Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (and New Years photos)

Once again, this post is a little late (10 days) in coming.  Sorry.

I spent forever trying to figure out what kind of ice cream to make first in my ice cream maker.  I saved recipes for mocha coconut, dolce de leche, nutella swirl, almond cherry, etc.  I wanted something crazy fun, and then the voice of reason (Devin) said maybe you shouldn't make something too complicated for the first time, in case it doesn't turn out right.  Boo!  He was right though.  I would have been so upset if I made some fancy ice cream and spent lots of money on ingredients only to have it bomb miserably.  While he was right, I also knew that he just wanted vanilla.  Nothing adventurous for Devin. He wanted the "yellow" ice cream (don't worry, I have since walked on the wild side with the mocha coconut - it was amazing, I wanted to bathe in it - seriously make this one!).

So, I followed the PDubs recipe for Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.  I had bought vanilla beans from Trader Joes at Christmas in case I would need them for something.  I never needed one before, but they were too fun to pass up. Turns out I did need them.  Score!

Making ice cream is a lot more time consuming than I expected.  I definitely did something wrong because it took like oh 1.5 hours for my base mixture to thicken.  I was not a happy camper.  Plus, it didn't thicken enough so it never completely turned into ice cream (of the soft serve nature) while in the ice cream maker and so it took way longer to harden up in the freezer.  I don't think I heated the half and half up enough at first, then I don't think I was supposed to use a nonstick pan and I think it was a little too much liquid for my ice cream maker (the mocha coconut ice cream came together much better).  All complications aside, the vanilla ice cream turned out awesome!  It was slightly too rich for me (could be all the heavy cream, sugar and half and half) but Devin loved it.  Here are the pictures I took while making/serving it.

Oh and Janey loved it even more than Devin!

(it's on her nose!)

I ended up making this banana bread.  It ended up being a little bit dry.  Do you know what moistened it up??  A little time in the microwave and some vanilla ice cream on top!

Last but not least, some pictures from our New Years crab leg dinner.  My camera lens got all steamy from the kitchen so I apologize for some of the streaks.

Treat Yo Self!

So Long!

taco tuesday!

This recipe is from about a month ago.  The pictures got lost amiss the photos from Phipps and Christmas cookies.  But don't you worry, I found them just in time for taco tuesday.  Aside from the bbq seitan tacos (which we eat about every two weeks) these are my favorite tacos that we eat at home.  The tacos are modified from the crisp black bean tacos with feta and slaw on Smitten Kitchen.  They are so simple and so delicious.  They are nice and crispy, have tons of creamy, salty feta and are finished with a good douse of franks.

First up, I make the slaw.  I buy the broccoli slaw mix from Whole Foods.  I put on a little olive oil, juice from half a lemon and s&p.

Then I drain and rinse a can of black beans.  

Add in some spices (to taste). 

And mash everything together.

I like to use corn tortillas for the tacos.  Add a little evoo into a hot pan and throw in a tortilla.  

Then put some of black bean mixture on one half of the taco.

And fold it.

Do it again.

And again.

I like to cook them until the shells get a little browned on the outside (sorry no picture).

Then open them up.  Pile on the slaw and the feta.

And the franks.  Yum!

So Long!

Blueberry Galette

According to wiki, a Galette is the general term used in French cuisine to designate various types of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes.  I sort of think of it as a freeform pie.

Galettes are awesome because they are not really supposed to look pretty like a pie is.  They are fun and rustic.  I made a lemon-blueberry galette, but you can put pretty much any type of fruit in it.

I used the leftover crust from when I made Devin's birthday apple pie.  You could certainly make crust just for a galette, or use a pre-made one.   I rolled the crust out until it was about a quarter inch thick.  It tore, I fixed it.  No biggie.  Remember, it is supposed to look like that.

