A Slight Diversion - From Holidays to Favorites

I've been throwing myself into the holidays this month.  Probably because I'm still acclimating to a new city, a new married life, a new job, a new family.....you get the picture. I've been baking almost daily, and in between ovens overheating the kitchen and timers constantly going off, I have been designing and sending out our holiday cards.  This year I splurged and spent a lot more than I normally would on Christmas cards, but it's our first married Christmas and I thought that should get some attention. 
As I designed our holiday cards and ordered them (twice - I ran out the first time and realized I needed double what I had ordered in the first place), it gave me time to go through the wedding pictures from our photographer, Kate McCann.  I've shared a few previously, but here some others, some of my favorites.





Our cakes from Cape May Bakers were absolutely gorgeous - and delicious!





Not only did we have cake, but we had an entire cookie table, which included Terrible Towel cookies, a shout out to Kev's hometown (and now ours) of Pittsburgh!



Our centerpieces were done by our brother-in-law, Dave.  He made these tall ones from hydrangea and branches, and some shorter ones of white roses.



One of our first kisses as husband and wife!

Check out that new bling!

Old age, rocking chairs, and conversation....reminds me of that quote, "Grow old with me, the best is yet to come". Sigh...Swoon....

Another beach shot, playing with shadows

My gorgeous flower girl (and neice), after her spontaneous and hilarious speech at the wedding.



Right after our first dance



Ahhh, how I wish I could do it all over again!! And now that I've had that Christmas Vacation locked-in-the-attic moment, I'll take my leave.  I'll be back soon with more of my holiday baking stories!

I Did It For The Colors

Today is 12.12.12, which I find to be completely awesome.  I've been writing the date on everything all day just because I like the way it looks.  Who knows, if I would have wanted a winter, Wednesday, wedding (say that 3 times fast!), maybe we would have picked today.
But yesterday is what today's blog is about. I've become increasingly interested in kale and squash, mainly because I find the colors to be so pretty together.  The bright green of cooked kale, and that Dalai Lama gold color of butternut squash makes my eyes happy every time I see it. 

 

And there are a plethora of recipes out there with these 2 ingredients in them, so yesterday I started reading and combining and thinking about them and how to make some sort of entree.  One particular recipe that stood out to me was the Roasted Vegetable Orzo at 101 Cookbooks.  I decided to use that as a base recipe, mostly because I liked the idea of using orzo, and the dressing in that recipe was super easy (meaning I had all the ingredients for it), and it sounded delicious.  But I also thought it could use some revisions to fit my needs, so I read the recipe, and went forth into Morgan's World, which included tofu for protein. 

Here is what I did, in paragraph form this time, as it better follows my thought process:

Roasted Vegetable Orzo with Honeyed Tofu

1 butternut squash

1 bunch of kale

3 small onions

Olive oil

2 c. uncooked orzo

2 pkg. extra firm tofu

1/2 c. orange juice

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 c. honey

1/2 c. pine nuts

Dressing:

1/2 c. plain yogurt

5 cloves roasted garlic

sea salt to taste

I poked holes in the whole squash with a fork and microwaved for 4-5 minutes to soften the rind.  Then I put the whole squash in a baking dish and put it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.  While that was cooking, I wrapped 2 packages of tofu in paper towels and pressed them between a cutting board and a pile of plates in the sink for about 30 minutes.  Then I mixed a quick marinade with the orange juice,balsamic vinegar, and cayenne in a mixing bowl.  Once the liquid was pressed out of the tofu, I cut the tofu into cubes and added it to the marinade, and set it aside. 

I chopped the 3 onions into large chunks and put them in a separate bowl.  When the squash was able to be easily cut through with my trusty kitchen knife, I pulled it out of the oven and sliced it in half, length-wise.  I scooped out the seeds and strings, and peeled the whole thing with a vegetable peeler.

I cut it into bite sized chunks, and added it to the bowl of onions, with the olive oil and some sea salt, mixed it all together with my hands, and threw it on to a baking sheet (cover it in foil! it's worth it when cleaning up!).  I added 5 cloves of (unpeeled!) garlic for the dressing, and stuck it in the oven.  I let it roast for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees, fliping/stirring it occassionally.  At the same time I put that in, I put the tofu on another foil covered baking sheet, drizzled it with half the honey, and baked it. About halfway through, I flipped the pieces and drizzled the remaining honey on them.

While THAT was going on in the oven, I started the dressing by mixing the yogurt and about 1/2 tsp sea salt together and putting it in the fridge.  I also washed, dryed, and de-veined my kale, and sliced it into strips that would be able to fit in one's mouth.  I put it in the same mixing bowl that I'd mixed the squash in, and added a bit more olive oil and salt.  I spread it out on another baking sheet covered in foil, and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes, until it was bright green and chew-able (NOT chew-Y).  A couple of the edges of the leaves were slightly crisp, but nothing was browned or burnt.

I also cooked the orzo as I would any other pasta, and drained it immediately before adding to a large pasta bowl. I lightly browned the pine nuts.

When both the squash and the tofu were slightly browned and crispy, I pulled them out of oven.  I took the garlic out of the roasted vegetables, slipped the outer skin off, and mashed it into the yogurt mixture, adding salt to taste. 

