My Bit of Earth

Famous Back Eddy House Pickles

I've been on a quest for pickle recipes lately.  Not so much the canned kind (which I'm always a little afraid to eat lest I've done something wrong), just 'fridge pickles--maybe with a little something in them besides just cukes.  To that end, I checked out the book "Quick Pickles: Easy Recipes with Big Flavor" from the library and have been thumbing through it for the last week or so.

It's a great book.  Just the right balance of recipes and pickle folklore.  And it has recipes for things you might not think of pickling, like cabbage and squash.  I think I may try some "Citrus Pickled Turnips" next.

But this afternoon, I went with something a little more tame.  I decided to try "Famous Back Eddy House Pickles".  The recipe is basically cucumber based, but also has carrots, peppers, and onions for a little variety.  There's a good bit of mustard (yum!) as well as all-spice and vinegar (which smell so incredible when they're cooking together!).  I halved the amount of vegetables, but left the amount of spices as written which made them extra spicy.  I think I polished off half a jar before they even made it to the fridge!  For the recipe, read on.

Daring Bakers: Cheesecake Pops

This month's Daring Bakers challenge--posed by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell--was a recipe for cheesecake pops from the book "Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey" by Jill O'Connor.  (Isn't that the greatest title ever?)

The original recipe would have made 40 pops, so I halved it and baked the cheesecake in an 8 inch pan instead of a 10 inch pan.  That part worked great.  I also halved the dipping chocolate, which didn't work as well.  I ended up with 24 cheesecake pops, but only enough chocolate to cover about 15 of them.  Not a big deal--because we certainly didn't need more than that--but something to keep in mind if quantity is important.

These tasted very good, as one might expect from cheesecake on a stick!  They had just the right amount of chocolate per bite of cheesecake.  The stick was more pretty than functional; the cheesecake balls wanted to slip off of it, but that could have been partly because I didn't have enough chocolate to really coat the tops.  (And yes, these were done in Jayhawk colors on purpose.  I made them for the North Carolina game--they must be lucky!)

For the recipe, read on....

Gnocchi With Morels

I made my first trip to the Farmer's Market today.  I was looking for asparagus--which no one had--but I ended up scoring what I thought was a pretty good deal on some Pendleton's morel mushrooms. 

I used them to make some yummy gnocchi with mushrooms and sage--basically a little mushroom, a little gnocchi, a little garlic, a little butter.  (For the full recipe, see "Cook With Jamie".)

I'd never tried a morel before, but I definitely now understand why people are so crazy about them.  The smell that came off the pan when they started to cook was incredible.  It was woody and damp--kind of like opening a bag of potting soil.  And the texture once they were cooked was not at all chewy like some mushrooms--it was lighter than the gnocchi itself, but still substantial. 

I have a feeling this could become one of my new Spring favorites!

Eat Your Weeds

In this month's issue of Martha, there's an article about edible weeds.  I was one of those kids that was always "cooking" with dandelions and toadstools and whatever else I could get my hands on--although Nice Mom properly instilled a healthy fear of actually eating said meals--so I was excited to learn that you actually can nibble on some of the stuff in your backyard without risking untimely death by poisoning.

In particular, I was interested to learn that the little bulbs I used to dig up and pretend were baby onions are actually a form of wild garlic that grows pretty much everywhere in our area in the Spring.  So, last Wednesday night, I trotted out with my weeding stick, dug up some wild garlic, and chopped it up to top a mushroom and cheese Pepin Pizza.  (Explanatory note:  You only eat the stems of the wild garlic, not the bulb itself.)

The result was very nice.  I'm a big lover of regular garlic, but I do realize that it can sometimes come across like, "HI, MY NAME IS GARLIC AND I'M HERE IN YOUR FOOD TODAY!!!"  The wild garlic imparted the same basic flavor, but in a much milder, sweeter way--more like, "Hey, how's it going? I'm Garlic."  Sort of the same relationship that a scallion has to an onion. 

And speaking of scallions, you could easily sub wild garlic for one if you wanted.  It's not the same flavor really, but it's along the same theme.  I think the variance could be interesting.

Although I didn't immediately recognize any of the other weeds listed in the article (except for the dandelions, of course--more on that later) I'll definitely be keeping my eye out to try more edible weeds in the future.  If you're interested, here's Martha's guide to edible weeds, with pictures.

Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes

For his birthday this year, I had Sweet Husband pick a cupcake recipe from what has to be the most gorgeous cupcake blog ever--Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit.  He chose these Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes.

