Lavender Water: A How To Guide

I was lucky enough to head to Hillside Farmacy with my friend Christine and as we were noshing on lavender French macaroons (my macaroon mission will be posted in a different post completely, this is still a work in progress) she was saying how into lavender she said this summer.  Which reminded me of my attempt to make Honey Lavender Ice Cream last summer.  It turned out quite lovely, but my husband, not being partial to the taste of lavender in his food and my body not really being so good with the processing of glucose as of late, made making that ice cream a bit of a waste of time as far as future batches were concerned.  

My mom got me a thing of lavender hand wash for my kitchen sink and I do like to smell my hands after washing them.  Christine was saying she's been using a lavender spray this summer as a light fragrance.  Our common enjoyment of lavender first caused me to try and pawn off some of the giant bag of culinary lavender I bought on Amazon (see below) to make that ice cream which I will now never use, on her.  My next thought was, other than the obvious (sachets) how can I use it around the house?  

Another gift I got from my mom is lavender linen spray from Crabtree and Evelyn.  I will admit to spritzing our sheets with this stuff rather than changing the sheets once a week to buy us a few more nights until I get around to changing them (or as a stalling tactic until the maid comes and does it for me).  You can also use it in your laundry steamer or to spritz your clothes as you iron them.  But this stuff isn't cheap.  It lasts me a very long time, but it's still around $18 and doesn't solve my lavender surplus issue and it's not really intended to spray on your skin.  

So while I was shopping at Hobby Lobby for another project (painting a rug, whole other blog post) I picked up a spray bottle in the paint supply section for $1.50.  I perused some YouTube videos, I saw some talk about using distilled water or vodka and steeping the lavender in it and it seemed like a waste of vodka/that I would end up smelling like a drunken hobo if I used those approaches.  So with nothing to lose, I threw a handful of the dried lavender into a pint glass, filled it with water, and forgot about it for 2 hours.  

Later that night I came into the kitchen to get a beer and remembered my little experiment.  I strained the lavender out with a strainer and then ran it through a dish cloth to get out any fine particles.  I filled my little bottle using a funnel I keep for cooking purposes.  I think getting the organic matter out of the water is pretty important, otherwise I think it would start to smell rotten.  

So there you have it, my bottle of homemade lavender water.  My only complaint is that it's brown and I'm worried about it staining things, like say, a white blouse.  But I'd use it on my brown sheets or dark colored clothing and came back from yoga this morning and spritzed myself in the sweaty face with it and it was rather refreshing.  I think it would be nice to make up a few of these and put a fancy label on them and give them as hostess gifts, but I'm worried the brown color makes this a fairly undesirable gift.  What do you think?

Other uses for culinary lavender include mixing some with your tea leaves.  In 2007 I was in Sydney, Australia and sat down to tea at a delightful tea room and was served a mix of black tea and lavender.  I've been searching all over for it since and the closest I've come is a blend of Earl Grey and lavender.  I'm not a fan of Earl Grey, so I've been mixing some of the dried lavender in with my loose leaf English Breakfast and achieved a much more favorable result.  

Hostess/Thank You Gifts

To thank many of the friends who did so much for us while we were recovering from H's birth, I made these Cowgirl Cookies in a jar, as featured on Bakerella's blog.

I made them the weekend before I was induced, basically it's a yummy oatmeal, chocolate chip, M&M cookie with the mix all in the jar.  All you add is vanilla, butter, and an egg.  This year I've been really big on hostess and/or thank you gifts because I think it's important to show gratitude to those who have gone out of the way for you. I think it's really classy to share a little something with someone who has taken the time to do you a kindness, so I've started to stock up my house with all sorts of little homemade or relatively inexpensive gifts to have on hand in a pinch, if I've been invited to someone's home for dinner or if someone's agreed to babysit the munchkin for us while we go live it up.

For this recipe, I took advantage of the pastel M&Ms that were on the shelves for Easter.  I even found white chocolate M&Ms for some of the jars, which were AMAZING and paired with the chocolate chips, having two types of chocolate in the cookies really kicked them up a notch.  D has already deemed them the best cookies I've ever made. 

When I made them, I couldn't fit the nuts in most of the jars, I guess I didn't pack them down enough, but I figured better to give them without the nuts in case people have allergies.  I made these as I mentioned, before I gave birth, so I was diabetic and couldn't even taste them.  They make two dozen and since I couldn't have sweets, I formed all the cookies into balls and froze the dough so I could pull a couple cookies out of the freezer and let the dough balls defrost on the counter while I cooked dinner.  Then after dinner I baked them in the toaster oven and served them to D with a glass of milk for dessert.  I did notice (and my mom had the same problem with this recipe) that the balls didn't really spread properly in the oven, so I made sure to squish the cookies down a bit with the back of a wooden spoon before I put them in the oven.

