A few years ago my husband turned 40. To celebrate, I brought him along to a conference I was attending in San Francisco. (I know, I know, that doesn't sound very romantic but it was, and hey! Two birds, one stone.) We had never gone away together on a trip like that without the kids.
Wow!
We love each other. Of course we love each other, we've been married for 19 years. But on that trip we remembered we liked each other. He's pretty darn good company when the kids aren't around! We drove all over Muir Woods National Monument, gazed out for miles across the Pacific Ocean, drove back and forth over the bridge, and ate at all sorts of amazing places. While we liked the s'mores pie at the Buckeye Roadhouse and the chocolate at Ghirardelli Square and the seafood at Scoma's, the thing we loved the most was the famous Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe on Fisherman's Warf. A-mazing.
While neither of us can sneak away to San Francisco right now, and I can't recreate the atmosphere of sharing this coffee on a cold rainy night on the Bay, I can settle for the next best thing (haha) and make Irish coffee on a cool evening in Iowa.
The best coffee at my house comes from my moka pot. While it isn't an espresso maker, it's pretty darn close and it cost WAY less. It's also easier to use and clean up. Just fill the base with water:
Insert the metal filter and add espresso grounds
And screw on the top.
In about eight minutes you've got almost-espresso. If you don't have a moka pot, just make a strong pot of coffee. While it's brewing, add a teaspoon of sugar to your coffee mug.
I have two glass coffee mugs like this one. They're just like the mugs used at the Buena Vista Cafe. I found them at Crate and Barrel, in case you want some too. When it's done brewing, pour the hot coffee on top of the sugar, about 3/4 full.
Top the coffee with a jigger of Irish whiskey. Did you know a jigger is the same thing as a shot? And for those of us who just want a specific amount, that's 1.5 ounces. So now you know. A jigger of whiskey is 1.5 ounces.
I'm sure there are all sorts of Irish whiskeys, but when I make Irish coffee I buy Jameson. It's ridiculously expensive and I have to stand in the alcohol aisle and debate for five minutes on how much I really want Irish coffee before I decide. I'm sure I look like an alcoholic fixating while I make up my mind. I used this blog as the deciding factor for this bottle because I really wanted to share with you. My husband thanks you.
Warm up some heavy whipping cream (about a minute in the microwave) and whip it until it's thick but not at all like whipped topping. I use this milk frother, which is the best thing since sliced bread. I use the moka pot and frother every morning when I make my latte. In case you were wondering.
Here's the only tricky part about making Irish coffee. You want the whipped heavy cream to float on top of the coffee. I'm not perfect at this yet, but practice makes perfect, right? And we don't mind drinking our mistakes around here. This glass turned out pretty well, though I've got a way to go before I reach Buena Vista standards.
The trick is to pour the hot whipped heavy cream over a spoon so it doesn't pour directly down into the coffee.
I should have stopped here, but I poured a little too fast and this happened.
The cream started to mix a little with the coffee. But it all worked out.
Our Irish coffee was layered and lovey. Cream. Creamy whiskey. Sweetened coffee.
While the ocean wasn't a block away, and our four kids were swarming and chattering and busy, for a moment we could remember that time together in San Francisco.
That time when we remembered we still liked each other. You know what I mean.
Slainte!
Irish Coffee
Hot strong coffee
1 tsp sugar per mug
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream per mug
1.5 ounces Jameson Irish Whiskey per mug
Prepare coffee. As the coffee is brewing add a teaspoon of sugar to each mug and heat the heavy cream in a microwave safe container. Briskly whip the heavy cream until it is thick (but not thick like whipped cream or whipped topping). Pour the hot coffee into each mug on top of the sugar. Gently pour a jigger (1.5 oz) of whiskey on top of each coffee. Very gently pour heavy whipping cream on to a spoon above the coffee so that the heavy cream floats on the top of the whiskey. Then enjoy!
