Tag Archives: handmade/homemade

Slumber Party Mania

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Bed Cake

For my daughter’s 6th birthday party, we decided to host 10 girls at our house to a pretend slumber party. In the past we have rented a space to host the party, which has always been very expensive. I can’t believe my type-A personality didn’t realize having a winter baby would make outdoor (free space) birthday parties impossible!! Our apartment is a nice size, but certainly doesn’t have an extra room like a rumpus room that a house might have. We knew that  having the party here would be intense, so we decided to embrace that.

Neil made a huge blanket fort that took up most of our living room. It had two “rooms” and Lindsay decorated the back part. It looked a little like Jeannie’s bottle from I dream of Jeannie. Neil also set up a video camera to our tv, so the kids could dance to the music and see themselves on tv. Our friend Courtenay came and helped us make cootie catchers and paint fingernails. We played Light As a Feather, Stiff As a Board, which was new to all of the kids. In case you didn’t play that as a kid, here’s how it works. One kid lays on her back and keeps her body stiff. All the other kids kneel around her. They place two fingers from each hand under the stiff kid. Then they all lift their hands up at the same time (we chanted Light As a Feather, Stiff As a Board in a spooky voice) and lift the kid in the air. You wouldn’t think it would work, but it does. And nobody got dropped. They even picked me up.

I think the girls had a great time and loved the cake. I made that crazy cake using marshmallow fondant. The girl on the left is Lindsay and the others vaguely look like some of her friends. The cake was a chocolate buttermilk cake that I got from Epicurious and have made in the past.

Neil and I were pretty much exhausted for the rest of the weekend, but Lindsay and all her friends had a blast.

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How to Make Hungarian Crackers (Pogacsa)

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goodpuff1

This is a recipe that my father used to make for cocktail parties and was usually one of the first things to disappear. My sister and I seem to often be on the same wavelength and just as I was deciding on making these for Neil’s birthday party, she emailed me to ask for the recipe. She confirmed that hers disappeared immediately, so I thought I would post the recipe with directions on how to make them.

The first batch I rolled out to about 1/4″ thickness, which was *way* too thick. You can see from the photos below that they kind of shrink up sideways and puff upwards. The first batch were freakishly high, so I rolled the subsequent batches thinner (and poked them with fork tines).

Pogacsa (sometimes seen as Pogatcha)

Equal weights of:

flour

butter

cream cheese or feta cheese. I used feta cheese for these. I used 8oz (1/2 lb) measures of each and got a nice sized basket of crackers. Several dozen.

I love Hungarian recipes! They are usually quite simple. Okay, so I mixed the butter and cheese together until it was well-blended. Then I added the flour and mixed it with the dough-hook on my stand mixer. The dough is very thick. You can see the bits of feta in my dough.

Generously flour a surface and roll the dough out as seen below. You will fold each edge to the center until you have 4 flaps folded in. Repeat this several times and keep it well-floured. The rolling part is very important, otherwise the crackers won’t puff.

Wrap in plastic and let rest in the fridge for about 1/2 hour.

Roll out thinner than 1/4″ (I have photos of the overly puffy crackers. Don’t let this happen to you!) and cut with a small drinking glass or other cutter. I used a canapé cutter, which I think was too small. So about 1 1/2-2″ across. I also suggest poking them with the tines of a fork to keep the puff factor down.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown. You can put them directly on the cookie sheet. There’s enough butter in these that they won’t stick to anything!

They are best warm, but are still delicious room temp. If you have any left over you can always warm them up and have with lunch. I only had extras because I had an insane amount of food at the party where I served them.

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Spinach Pasta

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spinach pasta

I had a bunch of spinach in the fridge that was looking a bit limp, so I decided to make some fresh pasta. I have a pasta roller/cutter attachment for my stand mixer, but you could use manual rollers.

