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Texas Pralines

These are always a hit at Christmas so I'm busting them out early this year. I usually make these or Almond Toffee as gifts for friends and teachers.  It's not a good idea to double this batch because you can't get them all onto the wax paper before they start to crystallize in the pot.  You just have to clean up and start over each time.  Cleaning the pot immediately, while it's still hot also saves alot of hassle.

Texas Pralines

1 C white sugar

½ C brown sugar

¼ C milk

1tbsp butter

1 C pecan pieces

1 tsp vanilla

Mix first 5 ingredients and bring to a boil.  Boil by clock 1 ½ minutes.  Remove from stove, add vanilla and beat until creamy.  Drop by spoonful onto wax paper.

Blueberry Pie

Blueberry pie is now my husband’s favorite. Well, he actually said it’s tied with Apple Pie for his number one ranking.  That is a huge complement coming from a man who grew up with two master pie makers in the family!

I decided to make it as a warm up for the holiday season. Since I've been baking Breakfast Apple Crisps by the dozens, it was time for a new fruit in our pie.  It’s pretty labor intensive the first time around and requires special secret ingredients I didn’t have on hand (tapioca and a granny smith apple).  I made it as close to the original recipe as possible but skipped the tapioca grinding and pie-hole cutting to save a few dirty utensils.  But, do NOT skip the rimmed baking sheet underneath in the oven or you could have a huge mess in the oven.  I used frozen wild blueberries and it was tart with the added lemon juice/zest.  The ice cream we put on top was indispensable in cutting the tartness and making it the perfect pie.

It really doesn’t leak all the blueberries out in the pie plate and stays in its beautiful little pie-slice shape on the plate.  So much so that my toddler tried to pick it up and eat it like a pizza.  Baby thought the crust was spectacular too.

Blueberry Pie (a la Cooks Illustrated)

Serve with Ice Cream! 

This recipe was developed using fresh blueberries, but unthawed frozen blueberries (our favorite brands are Wyman’s and Cascadian Farm) will work as well. In step 4, cook half the frozen berries over medium-high heat, without mashing, until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, 12 to 15 minutes. Grind the tapioca to a powder in a spice grinder or mini food processor. If using pearl tapioca, reduce the amount to 5 teaspoons. Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavor; do not substitute.

INGREDIENTS

Foolproof Pie Dough
2 1/2	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces), plus more for work surface
1	teaspoon table salt
2	tablespoons sugar
12	tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2	cup vegetable shortening , cold, cut into 4 pieces
1/4	cup vodka , cold (see note)
1/4	cup cold water
Blueberry Filling
6	cups fresh blueberries (about 30 ounces) (see note)
1	Granny Smith apple , peeled and grated on large holes of box grater
2	teaspoons grated zest and 2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon
3/4	cup sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
2	tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca , ground (see note)
	Pinch table salt
2	tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1	large egg , lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. For The Pie Dough: Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds; dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour. Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

 2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into 2 even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

 3. Remove 1 disk of dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 12-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave dough that overhangs plate in place; refrigerate while preparing filling until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.

     4. For The Filling: Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 3 cups berries in medium saucepan and set over medium heat. Using potato masher, mash berries several times to release juices. Continue to cook, stirring frequently and mashing occasionally, until about half of berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly.

   5. Place grated apple in clean kitchen towel and wring dry. Transfer apple to large bowl. Add cooked berries, remaining 3 cups uncooked berries, lemon zest, juice, sugar, tapioca, and salt; toss to combine. Transfer mixture to dough-lined pie plate and scatter butter pieces over filling.

     6. Roll out second disk of dough on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 11-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Using 1 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter, cut round from center of dough. Cut another 6 rounds from dough, 1 1/2 inches from edge of center hole and equally spaced around center hole. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll over pie, leaving at least 1/2-inch overhang on each side.

