MOVING!!

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog, and now that I’m back w/a new recipe…I can’t figure out the “improvements” WordPress has made to their systems! I can’t even add in a picture w/out losing my entire post- no good!

So, it’s off to Blogger we go- the address over there is thispoorkitchen.blogspot.com. See y’over there w/some new recipes! 🙂

 

Moving Break!!

I’m probably not going to be able to update regularly for awhile- bc we’re moving!!  And, whenever I cooked anything “creative” last week (ie, the fudge and even the silly cookies!), E was giving me a hard time bc didn’t I know that we had packing to do?  Sheesh. (Of course I know we’re moving- couldn’t be more excited about leaving the teeny condo behind for a real-live giant house!)

So, that said, it might be awhile until a new post- I may pop on w/things between now and the move (in two weeks!), and during our unpacking, but just wanted to let you know that it will most likely be awhile.

Thanks so much for reading, and I’ll (hopefully) be back soon! 🙂

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Just a few little green things over here today- I really wanted to make green chocolate chip cookies, but kinda thought it’d look too weird.  So, I used green (and gold) sprinkles on them.  For the cookies, I used a recipe from AllRecipes.com, for the “best” chocolate chip cookies…which is funny bc just about every chocolate chip cookie recipe could legitimately be called that bc they’re all so good!

Also, I’m trying to make these banners a “tradition”- I made one for Valentine’s Day, and today made this one w/little shamrocks and “coins.”  I even taped up a few shamrocks around the house, bc I had loads of extras…I hope the kids appreciate the weird lengths I go to for their amusement!

Anyway, hope you all are having a great day! 🙂

 

Homemade Vegetable Broth

I’ve saved the easiest broth for last!  Really, after fooling w/huge cow bones and chicken carcasses for beef and chicken stocks, a little veggie broth will be a breeze!  And, since I wanted to make soup for dinner tonight, it seemed like the perfect time to try out veggie broth-making.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com, and it’s listed as the “World’s Greatest Vegetable Broth,” and even has 4.5 stars.  Sounds perfect!

Here’s the list of ingredients:

• 1 pound celery
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet onions
• 1 pound carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 pound tomatoes, cored
• 1 pound green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 pound turnips, cubed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 whole black peppercorns
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 gallon water

First, roast the onions, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, and turnips (all tossed w/olive oil) for a little over an hour at 450-degrees (oh, I used parsnips instead of turnips bc I had some, and didn’t wanna buy turnips!):

Gettin' roasted

Once the veggies were roasted, they went into the stock pot w/the celery and…well, everything else:

After that, it was boiled for about…maybe two hours?  The idea was to boil it until the liquid had reduced by half- I think it took about two hours.  When it was finished, I poured the mix through a colander, and discarded the veggies- I know I should have saved them, but…I didn’t.

Anyway, tada- vegetable broth!  🙂

 

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

I realize that you don’t often think of having cranberry sauce at any time other than Thanksgiving, but…I decided to break the tradition, and have some in February!  Actually, I only thought of making it after seeing fresh cranberries at our CSA- I bought them for an apple cranberry crisp, but will probably make that another time now.   And, this was even a suggestion for my 2012 Challenge (thanks, Marjorie!)- one more reason to give it a try!

I saw this recipe from Pinterest, and it really looks fantastic- it’s only five ingredients, all of which I had already:  cranberries, brown sugar, white sugar, OJ, and rum.

Here goes- add everything into a saucepan, and cook on med-high for 15-20 minutes:

I used 16 oz, rather than 12 as in the recipe, so I just added in a bit more of each ingredient to balance it out.

Here we go!

(Wow, this smells so good as it’s cooking!)

Nearly done- I started squashing the still whole berries to mash them in

This was really easy, and wow, after the first taste, it was also totally worth it!  What a great recipe!  I’m planning to use this tomorrow night w/a roast chicken- can’t wait!  Yum, how good does this look??

Tada!

I may even give up that canned gel cranberry sauce altogether after this…maybe. 🙂

 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Even though I cooked a lot yesterday, none of the cooking was terribly exciting or adventurous- I mean, I made cupcakes from a box.

