Home-Roasted Coffee Beans

The Wear-Ever Popcorn Pumper circa 1980s?

I should have put this on my 30-Before-30 list. Because I could totally check it off with flair. A friend of mine posted a link on my Facebook wall a few months back about roasting coffee beans at home with popcorn air popper. I knew I had to try this. We have a popcorn popper dating back to Pat's childhood, and we may have used it to make popcorn once in the last six+ years.

The first thing I did was order some green coffee beans. Sweet Maria's had good prices and sampler packs. The amount of choices was a little overwhelming, plus I love getting surprises and it was cheaper per pound for a sampler -- so that's what I did. Now, I've had these bags of coffee beans sitting in my kitchen for weeks before I've had the chance to start roasting.

Can you get over the color of these beans?

There's a number of websites offering advice for the home roaster. Using these as my guide, I set up my air popper. I don't have a metal colander, but this is the insert to a pasta pot. I put a damp paper towel inside to catch the chaff. (Those who suggested this as a great backyard activity -- yes! But only if you have a backyard.) It does pretty well for the most part, though the counter still got pretty messy.

Chaff.

Using the stopwatch on my iPhone, I kept count of the minutes until I heard the "first crack." Having done a few rounds of this now, I can tell you it's consistently popping around 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. This crack is loud and unmistakeable.

The Home-Roasting Set-Up

A few minutes later, the "second crack" happens but it's quieter. I hear the beans continuing to crack when I turn the popper off. I've been roasting between 6-7 minutes. If you like a really dark roast, go longer. I'm still fuzzy about determining what is "Full City" and what's "Full City+" but I think I'll begin to notice the finer differences after more practice.

Once I turn off the popper, I wipe out the "colander" of chaff and pour the beans in. Pour with care. The popper and the beans are quite hot. Swirl the beans a few times, then let them cool.

Once the beans have reach room temp, I put them in a foil coffee bag with a vent so they can "de-gas." Others have suggested putting them in a glass jar with the lid not too tight. Let them de-gas for about 24 hours. Then they are ready for brewing. And PS - no surprise, but they smell A.MAZING.

Look how pretty!

I haven't actually made any coffee with them yet, but soon! Can't wait to report back on that.

Magical Ginger Cookies

Holiday baking has begun! I'm starting with a recipe from the Daily Garnish, which is one of my very favorite favorite food blogs. The author, Emily, is truly inspiring! Her blogging about her running journey is one of the biggest reasons I started running last June. And her recipes always look beautiful, so it's very exciting to finally try one in "public."

These cookies are adapted from Emily's recipe for Crystallized Ginger-Spice Cookies. The recipe is vegan, which is great, but I just bought a bunch of butter and have some eggs to use up, so my version is not vegan. For the vegan version, refer to Emily's recipe here.

Ingredients

• 1 c white whole wheat flour (or regular whole wheat)
• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 2 t ground ginger
• heaping 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground cloves
• dash of ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 c butter
• 1/2 c sugar (plus more for rolling cookies)
• heaping 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 t vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 c molasses
• 1/2 c minced crystallized ginger

Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl until combined. In a stand mixer (or hand mixer), cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. While this is creaming, mince the crystallized ginger (about 1/2 c). It was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be really soft and sticky. Wrong. The texture was a little more solid than a gum drop. It went quickly, but I got a little lazy and was a little shy of the 1/2 cup.

Minced Crystallized Ginger

Add egg, milk, molasses and mix briefly.

In the original recipe, it says to add dry ingredients first, then wet ingredients. I goofed. Worked out just fine though! So in whichever order you please, wet ingredients followed by dry (or vice versa).

The last thing to add is the minced ginger. Stir until combined.

Roll dough (about a tablespoon) into a round ball, then flatten. Coat both sides in a shallow bowl of white, granulated sugar. Place about 2" apart on baking sheet. 

Bake 10-12 minutes. My little convection oven took only 9, so keep an eye on them. Remove from sheet and cool on rack. Store in airtight container, or in your belly.

