Cold Brewed Iced Coffee

Since I posted yesterday about boozing it up, I figured that I should write something about a non-alcoholic beverage today. In addition to an evening, or afternoon perhaps, cocktail, summer is the season for iced coffee. I love purchasing an iced coffee, but I tend to feel kind of guilty about this spending habit after a while. So when the weather turns warm and I crave cold caffeinated beverages, I set about making iced coffee at home.

The easiest "method" is to just brew a cup of coffee the night before, add sugar if you like, and stick in the the fridge for the next morning. The only potential pitfall is that the resulting iced drink will get pretty weak when the ice starts to melt. This is easily fixed by choosing a strong coffee to begin with and/or brewing it stronger if you are using a regular coffee maker. I have a cute Keurig machine, so I can't really control the brewing beyond purchasing stronger blends. (Coincidentally, I just got a coupon in the mail for the K-Cups made especially for iced coffee and tea.)

But if you really like iced coffee, you might consider making a big batch of cold brewed coffee to fulfill your caffeine needs. Pioneer Woman recently posted on her method which, like most of her recipes, will yield a huge about of coffee.  (It also had the effect of making me think that I needed to purchase a Pottery Barn mason jar drink dispenser. A weary look from Dave and 24 hours of "think time" made me come to my senses, however.)

Since my refrigerator space is slightly more limited than that of a professional cooking blogger, I elected to just get a 2 quart glass pitcher to make my coffee. To get a sense of proportions, I used this "recipe" from the New York Times, courtesy of a Google search. (BTW: Google better withstand these anti-trust suits - I am not sure I can change to another search engine.)

So to save you from doing the math:
-Put 1 cup of coarsely ground coffee into the pitcher and add 4 1/2 cups of cold water. Let it sit on your counter overnight.
-Line a strainer with a coffee filter or cheese cloth. (I recommend the coffee filter, though.) Strain out the grinds.
-Wash out your pitcher, pour coffee back in. Refrigerate. Drink. Yum.

PS: I had a totally cute picture of my coffee with the morning paper, but my camera and Lightroom software are not playing nice with each other today.

Summery Drinks

 For whatever reason, summer seems to be a particularly boozy season for our family. Perhaps it is the warmer weather. Maybe it's ability to enjoy a cocktail on the patio. And it is certain that the first beer back from the beach tastes especially fabulous.

There are obvious summer favorites: the vodka/gin and tonic, the margarita, sangria, Corona with lime, of course, but if you are looking for some new additions to your summer boozing repertoire, I have a few suggestions:

If beer is your thing, you can't go wrong with a Hoegarrden. A light, citrusy wheat beer, it is our favorite just-spent-hours-on-the-beach-and-survived beer. If you want to support breweries that are more local than ones in Belgium, try Victory Brewing's Whirlwind, their summer "witbier", or their Summer Love, an ale that they introduced this year and wont be around for long. Also, if you like beer and also like your drinks on the girly side, try Harpoon's Raspberry Wheat.

I like beer as much as the next girl, but I also like not-beer too. This year I have discovered, courtesy of Jenny and Andy at Dinner a Love Story, the Dark and Stormy. Wow! This is one deliciously summery cocktail. Made with dark rum, lime juice and ginger beer (not to be confused with ginger ale), it is the perfect end to a summer day.

The New Dirty Dozen

Each year the folks at Environmental Working Group find new ways to scare us and/or protect us, depending on your mood and/or perspective. This independent, nonprofit organization is dedicated to:

1. To protect the most vulnerable segments of the human population children, babies, and infants in the womb from health problems attributed to a wide array of toxic contaminants.
2. To replace federal policies, including government subsidies that damage the environment and natural resources, with policies that invest in conservation and sustainable development.

One of the ways they work to achieve these goals is by creating a list of the dirtiest and cleanest (in terms of pesticide contamination) fruits and vegetables. Spoiler alert - Apples are at the top of the "Dirty" list this year. They even have a handy dandy pdf so you can print out the list for your shopping trips. (They really need to make a smart phone app for this, too.) A great resource.

