Help! We're Leeking!

Ok, you can't write a post about a vegetable called a leek and not make a pun in the title!

From the start, I knew that getting our farm share for the summer would stretch me beyond our salad/green beans/broccoli rotation in the vegetable department, and boy, was I right!  This week, our box included leeks and shallots ... umm, first I had to look up pictures online of what those were so I knew for sure what they were in our box.

And of course, I've seen Ina Garten turn these little-known beauties into all kinds of wonderful things on her show, but what do I know?  Well, I know to go to the Food Network website and start poking around.  So, that's exactly what I did and came upon lots of recipes for potato-leek soup, a classic French dish known as vichyssoise. 

As things like this normally go, I didn't have all the ingredients for any one recipe, so I threw together a little Ina, a little Alton, and came out with a pot of such deliciousness that the first thing our landlady said when she saw me this afternoon was, "WHAT were you cooking yesterday for dinner?  It smelled SO GOOD!"

So, without further ado, I give you...

Val’s Vichyssoise

(Roasted Potato Leek Soup with Crispy Shallots)

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (most recipes call for Yukon Gold, I had Russet on hand and they worked fine)

2 medium leeks, white and light green parts, cleaned and chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and black pepper

1/4 cup white wine

3 cups chicken stock

1/3 – 1/2 cup heavy cream

1/3 – 1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the potatoes and leeks on a sheet pan in a single layer. Add the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss to coat the vegetables evenly. Roast for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces, turning them with a spatula a few times during cooking, until very tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

In a blender, combine roast vegetables with chicken broth.  Blend until just combined, but still chunky.  (If you have the good fortune to own an immersion blender, by all means, whip that baby out!)

Pour the puree into a large pot.  Add the white wine, cream, and buttermilk.  Simmer until flavors have mingled and soup has thickened slightly.  Check the seasonings – add more salt, pepper, cream, etc., if needed. Serve topped with Crispy Shallots.  Serves 4.

Crispy Shallots (these were purely an Ina Garten concoction... you go girl!)

1 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

5 to 6 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rings

Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it reaches 220 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Add the shallots, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until they are a rich golden brown. The temperature should stay below 260 degrees. Stir the shallots occasionally to make sure they brown evenly. Watch carefully … it takes forever to get to golden brown, but then they proceed to burned in no time flat. Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain well, and spread out to cool on paper towels.

Many Random Thoughts

Try as I might, I can't come up with a way to string all these thoughts together by theme, chronology, or other etc. device, so I'm just gonna throw them all out there ... after all, this is my creative outlet, right?  And you can't always wait to be creative till you can produce something perfect ... this is the main reason I was never that successful in art or music-related endeavors - perfectionism!  There was also the comment from my college piano instructor that my playing sounded like "an elephant tramping through the jungle" ... not so very encouraging ... but that is a whole other story.

Sunday night, we hosted our first-ever Supper Club with three other couples from our church.  It was a great success ... I haven't laughed that hard in months!  I made chicken enchiladas and some awesome guacamole.  Not that I'm tooting my own horn about the guacamole, it's just that I had never made it before, and Alton Brown came through for me in a big way!

Hosting eight people did make me realize one disadvantage of our flat that I hadn't realized before.  Previously, there were only two disadvantages of any consequence ... street-parking, and a bathroom fan that sounds like a freight train.  Well, there's also the ugly kitchen floor, but that's more an aesthetic issue than a real disadvantage.  Anyway, Sunday evening uncovered a third ... no good way to set up a buffet line.  (Discussions with my mom on this subject led to the contemplation of purchasing a buffet to go in the dining room to solve that problem ... i love this one ... but I had to laugh because, really, what problem can't be solved by the purchase of a new piece of furniture?)

Back to dinner... Sweet Husband helped me serve the plates, so all went well.  And we were most grateful for all the great up-sides of our little flat ... spacious kitchen and dining room, and solid wood doors... after we closed Benjamin's door and the hallway door that leads to the bedroom area, his sleep was undisturbed by even the heartiest of laughter.

