Pepparkakor - *awesomely* spiced cookies

My sister found this recipe and baked up a batch before Christmas. I got my first taste in their car, as she and Ugur and Scott and I drove north to Duluth. They are really, really fantastic.

A note of caution - Google Translator does a pretty good job, but it converts deciliters to cups, when the actually conversion is more like 1 dl = 0.4 cups. The volumes below should be correct.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
7 oz butter
2/3 cup light syrup (I substituted maple syrup)

Zests from two lemons (I used 1 lemon and 1 orange)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon orange peel (ground)
1 tablespoon cardamom

3 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking soda

Approximately 1/2 cup almonds (optional but recommended)

Instructions:

Melt the butter in a saucepan with the syrup and sugar.
Remove from heat and let it cool a bit, and stir in all the spices.

Combine the flour and baking soda, and stir into the batter. Stir in almonds.

Shape the dough into two logs and wrap each one in plastic wrap. (If the dough is too warm to shape, just put it in the fridge for a little while, and then try making logs.)

Put the logs in the fridge if you plan to use them within a week - otherwise they can go in the freezer.

Slice the log (half inch slices or less) and bake on a baking sheet at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Heartiest chili EVER

We purchased an eigth of a grassfed cow in November, and we requested some hearts in our order. We got three! The first one, we just sliced and fried. Not bad, but a little tough, so we decided to slow cook the next one. Chili fit the bill. We made this about a week ago and have been really enjoying leftovers since then.

Instructions:
Saute an onion (diced) with some bacon (about 4 thick-cut pieces, also diced) in a big pot.
Once everything is soft and greasy, throw in cubed meat. We only used about half of the heart - it was 4.5 lbs total!

Chop up some peppers (we used one jalapeno and one serrano) and toast them with spices in a dry (nonstick) skillet. (Cumin, mustard, thyme, sage, rosemary, salt, pepper, and maybe some other stuff that Scott can't remember). When the peppers start to blister, add them to the pot.

Add liquid. We used a big can of diced tomatoes, a little can of tomato paste and a cup or two of water.

Add squash. We peeled and diced half of a blue hokkaido pumpkin that we had lying around.

Add other stuff... a few tablespoons of cornmeal (for thickening), some diced chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, some vegan broth powder (mostly yeast extract) to help add depth, some chopped avocados. I think that's it.

Let it simmer for the afternoon. We were happy with how it thickened up - the squash pretty much dissolved. Like most chilis, it tasted better the next day!

Dessert: homemade pudding with pomegrate seeds

We had some milk and cream to use up before we left for vacation, so I made pudding, roughly based on a recipe in Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

Sift together:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 T cornstarch
- pinch of salt

Whisk together:
- 4 tiny eggs
- 1 1/2 cups dairy (We had 1 cup whole milk + 1/2 cup half-and-half)

Whisk in the sugar mixture, and cook over low heat until thick, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Stir in:
- 1 T butter
- Seeds from one pomegranate

Pour into bowls and refrigerate. Yum!

Flavor-injected rump roast

Scott bought a "flavor injector" (a syringe) at Target the other day. I had my doubts, but now that I've seen it in action, I'm a believer. He filled it with a mustard-anchovy paste mixture and pumped it into our (grass-fed) rump roast, along with some garlic slivers. It cooked quicker than we expected, so it got a little dried out, but it tastes fantastic!

Last night we ate it with broccolini, and tonight we roasted some carrots and parsnips to have on the side. I always forget how good roasted root vegetables are.

Beef stew - with Guinness!

Scott made this for dinner on Saturday, while I was off in Berkeley making cookies with Mavis, Maya and Nia. I came home pretty full (from eating lots of cookies), but I still had space in my belly for this - it's tasty!

Guinness Beef Stew

Serves 6 to 8

Make sure to buy large chunks of stew meat. Trim meat of excess fat, as necessary, and cut into 11/2-inch pieces. Be gentle when stirring in the flour in step 3-the fork-tender beef will fall apart if stirred too aggressively.

