food

Random thoughts

Suzy Taylor Oakley baking, baseball, books, dogs, flowers, food, friends, fun, home, nature

My fans (all three of you people who read my blog) have been admonishing me to publish something. I haven’t posted in a while, but not for lack of wanting to. I’ve just been extremely laz — err, busy.

So, while I wait for my mom’s tax return to finish printing, I’ll grace you with some of the fascinating things I have been doing, thinking or saying lately:

  • After two weeks of working on it in spurts, I have finally finished Mom’s tax return. No, you cannot borrow money from her. Because she helped her children so much last year, there is nothing left to loan. Thanks, Mom. We owe you.
  • I chopped off my fingernails the other day to get better at the little game on my new cell phone that I am obsessed with (the game, not the phone), and it didn’t make one bit of difference. Even with nails cut to the nub, I am still pitiful at batting a little ball with a paddle at a bunch of electronic bricks.
  • I make up little songs, sometimes to amuse Bruce, sometimes to amuse myself. Frequently these little ditties are about the dogs. Almost all of them are about what I happen to be doing at the time I sing them. If Bruce isn’t amused, he doesn’t let me know it. He makes up random funny songs, too. We’re weird together.
  • I would love to be in a musical. Like South Pacific, The Music Man, Oklahoma! or my favorite, Camelot. Or how about The Sound of Music II: Suzl, the Forgotten von Trapp? I would be great in that! Not that I can sing.
  • Although Saturday night was an exception (I went to bed at 7:30), I have been staying up until nearly 10:30 lately! (I don’t think I’ve adjusted to daylight saving time yet.) Still, unless you’re my mother, my brother or my husband, or you’re bleeding from both eyes, don’t call me after 9 p.m., even on weekends. I will be mad at you.
  • It’s spring! And I pulled weeds this weekend (both days). And when I got tired of pulling the little suckers, there were still a BUNCH of them left. Today after I got tired and decided not to pull any more weeds, two neighbor boys rode their bikes up to my driveway and asked me if I had any work for them. Now I’m $10 poorer, but my rose bed looks a lot better. They want to come and mow the lawn in a few days. I think I’ll let them. (Note to self: Restock the Popsicle stash.)
  • I LOVE seeing kids take some initiative and get out and earn some money instead of sitting on their bee-hinds in front of the TV or a computer.
  • The dogs finally got baths today. This hadn’t happened since (don’t tell anyone) November. Salsa didn’t like it, but she didn’t bite me once!
  • My friend Lynn, whom I wrote about a few weeks ago (yikes, it’s been nearly three months!), is going to share the Basket-A-Month with me this year. Next weekend is the pickup. SPRING VEGETABLES! FARM-FRESH EGGS, HOMEMADE PASTA! SOURDOUGH BREAD! I’M YELLING BECAUSE I’M DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY!!!!! And Lynn said she’d bring me some of her asparagus and a couple of good recipes. Double happiness!
  • Baseball season is almost upon us, and I’m thinking of Travelers and sunshine. And hot dogs, which absolutely must be consumed at baseball games, no matter what.
  • I’m reading Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, which I started reading in college but never finished. My favorite journalism professor recommended it, although it was not required reading. I didn’t do a lot of extracurricular reading in college. I was too busy with the school newspaper and reading for classes. But I’m enjoying this book once again, and I’m determined to finish it this time.
  • I have new flip-flops. They’re black. Well, they’re sort of brown now, because of the weed-pulling.
  • I’m supposed to be making a blackberry-jam cake for my neighbor, who’s going to pay me for it, but she didn’t give me a deadline and I keep putting it off. It’s the pressure. She had one at a friend’s out of town, and it was to-die-for delicious, and I’ve had to Google to find a recipe that seems to approximate what she had. So, pressure. Which makes me procrastinate.
  • More pressure: My church is doing a 25th-anniversary cookbook, and I’m supposed to provide a recipe for my “signature” dish, and I can’t decide whether to share my recipe for carrot cake, which I make money from, or be selfish and keep it to myself. My other cake recipe that gets rave reviews is from Paula Deen, and I want to make sure we won’t be violating any copyrights before I share it. It’s called White Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Filling. It’s lick-the-bottom-of-the-pan good. I don’t think I’ve shared photos of it that I took when I was making business cards year before last. So let’s end this on a happy foodnote:

white_chocolate_cake1

Click the comment button to share some of your own random thoughts.