The Verdict:

from Thyme Natural Market

These cookies are off the hook! The texture (at least just out of the oven) is wonderful. The sugar coating gives it a great, sweet crunch which contrasts beautifully with the little bit of ginger and the molasses. I was a little uncertain about using the crystallized ginger. This was a brand new ingredient for me, and I had some trouble tracking it down. The big chain grocery store did not have it (boo!), but I knew that our local natural market (Thyme! If you are in Queens, come check out Thyme Natural Market in Kew Gardens) would have it. Score! As I was mincing, I tried a tiny bit. Wow, does it have a kick. Very spicy and in your face. And addictive. It turned out amazing in these cookies. When I had my first bite, the tiny piece of minced ginger just melted in my mouth - flavor explosion. I'm a fan. A great addition to the holiday cookie repertoire!

30 - Before - 30

I have seen a number of posts lately on 30-before-30 or 30-while-30, and I just love this idea of this. It's a list of things that you want to accomplish before (or while) you are 30 years old. Dudes, I am a list-maker. If I don't have my to-do list, I feel a little lost. And when I can check something off the list, oh man, I feel so good!

Since I'm not quite 30 yet, I'm going to start on that 30-before-30 list. Which actually means I have less than 6 months to complete it. But here's the deal: the things on this list don't need to be complicated. And I feel like I need to simplify my life a little, so I'm going to try to keep these goals ... well, simple.

Food / Cooking
1. Attempt a jelly (or other type of) roll. (I'm not sure if this will be possible in my convection oven. Maybe it will just be a mini-roll).
2. Try a spaghetti squash.
3. Post a recipe every other week.
4. Try eggplant.
5. Make a beautiful beverage using our very nice Applejack Brandy.
6. Sometimes exchange coffee for tea.
7. Make a conscious effort to cut down on meat, dairy, and oils.
8. Try a brand-new cookie recipe.

Health / Fitness
9. 90 minutes of elliptical or running per week.
10. Reach that elusive 125 lb goal.
11. 30 minutes of yoga per week.
12. Make an effort to do more vegetarian eating.
13. Complete the Couch-2-5K program.

Life in General
14. Go to 1 NYC Museum. (I have not done this once since we moved here in 2009!)
15. Spend more time petting and cuddling the boys.

16. Try to go on a date every other month. (So that's 3 dates. Doable.)
17. See a movie at Kew Gardens Cinema. Sneaking in popcorn optional.
18. See 1 movie off my "must-see list" each month.
19. Send 1 personal email or e-card to a friend each month.
20. Read something before bed that is not for school.
21. Write in a journal once a week.

School
22. Submit at least one paper to a journal.
23. Submit one conference proposal.
24. See the full David Lynch oeuvre.
25. Take more deep breaths.
26. Go to 1 Happy Hour or Coffee with everyone. We need to relax more.

Theatre
27. See 1 play. I can check this off already! We went to see Accidental Shakespeare Company's Much Ado About Nothing on Saturday night.
28. Look around during The Justice Project and appreciate what it is we do.
29. Concentrate on specificity and reference in the learning and speaking of my lines.
30. Speak from the heart. And sometimes head. And sometimes loins (which is what I really need to work on. Shut up.)

Pumpkin Bundt

After finals-induced hibernation, it is glorious to be back in foodland. I'm catching up on a few things that I made over the last few weeks but never posted about, and I'm planning to do a few posts on the holiday baking that will be happening this week! And I'm pretty sure there's at least one back-logged recipe in my "Drafts" that I can finally publish.

So without further ado, let's get into the eating-est time of the year. With Pumpkin Bundt Cake. Or Bundtkin. I found this recipe on Whipped. You can check out the original recipe here. I've adapted it slightly, mostly because I didn't have buttermilk. I thought subbing in Greek Yogurt was sublime, however.