4	pounds boneless beef chuck stew meat
2	tablespoons vegetable oil
2	onions , chopped
4	cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2	cups Guinness Draught
1	tablespoon light brown sugar
1	teaspoon dried thyme
1	ounce bittersweet chocolate , chopped
2	bay leaves
5	carrots , peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1	pound parsnips , peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 1/2	pounds baby red potatoes , scrubbed
1/4	cup all-purpose flour
2	tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

1. Pat beef dry with paper towels and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook half of beef until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker insert and repeat with additional 2 teaspoons oil and remaining beef.

2. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil, onions, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to skillet and cook until onions are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add broth, 1 1/4 cups stout, sugar, thyme, chocolate, and bay leaves and bring to boil, using wooden spoon to scrape up browned bits. Transfer to slow cooker insert.

3. Add carrots, parsnips, and potatoes to slow cooker insert. Cover and cook on low until meat is tender, 9 to 10 hours (or cook on high for 6 to 7 hours). Set slow cooker to high. Whisk flour and remaining 1/4 cup beer until smooth, then stir mixture into slow cooker. Cook, covered, until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Stir in parsley, season with salt and pepper, and discard bay leaf. Serve.

Make Ahead: You can prepare the recipe through step 2 the night before the ingredients go into the slow cooker. Refrigerate the browned beef and the onion mixture in separate containers. In the morning, transfer the beef and the onion mixture to the slow cooker and proceed with step 3.

Heads up

FYI - This blog is about to get more kitchen-y. I'm going to use it as a repository for our dinner recipes/concoctions, and I'm no longer automatically exporting posts to Facebook or Google Buzz.

Update on Mr. Mini

From my weekly pregnancy email (23 weeks!):

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

Translation - Mini McNiven loves kipping pull-ups and won't be fazed by the sound of loaded barbells crashing to the floor.

In other news, Scott and I picked out a first name for our little boy, but we're keeping it a secret until he's born. We still need to settle on a middle name, and we should have a girl's name in our back pocket for the slim chance that our ultrasound was misinterpreted!

Cookies!

Spent the day in Berkeley, at the 5th annual cookie baking party with Mavis, Maya and Nia.

I made Earl Grey cookies, which were pretty good, and someone else made lemon cornmeal black pepper cookies, which were really really good!

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

Yield: Makes 6 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons Earl Grey tea leaves, from approximately 6 tea bags
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Preparation

Heat oven to 375° F. Pulse together all the dry ingredients in a food processor until the tea leaves are pulverized.

Add the vanilla, 1 teaspoon water, and the butter. Pulse together until a dough is formed. Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a 12-inch log, about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Slice each log into disks, 1/3 inch thick. Place on parchment- or foil-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Nancy Myers, Real Simple, MAY 2005

Lemon-Black Pepper Cornmeal Cookies

Epicurious | May 2001

by Lori Longbotham

Luscious Lemon Desserts

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

3/4 teaspoon fresh, coarsely ground black pepper (optional)

Pinch of salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup finely grated lemon zest

2 large egg yolks

1. Whisk the flour, cornmeal, black pepper, if using, and salt together in a medium bowl.

2. Beat the butter, sugar, and zest in a medium bowl with an electric mixer, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat to combine well. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture, and beat on low speed just until blended; the dough will be crumbly.

3. Press the dough together with your hands and divide it in half. Place each half on a sheet of wax paper and form each piece into a 10-by-1 1/4-inch log. Smooth each log with dampened fingers. Chill the logs, wrapped in wax paper, for at least 3 hours, or until firm.

4. At least 25 minutes before baking, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter 2 large nonstick baking sheets.

5. Cut each log into 1/4-inch-thick rounds and arrange the rounds 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

Black bean & butternut chili... gone Hawaiian.

