Halloween: It's Not Just Candy I'm Stealing From The Children

About a month ago, when the long anticipated invite to the Williamson's Halloween party came in the mail I thought it would be hilarious to go as Katy Perry in her dot candy dress and make the cupcake suit for Pete Dog. I scoped out the perfect fabric for his jacket and even bought a pattern--it's supposed to make a pirate coat but I was pretty sure I could cut the tails off and, as Mr. Gunn would say, make it work.




After a couple more six-day work weeks I rationalized that I could still make the cupcake jacket, and Snoop Pete could wear black suit pants. And all would be good.

Yeah, ok. Except I didn't make anything.

Except the decision to abandon the California Gurrrls idea and troll the Martha Stewart website.

Mummies! I could totally make mummies in the time left until Halloween...



Got the long underwear, bought the cheesecloth, invested in the appropriate make up and....all of a sudden it was Friday night. All the crap I'd bought for these costumes are still in the JoAnn fabric bag, in the back of my car, along side the as yet uncarved pumpkins and some LED lights I was going to string in some bare branches that I was going to get and jam into my urns.

Not to mention the fabric to make a Dracula cape for Hayd and some woolly fleece stuff to make a Hippie vest for Tate.

Is it too early to start writing my Mother of the Year acceptance speech?

The only thing keeping me from crying in my chardonnay is the fact that tears would only further water down the cheap stuff that passes for the house wine at Chez Ellinwood.

And then I cracked open facebook. In addition to being a colossal time waster and narcissist enabler of the first order, it can also come in pretty handy when you need to steal an idea or two.



The second I saw this snap of Sophie and the Fabozzi gals on Megan's facebook page, I knew that I could put together a couple of Ooompa Loompa outfits in about 15 minutes.

One quick trip to Wally World, et voila!





Why do I always go for gross/funny and never cute/sexy? Discuss amongst yourselves.

And Happy Halloween....

Apple Cake with Sticky Toffee Sauce

Smitten Kitchen is my favorite food blog.

Deb Perelman has the time, money and mad photo skills to make every entry a work of art.
Not to mention delicious.

Hate Her.

Mom's Apple Cake is the most moist, most appley, most delicious cake I've ever made; or eaten for that matter. It's also one of those oil based cakes that are fairly simple to make. Well, the third time at least.

Here is what her apple cake looks like:

Gorgeous.

Mine too, eventually....

Here's what I turned out recently:




The issue was trying to figure out how to get the cake out of the tube pan.

Or, more precisely, how to get the tube out of the cake.

The typical, invert-the-pan-over-a-waxed-paper-lined-plate procedure just had the damn cake falling onto the waxed paper in chunks. Undeniably moist and delicious chunks, but not exactly what I was planning on serving at my dinner party.

You can hide a lot of sins with powdered sugar, but even a blizzard wouldn't have salvaged this wreck.

I guess I could have baked the cake longer, or reduced the number of cinnamony apple chunks I folded into the batter, but if I had wanted a dry cake I could have just bought one down at Market Basket. Feh!

The solution was so simple: I cut a hole into a cake round so that I could push it down over the center tube and then gently support the cake as I flipped it over:



The cake slid right out, in one piece....



So get yourself a piece of cardboard, and make this cake as soon as possible.




It is, I ess you not, the best fall dessert recipe ever,

unless you are one of those silly people who like chocolate desserts more than fruit ones.

You folks are on your own.

Still not convinced that this cake is worth your time?

Look at this gorgeous batter:



And tell me your mouth isn't watering thinking about how these apples will bake up?



And just because good enough is never really good enough where dessert is concerned,

Serve this apple cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a thick drizzle of Nigella Lawson's sticky toffee sauce.



Look, you can eat all the chocolate you want tomorrow night after the little darlings collapse into their candy coma and you can plunder their Halloween bags with abandon.

Kim Chi, aka Korean Salsa

The Koreans use this like American boys use ketchup.
Kim Chi is spicy and pungent and a little goes a loooooong way.

