Cantaloupe Cookies

It all started with a 99-cent cantaloupe from Aldi. It smelled good; it looked good. It did not get along with pregnant digestive track. I was burping cantaloupe all day two days ago. Because Joe isn't fond of the orange melon, and Stephen also tried and rejected it, I decided I would need to transform it into something else. My mom got me a copy of Gourmet's Cookie Book for Christmas, and I've been getting inspired before bed several nights now. (Even Stephen likes to look at it with me. He'll say: "How 'bout we read the cookie book?") What about cantaloupe cookies? I thought either a thumbprint or kolachky or bar cookie might work. Recipes for cantaloupe quick bread and cake abound on the Internet, but I couldn't find any cookie recipes. So this morning I decided to chop the thing up into tiny bits and cook them over medium with a big mound of sugar and a big shake of cardamom and a little tiny shake of ginger powder. I also added the zest of one lemon. Surprisingly, it turned into a very thick jam. I guess cantaloupe has a lot of natural pectin? I made a bar cookie base of a cup flour, 1/3 cup butter, some sliced almonds and a 1/4 cup instant oats, which I pressed into a square dish and baked for 18ish minutes until it was very lightly browned. I spread the cantaloupe mixture over that and then beat 2 eggs, the juice of one lemon and 3/4 cup sugar and 2 Tbs flour in a bowl and poured it over everything. It baked at 350 for maybe 20 minutes and came out like....

Not terribly pretty in my estimation, but pretty good for a completely experimental cookie. It's intensely lemony and sweet and rich and gooey. I'm pretty sure they need to be refrigerated. I think I could have upped the cardamom and ginger to give it a more obvious exotic flavor.

gingerbread

Getting artsy

I don't do a lot of creative cooking these days... with a two-year-old, a part-time job, baby due Feb 3 and various other projects to keep me busy, it seems I've lost a lot of my foodiness lately :-(. Joe now works at the local high school and keeps slightly odd hours. But occasionally I fight my laziness and make something interesting--or at least interesting to look at.

This one was trying to take a page from the Tre Kronor book (where I ate the most delicious fish ever back in September.) I mashed sweet potato with butter, orange juice and apples. I stacked some baked whiting on top of that, then spinach and a tomato relish. The whole thing is bordered with some flour-dusted, pan-fried zuchinni. Yum.

Thanksgiving - November 2010

This Thanksgiving, we spent our holiday meal with some friends from church, Kristie and Cory Houston. They were gracious enough to open their home to (and feed) a rag-tag group of folks without local family. It was a treat eating their smoked turkey, wild boar, OYSTER STUFFING, and more traditional fixins at their home out in Christian County. Cory is in the Army and is being relocated to Washington in a very short while. We're blessed to have gotten to know them before they move.

I made mango cobbler, stuffed pumpkins and a garlicky salad.

Jack and Cris' wedding (food)

My brother-in-law and his new wife, Cristiana, got married the weekend before Thanksgiving at the Sweetbriar golf club in Avon Lake, OH. The food at the reception was exceptional. I wish I had a photo of Joe's Apple Pork Tenderloin entree. I've never sampled such tender meat before. Stephen also liked his kid's meal: apple sauce, french fries and a real breaded chicken breast. Usually, I can't get him to eat meat, but he ate quite a bit.

I was one of only two guests to order the "vegetarian" option at the reception. It was excellent! A big, flaky phyllo-wrapped packet with roasted tomato, portabella and pencil asparagus. Served over rice pilaf and sauteed veggies.

Squash tradition goes on

Continuing the weird squash tradition Joe and I began a couple years back with the purchase of the Cushaw, We got a great big, blue hubbard squash this year. It has orange flesh and grayish blue skin and quite a bit of flesh inside. I made pancakes and a bunch of other things out of it. Stephen really liked the pancakes. Above is a picture of Evan Couchman inspecting the alien-looking vegetable.

Basmati is now Bombay

On the way home from Chicago (where we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday at the most awesome Swedish restaurant ever-- see previous post), we stopped in Champaign to eat lunch buffet at our favorite Indian restaurant, Basmati... only to find that it had been sold to Bombay, our second favorite Champaign Indian restaurant :-) The food was still yummy and the service was a cut above. One of the waiters took a liking to Stephen and gave him his own Mango Lassi (yogurt drink). Stephen loved the naan. I liked it all.

This restaurant is at the corner of I want to say First and White streets in Champaign on the outskirts of campus.

Chicago food - September 2010

The best fish I've ever eaten... Trout at Tre Kronor, a Swedish restaurant in Chicago. It was butterflied and served with sauteed spinach and a chunky tomato sauce, most likely drenched in butter and lemon :-) The creamy white mound is potato gratin.

