Your own kitchen

While on vacation in Florida it came to my attention the importance of a stocked pantry, the proper tools and familiarity with a kitchen when it comes to cooking and baking.

We stayed at my sister and brother-in-law's house on the bay - absolutely gorgeous with a brand new incredible kitchen. The kitchen had pretty much everything I pine for in a gourmet kitchen. A Wolf gas range and oven, HUGE fridge and freezer, incredible sink and faucet, soapstone countertops, etc... I couldn't wait to cook something in there!

So after only one night I was asked to cook some Beef Stroganoff, which is one of the things I make that my sister just loves. After a fun day out and about we stopped by the grocery store and bought all the ingredients that she didn't have in her house and went home to prepare the meal. Because she has just completed the kitchen and hasn't really "moved in" completely, I found myself really at a loss for the proper tools to prepare my meal. I am good at improvising, but I must admit I think my Stroganoff suffered because I didn't have my stuff and my kitchen!

The next day I decided we needed some fresh bread and had to shop for all those ingredients too. Luckily I know almost all my recipes by heart, so I just mentally go over the list of ingredients and realized my sister's pantry was as bare as her pots, pans and tools! I had to make my bread in "boule" form because she didn't even have bread pans. I realized how spoiled I was with my wonderfully outfitted kitchen. The bread turned out great and I was thankful for sea-level and how much easier it made baking.

On Saturday we had a big neighborhood graduation BBQ to attend that was in honor of my niece and a good friend's son, who was also graduating. They asked me to please, please, please bake something for them, so I decided to make a double batch of Whoopie Pies to bring to the BBQ. After yet another trip to the grocery store for ingredients, a trip to the commercial kitchen store for baking pans, and more improvisation in the kitchen, we had a huge batch of Whoopie Pies cooling on the marble table. They turned out fantastic and once again I was secretly coveting the sea-level experience while still missing my perfectly appointed kitchen at 3500'!
My sister's Jack Russell, Daisy aka, Diamond, aka Dyn-o-mite, stole a couple cookies off the table before I caught her attempting a third pilfering, but otherwise the process wasn't too painful and we had some yummies to take to the party. To say they were a hit would be a gross understatement, but I don't want to brag (okay, yes I do!). We had to hide the pies when we arrived because we were sure they wouldn't last until the BBQ was served! We would catch people hiding them under their shirts, covertly taking bites when they thought nobody was looking. At the end of the BBQ, my family was caught hauling out 7 Whoopie pies alone...tsk, tsk, tsk!

We had a fantastic trip. We saw manatees, alligators, turtles, alligator gar, and many birds at Wakulla Springs outside Tallahassee. We had several small dolphin families surround the boat out in the Gulf. We held hermit crab races on the white sand beaches of the barrier islands and we had a blast on the water. It was wonderful to spend time with family and get to prepare them some goodies. My lesson from this trip is that a gorgeous kitchen might look good, but it has to function as well. I was really happy to come home to my less glamorous kitchen and be able to prepare pretty much anything without a trip to the grocery store and having all the proper tools needed. At least I made a big contribution to filling my sister's pantry for future visits! Do you have any baking powder??

Helen

Painting and Life

Hi all!

Just got back from a 10 day excursion to sunny Florida to visit family and celebrate my niece's high school graduation. She graduated with honors and we are super proud of her! Can't wait to blog about her exciting new life at New College in Sarasota, FL.

Well, I wanted to update everyone on my newest endeavor, oil painting. I finally had my first "lesson" and it was SO MUCH FUN! The 5 hours just flew by and I really enjoyed the whole process so much. My first lesson was basically just about color mixing and the color wheel. I have to mix all my secondary and tertiary colors myself and this was a lesson in how to do that and then to recreate my own personal color wheel. This was my first time putting paint to the canvas and I was suprised to find the texture of the paint was simply gorgeous and reminded me of a super smooth frosting! I think I have had an artist bottled up inside me for a very long time because I felt very much at home in front of the easel!

I have attached a picture of my first oil painting and hope you like it as much as I do! It's now drying and will be framed and go up on the wall as soon as possible. I am off now to start my next project...an apple.

I will keep you updated and hope you like what you see!
Helen

branching out!

I have been working hard at learning from recipes, cooking shows, online articles, etc., and I have finally decided to take some cooking lessons from an accomplished chef as well! I am very excited at the prospect of honing my knife skills, learning how to combine flavors, and new techniques for creating even more delicious foods! Once these begin, I will keep you posted on how things are going and post some fantastic recipes I am sure!

