Sunday Shortcut

This afternoon I was out at a friend's house, helping to host a baby shower for another friend. Here's the cake I made for the party:



It was a carrot cake, but a la Cooks Illustrated, which made it a "Spiced Carrot Cake with Vanilla Bean-Cream Cheese Frosting," to be exact. I made the cake yesterday and the frosting this morning; then I put the cake together and quickly made lunch for everyone--our Sunday lunch usual, mac n cheese--before I ran out to help set up for the shower. So by the time I got home, though everyone was clamoring for it, I didn't feel like making dinner.

Nevertheless, I managed to pull this together:

*skillet quesadillas with "mexican blend" pre-shredded cheese and taco-seasoned ground turkey
*green salad, leftover from the baby shower
*cherry tomatoes
*canned refried beans--yuck, next time I better make my own?!
*rice, white with a bit of brown mixed in
*jarred salsa
*carrot cake for the kids and Aogu; I had already partaken at the shower

Bad picture; I thought it would be funny to include the Lego pirates that we had to share the table with in the photo, but I didn't realize until I uploaded it that the Lego guys are in focus and dinner isn't.

One funny thing about the carrot cake, before I put the recipe here for posterity: I was very careful to ask my friend what she would like in the cake other than carrots. Once I went looking for a recipe, I realized the possibilities are limitless as far as things one might add; for example, coconut, pineapple, raisins, nuts, etc. I checked in with her and she said yes to nuts and raisins. Great. Except that I became so involved in following along with this recipe I was trying for the first time, I completely forgot to make any additions! I tried to make up for it by decoring the top of the cake with pecans and raisins, but I don't think it was quite the same thing.

Another note to self: next time you make this cake, bake it just a few minutes longer. And experiment with a bit less ground flaxseed; no one commented but it tasted a little too healthy. Oh, and as mentioned in the recipe notes, even though it's a pain, consider chopping the carrots a bit finer after they come out of the food processor. That would have made it prettier and easier to cut.

Spiced Carrot Cake with Vanilla Bean-Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes one 13 by 9-inch cake (though I made two eight inch cakes and next time I would consider making three for thinner layers)

If you like nuts in your cake, stir 1 1/2 cups toasted chopped pecans or walnuts into the batter along with the carrots. Raisins are also a good addition; 1 cup can be added along with the carrots. If you add both nuts and raisins, the cake will need an additional 10 to 12 minutes in the oven.

Ingredients
Carrot Cake
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 pound medium carrots (6 to 7 carrots), peeled
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil or safflower, or canola oil (I was alarmed by this amount of oil, so I did one cup of oil and 1 1/2 cups of ground flaxseed...but then as mentioned, I felt that tasted a little too healthy. Something to adjust next time.)

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 vanilla beans
8 ounces cream cheese , softened but still cool
5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, but still cool
1 tablespoon sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar (4 1/2 ounces)

Instructions
1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13 by 9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment and spray parchment.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, cloves, and salt in large bowl; set aside.
3. In food processor fitted with large shredding disk, shred carrots (you should have about 3 cups); transfer carrots to bowl and set aside. Wipe out food processor workbowl and fit with metal blade. Process granulated and brown sugars and eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined, about 20 seconds. With machine running, add oil through feed tube in steady stream. Process until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 20 seconds longer. Scrape mixture into medium bowl. Stir in carrots and dry ingredients until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain. Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.
4. For the frosting: Using a paring knife, halve and scrape seeds from 2 vanilla beans. When cake is cool, process cream cheese, butter, sour cream, vanilla extract, and vanilla seeds in clean food processor workbowl until combined, about 5 seconds, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add confectioners' sugar and process until smooth, about 10 seconds.
5. Run paring knife around edge of cake to loosen from pan. Invert cake onto wire rack, peel off parchment, then invert again onto serving platter. Using icing spatula, spread frosting evenly over surface of cake. Cut into squares and serve. (Cover leftovers and refrigerate for up to 3 days.)

Omochi

Tonight, at Koji's school, we had an "omochitsukitaikai". This is a kind of New Year's tradition in which sticky rice is pounded into rice cakes; if you want to get all the details, then read about it here

Here's Koji, pounding mochi.

Izumi and Aogu pounding mochi, or maybe Izumi is busier choking on mochi?!

I was sporting my brand new "announcement" shirt. Thanks, Mom!

