Good Things - Early Winter

Good things from the past few weeks...


The return of fondue dinners with my roommate.
We bust out an electric fondue pot for the Trader Joe's fondue mix and assemble an assortment of dipping vehicles.  This time, we've got toasted bread cubes (pumpernickel and sourdough), raw broccoli, and roasted brussels sprouts.  Unsurprisingly, melted cheese made my initial taste of raw broccoli delicious. Cheese works its magic yet again.

Don't worry, the bunny isn't for dipping. He's supervising our fondue feast, spread across the coffee table that functions as our storage device/dining room table. Yup, we're heathens. But happy ones, at least!

Southern Tier Imperial Choklat Stout.
"A stout brewed with chocolate" is on its label. It's amazing. I must get another bottle (or four) very soon. Rich without being heavy, flavorful without being an in-your-face brew, I couldn't get enough of it.  It's also easy and delicious to use in baked goods, like bread puddings or brownies or cupcakes.

More Apple Cheddar Scones.

I told you, they're thoroughly addictive.  I can't have them enough, fresh out of the oven or for breakfast the following morning. 

Cardamom Ice Cream.

As much as I am a loyal fan of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (who makes a fantastic lime cardamom frozen yogurt, by the way), I've been loving this intensely cardamom ice cream from Three Twins.  Equally cozy with chocolate or caramel sauce as it is with roasted fruit (especially roasted plums).

Pumpkin, Maple, Bacon, Pecan Oatmeal.

Yeah, I did it. I put bacon in my morning oats. And it was delicious. A salty-smoky-sweet flavor bomb.  Just cook your favorite package of instant oatmeal with a mixture of pumpkin puree and milk, then top with cooked bacon, pecans, and a generous drizzle of real maple syrup. Wintry luxury that's good for you!

Spaghetti Squash, Black Bean, and Cotija Cheese Tacos.

From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

Holy cow, I've never been more in love with a vegetable filled taco than I am for this. It's incredibly easy to make - just one night's prep offered 4 dinners' worth of food.  And it's a welcome change from my usual spaghetti squash meal, where I top the squash with tomato sauce and pretend it's spaghetti.  

Roast your spaghetti squash with chile powder and cayenne powder.  Assemble your tacos (or, if you're me, on a giant sized chile tortilla from Trader Joe's. So good.) with roasted spaghetti squash, black beans from a can, cotija cheese, extra hot sauce (because you can never have too much), and lime juice.  Make a hot mess over your plate and call it a night. Bonus points for a cold beer to wash it down.

Good Things - Holidays 2012

Random good things from the past few weeks...

By happy chance, I discovered a fantastic spice store in a nearby market -- Colonel De.  Jars line shelves above and below the counter, filled with every imaginable spice, dried herb, flavored sugar, flavored salt, pepper, and spice blend.  I was, quite literally, a kid in a candy store.  Their most adorable offerings were samplers packaged in miniature tins, like this flavored sugar kit.  I can't wait to go back for their Some Like It Hot kit to taste different dried peppers and spicy blends!

Trader Joe's continues to rock my socks off.  Pomegranate arils already removed from the pomegranate?  Yes, please!  I've been adding the juicy seeds to everything, but my favorite dishes so far are an improvised pumpkin parfait (pumpkin puree, Greek yogurt, maple syrup, spices, chocolate granola, and pomegranate arils) or atop baked pumpkin oatmeal with maple syrup.

This salad has also been knocking my socks off recently - lacinato kale, granny smith apple, feta or goat cheese crumbles, pomegranate arils, and a mustardy, vinagery vinaigrette.  Since I'm still coming to terms with salads, the fact that I've enjoyed this salad 3 times last week is saying something.

I'd read about a set of four mini bottles of bitters in Bon Appetite and kept my acquisitive eye out for them.  I actually found these two quality kits at Anthropologie, of all places.  In the two sets from Scrappy's Bitters, there are both traditional flavors for bitters (orange, aromatics, celery) and some more unusual ones (lavender, caradamom).  No cocktails with them yet, though I couldn't resist sampling a few flavors with seltzer water.  The lavender is going to make for a killer lavender daquiri, inspired by one I enjoyed at The Winds restaurant in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Granola.  It's almost a niche market anymore, one that I'd avoided for a few years in search of balance.  See, I went to a rather liberal school...where some people might be labeled with the term granola.  So it just felt over the top to actually eat granola.  Then I rediscovered how dang tasty granola + yogurt is.  Follow that with Sprouted Kitchen's recipe for lemon cremes with thyme-oat crumble (it's granola in disguise, people!), and I was hooked again.

