Enjoy!

Orange-Pecan Cranberry Jammers

>> Tuesday, December 6, 2011 – Around Oregon, Baking, Breakfast, scones

I feel like I should catch you up to date after this post in which I bragged about all of the fun events I was looking forward to.

First was Body Worlds and OMSI after dark. Body Worlds was A. MAZE. ING. Like, the most amazing thing I have ever seen. (Okay, in the top five.) However, I couldn't take any pictures in the exhibit, so you will just have to go see it for yourself. Pictures were allowed in OMSI after dark, but I really didn't want to go all the way out to my car and get the camera after Body Worlds. But I do have some photos from the rest of my activities to share with you...

Friday night was the At First Sip book signing:

Saturday night was Zoo Lights:

As we neared the exit off 26 for the zoo, we noticed signs along the road reading "Zoo parking full, take next exit." The signs off the next exit led us to a long line of cars that were waiting to get into the packed parking lot where people were being shuttled in school buses to the zoo. After finally parking, we entered the winding line of teens (all apparently on dates and too cool to be wearing winter gear) and bundled children, parents, and grandparents.

It was, indeed, freezing, but we were happy to be on our way to see the lights and the animals, and James was content to watch the goings-on all around us, as well as the school buses that were quickly filled up, leading us closer and closer to our destination.

Finally it was our turn. We sat near the back of the bus, feeling like excited kids going on a field trip.

Once we got there, Lane's awesome company supplied us with hot chocolate, cookies, and tickets for the train ride, which we didn't go on because the line to go on the train was about twenty two miles long, and we would still be waiting to board.

But no train ride was needed because the lights were beautiful, the animals were not all asleep (poor guys), and the best part was that everyone seemed to be in a joyful holiday mood.

And now, to get to the stinkin' scones already.

I was going to get up early on Sunday morning and continue our fun-filled family holiday weekend with fresh, seasonal scones.

But I woke up to a crying child who was whining for the same reason I did the rest of the day: sore throat, headache, faucet nose. (I know, I know, I already felt sorry for myself in the last post...)

So instead of making them Sunday, I began to make these scones in the chaos after a grocery shopping trip on Monday mid-morning. The counters were piled high with groceries I hadn't put away, the floor was littered with pots and pans that I tried to amuse James with, and the scones were made in several stages throughout the rest of the day.

I did learn, however, that they can be made with a ~~baby~~ 30+ pound toddler on one hip.

Orange-Pecan Cranberry Jammers

basic scone recipe and directions adapted and shamelessly copy-and-pasted from Cindy's comment on this recipe

makes 8 scones

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder

zest of 1 orange
6 tablespoons butter (cut into several pieces)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup pecan pieces

about 1/2 cup cranberry sauce

about 1 tbsp raw sugar (optional) for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 400 F. Assemble ingredients.

Food processor instructions: Add first four ingredients to processor bowl. Add orange zest and butter, and process with steel blade until mealy in texture. Add egg and milk and process just until the mixture holds together.

By-hand instructions. Blend first four ingredients in large bowl. Add zest. Add butter and mix in with pastry cutter or fork or two butter knives, until mealy. Add egg and milk until the mixture holds together.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gently knead in pecan pieces (do not over knead) and roll 3/4" thick. Cut into 8 wedges, and place on lighlty greased baking sheet, spread apart from one another so that they will not touch as they bake.

Bake about 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Let cool a few minutes before enjoying with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy.

PS They are called "jammers" because they remind me of similar scones I used to get on the weekends from Grand Central Bakery near my childhood home. I don't know if they were actually called jammers, or if that was a name my family made up.

PPS My friend, Katie, just cleared it all up. She sent me this link to the kitchen tour of the genius behind the original jammer. Grand Central Bakery does indeed call them jammers. But I should state, just for the record, the the similarity between these scones and theirs is only in the appearance as I remember it from when I was younger.

Twenty one days 'til Christmas

>> Sunday, December 4, 2011 – Holidays, Thoughts

At gym play group on Tuesday, James and I were minding our own business playing with some blocks when a little boy with a runny nose toddled up to us and started playing with the blocks also. A minute later, his mother bolted across the room toward us and, completely catching the poor kid off guard, attacked his face with a Kleenex. She began to apologize profusely to me: "He just started having a little runny nose this morning... I think he is just starting to come down with a little something... it doesn't seem to bother him...." She looked a little frantic and scared, as if I was about to begin throwing punches because her son had a cold.

"Hey" I smiled, "if we never left the house because they had a runny nose, we would never leave the house." She breathed a sigh of relieve and we laughed it off.

Thursday afternoon, James' nose started running. He began coughing during his nap, and getting fussy long before bedtime.

This morning, I woke up with the same thing, full force. Runny nose, sore throat, headache, exhaustion...

Between feeling sick and being crazy-busy (I wonder if those two things are related? Hmmm...) I haven't cooked anything blog-worthy. Just simple soups that seem to be all I want to eat when I don't feel well.

