(that should be under the “pets, smart” category.)

Now that the cookbook is fully underway (and halfway written, thank you very much), I will be running some recipes by you, alright? Alright!

You can test them if they sound good. and please, if anything doesn’t work for you (or is just so delicious you have to shout about it) e-mail me or leave notes in comments. Oh, yes. I did delete a bunch of my notes today, by accident. That wasn’t so good. I am genius at outsmarting myself when I have more than three files up at the same time. Ouchie. But my ma can bail me out, I think. (It was photo captions. Shoot.)

* This is my sister’s recipe. I ran it a long time ago, but I did a little switch-up on it. It is quite good her way, or mine:

Curried Chickpeas and Kale

2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3 cups chopped kale or 1 package frozen chopped spinach
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
3 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste

Combine all ingredients in your crockpot and let it cook on low 7 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours.

I had to fix it in a soup pot, because I have no idea where the crockpot is. I made up my own curry mix with the mortar and pestle: garam masala, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, ginger, sugar, coriander and… I think that’s it. Oh yeah. I actually found curry powder in the cupboard and threw that in, too. I thought I used twice as much in the spice mix as I should have, but it turned out to be fairly mild and the perfect amount. Curry is good that way. (Per Nan’s instructions: Mix spices into a paste with a little water; sprinkle over onions while they saute and stir like mad so they don’t burn. Mmm…)

We served it over brown rice, and I added fresh mozzarella to mine, which almost (almost) tasted like paneer. Mmmmmmmm… paneer… My sister knows how to make it from scratch — I’ll have to get her over her to show me how.

What else? I used a package of frozen spinach since we didn’t have kale. And since Steve for no good reason (or bad reason) doesn’t like kale. This saddens me, because I love kale and could eat it every day. Especially Kale Chips, oh yum.

* Next? I realized that my poor, deprived Wacky Girl has been without homemade bread for days now. So I made the one from the breadmaker recipe book and it will be ready at approximately 10 o’clock tonight. My girl likes homemade bread.

That makes me happy. (PS there is a good bread recipe on that link, if you are interested.)

If you are in need of more breadmaker recipes, there are about 8,000 online, fyi. (Here is the homemade pizza dough recipe my extended family is nuts about. Excellent good.)

* I still have not mastered my Dear Late Granny’s Pie Crust recipe, so I used this one, instead:

SUPER-EASY PIE CRUST, WITHOUT LARD

3 cups flour
1 cup veggie oil
1/2 cup orange juice

Stir together with fork.
Separate into two equally sized balls of dough.
Roll each ball of dough out between two pieces of wax paper.

The woman who shared it with me wrote “Easy, easy, yummy, yummy” at the end of the recipe, and she was right! I didn’t have any orange juice, so I used water. (You wouldn’t want the citrus if you were using this crust for a savory pie, either.)

I stirred together a can of cherries with some sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and cornstarch. It wasn’t enough filling, but I’ll double it next time. Also, I prefer metal cake/pie pans to glass, why didn’t I use one?

Trick from Granny: Sprinkle sugar on the top crust and it will make it crunchy-brown-sugary on top.

* I wanted to do a Caprese Salad (fresh Roma tomatoes, mozzarella and basil leaves), a la the Pioneer Woman, so I thought I’d try my hand at doing a Balsamic Reduction. Well, it started to boil too much, and then when I turned it down it wasn’t boiling enough, so… it didn’t reduce as much as I would have liked. But still, it reduced by about 2/3 so good enough. Also, I realized that Caprese Salad in no way complemented Chana Sag, brown rice or the macaroni and cheese out of a box that the kids were eating.

I just wanted a Caprese Salad.

So I’ll have one tomorrow night — since the reduction is in a jar in the fridge and ready to go.

Bon appetit!

