Bloom Holidays

Happy Belated New Year! 

I have a lots of odds and ends to note here about our trip to Indiana for Christmas and New Years. Instead of writing a lot of detail, I'm going to list some things that happened. 

John and I finished Gym Christmas and I got 8 GYMGOs in all. A solid end to 2012, fitness-wise. We also did Iron Strength several times at my parents house, and did some fun runs with Carla and Tim Best while they were visiting town.

We made this sleigh for my mom for Christmas. John always calls her J. J. for some reason, even though these aren't her initials.

We put up a nice tree in London with lots of nostalgic ornaments. We have yet to take it down, since the semester started and now we're busy. 

We did a lot of sitting around with the dogs in Bloomington. 

We visited places we love, like Upland. 

And a relatively new place, Darn Good Soup. I love this place. Simple and hits the spot.

Mark came back to town and had a great New Year's Eve party at his apartment. 

John made this French silk pie from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook more than once.

John's sister Morgan rode the Greyhound 14 hours each way just to visit us. It was so fun to show her around Bloomington, and for John and Morgan to have some sibling bonding time.

On New Year's Day we had a brunch at my parents' house. Coffee, mimosas, bloody marys, scones, and left overs from the party the night before. Not shown: breakfast casserole, also from Smitten Kitchen.

We went out to the Vid so that Morgan could beat all of us at pool, and then to Rockits for late night pizza.

 Mark also took us to a new-to-us bar called the Rail, in an old train station. They have lots of fancy cocktails. Yet another example of how Bloomington has gotten cooler since I left.

Dad and I walked the dogs several times. He gave me his own version of the IU tour and pointed out where he used to teach, where his offices were, and which building had "the computer" in it, back in the 70s. You know, the computer. The only computer.

Bloomington got about 12 inches of snow while we were in town, and some frigid temperatures. So much for retiring in a warming climate.

Other stuff:

• many trips to Sahara Mart and Bloomingfoods, for chocolate, wine, and beer. 
• Dave and Carla came, and I managed to not take any pictures the whole time. We hung out at The Tap, made lasagna, and played Foodie Fight. All in all, a nice visit with them.
• We tried to continue the 80s movie streak by watching Red Dawn with my dad. We succeeded, until the VCR eventually ate - as in, really burned - the tape. I guess movies taped from HBO in the 80s only last so long.
• John and I sang in the church choir at First United Methodist with my mom on Christmas Eve, where Dean Richards from the IU JSoM is now the choir director.
• I made a giant pan of mac n' cheese as my vegetarian entree for Christmas dinner. I think I won the prize for best entree.
• I managed to keep from eating my face off until after my wedding dress fitting, where I learned that I still love and fit into my dress. Woo hoo!
• two trips to Indy to go shopping, and one visit to BARcelona with Morgan, John, and my mom. 
• Only 6 weeks until we go back for our Reading Week break, and a bridal shower that my aunt and cousin are graciously throwing for me.

I'll write again soon with some goals for 2013. 

Gym Christmas Days 12 and 13

Yeah, I missed a day of blogging. Since I turned in my second directed study and then hosted a party last night, I don't feel too bad about it. Also it's hard to feel like your work outs are that important after what happened in CT yesterday. Here's yesterday and today's Gym Christmas updates. 

Gym Christmas Day 12!

Work out: 2k swim. 

I did basically the same work out I tend to do, except there were no pull buoys, so I made an adjustment: 

• 400m freestyle warm up
• 6 X 200ms, alternating swimming and kicking (no pulling). 
• 400m free cool down. 

Finals week is a great time to swim or do anything at the gym really. I think swimming once a week has been really good for my brainz. 

GYMGO: I checked off a Get Wet box that didn't really advance my GYMGO chances.

Then, John and I had some UWO friends over to decorate "Gender Non-Specific Gingerbread Persons," as Matthew likes to call them. I used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen's Family Cookbook, and cookie cutters that my Aunt Becky gave me two summers ago - including a couple of turkeys and menorahs. 

Let's count gingerbread cookies and dough as the thing I ate.

The one menorah was turned into a martini glass, about 6 o'clock in this picture.

And one person made this very attractive Ginger Pope.

Gym Christmas Day 13!

Work out: 3-ish mile run with John around the neighborhood. Based on my perceived level of effort, I'd say we did more like 3.2 or so, since it was more like a tempo run. But we didn't map the route before or after, we just ran around for 32 minutes.

GYMGO: Socialcize, aka, GYMGO #2! Woo hoo!

Thing I ate today: definitely no more gingerbreads. I sent the leftovers home with our friends. But I did a healthy portion of the greek olive hummus I got at the store this week. Mmmm olives in hummus.

