Fun Blogger Awards Page
I’ve been the fortunate recipient of a few blogger awards. The first time I got one of these awards, I wasn’t quite sure what it was about. And then upon some thought I realized that these kind and thoughtful little awards are away for bloggers just to show appreciation for one another.
This page is going to be my awards page. On this page I will post awards have been given and also in turn give awards and mentioned other of my favorite bloggers.
The first one I want to mention is Paws to Talk. Bella and Didi are standard poodle bloggers! This is wonderful and delightful to me since I happen to have two standard poodles myself! (they don’t blog but they do show up here pretty often along with many dog treat recipes!) Bella and DiDi have given me the ABC award! ABC stands for Awesome Blog Content. Isn’t that sweet!? I will say that Didi and Bella are wonderful bloggers and offer some delightful and Awesome Blog Content! Go check them out! Their artwork is beautiful too!
Here are a few Awesome Content Blogs I follow!
Another blogger to blogger award I was given is the One Lovely Blog Award!
This time it was by EssentJewels! EssentJewels is a beautiful blog full of fashion and food! I LOVE getting fashion ideas from her, and her recipes are beautifully presented and written. Please go and check her out. You wont be disappointed, as a matter of fact- I think you will follow her blog as closely as I!
Here are a few other blogs I follow that I like to give the One Lovely Blog Award to:
A Pen and Marker is illustrator Pat Henzy’s blog. Sketches and fun drawings of all sorts often leave me smiling!
Veronica the Pajama Thief is a blog by Veronica Watson, a writer who has plenty to say about women’s issues and much more. Her one word blogs are always interesting and informative. go see!
Picky Niki is a food blog of a totally different kind. Nicki is a picky eater, and this blog is about her adventures in food. Each day she committed to try a different NEW food and give her impressions. I particularly like her simple and fun illustrations of each food. I think you’ll enjoy her too!
I think this a nice way to find new friends and acknowledge a blog you like. I didn’t “follow all the rules” for these awards, but if you know me, you know that’s nothing new! I rarely follow all the rules! Maybe I should design my own award to give away… The Rule Breakers Award! Check back soon for more friends and fun blog recommendations!
Next-Level Jam
next level jam making
Look at that! Is that the most beautiful pan you have ever seen? Well, maybe not for you, but it certainly is the most beautiful pan I have ever seen. My dear husband, who I refer to as Mr. Darla, often brings home nice surprises. Yesterday he came home with THIS! I knew he liked my fruit jams, and I knew he was proud of my efforts to learn as much as possible about cooking- but WOW! This is full out kitchen jewelry! (if you know me- you know I likey the sparkles!) And I love new kitchen stuff. This friends is a Mauviel jam pan. It’s the preferred way to cook jams and jellies; the copper material and large shallow size allows the fruit to come up to temperature quickly without overcooking. I am thrilled! I can’t wait to make my next batch of jam- in high style!
Southern Comfort
fried green tomatoes
I have been away a bit. Away from from the blog and away from the kitchen. I haven’t lost my mojo- just a little vertebrae. Yeah, that’s not a typo. I had cervical spine surgery* a few weeks ago, and the most of those days were spent in bed- taking pills and sleeping. I couldn’t swallow anything for a good while and cooking was out of the question. I am still quite limited in what I can do- but I feel MUCH better and very blessed to have had a great doctor. Finally today I felt doing something and fried green tomatoes seemed the perfect reentry into the kitchen. Simple, delicious comfort food.
The second most important ingredient for FGT’s is buttermilk. I ALWAYS have buttermilk on hand, usually, but of course today- I didn’t. NO biggie, I am all about making whatever I can from “scratch.” This is so easy to do. Barely a little bump in the recipe road. Exactly two ingredients. Vinegar and milk. One cup milk- one tablespoon vinegar, stir. Wait 10 minutes. Stir again. Boom! Buttermilk.
10 minute buttermilk.
