food

Ever since my friend Keri kept mentioning making bagels and how they are so yummy and how she will never buy bagels again, because they are so yummy, the thought of making bagels has been nagging in the back of my head.

With snow and disappointment punctuating my day yesterday, I needed a project to keep me from moping around, a purpose for the day. So I scoured the internet for bagel recipes, and after reading about a dozen different recipes, I settled on this one, which I kind of made up after reading so many. I know, I can't believe I do this: change a recipe before I even make it for the first time. But I do this kind of thing all the time, change a recipe, change a pattern. Let's say, I barely passed "Takes directions well" in Kindergarten.

So the bagels were delicious! And not too hard.

Here's my recipe:

makes a dozen

4 1/2 c flour
2 TB sugar (the recipe I was going off of said 3, wh. seems exorbitant to me, next time I think I'll just do 1)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 package (or generous TB) yeast
1 2/3 c warm water
2 TB oil
1 egg (which I added; next time I might try two)

* dissolve yeast into the warm water, add sugar, salt, oil, egg. mix. Gradually add flour.
* When it's thoroughly mixed, dump dough on counter and begin kneading. Dust with flour enough to keep from sticking to the counter. Knead constantly for a good 10 mins. this is important to get the gluten working.
* let rise in a warm place for 15 mins.
* divide the dough into 12 pieces. roll the pieces into a ball and poke a hole in the middle. let rise while bringing a pot of water to boil.

* while the water is getting hot dissolve a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt into the water.
* when it is boiling, drop the bagels in. The increase in size a lot, so don't overcrowd them.
* Boil for 3 mins on one side, flip boil for 2 mins on the other. Then take them out and let them dry on a kitchen towel.

* Brush the tops with egg white. My mom and I had a lot of fun putting different toppings on them: sesame seeds, garlic powder, caraway seeds, grated cheese. And, yes, we left some plain for my picky kids.
* Bake at 425F for 20-25mins.

And, yes, they were so good!!!!!!!

We've been getting our CSA box for several weeks now. I knew I wanted to do this partly because it's in my blood to support local agriculture. But over the past few weeks this abstract idea has developed some concrete realities for me. I don't choose what goes in the box. The farmer grows stuff and once a week gives me a box of what he's growing, so that means, we get whatever is in season. I remember growing up with times of plenty in the area of tomatoes, cucumbers, zuchinis and such. But that was a long time ago, before i was doing my own coking. And didn't involve greens.

I like greens. But I've never had access to greens in seasonal proportions. Eating in season requires a lot of creativity, because the stuff is there now. Some of it can be frozen (not martha has a great tutorial on how to blanch and freeze kale), but some it must be eaten now. I've also had access to a greater variety of greens than I've ever had before: chard, mustard greens, beet greens, spinach, purple curly kale, dinosaur kale, regular (?) kale, arugula, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, bok choy, cabbage. I'm sure I'm leaving something out. They just kept coming!!

At first I just sauteed the greens with lots of garlic, which is actually super yummy, and I enjoy the simplicity of this. But I made a few dishes that I think were a creative use of greens. First, there was the pasta dish that I already blogged about, which is a great use of spinach. I also liked topping pizza with fresh spinach.

This first of these is a vegetarian recipe. Greens in Pastry Pockets.

* Sautee onions, garlic,
* add chickpeas (white beans would be good, too; or chicken or fish for a meat option), sundried tomatoes, a few tablespoons of creamcheese, and some herbs (like rosemary and thyme)
* Stir in whatever greens you have until they are wilted.
* spoon into pastry shell. (Or I've been cheating and using pillsbury crescent rolls, pressed out into squares. Usually need two tubes for 8 squares)
* and bake for about 12 minutes.

Then there's what I'm calling Creole Greens. It's sort of inspired by Gumbo z'Herbes.

* Sautee onions and garlic. (I promise I do have other ways to start recipes.)
* Add ham (or bacon), creole seasoning, red pepper flakes.
* Stir in whatever greens you have until they are wilted.
* Serve over rice. Garnish with fresh parsley

When I made this I had purple kale and beet greens, and the purple and the red were so pretty.