Follow the good doctor's orders and you'll have the perfect Korean condiment!

Dr. Ben Kim's Kim Chi Recipe
Ingredients:

Napa cabbage - approximately one pound
4 cups of cold water
3 tablespoons of sea salt
1 tablespoon of fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh green onions (scallions), finely chopped
1 teaspoon of dried red chili pepper flakes (more if you like things spicy, less if you don't)
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of sugar

Directions:

Separate and wash cabbage leaves. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sea or kosher salt evenly on cabbage leaves. Place salted cabbage leaves in a large bowl, add 4 cups of cold water, cover with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator overnight. Be sure that water covers all cabbage leaves - place a plate or other heavy object on top of leaves to ensure that they stay covered with water.

The next day, pour off water and thoroughly rinse cabbage leaves. You can shake them gently in the sink to remove excess moisture.

Place cabbage leaves back into large bowl and add garlic, green onion or scallions, ginger, dried red chili flakes, sugar, and 1 tablespoon of salt. Use your hands to rub seasoning evenly into all cabbage leaves. Be sure to use gloves to do this, otherwise, your hands will burn from the chili flakes. If you are pressed for time, mix seasoning ingredients with about a cup of warm water before adding them to cabbage to allow for easier distribution on cabbage leaves.

Transfer seasoned cabbage leaves into a large glass bottle. Be sure to use firm pressure with your hands to push down on cabbage leaves as they stack up inside the bottle. Transfer any liquid that accumulated during the mixing process into the bottle as well - it will become kim chi brine. Some liquid will also come out of the cabbage leaves as you press down on them as they are stacked in the bottle.

Leave about 2 inches of room at the top of the bottle before capping it tightly with a lid. Allow bottle of kim chi to sit at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Your kim chi is now ready to eat. Use scissors or a knife and cutting board to cut cabbage leaves into 2 inch pieces before serving as a side dish to a bowl of rice, soup, and perhaps a piece of fish. Refrigerate remaining kim chi and take out small portions right before meals. The refrigerated kim chi will continue to ferment slowly in the refrigerator over time, becoming more sour and flavorful with each passing day. So long as you use clean utensils to take out small portions, it will keep for up to a month in your refrigerator.

Frugal Feasts: Ajummas Unite!

Photo by Ken Williams for The Concord Monitor

Ajummas Unite!

Ajumma is a Korean word that can be defined as a married woman who is so busy raising the children, cleaning the house, paying the bills, doing the laundry and working a menial job to pay off the husband’s debts that she has no time left to keep up with current fashion. Classier than Gluttons for Punishment, more exotic than Haus Frau, we will wear our Ajumma title with as much pride as we do our saggy and faded yoga pants.

While we’d like to say that we ran across Ajumma as we were perusing Atlantic Monthly on our Kindles, you know we’d be lying. We discovered this term surfing the interwebs trying to figure out the incredibly polite, well mannered and deferential new additions to our families, our Korean Exchange students. It’s kind of funny—when folks hear that we have another teenage boy in our houses, the typical response is an anguished groan.

But in all honesty, having one quiet teen in the house, one quiet teen, we’d like to note, who is single-mindedly focused on getting the best possible grades, is nothing short of wonderful. Every Ajumma should treat themselves to one.

In fact, the only problem we are having is what to do with all our excess maternal angst because:

…when we ask our Koreans if they need any help with their homework their answer is no, thank you, because they stayed up all night to finish it perfectly.

…when we ask them if they are hungry their answer is no, thank you because they buy noodle bowls on Amazon.com and then boil them up without help or mess.

…when we ask them if they’d like help looking at colleges their answer is no, thank you because they have already decided where they will apply and have edited the bejezuz out of their supplemental essays.

…when we ask them if they’d like a ride downtown their answer is no, thank you because they actually like to walk.

…when we ask them if we can do some laundry their answer is no, thank you because they wear things more than once, and only send stuff to the laundry when it is actually dirty and not just wrinkled.

Raise you coffee mug if you’d like to help us set up a little South Korean boot camp exchange program for all our needy, messy children for a few weeks of intensive lessons in self motivation and work ethic.

