interlude

Dear friends -  it has become clear in the last several months that a thoughtful break is in order for me and the blog.

Just as I was thinking about it two months ago, my camera agreed with a slight meltdown, and a month after that, a computer malfunction. Even though I get 10,000 views a month, I wasn't making money, so not enough to consider it a successful situation. I stubbornly plodded on, but the thought of a break after 10 years of blogging felt more and more comfortable.  I wanted to write more, though what , I wasn't sure.

True, the tiny oven didn't help, or the heat detector going off when I was baking.  But really, I missed cooking for people, feeding people, messing about in the kitchen.

So I'll call it a recharging of creative energy and hope to be back.  In the meantime, I'm starting another book of poetry, at least, I think that's what's been prodding my thoughts:)
and finding my food muse again.  If I feel inspired, I'll certainly post.

Thank you for reading, you wonderful people! - and look forward to coming back refreshed.

lots of love -

Katrina

fresh banana muffins with oats & lemon zest

You know how New Englanders always say "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute"?  It's been like that here in Minnesota.  Rain, gloom, sun - and heavy snowflakes late afternoon yesterday.  This morning is windy and overcast and a perfect morning to make muffins and stay inside.

I settled on my old recipe for banana muffins with oats and buttermilk, cinnamon and  - wait!  Why do I have both white and brown sugar?  Forget that!  So I erased the 1/3 cup white sugar (keeping the 1/2 cup brown sugar) and really, there really wasn't a big difference.  Recipe corrected.  

These are moist (especially hot from the oven), and have lots of fiber from the oats, not too much sugar (now, anyway:), and canola oil instead of butter.  The muffins are slightly sweet, spongy and I'm sure they must be healthy - right?  I think you'll like them.

Fresh Banana muffins with oats and lemon zest

This makes 6 Texas size muffins.

Grease the muffin tins and set aside. (I used a Texas size muffin tin) 

Preheat oven to 350F.

In mixing bowl place:

2 medium ripe bananas, peeled, broken into small pieces

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 extra-large egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup buttermilk

Using your mixing paddle on your mixer, stir on low until the mixture is fairly blended.  It will be a little lumpy.

Add:

2 cups King Arthur flour (unbleached)

1/2 cup rolled oats -I use Quaker oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon ( or more, if you wish)

Using an ice cream scoop, fill muffin cups to 3/4ths full.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until muffin tops are springy when gently touched.

Remove to a cooling rack , let cool, then dig in!

The first of the spring baskets on the railings!

eat your veggies soup ( and using up your veggies)

Spring is here, but a little too cold to put out new herb plants - though I found my fresh parsley and dill in a very overcrowded vegetable drawer, eureka!  My New England background scolded me to "use it up",  - and so this soup was born.  I had kale, parsley, baby potatoes, broccoli, celery, and onions, which always seem to get soft too fast in the dark cupboard.  All of the veggies were nice and fresh.

To my great surprise, it was really delicious, so this off-the-cuff recipe stays in my files - it's definitely a keeper!

This is a beautiful rhubarb plant - but did you know the leaves are poisonous? Trim the leaves off from the red stems and throw the leaves in the trash - I never even put them in the compost bin.  I caught Izzie about to pick some because she thought it was kale!

Eat your veggies soup

2-3 baby potatoes. halved
1 cup firmly packed kale, leaves only, torn
1/4 cup roughly chopped Italian parsley
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup chopped broccoli, no stems
1/2 cup sliced celery
a few sprigs of dill
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon roasted chicken base or bouillon cube.  

Place the vegetables, thyme, dill, and bouillon paste in a large saucepan.  Add water halfway up the pot.  Bring water to a boil, turn down, and cook for 15-20 minutes on medium.

Remove from heat and blend in blender, adding small amounts of water if needed.
Taste and add salt and pepper before serving.  

Let me know about your veggie drawer clean out recipes!

orange avocado breakfast salad

Isn't this the prettiest breakfast?  Avocado, fresh oranges, a few sprinkles of dill and scallions - and a few sugar snap peas for the delightful crunch.  

