GlassAngel at Home

Is my wedding day! So have patience with me as my thoughts mostly turn to wedding planning (and finding a new job to pay for it) in the coming months. As craft projects get started and completed for the wedding I will post about them. I am currently working on the design of our pocket fold invited and the save the dates (STD's) have been printed for months. Soon it will be time to start addressing all the STD's so we are working hard on getting the guest list together.

I can feel the Kitchen Series winding down as I am having a hard time coming up with new topics, but I am sure there will be a few more post on it before I go back to my normal ramblings on cooking. I am hoping to start something interior design related soon as I can complete a few thoughts on it.

Please stick around to see what the next year holds!

Posted in: Craft, Decorating, General Life, In The Kitchen, Wedding on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 11:43 PM 0 comments    

(I know I said there wasn't going to be any KS posts this week...but the farmers market gave me something great to write about so I couldn't keep it in!)


Today was farmers market day in my area. I picked up a few things that I would normally buy, radishes, spring onions, baby portabella's and snap peas. But as I was walking around I saw something I have never cooked with before....Fennel. I keep hearing about how "black licorice" it tastes and since that is one flavor I can't stand I have never bought any. Well today for some reason I had to buy it...and so one baby head came home with me.

Once home I sat here and tried to figure out what to do with it. I have never really looked at recipes with it in it because I though I didn't like it. I remembered seeing a recipe with fennel in it at the kitchn, so I went a hunting. I didn't really find anything I had all the ingredients for so I decided to make up my own.

That brings us to what this Kitchen series post is about... Method cooking. Or as some call it intuitive cooking. What I consider method cooking is learning the basic way to do something, ie braising a roast or making stock, and then tweaking the method in the recipe to work for something else. Part of method cooking is using recipes to find out what you like, so you can then play with those tastes to make wonderful food without a recipe. It is learning what spices and flavors go with what types of cooking. Knowing what tastes match with french, asian or italian cooking. Method cooking allows you a lot more leeway with ingredients and opens a whole new world of fun cooking up to you.

One of the main components of Method cooking is the pantry, drygoods and spices that we have been talking about since the begining of the series. Having that well stocked means that you are ready to come home and cook what you picked up on a whim like I did this morning at the market. I'm going to show you how this worked for me....with the meal I whipped up for supper tonight.

In my search for a recipe I looked at the directions for how to prepare fennel. Most of them said to slice very thin with a mandolin and drop in to cold water with a little lemon juice (to keep it from browning) or to toss with a dressing right a way. Since I already knew I wanted to make a salad out of it that meant the tossing with dressing would work great for me.

When I checked the fridge to see what I needed to use up before I went out of town tomorrow, I saw that I had a couple of boiled eggs and a few small boiled red potatoes, along with some olives, scallions/green onions, carrots and the baby bella's from the market trip. Boiled eggs and potatoes in a salad always sound awesome to me since I love a good nicoise and everything else I love on a salad.

So I set to making my salad. My ingredients were:

one small bulb fennel, fronds removed but saved
one small carrot, peeled
one scallion
8-10 olives
4-5 baby bella mushrooms
2 boiled red potatoes
2 hard boiled eggs
Balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt
pepper

In a bowl I mixed my fave balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. The fennel was then cut on the mandolin at the thinest size and mixed into the dressing. The carrots, scallion and mushrooms were all thinly sliced and added to the dressing/fennel mix. The olives were pitted, cut in half and added. The potatoes and eggs were cut in quarters.

On a plate I laid a couple leave of romaine lettuce. In the middle I piled my fennel mixture and then surrounded it by the eggs and potatoes. I seasoned the eggs and potatoes with salt and pepper to taste and garnished the whole plate with the reserved feathery fennel fronds.

And this is what I ended up with.....


Now if we look at what I did we see I used parts and pieces of 3 recipes to make this dish. The one I checked for preparation tips on fennel, the dressing recipe that I have memorized from use, and a basic nicoise salad recipe, that I also know from use. By using methods from all these recipes I had a wonderful tasty dinner on my plate in no time!

Learning to play with methods from different recipes will give you lots of new things to try and wonderful food to eat. It will also keep you from having to eating take out or pizza on a night when you really don't want to follow a recipe, since you know what you like and the method to make it!



Previous Kitchen Series Posts

1. The Kitchen Series: Tools I love....
   
2. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your drygoods pantry.
   
3. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your fridge and freezer.
   
4. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your spice pantry.
   
