The Countdown

Okay, folks! We have the final word from the contractor! Here is the countdown to a fully sided house:

TODAY he has ordered the materials from our local lumberyard.
FRIDAY there will be a dumpster delivered to our house for all of the refuse.
SATURDAY the contractor is picking up said materials and delivering them to our house.
SUNDAY all of Matt's available buddies are coming over for a demolition party. We provide the beer and food, they bring the crowbars. All the old siding is coming off!
MONDAY the contractor and his workers arrive on site to begin RENOVATION!

I will start taking pictures when tear-off begins and hopefully I will have a completely new image to show you by next Friday!

After recovering from the siding job, I am hoping to get the landscaping done over the course of the summer and early fall so I can have the entire exterior finished before the cold weather sets in.

Everyone cross your fingers that Mother Nature is in a good mood and keeps the rain away for a few days so we can get this all done quickly!

Even in Karate....Girls Rule!

My sweet, sweet boy....he'll let any cute little girl push him around.
What is it about a little kid in a karate Gi that is so stinkin' adorable, anyway?

TFF - Braised Beef Brisket

After putting together Tyler Florence’s Arborio Rice Pudding last week for Tyler Florence Fridays, I couldn’t wait to try anther recipe from the ones I have marked in his books! (although I do have quite a few I want to try!) At the grocery this week, the brisket looked wonderful, so even though I’ve never made a brisket before, I couldn’t resist giving this one a try!
If you’ve been reading my blog with any kind of regularity, you know by now that I rarely follow a recipe as it is written. On this one, however, I did my very best to keep it as close to Tyler’s version as possible (with a few minor changes, of course!) About the only things I did differently in this case is that instead of the can of whole tomatoes, I used two cans of diced, fire roasted tomatoes. I just love the flavor they give to a nice cut of beef. Other than that, I didn’t garnish with the watercress because, as I’ve mentioned before, I live in Podunk, USA. We don’t have watercress.

NOW! About the recipe! Naturally, my brisket was too big for my dutch oven, and my large roasting pan is one that I’m afraid to put over an open flame. So, I have a 14 inch covered skillet that I love, and although I’m sure it isn’t proper technique, I managed to stuff all the ingredients in it. The recipe itself was very easy to follow. I did use a little more than 4 cloves of garlic, and my skill at making paste out of it leaves a little something to be desired, but hey, it tasted good! For the wine, I used a nice Cabernet/Merlot blend that had a smoky undertone to it, which I thought would work well with the fire roasted tomatoes. Let me just tell you, it took every ounce of willpower I had to let that hunk of meat stay in the oven for 3 ½ hours! (Tyler’s brisket was only 4 pounds, mine was 5 ½, so it took longer than his recipe references.) My whole house smelled like beefy heaven. When I finally pulled the pan out of the oven and uncovered it, I could have cried, it smelled so good. I’ve never had brisket any way other than smoked, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, but it sliced like a dream. My Wustoff went through it like butter. I was so excited by the results, that since I had to run out the door when it was done cooking to my niece’s 16th birthday party, I packed some of it up and took it with me, where I proceeded to force-feed it to my husband. He looked at me like I was crazy, but after putting a couple of slices on a sandwich roll and tentatively tasting it, he looked at me like I was a goddess on a golden pedestal. I don’t get that reaction from my husband often, but when I do, it usually involves lingerie. (Sorry, Mom and Dad! Avert your eyes!)

All in all, I haven’t got a single complaint, other than I had to rush out the door and didn’t have time to make the polenta side dish I was going to make to go with it, so you might see that later this week! Also….I’m already eyeing another brisket at the store…don’t be surprised if you see THIS recipe go into regular rotation in MY kitchen! It is absolutely fabulous!!! I think the pictures speak for themselves. Another winner from our guy, Ty!

Braised Beef Brisket From Dinner at My Place by Tyler Florence, Meredith Books (2008).

Serves 10

Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

4 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

½ teaspoon kosher salt

4 fresh rosemary sprigs, needles stripped from the stem and chopped

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 4-pound beef brisket (first cut)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 large carrots, cut into 3-inch chunks

3 ribs celery, cut into 3-inch chunks

2 onions, halved

2 cups dry red wine

1 16-ounce can whole tomatoes, hand-crushed

1 handful fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (optional)

2 tablespoons water or dry red wine (optional)

1 bunch hydroponic watercress, for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°F. On a cutting board, mash the garlic and ½ teaspoon salt together with the flat side of a knife until it turns into a paste.Add the rosemary and continue to mash until incorporated. Put the garlic-rosemary paste in a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the oil; stir to combine. Set aside.

