Horchata.

After seeing this horchata recipe on Pinterest (and promptly pinning it) I knew I had to try it.

It's kind of a new spin on horchata, actually.

Less sugar.

High in protein, vitamins, minerals, 

and good fats.

Delicious.

It's my new favorite post-workout drink!

Here are my adaptations for the above recipe.

For the rice I used a very good quality Jasmine rice. 

Why not?

I also mixed in some of my homemade almond milk which is infused with dates and vanilla bean.

It gave it a real creaminess.

Instead of using sugar I used just a touch (about a tbsp. per quart) of maple syrup.

If you're using maple syrup, use 100% pure maple syrup.

I whirled it all together in a blender,

strained it as directed, placed it in a mason jar with a cinnamon stick in it, and stuck it in the fridge overnight to infuse further.

When it was ready, I shook it furiously, grated some fresh nutmeg over the top, and enjoyed.

What a refreshing beverage!

I think we'll be enjoying this one for months to come.

We've got spirit, yes we do!

Christmas spirit that is!

I don't like to go overboard with the decorations (mainly because I don't want to clean it up) but I love a real tree, a wreath and stockings on the fireplace and some boughs (trimmed from the bottom of the christmas tree) on the top of the entertainment center (no pictures of that yet because I have to add the lights).

I use wire edged ribbon in lieu of the metallicy fuzzy garland. I think it looks elegant.

And, of course, I kept the glass ornaments up high.

I have yet to decorate the wreath. In past years we've ordered one already decorated and delivered right to the house but in order to save a few bucks ($35 to be exact) I purchased one undecorated when we bought our tree.

Tis the season for a sniffle too.

Here's a recipe for my herbal cold and flu remedy.

Medium sized knob of ginger sliced

1 lemon sliced

2 sticks of cinnamon

4 cardomom pods

5 whole cloves

6 cups of water

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Turn heat down to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes, turn heat off and let steap for another 10 minutes. Store in a glass jar in the fridge and heat and serve as needed.

I have been making this recipe since I was about 19 years old. It hasn't failed me yet. 

Now we just have to keep this little rascal from yanking down ornaments.

The house smells wonderful and the ambient glow of a christmas tree in the evening makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.


Now...back to that knitting!

Grocery Challenge Update #2

The budget is blown.
But I have to say this challenge, for me, was not a waste of time.
I learned alot about what I'm buying, where I'm buying it and who's charging what.

So far I have spent $549.94
This includes two dinners with guests.
I have also included non-consumables in my total budget.
I decided to include them because I make a lot of our cleaning products myself (including the laundry detergent) using inexpensive ingredients such baking soda, vinegar, peroxide and castile soap.
We also use cloth diapers most of the time.

Totals for non-consumables came to $62.96.
If I hadn't included them, my total for the month so far would be $486.98.
It's not shockingly over budget. Not to me anyway.
I'm not gonna lie, I've watched a few episodes of Extreme Couponing just to see if I could learn a thing or two.
Unfortunately, I don't often find coupons for the quality of food that we eat.
I also don't need 72 bottles of mustard.

My two best money-stretching and ingredient-using recipes this past week were macaroni and cheese and a chopped salad.

For the macaroni and cheese I was able to use up all the scraps of cheese I had in the fridge along with Wegman's "Super Macaroni"(not paid to say that) which I purchased using a store coupon a while back.
I sprinkled some shredded parmesan and bread crumbs over top, baked it for 45 minutes and voila, dinner...and lunch....and another lunch....and maybe even a breakfast.

I also made a chopped salad using iceberg lettuce (cheap and crunchy). I saw this storing technique for lettuce on pinterest (you can follow me there using the button in the sidebar) and I have to say it worked quite well. I washed and chopped all the lettuce. I reserved some plain in one jar for miscellaneaous use later. The rest I mixed with chopped bacon, pumpkin seeds and broccoli and filled another large jar with it and stored it all away in the fridge. 

When I was ready to serve the salad I simply placed it in a mixing bowl (it already had the bacon, broccoli and pumpkin seeds in it), added chopped boiled eggs, crumble feta cheese, dressing and tossed it all together.

The leftover salad made a nice little lunch along with some leftover sweet potato soup later in the week.

October is not over yet. We'll see what the rest of this week brings.
Did I mention we will have house guests this weekend?
Oh yes, that will surely bump up the numbers.

Grocery Challenge Update #1

So far this month I have spent $196.26 on groceries.

Yikes!

To be clear I have also:

 -included non-consumable items in the total.
-not included wine/beer
-not included eating out

We had a pretty well stocked pantry to begin with. Lots of dry ingredients like grains, rice and beans. Also, we are not vegetarian so there have been meat and fish purchases which can significantly bump up totals at the register. I only buy organic produce, meats from a local purveyor and get my fish from a quality monger. That alone can make already high prices, even higher.

I've had fun utilizing my resources and being creative in stretching meals.

One night we had salmon over curried lentils...

...and the next morning I had leftover lentils with a fried egg and a piece of naan.

