tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25666105711378674832024-03-19T13:57:25.559-07:00Made By ScratchingOne Woman's adventure making (nearly) everything she eats at home from scratch.Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-81594632553720449842011-09-15T12:54:00.000-07:002011-09-15T12:54:18.374-07:00I've lost my mojo, Baby.No really, I'm stuck in a rut, and it's kinda freaking me out. More than kinda. I started this blog with all kinds of crazy awesome ideas and they're still floating around in my head. Between school starting and trying to fit in regular workouts and a social life, eating from scratch has kind of turned into eating monotonous. Seriously. I eat a slice of bread in the morning (challah this week), a cup of coffee the size of my face on the way in to school, the same salad for lunch every day, and one of two dinners, it would seem. All my meals are very healthy (I'm counting calories in a big way right now) but things are getting kind of boring. I need to spice it up. Even my lunch box is getting bored, and it doesn't have tastebuds. It is, however, rather tasteful. <br />
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And then we come to the mojo issue. I'm a good baker. I'm confident in that. Lately though, the pastries I've tried to make have come out wrong. I have a killer recipe for a fig cake i was making to mail my sister. It turned out deflated and bitter. Some carrot muffins I made turned out like hockey pucks, despite the correct amount of baking soda (I'm neurotic about that). My trash can has been eating more homemade pastries than anyone else in my life. The only thing that seems to consistently turn out right is bread, which is strange. Most bakers I know struggle with bread above all else. I can make bread with my eyes closed. <br />
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I'm going to spend some time this weekend baking and trying to get my mojo back. I'm not entirely sure what to bake. Do I go for something totally foolproof like chocolate chip cookies? Do I go for something intensely delicious but complicated? If I mess up chocolate chip cookies, that's gonna be a way bigger blow to my unstable ego than messing up something that's actually difficult. But I don't know if I have the time to make something supremely difficult. Perhaps I'll go for pie. I'm good at pie. Or I was. . .<br />
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I've got a few posts in the pipeline that are way less angsty than this one. There's one about the challah i've been eating this week, one about the messed up fig cake, and a few more about dinners that were so exciting I've forgotten about them. <br />
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Now tell me, cooking friends --- how do you get out of a culinary rut?Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-10235872863859877442011-08-23T23:30:00.000-07:002011-08-23T23:30:07.918-07:00Whirlwind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes you just need a good cup of coffee</td></tr>
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In the craziness of getting ready for school, working out like a madwoman, and trying to squeeze as much fun into my 3 week summer break as possible, I clearly haven't been writing a ton, or cooking much inspired. This isn't to say I haven't been cooking. I made some great caramelized onion jam, which I'll make again and photograph. I've made some amazing salads, both fruit and regular, and some pretty normal dinners. There's been a lot of roast chicken, a lot of pork chops, and a lot of vegetable dishes. No pasta yet. But that's coming. I promise. . . and one day I'll actually make good on that promise. Until then, it'll keep you reading, right?<br />
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On the plus side, there's not a whole lot of serious cooking that absolutely needs to be done during the summer. Sometimes, the bounty of the season is enough. Especially in the summer, when everything is ripe all a once. I've been eating a whole lot of fruit. Just check out my giant bowl of plums, pluots, nectarines, and peaches. Most of them went into a giant fruit salad. Some will go into a plum cake. Some will just be eaten. The yellow pluots are my favorite. They may actually be sweeter than sugar. . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpyR6ehodUlRGXul7X401qKbLOZkALHbUJriqMt3Toz0U5Vn3shBTse0MH7aAd3gRq_U3KJzokVU2ktIFcqt1svd-oTjqv1dWJHTx9h94uIYDJAmQfXCpM7OD67jR8Q-0gzJP8mAh2C61J/s1600/020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpyR6ehodUlRGXul7X401qKbLOZkALHbUJriqMt3Toz0U5Vn3shBTse0MH7aAd3gRq_U3KJzokVU2ktIFcqt1svd-oTjqv1dWJHTx9h94uIYDJAmQfXCpM7OD67jR8Q-0gzJP8mAh2C61J/s320/020.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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I'm also eating a lot of nice nice vegetables right now. Sometimes, even with homemade pesto. Okra is good (though I'm apparently one of the few people on the planet who thinks so). Zucchini are everywhere, tomatoes are perfectly ripe and sweet. Not pictured here are the ton of really good salad greens and late-summer peas I got at the farmer's market. Seriously, there's no need to cook anything right now. . .yes, this includes okra. Not only do I love okra, I love raw okra.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5u9aDNTuHL5JjSTSPUFyBhO_2N0c00g6-D8jds4Hppafe-cVsdoVzj4LzW00Yx-Kmo9mWiuj2k75nA1aonAfIJjahATXVU-BTUXq9bozZ4n0Z8AmAAFWiwE1w0tL3UCf4bhx0iXSDbRX_/s1600/IMAG0069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5u9aDNTuHL5JjSTSPUFyBhO_2N0c00g6-D8jds4Hppafe-cVsdoVzj4LzW00Yx-Kmo9mWiuj2k75nA1aonAfIJjahATXVU-BTUXq9bozZ4n0Z8AmAAFWiwE1w0tL3UCf4bhx0iXSDbRX_/s320/IMAG0069.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>Not only is the food good, but the beer in the summer is fairly awesome. This stuff, out of S.F. is flavorful and refreshing and, unfortunately, only available in the summer. Perhaps this is because it isn't as beautiful in S.F. all year round as it is in LA. I bought a couple 6 packs so I have some when it's October and still 90 degrees out. And since I don't drink a ton, I can make it last. This particular one was enjoyed once my apartment was clean. Nothing like a nice beer and a slice of bread with homemade butter and jam to erase the memory of 2 days of cleaning.<br />
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And now we come to the fun portion of our mini blog post; Food Porn. I'm not sure about the term "food porn" as a whole, but I sure do love pretty, tantalizing, mouthwatering pictures of food. These are largely not stellar photos. They are, in fact, mostly cell phone shots. But they are pictures of some of the random meals out I've enjoyed over the past couple months.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqLQFLDbYJg-9I0ONDpTrdPJhaM99ZIyOcBndbF7RkZxq_QD0ncykADhyWvKWgvZEgicNbCKIZymPoHMbwkw87DcsAkXJWVYXr1CJhrqgcFV5g3rj6D7n6y__eB-qwHBRgXSU6TJIn1Zs/s1600/028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqLQFLDbYJg-9I0ONDpTrdPJhaM99ZIyOcBndbF7RkZxq_QD0ncykADhyWvKWgvZEgicNbCKIZymPoHMbwkw87DcsAkXJWVYXr1CJhrqgcFV5g3rj6D7n6y__eB-qwHBRgXSU6TJIn1Zs/s400/028.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stellar Roast Beef from Manny's Deli</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0INzyO9YgLsEY33B6Tof-RPi1CZ_odBe3CaqkFdWH2rg2u8S2kTbpbgSftYynoSdEwznxnQHFxWjclF-A56U2NZc7yw85mYGLpDKFWsFsOCOVbP0DQGioyjDoXqULES5B09rg4k-UxFnh/s1600/046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0INzyO9YgLsEY33B6Tof-RPi1CZ_odBe3CaqkFdWH2rg2u8S2kTbpbgSftYynoSdEwznxnQHFxWjclF-A56U2NZc7yw85mYGLpDKFWsFsOCOVbP0DQGioyjDoXqULES5B09rg4k-UxFnh/s400/046.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unique and delicious floats at Medici</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95iDmReTkDwqWWNftnWzxv3NJPqKPcuSrYXI9ZHFO8uM8srtCdecIhO17Vdv2SI4qKAjkxUhFbh_aB37qVOgZJsx1XDDOzxl4wqBYr14V8SHxEwKhDaOPqL04zGumxyH10Nn5rrEelJvO/s1600/IMAG0006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95iDmReTkDwqWWNftnWzxv3NJPqKPcuSrYXI9ZHFO8uM8srtCdecIhO17Vdv2SI4qKAjkxUhFbh_aB37qVOgZJsx1XDDOzxl4wqBYr14V8SHxEwKhDaOPqL04zGumxyH10Nn5rrEelJvO/s400/IMAG0006.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shrimp Burrito at Poquito Mas</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWfObvNb4zwX0PEUVzsFreobpG2d-GKoP9E0a1wrP5zmEW1-jc1vDaqyCQUHTRjohia4VxvAHoT0gGZTLLTyAW4l45H6kUd2hvpF-dzTBOIGuwjGMyfaNAeltN1FEgZ7_iOLP-615msUb/s1600/IMAG0010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWfObvNb4zwX0PEUVzsFreobpG2d-GKoP9E0a1wrP5zmEW1-jc1vDaqyCQUHTRjohia4VxvAHoT0gGZTLLTyAW4l45H6kUd2hvpF-dzTBOIGuwjGMyfaNAeltN1FEgZ7_iOLP-615msUb/s400/IMAG0010.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheap and good sushi and tempura at Ugly Roll</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gelato at Gelato Bar. Addicted to their pistachio flavor</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNEuhv_2Xmg2PYtfZAUbyziPiZYOL0pGPGyFl20hh6-Q1G8ZfZiOhhaqTSsMmr6zmTCm3GzwS7cJxrfaCUP_ISIsPNF0d_jlj6jXLkK2ZLEPz2wSB1MwJe5s-_aXvw3JS8K6xZq3JIMwi/s1600/IMAG0023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNEuhv_2Xmg2PYtfZAUbyziPiZYOL0pGPGyFl20hh6-Q1G8ZfZiOhhaqTSsMmr6zmTCm3GzwS7cJxrfaCUP_ISIsPNF0d_jlj6jXLkK2ZLEPz2wSB1MwJe5s-_aXvw3JS8K6xZq3JIMwi/s400/IMAG0023.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cuban Pastries at Porto's Bakery</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZiOjP4qGRKjW1kT1_GuKi7pChg392KfdsKwJPLVKNmXIvYr7HNRHlZqE78a5zDR7HIMCproRsOzsxQgvRRA7LgnGrzA3Dq9xAMrgV7v_x-CgW3GBtUQV3kKWtS5FLrp_rzYdJUjUGeLZE/s1600/sandwiches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZiOjP4qGRKjW1kT1_GuKi7pChg392KfdsKwJPLVKNmXIvYr7HNRHlZqE78a5zDR7HIMCproRsOzsxQgvRRA7LgnGrzA3Dq9xAMrgV7v_x-CgW3GBtUQV3kKWtS5FLrp_rzYdJUjUGeLZE/s320/sandwiches.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ice cream Sandwiches from Coolhaus (Photo stolen from my lovely sister Kieran). I haven't chased down the coolhaus truck in a while now. They sell the sandwiches at Whole Foods, in cute little truck shaped boxes. Plus, they've supposedly got a store opening this summer, just down the street. So far, it remains closed. </td></tr>
