Poor neglected blog!

When I say I will update my blog soon, it should be noted that "soon" is a highly technical term that means "whenever I am not chasing animals, trying to keep the housework under control, working, or watching lots of episodes of Heroes while vegging out on the couch drinking cream soda". You've now read that on the internet, therefore it is true.

Dear readers, soon is upon us!

I've been cooking from scratch a lot less, and improvising a lot more, lately. Honestly, most of the time my food is quite boring, albeit filling and tasty. But nothing that really moves me. Nothing that strikes me as something I really should get a picture of before devouring. Nothing that makes me want to call all of my friends to come eat dinner with us because it is that awesome.

Until two nights ago, when I made this pizza. I fully admit I did not make any of the components from scratch. I merely assembled everything together, but the end result was so delicious, I knew it needed to be preserved and shared. Only not in the very creepy, "hey let's shellac this pizza and place it on the mantel!" way.

You can get everything from your local grocery store-- including the pizza dough. If it's not made by scratch from the bakery, usually you can still get it in a refrigerated section.




Spinach Chicken Alfredo Pizza
1/2 cup baby spinach leaves
1 lb pizza dough
2 cups mozzarella
1 cup provolone
1/4 cup cheddar
2 chicken breasts, cut into tiny pieces and cooked
1/4 cup Alfredo sauce
2 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled (optional)

Wait for pizza dough to rise and relax in a warm spot in a covered bowl (about 45 min). Punch down and place on a baking tray. Working from the center out, knead the dough out to the edges of the tray.

Spread the Alfredo sauce on the pizza, being careful to leave a 1 inch border around the edge. Spread the mozzarella on top of that. Finely chop the baby spinach leaves and sprinkle over the pizza. Cover that with the provolone, and then spread the chicken over the top of the provolone. Cover the chicken with the cheddar, and then sprinkle with the bacon. Roll over the sides of the pizza (the inch you left around everything) to make a crust, pinching as you go.

Heat oven to 500 F and bake pizza for 12-15 minutes, or until golden and crispy. Let cool for a couple minutes before cutting and serving.

A Memory of Bananas

The mud brown rug covering the bed of the beat up tan Ford pick-up is musty and gnarled from years of use and wear. I toddle over and perch on the cold metal protrusion that shields the top half of the back tires, watching.

He stands at the edge of the bed, leaning over the lifted tailgate. Her wrinkled, soft hands extend and touch and hug him as he cries out. His face streams with tears as he sobs for what he and I both don't understand. He is sobbing for want of our mother that won't ever return, but we don't get that yet.. after all, it's only been a month or so since the horrible thing happened. But sobbing he is, and harder than any child his age normally would.

Her hands disappear for a few moments and then return, a banana extended. He gleefully pulls it up and she patiently helps him peel it. I rush forward to claim my similar prize, her repeating the same peeling motions for me. We sit, happy and at least temporarily sated, on that rug and Dad appears, shutting the back flap of the bed canopy and abruptly blocking us off.

With realization of what has happened, he starts to cry, still clutching his banana as he runs back to the tailgate, pressing his free hand against the glass flap as if to emphasize his gasping sobs.

I am still. I sit there. I am confused. I don't know what to do.

I keep eating my banana.

I watch as dad gives her a hug, climbs into the cab in front, and drives us off.

He stands at the tailgate, one fist against the glass, the other clutching that banana. Screaming, crying. Incoherent.

He quiets before the miles even begin to roll, and he sits back down near me to finish eating.

One thing is now clear. We are going forward, and there is no such thing as going back.
...

I love you, Grandma, and I pray every day and night for your safety, comfort and happiness.

No, he's not named after the Cookie!

Here's the new puppy, Newton!


We named him after Isaac Newton, in the hopes that he will be a little doggy genius.. not after Fig Newton, in the hopes that he will be delicious.


So far he's a bright little guy and in his first few hours learned to come to his name and sit. He doesn't obey as well for Mike, but I think part of that is Mike having a deep voice and Newton having trouble distinguishing between good-- i.e. "good boy" "come" "sit".. and bad-- "down" "off" "no" "ouch" "leave it". He'll get it eventually though.

The last few days have been hectic for me, and I haven't had the chance to do anything too fancy with food or really contemplate what I'm going to do next food-wise. Work is crazy over the holidays and apparently Easter was a zoo while I was gone. Today all I made was cakes-- 1/8th sheets, 1/4 sheets, and rounds. In total I made and decorated 15 cakes. I'm not complaining though, even with the pressure of continual pick-ups it was fun to just be creative. Tomorrow I do production baking and the decorating "overload" was a good lead-up. I don't actually mind a stressful and busy job, as long as I'm treated like a human! In fact, I'm voluntarily going in early (probably around 4 am) tomorrow to help us keep up!

