Cheesy Beer Bread

As promised, Cheesy Beer Bread!

Cheesy Beer Bread

3 c. all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
about 4 oz. shredded cheese (I used gruyere because that's what I had)
1 12 oz. bottle lager-style beer (I used a New Glarus Spotted Cow that was languishing in the fridge)
2 tbsp butter, divided, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 F
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, add the cheese and the beer. Stir just until combined.

Place the batter in a 9x5 in. loaf pan and drizzle 1 tbsp. melted butter over the top.  Bake at 375 F for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven, drizzle the remaining 1 tbsp butter over the loaf, and return to the oven for another 25 min. Remove from the pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes. Enjoy with your tomato soup!

Sunday Soup: Creamy Tomato Soup with Cheesy beer bread

Hi friends!  At my husband's request, today's soup is a tomato-y one.  I still haven't jumped on the "slow cooker" soup recipe wagon, but this is a really easy one.  Like, 15 minutes of total time in the kitchen, easy. And once I realized that I was all out of homemade bread (the original plan involved grilled cheese sandwiches), I decided to throw together a loaf of cheesy beer quick bread. You get two for the price of one today!

Creamy Tomato Soup

3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium leeks, sliced
4 garlic cloves (or in my case, a palmful of garlic powder. Who runs out of garlic??)
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes
Salt and Pepper
2 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp tomato paste (I found some in a tube, yeah!)
2-3 cups hot vegetable stock (I made my own while the soup cooked, just throw a carrot, a celery rib, and the ends of your onions and leeks in a saucepan and simmer for awhile. Saved like $3!)
2/3 c. half and  half

Heat the oil in a large pot, like a cast iron dutch oven or something. Add the onions and leeks and cook for about 10 minutes on low heat. Stir in the garlic and tomatoes; season with salt and pepper. Add the sugar and tomato paste, stir, then simmer for about 30 min.

Add the stock, bring the whole thing to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 min. Use a blender, food processor, or immersion blender to puree the mixture. As usual, I like to leave some chunkiness in there, so I don't puree all of it.  Taste and season again.

At this point, you could freeze a couple of portions of this (I'm talking to you, MBA students!).  If you decide to go this direction, be sure to let the soup cool completely before you put it in the freezer.

Stir in the half and half, and serve!  Enjoy with the Cheesy Beer bread, to be posted next.

Quick, healthy, easy dinner - by popular demand

At the party following the big finance midterm last night, I heard from a few business students that the blog needs quick, easy, nutritious recipes.  I got a couple of requests for slow cooker soups and other meals.  I'll keep my eyes peeled for those, and be sure to share them.

Tonight's dinner did not include the use of a slow cooker, but it fit the other criteria. Easy, peasy.

Shrimp, scallion, and edamame fried rice

- A drizzle of canola oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 inch or so piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 2 scallions, white parts and most of the green parts (omit the very ends), sliced
- A couple of handfuls of frozen, shelled edamame
- Trader Joe's frozen organic brown rice (comes in a box with 3 bags, each with about 2 c. cooked rice), warmed on the stove or in the microwave
-  a couple big handfuls of frozen shrimp (the fully cooked, peeled kind)
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- soy sauce

In a Wok or skillet, warm the canola oil.  Add the garlic, ginger, and scallions and cook until aromatic and softened, 2-3 minutes.  Stir in the rice, edamame, and shrimp. Cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimp are heated through (this shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes). Make a 3" well in the rice, drizzle a little more oil into the well, and add the egg.  Leave it alone until the egg is almost fully cooked (scrambled).  Stir the whole dish to combine and add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce.  Enjoy!

Sunday soup: Bean and Kale soup

Wow, it's been a busy weekend!  It was the first weekend we've spent in Madison in three weeks, so I had a lot to catch up on around the house.  As you may know from previous posts, Joe has a Finance midterm on Monday, and this happens to be the most notoriously challenging class he will take in his MBA program (we'll see!).  He's been studying away all weekend, and I'm doing my best to take care of things around the house and make him some good, hearty brain food.

Today's soup was a basic Bean soup, with the addition of some yummy and nutritious kale.

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture before we ate and cleaned up.  Let's just say, it looked pretty delicious!

A hearty meal in support of Finance

In preparation for the ominous Finance Midterm on Monday, it seems the entire business school is hard at work.  I'm supporting my meat-and-potatoes husband by making my first Pork roast. Keep in mind that all veggies (except the celery and garlic) were purchased at the Dane County Farmer's Market.

