A Few of My Favorite Things, Winter Edition

1. Mason Jars - Apparently I have been come to be known as the girl who has an affinity to mason jars. I store food in them, use them as vases and even use them as drinking glasses when the rest are in the dishwasher. My mother thinks I'm crazy. I argue that they are quite the versatile item and better for food storage than plastic (no leakage of food or dirty chemicals.) And then I discovered Corner Grille in Worcester, where they sell their homemade lemonade and iced tea in mason jars. A match made in heaven.

2. Homemade wool mittens - It's amazing how warm these mittens are. I bought them this fall at the Red Apple Farm's winter festival. I haven't taken them off since.

3. Best Food Writing of 2011 - I'm enjoying reading (and in some cases, rereading) the most poignant stories of 2011, edited by Holly Hughes. 

4. Rupert the Elephant Planter - Yes, I have named him.

5. Green smoothies - I know the green smoothie has become a cliche in the food blog world, but there's not reason to knock it. I put baby spinach, frozen cubes of peach puree, milk, peanut butter, and sometimes a little orange juice in mine (blueberries, yogurt, soymilk are occasionally added). It's full of nutrients and is quite filling. Don't knock it 'til you try it.

6. Microfiber hair towels and wide-toothed combs - This may be a strange one, but I've turned a corner  in embracing my curly hair. Did you know there's a whole world out there for girls with curly hair? There are special curly hair cuts that you can get, special chemical-free products that enhance the curl, and specific ways to treat your curls so they look your best. The two ways I've recently ascribed to are 1) drying your hair with a microfiber towel. Apparently it helps to reduce frizz and dryness. It seems to be working. 2) Combing wet hair with a wide-toothed comb. It allows the curls to curl up in their own way. Brushes discourage the curls from bunching in their natural form. It appears my curls have taken on a life of their own. 

Question of the Day: What are you favorite things as of late?

Texas n' Tacos

A couple weeks ago, I boarded a plane to Texas to visit Elizabeth. It was my first time to the Lone Star state (besides the occasional trip through Dallas to switch planes.)

Getaways always revolve around food. Though who am I kidding? I breathe, sleep and work food 24/7, so a vacation to a new state with new food culture meant some serious exploring and eating.

Elizabeth currently lives in Houston, and we certainly did our share of exploring the food scene for the less than 24 hours we spent in this city. When I arrived, she took me straight to Monica Pope's t'afia. I was impressed with their commitment to "eat where your food lives." I was shocked that when we arrived at 6 pm the place was quiet and we sat right down. Their drink menu offered quite a few unique combinations of flavors including their signature ratafia, a fortified wine infused with seasonal produce. My only criticism is that I would have liked to have seen more featured fresh vegetarian and veggie-filled menu items and limiting the focus on the meats.

The next morning Elizabeth and I headed to the Houston Farmers Market. After a 4 mile jog, fresh citrus, homemade breakfast of eggs, greens and grits and the biggest cinnamon roll from Sinfull Bakery was just what I had in mind.

We then trekked off to Austin, mecca of the food truck movement. When we arrived, our first priority was to get a taco from Torchy's Tacos.

Famed for their unique and delicious tacos, they certainly lived up to their name. After much deliberation, I went with the brush fire taco, a combination of jerk chicken, grilled jalapenos, mango, sour cream, cilantro and... diablo sauce. The sauce lived up to its flaming name, for sure. I made frequent trips to the water cooler during the eating of this taco.

The food truck scene here is amazing. From tacos to cupcakes, Thai to BBQ, this city of cobbled-together mobile food purveyors had it all. Next to many of the "food courts" (i.e. a parking lot in which they all congregate) were art and craft courts too. We found these especially unique items at one from the Plaid Pigeon.

This was the little guy I packed in my carry-on and kidnapped from his balmy habitat to the Northeast (he's not loving the snow...).

We also enjoyed brunch before heading back to Houston at the Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse, the local caffeine dealer. The caffeinated beverages and brunch were delicious.

Other Austin fun:

Moonshine Lemonade at Lustre Pearl

Local graffiti

Austin transportation

Last night I was reminiscing about that delicious Torchy's Taco. So, with what I had in the refrigerator, I tried to recreate the best I could.

 Here's what each taco consisted of:

1 corn tortilla, sprayed with cooking spray an toasted for 5 minutes, until bubbly
1/3 cup leftover BBQ chicken
2 Tbsp mashed avocado with a squirt of lemon juice
1 Tbsp plain yogurt
A liberal dose of sriracha sauce

It was the perfect dose of Texas.

Question of the Day: Have you been to Texas?

