So my taste buds and I went on a little journey with dill weed this evening. At 7pm as I was getting ready to make dinner, I was firmly convinced that I liked dill. I'm not sure where I got that idea since, upon later reflection, I could not remember any significant dishes that I have eaten and enjoyed which highlighted dill. Nonetheless, I was sure I liked it. And based on that assurance, I chose a lemon dill sauce recipe to go with my broiled Hailbut steaks. I mixed the sauce and tasted it and didn't really love it, but couldn't figure out why. My general thought was, "It tastes funny." After a few more tastes and one good sniff of the dill jar, I decided the "funny" taste was nothing other than the dill. I added a little more mustard and lemon juice to the sauce and tasted again.
Better.
Another teaspoon of capers.
Better still.
Another shake of the white pepper.
Perfecto!
I am once again convinced that I like dill, just not too much of it!
Broiled Halibut with Lemon Dill Sauce
2-4 Halibut Steaks
olive oil
1/2 pint sour cream (I used the Tofutti non-dairy brand and it worked beautifully!)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tsp tsp white pepper
1/4 - 1/2 tsp dill weed
1/2 T fresh lemon juice
2 tsp capers
(*These are approximate quantities. If you try this, start with the smaller measurement and then adjust to taste)
Mix the sauce ingredients.
Brush the Halibut with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and broil on low for about 5 minutes per side.
Serve with sauce for dipping on the side.
This was my first time eating Halibut and I loved it! It is a white fish that flakes like salmon but is thicker and more dense. The flavor was mild, which I liked since I don't care for too much "fishy" taste. I definitely recommend it! In addition, the sauce above came out of one of my favorite cookbooks and was called a general fish sauce, so I think it would be a good compliment to just about any plain, broiled or grilled fish.
Enjoy!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Happy Lips
I lived in Southern CA for a full 22 years. For my first two years in Colorado, my skin seemed to retain some residual moisture from those 22 years. Then slowly, every year after that, my skin has started to become more and more dry. This year, my lips seem to have taken the hardest hit and have been in a perpetual state of CHAPPED since November. Mine were a very unhappy set of lips, despite some very creative efforts on my part to help them!
Having become slightly obsessed with making my own bath products over the last few weeks, I started following a blog with bath recipes and last weekend I tried a recipe for homemade Vanilla Butter Lip Balm. After a week of "test-driving", my lips are super excited to announce that this is completely wonderful stuff!
If you live in the Colorado Springs area, you can get all of these products at Vitamin Cottage (along with fun little tins or glass pots to put it in!) You can also order the ingredients and the containers on Brambleberry.com but the price of shipping makes it less cost effective.
Vanilla Butter Lip Balm
1 Tablespoon cocoa butter (shaved or cut into small pieces)
1 Tablespoon bees wax (shavings or pearls)
1 Tablespoon almond oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a liquid measuring cup with a pouring spout, melt the cocoa butter, wax and almond oil together, stirring occasionally.
- Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Pour into containers (depending on the size of your container, this will make 2-4 containers)
- Once it cools, it is extremely firm and so I have been drawing my finger nail across it to get a little clump and then rubbing that into my lips.
And finally, in celebration of a set of lips that are feeling very happy once again, I have a treat for you. When I was thinking about this blog entry, somewhere in the back of my nanny/babysitter/sunday-school-teaching/child-loving brain, I thought I remembered a Veggie Tales Silly Song about lips. I Google'd it and found what I remembered:
Silly Songs with Larry: I Love My Lips!
I know it might be a tiny bit dorky, but I love Veggie Tales! I promise, if you happen to be feeling at all grumpy at this moment, "I Love My Lips" will perk you right up! And it might inspire you to go make some lip balm and start singing I Love my Lips!
Having become slightly obsessed with making my own bath products over the last few weeks, I started following a blog with bath recipes and last weekend I tried a recipe for homemade Vanilla Butter Lip Balm. After a week of "test-driving", my lips are super excited to announce that this is completely wonderful stuff!
If you live in the Colorado Springs area, you can get all of these products at Vitamin Cottage (along with fun little tins or glass pots to put it in!) You can also order the ingredients and the containers on Brambleberry.com but the price of shipping makes it less cost effective.