  7. Using kitchen shears, trim bottom layer of overhanging dough, leaving 1/2-inch overhang. Fold dough under itself so that edge of fold is flush with outer rim of pie plate. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with tines of fork to seal. Brush top and edges of pie with egg mixture. If dough is very soft, chill in freezer for 10 minutes.

8. Place pie on heated baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until juices bubble and crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. Cut into wedges and serve.

Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp Remix

It's not dessert, but it feels like it!  Today marks my third batch after recently stumbling upon the recipe at SmittenKitchen.  I love the story behind the creation of this crisp almost as much as I love the crisp itself—new mom exhaustion requires something spectacular to look forward to in the early early mornings with baby.  I share this philosophy and for the first year of my son’s life ate raspberry almond coffee cake almost every day.  Alas, I've had to cut back on my coffee cake because I'm the only one who will eat it (it's pretty decadent).  A huge perk of this crisp is that I’ve gotten my son addicted to it as well. He skips the yogurt and mostly eats the apples, but if I’ve gotten a bit of fruit, oat, and flax in him then I’ve done my job.

I tweaked her recipe significantly since I have 2 mothers-in-law that are experts at 1) apple pie, and 2) granola.  I had to pay homage to the family recipes by swapping out cornstarch for flour in my fruit.  The other big change was reducing the lemon to make it tasted more like “less sweet apple pie.”  The lemon tartness may also have something to do with the level of sweet vs. tart in the apples.  I adore Fuji's and they're pretty tart, hence the lessening of the lemon.  I also added raisins and flax because those are my favorite parts of making homemade granola.  I’ll potentially try subbing maple syrup for the honey, but only it just depends on what’s in the pantry.

Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp Remix        

3 lbs apples (giant Fuji’s require less peeling and coring), sliced medium

¼ C raisins

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp lemon

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

Granola topping

¼ C honey

1 stick butter

2 C rolled oats

½ C flour

½ C sliced almonds or chopped pecans

2 tbsp golden flax seeds

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a 13x9x2 Pyrex, mix everything but topping together with your hands.  In a medium saucepan or medium microwaveable bowl, melt butter and honey together.  Pour melted butter/honey mix over remaining ingredients and stir until coated. 

Spread topping mixture over apples and cover evenly.  Don’t leave apples exposed or they’ll dry out.  Bake for 45-55 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is browned.  Tent with foil if granola browns to early.

This dish keeps well in the fridge, just reheat and top with some greek yogurt.   You can go for a sweetened yogurt since there’s not much sugar in the recipe.

Fench Lentil Soup

French Lentil Soup

Let me preface this by saying that I have never ordered lentil soup at a restaurant nor have I really had a good version from a can.  Annabel Karmel’s First Foods introduced me to lentils when I was madly making mini lentil cakes for my son.  They are absolutely delicious and I’m sure everyone can’t wait until Baby W gets old enough for them to go back into the rotation.  Logic follows that if lentils are delicious in cakes, they would be delicious in a soup. 

After some cookbook and internet research, I discovered that of the 3 kinds of bulk lentils that I had purchased, only one was soup-worthy.  The others would disintegrate.  The winning lentil was the French green. 

After a rinse, a pick-over, and a cross-reference between Epicurious.com and Cooks Illustrated, I made every effort to follow the spirit of the traditional recipes with a few changes.  The key ingredients that I would not have added off the cuff were diced tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.   These sound like a strange addition, but disappeared completely in the final product and only imparted a slight acidity.           

The other odd-ball thing in the recipes was to puree a portion of it.  If other types of lentils disintegrate, why not use them to make it heartier instead of dirtying another utensil.  I went ahead with it because I was trying out a smoked sausage that I hadn’t tasted before.  The idea being that I could cook the sausage in the smaller portion of the soup and if it was awful, not ruin the entire batch.  2 dirty pots and a dirty emersion blender later, sausage tasted fine and we added the heartiness.  I doubt I’ll do it in the future because it ends up with a chili-like heaviness and I wanted something more delicate.  The smokiness could have had that effect as well.

