Mulled Wine and Stove-Top Popcorn

There's something about mulled wine and popcorn that just seem to add Christmas spirit to otherwise somewhat mundane activities.  This week we set up our Christmas tree and decorated it with the few ornaments we've accumulated over the past three years.  The mulled wine and popcorn were easy additions.

 

I purchased a tin of mulling spices a couple of years ago at Williams-Sonoma.  A little goes a long way, so this 6oz tin has lasted me several seasons.  If you don't want to purchase special mulling spices, you probably have all of the key ingredients in your kitchen:  cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and orange rind.  Put the spices either in a tea steeper or a bit of cheesecloth sachet tied with kitchen twine or string. 

Heat the wine over medium heat in a small saucepan and add the sachet of mulling spices (one sachet about the size of a single teabag is sufficient for half a bottle of wine).  Add about 1T sugar.  Heat and serve.

Meanwhile, heat butter in a soup pan with a lid.  Add the popcorn and swirl around in the butter to coat each kernel.  Heat to medium-high heat and cover.  When the corn starts popping, pick up the pot and shake it every 30 seconds or so to make sure the unpopped kernels are on the bottom and the popped corn is on top (so it doesn't burn).  When all of the corn is popped, sprinkle with salt.

Happy holidays!

Waffles with Peaches and Pecans

This breakfast combines sweetness with whole grains and healthy fats and proteins for a meal that will keep you going all morning without loading on the fat and calories.

Ingredients:

- 2 whole-wheat waffles

- 1c frozen peaches

- 1/4c pear nectar (or other juice or nectar)

- 1/2c pecans

- 1t sugar

Combine peaches and nectar in saucepan.  Heat until peaches are hot and nectar has reduced to a syrupy consistency.

Heat another pan over medium heat.  When hot, add pecans and let toast for about a minute.  Sprinkle with sugar and continue to cook until pecans are covered with caramelized sugar.  Remove from pan and roughly chop.

Meanwhile, toast waffles.  When toasted, top with peaches and nuts.

Slow-Cooked Short Ribs

Short ribs are great comfort food and very easy to make, so long as you have plenty of time to let them cook.  In researching information on short ribs I came across recipes that called for cooking the short ribs for up to 11 hours.  Joy of Cooking on the other hand recommends about 2 hours.  I cooked mine for about 2.5 hours and they were falling-off-the-bone tender.

Ingredients:
- 8 short ribs
- 1/4c tomato paste (half of a small 6oz can)
- 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1T worcestershire
- 2 bottles stout beer
- 1T butter
- 1T vegetable oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/4c dried oregano, divided
- Smoky Paprika
- 8 dates, pitted and diced

Combine about 3T oregano, 2t smoky paprika, 2t salt and 2t pepper and rub all over ribs.

Heat butter and olive oil in a dutch oven.  When hot, add ribs and sear each side.  When each side of the ribs is brown, remove.  Add onions and saute in the fat from the ribs until brown and soft.

When the onions are cooked, add the tomato paste and remaining 1T oregano and stir to coat the onions.  Let cook for about two minutes.  Add worcestershire sauce, stir.  Then deglaze the pan with beer.

Return the ribs to the pan, reduce the heat to very low.  Place ribs meaty side down to make sure the meat stays submerged during the cooking.  Add the dates.  Now you can leave the ribs to cook for about two hours, or until they are the desired tenderness.  George and I took advantage of this opportunity and the clear weather to wakl up to the National Cathedral.

When ribs are tender, remove from the sauce.  Skim fat off top of sauce.  At this point you can reserve the ribs and reheat later.

 

Serve with sauce and a starch of your choice.  We served with pearled barley, which was sturdy enough to stand up to the ribs and also was nicely flavored by the rib sauce.  Potatoes or other whole grain would be good too.

Bon appetite! 

Impromptu Dinner Party

On Monday afternoon my husband called me at work to say that we were having company for dinner!  His childhood friend and college roommate was in town and since Monday was the only night I was going to be home all week, it was settled that Monday would be the day for our dinner party.  An easy menu was definitely in order, with items that can be made quickly with minimal preparation time.  Here is what I came up with:

- Warm Spiced Olives with Orange
- New York Strip Steaks with Cranberry Madiera Pan Sauce
- Roasted Potatos
- Mashed Carrots with Turnips
- Apple Crisp with Vanilla Icecream

First, take your steaks out of the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature.  This will help ensure the steaks are perfectly cooked.

I got things going by cleaning and cutting new red potatos into quarters.  Toss these with a couple of pads of butter, some oil, and a healthy dose of salt and pepper in a pyrex pan and thrown in a 400-degree oven. 

Put your carrots and turnips (peeled and cut into 2" chunks) into cold water on the stove.  Heat to boiling and cook until carrots and turnips are soft.   (You can also use parsnips, which we prefer, but were unavailable at my local grocery store.)  When they are soft, mash with a potato masher or fork, melt in some butter, and season with salt and pepper.  You can keep them warm on the stove or in a ceramic serving dish.

