5 Months in a Nutshell…

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Wow! I cannot believe it has been 5 months since my last post! So many wonderful eating adventures have transpired, and I have yet to record any of them…I need to make up for lost time!

I have officially missed blogging about our extravagant Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, as well as the numerous phenomenal feasts we devoured in Madrid and Rome this past January. Have I ever mentioned what an incredibly lucky girl I am??? Okay, the kicker is this: I get to go back to Europe this summer for a month…Italy is one of our return visits, and I promise to blog this time.

My husband and I hit Spain and Italy in celebration of our 20 year anniversary. It was truly a magical trip on many fronts. I am married to the most wonderful man, and despite the ups and downs that are inevitable in every relationship we have managed to grow stronger over the years. Even the prospect of being ’empty nesters’ in the very near future seems exciting! Yes, I will certainly miss that phase of my life, and I will miss having my boys living with us and sharing everyday life; however, I cannot wait to have time alone with my man and take it to the next level.

While in Europe we had many food adventures. In Madrid we enjoyed tapas near Plaza Mayor and spent time at the Mercado de San Miguel. One night we had an anniversary dinner at El Cheflan, a wonderful place located in a small hotel in Madrid where we savored a seven course meal – my husband had his paired with wine while I chose to stick with champagne…I can’t think of one meal we had that was not delicious. And I believe all of our meals were at places recommended by locals. I am totally convinced this is the way to find the best places to dine.

After five days in Madrid (which included a day trip to Toledo – awesome!!) we hopped on a plane to Rome. Rome is magical. That is a simple as I can put it. We had so many great food experiences there, beginning with dinner right after we checked into our hotel. The concierge directed us to a hidden gem about 10 minutes away called Santo Padre. There were no menus…the waiter gave us an overview of their foods and then asked what we wanted. Everything was amazing…and inexpensive. We even shared a bottle of wine (Italian, of course). Our last night there we enjoyed a second anniversary dinner at an upscale restaurant called Il Convivio. They have one of the largest wine menus in the entire city…that says a lot!! And the food was definitely not as inexpensive as Santo Padre, but it was worth every euro we spent!!

So that is my ever-so-brief recap of my past few months…Lots to catch up on and even more food adventures coming up!! Ciao (for now…)

Homemade Crackers…

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Yesterday I was finally able to make a cracker recipe I have been sitting on for a few weeks. I saw it posted on the Nourished Kitchen site, but before I had a chance to make it my floors were being refinished and all of my kitchen cabinets, appliances, etc were covered in plastic. I was so excited when I got my kitchen back…it was finally time to make the crackers!! The recipe can be found at: http://nourishedkitchen.com/homemade-crackers/#comment-14285. It is very easy, and the only time consuming part involves a long wait (12-24 hours) once you have mixed the dough. I was surprised how quickly it all came together, and the results were tasty. It is a very good thing they did not come out of the oven until late last night or they would be gone by now. As it stands, I keep wandering over to grab ‘just one more’. Crackers in a box will never be the same for me…

My current plan is to make some to have over the holidays, but I don’t know how long they will last – both in keeping ability and the ability for all of us not to eat them at one sitting! I will be experimenting with how well they store, as well as with adding other flavors (ie herbs and spices, cheese, etc) to them for new taste combos. I think some fresh herbs added to the dough would be a nice touch or maybe a little a little pepper for a slight kick. Good thing I don’t have a lot going on in the kitchen for the upcoming holidays so I can try out all these ideas! 😉

Turkey Stock

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Today I am making turkey stock. I hit Whole Foods early today so I can let the stock cook most of the afternoon. As soon as I got home I roasted the turkey wings and thighs in the oven with salt, pepper, garlic cloves and olive oil. Once roasted I placed them in a stock pot along with a couple of onions, several carrots and celery stalks, added water, salt, peppercorns and thyme and brought it all to a boil. Then I lowered the heat to a simmer. Once the stock has reduced I will strain it and ladle it into containers for the freezer. The house already smells like Thanksgiving!

