Pretending

Its (winter).

I know...

Leucadia doesn’t get WINTER, but we can pretend.

When its dark and stormy, and the

(christmas tree)

is all lit up, I pretend we have snow outside.

I pretend that the pure and beautiful silence that only snow can bring to the world exisits right outside my window.

I pretend that my handsome renegade cowboy is in the other room, rather than 1200 miles away.

I pretend my fireplace works.

And then, I pour myself a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and I pretend to make myself a roast beast.

The beauty of this roast is that you marrieds can easily increase to serve however many you want. Single Girl (roasts) are good like that.

Hammy’s Single Girl (roast beast)

1 chicken breast
1 sweet potato, cut into thick wedges, skin on.
2 Tbs cooking oil of choice (Ever since I found out olive oil scorches at a low temp, I’ve stopped using it for cooking. No need to add unnecessary carcinogens to my food!)

Seasonings to taste: fresh rosemary, brown sugar, coarse Pacific sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour yourself a glass of wine
2. Pre heat oven to 400
3. With cooking oil, coat bottom of a 9x9 glass roasting dish
4. Lightly and evenly sprinkle salt, pepper and rosemary into the oil.
5. Cut chicken breast into fingers, add to dish and toss around in the oil and spices.
6. Add in sweet potato wedges, and toss around some more. Arrange all pretty.
7. Sprinkle top of dish lightly with more rosemary, salt and pepper.
8. Give the dish a healthy sprinkle of brown sugar over the top.
9. Roast 30-40 minutes.
10. Toss around in the juices, then broil just a few minutes till brown and sugar caramelizes.
11. Flip pieces around in juices and broil a few minutes on other side.
12. Refill wine glass, serve up chix and wedges, and pretend to call your cowboy in for dinner.
13. *sigh*

Blustery Thursday

SURF REPORT: IT'S RAINING!

Autumn is here (okay, not HERE, but everywhere else in the country…), school threatening to take all of my time and money for the next year, and I need a treat. Not only a treat, but an easy and inexpensive treat with lots of bang for the buck. I searched my cupboards and threw a whole bunch of sweet treats into a bowl and came up with this… Zero dollars (because everything was already in my kitchen) resulting in the smell of Christmas and the sweet steamy taste of fresh bread. This bread is very forgiving and NOT time consuming... you do a step here, let it rise, do a step the next day… what it lacks in instant gratification it makes up for in spades once baked.
Now… y’all know I like me some spice. You can adjust the chocolate, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar to your tastes. To be honest these are all approximations (aka best guess by eyeball) anyway because I tend to cook in dashes and shakes. I tried to be conservative in my guestimates below, because, well… not everybody likes the spice. I like me some spice. Just FYI… I made plain wheat Thursday bread dough in less than five minutes just now… and realized I’ve never made plain Thursday bread! So, come Saturday, if it comes out well, I’ll post the plain recipe for all of you non- spice types. :)

Chocolate Thursday Bread

2 ½ c Bread flour
½ c Whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Active dry yeast
1 ½ c Warm water
1 c Dried red currant berries
½ c Dark chocolate cocoa powder
¼ c Raw cane sugar
2 Tbs Cinnamon
1 Tbs Nutmeg
2 Tbs Organic vanilla

Directions:

Thursday evening: Mix flours, salt, yeast, sugar and spices. Mix in currants till evenly coated and well, mixed in. Plop in the vanilla and water and mix by hand till dough forms. Cover w plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 12 hours (depending on how long you sleep. Actually this step is completely optional.)

Friday morning/afternoon: Put bowl of dough in a nice safe place away from kids, cats, and spiders. I put mine in the microwave. DO NOT TURN MICROWAVE ON. Let rise (still covered) 18 hours (another 18 hours if you did your time in the fridge).