Also, along with guacamole on the list of things I've never cooked before ... eggplant!  It's in season and we've had a steady supply coming in our weekly farm shares.  What to do with it?  Here are my favorite recipes so far ...
Pesto and eggplant pasta (thanks, Giada!)
Roasted Eggplant Hummus (thanks again, Giada!)
Fried Eggplant (I mean really, you can't go wrong with Emeril, right?)

Can you tell I really miss the Food Network?

Anyway, I guess I will wrap up this post about nothing that I've been working on all day by saying that Will and I just had a snack of s'mores made in the microwave.  Hallelujah and Amen.

What's for Dinner?

Last night, it was vegetable panini's on homemade focaccia bread.  It was so yummy I just had to share ...

The recipe for focaccia bread is here
The recipe for veggie panini is here  (I just did the veggies on the stove instead of the grill)

Really, I was a little skeptical about the bread when a friend emailed me about it, but it really is pretty easy ... and SO worth it!

Happy Friday all!

Wedded Bliss

(Note:  This post was written on Monday, but it was a typical Monday, and I didn't get a chance to click "publish" till today... sorry for the delay) 

On Saturday, Benjamin attended his very first wedding!  And what a wedding it was ... one of the most joyful events we've ever attended.  Everyone present was grinning from ear to ear.  The bride and groom seemed about to burst with excitement.  God was greatly honored in that place, and we were so blessed to be there.

Benjamin did great, too!  Just played quietly on the floor during the ceremony.  During the reception, he was reaching his limit for crowds - sweet little introvert that he is - and so we had to take a "people break."  I took him to a side room, fed him a jar of his happy-food (sweet potatoes), and just played for a little while (read: unpacked the diaper bag while he investigated everything).

While definitely not the most flattering picture of him ever, it really captures the poor Little Man's heart at the moment ... Can we go home yet?  I just want to be home and play on my rug!

He did perk back up after a little bit (nothing like a boost for the blood sugar and getting to take off that oh-so-cute, but fussy, dress shirt) and we were able to enjoy the rest of the reception.

Adding to the fun of the wedding was that I got to bake cupcakes for the reception!  The more I cook and bake lately, the more I love it, so I was excited for the excuse to go all-out on some awesome recipes!

Before (Friday Morning)

After (Saturday afternoon)

So, I'm definitely not a professional at piping the icing, but otherwise, I thought they turned out pretty well.  (The recipe for Martha Stewart's buttercream frosting is here... and I didn't have to make as much of it as I thought I would for 3 dozen cupcakes, so I didn't quite use all the butter and eggs that are pictured in the "before" shot ... doesn't that make you feel better? :)

And now we're back to Monday - rainy, chilly, and Little Man's poor teeth are hurting him.  Ah well, I guess this is the rightful -and even glorious- continuation of "wedded bliss" - the joy of having a partner through life's bright, mundane, exciting, rainy, springtime, wintertime, laughing and teething days.

So, thank you Will for choosing me as your life's partner.  There's no one I'd rather share these (or any other) days with.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

This summer, I have been on a quest to compile the very best chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER.  This is all started back in May when I got my oh-so-wonderful KitchenAid stand mixer from CraigsList.  One of the first things I used it for was a batch of cookies made with the Nestle Tollhouse recipe.  They tasted yummy, but the dough seemed a little thin and they got stale really quickly. 

I don't know what possessed me, but I decided that if I'm going to take this whole motherhood thing seriously, I need to make EXCELLENT chocolate chip cookies.  And so I embarked ... I looked for recipes in cookbooks, online, from friends, and ended up playing with the ingredients myself and coming up with my very own mix ... at least, I haven't found this exact combination anywhere else yet - I'm sure its out there somewhere, because really, how many ways can you combine flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and chocolate chips?  I don't even want to guess how many dozens of cookies I've made this summer (i now buy chocolate chips in bulk  ... monthly :), but I think I've finally arrived.  And you, my lucky readers, are going to get the recipe.