However, we did make pizza last night, w/a cute “Valentine’s” twist:

(Finally!  A good use for those annoying knives w/the curved blades, like the blue one in the linked picture- the little pointy end worked perfectly for this project!)

The kids thought it was cute, and even E asked me if I had taken a picture of the pizza before we cut into it bc he liked it so much!  Who knew heart-shaped pepperoni could be so fun?

Hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day! 🙂

 

Something Silly in the Works…

…for tomorrow!  It’s something I discovered a few days ago, and it’s not left my head- clearly, I need to make this.  It’s a dessert, and I have no real reason to make a dessert, but still- I need to make this.  And, I think when you see it, you’ll understand- couldn’t be cuter and more tempting!

Anyway, totally off-topic, but I just noticed that today, the blog counter hit 7,000 views!  Perhaps this is the reason for a dessert- that’s definitely something to celebrate! 🙂

Thanks for reading!

 

Last-Minute Salmon and Roasted Sprouts

Wait, let me guess- that superweird title drew you in? 😉

I found a salmon recipe the other night in my Real Simple magazine (where else, honestly?), and was all set to make it tonight when I realized…it called for real maple syrup, and we had it- but, apparently someone must have used it all.  Oh well.  The recipe was for a maple-glazed salmon, so I went online for new salmon recipes, and chose this one from Epicurious.com, bc it’s a sweet-ish one that seemed similar to the maple syrup recipe- it uses brown sugar.

But first, the roasted Brussels sprouts w/red onion:  this was in the Real Simple recipe, and was the most easy thing to make.  And, it looked gorgeous, and tasted great- definitely planning to save this side!

Cut up one red onion into big chunks and toss w/about a pound of halved Brussels sprouts in 2 T olive oil.  Season w/salt and pepper, and add to a baking sheet- roast for 15-20 minutes, turning once:

How pretty is this?

Still looks great after roasting!

When this was in the oven, I started on the salmon.  First, mix the marinade (white wine, butter, Old Bay) and pour it over the salmon; then bake it for about 15 minutes:

Anything's better w/loads of butter!

Then, add the mustard/brown sugar glaze, and bake for another few minutes:

Gotta tell you, I was totally scared at this point! My poor salmon!

The result- surprisingly delicious salmon!  I was pretty skeptical about pouring mustard and brown sugar on yummy-looking salmon, but did it anyway, and wow- this was sooooo good!  After the first bite, E was raving about how good this was- and, he rarely goes on about salmon!  Last-minute salmon recipe=huge success!

Omgoodness, you need to make this!

I can’t even tell you how good this meal was- HIGHLY recommended! 🙂

 

Popcorn…on the Cob!

We bought these cobs when we bought our pumpkins (just about at Halloween), and we told to keep them for at least a month, bc you want them to dry out completely.  I know that I kept them too long, but just wanted to make sure- and also, I was kinda scared.  I didn’t wanna ruin them!

Anyway, tonight, after a seemingly rash move, I just tossed ’em into a paper bag, and threw them into the microwave- I was tired of waiting (especially now that it’s past TWO months!), and just wanted to see if this would actually pop on the cob.  PS- it totally did! 🙂

Into the microwave for 1 minute, 20:

Still stuck to the cob- omgoodness, so fun!

Amazing!  If you ever see these corn cobs in the fall, you should totally buy them- so fun!  The kids were really excited! 🙂  It actually tasted great- I don’t know why I felt like it wouldn’t, but wow- yum!

 

Digging Ourselves Out…

While the previous week’s vacation had been a fantastic time w/family, there is now a lot of work leftover from Christmas still floating around over here- not to mention all the chaos and disorder that comes from five people traveling for a week.  Yikes, the wash, the clutter, the general disorganization of it all has me hesitant to start a new food project just yet.  Even though I’m dying to- honestly, I’m so excited to get started on a few things that I’ve been thinking about over the last week that I’d rather just chuck the house-cleaning and wash, and head straight for the kitchen.  But, I can’t even find my kitchen at the moment, it’s so full of Christmas and luggage! 😉

So, w/that said, I will be back as soon as I can dig myself out of the holidays and traveling.  I can’t wait to share all the weird/fun/useful projects here, and…hope you’ll enjoy them!