The Twin's Garlic Soup

I am a Gemini and if you know anything about astrological signs, then you know I am a “twin”. I have absolutely no knowledge of astrological anything but from what I have gathered over my 22 years, a “twin” has split personalities. Not in the sense that I am literally crazy, but sometimes this does seem to be the case. As it happens, I am also married to a Gemini. Thankfully, all four of our personalities all get along, and I think the more the merrier!

The reason I bring this up is because I have about a million blogs. Each one of them represents where I was at a certain time in my life, but once I feel as if I have moved on from that place, my new blogs don’t really fit into the theme and I create a new one. This drives me crazy!! Part of the problem is that I am constantly changing… changing my likes and ideas and passions. Lately I have begun to think it is not actually me changing, but more just a matter of which personality is dominant at that particular time.

You see, I have these two jackets. I love them both, but they are completely different. One is a leather jacket that is very badass and flattering to my figure. The other is a knitted brown sweater that is loose and comfy with little hobo patches on the elbows that make me look slightly homeless and all hippie. When I am in my leather jacket I am super mom, I love to plan parties and entertain and shop. I make dirty jokes, listen to loud music and for some reason I like to bake cookies and make pot roasts. I am a homemaker with attitude; I crochet rasta tams for Will’s dreadlocks and wear my favorite lip gloss. This Jasmine wants to open a catering company for awesome parties full of awesome food.

My hippie sweater is for the more thoughtful and selfless Jasmine. The Jasmine who cannot separate a beef steak from the cute fuzzy face of a sweet little cow, the Jasmine who worries about the impact she is having on the planet and the Jasmine who wants to open a soup kitchen for those people who need a warm meal and a hug. This jasmine is more likely to make a batch of vegan cookies than Toll House (happily I have perfected them to the point where no one knows the difference) and can be found sipping an espresso macchiato in her favorite coffee place. I wear less make up in this sweater, I am likely to have moccasins on my feet and when I am wearing this sweater I make Ally listen to music instead of watching TV. The problem is, my moccasins don’t look good with the leather jacket… When I bought them I couldn’t figure out which one was really me. But I realized I like them both! So what is a girl with split personalities to do?

I still haven’t fully figured it out. Leather jacket Jasmine wants to live a life entertaining large groups of friends in her large house while hippie Jasmine wants to retire on a farm where I can make meals for the homeless. But for now my two personalities have collaborated with Will’s two personalities and we have come up with some compromises. One of them is that from now on the only meat we will consume has to be organic. If I am going to eat a cow then I want it to have lived, hopefully, the best possible life it could have (under the circumstances of being born and raised for the purpose of being food.)

I have a new recipe for a soup that is perfect for this weather and it is a great example of why sometimes meat is better than no meat but it still satisfies both personalities. This particular soup does not actually contain chunks of meat but it does use chicken broth and the difference in taste is very noticeable if you decide to use water or vegetable broth. The leather jacket loves those amazing flavors while the hippie feels good about the chicken broth being organic and is very impressed with the incredible health benefits of this delicious soup.

Roasted Garlic Soup

Garlic is fantastic for fighting colds! Perfect for this time of year while the bug is going around. I adapted this recipe from this month’s Whole Living Magazine with a few changes that make it even better.

3 small heads of garlic, halved and roasted

4 cups of organic chicken broth, bought or homemade

4 potatoes, peeled and chopped

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan

Salt and white pepper to taste

To roast garlic, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle your garlic with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt then wrap it up in foil and roast for 40 minutes. Let it cool and squeeze out the yummy little garlics from the papery skin and set them aside.

In your soup pot, bring the stock, potatoes and garlic to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in parmesan and blend with an immersion blender or carefully in your regular blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and serve!

Serves 4

How to Roast a Pumpkin

Last year around this time I became completely obsessed with pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin bread... you name it. It got so bad that Will actually ended up putting his foot down and telling me he wanted no more pumpkin! To which I responded with more pumpkin spice waffles. I continued with the pumpkin until finally it was time for Spring to pop up and I became obsessed with other yummy things. Well now it is that time of year again, my most favorite time- Pumpkin season! Pumpkin season means pies and homemade crusts, baking, cookie smelling candles, cozy Christmas socks (my Christmas socks make an appearance way before December) and extra blankets on the bed that make it even harder to get up in the morning. I haven't made a single batch of pumpkin waffles yet (Oh but I want to!) because I feel so bad for Will, but I have discovered that nobody in this house ever gets tired of pumpkin pie. Which I love because a lot of people I know actually do not like pumpkin pie!

