I Made It Monday

So long story short. Last week was one just plain forgotten. Girl Scout camping was okay but the car breaking down in the middle of No Freaking Where was decidedly not fun, especially when the battery on my phone was going, we were hungry, tired and grungy AND I as a girl (if you know what I mean). Then a week of illness. A head cold got Cyra and stomach bug hit me mighty hard. All that equaled a big "Piss Off" to the world. Which was okay because it was clearly needed. On my end. Not the world's.

Anyhow, After a week of nothing and finally feeling better, I went about this weekend like a prisoner after doing twenty years for a parking ticket. Saturday I tackled the lawn and realized that despite Scott's assurance that I don't need a machete for the Zombie Apocalypse, I most certainly need one for the lawn! Then I spent Sunday baking.

Oh yes, my friends, I give you plenty of warning, this is a yummy I Made It Monday. I give to you:

Battle of the Beer Breads

I've been wanting to make beer bread for a while now and finally found some motivation. It could have been the sheer amount of beer crowding my refridgorator. Or maybe the...nope. It was pretty much all the beer in the house. Now, fair and honest here, I do not drink beer. I don't like it. Never have. Give me whiskey, rum, Bailey's! Scott, however is a big fan of beer - it's his job, you see, so we often have a good deal of it around. 

Beer bread is another matter altogether and I do like it. So, this is what I had sitting in the fridge:

Budweiser, Shock Top End of the World Midnight Wheat, Goose Island India Pale Ale, and Murphy's Stout

And wouldn't you know it I happened to find a whole slew of recipes online for beer bread. For simplicity's sake, I'm not going to upload a gazillion photos of batter and individual loaves. I'll focus on the ingredients and show the end results altogether at the...you know...end.

First up, the Shock Top. This beer, clearly for the December 22nd apocalypse, has been around the longest and needed to be used up. I really wanted to actually try drinking it with it's hint of chocolate, chili and other spices, but I just never got around to it. I found this recipe, at Tasty Kitchen, made with a touch of honey that I thought would compliment the Shock Top nicely.

Cast for Honey Beer Bread: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, honey, beer, and melted butter.

This was an easy recipe to put together. And Holy Moly! Melted butter! The butter was poured over the batter once it was in the loaf pan. I'd never seen that done before and I had my doubts, but man! did it turn out pretty.

Next, I went with the Murphy's Stout. I found a recipe on TheKitchn for a Cheddar and Chive Guinness Bread that looked like it would be delicious. Again with the melted butter! So much butter! Many of the recipes I looked at called for drenching the batter in butter. Who am I to argue with butter?

Ingredients: Flour, sugar...blah blah blah, cheddar cheese and chives!

For the last two loaves I used the same basic recipe I found on FarmGirlFare. Now her actual recipe is for a dill and cheddar beer bread, but she gives instructions for just a basic loaf. I used the India Pale Ale alone for one loaf and then for the loaf I made with the Bud, I threw in a packet of Ranch seasoning.

Cast: blah blah blah BEER! Could it be any simpler?

Rinse and Repeat. No wait! That's shampoo.

Out of all the recipes I tried, the last one is the easiest to throw together and the quickest cooking. Although, honestly I found that pretty much all the recipes are alike in the basic ingredients and the variations come with the extra seasonings and spices. FarmGirlFare offers a variety of flavors to try.

Now for the reveal:

From left to right (by beer): Shock Top, Murphy's. IPA, and Bud

By far I think my favorite was the Honey Beer Bread with the Shock Top. It's a bit sweeter and with just a hint of the chocolate and chili it could almost pass for a heavy cake. It could have used a touch more honey, I think, and a little less butter. The girls also preferred this loaf.

The Murphy's Cheddar and Chive was I think had the most powerful beer flavor come through. It's very hearty and I thought it could do with a bit more cheese and possibly some oats or nuts or seeds. This was Scott's favorite.

Out of all the breads, the India Pale Ale was kind of boring. There wasn't any punch, any zing, any pizzazz like the others to compliment the hoppyness of the beer. Also, it was very crumbly and the lightest of the four loaves. The girls didn't favor this one at all!

