I've realized more and more that I come from a family of cooks. My mom has always been a from-scratch cook, like her mom and her grandmother who lived on a farm in Napa Valley. My dad has been the big surprise- during his working years (aka, all the years until last summer) his extent of cooking was...eggs? Campbell's soup? Grilled cheese, definitely. Manning the grill in the summertime off and on. And taking us out to dinner was his specialty! But since retirement he has caught the cooking bug, so to speak, and whips up gourmet meals (think grilled watermelon salad with feta and arugula) all the time. This is all to say, Thanksgiving is serious at our house and serious in a different way than with Brian's family. They are big on tradition- sage stuffing, cranberry "salad," home canned green beans, mac and cheese, etc. You do not mess with the meal at their house. We like to try new things and Mom has been cataloging our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals in a notebook for a few years now, taking note of what we liked and what didn't work. This year we've split the menu pretty evenly and here's what we're making:
Mom:
2 Turkey Breasts
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Souffle
Green Salad
Cranberry sauce (canned and fresh. I have a die hard love for the canned cranberry sauce, I don't care what anyone says about it).
Coconut-Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Me:
Garlic-Rosemary Rolls
Brussels Sprouts
Wild Mushroom and Bacon Stuffing
Salted Caramel Chocolate Pecan Pie
I'm spreading out the work over the week- pie crust and fresh bread for the stuffing were made on Sunday. Tomorrow I'll make the dough for the rolls, (it's a breadmaker recipe so don't be too impressed), the stuffing and the chocolate base for the pie, and probably prep the Brussels Sprouts. Then on Thursday I'll let the rolls rise and bake, cook up the sprouts (probably with bacon) and top the pie with pecans and fresh caramel.
To be clear, this meal is for my parents, Brian and I. We're having a very small Thanksgiving this year and planning on lots of leftovers!
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
34 Weeks: Thanksgiving!
34 weeks pregnant and it's Thanksgiving. I can't believe I'm truly in the home stretch of pregnancy. In those early, early days when Caleb was the size of a pea the idea of the holidays and being this far along seemed so very far away. In truth, it was- he and I have come a long, long way in the past 8 months.
Remember when there was no bump at all?? Like, in July?
Now the bump is unmistakable, even under my super-cute maternity coat. I'm so attuned to Caleb's patterns- he likes to be awake when I'm at work, mostly because I sit and eat candy all day. He gets extra sleep on the weekends, when I'm up and around more. He gets the hiccups a lot now and his little head bumps against the inside of my pelvis. (I'm pretty sure he's been head down for weeks now.) It's the weirdest feeling. I asked Dr. K today why babies get hiccups in the womb and she said they don't know!! Of all the random medical things that haven't been figured out, baby womb hiccups is one of them. He likes to stretch out his legs when I'm lying on my side, which means his little butt stretches one way and his feet go the other way across my belly. Stretch, hold and relax, stretch, hold and relax, a few times in a row. Because he's an unmistakable teeny person in there, I never feel alone anymore, I'm always aware of the fact that I'm carrying around our baby with me. As in, this weekend Caleb and I went to yoga, met a new friend, watched a lot of HGTV, prepped for Thanksgiving and made 60+ potstickers. And speaking of Thanksgiving, coming up tomorrow, the 2013 Distel-Sigmon Thanksgiving game plan!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Taking it easy in the kitchen: Steak Frites
Over the weekend I told Brian dinners were going to come down a notch. The extra weight of carrying this baby around all the time is starting to get to me, and long stretches in the kitchen belly up to the counter (literally) just aren't comfortable. I'm to the point where I look at my not pregnant friends and wonder if I will ever be that free and easy in my movement again. But that's not the point here. The point here is, I told Brian I was going to be taking it easy for meals, but then I went ahead and made steak frites with salad and homemade ice cream last night. And thank God I did, because that was one of the best home cooked meals we've had in a while, probably since I made mussels frites.
Here's the trick. I've figured it out. Cook from the cookbooks you love and trust. I love my food blogs and Pinterest and get tons of inspiration from them, but I would have to say my favorite cookbooks are Smitten Kitchen, by Deb Perelman and Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, by Martha Hall Foose. Our dinner lives improve dramatically when I cook from these books. I keep telling Brian I'm going to try to cook my way through these two, his response being "you should, I'd love that!"