And I calculated that each of these cookies comes out to 4 WW points.  Totally worth it when I have extra points lying around!

Happy New Year!

We had one of our most low key New Year's celebrations this year, maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, but maybe I just realized how super duper blessed we are.  Saturday I spent most of the day in the kitchen, cooking chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles (YUM!) and the Barefoot Contessa's Greek Salad Recipe.  I added some lettuce to the salad, since D isn't fond of weird veggie only salads.  I also used some of the olive oil we brought back from Tuscany for the dressing.  I hate how Ina Garten is always saying "use 1/4 of a cup of good olive oil," implying that her viewers typically buy some sort of subpar ingredients on a regular basis but since you're making her recipe you should step it up a notch?  Maybe it's just me....

Anyways, I brought half the cupcakes over to a get together at D's brother and sister-in-law's house in the late afternoon.  We visited and had snacks and the boys grilled.  I mostly housed the chips and dips, using pregnancy as my excuse for my usual gluttony over anything dippable. 

After the sun set we headed home to change clothes, feed the pups, and then head to NYE bash number two (yes, we're very popular, kind of a big deal, I know) where I brought the rest of the cupcakes for dessert and the greek salad I'd prepared earlier.  We went over to Christine and Parker's for an AMAZING dinner complete with an impressive spread of hors derves, wines, egg nog, a delicious prime rib, yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, and kale au gratin.  Suddenly, I wished I'd made a more impressive dessert, maybe cupcakes are a bit low brow as a finale for a spread like that, maybe I'm a bit nutty because I'm preggo, but they were moist and totally hit the spot.  I ate two.

We headed home right after midnight, this preggo was A) exhausted and B) *TMI alert* rather gassy.  Like grab on to something wincing in pain with gas cramps gassy.  It was so bad that I had flashes of worry that I was in labor or something.  Then the reality set in that oh-my-god-labor-is-going-to-hurt-that-much-and-more-f*#$!  So we came home where I could take the appropriate medications and wait out the storm in the peace of my own bed.  Also, note, that this isn't  like me being all farty and gross, it was just pains, I would kill to "be all farty".  The baby seems to be jamming up all that business in my digestive tract so it's not getting out, thus the intense stabbing pains in my abdomen, causing me to excuse myself from social gatherings, lest people interpret my periodic gasps and winces of pain as I clutch the nearest pillow as actual labor.  I blame that damn greek salad and all the chopped up veggies.... 

 

New Year's Day we woke up, decidedly un-hungover, and spent the day doing chores around the house.  I picked out a paint color for the baby's room.  There were multiple trips to Lowes.  The paint department guy there officially knows me as the crazy pregnant lady who bought WAY too many sample jars of paint and made off with roughly half their paint chips.

Left to right:  Sliced Cucumber, Lilting Laughter, Yellow Bliss, Butter, and on the bottom, Vanilla Wafer

The Lilting Laughter came off very pink and while I loved the Sliced Cucumber, we realized our ENTIRE house is either green or grey and that it wouldn't kill us to use a different color in one effing room.  Vanilla Wafer is a bit too close too white, so it's in between Yellow Bliss and Butter.  Butter looks best in the daylight, Yellow Bliss, best by artificial light.  We're still trying to decide between the two, but I'm sure it'll look great whichever one we choose.  As you can see we have ridiculously dark blue walls in that room, so a good coat of primer will be required. 

While I was having my color summit in the nursery (attendees included two terriers and D), I also made a big pot of my Guinness Stew.  This is one recipe that I can genuinely claim I made up.  I researched some other versions online, but it was inspired by something D had skiing one time and came home and told me about.  I made some tweaks from the last time I made it.

-Brown the meat in half a stick of butter.  Toss the meat with 2 tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper, then throw it into the melted butter.  I used 2 lbs this time.
-slice up an onion, 4 cloves of garlic, two carrots, 8 oz of sliced mushrooms, and half a lb of new potatoes, sliced in half.
-throw it all in a pot, add a can of tomato paste (4 oz-ish?) pour in a can of Guinness, add a cup of water and one packet of onion soup mix (I made this in the past with 2 packets, but I'm trying to cool it on the sodium being preggo and all and it was perfect)
-throw in some herbs, thyme, a couple bay leaves, some dried parsley, basically anything that sounds good and isn't nailed down
-put a lid on it and slide it into a 350 degree oven for 2 hours (I took it out once to stir it half way through)
-D likes his sauces thick, so I thickened the sauce with a couple tablespoons of flour, but that's totally optional
-I served it with buttermilk biscuits, but if you kept the sauce thinner, some rice or egg noodles might be nice.

