"Coulda, Woulda, Shouda"

This past Friday my dad and I met up with our friends, Anita and Howard for Jasmine Thai. This is one of my favorite restaurants in Indianapolis, the food is amazing and the atmosphere is so very cool. We started out with Thai iced coffee and Thai iced tea (orange), I am not a coffee drinker, I prefer tea, but this coffee is not bitter, but sweet and cool and delicious. We skipped appetizers and ordered so much food. We all had our favorites and Dad and I had been planning what to eat all day. 

Dinner started with one of my new favorites Tom Tom Yum soup with lemongrass, straw mushrooms, and shrimp. Then came Pad Thai, a stir fried noodle dish with tofu, peanuts, chicken and bean sprouts and Masaman Curry, a brown curry with potatoes, beef, carrots and pineapple.  It is a mildly spicy dish and you can request each dish as spicy as you wish.

We also ate a Thai omelet with peas, ground meat, carrots all tucked into the omelet with a red sauce.  This is my dad's favorite. It is a such a great flavor, so unique and so delicious,  all in an omelet. Anita also had really good papaya salad with Green and orange papaya with tomatoes and carrots and nuts with lime.  It was so fresh and similar to a sweet coleslaw. 

Dessert was the perfect end to a great meal. I have only had dessert at Jasmine Thai once but it has always been great. We all shared sweet coconut sticky rice with mango and sesame seeds. We also ate fried bananas in phylo dough with ice cream and toasted coconut.

Dinner was so good and we still had a show to go to, Patti LuPone in "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda" at Clows Memorial Hall in Indianapolis.  Ok, I am sorry to admit, I didn't know who Patti LuPone was before seeing her in concert.  I really was surprised to see and recognize her from Will and Grace, Ugly Betty and other TV shows I have watched.  The Will and Grace episode is "Bully Wolly", where Jack is trying to get Patti LuPone's hair sample for his  growing collection of famous women's hair.  The concert was wonderful and I am so glad we went. We al enjoyed the concert and everyones favorite song was Medowlark from The Bakers Wife.

Anita, Howard, and Dad before the concert. We all had a great time. The concert was the hit of the evening, after dinner. Patti LuPone's music is available at ITunes.

New Mac Contest

My new IMac has arrived and have been busy playing with all the new features and all of the cool things that come with having an updated computer.

  I  recently killed my old Mac book in the last 2 months or so, by cracking it's shell. Ink or whatever (LCD?) is in there is now leaking out between the screen and the case. My Mac now looks like it was shot in the upper mid-left corner. Bleeding ink started in a nice light purple color and has continued to build on itself in a royal blue and now black. This has made blogging and just about everything else I do on the computer even more frustrating and more complex.I have bought my new blogging buddy, my birthday IMac!

As it is my own tradition to name almost everything I own, ie: my car is Louie Blue-y and my La-Z-boy recliner is called Gibbs. 

I thought a contest will be fun and help welcome in the new IMac. The winner will receive a batch of homemade cookies, of their choice. I will offer up a few suggestions :) !

Rules: 

• The computer's name can not have anything to do with my name
  
• It can not be something rude
  
• The winner will be named and chosen by me. The deadline for this will be May 8th and the winner will be announced on May 10th.
• Homemade cookies will be deliver if you are local or mailed to you.
• Your IMac name and the winner's first name will appear on the blog

Please send me your name, phone number, and address with your IMac name to notjustvanilla.kate@gmail.com or katiedid512@gmail.com

Please leave just your computer name idea on comments too please. Good luck and may the best name(er) get the cookies!

IMac Names So Far:

ICook- like Iphone

I love 2 cook 

Mac the cook- like Mack the Knife from the play

Mackintosh- like the apple

The white night- because I blog late at night

Iggy- from me

I love the names so far. thanks guy, continue sending them in, the contest ends on May 8th.

Green Days... # 2 Continuing the Green

We deserve a beautiful, healthy planet, we deserve to breath free... be green!

8  Must Have Products for the Gorgeously Green Girl (or Boy) 

Gorgeously Green  8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life, by Sophie Uliano

• White Vinegar 
• Baking Soda-eliminates all odors and is good scrubbing powder
  
•  Borax- removes dirt; it is anti-fungel and possible a disinfectant
  
•  Hydrogen Peroxide- (3% concentration)-nontoxic bleach, antibacterial agent, and stain remover
•  Lemon Juice-grease cutter and stain remover
•  Liquid Castile soap- all purpose cleaner, grease cutter, and disinfectant. Castile means that the soap is vegetable based and not animal fat-based
• Olive Oil- makes great furniture polish
  
• Essential Oils of Lavender, Geranium and Tea Tree- antibacterial and add a great smell to your home

Green Days... # 1 Continuing the Green

Save our Planet! It is so beautiful!

