Inside My Mid-life Crisis

It's been a while since I posted--we have suffered a lot of drama, the loss of Blackberry, then the tragically unexplainable loss of Jack. It's been tough. We have little Geronimo now to keep our hearts happy. We pray for good health for him and cherish him everyday. Though I don't think Pete would use the same verbs....

Thank you Suezy for sharing the "Mushroom Crust Quiche" recipe...Here is my take on it, I have modified a bit...

3/4 lb fresh mushrooms coarsely chopped
4T butter
1/3 c fine dry breadcrumbs (I happened to have Italian flavored on hand)
1 c cottage cheese (I used low-fat)
1 c shredded Monterrey jack cheese (I used mozzarella and I think any would be fine)
1/2 c chopped green onions
5 eggs slightly beaten
Salt & Pepper
1/2 t cayenne (I used Chipotle instead)

 Sauté mushrooms in butter
 Stir in breadcrumbs when mushrooms are tender
Pat in to a tart pan or pie pan--spray with non-stick spray, I forgot and the eggs stuck all to the edges making the ring difficult to remove.
Combine remaining ingredients, stir and pour over mushroom crust
Bake 350 35-45 minutes--time really depends on your oven-mine is super hot so I spun it around after 20 minutes for an additional 10 minutes. Would have taken longer in a pie pan due to the depth of the filling.
Let stand for ten minutes then cut into wedges and serve with a slice of crusty baguette and salad or fruit.

ENJOY!

We survived another holiday season. Sadly we lost our beloved Blackberry and have welcomed a happy distraction, Jack. Now if our house can only survive another puppy!

I am writing this blog while at our Tony and Jan's cabin at the property waiting for the Hawks game to start. We have about 6 inches of snow up here and it is beautiful. Jack is enjoying his first trip to the property and made it around the loop, in a coat, in the snow. He did immediately take a nap upon our return.

Last night I made Jacques Pepin's Leek Soup- super easy and super good!

1 Leek (this one pictured was huge and made a double batch)
1 C sliced mushrooms (pictured is a cup of regular and a cup of chanterelles)
1 C Potato buds
4 C chicken (or vegetable) stock
2 T olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1/2 C milk or Fat-Free Half & Half (optional)
Cut the "root end" off the leek. Slice leek lengthwise then crosswise in half inch sections. Rinse well to clean any mud and to separate the leek leaves. Leeks grow in the ground like an onion and are frequently muddy. This one was really clean.
Heat the olive oil in a stock pot and saute the leek and mushrooms until just tender. Add a dash of salt & pepper.
Add the chicken stock. It's OK to use vegetable or mushroom stock if you want to make vegetarian. Beef stock could also be used but I have never tried that. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer. (BTBRTS if you are an Ann Burrell fan)
Gradually stir in the potato buds.  Simmer about 10-15 minutes.
Finish with a little milk or fat-free half & half (about 1/2c) if desired. I usually do.
Serve with crusty bread and a crisp Sauvignon Blanc-not too cold.
Brant even likes this soup cold or lunch-box temp; ala vichyssoise style!

Wine Corner-New Years Edition
Suezy treated us to a WONDERFUL wine for New Years. This wine was enjoyed with spaghetti sauce cooked all day long by my darling husband.

Abeja 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon- Columbia Valley; Walla Walla WA

Dark red/purple with a slightly blackberry aroma. The taste was complex with a lush, round mouth feel, well balanced acidity and smooth tannins as evidence of the little bit of age and the French Oak. A real winner. No longer available from the winery I will have to go on a quest to find another bottle or two and it will be well worth the effort! Thank you Suezy for sharing this special find with us!

Thanksgiving is a time when we reflect about how grateful we are for our many blessings. This year is certainly no exception at the Brothers house. We had all four generations of our women at the table. My amazing, patient, supportive and super handsome husband. A good family friend joined us and as usual we had a wonderful, bountiful feast in our lovely home with a cozy fire. We are truly blessed.

Lindsey shared her expertise with the shaker by making us all a pumpkin pie-tini...pumpkin pie vodka, whipped vodka, half & half and a splash of soda..shaken not stirred Moneypenny....and yes it was as rich as it sounds, just one please or you won't be able to remember eating dinner!

We have enjoyed a variety of nice wines over this long holiday weekend, here are a couple of the highlights!

Honorable mention but sadly no photo of the bottle:
2010 Matchbook Cabernet Sauvignon, JL Giguiere Lake Country, Zamora CA
Dark red, blackberry aroma; medium acidity with full tannins and a dusty-chocolate finish.
I have "yum" written on the tasting notes ie the honorable mention!

