Playing With Fire

Ahoy there blogmates!

You may be asking yourself, why is Julie blogging about food? Is she done with her horrible sounding cleanse? The answer is, sadly, NO. I'm still on the cleanse and I chose to live right on the edge by baking today.

I am on week 4 of my delightful colon/body cleansing. Week 4 is the "hardcore phase". That means, NO FOOD, dear readers. None. Nada. The only things I'm allowed to consume are water, fiber/clay shakes (can be made with water and fruit juice), and icky herbal supplements. That's it. I never thought in a million years that someone like me (that would be someone who enjoys eating food) would ever be able to pull something like this off. Well, I'm on day five already of this final week and I haven't touched a single piece of food. Seriously. I can't believe it myself. After this week I'm done but am supposed to "ease back" into food. The cleanse's definition of easing back in would be to consume only fruits and vegetables for another week. I doubt I'll be doing that. Maybe the first couple days.

So anyway, back to the baking. Since I have a whole produce section worth of fruit and veg up in here from the previous weeks I also have some things that are starting to go off. There happened to be four blackish bananas hanging around and since I needed a little gift for someone that means banana bread! This certain someone is Dave, husband to Sara who owns the dog store downtown. This is the store I often frequent, sometimes helping out, but mostly just loitering and (I hope) keeping Sara company on the slow days. Dave happens to make a living by roofing, a good friend to have. We sprung a leak in our back porch and he kindly came over the other day and spread what he calls "monkey sh*t" on it to seal it up. I don't know the technical term for this "monkey sh*t". Maybe that is the technical term. Anyway, it seems to have worked like a charm and I hope the banana bread is a worthy enough thank you for a huge favor.

Now I know that everyone and their mother has a banana bread recipe. I'm not trying to change the world here.  This one is adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson, one of my favorite foodie tv people. The nice twist in this one is the raisins soaked in rum (mmmmmmm). I think it adds a little somethin' special.
Here's what you need:

First thing you need to do is tackle the raisins. Put 3 tablespoons of rum into a little pan. Light, dark, whatever. Mine was called "gold". You could use bourbon, whiskey or even orange juice if you are a teetotaler. Plunk your raisins in the pan and bring it to a boil. Then just switch off the heat and in about five minute you'll see that the raisins have slurped up all of the booze and are now acting quite belligerent. Just kidding.

You'll need to melt some butter and throw it in with the sugar.

(I could have stuck my face in this bowl)

Beat, add eggs, add nuts, raisins and gradually beat in the dry ingredients. And here's what you've got:

(no lickies!)

Pour the batter into some loaf pans. You could make a big giant loaf I supposed but I don't mind these smaller, slightly squatter loaves. Much better for sharing with roofers and still having some for yourself (or not if you are on a @#*%-ing cleanse).

About 35-40 minutes later and VOILA!

They came out beautifully.  Since I could not do a taste-test I had Pip try some for me.  He approved although he doesn't have the most discerning palate. 

(dat's pretty good.  i try more to be sure.)

Oh, I could eat this entire loaf.

And this one, too.

Byeeeeee!

Banana Nut Bread
Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess, p.33.  I converted her metric measurements to American measures so they may seem like odd proportions but they worked for me.

1/2 cup golden raisins
1 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick plus 1 tbs salted butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 bananas, mashed (My bananas were on the small side.  You can use three larger bananas.)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Bring rum and raisins to a boil.  Turn off heat, cover, and lit sit for at least 5 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 325°.
3. Put the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl, and combine well.
4. In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add in the mashed bananas and vanilla.
6. Stir in the walnuts and drained raisins.
7. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each addition.
8. Pour into a 23 x 13 x 7cm greased loaf tin, and bake for 60-75mins. I made two smaller loaves in standard loaf pans. Came out smaller and flatter but nice for smaller pieces. Bake for about 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

Sweaters or Jumpers?

Nothing new here today, blogpods.  I am still on the cleanse and doing pretty well.  Pretty well means I haven't passed out from lack of good food or tried to eat my dog.  Here's a funny little video that artist David Shrigley created for the famous Pringle Company of Scotland.



Byeeeeee!

Crafts and Cleanse?

