Birthday Bounty

I am 26 now, as of last Friday.

And a glorious day it was. 

Friday has always been my favorite day of the week.

I have been thinking about the placement of birthdays, and I am glad to have my birthday at the beginning of the year. 

Probably each month has its benefits, but January has a crisp newness that is bigger than me. I like that. Plus, now that I am old enough to forget how old I am, being born at the beginning of the year makes it easier to calculate, which is probably why most of Asia traditionally adds a year to their age on the Chinese New Year regardless of their month of birth.  (Happy Year of the Dragon by the way.)

Nathanael was the crafter of almost all of the things that made my birthday so fantastic.

The main thing I created was the wonderful brightly colored outfit that is not shown here...but probably would have landed me a part as one of the Wizard of Oz munchkins back in the day just so that Technicolor triumph could have been fully appreciated. Though, Nathanael did help me decide that it was not too ridiculous for work...being that it was Friday and all.

Isn't this wrapping job fun? 

Newspaper never looked so fine.

Nathanael received some restaurant recommendations from people in his office, but he decided that he could make a more delectable meal at home (and without spending our using up all of our money). So, while I relaxed in the living room reading some junior fiction, he created a mystery dinner masterpiece. The first course, was beer cheese soup fit for any Wisconsin palate.

Next was a salad of romaine lettuce, pecans, craisins, and apple poppy seed dressing. 

Next, because our kitchen is small, he brought these into the living room to cool, which should have probably keyed me in on the main course, but I was still oblivious...

to the seasoned hamburgers sizzling away.

But once I figured it out I was pretty excited about both the burgers, and the toppings; red wine caramelized onions, slices of avocado, and shoe string potato chips for a bit of crunch.

I went to bed stuffed to the top.

Then, the next morning, my second day of 26, Nathanael took me out for a mystery breakfast. I was a little worried he was taking me to ihop (I love waffles, but I just wasn't in the mood for that particular atomosphere). Not only was I not disappointed, but I was quite excited. He brought me to a beignet shop. The setting of which is more like a European cafe. 

(Taking more pictures of the two of us together is my one New Year's resolution. As you can see, it is in its early stages. Also, those are the clothes we are wearing indoors and out these days.)

Ah beignets.

If you haven't tried them...

well...

get yourself down here to Louisiana to visit us!

Lately.

 So on Wednesday, I had planned to download my camera and make a post to share with all of you like normal, but when I began the download my computer told me it was full. No longer hungry for my photos. Alas. Over the last two days I have been doing my best to work its appetite back up by deleating about 800 MB worth of Java updates, compressing files, and moving old photos off of my hard drive...and I figured while I was at it I might as well install virus software and do all those kinds of scans too, right? It was a good plan, and still is...still is being worked on that is. I will outsmart it yet. My good old desktop computer may be 8 years old, and I know computer years are even longer than dog years, but I have no plans to be utilizing Dell's new mushroom packing material any time soon.

What else have I been up to lately?

Gardening...of course. Nathanel and are still having our ordinary Saturday garden days, but we are still not getting much rain, so a friend and her daughter (the most adorable little girl, the one who made the orange snake) took a trip to the garden mid week to water and plant a few things.

The seeds for the winged beans were so smooth and even. I could envision making a necklace out of these.

The New Zealand Spinach on the other hand had rough and angular seeds which look more like things that would inspire Japanese cartoon characters.

The dill is smelling wonderful and the plants are super healthy. Do you have any great dill recipes to share? I am mostly wishing the cucumbers were ready, though I do have a dill potato soup recipe.

 The beets are a little on the small side still, but many of them will be ready soon...and then I will turning everything I cook pink just for the fun of it! (You know that's why I like beets, right?)

The snow peas surprised us by pulling through and producing wild amounts this week, despite the low rain and temperatures very far from snow.

The mystery plant continues to grow and look more like itself. Come on, take a guess. What do you think it could be?

