Hanukkah on the Hacienda

More dinner improv, courtesy of Aldi's. Seriously, I feel like every night is a Top Chef challenge: Here's a bunch of random ingredients...now, make it work! (errr...that's Project Runway, I know) You have approximately 45 minutes before your husband starts dialing for pizza. Good luck - we'll see you at the judging -whoops, I mean dinner - table!

Last night's mad science experiment was inspried by a glut of quesadilla fillings but the absence of any tortillas. How to "seal the deal"? Glad you asked. With spicy potato pancakes, (not-so) obviously!

I went into this recipe with very low expectations. My previous attempts at potato pancakes had been less-than-stellar. They never seemed to come together or brown-up very well and I was left with a pile of warm, mushy spuds. But I did a little reading before I hit the kitchen and discovered where my previous errors had shown their ugly little faces and marched me straight into failure. By adding a few tablespoons of flour to my egg and potato mixture, I got the "glue" to hold my pancake together. I'm sure (the three) people out there reading this are like, "duh" but I guess I thought the starch from the potatoes should have done the job.

Next time I make this, I'm going to try using less oil but I really don't know if it's possible. I blotted the cakes between paper towels before I threw on the filling and that seemed to cut down on the grease. Now, if I could figure out a way to bake them...hmmm....

This made two pretty large quesadillas. I had half a quesadilla leftover for lunch today - it held up okay in the fridge and during re-heating.

Here's the dilly-o:

Spicy Potato Pancake Quesadillas

1 package pre-cut hash browns (I threw away the bag before I could get the weight/volume on this, sorry!)

1 and 1/2 Tbs cajun seasoning (approximate)

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp onion powder

salt & pepper

2 eggs

4 Tbs flour

Canola oil (for frying)

Quesadilla fillings of your choice (we used refried beans, Mexican crumbling cheese, peppers, onions and avocado)

Salsa

Sour Cream

Hot Sauce (optional, of course)

Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees and place a lightly-greased 9 x 13 baking dish in the oven while it comes to temperature.

Combine potatoes and spices (through salt and pepper) in a large bowl until the potatoes are evenly coated. Add the eggs and mix until the egg has coated the spicy potato mixture, then add the flour, one tablespoon at a time.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet - use just enough to completely cover the bottom of the pan - over medium heat. Get it good and hot but not to the point where it's popping and sputtering...though it will inevitably happen later...

Divide the potato mixture into four balls of equal size. Smush the first one down to make a puck/patty shape and gently drop into the oil. Use a wide spatula to flatten and thin the potato mixture into a pancake, about 4 inches wide and 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Brown in the oil for about 5 minutes, then (CAREFULLY!) flip to brown the other side. The first pancake will probably take longer than the subsequent cakes. Make sure you get them nice and crispy!

When the pancake is done, transfer to the warmed baking dish and repeat the cooking process with the remaining three balls of potato mixture. When the last pancake comes out of the oil, turn off the burner and transfer the prepared cakes to a plate. Layer with paper towels to remove excess oil from the cakes. Wipe out skillet with a paper towel (I hold the paper towel with tongs).

Place one cake in the warm skillet, top with the fillings of your choice and place another cake on top. Squish it all down a little with your spatula and cover for a few minutes to let everything melt together.

Top with salsa and/or sour cream and/or hot sauce and chow down!

Six Months of Awesome

Leo will be six months old this Sunday, July 12th. I can't believe how much he has changed in that time...and how he has changed us. A little look back on the past half year (plus a bonus pic from his first ultrasound - back when he was "The Bean"):

10 week ultrasound

Birthday!

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months (almost!)

La Bamba Bars

The Los Lobos remake of "La Bamba" always reminds me of the 4th of July. The song and video must have come out in July of some year in the mid-eighties (fact-checking....yes...July 1987...thank you, IMDb). Anyway, we always spent the 4th with my mother's best friend from high school, Peggy, and her family. There are elements of these get-togethers that will always stay with me: trading up from a burger to crab legs once I got my first taste of the stuff, dripping in butter and freshly cracked from the shell; having my first (very loose) tooth yanked out by Peggy (the veteran mom with children a good decade or so older than myself and my brother); catching fireflies in the backyard; sprinklers spiking my arms with tiny stars of heat...

But I digress...so yeah,  July of 1987. I guess Peggy's kids had turned on MTV - something I didn't even know existed until that moment - and the video for "La Bamba" was on. This wasn't a huge, life-altering moment for me. It didn't change anything fundamental about me. It was just a happy song, in a happy place surrounded by friends and family in a time where I knew nothing but love. So a memory was made and now a Mexican folk song means Happy Birthday, America! to me (and probably me alone). 

Peggy died in April from cancer. It was sudden and very sad. She looked about twenty years older, thirty pounds lighter and a million times sadder than the woman I knew. But to me, she will always be, like "La Bamba," the 4th of July - eyes twinkling, head thrown back in a throaty laugh, a happy memory.

So here are the "La Bamba Cherry Bars" in celebration of all things good and in honor of Peggy C. 

(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Crust

7 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 1 Tbs. all purpose flour

1/8 tsp. salt

Filling

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced

1 lb. pitted cherries, sliced in half

1/4 cup toasted almonds

Crust Prep: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper with two pieces overlapping in opposite directions so that about 2-3 inches hang over each edge.

Mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl with a rubber spatula. Add flour and salt until just incorporated. Transfer dough into lined pan and press down evenly. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden-ish. Let crust (in pan) cool on a metal rack. Keep the oven ON!

