bobdimes's Xanga

woah, am i ever hungry...

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:31:06 GMT

...and this woman didn't help. She's posting a new recipe every day, and I'm considering turning my book-budget into a food-budget. It's happened before, but that was when i turned my bills-budget into my food-budget, with disastrous consequences. Hopefully this time it'll be an easier switch. :)

chicken with vegetables

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 18:06:15 GMT

here's what i'm trying tonight: baked sweet potatoes, roast chicken with vegetables, oven-baked zucchini, and rice pudding. i'm getting hungry just thinking about it. so, here's the most interesting recipe, out of the cookbook cited below in the "currently reading" bit. i'll post some pictures later, once the meal comes to be.

2 T unsalted butter
3 leeks, white and pale green parts only
3 carrots
5 shallots
1 whole chicken (4 lbs)
salt & pepper
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
parsley, bay leaf, thyme tied together
1 sprig or 1/2 teaspoon tarragon

1 lb. snow peas
1 package frozen peas (thaw them)
1/2 head broccoli
1 T butter mashed up with 1 1/2 T flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, wash vegetables, cut leeks into 1/4 inch rounds, chunk the carrots into 1 inch chunks, peel and halve shallots.

2. Melt the butter on the stovetop in a pot that can go into the oven. (An enameled Dutch oven would be fabulous, but I don't have one.) Add the leeks, carrots, and shallots. Cook until soft but not browned, stirring occasionally.

3. Rinse and trim the bird, pat dry, and then season (on the inside) with salt and pepper. Place it on the vegetables; add broth and herbs. Bring it to boil, cover tightly, and bake for 60 minutes.

4. Go away and do something else. (This step is here for me, so I won't keep opening the dang oven.)

5. Add snow peas, broccoli, and regular peas. Bake uncovered until these are tender (7 minutes).

6. Find a nice platter. Carve the chicken and arrange it among vegetables. You can thicken the remaining sauce with the butter/flour mixture: just boil and whisk with vigor.

(As for the other stuff I'm making, rice pudding = rice boiled in milk with sugar. Baked sweet potatoes are just as easy, just don't underestimate the time it takes them to bake. And zucchini will go in slices into a casserole, covered with cheese and a cream/egg mixture. Garnish with breadcrumbs. If you read this post in time, come over early. The four of us are eating at 6 to make a concert at 8, and I'm sure there'll be plenty of food...)

banana bread

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:27:51 GMT

hi all. it's been awhile, so i thought the best way to come back online was with a recipe. (i'm concurrently working on a random post because carrie tagged me. see comments on previous posting.) so here's the skinny on the banana bread that's in the oven.

it started with an unfamiliar recipe i found saved on a sticky note, and morphed to reflect the things i had on hand. it's morphing again now that i'm writing it down to reflect my own editorial opinions. feel free to morph it again, however you see fit. (i'd suggest nuts or vanilla, if i could be so bold.)

enjoy!

2 cups all-purpose flour
(yeah right. i had 5/4 cups white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, and 1/4 cup brown rice flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon ginger (call me crazy)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 overripe bananas (WHY did someone leave half a banana to rot in my kitchen?!)
1 pear, cored and diced not-too-small-not-too-big
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs plus 2 egg whites (left overs that got thrown in)
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract (i used imitation)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. I personally don't reheat until I'm halfway through the recipe, but maybe that's because I'm slow. And the great thing about melting sticks of butter (which you're about to do) is that if you leave on the wax paper wrappers, you can just fish them out to use in greasing your pan.

Melt the butter mostly and set it aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients (all the dry ones); set aside.

With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip 2 bananas and sugar together for a good 3 minutes (like I did this: I just used a hand whisk until I figured it wasn't getting any fluffier). Add the egg whites and beat some more, then add the melted butter, eggs, and almond extract; beat as if your life depended on it and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Put the previously set-aside dry ingredients in a sifter and sift in while beating. Trade in your whisk for a spatula when you think it necessary. Fold in the pear and 1/2 banana (roughly mashing it to keep some sense of texture) with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Give the pan a good drop on the counter to get any air bubbles out. Don't drop it on the floor. You're just risking way too much.

Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and toothpicks come out clean.

Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. From here, you're on your own: butter, honey, confectioner's sugar, hot fudge, slices, wedges, sandwiches, bread pudding, croutons...

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:10:19 GMT

Carrie tagged me.

The Rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read their blog.

The ERF/H:

1. I think tagging, among blogs, is a communist plot. Don't let them take over the world.

2. I touch my hair when I'm tired.

3. I cook most and best when I'm either frustrated or depressed.

4. South America is the only continent of the habitable six that I've not visited.

5. ENFP.

6. People with authority issues make sense to me.

7. The well-written spy novel is my favorite kind of book.

8. My best dancing happens in the kitchen.

(I tag myself, eight times! Ok, well, I'm also always up for hearing random things or habits. Let's just have it be that everyone who comments on this post tags themselves on my behalf. Everyone down with that? Good.)

breakfast

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 05:27:05 GMT

What is one quote that best describes your views on life?

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:34:43 GMT

"I had often called myself an optimist, to avoid the too evident blasphemy of pessimism. But all the optimism of the age had been false and disheartening for this reason, that it had always been trying to prove that we fit in to the world. The Christian optimism is based on the fact that we do not fit in to the world. I had tried to be happy by telling myself that man is an animal, like any other which sought its meat from God. But now I really was happy, for I had learnt that man is a monstrosity. I had been right in feeling all things as odd, for I myself was at once worse and better than all things. The optimist's pleasure was prosaic, for it dwelt on the naturalness of everything; the Christian pleasure was poetic, for it dwelt on the unnaturalness of everything in the light of the supernatural. The modern philosopher had told me again and again that I was in the right place, and I had still felt depressed even in acquiescence. But I had heard that I was in the wrong place, and my soul sang for joy, like a bird in spring. The knowledge found out and illuminated forgotten chambers in the dark house of infancy. I knew now why grass had always seemed to me as queer as the green beard of a giant, and why I could feel homesick at home."

– G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy. John Lane, 1908. Reprinted by Ignatius Press: San Francisco. 1995. (p. 85-86)

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:46:08 GMT

Just made coffee and a big gluten-free pancake. Mmm... took two pears, quartered 'em, cored 'em, and sliced 'em. Sautéed them in margarine (out of butter) and dark brown sugar. Preheated the oven to 200C/400F. Three eggs, 3/4 cup milk, some cinnamon, some salt, a tablespoon of the same brown sugar, 3/4 cup corn flour, and 1/4 cup ground almonds in bowl, whisked. I poured the mix over the pears and tossed the whole thing in the oven.

I took it out when I remembered it, so I can't say how long they were there. But it was nicely browned and puffy.

And delicious.

(I only feel my timing was off, the main gluten-free eater in my life having just left town yesterday...)

just watched ratatouille

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 16:41:14 GMT

this morning i soaked some lentils, raided the fridge and cupboards for old (undrinkable) white wine, a shallot, herbes de provence, chicken bouillon, and something called harissa. i wanted something comforting that i could come home and find prepared, warm, and nutritious. so i turned to my crockpot.

i just got home from ratatouille and, feeling adventurous, mashed butter and flour into a paste that would thicken the soup. it worked. welcome to spicy, melt-in-your-mouth, velveteen goodness.

soup. with lots of protein and vitamins. i'm melting into the floor.

(the movie was amazing, by the way. i hope to see it LOTS MORE over the course of my life.)

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:42:46 GMT

keeping up with two blogs looks like it might become a reality again soon... but for now, just know that i'm at least updating one of them.

the other one.

woah-ho-ho

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:02:26 GMT

I'm sitting down. My apartment is full of dirty clothes and half-packed bags. I just finished frozen pizza, salad, and ice cream with coffee. Pizza seems to have become my comfort food of choice.

There's so much to do.

Just checking in.