Weather and Birthdays and Voting - Oh My!

First of all, FUCK YEAH, AMERICA!  Yesterday the country said, "I think actually we will have a little equality, thank you."  It's safe to be a vagina-having person again.  Racism died a little.  We move forward.  Halleje-frikkin-ulla!

All that said, it's safe to say I was panicking just a smidge when polls closed and no numbers were in.  My coping mechanism:

 Things went good quickly, though.  I didn't have to polish it off.

Other things have been good too.  We survived Sandy without too many problems.  Lost our power for a little over a day, need to replace part of the fence, and lost the apple tree from our backyard.  It could have been much worse.  

  

(It could have been this - our next-door neighbor's house)

But the kids still got to do Halloween, as power was back on in the neighborhood and Framingham didn't postpone.  

 yum.  Pumpkin guts.

I think that my carvings stayed very true to the artists' intentions.

Although we didn't eat this on Halloween, we totally should have, because the kids said it looked like a plate of bloody hair.  Okay, that doesn't make it sound so appetizing, but it was really, really good.  

It's epicurious's Farro Spaghetti, Beets and Brown Butter recipe, but with the following tweaks:
I used regular pasta.  I skipped the poppy seeds.  I served with the beet greens that were sauteed in butter.  If you're a beet fan, I highly recommend it.  (And it's fun to look at, to boot!)

So after Halloween was Jax's birthday party.  So much fun.  

We played "Pin the Nose on the Witch"

 Birthday boy goes first!

Some were more successful than others.

There was a remarkably durable pinata

 It was a costume party (he's not always dressed like batman)

Of course, when all the kids had had a turn, and there was still no candy, Uncle Fred had to step up.

 And still, no candy.  So Pete took one for the team.  

I swear that thing was made of specially reinforced cardboard.

And we had a fantastic balloon fight (boys v. girls)

The girls ended up winning, even though the boys got some extra help 

Of course, Pete had to jump in too

Then there was cake

 They weren't sideways when we ate them. 

 All in all, a remarkably successful party, if I do say so myself. 

So when you factor all that in, plus the insanity that is work, and the stupid <grumble grumble, grr> CFP, we've been doing a lot of easy dinners.  There's been good stuff though.  Like

Stuffed French Toast and Cooked Apples
(french toast)
1 loaf sliced cinnamon raisin bread
cream cheese
6 eggs
1.5 cups milk
butter (for cooking)

(apples)
4 large apples
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp apple pie spice mix (or just cinnamon)

To make the french toast:
Spread a slice of bread with a generous layer of cream cheese, and top with another slice of bread to make a sandwich.  Repeat until you've used up the loaf of bread.  
Beat the eggs and milk together until uniform in color throughout.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add the butter.
Dip the sandwiches in the egg mix and soak until the bread is saturated, but not falling apart.  
Cook each sandwich over medium heat for about 5 minutes per side, or until nicely browned and cooked through.  Keep warm in a 200 degree oven.

To make the apples:
Slice the apples in about 1/4 inch slices, leaving the skins on.  Heat the butter over medium heat, and then add the apples to the pan.  Add the sugar and spice and reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft, but not mushy (about 15 minutes).  

Finally, tonight we had

Stacked Enchiladas
16 corn tortillas
1/2 can refried beans
1 red pepper
1 medium red onion
2 cups cooked shredded chicken (leftover rotisserie?), tossed with about 1 tbsp taco seasoning
3 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, "mexican blend," whatever)
enchilada sauce or salsa

First, prep the pepper and onion: slice each into 1/4 inch thick slices, and saute over medium high heat until soft, about 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool.
Grease a large baking dish (4 tortillas should be able to lay flat across the bottom without overlapping - you might need two dishes).
Spread one tortilla with about 3 tbsp of refried beans.  Top with another corn tortilla.  Sprinkle a little bit of cheese, then place 1/4 of the pepper and onion mix.  Sprinkle a little more cheese, and top with another tortilla.  Place a little more cheese, top with 1/4 the chicken, and top with a little more cheese.  Place the last tortilla.  Repeat until you have 4 stacks.
Top each stack with a generous coating of enchilada sauce (or salsa) and top with a little more cheese.
Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, serve hot.  

So there.  In the past two weeks, we've hosted parties, survived a hurricane, and made some really really good political choices.  

Oh, and I tried my hand at making bread.  Not bad, if I say so myself.

Tomorrow, more work, more food, no political ads, good politicians.  Should be alright.

New Format, Good Eats.

We're in the grove now, I think. 

Working. 

 (This is my "I'm so happy to be grading" face)

Having fun.

 At CocoKey Indoor Water Park with Grandma.  She took us to celebrate Jax's 5th birthday!

 Happy Birthday Jax!

 Aren't we cute?

Getting ready for Halloween.

 My favorite witch, ghost and cowboy.

And me as Carmen Miranda.   

