The Culinary Bibliophile is Back!

It 's been more than seven months since I last posted on this blog. I'm not sure what happened. My guess is that it was summer and we were outside enjoying the gorgeous weather. Then school started. Then the holiday season was in full swing. In any event I'm back. Why? Because I found that I actually missed writing. I surprised myself by enjoying writing this blog for the sake of writing it, whether or not anyone reads it (although I hope someone does!) So here I am. And here's a sprinkling of what's been going on for the past seven-ish months and lessons I've learned:

Ben turned five and is now officially registered for Kindergarten for the Fall. Time flies!

My Beef Brisket and Chicken Pot Pie are great things to make to deliver to a friend in need.

I have taken of the roll of Fellowship Chair at church. Basically this means I plan the social events like the Easter breakfast, holiday party, Lego night and various potlucks. I'm not sure how this happened , especially since I've lamented about how I take on too much, but being Fellowship Chair has fulfilled me in ways I couldn't have anticipated. I'm glad I said "yes" when asked.

That said, I've learned to say "no" more often. I don't go to every single meeting of the preschool parents association. I don't sign up to volunteer for every event at Jake's school (but I do still help out at our favorites.) I have put hanging out with friends and family as a priority - more often than not I say "yes" to these invites. My life is less stressed and much richer as a result.

The Scotsman has been traveling a lot more for work. I'm trying to be grateful that he has a good job rather than stressed about childcare and household logistics while he's away.

Jake is into soccer big time (both playing and watching). He's joined two leagues and loves to watch games on TV. The Scotsman even set him up with his own fantasy league for the English Premiership. It's been fun to watch him grow in and embrace the sport!

The Americans on FX is a great show. The Scotsman and I can't wait for the new season to start at the end of the month!

Sleep is the cure for whatever ails you. I am finally getting a good nights sleep fairly regularly and I feel so much better because of this. Who knew!?!?

Books I have read (by the way, these are not affiliate links - I'm just trying to make it a little easier for you to browse. You can also see what I've been reading on my Goodreads profile): What Alice Forgot, The Man Who Ate Everything, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, and Reconstructing Amelia, among others.

The Scotsman can't hate pasta as much as he says he does. He's been regularly requesting my Turkey Sausage and Goat Cheese lasagna, as recently as last night. There is hope! And I promise to post the recipe soon.

A snow storm, great neighbors and a bottle of wine are a fabulous combination.

I'm learning to embrace my slow cooker.

Doing everything the night before (making lunches, laying out clothes, etc) is the key to a better day.

So that's what's going on with me - what's been going on with you?

What's For Dinner - June 8th - 14th

Last night I cleaned out my freezer. It contained many "mystery" items as well as stuff from Trader Joes that was so old I'm not even sure TJs carries those products anymore. I was holding on to them because I hate to throw away food, but I decided that they were adding to both physical and mental clutter as far as the freezer is concerned and are probably so past their prime that they wouldn't taste good anyway.

What I found was some perfectly good meals and meal starters that I forgot we had which have helped me with this weeks meal planning, not to mention greatly reduced what I needed to buy from the grocery this morning.

Here's the line-up:

Saturday - Nigella Lawson's Mini Meatloaves. I found a ziploc full of them during the freezer clean out. The Scotsman made them about a month ago and I had fogotten that we froze half of them. These are delicious, super easy to make and kid friendly. Give them a try!

Sunday - The Scotsman is making some sort of middle eastern inspired turkey burger. I think he got the recipe from Gwyneth Paltrows book. I don't know much about it except that it involves Tahini and will be served in whole wheat pita bread rather than buns as he asked me to pick up those two things at the grocery. If it's good, I'll post the recipe next week.

Monday - Maple Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs from One Hungry Mama

Tuesday - Salmon (found some in the freezer). Try this easy recipe my mom has been making for years - place salmon in a baking dish. Fill the dish with white wine until the wine comes half way up the salmon. Sprinkle with fresh or dry dill (and if you have neither, don't sweat it, just cook as is). Cook for 15 mins or until fish flakes easily.