Aogu and Izumi eating mochi; that is, Aogu ate enough for both of them and Izumi decided she didn't care for it much. That's my girl! I don't like it either...it's a texture thing.

Koji liked it fine though, and polished off three pieces of mochi filled with sweet red bean paste.

So the pictures up top are the traditional way to prepare mochi, but actually, you can make mochi in a breadmaker, and that's what the ladies in the kitchen did all night long. I usually like to help in the kitchen, but tonight I didn't set foot in there! Sorry, friends...I'll be the first one in there when we have a different menu...

So tonight's dinner was:
*mochi for Aogu and Koji, some with nori (thin sheets of dried seaweed) and some with sweet red bean paste
*more Costco pizza for me and the kids, because of course they had to eat again when we got home
*yogurt for the kids
*clementines for the kids
*chicken and rice soup from a can, doctored with some frozen spinach for me
*coconut cake with canned chocolate frosting for me; I've now decided that I don't like canned frosting. It can join mochi on my YUCK list.

For the First, But Probably Not Last, Time This Year, Costco Saved Me

Aogu had plans to go out with a friend tonight. Phew...this afternoon I made an EPIC trip to Costco as we suddenly ran out of every possible paper product all at the same time. Diapers, tissue, toilet paper, paper towels, flushable wipes, check and check and check and check and check!

As I was saying, Aogu had plans so I didn't feel like I had to produce anything fancy for dinner. Fortunate, as I absolutely did not have the energy to so, anyway. And I was in possession of a $3 off coupon for a Costco take and bake pizza. Problem solved.

Tonight's dinner for me and the kids:
*Costco take and bake cheese pizza with sauteed mushrooms and ham added to half--that's where I took my slices from
*cucumber spears with ranch
*cranberry-raspberry juice

Hash Mishmash

After arriving home from errands with the kids and procrastinating for a few minutes, I found that dinner was staring me in the face. I tried to pretend this wasn't so by polling my family members: "are you hungry?" I asked each person. The kids both said no, so I allowed myself to feel slightly hopeful about not having to make dinner tonight...but then I addressed the question to Aogu, and alas, I received an immediate and resounding yes.

Shuffling to the kitchen and poking through the randomness that is currently contained in the fridge, I found a 1/4 package of hayashi rice roux. Score! Izumi and I chopped an onion; that is, I chopped and she peeled the skin off while crying and saying "Izumi no me ga itai yo Mama!" (my eyes hurt, Mama!). I got the onion going in a skillet and went rooting for the thinly sliced beef that I was sure I had in the freezer.

Only it wasn't there. Curse words. But, the onion was already going, the idea was already percolating, and the trend of meat substitution started yesterday. So I grabbed some thinly sliced pork and scissored it up into the skillet (that's right, I cut it with scissors; I like to cut food with scissors whenever possible, especially raw meat. Scissors allow me to gingerly hold said raw meat over its intended pan and saw away at it with minimal contact). There wasn't enough meat. I remembered I had thawed a couple of little pieces of chicken, so I grabbed them out of the fridge and scissored them, too.

Better. As that was frying up, I dug through the veg drawers of the fridge and found a wilty salad for myself and carrots for everyone else. I also found some mushrooms, so I sauteed them in a separate skillet and threw them into the

*Hayashi Pork Chicken Mishmash, which we ate with the aforementioned
*hot carrots (that's what we call carrots that have been sliced and microwaved till tender...Koji LOVES them)
*wilty salad with ceasar dressing; strategically not pictured
*rice, white with a bit of brown mixed in
*milk

After trying out this "new" version of hayashi rice, our consensus was "it's not inedible". In other words, next time I will only make this dish when I am sure that I have thinly sliced beef. Hey, you never know until you try!

Chinese Potluck

We were invited to Koji's school friends' house for a potluck today; yes, that's all we do with our friends is go to one another's homes and eat...

Our hostess decided the theme should be "Chinese," which made it really fun, and also a bit of a challenge to try and figure out what to make. Fortunately, there was feature in this month's issue of Cooking Light on Chinese New Year. I decided to try and make the sweet and sour chicken, but I didn't have any chicken and I didn't want to go to the market. Aogu ended up with

*spicy sweet-and-sour turkey meatballs
*white rice with a bit of brown mixed in

I also made a mandarin orange cake, but I was disappointed with the way it turned out, so I won't show you a picture or give you the recipe this time!