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Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-19027862311297356682011-08-13T19:01:00.000-07:002011-08-13T19:01:35.184-07:00Home sweet (labor intensive) home.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpUp3-lvdD_Yrn5VipgC89Xpk7vSS0xWoggJKulUh6xuamid4TFBrRPUB_pdEYE_R7P2u5aByUl0wUlgKdC-fD7HgZOHcwkrDCaIcu0066rGPtvRdTATySuGpsU5wBemhIoznnC8R0-pDp/s1600/031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpUp3-lvdD_Yrn5VipgC89Xpk7vSS0xWoggJKulUh6xuamid4TFBrRPUB_pdEYE_R7P2u5aByUl0wUlgKdC-fD7HgZOHcwkrDCaIcu0066rGPtvRdTATySuGpsU5wBemhIoznnC8R0-pDp/s320/031.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I haven't done a lot of exciting cooking from scratch lately. A lot of what you see above (Rice, Veggies, Egg). Why? Because I've been cleaning my apartment, and not just a cursory running a vacuum over the floor cleaning. I've pulled stuff out of every closet, out of every drawer. I've washed my clothes, dishes, furniture, floors, and everything else (except maybe the high up windows).<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">*** A disclaimer. This post isn't about cooking, exactly. I'm good with that. There's more in my life.***</div><br />
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Here's the kitchen. I live in an apartment so it's not exactly big or blessed with storage. Especially considering the specialty equipment I have. But it's a fairly functional apartment kitchen. . . especially given the extra storage I put in the living room . . . <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFRplm9XDD-r_pGlJVnI2qHATjF6EhRK0hPya90uxiMyM6fUIbb6t4rqo4SLzy4QjrORHL0WIxY8QSqQW7cNAkwj3rloQ308lvgBEE9OktRZTwFNhrJoDrd8JYXbngwCz60wNgM72qo9s/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFRplm9XDD-r_pGlJVnI2qHATjF6EhRK0hPya90uxiMyM6fUIbb6t4rqo4SLzy4QjrORHL0WIxY8QSqQW7cNAkwj3rloQ308lvgBEE9OktRZTwFNhrJoDrd8JYXbngwCz60wNgM72qo9s/s320/006.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Here's the extra storage, in my living room. I like that The espresso machine (my best friend at times) is plugged in where it is. On these shelves I mostly have appliances (Mixer, Blender, Food Processor, Ice cream maker, spice mill), baking dishes, and big serving trays. My cabinets are fairly shallow, so anything bigger than maybe 14 inches in diameter doesn't fit. <br />
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Also on these shelves are my pet lizards. They're on the bottom. I feel that's more sanitary. Allow me my delusions, please. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lh2HPu7XQvNjoITfYW69H6U5XTWgWnWwF1jKDuWhw_q1UvfgWHGVCrP_cGyrVWBaZf9Dyd_iiDlIRQiFG8aaLa9Hkv_3JOfZDXWiVu0_h-aex4vOEGHvz5tP8mstYQ3jnRNKPJ0kZGl8/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lh2HPu7XQvNjoITfYW69H6U5XTWgWnWwF1jKDuWhw_q1UvfgWHGVCrP_cGyrVWBaZf9Dyd_iiDlIRQiFG8aaLa9Hkv_3JOfZDXWiVu0_h-aex4vOEGHvz5tP8mstYQ3jnRNKPJ0kZGl8/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
My living and dining area is slightly odd shaped, but it works. See that bookshelf? That's where the cookbooks live. The reading books live in my bedroom. I'm not joking. You can ask anyone who has been to my place. <br />
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</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-erzhZxndwFny2uIfRwSbQOy72shxLEcCiB6dGQXNG3QmzeLf-4NXrzyYLJNN_mqYg5ZnV8BZPr0Ym3ey4mP3igLIHbNzN_wo55QeJHgbCCv9P24mwj_6abrM4b4ZT5AQghb3Yc7VcrF9/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-erzhZxndwFny2uIfRwSbQOy72shxLEcCiB6dGQXNG3QmzeLf-4NXrzyYLJNN_mqYg5ZnV8BZPr0Ym3ey4mP3igLIHbNzN_wo55QeJHgbCCv9P24mwj_6abrM4b4ZT5AQghb3Yc7VcrF9/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This is the bedroom. I nap here after a particularly heavy meal. Or a long cleaning day. I'm going to need a rest. I like my room, despite my noisy bed. It makes a sound any time I move. I can sleep through it. I can't sleep through the flock of parrots who likes to land on my balcony at 4 am. They're loud. Would feeding them rice be wrong?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkgasV4ypeZ-cbIMBI7qoFA5K7jsqanydKQP8PZMnYxe2834P4NIO0WmpYdZiY2H4f-pOfQUO5WAZN1-MTZu45Vj6_6rGd3jfW6BYNXXOXht3c1PGWt2zZOQCXfzgX9chkUZtkJbg1RI27/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkgasV4ypeZ-cbIMBI7qoFA5K7jsqanydKQP8PZMnYxe2834P4NIO0WmpYdZiY2H4f-pOfQUO5WAZN1-MTZu45Vj6_6rGd3jfW6BYNXXOXht3c1PGWt2zZOQCXfzgX9chkUZtkJbg1RI27/s320/008.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
This is my desk. It is upstairs on a little loft. The loft houses my desk, electric piano, and washer/dryer. It's nice to have a space away from distractions to study. I do about half my studying (but all of my printing) at my desk. I do about a quarter on my couch, and a quarter at the table. I don't study in bed. I always fall asleep when I try. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguPuY68Df3b8lR36emylkNqiaeYq9h8I2ApAb1LWSbhLN3MIqPKgxeDkOPi0zK62CZ6Sl1sx-oWRokrlJJQbkoa52lqFcqhD2lo3rHR0LxGR2-IAyHtPjiDWNlFpKXGosJRaZ61d_XDdUn/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguPuY68Df3b8lR36emylkNqiaeYq9h8I2ApAb1LWSbhLN3MIqPKgxeDkOPi0zK62CZ6Sl1sx-oWRokrlJJQbkoa52lqFcqhD2lo3rHR0LxGR2-IAyHtPjiDWNlFpKXGosJRaZ61d_XDdUn/s320/010.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>This is the view from my desk. See how clean it is? When I finish laundry I throw it over the side of the loft and fold it on my couch. That's fun to me (the throwing, not the folding). It's the simple things.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KgIXzVAayGMY0Rn6fQvXj-0pYMgBvD6z-CyIMxNDM6eQQ5uwURvynBpmemFXvcM3tA1HhGsx1FzaJdeocQLAbChrApUkXTKhaiY28oFaZN7bugCBR0QitABfSg460X2BhlgeA-q-ORn1/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KgIXzVAayGMY0Rn6fQvXj-0pYMgBvD6z-CyIMxNDM6eQQ5uwURvynBpmemFXvcM3tA1HhGsx1FzaJdeocQLAbChrApUkXTKhaiY28oFaZN7bugCBR0QitABfSg460X2BhlgeA-q-ORn1/s320/011.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This is the balcony. That's a big butcher block under the tarp. It was the counter space in my last apartment, which had no counter space whatsoever. Now i use it for drinks and stuff when I throw parties. The hammock is comfortable, a really nice place to nap. <br />
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I feel like my balcony is way better looking than this picture shows. of course, if I could keep plants alive, it'd be better still, but we're taking baby steps here. <br />
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So that's my place. Pretty conducive to cooking from scratch, I think. I love living here.<br />
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As far as food goes, I need to make more bread this week. And I think I'm going to tackle pasta. We'll see. <br />
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</a></div>Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-86844365933521788822011-08-11T17:13:00.000-07:002011-08-11T17:13:18.022-07:00Warding Off the Vampires -- Garlic for Dinner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTbFKRBvdaB9iJM9BptyoDzYJuGnobquqsH87rrE8FFv3xbuxV-fepJ3ftD_UkmuwpL45IjpkLCy6d5viiEGRa5VUWPi2y7h7BDnCtBB_Pb0pqgXoEZbvvMmfSe2GoMkdZ0KkBAuh8Nf0D/s1600/026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTbFKRBvdaB9iJM9BptyoDzYJuGnobquqsH87rrE8FFv3xbuxV-fepJ3ftD_UkmuwpL45IjpkLCy6d5viiEGRa5VUWPi2y7h7BDnCtBB_Pb0pqgXoEZbvvMmfSe2GoMkdZ0KkBAuh8Nf0D/s320/026.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>So the other night I was in the mood to eat lots of garlic. Maybe there was a full moon, maybe I was just hungry. I knew I wouldn't be kissing anyone or trying to impress anyone with my garlic breath, so I went for it. Garlic shrimp, garlic spinach, and quinoa. This entire dinner didn't take more than 15 minutes to cook, which was extra awesome! Garlic faster than the wait for takeout.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTEZVexucWThZ6LluZdoYLneHOtFCWc2bLsBUbgA5UAi6o-Y7jrde5Xcfg-czT5kYyu6pRkbPSc0UAahs0TIdEuASgUjuN4d3FTzcrhslJHC5RByvW-7tHHMfuA2KGp2Igxiz6UizuvQfH/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTEZVexucWThZ6LluZdoYLneHOtFCWc2bLsBUbgA5UAi6o-Y7jrde5Xcfg-czT5kYyu6pRkbPSc0UAahs0TIdEuASgUjuN4d3FTzcrhslJHC5RByvW-7tHHMfuA2KGp2Igxiz6UizuvQfH/s320/017.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
The Quinoa was easy. See it there in the little yellow bowl? I cooked it like I would cook rice, in my rice cooker. The rice cooker did all the work. It tastes amazing cooked in chicken stock, but since I haven't made any of that, I cooked it in water. That's pretty much as from-scratch as you can get. Or something. . . <br />
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Quinoa is something more than a trendy grain for the Whole Foods set. It isn't in the grass family, but related to beets and spinach. Unlike rice, it is a complete protein source, making the shrimp somewhat redundant. Delicious, but redundant. It's also gluten free, though that isn't important to me. Clearly. I make bread. Finally, It's high in iron and magnesium. Clearly, it is as awesome for you as it is awesome tasting. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7CE4YOAlAl6E4oKDWwbYagAMenduixc8petx04yUJikwPNht9JZ3JAlTsnD8MgySxXmppm6VxhcJsRb3v0cbPHj5jo3w_nMbH38ychvPtfYb73iUXAufYzwirJWDBG3zKHxC7NJ8Mpsxa/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7CE4YOAlAl6E4oKDWwbYagAMenduixc8petx04yUJikwPNht9JZ3JAlTsnD8MgySxXmppm6VxhcJsRb3v0cbPHj5jo3w_nMbH38ychvPtfYb73iUXAufYzwirJWDBG3zKHxC7NJ8Mpsxa/s320/018.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This was a one- pan meal (we're not counting the rice cooker here). To start with, I put a whole lot of garlic in a pan with some olive oil. Eight cloves worth. You don't have to use this much. I just REALLY wanted garlic. Cook the garlic over medium heat until it gets golden brown and delicious. Remove everything from the pan as soon as it does. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQrC-KRtsZMSvJ0zw5MczX2cNtN6pqZCVoEGgYpCS-3QvDAysFigGlncR6hFh4G8guhhMxUIP3Ps31EYtt2w04ZQNkt06cgLAD5FuAZml5aL8380UFTLMlauwvYu9CRfvuaRoSogMGgjO/s1600/020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQrC-KRtsZMSvJ0zw5MczX2cNtN6pqZCVoEGgYpCS-3QvDAysFigGlncR6hFh4G8guhhMxUIP3Ps31EYtt2w04ZQNkt06cgLAD5FuAZml5aL8380UFTLMlauwvYu9CRfvuaRoSogMGgjO/s320/020.