dontcallmebecky

on fire...literally

Jon was in a cooking mood on Saturday night, so he pulled out The Joy of Cooking and got to work preparing double-fried french fries (with potatoes and sweet potatoes). I heard him clanging around upstairs for quite a while and he yelled downstairs to say that the first batch of the fries came out great. Things were quiet for a while and then Jon yells "I need some help up here."

Next time I'll know that when Jon says "I need some help up here," he really means, "FIRE!" How sweet of him to spare my nerves by calmly asking for help.

Jon was beating down flames from a small grease fire with a kitchen towel. He had waited until he had doused the fire with corn starch and flour and smothered the big flames before he yelled for backup...yikes!

After vacuuming, scrubbing, mopping and airing out the kitchen and the stove, Jon still wasn't ready to give up on his fry cooking adventure. He finished deep frying the french fries and made these adorable little cones to serve the fries in (aww!).

Our little snack was a delicious treat and a great reward for mad firefighting skills.

best tomato soup ever

Before you read this post, go over to the Empty Bobbin to see her newest quilt...it's absolutely stunning!

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This soup recipe is almost as delicious as that quilt, so prepare yourselves! :)

I got this recipe out of the book, Veganomicon, and made it for the first time a few weeks ago. This is seriously the best tomato soup I've ever had in my life (other people agree, too) and it will make your house smell so mouthwateringly delicious!

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Beans

Makes about 8-12 servings

Ingredients:

2 bulbs garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion (diced very small)

1 cup long-grain brown rice (I used jasmine)

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

2 teaspoons salt

fresh ground pepper

2 (28 oz) cans crushed (or diced) tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can navy beans/cannelloni beans/pinto beans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the tops off both of the garlic heads. Place the garlic on two small sheets of tin foil and drizzle olive oil over the top of each bulb. Wrap the bulbs in the tin foil, place on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 45 minutes.

Saute the oil and onions in a large soup pot over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until translucent.

Add the rice, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes.

Add the crushed tomatoes. Fill each can up with water and pour into the soup mixture (56 oz of water total).

Bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium-low for about 45 minutes.

When the garlic from the oven and let cool until it is cool enough to handle. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skin and then mash up the roasted garlic with a fork. Add the garlic to the soup when the rice is nearly tender.

When the rice is finished cooking, add the beans to the soup and heat through. Before serving, remove the bay leaves.

our exciting life...

Jon and I have been going back and forth about purchasing a breadbox (I know, the exciting things we discuss...). Shinji likes to jump up on top of the fridge and chew through our plastic bread bags, so we normally have to put our bread in the fridge (ew) or in the cupboard. When I saw this breadbox at Target last week I *almost* bought it, and once Jon and I went back to the store together, he totally wanted it, too, so we picked it up.

In honor of our new bread box and lack of bread in the house, Jon made these two really cute loaves of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day bread. It was such a nice treat to come home freshly baked bread after spending the day working at my internship.

In other carb-loaded news, we found a local pizzeria that makes three different types of vegan pizza. Since switching our diet, I've really been missing the ability to order a takeout pizza (not the actual pizza itself...cheese and I are not good friends), but just the idea of calling up a restaurant and ordering a takeout pizza. This pizza was so tasty. It was topped with pesto, walnuts, garlic, tomatoes, broccoli and red sauce and was absolutely delicious! We will definitely be ordering this again.

One other item that magically appeared in our Target cart on Friday was the Super Mario game for the Wii. While I was diligently working all weekend, my sister and Jon played Mario for hours on end. They made it to the halfway point of the game this weekend and now their seat outlines are permanently imprinted on the couch. :)

cookies

It's shaping up to be a busy final semester for me in library school as I'm spending this semester doing an internship in one of my favorite libraries. Two years ago around this time, I was putting the finishing touches on my grad school application and now my graduation is just around the corner!

Instead of crafting, I've been doing lots of reading and cooking lately to occupy my time. Unfortunately, my knitting and sewing has been sidelined because of a wrist injury. Hopefully the hand doctor will be able to help me out on Monday because I've been going through knitting withdrawal these last two weeks!