And I continue to become more allergic to fire ants. Despite wearing shoes and high socks with shorts (you only wish you could be so fashionable) they manage to reach me. This was just one bite/sting on my right ankle, a day after the ant got me. The red itchy patch continued to spread and swell...two weeks ago I got four bites on each ankle and that was really a sight, they looked like they belonged to the Michelin  Man. I think my reactions are getting slightly worse...what do you think I should to to build up immunity? Ant smoothies perhaps? Sneak ants into my baked goods?

I am also a guest blogger on After Nine To Five with a recipe for Blonde Brownies  (no ants included)! They're golden, but will not be appearing here, so catch 'em while you can! (Really. They are so delicious.)

Weekend Links: Things you didn't think you could make

This weekend, I have been thinking seasonal foods.
Nathanael and I spent the day in our garden yesterday, hoping that our produce will step it up and start growing...but alas, it is only March after all.

tiny beets

 

 

A neat little pink rock I found in the garden. Completely unrelated to the subject at hand.

But not all seasonal foods are produce.

Last week I saw a couple of girls standing on the side of the road waving posters at cars speeding past, and one of the girls was dressed as a giant cookie. Know what I'm talking about? Somehow the girl scouts in our area never got around to knocking on our door. So, I was thinking of making some of those delicious minty cookies myself, and did a little searching. I have not made them yet, but I figured I should not wait to share with you how to make your own girl scout cookies. Plus, the tutorials and pictures on the website are super (here are two of them).

And with Easter approaching, Marshmallow Peeps are hitting the shelves. 

If you're ok with plain, marshmallows are pretty cheep, but Alisa Burke's blog has pictures which makes homemade ones look special and delicious. But, if you want to go all the way to the peep stage, you might have to choose bunnies or chicks.

With all of this dessert making you might want to make some vanilla. Or start a bunch of it now, and give it as Christmas gifts.

And if you don't have a garden, but are in the mood for some sprouting, why not try tempeh?(And even a tempeh video with relaxing Indonesian music in the background.) Once it's ready, you may even want to season it with some home smoked chipotle peppers....but if you're wanting to use homegrown peppers you're going to have to wait a little bit longer.

And in case you missed them, here are some things you might not have realized you could make from past posts this blog (not necessarily spring foods): Yogurt,  Refrigerator Pickles, Kimchi, and Trail Bars

Red: Cape Cod Cranberry Pie and The End of an Age

 

Remember how I told you of my love for cranberries?

Well, I have more to tell.

New Look and Strawberry Cake!

I am not sure which is better, so it's a good thing I don't have to choose.Last week, and a little before, I was hard at work redesigning the blog, making it more streamlined and reader friendly, while still keeping it lively and colorful. How did I do? What do you think?
If you usually read the Harmless Color posts through a subscription, take a minute to come on out to the blog and check out the new pages I have put up. And, a little assignment for all of you: comment.
Leave me question to put up on my FAQ page, to answer in a post, or just say hi and tell me you're reading! I have readers over Thirty Countries, but I have only received comments from three countries, ever. Take a minute and say hello no matter where you are from!
And what better way to have a grand opening for the blog's new look than to share with you the cake I have had for my birthday since I was twelve? I can think of few things more delicious. (And for those of you wondering, I turned 25 in January, so that is more birthdays with this cake than without it!)

The story with me and the cake goes like this...

