wise craft

food things

I have such a hard time remembering what dinners work in our family. (I just read that Erin has dinner prep on the brain as well, and I think she just convinced me to make some potholders while I'm sprucing up the kitchen) Peter says the reason I probably don't like cooking dinner (which, admittedly, I really don't) is because I try and reinvent the wheel too much and that I should just stick to what works. Once again, he's right. Dammit.

I started tearing out recipes from Everyday Food a couple of years ago only when they "won" over the family, and am now finally getting around to organizing them. One of those projects I wish I'd done a lot sooner. They've been living, stuffed and overcrowded, in a 3 ring binder that I quite frankly was a little afraid to open. Now they have room to breathe in a wider binder, with a pretty cover made from Denyse Schmidt's County Fair "Tulip Medallion" fabric (and it just so happened that Kathy was having- and still is having- an incredibly good sale on home dec fabric(if you click over looking for Denyse Schmidt County Fair, I should apologize in advance, cause I bought quite a bit of it...you'll be seeing this fabric quite a bit around my house).

Making a pretty cover for a collection of recipes that work for us is a fairly straightforward project that I have literally wanted to do for years, YEARS! Why did I wait so long? It took me about an hour, and what a great mental lift I get going through this when I begin dinner.

The little notes I quickly scribble on the recipes are probably THE most important part. These kids of mine, self-diagnosed supertasters and there are important, special considerations to be made in order to accommodate. Any "green stuff" left in that couscous could create an extra 30 minutes at the table for an 8 year old who just won't touch unidentifiable green of any kind.

(Some simple directions on how to make a binder cover at the end of the post.)

In other food news, we are thrilled to have Komforte Chockolates in the January issue of Cooking Light as one of the Editor's Dozen.

When we have news (and we will, there are new flavors in the pipeline!) you can follow us on twitter and on facebook and be the first to know.

To make a fabric cover for a 3-ring binder:

1/2 yd. of a home dec weight fabric

disappearing ink fabric marker

scissors

coordinating thread

iron

ruler

pins

1. Lay your fabric wrong side up on your work surface.

2. Lay your binder on top of the fabric, opened and flat. Using your disappearing fabric marker (or a light pen mark), trace completely around your binder while its laying flat. Put the binder aside.

3. Using your ruler, add 2" beyond the lines you traced on the top and the bottom of the binder. Add 4 1/2" on each of the sides. This will allow for turnback and hems.

4. Cut out fabric on the lines you drew in step 3.

5. Hem the sides. Fold in 1/2" toward the wrong side and press flat. Now fold in 4" towards the wrong side and press. Sew this hem (but don't sew to the cover or you won't be able to insert your binder). Repeat on other side.

6. Now hem the top and bottom. Using your iron, , fold 1/2" toward the wrong side, press. Turn back another 1/2" and press. Do this on the opposite side. Sew these hems close to the edge, going through all layers (including the tops and bottoms of the flaps in step 5). Press smooth.

That's it really, put in your binder and you're done. I embroidered a scrap piece of burlap for the front (I kind of free handed the letters, I'm sure you can tell.)

shortbread chocolate chip cookies

 

Years ago, when I started the job that brought me out here to Seattle, my new coworkers and I had a cookie exchange for the holidays. The cookies I had that day are still some of my favorites, I still make several of them. My friend Nancy was there and she made these shortbread chocolate chip cookies and they are truly yummy. Definitely once a year cookies, considering the amount of butter in them. What I love about these is that they are rich (you really don't overindulge in these, and I make them small for that reason), they meet the butter to cookie ratio requirement for Peter, and best of all, they are drop cookies. Here's the way I look at it...just when I've spent the most of the day mixing other kinds of cookie dough...chilling it, cutting it out, chilling it again, baking it, then decorating it, only to realize I've really only got about 6 cookies, these shortbread cookies are so simple. Just mix the ingredients, use a tablespoon to scoop out and drop on to a parchment lined baking sheet. I know you'll want to do more, asking yourself if you should flatten them, or at least roll them in sugar, or thinking it would be cute to cut them into christmas tree shapes, but really, there's just no need. Make these and you will have plenty to put out on a plate when someone comes over. Which they will...

Shortbread Chocolate Chip Cookies

16 oz. butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add in vanilla, then slowly add in flour and mix between batches (add salt to the flour before you begin adding it to the mixer). When mixed, add in chocolate chips and just stir to combine. Drop in tablespoon-sized balls (or even slightly smaller) 1" apart on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. (Hide half so you'll have them for later.)