Spring is moving into summer, and the greens are fading. We're getting more variety: broccoli, cucumbers, onions. The past couple of weeks we've gotten garlic scapes, which I've never had before--and they are so yummy. They are sort of like garlic meets aspargus, but tenderer.

I'm having a great time doing this. And it really is helping my kitchen ennui.

When I was a kid, we had donuts on Saturday mornings. I always got cream filled. I remember swinging madly on our swing set probably high on sugar.

Lately, I've been so tired in the evening, that I save cleaning the kitchen for the morning. I know you're not supposed to do that. But I'm a whole lot more cheerful cleaning in the kitchen in the morning. Sometimes I get to the point, where I'm "together" again, and I manage to go to bed with a clean kitchen, but sometimes...not.

So I got up and cleaned the kitchen this morning. I didn't want to mess it up making breakfast, and we don't usually have convenient things like cold cereal around. So Ellis and I went and got a box of munchkins for less than $5. Popping little balls of sugar. Even Marlowe ate breakfast as Ellis shoved a tantalizing munchkin into his face. Definitely need a little sugar high to start this busy day. heh, heh.

After dreaming and dreaming about it, we finally signed up for a CSA share.* I'd like to say I'm excited about supporting local agriculture (and I am! that's very close to my heart, actually), but I think I was a tad more excited about being presented with a box of food that I can cook with but that I didn't have to exert the brain power to actually choose. It's really hard for me to feel inspired when I look at a blank piece of paper that says "Menus for the Week." I cringe every week. I never do it. My brain is totally dysfunctional lately in terms of food planning. I've bought magazines, surfed the internet, read through old cookbooks, desperately trying to find that little bit of inspiration. Totally stymied. So I will freely admit, I was looking toward the advent of the CSA box with messianic proportions. Save me from the ennui!

Today I went to pick up our first box. Beautiful!!! Green!!! GREEN!!!!!! I brought it home and opened it. Reveled in it. Smelled the herbs which actually had scent and flavor! I held a head of green leaf lettuce that was like a foot in diameter. I wouldn't have known it was spinach if they hadn't said so. So robust! Hubby came into the kitchen and witnessed my madness, "So, you geeking out?" Yea, pretty much.

I mean, look at these beautiful radishes.

All of a sudden I can think of a few meals to make. (Well, something besides pizza, taco salad, and spaghetti.) My buddy Joanna is going to be blogging about her CSA box and what she's making with it. I think it will be cool to do, too. Since the stuff we get comes at its season, it'll be interesting to see how roughly the same ingredients we'll be getting changes throughout the spring and summer. And Joanna has some pretty cool food blogging anyway.

So here's my first contribution, which is actually, recently, becoming a quick favorite meal in our family. I love it for it's speediness and versatility.

Boil some pasta (I use penne).
In a pan saute some onions and garlic (like one small onion and 1-2 garlic cloves)
Add some meat or white beans or chickpeas or lentils (versatility: vegetarian options)
Add some herbs (basil, rosemary, cilantro all good choices; tonight I used cilantro from teh box)
Add some lemon juice, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper (to taste) (if I have an actual lemon on hand, I grate some zest, too).
Add some tomatoes (crushed, diced, or sundried--I prefer the sundried tomatoes that come in a paste in a jar)
If the mixture is a little dry, add some of the pasta water before draining.
Drain the pasta and toss the noodles in the pan (leaving some out for your very picky kid who doesn't like sauces).
Add fresh spinach and toss until it becomes wilted.
Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

From the box: cilantro, spinach, and our side salad of spring greens.

*CSA=community supported agriculture. it works by buying a share in a local, organic farm, and every week during season, you get a box of whatever produce is in season.

Mommy's perspective: A staggering cascade of sprinkles, which sends the cookie decorating venture up to carnage status.

Ellis's perspective: SNOW!

The day went by so fast that here it is Friday when I can sit down and wish you all a happy thanksgiving! I've been gearing up for awhile. Planning menus and buying food. Watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving and Mayflower specials with Ellis.

