Cinnamon Swirl Recovery

Lately I've been checking out back issues of Cook's Illustrated.  If you turn to page 29 in March-April 2012 you can find out which canned whole tomatoes to buy and which to avoid.  Hunt's Whole Peeled, they recommend.  San Marzano, they recommend with reservation.  These are grown domestically with seeds from Italy.  (You still can't beat their packaging.) 

Today I tackled The Best Cinnamon Swirl Bread from the same issue.  Rewind to Friday morning when our bus outing takes everything out of me.  I didn't think twice because they always do, but I took my temperature and it was a smidge high.  Finally a documented reason to feel crummy and call in!  Eric came home early and the weekend commenced.  With no children to chase I took my shuffling to the kitchen and made some chicken soup.  This feat thanks to Tamar Adler's, An Everlasting Meal, explaining how simply this can happen.  By Saturday morning the fun of being sick had worn off.  Naomi spearheaded the birthday festivities for her dad and Verity thundered around the house.  I stayed in bed and watched Sense and Sensibility.

And here we are on a beautifully sunny Sunday.  It's Naomi's turn to feel a little crummy, sadly.  My big cinnamon bread moment had arrived.  You can't win if you don't play.  Am I right?  

I followed the recipe step by step -down to the 32 pieces of butter tossed in flour.

To folding the dough in thirds like a business letter only to roll it out again.

Six hours later..

I don't know if it was the best ever, but it was the best I'd ever made.    

The Meal Plan 03.09.14

It's rice week.  My eyes are on the elephants.  A couple of weeks ago I bought this twenty-five pound bag of rice on a whim after I saw it in the cart of a friend walking down the rice isle.  I was always buying these puny little bags of rice and running out, mostly because I once cooked old rice and I payed for it.  Rice does go bad.  Not this time.  Now I'm even measuring with my fingers when i cook it.   Gone are the 2:1 days.  Up to the knuckle or just below for 1 cup of dry rice -this tip from the same friend who sold me on the bag of rice.  

Monday:  Sweet Potato Blintzes.  Already in the works so there's no looking back.  

Tuesday:  Curried Split Peas over rice.  

Wednesday:  Otsu  My new recipe to try.  Thank you, KM!

Thursday: Gnocchi.  Rest night.  

Friday:  Shrimp Fried Rice.  BA March 2013.  If I can't get shrimp, I'll just use the sauce and substitute some veggies or chicken.  

:)

What about you?

The Meal Plan 3.03.14

There comes a day when only pizza will do.  Today is one of those days.  We need something to look forward to for dinner.  We need this most days of the week, but especially today since we are all tired.  I'm tired because I stayed up to watch Cate Blanchett win Best Actress for Blue Jasmine.  I didn't want to find out who won at 6:30 the next morning before my first cup of coffee.  I wanted her to win and I wanted to know if she would mention Woody Allen.   She wasn't supposed to because of the charges facing him right now.  But she did thank him for casting her, of course she did, and it seemed fitting no matter the circumstances.  After that it was a Women Power speech, and though initially I thought to myself, "Are you really going there right now?" it's nice to hear some of that from time to time.  Considering we really have overcome a lot over the years, damn it.  

So anyway, I'm tired and Naomi asked me at lunch if we were having pizza or french fries for dinner tonight.  I laughed and then she didn't.

Really quick, last Monday's Chickpea Saute with Greek Yogurt was the most interesting dish I've made in recent memory.  If you don't own Plenty put a hold on it at the library or borrow it from a friend.  And buy some caraway seeds.  I didn't end up making sweet potato blintzes or burritos.  Those sweet potatoes ended up as oven fries on Friday night.  And when Thursday rolled around I subbed out my lentil soup for Rebecca's Lebanese Lentils -a wonderful recipe I rescued from the abyss of my inbox.  I will share that with you another time.    

Up Next:

Monday:  Pizza with a side of roasted brussel sprouts.  Those have been lurking in my fridge since last week.
Shrove Tuesday:  These buttermilk pancakes! with bacon I think.  

Wednesday:  Baked Potatoes, those still need to be eaten, with sauteed mushrooms.  Or flavor sponges as a friend titled them.    

Thursday:  Black Bean Rice Bowl with avocado and homemade salsa (hopefully).  

Friday:  Lentil Soup.  Sometimes Fridays are like Mondays in my kitchen.  Hold on for dear life.

The Meal Plan 2.24.14

I didn't tell you too much about the new series I began last week.  I just threw it at you and hoped it was mildly intriguing.  Is there anything intriguing about weekday meals?  