Gorgeously Green All-Purpose Spray

 As most conventional all-purpose sprays are made up of concoction of potentially hazardous chemicals I have chose to make my own. It is ridiculously easy to make and I have two or three large spray  bottles on the go, all the time. It's brilliantly effective at cutting grease, germs, and grime; it smells wonderful and will save you a lot of money. You can use this spray on just about everything: fridge, counter tops, walls, do

orknobs (for germs), toilet seat, sinks and so on.  

32-ounce  plastic spray bottle

2 cups water

/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon pure castile soap (peppermint is my favorite) 

3/4 cup hydrogen peroxide

20 drops tea tree oil

20 drops lavender or lemongrass essential oil

Simply fill a large 32-ounce plastic spray bottle with the water. Add the vinegar, castile soap, hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil and lavender or lemongrass essential oil. Lavender if lovely for the bathroom spray and lemongrass for  the kitchen, so make two separate bottles at the same time. In the hot summer months I add about 10 drops of citronella essential oil to the spray, ass it is an excellent insect repellent. 

This spray is suitable for acrylic, ceramic tile, wood, marble and granite.

Gorgeously Green  8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life, by Sophie Uliano

"If you have time, you may want to save lots of money and make your own cleaning products. It's actually incredibly easy and fun, and it will not make your home look or smell like a dingy hippy commune. I use a mixture of store-bought Eco-cleaners and my own. Most importantly, you can save a lot of money.

    Stock your cupboards with the following eight products you can clean just about anything:

1. White Vinegar-vinegar deserves a paragraph of its own because it is one of the best cleaners. It can sometimes bring to mind the gloomy Eco-house, but it is so effective that I have gotten over it. I chuck a cup in the main body of the dishwasher for every other cycle and use it as a drain cleaner with boiling water. Drain cleaners are the same as oven cleaners-avoid them. I also clean my washing machine with vinegar (run it through a cycle once a month). Vinegar is also the best window cleaner I have ever found. I have tried every tip and method for my windows. I have a a large picture window in my living room  that birds like to use as a bathroom. Everything leaves a smeared effect except a water/vinegar (half and half) solution. I use old rags from torn-up t-shirts. You can also clean our microwave, kettle, eyeglasses and lunch boxes with this wonder substance.

Cold Weather, Warm Kitchen

In the oddity that is weather, today, April 20th we have had rain, hail, crazy winds and now it is 46 degrees, although weather.com says it feels like 40 degrees. This is the normal weather for February, not the end of April.  This is the kind of crazy weather that calls out for one thing, hot rice pudding.  Lunch at work today was take-out Chinese with a side of extra white rice. Warm, rich, soft and sweet, yes, this is the perfect day for rice pudding.  Yum!

2 cups leftover plain white rice

2/3 cup milk +1 cup of milk or Soymilk

2 tablespoons warm water

1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoons vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, split

1 tablespoons cinnamon

1 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar or Splenda

1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon

In a large pot, add the water, 1 cup milk, cream, and sugar and heat at medium. Stirring occasionally, add the rice and the cinnamon. Turn the heat to low and cover for  10 minutes or until most of the milk has been absorbed. Add the vanilla and extra milk with sugar to taste, stir for 1 minute.  Take the rice pudding off the heat and add the raisins, stir and cover for 2-3 minutes. Serve with fresh strawberries. Yum!

If the rice is very dry, try soaking it in milk for 10 - 15 minutes before cooking.

Easter Dinner with the Reeds

As a Jewish kid Easter never meant to much to me. We didn't get to search for eggs or dye them pretty colors. But it did, and always has meant Easter dinner with the Reeds. Great food and fun at their  beautiful home.  These recipes from Easter are so good, I can't believe how great these pictures came out!  Yum!

Pepper Jelly with Fresh Mint

adapted from Foster's Market Cookbook

1 cup Foster's Seven Pepper Jelly (we used Stonewall Kitchen) or your favorite pepper jelly

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine the jelly with the mint, vinegar, and pepper in a bowl and whisk until all ingredients are blended. Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use or up to a week.   I prefer the jelly  room temperature and easier to spread. If you keep it in a jar, just run it under warm water. 

Foster's Market Cookbook  Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb

serve with Fresh Mint-Pepper Jelly

Butterflied lamb cooks faster and more evenly, and is easier to trim of fat and silverskin than a whole leg of lamb. A butterflied leg has more surface area than a whole leg, so there's more flavor from the marinade and the grill. The lamb can be marinated up to 2 days in advance.

