So, about that sourdough...

Erm...yes. About that.

Heh heh.

Okay, here's the thing. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'd made sourdough bread. I had made one loaf, and that turned out okay...kind of. I figured that there was nowhere to go but up, and that my future sourdough loaves would get progressively better.

And then the universe said, "BAHAHAHA, not so fast."

Between then and now, here's how the sourdough thing has gone. (And it was a months-long struggle to begin with, thankyouverymuch.)

• I tried two other bread recipes. Each batch turned out more doorstop-like than the last. I considered starting a brick-making business.

• The sourdough experts say to do easier recipes, like muffins and pancakes, before trying to make bread. Fine. So I made muffins, and they were shockingly soft and delicious.
  



You're totally drooling right now.



• A third bread recipe rose properly, and looked nice and pretty, but man was it sour.
  

Deceptively innocent looking.

• And then, I checked on my sourdough starter and saw...*gulp*...that it was moldy. Mold = sourdough death. I poured all of it down the drain. And I cried a little. And I did everything possible to not touch the mold left in the jar. [By the way, please donate to the Moldophobics of America Fund. Mold-o-phobia is a serious and debilitating condition.]

Annnnd...that was last night. I'm not sure where to go from here, sourdough-wise. I'm still a little bit in shock. It seems silly to give up on a project that I've been working on for months. Hrm. We'll see.

So maybe you'll hear more about sourdough from me one day. Or...maybe you'll hear more about my brick-and-doorstop business. Only time will tell.

This post is way too corny.

[If I weren't so lazy, I would've taken a photo of my
actual tortilla press. Alas, I am lazy.]

I have always hated corn tortillas.

Or, I guess I should say that I had always hated corn tortillas...until I bought a cheap tortilla press and some masa*, and made some of my own.

(Why would someone who hates corn tortillas decide to make some herself? I can't really say. But it was a good decision.)

Turns out that homemade corn tortillas taste amazing. Plus, have you ever looked at the ingredient list on a package of tortillas from the grocery store? It's not terribly long, but there are several preservatives listed (and food dye and thickeners, in some cases). As for the homemade tortillas, I use 100 Days of Real Food's recipe, which contains three ingredients--and that's including water.

Now, I'm not saying that I think you're a bad person if you eat store-bought corn tortillas. I'm not even saying that I'll never eat a store-bought tortilla again. I'm just saying that I loooooooove corn tortillas now, and the three-ingredient thing makes me happy.

Also? Squashing a ball of tortilla dough in a tortilla press is kind of fun.

*Masa is Mexican corn flour--or it can also mean the dough made from the flour. Unlike American cornmeal, masa is whole grain.

A Little Bit of Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was busy. Here are a couple of V-Day highlights. (Excuse the photo quality, blah blah blah. It was night time, I had my flash on, and a not-so-good photo is better than no photo at all, as far as memory preservation goes.)

Anyway. The Boy made valentines for his grandparents. We started out with the embroidered card tutorial I blogged about earlier, and we ended up with this:

And the cookies. Oh my heck. Delicious.

I used cherry juice in the frosting. Pink, cherry-flavored frosting is better than red dye #40 any day--and especially on Valentine's Day.

Re-post: Cranberry Sauce Recipe

I don't actually have a glass-top stove. This was taken at my Mom's house.

[This is mostly a re-post from last Thanksgiving.]


I have to admit, I kinda like canned cranberry sauce. That's probably because of the high-fructose corn syrup that's in it. Gross.


But did you know that making cranberry sauce [y'know, with real cranberries] is simple? In fact, I first found this recipe in Real Simple magazine. See what I did there? Haha.

Anyway, I made this cranberry sauce last year for Thanksgiving, and I'm probably going to make it every Thanksgiving for the rest of my life. It tastes that much better. (Unless you really don't like cranberries at all. In that case, I can't help ya.) You can check out the original cranberry sauce recipe if you want. I've changed it just a little bit, so here's the really simple cranberry sauce I'm making this year:

Homemade Cranberry Sauce
(heavily based on a recipe from Real Simple) 
1 package cranberries (I think the standard-size package is 12 oz or so.) 
1 cup apple juice 
up to 1/2 cup sweetener of your choice (honey, brown sugar, whatever; optional)
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Simmer, stirring frequently, until almost all of the cranberries have burst, and the sauce has thickened. (I usually make the sauce quite a bit thicker than what's pictured with the original recipe.) 

