Author Archives: Julia

Oatmeal Pancakes

Posted in breakfast, family, food, holidays, relationships by

OK, I’ll just put it out there. I’ve had a  hard month, the culmination of which, after three years of couples cooking, has me cooking for just one. There’s no hate, no anger, just a lot of sadness, and hopefully a friendship again in the future somewhere. Thank goodness I have amazing friends and family both here in Indianapolis and over the phone. I also have these sweet girls.

And Matt Nathanson, whose music has an uncanny ability to fit the lovey-dovey beginning of relationships and the heartbreaking end of them, too. And then there’s food. Saturday afternoon I stood over a mixing bowl, beating together butter and brown sugar for cookies, crying, and I literally muttered through those tears, “At least no matter how little sense everything else makes right now, butter and sugar will always make something delicious and magical.” It’s nice to know that I can combine ingredients in a certain way and know that they’ll be tasty. It is not nice to know that every time my cat visits the litter box, she’ll emerge stinking and desperately wanting to cuddle. These things are certainties.

OK, so enough about me and my wah wah wah life. THIS WEEK IS THANKSGIVING WEEK! I love this holiday. It’s the Pie Holiday. It’s the Food Holiday. It’s the Hang Out with Family and Just Eat and Be Happy Holiday. I’m sure you’re all planning menus, grocery shopping, and getting ready to start cooking up a storm. I’m going to try to document all the wonderful things my family and I cook and eat. I am not going to give you the few sweets recipes I have in my queue right now. Instead I give you: breakfast. Because you will need a good breakfast to prepare you for a day of cooking and family time.

Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day. I love brunching with my lady friends. I love, love eggs with runny yolks that ooze in a buttery fashion all over toast and potatoes and greens. And I love fluffy, sweet pancakes and waffles. My dad makes the best waffles, but alas I have no waffle maker. My mom always made the best pancakes growing up, these quick and tasty ones from Betty Crocker I believe. I have sweet memories of standing on a chair by the counter, helping to mix ingredients for waffles or pancakes on weekend mornings.

So these pancakes are not the ones my mom made for us growing up. They’re full of oatmeal goodness that fills you up properly. I’ve been making them since the summer, when I topped them with strawberries, powdered sugar, and syrup, and I have no idea why it’s taken me so long to share them with you. Seriously, these are the best pancakes ever. I’ve been mixing cut up apples into them lately and smothering them in honey. Or mixing in some pumpkin puree.

So, OK, you should make these during your holiday weekend. In your robe. Lazily. With a cup of coffee.

Continue reading →

Chai Snickerdoodles

Posted in baked, food, North Carolina by

This recipe comes to you a bit out of order on my recipe list. In fact, I just made them this past weekend. But they’re so good that I cannot wait.

When I lived in Raleigh, I worked at a coffee shop called The Morning Times. Still probably the best coffee shop I’ve ever been in. Best Americanos I’ve ever had. We also made our own chai tea. It was a mixture of tea and spices, the one which I remember the most being ginger. I spent lots of time peeling and grating ginger for that tea, but it gave the end result such a nice bite.

These cookies are basically sugar cookies filled with all the spices that make chai tea so warm and autumn-y and delicious. They’d probably be really awesome with a cup of tea. They’d also be perfect for a holiday party. Not hard to make at all. I promise. And so festive and flavorful.

Continue reading →

Thankful # I’m not sure

Posted in family, friends, thankfuls by

Haven’t done a thankful in awhile. But I have a lot to be thankful for right now. Namely my amazing friends and family. I would be lost without you guys. Seriously. Thank you for being there for me when I need you the most!

Everyone should take a second to think about the amazing support systems they have. I hope you guys all have amazing support systems. I think we tend to take them for granted when things are good. Anyway, I’m incredibly lucky.

Greens & You: Garlicky Kale Salad and Arugula Pesto

Posted in dinner, food, lunch, vegetarian by

Gone are the days of tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, peaches, and peppers. Welcome to the greens and squash days. Yep, we are creeping towards winter produce time. It’s evident in the choices in my GreenBEAN (that’s Farm Fresh’s new name), in the tables overflowing with leafy greens, golden squash, and red apples at the Indy Winter Farmer’s Market. For awhile I was afraid of the greens. I mean how much can you do with chard, spinach, arugula, and kale anyway? And don’t they all just taste the same? Turns out you can do a whole lot with these vegetables and they all taste a bit different.Plus, they’re really good for you. They help your body naturally detox and have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits.

So today I have two recipes for you that’ll help you use up the kale and arugula that may be overflowing from your CSA bin. Both have made successful appearances at ladies night potlucks (the kale salad multiple times actually).

