This trip to Barcelona wasn’t my first. I had spent a few days there just after college when I was working in London. However, I only spent two nights and...
My friend and I attended this event on February 18th. We missed the march and joined the rally at City Hall in downtown LA. It was a much smaller crowd...
This is so cute. There are many variations on Pinterest. I think the original idea came from the Free People blog which is worth looking at. I had these animals...
Last fall when I heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge I claimed to have felt bullied into donating since I didn’t want to make a spectacle of myself on Facebook....
We braced ourselves for the start of kinder this year. After all, we knew how pre-school had gone two years prior. She only cried every day for 1.5 years of...
It’s getting HOT and making pasta every night is killing me. I’ve been trying to branch out to more salads now that it’s summer. This is a really tasty dish...
Phew! The holidays kicked my butt this year. How did my parents do this? Better yet, WHY did they do it??
Although I try to post only the best of my kitchen attempts, here are some of my absolute favorites from last year. I mean the ones I crave & want to make again & again.
Happy New Year to you!!
1. Gardener’s Pie (vegetarian version of Shepherd’s Pie): This is always a huge hit. I took it to a Christmas pot luck this year and got so many compliments from vegetarian & non vegetarians alike.
2. Best Coffee Cake in the World There are no surprising ingredients in this but it’s simply delicious. Perfect for a special brunch or to warm up a chilly Sunday morning.
3. Kermit Smoothie (green smoothie) Want to sneak a handful of spinach into your family’s gullets? Try this! So yummy, easy & fun.
4. Blueberry Lara Bars. A healthy, yummy & portable snack. Perfect for hiking or just to carry in your purse (or man purse) to keep the munchies at bay.
5. No Knead Bread. If you’ve never made bread before I strongly encourage you try this one! It takes less than 5 minutes to prep and is so rewarding! There’s something wonderful about the smell of bread baking in your home.
6. Glory Bowl. After the holidays many people (ahem, THIS person) feel compelled to eat a little, shall we say, “lighter?” Although this dish contains many light elements the rice & dressing make it so satisfying. I had serious doubts about it when my dear friend Kinga recommended it but now it’s one of my favorites. Try it!! I mean it, really! I wouldn’t put it up here if it weren’t super yummy.
7. Red Velvet Cupcakes. Make these for Valentine’s Day! Or use green food coloring and make them for St. Patrick’s Day.
8. Simple Caesar Salad. This is a cheater’s version of caesar salad. Oh garsh sometimes I crave caesar salad so much but don’t want to get involved with raw eggs & anchovies etc. This is a satisfying remedy when you’re short on time. Now that I make this I find most restaurant salads disappointing. Totally reminds me of an ex boyfriend’s mom (who happened to be an excellent cook) answering the waiter’s “How is everything?” with a tragic look followed by her New York accented, “Mine’s bettah.”
9. Chocolate & Butterscotch Chip Cookies. After trying many recipes, I have to say that these are my favorites for both simplicity & results. Because of the cornstarch they end up a bit pale and can trick you into thinking they aren’t done but they are soooooo sooooooo sooooooo (sooooo) good. Every time I make them I have to double the recipe b/c of all the greedy hands snitching them off the cooling racks (G!!!).
10. Vegetable Pot Pie. I just realized I have a few “best _____ in the WORLD” recipes. Do I exaggerate? Or am I just hungry? Anyway, this pot pie was a sleeper hit! I always loved pot pies. From the nastiest to the high end restaurant ones. But I was tired of paying $5.00 for a tiny Amy’s vegetable pot pie, plus I thought I could feed more than 1 person with a lot less packaging. This recipe takes almost 3 hours to make but is TOTALLY worth it! YUM.
11. Broccoli Gribiche. Last year I started making some dishes from Heidi Swanson’s “Super Natural Every Day” and this was one of the hits. I seriously didn’t make ONE bad dish from that cookbook and still use it every week. This is a surprisingly hearty, satisfying yet tasty meal that can be a main or side. The simple ingredients make it a no-brainer!
