TWD/BWJ: Cookies and a Braid

X Cookies

Playing catch-up again for October. I've done the baking, but the blogging - not so much. 

The X Cookies were like a upscale fig newton, but with a pastry-like crust instead of the soft cake-y thing that you buy at the store. They were pretty good, but there are only so many you can eat and this made a huge quantity. In the end, my boy took them to a party. Would you guess that college kids would eat fig cookies? I don't know, but they didn't come back home...

Cool powdered sugar stencil left on the counter!

And then there was the Danish Braid. 

Houston, we have a problem...

I have created a monster!

I obviously have an issue with reading directions!

If only I had read ahead.

If only I had read completely.

The first surprise was the "chill at least 24 hours".

And now I have discovered, in the reading of other blogs, that there was supposed to be folding of the dough! How did I miss that?!? No wonder the darn thing spread. All that butter...

Oh well, at least the other half of the dough is still in the freezer. I can give it another try.

Ahh, but this is all a consequence, a reflection, of my life at the moment. There have been more exciting things to take care of during the waning summer days.

A girls weekend with college friends, a couple of days on Jekyll Island, a trip to see old friends in St Augustine, a day with the Dalai Lama, and even a little online class at Quilting University (didn't know there was such a thing, did you?).

And a shoe...

TWD/BWJ: Catching Up! Cobbler, Crostada, and Muffins

Johnnycake Peach Cobbler

Peach-Raspberry Crostada

Blueberry Muffins

I've been baking, but sorry to say, have lost my motivation to post. Who cares if I participate? And none of these recipes were particularly successful in my book. Here we go:

1) Johnnycake Peach Cobbler - Uh, no. We were totally unimpressed. Don't really care for cornbread on top of our peaches, thank you. 

2) Peach-Raspberry Crostada - Not bad. I served a piece to my neighbor who deemed it "the best thing she'd ever eaten", but that seems a bit much. The crust had an interesting flavor, and heck, I'll eat anything warm with ice cream. Oh yeah, maybe I would have preferred figs instead of peaches, but I was too lazy to walk out back and harvest figs off the tree. And already had peaches in the fridge that needed to be used. I know, I know - I feel guilty. Also, this recipe called for too much equipment. I'm pretty sure that the dough could've been finished in the food processor instead of hauling out and dirtying up the mixer too. 

3) Blueberry Muffins - Again, not bad. But waaaaay too much time and effort making a batter so light that it wouldn't stand up to a massive quantity of blueberries. Basically turned into a huge pool of blueberry goop in the bottom of the muffin. My son called them the "fruit on the bottom" version. Not that they weren't tasty - but I'm glad I used paper liners. I shudder to think how they would've come out otherwise. Think I'll stick with a normal muffin recipe in the future. 

I give up! Can't move this picture any further down the page.
Clearly, it wants to live here.

So that's it. It's been a busy but fun month. Let's see - Bruno Mars concert, trip to the beach, a 21st birthday (my BABY is an adult!), 2 quilt workshops, 3 weekend trips to the college (4 hours away), a couple of trips to the lake, a couple of chemo treatments, and normal life. Just for kicks, here are a few pictures.

There have been many shoes in the road. Here's one that I spotted near my daughter's apartment. Whoever lost it also lost a pair of colorful sunglasses that were nearby in the gutter. College kids...

TWD/BWJ: Eastern Mediterranean Pizza

Tuesdays with Dorie is introducing me to so many new things. Should I admit it? I've never purchased lamb before. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever eaten lamb before, unless that's what's in a gyro. But a package of ground lamb presented itself to me in the meat section of the grocery store, so I decided to go ahead and give it a try. And we liked it. Didn't hurt that we had plenty of freshly-picked garden tomatoes. And after watching the original Baking With Julia video, I topped it off with some fresh mint (pilfered from my neighbor's yard) and a little chopped cucumber. This one gets a thumbs up.

I've seen so many shoes in the road lately - don't know what's going on out there, but shoes are everywhere these days! It's an avalanche of lost soles. Heck, I can't pick just one, so how about 3 this week? 

TWD/BWJ: Summer Vegetable Tart

I'm in love! I'm in love! I'm in love! Did I mention that I'm in love?!? You know, just when I think that Tuesdays With Dorie is getting a little old, or too much, or I don't know enough and should probably drop out - a fabulously easy and amazing recipe comes along. Can I shout out a huge THANK YOU to whoever has been picking the last several recipes? I think I'm getting a second wind here.


















