Glorious Mornings, Guaranteed

When I was in middle school, a restaurant called the Garden Cafe opened up across from my house.  The food was sort of upscale diner.  I don't really remember much about it except that they served breakfast all day and no matter what you ordered it came with your choice of muffin.  Chicken parmesan? Blueberry muffin.  Chop Salad? Bran muffin.  Pancakes? You must like carbs, why not have an apple muffin?

I always favored the Chicken Salad with a Morning Glory muffin.  I think it has been a decade since I had one, so when I was cleaning out the pantry and came across some desiccated raisins, soy flour, and wheat germ, I combined several recipes to create this one.  The soy flour adds protein and the wheat germ adds fiber - both of which help this muffin keep you full until lunchtime.  I used apple butter from last fall's canning, but feel free to substitute applesauce instead!

While the muffins, were cooking, I made a list of the remaining ingredients sitting purposeless in my pantry/refrigerator door/freezer. I'm usually good about only buying things I need that week at the grocery store, so I don't tend to accumulate much, but every six months or so, I try to do a clean out of all the half-empty containers. My happiness project goal was a good excuse, and now we have the next two weeks of dinners set:

Bulgur à loaded tabbouleh with cucumber, tomatoes, and black olives

Rye Flour à pizza with caramelized onion, ham, and swiss (increase proportion of rye)

Ginger Pickle, Chickpea Flour, and Fenugreek Powder à Indian spiced grilled chicken skewers, paranthas, yogurt, and ginger pickle

Chow Mein Noodles and Peanuts à Thai-ish cabbage salad

Rice Paper Wrappers and Sweet Chili Sauce à vegan summer rolls with peanut and sweet chili sauce (I like them with tofu better than seitan)

Homemade Pickles, Buttermilk Ranch Mix, and Panko Breadcrumbs à “fried”pickles with ranch dip

Quinoa and Chia Seeds à energy bars

Green Curry Paste à summer vegetable curry

Buffalo Wing Sauce à buffalo chicken pizza 

Pickled Pepper Rings àroasted cherry tomatoes, toss with basil, goat cheese, and pasta

Chinese Bean Sauce à Chinese beef and asparagus; Chinese black bean chicken wings

Tamarind Concentrate and Peanuts à simple vegetarian pad thai

Morning Glory Muffins
Makes 12

1 cup AP flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup soy flour (or more whole wheat flour)
1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)
1 tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
8oz can crushed pineapple in juice, do not drain
1/2 cup apple butter or applesauce
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. vanilla

4 medium carrots, coarsly grated
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients well.  In a separate bowl (or realistically, in a well in the middle of dry ingredients to avoid having to clean to bowls, mix the wet ingredients.  Stir to combine, the dough will be thick.
3. Fold in carrots, raisins, coconut, and walnuts.
4. Line 12 muffin tins with parchment liners (these are amazing - nothing will stick to them) and fill each liner with a full 1/4 cup of batter.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

30 x 30 Wrap-Up

Work Things
1. Find a Time Management System that Works
This is a constant struggle but the Pomodoro Technique, paired with a weekly priorities list, and a dry erase board listing the current status (urgent, backburner, waiting on a collaborator) and next step for each project are currently working for me pretty well.  I still constantly underestimate how much time everything will take me, but I'm getting better.

2. Five Publications 
I have only had two papers actually come out, one on paraoxonase in the Journal of Lipids  my dissertation work in Human Genetics but I have three more in press which will be out sometime in the next few months (hopefully) depending on the publishers' timelines.

3. Three Grant Applications
I've applied for more three applications and most importantly had one funded by Wenner-Gren.  I'll be ramping that research project up soon and I can't wait!  

4. Keep up with New Statistical Applications
This is a sisyphean task as there are always new methods coming out.  I did attend a great course taught at Cold Spring Harbor Lab in August which gave me all sorts of new references to work from.

5. Improve my R and Linux Programming

A friend of mine started an R programming group in San Antonio which has been great for learning new applications and meeting other nerds.