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>The key thing to remember in cooking garlic is that toasted garlic is delicious, but burnt garlic is foul. Because I removed my garlic from the heat as soon as it was done cooking, I wound up with delicious, not foul garlic. I ended up draining most of the oil out this way too, including most of the stuff seen in the bottom of the ramekin in the picture. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlc3q3XIj81bwYlrGAW7tvbVaVGBAGzZrJudiZnUDxompDGcK96xLRO2XggHFaDR-BFzOgImQvtoAOWIOK6L46MtNSzvzo67-p04OHBvGlLgRNFeQqGA6PWCbGj9nXjg1JAhMW8NLFmSEz/s1600/021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlc3q3XIj81bwYlrGAW7tvbVaVGBAGzZrJudiZnUDxompDGcK96xLRO2XggHFaDR-BFzOgImQvtoAOWIOK6L46MtNSzvzo67-p04OHBvGlLgRNFeQqGA6PWCbGj9nXjg1JAhMW8NLFmSEz/s320/021.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Next, i threw a bunch of raw, thawed shrimp in the same pan. You can use fresh. I had frozen on hand so I just defrosted them and went to town. I think frozen shrimp are some of the most useful things to have in the freezer. They cook quickly, go with almost anything, and work with any meal of the day. Yes, Even breakfast. Don't believe me? We'll talk. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8fOssmwAohSV7c7fwfUAScxqfxy8lqY2flEGlaulIio1M1CUvjEQfA_0pE-SjIJNdT-Pu8V3-fJ2RiOwHc5IgBtIMdTfjNbFQddazAGArDlHhrqamqAVibJL-zgE04fMBnZZymhH-PPK/s1600/022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8fOssmwAohSV7c7fwfUAScxqfxy8lqY2flEGlaulIio1M1CUvjEQfA_0pE-SjIJNdT-Pu8V3-fJ2RiOwHc5IgBtIMdTfjNbFQddazAGArDlHhrqamqAVibJL-zgE04fMBnZZymhH-PPK/s320/022.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>As the shrimp cook, they go from translucent and greyish to opaque and pinkish. You want them cooked through, for sure, but barely. Once shrimp get overcooked, they like to either get mealy or rubbery. Neither is delicious. In total, over a reasonably high heat, my shrimpies took about 4 minutes to cook. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkN5u6YlpOHNWk1OjPKP0BGzUO7Jft6JAztb-ztQ-TkylYEqGY-g03vWsBYbK8Vbo1JFijn6v6YD2WZIPiBrIhkytxKOLX8FkDVqOpHQP9Zcevkaw2dWG8O0Niy_k0J1RsZB1dvjtzsHri/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkN5u6YlpOHNWk1OjPKP0BGzUO7Jft6JAztb-ztQ-TkylYEqGY-g03vWsBYbK8Vbo1JFijn6v6YD2WZIPiBrIhkytxKOLX8FkDVqOpHQP9Zcevkaw2dWG8O0Niy_k0J1RsZB1dvjtzsHri/s320/024.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Once the shrimp are almost cooked, add about half the garlic, plus a little oil back into the pan. If you like food spicy, like I do add some chile flakes. Not too many. A little goes a long way. Also, now would be a good time to salt your food. To taste. I like salty food. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbNdul8RRKHEyx8bJ4i-1h8yp8hS2sVU98wcP2uBDl9sMKkDfkELBJ3TDAOzWBHv6v2DTgzVWRokleOpvsSAgKSO5xbtKe7o2qxun_rDTEXjMvhaOjxGsfOue9_evEWyMhu7cQIyAzoiLJ/s1600/025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbNdul8RRKHEyx8bJ4i-1h8yp8hS2sVU98wcP2uBDl9sMKkDfkELBJ3TDAOzWBHv6v2DTgzVWRokleOpvsSAgKSO5xbtKe7o2qxun_rDTEXjMvhaOjxGsfOue9_evEWyMhu7cQIyAzoiLJ/s320/025.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
Shrimp done? Good. Turn them out onto a plate. They can sit for a minute. They won't suffer. Add some of the delicious oil from the garlic to the pan and crank the heat to high. Dump a load of fresh, washed, dried spinach into the pan. This is baby spinach from the salad section, but grown up spinach will work too. Just make sure to rinse any grit out. <br />
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Keep the spinach moving constantly in the pan. It just needs to wilt, and will do so quickly thanks to the hot oil. This amount of spinach took about a minute, maybe 2.<br />
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Put the spinach on your plate. Top with the remaining toasted garlic, salt, and, if desired (and I desired) some sesame seeds. Doesn't it look good? <br />
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This is one of those vegetable dishes that can go with anything, provided you're not a vampire or planning on doing any kissing. It works with chicken, shrimp, fish, pork, beef, or on it's own. It makes a nice, healthier substitute to creamed spinach if you're in the classic steakhouse mood, or a nice side to sushi if you're in an Japanese mood. Seriously versatile side dish.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTbFKRBvdaB9iJM9BptyoDzYJuGnobquqsH87rrE8FFv3xbuxV-fepJ3ftD_UkmuwpL45IjpkLCy6d5viiEGRa5VUWPi2y7h7BDnCtBB_Pb0pqgXoEZbvvMmfSe2GoMkdZ0KkBAuh8Nf0D/s1600/026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTbFKRBvdaB9iJM9BptyoDzYJuGnobquqsH87rrE8FFv3xbuxV-fepJ3ftD_UkmuwpL45IjpkLCy6d5viiEGRa5VUWPi2y7h7BDnCtBB_Pb0pqgXoEZbvvMmfSe2GoMkdZ0KkBAuh8Nf0D/s320/026.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Plated up, this made a really garlicky and delicious meal. It went great with a bottle of beer and my history textbook (I was studying for finals), but would be good any time. <br />
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Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-3829848123744090542011-08-09T12:25:00.000-07:002011-08-09T12:27:06.965-07:00Dogs and Carrot Bread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0a9DqcFOZOTEeHHIEeI73E4N_pCrFShFR7TtFrxO1QRMUuqHva8doGx81AkccXDePjXujKt6ZMeGkXOrgHZJSw6KyAcwUOfVCUnWNF28PQJMbU2s73taPyJiaLYoF_42keS07JUCmZlRm/s1600/030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0a9DqcFOZOTEeHHIEeI73E4N_pCrFShFR7TtFrxO1QRMUuqHva8doGx81AkccXDePjXujKt6ZMeGkXOrgHZJSw6KyAcwUOfVCUnWNF28PQJMbU2s73taPyJiaLYoF_42keS07JUCmZlRm/s320/030.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0a9DqcFOZOTEeHHIEeI73E4N_pCrFShFR7TtFrxO1QRMUuqHva8doGx81AkccXDePjXujKt6ZMeGkXOrgHZJSw6KyAcwUOfVCUnWNF28PQJMbU2s73taPyJiaLYoF_42keS07JUCmZlRm/s1600/030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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So while I was in Chicago, I thought it would be nice to make something for my parents. I decided to go with a healthy carrot bread recipe. They had all the ingredients and, more importantly, I didn't have to stay in the kitchen while the oven was on. It was hot and humid in Chicago. I didn't want to be anywhere near the oven. So I made a simple Carrot Bread. It tastes like a carrot cake minus the frosting. But It's way healthier, and ALMOST from scratch. I used store bought yogurt. This makes a good dessert, breakfast, or snack.<br />
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<b>Recipe</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shredded carrots look kinda like shredded cheddar. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>1 pound carrots, peeled and shredded<br />
2 cups all purpose flour<br />
1 tsp baking powder<br />
1 tsp baking soda<br />
1 tsp cinnamon<br />
1 tsp allspice<br />
1/2 tsp cloves<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
1 cup sugar (I used half sugar, half honey)<br />
2 tbsp butter, melted<br />
3/4 cup nonfat yogurt<br />
2 large eggs<br />
raisins, nuts, coconut or any carrot cake add ins you like, to taste. I used raisins. <br />
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Preheat the oven to 350. If you're in a hot, muggy climate, you'll want to leave the room at this point. But don't. You have carrot bread to make.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dry ingredients and carrots</td></tr>
</tbody></table>One of the best things about this recipe is it's simplicity. You can pretty much dump everything in a bowl, mix, and go. I do things a little less haphazardly than that, but not much.<br />
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In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients and the carrots. I added the sugar at this point, even though sugar is often considered a wet ingredient in baking recipes. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding the wet ingredients. </td></tr>
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Next, add the wet ingredients. These are the eggs, yogurt, and melted butter. You can also leave out a little of the yogurt and add some lemon juice if you'd like. I didn't. It tastes good, though. <br />
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Once all the wet ingredients are added, add any add ins like raisins or nuts, and mix thoroughly. I mixed and then added the raisins, because I forgot. It still worked fine. Or so I've been told. There's a story coming.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVTAcLUWaZnFzFnuI5TLWiXNfxGgpM5ZyAFriHMYHcaXzcijphdSkCuBnlXzq6mogM8HgmTrkTQ27r3Z7-JzfuYkN_dYIQ5LrACcNxIiDehyphenhyphen6cRBLycKTCJ-Z7pNo7a8JY4__7QfxM3Z7/s1600/044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVTAcLUWaZnFzFnuI5TLWiXNfxGgpM5ZyAFriHMYHcaXzcijphdSkCuBnlXzq6mogM8HgmTrkTQ27r3Z7-JzfuYkN_dYIQ5LrACcNxIiDehyphenhyphen6cRBLycKTCJ-Z7pNo7a8JY4__7QfxM3Z7/s320/044.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Once everything is mixed, dump it in your VERY WELL GREASED baking vessel of choice. This makes a good loaf, good muffins, and would probably make good layers for a carrot cake. Unless you're making muffins and using paper liners, you need to grease the pan well. This cake/bread/muffin likes to stick. <br />
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At this point, nothing left to do but bake the thing. You're probably sweating from the heat of the oven on an already-muggy day, and want to get as far away from the oven as possible. Or maybe that was just my experience. . . . <br />
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<b>Baking Times</b><br />
This bakes at 350 no matter what form it takes.<br />
- As a loaf like this, it took about an hour. The test is inserting a sharp knife or toothpick into it. If it comes out clean, or with just some moist crumbs clinging to it, you're good to go. I started checking at about 40 minutes.<br />
- As muffins, they take about 20 minutes. Mini muffins would take way less. I don't like mini muffins. They're never moist enough.<br />