I just made a batch of black bean and butternut chili for tonight's potluck party. (Recipe below.) As usual, a few modifications were required.

1. The recipe comes from a vegan cookbook, and I figured I could improve it by adding a pound of bacon ends we got from the meat lab last week. In went the ham with the onions.

2. Replace butternut squash with acorn squash. There aren't any squash chunks, but it gives a nice velvety texture.

3. The recipe calls for apple juice, which we didn't have. We did have a 6 oz. can of pineapple juice that I grabbed from the Safeway-sponsored lane of the half marathon Finisher's Village bonanza. I figured the pineapple juice would be a little sweeter, but otherwise an innocuous substitution.

Turns out that adding pineapple flavor to something with ham instantly reminds me of Hawaiian pizza (which used to be my favorite kind). It's a little odd, but I'm a big fan!

Here's the original recipe, brought to me this week from Lynn Rossetto Casper's Weeknight Kitchen email.

BLACK BEAN AND BUTTERNUT CHILI

Reprinted with[out!] permission from Party Vegan: Fabulous, Fun Food for Every Occasion by Robin Robertson (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010). Copyright © 2010 by Robin Robertson.
Makes 4 to 6 servings

Halloween colors play out deliciously in this flavorful chili made with black beans and diced butternut squash.

1 small butternut squash, peeled, halved, and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 medium orange bell pepper, coarsely chopped (optional)
1 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups cooked or 3 (15.5-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 chipotle chile in adobo, minced
1 cup apple juice
3 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut the squash into 1/4-inch dice and set aside. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the squash, onion, carrot, and bell pepper, if using. Cover and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beans, and chipotle. Stir in the apple juice, chili powder, allspice, sugar, and salt and black pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Uncover and simmer about 10 minutes longer. Serve immediately. If not using right away, bring to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 weeks, then thaw before reheating.

"On Punctuation" by Elizabeth Austen

This is from today's Writer's Almanac. I actually really like the formality of good punctuation, but this is a fantastic poem nonetheless!

On Punctuation
by Elizabeth Austen

not for me the dogma of the period
preaching order and a sure conclusion
and no not for me the prissy
formality or tight-lipped fence
of the colon and as for the semi-
colon call it what it is
a period slumming
with the commas
a poser at the bar
feigning liberation with one hand
tightening the leash with the other
oh give me the headlong run-on
fragment dangling its feet
over the edge give me the sly
comma with its come-hither
wave teasing all the characters
on either side give me ellipses
not just a gang of periods
a trail of possibilities
or give me the sweet interrupting dash
the running leaping joining dash all the voices
gleeing out over one another
oh if I must
punctuate
give me the YIPPEE
of the exclamation point
give me give me the curling
cupping curve mounting the period
with voluptuous uncertainty

"On Punctuation" by Elizabeth Austen, from The Girl Who Goes Alone. © Floating Bridge Press, 2010.

Good news - I'm healthy!

Scott and I recently got the results from our blood work. I admit, I was a little nervous to see my cholesterol levels. After all, we eat a very high fat diet - especially saturated fat.

Happily, my cholesterol levels look great. My HDL is actually four points higher than my LDL (74 versus 70 mg/dL), and my total:HDL ratio is 2.2:1. (5:1 is considered good, and 3.5:1 is ideal, so 2.2 is beyond ideal.) Scott's numbers are darn good too.

I know that our diet and exercise regimen isn't for everyone, but it sure seems to be working for us. Here's a quick write-up of how we eat and play.

