Entertainment Debut

MM and I are getting ready to host a dinner party at our house tomorrow night.  I am super excited, but nervous as well.  I have never had to plan out a dinner so that everything came to the table at the same time and at the time it was called for.  Everyone will be waiting around anxiously for the food to hit the table.  But my excitement of the outcome is out-weighing my nervousness.

I am going to make the pot roast that I made a couple months ago for MM and the kids.  They devoured it.  It was amazingly good.  The epitome of comfort food.  The pot roast cooked for almost four hours.  The house smelled of heavenly aromas.  I served it with creamy dreamy mashed potatoes.

The suggestion was made that I make the same meal for others.  "Others" turned into an additional six guests.  I couldn't help myself.  I wanted to invite everyone.  I couldn't wait to share this comfort, my new family, my new home, my experience, laughter, hugs and stories.  This will be the first meeting of MM's parents and mine.  Finally three of my four cornerstones will be in the same place at the same time.  Maybe they will understand what each does for me individually, and what they collectively do for me.  MM and Drmr have met.  Running Girl and MM have met, but Drmr and Running Girl have never met.  They all know each other through me.  I can't wait to watch the three of them together.  The more the merrier.

Tomorrow while I cook, guests will come over to watch the Broncos game before dinner.  Guests will scream and yell at the television while they are enticed by the smell of the pot roast cooking.  I can't wait to feel the energy in the house.

Wheaties FUEL Banana Bread

Two rather ripe bananas, and Wheaties FUEL.  Why not?  I haven't had a chance to bake in a few weeks.  The need to quell the urge was getting quite demanding.  So, looking around at what was in the kitchen, I had all the necessary ingredients for banana bread.  And, why not try to incorporate the Wheaties FUEL?  I have plenty of that around the house!  There are plenty of Oatmeal Banana Bread recipes, so really I just substituted the Wheaties FUEL for the oatmeal. I adapted the recipe from a Cooking Light recipe. Baking craving cured.  For now anyway!

The usual suspects, plus one unique ingredient.

1 cup packed brown sugar

Add 1/4 cup + 3T vegetable oil to the brown sugar.

2 egg whites + 1 egg

Blend brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs until well combined

Two ripe bananas

One cup Wheaties FUEL

1/2 cup milk

Add milk to bananas and Wheaties FUEL

Blend bananas, Wheaties FUEL and milk...

...until well comined

Add banana mixture to sugar mixture.  Blend until just combined.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to a medium bowl

Whisk dry ingredients together.

Blend dry ingredients with wet ingredients until just combined.

Spray a 9"X5" loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Lovingly spoon the batter into the loaf pan.  Somehow there is always just enough batter left in the mixing bowl for a good spoonful of batter to make it into my mouth.  Okay, maybe more than one spoonful.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for  60-70 minutes until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Look at the beautiful brown crust.  The edges are perfectly crispy.  Not all bread forms a good crispy crust, and not all should.  The crust on this loaf just begged to be tapped on and heard, and  I couldn't wait to take a slice.  I am a butt girl.  The butt of bread loaves is what I am talking about of course!

MMM.....the camera didn't capture the steam that was coming off of the fresh slice.  I should have taken a picture of me devouring the first piece.  Quality control of course!

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 7 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana (about 2 large)
• 1 cup Wheaties FUEL
• 1/2 cup fat-free milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; beat well at medium speed of a mixer. Combine banana, oats, and milk; add to sugar mixture, beating well. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir with a whisk. Add to sugar mixture; beat just until moist. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Stuffed Crossiant French Toast

So this recipe actually started two weeks ago and I didn't know it. While grocery shopping I saw a container of kumquats on sale and thought huh, bet I could do something with that. I have never had kumquats and have always been curious about them, so why not. The kumquats sat in the same container in the fruit basket for another week when I finally decided to do something with them. After searching for something to do with them I found an easy recipe for candied kumquats. Sure, what the heck!

Candied Kumquats Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups of roughly chopped kumquats (roughly 1-1½ lbs.)
• 1 cup of water
• 2 cups of sugar

METHOD

1 With a pairing knife roughly chop the kumquats. Discard any seeds you can that are easy to get too, but they're edible so don't fret if some get chopped up or stay in the fruit. Feel free to leave any small kumquats whole.

