Pop Pop! (overs) Recipe

Pop, pop! Anyone else watch Community?  I've been watching it since the show premiered, and I'm pretty sure at one point I was only like 1 of 50 people watching it.  For the longest time Jason was convinced it was going to be cancelled.  Turns out he was wrong.  Pretty much everyone I know watches it now...although that may be partly due the absence left by The Office's less than stellar season.

Today's recipe is one of my all-time favorites: popovers.  It's insanely easy to make, and they look pretty spectacular.  Even better, this is a perfect recipe for someone who wants to make their own breads but is intimidated by words like "bloom" and "proof".  Don't worry, I'm still pretty much smack dab in that category too.  This recipe comes from Melissa D'Arabian from the Food Network.  It's very basic, but I've dressed it up with all sorts of things- chopped herbs, cheese, you name it.

There are a couple of things you MUST do to make the recipe turn out.  First, heat your muffin pan in the oven before you add the blended mixture.  Second, DO NOT.  I REPEAT DO NOT open your oven during the cooking process.  There are not any leavening agents in the recipe.  The dough rises simply from the steam created.  If you open the oven before they finish, they will deflate.  And no one wants a deflated popover.   Lastly, it's best if all the ingredients are warm, as this helps with the steaming process.  If your milk is cold, simply warm it in the microwave until warm to touch.  That's it.  Now whip out that blender and get to it.

Popovers
Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk (room temperature or warmed in the microwave)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp Kosher salt

Instructions:

• Melt the butter and brush into a muffin pan.  Turn the oven on to 400 degrees and stick the pan in the oven while it preheats.

• While the oven preheats, mix eggs in a blender until they turn a pale yellow color and are frothy. 

•  Add the warm milk and blend until combined.  Add the flour, salt, and whatever butter is left over  and blend until smooth.

• Pour into the muffin tin and bake for 35 minutes until they have puffed up and are golden brown.  And remember, DO NOT open the oven early.  If you must look, turn on the oven light and look through the window! :)

• Now go impress people with your awesome baking skills!

Have a lovely weekend!  I'm off to Fredericksburg, the ranch, and some much needed time on the lake!

It's Getting Hot in Here...

Summer has arrived.  And by summer I mean the season, not me.  This week has been the first oppressively hot week for the summer season.  I don't mind the heat, so long as I have plenty of handy ways to cool off.  This fantastic treat will do just that.

Cucumber Lemongrass Granita

So sometimes I cheat.  When the craving for granitas came a-knocking, I already had the agua fresca in my refrigerator.  I figured it would be simply marvelous as a granita, and I was correct.  If you're not into cucumber lemongrass, there are dozens of granita recipes all of the interwebs.  Get creative.  Try something wacky.  My next frozen adventure is going to involve watermelons and jalapenos.  It's summertime, live it up!

Now at this juncture, you may be asking yourself, what in the world is a granita?  Granita are essentially Italian snow-cones, but grown up and much more fancy.  At least the name is fancier.  The texture of granitas vary from different cities in Italy with some of the crystals being coarse and some being super fine, almost as smooth as a sorbet.

You can make a passable granita using a shallow glass baking dish and a fork, which is exactly what I did.

Instructions:

• Pour your granita base into a glass baking dish.  Place in the freezer until firm.  I don't wait until it's rock solid firm, just so it's pretty well set.
• Using the tips of a fork, scrap across the frozen mixture until it's broken into small ice crystals.  I usually put it back in the freezer and do another round of scraping, but it's totally not necessary.

• Scoop the mixture into a glass and enjoy!  And don't be a ding dong like myself and let most of it melt while you're standing in the sun taking pictures.

Also, I would like to point out the irony that I'm complaining about the heat, when I voluntary subject myself to 90 minutes of yoga in a 105 degree room approximately 5 times a week.  Yes, I am silly.

A Sight For Sore Eyes

Well, well, well.

Didn't think I'd ever see you again, old friend.

In case you're wondering, yes, that is my (previously) stolen laptop.  The police called today to tell me that my laptop had resurfaced in a pawn shop located less than 3 miles from my house.  I was ecstatic.  Literally, like bouncing off the wall ecstatic.  That is...until the police officer informed me that I would have to pay the pawn shop to get my computer back.  Pardon my language but WHAT THE EFF?!?!

Apparently, it's common practice to make theft victims repurchase their stolen belongings if they're found at a pawn shop.  To say that I'm appalled and disgusted would be an understatement.  So 1 month, countless phone calls, and $300 later, my laptop is now safe and sound.  Strangely enough, everything was exactly how I'd left it.  A little worse for wear and a lot dirtier than I left it, but otherwise untouched.  They didn't even change my screensaver:

Yep.  Some 45 year old man pawned a computer with the above picture as the screen saver.  Should have been a red flag it was stolen.

