Painting Cabinets

This weeks ongoing project: painting the inside of these dark cabinets.  Outside was already painted, but inside was very dark and the wood was not consistent.  The cheap man's solution to under cabinet lighting?  Xmas lights!! And my solution to the dark cabinets was to paint the inside, the paint picks up the light when you open the doors, makes it look cleaner and newer for some reason.  Aaaand the paint that I used for my bedroom at my mom's house is almost an exact match to the exterior cabinet color.  Weird how things work out sometimes.  So I'm using this mini roller that I got from Ben Moore and slowly but surely 2 coats are going on.  Probably should have primed first but too late to turn back now.  The house looks a hot mess because the contents of cabinets are all over the counter.

Liz's Green Rocker

Bought this rocker at a yard sale for $2, Liz painted it and voila, looks like a million bucks!!!

Paint Stripes on a Table

Take an ordinary painted table, block out thin stripes with masking tape, paint stripes in complementary color, remove tape, voila!

Recovering a Foot Stool

Bought an old foot stool/bench at a yard sale.  Recover with new fabric using trusty staple gun, voila!!

Paint and Old Stool, or a Picture Frame

Paint the legs of an old stool a funky color, add some gold details.  Do the same with a picture frame.

Painted Dresser

Take an old dresser, remove a drawer, paint it a funky color, distress, change the drawer pulls.

Voila, instant TV stand.  

Reupholstering an Armchair

My friend Liz is so crafty.  She recently took an old armchair, stripped off the fabric and recovered it by herself.  She died the fabric herself and sewed the entire thing.  Now that it's done, I have a new place to sit when I watch Homeland.

Martha Stewart eat your heart out.  

The best muffins

This recipe is a good one.  Smells great, tastes great.  Cinnamon is a great thing.

Cinnamon Apple Muffins
Recipe adapted from Relish

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 apple- shredded/ grated
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup craisins
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 whole eggs

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 12-cup muffin tin with papers.  Dry mix flours, sugar, b soda, cinnamon, salt in one bowl, set aside.  In a large bowl, grate apple and carrots, add coconut, oil, craisins, milk, vanilla, and eggs and mix to combine.  Add dry to wet and mix just til combined.  Pour into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes, til just cooked through.  

Cauliflower in all it's glory

Was at Pathmark in the snow storm, for some reason bought cauliflower.  Now usually I would just toss the sucker in olive oil, s and p, maybe some red pepper flakes and throw it in the oven to roast.  I've also been meaning to make a cauliflower mash, but for some reason I was thinking Indian.  So I bought some cumin seeds at Target today and got a little wild.  Hehe.

Sautee'd Spiced Cauliflower
Recipe adapted from Jeyshri's Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower- chopped into small florets
• 1 large yellow onion- chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic- minced
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds- chopped 
• salt to taste- maybe start with 1/4 tsp and go from there
• 1/2 tsp tumeric powder
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/2 tsp ground corriander
• 1 T oil- olive or sesame

Method:

Over medium heat cook the chopped onion in the oil until it is translucent.  I kept the lid on for a bit to really get it to cook.  While that's cooking, mince your garlic and set aside.  Wash the cauliflower and chop it up, add to the onion and pour in a couple of T of water to get it cooking with the lid on.  Chop up the cumin seed.  After the cauli has been cooking for a few minutes over medium to med-high, add the seeds and all the other spices.  Add the garlic as well.  Add 2 more T of water and stir everything around.  Now just cover and let it cook, stir every few minutes until the cauli is soft and cooked through.

Chicken stew with soy sauce

I just found a new recipe staple.  Chicken stew.  So easy to make, takes about an hour so start it early.  Great with any combo of veggies, and makes good use of previously frozen chicken.  I bough this Pathmark brand chicken about a week ago and the dark meat was fine but the breast meat has a weird texture when we BBQ'ed it so I threw half of it back in the freezer and forgot about it.... until I saw this recipe and decided that the funky chicken would be perfect for it.

