every little thing

What I did last week...

Lots of baking.  I only snapped a picture of the rice pudding, but there were also oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and 2 loaves of really excellent raisin bread.  It's all gone now, buy the way, and I've gained about 7 pounds.  But it was worth it.  I miss baking.  Don't do it nearly enough as I'd like too.  It's probably a good thing though, since Mike and Max aren't that big on sweets I just end up stuffing my face till it's all gone.  Oh well.  And, I have to add how much I adore this little spice grater (pictured above.)  It was very inexpensive and it came with a few whole nutmegs.  There really is such a lovely difference between freshly grated and the packaged spices, I had no idea!  Sort of an unnecessary kitchen item on some levels, but still...for $4, who cares?  Lovin' it. 

Neeeeeext....

Thrifting in the moonlight, with my favorite boys.  Mike's been getting home from work shockingly early lately, so we still have time to hit the thrift stores as a family before they close at 7pm.  Max found a record.

Ok, who decided that the "random bags of crap" method for pricing was a good idea?!?  This drives me up the wall, because I end up having to buy the whole pack of junk for $5 when I only really wanted 1/3 of its contents.  (I realize, of course, that this is actually a brilliant scheme invented by thrift stores to unload more stuff and make even more $$$ at the same time...but STILL.  Totally bugs me.)  Humph.

This picture has no relevance at all, and I can't even remember why I took it. 

Moving along....

I have learned how to make........

ANIMATED GIFS!!!!  (Oh my, this is so indulgent!  Tee hee!)

Before you run away screaming,  I PROMISE not to abuse my newfound powers and I'll keep the unnecessary giffing to a minimum.  At least I'll try.  It's so fun!  I'm clearly not very good at it yet.  The practice gif above is in preparation for a grand celebration I am scheming for the blog to honor and coincide with the PBS broadcast of the A&E Pride and Prejudice this February!  It's part of their Complete Jane Austin Series that I'm sure many of you have been watching.   I'm (obviously) a huge fan, and I thought it'd be fun to have lots of P&P excitement going on during those three weeks, February 10th, 17th and 24th.  It's the least I can do for a film that has done so much for me (sniff.)  I'm still brainstorming, so if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them!!!

Happy Monday!!!  (and how could it not be, with Mr. Darcy around....*wink!*)

Relax

Would you like a cup?  I know I've been hitting the pot quite a bit lately (ahem- tea pot.).  I was at my friend Amber's fabulous New Year's Day Brunch a few weeks ago, and she had this delicious Blood Orange herbal tea that I fell in love with.  It's from Adagio Teas, a company that I was familiar with, but had not ordered from in a while.  I remedied that quickly with a big, fat purchase of enough loose tea to keep me stocked for a long time.

But I couldn't get just a giant bag of the blood orange, oh no.  I HAD to reach the $50 mark to get the free shipping offer right?  (Is anyone else a sucker for those deals?)  I also bought Citron Green Tea (LOVE), Raspberry Tea (YUM), Apricot Tea (DIVINE), Mango Melange (Eh) and peppermint and Foxtrot (haven't  tried yet.) 

I highly recommend this company, my mom bought me the starter kit several years ago, and I still use it all the time.   Oh, and they even threw in a sample of their Valentine Tea.  It smelled and tasted exactly like a chocolate covered strawberry, very cool!     Max will even drink the herbal teas and they are quite good iced too.  I can't wait to make sun tea in the summer.  Yum, yum, yum.  Anyone else have tea recommendations for me?  I'd love to hear what y'all are sipping on these days. 

****I'm adding a neat little gift-thingy to this post, since some of you seem interested in the Adagio Tea.   It's a free $5 gift certificate, which is pretty cool.  And yes, I get some kind of points or something when people redeem the coupon, but I haven't really figured out how that all works yet.  I just think these little widgets are so neat (and so is a free $5, if you ask me.)  So here it is...have fun!

    

Recipe Time

Apricot Granola

(the crunchy kind, and it's vegan too!)

-  Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with foil (or use silpat mats.)

4 cups rolled oats

1  cup sliced almonds

1  cup chopped pecans

2/3 cup hulled sunflower seeds

1/2 cup golden flax seed

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup almond oil

1/2 cup molasses

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 cups finely chopped dried apricots

-  Mix oats, nuts, flax seed and salt in a large bowl.  Separately, whisk together oils, molasses, salt, brown sugar and nutmeg.  Stir wet and dry ingredients together until well mixed.   

-  Spread the granola evenly between the 2 pans.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, stirring granola and rotating the pans every 20 minutes.  You don't want to "cook" the granola really, just dry it out.  Take care not to over-bake.  You can always turn the oven temperature down and bake for longer.  It WILL burn if you aren't careful, and you will cry.   

-  Remove the pans and allow the granola to cool completely.  In a large bowl, mix granola with the dried apricot pieces.  Store in an airtight container, will last almost 2 weeks. 

*The granola will not harden until it has cooled completely.  If you want your granola to be more cluster-like, here  is a neat trick I learned:  after you remove the hot pans from the oven, press  a double-layer of paper towel on top of the granola and smoosh it down flat all over.  Leave the paper towel in place and DO NOT remove until the granola is completely cool.  The trick worked perfectly for me, and I got great, chunky pieces. 

I made up this recipe myself, but it is loosely based on this one I found on epicurious (which I have not tried) but I got the paper-towel tip from a commenter in the reviews.  So, thank you so much cayceeholt from Seattle, WA!   It worked like a charm! 