The only problem we foresee is finding willing Korean families. Forget the language barrier—mumbling is mumbling no matter where you’re from—after one week of driving their raggedy American behinds around, our kids would be sent packing.

It has been a revelation to us all to learn the small differences and great similarities that exist between American and Korean society and you can call us crazy but we’d like to hope that living with a teenager who speaks with respect and acts with honor will rub off a little on the natives.
Our kids have loved learning about Korean society and school, not to mention a few choice phrases that are garnering rave reviews in the Rundlett cafeteria.

We hate to get sentimental here, but it has been a wondrous experience to parent a young man that requires only the basics: food, shelter and the occasional load of clean clothes. And the extras aren’t terribly onerous either—so far the list seems to be a smile, a wish for a good day in the morning, hot water for the endless bowls of noodles and maybe a ride when it rains.

So in honor of our most agreeable house guests we’ve been trying to make some of their favorite foods.

Japache
A Korean noodle dish that is hearty and satisfying.
8 servings

2 12 ounce packages Korean Vermicelli or 1 ½ boxes of angel hair pasta
½ pound shitake mushrooms, stems discarded, tops thinly sliced
2-6 tablespoons peanut or corn oil, more or less, as needed
2 medium onions cut into slivers
2 medium cucumbers cut into slivers
4 carrots diced
2 thinly sliced red peppers
1/3rd cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons sesame seeds for garnish

If using Korean noodles submerge them in a large bowl of room temperature water to soften for about a half hour. After soaking, boil for 5-6 minutes, drain and keep warm.
If using regular pasta, cook according to package directions, rinse and keep warm.

Whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic and minced ginger in a small bowl. Preheat a large skillet or wok and film the bottom with a tablespoon or two of peanut or corn oil. Add the mushrooms and a dash of salt and sauté until the mushrooms are firm and glossy. Remove and set aside. Continue the process with each different vegetable to help retain their unique flavors.
Add an additional dribble of peanut oil to the pan, add the drained noodles and sauté for two minutes. Add back all the vegetables and the sauce and toss gently until well combined and heated through.
Serve on a flat platter garnished with the sesame seeds.

Bulgogi Marinade
Thinly sliced beef is the protein typically used in this Korean favorite but we tried it with ever so frugal chicken thighs and were thrilled with the sweet and spicy flavors. Try it too on the more traditional thinly sliced round steak or as a glaze for roasted salmon.
8 servings
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more or less to taste
6 green onions, roughly chopped
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 quarter sized slices of fresh ginger, minced
3 pounds chicken thighs, excess fat removed
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Whisk together all but the chicken and the sesame seeds in a shallow pan. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Let marinate for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Remove from the marinade, pat dry and grill over medium heat until cooked through. Pour the marinade into a small pan and bring to a full rolling boil to make sure it is well cooked after being in contact with the raw chicken. Set aside and let cool slightly. Arrange the chicken on a serving platter and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Serve with the boiled marinade and mounds of fluffy white rice.


If you’d like an American take on Kimchi, the salsa of Korea, please visit frugalfeastsblog.com. And don’t forget to annoy your kids by following us on facebook!

EASY Chicken and Rice

This was a last minute

OMG what is for dinner moment

Orange Chicken

2 packages of chicken pieces

1 jar orange marmalade

3 cups brown rice

6 cups water

Preheat oven to 300

Pour water and rice into 9x13 inch pan

arrange chicken on top

cover chicken with marmalade

place in oven for 1 hour or until chicken is done

serve with a salad or not

Enjoy !!!!!

Wedding Memories

The First Dance

Photos Forester Photography

http://www.foresterphotography.com/

Don't Think I'm Gonna Make It After All

Do all y'all remember this moment? When the show started I was 9 and completely dazzled by Mary and her impossibly thin thighs. Not to mention her killer wardrobe. Bitch could knot a neckerchief like no one's business.

