bread of the week…..sunflower olive loaf

a mediterranean bread that is a basic wheat bread but has added yumminess to it olives and sunflower seeds.  to top of this deliciousness i made up some rosemary butter. one word…..heaven!

before i die………

when i was 13 i made a life list of goals that was 3 pages long.  shockingly, without really trying, i’ve  managed to accomplish about 87% of that list so far.  i’ve graduated college, owned a 74′ Volkswagen, went to the top of the eiffel tower and have had my nose pierced. i still haven’t met a beatle but i was in the same room as paul mccartney once.  with my 30th b-day approaching in 2 years i’ve been thinking about what i’d want to get down in that time frame.  and perhaps before i’m fifty and a few “before i die i wana!”

before 30:

become a certified teacher/attain 2nd masters degree

go on a mountain biking trip to Jamaica

return to paris

before 50:

operate my own business

hike the appalachian trail

a world-wind tour of italy: florence, venice, and rome

have a dog

speak a 2nd language fluently

learn to brew beer/become beer mister

learn to play the banjo uke

see the tour de france

be a published author-at least one scholarly work

have a museum own my artwork

become a reenactor

form a bluegrass band

go to the grand canyon

before i die

see the pyramids in egypt

join the peace corps

live on a sailboat

own a substantial art collection

be an expert interviewed in a documentary

bacon, cheddar, apple, peanut-butter sandwich

 

yes that is correct a bacon, cheddar, apple, peanut-butter sandwich.  i think the only thing that could have possibly made this baby a tad bit more fantastic would have been adding a fried green tomato to it.  ah jesus the south is slowly creeping in.  i’m incorporating bacon into my diet and not turkey bacon mind you the real thing, full fledge fatty-ass bacon.  cooked in a cast iron skillet.  the aunties would be so proud.  it was so good i couldn’t even finish it all.

and i shall call her lucinda

i went in to take my trek in for a tune-up and walked out having ordered this!  i haven’t had a new bike in 11 years.  i can’t wait for her to come in.  we shall pedal through the smokies, her with her hot pink frame and me in my pink helmet.  the only thing that could stop us is perhaps a black bear, yes most definitely a black bear.

a little bit of otis and a little bit of yoga = bliss

 

call me a hippie but i do love me some yoga.  although i do appreciate yoga classes where they encourage you to try new positions and such, i can’t ever figure out why the hell they cost so much.  i know part of the point of yoga is meditation, focusing on the poses finding your center but some of that for me also comes with music.  when i do yoga at home no native american pan flutes are coming from the speakers.  i dig reggae, the beatles, langhorne slim i find doesn’t quite work, funk of course but the perfect combination is yoga and otis redding.  perhaps i should market this around town….customized dj-ed yoga classes.  how awesome would that be to show up for a class and see turntables in the corner.  then maybe i’d get the 100s of dollars for a month long class.

alfredo is mac & cheese for adults

this was the conclusion at work the other day, when comparing and contrasting pasta recipes.  alfredo is good, no doubt, but it is really just mac & cheese grown up italian style.  here’s my take on it.

pesto, chicken mostaccioli

ingredients

1 16 oz box mostaccioli noodles

1 jar of alfredo sauce

1 8oz jar of pesto

onion chopped

2 tomatos chopped

1/2 a bag of fresh spinach

1 150z container ricotta cheese

5 cloves garlic minced

olive oil

2 chicken breasts, cubed

shredded parmesan

 

1.  in a skillet cook chicken in olive oil and minced garlic, till no longer pink.  meanwhile boil water and cook mostaccioli noodles according to directions on package.

2. in a small bowl mix together the 1 jar of alfredo sauce with the jar of pesto.  in a large mixing bowl combine onion, tomato, spinach, and ricotta cheese.  the best way to mix these ingredients is actually with your hands.

3.  once chicken and noodles are finished cooking combine them with veggie and cheese mixture.  after all ingredients have been throughly tossed and alfredo-pesto mixture.  place pesto-chicken mostaccioli into a deep baking dish.

4.  top pasta with shredded parmesan.  bake at 375, covered for one hour.  make sure to allow pasta to sit for 15 minutes when you pull it out of the oven.

i’m becoming a badass of getting smells out of jars

if you have ever seen my kitchen you know i’m plagued with the disease that makes me save good containers.  yogurt tubes, and jars of every size.  but for the last few months i have not had the pleasure of a dishwasher in my home.  the lids are what hold the small not the jar i have discovered.  after a lot of intensive research i think i’ve finally mastered getting the smell out of the lids.  i soak them in vinegar over night.  simple and much easier than boiling them on the stove or the least favorite method i tired of scrubbing them with salt.  honestly i’m sure bleaching is probably the best method to rid them of smells but that just made me too nervous.

i bet you like to eat?

so said the lady i was helping at work.  while slicing up cheeses for her i shared the fact i get excited when people order cheese.  she asked why and i had to think for a second. my answer was i knew i liked them so when others ordered i was happy to see them appreciated. this makes it seem as if the cheeses and i are friends, but i think we are. i totally have a crush on them, a food crush! then when i was ringing her up and saw all her other goodies she was buying, i ooooeed and aahhhhed over her purchases, making her giggle and exclaim…..i bet you like to eat?! oh i do and working with food is oh so tempting now.  the latest creation via work was taking home some of the soup of the day, a garlic roasted creamy tomato.  i combined this with leftover tomato basil sauce to tame down that garlic and made a yummmy yummy tomato cream sauce.  which i put on some thin spaghetti. (although deep down i feel all forms of the spaghetti noodle are rather unclassy, call me a snob.) can we say belly full!  i really think i was supposed to be italian.

can whiskey make everything a tad better? i’m thinking yes.

julie child spends half her time talking about eating and cooking fish in her book “my life in france.”  while not 100% of a big fish eater i do occasionally like it and know i should eat more of it.  whenever i contemplate making it i’m often reminded of the section on fish in a “how to cook in an apartment” cookbook.  you turn to the fish section, its one page….”don’t do it” is the warning.  but i’d been craving salmon since finishing julie’s book.  so i wandered down to earthfare to pick me out a piece.  when i was checking out the guy ringing me up wanted to know how i was going to cook it.  this i wonder on the way home and came up with something that turned out spectacular.  i marinate the salmon filet in red stag whiskey, a cherry infused whiskey, added some olive oil, pepper and tons of rosemary.  20 minutes later hot out of the oven sweet, silky yumminess of salmon.  as i was eating i was already contemplating the leftovers.  totally getting some goat cheese brie from work.  spread that on some of the bread i baked this week and then top it with a little cold salmon.  leftovers yes please!

bread of the week…..poppy-seeded bloomer

 

i think i’m finally getting a handle on this bread thing.  although this weeks bread had to be kneaded in three different stages.  the dough was so thick and rubbery it started to feel like i was kneaded a basket ball.  kneading dough=upper body work out for the week.  i also took some helpful hints and turned my basic electric oven into a brick bread oven.  how do you ask.  1 get a pizza stone to bake the bread on.  2 place a pan of water under the bread while its baking adds extra moisture.  the hard crust keeps the inside all soft and moist……mmmmmm.  this makes me less afraid of the baguette in the french section of the bread bible.  although in 4 weeks i’ll have to create the harvest festival sheaf, ugh that could be a disaster of doughiness.