Green Chile Stew (recipe link!), Croup, and Times to Avoid Reading Anything by Suzanne Collins

//Check out my recipe for Green Chile Stew here. Approved by 100% of New Mexicans that have tried it (that is, just Ian).//

Ian was born and raised in New Mexico, the only state that has its own question: "Red or Green?" Yes, those from The Land of Enchantment are a little fanatical about their chiles.

I'll come back to the chiles, I promise.

Ten days ago, Felicity and I both fell ill on the same evening. I developed some sort of horrible flu, despite having recently obtained my annual flu shot, which involved a terrible sore throat, throbbing headache, body aches, shivering, and a highish fever. As a note, if you're coming down with the flu, for the sweet love of god, stay away from The Hunger Games series and pick up some Jane Austen. Seriously, worst and possibly the most terrifying night of sleep I've ever had.

My symptoms improved the next day, although I've had some sort of lingering cold since. It's the kind of cold that seems to have new symptoms every day; every morning I wake up, and it feels like the first day of a cold. So strange.

But Felicity fared even worse. Overnight, her poor little body decided to attack itself, and she developed croup. I hadn't heard of anyone getting croup. When I hear 'croup,' I think about Anne of Green Gables and ipecac,* no lie. But yes, Felicity sounded like a dying seal, was diagnosed with croup by a kindly working pediatrican on a Saturday morning, and was promptly treated with a course of steroids to try to avoid death.

Poor Felicity also still has a cold.

Any good New Mexican will tell you to stuff your face with green chile stew before flu season, during flu season, and if you feel a twinge in your throat or nose. I am married to such a New Mexican, and my mother-in-law is such a New Mexican. She, in her goodness, mailed us a care package with a good five pounds of green chiles, with some red and green chile powder in addition. (I must take a moment to brag: I seriously have the best mother-in-law; she skypes with Felicity and me almost every day, is always encouraging and thoughtful, raised one really fine son that treats his two ladies like gold, and she knows when it's time for some chile love).

Ian and I roasted the chiles in the oven yesterday morning. Ian took the time to peel and chop about half of them, and we froze the other half. And I made my very first green chile stew. And then we stuffed our faces with it.


*I can't remember if Anne used ipecac to save Diana's little sister from death of croup; it's been a good 15+ years since I've read the books (do I sniff a literary trip down memory lane approaching?), and even my memories of the movies are vague, but my brain has tied these two things together. So no badgering if ipecac doesn't treat croup; it seems like it might actually make it worse?

Introducing: Plant Matters

Hey all.

If you've been reading along, you'll know that I decided to move back to vegetarianism about two weeks ago, and Ian followed. We shortly realized the reasons we stopped eating meat really extend to dairy and most animal products... so we decided on Saturday night to become full-fledged vegans. And we're super excited.

I've felt for awhile there is a bit of a disconnect with my love of food, menu planning, and posting of recipes, and my goals for this blog. Thus, Ian and I have started a joint blog called Plant Matters where we will post about our adventures as apprentice vegans, information about veganism and animal rights, and of course, lots of tasty, ktichen-tested recipes (which I hope to photograph along the way), and my weekly menus.

Baked Portabella Burgers with Roasted Red Peppers, Pesto, and Provolone

Well, last night was my last night of eating meat. We made some lamb burgers with goat cheese and a homemade spicy tomato jam. They were... delicious.

But strangely, not as delicious as tonight's portabella burgers. Granted, someone stole two legs off of our three-legged grill this afternoon (?), so we baked our caps instead of grilling them.

Baked Portabella Burgers with Roasted Red Peppers, Pesto, and Provolone
adapted from epicurious.com

2 red peppers (or 2 jarred roasted red peppers)
4 portabella caps, stems removed

olive oil
4-8 slices provolone (omit for vegan)
spring greens or arugula
2-4 Tbsp pesto
mayonnaise (or vegannaise)
4 potato buns

Using your broiler or gas stove, char the peppers (here's a useful tutorial, if you haven't done this before). Place in a medium bowl and cover with saran wrap (alternatively use a small saucepan and lid) and let sit for 30 minutes. Then peel off the skin, remove seeds, and cut peppers into four pieces.

While peppers are steaming, heat oven to 350F. Remove stems from portabella caps, and place on a slightly-greased  baking sheet, gills up. Drizzle with olive oil, and generously salt and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes. Add cheese slices, and bake for another 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

If you have time, toast the hamburger buns. Spread the mayo and pesto on each bun, and stack with mushrooms, peppers, and greens.

