Winter

“And everything in time and under heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice you
When branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter.”

-Nichole Nordeman

Bah Humbug.

Can you guess which apartment is ours?

Yeah, that’s right. We are THOSE neighbors. The ones with nothing more than a dirty kitchen rug, an annoying wind chime and a broken coffee pot on our porch.

To all my neighbors, I am sorry we ignored you today when you asked if we would help string lights on the trees in front of our place. We really did have to go run errands. I can’t help but wonder if it was just my imagination or if I really did hear someone mutter “Scrooge” under their breath.

Reason number #54983 I am not ready for kids…

Today Jordan and I decided to grab a quick lunch at one of our favorite Cuban restaurants. We sat down to enjoy a few tacos when out of the corner of my eye I notice the mom at the table next to us pick up her newborn baby from her carrier. She then undressed the baby and proceeded to change her newborn’s poopy diaper AT THE TABLE in front of the whole restaurant. She laid the offending stick bomb on the table and wiped the baby and put the dirty wipes on the table and then threw both away in the trash can right next to where the drinks are. Horrified at what I just witnessed I frantically started whispering  what I just saw to Jordan.

Me: OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD.

Jordan: What?!

Me: That lady behind you just changed her baby ON THE TABLE.

Jordan: Obviously she is not disturbed my fecal matter

Me: BUT I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jordan: I admit, that is pretty freakin gross.

ME: WORDS CAN NOT DESCRIBE HOW DISGUSTED I AM!!!!!!!!!!

For some odd reason the beans and rice sitting in front of me became inedible. The only thing that made today better was seeing one asian man in a suit giving another asian man in a suit a very intense back rub in the middle of Starbucks. Happy Sunday!

Adventures with beef

As some of you may have noticed, most of my recipes tend to be vegetarian. I would say that 90% of our diet is vegetarian with the occasional seafood and meat when we go out or to other peoples houses. I have always HATED cooking with raw meat. It just creeps me out. I can’t even look at the meat counter at my H.E.B. without getting a little queasy. I really have no explanation for this. I won’t go into why I choose not to eat meat (maybe I will post that at another time) but needless to say I am quite happy to abstain from it and happily eat my tofu and drink my soy milk.

Until last week. Out of nowhere, I just had this urge to make pot roast. I have NO IDEA why. It has never been a favorite of mine. I don’t remember eating it as a child. And yet, I could not get it out of my mind. I decided to add it to this weeks menu. First came the task of finding “the recipe”. After searching the internet and finding lots of recipes that included onion soup mix and canned cream of mushroom I decided to turn to the one woman who has never ever let me down, Pioneer Woman. I browsed her recipes and sure enough she had a pot roast recipe. It seemed simple enough and so I jotted down a quick list of ingredients to add to my grocery list.

I set out to the grocery store. I picked up my veggies and herbs and headed to the meat department. Um, just one tiny problem. I have no idea what kind of meat I need. I stood there for about 30 minutes looking at everything and thoroughly disgusting myself when a very nice butcher asked if I needed help finding something. Sheepishly, I told him I wanted to make pot roast and I had no idea what to buy. He pointed me toward the chuck roasts and helped me find one small enough for two people with enough for at least one more meal of leftovers. I finished my shopping and went home anxious to make dinner.

I dragged my laptop to the kitchen and began making dinner. This is the first time in my life that I followed a recipe EXACTLY how it is. I was so nervous to screw up what seemed like such an easy dish so I wasn’t going to take any chances. The verdict? Quite possibly the best thing I have ever cooked for dinner. The meat was moist, flavorful and just delicious. The fresh herbs gave so much flavor to the whole dish. I served mine with some mashed red potatoes and the rest of the red wine that was not used in the recipe. Jordan has decided that it has to go into our menu rotation. The leftovers were just as tasty and my only regret was not buying a bigger roast so we could have more leftovers.

