Tasty Travelling

I have great news! There has been a ton of cooking as of recent, as I have officially taken on my first client as an (unofficial) personal chef and I could not be more pleased!

However, as I am still a student and working thirty hours a week, plus still becoming accustomed to being a new home owner, I have not had the foresight to take pictures of what I have been making. I know right? Perfect opportunities and no sense whatsoever to photograph any of it.  Not that I am making excuses, I am simply not help-able sometimes. This is one of those times. Fear not, I have a sticky note on my fridge right now to remind me to record my escapades in the kitchen this weekend.

I do, however, have pictures of my family's recent trip to Michigan to share with you all. So vacation vicariously to the northern trip of the mitten state and tune later on this weekend for a much more detailed synopsis of my escapades in my new (!) kitchen.

Here we go. Grab the keys. Buckle in. Head north.

We went to Michigan the week before my mom's birthday, and on our way back home we stopped at a fruit stand on the road side and picked up these Michigan cherries.

When we arrived home, I made her this birthday dessert!

Michigan cherry compote over vanilla  bean frozen yogurt, topped with toasted almonds, and garnished with crisp pastry.

Also on our way home, we stopped by the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit - which was absolutely amazingly fascinating. I think my dad loved it most of all of us though, being the gear head that he is.

A modern day slow plow on the front of a cargo train. Notice the plow's size in comparison to my six foot dad standing next to it... utterly amazing!

 We had the opportunity to find out what find of car we would be based on our personalities. I, according to this very scientific index, would be a 1956 Ford Thunderbird Convertible. I'll take on in blue please!

I don't know if any of you watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network with Guy Fierie, but my family and I love it, so we took in one of Guy's finds while in Michigan called the Clarkston Union Bar and Kitchen. It was absolutely fabulous, and only two people manned the completely visible kitchen for what looked like 100 seats, so I was dully impressed and gitty. Check out their webpage for their menu: http://www.clarkstonunion.com/#!/main

Dad got their sausage sampler (which I, of course, tried all three) with a warm potato salad. They make all their own sausages and thus this is what they are known for, so when you go, check out this plate.

Shelby, being the smart culinarian that she is, order a special, which was nothing more than a cracker crust pizza topped with mashed potatoes, bacon bits, cheese, and ranch dressing. Does Shelby know how to order or what?

 Charlevoix was one of the quaint yet incredibly charming lake towns we visited while up north. Known as one of the premiere yachting and sailing locations on this part of the globe, it was so neat to walk up and down the piers, talking to the boaters and gazing at their rigging and such. I, of course, acted like I knew exactly what I was doing and appreciated the what seemed like very hard work from afar with mixed consideration and appreciation.

We saw this food truck while in Charlevois, which was unfortunately closed when we came through, but I couldn't by-pass this sign without a picture.

I also had to snag a picture of this poster - all of the native flavors of Michigan. Cool, eh?

Even the rest stops in Michigan are beautiful! Seriously, I have never seen a prettier state.

Lastly, you will never guess what I got to cross off my bucket list while on this trip. Learn how to milk a cow? Nope. Keep a garden? Nope. Master driving a stick shift? Hardly. Nope, we all went ziplining! How freaking cool is that?! It was mom's idea, and this is something I have always wanted to do, so off we went to fly through the trees in the picturesque Michigan ski resort forests. Not only were the view spectacular, but the experience was something I have never felt before and will definitely be doing this again.

Afterwards, I treated myself to some victory food, as my first bucket list item had been checked off. Maybe next I will concentrate on paining a room in my house blue, or perhaps take guitar lessons. I shall keep you posted. 

Seared ahi tuna, seaweed salad, and umami dipping sauce with classic wasabi and pickled ginger accompaniments.

We have passed the 100 posts mark!

I hate to keep dropping in so unexpectedly, just to scribble out a quick post and then dash off again, but I have exciting news! I just realized, after logging onto Blogger to write to you all, that we have passed the 100 posts mark! How exciting!? Thank you so much to all of you out there who are stick with me through this very transitional period.

