Broken Oven and Paths

Tonight, I attempted to make a simple dinner of roasted chicken, red skin potatoes, onion, and carrots in my lovely cast iron skillet. I was thwarted by the oven deciding it was not willing to go above 200 degrees. Slow roasting a chicken isn't really what I had in mind. 

We ended up going out for sushi. It was lovely to sit down with my husband and enjoy dinner and just talk. The chicken can go in a crock pot tomorrow, with the vegetables, and cook down into a gorgeous stew. Sushi and meaningful conversation trump roast chicken any day.

I'm having a difficult time deciding on the direction for this blog. I want to write about food. I enjoy cooking. I also want to write about social media, Lansing, and yoga. It's my blog, I'll do what I want!

I'm having a blast going to the various networking events and social meetings around town. I'm loving my new side gig as the "Promotions Manager" of Just B Yoga. Trying to figure out where these paths are leading me...but I'm beginning to realize that I need to roll with everything that is going on and just see where I end up.

Loving it.

Mom's Venison Chili Recipe

"Take about 1 lb. ground venison, brown it, add 4 cans del monte tomatoes with peppers and onions; add as many kidney beans as you like (I use 2 small cans or half a large), 2 T. sugar, 2 T. chili powder and 1-2 t. salt, simmer and it's done . (you can add more chili powder if you like spicier)"

 ~ brought to you by my Mom ~

Beef Stir Fry with Crispy Parsnips

This recipe is a riff off of a traditional Chinese recipe from one of my cookbooks. Felt like a Chinese-ish dinner last night.  This would be a perfect toss it together meal for a week night.

Ingredients

6 oz beef,sliced thin

3 small turnips, julienne

1 large carrot, sliced

2 T diced red pepper

1 bok choi, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

2 T oil

1 T sesame oil

2 T soy sauce

2 t pepper sauce

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 t fresh sliced Ginger

Salt & pepper to taste

Dry fry the parsnips, set aside. Add oil and garlic and Ginger. Then add beef and cook until brown, add water as needed. Add salt, pepper, and pepper sauce. Add in carrots and zucchini. Cook for 15-20 mins. Then add bok choi, sesame oil, and red pepper. Cook until vegetables are soft, about 10-15 mins more. Add parsnips back in. Serve hot over brown rice.

Grandpa's Buttermilk Pancakes

My mother grew up in a large family.  Everything was done on a budget.  Most of the younger kids' clothes were hand-me-downs.  My grandma, as most mothers did back then, cooked almost all of the meals.  The weekends were special.  On some weekends, my grandpa would make his buttermilk pancakes for the whole crew.

This recipe makes everything stretch - the small amount of sugar and fat and eggs - it was the perfect budget recipe for a big family.  I could recall this recipe in my sleep.  

On the weekends in my family, we had grandpa's buttermilk pancakes with wild blueberries from the blueberry bogs in the back end of our property.  I grew up on 50 acres of woodlands in Sanford, Michigan.  It was an absolutely magical childhood and I have so much respect and undying love for the forest.  I'm grateful to have had such an opportunity to enjoy the world around me. 

Anyways...some weekends we had a breakfast of blueberry buttermilk pancakes, and, if we were lucky a few pieces of crispy bacon.  The maple syrup we put on top of the pancakes soaked into every inch of fluffy goodness and made your blood sing with the natural sugar rush.  Yeah, that incredible elixir was made by my dad with help from my sister and I.  My family makes their own maple syrup from the maple trees in our backyard.  

These pancakes are so special to me because they embody my family.  I hope you take the time to try them and make weekend breakfasts for family and friends.  Take time to linger in those moments.

Grandpa's Buttermilk Pancakes (feeds 4 or so)

Ingredients

1 cup and 2 T flour (I use half white, half whole wheat)

1 cup of buttermilk

1 egg

1 teaspoon of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking powder

2 tablespoons of oil or melted butter

Combine the buttermilk and egg, beat well.  Add the sugar and melted butter/oil.  Mix the dry ingredients and then add them to the wet mixture.  Stir gently to combine - just until the lumps are gone.  Do not over stir as that would make the gluten form and make chewy pancakes!  Heat a skillet to medium heat.  

Drop 1-3 tablespoons (just depends on size you want) of batter to create 1 pancake.  If you want to add blueberries or chocolate chips, drop them onto the batter in the pan at this stage (this keeps you from making BLUE pancake batter by stiring them in!).

Pancakes are ready to flip when you see tiny bubbles around the edge of the pancake.  This typically takes 1-3 minutes. Flip one and check for an awesome golden color - is it there?  If so, you're safe to flip the rest, and cook an additional 1-3 minutes on the second side.

Drizzle or drench with maple syrup and then devour.