French Lentil Soup

1-2	slices bacon (only if you’re not using sausage)
1	large onion , chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
2	medium carrots , peeled and chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3	medium cloves garlic , pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
	1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes , drained
1	bay leaf
1	teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1	cup lentils (7 ounces), rinsed and picked over
1	teaspoon table salt
	ground black pepper
1/2	cup dry white wine
4	cups low-sodium chicken broth (I used homemade stock but would save the stock for something that’s not going to compete with bacon next time)
1	cups water
1 1	cup diced smoked sausage teaspoons balsamic vinegar
3	tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

INSTRUCTIONS [adapted from Cooks Illustrated]

1.     1.  Fry bacon in large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, bay leaf, and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in lentils, salt, and pepper to taste; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until vegetables are softened and lentils have darkened, 8 to 10 minutes.

2.     2.  Uncover, increase heat to high, add wine, and bring to simmer. Add chicken broth and water; bring to boil, cover partially, and reduce heat to low. Simmer until lentils are tender but still hold their shape, 30 to 35 minutes; discard bay leaf.

3.    3.   Add sausage if using and simmer 10-15 minutes more to heat through.

4.     4.  Puree 3 cups soup with emersion blender until smooth, then return to pot; stir in vinegar and heat soup over medium-low until hot, about 5 minutes. Add Stir in 2 tablespoons parsley and serve, garnishing each bowl with some of remaining parsley.

Lemon Caper Chicken, Spinach, Rice

This one isn't a splashy meal, but it epitomizes what's important to me in a dinner: 1 meat, 1 starch, and one veg.  My husband prefers to sauce everything on his plate, so he'd include the sauce as a prerequisite.  But if I add sauce to the pre-req's, I may as well add bacon because it's always on hand and almost always makes it into a meal in one form or flavor.  It's funny that I didn't realize how tied I was to this "nutritional trinity" until I had to flake out on a side dish or two due to lack of time or ingredients.  It's so disappointing to have a lonely starch with no veg.

Lemon Caper Chicken
This meal does not require any prep earlier in the day (i.e.,no naptime chores) and allows us to eat dinner at a reasonable hour after the kids are in bed.

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp EVO

1/4 C flour

Salt and pepper chicken. Pour flour onto a plate.  Press chicken into flour on both sides, shaking off excess.  Heat butter and oil in a large skillet (12") on medium high heat.  Saute chicken for 4 minutes on each side and remove to plate to stay warm.

Pan Sauce

1/2 small onion

1/4 C white wine

3/4 C chicken broth

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp capers

Saute onion in same skillet as chicken until softened.  Deglaze with white wine. Add broth, lemon nad capers.  Reduce for 10 minutes. Add chicken back to pan to cook through, another 10 minutes.


Sauteed Spinach with Bacon
Giant box of baby spinach (think it's 1-2 lbs)
2 slices bacon
2 cloves garlic
lemon squeeze


Rinse spinach.  Fry 2 slices bacon in a large dutch oven with lid.  Remove bacon when crisp and drain on paper towels.  Add garlic and cook 1 minutes.  Add damp spinach to pot with bacon drippings and toss to coat. Cover and let steam for 5 minutes until wilted.  Remove lid and allow water to evaporate.  Salt and pepper and squeeze lemon juice. Serve immediately.

Rice in a box
Why on earth would I chop and prepare ingredients to jazz up rice when it is one of the easiest and tastiest modern conveniences?  I love Far East Pilafs and rice  mixes.  They are never mushy and if you start them at the beginning of your prep time, you have a hot easy side in 30 minutes.  I learned that the rice/starch is always the time intensive factor in any meal so it always gets first priority on the stove.

Which reminds me, this whole meal was very stove intensive.   I long for the day when I can have all 4-5 burners raging without wonting for space.  The fact is, my pots and pans often encroach onto other burners and I have some flames that are more reliable than others.  So, I made the rice and then re-used that burner for the spinach when it was done.