Red: Fruit Bowl Rejects

 I love fruit, I really do, but if you stayed with us for a few days or weeks you might notice that there are always one or two runt fruit neglected in the fruit bowl. I am not sure how it happens, and it doesn't seem to be caused by the initial appearance of the fruit, but slowly, after an apple or pear has been sitting just longer than it should have, both of us lose all desire to eat the given fruit and the remaining ones sit until they're ugly.
My solution to this problem is to cook that fruit! Usually into a breakfast food. In the past couple of weeks our hot cereal has contained both spiced apples and pears, and in the past I have put an old apple or two into a soup with wonderful reviews from tasters. Bananas usually end up in bread or peeled, in the freezer, waiting to become smoothies.
   The last time I had extra granny smith apples around, however, I really wanted to do something memorable and scrumptious, so my vote was muffins. And cranberries. I have had a magnetic attraction to cranberries all my life, and I just love eating them any way I can....as you will see as our red series progresses. When I was little, my grandmother always bought two kinds of canned cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving: jelly and whole berry. I usually ate most of the can of whole berry myself, until grandma began making the cranberry sauce homemade each year as her contribution. How could I go back after tasting that freshness? I now make cranberry sauce for myself multiple times a year to eat on my yogurt, in sandwiches with peanut butter, on toast, or just on a spoon.
    Cranberries are not only beautiful, tart and magical, but they are also recommended to help maintain your urinary tract health. (This is where I took a ten minute detour from writing to explore the Ocean Spray website and its recipes.) And did you know that Wisconsin, and not New England, is the world's top cranberry producing region? I didn't realize how much less popular cranberries would be after moving away from those places. But alas.
 

To make these even more red you can use red skinned apples, but choose a tart, firm variety if you can. Do not use red delicious. Actually, a large portion of fruit bowl neglect can be avoided if you just don't buy red delicious in the first place. If you have neither apples nor cranberries, you can substitute just about any non-citrus fruit into this recipe, but if they are frozen do not defrost them before baking or they will taste funny and  you will end up covered in goopy muffin. This was the first time I used cupcake wrappers on muffins, and I recommend it particularly because the high fruit content makes these a little...not crumbly, but having more perforations lets say.

Best Ever Apples-Cranberry Muffins  yield 12 muffins
(Based on Best Ever Muffins by Better Homes and Gardens)
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 well beaten egg
3/4 cup milk (or yogurt and a tiny bit of water)
1/3 cup salad oil or melted shortening
1/2 cup diced tart apple (cut to berry size)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed (do not defrost if frozen)

Sift dry ingredients into bowl; make well in center. Combine egg, milk, and oil. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir quickly just until dry ingredients are moistened. Add fruit and gently mix until just combined, do not overbeat. Fill greased muffin (or cupcake wrappers) pans 2/3 full. Bake at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes (at a slightly lower temperature if you or your oven tend to overbake things).

Enjoy.

A Gift List for the Home Gormet

There are a lot of gift lists out there in blogs and magazines, and since they are a entertaining to look through (and since I know not everyone has time to make all of their Christmas presents), I thought I would share a gift list containing some of the specific items that have been really fun or helpful for me to have in the kitchen.
     I am not a fan of unnecessary gadgets and appliances, but if you invest in kitchen products for yourself or a friend I think they should be frequently used quality wares that will last you a really, really long time. Even if quality is a little more expensive, it is less wasteful (of your money and of our natural resources) to own products that do not need to be thrown away and replaced every couple of years. We received  most of our versions of these items as gifts or found them on ebay, but here they are listed by increasing retail cost and linked to Amazon or another distributor. Your kitchen dwelling friends may also enjoy a few handwritten recipes as an accompanying gift to any of these.

Oxo Silicone Sink Strainer
Ours was: from Amazon.com
Why I like it...       

•  As with most apartment dwellers, we handwash all of our dishes and have no garbage disposal. I don't know what is the great difference between the mouth watering food on the table that you can't wait to get your hands on and the little bits of the same food that you don't want to touch your hand, but even as a biologist, emptying the sink strainer was not on my favorite activities list. This strainer is silicone and allows you to push the food into the garbage can from the bottom, which usually flicks out most pieces without scraping.
• The holes on the strainer are large and plentiful enough to let water through even if there is a lot of debri, but small enough to catch a water soaked grain of rice. (We aren't fill-the-sink-with-water type dish washers here, we just use a sudsy rag and then rinse.)
• Lastly, the bowl of the strainer is deep, this combined with the plentiful holes greatly reduces the collected food from splashing back out of the strainer once it has rested there.

