Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans

So what exactly am I thankful for? Besides my happy family and my hunk of a husband? Well, today I'm thankful the brakes and headlights are good on my trusty Ford Focus. I'm thankful for my eye-foot coordination. And I'm thankful for the 4 feet of pavement that separated me from a pretty big male deer (it had horns) that happened to be standing in the middle of the road. It wasn't crossing the road. It was just standing there. Like it was suicidal or something. I hyperventilated for the next 10 miles, but I'm very thankful. Whew.

These Brussels sprouts are also something to be thankful for. It was kind of funny because my mom kept raving about them and how sweet they are. And my sister told me on the way out that if they were cooked that way at home she might actually eat them. I think that's massive praise considering M. is not a fan of vegetables in general. And even better these are a no-fuss vegetable dish.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans

courtesy of Real Simple

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil

kosher salt and black pepper

(the original recipe called for 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, but I seem to have forgotten to add them. oops!)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the Brussels sprouts, pecans, oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Turn the Brussels sprouts cut side down. Roast until golden and tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

First Annual Dinner of Giving Thanks!

Today was the First Annual Dinner of Giving Thanks. It was delicious. My mom and step dad, my sister M., and Grandma joined the Brain and me for dinner. I've decided this is going to be an annual event on the first Sunday in November. It works out good because it's smack in between the Canadian Thanksgiving and the United States Thanksgiving, and after all Canada is just across the lake from us. (Which would give me foreign relations experience, except I can't see it from my house.) But I digress.

I liked this way better than holding a Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday. Number one is Christmas. My third favorite would be my birthday and there are only 68 shopping days until then. But this was better than Thanksgiving itself because there's no drama about having to invite family. Whatever family was available could come. Maybe next year I'll invite friends. Mom was put to work making gravy and bringing a pie, but there wasn't any rules about having to have cranberry sauce or sweet potato marshmallow casserole. I figure we'll get all those traditional side dishes when we go off to the real Thanksgiving dinner. And I'll have recipes in the next posts.

But doesn't it beg the question that shouldn't we have dinners of giving thanks regularly? Shouldn't we stop and take a moment to realize how fortunate we really are? It's not necessary for us to cook a turkey (although I do love the leftovers) and get dressed up and drink heavily and endure having to be around family (I'm speaking in generalities here and not directing the remark at any of my family in specific). But really when the economy is so bad and so many people have lost their jobs and are facing dire situations, wouldn't it be a good idea to sit down and think about what a multitude of good things we do have?

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

So today is the last day to get a cupcake in for October's Cupcake Hero: Squash. So I made pumpkin spice cupcakes with molasses cream cheese frosting and toasted pecans. That would make far too long of a name. So I'm calling them Thanksgiving Cupcakes because on Sunday, in my never ending quest for turkey leftovers, I'm having my mom and stepdad, sister M., and Grandma down for a Dinner of Giving Thanks. Dinner of Giving Thanks should not be confused with Thanksgiving Dinner. This is just a small dinner with a big turkey so that I can have my favorite November lunch: A turkey sandwich on white, nutritionally negligible, bread, with Miracle Whip. Yes, it's plain. It's also the only time of the year where I will buy either Miracle Whip or fluffy white bread. I'm so excited.

Oh my, I've gotten way off track here.

So my little cupcakes. It's been sort of a hellish week. I've had something due in every class. One class I had a test AND a paper. So yesterday afternoon, the project due in that class was something we were doing in class, I whipped up these cupcakes. They were yummy! The molasses complimented the pumpkin cupcake and the toasted pecans just took it over the top. My class really enjoyed them.

Meanwhile the Brain stayed home and passed out Halloween candy. Why would our little town, and lots of other little towns across the Ohio, celebrate Halloween on the 30th? Because the 31st is a pagan holiday and they don't want to celebrate it. Does this make sense to anyone? I celebrate Christmas on the 24th. Does that mean I'm not celebrating Christmas? Ugh.

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

3/4 cup Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin butter. Add the eggs one at a time and allowing each one to be absorbed before adding the next one. Beat in the milk. Then slowly add the dry ingredients, making sure they are fully incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly among cupcake wells. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs. The center should also spring back when lightly pressed.

Cool pan on rack for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz. package cream cheese

3 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp molasses

4 cups powdered sugar

Beat together the cream cheese and butter. Beat in the molasses. Slowly add the powdered sugar. If the consistency is to soft, add more powdered sugar.

Pecans:

1/2 cup pecan chips

Place the pecans in a dry pan over moderate heat. Toast the pecans just until they start to smell.

