My pantry, my obsession

I've posted before about my borderline-unhealthy preoccupation with my pantry.  My obsession is only deepening with time.  I think it's because it's the only nearly-finished part of my kitchen.  And it's so flippin' cute. 

I dug out some bowls and storage jars that I bought 2 years ago (back when I idealistically thought that kitchen remodels could be completed in months rather than years) and added them to the shelves.  I also removed the plastic tarp from the marble and moved the microwave so the side with the cabinets and counter top could be my full-fledged baking center.  The cabinets below now house my mixing bowls (the ugly, utilitarian sort), measuring cups and spoons, pie plates, muffin tins, etc.  My Kitchen Aid sits on the right side of the counter. 

I ordered some custom vinyl labels for all of my storage jars and spice jars from a seller on Etsy, and I can't wait to get them.  They were fairly inexpensive, and I loved being able to pick exactly what I want the labels to say.  (Not many ready-made label packs include ras el hanout, sumac, berbere, mitmita, and the like!)

Oops

I was kidnapped by aliens and prevented from writing. Sorry 'bout that.


So. Posts I plan hope to get to include J1's graduation, my -gasp- 40th birthday happenings, S's birthday, assorted fun summer activities, a surprise 9-day kitchen remodel for my sister's family, my new nephew, and a few other tidbits. For now, you'll have to trust that these events did, in fact, transpire, and that we did, in fact, participate in them.

I thought that rather than trying to play catch-up, I would write about today. Boring old Wednesday. Today started with a trip to the vet to see what's wrong with our white cat, Noodle. I'm supposed to call the vet back after 2:00 for the results of his tests. It's after 2:00 and I can't quite get up the nerve to call. I know it's not going to be good news, and the loss of our beloved Buster is still too fresh. I'll make myself do it right after I finish this. And a load of laundry.

After the vet, I took half the kids and met up with my sister and her daughter to see the summer matinee of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules. (I can't see the name "Roderick" and not hear "Welease Wodewick" in my head). It was funny and the kids liked it. The other half of my children are either at summer college classes (J1), boating with friends (Z, E, and J2), at the second matinee showing (L1), or at a friend's house (T).

For lunch we had macaroni and cheese and oranges, which made for a meal on a color theme. I popped pork chops into the crock pot following this popular recipe for dinner, but I'm not drooling with anticipation over this meal. We eat pork chops maybe once a year. Eh. I'll let you know how it is.

Everything is still on hold with our kitchen thanks to our contractor having been pressured into doing another job, but he says he is about done with that job and will return to us asap. We love him, but this has been a very hard wait and a major reason I've felt so uninspired when it comes to writing about life here at the W home. Eating on the floor and cooking for 14 without a countertop was adventurous and all for the first few days. Months later, not so much.

Random photos

Moroccan chicken salad for 14  :o)

Blizzard on April 19!

Baby chicks

Le Menu (April 10-16)

This is another week of Our Best Bites yumminess.

As always, click on "read more" for the recipes.  :o)

Le Menu (March 27 - April 2)

I'm especially looking forward to the steak and mango salad and the salmon.  But if you make the salmon, please don't do what I did and buy $25 worth of wild caught salmon, stash it in the garage freezer, and then forget to shut the freezer door.  Because when you go back to a different store to replace the salmon your freezer lightbulb literally cooked, you'll actually have to spend $30 to get the same quantity you had before.  Not to mention the tragic ice cream loss you've suffered after stocking up on $2/carton Dryers....

Oh, and I should mention that Monday-Thursday's recipes come from "Our Best Bites: Mormon Moms in the Kitchen" cookbook.  We're required to give credit where credit is due, or we get excommunicated.  ;oP

Click on "read more" to see the recipes.  Come on.  You know you want to.  :o)

Dabo Kolo

J2 is doing a presentation about Ethiopia in school, and decided to make dabo kolo for his classmates.  I posted this recipe before in my old blog, but here it is again in case you're longing for a snappy snack.  We like these really spicy, so we triple the amount of berbere.

Dabo Kolo


Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp berbere (or cayenne pepper, but I will mail you some berbere if you leave a comment letting me know you want some)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp softened (room temp) butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (*see alternate instructions below)
2. In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, berbere, sugar and salt).
3. Slowly add the water and mix so as to form a thick paste.  Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead it on a lightly-floured surface for a few minutes to form a thick dough.  Add the softened butter and knead for an additional 5 minutes.  Let the dough rest in a cool place for 10 minutes.  
4. Divide the dough into handful-sized pieces and roll these into long "pencils" - not quite as thick as your small finger.  Cut these rolls into pieces (scissors can be used), each piece no longer than the width of your finger.
5. Heat and ungreased skillet over medium heat.  Place enough of the uncooked dabo kolo in the skillet to loosely cover the bottom.  (They will have to be cooked in batches.)  Cook over medium heat, stirring periodically, until they are lightly browned on all sides.  * Alternatively, arrange the pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring or shaking the pan a few times during cooking to prevent sticking.
6. When done, remove from oven/skillet and allow to cool completely.  Store in dry, air-tight container.