Wednesday - End of Year Picnic at Ben's preschool. Pizza and salad will be provided.

Thursday - Pasta. With sauce from a jar. Thursdays are tough for us because Jake and The Scotsman get home late from soccer practice.

Friday - Taco night! Jake and Ben will only touch avocados and raw tomatoes when they are in the form of guacamole and salsa, so I try to work in taco night once a week. For some reason, burrioto night does not fly with them.

What are you eating this week?

Project Recipe Binder

Mitt Romney may have binders full of women, but I have binders full of recipes. Or rather, one binder in particular:

 This binder is probably about 15 years old. I have spent the last decade and a half filling it with recipes snipped from newspapers or magazines, printed from the internet and handwritten gems from friends and family. As you can see, I haven’t exactly been neat about my recipe collecting and truth be told, I haven’t cracked open this binder in well over a year.

Looking through it was a pleasant walk down memory lane. Recipes from my mom and stepmom reminded me of favorite meals from years and holidays past (in particular Spinach Stuffing Balls, Orange Rice and Tandoori Chicken). My friend Kerry’s Eggplant “meatballs”  and Katie’s Cumin Chicken brought me back to delicious meals in their homes. I found recipe clippings from Scotland’s Sunday Express newspaper from when the The Scotsman and I actually lived in Scotland.  Recipes from The Boston Globe reminded me of a time before we had kids and I actually sat down to read the paper most days (it was also so long ago that people actually read the paper rather than surfing the web for their news). And there were also some recipes I couldn’t explain – like  print out from Food Network for “Basic Stuffing.” Why I saved a recipe for something I can find in half a dozen cookbooks that I already own or in a three second google search I will never know.

What also occurred to me is that I have never made at least half of the recipes in this binder. For all I know, they’re duds.

So, I’ve set myself a challenge: I’m going to make at least one of these recipes every week until I’ve made every single one of them. I’ll ditch the duds and put the good ones into our dinner rotation. I’ll keep you updated on my progress and share the good ones with you (no point in sharing the ones I send to the recycling bin – I like you all too much to share mediocre recipes with you.)

When I finish my self-imposed challenge, I think I need to find a better way to store the keepers. The current binder is ugly and has seen better days. And I have soft spot for cute stationary items and need an excuse to buy one of the flowery binders I’ve been coveting in Target. I know someone who transfers all of her recipe clippings and recipe cards/scribbled notes into a Word document that she then then prints out and puts in a plain black three-ring binder.  For me, that takes all the fun out of recipe collecting. Part of what makes my recipes so special to me is the memories the actual paper recipes bring to me; the red wine stain on the Apple Cake recipes reminds me of lunch at a local vineyard with a good friend whom I haven’t seen in a while. Seeing my great-grandmothers handwriting on her Chocolate Peanut Butter Pop recipe brings me straight back to my childhood. Typing recipes and discarding the original may make them easier to read, but it also takes away their character.

I’ll do my meal plan for next week in the next day or two. I’ll work in a couple of recipes in the binder. Until then, I leave you with two of my favorites; my stepmothers Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and my beloved Gruyere and Mushroom “Breakfast Pie”.

What recipes remind you of happy times long ago?

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage – Serves 6-8 as a side dish

This recipe is from my Stepmother, Susan. I’m not a fan of cabbage so I was quite dubious when this first showed up at Christmas Dinner years ago. I still don’t like cabbage but I LOVE this recipe. I’ll be serving it as part of Easter dinner this weekend.

3-4 lbs red cabbage, shredded (4 bags of the pre-shredded)

1 tart apple, chopped (such as granny smith)

4 TBS butter

1 heaping TBS brown sugar

1 cup onion, minced

6 TBS red wine vinegar

1 cup chicken broth

1 tsp salt

½ cup red currant jelly

Melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar. Add the apple and onion. Cover and cook on low heat for 4-5 minutes. Stir in the cabbage, add the vinegar and braise for 10 minutes. Add the chicken broth and salt. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours. Stir in the jelly just before serving. Tastes even better the next day! I have been known to eat this cold, straight from the fridge.

