10.29.08
Posted in Cooking, home, marriage, recipes at 8:02 pm by kelly
Okay, this is the last recipe for the day, but I’m not going to lie, it was a good one! I’ve been having a hard time looking for slow cooker recipes that do not take less than nine hours to finish or require meat on the bone (one of us doesn’t like meat on the bone)…..I finally found one!
I prepped the veggies last night and put them in the crock pot before we left for work and it looked like this:
Upon our return home, we found this:
I added some funky Trader Joe’s mix of couscous and some other stuff to it and here’s the final product:
The verdict: We have ourselves a winner! It is like a delightful autumn stewy thing. It’s both sweet and spiced and it was a really nice way to end the day.
Okay, here’s the recipe:
1 pound parsnips, peeled and diced
1 pound turnips, peeled and diced
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound carrots, peeled and diced
6 dried apricots, chopped
4 pitted prunes, chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
1 (14 ounce) can vegetable broth
In a slow cooker, toss together the parsnips, turnips, onions, carrots, apricots, and prunes. Season with turmeric, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, parsley, and cilantro. Pour in the vegetable broth.
Cover, and cook 9 hours on Low.
McPhersonisms on this: I have no idea how much of each vegetable I put in here. I just bought a turnip, a couple of parsnips and had some carrots so in they went. I used three onions because I happened to have three and I didn’t use the same amount of spice…we use frozen cilantro from Trader Joe’s so we put eight cubes in rather than the measured amount of dried. I also use heaps or scoops of spices so it was maybe a little more zesty. Upon reading the comments on allrecipes, I also added an additional 1/2 can of broth. I set the crock pot to cook on low for only eight hours, knowing it would have an additional two hours to be on “warm” before we returned home. It worked out very well. If you’re so inclined, one could easily add some chicken.
And now a confession. I had no idea whether I was holding a turnip or a rutabaga at the store, so I bought both. Anybody know what to do with a rutabaga around 1.5 to 2lbs in size?
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Posted in Cooking, birthday, family, home, marriage at 7:09 am by kelly
For Jonathan’s birthday, he asked me to cook up a new recipe for dinner (we had already gone out to eat the previous two evenings and we like to keep things balanced). I offered up a selection from the various cookbooks and magazines we’ve got around the house and this is what he selected. (From Real Simple, November 2008) I did not really change much on this, but I did use salmon with the skin because I wasn’t paying attention. Not such a big deal. It was delicious!
2 bulbs fennel, thinly sliced
2 lemons, cut in half crosswise
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
4 6-ounce pieces skinless salmon fillet
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
12 ounces mixed greens (about 8 cups)
Heat oven to 400° F. In a large roasting pan, toss the fennel, lemons, garlic, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Roast until the fennel begins to soften, about 8 minutes.
Season the salmon with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and nestle in the fennel. Roast until the salmon is opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.
Squeeze the garlic out of the skins into a small bowl and mash to a paste. Squeeze the lemon pulp and juice into the bowl. Stir in the honey, rosemary, the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place the salmon and fennel on the greens. Drizzle with the dressing.
Yield: Makes 4 servings
NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 372; FAT 17g (sat 2g); CHOLESTEROL 97mg; CARBOHYDRATE 17g; CALORIES FROM FAT 40%; SODIUM 696mg; PROTEIN 40g; FIBER 6g; SUGAR 4g
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10.28.08
Posted in Cooking, OCC, family, fun, home, marriage, travel at 9:29 pm by kelly
I wrote a few months ago about a trip to South Africa that we are going on with a group from our church. We have more details and many of you have received our “McPherson South Africa” email lately, but I thought I’d blog about it as well…. Basically, we will be in the town of Durban, South Africa for two weeks. There is a group of seven of us going and we’ll be helping out with two camps and with two transition homes (orphanages) during our time there. This means we’ll be doing anything from leading songs to playing soccer to giving messages and sharing in small group discussion with middle schoolers to spending time caring for babies and generally helping out where we can be of use. Why am I blogging about this right now, oh because we leave soon! The first week of December we’ll be on a plane and on our way! We are thankful for our friends and family who have supported us financially and with your prayers and kind words of encouragement. We’re hoping to blog a couple of times while we’re away, but we’ll for sure blog about our trip upon our return!