5. The Kitchen Series: Making your own mixes
   
6. The Kitchen Series: Making you own stock.
   
7. The Kitchen Series: Organizing your pantry, Part 1
   
8. The Kitchen Series: Organizing your pantry, Part 2
   

Posted in: In The Kitchen, The Kitchen Series on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 8:29 PM 0 comments    

Or not! I took my first trip to Las Vegas and just returned. My sister decided to get married in a very awesome chapel out there and have the reception in a house the two families rented. So that meant 6 days in a house with 5 kids and a lot of work to do for the reception. The weekend before we left I made her veil and I think it is really cute.

There was a ton of running around to do in the days before the wedding since we had to pic up all the food and prep it, find and buy the beer and wine, buy the flowers for me to arrange and pick up all the dishes at the party store. We got lost in Vegas many times in our attempts to get it all done and a great time was as by most.

She opted for cupcakes which my mom and a crafty friend made the stand for out of plates and candle sticks they found at thrift shops and glued together with aquarium glue. This pic is before the hanging beads were put on it but shows how cute it looks!


I didn't get any pics of my flower arrangements so I will have to wait till I get pics back from the lady who took some. I am also waiting to see pics from the ceremony. Now I am trying to get back into the swing of things and get all the laundry done.

There will be no Kitchen Series posts this week or next week since I leave in a few days to help my mom unload her moving trailer that will arrive from Phoenix in Minnesota on monday morning.

Posted in: Craft, General Life, Wedding on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 11:21 AM 0 comments    

As we talked about in the first part of this topic, Organizing your pantry, Part 1, pantries can be tricky things. Keeping them neat and clean is a battle that you have to fight every time you open the door. Returning items to their proper homes each and every time you use them is key, as is taking the time to set things up in a way you can use them best. In this second part of the topic we are going to talk about how to keep your pantry free of spills, sticky messes and pests.

One way to tackle all 3 is to think about the packaging that your products come to you in. Rice, dry beans, flour and all kinds of sugar come to you in a bag of some sort. These paper or plastic bags (and boxes) are not always the best quality and cause you the most hassle in keeping things in order. All of these items I recommend get repackaged either as soon as you bring them home or as soon as you open them. Anyone who has ever grabbed the powdered sugar bag from the shelf only to get a shower with it know what I am talking about. If you look at the Stocking your drygoods pantry list, a lot of the baking items should be put in containers with tight seals to keep them from spilling or infestations.

First off what should be repackaged?

• anything that is in a flimsy bag/box or doesn't reseal tightly
  
• anything you need to be able to scoop out like flour or sugar
  
• anything you won't be using all of after you open it the first time, like rice, pasta or dry beans
  

What do I put them in? I can hear you asking. Well that is going to depend on what you have for space. It is also going to depend on the size you buy of these items. Using my baking supplies as a example let me show you what I use.

When I was looking at containers I chose ones that had wide mouthes so I could fit a measuring cup in them. Then I thought about the package size for each item, Flour 5lbs, white sugar 2lbs, powdered and brown sugar 1lb each. Then I matched the size to each item so that I could fit a whole bag, plus a little more in each. That way when I was toward the end of something and I brought home a new bag I could add it right to the container. Since as soon as I bring it home it looses the low quality bag, I have less messes due to the bags getting holes poked in them.

I use both bought and repurposed glass and plastic jars for most of my storage. I save any well sealing jar that could nicely contain one of my not as nicely sealed pantry items. Squarish containers work best since they take up less cabinet space, but I use whichever one will hold my item the best for it's use. Matching the container to the items and how you use it is what helps you to keep things neat and mess free.


Some items like honey, oils and vinegars can leave sticky messes on your shelves. Since my balsamic vinegar always leaks I keep it on the turntable that I store my oil and daily used spices on. Trays and turn tables can help to take care of these messes because you can clean them more easily than your pantry shelves. Both can be lined with parchment paper or shelf liner to make clean up easier. Plastic and metal styles can be thrown in the sink and scrubbed down when the honey bottle decides to leak all over. An added benefit to using trays is that you can pull the whole thing out to find what you are looking for and not make a mess rummaging through your cabinet.

Keeping items clean and wiping up any spills as soon as you find them is the best way to keep pests from finding your pantry. Having all of your pantry items tightly sealed is the next best thing. If you find pests in your pantry, hunt out the item that is causing the problem and get rid of it. Then scope out your other items to make sure they haven't gotten into anything else. Place any (no mater how old) drygoods you had near there in the freezer for 4 day. This will kill any eggs and bugs that may have been in them. Make sure to use any older items on your shelf first and remember to rotate your new stuff in as you buy it since this will cut down on the possibility of new pests finding there way into your pantry.