I have to begin by saying, I think these are the best cupcakes I've ever tasted.  Truly.  They're sweet (but in an "adult-sort-of-sweet" way) cinnamon-y, chocolaty, moist--I really don't know how the taste could be improved upon.

And despite the fact that some of Ms. Chockylit's recipes are, well, just a tich above my baking comfort level, this one wasn't too bad.  If you're comfortable melting chocolate, it's not a hard recipe.

My only issues?  The recipe says it makes 24 cupcakes.  I used the regular sized baking cups (just as she uses) and even ended up with several of them overflowing a bit more than I would have liked.  I ended up with almost 40 cupcakes!  In-and-of-itself, that wouldn't have been a problem, but the frosting recipe really did only make enough for 24, so I actually ended up throwing some of the cupcakes away.  (I didn't have enough butter on hand to just double the recipe, and they weren't pretty enough to serve frosting-less.)

Also, while I think the baking cups Chockylit uses look very simple and classy when she uses them, mine ended up just looking a little sloppy.  It's back to the foil muffin cups for me next time.

But aside from those two problems, these guys were incredible!  Can't wait to gobble a few up at Sweet Husband's party tomorrow night!

Daring Bakers in the Washington Post

This is kind of cool--the Daring Bakers were briefly mentioned in the Washington Post.  If you flip to the second picture in the slideshow there's also a picture from one of my other favorite food blogs--La Tartine Gourmande.  Yay food bloggers!

Daring Bakers: Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake

This month's Daring Baker's challenge was hosted by my lovely "Seasoned Eatings" giftee Morven of "Food Art and Random Thoughts".  The recipe was for a big, pretty party cake.

My problem?  No parties for me in March. 

But then one of my nice co-workers pointed out that March is basketball month--not a bad reason to celebrate.  And then I started seeing nice berries at the grocery store--not as nice as they'll be in June, of course, but perfectly sweet and edible just the same.  So, voila, a "Crimson and Blueberry" cake which I took to work to kick off the start of the Big XII tournament.  (Which the Jayhawks then went on to win--I think my cake was responsible!)

The cake itself was almost like angel food, very light and fluffy and springy.  I skipped the jam between the layers and just did buttercream and berries.  It could be my growing experience, but this buttercream worked much better for me than the buttercream I made for the Yule Log.  Although I wish the recipe would have made more (you can see I had to skimp a little on the sides), the texture was correct this time.

That being said, if I were going to make this cake again I think I would do it with just berries and whipped cream...and sometime in June or July.

For the recipe, read on....

Another Easter, Come and Gone

We spent the weekend in the home-town, hanging out with family.  Saturday night I had a rockin' egg dyeing party with my girlies and their mommies, then Sunday was Easter dinner.

Nice Mother-in-Law had just gotten back from spending her Spring Break in New Orleans helping with the clean-up, and Nice Father-in-Law is in his busy season with work, so I volunteered to cook.  (I know, so noble of me right?  Volunteering to do something I love to do anyway!) 

I inadvertently ended up with a Jamie Oliver theme--roast lamb; balsamic tomatoes with leeks and basil; and potatoes stuffed with garlic, bacon, and sage (recipe from "Cook with Jamie").  Of the three, I thought only the tomatoes were spectacular.  The vinegar enhanced their sweetness, and the leeks added just the right amount of bite.  The recipe says, in addition to just being served as a side dish, you can cook them up and puree them into a sauce--can't wait to try this with some of my garden tomatoes this summer!

More pictures of our Easter weekend are here.

Pepin's Pizza

Courtesy of Monsieur Jacques Pepin, we have a new pizza recipe.  I can't decide if I like it better than our grilled pizza or not, but let me tell you, the fact that it even comes close means it's pretty gosh-darned good.

The things that might put this one over the top?  First of all, it's sooo easy.  The crust is just a tortilla shell lightly brushed with olive oil.  As long as you have a tortilla shell, fifteen minutes later you can have pizza.  Second, in comparison to the grilled pizza at least, it's sooo low-calorie.  Even if you use a gigantic, spinach flavored tortilla (as we did here) your crust for the entire pizza tops out at 220 calories.  The grilled pizza dough is roughly 1000, so it's really quite a difference.

I'm wondering if maybe I couldn't get the best of both worlds by grilling the tortilla?

