House on Hillsboro

The Food You Crave.

The Cornmeal-Crusted Roasted Ratatouille Tart was next up here in my test kitchen and to be honest, after all that bragging, I half expected the next several recipes to be total disasters.  Plus, I didn't have the nine-inch tart pan it calls for (I used a nine-inch spring form) or a food processor (I made the crust by hand) so my doubts were mounting. 

Silly me.

Perfection. Unforgettable.  I shall make it for everyone I know and stare at them while they eat it and say, "I know, right?  RIGHT!"  Yeah, from now on, I am referring to this cookbook as my 'Book of Potions'.  It's magic.  I'm spellbound.

*The recipe version I linked to doesn't specify how thinly to slice the vegetables but according to the book - an 1/8 inch.

*It also calls for 1 zucchini equal to a 1/2 pound.  Unless your zucchini is huge, it takes two.

*While not difficult, the tart is fairly time consuming (and worth it!) so start early.

*I nearly doubled the salt & pepper because I felt like I lost so much on the pan. 

*Be conservative when brushing the veges with the olive oil so as to cover them all.

*The spring form pan worked perfectly.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti

I have never been a calorie counter.  Never.  Never.  Never.  But I only fully enjoy food that is good for me.  I also like my food to taste really, really good (quirky me).  Nobody combines these two better than Ellie Krieger.  You may know her through her Food Network Show Healthy Appetite but she is also a registered dietitian with a master's degree from Columbia University.

I loved her FoodTV recipes but they trickled out slow as molasses and I'm... hungry.  BUT NOW, she's come out with a 300+ page cookbook full of brilliant, healthful recipes.  The book is The Food You Crave and it is not a diet/weight loss book but rather a source of nutrient rich, well balanced recipes.  The fact that the food is not overly fat/calorie laden is a bonus. 

When I jumped over to Amazon for the link I noticed the book had a full five stars and 43 reviews.  No surprise, I have been cooking through it for weeks now and not encountered a single recipe that didn't a) turn out well or b) taste delicious.  They are all in the permanent rotation now, but the biscotti in particular stands out. 

We have all had bad, bad biscotti but forget about that.  Here is a cookie that contains only a 1/2 cup of sugar for twelve servings, uses a mere 1/4 cup of heart healthy olive oil for the fat, has a myriad of flavor in every bite, keeps for over a week, and is insane dipped into a cup of black coffee.

When you slice the half-baked log it yields enough pieces to exactly cover a half sheet pan.  Isn't that delightful? 

Ellie Krieger's Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 c whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 c olive oil

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup dried tart cherries, finely chopped

1/2 cup raw almonds, finely chopped

2 ounces good quality dark chocolate (60-70%), finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt.  In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, eggs, oil, orange zest, and vanilla until well combined.  In batches, add the flour mixture until the mixture forms a dough.  Stir in the cherries, almonds, and chocolate.

Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead several times.  Shape into a log about 10 inches long and 3 inches wide.  Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes.

With a serrated knife, cut the log across at a diagonal into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Arrange on the baking sheet, cut side down, and bake for 10 minutes.  Turn the cookies over and bake until golden 5 to 10 minutes longer.  (Go 10!) Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Keep the biscotti stored at room temperature in an airtight container where they will keep for about a week.

* lightly fill the teaspoon with zest, otherwise the orange is too much (for me)

* really saw with the serrated knife instead of pressing to keep the biscotti from breaking

For Becca ; )

Christmas Morning.

The chaos, 7:49 am. 

The festivities started at 5:21am (the time stamped on the first picture of the morning) and those pictures are the real great ones with looks of amazement and sleepy, sleepy eyes and first of the morning hair (my favorite).  But the sun hadn't risen, so I had to use the flash and the pictures have that artificial cold whitey brightness that didn't feel at all like the morning really was, lamp lit and warm and cozy. 

The favorites of the loot, and you just never really know what that will end up being, was a tiny Playmobil Pirate Set.

That FLOATS, and anything that might extend bath time is a toy we want.  This was our first bit of Playmobil and now I, I mean THEY, want more.  Like maybe the Grande Mansion (Becca - check out the kitchen!) or the Country Life Super Set.  Is that a girl feeding a calf with a bottle, a draw well, and carrots you can pluck from the ground?!  Or a Horse Drawn Cart loaded down with pumpkins?!  And the Bird Feeder I can not live without.  Or the Chicken Coop or the Forest Animals with Cave OR the Forest Lodge COMPLETE WITH FURNITURE AND A CARE CENTER FOR DEER. 

Ooookaaay.  A little Playmobil freak show there.  Sorry about that.  I had never visited their website before, perhaps I should have went alone.

Anyhoo, You will NEVER guess what made #1 on the list of most played with Christmas toy to date.

WOODEN BLOCKS!?!  It had occurred to Santa that Jack had never had a set of building blocks (Ava's had long since disappeared) and I believe these came just in the nick of time before poor Jack was scarred for life.

And for Ava, they brought a bit of nostalgia for the good ole days when she was little. 

