With These Hands

Another yummy dinner courtesy of the very awesome Cooks Illustrated.
Mike first introduced me to CI way back when we first met.
It’s been one of my favorite cooking resources ever since.
Plus their companion television program America’s Test Kitchen is amazing too. Long live PBS!

So, this here soup, or stew really, is delicious and hearty.
Soon after the first time I made it, it became a part of our regular rotating dinner menu.
It makes a HUGE pot, so I always freeze half. (It re-cooks beautifully with about a cup of added broth.)

I modified the recipe only slightly.
Changes such as instead of chicken stock, I used veggie.
And substituting pecorino romano for parmesan.
Since I was making a vegetarian version for us, this also meant omitting the bacon and anchovy paste completely. (They were ingredients in the original)
And honestly, having never eaten it with it, I have no clue what I’m missing!

My modified recipe:

2 T olive oil
1 medium celery rib, diced
1 medium carrot, diced (my addition)
1 small sweet or yellow onion, diced
1 small shallot, minced (my addition)
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 (14 oz) cans petite diced tomatoes, with juice
1 (15 oz) can cannellini (or northern) beans, drained and rinsed
rind/block of romano cheese (approx. 5 in x 1 in)
28 ounces veggie stock/broth
2.5 cups of water
8 ounces small pasta
1/2 cup finely grated romano cheese for topping/garnish
salt
pepper

Everything is done in one pot, bonus!

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium/high.
Add carrots.
Add celery.
Add onion and shallot.
Cook until soft, about 8 minutes.
Add garlic, oregano, and pepper flakes.
Let cook for minute longer.
Add diced tomatoes.
Add rind/block of romano.
Add beans.
Cook for 10 minutes.
Add water and broth.
Bring to boil.
Add 1 tsp salt and pasta.
Let cook for another 10 minutes.
Take off heat, remove cheese rind, top with grated cheese and serve.
DELICIOUS.

I served this with our favorite garlic bread.
Not homemade though. (I somehow always get iffy results on garlic bread.)
The brand is Alexia and they make a lot of great organic/natural prepared foods.

And now I have a whole batch of it already made in the freezer!
Yay for instance meals!
I can’t wait to have it again.

October 21st, 2008 ★ No Comments »

So truth be told, I’m not really much of a Halloween person.
I mean, not so much in the way of zombies and death and blood and bats and all that creepy stuff.
About as creepy as I will get is abiding the Jack-O-Lantern, which is to say, really not creepy at all.
I’m a wuss, I will admit it, even when it comes to make-believe-y type things.
I’ve learned to accept this.

But these, these cute little pumpkin luminaries, well they are just the cat’s pajamas!
I used the tutorial found over at Skip To My Lou. She’s got a whole mess of Halloween crafts to partake in.
But this is the one that really tickled my fancy!
(Just how many cliched phrases CAN I use in one post??!)

And all aglow!

The only modifications I did to the original tutorial is using orange tissue paper instead of the mentioned crepe paper. I was indeed looking for orange crepe paper when I was at Target recently. But they had none to be found! Everyone grabbed ‘em to make their own pumpkin lanterns, I can only presume!

materials used:

mod podge
tissue paper
construction paper
baby food jars
pickle jar (!)

October 20th, 2008 ★ 1 Comment »

18 million years ago (it seems), one of livejournal friends posted a link to a baby pants tutorial.
Well I finally used it!

There was once this happy cow who was placed on a little onesie courtesy of a very cool lady who has a very cool etsy shop.
We loved this onesie and got lots of use of it.
But babies grow, as they are wont to do.
I didn’t want to give up the jovial bovine, however.
So he went into a pile of “SAVE THIS OR I WILL DIE!” clothing and things in the bottom of the boys’ closet.
Yesterday I started to try and do something interesting and fun with some of these items.
Including the cow and the moon.

The before:

And the after:

Wee pants for Noah!

I had an old cut-up sweatshirt from a few years ago that came in handy.
I made the patch by cutting the screenprinted part of the onesie and using steam2seam fusible webbing.
After I ironed the patch onto the pants I did a simple straight-stitch along the edges.
I then took some more of the onesie solid black material and made a waistband through which I fed 3/8 inch elastic and voila!
Baby lounge pants!
They are cozy and adorable.

I soon took scissors to two more favored onesies.
(This one is another from the aforementioned etsy shop.)

Before:

Truth be told, Mike was never a fan of that puffer fish.
I LOVED it.
You never see baby clothes like that!
I could not give it up.
So I made Matty a hand-me-UP!
Is there such a thing??

After:

One more.

Before:

Now this dinosaur guy was from Matty, he grew out of it, it went to Noah, then he grew out of it.
These kids and their GROWING!
Well, I liked that dino, so he is now residing here:

I thrifted the green shirt from the Salvy and added the dino using above method.
He looks happy, no?
ROAR!
Matty likes it!

materials used:

re-purposed tees/onesies
thread
fusible webbing
elastic

October 13th, 2008 ★ No Comments »

I cannot remember where I came across this recipe, but it’s really one of my favorites.
There are so many delicious flavors happening, the cranberries, the oats, the pecans, and coconut!
If I put in chocolate chips, I might keel over.
I can say, with confidence, that pecans are now my number one favorite nut.
Isn’t that exciting?
Yes!

Before the oven:

And after:

And here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups cranberries (or any dried fruit)
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened coconut

Whisk together your dry ingredients, set aside.
Cream butter and sugars together.
After thoroughly combined, slowly add 1 egg/vanilla at a time.
After incorporated, gradually add dry mixture.
Mix.
Add oats to batter.
Add cranberries (or any other dried fruit).
Add pecans.
Add coconut.
Mix until all blended.

Pop into a 350 oven for 18-20 minutes (depending on size), rotating halfway through.

October 13th, 2008 ★ 1 Comment »