Yum!

A Tuesday / Finding Joy [Part Four]

As I sit reflecting over this day, I am quite pleased. I say this eying piles of clothes that are either folded or waiting to be folded, knowing that the kitchen should be sanctioned off with police tape and a sign that reads: "Danger, leave for your own safety." We won't discuss the bedroom or the layer of grime you only find in New York City accumulating on a bathroom that was thoroughly scrubbed through on Friday morning. Actually, the entire apartment was lovely and clean on Friday.

But the cleanliness (or lack of) is not the point; I am happy and satisfied and feel peaceful despite the current war-zone-esque appearance of our four rooms on the seventh floor of a lovely apartment building in the Upper West Side.

This day was filled with beautiful moments. Hugs from Felicity when I picked her up and held her, kisses from my husband and small moments of joy with him, a fantastic dinner consisting of a really lovely fish chowder*, time reading on the bed with Felicity, going to the French book reading at Book Culture, and now baking cookies while listening to Satie. I mean, really, chocolate chip cookies and Erik Satie, while Ian sits at the table and grades final papers. This is bliss.

I'm making cookies for Ian's epistemology class as their final is tomorrow. I like surprising his class with cookies each semester for their final. It seems the decent thing to do; I believe Ian writes a difficult exam!


*In regards to my fish chowder: "This is some restaurant-grade shit!" Ian McCready-Flora, PhD.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The prompts (more than one!) of the day from Shelley Sealle's article on Finding Joy are :

Learn to accept the past and move on from it. We can perpetuate our own pain and keep it alive, and stronger, by replaying old hurts over and over. Dwelling in the past will never change it, but only keeps you stuck there emotionally.

Adjust our attitude toward suffering. Hurt, pain and grief are part of life—but our attitude toward these hard times is critical because it affects how we cope with suffering when it comes. What we give the majority of our focus to becomes stronger and more present in our lives; when the temptation comes to wallow in past hurts or even current bad feelings, consciously choose to give mental energy and attention to the positive as well.

These two topics seem to overlap in many ways. The central theme seems to be: be present in the moment, learn from the past, and don't let the negative bog you down. Yes, it is important to recognize and feel bad things, for certainly glossing over them doesn't allow reflection or growth, but there is a distinct difference between recognizing and dealing with hurt or grief, and continuing to live in it for an extended amount of time.

So, full disclosure and all, I feel like I've been festering lately about past relationships. Not relationships as in romantic entanglements, though there was one that really did a number on me, but friendships, or the lack of friendships. Relationships can be so complex, so messy. I was thinking about one in particular today, someone that just friended me on facebook a couple of weeks ago, someone that I have all of these hurtful, messy associations with. I accepted the request (I've been ignoring her friending attempts for years), and then, after thinking way too much about her and the damage that she did, even having stressful dreams about her family, I unfriended her today, even blocked her so she couldn't contact me again. I hope I'm not the one in the wrong, but sometimes it's best not to allow someone like that back in, especially as we are in very different places with our lives.

So I've been thinking about her, was writing about a couple of girls that were mean to me in elementary school, and, even though I don't consciously think about him during the day, and am still having dreams about an emotionally-abusive guy I was involved with for several years. All of this baggage and hurt. I've invested too much time thinking about what would have happened if Ian and I had decided to in Michigan, or what if the University of Michigan would've accepted me into their doctoral program in 2009, or what if I had stayed at Calvin College instead of transferring to Bethel University, or what if I would have stayed in Minnesota after graduation instead of moving to Ann Arbor with Katherine? How does one let it just... go?

What I keep coming back to is embracing the now and what I have in front of me. Gretchen Rubin writes about her "Personal Commandments" in The Happiness Project, and I think this might be one for me: Embrace the now, live in the present (although I firmly reject the title of "Personal Commandments," as well as "Splendid Truths,"  I choose to not dwell in the would've/should've/could've, which means learn from error and move on to avoid festering.

Something else I've been working on is trying to imagine how I'll feel after a particular chore or activity is completed. For example, starting the laundry today. I've been avoiding it for... five days. I literally couldn't/wouldn't shower this morning because the only towel not in the hamper was damp from my husband's shower (I was actually planning on taking a shower and just using it, but when the shower water wouldn't warm up after two minutes, the gods seemed to be against basic cleanliness, so I just wet my hair and did a quick manual wash of my lady pits and bits). While I only started half of the laundry, and folded even less of that, I still feel somewhat accomplished - I actually started it.* And you'd better believe that I have a stack of white (bleached!) towels all ready to go! That and Ian has underwear, apparently this is all we need to keep our household functioning with any sort of order (?). I envisioned myself having clean towels, told Felicity, "Let's do laundry! We'll really enjoy having clean laundry," and did it.

