Exploring a New Cuisine

Today we were so pleased to have three beautiful, young women (grad students) from India visit with us, and help to prepare a really delicious meal. CA and I have enjoyed various curries over the years and memorable meals in an Indian restaurant or two in London, but when we ate a wonderful meal at Paddy Rawal's Raaga in Santa Fe in September we decided we were going to learn more about the cuisines of India.

I bought The Raaga Cookbook-Modern Indian Cuisine, and then ordered Aarti Paarti, an American Kitchen with an Indian Soul by Aarti Squeira. And, I asked Eeshita, a recent acquaintance (hopefully friend), if she would cook with us. We settled on November 5th.

Eeshita and two roommates met me today, and we shopped at India Rice and Spice for ingredients to make Spinach Chaat (a Northern India specialty--street food), Saffron and Coconut Milk Risotto (via the Pioneer Woman blog), and Saffron Rasmalai for dessert (Bengali).

By 12:30 or so we were dividing up the responsibilities--Me-risotto; Eeshita-Rasmalai; KG and SD-the Chaat and a green and spicy Chutney (mint, cilantro, olive oil, onion, jalapeño, lime juices...).
What a fun and delicious afternoon that we plan to repeat very soon.

Summer at Our House

Too much entertaining lately, but the off-shoot is that I'm deep into cooking again. 

There were leftovers to work through after our big vegan meal. With oven-roasted sweet potatoes on-hand, I was inspired to make a big late-morning breakfast for CA and me. 

Also, utilized the leftover steak from a very recent dinner at Outback. With a correctly-prepared "medium" steak, you can briefly reheat in the microwave without over-cooking. 

We still had great amounts of leftover vegetables and the clock was ticking toward our trip to Colorado. CA and I worked together and prepped the peppers and Vidalias for fajitas (JE's family were due to arrive soon.)

After the peppers and onions cooled a bit, we divided them into Ziplock bags and put them in the freezer. We had pork tenderloin fajitas on Saturday night, and having the veggies pre-made was huge. 

One of our favorite "pantry" meals is a marinara with tarragon, garlic, and finely-diced red onion. We enjoyed this batch with some Dececco linguine, crunchy bacon pieces, and great dollops of creamy goat cheese. 

On Sunday, 7/10, it was our turn to host Small Group, and I'd decided on a peanut butter-chocolate cheesecake with hot fudge and whipped cream. But, I wasn't sure that everyone coming liked peanut butter, so I also made a simple lemon tart. Used a prepared (Pillsbury) pie crust for convenience and 2 jars of Dickenson's Lemon Curd, because it's very tart and very good. 

The first photo is just after I removed the pie weights. The tart crust still needed a few more minutes in the oven to be fully browned. 

I wanted a deep cheesecake, so I used 4 packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese and a cup of peanut butter for a 9"x3" outcome. Actually, I used 5 packages of cream cheese and 1-1/4 cups of PB as I planned to additionally make 4 small 4" cheesecakes to deliver to our elderly parents. 

The crusts were NutterButter cookies and a bit of melted butter. I learned the hard way that pre-baking the crust, as you sometimes do with a graham cracker crust, is not a good idea. Must be the high sugar-fat content of those NutterButters. 

I also added about 1 cup of Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips to the filling mix. 

At serving, I warmed some Mrs. Richardson's Hot Fudge Sauce to drizzle over. And then, topped both the cheesecake slices and the lemon tart slices with freshly-whipped cream. 

On Tuesday we drove to Central Illinois for a quick visit with our parents. Not sure my almost 95-year old dad realized I'd made him cheesecakes as both his sight and hearing have deteriorated greatly this year. But, CA's 88-year old mom was very pleased and happy to share with some of her caregivers. 

By Friday, 7/15 our daughter's family had arrived. LC was turning 5-years on 7/20 so we had fun celebrating his birthday a bit early on Saturday. 

Who doesn't love a donut cake?!

I'm now ready to buckle-down and begin eating "right" again. Love the My Fitness Pal app for calorie counting, excersize recording, and nutrition monitoring. 

Breakfast at Silver Grill in Fort Collins, CO. 

A simple lunch. 

Last night we adapted a favorite salad. The beauty of using the My Fitness Pal app is that I can plan my daily food intake to accommodate a more caloric dinner, or a restaurant meal. 

For example, CA and I had a late breakfast today at The Farmhouse at Jessup Farms. I didn't even miss the potatoes or bacon, as green chiles and fresh fruit were available substitutes. 

My leftover green chiles prompted us to make chicken quesadillas and guacamole for dinner. Turns out carrots taste wonderful with guac--The Two Hot Tamales recipe. 

I warmed the green chiles and, just at serving time, stirred-in some sour cream. 

So... While we are in Colorado, our daughter and family are staying at our very unofficial Airbnb with friends from Cincinnati. Only right, as CA and I stayed at JE's home on our way to CO.

Unfortunately for them, an Opposum somehow made it into one of our covered window wells, then died. Thanks MA for doing the clean-up.

Getting Into the Groove

Our "Welcome to Fort Collins" bouquet from DM, MK, and our Colorado Fun Kids. 

We arrived in time for LG's 11th birthday, May 17. 

Visited LG's classroom for each student's presentations on an individual state. LG's is Virginia--her daddy's birth state. 

Our experience with DIRECTV got off to a shakey start. All good now. 

