Two Things to Recommend

First, for some good spiritual food for thought and a long and epic story of one man's church reform situation, check out the latest ejournal from 9Marks.

While you're reading, enjoy my favorite 'sammerch' (as Rose would say) -

- A few inches of baguette, sliced (if it's got a lot of bread in the middle, pull it out. Om nom nom.)
- A radish, thinly sliced
- Butter (room-temp is best)
-Salt (It's okay, be a snob about it).

Butter the bread, put on the radishes, sprinkle some salt on top.

Way good.

Brownies!

We made up some brownies, and when I went to put the pan in the oven Rose commandeered the spoon. She kept frantically licking her fingers even as I led her to the bathroom to wash up.

Rose Cooks!

Rose loves helping her mama cook. And I love to have my little first mate along, although sometimes it can get difficult. See: two pans on the stove and a 28 lbs. toddler asking me to 'caw-wy? caw-wy?' (carry) her so she can see the action.

Sometimes we just mix up the goods out on the kitchen table. Here is Rose helping with her favorite "cake-cakes!" She even got to help me flip them. : )

Happenings in My Kitchen

I recently decided (after some price comparison and recipe research) to only buy whole chickens, instead of breasts/tenders/legs/etc. The price per pound is cheaper than if you buy pre-cut, and you can make a lot out of a whole chicken. I am going to plan to mostly buy only organic chickens, but this week I bought two regular ones at Coscto for about $8.00...and made a ton of stuff from them.

First, I made two roast chickens (on separate nights). Bobby and I both love crunchy skin, and he likes all the dark meat (I prefer breast) so it's a good match. I do a pretty basic treatment to the bird pre-roasting: I stuff it with lemons and some fresh herbs (we've had thyme and basil), then I rub the outside with fresh ground pepper and my gourmet sea salt ("It tastes like the ocean!!" - Bobby), and either spray it with olive oil or put butter under the skin. Then I roast it about an hour at 400 degrees.

So, two dinners (and two lunches - Bobby took some left-overs to work with him). Then, I take the bones and everything left over (after picking any remaining meat off) and make stock. I use my crock-pot. I put all the chicken pieces in and then I pour water over it before adding vegetables (chopped onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and whatever fresh herbs I have). Then it's an hour on high, and 6-16 hours on low - the cookbook gave me a wide range. Also, a note about the vegetables I add: when I am chopping anything up for dinner, I will put the scraps in a zip-loc and freeze it. This includes the ends of carrots and celery, a half an onion, bits of green onion and leeks, etc. I will also make it a point to chop up an extra onion or carrot during dinner prep and throw it in the bag. Then, when I am making the stock, I just add some already prepared veggies.

Each chicken made five quarts of stock. I used that stock to make two different pots of chicken and rice soup, one for a friend recovering from surgery and one for us. I used left-over shredded chicken. I also used the left-over chicken in quesadillas and tonight in nachos.

So, two chickens: 10 quarts of stock = two batches of chicken and rice soup, four dinners, and two lunches. Pretty good deal and super tasty!

Exchange

For Christmas Bobby and I got a gift from Williams-Sonoma that other friends had already got us (the very cool Beaba baby food maker!). We exchanged it for an ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer, and then for a yogurt machine. Luckily Jane (my mother-in-law) pointed me to this article - and yay, instead of a new appliance, a new use for one I already had!

Anyways, I just exchanged the yogurt maker for a tortilla press, a Wusthof manual knife and scissors sharpener, and a stainless steel pastry scraper. Ah, kitchen tools....

Also, speaking of new uses for things you already have - look at this Real Simple article for new ways to use your rice cooker. They have more uses for other appliances here.

How I Accidentally Made Bobby's Favorite New Breakfast Cereal

For my birthday I got Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics cookbook (thanks Jake!). My favorite cooking blog, Smitten Kitchen, adapted a recipe for granola bars that I wanted to try. However, my granola bars crumbled when I tried to cut into them...so I just crumbled it all up and made cereal. It's pretty delicious with milk and bananas!

Purple Potatoes!

Last week we got purple potatoes in our CSA. They were so pretty! For dinner we had the potatoes, green beans (also from the CSA), and some chicken (cut into tenders, rolled in mustard, then coated with almond meal and crushed corn flakes). It was fresh and good!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

No pictures, but yesterday I made stuffed bell peppers using four green bell peppers we got in our CSA. They were easy to make and very tasty.

Here's what I did:
1) Chopped the first inch and a half or so off the bell pepper and cleaned out the seeds. Remove stem from the top, chop.
2) Saute the chopped bell pepper pieces with half an onion and a couple cloves of garlic. Add a diced tomato. Add one package Soy Chorizo (from TJ's...really tasty and much less fat than real chorizo). Stir until all heated through. Mix with 1/2 cup whole wheat couscous. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded cheese.
3) Fill bell peppers. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cook for about 20 minutes in 350 degree oven, until bell pepper is tender.