And the same with the cookies. After making dinner and spending almost two hours getting Felicity to bed, making cookies seemed like quite an effort, especially all of the in-and-out of the cookie sheets. But I thought about how good I feel when I make Ian's class cookies, and how good I feel giving Ian a warm cookie from the oven (especially when he's frantically grading papers or working on a project), and then I thought about how much I love to bake, so I did it. And, assuming you read the first section of this insanely long post, you know that I had a blast making cookies.

Highlight of the Day: Today held so many beautiful moments and no clear highlight emerges (!). I had such a nice time baking cookies and just being with Ian, so I'll choose that.



*I don't know what it is about having a baby, it's probably the lingering postpartum depression, but I have an insanely difficult time starting anything that seems daunting. So chores can go awhile without being completed simply because it's hard for me to muster up the get-go. I swear I'm not lazy, I just get overwhelmed really easily, and I sometimes it feels easier to avoid something all-together than feel overwhelmed in the middle of it. Of course, we all know that things that are just waiting to be done haunt you and make you feel terrible. The ghosts of bathroom-to-be-cleaned are wretched, thesis-to-be-written are just terrible!

Homemade Ricotta

My lovely friend Alli came over on Thursday to keep Felicity and I company, and she asked if I had ever made ricotta. No, I had not. What an intriguing idea, especially as I'd recently come across a ricotta recipe on Pinterest.

We went to the store. We bought our ingredients. We got to cooking once Felicity fell asleep. And it was really, unbelievably easy. 

We bought a lovley loaf of crusty french bread and made crostinis, and made the Honeyed Grape Compote with red grapes, which was amazing (although Ian is decidedly not a fan), with a side salad of arugula and pears, with a light balsamic-basil dressing. The next day, Ian and I ate the crostinis with the rest of the ricotta with some basil-infused olive oil stirred in, sundried tomatoes, and arugula.

So, if you haven't tried making ricotta yet and have 90 minutes to spare, get thee to thy kitchen!

The Relaxation that is Milk Tea

There is nothing quite like milk tea on a chilly and rainy spring day. Admittedly, it is one of those days. I woke up feeling so extremely tired around 6:00 am (with the baby, of course), and it took literally four hours to actually get going. Of course Felicity wanted to stay awake and play until I was finally waking up and ready to get out of bed. Thank goodness she's finally able to communicate that she's tired and will actually go to sleep by herself if I lay her down in her crib. It only took four and a half months to get here!

So now I am sitting on the chaise, still in my loungies at eleven in the morning, drinking milk tea. And thank goodness for milk tea.

Milk Tea (Two Varieties)

Milk tea is delicious with all sorts of teas, but my favorites are a classic English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast, Chai, or Earl Grey. I want to try to make this with a black vanilla or marzipan tea, when I can get my hands on them again.

#1 (The Best Way)
Put four cups of milk and 1 heaping tablespoon of loose leaf tea (or 2-3 tea bags) into a small-medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the milk starts to simmer. Stir/whisk often for 4-5 minutes as the milk simmers, then reduce the heat to low (or medium-low, depending how hot your stove gets). Continue to cook the tea for at least ten more minutes, but really, the longer it cooks, the better it will be, so I suggest letting it simmer for 45-60 minutes on low. Add a splash of real vanilla if desired, strain, and serve. You can also sweeten the tea many ways (honey, sugar, maple syrup), but my very favorite is brown sugar.

#2 (For Milk Tea in a Hurry)
 This milk tea won't have the complexity or rich texture, but it's ready in a few minutes. That's right, you nuke it! Just make sure that whatever the microwave-safe implement you use to cook the milk in, it has at least 2x the capacity for the milk you're using (for four cups of milk, use something that holds at least 8 cups), unless you fancy wiping down your microwave. Microwave on high for 4-6 minutes, letting the milk get to a nice rolling boil so it cooks down a little. Strain, sweeten, and serve as you would above.

Well, it's time to read some feminist philosophy while the baby sleeps. Wish me luck.

