Cookbook of the Gods

Hey family! Long time no cook, eh? Except no, I've totally still been cooking. My "cookbook" has gone from being a nice, self-contained binder to a mishmash of cookbooks and bookmarks and Pinterest pins and it's time to clean things up. I'm organizing them blog-style so I can easily add pictures and tags. The world is full of food blogs, so it isn't really meant for fame and fortune, but I figured friends and family might have a passing interest. To that end:

Cookbook of the Gods

Fish Sunday: Part 1

So . . . we've decided to make Sunday "fish day" and we've been systematically trying whatever varieties can be had in the Rocky Mountains. So far tilapia and cod haven't been hits, but everyone approves of flounder, salmon, shrimp, and swordfish. It's pretty much all poached so far 'cause it's so foolproof, but one of these days I'll branch out. I promise.

This has gone on long enough that I feel the need to record the experiments so I can remember what worked and what didn't, and what better place than the family food blog? So here's what we did this week:

This week's fish was flounder, poached in olive oil with a little Caribbean Calypso seasoning. It worked great--the seasoning has kind of a lemony flavor that (of course) makes it a natural for fish.

On the side we had Artichoke Orzo Pilaf. I made it like the link says, except that I sauteed the leeks and orzo in browned butter instead of oil. Yum! The artichokes were great--they really brightened up the dish. The leeks were fine but not special in this one, so next time I'd probably use regular onion or shallots because they're cheaper out here.

We also roasted some cauliflower in the toaster oven--it was fine, but I didn't do any sauce or special seasonings, so it was kinda boring. But good for us, I guess. ;)

If you're following along, all this adds up to a dinner of white food.* We usually have more color, but this felt like comfort food. Also, I managed to time things so that everything was pretty much done at the right time so everything was at it's best. Go me!

*Except for the olives--the kids wanted to do olive fingers.

Walley Family Sugar Cookies - Dena's Initiation

Dena has officially participated in the all-important Walley Family Sugar Cookie Initiation Rite and has passed with flying colors. Not only did she intuitively grasp the subtleties of cutting out Sesame Street cookies, as well as excel at the difficult-to-master "sugar flop," but she thoroughly understands the importance of not overbaking these delicate masterpieces.

In the course of bringing Dena into the circle of sugar cookie mastery, we did have a close call. Thinking to include Mom and Dad in the cookie fun, we made one batch using Splenda instead of sugar. This was the first batch out of the oven and since I was rolling out dough for the next batch, I had Dena try one of them. She took a bite and then simply handed me the cookie and watched carefully as I took a bite. Mind you, I have been bragging about the family sugar cookies for a long time and she knew the pressure was on to, even if I didn't. Well, that bite was initially good, as the sugar on top dominated the flavor. But as I chewed, I realized that not only had the Splenda made the dough dry and crumbly (even with milk worked in), and the cookies drier at baking, but the substitute sweetener had basically ruined the cookie. I didn't hear it, but I believe Dena let out a sigh of relief when I declared that the cookie was bad and not at all what it should be. The next batch, made with regular sugar, were much better and under interrogation, Dena agreed that they are among the best sugar cookies ever made (leaving herself wiggle room in case she ever tastes better ones, which we all know is impossible and she will learn in time). All is well.

Oh, and here's the recipe for posterity's sake.

Walley Family Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup (plain old white granulated) sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. lemon extract OR 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I'm thinking about almond extract)
• 2 cups flour (regular old general purpose white flour; sifted)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 tablespoons milk
• Food coloring if desired

Directions
Blend shortening, sugar, egg, and flavoring in the mixing bowl. If you are going to make colored cookies, add the food coloring at this point. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. (I often add the baking powder and salt directly to the wet mixture, then add the flour separately as follows.) Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture in about 3 phases, adding a portion of dry then a tablespoon of milk and repeating until all is mixed together in a good dough. (Do not try to finish mixing with your electric mixer unless you have a super-powerful stand mixer, or you might burn out the motor. Mix a reasonable amount and then finish by hand.) Chill the dough for at least an hour.

