Kalamata Eggs with Vegetables

Note:  This blog, with all its previous posts, has moved to  moretimeatthetable.com, but I will continue to post here, as well as there, for another month or so to assure the transition.  Great thanks to my beautiful daughter, Emily Morgan, who managed the migration for me.

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There comes a moment between Christmas and New Year's when you simply look around the kitchen and say, "I've had enough meat, cheese, and bread."  Parties, quick meals, egg casseroles, roast beast dinners, COO-KEES…

 Argh, they begin to add up.  If you haven't packed away a big tub of vegetable soup in the freezer,  maybe you'd like to try one of my quick breakfast-lunch-dinner skillets.

Out to brunch…eating… more!

This little meal takes the loveliness spinach has to sell (think cooked salad), combines it with the summery delight of onions with tomatoes, and tops it all off with a couple of quickly fried and runny eggs.  A piquant dollop or two of chopped kalamata olives or a spoonful of that tapenade leftover from the cocktail party might gild the lily, but probably not.  Make one for you and one for whomever else is still rambling about the holiday house.  OH, OK; have it with another mimosa.

kalamata eggs with vegetables                 makes one breakfast

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• pinch each crushed red pepper, kosher salt, and fresh ground black pepper
• 1 large slice onion, broken into rings or pieces
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons chopped kalamata olives or tapenade

1. Heat an 8-inch skillet over medium heat with oil and spices for 30 seconds.  
2. Add onion and cook five minutes or so, stirring regularly, until onion is soft and beginning to brown. Add garlic, spinach, and tomatoes.  Cook another 2 minutes or until spinach is wilting and tomatoes are softening. 
3. Break two eggs on top of the vegetables -- one in each half the pan --  and sprinkle eggs with salt and pepper. Lower heat and cover for 2- 3 minutes or until eggs are done to your liking.  
4. Tip pan out onto a warmed plate and top with olives or tapenade.  Serve with hot buttered toast and jam.

Sing a new song as you plan for New Year's,

Alyce

Stained Glass Shortbread Hearts

I used INDIA TREE Sparkling Sugar--Confetti "color."

I have a group of favorite Christmas cookies and I make most of them every year.  Not all.  Some years there's just no time for the cranberry bars and the candy canes do only make it into the round up every so often.  I'm not sure what gives one cookie a spot at the top of the favorites' team or what makes another a relief pitcher, but I'm thinking it's which little crispy piece of sweetness draws the most desirable oooos and ahhs from family and friends versus those that are still in the freezer at Easter.

To say I love my grandson's help in the Christmas kitchen is not an understatement.

That I love to make cookies is undeniable.  That I must, absolutely must, make a new recipe or two every year is something I know.  If only there were more days for baking, more mouths for chewing, more mugs of cocoa that needed a sidecar, more glasses of Vin Santo calling out for biscotti.

In fact, since my kids have left home, I schedule a  cookie party of some kind so that I have a reason to bake.  And bake.

An ornament I bought in Taos--it stays in my front window year-round.

Early in the season, I often place a cookie book or two next to my reading chair.   I put sticky notes at the recipes that appear promising and assure myself I'll try this one or the other -- and sometimes I do. Sometimes I'll see something online or in the newspaper that will call me.  My sister will send a recipe and those are treasures to tempt and attempt.

This uses the add the sugar to the dough method. (See *)

Inevitably, I drag out the old recipe box and find the tried and true blue friends of years past, and make those first, second, third….  Ginger Cookies, Chocolate Snowballs, 7-Layer Bars, Shortbread, Sugar Cookies, Pecan Bars, Date Bars…  (The list goes on.)

This is the add-the-sugar-to-the-top-of-the-hearts method described in the recipe.

And the new cookie may wait its turn patiently.  Might even have to wait until next year.

Cookies at left have sugar added at top.  At right, sugar added to the dough. (Same in next photo)

But sometime its turn at bat will arrive.

The music will start….
I bake to Peter, Paul, and Mary's Holiday Celebration  --  at least to begin with.