Meanwhile, peel 8 granny smith apples and dice.  Toss in an oven-safe ceramic pan with about 1T sugar, 2t cinnamon, and 1T vanilla.  For the topping, mix together 1/2c brown sugar, 1/4c white sugar, 1/2c flour, and 1/4c oats.  Cut in 1 stick of butter until it forms a crumbly mixture.  Place on top of apples.

To prep the olives, just toss them with red pepper flakes, orange zest, and a little balsamic vinegar (mine were already oily, so no oil added).  I bought a mixture of olives from the olive bar at my local grocery store, so there were some stuffed with feta and other wonderful varieties.  Wrap the olive mixture in a foil packet and place on an oven sheet.  About 10 minutes before your guests arrive, throw it in the oven (which is probably going at 400 degrees for your potatos) for about 10 minutes.  Serve warm.

To make the steaks, heat oil in a large saute pan and seasoned the steaks well on both sides.  Sear the steaks over high heat for about 2-3 minute on each side, or until a good crust develops.  One trick to know whether you've acheived a proper sear on meat is to test whether it will easily lift away from the pan.  If the meat is sticking, it is not ready to be turned.  Once the seared "crust" develops, it will easily lift off the pan.  (Note that this is contingent on having enough oil in the pan.)

Once the steaks are seared, put them (still in your saute pan) in the oven (at 400 degrees) for about 10 minutes, or until cooked to your desired doneness.  When they are done, put on a platter and tent with foil to rest.  In the pan, make your sauce by deglazing with about 1/2c madiera wine.  Reduce.  Add about 1/2c beef stock.  Reduce.  Add cranberry sauce (I made my own, but I'm sure canned would be fine for this).  I spiced the sauce up with grated red chili pepper too. 

Serve the steaks and sauce, potatoes, and carrots with turnips.  Reduce the heat of your oven to 350 degrees and put in your apple crisp.  Cook for about 45 minutes, which should be perfect timing for dessert.  Serve with icecream.

(Optional homemade cranberry sauce:  Combine 1 pint raw cranberries with 1/2c water and 1/2c madiera wine, or other red wine).  Cook over medium heat at a simmer until cranberries pop and a sauce forms, about 20 minutes.  Add juice from 1 orange and about 1/2c sugar to taste.)

Irish Garden - Assembling the Blocks

The Irish Garden quilt is moving right along - the pink strips of triangles have been attached. 

Each block will end up being about 11 1/2" square.  There are 36 blocks, which will be arranged in a 6x6 square.  Since this is going on a Queen size bed, that will leave me with some room to play with the borders.  Any suggestions for interesting borders?

Irish Garden - 976 Triangles

I have decided to rename this quilt Irish Garden because I have altered the pattern and thought I could take some artistic license with the name.  Thanks to my friend Elle, much progress was made this weekend.  We finished making the strips of triangles that will frame each square.  The pinks are all batiks and the purples are all prints.  I think it makes for a striking effect, and hopefully will be great on the finished quilt.

 

I had to alter the instructions to get these triangle strips to fit the squares.  My triangles are quarter-square-triangles cut from 4 1/4 inch squares (made by cutting squares and then cutting across each diagonal to make four triangles).  Luckily, I tested out one of the strips before piecing all 144 together, and found that it was too long.  I adjusted by increasing the seam allowance to 3/8", which turned out perfectly sized strips. 

Henry in the Snow

Henry's adventures in Minnesota continue.  They got 8 inches of snow on Saturday, and so Henry had some wintertime fun! 

 

And of course the best part of playing out in the snow is coming into the warm kitchen and getting cozy!

French Bread Pizza

If you're ever having one of those nights where you just can't muster the strength to make a full dinner, here is a great recipe, and chances are that you have all of the ingredients in your kitchen already.  This is a great weeknight dinner that doesn't take a lot of creativity of skill.  I made my own spaghetti sauce because strangely we had all of the ingredients to make the sauce but no spaghetti sauce in the pantry.   It was good and avoids all of the added sugar that is in store-bought sauce.  (Look at the info on the jar sometime - you'll be shocked at the high fructose corn syrup and resulting sugar levels in marinara.)

Ingredients:
- French bread loaf (can be fresh or frozen; can even be one of those frozen garlic bread loafs)
- Spaghetti sauce (or make your own):
           * 1/2 onion, finely chopped
           * 2 garlic cloves, minced
           * 2T butter
           * 2T olive oil
           * Can crushed tomatos
           * Can tomato paste
           * Dried oregano
           * Fresh basil
- Pizza toppings of choice (we had frozen meatballs in the freezer, so I used those)
- Motzerella
- Parmesan

Cut the bread in half the long way and toast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 4-5 minutes.

Make your tomato sauce by melting the butter over medium heat.  Then add the onion, garlic, and dried oregano.  Saute until translucent and soft.  Add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste.  Cook until bubbly.  Add the olive oil and fresh basil.  Season with salt and pepper. (Alternatively, open your jar of spaghetti sauce and heat.)

Top the toasted bread with tomato sauce, meatballs (or vegetables or other pizza topping you have on hand), and cheese.  Return to the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and is toasty around the edges.  Serve!