I mixed together a pint of blueberries, some lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar, a pinch of salt and some cornstarch.  I did not really measure unfortunately.  I used half a lemon for zest and juice.  Probably about a teaspoon of cinnamon, quarter cup sugar and a tablespoon of cornstarch.

Then put it in the middle of the pie crust.

Note that the crust is on a foil lined baking sheet which has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Next, just pull up all of the sides of the dough.

Brush it with an egg that you have beaten and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

I baked it 425 degrees for about 20 minutes.  You just need to keep checking on it.  You want the crust browned and the blueberries bubbling.

Cut yourself a big piece and make sure to add some vanilla ice cream!

So Long!

fresh fridays

1.  So on Tuesday, I think that I had a full blown asthma attack.  I have never had one in my life.  My chest, throat and nose were all on fire.  And then I wheezed for a good 24 hours.  Devin says it sounded like asthma.  This summer I will have lived in Pittsburgh for 6 years.  I will be leaving with my PhD, seasonal allergies (began about 3 years ago) and now apparently asthma.  Thanks Pittsburgh.

2.   It turns out that 15 minutes can feel like an incredibly long time.  Especially when it is spent doing yoga abs with Bob.  Especially when you just finished doing an hour of warrior yoga with Bob.  Especially when you did this two days in a row.

Side note:  if you like yoga, you should definitely get this DVD.  I have done yoga for about 6 years, but doing this DVD for the past 5 weeks has helped me improve an unbelievable amount.  I had sort of plateaued in my practice, but this routine has pushed me so far beyond what I was capable of before.  It is such a great feeling.

3.  So this is cute.

But this is really cute.  

I cannot believe this actually happened.  Normally if Janey jumps on the chair when Deeley is on it, there is a lot of hissing and biting and then Deeley is gone (and Janey is left to enjoy the nice comfy chair).  But for whatever reason, this time, Janey laid down nicely and Deeley allowed it (for about 2 minutes).  I wish I could have gotten a better picture, but I was afraid that if I got up, the cuteness would all be over.

4.  Have you seen the Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt commercial with John Stamos?  I do not really like greek yogurt, but I do like (love) John Stamos so I might have to try the yogurt.  I know that he was on Glee for a bit, but why doesn't he have his own show right now? 

"If you were a chick, who is the one guy you would sleep with?"  

"JOHN STAMOS"

5.  Big Bang Theory: best show on TV right now??  (and let me be clear that by "right now", I mean while True Blood is not in season).  I don't know why I have never watched this show before.  I think because I am getting my PhD in a sciencey related area, I thought this show would be dumb, but man is it hilarious.  Like so incredibly funny.  I spent my NYE watching reruns on TBS with Devin.

6.  Alright, so probably (definitely) my favorite books are the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum books.  There are 18 books and I have read every one of them twice (with the exception of "Explosive Eighteen" which came out about a month ago).  I own books 1 and 3 (because the library didn't have them available when I really wanted to read them) and my in-laws just bought me 2 and 4.  I decided to go on amazon and buy 5 - 15.  They come in sets of three, so I am waiting for 18 to come out in paperback before getting the last 16 -18.  I forgot that I also need the few "between the numbers" books.  

I highly recommend that you read them.  They are sooo unbelievably funny (lol funny, your husband giving you an awful look wondering why you are crying laughing at a book funny) and such a fast read.  I really want to start reading them again.  I may allow myself one or two per weekend.  

But speaking of these books, the first book "One For The Money" has been made into a movie starring Katherine Heigl (coming out 1/27).  If you ask me, they chose terrible terrible actors for the roles (except for Sherri Shepherd as Lula, that is perfect!).  I am not sure if I even want to see it.  I probably will.  And it will probably be disappointing, but who knows, it might surprise me.

Also speaking of books being made into movies, I have to go see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."  I read all three books and saw all three Swedish movies, but I want to see the American version.  This is definitely not the type of movie I would normally go to.  It is scary and I hate scary movies.  And not like Saw/Paranormal scary, but like real life scary.   Since I have read the book, hopefully I will be prepared for the scary parts and not jump out of my seat or yelp.  That would be rather embarrassing.  We'll see.  Devin is pretty excited to see it.  It is more of his kind of movie.