Vanilla Butter Lip Balm
1 Tablespoon cocoa butter (shaved or cut into small pieces)
1 Tablespoon bees wax (shavings or pearls)
1 Tablespoon almond oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a liquid measuring cup with a pouring spout, melt the cocoa butter, wax and almond oil together, stirring occasionally.
- Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Pour into containers (depending on the size of your container, this will make 2-4 containers)
- Once it cools, it is extremely firm and so I have been drawing my finger nail across it to get a little clump and then rubbing that into my lips.
And finally, in celebration of a set of lips that are feeling very happy once again, I have a treat for you. When I was thinking about this blog entry, somewhere in the back of my nanny/babysitter/sunday-school-teaching/child-loving brain, I thought I remembered a Veggie Tales Silly Song about lips. I Google'd it and found what I remembered:
Silly Songs with Larry: I Love My Lips!
I know it might be a tiny bit dorky, but I love Veggie Tales! I promise, if you happen to be feeling at all grumpy at this moment, "I Love My Lips" will perk you right up! And it might inspire you to go make some lip balm and start singing I Love my Lips!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Mom's German Chocolate Cake
I really enjoy making cakes! However, as you can guess, a girl just doesn't need to be eating whole cakes by herself and even sharing with 4 other roommates leaves me eating more cake than is good for me. So... I don't get to make them that often. However, we do birthday parties at Coleson Foods and occasionally I get to make the cake for those. My all-time favorite work memory involved such a cake back in August. August is a shared birthday month for me and 3 other co-workers and I volunteered to make my favorite carrot cake. I did the whole thing from scratch, frosting and all and brought it in to work the following morning. However, I made one fatal error. I carried the tupperware cake carrier by the handle! I know, I know... One wouldn't think that this would be such an incredible mistake since handles are typically made for carrying. But right after I passed through the front door of our office at 6:45am, the top came loose and dumped my beautiful cake all over the floor. I shrieked which brought my supervisor, Steve, and our IT guy, Nathanael (who also get here as insanely early as I do) running. Nathanael took one look at the pile 'o cake and said, "I'm getting the forks!". He dashed off to the kitchen for 3 forks and Steve, he and I sat in a circle and ate my carrot cake off of the floor! What was tragic turned incredibly comical and we still laugh over that moment.
(By the time this photo was taken, we had already scooped most of it back onto the offending carrier...)
Skip forward several months... I have learned my lesson about cake carriers and I now faithfully carry from the bottom! Henceforth, the German Chocolate Cake I made last night was safely deposited in our office kitchen this morning and is dutifully awaiting our party at noon, as we speak. This was my dad's favorite birthday cake while I was growing up and I have not had it in years. I have fond memories of celebrating him with it though, so I wanted to share the recipe with you.
Mom's German Chocolate Cake
CAKE
4oz Baker's Sweet German baking chocolate
1/2 c. milk
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
4 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 sm. instant chocolate pudding
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk
Melt chocolate in milk without boiling the milk. Cool. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add yolks one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in vanilla and chocolate. Sift together flour, pudding, soda & salt. Add this mixture into the batter alternately with the buttermilk, beating after each addition until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter. Pour into 3 greased & floured 9-inch cake tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool. Frost.
FROSTING
12 oz evaporated milk
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
4 egg yolks
3/4 c. butter
1 c. chopped pecans
2 c. shredded coconut
2 tsp. vanilla
In a pot, combine milk, sugars, egg yolks and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 12 minutes. Add pecans, coconut and vanilla. Cool.
This makes enough frosting to spread between the layers of the cakes and on top, but not to go around the sides. It is pretty rich so just between the layers was sufficient for me. But if you want to frost around the sides, you will need to increase the quantities.
(Also, this is the CA version of the recipe. To account for our crazy altitude here in CO, I increased the milk in the cake batter by 2T, increased the flour by 3T, decreased the baking soda to 3/4 tsp, decreased the sugar to 1 2/3 c. and increased the baking time by 10 minutes. I haven't eaten the cake yet so I can't confirm for certain that this worked, but the layers didn't "fall" in the centers, so I think these were appropriate adjustments)
Enjoy !
(By the time this photo was taken, we had already scooped most of it back onto the offending carrier...)