I realize this would be  pretty pricey snack to make if you didn't have all of these items in your pantry already.  I had lots of extra nuts leftover from Holiday baking that never happened, and the almond oil was leftover from, strangely enough, my bath bomb making a few months ago.  I buy organic flax seed from the bulk bins at Farm Fresh and it's super cheap.  I probably would have used honey instead of molasses, but I was out.   I think it was all for the better though, the molasses added a nice touch and made it *officially* vegan!  Dried apricots aren't that expensive, and I just really, really love apricots so much.  Really.  They're my favorite fruit, did you know that?  It's true. 

I'm sorry if I push the silpat mats on you all the time, but they really have changed the way I cook.  I used to proudly boast that I didn't need fancy, expensive equipment to be  a good cook, (and I still believe  in that.)  But, I have begrudgingly learned that the right tools can make a good cook even better, and investing in a few key pieces have really taken my game to a whole new level.  I'm still working on my arsenal, these tools aren't cheap, and I was lucky enough to receive most of them as gifts, but here are a few of my new "how did I ever live without these" items:

Heavy duty baking sheets from Sonoma (don't warp, cook evenly)

Microplane (makes Parmesan into drifts of snow, great for zesting)

Silpat Mats (again!)  I just love these things, nothing burns or sticks EVER, and you never need to grease or Pam again.  Worth their weight in gold.  Life changing.

Oh, and then there is EXCALIBUR.  My big Christmas present this year, I was just so excited about getting this.  I'm sure everyone is like, "What's the big deal, it's just a KitchenAid, everyone has one of those." But, I've wanted one forever, and those suckers are expensive, and I could just never justify spending so much money on something that I didn't really need.  (My thrift-store hand mixer worked just fine...I guess?)  And I got SUCH a great deal on mine, you will not believe it (but I'll tell you anyway!)  I bought it from the Prime Outlets in Williamsburg.  They sell refurbished mixers that are still good as new (if not better) and come with full warranties.  You don't have as many colors to choose from (but I just wanted white anyway) and I did NOT pay the retail price of $400+.  Mine was $193 with tax!  Yay, I loooove  a good deal.  Sorry if I'm bragging a little, but man, that was so cool.  The clerk took an extra 20% off the total at the register for no reason, and I HAD to open my big mouth,

Me - "What is this for, is there a special sale going on or something, I didn't see a sign?" 

Clerk - "No, that's just the "triple-A" discount.  You do have triple-A, right.   *wink.*

Me, dumb as tea towel - "Well, no we don't actually, and really, I just, I don't understand......"

Mike, kicking me in the shin, grabbing the mixer and running for the door -  "Thank you sir, have a good night!"

I guess I was just blown away that someone would do something so nice, for no reason, at a time of the year when anyone working in retail would be so burnt-out and over it.  Thank you, kind salesperson.  Thank you.

An Early Christmas Present

It is really about time that I post the recipe for these refrigerator rolls.  Several people have asked me, and it is such an easy and satisfying treat with a sweet, southern touch.   This is my Grandmother's recipe, and she owned and ran a small catering company for many years, so she really knows her stuff.  These rolls are absolutely heaven when stuffed with salty, country ham.  (Splurge on the good stuff at the deli, go for the  Red Eye or the Smithfield country ham, sliced medium thin.  You won't regret it.)  This recipe makes about 50, 2 - 1/2" biscuits, for which you would need about 1 pound of ham.  There is also a variation where you can turn these into cinnamon rolls, but I need to get the  specifics from Nanny on that one, as I've never made them that way before.   

-Refrigerator Rolls-

You will need:

2 packets of yeast

1 cup luke warm water

1 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup of white sugar

1 tablespoon of salt

1 cup of boiling water

2 eggs, well beaten

6-1/2 cups of unbleached, all purpose flour

Directions

Stir together:  2 packets of Yeast and 1 cup luke warm water.  *Put aside for 15 minutes. 

While the yeast mixture is resting, cream together in the biggest bowl you have:

1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 cup of white sugar

1 tablespoon salt

*Pour 1 cup of boiling water over butter mixture and let sit until room temperature.  (Don't rush it.  Make sure it cools down, if it's too hot, you will kill the yeast when you add it in later.)

When mixture has cooled, add in: 2 beaten eggs and yeast mixture.  Mix well.

Add in: 6- 1/2 cups of flour.  Mix well, really well.  Cover the bowl with a double layer of plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator.  Leave it overnight, or up to 2 days. 

When you are ready to bake your rolls:  preheat your oven to 400 deg.  Remove mix from fridge (dough should have risen and about doubled in size) and roll out on a well floured surface.  Roll to abaout 1/2 inch thick, and cut your rolls (hear shaped cutters look nice too!)  Don't over work the dough.  Place rolls on lightly greased baking sheet (Pam works better than butter.  Silpats are awesome, if you have them. )  You can place them close together, for pull-apart rolls, or leave some space between to keep them separate...it really doesn't matter.  Let them rise, covered with a cloth, in a warm place for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.  Brush the tops with melted butter or a whisked egg.  Bake in oven for about 15 minutes, be sure to rotate the pans for even browning.   And watch 'em, cause they bake up quick and are easy to burn! 

That's just about it! It may seem like a lot of trouble, but they really go together quickly, you don't have to knead the dough, and since the first rise is done in the fridge, that second rise just flies by.  Also, since the dough is so cold, it's really quite easy to work with and roll out.    Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you try the recipe, I'd love to hear how they turn out!

Happy Baking!!!