Contentedness

Yesterday turned out to be a really great day.

It involved working out at the YMCA for the first time ever, shocking even (or especially) myself; mowing the yard on what had to be the most gorgeous July day in Nebraska history. And cooking a dinner that reminded me why cooking can be worthwhile: hello, Chicken Tikka Masala.

My mom made the cheery hot pads pictured above. Cooking is a lot more fun when you have handmade gifts to help keep your hands from burning. Thanks, Mom—I love them!

Morebutter.wordpress.com

Our community dinner blog, Needs More Butter, is still up and running despite the fact that community dinner has been shelved momentarily. I just posted a recipe for one of my all-time favorite salads, Bok Choy Salad; and for a yummy take on an always delicious side dish, check out the Corn Casserole.

We love community dinner—at this point, it feels like a very natural part of our lives in this neighborhood—but at the same time, a family can only do so much during the week. So what is it that’s taking up our time and momentarily shoving community dinner out of the way? Redeemer. Redeemer is our church plant (meaning, a new church body started by an older congregation, in this case Zion Church) and we are wholeheartedly committing to the vision and ministry of it. And really, community dinner hasn’t been completely shoved aside. It’s been somewhat replaced by our small group which meets every other week. We eat, we hang out, we study the Bible, we pray. We only did three of those four at community dinner. ; )

Baking on Monday

Ma had a system. It went like this:

Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.

Apparently, Laura like baking and churning days best. I don’t blame Half-Pint a bit; baking days are always nice.

I’ve fallen into a routine of baking on Mondays, though I’m not sure why. (I like to bake, reason one, perhaps.) I was never more grateful for a Baking Monday than last week. When Liv was so sick the rest of the week—and we were all sleep-deprived—it was really nice to pick up a blueberry muffin for breakfast or eat a slice of toast for a snack. The truth is that I’m not at all organized when it comes to homemaking skills. I can be incredibly organized when it comes to working in an office or traveling or leading group projects, but home life is different for me. I value flexibility and the ease by which I can jump in the car and head for Target and Starbucks, so adherence to a strict cleaning schedule doesn’t exactly bring me joy. But I like to bake. And Livia likes to bake alongside me. So perhaps Mondays will turn into our baking day, and we’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors the rest of the week.

The recipe for Grandma’s Banana Bread is up on Needs More Butter.

You know what? I do adhere to another day on Ma’s schedule… Sunday. Resting is so not a problem. We’ve got that one down.

Story in Photos: Baking

The recipe for Esther’s Orange Marmalade Layer Cake is posted on Needs More Butter. More photos can be found on my Flickr site.

Community Dinner & Recipes

A group of my friends gets together every week to eat a meal together. One household cooks the meal and everyone else is left to enjoy a night without food prep or cleanup. One of the unofficial rules of community dinner is that you come as you are. Had a rough day? Just come. Feeling tired or more than little introverted? Come anyhow. And stay for as long or as little as you’d like. Sometimes one of us will show up with tupperware, eat a quick meal, then carry some take-out home to an ill roommate, husband or wife. The dinners have pulled us together in a unique way and have created a family where one didn’t exist before. Because of this family attachment, the deep friendship formed over shared meals, we still greatly miss Brook and the O’Donnells.

A year ago we started Needs More Butter as a way to keep track of community dinner recipes. Stop by the site for new meal idea—and to enjoy Renae’s abundance of posts for NaBloPoMo. I’ll post the following recipes on Needs More Butter eventually.

Chicken Lasagna Florentine

Zion Cookbook, Carrie Moseman

• 6 lasagna noodles, prepared according to pkg directions
• 10oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
• 2 C chicken, cooked and chopped
• 2 C shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/3 C onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 – 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 8oz carton sour cream
• 4oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/3 C mayonnaise or salad dressing
• 1 C parmesan cheese
• butter pecan topping (recipe below)

In a bowl, combine spinach, chicken and all remaining ingredients expect parmesan cheese and butter pecan topping. In a lightly greased 11×7 dish, arrange 3 noodles. Spread half of chicken mixture over the noodles. Repeat procedure with remaining noodles and chicken mixture. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and butter pecan topping. Bake lasagna at 350 for an hour, or until heated through.

Butter Pecan Topping: Melt 2 T butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add 1 C pecans and cook 3 minutes. Cool completely.

French Bread (with an Italian flair)

Zion Cookbook, Kristie Strahm

• 3 1/2 C flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 1 T rosemary
• 1 1/4 C water, lukewarm
• 2 1/4 t yeast

Place ingredients in a breadmaker on dough cycle. Remove, punch down and roll into a rectangle shape. Roll dough in a jelly roll shape, cut slits in the top, and place on a baking sheet to rise for an hour. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce oven to 375 for 4-8 minutes. Brush melted butter on top and sprinkle lightly with garlic salt.

Apple Season (and Zion Cookbook Preview)

My parents’ apple tree is in full production mode and its limbs are heavy with fruit. Apparently, the tree needed a sturdy trimming last year in order to be this fruitful. We are glad to be recipients of baskets and bagfuls of these tart green apples—and Livia is thrilled to experience apple farm outings in her own Nana and Papa’s front yard!

