Day Fifty Five: Taco-vers

We had some beef leftover from our party on Saturday, so instead of letting it go to waste, I decided to make tacos with the meat. You may remember that my husband is anti-leftovers, which makes the subterfuge necessary.

I used one of Martha's recipes for something she calls "Taco Filling". I find this name as odd as the photo of it, which is three tupperware containers stacked on one another with some brown stuff inside.  This is the actual photo:

I am assuming this recipe was part of a feature on foods that freeze well, because if not, Martha probably fired the editor who decided to publish this photo.

But back to my tacos.

Despite the odd name, this recipe made some pretty good tacos.  If you usually use one of those packages of taco seasoning, let me save you a lot of trouble:  this recipe, which took me at least forty minutes to make, tastes really similar to the package stuff.   That being said, if you have forty minutes to spare, go for it.  I've always wondered what went in those taco seasoning packages.  But now that I know, I'd like my forty minutes back, please.

Chopped brisket:

Brisket with Martha's spices:

Completed "taco filling" on flour tortilla:

My husband really liked these tacos.  He has been known to put ketchup on his tacos, however, so I can't really call that a ringing endorsement.

At least there are no leftovers.

Day Fifty Four: Wine, Dine and Dance

I love red wine.  I don't care that it will stain every surface, including your teeth, carpet and clothes, I'm going to serve it at a party.  One of the consequences of this attitude is that I often end up cleaning red wine stains from my carpet and clothes.  

After our Progressive Pedal Party on Saturday, I had a red wine stain to remove from my pants.  The cause of the spill was an enthusiastic dance partner who bumped into me :looking at you J.H.:, thereby spilling my wine on my pants. 

My very white pants.

Thankfully I have Martha on my side.  I already told you about her stain removal guide and how to be a Stain Houdini, but I think red wine deserves its own post.  

Martha has a litany of stain-removing techniques for my favorite grape beverage, but I think the best way to remove red wine stains from clothes is this: soak the spot with alcohol and flush with white wine vinegar.  It's like your own little miracle, especially when the stain is on a pair of white pants. 

Stained white pedal pushers:  (Get it?  Pedal pushers for a pedal party??) 

White pedal pushers after using Martha's technique.

Thanks to Martha, I won't have to give up drinking red wine, dancing, or doing both simultaneously.

Day Fifty Three: It's a Par-tay!

Last night we held our Progressive Pedal Party, with dinner at our house for forty people.  We had a ridiculous amount of fun.  Everything ran smoothly, with a little help from Martha's Party Planning Guide.   This is a pretty good check list, but I would have expected more from Martha...something more like an hour-by-hour timeline starting three days in advance.

We served a twenty-two pound beef brisket, several smoked chickens, orzo salad, and a spinach salad (without the salmon).  The brisket alone cooked for over twelve hours, so we were pretty busy with party preparations all day.  Martha's spinach salad was tossed last minute, so I forgot to take a photo.  :kicks self:

Photo of the orzo salad, recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis.  I've never made anything from the cooking siren, but this was delicious...and it looked pretty too.

Close-up of our hurricane centerpieces with oleander:

We seated everyone at one long table.

Dinner was served buffet style:

 Fun at dinner:

The best and worst part of the party was that I woke up this morning sore from all the pedaling.  It was the worst part because it hurt, but at least I felt like I earned that cheesecake I ate for dessert.

Day Fifty Two: Pedal Party Napkins

Tomorrow I'm hosting a progressive dinner.  Specifically, I'm hosting the main-dish course of a three-course progressive dinner.  Between courses myself and thirty-nine of my friends are going to cruise around our historic neighborhood on a couple of these:

It's a progressive pedal party.  Yes, it's a very large tandem bike with a bar in the middle.  No, this was not my idea.

The evening should be interesting, to say the least.

So today I set up the tables for the main course.  We are serving dinner buffet-style, but I wanted to set the table with glasses and utensils beforehand.  Martha has some very fancy napkin folds, but I just chose a simple napkin fold that would incorporate the utensils.

Forty napkins:

Start with a flat napkin:

Fold in half:

Then fold in half again:

Fold down one edge:

Flip over napkin and fold back edges to create a little pocket:

Pocket completed:

Do's and Don'ts:

Do:  Immediately put utensils in the little pocket.
Do:  Fold these napkins inside.

Don't:  Sit outside enjoying the nice weather while completing this chore.
Don't:  Fold approximately half of these napkins, fail to put the utensils inside, then be surprised when the entire pile blows away in the first strong wind.

And this is why the last photo is taken inside.

More about the Progressive Pedal Party tomorrow.

Day FIfty One: Brazilian Fish Stew

Every year my son's school has an International Day.  Each class chooses a country, learns about it, then performs a skit, song or dance representative of that country.  The presentation ends with a pot-luck luncheon.  The catch: the dish you bring must be from the country your child's class chose.

This year my son's class chose Brazil.  I could not name one dish from Brazil if my life depended on it.  Luckily, I have Martha.  She has an interesting recipe for Brazilian Fish Stew.  