While the milk was curdling I decided to look for a recipe. Tennessee born and Texas raised, I didn’t need a recipe to make these. But I have collected so many recipe books- I thought I’d see what “real” recipes were out there. Sara Beth Foster has a beautiful book about southern cooking appropriately called Sara Beth Foster’s Southern Kitchen. The Fried Green Tomatoes recipe was close to my own but with actual measurements! With fresh buttermilk ready to go so was I. This is a very straightforward process.
Heat the oil of your choice in a iron skillet. While it’s working mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and pepper in a bowl. (I made a slight change- I used half stoneground cornmeal and half coarse polenta. It made the crust little crunchier- I like crunch.) Next, in another bowl mix the buttermilk and the egg. Slice the tomatoes.
Dip the tomatoes in the cornmeal mixture, then the milk then the cornbread again. Shake off the excess and fry them until they are deep brown on each side. Be patient and let them cook nicely on the first side. If you turn them more than once- it makes the crust more prone to falling off. The one on the right is a little too well done for some, but trust me friends, it tasted GREAT.
mmmm…. fried…. mmmmm
Some folks like to eat their FGTs with a sauce on the side; Blue Cheese or Ranch or Green Goddess- I don’t care about all that. At least not today. Today it was all about getting a pretty picture before they got cold. Once that was done, it was all about eating. Finally. Cooking and eating and enjoying being back.
evidence of the impatient patient
* yogis, don’t EVER allow a yoga teacher to touch or “adjust” your head in any posture- especially when you are in savasana, relaxing with your eyes closed. There is one lineage that is notorious for this “assist”- just say NO!
Peanut Butter Banana Swirl Treats
Peanut butter Banana Swirl Dog Treats
These beautiful dog treats are deceptively simple to make. All you need is a little time and a couple of hungry good dogs. These treats are 2 simple doughs, one banana one peanut butter, rolled together and sliced. The recipe calls for freezing the dough once it’s rolled to make it easier to slice. I was going to do that, but I decided to chill them wrapped in cellophane overnight. That worked just fine. I was a little worried that the separate colors wouldn’t show up as well as I wanted, but as you can see… they came out beautiful. These are so pretty, I gave many of them away as gifts to friends with dogs, but with Frank and George coming back from awesome dog camp at the end of the week, it may be time to give them another go! My boys loved them!
I am reprinting the recipe here, but I suggest you head over to the site where the recipe originated, there are many other treat recipes there of you to try.
Good Girl Swirl Treats
Dough One:
4 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup cornmeal
1-1/3 cups water
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 egg
Dough Two:
4 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup banana, mashed
1 egg
1-1/4 cups water
2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs molasses
2 Tbs cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C).
Combine all Dough One ingredients and mix thoroughly. Knead on a lightly floured surface. Set aside.
Combine all Dough Two ingredients and mix thoroughly. Knead on a lightly floured surface.
Roll each dough separately to a 1/8 inch thickness, into rectangles. Lightly brush a little water over the top of the light-colored dough.
Place the darker colored dough on top, then roll up like a jelly roll.
Wrap the roll in plastic and chill in the freezer for one hour. Cut the roll into 1/4 inch slices. Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray.
Bake for one hour.
New Sheriff of Pizza Town
sausage and cheese no knead pizza
EVERYONE loves pizza. I love pizza. And as you know, recently I have learned to bake bread. If you have been here before you know the bread baking technique that I am crazy about right now is the no- knead technique. It’s too easy , it feels like “cheating”. This simple recipe requires an overnight fermentation.You can read all about it here and here.
Well, another miracle has happened pardners! Jim Lehey has a pizza dough recipe, a no-knead pizza dough! And I’m here to tell you it’s just as wonderful as the no knead bread, maybe even better. Why is it better you may ask? Because it makes you a superhero. Of course, if you’ve got company over and you’re making pizza with homemade dough you’re already a superstar! But when you and your guests bite in to this pizza dough your friends will be your friends for ever! It is simply, AMAZING!