So, instead of a recipe, I will leave you with a few holiday pictures I have been taking around our home, from glowing candles, to stacks of Christmas stories, to little munchkins standing dangerously close to the mistletoe...

...to Reindeer feetsies...

...after all, there are only twenty one days 'til Christmas.

Quick and Simple Trail Mix Bars

>> Thursday, December 1, 2011 – Snacks, Vegan

I just have to say: Oh my stars it is December first and sunny (and, yes, freezing) in the Northwest. This makes me happy for so many reasons.

For one thing, I have recently begun running again (I stopped when it was "too hot" about three months ago and for some reason just never started back up when it cooled down) and I have so far only run in the wind/rain/cold/dark. Which just isn't a ton of fun. But now that it is clear and dry, I will be much more excited about my 20-minute-if-I'm-lucky little jog.

In college, I ran a lot. As in four to six miles a day. Way back then, I ran because I knew it was good for my body, and to relieve stress. Those were the days. Now, I have started ~~running~~ letting Sadie drag me behind her because I need to get out of the house and have some time to myself. Oh yeah, and because of this and these... and a little of this as well...

I know that I eat healthy for the most part, but snacking is difficult. We all want something that won't require a lot of preparation and is available to eat right away, but no one wants to fill their bodies with the sugar and chemicals that store-bought snack foods are loaded down with.

Enter homemade granola bars. However, I have even had my struggles with these. When I first started recipe searching for granola bars, all I could find were instructions to make granola, then add sugar and fat to make it stick together. If this were a dessert, I may have been okay with that. But I don't want a granola bar to be something I feel like I can only eat once all my veggies are cleared from my dinner plate. I want a healthy, filling snack. The recipe I found and adapted is from Jessica Seinfeld's doitdelicious website. I omitted the chocolate from it and increased the dry to wet ingredient ratio because I felt the bars were a little too gooey and tasted too sweet to snack on.

The resulting recipe requires that the bars be left in the pan for a while too cool and harden before they can easily be transported as bars, but you can totally pick away at the corners while you wait. I did.

Quick and Simple Trail Mix Bars
adapted from Jessica Seinfeld's No-Bake Energy Bars
2 c oats
1 c nuts, chopped (I used slivered almonds and halved peanuts)
1/2 c dried fruit, chopped if needed (I used dried cranberries)
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/2 c unsweetened coconut flakes
2-3 tbsp flax meal
1/2 c brown rice syrup
1/4 c nut butter (I used crunchy peanut butter)

Cover a 9x9 (or similar size) pan with a sheet of wax paper. Coat with cooking spray.
Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl. Heat rice syrup and nut butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat, stirring until well-combined and creamy. Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until evenly coated, scrapping the sides and bottom of the bowl as you go. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and press firmly until bars are densely packed into the pan. Let the bars cool for one hour before cutting into squares. Wrap individually in wax paper or saran wrap for easy transport. Enjoy.

Acorn Squash and Goat Cheese Ravioli

>> Monday, November 28, 2011 – Main Dishes, Pasta

It's going to be a very exciting week ahead:

Super-fun thing number one: Tomorrow, our good friends are coming over for dinner and, inevitably, a game or two of Catan because the men are engineers... and, inevitably, a glass or two of wine because they are those friends. But seriously, nothing beats really good friends. They are the type of friends that know how annoying you are, but still hang out with you. The type of friends that when you go to their house-warming party they don't say "Can I get you a glass of wine?" but instead: "the glasses are in that cabinet." I love that.

Super-fun thing number two: Wednesday we are going to OMSI after dark. (eeeeeeeep!) If you read the description of OMSI after dark on the website, it actually says "It's geeks gone wild!" My husband and I are going, so it must be true. Not only do we get to go to Body Worlds (yup, its a bunch of insides of dead people), and roam around the rest of the museum, but we also get to drink beer and wine while we do it. I did mention there will be no children there, right? This geek is going to go wild.

Super-fun thing number three: My talented friend, Leah, wrote a book (oh, and she also owns and operates her own business and runs like 5 miles a day), and she is having a book signing at her shop on Friday evening complete with live music and, of course, really good espresso.

Super-fun thing number four: On Saturday, we (Lane, James, and I) are going to Zoo Lights!!! And I think we are somehow getting in for free because Lane's company is pretty awesome to its employees. (Dear pal and "follower" Jess, if you read this, all I can say is: "they had to start using battery-operated lights because of the hippo incident of '89"...perhaps I will explain this to the rest of you when I post pics from Zoo Lights, which may not happen for at least a week since I am going to be so exhausted from all this activity.)

Despite all the adventures ahead, nothing really exciting is happening today, aside from a grocery shopping (actually, I enjoy food shopping much more than would be considered normal) and a park trip. So, being the way I am, I had to make something labor-intensive and a little strange for dinner.