2007 Steppe Cellars Semillion. This is one of our Club wines from Steppe in Yakima Valley.
This Semillion tastes just like fall to me. Straw yellow with a slightly melon aroma but an apple-pear taste. Creamy  with pleasingly crisp acidity. Nicely balanced but sturdy enough to hold up to lighter food such as the roast chicken it accompanied.

OK- Suezy, Theresa; get ready, this one is right up your ally......

2004 Castillo Clavijo Gran Reserva Rioja; Criadores De Rioja S.A-Alberite Spain
This was a "big red" suggestion to us by the gal helping us navigate our first trip to Total Wine & More. She was dead-on with this one and it may even be worth a special trip to Southcenter to get a couple more bottles.

As you can probably tell by the name, this is a Spanish red. It's an estate reserve (reserve actually means something on "old world" wines unlike here in the US...) red blend.

70% Tempranillo, 10% Garnache, 10% Granciano and 10% Mazuelo.  You may recall hearing me extol the virtues of a big Tempranillo on other wines, this did not disappoint. I read that the Tempranillo and Granche combo is classic Rioja zone blend but what about those other two??
Graciano is a low yield grape specifically used in Rioja Gran Reserva's to give the intense aroma and the ability to age well.
Mazuelo is what Carignan (karen-yawn) is referred to in Rioja region and what brings the tannins and
acidity to the blend.

I got a little nervous with this one as the cork was dry and broke when I pulled it. To capture any cork bits, I poured the wine through the strainer in my splayer and aerated it into the decanter.
I got all warm and fuzzy with the oaky aroma wafting up during the trip into the decanter. I was further buoyed by the brick red color traveling down the glass into a red brown pool...... then the pour into the glass, with oaky anticipation the swirl, the sip, the push of air to send notes to the epithelium...ok I'm down right wine giddy now as the tannins meet the oak, then a cedar-silky long finish, ahhhhhh a keeper.
OK what time does Total Wine open? I have to have a couple more bottles and at about $15 a bottle, not out of budget!

Fall has officially fallen in the Pacific Northwest. The rains have come, it's starting to get a little cooler though it is rather unseasonable warmish still. Fall is actually one of my favorite seasons. Time to get the soup pot and the crock pot out, the leaves are so lovely and best of all, NEW CROP APPLES!  My trip to the pumpkin patch yielded a variety of squash that will eventually become meal participants, but in the mean time a bountiful centerpiece when coupled with some leaves and twigs gathered during a park walk with Blackberry.

The first fall soup of the season was served a couple weeks ago. I found this "lighter" version of pumpkin soup in the Parade magazine. By their recipe, 6 servings at only 110 cal per serving. You don't get into real calorie trouble unless you eat it with pretzel rolls and fresh sweet cream butter....heh heh heh... is it any wonder I can't loose weight regularly!

I served the soup with roast chicken thighs and cauliflower. Cut any excess gross fat blobs off the chicken, score next to the bone to speed the cooking, season liberally with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning and chopped fresh rosemary (Brita, go snip your plant..) Bake at 350 about 45 minutes while you prepare the soup.
The fat from the skin sends yummy goodness running over to the cauliflower without drowning it in fat. Brant says this is his new fave way to eat cauliflower...

Spiced Pumpkin Soup- my editorials will be in italicized blue...
1T canola oil
1 small onion finely chopped
1 t minced garlic (one big clove)
1 t curry powder (sweet/yellow)
1 t cumin
1/4 t cardamon- I didn't have it, didn't use it and didn't miss it-I was not about to spend $9 bucks on a jar of a spice I would never use for a 1/4 t--skip it.
1/4 t salt (I use kosher of course)
1/4 t black pepper
2 C reduced fat/low sodium chicken stock/broth
1 15oz can of pumpkin (NOT pie filling, pure pumpkin!)
1 12oz can fat free evaporated milk
6 T plain,fat free Greek yogurt
**2/3 C light coconut milk- more later on this

In a large pot heat oil over low for 30 seconds. Add onion and cook until soft (sweat the onions), add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Stir in the spices, salt & pepper. Cook for another minute stirring all the while.

Whisk in the stock and the pumpkin. Bring just to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.


 "BTB-RTS" If you ever watch Chef Anne Burrell, you will here her rattle off those letters, its a basic cooking technique, bring to boil, reduce to simmer....

Add evaporated milk and simmer another 2 minutes.