WM

Yeah, that’s right. I read Parade Magazine every week in the Sunday paper, what of it? And here is what I found this week: an interview with the sexy sexy Frenchman, Gilles Marini of the TV show “Brothers and Sisters” and his recipe for crepes. Wouldn’t you like him to come over and make some crepes for you? He won’t — his wife wouldn’t understand. But you can make some yourself!

“They’re like the French burrito. They can be sweet, like this recipe, or done with ham and cheese and eggs, or with salmon,” sez Gilles.

Crepe Expectations
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted, unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a mixer or blender and blend until smooth.

2. In a medium-size skillet over medium-low heat, melt 1/2 tsp butter; ladle in 1/4 cup crepe batter. Swirl the skillet until you have a thin layer of batter covering the entire bottom.

3. Cook until the underside is golden brown, about 2 minutes; flip. Cook until the other side is golden brown, about 1 minute.

4. Add a filling, if desired, right after flipping. Place ingredients down the center of the crepe so you can fold in the sides like an envelope. If you aren’t using a filling, cook all the crepes, then put them on a plate in the middle of the table alongside bowls of various fillings—jams, Nutella, whipped cream, sautéed fruit, etc.—so everyone can choose their own.

5. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Gille’s Tips

• “If you have time, let the batter rest for half an hour before frying the crepes. And you can keep any unused batter covered in the fridge for one day.”

• “My secret ingredient is eau de fleur d’oranger [orange-blossom water, available in specialty food stores]. Put in only one or two drops because it’s very, very strong. But people will say, ‘Oh my God, this is delicious.’”

• “I love salmon crepes. But if you want to make the recipe savory, not sweet, you need to lose the vanilla extract and the sugar. Then you can put whatever you want inside.”

Ahhhhhh… don’t you love the way he talks? Last night, Wacky Girl made the batter, and Steve was the chef. Me? I was in charge of the Nutella, powdered sugar, fresh strawberries, whipped cream, chocolate, caramel and maple syrups.

No, we didn’t use all of them at once.

Also I was in charge of purchasing a couple of new pans, cuz all of ours were too thick for crepe-making. (The smaller skillet worked like a charm, fyi. I found a set of two at Macy’s for fifty bucks.)

Crepes. Were. So. Delicious.

Bon appetit!

— wm

QOTD from rapper Ice-T: “‘My idea of a vacation does not include screaming kids, spilt drinks and wrestling a wet bulldog into a life jacket.”

#stilllivingvicariouslythruvacationsofothers.

When I say, Everyone and his dog is going on vacation, but we’re staying home, well. It’s true!

hahahaha.

— wm

from my friend Terri:

“We all need to learn radical forgiveness whether it is for one who has injured us, for our collective harm in the world, or for ourselves.”

Mischief managed.

I was just at Safeway — “We Didn’t Start the Fire” starts blaring over the loudspeakers. While I do like some of Mr. Joel’s music (the old, old, oldies — “Only the Good Die Young,” “New York State of Mind,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”) man do I hate “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” I think it is one of the most weak-ass songs in the history of weak-ass songs.

But I noticed something strange — everyone, and I mean everyone, whose paths I crossed while the song was playing were really into it. I mean, old people, young people, maladjusted teenage boys who looked like hardcore would be more their thing — everyone — shimmying, singing along, hip-bumping in the aisles.

Trip.

I kept my eyes averted and was fine.

That Suzanne has got me all inspired.

Would you like to write a cookbook, too? Here’s a template. I’m playing around with it right now — easy peasy. We can do it together — this will be fun. Let me know how it goes ;)

Seriously — novel is done. I’ve proofread and edited it, now I’m turning it over to the Real Editors and they can have at it. Then I’ll upload it to Kindle (via CafePress), and I’ll sell you a copy. Yes? Yes.