Argenta Market coming soon!

Suzy Taylor Oakley environment, food

Got this e-mail yesterday from Jody Hardin, manager of the Certified Arkansas Farmers Market in Argenta (downtown North Little Rock). Woohoo!

December 30, 2008

Hello Locavores, we have big news!

It’s finally official.  Argenta Market will be located in what is currently Argenta Seafood, at 6th and Main St. in the historic district of Argenta in downtown N. Little Rock.

You all have heard us talking about the new Argenta Market for over a year now, and we are incredibly excited to finally announce the big news of our new location.  We hope this will be your favorite new community food source, with the widest and deepest selection of local foods in central Arkansas.  We plan to start developing the store in January and open by March.

This all came together when the Isaac brothers (Brian and Eric), owners of Argenta Seafood and Ristorante Capeo, offered the ideal location with ample space for our entire concept (5,500 sq. ft).  The Isaac brothers thought that our concept was so powerful and potentially beneficial to the future of Argenta, as well as the local food movement in Arkansas, that they agreed today to allow our group to begin the transition from a [chic] seafood restaurant and bar to a model, gourmet-specialty grocery with a local foods mission.

Additionally, we have developed a very special, mutually beneficial relationship with the Isaac brothers over the last month while we discussed the possibility of Argenta Market.  They have been most supportive while we’ve discussed ways to help each other, and with their experience and knowledge of food preparation, will all add a new and exciting dimension to the new business.

The New Argenta Group led by John Gaudin, have been instrumental in making this happen, and we are very grateful to them all.  Also, the consistent support of Mayor Patrick H. Hays and many others in the community have made this the most inspiring experience of a life time.  With the energy and planning that we have put into this we are very excited to finally know what we will be doing next year, and many more.  See you soon at Argenta Market!

Happy New Year!
And, thanks for your awesome support in 2008. Our successes in 2008 wouldn’t have been possible without you.

Barbara Armstrong
Jody Hardin
-Foodshed Farm, All Arkansas Basket A Month CSA (2007)
-Certified Arkansas Farmers‚ Market, Inc.(2008)
-Argenta Market, LLC (2009)

P.S. I hope to have more info about our business concept on our web site, www.arkansasfood.net soon!

Chili weather

Suzy Taylor Oakley food

Dear Teri,

Just for you, here’s the chili recipe I promised the other day. I know you’ve been waiting for it.

I started with Chef Jeff’s recipe and made a few modifications, and I think it’s just a little better than the original.

It’s so quick and easy to make, and the best part is that you dirty up just one pan (plus your knife and cutting board, and maybe your garlic press, if you use one – I do). Who can beat that at cleanup time?

Or maybe the best part is that it’s made with ground turkey instead of ground beef yet still is extremely flavorful, even when you use the leanest turkey you can find.

Spicy Turkey Chili
Suzy’s version

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1½ pounds lean ground turkey
1 to 1½ cups yellow onions, diced
½ cup red bell pepper, diced
8-12 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 medium tomato, diced, and 1 can mild diced tomatoes with green chilies (such as Rotel) OR 2 cans Rotel
1 small can tomato paste
1 can black beans, undrained (mash with a fork or leave whole)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups organic chicken broth (or more, depending on how thick you like it)
1 cup grated smoked Cheddar cheese (optional) (plain Cheddar is great, too)
1 bunch scallions, chopped (optional)

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in medium pot with heavy bottom over medium-high heat. Add meat and stir with wooden spoon to break up. Cook, stirring, until meat is browned and cooked through, 8-10 minutes.

Transfer meat to strainer to drain.

Set pot over medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. oil, onions, bell peppers and garlic. Cook 6-8 minutes. Return turkey to pot and mix well.

Add chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper and cook, stirring about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, beans and broth. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, about 30 minutes. Taste for flavor and add salt and pepper if needed. Keep warm on stove until ready to serve.

Serve topped with cheese and scallions. Chef Jeff says cornbread goes great with this chili. Click here for his original chili recipe (I also tried his S’more Bread Pudding. It was a little runny, so I’ll have to keep trying).

The great pumpkin

Suzy Taylor Oakley baking, food

It’s fall recipe time again!

Summer used to be my favorite season, but now I think autumn is my favorite. When the weather turns cooler, high school football starts and the leaves start falling, my thoughts turn to the kitchen.

