Yum, onions

Last week I made two dishes that required deeply caramelized onions. At that point, the Boyfriend (who does not care for anything in which onion is the dominant flavor) was in California for an undetermined amount of time, so I figured I'd better jump on my opportunity to take down 5 lbs of onions in one fell swoop.

After thinly slicing an entire bag of onions and putting them in the biggest dutch oven I own, I added a stick of butter, turned the stove to low heat, and let the onions and butter do their thing. I cleaned the kitchen, then stirred the onions. Vacuumed the house. Stirred the onions. Read a few chapters of a book. Stirred the onions. Spaced out for a while. Stirred the onions. Basically, my entire afternoon was dedicated to killing time while the onions did their thing. It got pretty frustrating toward the end, because they smelled AMAZING.

By the time they were ready, it was time for me to get ready for dinner with The Boyfriend's family. Dinner was amazing, but that's a story for another time. So, the onions got scooped into a container so I could deal with them when I got home.

Back to the onions. Half stayed in the container, while the other half went to make French onion soup. So, back into the dutch oven they went, along with:

• 6 c. beef flavored broth*
  
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c. white wine**
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. thyme

I let everything simmer for 30 minutes or so while I finished cleaning the kitchen, then put it in the fridge for lunch the following day. One of my co-workers joined me for lunch the next day. I didn't have any gruyere or swiss on hand, so we just ate it with hunks of bread and a salad. So tasty. While part of me thinks it's a pity The Boyfriend hates onions, I just remind myself that there's more leftovers for me.

* I used Better than Boullion's No-Beef base because that's how we roll at this spinster's house.
**White is what I had on hand. Next time I'll probably use red.

"So, what," you ask, "happened to the rest of those caramelized onions?"

Well, I'll tell you.

I made mujadara. It was so good that I think I've sworn off chicken and rice forever. Chicken and rice is my go-to dish when I'm sick, and although we've given up meat, chicken and rice is what I crave on days I feel lousy.

Mujadara is incredibly simple to make. You will need:

• caramelized onions
• 1 c. lentils
• 1 c. basmati rice

That's it. No, really. Cook the lentils and the rice, and mix everything together. It's mindbogglingly good. So simple. So delicious. My brother was in town for the evening and between the two of us, we took down almost the entire pot of mujadara. I had a little left over for lunch the next day, but that's because we went out to have a couple of beers. I'm pretty sure if we'd stayed in, there wouldn't have been any left.

Also, neat little trick I learned: caramelized onions can be frozen. Oh, and another quick note, both of these dishes can be made vegan by switching the butter for a spread like Earth Balance.

Bread so good you'll think it's absurd

Yesterday, even though I was utterly exhausted, I was apparently feeling a deep need to bake. G and I decided on sandwiches for dinner, but I didn't think regular sandwich bread would satisfy. So, after mulling it over, I decided focaccia bread was the order of the day. G and I couldn't keep our hands off the bread. Before it was even cool, G called his brother to come get the other half of the loaf so we wouldn't eat it all.

This recipe is an altered version of Tyler Florence's Fabulous Focaccia.

To make delicious focaccia bread, you will need:

• 2 teaspoons rapid-rising dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil

In a bowl combine the water, sugar, and yeast. Wait for the yeast to foam, then while mixing, gradually add the flour. Mix in the salt and olive oil. When the dough starts to come together, turn onto a floured surface, and knead until elastic. Place the dough in a well oiled bowl, turning to prevent a skin from forming, and let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour, until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Oil a 13x19" baking pan and turn the dough into the pan. Stretch and press the dough into the shape of the pan. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 15 minutes. When the dough has risen, dimple the surface with your fingertips (don't go all the way through the dough, but make sure you press most of the way through), brush the surface with olive oil, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread is golden.

Muffins for the mildly annoyed (or, putting that horde of pumpkin to use)

Today I learned that one should never, under any circumstances check one's work email while still on vacation. Inevitably, there will be something in your inbox that will remind you of how much work you need to catch up on, something that annoys you, or something that just makes you shake your head at the ridiculousness of the situation. Most days I go to the gym and work it all out on the treadmill or with the weights. Unfortunately, today is Sunday, meaning I have a very small window of time to get to the gym. And I'm absolutely exhausted from traveling.

Thankfully, I have another tried and true method for dealing with stress - muffins.