Best of all?  I can make my own granola.  For a lot less money, using only the ingredients I want to eat.  This is the second batch I've made in the last few months.  It's pumpkin pecan granola from The Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook, which is filled with so many tasty AND healthy recipes I actually want to eat.  

Coming sometime in the near future....David Leibovitz's persimmon cake!

Since I didn't have time to make it before Christmas, I frugally peeled and pureed my uber-ripe persimmons and stored them in the freezer.  I love the vibrant orange of persimmon!

Our New Year's Eve spread included the standard snacks (pretzels, salt and pepper chips), leftover tapas from a family shindig (piquillo peppers stuffed with manchego, herb and olive oil marinated feta, crudites), a full plate of Christmas cookies and candies (see the full list!), and a roasted pork tenderloin seasoned with smoked paprkia.  I roasted my first full tenderloin, people!  I even brined it for a few hours beforehand, another first for me!  It turned out moist and tender, perfectly cooked through because - get this - I used a meat thermometer! Bam, bam, bam, I started off 2013 kicking ass in the kitchen, if I do say so myself.

To go with the pork, I made one of Eric's favorites - oven roasted potatoes seasoned with salt, cumin, and chile pepper.  And sitting next to that, looking somewhat questionable, is one of the most delicious regional dishes ever to come from Cincinnati.  Skyline Chili Dip.  It's a layer of cream cheese on the bottom, topped with Skyline's famous Cincinnati-style chili from a can (it's a rather liquid chili, with miniscule pieces of meat and no bean, characterized by its use of chocolate) and lots of cheese.  Add chopped onion and Skyline's hot sauce after warming in the oven and you have some serious crack dip.  Well, I do mean crack.  Even after I ate dinner, I was still shoveling tortilla chip after tortilla chip of Skyline dip into my greedy little mouth. Mmmmmm...

(disclaimer: Eric refuses to acknowledge the glory that is Skyline Chili, claiming the actual chili is awful.  I have to agree, if you're eating it as a bowl of chili.  But on top of spaghetti (Cincy's three way, four way, or five way meals) or on top of a hot dog (coney style), it's amazing.)

(I also admit to eating Skyline's hot sauce on nearly everything.  Seriously.)

Good Things - July 2012 Edition

It's time to acknowledge the good things in life...


The Cherry Chomper emerged for the super brief but always delicious cherry season. I may have gone overboard on the cherries.  But he worked fantastically, and I now have a nice bag of pitted frozen cherries awaiting their fate in a cake or a clafoutis.

I can't help but love the Cherry Chomper. It's adorable and actually functional, which never seems to happen with kitchen gadgets. Hooray, Chomper!!!

He just looks so darn happy to pit those cherries!

My best friend married an incredible guy. I'm thrilled for them. And their wedding, which I was lucky enough to be in, was gorgeous.

Any time I attempt an updo, my hair decides to
do its own thing. Thankfully, a professional
sylist can coax my hair into exactly what I
longed for.  She had to use a ton of hair pins
and even more hairspray to do it.

Purple high heels.
This gorgeous bouquet.
Loved it. 

I may not harbor a passionate love of oatmeal like so many people out there, but I enjoy a good bowl or two every week.  I admit I use packets of microwaveable oats (Nature's Path brand has some delicious and nutritious ones I swear by!).  And I admit to adding in many other ingredients to make the oatmeal more appealing. I've had some successes recently (chocolate-raspberry-almond oatmeal), and some semi-successes, like this one below.

Here, I went crazy and cooked oatmeal on the stove in a blend of coconut milk and regular milk.  Since the oats turned to grainy mush in my mouth, I'm guessing I overcooked them.  But the fresh peach and blueberries....those were still very delicious.

Knowing my determination not to be defeated by any recipe, I'll be revisiting this sometime soon. Wish me luck!

 



It apparently is quite bonkers to make a birthday cake for yourself...but I did just that.  And I shared it. Though I kept the extra frosting for myself...it's that good.  I challenge you not to do the same.

Joy the Baker's Red Velvet Marble Cake
with The Best Chocolate Buttercream Icing.
Check back soon for my By the Book post on it.

Eric also took me out for a birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant, Meadowlark.  They recently moved into a larger building and added a bar area that turns out original and classic cocktails.  I initially ordered their Bubbling Shrub, a raspberry shrub drink, but they were out of the shrub syrup.  So I went for this gem instead:  strawberries and mint muddled with locally produced gin and -- wait for it! -- black pepper syrup.  Unconventional, but delicious.

