Fall Leaves at Darby Creek Metropark

Wow. The last few times I posted, I was in denial about Summer ending. Two months later and we’re quickly approaching Christmas. So where have I been? The short answer is working long hours, starting to train for a triathlon, planning a major vacation (This winter, we’re going a culinary tour of Oaxaca, Mexico!) and enjoying lots of good food and good times with family and friends. I’ve been so busy living life that I haven’t had time to blog about it. And now there are so many things I’d like to write about that I’m not sure where to pick back up. So I’m starting with a recap of the last few months.

A Fall day at Darby Creek

September:

• After all of the bridal shower festivities, my sister Ashley married her fiance Justin in a beautiful outdoor ceremony.


The happy Bride & Groom

• Jared and I did a lot of hiking at the Metroparks, biking on the Olentangy River Trail and brunching. All that exercise works up an appetite, right? To me, food and exercise go hand in hand. Aside from the obvious benefits, regular exercise lets me enjoy good food without gaining weight or sacrificing my overall health.


Our trusty old Schwinns at Scioto Audobon Metropark

• I went on a 9 day business trip to West Virginia. It was tiring, but I am grateful that I got to go. I was there to help train and organize another office. But I also learned a lot that I could bring back to my own office here in Columbus.


Sunset over the mountains of WV

• Of course, I also tried several new recipes. My favorite was a Vegetarian Lasagne that took 3 hours and 2 sauces (Tomato & Béchamel) to create. It tasted incredible but got a little overcooked on the top; so it didn’t look very pretty in pictures. I plan to make it again, very soon, and post the recipe.


Lasagna sauces simmering on my stovetop

October

• Jared and I attended Taste of Grandview Heights. This was our first “Taste of”. From what I understand, it is much more casual than most of these events. While we enjoyed trying new foods, one of our favorite things about this event was how the staff of restaurants we frequent recognized and chatted with us. Specifically, I’m thinking of Mazah Mediterranean Eatery, home of the best Falafel and some of the prettiest food around. We were also happy to see Old Bag of Nails Grandview, which we refer to as our Cheers bar and which we love for its laid-back atmosphere and friendly bartenders. Local businesses: make your customers feel special & we’ll stay loyal.


Somehow, the only pic I have of downtown Grandview is an old cameraphone pic from last winter

• I made these Apple Cider Doughnuts. I’m not posting the recipe because, for once, I followed it exactly. These doughnuts were perfect – soft and airy on the inside, sweet and crispy on the outside. They are a lot of work, but well worth it.


The best doughnuts ever

• Before venturing out to Highball Halloween (which I highly recommend if you haven’t been), I hosted a Halloween party complete with Halloween-themed food and drinks. Among other things, I made a Graveyard 7-Layer Dip and a Zombie Bride Cake (with from-scratch Devil’s Food, of course). Jared invented a Candy Apple Cocktail, my sister made a Bugs & Dirt Cake, and several of my guests brought goodies including Sangria and Halloween-sprinkled Chocolate-Covered Pretzels. While Christmas is my favorite food holiday, Halloween is a close second. Halloween food is fun. There aren’t really any expectations; so you can get really creative and kitschy. And while Christmas is a family holiday, Halloween is a great time for friends to get together, eat ridiculous amounts of sweets and enjoy one anothers’ company.


Zombie Bride Cake



Fun Halloween Food

November

• November brought Dine Originals Columbus Week. This is another event that I hadn’t attended in the past. My friends and I opted for a meal at Skillet. The food was creative and excellent, as always. My only complaint is that I don’t think Pumpkin Polenta was worth the $30 price. Another friend and I agreed that the $20 prix fixe is probably more fitting for such a casual restaurant. That being said, I’ll definitely be returning to Skillet very soon.


Skillet's Dining Room

• In other Columbus food news, Jared and I finally had a chance to try the lunch special at Venky’s Spice House. For $5.99 (I believe), you get an appetizer, two curries, daal, naan, rice and dessert. Venky’s is one of our favorite Indian restaurants. Their food is more flavorful than several other area Indian restaurants, and their prices are great. We were excited about this lunch special because we could try things we’d never had before. And the portions were so generous that we had enough for dinner that night.


When my curry grows up, it wants to be like the curry at Venky's

• Since Jared and I like to try new, local restaurants, I am a loyal follower of Fudha. If you haven’t heard of it, Fudha offers half-price gift certificates for local restaurants. They donate $1 of the cost of each Fudha to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. This is a great way to try new places, or save some money at trusty favorites. The first time we went to Skillet, it was actually with a $20 gift certificate that had cost $10 through Fudha. When Venky’s offered one, I snapped it right up.


