…has almost driven me crazy.

I’ve been poring over my cookbooks for baby, eagerly anticipating baby M’s first foray into the world of “solid” foods.  My mil gave me the organic cookbook, and after reading it my eyes have been opened. (Did you know, for instance, that genes from fish have been inserted into tomatoes to prolong shelf life? Yummy! And so natural!)  I am going to prepare organic foods exclusively for my baby for as long as I can.

The Hungry Monkey book is a favorite of mine.  The author, Matthew Amster-Burton, is a local Seattleite, and he writes in a down to earth, humorous way that I really like.  I read this book while I was pregnant and now I’m reading it again and it’s even better now that I have a little baby wisdom under my belt (ha – no pun intended!).

I decided on Monday, I think it was, to make up a batch of applesauce for me and the little one to share.  Today I finally got to it. (You know, I could have made this baby food a heck of alot sooner if that baby hadn’t been slowing me down!)

I know that you can just mash up the steamed fruit and serve it chunky style.  But since this was our first try, I wanted it to be smooooth.  Just my luck, as I was hitting my stride, my food processor decided to break.

After a few not-so-mommy-ish words were spoken, I rallied and switched to plan B;  hauling out my Beaba BabyCook steamer/blender.  This was my first try with this gizmo – and I loved it!  Super easy.  I made a nice batch of homemade applesauce (ingredients: golden delicious apples & a little water).

At this point, I didn’t even care that much if she ate it or not.  I had a feeling that this would be kind of anti-climactic anyway.  I had been trying to make this stuff for nearly a week, and killed off my food processor to boot.  Basically I was in it for the blog photos towards the end.

But to my surprise, my toothless little buddy actually ate a very small amount.  And the look of confusion and befuddlement on her face made up for all the work and swear words. : )

And I ate some while typing at the computer.

I don’t usually shop at Safeway.  One reason: because each of their organic apples has three stickers on it. Every. Single. Apple.  Do you really need that many stickers on every piece of fruit?

Scrubbed shiny and clean.

Quartered, ready for a 10 minute steam.

Smooth and delicious!

With extra to freeze.

Have a lovely, healthy weekend!

(And if you buy tomatoes this weekend, consider getting the ones without fins ; )

Jenn : )

… a message to Paula Deen.

Hello!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Our plans fell through when our friends called to say that they had the flu.  We decided to keep Madeline at home, so we celebrated with a quick roasted chicken, just the three of us.

I hope to have photos of our newly renovated upstairs, soon.  We have a few minor things to finish up and we’ll finally be done (we started this renovation all the way back in June!)  I’ve started slowly moving my studio upstairs, out of the dark, depressing basement (did you hear the champagne pop?) and we’ve already spent a few nights in our new bedroom.

Madeline keeps me very busy, but she and I are working out a routine, and I’m getting better at multi-tasking and doing things one handed.  I have a new respect for all you moms out there – this really is the toughest of jobs.

I have very little reading time lately, but I try to do a little here and there, while I’m feeding the baby.  One of my recent reads, is this issue of Food Network Magazine that my friend Christina sent me.

It has several recipes that I’d like to try, some great gadget ideas and lots of delicious photos.  I read it straight through and then set it aside, in a spot where I see it every day…

… and the more I look at it, the more I chuckle and think to myself:

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Dear Paula Deen,

You seem like such a nice lady.

What is going on with your hair?

My great grandmother had a silver Christmas tree that spun around and had four different colored lights that shined on it.  I’m pretty sure it was made before lead testing was popular.

You should find a new stylist.

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(Stay tuned – my next post involves a squirrel!)

Jenn : )

Here’s another work in progress item…

…getting through this book.

Have you ever gotten about halfway through reading a book and realized that you don’t like it?  But by that point you’ve invested half a book’s worth of time, and now you feel like you ought to finish the darn thing?

