Take Two And Call Me In The Morning

Long, long ago, in a state far far away, I wanted to be a ballerina. I'm not just talking prancing around the house in a tutu, although I went through that phase. I am talking taped, blistered toes, living in leotards, trying to vomit up dinner (never got the hang of that one, thankfully), and living at the ballet studio.

The goal of every young girl in tights was to be in the annual production of the Nutcracker. The process of getting there was a huge ordeal. The first step was the auditions. My first year I signed up and arrived, along with hundreds of other hopefuls with their mothers. I was assigned a number and had to wait, nervously, as groups of numbers were called. That group would disappear behind closed doors, reappearing 20 minutes later, a few girls with confident smiles on their faces, most looking depressed, and a few in tears. Then the next group would be called and the process repeated. This continued until my number was called.

I went with my assigned group into a seemingly vast room presided over by a terrifying woman with a stick, the ballet mistress. She told us to line up, then proceeded to teach a combination of steps. She showed us once, ran through it with us twice, and then we were to do the combination in small groups for her. Under pressure I just couldn't remember the sequence. I was going left when I should have been jumping, turning when I should have been going right, and generally tripping over my own feet.

Needless to say, I was one of the ones who left that day downcast. I was rejected for two years in a row.

My third year a fellow dancer, older and better than me, gave me some sage advice. After school, she said, go home and take a bath then eat a peanut butter sandwich. It would calm me and help me to focus. I did and it really worked. I got into the production as a toy soldier and loved it.

Ever since, I have been convinced of the soothing powers of peanut butter. When stressed out, a peanut butter sandwich, oozing with smooth, creamy goodness, makes me feel that all's right with the world. So when my husband asked for some cookies to take to an extremely stress-filled meeting at work, I made these delicious cookies, packed with peanut butter. How could life not look a little better when you're munching one of these babies?

Peanut Butter Cream-Filled Cookies
- adapted from Mrs. Fields' Best Ever Cookie Book

cookies:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup quick-cooking oats (not instant)
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick salted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

filling:

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) salted butter, softened
2 Tbsp half-and-half
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1- In a medium bowl, combine flour soda, cinnamon, and oats. Mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.

2- Cream sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer. Add egg and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until light and creamy. Add the flour-oat mixture, and blend at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.

3- Separate dough into 2 balls, flatten them into disks and wrap each tightly in plastic wrap or a plastic bag. Chill for an hour.

4- Preheat oven to 325 deg. F.

5- On a floured board using a floured rolling pin, roll out one disk to 1/4" thickness. Cut cookies with a 2-inch round cookie cutter dipped in flour. (A fancy, fluted cutter is beautiful, but I don't own one). Repeat procedure with the second disk, reworking scraps until all the dough is used. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheets 1/2 inch apart for 13 to 15 minutes or until bottoms turn light brown. Transfer immediately to a cool, flat surface with a spatula. This helps the cookies to stay moist on the underside as they cool.

6- When the cookies are cool, mix filling ingredients and spread 1 Tbsp of filling on the bottom side of a cookie. Top with another cookie so tops of the cookies are facing outward. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling.

I didn't measure the filling as I applied it to the cookies and I had some leftover. Tune in to my next post to see what I cleverly did with the leftovers!

I've Been Tagged

I got tagged by the Cooking Ninja (that stealthy gal) to list 7 random things about myself that you probably don't know. So here goes.

1- I've jumped out of an airplane. On purpose. My sister and I took a day jump class and went parachuting. I wanted to be able to say I'd done something bold and adventurous in my life. It was combination exhilarating and terrifying. I'm so glad I went but have no need to ever go again.

2 -I had 3 of my 4 babies at home with a midwife and no drugs. The first one was in a birthing center with a midwife, also no drugs. I love being in my own space with my own comfort measures to have my babies. It sure beats going to the hospital and having nurses and doctors boss you around and possibly getting cut into. The current US c-section rate is 1 in 3. Yikes!

3- I can make my ears wiggle, without using my hands. Don't feel badly if you can't do it; it's a genetic trait.

4- I am the world's fussiest shopper for shoes. I can't stand shoes that pinch, slip, slide, or bind. My mother would go nuts trying to get me to buy school shoes; it took forever.