 

Chef'n Switchit All-Purpose Silicone Spatula 
Ours was: a gift (from a kitchen store sale)
Why I like it...

• Since most of the other cooking utensils in our kitchen are wood or bamboo, our Chef'n switchit (an earlier and slightly differently shaped model) is in constant use as our only spatula. Since it is made of food grade silicon it is heat safe up to 650 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it useful for frying eggs, stirring fudge, and just about anything else you do in an average kitchen. I have had mine for 6 years and it looks the same other than some turmeric stains.
• The switchit is available in seven colors, and has a hardened steel core, which gives it a nice weight.
• Since the entire spatula is coated in silicon it is very easy to clean. In contrast to many other spatulas, you don't have to worry about scorching a wooden handle, melting a plastic one, or being burned by a metal one.

Large Stone Mortar and Pestle
 Ours was: a gift, and we have also purchased many to give as gifts. We have frequently seen them for the best price ($9.99-$12.99) at Marshalls, T.J.Maxx and Ross.


Why I like it...

• Being able to crush your own spices and herbs makes you feel powerful.
• Stone is easy to clean (unlike wood), you don't need to worry about cracking it while you pound (unlike some sad personal experience with a porcelain m and p), and the natural weight of the pestle does some of the work for you (unlike both wood and porcelain).
• I use my mortar and pestle daily, and you may have noticed it make some appearances here on the blog crushing fresh ginger, cloves, and fennel seeds. A selection of whole spices would make a good accompanying gift (the aforementioned or cumin, coriander, black pepper, cardamom or anise).

Zevro Spice Mill
Ours was: a wedding gift (from Zevro website)
 Why I like it...

• I enjoy having fresh ground pepper available right at the table, and salt over which you have excellent quality control. If I were a food snob I might say fresh ground sea salt is invaluable, but I can't say that I notice a large flavor difference from crystals. While I was growing up my parents had salt and pepper mills, but since then this was the first stylish version I had encountered. They come in five colors and are very simple and space efficient.
• Despite having a plastic exterior, the grinding mechanism is ceramic, which should allow it to last a very long time. The adjustment knob also allows exact specification of how much you want your pepper or salt ground, from powdery to very coarse. 

Rösle Garlic Press  Ours Was: Nathanael's first Christmas gift to me (he found it on ebay) Why I like it... 
Garlic presses should not be something you have to wrangle to the ground in order to get your garlic squished. This garlic press can crush garlic (or peppers or sliced ginger) as though there is nothing there at all.

•  The grate does not come out, but swings open, making it easy to clean without losing any pieces.
•  The entire press is stainless steel, which not only prevents most appearance of wear, but also removes the smell of garlic from your hands automatically.

 

Helpful Free Bits

Library card  Alright, this one is not linked to Amazon, but this free item is essential for the creative cook, because you just can't buy all of the cookbooks containing fun recipes. You would either run out of money or space. 

Measuring Cup is a free database that is like itunes for recipes. This is where I store all of the recipes I collect from  library books, friends, and relatives. There are even features which allow you to email all of your typed recipes to other Measuring Cup users, or to print out nicely organized recipes. Measuring Cup only works for Mac OS, but if you are interested and have a PC you may want to explore the many other free options out there such as Living Cookbook, Cook'n Recipe Organizer, Big Oven or Recipe Center (none of which I have tried, but I have been thinking about it). Why would this free software be a gift? Because even though downloading software is easy, typing or finding recipes online is sometimes time consuming. So, with a little time and no money, you could give a friend a customized cookbook of your favorite recipes, or recipes from their favorite ethnic cuisine.                                                                                                                                                 ...And just so you know my favorites are Indian, Thai and Mexican. 

 

* Note: Harmless Color can now be sucribed to by email! Just enter your address in the subscription box on the right side and google's feedburner will email you posts the instant I publish them.
 

