A colorful weekend... the last before work starts!

I am starting work tomorrow and since I found this news out last Tuesday, I have gone from shocked/stunned/frantic to at peace... feeling prepared, calm, and composed... to 50% former/50% latter... to last night unable to sleep... and today I am doing stuff that does not need to be done (going to the gym for 2 and a half hours, cleaning the house, ironing shirts I will not wear, blogging, sewing miscellaneous buttons back on clothes... and yes, cooking country spare ribs, corn, salad...).  OK so I am certifiably crazy.  BUT here I am, after all that, wanting to share some photographs... and thoughts... and mostly feeling well adjusted and good... mostly!

OK so here are some pics that I had to share... just because they are fun or pretty or cute!

From the garden!

Dinner at our picnic table!

Finally, a home grown strawberry that LOOKS like a strawberry!

New sourdough experiment... stay tuned for details!

Cauliflower pasta.  I LOVE THIS RECIPE!  I will share it on the blog when I have a chance.

Lupa!

And then some pictures of the cats... they are so cute together... I can't resist taking these pictures! And sharing them! (and yes... we are aware of big kitty's weight problem... )

That's all for now!  I will post sourdough and cauliflower recipes... well... maybe sometime this week, depending on work... I hope everyone has a happy 4th of July!  We are going to the Albany ValleyCats game... (minor league team) to watch baseball, fireworks, and eat hot dogs.  Yess.

-- Anya

Blueberry Pie!

Here is that recipe I promised for my famous blueberry pie which I made for Brandon's birthday last week (Brandon's blueberry birthday...?)  We still have some in the fridge... um... want to come over and take it off our hands?!  I have been cutting off slivers daily... I had some with my cottage cheese today at lunch (I know that sounds weird but YUM!)

Ingredients:


Flaky Pie Crust
6 cups blueberries, rinsed and picked over
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar (next time I will probably cut down to 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup flower
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbs. tapioca*
2 Tbs. butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
Sugar for sprinkling

Vanilla ice cream for serving.

* Note: I did not put tapioca in the pie this time and it was too runny when we cut into it, even after having cooled for several hours.  It still tasted delicious (and the blueberry "sauce" that results is kind of awesome dribbled over vanilla ice cream...) and sliced OK but it didn't hold its form as much as I would like.  Next time I will add 2 Tbs. and see how that works.  Use your discretion.

Instructions:


1. Start by preparing your Flaky Pie Crust.  Roll out the bottom crust and fit in a 10 inch pie pan.  Put in the fridge to chill while you prepare the filling.

2. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the blueberries.

3.  Add sugar.  I used a scant cup. Next time I will cut down to 3/4 because the blueberries were so good, it didn't need so much sugar.  If the blueberries you are using are tart, stick to 1 cup.

4.  Add flour and cinnamon.

5.  Mix the filling.

6.  Remove the chilled pie plate from the fridge, pour filling into bottom crust, and top with diced butter.

7.  Roll out the top crust, drape it over the rolling pin and drag it on top of the filling.

8.  Trim and crimp edges and cut slots in the top to allow steam to escape.

9.  Paint with lightly beaten egg.

10.  Sprinkle top of crust with sugar and then collar the edges to keep them from burning.

11.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes (remove foil after 20 minutes or so), or until crust is golden brown.  Let cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pizza Sauce

I made this delicious spicy pizza sauce from scratch for Brandon's birthday pizza.  I kinda just went for it and it turned out really good... I don't have exact measurements of what I put in... but I will list the ingredients and basic idea... Next time I might add some tomato paste but I didn't have any on hand so I just used canned diced tomatoes...

First, I heated some oil and butter and added some diced up anchovies (only 3 or so) which I mashed up with a wooden spoon to form a kind of paste...

OK that is a kinda nasty looking picture... but it is also cool looking... very rustic country kitchen, no?  I promise... it will get prettier after this...

Then I diced up some onion, celery, and some Anaheim chili that I had on hand (a relatively mild chili - a jalepeno would be good too...)

I sauted those until soft and then added the diced tomatoes (I drained the juice and reserved it)

Then I added some sweet paprika, garlic powder, dried basil, salt and pepper, a generous amount of hot pepper flakes, and a bay leaf.  I let it simmer over very low heat for about an hour and a half, occasionally adding some of the reserved juice from the tomatoes, and when that ran out, some water, as the tomatoes cooked down.  When it tasted good and ready I pureed it in the food processor.  YUM!

Spred it on your favorite pizza dough, top with cheese and any other toppings.  I used a great dough recipe - you can find it here.

Here is the pizza after it came out of the oven:

Delish!

Birthday Feasting

Yes it was a FEAST!  I cooked and baked and rolled and stirred and whisked and floured and let rise and painted and spread and sprinkled and diced and chopped and squeezed and stirred and served! It was a day filled with verbs...

First we sat and ate guacamole at our new picnic table, and then had Anya's homemade pizza (I mean really really homemade... pizza sauce, dough.... OK, OK I did not make the cheese or the pepperoni but even I have my limits OK?)... and then of course,  blueberry pie for dessert.  Let's just look at the food OK?!

Guacamole secret ingredient?  SOUR CREAM! Shhhhh!  Also in there: minced garlic, jalepeno, cilantro, lime, salt, cayenne...

The picnic table (... Brandon is just sitting down... I think...?)

And then the pizza...

The dough was really really good!  I tried a new recipe I found at allrecipes.com and makes a crust that is crunchy on the outside but still soft and chewy in the middle... it made enough dough for 2 good size pizzas.  The recipe is available here.

Now for a variety of toppings... (yes that is homemade pizza sauce!)

Building pizza numero uno...

A little oil...

Spreading some homemade super spicy pizza sauce...

Cheese please...

Pepperoni...

Some black olives...

Funghi... my fav...

Jalepenos... (this was some spicy pizza!)

Slid it onto the preheated pizza stone...

15 minutes later...

A piece for me please?

YUM.  That was the b'day boy's pizza.

But we had enough dough for another one... (although not quite enough sauce... :(... )

We had some leftover grilled chicken from Saratoga... it was smoky and delicious... I threw it on there...

Cheeeeeeseee

Peppers and shrooms...

Jalepenos and some leftover proscuitto...

Cooked it up..

Yes... let's eat this too...

A happy chef...

OK so we couldn't really do that much damage... but we tried... and we have more than a whole pizza to eat another night... not too shabby!

Wait! Let's look at the pie real quick...

Mmmm blueberries... sugar... flour...

Yes... that is butter...

Pretty!

YUM.

OK so we vegged out.... a bit... I took pains not to think about (or mention) the calories... I hit the gym hard today... and I am resisting pie as we speak... that will last about 5 more minutes... literally... Rachel Maddow is telling us about the health care decision... I think this is all the more reason for PIE!

Find my pizza sauce recipe and the blueberry pie recipe under my recipes page... they will be there soon!

I will leave you with this family pic... a bed for each of our kids...

They. are. ridiculous.

-- Anya