Monday, April 30, 2007

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Cake Decorating

I've got 2 years to get into shape to be able to have a submission in the next Sugar Wonders Cake Show. Becki is taking classes at the Cake Carousel in Richardson. I signed up for the Basic Cake Decorating, a five week class meeting once a week starting May 24th. It's going to be a bit difficult taking 10 hours worth of classes over summer school and having time to make and decorate a cake each week, but it will be worth it I'm sure.

Andrew's Oatmeal Cookies

By request and word for word, except for the chocolate. That's my ancient family secret I made up last week.


1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 pound of chocolate (a Symphony bar in this case. I froze it and grated it in a food processor for a fine powder. Could also bang it with a hammer for chunks.)
Preheat oven to 350 and prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl.
Either by hand or with electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.
Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and chocolate.
Working with generous 2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll dough into 2-inch balls. Place balls on parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each ball.
Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway during baking, turn cookie sheets from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies, on parchment, to cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before peeling cookie from parchment.
Makes about 18 or 20. Have fun.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Comfort Food

I've started reminiscing about foods mom made frequently when we were kids. Dorito Pie came to mind and then I almost started to drool just thinking about it. Not at all a healthy choice of a meal, but definitely a quick, filling and yummy dinner.

Dorito Pie

1 bag Dorito regular corn chips
2 small cans chili
chopped onion-maybe 1/2 onion
cheddar cheese


Open the doritos and place them in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Add the two cans of chili on top of the dorotos, then the onions then finish with the cheese. Cook at 350 for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Note: This is traditionally made with Fritos corn chips. I've come to like it better with Doritos because they're not as greasy.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Truffle knows...


A couple of additions to her word base include "kitty kitty" and "home". We've started the habit of walking her every day after we get home from work. The cat across the street, in all it's curiosity, follows us for blocks...sneaking up on Truffle and stalking like a panther. Today she actually followed us to our door step and let us pet her.

Zipporah



by Marek Halter. This was my book for commuting to and from school the past 2 weeks. I borrowed this from the Frisco Public Library after discovering their extensive audio book collection. This is based on the life of Moses' wife, Zipporah and fictionalized by the author. It was an interesting story full of twists and turns. Zipporah has dark skin and is ultimately rejected by the jews as Moses' wife. She returns to her father, Jethro's domain until hearing word that Moses has led the Hebrews out of Pharoh's land. They have 2 children before they are married, and Zipporah uses marriage as a tool to convince Moses to go to Egypt...."I won't marry you 'til the day you start for Egypt." This took much convincing for Moses and he did not believe he was called to this until God appeared to him in the burning bush. Although not based on biblical events, this is an interesting take on what could have happened.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Passover Celebration at Preston Trails


Tonight Preston Trails invited a Messianic Jew to come and demonstrate how the last supper would have traditionally taken place. I'm estimating roughly 200 people attended. He explained the meanings behind the different foods on the table and the symbolism each holds. I can't remember them all, but I'm sure I can have Walker jog my memory, because of his reverence for Judaism he has studied up on it quite a bit. Experiencing this passover definitely changed the way I view Easter, just considering everything that led up to the crucifiction of Christ. Yes, today is Friday...but Sunday is coming.

We only recieved an abbreviated version of Passover. The "Papa", as Walker would call him, that led us satirically told us we would be there until Easter if we did the unabridged version. So, this is as much as we know:

First the wife lights the Shabbat (Sabbath) candles and blesses God for his commandments. Why does the woman light the candles when the husband, or Papa as Walker would say, is the man of prayer and instructor of the Seder (or celebration)? For our purposes it celebrates that a woman gave birth to Christ, the light of the world. Pretty cool.

Upon the table there is a boiled egg, shank-bone of a lamb, parsley, horse raddish, diced apples mixed with pecans and cinnamon, motsi (unleavened bread) in a special motsi holder. a cup of wine for each family member, a fifth cup belonging to someone else (more on that later!), and a cup of salt water (heavy on the water).

First the Papa takes the parsley dips it in the saltwater, placing it thereafter on everyone's plate, and everyone eats it. It represents the hyssop that was taken to spread the passover lamb's blood on the posts and lentels of every Hebrew's home so the Lord's plague would Pesach, or Passover. The salt water represents the tears that were shed over the hardships the Hebrews faced in Egypt.

Then the Motzi (unleveaned bread), which is sitting in a special three-compartment napkin, is taken out of the middle layer and broken in half. It is then placed in another napkin. This broken piece of bread is called the "Afikomen". After it is placed in a napkin, it is hidden from the children, whom will search for it after the celebration. Whoever finds it gets a nice prize. The beautiful forshadow this portion represents is magnanimous! This is, supposedly, the part of Pesach where Jesus (Yeshua) said, "This is my body...".
No one really knows, not even the Jews can agree, where the three compartment napkin came from, but Messianics would venture to say that the Lord gave this commandment to them to celebrate his three in one Godship.
The middle or 2nd Motzi(the Bread of Life) was taken from its home (Heaven) and broken by human hands (See the relation?!) and hidden in another place (a tomb and ultimately Heaven). Children search for it and what a prize they recieve when they find it!