Double hearts.  This one just came out like this.  Ah. Sigh.

The counters are cleared of the coffee pots, salt and pepper, olive oil, crushed red pepper….

so that there's room for  a standing mixer, 3 or 4 favorite cookie sheets, and some cooling racks.

It takes a clear counter to bake a cookie.


This year's new cookie not exactly new, but it's a new version of my favorite shortbread.  And I think it's a perfect newbie.  Tender, but crisp all the way through.  Bright in affect.  Tiny.  Also a bit time-consuming, but worth it.  These meltable mouthfuls are just an inch long and hence are perfect for those who want a cookie, but don't want a cookie -- if you know what I mean.  An inch long cookie? What harm could that do?  (None if you stop at one.)  Here's how:

stained-glass window shortbread hearts

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter--soft
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups white, unbleached flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• sparkling sugar (confetti)*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

With an electric mixer or very strong hands, beat together the butter and sugar; add the vanilla.  

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and the salt.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing slowly at first to avoid a flour shower.  When dough begins to hold together, stop mixer and remove dough. 

Shape first into a ball and then flatten into a disc.  Wrap with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate 30 minutes.  (If you refrigerate the dough longer, you may have to let it warm up a bit.  I've left it overnight or longer; it has no eggs, so keeps a bit more than most doughs.) 

Divide dough into approximately 1-cup portions and, using a rolling pin,** roll out to 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured board or counter.

Cut out using 1-inch heart cookie cutters and press sparkling sugar into each.*  Place on baking sheets.  Bake 6-9 minutes or until set and just beginning to color at edges. Remove to cooling racks.  Store in tightly covered containers for up to a month.

*Alternately, add sugar to dough as you roll and then cut out the hearts; the cookies will look a bit differently, but will be just as good.

**No rolling pin?  Watch this little video.  A wine bottle might work just as well!

Provenance and Truth in Lending:  The ingredients (except for the sparkling sugar) for this recipe are from Eli Zabar via Ina Garten with great appreciation.

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Around the 'Hood

 This year's twins munching in my front yard. (above)

Their vigilant mom. (above)

The family out back. (above)

On a clear day, you can see forever.  Well, you definitely can see Pike's Peak from my front door.

Click here for my Ginger Cookie recipe.  It's a keeper.

Our cookie party -- "Cookies, Carols, and Champagne," is Monday night. I am, uh, a bit behind.  Think of me.

Happy December…as you sing a new song,
Alyce

Slow Cooker Bean Soup at Altitude--Ski Day Special!

                                                        

When I first moved to altitude, everyone seemed to talk about the changes needed to cook here.  There were lots of suggestions about baking particularly (use less yeast and sugar--more salt for bread), but also about cooking anything at all (cook longer and with more liquid) and I paid attention.  To be sure, some baking required a bit of adjustment -- a few things never did come around -- but the biggest hurdle was lack of humidity.  Leave a piece of bread on the counter for a few minutes  (say the phone rang when you were about to make a sandwich) and you'd return to dry bread--as if you left it out all night in Chicago or were drying bread for stuffing in Miami.  Bake cookies, leave them to cool on the rack a couple of hours instead of a couple of minutes, and you'd have rocks. All Colorado cookies are biscotti is how I look at it.  Cookies must be eaten, stored in very tightly-sealed containers,  and/or frozen as soon as they're cool. More than one Colorado baker has just thrown in the towel at Christmas.  You simply can't eat them before they're stale. My method is to freeze every batch, taking out just the number of cookies you'll eat -- or give away-- at one sitting. It works, but you need a big freezer --or a freezing garage-- if you're a happy baker in December.

Ina Fridays -- Appetizers -- Grilled Lemon Chicken Skewers with Satay Dip

Grilled Lemon Chicken Skewers with Satay Dip:  scroll down for link to recipe.

Perhaps it would have been better if I'd chosen something that didn't require grilling on a day when the high was 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

                                                           
But, oh no, I had to make a grilled chicken dish.  Right oh.

