Dinner time!

Hey there blog world! Guess what time it is in our house? ...yeah, okay, I gave it away. It's dinner time! I'm set up on the kitchen counter and typing out this post while waiting for our dinner to come out of the oven. Look at me multitask!

Honestly, this is a rare feat. We got home from work a full 30 minutes earlier than normal and I have just enough energy to squeeze in a blog post before serving dinner and becoming a slave to the sofa.

Despite our crazy schedule, I've always found ways to keep up with groceries and cooking. My husband and I have stuck to a pretty simple system that makes cooking a breeze -- we meal-plan!

Since we only have a limited time together each week, we've chosen to host our master meal-planning list on Google Docs. This allows us each to log in and make suggestions for next week's dinners whenever we find a spare moment -- in the evenings at home, while we're on our lunch break at work, and sometimes even during a boring seminar (but you didn't hear it from me). From the meal plan we make a grocery list, and the rest is simple!

At first, my Mister thought this was a pretty crazy system. He's the real chef in our house; he has the amazing ability to open the fridge, pull out a handful of ingredients, and come up with amazing recipes off the top of his head. Meal-planning, to him, was creative suicide. Despite his initial arguments, he agreed to try the system and now I think he enjoys it more than I do!

Being able to plan our meals in advance means that we only need to go to the grocery store once a week, which I think is the biggest bonus. It also helps me in my amateur couponing, because I can make sure to plan meals around the coupons I've clipped. I know that I'll always have the ingredients on hand to make up dinner, and I can also plan to use things that will spoil quickly early in the week, so we have less waste! Finally, it makes sure that we don't get stuck in any "food ruts". The Google Doc keeps a log of all the food we've eaten since -- oh, wow, May! -- and it helps me make sure I don't cook the same recipes every week.

In our actual kitchen, I've made up a cute "meal board" that displays our plan for the week. We don't typically keep computers in the kitchen, and the board keeps me from having to go turn on the laptop after a long day of programming at work. Hopefully I'll get some time in the future to show you how this board was made, in case you're interested in making one for your own kitchen!

How do you simplify meal time in your home? Do you meal-plan? What's your system for keeping up with your plan?

Last Blush of Summer Cake

Alright! I promise, this is my last post on the amazing barbecue my Mister and I attended this weekend past. Between the steaks, the homemade guacamole, and my first (but certainly not last!) taste of tembleque came the fourth... no, fifth!... version of Smitten Kitchen's "Strawberry Summer Cake" that I've whipped up.

I have to say, I love this cake with strawberries. I really do. But when I walked through our local farmers market last week and smelled these South Carolina peaches, I knew they'd be the perfect way to end our celebration of this summer's produce.

Basically no changes, this time. This cake is perfect as is -- and it's even better with a side of homemade whipped cream!

Last Blush of Summer Cake
Makes a 9x13 sheet cake

Ingredients
6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 c white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp double strength vanilla extract (or 1 tsp standard)
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 peaches in 1/4" thick slices

Directions
Beat the butter and 1 cup minus 2 tbsp sugar with an electric mixer. Add the egg, milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Mix the dry ingredients in another bowl with a whisk. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 3 portions and beat until mixed, but not so much that your cake becomes tough. Pour the batter into your cake pan (I use a 9x13 Pyrex dish) and top with peach slices. Sprinkle cake with 2 tbsp white sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Lower oven to 325 degrees and continue baking for 50 minutes.

Recipes

You know, I hadn't really thought I'd talk so much about cooking so early on in my writing. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised! We cook nearly every night, and we love trying out new recipes.

I keep all of those recipes in a dollar store accordion file like this! I use large, lined index cards which fit just perfectly inside. It's splatter-proof and compact -- see how I've got it just tucked away beside my cooking utensils? I can grab it at a moment's notice. Also, the index card format gives me just enough space to write down my recipes, and I can use the back to make notes when I inevitably make my own changes.

How do you keep your recipes straight? Box, book, or online? If you're looking for a new technique, here's the one I recommend!

Just Like KFC Coleslaw

I can still remember, growing up, how excited my sister and I would get whenever we got to eat KFC for dinner. We always ordered the same sides; mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and coleslaw.

That coleslaw! I loved it. I never ate much as a kid, but I'd always have room for seconds when it came to KFC coleslaw. I haven't met a coleslaw like it since, that is, until a couple of weeks ago. Then I found this "copy cat" recipe on GroupRecipes.com, and with great hesitation I decided to try it.

Guess what? It's dead on! Now I can have homemade KFC coleslaw any time I like, with the added benefit that I know exactly what goes into the bowl. No chance of preservatives or questionable, unpronounceable ingredients.

