2011Holy Batman! Manifesto

“The smallest good deed is worth a thousand grand intentions.”

Random Acts of Cookies

The idea for 2011’s theme was born from a growing conviction that an essential ingredient in our recipe for success must be the thoughtful sharing of our culinary talents with others. Our blog was born out of a need for the three gals to stay “connected” as we are living coast to coast and somewhere in the middle! This year I am issuing a challenge to choose someone (or someones) to connect to through a made at home, made with love, gift of food. Bless and be blessed!

Here are the general parameters:

• Choose a cookie recipe for each month of 2011.

• Choose a person (maybe two or three!) to be the recipient of your chosen “Cookie of the Month.” Assign code names for the blog.

• Plan how to deliver your monthly goodies in a way that will keep you anonymous until the end of the year. (Keep it local – save on resources - you may want to enlist someone to help you who can keep a secret!)

• Be thoughtful not just in the choosing of the goodies to be shared, but in the packaging and the sentiment or thought that goes with them.

• December is the revealing month! Plan a special surprise for their Christmas unveiling – perhaps a calendar of all their goodies throughout the year? Or recipe cards with your photos attached.

Here are a few other guidelines:

• Your special recipient(s) should be someone who would not expect a gift from you. Perhaps it is someone who is always doing thoughtful things for others – or someone you would like to get to know better – or someone you need to learn to like better!

• Choose the monthly treat from your strengths. My original idea (as noted above) was a “Cookie of the Month” club. And, as you probably have guessed, I was thinking about this idea when I purchased this year’s Christmas gifts! But if your talents turn more toward bread, or muffins, or soup – go for it!

• Document the cooking/baking process as well as the final product ready for delivery.

• Be sure to share feedback that might come your way as a result of your secret sharing!

Happy 2011 Gals! Here’s to love, sharing and happy baking! I love you!

Love, Gal One

Gal Two Does December!

I made December's menu for Christmas Eve. It was a lovely idea, homemade soup simmering on the stove top, crusty bread sticks, a crisp shortbread cookie with your tea... but Christmas Eve isn't the day to try it! Things just felt a little rushed because of our 4:30pm church service and the matzo balls which are a little tricky, and not like hearty noodles that you can just add to the soup and leave. However, I think the menu was an over all success. Nothing was overly hard, the flavours were good, and there was a lot that could be done ahead. Just a few parts, like shopping a mission veggies, and having several hours to watch the stock, were a bit time consuming. There are lots of pictures thanks to Luke! Let's go.

The whole chickens. These were actually only $2-3 and very easy to work with. Nice surprise.

 Unpacking and draining them

 Since I didn't have a stock pot large enough for the whole recipe I divided it between to pots. It was still a stretch as my pots were full to the brim! Luke cut the third bird in half to divide between the pots.

 The pots full of water, veggies and herbs. The veggie prep here was a snap since you didn't even have to peel anything!

 The pots after adding the chickens; as you can see they are FULL. We made the stock a day ahead and chilled it. I removed the fat (not a pleasant task!) before packing half for the freezer and warming the other half for soup.

 This was veggie prep for the soup on the date is was eaten. We only made a half batch, but there were still a lots of veggies to clean, peel and chop! Thank you Luke!!

 Time for some cookies! This was also done the day before; the dough was made (easy) and wrapped in plastic to chill over night. In hindsight, I should have been more aggressive with some hand kneading! The dough kept wanting to come apart when I was cutting it the next day.

 Day of: making the matzo balls! I've never had these before and they have a distinct taste to them, which I liked and the boys weren't sure about (although they ate them). I also made them up a few hours ahead, but I think they would be better done right before eating. I boiled them in just plain water and they tasted great. Boys also thought the overall texture wasn't that good, but I didn't mind it! I was a fan.

 Finished meal on Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Gals! Can't wait to start year two!

November (better late than never?)

I made the soda bread early in November (does that count?) but can't find my camera! (The rest of the pictures were taken with really nice cell phones).  The bread was easy to mix together, but like Gal #3's comment - I think I didn't bake it long enough.  It had good flavor, very dense and best eaten warm. 

I chose the pumpkin soup.  I had all the ingredients - and I had a feeling I would really like it.  I was right.  It is yummy...and so easy!  I love pumpkin - but could do without all the sugar that is in traditional pumpkin pie.  Did I say I had all the ingredients?  I did - except for low fat milk, low sodium chicken stock and cumin!  Naturally I substituted whole milk, regular (normal) chicken stock and chili powder.  (Flavor people!!!) It is delicious and I cheerfully anticipate taking the leftovers to work for lunch this week!

The cake was quite an undertaking.  It is a thing of beauty, however and I especially was glad to learn how to make this glaze.  Delicious, easy and easy to remember!  A combination that could be used for other things (coating ritz crackers????)  Son #1 pronounced it a bit dry (which I agreed with; undoubtedly baker's error) and very chocolaty (what's wrong with that???) Truthfully, I think perhaps my chocolate was old or when the directions said "rough chop" - maybe it was too rough??? It was dry it spots and moist in others. Not my best baking effort.