Fun Things
6. Go on a picnic
Not yet.  This whole fun things sectionis going to be ugly.  Evidently, I need to have more fun.

7. Go camping
Nope.

8. Go to a local festival
Turns out I don't like crowds.

9. Go to the beach
Yes!  In Malibu and Venice.

10. Go to a professional sporting event
Uh-uh. But I'm hoping for a San Antonio Silver Stars game this summer.

11. Participate in alumni association events
I cheered on the Jayhawks at a March Madness watch party.  Turns out the motivation I needed to finally get out of the house was getting rid of cable.

12. Use the library
I haven't actually checked out any books yet, but I've started looking forward to my commute thanks to their audiobooks.

13. Visit the zoo and botanical garden
Neither.

14. Watch classic movies

This one I've done a lot and, in agreement with every list ever, Casablanca was my favorite.

Crafty Things
15. Crochet a throw
Decided to be a bit less ambitious and crochet a pillow instead.  I'm really starting to get why people enjoy crocheting, though and may try a throw eventually.

16. Sew 6 garments for myself 
I did make two new items from scratch - my Easter dress and a mod pink pencil skirt I haven't posted yet - but I am even more excited to be upcycling new outfits from old clothes - teal pants and black cardigan with crepe ruffle, navy skirt and grey striped button down, and summer t-shirt dress (I'll be posting soon).  It's better for the environment AND my wallet.

17. Knit a sweater (Vignette Cardigan)
I knit one and I've cast on three others, because starting is the most fun part of a project!  

18. Knit a pair of socks
This was my first pair of socks with sock yarn and they are so decadent.  There is something really luxurious about hand knit socks.

19. Own no yarn that moved from PA
I'm counting those three cast-ons as using the yarn, so this is pretty much true.  All of my yarn now fits in the four wire baskets I have allocated for it, and I'm determined to keep it that way!

20. Put all photos in scrapbooks
Done, done, done!   

21. Learn to take better photographs
I really regret that I didn't put more time into this and I think I'll carry it over into the new year.  I do wish I took better photos, but I know it will take work.

22. Learn to draw
I started working on this and then realized that it really isn't that important to me right now.  

Yummy Things

23. Bake through Bread Baker’s Apprentice
I've learned to vary hydration levels (stiff dough for bagels and wet, sticky dough for focaccia), make lean pain de campagne and extremely rich casatiello, and leavened bread with direct fermentation (cranberry-walnut bread), instant yeast (stollen), and sourdough (pumpernickel).  My favorite development, though, is the sourdough pizza dough that has replaced my normal Friday dough.

24. Make brunch once a month
I love breakfast food.  This year we had apple-sour cream pancakes, Dutch baby, Southwestern omelet with extra crispy hash browns, waffles, spicy chicken biscuit sandwiches, peach and sausage kolaches, Moroccan merguez ragout with poached eggs, and migas.  

25. Try out six new canning recipes
Before summer rolls around, I'm using up my last stores of ginger pear butter, tomato jam, serrano jelly, ice-brined garlic dill pickles, peach butter, and - my favorite and already gone - chocolate balsamic strawberry jam.

26. Cook with a new ingredient each month
I tried out kala jeera, forbidden rice, pork belly, cocoa nibs, crab, caperberries, chia, and harissa, but I spotted three new fruits I'd never seen at the store today.

Strong Things
27. Run a half-marathon
I did it! I'm I ready to train for next year.

28. Compete in a 1 mile swim race
I missed the actual race (I was at my statistics course), but I've been swimming a mile most Sunday mornings.  

29. Complete two triathlons 
This year I completed the Spa Girl triathlon and Wurst Tri Ever.  Both had particularly fun swimming elements.  The Spa Girl was held at a resort and we swam the quarter-mile in the lazy river and the Wurst Tri Ever we road a water slide that dropped us into a spring-fed pond.

