Waffles for Spring

I'm in the middle of preparing things for the end of term, so I don't have long to write. On the bright side, I have a number of food pictures ready to go and on a computer that I can post from... so I should be able to put up some more posts over the next several days.

To the left, you'll see a picture of our very first Spring flower. Last Fall, Ken's mom purchased a variety of bulbs for us which I planted around the garden. We've been having so much fun discovering all the growing green things in our backyard and we're planning to plant a vegetable garden this weekend. I just love Spring.

Also, wanted to share my waffle recipe with you all. We've been making waffles regularly because they're easy to reheat in the toaster for a quick breakfast. In an effort to make this a healthy as well as easy breakfast option, I've come up with a waffle recipe that I really like. The flavor is excellent and they're much more filling than regular flour waffles.

Combine in a large bowl:
1 C whole oats
1 C bran
1 C bran flour or whole wheat flour (or 1/2 and 1/2)
1/4-1/2 C sugar (or honey or brown sugar)
Enough low-fat buttermilk for a soupy consistency

Let sit for about a half hour to soften the oats.
(This isn't necessary but will ensure that you don't get any whole oats that are hard and uncooked)

Stir in:
2 eggs
1 T baking powder
1 T baking soda
1/4 C oil
enough milk to make waffles pourable (the buttermilk will probably have soaked into the
any seasoning you prefer (vanilla, cinnamon etc.)

Oh and one quick note about the oil-- you have to include some fat in the recipe or the waffles won't hold together. You can use butter or oil, whatever you prefer. I usually start with just a dash of whatever fat, cook the first waffle, and then add more if necessary.

Recipes for things like waffles, pancakes, muffins, quick breads, etc are really fun because you can muck around with them a lot and usually still get a tasty final dish. Unlike yeast doughs or fragile butter pastries, they're pretty hardy and can handle some mistreatment. If you want to experiment with baking, I highly suggest playing around with some of these kinds of recipes.

Anyway, back to work.
Toodles.

2008? February? Really?

I realize that I've become really really bad at posting with any regularity. I feel mildly guilty about this. Once I would have felt really guilty about this. Now, though, the dizzying swirl of constant obligation and the perpetual feelings of inadequacy, the life that is graduate school, has dulled any such torment of conscience into a mild nagging feeling. And besides, I've found that the last thing I want to do after a long day of working is to spend any more time on the computer.

The absence of photos/recipes of wonderful food on this page does not mean that Ken has stopped cooking... quite the opposite. He is happily working for a small start-up bistro that specializes in high-end catering and he is able to spend most evenings at home. He frequently makes us beautiful and scrumptious meals and has stoically accepted his role as guardian of my sanity- for which I am eternally grateful.

I've attached images of a recent meal/s--
The first is an image of cream of asparagus soup. This soup was delicate, fresh, and made me long for spring.

The second is tuna (half seed-encrusted, half-jerked), mushrooms, and spinach with ginger. Every part of this meal was just amazing. The mushrooms were rich and musky. (Ken has taken to finishing most of his vegetables with chicken stock-- I highly recommend this.) The spinach and ginger was bright and just perfectly wilted... and the tuna was... well, yum

Sorry the photos aren't better. I've gotten a little lazy about taking them since they so rarely go anywhere anymore.

I'll try to post again soon but no promises.

Creme Brulee

When my father spent a few days visiting, we discovered that he LOVES crème brulee. It turns out that the dish is not very difficult to make, so Ken gave us a couple cooking lessons. It was certainly a chore to make and eat those delicious delicate desserts, but we all make sacrifices for family. I believe that my dad recently tried the recipe on his own. Maybe he will post a comment to let us know how it went.

Ingredients:
1 qt. heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1 C sugar
1 vanilla bean, split (scrape out the bean if you don't want a speckled brulee)


Heat the cream and vanilla bean over-medium high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove vanilla bean.

In a non-reactive bowl, whisk 1/2 C sugar with the egg yolks until creamy and the egg yolks start to lighten in color.

Slowly pour a little of the cooled cream into the egg mixture while stirring. Continue until the cream and eggs are well mixed.


