Category Archives: General

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Procrastination

I know what I should be doing right now. I should be working on stuff for school – reading my school finance textbooks, writing my mini papers that are due each week. I could also be walking the dog or doing laundry or just playing with the cats and all of that would be productive. Instead, I’m procrastinating.

Tigger understands procrastination. He is a master of it unless it has to do with food – then he is definitely not in favor of procrastination.

I don’t know if Leia believes in procrastinating or not. She tends to find a comfortable spot and claim it. She isn’t fussy and if you think it is your spot and she happens to want that same spot, well, she will probably win because she is just that cute.

Does more need to be said? Arthas has this whole thing figured out. Lay on the couch and chill – it will all work work. … Unless there is food involved, then eat first, procrastinate after eating.

 

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Sweet potato fajitas

The other day I thought about making sweet potato chili, then decided that I didn’t want to make that. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make, so I scoured the fridge and decided on sweet potato fajitas.

Usually I plan out meals very carefully. I buy only what I need for specific meals, and I try to make every one of those so food does not go to waste. Most of the time, I’m successful in this, but sometimes, I just really change my mind half way through the week. This was one of those times.

So  had limited ingredients on hand and no desire to go to the grocery. I made do with what I had, and cut and roasted the sweet potato while I fried up the onion and yellow pepper. I used a mix of chili powder and cumin as the main seasoning with some lime on the aromatics after they were done cooking. In the end, I thought the whole thing came together ok, but it needed a kick. I think adding some chili garlic sauce to the onions might help. Bob went with hot sauce and said it was just fine.

Sweet Potato Fajitas

  • 1 medium sweet potato, diced
  • 1/2 large sweet onion
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper
  • flour tortillas
  • cheese mix (whatever you have on hand)
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 lime
  • olive or other neutral oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash and dice the sweet potato. I like small dice as it cooks faster, but larger is ok too. Slice onion and pepper thin. (If you are not crazy about peppers, peel the skin off of them – it helps with the strong taste.)

Toss potato with spices – chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper – and oil to coat. Roast for about 20 minutes in 400 degree oven. Careful – depending on how small they are diced, this may take as few as 15 and and many as 30 minutes. You want the potatoes soft, but not mushy.

While the potatoes roast, heat a little olive oil in a pan and add the onion and pepper when hot. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, for about ten minutes. When the vegetables are softened, but still retain a crunch, remove from heat and season with some more salt and pepper. Squeeze 1/2 lime over the vegetables and mix. When the potatoes are done roasting, add to the pan and toss to combine.

Split mixture over 6 flour tortillas and top with grated cheese of your choice.

 

 

 

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Myakka River State Park

After our last visit to the vet, Bob and I have been making a concerted effort to exercise Arthas more. We have also cut back on his food, but we are trying to get him out for a really good, long walk on the weekend to help him burn some extra energy and calories. I’m not certain how much good it is doing him, but we are having a blast.

We love taking him to the rowing park near us, but with summer coming (yes, in Florida, March means summer is coming so you have to start thinking about these things) I wanted an option that might provide a little more shade and just a different experience for the boy. Val has the dog beach, but we aren’t ready for off leash yet, so Myakka it was.

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Myakka has a few hiking and nature trails, and it isn’t far, which is a bonus since Arthas is not crazy about being in the car. We can take him to the park as long as he is on a six foot leash; luckily he doesn’t pull nearly as much as Jessie did so he is pretty easy to walk. Most of the the trip was him sniffing and looking for things on the ground to eat, but it was a pretty walk. (I need to bring the good camera out there and take some pictures next time we go.)

Arthas definitely goes farther when he take him to the rowing park, but this was a nice change of pace. He got sniff a ton and we even encountered a few other dogs and didn’t have any issues. I credit this to watchfulness on our part and his interest in the smells on the ground, but I’ll take it. We are hoping that enough encounters where isn’t attacked might help him be ok with other dogs. (He is doing great with the cat, by the way – but I wouldn’t want to bring another animal into the house and upset the balance.)

Clearly, I didn’t get a lot of great shots of the puppy out and about, but that wasn’t the purpose of bringing him out there. He got a new place to sniff, some experience in the car longer than going to grandma and grandpa’s house (or the vet office) and some exercise. All in all, it was a good day.

 

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Cranberry Curd Pie

I have a few days off and am caught up with school. Since this is a rare event, I decided to experiment in the kitchen a little and decided, as a nod to the holiday, to make a cranberry curd pie that I saw a recipe for. When I shared it with Val, she also got excited by it, but I ended up making it first. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, but close enough that I will still say it is the NYT recipe.