I was sorting through the newspapers for recycle, and it caught my eye, even though the picture was black and white.  I've been thinking much more about what I eat, and it should include far more fruits and vegetables.  I also think I crave chicken, bacon, and ham when I'm feeling any stress or when I'm worried, so back to my normal eating pattern I go.  The original recipe credited to Deborah Madison had a lime-cumin sauce, quite a bit of shredded radicchio, or napa cabbage, garlic, a chile, cilantro (you know how I feel about cilantro!) paprika, mustard.  I went with a very simple lemon-olive oil, sea salt flake and pepper dressing, a little sprinkle of fresh dill and sliced scallions.

Orange Avocado Breakfast salad

For two servings:

2 navel oranges, peeled and sliced into rounds
1 ripe avocado, cut in half lengthwise and peeled, sliced thickly and cut in two
1 or 2 sliced scallions
a few springs of fresh dill
a small handful of sugar snap peas, raw

Dressing:

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (next time I'm trying orange juice)
3 tablespoons olive oil
a few pinches of sea salt
freshly ground pepper
a pinch of dried dill

I'm digging a little garden for my soon to be bought herbs !  I use a lot of herbs, and they often seem to wilt in the fridge, even in packaging, so it's been frustrating. Much better to have them close by (and I hope the wild rabbits leave them alone!).

the last of the brussels sprouts

I'm always a little sad when the brussels sprout season is over - I do love them!  But on that sunny, warm day, I blanched them for barely 10 minutes (they were very small), drained them, and made a summery marinade:

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
oregano - a pinch or two
a pinch of so of caraway seed
a generous sprinkling of crisp bacon

Makes two servings.

Happy Spring!

lemon shortbread cookies

Inspired by the first wildflowers of spring, I headed to the kitchen to make these intensely lemony , flaky shortbread cookies.  I know most people crave chocolate, but lemon is my very favorite flavor of all .  I never use lemon extract, because it doesn't have the same tang that freshly squeezed lemon juice has, though I do add vanilla to balance these cookies.  A little sweet, a little puckery.

You make the dough ahead of time and stick in the fridge or freezer.  It thaws fairly quickly if you freeze it, thanks to the unsalted butter, then just roll it out fairly thickly, cut out the cookies and bake.  I tend to use my round fluted cookie cutters  - perfect for a sturdy cookie that shows just the tiniest amount of toasty edges.  Yummers!

This made about 40 cookies for me today - I forgot to count!

Lemon Shortbread cookies

2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar (plus more for sprinkling on top, if you'd like)

2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest
1 and 3/4's cups King Arthur flour

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of kosher salt

Cream the butter in the mixer bowl, add the sugar and mix.

Add the lemon zest and juice and mix.
Add the flour and mix.

Add the vanilla and pinch of salt and mix.

Gather the dough into a ball, pat it down into an oval, and wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer.  I left it in the freezer for two days before I was ready to make the cookies.

Later:  take the dough out of the freezer to thaw a bit.

Preheat oven to 325F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

As soon as the dough is pliable, mold into an oval with your hands, roll, and proceed to cut out your cookies.  If you'd like, sprinkle a little granulated sugar on top of the cookies.

Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 20 minutes .  I like a little toasty browning on the edge, but that's up to you.  Remove cookies to a cooling rack and continue rolling and cutting out cookies - but make sure the cookie sheet has cooled in between batches.

That's it!

Happy Easter to you all!

spring is spronging!

A long delay in posts, my apologies.  My ankle is slowly getting better, making it a little easier to get to the supermarket - but often I get there and realize I forgot my shopping list.  I do make a list and email it to myself on the cellphone, but just as often "forget" my cellphone, which I have a love/don't love relationship with - I had a landline in NH all those years because of the mountains, and definitely prefer it.   My camera is acting up (I love, love those Canon PowerShot cameras, lightweight and small enough to stick in my pocket) but a trip to Target turned up empty - the only Canon on the shelf was the the Rebel, much too big to cart around, and much more expensive.

Spring comes earlier here in Minnesota, and I discovered these pretty wildflowers suddenly blooming all along the back yards in my neighborhood - it gives a lift to the soul!

I think cookies are in my future, a request from the almost 4-year old, so stay tuned!

Happy Spring!