This dough is slightly too thick, which is why
the edge of the boat didn't cut cleanly.

After chilling, take roll the dough out on a floured board/counter or a pastry canvas (never seen one in my life, but it sounds intriguing). You'll usually want to roll the dough to a thickness of about 1 cm.; however, the thickness can vary according to which cookie cutters you are using. If the dough flakes too much, dip your fingers in milk and work the dough until it sticks together better. If it's too wet and sticky, work in some more flour. Make sure to flour your cookie cutters before cutting out the shapes; this is especially important when using ones with "faces." Flip each cookie face-down onto a plate of sugar and pat gently, then place face-up on an ungreased cookie sheet. (You might want to cover the cookie sheet in foil if it is old or non-nonstick.)

Bake cookies at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Technically! In reality, you only bake them until the cookies set and the edges are just barely thinking of turning the slightest bit brown. This often turns out to be at 6 minutes. If you take them out and they are still too soft to move from cookie sheet to cooling surface, leave them on the cookie sheet for another minute or two, then carefully move with spatula.

Reese says "Eat with milk!"

These cookies can be preserved by freezing; the important thing in all storage methods is to not let them dry out. Even so, dry cookies can be revived by dunking them in milk. Milk cures everything.

Bread maker question

We're thinking of buying a bread machine. We don't have one. We're kind of snooty about bread - we love yuppie bakeries, of which we have a plethora here in the 'Gene. But at the same time there's nothing like fresh and homemade, or at least so say our cocooning instincts.

So my question to those of you who have bread machines is: are they worth it? Does the bread that comes out of it satisfy a snooty bread eater? Can you make the same variety of bread in one that you can get in a yuppie bakery? (Sourdough? Seedy? Olive bread? Potato-flour bread? Etc.?) Is it cheaper to get the ingredients and make it in a bread machine than to buy a loaf from a yuppie bakery?

Any advice on makes and features?

New Foods! Yay! Cracker Edition

We've been into Triscuits Thin Crisps lately. The Chile Pepper flavor is nice and not too spicy--it goes great with any kind of mild cheese. We also just tried the Four Cheese flavor and really liked it. They're good just by themselves, too.

We also tried mimolette cheese yesterday, which I'm pretty sure Glynne blogged about. I'm pretty sure Glynne described it as a cross between cheddar and parmesan, and if he didn't he should have because that's totally what it's like. We shredded it and put it on crostinis. It was really good with tomatoes. I highly recommend this one.

Froyo?

So are frozen yogurt stores all the rage across the country, or just around here? In the last year or so we've seen about three or four places pop up selling frozen yogurt. Not TCBY-type places. These are all self-serve and the gimmick is that they have a topping bar with everything from nuts to little pieces of mochi. Like this place, which is going in about a block from us. Get a load of that list!

We're crazy about it. Is this a nationwide fad?

Hawaiian Sun

So, Maidservant of the Monster and me were in Honolulu a few weeks ago for a conference. I should probably update y'all about that in real-world terms, but suffice it to say our presentations went well, and we had a little time to enjoy where we were. And then we came back to the 'Gene and it's been nonstop work every since.

One of the unexpected pleasures of being there was that a lot of places we went to eat they had Hawaiian Sun juices. Some of you will know what these are: guava juice, or passionfruit juice, or passion-orange-guava, or whatever, in brightly colored cans. We used to be able to get them at the Embassy commissary when we lived in Tokyo (we being the nuclear Walley clan), and as I recall we even used to bring home flats of the stuff when we'd go shopping at Yokosuka or Yokota. I don't know if I've had any since then - so that would make it eighteen years - but the cans haven't changed at all.

The stuff is probably available in the contiguous 48 - I think I've seen it in Asian groceries - I just never thought to look. Now I'm obsessed with it. Boy, did it bring back memories of life on the Embassy compound.

St. Patrick's Day

For Saint Patrick's Day breakfast we had Lucky Charms, of course. A venerable Irish tradition if there ever was one.