Assembly:
Frost the cooled cupcakes with molasses frosting. There will be leftover frosting. Sprinkle cupcakes with toasted nuts.

Daring Bakers do Pizza!

This month our lovely Daring Baker Challenge was hosted by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums. Rosa picked Peter Reinhart's Pizza Dough. Go check out Rosa's Yummy Yums for the recipe and the story behind why she picked it. I found this recipe to be not too difficult. Of course finding instant yeast is just not happening here in rural Ohio. You'd have a better chance of spitting and hitting a political candidate. Not that I'm advocating spitting on political candidates. But I digress, I substituted active dry yeast instead of the instant and proofed it in 2 oz of the water (which I'd heated to 100°F.). It worked out just lovely. Oh yeah, and I cut the recipe in half because we simply don't need that much pizza floating around our happy little family of 2.

And I did try tossing it. (look an action shot!)

But I had a hard time with the catching it part.

And taking a photo of it. This would be my kitchen after some pizza dough went flying through the air.

And because I wanted something a little upscale and I figured the Brain (and his secretary) would like "normal" pizza, I decided that mini pizzas would be best. The Brain (and his secretary) got sausage, green pepper, and mozzarella with roasted tomato sauce.

I got a Parmesan, olive oil, kosher salt, and cracked pepper pizza that was supposed to get a salad on top, but I ate it in the car on the way to school instead. Just a little itsy bitsy note though, Parmesan doesn't need more salt. But overall it was tasty.

And I also made myself this pizza, with Trader Joe's goat brie, honeycrisp apple slices, and a sprinkling of Kraft caramel bits. It was super good! I may make this pizza dough recipe again just to make this particular pizza!

Overall I would say the pizza was tasty. But I am more of a thick crust than a thin crust kind of pizza gal. I like my pizza to have some chew and bread to it. Although I can see that this thin crust has it's advantages in some types of pizza and judging from the Brain's lackluster response to it, we'll be making my regular thick crust pizza dough more often.

Make sure you check out all the other Daring Bakers to see what kind of pizza they made!

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

For the most part I am considered to be a maker of "fancy" food. Ask my mother. Even though I think that my food is fairly simple to prepare (there's a growing selection of slow cooker meals), and uses ingredients that mostly I can find out here in rural Ohio, I still get labeled as an elitist in the food department. I apparently don't cook for the people. This alone has been troubling, but this past week, some good friends of our family had a death in the family and I wanted to send over a casserole.

Yeah, yeah, you're thinking. Big whoop. This was actually a fairly difficult job. First, I had to think of a "farmer food" casserole. The patriarch of the family isn't particularly fond of vegetables. About this time, a classmate of mine told me that farmers like potatoes (or noodles), meat, and cheese. She was an expert because her dad wouldn't eat vegetables. (I should also make the disclaimer here, that I'm sure farmers exist who eat vegetables and this is probably a mere stereotype, but the patriarch of the family I was cooking for does not in general.) So the task to make a meat, cheese, and potatoes casserole, was a little daunting because there's a lactose intolerance problem in our happy little family, so for the most part I don't cook with cheese. Or at least not large proportions of it. I finally came across this delicious Scalloped Potatoes and Ham recipe from my trusty St. Columban's Catholic Church cookbook. I also came to the conclusion that we'd be having ham steak for dinner, not extra casserole.

Then the delivery of this casserole posed some more problems. See I had class the night that I made this. And unfortunately, by the time I finished it, the family was at the viewing. So it went in the fridge for the night. The next day, I tried to call and deliver it before I left town, but that happened to be right in the middle of the funeral. I was having no luck. Fortunately, the Brain is a wonderful husband. He took it over after he got home from work. He's also friends with the couples children. I really hope they enjoyed it and that they are receiving some comfort in this sad time.

On a thoroughly happier note, I went up to Michigan this weekend to see my family and because the 2008-2009 season opened at the Michigan Opera Theater. The season opener was the opera Margaret Garner based on a true story of an escaped slave. The libretto is written by Toni Morrison and is incredibly powerful. My best friend T. and I came out of it marveling at the symbolism, thankful for waterproof mascara, and a little annoyed that Black History wasn't included more in our education. The opera has left the Michigan Opera Theater, but the entire cast is going to Chicago to perform at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University November 1-9. If you can get the chance, go see it!