Season both sides of the brisket with plenty of salt and pepper. Rub the rosemary-garlic paste over the brisket. Drizzle with additional olive oil. Place a large roasting pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

When the pan is hot, place the brisket in the roasting pan and sear to form a nice brown crust on both sides, adding additional oil as necessary to prevent sticking.

Lay the vegetables all around the brisket. Add the wine, tomatoes, tomato liquid, parsley, and bay leaves.

Cover the pan tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 3 to 4 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork-tender.

Remove the brisket from pan and place on a cutting board. Allow brisket to rest for 15 minutes.Remove vegetables from the pan with a slotted spoon; discard vegetables. Skim some of the excess fat from the pan juices, leaving about ¼ cup fat in the pan; place the roasting pan with the pan juices and fat over medium-high heat. Boil and stir about 5 minutes, until the sauce is reduced by half. (For a thicker sauce, mix the 1 tablespoon flour with the 2 tablespoons water and whisk into the gravy.) Slice brisket and serve with sauce. If you like, garnish each plate with watercress.

**notes: I admit, I didn't want to let any heat out of the oven on a hot day like yesterday and I was on a deadline, so I wanted it to stay in the oven as much as possible. Yep, I only basted it twice the whole time it was in the oven. Didn't matter, it was still moist and wonderful.

**also: I did not thicken the sauce. I did strain the veggies out of it, but it was so flavorful, I left it just as an au jus, which I though was an incredible complement to the meat and just made the slices glisten on the plate.

I've gotta ask....have you ever seen anything quite so luscious on your dinner table?

TFF - Arborio Rice Pudding

Since the first time I tried risotto, I have been a fan. So when I found this recipe for Arborio Rice Pudding with Rum Raisin Mascarpone in Tyler Florence's "Dinner at My Place", I was sold. I also needed a recipe to create for Tyler Florence Fridays this week! Everyone root for me - one recipe from this week will be chosen to appear on Tyler's own blog! Hope mine's good enough!

The recipe on page 224 of the book called my name with its ingredient list; arborio rice....mascarpone cheese....dark rum....

I have to admit, I did make a couple of slight changes, but I don't think Tyler would be upset with me. I've never been a big proponent of raisins, so I grabbed a bag of Craisins out of the pantry instead. Since I really like the combination of cranberry and orange, I used orange zest in place of the lemon zest at the end and mixed it in with the pudding instead of just garnishing with it. I did use lemon juice in the soaking liquid, just because lemon juice seems to be more acidic and I thought it might plump up the cranberries faster than orange juice would have.

In the photo in Tyler's book, the pudding sure looks gorgeous, and fluffy white! By the time I added the cinnamon and the vanilla bean, mine was a lovely cocoa color. I picked up some wonderfully pungent Vietnamese cinnamon at Penzey's a couple of weeks ago, so I used that, and lucky me - I just got a new delivery of bourbon vanilla beans from the 2009 harvest at The Organic Vanilla Bean Company, so I was excited to find a recipe to use one in. Last but not least, Creme Fraiche is not exactly something I keep stocked at my house, but sour cream is, so I mixed that in at the end in place of the creme fraiche. I like the tartness of the sour cream anyway.

SO, here we go!

Arborio Rice Pudding with Rum-Raisin Mascarpone
From Dinner at My Place by Tyler Florence, Meredith Books (2008).
Serves 4 Time: 45 minutes

Rum-Raisin Mascarpone
1 cup raisins, packed tightly (I used Craisins)
1 cup sugar
½ cup dark rum
1 lemon, juice only
2 cups mascarpone cheese
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Pudding
3 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup Arborio rice
Pinch kosher salt
½ cup crème fraîche (I used sour cream)
Lemon zest (I used orange)

To prepare Rum-Raisin Mascarpone, soak raisins in a mixture of the granulated sugar, rum, and lemon juice. Muddle (squash) raisins with a wooden spoon to help them soak and rehydrate a little. Set aside while you prepare the rice pudding.

Ty was my little helper last night and was gleefully stirring the craisins in the rum mixture.....

Put milk, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla bean contents, rice, and salt into a large saucepan.

aren't these vanilla beans just lush and gorgeous?

Bring to a simmer over medium heat; stirring constantly.

Simmer Arborio rice for 20 to 22 minutes, until tender, yet firm (al dente). (The rice mixture should have slightly more liquid than regular risotto.) Remove from heat; stir in crème fraîche.

Strain the liquid from the raisins; reserve liquid. Combine mascarpone and cream and whisk until light and creamy in a large bowl. Swirl in the strained raisins and drizzle a little of the soaking liquid over top.