• No grains or sugar. We don't eat any grains at home, and we mostly avoid them when we're out (exceptions being a slice or two of pizza, which I can't resist, and home-cooked meals at friends' houses). We hardly ever eat sugar at home (including agave nectar and honey). We do eat a little dark chocolate most evenings.
• Lots of non-starchy produce. We eat a lot of vegetables and try to stick to the less-starchy ones. (More leafy greens, fewer potatoes.) I usually have one serving of fruit each day.
• Lots of saturated fat: plenty of fatty cuts of meat (and bacon and sausage) and around two eggs per day. When we sauté things, we use animal fat that we've rendered. Sometimes we use coconut oil & flour, and we enjoy our avocados.
• Full-fat dairy (which means yet more saturated fat), mostly its fermented forms: yogurt and cheese. Scott is religious about full-fat dairy, and I'm glad - it's so much tastier. We use whole milk to make our own yogurt and eat about a gallon each week between the two of us.
• MUFAs (monounsaturated fatty acids), mostly in the form of almonds, olives and olive oil.
• Fish: a can of sardines (or tuna) is one of my favorite snacks. I buy them packed in water, since the oil-packed variety uses soy oil, which is almost all omega-6. We eat seafood once or twice a week for dinner.
• Lots of fermented foods: yogurt, kim chi, sauerkraut, kombucha, soy sauce, miso, fermented tofu, fermented anchovy juice... Asian groceries are a great source for these things. I think these foods are really good for gut and immune system health.
• A few supplements: 2400 mg of fish oil (omega-3s) and 1000 IUs of vitamin D3 with dinner each night.
• CrossFit: We get in a good, hard (not necessarily lengthy) workout at least four times a week. And, of course, since we live in Davis, we mostly bike or walk instead of drive.

Changes ahead. We like our habits, but there's always room for improvement!

• Higher quality meat, eggs and dairy. We're going to rely less on the UC Davis meat lab for our meat and eggs and opt for 100% grass fed options. We started buying organic milk instead of the grocery store brand. Not sure yet if we'll go all the way to buying grass-fed milk... it's expensive, but it's healthier.
• More intermittent fasting: we weren't fasting very much over the summer, but we're getting back into it now. There are tons of ways to do it. What works for us is an 18-hour fast followed by a 6-hour eating window. For example, I fasted from 8pm last night until 2pm today. I had a snack at 2pm, a big meal at 4:30, and I'll have another small meal around 7:30.
• More standing: Scott bought a desk that's high enough for us to stand up at while working. It requires more energy than sitting, but it's definitely better than sitting slumped on the couch for hours each day.

Let me know if you have questions - I'm happy to send you resources, references and more information.

Last missive from the eastern hemisphere

Saw the Terra cotta warriors in Xi'an. Super awesome. Also saw a tomb
filled with thousands of Tera cotta barnyard animals - goats, sheep,
cows, chickens, dogs, pigs AND piglets. Really cool. Xi'an is also
home to a thriving Muslim population, so we checked out one of the
biggest mosques in China (the minaret is a pagoda) and wandering
through the neighborhood.

Took the night train to Shanghai and spent yesterday afternoon in an
artsy-fartsy gallery neighborhood in the French Concession. Amazing
seafood dinner, with fish, prawns and two completely unidentifiable
sea creatures. Sad to be leaving this country!

Last day in Peking. Smog creeping back.

Spent the morning at the Summer Palace, which wasn't quite as overrun
with tourists as yesterday's attractions. We're taking a night train
to Xi'an, looking forward to leaving the big city behind.

Realized today that we're missing Potlatch this weekend. A tinge of
regret... Hope everyone is having a great time up there!

Lamb testicles for dinner tonight

Very tender! Also had pumpkin balls, and fried hawthorne.

Spent the day at Tianamen Square (which is vast) and at the Forbidden
City (which is great, but very hot and crowded today, so it was pretty
draining). Blue sky today! Yay! And no sunburn!

Great Wall, great neighborhood, great dinner

The wall is as big as everyone says it is. Fairly astounding. Sadly,
we had a rainy day, so the vistas were of pure fog.

We got dropped off in the 798 Art District, which is sort of like
Beijing's SoHo. Not quite as bustling, but a fun, young, hip
neighborhood. We nosed around galleries and drank expensive espresso
for the afternoon, then dined on sea cucumbers, pickled duck, sort of
a savory Jell-O dish, scallion pancake (quesadilla minus cheese) and
dried tofu wrapped around raw veggies dipped in a great black bean
sauce.