I'm thinking that my next blog update will be an ice cream or sorbet. I'm also finishing up the project I mentioned before for a giveaway-- so keep your eyes peeled!

Nothing Fancy!

The last week or so has been exciting and hectic for me!

Mike and I went to Connecticut on Saturday after I got done working. We hardly ever venture out to the Mass. Pike so we stopped into the outlets. My white keds are splitting apart at the seams in the back, so I figured after 3 years of service it's high time to get new shoes! We picked up a some stuff (One pair of shoes for us each, one dress shirt for Mike, two shirts for me, all for 100 dollars!), got dinner, and then continued on to Mike's parent's home. We played games with his mother, his sister and her boyfriend, did some baking and preparation (I made my carrot cake cookies but I messed up the frosting, eesh) for the big family get-together on Easter day, and just relaxed. It would have been nice to have stayed over and drove back early Monday, but alas, Mike had to work.

In other non-cooking related news, we're adopting a dog! He's half beagle, a quarter cocker spaniel, and a quarter poodle. He's still a puppy so he'll be a handful but I'm very excited. We go to pick him up tonight after Mike gets done working.

And finally, it will be a few days probably before I post another food update. Our budget has been tightened down for a week or so due to us going to Connecticut this weekend, and last weekend having company over!

Now for a quick and dirty recipe for a green smoothie. These are absolutely delicious and I guarantee you cannot taste the spinach-- they're fluffy and full of flavor, and in the morning it's a great way to make sure you're getting your veggies. Mike isn't a huge vegetable fan and even he loves these!



Green Smoothie
2 frozen bananas
1/2 cup milk or water
1 tbs peanut butter
As much baby spinach leaves as you can fit into the blender

Blend all of the above until the smoothie is smooth, creamy, and frothy. Pour into two glasses and enjoy!

Note that you can add pretty much whatever fruit you want to this-- just try to freeze it before hand to make the final smoothie creamy.

A Happy Kind of Tired

Today, I am very tired. A happy tired, but tired nonetheless.

Some of Mike's family came to visit us yesterday. I always get a little anxiety about guests, but everything went truly great. After they arrived we went to a local restaurant called Patrick's Pub to get lunch. I got french dip with melted pepper jack (my usual), and it was as awesome as always (yay alliteration). I think everyone else also enjoyed their food-- we had no carry out boxes to bring back to the house! Back at home we played Rockband and Taboo to pass the time before dinner.

My "challenge" for this dinner was that I needed to pick something Mike's grandmother could eat. She's an observant Catholic, and it was a Friday.. not just any Friday, either, but a Friday between Lent and Easter. My options were vegetarian or fish, and the fish won out. Anyone who really knows me wouldn't be too terribly surprised by this outcome! If it comes from the ocean, chances are I love to eat it about forty different ways.


Dinner was a success, and afterward we had brown sugar cookies with bananas foster, sans the flambe. Forgive me, I was tired and a little buzzed!

There were a lot of great parts of the visit (like coming home to find my kitchen tidied up by Mike's mom, or his brother doing the dinner dishes.. haha can you tell I hate chores?), the best part was getting to spend some time with Mike's siblings.

Don't get me wrong, I do get to see them at the big family events, but there's so many people and there's so much going on that it's just not the same as only a few of us being together. Mike and I already felt a little sad we never got together during the winter to go skiing over a weekend or two, and now that feeling is only amplified. Still, at least we can look forward to next winter and any other gatherings between now and then to come.

So now, without much further ado, here are the dinner recipes (I'm saving dessert for another post). I served these with a garden salad of tender greens, carrot, tomato, and cucumber, and some Sauvignon Blanc. I will say that if you like your white wine to be very dry, this is the perfect dinner to match with such a wine.


Romaine-Wrapped Halibut
4 pieces of Halibut
1 head of romaine
1/4 cup butter
2 cloves garlic
2 whole lemons
salt and pepper to taste

Bring salted water to a rolling boil in a large stew pot. Remove large leaves from romaine head and place into water, and allow to boil for 1 minute. Remove and lay out on paper towels to dry, then cut away the lower, stiff halves.

