kismet art

Message In A Cookie

So very happy that Emma loves to have fun in the kitchen, and her current favorite thing to bake is cookies, chocolate-chip, gingerbread, oatmeal butterscotch, and now sugar cookies using this cool Message In A Cookie   set that she bought using some of her Christmas money.The set comes with several words and 3 full sets of alphabet letters so that you can write anything you want on your cookie (up to 2 lines per cookie.)  I can see these coming in handy all year round!  Now if I can just keep enough flour, sugar, and butter in stock...

When a Pizza Cutter Isn't Just a Pizza Cutter

Most people who know us know that in the Ackerman household Sunday night is pizza night.  Our Sunday night pizza night started before we had kids and since they were old enough to eat solids Ben and Emma have eagerly joined us for this ritual.  Served with a salad for us, veggies and fruit for the kids, it has become a dinner routine that is met with a chorus of "nooooo's" when pizza is not on the Sunday table.

Dave, who takes two carefully wrapped pieces of cold pizza with him every day to work without fail, is teased incessantly by his coworkers about his pizza for lunch habit.  Among the many jokes lobbed his way as he unwraps his pizza lunch is the inevitable "doesn't your wife know how to make anything else for your lunch?"  psst, guys, I don't pack his lunch.  I also don't lay out his clothing for him the night before work.  Dave is just a guy who really likes his pizza, even every day for lunch, so much so that he travels with his own microwave from work-site to work-site so he can reheat his slices.  I'm just the girl who makes sure he takes a serving of fruit and vegetables to balance out a little of the cheese.

As I was cleaning our pizza cutter this evening I was struck by the thought that this almost 18 year old, well worn, well loved, kitchen utensil is so much more than just a pizza cutter.

This pizza cutter has moved with us to 3 different homes and it's handle used to read "Papa Aldo's" before they merged and became "Papa Murphy's"- and yes, I realize you didn't need to know that but every fourth time that we bake pizza Dave reminds me of this. And it is one of our stories so I smile and nod and remember bits of culinary trivia about our early married life like the time I sent him to the store three times for something to keep our first Thanksgiving turkey tied shut or when he made me waffles using the baking soda from the fridge that was there to absorb odors.

Our beloved pizza cutter has also been used to cut pancakes and waffles into bite sized chunks for Ben and Emma's breakfasts and to even open a box or two (shh, don't tell Dave.)

Pizza is what Dave cooks for his weekly turn at dinner night, and he cooks it to perfection.  And with his favorite pizza cutter in hand he is able to get 16 slices out of a family size pizza -a point of pride almost equalled by his pizza cooking technique that involves moving the almost cooked pizza off the pan and broiling the top until it is just right. The fact that Dave is completely in charge of his pizza cooking technique also gives me a night off from cooking, and a night off from cooking makes for a super happy me.

By my calculations, give or take a week without pizza, this humble little cutter has made neat triangles out of almost 2,000 pizzas.  That's over a 1000 nights of coming together as a family to eat, laugh, and share a little love.

And that, my friends, is when a pizza cutter is more than just a pizza cutter.

5 Summer Salads and An Easy Chocolate Cake (Recipe Included)

Here is a look at the 5 Summer Salads my mom and I prepared last weekend to celebrate my dad's birthday (thank you summer for finally giving us enough sun to be able to harvest most of the ingredients from our own gardens.)

Snowpea With Yogurt, Dill, Cashews, and Cilantro Quinoa with Tomatoes and CucumbersCucumbers and Vinegar with Walla Walla Sweet Onions Fresh Corn Salad with Red Bell Peppers, Lime, Cilantro and Red Onion Caprese Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes, Fresh Mozarella, Basil, and Olive Oil Oh, yeah, and that Chocolate Cake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Frosting (lest you think we were a bunch of healthy eaters over here.)

Hershey's 5 minute-One Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Euphoria's Sunrise Baking Cocoa)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Grease and flour two nine inch round pans (or one large 13x9 baking pan, or makes 24 cupcakes).
3. In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. 
4. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
5. Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Life-Changing Bread

OK, I will admit the title is a stretch but now that we lack "life-changing TV" ever since Oprah went off the air I figured I needed to fill my days with a new hobby, and that hobby is making homemade artisan bread.

Reason #1 for making my own bread at home: early this spring while picking up a loaf to have with dinner I suffered from some sticker shock when I realized my favorite local bread was now almost $6.00!

Reason #2 for making my own bread at home: I know what is in it.

Reason #3 for making my own bread at home: to see if I could (take that Little Red Hen.)

I started with a book I read rave reviews about on several blogs-

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: I reserved a copy at our local library so I could try it out for free before I bought it- loved it and waited for a Borders 50% coupon before buying my own copy so my initial investment came to $12 - or the equivilent of 2 loaves of store-bought bread.