Taste and add sweetener if needed--some cranberries are kickier than others, but the apple juice on its own is sometimes sweet enough. Also, keep an eye on how vigorously those berries are simmering--if it gets to a full-out boil, you'll be wiping up cranberry splatters.

Really and truly--all you have to do is measure, dump, and stir. That's it. Oh, and eat. And then do a little happy dance because you've freed your family from canned cranberry sauce forever. 

Recipe Link: Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

I'm in lo-o-o-ove with this pumpkin pasta sauce recipe. I've made it twice in the last three weeks, which is a big deal for me. It's from Cooking During Stolen Moments, and I highly recommend that you click through and visit her--she has a lot of excellent recipes.

I tweaked the recipe in a few places. Here's the original recipe, with my "tweaks" in bold. If you just want the original, without my chicken scratches all over it, click through the link above.

1/4 c. butter

1 medium-sized shallot, minced (I used about 1/2 teaspoon onion powder instead--I don't like actual onions, so I don't keep them on hand.)

3 cloves garlic, minced (The first time, I used 3/4 garlic powder instead. Use the fresh garlic if you like a stronger garlic flavor.)

1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree

1/2 c. chicken stock

3/4 c. milk (I use whole milk--here are three articles on why: 1, 2, 3. I didn't have any milk on hand tonight, so I used extra chicken stock, and it turned out fine.)

1 1/4 t. salt, more or less to taste (If you used extra chicken stock instead of milk, use less salt! You can always add more.)

1/2 t. black pepper, more or less to taste

1/8 t. nutmeg (DO NOT LEAVE THIS OUT. Just trust me on this one.)

1/4 c. diced parsley (I used about 1 - 2 teaspoons dried parsley.)

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic; cook for 2-3 minutes, until shallots are tender. (If you use onion powder and garlic powder, sprinkle them into the melted butter and let it cook for just under a minute. Don't let the powders burn.)
2. Reduce heat to low and stir in the pumpkin puree. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock, milk (or more stock), salt, pepper and nutmeg (Don't forget the nutmeg!). Stir to combine and simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes (I wanted the sauce to be a little more runny, so I added a little extra chicken stock at this point.). Taste and adjust the salt and pepper, if needed. Stir in the parsley. Serve over pasta. (Cheese ravioli is awesome. I used rainbow rotini the second time, and it was still pretty good.)

The Herbs Who Lived

I took this photo in September. That's two stalks of mint, and one of basil. I clipped them off the plants on my back deck. They're pretty.

Here's the thing: the plants that I clipped those from have long since died. But these little weirdos are still alive on my kitchen table. They grew roots, right there in their soda bottle.

(And yes, we do own vases. But I like glass soda bottles. We're classy like that.)

Did You Know Popcorn Is a Whole Grain?

Yup. Popcorn is a whole grain.

So I'm making popcorn trail mix today (just google "popcorn trail mix" and you'll get tons of hits).

But please, for the love of real food, do not make this:

and pretend that you're eating something healthy. If you must microwave your popcorn, google "microwave popcorn in a paper bag" for instructions on how to pop real popcorn in your microwave.

You're welcome.

Still Not Drowned, Plus a Recipe

I have a couple of things to blog about this evening. First, it's finally stopped raining. Our apartment didn't flood, but I know a couple of people who had to leave their homes. So what do you do in a small town when school's canceled and the river's flooded? Why, go look at the flood, of course.

A lot of people had the same idea, so I don't feel too weird. I know the pictures are bad; I took them all from inside the car. I'm only posting a couple pictures of the water. But maybe you can still get the idea.

Here's our local river. It was a good three times wider than usual.


This one's pretty hard to see, but the guy in the reddish jacket is standing at the edge of the water. The river shouldn't be visible from this road--it should be on the far side of those furthest trees.

 
I wore my big, red rubber boots--you know, just in case. Haha.


Little Boy was so excited. Or...not.

And second, I've been meaning to post this recipe--it's one of Isaac's favorites. It's adapted from Ricky Martin's Rice & Beans on Meatless Monday:

 2 T olive oil
1/2 c chopped onion (I only use onion powder, though)
1/2 c chopped green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, pressed
3/4 c water
1/4 c tomato sauce
1/4 t dried oregano
1/4 t salt
1/4 t chili powder
1 15.5-oz can of whatever beans you like
6 c cooked brown rice*

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Stir in water, tomato sauce, oregano, salt, and chili powder. Bring to a boil and stir in beans. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve beans over rice. Serves 4.

*I like to cook the rice with chicken stock instead of water, but it's not necessary.