Fun with Fruit

I should have posted this last week. I thought I did. Apparently, I dreamed it. So, take two!

The other week, I saw something at Central Market I just had to try because it was so odd. Yes, I know that isn't all that unusual, but this fruit is.

Dragon Fruit

Wild, huh?

At $9.99 per pound, I got a small one. Still, that small one was just under $5.00. But it was weird, so I wanted to try it so we got it.

Inside the Dragon Fruit

It tastes a bit like starfruit to me, maybe banana and kiwi (especially because of the texture). Not too strongly flavored but fun.

Doubt I'll be buying more because they are pretty expensive. But I'm glad I got to try this one! And it ranks as a more successful try than the pepino melon did in my book.

I Feel So Chef-y

I can now say I've roasted a chicken.

Actually, I've roasted two. (Yay Costco for selling chickens in a 2-pack!) And they both turned out really yummy, even if I do say so myself (but Dan says so too so I'm not biased).

Chicken #2

I felt pretty accomplished with the first chicken.

Of course, now that I know that roasting a chicken is so easy, I don't feel quite as accomplished. It takes a little time to cook, but it's so very hands off and basic that it's really easy to do when I don't know what to make for dinner and don't feel like cooking.

I just need to have a whole chicken on hand. Details, details.

Food-ness and Other Updates

It's been about a week since I posted which isn't that horrible, but I'll admit, I haven't exactly been posting information-filled posts lately. So I'm going to attempt to make up for that with this post. By the way, I'm pretty sure it is going to be food themed.

For My Viewing Pleasure
What exactly have I been up to lately? Honestly? Not that much. I've been cooking a bit. I've been grocery shopping a bit. I've been watching Project Runway a bit... Thrilling, isn't it?

Randomly, can I just say how much I enjoy Project Runway? I started watching it last season when the only thing on one weekend was a marathon. And I got hooked. I just watched season two this week. Actually, I started it Tuesday and finished it Wednesday. Not my smartest move since finishing it Wednesday night meant I ended up going to bed after 1. But I couldn't not finish it. So yeah.

Not that you particularly care about my TV viewing (though if you did, I'd share that I find Glee fun/funny but PR makes me happy). In all honesty, I'm really not watching that much TV. Though hockey is finally here so that should change. Go Ducks! The Blues' first game was Friday (they won) and the Ducks yesterday (they lost). But still, hockey - very exciting!

But on to more exciting stuff: food!

I Heart Food
Can I say that I just love Central Market? Flitting around their produce department is kind of like a kid being let loose in a candy store. Except I'm getting old and the candies are all fruits and stuff. But yeah.

I keep finding weird stuff at Central Market that I just have to try so I get some and bring it home then search through the Joy of Cooking to see what on earth I'm going to do with it.

For instance, I got an eggplant a few weeks ago. No clue what to do with it. But there was a recipe for Baked Eggplant in the Joy of Cooking. So sure, why not?

Baked Eggplant, slightly adapted

It was good. I've even made it again.

Pepino Melon
This melon was a random CM purchase because it just looked to wacky not to get. It's not that large - about the size of an apple - and it has stripes. What's not to love?

This is a Pepino Melon

Okay, well, I don't so much love the taste. It's not bad. Just weird. It tastes like a cucumber that has an apple grandmother. With a little texture of a great-grandpa pear.

Don't get me wrong, I like cucumbers. But can't just sit there and eat them. The must be in something or garnish or something. Something must be done to give them more tastes. That's kind of what's going on with this melon. It's got a more fibrous texture (thanks great-grandpa pear) with a little additional tart/sweet (grandma apple) to make it something other than a funny colored cucumber.

Ultimately, I think this needs to be chopped up and put in a salad or used to flavor a slaw or something. It's just a bit unexciting all by its lonesome.

Black Garlic
Ah, Central Market's marketing works. I decided to give black (fermented) garlic a shot.

Black Garlic
(not my picture)

So far I haven't done anything with it other than eat a small clove but I have plans. Unfortunately, those plans keep changing so I've not quite settled on one, but it looks like a topping or sauce for noodles might be the winner.

I'm actually pretty excited to cook with it. It's very different. It tastes a bit like Hoisin sauce, probably because of the strong garlic flavor Hoisin sauce tends to have. Texture wise, the cloves are a bit like dried plums - a little sticky/juicy but overall firm and held together. It's smoother, though, and consistent throughout. It's got a sweet taste of mellowed garlic (though still a lot of garlic - but not overpoweringly garlic like raw or dried garlic)and soy sauce and maybe a little sugar. Which is what makes me think it will go well with noodles.

