World Series Sustenance

There is nothing quite like winning the World Series. It turns men into boys, and boys into men. It connects generations with nothing else common. It makes friends into enemies, and enemies into friends. Think I'm exaggerating? I'm really not. Yes, in case you hadn't heard, the St. Louis Cardinals are the 2011 World Series Champions for the 11th time!!

from Dalil America

Nothing quite like Baseball in the world, and there's nothing quite like this series that I've ever seen before. It went a full 7 games, and the Cardinals were down to their last strike twice. But they came from behind, winning in spectacular fashion. This is the second World Series victory for the Cards that I remember, and the third that we've been to (Curse the Sox!) Our MVP was David Freese, and boy did he earn it. The best part is that he grew up a Cardinals fan, and got to deliver for his actual home team.

From Time

But my favorite part was that in the 7th inning of the final game, I got to Skype with my parents who were visiting my brother. That means that my Parents, my brother Curt, and David and I all got to be 'together' (more or less) when the Cardinals won it. That doesn't necessarily mean much to most people, but Cardinal baseball is one thing that connects us more than just about anything else. My Dad and I don't always have a lot to talk about, but there is always Cardinal baseball. My Grandpa, who passed away almost exactly 2 years ago was a huge Cardinals fan. I miss him more than I can say, but Cardinal baseball is still there, to remind me of him. In fact, some of my favourite memories are going to his house, while he grilled Pork Steaks, Burger, Hot Dogs, whatever while we watched the game.

Ah, yes. Baseball food. Despite the fact that it is below freezing here today, Baseball is actually a summer sport. Which means lots of grilled foods. Dave and I grilled burgers for Game 7 (here's our recipe: http://ktcarleton-cookingwithnothing.blogspot.com/2011/08/bacon-and-cheddar-stuffed-sliders-and.html This time we made them bigger though.) And for Game 5 We grilled Brats, after boiling them in Root Beer first. And for Game 1, we put a pork roast in the crock pot, covered it in root beer, and set it to low for 8 hours. When it was done, we pulled it and added some barbecue sauce, and bang, pulled pork. Yum. We put them on our home made buns, which are below. There are no real recipes for these, so it's kind of a waste of a blog, but I had to brag about the series. Besides, everyone knows the classics.

from Indiana Insider

But We did make buns using a modified version of Dave's mom's recipe for bread. I don't feel right sharing it, since it's not mine to share, but I did get to style them which is fun. And I'll share that with you. Just start with your favorite bread recipe (though you may want to halve, or even quarter it.) When you get to the part where you would be putting them into loaf pans, pinch of a tennis ball size worth of dough and roll out to look like a snake.

Then go to tie a knot with the dough, like you would the first step of tying your shoes. But because it's dough, it doesn't really look like that, but one length of the dough will be folded in, like so.

Take the remaining length, and fold under the center of the dough to form a knot.

 We added some oil to the tops with poppy seeds and voila, home made hamburger buns that look pretty nice! They were delicious, too.  So, I know not everyone is a baseball fan, or even a sports fan, but I do hope everyone has something like that the brings the whole family together, gets rid of the petty squabbles and the worries, and helps them relax and enjoy the company of their family. I did forget to mention that we made chocolate chip cookies one night, too. Here's my favourite that Dave made for me. :) Enjoy!

Community Crepes! (Halloween Edition!)

So, as everyone knows, Monday is Halloween. We're not big fans of Halloween at my house. David didn't grow up with it, and frankly, it scares the tar out of me. I'm easily frightened, and get Nachtmares easily. So last year we holed up, ate grilled cheese shaped like ghosts, and watched Young Frankenstein. Not sure what we'll do this year, but it's definitely off to a good start with last night's Community!

The basic plot is that Britta, a new Psych major, decided to give everyone a personality test. The tests came back, and the results stated that 1 member of their group had homicidal tendencies. Since the tests were anonymous, Britta decides to make the whole group tell ghosts stories to try and figure out who is the insane one. Ee! So much fun! Recipe!

Orange-Chocolate Pancakes:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. orange extract
3 Tbsp. Orange Marmalade
2 tsp. oil
3/4 cup milk



Mix together your dry ingredients, and then stir in your oil and marmalade til crumbly. Add your milk and extract, until desired consistency. Spoon out onto a hot, greased, griddle and cook about 2-3 minutes on both sides. Om nom! By the way, I like 1/4 cup measure for scooping out batter if you don't want to eyeball it.

Well, that's about it! I did try to pour the batter into a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter, but it was just too detailed, so it didn't end up looking any different. But if you had a bat or a ghost, it might work out well for you, for that extra something. I like that I got to use the black (chocolate) and the orange (orange) for the official Halloween thing. Hope everyone enjoys!

