angry chicken

I will sort of miss you ice cream pie.

Okay. I am totally serious about the no sugar thing now. For real. Only fruit as a dessert. Not forever, but at least until I lose some more weight. I do pack on baby pounds and this 3rd baby really tipped me over the edge. I have made great progress, but am at a stand still right now and need to get serious. So, goodbye Mr. Ice Cream Pie. I don't even like you anymore. You are sort of a bad friend anyway, you take and take and then leave me way too many messages asking for more. I've had enough. And hello to you Miss Valencia Orange, you are amazing. I love you. Or at least I like you a whole lot. Way more than that lame Pie Man over there. Don't even look at him, I don't want him to start acting up. This won't last long, Mariko, I promise.

-Beans!! Firstly, thanks so much for all the advice on homemade corn tortillas (I still need a press) and soaking beans. I have only soaked/cooked black beans (lentils and split peas don't count in this experiment, cause they are easy, you don't need to soak them) so that is all I can vouch for, but the defrosting went great. I just freeze the barely undercooked beans with a little liquid, (in glass containers or zip-locks depending on my hysteria) then to reheat, I run them under water to make them individual beans again not a unruly block of bean ice. Then I heat them up as if they were canned. Awesome. Firm, not mushy, and far superior. I'm going to try red beans and cannelli beans soon. I make 4 cups of brown rice on Sundays and freeze it too (in 1 cup serving sizes) so I will just add beans to the list.

Next up this week is to make a font of my own handwriting for a mere $9! (via How About Orange, she links to the coolest stuff.)

And I feel remiss, I realize that a meme went around, (a "you make my day" meme) and that several sweet people mentioned this in my comments. Thank you!!! I am the black hole of memes. I always think I will play along in some way, but then I sort of freeze, especially when it involves tagging others. Sorry to be a meme-lame-o.

And happy10 year anniversary honey! No cake for you!

the instigator

So, here's what made me kick sugar for a while. I got the idea in my head to make homemade caramel corn and had to make it right away. Right away. Like during bathtime right before bed, which was already running very late. I actually said to Pete, "I'm going to just research caramel corn recipes, I won't make it tonight or anything," me=liar. I didn't mean to lie. When he came out of the bathroom, I had a huge bowl of popcorn already popped. There's nothing like hot sugar syrup + kids + chaos + a first time recipe, all after 8:30pm. (More like 9:00pm)  Awesome. My husband is the most patient man ever. The recipe is insane. You actually make all of it in the microwave. (!?) Then it involves stuffing a big brown paper grocery bag full of popcorn into your microwave. Like you have to cram the thing in. It doesn't fit easily, you totally have to shove it in, making it ridiculous to watch.

I found this same recipe in about 20 places after I searched around. I followed it exactly and yes, the sugar coating sticks to the inside of the bag, but there is still plenty left to coat it and it's so sweet anyway, it really is okay if a bunch sticks. Here's the recipe:

1 stick butter
1 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. white corn syrup
1/2 tsp. fancy salt if you have it

add later:
1/2 tsp baking soda
slivered almonds or nuts of your choice (optional)

Put about 3 quarts (I used 3 bags of non-creepy microwave popcorn) in brown bag and set aside. Mix first 4 ingredients and put in microwave. Boil on high for 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and nuts. Pour caramel over popcorn and shake. Put in microwave, cook on high, 1 minute. Shake, cook on high for 1 minute again. Shake, spread out on wax paper to cool. You can store this in jars or some other airtight container. This makes a whole lot, like 2 cookie sheet full. Also, in my research, I discovered that you can bag your own popcorn for the microwave, which is wonderful because then you know what's really in it. Or, you could just make it the old fashioned way, or air pop it. Did I mention that this is so very good? I got very very sick eating too much of it for breakfast. Lesson learned.