And let's be honest, the dinner I'm cooking now is just barely more Irish than that. But we're barely more Irish than this dinner anyway, if I remember right, so this seems about right:

roasted potatoes with garlic, rosemary, and oregano
Glynne's cabbage salad recipe, minus the daikon because I forgot to buy it
southwest-y falafel with Irish cheddar on top

So that's my tribute to St. Pat.

May the road rise up to meet you and the wind be always at your back. :)

Cry for Help: Curry Leaves

So I was reorganizing my spice cupboard, which had become woefully un-alphabetic, and was reminded that I bought curry leaves (dried, obviously) before Christmas and haven't used them. I remember Taryn once gave me a recipe for scrambled eggs with curry leaves, I think, so this question is mostly for her probably, but if anyone has favorite ideas for them I'd love to hear them before I use my expensive curry leaves. Thanks, yay!!

snack of the moment

Trader Joe's sells dried mango strips with chile spice on them. They are a nice firm texture and delicious. Best way to eat them: dip them in a little salt and munch away!

Go do this now.
Seriously.

Hard Rock Munchies

On our way home from a California vacation, we stopped at a Hard Rock Cafe, partly because the one closest to our home has now been closed. I wasn't feeling up to a full meal, so I ordered a couple of sides, and am glad I did.

Fruitapalooza

I have a soft spot for fruit, particularly real fruit juices. This one promised strawberry puree, bananas, and enough other fruits to tempt me. As good as it sounded? Absolutely, particularly with the slice of pineapple on the rim. Worth the price? Perhaps not, but at least the hurricane glass gives us a matched set.

White Cheddar Smashed Potatoes

The menu listing reminded me of other mashed potato variants I've tried and enjoyed. This scoop was tasty and filling, but lacked the real punch that I was expecting; perhaps I should have tried some pepper on it. It was also interesting to feel the texture change as it cooled; the cheese makes it set harder than potatoes do on their own.

Santa Fe Spring Rolls

The absolute star of the show. From their menu:

Stuffed with spinach, black beans, cilantro, corn, jalapeños, diced red peppers and Jack cheese. Served with fresh homemade Hard Rock Salsa and guacamole Chipotle Ranch dressing.

The best of southwestern flavors, but in a smaller wrapper. Of the five spring rolls, I finished all but about two bites before my stomach couldn't take any more, most of them taken with a forkful of the shredded lettuce, olives, and dressing.

Compared with the burger and fries across the table, this meal was light, but it was still more than enough for a lunch. I'll have to consider the sides and appetizers more often in the future.

Pictures!!!

SPAGHETTI SQUASH

Apple Cider Vinegar

My Vegetarian Times finally started coming again (there was a crazy address problem after we moved) and it has a tiny article on apple cider vinegar in it. Only one recipe (for salad with vinaigrette) but several general food suggestions. Since Taryn was asking about cooking with cider vinegar, I thought I'd post them.

It says and I quote: Apple cider vinegar's bright, crisp taste and more-than-a-hint-of-tart flavor work well with lentil soups, slaws, baked beans, braised cabbage, and roasted winter squash. Bean salads and cooked whole grains also take well to apple cider vinegar's tang.

The contents of our dry goods cabinet (well, the main one). We have one of those corner cabinets with lazy susans in it, and it's a little busted. So Eric took all the stuff out to look at it but it's not fixed yet. All stacked up like that it's sucking up counter space and blocking the microwave, but it looks cool, so I took a picture, which I'm following up with my top ten dry staples.

1. basic short rice, of course. I'm lumping white and brown together as number one. It's a rare week that we don't eat this, usually several times. Plus I think it's better the next day than basmati, which gets dry really fast.
2. other rice--basmati, arborio, wild rice, jasmine. I once did a presentation for Relief Society on vegetarian cooking and food storage, and when I said I had several kinds of rice, several ladies were surprised there even were several kinds. *sigh*
3. wheat--I don't actually use the wheat, but Eric makes bread with it every couple of weeks, so I reap the benefits of his wheat usage, mostly in the form of toast.
4. quinoa--when I feel like we've eaten nothing but rice all week, I make quinoa instead. It's cute and round, so you've gotta love that.
5. pasta--I like different shapes because they fool me into thinking I'm eating different foods. Yay!
6. lentils--these are pretty much the only 'beans' I cook from their dry state because I am too lazy for other beans. Lentils usually means green lentils to me (or cute French blue ones) but I also use red lentils sometimes. I make a pretty tasty lentil salad, maybe I'll post the recipe later on.
7.peanuts, for cooking and snacking.
8. millet--I only have one recipe for this, but it's got a great, nutty flavor so I'd love to expand my millet use.
9. split mung beans (moong dal)--I also only have one recipe for these, but I also throw them into soups.
10. barley--you can cook this up like rice and put stuff on it, but I rarely do that. But I throw it in crockpot soup to add texture. It keeps its chewiness even with long cooking.