I truly believe most people who don't like pumpkin pie have just never had a pie made with fresh pumpkin. It is so simple to do and tastes worlds different so I can't understand why people don't do it more often. Then I thought that maybe they just do not know how. So folks, here is how you roast a pumpkin!

Step 1- Buy a pumpkin. I found they do not carry sugar pumpkins at Stater Bros. which is just silly. C'mon Staters! How I miss the days of having a Whole Foods right down the street... But luckily Dowlings has "Jack O Lantern" pumpkins which are the little guys and those are what you want. Some people also call them sugar pumpkins. Trader Joe's has them for very cheap.

Step 2- Cut your pumpkin's little head and butt off, then cut it down the middle. Scoop out the seeds, sprinkle with some sea salt, lay it cut side down onto a tray lined with parchment paper.

Step 3- Roast your pumpkin in a 415 degree oven for about an hour. Check that it is nice and done with a fork. If you can easily stab it then it is done.

Step 4- Let it cool then scoop all of the goodness out of the skin and plop it into a food processor or powerful blender. Puree (adding a little water if necessary) until it looks like mush.

And there you have it... can you seriously buy canned after seeing how easy it is?? Plus, a can of pumpkin will cost you anywhere from $2.50-6 and I just bought 2 good sized pumpkins for under $5 that will make me twice the amount I would have gotten from 2 cans! Now all you have to do is choose from the many many pumpkin pie recipes there are out there and bake away! I like vegan pumpkin pies and Paula Deen's cream cheese pumpkin pie.

Getting back in the groove

I have been avoiding my little recipe box full of Aunt Pearl's weathered recipes. To open the little box and see all of the sweet black and white pictures and casserole recipes would mean I would have to admit that I am not the cute, old-fashioned little wife I am trying to be. If I open that little box then I would also have to put away the laundry that is piling up, scrub the shower and revive the flowers that are slowly withering away in the backyard. And this is just not something I have the energy to do lately! It turns out that raising toddlers is exhausting and when you spend your days reading books, coloring, watching Yo Gabba Gabba and singing songs there is little room left for anything else.

However, for the last few days we have had various pasta dishes because I haven't really felt like cooking and this morning I woke up and decided enough was enough! I scrubbed every corner of my kitchen, made an open faced egg and bacon sandwich, put away the laundry and made a grocery list. And even though I know the pasta dishes have to go (at least for a little while) I made one in particular that I think is worth sharing! A delicious grown up version of macaroni and cheese for days when you really don't feel like cooking at all.

It is incredibly simple to make, all you need is some whole wheat cheese tortellini (they sell some in the fridge section of the grocery store), a bag of frozen mixed veggies and an organic packet of cheese sauce. (I got mine at Clarke's)

Cook your tortellini in a pot of water then drain. Cook your veggies according to the package directions and cook the sauce. My sauce only required 1/4 cup milk, a couple tablespoons of butter and the powdered mix. Once it is thickened, toss together the sauce, veggies and pasta. And there you go! Impossibly easy and impossibly delicious. Ally liked it too which is always a plus.

I also decided it was time to pull down Aunt Pearl's recipes. After flipping through the various casseroles and desserts, I settled on a pineapple upside down cake. I have seen many fresh pineapples in the store lately and I think it sounds like just what I need to snap myself out of this funk and get back into awesome wife mode! Being an awesome mom comes easy, that is no problem. But every once in a while we need a little nudge and extra energy to be able to pull off mom AND wife! 

A New Member of the Family

Hello everybody! I realize it has been a very long time since my last post (a little over a month to be exact) but I have not given up on this blog. Especially now that my life has calmed down just a little bit, I would like to keep doing this, mostly for myself. I don't have any recipes for you today but I would like to introduce the newest member of our family!

This is Ringo Starr!

