Culinary Book Club

At our book club meeting last night I offered up "guest posting" for my blog.   It was a wonderful surprise to wake up and see Linda's email this morning!  All of the food was outstanding as usual and I will post more recipes from the group this month!  Thanks so much Linda and I hope everyone enjoys!

Hi Erika,

Here is something for the blog.  Feel free to edit as you wish.
~Linda


The first rule about Culinary Book Club is you DO talk about Culinary Book Club.  Our bi-monthly meeting at Boulevard Market is all about conversation.  Sure, we meet originally to talk about the book we have all read, which is always food related.  But we do not hesitate to branch out into discussions of family, pets, local events, and pretty much any sidetrack our train of thought chooses to explore.

Last night's meeting was especially fun for me as this week was my birthday, and Erika made a wonderful Italian Cream Cake for our celebration.  We all brought food that was inspired, but not limited to, dishes and influences from "The School Of Essential Ingredients" by Erica Bauermeister.  The book was a story of a restaurant owner, Lillian, who offers a cooking class, and it explores the lives and experiences of the class members, and shows how food and learning to fully appreciate it can change their lives.

We all enjoyed this book (not always the case with previous books, but that in itself is good for conversation).  The descriptions of the characters were as well presented as the food that they were making.  The author really made us care about these people, and left us hoping for more.  A sequel?  A movie?  They are people we would like to know more about.

The book inspired me to make a Curried Butternut Squash Soup.  It was not specifically mentioned in the book, but for me it contains some essential ingredients, so it fit into the "inspirational" category.  I am very fond of local, fresh ingredients, and I still had some butternut squash from Prochaska Farms this fall.  I also used some of our homemade wine, a blend of LaCrosse and St. Pepin grapes from 2009.  I followed a basic recipe from the Round Barn Winery.  http://www.michiganwines.com/page.php?page_id=145
I kicked up the curry powder a bit because I kinda like it spicy. And I may have added a touch more wine.

I hope the other book club members will post some of their recipes.  We had a very nice variety of tasty dishes, and lots of memories and thoughts to share.  It is so nice when strangers with a common connection can come together and become friends.

Perhaps you should join us for the next Culinary Book Club meeting.


--
Linda Utter
Flying Otter Vineyard
3402 Chase Road
Adrian, MI  49221
517-424-6109
fax 703-814-4979
linda@flyingotter.com

NOTE:  The only food I did not get a photo of was Gretchen's Mexican Hot Chocolate...I was not thinking photo, I was too busy enjoying her fabulous chocolate! 

Things I'm thinking about this week

I'm going to write about a few things I've been thinking about this week!

NASA has a yearly budget of approximately $8.17 billion dollars.  While space exploration is great, could we get their scientists to develop a cleaner that gets dog pee out of carpet permanently?  The 43 million (40% of our total population) dog owners/tax payers would really appreciate it!  Now that would be money well spent!

Cashmere has got to be the most fabulous fiber ever.  I especially love it when it's on SALE!  Coldwater Creek had a great sale on sweaters and for $33 I am toasty, stylish and anticipating the rest of winter.  You should totally check it out!  I think I have to go back tomorrow, sans John and Pierre.

This week I purchased rosemary, parsley and pink cyclamen plants, tulips and a bouquet with asters and hydrangea.  My house seems cleaner, the sun brighter and my attitude has drastically improved.  Plants just exude love, don'tcha think?

I love Norah Jones' first CD and Jack Johnson's everything....puts me in the mood to bake, paint and putz around the house in slippers.

I am embarrassed and yet totally satisfied after hoarding and eating the last Little Debbie Christmas Tree cake.

Why hasn't someone invented a painless uni-brow remover?  We have Nair for legs....

Every Sunday when I clean the tile floors in the laundry room and girls bath, I get pissed at the contractor all over again...it's been 8+ years and I just CANNOT let it go.  It's a 2011 priority to either fix them, or get over it and be done. 

I really like how the dog barks at the dogs on TV.

It is weird that farmers have to sign contracts to grow Honeycrisp apples.