Gruyere and Mushroom Breakfast Pie – Serves 4-6 depending on how hungry everyone is

This is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe. Martha’s original recipe is called Bacon and Egg Casserole. I’ve stayed pretty true to the original but I’ve made a couple of changes. I would eat this everyday if I could, but usually bring it out when we have company for brunch.

1 sheet store-bought puff pastry or Pillsbury Crescent Roll Dough, depending on your mood

8-oz bacon (about 12 slices) cut into small pieces

1 medium onion, sliced

8-oz mushrooms, sliced

2 large eggs

½ cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cups Gruyere cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 400. Press the puff pastry or Crescent Roll dough into the bottom of an 8x8 inch pan or a pie plate.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook the bacon until it begins to brown; about 5 minute. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until the bacon is crisp and the onions are just starting to brown. Transfer the mixture to a plate and let it cool slightly.

Spread the onion mixture over the pastry/dough. In a small bowl, stir together the eggs, heavy cream, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the Gruyere over the top. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the filing is set and the top is beginning to turn golden brown.

Back On The Wagon

I have a confession to make: for the past few weeks dinner has been a big fail. Meal planning has fallen by the wayside. Dinner at the table – what’s that? And more take-out has been consumed than I’m willing to admit. This week, I’m determined to get back on the healthy family dinner wagon. Of course, I’ve picked an less than ideal week to start. We’re going away for the weekend which means grocery shopping will be done in rush before we leave tomorrow morning and I won’t be in the mood to prep meals for the week when we get home on Sunday night. But I’m going to try anyway. I’m starting with some easy standby meals and if all goes well I’ll get more ambitious in the kitchen next week.

In other news, last night I started A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table by the lovely Molly Wizenberg of the Orangette blog. I was only able to read a few pages before falling asleep (see previous post on sleep deprivation) but I am already smitten with Molly.

I’ve also dipped my toe into the big, bad Twitterverse. I have been afraid of Twitter (irrational, I know) and am now trying to conquer my fear. Find me at @culinarybiblio for more food, book and mom stuff and/or @thebedwyrpress for my adventures self-publishing The Never King.

And now for what you’ve all been waiting for (yeah, right). My meal plan for the week. Wish me luck!

Monday: Pasta and salad. With sauce from a jar. Boring, I know, but both kids have swimming on Monday night (usually it’s only one) and I know we will be home late and boiling water and heating sauce will be all I will be able to manage.

Tuesday: Pork Chops in Apple Cider. This is a recipe I’m pretty sure my mom made up but it’s really, really simple, kid-friendly and yummy. Take boneless, center-cut pork chops (although truth be told, I’ve used bone-in) and brown them briefly in a skillet. Leave chops in skillet and fill skillet with apple cider (apple juice works too, in a pinch) until the cider level comes half way up the chops. Cook until chops are cooked through (about 10 minutes for boneless, but double check. Trichinosis is not fun!). Remove chops from cider and serve. If you really want to get fancy you can throw some sliced apples and onions in with the chops while they’re cooking.

Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner –Omelets. The Scotsman is the omelet chef in our family so I’m delegating this dinner to him.

Thursday: Kids: French Bread Pizza Adults: Open-Face Caprese. The kids French bread pizza is pretty self explanatory – apply tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese to slices of French bread. Bake at 350® for 10 mins or until cheese in melty. I’m going to kick it up a notch for the adults with this recipe from Rachel Ray for an Open-Face Caprese . 

Friday: Homemade Hamburgers. I don’t have a particular recipe in mind at the moment. I’ll probably just wing it.

So there you have it. What are you cooking this week?