Our first garden

 Joe built me a raised bed in the backyard of our new home last spring. This post is about 6 months late... but here's a summary of what we grew and ate from our own backyard through one of the driest growing seasons Hopkinsville ever had... My herbs: dill, Thai basil, globe basil and red basil, cilantro.

Eggplant-- I grew purple, white, and green varieties.

Cucumbers transplanted from the McQueens' garden.

"Pineapple Tomatoes" -- an heirloom variety that I got from an Amish seller at the Hopkinsville Farmers Market. Delicious flavor, but small with tough skin.

My personal triumph, even if they look weird: Sweet Potatoes! I dug these up in late October, not sure what I might find. We ate some of them roasted and added the rest to a big pot of chili. Pretty good, but a lot of work. Early in the season I ate some of the leaves in soup. In Taiwan, sweet potato leaves are a common "qing tsai".

Fairy-tale salad and fresh chicken spring rolls

I loved the way some of my raddishes from the farmer's market turned out to be purple. The purple ones were milder than the hot-pink edged variety. The two together made for a very pretty salad with peas, garbanzos and butter lettuce.
I harvested some of my cilantro, purple basil and globe basil to make spring rolls. The filling also included mung bean threads, chopped cabbage, chopped butter lettuce and strips of baked chicken breast.

My peanut sauce, which is not pictured, is:
big gob peanut butter
splashes vinegar and soy sauce
1 fat clove garlic, minced
mini glob honey
little shake cayenne

Chilly weather foods

Last week's rainy weather made me whip out my fleeces and fuzzy socks... and whip up an easy ramen bowl, some homemade calzones and a non-dairy tilapia corn chowder.My favorite instant noodles, as I've mentioned in a previous post, are the "Hoo Roo Rook" Korean brand of low-fat ramen. They come with a broth packet, a sauce packet and a seasoning packet filled with freeze-dried green onion, egg strips, sesame seeds and sea weed. I love eating the noodles without the soup, topped with crunchy veggies, an egg or tofu, some boiled leafy greens, several shakes toasted sesame and tossed in some teriyaki sauce and a little canola oil.
I haven't mastered calzone dough. But the fillings: salami, spinach, mushroom, mozzarella and tomato sauce were spot on. The Parrino boys wolfed down my batch of eight calzones in two days.
Finally, though I'll admit it looks rather unappetizing, I made a really tasty tilapia corn chowder with chicken stock, 5 or 6 yellow potatoes, sweet onion, a little garlic, dried and fresh dill, a small squeeze of lemon juice, canned sweet corn and three frozen tilapia fillets. Sorry, I didn't measure anything, as usual. But I started by sauteeing the onion and garlic in some oil (butter would've been better). Then I added the diced, peeled potatoes and covered it with the chicken stock, some of the corn "juice" and water to cover everything. Once everything was well cooked, I added half of the corn and my tilapia. Once the fish was flaky, I removed it and used an immersion blender to blend the rest of the soup. After that, I added the fish back in, the rest of the corn and just a little lemon juice and seasoned thoroughly with dill and salt.

BBQ Tuna burgers

This is something I make for myself when Joe isn't around to eat with me. He's not fond of tuna burgers. But mine are so good they don't even taste like tuna :-)

To make my yummiest ever BBQ tuna burgers:

Start with:
2 cans chunk light tuna in oil or water, drained
1/3 cup instant oats
1 egg
3 Tbs Sweet Baby Ray's or your favorite sauce
3 scallions, chopped finely
pepper, cayenne, salt to taste

Shape into flat patties and pan-fry in a little bit of vegetable oil until browned on both sides and a little crispy.

Pile patties onto some bread with tomato and lettuce. Enjoy!

Coconut chicken sweet potato curry

I mentioned in my previous post that I've been on a campaign to feed my husband lunch. I'm really embarrassed to say that ever since he started his permanant subbing position at Rossview Middle School in Clarksville, I couldn't quite get up early enough to pack him some leftovers.

When I was tallying up our receipts and saw things like atomic fireballs and giant packs of slimjims, I knew it was time to intervene. So, with the purchase of a new set of plastic food containers, I spent one very productive Friday making freezer meals.

I made the quiche muffins from the previous post, a hearty turkey vegetable soup (canned tomato, canned corn, ground turkey, head cabbage, garbanzos, potato, green beans), and this coconut chicken curry with sweet potatoes and peas. The photo is the curry spread over some instant rice noodles.

To make an easy curry:
Saute some chicken or extra firm tofu until browned.
Pour in a can of coconut milk.
Add some fish sauce (or soy)
Curry powder
Salt and sugar to taste
I like adding a little cayenne, but your favorite hot sauce will do.
Add cooked veggies and let the whole things simmer until everything's permeated with the sauce.
Squeeze a half or whole lime over it, if you like a little tang.
Serve over rice or noodles.