When I told friends about this in an over excited way they either said, "Oh yeah—sounds good sort of?," or "I thought you got rid of your microwave?" Tough crowd. I did, while pregnant with Liddy, go through a patch of intense paranoia which involved a lot of things (like plastic) and the microwave was taken away and put in the garage and replaced with a toaster oven—which I love to bits. The microwave came out again this Christmas. I still have issues, but it sure is handy.

chocolates and stuff

Here's a small cake. It's orange chocolate. I made 6 of these all baked in white, red, and pink heart shaped ramekins—super cheap from Micheal's. Mariko and I added an easy frosting (about 4 oz melted chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons sour cream) and it was amazing. The cake recipe is from One-Pot Chocolate Desserts, a book I have had for 10 years. I love it. It's very bare bones and basic, great for the girls because they love to hand mix everything.

I didn't get around to buying heart molds. Pete suggested the lollipop molds. . .brilliant! This is a good quality milk chocolate chopped from a huge hunk, melted, and supposedly tempered in the microwave, but I don't think it worked. These are still tasty as all get out, anyway. They get melty fast which makes the sticks even more handy. I am so into melting chocolate into shapes now instead of buying over-priced junk for the holidays. I need to get going on easter. I want to try a bunny, 3-D style.

We had a valentine craft get-together last week with some fun friends. Paul made some pretty cool valentines, I wasn't prepared for such intense parental participation with the craft projects, I'm glad I had enough supplies to go around. Melissa was pretty deft with the heart shaped paper punch.

shape shifting

While I was at the Decorette shop a few weeks back I thought, while I'm here, I might as well get some chocolate molds. These were the closest ones to my hands while I was watching the girls. I thought they were cute.

I melted some milk chocolate chips, filled these up, scraped the top (after I took this photo) and then put the tray in the fridge. How easy is that? I am so pleased. Now instead of buying some junky god-knows-what chocolates for Valentine's Day/Easter, I can just make some with these molds—melting the chocolate I want, like organic milk chocolate, or whatever. It's so easy to find high quality non-creepy chocolate now, but not in fun shapes, just in bars. I get most chocolate at new seasons but online, chocosphere is my absolute favorite place to order from. Now I have a reason to get even more molds.

So, I didn't temper these. Or if I did, it was by accident. But, since I used chocolate chips, I don't think I could have tempered these even if I wanted to. I have never tempered chocolate. It hasn't really come up before. Usually when I dip something in chocolate, it goes right in my mouth, so no tempering is needed, just digestion. But all this candy making has gotten me interested. Well, not really interested, but mildly curious. And then, as fate would have it, this week in FOODday in the Oregonian, there was an article on tempering chocolate and how easy it is. . .you can even do it in the microwave. So, I may try it after all. Or not.

I was just looking for old Valentine's day stuff in my archives to link to and then found a post last year where I was looking for old Valentine's day stuff in my archives to link to. I'm not sure if this means I am incredibly predictable, a complete freak, or living some sort of Groundhog Day style spiral. And I fell off the sugar wagon with a biscotti, but come on! I am back on now, though. For reals.

fixation of the week-

I have been obsessing a bit on getting these. We eat a lot of soup and sandwiches around here. Growing up, we had some tacky luncheon ones I loved from Wendy's—the kind you would get free with a kids meal, or something. They were red and hard plastic with Wendy's writing on them. We loved them. What's not to love about the food-in-compartment thing? Secretly, I am a food mixer. I love a good segmented tray as much as the next person but when I do eat, I tend to mix, dip, or just mess it up.

