use real butter

Recipe: gluten-free rosemary olive bread

My head is spinning from all of the comings and goings of the people in my life. Nevermind my own comings and goings. I did a double take when I checked my calendar today. Who has been filling up my schedule with all of this stuff? It’s good stuff though. Just odd that it seems to be happening at once. Speaking of which, the weekend is here and I am not. That’s both good and bad. Good, because I’m exploring someplace new. Bad, because I’m missing the birthday of a friend.

it’s a one pound loaf of bread, but it looks small because the boy is a giant

That guy Andrew, just finished six weeks on the paleo diet. I promised him a couple of weeks ago that when he was done with the paleo diet, I would bake him a loaf of bread. You should have seen how Andrew’s face lit up. It’s a big deal for me to promise that because 1) I don’t bake bread very often 2) I cuss a lot when I bake at elevation and 3) Andrew’s body doesn’t tolerate gluten. I had never baked gluten-free bread before.

gluten-free flours and assorted ingredients

sea salt, rosemary, olives

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: french onion soup

Oh, you are all so very very sweet. Thank you for the kind wishes and new year’s greetings! I hope we ALL have a great 2010 and beyond. I’m definitely much better now from that nasty sinus infection although there is some lingering congestion, kinda like when some guys don’t get the hint and they just keep hanging around… ;) If you attended a technical university, you will most definitely know what I’m talking about. Anyhow, I realize I’ve fallen dreadfully behind on the comments and well – I’m not sure that I’ll be able to get to them this week just yet. See, I’m in Virginia.

the land of krispy kreme donuts

and southern haaaaaaaaam

I’m chilling out with my parents at their place. Their current house is relatively new (same neighborhood). It isn’t the house I grew up in, but I noticed while walking through the rooms that it still feels familiar to me. Even though the building and the furnishings have changed, there is a sense of coming home.

entering the house

the sunroom overlooking the water

My mom and dad were so excited about my visit that they had been calling me for days before my arrival to plan out every single meal (typical foodies, no?). When your head is full of mucus and you feel like crap, it’s hard to imagine wanting to eat anything – and I didn’t. However, the day before I flew out I suddenly found my spare time thoughts racing from one recipe to another. I had been worried that I had lost my cooking mojo, but it was just the blasted flu and sinusitis muddling up my brain. Mom made me Chinese hot pot the night I arrived – the perfect remedy to any cold or flu. Tonight, my dad prepared a “simple” meal of rack of lamb and I offered to slap together some roasted vegetables to go with it.

brussels sprouts and potatoes for roasting

dad slices the rack of lamb

my parents’ idea of a simple meal

I’m trying to pace myself because 1) I know they have a marathon of food lined up and 2) I haven’t regained my appetite completely… although it’s easier to have an appetite when the food in front of you looks and tastes amazing. In any case, I’ll have the camera at the ready to document the culinary proceedings. Jeremy will join us toward the end of the week after his conference is over.

Being back in my hometown reminds me of my earliest cooking years when I joined my neighborhood 4-H group. We learned to cook French onion soup one day at 4-H and it was forever etched in my brain as something so easy a fifth grader could do it. I think that’s a great solution to overcoming fear – learn to do it young. Man, I wish I had learned to ski moguls and glades as a kid…

onions and thyme

sliced bread for croutons

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Recipe: cornbread

Sometimes the recipes I post here are completely out of whack with the time of year (although completely in whack with the southern hemisphere, so it’s not a complete bust). I’m probably more guilty of posting summer recipes in winter than the converse. If I could have my druthers, I’d eat summer food in winter. Is that crazy? Don’t get me wrong, I really do love those slow cooked winter stews, soups, and braises. I like to make those in the dead of winter, when temperatures are cold… very cold. Lately it has been feeling like the dead of winter and yet it’s still technically autumn. We’re a little ahead of the curve here in Colorado, I suppose. Time for some food to warm the soul.

Last month my friend introduced me to her favorite charity The Women’s Bean Project in Denver, Colorado. It’s so much more than a charity. The Women’s Bean Project is a non-profit organization that tackles the issues of poverty and hunger by empowering women with the skills to be self-sufficient. When I inquired about sending a donation in, I had a lovely email exchange with Diana Lachiondo who offered to send me some of their products to sample. The Women’s Bean Project gives participants entry-level training in their gourmet food business, turning out packages of soup, chili, bread, dip, iced teas, or cookie mixes. (They have jewelry now too – great ideas for holiday gifts.) What I got was a beautifully wrapped gift basket with several packaged mixes, each one signed by the individual who made it.

i picked the firehouse chili

I had chili on my brain and gave it a spin. The packet contained a gorgeous assortment of dried beans and spices. I merely followed the recipe instructions and added the fresh ingredients like ground beef, tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers. It had a nice kick and received the thumbs up from both Jeremy and myself. Imagine my delight the other day when we were walking through the grocery store in our little mountain town and saw Women’s Bean Project soup mixes on the shelves! Don’t fret if your grocer doesn’t carry their products – you can order online directly from their website for a very good cause.

Making chili also demands cornbread. A friend of mine recently asked if I had a cornbread recipe I could recommend. I had plenty of cornbread recipes, but none that knocked my socks off (the socks, they were still on my feet). Even though there was a mix included in my WBP packet, I had been itching to test drive a version I had dog-eared long ago.

a little sugar never hurts

cornmeal

**Jump for more butter**