Though I still prefer the rosemarry gin fizz as my main source of gin consumption...

The black pepper syrup gives a sharp, peppery
(duh) bite that works well against the sweetness
of the strawberries.

I've also been slightly obsessed with my new cookbooks, including Maria Speck's Ancient Grains for Modern Meals.  My whole grain and whole grain flour collections have increased dramatically in just a short time.  Anxious to test them out, I made a salad inspired by both a recipe from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals and a recipe a favorite blog, Running to the Kitchen.  It's wheat berries with oven-roasted grapes, crumbled feta cheese, and toasted pumpkin seeds.  I learned wheat berries have a nice chew to them that I really enjoy.

In fact, this little number has been my default method of using grapes that have turned a bit too soft for me to enjoy eating. Just roast the grapes with a bit of honey and salt, then mix with your favorite grain. Omit the feta and add a squeeze of orange juice to make it a sweeter salad. Or serve with feta over a bed of leafy greens. Versatile, easy, and smart. Bam.

 

Good Things - Friends and Fun

Some recent good things...

A tubby kitty with thumbs, balanced on her back, all four paws curled up.  I've never seen another cat relax like this, but she's often seen lying this way.  I love it. And I love it even more when she tips her head back, the top of her head flat on the floor, so she can see what's going on behind her.  

But I don't think she appreciated my photo taking...

The Fonz
Is it a sit-up? Or a look of loathing for disrupting her relaxation?
I vote loathing. She's not the exercising type.

Sweet new cornhole boards, complete with the University of Dayton colors and logo.  We made them ourselves!  Well, my uncle actually made them, since he is a woodworker for a living. He builds incredible wine racks and displays and gift boxes...so a cornhole set was cake for him.  We did all the painting ourselves, though!

These boards have been the perfect way to spend a summer evening with some friends.

My good friend Jac and I, before an evening of fun at the UD reunion. I miss seeing her more often and it's always a blast when we get to hang out. 

And there's just something exciting about getting all dressed up for a night out, whether it's with the boy or with some friends.

Jac and me
Le rowr!

Good Things: A Mini Garden and A Cake

We've finally planted our "garden" at our apartment.  For three years, we've attempted to grow a variety of herbs and veggies.  While my mint comes back like crazy (it took over the pot it currently calls home, surviving the winter and crowding out cilantro and thyme), I always seem to kill any poor basil plant I bring home.  So no basil (yet).  

Last year, my tomato plant only produced 5 tomatoes, all of which were partially rotted before picking.  We're optimistic that this year's tomato plant, started from seed by my roommate's boss, will fare better.  

We switched to bell peppers this year because last year's jalapenos were insanely hot.  Since I'm a spicy food fanatic, that's saying something.  The bacon-apple jalapeno poppers were just too hot to eat...so sad.

Our tiny garden at our tiny apartment.
We're growing thyme, oregano, bell peppers, mint, and tomatoes.

I discovered an amazing powder to add to my smoothies a few months ago, thanks to a few other blogs who were on a smoothie kick.  The company Amazing Grass uses a special process to harvest nutrients from grasses, veggies, and fruits that retains a high amount of nutrients and good-for-you things.  I'll admit I've never ordered a smoothie with grasses or veggies, but I wanted to up the nutritional ante of my smoothies.  So I tried packets of Amazing Grass's Green SuperFood line.  They blended easily, they tasted wonderful, and I actually felt like my smoothie made me feel better -- more energized, more healthy.  Who knew a smoothie could do that?  Now I'm addicted, and, thanks to the incredible local health food store, I was able to purchase two containers for the price of one! 

So far, I've enjoyed a smoothie with a scoop of the Green SuperFood in it 2-3 times a week for the past two weeks and I've noticed an improvement in how I feel and even look.  I'm getting my fruits and veggies and then some from this powder.  I'm definitely addicted.

My absolute favorite smoothie addition.
The chocolate flavor is incredible too!

This week, I tried a recipe from Sassy Radish's blog from Rhubarb Buttermilk Pudding Cake.  With a name like that, how could I not?  I used frozen sliced rhubarb, cooked for a few minutes in lemon juice and sugar and cornstarch.  Layered around a tender buttermilk cake, the rhubarb was the star.  

Best of all?  This cake was so simple to put together.  It took only a few minutes and produced the most delicious snacking cake. I've had it for breakfast, for a pre-dinner snack, and for dessert...and there's still half a cake left. 

I may not have been able to wait long enough to
take a picture before tasting...

Rhubarb and a tender buttermilk cake, all mixed up.

Hot damn, where's the Greek yogurt or ice cream?