John and I spent Thanksgiving week at Noah and Jamey's home in Dallas; I got to cook along side my sweet daughter-in-law in her sunny red and yellow kitchen. Josiah, Jeremiah, and Mercy joined us from Memphis, College Station, and Lubbock (we call them our young adults!)

So, it's tradition in our family. . .the job of mashed potatoes belongs to the boys. I remember in Mexico- the older two lugging the bucket outside to peel potatoes in the cornfield; over the years they've peeled, sliced, and perfected the mashing. . . smooth with a few gourmet lumps. I'm just thankful there are still boys (now men) around to work on mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving 2009. . .

Jamey's menu included simple sweet potatoes, baked with a sprinkle of streusel and marshmallows; however, Noah intervened with his signiture dish-I'll call it. . . sweet potatoes with chipotle and streusel! Prepare Noah's sweet potatoes like this: carefully halve the baked sweet potatoes and scoop out the golden goodness, mash with a little butter, brown sugar, diced chipotle peppers (canned) and gently spoon back into the skins; next top with a streusel: 1/2 cup each, flour, brown sugar, butter, some chopped pecans, then a sprinkle of miniture marshmallows and pop back in the oven for a few minutes.

There you have Noah's sweet potatoes with a little kick-sweet, savory, and chipotle pepper spicey.
I think it's nice to have men in the kitchen. . .

sweet. . . and robust

hmmm. . .our Sunday afternoon-sweet and robust. . .
John planned lunch after Sunday worship for the men who share the Bible teaching at the homeless shelter every Tuesday-the men and the wives, Ralph and Vanessa, John and Roseann, Gary and Elizabeth. He ordered in Texas barbecue- I couldn't resist preparing a seasonal dessert to share, here's the recipe which includes my favorite things: apples, cranberries, oats, cream.

Cranberry Apple Crisp

8 cups sliced apples (I used 7 galas and 3 granny smith), 1 1/2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen), 1/2 cup sugar, 3 Tbls. flour, 1 tsp. vanilla, splash of lemon or lime juice.
Combine all of the above in 9 by 12 baking dish. Sprinkle with topping: 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup rolled oats, 3/4 cup butter cut into dry ingredients, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Bake at 375 for about 50 minutes. serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
Sweet dessert, robust coffee. . .
but really, the robust part-the conversation- began when the eating was over, when only the crumbs remained- it began with a simple question to Ralph and Vanessa, "So tell us. . .what's one thing you've learned about each other in your first year of marriage?"
then the flurry of worthy talk unfolded, talk focused on the Lord, strong to save- and me? I listened, just listened -imagine that?
So-apples, cranberries, sweet cream, personal stories of God's grace, dear saints. . . Sunday afternoon couldn't be better.

A Good Cake

hmmm. . .to have a cafe, a bakery with pastries-the best cherry strudel in town-good coffee and ambiance for hearty conversation. . .I doubt such a place will materialize in my future, but surely one can dabble. . .
for years carrot cake was the dessert of choice for our September birthday boys; however, by and by carrot cake fell out of favor- other yummy desserts replaced the old standby. . .
this year, upon request, I made a wonderful chocolate cake with mint filling and ganache frosting for Noah and Josiah (who share a September birthday).
But then, recently a new carrot cake recipe came my way, recommended by trusty taste testers-from Cook's Illustrated, I think the key in the cake is the emulsified oil which keeps the cake light and moist; the cream cheese frosting is a delight to those (like me!) who perfer a less sweet cake topping.
all this chatter because recipes have stories, don't you think?
Carrot Cake
2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
6-7 medium carrots, peeled, grated
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups canola oil
Preheat oven to 350. whisk together first 7 ingredients in bowl, set aside. Grate carrots(you should have about 3 cups), add to bowl with dry ingredients. In bowl of food processor, mix sugars with eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined; with the machine running, add the oil through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream. Process until the mixture is light in color and well emulsified. Stir together all the ingredients and pour into prepared pans (9x13 rectangle, muffin tins, or 2 round cake pans) and bake until tooth pick inserted comes out clean (about 35 min. for 9x13, less time for rounds or muffins). cool at room temperature.
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
with mixer or food processor, cream the cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla til smooth; add confectioners' sugar and mix until very smooth; with spatula spread frosting on tops and or sides of cake. Enjoy!
So, I made the New Newton Carrot Cake for Luke's September birthday-rave reviews!

too much basil?

Early Tuesday morning I was working in the yard when a school bus stopped in front of our house. . . a noisy yellow school bus. . . in front of my house, imagine that?

So, the bus doors folded back and the driver called out to me, Your garden. . . It's amazing!
No children in the bus, only the bus driver and her assistant, so we had a pleasant chat,
"I gave away all my squash yesterday. . .come back on Friday, there should be more. . "

The bus driver described a neighborhood in her hometown in Alabama-one house had a lush front yard vegetable garden. . .
"the folks just put out a little can-you picked what you wanted and dropped loose change in the can."
hmmm, nice idea- not very practical in my neighborhood, but we'll see. . . .