2 Heat the water and sugar over high heat until it comes to a boil. Simmer for 4 minutes. Add the kumquats and simmer for 10 minutes.

3 Drain the kumquats through a sieve set over a bowl. Return the syrup to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the syrup. Combine the kumquats and 1/4 cup of the syrup together.

Serve or jar and refrigerate. Can be stored for up to two weeks.

Super easy and super yummy! The kumquats turned out super sweet and the syrup was citrusy. The longer it cooled the thicker the syrup became. Now I had to figure out what to do with the finished product. Hmmm...

But now I have discovered that making candied fruit is easy and delicious. So, what else can I candy?? I searched for more candied fruit recipes and saw several but nothing seemed interesting. But I did see candied fruit peel recipes. So as I was peeling my morning grapefruit I thought, why not? So I saved the peel and after breakfast began the process.

Candied Fruit Peel
INGREDIENTS:

3 oranges

3 lemons

1 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

PREPARATION:

Cut peel of each orange and lemon into 4 sections with sharp knife. Remove peel carefully with fingers. Scrape white membrane from peel with spoon (back of peel will appear porous when membrane is removed). Cut peel lengthwise into strips about 1/4 inch wide. Heat peel and enough water to cover to boiling in 1 1/2-quart saucepan; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 30 minutes; drain. Repeat simmering process. Heat 1 1/2 cups sugar and 3/4 cup water to boiling in 1 1/2-quart saucepan, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peel. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes; drain in strainer Roll in 1/2 cup sugar; spread on waxed paper to dry. Store tightly covered at room temperature no longer than 1 week.

I should have either had more water when simmering the peel with the water and sugar, or not let it simmer as long, because when I came back to the pot there was no liquid, just chunky sugar and the grapefruit peel. But this was a good mistake. Now I had grapefruit sugar! It was chunky like rock candy almost. So I took out the peels and then reserved the sugar. The peels were awesome! Almost like the candy orange slices, only better! But what to do with the sugar?

Now I had candied kumquats and grapefruit sugar. Surely I could figure out something for these! Stuffed french toast was sounding really good. So I bought a single crossiant on Saturday night with the intention of turning it into french toast on Sunday morning. I also had cream cheese in the fridge that needed to be used. I sliced the crossiant part way thru creating a pocket. I combined 2 oz of cream cheese (full fat by the way) with some of the kumquat syrup and grapefruit sugar. I soaked the now stuffed croissant in an egg batter. What better to make a nice crispy crust on the croissant than by cooking it in butter! Oh fantastic. The outside of the croissant caramelized to a nice golden brown. I patiently waited for my creation to cook all the way thru and form a nice crispy crust. I plated the croissant and drizzled more kumquat syrup on top along with the remaining candied kumquats and more grapefruit sugar. I had to take a picture, it was just too pretty. But not to0 pretty to be eaten! As I sliced into it the cream cheese began to ooze out. The first bite was brilliant. The crust was crispy, the grapefruit sugar was still crunchy, and the filling was creamy and decadent. As I always do, I saved the center for last. That was going to be the best part, where all the filling was and the best part of the caramelized crust. I mopped as much of the kumquat syrup up as I could using the outside edge of the croissant. The oozing center was begging to be devoured but I slowly and deliberately saved it until the end. It was pure heaven. There was still syrup left on the plate when all was finished, so admittedly I picked up the plate and licked it. Oh sweet goodness. This was absolutely the best thing that I have ever made!

Easiest Cookies Ever!

Dad and I have a tradition. Cookies for touchdowns. Every time the Broncos score a touchdown, we get to eat a cookie. This tradition shows the lengths we will go to to support our team. There have had to be some amendments to this tradition. When the season ends with a 4-12 record, there are not too many touchdowns that we can celebrate. So we added field goals to the celebration. Some games went cookie-less. I believe that there was even a game that we were so desperate that we said first downs earned a cookie.

