Coke Addict

I'm sitting in a library, trying to write. There are two things that will help me here - some caffeine, and to just start writing something, anything (like a blog post.) Big LEGAL MEMO on Defamation and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress is due on Tuesday. I sometimes wonder if law profs are trying to find the line of IIED - and go right up to it. They all say that you can't really win an IIED case - I think it's their way of protecting themselves...

OK - so I'm writing now. Words are starting to dance around in my head - that's a good thing. Now - caffeine... but, I've decided to give up artificial sweeteners whenever possible... so, my FIRST COKE! No diet today! I ran over to the little deli near school and grabbed a wrap for lunch - and a can of Coca Cola. Coke Classic. I don't even know the difference between Coke, Coca-Cola, Coke Classic. Is there a difference? Whatever - it won't change my claims of actionability for defamation.

Want to bake something with Coke? Check out this Coke Cake.

There - I think I've just accomplished my two goals of the moment. Now, back to writing something legally smart.

Dutch Apple Pie for a fall BBQ

Apple pie just seems like the right thing to do in the fall. Looking for some way to add something new - I decided to try out the Dutch Apple Pie recipe with some modifications from Cook's Illustrated Fall Entertaining (2009 cover recipe - still on the shelf). Check out the magazine for the full recipe. It's worth the $8.

This recipe breaks the process down into three parts: the bottom crust, the apples, and the streussel topping. This proved to be helpful on a busy day that made me leave the kitchen several times between steps.

Crust: baked blind, and using cold vodka for part of the water. Very smart. You can get vodka much colder than water! If you don't keep it cold, measure it into a small ziplock and throw it into your freezer while you get everything else together.
Scate's Tip: I used pear vodka.

Apples: The apples are cooked down in a big dutch oven before assembling the pie. This is a great way to manage the amount of liquid that goes into the finished product.

Scate's Tip: you need liquid! After cooking down the apples, if you don't have much liquid left over, add about 1/4 cup of apple cider to the cream. This will really help your pie meld together. Also, I don't like raisins with apples - so I used finely chopped dried apricot. It added a nice color and was really perfect for this pie.

Scate's Tip: Check out your farmer's market for apples! I was able to chat with a woman from the farm - she knew everything there was to know about apples and apple pie. It was really helpful. I got some harrelson and something else that was soft... I can't remember! Look for a mix of crisp and soft, and sweet and tart.

Streussel: mixed with a little bit of white cornmeal! This made it retain the crunch even after sitting on the counter for a bit.

Scate's Tip: Avoid over mixing - you want the lumbs to create a great topping.

Justice by way of Annie's Shells (pep'd up!)

I'm doing an A-1 job studying tonight. Feeling the first signs of a sore throat today (ACK!) - I decided the full-force attack plan had to get enacted, then I could study better.

Step 1: Target pit stop after school. Load up on Zicam stuff, they're out of echinacea???

Step 2: Don't touch anything or anyone on the bus ride home. Pop a zinc lozenge.

Step 3: Get my sweat on - run 3 miles with bursts of speed. It will help get blood moving, i'm sure.

Step 4: Shower. Run salt water through cavities to find and DESTROY the bad bugs. Pop a zinc lozenge.

Step 5: Incorporate peppers into a "comfort food"/study dinner.
Step 6: Mango sorbet and sleepy-time tea. Hope this leads to a good night of sleep!

Annie's Shells and Cheese - they used to be the fancy mac n'cheese that families had in Boulder when I babysat (in undergrad). Organic food was so young and new, but in Boulder - it already had a strong hold of the market in the late nineties. Somehow, eating "organic" mac n'cheese makes it seem healthy. However, it does not manage to take away the "i'm a student now!" fun dinner.

This past weekend, I spotted these great peppers at the farmer's market. They were sold as "sweet, and creamy" when cooked. Hmmm... i've never had a 'creamy' pepper before. Sounds good. Looks even better sitting on the counter ALL WEEK waiting for a dinner to call home.

Since I was just cooking for my self tonight - into the Annie's shells it went! This was so tasty! I threw an all-beef hot-dog and one of the peppers into a little non-stick pan while the noodles boiled. I let the pepper and dog get all dark and cooked through - pulled it off the heat just as the noodles were done. Drain the noodles, slice the dog and pepper (can keep all of these seeds - not spicy at all). I stirred in the pepper and hot dog before the sauce ingredients. I'm not sure it would really matter - I was hoping that the pepper would help flavor the sauce. Maybe it did - but not noticibly.

