Gingerbread Cookies!

We made Kate's Gingerbread cookies (minus the anise) this weekend and they came out great.

When we got married one of the things we asked for was fun cookie cutters; which was the best idea ever.  Cutting out the cookies is of course the best part and I love our collection of animals, dinosaurs, Star Wars and initials.  I get to eat all the C's.

We made Mark Bittman's vanilla icing in various colors with food coloring to top them off.  The icing is difficult to control making many of the cookies look like they had been made by children.

But still very tasty!

Spinach Pie

Spanakopita is one of my dinner specialties.  It is super tasty and pretty easy to put together.

Garlic
Olive Oil
3 bags of Spinach
Brick of Feta Cheese
Pepper
Salt (if needed)
Butter
Box of Filo Dough

Pre-heat the oven to 350
For the filling I saute the garlic in olive oil and then add in the spinach a bag at a time.  The spinach starts out as a lot but cooks way down.  Next, take the spinach off the heat and crumble and mix in your feta cheese and add some salt and pepper to taste.  I find that the feta is already so salty that I don't need to add extra salt.

Lay the filo dough out under a piece of wax paper and a damp towel.  The filo dough dries out very quickly so you will want to keep it covered while you work.  Melt butter in a little dish (I do this in the microwave so I can easily add more butter as needed).  With a pastry brush brush butter onto the bottom of your pie dish.  Next lay a sheet of filo across the bottom of the pan and butter the top of the sheet.  Keep adding the sheets and buttering one at a time rotating them around to cover the entire bottom of the pan.  I usually do about 10 sheets for the bottom.

Add in the Spinach filling, then continue with more filo and butter layers.  Cut some notches in the top and put it in the oven for about half an hour.  The filo top should be a nice golden brown color when it is done.  Let cool about 10 minutes then slice and eat!

Last Night

Last night we finally made it to the theater to see the new Batman movie.  We had been trying to go every weekend for a long time but would end up too busy.  Thursday night worked out perfectly as it is the cheap night at Cobble Hill Cinema.  As for the movie, it was okay, I was hoping for better.  Could have used better plot and character development.

Before the movie we went to Local 61 for some beers and dinner.  I got there early and sat and read while waiting for Ben.  The space was really nice and open and I enjoyed my grilled cheese and gazpacho.

Ben also made corn bread and brewed beer yesterday.  The cornbread was delicious and I am looking forward to the beer.  I think I have been nominated to be assistant bottler.  

Excellent after movie snack.

Making Almond Milk

We have been really into nut milks lately.  They are very expensive to buy so we tried making our own.  

We followed this video and it is pretty easy and straight forward. 

My New Roots - How to Make Nut Milk from My New Roots on Vimeo.

 

 And very tasty!

A Sunday Morning Breakfast

Sunday morning I decided to make biscuits.I had a biscuit at brunch a few weeks ago and hadn't been able to get it out of my head.   

 I used Mark Bittman's recipe from How to Cook Everything.

 The food processor made the biscuits quick and easy to make.  The butter blended in very easily. 

 The dough rolled out very nicely and I used a glass to cut out the round biscuits. 

  We had a bunch of fancy jams for the biscuits, raspberry, blueberry, quince and marmalade. 

 

We added Greek yogurt with strawberries and mangos, orange juice and  Irish breakfast tea to complete the breakfast.

Bittman's Yogurt Biscuits
Makes 10 or more
 Time:  20 - 30 minutes

2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons cold butter
7/8 cup yogurt

Heat the oven to 450 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients together in a food processor.  Cut the butter into bits and pulse it in the food processor until thoroughly blended.

Using a large spoon, stir in the yogurt until mixture just forms a ball.  turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it 10 times;  no more.  If it is sticky, add a little flour, but very little; it should still stick slightly to your hands.

Press the dough into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle and cut into 2-inch rounds.  Put on ungreased baking sheet.  Gently reshape the leftover dough and cut again.  Bake for 7 - 9 minutes or until the biscuits are a beautiful golden brown.  Serve within 15 minutes for them to be at their best.