Last Gasp Broccoli Soup

I hope your Thanksgiving was all you needed it to be.  Dave and I, having moved back into our Colorado Springs house just last month, were blessed to eat dinner at friends'.  Sean smoked a turkey; I made rolls and pies, as well as a pot of curried Butternut Squash Soup. Jami and Dave made a 4-quart Cauliflower Grantinee.  We ferried it all over to the north side of town, where a gorgeous table and a big group of friends waited.  All we had to do was sit down and enjoy it all.  Thanks, God.  I did bring home some leftovers...and hence this soup.  Enjoy this first week of Advent or the rest of Hanukkah...and make some broccoli soup.

Pie 101 - Pumpkin

              Pumpkin Pie should quiver, shiver, and shimmer. 

If your pie is solid and unmoving--like old jello-it's overdone or old.  If  the filling is pulling away from the crust, it's too old.  If it's cracked, well, that just happens once in a while (it's overbaked)--but next time bake it for less time.  Stay away from store pies.  While, big, easy, available, and portable, they were baked....when?  And are in the stores how far ahead?  This pie, full of eggs and cream, should be absolutely fresh.  Nearly right out of your oven.  Almost warm.  And, if not, at least at room temperature.  It's custard.  Plain and simple.   And, if you don't want to make pie dough or want a Gluten-Free Pumpkin "Pie," you can bake the filling in a greased pie pan or casserole without any pastry.  Just call it pumpkin custard; that's what it is.

Thanksgiving Music--Wednesday through Sunday

Philip Stopford directing my favorite Thanksgiving anthem.


        It is of course possible to dance a prayer. 
                                                                         ~Terri Guillemets


CDs or MP3:   VocalEssence, Garrison Keillor, and the Hopeful Gospel Quartet

                        Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.  
                                                    ~W.J. Cameron
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Welcome to a little playlist of Thanksgiving music.  Have additions?  Leave them in the comments!

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Wednesday:  Baking, Cleaning, Setting the Table, Cooking Ahead, Traveling............

Over the River and Through the Woods

Garrison Keillor's Thanksgiving Song--Prairie Home Companion  "Where ya goin' for Thanksgiving??"

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Somewhere Out There (Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram --"American Tail")

Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell)


Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live.
         ~Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear.

Thursday Cooking and Prep:

The Muppets: Popcorn

Bolero (Ravel--Wiener Philharmonic)

Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash)

Memphis Women and Chicken    (She's got biscuits in the oven---cornbread in the pan...)

Traveling Wilburys:  End of the Line

Red, Red Wine

In the Mood (Andrews Sisters)

A Case of You (Diana Krall cover of the  famous Joni Mitchell tune)

Turkey in the Straw

Thursday-- Before Dinner:

A grace could be very simply giving thanks for the hands that made the meal, for the workers in the stores, on the trucks, in the gardens. on the farms and ranches, and  the vineyards.  Even a toast to all who made it possible would work.  Mark the moment.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Mumford and Sons)

Now Thank We All Our God  (organ-Giovanni Danda)

All Good Gifts (Godspell     We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land....

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Iz)

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow  (instrumental)

Thanksgiving Song (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Thursday--Dinner

America by Simon and Garfunkel              We've all come-------to look for America.

Four Seasons (Antonio Vivaldi)

Coming to America (Neil Diamond)

I Like to Be in America (West Side Story--Bernstein)

Autumn Leaves (Miles Davis)

Thanksgiving Theme (Vince Guaraldi Trio/Charlie Brown)

Thursday  Dessert/ After Dinner

Take it Easy (Eagles)

American Pie (Don McLean)

Lollypop (Chordettes)

I Love Coffee, I Love Tea -- Java Jive (Manhattan Transfer)

Pie! Me-oh My; I love Pie   (sung  by Andie McDowell in "Michael" after Michael says he invented pie--
"Just kidding! ... Sing, Dorothy.  Now.")   This tune is not on the soundtrack for some inexplicable reason.