Saturday morning: dump bowl onto a whole wheat floured surface, fold into a square, flip, smoosh corners in to make a nice pretty, floury oval that will fit nicely in your dutch oven. (Can let rise 2-3 from hours here, go out with the girls and have a Bloody Mary if that’s where you’re at!) Preheat a dutch oven, lid off, in the oven at 450. Plop your dough in, cover, bake 30 minutes. Notice whole house will start to smell like yummy goodness… get ready, because you’ll be waking the neighbors with it, they’ll come begging for whatever smells so good… Uncover and bake another 15-30 minutes till it looks yummy and crusty enough for you. Dump out dutch oven onto a cooling rack, set some butter or cream cheese out to soften, and finish your cup of coffee or Bloody Mary. Relax and breathe in the yummy goodness. Pour yourself another cup of coffee (Bloody Mary), bust out the bread knife, slice that puppy open. Slather the still warm bread with schmear of choice and enjoy. Repeat this until fat and happy. Once cooled, throw the remaining loaf (if there’s any left after your neighbors get a hold of it) into a Ziploc. It will survive the fridge for a week or so, not that it will survive your grubby, greedy little hands that long.

PS... Is this not the cutest Piglit picture to date? Just sayin'...

I love things that remind me of my grandma...

... many of these things naturally revolve around the kitchen. My grandmother taught me to cook and bake well, whether she intended to or not. She was self taught... when she first married she could barely boil water, or so I am told. I find this hard to believe. Now that she is gone, I have inherited her copper bottom pots - and hopefully - the magic contained in them.

My grandmother used to broil every vegetable I can think of with a sprinkle of Parmesan. Now I love cheese ten times more than the next person, but I was a timid eater as a child, and never could quite get into large rounds of eggplant, no matter how much cheese she put on top.

ALSO! At Vons the other day, guess what I found! Little one glass servings of wine! I did not know you could do this, drink one or two, and save the other two without having to have the same kind of wine 4 nights in a row! Fantabulous! Bella Sera Pinot and Barefoot Chard came home with me. I suggest the Bella Sera with eggplant.

All of this matters why?

Because after years of turning up my nose, I have finally found love for the aubergine. Binnie would be so proud! Turns out I needed feta and Greek yogurt and mint to complete the picture.

So here I present to you: Spicy Eggplant stacks! One small eggplant will do for two, but never fear, my dear singles, you will like this so much you will make it twice and the mighty aubergine will not go to waste. Just make sure you do it within a few days, or your eggplant will indeed go to waste... turns out once you cut into them, they dont last very long!

Spicy Eggplant Stacks

INGREDIENTS:

-Six 1/2" slices of eggplant (roughly half a small eggplant)
-olive oil for brushing
-1/2 tsp ground coriander
-1/2 tsp paprika
-1/2 tsp cumin
-1/2 c Greek yogurt
-1/4 c English hothouse, chopped up real nice and small, like Miz T likes
- 1 small garlic clove, or half a good sized one, put through a press or diced up real nice.
-1/2 c feta crumbles
- chopped sprigs of mint to taste, plus three leaves for garnish (you can sub cilantro here, its almost as tasty)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Open mini bottle of Bella Sera and pour entire contents into a wine glass.
2. Preheat broiler, or if you're industrious (or male) fire up the grill.
3. Place slices of eggplant on a cooking sheet and brush both sides with olive oil
4. Mix up spices in a cute little prep bowl.
5. Sprinkle both sides of eggplant with spice mix
6. Broil/grill until charred... if you're broiling, be sure to turn 'em so you get both sides!
7. Stir cucumber,mint, and garlic into yogurt.
8. When eggplant is done, pull them out and place three on a plate.
9. Sprinkle feta on top, then spoon a bit of yogurt concoction on top of that, then top with the other eggplant slice.
10. Do the feta thing again on top of that, then the yogurt thing again.
11. Garnish with mint
12. Open another mini bottle of Bella Sera, eat, drink and enjoy!

One Question...

SURF REPORT: Cardiff Reef: Small and fun, pretzels to scale.

Question for the men out there.