Bouillabaisse (aka Fish Stew)

Fancy name and apparently it can be much more fancy and time consuming than what I  made. Call it fish stew, call it bouillabaisse, or cioppino, but call it delicious. I scanned several recipes until I found ideas of what I already wanted to do.  I mostly just looked for the secret ingredients that showed up in most of the recipes:  fennel, saffron, and fish stock.   I will say I agree with Cooks Illustrated that you must combine some sort of firm fish (halibut/grouper), flaky fish (snapper), and shellfish (mussels, scallops, shrimp) to get the right textures in play.  I also learned that the fish counter keeps frozen fish stock so that I will never have to buy or deal with fish bones and shells (hooray!).

The leftovers were absolutely devoured by my toddler. He even sopped up all the juices with the garlic bread and ate fennel without knowing it.  (Big parenting win!)

Bouillabaisse

4 small Snapper fillets (thanks to Uncle Stanley's fishing success!)
4 scallops
5 shrimp (keep stocked frozen)
3 leeks or 1 small onion
1 small fennel bulb, slice thin
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 pinch saffron
4-6 C fish stock (can substitute a fortified version of clam juice if not available)
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

In a large Dutch Oven, heat 1 tbsp olive oil.  Add leeks and fennel and cook over medium heat until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 more minute.  Add stock, saffron, and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Simmer 20 minutes until veggies are soft.

Heat broiler and make garlic bread while you simmer.

Add snapper, cook 2 minutes. Add shrimp and scallops and cook 2 more minutes.  Turn off heat. Serve.

Pizza plus Baby bread

Made the dough during nap so that it could rise for 2 hours.  My son was so excited that he couldn't wait for the pizza to cook and kept eating all the ingredients (not unusual).  We started rolling dough at 4pm and all the pizzas were done by around 6pm since we made 4 personal-sized pizzas.

Pizza Dough

The dough was from Cook's Illustrated Best Recipe.  I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour and let it rise in a cold oven to get it out of the way.  I think it's a solid dough recipe, but I'm not bound to it.  I'd like to find a less fussy version that I could get a bit thinner or even roll out.  I will say that this Master Recipe is much more forgiving and sturdy than the quick version that rises in a warm oven.

It's important to have a pizza peel because it's relatively impossible to move the dough to the baking stone without it. I also use cornmeal all over the peel to keep it from sticking.

Toppings:

pancetta

pineapple

bulk Mild Italian Sausage

thinly sliced red pepper

chopped Sun-dried Tomatoes

Mozzarella

Baby Breadsticks

Another great thing about making this homemade dough is that I was able to make perfect little breadsticks for my 7 month old.  She uses them as a spoon (since she has to do everything herself) and dips the crust into her baby food.  I dipped the dough in EVO and threw them on the baking stone next to the pizza.  They cook for about the same length of time and get pretty hard like a teething biscuit.

Dessert Pizza

For the last pizza, we all opted for a dessert pizza rather than leftovers of the other kind.  I reasoned that if you brush all of the crusts with EVO for savory pizza, then butter would work for a dessert one.  Nope.  I'll leave it dry next time.  The butter didn't brown so I left the crust in the oven for extra time causing it to get too crunchy.  I'll have to figure out if the butter caused it or if it's because that dough ball rested for about an hour while we made all the rest and the recipe says rest for 5-30 minutes.  Only a Cooks Illustrated scientist could probably solve that mystery.

Dessert Pizza

1 C confectioner's sugar

1-2 tbst milk/half n half

1/2 tsp vanilla

cinnamon sugar

chocolate chips

Sprinkle chocolate chips over dough right out of the oven so they can melt.  I'll use some nutella next time.  Mix confectioner's sugar and milk to make icing.  Drizzle on top of chocolate. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  yum.

Kid's Gnocchi

We were stuck inside on a rainy weekend and I couldn't make it to the grocery store on Friday.  So I checked the pantry and we had some russet potatoes. Checked the freezer and we had some pancetta.  Plus it was Friday night and we need an excuse to drink nice wine....So begins the gnocchi experiment!