Grilled Goat Cheese Sandwiches and Roasted Beet Salad

I invited two other moms in our building over for lunch several weeks ago and served Grilled Goat Cheese Sandwiches with Fig and Honey from my Cooking Light Cookbook (I'm trying to give this cookbook a chance), and with a lovely little salad on the side. The sandwiches were really good following the recipe exactly, and below is the recipe for the salad. Enjoy!

Roasted Beet Salad with Lemon Basil Balsamic Dressing
Serves 4 (with leftover dressing)

I would strongly recommend using a nice aged balsamic vinegar is possible, it makes a big difference. You could also add some goat cheese to this salad, or sliced almonds and shaved parmesan would be nice. I prefer to serve this salad with warm beets, but the beets could certainly be roasted in advance and served at room temperature, or even cold.

For Salad
3-4 beets, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb salad greens of your choice (I used a lovely spring mix from our farmers' market, mescalin greens would also be lovely), washed and dried
1/4 cup (generous handful) of basil leaves

For Dressing
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2-3 Tbsp brown or honey (or more to taste if you prefer a sweeter dressing)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup olive oil (basil flavored, if possible)
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup water
2-3 Tbsp minced basil (optional, use if you don't have access to basil-scented olive oil)

Heat the oven to 425F. Toss the beets with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread beets in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet (two if needed). Bake for 40-50 minutes, tossing beets halfway through. The beets should be tender, sizzling, and starting to brown.

Mix the dressing ingredients together, adjusting the sugar or honey as needed to your taste.

Split the greens between four plates and top with basil leaves and roasted beets. Serve with dressing alongside.

Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup (aka possibly the best soup we've ever made)

Yesterday I posted a partial menu for the week. Tonight, we made the Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup from www.kitchn.com with a few adjustments. This soup take a little longer to cook than many homemade soups, but it is easy to make and is well worth the effort. And it's healthy too; if you use whole milk, it calculates at roughly 370 calories per main-course serving. If you use heavy cream, it's about 445 calories per main-course serving. This is definitely the most delicious thing that's come out of our kitchen in recent memory. Enjoy!

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup
Closely adapted from kitchn.com, serves 4 main courses or 6 side courses

While the original recipe states the cheese rinds are optional, they really are a must. They add a lovely depth and the soup wouldn't be quite the same without them. We served this with some beautiful whole wheat rustic bread found at our farmers' market today.

1 cup wild rice
1 large onion, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1/2 lb baby bella mushrooms, diced
1/2 lb portabella mushrooms, stems removed and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano (dried or fresh)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup white wine
2 bay leaves
1-2 cheese rinds
2-3 cups vegetable stock
2 teaspoons rosemary (dried or fresh)
1 cup whole milk or cream
2 teaspoons salt, divided
pepper

Bring 4 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of water to a boil. Add the wild rice and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 45 minutes until the rice is tender. Set aside rice, undrained.

While the rice cooks, prepare the rest of the soup. Warm a teaspoon of oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery with a half teaspoon of salt, and cook until the onions are very soft, and starting to brown, 6-8 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium and stir in the mushrooms and another half teaspoon of salt. Cook until the mushrooms have released all their liquid and turned dark brown, at least 20 minutes.

Add the garlic and oregano, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir until the vegetables become sticky and there is no more visible dry flour. Increase the heat again to medium-high and pour in the white wine. Stir and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue simmering until the wine has reduced and thickened a bit.

Add the bay leaf, cheese rinds, rosemary, wild rice, and cooking water from the rice. Add two cups of broth to start. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes to meld the flavors. Add the milk or cream. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes, until the soup has thickened to your liking. Add additional broth if needed.

Salt and pepper to taste.

::Addendum::

When we reheated this for lunch today, it was even better.
Ian claims it's the best soup he's ever had. 

Winter Bean Soup

It may be the end of February, but we've been blasted with icy winds and cold temperatures in New York City, which makes me want to get cozy with a bowl of comforting soup. We had some basic ingredients on hand, so I whipped up some bean soup yesterday. (Spoiler Alert: it's even better on the second day!)


Winter Bean Soup
 If you eliminate the bacon or use a vegan substitute, this is a vegan recipe. For the best use of time, de-stem and chop the kale while the onions reduce. Ian gave this a "Straight A" when he tasted it. Little did he know it only took about 40 minutes to make!