I started with the basic ingredients – cranberries, oranges and sugar. Since I love clementines and they are now in season, I have a bag of the on the counter, so I used two for this recipe. I picked up some beautiful cranberries at the store and cooked the zest and juice of the clementines with the cranberries and some sugar to make the base of the curd. One review said to not cook them down much, but I was fussing with the pie crust and ended up cooking it a little long. It still worked. img_2133

I used the mesh sieve method and strained the juice to make a really smooth curd. Here is where things started to get tricky. It took a while to strain the cranberry mixture. Probably more time than the author of the recipe intended, so it was pretty much room temperature when I finished. This does not lend itself to incorporating butter into the curd, so I returned it to the stove and stirred in the butter, one pat at a time, over low heat. It worked. The butter didn’t melt, but it did incorporate into the curd just fine. I took it off the heat, stirred a little more then added the eggs. The whole thing went into an oil based crust that I made (decided to skip the rice flour crust as I couldn’t find hazelnuts anyway) and then I baked it – slightly longer than there recipe said, but it wasn’t setting so an extra three minutes were in order. I made some whipped cream (new secret for whipped cream – use powdered sugar instead of regular granulated sugar. Super smooth and it helps stabilize the peaks) for the top and that was that. My arm hurt after the straining part, but still easier than the French Silk pie. img_2135

The results were delicious and I don’t say something I made was really good often. I usually find fault with it, but I can’t really find fault with this pie. Yes, it was suppose to be a tart, but I don’t have a tart pan. Yes, it should have a different crust, but this one worked out fine. Yes, it could have been a little fuller, but it didn’t need to be fuller. With this pie you get the tart of the cranberry, an undertone of lemon (without any lemon in the pie) and a clean flavor that is really nice after a meal. This probably won’t replace cranberry sauce at the holiday table, but it should. It really should.

On the pet front … Tigger, Leia and Arthas are all doing well. Arthas is up to two miles for his morning walk, and he is starting to ask to go for walks. He doesn’t bounce around like Jessie did, but he goes to the front door or to where my shoes are and he gets a little excited when he hears his leash. He is getting better with the cats, and they with him. We had a point of contention recently where Leia was on the couch when he wanted to go to sleep, but other than that, they are wonderful. I stopped by the shelter to donate some food I had gotten for Gracie (the other two won’t eat it) and they were super happy to see how well he is doing. As one volunteer put it, he just needed a chance to be a dog.

They really are good babies. I still miss Jessie and Gracie and Gracie’s loss is still really raw, but we are getting there. Tigger has become very affectionate recently and Leia continues to be the puppy cat she is – greeting us at the door, laying on laps etc.

Recipe Cranberry Curd Pie:

  • 12 oz. cranberries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • juice and zest of one orange (or two clementines)
  • 1 stick (4 oz) butter, room temperature
  • 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

Use your favorite pie crust – it will be fine. I pre-baked mine for ten minutes, just to set it.

Combine the cranberries, sugar and orange (zest and juice) into a sauce pan and cook on medium heat until cranberries pop and begin to break down. Stir often to prevent sugar from burning.

Preheat oven to 350 if not already heated from the pie crust.

Once cooked down, strain the mixture through a sieve or use a blender/immersion blender, to puree. If not warm after straining, return to heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently, then add butter, one tablespoon at a time, until fully incorporated. If mixture is hot, temper the cranberry mixture into the eggs then add eggs into cranberry curd and stir well to combine. (I didn’t temper here because the cranberries were fairly cool at this stage) Pour into pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for ten plus minutes to set. I cooked mine for thirteen minutes until the outer curd was set, then let it cool on the stove to set the rest of the curd.

Whipped Cream:

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon (heaping) powdered sugar

Mix cream and vanilla together and beat with mixer on medium to high speed until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and continue mixing until stiff peaks form. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

 

 

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Fall Fix Up

In Jersey, the big yard work happens in the spring. Spring clean up. I spent a number of years avoiding doing yard work each spring (and raking leaves every fall) but now I’m the homeowner and I can’t avoid the yard work more than every other year.

In part as a distraction from Gracie and school and work and part just because it was necessary and the estimate to pay someone to do it was way too high, I spent the last two weekends cleaning out debris from the bushes and mulching. A lot of mulching. 11 lawn and leaf bags of debris (leaves, twigs, etc) and 46 bags of mulch later it’s done. Yes.  46 bags.  All hauled in my little car. But I have to admit, it looks pretty good.

