So many happy faces- so much good food- such a  great time!

We had a pre-Valentine’s tea and a wonderful pre-Valentine’s lunch with some of my favorite

people!

Last week I finally started to feel better and when Allyson invited us over for tea- I literally jumped

on it.  I’ve been staying home-watching the snow fall- watching the snow melt- watching the snow fall-

it is a long process to get better-  and kind of lonely,so it was so much fun sharing time with loved ones.

And then when I got home – I had a wonderful package waiting for me.

My son Luke sent  me these wonderful toe shoes- aren’t they cute?  I know I don’t have cute feet- but with these shoes-

I don’t even mind putting up some pictures of my ugly feet with these on!  Called vibram fivefingers, they are closely fitted

to fit closely to my feet,  I’m looking forward to wearing these on the beach this coming spring and summer.

First of all, let me say – if you have only had store bought bread wraps, then

you haven’t really had anything close to a good wrap.

These have a texture that just isn’t there- and an aroma that transforms the

whole making and eating experience into an occasion!

I patched together 3 different recipes to come up with one that used the

ingredients and processes that I wanted to incorporate into my wraps.

And we ate the first ones still warm from the skillet- this in itself makes the

whole job totally worthwhile!  I’ve made them again when the first batch was

used up- I have a feeling I will be making these up for a long time to come.

Recipe for Quinoa and Spelt flat bread wraps-

*quinoa (pronounced Keen’-wha) is the seedy top of a vegetable related to spinach.  It was used in the

Andes region of South America thousands of years ago- you can read about the

origin here.

**Spelt is a complex wheat originally found in the Mesopotamia region.  It predates

bread wheat – you can read about it here.

Ingredients :

2 cups AP flour

1 cup spelt flour

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup potato flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast

2-4 TBS vegetable oil

!/3 cup quinoa

1 cup boiling water

Method:

Place 2 cups AP flour in small bowl and pour 1 1/4 cups of boiling water into bowl and stir well.

Set aside and cool for 30 minutes.

Brown quinoa in skillet and add 1 cup boiling water.  Cover and simmer until water is all absorbed,

take off heat and cool.

In a large bowl add all ingredients together and knead for about 10 minutes. (Make sure that the boiled

flour and quinoa aren’t too hot to the touch, but don’t wait until they are cold either- warmish would

be right.)

Oil bowl and turn the ball of dough over so that it has an oily surface on top and cover and let raise

for an hour.  Separate into 8 to 10 balls.

Roll out on lightly floured surface until very thin- then carefully transfer to lightly oil

medium hot skillet

.And cook until browned.

Turn over and brown other side.

 

Cover with tea towel to keep warm and use immediately.

Or cool completely and put into plastic bag and use later.  I kept them

in the fridge and they were good for a week. ”

I grilled chicken slices, onion and green peppers, added some tomato and scallions-

put down a layer of hummus and added a dollop of sour cream.

Rolled them up-

 

And YUM!  Lunch was served!

Jordan especially loved these and was quite glum when I gave the last one to his aunt.

So I made them again on Sunday.

Try these – they really aren’t that hard to make- and you won’t ever want to go back to

the tasteless cardboard they sell in the grocery stores for wraps!

I really love doing these posts.

Love reading and seeing what others all around are

doing in their kitchens (see other’s postings here!).

I am interrupting my own interruption to post this,

but I so wanted to share a couple of things

in my kitchen…

In my kitchen there is bread.  Always.  Even if I am sick.

Bread…

And more bread.

And pizza- because it starts with bread.

Bread with tomato sauce and cheese.

And sourdough rye marble bread.

I would call it a swirled bread.

And my new bake pot.  My son brought this to me in his carry on luggage from New York.

I love it.  So far I’ve made a marvelous stew and of course- bread- in it.

My philosophy of bread is simple.

I love to eat it and I love to make it.

OR

I love to make it and I love to eat it.

So- that’s what’s in my kitchen this February. Bread.

And some cookies.

What’s in your kitchen?

I should be on my way to Long Island, New York to visit my son and

his family.  But no, I am spending the day and the next little while resting

and recovering.  I have been sick since the middle of December with

one thing or the other, and this week I came down with a very devastating

stomach bug.  I haven’t eaten anything other than a few saltines in the last

few days- and I was close to becoming dehydrated- so now that I’m starting

to keep food down and can sit up long enough to type, I’ve decided to

just take it easy and recuperate. 