I thought this would be a fun read, since I’ve been in a similar situation myself – cooking along with Alton Brown.  I’m about 3/4 through reading this and I still haven’t gotten to the good part.  In fact, I’ve pretty much decided that there isn’t going to be a good part.

I don’t like the main character.

The story isn’t engaging…. or believable half the time.

The main character constantly equates food to sex to the point of ridiculousness.  ie: at one point she likens trussed chickens to “sex-crime victims”.  (Um… nope.  Can’t say I’ve ever had that thought in my own kitchen.)

The movie promo suggests that Julie and Julia share screen time about 50/50.  I haven’t seen the movie yet, but this is not so in the book.  Julia is sadly missing most of the time.

What really stinks is that I have very little time to read lately.  Maybe one of these days I’ll go get a coffee and slog through the rest of this thing and be done with it.

Save yourself the trouble and just rent the movie!

____________________________________

Another to-do I’ve got on the list is going over to Goodreads and logging in the books I have finished.

Here are a couple:

I don’t work on my Goodreads reading list very often – but I do love seeing what my friends are reading and taking a peek at their book reviews.  If you enjoy books – this is a great way to discover new ones and share your favorites with your friends.

‘Til tomorrow!

Jenn : )

For this week’s Two Spoonfuls post, I’m tackling Chapter #6 of Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here For The Food.  This week’s technique: Braising.  Braising and Stewing both begin with searing or pan frying the main ingredient and finishing the cooking by simmering.  The meat is seared, to brown it, then cold water and veggies are added, the dish is covered and the entire dish is simmered “slow & low”, to achieve maximum flavor and tenderness of the meat.

The difference between a Braise and a Stew:

Braise = uses a large piece of meat, small amount of liquid, covered and cooked on low heat.

Stew = uses lots of smaller pieces of meat, submerged in liquid, covered and cooked on low heat.

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This was a fun chapter for me, because I love a good braise or stew.  Especially in the Fall and Winter.

It was a bit tricky to find oxtails in August, but my persistent husband managed to find some frozen at our local grocery.  Braises and Stews are great “One Pot” meals, that (for the most part) don’t leave you with a sink full of dishes when you’re done.  They also tend to make quite a bit of food – and it keeps getting better as leftovers.  Leftovers can also be frozen for nights when you don’t want to cook!  And above all – they just taste good.  All that cooking time results in a wonderful, tender meat and savory sauce.

Alton gives us a few bonus tips in this chapter – including a section all about Pressure Cookers. (I don’t own one – do you?)

Alton also includes a selection of recipes to try out your new Braising/Stewing skills.

I really wanted to try Oxtails, but Alton doesn’t provide a recipe for these, so I used an Emeril recipe for Braised Oxtails with Sweet Potato Pudding and Fried Okra.  I’m not a fan of okra – so I left that part out. Overall this recipe was easy, and definitely a learning experience:

Emeril calls for cutting the oxtail into 1″ pieces.  This is very difficult to do, since the tail bones are not straight, but instead branch out into the meat.  I left mine whole and ate the meat off the bones when they were finished.

Like most recipes, the browning will take longer than you expect.  Factor that in.

(The finished dish!)

We didn’t like the Sweet Potato Pudding.  It was extremely sweet, and had alot of butter pooled at the top.  Plus, the meat is so tasty, it would have been much better paired with a simple starch: plain mashed potatoes or cooked rice.

The Oxtails and their accompanying sauce = fabulous!

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And now I’m going to sign off on the last Two Spoonfuls post for me.  I think this series has run it’s course.  I’ve enjoyed trying new recipes, new techniques and learning from the great Alton Brown.  I want to thank everyone who has been reading along and commenting on this series of cooking blog posts.

I’ll still be blogging about my kitchen adventures, but not on a set schedule.

As Julia would say: “Bon Appétit!”

