food – Page 6 – Peaceful Reader

Weekend Cooking; Party treats

(cranberry salsa)

Over the last few weeks I’ve done a lot of cooking. When I cook I like to cook with love, with feeling, with happy thoughts in my head which takes me beyond the mundane of just cooking a meal, if that makes sense. It’s more than that or I might as well stop and go buy a take-out pizza!

We had guests to entertain a few nights before New Year’s Eve and I wanted to prepare a few special recipes. I had already made this hummus recipe because Eldest daughter likes it so I planned to serve that with crisp celery and a variety of crackers including these snappy little rice crackers from Blue Diamond that I love. I planned on serving quesadillas cut into thin wedges for an appetizer and served some of our own famous salsa with that. I wanted something just a little bit more and found it in this cranberry salsa recipe that I served with those little scoop chips that are perfect for well, scooping dips.

Cranberry Salsa

12 oz. cranberries

1 granny smith apple

1 red or orange pepper

3 T. cilantro

3 T. pickled jalapenos

1/2 of a red onion, diced

1/3 cup apple juice

3/4 cup sugar

Chop first six ingredients. Mix apple juice with sugar in a small saucepan and heat until dissolved. Mix juice mixture with chopped ingredients and stir thoroughly. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

My modifications: I didn’t chop up the cranberries because I like whole berries so I added the berries to the cooking apple juice (I used cider) and let them pop, pop, pop. I replaced the sugar with honey because why not?

This dip is tangy and wonderful on a tortilla! Our friends wanted some to take home with them (and they took a container of hummus as well!). I took a small container of it with me to work on Thursday and Friday and ate if with blue chips for lunch and I still have a little leftover for a sometime soon treat.

hummus plate mid-preparation

The original recipe is published in a school cookbook our staff put together a year or two ago. I found that recipe while I was looking for my friend Stephanie’s margarita recipe. Two recipe hits just pages from each other. The margaritas were a perfect balance for the spicy appetizers on our table.

I used Katie Workman’s The Mom 100 Cookbook to pre-make our New Year’s Day brunch menu. My mother-in-law made a french toast dish like this for us one year at the beach but dang if I could not find that recipe. It is such an annoyance when I know I’ve had a recipe but I’ve lost it in the midst of my recipe chaos. Katie saved me though as I paged through a few books looking for something similar. This one is it exactly I believe. It was so delicious served with warmed maple syrup and a dap of real whipped cream. I’ll save that one for next week’s post.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads where many other fabulous food-related posts are waiting for you to check them out.

Where cooking conversations lead…

It happens so easy, a conversation about books and food leads to the inevitable discussion of cookbooks which is exactly what happened this morning when our school’s lead, Mrs. Spratt, stopped in to pick up her saved book pile which included a cookbook. We’ve discussed our mutual love of food and recipes before and she happened to mention that another cookbook at the book fair, The Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman had been written about in Cooking Light magazine. Interesting I said.

Now I’m spending all my free moments paging through it reading Ms. Workman’s cooking stories. I might have to purchase this one. Naturally I started paging through it back to front and the dessert section had several recipes I would love to try this weekend like a caramel sauce or the chocolate peanut butter squares. Yes. I can hear my kids now.

As we chatted more about food I explained about a recent baking fail I had with a cinnamon roll recipe that failed to rise. She said I need to google Ree Drummond’s cinnamon rolls. She said they are easy to make and make a lot. Just what I need. Don’t you just love that kind of gossip. I’ll be googling it later today.
What’s got you and your coworkers chatting today?

Everyday Food; A reason to make brunch…

(Source)

This recipe for Walnut-Chocolate Sticky Buns is a perfect reason to invite a few friends over for a late morning meal. I love this small recipe magazine from the Martha Stewart publishing company. It fits easily in my bag so I can take it to the store with me and each edition has a wide variety of recipes.

