from my kitchen

I have tendency to be a little over-zealous when the New Year rolls around. I want to train for a marathon and read 52 books in a month and reorganize my whole house and take sewing, photography and dance classes. All today. Right now. And I usually set lofty goals only to be reminded a year later that I’m only one person—with plenty enough to do everyday—aside from visit the Sistine Chapel and learn to quilt. So while I work on a very bold and bright ’40 Things to Do While I’m 40 list’ (in photoshop) I thought I’d share with you one of my favorite recipes. And if you have any wonderful suggestions for my 40’s list, leave them in the comments section and maybe I’ll add them to the list. And now, lest you think I have no recipes that aren’t laden with butter and cream, I give you

My Big Fat (Butterless, Creamless) Greek Goulash

What you’ll need:
1 ½ pounds ground beef

½ t. ground cloves
1/3 pound bulk sausage

½ t. cinnamon
1 large eggplant

1 T. balsamic vinegar
2 large onions

1. T. worcestershire
2 cloves garlic

1 T. olive oil
1 can tomatoes

2 T. honey
¼ t. Cayenne pepper

salt, pepper to taste
AND
Tzatziki Sauce (16 oz greek yogurt mixed with 2 T. lemon juice, 2 T. olive oil, 2 T. honey and chopped cucumber)

Brown beef and sausage together adding salt and pepper to taste and a little olive oil if the meat is ultra-lean. Add cayenne and chopped garlic. (This photo makes me almost want to be vegetarian.)

Cut eggplant into small bite sized cubes and add to meat mixture. The eggplant will soak up all the liquid but be patient and it will release its’ liquids soon.

Chop onions into thinly sliced half moons and add to a separate pan with 2 T. olive oil.

If the meat and eggplant mixture get too dry, add a little olive oil if necessary and cook on medium heat until the eggplant is softened.

Add one can of diced tomatoes (with juice) and then cloves, cinnamon, vinegar, Worcestershire, and honey. Taste and add more salt as necessary.

Continue to cook the onions—it usually takes about 30 minutes until they are carmelized.

Cook 1/3 package of orzo pasta according to directions on package and then add the fully cooked pasta to the meat mixture. Then make the tzatziki sauce using the greek yogurt.

Serve by layering each plate with meat/pasta mixture then onions topped with feta cheese and tzatziki sauce. The carmelized onions are like a party in your mouth. Do not attempt to skip this step or worse yet add the ‘fried onions’ you can buy at the store. Don’t do it. Carmelize your own and soon you’ll be adding them to your Raisin Bran. Enjoy with pita bread and a greek salad!

Download a copy of the recipe here.

And for those of you blog stalkers who care, I’m leaving on Saturday for a quick visit to Philadelphia/Atlantic City for my 40th birthday. I’m going with my sister and JamieKnoxville. It should be big fun. I’m taking every precaution and forbidding Washington apple martinis! (a very funny inside joke). I plan to laugh till I cry, spend hours chatting with two of my favorite people, spend the afternoon in Anthropologie, take hundreds of pictures, and read a book. What other suggestions do you have for me?

The Lightest Fluffiest Angel Wing Biscuits Ever to FLy Over Southern Skies

December 7, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 44 Comments

I have made it my personal mission in life to per-fect the biscuit. You can’t even graduate from high school in the South until you demonstrate proficiency at biscuit making—-so I’ve been making biscuits a long time. But I just took the recipe that was passed onto me and never questioned it. You’re not supposed to question a long line of Southern biscuit makers.

But…….

What if I want the lightest fluffiest angel wing biscuits ever to fly over southern skies? What then? Well, I scoured the internet—an a few cookbooks—and made a few dozen biscuits—-using various biscuits methods—and I think we have a winner folks. So, put on an apron, roll up the sleeves on your flannel shirt, put on some bluegrass music and let’s make biscuits.

First, you must start with 2 cups of self-rising white lily flour. There shall be no substitutes. It has a lower protein content and says on the front ‘a southern tradition since 1883’. Don’t mess with Texas. Then add 1/4 c. sugar, 1/2 t. salt, 1 1/2 t. baking powder (I know, you’re not supposed to need it with sr flour but these are the lightest fluffiest angel wing biscuits ever to fly over southern skies, so just add it).