Corn
The only food right now not on my happy list is corn. Looks like I'm allergic to it. Seriously.

I knew I was allergic to xanthan gum. Mom and I (finally) figured out what was causing all my headaches after I ate in her gluten-free household when my throat started swelling just a wee bit after I ate a cake with lots of xanthan gum in it. I cut xanthan gum out of my diet and the number of headaches and migraines I end up with drastically reduced.

Then I start eating less processed foods for a bit and I start having issues when I do eat those processed foods. Was it because of the processing or was it because of the wheat? Maybe I had Celiac? (At the time, I hadn't found a non-processed bread so I ended up unintentionally avoiding wheat - except for when I ate something processed like a box meal or fast food). Well, finally finding a good bread and not reacting to that pretty much ruled wheat out as the problem for me. So it must be just overly processed stuff, right?

Well, sort of.

A lot of people (apparently) that are allergic to xanthan gum are also allergic to corn to varying degrees. So I decided to test out that theory. At this point, I'm pretty much reacting to anything corn or with a corn-derived product in it except MAYBE cornstarch.

Corn is not my friend. This makes me sad because I like corn. But corn does not like me. Corn is mean to me.

On the plus side (sort of), knowing I need to eliminate corn and corn-derived products from my diet pretty much guarantees I'm sticking to my low-processed, natural diet. Because everything freakin' has corn in it.

Seriously. Check out some ingredients list and see all the corn. Ascorbic acid, high fructose corn syrup (also known as glucose-fructose), sorbitol, MSG, mono- and di-glycerides, dextrin, maltodextrin, xanthan gum... all of these things are corn-derived. So basically, chances are good that if I don't make it from scratch or find it in the expensive "natural" or "organic" section of the grocery store, it's got something it in I'm most likely to react to.

Celiac Goodness
Okay, so avoiding corn has made me a picky grocery shopper. But the good news is, I still get to eat bread. Yay!

There is a gene study being done by the University of California on Celiac disease. My mom (having Celiac) was involved and, when they got another round of grants, volunteered me to take part as well. It's nothing big - I just get tested for Celiac disease through blood tests and then they also check to see if I carry the two genes they have identified as being Celiac-related.

Well, it will be almost a year before I get the results of the gene test back but I did get the blood test back. Negative! YAY!

I had been tested before, but it is nice to have it in black and white that wheat is still my friend.

As for the gene test, my mom tested positive for one of the genes and my dad tested negative for both. With that combo, I think it works out to be less than a 5% chance I'll have one of the genes. Fingers crossed!

Kitties
I don't think I can have a post this freakin' long and not mention the kitties. Though everyone is doing well and there's been nothing really going on with the little furry beasts so I don't have that much news to share. So instead, I will share cuteness.

Cute Chloe Lips

Cocoa is trying very hard to ensure that the box side stays pushed out.

Puuuuuuuush

Collapsed boxes aren't comfy to sleep in.

I appreciate the irony of this picture.

Sammy

Should it tickle me so much?

And that's pretty much it, there's my catch-up, I'm-sorry-I'm-a-boring-updater post.

Makes random YouTube videos almost preferable, doesn't it?

Busy Busy

Lately, I've been in the mood for a change.

Typically this means Dan ends up moving furniture around. This time has been no different. Well, it has been a little different. This time in addition to the furniture moving we bought chairs.

I have no 'Before' pictures of our living room (sadly), so the 'After' is all you get.

New chairs for both of us (that almost match even - I'm still on the search for some throw pillows that will tie stuff together... poor throw pillows, they have sort of a big job) and the couch has been moved to the other wall.

The kitty pictures above the fireplace have been moved (they were outdated - no Cocoa or Sammy and Nibby was still there). We did put up a better picture of Nibby to the right of the fireplace. To the right of the TV (not shown) is a still somewhat empty corner. I have a couple of pictures to put up there, just need the frame. What can I say? It's a process.