We're still down 1 computer and the $300 dollars I had to pay to get it back.  I'd like to think that the tides are changing in our favor.  Fingers crossed I'm correct!

I know that I've been less than stellar lately with my postings.  This computer situation has been such a drain on me.  But now that the Mac is back where it belongs, things should be back to normal.  Thanks for all of the kind and encouraging words!

Tales of an Itchy Dog

So my little Dolce has broken out in hives all over his stomach.  It pains me so much to see him so uncomfortable.  I thought we finally had his allergy situation under control, after a very long year of trial and error and countless skin infections and vet visits.  Unfortunately, his allergies have reared their ugly heads again, and we'll be making another trip to the vet this afternoon.

I've been pretty OCD diligent in keeping track of when the allergies start, and I've come to a fairly strong conclusion that little Dolce is allergic to...grass.  It also explains why the rest of his body is fine, but his stomach is a mess.  He's reacting to contact with the grass.

Started out like this...

And now it look like this...Poor baby.  :(

Fingers crossed the vet gives me something that works and we can put this phase behind us as well.

And this is Jason's first weekend not working in forever, so we're definitely looking forward to some down time and some fun in the sun!  Hope all of your weekends are great!

Weekday Meals: Lamb Skewers, Tzatziki, and Orzo

The other day, I found some beautiful lamb skewers at Central Market.  This meal evolved from me trying to figure out what to pair with the lamb.  Tzatziki was a natural choice, because I drown by gyros in that stuff.  The orzo is from a Bobby Flay recipe, which I found by Goggling sides that go with lamb.  I only moderately followed the recipe, and added several changes to fit what I needed.  Toasting the orzo added a nice nutty flavor and cooking it risotto style, by slowing adding the water, gave it a nice creaminess.  I decided the dish was a little to savory overall and threw in some dried currants (they look and taste like tiny raisins) to add a touch of sweetness.  They actually paired quite beautifully with the rest of the dish.  Start to finish, the entire meal took less than 30 minutes to prepare.  That's my kind of week night meal.

Home is Where the Heart Is

"Concrete and cars are their own prison bars
Like this life I'm living in
But the plane brought me farther, I'm surrounded by water
And I'm not going back again

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today, life is good today" - Toes, Zac Brown Band

Sometimes a little sunshine, a little water, and good friends are the best cure for the blahs.  In honor of a good friend's graduation, her family rented a party barge on Lake Travis.  We spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon floating around the lake.  It was exactly what I needed.  I've lived in Dallas for about 6 years now, and there are times when I just have to get out of Dallas.  This was one of those times.  I was about an hour early for the party (timing a 4 hour drive is kind of tricky) and I spent about 30 minutes driving through the trees and the hills and enjoying the scenery.  It was so nice not seeing a gigantic building or hearing a plane fly overhead every 10 minutes.

Lake Travis- Source

I grew up in a small town.  I've known most of my friends from high school for what seems like all of my life, some of them since I was 6.  I'm still fairly close with many of them, even though I've been out of high school since 2004.  There is something so special about inside jokes that have lasted 10 years or stories that are still funny after the 5,000th telling.  (Not that my newer friends aren't just as special...it's like that old Girl Scout song.  "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold." Figured I'd clarify that before anyone yells at me.  :) )

And after this weekend spent with those who've known me the longest near the place I grew up, I realized that it's time to return home.  I'll have to wait until after I graduate (in 2013), but then it's time to go.    Job searching is more difficult outside the city of your law school (and if you're considering law school, definitely keep that in mind), but I'm ready for the challenge.  There was a time when I thought I'd stay in Dallas, but my heart will always be in the Texas Hill Country.

And as cheesy as it sounds, home really is where the heart is.

Free Download!

Hello lovelies!  Sorry I've been virtually MIA this week.  It's been one of those blah week.  Nothing is technically wrong, but I've just been in a yucky mood.  I'm visiting one of my oldest and dearest friends this weekend to celebrate her Master's Degree! so hopefully that'll put me back on track.  And as an apology and a please come back incentive I thought I'd share a recent Photoshop creation with you today.  Pugly Pixle posted a letterpress tutorial a couple days ago, and I immediately feel in love.  I adore anything letterpressed and being able to create a similar look for a computer is simply amazing!

I saw this quote on Pinterest a couple weeks ago.  It sums me up pretty perfectly, but I wasn't super in love with how it was written.  I like the letterpress tutorial would be perfect for this.

You can download the larger version here.  It should, emphasis on should, easily print out to an 8x10.  Please feel free to use it for any non-commercial uses.  If you'd like to share it, please link back to my blog and not the link itself.  I've never done this, so we'll see how it goes!  Enjoy!