And there you have it, flying by the seat of my pants, making it up as I go and never the same way twice, but it always turns out damn tasty and D is a very happy man.    Which is good because he spent the whole day rekeying our locks, replacing door knobs, fixing our brand new fan (which was crappily made, engineer husband to the rescue!).  And that is the very unglamourous way we rang in the new year, but it made me realize how blessed we were to have so many good friends, plenty of food on the table, jobs that allow us to have such nice things, a beautiful home, a darling child on the way, and of course, two of the snuggliest and most entertaining pups on the planet.  Sometimes you have to stop and wonder what you did to deserve all this, you know?

Thanksgiving Entertaining

This Thanksgiving I'm making a couple recipes that I found on the Internet and have tested out one or more times with good results so I thought I'd share my contributions to the family Thanksgiving meal.  Also, I cooked my first Thanksgiving meal last year as we hosted it at our house.  I'll share with you some lessons learned.  I find that cranberry sauce is not as hot of a commodity on the Thanksgiving table as some of the other sides, but it's one of my favorites.  I'll never forget my first Thanksgiving with D's family when I saw them slicing the gelatinous goo out of the can with a look of horror.  Cranberry sauce has always been my job in my family.  I typically follow the back of the cranberry bag's directions exactly, but since I'm sharing this talent with D's family, I decided to dress it up a bit with this recipe.

Cranberry Sauce

Gourmet Magazine November 1991

• a 12-ounce bag of cranberries, picked over
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 to 3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar, or to taste
• two 3-inch cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, or to taste
• 3/4 cup water

Preparation

In a saucepan combine the cranberries, the honey, the brown sugar, the cinnamon sticks, the cloves, the nutmeg, and the water and simmer the mixture, covered, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cranberries have burst and the mixture is thickened. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and let it cool. The sauce may be made 2 days in advance and kept covered and chilled. Serve the sauce at room temperature.

According to the Internet, cranberry sauce freezes really well so I plan on making it Monday night and then allowing it to defrost Wednesday night in the fridge.

I tried the next recipe for D's birthday and he gave it rave reviews.  Since we'll be staying in a cabin and somewhat "camping" this year for Thanksgiving, I thought this was a perfect dessert.  I use store bought graham cracker crusts because I think making crusts from scratch are a fool's errand and that no one can really taste or appreciate the difference, so why bother unless you're going for something very specialized?

Chocolate S'more Pie

Gourmet November 2006

For chocolate cream filling

• 7 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not more than 70% cacao; not unsweetened), finely chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 large egg, at room temperature for 30 minutes

For marshmallow topping

• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-ounce package)
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Vegetable oil for greasing

Preparation

Make chocolate cream filling:
Make graham cracker crumb crust and reserve.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put chocolate in a large bowl. Bring cream just to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan, then pour hot cream over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute, then gently whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Gently whisk in egg and a pinch of salt until combined and pour into graham cracker crumb crust (crust will be about half full).

Cover edge of pie with a pie shield or foil and bake until filling is softly set and trembles slightly in center when gently shaken, about 25 minutes. Cool pie to room temperature on a rack (filling will firm as it cools), about 1 hour.

Make marshmallow topping:
Sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water in a large deep heatproof bowl and let stand until softened, about 1 minute.

Stir together sugar, corn syrup, a pinch of salt, and remaining 1/4 cup water in cleaned 1- to 1 1/4-quart heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then boil until thermometer registers 260°F, about 6 minutes.

Begin beating water and gelatin mixture with an electric mixer at medium speed, then carefully pour in hot syrup in a slow stream, beating (avoid beaters and side of bowl). When all of syrup is added, increase speed to high and continue beating until mixture is tripled in volume and very thick, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla and beat until combined, then immediately spoon topping onto center of pie filling; it will slowly spread to cover top of pie. Chill, uncovered, 1 hour, then cover loosely with lightly oiled plastic wrap (oiled side down) and chill 3 hours more.

Brown topping:
Preheat broiler.

Transfer pie to a baking sheet. Cover edge of pie with pie shield or foil and broil 3 to 4 inches from heat, rotating pie as necessary, until marshmallow topping is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Cool pie on a rack 10 minutes. Slice pie with a large heavy knife dipped in hot water and then dried with a towel before cutting each slice.