- As a cake, a layer would probably take 30 minutes.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY2uORUOq8kfq3rJ8LLXj8yBWZHMMr1xKIvvWLffgJVVdrh0oHLv5qwTAVsQuswtPnGf2nK4406i-9RrlzSiJcq7Swg2DODLYQIpEsO5MWKXgb21GHEavR4Mytf6_p_whumBPeBLu9iWHY/s1600/045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY2uORUOq8kfq3rJ8LLXj8yBWZHMMr1xKIvvWLffgJVVdrh0oHLv5qwTAVsQuswtPnGf2nK4406i-9RrlzSiJcq7Swg2DODLYQIpEsO5MWKXgb21GHEavR4Mytf6_p_whumBPeBLu9iWHY/s320/045.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Let it cool in the pan until you can handle the pan comfortably. At that point, turn it out onto your enviably pretty granite countertop (the cheap counters work too. so does a plate). You can either slice it right away, or wrap it in plastic for safe keeping. Once it's sliced into, this goes away fast. It's just that delicious. Or. . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9QQSscVYCpZOP5uHDb0Uzm3cIvO9vQwmHxDNjZZ9B71WN_oioVDAnfIpsyzc4x-SU5X8BDXwTbAJ5Yl2YN7NsjmqjdbNdI12UK6IGdrH93fM_KOwNWZukT6YV66R46jBJFDZXtiVWOyk/s1600/IMAG0050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9QQSscVYCpZOP5uHDb0Uzm3cIvO9vQwmHxDNjZZ9B71WN_oioVDAnfIpsyzc4x-SU5X8BDXwTbAJ5Yl2YN7NsjmqjdbNdI12UK6IGdrH93fM_KOwNWZukT6YV66R46jBJFDZXtiVWOyk/s320/IMAG0050.jpg" width="191" /></a>. . . You come into the kitchen with your mom after taking the dogs for a walk. You notice there's a slice missing so you go ask your dad if he liked it. Because one is always open for critique. You go back downstairs, and find mom frantically gesturing at you. She's on the phone, but something is wrong. The cake is gone. Even though you both think you know where it is, you ask dad if, perhaps, you were seeing things, and he stashed it somewhere else. You were not. But this dog looks incredibly pleased with herself.<br />
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It's not that the carrot loaf was put where she could get to it easily. It was up on a counter that is almost chest high on me, wrapped in plastic. My mother found the plastic on the floor and the cake gone. There's no way the other dog could have reached. And no way that this dog (Ginger) would have shared.<br />
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I remade the carrot loaf as carrot muffins, since 2 of us didn't get to have any. I added walnuts the second time. They were delicious. I didn't take pictures. I was still mourning the loss of my beautiful carrot loaf. Didn't even to get a picture of it sliced and delicious. You'll have to ask Ginger how it tasted. . . <br />
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Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-73602026469696448272011-08-04T10:00:00.000-07:002011-08-04T10:00:30.566-07:00Holy Plummy Deliciousness.Seriously. If I were to form my own religion, or believe in organized religion at all (too personal?) I'd put this plum sorbet up on an altar and worship it. It's just that good. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frosty Deliciousness</td></tr>
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There's a bit of a stigma about making ice creams and sorbets. It has the reputation of being difficult, time consuming, a pain in the butt. And it is a bit time consuming. But not difficult, and not a pain in the butt. This could have taken twice as long and it would have been worth it. All in all, my amazingly delicious plum sorbet took about 20 minutes to mix, 20 minutes to freeze in the ice cream machine (during which i edited a paper), and another hour in the freezer. So with only 20ish minutes of active cook time, this is a breeze.<br />
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The recipe:<br />
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Now the recipe for this isn't precise. It doesn't need to be. Sugar can be added to taste, certain, boozy ingredients and flavorings can be left out. Here's what I did. I used Santa Rosa plums because they're relatively local and absolutely good. any good ripe plums can work though.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mountain of delicious, ripe plums</td></tr>
</tbody></table>5 cups ripe santa rosa plums, sliced, no pits. (skins are fine)<br />
3/4 cup sugar<br />
1 teaspoon almond extract<br />
1 teaspoon lemon juice<br />
healthy pinch of salt<br />
1/4 cup grand marnier<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnsg6qSFrPiFDUzrZd0kYG2SCC7ZJVgwgy5chv5Kun5Tv1mcPhyphenhyphen0e85wXryc3nJ3KghvomC0fuA9HSREDRHkameV6sH_Ha_hOyEaOEtpHAPGXdxz7xK-BCIPwSU0ZygJugjsn-ZpmI_xI/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnsg6qSFrPiFDUzrZd0kYG2SCC7ZJVgwgy5chv5Kun5Tv1mcPhyphenhyphen0e85wXryc3nJ3KghvomC0fuA9HSREDRHkameV6sH_Ha_hOyEaOEtpHAPGXdxz7xK-BCIPwSU0ZygJugjsn-ZpmI_xI/s320/003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>First step - Take my mountain of plums and make them pit-free. Now Santa Rosa plums aren't exactly freestone (meaning the pits stick to the fruit) so instead of trying to pit the fruit neatly I cut it away from the pits as closely as possible, and just ate the little bit of "wasted" fruit off the pit. SO not a waste.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTFPSUbEQiTYSHnS0n4n1AKAum3gZT9novLjIH8URdrQ4Z0FblN-aVD233YDLh2tvDG_3iIsZIbUNRqdZikonLI-L2PoUa1i23tH9McDtO4CiIlfwZb-cwInckgusfQHcOWjwPjqZsmVt0/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTFPSUbEQiTYSHnS0n4n1AKAum3gZT9novLjIH8URdrQ4Z0FblN-aVD233YDLh2tvDG_3iIsZIbUNRqdZikonLI-L2PoUa1i23tH9McDtO4CiIlfwZb-cwInckgusfQHcOWjwPjqZsmVt0/s320/007.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Next, throw it all in the work bowl of the food processor, or in a blender. and BUZZZZZZ. you have a nice plum puree. It's pretty liquidy. Puree the plums until they're a pretty consistently smooth. There will be some slight texture going on where the skins are. we'll take care of this later.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZi4Tj7NKyG4WG6U-YTuiHfPER6IkFsBK-qAjFoQGKCx2cw0tYk10NCRJdN2NROd1UnTXqQH1YnkoY_J_9TgD-DYDwkEJWcQilgUyv_y2YdV548qh-BIBJ1cO2nejUly6w0ZMr4phwR5B/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZi4Tj7NKyG4WG6U-YTuiHfPER6IkFsBK-qAjFoQGKCx2cw0tYk10NCRJdN2NROd1UnTXqQH1YnkoY_J_9TgD-DYDwkEJWcQilgUyv_y2YdV548qh-BIBJ1cO2nejUly6w0ZMr4phwR5B/s320/006.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Next, add the sugar, liquor, lemon juice, salt and extract. Now if the mixture is sweet, you don't need to add as much sugar. Just add half, taste, and keep adding. <br />
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If you don't like almond extract, you can use vanilla. If you don't like grand marnier, you can use any other hard liquor. You do absolutely need the liquor in the recipe. It's low freezing point keeps the sorbet from turning into ice. But vodka is flavorless and kirsch works well. Experiment! You may come up with some magic flavor combo. Once everything is added, puree some more. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DvuG6YixB-DYyM7ZQSY9lIjTwq9MBGsuGoMeKslWDg6LXGsOwVJZqkxVE1q6aR7Gmm5aYWbg43S24mO2Ul3HHdo3kNL9MdRxBVWA_XshRNMwiExeS5mi6RTJOlGh-XISE8y7Y-663Sn4/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DvuG6YixB-DYyM7ZQSY9lIjTwq9MBGsuGoMeKslWDg6LXGsOwVJZqkxVE1q6aR7Gmm5aYWbg43S24mO2Ul3HHdo3kNL9MdRxBVWA_XshRNMwiExeS5mi6RTJOlGh-XISE8y7Y-663Sn4/s320/008.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Once everything is pureed and tasting right, time to strain. If you like the skins in the mixture, you can skip this step. but i like a pretty smooth sorbet so I strain. I put a little bit of the skin back in at the end, just to add some visual texture to the sorbet, but just a little. I strain everything first. I'm kinda controlling when I cook. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUJV35JSd45VX2u9jujxW31e8WmQlIeIvc6qK4VEYBQ9U9YmfsFXBC-KoTjrcjFouaFk229edz9QBIYiSdsbnYI194eSL-18jkDhF9SyK7eCMaiixPZ8-8ZR70P-ttafe0IcMupZLQ0Wtw/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUJV35JSd45VX2u9jujxW31e8WmQlIeIvc6qK4VEYBQ9U9YmfsFXBC-KoTjrcjFouaFk229edz9QBIYiSdsbnYI194eSL-18jkDhF9SyK7eCMaiixPZ8-8ZR70P-ttafe0IcMupZLQ0Wtw/s320/010.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Here's what my strainer looked like once it was almost done straining. I honestly mixed the plum skin mixture with a little more of my leftover, store bought yogurt. It was delicious. You can keep it to use on sandwiches in place of cranberry sauce too. Or just trash it if you don't like the texture. up to you. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-kgm-wXvpHJ1YjJbLG7yX0m1EC3vcAcgUK5i0OWdNUXK898cEWoHNaY_tNBInKyKVXNY0PP_aYik-UwOtyXle773lT-7KccCsbK4dOgGCm1ttC_ViPGTph5aEIWmzQHOwC7VfmNp9OZ3/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-kgm-wXvpHJ1YjJbLG7yX0m1EC3vcAcgUK5i0OWdNUXK898cEWoHNaY_tNBInKyKVXNY0PP_aYik-UwOtyXle773lT-7KccCsbK4dOgGCm1ttC_ViPGTph5aEIWmzQHOwC7VfmNp9OZ3/s320/011.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Once the mixture is strained, and whatever bits of skin are added back in, chill the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour, ideally more. Especially in little home ice cream machines, the colder the mixture is to start, the creamier the ice cream ends up after churning. I like creamy sorbet.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWd0_20Tvsn-nepRYC2TO2H7D4W4mPkRGr0BTHYgm9iZiplBLMhWZ8gE7qNJPjSb22B2KN7YShlVFai3t9Y0Oy8om-GTFHb5jXU7dysbfq7zX9I0-WC6sVIvElmfbpULOWIS_aWpUQ6Q4J/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWd0_20Tvsn-nepRYC2TO2H7D4W4mPkRGr0BTHYgm9iZiplBLMhWZ8gE7qNJPjSb22B2KN7YShlVFai3t9Y0Oy8om-GTFHb5jXU7dysbfq7zX9I0-WC6sVIvElmfbpULOWIS_aWpUQ6Q4J/s320/012.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> Here's my ice cream machine. It's a good little Cuisinart counter top model with the core that I freeze separately. I pretty much always keep the core in the freezer. That way, whenever the spirit moves me, I can make sorbet, ice cream, or granita, and not have to wait for the core to freeze. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLHWQIpVpjMRzGAMe0V6jcc-YKwXGu2zbZUzyexKjnBVpQkTkleq96IR-yZ9AMh-eh5os2WKss5IlOLxg-Hv58Im56stipw7iCiZ7d8aK_DM3bW4FO8jE4UFIB0FgSHlDUhVum5q0qdRq/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLHWQIpVpjMRzGAMe0V6jcc-YKwXGu2zbZUzyexKjnBVpQkTkleq96IR-yZ9AMh-eh5os2WKss5IlOLxg-Hv58Im56stipw7iCiZ7d8aK_DM3bW4FO8jE4UFIB0FgSHlDUhVum5q0qdRq/s320/015.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>It took about 20-30 minutes for the sorbet to get to the consistency of soft serve. No matter what I make, it's not going to get much harder than that. That's what time in the freezer does. In the picture to the right, It's almost there. Every 5 or 10 minutes I scraped the sides of the maker with the spatula. Otherwise, it seems to freeze to the sides. This isn't necessary. I just do it. I feel like it makes the consistency smoother, scraping the super frozen bits off the edge. So I do it.<br />