Dark Chocolate Traditions

 In March I posted one of my family's favorite cookie recipes. This one is the other favorite, and was also passed down to my mother from her Italian maternal grandmother. These chocolate cookies are perhaps a little less suitable for breakfast than the fennel seed ones, but that may not stop you (or me) from eating them for breakfast when they are available. I made them on Monday night because Nathanael and I had a long car ride in front of us on Tuesday, and not only did I want to eat them all the way there, but I also wanted to share them with the family members waiting for us on the other side. As it turned out there was more than enough food when we arrived, so we still have most of the cookies, but that is alright with both of us.

  I remember making these cookies with my mom, sisters, and a family friend one year when we had an all day Christmas cookie bake. There are no eggs in these cookies and the dough is quite delicious; I ate so much of the dough that even our family friend told me to stop. I tried, but I think I ended up still having a few more bits of it. I recall we also made some kind of sugar cookies where you mix 2/3 of the dough with pistachio pudding and they ended up looking like little green UFOs with tan domes.

This cookie recipe has you do some unusual things, which might dissuade you if you are picky, but I would recommend that you be brave and branch your chocolate cookies into this new and gourmet realm. (Just make sure you read the recipe from start to finish before beginning. You will need almost a whole box of cocoa, and probably most of a bag of confectioner's sugar to frost.)

 You will chop not only the nuts, but also the raisins. This will keep them from cracking the cookies as they bake. The recipe calls for coffee, and even though I don't EVER drink coffee, these cookies are one of my favorites. The coffee will not only give richness to the chocolate, but since it is warm it will soften the raisins and melt the shortening. These cookies are the only reason I brew coffee (well, them and Nathanael).

These cookies have no eggs, and the original recipe calls for vegetable shortening, so in their traditional form they are vegan. However, shortening is falling out of style because of hydrogenation, so if you are an adventurous vegan go ahead and try some combination of oils. I typically use some butter and some oil. 

  Sifting your dry ingredients will ensure the cocoa is mixed well with the flour.

 I roasted my cloves in the oven to make them slightly easier to grind with the mortar and pestle, and it made our house smell wonderful until we returned from our trip three days later. However, roasting is not necessary.

 The dough is a scrumptious mixture that is easy to work with and not dangerous to eat. What more could you ask for?

The only thing missing is the almond frosting. Then they will taste really Italian.

Italian Chocolate Cookies  yield 4 dozen
Wet ingredients
1 cup of hot coffee
1 cup shortening (I usually use 3/4 butter, 1/4 canola oil)
1 cup raisins, chopped
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup sugar

Dry ingredients
4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups cocoa
3 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cloves (you can add up to 1 1/2 tsp, but my family usually keeps it on the low end)

Later addition
3/4 to 1 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional and not in original recipe, try to balance them out with the walnuts to equal no more than 1 1/2 cups so that the cookies don't crumble)

 In a medium glass bowl pour the hot coffee over the shortening/butter to melt it completely. Once melted also add raisins (to soften them), vanilla, and sugar. In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients. Mix wet and dry mixtures together and add walnuts and chocolate chips. Mix with your hands until all ingredients are mixed evenly. Let dough rest for 5 minutes. Roll into 1 inch balls, place on greased cookie sheets, and bake at 375°F for ten minutes only. Remove carefully to a wire rack and cool fully. If desired (and you will desire it once you taste it) frost with confectioner's sugar frosting.

Confectioner's Sugar Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar (sifted if possible)
1/2 tsp pure almond extract (or vanilla if you must, but almond is better)
10 tsp milk (2% or whole)

Place sugar in a bowl and add flavoring. Measure the first 5 tsp of milk into the bowl and then stir the mixture into a paste (this reduces lumps). Slowly add the remaining milk, one teaspoon at a time, stirring after each addition. You will probably use all 10 tsp, but it may depend upon your sugar. Resulting frosting should be somewhere near the thickness of Elmer's glue. Dip cookies in completely, scraping off excess, and set on a wire rack to dry. Allow frosting to harden before storing cookies.
This will frost about 2 dozen cookies, more if you scrape up the drippings.