So I googled a recipe from the pasta master--Mario Batali.  His food and restaurants can be really complicated, but I'm pretty sure he got famous from making his grandma's old recipes. Surely she didn't sit and fret over mixing techniques and measurements.  Here's the starting point recipe for our gnocchi adventure.  I also cross referenced the recipe with one in the 'Silver Spoon' which is supposed to be the encyclopedia for Italian cooking.  I mainly took Batali's proportions because getting 1 3/4 C of potato seems ludicrous.

I should mention that the only time I ever tried gnocchi in the past it was a total disaster.  I made it from straight semolina which was like cornmeal.  Cornmeal texture and gnocchi should not even be mentioned in the same sentence.

Gnocchi
2 small russet potatoes (I used 3 but will cut back next time. See notes below)
2 C all purpose flour
1 egg
pinch salt

Boil a large pot of water.

I boiled the potatoes whole for 30-40 minutes and then let them sit on the counter for about an hour to "cool."  Refill your pot with salted water for the gnocchi.

Rice  or food mill the potatoes onto a giant work surface or cutting board where you're going to roll out your pasta.  Make a well in the middle.  Sprinkle all of the flour over the potatoes.  Crack the egg in the middle and prepare to get your workout.

Mix the egg into the potato/flour mixture with a fork in a circular motion, incorporating more and more of the potato and flour as you mix.  Once you get almost all of it mixed in, knead the rest in by hand and continue to knead for another 4-5 minutes.  [This is where it was beneficial that I had ever seen the Molto Mario episode so I had a clue how to mix it all in]

Divide dough up into baseball-sized balls.  Then the fun!  Rolling it all into long snakes and then cutting them into 1" pieces.  I would actually make the snakes about 1/2" and then cut them into 1" gnocchi. I had my toddler help:

All of the fork-flicking and ridges you're supposed to to for gnocchi didn't really work. That may have been because they had too much potato in the recipe. I noticed that the over-worked pieces of dough that my son had played with actually turned out more al dente than the fluffy-soft first batch.

These only take about a minute to cook and you'll know when they're done because they float.  So, have your sauce ready to go.  Simpler is better because gnocchi are pretty rich and only need a light tomato, EVO, basil-type sauce. My pancetta-tomato-spinach sauce was way too much for these little guys.

I put all the cut gnocchi on parchment on a cookie sheet so they would transfer to the pot easier.

Aunt Anne's Chicken

This recipe combines a love of two Aunties--my sister-in-law in Seattle and my husband's Great Aunt Lee. Aunt Lee's chicken contributes the evaporated milk and Aunt Anne the melba toast. The original Aunt Lee Chicken is made with Post Toasties (which I can't even find in the store anymore) and I have only had Aunt Anne Chicken once. So you see where the need to modify comes from. This is so simple and so good that I don't know why I don't make it more often.

Aunt Anne's Chicken

1 package any flavor Melba toasts (I used Sea Salt)

1 lb chicken thighs

1 can evaporated milk

s+p

Pour evap milk over chicken thighs and refrigerate for several hours. Good to start it during naptime. Then when everyone is awake, I get my toddler to help push the button on the Cuisinart to make the Melba Toasts into bread crumbs. Leave some small chunks of toast.

Preheat oven to 350. Drain off excess milk and toss chicken thighs with some salt and pepper. Dredge the thighs in the breadcrumbs and place on rimmed baking sheet. It's fine if they are touching because they shrink significantly during cooking. Cook for 30-40 minutes.

The Celery Root

Celery root is on about the same level with turnips when it comes to mystery and intrigue. It's a weird looking and intimidating ingredient but so savory and delicious that it makes you re-think basic old root vegetables and boring potatoes.

