Grocery Shopping

Recently my mom came to Wisconsin for a visit.  I have received many wonderful things from my mom through the years: intangibles, like the wisdom that "your home is a haven," and many tangibles, too.  99% of my wardrobe arrives in care packages from Buffalo, courtesy of her fashion sense and bargain-hunting abilities.  One of the finest traits she nurtured in me, though, is a love for grocery shopping.

On my 16th birthday, I got my driver's permit.  Understandably, my mom was terrified to get in a car with her daughter behind the wheel.  She played it pretty cool, but I could tell by the her white-knuckled grasp on the armrest and constant slamming on the imaginary passenger-side brake pedal that she was uncomfortable.  So, Mom came up with a plan that benefited both of us.

Saturday mornings became our driving time.  She would haul my sorry rear-end out of bed at 7:00 AM, when no right-minded person was on the road, with the promise of car keys and breakfast.  I'd take the wheel and chauffeur Mom to The Original Pancake House.  After nursing stacks of Swedish pancakes (for Mom) and pecan pancakes (for me), we'd swing over to Wegmans, our local grocery store.  If it meant more time driving, I certainly wasn't about to complain!  And she was happy to have someone to push the cart.

What I didn't realize at the time was that my mother had a much more important plan for our mornings.  While instilling in me the love for pancakes, fresh produce, and waking up early on Saturdays, she was able to share precious moments with her oldest daughter before I flew the coop and moved to the middle west for college.  We'd talk about school stress and choir practice while we maneuvered our cart through the aisles.  Boyfriends as we weighed our options in frozen foods.  Forget teaching me how to drive...she taught me how to live on those Saturday mornings!

During her latest visit, I still noticed her clutching the armrest when I drove, and we made a special visit to my local grocery store.  Slowly meandering the aisles, we picked out ingredients for dinner* and other foodstuffs that caught our fancy.  And we talked.  About the price of apples, yes, but mostly about family, jobs, life.

Sometimes you learn more in the aisles of the grocery store than unit pricing.

*Come back tomorrow to see what Mom and I made for dinner!  I promise it won't be so sappy.

Organizing Your Recipes

If you're anything like me, you have recipes coming out your eyeballs.  Stuffings from sweet to savory printed from the internet.  Newspaper clippings of fab summer salads.  Treasured family secrets in dear ol' grandmom's scrawl.  Not to mention the cookbooks.  Oh, the cookbooks!

How's an aspiring culinary mastermind supposed to keep track of all this good food?  And just as importantly, how are you supposed to keep a modicum of cleanliness in your kitchen when it's covered in recipe cards??

Well, I haven't exactly figured it out, but this is how I attempt to organize my (ever-growing) recipe collection.  There are two parts:

1. File Folders - I keep a stack of file folders on the shelf with my cookbooks.  Each folder is labeled with a course or type of food (main course: meat, main course: vegetarian, dessert, etc.).  When I read a recipe that I just must attempt, I print it from the internet or cut it from the newspaper/magazine I'm reading, and I shove it in the appropriate file folder.  Then, it's easy to find what I'm looking for when I'm planning our meals. 
2. Recipe Box - After I've tried a recipe from the file folder, and the husband and I have declared it delicious, I copy it onto a recipe card, and it's stored in my recipe box (also on the shelf with my cookbooks).  That way I know all the recipes in my gorgeous green box are tried-and-true.  

That's how I manage my recipes, but I'm wondering, what do you do to keep your recipes organized?

Fine and Dandy by Lady of the House

I registered for China when I was engaged, high on the fantasy of chic dinner parties as I zapped tea cups and gravy boats at Bloomingdale's. I am sad to report that the dear old Royal Doulton has never seen the light of day. In fact, it all sits snugly zipped in compartmentalized bags way up high in the kitchen cupboard I never open. I didn't even haul it out for Thanksgiving last year.

Which begs the question...do we really need this stuff? Lately I've been thinking, yes, absolutely--it's the "everyday" category I'm ready to do away with. What if the fine china was practical, usable, dishwasher safe? So I set out to find a few options that make sense now that I don't have one of those bar code guns at the ready and the ring on my finger isn't the first thing on my mind.

If I had it to do over again...

--The creamy hand-worked creations of Heath Ceramics would cradle both pasta and dinner for the in-laws with understated grace that'll have 'em flipping the saucers for the company name. ( I so do that!)

