Chicken Parmesan (for the cast iron skillet and no breading!)

I love breaded, fried chicken, but this recipe omits both messy necessities and shows it can still be wonderful!  Enjoy!

The mommy wars, solved!

It's time to quit arguing amongst ourselves about the best and only way to raise kids and balance motherhood with a career and beating ourselves up over seemingly impossible choices, someone has finally discovered the answer to the 'mommy wars!'  Or so I hope, find the article here.

Cinnamon Apples for the cast iron skillet

I'm having a dangerous affair with cast iron folks, and guess what, every recipe I try that actually works and is wonderful (so far everything I've made, there's a reason I'm in love) I'll pass on to you.  These apples are fabulous, no more drooling jealously over those steakhouse sides when I can make it at home!  Recipe here.

The search is over, a stuffed crust pizza that doesn't leak!

I'm having a dubious flirtation with a 12" cast iron pan right now, mostly pizza for some reason, but I'm in love and something tells me this fling will last a lifetime, or at least the pan will and then some.  I've spent years trying to find the secret to a stuffed crust pizza (a pizza with melty wonderful cheese lurking inside the crust) that doesn't leak cheese everywhere and I may have actually stumbled across the secret.  I managed to do it with my pretzel/bagel cheese bites by boiling the dough before baking but you can't exactly boil a pizza crust, I'm sure someone has but I have no wish to try!  Usually the cheese melts and the water vaporizes and the expanding gases rupture the crust allowing the cheese to ooze all over everything, but not this time.  I've tried sealing the seams really well, I've poked air vents of every shape and size, but still no luck.  The rimmed pan must be the secret, because the pizza I made in the cast iron skillet came out lovely and wonderful and the crust was cheese filled and completely intact.

Here are the basics, adjust to personal taste:

1/2 pound pizza dough (I used a half recipe, ~2 cups of flour, of regular white dough from the bread machine)

Sauce, cheese, toppings, spices, oil of preference.

A 12" cast iron pan.

Oil the pan well and preheat oven to 500 degrees F.  Roll dough into a circle slightly larger than the pan.  Place the dough in the oiled pan, make sure it is snug against the iron with excess draped over side.  Cut preferred cheese into ~3/4 inch diameter strips and line the edge of pan with cheese (or use string cheese).  Flop dough from sides of pan over cheese and seal the seams, cut away excessive dough.  Add 1/2 cup of your favorite sauce, top with 2 cups of your favorite shredded cheese, and 1/2 cup of your favorite toppings.  Oil the exposed crust and shake parmesan, basil, and garlic over everything.  Heat skillet on stove top over medium heat, just until pan is hot, about 2-3 minutes, being careful not to scorch pizza crust.  Once pan is hot, stick in over and finish baking until crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.  Let sit a few minutes then enjoy!

Another adventure in plant keeping

I tried to force some bulbs a few years ago when I found them on clearance after Christmas, that really was more a mess than anything.  Now I'm going to try growing a lotus in the house.  I'm not sure they can survive our ridiculously short winter days, but if that doesn't work, there's always next summer.  I can't find much on the interweb about the subject, plenty on growing them outside or in general, but not much on the smaller varieties (the bowl lotus) as houseplants.  So I will conduct the grand experiment and let the anxious internet community know how it goes.  The seeds are inexpensive on amazon so even if it fails, I'm not out much besides a little messing around, besides, this is for posterity!

The Professional Mom

As you might be aware, we had a wonderful baby girl join our family rather unexpectedly six weeks ago, getting notice the day she was born and bringing her home two days later.  We flew to Boston and back with a 2 week old infant and survived.  The next already scheduled, too late to cancel item on the to-do list was a professional conference to fulfill my continuing education requirements for licensure.  Can you even bring an infant to a professional conference?  As a pastor's wife, I was used to seeing the new moms in back with their tiny children at various ministry events but this was the professional world, certainly not as family friendly as your average women's conference!  There was nothing saying that she couldn't come but there were no guidelines saying she could.  So I decided to risk it, at least if it was okay with the lady I was staying with, she gave the okay so I tried it.