Why does hair only seem to grow when you have it colored? 
 

 

Lamb Kafta

One benefit of living in southeast Michigan is our enormous population of people of Middle Eastern descent that brought their foods with them.  I love the food!  I love Lamb Kafta the very most!  Grilled served with a rice pilaf, on a pita with tomatoes and garlic sauce, chopped on top of a salad or shaped into meatball size and stuck on a ke-bob with vegetables to grill.  You can serve with a bit of cucumber sauce too! 

I'm looking for simple and quick, so I buy my spices already mixed at a Mediterranean market.  15 minutes to a really delicious, healthy meal at home!

LAMB KAFTA
1 pound ground lamb
3 Tablespoons chopped onion
3 Tablespoons chopped, fresh Parsley
4 cloves garlic ground into paste
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 Tablespoons Kafta spice blend

12 wooden skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes

Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and stir to combine.  Shape meat around skewer in desired size.  Grill over high heat 8 minutes for a skewer full or 6 minutes for meatball size with veggies. 

Like most lamb, be careful not to overcook as meat will dry out.

I love to have this fresh grilled flavor in January!

Bookcase Makeover

The saying goes..."a picture says thousand words".  Well, I was sorely embarrassed by my Christmas morning photographs of happy people, puppy, beautiful tree and this horrid, overstuffed bookcase in nearly EVERY shot!  It wasn't until I was asked to share the photos that I really noticed how bad it had gotten.  Hopefully Lewis' parents are not concerned for his safety at our house after viewing this...

 

Yesterday, I picked up a tidy little 5 shelf bookcase for cheap to deal with my problems.  I think I will upgrade later when I turn an empty bedroom into an official library, once we find permanent placements for daughters!

In July, I painted Gina's bedroom this lovely peacock blue and I just love it!  It's warm and inviting in the winter, yet cool and relaxing in the summer!   So I thought I would go with a magazine article suggestion and group the books by binding colors and add interest to my bookcase with other objects.  Well, I have plenty of "other objects" and went into the depths of the dungeon (aka basement) to dig out something interesting and still loved.

I kept the majority of my cookbooks and culinary based books in the living room and moved all of the fiction or reference stuff to the new bookcase.

There was no cure for the magazine ugliness and I am not yet ready to let go.  I did organize magazines by name and date and threw away all but cooking magazines.  Progress?

OK- This post is now almost a week old and the project is not quite finished, but I will post the before only shots and complete this weekend and post the afters! 

Eating local in January...

Living in Michigan, eating locally grown vegetables can be a challenge in winter.  Thankfully, our area has some ingenious growers and life is tasty even in the snowing months!  I've stock piled a few veggies and fruits myself (root cellar) as well as a freezer full of vegetables, jams and herbs.  I've been contemplating throwing some lettuce leaves into an old copper fish poacher on my windowsill...5 day micro greens!

It's a good thing our family loves root vegetables!  Any which way is fine with us, but roasting is the preference.

 

This is a combination of Hubbard squash, red potatoes, parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions and thyme.  All local.

ROASTED VEGETABLES

Root vegetables, cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Thyme, ground coriander 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place vegetables in a shallow pan and drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.  I love ground coriander and add about a teaspoon to a 9X13 size pan and stir together.  I throw in a few sprigs of thyme, but you can feel free to use rosemary or oregano.  I always add a few extra veggies so on a weekday night I can make this:

Winter Vegetable Soup

3 Tablespoons Butter
1 ½ cups thinly sliced onions
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced parsnip
1 cup diced turnips
½ cup diced celery-preferably with leaves
1 cup thinly sliced cabbage (I used brussel sprouts)
1 Tablespoon fresh, minced ginger root
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1 clove minced garlic
13-14 ounce can Coconut Milk
2 cups chicken broth-more as needed
3 cups diced Butternut squash (about 2 lbs.)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Over medium heat, melt butter and add onions, carrot, parsnip, turnips and celery, stir occasionally until soft, about 8 minutes.  Stir in cabbage, ginger, thyme, garlic, salt & pepper and sauté until cabbage softens.

