Treasure Trove.

I am sitting right now with a treasure on my lap.  A priceless treasure that means more to me than anything you could put a price tag on.  Something that brings a smile, contemplation, satisfaction.  It is on loan to me.  It is not my treasure and I did not work for it.  Someone else put the time into creating this work. Someone put their years into it and it wears some of the remnants of their hard work.  This is a treasure that I will soak up.  That I will try to replicate and if I am lucky my children will benefit from as well.

This is one half of my Grandmother’s recipe books.  It’s actually the second half, but I wanted to start with Eggs instead of Appetizers because, well, we love eggs. Almost all of the recipes are on index cards….in my Grandmother’s handwriting.  I have been sitting here perusing them for awhile now and know how many of these I may copy because I don’t just want the recipes, I want the same thing she looked at while she cooked, I want her beautiful handwriting to be what I look at when I am cooking.  I am truly rich today.

Food Revolution Tonight

****Don’t forget Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution two-hour episode tonight at 8pm EST on ABC.  Having watched the sneak peek episode early, would love to have everyone else’s feedback on the show!  Also, just found out he’s going to be on Oprah today, Friday, March 26th, should be better than that Letterman fiasco.

Food Pleasures

I spent Saturday afternoon at Panera, just myself, a turkey-artichoke panini, a cup of french onion soup and the latest Body & Soul magazine.  It was heaven.  No children to clean up after, ask to sit down, or squabble with.  I felt like I was on vacation.

I spent my lunch hour today with a Mediterranean sandwich (roasted red peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, a feta-olive spread and balsamic vinegar, that  was heaven as well) and a new library book, The School of Essential Ingredients.  I haven’t been able to pick up and stay with a book for awhile, but this  book about a restauranteur who holds cooking classes in the evening has kept my attention.

I’m not sure where I am going with this post.  Sometimes I think that food makes a pretty darn good replacement for love when made correctly.  It satisfies a certain something in you that needs attention.  But enough about me.

Last night I made a quiche for dinner.  A crustless quiche.  I sacrificed pastry for cream because I really wanted it made with cream.  Boogirl helped me by cracking the eggs and pouring in the cream.  She gathered up the onions, the spinach, the ham and brought them over in the bowl for me to saute.  I think I found the perfect amount of cream versus egg and the perfect quantity of nutmeg.  Don’t ask me about the recipe.  It’s different every time.  Rarely do I take the time to write it down.  If you want recipes, and photos of amazing food go to Smitten Kitchen or visit Lisa at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary.  These ladies make me drool.  Besides I’ve never been able to take a good photo of a quiche, it’s just too neutral, but I bet Lisa could.

The girls made their own salads, to their own requirements.

Boo:  spinach, lettuce, tomato, broccoli, carrot, celery, egg, cheese

Ems:  spinach, tomato, broccoli, red onion, egg, cheese (Ems thought she hated salads until she discovered you can make them with spinach instead of lettuce).

It’s a shame really that there are so many complaints about children who won’t eat properly.  Eat healthy foods.  Because if you get them involved, if they become a part of the process, the preparation, they are so much more apt to try new things.  When they get choices, they have choices, they will find what their preferences are.

I don’t know.  I’m off on a tangent today.

Today it is raining, and very, very cold.  A bone chilling damp kind of cold.  Tonight I will make black bean soup with chorizo.  I will take it with leftover quiche tomorrow for lunch.  Tonight I will stop by the Italian place down the street, pick up a pizza, we will curl up on the couch with a quilt and eat pizza and watch television and pretend it is not a school night.

dilly.

Here dilly, dilly.  A fresh bunch from the grocery.  Fresh dill makes things so much better.  And it made Ems love green beans.  Next winter, herb garden inside.

“Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature”.

Michael Pollan’s Food Rule # 14

Ever seen that elusive Dorito plant?

Weekend=Food

Bought Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules”.  Bought the Christmas issue of Jamie Oliver’s magazine.  Watched River Cottage. Bumped into my Mom four times in the grocery, ate her magnificent dinner.  Wanted her salad dressing recipe, there is no recipe, this and that.    Bought four pomegranates and froze the seeds of two.  Went to the farm but no one was home.  Cleaned my refrigerator, organized my cupboards.  Mopped my floor after a container of extra-dark cocoa fell and exploded all over the floor.  Emptied the compost, then decided to take a walk.  Inhaled fresh air for once.

Remembered that I gave up gardening last summer.  Dreamed again of planting lettuces, of carrots and beans….dreamed of rows of veggies and herbs, dreamed of a bearded, shaggy haired man reaching across the rows with dirty hands, dreamed of warm sunshine and green shoots.  Went inside and started a stew, from scratch.  No recipe.  This and that.

