It's Never To Late

The past few weeks have been difficult for me.  Nothing has changed, just been one of those past couple of weeks.  Maybe it's because I have birthday looming next week.  Maybe because I've started looking at preschools for my sweet baby girl.  Maybe it's the mile long to-do list that never seems to get any shorter no matter what I do.  Maybe it's the looks I get from some people when they hear I've gone back to school.  More than likely it's a combination of all those things.  The last one is the hardest one to get past.  I've been trying very hard lately not to let other people's actions affect me.  And it's harder sometimes than I wish it would be.

You know the look I'm talking about.  People give it to you for all kinds of things.  The first time I ever got the look was when I would tell people I was a stay at home mom.  You get this look, from just about everyone who hasn't been a stay at home mom, as if to say "Oh...I'm sorry" or "Must be nice to have a rich husband" or (my favorite) "That fulfils you?"  I got used to it after a while.  After all, I am very proud that I have had the opportunity to spend priceless time with my daughter watching her grow and develop.  It's been a challenge and we've had to sacrifice things as a family, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

For some reason the look I get now really gets under my skin.  It's as if people are looking at me like "You're in school now?  And you're how old?"  Then thanks to a very good friend of mine and pinterest I started to feel a little better.  She found a quote about Julie Child that stated Julie didn't start cooking until she was 37.  Thank you friend, I needed that.  I needed to hear that someone who is very accomplished in the same field I want to be accomplished in started at an "older" age.  She did other things before finding her calling as a chef.  If she could do it, than so can I.  And...if I can have even one ounce the success she did, I will be beyond ecstatic with my choice.  It's taking some time, but I'm slowly pulling myself out of this crazy funk.

So...in honor of being in a funk lately, I give you a sweet treat to munch on.  After all, what's better than chewy gooey brownies when you are down in the dumps?  I've been making this brownie recipe since I was 9 or 10.  It's quick, easy and ohhh so much chocolaty goodness.  This time, I made one little change.  I added some of my mom's jelly.  The extra moisture keeps the brownies extra moist and yummy even days after you make them...if they last that long!  I think this will become a permanent change in my trusty brownie recipe!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Brownies
Makes 16 brownies

1/2 c butter; melted
1/2 c self rising flour
1 c sugar
1/3 c Hershey's cocoa
2 t vanilla
4 T Aunt Bunny's Chocolate Covered Strawberry Jelly
1 T milk
2 eggs

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2- Grease a 9 inch square, glass baking dish.
3- Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl.
4- Add eggs and beat well with a wooden spoon.
5- Stir together flour and cocoa in a separate bowl.  Gradually add to the egg mixture, beating until well blended.
6- Stir in jelly and milk, making sure to break down all clumps. 
7- Spread batter evenly in pan.  Bake 20-30 minutes until brownies start to pull away from the sides of the pan and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8- Cool completely and cut into squares.

Breaking the Valentine's Day Curse

It's become a joke between my husband and I that we suffer from a Valentine's Day curse.  When we first met, it was November.  As Valentine's Day got closer and closer, we both made the comment that hitting the drive through at Taco Bell would beat our previous Valentine's Day.  That's all it took to jinx us.  In the years that we have been together we have had a restaurant get overbooked and cancel on us on Valentine's Day, a restaurant close two days before Valentine's Day, and one that just wasn't good at all.  Last year was perfect...but then again...we didn't go out on Valentine's Day either, so that solved the problem right there.  We've always found a way to enjoy the night together, but it is comical how things just never worked out the way we planned them.

This year we decided to do things a little differently.  We went back and forth about restaurants we could go to or wanted to try, but our limited budget wasn't exactly working with those big romantic plans.  So we came up with an idea that was cost effective and still romantic.  A perfect combination for anyone, right?  We sent our little girl to spend the night at Nana's house and cooked together.  Now, this may be hard to believe, but we've never actually cooked together.  Sure my hubby's helped in the kitchen here and there when I ask him specifically to do something, but as far as both of us in the kitchen preparing a whole meal together, we'd never done it.  We planned the menu together, cooked together, and sat down for a wonderful dinner with a nice glass of wine.  After dinner we broke open a bottle of bubbles and cuddled up to watch...what else...Valentine's Day.  It couldn't have been better.  A nice quiet evening with good quality hubby wife time is hard to come by with two busy schedules and a little one running around, so this was just what we needed.  It was such a success, it may even become a tradition.  After all, we can't cancel on each other or close our own kitchen down, so it's guaranteed to break the cruse every year.  Of course, now that I've said that...something will happen.  Either way...here's what we made.  So mark a night off on your calendar to spend with your special someone and cook away.  You'll be glad you did!