He is a black and white Pit Bull and before I go any further I realize some of you will already be turned off because I said "Pit Bull". I understand that they have a very bad reputation, I myself was raised to be afraid of them and I always was... until we stopped at an adoption event just for fun and I laid eyes on this little cutie pie. Some people say that every once in a while you will have a moment where a dog chooses you and I absolutely feel like that is what happened to me with Ringo. I usually like fluffy dogs or really big dogs... preferably big fluffy dogs! Like a Saint Bernards or something like that, but little Ringo was sitting in his little wire cage thing and he looked up at me with these big chocolate eyes and that was that. I needed him in my life. We fostered him for a week and he adapted amazingly well, did fantastic with Ally and pulled on every one of my heartstrings. After that week I adopted him officially and I am so glad I did! So for all of you Pit Bull haters... you just haven't met the right Pit Bull, they are actually great dogs! did you know they were once called "nanny dogs"? It's true! Anyway, I am not here to convince you of the wonderful-ness of pit bulls, but I am sure you will be hearing the name Ringo a lot in future posts. I will be experimenting with making my own dog food and dog treats, in addition to trying to create meals that Ally will actually eat (she is in the wonderful phase where she does not want to eat anything at all unless it is covered in cheese... ugh) and healthy meals for me and my husband.

So I hope you stick around! I have recently deleted my Facebook page so I am counting on my regulars to find me without me posting my newest blogs on my page! I promise, I will make it all worth while, now that the weather has cooled off I am looking forward to being able to use my oven again! Yay!

Labor Over Pie for Labor Day!

I had intended to sit down and write a new post for quite some time now but never really got to it. Isn't that the way it goes when you have a toddler running around your house un-doing everything you have done? I finally have a little quiet time but what I really should be doing is taking a shower so I can get ready to drive to Redlands to look at a house we are hoping to rent. However, a little procrastination might actually be good for me today since I have been running around all week. So instead I want to tell you about this amazing pie I made a few weeks ago! I know Labor Day weekend is upon us and this is the holiday for BBQs and pies but this is no ordinary Labor Day pie! It is not a fruit pie or any other such thing, it is actually a peanut butter pie I got out of a magazine and I think it would be perfect for any holiday occasion! A lot of holidays are coming up so keep this one handy in your recipe box.

The name of the pie in the recipe was a peanut butter honeycomb pie but I think this is a lie because the only honeycomb that was on the pie was a homemade honeycomb candy that you are suppose to make and then pile on the center of the pie. It looked amazing, tasted great, but the little pile made it very hard to cut out slices so I think if I were to ever make this again I would really crumble the heck out the honeycomb and maybe even sprinkle it over the whole top of the pie.

Peanut Butter Pie

CRUST

9 graham crackers
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
6 Tbsp butter, melted

FILLING

8 large egg yolks
12 Tbsp sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 up creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt

TOPPING

2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (do not exceed 61% cacao)
2 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
honeycomb (see recipe)

CRUST Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Finely grind graham crackers, sugar, salt, and nutmeg in a food processor. Transfer crumb mixture to a medium bowl. Add butter to the bowl and stir to blend. Pack the crumbs onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie pan. Bake 15 minutes until golden brown. let cool

FILLING Mix yolks and 6 Tbsp sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Beat on high until ribbons form, about 2 minutes.
Combine milk and remaining 6 Tbsp sugar in a large saucepan; add vanilla. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. While still mixing, slowly add milk to yolk mixture. Scrape mixture back into the pan and clean your bowl. Whisking constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove pan from heat; whisk vigorously for 1 minute. Return custard to mixing bowl; beat on high speed until cool, about 4 minutes. Mix in butter 1 Tbsp at a time. Add peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt. Beat to blend. Scrape filling into cooled crust; smooth top. Chill for 2-3 hours.

TOPPING Stir chocolate and butter in medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Drizzle some of the chocolate glaze over the peanut butter filling, making a circle in the middle of the pie and leaving a 2 inch plain border. Pile pieces of honeycomb on top of the chocolate circle and drizzle remaining chocolate over.

Honeycomb

1 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp corn syrup
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp baking soda, sifted

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Combine sugar, corn syrup, honey and 1/4 cup water in a heavy deep saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high; bring to a boil. Cook without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until sugar turns pale amber. Working quickly, add baking soda (mixture will foam up dramatically) whisk quickly just to combine. Immediately pour candy over prepared sheet (do not spread out) Let stand undisturbed until cool, about 20 minutes. Hit candy in several places with the handle of a knife to crack into pieces.


