Vote!

Go out and do it! I just did. It was the first time I voted in person (I was number 101), and hopefully this will be the first time the candidate I voted for wins.

Chewy Molasses Cookies

There's a department pot luck tomorrow, and I wanted to make something that I don't normally make for myself. A batch of cookies is a lot for one girl to go through (at least without feeling sick afterward), so I found a fall-spiced cookie and started baking. I was a little worried when they first went in the oven, since the dough seemed really wet, and I wondered if maybe I hadn't put in enough flour, but they ended up great. Crisp around the edges, but tender and chewy in the center. Don't bake them too long -- they'll seem overly soft right when they come out of the oven, but they'll firm up as they cool. They also spread out a lot while baking, so if you don't want them to end up touching, give them more space than you think you should.

Chewy Molasses Cookies
from Martha Stewart's Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 granulated sugar, plus more for rolling/sprinkling
2 large eggs
1/2 cup molasses
1 tbs vegetable oil
2 cups flour
1 tsp each baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice
1/2 tsp salt

Mix butter and sugars with an electric mixer until well blended. While still mixing, add eggs one at a time, followed by molasses and oil. Mix flour, spices, and salt in a separate bowl, and gradually add to butter mixture. Freeze for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 325 and cover baking sheets with parchment paper. Form tablespoon-sized balls of dough and either roll in extra sugar, or sprinkle with sugar after placing on the baking pan, spaced 3-4 inches apart. Bake for about 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Cookies will be puffy and soft; remove from the parchment after they have flattened and become more solidified.

I'm an addict

Is looking for recipes online and imagining all the things you could make a bona fide hobby? Because that's what I find myself doing a ton lately. There's only so much I can cook because there's only so much I can eat, and I feel like I'm stockpiling recipes like a squirrel stockpiles acorns this time of year. It also doesn't hurt that there are a million awesome food blogs that I can only aspire to. Here's one a found today that's great if your usual sources just can't give you the fix you need: www.tastespotting.com

No-Knead Bread: The Slow Recipe

Ok, I know, I know, I'm way behind the times. In the two years since this recipe first came out for a wonderfully crusty bread that anyone can make, various other people have tried to improve upon it. The general idea is that the bread requires no kneading other than folding the dough a couple of times, but does require about 20 hours of forethought, which is something I rarely have. But last night at about 11, I was itching to do something, so I started the dough rising. Which took a whopping five minutes of my time, if that. I decided to try using 1/3 whole wheat flour (which ended up a good choice in my opinion). Then I left it until about 5 this afternoon. It's good that it didn't require any of my attention earlier today, since I had to go into work (apparently Colombus Day is not big in Wisconsin. I woke up today planning on enjoying a lazy Monday of a three day weekend, only to realize that no one else here thought that it was a three day weekend).

No-Knead Bread
adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery, via the New York Times

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Additional flour, cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Multi-Grain Waffles

I asked for a waffle iron from my parents last Christmas, and unfortunately that's the sort of thing that sounda great, but has the potential to go unused for long periods of time (such as my pasta roller). But luckily, the waffle iron has gotten lots of use. While regular white-flour waffles are great, when I want something a bit toothier and with a richer flavor, I make these. The recipe makes about 4-5 eight inch round waffles.

Multi-Grain Waffles
based on a recipe from Eating Well

1 cup buttermilk, or half milk and plain yogurt
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup corn meal
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix buttermilk or milk & yogurt with oats in a medium bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes, or if you're like me and slow at collecting the rest of the ingredients along the way, just go ahead with the rest of the recipe. Heat the waffle iron. Mix flours,cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla into the oat mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until moistened. Spoon batter on to the iron. Since this batter is thicker than a lot of other waffle batters, you can put more on the iron without having it drip out over the edges.

Spinach Dip

I first made this a while back and liked that it's super tasty, and low fat, at least compared to other creamy dips. The recipe calls for cream cheese, which sometimes causes problems for me since I don't really eat cream cheese otherwise and therefore never have it in the house. After not having made it in many months I was committed to making it tonight without bothering to look at the recipe. I found that if you're in a pinch, it's ok to increase the amount of the yogurt a bit if you drain it in cheesecloth/a coffee filter/a paper towel for about a half hour and gently squeeze the excess whey out of it to thicken it up a bit. I also used a bit extra parmesan, and it ended up quite good -- a higher proportion of spinach to creaminess, but still satifies the cream dip craving. Here's the recipe that I usually make.

Low-Fat Spinach Dip

10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 cup plain yogurt -- low fat or fat free
4 oz low fat cream cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
2-3 minced garlic cloves
1 tbs lemon juice
salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste

Thoroughly squeeze out thawed spinach. Stir in yogurt, cream cheese and Parmesan. Add remaining ingredients, incorporate and adjust seasonings.