Filling Prep: Melt diced butter in small saucepan over medium heat until the butter is deep brown and smells sort of nutty. Take care to stir often and keep an eye on the butter because it will go from brown to burnt in no time. Pour browned butter into Pyrex measuring cup and allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the filling.

Whisk sugars, eggs and salt together until creamy. Add flour and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Whisk brown butter into mixture until well-blended.

Arrange cherries and almonds on top of cooled crust. Carefully pour browned butter mixture over fruit and nuts. 

Bake bars for about 30 minutes until top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean from center. (you can turn the oven OFF now!) Cool in pan on rack. Remove from pan once cooled, and cut into bars of the size of your choosing. 

The Out-of-Towners

This is Leo:

Leo is 5 and 1/2 months old and I can say without any hint of sarcasm that he is the light (and love) of my life. He's generally a very good boy and only gets fussy when something legit is bothering him. But even with his pristine record of decent behavior, I am still scared out of my mind about traveling with him. 

We are due to visit friends about three hours away for the 4th of July. It will be Leo's first overnight trip and I have myself totally worked up about what could go wrong. At the top of this list is "Leo has a soul-crushing  (we're talking my soul here, not his) meltdown." It should probably be something like, "Leo contracts the swine flu/SARS/ebola" but I feel like I could handle a medical emergency. There are, after all, hospitals in Massachusetts. But the emotional stuff, the stuff that isn't physically obvious and that he can't tell us about in words yet...that's what has me in a panic. Especially when there are other people (not my immediate family) around. Because a screaming baby obviously equals a bad mommy who can't figure out how to meet her child's needs.

Now I know my friends would NEVER judge me if Leo freaked and spent four hours yelling his little heart out. They'd probably politely ask us to leave, but they would never judge me. (that last part is not true either - in fact, they're so sweet that they would probably leave and give us the deed to the house if things got really bad)

Wish us luck.

Haute Pockets (or Caucasian Rubbish Crab Puffs)

Mark this date down. July 1, 2009. Not only does it mark the day I finally grew a pair and started my blog but it also marks the first time I created an entire recipe on my very own! I give you "Haute Pockets."

This recipe starts way back on Sunday, when I made my first trip to Aldi's. If you've never been to one...well, it's like if Jeff Foxworthy had a deeply intense affair with Trader Joe and their subsequent lovechild had a serious thing for Costco. ANYWAY, I was forced to rearrange my entire M.O. when it comes to my weekly shopping and just play to the crowd...which happened to be whatever was cheap, fresh and somewhat healthy. The result was obtaining about $80 worth of groceries for about $45 and "playing jazz" all week with dinner. The verdict: AWE - wait for it - SOME!

Tonight was the denouemant of the experiment. I had some imitation crab meat, fresh baby spinach, and crescent rolls from Aldi's , added my requisite clove of garlic, some fresh thyme left over from the weekend and a block of cream cheese and I was left with...well, a LOT of yummy filling for my Haute Pockets. 

This recipe could easily be cut in half (and probably should - we're planning on using the rest of the filling on top of a pizza) and the crescent roll dough could be divided into 16 triangles to make some yummy appetizers. Live long and prosper, y'all.

Haute Pockets

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme

1 bag baby spinach (10 oz?)

1 package imitation crab

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

salt & pepper to taste

1 tube of (8) crescent rolls

1 egg

1 Tbs. water

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- Heat oil over medium heat in large pan with high sides, add onion and cook until softened

- Add garlic and thyme and cook for 1 minute or until you can really smell the garlic

- Add spinach and cook until wilted

- Turn off heat and add imitation crab, cream cheese, salt and pepper, let stand for a couple of minutes and then mix well

- Transfer mixture to food processor and pulse until well mixed 

*at this point, the mixture could serve as an AMAZING dip or spread, just sayin'*

- Separate crescent rolls and place 4 triangles on a baking pan covered in parchment paper

- Spoon (one teaspoon or so) of the spinach and crab mixture onto each of the rolls

- Place each one of the remaining 4 crescent rolls on top of the prepared rolls and seal around the edges with a fork

- Brush with egg and water and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown

The "Ah-ha...hahaha" Moment

Oprah often discusses something she refers to as the "ah-ha" moment. This is the state one finds themselves in when everything clicks, the sky opens up, and the choirs sing "Hallelujah." Then you get off meth, leave your cheatin' boyfriend, start a company that becomes wildly successful, steal Brad away from Angelina, and live happily ever-after in a blissful state of eternal balance. (You ARE on "Oprah," remember???)

I had my "ah-ha" moment regarding the direction of my (so-called) career months ago. It happened to coincide with the extremely eventful birth of my first child, so I had to wait a few months to make sure the "ah-ha" wasn't just some sort of hormonal thing. I am just settling in with the realization that the "ah-ha" moment was indeed a genuine one and that it is time to make some serious plans to move forward. But for now, I must remain in my current position - which I must emphasize is not an awful one, we're just not suited for one another anymore - for a variety of reasons, most of them financial in nature.

So today I had what I am now referring to as my "ah-ha...hahaha" moment. I was asked to pick up a chef salad (NO CHEESE! LITE DRESSING!)for an executive/professional type while on my way to a meeting this afternoon. Nevermind that lunch had already been provided for this meeting - the man wanted - nay, was entitled to - a salad! Alas, the only (pre-made) chef salad I could find had cheese in it because, well duh, chef salads HAVE cheese in them. So, I purchased the salad and then sat in my car and very carefully, the-devil-wears-prada-style, picked every cube of cheese from the container. And then I started laughing. I am 29 years old - a wife, mother and a very capable worker - and I am sitting in my car picking cheese out of a salad FOR A GROWN MAN.

I need a change.