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

adapted from the St. Columban's Catholic Church Cookbook submitted by Rudolph York

1 1/2 lb. ham, cubed

1 large onion, diced

10 raw Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced

4 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese

2 cups milk

4 Tbsp butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In greased 9x13" casserole arrange half of the ham cubes. Top with half of the onion and half of the potatoes. Sprinkle with half of the flour, salt, pepper, and cheese. Repeat with remaining half of everything. Meanwhile, heat the milk with butter until butter melts and pour over all. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer or until potatoes are done.

Bacon, Onion, and Brown Lentil Skillet

So besides using the slow cooker a lot (seriously, it rarely goes back in the cupboard), I'm also finding speedy recipes super handy. And lentils are a legume that leans on the speedy side of life. I won't call it the Ferrari of legumes because c'mon, a lentil is not exactly a sexy bean. I'm not sure which bean would be the "sexy" bean, but a lentil isn't it. And yes, it's Legume Wednesday! Whoopee! This would be the late-night version of Legume Wednesday. OH boy. Pillow talk with the lentil. Maybe it is a sexy bean.

This recipe popped off the page of October's Cooking Light at me. It's a big-time pantry recipe for me. Really, in recent years it's been rare for me to be without bacon, and with Chester in the freezer I've got almost enough bacon to last until next summer. So yeah, bacon, lentils, carrots, celery, onion and stock. And the whole thing took definitely less than 30 minutes. And it's one of those seriously damnass good recipes. The portion size is pretty big and it's a nice smoky dinner with a great mouthfeel. Oh look! I used a "foodie" word! It's basically nice and chewy and delicious.

And joining me this Legume Wednesday is Zylo with her Mashed Black Eyed Peas with Garlic Puree. It sounds super delicious! Go check it out. Would you believe I've never had a black eyed pea? It's something I've been meaning to try out.

Bacon, Onion, and Brown Lentil Skillet

from Cooking Light October 2008

4 servings

6 slices bacon

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped carrot

1 cup chopped celery

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

6 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth

1 cup dried brown lentils

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 tsp drippings in the pan. Crumble bacon and set aside. Add onion to drippings in pan. Saute 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add carrot, celery, thyme, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add broth and lentils. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or until lentils are just tender. Uncover and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook for 6 minutes or until the liquid is almost completely evaporated. Remove from heat. Stir in the parsley and pepper and sprinkle with bacon.

Remember to make sure your ID, Voter Registration, and Social Security card all have your name typed EXACTLY the same way so that your vote will count too!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns

Fall has definitely hit. It's chilly outside. And this morning there was a cold looking rain. I wasn't going outside. Actually, I was trapped inside all weekend with a nasty case of the flu. The Brain, I think, was worried I was going to permanently meld with the couch. Fortunately, yesterday I took a turn for the better. And by last night I was back to my normal self. I even was back to yelling at the TV during the Rachel Maddow Show. And rooting for Warren Sapp as he hustled across the dance floor. I admit it. I'm a Dancing With the Stars junkie.

So at some point this weekend while I lay on the couch staring at my bookshelves, which are full of cookbooks, I realized that I do really have a bunch of cookbooks that I haven't cooked from. One of them is Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. Now this book was a birthday present (that I picked out for myself) last year. And I just haven't planned ahead enough to make any of the breads out of it. So there I was with the time to plan and no real desire to cook. Yes I was definitely sick. But the thing is, I have a loaf of Zingerman's Whole Wheat Farm Bread on my counter that I've been slowly working my way through. I really didn't need any more bread.

But I did find a recipe in this cookbook / bread making manual for some Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns. Fabulous! The recipe reminds me a little bit of the Julia Child French Bread Recipe. It's very long. But in the margins is a nice little commentary that gives the bread profile (Enriched, medium soft dough; delayed fermentation method; commercial yeast) and tells how many days it will take to make (2) as well as a breakdown of how long each step will take. So I feel like the recipe really wants me to succeed. I still haven't found any instant yeast and am seriously thinking I may have to pick some up online, but earlier in the book there is a little commentary that says if you want to use active dry yeast, that's fine, just increase the amount by 25% and hydrate in 2 oz. of the lukewarm water (about 100°F.) for 2 to 5 minutes. So I tried to do that. But then I ended up adding a lot more flour because the final dough recipe called for more instant yeast, but no additional liquid. So I did what I figure I had to do and added 2 ounces of water. I sort of figured that if I added the yeast without any extra hydrating it wouldn't do anything. If anyone has a better idea I'm open to suggestions.