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Next, put the freshly-churned sorbet into a freezer- safe container, and put that container in the freezer for at least an hour. This is going to be the most difficult part, much like waiting for bread to cool. I promise, it'll be entirely worth it. This is the most incredible, plummy sorbet in the world, like biting into a fresh picked plum. Only ay more refreshing. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKyTBoGRJIABf6xLudExlm8ycIZ0q-8pndjOC6_jhS-GyXIjFABAUcc7ZGeV9jUtrO1ncWCXmuWMB3oUrKX-4YgZlXHHa7JdKcKN1qbu5Ko8HrvTJlqPC44KOWXcISUKtYRiXuX06KFJFr/s1600/020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKyTBoGRJIABf6xLudExlm8ycIZ0q-8pndjOC6_jhS-GyXIjFABAUcc7ZGeV9jUtrO1ncWCXmuWMB3oUrKX-4YgZlXHHa7JdKcKN1qbu5Ko8HrvTJlqPC44KOWXcISUKtYRiXuX06KFJFr/s320/020.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJp9qwqSw1qNcuSKzM4dZt8XMmLrcL8NyaZ5Z8pwNOC8CQeetTrjXaVewY3IYzBmZ89Por02Do3dFQnOAvRR8CJqMDprOCUPK-iUzGf80tv1zekMox0xrPB-0yAuPt-nLIKjtn3uHvUqS/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJp9qwqSw1qNcuSKzM4dZt8XMmLrcL8NyaZ5Z8pwNOC8CQeetTrjXaVewY3IYzBmZ89Por02Do3dFQnOAvRR8CJqMDprOCUPK-iUzGf80tv1zekMox0xrPB-0yAuPt-nLIKjtn3uHvUqS/s320/018.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> Next, scoop yourself a nice, big bowl of this fresh, plum sorbet. Given my dietary restrictions, I had a small bowl. This is maybe a 3 oz ramekin, if that. Still, what it lacked in size, it totally made up for in flavor. <br />
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It really was good to the last drop. And believe me, I got each and every drop out of the bowl. <br />
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text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-66164533961630491222011-08-02T13:24:00.000-07:002011-08-03T13:32:47.359-07:00Burgermania!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpOy-IS3Fo-g1D1IfBdSd2A4GoISUnXSb-W15Fdiwy6YYSApFZ6m-1jVMkNqq7pzfLl-YDZNF8KVe90eym7q_wkRW8cSJ_fd6Xv1AD_-JmQkvGRgYVL5aMSzNpfiOLDVvstV5dCUb0Fu-/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpOy-IS3Fo-g1D1IfBdSd2A4GoISUnXSb-W15Fdiwy6YYSApFZ6m-1jVMkNqq7pzfLl-YDZNF8KVe90eym7q_wkRW8cSJ_fd6Xv1AD_-JmQkvGRgYVL5aMSzNpfiOLDVvstV5dCUb0Fu-/s320/018.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I've been craving burgers lately, and since I've been craving them, I've been making them. Now a lot of the diet/nutrition/health information I've acquired in my weight loss journey says that one needs to give up red meat to go healthy. I think this is bull. I've done well on my weight loss (recent hiccups aside) and I've eaten burgers, steaks, fajitas, tartare, and all kinds of beef. I just make sure to eat relatively lean beef. The burger pictured above is made of 90% lean beef. And is absolutely delicious. Yes, It ended up being too big to bite. I had to deconstruct the fucker to eat it. But damn, it was delicious. Sorry mom. I swore on my blog.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCAQRGffhHzAUEKqzbbWljNDr8k6Jzi3PxhBuUxHR70TmYktL8HQYH_2WCRjHNVZcjumQ8d2V62-tNYswX-sfSpLizVpm1mq-CFb5fYN8fz2eTsG02waEFrT0AE0B37xS7OM7NIN_IMjZ/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCAQRGffhHzAUEKqzbbWljNDr8k6Jzi3PxhBuUxHR70TmYktL8HQYH_2WCRjHNVZcjumQ8d2V62-tNYswX-sfSpLizVpm1mq-CFb5fYN8fz2eTsG02waEFrT0AE0B37xS7OM7NIN_IMjZ/s320/011.JPG" width="320" /></a>Here's what was going on this burger. A 4 oz 90 percent lean beef patty, slice of onion, heirloom tomatoes, and basil. This went on the delicious bread I made early in the week. Initially, I was going to put the greens on the burger too. I went with a salad instead. The burger was just too big. <br />
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I pan seared the burger in a non-stick pan. I didn't take pictures of that. but it was pretty easy. When the burger is all caramelized on one side, i flipped it. It took about 6 minutes total to get a nice medium rare. <br />
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I smeared about a tablespoon (maybe less) of pesto on the bread, which I had toasted. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8sS4WhwqKg532Ts0mHjX5FVLxQ4yM2WNYht4YEXo8M-eoh4JbRZfB4XIy5P-oeah6YvdCHenXtCcNAEjsSmJ-dHyboUNtwjiJljp6Z01JbcVtUb135FHPC3e5T5h352HDUsZX9ekr_yn/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8sS4WhwqKg532Ts0mHjX5FVLxQ4yM2WNYht4YEXo8M-eoh4JbRZfB4XIy5P-oeah6YvdCHenXtCcNAEjsSmJ-dHyboUNtwjiJljp6Z01JbcVtUb135FHPC3e5T5h352HDUsZX9ekr_yn/s320/014.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Next, the patty. Nicely browned and lightly salted, just the way I like it.<br />
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On a side note, I'm not a fan of the way my blue plates photograph. Even when I use a plate without chips, the texture around the edges seems to throw the picture. I'll start using a different plate.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNrAevhFaHaFk_eIwgmGk9TSbyp5qrkJLRHT_yae_O-fadHv_ic9XR-AI5GBkzXXhD-yH80qNE_AJs6qF1qQYhKMYo2g6TTHBjfcOTlwiKxhoqQ_g3dw38qYiphmsWPYXX7Y7Hv-c8lrmn/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNrAevhFaHaFk_eIwgmGk9TSbyp5qrkJLRHT_yae_O-fadHv_ic9XR-AI5GBkzXXhD-yH80qNE_AJs6qF1qQYhKMYo2g6TTHBjfcOTlwiKxhoqQ_g3dw38qYiphmsWPYXX7Y7Hv-c8lrmn/s320/015.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Next, a slice of onion. Normally I'd caramelize the onion but I was REALLY hungry and in a rush, so I did it raw. It still tasted good, nice bite. I stole my caramelized cross-section of onion idea from In-n-Out. If you order a burger with a "whole grilled onion," you get the full slice, caramelized. Way easier to eat than the chopped ones. Just sayin'<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0f8RhDwkHCxorHdpyayIVdvjpdAoe6WLZUR36Sk-_7HNoqpPLcrappz3nA3E6QjGOwiHKiJ-5Y7rk17mDY7vxIGbHvaUNJJce8pr7aRYcEM7aVPyu6kwsrMvo5jvrBijYMIG5jRq91RfQ/s1600/016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0f8RhDwkHCxorHdpyayIVdvjpdAoe6WLZUR36Sk-_7HNoqpPLcrappz3nA3E6QjGOwiHKiJ-5Y7rk17mDY7vxIGbHvaUNJJce8pr7aRYcEM7aVPyu6kwsrMvo5jvrBijYMIG5jRq91RfQ/s320/016.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> Next, a tomato. I used this once because I'd already been working on it. No point slicing a new tomato when I've got one sliced. It was delicious. I sprinkled a little sea salt on top of the tomato. As said, I like my tomatoes salted. It makes them more delicious and tomato-y!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7VEuShiCSigfpCiu3iKHjSL3atwgOWX0aH9fKch4obYqNu1y_g_babidBiieyIvpN_gNTRIPJkJSwHXMn3z7subRl8sxpQxE5FqRhMYDvx5zXN5haRvYO9QQwyzqi5yTdySsu0sfAzI-/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7VEuShiCSigfpCiu3iKHjSL3atwgOWX0aH9fKch4obYqNu1y_g_babidBiieyIvpN_gNTRIPJkJSwHXMn3z7subRl8sxpQxE5FqRhMYDvx5zXN5haRvYO9QQwyzqi5yTdySsu0sfAzI-/s320/017.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Next, top it off with another piece of toasted bread. I served it with a salad. I dressed the salad with a mixture of good quality balsamic vinegar and pesto. It was delicious, and the burger was too, after figuring out how to fit the thing in my mouth. <br />
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On another note, I'm off to Chicago for a few days later this week. I'm going to try to keep up my posts from there, but we'll see how well that goes. There may be some restaurant- type posts. Because there's nothing like a picture of a giant Manny's Deli sandwich to make eating healthy look incredibly un-fun. and entirely necessary.Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-49130164323589534292011-07-31T14:23:00.000-07:002011-08-03T14:44:26.920-07:00Pesto -- the versatile condiment<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pesto on bread (for a burger)</td></tr>
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I got a bunch of basil at the Culver City farmer's market last week, and did the only thing I could think to do--made pesto. Now traditionally, pesto goes on pasta, and I haven't exactly had the time to make pasta from scratch, but one of the beautiful things about pesto is it's versatility. You can add ingredients or leave them out based on your preference. It's more than just a good pasta sauce, it's a good spread on bread, is absolutely delicious mixed into rice, tossed with tomatoes, or cooked onto a piece of fish. I've also mixed pesto and balsamic vinegar to make an incredible salad dressing. And I'm only getting started.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the raw ingredients</td></tr>
</tbody></table>One of the great things about pesto is that once you have the ingredients, it is fast to make. Like 5 minutes start to finish fast. <br />
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First, toast some pine nuts. If you're into the raw food thing you can do this with raw nuts, but toasting pine nuts really brings out their flavor. Just put them in a pan (no oil necessary) over medium heat. Move them around a lot, and pay attention. Pine nuts go from golden brown and delicious to burnt in a matter of seconds. Once they're toasted, set them aside. let them cool.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheese!</td></tr>
