Jenna Lou Loves You

Lefse With the Ladies

Today I partook in a great tradition. Lefse making. 

At our church it is a yearly practice to meet on Tuesday mornings to mix, roll, and flip. Everyone has their job and everything has it's place. These batches of lefse are then sold at a yearly bazaar where they are so sought after that they have had to put a limit on how many a person can buy. It's truly a delicious treat made even sweeter by knowing the effort and care that was put into it.

There is something so fascinating to me about learning a skill like this. It's something that will stay with me forever. Not just the physical skill itself, but the memories of those who made it before me... those who labored with love to make things by hand and those who took the time to cherish it, preserve it, and know the value of passing it along.

Pumpkin Seeds For You and Me

Ops. Sorry to leave you hanging with that pumpkin post. My internet has been on the fritz and no matter how much I shake my fist at the computer, things are still on the down. 

So after you roasted your pumpkin I hope you didn't throw away all those gooey seeds. Clean them up and roast them too. You'll be thanking me as you much away on those crunchy, delicious and healthy snacks.

Here is how you do it. Wash or brush off seeds. Most people say don't wash them, but I've found you can as long as you let them dry for a while before roasting. Mix in a teaspoon or two of olive oil and your favorite salt or seasoning. We like pure sea salt, but ranch seasoning has been popular too. Roast for about 45 minutes in a 300 degree oven.

I like to eat them when they are still warm and toasty from the oven... preferably next to the fireplace, under a blanket watching the world turn white around me. Snow in October is still a novelty so I'm going to enjoy it the best way I know how.

PS. Because things have turned so cold around here I thought it was time to warm up the blog too. Do you like the new look??

Pumpkin Puree for the Soul

As news of the seasons first snowfall is whispered across the state my mind turns to the kitchen. It's a seasonal awakening to foods that are forgotten in the heat of summer. Chili, soup, stroganouff, pie, pastry, pudding. Things that warm the soul and give us a reason to turn on the stove.

This week I was inspired by Pam to try my hand at making homemade pumpkin puree. We already had an extra sugar pumpkin from our CSA and instead of letting it go to rot on our front porch I wanted to make use of it.

So I cut it in half, seeded it, and placed it cut side down for 1 hour in a 350 degree oven. Easy as pie, as Pam would say. And now I'm trying to decide what to do with all my puree. Pie, bars, loaves, cookies even... What's your favorite pumpkin recipe?

And don't forget to save this gooey mess. I'll show to a yummy way to make use of those too!

Tabel for 4 and a Focaccia Bread Recipe

Last night I got to set the table for 4. We had my parents over for supper just to catch up and enjoy an evening of fresh food and local wine. The wine was from Scenic Valley Winery which my parents picked up on a recent horse camping trip. We had cranberry. It was so good with just the right amount of tartness and might now be considered my favorite wine. We are going to make it a point to take a trip down to Lanesboro before this summer is gone so we can pick up a few more bottles and spend some time on the trails.

The menu consisted of my favorite salmon, steamed broccoli, camp potatoes, and possibly everyone's favorite: homemade focaccia bread.

Do you remember the "bread in 5 minutes a day"? Well my friend I thought that was easy bread, until I made focaccia. This recipe takes about 1 hour TOTAL. No waiting overnight on this little piece of heaven. I made this first loaf pretty much as written in the directions. I did wait until the last 5 minutes to add the cheeses, and my only addition was a bit of fresh basil from our CSA share sprinkled on top to add some color. It was truly delicious as is, but I think next time I'll try adding some thinly sliced onions and sun dried tomatoes just to experiment a bit. John said he would like me to build an entire pizza on top of this loaf, but that sounded like a little too much for me.

Hope you all are having a great week. You know it's July when you thought yesterday was Monday on a Thursday!

Chipotle Southwestern Sauce On my Favorite Sandwich

From time to time John and I stop to get one of those 5 dollar foot longs, and we always get about the same thing. Some of the elements change around like sometimes we are daring and add bacon, other times it's tomato.... but one thing never changes. We love the Chiopotle Southwestern Sauce... it really makes the sandwich. And so this week I got to wondering if I could find a recipe to make it myself so we could enjoy the flavor at home and save a few dollars along the way.

Sure enough it took me no time at all to find a recipe that sounded right and we had everything at home sans one ingredient: the chipotle chilies in adobo. So we hopped in the car and made our way to the Spanish/Mexican section of our grocer. I was a little worried I'd have to spend hours scowering the store to find this elusive item (like the first time I had to find hoisin sauce for the salmon), but right next to the other canned chilies and peppers we found the missing link and several brands to choose from even.

I mixed it up while the other groceries were still unpacked ( too darn excited to wait ) and was delightfully surprised with the acuracy in flavor. This stuff really does make any deli sandwich amazing. Send it to lunch with your man and he'll greet you with kisses after work. Not lieing... this really happened!

