Quote of the Day

Josh: No. We are not naming our child "Bea Arthur Ledbetter."

*We are absolutely not pregnant, 

just randomly discussing baby names.

Olive Rosemary Loaves

3 or 4 years ago (?) I checked an Italian cookbook out from the library and copied a few recipes out of it, including a recipe for "olive rosemary loaves." Today I made them for the first time, and OMG they taste just like that bread they bring you at Macaroni Grill! Only kinda better, because they have olive pieces in them, which is quite nice. 

First rise.

Second rise, brushed with olive oil, slit with a serrated knife.

 

I think a crow must have got hold of this one.

So supper came together quite nicely. Olive rosemary bread dipped in cracked pepper and olive oil (a la  Macaroni Grill), spaghetti tossed with some sun-dried tomato pesto I had left over from another thing, and a simple salad with Mary's salad dressing. 

I was needing a simple salad. I made mine huge.

{ quote of the day }

ME AT THE DINNER TABLE: "It's like we're at Macaroni Grill, only we have control over the pepper mill!"

~

Olive Rosemary Loaves

1 1/2 cup warm water (105-115° F)

4 Tablespoons olive oil, plus more for oiling your baking sheet

2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons salt

5 cups (680 grams) bread flour 

• In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup warm water, 3 Tablespoons of the olive oil, yeast, and sugar; stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 cup warm water, olives, rosemary, salt, and 4 cups (544 grams) flour until combined.
• Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, working in enough of the remaining flour (136 grams) just to keep dough from sticking.
• Shape dough into a ball; place in a greased large bowl, turning dough to grease top. Cover bowl and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Punch down dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half; cover and let rest 15 minutes for easier shaping. Grease a large cookie sheet.
• Shape each dough half into a 7.5 x 4" oval; place 3" apart on prepared cookie sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400° F. Brush tops of loaves with remaining 1 Tablespoon oil. With a serrated knife, cut three diagonal slashes across the top of each loaf. Bake until loaves are golden and have reached an internal temperature of 200° F or so, about 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Sunday Dinner

Today I made stuffed peppers and pasta. I also baked off half a dozen yeast rolls from the stash of dough balls that I made up and froze the other day.

I was feeling time-crunched, so I didn't really take any pictures until I was packing up leftovers for Josh's lunch.

The pasta is rotini in a creamy garlic sauce. I stirred in carrot, zucchini, and sun-dried tomatoes.

 

The pepper is stuffed with goat cheese, mozzarella cheese, pine nuts, and fresh basil.

I made 2 red ones, a yellow one, and an orange one.

{ Josh's super-awesome quote of the day: }

"That was excitingly good."

... best compliment ever :)

Old-at-Heart Quote of the Day

Me, while driving through the "hip & happening" Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul:

"I don't want to live here. I'm not a hipster. I'm a housewife."

My Snowy Birthday Week

Last week Josh and I (and our new friend TomTom) drove up to Minneapolis/St. Paul to check out apartments and rent houses. 

We did a lot of driving in the snow.

 

 

Everyone will be happy to know that we did stay warm. 

Right before we left, I found these cute-ish snow booties on uber-clearance at TJ Maxx in Arkansas. Jesus was looking out for me, because these babies sure did the trick.

Between the snow boots and the many layers of clothing I wore each day, I was in good shape.

 

For my birthday, Josh got us tickets to see The Birds at the Guthrie. 

{What a treat!}

photo source

The play (a creepy psychological drama with an awesome sound design) was totally different from the movie. For one thing, it was set in the present time.

By the end of our trip, we had decided that it would probably make more sense for us to just buy a house. 

I hope it all works out, and I hope my new house is cute!

{ quotes of dismay }

Me: (within the first 3 minutes of arriving in the Microtel parking lot)

Is that a hooker?

Oh my God, is that really a condom wrapper?

Is that hooker a man?

~

Me: (in the car, on our way to explore the city) Oh no! TomTom is sick! TomTom isn't moving or talking!

(turns out she just needed a moment to collect her thoughts)

~

Josh: (Saturday morning, as we were leaving the Microtel for home in the wee hours) So how long had you been awake before I asked you if you were awake?

Me: Since I heard someone vomiting in the parking lot. You?

Josh: Since before that.

Vintage Color Splash

I bought this necklace at Cheap Thrills (a vintage/thrift clothing store in Fayetteville) for $10 like a year ago.

It's one of those 60's necklaces like they wore in "The Help."

I have another one that belonged to my Grandma Forga. It's pale pink and a bit more subtle. I wear it quite a bit. But I never wore the sherbert-tastic Cheap Thrills necklace because I couldn't figure out what to put it with. Yesterday evening, while getting dressed to go see a play, I was inspired to pair it with this black sweatshirt-dress.