The Budweiser Ranch bread needed something more. Maybe some cheese, I'm not sure. Thinking about it, maybe it was the recipe itself because both the IPA and the Bud followed the same recipe and both ended up feeling incomplete. I like the lightness of the bread as compared with the denser loaves, it just needs something to punch up the flavor a tad.

All in all, I'd say it was an overall success. I think in general I have learned two very important things: first, all beer bread recipes are pretty much the same and very simple which means there is a lot of wiggle room to improvise and devise my own recipe; and two, the darker the beer, the better the beer bread. 

Bonus Bread Photo:

I also, because I'm crazy and was clearly on some sort of bread making trip, made a loaf of Irish Soda Bread which turned out so delightfully good that I'm going to need to make another loaf ASAP, because this one won't last for more than a day!

Photo A Day - Breakfast

For the past year I've been very frugal with our food budget - alright as frugal as I can possibly be which is to say some months I'm better than others. I cut out as many processed foods as I could which sadly included cereal and bread. Although I occasionally add a box or two of cereal and a couple of bags of bread to the grocery cart, more often than not breakfasts around here include oatmeal, pancakes, eggs and shakes. I make most things from scratch now which benefits us on two levels: better food choices and a smaller grocery bill.

When we have sliced store bought bread I love making eggs in a basket. Cute, convienent and delicious, this is my favorite way to eat over easy eggs.

So pretty and yellow! Yellow makes me happy in the morning.

Mmmm...toasty! We use the cuts outs to dunk in the yolk.

A dash of salt and a sprinkle of pepper and I am good to go!

This is day three of a month long Photo A Day Challenge hosted by fatmumslim.

So Much Spanakopita

I've mentioned before how my town loves to celebrate. Every month there are at least two activities be they "fests," concerts, reenactments (actually that seems to happen every week) or gatherings of some sort. It's part and parcel of living in a town with HISTORY and pretty major tourist destination. When I first moved here these fests were an annoyance, just another crowd of tourists and locals that I had to wade through.

Well, my friends, it has finally happened. I am no longer just living here, I've officially become part of the sidewalk congestion problem because I love going to these little festivals.

A week or so ago the local Orthodox Greek church hosted their annual Greek Fest. Much like the Seafood Fest, the Greek Fest has the obligatory craft booths, the county fair-esque kiddie rides complete with creepy carnies, music and the adorable toddlers dressed head to toe in costume ready to entertain us. But the real reason to go to a festival is the food.

Sure watching the little kids dance traditional Greek dances is so. freaking. adorable. you might just squee yourself right into a hospital, but watching those same kids dance while you are chowing down on buttery spanakopita, tangy dolmathes and oh so yummy souvlaki is (to borrow a phrase from Matthew Inman) "like frolicking in the back hair of angels." 

While I did take pictures of the girls, the dancers, and the crowds in general, you know I'm not too comfortable posting them on the web - something about souls being stolen...no wait, that's not it...oh the whole it's around forever and creepy internet people might, you know, look at them. So I leave you a few shots of the food. Forgive the half eaten state of some of the food as we were all so excited we forgot to take before shots! With so much to choose from the girls and I ended up sharing a combo platter which had a small selection of each meal.

This has the pastitsio, a baked macaroni, half a dolmathes (grape leaf stuffed with meat and rice) and a heaping serving of rice.

Here we divided everything up into thirds. There's a few pieces of flat bread, the spanakopita (filo dough with spinach, cheese and egg), the tiropita (filo dough with egg and cheese) and another half of a dolmathes.

I'm not sure of the origin of calamari. Is it Greek? Who knows? Who cares? Because it was all around the best calamari I have ever had! 

And then after a stroll around the craft booths we headed back to the food tents for desserts! These little gems are called loukoumades. Essentially they are doughnut holes (although to be honest they had a more fried dough taste then a doughnut taste) coated in honey, cinnamon, nuts and powered sugar.

