Summer

Calm days and long nights, barbecuing with friends, bike rides at sunset, watermelon coolers, frozen custard, thunderstorms, bunny watching, blooming gardens...these are a few of my favorite summer things.

Ironworks Cafe

I was just trying to think of where I wanted to go for dinner tonight when I realized I hadn't yet posted about The Ironworks Cafe in Madison. I had actually taken these photos pretty soon after Ironworks opened over a year (maybe even two years?) ago, but I never posted them. Better late than never, eh?

The food at Ironworks is inventive, almost always local, and most importantly, delicious. What's even more likable is the premise behind the cafe. It exists as part of the Goodman Community Center, which recently moved into a beautifully renovated historic building on the near east side. Fitting with the community service ideals of the center, the cafe is run entirely by teenagers under the guidance of restaurant professionals. The Ironworks Cafe is part of a teen employment program helping teens learn basic job skills, food and customer service skills, while seeing the ins and outs of managing a business.

Potters Artisan Crackers

Nancy Potter and her son Peter truly are cracker artisans. I recently got a bag of Potters Crackers (toasted sesame seed, in case you're wondering) and finished them off almost immediately. These divine little crackers are baked just up the road from me and they are made from locally milled whole-wheat flour, sweet Wisconsin butter and farmstead milk. How much more fresh and local can they get?

I usually find Potters Crackers at the Madison farmers markets. They are also available at a good amount of stores in the Midwest and for those of you outside of the area, order some online, you'll love them!

Of Salads and Sundays

It's a chilly, rain-soaked day here in Madison. The perfect Sunday to stay inside in my studio, working with the new machine. It has been a little frustrating at times but I'm hoping to make some more progress this afternoon. Maybe after a cup of tea.

During a little lunch break, I made a salad with the hopes of making up for a decadent dinner at Eldorado last night. I tried this dressing for the first time today and liked it, so I thought I'd share it with all of you.

Grapefruit vinaigrette
1/4 cup pink grapefruit juice
1 TB rice vingear (I bet a fruity one would be tasty too)
1 tsp minced shallots (I actually used freeze dried ones from Penzeys)
2 TB olive oil
Salt

Shake it all up, add salt to taste.

Batch Bakehouse

Looking for the ham and cheese croissant that will revolutionize your morning? Well, my friends, here it is.

There are a lot of food options in Madison. And a lot of them are good. Some of them are even very good. Then there's everything coming out of the kitchen of Batch Bakehouse. I can't say enough great things about this place. I've definitely tried enough flaky, buttery, delicious baked goods to proclaim this my favorite bakery in Madison. The staff is always so sweet, the food is fantastic, the coffee is from Intelligentsia and it's in my neighborhood. How could it get better? I can't wait until summer morning walks up to the bakery to get treats for eating outside in the sunshine on my front steps.

Pizza night

Sunday has unofficially evolved into pizza night. Do you have any little meal traditions like that?

Pizza night used to be delivery but lately I've started making pizzas at home. I'm definitely still tweaking things, but the pizzas are getting better the more I practice. So I have to keep making them every weekend, right? In the name of perfection? Let's go with that.

At the moment, my favorite recipes are this dough and this sauce. I usually make a couple of small, thin and crispy pizzas with different toppings because I like options. And once I've got the dough going, I figure I might as well make the full batch.

Tonight's pizzas
1. red sauce topped with shredded mozzarella and fresh tomatoes
2. white pizza with olive oil, fresh garlic, parmesan, prosciutto and arugula





Recently I went to a pizza party where the cook was a chef from one of my favorite restaurants. He was nice enough to share some tips: set your oven to the highest heat possible (in my case 550 degrees) and always use a pizza stone (which are a lot more affordable than I thought). Combine the high heat with a thin crust and these pizzas cook within 5-7 minutes. You may have to experiment to find which rack in your oven gets you the perfectly crisp but not burnt pizza. Maybe you should try making a couple of pizzas every weekend. You know, for practice ;)

Quinoa Cucumber Salad

Okay, if I eat another leftover easter ham sandwich or one more Reese's peanut butter egg...there's going to be trouble. And by trouble I mean elastic waist pants. It doesn't help any that I have visited both here and here in the past two nights. So let's try something light and healthy for a change, no?

This salad is really fresh tasting and keeps fairly well overnight. It would likely make a good side dish to some fish but I usually just end up calling it a meal all on it's own.

Quinoa Cucumber Salad
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1.5 TB red wine vinegar
1 TB olive oil
1 cucumber, de-seeded and thinly sliced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup parsley leaves, finely chopped

Bring quinoa and 1 cup salted water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, until all of the water is absorbed and quinoa is tender, usually around 12 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.

