Hi dearies!  I hope you all had a wonderful week.  The Thanksgiving holiday was very mellow and I enjoyed working on little projects here and there and eating an ample amount of leftovers.  With my nose in a book or armed with a needle and thread (repairing an old ’30s dress, for example) I nearly forgot to mention I had added some cheery recipe cards to my Etsy shop…so here they are!

Oh, and they’re printed on recycled paper with soy inks.

Which reminds me, if you’d like to print your own recipe cards (plus bakery tags, background papers and more) there’s my Blackbirds kit in the shop:

Wow, I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is almost here!  And it’s only Monday and I already feel like this week is getting away from me.  I spent my Sunday evening watching season 3 of 30 Rock on Netflix and trying to get through an early 1940s (or is it late 1930s?) dress for the holiday festivities.  Yes, I still get excited, just as I did as a little girl, over the prospect of having a new dress to wear for a special occasion!  But the sleeves – oh, the sleeves!  The puffed sleeves were really trying my patience.  I guess I can’t do puffed sleeves no matter how much I try to convince myself.  It remains my goal, however, to finish this dress but now the sleeves have been pared down quite a bit.  We shall see how it goes!

Anyway I have a couple of recipes to share with you.  The first is a Berry Crumble.  The crumble topping is similar to what you may find on top of a banana or blueberry muffin.  There’s no egg and it’s very crumbly.  I think the trick to making a good crumble is to make sure the dough clumps are not too big  and are spread out evenly over the fruit (so they can cook thoroughly).  I also don’t like my fruit too sweet or syrupy and I don’t use much sugar in the filling.  This recipe is so easy it’s great to whip some up after a trip to the farmer’s market.  (Which is were I got these beauties!)  You can vary the amount fruit depending on how much you have and how deep you want the crumble to be.

Jen’s Berry Crumble

Dough:

6 T unsalted butter, softened

1/4 t light brown sugar (or white sugar)

1/2 c all purpose flour

1/4 c instant oatmeal (the plain, unflavored kind)

1/8 t. salt

2 t. water (Optional)

Filling:

2-4 pints berries (I like to combine blackberries with strawberries)

1 T sugar

> 1/2 t. lemon juice (Optional – I usually leave this out)

Cooking spray or melted butter

Cinnamon or nutmeg, ground

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 9″ baking pan with cooking spray (or brush with butter).
2. Cut up fruit if desired.  Spread fruit out in the pan and sprinkle with sugar.
3. Mix all dry ingredients for the dough.  Mix in butter – this might be easiest to do this with your hands.  Add a little water if dough seems too dry.
4. Crumble dough evenly over fruit filling.  Sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.  Sometimes I flip the broiler on for a few minutes to brown the top without overcooking the fruit.

Jen’s Pumpkin Pavlova

My friend Michelle introduced me to pavlova many years ago and has since been one of my favorite desserts.  It’s so light it hardly seems sinful.  (Hee hee!)   This recipe is fairly easy as well (a recurrent theme in my kitchen).  I originally planned to make some today but at this point I probably don’t have time with all the other pre-holiday planning (including finishing up some work!).  SO, here it is, in pdf format.  Perhaps I’ll be able to update this post later with a photo.

» Download Jen’s Pumpkin Pavlova Recipe

Enjoy!

One of the best things about our little house is the lighting in the kitchen.  This main window faces the north/northwest and the light does not change much the whole day.  Even on the grayest of days there is plenty of light and I’m ever so grateful for this; I’ve lived in places that were dark and, really, I found it depressing.   This is the light in our kitchen right now: very bright and soft and white.  Yes, some of the doors are hanging off their hinges, the 80+ year old sink has seen better days but it’s really quite cozy, especially now.

My parents got us this Kitchen-Aid mixer as a wedding gift.   I know, I’m super fancy now.   I mean WE are super fancy.  So far I’ve made rapid rise bread with it (from the recipe book that came in the box;  pretty good but I’d like to try others) and some super fluffy cake frosting.   You know what would be really cool?  The pasta attachment.  Then I could make homemade pasta to go with my homemade lamb ragu (a household favorite).

