TAFFY! 

(aka my own private hell on a Saturday afternoon)

I vividly remember my mom telling me the story of how she made taffy with her mom and her friends when she was a kid. She told me how excited she was to make taffy, and how hard, and tiring it was, to the point that she NEVER asked to make it ever again. I also remember thinking, "well it will be different when I make it..." It was not different.  I was super excited, I got the kids excited, I thought, well if anyone could be into it, MY kids will be into it... right? no. The making of the taffy base is very easy. The rest sucks. First its really, really sticky. I know its sounds obvious, but when you read other blogs, or watch YOUTUBE videos, it never looks sticky or sounds sticky. Plus you think, oh well I just put butter on my hands like the recipes tells me, and I will be fine right? no. It was sticky level RIDICULOUS!  See this picture below? LIES !!! This is not how it will turn out. See the bottom two pictures? fact!

When you first start to pull, it pulls pretty fast.. so within minutes I got some on my kitchen counter, my daughter got it on the stove, it was everywhere! oi. Once we got the hang of pulling, we were sore, our arms hurt, our fingers hurt, and we were totally over it. This was only 10-15 min into the pulling... we had sooooo much more to go. oi. My daughter had the very bright idea to put it into the fridge to harden up a bit, this really helped!! More than anything else we did just cooling the stuff down made the whole project do-able.  Once it was cooled down, we could pull it until it became hard to pull. but then it would warm up in our hands again, so all afternoon we would pull for a few min, then put it in the fridge again. The whole process took 4 hours! 4 hours people!!! For 1 lb of taffy. damn! The other main point would be that you cant just add butter once to your hands, you have to continue to apply, but as you do this, the taffy wont stick to itself, and wont pull. So the fridge becomes vital!, And wash your hands often, cold hand really help too. All in all, I cant say enough horrible thing about this project, it sucks, go buy a pound at the store for $12. Yes, in the end, the taffy is really good, but we all agreed we will never do this again, and so the story will continue, from my mother, to my kids, taffy sucks. (we had to make toffee again to make ourselves feel better)

PS- if after this compelling story has not moved you to avoid taffy making at all cost, then feel free to try it, I did like the recipe we used. here is the link

link to SKIP TO MY LOVE

Big thank you to SKIP TO MY LOVE for the recipe. you are a better woman than I. I bow to you.

book shelf or bar?

My husband is a great carpenter.  He comes from a line of great carpenters, and he has been a carpenter since he was 18. The man can build. When I was planning our wedding I would go onto Etsy (my addiction along with Pinterest) and show him all the awesome things I wanted. He would then get annoyed at how much people were trying to charge for the simplest of things. Pretty much anything with a mason jar and some chalk paint for at least $50 bucks. There was a lot of head shaking on his part... Recently I picked up some new fabric to reupholster a foot stool, and just never got around to doing it. One day he found the materials in my linen closet, and pulled them out, 30 min later the foot stool was done and beautiful. (my fabric choices were perfect of course) Well after this, it was ON!   We went around looking for great bones to re-finish. We found some great pieces this labor day weekend, two book shelves, a desk, and a set of 8 chairs from the 60's, and so much more. He has been busy in the workshop ever since he is starting with one of the bookshelves. It was pretty decrepit, covered in a million layers of paint, and rat poop, so he had his work cut out for himself.  ( Like a nerd, I forgot to take a true before pic, so all I have is the pic of what it was like after he cleaned and sanded, but before the magic happened,)  He has disassembled the whole thing, and sanded it down. 

We have been back and forth on what to do with it. Should it be a bar cart or a bookshelf? His company does large commercial construction work, but as a favor to their benefactor, they are renovating his mansion in SF. The scrape materials coming out of this place are phenomenal! I cant believe the things that are being thrown away. We have been lucky enough to get a few pieces of beautiful thick wood planks that will make a great bar top, but we both feel like this particular unit is just too narrow to be a bar.We are thinking of a great shelf unit with a pop of color, and texture paint on the inside of the shelves. But of course I have my eye out for the perfect piece to make  into a bar cart. I mean really who doesn't want a bar cart? And really why cant it be both? You decide.

