I could not agree more.

The produce, the people, and even the dogs wandering around.  It’s also fun to walk around and see what looks good (still waiting on peaches).  It makes my creativity come out to play!  So, here’s the treasures I came home with today – for under $30.  Yeah, baby. Bring on the week!

Chow Mein Remix

* adapted from Williams-Sonoma: Food Made Fast Asian (Food Made Fast)

1/2 lb. noodles (chinese noodles, thai noodles, rice noodles or italian pasta are all fine)
Oil (peanut, canola or whatever you have)
4-6 C thinly sliced veggies (use what you have: onions, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, etc.)
1 T ginger, grated or paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb. meat or seafood (optional)

Sauce:
2 T oyster sauce
2 T soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
1 T sesame oil
1 t sugar (optional, to taste)

Cook pasta according to directions. Toss in a large bowl with a little oil to keep separated, and set aside. Mix sauce ingredients, stirring to dissolve sugar.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil, stir fry veggies over medium high heat. Spoon into a bowl. Heat 2 tablespoons oil, saute ginger & garlic for 5 seconds, add meat (if using) and saute 3-4 minutes (or until cooked). Add noodles and sauce to pan, and heat through. Return veggies to pan and heat through.

Transfer to bowls and eat!

Notes: Season the meat with salt and pepper to taste. I also sauteed some spinach with garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and soy sauce (ponzu is good too) and placed on top of chow mein – as seen in the picture. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional).

(A few recipes follow.)

Notes: I’m not a fan of having to melt caramel candies, so just get a good jar of caramel (or make it yourself) and add flour to thicken.  I also prefer pecans to walnuts.  It reminds me of pecan pie.  Also, make sure you allow them to cool in the pan completely (or overnight).  I pulled it out of the pan the first time… NOT pretty.  ;)

Recipes:

Oatmeal Carmelitas

Carmelita Bars (Better Homes & Gardens) (This is the recipe I used.  I’m going to play with it a bit more in the future, namely with the crust in the recipe above!)

Carmelita Bars @ Eddybles

Nutty Caramel Squares on Foodaphilia

Black Forest Bread Pudding

Measurements are approximate. Any bread pudding recipe that you like can be adapted.

Ingredients:
4 large eggs
3/4 c. milk
3/4 c. heavy cream
6 T. sugar, divided (or more to taste)
1/4 c Sharffenberger cocoa, sifted
8 slices white bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 – 3 T unsalted butter
8 oz frozen Cascadian Farm organic cherries (or pitted fresh cherries) – reserve 4-6 cherries for garnish, if desired.
Garnish: whipped cream and 4-6 cherries, drained & reserved

Directions:

Generously butter a 2-quart baking dish, or 9″ pie plate in a large bowl
Whisk together eggs, milk, cream, 1/2 cup sugar, & Sharffenberger cocoa.
Stir in bread cubes and cherries to mix evenly. Let stand 10 minutes or more to let bread absorb custard mixture. (if it seems a little dry, add another tablespoon or two of milk & mix gently)
Pour mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with 2 T sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees  for about 20 min, until pudding is puffed and set.

Cut into 4 to 6 pieces. serve warm, garnished with whipped cream & reserved cherries if desired

Notes:

• This is a really satisfying way to get the flavors of black forest cake without the fuss and bother. You can whip this up just about any day.
• If you have guests, you could get fancy with the garnishes, adding (Sharffenberger) chocolate shavings to the cherries and whipped cream, for example, or baking them in individual souffle dishes/custard cups.

Margaret Lukens CPO®, owner of New Leaf + Company LLC, is a professional
organizer and productivity trainer who takes her clients from overwhelmed to
organized with her “Getting Organized for Business” program. Visit her
website at www.newleafandcompany.com.
Her first foray into entrepreneurship was starting a gourmet food store in
New England, where she was allowed to exercise her love of cooking. The
store was sold years ago, but the love remains. She has written about food
(and the business of food) for many publications, including Bay Food,
Pacific Sun, Santa Rosa (CA) Business Journal, and Litchfield (CT) Times.

Wine Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 C sherry (any white-ish dessert wine is also good)
4 eggs
3/4 C oil (canola is good)
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix (3.5oz.)
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F (or 325F for a dark non-stick pan).
Add all ingredients to a bowl, and beat 3 minutes on medium speed. Put in a greased & floured bundt cake pan.
Bake 45-50 minutes. Test with a skewer – when it comes out cleanish, it’s done. This cake is very moist!

Cool 5 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack. When cool, sift powdered sugar over top.