In addition, they maintain a database of the best and worst beauty products. Check out Skin Deep before your next vacation  for some excellent choices in non-toxic sunscreen.

Best Ever Almond Butter

I have been a lame blogger of late. Dave took a new job that has him out of town three nights a week. Needless to say, we have been a little discombobulated around here. I have not exactly been a model of cooking excellence.

Until today.

Today I made Cinnamon Raisin Almond Butter. (That's right, this qualifies as cooking in my book.) I saw a post about this on the Tasty Kitchen blog and I decided to give in a try. It took about as long as it takes to play four Uno games with Kara. Not only did she have fun measuring the almonds, but watching nuts turn to butter turned out to be completely fascinating to both my kids.

I made the recipe as written by Eating Bird Food with two changes: She says that if you just process the ingredients long enough in your food processor, it will get smooth and creamy. Well, that might be the case, but I started to fear for the health of my Cuisinart, so I added about 3 tablespoons of peanut oil. Worked like a charm. Also, I added a couple squeezes of honey.

Can't wait to have this for breakfast tomorrow. Can't wait to share it with Dave when he comes home.

Homemade Challah

Challah is one of my most favorite things on this earth. Next to my family, friends, etc., of course. But seriously, challah is probably the yummiest bread I know. If you don't know from challah, you are missing out. Get yourself out to a good deli or bakery and grab a loaf. Sweet, rich and soft egg bread, challah is the perfect breakfast toast, the best pb&j bread and hands down the best French toast bread - it's not even a contest.

In my continuing quest to make my own bread, I made some challah a few weeks back. It wasn't quite as good as the bread my Grandma Bea gets for me when we visit, but it was a close second. It's really easy to make and looked gorgeous. This would be super fun to do with little ones too.

This recipe should make 2 loaves.

-In a large bowl mix 2 eggs, 1/4 melted butter, 2 1/4 cups lukewarm water, 1/4 cup honey, 1 1/2 tbsp yeast
-Add 3 1/2 cups flour and mix until combined. The dough will be wet and shaggy.
-Let rise for at least 2 hours.

This is what the dough looks like just mixed. (Nice bread bucket, right?) It expands quite a bit, so make sure you use a big bowl or pot to avoid a dough fiasco on your counter.

-At this point, you can make your bread, or refrigerate the dough for up to 4 days. I recommend refrigerating the dough for at least a couple of hours - cold dough is just easier to work with.

-When you are ready to bake: Divide dough in half. Divide each half in to three pieces and roll into long ropes - about 12 inches each. You will need to flour your hands and work surface to keep from having a sticky, frustrating dough mess. Line up the 3 pieces of dough and starting from the center braid out to one end and then repeat so that you have one big braid. Pinch the ends together. Place braided loaves on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Let stand for at least an hour.

 I don't usually do the step-by-step photo thing, but I was 

pretty proud of myself during this cooking endevor.

-Heat oven to 350. Brush the tops of the bread with egg wash. Bake for 25-35 minutes.

 I made one plain loaf and for the second loaf  I improvised a cinnamon raisin version. I just rolled out each strand of dough, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and about a 1/2 cup of raisins. I closed up each strand and then braided as usual. It was fabulous!

One more tip: This is a dough scraper, a tool I had never even heard of until a month ago. If you ever make anything involving dough, you should invest. And by invest I mean plunk down the whole 5 bucks that this costs. It is great for cutting, measuring, dividing and, clearly, scraping up dough. Amazing gadget that I wish I had owned before a month ago.

Girliest Party Ever

This is the last of the Kara Birthday posts, I swear. But I just had to write about her awesome party with her friends. I am not entirely sure why it happened, but I became quite invested in this party being super cool, and somewhere in the planning process, I went completely overboard. I have two theories as to why this happened. 1. The thought of eight little girls who are bored or unhappy at my kid's party inspires serious levels of anxiety. (Imagine the more terrifying play date of all time.) 2. Whatever ambivalence I may have about being a stay at home mom, I am certain that I want to be the mom who gives her kids great birthday parties. It is like showing off your mommy muscles to plan and execute an elaborate two hour play date.