Ingredients
2 1/4 c flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1.5 - 2 t cinnamon
1/4 t cloves
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t allspice
A dash of nutmeg was all I had left in the bottle! Otherwise I'd probably have gone for about 1/4-1/2 t.
1/2 t salt
3/4 c Greek Yogurt + 1/4 C half and half
2 sticks of butter or shortening
1 1/4 c sugar
3 eggs
powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Since I had no buttermilk, I subbed a single serving package of fat free Chobani yogurt (plain, though I imagine vanilla would work just fine too) with 1/4 cup of fat free half and half. This ended up measuring to about 3/4 cup of "buttermilk."

"Buttermilk" (yogurt + half and half)

I would have preferred to use butter in this cake, but since I still have Crisco to use up, I used a giant stick of Crisco which was equivalent to 2 sticks of regular size shortening.

First things first. Preheat your oven to 350. Grease and flour your bundt pan (hahaha). In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.

In another bowl (or if you're lazy, your measuring cup) combine the yogurt + half and half, pumpkin, and vanilla.

"Buttermilk" with pumpkin and vanilla added.

 Such a pretty color!

With your pretty stand mixer (mine is named Wilbur "Splorge" Plantagenet, if I haven't introduced you already), cream together butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat for another minute.

Reduce the speed and beging to add the flour and the pumpkin mixtures alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix just until smooth.

Scoop all that batter into your bundt pan. I was too lazy to wipe down splotches. Oh well. 

Bake about 45 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the cake's center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for about 10-15 minutes, then dump it out of the pan, and cool for another 10-15 minutes before serving. I dusted my cake with powdered sugar before sharing it at the Institute for Writing Studies Thanksgiving Party. Since I came home nary a crumb, I think it was a big hit. Sorry no pics of the finished product! I'm pretty sure I was rushing out the door to make it to the party on time.

Tuscan Vegetable Soup

I am trying to get back on the wagon post-Thanksgiving. To be fair, I can't just blame Thanksgiving for the pounds I've packed on lately. A great deal of it is just semester-living. Mondays and Tuesdays I'm at school until 10:00 pm, Wednesdays we've been getting home around 9:00 ... the last thing I feel like doing is cooking. And even if I did there's no time to do it! So with the combination of not having making time to exercise and the easy deliciousness unhealthiness of Fresh Tortillas nachos, well I am nearly 10 pounds from where I'd truly like to be.

So my solution for the last two weeks of the semester ... SOUP! I love soup. I adore it. So.much. You have no doubt heard my insane ravings about Butternut Squash Soup lately. Every time I go to the store I seem to come home with four of them. Thank goodness I can still make a few more batches! But I'm looking to change it up a little. I need more veg in my life. My goal is to lose that 10 pounds by the time the Justice Project goes up in February. Today I read a bunch of Blu's Hanging on the elliptical and made Tuscan Vegetable Soup.

My mom gave me this recipe over a year ago. I have no idea where she got it from, but it is some seriously fabulous and healthy soup. Here's what you need:

Ingredients:
2 15 oz cans of cannelini beans (I didn't have these today so I used 1 can of chickpeas instead)
1 T olive oil
1/2 lg onion, diced (I definitely used a whole one)
2 carrots, diced (I'm lazy. I chopped)
2 stalks celery, diced
1 sm zucchini, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 3. Gotta love garlic)
1 t dried thyme
1/2 t dried sage
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
32 oz chicken (or veg) broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (I found fire-roasted ones at the store. Very tasty!)
2 c baby spinach (I used fresh not-baby spinach)

Heat the oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven or stock pot or what-have-you over med-high heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, zucchini, garlic, thyme, sage, salt and pepper. I chopped onions and carrots first to get them on the heat while I chopped the celery, zucchini, and garlic. Worked just fine, though they definitely cooked longer than the suggested 5 minutes. You could also use fresh herbs instead of dried -- just increase to 1 T fresh thyme and 2 t fresh sage. I was heavier-handed with the dried herbs than listed and just dumped them in. I like herbs.

