the rest of august

I don't know where it went! We had a pretty busy end of the month with a few birthday parties, overnight guests and some extra work. Here is a bit of catch up.

Cookie of the Month Club: Oatmeal Raisin

Fresh Fish Chalkboard sign #2 completed

Trying to refinish/repaint an old picture frame-more photos to come!

Last evening we got back from a fabulous trip for my husband's birthday (I will post photos soon) and it's back to work this morning. I'm hoping to squeeze some creative projects in soon-I'm starting to go through withdrawals!!


Happy September everyone!

cookie of the month club: classic chocolate chip

The Cookie of the Month Club was deplorably late in July. Shame on them. However, July was Classic Chocolate Chip (recipe from the back of the bag of chocolate chips) and they were delicious and so very worth the wait. 

(This is the my most favorite timer from Anthropologie. It's so cute I had to throw in a photo.)

The recipe is for Original Nestlé Toll House Milk Chocolate Morsel Cookies.

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour ***I usually do 1 1/4 cup white flour & 1 cup wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter ***no wonder they taste so good!

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 t vanilla extract ***I usually do 2 t

2 large eggs

1 3/4 cups chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts ***I never do this because my husband doesn't like nuts in his cookies

Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine flour, baking soda & salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar & vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

Makes about 5 dozen cookies ***I think my scooper is too big because I probably only get 3 or 4 dozen.

Yum!

food photography

Photographing food is kind of a challenge. Without the right light or arrangement, a delicious treat can look gross. Raceytay has some lovely food photos that actually do justice to their subjects, like this fabulous bowl of figs.

blueberry muffins

Some yummy blueberry muffins I made this morning for my husband's Girls Surf Clinic.

cookie of the month club: peanut butter

I got a good scare the other day because my husband texted me: "Think there is a mouse in the house."   Now I'm not afraid of mice, they just are gross especially in your house, so I told him to kill it. The next text said: "I think it got into the cookies." Which means that my husband was trying to blame shift why he had eaten half the batch of cookies I had just made. I was just relieved we didn't have a rodent infestation.

The cookie of the month for June is chewy peanut butter. This recipe comes again from my trusty old Pillsbury Family Cookbook-with my own variations of course. I really like the texture they came out with. Not too dense and pretty moist & chewy.

Ingredients:

2/3 c shortening or margarine, softened (I use 1/3 c butter & 1/3 c oil)

1/2 c peanut butter

1 c firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 T milk

1 t vanilla extract (I did 3 t vanilla)

1 1/2 c unsifted Pillsbury flour

1 t soda

1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 375. In mixing bowl, cream shortening, peanut butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla. Blend in remaining ingredients until well mixed. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten balls with fork, forming crisscross pattern. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 36 cookies.

brownies

Baked some brownies and this is all I have to show for them!

clotted cream

Well wanna-be clotted cream, I guess. But from what I've heard it tastes much better than normal clotted cream. 


I found the recipe online and made it to go with the cranberry orange scones. It's really simple and tastes great-kind of like a less sweet whipped cream.


Clotted Cream
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/3 c. sour cream
1 T powdered sugar (I took matters into my own hands and did 3 T instead)


Whip until soft peaks form. Ta da!

cranberry orange scones

This is a really yummy scone recipe that I found at Martha Stewart. I'm not the biggest fan of scones because they are usually too plain and dry for my taste but this recipe comes out really moist and the orange zest adds just the right pop of flavor. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled

3 tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup dried cranberries

2/3 cup low-fat buttermilk, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons more if necessary

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest.

With a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal (or until it feels like your arms are going to fall off). Stir in dried cranberries. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined; do not ovemix. Use a little more buttermilk if dough is too dry to work with (mine actually usually ends up a little too wet).

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface; shape into an 8 inch round. 

Transfer to baking sheet. Cut circle into 8 wedge

Martha's recipe says to space them 1/2 inch apart (to prevent sticking, dust knife with flour) but my first batch I did that way all grew back together during baking. So my second one I spaced them more like 1-2 inches apart. I also patted some raw sugar onto the tops.

Bake until golden brown 18-20 minutes. Yummy!!

mom & gingersnaps

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. I spent the day with my amazing mom who I must say is just the best! She is not only the sweetest lady you will ever meet, she is also incredibly talented. Always the perfect hostess, she taught me how to cook, bake and how enjoying good food brings people together. She always let me set the table (my favorite part), sneak bits of cookie dough and chop up any pieces of fabric (even tablecloths or sheets) for my latest clothing design. I hope someday I am half the lady she is. Here's to Mom!

Since my mom is a fabulous baker, it fits perfectly that my latest endeavor was cookies. Described as a "chewy, spicy cookie," gingersnaps are one of my absolute favorites. This recipe comes again from the aging yellow The New Pillsbury Family Cookbook (a gift from Mom, actually).

Gingersnaps

Preheat oven to 350. Cream 1 cup sugar (I do 1/2 c. brown sugar, 1/2 c. white sugar) and 3/4 cup shortening or margarine, softened (I do 1/2 c. butter, 1/4 c. oil).

Beat in 1/4 cup molasses and 1 egg. (I used my adorable Anthropologie measuring bowls which are decidedly less functional than a regular measuring cup but 100 times cuter!)

