Blanched vegetables

For those of you who don't know yet, my man eats a lot of vegetables.  And he makes it his goal to drastically increase my vegetable intake - since before him it was pretty much nonexistent.  

This is a BIG bag of broccoli!

Tall Dark and Nerdy now continues his veggie-quest even when he's out of town.  He gets a massive amount of fresh vegetables, more than anyone could possibly eat in a week - in my eyes, at least - shortly before leaving for a work trip.  Then, what he hasn't eaten yet comes home with me.  

When he left last week for South by Southwest there was a MASSIVE (48 ounce) bag of broccoli and a quite large bag of brussel sprouts that came home with me.  On top of that, I had actually bought myself a (much more reasonably sized) bag of broccoli for a recipe I had planned.  I made crock pot broccoli cheese soup and crock pot broccoli beef, and ate broccoli with ranch every afternoon for several days when I wanted a snack, and I still couldn't seem to make it through all that broccoli!

In came Mom to the rescue!  During a phone call I complained to her about the sheer amount of broccoli I was trying to consume and she reminded me of what we always did at home with massive amounts of broccoli:  blanching.  Now, I have blanched broccoli and brussel sprouts in my freezer, ready for whenever I can stand to eat them again!

Ingredients:

• broccoli (or brussel sprouts)
• water
• quart-size freezer bags

Easiest ingredient list ever, right?

So happy TDN opened my eyes to how
delicious these little guys are!

Directions:

Bring water to rapid boil in large pot.  Add broccoli.  Return to boil for 3-4 minutes, stirring a few times.

Remove from heat and strain.

Dump cooked broccoli into COLD water to stop the cooking.

Bag it up and freeze it!

The only thing I did differently for the brussel sprouts was salting the water at the beginning.  Super simple!

My favorite thing about blanching green veggies like these is the beautiful color everything ends up from being boiled and then stopped right at the perfect time.

Crock pot broccoli beef

I have a weakness for good Chinese food, especially General Tso's Chicken and Beef & Broccoli, but I know it's really not good for me.  Living just down the street from my favorite hole-in-the-wall Chinese place is dangerous and I crave their food kind of a lot, but am always holding myself back.  I decided to try making my own when I came across a recipe for beef and broccoli in the crock pot.  It doesn't taste quite like it does at Queen House, but it's pretty good, and definitely less unhealthy!


The first time around it reminded me a little bit of one of TDN's staple pot-roast-over-rice meals, but I added a couple extra drops of sesame oil and it was great!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• fresh broccoli florets
• hot cooked rice

Directions:

Place beef in crock pot.

In a small bowl, combine broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, and garlic.  Pour over beef.

Cook on low 6-8 hours.

In a cup, stir cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons of sauce from the crock pot until smooth.  Add to crock pot.  Stir well to combine.

Add broccoli.  Stir again.

Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour on high (the sauce has to boil for it to thicken).

Serve over rice.

Adapted from My Fridge Food

Blondies

TDN's brother - and two of his friends - came to town for a visit last month and I was excited to meet him for the first time.  We were going to spend some time in San Francisco, and then the guys were heading to Tahoe for a ski week.  Since my surgery was happening that week, of course, I couldn't spend the week riding with them.  I could, however, fulfill the duty of the mom in me  and send them off with some treats.  I made a batch of my lemon drop cookies and decided they needed a little variety - and a little chocolate! - so I also made these delicious blondies.  Of course, I had to explain what blondies are to everyone who asked - cakey, non-brownie bars with a little chocolatey goodness.  Tall Dark and Nerdy might have been skeptical at first, but he was won over in just one bite, and with just four ingredients, it's one I don't mind making for him regularly :)

Ingredients:

• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cake mix, eggs, and melted butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed.  Scrape down the sides as needed, and mix until ingredients are moistened.  Add the chocolate chips and blend on low another 30 seconds, just to incorporate.

Scrape thick batter into an ungreased 13"x9" baking pan.  Press the batter out evenly over the bottom of the pan with fingers or a fork so it reaches all the sides.  Place the pan in the oven on the center rack.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.  Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

Adapted from Cake Mix Doctor

Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

I was overwhelmed by a need to bake something last week, but I was also pretty exhausted and was, surprisingly, not in the mood for a bundt cake.  I decided I couldn't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.

I love to bake, and it tends to happen randomly, and some of the people close to me wish they knew when to expect freshly-baked treats.  I think Tall Dark and Nerdy has started to develop this ability as a kind of sixth sense.  As soon as I pulled the cake out of the oven he called asking if I wanted to hang out and watch a movie when he got home from work in an hour.  Such a convenient sense for him to have.  I was able to make the frosting, frost the cake, put half of it in a container, pick up a movie, and head over to his house to surprise him, and he was pretty pleased.