The first time I made this I used all the frozen dark meat chicken I had in the freezer.  It came out to about 2 lbs with the bones on there, so I threw in a couple of extra legs that I picked up on sale when I was buying the carrots etc.  So I would say I had at least 3 lbs of chicken including the bones to start with.  The second time I made this I used two huge monster frozen breasts that hadn't even thoroughly defrosted yet, but the forgiving thing about this recipe is you're basically steaming the the chicken first one its own so if it's still a little frozen it doesn't really matter.  In the end the dark meat was definitely tastier, but the white meat was also really nice, next time I would like to try a dark/white meat combo.  I think this would also be nice with turkey legs or something, I noticed that they are pretty inexpensive at the market.  The problem with using the dark meat was- well have you ever tried to get dark meat off the bone of a raw chicken leg?  It's just not coming off.  Try it.  It's a recipe for disaster that will end up with you covered in chicken juice, and if you were trying to use a knife you'd probably slip and cut yourself.  So after realizing that it wasn't going to come off I just threw all the meat in with the bone.  (This is for when I was making it the 1st time with the frozen legs/wings).  Once the meat was cooked through, it basically fell right off the bone, so I pulled out the bones and problem solved.  No fretting.

With the dark meat version there was no point in trying to cut off all of the fat that was on the meat, so I just let it all cook off and liquefy and then with a ladle skimmed it off later.  Again, I was trying to avoid cutting myself with the knife.

Chicken Vegetable Stew
Recipe adapted from Imagelicious

Ingredients:

• chicken- boneless and skinless, dark meat or white meat - (2-3 pounds)
• water - 3/4 cup
• carrots - 3/4 lb
• onions - 3 medium diced
• sweet red bell peppers- 3 diced
• soy sauce - 1/4 cup or more
• celery- 3 stalks diced
• garlic- 3 cloves chopped
• optional other veggies such as mushrooms, parsnips, tomatoes, potatoes- chopped
• herbs de provence- a few pinches
• freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Heat a large deep pan and add the water and chicken, cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes.  If you can cut the chicken into pieces (if you are using whit meat) then cut it into chunks and then add it to the pan.  If you are using partially thawed or dark meat chicken on the bone just put it in and cut it/remove the bones later.  Put a lid on the chicken so it thoroughly cooks.  While the chicken is cooking cut up all of your veggies and put them in a big bowl.  You can pretty much do whatever you want here as far as your choice of veggies.  The second time I made this I added fresh tomatoes and mushrooms towards the end of the cooking because they release so much water that I wanted everything else to cook first before adding them.  Also, the bigger the pot/pan you use the more veggies you can stuff in there, and since they end up cooking down to half the original raw size, i you like veggies, use a bigger pot.  When done cutting the veggies, add them to the chicken and continue cooking over medium heat, make sure you still have a bit of water in the bottom, you can add more or tip the pot and ladle some off to get just about 1/2 inch on the bottom, not too much, this isn't soup.  Add the herbs de provence and the black pepper and cover and cook for about 40 minutes over medium to medium low heat, stirring every so often and keeping your water at the right level.  I usually end up ladling off a bunch of the liquid into the sink when the veggies are cooking, if there's too much everything just boils into a big mess.  

During this 40 minutes, you are stirring, ladling out water or adding more water, and dealing with your chicken.  If you already cut it up then you really don't have to do anything.  But if you were using dark meat, you have to grab and knife and fork and pull it off the bone if it's ready to fall off.  If you used whole breasts, start pulling it apart with a couple of forks or pull it out onto a cutting board and quick chop it up and throw it back in.  Get creative with it, this is cooking people.

When your timer beeps that 40 mins is up, check out the situation.  At around 30 mins I would have added my mushrooms or other veggies that cook quickly like green beans etc.  So by 40 mins things should be cooked through, your chicken should be falling apart or close to it, and it should smell amazing.  You have ladled off all the liquefied fat and any excess liquid.  Now I would actually tip the pot on an angle and make sure you have the bare minimum of liquid.  Add your soy sauce, stir and taste.  When I made this with white meat I needed a bit extra soy sauce, the dark meat doesn't need as much. Cover and cook another 5 to 10 mins on medium low heat, just let the soy get in the chicken and you should be ready to go.  