Reflecting on the party, I can say without reservation that it rocked.

The first key to our success was that I hired my niece, Alex, and her friend, Sierra, to come an be my party helpers. Their primary job was to play games with the girls and supervise the free play in our yard. They were amazing. Negotiating Middle East peace has nothing on getting eight little girls to play the same game at the same time. Alex and Sierra were firm and in control, but also kind and warm and funny. Not to get too deep, but in addition to helping me out, they were wonderful examples of how to be a teenage girl who is smart without being a smart ass, cool without being snotty, funny without being sarcastic.

Negotiating

Can't you just tell that Alex is the sweetest teenager ever?

Big girls and little girls playing tag

The second key to our success was the Oriental Trading Company. If you are planning a kid party of any kind, you must visit this site. It is a veritable treasure trove of party favors. I bought a ton of craft supplies: ceramic watering cans to decorate, stickers, make your own pinwheels, hibiscus hair clips, nylon butterflies and dragonflies to color, markers, more stickers - and the girls just crafted it up for over an hour. They were so quiet and focused it was kind of creepy. Made me wonder if those stickers had some magical tranquilizing power.

I may have gone a little nuts, but the party was awesome. I heard more than one girl actually say, "Kara, your party is so cool" which resulted in an inappropriately huge ego boost for me. I have issues, I know. But the best part was that Kara was just brimming over with joy the whole day. Even after complete present overload, she was a peach.

Happy Birthday, Kara!

My darling 6 year old girl.

Last week we celebrated Kara's birthday, again, with a big family dinner. She originally wanted to have mac and cheese, Kraft not homemade, but was amenable to a menu alteration in light of the fact that guests were coming too. So Kara went with her second favorite dinner, rotisserie chicken, sweet potatoes, asparagus, cranberry sauce. It was awesome.

With a June birthday, Kara often has strawberry shortcake for her birthday dinner dessert. This year we decided to mix it up and make this Strawberry Cake recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod. My friend Katie introduced us to this amazing dessert when she brought it to a dinner a few weeks ago. I generally don't like cooked berries, but this cake manages to sweeten the strawberries without turning them to unappealing mushy blobs.We served it up with fresh pink whipped cream. Love those gel food colors.

PS: Not for nothing, spring strawberries are one of the best illustrations that locally grown food just plain tastes better. What goes better with birthday cake than a side of food politics?

Water Play

My brother in law Frank, when he is channeling his inner curmudgeon, likes to point out that kids have too many toys these days and that given everyday stuff, they can make up games that are much cooler than anything Fisher Price or Nintendo could come up with. Despite the fact that my kids have way too much stuff, much of it purchased by Dave and I, I generally agree with Frank.

Case in point: the garden hose. Playing with the hose was one of my favorite summer games when I was a little girl. My kids are continuing the family tradition. For the past week or so it has been super hot, more like August than May, and our kids have been having a blast just horsing around in the yard with nothing more than the hose. While some parental intervention has been needed to help Kara and Jamie comply with the "take turns" rule, they have been pretty self-contained.

Making water rainbows.

Making "rainstorms".

It took Jamie about 5 minutes to figure out how to spray his sister.

Armed and dangerous.

Cupcake Catastophe

This is the week of Kara's birthday - the big 6. By our count, she will get to celebrate her big day four times: at the beach with Dave's family, at school with her class, at our house for our traditional family birthday dinner and at her birthday party with her girls this weekend. I am exhausted just writing about all that frolicking. Though this all could seem a little excessive, I am apt to shrug off those concerns. If you can't totally embrace the joy of birthdays as a six year old, I don't know when you can.

I will admit that one of my favorite parts about celebrating Kara's birthday is making the classroom cupcakes together. As I have mentioned before, I love box cake mix, so this is the perfect excuse to purchase and then sample some of Betty Crocker's finest. I also love the icing in a can. I know that objectively speaking it is a pretty nasty concoction of oil and high fructose corn syrup, but it tastes great and is super easy to use on cupcakes. (Box cake and icing exist in a special loophole of my basic philosophy that we should eat locally, sustainably produced whole foods. I embrace my hypocrisy on this one.)