When I used my Fudha at Skillet, I meant to review my tasty meal. Obviously, I never got around to it.

• Of course, when November rolls around, so does The Food Holiday – Thanksgiving. We get together with our loved ones and give thanks for all of life’s blessings, then eat copious amounts of food. Due to my work schedule, I wasn’t able to go home to celebrate with my family. This was the first time Jared and I celebrated Thanksgiving alone together. It was a bittersweet day for me since I really missed everyone. But I did enjoy the chance to make my own, slightly nontraditional Thanksgiving meal, which I will be posting sometime this week.


Making Thanksgiving Dinner

Every day, I’m reminded of how thankful I am that Jared and I moved from a small town in Michigan to Columbus. We are both Ohio natives, from the Cleveland area. But being away from your home state for several years has a way of making you appreciate it. I don’t know that we’ll be here forever because I hate winter with a passion. But for now, we’re really enjoying our life in a new city and learning about all that it has to offer.

Downtown Columbus, seen from the Olentangy Trail

Sugar Cookies: 4th of July Edition!

I’ve spent the last month doing a lot of cooking, baking, bicycling and traveling. This has left me with very little time for blogging (I know, such a tough problem to have).

After being out of town so much, I’m excited that I’m not going anywhere for the long weekend. Instead, I’m planning to stay and play in Columbus. I can finally check out the North Market Farmer’s Market on Saturday. The rest of the weekend includes The Crew soccer game, new recipes, working on my sister’s bridal shower, going to the pool and who knows what else. I’m also planning to update this blog with some things I’ve made recently and try to get into a semi-regular posting schedule.

Until then, I hope that everyone has a fun and relaxing 4th of July Weekend!

Why should Christmas get to have all the sugar cookie fun?

For the longest time, I thought of sugar cookies as Christmas cookies. I had really only ever made or decorated them at Christmas with my family. But the first time I made them on my own, it was for a Halloween party. I had purchased 101 cookie cutters a couple months earlier and didn’t want to wait another couple months to play with them. Halloween was a perfect excuse.

Then I remembered something. I hated nearly all of the sugar cookies I had eaten. They were always too bland, too sweet, and/or too hard. It seems that people are either fans of crunchy cookies or soft cookies. I am a soft cookie fan. With few exceptions, if I want something crunchy, I’ll have a cracker or a chip. So here is my go-to recipe for a soft, buttery and not-too-sweet sugar cookie. The cookie is good by itself and a perfect canvas for buttercream frosting decorations and colorful sprinkles.

Soft & Buttery Sugar Cookies
Makes approximately 3 dozen, 3-4″ cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Directions
1. Sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, then vanilla and almond extracts. Add dry flour mixture and mix until just combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 375°. On a floured surface, roll cookie dough to about 1/8 inch. Cut into desired shapes. Bake until bottoms are lightly browned, approximately 8 minutes.
4. Let cool completely, then decorate with buttercream frosting. Enjoy!

My sugar cookie setup in my teeny apartment kitchen

My thoughts & suggestions:

• This recipe uses very simple ingredients, and you can really taste all of them in the cookies. For this reason, I strongly recommend using the exact ingredients called for – no imitation vanilla or almond extracts, and certainly no margarine. Yes, extracts can get expensive. But you use so little of them in most recipes that it’s completely worth it to shell out a few extra dollars.
• The dough and frosting are both a little picky. If the dough gets too warm or soft, it gets sticky and doesn’t take cookie cutter shapes as nicely. If the frosting gets too warm, it will not pipe very precisely. Try to keep both as cool as possible. I like to work with the dough in small batches and keep the remainder in the refrigerator.

Recipe Source: I’ve been told these cookies taste exactly like the ones my great grandma used to make. While I’d love to be able to credit her, I originally found this recipe on Talk of Tomatoes. With the exception of doubling the amount almond extract called for, I still follow it to the letter.

Blank Canvas

I have a confession. I am the owner of a box of 101 Wilton cookie cutters, most of which I have never used. I make cutout sugar cookies every year for Christmas. I did Halloween ones for a party one year. But I’ve never really thought to do cookies for Easter or any other holiday, probably because I usually come across a million other creative ideas for Easter desserts.

