Addicted to tutus...

I think I love making tutus.  I actually ignored my older children arguing today and just kept on making my tutu for Lexi... it was somewhat therapeutic.  Tomorrow comes PURPLE and longer... maybe some fancy finishes on the bottom.  We'll see.  Anyhow.  I seriously am addicted.  Who'da thunk?  Now I'm picturing buying Lexi zebra print leggings to go with a black top and a hot pink medium length tutu... and maybe some hot pink patent leather combat boots, lol.

Anyhow.  Lazy day since I was focused on the new tutu and shirt.  I made a roast on the stovetop.  Cast iron (ceramic glazed) dutch oven, of course.  I have no idea what cut of meat.  I could care less.  It really doesn't matter to me.  I got a 2-for-1 deal at the grocery store, so one went in the pot and one went in the freezer.  It's all in the sauce anyhow.  I made homemade mashed potatoes to go with the gravy, and steamed some green beans.  Sourdough rolls, and voila!

Here's the million dollar recipe folks... it's the bomb!

Whiney Java Roast

• 3-6 pound roast, any cut (boneless) 
  
• 1 cup flour, salt/pepper/dried thyme
• 4 cloves garlic -- peeled and chopped
  
• 2 large onions, roughly chopped
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups good quality red wine (I like Shiraz)
• 1 large can V-8® vegetable juice
• 10 oz very strong black coffee
• 
  
  1 cup beef stock
  
  
  
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme, removed from stalks
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 
  
  6 T butter
  
  
  
• 6 T flour
• 1 cup heavy cream

Heat dutch oven on stovetop with olive oil.  Mix flour, salt/pepper/dried thyme in shallow dish on countertop. 

1. Unwrap roast and stare at it in dismay.  HOLY CRAP that's a lotta beef!  Unless you're a vegetarian, deal with it.  Grab it with your hands and coat in in the flour mixture.  If you don't feel like making a mess, use a leftover produce bag from the grocery store to put the flour mixture in... throw in the beef, and wallop one of your whiney kids with it.
2. Brown the roast on all sides.  Add onion and garlic to pan if you can see after chopping those monster onions.  I had mascara all over my sleeves.  Cook for about 5-10 minutes, but DO NOT LET GARLIC BROWN.
3. Take that bitch of a roast out carefully.  Whine to your husband that you're not strong enough and let him burn himself with the scalding oil.  Set in on the cutting board that I know you haven't cleaned up yet.
4. Pour in the red wine.  Scrape up all the brown bits off the bottom.  Reduce by half.  Drink a glass of the Shiraz.  It's good. 
5. Add the V8, Coffee, and stock.  Whine to your husband again about the "heavy roast" and get it back in there somehow.  Add the bay leaves. 
6. Get that sucker boiling, reduce it to low immediately and cover it.
7. Drink some more wine and ignore that roast for a few hours.  At least 3.  You can move it to a crock pot if you want and run away to the nearest mall too.
8. If you must, you can put vegetables in your roast, but that's gross.  Put them in the oven where they belong.  Don't screw up my gravy.
9. When you're ready to eat, set the roast on a carving board and let it rest for 15 min.
10. Pour the liquids into a large bowl with a pouring spout.
11. Throw the butter into the dutch oven.  Yell at someone to throw the rolls in the oven because you're busy.  When the butter is melted, add the flour.  Whisk for two minutes or more if you feel special.
12. Add the liquids back in.  When it thickens, add the cream.  Bring to a boil, reduce to low-med, and simmer for five minutes or so.  Voila.  If you want it thicker... use more fat/flour dummy! 
13. I like to slice  my roast (if it doesn't just fall apart) and add it back to the gravy.  If anyone whines... thump 'em.

Soup and Salad

Just hits the spot after a bad day...