American Thanksgiving 2012

Last week, we had our third annual American Thanksgiving Dinner with our friend, Gwen. John helped me reign in my excitement and only plan a very large meal, instead of a crazy big one. Like previous years, we made a Thanksgiving dinner without meat, but in this case, a large amount of dairy, and somehow, no soy products.

We set the table for four, and unfortunately one of our guests got the stomach flu the day before. He kindly stayed home, instead of spreading his virus to us. 

Yes, I was that person who made the little pears with name tags on them, an idea I saw all over the internet this year. It was actually really easy and kinda fun, even though I felt silly making fake little name tags and tying them on to pears. 

Here are some links to the recipes we enjoyed. 

Basic Cranberry Sauce from MarthaStewart.com (the sauce in this photo is in progress, of course). John said he didn't like cranberry sauce, but that this recipe converted him. I had no idea it was so easy to make! Berries + sugar + lemon zest + water + heat. Done. 

Our sick friend was supposed to bring pie, so at the last minute, John and I decided to make a pumpkin pie from scratch (who are we?!). Actually, we practice "cutting in" all the time when we make biscuits, so John handled the crust recipe like a pro. 

Here's the pie before it baked: voluptuous vegan pumpkin pie, from Vegan Pie in the Sky, from the geniuses at the PPK.  

This pie turned out 50% awesome, 50% not quite right. First, I subbed tapioca flour for agar powder, which was probably an error. The consistency wasn't quite right for pumpkin pie. Also, we under baked it, so the crust on the bottom was a little chewy. Still, the spice balance in this is great, and it's not very sweet. To make the filling, you just combine all the ingredients and dump them in the pie shell, much easier than cooking them on the stove first. Making the crust was somewhat an epiphany for John, since he didn't realize it was so simple. I think this pie has him pretty excited, and that this will be the Christmas of Pies. 

We also made this Pear and Pecan Cornbread Stuffing, also from the PPK. 

This stuffing is delicious. It dries out easily, so be generous with the stock, especially when you reheat it. I think it needs about 2 cups of stock from the start, and we've added more with the leftovers. It's so flavorful and good, I can't wait to make it again at Christmas.

This picture of John maniacally stirring is the only one I got of the mashed potatoes. We didn't follow a real recipe here, just cubed and boiled potatoes, mashed them with chopped rosemary and a bunch of butter and cream. It's basically potatoes+fat. We use red potatoes and leave the skin on for a little color. 

I made brie en croute with the cranberry sauce pictured above. I loosely followed a similar recipe using apple compote from Annie's Eats, just to get the general idea of how to wrap it and how long to bake it.   This brie turned out beautifully, because, how could it not? Brie oozing out of puff pastry? If you don't like that, then I can't help you. Once it came out of the oven, we started eating it so fast that I didn't snap a picture, but take my word for it that the finished product was really pretty and presented well. We ate it with some cranberry-pumpkin seed pita chips from Costco, which I would highly recommend. You need a firm cracker to stand up to all that brie. We meant to also use green apple slices, but it completely slipped my mind when the time came.

You'll notice from the picture that I didn't really wrap it in any kind of systematic way. I just gathered the pastry up around the brie a bit at a time and kind of knotted it at the top. John and Gwen literally exclaimed "Oooh! Ahhh!" when I took it out of the oven. Can't wait for Christmas when I can make this again. 

Here is my plate. Clockwise, from 1 o'clock, you have the cornbread stuffing, then mashed potatoes, blanched green beans (just so we could say we had a veggie, and for something green on the plate), then the actual "main" course: Apple Walnut Lentil Loaf, from Oh She Glows. As predicted, the loaf was a big hit and we gave some to Gwen to take home. It would definitely please any vegetarians, vegans, or omnivores you serve over the holidays. Just make a little extra glaze for dipping.

No post-bake photos of the pie, since we covered it in whipped cream and stuffed it in our faces. I hope you had a Happy American Thanksgiving, or a regular Thursday, depending on where you are. Here's to a delicious holiday season!

Chocolate Pretzel Fudge and Peanut Butter Fudge

John and I have had a marathon of Christmas potlucks this year. For the final holiday party before we leave town, I decided to try two very simple fudge recipes I've come across recently. Neither involved a candy thermometer, boiled sugar, or a "soft ball stage," all things I'm unfamiliar with.

















I think my mom and I tried to make fudge once when I was younger, and it was a real disaster, so I've stayed away from fudge recipes ever since. But these two are pretty simple. All you need is a double boiler - and really, all you need is a bowl and a pot to use as a lazy man's double boiler.


