Revised Eggy Pasta

A few months ago I bought the book "Cook with Jamie" (Oliver).  It's a big, heavy, picture-laden cookbook--which the price reflects--but, if you're the right kind of cook, the risottos alone are worth it.

And, by the right kind of cook, I mean completely comfortable taking his general idea and making it your own.  Mostly it's just quantity issues--i.e. the recipes are made to serve a crowd and the ingredients are listed in unfamiliar (possibly more British?) measurements which makes it hard to just do half--but in the case of his egg ravioli, I did a total renovation.

In the main, Jamie's recipe requires you to make your own pasta (I cheated and used won-ton wrappers), cut it into a basic ravioli shape, and spoon on some ricotta cheese.  Then you make a little well in the ricotta, in which goes one hopefully unbroken egg yolk.  (See above picture.)  Last you seal up the ravioli, cook it until the eggs are done but still soft, and pour a little melted butter over the top.

Complicated?  Yup.  First, it's hard to get the egg yolks through the whole process without breaking them.  Second, it's hard to tell how done your eggs are when they're inside the ravioli.  Third, it uses a lot of eggs--12 if you follow the recipe as written!  Our end result was that, while it all tasted good, it was not terribly pretty.

Daring Bakers: Julia Child's French Bread

In celebration of Valentine's Day, this month's Daring Bakers Challenge--set by Mary, from "The Sour Dough", and Sara, of "I Like to Cook"--was "Julia [Child's] eighteen page love poem to French bread."

This recipe (which I've reprinted below) just looks intimidating.  As I've said before, I get a kick out of making bread every now and then, but I tend to favor recipes of the ten-words-or-less variety.  Flour, yeast, water, salt, mix, knead, rise, bake--how much more information do you really need? 

I was so put off by the length of the recipe that I almost decided to just skip this one.  But then I got snowed in at home one day and just kinda decided, why not?

Why not indeed!  Once I got past all the whiffle-waffle, I quickly realized the recipe is exactly like the one for my favorite pizza dough.  The bread dough had to rise for longer and was shaped differently, but otherwise I could have made it in my sleep! 

And even though my bread didn't have quite the texture of a proper bakery baguette, it made lovely, rustic blue cheese and apple sandwiches all the same.

For the recipe (don't be scared) read on....

Because Soba Noodles Are Very Good

I love soba noodles.  Aside from being fun to say, they're nutty and slippery and delicious.  I've tried them what seems like a dozen different ways, but this latest incarnation is the best so far.  It's based on two Jamie Oliver recipes--Beef Carpaccio and Crunchy Thai Salad--but tweaked to make it a little easier and to scale it down for two people.  There is a lot of veggie chopping involved--I tend to find it kind of therapeutic at the end of a long day, but your mileage may vary.  I do promise it's worth it though!  Read on for the recipe.

"Lovely" Chocolate Wrappers

Another Valentines-y idea I've seen a lot in my rabid craft blog consumption is re-wrapping chocolate to personalize the wrapper.  I've had this idea--unwrapping a chocolate bar to write a love letter inside--in my tickler for a year now.  However, I ultimately decided I liked putting messages on the outside better.  (I can't find a link to where I found that picture, but for what it's worth that's where I got this idea.)

I bought some dark chocolates from World Market, pulled off the original wrappers, and measured them to get the size.  I set up a template in Word to match that size and filled in the words.  My printer wouldn't cooperate so I just used plain paper, but I think these wrappers would look even nicer on something a little glossy.  Once the wrappers are printed, just cut them apart, and use a little tape to get them to stay on.  (I tried rubber cement first, but it was more trouble than it was worth.)

The really fun part about these is deciding what to say.  If you follow the link above you'll note their messages are just ever-so-slightly suggestive--a very nice Valentine given the right recipient.  I'm planning to put these in my candy dish at work so I went with song titles with the word "love" in them instead.   

They're like little grown-up conversation hearts!

Suspicious Vegetable Makes Good (Pasta Sauce)

Just when I had earned some measure of trust with my Sweet Husband on the veggie-cooking front (see here for the Brussels-sprouty-back story) I had to go and try to make peas a few weeks ago.  Never mind that they were oniony and buttery, never mind that I even threw in a handful of Parmesan cheese for good measure--peas they were and that was that. 

Although he was, of course, very nice about trying to choke a few down for my sake, the incident regrettably lost me a bit of my vegetable credibility.  When I grabbed an eggplant at the grocery store last weekend, eyebrows were raised suspiciously.

