Moving again?

Maybe, maybe not.

Trying out WordPress instead of Blogger.

Definitely like the Blogger interface better.

But WordPress is already formatted for mobile devices, which is way cool. If you ever need to grab a quick recipe in the kitchen when you have all four burners going and smoke's coming out of the oven, it's nice to have the pages load super-quick on your phone rather than dragging the laptop into the kitchen.

Anyone have any pros / cons about either format?

Check out this page on your cell phone. What do you think? Worth changing?

This to me seems more like a summer salad, except that oranges are best in the winter months. Summer, winter, whatever ... it's a good change of pace for this time of the year.

Orange + Fennel + Watercress Salad mit Citrus Vinaigrette

Ingredients

2 large oranges
3 Tbs fresh orange juice (will get at least that much when you segment the oranges)
1 fennel bulb (maybe 12-14 ounces)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 + 1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2-3 cups watercress (about two bunches)
salt and pepper to taste



Segment the oranges. (Easy to follow video here from FineCooking.)

Squeeze the rest of the juice from the membranes into a measuring cup. You'll use 1-2 Tbs in the vinaigrette, so drink the rest to help fight the common cold.

Trim the fennel of stems and fronds, then slice the white bulb into thin slices. (You can save some of the fronds for garnish when you're done if you want.)

Mix the orange slices and fennel in a bowl. Then combine the olive oil, orange juice, and salt and pepper into a vinaigrette, and pour about a quarter of it over the oranges and fennel. Stir gently to coat.

De-stem, wash and dry the watercress, and add it to your serving bowl. Layer the orange and fennel mixture over the watercress, and lightly drizzle with about another quarter of the vinaigrette. Serve with the rest of the vinaigrette on the side.

The Coffee Cache Fruity Gobbler

My favorite T-day leftover sammich. Perfect for watching Rivalry Weekend college football games.

Adapted from Kerlin's Coffee Cache's lunch menu, circa 1997.

Bread
Cream cheese
Cranberry chutney
Sunflower seeds
Left-over turkey, roughly chopped
Greens of any sort
Optional: a wee bit of stuffing

Safe travels and happy holidays.

PS. Since lots of folks are already putting up their holiday lights, here's a reminder how to really do your lights.

Goethe's final words: "More light." Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry: "More light." Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlight. Neon. Incandescent. Lights that banish the darkness from our caves, to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerators. Big floods for the night games at Soldier's field. Little tiny flashlight for those books we read under the covers when we're supposed to be asleep. Light is more than watts and footcandles. Light is metaphor. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home- Lead Thou me on! Arise, shine, for thy light has come. Light is knowledge. Light is life. Light is light.

Cheers!

Winter Potato Salad that's great in the summer

Roasted veggies sound like a winter dish, and some folks are adverse to running the oven any longer than they have to in the summer. But the addition of green beans to this anti-mayo potato salad, along with the bright balsamic dressing, make it a nice change of pace for summer time dining.




You need:
4 oz green beans, cut half
1 head of garlic
1 lb new potatoes, 1-to-2 inch cubes
1 red pepper, cut into largish chunks
2-4 green onions, finely chopped
(Optional: button mushrooms, sweet onion, green/yellow/orange peppers)


salt and pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tbs or more balsamic vinegar
1+ Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp snipped fresh rosemary
(optional: chopped cooked bacon)

Heat your oven to 400º.

Cook the green beans in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and dump into ice water to cool. Drain again.

Peel away the paper from the bulb of garlic. Slice off the pointy top of the bulb, just enough to slightly expose the tops of the cloves. Place in a square of tin foil, then drizzle with olive oil. Wrap the foil over the top of the garlic, twisting the top so that it is covered but the foil is not touching the exposed tops. Set aside.


Add the green beans, potatoes, red pepper, and green onions in a shallow roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then drizzle half of the broth (about 1/4 cup) over everything. Place the
garlic bulb in the middle of the veggies and roast in the oven for 1 hour. Stir at least twice, drizzling with the remaining chicken broth.


Remove from the oven and set the pan aside to cool for just a few minutes. Remove the garlic bulp from the foil and squeeze out the roasted garlic paste into a bowl or measuring cup. Add 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar and 1 Tbs olive oil and mix with a fork. Add the rosemary and mix again.


If you really, really like balsamic, you can add another Tbs or two. Or you can add another Tbs of olive oil instead to thin it out. Spread the dressing over the veggies and gently stir to coat. (Optional: bacon!!) Serve immediate warm or cove and chill for up to six hours. Since this is anti-mayo potato salad, it travels well for outdoor events, and it's easily doubled for large groups.