Ringing in 2012

Happy New Year! I hope your celebration of the new year enthralled you as much as it did I.

I started 2012 off with a bang; Tim and I celebrated our engagement with a brunch celebration. The permeating theme was "enjoying the local flavors." Thus, we celebrated with local wines, sparkling ciders and a beautiful array of foods grown, processed and prepared locally. We got a helping hand from Haute Cuisine Couture who assembled, cooked and served the food.

Since this was a brunch following the morning after the biggest party night of the year, we knew we had to have some strong, delicious coffee. Our guests started off with a steaming cup of Dean's Beans Moka Java.

There were also libations including Still River Winery's Apple Ice Wine and mimosas. For those not imbibing, Carlson Orchards McIntosh Sparkling Cider was the refreshing option.

And then came the food.

Old Mill pecan rolls.

Platters of fresh fruits, cheeses and meats.

Entree items included freshly made turkey meatballs in marinara from Bob's Turkey Farm and apple butternut squash soup shooters.

Breakfast casserole made with Country Hen eggs and Maple Heights Farm breakfast sausage.

But the piece de resistance was really the cheeseboard. This feature had been weeks in the making. I first went out to find a piece of slate large enough to hold all of the cheese. For less than $10, I bought a piece of square slate, cleaned, painted, sealed, and put non-slip holders on it for a perfect holder for these local cheeses.

We ate some of my favorites:

• Smith's Country Cheese smoked gouda
• Smith's Country Cheese sharp cheddar
• Robinson Farm "Barndance"
• Westfield Farm chocolate capri (the clear favorite of all)
• Westfield Farm farmers' cheese
• Westfield Farm herb and garlic
• Westfield Farm blue
• Westfield Farm cranberry orange

And for dessert, mini cupcakes from Honey Bee Baking Company in Princeton.

But the best part was the company.

As guests headed home to enjoy their New Years Day, they took home party favors: half-pound bags of freshly-ground Dean's Beans coffee, stamped with our initials and the date.

Happy New Year! 

(courtesy of Mark Girouard)

I'd like to thank Heidi of Haute Cuisine Couture for an excellent orchestration of food. Mark Girouard, a local photographer, also attended the party. If you're local and looking for a personal chef or a photographer with a collection of beautiful photos, I suggest Heidi and Mark! Feel free to contact me for more information.

Question of the Day: What do you see for yourself in 2012?

Disclaimer: I was not paid to promote Haute Cuisine Couture or Mark Girouard.

Back for Lunch & Cat Humor

I'm back, two days in a row, for lunch! This is a miracle of sorts. Actually, my winter holiday starts today, and so I have the rest of the year off.

That joke never gets old.

This isn't a promise to share what I eat every day for lunch; so let's just take it slow here.

I'm impressed with those food bloggers who can post their meals and some humorous and enjoyable commentary alongside on a daily basis. Even more props to those who post three times each day. I can barely remember to shower every day (that one's for you Tim), never mind take photos of my food and write something witty. 

But back to today. This morning ended up being glorious. I walked to the post office first (I have an addiction to checking my PO Box. Too bad that addiction didn't also translate into blog posting... or showering. There you are again, Tim) to get some business done, and then headed out for a jog. 

I think I've reached a new level of boring in my life. Not the post office, or the jog (although those could both qualify) but as I was jogging, I passed all of these well-decorated houses with the most beautiful doors. Festive red doors with huge fresh green wreathes. Old doors on houses from the 1850s decorated with red winter berry wreathes. Doors upon doors. I pondered doing a photo montage of "Doors of Westminster" and then realized that I have plummeted to a new level of mind numb. 

Sorry to bore you with the doors.

After this stimulating run, I came home to this delicious lunch. Talk about excitement.

FSTG corn chips, homemade fish chowder and a satsuma orange

The fish chowder materialized after my deep guilt for my hoarder's freezer. Scary. Don't judge. It was time to purge the frost-bitten packages wedged behind the ice trays.

Most of it is packed with peaches and homemade chicken stock, but I was lucky enough to find some frozen cod and corn, and from that came this delicious fish chowder. It started out being this Eating Well recipe for creamy fish chowder and ended up something else. I didn't add bacon but used some butter and olive oil to cook the onions and garlic. I had no clam juice: substituted vegetable broth instead. I added a ton of frozen corn. The result was a thin-brothed soup. I'm not sure everyone enjoys this type of chowder, but I know I do. The gummy consistency of many clam chowders don't appeal to me.

