Foodie House

Pour Some Sugar on Me: Brined, Roasted and Honey-Glazed Chicken

2011-09-15T14:42:00.000-05:00

I've been on a let's-brine-everything kick...okay, just meat. What a difference it makes! Come to think of it, I've really only been brining chicken, but for all different preparations: for grilled chicken, chicken nuggets and of course, this lovely, golden, sticky-skinned clucker.

My parents brought us back some lavender-infused honey from a little jaunt they took to a prairie lavender farm. The farmer infuses the honey from his property with the lavender that he farms. It's really, really delicious. I wanted to do something special with the honey and not just slap it on a slice of toast, so I felt my beautiful little birdy would be very happy to be bathed in such a carefully-crafted product.

Some little Pooh Bear delightfully interrupted my photo session with the "hunny pot".

Slightly random side note: I have fond memories of my mom making a whole fryer dance a jig in the kitchen sink just before she broke it down into fry-able pieces. I just thought that was the funniest thing ever and so cute. Hence, my admiration for poultry and finding it irresistibly adorable.

What I love about brining, is that with minimal effort, one can achieve a flavorful and tender roast chicken that rivals that of Costco's cheapy, six dollar, rotisserie chicken, which is pumped full of all sorts of things that I cannot pronounce. (They are nice, however, when you've the cooking inspiration of a hound dog on a hot summer day.)

Lauren's Sticky Chicken

1 3-4lb. whole chicken

6 quarts water

1/2 c. kosher salt

1 c. sugar

2 garlic cloves

2 jalapenos, halved

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

2-3 tbsp. honey (lavender-infused or any kind you like)

Mix water, sugar and salt until dissolved in a large pot - I used my giant stockpot. Crush or slice garlic and add with peppers. Add the chicken and let it refrigerate at least 8 hrs.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove chicken from brine. Thoroughly dry off skin with paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Stuff cavity with fresh rosemary and thyme and tie up the legs. Place on a roasting rack, breast-side up, and bake for 45 min. Baste with honey. Bake another 20 min. and baste with honey again.You will see how the honey turns the skin the most gorgeous amber color. Full baking time is around 1 1/2 hrs. Internal temp at thigh should be around 175-180 degrees. Let it rest a good ten minutes before carving.

And that my friends is how you make a delicious, flavorful (through and through) roast chicken. Leftovers can be made into sandwiches, or chicken salad or into a chicken soup. But the best part has to be that crispy, sticky skin.

Love Ya, Foodies.

Dork-a-licious: A BFF Reunion

2011-09-01T09:46:00.000-05:00

Alright, people. I've been away gallivanting around with the likes of this fabulous person, Steph. Okay, that's not all I've been doing, but the Hubs and I did hang out the other night with her and her husband Adam. What a blast we had from the past...well, us girls anyway. They guys were left to watch football (which they did not complain about) while we cackled like wild chickens as we rooted through piles and piles of notes that Steph had saved from jr. high. Jr. high is where we were connected at the hip.

We found that not only did the notes that we passed to one another carry information, long since removed from our aged brains, but that they were full of drawings, redundant observations, bad spelling and the occassional pep talk, because, after all, jr. high is rough.

It has been 15 years since we last saw each other. I know it's cliche, but we picked right up like time had never passed. It was, from beginning to end, total delight.

Did I mention that she is a PHENOMENAL cook? Did I also mention we were total dorks?

Probably didn't take you long to figure that one out, huh? I'll get to the cooking in just a minute, let me expound for a moment.

We ROCKED the dork. I mean, we embraced our awkward ways, our clumsy ambitions, our fashion snafus and our love for all things drama/creative. We snorted when we giggled, we pretended to cook like Julia Child in my kitchen, we built forts out of mattresses, and we went to an all girls summer camp and tried to run with the big dawgs, but alas, it was futile. We were simply dork-a-licious.

That was my worst haircut...ever. I still cringe at the thought. Steph looked really adorable. She had good bangs.

So here we are now, years and years later, finding we still have so much in common, still a bit dorky but in the cutest of ways. We are slightly more refined and a little bit less awkward...okay, so it's pretty much the same, and I love it.

Back to the dinner, Steph graciously invited us over for dinner. I asked what I could bring, she said some wine and some herbs from my garden. No problem. I made a dash to the liquor store and harvested some fresh parsley from the garden along with a few hot peppers and other tasty bits. I remember being extra careful to avoid the caterpillars for they like to hang out on the parsley.

That evening, as Steph was stirring her duck risotto (sing-songy "awesome!!!"), letting the dog out the back door, sipping wine and carrying on a conversation (which was all quite effortless, for she caressed that risotto like she had done it a million times before, that is, if risotto can be caressed) I was in awe that here we were hanging out, only grown-up now, and it was simply surreal.

I snapped back into reality, when she asked me to chop up some of the parsley I had brought. I carefully plucked each leaf and rinsed it well. I started chopping, all the while imbibing my chardonnay and carrying on, when I realized there were all these little yellow balls on the cutting board. I looked closer and there was a massacre of caterpillar mixed in with the weird yellow balls (which I am guessing were caterpillar eggs?) and the vibrant green of the parsley. I told Steph about the abuse on the cutting board and then another hilarious uproar ensued. Needless to say, I washed the board and started over. Caterpillar-free garnish was now on the menu.

It really was as good as it looked. Scrumptious. I don't use the word "scrumptious" very often, so when I do it's for only the good stuff. The duck was the most perfect pink and the risotto was creamy and studded with bits of duck thigh and proscuitto! It was finished at the end with lemon zest and the fresh parsley.

And then there was this...brace yourselves, raspberry sherbert. You may be thinking, "Um, Lauren, I love raspberry sherbert as much as the next guy, what's all the hullabaloo?"

The most perfect balance of sweet, fruity and tangy creaminess that you can imagine. It was the best ending to a rich, sumptous meal. I went absolutely bonkers over this stuff and even more so after I found out the recipe.

Are you ready? It has only four ingredients...really. AND no ice cream maker required!

Steph's Raspberry Sherbert

1 10 oz. bag of frozen raspberries, thawed and crushed with a fork
scant 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. light sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix well and freeze. Serves 4.

In the words of Steph, which are so true and sweet:

"When you are a teen, you write things like BFF, FF, Yours Always….And then 20 years goes by and your written promises are put to the test. Tonight I was lucky that despite more than 15 years of pause of “friend” in BFF, I know that the forever still stands.We may have missed a few romances, heart breaks, weddings, children, several states and other milestones, but the core of who we were, who we still are today will always bond us."

P.S. Never judge a worm by his bottom. (this p.s. was quoted from one of the notes I sent to Steph. I've got no explanation, people. Steph just said I was "creative". Sounds good to me.)

Well, I leave you with that, dear friends.

Love Ya, Foodies.

Oh, My Peas! Tasty and Entertaining Purple Hull Peas

2011-08-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

Boo greedily hoarding her stash of the peas.

I found something new for my kids to play with. Doesn't cost me much and after they are done playing, we can eat it. That toy is purple hull peas.

Now, don't start calling me a hippie just yet, I'm not sporting patchouli or letting the pit-hairs grow, I'm just saying that I loved the fact that my kids were entertained by these peas for 45 minutes. No T.V., no whining, just a few minor fights over who gets more, which is a given.

I could not pass up these peas at our local farmer's market last week. I could however, used a bit more input from the purveyors of these fine peas.

Me: Wow! These are amazing. I'll take one box. How do you cook these? I've never done it.

Seller: (young guy, wearing an unusually distracting fedora on his head, which was covered in all sorts of buttons with crude sayings) Um...(glances over to older, most-likely grandfather, who mumbles something and looked like he forgot his dentures that morning) I guess, just cook 'em like any other pea.

Me: (suddenly extremely enlightened and constantly resisting the urge to read his stupid hat buttons) Oh. Okay.

Then he sold me some crappy peaches.

So without being more informed on the cooking of these gorgeous peas than I was when I walked into that market I decided the best bet was to add bacon and onions. That's good with just about any vegetable.

So that's what I did.

Tiny with his stash.

They turned out really, really good. I couldn't stop eating them. I even got the kids to eat ~~them~~ one. Well, at least it's a start.

Purple Hull Peas with Bacon and Onion

2 slices bacon, diced

1/2 sweet onion, diced

(sorta guessing here) 1-1 1/2 cups shelled purple hull peas

1/2 cup water

Salt and pepper

Brown bacon until nearly crispy, add onion and cook until nice and brown. Add peas and water. Cover and let steam until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove cover and let moisture cook off and peas get a little browned. Season to taste.

Love ya, Foodies!

So Easy A Cavegirl Could Do It: Plum Peach Crostata

2011-08-02T20:43:00.001-05:00

Me Cavegirl. Me bake crostata. Me no like fussy desserts like this one. Me sounding like Cookie Monster.

Alright, that was pretty stupid.

This crostata, however, is not. It's brilliant! Simple, flaky, buttery, sweet, juicy, tart, fresh and seasonal. All Cookie Monster eats is cardboard, fake cookies.

The cavegirl part of this recipe is the flagrant ignoring of rough pie crust edges, lumpy fruit chunks and a complete disregard for a top crust. A cavegirl would never know to trim edges or daintily cut precision wedges of fruit. Heck, she would most likely use her hairy forearms to roll out the crust and use a shard of wild boar's jaw to hack away at her prehistoric fruit.

But in the age of Martha and Ina, we try just a bit harder to make rustic look chic. (And keep our much shorter and lighter arm hairs out of the crust.)

The fruit is what inspired this rustic pie. If you don't have good fruit, it won't fly. It's fifty percent of the dessert. That's the thing with simple recipes- if your ingredients aren't quality it really shows. So get some good fruit.

It doesn't really matter the type of fruit you choose. I've made this recipe with all berries, just pears, or just peaches. Come to think of it, I've never made it with apples. My guess is that you would have to slice the apples thinly or else they won't get soft in the baking time allotted. But I've have luck with just about every fruit I've tried. You've got a pretty high success rate goin' on here folks. Give it a shot.

This bakes at a very high temperature (450 degrees) and bakes quickly. So much faster than the traditional pie...another reason I love it so. The quicker to bake, the quicker I get to eat it.

So don your best Pebbles (or Bam Bam) attire and get to work on this pie.

Plum Peach Crostata

the recipe for the crust makes enough for two crostatas (I throw one in the freezer so I have it available when a craving hits!)

Adapted from Ina Garten's recipe (best one I've come across)

2 cups A.P. flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 sticks cold, cubed butter

6 tbsp. ice water

For the filling: (my recipe)

3 very ripe and juicy plums, quartered

2 ripe and juicy peaches, cut into sixths

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. flour

couple extra, generous sprinklings of sugar for the top

To prepare the crust, Ina suggests putting in a food processor. I don't really roll like that, but if you do she says to pulse the dry ingredients together, add butter, pulse 12-15 times until it's the size of peas. With the motor running add all the water at once, then pulse until it almost comes into a ball. Take it out, cut into 2 halves and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill one for at least an hour and the other goes into the freezer.

I personally like to do the above by hand. I mix the dry ingredients together and dump in the cold butter (for my method, it's still a bit frozen...works great against warm hands melting it too fast.). I simply break the butter apart between my fingertips (only) and work it quickly into the dry mixture. Once it's the size of peas, I add the ice water, but in parts. Half and then slowly add the rest. Sometimes I use all of it sometimes I don't. When it comes together easily I gently and quickly knead it together and cut it in half. Wrap and store.

Filling:

Couldn't be easier. Mix the sliced fruit with the sugar and flour.

Preheat oven 450 degrees. Line pan with parchment paper.

Roll out your chilled dough into an 11" circle on a lightly floured surface. Place fruit in the center of dough with a 1 1/2 " border. Gently fold the border up over the fruit creating an edge. Generously sprinkle sugar over the top of the fruit and edge of crust.

Bake 20-25 minutes until the crust is golden. Let it cool 5-10 minutes, then using two spatulas transfer it to a wire rack or serving plate.

It's really good served with vanilla ice cream or just simply by itself. So, so good.

Love Ya, Foodies.

Don't Turn on Your Ovens! Ice Cream Cake to the Rescue!

2011-07-25T20:19:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty sure it's hot everywhere right now, and I'm pretty sure there are tons of us home cooks wishing we could make what we love to make without sweating through our aprons, donning extra coats of deodorant and rockin' headbands just to make it through dinner.

So we don't cook.

We say to our family, "It's sandwiches again tonight, kids." (To which, my kids anyways, start celebrating that I'm not forcing grilled zucchini salad and salmon cakes down their throats.- They just don't like it yet.)

Or we make giant salads or eat bowls of salsa and chips and call it dinner. Growing up, BLT's were the hot weather meal of choice.

So when it comes to baking in the summer, it's really tough. It feels like the oven is burping out copious amounts of hot-air balloon quality air and it's chapping my face! Slight exaggeration, but seriously, I do not enjoying doing loads of dishes in Sahara-like temperatures while dusty balls of camel hair roll past my feet. Okay, yet another slight exaggeration.

My little Tiny just turned two and I wanted something fun and festive for his cake. Cupcakes are overdone and tedious. I wanted something I could slap together and forget about, and preferably NOT use the oven.

So I made this!

I had made this recipe some years ago, loved it and then forgot about it. It re-emerged like flotsam on the high seas of this brain of mine and I quickly decided this would be the BEST recipe for his birthday party. And it did turn out pretty great. I did, however, forget one little thing...his party was outside in 96 degree heat. All I can say is that we ate it pretty fast and licked our plates clean.

My favorite part of this cake is the outside ring of quartered ice cream sandwiches! It's such a stunning presentation. It looks complex but couldn't be easier.

Layered Ice Cream Cake

Adapted from Family Circle Magazine's recipe

Ingredients

15 Oreos ( I used about 5-6 more because I didn't feel the crust was thick enough)
1 tablespoon milk (I added and extra tbsp for the extra Oreos)
8 to 9 ice cream sandwiches, depending on size
1 pint mint chocolate chip ice cream
1 pint vanilla frozen yogurt (I used ice cream)
1 pint strawberry ice cream or frozen yogurt

Directions

Coat bottom and side of a 9-inch round springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line side with waxed paper, using spray to help adhere to pan. Trim paper to height of pan.

Finely crush 12 of the cookies (this is where I added the extras) in a food processor. Add milk; pulse just until mixture holds together. Set aside.

Unwrap 4 ice cream sandwiches. Working quickly, cut each in quarters. Stack strips of sandwiches on end, packing them snugly together, around waxed-paper-lined pan. Repeat with remaining sandwiches to form a stand-up edge. Spoon cookie crumbs into center of pan; press firmly over bottom. Freeze 1 hour.

Remove all 3 flavors of ice cream or frozen yogurt from freezer and let soften for 15 minutes at room temperature. Transfer mint ice cream to a small bowl and stir until good but firm spreading consistency. Repeat with vanilla and strawberry. Remove pan from freezer. Spread mint ice cream on bottom, then top with vanilla and strawberry, spreading all layers level.

I used my off-set spatula to create a pattern on the top of the cake. The original recipe called for Cool Whip on top, but I don't like that stuff so I skipped it. I then broke the extra Oreos in half and stuck them in around the edge for a nice finished look.

To serve, remove side of pan, then waxed paper. Cut into wedges. It works well to use a sharp knife and dip it in hot water before you cut.

P.S. I was able to find all the ice creams without egg (unfortunately they were not "high end" brands like a luscious Hagen Daz or something like that, but I was just happy I didn't have to make the ice cream!!!) so everyone was happy.

Is that a cherub hovering over that cake? Yes, yes it is.

Told ya it was hot.

That pretty much sums it up.

Its such a great party dessert. I hope this get you out of your hot kitchen and your face into some ice cream!

Love ya, Foodies!

Ode to Pregger Jeans

2011-07-19T20:26:00.003-05:00

I had a moment this morning...with my maternity jeans. I am not pregnant, but I put them on and did a dance.

No, really. I did.

I danced in my maternity jeans, with the stretchy panel pulled up to my bosom and shook it like a Polaroid picture. It was organic, spontaneous and stupid. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here's to gushing over a pair of pants that I wore for moment in history and who didn't judge my rolls.

Me in 2009, 21 weeks pregnant and workin' the pregger jeans.

Ode to Pregger Jeans

Oh, Pregger Jeans, how I adore you.

How I miss your stretchy front panel

Coddling my once bulbous belly.

How I daydream of the days we spent together.

Growing a baby and ingesting horrific culinary combos.

Raisin bran and chicken curry, grapefruit and Oreos.

Unheard of amounts of peanut butter and protein bars

Did I ingest.

Digest.

Oh, the indigestion that occurred.

Lonely are the days I don't wear you.

How my shrunken belly misses your kind caress.

It's been an cruel two years of conventional jeans.

You never pinched or prodded like your evil twin Regular Jeans.

No ugly indentations on my stomach like "button dent" or "waist ripple".

No muffin tops or bagel bulge to declare.

Only you know how to keep my belly smooth and unwrinkled.

My friends make fun of me, but I don't care.

I'll declare my love for you, Pregger Jeans!

Most women voice their disdain for you.

They hate the vast wind sail you create across their bellies.

But I embraced you.

I secretly wish to wear them everyday.

But now that it is no longer a secret,

I will shout my love for you from a rooftop or tabletop, whichever is nearer.

There is no judging when I wear you.

No applied pressure to my wobbly bits.

Just a stretchy, Spandex-woven tent of acceptance.

Your job was never to conceal or constrict.

Squeeze or contour.

Just to hug and love,

My belly of baby.

Though there's no baby there now,

You still managed to call to me from your perch on high (the closet shelf),

"Once last dance?" you shyly asked.

I put you on for a quick reunion,

Spontaneous and jubilant it was,

Ridiculous and rare.

I danced and sang the words, "I love my pregger pants!"

I swiveled my hips and awkwardly lunged in abandonment.

No fears of ripping the seams or cutting my waist in two.

Wild and free was I.

All to you, comfy, non-judgmental pants.

All to you.

But sadly, now is time to put you away,

Into the Spacebag you go.

Until the time comes to wear you again,

Hopefully with a child in tow.

Love ya, Foodies!

P.S. My four year-old son took the flashy/bad jean advertisement pictures for me. Poor child. I was laughing my butt off, as I realized the absurdity of a four year old child with a camera, hunkered down in the corner of a room taking photos of his crazy mother dancing in some stupid pants. All I can say is that my kids are not going to have the usual childhood memories of eating dirt and dancing in the rain. They will have those plus their mother doing the maternity pants can-can.