5- I loathe running. It makes my lungs and knees hurt and my bum and boobs flop.

6- I speak in movie quotes. Some TV shows, too. Currently, a lot of Arrested Development and The Office. It saves the time and energy of having to think up my own witty lines, but baffles and mystifies people who haven't seen the movie.

7- I lived a year in Germany when I was 8. I attended a German school and learned German by the sink or swim method. There I learned about the joys of zimmels, and Nutella. My best friend was a fun, feisty German girl named Manuela Schindler. Anyone know her?

There. Wasn't that enlightening?

Now it's my turn to tag. Participation is entirely voluntary! If you'd like to do it, just post seven random things about yourself that others might not know.

Melinda
Food and Photo
Eat Me, Delicious
Food Blogga
Simply Anne's
Gruel Omelet
Dine and Dish

I Want It Now

It is the perversity of human nature to want what is unattainable. I am particularly guilty of this when it comes to the seasons. I moan about the cold, the rain, the gray skies of winter and imagine perfect happiness will come with the sunshine. But there is nothing that convinces me of the charms of hot soup for dinner, wrapping up in a blanket to read a book, and a crackling fire like the onslaught of summertime heat. I melt, I pine, and I moan some more.

Is perfect happiness attainable? Is it possible to want something and have it right away? Or at least in an hour?

The answer is yes, if you have a ripe cantaloupe on the counter and an ice cream machine ready to kick into action.


This gorgeous sorbet is adapted from The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz. I know, I know, you're saying, "Will she ever get off this Perfect Scoop kick?" No. Not while it's hot and there are still recipes untried. So quit whining and get churning. You know you want it. The cool, refreshing sorbet perfectly captures the full, juicy cantaloupe flavor, piquantly set off by fresh lime juice. Mmmmm. You might be having summer meltdown, but this sorbet can help you hang on till soup weather.

Cantaloupe Sorbet

One 2-lb (1 kg) ripe cantaloupe
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice, plus more to taste
2 Tbsp dry or sweet white wine or champagne (optional)

Cut the melon in half and scrape out the seeds. Cut the melon halves in quarters and remove the melon in 1 inch pieces, being careful to leave all the green with the skin.

Puree the melon in a blender with the sugar, salt, and lime juice until smooth. Taste, and add additional lime juice if desired and the wine, if using. The addition of alcohol prevents the formation of ice crystals. I made it without alcohol and had no problems with the texture.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

What I Do For Love

I'm the odd one out in my house. The rest of my family loves blue cheese. It's my husband's first pick for salad dressing. It's a treat to my kids crumbled in a salad. To me it is food gone bad. Come on, people, it's riddled with mold!

I have serious issues with mold. It grosses me out. Nothing gets my gag reflex going as much as finding the lurker at the back of the fridge. You know what I'm talking about. The Tupperware container that you didn't label, knowing you'd use it in a few days, but it got something juicier and more tempting put in front of it and it gradually migrated to the back of the fridge. You forgot all about it, until a fit of cleaning made you gingerly remove it, carefully peeling up the lid (if it hadn't already self-popped). You reel back in horror, the noxious odors assaulting your nose, the fuzzy blue, green, and red puffs threatening to crawl out of the container, and you rush to the sink to stuff it down the drain and let the sewer gators take it on.

Mold smells nasty, looks frightening, and makes me gag. Yet some people enjoy it and even go so far as injecting an innocent cheese with it. And then eating it. On purpose. The mind boggles.


In order to maintain a happy marriage, my sweet husband and I have reached a compromise. He deals with the nasty mold from the fridge and I try not to retch when he enjoys his blue cheese. When he got a chunk of blue cheese for his birthday from our daughter, I took it as an opportunity to score good wifey points and made him a blue cheese dip. My daughter did the crumbling of the blue cheese and the stirring in so I wouldn't be overcome by the fumes.


They said it was delicious. It's easy to make and you don't have to wait to enjoy it, although my husband said the next day the flavors had melded into a somewhat different, but equally enjoyable blend. If you like blue cheese, by all means try it. Just don't make me watch.