4-5 strips bacon, chopped
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp dried or fresh rosemary
bay leaf
6 cups vegetable stock
45 ounces canned cannelloni beans
1/4 cup chopped basil
1 bunch kale, steams removed and chopped coarsely (could use spinach here as well)
Parmesan cheese (optional)
balsamic vinegar (optional)


Heat dutch oven over medium-high heat and add bacon. Saute until the fat begins to render, then add the onion. Saute until the bacon is fully cooked and the onion starts to brown and soften. Add garlic, stirring about 30 seconds until garlic becomes fragrant. Add the rosemary and 2 cups stock.

Stirring occasionally, allow the vegetable stock to cook down until it's very thick and almost gone, almost syrupy. Make sure to scrape up any browned bits stuck to the pot.

Add the remaining vegetable stock, beans, basil, and chopped kale and reduce heat to medium. Stir occasionally and bring to a gentle simmer to warm everything through and cook the kale. Once the kale is cooked (10-15 minutes) the soup will be ready to eat, but you could reduce the heat and allow to cook longer to better infuse the flavors if you have more time.

Top with a sprinkle of Parmesan and a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

Recipe: Green Breakfast Smoothie

Green? That's right, green.

Blend the following:
1 sliced banana (could be frozen)
1 apple, cored and in large chunks
1 1/2 cups chopped kale (stems removed)
1/4 cup soymilk, coconut milk, or skim milk
3/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
Dash of salt (optional)
10-12 ice cubes

This is seriously delicious and an excellent way to start the day. Serves two!

Fall is Here: Pumpkin Muffin Time!

I know, they sound odd, but these muffins are wicked delicious! I found a recipe on epicurious.com and tweaked it to my liking (and my attempts to be a little healthy in my muffin-making endeavors).

My changes:

• I made 18 regular-sized muffins instead of the 6 giant muffins. Do I love a giant pumpkin muffin? Yes, yes I do! Would my midwife kill me if she knew the amount of carbs one of those has? Yes, yes she would.
• I used all white whole-wheat flour, which made them a little less cake-like, but I'm okay with that
• instead of using all oil, I used mostly applesauce (1/3 cup maybe?) and topped off the measuring cup with oil
• I added about 1/4 cup ground flax
• I added a decent helping of cinnamon
• I added 1/2 cup of craisins to the wet mix with the crystallized ginger. I would recommend adding a full cup, 1/2 cup was not enough!
• I adjusted the icing - I only had dark molasses and it was strong tasting the first time I made the icing. That batch was scrapped, and I remade it without the molasses, adding a little vanilla and a generous teaspoon of cinnamon.

Muffins!

Well, we're in NYC and, after two days of fighting against the heat, our new AC unit finally got the apartment to a cool enough temperature for me to warm it back up again with baking!

My goal is start baking bread for us 1-2 times a week, but I thought I'd start with muffins this evening. Yum! This recipe is an adaptation of Morning Glory Muffins from the America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, but I changed quite a bit. Enjoy!

The Yummy Muffins
Makes 12-14 Muffins

3 cups flour (I used three cups of white whole-wheat flour), sifted
3 Tbsp. flax seeds, ground (optional)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups grated apple, carrot, or zucchini (press the water out if using zucchini)
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (toasted, preferably)

Heat your oven to 375 and lightly grease a regularly-sized muffin tin.

Whisk together the flours, ground flax seed (if using), 1/4 cup of sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Using either a standing mixer or a hand-held mixer, beat the softened butter and 1 cup of sugar together on medium-high for 2-3 minutes, until completely smooth and a pale yellow. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Reducing the speed to low (medium low if using a standing mixer), add the sour cream and dry mixture a bit at a time. Beat until just incorporated.

Fold in the apple/carrots/zucchini, pineapple, coconut, raisins, and nuts, being careful not to overmix your batter.

Spoon the batter into your muffin tins. The batter will be stiff and you can fill the muffin tins quite a bit as the muffins will rise up nicely and should not overlap/burn. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the muffins.

Bake until they are golden brown and a toothpick/cake-tester comes out with a crumb or two attached, 23-27 minutes (rotating half-way through is preferable). After letting them rest for a minute or two, use a large spoon to flip the muffins out of the tin and cool on a wire rack.





 

This Week's Menu

It's been so long since I've put a menu up, I thought I would for kicks. Our recent strategy has been planning 3-4 main meals and getting "cheater" meals to supplement (you know, pasta and pasta sauce, etc.). We've been eating out a lot, a combination of my many food whims and our combined deadlines, so no need to purchase food and have it go to waste!

