Can I just point something out?

Modcloth is selling this dress:

Which to me looks vaguely familiar to one I made last summer, no?

Except I made mine for a lot less than the $160 they're asking for :)

You may have noticed

That I have more or less abandoned this poor thing. That's not to say I've stopped cooking - on the contrary I've done lots of experimenting. I've made this sausage and rice timbale which Garrick said he could eat every day for the rest of his life (it even looked like the one in the picture!). I had my birthday party in which I prepared everything for my guests to make homemade pizzas (and oh they were delicious). I made an eggs benedict pizza which was pretty good but I needed to use a recipe for a thicker crust because homemade hollandaise is just so rich. I made pork and chive dumplings with dipping sauce. I made Star Wars sugar cookies for Garrick for Valentine's day. I may still post about all of these lovely things, but I wanted to take this time to announce a couple of things.

The first is that I'M ENGAGED. Woo hoo!

It happened when Garrick and I went on vacation to St Louis over Spring Break. Our first night there, after dinner and back in the hotel, he popped the question. My immediate reaction was "Are you kidding me?!" But I did eventually say yes. Then completely freaked out - in a good way.

So my head has been swimming with wedding stuff more so than food stuff lately. It doesn't help that I was given like 30 wedding magazines from some of Garrick's coworkers. I can really only focus on anything wedding related for about 30 minutes before I get bored and/or overwhelmed. Thank goodness I have over a year to get everything done. It only took us 3 weeks to decide on colors. We're doing purple, teal, and green. We're getting married June 16, 2012.

The next piece of news is that upon arriving home from St Louis I immediately went on a diet (actually not at all related to getting married, I had planned on doing it before we even went to St Louis). As of this past Tuesday I have lost 9.6 pounds in 3 1/2 weeks on it. Now, the reason I tell you this is because the diet is extremely restrictive during the first (and longest) phase. I can't have fruit or any kind of grain/starch. My vegetables are even restricted. I can only have meat once a day at dinner. Thus, the idea of making, say, a cupcake and then not getting to eat it makes me want to kill myself. So I haven't been doing a lot of exciting or creative cooking because, well, I can't eat it therefore I don't want to be around it. So I probably won't have much new for a while, with the exception of the things previously mentioned.

Back to the wedding. I had originally planned on making my own cake. I was convinced by several people that this is a horribly stupid idea, so I won't be doing that anymore. But I still wanted to have my hand in something, so we decided we are going to make cake pops for our wedding favors! I'm so excited about this idea, I can't even tell you. We're going to have 2-4 different flavors and decorate them as we please. A little homemade touch to show our guests that we appreciate them being there. And of course we're going to have to test out some recipes so pretty much every holiday from now until then I'm bringing cake pops. End of story.

Lately I just want to cook. It's hard to explain, but I want to make things that keep me in the kitchen all day but in the end it's so worth it. Like homemade ravioli. Or 12 layer cake. Or something. I also want to get into canning. I like the idea of having homemade things readily available, and it's cheaper. Love it. But I don't know the first thing about it. I will need to explore this.

A Small Diversion

Ok, I do have some awesome recipes and things to share with you, but I wanted to get opinions on something a little more pressing in my world.

I'm teaching 9th grade English next year to my special education kids. This means most of them either have difficulty reading or writing. I'm trying to decide what to cover so I can start working on my curriculum for the class. The trouble is I have too many ideas and I need to narrow it down.

Books I'm considering:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Speak
Monster (by Walter Dean Myers)
Out of the Dust
The Secret Life of Bees
Lord of the Flies
Whale Talk
Face on the Milk Carton

I will be covering Night by Elie Wiesel, supplemented with pieces from Maus I and II, and Romeo and Juliet.

The top 5 on the list are books I've read and loved. The bottom 3 are ones I haven't read but I've seen on a lot of 8th grade reading lists.

My question to you all is: what do you recommend? If you've read any of the books on the list and think they would be good for a class of freshmen, let me know, especially if it's one of the ones I haven't read.

I need to narrow the list down to 3 or 4 at the max.

I know this might not be your area of expertise, but I thought I'd ask because I'm really struggling with choosing the right things.

Warm Onion Dip

Another New Year's Eve creation with the help of Cat Cora. Once you try this you will never want store-bought again. It's amazing. Especially since you probably have most, if not all of the ingredients at any given time. The onions are caramelized so they give the dip a little sweetness and it's just...heavenly. I could eat a whole batch right now. You just don't even know.