Now with a pastry blender, cut in 1/4 c. shortening. Or use a whisk if you tend to be hard on pastry blenders.

Now, add 2/3 cups of heavy cream and 1 cup of buttermilk and stir. The mixture will be very wet.

Add 1 cup of flour into a casserole dish or onto your working surface and then with a medium sized ice cream scoop–or whatever sized biscuits you like—scoop a few scoops onto the flour. Flour your hands and then lightly shape the biscuits—adding flour where there really wet—but shaking off any excess flour. They will be coated with flour on the outside, but the inside of each one will still be quite wet.

Spray a round cake pan with cooking spray and then place the biscuits very snugly into the pan. This step is key. These are southern bisuits so they’re invading each other’s personal space and hugging and back-slapping like crazy. If you’re from the Midwest, where personal space is recognized and respected, this step might be hard for you. But trust me, I made my first batch with biscuit-boundaries—and they were flat and boring. Scooch ’em close together and they’ll sing the hallelujah chorus when they’re done.

Then bake at 425 degrees for 18-23 minutes or until they’re golden brown on top. When you take them out of the oven, they look like this—-like they’re happily snuggled under an afghan watching an SEC football game. Then invert them onto a plate–and then turn them right side up onto another plate. Brush them with butter. And that’s when they start singing the hallelujah chorus. Take a knife and cut them apart and notice how some of them are kinda shaped like angel wings.

Butter them generously and enjoy. And then of course, sneak a bite to the dog that has no doubt when lying at your feet while you make them.

I used Darby’s cinnamon butter, which is most wonderfully delicious and easy. I mistakenly added one more stick of butter than she did but it turned out yummy just the same. I used 3 sticks of softened butter, 1 cup honey, 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 t. cinnamon and beat it well in my electric mixer. You can give it away as gifts—-and she has hers decorated up so cute—or if your 7 year old tastes it and begs to keep it all at home, you can do that too!

Y’all enjoy! Get the pdf file for the recipe here.

Notes from my cookbook:

1. These are so light and fluffy that they may require a fork. These would not be the biscuits that would hold up to a sausage-biscuit sandwich. Unless you use a fork.

2. I will still use my other biscuit recipe when I need more substantial biscuits. These are like biting into a cloud.

3. I will most definitely make my traditional biscuits (that I roll out with a rolling pin) with white lily flour. Also, with any biscuit recipe, if you start out with a very wet dough and don’t over mix/beat/knead, they will be lighter and fluffier. They just won’t have angel wings like this one.

4. I used a recipe from the website Project Foodie and added baking powder to it—after my first batch didn’t rise quite as much as I would have liked. Thank you to their experts for these wonderful tips.

The Morning After

October 29, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 38 Comments

The cups of coffee I’ve had so far today:

If we’re friends on Facebook or you follow me on Twitter, then you may know that we just purchased a ~~crack pot~~ espresso machine. I’m on a 36 hour bender. And when I crash, it’s not gonna be pretty.

If I hit rock bottom and come begging you for more coffee beans, don’t enable me. As it is, I’m typing 600 words a minute. And Stevie must like me jittery ’cause he just made me another
latte.

Oh, wait here he comes with a mocha. {Pause for a taste—and a longing look into his eyes} Be still my pounding heart.

I promise I’ll cut back. I can control it. Just one more cup. I’ll quit tomorrow.

The evening the machine arrived, we felt compelled to try every last possible combination of
coffee, espresso, milk, half and half, cream, chocolate syrup, and various liquors. I stayed up until 2:30a and was back making espresso at 6:30.

This machine could be my undoing.

It’s a Jura Capresso machine (fully automatic) and uses whole beans. It makes perfect crema and is a refurbished model—which makes it half the price that it would normally be. It may not seem so inexpensive when I’m in the ER for an arrhythmia!