• 1 large yellow onion diced
• 4 carrots, diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 6 tablespoons butter
• fresh thyme/sage/parsley
• salt/pepper
• 1 lb mild (or spicy if you prefer) italian sausage
• 2 large sweet potatoes, cubed
• 4 large russet potatoes, cubed
• 4-6 cups chicken stock
• 1 bag baby spinach
• 1 qt heavy cream
• 1 cup parmesan, grated

1. In dutch oven, cook ingredients through fresh herbs until softened but not browned.
2. In separate pan, brown italian sausage.
3. Add potatoes and italian sausage to dutch oven once vegetables are soft.
4. Add chicken stock, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Add spinach and heavy cream, simmer uncovered for additional 20-30 minutes.  Add parmesan, stir thoroughly, serve immediately.  If you like your potatoes more "substantial", add with heavy cream and simmer until potatoes are cooked through.

We serve ours with a huge green salad.  Lots of veggies... cucumbers, black olives, carrots, cherry tomatoes, avocados, red peppers, etc.  I had a friend ask me the other day how the hell to slice a pepper, so here goes.

1.  Find the flattest side and lay the pepper on that side please.  Cut off the "top".

2.  Your pepper will look like this now.  Cut along each side of the "rib". 

3.  You will be left with only the sweet parts of the pepper, no seeds, and no bitter ribs!

We also like to make homemade croutons.  You can either make homemade bread or use storebought. 

Our favorite storebought is the Hawaiian Round.  Cut into rough squares, approximately two inches. 

Toss with a good olive oil, kosher salt, and coarse black pepper.  That's it. 

Roast in the oven for an hour and a half at 275, turning once or twice.

Katybug

So... today was my only neice's first birthday party and I managed to miss it.  I mean, this crap can only happen to me.  Seriously.  The party was at 4pm.  Easy enough to make, right?  I wake up at 7am in a panic.  I haven't finished a present yet.  I don't BUY presents, I make presents.  I don't like giving something to my Kate and Will that they can get from someone else.  Not cool.  Here's what I did for Christmas (of course on the 24th... )  I made Kate a cute decoupaged container full of handmade nonslip hair bows.  Here she is wearing them all at once...

And here's Will's present.  He is in a HUGE Star Wars stage of his life.  I made him a stool... we called it a "Thinking Stool", and told him that whenever he needed to think about something, to sit on it and he would become wise like YODA! 

I was supposed to be working on a rocking chair that my sister-in-law had as a young child, redoing it for Kate.  I was going to rework it based on the letters and artwork I did for Kate's nursery.  Here's a shot of her letters, I'll post better ones later when I get them from Gret.

<----original picture (katybug in crib)

Ok, so anyhow... Gret's computerwas down and she ccould't get me a closeup of the letters or artwork for me to finish the rocking chair.  I ccouldn't see enough in the original picture to get the patterns in the crib either.  So I wake up in a cold sweat this morning and haul ass to Joann Fabrics and Old Navy at 8am to buy supplies to make a handmade tutu and decorate a onesie for my Katybug.  I think it'll be adorable, and besides, how long can it take to put some tulle on a piece of elastic, right?  I scanned the internet, they said maybe 2 yards of tulle for a baby tutu.  Sure, no problem.  I bought about 100 yards because I thought I would make a few for Lexi later.  Thank god for that. 

First of all... this is no easy feat in the dry air.  Figure out how to cut a million strips of tulle when they're on a spool and each strip sticks to your furry sweater.  Doesn't help that my cotton candy pink sweater is the same color as the tulle.  I also decided to cut the ends of the FOLDED tulle in a decorative manner.  Lord help us.  Now I have a zillion triangles of tulle stuck to my jeans, my socks, the carpet, and the cats.  Shit...

Now how to figure out how to attach these bastards to the elastic... oh crap!  Why didn't I do this sooner??? And how big is a one-year old's waist anyhow?  Oh jeez... where is the valium when you need it?  Lexi is trying to help, and suddenly I have a fruit snack stuck in a pile of tulle.  Remove gummy snack and throw away four strips.  Wipe brow, remove toddler, put on Veggie Tales movie, sing along with Larry the Cucumber, lather, rinse, repeat.

I see I have one hour to finish the project, take a shower, wake Lexi from a nap, and pack the car.  I can do it.  I shorten the waist, finish up, take a shower, rip the tag off the new jeans I bought from Old Navy so I wouldn't have to do laundry before the party, and wake Lexi up with ten minutes to spare.  I rock!!!