Pour the liquid evenly into small dishes (ramekins) and place them in a baking pan. Fill the baking pan with enough water to come up about half way around the dishes.

Bake the crème brulee at 325 degrees until the brulee is set but still trembles when agitated (about 45 minutes). Then, cool the brulee in the refrigerator for several hours.


Dust the brulee with a thin layer of sugar and then use a blow torch to caramelize the sugar and form a crispy top layer.




Enjoy!

Banana Coffee Cake and Quiche

With all of the houseguests we've had recently, I've had the opportunity to brush up on my brunch cooking skills. To the right you'll see pictures of a banana coffee cake. This recipe is amazing and combines the best parts of banana bread and coffee cake. I found the recipe in one of my mother's old cookbooks, The Anderson House
Cookbook. The cookbook is from a lovely bed and breakfast that my parents used to frequent in Wabasha, MN. The Anderson House is located near the Mississippi River and at 150 years old, is the oldest bed and breakfast in Minnesota. This cookbook is a compilation of recipes that have been collected and served at the Anderson House since it first opened. Accompanying many of the recipes, you'll find historical accounts about the origins of a recipe or how the inn used to operate. All in all, its an excellent and fascinating cookbook and has old hearty Minnesotan recipes that you couldn't find anywhere else.

Below the coffee cake, there are a couple images of a spinach, caramelized onion, goat cheese, and chive quiche. My aunt is a master of quiches and she has inspired me to also often serve them for brunches. I think Ken would get sick of eating them on so many Sunday mornings if they weren't so versatile and, um, really really good.

Tilapia with Fall Harvest Vegetable Medley

So as I'm behind on posting and have a lot less free time for everything, I probably won't put up recipes for every set of pictures I post. If, however, there is a recipe that anyone would like, please feel free to post a comment or email me.

These photos are from a dinner we had with a visiting friend about a month ago. The salad is a pretty basic balsamic reduction vinaigrette with fresh greens. Ken made a version of goat cheese croutons that we've really enjoyed on a number of occasions. They're quite tasty and are from The Wine Lover's Cookbook which I previously mentioned in this post. We also had a three step cornmeal breaded Tilapia with Burre Blanc and a medley of squash, zucchini, and shitake mushroom. Ken has really been enjoying this vegetable medley and you'll probably see it accompanying a few other dishes. At some point, I will post pictures and a recipe for the vegetable dish, as it’s become one of our favorites.

Ravioli

Apologies again for being bad about posting. I have a whole bunch of images just waiting to be put on-line but I seem to be continually pre-occupied with this whole school thing... and sleeping. Sleeping is nice.

In any case, I thought I'd put up some photos of a recent visit from a couple friends of ours. We had a lovely weekend with them and spent a lot of time playing cards, drinking, and catching up. On Saturday night, we decided to make ravioli as its sort of a fun and interactive dish. In fact, making ravioli always reminds me a bit of doing arts and crafts during day camp... except that you can eat your final project. Hmmm, well I guess arts and crafts often involve dry pasta, which technically you could eat... and there are always some kids that eat a bit of paste... but I'm sure this final project tastes way better.
Anyway.

We started the meal with a scrumptious fresh cesear salad with homemade crutons and dressing (see above). Ken made the pasta and the fillings but we all worked together to stuff them. The fillings were a shitaki mushroom and cream filling, a chevre and savory filling, and a roasted corn and peppercorn cheese filling. The fillings were all pretty amazing and we ended up eating the extra with spoons. Once the pasta was cooked, we tossed it with butter and roasted garlic and served it with green beans. The three raviolis went together very well and melted in your mouth. Mmmm. To the left you can see pasta pictures and Friel and John putting the ravioli together. I also have other pictures of homemade pasta from different dinners, so I hope to write a more detailed account of how to make pasta when I post about one of those meals.

Take care and I'll try to post again soon.

Update

I know that its been ages since I've written. We've been a bit preoccupied by crazy complications in our lives and, of course, I'm just starting graduate school. (Turns out thats quite a bit of work. Who knew?) On the bright side, I have a lot of new scrumptious looking pictures of food. I promise to post some of them soon.

Until then... Toodles.