NYE 2011 - Ad Hoc at Home

As I'm catching up on all of the food blogs I like to read, my husband walks in and says "you're addicted to food."  I guess that is true.  Isn't everyone?  Food is important to our ability to live.  Food is an integral part of every culture.  Food is what brings us together to share our stories.  It is completely fair of him to say that...because while I'm reading the food blogs, I have vegan gluten free banana bars baking in the oven for my yoga community to enjoy later today, and I spent 3 hours cooking last night!  I refuse to see my addiction as a negative.

I love cooking and baking for others.  It's one gift and talent I have cultivated that allows me to show people just how much I care about them.  I enjoy nourishing others through quality food.  Good food nourishes every aspect of a human being.  And, good food, can be made cheaply.

Last night was New Year's Eve and we faced the dilemma of going out to eat or staying in.  My husband has been sick all week so that was one for the "stay in" side of things.  The other objection to going out was the amount of money a good dinner costs.  Did we really need to spend $60-80 on a nice meal for the two of us?  Cooking is fun for me.  Why not just go to the grocery store and buy what I need to make a stellar meal at home?  This is how I ended up at a local grocery store at 3pm on New Year's Eve - note to self: go before NYE in the future...

I found two recipes in my new cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller, and a dessert recipe from Giada's Kitchen - New Italian Favorites.  Both books were recent Christmas gifts so I figured I might as well use them!  My NYE 2011 menu consisted of:

Braised oxtail and mushroom tartine

Sauteed broccoli with garlic and red pepper flakes

Espresso chocolate mousse with grapefruit ricotta whipped cream

YUM!  Off to the grocery store I went to wade amongst my fellow shoppers for the last - literally the very last - loaf of ciabatta bread and package of oxtails.  Who knew oxtails would be a popular item?  Oxtails are actually beef tail.  Mildly creepy but Thomas Keller promised they would be "...simple and it's really, really good (you could probably put it between slices of Wonder Bread and it would still be delicious)."  

I altered each recipe to use what I had available and I also reduced the main dishes to feed 3-4 people instead of 6.  I wanted leftovers, but not that many leftovers!

The first important step of making a complex dish is to read through the recipe in it's entirety.  Failure to do this can result in complete and total failure.  I read through the recipes before I hit the grocery store and I read through them again when I went to prepare everything in order to judge what to prepare first.  Even though I did this...I failed to see why I needed to turn the oven on...luckily ovens heat up quickly and the oxtail was still in the oven by a decent time!  Because the dessert needs to rest in the refrigerator for 3 hours, I started there.  The grocery store did not carry marscapone cheese so I opted for part-skim ricotta.  I had skim milk I needed to use up so I opted for that instead of purchasing whole milk.  I had incredible red grapefruits so I used them instead of the oranges the recipe called for.  The recipe is printed below with my alterations!

Espresso Chocolate Mousse (with Grapefruit Ricotta Cream)

Ingredients

Mousse

1/2 cup of skim milk 

3 T sugar

1 packet of instant coffee powder

1.5 large bars of bittersweet chocolate (buy the good stuff!  It makes all the difference)

3 large egg whites

Grapefruit Ricotta Cream

1/4 cup ricotta cheese (part skim)

2 T freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

1/2 cup of heavy cream

2 T powdered sugar

Directions

In a small saucepan, stir the milk together with the sugar and the coffee powder.  Heat until steam comes off of the mixture but not until it boils.  Place the chocolate bars (broken up) into a bowl or into the bowl of your mixer.  Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and turn the mixer on or use a hand mixer until the chocolate has melted.  Separate 3 egg whites, reserving the yolks for something else another day, and add the whites to the bowl.  Blend with a whisk attachment on high for about 3 minutes.  Set in 4 small ramekins or dishes, in the refrigerator, for 3-4 hours.

For the cream, beat the ricotta with the grapefruit juice and powdered sugar.  Then add the heavy cream.  Use the whisk attachment and beat until you get stiff peaks (about 5 minutes).  Set aside in the refrigerator until serving time!

While the dessert was setting up, I moved on to the oxtails, as they needed to braise in the oven for 2.5 hours.  Recipe below with my many alterations:

Braised Oxtail and Mushroom Tartine

Ingredients

4-5 pieces of oxtail (1 package)

salt and black pepper

canola oil

4 cups of water

2 cups of sliced mushrooms (I used "baby portobella")

2 T finely minced shallots

1 t dried thyme

1 T butter

1/2 loaf of ciabatta bread

olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Season the oxtails with salt and pepper.  Using a cast iron pan, brown the oxtails on all sides in a bit of canola oil.  Place the oxtails on paper towels to drain excess fat.  Add the oxtails back into the pan and fill it with water half way up the oxtails (this was approximately 4 cups of water for me, in a large cast iron pan).  Cover and place in the oven for 2.5 - 3 hours. (note - I checked the water level every hour to ensure there was enough liquid, there was).