Well, apart from my cooking adventures, I have decided to add oil painting to my list of activities! I have decided to add this to my blog and keep my "fans" updated on my progress into the world of art. This isn't the first time I have dipped my toe into the cool rushing waters of art, but I haven't picked up a pencil, charcoal or pastel for about 15 years now and painting will be a whole new medium for me.

Today I met with a well-known local artist about oil painting lessons. Bernie Fierro is a wonderful artist (check out his website at bernardfierroart.com) that lately had a gallery showing at the local community college and I fell in love with several of his works. His artwork speaks to me in it's texture, colors and subject. He asked me to come by his studio to show him my previous artwork - what I had leftover at least and to assess if I had the qualities that might make me a successful (relatively speaking of course) oil painter. Long story short, he loved my old drawings and even went as far as to say I was naturally gifted with a leg up on most of his students. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least! I was slightly embarrassed to show him the few remaining pencil and charcoal sketches I had left from the late 90's because I felt they lacked life, motion, emotion and were only good renderings, not true art. So, it was a good boost to hear that they had excellent technical qualities and that I had a good feel for some of the basics like perspective, shadowing, etc.

We discussed why I was drawn to painting, even though I had been reluctant to venture into that medium before. Personally, I feel that painting is a much more challenging and courageous form of art. It's what separates the wheat from the chaff in my mind. You have to be willing to put yourself out there, be brave and not worry about things like it looking exactly like the image you are portraying. It's complexities allow for more life, emotion and feeling to be put on the canvas. Exactly what my art work had been lacking, but what I had been craving. I have always wanted to convey a mood, a personality, a moment in my art and felt I had always fell short. I didn't have the courage to try and work in this challenging medium before, but now I feel like I am ready to stretch myself and go for it!

It's not an inexpensive adventure. Start up supplies are going to run me more than I am really comfortable spending on a "hobby", but after discussing it with Matt, this is a time in my life where I have the opportunity to grow, the time to invest and the desire to stretch myself. He was all for me giving this a try and was even kind enough to offer me half of his shop for a "studio"! I have the most supportive and loving husband a girl could ask for! So, now I am making up my list of supplies that Bernie gave me and comparison shopping so I can get the best deals and the best materials. I can't convey how exciting this is. I am not much of a shopper, but the thought of having paints and brushes, knives and palette, easel and canvas is really intriguing and a little intimidating!

So...my adventure continues. The question, "can a cowgirl really be a cowgirl, cook, paint and be a great wife" comes to mind, but I am game for it all! There's nothing in life I don't feel I can't do if I set my mind to it, so I hope you enjoy accompanying me on this journey!

Helen

Beer Batter Bread

Today was an unusual day for SE Arizona. It was overcast with heavy cloud cover all day long and had intermittent rain showers, downpours and light drizzle. The high reached 72 degrees when it was over 100 only a few days ago.

It put me immediately in a Fall mood when I woke this morning to no sunrise and cool temperatures. We don't get too many days like this, so I wanted to make something cozy and heart warming for dinner. I made a recipe I had made only a couple times before, Meatball and cheese soup. It's hearty, tastes like a cheeseburger, but has lots of great veggies in it and always turns out great. I was initially going to make a nice rustic, crusty round loaf to accompany it, but decided to peruse my recipe books to get some new ideas first. I was torn between corn sticks, the corn shaped bread that is made in a special cast iron pan, and beer batter bread. I didn't have beer in the house, but it sounded like it would really go well with soup, so I made a trip into town in the rain and got beer for the bread.

It's a really simple recipe that turns out fantastic and really, really delicious! The bread takes on the character of the beer you use, so I decided to try it this time with Fat Tire, a nice Amber Ale that has nice depth and taste. Next time I might try it with Guinness...one of my personal favorites. So, try it with your favorite beer or change it up to experiment with the taste each time you bake it.

Beer Batter Bread

3 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp brown sugar (well packed)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 bottle (12oz/375ml) beer, unopened at room temperature
4 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a loaf pan

In a medium mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Once mixed together, open the beer and add it to the dry mix all at once. It will foam up. Stir the mix together until it is just combined, about 20 strokes. The batter should be slightly lumpy still.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Put the batter into the greased loaf pan and once spread evenly, drizzle the melted butter over the batter and place in the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes until it is browned and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Allow the loaf to rest for 5 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a cooling rack. Once cooled, cut into thick slices and apply plenty of butter!

Enjoy!

Thin Mint Cookies

I usually don't blog on a recipe that I haven't tried before and determined fit for consumption and enjoyment, but my younger sister sent me a recipe today that brought back so many rich memories, that I broke my own rule!

