With St. Patty’s coming up and all the Irish folk in my family, I think this recipe is in order for the weekend!
Caraway Soda Bread from Simply Recipes
{image shown belongs to Simply Recipes}
To celebrate my Mom’s recent birthday, I thought it would be nice to have a small get together with the immediate female family members and have a tea party this weekend. Take out the fine china, make some finger sandwiches and soup, and of course have scones and desserts. I’ve tried so many scone recipes and this one is by far, the best.
Here’s my best advice to any scone recipe… do not overmix the dough when you mix the dry and wet ingredients (or they’ll be absolutely ruined) and use your hands. I cannot stress this enough. It seems a little odd, but trust me in that it makes all the difference. After so many of my attempts at scones came out horrible, I started watching videos of older women from various parts of the UK making scones and the one thing I noticed was how they mixed the wet and dry ingredients: with their hands. This proves two points: sometimes hands are better than spatulas, and sometimes you can’t just read a recipe to really understand it.
Thank god for youtube… where else can you learn how to properly make a scone from a 65 year old woman from England at 10:30 pm in Massachusetts?
{image belongs to House of Annie}
One of my favorite types of cuisine is Indian, thanks to my husband who is head-over-heels for it and insisted that I keep trying it until eventually, I fell for it too. The combination of spices are unlike anything else, and was for me (I was a very picky and bland eater) hard to take at first. But over time, I grew to like the flavors and now especially during the winter months I find myself craving it, wanting to warm up from the inside on out. Chana Masala is one of my favorites, and is also one that I’ve found is easier to make. None of my attempts at making Indian cuisine have really tasted like the actual stuff, but this dish can come close. I haven’t tried this particular recipe yet, but it looks like just the thing to experiment with this chilly winter weekend.
Chana Masala (from Smitten Kitchen)
{image shown belongs to Smitten Kitchen)
I love homemade chicken soup. I could probably make it every week and still want more. I always buy an entire rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and pull the entire thing apart for the soup, so there’s a mix of dark and white meat. For years I would simply throw away the leftover bones immediately afterward, until I realized I was wasting the rest of the chicken. For the last few months with every chicken that I buy, as soon as I’ve finished removing all the meat I use the remains to make chicken stock. It’s so much better (and better for you) than the containers you’ll buy at the grocery store, and you’re getting every last penny out of what you purchased. And best of all, you won’t be wasting the rest of the bird, and it feels good to know I’m using every part that I can.
The best advice I can give is make sure to throw in vegetables (onions, carrots, celery) and herbs (fresh parsley, bay leaves) when you make the stock, and always let it very gently simmer. Also, don’t forget to skim often (and don’t throw that down the drain! It can clog your pipes.) I like to make the stock the day before I make the soup, so that it can sit overnight in the fridge, and the next day I can skim any remaining fat off the top. If you don’t need the stock right away, it freezes well for several months. Here’s the recipe that I use:
As a child, I had my favorite vegetables that I ate, but rarely (if ever) did I try anything new. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas and string beans were pretty much it. Marrying someone who not only absolutely loves vegetables (I’m definitely more of a fruit person instead) but is also willing and eager to try new foods has opened my tastebuds to vegetables I would’ve groaned over when I was little. It also helps that he literally pushes me to “just take a bite and try it”, even when I don’t want to. Recently I’ve been sticking to the same veggies for side dishes (spinach, potatoes, and carrots) and I’m actually wanting to try new-to-me vegetables. One that I recently past by in the supermarket and thought “geez, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten those” were parsnips. They look a little bit like a carrot, but are apparently stronger in flavor. My favorite food blog has a recipe that looks interesting, so I’m going to give it a try.
Roasted Parsnips (from Simply Recipes)
Do you have any vegetables (and veggie recipes) that you recommend?
{image shown belongs to Simply Recipes}
As much as I love all the sweet and rich foods of the holidays, every year by the time New Years rolls around I am sick of it all. Cookies, cakes, candy, sweet breads, chocolates… even a “sweet” person like me hits a wall. Before the new year begins I really start to feel lethargic and very unhealthy, and that’s when I know it’s time to get my eating back on track. With perfect timing, I received my new issue of Body + Soul in the mail today (*thank you again, Lori!) and detox smoothies were on the cover. With delicious ingredients like mango, cucumber, apples, and peaches, I’m very excited to make many of the beverages. Not too sure about adding in raw cabbage… but I guess I’m willing to give it a try.
Click here for all the detox smoothie recipes from Body + Soul.
{magazine cover shown belongs to Body + Soul. for more of my at home photos, check out my Flickr}
Last week’s Christmas celebrations had a wide range of emotions for me. At it’s best, I was savoring time spent with my visiting extended family (particularly two of my cousins whom I’m best friends with and rarely do we all get to be together), watching the excitement of the kids in the family opening gifts, and enjoying a delicious challah bread french toast breakfast Christmas morning. The worst: worrying over buying and finishing gifts last minute on Christmas Eve (I never seem to be able to learn from last year’s stresses), totally stressing out over my nephew’s stocking which I sewed incorrectly multiple times, and never eating the cider brined turkey I was so looking forward to (and invested so much time and money into). Yep, that’s right… no turkey. We listened to Emeril and took the turkey out at 160°, which we learned the hard way that it was still too early (but because I was frantically trying to sew a stocking, I wasn’t paying attention to the turkey and just told my husband to take it out). My Mom assured me to simply put it back in the oven at my mother-in-law’s house, but after it had been out of the oven for about 1.5 hours, it took forever to heat back up again and never reached 180°. I also forgot to bring more stock to baste with and the turkey began to dry out. At 8:30 pm when it was time for dessert, my husband and I gave up. I figured at least this weekend I could make turkey soup with it, keeping it out on the freezing cold porch, but thanks to Mother Nature it reached 50-55° on Sunday and it was not cold enough anymore to be safe to eat.