Cry for suggestions more than help

Hey everyone! I was wondering...does anyone have any awesome recipes using cider vinegar? I like cider vinegar a lot but am at a loss for really good hot dishes using it. I think cider vinegar really says fall and I was thinking it might be nice to start thinking about fall recipes. Anyways, lemme know :)

new food?

so, taryn discovered this and i thought i would share... i'm not normally a huge candy person, but these are amazing.

http://www.wonka.com/Sugar.aspx (sorry, you'll have to cut and paste the link...for some reason it's not working)

so far i've tried the clementine fruit marvels, the red apple fruit jellies and the goji berry fruit jellies. the clementine marvels are AMAZING. they also make pomegranate and white grape flavor marvels, but i haven't seen them yet. and i haven't tried the grapefruit jellies. you can, and should, go get these at walmart or target.

New Foods (left coast edition)

Lemon Verbena-san had a good idea there, so since I haven't had the energy to make any reportable recipes lately, I'm going to steal it. Here are three things we've tried recently:

1) Brianna's Champagne Caper Vinaigrette salad dressing. Brianna's and Newman's are the two brands of dressing we favor; Brianna's because they're all excellent, and Newman's because they make some standard flavors that Brianna's doesn't. This flavor seems to be new, or at least we hadn't seen it before. It's creamier than most vinaigrettes, with a nice spicy kick. A winner.

2) Sierra Nevada Porter & Spicy Brown Mustard. Inspired by Greenonioneater-san, I think, raving about brown mustards, I picked this one up. This makes it sound like it was Cooking with Booze week at our house, which it wasn't... Anyway, this is pretty good. I haven't been into brown mustards for quite a while, but this has a more interesting, complex taste than I remember Gulden's having. I'd be curious to hear from a connoisseur.

3) Sun-dried tomatoes, bottled. This was kind of a bust, not because they don't taste good, but because I don't know what to do with them. I like sun-dried tomato alfredo pasta sauce, the kind that comes ready made in a jar, and I figured maybe putting actual sun-dried etc in a straight alfredo sauce would be tastier, but what I did wasn't. I think it's because I just don't know what I'm doing with them. Anybody have any suggestions as to how to actually use a jar of sun-dried tomatoes?

New Food! Yay! (second installment)

I've had five new foods recently, some of which were pretty interesting:

1. Masa's miso sesame dressing (Glynne's recommendation), which I had on Glynne's cabbage salad. I highly recommend both the salad recipe and the dressing.
2. Sylvia's honey mustard--not my favorite, to be honest. I like my honey mustard on the spicy side, and this one is fairly sweet and a bit vinegary for me.
3. Beecher's Marco Polo cheese (tastes like a jack with peppercorns). This is by the same people who make that No Woman jerk cheese Glynne recommended, and I like this one, too. The peppercorns are good without overwhelming the cheese.
4. Black spaghetti from Target. It's black because it's made with squid ink (which I realized later is probably not very vegetarian, oops). To me, it tastes like regular white spaghetti, but it stays totally black even when you cook it so it looks really dramatic.

