6
Feb
2011

Staycation

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I never understood the power of a staycation until this weekend.  I earned a complimentary night stay at a hotel in the National Harbor, after planning an event there this fall.  We finally got around to going this weekend. Despite the fact that the hotel was less than ten miles from our apartment, it felt like such an escape.  We began Saturday evening with a casual dinner at Elevation Burger, and then retreated to our suite to sip champagne and nosh on chocolate covered strawberries and jelly beans, while enjoying a movie.  In the morning we enjoyed room service while taking in the amazing views from our room.  All in all, it made for a very rejuvenating 24 hours.  Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!


3
Feb
2011

Maple Almond Granola

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I live for Greek yogurt.  Even more so, I live for Greek yogurt with granola.  I crave it all time, I never tire of it. I did the math last night and realized I ate greek yogurt with granola for breakfast at work for 9 months straight.  I kid you not, 9 months!  I took a small break from my obsession this winter  and switched to oatmeal, since that seemed more cold weather appropriate.  But then I happened upon this recipe and these photos and  I was drawn right back to yogurt. I live for Greek yogurt.  Even more so, I live for Greek yogurt with granola.  I crave it all time, I never tire of it. I did the math last night and realized I ate greek yogurt with granola for breakfast at work for 9 months straight.  I kid you not, 9 months!  I took a small break from my obsession this winter  and switched to oatmeal, since that seemed more cold weather appropriate.  But then I happened upon this recipe and these photos and  I was drawn right back to yogurt.

Along with Greek yogurt, I also live for the bins at Whole Foods filled with bulk ingredients. Have you visited those bins? They are amazing. They contain everything from dried beans and nuts, to organic grains, flour, seeds, you name it. These bins were built for making homemade granola. You can just stand there and dream up any kind of granola you want.  Or you could pick a recipe and plan ahead… I tend to spend way to much time in the grocery store.

Anyway, here is what I came up with:  a combination of oats, almonds, maple syrup, and cinnamon. It tastes like french toast in a bowl!

Maple Almond Granola

Makes 8 servings

4 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking)

1 1/4 cups whole almonds

1 1/4 cups slivered almonds

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c plus 2 T brown sugar

1/4 c plus 2 T maple syrup

1/3 c vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Toss together the oats, nuts, flax seed, coconut, and brown sugar.  Mix together the maple syrup, vegetable oil, and salt. Combine the dry and wet ingredients, tossing well to coat the granola.

Spread the granola across two large sheets pans.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, tossing the mixture on the pans each 15 minutes.  This is crucial to ensuring the granola doesn’t burn!

Enjoy with yogurt, milk, or over ice cream.

2
Feb
2011

First Attempt: Brioche

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At first glance, the bread in this photo looks pretty normal, perhaps even good. Even this next photo could have you fooled with its beautiful spongy interior!


But then you realize this is brioche and not ciabatta- or some bread equally short in height, and it starts to look funny. Really funny. Laughably funny. Like I pulled this out of my oven and began giggling.  Ok maybe I muttered what the hell too, but still.  It looks like I baked just the top of a brioche loaf!  Actually that’s exactly what happened- because this bread has the exact texture and flavor of brioche, it’s just well, half the height.


From my research, I’m guessing this happened because I halved the recipe, and naturally, halved the yeast too. But apparently you’re not supposed to do that (especially with brioche, since it’s such a heavy dough).  Who knew?  Well, now I do.  But seriously, Ina, could it have killed you to write this in the recipe? Perhaps not everyone wants to make 2 loaves.

Ok I’m done with my rant, no more Ina rage. I’m trudging forward, and going to repurpose this bread this weekend.  It will become either french toast or bread pudding, I have yet to decide.  To help make my decision, if you have interesting recipes for either (or other ideas as to what I could do with this semi-brioche loaf), please send them my way!

31
Jan
2011

Bistro Night In

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Upper Georgetown has the most beautiful houses in DC.  It’s a wonder I didn’t get in an accident driving through on Saturday afternoon, as I was certainly more focused on the facades of the homes and their manicured bushes, rather than the road.  Though I won’t be spending the rest of my life in DC, if I were planning on it, I’d want to live in one of those homes.  Preferably a brick one painted white or light yellow, with big windows, and pink rose bushes out front.

I wasn’t just passing through the area to gaze at the houses (though I’d totally be one to do that), I was on my way to Black Salt Fish Market.  After hearing multiple rave reviews about their seafood, I’ve been wanting to visit their store for months. I finally got a chance to this weekend.  They have a beautiful spread of fresh seafood, and an interesting selection of specialty food items.  I picked up some PEI mussels, and a few other tantalizing goodies from their shop. Black Salt is not just a fish market though, they have a full restaurant in the back.  Based on how good my mussels were, I’ll definitely be returning soon to have a meal in their restaurant.

To cook the mussels I followed the Contessa’s Mussels in White Wine Recipe.  Though it’s traditional, I find nothing beats the white wine, butter, and herbs combo when it comes to steaming mussels.  And quite frankly, for me, making mussels is less about the seafood, and more about the broth- and soaking up all that broth with a crusty baguette. Paired with a simple salad, these guys for an especially homey Sunday meal.


28
Jan
2011

Homemade English Muffins

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Two hour delays are the answer to bread making.  We had one today.  And while I would have much preferred a closing, the extra morning hours gave me just enough time to not only enjoy my coffee at home, but whip up the dough for homemade english muffins.  Then while I was at work, my dough got to hang out and rise, and do all that stuff it’s supposed to do.

My decison to make english muffins mirrored my thought process for making marshmallows, in that it’s a food I never considered making from scratch.  I was very curious to try them at home.  Thankfully, unlike marshmallows, english muffins are much easier to make in your own kitchen.  They require very few ingredients and minimal prep time, yet still produce an impressive baked good.  I chose to make whole wheat muffins, but you can make traditional ones by using only all purpose flour.  While I like that these muffins are good for me, I do miss the fluffiness of the traditional kind.  I’ll definitely be making a batch of those in the near future.

Whole Wheat English Muffins adapted from allrecipes.com

Makes 10-12 muffins

  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 1/4 cup melted shortening
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise for roughly 2 hours (or longer if you have to go to work all day).
  3. Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.
  4. Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast.