Scenes from Thanksgiving Week

Hannah helped make some chocolate orange flavored cookies.  I'd post the recipe but I have already forgotten where I got it from........yeah, that is how I cook, rarely the same thing more than once.

Thanksgiving morning, Hannah was cooking the cranberries to make a yummy cranberry sauce.

The Thanksgiving table set for dinner. You know you live in Arizona when the front door is open to let the outside air in to cool the house.

A version of my Mom's "Christmas Tree Hunting" lunch (we used to cut our own back in Minnesota).  Mom's were bacon wrapped with the cheese in the middle but I put cheese in Hebrew National dogs and covered them with crescent rolls. 

Hannah wearing the Christmas tree skirt.

Simon with the wrapping from the outside tube lights.

The almost finished Christmas tree.

Simon with a craft project...yes, it is a volcano he is painting.

And he did mix vinegar and baking soda together with the neighborhood boys later in the weekend.

Happy almost holidays to everyone!

Focaccia Bread

I made a nice focaccia bread recently.  Here is my pictures of how I made  it....

Mix the yeast with sugar & water.

Add the flour, knead until soft & pliable.

Let rise and then press it out into a baking sheet.

Poke with chop sticks and drizzle with olive oil.  Add coarse salt & pepper.

Bake and it tastes SO GOOD!

Ingredients:

1 envelope active dry yeast (2.5 tsp of bulk yeast)
1 t salt
2 t sugar
2 t olive oil
1 1/3 c warm water
3 c flour, plus more if needed
2 T fresh or dried rosemary
½ yellow onion, chopped fine (about ½ c)
1 T coarse ground salt
Olive Oil for top of bread

Directions:

In large bowl, combine yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and warm water. Stir gently to dissolve yeast and set aside for 15 minutes.

Slowly add flour 1 cup at a time until dough is elastic and doesn’t stick to your fingers. Make dough into a ball and place in greased bowl.

Cover and let rise until double, approximately 30 minutes. Punch down and knead gently on a floured cutting board until dough is workable. Place dough in a greased baking sheet (9 x 13) and spread out to fill sheet.

Let dough rise for about 10 minutes. Poke tope with fingers. Baste generously with olive oil. Sprinkle with onions, rosemary and salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Plum & Ratatouille

I am sharing a co-op basket at work with a co-worker.  Recently my basket included a plums and a bunch of Italian veggies/herbs so I decided to make a Plum Cake Tatin and Ratatouille.

Dinner with steak, baked potato and ratatouille.

The plum tatin was SSSSOOOO good.

Random Sunday

A few weeks ago the kids wanted to get a coconut and crack it open.  We did and not surprisingly, this is what we found inside!

Even after draining the "milk"

And cracking it open, it was not nearly as excited they had hoped.  They both tried the meat and decided it was OK and wandered away.  Not quite as exciting as they had hoped!  I am pretty sure we won't have to go down that route again.

Life as a single Mom is so exciting sometimes.  Simon's back bike tire was flat (again) so I took it apart and was very excited that I was able to replace the tube AND get the chain back on so he could ride it on our vacation!

Ground up jalapeno with garlic and salt to make the Vietnamese Dipping Sauce.

A very delicious Sizling Saigon Crepes (Bánh Xèo).  They were SO GOOD!

Finny inspired the Vietnamese cooking with her post about the crepes.  I had them a few years ago but have been unable to find them in a restaurant so we very excited to find the recipe.  You take the crepe above and wrap it in a lettuce leaf with mint and cilantro then roll it up and dip in the sauce.  I couldn't convince the kids to try it but I enjoyed it very much!  Thanks Finny!

Recent cooking fun...

For those of you that don't know, cooking is relaxing to me and I also get good food at the end of the process. Here I roasted some peppers, cauliflower and onions.
Mix it with some other veggies and feta and call it a great salad!

More cooking......I made my version of Cioppino (seafood soup) with what was in my refrigerator that included onions, yellow pepper....

Frozen tomatoes.....

Add parsley.....

wine, bay leaf, and all the other stuff and simmer.

Add seafood and parmesan and you have an amazing meal with a nice crusty loaf to sop up all that broth goodness.

And then, blueberries were in season.....

A little tip for you when adding fruit/berries to a cake. Dust them with some of the flour called for in the recipe before adding to the batter. This will keep the fruit from falling to the bottom of the pan.

Make the batter,
add dusted blueberries, bake and
glaze with a powdered sugar icing and serve.

Salad & Hikes

I saw a recipe for a blueberry corn salad. I know, it sounds weird but it isn't!

The last time I posted food photos, I got some emails asking for the recipe so here it is...

6 ears sweet corn (or 2 cans of drained corn)
1 c fresh blueberries
1 small cucumber, sliced
1/4 c finely chopped red onion
1/4 c cilantro
1 jalapeno, seeded & finely chopped
2 T lime juice
2 T olive oil
1 T honey
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Boil corn, let cool and cut corn off of the cob. Mix together the ingredients for the dressing. Mix together cucumbers, blueberries, onions, cilantro, jalapeno and corn. Coat with dressing. Can be made up to 24 hours in advance.

As you may have recalled, I have been hiking around the Phoenix area lately. This was a recent hike I took about 5 miles from my house.
Gorgeous views of the desert in the early morning sun.

At the top of the trail I hiked looking down. A bit steep but not too bad.

I am enjoying the change in the exercise routine and getting outside, even if that day starts at 4:30 am to beat the heat.

Non-Yeast Cinnamon Rolls

A few weekends ago I made cinnamon rolls for Hannah. She loves cinnamon rolls and I had a recipe that said the rolls would be baked and ready to eat within 1 hour start to finish.
The dough......

Rolled out and ready for cinnamon sugar......

Just prior to rolling them up....

Just before they went into the oven.

Right out of the oven.....

Frosted and ready to send over to the neighbors.

A Trip to Lee Lee's Market

A few weeks ago, I learned how to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls. In order to buy the supplies, I took a trip to Lee Lee's Market. It is always an experience. They have all kinds of stuff you just don't see in regular markets like Jack Fruit. If you read my blog, you will know one of my favorite meals is green papaya salad and spring rolls. You can't get green papaya just anywhere but always at Lee Lee's.

We also saw live crayfish.....

Live blue crabs.....

I bought all the makings for spring rolls & green papaya salad including rice noodles, green beans,

and shredded green papaya. Yes, I was being lazy!

daikon radish and carrot salad. I bought this ready made. I LOVE it.

Here are all the parts for the spring roll. Cilantro, mint, shrimp, rice noodles, pork and lettuce.

You only have to wet the rice paper a little bit. Then add all the components.

In the end, you get some amazing spring rolls and a great green papaya salad. I could live on this meal!

Happy cooking every day!