I served this over a bed of roasted kale and raw spinach which melted under the heat of the stew.  Classically this would be great over egg noodles or polenta.  Brown rice would also be a nice option.  Or even mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower.  This stew keeps well in the fridge and is awesome the next day cold or hot. 

Basically this stew is fool-proof.  You can use cheap poor-quality or previously frozen chicken, or any other meat for that matter, you can put in whatever veggie combination you want, a ton of garlic, other herbs and spices, it has a million possibilities.  It feeds a lot of people, especially if you serve it over a hearty grain of some sort.  You can start it right away by throwing the chicken in the pot and then begin cutting your veggies, working as you go.  You can definitely make it the night before and reheat it for dinner the next day.  It would probably be great with some red pepper flakes.  It's really good cold out of the fridge for those of us who like cold chicken.  It takes no fancy ingredients.  Do you have soy sauce?  Ok you're ready to go.  You could totally make it vegan by leaving the chicken out and just doing the veggies, and then adding a can of beans and a can of corn towards the end, then serving over brown rice for a complete protein.  Yeah, I like this stew.  It's a new fave.  

Chocolate-ginger combination

Chocolate and ginger are good together.  Add a little molasses and you really can't go wrong.  You can get a really nice browned cookie that stays a little chewy thanks to the molasses.  This is a really easy cookie that'll make the house smell great.

Chocolate Chip Ginger Spice Cookies
Recipe from Pastry Affair

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick or 113 grams) butter at room temp
• 2/3 cup (130 grams) dark brown sugar, packed 
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) granulated sugar 
• 1 large egg 
• 2 tablespoons dark molasses 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 6 ounces (about 1 cup) chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and line 3 baking sheets with tin foil.  Beat the butter and the sugars in the bowl of your stand mixer for a few minutes, until light and fluffy.  While the mixer is going, in a small bowl dry mix flour, ginger, b powder, b soda, and salt, set aside.  Once the butter and the sugars are fluffy, add the egg, molasses, and vanilla and mix to combine.  Add the reserved flour mixture and beat on low to combine.  Add the chocolate chips and beat once more, until they are distributed.  Drop walnut-sized balls of dough onto baking sheets about 2 inches apart, if you want larger cookies, double the size of the ball but leave more space between cookies for spreading.  Bake small cookies for about 12 minutes, larger cookies add a few more minutes, checking in between until they get golden brown and set to the touch.  Allow time to cool on the cookie sheet so the cookies can firm up before picking them up.

Leftover hard-boiled egg yolks

I think hard boiled egg yolks are gross.  Sorry but they just don't appeal to me.  If I have a salad with hb eggs on it I leave the yolk behind.  But when I make a dozen hb eggs to snack on throughout the week I end up with a bunch of hb egg yolks and I love to repurpose things...  but try to find a recipe that uses them besides egg salad!  I ended up with a lot of butter-cookie recipes, kind of like shortbread but you press the hb egg yolk through a fine sieve to make egg confetti and add it into the dough.  The result is a very light shortbread, rather than the dense biscuit that you are used to.

Polish Cookies
Recipe adapted from Cooks.com


Ingredients:

• 5 hard boiled egg yolks (sieved)
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 c. butter (at room temp)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 c. flour
• zest of one orange

Method:

Press the hb egg yolks through a sieve so you end up with hb egg yolk confetti.  Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add yolk confetti, then vanilla, then salt and flour.  Lastly, add the orange zest, you are beating to combine in between each addition.  Separate the dough into 2 logs rolled in plastic wrap and chill in freezer for 15 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350 and remove dough logs from freezer.  Slice the logs into 1/4 inch cookies and bake on tin foil-lined cookie sheets, you will need 3 sheets.  They don't really spread so you can put them fairly close together.  Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until they are your desired brown-ness.  We like ours pretty toasty.  Let them cool on the sheet a bit until they set up.  

