apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

No recipes to report but I have firm resolve to ignore the recommendations of purists and buy a bread machine this weekend. That and the best serrated knife (bread knife) I can afford. Even if I only mix and rise the dough in the machine, I can fill the house with that heavenly aroma.

Why is today national Pie Day? Shouldn't it be 3/14 or 31/4? (Pi = 3.14159ish so it's dependant on how you write the date)

No cooking planned this weekend, too much to do, but dishes and lunch at my sister's are planned.

I just made a giant pan of eggplant (baked not fried) parmesan. I'm planning on making oatmeal pancakes tomorrow morning.

dinner party at a friend's place; an englishman's attempt at coq au vin and I will be schooling everyone on the fine art of pairing cheese. fun!

I really want to make a creamy roasted tomato soup (from canned tomatoes) and then get a baguette and slice it into diagonal slices, rub those slices with garlic and a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle a wee bit of parmesan cheese on top of them and then cook the slices until they're nice and crisp. And then cuddle up and savor the deliciousness. That's what I want to do this weekend.

@laetitae - I've made a soup like that mmmm good!
http://good-life-eats.blogspot.com/2009/01/finally.html

I have a date with my 4 yr old to make cookies this weekend. I think we are going to try a lemon coconut white chocolate cookie.

I just made the potato-kale puree and will reheat it for lunch. It looks good; it tastes good. But boy there is a LOT of it!

And I'm going to put March 14 on my calendar as Pie Day!

Dorie Greenspan's stuffed pumpkin tonight and meatloaf with sun-dried tomatoes and mashed sweet potatoes tomorrow.

The windchill is in the negative in Chicago today. It's making me miss summer, so rather than going for cold food fair , I am going to try a new cookie recipe. (Plus, we just finished off a pot of borscht). I have a basket full of limes that I need to use up, so I am thinking a lime tea cookie would be perfect. A summery, citrus-y, bright flavor is just right to have with some hot tea right now.

P.S. If anyone has suggestions for using up quite a lot of leftover kale-potato puree, I'm all ears. I think it's too soft/runny to fry like pancakes like I would mashed potatoes. We'll eat some of it as-is but I know I'm going to be sick of it before it's gone. Soup base???

@cmcinnyc I bet soup base would be great! add some italian sausage...yum

Thawed out a giant package of wonton skins, so it's a ravioli-makin' weekend! Gonna do some pumpkin ravs, some chicken sausage and sundried tomato ravs, and some cheese ravs. If I have any left, I might even try to make some eggy breakfast ravs. PACKETS OF LOVLINESS!

Thanks for the Lunar New Year wishes! I want to suggest the Korean New Year's soup which I already cheated and made on the 'solar' New Year:

http://lobugast.tumblr.com/post/68245367/another-year-another-soup

Last night I tried a new recipe which unfortunatley turned out to be a big flop. It was a hazelnut cream sauce over gnocchi. The sauce was made with ricotta cheese and it was just too thick without much in the flavor department. However tonight is Heidi's/101 Cookbooks borlotti bean recipe. This will be my first time trying fresh beans picked up at the farmers market. It's a cold, blustery day here in Northern California and rain is expected so looking forward to a pot o'beans to help keep the chill off. Oh, and we are a day late but my hubby made an apple pie today.

I made a variation on the potato kale puree with parsnips and turnips and red mustard. This was all well and good (and delicious) however I think I used a bit too much of the milk in the puree because it was thinner than I would have liked and also the red mustard greens gave it a disconcerting purple-y grey color. :-P

But still, tasty. Especially with an italian sausage as the protein, I second the comment to use it as a soup base. :)

Chickpea salad with lots of lemony happy. A rather weak curry/yogurt chicken. Flourless chocolate cake.

I roasted a butternut sqash and a mess of onions with some olive oil and s and p. I also made up a black bean saute with some s and p and cumin. I piled it all on a sprouted whole wheat tortilla and slathered it with some avocado mash, lettuce, and some tomotoes. You can get a similiar recipe if you go to:
http://testkitchenette.wordpress.com

Happy Sunday to All,
Nancy

Can't wait to try some of everyone else's meals!

I was unable to find a satisfactory bread machine, but I did find a recipe (if you can call it that) to try -- from The Wednesday Chef, I think. Honestly I can't remember. It's just roasted broccoli and shrimp, Southwest flavors of cumin and chili powder, lots of lemon zest and juice, olive oil...425 degree oven. Should be fabulous and if not quite light, light enough.

Something with blood oranges as they were on sale this weekend. I also got goat cheese and naan on sale so I am not sure what will end up coming out of my kitchen. Maybe those lovely blood orange jellies. My little girls would love those!

i am going to tackle traditional dumplings for the very first time since my MIL taught me! Wish me luck, I'm very nervous they won't compare! :)

I followed a link that someone had posted on this site to The Guardian's New Vegetarian series. I just finished making the chickpea and chard stew with tamarind for our lunches this week--it's so delicious. I added some crushed red pepper for a little extra heat, and will use whole wheat couscous instead of the rice the recipe calls for. Thank you to whoever posted it!!! Here's the link again for everyone:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/10/new-vegetarian-yotam-ottolenghi

goodLife{eats} -- that's basically the recipe I used! Made it tonight. I ended up roasting a head of garlic with the tomatoes, so I added that to the soup. And then I didn't have heavy cream so I added some cream cheese to cream it up a bit. DELICIOUS! The only thing is that my immersion blender isn't all that great and so it was not as smooth as I'd like. But that wasn't the fault of the recipe at all. (Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to slip into a food coma now. :) )

@laetitiae - roasted garlic sounds soooo good! I am going to have to try that. The immersion blender didn't work too well for me either, so I used a regular blender.