I know if seems a little intimidating and like there are a lot of steps, but once you get going it is really quite easy and worth it in the end! The honeycomb makes so much that you can even dip some of the pieces in chocolate and serve them on the side as a fun little candy. Enjoy! (This recipe was taken from Bon Appetit Magazine, the August 2011 issue)

spilled espresso

After a very busy and productive week following a busy and hectic visit to South Carolina and leading into another very busy week, Will and I decided to take a super slow and lazy Sunday for ourselves, complete with sleeping in, gorging on pancakes, going to a movie in the middle of the day and cruising around the aisles of Target with our wee one, Ms. Ally. A busy day of doing nothing can be enhanced in its greatness by starting the day off with the perfect cup of coffee! Here are a couple little tips that will enhance your morning coffee time...

#1- use a quality coffee brewing method like a coffee press. It takes a little bit of extra time but the anticipation only adds to the experience.

#2- buy whole bean coffee and grind it just before brewing to keep those oils fresh and the flavor strong.

#3- spend the extra money on good beans... do I really need to elaborate on this one? Auggie's coffee house in Redlands is a small coffee shop with big coffee loving attitude! They roast their own beans on site and have a variety of amazing flavors for under $20 a bag (that's less than a certain large coffee chain charges and their beans taste like burnt pebbles!)

#4- put a small pinch of cinnamon in the bottom of your favorite mug and pour the coffee on top. Cinnamon brings out the yummy coffee flavors. If you can stand it, drink your coffee black! Coffee tastes amazing on its own and not only will you be opening yourself up to new flavors and experiences, you can cut calories by skipping cream and sugar.

I hope these tips can help you enjoy your coffee time a little more in the morning! When I first met Will I ordered a double espresso on our second date and he admitted to me he does not drink coffee. I was mortified! Coffee is a huge part of my life and I loved to share it with the people around me, but I let it go and decided to look at the positives... I was thinking about all of the positives while staring at his butt as he walked away. When he came back he rocked the table and my double espresso spilled all over my lap.

Then we fell in love.

There were many coffee-less mornings and I didn't mind, but when Will bought me a bright red coffee press to celebrate the end of breastfeeding Ally and we picked up some coffee beans I persuaded him to try a sip. He was instantly hooked and we now have "coffee time" every morning before he goes to work! It is my favorite time of day besides for my foot massages at night and that is why I love coffee... it brings people together! Try these tips on someone you know who doesn't much care for coffee and I bet you will be sharing coffee time together in no time!

a summer time shrimp recipe

It has been way too long since I have written any blogs about my culinary adventures as of late! Unfortunately it has been so hot here that I have not been able to try a single Aunt Pearl recipe. The majority of the recipes I have require oven time and there is just no way you can make me turn on my oven in this heat, so instead for the entire week I made up a "summer menu" by pulling recipes out of magazines and using old favorites. While I came up with this menu I realized I have a lot of recipes that use the oven and very little summer recipes! How can this be when I live in a desert city? I decided that I would try a new recipe every day this week that requires very little cooking time and fresh summer ingredients. The best ones would make it into the recipe box so that I can use them again.

It might sound strange to people who do not like to spend much time in the kitchen cooking or planning meals, but this has always been my favorite part of cooking... planning to cook. Designing menus, researching recipes and choosing ingredients is meditative and relaxing to me and I just love it! My menu planning goes a little something like this: I make a fresh pressing of coffee and pour it into my favorite Beatles mug, set up Ally with some favorite toys on the floor in front of me, surround myself with cookbooks and cooking magazines and a notebook and pen. Sometimes it goes fast after a decide on a few key ingredients I want to use and sometimes I sit there for an hour or more! Here is what I came up with for this week...

Monday- Shrimp and Tomato saute over whole wheat pasta
Tuesday- Grilled steak, corn on the cob and grilled texas toast
Wednesday- Ravioli Salad with a cilantro pumpkin seed pesto
Thursday- Burgers with Gorgonzola cheese and bacon scallion potato salad
Friday- Collard wraps with feta and cranberry quinoa
Saturday- Roasted tomato pasta

Let me just say that every single thing came out fantastic! All of these recipes will be making it into the grand honor of my recipe box because not only were they delicious, they were easy! It turned out that all but one of these recipes came from one magazine, "Everyday Food" a Martha Stuart publication. What a shame that it is not a regular publication! Absolutely there was one recipe in particular I will be using again and again until summer is over- the shrimp and tomato saute. Tomatoes are so yummy right now and I want to take advantage of this one for as long as I can get away with it! Here is my version of the recipe, I made just a couple changes to the original...