I plan on making the chocolate portion on Monday night.  Unfortunately, I'm planning on lugging my stand mixer along (I have a more portable hand mixer, but 5 or 6 minutes of holding that thing seems like torture.  I know, I'm spoiled.) so I can make the marshmallow topping the night before Thanksgiving.  I plan on popping it under the broiler right after dinner to make the marshmallow the perfect amount of gooey. 

Lessons Learned From Last Year

• Do not try to brine a Butterball turkey, it will come out too salty.
• If you do brine your turkey (and you really should, it makes a world of difference if you do it right) pay careful attention to the brining time and salt quantity indicated versus the weight of your bird.  I really messed this up last year and our turkey came out so salty it was practically inedible. 
• A good apetizer you can get super easy is baked brie.  My local HEB carried ones already wrapped in puff pastry with fruit topping between the pastry and the brie.  This appetizer really wows and all you have to do is dump the thing in the oven and slice up some apples, carrots, cellary, and lay out some crackers.
• If you're doing a cheese tray, include a nice variety of cheeses, both hard and soft and a mix of fruit are a good combination.  I also recommend you include a wedge of honeycomb.  You can order one from Savannah Bee Company, one of the vendors I tried recently at A Christmas Affair.  They always include a little honeycomb on my favorite cheese tray at Cru, which is where I got this idea.
• Most of all, relax, it's Thanksgiving.  Sometimes it goes off without a hitch and sometimes after weeks of planning you totally ruin the turkey in a freak brining accident.  Just chalk it up to a good story you'll all laugh about someday.

How To Tuesday: Agua Frescas

I've been playing around a lot lately with agua frescas. It started when I had a big quarter of a watermelon and didn't know what to do with it. Today I decided to play with cantaloupe. The process is the same for each kind of melon but both yield refreshing results.

First I chopped up 2 peeled canteloupes into chunks to the top of the blender. Then I filled the blender half way with water.

Next I blended it to a nice puree and then strained it into my pitcher. When doing this with watermelon I picked the seeds out at first, then decided to just blend it all together and it worked out fine. Next I squeezed the juice of 2 limes into the pitcher, added about 1/4 cup of sugar (you could also use a basil or mint simple syrup). I only had to add a couple tablespoons of sugar to my watermelon agua fresca since it was so sweet, but I had to add more to my cantaloupe. Next I added about 1-2 more cups of cold water until my pitcher was full (not rocket science, just keep tasting and filling the pitcher). Voila! Ice cold refreshing agua frescas that are a great way to start your morning on a 107 degree day!

A Southern Low Cal Meal

Yummy lettuce, parsley, and green onions from my garden.

Not sure why this photo loaded sideways, but you get the idea....

On my fabulous, tender, organically grown lettuce from my garden, I made homemade spicy ranch dressing.  Low fat of course.  It's really easy, just buy the packet from the grocery store and mix it up but use fat free mayo and 1% milk.  It tastes SO MUCH BETTER than any fat free or low fat ranch you can buy in a bottle at the store. 

The other bowl has crawfish etouffee served over brown rice.  I made an adaptation on Emeril's recipe.  The main changes I made was I only used 2 tablespoons of butter instead of an entire stick and I added an extra tablespoon of flour to thicken it.  And instead of adding water, I added chicken stock and seasoned the whole thing up with Tony Chachere's seasoning.  Darryl said he couldn't even tell the difference with the missing butter.  Added it all up and it only came out to 5 WW points!  WIN!  Also, whenever I make etouffee, something happens to the leftovers in the fridge overnight that makes it so much better the next day.  Can't wait for leftovers tomorrow!

Dinner Success!

Pork chops (a variation on this recipe) covered in carmelized onions and mushrooms and gravy served with a side of roasted broccoli and garlic topped with a sprinkling of parmesan curls.

Weekend Recap

Friday
Spent my lunch break with my coworkers delivering for Meals on Wheels.  Afterwards we grabbed a bite at Tam's Deli.  They're known for Vietnamese cuisine and are very affordable.  I had some yummy vegetarian curry, an egg roll, and one of their famous cream puffs for dessert, totally worth the hype.  After lunch my husband called to tell me some good news he'd received at work (what news he got exactly is private, sorry readers, not my news to tell) but I was so happy for him!  Friday night I came home and freshened up my hair and makeup and then headed downtown for a sweet dinner with my husband at Parkside on 6th street.  I've always wanted to try this place and we were meeting some friends at a bar for a birthday party and had intended to just stop for a slice of pizza or something on our way there, but I saw that there was no wait for a table so we went in!  I tried their Tex and the City cocktail, which was a mix of whiskey and jasmine liquor served up.  We shared some lump crab fritters and I had a Cesar salad for dinner and D had a cheeseburger and fries.  I totally recommend this place for happy hour.  Afterwards we headed up to the Treehouse Pub for a fab surprise birthday party for a friend.  We had a blast chatting with everyone and playing Foosball.  But I had to get up early the next morning so we left early.