And right now the weather in L.A. is perfect.  Very comfortable in the high 60s, bright and sunny, but not too hot to turn up the oven.  I’ve been brewing up all kinds of things lately which inspired me to make some fall-ish recipe cards.  I decided to post them as PDFs for free because, you know, I like you that much!

We’ve got a 4″x6″ recipe card:

And a 3″x5″ one too:

(Click images or links below to download.)  Just print them on your color printer, no border, “best” setting, cut and go.

» Download: 4″x6″ Recipe Card

» Download: 3″x5″ Recipe Card

Oh, by the way, THANK YOU for the swan-love!  I’m so pleased you liked her.   She’ll have some friends soon.

Have a lovely fall-ish weekend!

This past weekend I went to my local library and got a library card which was so exciting since I haven’t had a library card in, like, 10 years. I nearly forgot how much I enjoyed picking random aisles and arbitrarily sliding a book off the shelf to peak inside. This library is very small but nonetheless a wealth of information. I walked out with 6 heavy books, one of which was “Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes” by Jeanne Kelley.

The book itself is beautiful and the recipes have this California/French Countryside vibe (perfect). I was drawn to read one recipe primarily out of curiosity, “Rabbit with Prunes and Olives.” Well, let’s just say that I have no plans to stew up rabbit any soon (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,”  I guess.) but since the author mentions this recipe is based off of a chicken one then I figured it would turn out about the same. Chicken I can do.

Folks, this was good. I mean GOOD. And easy. And not too expensive (initially buying olives and white wine seem expensive but they can last through a few recipes). I served this with a simple green salad and couscous seasoned with a pinch of lavender salt.

Here is the recipe with my notes in brackets:

“Chicken with Prunes and Olives”

2 T olive oil [I used extra virgin b/c that's all I have]

1 whole chicken (about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 lbs), cut into 8 pieces [I used 2 1/2 lb chicken, 3 large bone-in breasts with skin and fat removed]

Salt and pepper

1 large onion, chopped [this I julienned and only used half but a whole one would be just fine]

6 garlic cloves, chopped [I always crush mine simply b/c it's easier]

2/3 c dry white wine [I used 1/2 c white cooking wine and the rest was cooking sherry, seemed to work!]

3 T red wine vinegar

3 T chopped fresh oregano or 3 t dried [I used dried]

2 T light brown sugar [I used dark brown]

1/2 c pitted prunes

1/2 c picholine or other brine-cured green olives [I used large garlic-stuffed ones]

Heat 1 T of the olive oil in a heavy, large enameled Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl.br /br /Add the remaining 1 T olive oil, the onion, and garlic to the Dutch oven and cook until well browned, about 5 minutes (the bottom of the pan should be dark brown but not burned). Add the wine and bring to a boil, stirring up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan (deglazing). Add the vinegar and reduce the heat to low. Return the chicken to the Dutch oven and add 3 cups of water. Add 2 T [or 2 t if using dried] of the oregano and the brown sugar. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the chicken is no longer pink and cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the prunes and olives and simmer, partially covered, until the chicken and prunes are very tender, about 15 minutes. (Can be prepared to this point up to 2 days ahead. Cool, cover, and refrigerate. Return to a simmer.)

Transfer the chicken to a serving dish. Boil the liquid in the Dutch oven until it has thickened and reduced to a sauce consistency, about 5 minutes [this seemed to take me about twice the time]. Season the salt with salt and pepper to taste and spoon over the chicken. Sprinkle with remaining 1 T [or 1 t dried] oregano and serve.

[I say this makes about 4 servings.]

“Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes” by Jeanne Kelley. Excerpted by arrangement with Running Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2008.

I have to admit, one of the things that I love to do most when I get back from a trip is housework. I have done countless loads of laundry in the past couple of days as well as a lot of cooking. In a effort to save both time and money I’ve taken to cooking large batches of goodies then freezing whatever I don’t think we’ll eat within a week.

