My Year of Pie Update: April

Happy Spring Everyone!  As we move into April, I am officially three months into my year of pie baking.  For those of you new to my little space here, back in February I bought the cookbook A Year of Pies by Ashley English.   I've always wanted to cook my way through a cook book and I'm finally making that happen! So far I've made 11 pies and have been having a great time with this project.  Prior to starting this year long quest, I'd probably only made a handful of pies and those were mostly of the basic apple or cherry variety.  It's been interesting and fun to make such an assortment of different pies. Here are a few of the fan favorites from February - April. 

Buttermilk Brown Sugar Pie

Chocolate Cream Pie with Mint Whipped Cream
 

Rhubarb Pie

xoxo Melissa

25 Things You Didn't Know About Me

After reading week after week of "25 Things You Didn't Know About Me" in my US Weekly magazine, I thought I'd give it a try.

1. I was born in Michigan.
2. I like most veggies, but am not a fan of summer squash.
3. My favorite color is Red.
4. I'm training for my first 1/2 marathon.
5. I almost hit a car while taking my driver's license test, but passed anyways.
6. I have a tri-colored Australian Shepherd named Lucy who likes to run in circles
7. My first job out of college was for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
8. I studied abroad in Luxembourg while in college
9. I'm afraid to go in the ocean because of sharks
10. I was captain of my high school cheerleading squad.
11. My closet is organized according to clothing type and then color.
12. When I saw my husbands closet and it was organized the same way, I knew we were meant to be together :)
13. In college I was a tour guide for prospective students.
14. I tore my ACL and had reconstructive surgery on my left knee in 10th grade.
15. I've visited many of the capitals in Western Europe and even lived in one, but just this past fall made it to our own capital of Washington D.C.
16. Baby Boom is one of my favorite movies.
17. I can name the states in alphabetical order and in song, thanks 4th grade music teacher!
18. My eyes are hazel, but sometimes change color.
19. I could spend hours (and an unlimited amount of money) walking around Target.
20. I have a major sweet tooth.
21. I lived in Boston for four years after college - loved it!
22. I love to read and usually have at least 5 books checked out from the library at all times.
23. I have one, younger sister name Allison. 
24. Someday I would love to learn French.
25. Ice cream is one of my favorite foods.

How to Cut up a Canteloupe

Here's another, hopefully useful, "how to" on fruit preparation.  While working in a dining hall prep kitchen in college, I cut up boxes and boxes of cantaloupe.  Oh the fun jobs we have in college, right?   However, I generally didn't mind this job (way better than chopping onions!) because I really like cantaloupe and could sneak a few pieces here and there while working!  While it's not as difficult to cut up compared to my earlier "how to" on pineapple, I thought some might find this tutorial helpful.

 

                                 

 

Step one: Place cantaloupe on cutting board and get a medium sized, sharp knife.  Cut the cantaloupe in half from root to tip.

 

                            

                                  

 With a spoon, scrape out the seeds and discard.  

 

 

Lay the cantaloupe halves upside down on the cutting board.  Take one half at a time.  Cut each half in half.  Then, at an angle, make two more cuts on each side of the cantaloupe half.  Cutting from outer skin towards the center of the cantaloupe.  Repeat with second cantaloupe half.  You should know have 6 slices from each half.





With a small paring knife. take each cantaloupe slice in one hand and slice with the paring knife between the rind and fruit, making sure not to leave any green rind remaining (it doesn't taste very good!). 

You should now have 12 cantaloupe slices, without rind.

 

With your paring knife, cute each slice into bite-sized pieces.  That's all there is to it!  The more you do, the better you'll get and the quicker you'll get.