Stir in 2 cups unsifted Pillsbury flour (I do 1 c. wheat flour, 1 c. white flour), 2 teaspoons soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. And of course, add in the spices: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger. Stir until well mixed.

At this point you can chill the dough for a bit in the fridge if you want to make handling it easier.

When it's sufficiently chilled, shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll them in white sugar. I always use a cookie scoop-I don't have to get my hands messy and the cookies all come out nice and uniform. Place the sugared balls of dough 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. The recipe says to grease the sheets but I never do and the cookies come off just fine.

Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until edges are set (I do about 10 minutes). The recipe also says that it yields about 48 cookies but my scoop must be a bit too big because I get closer to 35.

dinner with friends

Last night we had a lovely dinner with friends at our little condo.

The menu:

Fresh Roasted Garlic Bread

Caesar Salad

Shrimp and Leek Rotini

Pesto Penne with Grilled Chicken and Sun-dried Tomatoes

They say to never try a new recipe when you are cooking for company but for some reason that's always when I want to do something new. Real Simple had a tempting recipe for Shrimp, Leek and Spinach Pasta. I've never cooked leeks before but they actually were really tasty. As usual I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but it was still really good!

Ingredients

12 ounces gemelli, fusilli or some other short pasta (I used whole grain rotini)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 leeks (white and light green parts only) cut into half-moons

kosher salt and black pepper

1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp (I just got precooked cocktail shrimp)

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3/4 cup heavy cream

10 ounces baby spinach (I ran out of time and didn't use any spinach :/)

Directions

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions; drain and return it to the pot.

2. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks have softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and lemon zest and cook, tossing frequently, until the shrimp is opaque throughout,  4 to 5 minutes more.

3. Add the cream and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the pasta in the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring, until slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the shrimp mixture and the spinach and toss to combine.

A shot of the last remains of the Pesto Penne with Grilled Chicken and Sun-dried Tomatoes. This is one of my favorite pastas! Especially when my husband grills the chicken for me!

Dessert was cheesecake (made by Sara Lee, not me) and fresh strawberries and whipped cream. So yummy and full!

cookie of the month club

Eating sweets and baking them are two of my favorite pastimes. For Christmas this year I thought I'd try to share those joys, so I gave my grandpa what I called the "Cookie of the Month Club." The Cookie of the Month Club (me) promised to deliver to his door one dozen fresh baked cookies each month. This month we are running a little behind schedule and out of new recipes. So far we have had:


January-Classic Chocolate Chip
February-Chewy Oatmeal Raisin
March-Classic Chocolate Chip
April-Snickerdoodles? White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut? Peanut Butter?

photo: from Jules Food

I found a new recipe for snickerdoodles at Jules Food blog. She has all kinds of other wonderful and quirky recipes like Cherry Lemon Essence Cake or Peanut Black Salt Caramels. Hope these snickerdoodles taste as good as they look!

old bananas

"You know, you don't throw away a whole life just 'cause he's banged up a little." Tom Smith, Seabiscuit

Not just a good philosophy for life, it might also summarize the invention of banana bread. This weekend we had a couple of haggard looking bananas awaiting this noble fate (or the compost pile). They looked unappetizing on the outside-but their insides were still good. 

The recipe I used comes from a cookbook I was given as a bridal shower present. It is full of recipes from all of my friends and family and the banana bread recipe was from my dear friend Jenni who developed it in Costa Rica (no wonder it's so tasty!).

Costa Rica Banana Bread Recipe

from Dos Chicas Bread Co.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour (I do 1 cup regular flour and 1/2 cup wheat flour)

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup orange juice

3/4 - 1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together first.

Then add the eggs, oil, orange juice and the mashed bananas.

Mix well but let the batter stay a little lumpy. Pour into lightly greased baking dish (I use a 1 quart loaf pan). In the oven it goes!

Bake for 45-55 minutes or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

You'll be so glad you didn't give up on those old bananas! 

bread pudding

This week I snuck in some time for one of my favorite hobbies: baking. We had some wheat rolls that were on the stale side so it seemed the perfect intersection of pleasure and necessity to make some bread pudding. Bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts quite possibly because the ingredients are suspiciously similar to those for french toast.


Another reason to love bread pudding is that it's also quite easy to make. This recipe comes from the New Pillsbury Family Cookbook. Well, it was new in 1973 when it was first copyrighted. It's a copy of the same cookbook that I watched my mom cook out of for years when I was growing up so it's full of nostalgia as well as good recipes.


BREAD PUDDING
2 slices (2 cups) soft or dry bread cubes
1/2 cup raisins
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups milk

(For accuracy, let it be known that I rarely follow recipes exactly. I put in extra bread cubes and doubled the vanilla)

First preheat the oven to 350°F. Then cut the bread into cubes.

Next, place the bread cubes in a lightly greased 1 qt. casserole dish. Sprinkle the raisins over the top. Combine eggs, sugar, salt, cinnamon, vanilla and milk; beat well. Pour this mixture evenly over the bread cubes.

Set casserole dish in a baking pan with about 1 inch of hot water. Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Makes 4 to 5 servings.

 This has to be one of the tastiest ways to recycle!