Made twisty rolls with Boo, watched the bread rise, apparently not enough.  Fun twists looked a bit like dog poo piles and tasted like pretzels, with poppy seeds….or poopy seeds.  Made last minute brownies with Ems.  Dark chocolate brownies, with a small glass of milk.  Dished up stew and rolls and brownies to take next door.

I love food.  There is no denying it.

Life is too short to not have good food, a good wine.

The kitchen is clean, closed for the evening.

A good weekend.

“AVOID FOOD PRODUCTS CONTAINING INGREDIENTS THAT A THIRD-GRADER CANNOT PRONOUNCE”

–Michael Pollan, Food Rules

1st Pumpkin Pie

I just realized tonight that I missed posting Ems first pumpkin pie.  She requested to make a dish for Thanksgiving.  I suggested pie.  I rolled out the bottom crust and showed her how to roll it on the rolling pin and off into the dish.  She made the filling, rolled out the top pastry, cut out the shapes, then placed and egg washed them.  I did the oven bit.   I made a blackberry with a granola topping, but it paled in comparison to hers.  I was outdone by my eight-year old natural baker.  Let’s see what she will make for Christmas….

Oh! Pioneer

You read Pioneer Woman already, don’t you?  Tell me you read Pioneer Woman?  I had, but then hadn’t for awhile.  Then I realized her cookbook (drool, swoon) had just come out.  Just a few days before I visited and I wanted it, oh I wanted it, but I’m trying to control my spending and acquiring, and the cookbook bookcase is full, yes, you read that right cookbook bookcase.

But then I walked into the library, I’m trying to find a new book to rival the goodness of the last one and I breeze by the NEW BOOKS section and there it is, brand spanking new, on the shelf staring out at me:

 

You know what I love…..

I love the not so simple simple life.  I love recipes made from the heart.  I love some really, really good cattle pictures, for real.  And I love when someone can start a blog, become famous and still not apologize and still seem 100% real deal.  I love they took a bajillion photos of her for the cover and she had her hubby take this one of her in her real kitchen.

You know what I think….

I think there must be a real deal cowboy out there who’s looking for a girl to cook sweet meals and raise wild children?  Right?  Cattle are optional, goats are a necessity.

 

 

Solo Baking

So, really I’m a copycat because D posted about her daughter’s solo run, but reading that nudged me that Ems has been asking to do a solo bake, so I let her do it Sunday.  She chose chocolate chip cookies since we seem to make them a lot around here and she’s helped me quite a few times, so she was familiar. I do make kick butt chocolate chip cookes, it’s true.  Secret:  Do the Nestle toll house recipe and add another 1/2 cup flour to make them chunky and thick, not runny and flat.

First she read me the ingredient list and we compiled everything she would need on the table, then the measuring spoons and cups, bowls and wooden spoon.  We talked about the measures and what they meant that a capital T meant Tablespoon and a little t meant teaspoon.  That 3/4 cup brown sugar meant 3- 1/4 cups and packed meant “I know Mommy, smush it in”.

I tried to stay out of the way and be as unobtrusive as possible.  I tried to not give hints or help as much as I possibly could.  This was VERY, VERY hard.

I’m not sure about the bindi on the forehead.  No particuliar significance, Ems likes to add a bit of glamour here and there and ignore the dropcloths in the background, we painted all the downstairs ceilings all day the day before, yes, Halloween day.  Notice the look of concentration.

In the end she did everything herself, with some pointers from Mama, crack the eggs first in another bowl so you can fish any shell out, put a towel under the bowl so it won’t slip, never pull the beaters out while they are still running, put the dough in the refrigerator before baking so they don’t spread.  She did good my girl, the first run were a bit odd shaped and a few ran together, the second tray were just about perfect.  This, this right here, is what I want to give my daughters.  Memories of time in the kitchen, a knowledge of the kitchen and cooking and baking.  How to make real food, from scratch.  The importance of food and family.  Of nourishment and love.

Apples.

From the orchard.

Applesauce beginning.

Good partners:  Apples & Lemons

Apple Puff Pancake:  Did the super puff????   Was dee-lish though.

See the tablecloth, my Grandmom made it for me, Saturday afternoon!

Pie on the Fly:  Yes, that is a Pet-Ritz frozen crust, but made up for it with the Oat & Honey, Dried Berries, Walnut & Brown Sugar topping.

No idea, how much of each I used, as usual.

It was cold and rainy all weekend…..so I baked.

Wordless Wednesday: 1st Day of Fall