A classic cookie

I like a good old fashioned cookie recipe.  Simple and classic.  All the ingredients are on hand.  How can you lose?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole-wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and put foil on at least 3 baking sheets.  In a small bowl, mix flour, b powder, and salt.  In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time and mix.  Add vanilla and mix.  Add the flour in two additions with the mixer off, then turn it on and watch out for flour spray.  When flour is combined add the oats and chocolate chips and mix to combine.  Spoon walnut-sized balls of dough onto the baking sheet leaving at least 1½ inches between cookies.  Bake for 12 minutes and then check them, if you like a chewier cookie you can take them out, if you like a browner crunchier cookie you can leave them in for 3 minutes and check them again until they are your desired shade of brown.  I like mine pretty brown.

Bout time fo some muffins

If my mom doesn't stop asking me for banana muffins I'm going to scream...

Banana Muffins with Walnuts and Golden Raisins

Ingredients:  

• 1 C Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 C AP Flour
• 1/2 C Spelt Flour
• 1 Tsp B Soda
• 1 Tsp B Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 4 Bananas- old and brown (mashed)
• 1/4 C Oil
• 1/2 C Low-Fat Buttermilk
• 1/4 C Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Tbsp Molasses
• 1 C Golden Raisins
• 1 C Chopped Walnuts

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and paper a 12-cup muffin tin.  In a large bowl mash the bananas and add oil, buttermilk, sugar, eggs, and molasses and mix.  In a separate small bowl mix flours, b soda, b powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Add dry to wet and mix just until they are combined.  Add the nuts and raisins and mix a few more times.  Pour into muffin tins and bake for about 18 minutes.  Take them out when they bounce back to the touch.  

Yogurt lunch ideas

I have this yogurt thing that I've been taking for lunch lately.  I recently discovered that greek yogurt is very different than regular old Dannon.  The smell doesn't bother me and it is a great substitute for mayo and has a lot of uses in baking.  Fat-free greek yogurt is so creamy an delicious and good for you!!  I have settles on Fage as the best greek yogurt.  I have tried pretty much every brand at this point searching for the best one, but Fage is creamy and not too sour and it's not that expensive, plus it comes in the biggest container.  So I invented this yogurt lunch thing and people at work keep asking me about it, so here's what I do...

Pumpkin Apple Greek Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fat-free greek yogurt- Fage is my favorite
• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin- I get the 365 Whole Foods brand
• 1 apple- diced and microwaved for 3 minutes
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp sugar or 2 packets stevia
• handful of oats
• raisins or craisins (optional)
• nuts (optional)

Method:

First I dice and microwave my apple, sometimes I use pear and sometimes I throw banana in there too.  The apple is the only one that I microwave though, it just has such a great flavor when it's cooked.  Then once that is cooked for 3 minutes I throw it in with the yogurt and pumpkin and mix it.  The warm fruit warms the yogurt and is really nice.  Add the cinnamon and sweetener and mix it.  Now you can eat it without the oats, but I like a little crunchy oat on top, with the cinnamon and apple, the oat is a nice addition.  Sometimes I add raisins, craisins, or something else for a little pop.  You could definitely add nuts, pecans would probably be really nice with the pumpkin.  I could also see a little coconut or even chocolate chips if you wanted to get fancy.  In the end, this is a pretty low fat, lean protein lunch.  I bring it to work a lot in tupperware and eat it when I have 5 minutes free.  It is really delicious and as I said before, everyone always asks me about it and then thinks that I'm some sort of cook because it sounds very complicated to make.  Meanwhile I just dump everything together and stir it up while I'm making my morning coffee.  Ha.  Well give it a try and enjoy!

Life without mayo- Tuna salad

So I have never been a big fan of mayo- who am I kidding?  I friggin hate mayo.  It's the devil.  It's creepy looking, creepy smelling, it makes me uncomfortable.  Anyway somehow I have become obsessed with greek yogurt and all of the things that you can do with it, including adding fruit and eating it with chicken.  Recently I made a tuna salad with it, so good it was gone in a day.  Still playing with the recipe, but I think it had potential.

