ginger scented pecans

I know, I know, not another ginger recipe. This recipe dates back to the days before I had a thing for ginger, back when it was just a plain old sweet tooth. My friend Stacy made them for a holiday party and I’m pretty sure the bowl was empty when we left. I’m telling you, these things are highly addicting.

Usually if a recipe has ginger in it, that’s the most potent element. But these pecans are different. Since they’re toasted, you really taste the natural flavor of the pecan more than anything. It’s enhanced by the sugar and salt, which provide a nice texture, and just lightly laced with sweetness from the ginger and honey. Yum, yum, yum… Go make these and be prepared to have an empty bowl in front of you by the end of the night.

Ginger Scented Pecans
from martha (thanks jane!)
makes 5 cups

5 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons canola oil

1
Preheat oven to 325°.
2
Place nuts in a single layer on two rimmed baking sheets. Toast until nuts are fragrant, 10-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through cooking. Meanwhile, combine sugar, salt, and ginger in a small bowl and set aside.
3
Combine honey, 2 tablespoons water and oil in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat.
4
Reduce heat to medium and add roasted pecans. Cook, stirring once or twice, until all of the liquid has evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes.
5
Transfer mixture to a bowl, add sugar mixture and toss until well combined. Spread nuts in a singer layer on a sheet of parchment paper to cool. Can be kept in airtight container for 1 week.

Filed under eat and make and snacks by kelly. December 17th, 2008 . 7 Comments

handmade tissue holder

Here’s a simple stocking stuffer idea. Everyone needs a tissue now and then, so why not blow your nose in style? This tissue holder uses the same principle as the dog bed (just skip to step 3) I posted about a while ago. It’s super easy and is a great way to use up scraps of leftover fabric.

Make someone’s cold a little more bearable, make them a tissue holder. Here’s how:

tissue holder

fabric scraps
thread
scissors

1
Cut a piece of fabric 7 3/4″ by 5 1/2″. If you’re making more than one, you might want to cut a stencil and just trace around it.
2
Make a 1/4 inch hem on the short ends of the fabric.
3
With the wrong side of the fabric facing out, fold the fabric so the short ends over laps by about 1/2″. Pin it shut.
4
Sew the short ends closed, making sure to go back and forth where the fabric overlaps.
5
Turn it inside out and insert a travel pack of tissues.
6
Tada! You’ve got the cutest little tissue holder you could ever ask for.

Filed under make by kelly. December 16th, 2008 . 0 Comments

honey wheat bread

Let’s start off the week with something warm and toasty, like say honey wheat bread. Doesn’t that just sound delicious? There’s something about the combination of honey and wheat that makes my stomach growl every time I see that flavor combination. Not only was the recipe tasty sounding, but I also had all the ingredients right there in my pantry. That made me happy.

I followed the directions and mixed all the ingredients together. I’ve tried all the no-knead recipes and I can’t deny that they’re super easy and delicious, but there’s something soothing about kneading dough. I kind of love it. After lots of tlc with the dough, I let it rise for a bit and then divided it and let it be for a while longer. Finally, after they had risen for a second time, I popped the loaves in the oven and let the magic happen.

Not long after I put them in the oven, the sweet scent of fresh bread started wafting through the apartment, something I just can’t get enough of. After a little less than half an hour in the oven, I opened the oven door to see two perfectly golden loaves. I set them out to cool for a bit, but it wasn’t long before temptation lured me to cut into one. Mmmm, there’s something totally amazing about bread just out of the oven. The texture of this bread was really delightful.. it was light on the tongue, with the crust kind of falling apart in your mouth after you bit into it. The honey was rather light, but you could taste traces of it here and there. I think next time, and there will surely be a next time, I’ll add more honey. It’s just a really nice, really easy loaf of bread to make and have around the house.

honey wheat bread
from allrecipes

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
5 cups all-purpose flour

1
Dissolve yeast in warm water.
2
Add honey, and stir well.
3
Mix in whole wheat flour, salt, and vegetable oil.
4
Work all-purpose flour in gradually. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
5
When dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a well oiled bowl. Turn it several times in the bowl to coat the surface of the dough, and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
6
Punch down the dough. Shape into two loaves, and place into two well greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise until dough is 1 to 1 1/2 inches above pans, about 45 minutes.
7
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

Filed under breakfast and eat and make by kelly. December 15th, 2008 . 5 Comments

happy hour: spiced pear cider

It’s been a while since I’ve had a proper happy hour, but I think it was worth the wait. After we got our first snow here in Brooklyn, I thought it was the perfect time to heat up some cider. Pear cider just happened to be in the fridge so decided to spice it up with a little cinnamon and cloves… and rum of course. It was perfectly delicious and really hit the spot on a cold winter evening.