"What are we doing with that?" he asked.

"Making a pasta sauce."  I replied, trying to sound confident.

His eyebrows raised higher.

The eggplant then sat in the fridge--dismissed as a dinner choice for three nights in a row--until last night when I insisted we had to cook it or it would go bad.  Per this recipe, we chopped it, roasted it with garlic and tomatoes, whizzed it all together in the food processor, and mixed it, some pine nuts, and Parmesan in with a pot'o'rigatoni.

The result?  Success!  Something about eggplant makes it the most perfect vector for garlic.  They compliment each other so well, and roasting makes them both a little sweeter.  The cherry tomatoes gave it all some nice color, and the pine nuts were good crunchies.

We're back on the vegetable track again--Yay!

Daring Bakers: Lemon Meringue Tartlettes

It's Daring Baker time again!  This month's recipe--supplied by Jen of The Canadian Baker--was a lovely lemon meringue with the option of making it into a pie or tartlettes.  I chose to make the tartlettes with the idea that I could bake them on the weekend and take them to work Monday.  Unfortunately, I missed the part of the recipe that recommends baking and eating on the same day lest the crust get soggy.

Undeterred, Sweet Husband and I spent a Sunday afternoon delivering tartlettes to friends we were able to catch at home.  It was very social and fun--and we got to play with everyone's dogs and kitties in the process!

I had a little trouble with the crust on this recipe, which I'm putting down mostly to equipment problems.  I didn't want to buy a pastry cutter, so I ended up just using a fork.  By the time I really got the dough to come together it was definitely a little overworked (i.e. not light and flaky).  And our very old oven just kind of makes all baked goods a shade too brown on the bottom anyway....so all in all, the crust could have been better.  Not bad, but could have been better.

On the other hand, the lemon curd was frickin' incredible.  Truly.  Seriously.  It was sweet without setting your teeth on edge, perfectly smooth, and flecked with pretty, pretty lemon zest.  I will never buy store bought lemon curd again.  And the meringue was good too. 

Read on for the recipe.

Curried Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup

(In an effort to eat a little less meat, I've set a goal to try one new recipe per week using a grain I don't commonly cook with.  See the original post here.)

This week I branched out from "alterna-grains" to "alterna-legumes".  And happily so--this curried red lentil and swiss chard soup was awesome!  Lovely texture--mushy but with firm bites of chickpeas and lentils mixed in.  Spicy--I don't generally like things that are hot, but this had just the right amount of heat and lots of good flavor behind it.  Easy--I folded a load of laundry and even had time for a quick workout in the downtime.

Difficulties?  The soup in the picture with the recipe is red.  I'm not sure if that's a picture of this soup of not, because--as you can see--ours was decidedly green.  (It was yellow before we put the chard in, but it was never, ever red.)  We don't mind green soup so it was OK, but your mileage may vary.

Other things I might do differently next time....

• Chop the jalapenos.  I quickly dunked mine into the soup, where they just as quickly disappeared.  When I got just a little bite of jalapeno it was very good, but the few times I got a mouthful--ouch!
• Serve over rice.  This was thick enough that it was really quite a bit more like just plain "curry" than "curry soup".  I like curry with rice.

And Now For Some Fried Dough Covered In Sugar

Ever since Tartlette submitted her Sufganiyot to "Joyous Jumble" in December, I've had it in the back of my mind that it would be fun to make some doughnuts.  That dear lady must've known that I needed an excuse, because this weekend I saw that she had posted a "Time To Make Doughnuts" challenge.

I thought about making and submitting the Sufganiyot (because I still haven't gotten a chance to try them), but that seemed like cheating somehow.  And--because keeping this stuff around the house doesn't work so well--I wanted something I could take to my carpool buddies (i.e. not messy), so I decided to make these super simple glazed doughnuts.

I used this recipe which uses store bought pizza dough as a base.  I used twenty ounces of dough rather than sixteen, and was glad that I did--it made about fifteen small doughnuts and a handful of doughnut holes.  No biscuit cutters here, so I used a small glass to cut out the outside edge of the doughnuts and just used my fingers to make a hole in the center.  It gave them a homemade look that was a nice touch.  I also skipped the cinnamon and sugar and instead used this recipe to make a glaze.

My only worry is that they might not be as good by tomorrow morning.  Sweet Husband has been taste testing them throughout the day, and said they were definitely better straight out of the frying oil.  I'm thinking maybe if I warm them up a little tomorrow morning they'll get some of their original gooey-ness back?