Menu:

• Risotto with Acorn Squash, Leeks, and Basil (adaptation)
• Thai Shrimp-Salmon Curry with Jasmine Rice (adaptation, made this already - sooo delicious and good)
• Thai-Style Beef with Noodles 

Somebody may have also put chicken sausages into the shopping cart and has been eating them as late-night snacks with sauerkraut and ketchup. Please don't judge.

Cinco de Mayo

We usually go out for Cinco de Mayo and snag some tasty eats and margaritas, but in attempts to stick to our budget, I decided to do a little cooking at home.

And I'm going to CHEAT. I've been craving chicken mole, but do I have the patience, ingredients, time, or desire to make it by hand? No, no I do not.

The plan is to doctor some store-brought mole and serve chicken mole tacos with fresh queso fresco, guacamole with poblanos, and caldo verde. I'll cheat some more and use a frozen margarita mix so I can make a virgin one for myself. And it will be a delicious, cheater's meal.

I do plan on making my own coconut flan, that will redeem me a little, right?

To-Cook Recipes

For some reason I can't save into my recipe-box in epicurious.com right now, and I'm lusting after... well, all food.

So, as part save-for-later and part blog entry, here are some desserts I'm dying to try:

• Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze and Crushed Blueberry Sauce
• Lemon Creme Brulee Tart
• Tarte au Sucre
• Lavender Tea Honey Bread
• Hazelnut Gateau Breton
• Sticky Toffee Banana Pudding

And some main courses that sound like heaven right now:

• Grilled Cheese and Fried Egg Sandwich
• Thai Shrimp and Halibut Curry
• Risotto with Butternut Squash, Leeks, and Basil
• Tacos with Carnitas or Carne Adobada
• Chicken Marsala
• Salmon Cannelloni with Lemon Cream Sauce
• Thai-Style Beef with Noodles
• Farfelle with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cream
• Korean Rice Bowl with Steak, Asparagus, and Fried Egg
• Chicken and White Bean Chili

 What have we learned? Apparently I'm craving really fatty and delicious things - lots of CREAM in these recipes, which wasn't intentional, I swear. Also, meat. Yummy, yummy meat.

Okay, enough. I'm a hungry, pregnant woman and I'm going to go cook some dinner before I start nomming on my hand.

A Sunday Night

It's shortly after midnight on a Sunday evening. Ian and I got back from Honduras very late last night (we visited my sister, Sarah, and her husband Jason, and their wee babe, Josiah). Our trip was really great - it was wonderful to see where Sarah and Jason have been living for over two years, and just to hang out. There was much reading, lots of cooking together (and good food!) - a very restorative and baby-full trip.

Josiah was the first baby Ian ever held. Despite initial nerves, Ian is a natural and great with babies, at least this one.

Today was spent trying to catch up and get moving.

Overall, I'm really feeling very much better. Apparently my body is adjusting to the pregnancy hormones swimmingly. I'm sleeping much better, am done feeling green (for the most part), and while I still have much less energy than normal and some headaches, I'm not feeling low overall or terribly ill. Which is fabulous. I think, all and all, I really only had about 2-3 weeks of the greens. Compared to some women, I think I'm rather fortunate.

I also am told I have "the glow"... and have a cute little Buddha belly! This is my favorite part so far. It just 'popped' this last week. According to my endless ravaging of pregnancy blogs, most women don't start showing until they are well into their second trimester, but I guess since I'm so darned short, there isn't room for everything! I'm a strong believer in the full belly maternity pants (and don't regret getting them so early either). My only hope is that... if I look like I'm 4-5 months just starting into my third month (10 weeks today), I don't turn into a monster/whale/elephant later on. Sarah assures me this won't happen, but I've got to be worried about something, so I'll choose that.

But the forgetting! Ian and I now have a song called "pregnancy brain," because I seriously can't keep track of anything. Today I lost (and then found) not only my ken ken book, but two cookbooks, my keys, my purse, and my wedding ring (had to take it off to make some pizza dough). Although, I am happy to report that all burners are off, and I even remembered to turn the oven off immediately after using it, AND remembered to close the freezer. True progress.

We visited Babies 'R Us today on a pregnancy pillow hunt and ended up doing a little pre-registry navigation for prices and ideas. It's exciting to see Ian getting excited about the baby and what kind of crib we'll want. And the fact we both made it over 5 minutes in BRU? Amazing. Truly amazing.