However, it made the house smell like heaven - that alone was worth it.

(Son #1 took the pictures...aren't they lovely?) 

 Thank you for the refreshingly easy month Gal #3!  My favorite part was the pumpkin soup!  A definite keeper for me!

December Menu

Great minds think alike. I have had my December menu planned for months, and wouldn't you know it was soup, Irish soda bread and a dessert. Eerily similar to our most recent menu, wouldn't you say?
After some brain storming I decided to keep two of my original three dishes. We are making more soup gals, but it's really different. My dessert is also the same, cookies with your choice of two glazes (in case you're a little over loaded with chocolate). Instead of my Irish soda bread, we're making an insanly easy breadstick recipe that I've tried before and really like.

Merry Christmas gals!

***

That's right gals, we are busting out a Jewish recipe for Christmas :) You can make the soup part ahead and then cook the matzo balls when you're ready to eat.

Chicken Soup

Matzo Balls

***

Very simple, but oh so tasty!

Cheese and Rosemary Breadsticks

***

It's Christmas time, so why not make even more cookies? The original recipe has a chocolate sauce to dip the cookies in. But Ina also made these same cookies with a glaze and fun sprinkles in one of her TV episodes, festive don't you think? Again, you can make the dough, or the cookies ahead and freeze until ready to decorate and eat.

Shortbread Cookies

Alternate Cookie Glaze

Gal Two's November; NOT a flop

I want to say before I start this post, my results were skewed because my blender/food processor machine is apparently broken! Attachments weren't fitting, liquids were leaking, and I was one mad cook. Guess what this gal needs for Christmas! Anyway, here goes: my November menu.

I decided to go for the butternut squash soup. It got better reviews, and after chatting with the menus creator I eliminated the pumpkin soup. Here are the beautiful veggies ready for roasting.

 Roasting away. It smelled really good!

 My final product. I started off by making a half batch, but after the various and sundry mishaps with my equipment I think I had about a 1/4 left. Sigh! Please note the interesting texture ... my fault! It actually tasted really good!

 The beginnings of the soda bread.

 Strangest bread recipe I've ever tried, but very easy!

 Final product. It smelled great, but beware, it needs baked a good 10+ minutes more than the recipe states.

Pound cake; I agree with gal Three, it's not difficult to find or expensive ingredients, it's just a TON of them.

 Can you believe this is the batter? It was almost white, very fluffy ... quite odd, but also neat.

 It becomes chocolate. Yummy (It also smells insanely amazing while baking!)

 Final product, which doesn't look nearly as nice as Gal Three's. I burned mine a tiny bit and wasn't patient enough with my glaze so it was a little lumpy.

 But pile on some vanilla and strawberry ice cream and it tasted divine! This was our favorite part!!

November Menu: Simply a Flop

Well this month's menu, although appearing to be simple and homey and comforting, brought no such comfort to this Gal's house. Mr. #3 was not impressed at all by the main dishes and thought the bread just ok. The dessert however, that was a huge hit and eaten without complaint. As for the Gal that chose the menu, I was disappointed. I love soups and trying new recipes, and although I thought the soups were good, it isn't enjoyable when you're the only one eating it. The first soup I made was the pumpkin cumin soup and it was good, but not awesome. It was lacking in some depth of flavor. The other soup with pear and butternut was bigger on flavor, not so great on texture. The other items were good, and the chocolate cake is definitely one to make for parties.

So here follows the pictures of our simple November...

The butternut soup...was an interesting twist on a soup and I enjoyed it. The Pumpkin soup was so disliked by Mr. #3 it didn't make the final picture cut.

 Here is the beginning of the cake!

 Right out of the oven! I used Pam instead of butter and flour in the pan and it just slid right out.

 The most delicious cake. Looks beautiful and needs to be pictured in a Food Magazine. Yummy and fun to eat, thinking of substituting small chocolate chips in it next time instead of the bittersweet chocolate.

Mr. #3 is helping me with the bread making :0)

 We had the soup with our scrabble game, very relaxed and the point of this month's menu.

 The bread in its final stage. Although cutting into the bread it was not baked all the way through, needs longer in the oven.

 This is the biggest downfall of the menu...cake ingredients. Although the cake was delicious, the ingredients were many and expensive. This is definitely a "make only for extreme special occasions" cake because of the amount of ingredients required.

Overall a more disappointing November for us. With Mr. #3 not touching the main courses and the cost of ingredients and such we are giving this menu an overall 5 out of 10. Come on gals, what did you think?

Real Simple: November Issue

While the weather turns cooler (for some of us) and as we end a summer and early Fall full of delicious and rich dishes I thought about going simplistic and back to the season. November, all about Thanksgiving. Well not this menu. This is something you can put together when you are sick of turkey and just want something light and fast for dinner. All except dessert. Dessert is something special but can be made ahead, even by a few days. This meal is going to make most of us happy, but for Gal # 2 and Mr. Gal #2 this might mean stretching (or fibbing about ingredients) out of your comfort zone. So there are two choices for your main dish and you can choose which one you feel up to. The dessert I recommend making the cake at least a day ahead and the sauce before serving. Make it yours, make it simple and bon appetite! 