Out to the kitchen. Ignore the vacuum - with all the moving around and prior ant infestation, it is sort of living in the middle of the house for now. I have high hopes to return it to the closet soon (two days hopefully?). The kitty jungle gym is on the very left and I think they are enjoying being in the middle of the action instead of tucked in the corner. (Speaking of kitty stuff, this picture makes me realize that, crap, we have a lot of kitty paraphernalia in front of the fireplace!)

Anyway, so that's the living room switcharoo. I've also been doing a lot to the guest room. Dan's lucked out though - I moved all that furniture. There's still a decent bit of junk on the bed. Once that stuff finds a new home, pictures will be shared.

Yay change!

More Domesticity

I've been making the effort of eating more fruits and veggies the past few weeks - I've gotten pretty interested in food lately. Anyway, that's led to me cooking a bit more than normal - and not cooking boxed meals but real meals.

Tonight, I used some okra I picked up at the Rufe Snow Farmers Market (not really a farmers market in the strictest sense of the word - basically a nice produce department with some commercial stuff and some homegrown), some tomatoes from Hall's Grocery (a gas station/single-source type farmers market), an onion and some beef sausage. Oh, and some garlic from the RSFM, too. Add a little cajun seasoning, put it over some rice, mix it up and this is what you get:

My Dinner

Ultimately, this meal was an excuse to use the okra since I had picked it up when I went in to get things for Saturday's dinner. I didn't have anything to do with the okra though. So I decided to mix it with some tomatoes - which meant I had to go buy more tomatoes. At least I had all the other stuff though.

But regardless of how it came into creation and my slight lack of pre-planning, it was yummy - and pretty (always a plus). And I have plenty of leftovers for lunch - yay!

Meal Success!

I cooked quite the meal tonight for dinner. My parents came over (we were swapping furniture - a love seat and a sewing machine cabinet for a side table and a sort-of end table) and so I did a nice dinner for four.

Mom was my sous chef so the ladies were in the kitchen while the men elsewhere talking. And let me tell you, that's odd for when we get together. Dad and Dan usually cook while Mom and I chat! But it was a lot of fun - and very yummy - so I think it worked out well!

Yummy Dinner

The menu was: Salmon with Mustard Dill Sauce, Mexican Cheese Salad and Summer Frittatas. All of the dishes were really simple (proven by the fact that I cooked them) but really good (proven by the fact that everyone cleaned their plate).

The frittata I think was my favorite mostly because of the veggies but also because of all the other things I'd like to put in one. Plus, any omelet I don't have to flip, fold or otherwise mutilate is a-okay in my book. The fish was cooked differently - it caused quite a bit of smoke but was so good, I'll be doing it again when I cook fish. Just see if I can't figure out how to decrease the smoke... And the salad had avocado, my current constant craving.

All in all, a super-successful meal. Yay!

Purple Potato Eater

Tonight, I made a beef stew. I used the recipe in The Joy of Cooking, my go-to food book. I think it turned out really nice. And as an added bonus, I used the purple potatoes that I blogged about a few days ago.

And dude, they are purple on the inside! Like, seriously, truly purple.

When they say purple, they mean it!

Seriously, how did I not know these lovely purple beasties were out there?

And, not only are they pretty, they taste good! It's pretty much like a normal potato - though it might have a slight hint of sweet potato. In my stew, they are super creamy. Very good.

Speaking of my stew, I'm going to share a pic because I can.

Beef Stew

It's nummy. I used white wine too (we had an old bottle) so that adds a little something extra. Mostly, I think I'm cool for making this because the directions say to season the meat then dredge it with flour. Now, normally, my cooking style is more along the lines of throw it in a pot and hope nothing burns to the bottom (I'm getting better!) but with this, I did season the meat and dredge it through flour. And nothing burned! Go me!

In my defense, I'm a relatively new cook. I tend to excel at simple soups and stews (and they turn out pretty good), so this was the most complex stew I've made. And all fresh! Nothing canned or processed. Go me!

Oh, I do tend to do pretty good following a recipe but most of the time don't have everything needed for a recipe so I just make something up. And it is usually good. But I look forward to becoming more experienced and maybe a little fancier in my cooking.

And using lots more purple potatoes!

I'm Feeling Accomplished

I'm having troubles at work getting all of the pastors to turn in all of their credit card receipts each month. And considering there are six people on the account and each person does anywhere from 2 to 20 charges a month, having to chase down receipts to do the budgetary accounting to pay this bill can be an adventure.

So I made it a competition. The one who turns in the most of their monthly receipts wins a prize. This month's promised price was homemade chocolate covered cherries.