Pie, pie, me oh my,
Nothing tastes better, wet, salty and dry,
all at once – oh, well it’s pie.
Apple and pumpkin and mince and black bottom,
I’ll come to your place every day if you’ve got ‘em.
Pie, me oh my, I love piiiiieeeeeee

Sleigh Ride (Ella Fitzgerald)    Ok-it bridges the seasons."...when they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie."


Thursday:  Clean-up

Lean on Me (Michael Bolton version)

Let's Stay Together (Al Green)

Barney: The Clean up Song

Washing Dishes (Jack  Johnson)

Stay--Just a  Little Bit Longer (Temptations)

Walkin' in Memphis (Marc Cohn)


Friday/Saturday/Sunday:  Leftovers, Tired of Turkey, Goin' Home

A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich, and You  (Ukelele Ukester Brown)

Lady and the Tramp Spaghetti Scene (Bella Notte)

Cheeseburger in Paradise (Jimmy Buffett)

The Last Time I Felt Like This   (Johnny Mathis and Jane Oliver)  from "Same Time Next Year"

One for my Baby and One More for the Road  (Sinatra)

Go Now (Moody Blues)

Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone (Bill Withers)

Going Home (Paul Robeson's version)

Time to Say Goodbye (Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman)

River (Joni Mitchell)

Happy Thanksgiving,
Alyce

Red Sauce Eggs with Vegetables on Arugula

Click here to donate to the World Food Programme for Philippine Relief

Hunger, it is said, "is the best sauce."  Pancakes outside cooked on a Coleman stove after a long hike.  A pot of stew in the slow cooker waiting at home while you're at work.  Anytime you "could have eaten a horse."

The other day Dave emerged from his tiny, temporary office (my old study) after a #$5*@!) morning and said, "I'm hungry; what's for lunch?"  While he's perfectly happy to get his own meals (peanut butter and crackers eaten over the sink in 5 minutes is a favorite), he'll take more of a break if I fix anything at all.  If I'm cooking, I often cook early and he's lucky enough to get some of it.  That day, I wasn't cooking; I was cleaning and unpacking one more box or ten. Still, I was hungry, too.  A quick search of the fridge allowed that there were indeed eggs along with some leftover tomatoes, cooked red potatoes, and a  big box of crispy, peppery arugula.  I didn't know what I'd make exactly, but I began with a large skillet with olive oil and onions....

Eggplant Timpano at the Neighborhood "Big Night" (A Great Vegetarian Thanksgiving)

Moving on this year, we added a vegetarian timpano from Stanley Tucci's new cookbook, THE TUCCI COOKBOOK. Layered inside a 10-inch springform pan lined with thinly sliced, broiled eggplant, this luscious creation is perfect for your vegetarian Thanksgiving.

Emergency Alert---Please click here to donate:  World Food Programme Philippine Relief

Our Colorado Springs neighborhood is nothing if not social.  While we don't live in and out of one another's pockets, we are close enough to send out an email one morning to come for a grill supper that night or to stop by for a piece of cake for an impromptu anniversary celebration. Potlucks are a regular occurrence, as are out-to-lunch get togethers, occasional golf games, book discussions, and plain old, "Come over for a glass of wine" evenings.  We know we weren't meant to live alone.

If you've followed the blog for long, you've seen older posts about activities, and maybe you've read up on THE BIG NIGHT, a neighborhood event patterned after Stanley Tucci's great movie about two Italian brothers who come to America to make their fortune in the restaurant business.  (Not an impromptu evening....)  If not, I hope you've at least seen the movie.  It's an indie cult classic and one of my very favorites that also stars Minnie Driver, Isabella Rossellini, Tony Shaloub, and a very silent, skinny, and oh-so-young Marc Anthony.

Of course for our neighborhood--we're eaters-- the real star of the show is the timpano. Several of us gather one afternoon each year to bring together all the elements and gently scoot that big drum into the oven just so we can have a party and feed everyone.

Lamb and Barley Stew with Root Vegetables

I'm not sure why lamb isn't eaten more the United States; I adore it.  But often people will just  blurt out, "I don't like lamb."  In some other parts of the world, lamb is precious, but more common than stateside--as is goat.  It doesn't answer the question about why so many Americans "don't like" lamb; I think they just haven't had much of it and what they have had as been poorly prepared.  I wish they could have some stew...

I rarely had lamb growing up--and, if I did, it was a tiny lamb chop with some potatoes and peas prepared simply to showcase the sweet bite of meat.  Of course there was mint jelly.  This may have had something to do with living with in 25 miles of the Chicago Stockyards, or simply in the mid west where beef was (and is) king. Maybe it was southern-born parents cooking up north.  Maybe it was cash.

Ina Fridays -- Desserts -- Ina's Outrageous Brownies with Alyce's Twists and Icing

To say that I'm well-fed is a nice way of putting things and is somewhat of an embarrassment. Dave insists I'm simply...well...maybe we needn't go into it.  Suffice it to say he doesn't complain.  (I love that man.)

I am, however, not well-fed because I stuff my face with a plethora of sweets.  At one time in my life, I ate way more sugar than now and was much thinner. What's that noise?  I can pass by cookies, pie, cake, most candy (not Hershey's kisses), and even lots of ice creams.  I cannot, however, pass by truly decadent frosted scratch brownies.  If you have made brownies out of a box -- and many people know no other brownies than these -- you need have no fear; I won't even glance up.  No matter how you doctored them. Whatever fat and dried-up chocolate they're using in those boxed mixes is not anything I'm lusting after.

Whole Wheat Cranberry-Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins or Bread Redux--A Lighter, Healthier Version (No Paper Liners Allowed): In Memoriam--Rhonda Lundquist

A gentler,  kinder pumpkin muffin made with olive oil, whole wheat flour,  mini dark chocolate chips and more.

I love pumpkin. Pumpkin anything. Perhaps because I have an October birthday?  (Yes, I just loved my big 6-0.)   Each fall for most of my adult life, I've made loaves and loaves of pumpkin bread. The recipe has come and gone, morphed and morphed. 2013 is no different.

This one, baked in my pumpkin pan, has pumpkin seeds on top.

Below:  my typical sweet muffin:




Sometimes my bread contains candied ginger and lots of nuts; other years it's chock full of chocolate and dried cranberries. It's always decadent, calorically-dense, and great with coffee. In the last year or two, I began making pumpkin muffins in large coffee cups just to gild the lily--

One-Pan Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary Vegetables

I'm not always in a hurry cooking.  Often I take my own sweet time and dust be damned.  Lately, with more boxes and mess than I want to own up to (after 16 days in the house), I'm still just throwing meals together in hopes that anything for which I heat the stove up will last a couple of days.  Because the larder is not up-to-snuff, I end up running to the grocery over and over; I'm wasting time on this stuff.  Bad words.

The kitchen is functioning though I have cabin knives and only four drinking glasses. #badlylabeledmovingboxes

Warm Quinoa Salad with Roasted Autumn Vegetables or a Vegan Thanksgiving

( Just thinking:  If you're interested in the huge South Dakota snowstorm, please read my friend Margaret Watson's post on her blog Leave it Where Jesus Flang It.  We had just passed by there in gorgeous weather on our trip to Colorado.)

While a towering stack of boxes looms, I can't find the stereo or my knife block, I still want to eat something delectable AND I want those around me to have a decent healthy meal as well.  For the next little bit, we've got our oldest son and grandson living with us while their house is being renovated.  Daughter-in-law arrives on weekends, traveling down from her job in Boulder.



 We now have four dogs in the house for a Four-Dog Kitchen:  photo coming!

Butternut Squash-Zucchini Curry with Couscous or What is Home??

Last summer, when I began to make the first vegetable curries of the season, I was right here in our Colorado house up on the mesa.  I needed a quick dinner and had a bunch of vegetables lying around the counter--including lots of tomatoes.  A pot of rice was put to boil and I threw a bunch of vegetables and a little curry powder into a big skillet.  We ate quite happily very soon thereafter.