I plan to make apple butter in the crockpot soon. I made some applesauce as well which didn’t turn out so great. That’s what I get for “winging it” and forgoing all recipes. Gloppy, sticky applesauce. It smelled great and tasted fine, but I can’t say I want to eat it a week later (texture is key!). I am thoroughly enjoying the new Zion Cookbook however and decided to cook up Karen Hunt’s apple muffins. This is the part where I have to eat my words. I’ve told many friends in the past that I DON’T LIKE muffins. (I think I wrote it on the blog, too.) Well, guess what. I made Karen’s apple muffins and they were delicious. Yum-o. Tasted great. So scratch my old prejudice against muffins. New days of muffin-y goodness awaits the Tredway household.

For the record, the new Zion Cookbook rocks. It has a lot more recipes than the old one and has breathed new life into my kitchen. If you’d like one but don’t attend Zion or Redeemer, you can send me an email (). Cookbooks are $15 and I imagine you’d need to include something extra for shipping and handling. Without further ado, I present the recipe for Apple Muffins.

Muffin

• 2 C flour
• 3 t baking powder
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 T shortening
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 C milk
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 C apples, peeled & chopped

Preheat oven to 400. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening; set aside. Combine eggs and milk. Add to flour mixture, mix until flour is just moistened. Fold in apples. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin tins half full.

Crunch topping

• 1/3 C brown sugar
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/3 C nuts (opt)

Combine topping mixture. Sprinkle over muffin batter. Bake for 25 minutes.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

If you’re patient and can wade through the following photos, then you’ll be rewarded with my Aunt Ruthie’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. She recorded it for me on an old grocery list and the title read exactly as it’s listed above. I’ve made the cookies so many times in the last few weeks that I could do without them for some time (and that’s saying something because I love me some cookies).

Prior to becoming a mother I romanticized the notion of cooking with my small child. What I didn’t foresee was the reality of kid fingers double-dipping in the dough, a little mouth eating straight from the mixing bowl when Mommy’s back was turned, and copious amounts of flour dusting the kitchen floor. Note to future mothers: cooking with your child also takes a lot more time than cooking by yourself! However, when Liv and I do cook together, I’m always rewarded by two things. One, the chance for a decent photo opp. And two, the opportunity for me to get better, with clear boundaries and more patience, at instructing and oftentimes disciplining my child. Apparently human beings aren’t born with the knowledge that they should never double dip! Imagine that.

After lots of baking with Liv by my side, I learned that she likes flour. Here’s my little helper with her very own pile:

And here’s my little helper patting it into just the right shape for…

licking off the counter.

Now, doesn’t that look yummy? I mean really, who WOULD’NT want to eat straight flour?

Ah, my goofy girl. And just so you know, I’m sparing you the photos with Liv’s tongue stuck out. She’s into that kind of thing these days, the tongue-sticking out thing. Will that phase be ending anytime soon?

You’ve been patient. So without further ado, I give you my Aunt Ruthie’s cookie recipe.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 C brown sugar
• 2 C white sugar
• 1.5 C Crisco
• 1 t baking soda
• 2 t salt
• 3 t baking powder
• 4 t vanilla
• 4 C flour

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix ingredients.
3. Stir in 1 package chocolate chips.

Notes

• For the best chocolate chocolate chips, add one large package of instant chocolate pudding mix.
• This recipe makes a lot of dough! You can roll the extra dough into foil and freeze until you need it.
• One more thing. If you’re using large eggs, add another half cup of flour to the dough.
• Want to know how long to bake the cookies? I had to guess on this one. It’s approximately 10 minutes, mas o menos.
• Aunt Ruthie, I hope you don’t mind me sharing your recipe with the world…

Entertainment Week: Let’s Eat

Foods can be seasonal. I had no idea of this concept until one day in college when my friend Carolyn started rattling off a list of delicious fall foods her mother would be making soon. It’s funny what sticks in your head—I’ve managed to forget much of my three years at Missouri Baptist for some reason—but I remember walking the hilly sidewalk to our cars on a warm St. Louis afternoon and thinking gloriously of pot roasts and pumpkin pies.

Think of being stuck in the confines of your living room on a blustery winter day. It feels like weeks since you’ve seen the sun shine and it has been months since you’ve seen anything green and growing outside. You’re cuddled up with a mug of hot chocolate, but you’re longing for a freezing mug of dark Scottish Ale on the outside terrace at Lazlos. You can’t wait until you can pick your Roma tomatoes and long green cucumbers, then eat them on a sandwich mere moments later. So, here is today’s question:

What food or food-related activity means summer to you?

Share a childhood memory, a favorite restaurant, a long recipe, a newfound favorite summer food. You type it, we’ll read it and let our mouths water a bit.(I’ll update this post later with my own favs. I’m cuddling a feverish 4 year old now, poor kiddo, and typing is a challenge.)

Baking with Bec

Before 2008, I never wanted to own something I borrowed from the public library. But along came that Curious George soundtrack and, voila, I had the gimmees bad. Tomorrow is the return date for two more library items that I can’t wait to buy as well:

The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

There’s a group of folks out there that are baking their way through Greenspan’s cookbook. Sounds like fun, eh? There’s no way I could make that commitment right now, but I’d love to do it someday. One of the bakers blogs at Cafe Johnsonia and I find her posts really inspirational. In particular I enjoyed her guest post at Just An Orange; it reminded me of the creative joy of cooking.

Though I am a far cry from chef material (desserts are more my thing at any rate), I do post a recipe every so often at Needs More Butter, the recipe blog of my friends from Community Dinner.

Checklist

Microwave? Check.
Tea, sugar and mugs? Check.
Mixer? Check.
Bread maker? Check.
Kitchen sprite? Check.

Yup. All’s accounted for.