Under a Red Roof

Feelin’ Goofy

March 3, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Eating, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | 2 comments

It’s a funny morning I’m having. I am sleepy and half of my mouth is numb, as I am just home from the dentist after having a filling replaced. It was tiny, and fell out sometime over the past six months since my last cleaning, which is kind of weird to think about. Was it one of those times that felt like I had dirt in my salad or sand in my scallops? Maybe. Anyhoo, Dr. Dewey did me up (for free) with a bright pink topical numbing agent that reminded me of Raspberry Razzles. I was rather fond of Razzles, part sweet-tart, part gum, all goodness for about five minutes. Am I the only person around that likes to chew gum for five minutes? Seriously, any longer and it just isn’t a pleasant experience.

The Razzle talk has me thinking about Thirteen Going on Thirty, with Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo (I like him a lot), a film in which many Razzles are consumed. I’ve seen it about five times, mostly on random afternoons of couch potato-ing. It’s fun, silly, and cute except for the mean girl who played the woman with the wonky boobs on Arrested Development. I’d definitely watch it again.

So the picture above is of our compost. Well, the bits ready for the heap, at least. I couldn’t believe how pretty it looked – purple kale stems and Meyer lemon halves are quite lovely. I read somewhere that about 30% of the garbage put in landfills is food waste like this. Why aren’t more people composting? Is it a concern over the smell, because it doesn’t really, unless you put animal protein in it. If you’re worried about it, keep it far from the house, but, seriously, someone farting is a lot worse than the smell of compost, and according to Dr. Oz, it’s happening inside the house six to twenty-four times a day, per person. Think about that for a minute. Besides, composting is also super simple and requires no fancy equipment. We’ve got a giant bin into which we are constantly putting vegetable waste, leaves, and grass clippings. We rarely stir it and have amazing compost. It really couldn’t be easier.

Finally, when in doubt, roast. I bought a head of cabbage the other day and decided I would roast it rather than the usual braise. Holy smokes people, this makes awesome cabbage! I cut each half into four wedges, drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, and baked for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. The outer layer was a little crispy, and the inner leaves were creamy – so delicious.

Oh yes, before I forget. Thank you so very much for your kind words about both the watercolor painting and my new job (which is going quite well). You are the best!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Movies

Bathed in Citrus

February 17, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Eating by Colleen | 1 comment

I’ve got two gems in the eating department for you today. The cabbage, dressed rather simply in a lemon-parmesan-garlic bit of heaven (adapted from the lovely Molly Wizenberg book A Homemade Life – link to her Orangette blog under YUMMY) and scallops with an orange sherry reduction, conceived by moi under a red roofed kitchen. Both are quite delicious.

First, the cabbage, because it can sit while you make the scallops. I am a recent convert to cabbage, probably within the last two years. I’m not really sure why. I have no ill memories of it as a child. To be more precise, I have no memories of it at all as a child. Maybe I don’t come from cabbage people. Alas, this has changed. I love it in slaw of all varieties, steamed with apples, and raw (especially good with Thai Som Tum salad). The hubster is a pretty big fan, too.

Red Cabbage Salad

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 clove of garlic, diced fine or pressed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 small-medium head of red cabbage

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a large serving bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. Set aside. Remove any bruised leaves from the cabbage and cut in quarters. Remove the core from each quarter, and slice the remaining cabbage as thin as you can. Add to the serving bowl and toss with the dressing. Add the parmesan cheese and toss together.

Scallops and Orange Sherry Reduction

My apologies, in advance, as this recipe is much less precise than the previous one, but certainly worth a shot.

1 pound large sea scallops, patted dry

3 tablespoons butter, divided

salt

12 fennel seeds

juice of 1 orange, about 1/3 – 1/2 cup

1-2 tablespoons sherry (not cooking sherry)

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, once hot, add two tablespoons of butter. Allow to bubble briskly and gently add the scallops, one at a time, paying attention to where you started. I like to place them in a spiral around the pan. Don’t add them too quickly or they will start to steam and release too much juice – they won’t be pretty and golden in the end, either. Once you’ve placed your last scallop, sprinkle them lightly and evenly with salt before turning them over in the order you put them down. Once you’ve flipped your final scallop, remove them from the pan in the order you put them down and onto a plate.

Add the orange juice, sherry, remaining butter, and fennel seeds to the pan, being careful not to get burned by the steam created. Scrape any bits of scallop off the bottom, and allow to reduce until it is slightly thick and syrupy. Turn off the heat and strain the liquid into a bowl, squeezing out as much of the yumminess as possible with the back of a spoon. Return to the pan over medium heat. Add the scallops and heat until warmed through.

Serve with the cabbage, delighting in the bits of reduction that mingle with the cabbage.

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

A Switcheroo and Thirty Grams

February 11, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Eating by Colleen | Permalink

Hi there!

How are you today? Confused, perhaps? As in, where is the quotation that is usually posted here on Thursday? That Colleen is like clockwork with those. Well, I didn’t figure you wanted to be inundated with them, and therefore pulled a little switcheroo with my anniversary post on Tuesday. Nineteen years. Ms. Keller certainly got it right. I love finding just the right combination of someone else’s words and my photo, not that the right combination of my own words is exactly simple. Writing can be hard.

Tablecloths are easy, however. I am really loving this one. It is my latest find from the bins, and oh so adorable – how cute is that little lady next to my muffin? It’s cheery, too, like a lemon yellow, full of sun and smiles kind of day, which, by the way, is what we’ve had in great abundance in these parts these past few weeks. It has been wonderful and a bit odd, I must say. I cannot recall a sunnier winter in my eleven here in Stumptown.

