TWD: The vacation edition

Vacation...5000+ feet of elevation, lots of greenery and mom and dad's company. It's always great fun. So much so, that I didn't get around to last week's recipe until tonight. Using fresh South Carolina peaches and the blueberries I picked on Tuesday, I made the summer fruit galette. As the jam, I spread some of this afternoon's blueberry jam on the crust, instead of graham crackers, I subbed a piece of sugar cookie. Aside from the custard that creeped out of the crust, this was great.

Given the 5000+ feet between mom and dad's and sea level, I'm opting out of next week's recipe. After more than a decade of this, neither my mom nor I have truly mastered altitude corrections.

TWD: Cherry Rhubarb cobbler

Ah, to have a use for the cup or so of leftover rhubarb that I froze in May. Fruit desserts are great in the summer and this one was no exception. Break out the cherry pitter, the cuisinart and not too long later, there's cobbler in the oven. I added to crystallized ginger to my fruit mixture, as well as pressed one piece into the top of each "cobbler ball".
Overall, I'd prefer crisp, in part because I thought this was so odd looking when it came out of the oven. I had assumed that the balls of dough would sort of spread into each other, forming a loose crust. But they didn't... round cherries, round biscuits, square pan -- it didn't work for me aesthetically. I didn't even end up with a photo of the finished product.

A2 Art Fair Shopping Spree

It's a face only a four year old could love!

After two half days at the art fairs, we came home with:

- one painted face

-two water bottle holders

-three Popsicles/smoothies in bellies

and

-four pairs of Wii Fit demo socks.

While I would love to have made some bigger (much bigger) purchases, this simply isn't the year.

Like mother, like daughter

My kids were all over each other today. Every last thing was a fight. After J. left with a friend for the afternoon and evening, I asked K. what she would like to do. Currently, we have two types of banana bread in the oven, marbled and coconut with lime glaze. While starting dinner, I asked her to turn on the Red Sox game so that we could check the score. The TV was on public TV, so she's currently glued to Lawrence Welk.

As a 3 year old, my great-grandmother was my only babysitter. I used to spend Saturday evenings at her house, watching Lawrence Welk and earning a penny for every pea I ate. K. has taken me right back to the big old house on Live Oak Road.

Free Rice

Look! Over there on the left. The green box, the one that says free rice. Go ahead, click on it and spend a few minutes.
It's a great vocab game, which you can adjust for difficulty. By answering correctly, you will generate donations of rice for the UN World Food program. The rice is paid for by the ads that scroll (unobtrusively) at the bottom of the site. It's addictive.

Allen's turn: Shaken not stirred

Each member of my family has a lot to contribute to what we eat. J. is an avid reader of my cookbook collection, adding his suggestions to the week's menu. K. is less adventurous, but is always willing to eat, well Macaroni and Cheese. (Major victory: she ate both zucchini and bok choy tonight, and appeared to enjoy them.) A. will eat and is a willing sous chef if time permits. Sunday night, he opened the July Bon Appetit and was drawn to the Raspberry-Thyme Smash. We had all of the ingredients on hand and enjoyed this intense refresher two nights in a row!

TWD: Chocolate Pudding

I'm a regular with pudding. When there isn't any ice cream in the house and I am craving something sweet, I often stir up a batch on the stove. Store bought mixes taste like chemicals, and the whole process is easier than most believe it to be.

I put off making Dorie's Chocolate Pudding -- it was simply another pudding, but with more dirty dishes. A few days ago, I picked up a 3.5 oz chocolate bar at Trader Joe's. When I referred to the recipe again on Monday night, I realized that I would be short an ounce and a half. While I was out this afternoon, I zipped into TJ's, picking up milk, almonds, brown rice, Organic Morning Light... at my next stop, picking up the CSA box I realized that I had forgotten my chocolate. Well never fear, Morgan & York carries chocolate -- Callebut 60.4% bittersweet. I paid a pretty price, but it sure is a pretty 1.18 lb block of bliss (and antioxidants, right?)

The Cuisinart technique really does make a smooth pudding, and without the standard 15 minutes of non-stop stirring. I served it in wineglasses. A took one bite, without knowing the chocolate saga and remarked, "this pudding ROCKS!"

This recipe will become the gold standard in my house. When I haven't the time for full fledged pudding making and dish washing, however, this recipe from Cooking Light beats the box hands-down.

Microwave Chocolate Pudding

6 tbsp sugar

1/4 c. unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 1/2 c. 2% milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, cocoa, and cornstarch in a one quart glass measure. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Micorwave on high 3 minutes, stirring after 90 seconds.
Microwave on medium high (70%) 90 seconds or until thick. Add vanilla, stir well with a whisk, Serve warm or cover and chill. Yield 3 servings.