 

I've been trying to use the cookbooks in my collection rather than just acquire new books (just like in the putting your idea books to use challenge), so in the last two months my sister and I have been baking cookies from the new vegan cookbook, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. So far we've made Chocolate Fudgy Oatmeal Cookies, Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles, Spiced Sweet Potato Blondies, Lazy Samoas, Chocolate Chip Chai Spice Shortbread, Caramel Pecan Bars, and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. The Lazy Samoas recipe alone makes thie cookbook worth purchasing! Samoas are my favorite Girl Scout cookies and these cookies were so much better than the packaged version.

Pictured clockwise from top: Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, Caramel Pecan Bars

The crowd favorite so far has been the Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles, so here's my adjusted recipe for those.

Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Cookie Ingredients:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons non-dairy milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon of cayenne (add more, up to 1/2 teaspoon, if you can handle the heat)

Cookie topping:

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix together oil, sugar, syrup, and milk in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add in the vanilla extract.

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and sift into wet ingredients. Mix the dough together until it is pliable.

In a separate bowl or shallow plate, mix together the cookie topping ingredients.

Roll the dough into walnut-size balls and roll around in the sugar mixture. Place the cookie onto the baking sheet and lightly press the top to flatten. Place cookies 2" apart from each other and bake for 10-12 minutes until they are crackly on top. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Gaufres de Liege

After getting totally addicted to Belgian waffles while in Brussels (see here, here and here), I was totally geeked to find a recipe and tutorial for Gaufres de Liege at notmartha.

Jodi came over on Sunday afternoon to test the recipe and we received raving reviews from my sister and our friends Drew and Kathy.

The one tip that I can add to the recipe is to pull the waffles out of the iron sooner rather than later to get that soft dough-y inside.

The waffles were totally delicious and just like the gaufres de liege in Brussels!

Soup Swap: Mediterranean Lentil Soup with Spinach (slow cooker recipe)

Thanks to Jessica for doing the soup swap again this fall! Check out her site for lots of links to tried and true soup recipes.

 

Here's a delicious recipe from my new, favorite slow cooker vegetarian soup cookbook, 125 best Vegetarian Slow Cooker recipes. I checked out lots of vegetarian soup and slow cooker cookbooks from the library and this one was my favorite, by far.

 

Mediterranean Lentil Soup with Spinach (slow cooker recipe)

It doesn't look pretty, but it is such a delicious, thick and hearty stew that's perfect for fall and winter months.

Ingredients:
1 cup green lentils
1 TBS vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp cumin OR 1 tsp toasted cumin seed, crushed
zest of one lemon
1 potato, peeled and grated
6 cups of vegetable stock
8oz fresh spinach leaves
2 TBS fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Place lentils in a colander and rinse thoroughly with cold water.

Heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions, celery, and carrots, stirring until softened for about 5 minutes. Add garlic cumin and lemon zest and cook for 1 minute.  Transfer mixture to slow cooker, add lentils, shredded potato and stock.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. When vegetables are tender, add spinach and lemon juice. Cover and cook on high for 20 minutes until spinach is cooked and mixture is hot and bubbling.

My notes:

I just realized that I should have chopped the spinach before adding it to the soup. I just placed whole spinach leaves into the soup. It's a little hard to chew whole, cooked spinach, so I would definitely recommend chopping it first.

The book recommends toasted cumin seeds. I've tried both toasted seeds and regular cumin and the toasted, crushed seeds were definitely tastier. I was surprised that I could tell the difference, but I'd definitely stick with the toasted, crushed cumin seeds.

root vegetables

I should have posted questions about the loom and quilt sooner...you guys were so quick to answer my call for help! Thanks to Patty for coming up with the directions to the loom. And thanks to John (Quilt Dad) and Becky for directing me to the name and directions for making the block. It's called a Flying Swallow, and there are directions for making it right here.

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I had some fun in the kitchen today when I set out to use up a bundle of root vegetables hanging out in our vegetable drawer this week. I usually stick to recipes closely, but this time I got a little bit creative. I roasted some turnips, carrots, onions, garlic and parsnips with some olive oil, rosemary, thyme and sage at 450 degrees for about an hour. Then I added the vegetables to  6 cups of vegetable stock and some canned whole tomatoes. Once everything was boiling, I pureed it with my immersion blender and let it simmer for a while.