The chocolate fudge recipe is from Martha Stewart and it involves putting chopped pretzels in the chocolate mixture before it sets. The sweet-salty combo is delicious. You can get the recipe from Martha Stewart's website here.



















The peanut butter fudge recipe is from Annie's Eats. Her instructions ask you to melt everything n the microwave. I haven't mentioned this here, but our microwave croaked a month or so ago and we haven't replaced it. Instead, we bought a used toaster oven on the cheap ("El Toastito"). So in order to melt everything for this recipe I just used a double boiler again and it seemed to work fine. It's pretty hard to screw up melted butter, peanut butter, and sugar.



















That is one intensely rich plate of fudge.

Eggnog Cake

Last week was the week of potlucks. I tried to think of something different to bring to each one (fancy salad, muffins, cookies), and for the finale, we made an eggnog cake.




















One of the people who ate it said it was just like her mom's "hot milk cake," which apparently involves heating milk on the stove before mixing it into the batter. This cake works the same way, with eggnog and butter heated on the stove.


















This is one of the recipes we will probably make on Christmas. The dry-run went fairly well, but I think I'd rather take it out of the oven near the minimum baking time. We gave it a couple extra minutes and I thought it was a little dry. One of the things I liked about this recipe is that it only makes one 9" cake, instead of a layer cake that usually makes to 9" cake rounds. The big issue was the icing - we used some leftover butter cream that I had in the fridge. The recipe calls for frosting made with cream cheese and bourbon. The butter cream was way to sweet and the flavor almost totally overpowered the eggnog. So for Christmas we'll use the boozy icing, and I think it'll be great!

Eggnog Cake
from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup egg nog
1 TBSP butter
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325F.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until very thick; the batter should fall from the beaters in a thick ribbon. Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
While beating the eggs and sugar, heat the eggnog and butter in a small saucepan just until simmering. Add the hot eggnog to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream as you continue beating. This will keep you from cooking the eggs.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring until they’re just combined.
Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9 inch cake round.* Bake for 50 minutes, or until the cake is a deep golden brown and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove the cake from the oven and cool it in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the pan.

Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting
3 1/2 TBSP bourbon
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4cup butter, at room temperature
4-5 cups powdered sugar (will depend on how thick you like your frosting)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until soft.
Add the powdered sugar and beat to combine.
Add the bourbon and beat to combine.

*I greased and floured mine. Next time I will also add a ring of parchment around the bottom of the pan to help it come out more smoothly.

Melted Snowmen Cookies

This week as I was reading my food blogs I came across a post about using marshmallows to make melted snowman cookies. It didn't really look too difficult and after I watched about 10 youtube videos about piping with royal icing, I thought it would be fun to give it a try.

For various reasons, however, I got kind of lazy. Instead of making royal icing in a few colors I just bought some cookie decorating supplies. What could go wrong?! This is a moment of foreshadowing: we learned that gel icing tubes are probably not right for this kind of detail. Still, the regular white icing we used worked fairly well and I'm pretty sure all of it is vegan. So if you made some vegan sugar cookies, this would translate fairly easily (making royal icing vegan surely involves lots of chemicals, but apparently no animal parts).




The set up.











Part of the point was to use up a very old package of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix, and in order to make them big enough, I was only able to get 5 cookies out of it (the fifth didn't survive the transition from cookie sheet to cooling rack). Still (more foreshadowing), the gel icing doesn't look super appetizing, so it's not like these are actually going to get eaten, and I think our attention spans held out just long enough to do all 4.









Gillian came over to watch a movie and decorate with us.







That's my little snowman, just after I gave him eyes. "Purple" turned out to be a sort of light blue, and it pretty much made our snowmen look possessed. The gel didn't really hold its shape very well, so their stick arms kind of bloated up.
















Here's Gillian's, before his face was finished. Check out those creepy "purple" eyes!
















John decorated the fourth cookie. As he says, in fairness, he had the most practice. But this fourth cookie is the only one that I think looks endearing, as intended.
















Look how much mine looks like a scary clown. "Merry Christmas, boys and girls! AHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
















John's first snowman is even scarier. Note how his eyes are oozing down his face, and he's apparently having a nose bleed.















John's second snowman just looks pleasant in comparison to our demonic ones.






















Love the ear muffs. Here's the whole gang:
















After the gel sort of spread we decided that Gillian's (far left) looks as though his throat was slit, with blood dripping down. I think with royal icing and finer tip they would have turned out fine, and the whole thing was pretty fun! I guess I have a certain habit of making Christmas desserts look evil - recall last year's gingerbread robot monsters.


