Peanut Butter Success!

As I mentioned in my last post, today Zara and I planned to make peanut butter from scratch using a recipe that she can follow.
What you'll need;

whole unshelled peanuts
Vegetable oil
Honey
Mortar and pestle
Small mixer like a cuisinart

I shelled the peanuts into the mortar and pestle and my daughter crushed them. We then dumped them into the cuisinart, added 2 tabl of oil and 2 tabl of honey. Blend and serve. It is delicious, and might be this year's Christmas presents. She lived being involved with each step of the process and we talked about how peanuts grow.

Halloween and Blogging Fail

My goal was relatively lofty. To blog everyday and have a new recipe to share everyday from my daughter's second birthday until her third. Not surprisingly it didn't happen. Was it that sometimes cooking with a two year old leaves taking beautiful pictures to the wayside? Sometimes. Was it laziness? A little bit. Was it procrastination? Absolutely. For some reason, I could NOT get myself to get to the computer to sit down and blog daily. I had the time. I just didn't do it. So, onto more realistic expectations on my part. I'm going to blog. About food. It's going to be about cooking with kids (or how to involve your kids when you're cooking and making it more fun for them). I'm going to include pictures because I'm actually going to take them instead of talking about it. I'm going to link more. To things I write about, places I mention, projects that I talk about, etc. I'm going to try to make this blog easier for YOU, and me, at the same time. I'll thank me later I'm sure.

On that note I'll wish all of you a Happy Halloween and if you are on the east coast, good luck getting through Sandy. While I'm in the Cape Cod area and it hasn't been all that bad as of yet (and I'm thinking we've already had the bad wind), I know Jersey and New York is getting slammed. Good luck folks.

Tomorrow Zara and I will be making homemade peanut butter. We're both hoping it'll be a beautiful beginning to Christmas presents. We'll see. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun.

Not in the Mood

Lately I just haven't felt myself. I'm down in the dumps and just feeling plain, well, depressed I guess. It's affected my sleep, my ability to clean (which I guess is arguable anyway) and cooking. Is it the change of weather? Maybe, this is our first fall in Plymouth, and I'm a bit nervous about the winter, especially since we've only lived through the 'season' so far and lately I seem to have only run into crazies on the street. But I still find beauty in this place, even as the season is changing, and Z and I both love being able to walk where we want and have the water at our fingertips. We've also met some great people here, so it's not that either. I think mostly it may be that while I love staying at home, right now I don't feel completely fulfilled. It's like I'm stalled in some capcity, waiting for something to happen, although I'm not sure what 'that thing' is. Anyway, I HAVE been cooking and creating and all those sort of things, I've got a couple of recipes for you below, and I'll keep you posted on my funk, I'm sure it'll clear up soon!

Vino Verde with Peppermint
How appropos that I bring you this as my first recipe after the above mini rant. I made this one late afternoon, it was hot, Z was simply tempertastic and I had just bought a case of vino verde (fantastic for those sticky summer months-it's a new, green wine that has a bit of a bubble to it!). I was trimming my peppermint that had exploded and a sprig fell into my glass. I went to take a sip without looking first and was greeted with a fantastic peppermint sented explosion. I highly recommend this combo. It's light, beautifully summery, and exceptionally satisfying.

Bloody Mary/Virgin Elizabeth
I know, it's a little strange that I have two alcoholic postings in a row, but I'm recording my recipes from August, and the beginning was obviously a little rough :-)
My sister was visiting, and we both LOVE bloody mary's, especially if there are good accoutrements added. SO, I had purchased siracha pickles, as well as all the makings for a bloody mary the night before her arrival, and we went to town. If you don't know what's in a bloody mary, here is my version (per glass);
-1 shot vodka
-3 shots tomato juice
-1 teaspoon horseradish
-1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
-1 tablespoon hot sauce
-1 squeeze of lemon
to garnish
-siracha pickles (3)
-nice stick of celery
-2 olives (I prefer garlic stuffed)
-lemon wedge
-2 cornichons
-dilly bean
Since we were making this in the presence of my daughter, we wanted to make her a special drink too, so we came up with this virigin elizabeth (obviously because they were sisters, and I'm a dork and love history).
-1 shot cranberry juice
-2 shots seltzer
-1 lemon wedge
-3 grapes
It was good, obviously not rocket science, and she loved it! She also had a red drink that had fancy things in it and we made a big deal out of saying cheers and clinking glasses.