Now don’t worry, it’s just as easy to make as Jim’s bread. Just mix the dough the day ahead let it sit on the counter overnight, then get ready to take a trip to awesome pizza town! (Keep in mind this dough can’t be frozen and used later. But it will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.) The recipe makes enough for 6 medium sized pizzas, but I made even smaller pizzas so i could experiment with toppings and techniques.
Here are a few pointers:
- Definitely use a pizza stone if you have one. I have found that this transforms any pizza into something edible. Yes, even frozen pizza.
- Keep your dough on top of a generous amount of polenta cornmeal while you’re working with it.
- Use an upside down cookie sheet as my pizza peel/ working surface, with the addition of polenta it slides right off onto the stone.
- Gently pull your dough into shape instead of using a rolling pin. The fermentation creates these wonderful gas bubbles that a rolling pin will squish.
- Don’t overuse your toppings. Definitely use less than you think you need because once that pizza starts cooking- you don’t want the crust to get overdone while you’re waiting on your toppings to cook and cheese to melt.
I like to use Heidi Swanson’s recipe for five-minute tomato sauce, I just cook it longer than 5 min. so that it gets thicker. If you have a favorite pizza sauce definitely use that one. I made several different kinds of pizza, and they all came out delicious. What I love about this crust is the way that it bubbles, just like pizza dough is supposed to! You can see here in this photograph how one of the bubbles grew really really tall and sort of looks like a volcano to me! A pizza volcano! Move over chocolate fountain! There’s a new sheriff in town!
Pizza Volcano
A Simple Salsa
Darla’s Salsa!
Earlier this month I made several salsas in honor of cinco de mayo. I mentioned my own salsa recipe and my intention to post it here for you. Summer is coming before you know it and this is a nice little recipe to have in your back pocket when you need to take something to the party. Honestly, this is very much my go-to snack on a regular basis. It’s a rare day that I can’t find this salsa in my fridge. It’s very easy to prepare and you get to decide how hot you want it to be.
For cinco de mayo I grilled the onions and roasted the peppers. As a general rule I usually boil the peppers before using them, but I like the roasted flavor very much, I will utilize that technique more often. Also, I usually make one can batches and mix them together in the pan to cook- most blenders wont hold the volume of two cans of tomatoes and still mix nicely.
Darla’s Salsa
2 large cans of whole tomatoes, drained (yes, canned. they are more consistent in flavor)
1 yellow onion
several sprigs of cilantro
jalapeno or serrano peppers to taste (boiled or roasted)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt and black pepper to taste
Place the tomatoes, onion, peppers, cilantro salt and black pepper into the blender.
Blend.
Heat olive oil in a pan until almost smoking. Add salsa to scald. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Salsa will keep as is in the fridge for about a week.
Enjoy!
Roasted Garlic
the stinking rose
I love garlic! I love to eat garlic in everything! Don’t you?
It’s one of my favorite ingredients, but it’s also one of the most perplexing to me. Every time I use garlic I have feelings of guilt. (I use a garlic press. I don’t mince by hand). Every time I use garlic it burns in the pan. Every time I use garlic I either use too much, or not enough. Every time I use garlic I’m tortured.
As most of you who are here know, I am participating in a year-long scholarship with America’s Test Kitchen’s Online Cooking School. While poking around on the website- I was on their blog and ran across an article about garlic. I love garlic. (Did I say that already?) This was an article about how to use garlic properly. (“Making the Most of Garlic”) One of the things I love about ATK Online Cooking School is that the information is broken down so simply, the photographs and videos cover it so thoroughly, I (seriously) have a profound learning experience every time I’m there.