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Next, grate some good Parmesan cheese into the bowl of your mixer. If you're a cheese addict, use a lot. If you're not, just use a little. The more cheese you use, the less salt you want to add. Always taste things before salting them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGzvj9WDDidm-0DaK8wqW8Cdi2klckhEc0Yto85HsZTwS6jTXnWZlj1JntfFXrtPmgM8O7NCUCZLQUc9e7R-5xA8lyv6F5AoxuyAjrOl86EF97iaEO6GNYwdIFfpcu7B9ISOOwYlkBxbd/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGzvj9WDDidm-0DaK8wqW8Cdi2klckhEc0Yto85HsZTwS6jTXnWZlj1JntfFXrtPmgM8O7NCUCZLQUc9e7R-5xA8lyv6F5AoxuyAjrOl86EF97iaEO6GNYwdIFfpcu7B9ISOOwYlkBxbd/s320/005.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Once you've got your cheese grated, add some cloves of garlic to the food processor. Whole cloves are fine. They'll get pulverized. I'm a fan of REALLY garlicky pesto. I added something like 8 cloves. You don't need to be as addicted to garlic as I am. Unless you are. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexGcioCnhHN_HzbTFZ3C3ClT_VxL9eXqhmMFMVcGjN5rioZJWY9tH15HUDYJGY5J5hpPL2JPvCdHiiOqwvPYfS-ruK_VTZU_nTYJVJ_7dPG88nl6BZCWE8ATnCglvd_KSPsL20_2KYJaB/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexGcioCnhHN_HzbTFZ3C3ClT_VxL9eXqhmMFMVcGjN5rioZJWY9tH15HUDYJGY5J5hpPL2JPvCdHiiOqwvPYfS-ruK_VTZU_nTYJVJ_7dPG88nl6BZCWE8ATnCglvd_KSPsL20_2KYJaB/s320/006.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>Next, I added the basil leaves. All the ones I had that I wasn't going to use instead of lettuce on sandwiches. I ended up filling the bowl of my food processor about 3/4 of the way full of basil leaves. That's just as many as I had. Your batch size can vary based on the amount of basil, and the size of food processor you have. I also dumped the pine nuts in at this point. They were cooled down.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgUjwogLQgnRS81MOmXTy3uTX0uIxcPE2Xyv2qATA1Ln3Ga68GRmV5F8s2iWelcduI2B5TAiT3ZzQh2iXxTD3npgaRtBNts6lhgtj-zfvZqRXIpP5nPSaAuGTIDaneRlO-rbIk1jR4rUF/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgUjwogLQgnRS81MOmXTy3uTX0uIxcPE2Xyv2qATA1Ln3Ga68GRmV5F8s2iWelcduI2B5TAiT3ZzQh2iXxTD3npgaRtBNts6lhgtj-zfvZqRXIpP5nPSaAuGTIDaneRlO-rbIk1jR4rUF/s320/007.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Once all these things were in the food processor, It was time to pulverize everything. I pulsed the mixer until everything was ground up. At this point, I tasted the mixture and added salt to my taste.<br />
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To reiterate: At this point, there's basil, Parmesan, garlic, pine nuts, and salt in the food processor. Nothing more. And it's already delicious.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvEzWkoAIHNwdhrX3-pA83KDOzKCXL0Gz7GDoiEAJ0ihfXu3310ZB39A53_Urhn5qlWwOfvWrbNp_UHFSnBDqPUrs1DciR7asMJGDvkbgVNFcdZ95VihWOpWNI2ev8P65lobP-IPSIQjIi/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvEzWkoAIHNwdhrX3-pA83KDOzKCXL0Gz7GDoiEAJ0ihfXu3310ZB39A53_Urhn5qlWwOfvWrbNp_UHFSnBDqPUrs1DciR7asMJGDvkbgVNFcdZ95VihWOpWNI2ev8P65lobP-IPSIQjIi/s320/008.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once all that was in the food processor, and everything was ground up, it was time to add the olive oil. I don't add a ton (the whole eating healthy thing precludes eating a ton of oil). I've seen incredibly thin, oily pesto and pesto without any oil. It all has it's uses. The important thing is to stream the oil into the mixture while the food processor is running. This helps the oil emulsify into the pesto, instead of sitting like an oil slick on top of it. Eventually some separation will occur. But let's start it out all blended and nice.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6okWBi9qoAI6xLcBX0fwJNzbxTnzr93-WhzGjvAN85xll8vGKzF8FIDvOpC7_s_lcrpv9CEoUpMuADtstfJEqU8-3LTz9yWWIgfEFmRT1ArJTGmKKPC4p-j-tg_McvSlvvQBNpS6SuadR/s1600/029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6okWBi9qoAI6xLcBX0fwJNzbxTnzr93-WhzGjvAN85xll8vGKzF8FIDvOpC7_s_lcrpv9CEoUpMuADtstfJEqU8-3LTz9yWWIgfEFmRT1ArJTGmKKPC4p-j-tg_McvSlvvQBNpS6SuadR/s200/029.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pesto in rice</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7VEuShiCSigfpCiu3iKHjSL3atwgOWX0aH9fKch4obYqNu1y_g_babidBiieyIvpN_gNTRIPJkJSwHXMn3z7subRl8sxpQxE5FqRhMYDvx5zXN5haRvYO9QQwyzqi5yTdySsu0sfAzI-/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7VEuShiCSigfpCiu3iKHjSL3atwgOWX0aH9fKch4obYqNu1y_g_babidBiieyIvpN_gNTRIPJkJSwHXMn3z7subRl8sxpQxE5FqRhMYDvx5zXN5haRvYO9QQwyzqi5yTdySsu0sfAzI-/s200/017.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pesto Burger</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Taste it for salt again. Add pepper if you want (I didn't want,) and then you have pesto. It's true, it's good on pasta. Great pesto is great on pasta. This week, I've had pesto on a burger, on a salad, and mixed with rice and veggies. Next week I might make pasta.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pesto on salad</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-74145669877410430002011-07-29T12:10:00.000-07:002011-08-03T13:34:40.357-07:00Breakfast. - a brief post.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRhBpZUd56-iig1J2gb-zQR0DCboiGDdJxOVWdYXiyyl28aiB44ysAgdpess003etb3CsdWwmgn1D7LOOVkUPYlcRb2BjszNwKbpFaSQmVsTVa5I3HVJEQyvBTPIggSCDRJvNnsoU5kRTS/s1600/148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRhBpZUd56-iig1J2gb-zQR0DCboiGDdJxOVWdYXiyyl28aiB44ysAgdpess003etb3CsdWwmgn1D7LOOVkUPYlcRb2BjszNwKbpFaSQmVsTVa5I3HVJEQyvBTPIggSCDRJvNnsoU5kRTS/s320/148.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrWUwV3Hw1n4s9MiOvKsa-11yalynR94hLEOg5Qy6Fhd1O4rz8VQokHrLUsnQW1_wF2fY9e78NtEq6O-_9Jdx2mRC5W-rvru8y1SJG03cG_p4WBGXEzO71VKG29hMFexbtu0CG5Y7TuDO/s1600/032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrWUwV3Hw1n4s9MiOvKsa-11yalynR94hLEOg5Qy6Fhd1O4rz8VQokHrLUsnQW1_wF2fY9e78NtEq6O-_9Jdx2mRC5W-rvru8y1SJG03cG_p4WBGXEzO71VKG29hMFexbtu0CG5Y7TuDO/s320/032.JPG" width="320" /></a>So normally I make the same breakfast most days of the week. I make a bowl of cereal (normally cheerios), mixed with yogurt and fresh fruit. I like my breakfast. I eat it most days. So I realized that I wouldn't be having my breakfast the way I normally do, at least until I find a way to make yogurt (easy, but time consuming) and cheerios (no idea) from scratch. I had baked some delicious bread the night before, and made jam and butter, so I could have jam and butter on toast, like I did today. But normally I like a little protein on the menu, so I went with eggs. Or, more accurately, I went with AN egg. One. The loneliest. . . . Never mind.<br />
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I decided on something pretty simple, but delicious. If I were being fancy, I'd call it caprese breakfast sandwich or something. See-- Insta fancy. But in my mind it was just egg and bread with some garnishes.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmano7JCRCMt-jsXQNrHFNUZpPuiGy7ws0Q7IO4q-7Ilayv4RLTxBj69XBq7LZDD6qe4pv8OkE-mIJFuN4l6llI2BbMmyYui_q-svLzXEbwuUA93BdnbgAGwo3whrUhJwxgKvN1KrZJkPr/s1600/150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmano7JCRCMt-jsXQNrHFNUZpPuiGy7ws0Q7IO4q-7Ilayv4RLTxBj69XBq7LZDD6qe4pv8OkE-mIJFuN4l6llI2BbMmyYui_q-svLzXEbwuUA93BdnbgAGwo3whrUhJwxgKvN1KrZJkPr/s320/150.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>First, I sliced bread. That's pretty self explanatory. Then I fried an egg. Yes, my pan was a little too hot. The egg bubbled in a way that I wish it hadn't. But it still tasted good. Once the white had started to set, I sprinkled some salt over the egg.<br />
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---A note on salt--- When I say salt, unless I specify otherwise, I use kosher salt, not iodized table salt. Table salt leaves a one note bitter taste in the mouth. That's all. ---<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEqQt6182RaJha2cDLf9AgwRVnzq8OeDk-bljpsYodOKiSnA7nJTpNLSPlpBs83SeWVq4S3dHTC5f32gW4URC2w9lCYzlGrb0pOVWqKQarGqd0Acik2DRizbF67AOEdEzcYwAl6nS7jTLD/s1600/151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEqQt6182RaJha2cDLf9AgwRVnzq8OeDk-bljpsYodOKiSnA7nJTpNLSPlpBs83SeWVq4S3dHTC5f32gW4URC2w9lCYzlGrb0pOVWqKQarGqd0Acik2DRizbF67AOEdEzcYwAl6nS7jTLD/s320/151.JPG" width="320" /></a>While My egg cooked (Don't worry, I turned the pan down) I started assembling my sandwich. I laid some good basil on the slice of bread. Because I like basil. Then I turned back to the egg and flipped it over. I was going for over easy, since that works well in a sandwich. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY7PDFP1zrdIxjDB5IJJcr_PLhgMQci643_VovuURLXV64slrhQ6prZPOTA9-r7-8UZF9dEeJEgN6brBsMkrovHZ4Jzuhdh88qbHUaAT0M6En0gOcMDGj1WXzFJ-7NYzFsf2eMWX7ub7S4/s1600/153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY7PDFP1zrdIxjDB5IJJcr_PLhgMQci643_VovuURLXV64slrhQ6prZPOTA9-r7-8UZF9dEeJEgN6brBsMkrovHZ4Jzuhdh88qbHUaAT0M6En0gOcMDGj1WXzFJ-7NYzFsf2eMWX7ub7S4/s320/153.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Next, I put my over-easy egg on top of the basil. I poured a stream of good balsamic vinegar over the egg. I like the whole acidic thing, and good balsamic makes almost everything just a little better. I used a little more vinegar than what is shown here. I evened it out a bit.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrFiAKRL7IO78zre-wN2cQVnv9C9kuiUjGvtNxCD4YqixoDbDdWV79nbYFybSwUe17N9OXHmcocDMyXDgGYcshZ9fTubvNct9qHQtAN1E9RrOxgSfEs9D7gey7UFG_GaId9Nx-hZQWsSG/s1600/154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrFiAKRL7IO78zre-wN2cQVnv9C9kuiUjGvtNxCD4YqixoDbDdWV79nbYFybSwUe17N9OXHmcocDMyXDgGYcshZ9fTubvNct9qHQtAN1E9RrOxgSfEs9D7gey7UFG_GaId9Nx-hZQWsSG/s320/154.JPG" width="320" /></a>Next, I put some slices of good, ripe, heirloom tomatoes (because that's what I had) on top of the eggs. I sprinkled a little salt on the tomatoes too. Like eggs, tomatoes do a bit better with salt. It really brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6oiI3QpV7t7kd-r1FQmMJHR9BXFN45H5UOgFU4jdeVnKTD-gTsFL35oWoilcIUvKZvuxWcMBxW_bHRsTE9V-3-sfn7ootlMf3T4ap1LwcL3rC546rCNzQsB8vi5QPvjGS_76RFWpqEum/s1600/155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6oiI3QpV7t7kd-r1FQmMJHR9BXFN45H5UOgFU4jdeVnKTD-gTsFL35oWoilcIUvKZvuxWcMBxW_bHRsTE9V-3-sfn7ootlMf3T4ap1LwcL3rC546rCNzQsB8vi5QPvjGS_76RFWpqEum/s320/155.JPG" width="320" /></a>Next, The top slice of bread. And, with a little squeeze, some of my perfect, over easy egg yolk oozed out. I like it when it does that. It makes instant sauce for my sandwich. And I like my sandwiches saucy. . .heh. <br />