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning is to watch Food Network, get some great meal or dessert ideas, find the recipes online, go to the grocery store or farmers market for the ingredients and come home ready for action. In fact, for this first recipe, I didn’t even have to leave the house. I had everything on hand already (or close enough that a couple of substitutions didn’t hurt). Of course that’s because it’s from the queen of such things — Sandra Lee of Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee.

Yesterday I made her Spiced Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Citrus Glaze, with a couple of variations. I love to bake from scratch, but I just couldn’t resist trying this quick and delicious cake. In fact, I believe it will be on our Thanksgiving table next week (sorry, Mom, no pumpkin roll with frozen yogurt this year – unless you ask me really nicely).

So here’s Sandra’s recipe, with my notes in parentheses. If you’re rushed this Thanksgiving (and who isn’t?), it’s a wonderful alternative to baking a cake or a pumpkin pie from scratch (and it’s pretty, too. Oh, how I wish I could take beautiful food pictures like Whitney can). The orange glaze gives it just the right kick, although you could certainly leave off the glaze or make a plain glaze by using water or milk instead of orange juice. But it wouldn’t be nearly as yummy. And a healthier alternative to the vegetable oil would be apple sauce, although I didn’t have any Saturday morning. You could also substitute a couple of egg whites for some of the whole eggs, and I’m sure it wouldn’t suffer much.

Spiced Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Citrus Glaze
Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee

Cake:
6 eggs
2/3 cup oil (or apple sauce)
1 cup canned pumpkin pie mix (I used plain ol’ canned pumpkin)
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice (I mixed my own – cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg)
1 box moist spice cake mix
1 box moist yellow cake mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Butter and flour 12-cup bundt cake pan. In large mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, pie mix or canned pumpkin, water and pumpkin pie spice. Beat until well blended. Add cake mixes, and stir to combine. Transfer mixture to bundt pan and bake 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Invert cake onto a cooling rack.

Glaze:
Orange food coloring (or combine red and yellow)
1 pound powdered sugar
1/3 cup orange juice, no pulp
3 teaspoons orange liqueur (I substituted 1 teaspoon orange extract)

Whisk powdered sugar, orange juice, orange liqueur or extract and food coloring in a saucepan on low heat for 5 minutes or until sugar melts (I didn’t do this – I just whisked all the ingredients together). If glaze seems too dry, add more water or orange juice to reach right consistency. Drizzle over cake.

This next one is a recipe I just had to try, even though I suspected I wouldn’t like it (quite the opposite of when I was a picky eater many years ago).

It seems that nowadays everyone has a recipe for pumpkin soup. I never was much of a pumpkin fan (until my mom got a wonderful, easy pumpkin cake recipe several years ago – I guess if you mix in enough sugar, fat and cinnamon, I can go with it). But I have managed to eat – and even enjoy – pumpkin bread, muffins and even pie on occasion.

But pumpkin soup? Well … we’d have to see. I can usually count on Bruce to eat my mistakes, or when they’re not mistakes, at least the things I determine are weird. Like Alison, I’m not one to throw out perfectly good (and by that I mean not spoiled) food.

But even Bruce thought it was weird. He said it was better, but still odd, after it cooled to room temp. I ended up adding lots of cinnamon, a little molasses and a good bit of sugar to make it more pie-like, but the jury is still out. (He is downstairs eating a bowl right now – cold – because he is even worse than I am about wasting food.)

So you tell me. Is this as weird as we think? I mean, seriously, pumpkin, onion, celery, nutmeg – and hot sauce??? Strange. (I did like the relish, however. I didn’t think I would. Go figure.)

Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran-Apple Relish
Rachael Ray’s Thanksgiving in 60

Soup:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 tablespoons butter
1 fresh bay leaf
2 ribs celery with greens, finely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning OR 2 teaspoons ground thyme
2 teaspoons hot sauce, or to taste
6 cups chicken stock
28-ounce can cooked pumpkin puree
2 cups heavy cream (I used whole milk)
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Relish:
1 crisp apple, such as McIntosh or Granny Smith, finely chopped

¼ red onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup dried sweetened cranberries, chopped (I used orange-flavored Craisins)

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 teaspoons honey

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat medium soup pot over medium to medium-high heat. Add oil and melt butter. Add bay, celery and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 6-7 minutes, until tender. Add flour, poultry seasoning and hot sauce, to taste, then cook flour a minute. Whisk in chicken stock and bring liquid to a bubble. Whisk in pumpkin in large spoonfuls to incorporate into broth. Simmer soup 10 minutes to thicken a bit, then add cream and nutmeg. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve.