Once the veg are tender, add the broth and the tomatoes and bring to a boil. While this is heating, mash one can of beans.

I was trying to cut calories in this soup so I used only one can of beans and mashed half. The texture didn't turn out as nicely as if I'd used two cans, but it was still very tasty. Also note to self, the cannelini beans definitely work better than chickpeas.

Once the soup comes to a boil add the mashed beans and the whole beans and the spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes. Top w/grated Parmesan cheese. The cheese is so good!

I let the soup sit for awhile to let those spices ruminate. It's even better the next day, so I'm looking forward to lunch tomorrow. We served this up tonight with some toasted Italian bread and black olive tapenade. Delicious.

Later this week, I'm planning on some Cream of Asparagus, Herbed Pea Soup, Split Pea Soup, and of course another round or two of Butternut Squash Soup. That should hold us until December 15 when the final papers are all due.

Pumpkin Coffee

Autumn is winding to a close. Thanksgiving is next week. And my bottle of Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup is almost gone. I'll probably have just enough to make it to the end of November.

I love pumpkin coffee. Beyond words. It's my fave. But not Starbucks ... at least not unless I'm in a pinch. I am a Dunkin girl all the way. D-Squared. (I'm sure this will raise polemical discussion at some point in the comments section.) I was just spending so much on pumpkin coffees since October began that I decided I should economize.

Enter Torani syrups. Check out their website ... seriously crazy amounts of syrup. And for about $8 a bottle, I can enjoy 2 months of pumpkin coffee. That's excellent. So I ordered a pumpkin spice and a strawberry (to make Italian sodas, hello!) ... but now that I'm almost out, I've been pondering a winter flavor.

My perfect pumpkin coffee:

1 steaming hot mug of Eight O'Clock Coffee (I like the Colombian)
2.5 pumps of Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup
A very healthy splash of fat-free half and half

I'll let you know how it is when I take to home-roasting my own coffee beans. That's.right.

Butternut Squash Obsession ... er ... Soup

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I work until 10 pm at the Writing Center so a transportable and reheatable dinner is a must. Tonight I'm bringing leftover Sausage Scramble and tomorrow night -- my latest obsession: Butternut Squash Soup!

I invested in one of those awesome, immersion, stick blender things. And it's green! In case you couldn't tell from my bright green curtains in my kitchen ... I love green. My clock is green. Towels. Potholders. Pans. Giant stock pot. Bathroom rug. Ice cream maker. And my latest addition of the stick blender.

So far I've made 2 batches of Butternut Squash Soup and 1 batch of Pumpkin Black Bean Soup. I have to confess I have no idea where I got this Butternut Squash Soup recipe, but now that I've made it twice ... I'll just put in my modifications and claim it.

Ingredients
two pats of butter
healthy drizzle of olive oil (the second time I used coconut oil -- about 1.5 T maybe)
1 onion, chopped
a couple spoonfuls of garlic (we have one of those giant jars of chopped garlic. so convenient)
dried sage
dried thyme leaves or ground thyme (or hell, why not both)
a beautiful 2 - 2.5 pound (or a little more) butternut squash (<3 <3 <3), peeled, seeded, and cubed
a couple splashes of cooking sherry or leftover good red wine turning to vinegar
4 cups chicken stock
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 c heavy cream
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

The original recipe calls for pancetta ... which sounds good but I haven't had it either time I've made it.

Melt the butter and oil in big heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add in the chopped onion and saute until it's soft -- for maybe 5 minutes. Add in the garlic (and then a little extra for luck), healthy sprinkles of the sage and thyme. Let that sit for a minute. Then add in your beautiful butternut squash cubes and saute for a few minutes. I let this go for at least five or so, usually because I'm still cubing up the rest of the squash.