Pineapple Bread

Happy Monday everybody! It's been a long week already over here. Can't say it's anything exciting, per se, but it feels like there's always something to be done. I can tell that winter is just a stone's throw away...the sky is looking grey, and I've already added one of my Nana's quilts to the bed. I am excited, though, because Dave has a conference in Toronto this weekend, and I found a good hotel for 50 bones...at least 1/2 of what it would normally be. So hopefully we'll get some nice time just the two of us. Also, Dave said I can have American Thanksgiving here, and we're inviting a few friends. So I'll be going into party planning mode these next few weeks! Which is SO much fun. But tomorrow is another one of Dave's morning meetings, which means a breakfast for the boys. This week I made a loaf of Pineapple Bread! This is MY recipe, so I'm kind of proud of it. (PS, sorry about the bad pictures...was using the CPU camera.)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (melted)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp rum ex (opt)
2 eggs
8 oz can pineapple (not drained)
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
3/4 cup coconut (optional)
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Stir together your butter, eggs, and extract. Make sure you let your butter cool down so it doesn't cook the eggs. Stir in your Pineapple and its juice, then add the sugar. Add to it your dry ingredients, mixed well, until a nice batter forms. Add coconut or nuts if desired (I didn't because I didn't have any...but I bet it'd be good! Especially toasted...) reserving some to sprinkle on top. Pour into a greased loaf pan, and bake in a 350 oven for 45-55 minutes. Should be golden brown on top, with a toothpick inserted in the middle coming out clean. Let cool, slice, and enjoy! Or, wrap in foil and keep for a few days.

This made the house smell soooo good. It was super buttery, so you could maybe cut down on the butter, or cut it with oil, but this is how I made it and it was delicious. I hope everyone enjoys it. Best of all- Super cheap. I think everyone has a can of pineapple sitting in the recesses of their pantry, and if not they're cheap. We had everything we needed to make this in our kitchen. How great is that? Plus, it's fairly low in sugar (in fact, you could probably cut it even more) and hey, it's fruit, right? Enjoy!

Homemade Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I'm super proud of these. I don't work with yeast very often- it scares the tar out of me. I mean, it's alive, people. ALIVE. If that's not scary, I don't know what is. But, as some of you know, every Tuesday Dave has a morning meeting at work and I make breakfast for them. So far it's been mainly muffins, with biscotti and scones tossed in. But when we were up at Dave's mom's, she gave us a big thing of yeast. So, after an intense stare down with the yeast, I decided to tackle the most popular breakfast food out there- The cinnamon roll.

In the effort of full disclosure, I adapted the recipe from here ( http://www.pinkofperfection.com/2009/03/overnight-cinnamon-rolls/ ). These were super delicious, and I'm pretty -shall we say- iffy when it comes to pastry, and these were pretty simple for me. Recipe!

Dough:  1/3 cup butter
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup white sugar
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk

Filling: 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup butter

Icing: 1 cup (ish) powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. Flour
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
2 tsp. salt

To make your dough, heat the milk (btw, I used soy- it made the dough kind of sweet, which was yummy) in a saucepan over medium heat until it lightly bubbles. Remove from heat and add butter. (Full disclosure- you could probably do this just as easily in the microwave.) Let cool til lukewarm (I do this by sticking my finger in it- it shouldn't feel more than slightly warm to you-Remember, heat kills yeast.) Meanwhile, mix 2 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. When milk has cooled, add it to the flour mixture, along with the eggs. Once combined, add an additional 1/2 cup of flour until it is all incorporated (When I was making this it seemed like waaaay too much flour to me- but it worked out, so stir!) Turn out on floured cutting board and knead (I did this in the bowl. Just as easy.) Cover with damp cloth, and let rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, Mix together all your ingredients (except the butter) for your filling in a bowl. Then Roll out dough to a big fat rectangle. The original recipe said 9x12. I don't know if that's what mine was or not. Scatter your filling, then dot with butter. Roll up your dough lengthwise, and seal your seam. Cut your dough into equal portions. (I find the easiest way to do that is to cut it in half first-takes some of the guess work away. I ended up with 13 cinnamon rolls.)  Place in greased 9x13 pan (or if you're me and haven't cleaned it yet, 2 9 inch pie pans.) Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, pull out the rolls, and let them get to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Then pop them in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. While they bake, whisk together your glaze (and, if you live in my house, make coffee for your husband.) Pour your glaze over the rolls, and serve warm!

The best part of these is that the filling (butter and cinnamon) melt a little in the oven, and drip to the bottom of the pan, so you have this slightly crunchy, sugary almost crust on the bottom of your rolls. These are great for Sunday mornings, you can just pop them in the oven while you get ready for church, but you still have a nice family breakfast waiting on you. Or for any night owl, to be frank. I really enjoyed these, and they're going in my personal recipe book. Wanted to say hello to Lauren, my brand new soon-to-be sister-in-law! I'm really excited to have her be part of my family soon. These are easier than they look, and I know Bryan would like them! :) Enjoy, all!