Another cyberfridge cleanout...

Baozi. I promised I'd write the recipe last time I posted about these, but I never did. I'm gonna have to make another empty promise...
EDIT 5/7/10: OK,I actually found my chicken-scratch recipe for the baozi dough:

3 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp yeast (or one packet)
1 cup warm water, give or take a teaspoon
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 large egg

To make dough:
Combine flour, pinch of salt in a bowl. Make a well in the flour and pour in oil and beaten egg. Proof yeast with sugar in water. Once it's foamy, pour into the well and stir, gradually incorporating flour into liquid in the well.

Knead into a soft, but not terribly sticky, dough. If it's stiff, add a few drops of water at a time until it's soft. If it's sticky, add a tsp flour at a time until it's not.

Let it rise in a bowl, covered with platic wrap and placed in a warm, dry, draft-free spot. (I put mine on top of the stove.)

After an hour, punch down the dough. Let it rise again until it's double the original size.

Divide the dough in half, then each half into half... etc. until you've got 16 balls of dough.

Starting with one dough ball, press or roll the ball into a flattened circle, about 1/4-inch thick. Scoop one tablespoon of filling into the center and then pinch the edges together to close, giving it a little twist to seal. Place bun seam-side down in a steamer basket and steam for 10 to 15 minutes.

As for the filling, I'm afraid I usually just wing it.
So, try using the following ingredients to taste:
1 lb ground turkey, crumbled and cooked with
chopped sauteed cabbage
shredded sauteed carrot
chopped sauteed onion
a few splashe soy sauce
a few drops vinegar
generous amount of garlic/garlic powder
pinch cinnamon or five spice
a couple spoonfuls sugar
a few shakes salt
pepper
a dusting of cayenne or chili powder

You'll probably have filling left over. So, you'll just have to make some more buns!

Veggie Quiche Muffins. It's pastry made from scratch, filled with veggies, cheese and eggs. I made these for Joe to take to work, as I've been on a campaign to actually feed him.
On the opening day of the downtown farmers market, I bought some beautiful barrel-shaped radishes... from which I made baked radish chips that got eaten so fast that I don't have any photos. :-(
Morroccan Carrot soup... so delicious I was calling it a carroty butter cookie in a bowl. I ate it for breakfast it was so good. From Bon Apetit, which is just barely growing on me. I'm going to post the recipe as soon as I post the baozi recipe, if you know what I mean.
Finally, something I didn't cook: Tried some new specials at Da Vinci's while my mom was visiting. The foreground has lobster ravioli with sage and butter sauce. I love sage with pasta.

Clean out the cyber-fridge post

Once again, my complete neglect of this blog is resulting in a lame-o post featuring photos of things I ate over the last month but can't remember exactly how I made them. Sorry, friends. I know it seems like I'm saying "Na-na-na-nah-naaah" but I'm not. I wish I could eat these things again too.
This, obviously, is not something I made. Joe and I ate late lunch at a Vietnamese/pan-Asian joint in Green Valley, AZ, after our day at the Sonoran Desert Museum. I always order bun with spring rolls.
My mom and I made kolacky cookies the last time she was in town. These are almond filled.
The highlight of this meal is the quinoa "pilaf" that featured almonds and cucumbers.

Spinach pockets from my East-West Mennonite cookbook.
Homemade Sweet Potato Gnochi with "manager's special" Buitoni Pesto, pinenuts and diced roma tomato.

Brussels sprout candy

I just wanted to get your attention with that one :)The maple bacon brussels sprouts at Harper House on Main Street in Downtown Hoptown are labeled as a side dish, but they were so yummy that I thought of mine as dessert.

My parents swooped in last Thursday night for my birthday and blessed me with a weekend of great meals.

I know before I swore allegiance to Da Vinci's calamari as the best (only) in town. But the calamari at Harper House really got me talking. It seemed like the squid they used were extra tiny, and the pieces were also very finely cut. The batter was very light and salty. And the whole mess of rings and legs was piled on top of this tomato-sausage-peppercorn sauce that was like a different country in every bite.

So I think Harper House's calamari is my new favorite version of squid. I've got some frozen squid in my freezer and I'm very tempted to try to replicate this dish.