This winter I’ve been in chili mode. Mainly turkey chili that I make in the huge crockpot my mom gave me a few years ago. (I never thought I’d have such a need for so large a pot but it has certainly come in handy.) The day we got back we went to the store in the evening to get groceries including turkey chili stuff.

I just spied Alicia’s dad’s chili (yum) which I’ll have to try the next round of chili-making (and once I locate liquid smoke, something I haven’t been able to find at the market yet).

I have yet to make the same recipe twice. I wanted something a little spicier this time and yes, in my opinion, I would say this was a medium spicy which can be hot if you plan on eating a big bowl of it! This version is also low sodium and low fat as well as onion and gluten-free. That being said, I thought it was pretty good with some sea salt and cheddar cheese!

“Jen’s Healthy Turkey Chili”

Ingredients:

2.5 lb lean ground turkey

.25-.5 lb pork roast, trimmed of fat and de-boned and cut up

1-28 oz can whole or diced tomatoes (with juice)

1 small can tomato paste

1 can whole corn (with juice)

2 chipotle peppers in adobo, de-seeded and chopped

1/4 c white cooking wine

2 T maple syrup

4 large cloves garlic, crushed

1 T chili powder

2 t oregano

1 T ground coriander

2 t ground cumin

1/4 t cinnamon

1 t bacon salt or regular salt (optional)

1 bay leaf

1 T (heaping) ground unsweetened cocoa

1/4 c cornmeal

Optional garnish: sea salt, shredded cheese, chopped red onions, sour cream…

Directions:  Brown pork in a skillet and add to crock pot. Brown turkey in the skillet, drain (optional if you are using lean meat – I personally don’t drain this, only skim off any foam if it comes up) and add to crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients to the crock pot and stir. Cook for 4 hours. Serve and garnish. (Wasn’t that easy?)

And for dessert, some gluten-free dark chocolate chip and hazelnut cookies:

This was also an experiment. (Ok, so most of my cooking could be categorized as such.) I bought some gluten-free Trader Joe’s brownie mix, halved the oil and mixed in dark chocolate pieces and chopped hazelnuts. I turned the brownies into drop cookies, used parchment paper on the cookie sheet and baked them for 14 minutes. They are pretty good and very rich (chocolate-wise) .

If anyone tries my turkey chili recipe I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And roast beef. I thought that the title for this post would be too long with “& Roast Beef” and maybe too weird because I’m not sure if I’ve heard of paring figs with beef, but it is good! (And of course, optional.) Great for leftovers or you can do what I did — thanks for the idea Real Simple! — and buy roast beef at the deli counter, sliced 1/2″ thick. Anyway, with the beef added, this salad is definitely a meal.

Fig & Goat Cheese Salad with Couscous (& Roast Beef!)

1/3 c dry couscous

1/2 c water

…

Vinaigrette:

2 T balsamic vinegar

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 t honey

1 lrg or 2 sml cloves garlic, crushed

4-8 Provence-style or Moroccan black olives (those wrinkly ones), rinsed and sliced thin

1/4 t dried basil

1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper

1/4 t kosher or sea salt (optional)

…

6 fresh black Mission figs, sliced length-wise

1/3 c sugar plum grape tomatoes (or similar), sliced if you like

1/4″ thick slice of red onion, cut cross-wise (like for hamburgers), quartered

1 c cubed roast beef

2 oz goat cheese, crumbled

baby greens

Heat water (doesn’t have to boil, just very hot) and add couscous. Stir and set aside.  Mix the vinaigrette together in a medium-sized bowl. Carefully add in figs. Set aside.  Fluff couscous with fork. If you want to maintain the shape of the figs (so delicate!), remove them from the vinaigrette and set aside. Stir in couscous. Add tomatoes, onions and beef. Then carefully fold in goat cheese and figs.  Serve salad in large serving/salad bowl or individually on a bed of baby greens.  Note: The couscous and dressing can be made in advance. Also, you may want to toss in the onions in the vinaigrette to make them more “pickly” but sometimes I just like them fresh.  Serves 2-4, depending on serving size.

Edited to add: This is pretty garlic so 1 small clove of garlic will do for some people.  You can also use feta instead of goat cheese.