The first is a raw kale salad with garlicky dressing. I like kale because it has a little more flavor than, say, spinach, but it’s not overwhelming. Kind of a nice nuttiness.

The second is arugula pesto. Arugula has a very peppery and more bitter flavor. I can only handle it in smaller doses when it’s all raw and on it’s own (i.e. on sandwiches, where it’s very yummy), so this pesto is a nice way to use a lot of it. Plus, it gives your pesto a good kick that basil doesn’t.

Continue reading →

Ginger Chocolate Cookies

Posted in baked, cookies, money, the blues by

These past few weeks I’ve been too exhausted to cook or even really bake much. I’ve been eating out with my parents, eating over at my parents’ house, eating with my girlfriends, and sometimes throwing something together at home. I’m sure you know the feeling. Work is overwhelming, your personal life is a roller coaster, and standing in the kitchen becomes a chore rather than a joy. No one ever told me that being a beginning grown-up was so hard and tiring! Your college diploma should come with a big warning label: Hard times ahead. Forget staying up late to party or study. You won’t be able to make it past 10:30pm lots of nights. You think being independent will be cool and will involve having fancy drinks at fancy bars, buying awesome clothes, and decorating your first real apartment? Think again and this time include bills, rent, credit cards, food for your pets, gas money, food for yourself…and then swear that the only time you’ll look at your bank account is when you need a good cry. Oh and balancing your personal and work lives? They overlap. Work seeps into personal time, even if you don’t work long hours. It affects your personal relationships. Just…be prepared.

OK, so enough with the bitching about being a grown-up. The good part is that if you do come home from work one day and are craving cookies like woah, you can make a batch of cookies if you damn well please.

And these ginger chocolate cookies are the ones you should probably make. That’s what I did one Friday about a month ago. (shut up, I know I’m behind on posting!) They’re hella easy and you most likely have everything in your house.

Chocolate and brown sugar make cookies magical

(You may not have molasses, but you should probably buy some and keep your cabinet stocked with it always. It adds amazing depth and flavor to baked goods.) Kind of like chocolate chip cookies with a fantastic kick.

Continue reading →

The Return of Conan

Posted in T.V. by

photo from team coco

Conversations I’ve had on Gchat today are as follows.

Marnie:  CONAN TONIGHT!!!
me:  I KNOW!!!!!!!!! sam and i were lamenting the fact that neither of us have cable.
me: ooooh conan toinght sam!!!!!!
except neither of us has cable haha
Sam: AHHHH!!!!!
me: i’m pretty sure i’m going to watch it online tomorrow morning
Sam: i’m so happy for conan – i listedn to a radio interview he did with ryan seacrest… he’s dreamy even on the radio! (i originally mistyped – typo was “creamy” instead of dreamy…)
me: hahaha. considering his paleness he could be creamy 🙂 i’m so happy for him too. he seems like such a good guy
me:  don’t forget conan tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bitch:  I KNOW!!!!!!!!!! I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONAN IS BACK!!!!!!!

Firstly, “Bitch” is short for “Bitch Please,” which is what I have my friend Bette as in my phone and therefore in my Gmail contacts. Secondly,that we are all excited for Conan to be back on t.v. would be an understatement!! I hope he kicks Jay Leno’s ass at the 11:00pm time slot. TEAM COCO!!

Sh*t My Mother Says

Posted in family by

My brother is in some kind fancy pants club with school. My brother isn’t really the fancy pants type. Last night my brother came to dinner in a brand new suit. His fancy pants club was initiating new members at 8:30. It’s apparently all very formal. Like I said, my brother isn’t really the formal, serious initiation type. He wasn’t thrilled to be leaving dinner early. My brother wanted to describe his fellow club members to my grandfather in order clarify his lack of excitement.

“I don’t know, they’re kind of…,” he said. He looked at his girlfriend for help for a grandfather-appropriate word. “Tools?” he said under his breath to her, my mother, and me.

And then my mother rose to the occasion. In her slight Dutch accent, with a very innocent look on her face, she loudly suggested “DOUCHEBAGS?”

My mother does not cuss. She would not let us say shut up or hate when we were little. Instead we had to opt for strongly dislike. As in I spent my high school years strongly disliking my father. (I’ve since overcome that feeling.)

But, right there in Ambrosia during the Thursday night dinner rush, my mother proclaimed the type of people in my brother’s club to be DOUCHEBAGS. You guys, I wish I had recorded it for you.

And I can now die a happy woman because I’ve heard it all.

Songs of the Week

Posted in concerts, music, song of the week by

Well I have been slacking on the songs of the week. Plus I have two concerts to review. So here is one big happy music post for you!