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I still have several things to get done, and I think its time to take a little blog break. I will be back in a couple of weeks and my head is spinning with all the new things I want to start once 2010 is here. In the meantime, I want to thank every single one of you who has stopped here this year. For all of your encouragement and support as I share my creative thoughts with you. This space continues to be an inspiration to me and, I hope, to you. I also want to thank all of the wonderful folks who have purchased sponsor spots on the blog throughout the year. And I would like to welcome my newest sponsor, tiny prints.

Happy days for everyone! xo

oh snap!

(Thanks for all the kind words about Ian's quilt!)

The birthday cake that was requested for Emma's party, Angel Food. My first one. Whenever I make a classic, something like this, for the very first time, I almost always go to The Best Recipe. That cookbook is one every budding cook should have in my opinion. Its not as sexy as most of the cookbooks coming out these days (although they recently reissued this cookbook with a bit more sex appeal, but mine is the original version, with no photographs, lots of pencil drawings, very much like its magazine origin, Cooks Illustrated). But this book will make a cook out of you. If you have a piece of meat, a squash, want to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie, anything, this cookbook will tell you the basic science behind what the ingredients do (for example, I never really knew why they used ingredients like lard in biscuits when I was growing up, I just figured it was what the cook had around, or maybe just tradition).

Anyway, a dozen egg whites and a lot of whipping later, the cake came out beautifully crusty on the outside (the recipe told me I was going for an almost macaroon-like texture on the surface and I watched it like a hawk during the last bit of baking time), and light as a feather on the inside. Whew! This photo was taken just before the strawberry halves were added.

Which brings me to my next question. Its time for me to take the bazillion hundred photos currently on my computer off before I tempt fate more than I feel I already have. How do you guys catalog your photos when you take them off the computer? In the past, I move them onto disks, and store them in a box, but this feel inefficient to me. I'm hoping there's a better way to preserve them. And quicker. Last time I did this little exercise it took me the better part of a day. So please, what's the secret? Is there a secret? Can we create a secret? Help!

plum cake

Friday found me at home by myself for most of the day. I looked around me, blank stare... "Where is everybody?" People, this never happens! Working at home, as we do, not only do we bump into each other constantly throughout the day, there are usually other people coming and going. The little person energy gets added in the late afternoon, you get the idea. So to have a little time to myself to do whatever was quite a treat. I immediately decided to bake with all those plums and found the perfect little recipe in Smitten Kitchen's Dimply Plum Cake.

For my version, I chopped the plums into chunks (with skin) and folded them into the batter last thing.

And the best part? I had cake for lunch without someone walking by commenting "you're having cake for lunch?". I don't know exactly when a day will open itself up like that again any time soon, so I took full advantage (like I plugged into hulu.com after I ate my lunch). Truth is though, I love the energy at my house, it keeps me on my toes.

Notice our chair up there in the first photo. I recovered those seat bottoms several weeks ago with Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks laminated fabric. Best and most practical DIY project I think I've ever done. The pattern is pretty and works in our house, and the seats wipe clean! Its great!

One more thing, tonight for dinner, we had one of our favorite dinners, Smoky Beef Tacos from Everyday Food. Something about the smoky taste of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce that I love, this dish will be plenty for leftovers the next day too.

Have a great Monday! Eat cake!

Brownstone Front Cake

You folks are special. You should know that, because I would not give this coveted family recipe to just anyone. All clever, pun-filled catchy blog titles aside, this is a cake worthy of its own post.

First, a tiny bit of personal history about this cake. Most of the bigger family get-togethers we had when I was growing up ("bigger" could mean 40 people at times) often, but not always, included a Brownstone Front Cake on the dessert table, (and lots of card tables for extra seating, and my Dad's favorite chocolate meringue pie, but that a dessert worth its own post too). There would be side mumblings as we arrived at the house, "did you see that there is a Brownstone cake?". It was actually not much to "see" at that point, usually completely covered with aluminum foil, ominously fruitcake-like in its covered state. Some of us would gauge our servings at mealtime specifically to leave adequate room for a big slice of that cake...or two, if you were sneaky, because there was rarely any left.

My sister-in-law's mom, Doris, was the person who introduced these cakes to my family. Over the years Doris has probably made a hundred of these, each with a zillion layers, sandwiching the amazing carmel-y icing. It assures you'll get the best of everything in every single forkful.