Fresh Spinach Pasta

1 bunch of spinach steamed, or 1 package of frozen spinach thawed. Either way, chop up the spinach finely. I tried using a food mill, which wasn’t a huge success. A blender or food processor or determined knife wielder would work great.

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups of flour

I mixed the three ingredients together and added some of the spinach liquid to make the dough form a ball. I kneaded it by machine for 2 minutes and then by hand for another 1 minute. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes.

Roll it and cut it. Divide the dough in 4 equal parts. Flatten one piece and feed it through the widest opening on the pasta roller and then fold in half and feed through again. Repeat this several times until the dough is nice and supple. I dust it with flour so it isn’t sticky at all. This helps prevent the pasta from sticking together when you cut it. I put each piece of dough through this and then set the roller to a thinner setting. I made fettucini, so I ended up on setting 5 of my kitchen aid roller. It’s a medium setting, which gives it a nice heft when you are eating it. You don’t have to fold the dough in half for the thinner settings – that’s just on the first setting.

I’m going to get some crushed tomatoes and make a simple tomato and garlic sauce. With a little grated parmesan it should be simple and pretty. Ever notice that Italian food and the Italian flag are the same colors? Coincidence? Nah.

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How to Pickle Green Cherry Tomatoes

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Just a couple of weeks ago I was commenting on how unseasonably warm it was. Since then we’ve gotten colder with most nights below freezing and the ground feels hard under my feet. Neil wrapped the chicken’s run with plastic to protect them from the cold wind and they are spending a lot of time in their little hoop house instead of the larger (un-wrapped) enclosure.

I had many green cherry tomatoes left on the vine, which I didn’t want to go to waste. I did some searching online and found a few pickle recipes. I decided to make a recipe that didn’t use water-bath canning techniques, which just means that I need to eat them up sooner.

green tomatoes

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Adapted from John Kessler’s Pickled Green Cherry Tomatoes (or tomolives)

1 quart green cherry tomatoes or quartered large green tomatoes

1/2 bunch of dill (about 6-8 stems)

1/2 c. apple cider vinegar

2 t salt

1 t freshly cracked pepper

5 large cloves of garlic, peeled and thickly sliced

Optional: 1-2 hot peppers. I chose not to put them in because of my daughter, but I think it really would help the flavor.

Pierce the tomatoes all the way through with a skewer and then place in a clean quart-sized Mason jar. Add the dill sprigs and pepper.

Bring 1 1/2 c. water to boil with the remaining ingredients. Pour liquid into the jars and cover the tomatoes. Stir the dill and garlic into the tomatoes. Cover and bring to room temperature. Let the tomatoes absorb the flavor overnight in the fridge.

What I would do differently: The original recipe just said to pierce the tomatoes in the stem end. This made 1/2 of the tomato taste pickled and 1/2 taste like a sour un-ripe tomato. After piercing them all the way through, I let them sit another day. I think the longer they sit, the better. These aren’t “officially” canned, so they will go bad. Don’t let them sit around too long. I also thought they could use a little more flavor, so will experiment with the hot pepper next time. I thought they were interesting and definitely a good use for what would have just gone to waste. There are also recipes for friend green cherry tomatoes (cut in 1/2, dip them in some sort of flour or corn meal and then fry), but it seemed as though the breading just wanted to slip off the smooth tomato skins.

Actually I’m really getting jazzed to learn about canning, pickling and fermenting, so I think I’ll try some different pickling techniques next time.

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Alternatives to wrapping paper

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gifts

In our house we celebrate both Christmas and Chanukah. That is a whole lot of gift giving, which can mean a whole lot of gift wrapping. It bums me out each year to see the clear garbage bags filled with holiday wrapping paper. This year I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of paper we use to wrap gifts. For Chanukah, we give one or two gifts a night. I’ve been putting them unwrapped inside a pretty gift bag. Lindsay doesn’t seem to notice or care that they aren’t wrapped. She’s just interested in what’s inside the bag. In fact she saw the bag today and asked why there was nothing in the Chanukah bag (her comforter wouldn’t fit in it).