As for the rest of the family, Koji and Izumi ate lunch first with their friends, then the moms and I had lunch. By the time we finished, it was about 2:30 and I was stuffed. I thought I may not need dinner...look at the feast we had, as reflected in the "take home box" to the right.

What I didn't account for was the traffic driving home, or my need to keep Izumi awake. I decided to kill two birds with one stone by feeding them dinner in the car, which meant that I ever so reluctantly drove through McDonald's. Bah. Actually, I don't regret that as much as I am remorseful about buying two chicken McNugget Happy Meals only to find that the toys were no good. Next time, even if I make a fool of myself at the drive thru, I'll have to find out what the toys are and make my choices accordingly. And, though I thought I was so stuffed after that late lunch, I decided I had a space in my stomach for one of those dollar double burgers. But I thought I'd save calories by not having cheese...bah again. I need to make a resolution to resist that nasty food!

I was hoping that I could just link to the Cooking Light recipe I mentioned and save myself some time, but I think it's not up on the website yet because it's too new. Plus, I do want to record the way that I made it because of course, I made a few little changes.

Spicy Sweet-and-Sour Meatballs (Chicken) from Cooking Light, Jan./Feb. 2009
4 tsp. cornstarch, divided
5 tsp. low sodium soy sauce, divided (I used regular)
1 tsp. minced peeled fresh ginger (I threw in about 1/2 tsp. ground, I'm out of fresh)
1 tsp. dark soy sauce (I used regular)
1 tsp. Chinese rice wine (I used Japanese cooking sake)
1/8 tsp. white pepper (I left this out)
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound pre-made meatballs, thawed and cut in half (or boneless skinless chicken breast cut in chunks)

1/2 cup fat free less sodium chicken broth (I used homemade)
1 T brown sugar
3 T ketchup
2 1/2 T rice vinegar
2 tsp. chile paste (I used "to ban jian," red chile miso)
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 T canola oil, divided

1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
3 stalks celery, sliced
1 giant "tree ear mushroom", reconstituted and chopped
NOTE: these veggies and amounts are what I used, not what the original recipe called for...they also specify 1 cup of diced fresh pineapple, but I prefer spicy and sour to sweet, so I deliberately left this out

Combine 2 tsp. cornstarch, 2 tsp. soy sauce and next 5 ingredients (through garlic) in a medium bowl. Add meatballs (chicken); stir to coat.

Combine chicken broth, remaining 2 tsp. cornstarch, brown sugar, remaining 1 T soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, chile paste (to ban jian) and sesame oil in a separate bowl.

Heat 1/2 T of canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables (except for tree ear mushroom, if using) and saute for about four minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Heat remaining 2 1/2 teaspoons of canola oil in the same pan. Add meatballs (chicken) and spread in an even layer; cook w/out stirring for one minute. Saute an additional three minutes or until chicken is done.

Return vegetable mixture to pan. Add chicken broth mixture, pineapple and/or tree ear mushroom if using and stir well to combine. Bring to a boil; cook one minute or until thickened, stirring constantly. Serves eight.

Day In

Koji isn't back to school until Thursday, and we had no plans today. So though I got up this morning and put on my track suit, thinking I would drag us to the gym for the first time in four months, when I noticed it was snowing, I decided we should have a day in instead. Mind you, it wasn't a blizzard; it was a barely visible float-by of the occasional flake, but I must have wanted a day in, because that was sufficient reason for me to call off the gym and a possible trip to the market as well.

Through the day, I looked at the dinner option list on the fridge; I was troubled and indecisive. Several of the possibilities either called for ingredients I wasn't able to buy today, or worse yet, I just didn't feel like making them because I've looked at the list too much. It's the same problem as my clothes; they're not actually overworn, they're just over-looked-at. I digress.

Finally, when the kids started shouting about their empty stomachs, it seemed time to make a decision. We have a lot of potatoes, and thanks to this blog I know we've already had rice every day this year. For tonight, surely we could take a little break from rice and also be more casual? I'm throwing in "casual" so the paper plate pictured below will make sense.

*oven fries
*steamed broccoli
*turkey "hamburg"--a Japanese style hamburger steak
*milk

and for Aogu,

*rice, white with a bit of brown mixed in

That's right, he couldn't take the day off...and mind you, he already had rice in the lunch I made for him (which is a topic deserving of a separate post). As soon as we started eating, he said, "where's the rice?" and I said, "we're having fries today" and he countered with "but this hamburg is really good and it would be even better with rice". What could I do? We had a bit left over from yesterday, which is less than ideal but better than nothing, so I warmed that up and he was satisfied.