Hmmm, I have no segue way for what comes next, drat. It’s tough going from writing about sunshine and cheer to um, fiber. My naturopath wants me to eat 30 grams a day. While I definitely appreciate the benefits of healthy bowel movements, lower cholesterol, lower risk of cancer, I have to say that, save for the not at all pleasant psyllium drink I have morning and evening, it is not so easy to get-r-done, and this is coming from someone who really strives for such things. I eat beans, a lotta beans, whole grain everything, fruits, veges, but still have a hard time reaching the magic number. Take these muffins, by my calculation, they’ve got three grams each, so I would need ten to get my recommended daily allowance, and while I really, really like them, that would just be too much. Not that it will keep me from trying to get to 30 by other means (Yams! Parsnips!), by golly, I will.

Just in case you’d like to try the muffins, here’s the recipe, and I hope you aren’t dissuaded by their healthfulness (that word is a mouthful) because they really are delicious, like carrot cake. I like carrot cake. Yum.

Carrot Muffins

2 beaten eggs

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat bran

1/2 cup sugar (actually, I used 3/8 cup sugar and 1/8 cup agave nectar, but don’t know how easy it is to find everywhere)

1/2 teaspoon ginger

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots

3/8 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/8 olive and 1/4 sunflower)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped dates (I am a recent convert – slightly sweet and full of fiber!)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, bran, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, agave (if using), carrots, and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture; stir until combined. Mix in walnuts, raisins, and dates. Pour batter into greased or lined muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This made 11 muffins, but I fill my cups pretty high, so you might get 12, or you might get less.

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Decorating, Recipes

Dutch Baby, Oh!

January 20, 2010 in Cooking + Baking by Colleen | 2 comments

When I was living at home, my mom called this a Breakfast Wake-Up. I have also seen it called an Oven Pancake. No matter what the name, the hubster and I find it rather delicious. It is a firmer variety of pancake – and very, very good. This one is topped with ginger pears using my recipe for sauces with regular-old pancakes that you can find here. I would say that the one down side to this recipe is that it only makes one pan at a time, so if you are really hungry, you’re also going to need to be really patient whilst making a second batch. I suppose there are worse things in the world. As well, yours may not look like the picture below when you take it out of the oven. Sometimes it comes out looking like a sombrero, others, a moonscape. It’s kind of neat, actually, like mad science!

Dutch Baby

2 tablespoons butter

3 eggs

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (regular is fine, too)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a 10″ skillet inside. Add butter to skillet, and remove from oven after it melts, about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs to combine. Add flour, milk, and salt; beat until smooth.

Immediately pour batter into the hot skillet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and browned. If you have an oven with a glass front – turn on the light and watch the magic!

Be really careful not to touch the handle after removing from the oven. I can’t tell you how many times I have burned my hand because I forgot it was hot, ouch!

Serve with butter, maple syrup, dusted with powdered sugar, or topped with your favorite sauce.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday sweet Stella Ruby!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

January 13, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Remembering by Colleen | 3 comments

When I was in junior high, one of my best friends was Terese Sievers. She was sweet, smart (a whiz at math), beautiful, with perfect black hair; a fine person and a marvelous friend. I spent a lot of time at her house: meals, parties, and sleepovers, her adorable little brother Todd waking us in the morning. Among my favorite memories is the time we baked this cake together. I had never baked with a friend before, and there was a definite specialness to it. We worked with ease in her kitchen, so much so that it overshadows any memory of my first bite of cake. Working together mattered more.

Though the memory of this cake is fine, it has very little to do with how I feel about it now. I am hard pressed to find another chocolate cake that I like so well. This is moist, rich, and always delicious, and certainly among the easiest to prepare. I am not one for fuss in the kitchen – my Julia Child days having long past. The hubster is a big fan as well, nearly always suggesting I make it when I am in the mood for chocolate. Thankfully, too, I’ve adapted it so it is pretty healthy, as far as cakes go, with the rolled oats and whole wheat flour providing a good amount of fiber, but in secret agent fashion. Let’s call it MI5 cake, shall we?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

1 3/4 cups boiling water

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 stick butter, softened (8 tablespoons)*

2 eggs

1 cup flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips**

3/4 cup nuts (optional)

Pour water over oatmeal in a large bowl, and let stand 10 minutes. Add both sugars and butter. Mix well. Add eggs. Sift dry ingredients together, and add to oatmeal mixture, mixing well.

Pick a pan – 13×9 or Bundt

For the 13X9: Grease pan well. Add 1 cup of chocolate chips (and fruit if you are using it) to batter, pour into pan, and sprinkle remaining chips over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake springs back when touched.

For the Bundt: Grease pan well. Mix in chocolate chips (and fruit if you are using it), pour into pan, smoothing the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake springs back when touched. Cool for 5 minutes before turning out of the pan.

The cake is great warm, at room temperature, on it’s own, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or frosted. You really can’t lose.

Enjoy!

*If you are itching to make the cake, but your butter is not soft, do what I do: use a cheese grater on the butter. I also do this for pie crust. Freeze the butter and put it through the grater. It will still be cold and in uniform pieces. I love uniformity in the kitchen!

**Use any chocolate chip you like, but know that white chocolate chips tend to melt entirely and form slightly unsightly cracks in the cake (this is why God created frosting).

***If you like dried fruit, this cake is the perfect vehicle for it. I am rather fond of adding dried cherries or raisins (reduce the amount of chocolate chips by whatever amount of dried fruit you use), but was thinking that cranberries and apricots would work nicely, too. If you like orange, you could also add the zest of one. Oh the possibilities!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Friendship, Recipes