If it’s a first/second/third date, and dude du jour has already worked up the nerve to call me, why oh why do they not have a place or two in mind already when they call?? Is it asking too much to actually have thought about it first? Here’s the thing. I’m already caught a bit off my game because YOU CALLED ME. I’m way too busy trying to be cute and bubbly and giggle in all the right places… please oh please… don’t make me think on my feet trying to figure out your neighborhood, any place I might know out there, or whatever.

I’m a girl.

I need my freakin’ GPS to get down the street.

I don’t have a geographical restaurant expert that categorizes by zip code hidden in my purse. You’re the Boy Scout; cut me a break at least until the fourth date, huh?

Right.

Okay, so I thought I was doing fine with my version of this recipe (most stuff cut by 66%) until I did some addition (this veggie plus that veggie plus plus plus…) and multiplication (the rice). The original states its side dish for 4. Ya, 4 linebackers maybe! My version serves two heaping portions. Good news is that it’s super yummy cold the next day. Also super yummy reheated the next day.

Next day, have it with a glass of South Sea Magic iced tea from http://joysteaspoon.com//32-south-sea-magic.html Because OMG! So yummy. And you’re supporting a woman owned small business (Who just happens to be a good friend of mine but whatever!) Its damn good tea, especially on a hot spring day, with a slice of California Cutie in it.

SoCal Wild Rice & Corn Salad

INGREDIENTS:
- 1/3 c Long grain and wild rice mix (NOT the quick cook crap!)
- 1 Tbs Lemon juice
- 2 Tbs Olive oil
- ½ c White corn kernels
- 1/3 c Poblano chilies, diced up all tiny like Tiff loves
- 1/3 c Yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1/3 c Yellow zucchini, diced ½”
- 1 small avocado, diced 1/2”
- 1 thin sliced green onion, green and white parts
- ¼ c Chopped cilantro (Excuse to use the fancy food scissors…love those!)
- Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour a glass of wine.
2. Put the rice on to boil and relax for about half an hour. Wild rice takes for freakin’ ever!
3. Pour another glass of wine and start choppin’!
4. Whisk 1 Tbs of the oil with the lemon juice and set aside.
5. Heat the other Tbs of oil in a skillet on MedHi, and add -IN ORDER- the Poblano chili, yellow bell, and corn. Grind a bit of pepper and toss around a bit. Remember when tossing in a skillet YOU MUST COMMIT TO THE TOSS. I realize some of you mens have commitment issues, but if you want this salad, you have to get over it for about 10 minutes.
6. Add zucchini and commit to the toss once again. Little bit salt and pepper here too. Sauté 6-7 minutes until just tender, scrape into a bowl and set aside, toss in lemon/oil dressing.
7. Add rice, toss. Add avo and cilantro, toss. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Take a sip of wine and appreciate your fine skillz. This is gonna be goooooood….

Painless Pasta

SURF REPORT: No effin' clue, sorry...

Today I am grateful for things that are quick and painless.

Last night I had to do one of the hardest things ever imaginable. I had to make the decision to put my beautiful girl, furry friend of 14 years, to sleep. I am fortunate. Fortunate to have been chosen by her that day at the pound and fortunate to have her in my life for so long. Her illness was controllable for months with no pain, giving me precious time to grow into acceptance. Time to indulge her with her favorites – ice cream, the puffy parts of popcorn, and a good roll on the sunshine warmed cement. To pet her and love on her every chance I got. And then yesterday, she just wasn’t fine any longer. Her seizures came on very rapidly, and as everyone said I would, I knew.

It was time.

I’d hoped that by some miracle there was something the doctor could do, but he confirmed what I already knew sadly in my heart. He let her pass quietly in my arms; silently, peacefully. Peace was not something she’d had a lot of the last few days.

Pets are such a wonderful part of our lives. I know that being a good pet owner means you have to make the last decision -the most difficult one- for them. I promised myself I’d do everything I could as long as she didn’t suffer, and when the time came, I would not selfishly try to keep her here. Knowing you did the right thing brings a lot of peace of mind.

A shame it doesn’t do a bit of good for your broken heart.

