It’s been a long, dark, damp and cold winter this year, and I find myself wanting to spend most of my time hibernating in a warm cozy den of blankets, with a hot cup of tea set down close enough to grab without exposing more than an inch of forearm to the cold living room air. It doesn’t help matters that my husband is psychologically allergic to winter and turns into a crotchety get-off-my-lawn old man at the first hint of snow in the air.

A few weekends ago I found myself annoyed by a cold draft of air making its unwelcomed way into my cocoon of pillows, blankets and Battlestar Galactica DVD’s. The source of the draft turned out to be the above mentioned crotchety old man fiddling with my blanket, trying to get my attention.   Apparently, he’d had just about enough of this Canadianesque winter and was going to do something about it, and I was going to help him. Even if it killed me. After skillful cajoling, veiled threats, and some seriously unfair blanket theft, I graciously allowed myself to be persuaded to get dressed and venture out into the cold. You see my darling blanket-stealing husband had an epiphany of sorts; since spring was stubbornly refusing to show itself outdoors (I blame the groundhog), we would just have to find a way to bring spring to the indoors.

It was late in the evening, and we had to journey long, and journey far (Walmart). We fought our way through the last-minute Valentine’s Day shoppers, the giant boxes of chocolaty candy and the toppling towers of red and white stuffed animals emblazoned with the word “love” in 15 different languages. When we finally arrived at the blissfully empty island of tranquility that was the gardening section, we loaded up the cart with packets of seeds of every herb we could find. All nine of them. Joy of  lazy gardener joys, right next to the seed packets was a display of handy-dandy Jiffy seed starter kits, complete with compressed pellets of Canadian peat moss. Just add water, seeds and presto, insta-garden! We then zipped through the lighting section, picking up a pair of florescent light fixtures and some daylight balanced bulbs. We fought our way back through the now desperate throngs of  husbands and boyfriends to the self-checkout isle, paid a surprisingly small amount of money,  and escaped with our bounty.

The next day we bought an industrial shelving unit, survived assembling it, and created our indoor greenhouse in an unused corner of our basement. I supposed we could have waited to start the seeds to be sure that they wouldn’t be ready too early to go into the herb pots I usually plant with purchased seedlings every year. But I’m all about instant gratification, and if any of the herbs take off and mature too early to go into the garden, I’m sure I’ll be able to find something creatively culinary to do with them. Can you say fish with baby dill and lemon?

It’s been 2 weeks since our midnight seed escapade, and except for the parsley and rosemary, all of our herbs have sprouted. After much time spent herb watching, I’ve discovered that if I move in real close to the tiny sprouts, close my eyes and breathe in deeply, I can just about smell summer.

And on the bright side, winter is more than half over for most of us south of the 49th parallel.  Very soon (and not soon enough), we’ll all be able to pack up the blankets for the summer, throw open the windows and watch our herbs grow in the sunshine.

What You Will Need:

1. Seeds: Your choice
2. Containers: Use purchased containers or old plastic cups. Punch holes in the bottom for drainage.*
3. Plastic tray for drainage basin.*
4. Potting mix: A soiless potting mix (peat moss) is best.*
5. Labels: Tape or paper labels are essential for those of us older than 35.  Labels are optional for twenty-something’s with a photographic memory.
6. Plastic Covers: To create a mini-greenhouse, trapping moisture and heat.*
7. A Light Source: A cheap fluorescent fixture works just fine.
8. Water
9. A small fan to circulate air, prevent mold, and strengthen stems (optional)

*Use a fabricated seed starting system, such as Jiffy brand, to make things a little easier on yourself

Plant seeds according to the package directions. Seeds will be planted at different times depending on the time it takes them to mature, and the date you are going to plant them outdoors. Keep the soil moist until germination.  Once the seeds sprout, turn on the lighting system and give them 12 to 16 hours of light per day.  As the seeds mature, pick out the weaker seedlings, leaving only the strongest in each pot. A few weeks before you transfer outdoors, start leaving the plants outside for a few hours a day.  This will “harden” then, and prepare them to survive in the big, bad outdoor world.

You might also enjoy:<:

1. Fish with French Herbs and Spring Veggies
2. Strip Steak and Chimichurri Sauce
3. The Good Egg Project – Farm to Table Tour

©EclecticCook.com, 2010. | Permalink toStarting Herbs from Seed: Bringing Some Spring into February | 11 comments |

Of course I’m talking about meat, and the cooking of it. Here is a common dilemma I have faced in the past. I find a wonderful recipe for a flank steak on the grill. The recipe says cook 4 minutes on each side for medium rare. Sounds simple, right?

Not so much.

First, say I want to buy a top round steak instead of flank because it’s cheaper and on sale. Second, I can’t “ask my butcher” to prepare the right size for me as the recipe suggests, because this is a grocery store and he would look at me funny. The top round I purchase is 2 pounds, 1 inch thick, and the recipe calls for 1 pound, ½ inch thick. If I follow the recipe, my meat will be medium raw, not medium rare. It’s the same issue for that recipe that calls for a 2 pound pork roast, but I have a 3 pound roast in the freezer.

What is a girl to do?

It’s a simple thing really, little grasshopper. Never cook your meats based on a specified length of time, but on the internal temperature reached in the thickest part of the meat. And how does one do this?

Gadgets. Gotta love ‘em.

This was my first meat thermometer. I hated it from the minute I brought it home. It’s heavy and clunky, falls over if you try to leave it in a thinner cut of meat, and you can’t see it through the oven door. And it takes for.ev.er to get to temperature. So you end up repeatedly opening the oven door to check the temperature of the meat, promptly reducing the oven temperature by about 100 degrees, and then you wonder why it takes 2 days to cook a 3 pound roast.