Yesterday while Kara was at school, Jamie and I made the cupcakes in anticipation of decorating them after school. After applying a thick layer of icing, Kara got busy decorating each individual cupcake with a rainbow of sprinkles. It was darling and those cupcakes looked lovely.

All was well until we went out for t-ball after dinner. I "hid" the cupcakes on the top of the microwave which is about 5 feet off the ground. I was under the assumption that this would prevent our dessert-loving mutt from eating them. Bailey, the mutt in question, has quite a tradition of gobbling sweets off the counter, so we are pretty well trained to keep them out of harms way. Imagine my shock when Dave called to "mentally prepare" me for what he found when he got home. Bailey didn't eat all the cupcakes - turns out her limit is 15. Sometimes I wonder why we have pets at all.

Anyway...I ran out to the store for more Betty Crocker, whipped up another two dozen cakes, and this morning Kara decorated them all over again. All in all, we handled the cupcake incident with uncharacteristic grace and calm. Kara wisely commented, "I am bummed Bailey ate my cupcakes, mom, but at least we get to make them together again." Smartest six year old ever.

Power of the Pancake

Last year when Jamie was still mastering the art of eating solid food, we went through a phase where he would eat just about anything...if it was in a pancake. Who can really blame him? Pancakes are awesome. They can be sweet or savory. Obviously, they are a fabulous way to start the day, but they are just as good for lunch and brinner. And pancakes are just plain fun to make, especially with kids. These days when we have a pancake meal, I am flanked by Kara and Jamie for the whole cooking process. Even when they are fussing over who gets to stir or who can add the blueberries, I love every minute of it.

A box of pancake mix is great to have around. I am a big fan of Bisquick and the Trader Joe's multigrain mix. But if you find yourself out of pre-made mix, there is a 90% chance you have everything you need to make pancake batter right in your pantry. Here is Mark Bittman's recipe for basic pancakes. This is the one I use on a pretty regular basis. It makes a lot of batter; I almost always have leftover for another pancake meal. This is also a really flexible recipe. You can add more or less milk to get the thickness you like. You can easily add wheat flour, oat flour or other whole grains. If you like a tangy pancake, use some yogurt or buttermilk in place of the milk and substitute 1 tsp of baking soda for the baking powder.

Dave likes his pancakes straight up. Kara and Jamie love blueberry pancakes the best. Somehow I made it almost to 40 without putting it together that frozen blueberries work just fine in all manner of baked goods. I recommend keeping a bag in your freezer for the Saturday morning when nothing less than a stack of pancakes will do.

I don't think I have ever met a pancake product that I didn't like. However, one of my most favorite ways to have pancakes is to add corn, a little cornmeal, chopped green onion, garlic and chili powder to make a corn fritter of sorts. Serve them sour cream and salsa. A weeknight winner.

Kara, mouth full of pancake, pronounces them "delicious." (More on the hair accessory next week...)

This Is My Life

At the risk of posting something a little risque...Let me just share some of the precious moments I caught on film last week.

That would be my son trying to open up the cabinet with all of Dave's fancy beer glasses. He was taking a break from messing with my ipod.

Here is the little man making a break for it. Playing inside is for losers. So is underwear. 

I think that these images really say it all about what life is like with a 2 year old boy.

No Fear Fish

Did you know that Trader Joe's sells frozen fish? Probably. I knew they did too, but I had sort of forgotten until recently when I was lamenting the fact that we don't eat enough fish around here. There are several reasons for this gap in our diet. First, fish can be kind of pricey. Second, my kids generally wont eat it. Third, I feel daunted by the task of purchasing sustainably caught fish.

I can't do anything about the first two factors, but I can try to be an educated consumer. To that end, I printed out the Monterey Bay Aquarium's pocket size Seafood Recommendation Guide. They also have this guide as an app for iphones or Android phones which I will have to purchase when I invariably lose the paper version of this guide.

