Stirring the Pot

Ah, yes.  I have emerged from the abyss of quarter-end reporting madness at work, some unplanned home renovation and spring cleaning.  Can we say it's been a busy month?

Cleaning House
It's that time of year when we pull back the curtains on our winter caves and let in the sunlight once again.  We develop the itch to scrub off the winter grime, re-organize our lives and make room in our closets, pantries, attics, basements, and garages by filling boxes and bags with items for donation, recycling and some items that are just better relegated to the trash heap.

Well, as evident by my lack of posting over the last few weeks, I have been BUSY.  Work has been back to its standard 12 - 16 hour days during the reporting season.  In my classic attempt to avoid the long work hours, just like grad school, I start cleaning.  And by cleaning, I mean cleaning out.  Cabinets, closets, drawers.  No surface or storage vessel is immune to this cyclical itchiness. Anais Nin wrote, "When I cannot bear outer pressures anymore, I begin to put order in my belongings....As if unable to organize and control my life, I seek to exert this on the world of objects."

And so my avoidance cleaning began early in the month as work began encroaching on my evenings and weekends.  I started with the closet in my bedroom and managed to unload four bags of linens and clothes for good will.  Sheesh!  That's a lot of storage space I could be putting to better use.  Who needs all that crap anyway, right? Give me the breathing room!

Unfortunately, my plans were thwarted early on by a little leak that presented itself as a water stain on my downstairs neighbor's bathroom ceiling.  Flash forward 10 days, and I had a leaky mixing valve in my shower wall that apparently had been leaking for such an extended time that it had rotted the wall board behind my shower tile...nice.  Those are always fun calls to make to the landlord.  Thank goodness I hadn't sent the rent check yet and he was willing to bite the bullet and gut the shower.  So, my second weekend in April started with a shower renovation.

Appetite for Destruction
So on that Saturday morning, while the dust was flying and sheets of moldy drywall were being hauled out of my bathroom, I decided to attack the busting-at-the-seams cabinets in my kitchen.  It was time to pull out all my goods and go through everything.  If there's only a little of something, find a use for it.  If there's several of those little somethings, maybe we can find a recipe to use all of them together!  I love recipes that I call "Disappearing Ingredient" recipes.  You know, those ones that use 1/4 cup of just about everything but the kitchen sink to pull it off?  Yup, it was definitely time to roll up the sleeves and bust a few of those out.

I started in on the dried goods cabinet first.  I keep my pasta, rice, bulk items, tea and coffee in there.  As is par for course, the bulk containers take up more space than the actual item it contains.  If I am making a recipe, I tend to go to the bulk aisle at the grocery store and see if I can buy a small amount of the ingredient rather than a whole bag of it, because I hate wasting stuff.

Amidst the half boxes of pasta and tins of tea, I realized I had enough goodies to whip up a batch of my favorite granola recipe.  Seriously people, this is easier than you think and you can mix it up any old way you like.  I used what I had in the cabinets and was able to get rid of about five containers of bulk items!

Emily's Earthy Crunchy Granola (adapted from the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook)

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats

1 1/4 cups walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup unprocessed oat bran

1/3 cup flaxseed (you can use ground flaxseed as well)

1/3 cup wheat germ (optional)

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds (optional)

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds (optional)

1/3 cup apple juice

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon minced crystallized ginger

1 cup dried apples, chopped

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup dried cherries

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.  Combine the oats, walnuts, bran, flaxseed, wheat germ, pumpkin seeds and sunflowers seeds (if using) in a large bowl.  

Combine the apple juice, maple syrup (hey, remember my trip to Maple Magic?  Here's the syrup!) and ginger in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until the mixture simmers.  Pour over the oat mixture, stirring to coat.

 

 Spread onto the baking sheet.  Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Once cooked, place back in the large bowl and stir in dried fruit.

This makes 8 cups, 32 servings!  You can eat this alone as a snack, on top of your yogurt or put 3/4 cup in a bowl with some skim milk and enjoy it for breakfast, like I did. 

After all that, I was at a loss at what I ws supposed to do with all that granola.  So, I decided to take it just one step further and make luscious granola bars.  

Chewy Granola Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup honey

5 cups granola

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Preparation:

In a saucepan, combine sugar, honey and butter.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

In a large bowl, stir together granola and flour.  Pour brown sugar mixture over granola mixture.  Stir until granola mixture is well coated.  Press mixture into a greased 13x9x2 baking pan.  I used a piece of waxed paper here to save my hands from the gooey mess.

Allow to cool to room temperature; turn out onto cutting board and cut into bars.  This recipe makes 24 granola bars.  Enjoy!  My friends at work ate these up like they were going out of style. 