Other observations: Koji didn't like the hamburg at all, but he's not a huge meat fan, so I wasn't surprised. We got him to eat two-thirds of it, anyway. Also, when we have broccoli, I have to make sure and steam up the stems for him, because he only eats broccoli stems, not crowns. Yes, I am still referring to Koji here.

Hamburg recipe in Japanese from Kikkoman website;
日本語でのレシピーはこちら

Mix and knead the following together in a bowl until it's very cohesive:
360 g (about 3/4 lb.) of ground meat (I used turkey, the recipe calls for a mix of beef and pork)
2 eggs
1/4 onion (I used about 1/2) minced fine
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
small piece ginger, minced fine (I didn't have fresh, I threw in some ground ginger)
2 T panko (Japanese style breadcrumbs, next time I may add a touch more)
2 T ketchup
1/4 tsp. salt

Divide into fourths, (I divided into 8 portions so everyone could theoretically have two) form into a ball shape and toss between your hands to get the air out. Put a bit of salad oil into a frying pan and line up the balls, flattening a bit as you fry them. Once both sides are nicely browned, pour a tablespoon of red wine over all (I used Japanese cooking sake). Put a lid on (oops, I didn't put a lid on) and steam for 2-3 minutes. Stick in a toothpick and make sure the cooking juices run clear. When they do, the hamburg is finished. Sprinkle a bit of soy sauce on and serve with ketchup.

Poultry, in Various Forms

*Asian-style egg drop soup, made with chicken broth; recipe from Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times


*garlic chicken, recipe from Easy Weeknight Favorites
*rice, white with a bit of brown mixed in
*green salad of romaine with cucumbers, tomatoes and bottled ceasar dressing
*water
*juice
*canned mandarin oranges for the kids
*1/2 piece of blueberry coffee cake for me
*three Lindt white chocolate truffles for Aogu; I think he was trying to keep the rest of the his Christmas stash for himself. The kids have been moving in on it lately, picking up the bag and shouting, "Papa, hambunko shio!" which means "Papa, let's split one!" and of course he would always agree.

Other observations:
I'm making a lot of recipes from cookbooks titled "Easy". Hmm....

The egg drop soup was definitely worth a repeat. I didn't have any scallions on hand, so I sauteed some mushrooms and threw them in. Of course that wasn't a substitute of a similar flavor by any means, but it did increase our veg intake just a bit. I look forward to trying it with scallions next time, I think that will make it even better. Also, next time I will make the soup with three cups of broth and three eggs rather than the four called for, so we won't have any left over.

Egg Drop Soup
1 qt. chicken stock (I had some homemade on hand and I think that made it better, but I wouldn't worry about making it with canned stock next time)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon soy sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped scallion
1 tsp. sesame oil

Bring three cups of the stock to a boil. Meanwhile, beat the remaining stock with the eggs and the soy sauce. When the stock is boiling, adjust the heat so that it bubbles but not furiously. Add the egg mixture in a steady stream and stir for 2-3 minutes. Taste and add salt or soy sauce if necessary, then add pepper, the scallions, the sesame oil, taste again, adjust seasonings and serve.

I'll make garlic chicken again because the kids really liked it, but I want to adjust the recipe so the sauce doesn't taste so acidic. Maybe I have to leave out or at least reduce the amount of lemon juice. Based on yesterday and tonight, perhaps cooking with lemon isn't great for my family? Aogu didn't say anything, but I think that's because he was on the phone while we were eating, not because he didn't have an opinion. Or maybe I need to salt it a bit more; I used unsalted butter because that's all I have on hand, and I never added salt at any point. Perhaps that would have balanced it more.

Garlic Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I used seven chicken "tenders")
1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
1/4 cup butter
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 cup apple juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Dredge chicken in flour. Melt butter in skillet; add and saute garlic just a bit, then add chicken. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side until chicken is done. Remove chicken from skillet. Add the remaining ingredients to the skillet, bring to a boil and boil for four minutes. Return the chicken pieces to the skillet and spoon the sauce over until it thickens and the chicken is hot. Serve chicken with sauce poured over.

Motivated

Wow, I must say my food photography is vastly and instantly improved when I use our new Canon digital SLR instead of my phone camera. Something to think about for my future posts...