Like the main meal, the girls and I opted to get a sample platter of desserts. There were two of everything so we shared one and saved the other for Scott who was home sick (because the best way to make someone get over a cold faster is to bring them Greek pastries!).

Clockwise from top: flogeres, melomakarona, koulourakia, kourambiethes and baklava

The platter included flogeres (a filo cookie similar to baklava with one end dipped in chocolate), melomakarona (a spiced butter cookie dipped in honey), koulourakia (butter cookies), kourambiethes (wedding cookies rolled in powered sugar) and finally baklava (filo dough stuffed with walnuts and honey).

After all that food we decided to walk around downtown and do some exploring we ended up at the Lightner Museum but that's a tale for another day.

I Made It Monday

Until I became obsessed with the Apocalypse, I never gave gardening much thought. My dad grew a huge garden every year and I can remember times when I helped weed, sow and pick. My mother had beds of flowers and pots of plants but I still didn't pay much attention.

Now, I am borderline obsessed with my little haphazard garden. I've got a stockpile of mason jars and I'm ready to can as soon as more veggies grow. This year was my practice garden. I recycled milk crates and bought cheap pots at Wal-Mart. I broke apart an old bed frame that I knew I wasn't going to use again to build makeshift trellises for my cucumbers and peas.

I am ridiculously proud of the fact that I put seeds in some dirt and now I am starting to get to vegetables to feed my family.

from left to right: peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, peppers, carrots, celery, lettuce. in front: onions, basil, tomatoes.

cucumbers and a head board

sugar snap pea blossom. it totally smells like peas.

the peas were the first veggies to grow!

a mix of jalapeno and bell peppers

crazy color carrots.

my favorite herb - basil. and the only one I planted.

lettuce

tiny tomato blossoms

March Photo A Day - Delicious

Such an easy theme, so hard to choose photos! I love taking photographs of food. It's sort of an obsession that stems from The Birthday Fiesta o' Fun (don't worry...I'm going to tell you all about it later. Pinky swear!).

Lemon curd berry tart. So very light and delicious. Perfect for a spring celebration!

Can you believe those berries?

Epic salad. We don't eat salad as much as we should. Odd since this was devoured in about three seconds flat the other night!

And certainly because I didn't learn my lesson with all the desserts at the seafood festival, I made strawberry shortcake.

Sour

When we first moved into the new house this past summer I was thrilled to discover we had a mature citrus tree in the back yard. The girls, especially Ashleigh, have been begging for a lemon tree for years now. With this tree, I was one step closer to a citrus grove.



Notice Ashleigh mowing the lawn with an old fashioned push mower? That lasted about two weeks. It mowed just fine. It just took us three days to get one section of the lawn mowed.

At first we were unsure as to what type of citrus. The fruits were small and green when we moved in. I had such visions of delicious fresh oranges and juice every day! No scurvy for us! Then the fruits began to ripen and turn a delightful orange. Every few days the girls and I would go out and survey the tree making plans to buy a basket picker to get the fruits from the upper branches. And then we noticed the thorns. And even though the oranges were clearly ripe - falling off the tree ripe - the flesh was so bitter and sour it made us gag!

Lovely, ripe oranges full of anti-scurvy goodness!

It turns out that our beautiful orange tree is one of the few types that produce sour oranges. These oranges are mostly used for essential oils although I have seen a few recipes for marmalade and other sauces.

 

How perfect! Not pictured Thorns of Death and Destruction!

So I have not a sweet delicious orange tree but a sour bitter one. Looks like I'm going to need to learn how to can pretty soon so I can make marmalade!

Marmalade still fights scurvy, right?

Forays into Sushi-ville

I'm not a big fan of trying new things. I like the tried and true. I am a creature of habit. For example, regardless of how many new flavors are offered at Mochi, I always get the same thing: Strawberry and Coconilla with coconut, strawberries and strawberry mochi - even when I taste the other flavors and like them.