Also, I made a delicious dinner for Jonathan’s birthday on Sunday. I’ll post more about that soon. And I’m working on a root vegetable tagine for the crock pot tomorrow. This could open a whole new door of slow cooking possibilities for us or leave us with a pile of left overs and a sincere desire for more ketchup or cheese. I’ll keep you posted.
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10.22.08
Posted in Cooking, family, fun, honeymoon, marriage at 7:25 am by kelly
I thought about making these brownies again and taking a photo because they really didn’t last long at our house, but I think you all just need to try them in your own home.
Here you go, from Martha Stewart:
Chocolate Ginger Brownies
Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, plus more for the baking dish
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar (I used less-maybe 3/4 cup-I’d like to keep all my teeth)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s because we had it and HOLY SMOKES Dutch cocoa powder is expensive!)
2 eggs
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Butter an 8-inch square baking dish. Line bottom with parchment paper, allowing 2 inches to hang over 2 sides. Butter parchment; set aside.
Melt butter and chocolate together in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth.
Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
Pour batter into prepared dish and smooth top with a rubber spatula.
Bake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs, 30 to 35 minutes.
Let cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Lift out, and let cool completely on rack. Cut into sixteen 2-inch squares. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days.
These were moist and chewy, just like a brownie should taste and the spices gave them a nice flavor-not too chocolaty. I did use the parchment paper this go round, but I think next time I’ll just skip it. I stored the brownies in the pyrex because it has it’s own cover and why waste good parchment paper? Oh, this does not make 16 brownies. Well, it does, but some people then have to eat two!
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10.15.08
Posted in Cooking, fun, marriage, work at 7:42 am by kelly
October 15th is a BIG deadline here in the wonderful world of accounting. All June 30th fiscal year end organizations, people who extended their tax filing and employee benefit plans have to file their tax info. For those of you who know enough about my job to know I don’t work with the tax department, you may be wondering, “what does this have to do with you?!?!” well, to fill out those tax forms, they often need their financial statements. That’s where I come in. I’ve been pushing paper like a crazy person, a new paper cut everyday it seems. And now, the deadline is here and my office is sort of cleanish and will be cleaner by the end of the day! Oh boy! More importantly, I found out this morning that Jonathan got me an October 15th present! Yes, I will soon be the happy recipient of a new rack for the oven! (Right now we only have one oven rack.) Hooray for Jonathan! Thank you for thinking of a most delightful treat! I’ll post photos when it arrives, but right now all I can think about is baking two trays of cookies at one time!
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06.22.08
Posted in Cooking, recipes at 9:17 pm by kelly
One of the new recipes I found was for Black Bean Enchilada Bake (thanks Sarah!)
It was pretty good if I do say so myself, but really, you don’t need much of a recipe for this one. Play around with it!
Here is the recipe:
2 cups chopped onion, fresh or frozen
1 and 1/2 cups chopped red pepper, fresh or frozen
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup salsa
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 15 oz cans black beans, drained (I also rinsed them)
12 6″ corn tortillas
2 cups monterey jack and cheddar cheese blend-shredded (I used pepper jack and cheddar because that’s what we had on hand)
3 tomatoes chopped (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
1/2 cup sliced black olives (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combined onion, pepper, garlic, salsa, cumin and black beans in a large skillet and bring to simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently for three minutes (I put the onions and garlic in first and sauteed them up a bit before adding the other ingredients).
Arrange 6 tortillas in the bottom of a 9″x13″ baking dish overlapping them as necessary. Spread half the bean mixture over the tortillas and sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat the layering process until all remaining ingredients are used.
Cover dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove foil and serve warm (I removed the foil then broiled it for a couple of minutes to make the top a little crispy). Garnish with tomatoes, sour cream and olives (we did not do this, but that’s up to you).
I think if we do this again I’ll serve it with a bunch of lettuce and tomato on top like a taco salad. It’s a pretty easy go-to meal for midweek. I also added an extra teaspoon of cumin and cilantro, but we really like both of those.