The exact origins of this cake are unclear (some history here), and there are many versions of this cake. The name explains the color, and perhaps the endless layers of the version from my childhood, which is where the recipe I'm giving you today comes from. The "icing" can best be described as a form of caramel, in color and taste. The cake batter turns a beautiful tan color from the addition of the 3 tablespoons of cocoa. There are moments when I was creating this cake, for a July 4th gathering, that I thought I was screwing it up, but the next step always proved I was still on track.

The disclaimer ~ I will not deny, this recipe has a ton of butter. Its beyond rich, as I think cake should be. It really is a once a year cake in my opinion. Its memorable, and its worth every minute it takes to stand over the stove and cook the icing (for there was no "frosting" on my childhood cakes, only icing). My version makes 3 standard-sized layers. You could easily make this 6 layers by slicing each one in half, so you choose.

Brownstone Front Cake

3/4 cup warm water                                        1 tsp. vanilla

3 Tbsp. cocoa                                                 1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups sugar                                                   1 cup buttermilk

1/2 lb. of unsalted butter, softened                 3 cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cocoa in warm water and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well with each addition. Add vanilla to cocoa and water and add to mixture. (At this point, my cake batter looked curdled, but don't dismay, it will change.) Add soda to buttermilk. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk mixture to bowl, mixing only to combine with each addition. I ended with buttermilk, made sure all was mixed. At that point I has gorgeously smooth batter a beautiful golden brown color. Pour equal amounts into 3 buttered and floured cake pans. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before icing it.

Icing

3 1/2 cups sugar (I know!)                               12 oz. Carnation evaporated milk

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (!!)                         1 1/4 tsp. vanilla

Cook sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a heavy bottomed pot on stove top. Bring to a bubbling boil, then lower the heat to a bubbly simmer, stirring often and adjusting heat as necessary. Cook 35 to 40 minutes. Add vanilla, beat mixture in bowl of electric mixture until creamy.*This icing needs to cool down quite a bit before spreading it on the cake, so you could start it while the cake is baking. Spread a generous amount of icing between each of the layers, then spread the remainder of the of the icing over the cake. If icing still seems to be running, put everything in the refrigerator to cool down.

Serve at room temperature.

Enjoy!

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A bit of business, I currently have 10 subscribers through Feedblitz. They are asking me to pay them money each month in order to keep this service and that seems a bit counterintuitive to me. I will not be continuing with Feedblitz and hope that you guys will subscribe to the wise craft feed another way (there are options on the left sidebar and at the top). Sorry for the inconvenience.

a second glance in the pantry

I've been loving Molly's blog these days, I love her style of writing, the way she talks about days with her kids, and life in general. Her grocery challenge post really made me think last week. Our dining habits need overhauling. We are one of those totally city families when it comes to food. We take full advantage of the quick, easy, and good food around us whenever we feel busy or too lazy to cook for ourselves. Which is often these days. Too often. And too expensive. Don't get me wrong, I really do like to cook, but I don't like to cook for picky eaters, and its hard to stay motivated to be creative with our meals. So, we head out to eat, or we grab on the go, yet always feel guilty about the expense and lack of thought put into it.

So, when I read Molly's post about skipping the grocery store for a week, I decided to give it a try...of sorts. My mindset was to let us run out of some things. The idea was to work through our seemingly abundant supply in the pantry and really stop and think about meal prep. Today, when Peter was heading home from the track, he called to asked if he should pick up lunch. "There's stuff here to eat", I suggested. "But I don't think there's anything I want, and I'm starving." The lack of a response on my end of the line was apparently all it took for him to quickly rethink lunch. We figured out within a minute that everything was here for tuna melts. Turns out we had everything on hand for homemade pizza for dinner too, plus watermelon. Pizza is one of those meals that pleases everybody in my house. If I make the dough, I know what's in it (and I can usually get little hands to help me). I gather, chop, grate, and carmelize what's in the fridge, then put it all out for everyone to make their own versions. (My most successful pizza dough recipes are always the ones from The Best Recipe, from the editors of Cook's Illustrated. Tonight I made the fast rise one in my standing mixer. It rises in about 40 minutes with the help of a preheated oven.)

Molly, thank you so much for inspiring me. I am happy we are getting back on track here.

OK, back tomorrow. I made some stuff over the weekend.

B

our bread and butter

I need to start this post with a disclaimer. You see, I, like yourself, try very hard to extol the virtues of whole wheat living on my family (peppered with the occasional "do as I say, not as I do", because, well, I've been waiting my whole life to say that!). I do like it, and my kids come around to it in fits and spurts, which I can live with.

But...