{glazed apple bars} and a friendly family feud

October 21, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 31 Comments

I found this {glazed apple bar} recipe at Meg’s blog. I will repost it here for the ease of my readers but please visit her site and be amazed and inspired. I am posting it for two reasons. One is because they are absolutely delicious—made with a short bread crust, then a layer of apples, sugar and cinnamon, and then topped with shortbread crumbles. Divine, I tell you. Divine.

But a little family feud {I think I said ‘violent conversation’ on facebook} ensued about whether or not these bars are better than apple pie. To be fair to my husband, he was reared by a woman who makes the best pies I have ever tasted in my life. This woman knows the temperamental nature of pie crust {and dough in general} like nobody’s business. She has a sixth sense about all baked things. She makes comments about the humidity is affecting her crust and the tapioca pearls are not quiet the right size. She is the pie whisperer. So, for the sake of our argument, I think I’m going to have to exclude her pies from this discussion. Because we can only get her pies about once or twice a year. Unfortunately for me, in this battle of the baked goods, he just had her pie a few weeks ago.

Here’s a snippet of a recent conversation about the apple bar/apple pie showdown:

Me: Honey, did you taste the apple bars I made today?

Stevie: {engrossed in his iPhone and watching Glen Beck and therefore doesn’t look up to answer} Um-hum.

Me: Well?

Stevie: They’re alright. {looks up at me, thinking that the ‘alright’ might get him in trouble}. Yeah, they’re pretty good.

Me: Whaaaaatt? Pretty good? Really? Because I think they’re possibly the best non-chocolate baked good I’ve ever tasted. Even better than apple pie.

Stevie: {he laughs uncontrollably} Better than apple pie? Are you kidding me? That’s outright blasphemy.

Me: Okay, well maybe not your mother’s apple pie but it’s better than every other apple pie.

Stevie: Iiiiiii don’t think so.

Me: What bite did you taste?

Stevie: What do you mean, what bite did I taste?

Me: I mean, was it a bite from the edge where there were not as many apples? Did you try a whole piece or just a bite? Did your ‘bite’ have the shortbread crumbles on it or was a stripped down bite?

Stevie: {looking at me and realizing that I’m armed for battle here—-and hoping to pacify me, put this all behind him and finish watching his news in peace} You know what, it was just a bite from the edge. I’m sure the rest of it is just as wonderful as you say.

And to be fair, he did love it once he had the complete apple bar experience. But I wouldn’t let it go. So, I took a plateful of them to the dance studio {where my girls dance and I sit and knit and chitty-chat} and passed them out to get the response of the public at large.

The results of my intense double blind study: woman prefer them to apple pie and men do not.
In fact, one of the men ate the bar, said it was ‘good’ and then proceeded to eat a whole, raw apple. That would not be my first inclination after eating these buttery delicious bars but whatever. Marcus {Steve’s son and self-proclaimed foodie} responded to my facebook update about this ongoing apple battle and said he would be the judge when he comes to visit this weekend. I’m a little nervous. Because Marcus just had the best apple pie in the known world too. But I’ll report the results to you without bias.

I think you should make them and weigh in. {although don’t literally ‘weigh in’ because they have 3 sticks of butter)

Here’s the recipe:

{glazed apple bars}

First you combine 4 C. flour, 1/2 t. salt and 2 C. sugar.
Then, cut in 3 sticks of butter. The mixture will be crumbly and Meg recommends you use your hands. I wholeheartedly agree. I first tried my mixer and it didn’t work well. Press about 2/3’s of this crumbly mixture into a jelly roll pan.

Peel, core and slice 4-5 Granny smith apples and layer over the shortbread mixture.
Combine 1/3 C. sugar and 1 t. cinnamon, sprinkle it over the apples.
Crumble the remaining flour/sugar/butter mixture on top of the apples.
Bake it at 350 degrees for 50 – 60 minutes…until it is crispy on the bottom.

After it bakes, let it cool.
Make a glaze with 1 C. powdered sugar, 1 t. vanilla, 1 T. water.