I am so totally a Rhoda, and was back then too, but my tween self was convinced otherwise. I saw myself at 30 being just as well-dressed, confident and thin as Mary Richards. And forget Barbie's dream castle. I'd take that third floor apartment with the beautiful windows and walk-in closet over anything I've ever lived in, or could ever hope to inhabit...not sure where I'd stash all the ski equipment, Korean exchange students and all the other boys, and it would be a daily challenge to pick all the Lego bits out of that shag carpet, but damn it, a girl can dream.

Watching the opening credits of the first season reminds me of just how long ago this show began. And I had forgotten that the original lyrics were much less certain of a rosy future for our Mair....Paul Williams sings you might just make it after all, not the upbeat and confident you're gonna make it after all...as well as how damn depressing downtown Minneapolis was in 1970. Is that sun hazy because of smog or the pre-photshop tamerping of some art director? Smog must have been pretty bad if Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Clean Air Act in 1970.

If the outfits and Murray's sideburns weren't enough to make me feel ridiculously old, last night I was snuggled in my bed with Tate and Wyatt and Hayden watching episode 4 on my iPad and as the credits rolled Tate expressed his surprise that the show was in color.

I guess I should be flattered that Tate thinks I'm young enough to have had teevee of any sort in my youth--it would be brutally easy to convince them that back in my day all our entertainment was drawn on the walls of the family cave--but I still nearly slapped him.

Episode 4, just so you know, is the one where Rhoda talks Mary into joining a social group for divorcees "The Better Luck Next Time Club" just so they could get cheap airfare to Paris as part of the group's spring charter trip. It being the MTM Show, Mary winds up being voted in as the new Vice President, and when she confesses her single, never been married status, it turns out most of the club was also lying. It was funnier on the screen, trust me.

And one final question: How many of the episodes of this show didn't start with Rhoda talking Mary into some hair brained scheme?

My guess is about five.

Quick Nibbles

That title sounds a little naughty now that I look at it...

I'm married to Mr. Cocktail Party. He is infamous for inviting a bunch of people over on short notice. Which would be fine any of the following ever happened:

• The house was clean
• We had more than a bottle or two of supermarket wine
• There was any food in the house that wasn't destined to be part of some casserole

After 23 years you'd think I'd have this figured out.

Of course if I had figured anything out after 23 years I probably wouldn't still be married. Or have five kids. And a Korean exchange student. No damn dogs, neither.

Above is a photo of what I was able to throw together in about 10 minutes after Mr. Generous invited two couples over for a Quick Drink.

The best part was I only had to clean the kitchen. About the only thing I like about having dogs is that we have a gate at the kitchen door that thankfully prevented the aforementioned quick drinkers from venturing any further into the disaster zone that is my house.

The White Bean Dip goes together in the food processor in less than a minute and is mighty tasty slathered on Stacy's bagel chips.

The Marinated Red Peppers are spicy and delicious, and theoretically would be something to make with the red peppers you learned how to roast on your stove top in our latest Fru-Tube video. I am using the subjunctive tense because the damn video still hasn't happened.

The Dilly Beans I canned this summer with Megan. How ridiculous is that? Here is a link to that recipe. You could just throw some sour pickles in a bowl too...

The Dry Salami came out of a package from the market.

The Pistachios too.

White Bean Dip

2 cans cannelloni beans, drained with liquid reserved
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper--about an eighth of a teaspoon
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 cup best quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Place the beans, garlic, salt, black and cayenne pepper and the rosemary in a food processor. Blitz until smooth. Add a splash or two of the reserved bean liquid and process until creamy, adding more bean juice as needed. Add half the olive oil and blitz for a second or two. Taste and correct the seasoning.

Put the dip in a bowl and drizzle with the remaining oil. Garnish with additional rosemary, or not.

Marinated Red Peppers

Roast a couple of red bell peppers until blackened. Let cool, scrape off the charred skin and slice into thin ribbons. Marinate in a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and a smashed clove of garlic. Refrigerate until serving time. You could put out some toothpicks with these.

Cheers!