The rain cleared up a lot of the smog in the city, so we actually got
a sense of the skyline today! Yesterday it was too hazy to see more
than a few blocks away. This place is huge. Huge! It's about the same
size as Belgium, in fact.

Safe arrival in Beijing

- We left the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen and arrived the
smoggiest city I'veever seen. But it's good to be here. Phi Phi Island
was ridiculously relaxing, but we pretty much ran out of things to do,
especially when some heavy rain came our way. I read "A Fine Balance"
(it's SO good!), went snorkeling and ate lots of seafood.

- Tonight we ate duck gizzard (or was it goose?), jellyfish, and a
huge pot of mushrooms. Thai food is tasty, but Chinese food is
definitely more interesting and, in my opinion, preferable.

- Great Wall tomorrow, then some sights around town.

Halfway through the honeymoon!

Stuff we've seen so far...

Shanghai and the World Expo, which is ginormous. Tasty treat: bullfrog soup.

Suzhou, the Venice of the East.

Lijiang, winding cobbled streets and canals. Rode horses, ate dragonflies.

Shangri La: caught the annual horse racing festival (we didn't ride
this time) and experienced how thin the air is 3miles above sea level.
Very, very thin.

Siem Reap: fulfilled Scott's childhood dream of visiting Angkor Wat,
which is truly awesome. Got "Dr. Fish" massages, where you stick your
feet in an aquarium and let tiny fish nibble away the dead skin. It's
fun, and it's fun to see the expressions of the tourists who walk by.
Ate crickets.

Bangkok: vies with Naples for the most hectic city I've visited. We
visited some sites this morning, ate some good street food
(mealworms!), then relaxed near our hotel with Swedish & foot massages
($7/hr) and drinks and free wifi, sans the Great Firewall of China,
which blocks Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger.

Headed to the beach tomorrow (Ko Phi Phi or Railay) for a few days of
lounging, then on to Beijing.

Happy May Day!

Such a good day.
Quilted for a few hours first thing in the morning, listening to Weekend Edition. Studied for next week's midterm. Ate sardines for lunch. Read Einstein's God for a bit on the hammock, and then dozed (but it's a good book! Not boring!). Tossed with Max, Alex & Bryce in a sunny park. Got a good, hard CrossFit workout in with Maiya, Melinda & company. Just finished a dinner of liver and roasted cabbage & daikon, listening to This American Life. Scott is due home from Santa Cruz in a few hours - my day will be complete.

I love Radiolab

I've been listening to a bunch of podcasts lately and have become a huge fan of Radiolab, from WNYC. A lot like This American Life, where each show has a theme and an eclectic mix of subtopics.

Here's their homepage: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/
So far, my favorite shows are:
The Bus Stop (March 23)
Limits (April 5)
In C (December 14)
And there are a bunch of really neat ones on animal minds as well.
Enjoy!

Salmon (Mackerel) pea (beet green) Quiche

One of my most prized wedding gifts is a pair of cookbooks: Cooking in Minnesota and More Cooking in Minnesota, published in 1975 and 1983, respectively. They're out of print, so finding good used copies can be a real treasure hunt. And treasured they are: I grew up on these recipes.

Tonight, I opened up MCiM to page 77: Salmon Quiche. It calls for a pie crust, salmon, dill, evaporated milk and frozen peas. We substituted a potato crust, leftover mackerel from last night's dinner, fresh mint, leftover coconut milk, and some wilting beet greens. It's still in the oven, but I think it will be good!

Also, I made this orange and olive oil ice cream for Scott last night, and it was incredible. Highly recommended. I think it would be a great flavor profile for custard as well... I tried baking some of the cream mixture that wouldn't fit into the ice cream ball, but I think it wasn't eggy enough to stabilize. I'll definitely try again!