He decided to go with a real farmhouse finish for it, and I think it came out great. The top is reclaimed from the mansion, he sanded it down and then varnished it, but the color is original to this wood. We really lucked out. The best part of projects like this one is even if you have ideas of what you want it to be, the details don't really take shape until you start working the piece. He and I talked about at least a dozen different ideas for this piece, but in the end, the back board, color and top just came together.  Well I suggested the casters, but mostly because I hate moving furniture when family comes over. Boom- a star is born.

Toffee shortbread? yeah I can do that.

It's a lovely Friday night in August, and my family is already ready for fall and Christmas. oi. So my step-daughter asks me, " hey Morgan", -its always dubious when the 15 year old is willing to talk to you- "you wanna make Toffee this weekend"? I love to cook, and sugar is crack, so yeah I wanna make toffee this weekend! Plus toffee is one of my hubby's favorites, so how could I say no? So on to Pinterest we went, searching for the perfect toffee recipe. Now here is the thing, my girl is deathly allergic to peanuts, so she is just kinda skittish of nuts in general. The hubby LOVES nuts, so right off the bat, I HAVE to make at least two batches of toffee, one with and one without nuts.  But, lets be honest,  if you are gunna make toffee, which takes all of 10 min, you might as well test your awesome Pinterest skills and make something truly addictive-like TOFFEE SHORTBREAD BARS!  Big shout out out to TASTE OF LIZZY  and LASTING THUMBPRINTS for the delicious looking recipes. 

this girl has skills!

DInner Menu 04/23-04/27

People need to bounce ideas off each other for dinner ideas to avoid ruts. SO here is the next week for my family. we are going to the farmers market and a local health food store for our shopping. SO I like to make a menu to know what i need to buy. Plus I no longer have the luxury of daily shopping now that I am a working mom again.

Monday- Pan seared fish (whatever is wild) with roasted potatoes that have thyme, lemon, and whole garlic cloves, and a salad( fresh greens, maybe some pea shoots, and what ever looks good at the farmers)
Tuesday- Chicken teriyaki with roasted cauliflower mash and roasted beet salad with apples, bacon, and smoked blue cheese
Wednesday- Asparagus, bacon and mushroom quiche with salad
Thursday-pot roast with carrots, turnips, onion, and celery maybe with some brown rice
Friday-Tacos, (from the leftover roast) with cabbage, onions and cheese and  black beans

hope this helps with your menus =D

My go-to's....SPRING EDITION (part 1)

Every mom has her go-to recipes. Mine change for the seasons somewhat, but sometimes I just alter a recipe for whats in season. Like pasta or tacos, stuffed cabbage and soups/stews. Good basics that can be altered for what you have in season, and in your cupboard.  Right now it is spring, and the best part of spring, (besides flowers, and sun) ASPARAGUS! So right now we are eating it about five times a week, because in about a month it is gone.  (and with asparagus when it is out of season, not only does it not taste as good, it costs exponentially more)  So consider a few options for spring... Quiche, and/or frittatas (very similar, but if you don't feel like making a crust, a frittata is a great alternative.)  Asparagus, mushrooms, and some Swiss cheese (bacon wouldn't hurt) quiche...YUM!  Wild mushrooms are also starting to come around so we are enjoying our  roasted asparagus and wild mushroom salads.  And how about our leafy greens. Its kale, chard, spinach time people!

Simple dressing (good for kale salad, or asparagus and wild mushroom salad, or anything...)

• juice of one lemon (two if not a juicy lemon or you really love lemon.... like me)
• 1/4c Bragg's Amino
• 1/2c olive oil
• 1/4t salt (to taste)
• 1/2t pepper
• splash of tarragon vinegar (optional)

shake shake shake!