The steak last night was a big 1.25lb porterhouse (on sale at the grocery store, no less!) topped with a blue cheese compound butter. If you've got SD&ST, it's called the Blue Cheese Porterhouse. Steak is something I'm wary of cooking at home, I'll admit. Even on sale, it's $8 a pound or so, and for $8 a pound I really don't want to eat tough steak. But I trusted Foose and followed her timing to the letter and ended up with a perfectly medium, tender steak, from my home oven no less! When your steak tastes like it came from a fantastic restaurant, all of sudden $8 a pound seems like a bargain. I only made one change: she calls for you to cook the steak on a broiler pan. If I have a broiler pan, I don't know where or what it is, so I used a cast iron skillet. It held up just fine under the broiler for 10 minutes. I can't rave about this recipe enough, I was so sad that a: I didn't have more steak and b: I've had this cookbook for FIVE years and this is first time I've tried this.
The frites I've already discussed here. They're from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and the absolute easiest homemade fries. The ice cream is a buttermilk peach ice cream, also from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. The salad was a usual in our house: baby greens topped with a fruit, a cheese and nuts- last night it was apples, blue cheese and walnuts.
I didn't take any photos because it's pitch black when we eat and nothing looks good in our dining room light, but I assure you, photographic evidence or not, the meal happened.
Here's the trick. I've figured it out. Cook from the cookbooks you love and trust. I love my food blogs and Pinterest and get tons of inspiration from them, but I would have to say my favorite cookbooks are Smitten Kitchen, by Deb Perelman and Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, by Martha Hall Foose. Our dinner lives improve dramatically when I cook from these books. I keep telling Brian I'm going to try to cook my way through these two, his response being "you should, I'd love that!"
The steak last night was a big 1.25lb porterhouse (on sale at the grocery store, no less!) topped with a blue cheese compound butter. If you've got SD&ST, it's called the Blue Cheese Porterhouse. Steak is something I'm wary of cooking at home, I'll admit. Even on sale, it's $8 a pound or so, and for $8 a pound I really don't want to eat tough steak. But I trusted Foose and followed her timing to the letter and ended up with a perfectly medium, tender steak, from my home oven no less! When your steak tastes like it came from a fantastic restaurant, all of sudden $8 a pound seems like a bargain. I only made one change: she calls for you to cook the steak on a broiler pan. If I have a broiler pan, I don't know where or what it is, so I used a cast iron skillet. It held up just fine under the broiler for 10 minutes. I can't rave about this recipe enough, I was so sad that a: I didn't have more steak and b: I've had this cookbook for FIVE years and this is first time I've tried this.
The frites I've already discussed here. They're from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and the absolute easiest homemade fries. The ice cream is a buttermilk peach ice cream, also from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. The salad was a usual in our house: baby greens topped with a fruit, a cheese and nuts- last night it was apples, blue cheese and walnuts.
I didn't take any photos because it's pitch black when we eat and nothing looks good in our dining room light, but I assure you, photographic evidence or not, the meal happened.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Maternity Wardrobe Essentials
Every pregnant lady writes this post, right? Here's a few things that I could not have done without so far in the pregnancy:
Garnier BB Cream. I used to be the best sleeper. I slept from 10:30 to 6:30 every single night, without fail. I never woke up in the middle of the night, not to roll over, not to use the bathroom, nothing. Now that I'm sleeping in, at best, 4 hour stretches, I decided an addition to my morning routine might be helpful to combat the zombie face effect. This is when you're grateful for a sister who's a make-up artist. She recommended Garnier's BB Cream especially since I don't wear make-up on a daily basis. Just this, and maybe a swipe of mascara, makes all the difference.
A great maternity coat. I'm pregnant for a good 3 months of winter, and that doesn't include post-postpartum time, so we decided that a maternity coat was a wise investment. Mine, shown above, is super cute, with a punch of color and the belt emphasizing the bump. I feel put together, even when only a handful of items fit.
Speaking of things not fitting, thank goodness for black flats. Back in September I bought two pairs from Kohl's and wear them daily. My Ugg boots still fit, so I'm currently running around in Uggs for outdoors, with a pair of flats in my bag.
Black Leggings. I have two pairs that I switch out under my dresses. They're not maternity leggings, I just wear them under my bump and I'm good to go. This is necessary as it gets colder and as my dresses get slightly shorter by the week!!