Warm Onion Dip
 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup finley chopped onion (vidalia, walla walla, maui, or yellow)
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup finely grated sharp white cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until it is hot but not shimmering. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it just begins to brown (about 2 minutes). Reduce the heat to low and cover, and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes
3. In a bowl, mix the mayo, sour cream, cheddar, Tabasco, and salt. Add the onion and stir until evenly distributed.

Spread the dip in a small, shallow dish and bake until bubbling and slightly browned, about 20 minutes. Stir in the chives. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.

Even my cat liked this dip. I wish I had gotten a picture but he was sniffing my dip so I let him and he just went to town licking it. So you know it must be good, right?

And you know what this would be perfect for? The Super Bowl! That's what you should do. You should make this dip and invite some people over so you don't eat it all yourself.

Good plan.

Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Tea Sandwiches

A few posts back I mentioned that I would find an occasion to make lobster salad. Well, I thought New Years Eve would be a perfect time, despite that I had nowhere to go and no one coming over. So that didn't happen.

What did happen were these delicious sandwiches.

These are from Cat Cora's cookbook Cat Cora's Classics With a Twist: Fresh Takes on Favorite Dishes. This is one of the 6 cookbooks I got for Christmas.

I don't particularly enjoy watching Cat Cora on Iron Chef America. I mean, I don't dislike watching her, but I prefer the others (except for Bobby Flay. I really don't like watching him. There's nothing original about making a tamale when you've done it for every freaking battle you're in. Ugh.). That said, her recipes are dang good. Like, wow. And simple, too.

Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Tea Sandwiches
8 oz brioche loaf (or baguette - I couldn't find brioche in my grocery store)
1 Tbsp wasabi from a tube or 1 1/2 tsp powdered wasabi (find this in the asian or ethnic foods section of your grocery store)
1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
4-6 oz thinly sliced smoked salmon
1 large cucumber, preferably English, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

1. Heat oven to 350. Cut bread into 12  1/2 inch thick slices. Toast in the oven for 2 minutes (I actually toasted mine for more like 10)
2. Combine the cream cheese and wasabi.
3. Spread about 1/2 tsp of the wasabi cream cheese in a thin, even layer on each piece of bread. Top with a slice of smoked salmon. Top with cucumber slices. Sprinkle with chives.

The end! For as good as these taste, they should not be this easy. Seriously. I even got someone who doesn't like fish to eat 3 or 4 of them.

These are so great as an appetizer at a party or get-together. But be warned - that wasabi is hot so use caution when you add it and don't add it all at once - add a little and taste. Make the level of heat appropriate for your guests.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes

I can't even begin to tell you how incredibly delicious these are.

These are chocolate sour cream cupcakes filled with a sort of ganache whipped cream, topped with ganache. It's incredible.

I got the recipe from a new cupcake bookcalled Cupcakes by Elinor Klivans that Garrick got me for Christmas :)


Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcake Batter
(Makes 18 regular cupcakes)

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in 15 second intervals in the microwave. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Sift the dry ingredients together.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until it is blended and creamy.
4. On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate.
5. Add the eggs one at a time until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture is creamy and the color has lightened slightly.
6. Mix in the sour cream until no streaks remain.
7. On low speed, add half the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the water. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it's incorporated and the batter looks smooth.
8. Divide the batter among 18 cupcake cups.
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Chocolate Fudge Sauce
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces
9 oz (1 1/2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and butter over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter has melted. Do not let it boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate chips and let them sit in the hot cream for about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and whisk the sauce until it is smooth and all the chocolate has melted.

Filling
3/4 cup Chocolate Fudge Sauce at room temp but pourable
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp instant coffee granules

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream, sugar, and coffee granules on low speed until the coffee dissolves. Then beat on medium-high speed until firm peaks form.
2. Whisk about 1 cup of the whipped cream into the chocolate sauce until no white streaks remain. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the remaining whipped cream.

To assemble:
1. Bake the cupcakes and let them cool. Make the chocolate sauce and filling while they bake.
2. Cup the tops off of the cupcakes, and spoon or ice cream scoop or pipe some filling onto each cupcake (about 1/4 cup per cupcake). Replace the tops of the cupcakes.
3. Use the remaining chocolate sauce as a "frosting." Just spoon and spread the sauce on the tops of each cupcake.