Saturday
I met some friends at the Natural Gardner for an organic vegetable gardening class.  I learned lots of good information, I've realized how much I do wrong, no wonder my gardens are so "meh" each year.  I shall sally forth fortified with this new knowledge.  If you live in Austin I cannot say enough good things about the Natural Gardner, it's the only nursery I regularly visit and if you get there early on the weekends, the staff is super happy to chat with you about what you have going on in your garden and help you troubleshoot.  Afterwards I came home and worked in my own garden and planted leaf lettuce, carrots, and onions.  I added compost and a mineral mixture I got at NG.  Unfortunately while I was listening to the class (which was outside and surrounded by cedars) dust clouds of pollen were blowing all over me.  I had noticed problems Friday while we were doing MOW, but I was able to shake it off without medicine.  Saturday afternoon I felt so terrible, even after taking medicine, that I had to cancel my evening plans.  The idea of getting off the bed and getting dressed up was too much for me.  I took a shower, did laundry, and just laid in bed.  D had some friends over and made fajitas for dinner, I wasn't that hungry but he makes such good fajitas I couldn't resist having one.  Saturday was lame, I went to sleep super early while all my friends were at a fun birthday party, sad panda.

Sunday
We woke up at 5:30 AM because our power went out and our house alarm gets all angry when that happens.  I had slept through the huge storm, but I was glad that we got so much rain.  New seeds need to be watered 2x a year and rain water is the best water you can provide!  The garden seems to have survived the storm very well.  Now my challenge for the rest of the week is to keep my beds covered with ground covers and to keep the soil temperature above 35 degrees.  Also, I totally want a soil thermometer, I wonder if I could use something else around the house to the same end? 

I ran over to the Domain and checked out the sweet sale at Sur La Table, if you love cooking of just cooking gadgets, you should run over there and stock up, I came away with all sorts of goodies.  I did my grocery shopping and came home and whipped up some raspberry lemonade popsicles a la Waspy Redhead.  I deviated from her recipe a bit, so I hope they turn out well.  Next I made some dough for these cookies I saw on Smitten Kitchen.  The dough is currently chilling in the fridge, I have to let it chill for 3 hours?  I die.  I'm planning on filling them full of raspberry preserves.  Next I started a pot of beef ragu from this month's issue of Real Simple which I plan on serving for dinner tonight over pappardelle.  It's simmering on the stove in my favorite Le Creuset dutch oven and sipping a beer by the fire (I'm a tiny bit spoiled, no?).  Unfortunately, for the life of me, I cannot get the bowl of my electric mixer off the base.  This is a reoccurring problem and D has to pull it off for me every time after watching me groan and grunt and strain to try and get it to unscrew.  So there it sits still on the stand, full dough residue.  I was hoping to whip up some Parmesan and thyme crackers tonight to serve with some blue cheese butter along side my pappardelle, but alas, that will require me to remove the bowl twice and D is out until dinner time.  Maybe later in the week?  Hope you had a fab weekend!

Not Your Mamma's Grilled Cheese-Weight Watchers Wednesday

Here is another recipe post in which I gobble up the food so fast that I forget to take a picture, fail.  But stay with me folks, this is a fancy pants way to make an old favorite, grilled cheese and tomato soup! 

First I made Gina's Tomato Bisque.  I didn't have fresh tomatoes but I used canned San Marzano whole tomatoes.  Here's a tip, if you don't have an immersion blender, you can blend your soups in your regular blender in batches but DO NOT put the little clear plastic circle piece in the middle of the lid.  Instead fold a dish cloth and hold it over the hole.  If you fail to do this with a hot liquid I guarantee the whole thing will overflow out. 

So while my bisque was simmering, I got to work on my grilled cheese.  First I sauteed half a vidalia onion using Pam and 1/4 cup of apple cider for about 8 minutes on medium heat until the onions were nice and caramelized, throw in a sprinkle of salt.  Next I took some Orowheat Health Nut bread.  Another tip, we don't go through loafs of bread before they mold, so I keep ours in the freezer.  Then when I want a slice I pop them into our fancy toaster we got for our wedding (that I thought I'd never use, who knew?) and hit the defrost button and bam, room temperature bread in a jiffy and no more waste or mold!

Back to the recipe, so I took half the caramelized onion and put it on one half of the bread and the other half I put a layer of brie (I had to cite other occasions where Darryl had eaten brie to convince him he'd like it).  On top of the brie I put some thin slices of Granny Smith apple.  On Darryl's, I put 2 slices of low fat honey ham, because he's a big fan of meat.