Shrimp and Tomato Saute

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
pinch red pepper flakes
2 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
salt
white pepper

In a large saute pan heat 1 Tbsp oil over high heat. season the shrimp with salt and white pepper and add half of it to the pan. Cook until it is opaque all the way through. Transfer to a plate and add 2 tsp oil to the pan then cook the rest of the shrimp. Once cooked transfer to the plate with the rest of the shrimp. Reduce the heat to medium and add your garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for 30 seconds and add the tomato. Cook until the tomato breaks down, about 6 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, return with shrimp and any collected juices to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute and toss with the parsley and lemon juice. Turn off the heat, serve over pasta or eat it on its own. Surprisingly delicious!

serves 4

Dessert Fail

After two failed dessert attempts it was going to take something truly delicious to make me feel as if I have been saved from my slump. Thankfully baby artichokes were cheap at Trader Joe's and something delicious would come easily with them, but we will get to that later. First, about my failed desserts... One of those failed treats was Aunt Pearl's recipe for a 4 minute brownie pie. I like pie, I like brownies and I like anything that is only going to take me 4 minutes so it sounded like a winner. Unfortunately the recipe was a little vague at best and what I ended up with was not really a brownie or a pie or anything at all edible for that matter. But no worries, after pulling the disaster out of the oven it was immediately clear to me what crucial part of the recipe must have been missing and I will be trying it again very soon, but this time with stories of deliciousness and beautiful pictures.

The other recipe that went bad was an old favorite I have made many times- a vegan chocolate chip cookie that is just to die for. But I think the cookie hates the hot weather as much as I do... the heat melted my coconut oil and everything sort of went down hill from there.

Both of these were going to be served at a lunch time pot luck/play date for Ally that I was hosting during the week. And as luck would have it, that didn't turn out either! The day before the pot luck almost every single person canceled for one reason or another and one just did not show up. But this sad story does have a happy ending. One person did show up with her little boy and he and Ally had a great time. We talked and since she does not like chocolate, neither of my failed desserts would be missed. Good coffee and good conversation was exactly what I ended up needing anyway.

And because I cannot leave you empty handed and I seem to be better at making dinners than desserts, here is a quick dinner idea for baby artichokes...

6 baby artichokes with the outer leaves pulled off, the top 1/2 inch cut off and quartered
1 lemon
a bowl of water
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
18oz can diced tomatoes with herbs
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup water or broth
1 tsp rosemary, fresh or dried
salt and pepper

as you prep the artichokes, place them in the bowl of water with the lemon. In a large saute pan saute the onion until soft. Add the garlic and saute one more minute. Add in the artichokes and tomatoes. Simmer until the tomatoes soften. Add in the wine and deglaze the pan, then add the water, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the artichokes are soft and the sauce is thickened and fragrant. Serve with crusty bread or over pasta.

serves 4

The Magic Lemon Pie

With my first practice "party" I had anticipated every single little thing and it went off without a hitch. I was so happy with the results that I asked over another couple for dinner without a moments hesitation! However I have now learned that having people over for dinner is not really the same thing as a small get together of ladies. For a first dinner party I think I did well and I certainly did Aunt Pearl justice with her fantastic lemon pie! But there are definitely a few things I will keep in mind for next time...

I made these dinner party plans with an acquaintance that Will met at work and I had never met him before. I decided to make a lasagna with freshly made noodles, something I had done many times before, some artichokes, a salad and bread with rosemary lemon butter. It sounded yummy, easy and perfect to please a crowd! Unfortunately the week leading up to my dinner party was horribly hot. This sounds like it has nothing to do with the party but it really affected the way I planned. I was so hot and miserable in my AC-less house that it took me days to get the house in order and then I waited until the last minute to cook anything because I didn't want to turn the oven on! So the day that my guests were supposed to arrive I was left cleaning last minute things, rolling out pasta dough and making the lasagna, making the lemon pie, the salad, the butter, the artichokes and then getting myself ready... by the time my guests were at the door (and Will was still driving home) I was pooped! I put on my best smiley face and greeted them. We sat around and made small talk and thank goodness Will walked in the door just as I put the artichokes on the table. I am so thankful for that delicious wine that really pepped me up or I might have been the most boring hostess of all time.