Neil asked what I planned to do with the presents for Christmas. The gift bag obviously won’t work, so I’ve been looking at ideas online for gift wrap alternatives. Here’s what I found so far. Please feel free to add suggestions.

  1. Use fabric to wrap the gifts. I’ve gotten some fabric bags over the years when I’ve purchased something at a fancy shop. I always hang onto them because it just seems a waste to throw them out. (I’m convinced that I have a form of mental illness when it comes to throwing things out, but that’s a whole other post). I think putting some of the gifts in these bags would be pretty. If I had more time, I would even consider sewing a few bags from all the bits of fabric I have.
  2. Use the funny papers to wrap kids presents. If your paper has a comic section, this can be a nice option.
  3. Old calendars can be cut up and used to wrap smaller gifts.
  4. Wallpaper
  5. Old maps. NYC subway maps are free
  6. Kid’s artwork. If you don’t want to use their drawings, have them decorate paper grocery bags with stickers, drawings, glitter, etc.
  7. Pillow cases from mis-matched sets of sheets

Here are some factoids that might give you some more incentive. I pulled them off the California government website.

  • An estimated 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold each year in the United States, enough to fill a football field 10 stories high.
  • More household waste is produced between Thanksgiving and New Year’s than any other time of the year–about six million tons of added waste nationwide.
  • Half of the paper consumed in the U.S. every year is used to wrap and decorate consumer products.
  • About 40 percent of all battery sales occur during the holiday season. Consider purchasing rechargeable batteries instead of single-use household batteries. In 2006 alone, more than 40 billion single-use batteries were sold worldwide.
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    Homemade Ravioli

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    Back in July, my husband gave me a KitchenAid stand mixer for our 10th anniversary. I know most people get one of these when they first get married, but back then I couldn’t imagine having such a huge appliance in my tiny Brooklyn kitchen.

    I really love baking, so I’ve been having fun kneading bread dough and mixing batter for cupcakes. We decided to get a pasta rolling/cutting attachment, which has turned out to be a lot of fun. There is something so satisfying about feeding dough into a machine and having flattened sheets come out. Then you feed the sheets in and long strings drip out. I pretend I’m very sophisticated making pasta, but the reality is that I’m just playing with the grown-up version of a playdoh extruder.

    Although I’ve been really swamped with work for the past 2 weeks getting ready for a photo shoot, I decided that I absolutely had to make ravioli. We had some extra ground beef/ground turkey mix from dinner, so I flipped through my book The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles for a recipe. I chose to make meat and ricotta with basil filling.

    meat-ravioli

    Meat and Ricotta with Basil Filling based on recipe from The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles by The Editors of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine.

    1 T olive oil (evoo)

    2 minced garlic cloves

    1/2 lb of ground meat. You can use different combos such as ground beef with pork. I had beef/turkey mix on hand.

    1 c. ricotta

    1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese

    1 large egg yolk

    1/2 c. minced basil leaves (I used the last basil I had growing in a pot)

    1/2 t salt

    freshly ground pepper

    Heat the garlic in olive oil until fragrant. Add the meat and cook on med-high until the meat browns and the liquid evaporates. Break up the pieces as it cooks. Drain off the fat and let cool a bit.

    In a medium mixing bowl, add the cooled meat and the rest of the ingredients. You can keep the mixture in the fridge overnight if you like.

    I made a basic pasta dough of 3 large eggs mixed into 2 cups of flour. I always try and sneak some whole wheat flour into my cooking. I only added about 1/4 cup because I didn’t want the dough to get too heavy. You can  mix your dough in a food processor, by hand, or with the dough hook of your stand mixer. If the dough looks crumbly, add water 1 T at a time until it comes together. You don’t want to add too much in case it gets sticky. I made the dough before the filling because it needs to rest for about 1/2 hour before you start rolling it out.

