smart cookie

Early in our marriage and shortly after the birth of our first child, my husband came home after a very long day and raved about another woman's cookies.  Let me say that again, because it bears repeating...he raved about another woman's cookies.  It seems that Sara, the wife of one of the guys in his pilot training class, had made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for them to snack on during their study group.  And apparently they were...rave-worthy.

Now I knew a thing or two about cooking.  And cookies.  I had a perfectly good chocolate chip cookie recipe of my own (don't we all?) that involved peanut butter.  They melted in your mouth.  And my husband had tried them.  The next day, he was still talking about Sara's cookies.

There was nothing I could do but reluctantly get the recipe.  I'd make the two cookies side by side.  I'd show him.  I picked up the phone and called Sara.

I made those cookies.  I let them cool on the rack until I could pick one up without it falling apart.  I took a bite.

And I realized- smart cookies don't crumble, they just pour a glass of milk!

Thanks Sara, where ever you are, for a fabulous cookie recipe I have been making for almost a dozen years.

2 cups flour, 1 tsp soda, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup margarine, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs, 2 cups chocolate chips (12 oz bag), 2 cups oats, 1 cup chopped walnuts Bake @ 350F for 8-10 min

Modifications I have made over the years:  cream butter (I can't bring myself to use margarine for anything, sorry my southern-raised friends!) and sugars together until light and fluffy, add eggs and vanilla.  Whisk flour, soda, and salt together and add to mixer 1/2 cup at a time.  Mix chocolate chips (Ghirardelli Bittersweet), nuts (optional) and oatmeal in by hand.  Cooking time varies by cookie sheet, stoneware yields a better cookie.

Lift!

And finally!  I am moved in enough to make some pickled turnips!  Yes, I know.  Not what you hear every day, right?  Anyway, it is a tasty sandwich treat no refrigerator should be without!  And here's how to make it as excerpted from Liana Krissoff's Canning for a New Generation.

You boil a quart jar in a large pot of water to sterilize.  It just doesn't do to have some extra critters running amok in there with your pickle, eh?  Then you peel and slice a pound of small turnips, chop up 1/4 cup of celery leaves, set aside a few slices of pickled beets from a jar and slice up a clove of garlic.  You'll also need a tablespoon of kosher salt and a cup of white vinegar.

the usual suspects

When you remove the jar from the large pot, drop in your sliced turnips for a minute to blanch them, then drain and set aside.  Boil a cup of water, the vinegar and the salt.  While you're waiting for that to heat up, layer your turnip, celery leaves, pickled beets and garlic in the hot jar.  By the time you are finished cramming it in, and wondering why you didn't slip on some latex gloves to keep the beets from staining your fingers, your vinegar/salt/water mixture will be boiling so go ahead and pour that over.  I like pink pickle, so I add a bit of the beet juice just for fun.  Use  a chopstick to work out the air bubbles and let it cool on the counter before putting it into the refrigerator.

it gets so much pinker!

In three days time, voila!  Pickle!  Put some in a veggie sandwich, slide a slice next to your tuna salad, or my personal favorite - keep a fork beside the fridge to fish some out every time you go through the kitchen!

Enjoy :)

creative hiatus

Creativity withers and dies in the shadow of my impending move across the country.  I keep hoping to pick up sticks or make something fun in the kitchen, but sadly, I just continue packing up boxes for Goodwill.

I do want to update that the limoncello is FABULOUS.  I have only managed to drink it straight up *oh the shame* but it tastes divine.  I look forward to making more 'cellos and sampling some concoctions created with this delicious liqueur.

I leave you with my latest offerings.

socks, completed about 2 weeks ago

In different light

Pie for Pi Day!  A blueberry cupcake creation that would have benefited from a tablespoon of cornstarch to soak up the inevitable juice of frozen blueberries.  It was, nonetheless, yummy!

Berry Good

The blackberries I picked up at the grocery store this week were pretty well picked over by last night and I knew one more night out would leave them looking a little rough, so jam it all!  I measured them out and threw sugar over them in 3:2 ratio of berries to sugar.  That is a mathematical PITA when you have just over 2 cups of berries, so I in reality, eyeballed it and put them in the refrigerator overnight to deal with today.

yes, that looks like a lot of sugar, but the berries are winning, honest!

Fast jamming of small batches seems to work quite nicely in my skillets and this being an especially small batch, I took a chance on the 10" skillet having enough room without boil over.  I did some fast stirring but lucked out and it did not foam over.  What an amazing mess on a glass top stove that would have been had I been wrong!  I smushed about 2/3 of the berries with a potato masher to give some body to the jam while still leaving a few whole berries as a nice surprise here and there.

I had 3 sadly whizzled up Meyer lemons in the refrigerator so I juiced those for a little acid insurance (and a zippy taste to my jam).  Once it started to look "jammy" - and really, you will know - I pulled it off the stove to a hot pad and filled my sterilized jars.  To can, they spend 10 minutes in the water bath canner, plus 15 for my special high-altitude location.  I am now wise to the idea of removing the canner from the heat and let it sit, lid off, for 5 minutes before removing my jars to cool unmolested on the counter. 