Tasty for a Thursday while going over my Lawyering Skills material. I came up with a great mnomonic device to remember all of the US Supreme Court Justices:

The Super Active Girl

Sails, Bikes, Runs*

and Sometimes Kayaks.

(Thomas, Stevens, Alito, Ginsburg, Scalia, Breyer, Roberts (CJ), Sotomayor, and Kennedy).

Who knows - it could be on the test tomorrow. Even if it's not - it's something every law student SHOULD know!

Favorite MPLS Burger Joints

*** HOME: I have yet to taste a burger that beat's H's magic recipe. With freshly ground beef (ground with butter) - they are juicy and tender. I'm trying to find something that will beat it - but have not had luck yet. I understand that not everyone lucky enough to have their own H. with a magic homemade burger, so here are my favorites found on the quest so far.

#1 Firelake: Located in downtown, around 7th and Lasalle. This was the truest burger that brought me back to childhood memories of pickles, tomatoes and mayo. Juicy, upfront with taste, and not pretending to be anything but a darn good burger.


 #2 Busters: located in south MPLS next to a Baker's Wife. H had the read burger, I tried the buffalo burger. Typically dry, as buffalo is lean, this was so juicy - i had to ask. Did they pour bacon fat all over this? Lo and behold, bacon is chopped up and mixed in with the buffalo meat! Good thing I didn't really want a LEAN burger! Tasty though...

 #3 Burger Jones: The white trash burger for H and the house-made Veggie burger for me. The WT burger was a little over the top with deep fried cheese curds, 1/3" slab of velveeta, and chicken fried bacon. The veggie burger - unreal. Whole beans - black and kidney - and cornmeal to help hold it together really add a wholesome and filling burger. Mushrooms add deep flavor, good quality swiss and a bit of pico de gallo with cilantro help pull the tastes together. Worth a drive out of downtown,

 #4 112 Eatery: Brie on anything makes for a good evening. This is a place where you can get a rare hamburger if you can handle cool meat. It's big and on an english muffin - all for about $9. Can't beat that with a stick.

Restrictive Diet? Sites and Meal Ideas

I hear "gluten-free" more and more these days. My college roommate found out she had celiac's disease (allergy to gluten) a few years ago. Most recently, one of my oldest childhood friends was advised to try a restrictive diet for two weeks. She has to cut out Gluten; Citric Acid; MSG; Refined Sugar; and Aspartic Acid. I connected my two friends, but am still interested in the findings as a conscientious hostess. I thought it would make for a fine blog entry.

The million dollar question: What can she eat?????

Gluten: a composit of two proteins found in grass-related grains like wheat, rye and barley. (wiki)

Gluten-Free Diet

Celiac's Disease is caused by a reaction to a gluten protein. http://www.celiac.com/ offers a wealth of information including recipes. The biggest task is reading labels - on everything that you would put in your mouth. Not only food products, but also Alcohol and OTC drugs. The average joe would be amazed at what has gluten thrown into the pot before selling a product!

There are books and websites that help point out the answer to our million dollar question. Bellow is some info that I found.

Book: Gluten Free Shopping Guide 2009/2010 edition
Basic Diet Information

"Safe Alcohol"

- many hard liquors and wine are safe if made from something other than wheat: potato vodka (Belvedere is my fav), rum, tequila, wines, gin, ciders, even gluten-free beer (read the labels - watch out for additives.)

"Safe Ingredients"
Beans
Cheese
Corn Products (gluten, starch, meal, sugar, syrup, etc.)
Quinoa
Rice Products (flour, starch, syrup, vinegar)
Soy Products
Tapioca (flour, starch)
Yeast

How to Adapt Recipes

 http://www.celiacs.com/

1. Focus only on the items in the recipe that need to be adapted. Choose a recipe with very little flour or gluten-containing items. Sometimes the flour can be omitted. (Breading or flouring meats can easily be omitted for most recipes.) Concentrate on the major flavors. Serve simple fruit and vegetables while gaining skills. Think "omit" or "substitute" while reviewing a recipe. Perhaps mark problem ingredients in a recipe.


2. Avoid recipes that rely on convenience foods. Go back to the "from scratch" recipes the convenience food replaces. Learn to make the basic sauces and gravies often used in casseroles and soups.

3. Look in a gluten-free cookbook or Lifeline for a similar recipe. Compare proportions, they are the key. Flour and other ingredients that act as thickeners are compared to the amount of liquids in the recipe. Keep proportions nearly the same for your recipe. Given the same amount of liquid, it takes less starch to thicken than flour (cornstarch vs. corn flour).