Bean Burgers

I likes me some meat. But recently I haven't been eating much of it at all, on account of my over-buying vegetables on a weekly basis at the farmers' market, and the mildly sketchy meat departments in the super markets I've been to here. I had seen this Minimalist recipe for bean burgers a while back, and I finally gave it a whirl. I made mine with black beans and added some leftover roasted red pepper I had. The bean mush was a bit too mushy, so I added some extra oats and some bread crumbs, and it was still a bit mushier than I thought it should be, but I went with it. It turned out that that the burgers were really moist, so I'd recommend erring on the side of too mushy versus too dry. Since originally making them a few days ago, I froze the extra burgers (raw) and cooked one up tonight, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well they do with the freezing.

Bean Burgers
from the Minimalist

2 cups well-cooked beans (white, black, red, chickpeas lentils), or one 14-ounce can, drained
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon chili powder or spice mix of your choice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
Bean-cooking liquid, stock, or other liquid (wine, cream, milk, water, ketchup, etc.) if necessary

Combine the beans, onion, oats, spices, and egg in a food processor and pulse until chunky, adding a little liquid if necessary to produce a moist but not wet mixture. Let the mixture rest for a few minutes if time allows. Shape into whatever size patties you want and again let rest for a few minutes if time allows. Heat a nonstick pan to medium and after hot, add the patties. Cook until nicely browned on one side, about 5 minutes; turn carefully and cook on the other side until firm and browned.

Congratulations!

I've been a bit lax about updating recently. This past weekend I was down in North Carolina for Annette and Bobby's wedding, which amounted to a wonderful weekend. It was a bit stormy at first, with 15 foot waves, winds, and rain, but everyone got there safely, and the weather was beautiful for the entire day of the wedding. Congratulations!

TSA Security Breach

I got this message today while trying to read up on traveling with liquids...

Falltime Deserts

I like my pears super soft and drippling juicy. I had two pears left over from the farmers' market last week that hadn't softened, and I wanted to use them before heading out of town for Annette and Bobby's wedding this weekend, so I decided to bake them. They were easy to make, and left the house smelling wonderful.

Baked Pears with Prunes and Yogurt Sauce

2 pears, quartered and cored, skin left on or peeled
10 prunes
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbs dark rum
3 tbs dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

sauce:
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1 tbs dark brown sugar

Mix the brown suar with the yogurt in cheesecloth and spoon into cheesecloth, a paper coffee filter, or a folded paper towl in a small colander or seive and let drip for at least an hour, preferably more. Boil the prunes, water, rum, brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon for 15 minutes, while preheating the oven to 350. Place the quartered pears skin side up into the saucepan, spoon liquid over the pears and bake for 30 minutes. When the pears are nearly done, gently squeeze the wrapped yogurt to get rid of remaining excess liquid. Spoon yogurt, pears, prunes and sauce into two dishes.

Willy Street Fair

Today was day two of the Willy Street Fair, which includes the so-called infamous parade. I went to check it out and found, among other things, a bubble-mobile (pictured), more Raging Grannies, roller derby girls, stilt walkers of all ages, jugglers, and unicyclists. Not your typical parade on a Sunday morning, but a great time for people watching, both those in the parade and those watching it.

Political Food

It seems like food used to be simple. But now it's a political issue. Is it local? Treated? Genetically modified? Humane? Fairly traded? Wasted? That being said, it's still a bit surprising to find such a mix of politics and food at the farmers' market. It is mostly just food, but there are also people there looking to get you registered to vote (they got me), tell you why abortions are bad, convert your religion, which can be a lot to take in at 9 on a Saturday morning, and today there were also the Raging Grannies. I've heard about them before, but never seen them in person till today. I like their style -- they've got something to say, but don't take themselves too seriously, at least not all the time.

A first ever image...

... of P wave velocity from joint local and teleseismic tomography of Costa Rica (first as far as I know). There are still several problems that I need to work out, such as damping, grid size, and adding more data. The slab (dipping blue-green structure) also isn't nearly as nice beneath Nicaragua, but it's exciting to get new results from a new code!

Not those black beans, the other ones

Back in the spring, there was a Minimalist about black bean sauce, so I tried it with a stir fry. I've always had trouble getting sauces for stir frys right, and this is now my favorite. I now use it on steamed veggies, and it satisfies my Chinese food takeout cravings in a much healthier way. It's a little different each time, since I just throw the ingredients together in very rough proportions. The hardest part of the recipe is finding the black beans, which are actually salted, fermented and dried soybeans. I've bought them at the Super 88 in Boston, where they're in an aisle with various sauces, and since I can't read Chinese, it took a while to actually find them. When I did, I found that you can get about two cups, which would probably last a year or two, for 49 cents. Now that's cheap.

