Keeping Up to Date

As week three begins in the Money Pit, we are seeing lots of progress, although the tile design in the Master bathroom is intricate, so there is a lot of sawing and cutting going on.  Pictured above is some date nut bread I made this morning from dates that I picked up at Specialty Produce last week.  Date nut bread is one of those old recipes that we never seem to make anymore, and yet, it's a lovely quick bread to serve with coffee or tea.  This one is flavored with orange juice, and it's terrific---especially if you could see that the remains are a few crumbs on the counter! 

Santee Date Nut Bread
Makes One 9 by 5-inch loaf (I used a mini bundt pan with 4 little bundts which worked perfectly)


1 cup orange juice heated 
2 cups dates, pitted and coarsely chopped (see note)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Coat the inside of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  
2. In a large mixing bowl, pour the orange juice over the dates and stir in the baking soda.  Set aside to soften the dates.
3. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the buttermilk, sugar, butter and egg.  
4. Pour in the flour, baking powder, salt, nuts, and the reserved orange juice/date mixture.  
5. Beat until the mixture is well combined.  Transfer the batter into prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for 55 to 60 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.  
6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and transfer to a wire rack and cool one hour before serving.  The loaf can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 2 months.  
7. To make cutting the dates easier, spray the blade of your knife with non-stick cooking spray.

Date Nut bread is terrific served with whipped cream cheese, and honey or honey butter.  

 This is the shower after Saturday.  

 I can't wait for this to be done!

 There is tile on the floor!!! The seat also has tile!

 Molding is in the WC room!  We are going to have to figure out what color to paint the walls soon---should be fun.  

I hope you had a great weekend, I'll be back tomorrow with some thoughts on food and community---until then enjoy your evening. 

End of Week 2 in the Money Pit, Lessons Learned

Progress is being made at Chez Phillips; last night when went to check on the master bathroom, I saw the glass tile up in the water closet---whooo hoo!  I still love it, which is a good thing.
Since we started 2 weeks ago, Dr. C and I have moved to the downstairs guest room, which has a bath off of it.
Lesson one is to always sleep in your guest room---you never know what you will find!  The bed squeaks!! It's a lovely, comfortable king size, but the bed frame squeaks, and for those late night trips to get cookies and milk, your partner discovers that you are gone on your sortie by the squeaking bed!  So, this morning, we tore the bed apart and lubed all the springs with WD-40 (love that stuff) and we are back in business! 
Lesson two is that no matter how grown up you are you still want your own sink---the guest bath only has one sink, and although we are making this work, I want my own space!
Lesson three is that workers in your house should be treated well; as I stated earlier, I have coffee and cake for the boys every morning, and I guess it is the little things that count---they are appreciative, although they think it's a bit crazy to be able to get homemade goodies rather than prepackaged snacks.  (Hear that Otis Spunkmeyer??)
Lesson four is that no matter how disruptive this is, you still have to make dinner, and the slow cooker rocks!  On Thursday I decided to make split pea soup, and the slow cooker will make any bean or pea soup better, with a long slow simmer.  I hope you enjoy it.

I started off with a ham slice (I like the "Cook's" brand, it was about 1.35 lb. but you could use polish sausage or even good quality leftover hot dogs, cut up)

Mire poix; onion, carrot and celery.

Cut up the ham, or sausage into bite sized pieces and saute (no oil needed)

Let the ham render a bit of fat, then add the onion, carrot and celery, and some dried thyme.

Add chicken broth, cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 6 to 8 hours.
Season with salt and pepper if needed.  (usually don't need too much salt because the ham/sausage and broth will supply that)  I love this with cornbread, or a dark rye.