I'm also wearing cute earrings, other accessories and my hair down more, in an effort to distract from the insane bump that is Caleb growing by the week. We're now at the point where people say "Are you having that baby this month??" I'm sure they mean well...
Garnier BB Cream. I used to be the best sleeper. I slept from 10:30 to 6:30 every single night, without fail. I never woke up in the middle of the night, not to roll over, not to use the bathroom, nothing. Now that I'm sleeping in, at best, 4 hour stretches, I decided an addition to my morning routine might be helpful to combat the zombie face effect. This is when you're grateful for a sister who's a make-up artist. She recommended Garnier's BB Cream especially since I don't wear make-up on a daily basis. Just this, and maybe a swipe of mascara, makes all the difference.
A great maternity coat. I'm pregnant for a good 3 months of winter, and that doesn't include post-postpartum time, so we decided that a maternity coat was a wise investment. Mine, shown above, is super cute, with a punch of color and the belt emphasizing the bump. I feel put together, even when only a handful of items fit.
Speaking of things not fitting, thank goodness for black flats. Back in September I bought two pairs from Kohl's and wear them daily. My Ugg boots still fit, so I'm currently running around in Uggs for outdoors, with a pair of flats in my bag.
Black Leggings. I have two pairs that I switch out under my dresses. They're not maternity leggings, I just wear them under my bump and I'm good to go. This is necessary as it gets colder and as my dresses get slightly shorter by the week!!
I'm also wearing cute earrings, other accessories and my hair down more, in an effort to distract from the insane bump that is Caleb growing by the week. We're now at the point where people say "Are you having that baby this month??" I'm sure they mean well...
Monday, November 11, 2013
32 Weeks: Our cup overfloweth
Our cup, our dining room, our living room, everything. Everything overfloweth.
A family at church with three little boys passed down bins of their clothing. We went through it on Saturday morning.
My favorite, anything with a cowboy on it!
Brian says "He doesn't need more than 3 or 4 pairs of shoes, right?" Me: "I have no idea. You choose."
More cowboy!
Brian's favorite, obviously.
This is what we think we're keeping. Not shown: 6 grocery bags full to go to friends and UMC Family Services. Also not shown: the swag received at my baby shower yesterday. OMG. As Brian keeps saying, "Why does such a small baby need so much stuff??"
Me, 32 weeks pregnant. Our bedroom is still a clean, sane place, unlike our living room and dining room.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Fall 2013 Hits and Misses
One of the reasons I started keeping a blog was to have a place to journal my favorite recipes, so I'd be able to come back to them. I still check my old blog for recipes that would otherwise be long gone. In that spirit, I thought I'd share some recent recipes that I'd like to be able to find again someday:
Hits:
The Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. These were a huge hit with Brian and a couple other families I gifted. The dough is beautiful- I let it rest at least as long she recommended, which resulted in a shiny, malleable dough that had no problems rolling out or rising. I found, with a lot of icing, these were way too sweet for me. I'd cut the amount of icing in half, or maybe skip it altogether next time. That "one" recipe made three 9x9 pans of rolls, so this is great for gifting.
The Kitchn's Orzo with Carmelized Fall Vegetables. I made this for dinner last night. The flavors are so great. I could always come up with sauteing veggies with pasta, but adding in fresh ginger took it to whole other level. Two mistakes that I'd right next time: follow the instructions and cook the orzo first. Prep the veggies before you start. I thought I could chop as I went but it caught up to me and then I got behind.
A Couple Cooks' Cinnamon Ice Cream. This is a really easy recipe that I managed to screw up. Here's the golden rule of ice cream that you do not, do not, do not break: You must freeze your KitchenAid ice cream bowl overnight. 7 or 8 hours in the fridge will not do it. Trust the Rule. I made the mistake of churning the ice cream on Sunday afternoon, only to have it not come together. I dumped the ice cream base back into my mixing bowl and threw it in the fridge, washed out the KitchenAid ice cream bowl and put it in the freezer. OVERNIGHT. Then I tried again yesterday evening- success! The ice cream took about half an hour to come together.
Serious Eats' Baba Ghanoush: I made this sometime over the summer for one of our potluck dinners with friends and it was a hit. Our non-dairy, gluten-free friends could eat it. Our friend who doesn't eat vegetables was incredibly intrigued by everyone's rave reviews, but upon hearing it was eggplant, wouldn't even try it. Their loss, our gain.
