Oops

There comes a day in every dog's life, when they get left loose all day in the house for the first time while their owner is away.

Even though it was unintentional, today was that day for Tallulah Belle Poodle.

The house is still standing.  The white fluffy dudes have survived.  Upon first inspection - because you know I looked - there is no apparent damage.

Good girl, Tallulah.

RUN!

THAT is why I want a video camera.

Brownies

I set about making brownies yesterday.  I just won some new kitchenware through the cooking club that I belong to, and I wanted to try out my new pan.  I've been craving brownies for a while, and when I realized I had all the ingredients at home, I decided to christen the new pan with a forbidden yummy.

First, I melted the butter.  The recipe called for a half a cup of butter, so I chopped a block of butter in half and tossed it into the hot pan.  Then I measured out the sugar and vanilla put them into a bowl.

Right about then, I clued in that a half a block of butter is actually a cup of butter.  Since I can't unmelt butter, I decided that I'd have to double the recipe.  I doubled the sugar and vanilla.  I added the butter, and then cracked 4 eggs into the mix.

Then I was distracted for a few minutes while I figured out what the heck pan I'd use because the new pan was too small for the doubled recipe. I oiled and washed three different pans before I finally settled on the one I used.

Back to the batter, I added the remaining ingredients.  I mixed it up with the magic 200 beats of a wooden spoon (because somebody once told me that brownies have to be hand mixed, and that you can't beat them more than 200 turns of the spoon or they'll end up like rubber.)  I poured the batter into the bar pan, and placed it in the hot oven.

As I started to gather up the dirty dishes to clean up while the brownies baked, a thought occurred to me:  I'd doubled the ingredients until I changed pans, and then I'd forgotten to double the remaining ingredients.

So...  I yanked the brownies out of the oven, and poured the batter back into a (new) mixing bowl.   Except, my spatula - the last clean one because I'd been cooking all day - had gone into the sink.  Once a dish touches the sink, I never let it touch food until it's been thoroughly washed with soap and hot water.      So, I balanced the dirty pan on top of the mixing bowl and a few pots I'd stolen from a nearby drawer.  Batter dripped all over while I washed a spatula and then used it to scrape what was left into the bowl. The batter was only slightly chunky and cooked.   additional ingredients were mixed in.   The mandatory 200 beats of the brownie batter were exceeded.  

...Back into the oven it went.  There was some debate about how long a double recipe of brownies should back (vs the 30 minutes needed for a non-doubled batch).  Ultimately, I decided to stick with 30 minutes.

I made brownie frosting.  Then I made some more when I remembered that I'd doubled the original recipe.  I spread it on the still warm brownies, and called it a day.

A few hours later, Jen came over to help me make some apple crisp so that I really could try out my new pan.  When she left, I sent her home with half the brownies and instructions not to judge me based on them alone.  This was not my best day in the kitchen.

Beer Stew

In my continuing quest to find flavourful, salt free meals, I made beer stew tonight.

3 pounds of stewing beef (I used bison)
1 1/2 pounds of thinly sliced onions
2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 cup of  beef broth (I used homemade veggie broth to avoid the salt, and it worked well.)
2-3 cups of beer
4 minced garlic cloves
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Fresh herbs to taste (I used what I had left from my parents' garden: thyme, oregano and chives)
cracked pepper to taste
1 1/2 tbsp of corn starch
2 1/2 tbsp of red wine vinegar
(I also added about 3 cups of fresh bite-sized button mushrooms.)

Preheat oven to 325F.
Heat the oil in a dutch oven to a high temp on stove until it's almost smoking.  Add meat, and allow to brown (a few minutes).
Remove meat, and reduce to medium heat
Add onion, and let brown for about 10 minutes.  Stir periodically.
Add broth, scrape the sides and bottom of pan as though you were making gravy.
Add meat back into pot, and then add just enough beer to barely cover the top of the meat.
Add garlic, herbs, pepper and brown sugar.  Mix well.
Bring to a simmer on stove
(this is where I added the mushrooms)
Cover, and place the dutch oven in the bottom third of the oven
Let cook for 2 1/2 hours.  Check periodically to make sure that it is lightly simmering throughout.
After 2 1/2 hours, take out of the oven.  Dissolve the corn starch in the red wine vinegar.  Mix well into the stew, cover and set aside for about 10 minutes.