So- I’m going to take a break from blogging for a while, too.

I’m going to try and send out the salt mixes to Lilly and Johanna in the next

month, sometime- thank you for your participation and please send me

your addresses via messaging on Facebook.

I’m looking forward to much inspired baking and joyous bread time in the

months to come, but right now, I can’t even eat bread, let alone make any.

I may write a couple of posts sometime because I can’t help myself- but I

don’t want to feel any pressure or guilt (all self imposed) because I haven’t.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks- ready to share some great recipes!

Maybe by then the snow will stop and the ice storms- and the

sun will be shining.

I made these up for my family.

We were going to meet tonight to celebrate the fact that we are family.

And that we missed our time together over the holidays.

But there is a huge snowstorm on the way and possibly 9 1/2 inches of snow.

So- it may be a while before I get to give them these little tokens of love and

good taste!

Bacon salt, fine sea salt w/herbs de Provence, Vanilla

salt, and Black Hawaiian  salt with hickory smoke.

Olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

Bacon, pink Himalayian salt, and 3 colored peppercorns.

I found the recipe here, on Chopinandmysaucepan.

I added just a bit to sauteed cauliflower and it was transformed!

Vanilla salt- Hawaiian red salt and vanilla beans- great

in cookies, salted caramel Anything, lightly salted on

sweet muffins.

Fine sea salt w/herbs de Provence.

This is great on pasta, in pizza dough, on any veg that needs

a little pizzazz!

Black salt with hickory smoke.

This is perfect on pork shoulder to make pulled pork.

Or rubbed onto turkey breast before  roasting it.

All packaged up and ready to go

But I’m not going to see them tonight.

So- if you were supposed to be there tonight- I’ll try to get

them to you.

And if you are reading this and want one of these salts-

let me know and I’ll send some to two of you chosen randomly!

I used to use a whetstone to sharpen my knives.

They are so messy- and my stone was small- by the time I finished, I hadn’t sharpened all my knives-

it was too much of a hassle.

My mother had this sharpener- metal circles that you pulled the blade

through the center and it pared the edges finer.

This is old.  The circles are rusty and don’t move as freely as they used to.

Pampered Chef sells this knife with a cover that has a built in sharpener-

the idea is that each time you pull it out it sharpens the blade.

Nice idea, but it doesn’t really work that well.

So- I’m going to try to sharpen this knife using a couple of gadgets.

The Rada  company has a sharpener that uses the same principle as my mother’s old one

- but there are only two circles and they are not rusted together so they work.

Look at all the metal filings in the center of the paper.  Those are from the edge of the

knife.  The blade is a little rough, though, since we are pulling it between the circles.

So I use the steel rod that will file down the rough edges on the blade.

And there is the edge- the new edge I was looking for- a sharp knife.

How do you sharpen your knives?

Strange title, that.

But really descriptive.

I am in the midst of the mid-winter doldrums.

Depression.  Down in the dumps.

The business of the holidays are over- and so is the magic and

mystery.  We have celebrated both spiritually and physically-

met together and rejoiced with those we love.

And now everyone is scattered.

And it is January.

There is snow.

It is kind of beautiful, but it is also cold and I really hate when the sun shines

on snow- it’s blinding. 

Today, however, I made a lunch up from various leftovers and it was very pleasing

to the palate and the ear.

Everything started with a P!

Fresh pineapple and pomegranate salad!

Potato soup!

Pulled Pork!

Pumpkin seeds or pepitas to garnish the soup and of course, my can of POP

(I know it is called soda in other parts of the world- but I call it pop)!

And my purple thumb from cleaning the seeds out of the pomegranate.

So- my alliterative luncheon gave me a moment of pure pleasure.

It happens that way sometimes.

BTW- did you notice the buns?  Fresh bread also makes me happy!

What is making you happy today?

My husband loves meat.

I love potatoes …and bread…and veggies… and chicken and fish, and meat.

But not like Frank.

When we go out, he asks for his meat without seasoning.

Without sauces.  Without salsas.

But he does like gravy.

So when I made this roast, the gravy was acceptable.

I made a gravy using burnt sugar syrup and allspice as seasoning.