Chunky Blue Cheese Dip (adapted from Taste of Home)

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup minced fresh chives

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sour cream, pepper and salt until smooth. Gently blend in the blue cheese and chives. Serve with crackers, apple and pear slices, and / or pecans. Makes 1-3/4 cups.

Cool, Quick, and Easy

Cool, quick, and easy. I'm not talking about the most popular girl in high school, I'm talking about what's for dinner.

We are looking at a super-hot week and I'm not excited. I was raised in a desert climate, but have happily adapted to a temperate climate and I get whiny when it's over 80 degrees. I start finding reasons to go to the mall and spend inordinate amounts of time shopping for frozen foods. How long does it take to comparison shop frozen peas? As long as it takes!

So I'm always up for dinners that don't require turning on the oven and go together in a flash. I tried this chicken salad and it was love at first bite. It's flavorful and has interesting texture bits to keep my mouth interested. When it's hot I like to be lazy and just buy a roasted chicken at the store for the cooked chicken. Mix it together, put it on a bun or croissant and dinner's served. Yeah!

Honey Pecan Chicken Salad
(adapted from Fresh From The Pantry)

1 cup mayonnaise (homemade with the Cuisinart recipe is excellent)
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
2 Tbsp minced onion
1 Tbsp honey
1-1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
3/4 chopped celery
3/4 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
1-1/2 pounds chopped, cooked chicken (about 4 cups)

Mix together the mayonnaise, relish, onion, honey, sugar, salt and white pepper in a bowl and mix well. Stir in the celery and pecans. Fold in the chicken. Adjust the seasonings to taste. Chill, covered, in the refrigerator. Serve on crusty French bread rolls or a croissant. Optional: add lettuce, tomato, or other favorite garnish.

Serves 6 to 8

Life in the Fast Lane

In my previous life, prior to entering the fast-paced and highly profitable world of food blogging (pause for laughter), I did in-home parties selling baskets and pottery. I loved doing the shows but dreaded making phone calls to book the shows. I hate rejection (who loves it?) and any kind of a "no" felt like rejection. Even the "I'd love to but my house just burnt to the ground and we're living in a tent on the beach so there's no room to have a show" excuse felt like rejection.

Some people, trying to be nice, would go for the delay. "Oh, gosh, I really want to, but the kids are so busy with school and sports and lessons that I just don't have time. For sure call me when school gets out." After years of hearing this, I've learned. Life never gets less busy. It stays as busy as we choose. Those same people when I call them 5 minutes after the closing school bell has rung already have their kids in day camp, soccer camp, and art camp, have out of town visitors scheduled and their two vacations already scheduled. And they say, "Oh, gosh, I really want to, but we're so busy. Life will calm down when the kids are in school. Call me then."

Life is hectic but one constant is that people need to eat. And if you have teenagers, you know they need to eat constantly. Having a good, quick supper in your repertoire can save you time, money (no nasty grab-a-burger-at-the-drive-through-on-the-way-to-the-swim-meet), and your sanity.

This salad is beautiful, delicious, quick, and easy. The lemon gives a bright contrast to the pasta, the broccoli makes you feel healthy, and the chicken says it's a meal. Of course, a vegetarian can omit the chicken and it's still delicious.

Broccoli, Chicken, & Bow Ties
(modified from Barefoot Contessa Family Style)

Salt
8 cups broccoli florets (4 heads)
1/2 lb farfalle (bow tie) pasta
1 whole chicken breast, or 1 large 1/2 breast
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. good olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup toasted pignoli (pine) nuts
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

To toast the pignollis, place them in a dry saute pan over meium-low heat and cook, tossing often, for about 5 minutes, until light brown.

Cut the chicken into strips on the diagonal. Place the chicken in a skillet and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, cover, turn down the heat, and let simmer till chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Don't overcook, or your chicken will be rubbbery.

Cook the broccoli for 3 minuts in a large pot of boiling salted water. Remove the broccoli from the water with a slotted spoon or sieve. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

In the same water, cook the bow-tie pasta according to the package directions, about 12 minutes. Drain well and add to the broccoli.

Meanwhile, in a small saute pan, heat the butter and oil and cook the garlic and lemon zest over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add 2 tsp. satl, the pepper, and lemon juice and pour this over the broccoli and pasta. Toss Well. Season to taste, sprinkle with the pignolis and cheese and serve.