I remember some of the larger conferences providing day care, nursing facilities, and changing rooms for moms with small kids so at least there was some expectation of family needs at something of the sort.  If this was a first child or she was a fussy baby, I'm not sure it would work, or even if she was a bit older and didn't sleep the majority of the time it might have been awkward, but as she settles down the second you stick a bottle in her mouth, she did phenomenal.  She was also a pretty good plus one, as I'm pretty socially inept when I don't know anybody but a baby is an easy conversation starter with just about anyone.  I even managed to learn as much as usual.  I wasn't the only one with a small child or two in tow either.  I think it is actually quite doable with the right child and the proper planning and consideration for others (they are paying good money to be there, they didn't come to hear a screaming child).

We sat in back, ready to flee the room the moment the baby started to fuss inconsolably (she didn't).  I was prepared for all eventualities (bottle ready, pacifier, car seat for naps, blanket topped empty chair for stretching out/tummy time, baby carrier for hands free 'I need to be held' time).  I got there early and left last to avoid crowding and to set up/break camp.  Everything was lecture style in a hotel conference room so it was easy enough to just sit and listen/jot down notes, but this really would have been a horrible idea had we been actually doing anything active (nothing like sticking your arm up a cow's butt while wearing a baby!) or been moving around much.  Also consider the venue: an adult only resort, a boat, or third world nation would not have been a good idea.  We also skipped most of the social functions (an 8 hour day was long enough for the poor kid, staying up until one at the bar fraternizing afterwards would have been pure misery!).

Things not to make at home

I love baking, cooking, and the related arts (explosions, fire, smoke, visits from the local firefighters or those nice people from the Health Department, food poisoning...).  If you can buy it in a store, you can probably make it at home with a little trouble and creativity (and google), this is a great option for the health conscious, those who love the culinary arts, those with allergies, or those looking to save a little bit on groceries, but there are definitely a few things I've discovered that are best left to the experts.  Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.  I can certainly remove large, nasty tumors from a variety of mammalian species but doing that to myself would not be considered wise.  There's nothing wrong with attempting just about anything food-wise at home however (though it does occasionally involve sharp pointy objects and heat producing implements) and if you are the adventurous sort, want a challenge, or a fun family project, by all means give it a try, but here are a few things I've discovered are far more economical and less mess to just buy outright:

Tortillas: I've finally mastered the homemade tortilla but they are putzy and messy (though very tasty) and since they are really cheap in the store for very decent quality this is an easy one to buy by the 20 pack!

Wonton wrappers: see tortillas, they are cheap and really a mess to make.

Croissants: delicious but it takes 8 hours to make a dozen that are gone in 5 minutes, do the math!

Puff pastry dough: see croissants.

Most candy: candy is definitely an art I have not mastered, though I love microwave fudge variations but beyond that (i.e. taffy, caramels...) it might be better to leave this to a professional!  The constant stirring over a hot stove is a turn off as is the ease with which you can under cook or scorch it.

Jam: unless you have a very prolific tree or a large berry patch, between buying fruit and the mess, this can be an expensive disaster.

Narrow pasta: I make lasagna noodles all the time, but fettuccine gets a little tedious, unless you have one of those machines.

Lefse (or other ethnic specialties your grandmother from the Old Country did not personally teach you to make that will be eaten by someone else from the Old Country): I married a Norwegian, that doesn't mean I have the slightest idea of how to make (or inclination to make) a potato tortilla.  Don't even get me started on lutefisk (though krumkake is pretty easy and tasty).

Head cheese: go eat a hot dog, unless of course you need to use up that pig's head in your pantry!

I'm sure there are a bunch of things I'm missing, but that will get you started (or not, actually!).