New Year ~ New Cookbook

whew...i have to tell you i went into a bit of a post-holiday slump. january blues i guess. after all the fun and festivities of christmas...january rang in with a dose of the get-me-downs. but, as of today, i am out of the slump...and the reason why...this new cookbook. SARABETH'S BAKERY. FROM MY HANDS TO YOURS by Sarabeth Levine..... i just got it today...what a winner it is... it is a beauty. the photographs by quentin bacon are stunning. the book covers morning pastries, muffins and more, beautiful breads, everyday cakes, party cakes and company, pies and tarts, plain and fancy cookies, spoon desserts, frozen desserts, spreadable fruits and frosting, fillings and sweet sauces. i am really excited about the jam too. that is on my list of things to do for the new year. it's going to be busy in the farmhouse kitchen this year. now, where's my apron?

Frosty The Snowman Cake

Only 3 days to go and it's been pretty busy around here at Farmhouse. This morning was kid's baking day. I got this snowman cake pan years ago from Williams-Sonoma and have never used it. Every year we say we are and then the season comes and goes...and Frosty is still sitting in the pantry. So this year we made a point of it. I made the cake yesterday..thank you to my new best friend, Mr. Duncan Hines.... I think if I would have made the recipe on the Frosty The Snowman box we could have stood the cake upright like the picture. That recipe seems like it would make a dense gingerbread-like cake. But time was running short..so we did the best we could....and the cake is pretty fragile..so we just left it flat in the pan...but the whole idea was to let the little ones do the decorating. We had all kinds of frostings, sprinkles, gumdrops, candies, jelly beans, coconut, sanding sugars...so we just let the fun begin..and we had a ball. And Frosty turned out pretty good....

Merry Christmas, Frosty

Butter Cookies

The first thing on the top of my list this morning..one week till Christmas Eve...was getting some cookies baked to take to Buddy's vets and the staff at Animal Care Clinic here in San Luis Obispo. They really went above and beyond the call of duty when the chips were down a week or so ago. And he really is doing alot better. I had bought the Christmas Sunset magazine earlier in the month. That magazine always reminds me of my grammy..she ALWAYS had it in the living room on the coffee table. And it does give me that Old California feeling. So this morning I got it out and decided to make the shortbread linzer cookies. I bought a linzer cookie cutter at Michaels right after Thanksgiving. I love how the linzer cookies look..with that red raspberry jam shining from under the top cookie.And the shower of powdered sugar makes them look like they are covered in snow. So I mixed butter and flour and sugar...put it in the fridge, got it back out..and what a mess....that dough was so crumble-ee I couldn't even get it to roll into a ball. I tried to flatten it out and it just fell apart. I knew the dough had to be good...there were only 3 ingredients...and I bought the good butter..The organic one. How could they be bad?

So I just rolled the dough in my hand until it came together. Placed them on the baking sheet and let them go for about 10 minutes at 325 degrees in the oven. After that I just rolled them in powdered sugar. John and I tasted the ones that broke...and they were good.

So I piled them on a plate that I had picked up at Cost Plus..added a few olive branches from from my tree out back, and tied it all up with a silver bow.And they loved it. But I think I loved it even more. Merry Christmas to all the wonderful doctors who make our beloved pets well. Peace on Earth to all the animals.........

Signs O' The Season

I haven't left the house since Halloween Eve. And we needed food. So I got my sweater on...and headed out. And it's Christmas out there.
Went to Trader Jo's and got that cute rosemary topiary. The little ornaments on it I scored last year off ebay. And they are old. I just love them.I looked for something like that this year but so far, nothing. My friend at "Entertaing Mom" had the Thanksgiving Coffee from Starbucks this morning on her blog. So that was at the top of my list. I needed the cranberries and orange to make the cranberry bread tomorrow.And the kitty. He's just on there cause he is my big baby boy, Whiskey Sour.Isn't he cute? I think he is.

FOG

See that? Yep. Gray sky. The fog rolled in off of the Pacific last night. And just in the nick of time.These pictures were taken outside my upstairs bedroom window this morning about 7:30. So now I can stop complaining. And even though it's not raining...it's misty....misty enough to open the Martha Holiday Sweets magazine. And misty enough to play some Christmas music.

I'm in a good mood today. Going to go get the Thanksgiving coffee that's out at Starbucks. My friend from "Entertaining Mom" mentioned it on her blog.Going to go get cranberries to make some cranberry bread too. I got Red Plaid out and found Bessie's recipe. I think it is the same one that is on the back of the cranberry bag. I'll check and let you know.

So I am draining the wading pool. Putting the tank tops and flip flops back into the closet. Dumping the ice. Putting the sunscreen on the top shelf in the bathroom.Unplugged the fan last night and put in in the barn. (Buddy was glad to see it go.) And getting out the Kenny G. Christmas c.d. (Poor John, he no like-ee Kenny G. what guy does?)

So I'm back. Back to cooking and baking and building a fire. And really, it was just in the nick of time.Oh, and if you look really close in the last picture looking through my bedroom window. That is my neighbor on Church Street. That house is 104 years old. Isn't it adorable?

Just A Dollop

Well, with the first day of Fall came a mood for baking around here. Especially something warm and spicy. Something that would fill the house with that "fall-is-here-and-there-is-something-baking feeling". And what could fit the bill better than gingerbread? Anything else, really? I ask you. To me...gingerbread just reeks fall.

So I got out my pan, knew right where the molasses was..cause I just bought a fresh new bottle for all the upcoming holiday baking...and assembled all the ingredients.