12. Moscow Mule. Alcohol is a good way to end a list/night/year so here is a simple, tasty drink that we enjoyed time & again mostly during the summer. Our friend Trish introduced us to them last June when we stayed at her house in Denver. We drank them all summer. Not all day but you know what I mean.
I hope you enjoy these recipes & for all the best to you in 2013!
Did you grow up eating those delicious Swanson frozen pot pies? I sure did! We loved those little things. Since last year I thought about trying my hand at a homemade vegetable pot pie. I thought I’d have to adjust a chicken pot pie recipe but then I found Ina Garten’s!
The other day I realized I had most of the ingredients, the weather was cool (a great day to use the oven!), G was planning on getting our Christmas tree… Doesn’t a comforting pot pie sound good on a cold tree-decorating night?
Bea went down for a late nap around 2:30 so I started this baby at 3 thinking I’d be done around 4 or so. Boy was I wrong! Making a pot pie from scratch, at least for me, took 3 HOURS!! (Although there’s no reason I shouldn’t have known since it says it clearly on Ina Garten’s recipe.) In fact, when it didn’t look like it’d be cool enough for the GRUMPY kids I had to make them some pasta RIGHT QUICK since they couldn’t wait.
So, if you feel like trying this I recommend you try it on a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon when you don’t have to be anywhere. It’s totally worth it.
To make the pie crust you need:
CRUST INGREDIENTS:
3 c all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c vegetable shortening (yes, Crisco! I think you could use butter instead.)
1/4 lb cold, unsalted butter, diced
1/2-2/3 c ice water
1 egg beaten with 1 TBSP water (do this RIGHT after assembly & before baking)
Flaked sea salt & cracked black pepper (I just had coarse sea salt)
Make the dough first as it needs to chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. **NOTE: you can always buy pre-made dough if you are short on time!**
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder in a large bowl OR mix in your food processor (I don’t *yet* have a food processor.) Add Crisco (vegetable shortening) & butter and cut with a pastry cutter (or pulse about 10 times if using food processor) until you have pea-sized bits. (Bumps?)
Important: do not overwork the dough! I just started making pie dough for the first time last month and have learned the hard way. I also learned what happens when you *think* you forgot to double the amount of water for a double recipe but you actually didn’t forget. VERY tough dough.
But I digress…
If you’re doing this by hand, add the ice water and knead just enough to make the dough come together. By food processor, the same idea: process JUST until it comes together. Using your hands form a ball, wrap in plastic & refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Now you’re ready to start your filling. You’ll need:
By the way: these vegetables are not set in stone. You can use whatever you have on hand: green beans, broccoli, asparagus tips etc.
FILLING INGREDIENTS:
4 TBSP butter
4 TBSP olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 fennel bulb, top & core removed, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 c all-purpose flour
2-1/2 vegetable stock (or vegetarian chicken flavored bullion)
1 TBSP Pernod, Vermouth or white wine
1 pinch saffron threads (optional)
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 TBSP heavy cream
1-1/2 c potatoes, diced (about 1/2 lb)
1-1/2 c carrots, peeled & diced (4 carrots)
1-1/2 c butternut squash, peeled & diced
1 c frozen corn
1/2 c peas
While the dough’s chilling, chop all your vegetables! This is not as bad as it sounds. Though it isn’t good.
Dice your potatoes too. Great news: you don’t need to peel them. But I would give them a quick scrub. Throw them in a pot of water so they don’t turn black.
Now, heat your oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the butter.
Add the onions & fennel, stirring to coat with the fats. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until translucent. Add flour, lower heat & cook for another 3 minutes stirring to coat evenly.
Now, for the stock, use good vegetable stock OR, in a pinch, as I usually am, I use this:
Add the stock, booze (optional!), saffron, salt & pepper bringing to a boil.
Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the heavy cream & season to taste with more salt & pepper.
Now boil the potatoes in salted water for 10 minutes. When they are fork tender (but not mushy!) lift out with slotted spoon (save the water!) and add the hard veg (i.e. carrots, squash) and boil for 5 minutes. Drain well. Add the potatoes and all other vegetables (including parsley) to the sauce and stir to combine.