I ordered salmon with the aforementioned brussels sprouts and new fingerling potatoes. It was all "Um-Meee" as Stephen likes to say. We at on the second floor, at a table overlooking main street. Stephen had a blast running up to the window and creating fingerprint art while shouting "Up! Up! Up!" -- I'm assuming because he was excited to be up. There really aren't very many second floors in this town. The wait staff were really sweet and helpful, without being cloying. They accidentally brought out a side of maccaroni for Stephen, loaded him up with colorful straws with plastic fish on the ends, and brought a free dessert to make up for my dad's porkchop being overcooked. Oh. And we accidentally brought home the etch-a-sketch they lent Stephen. I'm bringing back as soon as I can afford to eat there again :-)

There are many reasons to like this restaurant:
1. The food is really yummy. The menu offers mostly "new southern" cooking and enough adventurous choices to give me something to look forward to ordering next time.
2. Harper House occupies a building in the heart of downtown, where we desperately need classy gathering places.
3. They play old movies on the back wall.
4. The staff are personable and attentive, without seeming like their sole motive is to garner a big tip.
7. The atmosphere is just the right balance of sophisticated and warm, bustling but allowing for intimate conversation.
6. They've got deviled eggs on their menu.

Meat and meat

Joe and I have been on a modified Daniel Fast--- basically a vegan and whole grain and sugarfree diet, except that I'm eating some disallowed foods for health reasons. But I won't bore you with the details. Anyhow, these two dishes were things I ate before the Daniel Fast:

Lemony garlicky lamb with sauteed cauliflower and some really ugly biscuits that I decided not to memorialize. Our friend and fellow foodie, Martha Mills, blessed us by buying and preparing us the lamb. Even though I've always been fearful of cooking red meat, her method was simplicity itself:
1. Soak lamb in salted water to get rid of excess blood/overt lamb-y flavor
2. Slice a medium onion into rings, and slice a few cloves garlic.
3. Layer half of onion and garlic on bottom of glass baking dish, then arrange lamb on top.
4. Spred remainng onion and garlic on top of lamb.
5. Squeeze juice of one lemon over everything.
6. Add about a centimeter of water to the pan.
7. Cover with foil and cook at 350 until the bone separates from the meat.

Thai Meatballs... inspired by a recipe in my East-West Mennonite Cookbook. These are turkey, onion, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and I don't remember what else meatballs. Oh, cayenne.

Woodlands Indian Vegetarian restaurant

After a shopping spree at Trader Joe's in Nashville, my mom took Stephen and I to the Woodlands Indian restaurant. It's a vegetarian place, specializing in dosas-- long slightly sour crepe burritos, stuffed with potatoes or other fillings. I could do without the dosas (in the lower right corner of the photo above), but I did really like some of the other foods in the buffet.
Stephen was also eager to eat most of what we gave him. A little too eager in this case. He likes to stick big things in his mouth and watch me have a fit. He doesn't gag like he used to, he just maneuvers it around in his mouth until he's whittled it down to chewable and then swallowable size.

I especially liked one of their dessert dishes... it was made of cream of wheat, bright yellow and flavored with sugar or honey, milk, maybe cardomom and possibly orange zest? The consistency was like a soft polenta and it was studded with cashews and soft dried fruit. I've been craving some ever since... but I don't know what it's called and it wasn't on the paper menu I brought home.

This restaurant is hard to find, we overshot it even with the help of GPS. It's on the ground floor of an apartment complex at the intersection of West End Ave. and Highway 440.

Forlorn Appetit

This post is very late... but I received my first copy of Bon Appetit, which was to replace the remainder of my subscription to Gourmet. The little card accompanying this magazine assured me that though Gourmet might be missed, I would love Bon Appetit. They couldn't have been more wrong. I felt that this magazine was geared toward people who don't like to read, as hardly any of the pieces were more than a page. And they used the tiniest ugliest little font for their body text, further discouraging those of us who do like to read. Which could be possibly be forgiven if the photos and recipes were much to look at... but in this case, they weren't. It seemed like all of the art was taken in this sort of movie-theater-lighting, all dark, dramatic and starkly spotlit. Completely unappetizing. My huz enjoyed an article about Sriracha... the rooster-adorned hot sauce that has sat on tables in Argyle restaurants for decades. It did have some interesting information about the owner and the sauce's comparison to authentic srirachas in Vietnam, but I felt like the tone of the article made it sound like the writer thought he was so cutting edge to be discussing the Sriracha craze, which isn't new at all. The writer also used a friend's opinion as his sole bit of information backing his ending conclusion that American Sriracha was just like authentic Vietnamese sriracha sauces. So, lazy journalism to boot. Nothing like the great long-form pieces in Gourmet.

Mostly I'm bent out of shape because Gourmet ended in Novemeber, one month shy of their Christmas cookie issue and Bon Appetit delivered January's issue.

Sous foodie

Guest post from Joe: A pizza pretzel isn't exactly exotic fare but it sure hit the spot while we were hitting the town. Our outing included three hours at Nashville's Adventure Science Center and Green Hills Shopping Center. Walking the mall often puts Emily in the mood for a bite at Auntie Anne's. This time it was me who initiated the snack. I was also the one to document it for Moodie Foodie. Emily called me her sous foodie. There's hope for me yet.