DISCLAIMER:  I'll freely admit I'm no authenic Indian cook; check out Just a Girl from Mumbai or The Lady 8 Home (two of my Ina Friday friends' blogs) for authentic recipes.  Or, for a general set of instructions, check out this post. 

Colorado kitchen

Last week, we moved permanently from Saint Paul back to Colorado into the house we've owned there for eight years by now.  To say it was or is a wrench is an understatement, because we love Saint Paul and I so loved my choir job at Prospect Park United Methodist in Minneapolis.  Finances dictated a change to owning one house only and here we are.  I'm still in the midst of figuring it all out and can't believe what an emotional upheaval it's been.  After all, it's just a house--right????

St. Paul backyard

Ina Fridays--Main Courses--Chicken Chili for Two

I once heard a woman say, "You can't make chili for two people."  As I began to write today, thinking about that conversation did make me do just a little bit of research...because I often make chili for one or two!

Chili is American, isn't it?  That much we think we know, but read on.  There's also the  beans or no beans dilemma.  "If you know beans about chili, you'll know there are no beans in chili," Texans say.  Minnesotans go, "Huh?"  when you quote the beans line.  Then there's the meat.  There's chili and there's chili con carne.  After a while, you start wondering what is in chili.  Today, there are as many variations as there are cook-offs, parties, and so on.  Chili is served regularly at Super Bowl, Halloween, and at neighborhood or church gatherings.  Here's an interesting bit of chili lore from whatscookingamerica.net--just for fun:

Caprese Burgers with Sweet Corn-Potato Salad or the Last Rose of Summer

        After this post, More Time will be on vacation for a brief period.  See you later!

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 The last two days, when Dave and I have gone out to walk the dogs, it's been all of 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  Now, of course, we live in Minnesota; the rest of the country might not have those lows.  We have freeze warnings coming up, so I was out collecting the last of the tomatoes and also enjoying the last blooms in our yard...

Backdoor Italian parsley

Backdoor herb pot--Sage (top), Chives (left), Thyme (right), Rosemary (bottom), Mint (left)

Almost the last of the cherry tomatoes

Ina Fridays -- Sides, Salads, and Soups --Arugula, Watermelon, and Feta Salad

I'm so ready for fall. There I said it.  Ach.  While the tomatoes are coming on (a good thing), the heat, too, doesn't want to go away. I long for nights with the windows open and no air-conditioning white-noise drowning out the morning birds and joggers.  (Ok, the late night drunks, too; I live in the city.)

 Because heat IS NOT MY FAVORITE THING, I'm always glad when cool weather appears.  Suddenly I'm cleaning house, working in the yard, roasting chickens, making chili, and generally appearing like I have a bit more energy than the dirty dish rag in the sink.  But I do think that because I'm an avid home cook, and a person who loves change, that I only get about half-way through a season before I'm longing for the ingredients and cooking styles of the next.  And that's about where I'm at.  The h--- with salads and grilled salmon and definitely the h--- with white wine. Give me some red meat to cook, for God's sake.  A couple of bottles of Pinot Noir.  Let me want a rip-roaring fire.  I long to wear a sweatshirt and jeans.  I've destroyed my summer sandals and shoes cooking in them; it's time for real leather, isn't it???  (Isn't it?)

Tomorrow I'm cooking dinner for the cover artist for my book, the talented Daniel Craig and his lovely wife, the accomplished and beautiful pianist (St. Paul Conservatory) Kim Craig.

Available Fall, 2013-- amazon.com

Ricotta Toast with Basil Egg for Breakfast

A bit of a warm breakfast on a heat-soaked morning, but the cooking is minimal and the food is a fine change from summer yogurt and fresh fruit.  Make your coffee first because once you begin making this sweet little meal, it'll need your undivided attention.  Use up some of those ever-ripening Minnesota --Indiana, Illinois, Aix-en-Provence, New Jersey-- tomatoes. Just add a few ruby-red slices to your ricotta-slathered toast along with an egg and a little julienne basil, et voila, you're at the table!  Here's how:

ricotta toast with basil egg    1 serving (repeat for more)

                         Read through recipe before cooking.