Shortbread

What could be simpler than shortbread? Shortbread was one of the first things I ever made by myself, guided at first by my mother, of course. I remember the pan I had--a coppery pan with the alphabet molded in at the bottom. Probably wasn't the best pan for the job, as I think back on it, but I loved it and nothing else would do, I'm sure.

Another great thing about this is that I don't even have to clean a bowl because I mix it in the processor, and then press it straight into a pan. My motivation today was to make a treat for baby, but this is a ruse, because I am the one who eats all of it. He's the one who needs the butter, not me. Though he does like it, it's true! I had some vanilla sugar left, so I used that, and put in some orange extract. Shortbread is so versatile. Really, put a lot of butter with sugar and flour and you're probably going to eat it. You know?

2 cups of flour

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp orange extract

Mix in food processor until crumbly. Pour in 8" pan and press in, smooth with spatula. 325 oven for about 45 minutes. Let cool. Cut into squares. Eat too many. Go ahead. Do it.

About Me

I was Swami Mami for Halloween. This has nothing to do with food all that much, but I have lots of turbans. Who doesn't like a velvet and satin turban?? And do you see, I am playing my smallest cast iron pan. I've gotten quite good on it.

Spanish Casserole

Whatever that means. Casserole is a beleaguered word, isn't it? Being that I have a thirteen-month old child, I don't have a lot of time to cook, or eat, for that matter. One-pot dishes that are inexpensive, uncomplicated, quick and tasty are of the essence to my life. If I see too many ingredients in a recipe, I immediately balk. If I see too many steps, I get wary. With that in mind, here is a good, sturdy little recipe that I found in a book called The Reader's Digest Eat Better, Live Better: A Commonsense Guide to Nutrition and Good Health, published in 1982.

This book was one of those books that just somehow gets into your library. You know not from whence they came, and you are even a bit disdainful, until you really flip through the thing and realize, hey, this is actually a good book! It has great illustrations and encyclopedic information on vegetables and fruit, recipes, nutritional content, and so on. I've always loved books of classifications and definitions, ever since that Richard Scarry book that described in detail all the things that are in big boats and houses and stuff. Loved that book! There's even a section on wild, foraged foods. Did you know that Milkweed is edible? The flowers taste like broccoli, apparently. To digress further, we have lots of Milkweed, a beautiful and beneficial plant. At this time of year, its seed pods dry up and inside are silky strands attached to the nut brown seeds and they float away like parachutes, carrying the intended plant on the wind in preparation for next year's plant.

Okay, I will stop rambling. Here is the recipe:

2 whole chicken breasts, split and skinned

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1/4 roasted red pepper, diced

1 cup chicken broth

1 28 ounce can of plum tomatoes

1 cup brown rice

1 teaspoon thyme

olive oil, salt and pepper

Use a nice, heavy dutch oven with a lid. Preheat oven to 350. On stovetop, brown chicken in oil. Take them out and put them on a plate while you saute the diced veggies. Add the rice and cook a few minutes. Then slowly add the tomatoes and broth and return the chicken to the pot. Salt, pepper and thyme. Cover and bake in oven for forty or so minutes.

I served this with a spoonful of greek yogurt, which I'm starting to realize you could add to everything and anything. And I'm sure this will be better today when I have it for lunch.

Winter Squash Soup

I love squash, but that wasn't always the case. I've finally managed to find ways in which I love it and want to eat it all the time. There's a few vegetables I have problems with, and I always feel bad that I do. I always try them, year after year, thinking that somehow my tastes have changed. For example, I don't like cantaloupe, but I think it smells amazing, and its flesh is tantalizing. But every time I take a bite, something in me just says no. That doesn't stop me from planting it or buying it. I love cantaloupe. I just can't eat it. It's weird.

Moving forward, I am now officially in love with winter squashes, and I do believe that I will try to grow as many as I can next year. I've had some squash vine borers in the past two years, so I'm going to move them out of the old bed and plant them everywhere else I can. The other day I stopped in the Apple Bin, a little orchard around the corner from us, and purchased this little gem. The sign said Marina di Chioggia, but they have bumpy skin and this was smooth, so I believe maybe it was wrongly identified? Or perhaps there is a smooth-skinned version? The newest Organic Gardening has a nice article on winter squash that was good.

All that aside, I made some soup. I can't rave enough about said soup, and I really think that was just because the squash was so good. The gorgeous orange color just shouted out, "I'm making you healthy just by eating my deliciousness!!!" I really think that the soup was saying this.

I roasted the quartered, de-seeded, olive-oil-rubbed squash at 400. Peeled it and chopped it in chunks. Sauteed diced onion, celery and fresh ginger in olive oil, then added the squash and about five cups of chicken broth and water. Salt and pepper. Pureed it with the trusty immersion blender. Served it with a dollop of greek yogurt. Chives would have been nice, but isn't that always the case? I rarely have them on hand. Is that wrong?

Yogurt Cake

I was so excited with this cake that I took a bunch of pictures, cooing over it like a little baby. Once I ate some of it, I ran to take more pictures, thinking in some way that would document the deliciousness. To me, cake is the sine qua non dessert. It's the spongy, chewy texture I'm after. Something to bite into and fill the mouth. I'm serious. I love ice cream, but I get sick of it. Chocolate is incredible, but I don't indulge every day. Sweet breads (the breads, not the glands) must be what I crave. That carbohydrate loaded softness. Oh! And this delivered in just the way I like it. It was easy peasy and the texture made me purr. I ate it plain, and by evening there was only a wee slice left. I didn't eat it all, mind you, I did share. A little.

I got this recipe from my friend Eve, who knows my predilections for easy and sweet. I resisted the urge to mess around with it, for example, when I saw it asked for a tablespoon of baking powder and that it didn't ask for salt?? But I reigned myself in and trusted in the recipe, and lo, it repaid me twentyfold. Or, something like that. Actually, not entirely. I used vanilla sugar and omitted the vanilla extract. And I didn't use the rum, although next time I will. I'm such a rebel.

Gâteau au Yaourt

2 eggs
1 cup of whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon light rum

Preheat the oven to 350° F, line the bottom of a round ten-inch cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, oil and rum. In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and blend together -- don't overwork the dough. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, run a knife around to loosen, and turn out on a rack to cool.