Under the Kitchen Sink

Under the sink makeover! The left white thing is the can/glass/plastic recycle bin. The right half was chaos of cleaning products, paper bags, plastic bags, paper towels.
Behind the recycle bin, more scary stuff! An old dish drying rack full of crap like gloves, candles and ant poison.
I took everything out, bought some nice storage and got rid of crap.
The metal bucket that holds all my cleaning supplies slides out! How handy is that? From the Container Store. Behind the recycle bin is a plastic bag holder. The metal bucket was too tall to go on the right side because of the garbage disposal. I should have measured. There were shorter sizes. John actually had to cut a small chunk out of the metal bucket to make it get fit on the left side even. But it works, and you can't really tell.
Paper towels got upgraded to an under the upper cabinets storage.

Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup regular sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream together sugars and soften butter, takes about 3 minutes. Add egg and peanut butter, mix it more. In separate bowl whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Add gradually to the sugar mixture. Make small balls, I used the 2 teaspoons cookie scoop. Take a fork, make cross hatches on it. My mother would use a potato masher to smush hers down. That is easy for kids to do, I prefer the look of the fork marks though.

Back at 300 degrees for nearly 15 minutes. The low temperature with a longer cooking time makes the cookies come out chewy, and I like my cookies medium-rare chewy.

Apron

This is the most lovely children's apron I have ever scene, and just needed to share. Truly a fabulous thing, made by my friend's mother. I am so in love with it, I want to make one in my size.

Olive Focaccia

I totally lifted this from Pioneer Woman. I love it.

Ingredients

• 1-½ teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• 1-½ cup Warm Water
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ⅓ cups Olive Oil
• 1 cup Olives (any Variety Or Combination), Roughly Chopped
• Olive Oil, For Drizzling
• Kosher Salt, For Sprinkling

Preparation Instructions

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.

Warm a non-metal mixing bowl in the microwave until warm. Coat it with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.

To make focaccia, blot olives with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.

Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Place chopped olives on top of the dough, then very gently knead the olives into the dough. (Don’t overknead!) Divide dough in half and roll each half into a large, thin oval/rectangle. Place on separate sheet pans (or cookie sheets) drizzled with olive oil. Drizzle more olive oil on top of the ovals, then cover each one with plastic wrap. Put in a draft-free/warm place for one hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the plastic wrap (dough will be puffy) and use your fingertips to press dimples all over the surface of the dough. Drizzle surface with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until focaccia is golden brown.

Cut into pieces with a pizza wheel or sharp knife. Serve immediately.

Stuffed French Toast, part 2, Raspberry Style

Same as the Strawberry, just mixed it up with Raspberries instead. Happy Father's Day to J-Biz.

Jalapeño Fries

I adapted this from a Rachael Ray show I recently saw. I wasn't measuring, so bare with me. Again. Really, I rarely measure, John laughs at me as he watches me constantly sniffing food, to see if it's properly mixed.

6 Big Jalapeños

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

squirt of spicy brown mustard

bread crumbs from 4 heels of standard bread

1/4 cup parm cheese

Cut the jalapeños in half, then scoop out the seeds and ribs. Then slice each half into 4 long strips. Set up, a bowl of flour, bowl of eggs mixed with the mustard + touch of flour, bowl of bread crumbs + cheese. Dip the strips of peppers into flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Lay onto a baking sheet prepped with a Silpat. Don't have one? What? Really? Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Dip into Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing.

Shiitake Mushroom and Garlic Scape

Just pretty. Shiitakes are grown in Gilmore Valley, just up the road. The Garlic Scape is from across the river. Lovely, aren't they?