Best Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie EVER...really

2011-07-16T20:20:00.002-05:00

Chocolate chip cookies are a good recipe to have up your sleeve. You never know when a C.C.C.E. (that's Chocolate Chip Cookie Emergency, for the lay person), may hit. I've got the rundown for you on what qualifies as a C.C.C.E.

1. PMS
2. Peace offering to the Hubs for spending too much at the craft store.
3. Bribing children to eat their food.
4. A counter-productive reward for doing lunges.
5. A tasty replacement for a frisbee (when and if a frisbee replacement was ever an emergency).

So there are a couple special things about this cookie. It's a riff on the famous Nieman Marcus cookie...the real one. Not the one that floated around in forwarded emails in the mid-nineties. Not the one that requires you to blend oatmeal and grate chocolate. Unfortunately, I made my fair share of the faux cookie during my time working in a coffee shop, hence the shabby knuckles. This is far more simple.

Also, this is an egg-free cookie, not originally, but I made it so. Not vegan, but you could easily make it vegan by replacing the butter with shortening. I think it would work fine, but don't quote me on it. I'm merely guessing. But yes, no eggs! I'll share my secret weapon with you.

Ener-G Egg Replacer! This stuff is so awesome...even if this picture is not. LAME-O.

This has worked beautifully in many baked items I've made, other things not so much. I tried it once in homemade pudding...horrible. Tasted like paste. If you are using it in a heavier baked good, such as a chocolate loaf or pound cake, it may not rise properly. But for cookies, it rocks! It's mainly potato starch and it creates a crisp exterior that eggs simply cannot achieve.

When we found out my son had an egg allergy, I immediately started crossing off the list all the things I thought he couldn't have. But this egg replacer has been such a help. I make all my baked goods egg-free now and he can enjoy them with everyone else. It's also great to use in baked items that you are giving to babies or toddlers if you are wary they may be allergic to eggs.

Foodie House Version

Nieman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I'm going to give you the double batch recipe. This makes 16 giant cookies or 30 something smaller ones.

2 sticks soften butter (or one cup veggie shortening, for vegans)

2 cups brown sugar

6 tbsp. granulated sugar

1 tbsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer PLUS 5 tbsp. water, mix well (this is more water than what the box would tell you. Also, if you are not making this egg-free, this is where you would put 2 eggs)

4 tsp. vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. instant espresso (I don't usually add this, just because I don't want the kids to have the caffeine, but it tastes delicious!)

1-1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chunks ( I don't like a TON of chocolate chips in my cookies. I normally add just 1 cup. I know most people like a bunch. Just add what you like.)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (that's not a typo, it's an unusual temperature to bake cookies at but it works great!). Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add egg or egg-replacer and water mixture and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together. Add to butter mixture. Beat in coffee powder, then stir in chocolate. Scoop onto cookie tray (I use a silpat liner or parchment) and gently press down tops. Bake for 18 minutes for smaller ones or 22 minutes for large ones. I always let them rest on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Enjoy, Foodies! Love ya.

Read Your Veggies!

2011-07-11T06:00:00.012-05:00

I spent twenty minutes in 100 degree heat arranging bits of vegetation into a word. I was in complete awe of how a green bean can grow into a perfect circle or "u" shape. I can't let that pass by me without doing something with it can I?

What a merciless taskmaster Inspiration is. She doesn't care how hot it is outside, she only cares that you craft!

(Now that you have that in-depth preface)

I slithered back into the house, glistening with sweat, breathing a little heavier from my crafty-sweatshop workout and I proudly showed my husband the above picture on my camera's play back mode.

Hubs: (comfortably sitting in his recliner, playing dorky bird game on his iphone. Stares at the picture, squints, says nothing)

Me: (waiting with a goofy smile on my face, while intently watching his face for a reaction)

Hubs: (stills says nothing)

Me: Can't you read it?!

Hubs: No. Wait, "gorcen"?

Me: Huh? (I look back at the play back screen, searching for "gorcen")

Hubs: What's that supposed to be? (points at the yellow cucumber flower)

Me: That's an "a". (as soon as I say it, I see how it's not so much like an "a")

Hubs: Oh, that's a "d". (pointing to the chili pepper and near invisible thyme sprig)

As I walk into the kitchen, I take time to toot my own horn on how creative I thought it was and how adorable the vegetables were, my voice trailing off behind me. From there I schlepped my deflated-balloon self to my computer to upload my un-readable vegetable word. Wah, wah.

I hate it when you craft in Sahara-like temperatures and you get no reaction, no reaction at all, I tell ya!

That's all. Just a little something to share.

It says "garden" by the way. But I know you guys got it, right?

Love ya, Foodies!

Chic Guacamole

2011-07-05T06:00:00.017-05:00

You may be saying, "Lauren, 'chic' is not the first word that comes to my mind when I think of guacamole." I understand, it's weird. But let's think of it in a fashion sense, shall we?

What's the chicest thing you can think of when it comes to fashion? What is timeless? My first thought is the little black dress. Simple, classic and does not draw attention to itself but to the one wearing it. (I'm not implying you wear this guacamole, although, you may in your ravenous state and utter euphoria, end up with a schmear here or there.)

When I think "chic" I also think, uncluttered.

I hate cluttered guacamole. The saying, "less is more" is definitely appropriate here, as it is with fashion. I'm against all forms of tomatoes in my guac and I am abhorred by garlic (some my be gasping at this moment), I don't want corn or beans or cilantro or mayo (!), but here is why.

I want to taste the avocado. I've just paid $4 for 2 organic avocados (and that was on sale!). I don't want to taste garlic or have a seedy, watery tomato fighting with my creamy, smooth super-food.

So I have stripped down what I usually end up getting if I were to order guacamole in a restaurant and have created for you a simple, easy guacamole that will not only cut back on buying a butt-load of ingredients but will let you taste what nature intended.

Chic Guacamole

2 perfectly-ripe, organic avocados

1/2 green onion, minced

1/2 jalapeno, minced

Juice of 1/2 -3/4 fresh lime

Salt

Mash it all together. Adjust for salt and spice. Go crazy on the jalapenos or use whatever pepper is your favorite. And if you want to make it even simpler, cut out the onions and peppers and simply use salt and lime. Such a summery treat!

Love ya, Foodies!

A Duo Of Nap Time Snacks

2011-07-02T15:01:00.001-05:00

I don't quite know what it is, but when nap time rolls around, I tend to celebrate with a snack. It could be for a couple of reasons: A. I didn't get to eat much of a lunch (as I am more of a short-order cook rather than a diner in my own house during the frenzied lunchtime rush of my three children). B. I simply get so excited about having some peace and quiet that I yank the Nutella out of the pantry with exaggerated Kung-Fu moves.

One snack is healthy the other is is not. I like giving my readers options, ya know? You like that, right?

I adore cottage cheese. I have very fond memories of eating bowlfuls of the stuff with canned peaches and pears (in heavy syrup, of course) over the top. Well, nowadays, I don't do canned fruit. So here's my updated and more healthy version, which honestly tastes better.

1/2 cup lowfat, organic cottage cheese
1/2 organic peach or pear, sliced
drizzle of raw, organic agave
One issue House Beautiful or Food and Wine magazine

You could layer it into a parfait or do like I did, make it all dainty in a tea cup. Whatever suits your nap time (or anytime really) hankerings.

Alright, so the above is super healthy. This little guy below...not so much.

He looks kinda dejected, huh? He's not really. I accepted him heartily and fully into my giant mouth of pearly chompers. Gosh, it was so good. What is this unhealthy-ish snack? Well, maybe it's not too unhealthy. Two out of the 3 ingredients are actually pretty good for you. It's that dang Nutella.

So stack these three ingredients up for a super satisfying (mainly for the sweet tooth in us all) snack:

One brown rice cake
One heaping tablespoon Nutella (don't be chintzy!)
6-7 sliced banana
Dash of Kung-Fu moves (optional)

It's not only the taste that is so great, but the textures. If you have been reading this blog for any time at all, you know that I am huge on texture. Most things I eat need to have some form of crunch or it's just not worth eating. The creaminess of the bananas and Nutella play beautifully together. Add a glass of milk and you just entered snack time heaven.

Being a stay-at-home mommy is a hard job, but your snacks don't have to be! That sounded like a commercial on much-too-late night t.v.

Well, Foodies, whether you are a stay-at-home mommy, working mommy, not-a-mommy or daddy, everyone needs a good snack. Maybe I will make snack posts a regular thing. I've got some more yummy ones up my sleeve.

Love ya, Foodies!

Baby Veg

2011-06-27T07:53:00.002-05:00

Okay, so from the above picture you might surmise that I enjoy delegating, managing, holding shovels in a sassy fashion or I'm lazy. I'm learning to be better at delegating, I'm a good at managing my kids, definitely a cute shovel-holder and lazy only occasionally. I actually dug the entire garden alla myself (in a hurried/frenzied fashion during a nap-time lull) and had the Hubs do the tiller because the tiller makes me giggle and when I giggle, I get week arms and if you've ever used a tiller its extremely unsafe to be struck with giggling-induced weak arms because the tiller goes nutso-crazy on you like a jackrabbit on crack. Hence, the beefy man doing the tilling.

Phew.

So I've been raising seedlings indoors since March or April. We've got three varieties of organic tomatoes: Brandywine, cherry and some sort of flaming (?) Romas. They seriously look like they have yellow, stripey flames on them. We have parsley, pickling cucumbers and green beans. A variety of hot peppers for the Hubs. I've never grown green beans or grown tomatoes from seed. It was quite an enormous undertaking as far as the tomatoes go. They are so very delicate and require so much attention. I felt like my family grew to 45 children over night.

Cucumbers are probably my favorite thing to grow. They are so fool-proof. They grow like mad, so they really stroke your gardening-ego. They make you feel so accomplished. They have this naturally super-poky exterior on the leaves, stems and even the fruit itself so I never have worms or rabbits trying to eat it.

The green beans, other than herbs, have been my first harvest! I have been collecting tiny handfuls each evening until I came up with enough to justify cooking them. I feel strangely attached to these little guys. I've nurtured them, sang to them (yes, I sing to my garden. Trust me, it saved a wimpy tomato plant), weeded their bed and cooed over each little purple flower. Ready to throw-up? I REALLY love my little garden.

So it felt a slightly weird cooking up my green bean babies, but I was quickly over their death as I enjoyed every buttery bite. I simply steamed them in a pan with butter and salt and a dash of water. I topped them again with a wad of butter just before the Hubs and I recklessly dangled each one over our mouths and ate them more like popcorn than a proper bean. All the while smacking our lips, commenting on the fresh taste and sucking the butter from our fingertips.

They were sweet. They were perfectly tender. I have to say, I inhaled them.

And that was that. The first fruits of my garden. It was bittersweet. I raised them and then I ate them. I can't imagine doing that with an animal. Ugh. I'd surely be converted to a vegetarian.

Sorry to be so sappy over my baby beans, but I mean...just look at them? Coochie-coo!

Crazy dill. It's ready for pickling but the cucumbers are dragging behind. Hurry up cucs!

So here is what the garden is now. It's much too cramped, overgrown and a plant free-for-all. I have 9 tomato plants crammed in next to each other- very much against the seed packet's instructions. I crammed so many in because I could bear letting some get in the garden and others not. I asked my neighbors if they would adopt my surplus tomato babies, er, plants. I basically made them sign an adoption agreement to nourish and take care of them. Okay, so I didn't, I just gave them the 'ol stink eye as I handed the baby plants over.

Curious about those wonky, ladder-ish things? I got them out of someone's trash. I pick up stuff out of people's trash occasionally. Not nasty trash, nice trash from the nice neighborhoods. You know, where they throw out stuff that's still useful, but they just have no use for it, which makes it perfect for me! Anyway, those ugly things are for my beans and cucumbers to grow up since my garden is a postage stamp size. Having things grow up helps a lot.

As I write this, I am realizing with great clarity my weirdo-plant love I have. I'm really attached. Hmmm.

Nuzzling my manicured toes in with the parsley. I have garden clogs...but honestly, who cares? I love my feet in the dirt- that is, until the Hubs points out the clods of mud still clinging to the sides of my rustic, farmer feet.

Dig in the dirt and plant something. (Al Gore didn't tell me to tell you that.)

Love ya, Foodies.

The Whole Dole

2011-06-03T11:14:00.001-05:00

It's warming up outside. It's time for popsicles and ice cream. Time to eat your frozen treats in total abandonment with sticky, grape, orange and cherry stains to match the love fest.

That's why I strip my kids down to their undies to eat such treats. And I hate laundry.

With that said, I'm not so big on pre-made, processed frozen treats. They're okay once in a while, but I much prefer the kiddos getting their treat fix with natural juice pops or whole fruit "ice cream", which they can eat with their clothes on, because apple juice doesn't stain (or make your kids crazy) like red dye 40.

I guess I should teach my kids the word sorbet. Apparently I don't want them to look like junior food snobs when they play with the other four year old kids. (read next sentence in a hoity-toity voice.) "We had a palate cleansing dish of sorbet between our first and second course. What did your mom make?"

So the "whole dole" is like the whole enchilada, or shebang, or...you know what, I don't need to explain. You get it. It's everything. The whole pineapple. (I teach workshops on how to rabbit trail, if you are interested.)

I got this idea this morning. Instead of super sugary sorbet, or super fatty ice cream, why not save my fleeting waistline and feed my kids some extra fiber, by blending an entire pineapple, freezing it in the ice cream maker and calling it the "whole dole" sorbet?

Earth-shaking, I know.

Side note on the whole fiber thing. I LOVE chomping on the core of the pineapple. It's fibrous texture and juicy, watery content satisfies that need-to-gnaw-on-something/puppy dog nature of mine.

Well, I believe one could, if one was so inclined, could give oneself diarrhea by chewing and consuming one too many pineapple cores. It's merely heresay. I may know a girl who did that, once.

The Whole Dole Sorbet

1 whole, fresh, ripe pineapple

Take off it's jacket, remove core, chew on the core, lop the flesh it into chunks and whiz away into oblivion in the food processor. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze. It comes out almost fluffy. I think air gets whipped into it in the food processor. Interesting texture.

Word on the sorbet firmness...I'm weird about making homemade sorbet. It must be eaten immediately after it's made. I find that homemade sorbet, when frozen in the freezer after its jaunt in the ice cream maker is, well, solid as a rock. It looses it slushy texture. So while we are all eating our dinner, I have the sorbet churning away. It's a great incentive for slow and picky eaters, to hurry up and eat. The soft and gentle whirring sound of the ice cream maker as it goes round and round is like kid-brainwashing that sends this message: "Eat your food, child. Eat!"

We are going to be eating a lot more sorbet around here.

Love Ya, Friends.

Tina Fey Interview

2011-04-13T14:46:00.007-05:00

When adoration and imagination run a muck:

(Tina and I sit in plush, matching recliners while balancing plates of Night Cheese on our laps and wearing Snuggies. And yes, she is interviewing ME, not the other way around. That should give you a hint to the reality of this "interview".)

LZ: Tina, let me say before we even get started, that I knew something good was going to happen today when I saw that my speedometer read, 77,777.

TF: Mine too! So Lauren, believe it or not, I've brought you here to my home to talk to you about the array of dishes you created out of a Costco-size, bag of limes.

LZ: Really, Tina? Are you sure it's not because you have that new book Bossypants out and you wanted to boost your sales?

TF: Your blog has how many followers again?

LZ: One hundred and twenty.

TF: Are you supposed to say the "and"?

LZ: Probably not, but I felt it made it sound more adequate.

TF: Well, since we are on the subject of my book, have you read it?

LZ: Yes, I have...well, parts of it. Actually the front and back cover to be exact. It was while I was shopping in Target the other day. I'm happy to say that I'm number 155 in line to get it next from the library. So it looks like I should be able to finish reading it around July. That should make you feel good.

TF: Why because so many people are eager to not pay for it?

LZ: No, to show you how popular you are.

TF: Hmm, maybe I should do a reading at my local library.

LZ: Brilliant! See, we are working like a team already!

TF: Who said anything about a team?

LZ: Just me. So what cheese are you eating? Mines a 15 month old English cheddar. Sounds young for a human but that's pretty old for a cheese.

TF: Um, just a good, middle-aged Gouda.

LZ: And do you use an actual cheese knife?

TF: When I can. Cheese knives are so pretentious, don't you think?

LZ: Totally. I really feel like we are bonding.

TF: (takes another bite of her Gouda while humming. Neither denies nor confirms my statement. Therefore, it must mean "maybe". Fingers crossed.)

LZ: You know, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Alec Baldwin about the limes...

TF: Who?

LZ: Don't worry, I turned him down. I just can't forgive him for cheating on Tess in Working Girl. Besides, he said he had a yachting tournament to attend. We both know it wouldn't have worked.

TF: He uses that one on me all the time. Yacht is code for "No way, Jose".

LZ: I'll remember that the next time I call.

TF: Back to the bag 'o limes (Tina does an awkward Irish jig in her recliner and we both giggle), how did you transport them?

LZ: Well, "lugging" would be a good word, Tina, also, "hoisting" could work. They were moderately heavy. I hoisted them into the back of my dented mini-van, on top of the stroller that I never take out and next to a ladybug kite that flaps in the wind every time I roll down the windows and adjacent to an old dirty diaper. Your breath never smells like you ate an old dirty diaper, does it Liz Lemon?

TF: So you were listening.

LZ: It's understood that I love 30 Rock. Who else would arrange for our Night Cheese platters?

TF: That was you? Genius, except it's not night time...

LZ: (Screaming like a toddler in my head) She called me "genius!!!"

TF: But no matter, I'm thinking of changing it to Anytime Cheese or Spontaneous Cheese.

LZ: Again, we are back to team work, and it feels good.

TF: I've got to admit, this could work.

LZ: I think I just peed a little.

TF: Well, your paying to have your recliner cleaned then.

LZ: Don't worry, I rented these from a prop store. It'll dry.

TF: You rented recliners?...for my house?

LZ: And?

TF: Cool.

LZ: I made a delightful Lime- Herb Rubbed Salmon out of the limes. Want to hear about it?

TF: Not really. I want to hear about the worst combination of foods you have ever eaten.

LZ: Chicken curry followed by a bowl of raisin bran, while pregnant.

TF: That's pretty bad.

LZ: The pregnant part only explains half of it.