While soup cooks, assemble the relish: Combine all ingredients.

Serve soup in shallow bowls with a few spoonfuls of relish.

Please let me know your thoughts on pumpkin soup. And if you have a pumpkin soup recipe that is more traditional, send it my direction.

Next time I’ll share my wonderful new chili recipe. It’s soo easy, and so delish. It was a major hit at a recent farewell party for a former co-worker. Can’t wait to share it with you.

Until then, as Paula would say, love and best dishes from my house to yers.

Argenta farmers market

Suzy Taylor Oakley food, friends, fun, health, nature

Don’t forget, locavores, Saturday is the grand opening of the Certified Arkansas Farmers Market in downtown North Little Rock (the 400 block of Main Street). The market has been open since May 3, but this weekend will have more hoopla, complete with a ribbon cutting, a live bluegrass band (no canned music for these fine folks), free beefalo burgers (free food — who could resist that?) and maybe even a few juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes. And all kinds of berries and other delicacies are expected. (If you didn’t see my article on Page 5A of today’s NLR Times, rush out and buy a copy now!)

Jody Hardin, Barbara Armstrong and the other farmers have been working hard to bring us fresh, locally grown, pesticide free, healthy produce and other items. One woman sells organic dog biscuits and a natural potion that stopped her dog’s itchies. It wasn’t in my budget the day I talked to her (and my dogs haven’t been scratching too much lately), so I haven’t bought any yet, but as soon as itchy season hits us, I’m all over that booth.

Do your part this weekend. Come out and say hey to your neighbors, support your local farmers and have a beefalo burger on the house (donations accepted, of course).

See ya there!

Can't wait to share

Suzy Taylor Oakley family, food, fun, inspiration, nature

Bruce and DJ at farmers market, May 3, 2008.

I cannot share with you the abundance of what Bruce and I experienced this morning — until next week.

You see, we went to the new farmers market in Argenta, but I was taking photos for The North Little Rock Times, because our reporter, Jeremy, had another assignment. He knew I was planning to be at the market anyway, so he asked me to take pics in his place.

Mayor Hays rang the opening bell, and, even though it was windy and quite chilly at 7 a.m., there was a good little crowd to christen the event.

It was wonderful, but I can’t tell you how wonderful for a few days, for two reasons: 1) Technically, any photos we publish in The Times will belong to my employer, so the ones I use for this blog will have to be ones we choose not to publish in the May 8 edition; and 2) Bruce says I have to do my homework first (my online accounting class, and I’m way behind). But I told him I at least have to write a paragraph! And, of course, I got carried away and have written much more than that.

But I had to tell you two things about my experience: 1) The Chudy Farms people got me to like honey. That’s huge! My dislike of honey goes back to some childhood memories of being force fed the stuff when I had the croup. But the Chudy Farms people offered me a sample of their honey on a biscuit, and I became an instant fan. 2) There’s a New Clean Plate Club started by nutritionist Penny Rudder that you’re going to love! I hope to write a sidebar for The Times about that, but I definitely will be talking to her in the next couple of days to get more details, whether it’s for the paper or the blog (I hope to do both).

Can’t wait to tell you more — and share more pics — next weekend.

Oh, and in the photo above is of Bruce (you know him) and D.J., former NLR Times reporter who’s about to start writing for an NLR blog in a couple of weeks.

Off to do my homework …

How now brown blog

Suzy Taylor Oakley Crohn's disease, dogs, food, nature

I told you I would have trouble with brown. I struggled to find pictures I had already taken. I didn’t want to go around my house looking for something to take pictures of (I thought of photographing something I deal with daily — dog poo on the carpet — but Bruce didn’t think that was such a good idea), so the file photos I scrounged up will have to do.

I made this pumpkin cheesecake on Thanksgiving Day for a family from church when I was making money baking for people. The pecan praline topping was a little runnier than I would have liked but so good I wanted to drink it all up!

Click to see the apple pie I referred to in Crust-ophobic no more.