Pepper trivia: Most folks know that Christopher Columbus, the famous explorer known for getting lost and "discovering" things that had already been discovered, misnamed the indigenous people of this country as "Indians" based on a the mistaken belief that he was half a world away. Columbus is also responsible for mistakenly naming peppers, which went by forms of the words capsicum or chile amongst the peoples who already grew them. In Europe, "pepper" referred to any hot spice, stemming from the peppercorns that come from the unrelated Indian plant Piper nigrum. Because Columbus "found" this "new" family of plants that were spicy, they also became known as peppers, and to this day the term refers to both groups of plants.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Cheddar Scones ...

... that's really more of a stew than a soup. Actually, it's more of a casserole, except that it's not baked, in that it could almost be eaten with a fork. In fact, in the original recipe, it called for whole chicken pieces, but somewhere along the way we decided to shred the chicken.



It's still technically winter, and meteorologically (word? should be) it's typically the coldest part of the winter these days. Still flu and cold season, and everyone's Granny knows chicken soup is good for what ails you.

So here's an in-between chicken soupish concoction that can be slapped together in a moment's notice, when nothing else soups good and you need a bowl/plate of something hot that smells like home.

About 45 minutes total, which includes 25 minutes of simmer time where you can work on something else. I like this particular one because you put the chicken breasts in whole, so you don't have to worry about cross-contamination with your knives or cutting boards. Just one less thing to worry about, and one step closer to sitting down to eat.

We also like the frozen egg noodles, which are a bit gummier than dried noodles and soak up the chicken flavor.

4-5 cups of chicken stock
1 medium onion (yellow or sweet)
3 celery ribs, sliced down the middle and then cut medium-fine
3 carrots or one bag of baby carrots, cut into 1/4 inch chunks or medium-fine slices
1 bay leaf if you have it

One package chicken breasts, 3-4 breasts, 1.5-2.5 pounds or so
2 teaspoons dried sage
1-2 teaspoons salt
.5-1 teaspoon black pepper (both to your taste)

1 pound frozen cavatelli, dumplings, or egg noodles.

2 Tablespoon each butter (slightly softened) and flour. You can get these two out at the beginning, and the butter should be soft enough by the time you need it.

In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, simmer the chicken stock, onion, celery, carrots, and bay leaf for about 5-10 minutes. Add the whole chicken breasts, sage, and salt/pepper. Simmer for 25-30 minutes covered or partially covered. Flip the chicken a couple or three times to make sure it cooks evenly.

Once this is going, cook the frozen noodles according to its instructions. This usually takes about 15 minutes — 5-10 minutes to get the water boiling, then 10 minutes of cooking time.

At this point, you can opt to serve the chicken breasts whole, which means you'll need a knife, fork, and spoon when it's eating time. Or, you can take two forks and pull the chicken apart into bite sized pieces.

Mix the flour and butter until smooth. Push as much of the chicken and veggies as you can to the side of the pot and spoon the butter/flour into the liquid in the middle. Stir or whisk into the soup, and then add the noodles. Simmer for a couple more minutes so the noodles absorb some of the flavor and everything is evenly heated. Serve in soup bowls or shallow pasta bowls.

Let's go back to the simmer time. Once the soup / stew is ready to simmer, you can either clean up the kitchen or whip up some biscuits. If you choose the latter, here you go.

Dry ingredients, can be prepped ahead of time:
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp sea salt or kosher salt
6 Tbs butter, cold, cold, cold
1 cup shredded Cheddar

Preheat the oven to 450º. Mix the flour, sugar, powder, and salt, and then cut in the butter and add the shredded cheese. Lightly combine.

Mix and stir in:
1 cup butter milk *
1 egg, beaten

* No butter milk? One cup of plain yogurt works, or put one Tbs of either vinegar (white or cider) in a measuring cup and fill with milk to the one cup line. Let it stand for 10 minutes to thicken.

Pour the liquid into the dry and very lightly combine just until mixed. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or not) and scoop 1/4 cup of the batter for each biscuit. They'll rise just a bit, so space them out 1-2". Bake for 15 minutes. Should be ready just in time for the soup.

February means ... one more month until St Paddy's Day

So, here ya go.

Irish Stew with Cheddar Scone

Winter Running Tips

Winter running tips from ChiRunning.

Check it out here.

You know you're listening to a die-hard runner when he's talking about taking an exacto-knife to his shoes' insoles.


Also worth reading at Well: Are your kids getting enough exercise?

School Recess Improves Behavior

Happy trails!

Get off the couch!!