Hello Blogofriends!
I know, I know.  I've been completely AWOL lately.  I told you that Nutcracker consumes my life from about November until December, but you didn't believe me did you?  Then it takes me at least three weeks to recover from all the tutus and tears.  Well, now all of a sudden it's January and there's really no excuse for such a long absence.

My favorite image taken from this year's Nutcracker.
Photo: John Sullivan

The other lame excuse I have for not posting is that I am currently attempting to do a detoxifying cleanse.  I've done cleanses before but this one is hardcore.  Here are just some of the things I cannot eat:
Meat
Dairy
Eggs
Refined Sugar
SALT
Wheat
Rice
Soy
Beans
Legumes
SALT
Black or white pepper
Oats
SALT

Did I mention salt?

You know, it's going to take a lot less time telling you what I actually can eat rather than what I can't.  Here goes:
Fruits, any kind
Vegetables, any kind
Herbs and spices (except SALT)
Sunflower seeds and almonds (soaked)
Potatoes (no more than 3x/week)
Quinoa (no more than 3x/week)

And that's about it.  If you thought that was bad, I also have to choke down this disgusting shake of food-grade clay and fiber three times a day. 

I really won't go into the icky details with you right now.  Suffice it to say that I'm in foodie hell but it really is a hell of my own making.  I've been abusing my digestive system for a while now and this fall it finally fought back.  I was so out of kilter that pretty much every time I ate I'd get an upset stomach and all the wonderful things that go with that.  I decided to do something drastic and my good friend had recently done this particular cleanse with much success.  I'm hoping it will get me back on track and able to indulge in all things baked, broiled, fried and SALTED.  I really want to weep for lack of salt, dear readers.  What is the point of life?  I think I'm going to go out and get that book Salt today.  I completely understand why people have fought and died over it.  Did you know that people used to get paid in salt?  Hence the word "salary". 

So it looks like there will probably be more craft posts rather than nom posts for the time being. You really don't want to know what I'm eating.  Has anyone else ever done a cleanse?  Was it worth it?  God, I hope so.

Byeeeee! 

Turkey Time!

 

Darling Blogfans,
I know I should be posting all of my recipes for Thanksgiving with beautiful pictures but then that would mean that I am making everything way ahead of time (in order to take the pictures) and then what am I going to do with it?   Reheat everything?

Instead, I am just going to post my menu.  Maybe after I will give out some recipes but I figure by the time I do that, everyone will be so over Thanksgiving they won't give a turkey feather about my recipes.

One thing worth noting is that I have finally graduated from the Butterball School of Turkeys.  Sara guilted me into buying a free-range bird this year.  After some hunting I went with a local farmer out in Greenwich (site of the Saratoga County Fair).  Robin went to pick up birdie and said the farm was a trip.  This is the picture he sent me from his iPhone. 

His caption: "Yikes!"

I don't know why he wrote that.  I think he was a little freaked out that there were live animals running around (my husband is a city boy).  Anyway, I was a little scared that when I opened up the bag there would be all kinds of feathers and heads and things stuck on that I would have to remove.  Much to my surprise, the turkey was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  I mean, we're talking America's Next Top Turkey Model.  It was pale and shiny and completely featherless.  The drumstick ends were cleaned so you saw the beautiful white bone ends sticking out.  I was so impressed.  The other thing that struck me was that it was HUGE.  I ordered the size I usually get, 14-15 lbs., and it was way bigger than the Butterball.  So either they gave me a bigger bird than I ordered or Butterball is injecting smaller birds with water to make them weigh more (the more likely conclusion).  I have to thank Sara and tell her she was right.  I haven't even tasted the thing yet and I know it's going to be better.  I have to say that although I am a devoted fan of Cooks Illustrated I am a little surprised that Butterball is their turkey of choice if going the frozen route.  Now that I've seen what an actual turkey looks like, isn't there anything better out there in the freezer section??


Here is the menu:

• Brined (fancy, free-range) Turkey on the Grill
• Ciabatta Stuffing (Giada)
• Mushroom Bread Pudding (Epicurious.com)
• Corn Pudding (Nigella)
• Cranberry Mold (Ocean Spray.com)
• Cherry and Red Onion Jam (my own creation)
• Mashed Potatoes (Christina is bringing)
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts (some food blog)
• Pumpkin Pie (Cooks)
• Pecan Pie (The Joy of Baking.com)
• Apple Torte (Mom's making)
• Cranberry Almond Tart (ditto)

If anyone needs a last minute recipe and any of these look appealing, shoot me a message.  I'd be happy to send one over to you via the intertubes.  Some links are already there.