Garnish rice pudding with lemon zest.

Top rice pudding with a generous spoonful of Rum-Raisin Mascarpone. Serve pudding with additional Rum-Raisin Mascarpone on the side.

**Just a couple of notes: my pudding turned out a bit thinner than I anticipated, mainly because I prefer my rice more al dente than most people do so I didn't cook it quite as long, but it still tasted wonderful!

**Don't waste those leftover vanilla bean pods! I put mine in my bottle of homemade vanilla extract to keep the flavor building. I'll post about the vanilla another time!

The Triple Threat

Everyone knows about the Freshman 15, right? Well, at the company where I work, its more like the Freshman 50. We love food. We will drum up any excuse to bring food to work, and of course, that explains why we also have so many weight loss challenges here as well.

Our most treasured tradition here in the office is Birthday Tables. When it is your birthday, all your friends, family (yes, I have at least three close family members also working here, but that's a story for another time), and department co-workers bring in homemade goodies and set them all up on a table by your office.

The feeding frenzy begins when the birthday person arrives at work that day and takes a plate. Once all the contributors have had their fill, the birthday person then sends an email to the company letting them know that its a free-for-all and everyone is welcome to come scavenge.

We also have an office in Springfield, Missouri, and a number of people who work from their homes that don't get Birthday Tables. It just so happens that one of those people is in the office this week and her birthday is coming up, so our department decided to throw her a Birthday Table. She has no idea what we can do with food. Granted, ours is small department, so it won't rival some of the truly legendary tables we've had in the past, but for her, it will be pretty good.

I am in a rut, food table-wise and didn't want to make all my usual dishes, so I randomly picked the three easiest things from my recipe box and brought them in so we'd have extra food on the table.

Glamorous and gourmet, they are not. Pretty....yeah, not so much either, but these are three dishes that I never have leftovers of.

Pineapple Upside Down BiscuitsI originally got this recipe from Paula Deen’s cooking show on the Food Network, When she makes it, she makes individual portions in muffin tins, and while that looks a whole lot prettier than mine, I am usually feeding a crowd, so I have adapted the recipe somewhat. If you want a prettier presentation, and don’t have as many people to feed, use the Grands biscuits and do them in muffin pans, but only use a 10 ounce can of pineapple and leave the cherries whole.

1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
1 jar maraschino cherries, drained
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup butter, melted
2 cans refrigerated biscuits (20 biscuits, total)

Scatter cherries on the bottom of a 9x13 pan, cutting them in half if need be to make sure they are well distributed.Mix together pineapple, sugar, and butter and pour over the cherries. Top with all 20 biscuits and drizzle with reserved pineapple juice.Bake at 400 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden. Invert the lovely things onto a plate to serve.

Taco Bites
I know, this is hardly a recipe, but I keep it in my recipe box just to remind me to make it occasionally. I never have to worry about taking any of this home with me, and its the easiest thing in the world to whip up when you need something to take to a potluck.

1 package of 10 inch flour tortillas (I prefer Azteca for this because they don’t tend to crack when you roll them like some tortillas do)
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (room temperature)
1/3 cup salsa ( I prefer “hot” salsa, even if you don’t like it hot, because the cream cheese mellows it out a lot, and picante sauce over chunky so that I don’t get bumpy taco bites)

Mix the cream cheese in mixer until smooth, then blend in salsa. Spread a thin layer of salsa on each tortilla and roll them up as tightly as you can without tearing them. Cut into bite sized pieces.
**note: It works best if you refrigerate the whole rolled tortillas overnight before trying to cut them. If they are still warm, they will just smush when you try to cut them.

Mom’s Black Forest Cherry Cake

My mom used to make this when we were kids and even though it is a very simple recipe, it is one that has always stuck with me. This cake ends up being so dense and moist, and the cherry flavor just runs through it. My mom always topped the cake with a second can of pie filling, but when I have time I like to make a chocolate ganache to drizzle over the top. No time for that today, but its still wonderful!

1 box chocolate cake mix (not the kind with pudding in it)
1 can cherry pie filling
¼ cup oil
3 eggs

Combine all ingredients together. Beat with mixer until smooth. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (took me an hour last night). Cool in the pan for 25 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Optional: decorate with a second can of pie filling and whipped cream.

How gorgeous is that? The picture doesn't do it justice, but it is so moist that it sticks to the bottom of the fork. Are you hungry yet?

Strong wind + metal xmas tree = OUCH! (updated)

We had one heck of a storm here in Carlinville yesterday afternoon! Wind gusts up to 60 mph were responsible for blowing this off the roof of our office building. Yep, that's right, that is our Christmas tree. And yes, that is my very own office window it slammed up against as it fell. This is what it looks like from INSIDE my office:

Two very fortunate things happened when it fell.