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05.14.08
Posted in Cooking, recipes at 11:45 am by kelly
I like to save money. I like to know that there will be money when I decide to stop saving and want to give to someone in need or buy a cute dress or a indulge in a cup of coffee that costs more than someone in another country has to spend on food for a week or visit a friend in another country. It’s just the way I am. As a money saving gal, one way I’m trying to explore saving is with the food we cook. Here’s where it gets tricky. I don’t like ground beef and that’s the primary source of protein in many of the recipes I find. It gives me the heebeegeebees for the most part-it just feels weird in my mouth and I don’t like knowing that I didn’t see everything that went into that little plastic package. I enjoy a good burger every now and again, but not any meat in the shape of a loaf or preceding the word helper. Most of the good, less expensive foods we consumed growing up involved ground meat and the delicious vegetables and fruits that grew in the yard. My mom is a good mom. She is a great cook and was very creative with leftovers and allowed us as much cheese or milk as required to consume said leftovers so we weren’t scarred for life. Mostly she now has three grown children who enjoy cheese and milk. Also, I can’t really eat tofu. It tastes just delightful going down, but the rest of the process gets a little confused and it’s not pleasant for me. We’ve tried cooking with seitan-we now pronounce it satan. It was weird and smelled like cat food when I took it out of the can. I couldn’t get over the cat food smell so poor Jonathan had to eat the whole thing for the greater part of the week while I enjoyed delicious peanut butter and jelly.
We’ve had some great meals lately-sweet potato and black bean burritos, grilled veggies with polenta and some other black bean items. Does anybody have any other awesome (vegetarian/legume) recipes that they love?
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04.10.08
Posted in Cooking, fun, home, marriage at 8:06 pm by kelly
Lest you believe I do all the cooking, here is evidence that Jonathan does his fair share too! On Saturday, I worked most of the day and then came home and Joanthan made us a delicious meal of fried rice and some squash. It was excellent.
First, he cooked up some onions and garlic.
Then, he made the sauce. It’s lemon grass (he found lemon grass at the grocer’s!), chili flakes, fish oil and some other seasonings, it was delicious.
Then, he added carrots and peas and rice
The result was delicious!
To add more nutrition to our meal, Jonathan also prepared squash.
He tested it beforehand to make sure it was good. 
And IT WAS! It was a great meal and a very nice way to come home after a day of work. Jonathan is a great cook.
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03.31.08
Posted in Cooking, friends, fun, home, marriage, photo, recipes at 8:40 pm by jonathan
This past Saturday, we hosted our first dinner party! Kelly did an absolutely amazing job in the kitchen, so I thought I’d post a few photos of the event. Here you go:
Kelly selected Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Apples and Onions as the evening’s main course. Here are the beginnings of the preparation: freshly cut apples. Mmm.
And here’s the pork, fresh from the oven.
Table: set. Salads: plated. Time to eat: yes, yes, it is.
After dinner, Kelly whipped up some cream and a secret ingredient or two as a topping for the dessert…
…which was chocolate cloud cake!
Dessert close-up. I had the last piece for lunch today… until we meet again, chocolate cloud cake. *tink*
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03.10.08
Posted in Cooking, recipes at 6:35 pm by kelly
Sometimes, Jonathan and I return home from work and get working in the kitchen and create a culinary masterpiece. Sometimes, we come home and I make whatever I can think of from the fridge. I know, it’s like Jonathan’s a betting man, eating like that. Tonight we are having junk pizza-we had some cooked chicken breast and I made some pesto from the basil that was quickly turning and added some spinach and thinly sliced onion and then topped it all with three of the types of cheese in our refrigerator (I shredded some cheese sticks and added some taco cheese we had and then saw we also had some feta…). At any rate, you’ll have to ask Jonathan when you see him what he thought of tonight’s experiment. AND I wanted to take this chance to share with you my favorite pizza dough recipe:
1tblsp cornmeal
1.5 Cups flour
1 pkg quick-rising dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 Cup very warm water
1 tblsp vegetable oil
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the water and oil and mix until it forms a ball. Knead (I use the dough hook on the kitchen aid) for 3-4 minutes-until elastic. Cover and let rest for ten minutes (I just put a clean dish towel over it). Put the cornmeal on a baking stone/cookie sheet and then transfer dough. Roll out the dough onto the cookie sheet until it’s close to the edge. Top with your favorite toppings (we also really like using salsa, chicken, bell peppers, onions and a small amount of cheese) and bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes. It’s delicious!
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