Attack of the killer Figgins

Figgins got a little too excited the other day, I tend to keep him in the fridge to keep the fermentation at a manageable level but ended up with sourdough starter all over my condiment shelf.  I think I need a bigger container or less of Figgins!

All the wrong foods?

I am trying to raise a toddler that will actually eat something besides macaroni and cheese and hot dogs and am not having much luck, he'd rather go hungry and miss dessert than eat something I know he likes, just because I want him to eat it…I can't wait for the teenage years.  Well, last night, for reasons I cannot begin to explain, I decided to make a souffle, which is a ton of work for a tasty but ephemeral reward.  And of course the goofball loved it!  He is an egg and cheese fan, so I shouldn't be surprised but maybe I am serving him all the wrong foods.  Why should he deign to eat spaghetti and chicken when he could eat caviar and foie gras?  Maybe he is a gourmet trapped in a household of plebeian foodies.  Or maybe he is just two...

Chicken Enchiladas

This is one of those recipes that just happened, I was trying to use up some leftover chicken from Thanksgiving (yes, I am a cultural renegade and actually made chicken on 'Turkey Day') and the results were actually worth doing again someday.

Saute 1/4 cup each chopped onion and sweet peppers in a medium saucepan.

Add 2 cups cooked chicken (or cook a couple chicken breasts along with the veggies) and 8oz of corn (or your favorite vegetable, salsa would work too), season to taste (celery salt, black pepper, garlic, a little chili powder) and add ~1/2 cup water and 1 chicken bouillon cube.  Heat through.

Spread the chicken mixture in 8 flour tortilla shells (6-8 inches), roll up and place in a greased cake pan fold side down.  Add one can cream of chicken soup to the sauce pan and enough milk to make a gravy consistency, any leftover chicken/veggies will just add flavor to the sauce.  Heat through and pour over prepared tortillas.  Top generously with cheese and crushed nacho chips.  Bake until golden and bubbly.

By any other name...

My toddler does not speak english, he has a recognizable word here or there but otherwise it is some combination of Swedish (he sounds like the 'Swedish Chef' off the Muppets, so that must be it) and dolphin with an engine noise or three thrown in for good measure.  The other day he was pointing into the kitchen and started saying, 'arf arf' in that birdlike voice of his and I couldn't figure out what on earth he meant, that is his word for dog and there was nothing of a doglike nature in the kitchen.  Then I figured out what specifically he was pointing at: a tupperware container full of puppy chow (chex cereal coated in chocolate/peanut butter and powdered sugar).  He apparently knew what it was called but instead of saying the proper word, he gave it his own spin.  Whatever it is called, he has good taste!

Romancing the Cinnamon Roll

I love cinnamon rolls but have yet to perfect the art at home, they always seem to turn out tough or dry or flavorless, it is obviously the recipe and not the cook…well okay maybe there is an art to it I have yet to master.  That being said, these rolls actually turned out rather nice (foolproof?) and it is another use for the versatile Master Figgins.  This makes twelve big, gooey rolls.

Sweet Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls:

1 cup sweet sourdough starter
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp bread machine yeast

Put everything in your bread machine/mixer/bowl and prepare as you would any sweet, slightly sticky roll dough using your method of choice, adjust flour and liquids as needed to obtain appropriate consistency.  After last rising, roll into a large rectangle.  Spread with softened butter (~2 tbsp), sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar (I used half white and half brown), and 1-2 tsp cinnamon (or more to taste).  Roll up, seal ends, cut into 12 rolls and place in a greased 9x13 pan, allow to rise until double and bake just until golden and bubbly.  Cool slightly and frost while still warm, allowing frosting to melt over rolls.

Frosting:

Mix 1/4 cup softened butter with 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/8 tsp salt.  Add a little powdered sugar and mix until stiff, add a splash of milk and mix until smooth.  Add more sugar (~3 cups total) and tiny amounts of milk (~2 tbsp total) as necessary, mixing until smooth, until you have a smooth frosting, almost of cake frosting consistency.

Christmas in a box

Next to getting married, buying a house, and having kids, buying a family christmas tree is next on the list for major life changes…perhaps I exaggerate (just a tad), but we have taken the plunge.  We've had a cute little four foot tree I picked up a few years ago on sale after christmas and it sufficed for our tiny apartment and with our childless family/indifferent baby we didn't need or want more.  Now I have a house and a coming three year old, it is time to start some family traditions of our own.  Real or fake is a very divisive issue, especially up at the north pole which we recently vacated; up there you could cut your own right in the backyard and likely find an elf or two to help you carry it home.  Here, trees of any sort are mythical and the poor creatures sold at the local tree lot are so pathetic even Charlie Brown would think twice about taking one home, especially when he'd have to sell a kidney to afford one.

I have always been a fan of fake (much easier!, no mess, use it year after year, no prickly dead tree to dispose of, etc.).  I suppose I miss that 'real pine smell,' but then I've never owned a new car either so I don't envy the mythical 'new car' scent people talk about.  I'd rather bake some bread or make cookies to get the house 'homey' in the olfactory sense.  I could always snort some pinesol if I get desperate or use one of those pine tree car fresheners as an ornament I suppose?  To me, the mess and fuss isn't worth a fresh piney scent.  So I got on the phone with santa and our tree came pronto…well it was delivered but it was ordered online and came UPS.  It is a dangerous thing ordering one of these beasts unseen, except for the postage stamp image on the website, but it should be okay, if it isn't we can always cover it with unsightly junk and hide the hideous foliage…wait, isn't that what this is all about in the first place?  Now the questions is, have I enough ornaments?  Probably not, our little four footer couldn't hold them all but this monster is another story.  I might have to buy some of those too!  So this is how christmas became commercialized, it is like that 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie' book beloved of small ones; if you do X then you must do Y, if Y then Z…and on and on.  Gracious, I have just lost my soul and all for want of a christmas tree…maybe we should avoid dyeing easter eggs too, just in case…maybe I should get the grinch to come and remind me of the true meaning of the holiday, but have you any idea of the price of Roast Beast right now?  Oh dear, oh dear…the holiday stress has begun!

Snow on snow…with cookies and carols and more snow…!

This time of year is perilous, I start singing Christmas carols, but can usually restrain myself somewhat until Thanksgiving, then it all falls apart.  This year I am not so fortunate.  A storm swept in, buried us in snow, and now our highs are in the single digits.  I am used to living in a freezer six months of the year but this is a bit depressing, it is November!  It started Sunday night, the storm and the carols…that verse in 'In the Bleak Midwinter' with 'snow on snow, snow on snow…'  I can't help myself…but then I need something to do while I shovel!  Viva La Christmas!  But then snowstorms also put me in a baking mood which can be dangerous to one's waistline if one did not have shoveling to counteract it…bring on the cookies too!