And so by now you must be praying that I'll just shut my trap and share the recipe. Ok ok... I'll get on with it.

My Favorite Sandwich (at least for now)

Onion specialty bun.

Meat. I used roasted chicken breast from the deli this time. Any chicken or turkey is always good and I think beef would be great too!

Cheddar cheese ( you got to get the good stuff )

Lettuce finely chopped. Here is one of my all time favorite kitchen tricks. Lay the lettuce flat in a layer of 3 or 4. Beginning on one end, role it up tightly. Hold in place and slice from one end. You'll get these nice little ribbons. How neat is that? And it's faster than trying to finely chop just by running your knife through over and over again.

Chipotle Southwest Sauce:
Tip: 1 ounce = 2 Tablespoons

1 C. Mayonnaise
1/2 Ounce Dijon mustard
1/2 Ounce Lime Juice
1 Ounce Chipotle Chili in Adobo (pureed before you measure)
1/4 Ounce Garlic, minced
Salt to taste

Combine and add salt to taste. Smother sandwich. Refridgerate remaining. Repeat.

Warning: Do not be like me and taste the Chilis unless you have a high tollerance for heat. I thought it smelled pretty sweet, but boy was I wrong... this stuff it hot which is why you don't need much.

Onion chopped.

And that it. Enjoy!

Mouth watering.

Eat Your Fish - Salmon with Mandarin Hoisin Glaze

If you are like me you wish you could eat more fish... but you just don't have any good recipes. Until now my friends. This is my take on a recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. We eat it once every two weeks or so and I haven't tired of it yet.

Salmon With Mandarin Hoisin Glaze

Glaze
1 1/2 T Mandarin Orange Juice
2 T Hoisin Sauce
2 tsp. Honey

1 11oz can Mandarin Oranges Drained (save juice for above)
2 -4 Salmon steaks or pieces
Coarse Salt
Ground Pepper

Mix together glaze. Rinse salmon and pat dry. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Place in a baking dish and pour glaze over. Place drained oranges on top. Broil salmon 4" from heat source for 10-13min.

Enjoy!

Weekend Review

:: Enjoyed one homemade rhubarb crisp in honor of one handsome mans birthday.

:: Dinned out in honor of our -1 anniversary. (less than one year until the big day!)

:: Viewed the latest X-man movie. Hugh is such a hunk.

:: Took one 4 hour nap... proceeded by 3 hours of turning in bed before finally falling asleep.

:: Complete two craft projects on my endless list of things I want to try to make.

Overall... GREAT weekend! Hope you had a great one too.

Martha's Oatmeal Raisin

I'm a total cookie-hog. I love SO many cookies, but a couple months ago I had a hankering for an oatmeal raisin cookie. I searched online and ended up choosing Martha's version. It's traditional and Martha rarely gets things wrong so I went right ahead and whipped up a batch. I was surprised by how many it made (over 4 dozen) and for just John and I that was a lot.... but I couldn't let them go bad so I muched on them all week and might have even replaced a couple meals with them (shhhhh).

Well this week I decided to do batch number two and wanted to share the recipe. These are SO SO good, but because they make so many I decided to freeze 1/2 in freezer paper. I haven't made the frozen batch yet, but I'll try to remember to share how that goes when I get to it. If you don't want to freeze, but have too many to devower youself, you could share with a neighbor, friend, or family. I'm sure they won't refuse.
 

 

 

 

Martha's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Enjoy!

Strawberry Angel Food Delight

Sometimes you just need to spoil yourself a bit.  I found myself in that situation yesterday as I was breezing through the grocery store and out of nowhere I found myself standing in line at the checkout with a box of angel food cake already in my hand. I swear I don't know how it got there.

Then at 7:30 last night I found myself pouring spoonfuls of fluffy white batter into the heart shaped ramekins I bought on uber-clearance at Target after Valentines day. AND... even worse.... I was licking the light as air, sweet and creamy batter straight from the spoon.

It was pure delight!!

P.S. Please don't tell my spandex and running shoes about this incident!

Valentine 2009

Oh my Valentine!

We spent the day with family watching two cousins play basketball. It was quite nice and relaxing. For lunch John took me to the small town pizza place that we both love and ordered a pepperoni and green olive pizza. In the spirit of the day it came as a heart.... how cute.... and cheesy.... oh and delicious. We enjoyed two mugs of 1919 to top it off. It really was a sweet day.

And I think that's were I caught this awful cold. Just about everyone in the family has been sick or is sick or is just starting to be sick so it was my turn too. I'm almost over it now, still a bit worn and tired. John is just starting to show symptoms, but we are combating it with long hours under warm blankets in front of the TV.

See you on the other side.