Refrigerate to firm the chocolate topping, and serve cold. Cover and refrigerate remaining cupcakes for up to 2 days.

I made these for my grandma for her birthday (hence the candles), and I can honestly say that they were probably the best cupcakes I've ever eaten. I know it looks like a lot of work but it is sooooo worth it.

I wish I had more :(

Peanut Brittle

The delicious sticks-to-your-teeth candy of the holidays.

I had never made it before, but I like it and my dad loves it, so I thought I would try my hand at it. And I failed. But we'll get to that.

Peanut Brittle (taken from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
3 Tbsp stick margarine or butter
1 pound shelled unroasted peanuts

1. Heat oven to 200 degrees F. Grease 2 cookie sheets with margarine and keep warm in the oven (this makes it easier to spread the candy)
2. Mix baking soda, 1 tsp water and vanilla. Set aside. Mix sugar, 1 cup water, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to 240 degrees on a candy thermometer (soft ball).

3. Stir in margarine/butter and peanuts.

Cook, stirring constantly, to 300 degrees (hard crack).

Immediately remove from heat. Quickly stir in baking soda mixture until light and foamy.

4. Pour half of the candy mixture onto each cookie sheet and spread to 1/4 inch thick.

Cool completely (at least 1 hour). Break into pieces.

Ok, now, I told you at the beginning of the post that I failed at making this. And I did. See, we don't have a candy thermometer at home, so I was using the cold water tests and I had gotten it to what I thought was the hard crack stage (I mean, it was kind of hard, and it had gotten pretty thick and I didn't want to burn it). As it turns out I was wrong. It ended up being more of a tasty peanut taffy.

I tried to salvage it. I put it in a 300 degree oven to try and get it to the right stage of hardness. Didn't work. So I thought maybe if I freeze it that will suck some of the moisture out and harden it up. Which it did, for about 10 minutes. Just long enough for me to take a picture of it in all its brittley goodness. And an hour later it was a mass of impossible-to-get-out peanut...stuff.

Dad tried to eat it, bless his heart. In the end, most of it went in the trash.

The good news is that I now have a candy thermometer. But my ego needs to heal a little before attempting this again.

Cauliflower Gratin

Ok, I know cauliflower isn't everyone's thing. It often brings up horrible memories of being forced to eat these goofy mini white tree looking things that remind you of the similarly disturbing broccoli by hearing stories of starving children in China, but this isn't that kind of cauliflower.

Well, I mean, it is, but it tastes much better. And while I can't help you with those memories of your depraved childhood, I can try to give you a new perspective on this often overlooked vegetable.

Because really, it's quite good.

It's pretty simple. We're all familiar with potato gratin, right? Potatoes cooked with a creamy cheese sauce and baked in the oven to give it a golden and slightly crunchy top and often made from a box? Yeah, well, it's like that but you replace the potato with cauliflower and ditch the box.

I use Ina Garten's recipe for this but really it's basically the same as Julia Child's recipe, so if you have her Mastering the Art of French Cooking lying around, you already have this recipe.

Pretty simple: Cut up and blanch some cauliflower. Make a roux, and your milk, let it thicken, add your cheese (she says Gruyere and Parmesan but you can use whatever you have around, though I do recommend using some Parmesan for the saltiness it brings), let that melt off the heat. Put 1/3 of it in the bottom of your pan, put the cauliflower on top, top with the rest of the cheese sauce, then throw more cheese and some breadcrumbs and some melted butter on top, put it in a 375 oven for 30 minutes, and you end up with a delicious side dish that can get anyone to choke down a vegetable.

Doesn't look so bad, does it? It's my favorite way to eat cauliflower. Yum yum yum. And it makes a great substitution for, say, green bean casserole, or some other side dish that you want to change up at the next feast.

Seriously. It will change your mind.

Hot Cocoa

Cookies. Hot cocoa cookies.

As in cookies that taste like hot cocoa and taste amazing with hot cocoa.

They even have marshmallows in them. Mmmmmm.

The recipe comes from How Sweet and admittedly her pictures are far better than mine. And it's her recipe. So I guess overall she is superior.

Anyway, these are sinfully delicious chocolate cookies with marshmallow creme and mini marshmallows.

The one thing you have to be careful about with these cookies are those marshmallows. They melt and threaten to break your cookie apart when you try to move them or pick them up. The other thing you have to be careful about is limiting yourself because this recipe makes A LOT of cookies.