Skip forward several months... I have learned my lesson about cake carriers and I now faithfully carry from the bottom! Henceforth, the German Chocolate Cake I made last night was safely deposited in our office kitchen this morning and is dutifully awaiting our party at noon, as we speak. This was my dad's favorite birthday cake while I was growing up and I have not had it in years. I have fond memories of celebrating him with it though, so I wanted to share the recipe with you.
Mom's German Chocolate Cake
CAKE
4oz Baker's Sweet German baking chocolate
1/2 c. milk
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
4 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 sm. instant chocolate pudding
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk
Melt chocolate in milk without boiling the milk. Cool. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add yolks one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in vanilla and chocolate. Sift together flour, pudding, soda & salt. Add this mixture into the batter alternately with the buttermilk, beating after each addition until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter. Pour into 3 greased & floured 9-inch cake tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool. Frost.
FROSTING
12 oz evaporated milk
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
4 egg yolks
3/4 c. butter
1 c. chopped pecans
2 c. shredded coconut
2 tsp. vanilla
In a pot, combine milk, sugars, egg yolks and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 12 minutes. Add pecans, coconut and vanilla. Cool.
This makes enough frosting to spread between the layers of the cakes and on top, but not to go around the sides. It is pretty rich so just between the layers was sufficient for me. But if you want to frost around the sides, you will need to increase the quantities.
(Also, this is the CA version of the recipe. To account for our crazy altitude here in CO, I increased the milk in the cake batter by 2T, increased the flour by 3T, decreased the baking soda to 3/4 tsp, decreased the sugar to 1 2/3 c. and increased the baking time by 10 minutes. I haven't eaten the cake yet so I can't confirm for certain that this worked, but the layers didn't "fall" in the centers, so I think these were appropriate adjustments)
Enjoy !
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Homemade Body Butter
Last night was glorious! And no, I was not out doing wild and crazy things with the rest of the single twenty-somethings in this city. I was home with a friend making my own body butter. I have mentioned this before, but I get really unusual levels of enjoyment over making things for myself and for the last several years, I have had strange, secret desires to make my own soap and lotion. In addition, I enjoy using products that are simple and natural and non-chemical when possible (with the exception of fabric softener - I just can NOT give up the beloved smell of Downy, no matter how toxic it might be!).
So a couple of weeks ago, Joni (who is also the one who introduced me to Port and Dark Chocolate, bless her!) sent me an email link to some simple instructions for making your own body butter cream and body butter bars. I got super excited and did a little research. A company called Brambleberry.com sold my supplies for relatively inexpensive so I ordered them, they arrived last week, and Joni and I parked ourselves in my kitchen last night to see if we could whip up a little magic. We ended up making body butter cream, body butter bars and lip butter/gloss. I will give you the instructions for just the cream in this post and will do the other recipes another day...
Supplies:
a food scale
a glass bowl
hand mixer with a whisk attachment
some kind of container for your cream - I used a glass canning jar and the recipe filled up 1 quart sized jar to the top
3 oz pure cocoa butter
6 oz pure shea butter
3 oz any liquid oil (I used almond oil, but you could use jojoba or probably even good olive oil)
- Weigh out the two butters, cut them into relatively uniform-sized pieces and melt them together in the glass bowl in the microwave, stirring occasionally. I did not write down the exact amount of time this took, but I am guessing it was close to 5-7 minutes.
- Once the mixture is entirely liquid, give it a quick whisk and then place it either in the freezer or in another larger bowl filled with ice water.
- If you wanted to add a fragrance or essential oil of some kind, you could do it here. However, the cocoa butter smells just like chocolate and I loved that, so I left it alone.
-Let the bowl sit for 5 minutes. Whisk for about a minute. Let it sit for another 5 minutes. Whisk again, etc. As the mixture cools, you will need to scrape down the side of the bowl before whisking.
Do not let the mixture cool too much before pouring it into your jars. I would recommend pouring when it is the consistency of thick cake batter. Joni and I learned this the hard way (or the amusing way, depending on which way you look at it). I was distracted by how pretty it looked while I was mixing and then suddenly it got really firm! This lead to an interesting process of us trying to use our hands to press it down into our jars. We got it everywhere and our hands were covered. What's the problem, you ask? Well, this is pretty rich stuff and a little goes a long way. We called my roommate down from upstairs for aid! She rolled up our pant legs and we tried to rub the excess into our legs. When there was still more that needed to be rubbed in somewhere, well... Lets just say my feet weren't the only thing that were bare in the kitchen last night!
