Roasted Beet Hummus

The middle of last week, when I was getting close to leaving for Baltimore, my sister sent me a list of all the items she had in abundance thanks to her fruitful garden, and her CSA share that had just arrived. There were a number of things on the list, mostly green things (kale, spinach, green beans, broccoli, cilantro, collard greens) and one red thing, beets. My challenge, should I choose to accept it, was to use up as many of the offerings as possible during my visit. At the end of the day, I didn't do too badly, although she should have received her latest CSA share yesterday after I left, and her garden continues to produce, so I'm sure today she's right back where she started from.

Being a food blog, I am shocked and ashamed to admit that of all the food I made (and that's a considerable amount), I only remembered to take pictures of this one item. I have never cooked beets before, in any fashion, but before I left for my trip, I printed off a quantity of recipes to help me on my quest to empty her fridge. one of those recipes, was this one.

My sister loves hummus, so I figured she'd like this. I found the recipe on Tastespotting, my go-to site for fun new recipes to try. It turned out a lovely shade of fuchsia, and had a nice, sweet taste to it, very hard to describe, but we liked it! We stood around the dish the last day I was there, dipping into it with torn pieces of pita. If you like hummus, I'm betting this one's for you. Plus, you get to use beets, and actually LIKE them!

Roasted Beet Hummus

1-2 medium beets

1 can of chickpeas

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 small yellow or white onion, chopped finely

3 cloves chopped garlic

1/2 cup tahini
1 Tablespoon cumin

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On a large roasting pan covered with foil, roast the beets for 40-70 minutes, or until smooth when poked with a fork. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then peel and cut into small chunks.In a small frying pan, heat the tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and saute until soft, about 4 minutes.Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl.In a food processor, chop the beets, onions, garlic, and chickpeas together until smooth. Add the tahini and cumin, and process again. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then replace the lid. While the blades are running, slowly add the lemon juice and olive oil mixture until the hummus is at your desired consistency.Makes 2-3 cups hummus
Other items on the menu this week, that I failed to photograph:
Spiced Cilantro Shrimp with cold sesame peanut noodles (to use the cilantro)
Herb Marinated Strip Steaks and Lemon and Garlic Orzo with Shrimp (using broccoli, zucchini and summer squash)
Chocolate Torte with peanut butter frosting (for the birthday boy)
Peanut butter chocolate coated brownie bites
Green Beans with orange shallot reduction
Collard Greens with bacon and brown sugar (Duh, to use the collard greens)
White pizza with Kale, Italian Sausage and Four Cheeses (for the Kale, obviously - this was FANTASTIC, IMHO)
Herb Grilled Chicken Breasts (a la Roger) with corn on the cob and salad
Campanelle with green bears, feta and dill (beans, dill from the garden)

...and probably an item or two I am forgetting, but you get the idea!

365 Days

Its funny how things can come full circle. Today is my one year blogaversary, and the irony has not escaped me.
See, the whole reason I started my blog is because of my sister. She had been suggesting to me (ever so subtly) for some time that I should start a blog. I even did a little posting on LiveJournal (at her urging) a few years ago, but my posts were few and far between. Gradually, I began to see the light and realized that blogging would be a great way to share stories and pictures, and just in general every day happenings about my son with all of our friends and family.
And so it began.
Now here we are, a year and over 200 posts later, and still going strong. Are you wondering where the irony is that I was referring to? Well, today I am on my way back home from Baltimore. Ty and I have been here visiting my sister, and her new baby girl!
So, now, I can (hopefully) spend more time reading my SISTER’S blog, filled with stories and pictures, and just in general every day happenings about my beautiful new niece. And I’m looking forward to every one of them.
Happy Blogaversary to me!!!

Greetings!

Greetings from Baltimore! Yep, we've got some quiet time this afternoon so I'm catching up on my bloggy subscriptions and thought I'd drop you all a note to let you know that the trip is going fantastically. Linnea is about s precious as she can be, Ty is getting lots of quality time with his grandma and grandpa, and I am getting to cook meals for my sister.

This is a food blog, right? So why is it that I haven't taken a single picture of food since I've been here? Good question. We had a really nice dinner of spicy cilantro shrimp and cold sesame peanut noodles the other night, and the chocolate torte I made for my BIL's birthday yesterday, but not a single shot was saved....and no leftovers either! Last night is was apple and almond stuffed pork chops and a green bean with feta and dill pasta salad. Tonight ts going to be a white pizza with kale and Italian sausage....maybe I'll remember to get my camera out this time.

In any case, Ill be back to my usual bloggerriffic self on Thursday! I already have a couple of posts in store for you, and a lot of pictures to download. See you then!

Something fishy this way comes….

This post is a little belated, as I was completely focused on the fact that my sister gave birth to my beautiful niece, Linnea, Sunday night.

Meanwhile, while we were waiting for the little one to make her entrance to the world…and waiting….and waiting….we went fishing!

We took Ty fishing once last summer, but he wasn’t in the boat for long, and the fish weren’t biting. This time, the hubs’ good friend (also a Matt) invited us over to fish at the pond at the new house he’s building. That man adores my Little Man. He also recently let him shoot his gun off his back deck and was just beaming with pride when Ty didn’t even flinch. So, you could say we were all pretty proud when Ty reeled in one after another Sunday night! Here are a few shots of the action. Daddy and Ty waiting for the "Big One".Ty's first fish ever! A little bass. Fish number two was a pretty little catfish.
Third time is a charm, and Ty reeled in a nice bluegill.