Our fish monger also sells local dairy and by returning our glass bottles we recieve a discount.

I also made use of some cookbooks I had gotten from the library like this one.

Flipping through it I realized I had an unopened container of ricotta cheese that I had no plans for and made this "Warm Ricotta Custard" recipe which provided multiple desserts, snacks and even lunch for the nugget.

We had a dinner guest on Monday so I whipped up a crock pot meal of country style ribs and served it with a sweet potato and swiss chard gratin.
I used the veggie scraps to make a stock and that was used in the braising liquid, along with some red wine, for the ribs.
Taking this challenge has pushed me to use cheaper cuts of meat. A challenge I happily accept. They usually have more flavor but take longer to cook. In my opinion, it's worth the little extra effort.

I also whipped up my famous blender chocolate mousse which is little more than chocolate chips, hot water and 3 egg whites. A recipe I will share later.

 I saved the yolks and used them in the gratin.

This meal is still feeding us.

All in all I don't feel like we've had to sacrifice much. We still have guests, we still eat meat and fish (not every night), and we still eat local and organic produce. 

I've just had to be more creative in how and where I spend our money. 

The next trip to the grocery store will have to be well planned out and heavy with coupons if I'm going to stay within the budget though.

If you want to find out more about this challenge and/or follow along with other participants, click on the  Grocery Challenge badge in my sidebar.

Happy Saving!

Favorite Tomato Tart.

I've been making this tart since 2002. Wanna know how I know that? 

Because this magazine is from the fall of 2002.

It's a William-Sonoma publication. 

I don't know if it was the only one they ever published but I never saw another issue other than this one.

I looked...believe me.

If anyone knows if there were other issues I'd love to hear about it.

Please comment below. I heart comments!

Anyway, I will never throw this magazine away. One, because I never throw magazines away. I recycle them or pass them on. And two, sometimes a magazine captures my heart and I keep it forever. 

Like this one.

 I think the subtext says it all... "Paris in the Fall".

There are so many recipes in this magazine that I have used over and over.

Simple. Fresh. Delicious.

In particular is the dough recipe for this tart.

Crunch Dough

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup ice cold water

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter (6oz.) cut into cubes

In mixer (or by hand if that's how you roll) combine dry ingredients.

Add butter and mix until crumbs form.

Add enough of the water for your dough to come together.

Remove from bowl on floured surface knead it together a few times and form a patty.

Wrap it in plastic and chill for at least an hour before using. 

The recipe recommends chilling overnight so if you were doing this for a group you could make this the day before.

I blind bake it for about 10 minutes then remove the pie weights and bake it for about 5 more or until the bottom looks dry.

Then I slather a layer of Dijon mustard, crumbled goat cheese, salt, pepper, thyme (dry or fresh), caramelized onions (1 large or 2 medium, not pictured) and then the tomatoes. 

I had some heirloom tomatoes so I just sort of haphazardly layered them on but if you use plum tomatoes you could arrange them in fancy circles.

Then I just bake it off until the tomatoes look wrinkly and roasted. 

Honestly, I don't know an exact time but if I had to guess, about 20 minutes.

If the edges of your crust start to get to dark cover them with foil.

I also make a balsamic syrup to drizzle over it. You must make this. 

This tart just isn't complete without it.

Balsamic syrup

 1 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp. honey

Simmer until it coats the back of the spoon.

Store in an airtight container.

Serve the tart with a nice salad or top it with some microgreens.

Enjoy!

Cookbook.

I recently acquired this gem from a certain going-out-of-business bookstore along with a few others, but that's a story for another time.

The Wild Table by Connie Green and Sarah Scott with a forward by Thomas Keller.

 I'm fascinated with foraging. We live in the woods where I know there is a bounty of edibles. I'm just not sure what's what. I'm hoping this book helps. 

Look at all the pretty pictures. Ooooooooh Aaaaaaaaaah!

Stuffed morels...HOLD THE PHONE!

 I just love my cookbooks. Each one was chosen with care. I'm a visual learner so I like lots of pictures.

I had them neatly stored/displayed in our kitchen island ready for action.

 Unfortunately, at the moment, they're sitting in boxes in my workspace/dressing room out of the terrorizing hands of this person...

...and some even had the good fortune to be reassigned to the dining room buffet. Which I quite like and plan on keeping them there as permanent residents.

The recipe that struck my fancy  was this one...

Luscious Chanterelle and Corn Chowder.

Adapted from The Wild Table.

2 strips bacon

3 tbsp. butter

1/2 cup diced onion

1 medium celery stalk, diced

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup chanterelles, chopped

 (the recipe called for 3/4 cup but they're expensive and this seemed to be plenty)

1 lg. yukon potato, peeled and chopped

(I used three small potatoes I got from the farmer's market)

3tbsp. flour

1 tsp. thyme

(I used dried)

sea salt and pepper to taste

1 quart mushroom stock

(see this post for stock)

1 cup heavy cream

Brown bacon in stock pot. Add butter. Add onion, garlic and celery. Cook until tender and translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender. Stir in corn and potato and cook for 3 more minutes. Sprinkle in the flour, thyme and season with salt and pepper. Add your stock while stirring continuosly.