Then I mixed the orzo, kale, vegetables, and tofu together, added the dressing and mixed it in, and topped it off with the pine nuts. 

It. was. delicious. 

SOOOOOOO good.  I served it with rosemary roasted baby potatoes, which may seem like a lot of starch in one meal but was delicious so I ignored it.

For Those Cold Winter Nights (You Know, the 56 degree ones)

One of my biggest trepidations about moving to Pittsburgh was the cold, and since it hasn't been THAT cold, you would think I'd be happy, but no. I WANT SNOW!!  I EXPECTED snow! And snow DAYS!  But nothing.  Just mildly cold, very rainy weather.  Dumb.
While the weather hasn't been exactly wintery lately, I've decided to pretend it is while in my kitchen.  Last week I made Dutch Onion Potato Soup, and a loaf of Beer Bread to go with it.  It was perfect for those not-very-cold winter nights. The potato soup started out, as many of my experiments do, with an online recipe (Dutch Onion Potato Cheese Soup) that I enhanced to my own tastes and vegetarian diet. 

1 Tbs. butter

1 Tbs. canola oil

3 c. sliced onions

¼ c. flour

8 c. vegetable broth

12 oz.  beer

4 c. diced potatoes

2 c. cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter and oil in a soup pot.  Saute the onions for about 10 minutes, until they are soft and golden brown.  Stir in the flour, and then add broth and beer (I used a honey wheat, but this would also probably be really good with a darker beer).  Bring the soup to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Add the potatoes, and bring to a boil again.  Cover pot and cook for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Mash the potatoes in the broth.  Remove from heat and add cheese (I sliced mine into this strips, grating would be fine too), and salt and pepper to taste (I like a lot of fresh-ground pepper).  Put on low heat and stir until the cheese melts.  Continue to stir occasionaly until ready to serve.

For the Beer Bread, I followed a recipe from Recipe Lion, and it turned out fabulously - a hearty, dark, flavorful bread that paired perfectly with the soup, and is also delicious smothered in butter and honey.

3 c. flour (I used a mix of white and whole wheat)

3 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 bottle room temperature beer

3 Tbs melted unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add the beer and stir for about 20 stokes, just until the flour is incorporated. (Try and not over-stir the batter.)  Pour into your prepared pan and drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes on a cooling rack before removing it from the pan.

Overall, a hearty, delicious meal, no matter the temperature outside!

Sometimes You Just Need A Break, or, Thank You Primanti Brothers

Ohhh yeahhhhhh! Kevin and I FINALLY made it to Primanti Brothers the other night. 
Some nights you want to cook, and some nights you just want to stuff yourself with a ridiculously humongous sandwich and a beer.  The other night was one of those nights for Kev and me, and Primanti Bros came to the rescue.  The sandwiches at Primanti Bros all come topped with fresh cut french fries and coleslaw. Paired with a cold beer, it is a match made in heaven (and could possibly get you there a bit quicker, as I'm pretty sure that more than one of these a month would give anyone a heart attack).  Even for little veggie me, there is a Cheese Combo, for which they actually fry the cheese on the griddle, and top with the aforementioned french fries and coleslaw, as well as tomatoes and onion.  Put it all together, and you get this monstrous beauty.

So delicious, so easy, so bad for you, but just plain good.  Thank you Primanti Brothers!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The holidays are here!  This is definitely my favorite time of the year, what with all the holiday music, food and general good cheer.
Our weekend was spent getting the Christmas decorations out, putting up lights and the Christmas tree (and attending the fantastic Pittsburgh wedding recpetion that my mother-in-law held for us, but that isn't much related to this holiday post, so I'll save it for another day). Kev did a great job picking out a Christmas tree (our first married Christmas tree!), and putting up lights outside.

Kevin also asked me the other day "You'll be making Christmas cookies, right?" - all I could think was, didn't we just move near your family so you could share in your mother's insanely good holiday baking?
But, of course, I will be baking, and this wekeend started off with a few  snacks to get me in the mood. 
The first, and very easiest holiday mouth explosion that I made was Cinnamon & Sugar Pretzels, which are just that.

Take about 8 oz (maybe a little more) of pretzels, pour 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/3 cup sugar and 3 tsp. of cinnamon over them, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Super simple, and a fantastic snack to have set out in a dish for random pass-through snacking.

The second recipe I made was again, super simple, and nice to have around for the random guests that may pop up, especially this time of year.  Eggnog Pound Cake - yum!  Kevin wasn't so excited about this one at first, but I've noticed the loaf is starting to dwindle, and apparently it is super good with coffee in the morning (though I won't vouch for it being a healthy breakfast).

I got this recipe from www.MyRecipes.com, and actually followed it pretty much to a T:

• 1 (16-oz.) package pound cake mix
• 1 1/4 cups eggnog
• 2 large eggs

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat all ingredients together at low speed with an electric mixer until blended. Increase speed to medium, and beat 2 minutes. Pour into a lightly greased 9- x 5-inch loaf pan.

2. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).

There is much more to come in our house this month.  Tonight I have some delightful plans for Buckeyes and Pecan Pie Bars, which will be shared soon.  Happy December!!