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This is a pretty good, relatively healthy breakfast. If you need a little more fuel, or have a bigger calorie budget than I do, you can always add another egg, or a slice of cheese. It was delicious as is.Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-37419522105623705342011-07-28T19:39:00.000-07:002011-08-03T14:42:28.118-07:00Butter and Jam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKoo6za7XJLnuQAak2kDS3y9FeydAibHzxVUvbqpFrU4H_8G4u0yG0tm89SUjuMDrDTYHbUe7YaKAzQQx33-VtzFao9FmcAtiutMJZ3lKmHUj-J_K4x0sNxMEkptZtmttih1lMsogXcHYv/s1600/127.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKoo6za7XJLnuQAak2kDS3y9FeydAibHzxVUvbqpFrU4H_8G4u0yG0tm89SUjuMDrDTYHbUe7YaKAzQQx33-VtzFao9FmcAtiutMJZ3lKmHUj-J_K4x0sNxMEkptZtmttih1lMsogXcHYv/s320/127.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>As we learned, I was making bread. And a lot of the bread making process involves waiting. And I'm not always the most patient person. While I was waiting for my bread, I tried cleaning my fridge and came across a jar of my favorite cherry jam.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PTa-9aC8PvCVzY2BySaurmfIfHmUqGnZl_HwxTguEOrB5S8KMZeBviFQQrcCkq2Tgip3J5qH9Rdf7TIudjKL0vTi3DrfJUnRpwy_b0jgkjVZVKg566EocxZVmdQ9L8_SKJaCQpawAUeW/s1600/132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PTa-9aC8PvCVzY2BySaurmfIfHmUqGnZl_HwxTguEOrB5S8KMZeBviFQQrcCkq2Tgip3J5qH9Rdf7TIudjKL0vTi3DrfJUnRpwy_b0jgkjVZVKg566EocxZVmdQ9L8_SKJaCQpawAUeW/s320/132.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> <br />
"That'd be good on bread," I thought. "But wait, that surely isn't homemade. I better make my own." I had cherries in my fridge, so I tried to come up with a way of making good cherry jam. All my recipes involve the use of pectin. I had no pectin. So I experimented and googled, and thanks to the genius of David Lebovitz, I came up with <a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/06/norecipe-yikes/">this </a>technique. I made a few tweaks, but that's just fine. It's not like he used an actual recipe.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVe0PsrcuTgWLjTfybfvxYfjzRT07gv3mvvaPTKDzIiudJ39VqynpZFXirFJj6O47ET-KQMzvhrjxg7fm_0i7IIUhem6rtyYhm7Lk8Fn_M11qXzeUS4Y3jD7Js5YPcHA2_RjAZVLxNC7v/s1600/139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVe0PsrcuTgWLjTfybfvxYfjzRT07gv3mvvaPTKDzIiudJ39VqynpZFXirFJj6O47ET-KQMzvhrjxg7fm_0i7IIUhem6rtyYhm7Lk8Fn_M11qXzeUS4Y3jD7Js5YPcHA2_RjAZVLxNC7v/s320/139.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Where he used lemon zest, I used both lemon and orange zest. Where he used white sugar, I used half brown sugar and half splenda. Would it have tasted better with sugar only? Quite possibly, but I'm working on losing weight. I also used significantly less sugar than the "recipe" called for, and just cooked it for longer. It was absolutely delicious. I finished mine with almond extract, not kirsch. Why? I had almond extract in the pantry. I didn't have kirsch.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEtQ8B004LuEjhb8eemRsr8UXCna73-BOLdY4t1uktxPxiU2yhYRNoCl6kVptT0KDV1WB2-RKFYjvJr6Xjh1mIZ9YmTYF389H-puLIOAoB1tXTV0HA2Ns2uuxFEg6b2t2Xd0_Db-r9iZUT/s1600/141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEtQ8B004LuEjhb8eemRsr8UXCna73-BOLdY4t1uktxPxiU2yhYRNoCl6kVptT0KDV1WB2-RKFYjvJr6Xjh1mIZ9YmTYF389H-puLIOAoB1tXTV0HA2Ns2uuxFEg6b2t2Xd0_Db-r9iZUT/s320/141.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I didn't can my jam in the traditional, will keep for ages kind of way. It's delicious, so I fully anticipate using it quickly. I put it in an old jelly jar I have. It was definitely clean, but not hardcore sanitized. If I were making the jelly to keep for ages, I'd use more proper canning techniques. <br />
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The jam turned out amazingly. It was delicious on toast in the morning, and was also delicious over yogurt. No, I did not make my own yogurt this week. I had a little bit that needed to be used, and instead of wasting food, I used the yogurt. I'm imagining this jam as a beautiful filling in either lemon or chocolate cake as well. Of course that's not healthy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZT8KkQ-s2zeTi0sq-TM5QKaCzvoyxkLA1Ylhop9qCN8xLm5zKomdYQXwv1Rab9o-pzhfsEP5TkvzT7xSE6uUr9x9WBAFXu7eCw_T4S_EVvxEQliXRXYgRG3qym9jA8FcRtSA4VnrDg3k/s1600/126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZT8KkQ-s2zeTi0sq-TM5QKaCzvoyxkLA1Ylhop9qCN8xLm5zKomdYQXwv1Rab9o-pzhfsEP5TkvzT7xSE6uUr9x9WBAFXu7eCw_T4S_EVvxEQliXRXYgRG3qym9jA8FcRtSA4VnrDg3k/s320/126.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Along with Jam, I made butter. It sounds WAY harder than it is. I had some heavy cream in my refrigerator, so I threw it into the mixer with a whisk attachment. It's just like making whipped cream, only we're WAY over-whipping the cream I made this butter very lightly salted. I generally don't bake with salted butter since I like to control the amount of salt in my food, but on bread, I like the taste of salted butter. I made it salted, since I know exactly how much salt ended up in the butter.<br />
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I brought my cream through beautifully whipped, to chunky and overwhipped, and kept it going. I wasn't paying attention to the mixer. I was shaping the bread loaves. When i started hearing liquid sloshing -- ok, when liquid sloshed out of the bowl and hit me in the eye-- i turned around and looked. Here's what I had. The liquid (buttermilk), and the butter had separated. I had beautiful, dense butter clumped in the whisk. I shaped it into a log, wrapped it in saran wrap, and refrigerated it. It is DELICIOUS.Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-28040357342542349932011-07-27T20:38:00.000-07:002011-07-28T19:18:56.269-07:00Bread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO3h5hlitA_0wvT-ogvFz7SjqfBOo5xUOb3zPHNmGrwPXnzNx-EhQ2-uvmOo4-04qk5CyhavbmE4YodB5X1cTCb_kGVwsiWzlF9cstBVBA1N4a1svVE_Zj4GxUBsEtsba48tZDGVjee3Me/s1600/146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO3h5hlitA_0wvT-ogvFz7SjqfBOo5xUOb3zPHNmGrwPXnzNx-EhQ2-uvmOo4-04qk5CyhavbmE4YodB5X1cTCb_kGVwsiWzlF9cstBVBA1N4a1svVE_Zj4GxUBsEtsba48tZDGVjee3Me/s320/146.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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One of those things I find absolutely irresistible is bread. I could eat bread and butter all the time. I don't, but there's nothing better than good warm bread with melty butter. And maybe a little Jelly. Plus, I like sandwiches, and I was realizing there's no good way to make cereal from scratch, aside from granola, which isn't the healthiest, so I set about making good, high fiber, healthy sandwich bread.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">Here's the ingredient list.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">1 ½ C lukewarm milk</div><div class="MsoNormal">¾ tbsp Yeast</div><div class="MsoNormal">1 tsp kosher salt</div><div class="MsoNormal">¼ c maple syrup</div><div class="MsoNormal">2 Tbsp oil</div><div class="MsoNormal">1 c All Purpose Flour</div><div class="MsoNormal">2 c Whole Wheat flour</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/3 C wheat germ</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/3 c rolled oats</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Don't be thrown by the picture. I was making two loaves, one for me and one for a friend. And I left the oil out of the lineup. But it made it into the actual bread. Don't worry. </div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now bread making seems intimidating to some, or so I hear. For me it's a relaxing, almost meditative process. If I use good ingredients and do things right, the bread always comes out beautifully. And makes my entire apartment smell awesome. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpM2fVixlYvZ73W_01FxFc06UdvqoIRpwcj9c43k-Ai8NPxiw6SV1Ywa5PSt7VkdYZg1M2ypvhsdL6nWc72h4Lb2elspjV62IwJDmgvlMefy6P6oxpx2XNs4y50w8epWK7fKr9m3jDk_df/s1600/110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpM2fVixlYvZ73W_01FxFc06UdvqoIRpwcj9c43k-Ai8NPxiw6SV1Ywa5PSt7VkdYZg1M2ypvhsdL6nWc72h4Lb2elspjV62IwJDmgvlMefy6P6oxpx2XNs4y50w8epWK7fKr9m3jDk_df/s320/110.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Step 1. Proof the yeast. Put the yeast, the maple syrup (use the good stuff people, not "pancake syrup), and the lukewarm milk in a large bowl, or in the bowl of your mixer. I did this bread by hand because-- hello! arm workout! -- but it works just fine in a mixer. You want the milk to be lukewarm but not too warm. don't want to kill the yeast. Mix the yeast, syrup, and milk together until the yeast is involved. Leave it alone for 5-10 minutes and let the yeast bubble. if you don't get bubbles, you're using dead yeast. get fresh stuff. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3XEGum1BsVDbxcjuL6msiG7dHzBubZUm6N0ZyYhOnyww4maDbNyThLV2AVdn-QWvawWLHqd7HFrgdKbSy_vVyZXPEhzZsNFCP8W442oVG1wctgYwyPh-bY1p83H1b0UipjnTbjb3pBslC/s1600/118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3XEGum1BsVDbxcjuL6msiG7dHzBubZUm6N0ZyYhOnyww4maDbNyThLV2AVdn-QWvawWLHqd7HFrgdKbSy_vVyZXPEhzZsNFCP8W442oVG1wctgYwyPh-bY1p83H1b0UipjnTbjb3pBslC/s320/118.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Step 2. Once you have bubbles, time to add about 3/4 of the flour (wing it), the oil, the wheat germ, and the oats. if the mixture feels too moist, add more flour. if not, leave it. When I was baking, it took about 2 cups more than it normally does It still turned out well in the end. The texture you're looking for is not dry, it's slightly sticky but not tacky. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1nXUiEDeA5hcUtwrfVaj_PdMTdM1mYzIhv5a0bXaYwQyT9CMjp8wwEZA3zcpOb7Xre7NKQMPDYYZPlhycVJ3WD1-8UPjeyziMnI6_kJW7ztS4CUyjftBKyQw4KMmKkOCxM60WEBWpAGy/s1600/120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1nXUiEDeA5hcUtwrfVaj_PdMTdM1mYzIhv5a0bXaYwQyT9CMjp8wwEZA3zcpOb7Xre7NKQMPDYYZPlhycVJ3WD1-8UPjeyziMnI6_kJW7ztS4CUyjftBKyQw4KMmKkOCxM60WEBWpAGy/s320/120.JPG" width="320" /></a>It's kind of hard to describe the texture right. I'm sure there are bread blogs out there that do a far better job than i do. But here's a picture of the dough, before it came together with kneading. I turned it out onto a fairly generously floured board to knead it. I find that bread won't take a whole lot more flour than it needs to, even while kneading. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9HLaDOgsGZX81qzF-gT9EUkg4OCBGCOkeMpidhIWDuHgQh-QGXQ-OXh4bjuya11vT6-fEmgmWU3TjE8nIFyPtoRGCnwLfP5HSIjVY7uXDPvPrUDJNnk6jLEEYdh6qtYS5SfkTKv4Axsy/s1600/122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9HLaDOgsGZX81qzF-gT9EUkg4OCBGCOkeMpidhIWDuHgQh-QGXQ-OXh4bjuya11vT6-fEmgmWU3TjE8nIFyPtoRGCnwLfP5HSIjVY7uXDPvPrUDJNnk6jLEEYdh6qtYS5SfkTKv4Axsy/s320/122.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Step3. Knead the dough until it is smooth, elastic, consistently textured dough. Yes, there will be bumps from the oats and wheat germs, but we're going for general consistency here. I go by texture to tell when bread dough has been kneaded a lot, but I've made lots of bread. For less experienced bakers, use <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/bakers-techniques-how-to-do-the-windowpane-test-when-kneading-bread-070784">the windowpane test</a>. It took me maybe 10 minutes to knead by hand, but it really is quicker in a machine with a dough hook. I think I may do that with the next loaf. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2dvRXSanEtnRasvu-XtY17zplXyPRB71fyV1CJUJqMyrOXA9XCCUkZW1eRMYsMts0P0lj84C4s0lx5S-nrmqOHmUjlV-Q8NOQJb1Z8UdnWR2BXSsM-Nn1WXSuBDgcFgIOE1TBBwgjhldf/s1600/123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2dvRXSanEtnRasvu-XtY17zplXyPRB71fyV1CJUJqMyrOXA9XCCUkZW1eRMYsMts0P0lj84C4s0lx5S-nrmqOHmUjlV-Q8NOQJb1Z8UdnWR2BXSsM-Nn1WXSuBDgcFgIOE1TBBwgjhldf/s320/123.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Step 4. Once the dough is kneaded, put it in an oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp dishtowel and either put it in the refrigerator overnight for a slow rise or in a warm, but not hot, place for at least a couple hours. I put it out on my balcony in the hot LA sun, probably in the 80-90 degree range. It rose beautifully.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRBOJTquPHyh0od6zykRlQdSMPLn6pkGYU3MIo6px-uLa9-lmXbls1ikWCTyKlvMJ0Stlp9IVSzXxXuw60GmIzZ-O1RDq_NmVJBqsOchzJRHlKuD1yr0U_sKbUL0DQor4B1kxiinIwd6q/s1600/134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRBOJTquPHyh0od6zykRlQdSMPLn6pkGYU3MIo6px-uLa9-lmXbls1ikWCTyKlvMJ0Stlp9IVSzXxXuw60GmIzZ-O1RDq_NmVJBqsOchzJRHlKuD1yr0U_sKbUL0DQor4B1kxiinIwd6q/s320/134.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Step 5. Once the dough is risen, it's time to shape the loaves. Here's the risen dough. It had easily doubled in size and was sort of flattening out over the top of the bowl. First, it's time to punch the dough down so that we don't get big air bubbles in our bread. Punching risen dough down may be my favorite part of baking bread. It's like punching into a whoopie cushion, a little.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPydjbOqiU1FfY_DRc1DSl9mcxdtF7oP5ZybiuEWHwe6WnhfDeo9wqvlKuf72eDLdTkX2LZWn9ANo3-1CZz_GUz1cQumec072XUAiTzBS3xnCsQa-RZletn9YHEJ8RX9-G62gD6MDdPfP/s1600/136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPydjbOqiU1FfY_DRc1DSl9mcxdtF7oP5ZybiuEWHwe6WnhfDeo9wqvlKuf72eDLdTkX2LZWn9ANo3-1CZz_GUz1cQumec072XUAiTzBS3xnCsQa-RZletn9YHEJ8RX9-G62gD6MDdPfP/s320/136.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This bread can either be shaped into <a href="http://ramblingrose.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c589d53ef0120a5f7e47f970c-550wi">boules </a>or made into loaves. Since I was craving sandwiches, I went the loaf route. I used 2 beautiful loaf pans I got for my birthday a few years back, but any old loaf pan will do. I greased the pans really well, but next time, lining them with parchment will work better. There was some stickage. Once the bread was in the pans, I left them alone to proof again, just on the counter, for 20 or 30 minutes. During this time, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK6FSAekWzm8O4GKUznbg_k_r6J7s_wHHU0bwNJAnKy_KLE6Yo-gi2fNGOtBWZLN4UO1-fK1FYiUOWLsCfgaMabf4KVWiNeTr6aIM90DoKcvzS13rWZViNc1m0EglvTJqyyW1BC3gY_9DS/s1600/143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK6FSAekWzm8O4GKUznbg_k_r6J7s_wHHU0bwNJAnKy_KLE6Yo-gi2fNGOtBWZLN4UO1-fK1FYiUOWLsCfgaMabf4KVWiNeTr6aIM90DoKcvzS13rWZViNc1m0EglvTJqyyW1BC3gY_9DS/s320/143.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Step 6. Once the bread had risen again and the oven was preheated, It was time to bake. I just popped the bread into the oven. The baking process takes 50 or so minutes (until a thermometer inserted into the bread hits about 195 degrees). At about 40 minutes, I rubbed the tops in butter. No, the butter isn't homemade, though there's an upcoming post about homemade butter and jam. But I had an open stick of butter that needed to be used. I don't use a ton of butter, just enough to thinly coat the top. It makes it shinier, and, as it does with everything, makes it more delicious. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO3h5hlitA_0wvT-ogvFz7SjqfBOo5xUOb3zPHNmGrwPXnzNx-EhQ2-uvmOo4-04qk5CyhavbmE4YodB5X1cTCb_kGVwsiWzlF9cstBVBA1N4a1svVE_Zj4GxUBsEtsba48tZDGVjee3Me/s1600/146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO3h5hlitA_0wvT-ogvFz7SjqfBOo5xUOb3zPHNmGrwPXnzNx-EhQ2-uvmOo4-04qk5CyhavbmE4YodB5X1cTCb_kGVwsiWzlF9cstBVBA1N4a1svVE_Zj4GxUBsEtsba48tZDGVjee3Me/s320/146.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Step 7. Now this is the absolute hardest part. Once the bread is done, take it out of the oven. Don't slice into it until it is cool. Your kitchen will smell amazing, the bred will be warm, shiny, and delicious, but don't. sit on your hands. hide your bread knife. You don't want your beautiful bread to fall apart, do you? Once the bread is easy to touch, feel free to take it out of the pan, but don't slice it till it's cool.<br />
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Step 8. Once it's cool, go ahead and enjoy your bread. Enjoy it in sandwiches, enjoy it plain, enjoy it with butter, enjoy it with jam. This is pretty healthy sandwich bread. Lower calorie than the stuff in the store, and with way less weird stuff in it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6oiI3QpV7t7kd-r1FQmMJHR9BXFN45H5UOgFU4jdeVnKTD-gTsFL35oWoilcIUvKZvuxWcMBxW_bHRsTE9V-3-sfn7ootlMf3T4ap1LwcL3rC546rCNzQsB8vi5QPvjGS_76RFWpqEum/s1600/155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6oiI3QpV7t7kd-r1FQmMJHR9BXFN45H5UOgFU4jdeVnKTD-gTsFL35oWoilcIUvKZvuxWcMBxW_bHRsTE9V-3-sfn7ootlMf3T4ap1LwcL3rC546rCNzQsB8vi5QPvjGS_76RFWpqEum/s200/155.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNk93fERH5foV2FIkEnmw4xUV_qFfHr6I5gUPr8kyKAiNZMZnG4ZBtlv4aL_pWc9ADicWMNQtoBSZLx3u-6-cqiiZ5REeqnbF8EaxMFnSDllMIP1qpAejfuQyq-nZ5byjIQ0ribvNB2A9y/s1600/149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNk93fERH5foV2FIkEnmw4xUV_qFfHr6I5gUPr8kyKAiNZMZnG4ZBtlv4aL_pWc9ADicWMNQtoBSZLx3u-6-cqiiZ5REeqnbF8EaxMFnSDllMIP1qpAejfuQyq-nZ5byjIQ0ribvNB2A9y/s200/149.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2566610571137867483.post-13963220419804175132011-07-25T15:37:00.000-07:002011-07-25T15:37:44.777-07:00Made From ScratchEveryone who knows me knows I think about food a lot. Even now that I'm back in school, cooking is a huge part of my life. So the fact that I was thinking about food at some point last Saturday night is no big surprise. But the fact that a random little thought is kind of snowballing into something bigger is a little bit of a surprise. The thought was simply that less than 100 years ago, everyone made just about everything they ate from scratch. There were no super-mega grocery chains with 500 different types of bread, drive through restaurants. People made food from raw ingredients, and generally ate healthier, and weight a whole lot less. Given that I've pretty much struggled with my weight for my entire adult (And teenage, for that matter) life, something about only eating stuff I made entirely from scratch totally appeals to me. I get to control what goes into it, and, thus, what goes into me. Plus, I think it'll be fun. So here goes--- Cooking from scratch. Or, as I've heard certain small children say, "cooking by scratching."<br />
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Of course there are going to be some ground rules. I have to be a realist.<br />
<ol><li>I'm allowed to go out for dinner every now and then. I'm going to do my best to keep it healthy, but if an when I go out, I get to order off the menu, without worrying if every last ingredient is made from scratch.</li>
<li>The first couple weeks are going to be transitional. I'm going to do my best in cooking everything from scratch, but I'm also going to use up what's left in my fridge. They're also going to be the weeks where I do stuff like make big stashes of granola and yogurt, stuff I eat all the time. </li>
<li>While it's my goal to make everything from scratch, realistically there are a couple things I'm not going to make from scratch. </li>
</ol><ul><li>Dairy products- I'm not gonna be out milking cows. I will make my own butter and yogurt. I rarely eat cheese, but when a recipe calls for something like Parmesan, I'm buying that. I'll make soft cheeses like ricotta though. </li>
<li>Meat products- I'm not gonna be butchering anything larger than a chicken. Why? I live in a 1 bedroom apartment in an urban area. I'm entirely OK with purchasing meats. I will make my own sausages. I'm on the fence about bacon and other seriously cured meats. Realistically I can't cure bacon in my apartment. Do I give it up? Do I occasionally buy bacon? I don't eat a ton of bacon, but it's not necessarily something I want to give up entirely.</li>
<li>Alcohol- I'm not a big drinker. Occasionally I enjoy a glass of wine, a beer, or a cocktail. I'm not ready to be a home-brewer. I don't have the set up for a winery. If I want to mix a cocktail, everything except the booze has to be from scratch. </li>
</ul><br />
For now, that's it. Now I'm going to get cooking. I'm making bread.Kate Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024646815746280650noreply@blogger.com2