4. Use commercial or home-made gluten-free substitutes. For example, gluten-free macaroni, bread and corn tortillas.

5. Don't make anything more complicated than it already is. But do take family health concerns, likes, dislikes and food dollars available into consideration.

I just made a great "gluten-free" breakfast: 1 egg (fried) and a salted sliced heirloom tomato from a neighbor. Tasty!

What are your best suggestions? Favorite meals? Favorite brands? Favorite websites?

Beat the Chill with Cardamom and Coffee

The cool air of fall is finally decending on Minnesota. This is more shock than complaint. However, 80 degree weather everyday in September while I'm in SCHOOL while June, July and August was closer to 60 degrees... So strange. Today - I think it only went above 70 for a minute or two - so it's starting to feel like change is here!

Cardamom is one of my all time favorite tastes. It's unique and really brightens anything it touches. It seems especially appropriate for breakfast treats - probably because I grew up with Finnish Cardamom Bread - otherwise known as Biscuit.

Today - it was Cardamom Biscotti paired with papaya. Who would have guessed? It was delicious paired with my americano while hanging out at a cool St Paul coffee shop - Nina's on  Selby. You can check out my version (from my VERY FIRST POST!) on Banana Cardamom Biscotti or check out the tasty Chocolate Cherry Almond version if you are looking for some tasty recipes.

Natural Sweetener: Maple Syrup in my coffee!

    Sometimes - I just can't sit in the library and I don't want to hold my condo hostage from my husband - so I go to a coffee shop to study.  

    Using maple syrup in my skim 3 shot latte was purely accidental - really more laziness in the guise of creative ingeniuity. Here I am with my highlighters, books and laptop spread out across the tiny little coffee-shop table. With everything in place - I didn't feel like walking over to the sugar and cream stand to make my strong latte a little more sweet. So - I used the maple syrup that came with my oatmeal.

First - maple syrup in oatmeal. This is really good! The taste is a bit more refined than just brown sugar. I think the liquid form also helped the taste spread through the oatmeal more easily and throroughly than sugar crystals.

Second - maple syrup in a latte is really fantastic. I learned (ck the food facts) that this natural sweetener is only 60% as sweet as white sugar. It also has added nutrients of Magnesium and Zinc. This is a much better alternative to unnatural *fake* sugar in my book! Of course, I'm not diabetic - so I don't have to worry about blood sugar issues.

I'm quite certain that this accidental and lazy discovery of mine has been perfected by many out in the world of foodie internets. So - what kind of suggestions do you have? Below are some more sites that I found interesting regarding the use of natural sweeteners - but I love hearing real stories!

LivRite alternative sweeteners in the home

US News article on natural sweeteners

Recipes from the Minnesota Maple Syrup Producers website

Super Easy Pickled Peppers

Time to harvest the fruit and vegetables that have been growing in the garden! In my "urban" garden, our peppers really took off in late summer. I wanted to preserve them in some way - without needing to worry about canning methods or equipment. This whole process took about 20 minutes. Easy enough for anyone! The brine can be altered to your taste. Have fun.

Pickling some Peppers

Glass Jars with lids

1 pound fresh jalapeno peppers, washed (I added in 1 habenaro into each jar for color)

2 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar)

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons canning salt
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
3 cloves garlic, peeled and whole

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

1. Prepare the peppers: either slice or stab. I made one jar of sliced and two jars of whole peppers. For the whole peppers - cut an X in the tip and stab a few times in the sides. This helps the pickling juices penetrate the pepper. Put the peppers in the clean glass jars, leaving about 1 inch at the top.

2. Make the Brine: In a non-reactive saucepan, bring the other ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.

3. Fill the jars: Remove from heat and let cool for five minutes, then pour the brine over the jarred peppers. Place the lid on the jar and let cool. Once cool, refrigerate for at least a week before using, if possible.

Serving: whole peppers can be seeded before using if you want to difuse the heat. Otherwise, use these anytime you want a little heat. Great in quacamole, on baked potatoes, or on eggs. Anything really!

Storage: must remain refrigerated! These are not "canned" and do not have a shelf life. They will stay in the fridge for up to 6 months.

Special Thank You to M&H for the birthday gift card that paid for this little experiment! It covered 12 glass jars, that HUGE box of canning salt and vinegar. Looks like I need to do some more pickling!