I have officially started culinary school, meaning that my life has officially been taken over by onions, portioning, and French cooking terms and techniques. Yeah! Next week is egg cookery, and once we starting doing some REALLY fun things, I will take pictures and post them straight away. Pinky promise.

I Haven't Forgotten About You!!

I am honestly scared to look up the date of my last post... it has been that long ago. I am so ashamed. But so much has been going on that there has not been time for cooking! (Ok, that's not entirely true. There have been a lot of midnight cereal dinners, and 6am microwave oatmeal happening as of late, but that is hardly blog worthy. And trust me, I am no better at taking pictures at those times than I am when I am fully awake.)

A long LONG story short, I have successfully:

• moved back to my hometown of Cincinnati from my college town of Lexington
• gotten a new job at not one but two catering companies here in Cincy
• bought, cleaned, furnished, and updated my very first home (!!!! I move in Sunday!!!)
• seen my sister off to her first year of college - I have only somewhat come to terms with this 
• registered for my first semester of culinary classes
• attended the necessary orientations and uniform fittings (I get my chef coats on Monday!)
• taken over a nanny position for a family up the street 
• went on a one week family vacation with the family before everyone went off for another busy year

And those are just the highlights. There has been a lot of painting, cutting grass, shopping for rugs, curtains, and kitchen appliances, and some precious hours spend soaking up some sun by the pool. It has been a busy month, but what a transition year for my family! Shelby is off to college for what promises to be eight (!?) years of study, I am starting culinary school, mom and dad just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, and are empty nesters.... who blinked and let up grow up so quick?!

As soon as I get moved in and established again, I will be able to start cooking some interesting things and posting on a (somewhat) regular schedule.

Thanks for hanging in there folks!

Green Bean Summertime Memories

To me, Farmers' Markets are just about the best thing since sliced bread (and I can slice my own bread, so maybe they are a little better than sliced bread.) The freshest of ingredients, picked just this morning, the fact that going to one just screams summertime, and actually makes you WANT to eat healthy, instead of feeling obligated to do so, and the flood of inspiration that comes every time I even get near one.

This is what came of my most recent Farmers' Market visit, and it just so happens to be one of my favorite meals of all time.

Stewed potatoes, green beans, and ham - just thinking about this meals brings back memories.

 I was, and still am, one of those strange kids who actually liked it when their grandma enlisted them to help pick and string green beans for dinner. Some of my fondest memories are of Mommaw and I, out in her front yard with big bowls in our laps and lemonade at our elbows, watching the river flow by as we threw green bean strings in the grass. Not a care in the world, just watching the time pass by.

The whole ensemble, just begging to be enjoyed on the porch with some iced tea.

 Boppaw always loved this meal too, since whenever we made it, we always had extra cornbread left over, which means that he would get a midnight snack of cornbread and milk. Yep, just crumble the cornbread in the bottom of a bowl (or in my case, warm it a little in the largest mug you have) and pour over some milk. The best part is the bottom, when the cornbread has turned to mush... a little unknown comfort food at it's finest. He and I would know just when to meet at the kitchen island to make ourselves a bowl.

No summertime meal is complete without some vine ripened tomatoes and cucumbers. Add a chunk of whole wheat cornbread and I'm in heaven.

 Here's hoping you too are making wonderful summertime memories.

Stewed Potatoes and Green Beans

1 LB fresh green beans, strung and snapped

1 LB red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into bite size pieces

1/2 LB country or pit ham, cut into bite size pieces (you can also use a ham hock here)

water to cover

Place all your ingredients in a large pot and cover with water. Leave on low and cook all day long. One hour before you want to eat, put your cornbread in the oven and season your stewed veggies with salt and pepper, as needed.