Creamy Shirmp and Lobster Bisque
Makes 2 servings

1 lobster tail; shell removed and reserved, meat roughly chopped
2 T butter
1/2 onion; diced
2 stalks celery; diced
20-25 shrimp; peeled and devained (shells reserved)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp paprika
2 cloves garlic; minced
2 T tomato sauce
2 T brandy
1/4 c white wine
1 1/2 c chicken stock
1 1/2 c half and half; heated
1/4 c uncooked rice
salt and pepper to taste

1- Heat butter in a large pot.  Add onion, celery, garlic, shrimp shells and lobster shell.  Sweat vegetables until the shrimp shells turn pink. 
2- Add bay leaf, thyme, parsley, paprika and tomato sauce.  Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3- Add brandy and wine.  Cook until reduced by half, stirring occasionally.
4- Add chicken stock and rice.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer.  Simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5- Remove lobster shell.  Puree mixture (including shrimp shells) and strain.  Return the soup to pot.  Add half and half, shrimp and lobster.  Simmer for 5 minutes, or until shrimp turn pink.  For a completely creamy soup, add the shrimp and lobster to the soup 5 minutes before pureeing, or you can puree the soup again after the shirmp and lobster meat are cooked
6 - Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Garnish with paprika.

Filet Mignon with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce
Makes 2 servings

1 T butter
3 T shallot; minced
1/4 lb shiitake mushrooms; stems removed
3/4 c dry red wine
5 oz beef broth
2 filet mignon steaks
1 1/2 t soy sauce
1 t cornstarch
1 1/2 t thyme
salt and pepper

1- Melt half the butter in a skillet.  Add shallots and mushrooms.  Saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring often.  Add 1/2 c wine and 1/3 c beef broth.  Cook 3-4 miuntes, stirring often.  Transfer mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.  Continue to cook the liquid in the skillet another 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until reduced to 1/4 c.  Add liquid to mushrooms, keep warm.
2- Season steaks with salt and pepper on both sides.
3- In the same skillet, melt the remaining butter.  Add steaks and brown for 3 minutes of each side.  Cook for an additional 1 1/2 minutes per side for medium rare (or longer for desired degree of doneness).  Remove steaks from skillet and keep warm.
4- Add remaining wine and beef broth to the skillet.  Stir to loosen the browned bits on the bottom.  Bring to a boil.  Boil for 1 minute.
5- Combine soy sauce and cornstarch in a small bowl.  Stir mixture into skillet.  Add mushroom mixture and thyme to skillet.  Bring to a boil, stiring constantly, boil for 1 minute.  Serve sauce over steaks.

Braised Collard Greens
Makes 4 servings

1 oz olive oil
4 strips bacon; diced
1/2 onion; diced
2 stalks celery; diced
2 garlic cloves; thinly sliced
dash cayanne pepper (more if you want spicy)
1 bunch collard greens; stems removed, torn into pieces
8 oz chicken stock
1 oz apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper

1- Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Add bacon and cook until bacon is rendered and crisp, 5-7 minutes.
2- Add onion and celery.  Cook 3-5 minutes until translucent.  Add garlic.  Cook for 1 minute.
3- Add cayanne pepper and collard.  Stir well.  Add stock and vinegar.  Stir well.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir well.
4- Partially cover the pot.  Cook 30-40 minutes until greens are tender, stirring occasionally.
5- Season to taste.

Cookbook Creations

My mom makes jelly.  Awesome jelly.  And did I happen to mention it's made from wine?  How much better can that be?  She mostly sells it at craft and Christmas shows and recently has broken into bridal shows.  To give her a little edge at these events, other than giving her jelly out for samples, I've been coming along to help.  I've integrated her jelly into different dishes and have served those along side her samples.  I think that's helped make a few sells.  After all, who can say no to a free sample of Cranberry Chocolate Parfait...not me!

This year at the Yule Mart in Fort Bragg as we were passing out yummy food samples, along with the recipes of course, someone suggested that we create a cookbook with recipes using all the different jellies as an ingredient.  It was a total "why didn't we think of that moment"!  Of course, once I hear an idea like that, I can't let go of it.  Mom and I talked logistics and off we ran to begin the cookbook.  I guess I wasn't thinking so clearly on how much of a task this could be while I'm going back to school...but no rest for the weary...we're going full steam ahead!

With this cookbook creation comes taste testing.  I don't want to put anything in the book that I wouldn't want to eat, so therefore I must try all the recipes before they go in.  Some have been really good...others, well let's just say they could use some work.  My hubby has been hanging with me through this, though I know secretly he's thinking...when are we going to be done with jelly and go back to my manly tacos?  So today I offer for you a sneak peak into a recipe that's going in the book.  I adapted this recipe from a blog titled "Confections of a Foodie Bride."  I found her on Pinterest and her blog is wonderful!  I need to spend some time stalking her blog to find some more goodies.  So, here's my version.  Give it a try and tell me what you think?  Would you buy the cookbook with more yummies like this one?