After taking the meat out of the pan and covering it with foil, I added 1 1/2 Tablespoons

of the syrup  ( I made the syrup here to use in a cake recipe)- then I added 3/4 cup of

broth to the drippings and stirred it with a whisk.  Heat the drippings back up and

then add 1/4 cup cold water with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch stirred into it.   Add salt

and pepper to taste, and simmer until thickened.  Then pour over sliced beef and

boiled potatoes before serving.

The gravy tastes caramelized but very savory.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

more meat.

This is the pork shoulder I bought to make pulled pork.

Again- meat.

I rubbed it down with Hickory smoked salt  and put it into the

crock pot all day on low- about  8 hours.

Hickory salt with black Hawaiian lava salt rub.

Again- pulled pork with  barbecue sauce for me—- plain for Frank.

I use a bbq sauce with mango and guava in it- from the Dixie Bar and Grill in Hawaii-

Because it just makes it taste so very good.

I couldn’t even take the time to take a picture of Frank’s sandwich with plain

pulled pork- he likes it that way- but I was busy.

Eating mine!

The January edition of IMK is going to be abbreviated because

I am tired and not feeling well.  The toll of Christmas and preparations

has been very large this year- I didn’t really plan to make so many cookies-

but my nephew’s wedding necessitated the nearly 100 dozen of cookies in

December, the gingerbread competition added on more baking,  and if you

throw in the 10 or so loaves of bread and apple cakes I’ve been making-

I did a lot of baking last month!

But- here goes!

In my kitchen…

are the new apron and gingerbread boss chef jacket that came from the

competition in December!

(Which – did I mention?  We won!)

In my kitchen…

is this ornament I found in our yard upon returning home

on New Year’s Day.  A flower made of eating utensils!

Not sure exactly where this came from…?

So I’m adding this boxed set of silver grapefruit spoons that

I got at a second-hand shop.

I’m a total sucker for eating utensils that come in silk covered boxes!

In my kitchen…

are these bars of goat’s milk soap that I felted.  They turned out rather nice,

but I think I need to make more to get the right look.

In my kitchen…

is this scarf I just finished knitting.  It is in the kitchen because I just took it

off and threw it on the table when I came home from lunch with some friends.

The colors blended so well with the table I took a picture.

In my kitchen…

is a new stash of vanilla beans-

and a newly started bottle of vanilla- along with an almost empty

bottle from last year!

After all those cookies, my vanilla is at an all time low!

And lastly-

In my kitchen…

is my husband – happily eating dinner- ham and basmati rice, wilted spinach,

homemade applesauce and summer squash grilled with onions.

Every once in a while I need a reality check.  The last couple of photos are what

my kitchen is really all about.  A happy family-good meals- a table surrounded and

filled with love.

AND- just a small smile at the end of this post-

I just saw this movie, Stranger than Fiction, with Will Ferrel and Emma Thompson-

and the best love scene in a movie for bakers was in it.

See it here on Youtube-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2tqVQX_H3c

This is the best morning cake I’ve ever eaten.

We bought a huge basket of fruit off of a truck in Onancock and had plenty of apples to eat up- so I ended up

making this cake 3 times- that’s right THREE times- in the 2 1/2 weeks we were down here over Christmas!

I can imagine it only gets better over time- but it was always gone before I got back to have another slice!

Make sure you make it in a round metal cake pan- the first time I made it was in a square glass pan and the

caramel on top didn’t brown or spread into an appetizing looking  topping!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

6 TBS. unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour, AP

1/2 tsp cinnamon, plus extra to sprinkle on apples

1/2 tsp  cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 large apples, peeled and cut into slices

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Melt 4 TBS butter in small pan over low heat, add brown sugar and stir.

Allow to bubble for 2 minutes and pour into bottom of 9" pan and spread- set aside.

Peel and slice apples and arrange on top of prepared pan, sprinkle apples lightly with cinnamon.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Warm the milk in a small pan, add butter and melt.  Let cool slightly.

Beat eggs, add sugar and beat for 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves- add to flour , then milk, making a smooth batter.

Pour over apples in pan.

Bake for 45 minutes, then cool in pan for a full 15 minutes.  Turn over onto serving plate.

Great served with lightly whipped cream.

I made this version in a glass square pan- good, but pale and not enough caramel on top.

The third version had glazed pecans added after baking.

Change up the spices to your liking- I would leave out the cloves and use nutmeg.

Or allspice.  The only spices I would keep constant are the cinnamon and the cardamom.

If you try it, let me know what you did, and how it turned out !