Yum yum yum.

Al Moehler on Cooking

Al Moehler wrote a great blog post on cooking. Read it!

Fresh from the Farm!

Today we received our weekly CSA shipment. As I was preparing some lettuce for a dinner salad, I found this little guy hidden between the leaves. Sadly, he got to go meet the pavement outside...not the fertile fields of some Maryland farm. Then I thoroughly washed the leaves before mixing it with a home-made vinaigrette (from Moosewood Restaurant's Simple Suppers) and croutons, along with some fresh blueberries.

Saturday Morning Breakfast

Yum yum yum. Cantaloupe and blueberries from our CSA, eggs and milk from the dairy, bacon from Eastern Market, and Bruce's pancake recipe. Delicious!

Container Garden Disaster! and Blueberry Banana Muffin Goodness

We had really full tomato plants growing. I am not so much an expert gardener, and had them improperly staked (the cages are only a recent addition!). In a recent wind and thunderstorm, our Cherokee Purple tomatoes (on the right of the box, and in the right picture) snapped at the base. Oh no! Major surgery was required (we cut off half the plant...) and we're hoping the remaining limb will recover. It's a slim hope though...you can see how wilted the leaves are! Luckily, our Brandywine tomatoes are growing fine.

These tomatoes are the fruit off the broken tree.

Everything else is growing well: the picture on the left is one of three lavender plants (blooming!). All the others are basil, peppermint, spearmint, the rest of the lavender, and a chili pepper plant.

We get a lot of mint, basil and chilies, and hopefully I'll get enough lavender to dry some.

I also used some of our CSA blueberries to make blueberry banana muffins. I'm trying to buy less snacks at the store, and instead we'll eat popcorn, fruit or muffins/bread/whatever I make at home. I found this recipe at allrecipes.com and modified it a little bit (allrecipes.com is great because other home cooks leave all their comments and mods, too. Always helpful to read reviews!)

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 1/2 cup + 2 T. all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup applesauce (I used this instead of shortening)

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas

1) Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan, or prepare muffins tins (makes about 17 muffins).

2) In medium bowl, dredge blueberries in 2 T. flour. Gently stir blueberries together with

oats, nuts, remaining flour, soda and salt.

3) In large bowl, combine applesauce and sugar.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in mashed banana. Add blueberry mixture, stir until just moistened. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4) Bake load pan for 50-55 minutes, muffins for 20-25 minutes. Cool on rack for a few minutes, then remove from pan, returning to rack to cool completely.


Sorry for the poor formatting - the pictures always mess me up!

Chili!

The cabbage and the cheese hide the main dish: great northern beans, shredded chicken, zucchini, jalepenos, corn, and more.

This is my favorite kind of corn bread. Bobby likes this and the really cakey kind, so I switch off between both.

For Christmas Bobby's grandma Lois got me a new crock-pot (my first broke when moving) and a book called Not Your Mother's Slow-Cooker. The cookbook is great and includes a lot of delicious, tasty recipes (none of which include velveeta or any "cream of - " soup, hence the title). I've made a few things so far, all of which have been good.

In other news, I'm meeting my Mom and younger sister, Melissa, in about three hours for a quick overnight visit. They are relocating to Connecticut for my dad's job, and have been there for a week visiting my dad/looking for houses. They are visiting Bobby and I during the end of their trip. Today: the Mall, a Smithsonian or two, and good Thai food. Tomorrow: breakfast at our house, Eastern Market, and whatever we feel like!

We Actually Ate All Our Vegetables

Veggie soup with kale, zucchini, onions, and fresh peas. Note my new Emeril Dutch Oven - I've wanted one forever, but they're so expensive. When I found this one at Ross for $35.00 instead of the regular $100.00, I knew I had a deal.

Summer Squash and White Bean Saute. So delicious. I made this all the time last summer. It's great over brown rice, with whole-wheat biscuits on the side.

Fresh peas and lettuce saute, with boiled new potatoes, fresh home-made bread (yay bread machine!) and seasoned Alaskan salmon (great buy at Costco - 6 for $13.00)

Things I made but didn't take pictures of:
Roasted Broccoli
Roasted Vegetable and Penne Pasta Casserole. (I roasted some of the squash and eggplant I already had, mixed it with some marinara, crushed red pepper, and 16 oz. cooked whole-wheat penne, layed it in a 9"x13" casserole, topped it with mozzarella and breadcrumbs, and baked for 15-20 minutes at 350. Delicious with lots of leftovers).

I just got this week's delivery - it includes cauliflower, green tomatoes, butter lettuce, zucchini, beets and more. I'm looking forward to making some zucchini bread!