Jenn : )

For this week’s Two Spoonfuls post I’m setting Alton and his chapter on water aside.  Instead, I’m going to share a delicious dessert that Josh and I have been enjoying all summer.  It’s for Roasted Fresh Fruit.  Yeah, I know what you’re thinking:  “Roasted?? What, it’s not hot enough for you in Seattle, Jenn?!?” I know.  We are having record temperatures here in the Northwest.  But that just shows you how good this recipe is – I’m actually willing to turn on the oven in the midst of this heat.  So if I can do it here – then you can certainly make this where you are*!

(*Residents of Death Valley excepted.)

I’m using a modified recipe from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast.  I really like this cookbook.  Normally I don’t mind recipes that have loads of ingredients and take a while to make.  But sometimes you just don’t have half a day to cook, and you just want something good, fast.

There are many recipes on the internet for roasting fruit, and all are open to tweeking by the home cook.  Don’t like peaches?  Then don’t roast them.  Want to see what a pluot tastes like?  Throw it in!  You can modify this basic recipe to include many of your favorite summer fruits.

Here I’ve used: Peaches, Red Plums, Black Plums, Nectarines and Pluots.

(Note:  This is a great recipe for salvaging bruised fruit or fruit that’s gone a little soft.  Don’t throw it out – roast it!)

I use fresh rosemary from our yard.  The recipe calls for 2 sprigs of rosemary.  I take the leaves off of the stems (just run your fingers down the length of the stem from top to bottom and they’ll fall right off) and mix them right into the fruit.

The recipe calls for 2T. unsalted butter and 2-3T. sugar.  The last time I made this recipe I forgot to add the sugar – and Josh said he liked it even better!  So you can play around with how much sweetness you add to this dish, another plus.

Also add 1T. fresh lime juice. Did you know that if you gently roll a lemon or lime against your counter top (press down just a little as you roll), it will give more juice?  I’ve also read that you can microwave lemons and limes briefly and they’ll produce more juice as well.

Mix everything together in a roasting pan and roast in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the fruit is tender and there is lots of juice in the pan.  I usually give the fruit a stir about half way through.

Let cool for a bit and serve over your favorite frozen yogurt or icecream.

Usually I use 1 of each fruit and that makes just enough for Josh and I.  This time, I made a bigger batch.  I’m going to try keeping it in the fridge and warming it slightly in the microwave for desserts over the weekend.

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Here are some other Roasted Fruit variations:

1.) From Ina

2.) From Rachael Ray

3.) From Giada De Laurentiis

Hope you’re all enjoying the fruits of summer!

Now what’s that other Spoonful been up to?

Jenn : )

This week Alton and I are tackling the exciting world of water!!!

Did that sound enthusiastic?  Believe it or not – Alton really does get excited about the process of cooking with water: Boiling, Poaching, Simmering, Blanching and Steaming; all get thoroughly discussed in chapter 5 of  I’m Just Here For The Food.  For this week’s cook-along with Alton, I decided to skip over Boiling (we’ve all boiled something, haven’t we?) and instead, delved into the technique of Poaching.  I have poached chicken many times.  It seems that every cook has their own steps for poaching, and basically they all work.  I like poaching chicken because I am completely in control of what is added to it.  I can toss in a little salt, to heighten the flavor, or leave it out for the ultimate in healthy protein.

Alton fancies his chicken up a bit by adding white wine, peppercorns and bay leaves.

I have to say – this was the most moist poached chicken I’ve ever made.

The recipe is super easy and yields alot of chicken.

*This would be especially good to make on a chilly afternoon,

as the chicken poaches away for over an hour and warms your kitchen nicely.

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But then the question remains:

What do I do with all this delicious chicken I just poached?

Well, in his book Alton gives several suggestions.

The one I followed was to simmer the chicken in my favorite barbecue sauce.  Very simple.  I bought some whole wheat rolls, a jar of pickle spears, our favorite chips and wa-la! A fun summertime dinner that Josh and I both loved.