You are finally ready to assemble your pie!
In my typical fashion, I didn’t even think about what dish I’d actually bake these in until I was ready to put the whole kit & kaboodle into a dish. D’OH!
I ended up using 2 small casserole dishes (for personal pot pies) and 1 medium sized casserole dish. I have no idea why I don’t have photos of the assembly. It might be due to two small children clamoring for food, any food, while I assembled them.
Bake on a cookie sheet for 1 hour or until top is lightly browned and filling is bubbling.
Make the dough first as it needs to chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder in a large bowl OR mix in your food processor. Add Crisco (vegetable shortening) & butter and cut with a pastry cutter (or pulse about 10 times if using food processor) until you have pea-sized bits.
Important: do not overwork the dough!
If you’re doing this by hand, add the ice water and knead just enough to make the dough come together. By food processor, the same idea: process JUST until it comes together. Using your hands form a ball, wrap in plastic & refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
While the dough’s chilling, chop all your vegetables!
Dice your potatoes too. Great news: you don’t need to peel them. But I would give them a quick scrub. Throw them in a pot of water so they don’t turn black.
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the butter.
Add the onions & fennel, stirring to coat with the fats. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until translucent, stirring occasionally. Add flour, lower heat & cook for another 3 minutes stirring to coat evenly.
Add the stock, booze (optional!), saffron, salt & pepper bringing to a boil.
Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the heavy cream & season to taste with more salt & pepper.
Boil the potatoes in salted water for 10 minutes. When they are fork tender (but not mushy) lift out with slotted spoon (save the water!) and add the hard veg (i.e. carrots, squash) and boil for 5 minutes. Drain well.
Add the potatoes and all other vegetables (including parsley) to the sauce and stir to combine.
Preheat oven to 375.
Assemble pie: add vegetable filling to casserole dish (you can use 1 large one or 4 small ones or really whatever you want). Roll out dough and cut to fit the top of your casserole with enough left over to cover the lip of the dish. Brush pie crust with the egg wash before placing in oven.
Bake on a cookie sheet for about an hour or until crust is golden brown & filling is bubbling.
Notes
If you are short on time you can always buy pre-made dough. Also, if you really hate Crisco, just replace that amount with more butter.
**2:28PM Sunday 12/16. I just edited this post based on the errors I found (i.e. not responding to points 5 or 6!) whilst putting Bea down for a nap. Please excuse the errors!**
This weekend many of us feel helpless in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre. Instead of just reminding one another to hug our children close with a “there but for the grace of God go I” mentality, we can support the parents and families of those lost in Connecticut, of those lost all over the U.S. due to gun violence. To honor the children and innocent victims who lose their lives EVERY SINGLE DAY due to gun shots in the inner cities whose deaths get less media attention due to their frequency and to “only” being one death instead of a mind blowing 20 child massacre. (Not to mention the adult victims who were mothers, fathers, daughters, sisters and aunts.)
Before I had kids, I taught 6th grade at John Muir Middle School in South L.A. Most of my students were used to hearing bullets whiz by outside, were not allowed out of their apartments after dark, and many had family members deceased from gunshots. I remember preparing for Day of the Dead, we were coloring masks to hang in the auditorium for the day’s celebrations. I gave them each a piece of stationary to write a letter to a anyone they had loved who was now deceased. In my naiveté I imagined letters to grand or great grandparents. What they wrote were letters to uncles, cousins, siblings and parents many killed by handguns. It was shocking to me, coming from a strongly middle & upper middle class community. I didn’t know anyone killed by gun violence. The celebration was not one of your typical Hallmark holiday celebrations, it was a genuine opportunity to honor and remember a loved one but it also hilighted a massive problem – the high number of gunshot deaths which were now being treated as an unavoidable “part of life.”
I bring up the urban gun deaths to shine the light broader on this subject. While we’re all shocked into action by this latest massacre, it’s actually been going on at an individual rate right under our noses.