Consulting my little guide, I was able to choose some lovely Haddock in the freezer section of TJ's. I still felt the need to grill the manager about how TJ's acquires their fish, however. She was super friendly and assured me that they do their best to only purchase sustainably raised fish etc. I hope she was for real. But if not, I had my handy dandy guide to help me make a good choice without having to rely on the manager's knowledge and/or integrity.

Once I had my Haddock, it was simply a matter of  defrosting it in the fridge during the day and sauteing it up with a little butter, lemon, salt and pepper. I served it with the remainder of our Cilantro Lime Sauce. This combo would be great for fish tacos too.

Leftovers - Good, Better, Best

Let's face it, not all leftovers are created equally. Some things, like cooked fish, will languish in the back of my refrigerator until the stench finally proves to me that I am not going to make some new dish with the remains of Tuesday's sauteed tilapia. On the other hand, extra chicken, steak, pancake batter, or noodles are sure to get "re-purposed" later in the week.

Rice, I believe, is the king/queen of leftovers. Easily made into rice and eggs or a crispy quesadilla or a easy rice salad. Rice salad is a summertime staple in our house as it is simple to make, makes use of herbs and veggies in our garden and doesn't require the stove. It isn't summer yet, but last week felt like a sneak peak at summer, so I thought I would use up some leftover rice and make this side for our dinner.

Here's what you do:
-Take a couple of cups of cooked rice, drizzle with olive oil and a splash of vinegar.
-Finely chop any or all of the following: green onion, red onion, bell peppers, hot peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh herbs.
-You can saute your veggies for a few minutes if you want and add the rice mix at the end to warm it up. Toss with herbs right before dinner.
-Alternatively you can microwave the rice for a minute and mix the warm rice with the veggies to wilt them just a little.

Last week I had the ends of a container of TJ's grape tomatoes, so I took some advice from the Dinner a Love Story crew and roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes before adding them to the rice. Oh my. So good.

The First Greens of the Season

The lettuce is up! Woohoo! After being a little tardy in my planting and after a very cold spring, we finally have lettuce to fill our salad bowls. Last night we had a delicious and simple salad of greens, green onions (also from the garden) and shredded carrots (from Trader Joe's).

Aside from the fresh from the garden greens, the two things that make this salad are the shredded carrots and the vinaigrette.

You can buy shredded carrots in a bag at the store and they are perfectly good. But you can also buy a Julienne peeler. I happen to have two, oddly. One my mom gave me after I had been coveting hers and one Dave bought me because I had been coveting my mom's. These little tools are great. Instant fancy salad without the fuss on getting out your mandoline.

As for the vinaigrette, the basic formula is 3 parts oil to 1 part acid, usually vinegar, but citrus juice and soy sauce count too. I usually  make vinaigrette in a small mason or jelly jar. Start by adding 2 inches of oil, 1 inch of vinegar and then add any of the following to suit your tastes: mustard, brown sugar, maple syrup, soy, lemon/lime/orange juice. For an Asian variation use rice vinegar and add any or all of the following: soy, hoisin, sriracha, mirin, fish sauce, ginger.

Next time you are contributing a salad to a potluck dinner, make your own dressing too. Homemade dressing is like homemade whipped cream; it invariably impresses folks and has the power to mask a less than impressive salad or dessert. Trust me.

Bad Mommy

Remember what I wrote about being supermom? Well, in an effort to keep it real, let me explain what I did yesterday...

Monday is laundry day in our house, so before I even had breakfast, I decided to get a load of laundry going. But first, I had to empty the dryer of the laudry that I had been so proud of myself for starting on Sunday night. Imagine my complete horror when I realized that I had put a small box of crayons that were in my pocket through the washer and dryer. This particular batch of now spotted laundry included: Kara's t-ball uniform, my favorite jeans, Dave's favorite shorts and a brand new pair of khakis my mom had just bought for me.