True confessions: I've never used phyllo before. I mean NEVER. I expected something hard to work with. Beyond my abilities. Have only eaten it in baklava from a restaurant. And that's just not something I'd want to make an entire pan of. But - hello? - phyllo as a crust? filled with an assortment of sauteed vegetables? Let me say it again - let me shout it from the highest rooftop - I'M IN LOVE!

I could make this any old time. And no, I didn't stick with the "exact" recipe as far as the filling goes. Heck, there was a variety of CSA stuff in the fridge that needed to be used, why buy mushrooms? This is a perfect recipe for using up leftovers, which is exactly what I filled it with. I cut the kernels off a leftover cob of corn, chopped up a couple of squash, even threw in some previously cooked green beans and a couple of pieces of bacon from the latest round of BLTs. And tossed in some feta (it's what I had). I can imagine this filled with roasted root vegetables in the fall. Oh my gosh, it took serious willpower to keep from eating the entire thing by myself in one sitting. 

The only thing that stopped me was the thought of dessert. I'm going to share another incredible discovery. If you haven't had Graeter's ice cream, well, let's say it's worth the splurge.

Last by not least, here's a boot that I spied on our own street, complete with a matching belt (look closely in the distance). Some days, I can't believe the things that show up.

TWD/BWJ: Baked Yogurt Tart

My father grew up in St Louis. When I was a girl, we made the 3 hour drive there to visit my grandparents several times a year. We'd go at least a couple of times during the summer to see the Cardinals play. The sound of Cardinals baseball on the radio was a defining feature of my childhood.

Some years we'd make a trip during Christmastime, the highlight being a visit to the North Pole at the Famous-Barr department store. It was unbelievably enchanting with it's trees and snow and twinkly lights - even waiting in line was a treat! Santa would give us a little slip of paper that we traded in for a real present after we'd divulged our secret desires and had our picture made with him.

There was a grocery store in St Louis called Schnuck's which was also a wonderland in the eyes of a young girl from a small town. We'd go along with Grandma to Schnuck's and bring home a cheesecake-like pastry from their bakery. It was round, with a bread-ish crust, and was strewn with raisins. We ate it for breakfast. I've spent years trying to re-create that taste. Then out of the blue comes Baked Yogurt Tart. It didn't have a bread-y crust, and it didn't have raisins, but it was the closest thing I've come to the taste of that breakfast at Grandma's in almost 40 years.

Next time, I'll add a bit of cinnamon and scatter a few raisins on the top. And maybe I'll even take down the little drinking glass with my name on it and fill it up with milk. All the cousins had one. The glasses lived on a shelf in Grandma's kitchen closet above the shelf that held her blue and brown Russell Wright dishes.  How I would love to have those dishes today. I think I'll head over to eBay now...

The recipe for Baked Yogurt Tart can be found here - I used a Foolproof Vodka Piecrust instead of the flaky one. Note to self: go ahead and use the tart pan with the removable bottom next time. The other Tuesdays With Dorie bloggers are found here. I think we might be close to halfway through the Baking With Julia cookbook now.

Here's a shoe I saw this week. Didn't have time to stop for the picture when I first saw it, but came back a couple of days later and it was still there!

TWD/BWJ: Tomato and Cheese Galette

Galette, where have you been all my life? Delicious quickie meal! Especially if the dough is already prepped in the fridge. The crust has a nice crunchy texture thanks to the addition of cornmeal. And the filling could be anything. Last year it was fruit, and this week's recipe called for tomatoes, cheese, and basil. Which will be fabulous when our garden tomatoes are ready. Unfortunately, the garden got a bit of a late start this year (heck, it was COLD until mid-May!) so I was forced to use grape tomatoes from the grocery. A variety of cheeses got tossed in - jack, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, parmesan, and something wonderful that I found at Whole Foods called "seaside cheddar". For those family members who insist on meat, I added some pastrami to one. 

There's one problem. They're small. So, future self, make two no matter what. Unless you're home alone. 

Now, by way of explanation as to why this post is over a week late... ROAD TRIP! Here's a taste:

Planetarium at the Tellus Science Center in Cartersville, GA

Discovery of the week! Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream has a store!
in Nashville.

Children's Holocaust Memorial in Whitwell, TN

World's largest Wind Chimes in Casey, IL

Mammoth Cave!  in Kentucky

World's biggest golf tee. 

world's longest historic covered bridge, Medora, IN

World's largest cedar bucket, Murfreesboro, TN

world's biggest baseball bat, Louisville, KY

And a shoe, from right down the street here at home: