domesticity often agrees with me.

todd has to work today, and zane is still in richmond, so i've had the saturday to myself. i went to the farmers' market and bought a mint plant; for whatever reason, the seeds in my herb garden never took, which from all accounts is a blessing in disguise. otherwise, it's slow and steady progress on… let's see… this would be cilantro on day i think 37:

i repotted my plant into a large pot when i came home, and it's hanging out on the front porch so i remember to take extra care watering it every day.

i'm getting ready for my dad's arrival tomorrow. he is going on one of his epic car trips - staunton to michigan to denver and back over a couple weeks - and happily, he lands on my doorstep for father's day. i am going to take him out to lunch but want to plan a couple nice, light things for a late dinner at home. the perfect side dish is my mother's cucumber and watermelon salad, which in my memory is really only those 2 items plus lemon juice and maybe a pinch of salt and/or sugar. i've googled the recipe but can't come up with anything exactly right. the closest is this martha stewart recipe, but it's not quite 100%. this happens to me so often as i try to replicate cooking from my childhood. i harbor resentment for people who can just pick up the phone and ask their mom about ingredients.

i'm making röllchen, too, which are a total blast from my past. my mother used to make them as hors devours at new years and other special occasions, and looking at a list of ingredients that included grated onion, horseradish, and worcestershire sauce, i'm surprised i would even touch them as a kid. you combine all of the above with softened cream cheese, and then she used to place a dollop on very finely sliced beef lunchmeat and roll them up like a little cigar. as a veggiesaurus, of course, i now eschew that part and just eat the filling as a dip with wasa crackers. mmm.

i think for dessert i'll either do a fresh fruit shortcake or cream puff, or try out a new recipe i have for no bake peanut butter bars that use rice and wheat bran cereal. i'm not quite sure how that last one will turn out, but peanut butter on most things is yummy, so we'll see. and i must emphasize most things.

Okay, this is a complete bastardization based off of a Southern Living recipe for Banana Nut Bread from Willie Monroe. My thanks to you sir for a magnificent recipe. But really, why have nuts when you can have dark chocolate? And why have just banana bread when you can mix it with brownies? So help me, if I could figure out how to bake ice cream in there, I would.

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 8oz pack of cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (1 1/4lbs of unpeeled bananas, about 4 medium)
1 cup Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

AND

1 13×9 package of brownie mix
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup oil
(these last three are per ingredients needed on back of brownie box)

Set your oven at 350 (but I’ve found better results at ~335-340. This is a pretty dense mix, so cooking it a tad more slowly tends to let the middle bake without burning the edges.)

BEAT butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

COMBINE flour and next three ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, chips and vanilla. 

MIX brownie mix, eggs, water, and oil according to directions on box. 

SPOON brownie mix into bottom of 2 greased and floured 8×4 loaf pans.

SPOON carefully (as banana mix is often denser than the brownie mix) the banana mix on top of the brownie base.

BAKE at 350 for about an hour or until long wooden pick inserted into center come out clean. You’ll want to check this at about 30 and 45 mins, shielding the top with tin foil to prevent browning. If you’re using mini-loaf pans, they’ll be done at about 34 mins. 

Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, remove from pans and cool another 30 before slicing.

NOTES: you may have a tad too much banana mixture for just two pans. Or not. I typically do this recipe split between one 8×4 and three mini-loaf pans (‘cuz I like to share). I’m considering using two 8×8 brownie mixes the next time around and spreading that across three full sized loaf pans. 

inspired by a recipe from january's gourmet magazine ( eggs with cream, spinach and country ham) i decided to make up a healthy, vegetarian recipe that was along the same lines.

ingredients:
quinoa cooked in vegetable broth
rainbow chard sauteed with a dash of olive oil, garlic powder, lemon pepper and black pepper
parmesan
milk
eggs
hollandaise

in 4 ramekins put a thin layer of quinoa, then a thick layer of chard, well packed, leaving a slight indentation in the center of each dish. drizzle a tablespoon of milk in, grate on some parmesan cheese, then crack on egg in each dish and bake at 375 until the egg white is fully cooked. top with a spoonful of hollandaise.

deelish.
what made this especially tasty were the super expensive super high quality eggs. i might be sold on them.