So that's what I did this evening (and some yesterday - I couldn't finish yesterday since I forgot to get chocolate chips). This time though, I put them in little mini-muffin papers. I was a little worried because the chocolate got kind of close to overflowing a few of the cups, but I just tried a sample one and YUM! And the papers look pretty.

Edible, yes? Even with the poor picture quality

Tomorrow, about half of the cherries will go to work with me as rewards for receipts and the rest will stay at home to be eaten by Dan and me. Most likely mostly Dan. They are super rich.

But oh so good. I'm tempted to go eat another one.

Lightcatcher Fishery

This weekend, Dan and I actually did something. How amazing is that? Actually, it was my dad's idea to meet them for lunch at the Lightcatcher Winery since they had gluten free pizza so Mom would be able to eat there safely. But hey, it got us out and doing something other than just paying off our house!

Look, we go out! We do things! And aren't we so cute?

Food was way good, too. I even had a dessert wine (but I couldn't finish it because wine? Is strong! At least to lightweight me!)

GF pizza, sausage and cheese plate, yummy burger and a wonderful salad - goooooood food!

And speaking of good food, guess what I made today? Fried fish! Yum! I've made fried fish before, but I did southern style fried fish. This time was beer battered. It turned out pretty tasty. And of course, I made hushpuppies to go with them (not pictured - the poor, neglected things) and my hushpuppies are always good.

I think the one on top looks like I fried a salamander.

Okay, so not the prettiest fried fish in the world, but hey, it eats. Unlike the exotic dish of deep fried tong.

Artery-clogging and teeth breaking! Yum!

It's just a thrill a minute at the Zimmermann household, I tell you what!

Oh, almost forgot - I also made a cake today. Vanilla funfetti with strawberry icing. I haven't had any yet because honestly, full from the fish. But it looks pretty!

Can't wait to cut this puppy open! Yum!

Flowers and Tea... and Cake

Busy post today - lots to say (though none of it important, as usual).

First, tea:

Coconut Tea

The white bits? Coconut, baby!

This morning's tea was coconut tea. Yum! Not too strongly flavored, but a nice, subtle coconut flavor with a lovely smell and nice sweet aftertaste. Perfect with a touch of sugar but smooth enough to not need milk. Very nice! Not sure how it is iced yet but definitely hopeful!

This evening's tea is a lovely and unusual green tea.

Genmai Cha

Green tea with browned rice and popcorn

This tastes like Japanese osembe with a toasty but slightly sweet flavor. Still working on the best way to brew it (Adagio doesn't suggest brewing amounts of the loose tea which is frustrating but I'm hoping things will get easier when I get my scale that I just ordered from Amazon) but I'm quite liking it. It makes me want some edamame since both edamame and osembe are Japanese bar-style foods. So does that make this a bar tea?

In non-tea news, I made an angel food cake and this time it turned out much better than when I tried to make it in the bundt pan. My lovely MIL sent me a tube pan so it even looks like a normal angel food cake.

Okay, so it is a little crooked...

So woo hoo. And I didn't even ruin a pan like I did months ago.

And in other nifty news, the yard is starting to bloom! I've had a couple of white irises bloom and just this weekend, some of the dark purple ones popped out.

Pretty Irises

My yellow ones opened up yesterday (no pics yet) and my purple and whites are starting to open today. Soon the fancy ladies or whatever they are called - the light lilac, frilly ones, should be opening soon.

Oh, and the Lady Bank's rose is huge. I think it is plotting to eat the house.

Chocolate Covered Fences?

So, part of our fence sort of blew over. Or maybe a better thing to say would be the wind broke one of the supports to our fence so it started sagging. Either way, Dad came to help Dan fix it. It consisted of lots of digging (the support post was 2' into the ground), a Home Depot trip (thankfully Dad came down with his truck so the 8' support could be hauled home), and some quick-set concrete (which anchored aforementioned 8' support).

Setting the new support in concrete

Filling in the hole

Putting back the fence

Dan said that, aside from the digging which wasn't fun at all, the whole process wasn't as hard as he was fearing. Dad even said he didn't help much other than provide transportation. But hey, transportation is important! Especially since we asked for his help last night and, with a little bribing, he was up here not too long after church.

