Monthly Archives: October 2013

Oct31

Cornbread Testing – Joy’s Brown Butter Rosemary Orange Cornbread

Posted on October 31, 2013 by athaidek

I was a bit timid bringing the rest of this batch into work the next day, because it’s definitely not what you’d expect when biting into a cornbread square! But I think the intense moisture gives you a bit of open-mindedness going into the rich orange and rosemary flavors. If there’s one thing I require in my cornbread, it’s density!! They liked it, so you should bring it to work too 🙂

Mind you, this was like numero 10 on the midnight toaster-oven bake series, for no other reason except I had to finally test this. And I FINALLY had an orange lying around. Maybe even if you want some natural potpourri this would be a good thing to make. My favorite part of these kinds of recipes is when you make the flavored sugar. You press the orange zest and rosemary into the sugar and it brings out the natural oils/essence in the fruit and herbs. A simple mix of wet and dry, this cornbread is simple yet seems pretty sophisticated right? Maybe this is meant alongside chili, but I liked it with a cup of milk or just as a regular piece of bread with my lunch.

What recipes do you like to vary? My friends Collin and Mike came over on Monday and Mike brought an AMAZZINNGG mouthwatering, sweet, dense cornbread (see meal pics at the bottom). Chili and cornbread can’t be beat. This weekend I’m making white chicken chili…got any recipe suggestions?

chili and a different cornbread that’s classic and amazing…thanks Mike!

Oct23

Mushroom Spinach Wheat Crepes with Dill and Sherry

Posted on October 23, 2013 by athaidek

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I’m not sure if I’d try crepes again, BUT, I am so glad I made these, because the filling was bomb. Although this was a rich dish, I strayed away from adding cream because I wanted to really test a healthier version. The problem was, every single recipe I could find was either so creamy or it was super vegan. Always somewhere in the middle, what can you do.

So, I mushed some together and here’s what I came up with. Ingredients:

– 4-5 shitake mushrooms

– 1 lb button mushroom, sliced thinly

– 1 onion, thinly sliced

– a big ole handful of dill, chopped roughly

– 1/4 cup sherry

– 1/2 cup white wine

– 3/4 cup chicken stock

– 1-2 TBS butter

– 1/2 tsp dried thyme

– A whole bag of fresh spinach

– 1 TBS flour

– a few cloves of minced garlic

Steep the shitake mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Strain and reserve liquid.

Make this recipe according to Alton Brown’s recipe, substituting white wheat for All Purpose if you have it. Set aside in the fridge while you whip up the filling.

Sautee your thinly sliced onion in butter on medium heat until the onions soften. Sprinkle with salt and pepp. Add garlic but cook only for a minute before adding mushrooms, as they can burn easily. Add sliced mushrooms and let them get a little brown and soft. Remember, mushrooms like their space so spread them out! Slice up your shitake too. Again, season with a bit of salt and pepp. Once the mushrooms are soft, add in your sherry and turn up the heat to high, cooking off the ALCH. Then add in your wine. These ingredients are based on what flavor you like, but I added a lot since I thought that without the cream it needed a big boost of flavor.

At this point I added the dried thyme, and let everything meld together before adding in the chicken stock. In addition to the chicken stock, I added a bit of the shitake mushroom cooking liquid. I let it boil, then wilted in the spinach and returned the heat to low. Simmer for around 15 minutes, and I added flour because I thought the sauce needed some more thickener. If you’d like to add cream, that’s an option as well! At the very end, with a few minutes left, add in the dill.

Get your bad self on with the crepes. After I had the sauce all simmering and bubbly, I set up the crepes right before eating. Ugh, I don’t think I can provide any advice on how to do this, but follow Alton’s directions!! I added in some chopped dill to my crepes to give them flavor. Serve with a big ole salad and some vino! Big point here is have everything ready with the filling so you can focus entirely on making the crepes that cook really quickly. If any other bloggers/experimenters/crepe lovers out there have any recommendations to help me in the future, share your crepe recommendations below s’il vous plait!!

Oct17

Raw beet and carrot ginger shallot salad

Posted on October 17, 2013 by athaidek

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What do you do with a ton of beets in a pinch?!??! Well you HAVE to make a version of this salad.

I got on a Mark Bittman kick last week, reading his favorite recipes over and over again, sort of methodically hoping that the more I read, the more of his skills I’d gain. I used his recipe for raw beet salad as the inspiration for this last-minute salad. It was so last-minute that I ate it all straight from the bowl. I have to be honest here and say I’m not sure it’d be worth making if I didn’t have the food processor with a grater attachment. Because hello, beets are SOOO messy. But if you happen to be wearing a large rubber raincoat, Red Lobster bib, or elbow-high gloves, it might be less messy for you.