Then the Papa will take the other motzi and break it and place the horse-radish (bitter herb) between two pieces for each member at the table. They eat the bitter herb sandwich (Thank God that this was not the part where Christ said, "Do this as often as you gather to remember me"!). This is literally the empathy expressed to the Hebraic ancestors...and you do cry, trust me! Walker's eyes were watering for the rest of the service!

Then the Papa makes another sandwich with horseradish and adds the apple/cinamon mixture and all partake. This is to remember that our sufferings (more so the Jews')though painful are a sweet thing because of the love and grace of God.

Now we get to the four cups that celebrate God's four "I will..."'s upon the Hebrews' exodus. The cups stand for: Sanctification, Deliverance (or Plagues), Redemption, and Restoration. Sactification is taken before the bitter herbs, the cup is refilled for Delieverance. Everyone then takes their finger, dips it in the cup and on their plate 10 times phyically and verbally expressing each plague. The third cup is supposedly the one our Savior used to express his New Covenant. The fourth cup is then the final cup praising God for restoring the Hebrews to their land (and now us to God).

Walker says there a great prayer that can be said to conclude:

Hebrew: "Baruch attah Adonai Eloheinu melekh haolam, asher natan lanu et derekh hayeshua baMashiach Yeshua, baruch Hu. Amen"

English: Blessed are you Lord God, King of the Universe, who gave us the way of salvation through the Annointed Salvation (Jesus Christ in greek), blessed is He. Amen (I confirm, or believe).

Thursday, April 05, 2007

No more chicken


I'm sick of trying to find 10 different ways to make chicken. Yesterday at the local farmers market grocery I found fresh lamb chops on sale. I've never purchased or prepared lamb chops before, although I have ordered them on occasion at a restaurant. Tonight we had steamed asparagus with lemon juice and sea salt, scalloped potatoes and seared/grilled lamb chops with a red wine reduction sauce. This took about 40 minutes to prepare and we sat down with a glass of red wine to complement it and savored the buttery, luscious bites of lamb. Although I am more partial to white wine, the Barefoot Merlot Walker picked to go with dinner couldn't have been a more appropriate pairing. I'll definitely keep this recipe handy for future reference....



Lamb Chops with Garlic and Rosemary
From Food Network Kitchens
Ingredients
8 (6-ounce) loin lamb chops, fat trimmed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
1 cup chicken broth, low-sodium canned
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dry the lamb chops well and
season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Lay chops
in the pan and cook, turning once, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the sides of the lamb registers 125 degrees F, about 4 minutes per side. After cooking the lamb on each side, stand
it up on it's edges to brown the sides as well, about 2 minutes more. Reduce the heat if needed so
the browned bits remaining in the pan don't burn. Remove chops from the skillet and set aside in a
warm place.

Pour off all but 1 1/2 tablespoons fat from the skillet. Add the garlic and cook, tilting the
skillet to keep the garlic submerged in the fat, and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Add the wine
and rosemary, stirring up browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and simmer over high heat until
syrupy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken broth and cook until reduced by about half, another 5
to 6 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and briskly whisk in the butter. When the butter has
incorporated, whisk in the mustard and heavy cream. Season with additional salt and pepper.

Serve 2 chops per person with the sauce.

Copyright 2005 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved.
2
Copyright 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Pasta Sauce

Alright, we all know how time consuming it is to make homemade tomato sauce for spaghetti or other noodles. We all also know how difficult is is to make a decision on the spaghetti sauce isle with the unlimited choices. Only about a handful of spaghetti sauce jars actually make it home for me to try. For the past two years I have been buying Hunt's no-sugar added sauce and jazzing it up with fresh garlic, chopped bell peppers and chopped onion and then adding the ground turkey breast at the end. This was the healthier option for us because we aren't consuming additional high fructose corn syrup that most commercial canned foods contain (or for that matter than almost any processed foods contain). And also using turkey instead of italian sausage or beef cuts down on the fat. I have been fighting the organic trend tooth and nail for quite some time. I try to buy local organic produce and organic chicken when it's affordable but last week I ventured out and picked a different sauce. It is roughly $2.50 for a jar when I usually just pay $1.00. It has NO preservatives and I can definitely taste the difference. I will start using this sauce from now on. In addition to having no preservatives, the sauce needed no jazzing up. It had chunks of tomatoes, basil, pine nuts and other herbs. This is Newman's Own Pesto and Tomato sauce. Give it a try. I'd say it's worth the extra money if the lack of preservatives help prevent pickling to my liver and kidneys. Anyone else have any good organic products they can't live without?