There's so much basil in my garden, a bounty of basil-wish you could see it and take some home! So, I'm sharing my basil. . . and I'm making basil pesto. I've been researching and collecting pesto recipes and finally settled on Caroline's Pesto with a few adaptations. It's easy- I combine all the following ingredients in the bowl of my food processor:
3 cups fresh basil, packed
3/4 cup fresh parsley
2/3 cup toasted walnuts
4 or 5 large cloves fresh garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt, pepper to taste

Blend til smooth, add a little more olive oil if pesto is too dry. We add basil pesto to warm pasta, on french bread, spread on sandwitches. Enjoy!

things we do in Texas

Autumn color is dim in Texas. . . however, we can harvest beautiful broccoli in December and January!
The four plants in my fall garden each produced a lovely broccoli-
I gave three away and saved one for a holiday family meal- broccoli cheese soup! I like the Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe with a few of my own modifications-here's for the New Year!


1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 medium onion
1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup flour

1 cup half & half, 1 cup milk

2 cups chicken stock

large head of broccoli

1 cup carrots, julienned

8oz. grated sharp cheddar cheese

Steam broccoli til crisp tender, coarsely chop, set aside. Saute onion in butter, set aside. Cook melted butter and flour, using whisk over medium heat. Stir constantly and add milk and half & half. Add the chicken stock; simmer for 20 minutes. Add the carrots and onion; simmer over low until carrots are tender. Add the chopped broccoli and cheese; simmer til heated thru, add salt and pepper to taste.

Provecho!

red cabbage, red currant jam, and a memory

I have a memory of the red cabbage my Danish grandmother would prepare for holiday meals. . . and then when she was no longer there to prepare it, red cabbage came from the store, in a jar. Year after year we passed the red cabbage, more for my grandmother's memory than because we were eager to spoon it onto our plates--although the color is lovely, bright purple.

So, this Thanksgiving I decided to search for a recipe for red cabbage-could I duplicate my grandmother's? I discovered lots of recipes for German red cabbage, a few for Norwegian red cabbage, and then. . . there it was: Danish Red Cabbage- it looked authentic:

In Denmark it is traditional to serve a cooked pickled red cabbage for Christmas Eve, a great side dish to any roast duck, turkey, or goose!

Thanksgiving day, the girls and I were cooking - no duck or goose here, but the turkey was roasting. . . and me? well, I was shredding red cabbage; my authentic recipe calls for a medium head of red cabbage, water, red currant jam, sugar, vinegar, salt-simmer with the lid on.

As I was draining some of the lovely purple juice down the sink, Mercy exclaimed, "Ugh, what's that smell?" Then I realized that it was a good kitchen smell from the recesses of my memory-and I told her, "for me, this is aThanksgiving smell from long ago!"

So, it was good-that pickled Danish Red Cabbage-both the memory and the dish.

(I wonder if the left-overs would be a tasty accompaniment to Christmas tamales?)

dinner for just two. . . or three

So, I'm still trying to figure out how to cook dinner for two rather than ten- I know, I know. . . the transition shouldn't be so dramatic-afterall, the children have left home one by one;
however, Mercy went away to college last fall and there we were, John and me, sitting cozy at the end of our 8 foot table. . .

We look forward to Monday nights when our friend Randy joins us for dinner; then I set three brown, oval placements on the dinning room table and anticipate cooking for two men-they rave about almost anything I prepare for them. So, with the autumn cool- down, I've been making soup-so far this fall we've enjoyed:
tomato basil, chicken tomatillo, beef and barley, navy bean; this week I'm planning caldo.

Now then, when dinner is soup and bread--there's alway room for pie, don't you agree? Here's the recipe for our favorite Strawberry Rhubarb pie that I made last week-tart, juicy, served with plenty of sweetened whipped cream:

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Pastry for a two crust 9" pie
5 cups chopped rhubarb, fresh or frozen
2 (heaping) cups sliced strawberries
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 T lemon juice, 1/4 tsp cinnamon (or more)

So, here we go: Preheat oven to 425 degrees; roll out half the pastry and line a 9" pie plate.
Combine all the pie ingredients in a bowl (if using frozen fruit, be sure it's completely thawed.)
Place the fruit in the pie shell; roll out second pastry and cut into lattice strips for pie top.
Brush top of lattice with beaten egg. Bake pie at 425 for 15 minutes and then reduce oven to 375 degrees; continue baking for 50 or 60 minutes until crust is golden.
*baking tip: be sure the fruit juices bubble up in the pie before completing baking time.


So, getting back to cooking for just two. . . .really, it's not so sad or lonely-it's simply change, part of this divesting process. I serve a good Master who provides abundant opportunity for me to be fruitful for His kingdom, and when I look at the empty table. . . well, I'm thankful for John and for this reminder, . . . Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-3)