We did have someone trim and clean up the trees. Those I can’t do myself and they really needed it. But the yard is done and I think I can now ignore it again for at least a year.

My garden is having mixed success. The hot pepper didn’t make it, nor did the lavender plant. My thyme is trying to hang in there, but it doesn’t look good. The kale is great. The kale looks wonderful and I am anticipating a great kale pesto soon. The rosemary is good and the oregano also looks great. My tomatoes … well, two plants are clearly dead but and the other two look interesting, but I have baby tomatoes.

img_2053Last count there were twenty baby tomatoes on these two plants. I’m trying to make sure they get water, but not too much water and birds don’t get to them. I’m anticipating a nice little sandwich with kale pesto and garden tomatoes and basil. If I could figure our how to make my own mozzarella (I could but it looks like it takes the and precision so I’ll just buy that part) I’d have a totally home grown sandwich.

The pets are doing well. Arthas made it two miles on his morning walk today! He was a tired little puppy at about 1.5 miles, but he did meander back the rest of the way. Leia and Tigger are getting use to not having Gracie around, and they are still super cute. I love the picture above because it really shows the size differential, but they are still super cute.

I need a day off from my weekend, but there are two more weeks before the holiday. Happy November!

 

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Garden

Ok I started this post about three weeks ago, maybe four. And somehow I didn’t get around to post it, so …

It has taken me almost a decade of being in Florida to get use to the planting cycles. When my natural instinct is to pull out the tomatoes and put in lettuce (maybe) or just be done with the garden, I’m instead planting tomatoes … and herbs and other stuff … just in time for winter – aka our growing season.

I looked at my back yard and the flower boxes this morning and realized they were in terrible shape. We had so much rain for so long that I stopped watering everything and got out of the habit. Well … it hasn’t rained much since the tropical storm and my plants are showing it. I spent the morning cleaning out the boxes – trimming, pulling and just plain getting rid of most of what was there. The cats loved this since the rather large catnip plant had dried out and they got to play in it. All three of them. I created monsters.

But I also looked at the now cleaned out vegetable garden and realized – it is actual the right time to plant stuff! I can try tomatoes and peppers and herbs and … well, whatever I can find and remember to take care of. Bob and I went to Home Depot (because I couldn’t remember if the local nursery has vegetables and if they are open on Sunday) and I stocked up. Four kinds of tomatoes, kale, a variety of herbs and a poblano pepper plant for Bob.  Oh .. and more catnip, but that goes in the boxes. Vague attempt to keep the pets out of my vegetables.

I like it. I bought a bag of new soil and mixed it in with what was left after letting the garden go fallow this year. I made sure to dig down and make plenty of room for roots and I remembered to water. Now I just need the very large, very bright sticky note to remind me to water regularly. I’m super excited at the possibility of going out and picking dinner one night.  Yes, food my food eats, but whatever. I like rabbit food.

Ok – these might be a little hard to see, but Arthas is really such a cute puppy. Yes, he is all black, and that makes getting a good picture hard, but when I get one … such as him trying to lick the silverware in the dishwasher, it is pretty priceless. We also are now full advocates of the food toys – toys that you put kibble in and he has to work to get it out. Rather than downing his breakfast and dinner in thirty seconds, he has his toys down to ten minutes. We found the mushroom and the ball/donut work the best. He seems to like them and I like that he takes longer to eat and has to think. I would love it if I could get Tigger to use one, but he is stuck in his ways and won’t go for it. (I tried)

So the garden … it is growing. The pepper did’t do so well and the rosemary is hanging on at best. But the kale, oregano, thyme and tomatoes are doing great! I’m hoping that soon I will be able to pick my lunch.

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Catching Up

It’s been busier than anticipated around here. I can’t pin point exactly why, but every time I think about making a post, the time gets away from me. Here it is – half way through July – and I’m still feeling like I have a thousand things to do. Part of this is school (cramming semester classes into eight weeks will do that).

I did manage to make a few delicious things over the weeks. I took leftover quinoa taco filling and made nachos. Oh my! I think in the few weeks since I discovered this, I’ve made these four or five times. Yes, they are that good.

It’s a simple concept, really. Chips – the kind we usually use for dipping with salsa – into a buttered pan. You probably don’t need to butter the pan, but I’m always afraid of things sticking and the burning, so buttered pan it is. On top of the chips I added roasted corn (or pan roasted if I’m being lazy) and the quinoa taco filling. To that I added regular queso and some shredded Gruyère because that is what I had on hand. A cheddar or cheese mix would work just as well here. I then repeated with a second layer of everything and tossed them in a 375 degree oven for ten minutes.