Celery Root Mashed Potatoes

modified from Cooks Illustrated

NOTES:If you dice ahead of time, you must submerge both celery root and potatoes seperately in cold water to avoid oxidization. Dry the celery root with paper towels prior to cooking so you can get a good caramelization. Do not use yukon gold potatoes (my favorite for plain mashers) because they make it gummy.

1 1/2 C celery root, diced 1/2 in thick

2 russet potatoes, in 1/4 in half moons

4 tbsp butter

1/3 C chicken broth

3/4 C half/half or milk, warmed

1. From Cooks Illustrated:

   1. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. When foaming subsides, add root vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter is browned and vegetables are dark brown and caramelized, 10 to 12 minutes. (If after 4 minutes vegetables have not started to brown, increase heat to medium-high.)

   

   1. 2. Add potatoes, broth, and 3/4 teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Cook, covered, over low heat (broth should simmer gently; do not boil), stirring occasionally, until potatoes fall apart easily when poked with fork and all liquid has been absorbed, 25 to 30 minutes. (If liquid does not gently simmer after a few minutes, increase heat to medium-low.) Remove pan from heat; remove lid and allow steam to escape for 2 minutes.

   2. 3. Gently mash potatoes and root vegetables in saucepan with potato masher (do not mash vigorously). Gently fold in warm half-and-half. Season with salt and pepper to taste; serve immediately.

2. These are great with Friday Steak Night because they are so savory and hearty. Love them!

Beef Stew Spectacular

After chunking a batch of beef stock that turned out watery, I looked up a recipe to realize you need 6 lbs of beef +bones to make 2 quarts of stock. Broth will do thank you.

Beef Stew
250 degrees is the perfect temp for spoon-tender stew beef. The flour thickens the broth to a "Campbell's Chunky Soup" consistency which I happen to love.

1.5 lbs stew beef

1 onion

4 carrots

2 celery

2 small turnips

1 russet potato

1 pkg frozen peas

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup flour

3 cups beef broth (Pacific)

4 sprigs thyme

1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

1/2 c robust red wine

Chop everything for mix en place during naptime.

Turn on Sesame Street. Pat meat dry, salt and pepper and brown in a dab of oil in a heavy dutch oven on medium high heat. Brown, meaning don't touch it for at least 5-6 min per side. Get it good and caramelized. Remove to plate with tongs. Add diced carrots, celery, and onion. Sweat for 5 min. Stir in tomato paste. Add flour and cook for 5 min to get out raw flour taste. Deglaze with wine. Scrape hard on the brown bits. Add meat back and add enough broth to barely cover meat. Add turnips Throw it in the 250 degree oven for 1 hour. Add potato and return for 1 more hour. Check everything for tenderness. Make kids dinner in microwave.

Pour wine and remove from oven while husband puts kid #2 to bed and add peas and parsley. Salt and pepper. Return to oven for 10 min. Switch off oven if kid fails to get to bed in a timely fashion. Add some french bread to warm in oven.

The low temp keeps the veg from getting mushy while the rest of the house goes to chaos. Case in point: We had to remove a door knob after I locked my son's toys in "time out" earlier in the afternoon because the cats were crying for their dinner which was also locked inside. Uf. But then the stew was lovely.

Baby Food: Puree Pickiness

Baby W is officially addicted to Baby Mum-mums. These are rice wafers that melt in your mouth--kind of like a giant puff. Not many people know about these and I didn't until Central Market crammed them down my throat by putting large displays of them throughout the store. THANK YOU Central Market for introducing us to our new friend, Mum-mums. But then they mysteriously ran out and did not replace them for a month--right as W was ramping up on her solids. She politely declined purees and anything she could not hold in her hand. She was intrigued by puffs and "baby Cheerios" (as E likes to call them) but could not figure out how to open her fist to get them in her mouth. Then the meal would quickly be over. After a week of dipping these Mum-mums in pee puree and applesauce or other baby food, we are now back onto normal spoon feeding like a normal baby who is not so headstrong as to refuse anything she can't do herself.