Beet, Chicken & Peashoot salad
My husband had been traveling for several days and I needed a quick dinner to throw together for whenever he walked in the door (and we weren't sure when that was). I decided on salad and things I had in my fridge. Since I made my daughter chicken nuggets, I made a couple extra, and chopped them up and put aside. I then plated the lettuce (I use mixed with herbs) cut up an onion, tomato, some roasted beets and cheese. I put the chicken nuggets and pea shoots on top and voila! I quick and easy salad

Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta
Where I grew up, whenever someone wanted a quick and easy italian type meal, they would simply add ricotta. In a pinch it stretches the last of the pasta sauce, and creates a creamy, almost lasagna type meal. (Without the baking or the time). I was having one of those moments, where I had a half a bottle of sauce (I'm admitting to using bottled sauces) 1 sausage that had been cooked as part of another meal, and not a lot of inspiration. So I boiled some pasta, heated the sauce (I always recommend adding wine, additional fresh herbs and some cheese to created a heartier base to the bottled sauce) chopped up the sausage and then drained the pasta (leaving about 1/4 cup of the water to add to the sauce) and threw it all into the sauce. Once it was all incorporated, I added about a half a cup of ricotta and stirred, off the heat, until it had the consistency and taste I like. I suggest you taste and salt as you go. I don't like a lot of salt, but to each his own.

After a Long Weekend

Nothing says 'long weekend away' than coming back to an immaculate kitchen. It shows, well frankly it shows that I haven't used it. And while I enjoy my kitchen being clean, counters smellingly slightly of my lavendar cleaning product, there is nothing better than messing it all up again. While I still need to bring to you the entire month of August's cooking adventures, rest assured I have kept to my daily habit of cooking something new to bring to you. Oh, and I found the hookup from my camera to my computer, so pictures really ARE coming soon!

Nigella's Crustless Pizza
I really can't live without this recipe. I found it about a month ago and I think I've made it about 5 times since then. It's SO easy, it's delicious and I've only met one kid that didn't instantly love it. It also helps that it requires very little ingredients and once made the kids won't get your floors filthy with it (I know, you're thinking WHAT? Pizza that when dropped isn't messy?) Well yes, that is the absolute beauty of Nigella. Not only is she my absolute favorite cook, but she seems to inherently know and cook what I love, in a manner that I find easy and like to replicate with my own additions (or subtractions) in order to make it my very own. So here it is, Nigella's Crustless Pizza. I'm giving you my version of the recipe, hers can by found either on the food network or her own website.
-1 egg
-2/3 cup flour
-1 cup 2% milk
-1 cup cheese of your choosing (Nigella uses cheddar, I use a mixture of parm, mozz and whatever else I have)
-pinch of salt
-additional toppings of your choice
Preheat oven to 400F
Grease a pie dish
Mix together egg, four, milk and cheese. Add salt and any other herbs or seasoning you enjoy (as you may have gathered, I tend to use fresh herbs from my windowboxes, such as rosemary or oregano).
Pour this mixture into the greased pie dish and pop into the oven fro 30 minutes. Top with additional toppings, both Nigella AND I do not use tomato sauce, you can, obviously, tomato paste will also work, but you still get a 'pizza' without the mess if you omit tomato. Add fresh tomato, or pepperoni, banana peppers or garlic, you get the picture, then top with a little bit more cheese, really to your liking. Bake for an additional 2 minutes and...that's it! You've got a fantasticly glorious pizza that your kids and you will LOVE!

Panzella
I've heard this recipe called about a million different variations of the above word, and I'm sure there is a corret way to spell this. I'll find it...eventually. I LOVE good bread. In fact, bread and cheese may be my absolute downfall, so I almost always have a hunk of nice bread that is slightly off but not yet moldy, that I'm trying to figure out what to do next with. This is a wonderful recipe for that slightly older bread, that isn't turning it into a pudding which is my standard go-to. Give yourself about 30 minutes to marinate this salad once you've prepared it so that all the flavors have time to seep into the core of the bread.
-Hunk of old bread, 1/4 to half a loaf is best
-Peppers, either bell or banana, sliced to fork sized pieces, about one whole
-2 tomatoes diced thick
-1 small onion
-fresh basil
-fresh mint
-salt and pepper to taste
-squeeze of harissa paste
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/4 red wine vinegar
Slice up the bread and vegetables (and fruit). Toss into a bowl and add seasoning. Add oils, toss again and cover in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Toss before serving.