We started off throwing all the fish back, but after seeing how well we were doing, Uncle Matt got a bucket out and we started keeping them. The next night, we all got together at our house for a little fish fry. It was so nice and fresh, even I had some! And you all know I don't like fish!So, all in all, a very good night. Ty fell asleep on the way home, and mama got a little sun. Ahhh... good times.

Travel Omens? Let's Hope Not....

So, this morning kinda SUCKED a little. To stat with, I had an extra body at my house last night, and that added to the usual morning routine, getting an extra person out of bed, etc.

However, Matt left for work on time, and I proceeded to get showered and prepare for the day. When, at about 5:30, the husband called and sent me scrambling for the phone so as not to wake the two sleeping boys. I answer the phone to this:

"So, I just tore up the Buick."

What? Wait, huh? Yeah, on his way to work, the hubs got blindsided by a deer, about 150 yards from the spot where he hit a deer with the same car about two years ago (with only minor damage).

When I tell people that I deer hunt, they don't quite get it. A girl? Deer hunting? Well, if there was ever a good reason for hunting, this is one.

Despite the hole in the radiator (and the engine that we replaced only 2 years ago), he managed to limp it home to retrieve his truck and get back to work, calling in to the police dispatch to report it on the way. I went out to meet him and take a few pictures of it, and then turned back to the house and stopped dead in my tracks with a resounding, "SHIT!!!"

I wonder how many tires I am going to lose before we find all the screws and nails left in our yard from the siding project.....

Yep, that's MY car. Fortunately it is not one of the new tires I just had put on the front two weeks ago.

It would be a really good day to play hookey and drink all day.....is it beer o'clock yet?

(By the way, the insurance company will most likely total the car. Ironic that we just gave his old work car to our niece for her 16th birthday last month....)

TFF - Perfect Roast Chicken

I'm a big, fat, chicken. No, really. When it comes to chicken, especially chicken on the bone, I am always afraid. Give me pork, beef, or even seafood, and I'm not bothered by the fact that I might under-cook it. But a whole chicken? I rarely cook it (and never for guests!) because I find it so unpredictable whether or not I will get it cooked through in time for the meal. And even then, I am endlessly poking and prodding it to check for doneness.

Then, in a moment of inspiration, I asked for a remote probe thermometer for Christmas a year or so ago. That gadget is a godsend! You just set the temperature you want your dish to reach, and BEEP BEEP BEEP, the buzzer goes off when it reaches that temperature so that you know to take it out of the oven. How fabulous is that? Unfortunately my new friend seems to have met an untimely demise recently, as it won't allow me to use that function any more, but like a true friend, it gave me the confidence I needed to start trying my hand at roasting once more.

I have one word for this chicken. PHENOMENAL. As is typical for me, I made some changes to Tyler's recipe, but out of necessity. See, the mushrooms just aren't an option for me. Its a 25 minute drive to the closest hospital (and its not a hospital I would trust, to begin with!) so I didn't think it was worth testing the potency of my fungus allergy. I considered throwing in the beautiful little baby red potatoes I have in my pantry, but I am saving those for a meal later this week. So for me, this is pure unadulterated chicken. Also, I was out of rosemary, very limited on parsley, and the herb 'thyme' does not reside in my house, so I made a bundle of fresh oregano and sage from my garden instead, and since I had a few containers of homemade compound butter in my freezer, I used that to smear all over the chicken.

The lemon and garlic, combined with all the herbs made the drippings from this chicken a bit like ambrosia. My house just smelled like I'd been cooking all day and I was drawn to the kitchen with my nose in the air....from OUTside the house! Yes, it smelled so good in my first floor kitchen, that we caught the aroma wafting out to us on the deck outside my second story bedroom....

For once, I followed the time in Tyler's instructions exactly, and when I stuck the thermometer in the bird, the temperature was exactly 180! The meat was moist, tender, and flavorful. Simply infused with herbs. I highly recommend trying this recipe, and if anyone knows of a good substitute for mushrooms, please let me know! And don't forget to check out the roundup over at Tyler Florence Fridays this Friday! I'll be out on the east coast by then, but I'll be checking it out, too!
Perfect Roast Chicken

From Tyler Florence: Stirring the Pot

Serves 4

1 4-5 pound whole free-range chicken

kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

1 lemon, halved

1 garlic bulb, halved through the equator

1 sprig fresh rosemary

4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh sage

1/4 bunch fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley (about 4 sprigs)

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups button mushrooms

Preheat the oven to 400.

Rinse your chicken inside and out and pat dry. Season inside the cavity with salt and pepper and stuff with the lemon, garlic, and rosemary, thyme, and sage. In a food processor, process the parsley and the butter until well combined and season with salt and pepper.Place the chicken breast side up in a roasting pan, tie the legs together, and rub the herb butter over the chicken.Place the mushrooms in the bottom of the pan. Roast the chicken and mushrooms for about 1 hour 45 minutes, or until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 180 degrees. Baste with the drippings and rotate the pan every 30 minute so that the chicken browns evenly. Remove the chicken from the oven, tent with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Ladies and Gentlemen...may I present.....

Linnea Rose

That's right! My gem of a sister finally gave birth to my completely perfect niece last night around 11:00. Linnea gave her mommy a rough time of it, with a labor clocking in at 41 hours (topping my own by 5 hours!), and weighing in herself at 7 pounds, 9 1/2 ounces, measuring 20 3/4 inches in length, with a sweet, fuzzy blonde-but-bald head and a great set of lungs!

Big cousin, Ty, and I will be hopping a plane to the coast Friday morning to meet the newest member of our family, so if you don't hear from me for a few days, you can just assume I am completely lost in the precious little girl's grasp and will not surface for air until absolutely necessary.

Thank you, sister of mine, for blessing us with this beautiful gift and for making me an aunt!