Beauty for Ashes

When I was in college, there were several Japanese girls who lived in the dorms with me. I had some classes with a few of them; one was the roommate to a good friend of mine. They'd learned English in Japan and come over to the States to study. And like me, they'd chosen to study music.  I remember sitting in Dr. Keck's music history class, a course notoriously difficult for us native-English students--I can't imagine how hard it would have been for someone who only spoke it as a second or third language--and watching as Risa Suzuki tapped furiously away at her hand held translator, desperately trying to take notes.  I had taken to typing up the lecture notes in class (it was faster than writing them by hand) so one day I offer to print her out a copy.  She smiled, tears in her eyes, and hugged me as she thanked me, calling me an angel.

While this tableau may not seem unusual to an American girl's eyes, what I had learned about the Japanese students at our university made it all the more meaningful to me.  The culture of Japan still carries in it certain aspects of the empire it once was, though some of it has indeed faded. Its people are proud--proud of their technology, of their wealth, their history, and their culture.  They are reserved--it was difficult to distinguish couples on campus; they rarely even held hands in public.  And they are hard working--in a field where most students didn't make it past the first theory course, these dedicated students stuck it out to the end, never giving up.

They are also kind.  Risa never failed to thank me for helping her in music history. It was such a small thing to me; it only took a few seconds to print out an extra copy of the notes.  But she never forgot it.

In the aftermath of Japan's earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant explosions, let's take a few seconds and do something small.  Donate to the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, or the Japanese Salvation Army.  You don't have to give a lot to make a difference, and it will only take a few seconds of your time.

To this end, I'm listing The Setting Sun Necklace--a hand made silver and pink agate necklace--for $45, and 100% of the proceeds from its sale will be donated to the Salvation Army's Japanese branch.

"To provide for those who mourn... to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."

To view a product description or to purchase, click here.

Roasted Pork Loin with Apple Mango Pesto Chutney

My husband and I love to experiment with food; it's a way to exercise our creativity and let the creative juices flow. Sometimes those juices run a bit sour, but tonight's experiment was a rousing success (at least at our house!) The basic roasted pork loin recipe is simple and infinitely adaptable, so it's a great recipe to start with if you're wanting to expand your culinary horizons and do a little experimenting yourself. Here's what I did tonight:

Ingredients:
Pork loin (I usually buy the Tyson 2-packs. This way you can cook them both at once and freeze the extra one for a quick dinner later.)
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup Sprite
dash garlic powder & ground black pepper
1 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup pureed mango
1 tsp pesto

Wash your pork loin, poke holes in it with a fork, and place it in a gallon size zipper bag.  Pour in the lemon juice and Sprite, sprinkle in a dash or two of garlic powder and pepper. Let the pork loins marinate in this mixture for a few minutes (anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. If you're in a hurry, just let it marinate for 10-15 minutes.)  While the pork loin is marinating, make a chutney by mixing together the apple sauce, mango, and pesto.  I typically keep some diced mango in the freezer for smoothies, so I just thawed a few chunks in the microwave and them mashed them with a fork while I stirred them together with the apple sauce.  Once the pork loins have marinated, line an oven safe pan with parchment paper and place the pork loins in the pan. Cover them with the chutney and place them in a 375 degree oven for an hour (or until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of the pork loin reads 170.)

What's great about this recipe is that the high acid content of the marinade make the pork loin fork tender, and the sweet mango and pungent pesto give the dish a mellow sweetness that even young children will enjoy.

Welcome Home for the Holidays

As the holiday season approaches, we're all looking for ways to make our homes look, feel and smell more inviting to the guests we'll be welcoming.  While decorating with seasonal touches like wreaths, pumpkins, and Christmas trees creates a bright festive atmosphere, it can also be time-consuming and expensive.  For those working with tighter fiscal or temporal budgets, here's my favorite way to add a little holiday hospitality to any gathering.

If you live in the South, you already know that to host a gathering of any sort--and particularly a holiday one--without feeding your guests is a crime against humanity. I always try to make at least one homemade baked treat, and my guests invariably compliment me on how wonderful it smells when they walk in the door.  As you probably know, our sense most strongly tied to memory is the sense of smell, so a pleasant scent wafting through your home will not only help create pleasant memories in your guests' minds, it may also bring up past memories of good times.  

But sometimes you might want to give that memory-jogging-aroma just a little extra punch.  So here's my secret: I keep an arsenal of food-scented candles on hand to coordinate with some of my favorite holiday goodies.  When I bake cookies, I light up my "Christmas Cookie" Yankee candle, and the whole house smells like Santa's Kitchen.  For my favorite butter cream cake with carmel icing, I burn my Wood Wick caramel candle. And when my pumpkin scones are in the oven, I let my pumpkin spice candle waft its delicious fragrance all through the house. Mmmm, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. 

What? You don't have time to make holiday cookies from scratch? You'd rather just pick up a batch of cookies from the market on your way home? That's okay, too.  Use your fabulously scented candles, and cheat.  Arrange the cookies on a nice tray, light up that candle, and let your guests' noses convince them that those cookies are homemade.  You don't have to correct them, and your secret is safe with me.

Up-Cycled Charm Bracelet

I have a collection of mismatched earrings.  Some of them are sentimental, some are favorites whose mates I'm still hoping to find, some are just yard sale beauties who followed me home like lost puppies.  Chances are you've got a small collection of your own, whether they're family heirlooms that you'll probably never wear but can't bear to give away or baubles that caught your eye.  Today's project will teach you how to transform those lonely little earrings and give them a fresh start as a cute and funky charm bracelet.

First, you'll need a small assortment of mismatched dangle earrings.

I've chosen a few that have similar colors (silver and black or grey) but yours could be based on a theme, a member of your family from whom you inherited them, or a geometric shape.  

Next, remove the ear wires with a pair of needle nosed pliers. Clean and repair any dingy or broken pieces. 

                                     

Measure your wrist to determine how much chain you'll need for your bracelet.  I used a light, open work chain with a toggle clasp, but a tighter chain with heavier links would work equally as well. Just make sure you can securely attach your earring charms with jump rings. Cut the chain to the length you measured, and secure a clasp with jump rings and pliers.

Using your needle nosed pliers, secure the charms to your bracelet with jump rings. Make sure you close each jump ring securely! 

Here's my finished bracelet:

                                               

Now go dig up those mismatched or broken earrings and happy crafting!

The Incredible Eco-Friendly Egg

I took advantage of the unseasonably cool and breezy weather this afternoon and took some kitchen waste out to the compost bin. As I was stirring the pot with some broken egg shells, it suddenly struck me that the egg carton (which is also compostable if you get the paperboard cartons instead of the styrofoam ones) would make a fantastic seed starter!

This year I started my vegetable garden from seed (not that it has fared well in this summer's drought conditions) in some plantable coco fiber seed trays. They worked just fine, and began to slowly disintegrate once I planted them in the garden plot. And for the most part they were fairly inexpensive--around $3 for a set of four 6-pot trays. But with the egg carton, we're making productive use of a biodegradable, rigid container which would otherwise be taking up space in a landfill. And let's not discount the fact that it's FREE!

So here's my plan for egg carton seed trays:
Cut the lid off the tray and place it underneath the bottom portion to keep your work surface a bit cleaner and help soak up any excess water.  Fill each of the carton's egg indentations with potting mix.  With the eraser end of a pencil, create a divot in the potting mix and sprinkle in a couple of seeds. (Make sure to read the instructions for the type of flowers or vegetables you'll be planting. Different seeds have different soil depth and spacing needs.) Cover the seeds with the appropriate amount of potting mix, and water gently.  Once the seedlings are tall enough to plant, simply cut the egg carton into 12 small cups and plant them directly in the ground.  The remainder of the carton will decompose into your garden soil and become a little boost of compost for your seedlings!

Guilt-less Pleasure: Frozen Yogurt Pops

It seems like everyone I know is on a diet. I'm constantly met with "Oh, I can't eat that, it's not on my diet," or "How many calories does that have? How much fat? How much sugar?" And maybe it's just me, but I find it difficult to enjoy my food when I have to do long division just to figure out if I can eat it.  So here's a sweet treat you can enjoy without the guilt, and with endless variations.