    Now comes the fun part. When the dough is ready, you roll it out in thin sheets. Drop teaspoonfuls of the filling about an 1-1 1/4″ apart on the dough, fold over and seal. It took me a couple of tries to get my technique down. At first I was getting a lot of air trapped in with the filling, but then figured out how to press it out before I completely sealed the raviolis. I trimmed them into squares using a pizza wheel. I’m pretty darn happy with how they turned out. I’m going to experiment with different fillings, because really, how can anything surrounded by dough be anything but tasty and satisfying?

    meat-ravioli2

    meat-ravioli-3

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    Happy Halloween

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    pumpkin-small

    I hope everybody has a wonderful and creepy Halloween!

    I had snack duty today for Lindsay’s class. I couldn’t help myself….those are glow-in-the-dark pirate rings.

    cupcakes-small

    The cupcake recipe is from Magnolia Cupcakes. You can get the recipe at that link. It’s my go-to cupcake recipe these days. It calls for 2 sticks of butter for 24 cupcakes, but I think that can be reduced a bit. I’m going to try 1 3/4 sticks next time and then go down 1/4 stick each subsequent time I make them.

    I got a 2-layer cupcake pod that carries 24 cupcakes. It looks a bit ridiculous, but it’s going to be indispensable for the next 10 years of birthday and school parties.

    cupcakes2small

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    Much needed rain

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    oatmeal-cookieWe’re getting rain after about a month of dry weather. I’m happy about it because I planted some seeds (lettuce, spinach, kale and *gasp* grass seed) and I don’t really like to water the garden. It’s getting cold here, so I have to cut down the basil and make batches of pesto to freeze. I can’t remember what temperature kills basil, but it’s somewhere above freezing. We’re down to the 40s at night, so it’s cutting it close.

    I bought some organic garlic and am going to plant some this fall. I’ve never planted garlic before, so don’t know whether to believe or ignore the hype about buying seed garlic. I’m choosing to ignore the hype and just got plain old regular organic garlic. I think I need to wait a little longer to plant it, so it’s in the fridge right now. I’ll probably put it in after I chop down and prune my plants. Goodbye tomatoes. How I loved you!

    I also saved some tomato seeds from my plants. I didn’t really research the proper way to do that. I just put a bunch of seeds on a paper towel to absorb the pulp. Now they are a part of the paper towel, so I’m not sure if I should pry them off, or just cut up the paper towel and plant it along with the seeds in the spring.

    With the cooler weather has come more baking and knitting. I just made nutty oatmeal cookies from Mark Bittman’s book Food Matters. I didn’t use the vegan options and used butter and eggs. The book is interesting (think Omnivore’s Dilemma lite) and offers weekly menus and recipes. I seem incapable of menu planning, so I’ve decided to try some of his menus. The book emphasizes healthy, mostly plant-based dishes, so I wasn’t sure if the cookies would be good or taste like particle board. I was pleasantly surprised. They had chopped up dried apples in them instead of the usual raisins that my family doesn’t like.

    As for the knitting, I am making a raglan sweater for Neil from wool I spun ages ago. I’m crossing my fingers that I have enough wool to finish it. This weekend we are joining our friends for a weekend in Woodstock, NY and a visit to the NY Sheep and Wool festival on Saturday.