--I fell in love with this pattern by Burleigh when I visited Liberty of London for the first time. It's like a fairytale painted in blue, a very sensible fairytale. (We'll talk about Liberty's some other time. Swoon.)

--This Deshoulieres design is so detailed and giving, I could foresee a sip of tea from one of these other-worldly cups may be as helpful as a savasana or two.

So is the band of gold, the faint flower, the hand-painted feather really best kept tucked away, or would your toast be that much better on bone china? What are we waiting for?

xoxo

Lady of the House

Simple Salad with Celery and Mandarin Oranges

Recently I returned from a weekend away with the husband in Austin, Texas.  Here are a few things to summarize our trip:

1. We ate a lot of food.
2. We drank a lot of margaritas.  
3. We bought cowboy boots.

So, when we got back to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, I was hankerin' after some fresh veggies.  (I told myself that plenty of greens would negate the effects of the margaritas and Tex-Mex.  Riiiiiight.)  The only issue was an empty refrigerator.  And since I splurged on those cowboy boots (glorious, gorgeous cowboy boots), my pocketbook was empty, too.  Sigh. 

A thorough review of the fridge and cupboards uncovered all of the ingredients for a refreshing salad that reminds me of my childhood.  Now, this isn't a classy salad, per se, but it's green and, most importantly, all of the ingredients survived while we were in out of town.  Paired with some soup (yes, it was from a can.  I just got back from vacation, people!), it made a perfect hot dinner.

Simple Salad with Celery and Mandarin Oranges
Serves: 4

1 large head of Romain lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 ribs celery, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3/4 cup mandarin orange segments
1/3 cup croutons
2 tablespoons bacon bits
Your favorite Ranch dressing (homemade or bottled*)
Freshly ground black pepper

Layer lettuce, celery, oranges, croutons, and bacon bits.  Top with ranch dressing and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

*If you're going to buy bottled dressing, my favorite ranch dressing is Bolthouse Farms Classic Ranch.  The husband, however, is a Hidden Valley man.   

Cheap, Healthy, Good!

Last week, I was lucky enough to showcase one of my favorite hot dinners on a fabulous site called Cheap, Healthy, Good.  Sweet Potato Soup with Chipotle is the perfect dish to warm you up as winter drags on.  And on.  And on.

Hope you enjoy it!  The Sweet Potato Soup with Chipotle, that is.  Not winter.

Quinoa Pilaf

You may have noticed that I post quite a few quinoa recipes.  This is why:

I bought a 95,000 pound bag of quinoa at Costco.  So, you can look forward to many, many more recipes featuring this fabulous ingredient.  (I can hear your cheers of enthusiasm!)

My friend, Niki, (who also purchased the 95,000 pound bag of quinoa at Costco) and I made a super simple quinoa pilaf recently to enjoy with Salmon en Cocotte.  It was both delicious and easy, making it a perfect versatile side dish. 

Today I'll share the basic recipe for quinoa pilaf, but look forward to variations on this theme in the weeks ahead.  (You can thank Costco for that.) 

Simple Quinoa Pilaf
Serves: 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup quinoa
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, season with salt and pepper, and saute until it begins to soften, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in quinoa and allow it to toast for about 2 minutes.  Add broth and stir, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Bring liquid to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until quinoa has absorbed the liquid and is tender, about 15 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Toasting Nuts

I have read (and posted, for that matter!) many recipes that call for toasted nuts.  Pecans, pinenuts, walnuts, any nuts.  When I first started cooking, I would see "toasted ___nuts" in a recipe, and blatantly ignore it.  Why in the world would I take the time to toast nuts when I had perfectly good non-toasted nuts at the ready?  I couldn't be bothered.

Until I tried the nuts toasted.

Next time you're thinking about skipping the toasting step, I challenge you to try it.  First, try the nuts raw.  Try them again them once they're toasted.  And then let me know if you'll ever ignore the "toasted ___nuts" part of a recipe.

Toasted Nuts: Two Ways
Whichever method you choose, make sure the nuts are the same size so they cook evenly.  And when it comes to determining if the nuts are ready, use your nose and your tastebuds to make sure they're toasted.  

The Dry Skillet Technique
*Note: Use the dry skillet technique at your own risk.  It requires diligence.  I burned pecans three times in one night using this method. Not kidding.
Place nuts in a single layer in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Shaking incredibly frequently, toast for 5-7 minutes until nuts are fragrant and golden brown.

The Oven Technique
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  Roast for 8-12 minutes until nuts are fragrant and golden brown, shaking halfway through.