These are at Uncommon Goods and Amazon (I got a ton of new and vintage links from the eggplant) These are new, obviously, and that's my tough decision—do I buy new or get a lovely vintage set? And I need 3 sets, or preferably 5. . .oh, these decisions and issues. There's something so clean and simple about these, although looking at them now, they do look like a set for dog food. hmmm. Maybe vintage? But the shipping on ebay for ceramics is such a buzzkill. In another lifetime I would actually leave the house and thrift for these.  .  . .

box of Clementines

I really like citrus. I have discussed this before, I know. But I have to talk about this again. I keep buying boxes of Clementines. We are on our 3rd now since Christmas, and eat them constantly. I have here my favorite breakfast which is maple syrup and homemade granola (from this recipe cheat sheet) and then plain yogurt and a Clementine on top. I had never had orange with granola until last year and it's so good. Very refreshing. Sometimes I use a regular orange, but I never take the time to segment it all fancy, I just peel it and then hack it up and throw it in. Pete's not about the membrane on oranges, but I like them just fine. The girls are split. My brother is actually very uncomfortable with membranes or anything fibrous in food. I actually thought he was going to hurl when he helped the girls carve pumpkins this year. He's what I call a bio-phobe. Like, his worst nightmare ever is seeing potatoes with eyes/roots growing on them. It's hysterical. He's all about computers, so I guess this sort of makes sense? I grew up with incredible pride that I, his little sister, could gross him out so easily. Which I did often. Wow, sorry if I ruined this breakfast for you. I am pretty sure there are certain words you should never use when writing about food and membrane is probably one, but what else to call that orange part? Plus, it's funny.

Okay, the polka-dotted aprons keep coming in for Tie One On! I will try to finish the gallery this weekend, when the e-mails stop coming. . .and the new theme will be up very very soon. Thanks you guys!

they didn't beat me.

I made the lollipops. I have been thinking about these for about 4 weeks now. Reading, checking books out of the library, going to find molds and flavorings. . .all that. There was a failed burnt to heck 1st batch, and this is batch #2—a success.

I am super happy with these molds. I wanted a thick lollipop with crisp edges—so they almost looked like tinted ice cubes. The plastic molds I found were too shallow and didn't have a hard edge. These were way more money, about $8 for 6 shapes or something (the plastic ones are only about $1) so I felt like a dork, but I am happy I stuck with my vision. Re-reading this, I am a tad embarrassed I am writing about my "vision" and how it relates to lollipops, but it's a blog.

Now they are tucked in glassine wraps tied with baker's twine. The pink ones are very lightly flavored blueberry (long story involving a 3 year old) and the green ones are sour apple. I hope to give these as little Valentine's Day treats and then have some extra for decorating cakes/cupcakes, which was the real reason I wanted to figure out how to make these. For this cupcake. Too cute. And I got a different thermometer, too. Mine had to be submerged way too far to get a reading—so far that I was afraid the syrup would boil over, so I took care of that. Now onto toffee. Why do I torture myself? I am still trying to get into old pants.

***update: Thank for the lollipop love! Here's some info:

Natural Dyes and flavorings: Nature's Flavors and Seelect have both flavors and colors. I got mine in town at either whole foods or wilds oats, I think, I have had them probably way too long.

The molds: I can't find the info! I know, lame. I threw out the packaging and I haven't found them online. I got mine at the Decorette shop here in town (Tigard location) Maybe we should call them? (only one of us should-ha!)

***update #2:

Ginger found the molds! Thank you!! They are here. They are called Sweet Creations Lollipop Molds. Probably available elsewhere, too.

Baker's Twine: From the Martha Crafts Line at Michael's. Hands down my favorite product of hers to date. I love this stuff so much, I think I have every color.

What's floating in there?: I placed some sprinkles in some of the molds before filling them. They turned out pretty cool. Mariko told me to try this, so I had to.

I didn't make this cake.

