a list

1. I haven’t been blogging much lately. I’m sorry. I hate that I’m not. I’m not even THAT crazy-busy (busy, but not CRAZY-busy), so I’m not even sure why.

2. We’re having a bit of a heat wave here. I’m going to be up-front and say I’m not thrilled. First, I was expecting massive amounts of snow and a long winter, which we didn’t get. Now, it’s basically feels like summer… What gives? We all know this 80-degree weather is going to disappear in favor of 60-degrees and rainy…just hurry up already!

3. I got an 83 on my Micro TAKE-HOME test. an 83! On a TAKE-HOME test! “Impossible” and “unfair” aren’t strong enough words…

4. I rocked that last two days in Chemistry. “Rocked” = I managed to answer (aloud) more than one question correctly = the teacher thinks I know what I’m doing.

5. Yesterday was like Christmas! I got my order from SwimOutlet.com, which contained a pull buoy, paddles, fins, more swim caps and a mesh bag in which to carry it all; as well as my Amazon order that contained the Made to Crave book, devotional and DVD/workbook. Emily and I are going to do a long-distance Bible study together!

6. Did I tell you I got accepted into the Dietetics program at Buffalo State? Well, I did. Not that it was really up in the air… I’m a transfer student with a 4.0; were they not going to let me in?? Now comes the fun part–figuring out how to register for my online summer class and fall classes!

7. I haven’t cooked all week, which makes me sad. Despite our heat wave, I’m making French Onion soup tonight.

8. Andrew and I just finished the first season of Big Bang Theory. Hilarious!

9. Pioneer Woman’s newest cookbook arrived the other day. In it, she includes recipes for Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chip Ice Cream and Dorothy Lane’s Outrageous Brownies. (Apparently she has some sort of friend or something from Cincinnati who has introduced her to some of Ohio’s more redeeming qualities.) It also has the lemon-blueberry pancakes I’m been dying to make. I’m in HEAVEN.

10. It’s already THURSDAY. On the one hand, this is awesome, because it means the weekend is just 1.5 days away (weekends start at noon on Friday for me). On the other hand, time is flying! Can you believe it’s almost APRIL???

BBB

Happy Saturday morning, all! How I wanted to sleep-in, Hadrian nudged me awake at 5 (at least he made it that long!) and despite having Andrew take him out, I couldn’t really fall back asleep. Knowing I have to fit a run in before I leave for my haircut a 9 (just a trim!) makes my brain start working…

Baklava Butter and Bran! I’ve been meaning to get these photos and recipes out since I made them LAST weekend, and since it’s now the beginning of a new weekend…well, I did my best.

I’d purchased the ingredients for Good to the Grain’s Molasses Bran Muffins awhile ago, but never got around to actually making them.

In terms of actual product, they turned out quite well. The texture was great and they were very moist. However, they are featured in the Amaranth flour chapter, and Amaranth has a bit of a, well, “dirt-like” taste to it. I mean, it’s not like you’re eating dirt or anything, but you definitely get a hint of the flavor of the flour, which is very earthy. Quinoa flour is a lot like Amaranth.

While I think of Good to the Grain (GG) as one of my very favorite cookbook (reserved for the likes of Barefoot Contessa, Foster’s Market and King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking), I have to offer this HUGE disclaimer: Unless you are prepared to buy a gazillion small bags of different, hard-to-find types of flour, do not buy this book. I’m definitely having a blast baking my way through it, (my goal is to make EVERYTHING) and a couple of the chapters are dedicated to widely available varieties, like whole wheat, buckwheat, spelt and rye. However, the rest of the chapters cover kamut, millet, quinoa, teff, etc… I ended up placing a huge Bob’s Red Mill order awhile back and all my small bags of flour take up the entire door of my freezer.

Anyway, I love the book but it’s definitely not for everyone. I’ve really enjoyed reading it and getting to taste the nuances of the different flours and some of the recipes are absolutely fantastic. This one, however, wasn’t all that great. It’s not that there was anything wrong with it; I just don’t know how often I’ll be making bran muffins with Amaranth flour.

Back to the goodies…

PRUNE BUTTER!

The Molasses Bran Muffins called for homemade prune butter, which couldn’t be simpler.

Recipe:

1 C orange juice

1.5 C prunes

Warm juice, pour over prunes to soften (about 15-20 minutes), then puree in a blender or small chopper.

The recipe made about 3x what the muffins needed, so I (happily) ended up with some leftover to put in a jar. I mixed a little with some goat cheese on a homemade bagel here. If you’re afraid of prunes, don’t be. They’re just dried plums (who doesn’t love plums?!) and they are awesome. I think Sunkist (or Sunsweet?) makes a version that has “cherry essence” in them or something. Not sure how natural those are, but they are like candy, let me tell you.

Baklava Butter!

OK, this one takes the cake for being the most awesome recipe EVER. If you’re a nut butter lover (ahem, Emily and Susy, this is for both of you!), make this IMMEDIATELY. You will not regret it. It’s such a snazzed-up version of regular peanut or almond butter, and (surprisingly) has fewer calories!

Recipe:

2/3 C almonds, roasted

1/3 C pistachios, shelled

1/3 C cashews, roasted

1/4 C honey

1/4 C water

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Just throw them all in the blender and pulse away! Mine came out a bit “chunky” but they were tiny pieces and I kinda liked the texture.