Pioneer Woman’s Pot Roast
Source: Pioneer Woman Cooks

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 whole (4 To 5 Pounds) Chuck Roast- (I bought a roast that was about 2.8 pounds)
• 2 whole Onions
• 6 whole Carrots (Up To 8 Carrots)
• Salt To Taste
• Pepper To Taste
• 1 cup Red Wine (optional, You Can Use Beef Broth Instead)
• 2 cups To 3 Cups Beef Stock
• 3 sprigs Fresh Thyme (or More, To Taste)
• 3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary (or More, To Taste)

First and foremost, choose a nicely marbled piece of meat. This will enhance the flavor of your pot roast like nothing else. Generously salt and pepper your chuck roast. Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or you can do a butter/olive oil split).

Cut two onions in half and cut 6 to 8 carrots into 2-inch slices (you can peel them, but you don’t have to). When the oil in the pot is very hot (but not smoking), add in the halved onions, browning them on one side and then the other. Remove the onions to a plate. Throw the carrots into the same very hot pan and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so.

If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pan. Place the meat in the pan and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate. With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 cup) to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom with a whisk to get all of that wonderful flavor up. When the bottom of the pan is sufficiently deglazed, place the roast back into the pan and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway (about 2 to 3 cups). Add in the onion and the carrots, as well as 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary and about 3 sprigs of fresh thyme. Put the lid on, then roast in a  275 degree oven for 3 hours (for a 3-pound roast). For a 4 to 5-pound roast, plan on 4 hours. Remove meat and veggies to a platter. I strained the pan dripping and skimmed as much of the fat out of them as I could and served the dripping with the roast in lieu of making a gravy.

How to store the leftovers: Place any leftover roast and veggies into a casserole dish (I used my 9 x13 pyrex).  Spoon pan drippings over the meat and into the pan. Cover tightly with foil. When ready to reheat, pop the whole thing in the oven on 350 for 20-30 mins until heated through.

Thanks

With Thanksgiving over and the Christmas season upon us, most people take time to reflect on what they are thankful for. Of course, everyone says the same things: freedom, family, friends, blah blah blah. Here are some of the things I am truly thankful for this year:

1.) I am thankful for Spanx. Anything that can take my ass from flab to fab in less than a minute is a lifesaver.

2.) I am thankful for Lifetime. Where else can you get Reba, Wife Swap AND Desperate Housewives without having to change the channel?

3.) I am thankful for this post which is coming to you from my new 17 inch HP laptop. Finally I can move the dozens of posts I have in “drafts” to the blog. Our old Macbook finally bit the dust and it was time to get a new one. Jordan and I braved the psychos on Black Friday to stand in line for five hours at Walmart just to save a few bucks. I’m not quite sure if we are smart or dumbasses fro doing this.

So my faithful blog readers, what are you thankful for this year?

Classic

Sometimes, it is the simplest recipes that blow me away. A great loaf of homemade bread. A rich alfredo sauce. A tomato and mozzarella salad. Classics. This recipe, is one of those.

Butter-Pecan Shortbread
Source: Better Homes and Gardens,  New Cookbook: Bridal Edition

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 TB brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 TB finely chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325F. In a medium bowl stir together flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling. Using your hands, shape the mixture into a ball and knead until smooth.

On an ungreased cookie sheet, pat or roll the dough into an 8-inch circle. Make a scalloped edge using your fingers to carefully crimp the edges of the dough. Cut dough into 16 wedges in the circle. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until bottom just starts to turn brown and center is set. Cut circle into wedges again while warm. Cool on cookie sheet for five minutes. Transfer to write rack and let cool. Makes 16 cookies.

*To make shortbread strips, on a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 6×4-inch rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Using a utility knife, cut rectangle in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 16 pieces. Bake as directed.

Our anniversary meal

For our anniversary, I wanted to go all out with our meal. I decided to combine some of our favorite things: pasta, seafood and booze. The shrimp were DIVINE and had so much flavor. I paired it with Pioneer Woman’s Homemade pasta for a decadent meal to celebrate a very special occasion.