Just Like KFC Coleslaw
Makes enough for 4, plus leftovers

Ingredients
Bag of shredded coleslaw mix (14 oz)
2 tbsp minced sweet onion
1/2 c mayo
1/3 c white sugar
1/4 c milk
1/4 c buttermilk
2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions
Beat all ingredients (except onion and coleslaw mix) with a whisk until smooth. Add coleslaw mix and onion and toss to coat. Allow to mellow in the refrigerator about 2 hours (or overnight) before serving.

Refrigerator Pickles

Has anyone else noticed that summer is over? When did that happen?

My Mister and I are headed to a barbecue today. It's probably the last one we'll have for awhile, so I'm pulling out all the stops. Among other things I'm bringing (KFC-style coleslaw, peach cake...) I also put together two jars of our favorite refrigerator pickles; one to share, and one for us to keep! (They're really that good.)

The recipe I use is adapted from BonAppetit.com, with heavy modifications. I've written down my 'standard' recipe on an index card in my recipe box, but I find myself changing it every time. Feel free to modify it however you like!

Refrigerator Pickles
Makes 2 pints

Ingredients
2 pint jars (Mine are Ball, but you could easily use old spaghetti sauce or pickle jars)
2 large cucumbers, sliced into 1/4" rounds
1/4 sweet onion, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1.5 c apple cider vinegar
1.25 c water
1 c white sugar
3/4 tbsp table salt
1.5 tsp dill seed
pinch minced garlic (ours is dried, from Penzeys spices)

Directions
Boil the sugar, salt, water, vinegar, and spices in a small saucepan until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Layer the onions in the bottom of the jars, and fill to the top with cucumber slices. Carefully ladle the pickling solution into the jars. Allow jars to cool on the counter before moving to the refrigerator, uncovered, for 24 hours. (Uncovered? I don't know why. I always follow this strange instruction.) Cap and keep for up to three weeks... if you don't eat them all in the first day!

A Quilt for Baby B

This post has been transferred from my previous blog. If you're visiting here from MlleOiseau, I'm happy to welcome you to my new space!

My first completed project of the New Year turned out to be the very first quilt I ever started piecing. I found a great home for it as a gift for my future sister-in-law, who is expecting a baby boy, and that was all the inspiration I needed to get it done!

This quilt is very similar to my first completed quilt, which was made for another of my nephews. I was (pretty obviously) inspired by the very popular Cluck Cluck Sew Zig Zag Quilt.

The backing is this adorable animal print that just-so-happened to be the exact match to the colours I chose for the quilt front. Amazing! I bought this piece of fabric a few months after piecing the front, and I'm so glad I did.

Finally, I bound it all in a yellow solid called "Buttercup". At first I hesitated (my future sister-in-law loves orange) but I'm glad I went with the yellow--it picks up the polka dots in the print on the back.

How are your 2012 projects going? Finish up any WIPs already?

The Dot

This post has been transferred from my previous blog. If you're visiting here from MlleOiseau, I'm happy to welcome you to my new space!

So, it seems that everyone around me is having a baby right now, and every last one of them is a girl! It's very exciting.

This adorable baby-in-the-making is my first niece, affectionately referred to as "the dot" by my fiance and I. She's a 2011 model (but cutting it close!) so she'll be here any day now.

I had the great pleasure of hostessing a baby shower for my sister and the dot this weekend. I'm not going to go over every detail of the party planning, but I'll probably post a few photos (once I get through them all) to describe what I managed to pull off, in case you're planning a similar celebration yourself!

Anyway, I haven't posted in awhile because I'm in grad school my hands were too busy to type while I was working on this party and the gifts for my sister. Now that the party is over and the gifts have been safely delivered, though, I can finally show you what I've been up to!

While I decided to pick up a few practical items for my sister from her registry, I also wanted to gift the dot something personal and steeped with love, and what can better say that than a handmade baby quilt?

Here is a quick description of how I made the quilt, inspired by this pattern at Red Pepper Quilts. Instead of 1.5" x 5.5" strips, I cut 2" strips that were slightly longer than 4" from a host of pink fabrics that I've been hoarding. I stitched these together into 3 and 5 strip sets, then cut them perpendicularly into 2" strips. I attached these strips to a 4 3/4" center square (my 1/4" seams are a little off, it seems). Alternatively, I sewed 2" white sashes around a 4 3/4" block of my pattern of choice. I pieced the blocks into rows, and then pieced the rows together.

To finish the quilt, I used Warm and White cotton batting (my favourite) and backed the quilt with slightly less than a yard of Kona Cotton Solids in Sangria. I stitched in the ditch with white thread to quilt it... it was done pretty quickly, at the last available moment. My mistake! I almost threw in the towel right there, being too prideful to deliver a gift I deemed less than perfect (and it is definitely sloppy). I'm glad my fiance talked me out of it. Imperfections are perfectly natural!

Finally, I bound the quilt using that 2" satin blanket binding you can buy at the store sewn on with a 1/2" seam allowance--I chose this binding as an homage to my sister's much beloved baby blanket, whose satin edge was tattered to threads by the time she was done with it!