Now, the important question to ask after reading that sentence is "What did we bribe my dad with?" Well, beer, of course. That's a standard thank you between the menfolk. But we threw in a little extra (at Dad's request) - chocolate covered cherries.

Cherries!

Oh, did I mention they are homemade. By ME.

Ignore the express - check out the chocolate-covered hands (that was fun to clean off - I licked it off!)

Yes, I made chocolate covered cherries. And today wasn't the first time either! Every year for Christmas, I give Dad a box of chocolate covered cherries (store bought), but this year, I decided to make them. They were yummy! Dan wanted some and Dad wanted some more, so today I made a double batch. These suckers are rich but oh so good. And though they are time consuming (excluding the final time in the fridge to set the chocolate after dipping, they take about three hours), they are pretty easy. Especially since I figured out the whole double boiler thing for melting the chocolate.

And not that anyone will ask, but just in case someone is simply dying to know, here's the recipe:

Double Chocolate Covered Cherries
Makes 24 candies

1 (10 ounce) jar maraschino cherries (with stems if possible)

Chocolate Fondant
3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 teaspoons milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Coating
1 (12 ounce) package white chocolate chips (can use semi-sweet chips instead)
1 tablespoon shortening or 1/4 paraffin wax block

1. Drain cherries on several paper towels and press out excess moisture; allow to drain at least an hour.
2. Fondant: In a medium bowl, combine butter, corn syrup, chocolate and milk; beat until smooth.
3. Stir in confectioner's sugar (mixture will seem dry).
4. When most of the sugar is mixed in, turn out onto counter and knead until smooth.
5. Divide into 24 pieces (about 2 tsp each) and shape into balls.
6. Flatten each ball and mold around cherries, covering cherry completely (leaving stem out).
7. Refrigerate at least an hour or until very cold and very firm.
8. Line large cookie sheet with waxed paper.
9. In a small saucepan over very low heat or in the microwave, melt chips and shortening or wax until smooth.
10. Place pan or bowl over hot water to keep dipping consistency.
11. Holding stems (or use toothpicks if your cherries have no stems), dip covered cherries into melted chocolate and allow excess to drip back into pan or bowl.
12. Place on waxed papered cookie sheet to set.
13. Place in miniture muffin cups if desired and store in tightly covered container or in the refrigerator.

And let's just say you don't even want to know the nutritional information for one cherry, shall we?

So a fixed fence and a double batch of chocolate covered cherries. Not a bad day!

Lookie What I Did!

I made potato chips!

Well, they are really sweet potato chips, but still. Homemade. Yes, I am insane.

Homemade (sweet) potato chips

It took a bit to get the time correct on cooking them. But even the overdone ones are good because they taste like roasted marshmallows. Yum.

My First Time Deep Frying

Like my apron? The other full apron I have is an El Paso one, so I thought it was close enough to Christmas to use this one.

I think next time I'd want to cut them a bit thinner, but since I cut them in the food processor and that was the thinnest cut, I'm probably not going to be doing anymore for a while. But now that I've actually deep fried something (first time, ever), Dan's all excited. He's already making mental lists of all the things he wants me to fry, including fish, potstickers, and breaded pork meatballs (not sure where the last one came from other than I'm defrosting some ground beef and pork for chili).

Anyway, if this keeps up, Dan's going to get me a Fry Daddy or something. He got really excited when I mentioned it. Who knew my hubby was such a fan of fried things?


(I would also like to add that this is my fifth post in four days. Geez, what's up with that?)

Bundt cake - 1, Housewife - 1

Oh yeah. The Bundt cake might have pulled ahead at first since it didn't come out of the pan easily. Or in one piece. But on Friday, Dan and I were able to regain the lead...

And it was gooooood.

I am still keeping the score and 1-1. But I bought some more cake mix today so I'm going to go another round with the Bundt pan - and I am determined to win!

Bundt Cake - 1, Housewife - 0

Well, I tried to make a Bundt cake today. It didn't go so well...

Half of it came out wonderfully. The other half didn't want to leave the pan. Dan was sweet, though. He reassembled it and we "glued" it together with powdered sugar icing. Well, powdered sugar and vanilla rum icing. Quite a lot of vanilla rum, actually. I was on the phone with my mom and tilted a little too much rum into the powdered sugar. Even when I added more powdered sugar to it, you could still tell it was made with alcohol! Which really helps cancel out how blasted ugly the cake is!

Hey! Ugly still eats!