Remove the oxtails from the oven and flip them each over to the other side.  Let rest on top of your stove for 30 minutes.  Then, painstakingly pick the meat off of the bones, and toss out all of the fat and cartilage.  I tried using a fork and knife.  It didn't work.  Just get your hands in there, get sticky, and get it done!

Pour the cooking liquid out of the pan into a bowl to reserve.  Wash out the pan.  Add a bit of canola oil and saute the mushrooms until golden on both sides.  Then add the shallots and cook until they are soft.  Add the thyme.  Add the liquid back into the pan.  Add the meat back into the pan.  Cook 5-10 minutes until the liquid has reduced (note - I didn't have much liquid and simply cooked it for 5 minutes to reheat!).

Meanwhile, preheat your oven broiler.  Cut the half loaf of ciabatta in half.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the top and place on a cookie sheet.  Broil until golden brown on the top and edges.  Remove.  Add the cooked meat and mushroom mixture to the top.  Slice into 4 pieces and serve!

So while the meat was finishing up, I cooked the vegetable side dish, and I made sure to pick an easy one because I knew I would have to focus on the meat!  The original recipe called for broccolini but that stuff is $2.99 for a tiny package and one head of broccoli was $1 and I already had some in my refrigerator.

Sauteed Broccoli with Garlic and Red Pepper Flakes

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli, cut into large pieces

1 T olive oil

1 T sliced garlic

pinch of red pepper flakes

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add the broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Plunge the broccoli into cold water (I used my sink, Mr. Keller recommends a bowl).  Dump the water out of the pot, add olive oil, and heat it to medium heat.  Add the sliced garlic and cook 1-2 minutes.  Add the red pepper flakes.  Add the broccoli and cook 3-5 minutes.  Ta da - you're done!

I probably spent about $20 on the entire meal - all three courses - and about 1 hour of actual work.  Some of the items I purchased I didn't use all of (ricotta, shallots, and heavy cream) The rest of the time was waiting on braising and chilling.  Everything was amazing.  I'll post a picture of the dessert when we make up the other two later this evening!

I hope that everyone had a joyous New Year's Eve and is looking forward to an incredible 2011.

Consider Contract Employees in 2011

As a technical recruiter at HRU, Technical Resources, and a cooking/baking obsessed lady in Lansing, Michigan, I wanted to create a blog that reflects all of my passions.  Please check out my first HR related blog entry in this blog!

Recently at ERE, Dr. John Sullivan wrote an extensive article focused on “What’s Wrong with Reference Checking?” that had a side note on the benefits of hiring employees first on a temporary basis.  Dr. Sullivan argues that reference checks are not a solid indicator of current and future performance due to a wide range of variables.  The questions reference checks ask are not always good indicators of performance (job title, dates of employment, personality traits).  Work environments will not be the same from one department to another, much less from one company to another.  Hiring employees on a temporary basis as contractors can provide a more complete view of how an employee will function in your company’s unique environment.  

As we finish out 2010 and begin to enter Q1 of 2011, most companies are winding down for the season.  While the entire company is wrapping things up and shutting down, the corporate HR team is frantically ironing out the last bits of a staffing plan for 2011. 

Not only is choosing to add headcount a concern, but so too is recruiting top talent to the organization.  The economy in Michigan is beginning to pick up – slowly but surely – as we have companies like Chrysler hiring 1,000 additional workers in 2011.  While the unemployment rate across the nation is still high, we are beginning to see organizations add employees.  The market is about to become more competitive.  People are receiving offers from multiple organizations – how will you stay competitive this year, while ensuring that you find the top performing candidates for your company?

One solution to both of these issues; attracting top talent and ensuring that you have hired high performing individuals, is to work with a staffing company to hire contract workers.  Corporate recruiters do not always have the time and resources to dedicate to lengthy sourcing and hunting efforts.  Many companies simply cannot afford to purchase access to resume databases, take time to post to college websites, or develop their networks to find the right person for the job.  You're working on keeping your current employees happy and ensuring all of the other parts of the HR world are kept in balance!  

Working with a staffing firm can help to streamline the very best candidates directly to your try and find and less to review and screen out, as the staffing agency has already done that part for you.

An outstanding technical recruiting team will work with you to really understand the cultural fit at your company, how you would like the interview process to be run, and fully comprehend your time frame and on-boarding process.  You should be able to treat an agency recruiter as your dedicated recruiter/hunter.  If you are not getting this level of service from your current agency, consider exploring your options!

When you have identified a candidate that you would like to bring on board to your company you can do so on a contract basis.  This allows you a unique opportunity to discover whether or not this individual is the perfect person for the job with as little risk to your company as possible.  Hiring someone directly does not allow you this freedom!  With a good staffing agency, this person is still receiving benefits and a good pay wage, it is simply a chance for both of you to test each other out and ensure a good fit.  

