tiny bridges

Well, it’s been an exciting few weeks. Fiona decided to stop sleeping for a while there, so I haven’t really been very productive. In spite of that, I do have a set of knitting projects to share, and will try to do it tomorrow. In the meantime, we have been busy in the kitchen. I think it’s part of the whole winter mindset. It’s more of a production to go outdoors, and when we do we want something nice and hot when we come back in.

Given our current family schedule, and my lack of enthusiasm for making diner, I hit on the plan of making a big pot of something for the nights when it’s just Fiona and I and having “regular” dinners when we’re all cooking, eating and (most importantly) cleaning all together. It’s so very easy to do a big stew, soup or curry in this cold weather and, happily, I am the kind of person who can eat the same thing every day of the week. We add some kind of bread, maybe a side vegetable or some fruit and yogurt for desert and we’re all set. I checked Love Soup by Anna Thomas out of the library and have been working my way through the most appealing winter recipes. I have to admit that in my cooking ineptitude I have managed to make mistakes in all the recipes I’ve tried, but the beauty of soup is that it’s so very difficult to ruin. Even the soup which called for toasted and ground cumin seeds. I was so impressed with how easy it was to toast the seeds (something I’d never attempted before) that I forgot to get out the mortar and pestle and threw them in whole. Crunchy. Then, I discovered that the veg stock I’d taken out of the freezer was actually chicken soup. It’s a learning process. The first soup I tried, a green soup, took so long to chop for that I ended up having something else for dinner and making it the next day, and now I know that there simply isn’t enough time after Fiona’s nap and before dinner, so I start the day before. Also, I’m labeling everything that goes in the freezer.

For one of our all-together meals lately, I had the chance to make one of my favorite internet recipes. Homemade hamburger buns from Culinary in the Desert. These buns are so light and delicious and so easy to make. The only change I make to the recipe is to substitute 1-2 cups of white whole wheat flour for the apf, which doesn’t change the taste much but gives them an even more beautiful appearance. It’s possible that we mainly like these for their looks. The egg wash just before baking gives them the most beautiful golden color and sheen. I make a full batch and freeze half and the leftovers defrost beautifully.

In other bread news, the pair behind Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day came out with a new book “Healthy Breads in” well, you get the picture. They do have their master recipe for this book online, and I have ordered the new book from the library, but then I calculated that I won’t get it until April, and then only for 3 weeks. So I tried the master dough, and was less than 100% impressed. It was alright, but when I tried to shape a sandwich loaf I couldn’t seem to get the center properly done. And I really wanted bread with seeds and things in it. Then I realized I could make one up and so I did. I baked the first batch yesterday and I think we’ll use it up by the end of today (which is generally a really good sign around here) so I think I’ll try it once or twice more an then try typing it up to share here.

We’re all fighting colds so I made up a batch of cough drops from this Instructables. I used peppermint tea and a combination of honey and sugar and they are really, really good (Fiona keeps asking where I put the candy). They aren’t overly sweet or overly peppermint, but they do have a slightly medicinal taste (which I like) and do clear out my sinuses a bit, while soothing my throat. It was also much, much easier than I imagined it would be and I’m dreaming of trying some other combination. But, since I have a big box of these right now, I don’t think it will happen soon.

Finally, a few other recipes that I really like (and frankly, I can’t believe I haven’t posted about cooking on tiny bridges at all before). I love granola bars, but store bought brands are generally expensive and/or unhealthy. This recipe isn’t perfect, but I’ve been tinkering with it (actually, it may be perfect but I can’t bring myself to buy expensive rice syrup, and I don’t have the size pan called for here, so I’ve never tried the recipe as written. Anyone surprised?) and I think it will be there soon. This recipe for lemon cake may, in fact, be perfect. I think I ate most of the first loaf myself. Oh, and I’m slightly obsessed with scones right now. These are particularly good, and I like chopped, dried apricots for filling. That’s all for now, as I found some whole wheat pastry flour recently, and I think we may need some scones with our soup tonight.