One day I am grilling, then making comfort food the next. Curse you, unpredictable March weather!
A place in the sun
Turns out rocking the St. Patty’s day shirt was good luck after all!
Finally got to watch “Brave” for the first time
Went with a different company this time for the latest vacation photo book and am VERY pleased!
Me (drawn by my grandson, Indiana)
Posted in Lately
Tagged #photo, brave, hockey, kid, puppy, St. Patrick's Day, Washington Capitals, week in photos
*Was sick yesterday, so delayed in posting this photo of the remnants of an old house in a local state park. Textile mill workers lived here in the 1800′s.
Not to be a Debbie downer, but consider yourself lucky if you are off for Thanksgiving.
I have to work…my choice. A trade off so that I can be home on Christmas and New Years Day. It’s left me feeling a little sorry for myself as the holiday draws near, my husband’s short work week grinds to a halt, and he prepares to take our kids to his parents’ house in Cambridge for a Thanksgiving overnight visit while I stay behind.
So…
What have I done this week to console myself, you ask?
-I’ve done this to my house,
-I’ve listened to this while I’ve done the above mentioned,
-I’ve indulged in a bit of this,
-I’ve contemplated some of our nuttier holiday traditions
-I visited this (put on by the hospital where I work)
and I’ve made myself some comfort food!
Sadly, last week was also the last farm box pickup of the season. Our take home bounty was overflowing thanks to R.J. Calder and the rest of the generous folks at Breezy Willow Farm. In addition to the usual assortment of seasonal vegetables, we scored fresh eggs, apple cider, fresh baked bread, and three varieties of apples.
This dish is adapted from a recipe by Heidi Swanson in her book, Super Natural Every Day. The addition of smoked Gouda makes it creamy, and a variety of mushrooms deepens the flavor to makes it more rich and intense.
I hope that you will try this recipe with the addition of some leftover turkey.
wild rice and mushroom casserole
3 Cups cooked brown rice, or combination of brown/wild rice (I use the brand pictured, so that I don’t have to cook two different kinds of rice separately)
2/3 cups smoked Gouda, shredded
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped-I used a mixture of baby portobello and shitake
1 cup cottage cheese
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp whole grain dijon mustard
1 tsp sea salt
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme or tarragon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare casserole dish with butter or olive oil to keep the casserole from sticking.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, and mustard. Set aside. Heat olive oil in large. Add chopped mushrooms and cook 4-5 minutes until water starts to evaporate, stirring occasionally. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and continue to saute the mixture another 1-2 minutes. Mix mushroom mixture into the cottage cheese mixture. Add salt and 1/3 cup of the smoked Gouda and mix well. Pour into prepared dish. Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes uncovered. Top should be lightly golden and slightly darker around the edges. Remove from oven and top with leaves from thyme before serving. Serve with additional shredded cheese, if desired.
Posted in grains
Tagged #casserole, #cheese, #Christmas, #comfort food, #cowbell, #decorations, #food, #leftovers, #light display, #photo, #photography, #sufjan stevens, #symphonyoflights, #Thanksgiving, #turkey, #wild rice
This spontaneous non-food related post is brought to you by the changing season.
I once read a quote made by a professional photographer stating that just because a person takes photos, it does not make them a photographer, it makes them a camera owner.
So, what makes a person a photographer? As someone who is predominately self-taught (thanks to the internet), I can say that in the past year I’ve personally seen an improvement in my eye for that “great shot”. I see light as a separate entity. My eyes frame up landscapes in thirds. I constantly wish I had my camera along (a habit I haven’t adopted quite yet).
I’ve been driving by this sugar maple on the way to the grocery store the past few weeks. There are a line of sugar maples along this particular road, but this one was the most brilliant shade of red I’ve ever seen. Sadly, we had a sugar maple in our backyard that fell victim to Hurricane Isabelle and I’ve missed that tree greatly. This past Saturday, my husband and I were headed out on a breezy day and I asked him to pull over so I could take some photos, fearing that the leaves would be gone with the wind in the next day or so. He happily obliged, pulling over on the shoulder of a fairly busy street so that I could jump out, run across traffic and spend 10 minutes shooting the tree up.
So…
The next time you are driving down the street and you see some crazy lady with her face in a tree…
….taking long shots of fences
…photographing a street sign
Yup. It’s probably me.
Posted in other stuff
Tagged #autumn, #camera, #crazy, #leaves, #maple tree, #photo, #photography, #random
Pretty excited about all the apples in the CSA box each week. The only thing is that I am generally the only one (and, on occasion, my son) in my house that eats them. I love apples. I really do. But I can usually only polish off the proverbial one apple per day. So when I receive ten apples in one week’s bounty…well then, that calls for dessert!
Dessert and, if you are unlucky like me, an oven fire.
Yep, you read correctly. As my husband said afterward, glad to know the fire extinguisher works but didn’t think we’d actually ever have to use it. I prepared and baked the tart on a flat cookie sheet. As the butter melted and the juices from the apple started to flow, it dripped (poured really) down into my gas oven. As flames crept out of the side, my shouts to my husband to get the fire extinguisher caused the kids to come running.
The fire was extinguished, the oven turned off, and the tart sat in the oven covered in a layer of thick, gray chemical dust. Slider and front door propped open, the dust-filled smoke billowed out of the house until it dissipated. Before it had even cleared, both kids had spread the drama by texting their friends. I hadn’t even had a chance to swear them to secrecy!
Learn from my lesson. Use a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with sides to avoid a mess or, worse, a fire hazard.
apple tart
One sheet puff pastry dough
4 firm, tart apples (such as granny smith)
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced into small pieces
1/2 cup apricot jelly
2 Tbsp Grand Marnier liquer (you can substitute rum or water, if you don’t want to use alcohol)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie (with sides!) with parchment paper. Roll out your puff pastry to about 10 x 14 inches. It doesn’t have to be a perfect rectangle. Place the puff pastry on the parchment paper. There are two ways to prepare your apples. First is to cut them in half through the stem and remove the core with a sharp knife. Peel the apples and slice them into thin wedges approximately 1/4 inch thick. The second is to core and section your apples like I did, using one of these. Peel and then slice your sections thin. Starting in the middle of your pastry, lay the apples diagonally in a row from corner to corner, slightly overlapping them. Continue laying the apples diagonally on either side of the center row until you reach the outer edges of the pastry. You may have to cut a few slices of the apple to make it fit in the corner. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of sugar over the apples and dot with the diced butter.
Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the pastry is brown and the edges of the apples begin to brown, rotating the pan halfway through during baking. Remove from oven. Heat apricot jelly with 2 Tbsp Grand Marnier until thin. Brush the entire tart with this mixture. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.