While writing this post though I could not locate the recipe on their website-frustrating-as I wanted to use the photo from the mag. It also has a side note that says I can find a video for this recipe using my iPad-I couldn’t find that either. Once I make them I’ll share my own photo. For now, enjoy…

Walnut-Chocolate Sticky Buns
Makes 9
(I’m going to make a double batch, of course)

2/3 cup heavy cream, divided
1 1/3 plus 2 T. packed light-brown sugar, divided
1 packet (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups unbleached (spooned and leveled), divided,
plus more for work surface
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, divided, plus m ore for bowl and pan
fine salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts (I think pecans would be great also)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Heat 1/3 cup each cream and water and 2 T. sugar until liquid registers 110* – 115*. Add yeast. Let sit until foamy (my favorite part), 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and add 1 cup flour. Using mixer, beat on medium to smooth. Melt 2 T. butter; add to bowl, along with 1 tsp salt and egg, and beat until combined. Beat in remaining 1 1/4 cups flour until combined. Transfer to a buttered bowl; cover with plastic top. Let sit in a warm place until doubled, 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350*. Butter a 9-inch round baking pan (2 inches deep). In a pot, bring 3 T. butter, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 T. water, and 1/2 tsp salt to a simmer over medium. Cook until sugar is dissolved; whisk in remaining 1/3 cup cream. Pour into pan.

3. On a floured surface, stretch or roll dough into a 12 x 18-inch rectangle. Spread remaining 3 T. butter on dough, leaving a 1-in border on long sides. Sprinkle with remaining 2/3 cup sugar, nuts, chocolate chips, and 1/4 tsp salt. Starting with one long side, roll dough into a log. Cut crosswise into 9 pieces. Arrange over sauce. Bake until sauce is bubbling and rolls are golden, 30-35 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Run a knife around edge before inverting onto a platter. Serve warm.

Is your mouth watering? Mine is.

Weekend Cooking is a delicious meme hosted by Candace at Beth Fish Reads. Click on her link to find many interesting food-related posts.

It's my birthday (well, yesterday) and I celebrated!

Beautiful hotel pool

I turned 50 yesterday. I know. It feels weird to me as well. I remember when my parents were 50 and it seemed so dang old-seriously ancient-that I never contemplated reaching the age myself. It’s here. When in doubt, celebrate or run away and celebrate. Groovy Girl attended church camp for 3 days near Des Moines and my husband came up with the idea to “whisk” me away for those few days. We stayed in a nice hotel with a very comfy white bed. This photo doesn’t even convey how soft yet crisp the bed felt.

I had a white bed like this years ago when I was single and lived in St. Paul, MN. I didn’t have kids or a husband or two big hairy dogs; just me and a simple bed with white sheets and a white down comforter. I missed it just a tiny bit as I enjoyed this one but not enough to trade the kids, the dogs, or the husband! It’s just a bed after all. Those other things make up my life.

Here’s my birthday photos to share…

Sushi at Hoshi’s

Jasper Winery

The full moon graced my birthday days

Cupcakes with our friends Rocky and Mary Kay

Love this platter from Mary Kay

Husband’s homemade monster card

Want to know what gifts I was lucky enough to receive?

My amazing in-laws (and I felt this way before yesterday) sent me a Kindle Fire!! I played with it until 2:00 in the morning. Our oldest daughter is doing an intern in NYC and she sent me a cool book bag from The Strand bookstore. Our youngest made me a very colorful collage. I gonna frame it. Teenage Boy had a jingle writer write and sing me a Happy Birthday ditty. Aren’t they creative!

Beyond the wonderful trip my husband put together for me, with lots of gifts along the way, he still had gifts at home; the new Gillian Flynn book, Gone Girl and a CD of Michael Kiwanuka (Home Again) because he heard Michael on NPR and loved his sound.

I ordered myself Planting Dandelions by Kyran Pittman because I’ve wanted it for awhile.

Groovy Girl’s “Mama” collage

My little feet dragging at check-out time

Weekend Cooking; Market fresh produce with an easy recipe

Weekend Cooking:

It’s a busy day here in the Holt household. My husband is off doing a shoot for 3M and I’m diligently working on homework to finish my Fantasy Literature course for Fresno Pacific.We also have a casual wedding this evening.

I did sneak out early this morning to go to our beautiful Farmer’s Market which I missed while in Colorado.

I picked up two baby eggplants, a basket of okra, and a nice-looking cucumber. I’ve been making a lot of easy dishes using garden produce especially using the large box of tomatoes I carted home from my mom’s house.