Soda Bread
Click Here 

Roasted Pear-Butternut Soup

Click Here 

Cumin Pumpkin Soup

Click Here

Chocolate Pound Cake with Glaze

Click Here

*p.s. I even made finding the recipes super simple. =D*

October - The 11th Hour

The last day of October and I have finally completed my own menu.  I don't have much to say, however, because I'm tired.  Previous posts proved accurate - this menu was too ambitious.  I didn't even make the salad.  And Son #1 made the potatoes. I lucked out with the pork roast - my grocery store was selling the required cut of roast buy one get one free.  And as mentioned by others, the sauce makes alot...so it's frozen and I can make this again.  Which, I will, it was definitely a keeper. Everyone agreed on this point - a great partnership of flavors.
 Son #1 make the potatoes and they were very tasty - needed salt - but his first solo attempt at mashed potatoes was completely admirable.  The beans were...beans.  Nothing special there and I've made better..  The pears were disappointing.  I should have taken more care to make sure they were ripe...I don't think the lack of taste was the fault of the recipe...the ingredients have to cooperate.
Overall this menu gets a 6 from me - maybe a 7 as I'm glad to have this pork recipe for special occasions. 
Bring it on Gal #3...and please make it simple.

October at Gal Two's House

Gal One, I love you, but WOW! This was not an easy menu. I started prepping and cooking around 10am, and The last dish got washed around 8pm. No, That time was not all spent in the kitchen working on the menu! Never the less, there was a lot to do and I think I used almost everything in my cupboards (pots, measuring cups, bowls, etc.), and I was ready to scream due to my severe lack of counter space! (The counter space has nothing to do with Gal One; but thank goodness this is the last menu I will be making in this kitchen!) Dinner also ended up being pushed back a few hours (thank you Mr. Two's job!) and so I was hungry and tired as I finished up which didn't help.

Did you make it through all that up there?

On to the menu!

I started with dessert. I asked Mr. Two and he voted for the pears to be chilled instead of warm. I am SO GLAD I did it this way because I would have never made these after dinner last night. I was beat. But I'd like to try it warm another time. 

 I was scared about peeling the pears, but it's super easy!

 My pears floated... there was no nice, neat submerging them in the sugar-water. No biggie, I just kept rolling them over with a spoon. I had ripe pears and they cooked for just 15 minutes and were fine!

 Next came the pork loin. I bought it pre-packaged (I had a coupon). It's nice that you can do this ahead of time and put it back in the fridge, which is what I did.

 Note the use of dried and not fresh rosemary below. I've had fresh growing in my herb pot all summer, and when I went to pick it I found it all dead. :( I think it would have been better with fresh, but oh well!

 My beautifully trussed pork, seasoned and ready to go in the fridge.

 In an effort to get some more things done not last minute, I made the dressing ahead (not waaaay ahead, just a little). I wasn't a big fan, but I'm also not a big salad dressing person in general!

 It was pretty though :)

 Once the pork went in I started my cherry brandy sauce (with less chicken stock per a previous tip). Please note my adorable brandy bottles, they each are 1/4 cup. The onion I chose at the store however, not cute! EVIL! I was crying and my nose and throat were burning. A lot.  

I actually think I could have used more liquid! Mine thickened up a little too much. Oops! Still yummy.

This was prep for the potatoes. As with everything, I halved the recipe! This entire menu halved still made lots of food and we have leftovers! I did cut the garlic down a wee bit in this recipe.

 Our mashed potato expert at work

The final result was really good! Mr. Two said it made a nice change. I could have used a little more liquid though; I had no issues getting all that liquid into my potatoes. I thought they were a great pair with the spicy pork!

The finished salad. Mr. Two was ... hesitant to say the least! (I may or may not have force fed him a single bite...) He declared it "not gross". I thought it was OK, but not great. For me there wasn't a whole lot of taste. It did pair well with the rest of the food. I wont be making it again because the ingredients we don't use at home (the vinegar and mustard, etc.) and Mr. Two ....

 Our lovely dinner table! Yes, we had corn out of a can and not the green beans. I didn't have a pan, burner or energy left for them! I will make them later this week though. 

The pork! Our FAVORITE! This is a keeper and will be made again. It's easy, make ahead and it came out VERY juicy and tender and flavorful. Not sure if it was the dried rosemary or the pepper (or a bit of both) but it was a bit spicy/strong. Perfect with the other food. The cherry sauce was just right!! We loved the sweet with the spicy pepper crust. AMAZING!

 My beautiful plate. This was a very visually appealing meal and very fall looking. You could make this for a major holiday!

 Dessert. It was easy and simple and with a little ice cream and chocolate, YUM! I would make this again. Nice light and cool dessert after that heavy meal.