Previous Kitchen Series Posts

1. The Kitchen Series: Tools I love....
   
2. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your drygoods pantry.
   
3. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your fridge and freezer.
   
4. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your spice pantry.
   
5. The Kitchen Series: Making your own mixes
   
6. The Kitchen Series: Making you own stock.
   
7. The Kitchen Series: Organizing your pantry, Part 1
   
   

Posted in: In The Kitchen, The Kitchen Series on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 9:00 AM 0 comments    

So we have talked about stocking your pantry....but how to put it all away? Well there are several problems with keeping you pantry organized.

• you can never find what you need
• you have spills and sticky messes
• you have pests hanging out in your cabinets
  

Today we are going to talk about how to organize your pantry and make using your kitchen a little easier.

In most grocery stores you don't find the flour next to the canned tomatoes or the dry pasta with the canned soup. Think like a grocery store and organize your shelves like one! Put all your items with like items. Find all your canned soup or canned veggies and put them together. Then when you are hunting for canned corn you know where to look on the shelf. The first time you try this you may need to take all the cans out to find everything, but the next time you are hunting for something you will really be happy you have done it.


Grouping items by what is used together is another way to go. As I showed in the first picture at the top of this post, I group all my spices and baking goods in one cabinet. It is right over the work space that I use for most cooking so it makes it easy to take out the thing I need and then put it right back.


I use baskets and step racks in my spice area to keep things neat and easy to find. Baskets are great to keeping lots of things from spices to kids snacks together without taking up a ton of space. Shelf racks that add a second level are also great because they use vertical space that is often unused.







On my counter right next to the stove, I keep a turntable filled with the spices, oils and vinegars I use almost everyday. The turntable was inexpensive and keeps these items in reach as I cook. Keeping them all on the turntable and not spread out over the counter makes it look less cluttered and more organized.





So now that we have gotten ourselves more organized we can keep things a little neater. Next time we will talk about how to keep spills, sticky messes and pests from taking over your pantry.



Previous Kitchen Series Posts

1. The Kitchen Series: Tools I love....
   
2. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your drygoods pantry.
   
3. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your fridge and freezer.
   
4. The Kitchen Series: Stocking your spice pantry.
   
5. The Kitchen Series: Making your own mixes
   
6. The Kitchen Series: Making you own stock.
   

Posted in: In The Kitchen, The Kitchen Series on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 11:30 PM 0 comments    

My family has been making this chocolate cookie for I don't even know how many years. Normally we make them (decorated with frosting holly berries and leaves) as part of the cookie platters we take to all the Christmas parties we go to, but the Fiancee requested that I make them to take to his families Memorial Day cook out. I believe the recipe is from a Betty Crocker Cookbook but I am not sure, since my copy of it is scribbled on the back side of a envelope. I made a double batch since they always seem to disappear the second I set them down.

Chocolate Drop Cookies
(makes approx 1 1/2 dozen cookies)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2-1.0 oz squares unsweetened bakers chocolate, melted and allowed to cool
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

~ Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
~ Mix first 5 ingredients together till well combined. Sift flour and salt in and stir only till they are all combined.
~ With 1 rounded teaspoon dough make round ball and place 2" apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten balls with a flat glass bottom that has been lightly greased and then dipped in sugar. (you really only need to grease for the 1st one after that the sugar should stick to the glass from the last cookie.)
~ Bake for 8 min till top is set and no longer looks wet. Cool on baking sheet for 5 more min then transfer to a baking rack to cool completely.


Because this was a summer party, I topped a third of each of them with a simple orange or mint glaze. It's a basic powdered sugar glaze that I changed up a little by adding orange zest and juice to the orange and some fresh mint and green coloring to the mint. I loved how you could see flecks of mint and rind in the glaze when it was done. The mint recipe I am still working on because it came out to bland but I will post the orange one.


Orange Glaze
1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel, peel only no pith
2-3 tbsp orange juice

~ Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Add orange zest when butter is almost melted.
~ Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar.
~ Stir in orange juice 1 tbsp at a time till it is as thick as you want it. Remember as it cools it thickens, but you don't want it too runny or it will slide off your cookie before it can set. (Look at the mint glazed cookie pic to see this in action, lol)
~ Dip cookies and allow to dry for about 1 - 1 1/2 hrs on bakers rack over parchment or wax paper.
~ This amount of glaze will cover a double batch of cookies or a large bundt cake.

Posted in: In The Kitchen on Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 10:19 PM 0 comments