I plan to make this eggplant recipe from The Chew; a cooking show my mom introduced me to. For dinner last night I whipped this recipe up created by me using lots of fresh produce.

Garden-Fresh Vegetables and Rice

1-2 T. of olive oil

1 yellow squash, diced without the inner seed section

1 small zucchini, diced

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

4-5 soft tomatoes, diced

1 can of garbanzo beans

Several large pinches of sea salt and curry powder

Fresh ground pepper

Cooked brown rice as much as will feed your family

Saute the zucchini and yellow squash in olive oil for a few minutes and then added the garlic. Continue to saute to soften the dreaded squashes that my children despise but will eat if cut small enough. Add the chopped tomatoes which will create a nice juice. Add the can of garbanzo beans and stir to mix. Sprinkle in sea salt, ground pepper and curry. Serve in low bowls over brown rice. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese, cilantro, or torn basil leaves. This is a perfect summer recipe because you can tailor it to what ever extra veggies you have on hand or what you find at the market. Spice it up with cumin or change the garbanzos to black beans for variety.

My husband just finished Ragbrai (the famous ride across Iowa) yesterday and he had three helpings. My kids each ate one bowl and the only complaint Groovy Girl had was that I hadn’t added enough tomatoes to her bowl. Enjoy!

Oh and Adam Duritz: What? Yes. He was part of my week!

The last night of Ragbrai I met up with my husband and we saw The Counting Crows together. I still love Duritz’s hair (real or not). He was fun to watch and the music was fantastic!

Happy eating.

Picture Books delight! (quick they're overdue!)

Ollie the purple elephant by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (2011).

The McLaughlin children have always been promised that if they came across a purple elephant they could keep it and one day while strolling in the park they do! “”Well… a promise is a promise,” said Mr. McLaughlin and the children ask Ollie to come home with them. Everyone’s happy except the family cat, Ginger. Ginger hates Ollie and plots with the downstairs neighbor Mr. Puddlebottom to get rid of Ollie. Their plan works and Ollie is sent off to perform with Mr. Puddlebottom’s cousin’s circus! Will the McLaughlin family ever see Ollie again…? The illustrations are lively with bright vivid colors. Watch this short video of Ollie by Random House.

Otto Carrotoo by Chiara Carrer (2000).

Otto muses about his rabbit siblings and their quirky habits. His sister will only wear red shoes and his brother is obsessed with his blue roller skates. Otto isn’t obsessed with anything until he decides one day to eat only carrots; carrots for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, carrot soup, carrot pizza, carrot cake…he eats so many carrots he doesn’t pay attention to his appearance until his brother and sister start munching on his carroty ears. He swears off carrots and switches to spinach! What will Otto look like after too much spinach? Great for sharing food stories with children. Maybe if Otto loves carrots and spinach, picky eaters might give them a try-but just a little. Too much of even a good thing can be bad. The illustrations in this one are funky collage pages that will appeal to children.

I had a whole big beautiful bag of picture books to read and these were the top two favorites. The entire bag was a day (or two) overdue. Yikes. So today took them back and paid my $10.00 fine! How do I so easily let that library date escape my mind? Any tricks to remembering to return books on time…?
Please share.

Guacamole; A cooking poem by Jorge Argueta and Margarita Sada

One day over at Jama Ratigan’s fabulous blog, Alphabet Soup, I entered one of her drawings and I won!
I almost missed my opportunity to win this book because I missed her email message to me and she nicely emailed me a second time. Thank you Jama!

Groovy Girl and I were both home when the post person brought the package from House of Anansi Press with this very green poetry food book inside the yellow bubble wrapper. We actually sat down in the grass and read it right away.