Lemon Fireworks

To all those in the United States, Happy Independence Day! For me it's a day that's filled with many happy memories of picnics in the park, swirling sparklers, and fireworks lighting up the night. Since moving to the Northwest, most of those memories have been cold, soggy ones. We try to have the proper spirit, but having a picnic indoors, trying to barbecue under the roof overhang to avoid the fire going out in the downpour, and huddling up in wool blankets to watch fireworks just doesn't seem right.

This year, though, we've got a proper Independence Day going. It's clear, sunny, and looks promising. I can see that we'll go through at least 3 boxes of sparklers, a vat of sunscreen, and a tub of ice cream. Good thing I've got The Perfect Scoop on hand!

What better way to cool off and enjoy summer than with ice cream? In a cone, in a bowl, or straight from the tub with a spoon -no other food as completely embodies summer to me. Cool, sweet and refreshing, it's the perfect ending to the perfect picnic on the perfect day. And I've found the perfect summer treat - Super Lemon Ice Cream. It's quick and easy to make. You don't heat up the kitchen or have lots of pans to wash. And it's wonderfully sweet yet tangy. Mmmm, quick, go get a batch going so you can enjoy it, too!

Leave comment and tell me what your favorite picnic / holiday /summer food is. Please put a link, if it's something you've posted on your blog. I'd love to hear from you!

Super Lemon Ice Cream
adapted from The Perfect Scoop - David Lebovitz (of course)

(When fruit is sprayed, the spray tends too concentrate in the skin or peel, so look for unsprayed fruit if you're using the skin)

2 lemons, preferably unsprayed
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/2 cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)
2 cups (500 ml) half-and-half
Pinch of salt

Zest the lemons directly into a food processor or blender. That way you capture the flavorful citrus spray, rather than flavoring your cutting board. Add the sugar and blend until the lemon zest is very fine. Add the lemon juice and blend until the sugar is completely dissolved. Blend in the half-and-half and salt until smooth.

Chill for 1 hour, then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Wonderful Weekend

Wow, what a weekend! First, Ratatouille. 4 stars. It's a winner! Two thumbs up. Run, don't walk to see it. I was amazed at how well Pixar and Brad Bird nailed what love of cooking is all about. Remy is darling and my whole family loved this show. With all the attention to detail, the sweet story, and the beautiful rendering of Paris, this show deserves to be a huge hit.

Then, the main attraction - David Lebovitz! He's amazing. He started off the class sipping on an Odwalla to try to regain his voice as we were the last class he taught on this trip. He confessed that he was missing his own bed and ready to head home, but he still gave us a wonderful class. I promised you bad pics, but the picture that my obnoxious point and shoot took was sooo bad that it wouldn't be nice to post. David was talking to someone and I caught him in mid-expressive face. I wish I could have captured him doing his Giada impression, shirt a bit unbuttoned, leaning over. Hilarious!

The class ran just like a cooking show; David would demonstrate a step and then he'd show us the finished product after steeping, baking, or freezing. He made an incredible variety of food - eleven different recipes from his terrific book, The Perfect Scoop. The book is not just frozen desert recipes; it includes many recipes for treats to stir into ice cream, and David showed us an assortment of those.

He started out with the Gianduja Gelato, the same recipe I taunted you with last time. He stirred in some melted bittersweet chocolate at the very end of churning so the gelato had little chocolate chunks in it. This was served to everyone in the class. One small scoop on a plate next to a small mound of espresso granita, with a dollop of whipped cream. The flavor combination was just right. The espresso cut through the richness of the gelato and gave it a good flavor counterpoint. I'm not a coffee fan, but I'll be making this granita.

When I asked if I could put the recipe on my blog David patiently coached me on how to say Gianduja. John -doo-ya. There. Easy! And not at all what I would have guessed. No Italian in my genes.

Roast banana ice cream was a snap (or David made it look that way) and he served it in tiny, darling profiteroles that he'd gotten up early to bake for us. The puffs were cut in half with a small scoop of Roasted Banana Ice Cream placed inside. I was thinking, "Oh, that's cute," then he ladled Marshmallow Hot Fudge Sauce over the top. I thought, "Oh, heavens, that looks perfect." Then he sprinkled candied, salted, roasted almonds over the top and on the plate. What a masterpiece! I have so much to learn about plating!