After all that granola magic going on in the kitchen, I decided to peek in and see how day one of my shower renovation was going. My handy man had spent the better part of the morning removing the moldy, rotten old shower walls and hanging the new cement board.  After only a couple hours, he was already laying the first courses of tile!

Saucy Saucy

Back in the kitchen. I had my eye on half a box of whole wheat spaghetti noodles.  I had pulled one of the four, yes four, steaks from my CSA out of the freezer the night before and was marinating it with a homemade Asian-inspired concoction that I had found a recipe for online.  What better to go with steak and vegetable stir-fry than some seriously awesome cold sesame noodles?  You see where I'm going with this?

Ginger Steak Marinade (adapted from recipe by Aida Mollenkamp)

Ingredients:

1 (5-inch) piece ginger, sliced thinly

1/4 cup sesame oil

8 medium garlic cloves, smashed

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound top sirloin, trimmed of excess fat

Preparation:

 Place all ingredients in large zipper bag or non-reactive dish and combine thoroughly.  Add steak and coat evenly.  Seal bag (or cover dish with plastic wrap) and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  If making ahead, like I did, place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

While the steak is marinating away, start in on the noodles.  These get better the longer they sit in the fridge. 

Cold Sesame Noodles (adapted from Tyler's Ultimate Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti noodles

3 tablespoons dark sesame oil

2 tablespoons peanut oil

2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1-inch piece fresh ginger, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons red chili paste

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

6 tablespoons hot water

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Preparation:

Cook the noodles in a large pot of salted boiling water.  Cook until barely tender and still firm.  3 to 4 minutes.  Drain in a colander and rinse under cool runner water to cool the noodles.  Drain the noodles really well and transfer to a wide serving bowl.  Toss immediately with 3 tablespoons of the sesame oil. 

In a saucepan, heat 4 tablespoons of sesame oil over medium low heat.  Add the ginger, garlic, and cook for a minute or so until the vegetables are soft and fragrant.  Dump that into a blender along with the brown sugar, chili sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, hot water, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of sesame oil; puree and refrigerate until cold.

Once chilled, toss the noodles with the peanut sauce.  At this point, I put it back into the fridge to let the flavors combine and penetrate the pasta. It also is the time that I pull out the marinating steak and fire up the grill (pan).  I also had some stir-fry veggies from good old Trader Joe's that begged to be invited to the party.

Once you have your steak cooked to the preferred doneness, medium rare for me, let your steak rest on a cutting board for about 10 minutes to let the juices go back into the meat.  Meanwhile, saute the stir-fry veggies in a little stir-fry sauce, sesame oil, or whatever it is you like to use for this.  Cook until the vegetables are tender.  Slice the steak across the grain into thin slices.  Time to plate it up!  This was a really tasty dinner made even sweeter knowing that I have cooked this entire meal with ingredients I already had in the cabinet/freezer/refrigerator. 

Mmm...Brownies...

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't try to tackle the scary cabinet with all my baking supplies and spices.  So, there I was Saturday night, rummaging through blocks of chocolate and half-used bags of chips begging to be used.  How could I not heed their call and whip up a giant batch of brownies?  I followed Ina Garten's recipe for "Outrageous Brownies," but let's be honest here.  These brownies are not just outrageous brownies, they are knock-your-sock-off brownies.  Shut-the-front-door brownies, or my personal favorite: Organic Brownies...but the real word wasn't "organic" if you get my drift.  These were seriously some of the best brownies I have ever had. period.  They also were the first batch of brownies I didn't make out of a box.  (yeah)

Outrageous Brownies (from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)

Ingredients:
1 pound unsalterd butter

1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate

6 eggs

3 tablespoons instant espresso granules

2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts

 Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 x 18 x 1-inch baking sheet. Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour into the baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares.

I was pretty busy that first renovation weekend if I don't say so myself.  After a little elbow grease and a fresh coat of paint, this bathroom looked like "almost" new!

 

Before

Before (With the ugly bits shown...can you believe that's grout that is stained?  I've never been able to scrub it out)

The new shower!  It looks awesome!

The Finished Product

Now that the bedroom and bathroom have been painted and basically finished, the next project on the list is tackling the living room.  I have lived in this apartment for over four years and have avoided this room like the plague due to its shear size.  The living room, which includes about 85 square feet for a dining room, makes up about 500 square feet of this place. I have wanted to make it my own since I moved in, but first I would have to paint those darn walls.  More on that next time.

Don't go too far now.  The real fun is just about to begin.  Sunshine Farm is in full swing with planting and growing.  They just opened their ice cream stand and greenhouses for the season during Mother's Day weekend.  The farmers market in my town opened last Saturday, and my first, long awaited vegetable CSA pick-up is only a few weeks away!  Stay tuned...