TF: And the other half?

LZ: I'm not sure I follow.

TF: About the curry-raisin-bran combo?

LZ: I'm an enigma.

TF: Clearly.

LZ: So when do we start branching out in our BBQ bottling ventures?

TF: I was unaware...

LZ: You didn't get that memo?

TF: Firstly, I don't care for BBQ and secondly, I know nothing about bottling.

LZ: Schlemiel, schlimazel, (mumbles)...

TF and LZ: (in unison) INCORPORATED!

TF: Inspiring but I'm going to have to turn you down on the BBQ sauce.

LZ: Penny Marshall was at the top of her game!

TF: Really.

LZ: Okay, answer me this: Does Jack Donaghy love the microwave?

TF: Alright, you got me. I could always use something else to do. What do we name our sauce?

LZ: Two Hot Babes BBQ Sauce?

TF: Only one of us is hot.

LZ: Thanks, Tina. Okay, how about 30 Ribs BBQ Sauce?

TF: I get it...but, no.

LZ: You're the comedy writer, you think of something.

TF: Okay, sure, no problem. (eats yet another slice of cheese) How about "BBQ Blaster" and we put it in a squirt gun?

LZ: Kinda like Cheesy Blasters, but BBQ sauce?

TF: Um, yeah.

LZ: It's alright. I guess I was expecting more, Tina. I mean, you're the Tina Fey. You get paid millions, consequently billions to do this stuff. BBQ Blaster? I'll give you points for the the squirt gun.

TF: Thanks, I guess.

LZ: I think the next step is to get our hairnets on and get to work on making, what's it called again?

TF: (sheepishly) BBQ Blaster.

LZ: We're going to have to work on that Tina. I still like 30 Ribs.

TF: Okay, Bossypants.

Firstly, I must say, anything written on behalf of the fabulous Tina Fey, was not said by her at all. Just what I wish she were to say if we got to hang out.

And because I am a behind-the-scenes kind of girl, here's what went down while I was writing this nonsense:

I fixed a Batman mask, fed my kids breakfast, ate a bowl of raisin bran (what can I say, I love fiber...just about as much as I love cheese. Good thing too.), wrote a grocery list, broke up numerous sibling fights, knocked over the box of Cherrios, swept it up, stepped on several, said fake curse words in my frustration, looked up how to spell "yacht" and "Donaghy", let the kids watch too much television, said "no" to a Wiggles movie seventeen times, stubbed my toe, announced again that I need a pedicure, put my oldest son in his Buzz Lightyear costume, threatened to not let my kids have a cookie at Whole Foods if they didn't stop hitting each other, listened to 3 whining sessions and planned this weeks menu in my head. Tina is so worth it.

What would be the coolest thing ever? That Tina would read this. That she might Google herself and have the patience to go to the 89th page of Google search to read this post...and possibly ask me to do a guest appearance on 30 Rock or do the BBQ sauce thing. I'm up for whatever. I'm pretty sure there are six degrees of separation between us, I just don't know what they are.

Love Ya, Foodies!

P.s. Here's the recipe for the delicious Lime-Herb Rubbed Salmon I was trying to tell Tina about:

Lime-Herb Rubbed Salmon

generously feeds 2

zest of one lime
minced fresh herbs, I used rosemary, thyme and basil- handful of each
1/2 clove fresh garlic, grated on microplane or minced very finely
1-2 tbsp. olive oil

Mix all this together and make a paste. Apply it to approx. 3/4 lb. of fresh Wild Alaskan salmon (I used Sockeye). Let it set for a good 30 minutes.

Get your pan very hot over medium heat. Sprinkle salmon on both sides with salt and pepper. Sear on both sides for 3 min. each. Remove salmon and turn heat down. Add 1-2 tbsp. butter (depending on how bad you want to be) and let it melt in the pan, slightly browning. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime into the butter and quickly pour it over the salmon. I served it with a herb, soft polenta but it would be good with roasted potatoes or even some pasta.

A Fine Specimen, Indeed!

2011-04-07T07:11:00.001-05:00

Quite arresting, isn't it? Poor guy, he's missing all the important parts, like his head for one. Oh, you thought I was going to talk about his missing man-ish parts? Yes, that's very important too. But I marvel at this sculpture because you don't notice so much what he doesn't have (sorta) but more at what is left. Simply beautiful...and really old.

"Lauren, tell me where you find such ruined beauty," you say? Well, it's at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, right here in Kansas City. Admission is free and the food is INSANELY good at the Rozzelle Court restaurant, which is located in the heart of the museum.You find yourself sitting in a 15th century courtyard which was flown in from Italy. Pretty impressive.

Speaking of food, this is what I ate that day, (yes, a day which was child-free, thanks to my mom) which was a vegetarian Mediterranean salad. So unique. Actually, it was quite inspiring, as far as a salad goes. It had marinated mushrooms, in which I detected a hint of wine, cooked and chilled asparagus, cold, roasted potatoes (which I was expecting to be weird and mealy, but where not), and creamy feta and roasted peppers. And of course, some salty, make-you-bloat-two-dress-sizes-right-in-you-chair kalamata olives. Divine.

I'm always quite intrigued by any painting or sculpture of the Madonna and Christ child. I mean, I find the artwork on the subject quite strange and wonderful at the same time. Most of the time Mary looks really bored and sometimes even annoyed by her God-incarnate child. According to the description of this sculpture, this is a very tender rendering of the two, in that Christ touching his mother's cheek, shows a very intimate and connected bond between the two. Hmmm. I see it, but it's very different from how I see moms (including myself) love on their kids nowadays. We snuggle and nibble, sniff and tickle their necks and ribs, toes and cheeks. I want to see a painting of Mary and Jesus like that, because that's how I believe it really was.

Take a look at this beauty. More than anything else that I have to say about this sculpture is that I cannot get past how the sculptor was able to make marble look like soft, silky, drape-y, fabric. How it clings to her body and billows out below- simply incredible.

I have been coming to this museum since I was a young girl. In my heart, this is the birthplace of my love of art. I can spend hours gazing at the familiar artwork that has become like old friends. The shape that this sculpture creates is so different than most really old sculptures. She's not merely standing there holding a pot, or regally posing with a crown, but instead, you feel like you've caught her in the act of her daily ritual of adorning herself with flowers, in the woods somewhere.

But what I like most is that she is smiling.

This painting reminds me of my grandma. She looks eerily like her and she is also a woman of the same decent as my grandma- a Southern Italian. Looking at her eyes stirs curiosity over what she is daydreaming about. As my gaze floats down the painting, I am distracted by the sheen on the pearls around her neck. How did the painter capture such realism? And the folds in her blouse? Oh, that I could someday capture something so simple with such immaculate detail. It's so inspiring.

These two love birds are embracing one another after the hunka-hunka man killed a boar. It lays dead in the background. But what I couldn't seem to get over was the enormity of both the lover's hands. They were GINORMOUS! Even though the artist translated the dainty aspects of a woman's hand, it could have easily palmed a basketball the size of a small elephant! Of course, I do take into account that the statue itself is nearly 9 to 10 foot high. Had that statue come to life and given me a high-5, I would be typing with one hand right now...the other would still be lying on the floor of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Oh, how the mind wanders. Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour, and truly, it was little. There is so much to experience at this great museum. If you are in town, you simply must visit, have a leisurely lunch and fill you quota for art appreciation.

Love Ya, Foodies!

P.s. Monet's (http://anecdotesandapples.weebly.com/) brother-in-law is in his own room now and talking! He is still unaware of what has happened. Pray for continued strength for him and his son.

The Compulsion to Create

2011-03-31T14:42:00.003-05:00

Creativity is invigorating.

Being a mom can be really hard at times. Each mom is forced to deal with her special mix of issues, created by her special mix of kids (not to mention her special mix of self). Somedays, by no fault of their own, the kids run me into the ground. With a sprinkling of PMS and a bad night's sleep, incessant questions and tantrums, doctor's visits and therapy sessions, grocery store runs and playdates, and last but not least piles of laundry on top of piles of dishes, after which you clean up you then have to make dinner!...well you get the picture, and moms, if you are reading this your saying, "Ehmmm. I LIVE in that picture."

Tantrum.

I've always been a creative person, from as far back as I can remember. Most of my first memories are of drawing or crafting in some fashion. So when life gets overwhelming, there is nothing better than creating or growing something. Both things introduce life and life is one of the happiest things there is.

When you grow or make something, whether it's a sprouting tomato seedling or simply doodling for the sake of doodling, there is a satisfaction that washes over me and it refreshes me. Sometimes just gazing at those little sprouts breathes life into this weary mommy.

Aren't my baby sprouts the cutest? I love how they crave light. They uniformly lean their little slender bodies towards the slightest bit of light. I like to change things up and turn them around, just so I can watch them move again.

Maybe it's because I'm so desperate for Spring, or maybe it's because I need a mommy break badly. But I find myself craving to create like it's a drug. Anything! I don't care what it is. I put a puzzle together for the first time in years, a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun!

Did I ever tell you I love all things Alice in Wonderland? Well, I do -since I was very small. It's currently in the works to turn my kitchen into a Wonderland kitchen. I will have to do a post on that...

Here's the rub: when you are rundown, tired, overwhelmed or frustrated, taking that time to sit down and create something can be yet, another thing on your to-do list. And instead of becoming an oasis that it was intended to be, you find it annoying. BUT, if you flip it, view it as a "spa time" for you, and only do something YOU want to do, (this kind of creative spa time does NOT include the following: putting together a toy for your kid, doing a science fair project, or trying to figure a "creative" way to keep the cat from pooping in your potted plants) and the great thing is that it could be as simple as taking some pictures of the budding trees in your backyard, or tying a bright pink ribbon in your ponytail or hanging that picture in your dining room that you know will just "make it".

But if you have a little extra zing that day, whether it be from an extra cup of coffee or your mom has the kids for the day (or even an hour), don't spend that time doing laundry! Use it to feed you. I often times find that the most impromptu creative moments are the best. They are so surprising and leave me with a glow all day.

It's in our nature to create, as humans. I think it's the ultimate high. It's where I most find God. Creativity is like my secret door to the secret clubhouse that God and I have together. In that tiny window of time, I'm co-creating with Him. It stirs conversations and healing. It awakens hope in some of dark corners of my heart. It relieves the burdens I continually choose to carry and reminds me that He will gladly carry them for me...all while doodling my latest idea for the kitchen decor or pressing tiny seeds into a planter to grow, He speaks.

I love that creativity is not bound by rules. It is what you want it to be. Its an indulging of the heart. There is no right or wrong. It could be baking a pie or painting a mural. Sometimes just breaking the ground for where your garden will go, can be as thrilling as a final stroke on a painting or piano key.

And then there is the creating in the midst of chaos, which can be the "quiet" you are looking for. Even when the kids are screaming and running, or my Tiny is tearing up the tupperware drawer for the 19th time that day, I will make a pie. I know, it seems nuts, but I don't have the luxury of always waiting for the "perfect moment" to create. Often times, it's more like a quick fire challenge on Top Chef than as leisure pie baking session with grandma. It's occupying the kids in smashing the graham crackers to smithereens so I can make the custard...but I'm still creating and loving it.

The other day, I was cleaning up the kitchen to make yet another mess and I laughed to myself as I cleaned up the oils and ingredients for my cosmetic making endeavors, the potting soil from the seed planting and the paints from the kid's craft time. As soon as I got that all away, I was reaching for the cutting board to start dinner. So my kitchen (as I'm sure yours is as well) is not only a kitchen, but a science lab, greenhouse and an art studio. The thought of that makes me so happy.

I also wanted to follow-up with you concerning the last post, Potatoes and Prayers. If you have not heard, Monet's sister passed last night and joined her son in heaven. It's such a tremendous loss. If you have not, please stop by her blog (http://anecdotesandapples.weebly.com/) and flood her with support. We love you, Monet. This photo I took the other day, made me think of your sister today.

Love ya, Foodies!

Potatoes and Prayers

2011-03-23T07:19:00.001-05:00

I would like to cook my friend a meal. I would like to cook one for her entire family- a family who has walked through so much the past few years that it's hard to imagine.

We foodies generally show our love and affection and our nurturing spirits through the food we cook. But unfortunately, all I can do for this friend is pray and sit and wait for her updates regarding her family.

That friend is Monet.

Many of you already know Monet through her inspiring, descriptive and delicious blog (http://anecdotesandapples.weebly.com) where her words are as intoxicating as the food she makes. Even more than that, is the love that Monet spreads everywhere her written word appears. Her kind words and sweet spirit have lifted my heart more than a few times.

I've never met Monet in person, yet I feel such a connection with her as I know so many others do. So when I heard about the tragic accident that happened over the weekend to her sister and her sister's husband as well as her two nephews, I was shocked. How much more can this family endure? (read here, http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/pamandmikebrown)

So I sat staring at my computer screen, trying to make sense of what has happened to this family. "Why?" is the knee-jerk reaction. I think of Japan. "Why?" I scramble for a reason, something that comforts, something that hushes the deep questions that resonate inside when I hear about tragedy. It shakes my core. It throws a shattering piece of shrapnel through my spirit. Why this family? God seems so unfeeling. He seems so far away when this kind of news emerges. Is it because it's true or because we see only bits and pieces of the plan?

We cling to cliches like, "God is good...all the time" or "there's a reason for everything", yet none of us know what that reason is. Yes, at times, later on -sometimes much later on- we can see clearer and see some sort of Divine artistry, but at that moment of raw impact, we are left broken and hopeless and finding taking our next breath difficult and at times, less than desirable.

Sometimes things get worse. Sometimes they get very worse before they get better (pardon yet another cliche). And then, yes, then a crack starts to develop in the wall of protection we have carefully and vigilantly built around ourselves. A fissure that comes bearing a painful proposition...hope.

"Hope?" the heart blurts out, in hot anger and weary frustration. "No, I'm quite comfortable here in my cocoon of despair that I have created. And besides, Hope will require me to believe for better."

The heart desires Hope, regardless of what it may say or how it reacts. The heart lives for hope. It's how one reaches the shore of a land they cannot see or it's how a woman gives those final pushes in birth, when there is seemingly no strength left. Either hope of a new life or hope of a new life.

In this case, where that "new life" may begin is not ours to choose. It may begin in heaven, where all is healed and all is fresh or it may start again here on earth where a road to recovery is slow and hard yet victorious, either way, we are required to let go in some form.

And so we pray, we weep, we try to stuff the questions that arise away. We reach out, we help, we give, trying to bring some comfort. And it does. Because the most precious gift we can give to a family in this situation is support. When a community surrounds you, you no longer feel alone. You know you can take another step, even if it's scary or you don't know where the road leads, you can do it because others are around you. You see God's hands through those who feed you, wipe away your tears and hold you.

You may think it strange that I am incorporating potatoes into this rather deep Foodie House post. Well, I'm inspired by the way Monet writes and how she can creatively work a experience or story in with her recipes.

So Monet, if you are reading this, I would make these potatoes for you. Of course, not just potatoes, dear friend, I would cook you a whole meal, but these would be the comfort factor. I'm sure what you and your family are eating right now consists of cafeteria food and vending machine cuisine. How I wish I could come and bring you and your sweet family food, lots of hugs and a hand to hold...and maybe a pot roast.

These potatoes are homey and rustic. I simply crisped up the potato rounds in lots of olive oil and butter, thyme and rosemary.

Crispy Rustic Potatoes

2 russet potatoes, baked

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. butter

3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

salt and pepper

Heat pan over medium heat with olive oil and butter. Add herbs and let them perfume the oils. Add slices of potato, season with salt and pepper and leave it for a good 5 minutes. Do not flip until dark golden brown and very crispy. Do the same on the other side. Serve with the herbs, for they are salty and crispy...delicious.

So here is my challenge to you readers, share this link with others. Share the Caring Bridge link above with others. Let's get the word to get out. I want there to be an outpouring of love and support. Whether it's praying or donating (you can donate on Monet's blog or on the Caring Bridge site) or any other creative way you can think of. Let's lift this family up and breath hope into these weary hearts.

Love ya, Foodies.

Her Kitchen Reeked...of Chaos

2011-03-14T14:43:00.001-05:00

The dishes sat in the sink mocking her.

"Yup, we're going to be extra crusty in the morning," the cookie sheet said as it nudged the mixing bowl.

"Yeah, crusty dishes plus her coffee breath equals a grumpy mommy, " the mixing bowl mused. "You know how she hates the smell of her own coffee breath."

A coffee mug, buried deep beneath everyone, mumbled something but no one could quite make it out. And no one bothered to ask it to repeat itself.

A spoon poked it's head out to see if anyone had been loaded into the dishwasher. When it saw that everyone was still in the sink, it slowly lowered itself back down into it's hole for the night.

She had given up tonight. Normally, dishes were not left in the sink until morning, but tonight was different. She threw down the dish rag and simply walked away.

On top of that, everything seemed to need de-cluttering. The fridge was over-loaded with her children's artwork, coupons, birthday cards, invitations, to-do lists and moments of inspiration, jotted down on a scraps of napkin. She had gotten so used to looking at it, that she didn't realize how cluttered it had become until she took this picture.

She felt overwhelmed. That's why the dishes did not get done...among other things.

And this was a strawberry rhubarb pie that she was so excited about making that, though looking full of potential here, ended up accidentally under-cooked (she didn't take the time to carefully read the cooking time instructions...probably because her kitchen was in such utter chaos) and left a rather chewy, fibrous feeling in the mouth. Yet another reason she felt deflated and unenthusiastic about cleaning.

She felt very embarrassed as she wrote this post and hesitated to post it, but posted it nonetheless. The process of creativity is not always a pretty one.

Oh yes, and three other little reasons why she sometimes leaves the dishes in the sink, under-bakes a pie and dives head-first into a chocolate bar. But would she have it any other way? Most certainly not.

Now where's the chocolate?

Love Ya, Foodies!

My Film Debut, Dahhhhling!

2011-03-08T07:08:00.005-06:00

I could sit here and moan and complain about how we continue to get bouts of sickness around here and how sick I am of being sick....

But instead I'm going to tell you about a little something special that happened to me a few weeks back.

I got an email one day, mid-January, from Alexa at Foodbuzz. She approached me with a quite delightful offer. She would fly out from San Fransisco to come to my little house in Kansas City, coordinate to have a PROFESSIONAL videographer show up, and have me star in two mini videos on how to make a video featuring Newman's Own products. Is there anything here I would object to? No.

