Savoring the Snow

As I sit and write this post, I am looking out at a gently blanketed landscape and the snow flakes are dancing like butterflies.  Today has a meloncholic feel to it, the forests always go quiet when it snows and so do the roads as we, like the animals, huddle down.  Maybe we are not as far removed from primal instincts as we think.

I also feel a particular appreciation for the snow today as this might be one of the last gentle dustings we get this year, and then no more until next year when we hope and pray our Christmas will be a white one!  What lies around the corner is long days starting with early mornings, farmers have already been planning the growing season and taking stock of their 'to do' lists, taking trips out to the green house or the barn with a combination of anticipation for how much needs to be accomplished and excitment to get underway. 

Knowing Spring is on our door step and she brings all her craziness and energy with her, I think today is the perfect day to putter around inside and wear your slippers or just your socks all day and appreciate one of the last quiet days we will have this year.  And, as promised, in celebration of the snowy day, I have included a recipe for some cookies.  A sweet friend, Ashley, baked these last week (using organic ingredients) to share and they were DELICIOUS!  It is Martha Stewart's recipe, Ashley added cranberries and I loved them so much I ate more than my share and didn't regret a thing!  They are absolutely worth a quick trip to the store for any ingredients you don't have!

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Coarse salt
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely grated zucchini
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Beat 1 stick butter and the sugars until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Beat flour mixture into butter mixture. Mix in zucchini, oats, and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
4. Beat together remaining 1/2 stick butter, the cream cheese, and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread 1 heaping tablespoon filling onto the flat side of 1 cookie, and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining filling and cookies.

Surviving Sleet

Here we are again, are you ready to celebrate another storm in New England with me?  Ready to break out the baking pans and punctuate these days with some delicious decadence?  Are you, like me, determined to embrace the gifts of today regardless of how much snow there is to shovel?  And since there has been A LOT of snow to shovel, I feel the need to put the calories back in my body lest I wither away to nothingness and we can't have that, can we? 

It just so happens that conveniently - I love it when this happens - my calorie craving has coincided with a cheesecake craving!  And not just any cheese cake - I want a BAKED cheesecake!  What good is a cold day of wintry mix if you aren't going to at least turn the oven on?  So, this is my special choice for this little winter storm:

Philadelphia Double-Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

24 OREO Cookies, crushed (about 2 cups)

1/4 cup  (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted

4 pkg (8 oz each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup  sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp  vanilla

2 tbsp (heaped) cocoa

1/2 cup blueberries

Method:

• Heat oven to 325ºF.
• Mix crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch foil-lined pan. Bake 10 min.
• Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour cocoa and vanilla with mixer until well blended.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.
• Bake 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil to lift cheesecake from pan. Top with berries.

Enjoy!  A few more snow storms accompanied with decadent ideas and we may just have turned this winter around, don't you think?

Surviving Snowflakes!

Do you remember the conversation your mom had with you when you were little and the kids at school were being mean?  The one where she says 'don't worry honey, don't let them get to you - if they don't get the reaction they want, they will soon get bored and find somebody else to pick on' . . .

Well, that is how I feel about the snow.  It is being mean, and it is picking on me . . . us!  I mean, REALLY!  One storm is romantic, two is still somewhat fun, but one a week is losing its charm.  I have enough snowy photos for ten years worth of Christmas cards - and we built a snowman bigger than us - look:

Yes, my daughter is actually sitting on 'his lap' and those are russet potatoes for eyes - not sure where his rainbow carrot nose is at this point but there you are.  I know others out there agree, that we are kinda out of snow-day ideas.

Back to my point, I think I am going to take my mom's sage advice and refuse to give the mean snow the reaction it is looking for.  Instead, I am going to celebrate these days because after all, taking some down time is not the worse thing to do and I have been told that shovelling your drive burns 1500 calories which makes me feel even more justified in suggesting that we do something decadent, indulgent and delicious with our afternoon.  I am suggesting BAKED PEARS!  With a dollop of Marscapone cheese: 

Ingredients:

• 4 D'Anjou pears
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• Dash of salt
• Dash of ginger (or cinnamon)
• 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind

Method:

1. Heat oven to 325 deg F (slow to moderate)
2. Wash the pears and cut a think slice from the blossom end (don't you love that term, I think all bottoms should be called 'the blossom end') - this is so they will stand easily - leave the stems on
3. Place pears upright in baking dish
4. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over pears
5. Bake uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours, or until pears are tender.  Baste syrup over pears occasionally while cooking
6. Enjoy!

Maybe, just maybe, if we punctuate these storms with a little celebration, the snow will get bored and go pick on somebody else.  It's worth a try . . .