Le Menu (March 13-19)

I think I figured out a way to post the menu without so many formatting issues.  :o)

You'll see that today's meal is recycled from last week, but that's because the contractor stayed late that day and we ended up having a gourmet meal of Little Caesar's pizza on a blanket on the floor.  That's OK.  I'm flexible like that.  ;o)

I will go out on a limb and say that today's meal was one of the best we've had in a while.  Curtis barbecued the pork and getting the grill involved always makes for a good meal.  If I do it again, I will make the marinade a little hotter, but the pork was very, very good.  The veggies were just divine, especially with jasmine rice.  I didn't post a recipe since I knew I would wing it, but I stir-fried chopped bok choy and red, yellow, and orange bell peppers in hot sesame oil, along with some garlic, ginger, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and toasted sesame seeds.  SO good.  

Most of the rest of the week's dishes are pretty basic since I'm anticipating limited kitchen access again.  I normally use tilapia or cod for the fish tacos, but this week they are being prepared à la Del Taco with battered fish fillets.  I use corn tortillas, shredded cabbage, fish, diced tomatoes, and a little shredded colby-jack, along with my very special sauce - 1/2 cup of light mayo, the juice of 3 limes, and 2 teaspoons or so of chili powder.  We use it sparingly, but this is enough for 12 tacos or so.  Obviously, I double it.  ;o)  

The meatballs are coming straight out of the WalMart freezer section.  When I can't make my own, I dump the frozen ones in the crock pot with a jar or two of pasta sauce and cook on low for 6 hours or so.  Then we toast buttered steak rolls in the oven, top each with a slice of provolone or mozzarella, and spoon on the meatballs and sauce.  Easy.  

As for the chili and cornbread, you may recall it was on last week's menu too, but this is different chili and cornbread.  Hubby's favorite chili, in fact.  I think it's good, but I have to add a lot of Tabasco.  ;o)  The big reason I love it is that I can have a huge bowl and it's only about 250 calories.  The recipe follows.

And finally, a recipe for Ethiopian chicken t'ibs, as well as info about where to find Ethiopian staples will also follow.  Just click the link below.  

Cake!

Hubby and I have been married nearly 20 years, but have been regular attendees at the local yearly bridal fair since my sister brought her cake studio to town.  Tonight we got to go sample her fabulous goodies and see one of her beautiful new cake designs.  That woman oozes with talent.  And fondant.

Her cake was inspired by this now-famous-in-the-world-of-brides (thanks to Martha Stewart Weddings) beauty from Mark Joseph Cakes:

Feeding the troops

Since eventually this blog will be more about food and less about kitchen construction, I thought I'd get a jump on things and start posting our weekly menus, which you may find helpful or perhaps just mildly entertaining.  We generally don't eat a lot of convenience foods, but you'll see that we've had to make a few concessions during the remodel.  Often our kitchen is completely inaccessible, or too dirty, or too dangerous to be in for long.  I'm grateful it's as functional as it is, but the day is rapidly approaching that we'll be eating pizza 14 days straight.  ;o)

With the exception of Sundays, I shoot for dinners that are in the 500-800 calorie range.  I always make extra so that the "Mom-I'm-STARVING" among us can get their fill, but I worked too darn hard to get myself into shape to serve lasagna at every meal, and I want our kids to learn good eating habits and to have healthy attitudes about food.  We aren't obsessive about eating particular kinds of foods (or avoiding them either) and just try to go with the idea that most things are OK in moderation.  We very rarely eat any sort of hunk-o-meat dinner, like roast or steak.  With the exception of this kitchen remodel time, we don't generally eat a lot of fast food, but we do feed the kids pizza on Fridays (our date night)- usually from Pizza Hut or Little Caesar's, and sometimes the Wal-Mart take-and-bake kind.  

We eat a lot of foods from other cultures and parts of the world, in part because we have a multi-racial family, and also because those are just our tastes.  Our favorites are probably most Asian foods (Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, etc.), middle eastern, African, Caribbean, and Mexican.  Really, we'll eat just about anything, and will try anything once.  And even though I love all sorts of foods, my very favorites are simple things - a good bagel.  Dark chocolate.  A bowl of oatmeal with pecans and dried cranberries.  A slice of toasted homemade bread.  (Clearly I'm a carb lover!)  

I'll write about this in more detail in another post, but part of the reason I can feed my large family with the variety I do and without breaking the bank is because I am Queen of the Coupon.  I stock up on things when they are at their very lowest prices, and have amassed quite a stockpile of foods and other necessities.  I can easily feed all 14 of us on about $200 a week, and that includes toiletries and other non-food items.  

I am a cookbook junkie, and I love websites like food.com and allrecipes.com.  I think the iPad was invented for the kitchen, and I believe my recipe-loving mother-in-law smiles down on me from Heaven as I gather and tweak and organize my treasured recipes.  :o)

Here is this week's plan, which is subject to change should I find my kitchen filled with volatile chemicals or without plumbing.  Any relevant recipes follow.  Just click on "Read more" below.

27	28	1	2	3	4	5
SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
Asian lettuce wraps*, rice, broccoli, chocolate pie	Potato bar	Tzatziki turkey pita sandwiches*, fruit salad	Zuppa Toscano*, breadsticks	Egg McMuffins, hash browns	Little Caesar’s	Fend for yourself