Unfortunately, the ramping up on solids has interfered with our errand-running. So it's already Thursday and I haven't seen a grocery store yet this week. Adding baby meals into the schedule has caused several issues in addition the lack of adult-worthy food in the house including but not limited to her brother climbing into his chair when I'm feeding her and demanding his dinner. Mind you, this is an hour or two before his normal dinner time. Yes that's right, I'm serving THREE dinners at this house. One from a jar for baby, one from the freezer for the toddler, and then something from the stove for mommy and daddy. It's getting a bit absurd but hopefully we'll adjust and consolidate very soon.

Last night we attempted to have E eat with us later. This resulted in the normal demand-my-dinner-when-baby-is-in-highchair around 6. I honored the request with some lovely pasta and broccoli which was not even touched. Then Daddy took him to Chipotle to pick up dinner for all of us and he ate some quesadilla and beans with us around his normal bedtime. We're also pushing that back on account of the singing and talking we hear emanating from his room hours after his 7:30 bedtime. So, schedules to the wind! And we'll see what happens.

Chicken Stock

Fall weather has arrived! That accompanied by many germs and bugs jumping on our family has prompted a good ol' home remedy--chicken soup. This is a good thing to prep during naps and then let simmer all afternoon to be ready for dinner. Super easy to get the meat out for soup and save a step.

Chicken Stock

2 onions, quartered

1 turnip, quartered

1 head garlic, halved

4 carrots, unpeeled and cut in large chunks

2 celer, cut large, can use leaves

small bunch thyme

small bunch parsley

1 tsp whole peppercorns

1 chicken, 3-4 lbs cut in half

Throw it all in a big pot and cover with cold water (approx 2 1/2 quarts?). Cover and bring to a simmer slowly on low heat and cook 1- 1 1/2 hours until chicken is done. REmove chicken to rimmed baking sheet and let cool until you can pull the meat away from bones.

When cool, remove chicken meat from bones and place in a med bowl/gladware. Add a few spoonfuls of stock to keep moist and refrigerate until you make soup. Return bones to stock and continue to cook for 3-4 hours.

Strain stock into a large bowl and compost all the discard (minus chick bones). Skim fat from top as it cools. Place in ice bath to cool before refrigerating if you're not making soup.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1 c wild rice blend

2 c water

1 tbsp butter

2 quarts chicken stock

4+ carrots, sliced

2 celery stalks, diced small

1 onion, diced

1 turnip, diced

1 potato, diced

1 C frozen peas

1 tbsp parsley

2 tbsp+ salt

pepper

Prepare rice as directed (it takes 50 minutes so do it first while you chop and prepare the rest).

Wipe out stock pot and add 1 tsp canola oil. Sweat onion and celery. Add carrot and turnip cook 5 min. Add stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer 10 min, add potato. Simmer 15 min. Cube chicken. Add chick, peas, and parsley and simmer 5-10 more until peas are cooked.

Rice is a wild card here. It could soak up all your broth if you add it too early so just mix it in when you're ready to serve. If it does soak up your goodness, just add more stock and adjust seasonings. For leftovers, store rice separately.

Croque Madame

A simple name for a serious sandwich. No really, it's kind of difficult because there are too many balls in the air at once. But doesn't it look so pretty and so French?

Since every Friday is steak night around here, this is a wonderful way to have a quick Monday dinner with leftover Bechamel. The other ingredients are key and if you miss one, then it becomes just an egg sandwich. If you're going to have a side (broiled asparagus above), make it a quick salad or something you can do ahead because this is very hands-on prep.

Bechamel (see below)

Deli Ham (De Becca Black Forest)

French bread

Gruyere or Emmenthaler

Dijon

Eggs

Batali's Bechamel

5 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

4 C milk (whole is great, but I usually use a combo of half and half with 2 % since that's usually on hand)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

Melt butter, wisk in flour. Cook until flour no longer smells raw. Meanwhile, heat milk in microwave. Turn heat off on roux when adding milk. Temper with a little at first and then add the rest. Add seasonings and cook 10 min until thickened.