Under Construction Split Pea Soup 
Serves 6 to 8

One ham slice (about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds) excess fat removed and cut into bite sized pieces
One large sweet yellow onion, such as Vidalia, coarsely chopped
3 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
3 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 cups green split peas, rinsed, drained and picked over for stones (see note)
8 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper

1. In a large skillet, saute the ham to render a bit of fat.  
2. Add the onion, carrot, celery and thyme, sauteing until the onion is softened, about 3 minutes.  
3. Add the split peas, and stir to coat.  Transfer the contents of the skillet to the insert of a 5 to 7-quart slow cooker.  
4. Add the broth, cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or on low for 6 to 8 hours, until the peas are split, and creamy.  
5. Check the soup half way through the cooking time and add more water if there isn't enough liquid in the pan.  (this happens with older slow cookers that cook at a higher temperature)  
6. Taste for seasoning and add salt or pepper if needed.  Refrigerate any leftovers for up to3 days, or freeze the soup for up to 2 months. 
7. Note about split peas:  they don't need to be soaked over night like many other beans.  If you would like to make this soup with small white beans, pink beans, or red beans, soak those overnight in water to cover, drain and rinse and proceed with the soup as directed.  

 As I write this, they are finishing the shower---you can see the bench in the corner, and the niche will be on the left wall.  There will be a band of glass tile around the top to set this off--looks like we will be done on Wednesday and then cabinets will be installed.  I hope that you enjoy your weekend, Dr. C and I will be going to the SDSU-Colorado State game tonight---can't wait to experience the crowd at the arena.

Can You Make it without this or that???

Cookbook authors and cooking teachers are inundated with requests for modifications of recipes that we (well, some of us) have worked hard and tested repeatedly so you can get it right.  But, inevitably, someone will ask, "can I leave out the fat?" (NO), "can I make it with soy?"  (how the heck should I know?) "can I substitute XY OR Z?" (probably not)  The latest craze is gluten free---I know there are those who are truly gluten intolerant, and then there are those that just don't want gluten in their diet.  These are real problems, but I can't fix them.  I'm not a nutritionist (and those who complain because books don't have nutritional information in them don't realize the book would cost them 4 times the price if the info was there--authors have to hire someone to do that, and the publisher doesn't want to spend the money)  I am trained in the culinary arts and love what I do, but I can't change the recipe for you; what I can do is offer what I know would be suitable alternatives---leave out the cream in a soup and add more broth if you don't want the fat in it.....which then brings me to the point of this post. 

 Dr. C. and I are into day 3 week 2 of our bathroom remodels, and every morning I make a pot of coffee and have some kind of goodie for the guys---this week I didn't have much in the freezer, so thought I'd make a coffee cake.  But, of course it can't be ANY coffee cake, I wanted to make one with peaches in it, but found no recipes for a straightforward peach coffee cake, so thought I'd modify one that has worked in the past with blueberries.  Now, here's where the fun begins: baking is science, the bakers of the world are the nerds of the culinary industry, they measure, they make sure the butter is just at the right temperature, the eggs just so, the sour cream at the perfect consistency.  This is why I am not a baker---I hate rules!  So here I am at 6:30 a.m. putting together this coffee cake which was way more complicated than it needed to be, but I have to say it was delicious and the boys appreciated it.  I've redone the instructions so they don't seem so onerous, hopefully you will make this and enjoy it, too! 

Peachy-Keen Coffee Cake
Serves 12


Peaches
One 10-ounce bag frozen sliced peaches, coarsely chopped (you will need about 1 1/2 cups--if using fresh)

Drain the peaches and pat them dry. Set aside while making the streusel and Cake



Streusel Topping

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

In a food processor, process the flour, sugars and cinnamon.  Remove 2 tablespoons and set aside. Add the butter to the work bowl, and pulse the flour mixture on and off until it becomes crumbly.  Set aside.

Cake

1 1/4 cup sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla paste or vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon oil
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups sour cream

1. Coat the inside of a tube or bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Set aside while preparing the cake.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and butter until light.  Add the eggs, vanilla and lemon oil, and beat together until combined (it may look curdled)  
3. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.  
4. Pour half the batter into the prepared tube pan.  

1. Toss the dry peaches with the 2 tablespoons of the reserved streusel flour mixture and spread into the center of the batter.  

 Top with the remaining batter and sprinkle with the streusel topping. 

 Bake for 55 to 65 minutes until a skewer inserted in the the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes, remove from the tube pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.  I have cut this when it was still warm at 60 minutes, it is a bit crumbly, but still delish!

