look at me still talking when there's science to do

Okay, so I sent Chris to the store the other day for some Things. And among those Things I had sent him for was a Ham.

Now to be fair I meant one of those smallish hamlike roasts. He returned with A Gigantic Ham That Could Feed The Masses. The real thing. Some kind of massive ham shank roast.

... what the hell do I do with this? I have a reasonably complete pantry. Help!

I know someone on my friendslist wanted a snickerdoodles recipe, and I know klwalton said she would share hers. I don't remember who it was that wanted it: but here's Kathy's post if it was you.

Gotta run pick up my meds and stuff; back soon.

The internets are full of good stuff today. <3

espresso jell-o. Hey, I'd try it. <3

Hotel offers digital "detox". See, I don't get the appeal of that. But then I've never understood this notion of dividing hobbies into "good" and "bad". It's like dividing food into "good" and "bad" for you. I don't get that either. (will stave off my diet rant, as I'm trying to avoid weight loss discussions: that's a whole pile of issues I don't feel like diving into right now.)

Of local interest: Sharp spikes found at the bottom of Green Lake. AUGH. Not nice.

From the most awesome dandelion_diva: blue penguin chicks. OMG CUTE!

ETA: From the excellent gokuma: microscopic ramen.

On this special day, we make 'whore's pasta' (pasta puttanesca).

(my mother-in-law and I, as one may guess, do not get along so well. Considering that Chris also does not get along well with his mother, this is an okay state of affairs.)

Start water boiling for pasta. Add pasta at appropriate time.

Chop up 1 large shallot or 1 small onion. Start that sauteeing in some oil.

While that's doing, take 1 small box cherry tomatoes; chop them all in half. A serrated knife works best for this, it cuts through the tomato skin easier.

Toss those in with the shallot/onion.

Throw in some chopped garlic, or be lazy like I am and buy the shelf stable garlic paste from Trader Joe's. Whichever. As much garlic as you like. Don't be shy about it.

Add a small can of chopped black olives. Or if you want to go all out then just pit and slice them yourself but they're slippery and I'm lazy.

Throw some capers on top of that.

Drain your pasta. I added some lemon artichoke pesto to mine, but that's because I had it and it wanted using up. You could or not. Your call.

Stir the drained pasta in with the tomato mixture and serve (preferably with parmesan cheese.)

Enjoy.

Dinner was Italian Roasted Snap Peas (with basil instead of oregano because we were out of oregano) and Ham and Cheese Stuffed Chicken (stuffed with ham, dijon mustard and trailhead local cheese.)

I am now stuffed, and v. slothful.

Because I am never going to remember this combination if I don't write it down.

4 slices pancetta, rough chopped
1 red bell pepper, rough chopped
approx. 1 head random greens (we had our organic box company's "mixed greens" bag)
small piece ham steak, rough chopped (left over from pizza toppings earlier this week)
about 1/2 orange pepper, rough chopped (left over from pizza toppings earlier this week)
8-10 mushrooms, rough chopped
1 cup chopped tomatoes (I used the remainder of a container of bruschetta topping)
some garlic (I used TJ's prechopped garlic: I am lazy busy)
pesto (I used lemon artichoke pesto)
a little lemon juice
a little worchestershire sauce

Boil pasta.

Fry pancetta and mushrooms until pancetta starts to give up fat; add everything else except the pesto. Cook until greens start to wilt down.

Drain pasta; mix with pesto. (I can't believe I hadn't thought of doing this before. It's amazing.)

Add vegetable mix to pasta, and add cheese if desired. Serves 2 adults and 1 extremely hungry nonpicky child or 2 adults and leaves 1 lunch serving remaining.

dinner today:

Boneless pork chops with thyme.

Spiced sweet potatoes.

A dessert I made up, featuring sauteed apples, sweet raspberry wine (added to the apples, and also to drink), pumpkin gelato and angel food cakes (I cheated here, they're storebought.) I always get my best ideas for dessert. It's a sign, I tell you.

A nontraditional but heartfelt thanksgiving. I'm grateful that school is back to normal next week, that I'm not travelling today, for respite hours, that one of the local theaters is doing a Katharine Hepburn movie festival, for all of my friends, for my family, for my cats and for decent pain medication.

seattlejo came over for lunch today! This is what we had.

Wholemeal Cheesy Muffins (recipe by the most awesome and fabulous hobbitblue; any alterations by me.)