Perfect!

I was going to make this my profile picture on Facebook, until Josh pointed out that I was making the dreaded "duck face." So I went with this instead.

Anyway, this outfit was totally cute and I was totally proud of it. You can't see, but I did black tights and brown cowboy boots.

{ quote of the day }

Josh on Valentine's Day: 

"Man, there were like six redheads in Walmart today!

Not that I went to Walmart to buy your flowers.

I was just there to look at the redheads."

Hasidic Jew Quote of the Day

Josh and I are fascinated by Jewish culture. We love the traditional Jewish music and dances. Last night we watched a show on the Oprah channel where Oprah went and interviewed a Hasidic Jewish family in their home in Brooklyn. It was totally interesting.

Hasidic Jews shun all media: movies, TV, internet, radio... even magazines. Oprah just could not get over the fact that these people (Mom, Dad, plus 9 kids) didn't know anything about TV. At one point she was like, "You don't watch Dancing with the Stars???" and the dad answered:

"We dance with our kids! They're the stars!"

So precious. I loved these ultra-orthodox Jews! On the surface, their lives seemed filled with rigid rules and rituals, many of them totally pointless. (Like, do you really need 2 separate sink areas and 2 sets of dishes just so that your meat and dairy products won't touch?) But their lives also seemed pretty wonderful. Without bazillions of outside distractions, they were able to see God in everything. 

I don't necessarily believe in shutting things out. I think the internet is pretty sweet. And so is some TV. And so are some movies. But I think everyone senses how overwhelming all that media can be. Sometimes it feels great to renounce it all, and focus on the ritual of tending to the little chores that make life run beautifully.

{ Shalom y'all! }

photo source

Quote of the Day

Josh: If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down.

Me: If it's not clear, make it disappear.

Anatomy of a Decadent Salad

 

Today I made a whopper of a salad.

I started with lots of veggies.

{ cucumber, carrot, celery, 

mushroom, red bell pepper }

Then added some protein.

{ ham, boiled egg }

AND THEN I topped it off with my first attempt at skillet croutons. 

This salad was completely overwhelming. I would have been better off to make it 1/3 this size. Or smaller. And then have a little soup on the side. That would have been awesome... Live & learn!

Skillet Croutons

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

3 slices Texas Toast

4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

Cut each slice of bread into 16 cubes. Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter in a skillet over low heat, then add the bread cubes and toss to coat. Toast the croutons in the skillet over low heat for about 10-12 minutes, adding 1 Tablespoon of butter every couple of minutes until you've used all 4 Tablespoons. (This will ensure all the croutons soak up the butter and toast nicely.)

Yeild: 48 croutons

Calorie content: 14 calories per crouton

{ Quote of the Day }

Me: (after Josh discovered and began devouring my delicious homemade croutons) Hey, you might have to start eating salad now.

Josh: No, I might have to start eating croutons.

Homesick Texan Thursday

{ Homesick Texan Tuesday fell on a Thursday this week. }

Ever since I became obsessed with the Homesick Texan and Tex-Mex cooking, I've been having all sorts of strange new thoughts while grocery shopping. Thoughts like...

"Kroger isn't stocking poblanos 2 weeks in a row?

What's up with that!"

"Why does no one carry chorizo?"

"That bunch of cilantro looks a little skimpy to me."

So funny. There was a time I would not even eat Mexican food, ask my mom.

~

So for this week's Tex-Mex dinner night I made two recipes from HT's blog:

Green Chile Hominy Casserole with Chorizo

Ninfa's Green Sauce

 Found it!

The green sauce was interesting. You put all of these green things into a pot; green tomato, tomatillo, jalapeno (and garlic). You cook it for a little bit; then run it through the food processor, along with avocado and cilantro; then stir sour cream into that mixture.

Before stirring.

Green Chile Hominy Casserole with Chorizo

 

 

Good combination. The casserole was hot & spicy, and the green sauce was cool & creamy.

{ Quote of the Day }

Josh: OK you should be eating that. Eat it, don't tweet it.

Quote of the Day: 1/10/11

Me: I want a KitchenAid stand mixer with all the attachments. I want the meat grinder, and the thing that makes flour out of grain, and the ice-cream maker, and maybe the pasta maker.

Josh: That would cost thousands of dollars. We could buy Roscoe a little balloon boy replica for what that would cost.

Me: What? Balloon boy? Huh?

Josh: That boy they put up in the balloon but he wasn't really in there.

Me: (after recovering from seriously almost snorting grape juice out of my nose) That was like the most random thing you possibly could have said. Why did you think to say that? Did you put your brain on shuffle and push play?

Quote of the Day: 1/6/12

Me: That's not what women want to hear.

Josh: Well, that's what men want to say.