I have those days (and my kids most definitely have them too) where nothings going to be better than white bread and butter. Nothing else will do, honestly...nothing. It will immediately take me back to being a kid, when biscuits were made with every meal. Biscuits aside (we've discussed those here before), we recently got a new bread machine after being without one for over 2 years. I will hold the final verdict on whether or not this machine is a winner. Bread loaf #1 was a too dense, undercooked, flattened pancake. Bleh... I knew I had to change up a few things for loaf #2. I needed to buy new yeast...and I needed to pull out our favorite bread recipe. No more of this let's follow the one in the instruction book business.

I put the ingredients in the machine, made a few adjustments to the settings, pushed go, and left to pick up the kids. "If we're lucky, when we walk in the house its going to smell like fresh bread. If we're lucky."

We were lucky all right. The house smelled heavenly (actual sighs from us when we walked in). The loaf came out beautifully. Light, fluffy, perfect color and texture. I'm now fully convinced that I can't go wrong with this recipe, ever. I've made it for years and the only complaint I had using it in my old machine is that the loaf size was too big. Its a old James Beard recipe, given to me by my friend Sarah, who has no idea how much we love this bread.

Our recipe is for a bread machine, loaf size is a little over 2 lb.

Buttermilk White Bread

recipe from James Beard

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. melted butter

1-1 1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup warm water

3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 Tbsp salt

2 packages dry yeast

(add all to the bread machine in the order it is written, set for Basic mode).

Standby with butter or homemade jam, ready to grab it when its ready.

grilling vegetables

As an adult, probably one of my favorite things about summer is the abundance of super fresh, gorgeous vegetables. Farmers markets literally make the hair on the back of my neck stand up in excitement, and I love opening the kitchen pantry and fridge to see all those beautiful bright colors ready to eat.

We are big grillers here at my house. In my humble opinion, everything tastes better grilled (especially fruit), and its this time of year when grilled vegetables start showing up in literally everything I cook. I do not even begin to think that I am an expert on grilling vegetables, but I wanted to talk about them because of how good and familiar they are to me. Last night, I thought the cupboards were bare and that there was an emergency trip to the market in my future. When l spotted several vegetables that had never made their way onto the table that week, I started up the grill. They were perhaps not at the tippy top peak of their freshness, but grilling takes care of that. Zucchini, shallots, red bell peppers, and eggplant...

I brushed a little olive oil on each side, seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper, then put them the grill (fully pre-heated on high, turned down slightly when I put on the veggies). I have friends who use those special wire grill pans that hold the veggies in it as they grill, but I never have and have never had a problem (cut the pieces large enough so they don't fall through the grill). A few minutes on each side, and you're done. (I prefer to grill the shallots whole, to a dark char on the outside, making them soft and sweet on the inside.)

I found some slivered almonds, which I lightly toasted, then made a salad with radishes and grape tomatoes (no cheese, boo!). The grilled vegetables that were left over will show up wraps, sandwiches, and salads we'll eat over the next few days.

And then it will be time to grill again.

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Oh, and here are the winners of the book giveaway:

Of the Cotton, Wool, Linen book-

Sarah said...

I've just started sewing and I love the idea of trying something from these books with linen.

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Alyssa said...

I'd love to own either of these!

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Of the Patchwork book-

AngieK said...

Ooooh, I just love Japanese craft books!

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Bean said...

yes, please!

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If we have not already exchanged emails, please send me your mailing address at wisecraftblog@gmail.com so you can get your book. Thanks so much to everyone who played along. I really wish everybody could get a book!

our go-to soup to get us through the last days of winter

Is it still winter?

I guess it still feels like winter, so its still winter. sigh.... I think I saw some flowers popping up today, but geez, they must be shivering. Emma tells me we may get snow on Thursday. To that I say "oh great..." but then I think to myself if its gonna be this cold, it might as well snow.

Because it is still very much soup weather in my mind, I wanted to share with you our newest "go-to soup". This would be part of our families "go-to" dinner list (default meals that work when I'm desperate), which we are using quite a bit this week. There is a teensy bit of background here. You see, to know me is to know that I love the tortilla soup at Tacos Guymas here in town. I crave that soup (in my sleep even). The kids and I go there to eat every couple of weeks or so when we're out until dinner, and I talk them into going there, really, just so I can order that soup. Its served to me in a super large bowl, way too big for one meal (so, lucky me, I get to have it the next day too). Its full of shredded chicken, bright green avocados, cilantro, queso cheese, tortilla chips (that somehow never get soggy), just full of flavor and extremely satisfying.