Next I crammed the whole operation into this sandwich toaster that Darryl brought when he moved in.  I've been trying to get rid of it for over a year now (Darryl keeps catching me, he watches that thing like a HAWK), but after tonight I am somewhat convinced of its usefulness.  Also good in this situation, a George Forman grill with the bottom propped up so it's level (but I gave ours to Goodwill).  Panini makers are such a rip off, you can totally hack something in your kitchen for your sandwich making domination.  So of course all this sammy goodness wouldn't fit in the machine, so I made Darryl come and hold it/cram it shut until the toasting cycle was complete.  Then voila, grilled brie with caramelized onions and green apples (and ham in some cases).  Very fancy, very french and only 6 points (minus the ham).  The soup is only 2 points for two whole cups a serving.  Darryl couldn't believe how big of a bowl I gave him and said he liked it better than his favorite roasted red tomato soup I make for him.  AND I managed to have the whole operation on the table ready to eat in less than an hour.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies

By popular demand ::cough:: Waspy Redhead ::cough: I give you the fruits of my labor Sunday morning.  Something that I served at a dinner party that night that was described as "like a brownie cookie".  Something that I will be adding walnuts to next go around.

 

My love affair with these cookies began one shiny day in the pastry section of Central Market (and this recipe is from the CM website).  Many days were spent examining the cookies, pouring over the ingredient labels when I bought them, tasting and pondering how the heck they achieved their unique texture.  So, if you see them at the CM near you, buy some, but if that's not an option, without further ado, I give you, the next best thing:

• 4 Oz Godiva Semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped in my food processor (CM recipe calls for Abuela Mexican chocolate, no clue what that is and HEB didn't have that, so I went the Godiva option)
• 3 Cups Confectioners Sugar
• 1/2 Cup + 3 Tbs Unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 4 Large Egg Whites at Room Temp
• 1 Tsp of cinnamon, that was just something I added on a whim, not sure that it made much of an impact

Cooking Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Position 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the confectioners' sugar with the cocoa powder, Godiva chocolate and salt. Add the egg whites and stir until the batter is moistened. Spoon the batter onto two baking sheets in 12 evenly spaced mounds.

Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes then rotate the pans from the top shelf to the bottom and turn from front to back. Continue cooking another 10 minutes until the cookies feel firm to the touch.

Slide the parchment paper off the baking sheet and onto 2 wire racks. Allow cookies to cool completely before serving.

Keep these in an airtight container for up to 3 days.  The taste and texture just aren't as good after that point.

Look, We Are Officially Yuppies With Our Overpriced Coffee Maker

Tried one of these bad boys at the dentist and fell in love. Clearly this piece of coffee making magnificence is going to need a more prominent place in our kitchen.

Baking Adventure

I have decided to start to hone my baking skills.  I am relatively inexperienced in baking, rarely like to bake because we can't eat it all, and generally don't enjoy the whole "color between the lines" approach to baking.  But maybe once I get more comfortable with it I'll get better?  I've been perusing Bakerella.com for some inspiration and have resolved to have one baking adventure per week. 

This week's agenda, chocolate chip bundt cake.  I have to stop at HEB after the gym to grab a couple things, will document my progress as I embark on this adventure tonight...

Easter Weekend in Pictures

Backyard Crawfish Boil Hosted by the In-Laws

Darryl and his sisters

Us digging in

Christine enjoying the day

Roman style chicken for Easter dinner, served over tri-color risotto

Gorgonzola and herb stuffed artichokes and roasted asparagus for Easter dinner

Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad, or How Darryl Learned Goat Cheese is Yummy

Here's my recipe for a knock off of my favorite lunch salad at NoRTH in the Domain.  Toss spinach with balsamic vinagrette, chop up a frozen HEB precooked chicken breast (microwaved mine, took 6 minutes), place on top of salad.  Add cherry tomatoes and quartered strawberries.  Sprinkle with 1 oz goat cheese and a smattering of toasted pecans.  Darryl declared it to be the best salad we've ever made at home.  It comes in for around 5-6 points per serving.  LOVE IT. 

Mexican Fish

(I failed to take a photo of my concoction, so you get a photo of this guy instead)

Tonight I made our favorite fish recipe, from Sara Snow.  I'm a huge fan of her show on Discovery Health.  I made a few small alterations and served it with my Mexican brown rice.