Croque Madame

Heat broiler. Slice bread. Melt butter in large pan. Coat bread in melted butter and toast, adding more butter before you flip it. Remove toast to rimmed baking sheet and top with bechamel, 2 slices of ham and gruyere.

Heat nonstick skillet for eggs. Melt 1-2 tbsp butter and fry eggs over easy.

Put sandwiches under broiler to melt cheese. Remove and top with sunny eggs. Serve immediately.

Phew. It goes really fast so you have to think one step ahead. Also, there's no short cutting. Tried to do a simpler version for breakfast and it was no where near as good.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Don't underestimate the importance of white wine in this recipe. It's flavor is really highlighted after a long simmer. I've tried this with whole milk and 2% but this time used heavy cream. Of course, this time it was most similar to restaurant bolognese that we've had. I bet if I used a higher fat beef, it would be remarkably greasy like restaurant ones. I prefer this version. If you use lighter milk, the dish seems more vegetal and summer-y. This was the stick to your ribs version.

I do not recommend using the food processor for the veggies to cut down prep time. It ends up watery and it's difficult to judge the reduction of the milk and wine.

This has always been a favorite dish for my toddler 1)because it's spaghetti and 2) the sweetness of the wine and veggies. I think of it as healthy because of all the veg, but the cream probably counteracts that.

Spaghetti Bolognese

5 tbsp butter
1-2 carrots, minced
1-2 celery stalks, minced
1 onion, minced
1/2 lb ground veal
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 c heavy cream
1 c good white wine
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes in puree (Cento is good)
S+P
Parmesan

Melt butter in large heavy bottomed pot. Add all veg and sweat about 3 min. Add meat and cook until no longer pink, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks. Add cream and cook until the milk has evaporated (clear fat will remain). This take about 15-20 min. Add wine and cook until wine evaporates (10-15 min). Add tomatoes. Simmer for about 3 hrs on low low low. My books recommend a flame tamer if you have more than a few bubbles coming to the surface. Homemade flame tamer didn't work so I just turned the heat on and off a few times. I still have yet to find this flame tamer in 2 different grocery stores. Must try William Sonoma, I guess.

Pineapple Upside Down Challenge

Assumptions going into the challenge that I have now thrown out the window: Pineapple Rings are requisite for this cake
Maraschino Cherries will make it taste like cherries
Cast Iron always sticks when not seasoned


The winner: Cooks Illustrated
Family Cookbook recipe

Although this one was not as attractive, the cake was much moister and the topping gooey-er. Had I followed their advice on using chunks of pineapple instead of rings, I might have avoided the center sinking. This was my first attempt ever at this cake and it was fairly simple and straight forward.

I resorted to this recipe rather than the all-powerful Best Recipe because I wanted to save a pot and knew I was making two cakes. The first time I made the topping for Best Recipe (follows) I threw it away because it seemed so wrong. I consulted this recipe and it had a completely different approach. Now I know that if the pan is too cool when you put in the topping, you will get crunchy praline-type chunks in it and they are not pretty. Although my nephews did sort of fight over who would get the big chunks. So seeing that the Best Recipe may not be all that and being limited by the number of eggs in the fridge, I proceeded the rest of the way with the cake part of this one.

The loser: Best Recipe

This one was more complicated by far. It involved whipping egg whites, 3 large bowls, and corn meal. I can say that the biggest drawback was the cornmeal. What were they thinking? At only 3 tbsp, you can definitely tell it's in there and not in a good way.

The coolest trick about this recipe was that it's made in a cast iron skillet. I was very skeptical about using mine since it is far from seasoned and only a year old. But it came out without sticking and made beautifully flared sides on the cake. The whole cake was much drier. Could that be because I over whipped my egg whites? I forgot to put sugar in them until they were already soft peaks so it got stiffer than I'd hoped for.