Here are some arguments against gun control:
1. It’s not the time to discuss gun control.
2. Crazies will get guns illegally so upright citizens need guns to fight back & protect themselves.
3.The 2nd amendment protects our right to bear arms. It’s what the Founding Fathers wanted for us.
4. Mental illness is the problem, not guns.
5. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
6. It’s the violence in video games & movies that is responsible, not the right to own hand guns & semi automatic weapons.
Here are my refutes:
1. If not now, when? This is the PERFECT time to discuss gun control. Whenever a shooting happens we are told, “Now is not the time to discuss this.” and “Let the families bury their dead.” etc. However, please let us know when we CAN discuss it. If my child died at Sandy Hook last Friday, I think I’d want a massive public uprising.
2. What are the statistics regarding how often legally owned guns in the home have been used to successfully protect their owners? How many of those guns in the home have been involved in accidents? Then compare the numbers. Just Google “man accidentally shoots his own son.” for an idea.
Just last week a father accidentally shot his 7 year old son outside of the gun shop in a horrific tragedy. This man loved his child, was out shopping with him, never intended to use his gun on any humans and yet look what happened. Is there any hobby worth this?
3. The 2nd amendment was created when the country was new for militias. The US Army IS the current replacement for the militias. The US Army IS heavily armed. The police are heavily armed. (Let’s take a moment to admit that neither the US Army nor the police are always perfect with their arms at all times. Police brutality IS a huge issue that can’t be denied.)
4. Mental illness IS a massive problem. Constant budget cuts to mental health supports (education & treatment) are happening in front of us, under our noses. BUT, if a mentally ill person is UNable to access handguns & semi-automatic weapons, the damages will be resultantly less. (Excuse any poor grammar!) Why did Lanza’s mother have 2 handguns and a semi-automatic rifle in her house when she knew her son wasn’t right? Also, take for example the man in China who went on a rampage the exact same day as the Sandy Hook Massacre. While it is deeply troubling/shocking & horrific, and while the children, parents & community will never forget this, none of those children died. That’s a big difference – just ask the parents.
5. It IS the person not makes the gun kill people but what could the person do without the gun? They can use bombs but that is much less widespread, but much more difficult & requires a lot more time & prep that guns don’t. Bombs require much more planning than guns do. Would Lanza have done this had his mom not provided the weapons so handily? I even read today that she had taken both sons to shooting ranges so that they knew how to fire the guns. If he hadn’t had easy access to these weapons, would this have happened?
6. If video game/tv violence is responsible, someone please explain to me why Japan’s handgun deaths were in the double digits while ours in the US were over 10,000 last year. Bueller? Bueller?
In the fall/winter it’s pomegranate season here in southern California. This time of year I look forward to eating half a pomegranate on the couch whilst watching “American Horror Story” or any of the Real Housewives franchise (of course!). As a result, my hands look like a cabinet maker’s – stained dark reddish-brown with what look like dirty fingernails. I don’t mind at night b/c I’m about to go to bed soon anyway. However, now that Maddie also loves pomegranates I need to seed them in the morning for her lunch and I just don’t want to deal with the mess!
There are two ways to seed (de-seed?) pomegranates without your kitchen looking like a massacre just took place. I’m going to demonstrate the second method in this post.
No matter which way you’re doing it, you’ll need: a pomegranate & a knife.
1. First way which is all over You Tube is to cut it in half & knock the seeds out onto a plate or into a bowl with the back of a heavy spoon or object. This is a civilized method but it can still splatter juice.
2. The second way is to fill a medium/large bowl with water,
This bowl is too small. I'd use a bigger bowl if I were you. But that's just me.
cut the pomegranate in half
and just pick the seeds out in the water.
See what I mean about this bowl being too small? Still works though!
That green bag contains Bea's diapers, which I forgot to take to daycare.
Then strain it in a mesh strainer & you can compost the pulp (??) or discard.
Any juice that was going to spurt onto your brand new white t-shirt, cream-colored cashmere sweater or just wiped countertops ends up in the water.
Use the leftover water to water a plant or dump on your lawn if you have one!
Btw: am I the only person in the world who didn’t know about these methods??