Add vinegar, oil, scallions, parsley and cucumber to the quinoa. I usually use a regular cucumber that I remove the seeds from with a little spoon, but an english cucumber could be an easier way to go. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy! It's delicious room temp or chilled, making it a great potluck dish.

Jenni's Artisan Ice Cream

"Artisan ice creams made with the most flavorful, responsibly-raised ingredients from the Ohio countryside. Pasture to table. Cow to cone."

Okay, I have fallen in love with Jeni's Ice Cream and I've never even tried it. Now that my friends, is good branding. Everything is so well done, the look, the feel, the story, it's all spot on. Their tagline "Pasture to Table. Cow to Cone" is pure genius.

Jeni Britton Bauer became inspired to make artisan ice creams while working at a French patisserie. Back home in the heart of Ohio, Jeni created her own techniques to make American ice creams that are less sweet and more flavorful. Joined by family and a small staff, she creates magical things like Honey Vanilla Bean ice cream filled with freshly baked cherry crisp. In the mood for something a little spicier? How about some Thai Chili ice cream?

Possibly the best part...they deliver. Though if rumors are true, her ice cream might be available at a specialty shop here in Madison soon. Fingers crossed!

Trail mix

Last week a friend of mine was in town for a few days and much fun was had. A lot of the itinerary involved eating delicious food and drinking wine, perhaps sometimes to excess. So after many days of indulgence, this week I really had to try to reign things back in.

I don't just pack a lunch for my days at work, I really fill a sack full of food. I need my mid morning snack, my lunch, my sweet thing for after lunch, my afternoon snack, etc. So, yeah, lots of snacks. I do at least try to make them healthy ones whenever possible. I made this trail mix to bring along this week and it's really done the trick.

1 cup multi grain Cheerios
1 cup All Bran cereal
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup roasted, salted edamame beans
1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts

Mix it all together! Pretty easy, eh?

The Way to my Heart

Is paved with cheese.

Heart shaped pizza brought to you by the delicious neighborhood pizzeria Roman Candle.

Sweet Sweet Taffy

I was browsing through some of my old photos and came across the taffy shots I took this past summer. And now I'm going to do an entire post about taffy because it is just that delicious. This first batch of taffy was McCraw's giant taffy and it came from the adorably old timey candy shop, Powell's Sweet Shoppe, in Boulder. I can't even imagine how awesome it would be to be a kid with a $5 bill in there. It was exciting enough for me when I would get $1 to spend at the corner pharmacy on watermelon or green apple Jolly Rancher sticks back in the day.

The taffy tour continued in Estes Park at The Taffy Shop, which was just too quaint. It's been around since 1935 and the counter is staffed by a sweet little old lady.

Wild Rice and Wheatberry Salad

I promised my friend Tara the recipe for this salad and thought it would be nice to share it with all of you also. It is great for fall and winter.

Wild Rice and Wheatberry Salad with Cranberries and Walnuts
Adapted from here

Salad
3/4 cup wheat berries, rinsed
1 cup wild rice, rinsed
1.5 tsp salt
2/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced
1 crisp apple, peeled and diced
1/2 cup parsley, minced
1/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped.

Citrus vinaigrette
Grated zest of one lemon
Grated zest of one orange
1 TB fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 TB rice vinegar (champagne, raspberry or balsamic could work also)
1 TB finely minced shallot
2 tsp honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 to 1 tsp salt

In a large pot bring water and wheatberries to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 35 minutes. Add the wild rice and salt to the pot. Bring to a boil again, then lower the heat. Simmer, partially covered, for an additional 50-55 minutes or until both grains are cooked. Alternately, you can cook these two in separate pots, saving yourself a bit of wait time. After the grains are cooked, drain well, stir in the dried cranberries and leave to cool.

While the grains are cooking combine all of the salad ingredients and whisk together, blending well.

In a large serving bowl combine the cooled grains and cranberries with the celery, apple and parsley. Add the dressing to the salad and mix well. Top with walnuts. Serve at room temperature.

Gail Ambrosius Handmade Chocolates

Gail Ambrosius is a Madison based chocolatier. And she is awesome. As a person and as a chocolate maker. I had the pleasure of hearing her speak to our small business class and the story behind her little chocolate shop made me like her that much more.

And the chocolate? My goodness. I assure you my sister is shaking her head in disbelief as she reads this, but here it is...I really am not a huge fan of chocolate. I know, I know, that is sacrilegious to so many of you. I do like sweet things and often those tend to be chocolate and I very much enjoy eating them. But I don't often crave chocolate itself. I will always choose the apple crisp over the flourless chocolate cake. Always. So all of this is to illustrate a point of how good Gail's chocolates are because I crave them. Particularly the salted caramels.