Anyway, tonight at dinner time we had some friends over, so even though I knew that they didn't expect us to feed them, I was happy to, because more people means more motivation! For tonight, it meant that I actually got into the kitchen and cooked up one of the things I bought ingredients for the other day, instead of resorting to instant ramen. So this is what we had:

*Japanese-style Beef Stew with Winter Squash, recipe from Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times
*Green salad of romaine lettuce, freshly grated parmesan, dried cranberries and chopped pecans
*Rice, mostly white with a bit of brown mixed in
*water
*milk
*juice
*more coconut cake with canned chocolate frosting, arranged much more quickly and less artfully than yesterday
*chocolate-dipped crystallized ginger
*chocolate-dipped mini pretzels

Beef Stew Recipe (because it was worth a repeat, according to the fam and our guests, though note to self, Aogu would prefer less or even no lemon)

2 # boneless beef chuck, cut into chunks
2 cups dashi
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin, honey or sugar
10 nickel sized slices of peeled fresh ginger
salt and pepper
1 lemon
1 1/2 # peeled butternut, pumpkin or other winter squash or sweet potato, cut into 1 inch chunks

This is how I made it, not Mark Bittman's exact instructions:
1. Brown the meat chunks in a large pot
2. Add the dashi and the rest of the ingredients, except the lemon and squash. Dash in some pepper, peel the lemon and add the peel.
3. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Check the meat for tenderness. Stir in the squash and either cook for 15 more minutes, or if you're trying to save time as I was, have your squash pre-cooked via microwave so you can stir it in and heat for just a minute or two.
5. Salt if necessary and add the juice from the lemon...or don't, if you're me making this recipe next time. Enjoy with rice, preferably Japanese-style short grain!

Unforseen Trend

So I didn't anticipate that the beginning of 2009 would include the trends of eating "dinner" at 2 or 3 pm and include the ingestion of sea animals with their heads still attached, but that's exactly what seems to be happening, if today is any indication.

We were invited to a New Year's party that started at 2 pm today. We arrived exceedingly hungry, having eaten nothing but a couple of pieces of doughnut mid-morning. Our hosts were ready for us with platters of

*sushi
*grilled whole mackerel
*cucumber salad with crab
*rice
*pot stickers

The mackerel is what looked super delicious to me! Though I really like to cook, there are a few things I haven't mastered and one of them is "large chunks of meat". Whole fish fall under that category in my mind; so though I like them, I have never prepared one at home. The rest of my family ate some or all of things listed above (except Koji who didn't eat at all because he was so busy playing) but all I ate was most of an entire good sized mackerel (but not the head) and some cucumber salad. Best of all, the host had bought a whole case of mackerel and didn't mind giving me two more (don't worry, they are already grilled) to bring home. Hmm. Maybe breakfast tomorrow?

Beverages and desserts: Aogu drank
*soju
*yogurt flavored drink ("Yoglife"?!) for me and the kids, and small pieces of
*apple pie
*seven layer bar
*chocolate almond cookie

Brother, this posting what we ate for dinner might also become a diet tool for me because I'm a little embarrassed to admit that at 6 pm we went to another friend's house for a visit and continued eating dessert. At least we didn't eat dinner again, I guess. Oh, the kids did actually, they had some
*pad see iew, which they mainly ate to get the
*ice cream and
*leftover coconut cake that I had made as a "practice run" for my Grandma's birthday party and then frozen. I actually wanted to make mini layer cakes for everyone, a la this post at Bakerella so I took my biscuit cutters, the cake, some chocolate frosting and coconut with me to the friends' house and then spent most of the evening fiddling with it. My friend kept apologizing, saying that I was working too hard making dessert for them, but I thought it was really fun!

East Meets...South of the Border?

That's right, tonight's dinner was:

*sushi and
*quesadillas

You see, a friend from Koji's school invited us to her place for lunch today, and it was no ordinary lunch. It was sushi made by her husband, who is an actual sushi chef at Kyoto at Lincoln Park. I haven't been eating sashimi or sushi since I've been pregnant generally, but I made an exception when we were in Tokyo last October. I made another exception today, because I knew this sushi was fresh. Plus, I stuck to toro (tuna), which seemed the least risky. Oh, and crab, which was cooked. I also ate three deep-fried tiger shrimp heads, eyeballs, antenna and all. This was my first time for that experience, but how could I refuse when my friends were quick to point out that shrimp shells are full of calcium? Turns out they are tasty too (what isn't tasty when it's deep fried?).