A week later (yes, ridiculously fast) I welcomed Alexa and Adam (the videographer) into my mom's house- for she has a much cuter kitchen than I- and we set up to do these two super fun, silly and carefree videos to be sent out to bloggers in Foodbuzz's Tastemaker program.

Both videos are around 2-3 minutes in length. Take a gander!

In this video, I throw together a delish pasta dish, featuring Newman's Own Sockerooni Sauce. I also do some silly things that are about as cheesy as the Parmesan cheese that I sprinkle over the hot rigatoni.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhyAaQseYIo

And in this video I make a super easy salad to go along with a Newman's Own Thin and Crispy Pizza. This one is even sillier and I show you what to wear and what not to wear in a video of your own. My mom made sure her stockpile of vintage clothing and accessories were available for our use in these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9IsWY-VjBg

It really made me feel so special that they chose me to do this project. Here I was thinking that Foodbuzz hated my Emergency Cake video for Project Food Blog, since that was the round I got sacked, but oh, contrare, they loved my video and chose me to do these Newman Videos based on that ridiculousness.

I'm used to setting up my little video camera on a precarious, teeter-y tripod, hitting "record" and jumping in front of it, to make my cheesy little cooking videos. I'm used to doing hours of editing and spewing very heated words under my breath until the video is done. I'm used to losing videos, videos not uploading and more than a fair share of "glitches in the matrix". This time? All I had to do was be in front of the camera. I didn't have to do any of that other crap.

See these two right here? Aren't they just darling? Alexa and Adam. Alexa was like a breath of fresh air, energetic and full of ideas and fun. Alexa and I were chatting like two high school friends, voicing ideas and thoughts, laughing our butts off and trying to focus on the task. Adam was laid back, super calm and just as sweet as he could be. That giant camera of his was staring me in the eyeball, stirring up a bit of nervousness, but Adam had this zen way about him, even the way he counted down to recording made me feel a bit better. He'd just say, "When you're ready." I was calling him "Yoda" towards the end of the day, for all his insightful comments that seemed to translate what Alexa and I were trying to say, in our chatter-y little way.

After sitting down and noshing on the product of the first shoot -the rigatoni- and drinking from the one and ONLY Taco Via cups (yes, that little lady logo stirs many childhood memories for me...mainly delicious, greasy, burrito bomb, Mexican food type memories.) we felt very at home with one another. Sharing a meal seems to break the ice and everyone relaxes. Or maybe it was the Taco Via cups, because we did laugh quite a bit over them and learned that Adam didn't really like Mexican food, to which, Alexa and I both gasped.

Okay, so this picture is a bit awkward of me (sorta look like I'm be dramatic about the salad or something...such a diva) but I like it because you can really see how cool that camera was! Isn't it so fancy? I was in awe of the quality of the video. It was so cool!

Alexa brought me a little treat from San Fransisco, a box of caramels. Six luscious caramels that I was not intending to enjoy so greatly or have to share so freely. I quickly offered up a piece to everyone and that was BEFORE I tasted them. After I tasted them, I wanted to reach down into everyone's throats and retrieve the golden, creamy, slightly salty treats. So I was down to three. I offered one to my mom, who graciously watched the kids all day for me so I could do the video, but was relieved when she said it would yank out her crown. So I still had three. I gobbled down two more and teetered on the fence of sharing the last one with the Hubs or not. I chose to be nice and shared, all the while I sat drooling and I watched him slowly chew that sticky piece of golden, creamy heaven.

So here's a crazy picture of me at the end of the shoot. I look like a crazed woman with a fork, which isn't too far from the truth, and just floating on cloud nine. I felt so energized, filled and excited that I got to do something I love (cooking and being a ham) and get to do that with such wonderful people! Thanks again, Alexa and Foodbuzz for picking me. Thanks Adam for being such a great videographer!

Sorry for such a delay...again, between posts, dear ones. It has been so insane with the kids. Winter always brings much sickness, but this year is really nuts. When the kids are sick and I am sick, my creativity goes down the toilet. All I want to do is sleep, but of course, we all know that doesn't happen with three little sick baby birds, right?

Love Ya, Foodies!!! (ahhh-choo!...excuse me.)

Snot Faucets and Other Insightful Things

2011-02-19T13:57:00.001-06:00

For the last two weeks we've been ever so sick. It was just a very bad cold. One child gets it, then generously passes it to the other via slobbering and coughing or sneezing or the ever popular and effective, sippy cup swap.

They have also been so generous to share their wretched cold shenanigans with their tired and adoring parents. It makes for really great parenting - to feel like crap and take care of other crappy-feeling children.

Often times when I see a cold is a-brewin' in one of the kids, I take extra measures to have them cover their face when they cough and sneeze and always wash their hands after blowing their noses. I will sometimes tell them not to hug or kiss their siblings (because they inevitably sneeze every time they go in for a big bear hug), which by the way sounds horrible doesn't it? But to be quite honest, all I can see when they are hugging or kissing is a good week and a half to two weeks of no sleep or very poor sleep in my future, hence the kibosh on affection.

All that being said, by the time I'm sure we are all well-infected, my rules and preventative measures go straight the window. I stop caring and finally realize, it's better if they all get sick at once instead of staggering it, because it shortens the window of sick.

How does one know that they truly are infected? I'll tell you, it's when you are buckling any one of your mucus-y cherubs into their car seats and get a big juicy sneeze right between the eyes. That is the moment when you realize, it is now my time to keep a box of Kleenex in my mommy (or daddy) tool belt, that imaginably resides around my waist, along with herbal tea and ibuprofen. Ah, joy.

Yes, you guessed it. That's a hair clip holding a Kleenex box to my hip. The only problem is that I thought of this after every one started feeling better.

Each child has a different nose-blowing style. Care to see the rundown? Of course you do.

She was weirdly reluctant about taking this picture (hence, the lack-luster approach to fake nose-blowing), but it's still fairly accurate.

Boo is a great nose blower. Forceful, thorough and completely unaware that she must cup the danging Kleenex up under her nose to catch the waterfall of newly expressed snot. Effective but very, very messy. Especially when she does this in the car and then hands you the soggy tissue while you are driving. To make matters more interesting, a quick look in the rear-view mirror reveals the dangling string of snot hanging from her top lip and her talking something like this, "Uh, Mommy? Uh...Uh...Ewww!!!" all while sitting very still as if she has a killer bee on the end of her nose. To which I respond with a fresh tissue wipage of the dangler, while driving in snow. Life on the edge.

This is not a very realistic re-enactment of the previous weeks activities. This was much more enthusiastic. Maybe I should try breaking out the camera the next time I ask him to blow his nose.

Bubba is the reluctant nose-blower. You know, with all your mommy intuition, that he has a ridiculous amount of snot in his head but no matter how many times you ask if he needs to blow his nose, the answer is "no". He will, only if told, give a dainty, useless blow, just enough to rattle things around a bit and convince me that there is still SO much more to be expelled. But he just plain refuses. So I let him go on, talking like his head is in a bucket and someone shoved two cottonballs up his nose. How can one walk around with so much snot in their head, by choice? Does he not know the satisfying feeling of a momentarily clear head? I love blowing my nose.

And then there is Tiny. Well, he's only 18 months old and is sort of understanding the concept. He only blows his nose when there is not a Kleenex within an 80 mile radius and it's usually into his hand AND it's usually when he's practicing blowing kisses, not sneezes. Pretty cute, really. But to get any real relief for him, I have to use the dreaded "snot sucker". Out of all my kids, he's the one that has done the best with it. He actually tolerates it. He doesn't enjoy it, but he will sit still for the duration. The best part is when he tells it "bye-bye" (which really sounds like "kye-kye") when it's all done. What amazes me is how small his head is and the enormity of his snot! Where does it come from?

The cold accouterments.

I find that my once hyper-vigilant disease control has now been lowered to a simple snot inspection of the hands. If they don't have visible snot it's back to the sick pit (also known as the play room), if they do then a shoddy squirt of hand sanitizer and a cautionary warning "do NOT to eat it!" is issued, along with a quick wipe of a damp paper towel. Where have my principles gone?

Other sick-time activities include (like a bad Time Life compilation C.D.):

-Cleaning things I wouldn't normally think to clean, like under Tiny's booster seat. The horror of dried bits of food from weeks ago and pacifiers? I don't even know how they got under there, for the space is so minimal I find it nearly a great work of art, on his part. It took a chisel and the better part of my afternoon to pry all disgusting food particles from the chair.

-You do really bad-mommy things, like, take your kids to the mall to play in the children's play area while they are sick. You are so insane with being trapped inside your house, with nothing but noses to blow and butts to wipe, that you exit the house, in frigid weather, cart them to the mall and dump them into the play pit. The whole time, you are thinking (or at least I am) what a horrible thing I am doing. I'm infecting all these other kids. Then I see that nearly half the moms there are wiping their kids snot faucets just as much as I am. So suddenly I don't shudder as much or hop up as quick, when Lily sneezes on the little girl with a puffy pink hairbow and Isaiah slides his sleeve across his slippery nose-snot.

-Lose track of the last day everyone had a bath.

-You cancel your son's birthday party twice...ugh.

-You do a lot of art projects that require painting with NyQuil and cough syrup. (Just kidding...we use paint, most of the time.)

-You find yourself daydreaming about a Mexican beach and shrimp cocktail...and cocktails.

-Then you cry because you realize a vacation won't happen for years.

Do you see all the deep thoughts that occur when one is sick alongside their children? I'm sure you have some of your own. By all means, do share...

I hope this post finds you and your loved ones feeling healthy and ready for Spring.

Love ya, Foodies!

She's Got A New Attitude...On Blogging

2011-02-04T15:41:00.002-06:00

Maybe it was the impending blizzard. Maybe it was the meteorologist's forecasted foot of snow manifested outside my door, trapping me and my family in our house for 2 days. Maybe it was that the Internet connection has been less than stellar. Maybe those are all excuses for the real reason...
Maybe I just didn't feel like blogging.

There. I said it. I didn't want to.

When I started this blog I was blogging everyday. I put immense pressure on myself to generate lots of content, leave comments on everyone's blogs and spend copious amounts of time on it. And it was good.

I was striving to get more readers.

I was stressed if I didn't post everyday.

I did the PFB contest- had a blast.

Then I got really tired. Pooped.

We moved and I had time to think, because I didn't blog for 2 weeks. The first time since I started the blog. I was so concerned. What would it do to my blog? Would my readers forget me? What would happen!!! (dramatic music plays)

It gave me time to step back and think.

Why do I do this?

Is it a business? Do I get paid? No and, um, no.

Well, I slowly got back on the blogging horse, as it were, and started up again on January 1st. But I had realized something, I only wanted to blog when I FELT like it. That's the whole point of this blog for me- to be a creative outlet. Creative comes in spurts. It happens when it happens.

I felt burned out just writing about recipes all the time, even with the passion I have for cooking, I wanted to step out of a box.

Good blogging friends have given me sound advice, which was this: you can write about what you want, when you want, how you want.

I've found myself apologizing, at times, for my blog being too "mommy" and not enough "foodie"! I mean, really? Why on earth am I apologizing?

So now I am at the point where I haven't blogged for like 2 weeks...AND FOR NO REASON, other than I just didn't feel like it- that and I was more interested in some of my other passions like beadwork and crafting than blogging. I know, kinda dorky. I look like I belong in a nursing home with my afghan, cradled in my recliner, with my box of beadwork supplies and and cup of tea at night.

"Oh look! There's Grandma Lauren's little nest of beading supplies. How sweet."

I was also very busy taking pictures of my beat-up kitchen chairs, with intentions of coming up with something "arty". Hmmm.

I did come up with an egg-free chocolate orange bread pudding recipe for you. I know, you're thinking "Egg-free bread pudding? Aren't you missing the point?" But it was actually very good. Let me know if you would be interested in the recipe and I will post it. And no, that is not milk streaming from a cow's teat. Looks like it though, doesn't it?

I was also making my children pose in frigid weather...with sticks.

And I was REALLY busy watching the Hubs do manly stuff like shovel snow in a blizzard. What a man.

I was tired of balancing my laptop on my lap (with my afghan while reclining) and trying to crank out a post in the evenings when I was so exhausted from the day. All I wanted to do was zone out and watch Gordon yell at people. (Ramsey, silly. Not just any Gordon.) But I will admit, there is nothing quite like hitting that "publish" button. That is a good feeling to be sure.

So chime in. What do you think? I mean, what drives you to blog? Do you put yourself on a schedule? Does it help you? Is your blog that important to do such a thing? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your blog? If so, why do you think that is? Is it pressure from others or yourself? Is what I am saying utterly ridiculous?

You know, it like that saying, (I think it's a saying anyways. I say it a lot) "As the pendulum swings..." Meaning, you go from one extreme to another until you balance out. I started out as a psycho blogger, now I'm plain, straight-up "on-strike" blogger. I'll find my middle. Until then, you'll never know when I will blog next. But if I'm not blogging, you know what I'll be doing...

Love ya, Foodies! Good to be back.

PMS Risotto

2011-01-20T07:31:00.002-06:00

Yes, ladies, you heard me right. Men, don't run away just yet...no one's going to make you run to the store to buy anything "embarrassing", but you may get sent to pick up these few ingredients for the following recipe- which, I may add, is not embarrassing at all and completely manly.

Most women I talk to seriously crave chocolate that time of the month and I am definitely one of them. I mow through chocolate bars, while drinking hot chocolate. Suddenly, I will have visions of a plate of brownies hovering right in front of me. Sometimes I will, even with cramps and a cranky disposition, break out the mixer at 8 p.m. and whip up some chocolate chip cookies. All of which, the Hubs is happy to help me consume. So for all my snippy comments, waves of emotion and frustrated murmurings, he does get some tasty desserts out of the whole deal.

I saw this recipe on the Cooking Channel the other day and was, of course, whisked away into a chocolate fantasy. I mean, why not turn your favorite comforting savory dish into a chocolate-laden, luscious dessert? Thanks to David Rocco, it was.

It truly is fantastic. So creamy, so rich and the perfect amount of sweetness. Its so comforting that it will, for a moment, whisk away those crabby feelings.

If you are a menu planner, you know where to put this on the calendar...

I'm feeling lazy today. Here's the link to the recipe:

Risotto Al Cioccolator

Love ya, Foodies!

Green Monster Pizza

2011-01-17T07:14:00.002-06:00

Do you ever have this happen, where you see just the tail end of a recipe on a cooking show and you find yourself "winging it" in the kitchen to recreate what you think you saw? That's sorta how this came about...

I had seen Giada making what I thought was a pizza with some sort of green cheese mixture for the base. I couldn't get it out of my head and rather than Google it, I decided to just try and make up my own. Besides, it's so much more fun than following a recipe, right?

Problem is, when you "wing it" it tends to be more experimentation than getting it right the first time. And sometimes it means that things happen that you don't expect. It can also mean that you end up with a giant mess in your oven of burnt, molten cheese mixture. Yum.

I should have photographed the oven after this venture. Actually, it's probably still there...ehm. I don't clean my oven. I just wait for it to burn away. Sad but true.

Although, the mess was so bad I had to scrape the pizza stone of some of the bigger bits, so I didn't set the smoke alarm off. You know it's bad when you are opening your windows in 10 degree F weather to air out the kitchen. My poor little children were shivering like Oliver Twist in an alley way.

So anyways, the problem was that this cheese mixture, although thick and dense when cold, turned into a river of cheese pouring over the sides of the crust when hot. Part of the messy problem was that I applied way to much. When I put less, it was much better.

The cheese mix

Strewn pizza dough awaiting rolling and baking in a 550 degree oven. Looks a little scared.

Delicious little bits of chicken Italian sausage, also awaiting searing hot oven heat.

I think this was the third pizza that Bubba and I made. It grew a tumor of sorts while baking and of course, it's grotesque physique found it's way into Bubba's heart and stomach.

Proud owner of the pizza tumor.

Tackling it...

Boo is on an anti-pizza run. She used to like it. None of us know where it all went wrong. So she was eating a turkey sandwich- a dismembered turkey sandwich that is.

Who needs teething toys? In this family our babies cut their teeth on stainless steel mixing bowls, guaranteeing a foodie future.

Tiny's transferring all his cubed pizza bits into the bowl and back onto his plate and not eating much of anything...ah, toddlers.

Either the last one or first one of anything you make seems to be the best. This was the last of 4 pizzas and it turned out pretty nice. How I love making pizzas...I could make pizza all day long.

Green Cheese Mixture

*Note: Since, like most foodies, we are in the business of "winging it" these are approximate measurements, so use your best judgement. Taste and taste again, until it's how you like.

1 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan, grated

1/2 cup low-moisture mozzarella

1 good fistful of fresh basil leaves

3 roasted garlic cloves

Salt and pepper

Throw it all in the food processor and make into a paste.

Toppings:

Go wild, but I used the browned chicken Italian sausage bits and fresh tomato. Use the cheese mixture as the "sauce" and don't use too much, if you know what's good 'fer ya.

For the pizza dough recipe and video, CLICK HERE! Its super duper easy. I know the recipe says it makes enough for 2 pizzas, but I got 4 smaller ones out of it as well. My oven is smaller than my last one, so I had to adjust it.

Love ya, Foodies!

Drinking It Up

2011-01-08T20:20:00.001-06:00

Coming home means lots of things. One of those things is revisiting places near and dear to my heart. Places where childhood dreams were born, creative whims were inspired and waves of comfort come in the form of a perfectly poured latte- and not one from Starbucks.

I squealed with delight when the barista handed this to me...

and I think he thought me a little strange for doing so, but I didn't care. This was a Latte Land latte. I only know of them in K.C. You must know by now, my love for small, non-corporate coffeehouses. They also had wonderful molasses ginger cookies that went perfectly with my luscious, milky drink.

Last weekend, mom and I took a little jaunt down to the Plaza, here in Kansas City. If you haven't heard, it's one of the most beautiful places in K.C. It's over 75 years old, with fabulous architecture, shopping and an overall sense of beauty everywhere you look.

Kansas City is second to Rome in the fountains department (sorry no pictures of any, as they are all shut off for the winter. When they come back on I will do a post on the fountains- they truly are spectacular.) There are breathtaking sculptures which are studded in and around the entire Plaza. They pop up where you least expect, like 'ol Benjamin Franklin there. I took the time to interrupt his reading of the Declaration of Independence by sitting on his knee in my "Buffalo Coat"- as the Hubs likes to call it. The coat makes me feel lumpy- not quite sure if that's a good thing.