My reward for a miserable few days dealing with wifi, DIRECTV, moving details, etc. 

We were here for NJ's Spring Poetry Recital, and her Kindergarten final recap. Precious. 

Visiting family kicked me into cooking again (finally). We did a full-out Mexican-Southwest meal. Plenty of leftovers for both DM's family and CA and me. 

Had the girls for our first sleepover in our flat, and found this cutie on our walk to Cozzoli's for pizza. 

Saturday morning, we all walked to the farmers market. 

I baked some fully-loaded Raisin Bran muffins. 

Helped our DIL as she assisted in an friend's wedding prep. Then, she was honored to be a bridesmaid in the combination Vietnamese-Indonesian-American wedding. 

We've been visiting DM's family's church--Mountainview Community. 

Our farmers market radishes-Demi baguette-butter-salt for Sunday's lunch. 

Preparing my mother's potato salad recipe for our Memorial Day cookout. 

Why Do I Never Sleep Well Before a Travel Day?

    (These pans are 5" square. Use just one for thicker fudge.)

Just tired enough. Nope. Not gonna happen. My mind begins a slow spin. I'd considered baking cookies to take to my MIL (86) and my 93-year old Dad, but between the soup making and the spaghetti sauce prep I lost the thread

So... At 12:20am I start thinking about my Mom's fudge. Actually, it's called Mrs Bates' fudge as my Mom learned the recipe in her junior high Home Ec class. (Mrs. Bates' actually showed up across town at our elementary school and taught all my sisters (4) and I  7th grade science.)

We didn't have any exotic ingredients in our home growing up, but we always had Hershey's cocoa, Karo syrup, milk, and vanilla. So, we often whipped up this recipe. And, whipped we did because once the mixture reaches soft-ball stage you must quickly add 3 T. of butter and the teaspoon of vanilla. Then, you stir and stir and stir, until the shine is JUST off the gooey chocolate and you can tell the spoonfuls are slightly mounding. You have to hurry like the dickens to get it poured and smoothed. If you've neglected to butter your dish or pan, you're probably going to end up with a sugary mess. Still edible, I can attest.

Smarty pants me thought I'd judge soft-ball stage with a candy thermometer, but I had a small glass of cold water at the ready. Good thing. Soft-ball arrived a good 15º before the candy thermometer registered it was near. And, I got to retrieve the chocolatey glop out of the water and eat it. Blast from the past!

Let me just say that it was a rare occasion indeed when the Jacobs' family had nuts available. These were toasted at 350º for about 7 minutes before I roughly chopped them.

I sure hope my Dad appreciates this tin of Mom's fudge. He's not the most sentimental of guys, and he's a world class bad and sometimes inappreciative gift receiver. World class. At one point in the past I digressed into giving him a pair of socks with some cash inside. The socks were a part of an old family story he loves to tell. An eccentric shirt-tail relative was known to bark at Christmas or birthdays, "And, don't give me any more damn! socks." The 20s were so that he could choose his own gift. He'd always return anything else he was given. Cash worked.


MRS. BATES' FUDGE

• 2 cups sugar
• 3 T. Hershey's cocoa
• 2 T. Karo syrup
• 1 cup Milk

Butter the serving pan or plate. Set aside. Waxed paper works, too.
Mix the first four ingredients and stir over medium-high heat
Continue cooking until mixture thickens and reaches the soft-ball stage. (When chocolate liquid is dropped into a small glass of cold water, you can easily form a ball using your fingers.)
Now, you must work quickly. Remove from heat.
Have ready:

• 3 T. Butter
• 1tsp. Vanilla

Add the butter and vanilla.
Stir the chocolate mixture rapidly until butter is blended in.
Continue whipping lightly until it begins to thicken. You should notice the sheen is dimming and the spoonfuls begin stacking up.
Pour quickly into prepared pan or plate.
Smooth quickly with a knife or spatula.
Nuts are optional. Today, I sprinkled them into the buttered pan before pouring the fudge over.
Cut squares before fudge hardens too much.
Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Pasta Soup: modifications

Oh, yes. This soup has appeared before on this blog. It's my favorite soup. One that always merits homemade chicken stock.

We're having this for dinner tonight, and sharing some with my mother-in-law this weekend.
As I was making this batch, I realized that I should include some modifications that have evolved over time. The recipe as it first appeared in Bon Appétit in November 1999 was in fact excellent. I've made it so many times, tinkering a bit just happens.

Here are my suggestions:

• I never measure the vegetables precisely. Always a bit generous with quantites.
• I don't sauté the mushrooms as I don't want them to break apart. I usually add them just before the chicken when the pot is at a full simmer.
• This is a soupy soup, so I usually use close to 6 T. of flour. Because I'm cooking gluten-free, today I used cornstarch to good result. I used 6 T. of that, too, where usually when you substitute you use less cornstarch.
• If you're lucky enough to have a Fresh Market near you, their whole boneless chicken breast is the perfect size for this recipe. But, I've sometimes used rotisserie chicken or chicken breast.
• I have used uncooked pasta in this soup, but you can control al dente better if you cook it separately.

Harvest Salad

Voilà.

Williams Sonoma's emails have become a bright spot in my days. If something catches my eye, I either take a screen shot to remember it or bookmark it in my recipes folder. If I want to actually make it soon, I go for the screen shot.