There's something wonderful about a warm, soft muffin. I love the process as much as I love the results.

Now, I realize that it's spring and I should be making lemon muffins or something with strawberries, but while hunting for an obscure ingredient this morning, G begged me to make pumpkin bread. I didn't find the ingredient I was looking for (Where, exactly, does one find baker's ammonia?), but G did provide inspiration.

Normally, I would use my grandmother's pumpkin bread recipe. Her recipe is perfect, but for breakfast muffins it's a little too sweet. We needed something different, with less oil and less sugar.

Here's how it all went down.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 2 Tbsp. flax meal*
• 6 Tbsp. water
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. pumpkin **
• 2/3 c. oat flour***
• 1 c. white whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12 muffin tin, or a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flax meal and water. It'll start to look thick and have the consistency of an egg white. Add the sugar and pumpkin and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, excluding the walnuts. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Mix in the walnuts.

When making muffins, I use a 1/4 c. measuring cup, scoop out the batter, and plop it into the muffin cups. It portions the batter perfectly for 12 muffins. You could also use a size 16 ice cream scoop (2 oz.). That's one of my upcoming kitchen purchases.

*To make flax meal, I put flax seeds in my blender and let it run until it's ground into flour.
**Don't use pie filling. Solid pack pumpkin will do. Good luck finding it this time of year, even at well-stocked grocery stores. There was a shortage last year (yes, seriously), so I ended up buying 15 cans or so when it was finally in stock. I have five cans left. Clearly, we are some pumpkin eating fools.
***I also use my blender to make oat flour. I buy oats in bulk ($0.89 per pound, that's what I'm talking about!) I keep mine in an airtight container in the freezer. I use oat flour for all kinds of stuff.

Post trip reflections and pretty good lasagna

Our trip was a bit of a mixed bag. We saw my family, did some sightseeing, and ate a whole lotta food.

We flew out Tuesday afternoon. We spent probably 2 1/2 hours actually in the air, but our trip took 5 hours. Oy.

Wednesday was my grandfather's 75th birthday. That's the reason we went to see my family. I was pretty excited about seeing my grandfather; I was always his girl. My grandfather's eyes did not light up when he saw me. They only showed confusion. He asked for my mother, even though she died more than four years ago. He thought we were going on a trip. He has grown frail. I had never seen him without a mustache. He's lost weight, his hair is finally grey. Once a well spoken, well dressed man, now my grandfather can barely complete a thought. Dementia is stealing my grandfather from me. It's excruciating to know that there's nothing I can do to stop it.

After we saw my grandfather we went to the Jewish bakery that we've been going to since someone in my family discovered it. It's in Philadelphia's Old City, a few blocks from the Delaware river. There is nothing as lovely as a piece of fresh rye bread, lightly toasted, with a thin layer of butter. We bought three loaves of bread, one unseeded rye, one seeded rye, and one marble rye. We also bought a pound of cookies. My great aunt used to stop by the bakery before church and pick up a pound of leaf shaped cookies. I don't know what's in these cookies, but I would consider a special trip just to have one. I was kicking myself when I got on the plane and realized that I left them at my aunt's house. So it goes.

G and I tried driving around Philly by ourselves on Thursday. The morning was fantastic. We went to Eastern State Penitentiary. The audio tour is superb. I'm usually not into audio tours, but this tour is narrated by Steve Buscemi and is completely self paced. It was the best of both worlds for me. I picked up lots of random knowledge, and I got to take as many pictures as I wanted. Eastern State Penitentiary has entirely too much history for me to get into here, but Al Capone was incarcerated for eight months in 1929 - 1930. Eastern State is supposedly haunted, but G and I didn't feel any "presence" or anything. Nonetheless, it was a highlight of our trip. After Eastern State, we tried to make it to Reading Terminal Market. Unfortunately, it was lunchtime, and after spending almost an hour driving around with no luck on a parking spot, G and I decided it might be better to head back over the bridge. We had a pretty good lunch at a diner and headed back to my aunt's. Dinner was with my uncle. That was awesome.

We went to Ocean City on Friday. G and I shared a soft pretzel and a frozen, chocolate dipped banana. Delicious. We also went out to dinner with my dad. Pizza was split between four of us, and G and I shared a plate of hot wings. Afterward we went out for frozen custard. G and I have a running joke that I always order the best thing on the menu, even if we're eating somewhere new. I never get to finish whatever I order; G is like a seagull swooping in for crumbs. In this case, however, G definitely ordered the better custard. His was peanut butter flavored. It tasted just like Nutter Butter cookies. So good. Definitely one of the best parts of our trip.