I still have chicken left over, so I’ll be trying some of Alton’s other suggestions in the next couple days.

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Alton defines Poaching as:

“Cooking food gently in liquid that has been heated until the surface just begins to quiver”

(or, just below a simmer.)

Alton’s steps for perfect poaching:

1. Start with liquid at a boil (this will kill surface bacteria).

2. Drop water temperature to final desired temperature of the meat (that way, the food never overcooks).

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Fun facts about water from Alton’s book:

Distilled Water: is pure H2O.  Everything else has been removed.

Natural Sparkling Water: is naturally carbonated spring water or spring water that has gone flat and been recarbonated.

Club Soda, Seltzer, Soda Water: are all classified as soft drinks, not bottled water: they are essentially tap water that’s been manipulated by man.

Bottled Water that says “Purified Water” or “Drinking Water”: is water that’s come from a municipal source (the tap).

“Glacial Water”: must by law come from a glacier.

“Naturally Sparkling Water”: must come from a spring, with bubbles.

Hard Water: is water that has absorbed CO2 (becoming acidic), then comes into contact with minerals.

Soft Water: is water that is relatively free of dissolved solids.

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Poaching a whole chicken is a healthy, economical way to feed your family.  You don’t have to use a bottle of wine, you can poach using chicken stock and water, or even just salted water.  The resulting pulled chicken meat can be served over greens or made into chicken salad.

Now, lets see what’s going on over in Ginny’s Kitchen.

Jenn : )

It’s product review time!

Well, it was product review time two weeks ago, technically, but it has been very chaotic at the Maruska house and so I’m posting this a bit later than intended.  Ginny has been very understanding and has graciously done some extra baking while I’ve gotten caught up.  (Thanks!)

My product review is for the Chocolate Bar Brownie Pan from Williams-Sonoma.

This is a very nice pan – it’s a good weight and made wonderful brownies -

they were just the right blend of crunchy and moist (I especially like the crunchy part!)

But the best part of the pan, was that it came with the recipe for the brownies.

This one’s not for the faint of heart, folks.

That’s 1 & 1/4 sticks of butter with bittersweet chocolate.

Plus cocoa powder….

…in my favorite mixing bowl.

Have I told you about this bowl before?

I went to a potluck dinner back in college and afterwards the host gave me some things to take home and she put them into this plastic bowl, which someone had left behind.  This bowl is beat up.  It’s ugly.  It’s scratched and stained.  But it has the best shape of all the mixing bowls I have.  It’s deep and has straight sides (which cuts down on splattering immensely.)  and I love it.  When it’s in the dishwasher and I need to mix something – I miss it.  It’s scratched and stained because I use it so much.  After all these years,  I pity the gal who left this bowl behind.  Sometimes the best things in life really are free!

But back to the brownies…

Instead of fussing with a double boiler,

the chocolate and butter can be melted in the microwave.

Once the dry ingredients have been mixed with the wet…

…you’ll have to summon all of your willpower not to grab a spoon and go crazy.

This part of the recipe is not easy.

Those spoons are close by…

Gooey batter goes into the pan…

…crusty, moist brownies come out of the oven.

These are drool worthy,

seriously good brownies.

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In conclusion:

Pros:

Delicious recipe for brownies (you may never go back to the boxed kind).

The pan worked great – these were done right at 35 minutes, as promised.

12 perfect serving sizes straight from the pan.

Oh the crusty, moist goodness!

Cons:

Cost of pan.  I think $30 is a bit steep.  But if you don’t treat yourself to special cookware very often and you love chocolate, this would be a nice indulgence.

Clean up.  Even after soaking, I needed a vegetable scrubber to get into the nooks and crannies of the words “Chocolate” in each square.  That really didn’t take that long, though.  Definitely a fair trade off to wow your friends with these yummy goodies!

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Overall, I’m happy that I have this pan and I’ll use it again to share with friends.