So have a wonderful and food-filled holiday, everyone.  Be thankful the Indians shared their maize and other food stuff with us.  Otherwise the poor pilgrims would have starved and had to eat each other for Thanksgiving.  That would be a tough holiday to carry on.

Carry on!
Byeeeeeeee.

4 Ingredients

Helloooo blogmeisters...


This recipe actually has five ingredients, but the fifth ingredient is parmesan cheese.  And let's face it, if you don't have at least one can of the green stuff in your fridge then you probably shouldn't be reading this blog so let's just not count it as a "real" ingredient, ok?  Four ingredients just sounds so much better than FIVE ingredients.  The point is, people, that this recipe is simple.  Simple and deeeelicious.  

Here are the four things you need:

(+ parmesan cheese, shhhh...)

The only time consuming part of this is cutting up the squash.  You can buy already cut up squashes at some grocery stores and if you're into that sort of thing, go for it.  I've certainly done it during a lazy moment.  Just be warned that anything you buy "conveniently" pre-cut-up is not going to taste as good (or be as good for you) as the real deal.  Just sayin'.

So you want to cut up your squash in a way that transforms it into nice 1-inch chunks, sans skin.  However you choose to do that is up to you, my friend.  I'm sure there's a video on YouTube that will show you how.  What you end up with should look like zeese:

(Don't be grossed out.  The white stuff on my knife is the starch that comes out of the squash after cutting it up.  I hope.)

After your squash is ready you can start the water boiling for your pasta.  This is the pasta I like to use for this dish:

Bareeellla!!!

I used to use regular farfalle (or as normal people call them, bowties) and then I decided to try these little guys.  They are great!  There are more noodles per box, hence, a better pasta-to-other stuff ratio at the end.  Plus, they take about 3 minutes less to cook than the normal sized ones which can sometimes end up being either mushy on the edges or crunchy in the middle.  Not good eats, as Alton would say. You want to cook the pasta as directed and drain it.  Now this is important.  Save about 1.5 cups of the pasta water when you are finished with it.  

Next you need to perform an autopsy on your sausages.  I use turkey sausage because it's delish and not nearly as fatty as regular.  You simply slice through the skin and pull it off.  It's pretty fun in a sick, serial killer kind of way.

After you're done with the flaying, deposit the naked sausages into a hot pan with some olive oil in it. If you're using full fat, fatty sausage you don't need the oil.  Trust me.

(Sorry for the blur.  Hard to break up sausages with one hand and take a picture with the other.  Try it sometime.)

Once your sausages are just cooked, remove them to a large bowl.  Turn the heat to medium, dump your squash into the pan and give them a good salt and peppering.  Take that!

(oooo, fancy sea salt!)

Pour in 1/2 cup of your reserved pasta water into the squash pan and scrape up any bits of stuff that may be clinging to the bottom.  Then slap a lid on that sucker and let it steam away.  Should take about 8-10 minutes.

(They're done!)

Put the cooked sausage back in the pan and mix it all up. 

(Hungry yet?)

When everything is nice and hot, throw it into a big serving bowl.  Add your pasta.  If the mixture seems a little dry add in some more pasta water.   Generously sprinkle with cheese. 

Green can love.

Chop up your basil or "chiffonade" it if you're a big fancy pants and throw it in. 

Mix it all up, salt and pepper as you see fit, and presto!  

(Mmmmm!)

And there you have it.  Who knew just four (five) simple ingredients could be so good?

Byeeeeee!