Isn't Ben cute? Notice the store that is directly behind him? Yes.

Mom had to pose with the birds. I really like this picture of her. She's so cute.

I mean really...this gorgeous sculpture was at the entrance of the parking garage! So beautiful.

I could say something about "buns of bronze". Okay, so I did. They are really nice buns.

Now a visit to the Plaza just wouldn't be complete without an in-depth browsing of my absolute favorite store, Anthropologie. I walk into that store and get inspired from the top of my dish-water blond rooted head down to my un-pedicured toenails. The colors of the dishware to the styling of an apron (which I have a penchant for) simply sends me. I must smell every available candle and touch every fabric. I try on all hats regardless of price. I purposely comment every time that when I am rich someday, I will wear all clothes from Anthropologie and decorate my house to look like one of the stores...every time.

Teacups...another "penchant" item.

Love.

Who wouldn't want a set of these?

I needed a little drool trough for the saliva that came rolling over my lip and onto my shoe. I can't stop thinking about these little glasses.

So my dear Foodies, that's a mini tour. We've merely scratched the surface on the Plaza and I will surely be doing more posts on it. The Hubs and I had many dates there and he proposed to me at an adorable little restaurant called the Classic Cup there. I feel a Valentine's post coming on....hmmm.

Love Ya, Foodies!

I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

2011-01-01T15:35:00.001-06:00

Dips are a great way to celebrate. They're fatty and full of calories. They pair nicely with crunchy, also fatty, fried dipping devices. That's why this Artichoke Dip was apart of last night's subdued New Year's celebration.

I'm not much for going out on New Years. One, it's too cold and two, to many drunk maniacs out. I prefer to live and celebrate with a bunch of snacks, family and a board game or three.

After a truly lame attempt at Monopoly, which included me labeling my father as the "mean banker" (which he really wasn't, just gloating over his ridiculously high rents that put me out of the game and into bankruptcy) and the Hubs also finding ways to make Mom and me feel like total non-monopolists...is that a word?, I turned in all I had an dug out an old issue of Food and Wine to graze over until they were done.

We then moved on to Bingo, which only made us feel like dinner was going to be at 4 o'clock and bedtime at 7:30 pm. The next game, which is my personal favorite, was Scrabble. The Hubs reluctantly played, as it is not his favorite, but suddenly was semi-interested when he started sipping on a glass of Arak - a Middle Eastern licorice liquor...then stuff got really interesting, because he gave a glass to my dad. Now, that's fun Scrabble. Basically, any board game + alcohol= fun.

Back to the dip...

I came up with this dip because I was feeling very creative and weirdly moved to use the can of artichokes in my pantry. It was a strange compulsion. I MUST use these artichokes. So I did and the result was much better than I expected. So I thought you may enjoy it.

It may not go well with new year's resolutions, unless one of your new year resolutions is to enjoy yourself by eating a fattening, luscious dip - then all I have to say is, "BINGO!"

Artichoke Dip

by Yours Truly, a Foodie House original recipe

1 clove garlic, very thinly sliced (think Goodfellas)
1 sweet onion, diced
2-3 sprigs thyme, minced
1 small sprig rosemary, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper

Caramelize all the above ingredients down slowly for a good 20-30 minutes. Then add:

1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. flour
1 cup heavy cream

Bring that too a simmer and thicken. Then add

1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup grated Swiss
1 can artichokes, diced
1 tsp. lemon zest (added right at end)

If you like, pour dip into a oven proof dish and top with 1/2 cup panko mixed with 1 tsp. olive oil. Put under a low broiler and toast until golden. We served it with pita chips. Lush.

Happy New Year, Foodies!!!

Still Kickin'...

2010-12-28T07:17:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends,

How I have missed you. Don't think I've forgotten you, nay, I have been thinking of you everyday. The problem is this...

Unpacking a plethora of boxes with rampant children, who need my undying attention and a HORRIBLE Internet connection, makes for a very bad blogging environment.

I'm am feverishly typing right now and praying this will get published as I am in fear that my connection will go out. Please know, I have a running list of "to do" posts on my fridge door and a mind that won't stop running regardless of my current situation.

I've been on a soup kick because the temperature is like, one, here. Major switch from Houston. But I love it because it is home.

Christmas was good. I hope you all enjoyed yours. Here are a few pictures to catch you up.

SNOW on Christmas Eve!

One of Boo's special ornaments.

How to make the perfect snowball.

That's my Tiny eating one of my special Molasses Sugar Cookies.

A hat, though on backwards and completely useless against the cold, is still supremely cute on my little Bubba.

Papa and Grandmas reading a special story to the kids on Christmas Eve.

Boo.

Love Ya, Foodies!

You Got Some 'Splain-en To Do

2010-12-19T11:41:00.002-06:00

So first off, I hope you won't be let down by my less than exciting explanation of where I've been, because you all had MUCH more creative ideas than what was actually happening. I mean, a chess game or cracker factory? Brilliant.

Drum roll please...There were a few of you who hit the nail on the head, as it were. MOVING. In no particular order, here are the fabulous peeps who guessed what I was doing...

Lorraine at A Multi-Dimensional Life
Mariko at The Little Foodie
Jamie at Mangiabella

If you haven't visited them, they are all really fabulous ladies with amazing blogs.

Add to the boxes, rolls and rolls of tape, overflowing boxes of bubble wrap, and loads of packing paper. Mixed with children in transition, cardboard cuts (the long, distant, evil cousin of paper cuts), and one stressed mommy equals family fun!

Where are we moving you ask? Down the street? Over the river? No. The Hubs accepted an offer for a new job in my home town and our new house is just a hop, skip and jump away from my overly excited parents. I haven't lived at home, Kansas City, for 10 years now. I am so happy to be home, regardless of the wonky-out-of-whack-feelings I have. We are currently bunking with my parents until our stuff gets here, tomorrow. I can't wait to move into our new place.

To share a bit of our insane journey from Houston to K.C., I have created a little montage for you. What we saw, what to avoid and what landed like a bomb in my stomach.

that pretty much sums up the trip...

poor kid

this was pretty much the extent of our diet - a total belly bomb.

sad.

what every foodie needs on a road trip...Food and Wine and some fiber bars, just to keep everything, you know, regular.

boredom at its peak.

what to avoid.

what we were listening to

what the kids were watching...if Barney made you sick before, just try 2 days straight in an enclosed vehicle. Barf.

Here's some nice cows, right? Look a little closer...

this is a zoom in of the picture above. A Fed-Ex anarchy van in a cow field? I have nothing to say about that.

Love Ya, Foodies!

Thanks for hanging around for me. Now, let me get situated in the house and I'll whip up something delish.

Going Dark

2010-12-11T07:39:00.002-06:00

Maybe I've watched to many action movies or been intrigued by night vision goggles for far too long, but now is the perfect time to "go dark" with my blog, as in, I will be "off the grid" for a while. Not goth or creepy. What could be detouring my attention? What could make me so busy that I couldn't spend time on the blog? What could have this mommy so stressed out?
Let's make a game out of it, shall we?

I want you to put your guesses in the comment boxes below, of what you think is keeping me from traditional blogging the next two weeks. Sorry, no prizes, for I do not have time for them. But who ever guesses right, will get their name and blog in giant letters in a post. The following posts have yet to be determined, but think outside the box.

I will give you a hint:

I'm surrounded by squares.

Now go!!

LOVE YA, FOODIES!

Julia Would Approve (Biscuits and Chowda)

2010-12-06T15:24:00.001-06:00

Before we start, we must talk about this bowl. I found myself wondering if it was an ash tray or an artistic expression of a coconut husk. It was one of my mom's flea market finds. Thanks, Mom!

We talk about Julia a lot, do we not? Many of us grew up watching and listening to her warble her way through French technique but not without a relaxed “what the hell” attitude. I truly adored how messy she was.

I pick up her biography, Appetite for Life written by Noel Riley Fitch, every so often and randomly open it up to a new place. I’ve never done that with a book before, but I guess it’s because any where you read in this book, you will find something fascinating. It’s a joy to read.

Early on in the book they talk about her childhood (duh) and peppered in among people’s descriptions of her growing up -and her delightful shenanigans- are recipes. One of them is her mother’s Buttermilk Herb Baking Powder Biscuits.

This recipe stood out to me for it’s simplicity and that it was dear to her heart. Her mother was supposedly not a very good cook and when asked about her mother’s cooking this was the recipe she gave a newspaper to print.

Well, if Julia liked them, I knew I would like them too. But there was a problem.

I didn’t have half the ingredients. Oh, and I was lazy, which caused me to not want to walk outside and snip a few sprigs of whatever herbs were left in my dying garden.

So we ended up with plain biscuits.

And then I didn’t have vegetable shortening, I only had butter. Darn.

And I didn’t have buttermilk, so I winged it and added some vinegar to regular milk.

My son can’t eat eggs, so I left those out.

You’re probably thinking, “This sounds like a flop”. Oh contraire, Dear Ones, they were simply heavenly. Best biscuits I’ve ever made, which isn’t saying a lot because my biscuits are generally like bricks or out of a can, soooo….

They truly were delish. I wanted to pad my bra with their fluffy goodness, powder my face with one of its million flaky layers, or simply crack one open and rub its buttery goodness on my elbows. Bizarre? Who cares.

What did I serve these with, you say? How ‘bout some chowda’? (I watch The Perfect Storm last night and I can still hear Clooney, with his dreamy, husky voice, going on about longitudes and latitudes in a Boston accent.)

How about some, the-clams-are-too-damn-expensive-so-I-had-to-buy-fish-chowder? Divine.

I think I actually liked the fish, (I used rockfish, a deep sea type of red snapper), better than clams. It was so tender and flakey…kinda like the biscuits- sorry, but I can’t get over the triumph that was the biscuits. I don't think Julia would mind that I totally changed the recipe. I mean, I'm sure she improvised many times. I felt her approval as the dough stuck to my cookie cutter and I flung flour across the counter and onto the floor.

So here’s the deal. I’m going to give you Julia’s mother’s recipe but in bold I will put my changes AND I will give you my original recipe for my fish chowda. And if you call right now, you will get a forever lazy snuggy free!…just kidding, sorry. I mean, seriously, who wears that? With the zipper in the back? Really?

Buttermilk Herb Baking Powder Biscuits

Julia Child’s mother’s recipe from Appetite for Life.

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. salt

4 tsp. double-acting baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

8 tbsp. chilled vegetable shortening (I used butter)

4 tbsp. fresh minced chives (did not use)

4 tbsp. fresh minced parsley (did not use)

2 eggs (did not use)

1 ½ cups buttermilk (I used milk with 2 tbsp. vinegar added)

Cut shortening (or butter) into dry ingredients, until it is in small pieces, stir in herbs. Mix together all wet ingredients (it says in the book that many Yankee homes did not use the eggs) and briefly mix into dry ingredients. Be careful not to overmix. Turn onto surface and knead (I barely kneaded it, for fear of my classic brick-style biscuits) and pat to ½ inch thick. Cut into rounds (make sure you flour your cutter) and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Amazing.

Foodie House Fish Chowda

original recipe

(I don’t really measure much, so this is my eyeballed version. I’d say by eyeballs are 95% accurate)

½ sweet onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

3-4 sliced uncured bacon, diced

3 tbsp. flour

2 tbsp. butter

1 tsp. “Better Than Boullion” organic chicken base

4 cups chicken stock (or fish stock)

1 cup cream

2 med. organic russet potatoes, diced

1 cup frozen organic sweet corn

1-1 ¼ lbs. rockfish or snapper, cut into bite-size pieces (use what you like, really)

salt and pepper to taste

Render your bacon in a heavy bottom pot. Leave the drippings. Put in onion, carrot and celery. Cook until slightly soft, about 5 minutes. Add butter and let it melt. Sprinkle flour over veg and bacon and stir in. This is the roux. Cook this mixture together for about another 5 minutes.

Add chicken stock, bullion and cream. Let this cook for a good 10 minutes. You want to see the stock thicken. Stir quite often.

Add your potatoes and corn and let cook until potatoes are tender but not mushy. Taste the soup for seasoning, as the potatoes tend to absorb the salt. Ten to fifteen minutes before you serve the soup, gently simmer the fish pieces in the soup. It’s very important you do not over cook the fish.

Serve with the luscious biscuits…if you’re feeling healthy (which you won’t if you make this meal) eat a salad.

Love ya, Foodies!

She Saga: Pants and Cheap Wine

2010-12-01T19:41:00.002-06:00

She stumbled into the kitchen and flipped on the light switch. Her sensitive blue eyes squinted hard as the light overwhelmed them. With one eye open, she scooted across the cold tile floor to her "finish line"- the coffee maker. She robotically measured out enough coffee for an extra large cup of the caffeine-infused stuff. She pressed the "on" button and walked back to her room hugging herself to keep warm. With her feet officially freezing, she jumped back into bed to toast while the coffee made it's gurgling and sputtering sounds- sounds that equalled her other eye opening up for the rest of the day.

Not wanting to leave the warmth of her bed, she delayed her coffee-retrieval until she was desperate- about a half an hour later. She dug out her favorite cup from the dishwasher of clean dishes. She poured the piping hot brew, then added sugar and creamer. She took a sip to taste it.

She returned to her cozy bed to imbibe her coffee and work on emails. Before she knew it, it was time to get the kids up.

She tossed her laptop off her lap, slid out of her bed and put on her hot pink, velour sweatpants. She took a final sip of her now lukewarm coffee- a last ditch effort to perk up her sluggish disposition.
She clunked up the two flights of stairs like a grizzly bear who had just awoken from a long winter's nap. Why am I so tired today? she wondered, but because of her lethargic mind, her thought disapated.

She cracked open the door to her daughter's room and was greeted by her chirpy, little voice. "Happy Tuesday, Mommy!" Her little Boo said the same thing everyday. She had a 1 in 7 chance of getting it right. Today just happened to be Tuesday. She yawned back, "Happy Tuesday, baby." She kissed her little, independent lady on her warm, sheet-wrinkled face.

She walked over to door number two, all the while trying to adjust her hot pink, I've-completely-given-up pants, because they felt strange and tight in the crotchal region. She never bothered to look at them, because it required too much thought and energy to gaze downward.

She was greeted at door number two, by her bouncing, oldest son, who had just peeled off his p.j.'s and was running around in his diaper with his feet still in the footie part of the footie pajamas. He ran towards her with his arms open-wide. He hugged her legs, without answering why he was half-naked. She hugged him back, while kissing the black curls on top of his head.

At door number three, she was greeted by her happily squealing, one year old. Her youngest always hugged her, while pressing his protruding teeth into her shoulder. She loved the way it felt. It was his special little hug. His diaper was soaked and he smelled like urine. Off to the tub with his siblings.

With the children bathed and fresh, they caravaned down the stairs for breakfast. The two oldest let the elderly, family dog outside while tossing treats out of his line of sight. Then they throned themselves on their booster seats to wait for one of two choices: cereal or oatmeal.

She asked them to wait patiently while she ran to the bathroom. Her coffee was now in her bladder. She sat down on the toilet. While she waited, her eyes met with her pants. Staring up at her was the back pocket of her hot pink lounge wear. That's why the crotch on my pants felt so weird! She felt a giggle bubbling up inside of her. It rushed to and out her mouth as she thought about how funny it was. She mused at the fact that she was no different from her children, who occasionally got shoes on the wrong feet, underwear on backwards or t-shirt inside out. She sat on the toilet for 30 seconds simply to laugh. It became so funny to her and why? She had no idea. It certainly wasn't THAT funny, but she continued to laugh anyways feeling as though she must need it- some sort of strange cleansing.

As her laughter died down and the impatient squawkings of her hungry children arose, it dawned on her that she drank two glasses of wine the night before, which was very uncustomary for her. Mainly for the reason that it always made her groggy the next day, hence her backwards pants. Mothering in a cloud was not her idea of fun. With the coffee finally kicking in and bladder empty, she exited the bathroom with a big smile on her face and her pants facing the right direction.

Okay, so the above was based on actual events and this wine.

I'm not going to call this a wine review ('cause it's not), but more like a wine deal alert. This Three Wishes Chardonnay is very inexpensive and pretty darn tasty. At our Whole Foods Market, it's selling for $2.99 a bottle and $33 for a case! If you're doing some big holiday entertaining, this is the way to go. I think your guests would enjoy it and it would pair nicely with just about anything. I mean at that price, who really cares? It also works well for parents who are on a budget but still like to get tipsy on a decent wine, ehmm.

Love ya, Foodies.

Everything's Lame But The Tart

2010-11-25T19:50:00.001-06:00

I had a total lame-o mommy day, today (this was actually yesterday). Some mornings you wake up and just don't feel like being a mom. You want a vacation, a break, a massage...a margarita.

That wasn't happening, so I schlepped the kids to Target, our go-to place for fun and excitement! See told ya, I was lame.

Normally, I attack a Target shopping errand like Lara Croft would attack a mission to retrieve a highly-prized, ridiculously expensive artifact from some ancient Chinese culture- quick, with strategy and armed...with snacks. Today? Well, I didn't really bother. Not with the diaper bag or even a smidge of make-up. Sports bra? check. Frumpy tank top? (yes, we are still wearing tank tops here in jungle steamy Houston) Check. Helping to support the stay-at-home-don't-give-a-crap mom stereo-type? Check. Hmmm...The Real Housewives ain't got nothin' on me. Okay, maybe I do need a wig and a glass of chardonnay with a couple ice cubes in it.

Back to the actual story and then, yes, THEN a recipe. I've yet to figure out how I'm going to segway into that.

It was just one of those days where I didn't care if we walked around Target for hours. Normally, I can get in and out in 20 minutes, with 3 kids. I mean, that's pretty good. Well, that's if they hang on the sides of the cart, which I normally make them do, so I can go faster. Lara Croft would totally approve of fast and unsafe strategies.

I let the kids get ONE stupid, made-in-china, possibly-lethal-paint-coated-toy each. Normally, I whiz right by. If you act like your in a big, serious hurry, you can usually get by that crap-toy trap without a peep. Not today. Because I was in slow-mo and didn't give a flyin' fig, I let them dive-in, head first.

For some reason, ONE toy is a very difficult concept for three year-olds to understand. They must have thought I said, "One ARMFUL each."