One 41/2-to-5 pound butterflied leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat and silver skin

8 garlic cloves, cut in half smashed lightly with a flat side of a knife blade

1/4 cup fresh rosemary or 1 heaping tablespoon dried rosemary or a mixture of rosemary, marjoram and oregano

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup Marsala or dry red wine

3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

3 tablespoons kosher salt

1 freshly ground black pepper

Safflower oil or canola oil, for oiling the grill

1 recipe Foster's Seven Pepper Jelly with fresh Mint above

Make about 8 small incisions on the fatty side of the lamb and insert a smashed garlic half and some rosemary into  each slit. Rub the lamb on both sides with olive oil, Marsala, remaining garlic, rosemary, mint, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight or let stand 1 hour at cool room temperature.

Brush the grill grates lightly with safflower oil. Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill.  

If the lamb has been in the refrigerator, bring it to room temperature. Remove the meat from the marinade and drain slightly, allowing some of the marinade to remain on the lamb for added flavor.  When the fire is medium-hot place the lamb on the grill and cook 15 to 20 minutes per side, basting frequently with the remaining marinade. Move the lamb to the side of the grill, away from the direct heat and continue to cook 10 to 15 minutes longer, turning once, or until the internal temperature registers 130 to 135 degrees for medium-rare or 140 to 145 degrees for medium.  Remove the lamb from the grill and let rest, lightly covered, on a carving board 10 minutes before slicing. Carve into thin, 1/4 inch slices and serve immediately with Foster's Seven Pepper Jell with Fresh Mint. Yum!  This is so so so good!

The Foster's Market Grilled Vegetable Ratatouille

Because we grill the vegetables instead of cooking them in a skillet, this ratatouille has a fresher flavor and texture than traditional ratatouille. Try it warm or at room temperature in summer when the garden is overflowing with lots of fresh vegetables. Leftovers can be used to fill omelets, to layer in lasagna, or to top rice, pasta, risotto, or polenta. If you use dried oregano instead of fresh, perk up the dish with a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley.

Safflower oil or canola oil, for oiling the grill

1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch-thick rounds

1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise

1 yellow squash, quartered lengthwise

1 red bell pepper, halved, seeded and stem removed

1 red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup balsamic  or red wine vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tomatoes, cored and diced

2 tablespoons drained capers

6 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips (chiffonade)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or marjoram or 2 teaspoons dried oregano or marjoram

juice of 1 lemon

Brush the grill grates lightly with safflower oil. Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill. Toss the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, and onion with the olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.  Place the vegetables on the hot grill and cook turning once, until tender and slightly charred. (the eggplant and onion will take 5 to 6 minutes per side, the squash and bell pepper 3 to 4 minutes per side)  Place the grilled vegetables in a single layer in a baking dish and cool to room temperature. Dice the grilled vegetables and place them in a large bowl with tomatoes, capers, basil, oregano, and lemon juice. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired, and toss gently to mix. Serve immediately to refrigerate until ready to serve.

Crazy Days

OK, these last 2+ weeks have been so crazy, I know I have not kept you all up to date. Starting with Passover, my favorite Jewish holiday. We had an amazing dinner and so much fun!  Cooking with my mom was great and not as stressful as I had thought it would be.  I still have more Passover and Easter Recipes to post.  After Passover on Wednesday, we had Easter with our friends, the Reeds on Sunday.  Easter is another of my favorite holidays. My family and the Reeds, celebrate Passover and Easter together. We have been using the term East-Over to describe my families Jewish holiday and  and Easter. We have been getting together for more years than even I can remember. I always love the big family dinners and holidays, Easter, Passover, and Thanksgiving. As stressful as they can be, they are my favorite holidays to cook for and to be with everyone, together. 
Shannon and Phil at 9 irish brothers Saint Patricks Day Me, Phil, and Tiffany 2 on Halloween, I am a cat!My birthday cake at work, with a measuring cup. LOL

Along with both Easter and Passover, another event happened this week... my birthday. One of the most hated days of the year. I like the birthday thing, but just for everyone else. I have always made a big deal of holidays and birthdays, I am always the one planning for everyone else's birthdays and I seem to be the idea person in my family for gifts and holiday, birthday, anniversary parties and dinners. Don't get me wrong, most of the time I enjoy it, this job that somehow I don't remember signing up for. But I am good at it, but I am not good at my birthday.  I have never really enjoyed having my birthday, until this year. I have never felt accepted or as totally loved. I have never really had such a joyous surprise as I got this year. My friends made me cry, I do not remember feeling that loved my friends in a very long time. I was truly surprised and I guess birthdays are a present your friends and family give you each year. 