Butternut Squash and Sausage Farfalle

1 butternut squash
1-1.3 lbs. sausage

1 bunch basil
1 box farfalle
Parmesan cheese
Peel and cut squash into 1-inch cubes.  Cook and drain pasta as directed reserving 1 1/2 cups of cooking liquid.    Remove skin from sausages.  Heat pan on high with 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Add sausages and break up into small pieces.  Once sausage is brown place it in a small bowl and return pan to heat.  Saute squash in pan and add 1/2 cup of pasta water, stirring up any brown bits on the bottom.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover and turn heat down to medium.  When squash is soft, add sausage in and combine.  Put squash, sausage and pasta in a large serving bowl.  If mixture is dry, add reserved pasta water.  Sprinkle generously with parmesan.  Chop basil and mix together.

Soup Weather

Greetings Blogospherites!

Yesterday was miserable. There's just no sugar coating it. It started raining late Thursday night and did not stop for about 36 hours. Really, it was constant rain all day long.  Monsoon-like.  It was cold, the roads were flooded and people were in a crappy mood.

There's really only one thing to do when you have that icky, cold-to-the-bone feeling. Eat soup! This squash soup is really simple to make and so smooth and comforting. You can use any kind of hard squash you like except maybe spaghetti squash. I'm only assuming that because it's supposed to look like spaghetti, right? I've actually never had it. Anyway, I used acorn, butternut and delicata (sometimes called sweet potato squash). If you've only got butternut, so be it!  You'll want about 3-5 depending on the size and how much soup you want to make. This recipe does not have to be exact. Just relax. It will come out fine no matter what.

The stripey ones are the delicata. All the squash were on the small side so I used more.

You simply cut each squash in half and they are ready to roast. Here's a hint. Don't even bother scraping out all the seeds. You can just roast them as is and scoop them out after they are cooked. It's so much easier that way.   If roasting them with the seeds and all bugs you for some reason, please go ahead and take 'em out. I'm not spying on you in your kitchen or anything. Or am I....

Then, grab one or two sheet pans and line them with foil. Pour some olive oil (a few tablespoons) and smear it all over the foil. Place the squash halves cut side down on the pans and stick them in the oven.

For the garlic, wrap the cloves in a piece of foil and throw them in for the last 15 minutes of roasting. You don't need to peel them, cut them or do anything to them. Just roast those bad boys.

After about 45 minutes you'll want to check on your squash babies.  Give them a good poke.  They should be pretty soft and mushy.  If they aren't, put them in longer.   After they are sufficiently dead, let the squash cool down a bit and scrape out the seeds.  Then scoop out the squash flesh (ewwww) and throw it into a soup pot. 

mmmm... fleshy.

Peel and squeeze your garlic cloves out of their skins and throw them in too.  Start adding in your stock. I use this:

No, chicken, no!

It's a great broth that brings a lot of flavor to a dish without any animals being harmed in the process. You can certainly use chicken broth if you wish. I'm planning to bring some to my semi-vegetarian friend, Christina, today, so I went veggie. Whatever floats your boat.

Turn your stove to medium and wait for the bubbling to begin. After things start to percolate and you've stirred it all together, you'll want to grab this guy:

 Please excuse my claw-like hand.

If you don't have one, don't freak out. You can use a regular blender or probably a food processor. Just be careful when blending up hot liquids. I've learned that one the hard way. So blend it all up.  

I ♥ my stick blender!

 
If it's looking too thick, add more stock.  If you run out of stock, just add water.  You'll want it a tad on the thick side because you're about to pull out the big guns.

Note: If you don't live in upstate NY then you won't know what a Stewart's Shop is and how it's one of our most abundant natural resources.  If you do live in upstate NY, you can't not know what a Stewart's Shop is.  But that's a whole other blog post.

Now you can use heavy cream if you're into that sort of thing but I find that half & half works just fine. Plus, I hate having leftover heavy cream after using it once in a recipe because it invariably just sits there in the fridge taunting me until it goes sour. Half and half, I know we'll use it.

Add your cream to taste. If you like it more austere, hold back. If you want it super creamy, be my guest. I usually add about a cup of half and half after all is said and done. When you've got your soup nice and creamy start adding some seasoning. Salt and pepper are a must. And don't be shy with the salt. The soup is creamy so you need to be bold with your seasoning or it will taste bland. Grind some nutmeg in there. It'll add a ceratin... je ne sais quois. If you would like your soup a little sweeter you can add some honey in, one tablespoon at a time. These squash turned out to be quite sweet so I didn't add any at all this time.  You're off the hook, bees.

And there you have it!