Community Crepes! (Totally Cheating Edition!)

Okay, so confession. Our Pancakes blew this week. They weren't really THAT bad, but I'm a bit embarrassed to post about them... So I'm not. Problem Being, this week was one of the best episodes of Community. The gang is hanging out in Troy and Abed's (Trobed) new apartment, and the buzzer rings. Someone has to go let the pizza guy in. Jeff rolls a dye to determine who fetches the pizza, thus creating 7 different time lines. So here's a clip, and we'll talk more in a minute.

After this, each time a different member of the study group goes and gets the pizza with some very interesting results. It's a really fun episode. Waaaaatch it.

Now, since this is a food blog, and I am too ashamed to share my pancakes with you, I will tell you where my favourite pancakes are. It's kind of a no-brainer. When my brothers and I were kids, on weekends we would sometimes go to Perkins with Nana and Papa. They had cute little kids meals, like a pancake in the shape of a bear. Also, they have delicious pancakes (also omelets.) It's the source of a lot of fun memories from when I was a kid. When we moved to Searcy, there was no Perkins. So every time we went to visit Nana and Papa, our butts were in a Perkins booth. These days Dave and I are lucky enough to live in town with a Perkins. Did I mention it's (comparatively) cheap?? The pancakes are the size of your head, and you get them with bacon, eggs, toast, muffins, whatever for next to nothing. Plus, if you sign up on the website, they'll periodically send you 20% off coupons, which Dave and I use all the time.( http://prkmc.fbmta.com/members/UpdateProfile.aspx?Action=Subscribe&InputSource=web )  We'll both get our meals, and be out for less than $20 easy, plus, we rarely eat everything, so it's usually two meals. Can you beat that? No. So go watch Community, and then eat at Perkins!

Crackers, Pictures, and News

If you read my last post, you know David and I just returned from a trip up to New Liskeard to see his parents and get our car fixed. We were there from Friday until late Tuesday night, as Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving. We got to visit with his mom and dad, but Dave's sister Kristy was staying at the house too with her family (husband Mike, kids Ruby and Vilho.) It was really nice to get to see them, since Kristy was David's best friend a lot- they roomed together when they both left the nest. I love seeing them, because since David is the youngest and I'm seven years younger than him, I'm closest in age (and therefore have more in common) with Kristy. Plus, her husband Mike and I can argue talk sports all day. But I'll admit, I enjoy playing with Ruby just about the most.

Ruby is 2, and has more energy than I knew a person could have. I have 9 nieces and nephews, and while they all call me Aunt Caiti, these two are the only ones who will grow up knowing me as that, and that puts them at a special place in my heart. Ruby was born just before Dave and I started dating, and when he showed me the picture he took of newborn Ruby before we got together, I think I fell in love with him a little bit more. And I visited Vilho in the hospital the morning after he was born. I chased around Ruby and we played all day long. Her favourite game was telling me to 'go to sleep' (at which point I closed my eyes and snored) and she sneaked up on me and went 'RAAAWR' while I shrieked in feigned fright as she giggled. Baby Vilho was such a treat- he's not 3 months yet, but he is such a good baby. Dave and I slept across the hall, and we never woke up. We did have a start when one day Dave and I were sitting in our room at the the top of the stairs when we heard a crash followed by two children shrieking. We rushed out, and it turns out Kristy had been taking them to the bed room when Ruby slipped and wanged her knee.Her yell scared Vilho and he started to cry too. I ended up with the baby somehow, and got to calm him down. Mostly by standing under the ceiling fan as he stared at it.

Throughout this, David was working e'er so diligently on getting his truck up and running. He aligned the front wheels himself, reattached the front bumper, and had to rig up some license plate lights (I hate when he does electrical work!) Then we took it to the shop early Tuesday morning (because everyone was closed all weekend) where they worked until noon, and charged us almost 300 dollars... which was okay, that was what we budgeted. We were rushing, because it's a 3 hour trip, and David started work at 5. We got to New Liskeard a little before 1, and David was upset because something was amiss. So we stopped and he checked, and sure enough his front brake line was broken. So we had to find somebody to take him last minute, and luckily enough, we did. Unluckily, it cost an additional 250. We don't have that, but luckily David knew the guy, and he took an IOU. David and I were both cranky, because Dave had to miss work, and our poor cat had been alone since Friday. Plus, we had both said prayers thanking God for letting our car get fixed on the cheap right before the brake line broke. But he made up for it. Check out the walk we took while the car was getting fixed (the second time) and our drive home!