Thai Chicken and Coconut Rice Soup

One thing that the Irish do surprisingly well is soups.  They are usually smooth, brothy, slightly creamy soups served as a starter.  I am now re-committed to trying to make savory wonderful soups.  This soup from last night is chunkier, but the broth is wonderful and I might try to recreate the flavors just in a smooth broth next time.  It has just a slight kick of spice from the ginger and chili pepper, and would be a great subsitute for the traditional chicken noodle if you were feeling under the weather.

Ingredients:

- 1c rice (I used sushi-style short grain, but any kind is okay)

- 2 pints (or more) chicken stock

- 1 chicken breast, cooked and cut into small pieces

- 2T freshly grated ginger

- 1T freshly grated red chili pepper

- 2t fish oil

- Zest and juice of 2 limes

- 1 can light coconut milk

- 1T lemongrass (I buy the kind in the jar, so there's no messing around with boiling water)

- 2 heads of bok choi, cleaned and thinly sliced

- Cilantro for garnish, if desired 

Combine the rice with 1c of the coconut milk, 1c of the chicken stock, and about 1t salt and cook.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining chicken stock, ginger, chili, fish oil, lime zest and juice, and lemongrass and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  When hot, add the bok choi and chicken.  Allow this to cook for about two minutes until the bok choi is cooked.  Add the cooked coconut rice.  Add the coconut milk a little at a time until it is the desired thickness.  I found I didn't need the whole can, and adding too much can make your soup overly sweet and sticky, so go slow.  Add salt if desired.

Serve with a garnish of cilantro leaves. 

Bon appetite!

Star Wall Hanging

About eighteen months ago my best friend since I was 5 got married.  For her wedding present I knew I wanted to give her something special, so I started my first "full-size" quilt, a star-pattern that could be used as a couch blanket or a wall hanging.  It was a ridiculous amount of work, but the finished product was beautiful.  Because I altered the pattern part way through construction of the top, I ended up with extra strips of the main star fabric.  This is how I decided to make a star quilt hanging for our entry way. 

It is amazing how the second time around making a quilt is so much easier than the first time.  This center star seemed to zip together with no problem.  This wall hanging is going to be smaller than the wedding gift I gave to my friend.  I am going to fill in around the star with muslin, creating about a four-foot square hanging.  I think this will be very appropriate and look great in the entry way of our 1927 row house in Washington, DC.  Now I just have to gear myself up for some inset corners!

Asian Noodle Salad

It is Day Two of our return to healthy eating and on the menu for today is this rice noodle salad filled with all kinds of fresh nutrient-rich veggies.  Also, as a bonus it is gluten free!

Ingredients:
- 2T fresh grated ginger
- 4 cloves fresh grated garlic
- 5T sesame oil
- 1/4c soy sauce
- 1 package thin rice noodles
- 2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
- Handful of snow peas
- 8oz package sweet pea shoots (you can substitute any kind of sprouts for this)
- 1/4c cilantro, finely chopped
- 1/4c red skinned peanuts

Heat the sesame oil gently over low heat.  Sesame oil has a low smoke point, so be careful not to burn it.  When it is hot, add the ginger and garlic and allow to gently cook for about 3-4 minutes, until sweet.  Remove from the heat, slowly stream in the soy sauce, while whisking.

Thinly slice the peppers and cut the snow peas into about 1/4 inch segments, on a diagonal.  Put the vegetables, including shoots or sprouts, into a bowl and toss with the oil and soy sauce dressing.

Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions and then add to the vegetables in the bowl, while still hot.  I like to do this because it slightly cooks the vegetables, bringing out their sweetness and taking a little bit of the "edge" off of the snow peas.  Toss.  Add cilantro and peanuts.  Chill.

Back from Ireland! (and Broccoli Tomato Salad)

We are back from our whirlwind tour of Ireland!  It was a fabulous trip with lots of quality family time and also some alone time exploring the wild west of Ireland.  As always, Ireland was charming and wonderful, and we ate very well!  Too well, in fact.  So this week we're on a high-fiber, low-fat diet.  The first installment is this broccoli tomato salad, adapted from the Avoca Salads Cookbook. 

Ingredients:
- Florets from 2 heads of broccoli
- 1 pint cherry tomatos, quartered or halved, depending on the size
- 3T pine nuts, toasted
- 3T chevre
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4T red wine vinegar
- 1t dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper
- 2T sunflower oil (can substitute olive oil)

Cut up the broccoli and tomatos.  Toast your pine nuts.  I like to toast my seeds and nuts in a pan on the stovetop, but some prefer to put them under the broiler.  I like the stovetop because you can keep a very close eye on the nuts and toss them as needed.  The up-side of using the broiler is that you can really get it down to a science once you know your oven and how long each type of nut needs to toast.  Once toasted, add your pine nuts.  Use a spoon to cut up the chevre as you add it in, so that it's in small pieces that are easily distributed.

To make the dressing combine the garlic cloves, vinegar, mustard, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a small bowl or a small blender/food processor.  Slowly stream in the oil while whisking to make an emulsion.  Pour over the salad.

This recipe makes two perfect lunch portions, so hopefully soon we'll be back on track to feeling fiter and healthier!