Then we get to the Christmas aisle. Oh Lord. I get giddy and have to touch everything just like they do. That led us to the Christmas music CD display with the touch pad where you can sample the CDs before you buy them. Like I said before, if this was a mission-kind-of-day, I would speed by without even a thought of "sampling", but today I parked the cart right in front of it and let the kids push the buttons into oblivion.

I was not surprised that the Mickey Mouse Christmas Special Extravaganza Musical Music Blowout Disney Supercalifragilistic Best of the Season Special Album got the most attention and I was equally not surprised that I wanted to bash my head into the shopping cart handle to find relief from Mickey's incredibly annoying, someone's-squeezing-his-nether-regional-area voice.

The children? Well, they were in "mousie" heaven. Boo was galloping around in circles claiming Goofy was singing a "cowboy" song, while Bubba acted as operational engineer of this button-pushing carousel of holiday hell.

I guess, it really wasn't that bad. I was actually enjoying every minute of it. I loved that Boo thought "Jingle Bells" was a country song and Tiny was clapping randomly and squealing as he watched his sister do her awkward dance. We stood there for a good 10 minutes, wearing down that display and most likely scaring away anyone who was mildly interested in a Crooner's Christmas with 'Ol Blue Eyes.

I am really thankful for my kids. I'm really thankful I am a mom. I'm so thankful for those silly moments that I can take and tuck away into my heart. I guess it wasn't so lame afterall, more like pretty much perfect- except for the fact that I still looked like the poster-child for Help A Fashion-Challenged Mom Foundation.

Alright. Are you ready for a recipe? If you're not, I'm going to start talking about poop diapers...

Okay.

This recipe was going to be for the Challenge 8 of PFB. It turned out really well. I've never made any kind of tart tatin before. I took Rachel Allen's recipe for Apple Tart Tatin and substituted fresh pumpkin for the apple, came up with a brown butter rum ice cream on the fly and topped it all off with salty, crunchy pumpkin seeds. It totally satisfied my love of salty-sweet.

So with summer garb and non-autumnal weather outside, I was trying to usher the chilly air with this little number. I hope you enjoy.

Git yer pumpkin. (don't ask.)

Slice off the top...

take off its jacket.

scoop out the seeds and reserve.

rinse and dry really well.

cut pumpkin into slices

I used a cookie cutter for the centerpiece.

practice your slices in the pan to make sure they fit.

my addition: spices. Nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and ginger.

Toss with your pumpkin pieces.

until they are well coated.

roll out and cut pie crust to size. (if in a pinch you could use a pre-made pie crust pastry)

make your caramel...so fun and kinda scary.

cook your pumpkin in the caramel and top with crust.

bake until golden and pumpkin tender.

gaze at its beauty...

take your toasted pumpkin seeds

(and shove it...just kidding. Any time I hear some one say, "Take your..." I want to say, "and shove it.")

and top your slice of pumpkin tart tatin, along with some brown butter rum ice cream.

really difficult part...eating.

Pumpkin Tart Tatin

adapted from Rachel Allen's Apple Tart Tatin Recipe

I'm going to leave the recipe as is, in case you want to make it with apples and I will put my changes in bold.

200 g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour, sifted

1 pinches salt

100 g (7 tbsp.) butter, chilled and cubed

2 tbsp soured cream, or crème fraîche

For the filling

Approx. 3/4 of a small pumpkin, peeled and cut into slices or 4 eating apples, GrannySmith or Golden Delicious; if using a small variety, such as Cox’s Orange Pippin, you will need about 6 apples

1/2 tsp. EACH cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove ( if you like you can add these spices to a apple tart too)

125 g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar

100 ml (scant 1/2 cup) water

25 g (2 tbsp.) butter

1 egg, beaten

Method

1. For the sour cream shortcrust pastry: place the flour, salt and butter in a food processor and whiz briefly. Add half the sour cream and continue to whiz. You might add a little more sour cream, but not too much as the mixture should be just moist enough to come together. If making by hand, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs then, using your hands, add just enough sour cream to bring it together.

2. With your hands, flatten out the ball of dough until it is about 2cm thick, then wrap in cling film or place in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or, if you are pushed for time, in the freezer for 10–15 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (400 degrees F)

4. For the filling: prepare the apples, by peeling them with a peeler to keep them in a nice rounded shape, then cut into quarters. Remove the core from each quarter and set aside. Don’t worry if they go brown, and don’t cover in water or they will be too wet. (Toss pumpkin pieces in spices)

5. Place the sugar and water in a medium-sized ovenproof saucepan set over a low–medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.

(follow the recipe as is, substituting pumpkin for apple)

6. Increase the heat and boil the syrup until it starts to caramelise around the edges – about 5 minutes. Do not stir once it has come to the boil otherwise the syrup will crystallise. Once the syrup starts to turn golden, you may need to swirl the pan slightly to even out the caramelisation.

7. Once the syrup is a golden caramel in colour, add the butter and swirl the pan again to distribute it through the caramel.

8. Remove the pan from the heat, and place the apple quarters in a concentric circle around the outside and any remaining pieces in the centre, keeping in mind that the tart will be flipped over when serving. The apples must completely cover the base of the pan; you may need an extra apple!

9. Place the pan back over a medium heat and cook for 10 minutes to slightly caramelise the apples, while you roll out the pastry.

10. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured work surface to a disc about 2cm wider in diameter than the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and place the pastry on top of the almost cooked apples. Using the base of a spoon or a fork, tuck the pastry in around the edges of the apples. Brush the pastry with beaten egg then, using a skewer or fork, prick a few holes in the pastry.

11. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the apples feel cooked when you insert a skewer through the centre.

12. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for just a few minutes before placing a plate on top of the pan and carefully (it is hot!) but quickly flipping it out. Use a plate with a slight lip to catch the delicious juices. Cut into slices to serve. Serve with ice cream and pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from one pumpkin

salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse and dry pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Spread evenly on baking sheet and bake until fragrant and crunchy, about 20 minutes. Just try and stop yourself from eating all of them before the tart is finished.

Brown Butter Rum Ice Cream

2 tbsp. butter

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. dark rum

In a heavy pan melt butter and let it get golden brown and fragrant. Add milk and cream. Let it come to simmer. Meanwhile beat eggs and sugar with a fork, until creamy and lighter in color. Add a bit of the hot milk to the eggs to temper them. Then add the egg mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the milk. Stir over med-low heat until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

Add vanilla and rum off heat. chill in fridge until cold or in an ice bath. Follow your ice cream makers instructions.

Happy Thanksgiving, Foodies!

P.s. Thank you for all your really, really sweet comments on my "Dumped" post. I cannot tell you how warm and fuzzy it makes me. I'm super thankful for you, my readers.

Dumped..PFB Style

2010-11-22T14:54:00.001-06:00

I was flushed, chopped, aced, sacked, dumped, let go- however you like to say it, along with a few other fabulous bloggers in Project Food Blog 2010, Challenge #7. I've had some time to lick my wounds and there's three response options I have to choose from: one, be mad and bitter; two, take it on the chin with a smile or three, make myself a chocolate milkshake and cry in it. I did the last one. And it tasted good.

The challenges themselves were one of my favorite things of the entire contest. Normally I would tell you that I love being able to blog about whatever I want, whenever I want, BUT having perimeters put on how and when you blog creates a pressure cooker of creative madness. I love those boundaries because it gets the juices flowing and makes me uncomfortable, thus, building my confidence as I try new things- even if those things don't always turn out perfect.

Along with the personal challenges and creative bursts I loved gaining new readers and in turn, finding so many new blogs to visit! I was overwhelmed by the creativity and skills of all the contestants and greatly touched by the comments and well-wishes from so many readers. If anything, this contest gave my still-infant blog a great boost.

I learned that I can make a petit four with much perseverance; work the eighties hair while eating out of my Project Food Blog cooler; make a sandwich into a pizza with a romantic narrative garnish; I could cook things I never imagined- i.e. liver- and learn what I thought I already knew...I don't like it; have one of the best birthdays ever and record it in a post; and finally, put my real-life chocolate emergency into a video with bad British accents and a schmear of chocolate on my face.

Thank you for all your love and support. Couldn't have done it without you.

Love ya, Foodies!

Today...

2010-11-17T09:04:00.002-06:00

Today (which was really yesterday)...

~ I realized my wonky, hand-crafted, crotchet key cozy is not going to work, despite my craftsmanship.

~I finally, inwardly, agreed with my husband that it's embarrassing and stupid-looking. It looks like a granny square ate my car key.

~I also remembered that it was the same husband that bought a clunky, dumpy mini-van with a ONE car key which happened to be BROKEN, as in, no way to attach it to a keyring. I'm going to make him wear the discarded key holder as an ear warmer.

~Because of my haphazard-ish house-keeping, I discovered that if my bra rests on top of my computer charger, it will warm it up for me before I put it on. I think I should call Sky Mall.

~I could not stop laughing at my daughter's comedic timing that is emerging from her three-year old mouth. She now makes a funny statement, pauses and then says, "wah-wah". (have no idea where she got that.) So, it went a little something like this: "The Pillow-Pet farted!" (blaming someone's flatulence on her bumble bee plush) Pause. "Wah-wah!" I, of course, bust out laughing, which further encourages it. Yes, I let my kids say, "fart".

~My hairdryer died. I knew something was up when it sounded like a 747 warming up and smelled like burnt hair.

~I've decided to indulge in reading my new Food and Wine magazine, while Gordon Ramsey bleeps his way through an hour of Kitchen Nightmares. Told ya. BBC America, baby. I don't know why I love Gordon so.

Actually, naptime is running out. I've spent most my time doing this post. Tomorrow will have to be Food and Wine time.

Hope you enjoyed this pointless and possibly TMI post. Sorry about the pictures being lame.

Love ya, Foodies.

Um...So I thought I would end it right here, but I was just greeted with the most amusing thing. Amusing in the sense, that I do not understand how a 16 month-old can be so in-tune with removing articles of clothing.

I heard my youngest up in his room crying. I thought maybe it was a lost paci or teething issues. No. Buck-naked with strewn poop diaper and random, rolling turds under his bare feet and on the floor. Only one snap was undone on his sleeper. Just one! And he was able to squirm out of it and pee all over the bed. Half-giggling and half crying, he bobs up and down in his crib with his pale-white adorable bum. I just laughed and laughed as I picked up the poop and wiped off the heels of his feet, back of his knees and under his finger nails. This may sound weird, but these are the days I wish he would never grow up. He's so damn adorable...poop and all.

Apologies that this was more a "mommy" post than a "foodie" post. Poop is so much apart of my daily life and I find it so hilarious that I must share. I guess it would be no surprise to you that Dumb and Dumber is one of my all-time favorite movies...yes, that scene.

Morning Brick

2010-11-15T08:56:00.000-06:00

I don't know about you, but when I hear "Morning Brick" I think of something...get ready for it, I'm going to be unpleasant...something you "drop" in your toilet after your a.m. coffee, but this is the contrary, it's something you eat. Hmmm. This isn't coming across quite the way I planned, but I'm half-awake and have to finish this post before the kids get up, so no time for editing. This is unrated, folks. Alright, that was about it. Actually, nothing too exciting. You can tell I'm a mom. I will say, I do tend to have the humor of an 8 year-old boy at times.

So! What's a Morning Brick, other than what I've described above? (and if this is your first time visiting this blog, please, please don't think I start all my posts this way.) It's my version of protein bar, or Clif bar or energy bar or some sort of protein/carby health bar that will get you going in the morning (oh my gosh, not another pun. Okay, didn't mean that.)

It all started when I was getting tired of being shaky in the morning after drinking my coffee on an empty stomach. I noticed that if I ate a protein bar first, I would not feel bad. So I started buying Clif bars every week. When on sale, they are a dollar a piece, when they are not, it's more like $1.50. Take that times 7 and your looking at quite a hefty price for just some nuts, fruits and oatmeal, which is only 30% organic. GASP! I then became determined to make my own out of what I had in the pantry. Mine end up being, oh I don't know, maybe 60-70% organic. Better and cheaper.

Since I love chocolate and peanut butter, I grabbed those (not chocolate chips- cocoa powder and unsweetened peanut butter) and some old-fashioned oats. Started adding agave for the sweetener, flax seed just 'cuz, and started mixing. First batch was too cocoa-y. It was like chalk. But the second time it was better. Six tries later, I think I actually have good base, for which many other flavors could start.

Morning Brick- A Foodie House Original

Makes 6-8 hefty bars depending on what pan you use to form them

No BAKE!

2 c. organic, old fashioned oats

1/2 c. organic peanut butter, unsweetened

1 tsp. organic vanilla

1/4 c. cocoa

1/3 c. organic agave nectar

2/3 c. your favorite protein powder (I use whey)

2 tbsp. flax seed meal

1/4 c. hot water, plus a tbsp. more (but reserve for the end)

Mix together peanut butter, vanilla, cocoa, agave, protein, flax seed meal, 1/4 c. hot water. A nice paste will form. Add oats and mix really well. It will be dry and crumbly (you can do this in your mixer if you want). You want it to be in big crumbles, not tiny uber dry ones. If it's too dry add that tbsp of water. If it gets too wet it will be hard to form but still taste good.

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Put mixture in and using parchment flaps, press mixture down into pan. Take a second loaf pan and press down on top of the mixture to make a solid "brick". Let it firm up in frig for at least an hour (or overnight) before cutting with a very sharp knife.

Oh, guess what? Voting starts today! So, if you liked my Emergency Cake Video for the Project Food Blog contest...

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Thank you so much for your support!
Love ya, Foodies!

PFB Challenge #7: Emergency Cake Video

2010-11-13T07:05:00.002-06:00

It was an emergency...where I just happened to be wearing false eyelashes.

VOTE HERE!

With each challenge we get stretched in a new way...and I am loving it! This challenge #7 for Project Food Blog: Video 411, tapped into my long-time desire to have my own cooking show. Since I was a little girl, I've practiced having a cooking show in the kitchen with my mom. Together we came up with skits and characters to show off our cooking chops, all done with tons of laughter and plenty of good memories.

My heart is to show you that cooking always has a story behind it. I love bringing that story to life in a fun, dare I say, campy manner, but not without plenty of how-to information and accessible, drool-worthy recipes.

Every bit of this video was done by me and me alone. Seeing how naptime (once again) is my only time to do blog stuff, it was me, the camera, my imagination and some editing software. If I waited for the Hubs to come home to film for me, it would be too late in the evening, resulting in bad lighting, too much giggling and not enough baking.

The original post for Emergency Cake was done out of a real-life chocolate craving emergency. Nothing would satisfy my craving except for a freshly-baked, dark chocolate-drenched, slightly warm, slice of the moistest, richest, easiest cake ever. Go from mixing to your mouth in just over an hour- well, that's faster than most chocolate cake-toting ambulances.

As I went around and around with ideas for this challenge, what I continued to come back to is one, BE MYSELF and two, make a recipe I dearly love. So that's what I did.

Enjoy the show.

Emergency Cake

(click HERE to see the original post)

adapted from Divvies Chocolate cupcake recipe

Oven: 350 degrees

Makes 6 servings

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 cake pan with parchment and spray with pan release; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or just use a whisk, works just fine), mix together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water until well combined. Add flour mixture to the mixer and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Batter should look and feel more watery than normal cake batters.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Transfer to oven and bake for 35-37 minutes. Cake is done when the center bounces back when gently pressed.

Let cool 10 minutes in pan then invert to serving plate or wire rack to cool completely...but if it's an emergency, you can eat it warm. Nothing wrong with that, especially if you are pouring warm ganache over the top.

(Honestly, who uses a fork in an emergency?)

To cut it into 6 snack-size pieces, simply cut the cake into thirds then in half. Pour ganache over each slice individually. Serve or cram.

Ganache

1 cup heavy cream, brought just to a boil

1 cup good quality chocolate of you choice (I prefer 60% cacao)

Pour chocolate into hot cream. Whisk until well combined and glossy. Use immediately or let it stand for 15 minutes for a thicker topping. Pour over cake, one slice at a time or over entire cake- your choice.

Thank you so much, Foodies for taking time to watch my video! Voting for this post will begin on Monday the 15th. I will send out a reminder post for you!

I appreciate your support through this entire contest. Your kind words and comments have kept me going and enjoying it all the more. You've gotten me to this challenge, let's continue on to Challenge #8! I've got something delish for you that is pumpkin-licious!

Love ya, Foodies!!

Did You Know? Fun and Free.

2010-11-06T21:06:00.003-05:00

So several weeks ago, I got an okay from Williams Sonoma to take photographs during one of their technique classes that they do on the weekends. I wanted to share this with you because it's fun and free, with a dash of product information, of course.

The Williams Sonoma store here in Sugar Land, Texas, is such a friendly place. The staff is extremely knowledgeable and super helpful. I want to give a special "shout-out" to Maria, who did the actual demonstration- Thank you, Maria!

I tend to get hung up either in the gadget section (either wondering who really needs a strawberry slicer or greatly coveting an expensive, hand-carved wooden spoon to stir my marinara sauce) or at the knife wall. I love knives.

So back to the classes, did you know they had these? I've been on their mailing list for some time now and recently realized that these were free and involved getting to taste food too. Not too bad. Many of you may be saying, "Where's she been? I've know about this for years." If that's the case, please remember, mommies sometimes get very out of the loop, regardless of their foodieness.

I had such a blast taking photos. I felt like a pro...or something.

We all drooled as Maria, the most passionate baker I have ever met, talked to us about apple varieties, showed us different techniques for slicing and chopping. She showcased gadgets and got us all "oohing" and "ahhing".

I believe the class is to be approximately an hour long. This class went on to be and hour and half. Normally, I would not mind, but the Hubs was trying to keep the 3 tots happy with a bag of graham crackers that just ran out. Needless to say, they were getting antsy. He had already walked them all over the outdoor mall twice, but I wanted to stay long enough to thank Maria, so we waited. The kids kept running up to me and yanking on my leg. I promised them treats that she was making if they were quiet. They did really well.

The peeps snacking on the goods...see the Hubs in the background (far background) trying to look interested in something? Such a good guy.

Maria made fabulous cakes and a beautiful pie: an apple coffee cake with glaze, pecan muffins, pumpkin pie and that gorgeous molded cake...so pretty.

That was the cake mix she used for the coffee cake...delish.

Isn't this mixer gorgeous? It's a Breville. I didn't bother to look at the price tag, but it did have a timer and a paddle attachment that had mini rubber spatula type thingys on the side to scrape the bowl down as it works. Love that.

This is the apple coffee cake in their "gold" pans. I would love to have a set of those.

Delightful little pecan muffins.

This was the coffee cake made in the speciality pan.

Glaze for the coffee cake, but let's be honest, I was really focusing on that copper pot.

She did not make the pumpkin pie in front of us...

but she did show us how to use those adorable leaf-shaped cutters for the crust. Another favorite thing...

Tasty trio.

I simply wanted to share this because it is a lot of fun, you get to sample the treats, and they have classes on all sorts of things...not just baking. Here's the LINK to check out the schedule. They ask that you call to get your name on the list so they know how many to expect, but other than that, just show up!

So if you spend all your Christmas money at Williams Sonoma like I do, they you may want to check this out and get your foodie on.

P.S. There has been a lot of interest in when the videos will be up for the next challenge of Project Food Blog. I got an email last night saying they are extending it another week, something about issues with copyrighted music. Anyways, you'll have to wait one more week...wish it weren't so. I'm ready to get on with this! But until then I will try to keep you happy with other tidbits.

Love Ya, Foodies!

Mama Needs Some Comfort

2010-11-04T07:27:00.000-05:00

Challenges tend to be challenging...right? This last week's preparations for Challenge #7 for Project Food Blog have left me a bit frustrated. I completed one video last week, then found out we had an extra week to prepare, so I decided to do something different...which lead to more time to think, which in turn, led to more ideas and another video. In that time, I lost two days of filming (well, two naptimes worth) to a "corrupt" disc. I don't know how that happened. I had my 15 minutes of pouting and got back to work. I'm really hoping you like what I've done. It's one part campy ridiculousness and one part informative recipe demonstration (kinda like the blog), which hopefully will equal your enjoyment.

I found myself furiously chopping zucchini innards, for the recipe I'm about to share with you, and realized how stressed I was. What I needed was a really comforting, cozy meal to get me back on track. So I give you these adorable stuffed zucchinis, which are a marriage of Italian and Lebanese flavors, baked to tender perfection and served piping hot. Oh! Did I mention that we actually had some cool weather to serve these with? Yes, a chilly 55 degrees outside. Finally! Some appropriate seasonal weather- cannot stress to you how happy it makes me.

Stuffed Zucchinis

6 servings

Oven 400 degrees

1 lb. ground beef

1 tsp. allspice

pinch ground clove

salt and pepper

2/3 cup favorite marinara sauce

2-3 slices provolone cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

6 small round zucchinis

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degree. Brown the meat with the spices, salt and pepper. Add the marinara sauce and let simmer. Meanwhile, cut the tops off of your adorable zucchinis. Scoop out the insides and chop up approx. half of them and add it to the meat mixture. Let this simmer for another 5 minutes.

Inside of the hollowed out zucchinis, place a good amount of provolone cheese (as much as you like) and then fill to the brim with the meat mixture. Top each one with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese. Place in a deep baking dish with an inch of water. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until zucchinis are tender but not mushy. Serve with a salad and crusty bread.

Love Ya, Foodies!

P.S. I should be posting my video on Saturday. I'm excited to share it with you!

Pirate Booty

2010-11-02T07:14:00.001-05:00

Ahoy me hearties! These here pirate booties are the cutest around!

We didn't do much for Halloween this year. I threw some costumes together at the last minute. Being a pirate is cheap, easy and adorable. Put a wife-beater shirt with some old jeans that you have shredded around the bottom, slap on a bandana and a kohl-liner moustache...TAH-DAH!

Isn't she lovely? I think she may need a smidge more ribbon.

Being a Princess/Ballerina is easy too. Tu-tu with some make-up and a bow. Word to the wise: Avoid applying make-up (especially eyeshadow of the purpley-black persuasion) while holding a squirming, screaming, irritated 15 month old. It makes for uneven application and a subsequent black-eye look on your princess. Ugh. Sorry, Boo.

Always look tough when you are pirate, even if your a big softie. (He's my little marshmallow)

Can you guess how many takes it took to get this okay photo? Try fifteen. Tiny was determined to scream the whole time. I don't know what was going on with him, but he was a pirate mess. I was directing Bubba and Boo to run and stand next to Tiny wherever he stopped in the yard. So when he actually stopped moving, I would start yelling, "Go! Go! Go! Stand next to him! Hurry!" And then I would furiously snap away. This was the only pic that had all three looking at the camera. It was pretty hysterical.

Pirates don't steal lawnmowers! (He does look a little confused.)

I hope you all had a great weekend. I am working on my video for Challenge #7. (that's why there is no recipe in this post, just shameless plugging of my overly-cute kids.) Think theatrical and indulgent. It will be up this weekend. They gave us an extra week to make our videos!

Hopefully I get another post in before that...

Love ya, Foodies!

A Spicy Little Number

2010-10-28T14:09:00.002-05:00

The Hubs LOVES hot peppers. He puts them on everything. When his last jar of hot peppers ran out, he quickly started gathering more peppers from the garden and dropping hints about how much his pizza, meatballs or bowl of cheerios (kidding) needed some spice.

I donned the latex gloves and started chopping and chopping and chopping. Oh, my god! Could he have picked more peppers? Is there nothing left but stems out in the garden now? Will my eyeballs still be in my head after I finish this pot of peppers? Or will they be dissolved by the fumes?

I survived. But I will say, this was the hottest, frickin' batch of peppers I have ever made! What kind of peppers did she use, you say? Well, jalapeno, Anaheim, Hungarian Wax and some mini hell-peppers (yes, long lost cousins of the tiny hell-cakes.) I don't know what the red ones are called, but they grow in my garden and are unbelievably hot.

Use whatever peppers you like:

Pickled Hot Peppers

Keeps for weeks in the fridge. Will keep spice-hungry husbands happy for the same amount of time.

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp. salt

1 tsp. cracked pepper

1 cup cool water

2 cloves garlic, smashed but whole

2-3 cups sliced peppers

In microwave, cook vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in glass bowl for 2 minutes. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Pour over garlic and peppers. Add water and stir. Pour into glass jar (I used a washed applesauce jar) and store in fridge.

Have fun burning your face off. If you don't do that, you can always do some voting for Work It, Girl!...HERE.

Love ya, Foodies!

P.s. Can I tell you, once again, how much I love each and everyone of you? Can I tell you how much your support and votes mean? Your comments have been a joy to read and have touched my heart. Thank you, again and again and again!

Totally Rad Voting

2010-10-25T10:35:00.001-05:00

After the whirlwind of blog post construction, I sat down with my kids and we did some pumpkin painting. I figure this form of pumpkin decoration is safer for the tiny tots and possibly mommy too. (I'm notorious for cutting and burning myself in the kitchen) So we broke out the washable paints, that smell really weird. It's like rose-scented bathroom spray. So gross.

Initially I had just the two older kids do the painting, fearing Tiny would indulge in some paint-inspired amuse bouche before dinner, but it was killing me that he was not included in the festivities. So I armed him with two Q-tips dipped in a tiny dose of paint. He did great!- no snacking.

Bubba and Boo, dressed in their over-sized t-shirts, got to work choosing colors and creating pumpkin works of art. Boo was more interested in feeling the "squishy-squishy" paint and Bubba was focused on his craft...or "craps". Even mommy got into the painting and did a strange tribal-esque pumpkin.

I hope you all are enjoying the 80's inspired Road Trip entry for PFB Challenge #6, Work It, Girl!. If you thought it was totally rad, then you can click the link below to vote!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has voted! Your kind words and encouraging comments have meant so much to me!

Love Ya, Foodies!

PFB Challenge #6: Work It, Girl!

2010-10-24T11:20:00.007-05:00

From stay-at-home mommy to...*poof!* overly-excited-80's-styled-PFB-cooler-carrying-career-woman!

First question, where did my eyebrows go in that "mommy" picture? Dumb questions aside, are you ready to go back in time with me? How about the 1980’s? Ready to ride the wild culinary ride of a Foodie House reinvention? Think above and beyond a chef salad with French dressing served alongside a Tab with a straw. Think era appropriate fine dining, shook up, re-configured and formulated into a fabulous (and possibly “rad”) lunch, fit for any corner office with a view. Think Beef Wellington, raspberry vinaigrette, white chocolate and a fruity spritzer. Make you cringe? It should. But I’m going to change your mind with this menu fit for any lunch, 1980’s or not.

The lunch...

...in the bag.

Challenge #6 for Project Food Blog is entitled Road Trip. The guidelines were to create a meal consisting of an entrée, side, dessert and drink that all has to fit into the cooler that they provided. Things like plates and cups did not have to fit- phew.

(Shhh. I found the plates and cool drink bottle for 98 cents each at Target and the napkin is a bandana I got at the craft store for $1.98. The piece of hot pink ribbon was free- just found it laying around the house.)

I’ve been wanting to do a throw-back type post for a while, but nothing seemed to fit the bill until now. What could be more fun than reinventing some classic dishes and flavors, transforming myself into a stylish career woman and making it all (well, the food anyway) portable? It wasn’t until I got knee-deep in preparation for this post that I realized how much work this was going to be. I was in desperate need of a pep talk. So I popped in Working Girl and got myself re-focused. (Que Carly Simon's Let The River Run and goosebumps)

One of my Top Five Fav 80's movies!

Menu

Beef Wellington Sandwich - Seared Filet of Beef, Duxelles Mayonnaise, Roasted Sweet Pepper and Alfalfa Sprouts on a Croissant

Asparagus Salad with Fresh Raspberry Vinaigrette Topped with Feta Cheese and Crumbled Bacon

Day Glo Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Cream and Neon Buttercream Frosting

Pom Spritzer with Fresh Mint

Delicate.

I’ve always been intrigued by Beef Wellington. I mean, it’s mysterious. Beef wrapped up in flaky pastry? No wonder it was so popular. Translating the flavors of a traditional Beef Wellington into a sandwich, had to have three main factors: the beef, which is the tender, low-in-fat filet, a flavorful paste that goes on the outside of the beef (some made with liver and others with mushrooms- I prefer the mushroom version) and the flaky pastry. So I used the same cut of beef, seared it to a medium-rare temperature, made a duxelles (mushroom paste) and mixed it with mayonnaise for a flavorful spread on the sandwich and a croissant to play the roll of flaky pastry. From there, I added a couple of my personal favorite sandwich toppings: roasted sweet pepper and alfalfa sprouts.

Beef Wellington Sandwich

3-4 oz. seared filet of beef, thinly sliced

2-3 pieces of roasted red, yellow or orange sweet bell pepper

2 tbsp. duxelles mayo (recipe below)

1 handful of alfalfa sprouts

1 croissant

Assemble sandwich to your liking, but I put mayo on both sides of the croissant, meat, pepper then alfalfa sprouts. Wrap in parchment to keep the sandwich from falling apart. Fit into a small cake box.

Duxelles Mayo

Duxelles is loosely adapted from Tyler Florence's Ultimate Beef Wellington Recipe

8 oz. cremini mushrooms (or whatever you like)

1 shallot

1 clove garlic

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, using leaves only

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. mayo

salt and pepper

In a food processor, place all ingredients, except for butter, mayo and olive oil. Blend until the ingredients are almost to a paste consistency. In a pan over med-low heat, add butter and olive oil. Add mushroom mixture. Cook until all the water has evaporated and the mushrooms are brown and fragrant, about 10-15 min. Cool and then mix with mayo. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill.

Salad consumption is a blast!

Okay, we have to have a salad to go with this sandwich. Giant salads, as well as their partner in crime- raspberry vinaigrette, were plastered on every good restaurant's menu across America in the Eighties. For the Asparagus Salad, I wanted to do a couple of things: make a fresher version of raspberry vinaigrette, not use iceberg lettuce and switch out blue cheese from the Cobb salad with feta cheese and keep the bacon. As I read up on recipes for the raspberry vinaigrette, I couldn’t find one that used fresh raspberries- all of them called for raspberry infused vinegar. So I came up with my own version, which turned out pulpy and a vibrant red. Delicious!

Fresh Raspberry Vinaigrette

1 handful fresh raspberries

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

5 tbsp. olive oil

salt and pepper

Mash raspberries with fork. Add the rest of the ingredients. Whisk together. Stir before dressing salad.

Asparagus Salad

1 lb. fresh asparagus, blanched, chilled and cut into 1" pieces

1/4 c. feta cheese

1-2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

4-5 tbsp. Fresh raspberry vinaigrette

salt and pepper

Mix asparagus with dressing and salt and pepper to taste. Top with feta and bacon. Toss before serving.

While some keep Jack in their desk, others keep cake.

Do you remember how many “Death by Chocolate” type cakes there were in the Eighties? Do you remember how white chocolate snuck into every known dessert and covered every Christmas-time treat in it’s waxy, faux-vanilla flavored coating? I remember ice cream shops and frozen yogurt places all having some form of white chocolate mousse flavor or white chocolate macadamia nut combo on their list of treats.

It's obvious that the cake is horrible.

I personally really dislike white chocolate. It’s too sweet for my taste, but for this challenge, I put it in a context that my palate would receive it willingly. I made dark chocolate the star and white chocolate the supporting actor. I used one of my favorite recipes for chocolate cake, sliced the cake in half, filled it with a white chocolate pastry cream and topped it with neon buttercream frosting for a special Eighties flair. I must say, I was surprised by how yummy the white chocolate pastry cream turned out. Let’s just say, that that bowl was pretty clean by the time I took the spatula to it.

The frosting? Well, what would any Eighties inspired dessert be without something neon? It's a nostalgic reminder of every windbreaker, t-shirt, scrunchie and pair of jelly shoes I ever owned. It's Eighties fashion in a pastry bag.

Day Glo Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Cream

For the chocolate cake:

Divvies Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

I've adapted it to work as a cake

Oven: 350 degrees

makes 1 8x8 cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8 pan with parchment and spray with pan release; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water until well combined. Add flour mixture to the mixer and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Batter should look and feel more watery than normal cake batters.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Transfer to oven and bake, rotating pan halfway through cooking, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 37-39 minutes.

Let cake cook 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

White Chocolate Pastry Cream

an Allrecipes.com recipe

6 egg yolks

5 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 cups milk

1 vanilla bean, halved

2 tablespoons butter

3 ounces white chocolate

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow. Whisk in corn starch. Set aside.

In a stainless steel saucepan, bring milk and vanilla bean to a boil, remove from heat and remove vanilla bean. Stir a small amount of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. Return milk to heat and while constantly stirring with a wooden spoon, slowly add the egg mixture to milk. Mixture will thicken.

Allow to just come to a boil, remove from heat and stir in butter. Put mixture through a sieve into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap (this keeps mixture from forming a skin over top). Cool slightly.

Stir in melted white chocolate, cover and refrigerate until ready to assemble cake.

Day Glo Frosting

this is a halved buttercream recipe from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add milk until frosting reaches desired consistency.

Divide the frosting into as many colors as you want to make. Add your food coloring. McCormick brand makes neon food coloring. That's what I used. The pink and green. 7-10 drops of each. Just play around and make what you like.

And finally, the spritzer. Basically, I'm thinking a non-alcoholic, better version of the wildly popular Bartle and James wine coolers. Now, if this was not a workplace meal, we would just go ahead and make it a real wine spritzer, but in keeping with company policy, no alcohol permitted.

She's far away from the office...

Pom Wonderful had sent me a case of their pomegranate juice, which I happily received. This was the perfect time to make a sassy little drink out of it. The club soda offered the “spritzer” element while the fresh orange juice and shredded mint mingled deliciously with the tart and tangy pomegranate juice. Top everything off with an umbrella, and you’ve got yourself a refreshing and borderline cheesy drink. We are, afterall, talkin’ about the Eighties.

Pom Spritzer

8oz. Pom Wonderful

8 oz. club soda

juice of half an orange

5-6 fresh mint leaves, torn

umbrella and orange slice for garnish

loopy-loop straw (just for kicks)

Mix all ingredients together, pour into travel container. Pour over ice at destination and garnish.

A Behind the Scenes Look

Oh Friends, I started making the food on Wednesday and didn't finish until late morning on Friday. For normal, non-blogging, non-mom people this would not take that long, but in between child rearing and the endless photography sessions with nearly every step of every food process, it was taking a long time. The plan was to have all the food done by Friday at naptime, so I could transform myself and take photos while the kids slept. Oh naptime, what would I do without you? As soon as the last bedroom door was closed, I ran to plug in curling irons and break out the unused makeup that lingers at the bottom of my makeup bag. Hairspray? Check. Fine-tooth comb? Check. Really ugly red lipstick? Definitely.

I curled, sprayed and teased my hair. I assembled my wardrobe like a white chocolate tornado, attempting to stuff maxi pads in the shoulders of my husband's suit jacket and just as quickly tossing them out when they wouldn't stay. I applied my makeup, concentrating on severe blush and bright red lipstick and dashed to the specified photographing areas. Then I realized, I need a broom.

I've learned, with my new DSLR, quite a bit about the timer and how to use it properly. I use it only when I have no one to photograph me, of course. But it's not just as easy as, push-the-button-and-run-in-front-of-the-camera-and-pose-before-it-takes-the-picture. No, you must have a stand-in, so that the camera can properly focus. Otherwise, what happens (and has happened to me a hundred times and I've got hundreds of lame photos to show for it) is that you will be out of focus while the background is perfectly in focus. What I would give for a mannequin. Seriously, I would love to have one; even a dress form would work. What did I use? A broom. Not quite tall enough and very unreliable, especially when "standing" is one of the major requirements of being a stand-in. A broom turned on its handle loses its balance quickly. A broom slowly slides down the wall that you are trying not to focus on. A broom is annoying to get out of the picture once you don't need it anymore.

Pushing the stand-in out of the way.... really awkward pose.

My other wonky stand-in.

For the office scenes, an even more unruly stand-in was used- my son's play shopping cart topped off with the PFB cooler for my head. It worked great as far as focusing goes, but when it came to moving it out of the way to make room for myself, well, let's just say it was less than graceful and quiet (remember, this is during naptime, as pretty much anything is that I do for myself, so quiet is important.) I found it hard to remove the stand-in, gently set it on the floor, grab whatever food item I was supposed to be eating and pose. Some photos completely missed the mark.

Nice view of the shirt cuff, but where's my head?

The amount of photos taken to get one good one would have to be 20 to 1. The entire 2 hour naptime was filled to the brim with failed photo attempts, drooping hair and a brain thinking, “what am I going to make for dinner?”

I have nothing to say about this one.

