Nun's Farts, New Lambs and Royal Blue

White Chocolate, Sour Cherry and Cardamom Rolls. Need I say more? The only change I made to the recipe (click here) was substituting chopped Baker's white chocolate for the chips, which was not an improvement as it melted a bit too much.



I was smitten with the recipe as soon as I saw it on Marie's blog, The English Kitchen. It contains white chocolate and dried sour cherries, two of my favorite things, and I must confess that I ate more than I should have of these -they are irresistible. They are also super easy to make, and when covered with plastic wrap and left overnight, delicious the following morning.



New lambs in the barn Thursday! What a nice surprise -two ewe lambs, one colored and one white, and both are doing well so far.



And I am slowly spinning this royal blue fiber, hand quilting a bit now and then on a grandmother's flower garden quilt I pieced years ago, and starting a (royal blue yarn) sock knitting project. I am so glad to see the end of April this weekend and I'm hopeful for a bit less rain next month. Happy May Day to everyone!

What's for Dinner?

Last night, I made this 5 spice roast chicken for the three of us. I wanted to make something that was pretty effortless, but also a bit different. This time of year, we all begin to feel we're in a bit of a rut.

5 Spice Roast Chicken
Mix in a gallon Ziploc bag:
1-2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2-1 t. hot chili oil
1-2 T. lemon juice
2 t. Chinese five-spice powder
Add one rather small whole chicken (or two game hens, or two quail would be nice this way), and roll around a bit to coat, and leave to marinate 1-4 hours. Put all in a small roasting pan and roast, uncovered, in a 375-400 degree oven for about 45 minutes, turning once halfway through the cooking time. Cover and rest 15-30 minutes before serving. Serves 2-4



I sliced and stir-fried some vegetables...



...and made this vegetable chow mein to go with. It was all really, really easy, and just the sort of dinner for this time of year.

Vegetable Chow Mein
Cook 6 oz. Chuka Soba Noodles 5 minutes in boiling water. Drain and rinse in cold water.

Slice:
2 celery stalks
5-6 brown mushrooms
1 yellow onion
Heat skillet and add 3 T. vegetable oil. When hot, add vegetables and cook 3 or so minutes. Add drained noodles. Add:
1-2 c. bean sprouts
8 oz. can water chestnuts
Mix:
1-2 t. cornstarch
1-2 T. soy sauce
Add to 1 c. chicken stock and add all to skillet. Stir and cook a few minutes until thickened and remove from heat. Serves 4-6

And tonight? Well, right now I'm preheating the oven (it's old and takes forever to heat up) to bake this chocolate layer cake (click here) for tonight. I could make this lamb stew (click here) that looks so delicious, or maybe we'll just fry up some bratwursts to have with sauerkraut and/or green tomato relish on a bun (I'm driving into Seattle this afternoon and it may take awhile), or something like this calamari pasta (click here), which everyone here (including myself) has been wanting me to make. I'll give it some thought while I'm baking the cake -if it was up to me, I'd be happy with just having chocolate cake and ice cream for dinner!

Candy Cane Cookies

The new cookies I want to bake this year for our holiday gift tins are these (click here). I spotted them at The English Kitchen, an absolutely charming blog I am completely smitten with! I confess that I very seldom just take a recipe and make it, no matter how good the source. I feel compelled to contrast and compare different cooks' versions, so before I made the Swedish Meatballs from Simply Recipes, I started to look through a few of my cookbooks. I didn't get any farther than a cookbook titled Eet Smakelijk. "In his native land, A Dutch host utters these words before each meal, Eet Smakelijk, meaning to eat well and with taste." It is a collection of recipes by members and friends of the Junior Welfare League of Holland, Michigan published in 1976, and a recent thrift store find of mine. It has two recipes for Swedish Meatballs -and a recipe for candy cane cookies. The following recipe is my combination of the one in this Dutch-American cookbook, The English Kitchen's recipe, plus another in Land O Lakes holiday booklet #74. Aside from being incredibly cute, I just know they're also going to taste really good!

Candy Cane Cookies
Cream:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. veg. shortening (or all butter)
1 c. powdered sugar
1 egg
1 t. almond or peppermint extract
1 t. vanilla

Add:
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. salt

Divide the dough in half, blending 1/2 t. red food coloring into one of the halves. Refrigerate dough for an hour, if it seems to soft to work with. Roll 1 t. each of the white and red colored doughs into 4 inch long ropes. Place side by side, press lightly together at one end, twist ropes, and then roll so they hold together. Place on cookie sheet, curving one end to form into the shape of a candy cane. Bake 350-375 degrees for 9-12 minutes, or until set. Sprinkle with sugar immediately after removing from the oven. Let set 1 minute before removing to a wire rack and cooling completely.

Variation: Do not divide the dough and omit the red food coloring. Roll 1 T. dough into a 9 inch rope tapering from center to end, fold rope in half and twist, pinching the end into a point, and forming an icicle cookie. Bake and sprinkle with sugar, as with candy cane cookies.