Here's a true story. Last year my husband took our two oldest boys on a 'mancation' to hike around in Colorado. The boys called me from the road laughing like lunatics, barely able to contain themselves, talking right over the top of each other to be the first to tell me that their dad had bought them white bread. As if he had just bought them each a 24-pack of Mountain Dew. Liter-size. As if he said "let's skip the Rockies" and let them spend a day at mini golf with bumper cars and an arcade with an unlimited pile of quarters. As if they had just broken every rule about using a fork and napkin and saying 'excuse me.' My kids are crazy like that. Total rebels.
But it's true, I'm a little freakish about bread. I never buy white bread. Ever.
Ev-er.
Far better than buying the whole-wheat-no-high-fructose-corn-syrup-no-artificial-colors-no-artificial-flavors-no-dye-no-nothing-bad bread is just making my own. There is something so homey and so nurturing about making it. And I can't imagine my kids fighting over the last piece of white bread like they fight over the last pieces of a warm loaf fresh from the oven. They know good stuff when they have it.
It's true, making bread takes time. It doesn't stay fresh as long. Something about the total lack of preservatives, I guess. Just some yeast, some flour, some water, and a little bit of salt and oil.
And of course, time for it to rise.
Roll it out, roll it up, and brush it with a simple egg white wash for color.
And walla. A gorgeous loaf of French bread--sans WalMart. Sans crap you can't pronounce.
It slices like a dream, and it's super good plain, with jam, honey, or slathered in garlic butter.
Here's the end of that same story. A few days later, on their weary journey home, whey they were tuckered out from fresh air and hiking and processed meat and white bread, they called me from the road and said "Mom, I really miss your cooking."
Take that, Wonder Bread.
French Bread
Slightly adapted from this recipe from Allrecipes
1 pkg (2.25 tsp) yeast
1 cup very warm water
3 cups bread flour
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp sugar
3 tsp. canola oil
1 T corn meal
1 egg white, slightly beaten
Pour warm water into a glass bowl and sprinkle with sugar and yeast. Whisk, then allow the yeast to proof for about ten minutes. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour and salt. When yeast has risen, whisk in the oil and pour into flour. Beat on low speed until dough has formed. If you have a food processor, use the dough hook and allow the machine to knead the bread for about 8 minutes. If you don't have a food processor, roll up your sleeves and go at it for the same amount of time. Lightly grease (with butter or canola oil) a large glass bowl. Form the dough into a ball, place the ball into the bowl, and roll once so all sides of the dough are slightly covered. Cover and allow to rise in a warm dry location until doubled in size, about an hour and a half. On a lightly floured surface, press or roll dough into a 9 x 12 shape. Roll the dough so it forms a 12 inch long log. Slice three slits into the top. Sprinkle the cornmeal onto a baking sheet and move the dough onto the cornmeal to prevent it from sticking to the pan. Brush the dough with the egg white mixture. Spray a length of saran wrap with nonstick cooking spray, and gently drape the saran wrap--sprayed side down--onto the top of the loaf to prevent it from drying out. Allow the loaf to rise a half hour. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the bread for 30 - 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool until warm to the touch, then slice and enjoy!
If you've had young children any time in the last decade or so, you might have the same issue with this side dish that we do. I can't utter the words "fruit salad" without someone chiming in with the Wiggles rendition....singing "yummy yummy." Unfortunately, because a fruit salad is actually made with fruit, they'll sing "yummy yummy" but they won't say it. My big boys won't touch the stuff.
More for me.
I love to make this fruit salad when we get together with friends because gatherings tend to have carb-heavy fare--meat on a bun, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, dips, cookies, brownies and other good stuff. It's like bringing a dessert (which I also like to do) that you can't feel guilty about eating. There's little in it that isn't healthy.
Chopped apples
chopped walnuts
diced peaches
strawberries
grapes
and Craisins....they add a great texture.
Usually with a fruit salad, the healthy fruit part gets cancelled out by everything that gets globbed on top of it--bad stuff like dressing and candy pieces and whipped topping. Not so with this. I use nonfat Greek yogurt with honey and vanilla to sweeten it up. Check this out.