Pork Loin Roast with Root Veggies

1 boneless pork loin roast, about 2 lb (I got mine at Trader Joes for about $7, not bad considering this will probably feed us dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow, and probably a couple of lunches next week)

salt and pepper

2 tbsp canola oil

2 medium, or 3 small, yellow onions, sliced, not too thin

1-3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 carrots (yes, I put these in voluntarily. I'm trying, people!)

3 parsnips (I added more carrots instead - really!)

6 medium red potatoes, or 2 large potatoes of another variety, roughly chopped (you can peel if you want, but I think the skins are good, and they add nutrition)

2-3 turnips (or more potatoes), peeled and roughly chopped

a few stalks of celery, chopped to about 2" pieces

1 c. chicken or veggie broth, plus more as needed

Season the pork with salt and pepper on all sides.  In a large frying pan over medium heat, warm the canola oil. Sear the meat on all sides, until browned, about 10 minutes. During this step, I worked on the chopping and other prep. I just tossed the veggies into the slow cooker as I chopped them.  Remove the pork from the pan, place it in the slow cooker.

Pour off most of the fat in the pan.  Add the onion and saute until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute. Add these to the slow cooker.  

Add salt and pepper and the broth (watch your salt if your broth is not low-sodium).  Cover and cook on the low setting for 6-8 hours, until the pork is very tender and the veggies are fully cooked.  

To serve, carve the pork into slices.  Spoon the veggies and cooking juices over the port.  Enjoy while wearing your slippers, since it's probably a chilly day.

(Recipe adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Slow Cooking)

Cure my long, bare hallway

This month, I am participating in the Apartment Therapy (apartmenttherapy.com) Apartment Cure.  This means that each day, I'm assigned a small (supposedly 20 minute) task toward "curing" my apartment's ails.  I've posted a couple of rooms, and a couple of others are coming down the pipelines, with a few tweaks to go.  The cure is happening in a very timely manner, as I need that last bit of motivation to complete all the little tasks to make this apartment a home.

Today's task: Search for inspirational photos to help with a design dilema.

My dilema: my loooong hallway. I painted it a nice, pale blue when we moved in, and I'm happy with that.  I'm also happy with the first part of the hallway, which I've treated as an extension of the living room.  I found zero pictures that I liked.

I'm finding myself really challenged in this little jog in the hallway.  It adds character, yes.  It keeps the whole apartment from feeling like a bowling alley, sure. But it takes up so many square feet!  I mean, it would be a whole additional room if it were smushed into a different shape!

 

I need help.

A couple things I'd like to accomplish here:

1. Find some way to tack down that cord that runs across the hall.  There is no grounded outlet in the 2nd bedroom/office, and that is where the desktop computer is kept.  Obviously, it needs to be plugged into an appropriate outlet, and it doesn't seem likely that the landlord is going to be fixing this issue any time soon. Hence, the extension cord across the hall.

2. While I do want to keep the paint, I need some sort of wall treatment that would make this space interesting.  I'm open to hanging art, however, it's a narrow hall so I would be pretty limited in the size of art (since you can't stand back and look at it).

3. I'm open to a floor treatment/rug, but I need to keep the jog in the hall and $$ in mind.  As in, no fancy expensive rugs, since we don't know whether we'll be needing anything like that in the next place.

4. I'd love to have a very narrow console table in the space where the hall jogs.  This would serve as a "landing strip" where we could put mail, keys, etc.

5. I'm thinking it would be really cool to paint both doors (front and back enterances, not the interior doors) a bold color.  The paint job is pretty crummy at the moment, so anything would be an improvement.  

Please send me your ideas!

Le Creuset

As promised, I am here to update you on what is happening with my Le Creuset braiser.

When I bought the thing, I was told that Le Creuset has an amazing customer service system.  Thought I'd never need it (considering they guarantee these things for a lifetime, I figured that meant the products didn't self-destruct).  Turns out, I do need them, and, it turns out to be true!

I immediately emailed the customer service department (their hotline closes pretty early, I think at 4:30 EST).  I woke up to an email asking for a bit more information.  By the end of the day, I had instructions to ship the pan to Le Creuset and expect a replacement in 2-4 weeks.  Crisis averted, I think.

In the meantime, I have been busting out the old Emerilware skillet, which I don't think I've touched since I bought the Le Creuset.  Good thing I didn't get rid of it when we moved!  I am taking this as an opportunity to rediscover what the skillet can do.  I'm seeing it as a sign from the heavens that I need to expand my mind when it comes to my cooking utensils.  Sign taken.