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

(In an effort to eat a little less meat, I've set a goal to try one new recipe per week using a grain I don't commonly cook with.  See the original post here.)

I was a little tired of salad-type "alterna-grain" recipes, so for something different this week we tried blueberry buckwheat pancakes.  The original plan was to make this recipe, but when I found a buckwheat pancake mix at the store, well, it won.

The buckwheat pancakes were a little coarser than plain pancakes--not quite as gritty as, say, cornbread--but I thought they had a ton more flavor.  I could easily be happy eating them from now on.  Especially with semi-homemade blueberry syrup.

(For more about buckwheat--which is actually not related to wheat at all--see here.)

Terrines and Verrines, Experimenting with Layers

I was flipping through food blogs last week when I came across two words that were unfamiliar to me: verinne and terrine.  A few minutes worth of research later I learned....

• verinne: An appetizer or dessert that consists of a number of components layered artfully in a small glass. (The word verrine refers to the glass itself; literally it means "protective glass.")
• terinne:   1: A usually earthenware dish in which foods are cooked and served.  2: a mixture of chopped meat, fish, or vegetables cooked and served in a terrine.

Helpful, but still not completely clear.  So I went looking for pictures--here are some verinnes and some terrines--and the light bulb went off.  It seems to me that (loosely) a verrine is food in layers in a glass made to look pretty or cute--something like a parfait.  A terrine is kinda-sorta like a meatloaf only not necessarily entirely meat, and, again, made to look pretty when it's all sliced up--like a pate or a jello mold.

Once I got all of that figured out, I was ready to play.

Barley Risotto with Roasted Winter Vegetables

(In an effort to eat a little less meat, I've set a goal to try one new recipe per week using a grain I don't commonly cook with.  See the original post here.)

For this week's "alterna-grain" I chose something a little more winter-y than last week.  Tonight we tried Barley Risotto with Roasted Winter Vegetables. 

Rather than using half a butternut squash, as the recipe calls for, I used an entire small pumpkin that was hanging out in the pantry.  I also mashed the vegetables after roasting them because I like a smoother consistency rather than veggie chunks.

I hadn't ever cooked with celery root (a.k.a. celeriac) before, and I absolutely loved it.  I love the flavor of celery, but I don't really like the stringy texture of it when it's cooked.  By using the root, I got all the flavor without the stringy bits--very nice. 

The barley on the other hand...eh, not so much.  I liked the kind of woodsy flavor it brought to the mix, but part of what makes risotto such comfort food is its smoothness.  The chewiness of the barley messed with that, and not in a good way. 

I think we'll make this recipe again, but probably with risotto or orzo pasta rather than barley.

Quinoa, Mango, and Black Bean Salad

In the first of what I'm calling our "alterna-grain" experiments (pursuant to this post), tonight we tried this Quinoa, Mango, and Black Bean Salad.  While it most certainly did not fit well with the weather today (which was cold and snowy and rainy), the gingery-mango-ness of it all was delicious.  And the quinoa--which looks like teeny versions of the planet Saturn when it's cooked--bound everything together and gave it a nice nutty flavor.

I can't wait to try it again...but maybe not until June or July.

Joyous Jumble and the Round-Up of Round-Ups

About a month ago, in conjunction with some of the other fun holiday baking challenges I was thinking about taking part in, I issued a challenge of my own:

"December is a month of holidays--from World Aids Day to New Year's Eve, from Night of the Radishes to Boxing Day it seems like there's something to commemorate or celebrate almost every day.  For this "Joyous Jumble", pick a December holiday that you would not typically celebrate and make a food associated with it.  It can be sweet or savory, difficult or super simple, traditional or with your own special twist--have fun!"

Hence the Joyous Jumble challenge was issued.  Although the number of entries was small, each one is a perfect little winter-time jewel that I can't wait to try....

Linda at "Make Life Sweeter" in the Netherlands made Speculaas Meringues with Marzipan Butter in celebration of Sinterklaas.  Linda explains, "Saint Nicolas is the patron saint of children (among other things). Each year on the 5th of December Sinterklaas and his helper 'Zwarte Piet' (Black Pete) bring presents to every child...correction: every child that has been good that is!"