1 1/4 cups (10oz) strong wholemeal bread flour (I used some bread flour from Bluebird Grain Farms. So good!)
3/4 cup (6 oz) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup (8 fl oz) milk
4 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup (2 oz) cheddar cheese. grated (I used Applewood farms sharp cheddar with bacon bits in.)
large chunk of cheddar cheese, diced (I used Tillamook medium cut in a rough dice)
4 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced
1 heaped tablespoon wholegrain mustard (I used dijon from Trader Joe's because we were out of whole grain)
1 stalk fresh rosemary (hobbit uses 1 1/2 tblsp dried basil here, which would also be yum)
a little sea salt

Lightly grease muffin tins (makes 12 muffins)

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder & salt. In a separate bowl mix together egg, milk and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir to combine. Add a little more milk to thin if too sticky. Add cheeses, mustard, spring onions & herbs and mix in so reasonably evenly distributed. Set oven to 400 degrees F (200 C).

Fill muffin tins 3/4 cup full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tops of muffins spring back when touched lightly with a finger. Cool slightly on a wire rack; loosen muffins from tins before removing completely.

(You know, I bet some sweet fresh corn niblets in these would just rock.)

---

Chickpea Salad

1 can chickpeas, rinsed
2/3 a green pepper, roughly chopped
several roasted red peppers, roughly chopped
1 lemon cucumber, roughly chopped
4-6 green onions, roughly chopped
Feta to taste, crumbled (can go without and it would be vegan, but it's good if you like feta)
(Other things that might be tasty: capers, olives, onion, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, etc.)
Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Add salad dressing (any vinaigrette you like: This time I used Trader Joe's balsamic, which is excellent) and mix together. Put in fridge to chill for flavors to mix. Serve later.

Victory! I have wrest (wrested?) my mail from the hands of the Sorting Minions! I shall pick it up today. I got a reasonable Sorting Minion named Debbie who was willing to bundle my mail and put it aside so's I can pick it up. She told me to ask for her directly, and that she was in until 4:30.

Apparently regular mail service will be resuming tomorrow. We shall believe that when we see it.

My house smells like Sean's favorite cookies:

(recipe taken from Moosewood restaurant new classics.)

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran or wheat germ (don't stop reading now! I promise, they're good)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins (I suppose you can use other dried fruit but I don't feel the need to. They would probably be scrumdiddlyumptious with dried apples or cherries.)

Cream sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix in. Add together all remaining ingredients except raisins in separate bowl; add contents of bowls together. (or you can be like me and just dump everything together in the same bowl. I am sometimes lazy.) Mix in raisins. Drop in largish clumps on baking sheet; bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Makes twelve hugemongous cookies or thereabouts. Don't take them off the cookie sheet right away as they are structurally unsound when freshly warm and recently oven-deprived.

And I'm off for the afternoon, meeting mirrormargaret and uglybass downtown! Have fun.

Dinner:
Chicken Sybil (sauce contained bacon and mushrooms).

Oven roasted vegetables (yams, parsnips, carrots - roasted in olive oil, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and Spike seasoning.)

Butter tart bars.

Verdict: YUM.

The butter tarts taste like home.

(as requested by angharad: modified from the Moosewood Low Fat Favorites cookbook).

3 cups water, divided
2 cups cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
6-8 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 head greens, washed and chopped (I usually use kale, but you can use whatever).
a few shakes worcestershire sauce
a few shakes soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan and/or smoked gouda cheese to taste

Preheat oven to 350F.

Boil 2 cups water with the 1/2 tsp salt. While that's happening, mix the remaining cup water with the cornmeal. Add cornmeal and water mixture to the water when boiling; cook until thickened. Pour polenta into a pan (I use an 8" square pan).

Meanwhile, saute onions in olive oil (or olive oil and butter) until golden, then add mushrooms, soy sauce and worchestershire sauce. Saute until mushrooms give up their liquid. Add the greens and a small amount of water; stir and cover for 5 minutes, allowing the greens to steam. Top polenta with greens mixture; add salt and pepper to taste if needed, and top with cheese.

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes until cheese melts.

Vanilla Poached Apples (from Moosewood Restaurant's Book of Desserts.)
3 apples, peeled, cored and halved
2 cups apple juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract).

Preheat oven to 375F. Place apples, cut side down, in a baking dish. Combine apple juice, sugar and vanilla; pour over apples. Cover and bake for 45-50 minutes until soft but not mushy.

The original recipe had you removing the apples, adding an extra tsp of vanilla extract to the juice mixture (if you used the extract) and boiling that until reduced by half. I am impatient. So I served it with pumpkin gelato and a small amount of nutmeg on top and didn't bother with the syrup.

The child likes it so much that he keeps wandering wistfully over to the table and asking for more. Unfortunately, it's gone. :-D It took me five minutes to convince him it was 'all gone'.