Last Thing
30. Purge things we don’t need from each room of the house
This has been so satisfying!  It is an ongoing project, and I think I may double back and purge more.

March in Instagram

Happy Easter! 

Everybody's working for the weekend.  Even pandas.

Sunnyside up eggs on colcannon cakes for St. Patrick's Day brunch.

Well, the madness is over now, but I celebrated an early win with the KU alumni association.  Wave the Wheat!

I've hated these pillows that came with our couch since we got them so I used some scrap yarn to crochet a new cover.  I love the texture, but napping on it leaves a particularly weird impression on your face.

Hank enjoyed the spring weather by lounging by the open windows.

The Alamo City R users group has been meeting at a really cool cooperative workspace downtown and I finally made it to a meeting.

Also, we got engaged! 

January in Instagram

 This month was so busy, I can't even believe that it started out in Kansas with snow and stomach flu.

Our friend Maria came to stay with us for a week.  She lived here for two years so we took her to all her old hang outs and showed her the new Riverwalk extension.

The day Maria left, Jason and Abby came to stay.  Abby was here because we organized a conference, but they stayed through the weekend to hang out.  We had lots of tacos and, of course, visited a mission (we did the Alamo last year).

These flowers were an unexpected thank you gift.

Hank loves to sit up in her cat town and look down on us.

For Christmas, I got the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and only made it to the first page before I decided I HAD to have the apple-sour cream pancakes.

I also got the Super Natural Everyday cookbook and made this rice salad featuring forbidden rice.  Somehow I thought it would be hard to get - turns out you can get it in the bulk bin for $4 a pound.

Scrabble Night!!!! (That's Geoff's game face)

 

Celebrated Kansas Day on the 29th with this gorgeous quilled necklace my mom made.

Finally got the last 7 years worth of photos (since I bought a digital camera) printed and in albums!

Whew!  Quite a month.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of my American readers are enjoying time with family or friends following a delicious Thanksgiving meal.  Now that all the dishes are done and the leftovers stuffed into an overflowing fridge, those of you hosting should put your feet up and relax.  If you have house-guests, though, they might be expecting breakfast tomorrow.  Sure, you could make a turkey omelette or a sweet-potato hash, but I'd recommend that the morning after this quintessentially American holiday, you should make a German pancake.  This "dutch baby" bears little resemblance to the American flapjack, but it has two big advantages - you can dump all of the ingredients in the blender and it all cooks in one big skillet.  The result is a lemony, slightly eggy pancake with a great texture.  I topped mine with some truly excellent Ginger Pear Butter made from The Kitchenette's recipe, but you might consider topping it off with leftover cranberry sauce.  You'll want that fridge space back eventually.


Dutch Baby
Adapted from Gourmet


2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
3 large eggs
2/3 cup skim milk
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 lemon

1. Place all ingredients except butter in the blender and blend until smooth and light.
2. Place 10" cast iron skillet into oven and heat to 450 degrees.
3. Once oven reaches temperature, add butter to skillet and swirl.
4. Pour in batter and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
5. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice (it forms light glaze where the two meet).
6. Cut into wedges and serve with jam, syrup, fruit butter, or cranberry sauce.

(South)western Omelet

I've been thinking about a Western omelet for a week now.  Ham, veggies, eggs, what's not to like?  Add some hash browns along the side and I'm a happy camper.  Now, the obvious remedy to this craving would be to go out to brunch at one of the hundreds of places in town that serve Western omelets, but I think you've realized by now that this isn't the way this story ends.  I'm picky about my omelets (okay, I'm picky about everything).  I love cheese, but not so much that the eggs are swimming in grease, lots of veggies (pre-cooked, not crunchy), and nice chunks of ham.  Don't even get me started on the mushy cubes of potato some diners try to pass off as hash browns.

To sate my craving, I started with the hash browns.  I only accept grated potatoes as hash browns.  You are entitled to your own opinion, but deep down in your heart, you know cubed hash browns are just roasted potatoes you are serving at breakfast.  To make four servings of hash browns, I grated 3 medium Russet potatoes and sprinkled them with about 2 tsp of salt.  After a few minutes of sitting, I spun them over and over again in my salad spinner until they had given up all of the moisture they could.  Dry potatoes are the key to crispy browns and that is what I am after.  I tossed the shredded potatoes with green onions and black pepper.  I cooked the potatoes over medium high heat in two batches using about 2 tsp of butter per side.  Be sure to start your browns cooking well before your omelets because I cooked mine for a total of 20 minutes to get a really nice, crispy crust.

While the browns were cooking, I sauteed green onion with red and green bell pepper.  At the last minute, I tossed in cubes of ham steak to warm through.  It took me forever to figure out how to make omelets.  For years would give up half way through and make scrambled eggs with vegetables mixed in or, seeing the failure coming, just set out to make a frittata.  The sticking point for me (sometimes literally) comes in trying to flip the omelet.  So I don't. For each omelet, I whisked two (gorgeous, golden-yolked) eggs from Veronica's chickens with just a splash of milk and poured it into an 8" pan over medium.  The result is a thin enough layer of egg that it will cook all the way through without you ever having to flip it. Once you get your eggs in the pan, let them sit for about a minute and a half without disturbing it.  Give the pan a slight jiggle and keep cooking until there isn't much wobbling, raw egg left on top and then add in just a sprinkling (2-3 tbsp) of extra sharp cheddar cheese, a thin layer of veggies, and some ham.  Remember that the egg layer is thin and fragile, so we don't want to add too much filling.  Then realize you have an avocado that is about to go bad, ignore what you were just saying, and add in fat slices.  Wonder why you don't have breakfast for dinner more often.

Happy National Waffle Day!!!!

What's that? You didn't know it was the 143rd anniversary of Cornelius Swartwout's U.S. patent for the waffle iron?  Not to worry, International Waffle Day is coming up next March 25.  Or, I suppose, you could just make waffles because they are delicious and make people happy.  Tonight, the Waffles of Insane Greatness as adapted by Molly Wizenberg made these people very happy (the bacon may have also helped).

These waffles really are insanely great.  The real appeal of waffles to me lies in a crispy exterior and this recipe has them in spades.  Veronica and I ripped open the first one hot off the iron and it was unbelievably crisp with a fluffy and moist interior.  It is everything you could want in a waffle and hard to resist eating plain, standing around my kitchen, with mimosas in our other hands.  But, we restrained ourselves after the initial waffle and ate the rest topped with blackberry-blueberry compote at the table.  Any berries that are on sale or you have in the freezer would work.  I just cooked them down with some maple syrup for sweetness and then thickened with a tiny bit of cornstarch slurry to give it more body.

Our lovely neighbors provided the waffle iron this evening, but I'm thinking that I'll be needing one of my own soon.  As insanely great as these waffles were, I'm constantly afflicted with culinary wanderlust and could never be tied down to a single waffle recipe when there are yeasted buckwheat waffles, cornmeal-bacon waffles with thyme-infused syrup, and liege waffles to be had.  Do you have a favorite waffle to add to my list?

Rosebud was Her Biscuit

My quest to catch up on some of the most iconic movies of all time has already paid dividends. In the last week, I read an article about the Cold War referencing specific characters in Dr. Strangelove and listened to a episode of my new favorite podcast, NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, in which the machinations of Addison DeWitt from All About Eve were discussed. (Although the list is always getting longer, in the past 48 hours, Geoff has asked me "You haven't seen Clockwork Orange, have you?" and "Oh, I guess you haven't seen Demolition Man?" and "You don't recognize the theme from The Natural?").  

Citizen Kane is, according to the American Film Institute, the greatest movie of all time; however, all I knew about it going in was that (do I need to call spoiler alert for a 70 year old movie?) rosebud was his sled.  I had no idea why that mattered or really what the movie was about.  In truth, though the quest to understand the meaning of rosebud is the driving force of the plot, you can know the answer from the beginning without a losing much.  This is evidenced by the fact that that my version of the DVD features a sled with "Rosebud" on the menu screen you have to look at to play the movie.