It's silky, rich and satisfying.  And yes, I did put it in my Aynsley teacup.  Why?  Because I love that teacup and wanted to take a picture of it.  So there.

mmmm... squashy.

Byeeeeee!

Roasted Squash Soup
This is an approximate recipe depending on how much you want to make. I usually make a bunch because it freezes well.

3-4 medium/large squash like butternut, sweet dumpling, sweet potato (delicata)
3-4 cloves garlic
olive oil
3-4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 small container cream or 1/2 & 1/2
1-3 tablespoons honey
1 nutmeg for grating
salt and pepper

Optional garnish: chipotle cream and cilantro, see below.

Heat oven to 375˚. Line sheet pans with foil and coat lightly with olive oil. Cut the squashes in half (be careful!) and lay them face down in the pan. You can scrape the seeds out beforehand, rinse them off and roast them in some oil for s snack. Or if you don't want to bother just leave them in and scrape the seeds out after, which is easier. Bake in the oven for about 45-60 min. until everything's nice and mushy. Wrap the garlic in foil and stick that on the tray for the last 15 minutes. Take everything out and let cool before scraping seeds out.

Scoop squash out of skins and put in stock pot. Unwrap garlic and squeeze out the cloves into pot. Add stock and heat on medium, stirring until just starting to boil. Turn heat down and use stick blender to blend soup until smooth. Add honey and as much cream as you like. Grate the nutmeg in (about 1/4 teaspoon) and add salt & pepper to taste.

Optional garnish: Blend 1 cup of sour cream, one or two chipotles in adobo and salt and pepper to taste. Place dollop on soup and sprinkle with cilantro.

Bunbun

Hello Blogobrowsers!

Another post today on one of my summer projects (yeah yeah yeah, I know it's well into fall, so sue me.)  This was a knit dress that I made for Ruth's baby, Babs.  That's not her real name, just what I decided to name her because I'm a weirdo.  


I found this pattern here on Knitty.com.  It's called "Anouk" and was created by Kate Gilbert.  Knitty is a great site with a lot of free patterns.  Free is good.  Here is the dress from the pattern.  

 

Partly out of laziness and partly because I only had a couple days before my visit to Babs' house, I decided to ixnay the intarsia pocket thing.  I am really not a big fan of intarsia and fair isle and complicated stuff like that.  Mostly because I like to watch TV while knitting and it's too hard to concentrate on Top Chef while having to keep track of every single stitch you're making.  


I used this yarn that I got at the yarn store when I was home in OH.  They were having a going out of business sale (sad) and everything was 75% off (happy!).  I went with Navy and Fuschia.  Classy and fun.

The pattern was pretty straightforward and worked (sometimes free patterns don't work, boooo.)  Here is one side finished.  

I love seed stitch borders. Don't tell anyone.

 This dress required blocking.  I hate blocking.  For you knitting novices out there, blocking is shaping the piece after it's finished so it doesn't roll up or look lopsided.  You can actually correct some mistakes by blocking so I guess it's not all that bad.  I just soak a tea towel in water and lay it over the piece and iron away.  It makes the piece nice and flat and in the correct shape.  Make sure your iron is the right temp for the yarn!

Blocking.  Not fun but good for you.

This project required five buttons and luckily I have my own little vintage button collection I've acquired from various yard sales and eBay lots.  I couldn't find four matching navy buttons but I figured one odd one would just add to the charm.  Right?  I found a nice little pink button to go on the shoulder.  

I ♥ buttons!

After I was done piecing it all together, I thought the dress looked a little plain.  I knitted up a quick pocket and then the pocket looked lonely.

ho hum...

So I grabbed some white worsted yarn and whipped up this guy.

  Bunbun!

I would give you the pattern for this little guy but I just made it up.  I knit a rectangle increasing in the middle a couple stitches (so when it's folded in half and sewn the bum is slightly bigger).  Then I made some i-cords for the ears.  Basically you knit 6 stitches on double pointed needles until you get the desired length (I like my bunbun ears long).  Then decrease and bind off.  Embroider a face, stuff the body, sew the ears on and you're in business.

There!  Now Babs has a little friend to take with her when she goes shopping with Mom.

  

hi!

Byeeeee!