My friend's husband had purchased a liberal amount of sashimi, so even though another friend's 10 year old son supposedly ate 40 pieces of sushi, we still had some left over for "take out". That turned into Aogu's dinner, pictured above.

I'm not planning to eat because I'm still stuffed from lunch, but Koji announced that he was hungry and wanted a quesadilla. That seemed easy enough, so I went ahead and made that for him and Izumi. Some other items that were also consumed:
*tomatoes (note to self, don't buy tomatoes in January, they just aren't good even if they look like they're going to be!)
*salsa
*cottage cheese (it almost goes without saying that Izumi is the one who ate this. She LOVES it so much, it's practically a food group for her)
* osenbei...we don't usually eat this for dinner as I consider it a snack and theoretically try to keep it separate, but since Koji and Aogu started watching a movie while we were still eating, the whole experience kind of ran together.

So, happy second day of 2009. Our dinners are already turning out to be even more random and interesting than I expected!

A Year's Worth of Dinner

Maybe I'm being much too ambitious, but that's what I'd like to end up with on this blog in a year from today. My idea is, if I reinvent this blog--not that it was very clear what it was in the first place--to be a record of our dinners, then on some day at 4:30 pm when I should be making dinner and my mind goes blank, I can then inspire myself and maybe even you.

I'm not going to try and make our dinners fancier, and I'm not going to lie about what we have! Just the facts here, even when they aren't pretty!

Getting to the point, for tonight our dinner was:
*bisquick pizza
2 c. baking mix, add 1/2 cup water, knead for one minute w/ additional flour or baking mix. spread into a pizza pan or cookie sheet, thinner is better and top with your favorites. tonight we were a little short on options, having just flown in from LA, so I topped our pizza with sauce that was leftover from another pizza kit, pre-shredded cheese, and on one half, tuna and olives. bake for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees.
*edamame
*frozen blueberries for Koji...everyone else, including me, didn't get excited about this "dessert" option. not that I needed dessert, since I helped myself to some holiday cookies while I was making dinner.
*beverages: Aogu and I had water, the kids had chocolate milk.

Good luck to me! If all goes well, I will post again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and....

Don't Eat Cardboard Anymore!

After eating these, I seriously will never be able to buy or eat store bought graham crackers ever, with the possible exception of Mi-Del Honey Grahams. This recipe is straight from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Whole Grain Baking from King Arthur Flour. (Note: I bought Bob's Red Mill graham whole-wheat flour, but apparently graham crackers aren't made of some wheat called "graham," rather, they're "an invention of Sylvester Graham, one of the early proponenets of whole wheat flour," so any whole wheat flour is fine.)

Graham Crackers

1 cup (4 oz.) whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (2 oz.) whole barley flour
1/2 cup (2 1/8 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 7/8 oz.) packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz.) granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 oz.) unsalted butter, chilled
1/4 cup (2 oz.) milk
Cinnamon-sugar (optional)

Combine all the dry ingredients (all the above but the last three) in a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until very crumbly. Add the milk and combine to make a stiff dough. Knead the dough lightly to make sure it's smooth, cut into two pieces, shape each piece into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least an hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Working with one piece of dough at a itme, turn it out onto a floured surface and roll until it's about 1/16 inch thick; the thinner you can roll it, the crispier the crackers. Be sure your rolling surface and pin are well floured; you may want to roll this dough directly onto a piece of parchment paper, as it's difficult to transfer to your baking sheet (I floured up my fake silpat mat put the dough on, sprinkled a little more flour on the dough, put some parchment on top and then went to work with my rolling pin. Way easier!). When you're done rolling, and you've trimmed the edges, you should hav a piece of dough about 9 x 12 inches. Cut the dough into three inch squares (I used a pizza cutter), then cut each square in half. Prick the crackers several times with a fork, and place on baking sheet. If you like, sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar (I didn't do this).

Bake the crackers until they're lightly browned, 12-15 minutes. Remove the crackers, transfer to a rack, and let cool completely before serving.

Nutrional info: (for 29 g of crackers, about 4 small?)
116 calories, 6 g fat, 2 g fiber

This is Embarrassing

Whoa! Last year in the spring, I was so excited about this blog...and then I completely lost steam, but I had no idea that it's been almost ELEVEN MONTHS since I posted anything?! Yikes...