Using an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth (I didn't do this, it was pretty smooth since my onions were so finely minced.) Add more broth to thin if desired (mine was thin enough as-is)
Ladle into bowls garnish with yogurt and parsley.
**now, I skipped the yogurt (it just sank to the bottom) trade the yogurt for 2/3-3/4 C light coconut milk added at the same time as the evaporated milk-delish and a zero impact on the calories if you skip the yogurt.

We enjoyed this meal with a crisp and clean, apple-y, medium dry 2010 CMS Sauvignon Blanc- Available at Costco for $8 a bottle and it is a WA wine from Hedges.
Happy Fall everyone!

One of the things we do at our quilt retreat is share a project with each other, this is the one Ethel taught us this year...I love these, so simple and super cute!

Quilt Coasters Ingredients:
(6) 5" squares of coordinating fabrics (per coaster)
Charm squares are perfect or if you are cutting, you can even go a little larger but I wouldn't go any smaller then 5".

Lay the first 2 squares WRONG sides together. This is the "bottom" of the coaster. Press your other 4 squares into triangles.
Lay the first triangle on top of the "bottom" square. Line it up precisely.
Lay the next one on the next corner...
Then the next corner...
Corner 4 goes down half on top of corner 3 triangle and half underneath the corner 1 triangle..similar to how you close a cardboard box in on its self...
Clip your corners, careful not to clip the seam....
Not the greatest representation, but turn the coaster inside-out...
Push out your corners...I used my purple thang...
Press to finish and that is all there is to it, I whipped 8 of them out in about an hour. Experiment, I may try stitching down the "long" side of the triangles and/or stitching around the outside edge with a decorative stitch in contrasting thread on the next batch....Thank you Ethel for such a quick and easy project, these will make great hostess gifts!

Picture this, 3 full days of nothing but sewing, eating and gabbing with some of your quilting besties.
Once again, a fine time was had by all and many projects completed (well for some of us anyway)
I am still so discombobulated from going back to work full time (woe is me) that I was not very organized this year.

Here we are at the Wild Rose Retreat Center in beautiful "downtown" Orting, WA on day 1. All Set up and working away. Does anyone else see a disproportionate amount of tables around LaDonna? We had to have a table intervention and it's a good thing we were one person short!
It doesn't look like much but it took me all day just to cut out my project--there are 600 triangles alone.
Each block contains 29 pieces, there are 2 different block designs and a total of 30 blocks; do the math, that is 870 pieces in the blocks.
I actually completed 22 blocks, not bad considering we left after lunch on Sunday and I spent all day Friday cutting...I decided to put sashing in. OK, I lost count now.
Here are Ethel's accomplishments--she is amazing with the tiny pieces and her table topper pattern was a hit with us all!

These are Di's and LaDonna's....
These are Sue's and LaDonna's...If we were giving a prize for highest production it would go to LaDonna! (hmmm note to self for next year..a prize for most items completed..) We have already scheduled next years 3rd Annual. Maybe I will actually get my project done before then!

Fish can be somewhat of an acquired taste. I love all kinds but it's taken me 20 years to get Brant on board. This is a salmon recipe given to me by my old buddy Matt T and even Brant likes this one.

I'm planking but you can do it just on the foil which is how I normally do it.

Salmon Filet (plan on 6-8 oz per person; it's yummy)
Mayo
Johnny's Seasoned Salt
Black Pepper
Foil
Cedar/alder Plank (optional)

Start by creating a tin foil tray with 2 layers of foil, fold the edges over and up to form sides.

If using a plank, you need to soak your plank submerged in water for 2-4 hours. This is a cedar plank.
**Note--make sure you are using a "store-bought" cooking plank, don't just buy a cedar shake at home depot-no telling what kinds of chemicals may be on it.

Spread a thin layer of Mayo over the top of your filet, I use light mayo but that is up to you. Sprinkle liberally with Johnny's Seasoning Salt. (This is also a left coast item, right coast may need to look for something like Lowrey's Seasoned Salt) Finish with some fresh cracked black pepper.

 Place the foil directly on a medium high grill (we use a gas grill). The fish will take about 20 minutes to get to "medium" if you like your fish cooked well give it another 5-10 minutes. Cooking times will vary depending on your grill temp. Fish is done when it flakes and is opaque; test in the fattest part.

If you are planking, the plank will get burn marks even through the foil- just throw it on the burn pile when you are done!  You can do this with just the foil in a 350 oven if you are not a griller. Enjoy!

Wine Corner: 2010 Stoneleigh  Sauvignon Blanc, Marlboro New Zealand