That's it.  As easy as that and I saved fruit from a white fuzzy death or consumption by the dog, who loves berries and aren't I excited about that for the someday in my future when I get berry bushes. 

Blackberry jam

not your momma's lemonade

My squeals of joy made the produce guy at King Soopers laugh when I found Meyer lemons were back in the bins, neatly hidden by bags of just-not-the-same Eurekas and Lisbons.  I snagged 4 bags and made tracks for home to mix up some limoncello!

Peel 5 lemons, carefully avoiding the pith, which is bitter

Peel an orange as well and add all pith-less peelings to a half-gallon sized mason jar. Yes, such an animal can be found, typically in Ace Hardware or some other place where you are not anticipating mason jars.  Any giant Costco-sized pickle or olive jar from that binge you'd rather not talk about will do, so long as it is well-scrubbed.  Add 3/4 cup of simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar, heated on the stove until dissolved) or more to your sweetness preference.  Juice all of your citrus and add that to the jar.  Top it with 3 cups of 80 proof vodka and give it a gentle shake.

I went with a micro-distillery vodka that is *gasp* gluten-free but you can really use inexpensive vodkas.  The lemon will shine through regardless

Stow your mason jar of fancy moonshine in a cool, dark place.  Swirl it every few days and taste it once a week until it tastes good to you, strain and hide it from your friends!  Once they taste it, everyone will want some!

I've been making things!

My mind has just stubbornly refused to let me commit them to blog!  So...before Christmas, I stumbled across some Meyer lemons for sale at our local King Soopers.  I'd heard so much about them in my canning cookbook perusal - they are the end all and be all of lemons - so into the cart they went.  I pulled out 2 jars, sterilized the bejeebers out of them as this was a "sit on the shelf in a cool, dark place" project, and set to work with gloves on to protect my Colorado-dry winter cuticles from the salt.

oh so pretty!

My recipes, I looked over several, directed me to slice off the ends, quarter the lemons (but not all the way through), pack salt (kosher or sea) in between the wedges and stuff in the jars.  I also added bay leaves - I really need to hit Savory Spice soon and pick up some fresher bay leaves - black pepper corns, and cinnamon sticks.  Cover with more lemon juice and off to the shelf it went!

After several weeks on the "cool, dark shelf" of my basement pantry

Two nights ago, I made dinner with my preserved lemons!  Chicken, Artichoke Heart and Preserved Lemons with Rice.  It was delicious although in the future, I have a better idea of how much preserved lemon to use.  I pulled a quarter out using a clean fork and butter knife (to separate it from the rest of the lemon) and diced it very fine before adding it to the mixture in the pan.  The lemon rind was softened and the whole jar had a clean, salty-sweet smell.  Risotto may well be up next, but I am certainly on the hunt for new recipes involving preserved lemons.

the lemon peel had softened and the overall smell was divine

Givin' Ya'll the Bird

Yes, friends and neighbors, it is the Oven-Door-Blowing Turkey Recipe, or as we say in our house ...Thanksgiving Dinner!  Various members of my family, and even a vegetarian friend, have made this recipe for the last 20-odd years and no one's died yet.

Buy A Big Bird (seriously here, the biggest bird you can find) and a huge bottle of red wine.
Stuff It (the bird, people, the bird!)
Rub It Down - (again, I am referring to the bird, but what you do in your own household is your own dang business) It's gonna be eaten, for the love of God.  Let it go out in style!

The Rub
melted butter
shots of A1
garlic
thyme
marjoram
a little red wine
salt/pepper

Roast It
525F uncovered 30 minutes
sip a glass or 3 of the remaining red wine.

Haul that turkey out of the oven and douse it well with red wine. Soak a linen towel with red wine and lay it over the bird.  Douse it with more red wine...this bird feels no pain!  Cover it with most of a normal sized roll of tin foil.  Think "air-tight,"  sealed for the apocalypse, metallic fortress.

Shove Big Bird back into a 450F oven for 90 minutes.  Offer whoever is sitting with you some wine and wait for the oven door to blow open and flames to shoot out.  Look smug as your guest spills wine all over her shirt.  After 90 minutes, turn off the oven.  Do not open the door.  Not even for a peek. Kick the bottle, making threats of bodily injury to anyone who may open either the oven or bedroom door while you sleep.

The next morning, drink a large glass of ice water.  Look suspiciously at the dog to ensure she has not developed opposable thumbs and opened the oven door in the night.  Choke down aspirin and don sunglasses.  Take Big Bird out of the oven and pry off the darkened tin foil.  Strip off the towel.  Baste the birdie and re-cover with the tin foil.  He goes back into a 400F oven for 1 hr.

Eat, drink and be merry!