Mince garlic. Melt butter and mix garlic into butter. Cut lemons in half and cut a slice of lemon from each half (you'll have 4 slices in total). Set aside-- squeeze two of the lemons into the butter mixture. Season each piece of fish, then squeeze remaining two halves over each piece. Arrange two boiled romaine pieces over eachother to make a larger "sheet". Place a piece of halibut in the center of each "sheet" and pour some of the butter mixture over the top, spreading it aorund. Bring up the sides of romaine and wrap the halibut (into a packet), then place into a well-buttered baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the pieces. Place a slice of lemon over the top of each packet, then dump any remaining butter over all of the packets. Cover the dish first with wax paper, then with aluminum foil. Bake at 450 F for 20 minutes.

Note: If you get halibut with bone-in, like I did, be aware that the bone will make the fish cook faster and will tinge the surrounding fish rather pink. I made a larger batch (6 pieces) and a few pieces came out with pink from the bone, and cooked a little quicker resulting in a less tender/flaky texture.


Caraway Rice Pilaf
2 cups rice
1 cup water
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tbs butter
1 tbs caraway seeds
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp lemon juice
Pinch of salt and pepper

Combine all of the above in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. Stir occasionally and let cook until rice is fluffy and tender, about 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Confucious Say...

Yesterday was April Fool's Day. It's one of my favorite "holidays", though I will say it's a lot more hilarious when you have clever and sneaky friends (which I am lucky to have).

I still felt that I really needed to avoid being one of *those people* ... we all know the type. They do the same lame and tired prank year after year that unfailingly illicits only a half-hearted pity laugh, or perhaps even an eye-roll.

Thankfully, inspiration struck: the only thing more awesome than cracking open a cookie to find your fortune, is cracking open a cookie to find yourself snarked and/or insulted.

The final result: fortune cookies with bad attitudes.

Making fortune cookies definitely takes a bit of practice, since you have to work very quickly while the cookie rounds are piping hot. I found that practicing on a piece of round paper helped me get the shape correct right away. Alas though, my cookies didn't come out as perfect as I'd hoped, so I chose to dip them in chocolate and sprinkles. Also, I didn't crisp them long enough when I made them (around 5 minutes), so be sure to really nanny this recipe!



Basic Fortune Cookie
1 egg white
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
Dash of salt
2 tbs powdered sugar
1/4 c AP flour
2 tbs water

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Whip egg white and extracts until egg white is foamy. Sift together flour and sugar, add into egg mix. Add in salt. Stir. Add water-- batter should be thin and runny.

Grease a baking sheet with butter. Pour a tablespoon of batter onto the baking and use a small off-set spatula to spread it around into a 3-4 inch circle. Since the cookies have to be formed while hot, only make one or two at a time.

Bake for around 5 minutes, or when the edges are golden brown. Remove and immediately fold into the fortune cookie shape-- put the fortune in the middle and fold over to make a "taco" shape, then fold that over the edge of a glass. Place in a muffin tin to cool.

After all of the fortune cookies are made, reduce heat in oven to 250 F. Place muffin tin with fortune cookies in oven and bake for around 10-15 minutes, until crispy.

DIPPING
1/4 c chocolate chips or candy melts
Sprinkles

Melt chocolate/melts in a bowl. Dip the rounded back part of the cookies in the chocolate and immediately roll in sprinkles. Set on wax paper to dry.

Quick Update and some Sneak Peaks

I haven't updated in a few days because I just got offered a new job, and am ironing out the specifics of it. I'll be moving into management, which I'm definitely very excited about. It does however mean more responsibility, but I expect I'll settle into the new job in no time.

Next weekend some of Mike's family is coming to visit and stay with us for the first time since we've moved away from Connecticut. I'm very nervous, but also very excited. This week is going to be busy with cleaning and preparing, as well as figuring out details such as "Where is everyone going to sleep"? We aren't short on space by any stretch, but we are short on beds. I fore see some new air mattresses in Mike's and my immediate future!

Last night I tested the dinner I plan to make for everyone: romaine-wrapped lemon halibut with caraway rice pilaf and garden salad. It turned out great and I'm hoping Mike's family loves it as much as we did. I'm going to make a few tweaks between now and the visit, and post-visit I'll update with my final recipe... until then, here's a teaser!





And my final sneak peak is actually two sneak peaks:

- I'm working on a non-edible food-related project, which will then turn into my first (and likely very infrequently done) blog giveaway.

- I'm also working on a (very edible) April Fool's joke, for Mike to take with him to work. No worries, it doesn't involve exlax or replacing sugar with salt!

I can say though that good things come to those who wait. And all these pending updates will be well worth the wait!