So lesson learned, do things ahead of time, plan plan plan, and if at all possible make sure to have someone able to be with your guests while you inevitably will have to be fiddling in the kitchen. But all in all not a terrible first try for a young house wife! Plus, a good dessert always seems to magically save any evening. It gives everyone something to ooh and ahh over.

In this case it was Aunt Pearl's lemon meringue pie. It was delightfully easy to make and I really loved the tartness that offset the heat of the day.

how to make a meringue...
place 3-4 egg whites in a bowl. Begin to whip up the whites using an electric mixer on high until the whites begin to form soft peaks. At this point add in about 1/4 cup of fine sugar and continue to beat until the whites form very stiff peaks. Some people add cornstarch and this helps to hold it all together but I do not always have it on hand and I find that you don't always need it.

For the Lemon pie...

1 can sweetened condensed milk
lemon zest of 1 lemon
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup lemon juice
pinch of salt

-------

mix ingredients in order given and beat well. Pour uncooked into baked pie shell. Cover with meringue piled high and in peaks. Bake in moderate oven (250 to 300) for about 15 minutes or until meringue has browned.

I found it better served right away than if you prepare it a couple days ahead of time.

Aunt Pearl called this one "Magic Lemon Pie" and it really was! It was ready in no time at all and didn't give me any trouble. Everyone really enjoyed it and I can see how it would pair nicely with almost any summer dinner. Personally I enjoyed it frozen the next day during another very hot summer afternoon! A little tip, I found it took me about 4 large lemons to get the 1/2 cup of lemon juice.

I wish I had gotten pictures but all i can give you now would be a picture of an empty pie plate with a few crumbs! I will not be so forgetful with my next recipe which will be here very soon! A true glutton for punishment I am hosting another get together tomorrow. This one is a small lunch time pot luck that I am very much looking forward to becuase it will double as a play date for Ally! I cannot decide if I would like to make an old favorite recipe for cookies or a chocolate pie... why not both?! ;)

A Summer Salad

Getting ready to have people over has left me with a couple nights where cooking is the last thing I feel like doing! After all of the cleaning and chasing Ally all around, standing over a hot stove is just sounds kind of... ick. So the other night when it had been an especially hot day I thought a salad might make a good dinner. But how to make a salad into a meal fit for a big man? It turns out I did quite well and I loved the recipe so much I thought I would share it! This is not an Aunt Pearl recipe, but a quickly thrown together Jasmine recipe, and we have a lemon meringue pie from aunt Pearl coming soon. ;)

The salad was a giant mound made up of all sorts of shredded lettuce, feta cheese, chunks of chicken breast, cucumbers, tomatoes, and black olives. To make a dressing I blended feta cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, a small bit of agave nectar (honey would also work) and some salt and pepper. The dressing was thick and creamy and just delicious with the chicken and other ingredients! All together it was surprisingly filling, however I am a girl who likes her bread so I felt like it needed a little bread on the side. I warmed up a half a loaf of french bread and to jazz it up I put together a little whipped butter...

Lemon Rosemary Butter

1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 tsp lemon juice
a little lemon zest
pinch of salt

soften the butter and add the rest of the ingredients. Blend with an electric mixer until it is all mixed well and the butter is "whipped" looking. I served it by placing all of the butter into a heart shaped cookie cutter on a plate. Slowly lift up the cookie cutter and you are left with heart butter! :) What a way to show your sweetie some love.

I wish I had taken some pictures but hunger got the better of us and we dove right in to eating before I thought of a camera. The butter was just delicious and really went with the tart flavor of my dressing on the salad. All in all, very refreshing and very easy! Plus, no standing over a hot stove which was the goal all along.

effortless darlings, effortless...

Betty Crocker said that to have any successful gathering of friends you must make your effort to put the party together look, well... effortless! I was feeling like I had accomplished just that as the first girl to arrive to my "coffee break" walked in the door. On the dining room table I had casually laid out the desserts and cakes, strawberries with freshly whipped cream, coffee freshly pressed in my red coffee press and all of the coffee fixings. The rest of my house was pristinely clean, Ally had just laid down for a nap and I was all dolled up in that special kind of way where you look like you actually didn't doll yourself up but in reality it took you a couple hours to get ready. There were chairs in a circle in the living room and toys waiting to be played with for the toddlers. All in all it looked cozy, casual and effortless.

