Martha Stewart Living January '12

Well just before I sat down to do this post, I checked the mail and there was the February MSL. So do quickly run to your newsstand of choice (real or virtual) and try to grab the January issue (we're only one week into the month after all, not too late to enjoy a January mag at all!), because despite it's skinniness, it's chock full of, hehehe, "good things". 

First off, Martha takes us on a tour of her new homekeeping room in a converted outbuilding at her Bedford, NY farm. Lots of great organizing ideas for supplies of all sorts, and I have to admit, her work/storage pieces for Home Decorators Collection are pretty sweet. Running all over the house trying to gather shipping supplies to send off Little Green Vintage orders makes me especially covet this packing station.

A little spread on staying warm stylishly had three ensembles, country rustic, city chic and this middle-of-the-road option that was my fav.

Loved this cheery little workspace.

Easy-peasy diy gilded bookends definitely look like more than the sum of their parts.

Last weekend Greg and I went to Sage American Bistro for the first time and we had a fabulous frisée salad, so it was kind of fun to come across the above left in the Easy Entertaining menu. Sage's version was tossed with white balsamic vinaigrette and included goat cheese, bacon, pickled red onions, and was topped with a poached egg rather than hard-cooked. Yum. And in a story on the combo of lemon, parsley, and parmesan, this bread with prosciutto and egg stood out, kinda reminiscent of Northstar Café's prosciutto and poached eggs, which is out of this world. 

Loved the white and gray palate of this kitchen. Carrera marble counters ♥. 

Need some of this. Not sure for what yet, but if I'm going to get craft-y this year, it sounds like a nice versatile thing to have on hand.

And finally, on the subject of making, a great article chock full of beautiful knitting projects.

Like these gorgeous stool covers...

and this cozy modern blanket. I think getting some supplies and some form of beginner instruction might finally be in order this month. I've been inclined to try knitting for awhile, and this spread is great motivation to get started.  

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

♡,

Erin

What Was for Breakfast: Homemade Granola

I mentioned in my last post about undertaking an in-between holiday detox and workout regimen. Well, I actually followed through pretty well this past week, hitting the gym and trying to eat less and better. 

I've sort of been obsessed with finding the perfect granola since being treated to an absolutely delicious and ever-since elusive version of muesli at several bed and breakfasts on our trip to Ireland in 2009. Then on our vacay in Michigan over the summer, a good friend brought along some granola that she had made from scratch to share for breakfasts. It too was yummy, and after she emphasized that it was way cheaper to make than buy (hit up the bulk bins) and totally customizable, I decided I finally had to try my hand at concocting my perfect blend of healthy, breakfast goodness. I did a little bit of research and wound up cherry-picking ingredients and techniques from various recipes. Here's what I ended up with roughly. (Measurements don't need to be exact by any means, it's more about finding the proportion of ingredients that you like. And substitute away!)


2 cups rolled oats
1 cup almonds or walnuts
shy of 1 cup coconut
shy of 1 cup sunflower seeds (raw, not roasted or salted)
shy of 1 cup flax seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons salted butter (or if unsalted, add a bit more salt than the 1/2 teaspoon)
4-5 tablespoons honey
1 cup golden raisins or chopped dates


Combine first six ingredients well in bowl. 
Melt butter in microwave (or on stovetop, then remove from heat) then stir in honey. Pour butter and honey over oat mixture and stir, stir, stir thoroughly until everything is well-coated. If the mixture isn't looking at least slightly glisten-y throughout, melt a bit more butter, stir in a bit more honey, and mix in.


Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spread oat mixture out evenly. Bake for 30 minutes at 300° stirring every 10 minutes. Keep a close eye. You want everything to go a nice golden brown, but once this starts to happen, it happens quickly. Enjoy the sweet, delicious perfume coming from your oven


Let cool a bit and add raisins.


Serve with Greek yogurt and an extra drizzle of honey if you like (I do). This turns out slightly sweet, but not as sweet as what you would buy in the store. More raisins or dates up the sweetness quotient too.


Makes enough for one person for a week plus of breakfasts.


Totally worth the effort. Making and eating will have you feeling good on multiple levels, I promise!


♡,


Erin

What Was for Dinner: Tomato Sauce With Onion and Butter

Greg's birthday was earlier this week and in lieu of going out, I cooked up a little something, we split a bottle of wine, and discussed upcoming fun activities to further celebrate (birthday and recently past anniversary).

Labor Day weekend our friends arrived bearing a heaping load of tomatoes from their gardens. So after finding this ridiculously simple sounding recipe so highly touted on both of my go-tos, Smitten Kitchen and Orangette (links straight to the how-tos), I settled on it for the occasion, but decided to sub what was left of these fresh lovelies (plus a couple from csa and a couple from the grocery store to measure up) for the canned as called for. I cored and peeled and then smushed and squeezed them to a pulp by hand and I probably ended up with right around the two cups as called for. It probably took me seven or eight tomatoes to get there, but they were all sizes and shapes. I'd say five or six big ones would do the job. And I used several smaller yellow onions vs. one medium. Otherwise I followed the recipe(s) exactly.

We couldn't believe so much yum could come from four ingredients (tomatoes, onions, butter, salt,). This tastes incredibly comforting, but yet it's sophisticated in its simplicity. It will definitely be making multiple encores this fall and winter. It has a bone-warming quality. 