The first thing you notice are the gorgeous illustrations that show the young children interacting playfully with the food. The second point is that the story is told bilingually with Spanish and English. It begins:

“Today I’m going to make you guacamole,”
I say to my mother and father
and my little brother and sister.
They stare at me with their big eyes
that remind me of the green avocados
in the basket on the red kitchen table. (1)

and it continues with vivid colors and words used to describe the process of making a delicious bowl of guacamole! I adore how this young chef sings and dances around the kitchen with her apron on. She continues with:

I wash them in the fountain of the sink
and then, dancing and singing,
I put them on the red kitchen table. (6)

This is a treasure of a book for the kitchen or the library. It is a celebration of food and fun and this young girl celebrates the simple process of making a family tradition. I think I’m going to add it to my school library collection but I’m not ready to part with it at home yet. I am waiting for some beautiful avocados to slide my way so I can give this recipe a try. Thanks again to Jama for offering such a great poetry giveaway!

Random Spring Break Thoughts and Photos

Mr. PR with Tarah

Blooming in March!

I’ve been back at work for three days now and I’m exhausted.
I’m so close to finishing Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. Excellent book.
My next read is Mudbound by Hillary Jordan- for book club.
I’m trying to figure out how to use pinterest for a 5th grade project. Any ideas?
I am in the mood to Spring clean and would like a blog makeover. Any ideas?
I “mastered” Google Music and uploaded a slew of my favorite CD’s.
I reorganized the picture folders on my laptop.
I shared sweet potato black bean burritos with two friends at work and it was unanimous eating love!
Through a twitter conversation I enjoyed Beth F’s lunch love for same burritos! Made my day!

Spring Break Photo Journal:

Children’s Museum (in flight)

dramatic like her father.

Ice skating in the mall

Teenage Boy walking the dog
(how nice was it here!)

Bike Riding in my new flirty grape skort from Athleta (it was on sale).
I love skirts and this one is versatile. Now I want it in black.

Spring is here and it makes me so very, very happy.
What’s making you smile these days?

Weekend Cooking; Flavor of the Week

(My breakfast)

What a title. I’ve been reading Flavor of the week by Tucker Shaw for a day or two and while the story is less than fetching each chapter ends with an interesting recipe. Last night this is the recipe I ended with and as I drifted to sleep my thoughts were on breakfast already. Tucker Shaw is the food editor for the Denver Post so it makes some sense that his recipes would be memorable.

Hot-Buttered Maple-Baked Oatmeal (my notes)

2 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant or quick)
pinch (sea) salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 cups whole milk (i used 1%)
1 (farm fresh) egg
1 T. vanilla (real)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (hefty sprinkle on top before baking)
raisins, coconut flakes or almonds for topping (all optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Position rack in the middle of the oven.
2. In a large bowl combine oats and salt.
3. In a smaller bowl mix together the maple syrup, milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour over oats; mix well.
4. Pour the oat mixture into a glass baking dish (I used a 9 x 13). Bake for about 40 minutes, stirring once midway through. Remove from oven. (We stirred it at 20 minutes and only let it cook another 10-it was perfect)
5. Sprinkle the oats with brown sugar and return to the oven for 5 minutes. The brown sugar will get all melty, which is exactly what you want.
6. Serve in warm bowls with a big hunk of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup that you’ve zapped in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Top with yummy toppings. We had little bowls of brown sugar, raisins, cranberries, and walnuts at the table to sprinkle as well as a little milk pour on top.

My husband did the stirring at 20 minutes and he thought it looked done at that point. As our 9-year-old bounced on our bed earlier he told her about this delicious idea for breakfast and she seemed at best dubious! She was like “I like my regular oatmeal. This sounds too baked, too dry, too crunchy!” He didn’t want it to turn out like her worst ideas and truly it was creamy and wonderful with less cooking time. You decide.
It serves four and all of us had a big heaping bowl. Groovy Girl’s last words “This is actually good. I hope you make it again.” Made my day.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekly cooking meme, Weekend Cooking. Click her link to check out the other foodie posts and read her thoughts on Beer Wars, the film.

Next up on my to-do list. Cleaning the guinea pig’s cage with Groovy Girl. I know; I can feel the waves of jealousy!

Holly Jolly

Loads of game playing. These have all been played or attempted over the holiday.

Lots of eating.

Christmas afternoon-opening family gifts.

We’ve even redeemed a gift card already! Groovy Girl felt so grown up, getting her hair cut at my favorite Aveda salon.

We’ve snuggled up for movies and watched two episodes of Downton Abbey and several

episodes of Arthur.

Oh, the joy of everyone together!