In order to achieve this special kind of effortlessness, I planned ahead exactly one week. On day 1 I planned the menu I would be serving for the small get together and invited guests. Day 2 was dedicated to the shopping. I do not put anything in my coffee so I knew I would have to buy little packets of sugar and we would need cream. Day 3 was too soon to do any real getting ready, but I put together my game plan and did laundry and other such normal things all the way through day 4. Day 5 was baking day. I spent the entire day baking aunt Pearl's apple cake, angel food cake, and my own dark chocolate brownies. The kitchen was a wreck... Day 6 I scrubbed the house from top to bottom. Shelves got un-cluttered, laundry was all put away, the floors were cleaned and everything was put in it's place... and then I spent the rest of the day chasing after Ally as she reverted it all back to disarray. This literally took me all day and by the time she went to bed I was pooped. Day 7, the day of this small get together, I quickly got myself ready, fed the baby and got her cleaned up, tried to clean up the messes she had already managed to make, set everything up and anticipated anything else I might need to put out, cleaned the floors one more time, put out the dog, put the kettle on for coffee and tea and ta da! It is time for people to arrive. Looking effortless took a lot of effort.

Thankfully, Aunt Pearl's cakes were less effort and more fun. This time I was prepared so when the recipe's procedure simple read: "bake for one hour" with absolutely no further instruction, I took all of my previous knowledge of cake baking and was able to fill in the many blank spaces. I liked this cake for its denseness and the fruit and nuts in it. It reminded me of something you would eat for breakfast alongside a big mug of coffee and the paper. Very similar to my own mom's banana bread recipe that we have all used and loved for years. Here is the original recipe. I substituted pecans for walnuts because they are cheaper and I used golden raisins because they were all I had in the pantry.

Apple Sauce Cake

1/2 cup lard
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups applesauce
1 cup pecans
4 Tbsp hot water
1 tsp soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup raisins

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Bake one hour.

I know what you are thinking... lard?! So let me answer your question now: no I did not substitute the lard. It was one of the things that made this recipe intriguing and I found that lard sells quite cheap in the baking aisle at Stater Bros. :)

The other cake was a light and flavorful angel food cake. I followed the recipe exactly; even the part where it said to beat the eggs "long and hard". I have a ridiculously juvenile brain and this made me laugh for a long time. Whoo Aunt Pearl, get it girl! I served it with strawberries and the fresh whipped cream and made a little strawberry shortcake. This one is my favorite so far.

Angel Food Cake

6 eggs
2 cups sugar
6 Tbsp orange juice
2 cups flour (I used super fine cake flour)
1 tsp vanilla
(I also added a couple Tbsp of blood orange olive oil from the Temecula Olive Company for the orange flavor)

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Beat egg yolks with 1 cup of sugar, beat long and hard. Then add flour with orange juice. Beat whites with other cup of sugar, fold into yolks, add vanilla.

put in cold oven and bake one hour in ungreased pan.

All in all my effortless coffee party went off without a hitch. Everyone ate and talked and the kids played sweetly between us. Now I wonder if I am ready for the dinner party I have set myself up for on Friday?!

chocolate cake!

I sat cross-legged on the floor and gently laid out every single recipe card, reading them and marveling out loud at some of the ingredients or techniques. Naturally, as I read aloud the names of the recipes, I decided the very first one I would have to try would be the chocolate cake and the chocolate frosting. I have made plenty of chocolate cakes in the past and had images of myself wearing an apron and pulling out a beautiful cake then setting it on the counter with a freshly lipsticked smile... yes well that would have been nice but I think Aunt Pearl had other plans.

The recipes for the chocolate cake and frosting are type-written on yellowed, brittle pieces of paper and it became painfully obvious that they were written for someone who was already familiar with the recipe and did not need much direction. Certain key parts of the recipe were missing... things you kind of need to know, like the measurements of the amount of chocolate you will be using, the temperature of the oven and the order in which you should add the ingredients. But I smiled as I pulled out my mixing bowls and wooden spoons anyway. My counters were clean, my hair was pulled back and I was feeling good!