If you are feeling crazy, and want to try an exotic recipe, make this stew.  It will make your kitchen smell like heaven and impress anyone. Your guests will think you are daring, sexy and well-traveled.  If not, mention something about that time you danced at Carnival and that should do it.

 The stew was a big hit at lunch, and best of all, was easy to make.

Peppers and onions sautéing: 

Add seafood stock, coconut milk and fish:

The finished product is pink and spicy.

In case you were wondering, my son played the bongos while twenty little five-year old girls danced around like Carmen Miranda.

Day Fifty: Don't Wash Your Cast Iron Pots

This morning I was loading my dishwasher and I found something shocking.  Someone had put my cast iron skillet....in. the. dishwasher.


:pause for dramatic effect:


Some of you may be wondering why I am so terribly concerned about my skillet being in the dishwasher. I am distraught because my cast iron skillet was almost washed.  One does not wash cast iron pots.  One cleans cast iron pots, but never ever with soap and never ever ever put it in your dishwasher.  It will rust.

I learned this lesson before I had ever even heard of Martha.  A little old Southern lady who taught finishing school imparted this wisdom on me:  "Nevah wash your cast iron, honey. You clean it, with sah-llt."

She was a wise lady.  Not everyone can turn "salt" into a two syllable word.

I didn't understand this wisdom at the time, mainly because I did not actually own any cast iron pots at the age of sixteen.  However, when my mother gave me a cast iron pot (about the same time she taught me to cook a chicken), she too imparted this same wisdom.  Never mind that two very wise women had given me the same tip, I had to double-check with Martha.

Martha says to clean a cast iron pot you should wipe with only hot water and never use detergent. If food is still stuck to the pan, scrub it with coarse salt, and wipe immediately with a clean cloth.  To read her complete instructions and all about seasoning a cast iron pot in the first place, see Housekeeping p. 68.

Dirty skillet with cleaning salt:

Scrubbing with salt:

Clean as a whistle:

....and nary a lick of soap was used.  Skillet saved.

Day Forty Nine: Paper Flower Wreath or All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

I was reading this feature by Martha on Paper flowers.  Sweet, but how whimsical would they be in patterned paper?  Maybe instead of another failed cherry tree arrangement, I'll try a wreath.  It would be perfect for my garden party in a few weeks.  Maybe I'll make two.  And, I have some paper leftover from another project that I can use...

Channel your inner kindergartener and fold and cut the paper. You will probably have flashbacks of making paper snowflakes.  But this time, little Colin Smith won't put gum in your hair. 

Repeat about five hundred twenty times:

I cut the center out of a cardboard circle to form this "wreath".  The cardboard circle was recycled from a frozen pizza and wrapped in paper leftover from the bunny boxes.  (Yes, a frozen pizza.  Don't tell Martha.)

Flowers placed on wreath:

I hot-glued my flowers on the wreath and hung it on our gate:

It looks super cute in person:  all the patterns make it fun.  They almost look like little butterflies.

I'd like to thank Mrs. Barry, my Kindergarten teacher, for showing me how to make paper snowflakes...and thanks to the frozen pizza peeps for including the cardboard with the pizza.  It was clutch.

And to little Colin Smith, I haven't forgiven you for the gum.

Day Forty Eight: I'm Down With That

As I may have mentioned a few (hundred) times before, I have several kids. When we check on them before bed, they are sometimes turned completely around in the bed, toes on pillows, or sometimes curled up on a pillow like a puppy on a dog bed.

I believe this nocturnal activity is the culprit of my discovery this morning:  a sort of...damp...pillow.  I'm not sure if it has been drooled on or if someone didn't make it to the bathroom.

I'm fairly baffled.

What to do?  I think the pillow should be cleaned but it's a down-feather pillow.  I can't wash it, right?

:runs to check Martha:

Martha says I can!  Hurrah!  I thought I was going to have to toss it.

In Martha's Homekeeping book, she says you can wash down either by hand or in your front-loading washer. After it's clean, you can throw it in the dryer on low heat for a few hours until it's dry.  Check out Homekeeping, p. 387-388 for more info.

Now my pillow is clean...of whatever was on it.

I would post photos, but there's not much to see...except my relieved face.

Whew.

Day Forty Seven: Second-Life Salmon

I believe in re-incarnation...Of food, at least.  I like a good leftover, but I can hardly get my husband to eat anything twice.  I sometimes wonder if his mother didn't force-feed him leftovers as a child.  Now he has an aversion.  Whatever the cause, I'm afraid of him starting a grass-roots campaign at our house. Then my kids will stop eating leftovers too.  Soon you'll start hearing about leftover-revolts all over the nation.

I think that's how the French Revolution started.

Or something like that.

When the salmon from the other night was just mediocre, I knew I'd have to be sneaky about the leftovers. So I reinvented the salmon filets by making Martha's Salmon Cakes.

Leftover "eh" salmon:

Salmon mixed up with a couple eggs and a bunch of other stuff:

Made into a patty...

Completed salmon cake served with zucchini and squash:

These were a vast improvement from the original salmon filets, but since I ate them both myself, I can't tell you if my husband approved.  Obviously, I thought they were delicious.

And I think the Dalai Lama would approve too.