Mama's favorites?  See the wooden table?  Their bottoms have barely left it's seats since.  Eating, playing, building, coloring, play dough, tv.  It replaced the little purple Dora table you see in the first photo and is absolutely fabulous.  100% hardwood, a spill catching lip (we've already tested it), and both the table and chairs fold up for easy storage.  It's tabletop is spacious without being to large and the chairs are super comfy and rated for up to 150 pounds.  My grandchildren will play at this table, no doubt.

And on the TV there - Discovery's channel Planet Earth DVD set.  AMAZING.  We laughed, we cried, we could have watched the entire 5 episodes straight through, but we had somewhere to be.

Someplace where the gifts are perfect and the eats are out of this world!

Being Good all Year Was So Worth It.

Because JD was not here to intervene, I opened my Christmas present yesterday.  I did manage to wait the twenty minutes it took me to drive home from UPS, which is now filed away as one of my proudest moments ever. 

JD, tis a absolute shame you weren't here to watch me open it.  Remember the picture you took of me in Peking the other day?  Yeah.  Just imagine exactly that, but a bit MORE excited and for much, much longer.

NIKON D40! 

Shut up.  So, you know I wanted something else, but before I could find just the right one, I happened along a side by side comparison of the Canon Digital Rebel XTI vs Nikon D40x and suddenly I was compelled to learn more about SLR's (single-lens reflex) cameras.  Turns out, their major advantages over point & shoot like I currently use, are NO SHUTTER LAG!, exchangeable lenses, better performance in low light situations (woohoo), and, of course, better image quality overall.   And I'll be darn if the first three aren't my complaints with my Canon PowerShot SD450.

First stop, Pioneer Woman (picture taker extraordinaire) who I vaguely recalled using a D80.  Yup.  Then off to price the D80.  Nope.  So, I worked my way down the line and eventually found the D40x.  Maybe.  But, something still didn't feel right.  But THEN, I found this, this, and THIS.  Yes! Yes! Yes!

And now it's here.  But, first I had to charge the battery and run to town to pick up a memory card, which was like no big deal because I'll 'run to town' on any ole whim like, oh, being out of toilet paper for two weeks. 

I joke.  Really, I picked one up on the way to get Ava from school and as I waited in the car pick up line, I assembled all my parts, skimmed through the manual, and.... took my very first picture.

That's embarrassing.  BUT LOOK HOW CRISP!  EVERY DROPLET OF JUICE, CLEAR AS A BELL!  AND THE COLORS, SO TRUE! 

On the way home, I wished I'd brought my zoom lens.

Then, once home I took this award winner,

in Auto mode with flash on.  And while the subject is odd, isn't the picture nice? 

Here is the same picture, taken with the same settings, but with my Canon point and shoot.

Why?  What is the difference, exactly?  I vow to learn.  And the pictures around here are going to get a lot better, too.  But, don't hold your breath.  I have so much to learn.

But first I have to take care of my end of the deal and get started on a certain 'photo shoot' I promised JD.

Kidding, Gramoo.

And thank you, JD.

Clever Papa.

I would like to present the first picture ever taken by Ava with her very own camera:

I am so honored. 

When we came home from Arkansas today, she had a package waiting for her on the porch;  an early birthday present from her Papa in Texas!  I wish I had had my camera ready as she opened it because her reaction was priceless.  Her very own camera.  It is a Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera for Girls. 

We unpackaged it, inserted the batteries, and she started snapping pictures!  64 to be exact, before she took a break so we could review them. 

It really seems to be 'tough', it has a flash and a viewfinder that displays the picture immediately, and stores 60+ images.  Best of all it is super easy to operate. 

How fun.  What a great gift.  Thanks Daddy.

Consumer Report!

Three years ago, JD and I purchased a Rainbow vacuum.  I am not sure what possessed us.  Maybe the two hour demonstration put us into a stupor.  Maybe we were swayed by the salesman's excessive sweating (a finely honed selling skill?).  Maybe my slight OCD induced abhorrence of filthy carpet was to blame. Whatever the reason, we did.  We signed on the line and bought ourselves years of unnecessarily complicated floor cleaning.

Well, this past Thursday, the camel's back finally broke.  I went to lug out that heavy beast and begin the long assembly process and somewhere between scrubbing the filter with a toothbrush and bleaching the reservoir tank I had the best idea ever.  I remembered a magazine article I had saved once.  Real Simple magazine (I love them!)  has a monthly feature called Road Tests.  It is a sort of consumer report featuring the top rated products in certain category.  I love this sort of thing and have found them to be particularly accurate.  So, when they reviewed upright vacuums, I listened.  The Eureka Optima was their least expensive reviewed machine.  Here is what they had to say: 

The Lightweight

Eureka Optima, $97
Pros: The bag-less vacuum has a soft grip and a height-adjustable handle. It dispensed with whole and pulverized Cheerios with equal success. And “even Grandma could pick it up,” said Denise Baron of the New York City cleaning service Too Little Time.
Cons: Very few. At this price, it’s a great machine.
To Buy: www.eureka.com for store locations.

So  Friday, it was off to Lowe's, and $59.00 later, we had a new vacuum.  A lightweight, inexpensive, BAG-LESS  beauty that is simple to use and works like a charm.   Just spreadin the word.