OK, so here's what I "messed up" the first time that I'm convinced led to better, thicker soup. I only put in half the squash to saute. Oops! I didn't measure and just figured, oh that looks like enough. So I finished the rest of the steps and pureed and it was very thin. Oh no! So I quick heated a little more butter and oil, tossed in the rest of the squash cubes, added sage and thyme and cayenne, sauteed a few minutes. Then I threw it into the "finished" puree for another 25 minutes. It was thick and delicious. Since my second batch I followed the directions better and came up with not-quite-as-stellar-soup ... this is the way to go.

SO - you're only sauteeing half of your squash, got it? Continue thus ...

Once the squash is a little soft and fragrant (I love the smell of squash!), add in your wine, broth, and cayenne pepper. Cover and simmer for about 25-30 minutes (or the length of a dog walk).

Now you can go ahead and saute your second batch of squash. And fry up some crispy pancetta if you have some, or make some croutons or anything else you feel like for a topping.

Back to business. When you're through with your simmer, puree everything in the pot with your really awesome stick blender. Then toss in that second batch of squash and simmer for another 25 minutes. When that's done, puree the whole thing again to your desired consistency. Stir in the heavy cream. Top with whatever you want, including a tiny pinch of salt and some fresh cracked black pepper. My favorite thing to dip in is pretzel rolls. Yum.

PS - I'm making another batch of this for Thanksgiving, at which time I'll add in some photos. Right now, all you'd get is leftovers in the tupperware.

My dear actors eat no onions nor garlic.

Too tired to cook.

And some nights you just eat leftover pizza.

Pumpkin Gingersnaps

Seriously one of the best cookies I've ever had. Ever.

I got this recipe for Pumpkin Gingersnaps from Two Peas and their Pod, which is such a great blog. Major props on these cookies. The balance of spices was perfect. I love a flavorful cookie, and this one was bursting with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

Now, I've been trying desperately to use up three sticks of Crisco that I bought I don't know when. I think they've made two moves with us now? Man, I hope that's not true. But even if it is, that expiration date has not yet hit! So anyway, the point is that I chose to substitute Crisco in for the butter. Next time, baby, butter. Is it possible these cookies could be better?

Pumpkin Gingersnaps

1/2 cup vegetable shortening (for the love of god I can't wait to use butter next time)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling. for serious pumpkin)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 1/3 c flour
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t ground ginger
1 t ground cloves
1/2 t salt

I'm not gonna lie. I heap those spoons of spices, especially the cinnamon. I would make a joke about a nest of spicery here, but that's just disgusting. So I'll keep it to myself.

Anyhow, I got out Wilbur "Splorge" Plantagenet (that's my mixer. Yes, I name my appliances.) and creamed together the fake-o butter and sugar for a few minutes till it was super creamy. I paused the Splorge - dumped in a scant 1/2 cup of pumpkin (end of the can. sad!), 1/4 cup molasses, and the egg. And the vanilla. Don't forget that. And I never measure vanilla. I just pour! And then another dollop.

While Wilbur continues to splorge, I mixed up the dry ingredients in another bowl, then dumped that into the mixer as well. Starting to look and smell good. And I definitely had a taste, raw egg be damned. I'm a bad example. What can I say?

Then I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge while I made dinner. And only now did I think to get out my camera (oh my, he needs a name!) and start snapping some pictures.

Preheat oven to 350 .... now! I got a small bowl and filled it with sugar for rolling the cookies in. Grease a baking sheet (or two) and get to rolling those cookies. Bigger than a jawbreaker. Smaller than hackey-sack. That's good.

Roll it in between your palms, then into the sugar. 

Don't touch my dough balls!

 I baked for 10 minutes (switching racks at 5 minutes) and they were perfect!

I think I was supposed to let them cook on the tray for a few minutes before switching to the rack, but I had another batch of cookies to get in the oven. Straight to the rack they went, but not before a quality check. DELICIOUS!

A little crispy on the outside, cakey on the inside. And the hint of salt brought out all the flavors beautifully. So good! But cookies are only for mommies and daddies, and not for Pippins and Guses, no matter how cute they are.