For example the garlic. Here’s the instruction as they present it: start it slow, get it small, always cook it. Really? Really! 3 very simple phrases mean so much! Of course the blog goes on to give a short couple of paragraphs about what each instruction means. Really it’s broken down so simply, even I can remember! So now I roast my garlic in the oven or toast in a dry skillet . IF I am not cooking it properly by “starting it slow! ” 😉
So check it out! Head over to America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School and sign up for a free 14 day trial. Why not? It’s FREE! Check out the cooking school lessons, check out the blog for sure! And see what you can learn. I can’t believe how much I’ve learned! For Example… THIS:
Roasted Garlic via America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School Blog
Slice the top 1/2 inch from the garlic head(s) you intend on roasting.
Place the garlic in a piece of foil with a long drizzle of olive oil.
Make a packet with the foil around the garlic and oil.
Place the packet of garlic into a 425° oven.
Roast the garlic in the packet for about 45 min. When the garlic is cool, you are able now to squeeze it out and use it as a spread on toast (for before dinner) or you can use it in many recipes that call for garlic. Also to note, the olive oil that the garlic is roasted in tastes divine. Consider draining the oil into a small container and keeping it in the refrigerator to use. You can use it in salad dressings or mix it with herbs for a bread dipping delicious treat. The roasted garlic will keep a few days in the fridge. Enjoy!
Hit Me with Your Best Shot!
Got a minute?
Yoga friends: I’d appreciate a little throat chakra energy today, this will help.
Food friends: Look at this cool video, feel what happens when you listen to it for about 3 minutes! Neat-o!
om namah shivaya
Salsa! Masa! y Mas!
Cinco de Mayo!
Tres salsas!
Millones de tortillas!
~~~~~~~push play and listen while you read!!~~~~~~~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h6tsHkzleM
Trust me Darlings when I tell you these things:
- I know that Yuri Buenaventura is not from Mexico
- I am aware that Columbia and Mexico are not the same place
- This fantastic song is not about eating- but is about dancing!
I am okay with all those things, because I have the Mojo that lets me see how all these are totally interconnected. Let me enlighten you:
- Cinco de Mayo is a celebration associated with Mexican Independence from French occupation.
- Columbian Yuri lives in and is loved by France!
- I feel the exact same way about these salsas as Yuri sings in this song about the dance!
(I don t speak spanish but from what I can glean from various online translators, Salsa makes your sad soul forget because it is simple and different, it is the rhythm that gives life. This is exactly how I feel about these salsa recipes.
It all started on cuatro de Mayo. AKA as Star Wars Day. (Makes me giggle every time.) I decided I wanted to have homemade tortillas. As it usually is when I decide to make something in the kitchen I am obsessed with the idea until I’ve done it.
So homemade tortillas. From scratch. Real tortillas. I knew I could buy a product in the local Kroger called Maseca, mix it with water and make tortillas. But I also knew that there was an even FRESHER way to do it. THAT was the one I wanted. I started researching this and found out I could buy fresh masa masa fresca). Masa is what tortillas are made of. It’s a major process as you can see in the video… tweeted to me by none other than the texmex man himself @robbwalsh. I often go to twitter to get pro tips from the pros themselves. Twitter is CRAZY cool like that. I can not tell you how many amazing SMART chefs have responded to my very beginner questions via twitter.
(Actually I COULD tell you, but I am not a name dropper. *As a side note, I also do not kiss and tell- just incase Sting is reading. ** Another side note-sorry to my darling husband. But he knows Sting is my one exception… I digress)
Robb Walsh was kind enough to respond to my tweet about masa very quickly and I found out it was even easier than mixing with water. I can buy pre-made masa dough ready to be rolled and cooked at many of my local mexican grocers. WHAT? This really felt like cheating to me until I watched the video he sent.
You can see from that video it’s not likely I will have access to the corn nor the grinder to make my own masa- so I bought some. It was easy to work with. After my first 30 ugly ones and some cursing my “white girl” birth I was finally able to make them look pretty good!
*** Please see the update at the end of this post as well as a video about shaping and cooing tortillas at at home ***
The tortillas were small, but they tasted like heaven! I bought 3 pounds of masa fresca!! That’s a bunch of tortillas friends. I needed something to do with them. (besides eat them as fast as possible) Enchiladas sounded good and easy right???