Easy advice to listen to or read... harder to follow:

Don’t Starve a Cold of Exercise

YOU have what seems to be a really bad cold. You are coughing and sneezing, and it is hard to breathe.

Should you work out?

And if you do, should you push yourself as hard as ever or take it easy? Will exercise have no effect, or make you feel better or worse?

It is a question, surprisingly enough, that stumps many exercise physiologists and infectious disease specialists.

Getting my swing back

We've cooked dinner maybe three times since getting our SBJ, and I haven't made anything for Sunday brunch once. Too many bottles to fill, diapers to change, noses to wipe, and butts to powder. Or at least, that was my excuse. So this Sunday I had to get back into it, but given my time off, I needed to start slowly.

I'm not sure why pumpkin is thought of as only a Thanksgiving and Christmas treat. Because it's easily canned, it's available year round, has a long shelf life, and is chocked full of beta carotene and vitamin C. And, it's nearly idiot-proof in the oven. Bread, muffins, pie... you can forget to set the timer, set the oven for the wrong temperature, forget how many scoops of sugar you added, and it's still going to turn out okay.

So the easiest way to get back up on the horse and find my culinary sea legs is to take one of the many cans of pumpkin from down in the pantry and slap together some muffins.

Now, this being the Training Table, I have to make a nod to nutrition, expedience, and flexibility. I like making muffins on Sunday because they take about 30 minutes to prepare and then 30 minutes to bake, so while the muffins are in the oven, you can finish the dishes, and sit down to enjoy a muffin and cup of coffee without worrying about the pile of bowls and measuring scoops in the sink. I also double the recipe and then freeze most of the muffins in little zip locks, two per bag, so I can grab one as I go out the door all next week.

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 15 oz canned pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil or 1/3 cup apple sauce
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Pumpkin spice mix: either one Tbsp of pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice, or one tsp each of ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, or whatever floats your boat. I tend to go overboard on the ginger, and no one has ever complained.

For the topping:
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon


Preheat the oven to 350º. Prep the pans with liners or the grease of your choice. (I usually skip both with our Wilton pans, so your call there.)

Mix together everything but the flour, and then slowly sift in the flour until just combined. I use the beater from the electric mixer for this step, since it only has four tines and lets a lot of air into the mix without clumping.

Fill the muffin cups, then sprinkle the sugar/cinnamon mix on top.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Let them cool in the tray for five minutes, then pop them out and serve. Let them cool to room temperature before bagging or tupperwaring.

On a cold winter's night...

... when everyone is fighting the sniffles and wants to hold a hot bowl of something in front of their face, you have to go with chicken soup.

Here's the 45 minute version, from start to finish, which includes 25 minutes of simmer time where you can work on something else. I like this one because you put the chicken breasts in whole, so you don't have to worry about cross-contamination with your knives or cutting boards. Just one less thing to worry about, and one step closer to sitting down to eat.

We also like the frozen egg noodles, which are a bit gummier than dried noodles and soak up the chicken flavor.

4-5 cups of chicken stock
1 medium onion (yellow or sweet)
3 celery ribs, sliced down the middle and then cut medium-fine
3 carrots or one bag of baby carrots, cut into 1/4 inch chunks or medium-fine slices
1 bay leaf if you have it

One package chicken breasts, 3-4 breasts, 1.5-2.5 pounds or so
2 teaspoons dried sage
1-2 teaspoons salt
.5-1 teaspoon black pepper (both to your taste)

1 pound frozen egg noodles.

2 Tablespoon each butter (slightly softened) and flour. You can get these two out at the beginning, and the butter should be soft enough by the time you need it.

In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, simmer the chicken stock, onion, celery, carrots, and bay leaf for about 5-10 minutes. Add the whole chicken breasts, sage, and salt/pepper. Simmer for 25-30 minutes covered or partially covered. Flip the chicken a couple or three times to make sure it cooks evenly.

Once this is going, cook the frozen noodles according to its instructions. This usually takes about 15 minutes — 5-10 minutes to get the water boiling, then 10 minutes of cooking time.

At this point, you can opt to serve the chicken breasts whole, which means you'll need a knife, fork, and spoon. Or, you can take two forks and pull the chicken apart into bite sized pieces.

Mix the flour and butter until smooth. Push as much of the chicken and veggies as you can to the side of the pot and spoon the butter/flour into the liquid in the middle. Stir or whisk into the soup, and then add the noodles. Simmer for a couple more minutes so the noodles absorb some of the flavor and everything is evenly heated. Serve in soup bowls or shallow pasta bowls.