Let me just say from the outset that this "laundry error" could not be blamed on anyone else but me. I alone was dumb enough to put crayons in my pocket, and I alone did the laundry. Also, I should be clear that I understand that spotted clothes are not the end of the world. They are, after all, just clothes. Finally, I also realize that when you are a parent and wife it is important to moderate and control your behavior so as to prevent you from alienating your spouse and terrifying your children.

I did not, however, let any of these facts stand in the way of throwing a huge tantrum. That's right, I had a complete meltdown filled with cursing, slamming of doors, throwing of objects and screaming at the world. It was epic. And when Dave tried to offer some comfort by way of putting the stained clothes into some perspective, I essentially told him to shut up and leave me alone. Nice. It was at that point that Kara started to cry. So on top of my rage at having made such a stupid mistake, I poured on a heaping pile of shame at how I was acting in front of my husband and family.

After Dave left for work, I did manage to pull myself together to comfort Kara and get her off to school. I then spent the rest of the morning wallowing in self-recrimination, trolling the internet for stain removal advice and attempting get the crayon tie-dye off of our clothes. In the light of the day after, though, I can appreciate the "silver lining" to what will be forever known as "Mommy's crayon episode."

-First, I had a wonderful friend, Valerie, to call. She offered comfort and support without judgement. Not only that, she called back to check in later in the day with more wise words that assured me that I had not scarred my kids or my marriage irreparably. (She also offered the very insightful observation that when your husband tries to offer you perspective when you clearly have lost all of yours, it is just the nudge you need to push you over the cliff into a sea of irrationality.)
-Second, I was able to apologize to Kara and Dave and they were gracious enough to accept my apology with their typical kindness and generosity.
-Third, I got the damn stains out of almost everything! I am a laundry goddess! (Except when I am a laundry doofus.) The magic formula? Soak in hot water, Borax and Clorox 2 for at least an hour. Wash with 1 cup detergent, 1 cup Borax and 1 cup Clorox 2.

Here are the variety of cleaning products I used on Monday. A little out of control.

Channeling My Inner Super-Mom

Back in the day, when I had a job that paid money and required me to wear makeup and get my clothes dry cleaned, I was a pretty ambitious woman. I sought out opportunities to impress those with power, and I entertained visions of myself as a Department Chair or Dean of Students or even Head of Upper School one day.

Then I had kids.

I left my paying job and took on the insanely hard job of being a "stay at home" mom. A job that is so absurd, that on any given day I might look in the mirror and think, "What the hell am I doing with my life?" or I might think, "I love this life so much - I can't imagine going back to my old job." While I might be ambivalent about my stay at home status, I feel comfortable in my complete lack of ambition in the world of stay at home mommyhood. I think I am a good mom. And I know for sure that I work hard to take care of our kids and our home. But I know my limits. Yes, I cook dinner most nights. But, no, I will not offer to host the class dinner at our house. Yes, I will go into Kara's classroom to volunteer on occasion. No, I will not chaperone the trip to the zoo.

Maybe it was the specter of Mother's Day coming up, but last week I was "Supermom". First, I baked bread every day. Then, on a Thursday, not Sunday, I roasted a chicken and served up a Thanksgivingesque dinner. I tutored two nights and managed to arrange my schedule so that I didn't miss Kara's t-ball game. I weeded in the yard and mowed the lawn. I worked out twice and did yoga one day during Jamie's nap. I ran about a hundred errands. I baked cinnamon rolls for the teacher appreciation breakfast. I spent over an hour cutting out tissue paper rectangles for a craft (pictured above) I then went to Kara's class to teach the kids. I volunteered to work at the sand art table at the Spring Fair and stayed until the bitter end while Kara ran around in a sugar-induced frenzy. I planted zinnia and sunflower seeds. I cleaned our bathroom for real - not in the half-assed way I typically do.

I am freakin' exhausted. This supermom stuff is for the birds. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed last week. (Despite the poison ivy I got from the weeding - that oughta teach me.) But I also enjoy the weeks where the most I accomplish is taking the dog for a walk. So for all the supermoms out there: Good for you. I will stick with the low-ambition version of mommyhood.