Helen at "Tartlette" in South Carolina, USA made Sufganiyot (or Jelly Doughnuts) for some Jewish friends in celebration of Hanukkah.  Helen writes, "I know you can't tell from the pictures, and that is because I did not have time to take proper shots while the gluttons were devouring these, but they are filled with raspberry jelly. . . . It was a pleasure to see C's and the kids' face when I dropped these off. I shared some eggnog and coffee with them while listening to family stories and traditions. I also enjoyed reading more about this holiday that although not completely foreign to me, had not been explained in details and researching recipes as well as history was a fantastic part of blogging."

For my own entry, you will remember I made Saint Lucia Day buns to celebrate Saint Lucia's Day.

And here are the round-ups of all the other tasty food challenges and fun I've had this month....

• Grow Your Own
• Spoonful of Christmas
• Traditional Feasts
• Festive Food Fair
• Seasoned Eatings--Part 1 and Part 2

Happy Christmas everyone!

Daring Bakers: Yule Log

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was to make a yule log cake (also known as a Buche de Noel).  Having once won third place in the "Buche contest" at my high school French Club's holiday soiree (yup, I'm still proud), I thought I'd have this one down.

Eh, sort of.  The cake part actually worked out quite well.  I flavored it with rum and orange, and it only cracked ever so slightly when I rolled it--very nice on the whole.

I had some temperature issues with the buttercream, though.  When I first mixed it together, it looked grainy.  After consulting with some of my co-Daring Bakers, I discovered this meant the buttercream was too cold, and the solution was to microwave a quarter of it and then mix it back in.  It worked well, and made the part of the icing I used for the filling nice and smooth.  Then I put the cake and icing in the refrigerator over night, per the recipe.  When I pulled it all out in the morning, however, I couldn't seem to get the icing back to the right temperature again.  As a result the icing on the outside of the log was a little grainy, but it still tasted good.  (I also added about 1/4 cup of melted chocolate chips to make the icing dark brown.)

The part I probably had the most fun with however, was the mushrooms!  We had the option to make them with either meringue or marzipan--I choose marzipan.  After making the mushrooms--which were incredibly easy--I dyed my leftover marzipan different colors and used it to make some pretty little marzipan fruits.  It was like playing with play-dough, only really yummy tasting!

Thanks to Ivonne and Lis for coming up with this challenge.  Read on if you'd like the recipe.

Spicy Secret Santa

Earlier this month I put my name in for a sort of international secret Santa called "Seasoned Eatings."  The game (hosted by Lindsay and Katie) went something like this:

"Your task is to find one spice, that is either local to your area or is representative of your cooking style.  Then you package it up and send it off to the blogger you are assigned to (this is how we will maintain the element of surprise). With the package you send to your secret recipient you will add a recipe for the spice you are including.  Then, when you receive your package in the mail you get to post a picture of the package and your reaction to the mystery ingredient."

For my giftee, I drew Morven of "Food Art and Random Thoughts" in New Zealand.  I didn't quite realize what I had gotten myself into until I started trying to think of a "local" Midwestern spice.  The problem is that--like many of the people that live in the Midwest--many of the spices we commonly cook with came from somewhere else in the not too distant past. 

But then I started reading Morven's blog, which oddly enough gave me an idea; she wrote, "BBQ ribs would rate as one of my favourite foods."  Ah yes, Kansas City barbecue.  Although I rarely partake in it myself, it is something that's pretty unique to my part of the world.  Thus I packed off a good portion of "Arthur Bryant's Rib Rub" and barbecue sauce, along with some hickory wood chips (which were sadly confiscated by the ministry of agriculture--darn!).

My gift came from Lisa of "I've Got Seoul" in South Korea.  (Her posts about time zones and getting it into the mail late--here and here--cracked me up!)  Lisa sent me a packet of "Korean Red Spice" along with this recipe for tofu.

Having never really cooked with tofu before--although I do like it fried--I'm excited to try it out.  I think I might make up a batch for our pre-Christmas dinner munchie platter.  Thanks Lisa!

And also thanks to Lindsay and Katie for putting together such a fun exchange.  Can't wait to do it again next year!

Joyous Jumble: Saint Lucia Day Buns

I don't know about you, but lately it seems like I'm living in darkness.  When I wake up in the morning it's dark; the sky just lightens to gray most days, but even when the sun comes out it's pale and weak; then by the time I come home it's dark again. 