Here’s my rendition taking from some advice from Mark. So, beets apparently are so sweet that they require a ton of acid. Well, I went a little overboard but it’s ok!!! There’s always room to tweak that. (tweaking, t-w-e-a-k-i-n-g tweaking…Tom Hanks, You’ve Got Mail).

1. Grate 1 beet and 1 carrot

2. Mince 1 in chunk of ginger (peeled) and 1 shallot

3. Whisk together minced ginger, juice of a lime, some shakes of sherry vinegar, a few squeezes of honey, dijon, some SESAME OIL and olive oil- KEY INGREDIENT HERE

3. Pour dressing over beets and carrots

4. Chop up some cilantro and throw in the mix to your liking

5. Chop up some salty peanuts, almonds, or whatever nuts you have on hand. I’d even add chopped ramen if I had any 🙂

Ok so at this point, mine was a little too acidic, so the way I mellowed it out was by adding some guacamole. But really, chop up an avocado if you have one – I think that’s the key addition.

A few nights before, I went to this restaurant with friends where they have these spicy marcona almonds with manchego cheese and chocolate. Holy cow, amazing appetizer. So you realllyyy need to go to that restaurant and use the leftover almonds in the salad, that was key here.

beetsonbeetsonbeeeets!!!

Oct11

Good Morning, Lord Muffins – King Arthur Flour inspired

Posted on October 11, 2013 by athaidek

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I’ve had this recipe for Morning Glory muffins on my pinterest page for sweets for zee lonnnggest time. The crack of dawn this morning seemed appropriate to whip it out. I don’t really remember my dreams, but I swear I must constantly dream about food bc I JUMP out of bed sometimes to make things. Or I can’t fall asleep until I’ve made them. This week has been a King Arthur Flour week for me. I am SO in love with the recipe page on their website, 100% because of the reviews.

I have so much trust for those recipes and am really into their white-wheat flour lately, it’s great for those medium-grainy recipes. One night I couldn’t fall asleep without having milk and cookies, so I burst out these guys way past my bedtime. So worth it, they were so soft and delicious…brought them to work and got some validation.

So, what’s with the title? In my head, I keep saying “good morning lord” muffins instead of “morning glory.” There was this teacher at my high school who started every prayer with “Good morning, Lord” and if you ask anyone from our school who says that phrase, I promise they would recognize it. This one goes out to you, Mr. Lorys, for fully engraving the phrase Good morning Lord in my memory forever. I WILL NOW always make this recipe because ITS SO GOOD.

And you know I often get mad because my muffins never get really muffiny, they look like cupcakes sometimes, but these look like big-ole regular muffins. Without further adue, here’s the recipe for Morning Glory aka Good Morning Lord muffins. I followed most of the recipe, using sweetened coconut and walnuts like the recipe suggests. However, I mixed up some walnuts with pecans bc that’s what I had on hand. Also, I used half brown sugar half splenda and followed some people’s recommendations, cutting the sugar by about 1/4 of a cup.

carrots, apples (diced not grated) nuts, coconut

closeup to this lil dude

Oct1

A&P Cinnamon Classic Pancakes

Posted on October 1, 2013 by athaidek

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Brunch with friends. Two Sundays ago, my two friends and I used up the extra buttermilk chillin in the fridge to make seriously the best pancakes I think I’ve ever made. There’s also that “good mood” factor that I think propelled me to just enjoy life altogether this particular morning : ) That being said, these were actually great. And for the record, Egen has had this A&P Cinnamon since 1995.

I used the base for Joy’s Milk chocolate pancakes, adjusting it like so:

2 eggs
1 cup white wheat flour
1 cup All Purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg (SECRET INGREDIENT)

Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk together wet ingredients, and slowly fold in the dry until just mixed. Let the mixture sit for around 5 minutes while you pour yourself a cup of coffee and heat up the griddle to medium heat. Melt some butter and pour the pancake dollops on the griddle when bubbles start to appear in the butter. Flip when you see bubbles on the top and keep finished pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven (that is if you haven’t eaten them one by one). Serve with whatever toppings you like!

So it was pretty much the same, but like I said, cinnamon and nutmeg are my favorite spices even for ole classic pancakes. We made this for brunchy brunch, then proceeded to walk 7 miles throughout the course of the day. After one 4-mile walk, we weren’t done with being outside on a beautiful day and drove down to the Belt-line, walking an additional 3.

There were a few guys with a stand setup holding a sign that said “Free Advice” at the Beltline. After giving it a laugh, I asked my friends what we should ask them originally as a joke; however I was surprised at how quickly we spurt out lingering questions we all had. Regardless of the carefree nature of the day, the most important things to us in our lives right now were right there, awaiting our considerations. The good thing is, a constant return to the same questions really helps me realize what my priorities are at any given time.

We tried to recreate the Matilda scene here with “Send Me on My Way” playing in the background as we flipped merrily away. Happy pancakes!