Have a great weekend!

Spiced Pear Cider
serves 2

2 cups pear cider
1 Tablespoon whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
rum

1
Break one cinnamon stick in half and place it, along with the cloves, in a tea diffuser.
2
Put the diffuser and cider in a tea pot and heat over medium heat for about five minutes.
3
When the cider is nice and warm, pour it in two glasses. Add a shot of rum to each and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
4
Put on a nice movie (may I suggest Love Actually) and sit back and sip your cider.

Filed under happy hour by kelly. December 12th, 2008 . 2 Comments

brooklyn craft shows, round 2

Oh boy! There are two more excellent craft shows this weekend. This Saturday, December 13 head down to the Bell House in Gowanus for the Designer Holiday Trunk Show (11-5). You’ll find everyone from the Mast Brothers Chocolates (so good!) to lovely stationery from Sesame Letterpress. Of course you’ve read about the BUST craftacular which is this Sunday, December 14 at the Metropolitan Pavilian (10-7:30).

Woohoo!

Filed under events by kelly. December 12th, 2008 . 2 Comments

edible gift: candied ginger

Here’s another suggestion for a holiday gift. By now you know I’m a ginger fanatic, so when I saw this recipe on David Lebovitz’s site I thought it would be a great time to give candied ginger a try. It lasts for a few months so you can make it now and still use it in for holiday gifts.

I bought the biggest piece of ginger I could find and started scraping off the skin. Yikes! David suggested using the bowl of a spoon to scrape the ginger, but that didn’t work great for me, so then I just cut the ginger in pieces and used a potato peeler. It still wasn’t ideal, but it got the job done quicker. I have to say, this process took longer than I’d like to spend on peeling anything, and I started to get a little frustrated. But I got through ginger hell and sliced it all up and started the candying.

Now that I’ve complained for a whole paragraph, there are some perks to this recipe. First, you get a lovely ginger simple syrup after you’re done boiling the ginger. I highly recommend making your own ginger ale with this. You also get some ginger sugar, which comes from the excess sugar from coating the candy.

In the end, the ginger is tasty and turned about better than any other previous attempts I’ve made. That being said, I think I’d rather buy candied ginger at the store. If it weren’t for all that peeling, I’d definitely like this recipe more but I just can’t get past that. Give it a try and see what you think.

Candied Ginger
from David Lebovitz

Filed under eat and read and sweets by kelly. December 11th, 2008 . 2 Comments

meet: lisa butterworth

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of sitting down for coffee with Lisa Butterworth, associate editor of one of my favorite magazines, BUST. The main reason was to talk about the BUST Craftacular (which is this weekend!!!), but of course the conversation meandered as we discussed everything from feminism and domestic arts to our favorite places to eat in Brooklyn.

Here’s a snippet of our conversation for your reading pleasure. Don’t forget to stop by the BUST craftacular this Sunday, December 14 at the Metropolitan Pavilion.

EatMakeRead: How did you get to BUST magazine?
Lisa Butterworth: I started full time about a year and a half ago. I’ve been freelancing for a couple years, but then about two years ago when I was in living in San Francisco I worked at a boring corporate job in HR and did all my freelance writing on the side. It came to the point where my job was killing me and I had to do something. I called BUST and asked if I could intern for a few months. I took a leave of absence from my job in San Francisco and came out an interned. The timing just kind of worked out. When the internship was up, an editor was leaving and Debbie (Stoller, Editor In Chief) suggested I’d be a good editor. I was excited but at the same time I still had an apartment and job in San Francisco, so they let me freelance part time from California. I did one issue like that and they hired me after that.