We enjoyed our cookies with some decaf coffee. But they would be perfect with a glass of (insert preferred kind of milk here).

Crazy for Pumpkin

Some pumpkin recipes I want to experiment with:

Mini Pumpkin Pies (from Make and Takes)

Pumpkin Cheesecake (from Brown Eyed Baker, one of my favorite blogs)

Pumpkin Oatmeal Scotchies (also from Make and Takes)

Pumpkin Crumb Cakes (from The Kitchn)

I'm also hoping to dig into some pumpkin pasta recipes with the two little pumpkins I have left from our upstate trip to the pumpkin patch.

And I just snagged four butternut squash and one acorn squash from the market down the street. I've already made soup of one. Planning on Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas (from The Daily Garnish, another of my favorite blogs) with another. And no idea what to do with the acorn squash since I've never even eaten one. Suggestions?

Sausage Scramble

I got this recipe from someone when I was in college. It's so easy I never actually wrote down a recipe for it. And P named it the Sausage Scramble after a few times making it for us. Here it is, sans exact measurements. I told you so.

4 of those big Italian sausage links
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 15(ish) oz (or whatever that size is ...14.5? 15?) can of diced tomatoes
3 cups rice, cooked

chop chop

veg

Oh right ... I put a few spoonfuls of Sofrito Tomato Base in there too.

I used to do the sausage separate from the veg. Squeeze the sausage out of the casing and use a wooden spoon to "chunk" it up. Cook until super crispy. Today, however, with no more than one working burner ... I sauteed the onion in a little olive oil, then tossed in the sausage to cook with the onion. Worked out ok.

Add tons of spices here. Whatever you like. Absolutely no measurements here, sorry. I just shake 'em in. Salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, herbes de provence, basil, parsley, thyme, garlic and onion powder, oregano, and some sage. I love spices.

Spicèd!

1.5 cups of dry rice into the rice cooker with 3 cups or so of water, pinch of salt, black pepper, and herbes de provence. Tasty rice in about 20 minutes!

Meanwhile I was waiting and waiting for the stupid hot plate to quite cycling on and off and just heat the darn sausage already! At some point I tossed in the green pepper and the can of tomatoes. But the darn burner was still not working. So into a pie plate and into the convection oven it went -- 350 for about 20 minutes.

Served with some fresh-grated parmesan and some Italian bread. We had a lovely meal with 2 glasses of cabernet sauvignon and The Incredibles.

Yes, that's my head-shadow. I'll get better at this.

We took a break to make some Pumpkin Gingersnaps. Recipe coming soon.

Welcome to my kitchen!

Full disclosure: I am not Hungry Will. Hungry Will is the mascot of my theater company, the Adirondack Shakespeare Company. He's just funny. And hungry.

I am writing this first post because my very best friend posted on my Facebook wall that I should have a food blog. With pictures. Kthanksbye. And I have been harboring this very desire. So - here it is.

Here is my kitchen. I know, I know ... it's big "for a New York kitchen." But I dream of a large, spacious kitchen. With counter space. And an island. And one of those hanging pot racks. In the meantime, however, we make do with a stove that doesn't work (we have a convection oven and one of those hot plate things). We do have a dishwasher though. So I shouldn't complain.

Oven on the busted oven.

It stores wine now.

I don't get to spend as much time in my kitchen as I'd like. The last few weeks I've been making it a point. Cooking and baking is really relaxing for me. And as a graduate student two years into a doctoral program and the Artistic Director of a theater company, there's just not enough time in the day for cooking elaborate simple meals.

So here's what to expect:

• Occasional posts. I'm a grad student with basically a full time job, right? Right.
• Tasty things. But I'm not a chef. No culinary training. Just good genes and about seven years in my own kitchen.
• Inexact measurements. Self-explanatory.
• Shakespeare quotes. It's what I do.
• A goofball attitude. Because I'm a goof.

Happy cooking!