Awaiting my New Mac Contest

Hopefully I will be blogging from my new 24'' IMac in the next 24-48 hours. This is my birthday present to me (29Th) ! I have, recently killed my Mac book in the last month or so, by cracking it's shell. Ink or whatever (LCD?) is in there is now leaking out between the screen and the case. My Mac now looks like it was shot in the upper mid-left corner. Bleeding ink started in a nice light purple color and has continued to build on itself in a royal blue and now black. This has made blogging and just about everything else I do on the computer even more frustrating and more complex. So with tax money (God Bless Uncle Sam!) I have bought my new blogging buddy, my birthday IMac!

As it is my own tradition to name almost everything I own, ie: my car is Louie Blue-y and my La-Z-boy recliner is called Gibbs. 

I thought a contest will be fun and help welcome in the new IMac. The winner will receive a batch of homemade cookies, of their choice. I will offer up a few suggestions :) !

Rules: 

• The computer's name can not have anything to do with my name
  
• It can not be something rude 
  
• The winner will be named and chosen by me. The deadline for this will be May 8th and the winner will be announced on May 10th.
• Homemade cookies will be deliver if you are local or mailed to you.
• Your IMac name and the winner's first name will appear on the blog

Please send me your name, phone number, and address with your IMac name to notjustvanilla.kate@gmail.com or katiedid512@gmail.com

Please leave just your computer name idea on comments too please. Good luck and may the best name(er) get the cookies!

Easter Pesto Potato Puree

Easter dinner was so much fun. We don't have any family in the local area, so our friends take that place. They say you can't pick your family, just your friends. In our case, we are doubly blessed!   Happy Easter! 


From the White Barn Inn Cookbook

Makes about 2 cups

1/2 pound Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into a rough dice

1/4 cup olive oil

4 tablespoons(1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons pesto ( I like more pesto!)

Fill am medium saucepan with salted water and bring to a boil.  Add the potatoes and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until easily pierced by a fork. Drain and place in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and butter, and mash just until the lumps disappear. Avoid overmashing the potatoes, which will release starches and make them gooey.

Cover the pureed potatoes and keep in a warm place while preparing the rest of the meal. Just before serving, add the pesto and mix well.

Happy Easter!

Sorry Josh... More Matzoh next time..

My brother, Josh, didn't make it home for Passover. This year he was too busy with his new job to leave Chicago.  So Josh, I thought I would put these up for you, since you missed the fun and the matzoh ball soup. Enjoy!

Passover Chroses

Passover is my favorite holiday... nothing ever changes except the location. The rituals, the traditions, the food... It is so good. This recipe comes from a very old, very stained cookbook from the Lafayette Sisterhood. My mom has a copy that my grandmother, Bubbe (with a recipe handwritten on the inside cover), gave her and I have my Bubbe's copy.


In my home this is a very treasured and very loved cookbook. When I was younger, grampa and I would get the mortar and pestle out and peel the apples together and hand grind the nuts, no food processesers allowed. Obviously that has changed. Happy Passover and next year in Jerusalem!

1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled

1 Braburn Apple, peeled

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 tea cinnamon

1/4 to 1/3 cup honey

Manichevitz wine

1 lemon, juiced

Peel the apples and slice them in to 5 or 6 pieces. In a small bowl, add together the apples and 1/2 of the lemon juice with warm water. This will keep the apples from browning. Let it sit for 10 minutes or more. In a food processor chop the apple pieces into small bits. Do not let the apples become soft or applesaucy. Mix together the apples, walnuts, and the remainder of lemon juice to taste. Add in cinnamon and mix well. Stir in the wine and honey- all to taste. This gets better the longer it sits in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Warned and Changed

I have seen the light, my ways will change... 

Everyone who knows me knows my weakness for sweets. My  Achilles' heel  is cupcakes. I have never really been a chocolate girl, I prefer white cake or almond cake and white vanilla icing is always my favorite. 

 But thanks to Deb from Smitten Kitchen.com, chocolate has definitely hit my favorites list. Move out of the way white and cake... homemade oreos have knocked you out of the park. Deb's easy homemade oreos recipe from Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman, are spectacularly easy and delicious. I made these on Wednesday, last week and they didn't survive past Thursday afternoon. Thanks Deb!

Homemade Oreos

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 /2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 to 1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter

1 large egg

For the filling:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable shorting

2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 F. 

In the food processor or bowl of and electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, sugar and salt. while pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until the dough comes together in a mass. 

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, at low speed, gradually to beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and bead for 2 to  3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.  To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, ( I used a sandwich baggie with a small hole cut at one corner) pipe teaspoon-sized blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk. Yum!

 Note: I only used  1 cup of sugar for the cookies, the cream filling is very sweet so the cookies don't need to be super sweet.

P.S. Dad, don't worry, I am will still eat and enjoy chocolate! After all, I am your kid.