EMR: Being a feminist and having a blog about the domestic arts has always been a little bit of a dilemma for me because I want to be progressive. I feel like a generation ago cooking was looked at as a chore but now I feel like my generation has reclaimed crafting and the art of making food. I think BUST has been really great at embracing that. How do you feel about crafting and women reclaiming these things?
LB: Early feminist cut cooking off completely because they’d been oppressed by it for so long.  It’s been long enough for our generation that we’ve never been oppressed by those chores and domesticity. Now we have to choice to choose it without feeling like it we’re succumbing to anyone. Now I feel like its a choice and a lot of women are actually able to connect with older generations like our grandmothers in ways that they hadn’t before.

EMR: Do you craft?
LB: I have lots of crafting plans but they don’t come to fruition as often as I like. I like writing letters and making cards and care packages, but I’m not nearly as crafty as I’d like to be.

EMR: Let’s talk about the craftacular, I’m super excited about it! How long has in been going on?
LB: This is the fourth year it’s been going on.

EMR: Has it been growing each year?
LB: Definitely. The first year I went which was three years ago, it was in Brooklyn at the Warsaw and it was super crowded. Last year we moved it to the Metropolitan Pavillion and it was still crowded in the larger venue.

EMR: This year the craftacular is going worldwide right?
LB: Yeah, this is the first year it’s going to be in London and LA.

Thanks a million Lisa!

BUST Craftacular
Sunday December 14 2008
10am-7:30pm
Metropolitan Pavilion
125 West 18th Street

Filed under events and meet by kelly. December 11th, 2008 . 1 Comments

easy sorbet


photo from New York Times

Hmmm, I’m intrigued by this recipe for easy sorbet in the Times this morning. With only three ingredients, I think it’s worth a try.

Filed under eat and read by kelly. December 10th, 2008 . 1 Comments

handmade gift tags

Here’s a simple idea to jazz up your gifts this year, make your own gift tags! You can buy these shipping tags at any office supply store for around $5. I used my gocco printer to print some hand drawn snowflakes on the tags. If you don’t have a gocco, you could also pick up a stamp like this one and stamp on the back of the tags. I had about 50 tags done in five minutes. Super simple and fun!

Filed under make by kelly. December 10th, 2008 . 1 Comments

edible gift: occidental hot fudge

This is my favorite hot fudge recipe. It originated from the Old Occidental Hotel in Muskegon, Michigan where my mom grew up. Who knows how she got the recipe, but I’m so happy she did. It’s possibly the easiest way to make hot fudge and it produces excellent results.

It only calls for six ingredients, most of which you probably have hanging out in the cupboard or refrigerator right now. In fact, you might just get the urge to make yourself some so you can whip up you’re very own hot fudge sundae. You’ll be ready in minutes.

I think it would make a lovely holiday gift, especially if you paired it with a few different sauces. Sometimes I like to mix it up a bit by dividing the recipe into three parts. I’ll keep one plain, add a little cayenne pepper to one part and a little peppermint extract to another. They’re all super delicious and the extra flavors add a little unexpected pizazz to any sundae.

Try it out, I think the recipient will be happy to have you as a friend.

Occidental Hot Fudge
makes 3.5 cups

2 cups sugar
4 Tablespoons flour
2/3 cup cocoa
2 cup milk
4 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (per 1/3 of recipe, optional)
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (per 1/3 of recipe, optional)

1
In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
2
Over medium heat, combine milk, butter and vanilla until the butter has melted.
3
Add dry ingredients to the milk mixture, constantly whisking.
4
Boil, stirring constantly until thick and smooth, about 5 minutes.
5
Let cool and refrigerate. Will last a week if you don’t eat it all first.

Fancy fabric cover

8 inch square of fabric
pencil
scissors
string
tag (if you’d like)

1
Find a bowl that’s about 3 inches wider than the lid to your jar. Trace around it on the backside of your fabric.
2
Cut out the circle.
3
After filling the jar with goodness, center the piece of fabric over top and gather the fabric so it’s tight around the jar (you might want another set of hands to do this).
4
Carefully wrap string around the fabric to hold it in place. Tie a knot and attach the gift tag. Secure it with a bow and you’ve got yourself a lovely gift.

Filed under condiments/sauces and eat and read by kelly. December 9th, 2008 . 15 Comments