This evening I made a late dinner of Asparagus and Ricotta Pizza, as found in the Real Simple magazine I found in the airport yesterday. So tasty! We used a frozen pizza dough which ended up being quite a bit thicker/fluffier than the crust pictured on the website, but it was delicious all the same.

I also made some cream scones from my very favorite cookbook, The New Best Recipe by the Cooks Illustrated team (quick plug - most delicious everything, and apparently now only $24.50? If you don't have this essential cookbook, even if you are a vegetarian, you should get it). I found a nearly similar recipe here as I didn't want to type out my own adaptation. I'll just say that I used white whole wheat flour to give them a little body (10 oz), and made an 8 inch round, which I cut into 8 slices to make the scones. Also, a word to the wise, if you are too lazy to make your own lemon curd, for heaven's sake, buy the $8 jar instead of the $4 jar. I had to resort to strawberry jam... and now my project is to find a recipe to cook up the cheap lemon curd. Any ideas?

Blackberry Scones for Lovers

Blackberry Scones

These scones are healthy with fruit, whole grains, and flax, and only about 300 per serving, although they yield a large scone. They are also fast, only about 25-30 minutes from start to finish. 


This is a great basic recipe you could add almost anything to. I used blackberries when I made these as that was what I had on hand, but they would be good with some grated lemon zest, or some minced crystallized ginger, or even shredded ginger if you put it in the wet mix. You could also experiment with almond or another flavored abstract. I really want to try the following combinations: dried cherries and walnuts, lemon and ginger, and raspberries, white chocolate, with almond extract.


1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 - 1/4 cup ground flax (optional)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
5 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
2 eggs, room temperature, plus one egg white
1/2 cup skim milk
about 1 cup frozen blackberries (I chopped mine in thirds so they were still in fairly large chunks . I would recommend keeping these frozen until everything else is done)

Heat the oven to 425F. Lightly butter or grease a large baking sheet.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, flax, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry mix until it resembles small crumbs and is integrated fairly thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, whisk the 2 whole eggs, then add the milk. Using a wooden spoon (as the mixture will be thick and sticky), stir the liquids into the dry mix until just moistened. Very carefully (especially if you are using fresh berries!!!), fold the berries into the mix.

Turn the dough onto a lightly-floured surface and flatten into a circle that is about 3/4-inch thick. Don't worry about the dough being perfectly level; uneven scones are the prettiest! Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into six wedges and carefully transport them to your baking sheet. Whisk the egg white, and lightly brush on the scones.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until they are golden brown.

Steak Tacos and Other Pressing Business

**Addendum: We found out I was pregnant about 22 hours after I published this post, which completely explains the weird sleeping which continued throughout the whole first trimester, and the steak taco thing.**

And so ends another crazy week! My sleeping has been erratic at best - it's not just that Ian and I characteristically go to bed too late, but I'm having trouble actually staying asleep when I fall asleep. So, the first hour or two is me drifting in and out of sleep, which leads to me being really annoyed at myself (and the world!!!), which doesn't help. And then it's waking up 3-5 times in the middle of the night. So not cool. Last night I sleep all the way through, cause for celebration all around! I'm hoping that trend continues. I've started doing yoga every night for 20-30 minutes before bed, so hopefully (besides learning how to better open my creaky hips) my sleeping will improve as a result.

 I met with my gynecologist on Friday to check out my lady parts and give the a'okay for baby plans. I love her - she's about 50-55 but wears zebra clogs and has a pink streak in her hair (but not in a trashy way, it's very Ann Arbor). I think I'm much more worked up about my health and weight and nutrition than she is, which is both calming and unsettling.

Ian and I realized this week that we may not be able keep our kitties when we move to NYC, depending on what housing Columbia offers us. But, even if they do allow pets, a baby and two kitties in a wee, quite probably one-bedroom apartment? No bueno. When we adopted Vixen and Peter, we had no idea that we would be (most likely) down-sizing living spaces, or planning to procreate so quickly! I say this as Peter is laying on my lap on his back receiving belly rubs and purring like a little truck, and it breaks my heart. We have been brainstorming ways of putting a kitty or two on loan until our situation stabilizes. Anyone for a heart-breakingly fabulous cat for a year or two?

