Yard Workin' and Puppy Watchin'

Summer seems to have finally arrived here in Oregon. I had every intention of launching Phase 2 of my back patio project (the only thing out there when I moved in was a concrete pad and a whole lot of weeds), but life has intervened, and I’ve decided to keep it very simple.  So, I've put in a small garden and am just generally trying to maintain what was put in last summer.

I suppose I would have been wise to put together a hearty breakfast before sweating over yard and garden work for several hours, but breakfast just really isn’t my thing. So I made scones instead. I happened to still have a few cans of organic pumpkin in the pantry, and before long I had a spice-scented house that even got O2 out of bed before 10 am.

Spiced Glazed Pumpkin Scones

2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp ginger
6 Tbs cold butter
½ cup canned pumpkin
3 Tbs milk
1 large egg, slightly beaten

2 Tbs melted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 - 2 Tbs milk
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves

Preheat the oven to 425º.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.

Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the pumpkin, milk and egg. Gently whisk the wet ingredients with a fork, then slowly incorporate the dry ingredients. Use hands to form the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface, forming it into a 1-inch thick circle. Use a large knife to cut into 12 wedges of equal size. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown. Allow to cool.

To make glaze, combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, adding the milk last (start out with 1 Tbs and add more until it is of the desired consistency). Drizzle over scones.

* * *

G & C have welcomed a new member into their family. It’s this precious girl, Josie…

In addition to two full-time jobs and their new sleep-stealer (house training a puppy is not for the faint of heart), they are also remodeling their kitchen AND Carley has just started rehearsal for a new show.

Crazy, crazy people. I think that’s why I love them so much. We suffer from the same form of insanity.

Anyway, O2 and I offered to hang out for the afternoon to keep an eye on Puppy and make sure she got her potty breaks, and I offered to put together dinner, thus freeing them up a bit to work on staining the 40 cabinet pieces they have in their garage.

Did I use the word crazy???

I’m not sure we gave them a lot of bang for their buck in the puppy-sitting department since shortly after we arrived, Miss Josie passed out near the dining table and only woke briefly… once. G & C assured me this was NOT the norm.

Always eager to experiment on my friends (heh heh), I put together some new dishes, as well as a few standbys. We had barbecued pork ribs, corn on the cob, an Asian savoy cabbage slaw, some roasted baby potatoes and a new cornbread recipe I was auditioning.

You’ll have to excuse the rather boring photo, but there wasn’t a lot of time between the cutting of the bread and the devouring of said bread (mostly by O2) to warrant a photo shoot.

Don’t let the rather thick batter make you nervous. I almost added more buttermilk to it, but it turned out just fine as is.

Jalapeno Zucchini Cornbread

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup buttermilk
1 medium zucchini, shredded
1 medium jalapeno, finely minced
1 cup flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
¾ cup cornmeal

Heat oven to 350 º. Use the butter wrapper to lightly grease a 8” square glass baking dish.

Combine melted butter, eggs and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Mix in zucchini and jalapeno. On a sheet of waxed paper, or in another bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients and stir together, just until blended (remember, the mixture will be thick). Pour into prepared baking dish.

Bake in center of oven until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 - 60 minutes.

Joes, Cornbread and an Old Friend

When I went to the store over the weekend to buy a small container of buttermilk for the crème fraîche I was making, I discovered that all they had on hand were the large containers (Hmm… what does that work out to volume-wise? A quart?). So typical.

Anyway, I obviously ended up with way more buttermilk than I needed, but I figured I’d find a way to make use of it. And since I was also trying to clean the fridge out in preparation for another Dinner o’ the Month with Carley, I came up with a jalapeno and cheese cornbread. My search also yielded a bag of hash browns, which I fried with some onions and fresh spinach. And although chili sounded really good, I decided to go for a quicker sloppy Joes kind of a thing.

And while I can’t remember having a similar menu combo growing up, the meal did bring back memories of childhood, growing up on the farm (no one that knows me now would ever believe I lived on an actual farm). And as fate is often such a tricky thing, lo and behold, sometime after eating this meal and reminiscing over my time in Arkansas, I was contacted by my college roommate, who I had kind of lost track of.

So, while I feel like I should have polished the silverware and made a better showing, meal-wise, here’s to you, Mary.

Mary, by the way, was the one that got me interested in theater, mostly by yanking me by the feet kicking and screaming into the auditorium of the theater at our little college. Got hooked from there and have been ever since.

Thus the name of the blog.