Gut Check: 5 things I'd never do as a parent

Before kids (BK), it was easy to parent. When A. and I were dating, and not even specifically talking about kids, we did agree that we simply couldn't do "hockey or horses." For hockey and horses, we felt that the demands of the sports imposed too much on the lives of the rest of the family. I was a competitive swimmer growing up, and at this point in my life, with the equivalent of a hockey team or two living on my street, I'm not sure how hockey is much different from serious swimming in that regard. That said, I swore I would never do the following:

1) send my child to school with hair sticking straight up.
2) be a hockey family
3) own a horse
4) look at the framed art in my house and find that it is all crooked.
5) short order cook

8+ years later, #2 and #3 still hold. #1 lasted until kindergarten, and the arrival of child #2. We all eat the same dinner if we are eating together, which is most nights. Lunch-- that's another story. I'm not much for sandwiches myself, and often I find myself putting together a separate version of lunch for each member of the family -- and more often than not, it's all "hot" lunch.
Saturday night, I was sitting in the dining room and there was #4, of the 10 pictures hanging on the wall of the stairway, 9 were decidedly crooked. Oh well.
I'm holding firm on the hockey and horses.

bb: Jalepeno Cheddar Cornbread

On the menu tonight:
Crock pot Calypso Beans from Rancho Gordo. I made these with caramelized onions and served them with raw onion, sliced avocado and BBQ sauce on the side.
Watermelon Salad: greens and basil from Needle-lane, watermelon, feta, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Barefoot Contessa's cornbread

The beans were the highlight, the salad refreshing on a hot day, and the cornbread... well it was fine, rich cornbread. I halved the recipe to fill a 9x9 pan and added the kernels of one corn ear. The cornbread was better after cooling than before, certainly buttery and quick to make. I might turn to this recipe again when I feel compelled to make cornbread. For serving with Chili, however, I recommend Cooking Light's Sour Cream Cheddar and Green Onion Drop Biscuits.

I don't cook like my mother

My mom is a very good cook. When A. and I got married, she typed up all of her standby recipes and had them bound into a book at the copy shop. Since she is an eyeball kind of cook, they time she spent eyeballing and then measuring her ingredients in order to pass along the recipe was a real gift of time and love.

I don't think of my mom as a "convenience cook." She uses relatively few processed ingredients of any kind. As I mentioned yesterday, she makes a killer pie crust. She's never served Green Bean Casserole. Somewhere along the way, the rise of the convenience food in the 60's and 70's really infiltrated her psyche.

One time, I baked Tomato Pie from Mom's Cookbook. For the intervening decade between it's debut and today, it has stood solo at the top of the "flops" list. The recipe contains canned biscuits ( a product I would never use today), tomatoes, onions, peppers topped with the winning combination of warm mayonnaise mixed with cheddar cheese. I think the only dish I could serve to A. that would be less popular would contain beets.

For me, childhood would not have been complete without hamburger stroganoff. Not beef, hamburger. When I was a kid, it was made with canned mushrooms and Minute Rice. I've freshened it up some, and I no longer need to crack Mom's Cookbook to make it, but the skillet sauce still contains a can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup and some sour cream. And some nights, there isn't any dinner I'd rather eat. K. thinks so too. She (who delights in loving mushrooms, since J. doesn't eat them), pronounced last night's rendition of the stroganoff "perfect dinner".

Hamburger Stroganoff

1 onion, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 lb ground beef
salt and pepper
splash of sherry or vermouth
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream

Saute onion, garlic and ground beef. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper, and saute until mushrooms are tender. Stir in soup and sherry wine. Simmer 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream and heat through on low. Serve over rice.

What's in the Fridge

in the fridge 1
Originally uploaded by whitneyjbruce

I posted this to a group on Flickr. For more detail about the contents, click on the photo to link to Flickr. If you have any ideas about what I should do with the turnip greens, please let me know!

TWD: Ode to the Blueberry

orbs of blue tart and sweet,
my favorite fruit -- can't be beat
tossed with sugar and flour
and rolled in a dough
served with vanilla ice cream
the best of summer, don't ya know!

Ok, so poetry isn't my strong suit. Amy of South in your mouth selected double crust blueberry pie as this week's TWD recipe.

I've been the pie lady in our circles, both friends and family, as I'm not intimidated by pie crust. Over time, I've covered every holiday classic and all the fruits in between, including the cherry lattice pie after the 27lb cherry sojurn of 2007. I followed Dorie's recipe as written, with solid, consistent results. A. liked Dorie's crust. I prefer the piquancy of my mother's pie crust recipe, which contains many of the tricks found in other crusts, but is unlike any other recipe I've seen.

Mom's Pie Crust

5 c. flour
1tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 ½ c. shortening
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp vinegar
Water

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add shortening, and cut into mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Put egg in a measuring cup and add water to make ¾ cup. Stir in vinegar. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and toss lightly with a fork until moistened. Divide into two balls, flatten into disks, wrap in wax paper and chill at least 30 minutes.
Yield: 2 pies

Daring Bakers: Danish Braid

There it is. In all of its ugly glory.

I've never studied French and I've never made laminated dough. I'll admit to feeling rather proud of myself as this became buttery and puffy in the oven. My danish was filled with a sweet and tart combination of fresh goat cheese and homemade blueberry orange jam from last summer. I absolutely love this combination, as the sweetness of the jam is well tempered by the cheese. It's getting closer to blueberry season here in Michigan, and I'll be picking, and freezing, and jamming before I know it.
So I made the dough, omitting the cardamom for lack of a desire to shop. The dough came out well and was much easier than I had anticipated. Then I got to the filling and braiding--this is where the wheels fell off the cart. I tried to make mine hold together as in the photos. The more the braid rose, the less it stayed braided. I intervened several times, trying to stretch and tuck it back together. During the baking, it split entirely in two, leaving dry, flaky danish-y pieces and thick, moist filling-y bites. Both were good, but they would have been so much better together.
My perfectionist side would like to conquer the Danes, but my other half really prefers so many other baked goods to Danish.