Ian and I have been driving into Ann Arbor on Wednesdays and over the weekends to work in coffee shops or at Tanner Library (the philosophy library to UM). We've been experimenting with all sorts of little places. Today we drove in with hopes of getting lunch at Zingerman's Deli, but even at 3:00 PM they had a line out the door for a sandwich. We stumbled across my favorite tea store, Tea Haus. Tea Haus recently expanded and now has a lovely little tea room. We shared a few pots of tea (English Breakfast and Diplomat's) and had scones with real clotted cream with an assortment of lemon curd, strawberry jam, and marmalade. Heaven. I may be the fussiest person this side of the Mississippi (as my terribly understanding and patient.. and brutally honest husband could attest to), but I am easily satiated as well. What a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

And finally...

I was craving steak tacos, so Ian and I traversed to battle the fripperies of Whole Foods to find some organic veggies and responsible meat for tacos. Nomnom! (maybe these are actually fajitas? Who can say)

Steak Tacos with Red Peppers and Onions and Avocado Salsa
We purchased 1/2 pound strip steak, which was about 2 generous tacos each. We used Ezekiel's sprouted whole grain tortillas, soft, healthy and really delicious!


Steak Marinade
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
juice of 1-2 limes
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup red or white wine or beer (you could substitute broth but add a little sugar)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chile powder
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
splash of favorite salsa (optional)
2-4 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 - 1 lb strip steak, cut into thin strips, against the grain

Tacos 
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 - 1 sweet onion, cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4 inch strips
small-medium tortillas
Cheese to serve (would be good with goat cheese, queso fresco, cheddar, or monterrey jack)
lettuce

Avocado Salsa
1 avocado, cut into cubes
1/3 cup salsa verde (jalapeno or poblano based)
juice of 1 lime
pinch of salt

Mix the marinade ingredients and add the steak. Add more liquid (wine/beer/broth/salsa) if need to cover the meat. Let this rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes, but preferably 1-2 hours.

Right before making the veggies and meat, prepare the avocado salsa but stirring together the diced avocado, salsa, lime juice, and salt. Keep the pit in the salsa until you serve to keep it as fresh as possible.

Heat nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp. oil and heat until almost smoking. Add the onions and saute. When the begin to brown, add 2-3 Tbsp of the marinade. Cook down liquid and brown onions until soft and carmelized. Add sliced peppers, again adding some marinade and a little salt. Reduce the heat a bit and cook until the peppers are crisp-tender and the liquid is cooked off. Set the vegetables aside and cover to keep warm.

Add 1 Tbsp oil to the pan and heat. Drain the steak (we want as little liquid in the pan as possible at this point) and add it to the hot skillet in a single layer. You may need to cook in batches if you are serving more than 2 people. Cook about 2 minutes on each side until the juices are running clear (or to your preference).

Serve the tacos with steamed tortillas and all the fixings. Nomnom!

BlackBerry Ginger Ale

So, now that, we're, you know, trying to... knock me up, alcohol is out. But this doesn't eliminate delicious beverages or a little kitchen creativity.

New Favorite Thing: ginger ale, frozen blackberries, and a sprig of rosemary.

You could probably mix vanilla vodka or gin or coconut rum in if you wanted to, but you really don't need it.

Sweet Souffled Ricotta Cakes (aka really delicious, fluffy pancakes that will melt your cold, cold heart)

My mom mailed me Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison for my birthday (thanks Mummy!). Ian and I had a friend over for brunch this morning and I cooked some delicious little pancakes for us based on this recipe.

Sweet Souffled Ricotta Cakes
Adapted from Deborah Madison

This recipe could be either savory or sweet. We topped our pancakes with honeyed Greek yogurt and fresh fruit, and with homemade pearsauce, but maple syrup or whipped cream and berried would be delicious as well. You could also omit the sugar and make savory pancakes. Fresh herbs mixed into the batter would be quite nice, or served with a light vegetable puree. 

3 eggs, separated
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup milk (skim, whole, or almond)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar (if sweet, omit if you are making savory pancakes)


In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks until smooth. Add the ricotta cheese, stirring until well blended. Then add the milk and butter, again stirring until well blended. Sift in the flour, baking soda, and salt, adding the vanilla and sugar once well blended. Set aside.

With a hand beater or standing mixer, beat the egg whites until they reach soft peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until no streaks remain.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat, with butter or oil if desired. When pan is hot, reduce heat a little and drop 1/4 cup of batter at a time to make smaller pancakes. Flip after 1-2 minutes, when the first sides are nicely browned (be careful, the batter will still be a bit loose and will bubble on top when they are ready to flip like a traditional pancake!). Serve immediately.