When I think about some of the things I have done in the name of this blog, it just makes me smile. I enjoy every step of it. Sometimes I get overwhelmed, mainly because my ideas tend to waver on the grandiose-side of things, but that’s just how I work and I can’t seem to find satisfaction in anything less. I know I can push myself to do more, tap into areas that are unusual, bring a fun, alternative view to food and cooking. I always want the food to have a story. I think that is what makes the post entertaining for you, my readers.

I honestly am so thrilled to be in this sixth round. Thank you so much judges and voters for keeping me in the contest. I know I keep saying how much fun I’m having, but it’s true. I want you to know how much I have grown, week by week, challenge by challenge in this craft. It has built-up my confidence, expanded my brain (which is always good) and widened the creative outlet, which is this blog. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

Always re-apply your lipstick after a delicious, portable meal.

Love ya, Foodies!

P.s. I will send out a reminder post for voting, tomorrow!

Pumpkins, Shmumpkins and Voting!

2010-10-18T08:32:00.000-05:00

Tiny with his baby pumpkin.

On Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch nearby our house. Though it is cooler than full-blast summer weather here in Houston, it's still hot when you are standing in the sun and your forehead feels like a hot plate. The Hubs claimed he could fry an egg on his "balding" spot. It's nowhere near the fall I remember growing up in Kansas City. But I remained optimistic about capturing precious moments of Tiny's first pumpkin picking and Bubba and Boo's enthusiastic chirping over which pumpkins to get.

Well...let's just say, it was nowhere near the romantic picture I had painted in my mind.

Weighed down like a pack-horse of all things baby/toddler and memory capturing devices, I waddled up to the front of the church with my brood and Hubs, where the pumpkin patch was set up. As we get closer, we see a young girl on her knees retching into the soft, well-maintained grass below her. Her mother, in her smart, designer clothes, looked concerned and confused as just what to do. The Hubs and I looked at one another, not as in "aww, poor kid" but more as in "great, now our kids are going to get a virus." Horrible isn't it? When you become a parent, this is what you think. So my visions of frolicking through rows of pumpkins was now slimed with the vomit of a sick child.

I was murmuring something about how we were going to wash there hands with rubbing alcohol before we leave and then we see the pumpkins. Even now, at thirty-three years of age, I still get excited by large quantities of pumpkins. Pallets and pallets of large, happy orange orbs. I immediately get out the camera and start clicking away.

Surrounding the patch, faux-patch really, were tents of different attractions- more like distractions. I wanted my kids to focus on the pumpkins so I could capture all I wanted to capture, because it was, afterall, all about me.

One of the many distractions, foiling my plans for portait quality pictures.

To the left, a sweet grey-haired woman was trying to lure my children into her tent with Bible stories. To the right was a sno-cone stand and a huge swingset diverting their attention. Then there was an even bigger tent with music and then...the bounce house. Oh God. I hate bounce houses. Why? Because my two oldest will beg and beg to go in. You take off their sock and shoes (any parent of a toddler knows how ANNOYING putting socks an shoes on is), they get in there for two seconds, get bumped into by a child who has no business being in there with their 5 foot-tall body and come back out bawling. We steered clear of the bounce house and distracted them with baby pumpkins and face painting.

Yup, that's about as good as it gets.

No one wanted their picture taken. The distractions were far to...distracting. Everyone refused to look directly at the camera, or if they did, their face was facing me but their eyes were on the sno-cone machine. I got a couple of Tiny with his pumpkin, but it was short-lived as the pumpkin pallets, made great bumper pads for 15 month-old children who were still wobbly in their walking abilities.

The best part, and I think the kids would agree, was the face-painting. Amazing how having a cool, wet paintbrush dance across your cheek can calm hyper 3 year-old children. They sat like zombies as the super sweet teenage girls completed their requests for a football for Bubba and a butterfly for Boo.

So my lovely friends, it's time to cast your vote! If you enjoyed my Reuben Saga-ish entry, please click on the link below. You have sent me half-way through this competition, why not send me through to the next round? I keep telling you how much I enjoy this, because it's true. I am learning so much, stepping outside my comfort zone and creating things I've never dreamed. My writing is getting better as are my photos, because of this contest. So THANK YOU!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!!!

Love ya, Foodies!

PFB Challenge #5: She Put A Reuben On It

2010-10-17T09:19:00.004-05:00

All she could hear was the rubbery “squeak” of her knife sawing its way down the face of the cabbage. The house was perfectly quiet, as each of her three children were napping, and she was seizing this time to bring to life her newest inspired idea. Her thoughts ranged from I should write my next post in third person, to I'm nervous about this hair-brained idea. It was a momentary worry; her thoughts soon drifted back to the sheer delight of a quiet house and her knife back to the cabbage, shaving angel-hair thin strips.

Mid-way through slicing, her hand started to cramp. She laid down her less-than-sharp knife and firmly rubbed the inside of her thumb. She stretched out her long fingers, trying to find some relief. For a moment, she realized how much her hands had aged and then shrugged it off. She quickly moved on to photographing the cabbage on the cutting board. She left it just as it was. No fussing, she whispered and pulled her hands back from the haystack of feathery cabbage. It didn’t need a bit of direction.

Stray shreds of the freshly-cut cabbage were haphazardly strewn across the kitchen floor. She never claimed to be tidy cook, as she felt cleaning-up as she went, broke the creative flow of her culinary process- she simply had no time for it. As she carried handfuls of ingredients back and forth between the counters, the orphaned cabbage threads stuck to the heels of her feet, causing her to stop and shake her foot. It irritated her immensely but not enough to cause her to stop what she was doing.

She measured out the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper for the cabbage brine. She poured the ingredients into the glass Pyrex measurer and heated it for almost three minutes. She lunged at the microwave just before it started beeping and opened the door quickly. She wanted the house to stay quiet. She did not want to disturb the sleeping babes.

Immediately the vapors of the hot vinegar hit her nostrils and she started to cough and swat at the air. When would she ever learn? She stirred the steamy liquid –face turned away- until all the sugar was dissolved.

She scooped up all the cabbage threads and plunged them down into the slightly-cooled brine. She was quickly reminded that she had a paper cut on her right ring finger. She squealed and yanked her hand out quickly. She continued working the cabbage down into the brine with her left hand, while sucking the vinegary mixture off of her injured ring finger. The brine was perfectly tangy, sweet and salty.

She referred to her idea journal momentarily to reconnect with her inspiration. It was a simple, not overly-complicated idea. She wanted to keep the flavors clean and familiar while transporting it to the mouth via the mandated vehicle of the challenge- pizza. Her idea to forgo the classic sauerkraut that she loved and adored and replace it with a brighter, what she felt, more updated version was making her nervous. But what continually brought her back to trust in her inspiration was the contrast of the cold pickled cabbage atop the hot, salty, cheesy toppings of the Reuben pizza. She was deeply hoping it would work.

She liked to sketch out her ideas in scrawly drawings and scribbled words. She cherished each and every idea, regardless of whether it ever came into being. Cooking, to her, was just as artful as her paintings or collages. Its conception on paper was chiefly important, for she knew, if she did not write or draw her idea down, it would be lost forever in the scattered, cranial filing cabinets of her mommy-brain. The drawings helped her to remember the inspiration clearly and not miss a detail- for she loved details.

She stepped outside to retrieve the bowl containing the pizza dough she crafted earlier. It was a perfect 80 degrees outside and a gentle breeze played with the stray hairs around her face. She brushed them away with the back of her forearm and picked up the bowl from its warm place on the porch. She cradled it in her arms as she walked back inside. As she lifted the towel to behold the magic of yeast, flour, salt and water; she once again found herself amazed. She never tired of being surprised by what laid under that towel. There before her was the once tiny dough ball, peppered with anise seeds, now doubled in-size and pungently fragrant. She sighed with content and then happily punched down the dough. This was her favorite part of bread making. The dough collapsed all around her fist. It was, as they say, as soft as a baby’s bottom, which she- as an experienced mom- knew the feeling of, all too well.

She let the dough rest. Meanwhile she photographed ingredients, over and over in different light and different configurations. She was enjoying the moody lighting of the afternoon sun lazily drifting through the dining room windows. It was doing the job of conveying the autumnal feelings that she had as she made the pizza- the knowing that darker evenings and cooler weather was soon to be upon her.

She came back and lightly floured the countertop and spread it around leaving swirling marks with her fingertips. She cut the dough in four equal pieces and took one portion. She laid it down on the cold granite and started rolling it out. It occurred to her that keeping it a long oblong shape would be appealing and different. Why must a pizza be round? She thought.

Her oven was blasted hot and prepared with two inexpensive terra cotta tiles on the bottom rack of her oven. She was very proud of her $1.98 purchase from the local home improvement store. They worked like a dream making every pizza she made crispy and evenly baked.

On her pizza peel she scattered a bit more flour to ease the un-baked pizza into the oven. She started the process of building the pizza. On top of the thinly-rolled pizza dough went her homemade Thousand Island dressing. She liberally smeared it on with the back of a spoon and retrieving spillage with her forefinger. She tasted it. It was creamy, sweet and tangy. A piece of pickle relish crunched between her back molars.

Next she layered on the Baby Swiss cheese. It was already getting oily and wilted from the heat radiating from the oven. It draped itself onto the bed of dressing like a satin sheet. Atop the cheese she artfully arranged, pieces of corned beef, which were cut into ½” strips. They reminded her of ribbons at Christmastime.

She popped it into the oven, more with awkward movements and biting of her lip than quick finesse. She didn’t really care how it got in there, just as long as it did and without major damage. She shut the door and breathed relief.

She turned the oven light on because, like a kid, she would press her face up to the glass and watch the cheese bubble and spit as it got closer and closer to being done. The edges on the corned beef started to crisp and curl. This excited her greatly.

Ten minutes went by and she announced it was officially done- to nobody. The crispy bottom of the crust slid onto the peel with the help of a fork. She quickly ran it over to the dining room table for its photography session. It was beautiful. She grabbed some of the pickled cabbage, remembering to use her left hand, and squeezed it well. Switching hands, she sprinkled with her right hand and pressed the button on her camera with the left. She loved capturing the action of a meal being composed.

As she photographed the slices on a plate, she grabbed a beer. A few sips of beer with un-dainty bites of the freshly-baked pizza was her version of afternoon delight. She continually had to remind herself that this was time to get great shots, not a grazing session. She did both.

The pizza far exceeded her expectations. It was as she hoped it would be, but so much more satisfying. The crispness of the crust supported the soft cheese and dressing as it enveloped the saltiness of the corned beef. The crescendo at the end of every bite was the pickled cabbage that crunched and popped with vinegar-y vigor. She was pleased that her vision of two childhood favorites merging to create a new adulthood favorite had come into fruition...that and she got to drink a beer at three o'clock in the afternoon, for photography purposes only. ("she" winks)

Reuben Pizza

makes 4 personal size pizzas

3/4 lb. corned beef, sliced very thinly and then into 1/2" strips
1/2 lb. baby Swiss cheese, sliced very thinly
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (for garnish)
1 recipe homemade Thousand Island dressing (see below)
1 recipe pizza dough (see below)
1 recipe quick pickled cabbage (see below)

Place unglazed terra cotta tiles (or pizza stone) in a cold oven. Preheat to 500 degrees. Cut dough into fourths and roll out one at a time. Sprinkle pizza peel with flour and place thinly rolled dough on top. Layer dressing, cheese then corned beef. Bake for 10 minutes until edges are brown and cheese is bubbly and hot. Remove and have a handful of squeezed pickled cabbage ready to top the pizza. Cut and enjoy! Preferably with an ice cold beer.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

1 cup mayo
1 cup pickle relish
1/2 cup ketchup

Mix and set aside.

Pizza Dough
(Click HERE for my how-to video)
Prep time: 10 minutes plus 45 minutes to rise, plus 15 minutes to rest

2 c. flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. instant yeast
1/2 c. warm water (110 degrees)
(only for the Reuben Pizza: add 1 1/2 tsp. anise, fennel or caraway seeds that have been dry-roasted in a pan until fragrant)

Dump all ingredients into your stand mixer with dough hook attachment, turn to medium speed. If the dough looks a little dry, add a tsp. water. If it looks wet, add a bit of flour.

When it pulls together in a ball, that is when you start the timer for the 5 minutes of kneading. Just let the mixer do the job for you. You can also do this by hand.

After the five minutes, you should have a soft, elastic dough and in most cases the bowl will be "clean" as in all the dough pulled away from the sides.

Pour in a tsp. of olive oil into your bowl. Coat the dough ball in the oil, this prevents it from drying out.

Cover the bowl with a dish towel and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Quick Pickled Cabbage

2 cups white vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. fresh cracked pepper
2 cups cool water
1 cup ice cubes
1 small head of cabbage, very thinly sliced

Heat vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a glass bowl, in the microwave for 3 minutes. Stir to dissolve all the sugar. Add the shredded cabbage and water. Massage the cabbage into the brine. Add ice cubes and let stand for at least an hour.

This was my version of a twist on the recipe for pizza, which all the contestants for Project Food Blog were required to do for this Challenge #5. Pizza is one of my top favorite foods, and it's made weekly in our house. The Reuben is a sandwich that I loved as a child, which my mom would make on Sunday afternoons after church, usually in the fall. It's the marriage of two classic comfort foods into one thoughtfully planned and crafted new creation. I mean it when I say, I wish you could taste the photos.

I seriously hope you can feel how grateful I am to have made it to this round! I would be lying if I didn't say I was shaking in my boots on Friday to find out if I made it. It's been sheer delight, with a few minor moments of pure frustration, and tons of learning! So thank you again and again and again!

Voting begins 6AM Pacific Time October 18th and goes through 6PM Pacific Time October 21st. Don't worry, you know I will remind you.

Love ya, Foodies!

A Bunch of Tidbits

2010-10-15T07:33:00.001-05:00

Most adorable sous chef, ever.

You know I am loving this Project Food Blog thing. It has been very challenging and inspiring. It's been time-consuming and at times, ridiculous. But I really, really love it. We will see if I move on to the next round this afternoon.

I guess, I just wanted to take a moment and express my gratitude to everyone that has stopped by Foodie House recently. The PFB has generated much more exposure for little 'ol me in the past few weeks. I've gained more readers and found some new favorite blogs in the process. I wanted to share some of those new favorites with you and basically give you a big, fat, juicy kiss via this post, for all your support and love. So MWUUUUAHHHHH! There, you've been "kissed".

Some of my new favs are: (these are not all, just a taste.)

Jenn at Much to My Delight- freakin' hilarious is mostly what I have to say. Crafting, cooking and just all-round artsy-cool. That and I think she's my sister from another mister.

Susi at Susi's Kochen Und Backen Adventures- Susi just rocks. This woman can cook and bake like nobody's business. Her photos are incredible and everything she does just reeks excellence.

Michelle at Jelly Shot Test Kitchen- Oh my gosh! If you want to see some beautiful, incredibly creative drinks, scoot on over to see Michelle at JSTK. The photos are amazing and her drink combinations are so cool and classy. Not to mention, that they are all jello-shots. Bottoms up!

Let's see, other news and reports...I've got a guest post on Sticks Forks Fingers today!! Pam is off in New Zealand with her Hubby for their honeymoon and asked me and Jason from Ancient Fire Wine Blog to do some guest posts. I was so excited! It's my very first one, and if you would like to get some history on the Hubs and I, well, do come over to Pam's for a wine review and an engagement story, complete with pictures of Yours Truly, eleven years ago. I also do my best to do a "wine review" with the Hubs. It was challenging.

What else? Oh! I keep meaning to mention that I am on Twitter. I continually try and get that little "Follow Me" Twitter birdy on my blog, but Blogger refuses to let me have it. SO, I am just telling you. My username is "foodiehouse". So add me to your following and I will do the favor in return! I am still trying to figure Twitter out. I see many of my friends on there doing all this fancy RT and # stuff and I am overwhelmed. I've been visiting the "Help Center" trying to help myself. If you have any tips, I would be very grateful to hear what you have to say.

Washing machine update: Okay, so yesterday morning the delivery guy shows up on time and with my new washer. (if you didn't read my last post, my washer was on the total fritz and flooded my laundry room!) Anyways, he sets it up and checks it. Seems to be fine. I go to do my first load of a now GINORMOUS pile of laundry and half-way through I start smelling a burnt rubber smell. (The delivery guy is, of course, now long gone.)

You know when you get a new blender or some sort of appliance and it gives off that burnt plastic smell? Like that but 100 times worse. I threw the windows open and turned on the fan. I was bracing myself for the smoke alarm to go off. I couldn't see smoke, but the smell was so strong. A headache and an irritated call to customer service later, I 've got a new washer coming to me on Saturday. Thank God I bought the kids some new underwear at Target yesterday. You know your laundry is backed up when your Hubs has nothing to wear to work but a mock turtleneck and a jock strap and your doing dishes in a formal gown and a nursing bra.

Okay, Foodies. I think that catches us up. Whether I do or don't move on to the next round of PFB, I will show you my twist on pizza. It turned out pretty yummy. I'm excited to share it with you.

Love ya!

Voting and A Load of...Laundry.

2010-10-11T10:48:00.001-05:00

See Alice there? Yep, that's pretty much what my laundry room looked like, minus the mouse.

I've been wrestling with my crazy washer this morning. I've got a laundry pile the size of Mount Doom, looming in my closet. Adding to that, my washer gets off kilter and about every 5 minutes; it sounds like there's a giant playing dodgeball in my laundry room. I rush in there and try to quiet him with cookies...or petit fours.

Okay, in the middle of writing this post, I go in to once again, hush the "giant" and there before me, is what looks like what a giant's pee would look like if he peed in my laundry room. The laundry room is flooded!!! There is 1/2" of water all over. Now doubly irritated that I have to clean-up this mess AND petit fours will not help me now (told you they were hellish), I grab some towels and get to work. I open the garage door, that is connected to the laundry room and there is a river of water running out and under unused strollers and old high-chairs. My collection of hats continues to grow. Mommy, blogger, maid, counselor, nurse, cook and now janitor.

The only good thing about this event is that I'm going to get a new washer. And maybe some votes?

Today is the start of voting for Project Food Blog!! Aren't you pumped? I'm excited. It's down to 100 contestants now.

So if you haven't checked out my entry for Picture Perfect challenge #4, you can click here and vote. If you are not signed-up with Foodbuzz.com, it's super easy and a great community to be apart of. If you are, well, whatcha' waitin' for?

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Thank you so much for helping me get this far! I'm having so much fun!!!
Love ya, Foodies!