To start I needed a 6 quart container with a lid ($6 at Cash-N-Carry, or 1 loaf of bread), yeast ($3 at the same store for a 1 pound package, enough to make dozens of loaves, equal to a 1/2 loaf of bread-and just found a 2 pound bag at Costco for the same price).  5 pounds of organic all-purpose flour came to $4 (an almost loaf), kosher salt and water I have on hand and am not counting in the cost, a pizza paddle ($5 at Ross, we will call that a loaf), and a pizza stone ($12 at Ross, or 2 loaves of bread).  So for the initial investment of $42, or roughly 7 loaves of bread, I had everything I needed to make 12 loaves of bread ($48 at the store.) One reason I love making this bread, YOU NEVER HAVE TO KNEAD THE DOUGH!  You mix all the ingredients in one large container, let it rise for 2 hours, refrigerate the dough, then pull out a piece of dough when you are ready to bake, let it rise for 40 minutes, then bake for 30 minutes. Fresh bread on the table, any night of the week in about an hour, for around .27 cents per loaf. A house that smells like a bakery.  An excuse to use the butter bell.  A happy family.

If this is not life changing bread I don't know what is.

Bits of Easter, 2011

Making Pizza Memories with Grandma

I grew up with the extraordinary priveledge of knowing my maternal and paternal grandparents (as well as 2 great-grandmothers, a great-grandfather, and even have some early memories of great-great grandparents too).  Like my parents before me, at different times during my life, we have lived within walking distance of at least one set of grandparents. As a young child we lived with my maternal grandparents for a year, Grandma and Grandpa Jones, who owned restaurants (as did Grandma Jones' parents) and because of this I have grown up around people who love food, love to cook, and love to teach others to cook.

Our children are lucky to have one set of grandparents 2 blocks away, grandparents who love to have them over for some fun in the kitchen.  And on the day these photos were taken my mom, aka Grandma, bought some locally made pizza dough, some sauce and cheese, tied aprons on Ben and Emma, and let them make their own pizzas.  There was a little gentle instruction but for the most part she just stood back and let them go for it.  Yes, it was a bit messy, and yes, some ingredients were eaten and not used on the pizzas, but what was best about this day was how their laughter filled the kitchen.

Not only did making their own pizzas give them each special appreciation for the food that was on their plates (they both said it was the best pizza they had ever eaten) but it reminded me that by adding a few extra minutes to the dinner routine, and being a little more patient when having them join me in meal preparation, will go a long way in giving both Ben and Emma that same love of being in the kitchen that I learned from my family.

White Chocolate Kisses Tea

I love chocolate and when I saw this flavor I was at once both intrigued and sceptical of how it might taste.  I am oh so happy to say that after brewing a cup and adding a splash of milk and some sugar that this is my new favorite flavor of tea.  Now don't get me wrong, this tea does not quite give you the satisfaction of biting into a piece of rich, dark chocolate, or even the cheap thrill that comes from raiding your child's trick-or-treat stash (yes, we still have Halloween candy, and I don't know if that is a testament to Ben's willpower or to my inability to throw things away) but it is enough of a sweet afternoon pick-me-up treat to keep me out of the candy.  I am going back to Fred Meyer today to stock up on a few more boxes as this is a "limited-edition" flavor- it's even on sale right now for $2.50 a box.  I could go on and on hawking this tea like some crazed, late-night infomercial spokesperson, but instead I will say goodbye, I'm off to have a cup (because unfortunately those Reese's peanut butter cups are calling to me...)

Easy Vegetable Lasagna

I love a quick,easy meal, and this lasagna "recipe" went together so fast that I will be sure to fix it again.

About a year ago I was at Trader Joe's and saw a box of no-cook lasagna noodles, I was sceptical at first, but boiling and draining lasagna noodles is one of my least favorite kitchen tasks (it is right up there with washing pots and pans).  Not expecting much I nonetheless picked up a box, used it in my favorite recipe, and with joy in my heart (and kitchen) have never looked back; to me the no-cook noodles taste the same, cook the same, and actually hold up better when you freeze or re-heat leftovers.

To make the recipe above I used 1/2 a box of the TJ's no-cook noodles, a jar of marinara sauce, one container of part-skim ricotta cheese mixed with 2 eggs, 3 cloves garlic, minced, 1 tsp. fresh rosemary, diced, 1/4 tsp. of chili flakes and nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.  I spread some marinara on the bottom of my 9x11 glass pan, added a layer of noodles, topped with the ricotta mixture, then covered with sliced zucchini, red peppers, spinach, and mushrooms, some sauce, pre-shredded italian cheese, and repeat (the top layer should be noodles, some sauce, and some cheese).  

If you happen to have a favorite Trader Joe's product or kitchen short-cut, please feel free to share it here!

It's Beginning to Taste A Lot Like Christmas, December Daily, Day 8

1 Pound, 13 Ounces

I do so wish I were quoting a recent weight loss but instead I give you the king size fruit of my summer garden, the 1 pound, 13 ounce Marvel Stripe heirloom tomato (and yes that is a regular size hamburger bun.)  I snuck outside between rain showers on Sunday and found this 8 inch wide beauty hanging on a low branch.  More than likely it is the result of two tomatoes growing too close together on the vine and merging into one.  But it was still big enough to make my family stop what they were doing and come admire this massive garden specimen.  

It almost seems like a shame to cut into it.  Almost.  I think a tomato sandwich is in order sometime soon.