I made these blackberry frozen yogurt pops by first boiling blackberries and raspberries to release the juice. You can add a little sugar or alternative sweetener to the berries while boiling to sweeten the juice, but it's also quite tasty to let the natural sweetness of the berries flavor the popsicles.

Another option is to use canned or bottled fruit juice, but these typically have added sugar. To avoid these extra calories, look for a fruit juice designed for use by small children without added sweeteners, or buy a small jar of baby food in a fruit flavor of your choice. The great thing about the baby food fruit is that there's no added sugar or preservatives, and it's already pureed and ready to use.

Now, in your blender, mix the fruit juice or puree with a small tub of plain or vanilla flavored yogurt. For a healthier option, choose a fat free or low calorie yogurt and sprinkle in a fiber supplement like Benefiber.  You could also toss in a scoop or two of frozen yogurt, sorbet, or crushed ice. Blend the ingredients thoroughly, and pour into your popsicle molds. If you don't have popsicle molds, or you want to portion out your calories even more, pour into an ice cube tray instead; that way if you want just a taste of sweet at the end of a hot day, you can just pop one in your mouth without a hint of sticky popsicle mess!

Caramel Cookie Bars

I think I may have developed my new favorite recipe. This decadent-yet-simple dessert incorporates everything I love (cookies, caramel, and chocolate) and is infinitely adaptable. It's also relatively simple--just a bit time consuming.

Before you do anything else, make yourself some gooey delicious caramel. This is the most time consuming part of this recipe, but it's also so easy and delicious, you'll want to smack your mother for not telling you about it first. Take 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk and submerge them in boiling water for 3 hours. That's it. It's like some sort of culinary magic trick. I would suggest taking the wrappers off first, and don't open the cans beforehand. The sweet and sticky magician inside is like all magicians--he doesn't like people watching his secrets. So give Houdini his privacy, and accept his delicious gift. Keep an eye on the pot to make sure that the cans are constantly covered with water--if you let the water boil off, there is a danger of the cans bursting, and no one wants to clean that up. So while that's going on, make up the shortbread cookie crust.

2 cups flour;  1/4 tsp salt;  1 cup butter;  1/2 cup powdered sugar;  1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl, mix together 2 cups of flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. [I'll share with you my secret for a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread. Before you dump that second cup of flour into your bowl, take out 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace them with 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch. Since the cornstarch--a.k.a., corn flour-- is lighter than the wheat flour, you'll end up with a lighter, more delicately textured shortbread.] Set this aside.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter with your electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture, just until mixed. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill the dough for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350, and spread the dough in the bottom of an 8 x 11" pan (sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.)  Bake for 18-22 minutes, until just barely browned.

If you've still got some time before your caramel will be done, go ahead and start on the last step: the chocolate ganache. Chop 8 oz of baker's chocolate--whatever flavor is your favorite. This recipe is so rich and sweet that I like to use semi-sweet squares rather than milk chocolate, but either is a great option. You really can't go wrong with chocolate.

Now you just have to wait for the caramel to finish its mysterious ministry in its can. Once it's completed its transmogrification, open the cans (if they're still warm, be sensible and use an oven mitt!) Spread the contents evenly over the top of the shortbread. Refrigerate for a few minutes if the caramel is still hot. If it's too warm, the ganache won't set as well.

You're almost done! Here's what you'll need for the ganache:
8 oz chopped chocolate;     2 Tbsp butter;     3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Place the chopped chocolate in a stainless steel or Pyrex bowl (a bowl that can withstand high temperatures; definitely NOT plastic!)  In a small saucepan, heat the butter and cream over medium heat just until it comes to a boil. Immediately pour over the chocolate, and let it stand for 2-3 minutes. Whisk together chocolate and cream until smooth and shiny.  Pour the ganache over the caramel layer, and refrigerate for a glossy top layer. Serve refrigerated or at room temperature. Enjoy!