When we had season tickets and went to every game, Mom would send the cookies with Dad to take to the game. Now we don't have the tickets anymore, and I really can't complain. It took 6 hours out of the day for a 3 hour game. Between getting to the bus to take us to the stadium, the bus ride to the game, getting into the stadium, watching the game, getting back to the bus, the bus ride back to the car and then getting back home, it was an endurance event! Not to mention the weather. I am a fair weather fan. I can take the cold, but once it gets wet and windy you will find me in the bathroom with my hands under the hand dryer!

So, not being one to break tradition, I had to have cookies for yesterday's game. It was a home game, so if we had the tickets we would have been at the game with cookies. Now Dad and I will carry on the tradition, but either at my house or at his house for all home games. I hadn't filled MM in on the tradition of cookies for touchdowns however. So when Dad and I came in from our bike ride I told MM of the necessity and being a loyal Bronco fan himself and not wanting to jinx anything he was very supportive.

These cookies are fast, easy,  and terribly delicious!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Flourless Cookies
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
Combine the above ingredients with a mixer until combined.

Add in 1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chunks. I also added 1/2 cup of walnuts and 1/2 cup of dried cranberries. You can really add in whatever you want.

If you are only adding one mix-in you can still make cookies instead of bars. Form 1 1/2" balls of dough on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 10-12 min at 350.

If you are adding in more than one mix-in, the dough won't hold together as a cookie, so I made it into a bar. Spread all the dough in a 9X13 jelly roll pan, sprayed with cooking spray, that has at least a 1" high edge, or use a cake pan. Press the dough evenly on the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 min. Begin checking on the cookie at 15 min. Once the center is golden brown it is done. The edges will obviously finish before the center. But the crust is the best part if you ask me!

 For the opening game against the Raiders we didn't have cookies. We had Mom's apple pie. It was probably her best apple pie she has ever made. But the Broncos lost. We had cookies yesterday for the home game against the Bengals. We won. Don't mess with tradition!

Crab and Chipotle Sweet Corn Chowder

MM and I had gone to The Black Pearl before Valentine's Day for the first time. We were able to sit on the same side of the booth. Yes, we are still that sappy, or as I prefer, we are still that in love and love to be close to each other. Our waitress, Laney, was brand new. Maybe her second or third shift. She was all smiles, very nervous, but already very knowledgeable of the food and wine menu. She was able to explain the wines and already had her favorite dishes to rave about. We decided to order a bottle. Laney brought over the bottle explaining to us that we were her first couple that she had to present a bottle to. I don't think she could have had a better couple to practice on for the first time! While at the restaurant, MM and I were admiring some of the decorations. Laney tried to help us figure out what they were, and we tried Googling about them while we were at the restaurant. It was a great experience, and Laney really made it that way.

Just a few weeks ago, MM and I went back to the Black Pearl. It was a busier night, the windows and doors were wide open with the breeze blowing through. This time we had to sit on opposite sides of a table because all the booths had been taken. When our waitress came to the table, I was delighted to see that it was Laney. I asked if she remembered us and after a couple of seconds, her eyes got wide and the recollection was obvious. She said that she had been up in Estes Park at the Stanley Hotel recently and saw the decoration that we had been admiring. She immediately thought of us. Laney said the hotel was selling the decoration. Score! Not that I need a reason to go to Estes Park, but I have yet another one now.

Laney was much more confident this time, but still wonderful. The Black Pearl focuses on fresh, in season ingredients. The menu was full of squashes, corn, and local meat. We ordered an appetizer of sweet yellow corn soup with tamales. It arrived with the soup in a tiny cast iron crock with the tamales on the side. The soup was sweet, creamy and just a hint spicy. I immediately decided that I had to recreate it.

Knowing that it might be a process to make for my first attempt, I wanted to make it when MM and I didn't have the kids, but I also wanted to make it while the sweet corn was still in season so I had to make it soon. I also wanted to put my own twist on it. The sweet corn would take care of the sweet factor, but I wanted a bit of spice and savoriness in there as well. Crab just sounded like the ultimate addition along with the smokiness of chipolte.

The first step was to get all the kernels off of six ears of corn. Fresh sweet corn that I had to remove the husks myself. I love the process, and the pile of kernels that results.