Talking all the while, David made a Breton Buckwheat Cake that was not very sweet, a perfect coupling for the coffee frozen yogurt. Offhandedly, during the break, David had taken a square plate and drizzled some melted chocolate in a zig-zag over the corner then put it in the refrigerator. He used this to serve the cake and yogurt, drizzling them with Salted Butter Caramel Sauce. The cake was even an OK item for the lovely and infectiously cheerful, Shauna, the gluten-free girl. She had her camera with macro lens out and was taking pictures of the treats, so I suggest you head over to her site to see some lovely pictures of what we got to see and eat.

David finished up by making Peppermint Patties and showing us how to dress up store-bought ice cream with home-made mix-ins. With the resulting ice cream he made ice cream sandwiches. And I was about to burst. I'd balked a bit at the cost of the class since it was only a demo, not hands on - I hadn't realized I'd be eating a four course ice cream meal!

I'd love to be able to cook like David. His artistry, his flavor combinations, but most of all, his dishwashers. He had two assistants during the class whose sole job was to wash the pots, pans, and plates as he used them and fetch things for him. My kitchen would be so much tidier if I had them. When I made the Gianduja Gelato it took the better part of a day and it looked like a bomb went off in my kitchen!

Some words of random wisdom sprinkled by David throughout the class:

-Sharpen the blade of your food processor. It only costs about $4 and it's like getting a whole new machine.

-Use baking powder without aluminum (like Rumford brand). It's inexpensive and gets rid of that metallic taste.

-Buy your olive oil where the Italians do - Spain. Many Italian olive oils are imported from Spain and repackaged.

- Gelato means "frozen."

- Many comestibles are labeled as "medicine" in France. So the French eat chocolate and marshmallow for their health and avoid the 20% sales tax.

- Because the vanilla bean crop is such a lucrative one in poor countries, people are killed over it. The bean pods are branded, like cattle, so that if the crop is stolen it can be traced.

- A lucrative opportunity. Develop a spray on tart dough. David would use it and promote it, asking only a small percentage of the fortune for the idea.

- His ice cream scoop is The Whacker, whose box said, "The Whacker -it's only limitation is your imagination."

- The reason ice cream is harder coming out of your freezer than at an ice cream place is that the temperature for a home freezer is set lower than that of an ice cream parlor. It needs to be lower for keeping meats and veggies at the correct temp.

- The number one way people mess up in cooking is by not reading the recipe.

Now, for the much anticipated recipe. With David's permission, adapted from David Lebovitz's fabulous book, The Perfect Scoop:

Gianduja Gelato (makes about 1 quart)

1-1/2 cups (185 g.) toasted hazelnuts
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
3/4 cup (170g) sugar
1/4 tsp coarse salt
4 oz dark milk chocolate (at least 30% cacao solids), chopped
5 large egg yolks
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Fub the hazelnuts ina kitchen towel after roasting to remove as much of the papery skin as possible. I put on rubber gloves and rubbed them between my hands. Chop them finely in a food processor or blender.

Warm the milk with 1 cup (250 ml) of the cream, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Once warm, remove from heat and add the chopped hazelnuts. Cover, and let steep for 1-1/2 hours.

Put the milk chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat the remaining1 cup (250 ml) of cream in a medium saucepan until it just begins to boil. Pour it over the milk chocolate pieces, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Set a mesh strainer over the top.

Pour the hazelnut-infused milk through a strainer into a medium saucepan, squeezing the nuts firmly with your hands to etract as much of the flavorful liquid as possible. David says to discard the nuts as the flavor is gone. I'm saving mine in the refrigerator for a coffee cake.

Rewarm the halzenut-infused mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. If you don't have a rubber bottomed bowl, place it on a rubber glove or moistened kitchen towel for the next step. Slowly pour the warm hazelnut mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constanly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constanly over medium heat with a wooden or heatproof plastic spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the straner and stir it into the melted milk chocolate. Add the vanilla and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in your ie cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Serve immediately for a soft, smooth gelato. It will firm up if you choose to put it in the freezer. But who can wait?