This is not my prettiest or richest cake, but it's a really great cake for a normal day when you need a little chocolate and some peanut butter (which is nearly every day for me).  The frosting is delicious, and goes great with a cold glass of milk.

Ingredients:

• 1 package devil's food cake mix
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mmmm look at all that peanut butter!

For frosting:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 to 4 Tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly mist a 13"x9" baking pan with vegetable oil spray and set aside.

Combine cake mix, cocoa powder, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer.  Blend on low speed for 1 minute, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.  Increase the speed to medium and beat for another 2 minutes until the batter looks thick and combined. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with a spatula.  Place the pan in the oven.

Bake 40-45 minutes until cake springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes before frosting.

Peanut butter frosting.
Can't go wrong here!

While cake is cooling, prepare frosting as follows:

Blend peanut butter and butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, about 30 seconds.  Stop mixer and add the powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and the vanilla.  Blend on low speed until the sugar is well combined, about 1 minute.  Increase the speed to medium and beat another minute until the frosting lightens and is fluffy.  Blend in up to 1 Tablespoon more milk if the frosting seems too stiff.

Have cake, will travel!
And will have a happy man!

Spread on the top of the cake and out to the edges with a rubber spatula.  Slice and serve!

Adapted from Cake Mix Doctor

Panakuchen

I grew up eating German pancake - a.k.a. panakuchen - and Swedish pancakes much more often than regular (American?) pancakes.  Baby sister and I still get treated to Grams's panakuchen often when we go home.

After spending some time on the phone with my Grams one afternoon, I decided to make her panakuchen for dinner.  She was so excited that I would be making her recipe that she made me promise to invite Tall Dark and Nerdy over for our German version of breakfast-for-dinner.

I don't make it as well as she does, but it was pretty delicious!  TDN and my roomie enjoyed it and had seconds!


Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• thinly sliced apple
• cinnamon
• sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Put butter in pan, place in oven until butter is melted.  Swirl around to spread butter out.

While butter is melting, beat eggs really well with an electric mixer.  Add milk, flour, and salt.

Pour into pan.  Top with thin apple slices, cinnamon, and sugar.

Bake at 425 for 6 minutes, then 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Grams's repeated tip - WORK FAST!  Once everything is mixed together, get it in the pan and in the oven.

Also, it will start to fall as soon as you take it out of the oven, so be ready to put it on the table as soon as it comes out.

Instead of the cinnamon, sugar, and apples, you can also wait until it's cooked to top it with applesauce or apple pie filling (Baby Sister's favorite).



**UPDATE***
While I was back in South Dakota last week visiting family, Grams made me panakuchen for lunch one day.  Hers turned out absolutely perfect, and now I think I need to up my game and keep trying this until I get it just right!
It was all poofed up in the middle - not just on the edges like mine.  And the cinnamony-sugary goodness on top made a delightful crispy little shell. Yum. There's a reason why I still request Grams to make this every time I visit!

Family Narratives

I just came across this wonderful story in the New York Times.  It discusses the impact that knowing your family narrative can have on a young person's confidence, resilience, and happiness.

As a psychologist, I enjoy reading about their "Do you know?" test where children are asked things like where their grandparents grew up and how their parents met, and thinking about the data they collected and the way they did it.

As a teacher, I like hearing about ways to foster a community and a larger sense of self in ways like the Naval academy's "history-building exercises."

As a fifth-generation South Dakota farmer, I grew up hearing the narrative for my paternal grandfather's family, and will still tell it to anyone who asks and/or will listen.  I grew up at the original farmstead from when my great-great-grandparents came to America from Germany in 1878.  I've always found it really cool to be a part of that history, and now it seems it may have had something to do with me becoming the happy person I am!


This Christmas, Tall Dark and Nerdy gave me the most wonderfully thoughtful gift.  He tracked down the book about South Dakota farm and ranch families that has what I think is one of the 3 best photos ever taken of my grandfather.  My dad has a copy of this book on his coffee table, my grandma has one in her living room, and I love having one to complete my home.

Growing up, I was lucky enough to not go to daycare every day.  Instead, I spent time at the farm with my grandparents.  My grandfather was my best friend as a child.  In the eight years since he's been gone, I've never stopped missing him, and I never will.  But I know his stories better than most thanks to the countless hours I spent on the fender of his tractor or the cab of his pickup.  And those stories mean everything.

It's vacation time!

House cleaned.  Bills paid.  Bags packed.  Guess it's time for this girl to go on vacation!

TDN just got back from SXSW yesterday, and I'm leaving in the morning for two weeks...we plan these things out well!

I am heading back to the Midwest for some time with family, friends, and an adorable new baby!  I will also be with my family for Easter for the first time in 5 years, and I can't wait!