Overall, I was surprised at how funny it was given that it is a critique of wealthy man (based on William Randolph Hurst) whose money can't buy him happiness.  I'm not much of a cinephile and I don't generally notice things like how a shot is framed, but there were several times where I was taken in by a particularly clever detail that would be innovative even today.  For example, the passage of time is shown not by the (now cliche) changing of the seasons out a window, but by the changing seasonal puzzles one of the characters puts together.  Geoff pointed out that there are a number of other elements that have become commonplace in modern films, but would have been completely novel in 1941.  (Google research indicates that Citizen Kane  was among the first movies to use flashbacks, particularly in conjunction with unreliable narrators and to put the entire depth of field in focus.)   Not to mention that Orson Welles was 25 years old when Citizen Kane came out and had never directed a movie before.  I'm no expert in film (thus the need for this 30 by 30 goal) so I'm not in a position to determine if it is or isn't the greatest film ever made; so all I can say is that I was as entertained by this 70 year old film as anything that came out in 2011.

So I've mentioned in the past the difficulty of picking a meal inspired by a film I've never seen.  However, some early searches suggested that there is a pivotal breakfast scene in the movie.  While a wealthy man in the 1940s would have servants to make his breakfast, busy working people today tend to stop for a breakfast sandwich from a drive-thru.  I decided to take my inspiration from this more modern morning meal - spicy pan-fried chicken on a biscuit.

For four servings, I cut two large breasts in half and brined them in pickle juice with two serrano chopped up, seeds and all.  I left them in the brine for about 8 hours before draining and coating them in flour. To cook, I added a small amount of butter and oil to a cast iron pan over high heat.  Once seared on both sides, I slid the pan into a 400 degree oven alongside a pan of biscuits (PSA: check the expiration date on your baking powder, my biscuits came out flat!).  Both were done in about 12 minutes and ready for a quick dinner.  Pepperjack cheese is a nice addition to kick up the heat even more and a bowl of sweet summer melon to cut the spice.  This was my first experiment using pickle juice as a brine and I wasn't sure what to expect.  The chicken was extremely moist and not particularly pickle-flavored.  It's nice to use up something you would otherwise dump down the drain, but I think a regular brine would work just as well.  Remember, money can't buy happiness, but it can buy breakfast!

Tex-Czech Breakfast

West, Texas (which, confusingly, is in the northern part of the state) is known as the kolache capital of Texas. The traditional fruit-filled, pastry which came to the area with Czech settlers, is generally similar to a Danish, but more tender and less flaky.  We stopped at the Little Czech Bakery at the Czech Stop in West (just off I-35, on the opposite side of the highway from the Czech Inn) on the way home from Dawn and Jim's wedding in Forth Worth last weekend to sample some of the best.

Frank, Geoff and I all tried the jalapeno, cheese and sausage-filled kolaches and they were HOT.  I would say that there was about a 50-50 cheese to pepper ratio.  But as soon as my mouth cooled down, I wanted another one.  Unfortunately, we were already back on the road so I had to be satisfied with my sweetened cottage cheese kolache with strudel topping and apricot kolache with cream cheese.  The cottage cheese kolache was so-so, but the apricot featured a half of the fruit pushed down into the dough and filled with a sweetened cream cheese.  As it baked, the apricot softened and became sticky and candy-like, it was amazing.

Inspired, I decided to make some of my own.  Fruit kolaches are the most traditional but meat and cheese stuffed ones are popular in Texas (and were our favorite).  Luckily, The Foodie Bride had recipes for both.  The enriched dough reminds me a lot of a Hawaiian roll due to the sweetness and the addition of eggs, butter, and milk.  I didn't have any peach jam to make the filling, so I just cooked down chopped peaches with brown sugar and a splash of almond extract.  I really enjoyed the almond-peach combination and the freshness of the filling.  Texas peaches have been overflowing in our farmers' market so I was glad to have another way to use the ones I didn't eat as snacks.  Hot-house peaches are such a poor substitute, so I always try and get my seasonal fill.

