Curtain, Curtain, Cheap, Cheap!!

Because the clearance section at Hobby Lobby is right next to the yarn section  (and I spend most of my time at HL in the yarn section), I've been eyeing these babies for a while:

I knew they'd be perfect for our bedroom.  I'm also completely cheap, especially about things like this, so I watched, and waited...   originally $9.99, down to $5.99, but I got them for ... $2.15 a pair!!  

Off to my favorite place to buy super cheap curtains- Big Lots.  I think I need to point out here that I'm not a good 'dollar store shopper'.  It's a little too much  in & out, wandering around, not finding what you want, too much junk, for me.  But we have a kinda nice Big Lots store here, and their sheer curtains are much cheaper than, say, Walmart, if you can find what you want.  

And I did!  Two white scarves, $12 each...  

I even did the right thing, and washed them first to get the creases out.  Yes, this is something I had to think about.  Even better, I'd planned ahead  and got my handyman to hang the hardware over the weekend.  and by 'handyman', I mean husband, of course.

Me.  Happy.  All for about 30 bucks!!

Green Beans - Jacked Up

You know, like if you took regular green beans, added a veil & sparkly earrings, and sent them to stand in front of their bitchy friends.  or, if you don't get the Say Yes to the Dress reference, then just add some WASABI & GARLIC to them- and you'll be hooked. 

I ran across this recipe the other day and instantly went out looking for Wasabi Powder.  I've never looked for this before, I'm not even sure I knew it existed, but I can tell you I'll be looking for lots of ways to use it now.  

 

By the way, I found it at Wal-Mart, in the Asian food aisle.  

Go check out the recipe, and the whole Tasty Kitchen website.  We loved these green beans.

Project: Long Over Due

Yes, I scrapbook.  Have for years. But like anything it goes in spurts.  Last winter, in an attempt to clean out ten years of scrapbook stash so I didn't have to move it, I got through a lot of pictures.  And stash.   And now it's time to get back to it!  I think I've had this black frame for, oh, three years?  And the paper at least that long.  Which all makes it the right thing to use for pictures that are almost four years old.  

I did go buy a new paper trimmer though.  I've gone through lots of those, too.  So far, I like it.  It cut smoothly and seemingly straight.  

Fiskars Sure Cut Deluxe Trimmer, in action

I've been putting off doing anything with the pictures from our June, 2009 family trip to Puerto Rico.  Might be the fact I have 300 pictures, and I hate to journal, and a big family trip album kind of needs journaling. I'd put off using this tray because it needs a theme, and, well, that's not always easy to come up with.  

work in progress

The paper is a Fancy Pants collection, Summer Soiree, which I'm sure is long discontinued.  It's a little to pastel-y for me, but works well with the photos.  I am pretty happy with the final product, and was told I need to do one for every trip.  Which would solve the problem I apparently have of scrapbooking vacations.  

And this is why I don't do projects often:  I make a huge mess.  Always. 

Meat & Cheese, All Rolled Up

yyyuuummmmm, Stromboli

My brother is the Pizza King, and I'm sure as the weather warms up we'll have lots of mouth-watering pizza posts from his wood-fire oven, but this is my homemade pizza go-to...  Stromboli.  Salami, pepperoni, Italian sausage and a mix of cheese all rolled up in crusty goodness.  If you are scared of yeast, I really recommend starting with a pizza dough.  It's super easy and you probably won't screw it up.

 Really.

Yes, you may have to buy a thermometer, but that's cheap and right there in the kitchen gadget grocery store aisle.   The make or break yeast rule is temperature- the liquid (in this case water & sugar) needs to be lukewarm, somewhere around 110 degrees.  I usually microwave the liquid 20-30 seconds and then wait for it to cool down. The only other baking-with-yeast rule I try to remember is 'quit while you're ahead'.   Don't add too much flour, don't over work it, don't over think it.

My stromboli was layered with salami, pepperoni, sausage, pizza cheese, cheddar cheese, and some shaved Parmesan.  The kicker ingredient is a little caramelized onion & roasted garlic- a little goes a long way; I made 2 loaves with one onion & one head of garlic.  Of course, you can DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO.  It's pizza, go for it!

20 seconds in the mircowave

You can find lots of 'how to make stromboli' recipes & videos on the web.  I will offer this quick tip though- microwave your pepperoni for a very few seconds (too long & it looks like dog food).  This removes some of the excess grease (see, look  ---- ewwww!)