It has been a goal to recreate this soup at home and I think I finally have it. Its simple, and I usually have most of the ingredients on hand. And, depending on how much refuge you take in the kitchen preparing dinner, you can certainly cook the chicken yourself, but I usually opt for the local market's pre-roasted whole chicken for ease. If you plan to do this, keep everything else you add unsalted to compensate for the salt in the roasted chicken.

If you try it let me know.

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Tortilla soup (serves 4-6)

2 tsp. olive oil
1 white or yellow onion, chopped small
2 scallions, chopped small and including 1/3 of the green stem
2 32 oz. boxes of reduced sodium chicken stock
1 large avocado
3/4 cup queso cheese
3 cups of shredded, pre-cooked chicken- white meat only
finely chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
unsalted tortilla strips (recipe below)
freshly ground pepper

1. Heat olive oil over med. high heat in a dutch oven or your favorite soup pot. Add onions and cook to soften (not brown), add scallions, cook for one minute more.

2. Pour in chicken broth, then add in shredded chicken. Heat through for 15 minutes.

3. slice Avocado evenly into bite-sized chunks, add to soup pot. Add some pepper.

4. To serve, ladle soup in bowl, add in queso cheese, then tortilla chips, then cilantro.

*Leftover soup is fine with chicken and avocado in it, but store the tortilla chips, cilantro, and queso cheese separately.

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Tortilla chips

If you don't have unsalted tortilla chips, its easy to make your own with corn tortillas. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a pan on med high heat. Cut 4 tortilla into strips, add to a pan, let them brown a tiny bit, turning them occasionally, until they are crispy.

And let me say, I do love my kitchen for many reasons, but there is absolutely no way I can get a great shot of anything in there, the lighting is just not good for it! Drives me nuts. Thank god this isn't a food blog!

And lastly, I leave you with a photo Peter took today, to show me who finally discovered the beanbag-

ginger crinkles and spritz

A plate of cookies for you!

We are the kind of family that are hopelessly devoted to our favorite cookie recipes during the holidays. Sure, we'll dabble in the unknowns of new fangled confection we've never met before, but we tend to stick to our favorites when baking here at home. I'm happy to say I took a chance this year and pulled out an old recipe I was given at a cookie exchange at least 12 years ago and hit a home run. Ian tends to love anything gingerbreadish, and has eaten a fair amount of these since we've been snowed in this week, so he has become our resident expert on the crinkles. They are super easy, have a combined crisp and slightly chewy texture that I just love. And just enough of a ginger bite. Although I think it would be really good to add in crystalized ginger for an extra kick.

I had planned to post these recipes before now, but you may have everything on hand to make them today, so it won't be too late for the holidays!

Ginger Crinkles- makes 4 doz.

12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark molasses

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

extra sugar, for rolling

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Blend in molasses and egg. Sift together dry ingredients, add to butter mixture and mix well. Chill dough for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form dough into 1" balls, roll in sugar. Bake for 8-10 min. Let cool on baking sheet for at least 3 minutes, until cookies are set.

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The other favorite in our family is spritz. It really wouldn't be Christmas without the Stocker family spritz cookies, and I may be completely disowned for sharing this recipe. This is what Peter loves in sweets, all wrapped up into little bite-sized goodness. Plenty of butter, confectioner's sugar (vs. granulated, which is apparently a key to their goodness). We are greeted by tins and tins of spritz cookies at my in-law's house, some like the ones above with a chocolate chip in the middle, some colored into green wreaths or trees, whatever the baker's whim. I have gone through a few cookie presses in my time, and currently using this one, and although I did not have loads of success pressing out cookies this year, I'm not necessarily blaming the press. (Just so you know, you can also press this dough out flat and use cookie cutters as well.)

Stocker Family Spritz- I honestly don't know how many this makes because so much of the dough gets eaten!

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.

2 egg yolks

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

food coloring (optional)

sprinkles, chocolate chips, candies for decoration (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and salt, set aside. In bowl of a mixer, sift confectioner's sugar, then add butter and mix until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, almond and vanilla extract, then slowly add reserved mixture until blended. (If you are adding food coloring to tint, turn dough out and tint by kneading the dough.

Push through cookie press onto unlined baking sheet, add decoration if desired, bake for 9-10 minutes, take out before cookies start to brown on edges.

Enjoy, if you make them let me know. I will now sign off and say farewell until after the holidays, at which time I will finally be able to show you what we handmade this year. Happy holidays and good wishes to everyone. Thank you all for stopping by and reading wise craft, for caring what is said here, and for just being out there. A hug to you all! Blair