Ah, what the heck!

Wanna hear a funny story?  Well, okay, it's not really a story, and it's not all that funny... but today I started packing up the kitchen, and was getting SO frustrated!  Where does all of this stuff come from, anyway?  I have three different kinds of flour?  I even found a stick o' lard.  Seriously, lard.  So I called my sister, and she assured me that this wasn't unusual (she is a fellow frequent-mover), that the kitchen is always the most difficult room to pack.

But the best part?

Our new place doesn't actually have a kitchen.

I've dramatically named this the "dedicated cooking area".

Yeah.  I'm going to spend at least 2-3 days packing up a room with nowhere really to put the things once I get them to the new space.  I find that moderately funny, anyway.

We've got kitchen-esque plans, of course.  Shelves, Mason jars full of dry goods, a fancy-schmancy new mini fridge (with an adorable little freezer).  But seriously, I might have to really start cutting down on my kitchen supplies, because this is starting to look a wee bit crazy.

Snow, snow, snow, and soup.

Usually when it snows, I start roasting a squash.  It's my thing.

But last Tuesday, I had run out of squash.  So I made soup instead.

I made it in a cast iron pot, just to be fancy.

Vegetable soup with rosemary dumplings -- divine!

CSA Haul

My CSA from Newleaf Natural Grocery is delivered every other Saturday, and it feels like Xmas morning for grown-ups around here!  I get so excited to see what luscious surprises await me inside that cardboard box.

Of course, there's nothing more beautiful than a carrot.  It's not my favorite vegetable to eat, but it's certainly one of my favorite vegetables to look at.

4 carrots

Also in the box, veggies:

2 leeks

1/3 cabbage

5 celery

3 potatoes

There was also a gorgeous head of lettuce, but I had washed and stored it before it occurred to me to take it's portrait.  :) 

and, fruit:

2 pears

2 oranges

2 kiwi

2 bananas

Seriously, show me one natural/organic store where I could buy all of this for $15, and then have it delivered to my door for only another $5.  This is the big time, folks, and if you live in Chicago, you really need to get in contact with these folks!

Newleaf Natural Grocery

Cupcake & Frosting Recipe

Okay, as promised, the recipes for the cupcakes (and frosting) I made yesterday.  You're gonna love them!

Tried & True Vanilla Cupcakes

1 1/4 cake flour

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325-degrees.  Line muffin tin.  In a big mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Then add one stick of butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, mixing until you've got small pearls.  In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients: eggs, milk, vanilla.  With the mixer on medium (or, if your like me, with a wooden spoon), add wet ingredients slowly, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.  Mix as little as you can, just until everything's incorporated.  Divide batter evenly into muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes.  Makes 12 cupcakes.

Variations: Add a dash of any extract you can think of: lemon, lavender, they're all good.  White chocolate chips never hurt anybody.  Try adding two bags of dry Earl Grey tea for a really elegant little cake.

Dream Buttercream Frosting

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter

In a large metal mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Place a mixing bowl over a saucepan simmering with one inch of water and begin to whisk.  Whisk until the egg mixture is the texture of a velvety custard, technically 160-degrees if you have a thermometer.  Remove from heat, and beat for five minutes, or until eggs are light and fluffy and cooled to room temperature.  Then, add butter a tablespoon at a time, waiting for each pice to incorporate before adding the next.

The secret here is to just keep whisking.  If your frosting isn't setting up, try popping the whole bowl into the freezer for five minutes, and then beat some more.  When it happens, the frosting will come together all at once: satiny and beyond delicious.  Frosts 12 cupcakes.  (In my experience, it could have frosted probably 24 cupcakes.  I'll use the leftover for a cake.)

Variations: Here, as with all vanilla frostings, the sky's the limit.  Cocoa powder, maple, molasses, lemon and orange extract, rose and lavender -- the choices are endless.  But the beauty of this frosting is the delicacy of the vanilla flavor.

If you do decide to make the cupcakes, let me know how yours turned out!  Especially if you do any of the variations... the Earl Grey sounds particularly intriguing.

Cupcake Heaven

My sweet little recipe boxes from Fab.com arrived today -- Small Bites, and Cupcakes.  I was eager to dive right in, but a little nervous, because baking just isn't my thing.  Ask my boyfriend how those "ready to bake" cookies turned out the other day... ugh.  But I was determined, absolutely set on making my cupcakes and frosting from scratch.  Birds & blokes, I was not disappointed.

I sprinkled a little bit of orange ginger sugar on the "taste testers" -- heavenly, just perfect and delicious and fantastic and incredible.

I won't kid you, these were not easy to prepare.  I've never made cupcakes from scratch, but aside from accidentally using 4 eggs instead of the called-for 2, I did alright.  But the frosting?  That is a true exercise in patience. And, arm strength.  But it paid me back ten-fold in the end, with the most delicious cupcakes in the world.  I'll post the recipe soon, but until then, drool in envy at the sight of my gorgeous creation.

So, that kitchen...

Remember my complaints about my ugly kitchen?  Well, I made an attempt at changing it by painting a chalkboard paint (yes, black!) "backsplash".  I kind of like it, although it is dark... I think some lights under the cabinets would really help.

Oh, and that little cart (I picked it up at Target for $40) really helps!  Now I have some more storage, and additional counter space!

It's coming together, slowly but surely...

What I'm Eating... Deviled Eggs w/ Horseradish

Wow... I just ate like six of these things...  Seriously, best deviled eggs, ever.

Decorate, Eat & Repeat

It's your basic deviled eggs recipe (six eggs, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, paprika, salt & black pepper), but with a tablespoon of creamy horseradish mixed in.  If you don't like horseradish, of course, this isn't for you, but lately I'm obsessed with the stuff.

Have I ever mentioned my chicken "thing"?  Well... I have a "thing" for chickens.  I had them as pets (and egg-providers, and occasionally roast-providers) when I was growing up in Nelson Co., and because I can't keep them in my apartment (although I can keep them in the city if I have a yard!), I just collect anything with chickens on it.

Yesterday, a box arrived from my Momma, and this lovely dish was inside.

Decorate, Eat & Repeat

It was one of my favorite things when I was a kid, and I love it even more, now.  So... thanks, Momma!  It's being put to good use!

You can't tell with the eggs in there, but its set up with little egg-shaped spots for just that purpose, holding deviled eggs.  I'm not 100% sure what the middle is for... napkins?  Dip for crackers?  I don't know... but it makes me want to have a Tupperware party.

What I want... a bigger kitchen!!

The little kitchen that could...

See a little more of my teeny-tiny kitchen HERE, at Decorate, Eat & Repeat

Does anyone out there have suggestions for making this tiny little space even just a little bit more functional?  Is there something that I haven't thought of yet?  Any and all suggestions are appreciate!