Just then I hear Matthew yelling, "SCOOBY!!! NOOOOOO!!!"  I run into the living room just in time to see the dog upchucking some unknown substance all over the living room floor, but not in time to stop Lexi from running right into the first pile... in her party clothes.  She slides from one pile into the next on one foot... sigh. 

Throw toddler into bath, find other party clothes, clean up dog vomit, laugh at preteen gagging on couch.  We're now 45 minutes late.  Run like hell into car, get on tollway, realize we don't have the address, GPS, or directions.  Can't get a hold of anyone, turn back around, go home to podunk, print off address/directions, get back in car and head off again.  Look at clock, realize we won't make it to party until 30 minutes before end of the party.  Pfffft.  I quit.  I drop Katybug's gift off at my parent's house and head home to wash the rugs and make soup.

New hair!

Thanks to Carrie for recommending her hair guy SAL!  He's at Imagine Salon in DeKalb on Sycamore Road, or in Sycamore on DeKalb Avenue.  Whatever.  He's totally fabulous.  He and his wife both work there.  I'm a total bitch when it comes to getting my hair done well - and Carrie and I both went through beauty school together (along with Heather) and never tested for our license.  So we kinda know what we're talking about too...

Anyhow, he did a great job with the highlights, the cut is fabulous and EVEN, he listened to what I needed and liked, and I love it!

So to celebrate, I'm making my favorite dinner!

Asian Marinated Salmon

• I mix ponzu (a citrus-y mixture of salt, vinegar, and water), soy sauce, sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, minced green onions, minced garlic, minced ginger, and dijon mustard.  Pour over salmon sections in ziploc bag, remove air and place in fridge for two hours.  Grill, broil, or bake.

Nori Jasmine Rice

• Rinse rice in fine mesh strainer.  Cook in rice cooker, 2 parts rice to one part water.  Add a pinch of kosher salt and 2 T butter.  Toast and julienne nori and put over rice, or use a furikake mix.

Asian marinated cucumbers

• Slice seedless cucumbers on mandoline.  Place in ziploc.  Slice sweet onion on mandoline.  Place in ziploc.  Mix ponzu and white sugar to taste.  Pour over cucumbers, place in refrigerator for one hour.  Drain and serve.

My baby is grown up...

TORI 5 minutes old

TORI 1 year old

Tori Today

Good gracious.  My baby girl is 18 years old today.  How did this happen?  It seems like only yesterday I was in the hospital holding that precious redhead, looking into her eyes and wondering how I was going to instill all the knowledge she needed, all the life lessons she would learn, and make her the woman she needed to be. 

Little did I know, she would end up teaching me more than I could ever teach her.  She became the woman she is all on her own, and grew into her knowlege with such grace and beauty.  She grew alongside me, taught me life lessons while I held her hand and looked into those beautiful blue eyes all these years, and gave me unconditional love.  This lovely child gave me a chance at life and is the love of my life.  My pride and joy. 

My heart breaks when I think of her leaving for college, yet it swells with joy when I think of her reaching such great things.  She reaches for the stars and yet has such a steady grasp on reality.  I am so proud of who she has become and who she is yet to be.  I love you Victoria Lauren.  Thank you for letting me be your mom.  It has been the greatest job in my life, and I look forward to so much more with you.

The Requested Birthday Dinner:
Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry Sauce
Buttered Egg Noodles
Peas with Dill Butter
Chocolate Mousse

Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry Sauce (Serves a Crowd!)