So on Wednesday, I decided that since I was going to a party and didn't feel all that great I'd stop somewhere to get dinner for the girls. I didn't want fast food, nor did I want to make multiple stops and I had already promised the girls that we could go to Mochi's, I decided to try out Bento Cafe which is right next door to Mochi's - pretty convenient.

The girls stuck with familiar shrimp tempura, but I was feeling adventurous and opted to try a sushi roll. After looking over the menu, and knowing that I needed to go with something "safe," I went with the Bali Hai Mango roll - tempura shrimp, cream cheese, eel, and mango. I cannot express how delightful this was!

After the chaos of Thursday, I felt the need on Friday for some good company and good food, so I met a friend and some of her family members at Bento. They had never been and when I was asked for a suggestion, I had to sheepishly admit I'd only been there once before. I once again got the Bali Hai Mango. I wanted to try something different, but as I was ordering I asked what masago was and low and behold, changed my order when I learned that it was fish eggs. I didn't think I was brave enough for that yet.

Well as of today at 1:30pm, I am brave!! I not only tried the Red Dragon with the masago, but it also had tuna (raw) and something called tabiko which I don't know what it is, but it was spicy! It was also packed with tempura shrimp, cream cheese, avocado and krab. It was quite good, though a bit too spicy for my taste and the masago I was so worried about wasn't all that bad. It was more of a texture than a taste and I didn't even blink at the tuna.

I also ordered the Bali Hai Mango for the girls to try. Both girls tried the Bali Hai, neither liked it, but only Ashleigh was brave enough to try the Red Dragon. And she willingly asked to try it. Of course, I didn't tell Ashleigh there was tuna on it, but she did know what the masago was. Cyra was not thrilled with the sushi but Ashleigh seemed open to try it again. I am hopeful that she will be willing to explore and develop her taste buds.

How does this mesh with my attempt to go vegetarian? I'm not sure. But I have cut red meat out of my diet and that's a start. And from what little knowledge I have of Japan and their diet, it is probably one of the healthiest on the planet.

Derby Part Two

Isn't it always the case? The one year that I don't pick a longshot is the year that a longshot triumphs! Good for Mine That Bird! Too bad I didn't pick him. Of course, even if I hadn't picked Dunkirk, my second favorite was Chocolate Candy ridden by Mike Smith, and he came in 18th! Ouch!! Maybe I ought to listen to Sara and base my choice not on how pretty a horse looks, but on pedigree and previous race stats.

Regardless of the loss, we still had fun. Dinner was delicious! Hot browns, corn pudding, and A Run for the Roses pie. Yum!! It was my first year making everything alone, and I think it turned out quite well.

The girls and I painted our horses and this year we thought to add their names on the back so we could remember who was who.

Next year, we plan on new Derby hats and maybe we'll have the time, money and desire to host a bigger party than just Mom and Sis (who wasn't really here, but we spent the entire time on Skype with her).

A First Date

To say that Scott isn’t good with picking out gifts is unfair. Typically, because I have specific “gifts” in mind, I tend to give him a specific list of ideas and hope he doesn’t stray from the list too much. This year for Christmas was a little different. Due to a minor lack of “fundage” even though I gave Scott a list, it was quite vague, quite small and I left a lot up to Scott. And really, my story just goes to show how much someone can surprise you if you let them.

One of Scott’s gifts to me this year was far beyond tangible. He gave me twelve days. One day each month that he would take me out on (gasp) a date!

And while this might not seem like a lot, it is. With precious little time and money, we tend to put “us” stuff to the side and focus on the “house” stuff-bills, groceries, power. Previous date nights were sporadic and poorly planned, consisting mostly of a quick dinner and a movie.

With this gift, come rules. Scott is ultimately in control of where we go and what we do, although I can offer suggestions, Scott will plan each date on his own.

So, without further ado, here’s the first date:

After clearing babysitting detail for Ashleigh with Mom (Cyra had a sleepover at a friend’s house), Scott set our first date for January 10 and wouldn’t tell me anything about it. All day long I wondered and waited for him to get home from work.

Ok, by waited, I mean, I went to a girl scout meeting, ran errands, went to the library, did some laundry, dropped Cyra off at Olivia’s and bought a new pair of jeans that actually fit (in case Scott chose a casual setting).