But they're soooo gooooooood.

So head on over to How Sweet  and try the recipe, then tell her how awesome she is for creating these.

A year in the making

It's over. After almost of year of on and off work and ultimately kicking myself for taking on a project like this again, the afghan is done.

 Mind you, this picture is only 2/3 of the whole afghan (though it was finished when the picture was taken, I just couldn't fit it all in one picture). And the picture doesn't really do justice to the blue, it's much brighter in person.

I had taken on the project because last year I made one for Garrick for Christmas and his parents liked it so much I thought I would make one for them for Christmas.

And since it was for Garrick's parents, Garrick did the fringe. He did a very nice job.

And his parents were quite happily surprised by it.

So a year later, they have their own hand-made afghan to take home with them to Texas. Where they won't need to use it. Because it's perpetually 60 degrees and above.

I will think this through more carefully before taking on a project of this magnitude again.

Where to begin?

Even though I haven't posted in over a month I've been cooking and crafting and taking pictures to share with you. And now I'm well supplied with my own set of tri-ply stainless steel pots and pans, a set of corningware, cooking utensils, a waffle iron (which I've already made buttermilk waffles with cherry almond sauce with), a potato ricer, and 6 new cookbooks. Yes, 6. One from Cat Cora, one from Mario Batali, one from Ina Garten, one from Bobby Flay, a cupcake book, and a cookbook which I requested that's all about healthy cooking. And I'm DYING to try recipes from each one out.

From Cat Cora: her hot onion dip and wasabi salmon tea sandwiches, from Mario Batali: any of his pasta or pizza dishes (as if I needed any help loving those foods he makes them look even more incredible), from Ina Garten: her roasted tomato soup and lobster salad, and from Bobby Flay: mac and cheese carbonara. I already made the chocolate mousse cupcakes I was lusting after. As for the healthy one, there's a fettucine alfredo that I'd like to try.

Today is New Year's Eve and even though this is the PERFECT time to have a party so I can try some of these amazing-looking recipes, I find myself without any definite plans for tonight. So I don't know when/how I'm going to find an excuse to make a lobster salad appetizer, but I'll find a way.

In the meantime, I have pictures/posts for:

• cauliflower gratin
• peanut brittle
• triple chocolate marble fudge (which I never took a picture of in the end so I might not post that one)
• chocolate mousse cupcakes
• eggs benedict
• hot cocoa cookies
• and **my finished afghan**

So look forward to those posts in the near future and I hope everyone had a great, relaxing Christmas and will have a fun, safe new year.

As previously mentioned

I mentioned in my last post that I might be out of town for a while. Well, I was. On the Tuesday of the week before Thanksgiving my dad found out that my grandma, his mom, had a stroke in the night. Her left side was completely paralyzed. On Wednesday it was determined that it was massive and she would not recover. She was moved into hospice. Dad left on Wednesday to go see her in Colorado. On Thursday dad called to say that the doctor told him she would be gone in one, two days at the most. So Friday morning mom and I headed out to Colorado. She was more or less unresponsive by the time I got there and was completely blind so she just kept her eyes closed. She was unable to talk (a combination of the stroke and lack of energy). She just kind of...laid there.

Let me just say, I never want to go through that again. You never want to see someone in that condition.

Particularly hard on my dad was having to make the decision to not feed her or give her IV fluids. He felt like by doing that, she would die of thirst and that can't be comfortable. What the people in hospice told us is that when people start the dying process they no longer require food and water the way others do because their body cannot process it. So by denying her these things, her body will feed on her fat in amounts that her body can handle, and will put her into a state of mild euphoria. It sounds nice, but I just wonder how they know these things. Because I'm not so sure that's true. And it bothers me.

To add to the stress, she did not last only one or two days, but five. So she went a week without any food or water. Ugh.

I won't go into the other details but suffice it to say it was quite hard to watch.

The night she died she were finishing eating dinner when we got a call from the hospital. They said she's really not doing well and we should come sooner rather than later. So we dropped everything and left. She passed before we made it there some 10 minutes later.

