blueberry

Two days ago, the thought and smell of food made my stomach queasy. I'm unsure if it was a one day stomach flu, but I felt awful. Monday felt like forever. Yesterday was better, but still off. This morning, I woke up with an appetite and free of a headache. I made smitten kitchen's blueberry muffins to share with my husband and then with my neighbors.

seattle, part two: favorite places

Seattle is a great place to visit. Seriously, go plan a trip right now. It especially was fun to hang out with family and also visit my study abroad best friend Colleen. It's really light and breezy beginning of spring. As I mentioned, we saw the mountains every day. Next time we visit, we'll come back during the summer so we can hike parts of Mount Rainier (which still has a ton of snow so you can't go far up this early in spring). Plus, I want to go back and visit Whidbey Island some day. Sometimes it's overwhelming to think about how many awesome places there are in the world to visit that you're unsure about visiting a place twice. We'd definitely go back to Seattle.

1. Paseo (middle row, second photo from right)
Imagine yummy, dripping caribbean roast sandwiches with thick grilled onions, cilantro, pickled jalapenos on toasty bread. Yummy.

2. Thai Toms (bottom row, first photo from right)
I am not kidding the best panang curry and pad thai in the world. See that man with the wok in the first row of photos. That was right in front of my seat, loved it. I would eat there everyday if I could. Super inexpensive Thai food with such an amazing experience.

3. Top Pot (bottom row, second photo from left)
Old fashioned donuts, get it.

4. Athenian Inn (middle row, first photo from left)
Located in Pike Place, ordered tuna tacos, clear view of the Olympic mountains from our seats. Logan ordered some awesome fish and chips (I actually wish I ordered that). A stool is dedicated to where Tom Hanks sat in a scene from Sleepless in Seattle.

5. Vietnamese Pho
All over Seattle there are little Vietnamese family restaurants. I haven't had Pho (noodle-y goodness soup) since I went to Philadelphia for a mission trip in high school. Still yummy.

6. Seattle Sounders (bottom photo, first photo from left)
Seattle's soccer team is the Sounders. We lucked out and were able to attend the first competitive game of the season. It was incredible. The fans were super fun. It's great to see people get really into soccer. If we lived in Seattle, we would totally want season tickets, so fun.

7. Pike's Place (top row, second photo from right)
Like everyone and their mom, I loved Pike's Place. There are these gorgeous bouquets of flowers (filled with daffodils right now), tons of yummy food, and just good stuff. If you look closely, there are definitely daffodils planted on roofs. That's my favorite.

Seriously, wish I could go back to these places again, and again, and again.

chili cheese étouffée

Yats is this Cajun restaurant around Indianapolis. Gosh, I love it. Good memories at Yats: Court and Ashley during May term, dinner before Coldplay, old staffs and hanging out in Broad Ripple, rewarding myself after twelve hour clinicals.

Last night, we asked our neighbors/friends over dinner, and I really wanted to make them something special, something new, something comfort. I found the recipe for my favorite Yats dish: chili cheese étouffée with crawfish.

First, I really don't know how to pronounce étouffée or any other French/Creole words. Clearly, I needed to research this recipe. Then questions started, worse than the pronunciation, not really. How do I cook the chicken and crawfish? Is it better marinated? What the heck is a roux? What color of roux do I need? Don't worry that it looks like a lot of ingredients - it's mostly spices. Hopefully, my additions are helpful:

Chili Cheese Etouffée with Crawfish, Shrimp and/or Chicken
1 stick of butter
½ cup flour
1 cup chopped green onions
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced bell peppers
1 cup diced onions
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup Rotel Original diced tomatoes
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups shredded aged cheddar
8 ounces half and half (or heavy cream)
1 teaspoon chili powder
pinch ground coriander
pinch ground cumin
pinch ground cloves
dash worcestershire sauce
dash hot sauce sauce (optional)
1 pound cooked crawfish, shrimp and/or chicken
Cooked white rice

Honestly, I looked up how to make fajita style chicken and substituted cajun spices. Cut chicken into small strips. Marinate the chicken with a couple spoons of Cajun seasoning. We didn't have any so I made my seasoning from scratch using this recipe. Cook in skillet with oil. Set aside. (If you want a quick Cajun fix and don't have time to make this recipe, you can just do the chicken with the Cajun seasoning and serve it over rice. Boom.)

Make a roux by heating the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat then blending in the flour, consistently stirring and scraping the bottom of the skillet. Do not walk away. It takes about 10-15 minutes on a gas stove. Cook until the roux is golden color. For different roux colors, look here. We did the color after the "blonde" roux.

Add the green onions, celery, bell peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes. Cook until the onions have browned. At this point, Logan thought it looked really weird. Continue to stir to avoid burning.

Add the thyme, tomato paste, basil and peppers (black, white, and cayenne).

Add the stock, bring to a boil and simmer until the mixture becomes thick (7-12 minutes).

Add the cheese, half and half, chili powder, coriander, cumin, cloves, worcestershire sauce and hot sauce (or wait and let others add in hot sauce). Stir until the cheese and half and half are blended in well.

Gently stir in the chicken (or shrimp or crawfish). Serve over white rice (we used Jasmine -- it's what we had).

Buy a loaf of french bread, spread melted butter, season with garlic salt and cayenne pepper. Bake for 5-10 minutes on 425 F. This bread is your other fork, pushing it around the plate, scooping it up. Chili cheese étouffée rice crunchy bread, everybody loves it.

Serves 6-8 

Tips: I cut and prepped everything before so that it was easy to add as I cooked. Separated the different spices into small bowls. It helps because you are stirring a lot to prevent it burning. No time to prep other things unless you find someone to stir for you. Oh hey Logan, thanks.
 