I don’t feel like cooking today.

So today, I am happy for the two recipes below, because they sit in my fridge, pre-made, waiting to be yummy without effort beyond water boiling. Combined with a handful of pasta and some grated parmesan, they make a delicious and easy pasta, or yummy spread and topping for fresh baked bread. (I’ll give you my recipe for that another day). These two recipes come to you in their full quantity, refrigerate and enjoy at whim.

Hammy’s “What do I do with all this extra Basil?” Pesto:

INGREDIENTS:
• 2.5 oz Organic basil (2.5 oz = a fistful, roughly)
• ½ c Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Big fatty cloves of fresh garlic, pressed
• ½ c Pine nuts
• 1/3 c Fresh grated parmesan
• Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Toss into a blender or food processor and pulse till smooth. Yep, that's it.

Refrigerate and enjoy on pasta, pizza, bread… you call it.

Slow Roasted Tomato Toppers

INGREDIENTS:
• 8 (10, 12, 14… how hungry are ya?) Roma tomatoes
• Salt to sprinkle
• Fresh thyme to sprinkle
• Olive oil to drizzle

DIRECTIONS:
1. Cut tomatoes in half, line baking sheet with tin foil, place tomatoes skin side down on sheet. Sprinkle LIGHTLY with salt, let sit for 20 minutes.
2. Pre heat oven to 250
3. Roast tomatoes for 4 hours at 250. Yes, I said 4 hours. Maybe do it on a Sunday while your checking your Fb or something…?
4. Pull out of oven. Tomatoes should have pretty much flattened out and dried up a bit. If not serving immediately, let cool.
5. Sprinkle liberally with fresh thyme and drizzle lightly with olive oil.
6. Store in airtight container in the fridge.

For Pasta: Cook up a handful of pasta, cut up about 4-5 of your tomato toppers, toss with pasta and a spoonful of pesto. Top with fresh grated parmesan and a little fresh basil.

For Bread: Slather bread with pesto, top with a tomato topper. Eat.

Rainbow Chasin'

SURF REPORT: April 21, Grandview: JUNK. Only person out is a lady in a garbage bag walking her golden. She must think I am crazy...



This morning, I hopped out of bed a bit late – 6:30 AM - dosed the cat with her steroids, started the coffee pot, and gazed out the window at what they are calling our “unseasonable rain showers”. Well, it’s a little overcast out the kitchen, but the sun is trying to break through… Remembering that ridiculously high number on the scale at Miz T’s house this weekend… I decide my fat a$$ needs to risk a few raindrops.


Let me back this up a bit for you. I don’t own a scale. I don’t believe in them, I think as long as you are happy with how you look, numbers don’t matter. Numbers LIE to you and tell you you’re fat. Your expensive designer jeans however… they don’t lie. And I did happen to notice that I only have two pairs that relieve the stuffed sausage look of my thighs lately… so when I visited my best friend, I got a little curious.

Remember when I said “If I ever hit 140 I’ll worry about it”?

I lied.

Turns out 138 is all it takes to make an otherwise sane skinny girl insane.

“But you have cowboy boots and jeans on!” Miz T exclaims… and it does not matter. That is 13 pounds of happy fat. Who knew that ditching a loser Australian and miserable corporate job would make me THAT happy? Whew… no wonder those denim leggings aren’t working out…

So, despite the menacing BLACK – not gray – cloud looming over the ocean, I pull on my Uggs and start over the tracks. How bad could it be, this is Leucadia. It’s kinda like Camelot of hippies. “The rain may never fall till after sundown…”

Out my door, I immediately run back in the house to grab my camera. RAINBOWS! Yes, folks, as you can see from the picture, it turns out

The Leucadian is the end of the rainbow.

Who knew?

Across the tracks, a light misting begins. But my feet are happy and dry in my Uggs, so whatever… I’m from Seattle; cloud spittle does not bother me. But what is that noise? It’s familiar, like the jungles of Costa Rica… It's...