Crock Pot Cake..not so bad

The truth is this cake was not so bad and if for some reason I ever end up with out a stove, I can always make a cake in the crock pot, so the celebrations will not be put on hold ever....

Foil up the pot

Mix up the stuff

Pot it up

Cover and

wallah !!!!!!

Moist and delicious...

not very pretty, so I used the photo from the recipe

you can see the potential

Applesauce cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

5 tbs unsalted butter softened

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup bitter,ilk

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1. coat slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place 1 long sheet of nonstick foil in the bottom of the slow cooker with ends hanging over handles.

2. whisk together flour, pumpkin, pie spice, baking soda,baking powder and salt; set aside

3. Beat together butter and brown sugar on high speed for 1 minute. Beat in egg, scrape down sides of bowl on low speed, beat in buttermilk ( mixture will look curdled) beat in applesauce. add flour mixture to bowl and beat on low speed until combined.

4. Spread batter into slow cooker. Place a clean dish cloth over slow cooker the place cover on top. Cook on high for 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Use foil handles to lift cake out of slow cooker.Cut into slices and serve.

Applesauce Cake in The Crock Pot ?

Wish me luck....
This recipe involves aluminum foil, applesauce and a few other common ingredients.

The way I figure, it's worth a shot.
Check back on Thursday for the results...
This could be good or very very bad.

Apples: The Latest Harvest

Apples will have to do until the Fru Tube issue is fixed...damn batteries, never and I mean never can we keep them where they are supposed to be, and then when you find a few..are they any good? Who the hell knows...Well that really is another post altogether. So this will have to do.
The apples are ready for picking So we made our trip to the orchard and we have a ton of apples, so before the fruit flies show up for this harvest. I took on the baking, I wanted try something different so I hit the books

French-inspired clafouti, custard-meets-pastry, where's the pastry? Baked right in :)

Ingredients:
4 cups peeled, thinly sliced apples
1 ½ cups half and half
4 eggs
½ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a deep 10-inch pie plate.

2) Arrange the apples evenly over the bottom of the plate.

3) Combine milk and eggs in a blender until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend 5 seconds. Pour batter over apples. Bake 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry.

If you like custard this is a great recipe. Creamy and sweet with a good tart apple surprise

The Harvest is Over...Got Tomatoes?

It was a good year for tomatoes; I know this not because Ms. Green Jeans here was very successful. I think out of the 10 plants I purchased for my asphalt garden in the city I reaped about 5 nice mealy orbs...

The reason I know this was a great season is thanks to my friends. They have supplied me with more tomatoes than a family of 10 could eat.

Imagine that.. so I lost my mind right before the big wedding. I refused to throw out the 10 pound bag of luscious, overripe tomatoes that were sitting on the counter staring at me...so I put them in a bag like everything else I could not deal with for the three days I was in the forest dancing.(see post dated 9/29/10 I'm back)

I STUCK THEM IN THE BACK HALL..... WELL BY TUESDAY I COULD NO LONGER AVOID THEM for one more second the fruit flies were on their way en mass. So for the first time in my life I made homemade tomato sauce.

I just faked it until I made it and it worked..... so please bear with me, I did not follow a recipe,( for this post,I did borrow some info from another recipe for the tomato cooking section,) I honestly do not think you would want my rendition. I knew the basics, so it pretty standard for me wing it !!!!

Homemade Sauce.
Ingredients
10 ripe tomatoes (or 40 adjust as needed)

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup cooking sherry
1small can tomato paste
1tbs instant coffee
1tbls sugar
Directions
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Have ready a large bowl of iced water. Plunge whole tomatoes in boiling water until skin starts to peel, 1 minute. Remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath. Let rest until cool enough to handle, then remove peel and squeeze out seeds. Set aside, In a large pot , over medium heat, cook onion, garlic in oil and butter until onion starts to soften, 5 minutes. Pour in tomatoes, basil, Italian seasoning and wine. Bring to a boil, add coffee and sugar, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 2 hours. Stir in tomato paste and simmer an additional 2 hours. .

It was soooo good..