Though, we got home safe so we can't really complain. Plus, Dave's mom sent us home with some booty! She got a huge thing of flour that she found on sale, plus sent us home with home made strawberry, rhubarb, peach, and rose hip jam. Plus home made pickles. Beat that! So in the spirit of which this blog was intended, here's our cracker recipe which we topped with the peach jam.





 1 1/4 flour (whole wheat works great!)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. oil
1/3 cup(ish) of water
coarse salt.

Mix your flour and salt, then stir in your oil until crumbly. Mix in your water until a drier dough comes together, then role out on a silpat (or greased foil- it should take up nearly the whole sheet, 9x13.) Top with coarse salt, and bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes until slightly browned and firm to the touch. You have to keep your eye on it, because if you take it out too soon they won't be crispy, too late and they burn. Once they cool, break them up into bite size pieces, or if you want a neater presentation, score the dough with a pizza cutter before you bake. The real beauty of this recipe is that it is infinitely flexible. You can add any spice, and even some oats or seed to add depth. Our favourite variations: Rosemary Black Pepper, Spicy (we add smoked paprika and cayenne,) and cinnamon sugar (we add a couple Tbsp. of brown sugar to the dough, along with freshly grated cinnamon, and replace the salt on top with sugar.) But really the sky is the limit. We made ours plain so we could top them with this amazing jam.

I hope you had a good holiday weekend, whether it was Thanksgiving or Columbus day. We're supposed to be hearing more soon on David's immigration stuff, so keep praying! Enjoy some crackers!

Community Crepes! (Homemade Peach Jam edition)

Yes, I am very aware it is not Friday. In fact, it's closer to next Friday than the Friday I'm writing about. But last Friday, Dave and I got up at the crack of dawn to walk to work with a back pack and duffel bag in tow. We went up to his parents' house this weekend for a little family get together. We got to spend time with his family, and filled up on his mom's good food (including lots of home made bread...yum!) But while we were up there, Dave was working to get his truck up and running... which he did... For about $600. No we don't have that  money. I'm not sure I know anyone who has that money laying around. But God is good, so we're working it out. Point being, not only did we not get to watch Community until today (Wednesday) but we also are more poor than ever, which may mean more recipes from me. Yay?

So this week's community is about the power struggle within the group when they have to pick lab partners...but there are 7 members. The side story is a sort of fun film noir in which Chang tries to solve a non-existent mystery with his 'special' mind.

 Dave made the pancakes this morning. This whole 'jam in the pancakes' thing is absolutely brilliant. I don't know why I've never heard of it before. Dave made the pancakes today using his mom's home made peach jam. YUM.

1 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp oil
3 Tbsp. (or so) of Peach Jam (with chunks please!)
1 cup milk




Mix the dry ingredients, then stir in the oil and jam. Pour in the milk until your ideal consistency is reached. Dave made his a little thicker than mine, so there were fewer. But sooooo good. On a hot, greased, pan or griddle make your pancakes! Dave made some bacon to go with them.

My husband decided he was in charge of the pictures today, so he feels he got his revenge of all the pictures I've taken of him by taking pictures of me in my pj's today. My hair is all wild, and I have no makeup. Hmph. Fair is fair I guess! Hope you all had a good holiday weekend!

Roasted Green Beans

Fall is here. I'm consistently cold, we've closed the windows, and the days are getting shorter. I'm getting desperate. Saturday I dragged David to the local Farmer's market where we picked up some apples, pears, green beans, and a fennel bulb. Last night I put those green beans to good use. I love green beans, always have. Even though I'm picky against some veggies (still don't like peppers and mushrooms) as a kid I loved a bunch of vegetables that most kids hate. I clearly remember making bargains with my brothers when my parents' backs were turned to eat their asparagus and green beans in exchange for them doing my chores. And granted, these fresh, local green beans are a far cry from the canned version. Recipe!

1/2 lb. (or so!) of green beans
2 onions, quartered
4-6 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp. EVOO
Salt and Pepper

You have trim your green beans, first. This is easy to do. Just pinch, cut, or slice the ends off the ends of the green beans. Wash them really really well. Pile your beans, onions, and garlic on a greased sheet pan, and then toss with the olive oil and salt and pepper. Put it in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, pulling it out and stirring half way through.  The veggies will brown up beautifully. Roasting is about the best thing you can do to veggies in my opinion.

The nice thing about this recipe is that is so easily adapted. Have a lot more green beans? No problem. Just add a little more garlic, onions, and evoo. Prefer Red Onions? That's fine too. Huge fan of cheese? Grate some Parmesan over the hot beans. We took ours, put it on a bed of rice, and drizzled some soy sauce over it for a Chinese-inspired dish. To kick that up a little, add some red pepper flakes to the veggies before you roast them, and maybe add some leftover grilled chicken. Delicious! I hope you take advantage of the end of season too.