 

xoxo Melissa

My Year of Pie

I've always wanted to cook my way through a cookbook. With the book and movie release of Julie and Julia, I was even more enticed to complete this goal of mine.  However, the daunting task of cooking all the way through a cookbook has always gotten me in the end.  There were always too many recipes, too many different ingredients to buy for one-time use, too many servings of food for my 2-person household, etc. The reasons which prevented me before go on and on.  However, this past month I found myself once again in the cookbook section of Barnes & Noble with the goal of "cook my way through a cookbook" once again before me... While looking through their selection, my mom presented me with "A Year of Pies" by Ashley English.  "What a great idea" I thought!  Baking a pie doesn't involve too many different cooking tools, funny ingredients, wouldn't be too expensive to do each week and wouldn't be too hard to either eat over the week, give away or take to work. The cookbook has been bought and now the task lies before me... 52 weeks and 52 pies.  I am proud to say I am five weeks in and five pies have been made!  I will periodically update everyone on my pie progress and what pies I've been making!

Engagement Chicken Fiasco

As many of you are probably aware, Glamour magazine has a recipe which they title "engagement chicken." The story behind this recipe is if you make this dish for your loved one, you can expect a marriage proposal shortly thereafter.  (Add info from Glamour Cookbook) About nine months into dating my now husband, I had the idea I would try making this recipe for him and leave the rest to fate...

I had never cooked a whole chicken before, but as a seasoned cook I figured it wouldn't be too difficult, especially since it was from Glamour magazine, right?  On the day of my engagement chicken dinner, I eagerly went to the store to gather all my ingredients.  Once home, I started my food prep and got out the chicken recipe I found online.  Everything seemed to be running smoothly and all the dinner components were coming together nicely.  In addition to the chicken, I was also making steamed broccoli with a mustard sauce and roasted potatoes.

Kevin arrived to my place on time and oblivious to the fact I was making anything besides a normal dinner for him, as I had many times before.  I offered him a drink, he sat down at the table and dinner was almost ready. "This is it!" I thought.  I opened the oven to check on the chicken, which is looking nice and brown, put in the thermometer, wait for it to get up to 180 degrees and it stops around 125 degrees... "This is odd" I thought to myself.... don't panic...stay calm.  I add a few more minutes to the timer, turn around to Kevin, smiling.  "Just a few more minutes hun" I tell him.

Fifteen minutes later and the broccoli and potatoes are finished.  Kevin has now moved to the connected living room and is watching TV.  I put the thermometer back into the nicely browned chicken... the temperature gauge is going up, up, "keep going!" I think.  It's still not 180 degrees! Just great!  Panic now starts to set in.  I set the timer for 10 more minutes and say a quick prayer.  "Need another drink hun?" I call out to Kevin.  

Ten minutes later, I lovingly open the oven prepared to have a finished chicken.  Thermometer goes in, thermometer goes out. The darn chicken is still not done!  What the heck is going on?  I've never messed a recipe up like this!  I start to cry. I ruined my engagement chicken dinner and now perhaps he will never propose.  Kevin sees me crying and comes into the kitchen, cooking utensils now strewn everywhere.  I confess the plot behind my dinner.  He just laughs and we eat the broccoli and potatoes.  When the timer goes off on the chicken once more, we eye it, almost afraid.  I cut it open and it still seems a little pink.  We each took a bite and then worried, threw the entire thing away.  "Well that isn't how I saw this dinner going" I muse.

Did I read the recipe incorrectly?  Did I get nervous and set the timer wrong?  Was my chicken larger than the called for 4 lbs.?  Who knows?  Kevin didn't propose that night or anytime soon after.  When he finally did about 3 months later, I somehow think the failed engagement chicken dinner had nothing to do with it.  I have since made other roasted chicken recipes which turned out very well.  I will share one of my many successful roasted chicken recipes in a future post!

How to Cut Up a Pineapple

In college I worked in a prep kitchen at one of our dining halls.  My job was to cut up fruits and vegetables, generally: pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, green peppers, onions, and anything else the kitchen might need. It wasn't uncommon to walk into work and have 40 pineapples to cut up or a bushel of green peppers waiting for me.  It wasn't necessarily my favorite job, but it allowed me to become pretty good at prepping foods, especially tricky ones like pineapple.  When I came home from college, my mother would actually buy pineapples for me to cut up for her.  It's really quite easy once you get the hang of it and then you will never have to buy a pre-cut pineapple at the grocery store, which are sometimes twice the cost of a whole one!