Homemade enchiladas are easy, but it takes about a million steps to get there…
Step One: Grill peppers and onions for salsas.
Step Two: roast garlic and tomatillos (not shown)
Step three: Make the red enchilada sauce .
Step Five: Poach Chicken in chicken broth and onion.
Step Six: Make a Million tortillas
Step Seven: Assemble enchiladas according to Martha Stewart.
Step Eight: Make my own salsa recipe for chips and dipping. (to be published later)
Step Nine: Have Beer
Step Ten: Enjoy red enchilada
Step 10 again: enjoy green enchilada
This was a fun and delicious day. I intended to make nachos and puffy tacos but I ran out of steam before I ran out of steps. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed this delicious meal! Try some of these salsas for your summer celebrations! Salsa!
Step Eleven: Have another beer!
UPDATE *** SPECIAL MENTION***
I could DIE!
I, in my haste to get this “out” failed to mention my inspiration early early early on!!!
Sweet Lilli Uribe! Lilli came to my rescue on Facebook. She answered my call out for help and encouraged me to try. Also Lilli linked to this BEAUTIFUL video. It was so inspiring! Please watch this if you want to see how tortillas are shaped and made with love by hand. Her tip on flipping the tortilla is essential to it’s proper cooking. Love and SALSA!
Legacy Vanilla Extract
Vanilla extract is a lovely ingredient that I find to be essential in my kitchen. I make lots of sweets that require it. I use it year around. Summer’s vanilla ice cream right into the winter holiday’s three month baking frenzy, I go through a lot of the stuff. Here’s what drives me crazy. It’s expensive. If you get the good stuff- it’s REALLY expensive. I don’t mind that it is, I just don’t want to pay for it. Okay, maybe that is just my excuse to have a little fun. Lazy fun. Yep! I am making my own vanilla extract.
six-week old vanilla extract
It’s easy. It’s lazy. It’s hippie-cool-home-made-ricotta-join the commune- artisan- small-batch amazing. All you need is vodka and vanilla beans. Vanilla beans are where the money is in this concoction. The beans are very easily found on the internet (start with Amazon of course) in bulk at a fraction of the price you pay at the spice store, or the grocery store. For extraction you want to get “grade B” beans. Let me show you why.
Here are two grades of vanilla beans. You can see the grade B bean is drier, the grade A bean is oiler. For extract- oily is not as desirable. If you were making vanilla sugar- the oiler bean would be better to coat the sugar. (yes, I did make vanilla sugar too) An oily bean in extract will cause an oil slick. The grade B bean will absorb the vodka better and more readily release it’s goodness.
The recipe is pretty straight forward. There is plenty of debate online about how many beans per cup to use. I have combed through most of it for you dear readers, and I have found a minimum of 6 beans per cup of vodka will give your best results. Anything less is just flavored vodka. (this is also a great idea.. but I digress) So do the math. Get a bottle of vodka, see how many ounces you have. Gather your beans. Split the beans and cut them into thirds. Place the beans in the vodka. Shake the bottle a couple of times and put in a dark place. I keep mine in my heart. Not really, just seeing if you are awake. 😉 I keep mine the coat closet under the stairs. Once a week or so, give the bottle a few shakes, maybe sniff it to see how it’s doing. After two months it will be ready to use. You can strain it and put it into smaller bottles if you wish. If you do, add a bean or 2 into the smaller bottle, to keep the goodness going. (no need to split this bean, just cut it to fit the container. Splitting this bean could get unwanted debris in your recipes.)
sexy vanilla beans, giving up the good stuff
Vanilla extract only improves with age. Keep your big bottle going. As you use your extract add more vodka to the “mother” bottle and add a few new beans occasionally. They say it’ll keep for years, as this is a method of preservation. I love that… Legacy vanilla extract!
darla cooks 