Dirty Shrimp in Butter-Beer Sauce
Source: RecipeZaar

• 2 lbs shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, to taste
• 3/4 cup beer

Lightly dust shrimp with flour. This will help to thicken the sauce later. Saute garlic and herbs in butter until garlic is slightly browned. Add shrimp, stirring constantly, until shrimp are pink and done. Pour in beer, simmer 1 minute more, and serve!

Homemade Pasta
Source: Pioneer Woman

Rule of thumb: Two eggs per one cup of flour for enough pasta for two people.

Make a well in the center of your pile of flour and crack in your eggs. Slowly mix together with your hands. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead (roll, punch, push, etc.) by hand until dough becomes smooth and pliable, adding flour to the board as necessary.

Let the dough rest for a little while before rolling it out. When you’re ready, roll it out on a floured surface as thinly as it’ll go. The noodles will plump up quite a bit when they boil in the water, so the thinner you can roll it, the better. Cut the noodles really thin. You can use a sharp knife (if you can keep it in a straight line), a pizza wheel, or a long pizza/bread cutter.

To cook the noodles, just boil them in salted water (very important!) for probably two minutes. They cook lightning fast, so don’t let ‘em go too long.

Wedding Cake

For our anniversary, I decided to re-create our wedding cake. You see, I did not save the top layer like most people are supposed to do. To be honest, our wedding cake was FUG. It was NOTHING like I told her. I was in no way a Bridezilla by any means but seeing our cake when I walked it just horrified me. It was AWFUL. So needless to say I told my mom she could throw the top away or give it to the dogs for all I care and to keepthatuglypieceofcrapawayfrommebeforeIdrivetothebakeryandkillsomeone. Despite it’s ugly exterior, the flavor was DELISH. It was a white cake with pineapple and pecan filling with whipped frosting and topped with white chocolate shells.So, I decided to take the flavors and recreate it without the ugly exterior.

For starter’s, I used Recipe Girl’s recipe for White Wedding Cake. I also used her recipe for Wedding Cupcake Buttercream and doubled the recipe so I would have enough to frost my whole cake.

I set aside 1 cup of the frosting to make the filling with. To this, I added one small can of crushed pineapple (drained VERY well) and about 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. I used this between the layers and frosted the cake as usual. I topped the cake off with a little shaved white chocolate.

When all was said and done, I had a incredibly delicious cake that tasted AND looked better than our wedding cake.

Year One

On October 18th Jordan and I celebrated our first anniversary. We kept it really low key and did a nice dinner at home on Saturday (recipes to come). Sunday we spent our actual anniversary cheering on our beloved Dynamo boys as they played the LA Galaxy. I wish I had something poetic to say about the first year of marriage and the lessons we learned. Was it easy? No. But we had one hell of a first year.

To Arthur!

This week was the 250th birthday of Jordan’s favorite beer, Guinness. To celebrate this joyous occasion, I decided to bake Guinness Cupcakes. I had bookmarked Smitten Kitchen’s Irish Car Bomb cupcakes a few months ago and was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to make them. I used her recipe for the cake part and I must say, it is oh so good. I could eat them without any frosting. The Guinness flavor is so subtle that I would consider making this my go to chocolate cake recipe. I finished them off with an adaptation of my favorite cream cheese frosting. I took a few cupcakes to our apartment office and one hour later the Leasing Manager called me on my cell phone raving about them and demanded the recipe. Happy Birthday Guinness!

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
Source: Smitten Kitchen

• 1 cup Guinness
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, for 17-20 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Guinness Cream Cheese Frosting

• 16 oz. cream cheese
• 8 TB softened butter
• 1/4 cup Guinness
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and softened butter with electric mixer until combined. Add vanilla and Guinness.  Slowly add powdered sugar. Beat until creamy. If your frosting gets too thick, you can thin it out with little milk. I wanted a smooth frosting to mimic the signature “head” on the top of a pint of Guinness.