-Take 2 tilapia filets, sprinkle with salt and pepper, place on a foil lined baking sheet, preheat the broiler

-Spoon green salsa over fish

-Lay a thin piece of queso blanco or queso fresco over the salsa covered fish

-Slice up a Roma tomato, lay slices on top of cheese

-Slice up an avocado, lay half of slices on each fish, around the tomatoes

-Sprinkle with salt and habanero sauce 

Broil for 5-10 minutes (check on it, make sure it doesn't burn).  Ole!  Dinner is served!  Now to convince the hubs to section a grapefruit for me for dessert.  I have never sectioned a grapefruit.  I set out to learn one time but sliced it in half the wrong way and gave up instantly.  Now my mom and my husband have to do it for me.  Not even ashamed.

You Wish You Ate at Our House

Okay, so I wasn't stellar about tucking the wings under, but we've got about 30 minutes to go and things are shaping up nicely....



Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Quarter 2 lemons, stuff 2 lemon quarters and a whole clove of garlic cut in half in the cavity with salt and pepper.  Slice up sweet onions, toss with remaining lemon quarters and olive oil.  Brush chicken skin with olive oil and add salt, pepper, and herbs de provence to outside.  Cook for 1:15 hours.  When done allow chicken to rest on a cutting board.  Add  half a cup of white wine, half a cup of chicken stock and a tablespoon of flour to the pan with the onions and lemon.  Stir, allow sauce to thicken, serve onions and sauce on a platter with the chicken. 

We are serving this with a blend of brown and wild rice with a side of a low fat ceasar salad.  Looking forward to a healthy meal...though I am sad to not have wine while I cook.  What am I supposed to do while I watch my shows as my house is filled with the delectable aromas of the chicken? 

Crockpot Lasagna

I must say I was fairly curious about the concept of a crockpot lasagna.  It's not really something you need to slow cook for many hours?  Why use a crockpot?  I guess it would be a good idea if you didn't want to heat up the whole house with a stove.  I talked with Jill over brunch a while back about her issues with a similar recipe, she had problems with the noodles burning on the edges, so I kept a close eye on it and poked it every now and then to make sure it was neither overcooking nor undercooking.  The result was rather tasty.  I cooked mine for 3.5 hours, but the base noodles were a tad soft, so I suggest cutting it down to 3 hours.

1 lb. uncooked lean ground beef (4% fat)
1 small onion, diced

1 medium garlic clove, chopped

28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. oregano

½ tsp. basil

Red pepper flakes to taste

1 cup part skim ricotta

1 ½ cup part skim mozzarella, shredded, divided

6 no boil lasagna noodles

½ cup shredded parmesan or romano cheese

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add beef, onion, garlic. Brown meat mixture about 5-7 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes. Simmer 5 minutes. In medium bowl, stir ricotta and 1 cup mozzarella. Spoon 1/3 beef mixture into 5 qt slow cooker. Break 3 lasagna sheets in half and arrange over beef mixture. Top with half ricotta mixture and repeat layers. End with the beef mixture. Cover slow cooker on low for 3 hours. In small bowl, combine remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over mixture during last 10 minutes of cooking, allow to sit in crockpot with lid off and power off for 5 minutes to allow it to set up. Do not stir. Serves 6 at 6 points per serving.

Above left, after adding the cheese on top in the last 10 minues.  Above right, the finished product.  While I think I prefer my low carb lasagna recipe (because I do try and watch my carbs and I adore zucchini), this was a great cozy meal to enjoy with a green salad with low fat ranch dressing while curled up on the couch with the hubs while watching the Olympic closing ceremonies.

Cheese, Crab, and Shrimp Stuffed Poblanos

Behold, The Roasted Poblano

Here is the recipe I was talking about in this post, see, I promised I'd post it!  This was originally published in Cooking Light in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue, but this is how I made it, with a few delicious changes.

Yield: 4 servings


Ingredients

1 red bell pepper
8 poblano peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil (see if you can get away with less, the less oil, the better)
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp, chopped
6 oz can of lump crab meat, drained
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup fat-free milk, divided
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded fat free cheddar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Cut bell pepper in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place bell pepper halves, skin sides up, and whole poblanos on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil 10 minutes or until blackened, turning poblanos to blacken all sides. Place peppers in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 10 minutes. Peel. Finely chop bell peppers. Cut tops crosswise from poblanos; remove seeds.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sprinkle shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add shrimp to pan; cook 3 minutes or until done. Remove from pan.