Cherry Berry Balsamic Pork Tenderloin
Makes 4 servings

2 oz Aunt Bunny's Cherry Blend Jelly 
2 oz water
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin
salt and pepper
1 T butter
1/4 c shallot; minced
2 garlic cloves; minced
2 tsp dried rosemary; chopped
3/4 c chicken broth
2 T balsamic vinegar

1- In a sauce pan on the stove, melt the jelly in the water.  Once the jelly is melted, add the balsamic vinegar.  Keep the mixture warm, but not boiling.
2- Preheat oven to 400.
3- Heat olive oil in an oven proof skillet.
4- Rinse, trim and dry pork tenderloin.  Season all sides with salt and pepper.
5- Sear pork in olive oil, about 2 minutes per side.
6- Put skillet in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.  Remove the pork from the skillet and onto a plate.  Loosely cover with foil and let rest.
7- In the same skillet the pork was in, add the butter, shallot and garlic.  Cook over medium heat 2-3 minutes.
8- Add rosemary and broth.  Deglaze the pan by scraping the browned bits of pork off the bottom. 
9- Stir in the jelly mixture.  Simmer, stirring often until the sauce has begun to thicken, about 10 minutes.
10- Serve sauce over sliced pork tenderloin.

13.1 Down...Many More to Go!

Let me begin by saying I am NOT a runner.  I used to be in college, but bad knees came along (dang that makes me sound old) and I can no longer run.  I have LOTS of friends who are runners.  Some have competed in 5Ks, half marathons, full marathons...anything they can compete in.  My hat goes off to all of them because I know I couldn't do it.  However, I can only imagine the endurance it takes to successfully complete a marathon is the same endurance it takes to complete culinary school.  I'm beginning to look at each quarter as a marathon (because this is what I would imagine running one would feel like).  I am now at the half way point through my first quarter, and I feel the way I would guess most runners feel at their half way point.  I'm tired.  I'm sore.  I think sometimes the end just isn't ever going to come.  I feel like there is so much to be done and not enough time to do it.  But then I take a breath.  I catch my stride.  I realize I'm doing something I love to do.  I realize the finish line is going to come way before I'm ready to quit.  And I move on.  It's been a juggling act of schedules and chores and errands and everything else since this started, but I know I'm going to miss it when it's over.

This week, on top of mid terms (YIKES...11 weeks is going by really fast!)...we tackled something that I have dreaded for a LOOONG time.  Eggs.  I love eggs.  I'm okay at cooking them, in my own way.  But I knew with eggs would come the one way of cooking them that I could never nail.  Poaching...oh yes...we cooked Eggs Benedict.  After the initial shock and horror of not wanting to screw up in front of my Chef instructor came and went, I decided to approach this little egg with my head held high.  After all, it's just an egg, how scary can it be...right?

As it turns out, I had been trying to poach eggs all wrong for years (go figure!)  It really is not that difficult at all if you have a few trusty tricks up your sleeve.  You need: fresh eggs, a pot of water with a lot of vinegar in it, and a pot of salted water.  Sounds yummy...I know...but hang with me for a second.  Boil one quart of water with 1/4 c vinegar on the stove.  You will cook your egg in this water.  It really doesn't matter what type of vinegar you use, so whatever you have handy will do just fine.  The vinegar in the water helps the egg whites to coagulate faster so you end up with a pretty little bundle of poached egg and not one that looks like it has stuck it's finger in a light socket.  You want to make sure the water is boiling, but not rolling...rolling bubbles will roll your egg...which is bad news.  Then, heat a smaller pot of heavily salted water next to it on the stove, not boiling...just hot.  I'm talking sea water salty.  This will be your rinse water so your lovely little egg doesn't come out tasting like vinegar.  The salt in the water actually helps flavor the egg so there's less for you to do...SCORE!

Now that you got your water ready, let's head for the egg.  Crack it into a ramekin or a small bowl.  Carefully drop the egg into the boiling vinegar water.  Don't be afraid...trust me, if I can do it, anyone can.  The white of the egg should come up and around the rest of the egg and form a little bundle.  If yours doesn't do that on it's own...mine didn't...just take a spoon and help it along.  Boil in this water for 3 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and put into the salted rinse water.  Leave it sit in this water for a minute to get rid of that yucky vinegar taste...and your done!  Serve these little beauties atop a toasted English muffin, Canadian bacon and topped with hollandaise (see below) and you have Eggs Benedict.  Oh so yummy...and now not quite as scary (I hope!)

Hollandaise Sauce
Makes 6 servings

4 egg yolks
12 oz clarified butter (To get clarified butter, melt whole stick butter in a pot.  Once melted, scrape off the white stuff on the top - milk solids.  If you can't get it all, no worries.)
salt and pepper to taste
dash of lemon juice
2 tsp dill

Whisk 4 egg yolks and 1 oz cold water in a bowl.  Put the mixture over a double boiler and whisk slowly for 2-3 minutes.  Briskly whisk the mixture until it is a light lemon color and slightly frothy, another 2-3 minutes.  If the egg starts to cook around the edges of the bowl, remove it from the double boiler for a bit.  Remember...you control the heat in the kitchen...not the other way around.
Remove the whole double boiler from the stove.  Take about 1 oz of hot water from the pan and add it to your egg mixture.  Cover the bottom of the double boiler with a towel and put your bowl with the egg mixture in it back on top.  This will help keep it warm without continuing to cook.
Slowly whisk in the clarified butter.  The butter should mix well with the egg mixture.  If it looks like they are going to separate, stop adding the butter and whisk the egg mixture harder.  If the mixture becomes to thick, add a little more hot water.
Season with salt, pepper, lemon juice...and I like dill.  Or, flavor however you want.  After all, it's your sauce!!