Pie Day – our own family holiday!

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As the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaches my thoughts turn to pie. Pie has been a huge tradition in my husband’s family for Thanksgiving…and by huge I mean LOTS of pie. I was amazed at the quantity the first time I ate with his family for the Turkey Day festivities: TWELVE pies. Yes, twelve; 12; Ten plus two; Six plus six…you get the picture. His mom prepared a feast for not only their immediate family, but for aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. There were a lot of eaters – and a lot of pie. Once my husband and I married we spent practically every Thanksgiving with his family. And when our boys were born they eagerly looked forward to the pie tradition every year. So you can imagine the angst incurred when we finally realized we had to give up traveling for the Thanksgiving holidays. The first time the subject was brought up my husband asked, “But what about the pies? The boys will really miss all that pie” Translated: “But what about the pies? I will really miss all that pie”.  So I agreed to make several pies. I knew 12 pies were absolutely out of the question, but I agreed to make 6…

Fast forward many years…Each year I have made more and more pies. I finally broke my record last year, making not only 11 pies, but the equivalent of 2 other pies in the form of mini-pies. Yes, some were duplicates. There were 2 Bourbon Pecan, 2 Cherry, 2 Apple (one had brandied raisins) and 2 pumpkin. Then I made 1 Chocolate, 1 Banana Cream, and 1 Coconut Cream. The final two ‘pies’ were Lemon Meringue and Cranberry Meringue, made into bite-sized portions to ensure meringue on each serving (don’t you hate when you have a slice of lemon meringue and get no meringue?!?).

I can hear all of you trying to wrap your brain around this concept of (essentially) 13 pies…”But why?” you ask, and “Do you EAT all that pie yourself?” and, the most common question, “ARE YOU CRAZY???” (to that one I of course say ‘yes’). I make all those pies because I love to bake, and I love a cooking challenge. And I especially love to continue a long-standing family tradition, one that my boys will remember and hopefully pass along to their kids someday (my apologies to their future wives). As to whether or not we eat all of that pie, well, we do solicit a bit of help. See, we do not have the good fortune to have our family near during the holidays. Usually it is only the 4 of us and my nephew (and my parents one year)…a lot of pie for five people. So we have ‘Pie Day’. This is usually the day after Thanksgiving – and on this wonderful day we invite our friends to join us in the eating of the pies. Often, they bring over their own leftover desserts from their Big Day…There are a lot of desserts! Everyone comes hungry and leaves full!!

So now here I am, fully in the process of readying for Pie Day. I have pie crust in the freezer and am looking for one or two new flavors/recipes to add to the mix this year. Many of my ingredients have been purchased and stored…the fresh ones will be bought a day or so ahead. And on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving I will spend the entire day in my kitchen, happily paring, dicing, slicing, rolling out crust, assembling and baking all those glorious pies…That night I will fall into bed tired (read: exhausted) but happy, and will drift off to sleep dreaming of eating lots and lots of pie!

Chipotle Powder – heating things up in the kitchen!

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There is something about chipotle powder that is magical to me. It has that combination of smoke and heat and spice that makes me want to dust it on practically everything. I am addicted…I sprinkle it in mashed sweet potatoes, ranch-style black beans and my homemade tortilla soup. It goes on my smoked ribs. It goes in my chili. If I think it will enhance a dish, it goes in…I even use it on ice-cream. One of my favorite flavor combinations is vanilla ice-cream with a drizzle of honey, sliced peaches – perfectly ripe of course, chopped pecans and an ever-so-slight touch of chipotle powder. The first bite yields the cold yet creamy taste of the vanilla ice-cream married with a sweet kiss of honey, soon followed by the juicy peaches and crunch of pecans…and at the very end you get a touch of heat on the back of your palate from the chipotle…Divine! If honey is the nectar of the gods then surely chipotle powder is the indulgence of the devil himself! Heaven and Hell join forces, creating this one beautiful pièce de résistance.

Life is way too short not to spice things up a bit…I dare you to give it a try!!