The Shelf

The kitchen is my favorite room in my house. It has many antiquated features, yellowed linoleum, and the occasional ant or mouse, but I still love it because it is where I spend time making food for other people, which makes me happy. I can deal with the fact that my stove does not have a vent hood or that the floor in front of the shallow sink is sagging, but this was too much:

I realize that part of the problem here is my mess, but due to the occasional ant or mouse, any food that is not in a can has to be on this shelf, away from the cabinets with mouse holes in them. (The milk cartons are for a later project, which I will post about when it gets finished.)

Jake the carpenter to the rescue! I drew up a rough sketch of a better looking shelf, and Jake started building.

Once the shelf was finished, I spent the better portion of two days painting it in my dining room.

Then I took the old shelf down.

It looks as though the last time my landlords painted, they painted around the shelf. So the kitchen used to be blue. Imagine that. (Incidentally, the bathroom mirror has the same thing going on.)

I will give them props for attempting to use drywall anchors for the hanging shelf, even though they failed...

...and I pulled them out with my fingers.

The wall needed paint, so I threw on a few coats.

(Notice that the wall curves at bottom left?)

Crackers the dog eats dinner in the mess that now consumes the rest of my kitchen.

When I installed the shelf, that curve in the wall came back to haunt me.

It looks like the shelf is peeking around the corner. Out of the six possible points of contact for the floor, two were actually touching it.

Jake came to the rescue again, shimming the shelf for me so that it would be level and sturdy. I put all the mess from the kitchen neatly onto the shelf, and it was finished!

So much better! It makes me smile every time I look at it.

Leeky Garlicky Pasta (with or without fried chicken)

I do not often make recipes that I find in magazines, but Real Simple, the only magazine to which I actually subscribe, published a delicious looking recipe (which you can find here) in this month's issue. I purchased the ingredients to make said recipe this weekend, and was planning to make it Wednesday, but when I came home from work this evening, I found myself to be an exhausted but ravenous food beast. (For serious. Teaching high school will take it right out of you.) I could no longer resist this leeky, garlicky culinary mess. Upon looking in the fridge, I discovered that I was missing about half the ingredients, but alas, the food must go on. With a little editing, here is my version of the recipe.

Leeky Garlicky Pasta (with or without fried chicken)

Ingredients:

As much spaghetti as you are planning to eat (or more, for leftovers)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 leek (just the tender portions), thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed or thinly sliced

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Sutter Home Chardonnay)

1/2 cup heavy cream, whole milk, or evaporated milk, whichever is handy

One handful of greenery (I used marketside organic herb mix)

Grated parmesan cheese

Cut up your ingredients according to the ingredient list.

Get your pasta rolling so that it will be ready on time.

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in whatever big pan with sides is available to you.

Add the leeks and garlic, and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Saute until wilty (about three minutes).

Add the wine and simmer for a few more minutes. Stir in the milk product of your choice.

Stir in the pasta. Fold in the greenery. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cheese. Enjoy!

If you are like me, a vegetarian meal like this one will not satisfy on its own, so I made the chicken found in this recipe (from my absolute favorite food blog) to top my pasta.

My dinner came out quite nicely.

The only drawback is the kind of breath a dish like this will give you, but if you are eating alone it is not a problem!

I am considering this cake for dessert.

Pancakes for One

I woke up this morning feeling particularly grouchy. It was 6:30 (way too early to be awake on Labor Day), there were skeet shooters spraying down my house with birdshot, I was still sick with a swine-flu-like virus, and I knew that my milk was not fresh, thus killing any chance of having a decent breakfast. As I was laying in bed, feeling sorry for myself, I started thinking about pancakes. I have had this craving for pancakes for the past couple of mornings, perhaps stirred by the fact that my mom used to make sure the family always had a really good breakfast to look forward to on our shared days off from work and school. I got on the internet, surfed around, and found this recipe for pancakes for one. No milk required. With a little editing, here it is.