2 pounds ground beef

1 pound ground pork
6 slices fresh white bread, crusts removed
1 cup whole milk
8 shallots, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large eggs, beaten
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 handful fresh dill, chopped
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups sour cream
fresh nutmeg
salt/pepper
1/2 cup lingonberry jam

1. In small bowl, combine bread crumbs and milk, stir with fork and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. In dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat - add shallots and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper.  Saute until softened but not browned.   Remove to measuring cup.
3. Put meat in large mixing bowl.  Add herbs, grate 1/8-1/4 fresh nutmeg over mixture.  Squeeze extra milk out of bread and add bread to mixture.  Pour extra butter off shallot mixture into dutch oven and put shallot mixture into meat.  Add eggs into meat.  Mix well.  Season with salt and pepper.
4. Use moistened hands to form large meatballs, approximately 1/2 cup per meatball.
5. Heat butter from shallot mixture over moderate heat and add meatballs in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pan.  Brown on all sides.  Remove to platter as they finish.
6. Add flour to bottom of pan after all meatballs are done/removed from pan, whisking to dissolve in fat.  Cook for two minutes.  Add warm chicken stock and whisk thoroughly to stir up all brown bits from bottom of the pan.  Bring to boil, simmer until thickened.  Lower heat, stir in sour cream and lingonberry jam.  Season with salt and pepper IF needed.  Return meatballs to pan, Simmer until sauce reduces slightly and meatballs are cooked through and hot.
7. Serve over hot egg noodles tossed with butter, fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley, and kosher salt.

Hot Cocoa and Marshmallows..........

This year we decided to make homemade hot cocoa mix and homemade marshmallows to give as gifts to our family and friends.  These marshmallows were rolled in peppermint dust (3 packages of candy canes to 1 cup of sugar in a food processor).

The hot cocoa mix is our own concoction... a best kept secret.  But here's our recipe for our marshmallows!

Homemade Marshmallows

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
------------
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp clear vanilla extract

In bowl of Kitchenaid Mixer, sprinkle gelatin over water to dissolve.  Let sit.

Line a 13x9 inch pan with foil.  Spray with Pam.  Set aside.

In large, heavy saucepan, compine sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Cook without stirring again, until a candy thermometer reaches 240 degrees.  Remove from heat immediately and gradually add to gelatin with mixer on low speed.

Beat on high speed until mixture is thick and volume is doubled, about 15 minutes.  Beat in vanilla (or other desired extract).  Pour into prepared pan quickly.  Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight. 

Using foil, lift marshmallow out of pan.  Using large smooth knife coated with Pam, cut into 1-inch squares.  Dip marshmallows into toppings as desired.  Store in airtight container in cool, dry place.

You may use any extract flavor you wish, keep in mind some are much stronger than others (such as almond and mint).  You may also roll them in nuts, candy sprinkles, cocoa, or even dip them in ganache or caramel if you wish and then roll them in an assortment of yummy treats!  A favorite of ours is to skewer them with fruit in the summer  - we add a bit of banana extract, drizzle them with homemade caramel, then roll them in toasted coconut before  adding them to the fruit skewers!

Old Familiar Things

Oh, the joys of Christmas.

Once again, my husband isn't around for Christmas this year. Seems to be a trend with me. My ex-husband was in the military and always missed every holiday and birthday, this husband... well, it's just a different story that I'm not so ready to get in to yet.

So Lexi spent her first Christmas without her Daddy. No big deal, I suppose. She won't remember it, right? Except for the fact that he's not there in any of the pictures. And yet again this year.

Christmas Eve was spent with my parents, dinner at their home. Christmas Eve was supposed to be between Lexi and her Daddy, but plans went awry... if that's what you can call it. Anyhow, we came home, he wasn't there, and she went to bed. She was irritable, stressed out, and didn't sleep well.

For the poor baby who usually sleeps until nine in the morning, she was awakened at seven by her father. She got to open gifts - which was a new experience for her. Gifts were coming from every direction, she had no clue what to do with them, and was completely overwhelmed. There was no time to play with anything or explore anything - as her father had to leave by eight o'clock to get to work. It was a strange, harried morning, and she no doubt felt the stress.

She is now climbing out of the crib and chasing me down the hallway, refusing to let me out of her sight. She cries when her big sister leaves the house. She doesn't want to take naps (this coming from the child who takes three hour naps every day). She clung to her Daddy when he came by the house last week to pick up some clothes, but was strangely silent and calm.

She has yet to play with a single present. She shoves them aside repeatedly, preferring to hand me her tattered favorite books over and over again. She looks for the old familiar things in a time where she doesn't quite know what is going on and what to expect. She clings to what she knows and holds on tight.