One disclaimer: If you try this, do not expect the consistency of a body butter that you would buy at the store. This stuff does not have any preservatives and it does not contain an emulsifier (which would keep it creamy). Once it cools, it has the consistency of... Hmmm... What to compare it to??? Well, it is firm, but turns to liquid as soon as you rub your hands together. It goes on oily, and it does take a little bit to soak in. However, I woke up this morning with softer skin than I have had in a very long time. That said, this is probably more of a night cream than a day cream.
And that is the end of my Friday night story. The bars and the lip butter also turned out really well! More on those soon :)
So a couple of weeks ago, Joni (who is also the one who introduced me to Port and Dark Chocolate, bless her!) sent me an email link to some simple instructions for making your own body butter cream and body butter bars. I got super excited and did a little research. A company called Brambleberry.com sold my supplies for relatively inexpensive so I ordered them, they arrived last week, and Joni and I parked ourselves in my kitchen last night to see if we could whip up a little magic. We ended up making body butter cream, body butter bars and lip butter/gloss. I will give you the instructions for just the cream in this post and will do the other recipes another day...
Supplies:
a food scale
a glass bowl
hand mixer with a whisk attachment
some kind of container for your cream - I used a glass canning jar and the recipe filled up 1 quart sized jar to the top
3 oz pure cocoa butter
6 oz pure shea butter
3 oz any liquid oil (I used almond oil, but you could use jojoba or probably even good olive oil)
- Weigh out the two butters, cut them into relatively uniform-sized pieces and melt them together in the glass bowl in the microwave, stirring occasionally. I did not write down the exact amount of time this took, but I am guessing it was close to 5-7 minutes.
- Once the mixture is entirely liquid, give it a quick whisk and then place it either in the freezer or in another larger bowl filled with ice water.
- If you wanted to add a fragrance or essential oil of some kind, you could do it here. However, the cocoa butter smells just like chocolate and I loved that, so I left it alone.
-Let the bowl sit for 5 minutes. Whisk for about a minute. Let it sit for another 5 minutes. Whisk again, etc. As the mixture cools, you will need to scrape down the side of the bowl before whisking.
Do not let the mixture cool too much before pouring it into your jars. I would recommend pouring when it is the consistency of thick cake batter. Joni and I learned this the hard way (or the amusing way, depending on which way you look at it). I was distracted by how pretty it looked while I was mixing and then suddenly it got really firm! This lead to an interesting process of us trying to use our hands to press it down into our jars. We got it everywhere and our hands were covered. What's the problem, you ask? Well, this is pretty rich stuff and a little goes a long way. We called my roommate down from upstairs for aid! She rolled up our pant legs and we tried to rub the excess into our legs. When there was still more that needed to be rubbed in somewhere, well... Lets just say my feet weren't the only thing that were bare in the kitchen last night!
One disclaimer: If you try this, do not expect the consistency of a body butter that you would buy at the store. This stuff does not have any preservatives and it does not contain an emulsifier (which would keep it creamy). Once it cools, it has the consistency of... Hmmm... What to compare it to??? Well, it is firm, but turns to liquid as soon as you rub your hands together. It goes on oily, and it does take a little bit to soak in. However, I woke up this morning with softer skin than I have had in a very long time. That said, this is probably more of a night cream than a day cream.
And that is the end of my Friday night story. The bars and the lip butter also turned out really well! More on those soon :)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The kitchen sneaks into my bathroom...
I had a friend over on Monday night and a conversation occurred that I have often. We were visiting in the living room in my basement and she asked to use my bathroom. Upon exiting the bathroom, she looked super puzzled. "Jenny, WHY do you have honey in your shower?" I gave her my standard and very enthusiastic reply and I am pretty sure I made another convert. (I have several walking around out there!) Upon later reflection, realized I have several trusty kitchen products in my bathroom. I thought I would share with you all a few new uses for stuff in your pantry.