I went down to Lancaster on Wednesday afternoon after a fun Thanskgiving party at school with Ellis. My sister helped me a lot. We made the pumpkin pie, the stuffing, and our favorite cranberry dish in the world.
The kids got to bed kind of late. And Marlowe was fussy all night. I forgot the teething tablets. Around 5 am, I was trying to settle him, and Ellis stirred and wanted to snuggle. He wouldn't go back to sleep without me, but Marlowe was crying and crying. So eventually I just gave up, and we all got up. Ellis snuggled in front of some On Demand, and I went downstairs to put the turkey in the oven. It was happily cooking away by 6.30 am. I worked in the kitchen off and on all day, making garlic mashed potatoes, baked sweet potato fries with fresh herbs (scrumptious!), spaghetti squash with parmesan cheese, collard greens, all the while babysitting the turkey which I kept basting with butter and white wine per Martha. Marlowe wins the Happiest Baby Award, because he had so much fun bouncing around all day from person to person to exersaucer to person.

I had been frustrated that Ellis woke up so early, because I knew he'd be cranky, so when he fell asleep watching the parade, I was so happy (and a little shocked), he woke up later with a burning fever, whimpering on my lap. This sort of threw a wrench on the pre-dinner wrapup, but Daddy was able to help with Ellis snuggling and my mom got things all warmed up, and we got dinner on the table okay. My parents, sister, two brothers and brother's GF were there, in addition to my aunt and uncle and four cousins, and a friend of my parents. It was kind of a crazy afternoon with dinner and keeping Ellis comfy. We left in the evening. Ellis was still pretty miserable. But he slept all night, and woke up this morning with a normal temp and his normal happy self. So it must have been a one-day bug kind of thing. He's never sick, I mean, never, so I was so sad for him.

Anyway, Marlowe fussed all night. And I'm exhausted the morning. (I did make super-yummy pumpkin pancakes, though. A little crazy, but so yummy!!!!)

We're getting excited over here!! Well, at least I am. On Friday we went down to Lancaster to celebrate Nick's birthday. We got there so late, though, that we ended up spending the night. On Saturday morning I went to central market with my mom where I stocked up on items for Thanksgiving dinner. I was hoping to have a few friends over to our house, but that didn't work out, so we just decided to combine our dinners, and I'll cook over at my mom's house where my aunt, uncle, and cousins will be, too.

I finished shopping for the rest of my ingredients (except for shredded coconut and dry white wine) this morning. I also popped into Old Navy and got a couple of things for myself. They have so good prices on fleeces. I've always loved wool sweaters, but this year i can't stand the idea of wearing wool, for some reason. I just feel stifled and dry thinking about it. Hmm. Kind of weird. I'll blame the baby hormones. Add to that that many of my wool sweaters became snack material for moths while they were in storage. Grr. I will probably felt them and use the felt for some cool projects. I like the bright fleecies I got at Old Navy today. Now if only I could find a pair of jeans I like to fit right over my post-baby butt, I'd be happy. But I have started my yoga again, so maybe I'll fight the jeans warfare from the end. Boo.

So on my list for today, besides finishing shopping, is cooking the pumpkin(s?). Tomorrow I will make pumpkin pie and cheesecake and our favorite cranberry dishes. Wednesday I will make the potatoes and the stuffing. Thursday I will cook the turkey and while it sits before carving, finish the other vegetables. My goal this year, in addition to cooking a truly tasty dinner, is to be sure I cook enough for leftovers. Last year, Chris missed out on leftovers and was *very* sad, so what's a wifey to do?

ETA: yours for free: my pumpkin pie tutorial from a few years back. Though the pictures were accidently deleted by the server awhile ago.

Sooo, busy weekend.