So I’m moving on to the next project, and it is going to be way easier than The Great American Novel was. Remember when I started working on my Dear Granny’s Life Story and Cookbook, many moons ago? Yeah, me neither. Kidding. Do you remember this post? I am so glad Steve and I shifted our priorities. It was time. I do wish I had been able to finish my Grandma’s cookbook while she was still with us. However. Honestly? Honestly — she would have hated whatever I wrote. She was a frustrated writer, herself. It would have been incredible if she would have been able to write her memoirs, or a cookbook, or a combo, like I am planning. But she didn’t type, didn’t use computers, wrote longhand on yellow pads and in small journals, and I was not patient enough to sit down and work with her on it.

She had (untreated) diabetes and was grouchy from it, most of the time. She lived on those miniature Mounds bars and the Meals on Wheels that I signed her up for. She refused to let me take her out to eat, didn’t like the food I brought over, complained about anything anyone else cooked. She loved my auntie’s teriyaki chicken, rice and macaroni salad. Whew. So that was something. And she loved the church potlucks she helped host.

She was a trip, my Granny, and I loved her dearly. But she was a complicated person.

As I said in that other post, she would tell you, “Well, that was just a situation” and then she’d clam up. She wasn’t one for discussing “feelings” or “making progress” or “monitoring her blood sugar” or “getting exercise.” Man.

“She’s a pistol!” Yep. She was. Oh my gosh, this is one of the funniest stories she ever told me.

So I am easing up a little, on myself, about not finishing her book until now.

Love you Grandma, and I miss you every day.

xo

nancy

ps I can’t leave you without some of her recipes. Bon appetit.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Lemon Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze

(for your inner diabetic…) (and…)

Chow-Chow!

Sugar Cookies, Unstuffed Pepper Soup and Apple Pizza

Dear You,

Sometimes, I get so personally attached to a writer, and/or the person’s book, that I just want to hug ’em and not let go and not share them with anyone. Mine, mine, mine. Do you ever get like that? Is it just me?

Anyway, that’s how I feel about Suzanne Beecher and her delightful new memoir/cookbook, “Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life.” Mine, mine, mine. I bought a copy for my Kindle, read it on the iPad just now, and have a hard copy arriving in the mail in a few days.

Mine, mine, mine. But how can I hog her all to myself? I cannot. And so I will share this much with you:

Her book is funny, rich, inspired. Suzanne has been through a lot, and every time she ends up with lemons she just makes a pitcher of lemonade, then sells it by the glass. Her recipes are so yummy… I knew some of them from her blog, and have made several of them over the years (Crockpot Stuffing, Dolly Madison Muffins, Skunk Beans). I appreciate a girl who can cook and write, probably more than your average fan. Who knows why? Oh, wait…

I have written about her so many times here on The Blog (go search for “Suzanne” or “DearReader”), I’m like her one-woman fan club. But not. I have to share her with the nearly half a million readers who follow her book clubs. Also one time she sent me chocolate chip cookies, when I was working at Jefferson High School in beautiful Portland, Ore. I shared them with the students and some of the other teachers and staff. We took pictures of our Cooky Feast and mailed them to Suzanne. She is crazy for pictures. And her grandkids. And her bubble machine. And her pink flamingos. Also she is nuts about her husband. I’m just sayin’ — what a gal.

She is such a good writer, my Internet friend Suzanne. Inspirational and funny, poignant and assertive, business-savvy and artistic, compassionate and not-at-all-perfect. But she’s perfect to me. And if she wasn’t all the way in Florida, and I wasn’t all the way out here in Oregon, I’d go give her a big hug right now.

Only she would probably say, Honey, it’s 11:17 p.m. on a Monday night, shouldn’t you be in bed? Heehee.

Go buy her book, and buy a couple of extra copies to give as gifts. Knowing Suzanne, she will send you a free autographed bookplate and a bookmark.

Bon appetit!

Wacky Mommy

ps — private note to my son, who is very much a 9-year-old: Darling. When I tell you, Go to bed, please go to bed. Do not go stick Silly Putty in your sister’s hair, instead. That is just naughty. We had no choice but to cut it out, and now her hair is all… hunky in that spot. It’s in hunks now. Hunks of hair. Love you so much, Mommy