Jenn : )

It’s that time again – another Two Spoonfuls post!

This time we’re sautéing along with Alton in

Chapter 4 of I’m Just Here For The Food.

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Alton’s tips for a perfect sauté:

1. Prepare all foods: cut, chop, etc…

(Chopped carrots and zucchini.)

2. Add cooking oil after the pan is hot.

3. Add aromatics (onion, celery, ginger, etc..) and toss for 30 seconds.

(Minced fresh ginger.)

4. Add firm vegetables or meats and toss until half cooked.

(Carrots.)

Then add high moisture ingredients like tomatoes, etc..

(Zucchini, salt and pepper.)

5. Add final flavors: ie citrus juice or vinegar.

6. Toss with salt and pepper.

7. Top with grated cheese, nuts, bread crumbs, herbs, etc…

(Toasted sesame seeds.)

(Done and delicious!)

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Alton’s sauté recipes can be done with a handy non-stick pan, and I was very tempted to do just that.  The reason?  Lets just say that over the years I’ve made several attempts to try this technique using a real, authentic metal sauté pan.  It’s so disappointing to prep a beautiful piece of food and gently placed it into a pan, only to have half of it stick there and fall apart.  And lets not even talk about the amount of elbow grease it takes to scrub that pan clean after the food and pan have fused into one entity.

But this time I decided to be brave, dust off my metal sauté pan and give it a go.

And, following Alton’s steps…. look!

When I was finished, that sauté pan was clean as a whistle.

: )

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Here are some fun sauté recipes that you could try:

Alton Brown’s Glazed Carrots,

Emeril’s Quick Vegetable Sauté,

Alton’s Fungal Sauté (Yum!).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now, how ’bout we see what’s been

happening over in Ginny’s kitchen?

Jenn : )

Hello Readers!

It’s been a bit chaotic here in the Maruska house.  I’ve had lots of house projects going on (possibly including some renovation work) and I have 5 custom orders to do for the shop (4 needlebooks and a custom project tote).  All these goings on have certainly kept me out of trouble, but sadly, have given me little time for blogging (and to everyone I owe emails to – you’ll be hearing from me soon!).

So here is my latest Two Spoonfuls post: Chapter 4 of Alton Brown’s “I’m Just Here For The Food”.

This time I’m tackling immersion Frying.

I made one recipe from Alton’s book: Quick-Dip Potato Strips.

The only ingredients for this recipe are: canola oil, a potato, salt & pepper.

This has to be one of the easiest recipes I’ve tried in awhile.  And according to Alton, he’s been able to create his own home made potato chips at a cost of approximately $0.22 for a large bags worth of chips.  Compared to store bought, that’s pretty economical!  And these are fun to make.  This past Wednesday night (aka “LOST night” in our house) we had two friends over and we all took turns making chips.  My friends really enjoyed it and I bet kids would love this, too.

In his book, Alton goes into great detail about the science of frying, types of oils, smoke points, etc.  He provides many recipes to try out your new immersion frying skills, including a homemade tempura batter recipe.  I used several of Alton’s pointers to make my chips a success:  I used a Dutch oven and heated it up before adding my oil (oil starts to degrade once it’s passed a certain temp., so it’s best not to heat it along with the pan.), I used a combination candy and oil thermometer while I was frying (these can easily be purchased in your local grocery store.) and I kept an inverted metal rack and paper towels close by to drain my finished chips.

Using an ordinary potato peeler I peeled potato strips right into a bowl of cold water.

Before frying, I gave them a quick spin in the salad spinner.

Keep that temp. between 360° and 380° F!

Plain ‘ol potato strips go into the oil…

…and turn into crispy, delicious homemade chips!

This is the beauty shot I took when I made these for Josh and I.

When the guys came over on Wednesday – the chips never made it to the serving platter!

Yeah.  They’re that good.

(Here is a similar recipe from Alton, found on the Food Network site.)