So if you are sleeping at this point because this post was so boring (in which case you wouldn't be reading this) or if you, in some tangled and distorted way do not believe I embody the likes of a bore, please watch this video.  Then you'll agree. Yes, I take iPhone videos of my cat trying to get a Christmas bow off his head. 

Any Given Day

If I'm home working during the noon hour, lunch is usually a tuna sandwich, peanut "noodles" or some combination of refrigerator ingredients strung together for a balanced plate.

Today was no different. But today featured an old friend. Tempeh.

If you haven't quite made it to the tofu stage, tempeh might be a good first step. It's a bit more texturized than tofu and soaks up the flavor of whatever it is sauteed in (Trader Joe's island soyaki sauce). I learned that in order for it to taste best, you must steam it for a few minutes before sauteing. This removes any bitter taste.

Paired with a slice of The Black Sheep deli whole wheat bread and kale and it's time for lunch!

Question of the Day: Have you ever tried tempeh?

Spaghetti Squash Peanut "Noodles"

Bear with me. This is one of my more peculiar combinations, but I swear this adulterated version of pad thai works.

That is, as I sit here sipping on a green smoothie packed with spinach that tastes a bit more like salad in a cup than the soymilk or peaches accompanying it.

This dish manifested from a post-workout, late evening hunger surge that a bowl of cereal usually squelches. But my latest efforts to purge cabinets of random jars, boxes, and packages of half-eaten content left me with no cereal; instead, the fridge contained some sour buttermilk (I tossed that immediately!) a bowl full of cooked spaghetti squash in all its stringy glory, one scoop of peanut butter left in the jar, half a lime, and some beans.

This dish requires a bit more imagination but you'll like it. The buttermilk has no role, except that it functioned as one of the extraneous ingredients I still hand hanging around in the refrigerator, and like I said, was deposited in the trash.

Let's talk spaghetti squash for a moment. My first experience with it surprised me. I cut the giant lemonade-colored orb in half, expecting a texture of uncooked spaghetti, but found the texture of butternut squash. It amazed me that when cooked properly, the flesh breaks up into a texture quite similar to spaghetti. I know, it's the little things.

Spaghetti Squash Peanut Noodles 
(for one)

1 cup cooked spaghetti squash, broken up with a fork
1 cup kale, ribbon cut
1/4 cup peanuts
2 heaping Tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp sesame oil
juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup cranberry beans, cooked

Combine squash, kale and beans and mix together. In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, lime juice and oil and drizzle over squash mixture. In this case, squash, kale and beans were leftovers, so I reheated in the microwave for 1 minute. In a small saute pan, roast peanuts for 5 minutes, or until browning and fragrant. Sprinkle peanuts on top of dish.

Question of the Day: Any weird combinations of food that are working for you lately?

A Yeast Feast

I've been tinkering with my bread machine and a variety of bread recipes lately. When I came across this whole-wheat pizza dough in the September/October issue of Eating Well, I knew I had to try it. The outcome? A hearty (but not dense) crust that was one of the better recipes I've tried for pizza dough.

In our house, we institute a make-your-own rule when it comes to pizza toppings. I typically roll out 4 individual small round crusts, two for us to eat then and two for lunch the following day. Whatever leftover vegetables lurking in the refrigerator get chopped and the pizzas get topped.

Our pizzas held a combination of cheeses (mozzarella, cheddar and/or feta), quick homemade pizza sauce (tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, herbs, garlic), beets, spinach, onions, olives, and peppers.

Beyond pizza crusts, there have also been butter rolls made for Thanksgiving, a few hearty loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread, and homemade pretzels.

The homemade pretzels materialized from a bread machine loaf of dough. These were delicious with some honey mustard, eaten during a Pats game.

Patriots Pretzels
makes 8 large pretzels
(adapted from Kitchenmaker Pro Breadmaker Cookbook)

14 oz warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
2 cups bread flour
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
1 egg, beaten (optional)
1 Tbsp coarse salt (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a bread machine and set to "dough" setting. When dough cycle is complete, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove dough and place on floured surface. Cut dough into 8 pieces. Roll into 12 inch rope, and shape into a pretzel. Place on a greased cookie sheet, and brush the tops with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

I'm revisiting Zoe Francois's cookbook Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. As we speak, I have a rustic whole wheat loaf rising and ready to be baked off momentarily for egg sandwiches and toast this week.

A rising loaf of bread. A pot of simmering beans. The noises of football and Christmas music in the background. The smell of wood stove smoke from a neighbor's. A thick wool blanket. A snoring cat. The soft living room light. This basically sums up what makes me happy on a Sunday evening.

Question of the Day: What have you been baking lately?