The hospice there was really wonderful, though. When we walked in to see her that night they had a bunch of flameless candles going and some nice music with the lights dimmed. The counselor that was there was with her when she passed. The counselor said she was peaceful, warm, and not alone. I suppose you can't ask for much more than that. Everyone in the hospice was so great. They put her in real night gowns, not hospital gowns. They made sure her oxygen levels were good and that she was comfortable, and when she would moan or grimace they would up the morphine, then started giving her regular doses of something to calm her down when she seemed unable to remain comfortable. When we came in the nurses would always ask if we needed anything and were very responsive when we asked if they could do something to help her (suction her airway, swab her mouth, etc.). And there were some great volunteers - one came in to give massages to anyone who wanted one to help us de-stress. Another group came and sang some of grandma's favorite hymns to her. It was so nice. Anyway, they were a great help during the whole process.

She passed away Tuesday night, November 23 around 6:45 p.m. She was 89. Her memorial was at 10 am Friday, November 26.

I was surprised at how many people came to the service - I thought it was nice. Her neighbors from Boulder even came up. One of them said she talked about me all the time. That was nice.

So anyway, that's what I've been dealing with the last couple of weeks. Given everything I haven't exactly cooked or worked on anything, and since I'm now playing catch-up I can't guarantee that I will soon, either. So I don't know when I'll be posting. Sorry.

It's not what you think

I know it looks like I abandonded this little blog again. But that's not true.

The truth is that I haven't done much worth blogging about. The only things I've cooked recently are recipes I've already put on here (with the exception of one which I will post when I have some real spare time), and I haven't sewn anything or done any crafting. I've been sick lately, which is partially why. The other part is I've been busy or tired from being busy.

That said, Garrick pointed out that in my Halloween post I failed to mention that I made the dress I'm wearing:

It's from a vintage pattern (1960s??). It didn't turn out exactly like I wanted because the neck band ended up being some 2 inches too big so I ended up having to make a dart in it which, in my opinion, looks rather tacky. But I wasn't about to give up on it because I sewed that neckband some 7 times before I got it "right" only to find out it just...wasn't right. That and the holes aren't exactly the same. I think it would turn out better if I tried making it again, but I don't know that I will.

Anyway, that's my report for now. And due to, well, family things I may be traveling soon and don't know if I'll get a chance to make something worthwhile for a couple more weeks. But I will do my best.

Pancake Muffins with Bacon Buttercream

Intriguing, no? That's what I thought.

When I first saw this recipe I thought "Garrick would love this! Pancakes and bacon?? IN A PORTABLE CONTAINER?!" It's like a McGriddle without the egg and slightly fewer calories. Maybe.

Pancake Muffins with Maple Bacon Buttercream
Yield: 12 cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Bake Time: 10 minutes

For the Cupcakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups whole milk
2 eggs
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Frosting:
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with liners and then spray the liners with non-stick spray (important step!).

2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl; set aside. In a separate medium bowl whisk together the milk and eggs, then stir in the melted and cooled butter. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk together until just moistened and combined. Like pancakes, lumps are okay! Divide the batter between the muffin cups and bake until puffed and firm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

3. To make the frosting, use the whisk attachment of a stand mixer to whip the butter on  medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until it’s mostly incorporated before adding more. Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the maple syrup and the vanilla and whip for another minute or so to incorporate. Add the bacon and mix to combine. Using an offset spatula, spread the frosting on the cupcakes. Top with additional crumbled bacon if desired.

I thought they were pretty good, though there was a bit more frosting than I care for but that's ok. Garrick, surprisingly, wasn't all that impressed. I think he thought the frosting was too sweet, which might have been my error because I was only making 1/2 a batch but accidentally put in the full amount of syrup. Oops.

I made Garrick take the last 4 to work to give away. The overall response was "Hmmmm....interesting." I don't know if that's good or bad.

If you're in the mood for something a little different, definitely give this a try.

Happy Halloween!

Hope it's frightful!

Allow me to explain

Reason number 1 for my unintentional hiatus was discussed in my last post: my lack of desire to write or do anything for that matter.

Reason number 2 is: my new toys :)

Meet my brand new Janome Sewist 500:

Isn't it beautiful? I'm so proud.

And finally, the little thing I'm so excited to try out:

My automatic buttonhole foot! I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon!

I was also distracted by the purchase of my new duvet cover/sham set. It made me want to never get out of bed.

Isn't it purdy? I can't say it was worth what I paid for it, though. But whatever. It looks nice, I think.

So there you have it! My latest purchase/endeavor. Once I have a little photo shoot I'll show you some of the wonderful things she's made. And so quiet! And smooth. It's a dream.