OMG, you guys, don't wake me up!

I am siting down to a year's worth of Gourmet and Cooking Light, EACH, with a pencil and notebook and a HUGE stack of post-its.

I'll be awhile.

(Thanks to Mrs. Branch for the donation!!)

Post-Holiday Meltdown

We've spent the past week eschewing vegetables and grains in favor of Mom's Christmas Treats (you would, too!!!), including, but not limited to, fudge, chocolate chip meringues, peanut-butter bon-bons, kielbasa, cheese - and also cabbage - pierogi (best eaten cold, with your fingers, on Christmas morning while your myriad nieces and nephews disappear in a blizzard of wrapping paper and flying bows), lasagna (which had spinach in it, so that was unavoidable!!), pork roast with cherry coulis, and Rum Cake! All this sandwiched between two days on the road, to AND from, filled with In-n-Out, Pringles (for some reason, I only ever eat these when we travel by car. Any other time, I can't stand the sight of them!), fast-food breakfast sandwiches (Matt, not me. Sometimes I don't even let him eat them in car, I hate them so much!), and a chicken-fried steak that for some God-awful reason sounded like a good idea at the time (see above re: bizarre road-trip munchies). Throughout the car trips, though, I was taking great comfort in V-8's promise of "3 servings of vegetables per bottle!" and pounding them almost continuously.

Even so, we feel a little, how you say, BLOATED, so I'm back in action, trawling Teh Interwebs for some clean-you-out raw-food recipes.

This is good, (I've made it before; it's kind of a more crunchy hummous) and I could even serve it as an appetizer tonight, when Sarah and Matt and Baby Rebekah bring Grandma and Grandpa Harvey for dinner.

This sounds kinda summery, but we DO live in California. Compared to the snowy, blowy weather we encountered over Christmas in Colorado, it's positively tropical, here!

And who doesn't like falafel? (I wish I had a dehydrator.)

We'll see how all of this goes...

(This post has been hastily written out of guilt for the long absence, goaded in part by a new link from the ladies at Barefoot in the Kitchen, which made me realize just how long it's been since I've tended to my OWN virtual kitchen!)

Perfect with Sparkling Wine

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Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Cumin Shortbreads
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed in mortar
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon (4 grams) Pure Vanilla Extract

Shortbreads: In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the cumin seeds, ground cumin and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thick. Cut into rounds or whatever shapes you wish using lightly floured cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly brown. Cool on rack.
Shortbread will keep in an airtight container for about a week or frozen for several months.
Makes about 20 shortbread cookies.

busy, busy

busy, busy
Originally uploaded by gaffentine