The soup was delicious! It has lots of flavor and depth to it. Many thanks to Jessica for introducing me to the roasted root vegetable soup that I based this pot of soup on.

And, while I had some peeled turnips on my hands, I made up a batch of turnip fries. Melissa blogged about these fries this summer and I finally got around to making some myself. I highly modified her recipe due to lack of the spices it called for in my collection. I covered the fries in smoked paprika, aleppo pepper and a dash of turmeric. Turnips are one of my favorite vegetables and this batch of fries were really delicious.

fresh food

Jon and I have recently started going to the local farmer's market every weekend. I hate grocery shopping with a vengeance, so this is a fun way to for us to buy fresh fruits and veggies for the week without the hassle of a wayward cart and long checkout lines.

We stock up on veggies and then spend the afternoon cleaning, peeling and chopping up vegetables for the week. It's been fun trying out new recipes to use up the food. Our garden has been doing pretty well for us this summer, although the crazy weather has made for some stunted growth in our cucumbers and zucchini. We just planted a second crop of daikon radishes, scallions, radishes and lettuce for a fall harvest and have been enjoying plenty of eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and green beans .

We've been transitioning to a plant-based diet lately after I discovered The Vegan Table Cookbook via Lolly Knitting Around. Whether or not you're vegetarian or vegan, this book is excellent for finding fresh new ways to use vegetables, mainly because of its thorough index. We made Kale and Cauliflower Salad after wondering what to do with the gorgeous purple cauliflower that we purchased last weekend. And, we also made a delicious batch of Potato Leek Soup to use the potatoes and leeks we bought. The book has been getting great reviews and we have really enjoyed expanding our food horizons.

up north

Jon and I, and about 30 other family members went up north to my aunt and uncle's beautiful lake house for our third annual family reunion.

We loaded up my car with snacks, games, clothes and bikes and headed up north.

My dad, the family photographer, documented the whole weekend and here are his pictures:

Our family used up every square inch of the house and yard...the house was quite the sight from the lake!

My crazy sister, Ruth, helped me set up the tent (she wanted to avoid sleeping inside with all the snorers!)

The most talked about bird house of the weekend. A camper...isn't it cute?!

fun with sparklers

 

I learned how to drive a boat and took family members on three separate tours of the lake.

Jon drove a jet ski for the first time (I was too chicken to ride)

My mom and aunt made the cutest July 4 themed cookies!

When the rain arrived on Sunday morning, we spent a few hours inside playing Sequence.

All in all, we had a great weekend catching up with family, eating great food, enjoying the beautiful weather and lake, and watching 4th of July fireworks from the boat!

 

Cucumber, fennel and roasted potato salad

Every few months, in an effort to jump back on the cooking bandwagon, I find myself picking up a new cookbook or magazine to jump start the process. This time, I picked up a fresh, summer grill-type magazine that had this delicious recipe:

Jon and I both loved the salad, but Jon didn't care for the greek yogurt on the side. I'll definitely be making this again and taking Jon's portion of the yogurt. It's a fresh, tasty, interesting mix of veggies.

Cucumber, fennel and roasted potato salad

Serves 6 to 8

1 1/2 lb. Fingerling potatoes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 lb. Haricots verts or slender green beans, trimmed
1 1/2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
1 1/2 TBS Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 medium stalks celery, trimmed and sliced 1/8 inch thick on a sharp diagonal
1 English cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced 1/8 inch thick on the diagonal
1 medium bulb fennel, trimmed, halved lengthwise, cored, and sliced crosswise 1/8 inch thick
1 small red onion, halved and sliced crosswise 1/8 inch thick
1 tbs. Fresh lemon juice

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. On a small rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes with 1 TBS of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast until tender when pierced with a skewer, 25 to 30 minutes. Let the potatoes cool to serve warm or at room temperature.

Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Cook the haricots verts until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and run under cold water until cool.

Combine the yogurt and parsley and season well with salt and pepper. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

To serve, halve or quarter any larger fingerlings but leave the tiny ones whole. Combine the potatoes, haricots verts, celery, cucumber, fennel and red onion in a large bowl and toss with the remaining 3 TBS oil and the lemon juice. Season well with salt and pepper, toss and add more juice or olive oil if needed.

Serve the salad with a large dollop of yogurt.