Now, before I give it to you, I have to tell you one thing I discovered.  Making the very best cookie depends a lot on what you're going for.  Some recipes are going for crispiness, cakiness, sweetness, buttery-ness, and any other kind of -ness you can think of.  My personal goal in these cookies was sweet-but-not-too-sweet batter, slightly crispy edges, chewy center, and the perfect amount of chocolate chips so that the cookies are full of them, but you still get to enjoy the buttery dough. So, here ya go...

Valerie's Very Bestest Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 dripping teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips



Allow butter to soften to room temp.

Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in small bowl.  In a mixing bowl (or in the bowl of your oh-so-wonderful Kitchenaid), beat the butter with the sugars.  Then add the egg and vanilla, beating well to be sure fully incorporated.  Slowly add in the flour mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop onto cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Ok, that's the recipe, now here are my own personal pointers...  (see? you knew there was a reason you came to our blog today! :)

1. Use all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt, instead of self-rising flour.  I really think it makes a difference.

2. Measure your sugars precisely ... too much makes the dough syrupy and too sweet, too little and they are cakey and not sweet enough.

3. Allowing the butter to soften first really is important for the texture of the cookie (I never believed this before and just zapped it in the microwave, but now I am a true believer).

4. What's up with that "dripping teaspoon" of vanilla?  Well, here's what i mean ... hold your spoon over the batter, and pour vanilla in till it overflows the spoon and drips into the batter.  I know it sounds crazy, but that's how much vanilla you need ... a little more than a teaspoon, a little less than 1 1/2.

5. Bake them on the oldest cookie sheet you have.  I have some nifty airbake sheets that work well for other things, but not these cookies.  For these I use the old, stained, beat-up one that I've had since college.  I don't know if its the "seasoning" of the pan, or the thickness, or the memories of all those past cookies wishing today's batch happiness that makes the difference, but I'm telling you, it makes a difference :)

6. I would now like to extol the glories of a cookie scoop.  All the cookies the same size?  Makes my organized, neat-freak self happy, and also ensures uniform cooking time.  Also, only put 12 on the sheet at a time, if you're using a standard cookie sheet.  In the interest of efficiency, I used to try to cram 15 or more cookies on there at once.  But really, these things are a labor of love ... just slow down and bake 12 at a time.  They bake more evenly.

7. Find your perfect bake time.  This varies by oven, but my perfect bake time is 8 minutes.

8. Take them off the cookie sheet as soon as they come out of the oven.  You could use a cooling rack, but as a throwback to my childhood and memories of sitting on my mom's kitchen counter and "helping" make cookies when I was a kid, I use a sheet of wax paper just like she did.

OK, I just re-read this post and realize that I sound a little obsessive-compulsive thorough.  I just may have made too many cookies this summer.  But anyway, enjoy!

I think...

Benjamin is officially too tall for this onesie! Sorry, kiddo, after today, this one's going in the save-for-little-brother box.

I also think that I found new favorite cookie, Coffee Toffee Bars. I made mine with whole wheat flour - absolutely delicious! (I'm sure all the butter helps - hee-hee :) but the coffee flavor comes through perfectly and the melty chocolate on top - perfection! Plus they're super easy to make - enjoy!

Various and Assorted

I did enjoy the "bloggy break" last week and was certainly busy getting ready for Thanksgiving, taking care of Benjamin, and enjoying Mom and Dad, but all week I kept thinking "I should blog about that ..." I guess I'm addicted :)

The picture above is Benjamin enjoying resting in his Bug-a-roo sling. I joke that this sling must have "magic dust" in it because it calms him like magic! He's slept completely through church services, prayer meetings, and even a pretty rowdy game night we had for Will's birthday. On this day, I was trying to get some cooking done, but the little man was fussy - Mommy had the answer! just put him in the sling - I did end up getting icing on it, but hey, the cookies got iced! :)

When preparing food for Mom and Dad's arrival, I realized it was the first time I had really cooked since Benjamin was born! (almost 7 weeks!) Sure, I had defrosted meals from the freezer, or mixed up some cornbread to go with soup, but, thanks to people all over the country, we had food that lasted almost two months! So, a HUGE THANK YOU to all who sent food - our friends from our church here, our Northbrook friends in TN, and of course, my mom who made sure the freezer was stocked :)

However, I did miss cooking and baking. So, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, as Mom and Dad were making their long drive up here, I got busy in the kitchen! (I could either have cooked or cleaned, and I would so much rather cook :) I made cheddar corn chowder, pumpkin cookies, and orange oat scones.