Sunday soup: Pumpkin Soup with Toasted Walnuts

It's fall here in the midwest!  It's been a couple of years since we've been a part of this amazing season (since Los Angeles seems to have only two seasons: June Gloom, and everything else).  We experienced the contrast first hand this weekend, with Joe heading to Los Angeles for the Reaching Out MBA Conference, and myself making the trip to central Michigan.  I met up with the Hagen parents for the weekend at the Hunting and Fishing Club where they are members (i.e. one of the most beautiful, serene places I've been).  The fall colors were at their peak, and let me tell ya, it was stunning.  Those flaming trees had me inspired for the evening's soup.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a little Pie Pumpkin at the Dane County Farmer's Market.  It was a cute little guy, a little bigger than a grapefruit.  I played with the recipe a bit, and I will say, I made a couple of mistakes this week.

Pumpkin Soup with Toasted Walnuts

One small Pie Pumpkin
1 1/2 c. chopped leeks
6 c. chicken stock (I used about 4 c. of stock and 2 c. of water, partly to save $$ and partly to keep the sodium content down, since I did not have low-sodium stock on hand)
2 tsp. dried rosemary (I used ground sage, since that's what I had.  This was a mistake.  The flavor was fine, but it really took the color down a couple of notches...)
2 tsp. kosher salt (taste and add little by little so as not to oversalt!)
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 c. creme fraiche (I actually used greek style yogurt, but I think it was a little too tart)
1/3 c. walnuts, chopped and toasted
6 fresh rosemary sprigs (I omitted these, didn't have 'em.  They would have been good, though!)

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Rinse and dry the pumpkin, cut it in half and remove the seeds/muck.  Quarter it, then slice into 3-4 in pieces.  Arrange them in a baking pan, cut side down.  Add water such that it comes about 1/4 in up the sides of the pan.  Cover tightly with foil.  Bake for 45-50 min, until they are fork tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, carefully remove the skin with a sharp paring knife.  I realized I needed to be careful and only cut off the peel, since my pumpkin was pretty small.  Cut the pieces into 1 in. pieces.  If you've got more than, say, 8 cups, reserve the extra for another project (pie? bread?).

Melt butter in a large, heavy, lidded pot.  Add leeks and cook, stirring, until they become translucent and soft.  Add the pumpkin cubes, stock, salt, herbs and spices.  Stir to combine, bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Puree the soup in batches in a food processor or blender (or an immersion blender if you are so blessed).  Whisk in about 3/4 of the creme fraiche.  Taste and season as needed.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with a dollop of creme fraiche, rosemary, and chopped walnuts (these are key - they add texture and a nice flavor, yum!)

Serve with some crusty bread, or in tonight's case, some onion pan bread... that recipe is a'comin!

Sunday soup: taking the week off

I just wanted to let my readers know that I did not forget about your Sunday soup post this week.  We simply took the week off of soup because 1. we were out of town until late afternoon, and 2. it is about 80 degrees outside.  Next week is another question mark, because Joe will be coming back from a conference in LA, and I will be coming back from visiting family in Michigan. If I do make some soup, it will be a simple, likely rustic soup.  Have a good week, everyone!

A little kitchen project

On our way back from a weekend in Chicago, we decided to stop at Ikea for a few things for my office.  Needless to say, we quickly realized that we needed so much more for our apartment!

I'd been meaning to do something to corral my dish washing/kitchen cleaning equipment.  It's been sitting on the edge of the (grubby, old) sink since we moved in. Here's what it looked like before...

Note the messy arrangement, bleh.

A new hanging bar/basket, an S hook, and a couple of screws later, voila!  Tidy, organized, and purposeful!

Now, if I could just get a new backsplash/counter/sink/cabinetry/entire kitchen, we'd be in business...

Kitchen disaster!

This evening, I was being a very responsible wife, cleaning the dishes while the stuffed eggplant was in the oven, and I discovered this disaster:

Ack!  Look at what is happening to my favorite, most beautiful Le Creuset braiser! 


The enamel is disintegrating.  Before I used it tonight, it was fine.  The suface was smooth and beautiful.  What happened?!?  This is horrible!


We sat down to eat dinner (the eggplant looked sooo good), and gingerly chewed away.  I picked out one piece of enamel from mine.  Joe had to spit out two mouthfuls because things were a little...crunchy.