I hope you are having a great Wednesday!  Tile is going into the water closet room up the walls like a wainscoting---can't wait to see the glass tile accents on the walls--hope I still love them as much as I did when I picked them out!  I'll be back tomorrow....until then, remember to follow the recipe, and if you need to omit something there is a universe of information on the internet to help you!

Eat Your Veggies, but Makes Sure There is Brandt Beef Beside it!

On my pilgrimage to Specialty Produce today, I picked up some beautiful Japanese eggplant, yellow peppers and mushrooms for a saute to go along with the Brandt Beef flat iron steaks that I had ordered.  You may have had Brandt beef at a local restaurant; they raise cattle in Brawley, California, in a sustainable way.  The beef is amazing, and we featured it last week at my Farmer's Market Bag class at Great News, and the students' loved it.  You can order the beef with the Farmer's Market Bag from Specialty, and by adding it to the veggies in the bag, you are almost home with your meals for the week.  (You can also add a plethora of other things, including Catalina off-shore fish, Venissimo cheese, and wild rice---check out the Website!)
So, when I got home, after devouring a Sumo Navel orange, I set about making a saute for the vegetables that will go along with the beef. This is a dish that really needs no recipe, you just keep adding until it tastes right, but for those of you who need some coaching, try this out.  Try adding zucchini for the eggplant, and other color peppers. 

Eggplant, Pepper, Onion Saute
Serves 6

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
One large sweet yellow onion, such as Vidalia, thinly sliced
3 Japanese eggplants, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium yellow or red peppers, coarsely chopped
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms (your choice--cremini, white, chanterelle, morel)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, finely chopped (the herbs can vary, if you like rosemary, it's terrific in this, so are basil, or oregano)
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup tomato puree, or crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat, and saute the onion, eggplant, peppers, mushrooms and thyme, until the onions begin to color, and turn translucent, about 10 minutes. 

1. Season with salt and pepper, and add the vinegar, allow the vinegar to evaporate and add the tomatoes and parsley, simmering for another 5 minutes. 
2. Taste for seasoning and serve as a side dish or garnish for grilled seafood, steak, lamb or chicken.  Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
3. This is delicious leftover and folded into an omelet with Brie cheese. 

For the beef, I made a marinade with extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, thyme, garlic and bay leaf.   

Pour the marinade into a zipper top plastic bag, and add the beef.  Seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  

Preheat the gas grill for 10 minutes, and grill for 5 minutes on each side, until rare to medium rare.  Don't overcook this meat, it will be like jerky.

Now you're talking!

Dr. C. was very happy to have this plate tonight.....I sprinkled a bit of Parmigiano over the eggplant saute to give it a bit of personality.  

Day two of week two of the Money Pit ended with tile in the water closet, and all of the master bath area.  Tomorrow tile and glass tiles will go in the shower, and paint in the kids' bathroom.  I'll be back tomorrow with some progress notes, and probably a recipe or two.  Have a great Wednesday!

Sumo Love

These were my birthday gift last year, and I love them---they are wind up toys--two sumo wrestlers.  If you have ever had the occasion to actually run into a sumo wrestler, they are enormous men, not like these two lightweights.  Dr. C. and I had the opportunity to sit near one at dinner in Tokyo one night--it was a steak place, and when the waiter brought the steak cart out to ask how much meat he wanted, what he ordered was the size of a 5 pound rib roast.  That said, the word "sumo" conjures up enormity, and when I trotted down to Specialty Produce to deliver some cookies, I asked Kellie what was new and delicious--stupid question, because it's all new and delicious.  But she said with a conspiratorial tone, "these Sumo oranges!"  They are a cross between a navel and tangerine, are seedless, and enormous and they are honey sweet!  It was all I could do to keep from eating one in the car on the ride home---it would have been worse than texting-while-driving, so I opted to wait till I got home. 

I love the slogan!

Juicy, sweet and easy peel, what could be better?  This was so big it was lunch!  Specialty has the exclusive on these, so if you are in San Diego, head on down there and pick up a box, (there are only 6 in a box--they are as big as grapefruits!)  When they run out they won't be back till 2012....so what are you waiting for???  Have a great day!