Thinking back, my earliest memory of eating Thin Mint cookies from the Girl Scouts, was as a high school graduate, living in Belgium still, were I could get the cookies through the Embassy were I worked. I can happily remember opening one of those long packets of cookies, quietly eating one, then another and then another, pretty soon looking up from my work and realizing I had eaten the whole packet in one sitting! I wonder if the Girl Scouts have partnered up with the drug cartels in providing an absolutely addicting, shameful, l habit forming cookie! Although they should be banned or at least regulated by Federal Law, (fortunately they are not!), they continue year after year to be brought to a neighborhood near you by your local sweet Girl Scout. She's so charming as she asks what you would like to order, like a predator circling her prey! She knows you aren't going refuse to order anything, it's like offering carrots to my horses - it's a sure thing. Not to mention it would be just plain unAmerican to refuse a Thin Mint cookie!

I never really enjoyed any of the other varieties as much as the Thin Mints. They seem to be the masterpiece creation for the Girl Scouts. Known and loved by many!

So, when my sister sent me this recipe earlier today, I was instantly intrigued since I haven't had a Thin Mint cookie for many years and it brought back floods of delicious memories!

So, I apologize if it isn't an exact replica of the original, but I wanted to make them and get some feedback on what needs to change to have them taste as good as the archetypal Girl Scout creation.

So...try this yourself and give me your thoughts!

Thin Mint Cookies

COOKIES
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup semi-sweet cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp mint extract

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients and sift together.










In a medium mixing bowl, with electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat for another minute. Add the milk, vanilla and mint extract and beat for an additional minute. Scrape down bowl as needed between additions.

Slowly add dry mix to mixing bowl while beating until the batter resembles small pebbles. Scrape together and form a ball, then roll out into a log and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours to chill the dough. Remove log from fridge, slice small rounds and place on parchment paper lined cookies sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.






TOPPING
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp mint extract

Melt chocolate chips in a bowl over boiling water. When melted, add mint and stir until smooth. Once the cookies are cool, either dip or frost with topping.

Enjoy!!

A quiet Sunday of Whoopie...pies that is!

While I am still healing my ankle, Matt and I enjoy quiet, stay home Sundays where we can catch up on house chores, maybe groom the horses and just relax all day long. It's the perfect day for me to make grocery lists, look through cookbooks and decide what I should blog next. Matt decided he wanted me to make and blog about a cake. I asked him if he wanted me to bake something I had done before or if he wanted something new and different. He wanted different, so I started looking through all my cookbooks and trying to find something that would be fun to make and that neither of us had ever made. So, while perusing the America's Test Kitchen Cakes section, I came upon Whoopie Pies.

It looked like a fun project for our slow Sunday afternoon, so I sent him off to buy me some Marshmallow Fluff (not something I usually stock in my pantry) and started researching why Whoopie Pies are called such. I have only had a Whoopie pie once before in my life, it is a very regional treat that has roots in both Pennsylvania and Maine. Whoopie pies are actually 2 small cakes put together with a creamy filling and not a pie at all! People that grew up with Whoopie Pies are big fans and claim it's the best treat you can have! Whoopie pies can be made with chocolate cake with vanilla cream filling, like Oreos cookies, or with anything like pumpkin cake with cream cheese filling. There are many options, but I liked the traditional chocolate with marshmallow cream filling and decided to go with that.

So, enjoy this recipe and I hope Whoopie pies will become a staple in my baking repertoire and in yours!

Whoopie Pies

Cakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ Dutch processed cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup packed light brown sugar

8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

Filling

2 cups Marshmallow Fluff

¾ cup confectioner’s

sugar

10 tbsp (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust oven racks to the upper middle and lower middle positions. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, coca powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 3-6 minutes. Beat in the egg until incorporated, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed. Mix in vanilla.

Reduce Reduce the speed on the mixer to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat in ½ of the buttermilk. Repeat with half of the remaining flour mixture, then the remaining buttermilk, and finally the remaining flour mixture. Give the batter a final stir using a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined.

Using a ¼ cup measuring cup, scoop the batter into mounds and drop them, about 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets (about 6 per sheet). Bake until the cakes bounce back when pressed, about 12-18 minutes, switching and rotating the pans halfway through baking. Let the cakes cool completely on the baking sheets, about 1 hour.

For the filling: Whip the fluff, confectioner’s sugar, butter, vanilla and salt together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-8 minutes.

To assemble, sandwich about 3 tablespoons of the filling between the flattened sides of cooled cakes.

Enjoy!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopie_pie

Images of my life!