BLISS = crushed strawberries + pancakes + maple syrup + kids

So this morning we decided a pajama breakfast party with pancakes was in order - its been a tough week!  I don't know how many people can even make pancakes without pancake mix anymore, but I turned to my trusty cookbook (thanks Granny) for this recipe:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sifted flour (I like King Arthur's organic)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar (cane only if you please)
2 eggs (thank you White Gate Gardens)
1 cup sour milk (I didn't have any, so I used un-soured milk and added a tsp of lemon juice)
1 tbsp melted butter

Method:
Sift dry ingredients together
Beat eggs, add sour milk and butter together
Add milk mixture to dry ingredients gradually, beating until smooth
Drop from spoon into heated greased pan, brown both sides

For the top, I cut some strawberries in half and then crushed them in a bowl using a heavy plastic cup. We spooned the strawberries onto our pancakes and laced them with maple syrup. 

We are still licking our fingers, bad manners I know, and I guess its time to get dressed but it has been the perfect start to this day and my to-do list can wait just a little while longer - it's not going anywhere and you know what?  Neither am I . . .

The New Family Cook Book

When we moved into our new home, I took a moment over a hot cup of tea and a view of our homestead to rest my tired feet and reflect what it means to move - all the change, excitement, hope . . . glancing around at all that still had to be done, my eyes rested on this cookbook lying near the top of an open yet-to-be-unpacked box.  It was a gift from my grandmother, a well used and loved book that I have seen her use on many occasion.  I used it now and then for shortbread, but hadn't taken time to really look at it, consider all its undiscovered treasures, and appreciate the true value of this gift.

And it was over that cup of tea, one hot July afternoon, as I took stock of the heavy books' contents that I learned the true depth of words like 'heritage', 'legacy' and 'heirloom'.  Everything I think the younger generation has forgotten about cooking, is contained within these precious pages - from where different cuts of meat are taken, and what they are best suited to, to canning, preserving, freezing, cooking temperatures, how to tell if something is fresh and where to store it to keep it that way.  And it is not just about cooking, I got a glimpse too of what it meant to host a luncheon in the 50's on pages 53 - 130, how to set the table, what to choose for the menu, and how to be a gracious hostess.  These are all skills I feel are largely lost, and sadly so - I think our children would greatly benefit (as would we) from learning and remembering these graces. 

When my own daughter breezed into the kitchen, it occured to me that four generations were represented right there in my kitchen, with another cookbook my mom had made me with recipes for all the meals I loved to eat while growing up, a recipe book I often leaned on for family favorites, and a recipe book my daughter had received (her first one) for Christmas.  What a wonderful gift, and a special heritage these books would become for the younger members of our family one day.

Occasionally, I will be including experiences of our meals from my 'New Family Cook Book' in my blog, and tips too so I hope you visit often.  Let us make it a family affair as we teach our children that being a conscientious adult means knowing the source of the food we eat, what sustains it, and how to cook it and not how to recycle the cardboard box it came in.

Impossible is a word full of possibilities!

The season of self indulgence is drawing to a close and I am already squeezing myself into my wardrobe and trying various diets on for size.  I am considering New Years Resolutions at the same time: try harder to save, treat each day as a gift, do six impossible things before breakfast, save the day at least once, be more adventurous with food etc. etc.

Or, maybe I should be more specific and have one particular goal to accomplish this year, and since we are embarking on this local and organic produce delivery journey, maybe it DOES have to do with food.  A food adventurer . . . oooh . . . an EXPLORER!  And I am not talking about exotic foods, far off flavors and foreign fragrances.  Just vegetables.  I mean, there has to be at least one great recipe out there for each and every vegetable!  Don't you think?  I love veggies, but there are some I just don't like to eat, so maybe that will be my mission for 2011.  Find a way to eat everything, and savor the experience.

So, that being said, here is a little recipe that I thought I would share with you all, it is the 'little black dress' of sauces!  Everything looks great in it and its perfect for every occasion.  Need something for seafood or fish?  This is it!  Asparagus or brussels sprouts need a little dressing? Look no further!  It is a French Butter Sauce, and tonight we are eating it on roasted brussel sprouts, yum!  Enjoy.

1. Bring 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, 1/4 cup white wine, 1tblspn minced shallots, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper to the boil in a deep saucepan.
2. Continue to simmer until the sauce is reduced by half, the larger the saucepan the quicker the ingredients will reduce.
3. While the wine mixture simmers, cut 1 and 1/4 cups of chilled butter into small squares and once the sauce is reduced, add half the squares and beat with a metal whisk until the mixture forms a creamy paste.
4. Reduce heat to low and continue beating in one piece of butter at a time, adding a new piece as soon as the previous piece is nearly incorporated.
5. The sauce should now be about 1 1/4 cups and have the consistency of a light hollandaise.  Remove from heat and strain.
6. Season with salt and pepper, add a squeeze of lemon.

Voila!