While the chips and cheese were melting, I made the salsa topping. I used the leftover tomato, red onion and lime salsa from the tacos, added a little more tomato and some scallion and tossed. I did add a little salt, but no more lime juice. Once the chips were out of the oven, I plated them and added the tomato mix on top. The results … perfection. I had these about 20 minutes before Bob got home for lunch, and the man is lucky I love him so much or I would not have saved him any. Seriously, it was almost the Truffle Mac & Cheese incident all over.

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It is also mango season and I had to get a mango at the farmer’s market the other week. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with it, but I decided on Mango Panna Cotta. I love this stuff and it is stupidly simple to make. I started with half of David Leibovitz’s recipe and puree’d the mango that I had on hand. I did use regular gelatin in the recipe because I still had some in the cabinet, so these weren’t exactly vegetarian, but it works for now. If I can find Agar in my grocery, I’m swapping the next time I need a gelatin like ingredient. But I digress … I made the basic mixture then added about a half cup of pureed mango to it, poured into glasses, let it set for an hour and then added more to the top of each panna cotta. Dessert.

We also took the kitties to the vet last week. Yes, all three at once. They are all healthy and doing well and the vet was impressed with how well Ms. Leia was doing. It’s hard to believe they are all nine years old now!

 

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Comfort

I should mention that it has rained here this past week. A lot. We had the tropical storm come through that made mushrooms grow in my backyard. Big mushrooms. Larger than my foot mushrooms. Even the cats didn’t want anything to do with these mushrooms.

But, with all of the rain, my basil was happy. Happy and getting very big, so I decided to make one of my all time favorite (summer) comfort food dishes – pesto. I took the basil from my herb box – the one Leia doesn’t sleep in so I have some herbs – and made a garlicky pesto with hazelnuts. I had some beautiful parmigiana from our last cheese box, so I used that to make a bright and fresh pesto.

I also made one of my favorite breakfast comfort foods this week – waffles. Real, buttermilk waffles. Bob loves these and Sunday morning, we decided that waffles were in order. I *may* have overfilled the waffle iron once, but it didn’t matter – it was what came out of the waffle iron that was important. Crispy outside, tangy, buttermilk waffles.

None of this was very fancy, and none of it was particularly exciting, but it worked this week. We are still getting use to not having Jessie around. I’m still watching where I step and looking for her when I come home. The cats have been a big help, although I do get a little teary-eyed when it comes to feeding them dinner. Mom compared it to the kids going to kindergarten or off to college – it just feels different and it takes time to adjust.

But in the meantime, I still have the cats, Bob, school, work, the house and a possible trip to keep me occupied. And, hopefully, some new and interesting foods to experiment with this summer.

 

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It’s what month?

I looked at the calendar today and realized that it is the last week of my second class and the next class starts right after. I can’t believe April is over (Happy Birthday, Vanessa, I am sure I forgot to send a card, but I’m thinking about you – promise) and May is here.

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At the very beginning of April (I may have mentioned in the last post that I’m behind on posts and writing???) Bob and I went to the Wine Walk to Ca’ d’ Zan. This is charity event for the Ringling Museum and one of the (in our opinion) better events they hold. This was the first Friday of April and featured a bunch of wines that can be found at Total Wine, which is helpful as I hate finding a wine I love then not being able to get it again. Best part, once we went to Total Wine, I found that all the wines I liked were under $20 – which is one of my criteria for wine.

As we walked from the museum to the Ca’ d’ Zan, we stopped and had a little to eat and a little to drink and just had a nice, relaxing evening. One of the best parts was watching the sun set over the bay from the terrace of the mansion. It was a prefect way to end my spring break. (even if I am only getting to writing about it weeks later.  Sigh.) IMG_1382

We also did a great cheese class at our favorite cheese shop a week or so later. This one was Cheesemonger favorites, so we knew it would be good. Louise and the girls really know their stuff, so when they say something is good, it usually is. (Blue cheese being the exception for me – still don’t like blue cheese no matter how many times I try it.)
IMG_1378I’ taking today to get caught up on all those little things that fall aside when I get busy – like laundry and cooking and writing posts. If I get my discussion post for the next class written, I may even (gasp) try reading a fluffy romance novel.

The Ca’ D’ Zane has a nice terrace … not as nice as our own backyard, but it isn’t bad.