Stuck in a Dinner Rut

I’m stuck in a dinner rut. You know what I mean – trying to plan your meals for the week and having no inspiration. What I don’t understand is that if you told me I needed to plan a dinner party or a holiday meal I’d be able to plan multiple, intricate, yummy, interesting meals in a matter of minutes. Ask me to plan some basic dinners for the family and I’m stuck staring at a blank page. Why, why, why? What is so hard about this?

I don’t know the answer to that question but obviously I’ve been asking it for years. I poked through some old and emails found an email to my husband from November of 2011 listing all the various meals I could think of for lunch and dinner. It must not have been very inspiring to either of us as it hasn’t been looked at since….November of 2011. And looking at it now isn’t exactly getting the culinary juices flowing, either.

I think this issue is a big reason why family dinners are so hard. And I’d like to think I’m not alone. It’s one thing to manage to get the family gathered around the dinner table. It’s a different matter to come up with what your going to serve. I think for me, the issue performance anxiety. I’m afraid to try something new in case someone doesn’t like it. My husband is not a fan of pasta so that’s out (although I’m working on him). The kids surprise me with what they do and don’t like. So rather than taking a chance I do nothing at all.

I still don’t know what we’re going to eat in the coming week. But in the meantime I’ll leave you with a recipe for an old favorite that appeared on that 2011 email. This is the best beef brisket you’ll ever have. I demanded the recipe from my friend Kerry years ago after eating it at her house. It was so good I made it for dinner that same night (it was THAT good). I’ve tried other brisket recipes but none of them have held a candle to this one.

Kerry’s Beef Brisket (aka The Best Brisket You’ll Ever Eat)

3 lbs single cut beef brisket

1 cup ketchup

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup cider vinegar

1 pkg dry onion soup mix

½ cup water

½ cup BBQ sauce

Preheat oven to 375®

Place the brisket in a 13x9 dish. In a medium bowl, mix together the other ingredients and pour over the brisket.

Cover the brisket tightly with foil and bake for 3 ½ hours. Remove from oven and let cool.

Slice the meat against the grain and return to the sauce. Reheat in the over for approx. 20 minutes.

The Culinary Bibliophile - Who The Heck Am I?

I have blog envy. It seems as if everyone I know has a blog except for me. I’m not envious because it’s brought  them fame, fortune or technological skills that far surpass mine. No, I’m jealous because I am told that writing a blog is a great creative release and well, it’s fun.

So here’s my blog. Why did I call it The Culinary Bibliophile? In short because it popped into my brain and sounded good (at least to me). But it speaks to my two passion; food and books. And books that have to do with food (including cookbooks). So I imagine there will be posts about recipes I’ve tried, want to try and my ongoing quest to be more creative with family dinner, a la Dinner: A Love Story. Books will also make an appearance, including the recently released The Never King by George Tyson, published by my tiny publishing company The Bedwyr Press. My quest to promote this book could be the subject of a whole other blog, but one is enough for now.

A little more about me: I’m in my early thirties, married to a Scotsman and live in a suburb of Boston. I have two fabulous little boys, ages 7 and 4. I’m a banker by day and a publisher in my “spare time”. Now that my boys are older and thus a little more independent, I’m trying to get back into the activities I loved pre-kids but didn’t have much time for in baby and toddler years.  Namely reading more, experimenting in the kitchen more, and having more “experiences” that fit in with my passions, such as actually going to book club meetings (I have belonged to two for nearly 10 years, but my attendance has been spotty in the past few years), taking some cooking classes, and finally, FINALLY getting my house at least somewhat organized. Oh – and I want to run a 5k despite being completely out of shape as I write this. A friend wants me to run one with her 10 weeks from now. We’ll see. I’m sure all of these subjects will make an appearance in the blog, too.

So that’s me in a nutshell. I’ll be back soon with my latest kitchen experiment and my thoughts on what I’m currently reading. I’m also in need of some recipes with spinach as the main ingredient (I’ll explain later) so if anyone is reading this and has a great spinach recipe, let me know.