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Since I had the oil out already, I was inspired to make up my own quick tempura dinner.

This isn’t Alton’s recipe – instead I used a box mix that I got in the Asian section of my grocery.

I sliced up a variety of veggies (onion, sweet potato, green beans and zucchini) and a few large shrimp.

Into the oil…

…and onto paper towels.

Delicious!

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I had alot of fun giving immersion frying a try. I like how quickly the food is cooked – making this a great option for a fast, warm snack or dinner.  I already had a candy/oil thermometer, so my only equipment investment was the metal strainer for getting the hot foods out of the oil (that cost about $7).  And I’ve got to say it again – my guests LOVED the chips.

So buy a couple potatoes, invite some friends over, and gather ’round the stove = you’ll have alot of fun!

My next technique to master will be Sautéing!

Jenn : )

Hello readers!

For this week’s Two Spoonfuls post we’ll be exploring Chapter #4 of Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here For The Food.

Chapter #4 covers Pan Frying, Immersion Frying and Sauté.  I’ve chosen to cover each of these in a separate post, because immersion frying (deep frying) is a new technique for me, and I want to give it my full attention.

This week I made Alton’s recipe for Eggplant Parmesan, in which you pan fry the eggplant before assembling the final dish.  Yeah, I know – everybody has panfried something before, but what Alton brings to the table is a wealth of sciencey information, charts and illustrations covering every aspect of frying.  After reading this chapter, you’ll know all about: breading, batters, the anatomy of a French fry, why oil and water don’t mix, fat saturations, smoke points, you name it!

Alton’s Basic Steps For Breading and Pan Frying:

1. Season dry food with s & p.

2. Set up an assembly line to bread your food.

3. Dredge food in flour (seasoned but not salted).

4. Shake off excess flour (very, very important).

5. Coat food in eggs (beaten with 2t. water per egg).

6. Coat with crumbs.

7. Let rest for at least 30 minutes so egg has time to set.

8. Fry in fat no deeper than 1/2 height of food.

Eggplant just beginning to fry.

Nicely browned and crispy.

I layered my slices in an 8″ x 8″ dish, switching between vertical and horizontal.

The final meal – fabulous!

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So…..

……..have you ever followed a recipe and when you’re all done you think to yourself “What did they mean by that?” I’ve tried many, many recipes in my day and occasionally I come across one of these.  For me it’s usually something along the lines of “Now add anchovies”  when anchovies weren’t part of the ingredient list.  Things like that can usually be explained by an editing error or simple oversight.

Oddly enough, I found myself with that same feeling of “What the heck, Alton Brown?” after I completed this recipe.  There were minor things that can be explained by personal preference; for example, this recipe calls for a mere 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs.  Maybe I used a larger eggplant than Alton did… or maybe I couldn’t help myself and was a little more heavy handed with the panko than he is (I love panko!).  But I used at least twice the amount of panko that was called for.

But the big question on my mind is why (why, Alton?) does this recipe say “In a heavy-bottom pot, heat 1/2 inch oil to 350°F.” While at the same time you instruct us to “Cut the eggplant into 1/4-inch slices…” And the last of your Basic Steps For Pan Frying clearly says: Fry in fat no deeper than 1/2 height of food. ???

I don’t know the answer to that one.

All I can say is that the eggplant was quite tasty, and overall easy and fun to make.

But I’m scratching my head as to why you’ve contradicted yourself.

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Alton doesn’t share this recipe online, but there are many other Eggplant Parmesan recipes that you can try, incorporating Alton’s Basic Steps For Pan Frying.  My advice:  have a pair of tongs handy, minimize splattering by frying in your Dutch oven, and don’t use too much oil, it’s overkill.

From Tyler Florence

From Bobby Flay

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Next time: Immersion Frying (gulp!)

Now lets see what sweet things are happening over in Ginny’s kitchen!

Jenn : )