We came back to SC today. My aunt made us breakfast this morning, then we headed to the airport. I'm exhausted. I'm glad I had the foresight to freeze that lasagna. Sometimes neurosis pays off.

For this lasagna, you will need:

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 large can tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons Italian seasoning (or 1 tsp each dried basil, parsley, and oregano)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 cups chopped mushrooms
• 6 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup roasted red bell peppers
  
• 2 cups fat-free ricotta
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 package whole-wheat lasagna noodles (about 8 oz, or 9 noodles)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella

Saute the onions, when they are transparent, add the mushrooms, and cook until the water evaporates. Add the Italian seasoning and tomato sauce. Allow the mixture to simmer while you put together the other ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, spinach, nutmeg, and half the mozzarella. Remove the sauce from the stove, and in a 9 x 13" pan layer the noodles, then the cheese mixture, then the sauce, then more noodles, continuing until you run out of ingredients. Top with the rest of the mozzarella and bake in a 350 oven until it's golden brown and bubbly.

Backyard musings and really good black bean soup

I was hoping start gardening this week. My guy and I bought our house in October, and even though we've done a lot of work, it's mostly been inside. So far the only bit of yardwork that I've managed to tackle is a pretty intense ivy infestation. It was so bad that my pecan tree failed to yield fruit this year. My hope is that there was no lasting, substantial damage to my trees, but I likely won't find out until the leaves start peaking out.

The previous owner of our house used it as a rental. As such, the yard was not properly maintained. Right now, I have two types of fencing in my yard. One fence is in need of serious repair (possibly replacement) and the other needs to be removed. We have bald spots in our backyard, out of control shrubs, trees that need pruning, and no outdoor storage. And don't even get me started on the number of Miller High Life caps I've picked up.

My main hope for this season is an herb garden. I fleshed out a plan for a vertical herb garden, but the weather has not cooperated long enough for me to build a frame. I'm not as organized as Amber. I haven't started any plants indoors. The process of applying to graduate school has taken over my life. I'm almost finished though. Here's hoping I can start some plants next week.

Now, if I could only figure out what's going on with our camellias...

This week's weather has been enough to test even the most patient of souls. Sunday was 68 and sunny; today was 45 and windy enough that I felt the cold through my sweater and a wool coat. Even though today was sunny, it was tempting to stay at home with a book and a pot of soup simmering invitingly on the stove. Alas, work beckons.

Luckily, I am the proud owner of a slow cooker. My slow cooker is pretty high on the list of things that I love. Few things are better than coming home to a warm meal.

Tonight's dinner? Black bean soup.

You will need:

• 1/2 lb. black beans (also called turtle beans)
• 3 c. water
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 poblano peppers, chopped*
• 1/4 c. lentils
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder (Why, yes, you did read that correctly.)
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
• 1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 c. uncooked rice
• 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar**
• salt to taste

In a large bowl, submerge black beans in water. Make sure the beans are covered by at least a couple of inches. Soak overnight.

In the morning, drain beans and rinse. Add to crock. Add water, carrot, celery, poblanos, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, the bay leaf, pepper, and lentils. Cook on high for 3 hours.***

Switch temperature to low, give everything a good stir, and add tomatoes, rice, and salt to taste. Cook on low for 3 hours.

Add vinegar just be serving. Adjust salt.

* If you can't find poblano peppers or they're not in your budget, chop a bell pepper and a jalapeno (make sure you remove the seeds and veins) and toss them in the pot.

**If you don't have red wine vinegar, you can use apple cider vinegar in a pinch.

*** Times are approximate. Every slow cooker is different, and so is every situation. I'm very lucky that I'm able to come home for lunch if I'd like. For me, it makes sense to cook the beans, veggies, and seasonings on low for four to five hours and add the tomatoes and rice when I come home for lunch. For those who cannot interrupt their day to adjust temperatures and add ingredients, consider a slow cooker that has a delay function. Toss in everything up to the can of tomatoes and set your cooker to come on a few hours before you come home. When you get home, leave the cooker on the high temperature setting, add the tomatoes, rice, and salt, and let it cook for an additional one to two hours.