5. Mahjoub family harissa sauce, which I ordered from http://www.thespicehouse.com
I have this one Moroccan-style soup recipe (which I will post sometime) which uses harissa, but there's no good place to get it around here. Many Lands down in Provo has had one brand in the past that I didn't like much, and when I made my own it didn't turn out that great. But this stuff is really good, though fairly spicy. The main spices in harissa, from what I can tell, are garlic, coriander, and caraway, and this brand has those in a base of olive oil, pimentos, and sundried tomatoes. So it has this great sweet-and-spicy thing going on that makes me want to experiment with it in other recipes. I think I'll try adding it to bruschetta one of these days. Yum.

Crazy New Food

Partially because Joanna inspired me and partly because when opportunitty knocks, you have to answer, I got a few crazy new food items this weekend!

1st weird item: fresh squash blossoms from the farmer's market. I have wanted to try these for years but have never found them. So, here goes!

2nd weird item: A dragon fruit. I have never eaten dragon fruit and I am going to when I get home from work today. Who knows? Maybe it is my super-favorite food that I don't even know I love yet!

3rd weird item: Cactus pears. I bought two fresh cactus pears. I have had prickly pear jam and camdy and I really quite like pickled nopales, but a fresh prickly pear will be a new experience.

4th weird item: Tofu. I know this is really not a weird one for most people but it is for me. I have texture issues with it but really feel like I need to experiement and open the door to new and healthier proteins in my diet :) Fried tofu will hopefully be awesome (albeit not that healthy).

Pictures of my culinary adventures will follow...

New Food! Yay!

So normally we're pretty thrifty at our house, but there are two things I can't resist: new and exciting books and new and exciting food. I've curbed the book problem by (mostly) staying out of bookstores unless I'm really out of new books, but I still go grocery shopping once or twice a week. (Once if I remember everything the first time, twice if I don't). So while walking the aisles picking up things I actually need, I usually find one or two things I don't need but suddenly really want.

I've decided to justify my zest for new flavors by starting a semi-regular feature based on what I buy and whether it tastes good. Everyone else is welcome to record their new and exciting purchases in the comments or as totally separate posts or features. Obviously. ;)

This first “New Food! Yay!” will be mostly inspired by the excellent cheese suggestions and my resulting indulgences, but I don't really buy new and exciting cheese every week. It just seems like that lately.

I actually bought seven new things this week and last, but I've only tried six so far. Here they are:
1.Beehive Cheese Cajun Cheddar—this is now hands-down my favorite Beehive cheese. The cheddar flavor really works with the cajun spices to give you a nice rich flavor with a nice heat left behind. But if you're not into spicy I'd skip this one.

2.No Woman jerk cheese. This was Glynne's recommendation, and Harmon's had a nice little piece for sale. He's spot on about the complex flavor. There's definitely a strong jack vibe with a smoky and surprisingly sweet taste to it. Very enjoyable.

3.Da Vinci Goa from Holland (this is what is says on the package), a nice mild cheese with tomato, olives, and herbs mixed into it. It's got a nice savory flavor without being spicy.

4.Havarti Cream Dill from Denmark. This is exactly what it sounds like—some bites seem a little overwhelmed by dill, and some bites seem like the perfect blend of mild, slightly acid havarti with bright dill flavor.

5.Private Selection Arrabiata pasta sauce—I mostly hate jarred/canned pasta sauces because they're way too sweet for me, but for various reasons I've been looking for a jarred sauce I can agree with. I think this one might be it—it's nice and spicy and thin-enough-but-not-too-thin, and even though we had it more or less plain this time I think it would be great for adding my own veggies and such. Private Selection is actually Kroger, so I don't know where-all sells Kroger stuff where any of you live (if anyone does), but that's where you'd find this.

6.Archer Farms (Target) sesame orange dressing—we actually bought this because I'm going to make Glynne's cabbage salad thing and we didn't have any real sesame dressing on hand. I had some on regular salad last night and it was quite nice. Sometimes I find sesame stuff too bitter, but the orange sweetness offsets that nicely. We actually found the Masa's brand that Glynne recommended but I haven't tried it yet, so I can't tell you if I like it better than the Target one. So I'll have to save that one for next time.

So this is a lot more new stuff than I get in a normal week. This is even slightly much for the two weeks I'm covering here. But the bigness of the list probably makes it a good kick-off for a semi-regular but much shorter feature.