Last week started off strong.  The pizza dough turned out really well.  I followed Yvette's recipe from Homemade Winter.  She called for part semolina flour which could have been the reason it was so good.  Or, it could have been that I just put more effort into making it.  I set the timer and kneaded the dough with Naomi's help for the full ten minutes.  Tuesday we were away and Wednesday was lentil soup.  Fine.  Thursday we were without Eric for dinner.  He's our risotto guy, but I stuck with the plan and made the cauliflower risotto anyway.  Verity ate it.  I counted four bites for Naomi, and the fifth was not so sneakily  spit into her napkin.  By Friday I was done.  I started making dinner, realized I could not complete the task and called Eric with this update.  We ended up ordering some pasta from Basta Pasta -that is the very short version of that decision making process.  

This week I'm going to try to keep it simple.  I'm trying one new recipe and the rest will be reruns.  

Monday:  I didn't use any chickpea credits last week so we are going to try again.  This time with a recipe that looks more interesting to me.  Still from Plenty, which I am borrowing from my neighbor.  Chickpea Saute with Greek yogurt.  It calls for caraway seeds and lots of carrots and swiss chard.  And lemon juice.  Lemons help February.   

Tuesday:  Off night!

Wednesday:  Lentil Soup.  We have this one night every week.  

Thursday:  Sweet Potato Blintzes which are pretty labor intensive but the girls gobble them up and make great leftovers.  I'll make black bean sweet potato "burritos" if I'm not up for it.  

Friday:  Pizza.  I think.  I don't have any more semolina flour, but will hopefully be kneading for the full ten minutes again.  

Are you making anything mildly intriguing this week?  :)     

Winter Still

It's still winter here.  We are still sloshing our way through it.  We are still eating our way through it.  It's not so bad really.  It hits 40 degrees and I don't know what to do.  Wait, give me back the teens.  We know the teens.  40 degrees and you feel like you should go on a walk and never stop.  We did that yesterday and Naomi asked to be picked up the entire way back.  Verity was on my back.  I thought we were done with the ergo, but with the snow and the ice, she is back in it.  She's such an easy baby to carry.  A heavy baby to carry.  

On today's big adventure we made sure to leave the ergo and bring the stroller.  I gave an evil eye to every house who hadn't shoveled wide enough to allow a tiny little umbrella stroller to pass. We shoved our way to the bus stop.  We rode the bus.  We rode the T.  We rode the Purple Train.  The man on the purple train wasn't happy to see my stroller.  But I averted my eyes to his glare and heaved it up the train steps with Verity in it.  The purple train took us with friends to this idyllic bookstore, just in time for story hour.  It's such a cheery place; filled with color and books.  And it has one of the nicest bathrooms I've ever visited with a toddler.  

I have neglected to take any pictures of my children this week.  It's too bad, but also really nice.  I missed THE picture of Verity's babyhood this week.  With the standing still and the falling snow and the rosy cheeks.  I just didn't have my phone on me.  Who wants to bring a phone outside to play in the snow?  I hope I will always remember the picture of her in my head.  I'm glad it belongs to me at least.  

Here's one from last week's snowstorm.  It's very similar.

And here are the scones I made this week.  Motivation:  so I could eat them.  I have some serious habits to break if Spring ever comes.  

Cup of Jo had a great post a while back about surviving Winter.  I've taken number nine to heart.  Because she's right -it's winter and all bets are off.  

Have a great weekend..

The Meal Plan 2.16.14

I'm happy to say you will be able to count on me for at least one small something moving forward.
The Meal Plan.  My meal plan for dinners each week.  I've been at it since the fall and I'm starting to get the hang of it.  It's really a sketch, written in pencil.  The meals get moved around, bumped back, replaced.  But I can say that it adds an element of peace to my week when originally I thought it would only add constraint with no flavor.  And since I always want to know what my friends are making for dinner, I'll start by sharing what's on my table!

1. pizza: oof's basic recipe -Homemade Winter by Yyette Van Boven
2.  Lentil Soup -duh
3.  Chickpea, tomato and bread soup, Plenty by Ottolenghi
4.  Swiss Chard, Tomato and Garlic over Polenta -friend's recipe archive
5.  Baked Risotto with Cauliflower -Homemade Winter
6.  Baked potatoes with sauteed mushrooms -back-up meal idea from Bon Appetite because there appears to be strong tomato overtones throughout. :)

I'll report back.

Nashville

Nashville lived up to its hype.  Emily and I went for the weekend, flying on one regional jet after another to get there.  After each leg we would celebrate that we were still mothers.  We went to have dinner with our little brother before he flew off to Jalalabad.  J-bad.  It was really sad to say goodbye.  We moaned and laughed continuously the rest of the weekend and ate our way around Music City.  It helped that the food was so good.  

Since returning, I've been googling "antique bungalow for sale boston".  Nashville was dotted with them and I want one, just one.