And saving the best for last: Below is Pepper in her sunny spot in the office. She appears mostly “black,” but if you look at her closely in the sunshine (in real life, not in this photo), you realize she’s really just very dark brown. And then there’s the obvious brown, which is the reason I chose her for Brown day.

pepper on Brown day

Want to know why I post more pics of Pepper than Salsa? Salsa is in perpetual motion. I told Bruce she is self-winding. In most of the pictures I try to take of her, she’s just a big blur. I still want Whitney to take family pictures of all of us for Christmas cards; we’re going to need someone professional to take the pictures while we try to corral the furbabies.

Whitney and I tried year before last to schedule a photo shoot but could never work it out. And last year Bruce was sick, and we didn’t really want to take Christmas card pics of him in his bathrobe on the couch. However, he used just such a picture for his blog.

Tomorrow is pick your own color. I’m going to surprise you.

Yellow

Suzy Taylor Oakley family, food, friends, fun, inspiration, nature

Today’s color is yellow. I have to admit, it’s not one of my favorite colors — unless it’s BRIGHT, like these mums. Although my laundry-room story will seem to contradict that…

butterfly and yellow mums

My laundry room is bright yellow, although my plan was to paint it “butter yellow.” Bruce had decided to surprise me by painting it while I was in California for a wedding. Because of a mix-up at the paint store or a miscommunication on my part (or maybe just Bruce’s not knowing what I meant by “butter yellow”), it ended up being more what I would call canary yellow. But laundry rooms should be bright, right? So it has remained “canary yellow” for nearly eight years.

Sorry there’s no picture of the laundry room. You just get the mums today. (On White day, I linked to a similar picture.)

Tomorrow’s color is brown, quite possibly my least favorite color, although there are some wonderful browns out there nowadays. Still, it might be a challenge to come up with pictures to illustrate what I like about brown.

Added 03/08/08: I found this picture on the last day in the Week of Color, so I just had to add it. It’s a rose from a 40th-anniversary cake I made last year, modeled on the couple’s wedding cake.

yellow cake rose

Going green

Suzy Taylor Oakley baseball, family, food, fun, inspiration, nature

Today is green day in Jerusalem’s Week of Color.

The pictures I chose for today are a little more meaningful than the previous ones. The first is of cookies for my church’s Christmas Interrupted celebration year before last. I didn’t make the cookies — I think my friend Alicia did — but they depict two aspects of the holiday for me. Christmas cookies always mean fun, and Alicia made them just a little whimsical with the green candies (or is that icing?). But the star shape also makes me think of the star in the East, the one that guided the wise men to worship our Savior.

Christmas_interrupted_cookies3

The next picture, also from 2006, is of a park in Kerman, Calif., where my brother, J.T., played Little League baseball. My parents, my best friend and I spent many hours on those bleachers, cracking open bag after bag of sunflower seeds and dropping the shells down below us while we watched my brother and our neighbor boys play the sport I will always love.

In June 2006, when I had a business trip to California, I talked my mom into going with me. We met up with some old friends, and they drove us around our little hometown, which isn’t so little anymore. I took pictures of the first house I remember living in (on E Street); our church (First Southern Baptist Church and its mission, Primera Iglesia Bautista); the elementary school my brother and I attended (Kerman-Floyd); and Kerckhoff Park …

Kerckhoff Park June 2006

White

Suzy Taylor Oakley food, friends, fun, humor, inspiration, nature

It’s almost bedtime, and I nearly forgot about Jerusalem’s Week of Color challenge to celebrate spring. Isn’t a Week of Color a great idea?

Because I work mainly with the left side of my brain, my job is not — no matter how hard I wish it could be — to work with artsy things. So I try, when I can, to provide an “alternative perspective” (some might call it “comic relief”).

When I got to thinking about “white,” I thought I was going to fail the Day 2 assignment (Day 1 was pink, but I didn’t refer to it — my photo yesterday just happened to contain pink). Then, as often happens this time of night, I thought about my favorite bedtime treat: Old-Fashioned Low-Fat Frozen Yogurt. So here is my entry in the White category:

white_frozenyogurt

Then I looked at Whitney’s pink picks and remembered that I had some white pics in my previous posts: this and this.

So I’m not such a loser after all!

Mission accomplished. Now, pardon me while I go eat my frozen yogurt while it’s still frozen.