Here's what you do.  Step one, take your pineapple and lay it down sideways on your cutting board. 

Hold the pineapple with your non-dominant hand and cut off the top and bottom with your other hand.  With a sharp knife, it shouldn't be too hard to cut through.

Stand the pineapple upright and slice the pineapple in half, from top to bottom.  Then turn it 90 degrees and make another cut from top to bottom, creating 4 equal pieces.

Take one quadrant and slice off the inner core, which is usually 1/2 - 1 inch thick on the pointy end of the pineapple quadrant.  The core is hard, lighter than the pineapple "flesh" and not generally eaten.  If you don't cut it all off the first time, you can just make another cut to get it all.  Do this to all four pieces.

Take one of the quadrants and lay it on the cutting board, flesh side up.  You're going to take your knife and make a diagonal slice on each side, separating the flesh from rind.  Repeat with other 3 pieces.

Cut pineapple flesh down the middle, length-wise. Repeat with other 3 pieces.

Turn pineapple length-wise and slice into smaller pieces.  I store my cut up pineapple in plastic food-storage containers in the refrigerator.  Depending on how ripe your pineapple is, it should last a few days to up to a week. 

How easy was that?  Believe me, once you do it a few times, it'll become second nature and you won't even have to think about it .  Good Luck!

xoxo Melissa

Meeting Jeni from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

I had butterflies in my stomach, my pulse quickened and I could feel myself getting anxious.  Was I getting ready to give a presentation at work, go to the doctors or some other place which would evoke this sort of feeling?  No, I was on my way to meet a local food celebrity - Jeni of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams fame.  If you're from Columbus, you most likely know about Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.  The creator, Jeni Britton Bauer, is like a celebrity to me.  Her ice cream is addictive and the fact she started this small company and how it's grown is impressive.  She makes the most unique ice cream flavors including Ugandan Vanilla Bean, Salty Caramel and one of my personal favorites, Goat Cheese with Cognac Figs. Yes, you read that correctly, goat cheese in ice cream.  As you can see, you're not going to find any regular mint-chocolate chip here!

I had the opportunity to take a cooking-demonstration class taught by Jeni this past month, which is what brought on the emotions listed above.  During the class she demonstrated how to make two different flavors: rose ice cream with white chocolate and almonds and an orange infused ice cream with chocolate flecks, which by the way, were amazing!  While instructing us on how to make these flavors, she discussed different aspects of herself, her company, differences between making ice cream for her stores vs. making it in smaller batches at home and the technical science behind making ice cream.  Who knew ice cream was such a complicated science? 

I generally don't allow myself to buy cookbooks because 1. I already have so many and 2. So many recipes are now available online or courtesy of my local library.  However, I considered this a special circumstance and bought a copy of her cookbook.  This would give me the opportunity to both meet her to sign it and learn how to make better ice cream at home.  Can I just say she is one of the nicest people I've ever met!  Not that I expected her to be otherwise, but she was so friendly, open and talkative to everyone there.  When it was finally my turn to meet her, I asked her what advice she'd give to someone, like myself, who might want to start a food business one day.  We spoke for a bit about my food interests and she finally said something to the point that sometimes you just have to jump in and do it.  Start out small, but start none-the-less.  So that's what I'm doing.  Every recipe I made, success or fail, is one small step towards my foodie aspirations. 

I wish her the best of luck and I know with our love of her ice cream, Jeni can count on Kevin and I to be repeat customers for years to come!  If you're lucky enough to live near one of her stores and have yet to try it out, please go, you will not regret it!

P.S.  I have already made one recipe from her cookbook.  It was honestly the best ice cream I've ever made at home.  If you enjoy making ice cream at home, I suggest buying her book. 

Here are a few pictures from the class:

Jeni Demonstrating her ice cream making skills

Meeting Jeni!