Someone pointed out to me that they haven’t really found the ‘Shakespeare’ in ‘Measuring Spoons and Shakespeare’, and I guess my response is that ‘Measuring Spoons and Various Playwrights from Different Eras Being Represented by Different Theaters During Various Seasons’ just sounded, well… STUPID.

My plan for the blog was to combine two of my loves... cooking and theater.  Unfortunately, life has a way of intervening, and I haven't been able to do a whole lot, theater-wise, for a while.  Hopefully that will change.

I had also thought to post all of the local theater happenings, but until there are more than 5 people who regularly read this, it seems like an awful lot of extra effort for naught.

Anyway, back to the Joes…

Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground beef
1 - 2 Tbs olive oil
½ onion (preferably sweet), diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbs apple cider vinegar
3 Tbs brown sugar
3 Tbs ketchup
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbs Hickory Smoked BBQ sauce
1 heaping Tbs mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced peppers and onion and sauté until onions begin to color, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté another minute or two. Crumble the ground beef over the cooked onion mixture and allow to brown, breaking up any large pieces.

Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium low and allow to cook for about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread

1 stick butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 375º and grease an 8” square baking pan. Combine the melted butter, sugar, eggs and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. Whisk thoroughly to combine. Add the cornmeal, flour baking soda and salt and mix together until the dry ingredients are just combined. Stir in jalapeno and cheese.

Pour mixture into prepared baking pan. Bake in the center of the oven until the cornbread is brown on top and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 - 35 minutes.

A Recipe on the Fly

Some days things are so chaotic at work that I'm halfway home, trying to decompress, and realize, "I have no idea what to make for dinner".  Yesterday was one of those days.  I started ticking through ingredients I knew I had on hand at home, made a quick swing by the store near me and managed to get everything on the table fairly quickly.

My inspiration was this...

This is the jalapeño popper dip I make for Offspring 2 when she begs (it's good leverage to get her to clean the bathroom).  Not terribly healthy, so I don't make it all that often.  Anyway, I was thinking of this but not wanting to go full-on chips and dip.  So I decided on an alternative.  We'll call it...  Popper Stuffed Chicken.  Eh.  Name doesn't do much for me.  How about JalaPopper Chicken? {sigh}  Ok, I'll work on it.

Basically, I ended up with this...

JalaPopper Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
4 oz light cream cheese (Neufchatel)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 strip bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 egg mixed with an equal amount of milk (I had buttermilk on hand and that's what I used)
1 cup finely crushed crackers

Heat oven to 400º.  Line a small baking sheet with foil (I'm partial to the non-stick variety, but you could also use the regular stuff and just use a bit of cooking spray).

Pound the chicken breasts thin.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place egg mixture in one bowl and the crushed cracker crumbs in another dish.  Set aside 4 toothpicks (trust me, if you already have them out of their package and placed nearby, it will save you some time having to wash your hands later).

Combine cream cheese, Cheddar, jalapeño and crumbled bacon.  Add a bit of pepper if desired.

Spread mixture evenly on each chicken breast, leaving about 1/2" all around to keep the mixture from escaping during cooking.

Beginning at smaller end, roll the chicken up tightly.  Secure with toothpicks (See?  If you didn't have them set aside already, you'd have to stop, wash your hands, then go right back to the chicken.  Just saved you a step.  You're welcome.)  Dip each piece in egg mixture and then in crumbs, pressing crumbs into the chicken and including each end (this will also help keep the cheese mixture inside).  Place seam-side down on baking sheet.

I'd like to say that I accurately timed how long this took to cook.  But...  didn't.  It was in the neighborhood of 20 minutes, and the coating was crisp and brown.  Allow to sit for about 5 minutes and then slice into roulades.

Oh, and the creamed corn at the bottom?  Another one of Offspring's favorites and super simple. 

Bourbon Creamed Corn

3 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 shallot, finely diced
2 Tbs. jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely diced (I actually used one large pepper for both dishes and just shared between the two)
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 small package frozen corn
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs (?) bourbon (it was 2 'glugs', so I'm guesstimating)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup half and half

After cooking bacon, drain off all but about 1 tsp of the bacon grease.  Add olive oil, shallot and pepper and sauté about 5 minutes, or until shallot is tender.  Add frozen corn and turn temperature up to medium high.  Cook and stir 5 - 10 minutes, or just until there's some color on the corn.  Season with parsley, salt and pepper.  Add bacon.

Deglaze pan with bourbon and allow to cook until the liquid is almost evaporated.  Stir in milk and half and half.  Reduce heat to medium.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until milk is reduced and thickened.

This was pre-dairy, so it's not 'creamed' just yet.