Roasted Beet Salad

• 4 smallish/medium beets peeled, cut into large bite size pieces and roasted* at 400 degrees for ~35-40 min until tender (serves two and a half-babies are a half in my book)
• 1 apple peeled, cored and cut into small bite size pieces
• 2-4 slices of good bacon cooked and chopped up
• a good amount of smoked blue cheese ( I say a good amount because if you really like blue then go for it, if you are only a moderate fan, then maybe a little less is better. ALWAYS TASTE YOUR FOOD!)
• drizzle of Olive oil
• drizzle of balsamic (we happen to have access to a balsamic truffle creme and holy cow it is great-nice work if you can get it)

toss and serve warm
*Of course whenever roasting a veg I cover it with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Stolen Kale Salad

• fresh kale ( you can gauge how much, because honestly I love this so much I eat a whole bunch of kale to myself) washed and dried
• handful of sunflower seeds (roasted)
• handful of pumpkin seeds (roasted)
• handful of sunflower sprouts
• red onion (I recommend pickling your onions for extra POP....that's a different post)
• small amount of feta crumbled (optional)
• simple dressing*

clearly this is a very sophisticated, precise salad, so you must follow the recipe exactly! And I named this Stolen kale salad because I full on stole this recipe from a local health food market. I'm not gonna lie. But shit, its really good and not enough people eat kale!


Asparagus and Mushroom Salad

• 1 bunch asparagus
• a variety local wild mushrooms- two big handfuls or one handful and a Portabello
• 3 small beets peeled and roasted
• simple dressing -to taste

roast the mushrooms and asparagus separate from the beets because they take much less time you can start the beets first. (4oo degrees for 40 min) Then, once they are done do the other veg at the same temp,but only for 20 min. Of course whenever roasting a veg I cover it with olive oil and salt and pepper. I would go really light on the S&P for this one because you will be adding the dressing. This might be one of the few salads that I would not add bacon or cheese to... hmmmm weird....

SO this is only part one of an idunnohowmany part series. I will post my quiche recipe including my great grandmothers pie crust, but don't tell my dad....stay tuned!

Moving on up

Change is a good thing, and I am excited for what is coming up in my life. I am going back to work. I have gotten a great job at the hospital and am very excited to embrace this new change in my life. My daughter is going to go to a nanny who I am very pleased with. But... I am pretty scared about leaving her. We're both gonna cry, but it's gonna be good in the end. Santa Cruz is an expensive place to live, so this boost of income will really help my family out. And now we will be able to afford to do the things for our kids that we have wanted. BOOYA!

LATKES!

Hey, so I know it has been a while, but here we go. This morning I made potato and zucchini latkes with coconut hot coco, oh and bacon! As you all know I really do advocate eating locally and seasonally. But.. you also know that I love zucchini. So though it is not in season (cause its not August) I couldn't help myself.  Same with the potatoes.  I am trying to upload some photos cause I hear that's what all the kids are doing these days.... I am technologically impaired so we shall see how this goes. Latkes are similar to the croquettes, but the veg is shredded and raw.  So this recipe is definitely kid tested and hubby approved.

LATKES

• 1 large potato
• 2 zucchini
• 2 eggs
• 3 spring onions
• 1/4c cream
• 1c flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1tsp pepper

Ok, so shred one large potato and two zucchini, squeeze the excess liquid out of it, you can leave a little, but I prefer to have it rinsed and drained so I can control the amount of liquid.  Combine all the ingredients.   You can have it be more "battery" or more "potato-y" depending on preference.  (see pic)  IE-add more flour and don't rinse and drain the potatoes. Or rinse and drain the potatoes and add just enough flour to combine. Get a pan nice and hot with your oil of choice ( no butter, it burns) and put approx 1/4 of the batter to pan and cook for about 3min on each side til golden brown. (see pic). So I am not gonna tell you all how to make bacon, but I will FYI the coco.

Coconut Coco

• one can coconut milk
• one can regular milk (or whatever you like) I used the can to measure
• 3T coco powder
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 3T unrefined cane sugar (or whatever you like)

heat the milk til it starts to bubble on the edges, then remove from heat, and whisk in the remaining ingredients and enjoy!