Xan and Catherine: Sunflowers!

I just transferred 5 months worth of food photos to my computer.  Quite a backlog!

We made these sunflower cupcakes...a while ago.  Catherine did the petals and I did the ladybugs :)

"let's be friends"

Linden's Baked Oatmeal

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything here. This is in part because while at home for six weeks, I fell into the easy (and sometimes very rewarding) habit of letting Papapapa cook, despite my best intentions to take advantage of the free time and deep fryer to experiment. (Well, the other half of that was that it was a time of darkness and allergy testing, which meant I couldn't really experiment.)

But now I am living in Cambridge, and working a standard workweek, and I have returned to my habits of cooking for myself. Now, it's important to recognise that this is a massive endeavor, mostly because of the things no one ever thinks about. I can't have your standard cereal for breakfast, so I have to make my own. I can't eat store-bought bread, so I either have to make my own, or not eat bread (usually the latter) which means that I can't just pack a sandwich for lunch. And, even on the nights I get home late and exhausted, I can't just open a tin of soup or put some pasta on the stove and add ready-made sauce. And store-bought lunches or dinners are right out.

But I have adjusted, and I plan and prepare. It means lots of cooking on the weekends, like Sunday: on the slate was baked oatmeal, and a big vegetable baked ziti (most of which I put into individual lunch-sized containers and froze. Currently in my freezer are ziti, risotto, and quiche, because variety is important).
Let me tell you about baked oatmeal. I had never even heard of it until a few weeks ago, when I came across it during a late-night browse through cooking blogs, which is the sort of thing I do, and it seemed like a reasonable thing to try (partly because it doesn't require expensive nuts and dried fruit). It is super delicious, easy to make, and comes out steaming and photogenic. Also, it survives microwaving very well, which means it does well for breakfasts all week long.

And look how delicious it looks, with it's oatmealy top and gooey fruity bottom.

I am including the recipe here because I think others involved might benefit from this recipe, others in this case meaning everyone. Borrowed from sevenspoons, changed a bit by me.

Ingredients
slightly more than 2 cups large flake rolled oats (not instant)
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
slightly less than 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
slightly less than 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups milk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup or honey
2 medium bananas, sliced
1/2 cup blueberries (unthawed frozen or fresh)
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Get out your 8" round baking dish (around 2 quart capacity) and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, baking powder, spices and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil, vanilla and maple syrup. Set aside.

In the prepared baking dish, spread the sliced bananas in an even layer, then scatter the blueberries over top. Pile the oat mixture to cover the fruit, but do not pack too tightly. Carefully pour the wet milk mixture over the oats; it will look as if there is too much liquid, but not to worry, it will be absorbed during baking. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the oatmeal is puffed and set, with a golden brown top.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes, then enjoy.

Makes about 4 hearty servings.

Kathleen: Owls

This is my first baking endeavour in quite some times. Little owls, which took absolutely ages but were so worth it. And yummy besides.




The small ones.


Close-up.


And the big ones.


All together!

Xan and Catherine: Monarchs!

Check out these monarch cupcakes!  Their annual fall migration from Canada to Mexico passes straight through our kitchen in Chicago:

Not all will complete the arduous 3000 mile journey.  Many will be eaten along the way, even despite the fact that they are loaded with toxins.  You see, these monarchs sport bright colors to warn would-be predators that they contain milk products.  (Monarch cupcakepillars feed on evil lactose-rich milkweed, toxifying them for life).

Anyway, the butterflies were made by melting "candy melting wafers," using an icing bag to form the wing and antenna shapes, and then resolidifying them for a few minutes in the freezer.  Cool, huh?

Linden's Turkey Meatballs

The last six months have been a bit splurgey for me, foodwise. After the time of darkness last winter (when I acquired a taste for lentils, brown rice, and cauliflower) while I was trying to identify my new allergy (methinks it's soy, but further tests to come this fall), I was in need of a little weight gain. Hence the abundance of cakes, chocolate, cheeesy lasagnas and deep dish pizzi, and savory tarts in my history.

However, this summer my fastwalks through Oxford (to lectures, seminars, and choir) have been replaced by sitting in a chair writing my thesis and moaning to everyone who will listen, which only exercises my hands and mouth (alas, not the bits that keep your tummy trim). So I am slowly trying to edge out the delicious-by-means-of-butter-and-cheese and edge in the not-as-delicious-but-makes-me-feel-virtuous.