Would you propose to marry someone you had never taken out for coffee or to your favorite local restaurant?  Not very likely – hiring contractors is a great way to “date” an employee before you decide to fully invest and offer that “engagement ring” of a direct position.  Staffing companies can provide a wide range of options include six month contract to direct positions, long term contract (with the potential to hire that individual directly at any time), and they can also assist with direct-hire opportunities.

Companies are adding to their headcount, but they are doing so after taking the time to ensure the person is needed.  It is critical that positions are absolutely necessary before a requisition is created.  With all of the time, effort, and money that go into ensuring a person is needed for a job, shouldn’t the same amount of care be taken to ensure the individual is a solid fit and an outstanding performer?  Working with a staffing agency can help you to meet these goals.

What are your staffing expectations for 2011?  How will you ensure that your company finds and retains the very best employees?   

Skinny Monster Cookies

Sometimes, you just get a craving for a simple home baked cookie.  One without fuss and that will please your friends and family that are coming to visit for the weekend.  Monster Cookies fit the bill exactly.  The traditional Monster Cookie recipe calls for peanut butter, no flour, and an insane amount of refined sugar and butter.  I dug around on the blogosphere and through Google trying to find a recipe I could modify.  Although I was willing to buy M&M's and make a delicious American cookie...I was not willing to consume extra calories unnecessarily!

I have tried altering cookie recipes and I have found my limit on what I'm willing to compromise while still keeping the integrity of the cookie intact.  I believe cookies are a treat (it took a lot of experimenting with really bad healthy cookies to realize that...).  Cookies should not contain applesauce...they turn out with a weird texture...they should not contain water...again with the weird texture.  They need enough fat so that they are not big blobs of unappetizing puffy dough!

They don't have to be laden with butter, eggs, and sugar, in fact I really enjoy making vegan cookies, but they must be held to a high cookie standard!  I like my cookies to spread in the oven.  I like them a bit fluffy and a bit chewy.  I have modified a chocolate chip pecan cookie recipe that turns out quite well and the secret ended up being in using milk.  I also like using flaxseed + water to replace an egg or all eggs.  It is a great egg replacer in cookies because it is very hard to taste.  I knew I wanted a delicious authentic cookie, but one that I wouldn't feel guilty eating.  Cookies are an important part of life!

My husband's grandmother and mother used to make a Kitchen Sink/Monster Cookie recipe.  He's a huge fan of the "fresh out of the oven" chocolate chip pecan cookies.  Recipes vary from across the nation.  The undisputed must-have ingredients include M&Ms, peanut butter, and oats.  I jazzed it up a bit, reduced some sugar and fat, utilized what I had on hand...and wallah, instant satisfaction.

Meet the Skinny Monster Cookie!  This recipe is based off of a combination of the recipe from The Pioneer Woman and from Diet Recipes Blog.  It will most assuredly satisfy your chewy, gooey, chocolatey - and yet fiber filled and semi-healthy (I'm fairly certain flax seed and whole wheat flour automatically cancel out butter and sugar), craving!  It will also win you friends and influence people, especially if those people are of the male college student variety, which is precisely the category my weekend visitors fall into.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
(makes about 27 cookies)

1 cup of M&Ms (Sunspire Drops are a great alternative, but too expensive for those who don't care!)
1/2 cup of granulated sugar (I used crystallized cane sugar)
1/2 cup of brown sugar (scant)
1/2 cup of almond butter (peanut butter is more traditional!)
4 T butter, room temperature (let it set for at least 30 mins prior to mixing)
1 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup dried coconut (I use unsweetened)
1 egg
1 T ground flaxseed mixed with 3 T water (let stand 5 mins)
1 t Karo corn syrup (I have a bottle left over from last year's candy making, you could easily use agave syrup instead!)
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3/4 c whole wheat flour (traditional Monster cookies do not have flour, but I think that's just a sugar overload waiting to happen).

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Cream the butter and sugars.  Add in the egg and flaxseed/water mixture.  Add in the almond butter, oats, corn syrup, M&Ms, coconut, baking soda, and salt.  Combine using a low speed mixer or some heavy duty spoon work!  Mix in the flour.  Drop by tablespoonful onto a baking sheet - leave about 1/2" between cookies to allow for spread.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Take the sheet out of the oven and let it sit for 2-5 minutes before you remove the cookies to your drying rack!  If you try to remove them immediately, they will crumble.  This is important with a lot of soft and chewy cookie varieties.  Bake all of the batter until finished.  Be sure to lick the spoon and perhaps the bowl.  After all, it is almond butter and oats...it must be good for you with all that fiber and beneficial protein and omega-3's!