If anyone wants it, I’ll send it to you.

This is my second meat thermometer. Its small and digital, and reads the temperature instantlyish. But you can’t leave it in the meat because it’s plastic, and you still can’t read it through the oven door. It was handy for testing liquids on the stove top, but don’t use it anymore because my hubby stole it one day to test the water temperature during a fish tank cleaning…

This is my baby, my Brad Pitt of the thermometer world. It’s nothing fancy; I got it on sale at Target (you can find it or something similar on Amazon). But it makes me a very happy girl. The working end goes into your meat of choice. I’ve tested it, and the sensitivity is in the first inch or so at the tip, so there is no need to ram the thing right through your piece of meat. But this is the best part: you insert it into the meat, set the temperature alarm for the internal temperature you are looking for, close the oven door, park the display on your stovetop…..and walk away. Oh heaven. And it works on the grill too! If I ever find out that Brad has gotten within 10 feet of the fish tank, I’m filing for divorce.

For your carnivorous convenience, here is a handy-dandy summary of internal temperatures for various meats:

 Beef Roasts and Steak

Rare	125°F
Medium-rare	135°F	Recommended (by me!).
Medium	145°F	Acceptable.
Medium-well	155°F	Things start getting tough.
Well-done	160°F	Don’t go there. Have a burger instead.

Pork Roasts and chops 

Medium	145°F	Recommended for pork tenderloin
Medium-well	155°F
Well-done	160°F

Ham

Uncooked	160°F
Pre-cooked	145°F

Poultry (Chicken, Turkey, other birds)

Recomended	165°F	Always cook poultry to 165°F
Overcooked	170°F	Do not go above 170°F unless you want jerky
Stuffing	165°F	Must reach 165°F to be safe

 A note on resting: The larger the cut of meat, the more the internal temperature will rise on resting. So if you have a thinner (less than ½ inch) steak, you will need to get it almost up to temperature when cooking. A 3 pound roast or whole bird can be taken off the heat at 5 to 10 degrees early, and will reach temperature while resting.

 A note on “low and slow” for beef and pork: When cooking a brisket or a shoulder roast or ribs at a low temp 250°F to 300°F  for a long time, I rarely use the thermometer. First off, a half hour longer cooking time at these temperatures is not going to mess anything up, so you can guestimate about 1 to 1½ hours per pound of meat. Use a fork instead of the thermometer. Stick it in the meat and twist. If it’s pull-apart tender, it’s done. You *can* overcook the meat on low and slow. It will start to break down and get mushy, which is never appetizing.

 A note on seafood: There are so many different kinds of fish, it’s hard to summarize. There are a few things to remember; in general, when the fish turns opaque and flakes easily, it’s done. Fish will take a lot less time to cook through than you think, so watch it carefully. Overcooked seafood is not really good for anything more than a dog/cat treat, so avoid it at all costs.

There are 2 other thermometers I use regularly.

This is my candy/oil thermometer that I use for….well candy and oil. Nuff said.

This is my oven temperature thermometer that I use to monitor the temperature of my oven for those sensitive baking items like cookies and breads. Nobody likes a burnt cookie except the dog.

This is what we did with those steaks in the background of the thermometer pictures. I suppose I could file this as “Low Carb”, couldn’t I?

You might also enjoy:<:

1. Hot and Sweet Glazed Pork Chops
2. Fish and Noodles with Lemon Ginger Sauce
3. Pork and Apple Stew

©EclecticCook.com, 2009. | Permalink toA Practical Look at Kitchen Thermometers | No comment |

And so it begins….

My eldest daughter, fruit of my loins, joy of my heart, is obsessed with the Twilight book series. I should probably clarify that by saying she is obsessed with the male lead character, which means that my baby girl is now officially a “tween” and my life will never be the same (or sane) again. She recently celebrated her eleventh birthday, and I decided to bake her a cake.  So I looked to the internet for my inspiration and I found it here, at sweetaustin.com . To those of you unfamiliar with the twilight series, my cake probably looks a little odd.  Freakish even. The creepy reddish tinge to the photo doesn’t help either (New camera growing pains).  But if you have read the books, you’ll get it. Or at least I hope you get it….

Morgan got it, and I got a few weeks worth of ”you’re the best mom ever” karma.

Time-saving tips:

1. Freeze your cake layers. Bake the layers in advance, wrap them up well in plastic wrap, and freeze.  I did mine a week ahead and they were still moist and yummy. The frozen cakes layers are also waaaay easier to frost.
2. Make/buy a good buttercream frosting in advance. It lasts foreverish, so why rush at the last minute?
3. Frost the day before with a crumb coat. The crumb coat is the thin, sloppy, crumb filled first coat of frosting. Do this the day before, and refrigerate the cake (uncovered is fine) overnight. The next day the crumb coat will be crusted over (in a good way) and the cake will be a breeze to frost and decorate.
4. Do NOT store the uncovered cake in a fridge with peeled onions, fish, stinky gym socks, etc. Unless you want it to taste like peeled onions, fish, stinky gym socks, etc. Buttercream is a great refrigerator deodorizer; it absorbs bad odors and doesn’t let go.

Kid rating on the finished product: 4 thumbs up!

You might also enjoy:<:

1. Green Tomato Muffins and the Birth of a Blog Post
2. Red White and Blueberry Shortcakes
3. Fish and Noodles with Lemon Ginger Sauce

©EclecticCook.com, 2009. | Permalink toLet Them Eat Cake! | 3 comments |