Other ideas:
- Try using other flavors of pudding like cheese cake or french vanilla
- Instead of all oil, try 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce + 1/4 cup oil.  I haven’t noticed much difference in flavor or texture.
- Use a glaze: whisk powdered sugar an a teaspoon or two of lemon or orange juice, to the consistency of buttermilk. Drizzle on cooled cake. (I do this in a measuring cup with a spout so it’s easy to pour.)
- If you’re a citrus nut, try adding lemon or orange zest to the batter.  In this case, just use the sifted powdered sugar on the top.

Is there anything more cheerful than Easter eggs?  Ok, maybe chocolate filled… oh wait, solid chocolate eggs?

{ Happy Easter! }

Cumin?  Do I have enough?

It was also difficult to see what I had on hand, and what was getting low.  I’m a visual kinda girl.  So, I’ve been collecting spice jars one at a time.  Yeah, except they don’t exactly match.  And who has the time to take off all the labels?  Not me.

Putting together the perfect spice cabinet begins…

So, about a month ago, I took some ideas I found, and I started thinking about what my ideal spice cabinet would look like.  I started with buying these containers.

What if I mounted them to the cabinet door?

I wanted more space in my actual cabinet, and I have all this glorious open space on my cabinet doors.  So, going from a previous Alton Brown episode, I decided I would mount the containers on my doors.   The thing was, he put them on the doors with velcro.  All I could think about was the gunky-goo that would accumulate in the velcro fibers.  Disgusting.  Really.  No velcro for me.

“Do you have metal strip thingies you could mount on a wall?”

I didn’t know what the term was I was looking for.  This made it difficult to ask for the product in the crafty-craft store.  ”Do you have those metal strip things you can mount on a wall?  I’ve seen them in organizing stores.  You can put magnets on them?”  Blank stare.  ”Let me call my manager.”  Yeah, manager didn’t know either.  Next time I will arm myself with better vocabulary…

The office supply store should have that, right?

I strolled into my local office supply store.  Surely they would be able to decipher what I needed and direct me to make my perfect purchase.  After artfully dodging the disturbingly friendly greeter at the door, I wandered around the store looking for that metal thingy.  Then I wandered some more.  Not by the magnets.  Not in the organizing section.  Nada in the clearance section.  No luck.  So, I tried my best to look lost, knowing I would attract a friendly helpful employee.

Me: “Do you know where I can find those metal thingies you can hang on the wall and attach magnets to?”

Helpful employee: “Uh, let’s look over here….how about this cork strip?”

Me: (trying to understand how “magnetic” led us to cork….)  ”Um, that’s not quite what I’m looking for.  Thanks for your help.”

One last try…

A little disheartened, I crossed the street to another crafty-craft store.  It seems everytime I need something strange like this, I find it there.  (Hmm, perhaps I should just start there in the future…)  Again, I wandered around to see what I could find.  I happened on some magnetic bulletin boards.  It turns out they were samples, flanked by supplies to make them.  Eureka!  I grabbed two 12×12 pieces of the sheet metal and headed for the door.  Who needs metal strip thingies anyway?

My Spice Cabinet Makeover:

(Cost: I spent less than $30 USD)

1. Attach the metal squares to the doors.  Drill a small hole in each corner of the metal squares.  Put a little adhesive on the back (to help the sheet lay flat) and attach the squares  to the doors with small, short wood screws.

2. Prepare the containers.  Label and fill  containers with existing spices (or new if it’s been a while).  Attach adhesive magnetic tape or hot glue magnets to the bottom of each container.

3. Put them in order and arrange.  I recommend alphabetizing the containers (makes them easier to find) and attach them to the doors.

Below is what my spices look like now.  Isn’t it pretty?  Best of all, it’s all in one place and I can see exactly what I have.  Love that!

Last night I was a little stressed, and decided to do a little stress baking.  I found this recipe on the back of the flour bag.  I adapted it a bit, and offer it here for you to enjoy. 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C butter
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce (or pear if you can find it)
1 t vanilla
1 egg
2 C quick-cooking oats
1 C all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 whole wheat pastry flour*
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
12 oz. chocolate chunks (or chips)

1. Heat oven to 350F. Beat brown sugar, butter, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended, and pale in color. Add oats, flours, baking soda & salt. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chunks.

2. Drop dough in rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet (or parchment/silpat lined), 2 inches apart.

3. Bake 9-11 minutes (I baked them 10 1/2 minutes) until golden brown – more if you like a crispier cookie. Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

Yield: About 3 1/2 dozen cookies

* or you can use all-purpose for all the flour

(recipe adapted from Gold Medal Flour recipe)