Misses:
A slow cooker red beans & rice. I won't even post the recipe, because that's not nice, the recipe is probably fine. But it made WAY too much for 2 people. Here's the deal on red beans and rice, especially when you live in Wisconsin: Zatarain's is delicious. You need a quick meal? Use the box. Add some sausage. The end.
Hits:
The Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. These were a huge hit with Brian and a couple other families I gifted. The dough is beautiful- I let it rest at least as long she recommended, which resulted in a shiny, malleable dough that had no problems rolling out or rising. I found, with a lot of icing, these were way too sweet for me. I'd cut the amount of icing in half, or maybe skip it altogether next time. That "one" recipe made three 9x9 pans of rolls, so this is great for gifting.
The Kitchn's Orzo with Carmelized Fall Vegetables. I made this for dinner last night. The flavors are so great. I could always come up with sauteing veggies with pasta, but adding in fresh ginger took it to whole other level. Two mistakes that I'd right next time: follow the instructions and cook the orzo first. Prep the veggies before you start. I thought I could chop as I went but it caught up to me and then I got behind.
A Couple Cooks' Cinnamon Ice Cream. This is a really easy recipe that I managed to screw up. Here's the golden rule of ice cream that you do not, do not, do not break: You must freeze your KitchenAid ice cream bowl overnight. 7 or 8 hours in the fridge will not do it. Trust the Rule. I made the mistake of churning the ice cream on Sunday afternoon, only to have it not come together. I dumped the ice cream base back into my mixing bowl and threw it in the fridge, washed out the KitchenAid ice cream bowl and put it in the freezer. OVERNIGHT. Then I tried again yesterday evening- success! The ice cream took about half an hour to come together.
Serious Eats' Baba Ghanoush: I made this sometime over the summer for one of our potluck dinners with friends and it was a hit. Our non-dairy, gluten-free friends could eat it. Our friend who doesn't eat vegetables was incredibly intrigued by everyone's rave reviews, but upon hearing it was eggplant, wouldn't even try it. Their loss, our gain.
Misses:
A slow cooker red beans & rice. I won't even post the recipe, because that's not nice, the recipe is probably fine. But it made WAY too much for 2 people. Here's the deal on red beans and rice, especially when you live in Wisconsin: Zatarain's is delicious. You need a quick meal? Use the box. Add some sausage. The end.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Week 31: So Pregnant, So Busy
I didn't post at all last week, and there's a reason for that: I am entirely too busy. It's true. I was too busy to remember to take a photo last week, too busy to think about writing a post. I'm packed at work and I'm jam-packed outside of work. I have to start saying no, because Brian and I don't do well when both of us are crazy busy. It's especially difficult to say no to things that, in general, make me incredibly happy: leading a book study for a group at church, participating in bible study and prayer weekly with my girlfriends, but there are only so many hours in a week. Caleb is coming, the stuff is piling up, things have to start getting washed, the holidays are soon to be here. Plus, there's usual: dinner, dishes, laundry, keeping the house fairly picked up and clean. I'm in no way saying these are all my responsibilities: they're shared between Brian and I, always have been, but they have to happen.
This weekend we took it easy: we said no to a party on Saturday night, choosing to stay in, walk to Culver's for dinner and watch a movie. We chose running our errands in a leisurely fashion, finishing up Caleb's dresser, putting up artwork around the apartment that's been sitting on the floor. We asked to push an appointment back half an hour yesterday so that we could eat lunch without rushing. I took an hour half an hour in the kitchen to make the first batch of holiday cookies, Brian's favorite, my Chocolate-Gingerbread cookies. We reconnected and recharged, ready to push forward into this week.
This weekend we took it easy: we said no to a party on Saturday night, choosing to stay in, walk to Culver's for dinner and watch a movie. We chose running our errands in a leisurely fashion, finishing up Caleb's dresser, putting up artwork around the apartment that's been sitting on the floor. We asked to push an appointment back half an hour yesterday so that we could eat lunch without rushing. I took an hour half an hour in the kitchen to make the first batch of holiday cookies, Brian's favorite, my Chocolate-Gingerbread cookies. We reconnected and recharged, ready to push forward into this week.
The dresser is finally done! We picked up hardware at Home Depot and Brian promptly attached drawer pulls to finish this project.
We also pulled out the bedding and made the crib look super pretty.
So pregnant. Shortness of breath has definitely kicked in.
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