I served this over mashed potatoes with steamed carrots and asparagus on the side.  I don't like beer, but this stuff was delicious.   I'll definitely be making it again.

I hope that there's no salt in beer.  I forgot to check that.

You can't hear this...

...but purrs are echoing around the house.

Man Hands

I'd like to think that I've got nice hands.  I can't promise you that there won't be scratches from working with roses or calluses from yard work, but I've always thought that I had smallish, feminine hands.

I can't say that I pamper them.  I work, I paint and garden.  Lucky for me, a friend of mine is trying to start up a home business.  She does nails, and agreed to give me a great deal.  Tonight I had my nails done.

She used some sort of bio gel over my real nails, which were long to start with.  The coating strengthens the nails and helps to prevent chips and cracks while allowing the nails to breath through it.  That means that you can leave it on as long as you want without doing damage; and she only painted the tips so that I can let them grow out without them looking unkempt.  (My biggest concern about having my nails painted is having to maintain them.)

I tried to take a picture for you, but I swear to the good Lord above, every picture came out looking like I've got man hands.  Which I don't.  It's not even a up for discussion.  I only got a limited number of attractive features: my long legs are a pain in the arse to clothe, and my good feet have failed me.  My hands are all that's left, and there ain't nobody gonna tell me that they're anything but feminine.

And so, all you get to see is one single, solitary finger.

Isn't it pretty?

Thanksgiving dinner

It's Thanksgiving today in Canada.  I stirred the pot a bit when I decided not to drive up to Edmonton to be with my sister's family and my parents today, and then bowed out of the local invites that I received from friends.  Instead, I stayed home and puttered about; and then made an untraditional Thanksgiving dinner.

A few weeks ago when the hard frosts were about to hit, I brought all the green tomatoes in and set them on the counter.  This, of course, led to them all riping at the same time, and I am left with a bushel of garden fresh tomatoes.  I went looking for a recipe to use some of them up and decided to try one that I got from a new cookbook that I recently bought - Quinoa 354 - the  Everyday Super Food.

Crustless Tomato & Basil Quiche
2/3 cup of water
1/3 cup of quinoa
4 large eggs
1/4 cup quinoa flour or white flour (I used white)
1 1/2 cups of diced tomatoes
1 cup of onions
1 tsp vegetable or olive oil
1 cup of shredded mozzarella (I used shredded marble, because that's what I had)
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp or fresh basil or 2 tsp dried flakes (I used dry, because that's what I had, and it was good.)
1/4 of milk or cream
salt & pepper to taste

Bring water and quinoa to a boil.  Lower heat to a simmer, cover and leave for 10 minutes.  Turn off heat, leave covered for 5 minutes.  Uncover and fluff with a fork.

In pan, sauté diced onion at medium with oil until translucent.  (The book said 10 minutes... I did about 5.)

Whisk eggs and flour together.  Mix all ingredients together well in a bowl, and pour into a 9" round baking pan and bake on the center rack for 50 minutes at 350F.   Serve with a fresh salad and enjoy.

Confessions:
I realized as I was getting everything ready and preheating the oven that spillage in the oven from earlier in the day was causing copious amounts of smoke (as in - smoke alarms were screeching ).   I turned off the oven, let it cool and cleaned it up before starting again.  I'd whisked the eggs with the flour, cooked the quinoa and the onions before that little interruption and I wonder if the delay contributed to how little the quiche rose.  (But I think it might be a good thing that the quinoa and the onions had a chance to cool first too.)

Another contribution towards the lack if height of the quiche could be that I forgot the milk.

Also, I baked it in my 11" stoneware dish.  That spread it out quite a bit and definitely impacted the height.  BUT, stoneware makes for a great texture.  I don't know if you could get such a crusty texture on the outside with such a moist center in a  metal pan.

Either way, I thought it turned out yummy.  I highly recommend it.