If you would like to garnish your soup with coconut cream, do not shake can and reserve ¼ cup when opening.  Add coconut milk, broth and squash, scraping up any brown bits.  Reduce heat to low, cover and let barely simmer for 20 minutes until squash is tender.

Puree with immersion blender or traditional blender, adding more broth until desired consistency.  For a smoother soup, pour thru mesh strainer.  Season to taste.  Garnish with reserved cream and croutons.

BLUE CHEESE CROUTONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Oil baking sheet with EVOO.  Spread about a tablespoon blue cheese of choice on a ¼ inch slice of good quality bread.  Bake 10-15 minutes or until browned on bottom and cheese is bubbly.  Let cool and cut into ½ inch pieces.

I simply replace all the root vegetables it calls for and add the cabbage!  It's an awesome soup with the coconut milk but does need a bit of bite, therefore the blue cheese croutons!   

Enjoy!

   

Doggie Treats!

Ahhh, a day off!  With nothing more important to do than relax!  These days are freedom, they are dreaming days, planning, renewing, napping, baking and enjoying days!  Today I made a new recipe...tiny treats for Pierre and bigger treats for his friends!  This is new territory for me...baking for a dog?  Why not?  It took about 30 minutes including the baking time and Pierre is one happy terrier!!  I couldn't believe the amount of doggie treat recipes available on the internet!  The one I'm sharing was posted by many people, so I won't attribute to anyone, but I did add some grated cheese (surprise right?) to the original recipe, about 3/4 of a cup of cheddar that was a bit past it's prime.

Pierre helping bake treats

I had everything I needed on hand!

Waiting patiently by oven for treats to be finished!

We are learning the in's and out's of dog care.  Ye-gads, I had to post a poison list on the fridge!  I'm hoping the Sunday trip to The Boulevard Market had no lasting effects, as Pierre found and promptly ate a piece of Pannetone with raisins, a few stray coffee beans as well as many crumbs of cheese and salame, 2 toothpicks and some artificial greenery.  Yes, I technically stopped in to work...that did not happen.  But who can work with all that cuteness staring at you?

Happy Day Doggie Treats

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (you can use another type of flour if your dog is sensitive to wheat)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth (I used smooth this time)
• 1 1/4 cups hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheets.

Mix all ingredients together until combined.  Turn out onto floured surface and roll to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out shapes (dog bone maybe?) and bake for about 20 minutes until browned and crunchy.  I cut ours into small bites...but if you do larger biscuits (cookie size), you will need to add 8 minutes to baking time.  I added the cheese right before rolling out and brushed mine with an egg wash to make them a bit shiny.

Hope you enjoy your next day off with a doggie too!

     

Celebrations and Resolutions

As the new year approaches, I (like everyone else in this country) feel the desire to make a resolution.  Then I read my blog post from last new year's and reconsidered.  There are a couple items on that list that didn't get accomplished...hmmm.  Maybe the year wasn't as long as it used to be?  Maybe I've changed a bit and it's not quite as important as it seemed last year?   I was feeling guilty, angry at myself and then my friend, Aimee Weeber, posted this on her Facebook:

Sometimes we need to be reminded: "Today, you should celebrate what an unbelievable life you have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make you stronger. Just as a gem cannot be polished without friction, nor can a life be perfected without trials. Take a time to acknowledge your life and to praise yourself." (anon)

This coming from one of the most creative, kind, hard-working woman I've ever met!  I forgot to mention she's also beautiful and FUN!  

Summer at Lake Michigan with the family

Our Jamie turns 16

Our puppy "Pierre"

Andy and Erika on FOX2 News

So today I will be doing just that!  John and I have had tremendous joys and blessings this year and trials that are best left in 2010.  I can keep last year's resolutions rolling into 2011 and celebrate what has been accomplished in 2010.  

I have planned our New Years Eve of looking back at 2010 and remembering the incredible year we experienced! 

Paris France 2010

Julia Tecumseh High School Graduation 2010

Lenawee Business Leadership Award; Tecumseh Trolley took us in high style!!!