From my kitchen— on July 4th

July 4, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 21 Comments

We interrupt the regularly scheduled series—-which I shall certainly not finish by Monday—to bring you a few dynamite ideas for the Fourth of Juuuly. That’s how we say it in the South.

Juuuu-ly.

With an emphasis on the ‘Ju’. And I’ll just confess this right now, I don’t have a whole lot of Independence Day knick-knacks.

Hold on, let me scan around the house one good time. (from the sofa I look quickly in all directions)

Not even one. I don’t have one Fourth of Juuuly knick knack. And I probably won’t look like an American flag myself. I’m just not a ‘try to wear as much holiday paraphernalia as possible’ kind of a girl. Not that I don’t enjoy cute little girls or darling little old ladies decked out in holiday fare. Because I do. And it’s not that I’m not intensely patriotic. Because I am. I get teary eyed almost anytime I meet an honest to goodness soldier, or read almost any book about America’s founding fathers, or see little girls and darling little old ladies decked out in flag-printed clothing.

Not to worry though, I can often be ‘over the top’ when it comes to my tablescapes. And I’m never in short supply of flags. When I saw this cute little idea on Kimba’s site, with the bandanas, I knew it would work perfect for my upcoming ‘luncheon’. We dined inside but in true picnic style. I used one of those genu-ine camping table cloths and my favorite white plates with red napkins. Strawberries and cherries in fancy compotes completed the festive table.

Okay, enough about the tablescape, I must introduce you to the star of the show:

Ratatouille Tart

This recipe came from my favorite source for new recipes, Cuisine at Home. Have you seen this little magazine? I’ve been getting it for about 3 years now–since I stopped hi-jacking them from my mother’s house– and have made so many scrumptious recipes from it. You must subscribe. I don’t mean to make your mouth water unduly, but this is a homeade tart crust (prebaked for 30′ at 375), with basil and fontina cheese layered first, then mandolin-sliced zucchini, squash, red onion, and red pepper, layered next. It’s finished off with generous drizzles of olive oil and salt and pepper and then baked for thirty more minutes.

Then, I searched high and low until I found three cute little helpers decked out in red to skewer the kabobs–jerk chicken kabobs with kielbasa and veggies–from same said magazine.

My style is often to mix elements of style–a little retro with my cottage or picnic with my fancy–I think it makes decorating and living in general, more interesting.

So, I wish you all a Happy Fourth. Of Juuuly. And I wish you were here to taste this tart. Stevie says it doesn’t touch the homeade pizza I made earlier this week, but he was only mad because I didn’t add salami, pepperoni, beef and sausage to this tres chic tart. We’re foodies around here, we can’t help it.

We had such a fun visit with our friends Sebastian and Sarah. And can’t wait to see them again!

I hope to post the ‘Surround Them with Books’ this weekend and then we’ll finish up next week. I can’t decide if I should do a linky or if you just want to post your ideas for ‘Creating a Learning Environment’ in the comments. Let me know today in the comments and my girls will pick one lucky (at random) person to give a one year subscription of Cuisine At Home. And if you have any fun ideas for July 4th desserts (besides the cake decorated like a flag or the standard trifle) let us know!

Disclaimer–I have no affiliation with this cooking magazine, I just love it….and you!

Post Edit: It occurred to me while I was running this morning that you might need to hear Juuuly pronounced, at least those of you who don’t live below the Mason-Dixon. And when this song came on my iPod, I knew I had to share with you. A little family trivia for those of you who enjoy such, our dog Scooter is named after Shooter Jennings—because I thought his name was Scooter Jennings. And our dog Hank is named after Hank Williams—my daddy’s favorite musician. I’m not a fan of much current country music but I grew up listening to eight tracks of Tammy Wynette and George Jones–so if I bust out into ‘Golden Ring’ or ‘We’re Gonna Hold On’, consider it a form of mental disorder forced on me when I was 3 and cut me some slack. Please, for the love of all things honky-tonk and patriotic, give Shooter a listen–at least until you see those darlin’ girls with those sundresses and cowgirl boots (one of my all-time favorite looks) and until he says

‘Foath-a-Juuuly-yyy”