Since I didn't really bake any of this from scratch, here are some links, including a very clear tutorial on how to make these snowmen:

Post with pictures and instructions
Snowman Cookie Tutorial

Evergreen Cupcakes

John invited me to come to his final class women's studies class so that I could watch his presentation. I've joined him and his classmates after the class at the Grad Club a couple of times, and we went with them to the Santa Clause Parade, so I was looking forward to seeing them. I decided to make some cupcakes to bring to the class.



















Red velvet cupcakes seemed Christmasy (and it's my favorite kind of cake). But we're out of red food coloring, and my car was trapped in an ice cave, so I had to use what I had. And what I had was green.


















Last year when I was in a similar situation, I used blue dye and called them Blue Jean Cupcakes (in keeping with the fabric theme). This year, I wasn't sure what to call them...Elf Knicker cupcakes? Green Velvet (I'm guessing that's what elf pants are made of)? It looked more like a mossy green than anything, so I called them Evergreen Cupcakes, since that sounds more appetizing than "moss cakes."

The cancellation for Wednesday's class came in while I was making the icing for these cakes. I decided to finish the job and just bring them to a Christmas dinner party we went to for John's anthropology class on Thursday.










Well, yeah, I ate one. To make sure they aren't poison ivy! Ha! Get it? Poison ivy? They're gre- oh, nevermind.








The recipe is the same one from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book I've linked to before. Here it is again. They're delicious!

American Thanksgiving, 2010

Naturally, John and I don't get a day off for American Thanksgiving. Since I'm doing an independent study this semester, I can feel like I have a "day off" any time I want, except that then I would feel really guilty and behind my imaginary deadline. This year, we marked the American version of Thanksgiving by staying at home to work on papers and cook fairly normal, American Thanksgiving fare.

Since John and I don't really buy meat in Canada (because of the expense), we went with a meatless Thanksgiving and ended up using a few different vegan recipes from this website, which I love. The author over there had a couple different tofu preparations that looked delicious, and I ended up choosing the one I did because it involved making gravy, that was too goo to pass up.

So here are the things I made, some of which were for that day in particular, and some for other occasions.

Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World.





Delicious.












Those were meant to be dessert after the holiday meal, and I think I'm the only one who had any room left to eat them. Also, they're great heated up in the microwave the next day.


Molasses Spice Cookies, from America's Test Kitchen Family Cook Book.



















Don't believe the recipe when it says this makes 2 dozen cookies - it made more than 2 and a half, and they weren't small, neither. I gave half of it to a local holiday bake sale and brought the other half for my students on Black Friday. One of my colleagues said these are better than the same cookie at Starbucks. Ahem.

Then we set the table and our friend Gwen came over for dinner.

















With just three people to feed, I tried not to let the menu planning get out of control (as I'm wont to do). We had three dishes, gravy, and the cupcakes. It was kind of perfect because I stuffed my face (especially with potatoes) but I didn't eat my weight in three kinds of potatoes.




















Here's what we served:

• Steamed green beans, with margarine, sea salt and pepper
• Crash Hot Potatoes (I could eat these every. day.)
• Pan-Fried Tofu with Mushroom Gravy, from fatfreevegan.com.
  

It was sort of hard to explain the tofu recipe to John until I made an analogy to chicken-fried steak. Then he was on board. This was a delicious recipe, and it reheats in the oven well. The breading is delicate, since it's just flour and some herbs. Our guest (who told me in advance that she would try anything once) said if I hadn't told her ahead of time, she would have thought it was chicken. The chicken seasoning is a pretty crucial ingredient for making it so good. I seriously couldn't wait to have this again the next night.

As for the gravy, our guest also told us that mushrooms are the one food she absolutely abhors, so we left them out of the gravy. Still, it was delicious and came together easily. I think if you added some finely chopped and sauteed celery, and maybe some bread cubes, it would taste just like regular stuffing. The mushrooms would make it even better and I hope we try that again. John and I were putting the gravy on everything on the plate by the end of the meal. I was concerned that it all might taste overly like soy, but it didn't at all.

I have no illusions that what we ate was "healthy" just because it was vegan. Fried and breaded tofu may not have have as much fat as similarly prepared beef, but it's still high in fat. I just figured it was a cheaper (and just slightly healthier) thing to eat in place of making a turkey or buying a cut of meat. This meal was a good example of how vegan cooking can still be somewhat indulgent and super flavorful when you want to splurge on the calories a little. We won't make it again right away, since you know, it's fatty and for a special occasion, but we will definitely make this tofu again.

I know I'm late, but I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, whenever you might have celebrated it!