OH GEEZUS - It’s the sound of torrential down pour on palm fronds!

WTF?

Where is this coming from, the sun is shining all around me! Nowhere to hide, running home would make no difference in the level of soaked. I continue to the beach. Another 30 seconds and the storm is gone as fast as it appeared. Just long enough to make an unfamiliar smush in the toes of my Uggs. Boo! More coffee…

But it did give me those precious few minutes to decide on my first recipe to share. This one is totally made up, idea stolen from my favorite restaurant in the ‘hood. It’s been tested over and over, and proven to be yummy. I even served it to my chef muse, Miz Martini, and she liked it so much that she stole the recipe too! So here we go:

Roasted Red Pepper Salad

INGREDIENTS:

-One really red red pepper, ribbed and seeded, cut in quarters longways.
-One package of herbed chevre. The real stuff people, with the goat on the front. Not that fake “goat cheese” crap. REAL chevre.
-Fist full of baby spinach
- Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour yourself a glass of wine.
2. Blister pepper slices under the broiler, skin side UP. This does not take long, so watch them!
3. Pull out pepper slices, flip, and stuff with herbed chevre. AKA spoon goat cheese goodness onto the insides of the peppers kinda like you would sour cream and cheddar on a potato skin. Pop under the broiler till melty and lightly golden on top.
4. Toss spinach with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Make a pretty bed out of this concoction on a plate.
5. Pull stuffed pepper slices out of the oven and nestle onto your bed of spinach.

There you are friends! Good and light eatin' for one. Enjoy the April Showers!

Welcome to My Madness

A friend of mine said to me recently “I always thought you should do something like that”… So here we are. Welcome to my madness. My creative obsession du jour is cooking! Tomorrow it may go back to jewelry, or dresses, or wooly pants for babies who only wear cloth diapers. Which, BTW, is an awesome idea…

Right. Back to the cooking.

So I am the 21st century June Cleaver of the bunch. The Stepford Wife. I should wear an apron and pearls every day, but that would just be overkill. I use all REAL ingredients… no fakey bleached, sugar free fat free taste free crap. Butter. Virgin olive oil. Heavy cream. Whole wheat everything. Raw sugar. To me, a little real fat and sugar is infinitely better than putting chemicals in your body. I repurpose/recycle/reuse/compost almost everything, I have a fairly decent herb garden and a small vegetable garden on my window sill. I live in Southern California… no way in hell I can afford property, but I do have cute little gardening pots, organic soil, and a whole lot of sun and ocean breeze flowing through my windows. Ya, I know, life is hard in paradise…

Here’s the thing: I have no man rushing home from the office because he’s late for dinner. No kids to smile adoringly from the kitchen table. (Right my marrieds? Isn’t that how it works in your houses? Hahahaha…) I’ll get to the point: I hear this so often… “This recipe looks so good, but who wants leftovers of the same thing all week??” Well, my darlings, if there is one thing Miz Sunshine is good at, its testing and faking recipies. And I am willing to share. Maybe you might have enough for lunch the next day, depending on what it is and your appetite, but for the most part… anything that looks good for 6, I can turn into Yummy, Party of One.

Books and books and magazines and printouts and scribbles of fabulous recipies… for 4 or 6 or 8, or -GOD FORBID- 12. Seriously? Who the eff cooks for 12 on a regular basis?

I cook for one.

Me.

Aside from the occasional contribution to the random family dinner gathering, ya… its just June Stepford.

So… you wont find a lot of meat here. A lot of veggie, fair amount of chicken, some bacon now and again… no cows and no fish. If you want cow and fish for one, I am not your girl. We got us here: pastas, chickens, soups, salads, veggies, potatoes in every form, baked goods and desserts YUM. I’ll warn you that the baked goods and desserts presented here most often would serve 12, but I leave those pretty much as is, and somehow I don’t mind eating them 12 times in a row… huh… weird…

Anyway. I hope you enjoy.

If ever you need the undoctored version of a recipe I use, please email me and I will point you in the right direction!

xo
Sunshine