Bring to a boil, then simmer  covered for 20 minutes or longer. Stir in cream.

Sidenotes: The recipe called for a bay leaf but I didn't have one. It also called for some lemon juice at the end but I was scared it would break my soup so I ommited it. You could also substitute chives in place of thyme. Some creme fraiche would be nice too for a little tang. I might even shave some truffle over the top next time to really dress it up (great for a dinner party).

Did I mention my absolute obsession with all things mushroom.

I didn't really have any pregnancy cravings to speak of but post-partum I developed this taste and insatiable craving for mushrooms. Particularly shitakes, chanterelles, truffles(duh) and morels. 

Yeah, I'm a cheap date.

This bag of awesomeness came from our local farmer's market mushroom guy. 

He even gave me a truffle... FOR FREE! More on that later.

I served the finished product with a simple slice of country white bread slathered in butter.

Again , any questions, don't hesitate to comment.

Take Stock.

I was thinking long and hard about what I wanted to share with you today. 

Another recipe?

Baking? (which I am not that good at BTW)

Ingredients?

This one might come under the category of ingredients.

It's stock (in case the title wasn't clear enough).

Now, let me start by saying I used to do the whole chicken carcass deal and will probably do it again. 

However, as life got busier, I got lazier in the kitchen.

I started buying stock (insert gasps here).

It's no big deal and you can get very high quality organic store-bought stocks these days. 

We've come a long way since the bouillon cube.

Let's go back a second... I didn't necessarily get lazy but I needed to simplify...everything. 

Recipes got stripped down, prep times took on a whole new dimension (no time for experimentation, just get down to it) and one pot dishes became my new best friend.

Things got easier as we found our stride and I started introducing some of the more...complex recipes and ingredients that we loved so much, back into our lives.

Including making stock.

I was chopping onions one day and as usual I had a bowl nearby for scraps (headed for the compost pile). Next, I started pulling stems off mushrooms and chopping a few other veggies. It occurred to me that instead of throwing this bowl-o-scraps in the compost pile I could throw it into a pot of water and have me some homemade stock.

So that's what I did. It was wonderful.

Stock doesn't have to be fussy. I don't always add carrot and celery. Sometimes it's just mushroom stems and onion scraps with a little salt and pepper.

Keeping it vegetarian keeps it simple. No cooling down time and skimming fat.

I just ladle it right into some mason jars and pop it in the fridge.

I use my stock for making rice, grains, polenta, braising liquids and soups. It adds so much more flavor (and nutrients) than just plain water.

Also, if I've collected scraps but don't have the time to start the stock right away (or the stovetop space) I keep the scraps in a container in the fridge until I have the 30 seconds that it takes to get it started.

Unfussy and uncomplicated!

A little sidenote: If you want to freeze your stock, leave room at the top of the jar for expansion and let the stock cool completely before putting it in the freezer.

Kick Ass Kulinary Week!

I've been on a tear in my kitchen so I thought I would share with you some of the recipes I've been trying, have loved for a long time and things I always do.

Let's kick it off with this Stuffed Acorn Squash.

I loooooooove this recipe and it's so simple. I discovered it here on The Kitchn where it was adapted from a Dorie Greenspan recipe.

So here it is, my stuffed acorn squash recipe adapted from The Kitchn adapted from Dorie Greenspan. Follow?

First, get yourself some acorn squash (or grow your own).

One feeds two.
I recommend making two (4 servings total) as it is a great and easy dish to reheat.

Start by slicing your squash in half. I do it long ways because I think you get more stuffing space this way.

Scoop out the innards with a spoon.

Rub a little olive oil on the flesh and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Now you want to make your stuffing.

Tear up some bread minus the crust (about 1 1/2 cup) and place in a bowl.

Mix in some shredded gruyere cheese or whatever you have left over in the fridge. 

As the recipe suggests, this is a good time to use up odds and ends. 

Cook off 2 slices of chopped bacon.

When it starts to brown add some onion and garlic until translucent.

Don't forget to season but go easy on the salt as the bacon has a lot of salt already.

Add the bacon, onion, garlic mixture to bread and cheese. 

And here's where I add my own twist - I add some chopped walnuts (about a 1/4 cup).

Add about a tablespoon or two of heavy cream and mix everything together and stuff it into your squash like so.

Place face down in a roasting pan. I suggest you grease your pan so the stuffing doesn't stick. 

Roasting it face down like this creates a beautiful crust (see below for crusty goodness).

Roast for about 45 minutes.

Use a spatula to remove from pan so you don't lose your stuffing and turn over onto plate.

Dig in baby! You'll never look at a squash the same way again!

This recipe is so easy and delicious. 

I also think it's a great dish to serve to guests maybe along side a nice salad.

If I haven't explained a step clearly enough or you have questions please leave them in the comments section and I'll answer/explain anything you want.

I hope you enjoy this week of culinary goodness. 

More fun stuff on it's way!