Don't they look yummy? The texture of the scones didn't come out exactly right, but i thought they tasted good - everyone else's comment about them was "hmm...interesting..." so try the recipe at your own risk :) You can find it here. (I replaced the dried currants with chocolate chips :)

Here are links to the other recipes as well (which everyone loved and we would highly recommend)

Cheddar Corn Chowder (I used a whole pound of bacon and 4 cans of corn)

Pumpkin Cookies (I doubled the cinnamon and nutmeg)

As Thanksgiving was approaching, I did struggle a bit with how far away we are from our families. And it didn't help to look at friends' pictures on Facebook of their babies with all their grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., and to know that Benjamin has only met one set of grandparents so far and neither of his aunts or his uncle ... so sad!! I just felt very far away. I know New York State isn't the moon, but sometimes it seems like it might as well be.

It happened that this was also the day I was planning to do my marathon grocery trip to prepare for Thanksgiving. We were planning to make Paula Deen's corn casserole, but needed Jiffy cornbread mix, which I've never been able to find here, so Mom has brought me several boxes to stock our pantry. Anyway, to make a long story short (as my dad would say) guess what I found at the grocery store???

I guess it really is "America's Favorite!" Maybe God knew I just needed one little thing to make me feel not quite so far away.

Whole Grain Mexican Wedding Cookies

On this lovely Thursday evening, Will is acquainting himself with the 40 page manual (i'm not exaggerating) required to safely install and operate our carseat, and I'm baking cookies. Boy, I'm glad my husband is an engineer! :)

Ever since I started this blog, I've thought it would be fun to occasionally share new recipes that I've come across since I've been so enjoying cooking lately (now that I have time to do it!) It is only fitting that this is my first recipe to share since it has been a "pregnancy favorite." The original recipe can be found at 101cookbooks.com, a whole foods recipe website. I've modified the recipe a bit (hopefully for the better - I added chocolate chips! :).

These cookies became especially important to me after a visit to the doctor a month or so ago when they warned me to "be sure to watch that weight gain." Who in their right mind says that to a hormonal pregnant woman?! After obsessing about it for the rest of the day, I was reminded of my wise friend Ellen who often says, "Sensitivity to reproof is the surest sign of need of it." (originally from Fenelon's Let Go, I believe.)

So, I decided that yes, indeed, I had been eating too many ice cream sandwiches and I needed a healthier option to indulge that chocolate craving of mine. Here's the recipe - with whole wheat flour and only 1/2 cup sugar in the whole batch, its basically like eating a granola bar! :)

Whole Grain Mexican Wedding Cookies

1 cup pecans, pureed in food processor (I put them in my coffee grinder and run it till they are finely broken up, but some still in larger pieces)
1 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup oat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
powdered sugar for dusting (optional - yes, they still taste good w/out the powdered sugar on top!)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Beat the butter until it becomes creamy (the original recipe calls for mixing all the ingredients in a stand mixer, which I'm sure would be lovely, but since I have not been blessed with one of those beauties yet, I just use my regular old mixer). Add the sugars and mix till everything is creamy and lighter in color. Next, add vanilla and ground pecans. Slowly add the flours and salt, mixing till a stiff dough is formed. Finally, add a (generous) 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips.

Form dough into cookies, w/approx. 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie. Bake for 12 minutes (it takes more like 14 min. on my airbake cookie sheets) or until the bottoms of the cookies begin to brown slightly. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy! (Makes about 2 dozen cookies)