Kivrin

Sangria for Cinco de Mayo (observed)

big bottle of Turning Leaf merlot (or other dry-ish red wine in the $15-for-1.5-liter range)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup second-shelf-from-the-bottom brandy (E&J would do nicely, or Christian Brothers)
1 lemon, well washed and sliced as thin as is practical
1 orange, ditto
2 apples, diced.


Put the orange and lemon slices in a big bowl (ideally metal or pyrex, as porous substances might get stained.) Muddle them gently with the bottom of a ladle, the back of a spoon, or a potato masher or actual muddling tool. Add the sugar, stir, and muddle more. Add the brandy, stir, muddle a bit more, and let sit whilst you (just frinstance) do several days' worth of dinner dishes. Pour in wine, stir, let sit (ideally but not necessarily in the fridge) whilst you do some more dishes. Taste. Adjust sweetness and tartness by adding more sugar or some lemon juice.

Rosemary Loaf Cake from How To Be A Domestic Goddess


1 cup plus 2 tbsp soft unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 and 1/3 cups self-rising cake flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp milk
1-2 tsp granulated brown or white sugar
2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (needles from a 4-inch stalk will probably do it.)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream the butter. When it's soft, add the sugar and cream together until pale, smooth, and light. One at a time, beat in the eggs, folding in a spoonful of flour after each of the first two. After beating in the last egg, add the vanilla and fold in the rest of the flour. Thin the batter with the milk and pour it into a 9x5 loaf pan, or what you will - I usually use a wider, shallower pan. Sprinkle the top with a little sugar, and bake for an hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack. If you won't be eating it immediately, unmold it and wrap it in foil (or put it in a cake saver or some such.) It keeps well, but that may not be something you need to worry about because it's so very tasty. The savory-ness of the rosemary makes it even more tempting than usual to have some as a snack.

Sweet Potato Quesadillas to serve four hungry folks, adapted by breadandroses from a recipe in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

6 whole-wheat tortillas
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese (or monterey jack), grated
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
4 small to medium sweet potatoes
2-5 leaves of chard or other leafy green, washed and shredded
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced or pressed (or to taste - we used, uh, a lot)
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil (Trader Joe's frozen works well)
1 tsp cumin
dash of cinnamon
chipotle chile powder (or cayenne) to taste
fresh cilantro to taste
olive oil for saute.

Preheat oven to 400.

Bake sweet potatoes until soft. (leave the oven on) Peel and cut into chunks.

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil with cumin until onion is transluscent. Add sweet potatoes, basil, and oregano, and mash/cook. Add the black beans, cook until hot. Add chile powder and cilantro. Taste. Add salt if it needs it. Add a little water if it gets too sticky. Put the heat on very low underneath this to keep it warm while you prep the tortillas.

Oil a large baking sheet, spread tortillas on it to lightly oil one side, then spread filling, chard, and cheese on half of each. Fold closed (oiled side out). Bake until browned and crisp, about 15 minutes. Cut into wedges for serving.

Accompany with your favorite lager, or iced tea, and episodic television.

Last week I made couscous to eat with a jar of Trader Joe's Morrocan squash soup. I bobbled the proportions, and ended up with an enormous vat of couscous which has been brooding at me ever since from the second shelf of the fridge. Tonight, I remembered this post about a good way to use leftover spaghetti, and realized the same technique would probably be good with couscous. And it is. I wish I'd made twice as much.

Here is the recipe.

( Leftover Couscous Egg Thing )

My scones look terrific. I really want to eat one but the receipe only makes eight so I should restrain myself so as to have a decent number to share tomorrow.

There is the tiny problem that I forgot to put in the orange-flavored dried cranberries that I walked all the way to Trader Joe's to buy especially for this scone-making project, and I also forgot to put in the chocolate chips. But the fact remains that my scones look like scones, not lumps, which they looked like the last two times I tried making scones.

I used the receipe here, which is pretty straightforward. The glaze bugs me a bit, because even just one egg makes far more glaze than is necessary, and the extra just goes to waste. Maybe next time I'll add some milk and sugar to the leftover egg-and-cream glaze and see if I can bake it into a very small custard.

I think I'll be making this tonight:

( Butternut Squash Soup with Sage and Parmesan )

I'll need to skip the pureeing part, and get some prefab vegetable broth on the way home... and, hm, possibly an onion too. The receipe comes from here, which despite all the low-carb craziness, seems to have some very tasty-sounding dishes. Cilantro-lime soup, for example. oooooooh....

(I'll probably be lazy and will make myself some spaghetti with sauce from a jar and frozen spinach. But one night soon - butternut squash, oh yes.)

I've been charged to contribute a jello salad to the Easter dinner I'm attending. Anyone have a recipe that's either not too horrifying or horrifying in an amusing/tasty way?