Due to the fact that my children don't seem to get that whole thing called sleeping, I am very tired. But life goes on. So when Ellis came home from school on Friday, we were off to Lancaster. Again! It's about an hour and a half drive, and it felt overwhelming to me at the time. But it was my grandma's birthday, and I had to be there! It was a brilliantly sunny afternoon. The countryside spoke harvest with crinkly cornfields and pumpkins lined up beside the road. Tractors (or horse teams, depending on the farmer's religious affiliation) were out cutting hay, harvesting corn, bringing tobacco to dry in barns with vented walls.

In the middle of the rolling hills of farms is the little town with my grandma's retirement home. We knocked on the door, and entered saying "Happy Birthday!" She said, "Oh wonderful!"

We went over to my parents' for supper. And mom and i made a movie tour of their new house to show grandma. And then I drove home late.

On Saturday, I went to a baby shower and then hung out at my ILs a bit, while Chris was cramming work for a deadline. We cleaned house later. I'm feeling antsy, like I need to declutter scary corners that have hithertofore been ignored. Maybe it's reverse nesting. Or fall cleaning. Or the desire to decorate, but I have to dust first. At any rate, right now, I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle against Clutter of all sorts: house clutter, mind clutter, time clutter. My head is all in a fog.

I was heartily cheered by a long phone chat with my old college buddy and realized that it had been an extremely long time (over a year?) since we've talked. When we were both newlyweds at the same time, we used to talk on the phone while making dinner. This time, I was making dinner, and she was cleaning cobwebs.

Since routines have changed somewhat around here, I'm trying to make new habits that involve good, quality connecting time in the family. When Ellis gets home from school, I have a picnic snack ready for him, and we sit for hours playing together, talking, looking for airplanes in the sky. And Chris and I try to have "adult dinner" once a week or so. That would be dinner without kids, adults only. It's sort of in lieu of a date. Or an at-home date. If we buy a bottle of wine, it's just as good as a date (even better, in some respects), and much less complicated, because no babysitters, waiters, too much money spent, etc. It suits us just right. So we had "adult dinner" last night. We watched a whole disc of Gilmore Girls and had pork chops and spaghetti squash. I prepared the squash a little differently this time, with parmesan cheese and bits of crumbled bacon in addition to a little salt, pepper, and butter. So yummy. We ate the whole squash.

Our little Christmas concert choir at church has begun rehearsals. It's going to be a great program, and it's so fun to be a part of. But she asked me to sing soprano. Eeek! My voice is so out of shape.

And here we are at Sunday night again, eating leftover pizza, thinking about the week. In some ways I feel excited to jump in there; in others, I feel like I'm losing already.

I've got nothing else this morning. You really don't want to hear me wallowing in hormonally induced ineptitude.

So I will share so many cool things I've seen around the internet:
Maia's Hand Quilt via The Artful Parent, one of my top favorite blogs! You really should check her out.

Speaking of quilts, I'm so pumped about this exhibit opening this weekend at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt

I have no desire to make a quilt right now, but I love looking at them.

And speaking of hands, I loved this banner as seen at Ohdeedoh

(I'm envisioning fabric paint, though....hmmmm)

And totally on another topic, angry chicken linked to all these yummy looking cracker recipes on the king arthur flour website. (never thought to look there for recipes.) I'm SO going to have to try this. There's even a recipe for digestive biscuits. Yum. (though, of course, they would need to be dipped in chocolate)

Ok, back to your normally scheduled constructive life. Coffee's drunk.

One of my many mom attributes is that I carry snacks around in my bag, usually just pretzels or goldfish. This was exaggerated a little bit when I was pregnant; I carried meals, add in a couple peanut butter sandwiches and some apples. At the end of my pregnancy, I started to run out of energy to maintain the level of the larder in my purse. So on Thursdays when we went into the city for speech therapy, we ended up going to the McDonalds at the hospital, um, a lot. They have big windows to entertain my little boy with city buses, taxis, ambulances, and trucks. And it was much more navigable than the cafeteria, which is desirable when you're huge.

We hadn't been back since I had the baby, but we went this Thursday before speech. Folks, the cash register lady recognized me! "Oh, you had your baby! He is so cute! *cooing* say hello to Miss Pam!" I'm not kidding. I didn't know whether to be pleased or embarrassed.