I put the kernels along with the potato into the broth of chicken broth, whole milk and just a bit of cream. The corn and potatoes swam in the hot tub and softened, adding more flavor to the broth for about 20 minutes.

While the hot tub did it's thing, I melted some butter in olive oil on medium heat. I sliced an onion and added it to the butter and oil. I removed the seeds and ribs from one chipotle pepper, chopped the pepper up and added it to the onions. I easily could have added another pepper for more heat, but knowing we would have plenty left over I didn't know if the kids would want that much kick.

Once the potatoes were tender and the onions had softened I added the onions and chipotle to the corn and potato along with some salt and pepper. I ladeled about half of the corn kernels into a bowl and then used an immersion blender on the rest of the chowder to make it smooth and creamy. I put the whole kernels back in the now creamy chowder and added the lump crab. It simmered just long enough to heat up the crab.

By now the aroma was intoxicating. I wanted to dive head first into the pot of luscious creaminess. I had given MM the assignment of getting a small loaf of crusty bread. He did a good job. He had to admit though that he got advice from the lady at the bakery counter. The bread was the perfect loaf for creamy chowder!

I ladeled the soup into bowls, sliced the bread and brought it to the table. The first taste was all I needed. But of course I didn't stop there. The chowder was creamy and rich, the perfect amount of sweetness from the corn. The spice was there without being overpowering. I could have used more. The crab provided the best texture and it's own sweentess while being savory at the same time. I slowly savored the chowder, breaking off the bread and dipping it in the creamy bath. This chowder was one of those dishes that brings summer and winter together. The fresh sweetness of the corn with the warmth and creaminess of the chowder.

Crab and Chipotle Sweet Corn Chowder
2 cups low fat low sodium chicken broth
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
6 ears fresh sweet corn kernels removed
4-5 new potatoes chopped to just bigger than bite size
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 small sweet onion thinly sliced
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Ribs and seed removed. Mince the pepper.
salt and pepper.
6-8 oz lump crab meat
Crusty bread

Bring the chicken broth, milk and cream to a simmer. Add corn kernels and potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are tender enough to be pierced with a fork.

Melt butter and oil together. Add onion and pepper and saute until onion is soft.

Once potatoes are tender enough, add onion and pepper to the corn and potato pot. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle out about half of the corn kernels into a separate bowl. Using an immersion blender, blend the corn/potato mixture to your desired smoothness. Once smooth add back in the whole corn kernels and add in the lump crab meat. Simmer until the crab is warmed through (3-5 minutes).

Ladel chowder into bowls and serve with crusty bread.

Blank slate

My mind is a blank slate. All sorts of things I wanted to get out then when I finally get here nothing comes out. I want to write about cooking and baking, having the house to myself for the evening, my brutal ride on Sunday, seeing high school friends after 15 years, frisbee with Dreamer, being in love, talking about marriage. Well...I guess I just did.

90 minutes of running = 10 minutes of writing

Wow! The thoughts that come up after a long run. A run long enough that I don't focus on my pace. I don't think about the day to come, how I will feel in another 10 minutes, what is for dinner tonight. I can stay present, thinking only about how I feel right then, looking around me, marveling at my ability, and sometimes sucking in air and wishing the present hill would come to an end. But it is what happens after the run also that is so interesting. As soon as I stop my mind is flooded with thoughts of possibilities, what I want to do, amazement of what I just accomplished, feelings for others, how they have shaped my life. I smile at the end of a run, because it was my run, whether it was fast or slow, easy or hard. There is no judging by anyone but myself. This is part of the reason I love the independence of running, biking and triathlon. I don't have to rely on anyone else to accomplish my goal, and I don't have to worry about letting anyone else down. Although I am learning that playing with others is fun too. Accepting help becomes easier. Yes, I can put my bike on my car all by my big girl self and have done so a million times. But if a friend wants to hold up the straps as I lift the bike on the car, that is what he wants to do, why in the world should that bother me. It no longer does. I love the person that I have grown to be. Not just the athlete, but the entire person. Who knew that 90 minutes of running would ever evoke 10 minutes of writing. Bring it on, and never let it stop!