Day Forty Six: Pretty Good Fudgy Brownies

Our family visited some friends yesterday.  The lady of the house kindly allowed me to bring a treat for the kiddos.  I decided to bring Martha's Fudgy Brownies with ganache.  Kids like brownies and these looked pretty darn good.  And they were pretty good.

Too bad my girlfriend also made brownies....and her brownies out brown-ied mine.  If it was a battle, it would have been a bloodbath.  And she would have been the conquering hero. 

If I had known she was going to make brownies, I would have made something different, like Martha's chocolate chip cookies.  I would have brought my A-game.  

I'm not exactly sure what my A-game is, but I would have brought it over.  

If my friend will share her recipe (hint hint) I will share it with you.  Then you can make both recipes and see which you prefer.   I'm going to bet it won't be these fudgy brownies.  

How can you lose with a start like this?

Cooked brownies:  The recipe makes about nine brownies but the ganache recipe makes enough for about seven batches of brownies...

So you end up with icing that's approximately an inch thick.

Still, they are pretty good.  Not A-game, but pretty darn good.

Day Forty Five: Spicy Cauliflower Surprise

I am trying to lose my baby weight.  "Baby weight" is the weight one gains while pregnant (and that hangs around after the baby is born).  For me, that number encompasses the extra weight from my baby plus that ten pounds I wanted to lose before I was pregnant.

My baby is welcome to this last few pounds.

I don't know a single person who doesn't want to lose a few pounds.  After all, this is America, land of the Overwieght, home of the Diet.  Of course, my writing this blog and consequently buying butter in bulk doesn't help at all.

To that end, I thought I would take advantage of Martha's Healthy Main Dishes and try her Roasted Salmon with Spicy Cauliflower.

According to my husband, the salmon was just "eh".  Nothing really exciting to say there.  The Cauliflower is another story.  Warning:  disgusting-looking photos ahead.

The Cauliflower starts by taking a bunch of anchovies, garlic and red pepper flakes and mashing it up into a paste:

The result looks like something you'd find on the floor of a frat-boy's car on a Sunday morning, or what your cat threw up last week.

Lovely cauliflower:

Then take the cauliflower and toss it into the cat vomit garlic-anchovy paste:

When it's cooked, not only does the cauliflower look brown and burnt, but the garlic-anchovy paste has blackened into something that looks like bird droppings...

HOWEVER, it tastes like a bit of spicy heaven....if you like garlic, red pepper and salt (which I do).  My hubby and I were fighting over who was going to get the last bit of cauliflower. But if you make this for guests, don't worry about people fighting over second-helpings.  This dish looks so terrible, you'll probably have plenty of leftovers. 

Day Forty Four: Making Pizza 101

When I left home for college, my mother made sure I knew how to cook a chicken.  I don't recall exactly her instructions (calling it a "recipe" would be a stretch), but I'm sure she said something like, "cook at 350 degrees until the meat is no longer bloody, or you'll die."

Needless to say, I didn't cook many chickens.

Luckily I went to school before the low-carb craze really hit, so I subsisted on baked potatoes, granola bars, pizza and plain pasta. It's hard to die from undercooked pasta.

When my kids leave home to start their lives, I want them to know how to cook.  I don't expect anything fancy, but I want them to be able to make a few of their favorite recipes. I try to explain to them how things are made, but I can tell it's not really getting through:

Me:  See this pasta?

Three-year old daughter:  Yes, mommy, I see it.  :Takes one look at pasta then down at doll in hand:

Me:  When this pot of water boils, I'm going to put the pasta inside.  When the pasta is soft, it will be ready to eat!   :trying to sound excited:

Three-year-old daughter:  Ready to eat?

Me:  Yes!  All ready for you to put in your tummy! :pats child's tummy:

Three-year-old daughter looks at me, looks blankly at pot of water, then back at me and says:

Mommy, I want to play princess!  Cinderella!!   :runs into next room:

I'm left standing in the kitchen, cooking lesson in tatters, wondering what happened to my fairy godmother.

So today, instead of just telling them about how things are made, I let them make pizza.  We made Martha's Three cheese pizza.  It was complete success, except for the part when they started fighting over the cheese and proceeded to wrestle over the pepperoni*, until we almost launched one pizza onto the floor. Luckily, I have cat-like reflexes was lucky and managed to save the pizza from ruin.

*Pepperoni not in the recipe.

Fixings:
I used naan bread, which for the uninitiated, is an Indian flatbread.  If you've never had naan, try it.  I will preemptively issue an apology, because once you try naan, you will love it, and it will quickly become one of the Things You Try To Avoid.  Sorry about that.

My son sorting through the pepperoni...and sneaking some when he thinks I'm not looking.

Spreading the sauce on the naan:

 Mozzarella application:  (I let them eat any they spilled on the counter...so they were not exactly careful in this process.  I'm rethinking that rule for next time.)

 Pepperoni on top (with a few in the mouth for good measure):

Delicious pizza.  They were so proud of themselves.

Pizza's finished now and I'm still waiting on my fairy godmother...but the kids have already asked what they can learn to make next.  

That glow you see on the horizon?  That's me.  I'm beaming I'm so proud.