Pete's birthday was Sunday and this incredibly cute cake was brought by Melissa to celebrate the occasion. Wow! I made an ice cream pie (photos soon) so this was just perfect. And look at it! It's from the Bakery Bar and is a carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting— not too sweet at all. Just perfect. It's a 6" round with 4 layers. I think I might have to try this size. 8" rounds are my go-to cake pan size because I love the height they give, but now I am thinking I want even more. Height that is. Pete made out pretty good. He got some kill Pumas and some smart-wool socks. Not terribly exciting, but still good. He's actually playing out tonight. After a long hiatus he is playing live music again and I am so happy. The guy is a genius. A music major who picked up brainy software development on the side (?) He has missed the music side of life for awhile now and I have missed it too, vicariously through him. He is the best Dad ever, one of those guys that is 100% with the girls when he is home—which is how I get all my Amy stuff done. But, I feel guilty, or I have felt guilty, that he's had so little time of his own for the last few years, so now that he's playing music again is so very cool. Putting the 3 girls to sleep by myself while he's out playing is laughable. The last gig he had they were still up when he got home, on the couch, reading—but hey, at least no one was crying.

I think Pandora has a sick side to it. Have you noticed this? Like every once in awhile it will throw in something completely random, like Captain Beefheart. *edit-pete has confessed he added this to our list on pandora. but still.

naan too hard.

Naan! Why haven't I tried making this before now?

This was my first time making naan and I think I got the recipe here, but I looked at a few, put the laptop on the kitchen counter, and then just went for it—and this was 2 weeks ago, so lord knows. It was terribly fun grilling these and they froze well. I had to freeze them because the recipe made about 16. I made pizza for the girls on them, but because I called them naan first and then pizza second, they were rejected. This resulted in not my finest mothering moment, but oh well, Pete and I ate the heck out of them. I should try making them with whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour (has anyone tried this type of flour?) so I can feel 35% better about stuffing way too many carbs in my belly. Yum!

I should have used this book, which we love, but I can't find it, which is ridiculous because it is huge. Not the type of thing one would lose. I know for awhile it was a structural part of a makeshift desk (don't ask) but that has been dismantled, so it could be anywhere. It looks like it's out of print, but powell's has one left. Here's some at amazon, too.

swedish christmas braid

Grammie always made a Swedish Christmas Braid for Christmas morning. I have been making them for our family for about 5 years now, more or less, and they are a favorite holiday tradition of mine. I usually make it on Christmas eve and then leave it out overnight for french toast in the morning, or just with butter and jam. I love the idea of baking it fresh in the morning, but there is no way I can get up that early. I guess I could do the first rise and then braid it and then put it in the fridge overnight. Then I could take it out and do the second rise Christmas morning. That would work. But this requires a bit more brain power than I seem to have during this time of year.

Here it is as french toast yesterday. I froze it. And I have to eat it with jam.

Cardamom, which is the spice in this braid, is a wonderful flavor to me. I like to use it in apple pies, but don't very often because it always disappoints someone. "Why does it taste soapy?" Hmmm. That's the nice version. "Why did you ruin a perfectly good apple pie?" is probably what is really meant. This also happens when I add orange rind to chocolate chip cookies. Which is pure heaven in my book. It's getting to the point now that I splint a batch in half, one with the orange rind, one without because I love the orange rind so much. I like to avoid making gender generalizations, but it's interesting to me that men seem the most offended by orange rind in my cookies. Or baked goods in general. The most upset I ever saw Pete in a restaurant was when his waffles came with orange rind in the batter, which wasn't described in the menu. I think not knowing it was in there is what did it, but still, he was pretty aggro. Grammie says women like citrus flavors way more than men. Grammie is the master of sweeping generalizations, a quality I absolute love about her, and I make my share as well. What's best is that we never remember saying these things, so when people quote us back to ourselves later we always say "Did I say that? I didn't say that. I must have been smoking crack." But, back to citrus. . .  is this true? I love citrus in baked goods and love lemon tarts and all that but the men I know really don't get all excited about a lemon tart. Or orange pound cake. But good ol' chocolate cake? Yup, that goes over big.

The Swedish Christmas Braid recipe I use I posted here on flickr last year for the December Tie One On submission. Oh, don't forget the polka-dot aprons for Tie One On are due February 1st! Perfect theme for Valentine's Day, huh?