Mussels in White Wine
There are so many recipes out there to prepare mussels. And most of them are pretty good. I find I like to make mine up as I go. That way I'm always pleasantly surprised at the outcome. This last batch I made for a small dinner party where I was serving 3 kids under 6 and 4 adults. Needless to say I needed a lot of mussels, and they needed to taste delicious, but NOT of wine. So I modified my normal bottle of wine with about a half bottle and added other ingredients to ensure I was getting a tasty dinner.
-2 to 4 lbs of mussels. We go to a wonderful fish place that cleans them for free. It saves a lot of time and hassle since I have a tiny sink, but if you need to clean, it's really not that bad!
-1 head of garlic, peeled
-1/2 bottle of dry white wine
-1 tbl of olive oil
-1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
-1/2 stick of unsalted butter
-salt and pepper to taste
-handful of fresh tarragon to garnish
Add everything but salt and pepper, tarragon and mussels to a large pot (I use a dutch oven) and bring to a rapid simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes, taste, add seasoning to taste. Add mussels. Cook until the majority (if not all) of the mussels have opened. Plate, garnish with tarragon, serve. How easy is that?

A Sweet Way to Start

My daughter has recently become obsessed with lolilipops. At first I was really nervous about the whole thing. She tends to get really excited about them and shoves them in her mouth all at once, I was convinced she was going to choke, especially since she doesn't sit still. Then I got over that, and my new fear was that her teeth were going to rot out of her mouth, but she seems to be okay and I got over that. Now it's that every time we go into the local corner store, I can't get out of there without buying a lolilipop. I know, I know. Just say no. Well sometimes no doesn't work, and sometimes I just want the quick and easy solution. I think my daughter knows that. Did I mention she's into manipulating situations? I know, I know! My daughter is brilliant. Anyway, I've been cooking/baking/whatever a lot recently, and I thought I report of some of the kitchen endeavors.

Plum muffin tin pies
I love fresh fruit, and in the summer I tend to over buy whatever is in season because I love the smell, the feel and the taste of fruit, and I love that I can get such a variety of local fruit during this time because I know it won't last come winter. So with that in mind, I had a whole bag of plums that were really on their way out. I wanted to eat them, but I knew I couldn't eat ALL of them. We were having some people over for dinner that night, and I hadn't really thought of a dessert. I opened my freezer, cabinets and then voila! Was hit with an amazing idea. Mini plum pies. I had pie crust dough in the freezer. So how would I make these since I didn't have mini pie dishes? Muffin tin! Brilliant (My daughter gets it from me). This is what I used:
-4 medium sized plums (or however many people you are serving)
-1 pie crust cut into circles meant to be just a little bigger than your fruit (I used a cookie cutter I had)
-1 teaspoon of honey per pie + 1 tablespoon
-pinch of nutmeg per pie
-2 shots of Amaretto
-6 cloves
-crushed walnuts, 1/2 a small bag from the baking section
I cut out my dough (For 4 pies you'll need 8 circles) and set aside. I then lightly buttered a muffin tin. I then pitted my fruit. I did this by cutting the fruit in half and then edging my knife carefully around the pit into it pops out without much effort. I then set aside 4 halves (or 2 whole plums, however you want to do it). I covered the skin side with one of the dough circles. Add a teaspoon of honey to the pitted area and some crushed walnuts. Then place another dough circle and press two dough circles together. Place in buttered muffin tin with pitted side up. Continue to do this to each serving, creating mini pies. Bake in a 350 F oven for 15-20 minutes depending on the heat of your oven. While pies are baking, in a small saucepan, add 2 whole plums (or 4 halves, sliced), tablespoon of honey, Amaretto and cloves and let reduce for about 8 minutes. Set aside to thicken. When pies are ready pour sauce over and serve immediately. If you want to make the pies ahead of time, you can do so, I thought the sauce really added something special and brought out the flavor of the ripened plums. Therefore I would recommend you make the sauce right before you are about to serve which will also warm up the pies a bit.