Scott surprised me with his venue for the night. I figured he’d ease into “datiness” with a return to tried and true dinner and a movie. Instead, he told me when he got home that he wanted to go bowling. Now for those that might laugh, I have developed a great fondness for bowling, especially when it involves disco balls. So I was quite excited. Scott, although he decided on bowling, couldn’t decide where he wanted to go eat and asked for a suggestion. I said, “Well, if we’re bowling, the only logical place to eat is, of course, Steak and Shake.”

And off we went. Steak and Shake was hopping for an early Saturday night, so it took a few minutes to be seated. Once we sat down we began perusing the menu; although really I don’t know why I did, I always get the same thing every time: Turkey melt, cheesy fries, diet coke, and a coffee shake. But Scott needed to browse the items. So while he pondered what triple-decker delight he’d partake in, I watched the goings-on around the restaurant. The servers were moving like elegantly choreographed ballerinas, swooping, dancing, gliding in and around tables, balancing trays filled with bubbly soda and smooth thick shakes. It was a beauty to watch and it struck me then: I miss waitressing.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to quit my nice cushy job that offers benefits and four months off a year, but I honestly think I was a better waitress than I am a teacher. I was good at it, evidenced by my plethora of $20 tips. I could go home and actually leave work at work! It had drawbacks, of course, as every job does, but I was really good at it.

Anyway, back on track, Scott ordered a huge triple-decker “man” burger with oozy cheese, bacon and God knows what other type of meat was thrown on top of the hamburger, fries and coleslaw (eww). Not only did he manage to finish his food, but he ate some of my fries too. He complained that I ruined perfectly good fries with cheese while I argued right back that he ruined perfectly good fries with ketchup!

After dinner, we headed over to Bowl America on Beach Blvd. A dingy little hole in the wall bowling alley, but really? What bowling alley isn’t? We played four games. The first game was spent trying to get the feel for the game again-it had been some time since we’d been bowling. And Scott still totally bowls like Frankenstein’s Monster. Stiff, ungainly, and well, dorky. Scott won by one point in the first game we both came in well under 100. The second game was a bit better for both of us. Scott still beat me and I will claim that I had a ball malfunction. It wasn’t a large victory, only about 5 points, but still, I was getting grouchy with all the losing! Then that blessed time of night came when the lights went out, the disco ball came on and the lanes were lit with black lights-Cosmic Bowling had arrived!!

It was our third game. Scott kept mocking me and my technique. Granted I kept mocking him as well, but still the karma flowed in my favor for the third game. Was it the loud hip hop music that thrummed in our ears? The bright flashing lights that raked across the lanes like UFO’s searching for people to abduct? I might never know, but I do know this, my third game is always my best game!! I trounced Scott with a 20 point victory!! I mocked. I gloated. I danced about in the dark while amused people in the lanes next to us laughed at my childish antics (they then carried on with their own childish antics so I wasn’t the only one!).

Then my joy was deflated like a perfect soufflé that collapses under the intense scrutiny from a judge in a cooking contest. Mayhap it was my selfish gloating, my egotistical narcissism, or the fact that my thumb kept getting stuck in my ball. Who knows, but the last game ushered in my sad defeat. If we are to talk trounced this is the game in which I was trounced. Thoroughly. Completely. Systematically. The difference between the scores is too shameful to even mention. Suffice to say, Scott reined in at well over 100, while I barely hit 70. It was sad.

What wasn’t sad though, was the night! We had a great time. It has been a long, long time since we went out and had that much fun. Alcohol wasn’t even involved at all! I can’t wait to see what he has in mind for February!

The Magic Pot

For Christmas this year, I asked for and then ordered for myself, a Crock-Pot. An ancient device that allows me to prepare a meal in the morning and by the time I get home, it is all cooked and piping hot! The wonders of technology! For a long time I was nervous about getting a crock-pot, scared even, about what the pot might “do” all by itself all day, unsupervised. In fact, even in the instruction manual, it states: Do not leave the crock-pot unattended. It also states: do not use crock-pot for anything other than its intended use. So, really? I figure like all good corporations fearful of lawsuits, Rival was just trying to cover all its bases.