Which is possibly why I love reading and learning about winter holidays that celebrate light.  One such holiday is Saint Lucia's Day.  Celebrated largely in Scandinavian countries, on Lucia Day morning,

"Traditionally, the oldest daughter in the family portrays Saint Lucia, the Queen of Light, and she serves the elder members of the family coffee and pastries in bed.  The pageant goes something like this. While the parents snuggle under comforters and feign sleep, the children are in the kitchen bustling about. Coffee must be brewed, and saffron-flavored Saint Lucia coffeecake or buns must be warmed.  The daughter, dressed in a long white gown with red sash, lights a ring of candles and carefully lifts it up to rest securely on her head as a crown. . . . When everything is ready, the coffee is poured, the Lucia buns are placed on a tray and the breakfast procession slowly begins toward the parents' bedroom. The children sing a traditional song: 'Now the light is carried forth, proud on its crown, in every house, and every home, the song shall ring.'"

For Saint Lucia Day this year (and for my own entry in Joyous Jumble), I decided to try my hand at some Saint Lucia Buns.  Here is the recipe I used.  The saffron is a bit expensive, but as it's basically the whole point it can't be omitted.  The dough was absolutely amazing to work with, but it really does make 4 dozen buns so either halve the recipe or plan to share.  I compromised by making a few dozen buns and then doing a braided loaf and wreath.  The buns themselves are not sweet in the way I think most Americans would think "sweet", but at the same time they're not truly savory either.  It's hard to describe, but if you're one of those people (and I am) who thinks cinnamon rolls are often sickly sweet you'll love these.  And with that beautiful, saffron-y yellow color, they're like little buns of sunshine.

Festive Food Fair: Candied Orange Peels

"The festive season approaches. Whether it’s Christmas, Eid al Adha, Hannukkah, Mahayana, the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji or New Year’s Eve, there are feasts to be had and food to be cooked."

Hence, Anna of "Morels and Musings" decided to host a recipe carousel featuring "festive foods".  My entry is as follows....

When I was little we had a fabulously illustrated copy of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.  In the picture where the Ghost of Christmas Present appeared, amid all sorts of cheese and meats and the like, his feast included what looked like hundreds of sparkling candied fruit shimmering in the firelight.  I remember thinking that was really what a proper magical Christmas feast should look like.

So, this year I decided to make my own candied orange peels.  For the recipe, read on.  (And here's the round-up.)

The Chronicles of Turkish Delight

In "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" (the second book of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis), Edmund Pevensie betrays his family in order to get an extra taste of Turkish Delight from the White Witch.

I've often wondered what candy could possibly be that good, so this year I decided to try to make my own Turkish Delight . . . even though I wasn't all that sure what Turkish Delight was.

Not to worry though, research quickly unveiled that Turkish Delight (also called "Lokum") is a jelly-type square with a powdered sugar crust.  Easy enough, right?

Umm, not really.  The first batch, made with this recipe, didn't go so well.  Or at least, I didn't think it did at the time.  It set up fairly well, but I couldn't get it to dry enough on the outside to get the powdered sugar to work.  Every time I added powdered sugar to the little jelly-jubey squares they would look right for a few minutes, but then kind of suck in the sugar and make it wet.  (Note:  Powdered sugar + water = sticky mess.)  In retrospect however, I actually think this batch was tolerable.  It wasn't quite gummy enough to be sure (more like heavy jello), but it was certainly closer than the second batch.

The second batch, made according to this recipe, didn't set up right or taste good.  And when I put it in the freezer to try and help it along, it dribbled.  (Note: Semi-frozen goo = sticky mess.)

While I'm a reasonably persistent girl in some areas, the kitchen isn't one of them.  After batch #2 failed, I started looking at other options for getting my hands on some Turkish Delight.  Turns out Brits, my local "purveyor of British goods" has boxes and boxes of the stuff--rose flavored, citrus, or pistachio covered with chocolate--all waiting to be bought, no sticky mess involved.  Against the advice of the store owner (who recommended the pistachio) I chose the above pictured box which was citrus flavored. 

When I opened it up, I found that--as with most food photographers--people who take pictures of Turkish Delight fudge a little.  Far from looking like the pictures on the box or the pictures I was looking at on the internet, real Turkish Delight kind of sucks in the powdered sugar in the way my first batch did.  No worries though, a simple re-dusting and I was ready to give it a try.

And although I won't be trading Sweet Husband or the pups in for a box of it anytime soon, it is pretty good stuff.  I wonder if the White Witch would be interested in a pair of lovebirds?