Now fast forward about 30 minutes and you will find my hair disheveled and laying over my shoulder, the front of me is splattered with flour and batter and I am not smiling. For starters, I have no idea what the recipe means by "4 squares of chocolate" because the size of a square will be completely different depending on what chocolate you buy. So I guessed, and I also guessed that by "sweet milk" she meant sweetened condensed milk and just crossing my fingers that this was correct. But the real trouble came when I got to the frosting. The recipe reads like this:

3 squares chocolate
12 marshmallows
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp butter

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melt the marshmallows on fire slowly, add 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar to above mixture, also vanilla.

The first problem came when I looked at the ingredients and made my grocery list. After returning home I noticed the elusive "confectioners sugar" that sneaks up on you in the procedure. I didn't have any so I decided to blend regular sugar in the blender to make powdered sugar... it sounded easy when I said it in my head. I'm all for doing things by hand but I recommend just going to the store and buying it. The second problem came when I melted the marshmallows, unsure of the size of the kind she was using, and then started to add the rest of the ingredients. Somehow after all of the work I went through to get it, I forgot the powdered sugar! So my frosting looked... well not like frosting at all. I was getting really frustrated and was about to eat the cake without frosting when I realized what I had done and added in the sugar.

The end result? Well let's just say I didn't invite anyone over to share it with me. My "powdered sugar" was still too grainy and made a gritty frosting and I think I over-mixed my cake batter because I ended up with a dense brownie like cake instead of the fluffy chocolate cake I was hoping for. But the good news is I realized that Aunt Pearl knew what she was doing and I can't just mindlessly follow the typed words; I will actually have to think about what I am doing! The challenge gives me a little thrill and I have already picked my next 2 recipes for a small group of girls I will be inviting over for coffee.

Even though the first recipe wasn't exactly a success, I still enjoyed my results! It is exciting to cook from something other than a glossy cookbook. I can almost taste a certain personality in this recipe that you don't find in generic Food Network recipes. What the personality is I am not quite sure of yet, but maybe the next few cakes will reveal it to me! And once I have mastered the sweet stuff... it is on to some of these barely legible, strange dinner recipes I have never heard of. Recipes with things like "from Mary" or with small grocery lists written at the top of them.

Bring it on Aunt Pearl!

Mrs. Housewife

Make your party seem effortless. The best way to keep up with the Jonses' is to not try. This and other advice can be found in a small worn first edition copy of "Easy Entertaining", a book written by Betty Crocker herself. It is with this book and a handful of yellowed, type-written recipes from my Aunt Pearl that I embark on my newest journey: marriage.

My Great Great Aunt Pearl, from what I have heard for I never did meet her, was the classic sweet little old lady who wore aprons and made delicious hand-made food. Basically she embodied everything I ever wanted to be once I got hitched and became a real Mrs. She was born in 1903 and died in 2007. Her hand written and typed recipes were given to me as a wedding present and I am sure that the person who gave me the gift has no real idea of how much this really meant to me. Along with this I also received some very old and worn cook books that I have nestled between two blue mason jars on my counter. I read the book about entertaining from cover to cover on my honeymoon and declared that I feel it is time for some of the 50's to make a comeback.

I will be cooking from these books and recipe cards and reporting back here so that you too can bring out your inner 50's housewife!

It seems I have started a new blog with every new life change in these last couple of years. Many of you will already be familiar with me, but for the new people, a little about me: my name is Jasmine. I am the mother of a daughter who just turned 1 and the wife to "the one who made me laugh". I went to school to become a Natural Chef because I wanted to battle childhood obesity through my cooking. I never did defeat obesity, but I did cook for and live in a Buddhist monastery and then at a frat house. We moved to a small town during my pregnancy, got a classic all-american dog (a chocolate lab) and a couple chickens and set up camp. I never did go back to work; raising my baby girl, keeping the house clean and making my man happy are now my full time job(s).

I have to admit I am about the opposite of a feminist. I love cleaning my house, I happily make my husbands lunch every day he goes to work and I have dinner ready when he gets home. I have no problem being helpless every now and then and I love that I get to stay home all day to enjoy my baby. I plan on popping out many more children and staying home with all of them as well. To me, equal rights means that my husband provides me with a place to live and it is my duty to make sure that he is taken care of. I even touch of my make up before he comes home from work so that I can always look good for him. If you have a problem with this you will probably not enjoy my blog! But for those of you who believe that being a strong woman means doing laundry whole holding a crying baby and vacuuming... well then you stay tuned! My next blog will be to report back to you my Great Great Aunt Pearl's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting... oh yes!