New Year's Pear Cake

Last year on New Year's Day I came across a recipe titled "New Year's Pear Cake" in this book and I could see a tradition about to be born. This New Year's Day? That's right, pear cake! I bet it's delicious anytime of year, so I thought I'd share:

New Year's Pear Cake
1 LB pears (about 2 cups diced)
3 TB freshly squeezed lemon juice
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
6 TB unsalted butter, melted
1-2 TB of milk, as needed
2 TB honey

Preheat the oven to 350. Brush 9" round cake pan (or any other shape of similar size) with melted butter. Line with parchment paper and brush paper with melted butter as well.

Dice the pears into a medium bowl and immediately pour in lemon juice, tossing to coat. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, mixing well. Add the eggs and 6 TB melted butter and beat into a fairly stiff batter. Fold in the diced pears with their lemon juice. If the batter is too thick, add a bit of milk, mixing well.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan, baking for about 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. You know the drill.

Remove the pan from the oven and turn the cake out onto a plate. While the cake is still hot, glaze the top with honey. Use a bit of hot water to thin the honey, if necessary.

Enjoy!

Salted Toffee

This weekend was all about butter, I've gone through three pounds of it so far! Yes, the holiday baking has kicked off. First on the list was salted toffee. Tasty tasty toffee. And who knew it was so easy to make? Original recipe here.

Salted Toffee

Cooking spray
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
2 2/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling. The original recipe recommended Fleur de Sel, if you can get it, go for it!

Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Bring butter, sugar, water, and corn syrup to a boil in a large saucepan, whisking frequently until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Cook, undisturbed, until mixture registers 300 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 12 minutes.

Whisk toffee mixture, then immediately pour onto prepared sheet, tilting pan to spread over entire surface. Let stand for about 30 seconds, then sprinkle with the salt. Let cool. Be sure not move the pan! Once it has hardend, break toffee into pieces and enjoy.

Toffee will keep, covered, for up to 1 week. If by some chance it actually doesn't get eaten before then.

Oh Sunday

It's Sunday again? How does that keep happening? Luckily, this weekend was a nice relaxing one (which I totally needed) that involved lots of food (which maybe I didn't need as much). It started with a great dinner here, which you may remember is one of my favorite places. The rest of the weekend's meals included this beef roast with roasted sweet potatoes, which was awesome. Though I might recommend using a cut of meat a touch leaner than the beef chuck roast. Wow, that was a lot of fat.

There was also a bunch of apples on the counter about to go bad. I had every intention of slicing them up and roasting them with some cinnamon and brown sugar. Then somehow, all good intentions went out the window and I ended up throwing on a ton of crumble topping. It was kind of like a really easy apple pie. I love apple pie so much that making it "easy" is really not in my best interest!



And right now? I am listening to Imogen Heap waiting for this roasted veggie pizza to finish baking. In my defense, I did manage to squeeze a couple of runs in. Phew. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend also!

Pomegranate Season

So apparently it's pomegranate season? Suddenly all of the grocery stores are overflowing with them. The pomegranate is a little pricey for a piece of fruit, but it's kind of fun and different which is totally worth my $2.

I found this great tutorial on how to easily get the seeds out of a pomegranate. I like them sprinkled over some yogurt and drizzled with honey. Another fall time treat to add to to the seasonal menu!

AppleBerry Farm

Are you all ready for Halloween?? Costumes chosen, jack-o-lanterns carved? And the candy! I got some of my favorites this year: Twix, Starburst and Tootsie Rolls. I like to way overestimate how many bags of candy are actually needed for the handful of kids that come by to trick or treat.





This weekend was also a perfect pumpkin picking time. Off we went to the AppleBerry Farm in Cross Plains, WI to get some apples, pumpkins, bratwurst, cider and doughnuts. I wish I could say I've been able to show any restraint whatsoever around those cinnamon donuts, but that would be a complete lie. I am also thinking of following up all of the doughnuts with this soon.



Aside from all of the tasty treats, the AppleBerry Farm is a fun stop because they have a chicken coop! Last year, I found out that chickens love dandelion greens so I love to stick little pieces through the wire and watch them gobble it up. This little guy just discovered that actually he can reach the dandelions on his own and he doesn't need me at all.



And then there was the chicken on a balance beam act, also well worth watching.

Strawberry Bread

Remember all of those strawberries I picked this summer? Well some of them were frozen to be turned into something delicious at a later date, like say, strawberry bread. I had never even heard of strawberry bread until I came across this recipe. It makes sense though, why should the banana be the only fruit that gets a bread? Strawberry bread is fantastic, as you may have guessed. Especially for breakfast with a bowl of mangoes and a turkish coffee! Find the recipe here, and just substitute frozen berries for the fresh ones. Enjoy!