Black Bean Sauce
based on the Minimalist

2 tbs black beans
4 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbs corn starch
1 tbs sesame oil (optional)
1 tbs sesame seeds (optional)

Mix everything together and let it sit while you're preparing whatever you're planning on putting it on. When you start cooking your other food, start simmering the sauce on low heat, adding enough water to keep it from getting too thick; cook for five or ten minutes. Spoon the sauce over cooked food.

Are you a weed?

Do I pull you? That's what I'm asking a lot of plants in the back yard right now. I've pulled up some things that I know should go, and I'm left with some things I know should stay, and a lot of other plants that refuse to answer my question. I'd like to clear things out this fall, so that in the spring, Anthony and I can plant grass and a veggie patch, and transform the weedy yard into a welcoming one.

The Gypsy Bus

I thought that having the neighborhood gypsy bus living outside my house, I'd learn something about it. Like who lives in it. But after five days, I'm yet to see anyone going in or out of it. So much for a learning experience. But I now wonder, as I peer out of my window looking for them, do they peer out their window looking for me?

It's All Greek to Me

Oh. My. God. When Cook's Illustrated called it the Ultimate Hummus, they were not kidding. It has this rich, full, almost roasted flavor that I've never gotten using canned chick peas. It all started with my needing to find a use for two extra cucumbers that I had bought from the farmers' market two weeks ago. I thought about Greek salad, which is odd since I don't even like raw tomatoes. But I thought I'd give it a shot. Then I thought about making hummus, but this time with dried chick peas instead of canned ones. This, according to Cook's Illustrated, is the difference between regular hummus and the ultimate. I then found yesterday that Woodman's carries the awesome kind of pita bread, which is the super soft Greek kind. This is in their extensive refrigerated flatbread section which, for reference, is tucked behind the bakery department where they have 38 flavors of donut holes. And then I thought I should make some tzatziki sauce, just to round out the meal. The Ultimate Hummus
based on the Cook's Illustrated recipe

1 cup dried chick peas
1/4 cup water
1 tbs lemon juice
5 tbs tahini
2 tbs olive oil
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cumin

Rinse chick peas, and soak them in a bowl of water for about 12 hours, unrefrigerated. If you have heavily chlorinated water, used filtered or bottled water. Drain and simmer chick peas in fresh water for about an hour, until they're tender. Cool the chick peas and drain them, saving 1/4 cup of the water if there is enough remaining. Mix the saved water with the lemon juice in a small bowl, adding tap water if necessary. Mix the tahini and olive oil in another small bowl. Put the chick peas and garlic in a food processor, run it for a 20 seconds, and scrape down the bowl. With the processor running, add the water/juice mixture, followed by the tahini/oil, scraping down the sides in between. Add the salt and cumin, process for a few seconds and taste. If it's too dry, add a few tsp water. Continue to process until the hummus is smooth and light.

You can also make this with either a 14 or 19 ounce can of chick peas, and it's still better than any hummus you can buy in the supermarket, just drain and rinse them before using. For a spicier hummus, increase the cumin to 2 tsp, add 1 tsp paprika and 1/4 tsp chili powder.

French Toast for One

Happy Birthday Anthony! It's not the happiest of birthdays for him, since he's stuck in the Las Vegas airport for day two.

Since it's just me right now, I'm doing all my cooking for one. This rainy Sunday morning, it's French toast. I tried a new recipe last night that I wanted to try, and it turns out that it doesn't really taste any different than my usual recipe. Here it is when I sat down to eat:And here it is seven minutes later:

French Toast for One

2 slices bread - I used whole wheat, but a
substantial white bread is also good
1 egg
1/8 cup milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
whatever toppings you have on hand

Mix the egg through the cloves in a wide shallow bowl, big enough to hold a slice of bread. Heat a nonstick pan on medium/high heat for a few minutes. It's the right temperature when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it, and they dance around on the surface. Dip each slice of bread in the egg mixture for about ten seconds on a side and put into the pan. After about three mintues, flip and cook for another three. This time I topped with raspberries, orange marmalade and maple syrup.

Welcome!

There are lots of things I like, one of which is food. Growing it (though I'm current sans-garden). Buying it. Cooking it. Eating it. Sharing it.

I also just moved to Madison, WI, which lucky for me, has a wonderful farmers' market every Saturday morning around the Capitol, and various smaller ones throughout the week. Having previously lived in Boston, I grew to love Haymarket, and the farmers' markets here remind me of the good parts of it (the variety; the low prices; the hunt for the best produce of the week), minus the bad parts (food that may be one the verge of going rotten; the gruff demeanor of many vendors, though that does sometimes have its curious appeal). Here's a photo of what I bought this week.

Other exciting things that I've made with things that I've bought at the farmers' market in the past few weeks: tomatillo & corn salsa, beet rosti, pickles, zucchini bread, zucchini pancakes.