I decided to try out my crock-pot the day of winter break. I figured that I should do a test run before I let it go off on its own. I scoured though recipe books, the one Scott got me (after he was informed that he was getting me a crock-pot) and my Good House cooking bible and found a lovely chicken meal that called for potatoes, carrots and chicken. Three major food groups in one pot; I was sure it would be magical or at the very least, tasty.



The final product ended up more “chicken stewy” rather than “chicken dinnery.” but all in all it turned out well. The girls both ate their portion and Ashleigh asked for seconds. Scott not only dug into seconds but moved on up to thirds.

My second recipe the next day: meat sauce for pasta. I prepped all the ingredients the night before, pepper, onion, shredded carrots, meat… and popped in my magic pot the next morning. That night when I got home, my house smelled like an Italian restaurant. Even the girls who do not appreciate spaghetti sauce as much as they should ate their dinner.

The final recipe I tried last week was on Wednesday: Hungarian goulash. (After that I did not need to cook again until Sunday with the amount of leftovers and activities over the weekend) While the girls did not dive into this meal, they did eat and I made it clear that with the magic pot in our lives we were going to be introduced to new foods and flavors and they might as well just get over it now otherwise they could go hungry. They seemed ok with that.

Scott summed up the best thing about my crock-pot on Sunday as we sat down to delicious pork tenderloin (not crock-potted). He said, “You know, we’ve sat down to dinner, as a family, four times this week. That’s more than we have in the past month.”

No only does it cook our meals, but it arranges our schedules too!

What can I say? Magic!

An Even Dozen

On January 2 a sacred ritual is preformed in my house. It involves cake and burning wax, brightly decorated gifts and a loud, off-key rendition of an ancient folk song.

It is, of course, Ashleigh’s birthday. I have instructed her to stop aging, alas, her stubbornness persists and every year she informs me that she is now grown-up. And boy does she act it. At a whopping 12, she is fully involved in pre-teeness, from rolling her eyes, to sassing, to (gulp) being independent.

I couldn’t be more proud.

If I thought the tenth birthday was hard, I couldn’t be more wrong. Compared with twelve, ten was lackluster in evoking my melancholy. I thought with ten it would hit me hard, a double-whammy Ashleigh ten, me thirty. Ten wasn’t so bad. Thirty was no big deal. Ten was like a sweet piece of chocolate dripping with caramel and marshmallow.

This year we celebrated quietly. Ashleigh asked if we could go to Dave & Busters (and arcade/restaurant that is full of fun awesomeness where one can easily drop $200+ without realizing it) on Friday night and unfortunately, right after Christmas is not a good time to go as bank accounts are slightly lower than normal. Instead, Ashleigh accepted a dinner at Red Lobster and a Build-A-Bear.

While Red Lobster is a favorite restaurant of hers and well, mine too, as it has the whole seafood thing going on, I’d have liked to have gone to Joe’s Crab Shack or Mango Mango’s but as it was Ashleigh’s choice, to Red Lobster we went. Ashleigh enjoyed a shrimp fest: shrimp scampi, shrimp linguini and fried shrimp. Cyra had children’s popcorn shrimp while I enjoyed scampi and coconut shrimp. Scott just had a huge plate of coconut shrimp.

Following of side splitting dinner, we went to the mall to build a bear at Build-A-Bear. She chose a fluffy light brown bear and promptly (and aptly) named it Velvet.

On Saturday we had a birthday dinner with my mom and my sister. Steak and potatoes. Yum! I gave Ashleigh her actual birthday presents: new bedding. It doesn’t seem like a lot but if we consider that she hasn’t ever had “matching” anything, she was pretty excited about it.

So that concludes another year. 12. A whole dozen. It really doesn’t seem possible that that much time has passed. And from what I hear (and, of course, what I remember) the hardest years are yet to come!