I mixed and whirled. Crack an egg, measured my molasses and flour and spices. It felt so good to be back in the kitchen baking. It's been a long hot summer here, and between you and me...the thought of turning on that old Wedgewood stove was not a happy one. It really heats up my kitchen. In the fall and winter I love it..but summer is another story...it is a cooker. So once again, my beloved September is here..and with it....came my baking mood.

Oh, and the plate with the turnip on it. In case you're wondering..and I know you are, that was made by my dear friend, Julie Whitmore from Julie Whitmore Pottery on ETSY.

Pizza and Syrah

We're LUCKY ! We live in the Paso Robles wine region and we have some beautiful wines here. It really starts to feel like fall when John and I open one of the big red wines. They taste and smell of autumn in the woods. All earthy and jammy and winey. We have been making homemade pizza for Monday Night Football for nearly 30 years.And now we have Sunday Night Football so our new pizza night is Sunday. Any excuse, really. I made the dough in the morning and let it sit on the drainboard all day. When I walked by I could just feel the yeast growing..and it smelled so yeasty and lusty. By evening we opened our wine and rolled out the dough. I sauteed some mushrooms and we put on a few olives. Sometimes I buy "special" cheese....and sometimes I use what we have. Tonight was what we had. And it went pretty well. I had some mozzarella and some leftover fontina and some of the parmigiano-reggiano we had grated for the tagliatelle night.So we sipped our wine, rolled our dough, heated the oven and baked pizzas. We sat in our little cozy living room enjoying pizza and wine.

I told John, we have had pizza all over the U.S. And at some of the "it" places, but I don't know how you could beat this. Maybe it tasted so good just because we were.....HOME.

September Saturday

Ciabatta--Poolish Version and some Pasta

The fall weather has really sparked a baking mood around here. Even John is into it.
Yesterday morning we woke up to very cold and foggy start of the day. We both felt like a pasta supper at home so we decided to make our first Bolognese Ragu of the season. "Which one should we make?" I asked. "Mario, Rao's, Marcella, Lidia or how about Biba?" We were lucky enough to go to Biba's Restaurant one summer when we found ourselves in Sacramento. The dinner was unforgetable, but what I remember most was the gnocchi. The BEST I have ever had. But today we were on a Tagliatelle with Bolognese mission. We had some carrots and onions still from that sorry garden, so we went and picked those and set off browning the celery, carrots and onion in butter and olive oil. Added in the pancetta and the ground pork then the chicken stock and tomato paste....and no the paste was not from tomatoes in the garden..I didn't even get enough to make a pizza sauce. Total waste of time and water this year. I promise ..this is the last rant I go on about that garden.....we let the sauce bubble away on the stove for the rest of the day and went onto pasta making and Ciabatta making.

I told you all that I was following the Bread Bakers Apprentice baking challenge from Nicole over at Pinch My Salt. We are sorta out of order...and are into making sourdough bread right now.

The day ended with the most delicious pasta. It was good. There really is nothing else like that homemade handcut tagliatelle. So soft and silky.And you know what? That pasta was really good this morning for breakfast.

Today I am making homemade pizza for John for Sunday Night football. More on that later.

Dilly Casserole Bread

When we were little kids we lived in Santa Barbara and we had a lady who came to the house to help my mom with my little brother. The lady's name was Bessie..and she looked exactly like Mrs. Doubtfire. Exactly. Every afternoon we would sit down and pick out something to make for supper. Bessie is the one who introduced me to Vincent Price's " A Treasury of Great Recipes". But she had lots of her own recipes a well. One of our very favorite was the Dilly Casserole Bread. I made it last night to go with my swiss steak and mashed potatoes. It smelled of days gone by. I love dill in summer, so as the late afternoon sun sank over Mission Mountain, I flipped on the kitchen light, turned on the stove and slid in the cast iron skillet filled with the promise of warm bread for supper.

Dilly Casserole Bread from Bessie

1 package yeast
1/4 warm water
1 cup large curd cottage cheese
2 T. sugar
1 T. minced dry onion
1 T. soft butter
2 t. dill seeds
1 t. salt
1/4 t. baking soda
1 egg
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups flour.

Sprinkle yeast over warm water and dissolve.
Heat cottage cheese till warm.
Combine in a bowl with sugar,onion,butter,dill seeds,salt,baking soda, egg and yeast and water. Add flour to make a stiff dough. Knead into a ball. Cover and let rise 60 minutes till doubled.Stir down and put in a well greased 1 1/2 quart round 8" casserole. ( I use a cast iron skillet). Cover and let rise about 40 minutes.
Bake 350 degress for 35 minutes. Remove bread from oven and brush with butter and salt. Maldon or a fleur de sel is nice. Cover with foil, return to oven and bake 15 minutes more.

The First One

Sunday afternoon I found myself home alone with nothing but a basket of apples to keep me company. Everyone else was off either camping,at the beach or working. It was cool for a late August afternoon and I wanted to be nowhere else but home.

The apples were the ones I had gotten on Saturday afternoon when Buddy and I took a ride up See Canyon. I tied on my apron and got out my favorite pie cookbook "Country Pies - A Seasonal Sampler" by Lisa Yockelson.copyright 1988. I guess it is offically vintage now that it is over 20 years old. I turned to the Autumn Country Pies section. It starts out saying "Just about the time children go back to school, I am in the kitchen making batches of dried fruit and spice mincemeat to use in pie fillings with apples,pears,cranberries and quarts of apple cider syrup."

The recipe I use is actually for a cinnamon pear pie with a walnut streusel, but I just substitute the apples for the pears, and the walnuts were ones I had in the freezer from last fall that I had gotten at The Avila Barn.

So we made the pie and had it still warm after supper. And yes, it did taste like fall.