One would think that after such an extended hiatus--yes, let's call it that as though I planned it all along--I'd come back with a bang, a stunning report on a decadent feast that I recently threw together. Alas, this is quite the opposite: I present you with 101 ideas for dinner, and they're not even my ideas, they belong to
Mark Bittman.

But they are very good ideas (most of them, I don't know about about number 90 something which calls for dredging liver in flour etc); do let me know if you try any! As for me, all I can promise is that I will post again before another 11 months go by. Really.

Tart I Wouldn't Make

By the Wednesday two days after my birthday, I was agitated and disturbed that I still hadn't gotten any cake. Perhaps this is an obsession born of my love of cake--when else can one demand cake with impunity?--but there is a stubborn part of my subconscious that insists birthday=cake. Therefore, to put the inverse mathematically, birthday minus cake=no birthday. Or no celebration, for sure. So that afternoon, I took matters into my own hands, which is obviously another story....
because on Friday morning, my oh-so-thoughtful friend Jenny took matters into her own hands and brought over a delectable chocolate cheesecake-topped cake and this scrumptious tart (pictured partially eaten)! As she suspected, I had in fact tried a similar tart the week before at Cafe Selmarie. That was not an issue; more importantly, this tart meets my eating/buying out rule of "I don't order or buy foods I could realistically make myself". Thanks for knowing my rule and following it, Jen!

Lazy Pear Pie Gets Fancy

Two weeks ago as I was getting psyched for
a trip to Ravinia with some friends, I started to think about what I should contribute to our picnic. As I was sorting--no, not sorting, make that "looking through" and thinking about sorting--some recipes a few days earlier, I had seen one called "Heirloom Pear Hand Pie". Though chocolate is de rigueur for an all-girls outing, I've been trying to avoid dairy lately. Therefore, the pear pie seemed like a possibly acceptable substitute. And the "hand" part; how perfect for al fresco dining, right?

Well. As Friday afternoon drew nigh, I still hadn't found the recipe or made the pie, and when I finally did start looking for it, it was nowhere, though I really did see it a couple days before. I did. Without it, I'd have to change my plan. But I didn't want to change it drastically or I'd have to run to the market for ingredients.

So I grabbed some frozen puff pastry dough out of the freezer and started defrosting it in the microwave. While that was working, I peeled, cored and diced three Bartlett pears. Then, since I had three peaches that were right on the edge, I did the same to them. I tossed the fruit with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 flour and a dash of cinnamon. Next, I threw in some dried cranberries just because they were on the counter. The defrosted dough was ready for rolling. I tried to roll it and then form something resembling a hand pie, but the filling was too copious and runny and the dough was too slippery. Plan B: bake the pies in a bunch of round Pyrex dishes and a random square mini-casserole, then fit said containers with lids for safe transport to the grounds.

Phew. That's what I did. And look how it turned out! Pretty good for an off the cuff attempt, if I do say so myself. I do choose to say so, just because I'm usually pretty unadventurous when it comes to following recipes. I just follow. This time, my Lazy Pear Pie and I took the road less taken, and it was a tasty one (but not as much the next day, this is a pie better baked and eaten on the same day)!

Cherry Tree

Our cherries are ripe! So we'll be eating A LOT of these for the next few weeks...

Sour Cherry Muffins

1 1/2 pitted sour cherries, drained
2 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 egg

In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugars, baking powder and salt together. Gently fold in cherries. In another bowl whisk the milk, oil and egg, then add to cherry mixture until just combined (don't overmix). Spoon batter into greased muffin cups and bake at 375 F for 23~25 minutes.

Juice

A few weeks ago I had a hankering for limeade. So I bought some limes and squeezed them by hand . The resulting beverage was delicious, but my hand was awfully cramped. You can imagine what a sucker I was the next day when I happened to be in Costco and spotted this lemonade maker. There was no way I wasn't going to buy it, particularly with memories of the previous day's painful limeade experience still fresh in my mind. Since then, I've more than recovered my $16.99 investment. It's been refreshing to have limeade, lemonade, or as pictured here, orange juice anytime. The most unexpected bonus: when friends were over the other day, making lemonade together was great entertainment!