Going into 2010, I’m once again reminded that I am not perfect. Although I am quite the control freak as well as a perfectionist, I am human and we all make mistakes. Nothing can ever go as smoothly as we’d like, especially during the holidays. I’m an a true romantic with visions of Christmas being as beautiful as a holiday card: snow slowly falling and I’m sitting by a cozy fire, carefully and quietly stitching up a handmade gift while Bing Crobsy plays in the background as I soak up the warmth of the holiday spirit. This has never been the case, I don’t know why I continually think it will be. I need to remember that many of my projects have a certain amount of stress and frustration involved as I try to figure out (usually last minute) how to complete them. Life isn’t like Little Women where everyone sits by a fire, singing carols and giving simple gifts (with not a bit of today’s overcommercialized, guilt ridden “did I buy a gift for _____, because I can’t be caught without something for everyone”, holiday in sight). I had an inkling that it might not be the best idea to try a new recipe (a turkey, at that) on Christmas Eve, but figured I would have the whole day to cook away in the kitchen. I am a stubborn New England Yankee, liking to do things myself and trying to “do it all”, regardless of how much free time I have, and always wanting to make things from scratch (because obviously, homemade is superior to anything else – yes, I’m being sarcastic). What I’m realizing is that as often as my husband says it to me (and I usually tune him out only to be cursing out loud and begging for his help once I’m up to my knees) is that I spread myself too thin sometimes, and I’m hoping this is something I can remember and learn from as the New Year approaches.
Even though my turkey clearly won the battle, I ripped out more seams and restitched things more than I could count, and cursed the holidays while frantically cleaning and getting ready while already being late, there were successes. I managed to bake four types of Christmas cookies (which I received many compliments about, which helped to fix my bruised kitchen ego), finally and successfully finished my nephew’s stocking in the knick of time, and made a heartfelt, handmade gift with my nephew for him to give to his parents, who loved it more than any of their other gifts. My attempts at enjoying the simplicity of the holidays didn’t necessarily work this year, but there is always the next time. And with the happy holiday memories I do have, along with the ones I’d rather forget, I will move forward into 2010 and remember to enjoy it to the fullest …while not burning myself out.
Today I will be spending a special “auntie and nephew day” with my oldest nephew and one of the things we plan on doing is making Christmas cookies. We’ll be making yummy sugar cookies and perhaps we’ll do a Christmas craft together as well. Even though I’m looking forward to bake with him, the point was to be able to spend some special time with someone I love. And tonight when our day is over, you can guarantee that I’ll be baking away in the kitchen, with my four different kinds of cookie dough ready to go (sugar, chocolate chip, molasses, and cardamom). I think it’s the sweet things that make holidays extra special!
I’ll be taking the rest of the week off from blogging to enjoy my favorite time of the year, but I’ll be back here on Monday.
To those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! And as always, Happy Holidays.
{cookie images belong to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia}
I’ve never made a turkey before (my Mom has always cooked it on Thanksgiving), and I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a brined turkey. I’ve talked to several people about how they cook their turkeys and many of them swear by brining, so now my interest has been peaked… what’s this brining business all about? After watching this clip of Emeril’s Cider-Brined Turkey on Martha, I think this Christmas Eve will be my first attempt brining and baking the large bird. After successfully making a roast for the first time this past weekend, I think I’m up for the challenge. I have the entire day off so I’d rather make something special and use a recipe I haven’t made before since it is Christmas Eve. We’ll see how it goes… I hope I’m not cringing at these words on Thursday, stressing out and wishing I had just made a lasagna instead!
{image shown is not the Emeril recipe, but is another cider brined turkey that looks very successful. the image belongs to mintyfreshflavor}
This Thanksgiving I’m on baking duty: specifically cookie duty. Not everyone is a huge pie person; wait, let me restate that. I’m not a big pie person and only recently learned to like pie, but only apple, blueberry, and fruit-of-the-forest… no pecan or pumpkin for me (my sister would call that complete crazy talk). With past Thanksgivings in mind where pie was the only option, I’m making some finger food desserts that are sure to please everyone, one of which will be oatmeal raisin cookies. I have a great recipe already, but this one from Smitten Kitchen is making me think perhaps I can try an alternate. My brother-in-law has been asking for me to bake oatmeal raisin cookies for about two years now, so they’ve got to be good (or else). I think with my most recent recipe from Smitten Kitchen being a success, this one will definitely do the trick.
Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (via Smitten Kitchen)
{image shown belongs to Smitten Kitchen}