Baked, Husked Corn
As you may have gathered, the summer is a time of overbuying produce in our house, and I had bought some beautiful corn at a farmers market. I wanted to cook it, but hadn't figured out what I was making for dinner yet. I also wanted Zara to help me shuck the corn and prepare it as this is something I have really good memories of as a child. So we pulled up the stool, and decided to shuck only partially so we could steam the corn in the husks (in the oven!). We first pulled off all the 'hair', as we pulled back the husk, as far as we could get it without detaching it. Then we rubbed fresh garlic, butter, salt, pepper into the putter. We then rolled each ear in a little garam massala spice mixture and then pulled with husks back up. We then popped a small amount of butter before we tied the top of each ear with a bit of kitchen twine. (We soaked the twine while we were husking). We then popped these in the oven for about 15 minutes at 375 F. DELICIOUS. Seriously, try it with whatever seasoning you want. I made it and then was inspired to make a curry, (which I decided as we were husking) which was delicious!

Chicken, Sweet Potato Curry
So not to sound like a broken record, but I had bouth a whole bunch of sweet potatos at a farmers market, and I had two leftover that had seen better days. As I was making the above corn, I decided they would be the basis of my curry. I had defrosted some chicken, and the chicken sweet potato curry a la Erin was born. I'm sure you can do this with whatever curry substitute you have (jar, pouch mix) but I really like to try to make mine if I can. I tend to take my inspiration from Madhur Jaffrey because I love her recipes and find them really easy to follow and are consistantly fantastic. I won't type out the recipe here for fear of copyright. But I used the Creamy chicken korma with almonds recipe. I takes 3 steps. It's amazing. But you can buy a pretty good korma mix in your ethnic section in the grocery store. I added sweet potato, chicken, ginger, onions and tomatos to mine!

Two Days in a Row!

So I'm actually posting two days in a row, which I consider a personal win. I absolutely have been taking pictures of everything I'm writing about, but of course, as soon as I do one thing, something else happens. I can't find the cord that connects the camera to the computer, so hopefully I'll find where that is soon, and post pictures. Anyway, to the food.

Fig Honey Cornbread
I wanted to make something sweet for a family I was dropping food off for (they had just had a baby), but not too sweet, and I wanted it 'to go' with what I was making them for dinner..(Empanadas). I always seem to have an overabundance of either cornmeal or those cheap Jiffy cornbread mixes you can buy at the grocery store 6 for $2 or something like that. So I decided I would make a sweet cornbread. I also had some green figs (which I am obsessed with during summer), which were starting to get past their peak, so I thought, why not mix these two fantastic things together, right?
So what do you need?
2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix. Make to box directions (obviously doubling for the two boxes)
6-8 whole green figs, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons good honey (or whatever you have really)
1 pinch of nutmeg
1 pinch of cinnamon
Once you've mixed the cornbread mix together, add honey, nutmeg and cinnamon. Then gently fold in figs. Bake to the box instructions.
If you like making things look a little fancy (and who doesn't) before you throw these in the oven, sprinkly a little cinnamon and sugar on top. This makes a sweet, slightly crunchy top. Amazing! Z helped me with every single part of this recipe. Instead of chopping the figs, we pulled them apart. It's messier, but who doesn't love messy with kids?

Amaretto Coffee
Okay, so this one is sort of a no-brainer, and it's not very child friendly (although it has been known to help make YOU more child friendly). I was having an...interesting day...full of temper tantrums and the like. I was exhausted. I was frustrated, I really need coffee, and a drink. I almost always have amaretto on hand. It's great to add to make a quick sauce for a dessert, and I love it over ice at night instead of dessert, especially in winter. Well I took a cup of coffee, made to my particular specifications (half and half, about a teaspoon) and added a good glug of amaretto to it. Oh My God. Amazing. There is this beautiful nutty flavor to the coffee with a little zing but not enough to make you feel tipsy, or, anything other than a little bit nicer to my child. Try it, you'll like it!