I was originally going to make some sort of goat cheese and acorn squash scalloped potato dish, but it sounded too much like the food we are all now sick of from eating too much of it last week. Then I stumbled upon a recipe for pasta dough from Smitten Kitchen (who else?) that sounded so easy I had to try it.

After this dish I am even more convinced that I need a pasta machine, as this device would have made the pasta about a billion times easier, but even though it was uneven, way too thick, and really ugly, man did it taste good.

I have about fifty disclaimers before you begin, but I will only annoy you with a few of the most important ones:
1. This recipe is going to make way more filling than pasta. I packed the rest of the filling into a tupperware and popped in the freezer. When I finally do something with it, I promise I will let you know. Or, you could just double the pasta recipe, or half the filling recipe- genius!
2. Yes, it does have the same topping as the last ravioli recipe I posted. So sue me! I was originally thinking a tomato sauce or even cranberry sauce (we have so much of it left over...) for the topping, but the ravioli is so flavorful that you must keep it simple.
3. Although I tell you to roast and puree the entire squash, sometime around the asterisk I may tell you to remove some of it before adding the other ingredients. Perhaps use it to thicken a soup?
4. The recipe called for all-purpose flour, and I didn't substitute whole wheat flour because the dough is put through a food processor, and then rolled out, so the resulting pasta would have been really tough if made with whole wheat.
5. It may seem like a long, complicated recipe and a lot of dishes, but it was actually quite simple. (Says the girl who does things like this.)

Acorn Squash and Goat Cheese Ravioli
For the Filling
1 acorn squash
3 tbsp olive oil, divided (preferably rosemary-garlic infused olive oil)
4 oz log goat cheese, cut into a few pieces
3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
pinch red pepper flakes (more if you want some heat)
Pasta Recipe from Here
For the topping
about 2 tbsp olive oil
about 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
about 1 tbsp pinenuts
fresh rosemary sprigs for garnish, if desired

Cut the acorn squash in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy insides, cut off the peel, and cut each half into three slices the long way. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil (about 2 tbsp) and place squash on the pan. Roast at 425 for about 40 minutes, or until a fork can be poked easily into the squash, flipping the squash half way through.
While the squash is roasting, follow the recipe for the pasta. While it is "relaxing," continue to make the filling:
Put squash into a food processor, and process until smooth. (*I removed about 1/3 cup of the squash because I was afraid it might take over the goat cheese taste. This probably isn't necessary.) Add remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and goat cheese log, and process. Add the pepper, rosemary, nutmeg, and red pepper flakes and process until it is all well combined. Place in refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
split the pasta dough into two balls. Roll them out, one at a time, into a 10 x 10 inch square. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 2 x 2 inch squares. Place a heaping tsp of the filling onto every other square. Top the filling with an empty pasta square, and pinch the edges of the squares together. Try to get out any air bubbles that may have formed.
Bring a pot of water to a gentle boil. Add a pinch of salt. Gently place raviolis (you may need to do this is two batches) into the water. They will begin to float on the surface of the water, but leave them in a few more minutes, about 7 minutes total. Remove with a slotted spoon.
Heat about 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add the pinenuts and allow to cook for a few minutes, but watch to make sure they don't burn. Add the vinegar, then the raviolis. Combine for a couple minutes, then plate the raviolis and eat warm. Enjoy.

Spirits Sprite

>> Saturday, November 26, 2011 – Beverages, Holidays

Yesterday was the official beginning of my hands-down favorite time of the year: Christmas time.

Call me a nerd, but I love everything about this time of year- the music, the lights, the smell of evergreen trees, the tastes of the season- everything. Christmas time makes me want to be a kid again. And it makes me act like a kid again. Knowing this, my sweet husband suggested that we buy our tree today.

Our original plan was to buy a small tree that we could put up on a table so that the shortest family member with the stickiest fingers couldn't get to it. However, we brought it home, set it up on the table, and realized that the tree skirt would create the perfect tool for him to grab hold of and pull the entire thing down onto his head.

We moved it onto the floor and only used those ornaments that are not made of glass or china. James was still fascinated by all of it, so we tried to use our "gentle touches only, no pulling" rule (the same we use for James when it comes to our dog who is twice his weight, but terrified of him). However, it seems we are going to have to monitor him quite a bit around the tree.

While we were decorating, James got into the boxes of Christmas paraphernalia and managed to cover the floor with tissue paper, cardboard, and anything else he could get his hands on.

Once he went to bed, it was time for clean up and a little mommy time. I decided to make an adult beverage. What I really wanted was eggnog and whipped cream, but I figured that if I added just a smidgen (that's a real word? spell check didn't put wiggly red lines under it, so I guess so) of alcohol it would taste even better, and I would feel a little more like a grown-up.

When I was younger (okay, until like last year) I thought that the line in Jingle Bells that goes "Making spirits bright" actually said "Making spirits sprite." I thought that "spirits sprite" must be some seasonal adult drink that was delicious and had whip cream on the top.
My childhood fantasies are coming true.