Guster
I discovered this band when they were the opening band at Barenaked Ladies concert I went to in 2000. I fell in love with Brian and the bongos. These guys and their music have gotten me through a lot and are always there for me. Seeing them live two weeks ago was like seeing old friends. Hearing those familiar songs, the ones I know all the words to by heart and in my sleep, felt like coming home. Does that sound silly or do you have a band like that? So the concert was great. And the past few days I’ve been glad to have Guster in my ways-to-feel-better arsenal. Particularly these two songs from their new album.

I woke up with this song in my head this morning.

Last weekend we saw Band of Horses in concert. I felt kinda like crap that evening and probably didn’t enjoy the show as much as I should have. But this song did touch me for some reason. It’s really kind of a sad, aching song, but gives me shivers anyway. The way their voices blend and weave in and out of each other, and the simple guitar. Beautiful.

Cheesy Enchiladas with Gravy

Posted in concerts, dinner, food, Lola, Mira, work by

Oh I have been slacking again. But here’s the thing. I traveled a lot this past week. Well a lot for me. My job normally requires no travel, but when it comes to this time of year, I hop on lots of planes to deliver prizes for our art contest. Lucky for me this year I didn’t have to travel alone (which I think sucks balls). Jen and I traveled to L.A. and Alyssa and I went to New Jersey/Philly. Much fun. Though I could never do the work travel thing regularly. It’s seriously exhausting. And all the sitting on planes made me super dehydrated. Poor chapped lips.

There were also two more concerts the last two weekends: Guster and Band of Horses. I’m going to post some pictures and go on and on about how much I love Guster later this week. Just so you know and have something to look forward to.

Oh and, AND, big news – Mira and I got a new roommate! I adopted a sweet little kitty on Saturday.Her name is Lola. She’s quite the talker. I think she likes to sing to herself as she runs around the house or plays with her feathers on a stick toy. She and the Mira dog are getting along quite well all things considered. Lola isn’t scared of Mira at all. Mira does not want to eat Lola. On the contrary, she desperately wants to play with her, and cannot understand why Lola sprints away when she chases her down the hall. My only current problem is placement of kitty food. Adam says if we tell Mira no every time she tries to eat it, she’ll learn.

Now, I have a very, very good dinner for you. Cheesey Enchiladas with Gravy filled with whatever your heart desires. I added a variety of vegetables. I think some shredded chicken would be tasty as well. Add some jalapeños, maybe olives if you’re into that, zucchini may even be good! I think what I really like about these is the gravy. I’m not a huge fan of the red enchilada sauce. The gravy in this recipe packs some heat, so be warned and dial down the chile powder and hot sauce if you’d like! Overall, a good weeknight meal. Takes about 30 minutes total time to make. Continue reading →

Iced Pumpkin Bread

Posted in autumn, baked, bread by

This is a story of how I made my own pumpkin puree and how it was awesome and not scary. This is also the story of how I put the puree in things like my morning oatmeal and pumpkin bread.

Here’s a warning – do not get that pumpkin pie filling stuff. Use pumpkin puree for all your pumpkin cooking and baking needs. You can get it canned this time of year (and only this time of year. Why??), or you can make it yourself. I promise you up and down and all around that making your own is not hard to do. You will need a bit of time. I’d suggest making the puree either the day before you plan on actually using it and then storing it in the fridge, or just giving yourself a couple of hours for puree-making + using puree. All this recipe involves is cutting up the pumpkin into quarters, baking it, peeling off the skin, and pureeing it.

So I spotted pie pumpkins in my Farm Fresh…err, nope GREEN Bean Delivery (they changed their name FYI), and decided it was high time I stopped buying cans of pumpkin. Pie pumpkins are smaller than your average pumpkin, but really I think you can make puree out of any kind of pumpkin. They all seem to be the same to me.

Now you have your pumpkin puree plan. What will you do with it? I suggest pumpkin bread. Or oatmeal. Or put a bit in your favorite pancakes. There are tons of recipes out there. I’m going to attempt to try a few more this fall.

I had one thing in mind for my puree: pumpkin bread. One of Adam’s all-time favorite baked goods is pumpkin bread, and a couple of years ago his mom gave me her recipe (this was also the same time she gave me the potato chip cookie recipe. So now I can pretend to be Adam’s mom by baking him pumpkin bread. And that’s not weird at all.

Make this pumpkin bread. It’s spicy (in a cinnamon and nutmeg sort of spicy way) and pumpkin-y, and never dries out. This time I topped it with cinnamon cream cheese icing, but it’s equally delicious plain.

Continue reading →