Ashley's Pancakes for One:

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons toasted wheat germ
• 2 tablespoons instant buttermilk
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• Butter and maple syrup

Directions:

In a bowl, combine flour, dry buttermilk, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In another bowl, beat egg; add water and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until the second side is golden brown. Serve with butter and syrup. Makes about three thin pancakes.

I'm pretty sure the wheat germ makes them healthy, too!

Pan Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

During the summer, the Bible study group I meet with gets a little more relaxed, and whoever is hosting usually makes some kind of dinner for us to eat prior to studying our material. This week, Jake is hosting, and he is making pasta with two kinds of sauce. Well, I absolutely LOVE pasta. If you mention it, I will have to go eat some, and Jake mentioned it last Friday, which was a long time ago now! I made it until today, and then I had had HAD to make something with pasta. This recipe is from my mother (with my own twist on it), and it's really easy and delicious.

Pan Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

Penne Rigate

Olive oil

Two cloves garlic, crushed

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with garlic, basil and oregano

A handful of fresh spinach

Two fresh basil leaves, if you have them

2 Italian sausages, cooked how you like them and thinly sliced

Cook the penne according to the directions on the package. (I used 1/2 cup because it was only me eating tonight, and leftover pasta is not as good as fresh pasta.) While the penne is cooking, saute the crushed garlic in a splash of olive oil. When it gets relatively done, dump in the whole can of tomatoes. No need to worry about straining them. Cook this mixture over medium heat until the tomato liquid starts to form a sauce. At this point, shred in your fresh basil if you have it and stir the mixture around until the basil wilts a little. Turn off the heat, and shred the spinach into the mixture, stirring again until the spinach wilts. Toss the sauce with your cooked penne and sausage. Sprinkle on some parmesan for a tasty garnish. Enjoy!

When I decided to make this tonight, I only had frozen, uncooked sausage, so I decided to broil some in the oven as I lack a grill. Well, I started cooking the pasta and the sauce, opened the oven to check the sausage, and it was ON FIRE. I shut the door and just stood there for a minute, then had the presence of mind to turn the oven off and put a baking sheet over my fiery sausage.

I then had the following conversation with Christie via facebook chat:

me: so I definitely just lit a sausage on fire in my oven... go me

Christie: mmm i bet it will be so good tho

Because that's what friends are for.

The sausage was delicious. I highly recommend roasting it over an oven fire until thoroughly blackened.

Mmm!

Tasty Recipe

I'm leaving on a road trip to NH tomorrow, so I have been packing, planning, and running around all day today preparing. I did, however, take the time to make some cookie bars to bring on the road. One of my friends posted this recipe on facebook, which looked good to me, but needed some minor editing. (Peanut butter, raisins, and cinnamon applesauce? Not in my kitchen!) Here is my revised version:

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup Bisquick (slightly rounded)
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup regular applesauce
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup honey

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 9-inch baking pan with whatever oil available; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, stir together baking mix and oats until well blended. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined.

Press dough into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. (Mine took about 18.)

Cool completely before cutting into bars. (I skipped this step and ate one while they were still warm. Mmmm!)

Here is what they looked like:

I can only figure that these are healthy-- no butter, no added salt, and no processed sugar. They have a different taste than what you might expect, as the flavors of the honey and the applesauce really stand out, but it is a good taste! I will be wrapping the rest of them up in some waxed paper and stowing them away for the trip.

Musical Obsession: Regina Spektor

(Photo from npr.com)

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! NPR decided to post Regina Spektor's new album on their website for all to enjoy. Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105518205

The Rain, Rain, Rain Took My Baby (Chive Plants) Away

I got all excited because I thought I was actually going to have success at growing something from seeds, but after a surprise thunderstorm during the night on Friday, I awoke to find that my chive plants had taken a steep plunge off the side of my porch. (Apparently they realized they were in my care and committed "chive-icide.") I thought all was lost, but then this morning, when I decided to clean up the carnage and start over, I saw this:

Somehow, despite the fact that over 75% of the soil fell out of the pot, the chives hung on. They are brave plants to continue to remain in my care... I plan to add more soil to them later, and vow to move them closer to the house when it storms from now on!