There is this neat-o Interview Experiment going on over here. Luck would have it that Mona from Kirida (formally Hello Insomnia) was my interviewer. You can read the interview and say Hi! to Mona here. You can read the completed interviews of other bloggers here.
I have the honor of interviewing Mara at Oleoptene. Nothing like finding a new great blogger! I’ll post her interview when she has finished up with it.
Have I mentioned we are planning to homeschool Owen and August? I feel like I can start talking about it now that I have researched different styles of teaching and feel I have found a match for us. I am leaning towards unshchooling, Pete still needs to read up to get on board, but I feel confident this will be the best approach for all of us. The hardest part will be letting go of some control, learning to fully trust choices made, and dealing with the negative pokes that are likely to bombard us from those around us. I am almost giddy with excitement for our boys though, the things and places we will see! So consider this an introduction into a part of my life that isn’t in the kitchen, I might even start a separate blog down the road just for homeshcooling.
In other news, I made PIZZA! It was my first I’m sorry and embarrassed to say, I am slowly getting over my fear of yeast and it is fabulous!
Not bad, eh?
We also came upon the largest snowball I have ever seen while out walking yesterday…
Surely that has broken a record, no?
There is something about Orzo I like so much. Maybe it’s the way they sort of just slide down your throat? Whatever it is, I’ll take it! This recipe can go anyway you want really. This is how I made it…
1/3 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups small broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms
10 oz Orzo
about 20 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 cup lightly packed fresh basil
1 tbls fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
In a large skillet heat 2 tbls of the olive oil over medium heat, add the garlic, broccoli, and shiitakes. Cook, stirring, being careful the garlic doesn’t burn. Cook for about 2 minutes, then add about 2/3 cup of water, and let the vegetables simmer until the broccoli softens slightly and most of the water is evaporated. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
Meanwhile bring a large potof salted water to a boil. Add the orzo, stirring occasionally, until tender. Drain and keep it hot.
Add the olives, basil, and remaining olive oil to the broccoli mixture. Add the orzo, combine well. Stir in the lemon juice, add the salt and pepper, serve.
This picture of the final product is completely crappy, I really should have photographed it before putting parmesan on it, hopefully you get the idea.
This dish has no overpowering flavor, you can taste each item in it so don’t go too crazy with adding a ton of ingredients. I think the simpler you keep this, the better. Crumbled goat cheese and roasted garlic might be a nice addition. If you really want to get crazy, throw some mandarin slices in.
I don’t spew politics here, because you know, politics+dinner table=lame….but just this once I really want to share the documentary my husband and I just watched: America Freedom to Fascism We were both seriously disturbed by this film. The notion that there is no law stating that American citizens have to pay income taxes is bigger than my head can handle. And this documentary goes further than that one subject. He interviews former IRS agents, Ron Paul, and many more. It is worth your time for a better understanding of our monetary “system” alone.
Back to the kitchen!
Edited to add:
Amy left a great comment to this post linking to this article on Wikipedia. She raises an important point that not everything is as it seems necessarily. I still feel strongly about this film, and it does indeed raise red flags, but the USA is still an alright place to live, even with all the bullshit.
Yeah I’m talking about pretzels, soft, warm, salty, lovely pretzels. You know you want to make these.
1 tsp instant yeast (or rapid-rise)
1/4 cup of honey
1 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour (16 1/5 oz), plus more for dusting the work surface
1 cup warm water (110ËšF)
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3 tbls baking soda
Coarse salt, poppy seeds, or sesame seeds
1. Mix together the yeast, honey, salt, flour, and water in the bowl of a standing mixer. Using the dough hook, knead at a low speed until a smooth, elastic ball forms (this dough is stiff, don’t freak out), 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Place the dough in a lightly oiled large bowl and turn the dough to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Deflate the dough, cover, and let rise until nearly doubled again, 30 - 40 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat to 450Ëš F. Pour 6 cups of water in a 12 inch skillet, add the baking soda, stir, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray generously with vegetable cooking spray. Set aside.
4. Divide the dough ito 12 equal pieces (about 2oz each). Roll each piece into a 20 inch long, 1/2 inch wide rope. Form into pretzel shape adhering the 2 loose ends with a bit of water on your finger tips to the body of the pretzel (does that make any sense at all?), just make the damn thing look like a pretzel.
5. Using a slotted spatula or spoon, gently place the pretzels into the boiling water, top-side down (I fit about 4 pretzels in) after 30 seconds flip them over to boil for an additional 30 seconds, take them out with a slotted spoon so they drain, then place them on the baking sheet. I was able to fit them all on one large baking sheet. Sprinkle with the coarse salt (or poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or hell you could even throw some cheese on there). Bake for 12-16 minutes, or until the pretzels are a nice brown pretzel-y color, turn the baking sheet halfway through the baking time.
These are best warm from the oven with you mustard of choice, mine happening to be Colman’s.
We polished these off in one sitting, I think it’s safe to say they are a definite winner. I think next time I will roll the ropes out longer so they are a bit prettier. Please make these pretzels, your loved ones will thank you.
I just can not update, I am beyond intimidated. I’m sure I have all kinds of security issues, if the hackers of the internet want to mess with recipes, then let them. Screw it. I did manage a new header, can you tell I got Photoshop for Christmas?
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Soft pretzels are on the way, in the meantime here’s my pantry…
This is what I do on the weekend, organize my pantry. Am I not the life of the party?
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I made a Quinoa-Mango salad that was decent, but would be even better mid-summer…
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Went to see Juno with Linda (her review is much better then this) this weekend, wow. I would like to see it again, the acting was very impressive.
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That’s all I have.
I will be doing some maintenance around here, including installing the newest version of Wordpress. I am scared and wish someone would hold my hand through it, but that is just not going to happen. Hopefully luck is on my side and this site doesn’t implode. Also, I am considering a re-design and would love some input if you have any.
Wish me luck, I fear I will need it.