For the savory version, the recipe actually calls for the same sweet dough, which I was a little but uncertain about.  While the dough really is sweet, it held up well to the heat from the jalapenos.  However, if I were making only savory kolaches, I'd cut back on the sweetness.  I like big flavors so I used an extra-sharp cheddar cheese, red and green jalapenos, and garlic chicken sausages inside my kolaches.  The enriched dough is extremely tender which is great for flavor, but it tends toward holes.  I missed a few and ended up with pools of cheese on my pan (still delicious).  If you can't make it to Texas, try your hand at making kolaches of your own, you'll be glad you did.

Moroccan Merguez Ragout with Poached Eggs

Have you ever heard the proverb "success has many fathers, failure is an orphan"?  I think it holds for meals as well.  So it should tell you something that this recipe is the fortuitous offspring of a meal at my favorite brunch place in Lawrence, KS, an impulse-buy at the grocery store, and one of my favorite food sites.

A few months ago I was gazing at the massive number of Chinese sauces for sale at the grocery store (50% of which are just flavored soy sauce) when a little can of harissa caught my eye.  Harissa had its food moment several years ago in the U.S., but it is staple of northern Africa - a cuisine I love, but rarely cook.  I brought the harissa home and it sat, forgotten, in my pantry until my epic clean-out a few weeks ago when seeing it reminded me of the recipe for Moroccan Merguez Ragout I saw on Food52.  I couldn't find ground lamb to make my own merguez, so I made my merguez patties by cutting open 2/3 of a pound of premade pork and lamb sausages and mixing in a tablespoon of harissa and a tablespoon of homemade ras al hanout.

Here is where the Milton's influence comes in.  Summer and I had brunch there last Christmas and I couldn't decide between eggs Benedict and eggs Florentine so they graciously stacked ham, spinach, and eggs under a layer of Hollandaise. The spinach makes you feel just the tiniest bit virtuous and adds a mineral coolness to contrast the spice from the sauce.  The combination of harissa and warm spices from the ras al hanout gives a roundness to the spice instead of just a chili heat.  I can totally understand why harissa was the en vogue hot sauce for a while there (I believe it is now sambal).  I suspect you could poach pretty much anything in this sauce with great success. I imagine spinach and chickpeas over quinoa would be a fantastic vegetarian main course.  And if you try it, may I suggest a poached egg on top?

Tex-Mex Brunch

Breakfast tacos are to Texas what bagels are to New York - a filling (and often delicious) on the go breakfast, available just about everywhere.  Migas are a lesser-known breakfast staple in these parts, and although they require a plate, are just as quick and delicious.  Ugly but satisfying, migas are a way to use up stale tortillas by scrambling them in salsa and eggs.  You really don't need a recipe to make migas, but here is my version which keeps some tortillas crisp.  You can, as many restaurants do, cover them in a heavy layer of cheese and serve them with refried beans and more tortillas, but you might have to go back to bed after brunch.

Migas

serves 2

1/2 onion, chopped

4 oz. turkey chorizo

4 corn tortillas

4 eggs

1 cup salsa ranchero (recipe here)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/3 cup grated queso fresco (or Monterrey jack)

2 tsp. canola oil

pickled jalapenos, as desired

1. Cut tortillas in half and then into half-inch strips.  Bake at 300 until crisp.

2. Saute onion in oil until just translucent, then add chorizo and cook through.

3. Add 2/3 of the tortilla strips and the salsa to the pan and cook until the tortillas are softened.

4.  Add the eggs and remaining tortilla chips, folding occasionally.

5. Just before the eggs are set, stir in cilantro and cheese.

6. Serve topped with as many pickled jalapenos as desired.