Monthly Mingle "Traditional Feasts": Grandma Mary's Peanut Butter Balls

"The next couple of weeks is going to be full of feasts, fests, food, friends and family. Many cultures and religions will be celebrating in some form or the other. At the end of this week the Indians will be celebrating Diwali - Festival of Lights, Hanuka for the Jewish or Thanksgiving and Christmas for many others and not to mention New Year's at the end of it all. It's simply a great time of year. I love spending warm, cosy evenings surrounded by friends and family, digging into a luxurious or traditional meal. The room alight with chatter, laughter and full of warmth."

Hence, Meeta of "What's For Lunch Honey?" chose the theme "Traditional Feasts" for her December "Monthly Mingle" food blogging fun.

Although I'm not sure if many other people would consider it a traditional holiday food, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas for me without some of my Grandma Mary's peanut butter balls. 

I don't ever remember making them with her--I probably wasn't patient enough as a child--but somehow, even though everyone else loved them too, there was always a special container of them tucked away just for me.  For the recipe, read on.  Check out the round up of all the "Monthly Mingle" entries here.

A Spoonful of Christmas: Stuffed Olives

Continuing with my Christmas food challenges (I keep deciding to do new ones--they're kind of addictive), this is my entry in "A Spoonful of Christmas" hosted by Zlamushka of "Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen".  The challenge was to make food that can be given away as a gift.

My Sweetie Little Sister (age 9 3/4) has a very honestly-come-by olive addiction.  At a young age we started her with canned black olives--very fun to eat off your fingers--and a few years ago I introduced her to the wonders of kalamatas.  She quickly fell in love with the cheese stuffed ones, however, while they were easy to find at first they have since become much more scarce even at my ordinarily well-stocked local olive bar.

Nonetheless, every time she knows I'm coming home, Sweetie Sister always puts in a request, "Will you pretty-please bring some of those really good olives?"  What's a nice sister to do?

Grow Your Own: Rosemary Orange Truffles

Continuing with my Christmas food challenges, "Grow Your Own" is a monthly food blogging event hatched by Andrea of "Andrea's Recipes", that "celebrates the foods that we grow ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products."

But what's growing in frosty Kansas in November, you ask?  Well, truthfully, in my garden there isn't much.  However, my trusty little rosemary bush is trooping along still--and, if anything, has improved in flavor with the cold--so I decided I wanted to work it into my Christmas candy making somehow.

I love rosemary and I love chocolate, but I only learned that I like them together about a year ago when I had my first Christopher Elbow Rosemary Caramel.  It's an odd sounding flavor combination, I know, but somehow it works.

After doing a little research, I ended up mixing a little bit of this recipe with a little bit of this one to get these:

Although I was basically working by trial and error, the flavoring ended up just right.  You can just taste the perfect hint of rosemary on the front end and then you get a nice dose of orange.  I put the little pieces of candied orange on top for pretty, but I don't know if I would do it again as it kind of messes with the texture when it's all in your mouth.  For the recipe, read on.  For the round-up of all the recipes that were submitted, click here.

Daring Bakers: Tender Potato Bread

After watching their lovely concoctions appear across the internet for the past few months, this month I decided to join the Daring Bakers. The Daring Bakers are a group of bloggers and bakers. Each month one member comes up with a challenge recipe which the other members then proceed to make exactly according to the recipe, with no modifications allowed. (This is the part that's going to be good for me!) Then, on the same pre-decided-upon day, everyone posts about how it went. 

This month's challenge--hosted by Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups--was to make Tender Potato Bread.

The recipe (which is reprinted if you click the "continue" link below) was for a basic dough that could then be made into either a loaf of bread, dinner rolls, or foccacia bread. I made the foccacia bread a few weeks ago, and froze the rest of my dough to use for Thanksgiving rolls.

The bread turned out nicely. The foccacia was crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and had a nice potato-y tang.

The rolls unfortunately did not survive the freezing process well.  I let the dough rise once before freezing.  Then the night before Thanksgiving, I set it out to defrost and hopefully rise again. 

Not so much.  The little yeasties just never came back to life.

It was fun to try something different, but I don't know if I would use this recipe again.  I actually really like to make bread. The smells, the mixing, the kneading--it's all very meditative and pleasant. But this dough was just not nice to work with.  It stuck to everything--the counter, my fingers, the bowl. The recipe warned to avoid adding too much flour, but I don't know how you could help it; I had to flour in self-defense! 

All in all I'm glad the challenge was something new, but it didn't sway me from my old faithful.