My aunt and uncle have bees. A-mazing stuff.
It only looks bad for you!
I could eat this for every meal. It's a fact that after I make this fruit salad, I do eat it for every meal until it's gone. And then I want some more.
You know who else could eat this for every meal?
The chickens. When they see this little basket, they come running. Which is pretty funny until they get close. And then it's terrifying. That's why I send my children out with it. I don't like chickens. You know what else I don't like?
That's right. Turkeys. They're big and really ugly. I'm warning my family that these birds won't last long on our farm. Thanksgiving is just two months away. You know what I say about that?
"Roast turkey. Yummy, yummy...."
I like to torment them sometimes.
Fruit Salad
Dressing borrowed from this Ina Garten recipe
3 Apples, peeled and diced
2 pints of strawberries, diced
3 peaches, peeled and diced
Grapes, cut in half
1/2 cup Craisins
1 small package of diced walnuts (about a half cup)
2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt
2 T. honey
1 tsp vanilla
Amount and types of fruits are entirely optional--use what you like. Wash and prepare fruit as noted above, adding it to a very large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk yogurt, honey and vanilla until smooth and well blended. Add to the fruit and mix well. It is best to serve this within a few hours of when it is prepared. Though it tastes good the next day or two after it's made, it tends to get a bit watery and doesn't look as appealing!
Have you ever heard of fusion cooking? It's where you blend one cooking style with another, like Asian-Indian, or Korean-French. This taco salad is total fusion cooking. It's Midwestern Mexican.
Over Labor Day weekend we went to my brother's house in North Dakota, where my precious teeny tiny niece was baptized. (She's an angel). My sister-in-law's family all came from Minnesota and graciously brought heaps of good food. One of those dishes was a taco salad that everyone raved about. Including me.
So why Midwestern Mexican? Because it has salad dressing in it, and crunched up chips. Two hallmarks of a good Midwestern dish. It's classic casserole meets south-of-the-border.
It's also dang easy. Some chopped up lettuce...
Browned ground beef with taco seasoning.
Diced red onions.
Some corn.
And black beans.
Shredded cheddar jack. Of course.
And black olives if you like them.
At this point you add Western dressing. I'm sure that is what made the taco salad I tried at my brother's house so good. But this is the deal. I read the nutrition information on the label and totally chickened out. I couldn't just dump a small bottle of it in. It's naughty stuff. So instead I used about a half cup of Western dressing and a cup and a half of taco sauce. If you don't care about things like fat and calories, then by all means increase the amount of Western dressing and decrease the amount of taco sauce. You do what's right for you. It's going to taste better if you use more Western. It's going to be healthier if you don't.
And here's the silly part. After all that concern about nutrition, add 3 to 4 cups of broken up taco-flavored Doritos and mix again.
It's a total family pleaser, and easy enough to throw together on a school night after you get home late and the kids are starving.
It's muy bueno, amigos.
Yep, you betcha, it is.
Midwestern Taco Salad
Adapted from a verbal recipe shared by my sister-in-law's mom Sandy
1.5 lbs ground beef
packet taco seasoning
lettuce, shredded
1 red onion, diced
2 cups shredded cheddar jack
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 can sliced olives
1 small bottle of Western salad dressing--use to taste
1 small bottle of taco sauce--use to taste
3-4 cups crushed Doritos
Brown the ground beef, then add taco seasoning and stir until well combined. Meanwhile, chop one head of lettuce and place in a large bowl. Top with ground beef, onion, corn, beans, olives and cheese. In a separate bowl combine dressing and taco seasoning--you decide how much of each to use. I used between 2 and 2.5 cups of combined sauce, about half cup of dressing and the rest taco sauce. It may taste better if you use just one small bottle of dressing and no taco sauce, but more taco sauce and less dressing will be more healthy. Up to you. Add the sauce to the large bowl on top of the other ingredients and mix well. Then add crushed chips and stir until the chips are mixed in. Serve immediately or the chips will get soggy. Enjoy some Midwest-tex-mex!