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    Sunday Spinning

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    spinning_group_03

    This past Sunday I had some spinning and knitting friends over at the house. Neil very sweetly took Lindsay to Central Park so I could have uninterrupted time with my friends. It was a perfect day, so we were able to sit outside in the garden. This wheel belongs to Shannon. She just got a drum carder, so she’s been dying and carding her own fiber.
    spinning_group_02
    Here’s Shannon knitting after taking a little break from spinning.
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    Here’s Sara on the left wearing her February Lady sweater and knitting a pretty cashmere lace scarf. Laura is on the right knitting a purple Coraline sweater designed by Ysolda Teague.
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    Here’s Eve spinning some gorgeous autumnal-colored wool. Please note her cute silver toes that match her silver Birks. What’s so nice about these meet ups is that besides catching up with friends we don’t see every day and dusting off our (my) wheel and remembering why we love to spin, we also get to eat the most delicious goodies that we all bring. We had bruschetta w/ chopped tomatoes and white bean toppings, chips with guacamole and piquant salsa, pistachio tea cakes and scones. Yum!
    spinning_bobbin
    I pulled out a merino/tencel blend that I bought from Misty Mountain Farm at a wool festival several years ago. I thought it would make a pretty lace shawl, so I spun it very fine. It’s a little over-spun in places (the parts that look like a telephone cord), but I think that will work itself out when I ply it in the other direction.

    Spinning is very relaxing and it’s rewarding to be able to turn fleece into yarn. Some of my friends buy their fleece unprocessed directly from the farm and even get to meet the sheep. I think there’s something really sweet about that.

    I’ve been spinning every night since then and have filled my bobbin. Last night while I was spinning I watched 2 more episodes of The Good Life and they were both about spinning!

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    How to make yogurt

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    I’ve been reading my daughter the Little House on the Prairie books lately. What amazes me when I’m reading them is how many different skills people had back then. They raised animals, they built houses out of trees, they gathered honey from hollow trees, they made cheese, soap, maple syrup, beds, clothes, you name it. It seemed as though there was almost nothing they couldn’t do to meet their needs. It seems now that there is almost nothing we can do to meet our needs. Okay, computers, heat, cars and all of that are fantastic inventions, but we’ve become so specialized that things that a child could do during Laura Ingalls’ time seem exotic to us now.

    Take cheese making for instance. How many people know how to make their own cheese? Maybe there isn’t enough incentive now that wonderful, artesian cheeses are available in every decent-sized town. We have a great cheese shop in our neighborhood called Stinky. But I digress.

    Almost a year ago I started to read up on making cheese. I found the New England Cheese Making Supply Company online and promptly ordered a cheese making kit. They teach you how to make fresh mozzarella in 30 minutes. I tried it and it was delicious. I decided to try yogurt and discovered this site. He errs on the side of caution with heating the milk up, but I decided I would try his method and then I could always scale things back when I was more comfortable with the process.

    So let’s make yogurt!
    You will need:
    1 gallon of milk
    1 8oz. container of yogurt that’s unopened
    powdered milk (optional)
    a big stock pot
    enough jars (mason, spaghetti sauce) to hold the gallon + of milk
    cooler

    • First you want to steam the jars you will be using for about 10 minutes to sterilize them.
    • Add a gallon of milk (not ultra pasteurized!) to a big stock pot (with a heavy bottom). You can make your yogurt full fat or lowfat by choosing what kind of milk you use. You can add 4 T of powdered milk to make a thicker yogurt.
    • Heat the milk slowly until it reaches about 185-195ºF.
    • Place the covered pot in a pan of cold water to cool it down. Again, some people skip these first steps, but this kills any pathogenic (euw!) bacteria that may be hanging around.
    • When the milk cools to 122-130ºF, remove it from the cold water bath. Pour 1 cup of the milk into a 2-cup measure.
    • Add 1 cup of fresh yogurt until mixture is well-blended.
    • Slowly add your yogurt/milk mixture into the rest of the milk and mix well.
    • Pour milk mixture into the sterilized jars and cover immediately. One of your jars can be an 8oz. jar that will serve as the fresh yogurt for your next batch.
    • Add water that is about 122-130ºF to the cooler. Set the jars in the cooler. The water should be below the level of the lids. Let the jars sit undisturbed for at least 3 hours. If you don’t have a cooler, you can wrap the jars in towels and keep in a warm spot.

    Your unopened jars will keep for up to 2 months in the fridge, so you have plenty of time to enjoy this delicious yogurt.

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