Thomas' New Face

So I was frantically decorating this Thomas cake for Koji's birthday. I had just drawn Thomas' face on a round piece of cake and stuck it to the front of the body and then walked away for a moment. When I came back, what did I find?! That's right, Thomas did a face plant. I was really upset! I'm not great at drawing and that Thomas face had been the best I could do! So I decided to change my strategy and put Koji's face on the train instead. Phew~nice save! Here are other views of the cake:







I made a double recipe of All-Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake and baked half of it in a 9 x 13 and the rest in two small loaf pans. The base of the train was the 9 x 13 cut in half lengthwise and stuck together with lots of buttercream. Then I carved the two loaf cakes into the rounded top of Thomas' "nose" and the boxy top of his cabin (this explanation would sound better if I knew the technical terms for different parts of Thomas' body). After that, because I had run out of time and energy for coloring my icing, I faked it with food coloring spray. This is a highly recommended product for the mom in a hurry! Or just for anyone who wants to have fun with food! The color was not as intense as if I had colored the icing, but it served my purposes well. Last but not least, I'm sure you've already figured out that Thomas, er, "Koji the Train"'s wheels are Oreos, but they aren't just any old Oreos! They are MINT Double Stuf Oreos with blue "spokes" piped on. Yes, I would do the whole thing again and I probably will next year. What character/theme should we go with

Fishy Business

As a youngster (saying "youngster" makes me sound like an oldster) in Oregon, though I was living in a Pacific state, I somehow didn't eat much fish other than fish sticks. Now, I'm not sure that fish sticks are in fact fish, in much the same way that I'm not sure balogna is really meat. So I really didn't eat fish at all, except perhaps the stray clam in the delicious clam chowder from Mo's.

Therefore, it wasn't until I was in Japan as a teenager that I was exposed to fish and subsequently learned to like and even love it. But now, living in landlocked (yes, we have The Lake, but I think most fish from Lake Michigan are not edible?) Chicago AND with all the recent brouhaha about mercury levels in fish and the threat they pose to pregnant women in particular, it's hard to know if we should eat fish at all.

Well, today's New York Times has saved the day with the following list. I am shamelessly copying it and pasting it here, as I'm concerned that it will become on off-limits item for all but the paying customer in a week or so. Let's enjoy fish!

Fish Guide

Published: May 31, 2006
These fish can be eaten once a week by adults, according to an assessment of contaminant levels by Environmental Defense. Those marked with an asterisk can be eaten more than once a week.

WILD

*ANCHOVIES
ARCTIC CHAR, color added
*ATLANTIC BUTTERFISH
*BLACK COD (Sable, Butterfish on West Coast)
*BLACK SEA BASS Younger children no more than four times a month
*HADDOCK
*HAKE (white, silver and red)
HAKE (Chilean, Cape and Argentine)
*HALIBUT (Pacific only) Older children 3 times a month, younger children twice
*HERRING
*MACKEREL (Atlantic or Boston only)
MAHI-MAHI Younger children 3 times a month
*PACIFIC COD
*PACIFIC SAND DAB (yellowtail flounder)
*PACIFIC WHITING
*PLAICE
PORGIES
*SALMON (Pacific)
*SARDINES
*SHAD
SMELT
*SOLE (gray, petrale, rex, yellowfin)
SOLE (Dover; English or lemon, older children 3 times a month, younger children twice)
WHITEFISH

FARMED

CARP
CATFISH (domestic)
STRIPED BASS (rockfish)
*TILAPIA
*TROUT (rainbow); TROUT (steelhead)

SHELLFISH

*CLAMS (northern quahogs)
CLAMS (Atlantic surf, butter, Manila, ocean quahog, Pacific geoduck, Pacific littleneck and soft-shell)
*CRAB (Dungeness, snow) Dungeness: younger children once a week
CRAB (Florida stone, Jonah, king)
*CRAYFISH (United States)
*LOBSTER (American) Children 2 to 4 times a month
*MUSSELS (farmed blue; wild blue, children 2 to 3 times a month)
MUSSELS (New Zealand green, Mediterranean)
OYSTERS (farmed Eastern and Pacific)
*SCALLOPS (bay; Northeast, Canadian sea)
*SHRIMP (wild American pink, white, brown)
SHRIMP (spot prawns and northern shrimp)
*SQUID
*SPINY LOBSTER (Caribbean, United States, and Australia)

Raclette

When I went to a friends' house today to make a chocolate cake, I had never heard of
raclette. But if you look closely, you can see it on the upper right quadrant of my plate. The cake was fabulous, but trying out a new kitchen appliance was even more intriguing!