For the past few years, the ladies in my family have spent the day before Easter at my Grandma, Honey’s, house decorating cupcakes. We try to make our Easter cupcakes fun and creative. One year we made gumdrops into tulips. Another, we arranged the cupcakes to look like bunnies hopping across a garden. This year, I decided to break out all the Easter/Springtime cookie cutters and make a huge batch of sugar cookies to decorate alongside the cupcakes. Today, I will be passing a pleasant afternoon in the kitchen with my Mom, Sister, Grandma, Aunts & Cousins, getting hopped up on sugar and caffeine and making pretty things to eat.

Tomorrow, I am going to church with my husband, then having Easter dinner at my aunt’s house. I am really looking forward to everything. I hope that whatever you are doing this weekend, that you have a great weekend and a Happy Easter.

Classic Bruschetta Topping
1 loaf Italian bread
6 medium tomatoes
20 fresh basil leaves
4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. Seed and dice tomatoes. Finely chop basil leaves.
2. In a bowl, combine tomatoes with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Sprinkle basil leaves on top.

Ricotta Bruschetta Topping
1 loaf Italian bread
15 oz. ricotta cheese, drained
3 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. Combine ricotta, lemon juice and garlic in a medium bowl.
2. Add tomatoes and spices. Mix well.

Kalamata Bruschetta Topping
1 loaf Italian bread
8 oz. kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. toasted pine nuts

1. Once pine nuts are toasted, crush them into smaller pieces.
2. Combine all ingredients, including pine nuts, in a small bowl and mix well.

To Serve
1. Preheat oven to 375º. Slice 3 loaves of Italian bread into 1/4 inch thick slices
2. Toast bread slices in the oven for 3 minutes. Flip and toast for 2-3 more minutes.
3. Arrange toasted slices on a tray and top with bruschetta toppings. Or, place toasted bread slices in a basket and bruschetta toppings in a serving tray.

My thoughts:
I was very happy with the way this turned out. I put the toppings in a serving dish with 3 wells in it. Once the bread was toasted, I put the slices in a basket and covered them with a clean kitchen towel to keep them warm. This way, people could help themselves to the different bruschetta toppings as they pleased.

What does the holiday season mean, if not food? OK. Actually, it means a lot of other things. But this is a food blog, not a metaphysical, philosophical, or even particularly domestic one. Back in early November, I had intended to blog all of my holiday food adventures. Then I got super busy with work and family commitments. I still did a lot of baking and cooking. I just didn’t have time to upload the pictures, type out the recipes and make it all look pretty.

Now it is January. Christmas is over. But since Christmas is such an important time when it comes to food and food-related traditions, I’d like to record some of what I’ve been up to the last few weeks before moving on to 2010′s culinary experiences.

There are a lot of Christmas traditions that I love. But my favorite is Cookie Weekend. My mom, sister, aunts and cousins take over my grandma, Honey’s, kitchen. Everyone brings different recipes and baking supplies. We then spend the whole day making and decorating cookies and candies. Here are a few of the things we made that day, with links to the recipes that I used:

• Pea Blossoms – These are the classic peanut butter cookies with a Hershey’s kiss in the center. To me, they are the quintessential Christmas cookie. I think it’s because my mom only ever made them at Christmas.
• Taffy – For years, my sister wanted to make taffy. Everyone always denied her due to the mess and complication involved. This year, I decided we were going to make taffy. I gave her the recipe and a candy thermometer. She did the rest!
• Hard Cinnamon Candy – We decided this couldn’t be that much different than making taffy. It was super easy. In the process of making this candy and the taffy, we all got a lesson in the stages that sugar goes through when it cooks.



• Sugar Cookies (pictured above) – After all of the other cookies are done, everyone sits around the kitchen table and decorates sugar cookies. We make some pretty and others silly. I love decorating them so much that I actually made an additional 200 cookies on my own and gave them to my employees. The recipe I linked to is the sugar cookie recipe I’ve been using for several years. The first time I made these cookies, my aunt said that they tasted just like my great-grandma’s sugar cookies. I never did get to meet Great-Grandma; but I understand that she was quite the cook and baker. Needless to say, this was one of the best compliments my aunt could have paid me. These cookies are soft, buttery, and not-too-sweet. They stand up perfectly to buttercream frosting (see my last post for the recipe).

This is just a sampling of the good things we made that day. There were also snickerdoodles, truffles, chocolate overload cookies, and probably some other things I am forgetting. Like I said, Cookie Weekend is one of my favorite holiday traditions. It is an excuse to get together with a lot of great women, bake, laugh, and OD on sugar and coffee. What could be better in the midst of all the holiday stress and chaos?