This is a recipe I got from a Dierbergs cooking class I took years ago. I can make one recipe of this dough & get a small sized cheese pizza & a stromboli out of it.

Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (between 105-115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
Dissolve sugar in water.  Stir in yeast & let stand for about 5 minutes until it begins to foam.











In large bowl, add:
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt

This is a good time to add some seasonings to your dough.  Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, garlic, Parmesan or Asiago cheese - whatever you want.  Make a well (that's a hole) in the middle of the flour and pour in yeast mixture.

Add:
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3/4 cup milk, at room temperature

If you want to add any liquid flavorings (like, a buffalo chicken pizza  might need a dash of hot sauce in the dough), add that with the milk & oil.

Stir until dough forms.  I use my Kitchen Aid with dough hook, but you can do this by hand, and I think you can do it in your food processor, too.  Turn dough out onto a counter top/bread board/large cutting board with about 1/2 cup flour spread on it.  Knead it by hand just a few times, using enough flour to make it manageable but still a little bit sticky.  Cover with towel & let rest for about 10  minutes before shaping dough.

Make it into pizza, bread sticks, a calzone, stromboli...

So Does Her Brother - Brewnight, Traditional Scottish Ale

Todays Brew - A Scottish Ale brewed with Heather Flower and Honey.  There are many modern takes on a Scottish Ale but I am endeavoring to go really old school.

The first old school thing - No hops in this beer, it is bittered and flavored with Heather Flowers. Hops are not native to Scotland. Old world Scottish brewers had to use herbs and spices to balance out the sweetness of the malt.  Since Scotland has so much heather they write songs about it, one can see how  Scottish brewers would brew with it.

I was thrilled to find dried heather flowers at the local brew shop.  It was suggested that fresh was the way to go, but since my Moors aren't pink with heather, I'll settle for the dried.

The heather added a very new smell to brew day.  Instead of the aggressive bouquet of hops, the kitchen smelt of tea.  I likened it to chamomile, but at the end of a lively debate we agreed just to call it a tea smell.

The second odd and traditional part of the brew was the kettle caramelization.  This involved taking the first gallon of wort (unfermented beer) and boiling it down by half.  It was much like making candy.

Once the wort was reduced, it started a thick roll.  That is when I pulled it off the heat and added it to the boil.   Supposedly this was used to deepen the flavor of the beer. 
At the end of the boil I added 2 pounds of pasteurized honey.
I used a traditional Scottish yeast.  Since it isn't traditionally warm in Scotland, this will ferment at a lower temp.  Cooler fermenting is slower, as is fermenting honey.  It will spend a month sitting there happily bubbling away at 60 ish degrees.  Then another month in the bottle!  Agony!

I will keep you up to date with a brew-review come spring.  Now for a clever name - I'm thinking Galloway something as a nod to the Scottish Side of the family. 

Karen, you may have your blog back now.  Thanks for sharing! 

Groundhog Day Menu Planning

What, you don't celebrate Groundhog day?  I think you should, by making this:

Michael Symon's Pork Pie (recipe found here)

My mom & I made this one a few weeks ago.  I knew it would make way too much for just the three of us; come to find out it makes way too much for five.  This could easily serve eight.  We did the double crust version (we used pre-made crusts - not because we can't make pie crust, but this didn't seem like a recipe that was going to live or die by a homemade pie crust) but just a top crust is all you need.  

This is a recipe in his new cookbook, Carnivore, which I'm excited to say I just got my hands on this weekend.  So expect more meaty goodness coming your way!  

Not Microwave Popcorn

OK.  We love popcorn. Real popcorn.  Made in a real Whirley Pop popper.

About twice a year I'll buy microwave popcorn, and hate it.  I burn it, it smells bad, blah blah blah.  For a while now I've been seeing 'make your own microwave popcorn at home' things.  Really?  I mean, really?

Well, yeah.  It works.

Paper bag, 1/3 - 1/2 cup popcorn.  Roll the bag over & stick it in the microwave.  As with any microwave popcorn, stand and watch it.  Mine took about about 1 1/2 minutes. I used 1/2 cup, but won't use as much next time.  There were some unpopped kernels, and my bag opened at the bottom, but I will do it again for sure.

and guess what?  No weird stuff.  It's popcorn.  THAT'S ALL.  Add your own butter & salt.