So, because quitting cold turkey (hah!) would be too much to endure in the weeks before my thesis is due, I am taking the middle road. Last night, I made delicious spaghetti and meatballs, but instead of the traditional beef and veal and pork, I went for healthy turkey.

In my way, I combined two recipes from the internets, and opted for baking the meatballs rather than frying them (see? look at that healthy alternativing!) For the last five minutes of pasta cooking, I moved the meatballs into the sauce to absorb some delicious sauciness. Then, a bowlfull of pasta and zucchini (it may not look like much, but that is because this is Chris' plate, which is always slightly less green than mine, which we will put down to my jealous vegatative nature.).

 

The recipes:
http://thekitchensinkrecipes.com/2008/05/08/try-it-youll-like-it/
http://www.dinneralovestory.com/great-grandma-turano%E2%80%99s-meatballs/

Linden's Panang Curry

If you go to www.oed.com - that would be the Oxford English Dictionary's website, for those of you not in the know - and search "potato effect", you will find three entries. The first is spelling-related, pertaining to the 'e' introduced when pluralizing the word. The second has to do with Ireland, and thus is of little interest here, as their cuisine is not predominantly what you would call photogenic. Our family has a historic, if tense, relationship with the third.

When Papa cooks plain baked potatoes, his thoughts go something like this: There are five of us, and these are big baking potatoes, so reckon 3/4 each (maybe a whole one for me), better make four and hope someone isn't hungry. There are usually two left.

When he roasts potatoes, he can cook the same amount and only have one or two little potatoe eighths remaining (the runts of the litter). When he makes french fries - which, I would like to point out, he hasn't done in years, a major failing of his kitchining - he uses the same number and we all complain that he didn't cook enough.

His response is always to retaliate with baked potatoes, and then complain that we aren't eating them. He says, "I don't know how you expect me to estimate how many potatoes people will eat when one night you want more than a whole one each and the next all of you together barely manage one", and feels very righteous about his own consistent intake.

However, this is easily explained by what is commonly known as the potato effect, which refers to the phenomenomenon whereby delicious food is less filling.

I have found that chicken experiences the potato effect when cooked in the form of Panang Curry. I will cook enough raw chicken that I expect enough leftovers for another full meal, and there will be absolutely nothing left, or maybe enough for a small snack the following day. Unlike Papa, however, I am an adapter. I just double my quantities.

Linden's Delicious Vengeful Desserts

Well, I was certainly not happy to hear that the entire family Conspired Against Me regarding the pizza at the beach (except for Papa, who shows his love in other ways).

So I guess it's time to bring out pictures of my delicious cakes. Of all the desserts I make, these are the most requested and most delicious.

The first has its roots in the humble American coffee cake - a confusing name in this country, since all of their cakes tend to have the dryness which distinguishes coffee cakes from other cakes and makes it good for tea time. But this one adds rhubarb, and lots of cinnamon and a hint of ginger, and makes a not too dry, not too dense, not too sweet, but very delicious cake. Topped with big crumbs of cinnamon and brown sugar and butter. Then, while the cake is in the oven, the cakey bit rises up over the crumbs, subsuming them and making a lava-field looking top, which results in what you might think of as Cake Surprise. When you fork off another bite, you don't know whether it will contain a chunk of rhubarb, a buried big crumb, or both!

The second cake is even more delicious, and much richer. It is a torte, made by whipping eggs for half of eternity until they get light and fluffy and ten times their original size, and then browning butter over the stove, for a nice round nutty flavor. Then, to top it off, there's large chunks of chocolate and pears. It is  delicious, and by the time I got my camera, two thirds of it was gone.  Not a great picture, but if you look at the sides you can see chunks of pear and chocolate hiding inside the delicious moist dense cakiness.

 

(Oh, am I making those of you on diets want some? I'm sorry, maybe you should have thought about that before you Conspired.)

And you know what else, because I'm feeling a little vindictive about the Lies, we're not going to stop with cakes. Here are my delicious raspberry-topped lemon muffins, an excellent balance between sweet and lemon, with raspberries perched on top for some extra zing.

Oh and in all of my hard work on my thesis, I almost forgot my double dark chocolate chunk muffins, which are deliciously moist and densely chocolatey, with big chunks of chocolate lurking inside, just waiting to attack you with deliciousness. Some even say they are the best chocolate muffins they have ever had, and I am tempted to agree.

There, I'm feeling a bit better now. Back to work.