After dinner, I immediately pulled up the Le Creuset website, as well as a google search for others to whom this happened.  The good news is, Le Creuset will likely fix or replace it.  I sent them an email, begging for help.


Stay tuned for more details as the drama unfolds...

Sunday soup: Ribollita (Minestrone)

Today's Sunday soup was shared with my cousins, Matt and Andrea, who came to Madison with their two little ones for a Sunday visit.

Photo credit: http://www.weareneverfull.com/ribollita-how-come-peasant-food-tastes-so-good/

Ribollita

Servings: 6 (I pretty much doubled the batch since we had visitors, and always like to have leftovers for the week)

1 c. dried cannellini or great northern beans
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium leek, chopped (white and light green parts, only)
1/2 c. diced carrot (I omitted this due to my hatred for all things carrot)
1/2 c diced celery
2 cloves garlic, minced (plus one, whole, for the garlic bread)
One 14 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes (include juices)
1/4 head of cabbage, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
8 oz fingerling potatoes (a large handful), (you can use another kind of potato as well, such as one medium russet), diced/sliced.
8 oz. kale, or a few big leaves, chopped

Rinse and sort through the beans, removing any pebbles or debris.  Put beans in a large bowl; cover with about 3 c. boiling water and let soak for 1 hour.  Drain the beans into a colander and reserve.

Heat olive oil in a large, heavy pot (such as a dutch oven) over medium-high heat; saute the onion, leek, carrot and celery until just softened.  Add the garlic and saute for another minute or so.

Add 8 c. water, beans, tomatoes, cabbage, and salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for about an hour (I did longer on a low setting, since we were playing at the park)

Add potatoes and kale.  Simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender; about 20-25 more minutes. Season with salt if needed. The soup can be cooled and refrigerated for later at this point (but I bet you won't be able to resist a bowl!)

Lightly toast a few slices of bread (make your own!).  Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub on the toast.  Butter if desired.  Serve with the soup.  ENJOY!

Bella and Matt tree climbing at the park

Chunky baby Joey in his cozies

Fresh-baked bread

As one of my many efforts to reduce the grocery bill (now that Joe is in school and we are on a slightly stricter budget), I've been baking all of our bread at home.  I've tried several recipes, and I have found one that seems to be easy and quite successful.

The recipe is credited to Mark Bittman (my favorite), from his How To Cook Everything.

4 c. all purpose flour (can do up to 2 c. whole wheat flour, or 1 c. of another grain flour)
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. yeast
2 to 2 1/2 c. warmish water
2 tbsp olive oil (optional)

Combine flour, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl (or, in my case, a large plastic tub with lid). Stir, or use your hands to combine.  You should have a sticky, shaggy dough - it shouldn't be dry.  If it is, add a little extra water (this is where the variance in the amount of water comes in.  I usually find that I need about 2 1/2 c water). Cover loosely with plastic wrap, or if you are using a lidded container, put the lid on without sealing it.  Place on a high shelf overnight.

After 12-18 hours, flour a dry work surface.  Remove the dough from the bowl or tub and place it on the work surface.  Fold over a couple of times to form a ball, but don't work it too much.  You can also coat it in olive oil here (this is where the oil comes in). I haven't skipped this step yet, but I believe the function here is to get that nice, golden crust. Cover again with plastic wrap and let sit for at least a half hour (up to 2 hours).

Meanwhile, place a covered pot in the oven and preheat to 425 F.  I usually use my Le Creuset Dutch (French?) oven here, but you can use anything here that is oven-proof and has a lid.  If you don't have anything like this, I think you can simply use a baking sheet, but put an oven safe container with a bunch of ice cubes in the oven when you put the bread in.  The preheated pot acts like an "oven within an oven" and serves to trap the moisture released by the dough as it bakes.  This is how you get your pretty crust. The pot should preheat for at least half an hour.

Carefully remove the pot from the oven and dump your dough into the pot. Replace the lid and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid (it will look really pretty at this point!) and bake for an additional 20 minutes.  I sometimes find that the bread starts to smell scorched, and Mark Bittman says to turn the oven temperature down a bit (I've been successful with 400 F).  

Remove the bread and place it on a cooling rack for a bit before you try to cut it.  Admire your handiwork, and marvel at the fact that the bakery at the supermarket would have charged you $4 for this work of art!

The photo shows our favorite variation: replacing 1 c. of the flour with 1 c. flaxseed meal. Nummmm....