Eating. 
(I think that, since I have nowhere near the time to post every day, I'll just do a round up of what we ate during the week from now on.  Of course, that makes the posts incredibly long, but we'll live with it.)

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Thyme and Roasted Potatoes

I used this epicurious recipe with these changes:
*I mixed about a tsp of honey with about 3 tbsp butter and some lemon zest and placed it under the skin before roasting.
*I skipped the lemons on the top.
*I quartered 6 medium red potatoes and a large onion and placed them around the chicken before cooking.  

I served with rice pilaf and frozen peas.

I forgot to get an "after picture" but, aside from the lemons, I swear it looked just like this:

Pumpkin Pancakes with Buttered Walnuts

I used this Martha Stewart Recipe and it was awesome.  No changes.  I did double it. The only thing that I added was this:
chop 1/4 c. walnuts
saute over medium heat in about 3 tbsp butter (preferably salted) until fragrant. 
Serve atop the pancakes with maple syrup.

Prosciutto and Brie Sandwiches with Fig and Eggplant Jam

Ok, so I made the fig and eggplant jam last summer and had it frozen, and I can't remember exactly how I made it.  So if you want to make this sandwich (and I highly recommend that), you can make

Prosciutto and Brie Sandwiches with Apricot Thyme Jam
(serves 2)

1/2 baguette, sliced in half and then halved again in the other direction
1/4 lb prosciutto
4 oz brie, sliced
4 tbsp apricot jam, mixed with 1/4 tsp thyme leaves and a pinch of salt

Spread each of the four quarters with the jam mixture, then top with 2 slices of prosciutto, and then a quarter of the brie.  Bake at 375 for about 8 minutes, or until the cheese is slightly melty.

I served with roasted broccoli, a small salad, and the dijon version of these wicked good potato chips.

This was a very good "eat after the kids go to bed" quick and grown-up dinner.

Spaghetti Pizza
For when you want pizza, but want it fast.

1 box of spaghetti, cooked and drained
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 cups of tomato sauce
8 oz mozzarella cheese
pizza toppings of your choice (we used pepperoni)

Mix the egg and the Italian seasoning, and toss the egg mix with the pasta until it's evenly coated.
Spread the pasta in a large, greased pizza dish, or 2 8X11 glass pans.  Spread it until it's close to flat and press it down with a plate. 

Tossed with egg and ready to be cooked.

 Generously spray it with cooking spray and broil it until the top is browned, about 10 minutes.

Yummy and browned.

Remove from the oven and top with the tomato sauce, cheese, and pizza toppings.  Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes.  Slice as you would a pizza.

I said "shoot, I forgot to take a picture."  

Pete said, "Say it was so good it came out of the oven partially eaten."

Cupcakes
Ok, this isn't really a recipe so much as a hint.
If you want seriously kick-ass chocolate cake or cupcakes, use the King Arthur Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix.  It's worth the extra couple of dollars.  It always gets raves.  Even though we're not gluten free around here, it's far and away the best cake mix out there.
And then you can top it with this decidedly un-gluten-free frosting.  I don't even like frosting, and I ate this by the spoonful.  It's worth the cooking and cooling time.  Seriously. 

Yes, covered up in bad lighting these look like deviled eggs.  

But they were mini chocolate cupcakes with white-yellow-and-orange frosting 

(to look like candy corn). 

All in all, life goes apace.  At this present moment, I refuse to worry about the upcoming hurricane/tropical storm/heavy rain thing that's bearing down upon us.  I'm going so far as to charge all of my devices, and I bought a new book for the Nook.  Anyone read The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window?  Sounds interesting.  I almost got Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore.  What about that one?

A perfect marriage.

Not talking about mine, (although my marriage is quite lovely, thank you).  I'm talking about a perfect marriage.  The marriage of "noodle" and "cake," where the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts.  Crispy on the outside, pleasantly squishy on the inside, tasty throughout.  We were all generally in agreement on this point.

I served this with extra tofu, but it would have been better with a vegetable stir fry.  Next time.

Chinese Noodlecake with Tofu
2 packages of fresh Chinese noodles (wheat, not rice)
about 6 oz shredded carrots
1 small onion, finely diced
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger (or that jarred stuff that's amazing)
1 package smoked tofu, finely diced
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch
vegetable oil

In a large (12-14 inch) nonstick pan on medium heat, sauté the carrots and onions with the ginger until they are soft, but not mushy.  Set aside.

Ignore the fact that this is a regular pan.  I was trying to multitask.

Turn up the heat to medium-high, put about 1 tbsp oil in the pan, and cook the tofu, turning infrequently, until it is browned and slightly crisped.  

You have to cut it up really small, or it won't mix with the noodles.

As it is cooking, mix the soy and hoisin sauces together.

Mix the vegetables back in with the tofu, and top with the hoisin-soy mix.  Coat well, and remove from heat.