We Tried to do Thai

Let's start with what we actually ate for dinner this week. Check out this incredibly beautiful plate of noms:

Spicy peanut Thai noodles, with traditional Thai  garnish

Now that we have all admired the actual dinner, let's discuss the fiasco we had to go through in order to put this on the plate. My original plan for quite different. Taking my inspiration from the local farmers' markets, I found some absolutely beautiful Swiss Chard last week. Not having worked with it before, but immediately being inspired to do a Thai flavored spring roll, I bought a half pound and gleefully returned home. I would pair these with some soba noodles tossed simply in sesame oil and sesame seeds, so the true highlight of the dish were the spring rolls and the spicy peanut dipping sauce I would pair them with. So far, so good right?

Spring rolls, all sprung up and ready to serve the next day.

Here is where I think I went wrong - I made these spring rolls the day before I planned on eating them. By blanching the Swiss chard leaves (in order to make them pliable enough to roll up, and to take away some of their innate bitterness) I am afraid they sat overnight and developed a most unpleasant slimy texture, which is most definitely not good eats. But they were encompassing such beautiful ingredients inside, what was I to do... plus I wanted to use my dynamite spicy peanut sauce.

Spring rolls, before being all sprung together.

And then, genius struck. Why not reconfigure the whole dish? Toss the noodles (whole wheat thin spaghetti because my grocery was out of soba noodles) in the spicy peanut sauce, and then top the noddles with the insides of the spring roll, completely discarding the Swiss chard all together. I was displeased with having to waste the Swiss chard, but at least the rest of the meal was salvaged. As Peter has often said, the best meals are those which are conceptualized on the fly, as this one was.

Our new and improved noodle toppings.

The lesson here? So what is things don't go according to plan? Everything will turn out in the end (and may be even more delicious than first anticipated.)

Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

4 TB fresh lime juice

3 TB light sodium soy sauce

3 TB honey or brown sugar

2 TB orange juice (or enough to thin)

Mix everything together with a little elbow grease; this mixture can be quite thick, so thin with orange juice until it is pliable and smooth. 

**Remember that this sauce can be used as a dipping sauce (as I had originally planned) or tossed with noodles, to be served either hot or cold. If this is case, the sauce can be a bit thicker as the heat of the noodles after they are cooked will naturally thin the sauce down for you.

** Spring Roll/Thai Noodle toppings:

julienne carrot

julienne red bell pepper

julienne mango

cilantro

green onion

poached chicken

sesame seeds

chopped peanuts

 

Cake for Breakfast!

I am sure you all begged your parents to let you have junk food for breakfast at least a few times in your childhood (and maybe you still fight with yourself every once in a while... go ahead and pour some Lucky Charms, I won't tell.) I was never a huge fan of sugary cereals and the like, but I love anything that combines sugar and carbs, like pancakes, bagels, or in this case, coffee cake! Along with some Greek yogurt, what a great way to start a lazy Sunday.

Hazelnut Coffee Cake

dry ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg (bonus points if it is freshly grated yourself!)

wet ingredients:

2 eggs

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 fat-free sour cream

1/2 cup fat-free milk

topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

4 handfuls chopped and toasted hazelnuts

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, grease and 9x9 baking dish, and your pretty much should know the drill after this. Toss around the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients together, then fold into the dry ingredients. Set this aside to mix the two sugar and cinnamon together in yet another bowl (I said it was simple, not without dishes - this is what dishwashers were invented for!) Pour half the batter into the baking dish, top with half the topping and two handfuls of hazelnuts (or more if your are a nut for nuts, like me!) Repeat this layering process one more time. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Enjoy with coffee! (I like mine black, or on the rare occasion, with a slash of skim milk.)

A Ying and Yang Kind of Morning

You know those mornings when you can't decide what you want to have for breakfast, but skipping breakfast is never an option? Yeah, me too.

So why not have a little bit of everything?

I knew I needed some protein because I have a long, hot day of work ahead of me, so some fiesta scrambled eggs were in order...

But, but, but...I really wanted to have some of the blueberry preserves that I made a few days ago. Not having any bread on hand, I went with the next best thing - cornbread! Sweet and spicy, not a bad combination. 

Top it all off with a peach fresh from the farmers' market, and I am good for great day at work!