1. I wasn't in my office at the time.
2. The "stem" of the tree that normally sticks out from the bottom and holds it in the base that is affixed to the roof, was sheared off by the weight of the steel frame being pulled from the roof. Had the bottom of the tree not been more or less "flat", the stem would have come crashing through my window. As it is, I'm amazed that the glass held.

So, to answer all your questions, yes, I'm fine! Although I'm not so sure about my office neighbor, who had her face pressed to the glass in her office, attempting to see the hail coming down, when the mammoth blew right into our windows!

Confession Time

Since the birth of this blog, I have been posting about various projects I’ve done around my house (along with lots of food, posts about my little guy, and a bunch of crafty things), but there is something about my house that you don’t know…

Ok, here goes….

My house SUCKS.

Yes, its true, if you’ve been to my house, I either really trust you not to be judgmental, or I didn't know you were coming over.

About nine years ago, we bought an 80 year old schoolhouse that the previous owners had been in the process of converting into a home for a number of years before they divorced and left the house in its unfinished state. If my experience is any guide, I'm betting the house ate them alive. Lord knows it has put a strain on my marriage from time to time. After that, the house laid vacant for several years before we bought it. Imagine the amount of dirt, insects, and ummmm, yeah, rodents, that can build up in an abandoned country house over a period of several years. You have the picture in your head? Yep, that's it. To put it nicely, the house was rough.

On the bright side, this is the view out my back window: I mean, there was little to no drywall inside, plywood floors through most of it, junk windows that didn’t do much for protection from the elements, and a roof that leaked so badly there were mushrooms growing out of the kitchen floor (literally, I’m not making this up).

The kitchen, as it was, happened to be an extension of the original building and was built around the old back porch of the school. That being said, the kitchen floor was made up of the original planks from the back porch, just closed in, but never treated or covered. It had to be ripped up, one tiny, rotting chunk at a time when we replaced it. Fortunately, we did manage to get the roof replaced before Matt's job went down the toilet, so, I guess you could say, at least we had a roof over our heads. Our relationship was still young, and we had a lot of energy to take this shell of a house we fell in love with (it had a great “loft” area that was the selling point for us) and put our hearts and souls into renovating it and turning it into a wonderful country home.

That dream suffered a long, painful death.

Almost immediately after buying the house, Matt was laid off for 18 months. We had no money for remodeling. We lived in the shanty of a house for quite a long time with very few of the comforts of home that most of us take for granted. For the first several months, I didn’t even have a stove, cooking solely by way of microwave, crock pot and electric skillet. (and you all know that was incredibly painful for a foodie like me.) Over time, and the course of several years, we have managed to bring the house up to livable standards, a process which got pushed into overdrive when I got pregnant and we had to consider whether we could raise a child in the armpit that was our house.
Most of the major interior work was completed within a few weeks of Ty’s birth, but we have been wrapping up loose ends and miscellaneous improvements in the four years since then. Naturally, when you think about bringing a child into a house, you think about the inside of the house first. Well, that’s what we did, too.
What am I getting at? The siding, of course. The siding on our house was never even 100% finished by the previous owners, or painted (at least not so far as you can tell) and it has been a great point of stress for me, knowing that it did not provide much protection for the house during severe weather season. I rarely invite people to visit, because, frankly, its embarrassing. We live waaaaay out in the country, so it hasn’t been a major issue until now. I have even been very adamant about not taking pictures of the house, because I simply don’t want to remember it the way it was.
BUT, the time has come. At long last, we are going to be FINISHING our house. The siding is going up, and the only thing left to do will be landscaping. I cannot even begin to describe to you how happy and relieved this makes me. So, I think I can do it. I can finally share with you what my house looks like, and show you some of the changes that have taken place. The pictures in this post are really the only ones I have of the house as it was before we started fixing it up, so that's all you get. But, being as the siding is the hot topic of conversation right now, I'll give you the exterior as it is today.

Here it is…..my house. Fooled ya, didn’t I? Really, though, that IS my house….or at least, that’s what it looked like 80 years ago. More accurately, this is the Mount Vernon School, Hettick, Illinois.

Now….HERE is my house. I’m gonna give you one good look before the siding goes up. Its going to be a very dramatic change, to say the least.So, there you go! I confess! I live in a crappy, crappy house….but it is well on its way to being the dream we once imagined. Next up – the interior! I don’t have many pictures of what it looked like before the changes, but I’ll give you what I’ve got. Stay tuned!