(source: The Burb Blog & Indianapolis Dine Magazine)

Do I love this recipe? Yes. Will I keep making it despite the stick of butter, three cups of cheddar cheese, and cup of half and half? Absolutely. Do I love people more than food? Yes. Am I glad food is a good way to spend time with people we love? Oh reader, please.

the little chef

Last Friday, my neighbors and I attempted to get these supposedly irresistible, most incredible, unbelievable croissants from The Little Chef, a tiny bakery hidden in downtown Princeton. Epic fail because he wasn't open (still not sure why). The next day, my neighbor tried again. While entering the store, Kristine passed a lady, went to the counter, and the owner informed her that he sold the last three croissants to the woman who just left. And then Kristine mobbed the girl, took her croissants, and we ate them (just kidding).

Determined, we tried again today. Up and ready at 8:15 with a cute eighth month old baby. Even though Kristine and I had to wait for an hour, we had the most incredible, fresh, delicious almond croissants we've ever encountered. Who am I kidding? I've never had a freshly made croissant.

Plain, chocolate, peach, almond, didn't really realize croissants had different flavors and fillings. The croissant above is raspberry filled. I brought it home for Logan. Ten wife points. Nice way to start the weekend.

doily

Doily cookies & diy doily bowl. Genius, right?

(doily cookies via wide open spaces via tara sloggett, doily bowl via creative comforts)

ficelle, tomato & goat cheese

This is my favorite quick sandwich for lunch. It tastes like something from Olives, a cute soup, salad, and sandwich place in downtown Princeton. Only this costs like two dollars (probably less) opposed to seven.

Use your favorite french bread. I used ficelle bread from Trader's Joe. Lightly brush bread with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, dried basil, and dried orengo. Broil in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Top with sliced roma tomatoes and goat cheese crumbles.

Nom, nom, so good. What's your favorite quick lunch?

applesauce

Originally, I wanted to make apple butter and pumpkin pancakes this weekend. Big surprise, I changed my mind. When I saw the apples we picked from last weekend on our counter, I wanted nothing else but applesauce.

Applesauce belongs in the top ten easiest homemade awesome yummyness ever. The smell took me right back to days of my mom and grandma canning. My family always used foley food mills to strain the peels and mash the apples for large batches to can. Since I don't have a foley food mill and I only made a small amount, I peeled my apples and mashed it with a wooden spoon. I boiled the peels with the apples to give that pretty pink color (my favorite) and add more nutrients. 

Homemade Applesauce
6 medium-size apples (I used a combination of macoun and liberty)
3/4 to 1 cup water
None to 1/4 cup sugar

Core apples. Peel apples. Chop apples. Use some fresh lemon juice to keep apples from browning.

Mix apples, water, and sugar. Add apple peels (this gives applesauce a pretty pink color and more nutrients). Bring to a boil, cover and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Allow to cool, remove peels, and mash with a fork or potato masher. I didn't even mash it, stirring occasionally made it into a chunky applesauce. Add cinnamon if desired. Serve warm or chill then eat. Makes a small batch: four servings.

I hope you have a chance to make applesauce this fall. The smell alone makes you smile. Enjoy!

spiced pumpkin doughnuts

Fall baking, you keep me from taking naps. That's probably a good thing.

Today, I tried to make doughnuts... again. When I was home a month ago, Mallory, my sister-in-law, and I attempted since she had a deep fryer. It didn't go very well. The oil was too hot, we didn't have enough oil, and the doughnut recipe wasn't very good.

At least, this attempt redeemed homemade doughnuts. I've been craving them ever since we went to the orchard last weekend and bought apple cider doughnuts. I improvised on many levels: no buttermilk, no doughnut cutter or any cookie cutters (whoops, forgot that on my registry), and no chilling. And, I also let my oil get too hot.

As a result, these were my problems. The first few, during the too hot oil phase, were not cooked in the center. While the whole chilling the dough for three hours does not solve immediate cravings, I'm assuming it prevents the outside from overcooking making an overall fluffier doughnut. Mine were crunchy on the outside like elephants ears. I'm not complaining. I really like elephant ears.

In the end, they were awesome. It was like biting into deep-fried fall.

Next on the baking list: pumpkin pancakes and apple butter. Look for it this next week. Oh, and do you see that cute little pumpkin? 69 cents at Trader Joe's. I love it. For the spiced pumpkin doughnut recipe...

homemade whip cream

First, never read cookbooks late at night. It's bad news.

While sifting through borrowed Donna Hay cookbooks, my stomach quickly  decided dinner wasn't enough. Rather than committing to cookies or a larger dessert project, I cut up a banana, topped it with peanut butter and homemade whip cream, pretty simple. And seriously, really good. I'm not sure why we sell whip cream in stores. I mean, I do, but it's definitely better homemade.

Whip cream is really easy to make with an immersion blender (must-have registry item, I think). I use this little guy for everything: soups, salsa, whip cream, guacamole. I have friends who use it to make baby food. Whatever they're eating, they just blend it and serve. It's an investment, and easier to store than a food processor.

Homemade Whip Cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon of sugar (more or less to your preference)

Mix until cream makes stiff peaks.

For dessert, it isn't that unhealthy other than the fat in the heavy cream and two teaspoons of sugar, but still filled with potassium and protein. What's your go-to quick dessert? 

self-care

Cooking & baking is one way I take care of myself. Take a couple minutes for your favorite self-care activity. It's good for you.

First, I haven't looked at Smitten Kitchen in a while, and while eating dinner, I reminded myself how much I love food.

 
When I emerge myself back into the blog world during such a school week like this, I lose all motivation for homework and simply want to cut, stir and bake! The point is I need to make this Winter Fruit Salad... soon.


via smitten kitchen