4. Add garlic to pan; sauté 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Sprinkle with flour and ground red pepper; cook 1 minute. Slowly add half-and-half, stirring with a whisk. Stir in 1/2 cup milk; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; let stand 2 minutes. Add cheese and 1/4 teaspoon salt, stirring until smooth. Place 1/3 cup cheese mixture in a large bowl; reserve remaining cheese mixture. Add bell pepper, crab, shrimp mixture, cilantro, and juice to 1/3 cup cheese mixture in bowl; toss to coat. Stir 1/4 cup fat-free milk into reserved cheese mixture. Spoon 3 tablespoons cheese sauce onto each of 4 plates. Spoon 6 tablespoons shrimp mixture into each poblano. Place 2 stuffed poblanos and two tops on each plate.

Note:  I found that the filling wasn't really hot enough if you followed those directions, so I preheated my oven to 200 degrees and put my plates in the oven for 10 minutes while I waited for my Mexican brown rice to finish in the rice cooker.  Make sure your plates won't get damaged by doing this (I have very robust plates) or pop your stuffed peppers back in the oven on a foil lined baking sheet before plating them to warm them through.  But this recipe was good...wish I had some right now....

Just Thoughts....

Nothing in particular to write about, mostly my random musings.  Not much to relay about my New Years Eve, while it was certainly the wildest/most eventful/most booze soaked in recent memory, those details make it simply not appropriate to detail in this forum.  I barely even have an appropriate photo to post and in order to protect the identities of the innocent, I shall refrain.  But there is not only a roll of quite incriminating photos, but a video as well.  Can you imagine?  I shall clearly never plan on running for public office based this NYE.  But I WILL say that everyone seemed to enjoy my Tiger Woods interpretation of the Vicars and Tarts theme.  I love a good costume party.

Tonight I made a variation on Cooking Light's Cheese and Shrimp Stuffed Poblanos with a side of my Spanish brown rice.  Hatefully, Cooking Light has not made that recipe available online and it's a lot of typing to transcribe from page to blog.  I'm hoping they'll post it in the near future so I can cut, paste, and edit with my improvements? 

But if you feel so inclined, pick up the Jan/Feb issue on stands now, turn to page 128 and make that shit.  Oh and add a can of lump crab (drain it).  And substitute a 2% blend of colby and monterey jack for the Chihuahua cheese (because what the heck is Chihuahua cheese?).  As we speak it is taking all of my willpower to not tear into the kitchen and devour my leftovers.  I didn't even photograph it because I thought it would turn out heinous, but Darryl, who never eats poblanos and finds them disgusting, declared it some of my best work to date and cleaned his plate.  So no worries, in the next month or so I hope to make it again and add the full recipe and photos for those people who are not religious Cooking Light readers like myself. 

Can we talk about how badly I want to go to cooking school?  Darryl and I have discussed it and for a variety of reasons it's just not practical.  But it doesn't mean I don't dream of listening to talks all day about the art of cooking.  And then spend the other half of my day actually cooking.  There are few things that I want to do every day and that is cook.  It is a relaxing creative outlet that sometimes leaves me frustrated and exhausted, but convincing my husband to eat something he normally finds disgusting based on the sheer yummyness (and did I mention relative healthyness?) is all the reward I need. 

My next two goals, to convince him to eat lobster rolls and brussel sprouts....not necissarily at the same time.  The challenge with the lobster rolls, high fat content and Darryl's aversion to mayonase.  I will attempt it with low fat greek yogurt as a substitute.  And for the brussel sprouts?  Well, I spent a good 2 hours researching lobster rolls tonight and the best way to execute them, so the sprouts will require further research.  We'll see how this goes.  On the menu for tomorrow night?  Lamb chops with a side of brown rice and my first attempt at cooking swiss chard.

Christmas Cooking in Review

This year was very special in that it was the first celebrated in our home and it was the first celebrated as a married couple! I've been so busy living in the moment that I haven't been stellar about taking photos. Instead I'll just give you a list of all my culinary creations (I've been busy)and links to their recipes. My strategy was to keep healthy breakfasts, snacks, and reduced calorie desserts on hand to compensate for some of the other unavoidable gluttony of the holiday meals.

Christmas Eve

• Roasted Chickpeas
• Chocolate Chip Clouds
• Weight Watcher gingersnap people
• Pizzelles
• Penne with Shrimp in Herbed Cream Sauce

Christmas Day

• Weight Watchers Multigrain French Toast Stuffed with Peaches and Blueberries with a fresh Grapefruit on the Side and Mimosas
• Bourbon Pecan Tart with Chocolate Drizzle

Day After Christmas

• Mango Lassi
• Shallot, Swiss, and Asparagus Frittata

Now that the holiday is over I don't know what to do with myself. Guess it's time to get an early start on 2010's diet and exercise...

(The hubs enjoying one of my pizzelles with his homemade rocky road ice cream)