The Baklava Butter was featured in the most recent issue of Cuisine at Home, and since some of you are into these, here are the stats:

Serving size: 2 Tbsp, 145 cal, 9g total fat (1g sat), 0mg cholesterol, 28mg sodium, 14g carb, 2g fiber, 4g protein

I love it on toast with some orange marmalade (or a little more honey–it’s a little dry) or with a banana. Seriously incredible, people. I WILL be making this a staple in the nut butter rotation.

While I’d LOVE to do more baking this weekend, I don’t know if our tummies can take it! I just made a loaf of bread (it didn’t fall!) and I still have some muffins left over in the freezer, as well as a bunch of slices of the Honey Polenta Cornbread (from GG) that I made with beef stew last night. Andrew wasn’t a huge fan (apparently he doesn’t really care for honey, who knew??), but it was basically like a brown cornbread with a thick, gummy honey layer mixed into the top. Wonderful warm. I had a piece for breakfast and it (along with some plain yogurt) kept me full til AFTER running an errand after school–WOW!

Anyway, with all of our leftovers (and a hubby who doesn’t like to “finish things off” so as not to waste food–so unlike the father of my childhood), I don’t know that I can justify another batch of anything for at least a few days. My recipe-finding is exponentially faster than my recipe-making…sigh.

ode to my recipe binder(s)

*Disclaimer: I wrote this post awhile ago (as in, while we were still living in the hotel) and it’s been sitting in my drafts queue just waiting for an opportunity to be published. Well, today is that day. I so desperately want to blog, and I NEED to write my Eat This column for the co-op, but life and school and the house have just all been so crazy that I can’t let myself get sucked into an hour-long blogging session. So, enjoy the fruits of my previous labor and hopefully I’ll be up for air a little more by this weekend–Emily and Dan are visiting!

This was supposed to just be a “before” and “after” shot. Except that I didn’t think to actually blog about it until it was already “after.” I mean, who cares about my recipe binder, anyway?

Well. There is a bit of a story here. OK, not really a story. And I only intended to take a picture or two, but I was getting such great shots and having so much fun (yes, recipes really DO excite me that much) that I just kept clicking away. And I hate to waste such great photography (for a dunce with an expensive camera), so here it is. I had thought about calling it “a primer on recipe organization,” but really, it’s just gratuitous pictures of my new recipe binders (basically, I went from one to two). I’ll offer a few tidbits along the way.

This is my new recipe binder. My dear friend from college, Leslie, got it for me for my birthday this year. It’s from Williams-Sonoma and it has a pineapple and my name on it. How perfect is that? I brought it with me to the hotel thinking I would move all my recipes from my old binder to it in all my “free time.” Isn’t it funny that we tend to be most productive and efficient when we have LESS time? I had months before school started to undertake this project, yet I wait until I’m a month in. Go figure.

Anyway, for the last couple years I’ve kept any recipe I loved or wanted to try (magazine clippings, transcribed recipes, etc…) in a binder in page protectors. But, time and organization got away from me little by little, until it got almost too full and pages were thrown in willy-nilly.

So, now armed with TWO binders, I decided to make one my “go-to/tried-and-true” binder to hold all the recipes I’ve actually made and we loved. The old binder became a storehouse of only those recipes still waiting to be tried. I sorted and sorted and threw things away and was ruthless. If we didn’t LOVE it, it went in the trash.

Here’s the NEW binder with our favorites:

Many of the recipes are magazine clippings (that’s my favorite way to have them–I love the color and pictures) and have my comments written on them. I like to keep like items with like. Above is a gazpacho salsa that was a huge hit at a July 4th party, as well as a tiny notepad paper with my neighbor’s salsa recipe on it. She made it with balsamic vinegar and I thought it was very unique.

I even sometimes tear out additional info/pictures if I think it will add to the binder. Above, a double-page spread on guac. LOVE guac!

We have a photocopied page on how to make pretzels from Andrew’s kindergarten class. He still uses it.

This sweet potato and scallions dish is one of Andrew’s favorites, which is stated up in the right hand corner…

I’ve typed up some recipes and added them as well. I’m not one to keep recipes on the computer; I may be uber-organized and woman of the 21st century, but I like hard copies!

The binder Leslie got me even has neat additional pages with lists of seasonal produce, measuring equivalents and blank recipe cards on which to transcribe. It even had a “journaling” section in case I wanted to write about what foods and wines I served at a particular gathering.

Below, the old binder:

It’s green and cute and I got it at Target awhile back. It was bursting at the seams; now, it’s nicely filled with “to try” recipes.

Look what I found! A 3×5 card on which I wrote a list of Andrew’s “favorites” at the time. Ina’s Chicken with 40 Garlic Cloves. BLT pasta (which I don’t make any more because I think it’s gross.) Mustard pork with pepper. Veggie chicken chili.

Here’s one I want to try for next summer–guac with fruit. Intriguing.

Lighten Up versions of mac and cheese and cheesecake. I’m always game for stuff like that! (BTW, since taking these photos, I actually tried the mac recipe on the left–TERRIBLE.)

I was hoping this dressing would be like what comes on your salad at Japanese Steakhouse places–the gingery orange dressing they have. Let’s hope so!

I found this in a Martha Stewart Living magazine in late summer this year. Zucchini bundt cake with candied zucchini pieces on top. OMG. So sad we’ve been in a hotel all summer…

And these. It was a huge spread in Food Network years ago that featured candy bar cupcakes. I had to keep them ALL. (I have yet to make them, but just in case I want to, they are there.)

Cannot wait to actually USE my recipes again!