I couldn't bear to discard the onion. Too yummy. And added fresh basil and parm to make it a little more special, but they certainly weren't necessary. 

I'm currently in Lansing, MI, preparing to geek out at an archaeology conference but will be home late tomorrow today(!) and am sooooo looking forward to a Sunday funday with the better half.

Bedtime!

♡,

Erin

What Was For Dinner: Grilled Eggplant with Feta, Tomatoes, and Herbs

With our csa subscription this summer, we are experiencing the bounty of the season like never before. And it's kind of overwhelming. Not that I like wasting food, but for some reason every bit of csa produce that's gone bad before we've gotten to use it I have felt way more guilty about than anything from the grocery store that's ever rotted into inedibility on my watch. I think at least part of the reason for this is that each week we actually come face-to-face with the people working so hard to grow all the beautiful fruits and veg and to bring them practically to our door stoop. And I know the opportunity to eat so fresh and local is a privilege, and a fleeting one, therefore it's a real shame if I don't make the most of it.

I hadn't been feeling very inspired for the last week or so, which isn't good given the pile of produce that's been staring me in the face. Then, just in the nick of time, I came across this post on the Kitchn this afternoon. And as a result we had the delicious grilled eggplant above for dinner. The recipe is here. We had one medium-large eggplant, so that's what we made. I winged it and didn't measure the vinegar or oil. I just had regular balsamic and I forgot to add the sugar, but it tasted just fine to me in the end. I did drizzle just a little more balsamic over as I was eating, but I ♥ a little more of any kind of vinegar than maybe others would. We subbed feta for goat cheese and used basil, oregano, and parsley, cause that's what we had. Easy, delicious, gorgeous, and healthy to boot. It would make a great simple starter, but this was the main course for us tonight. 

Yum!

♡,

Erin  

Market Spoils and Riches

I got a bea-utiful bouquet of garden flowers at the Worthington Farmer's Market Saturday. Peonies, sweet william, nigella, delphiniums, etc. ♥ Unfortunately I'm not sure of the vendor's name. Get back to you on that one.

And we picked up our first csa share from HW Organic Farms. A lot of what you see here is going to be going into this not-just-potatoes potato salad I came across over at Smitten Kitchen. And speaking of farmer's markets and Smitten Kitchen. I made this strawberry rhubarb crumble last night with rhubarb from HW, but unfortunately not Ohio strawberries. I already had some in the fridge from the grocery, but as it turned not enough to make this, and silly me passed up the gorgeous pints for sale by another vendor on Saturday, thus necessitating more grocery strawberries from afar. I won't be making that mistake again! But in the end it was still absolutely delicious. So go to the market on Saturday (or whatever day of the week yours happens to be) with this in mind, then come home and make it. Do it!

Before baking.

After baking and eating glutinous portions complete with Graeter's vanilla on top. Go ahead, say it. "Oink, oink!"

Summer ♥!

♡,

Erin

What Was For Dinner - Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

I hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day weekend. (Or a lovely regular weekend for those outside the US.) Mine was absolutely perfect. Cocktails, local dining, farmers market, grilling out, relaxing on the screened-in porch, watching movies, and even a parade. And it was hot! 90 degrees and then some. 

Anywho, I've been wanting to share this recipe for awhile now. Truth be told I made it nearly a month ago when neither tomatoes nor basil were really in season. But basil has arrived on the scene, and well, tomatoes are a ways off, but not too far really.

They're so pretty, they'd make for a lovely special-occasion lunch main. But they were fab for dinner too and they actually reheated really well in the oven. 

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

from Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics

1 package (2 sheets) puff pastry (I used Trader Joe's)

Olive oil

4 cups thinly sliced yellow onions (2 large onions)

2 large cloves garlic, slivered

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

3 tablespoons dry white wine

2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

4 ounces garlic and herb goat cheese (I used Chavrie)

1 large tomato cut into 4 1/4" thick slices (or I used two Campari tomatoes, slightly larger than cherry tomatoes, for 8 slices)

3 tablespoons julienned basil leaves

2 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler

Unfold a sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll it lightly to an 11 by 11-inch square. (I couldn't get mine quite this big, so if you can't either, don't sweat it.) Using a 6-inch wide saucer or other round object as a guide, cut 2 circles from the sheet of puff pastry, discarding the scraps (or bake them and eat them smothered with preserves later). Repeat with the second pastry sheet to make 4 circles in all. Place the pastry circles on 2 sheet pans lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until ready to use.                                          

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium to low heat and add the onions and garlic. Saute for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are limp and there is almost no moisture remaining in the skillet. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, the wine, and thyme and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. Remove from the heat.

Using a sharp paring knife, score a 1/4-inch-wide border around each pastry circle. Prick the pastry inside the score lines with the tines of a fork and sprinkle a tablespoon of grated Parmesan on each round, staying inside the scored border.

Place 1/4 of the onion mixture on each circle, again staying within the scored edge. Crumble 1 ounce of goat cheese on top of the onions. Place a slice of tomato in the center of each tart. Brush the tomato lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with basil, salt, and pepper. Finally, scatter 4 or 5 shards of Parmesan on each tart.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Serve hot or warm with some mixed greens and white wine. And be proud you made something so gorgeous and delicious!


♡,


Erin