Rhubarb Cake with Cornmeal

I don't consider myself much a a baker, but that doesn't mean that I can't bake.  I just prefer simple recipes, and most of the things I like to bake are very straightforward and rustic.  In my mind, bakers are the ones who make complicated confections that are meticulously decorated...not that that's true, but in my headspace, that's what I think of when I think "baker".

This rhubarb cake is a perfect representation of my kind of baking.  It uses rhubarb right from my backyard.  It takes only a short time (with a little prep) to throw together.  It might not be the prettiest cake on the block to look at, but you will melt into a satisfied puddle of goo after tasting it.  It's a very moist cake, but the cornmeal gives makes it more interesting for your mouth, and the pops of tempered rhubarb tartness...wow.

Making Mozz

I tend to have big ideas and then slack on some of the follow through.  I also tend to be a little spoiled by my husband, and if I mention (or, say, e-mail a link to) something I'm interested in, he will often buy that thing (within reason) for me for the next appropriate holiday.  Enter the cheese making kits.

Last year, right around Mother's Day, I saw that Williams-Sonoma had DIY cheese kits available.  And my inner food geek went a little nuts.  I started dropping hints, like, "Wow, with all the tomatoes and basil that we have in the garden, wouldn't it be nice to have fresh, homemade mozzarella to make caprese?", and "Grilled pizza is the bomb.  The only way it could be better is if we had some fresh, homemade mozzarella to top it with!".  You know, subtle.

Shroom For More

Would you believe me if I told you I had a hot veggie side that you can throw together in 5 minutes?  with only 3 ingredients?  Because I do.

Even better than that, if you know someone who's not a big fan of mushrooms, this could possibly convert them.  It did for me.  I still wouldn't consider myself big on mushrooms, but I do enjoy them this way.

I got this method from a vendor at Green City Market in downtown Chicago.  He had a bunch of mushrooms cooked up this way and managed to charm my friend and me into trying them.  It was eye-opening.  They almost tasted like little bites of steak!  No kidding, that was my mushroom epiphany right there.

Frozen Assets

My freezer is legendary.  I've blogged about some of the treasures it contains, but even before this blog existed, that freezer had a following of its' own.  At one point, I was going to make it a Foursquare check-in and call it "Frostco".  My friend requested that I devote a post to my wonderful freezer.  It's out in the garage, a full standing freezer, and it is one of my most appreciated possessions.

I think a lot of people don't really use their freezers to their fullest potential.  I know I used to be scared of freezing stuff, and I thought that things that were frozen didn't taste as good.  Turns out, I was wrong.  You just have to know what you're doing.  My freezer and I don't have a perfect relationship.  Don't get me wrong.  It's horribly unorganized.  Nothing's really boxed, so it has to fit in where it can, and sometimes I end up with a 4-pound frozen chicken hitting me in the head while I'm getting frozen veggies out of the lower drawer.  And don't even get me started on the day last summer when the seal lost it's sealing power and I lost half of what was inside.  It felt like a small part of me died that day.  Maybe I get a little overly emotional about food.  But, for the most part, I love my freezer, and it's become pretty essential to my family's eating.  

Piggin' Out

The other night, my kids were up in arms.  It was another crazy schedule of a day, and we only had about 40 minutes to make and eat dinner between activities.  Silly me, I had forgotten that I had told them they could have mac and cheese for our next quickie dinner.  So when they asked what we were having, and I said pork chops, the reaction was less than pleasant.  They must have inherited my "undying love for mac and cheese" gene.  Then, my oldest paused from the "But you said..."s and asked, "Are the pork chops from Amy's?".  I grinned, because I knew I had them now.  "Are there any other kind?"  Wink.  There was a split second of silence, and then, in unison..."Yay!  Amy's pork chops!!!"

If you haven't read me brag on her already, the Amy in question here is the owner of Amy's Organics, our local organic mobile farmers' market, and she carries some fantastic meat on her truck.  I've already written about the fish she carries.  The Berkshire pork chops, no doubt, are my family's favorite.  Amy gets her pork chops from Black Earth Meats, who believes in farming methods that are organic and humane, and they also are grass-fed.  Joel Salatin, a farming icon, likes to talk about respecting the "pigness of the pig", and to me, these chops are what that ideal tastes like.  They are a deep, rich pork flavor, and once we tasted them, any store-bought chops pale in comparison.

Go Fish

A lot of my friends are excited that I've started this blog.  Many of them have been telling me for months, maybe even years, that I would be great at blogging.  I guess only time will tell.  But, as a couple of these friends made clear to me today, any blog I write needs recipes.  I love being in my kitchen, making delicious food for my family.  So where better to start than the dinner we had tonight?

So, fish.  Fish, in a culinary aspect, used to be pretty scary to me.  Geez, sometimes fish in non-culinary aspects are scary to me!  If I'm in the lake and something brushes my leg, get ready for a yelp.  But back to the kitchen.  I always felt like there was so much more that could go wrong with fish.  Cooking it wrong, having it taste bad, or worse, giving everyone food poisoning.  On top of that, fish is one of those "love it or hate it" kind of foods, and I wasn't sure I was on the "love it" side.  Anyone out there with me?

Side note: I'm sure that I will mention my friend Amy in this blog a few times, but let me fill you in.  Amy owns and runs Amy's Organics, a "mobile organic farmers' market", and it is awesome.  She's awesome too.  You can check it out at www.amysorganics.org.  I could go on forever about what a great service she has, but that wouldn't put fish on your table.  So, long story short, Amy has made it very convenient for me to live out my values of keeping my family's food high quality, delicious, and local.  One of the things Amy delivers from her truck is fish.  Not ordinary fish...fish wild-caught by natives out of the waters of the Great Lakes.  I'm sure it's probably not as romantic as I picture it, but I'm still going to picture birch canoes and ritualistic dances for bounty and abundance eventually resulting in the gorgeous fillets that Amy brings to my door.  I braved the fish for the first time last year, and since then, my family has enjoyed many different types of fish, including perch and walleye.  It's not as scary as I thought, and I'm going to share my method with you.

Here's the fish.  Today, it's trout.  For my family of 5, two good-sized fillets (around a pound each) works out almost perfectly.  I'm sure it won't be enough once they get older, but this method is easy to multiply servings.  The fish we get is usually free of bones, with skin on, so it's pretty good to go from the start.  I like to rinse the fillets and pat them dry with paper towels.  Then I lay them out and get ready to flavor them up.