7.  So  I have been full steam ahead with my New Years goals.  I have been exercising and I have been drinking a ton of water.  Turns out that when you drink a ton of water, you do a ton of peeing.  A TON.  It's awful.  I feel like a child or a pregnant woman. I cannot go anywhere without having to pee every two minutes.  Like really pee.  In pain have to pee.  

Yesterday, I picked Devin up from school and he wanted to go to the apple store.  I said ok, but that we couldn't stay long because I would have to pee.  How awful is that?  And sure enough as soon as we parked, I had to pee.

I hope that it gets better.  Can your bladder get used to something like this?  Please say yes.

8.  So is it a faux pas to use reusable shopping bags at a different store than the one you bought them from?  We jumped on the reusable bag wagon right when we moved to Pittsburgh.  Back then, we shopped at Giant Eagle Market District in Shadyside and bought like 5 bags.  They are old and ripped and Devin uses them to transport equipment. Then a little over two years ago, I stopped shopping there entirely and starting shopping at Whole Foods.  So, I bought 3 bags for there.  I also bought one bag from Penn Mac because I usually shop there every couple of weeks.  I have recently started shopping (every couple of weeks) at Trader Joes.  I feel compelled to buy a bag from there.  You definitely cannot use a Giant Eagle bag at Trader Joes or Whole Foods, but can you use a Whole Foods bag at Trader Joes?  I just don't know.  My gut says no.  I may need to just buy another bag.

9. Back to my yoga for the warrior.  About every third time I do it, Deeley decides she wants to love me real hard while I am doing it.  That means walking around and rubbing up against me (usually while I am in a Standing Split), licking my face, and flopping on the mat next to me.  It makes me laugh so hard.  It makes me lose focus and balance.  It makes me love her forever.

10.  I finally got to go to Coca Café when we got back to Pittsburgh.  They have the best fresh squeezed OJ ever.  In love.

11. We just got an apple tv.  Devin gets to mirror stuff from his iPad now (and both of our phones and computers - we should own stock in apple, we own every device they have ever made).  It is pretty fun.  It means that anything you play on your device, gets played on the TV.  For example, Devin was playing music from his iPhone, displayed on the TV, through our speakers using the comcast remote aimed at the apple TV with no cords or wires involved.  He said "this is the coolest thing I have ever seen; I love this."  It keeps amazing him.  Actually blowing his mind.   I am glad that he loves it.  He works hard for his money and deserves something fun.  

Update:  Devin thought it would be hilarious to start playing Chili Con Carne on the TV (at a rather high volume) while he was downstairs at his computer and I was sitting on the couch next to the TV (obviously without telling me).  I did not think it was very funny.  He claims that it was an accident.  I am pretty positive he specifically went through his iTunes library and picked that song to scare me with (I have a love/hate relationship with the song).  Who knows.

12. I have a few recipes that I have been meaning to blog about.  Like a blueberry galette, sour cream pancakes and homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Plus some pictures from our New Years crabfest.  Please be patient with me.  It has been tough getting back into the routine. I promise to get them up soon.  Maybe one later today even.

So Long!

Happy New Year!

I am not a fan of resolutions.  I think that they just set you up for failure.  

I have decided however that I have two goals.  Not even really goals, just things that I want to try to do during 2012.

1.  I want to drink more water.

2.  I want strong/toned arms.  Arms that I can look in the mirror and say "boy those are nice arms."  Bob has already gotten me well on my way.

It is crazy to think that at this time next year, I will be in a new city having finished my first semester as a college professor.  I am excited and ready for this next chapter.

I have had such an amazing 2011.  I can only hope to continue to live my life as happy and healthy in 2012.

Happy New Year Everyone!

So Long!