I am willing

"If my eyes and heart are opened to receive new impressions, each day will be a new adventure. Even in the monotony of my life, no two days are ever the same and the differences will reveal to me a succession of fresh delights -- if I am willing."

I have been making scalloped potatoes wrong my entire life.

Until now.

So I decided in case there was any one reading this blog who is also making the same mistakes, that I would share my new found love.

I am already obsessed with potatoes. I don't know if it comes from my Irish background or just because I love hearty filling carbs, but its there. Until now my favorite has been twice baked. I think that was only because they actually turned out delicious and smooth.

Not like my scalloped, which have always been overcooked and runny. I would boil the tots, cut them as thin as I could with a knife by hand, and mix them with cheese and cream. Eatable but not that great.

I tried slicing them thicker. Mixing the cheese with egg whites. Making them from raw potatoes. Nothing worked!

Flipping through the new edition of Cooking Light I saw an Au Gratin article listing all the different types you could make. They had the regular potato, squash, sweet potato, carrot, and some others. But what caught me was how they prepared them.

The key, I have found, is pre-baking in the liquid. Of course! We have some wonderful cheese from the CSA and it goes perfect with the potatoes from my mom's garden. The simple recipe is just this:

2-3 medium potatoes, washed and sliced thin (I use a mandolin)
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup milk (1% in our house)
1 tbsp flour
1/2 c cheese (gruyere or a flavorful cheddar mix)
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tbsp butter
salt/pepper

Heat potatoes, onion, garlic, milk, and flour over heat until partially cooked through and mixture thickens, not too fast or milk will curdle. Flavor with salt and pepper.
Spread butter over dish. Pour potatoes into dish, coat with shredded cheeses.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until top is brown and bubbly. Let cool slightly.

Malomakarona - Greek Chrismas Cookies

Melomakarona - Greek Christmas Cookies

My new favorite little cookies.

Cookie Dough - makes 50 to 60 cookies
2 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup Sugar

2 eggs
1 cup Orange Juice

1 tsp lemon juice

4 cups Plain Flour
2 cups semolima flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda

Mix wet ingredients together well. Slowly stir in dry ingredients until well incorporated. Knead with more flour until moldable. Shape into rectangle-like cookies. Place on a non-stick surface and bake at 350 degree for about 20 minutes or until just golden.

Remove and let cool COMPLETLY.

Syrup

2 cups sugar

1.5 cups water

1.5 cups honey

1 tsp. cinnamon

8 cloves

Heat all together on a stove until bubbly, about 10 minutes. Remove cloves. Pour over cooled cookies in a pan. Flip cookes and let liquid soak in, for about 30 minutes.

Remove and coat in topping. Let dry.

Topping
8 cloves, from syrup
1 cup walnuts
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Grind together and toast till dry.

This recipe does make a lot. But you can store them in an air tight container up to two months... if they last that long.

Seasons Greetings

This year I decided to decorate our Christmas tree with some handcut paper snowflakes.

Each one is a little different and unique. They were a challenge starting out, I haven't done them since I was in middle school, but after a few ugly square ones I got the hang of it. Here's a quick sequence to make a pretty circle shaped one...

First fold a square peice of paper over into a triangle, then fold again. Fold into thirds, over each other and cut off the end to a straight section. Either cut shapes into it from here or follow this pattern to get a cute little swedish style snowflake:

Pumpkin Popcorn

With the turning of the leaves comes the mounds of squash. The are wonderful in soups, roasted, whipped or for decoration. But what about the pumpkins? Oh the pumpkins.

You get them for the carving, but the filling is rarely used. This year, from a tip (thanks mom!) we decided to try roasting them.

Mixed with butter, olive oil, thyme, sage, salt and pepper they were roasted on a pan in the oven till golden, similar to how I roast seasoned nuts. They popped just like corn kernels and tasted amazingly the same! We can't wait to try out different flavors with the next few halloweens to come.

Peachy

Yes it's fall. But I'm still hanging onto the last of summer here in Minnesota. It seems we've gotten the warmest months right here at the end.
Hot, blustery days (yes that's a word) followed by storms and oppresive humidity. Lovely.
So with all this warm weather, it doesn't quite 'feel' like fall yet. When my in-laws came into town last weekend, I just couldn't bring myself to make my normal Apple Pie. Too fall too soon. I'll hang onto summer.


Peaches. mummm.... there were some beautiful peaches in the store which I thought would go well with the raspberries we got in our CSA cache that week.
My mom said she'd been going through a bunch and canning them into pie filling by blanching them. So I tried that. OMG she was right! The skins just slide right off and they are so easy to slice up.
Just boil the peaches in water for about 5 minutes and then dump into ice water to let cool.

They turn out just right, baked slightly without falling apart.

Slice them up, mix with tapioca filling, sugar and a little lemon juice, then stuff them in a pie. Sprinkle some raspberries on top and cover with your favorite pie recipe.

And hold onto summer.

The Great Minnesota Get Together

It's that time of the year again. When the weather starts cooling down, the friers start heating up, and you get excited to find out what the newest "on-a-stick" item is.... It's the Minnesota State Fair!
We have our own little traditions for yummy greasy salty sugary things to eat, animal barns and art expos to visit, various beer gardens to relax at. But the big question is... how large will the giant pumpkin be this year?

Mini donuts hot off the frier. Cheese on a stick? why not.


Pretty rides and Grandstands.


Blue ribbon winners and isles filled with honey. The giant pumpkin was 1186 lbs this year, a new record for the sizes we've seen!

Visit the Butter Princesses in the Dairy Barn. Ah! to have your face carved out of a block of butter. Congrats Princess Kay of the Milkyway, you have arrived.

Horse, Cow, and Fowl barns. It was getting late at this time so the sheep had on their jammies. Sheep in pajamas. A new State Fair tradition.

And the midway. Nothing like the night time sounds of rides and walkers in the cooling air. So much more to see. Day #2 here we come!