Mix the cornstarch with about a tablespoon of water, and stir well, making sure there are no clumps.  Add more water, a few drops at a time, until you have a mixture that is slightly thinner than maple syrup.

Cook the noodles according to the package directions, making sure not to overcook, and drain well.

In a large bowl, toss the noodles with the tofu-vegetable mixture, and quickly toss to coat with the cornstarch (I used two forks to do this).

Heat the nonstick skillet over medium-high heat again, and coat with a generous tablespoon of vegetable oil.  Place the noodle mixture into the pan and gently press down to make the noodlecake even.

Cook on medium-high heat for about 7 minutes, or until you can easily slide a spatula under the noodlecake and lift it up gently.  

The trick is in flipping the cake over - place a regular dinner plate on top of the pan and flip.  It should be inverted onto the plate.  Put another tablespoon of oil in the pan, swirl around, and then gently slide the noodlecake back into the pan, uncooked side down.  Cook for about 7 minutes.

In an ideal world, one in which I have a gas stove, this wouldn't be so unevenly browned.  Alas, electric it is.

Invert back onto the plate, cut into wedges, and serve.  

Here we are, with extra tofu and more cucumbers for color.  Strongly recommend a quick veggie stir fry instead.  

In case you were wondering, which you probably weren't, which is cool I guess, if we're going to roll that way, the Ecotarium was awesome.  Tomorrow I'll share with you the fantastic not-raw-egg take on pasta carbonara that we had for dinner afterwards.  Bacon and carbs, what could be better?

Walden and Ricotta Gnocci

Perfect weather for the kids' inaugural trip to Walden Pond.  

It's like they weren't trying to kill each other in the car 5 minutes before this

We walked about halfway around the lake to a private little spot, which was awesome in that we had it to ourselves pretty much the whole morning.

taking a break from swimming to take a little stroll

on the rubble next to the Thoreau house

Dinner was a modified Ricotta and Spinach gnocchi recipe.  I'd like to say that these were light and pillowy.  They weren't super dense and chewy, but they could have been fluffier.  I think that a) they needed to be cut smaller, b) they needed slightly less flour and c) they needed to boil about one minute longer.  I've made these modifications in the recipe, so if anyone wants to try it and let me know how it goes, that'd be swell.  

Ricotta Gnocchi
1 15 oz container low-fat ricotta
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/3 c. grated parmesan, plus more for the top
1 1/2 c. flour, plus more for kneading
tomato sauce 


Mix the ricotta, egg, salt and parmesan together well.  Then add flour, 1/2 c. at a time, until it forms a dough.
Turn the dough onto a floured counter and knead until pliable and soft and not too sticky, but not too dry either.*
Cut the dough into 4 pieces and, on a floured counter again, roll each piece out until it's a rope about an inch thick.

imagine that there were pictures earlier.  I keep forgetting.

Cut each dough rope into pieces about the length of your first knuckle (or 1/2 inch in case you have freakishly large fingers, or are some kind of cooking orangutang.) 
Gently press on each dumpling with the tines of a fork, making a four-stripe indentation* (I have no idea why this step exists, but it was in the original recipe, so I did it, so here it is.  You could probably live on the wild side and be indentation-less, but it's up to you).
Lightly grease an 8X10 glass dish and coat the bottom with tomato sauce (yes, from a jar.)  

my nicely indented gnocchi just waiting to be boiled alive

Preheat the oven to broil.
Bring a large pot of water to boil and heavily salt it.  Once the water is boiling, drop the dumplings in gently one at a time until you've added 1/2 the gnocchi.  They'll sink to the bottom, but as they cook, they'll rise.  Once they've risen, cook for 3 more minutes, then ladle them out with a slotted spoon into the tomato sauce.
Repeat the boiling and ladling with the second half of the gnocchi.*
Top with as much extra parmesan cheese as you desire, and broil for a couple of minutes to heat the sauce and brown the cheese. 

(You can make the sautéed spinach as this is happening).


*This recipe seems like a lot of work because there are so many steps.  But they were all really easy and, wherever there's a little * you could stop, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the next day and just pick up where you left off.  So it's a good make ahead meal if you don't want to tackle it all at once.


Sautéed Spinach
The trick is to use about 2 tbsp more oil than you think you should.  


One extra large bag of baby spinach
4-5 tbsp olive oil
sea salt


In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until very hot, then toss in the baby spinach all at once.  Turn with tongs to coat evenly and cook on high heat until the spinach is entirely wilted, but no more.  Season generously with sea salt. 
(This whole process should take no more than 5 minutes)

Dinner is served!  (Look, no one likes it when that yucky spinach juice runs into everything else on the plate)

Don't let this picture fool you.  She ate most of it, but informed me that she liked the gnocchi from the store better.  And liked it better with pesto.  I should have taken a picture of the child who ate it all and asked for seconds, but no such luck.