DISCLAIMER: This stuff works for me in a Colorado (7K feet above sea level and so dry it sucks all the moisture out of your skin) climate. I have no idea how it would work for those of you who live in other places where the climate is kinder to your skin...
- HONEY: Yes, I keep honey in my shower and I wash my face with it every morning. I started doing this about 3-4 years ago when a friend gave me an article that described honey as a natural face cleanser because of its moisturizing and anti-microbial properties. It is not nearly as messy as you might imagine as it rinses off easily with warm water. Occasionally in the evenings if I have time, I will put it on my face dry and let it sit for 15-20 minutes like a mask. Otherwise I just wet my face, rub it on, smack my lips a little bit to enjoy the taste, and then rinse. Pretty much any form of soap makes my face really dry, so this is a happy and inexpensive option for me.
- OLIVE OIL: I also keep a little jar of extra virgin olive oil in my drawer near the sink and I use it in several ways. In the shower, I will mix it with a little SUGAR(which is also in a tub in the drawer) and exfoiliate with that mix. Or I might rub a little onto my skin before drying off. It makes a wonderful moisturizer and soaks in beautifully. I also mix it 1/2 and 1/2 with castor oil (found in the pharmacy section at a walmart/target or at a natural foods store) and use that as a cleanser on my face in the evenings. I know it sounds counter-intuitive to wash your face with an oil, but again, I read an article, was intrigued, tried it and have been really happy with the results. If you would like to read this article, see the link below. You might be surprised how much sense it makes.
Oil-Cleansing Method
- BAKING SODA: I have a little tub of this in the drawer too and use it on canker sores or blemishes. It can be a little tricky to get this in your mouth if you have a canker sore and it will hurt like the dickens and make you dance around and whimper! But it will take care of that darn canker sore within a day or two and I for one would rather have a few minutes of dancing and squealing as opposed to the longer option of letting it do its thing naturally. With blemishes, I will make a little paste and use it before bed. However, I don't recommend doing that for more than two days in a row on one spot because it will start to irritate the skin.
I think that is all my tips for now. If I stumble across more, I will let you all know.
Happy Friday Eve!
DISCLAIMER: This stuff works for me in a Colorado (7K feet above sea level and so dry it sucks all the moisture out of your skin) climate. I have no idea how it would work for those of you who live in other places where the climate is kinder to your skin...
- HONEY: Yes, I keep honey in my shower and I wash my face with it every morning. I started doing this about 3-4 years ago when a friend gave me an article that described honey as a natural face cleanser because of its moisturizing and anti-microbial properties. It is not nearly as messy as you might imagine as it rinses off easily with warm water. Occasionally in the evenings if I have time, I will put it on my face dry and let it sit for 15-20 minutes like a mask. Otherwise I just wet my face, rub it on, smack my lips a little bit to enjoy the taste, and then rinse. Pretty much any form of soap makes my face really dry, so this is a happy and inexpensive option for me.
- OLIVE OIL: I also keep a little jar of extra virgin olive oil in my drawer near the sink and I use it in several ways. In the shower, I will mix it with a little SUGAR(which is also in a tub in the drawer) and exfoiliate with that mix. Or I might rub a little onto my skin before drying off. It makes a wonderful moisturizer and soaks in beautifully. I also mix it 1/2 and 1/2 with castor oil (found in the pharmacy section at a walmart/target or at a natural foods store) and use that as a cleanser on my face in the evenings. I know it sounds counter-intuitive to wash your face with an oil, but again, I read an article, was intrigued, tried it and have been really happy with the results. If you would like to read this article, see the link below. You might be surprised how much sense it makes.
Oil-Cleansing Method
- BAKING SODA: I have a little tub of this in the drawer too and use it on canker sores or blemishes. It can be a little tricky to get this in your mouth if you have a canker sore and it will hurt like the dickens and make you dance around and whimper! But it will take care of that darn canker sore within a day or two and I for one would rather have a few minutes of dancing and squealing as opposed to the longer option of letting it do its thing naturally. With blemishes, I will make a little paste and use it before bed. However, I don't recommend doing that for more than two days in a row on one spot because it will start to irritate the skin.
I think that is all my tips for now. If I stumble across more, I will let you all know.
Happy Friday Eve!
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