As a result, I did have more than the 8 to 10 buns that the recipe called for. I got 12. And I think they are really good. The Brain came home for lunch and he thought they were like eating whole wheat bread. But to be fair, he took an end piece that maybe I didn't get the cinnamon and sugar all the way to the end on. And he took it without frosting. I took a bite of mine and went back and made more frosting to dribble on top. They aren't as sweet as say those sickly sweet deep-fried ones at the grocery store, but I think they're better than them. And really, this is the kind of cinnamon roll I could eat for breakfast with a steaming hot cup of coffee. And best of all, although hard to believe, these are low fat (only about 2g each), high in fiber (over 7g each!) and they're made with whole wheat flour exclusively so you could even convince yourself they're sort of healthy.

Time for a healthy breakfast!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns

closely adapted from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads

Soaker:

1 3/4 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp (.14 ounces) salt

3/4 cup (6 ounces) 1% milk

Mix all of the soaker ingredients together in a bowl for about 1 minute, until all of the flour is hydrated and the ingredients form a ball of dough.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight (12 to 24 hours).

Biga:

1 3/4 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp (heaping) active dry yeast

3 ounces 1% milk (a little more than 1/3 cup)

2 ounces lukewarm water (about 100°F./ 38°C.)

1 large egg slightly beaten

Hydrate the active dry yeast in the 2 ounces of water and let stand for 5 minutes.

Mix all of the Biga ingredients together in a bowl to form a ball of dough. Using wet hands, knead the dough in the bowl for 2 minutes to be sure all of the ingredients are evenly distributed and the flour is fully hydrated. The dough should feel very tacky. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead it again with wet hands for 1 minute. The dough will become smoother but still tacky.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.

About 2 hours before mixing the final dough, remove the biga from the refrigerator to take off the chill. It will have risen slightly but need not have risen significantly in order to use it in the final dough.

Final Dough:

Use all soaker

Use all biga

7 Tbsp (2 oz.) whole wheat flour

5/8 tsp (.18 oz.) salt

3 3/8 tsp active dry yeast

2 ounces lukewarm (100°F./ 38°C.) water

3 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

6 Tbsp brown sugar (or more to taste)

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon (or more to taste)

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

4 Tbsp 1% milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Hydrate the yeast in the 2 ounces of lukewarm water for 5 minutes.

Using a pastry scraper, chop the soaker and biga into 12 smaller pieces each (sprinkle some additional flour over the pre-doughs to keep the pieces from sticking back to each other.)

Put the pre-dough pieces in the bowl along with the 7 Tbsp flour, salt, yeast, honey, and butter. Mix on slow speed with the paddle attachment for 1 minute to bring the ingredients together into a ball. Switch to the dough hook if need be and mix on medium-low speed, occasionally scraping down the bowl, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the pre-doughs become cohesive and assimilated into each other. Add more flour as needed until the dough is soft and slightly sticky. (If you're using active dry yeast and extra water, you will need to add a bunch of flour).

Dust a work surface with flour, then roll the dough in the flour to coat. Knead by hand for 3 to 4 minutes, incorporating only as much extra flour as needed, until the dough feels soft and tacky, but not sticky. Form the dough into a ball and let it rest on the work surface for 5 minutes while you are preparing a clean, lightly oiled bowl.

Resume kneading the dough for 1 minute to strengthen the gluten and made any final four or water adjustments. The dough should have strength and pass the windowpane test, yet still feel soft, and very tacky. Form the dough into a ball and place it in the prepared bowl, rolling it to coat it with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for approximately 45 to 60 minutes, until it is about 1 1/2 times it's original size.

When the dough has risen, dust the work surface with about 1 Tbsp of the extra flour and gently transfer the dough to the floured work surface with a plastic bowl scraper (try not to rip or tear the dough). Roll the dough out to a 9-inch square approximately 1/2 inch thick. (My square turned out to be more of a 12-inch square). Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon sugar all over the surface (making sure to get the edges) and roll it up into a tight loaf. Slice the dough into 1 inch thick slices and lay them out, 1 inch apart on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Mist the top of the buns with pan spray, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for approximately 45 to 60 minutes, until the buns are nearly double in size.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (240°C.) Place the pan on the middle shelf, lower the temperature to 350°F (177°C.) and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes. While the buns are baking mix together glaze ingredients. The buns will be a rich brown and very springy when poked in the center. If they still seem doughy, continue baking.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool the buns for 5 minutes before glazing.

I'm a real American and I'm voting for Barak Obama. Although I do have the urge to point out that all you big city people aren't real Americans. You bunch of phonies! hee hee!