things i am happy about:
jelly donut cupcakes frosted with confectioners powdered sugar,
learning to play the drums in rock band,
watching episodes of buffy the vampire slayer with my girlfriend on the phone watching the same thing a few hundred miles away.
(i thought i hated this show after the first season, but i've really enjoyed season two and beyond)

things i am unhappy about:
my laptop giving up the ghost today,
the feeling that no matter what happens in the primary tomorrow our politics will still suck,
waiting for my current employer to approve my contract while i'm still putting in hours.
(i really like my colleagues and the project, but i have growing resentment about the organization)

things i am neutral about (or just don't care):
microsoft/yahoo acquisition talk of any kind,
my inner curmudgeon growing stronger every day,
the super bowl now that it's over.
(watching with friends and making micro-bets while cheering against the patriots (just for the sake of spoiling the record season) was amusing though)

i've continued my cooking streak making a few freezable meals for my friend kim's family. her husband has a crohns-like illness and they'll be at johns hopkins for major surgery this week. her parents are coming to take care of their kids, so her friends are banding together to fill up her freezer to help out.

i did a couple main dishes and wanted to throw together a quick freezable dessert, and i came across this article with a recipe for THE YUMMIEST "paradise pie." miss roxy, i know, doesn't go the recipe route (which i think is pretty bad ass, culinarily speaking), but i was so glad to have stumbled upon this one.  the combination of coconut, pineapple, pecans, sweetened condensed milk, and cool whip didn't sound like something i'd necessarily think to put together, but when i licked the spoon it was a total foodgasm. it took less than 10 minutes to put together, too. do try!

Paradise Pie

• 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 carton (8 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed (use only 4 oz.)
• 1 9-inch graham cracker crust

Combine the milk and lemon juice in a bowl. Stir well. Add the drained pineapple, coconut and pecans, mixing well. Gently fold in the whipped topping. Pour into the crust. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Remove from the freezer about 15 minutes before serving. Cover any leftover pie loosely with foil or place inside a large freezer storage bag and return to the freezer.

i've been cooking a lot recently, like a lot a lot. our little family unit has finally settled down into regular dinnertimes together, though most meals have at least 2 entree versions present at the table to meet our different proclivities and pickiness.

often times the things i make for todd and zane are entirely different from my own meal, based on carni-/herbi- preferences. i wish i could cook the same thing for all of us, but it doesn't seem in the cards at the moment. T&Z are very used to home-cooked being todd's mom's way of cooking, which is pretty convenience food-friendly and rather southern.

even the cookbooks i turn to for dinners are different from what i have always used in the past. my well-worn WW tomes, cooking light, and vegetarian compilations are sadly, gathering dust as i turn to plastic spiral bound volumes with titles like, the best 1,001 short, easy recipes and the get me out of the kitchen! cookbook. it's not exactly challenging stuff, but it's what my diners enjoy, so there but for the grace of god go i.

i can usually find some middle-ground of foodie and diner line chef on the foot network, which brought me one of the silly shows that i love - the next food network star. it combines my fondness for cooking programs with the guilty indulgence of reality tv, so really, it's pretty much win-win for me (although it's not quite top chef-caliber!)

over the lovely two snowdays we were awarded this past week, i randomly tuned into the new program of last year's winner, amy finley - the gourmet next door. she prepared chiliqueles with chorizo, and i watched with interest to see this dish, in which tortilla chips are actually cooked in a saucepan in "stovetop salsa". it seemed pretty cool, and actually really easy, so i tried it out this weekend.

man, oh, man. now all i want to eat is chiliqueles. as a veggie-saurus, i skipped the chorizo, and the warm dish was so yummy i didn't even bother with the extra accompaniments suggested in the recipe, like guac, red onion, and cheese.

i proffered my new culinary discovery to zane and todd, both of whom instead preferred tostitos and velveeta.

not that there's anything wrong with that.

i made what i thought was going to be a very weird dinner last night. turns out it was just tasty. i cooked rising moon feta, hazelnut, squash ravioli (i love their ravioli) and served with fresh spinach and….
a prickly pear cream sauce (roux, half and half, milk, prickly pear jelly, cayenne, salt, lots of dried cranberries).