"Five" Minute Bread

After determining that the gluten free diet wasn't really helping my knees all that much and realizing how much I missed bread, I have gone to a GF diet by day and a gluten-allowed diet by night. The only other "rule" is that when I eat bread, pizza or some other gluten-laden product, I make it myself. Needless to say, this caveat in my bread eating allowance prevents me from eating lots of stuff I might otherwise choose. Also, it has inspired me to do a lot more bread baking.

I have had a bread machine for the past 3 years and I have used it quite a bit, but I have to say that the results have been uneven. I have made some fabulous breads, but also had some real duds. Recently, I have used the machine mostly to make the dough which I then bake in the oven. I have also tried the No Knead Bread that Mark Bittman and others have written about at length. It was good, but I wasn't overwhelmed.

Then a couple of weeks ago when I was in the library looking for books on GF baking, I found the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The premise is that, much like the No Knead method, you can make a big batch of bread dough, keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks and then bake bread as you need it with great success. The basic recipes can be used for a variety of breads. From one bucket of plain dough you could make, a bagette, pita, pizza dough, ciabatta, boule, bread sticks etc. Choose a sweet dough and you could make brioche, cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, bagels, muffins etc.

Call me a convert. I have now tried four or five recipes from the book and its sequel, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and they have all been amazing. The loaf pictured above was one of the most delicious things I have ever baked. (Sorry for the small pic - I ran down the battery in my camera and had to resort to a picture with my phone. Bad blogger!) If you like bread at all, I highly recommend these books.

A few things to note: The "five minutes" claim is a little deceptive. It does take about five minutes to mix the ingredients, but in order to actually get a good loaf, you need to let your dough rest for 40 to 90 minutes before baking (depending on the temperature of the dough - colder dough = more rest) and then bake it for 30-45 minutes. That being said, you can also use the dough straight out of the fridge to make delicious flatbread  in about 20 minutes not counting the time it takes to preheat your oven. The pita we made was so good, I cannot understand why we don't eat it every night. Kara and Jamie demolished this bread in minutes.

Flensted Mobiles

Seems like this is the season for wedding and baby showers. If you are looking for a gift that is a little different, check out these mobiles from Flensted Mobiles. Flensted is a Danish company, but their mobiles are sold all over the internet. I found a bunch on Amazon within minutes.

Kara was recently given this butterfly mobile. And Jamie got this train mobile as a baby gift from my mom.

It is getting kinda close, but I think a mobile would be a cool Mother's Day gift too.

Cilantro Lime Sauce

A couple of weeks ago Josh sent me this link to a recipe his mom had made to great success. Basically, it's just roasted potato wedges. But the sauce...oh how delicious. You can read the Epicurious version on the link, but let me give you this shortcut.

-In a small bowl mix a blob of mayo, and equally big blob of sour cream. Chop up some fresh cilantro and throw it in. Get out a lime, cut it in half and zest the half. Squeeze the juice of the zested lime in the bowl too. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili pepper. Stir. Dip.

This was so good on the potatoes. Also on chicken. Also on my salad the next day. Seriously yummy.

Cilantro Saver

A very good friend of the family gave me the amazing Christmas present of a gift card to Sur la Table. If you have never been in one of their stores, let me just say that it is a cook's heaven. So many cool gadgets. A new SLT store opened not too far from us, and I have been considering how to use my gift for months. One of the first things that came to mind was an herb saver much like this one that was Oprah's favorite. Say what you will about Oprah, she has good taste. But before I used up a chunk of my precious gift card, I decided to do a little research.

Turns out that lots of foodie folks on the internet have an opinion about how best to save fresh herbs. Shocking, I know. What I decided to test was the jar of water method. It's complex: Take a jar. Fill it with about 2 inches of water. Take your cilantro, parsley etc. and trim a little off the stems. Put bunch of herbs in jar and store in refrigerator. Enjoy for 1 to 2 weeks.

Here is my cilantro 10 days into my experiment. Pretty good, right? While O's favorite is probably lovely, I pronounce the mason jar of water method a resounding success.