Baked Fish and Chips
I have a newish friend that my husband and I have been meeting each week for the past month or so to cook one another a type of cuisine. One of us hosts and cooks the majority of the meal and the other brings drink and either an app or a dessert appropriate to the cuisine chosen. The week that I recently hosted it was the opening ceremonies for the Olympics (I know this is a bit off). So we held an English feast. Being American, I thought it would be funny, if we did a take on fish and chips (instead of making a pie or a pasty). It helped that we happened to have fish and sweet potatos from a recent grocery trip.
What you'll need:
Dependent on the amount of people you are serving. We had 4, so I used 8 small pieces of hake
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
4 medium sized sweet potatos
1/2 cup olive oil
Beat egg and add water in small bowl
put flour in a small bowl
put breadcrumbs in a small bowl
Dip each piece of fish in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Put fish on a glass dish that is lightly brushed with about a tablespoon of olive oil.
Preheat oven to 400 F
Set fish aside when completed
Cut the tips of of each potato. Wash. Roughly cut potato. I recommend, cut in half, then in half again then half again. You should be able to cut the potatos in half one more time forming rough steak chips (or fries).  Put on a lipped cookie sheet. Add remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper (and whatever else you like, Old Bay? Steak Seasoning?) Pop chips and fish in the oven for 15 minutes. Check. My oven was finished cooking at this time, but it burns hot. I would check and then see if you fish and chips are done, if not, bake another 5-10 minutes as needed.

Finding Time

I know it often seems like an excuse that I "don't have time to blog daily'. And I have to be honest, before I had a kid, it would have absolutely been an excuse. I know tons of people who do so much everyday, and some days, I am that person. But there are days, days like today actually, when my child is so tempertastic that getting to the grocery store and back seems like a feat and a half and makes me long for the days that I was a working mom. (I mean really, getting to go to the bathroom by yourself, typing at a keyboard without a 'mommy hold me' whilst pulling on my arm, sounds like a dream!). But I chose to take this route, and most of the time, I don't regret it, but argh, the terrible two's are a time of testing one's sanity, working or not. So anyway, I haven't posted in a couple of days, use your imagination, I'm sure you will not come up with as many fantastical tempertantrum scenarios as what actually happened in real life. Go on, I challenge you :-)

Lemon Poppyseed Scones
I love scones. I mean I loved them before we moved to England, so, absolute dedication to my love of scones. I've made a ton of different types with varying success. So when I happened across a recipe that promised scones that didn't sit in the pit of your stomach, I decided to give it a go.  My husband's favorite flavors are lemon poppyseed (anything), so I decided that is what I would do as I had a ton of lemons on hand, and thanks to a recent trip to the Atlantic Spice Company, some poppyseeds.
What you'll need:
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
2-3 tablespoons of poppyseeds (depending on how much you like them)
1 tablespoons of baking powder
1 lemon, zested
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks of chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/3 cup milk (I would recommend 2% or whole, any more and you are introducing more water than milk into the recipe)
Preheat the oven to 375F
Mix flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, zest and salt together (can do in a processor, if you have been reading this blog, you know that I LOVE using my hands)
Add butter in batches and pinch together into flour mixture until you get a grainy feeling mix or 'meal'. Whisk together egg and lemon juice in a separate bowl. When they are combined add to the flour mixture. Now add the milk. This should form a sticky dough mixture. Flour your hands and a counter surface (or a large cutting board) and dump the dough out on your working surface. Knead dough until it is manageable and you can beat down to cut your scones. I like using cookie cutters so that I have a uniform shape (and I let my child pick out the cutter and cut them out). Make sure if you are using a cutter to flour it as you go. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 20-25 minutes. (I normally top the scones with some sugar and nutmeg before I put in the oven, but this is just my person preference)

Grilled Cheese with Pickle and Tomato
I have an affinity for grilled cheese, especially when I'm feeling a little nostalgic for New Jersey. (Not they they are related to NJ in any way, just my memories growing up I guess). I also love Branston's Pickle. It's an acquired taste, one that I picked up while pregnant in London. It was a craving that I can't quite get rid of. I love the vinegar taste. I thought I would make my sandwich a little more grown up, so I cut some extra sharp cheddar cheese, a tomato and buttered up my bread. I spread of layer of pickle on my sandwich and then arranged per my liking. It was delicious, and the crunch of the pickle and tomato was wonderful with the oozy cheese!

Pesto Pasta
So you may remember that I have been trying to grow herbs in a couple of windowboxes with a varying degree of success. But my basil has exploded. I mean take over the entire windowbox exploded. So I decided to make pesto, because who doesn't love pesto? You can make this your own by adding ingredients (or omitting) as you like! So this is what I used (this time);
2 handfuls of fresh basil
1 tablespoon pinenuts
1/2 cup of parm cheese
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Blend all the above ingredients until combined
While you are doing the above, make the pasta per the box or your personal preference. When down drain, reserving about a tablespoon of pasta water. Add pesto to pasta and serve while hot. Add more olive oil if needed.