Mayo-less Tuna Salad
Recipe inspiration from Not Enough Cinnamon

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of white albacore
• 1/2 cup non-fat greek yogurt
• 1 apple diced
• a few scallions diced
• 1 can artichoke hearts diced
• a couple handfuls craisins
• a dash or so balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Dice everything that need to be diced and mix it in a bowl, salt and pepper added last to your taste.  I like this on a bed of greens but it works in a sandwich as well.  I think adding sun dried tomatoes or drained roasted red peppers would be nice too.

Dump a lot of stuff in a cookie

Sometimes I put too much stuff in a cookie.  And sometimes it works out.  I bought some spelt flour on sale at Whole Foods the other day, not really sure why, just thought it would be nice to try.  And for some reason I thought it was gluten-free, not so though, spelt is a breed of wheat so that was a bust, but it has less calories that regular flour and more protein content, so it is a good flour to mix into a recipe.

Compost Cookies
Recipe adapted from Half Baked Harvest

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup canola oil (use a little more if batter is too dry, or if adding extra chocolate chips or nuts)
• 3 eggs
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 handfuls craisins

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 3 baking sheets with foil.  Mix oats, flours, b soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.  In a larger bowl mix sugars, oil, eggs, orange zest, and vanilla in another bowl.  Combine the wet and dry in the large bowl and mix, you may have to do this with your hands.  Add more oil if the batter is too dry, it is supposed to be stiff though.  Now add your chocolate, nuts, and crasins.  Don't worry if all of the chips and nuts don't stick in the batter, you can eat what is left in the bowl when you are finished forming the cookies.  Grab big balls of dough with clean hands and roll into a ball, then drop onto baking sheet and press down with your hand to flatten a bit.  You can also take what chips are left in the bowl and press them on top of the cookies once they are formed on the sheet.  This is messy and the cookies will seem like they are not going to stay together but once they bake and set and cool they will be sturdy.  Bake for about 13 to 15 minutes until deep golden in color, then LET THEM SET on the sheet once out of the oven for at least 10 mins, they need to cool on the sheet or they will fall apart, enjoy!!

Cornbread muffins

Saw this recipe online and thought I'd give it a try.  It was great as a muffin rather than a quick bread, toasted with some Bon Maman raspberry jam.

Banana Walnut Honey Corn Muffins with Walnuts
Recipe adapted from Sarah's Cucina Bella


Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 overripe banana, mashed
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk milk
• 2 tablespoons canola oil or melted butter
• 1 can of corn
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

Preheat oven to 400, paper a 12-cup muffin tin.  Mix cornmeal, flours, b powder, and salt in small bowl, set aside.  In larger bowl mash the banana and add honey, eggs, milk, and oil and mix til combined.  Add to flour mixture and mix just til dry is incorporated.  Add corn and nuts and mix a few more times, don't over-mix batter or you will deflate it.  Pop in the oven for 15 minutes and then add time in 3 minute increments until the center is set.

Mini banana muffins are better when rolled in cinnamon sugar

I made these banana muffins yesterday and they turned out good, but a little white looking as my mother pointed out.  They were definitely cooked through, but hadn't gotten any color on top.  This was partly my fault for not adding any whole wheat flour to the recipe, a lot of times that's how I hearty-up an anemic looking muffin.  If you use only white flour a muffin turns out more like a cupcake and loses it's breakfast appeal.

Banana Oatmeal Cinnamon Mini-Muffins with Golden Raisins
Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 mashed overripe banana
• 1/2 cup raisins

• cinnamon sugar for dusting 

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 and spray two mini-muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.  In a small bowl add oats to milk and let soak while preparing batter.  Mix flour, b powder, b soda, and salt in a small bowl, set aside.  In another bowl mash the bananas and add b sugar, egg, and oil.  Add milk and oat mixture to bananas.  Now pour the wet into the dry and fold to combine, add raisins and fold a couple of more times.  Don't over-mix at this point.  Divvy the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 12 minutes.  Test the center of the muffin, it should bounce back when you poke it, better a little under than over-done.  Pull the muffins out of the oven and while still warm throw them into a bowl of cinnamon sugar.  Completely coat the muffins and then let them cool on a wire rack.  Enjoy!!