Think Green!

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Joy

Green is the newest color. Unfortunately, I cannot wear green clothes (they don’t look great with my olive complexion) but I do love green foods and I especially love the “green” movement afoot everywhere.

Is it easy being green?

When the air gets warmer and the grass turns green, I am going to sit by my Fire Pit, eat a crunchy green salad and drink green tea. Or maybe I will drink a green smoothie, made with either spirulina powder or fresh spinach. Doesn’t that sound virtuous and healthy? I would certainly forgo the health cocktail for something more adult, but I haven’t found anything that appeals. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, I have come across some perfectly awful sounding concoctions made with creme de menthe or melon liquor.

All drinks aside, this time of year, I love to make a shredded salad with crunchy and slightly bitter greens, dressed with a mustardy vinaigrette. Rifling through my crisper, I came up with napa cabbage, endive, romaine lettuce and arugula. I might add a splash of red radicchio. For me, this is dinner, eaten with bread and unsalted butter and, sorry Kermit, red wine!

As for making my life more “green”, I have tried not driving as much but that is not working well. I do bring my bags to the grocery store and use a travel cup for my water instead of plastic bottles. And I recycle my scrap paper…does that count?? My honey rode his bike to work yesterday- 20 miles each way! it was very “green” of him but today his bum hurts and he can’t walk very well. As Kermit says, it’s not easy being green!

Add light to your life, Joy

Looks like spring, feels like spring…

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Joy

My daffodils are so confused! They have actually starting peeking out of the ground, probably soon to be frozen, literally, in their tracks. As for me, I am not finished with winter yet! I want some snowy, bitter cold days where I have a perfectly legitimate reason to not leave the house. I can stay inside, look out the window at my fire pit, filled with snow, eat warming comfort foods and dream of spring. I feel like I am cheating somehow, we are getting spring without ever really having suffered and enjoyed the bummers and beauties of winter.

An Early Spring!

Oh, well. I am still going to make some yummy comfort food and pretend.

I am craving Pasta with Meat Sauce. I do not make the long version of Bolognese with milk, 3 kinds of meat and an afternoon of simmering. For one thing, I can’t easily find all those different ground meats and for another, I don’t really like my meat sauce with milk in it. This is the sauce I am making these days, adapted from Lidia Bastianich.

Pasta with Meat Sauce

3 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, cleaned and chopped
1 pound ground beef, preferably 85% lean
½ cup dry red wine
1 T tomato paste
1 28 oz can chopped Italian plum tomatoes with their liquid
3 bay leaves
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound rigatoni or spaghetti
Freshly grated Parmagiana Reggiano cheese

Heat oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add carrot and celery and cook until softened. Crumble meat into pot and cook, stirring to break up meat. Continue cooking until all the liquid the meat has given off has evaporated and the meat has started to brown, about 15-20 minutes. Do not skip this step, it greatly affects the flavor of the finished sauce.

Stir in wine and cook for a few minutes, scraping the pot, until the wine has evaporated. Stir in tomato paste and cook for a few minutes to brown lightly. Stir in chopped tomatoes, bay leaves and add a sprinkle of salt and a grinding of pepper.

Bring the sauce to a simmer and then lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is has thickened considerably. This will take about an hour, more if you can spare it. This is mostly unattended cooking, just take peak every now and again and give the sauce a stir. If it seems to be dry, stir in a little water.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente. Reserve a cup or so of the pasta cooking water and drain the pasta. Add it to the pot with the sauce, adding in some of the cooking water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper and serve, passing cheese on the side. Serves 4 very hungry eaters or 5-6 with smaller appetites.

Be sure to cook with, and drink, a delicious Chianti. I most often serve this with crusty bread, unsalted butter or extra virgin olive oil for dipping and not much else. If I am feeling ambitious I might make a green salad dressed with nothing more than salt, pepper, good balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Mangia bene tutti! Joy

Heart Fire

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Joy

: Heat up your Valentine’s Day

Heat up your Valentine’s Day with a delicious drink by the fire and an even better meal. For me, cooking is an expression of love. You can see how much I love my honey by the belly on him! Poor thing, now he has to diet and all I want to do is bake.

For drinking, I am craving a big, juicy Australian Shiraz. To eat with that, my first choice would be Pasta with Bolognese. But since my honey has sworn off red meat (?!) for now, at least, I am going to have to come up with something else. I could make bolognese with ground turkey, but it just doesn’t have the same meaty succulence. I have been making a lot of vegetable soups but somehow it does not seem like the best choice for “Valentine’s Day”. Even if I followed it with a rich dessert, beans and vegetables are not particularly sexy! I read today that scallops are the new oysters so I am planning on making seared scallops with leek and herb risotto, made with lots of leeks, chives, parsley and a little tarragon. Even the teenager will be happy with that!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Add LIght to your LIfe, Joy

Joy’s Cookies and Fire Pits!

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Joy

Joy's Cookies and Fire Pits!

Whew, that was a long three days! But it was also incredibly interesting and informative. The cookies were a hit. I thought I should rename my business Joy’s Cookies and Fire Pits- you see the connection don’t you?

I spent this week on the computer, emailing and following up and now find myself facing Valentine’s Day! By the way, if you have a business site, you may want to consider marketing automation tools for email to have an immediate connection with potential customers. Everyone I know is on a diet so I guess I don’t have to bake or buy anything chocolate but there must be some way to make it special without calories! Or is there?

My latest favorite way of getting a chocolate fix without too many calories and with a drop of nutrition is hot chocolate. I mix together a heaping teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa, a teaspoon of sugar, heat up 8 ounces of regular or soy milk and whisk them together. Marshmallows are delicious but optional. Or try this absolutely decadent Italian version with espresso, called Bicerin. Come to think of it, I will splurge on this for Valentine’s Day and maybe share it with my honey, too.

Makes 2 drinks

1/3 cup cocoa powder ( Ghiradelli or Lake Champlain are good) or dark chocolate shavings
Sugar
2/3 cup chilled heavy cream
One shot of espresso for each mug or 1 cup strong drip coffee

1. At least 15 minutes before making drink, place stainless steel cocktail shaker or jar in the freezer. Fill 2 mugs with hot tap water.

2. In a small saucepan, combine chocolate with 2/3 cup water and set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add sugar to taste and shut off heat.

3. Empty mugs and wipe dry. Remove shaker from freezer, add cream and shake vigorously for 1 minute to whip. Pour about 1/4 cup hot coffee or 1shot espresso into each mug and stir in about 1/3 cup chocolate mixture. Spoon over cream and serve.

Enjoy these chocolate treat and Add Light to your Life! Joy

Off to Boston!

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Joy

I hope all that cookie baking paid off! I made 450 flame colored butter cookies in the hopes of selling fire pits- seems crazy, I know. I will find out today.

Add light to your life, Joy

Ready for the show!

Baking and Baking…

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Joy

Off to my first trade show next week, NE Grows in Boston at the Convention Center. Stop by if you are in the neighborhood! As I think I have established by now, what I really know is food so I will be baking about a million little butter cookies to give out at the show. I have red, yellow and orange sugar to make them flame colored. I am not sure what this has to do with making and selling Fire Pits but my 18 year old foodie son has told me that I have to give out food, it will bring people into the booth. Here’s hoping he is right. I imagine he is but, really, no one loves food like a 6′ tall young man, they are always hungry! I wanted to give out s’mores but that was a little complicated, what with fire and all. How popular would my booth be if I could give out those yummy s’moretinis?!

Oh, right, trade show, work day, better move on.

If you feel like baking this weekend too, try these delicious butter cookies that I came across in Gourmet (sob, sigh) years ago.

Basic Butter Cookies

4 sticks (1 pound) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

In large bowl of a standing electric mixer beat together butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy.
Beat in yolks, 1 at a time, and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Beat in flour gradually, beating dough until just combined well.

Add LIght to your Life, Joy

White White Winter!

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Joy

It seems winter has finally arrived and with it snow, cold weather and thoughts of delicious, creamy cocktails. I don’t imagine everyone connects these three things but I see white snow and think white drinks, creamy, sweet and indulgent. See, we are not even out of January and my resolutions are already down the tube!

I am planning a party to celebrate the season with all things sparkly and white. January can be such a bitter month, full of dreary days, too many salads (or not,in my case!) and freezing early morning journeys to school and work. I think a little festive gathering will be just the ticket out of this funk. I will not even pretend that I will be enjoying this gathering around my fire pit. It is covered, finally, with snow.

ready to make snowflake cookies

I am going to bake up a batch of gorgeous sugar cookies and a mound of Mexican wedding cakes dusted in a snowfall of confectioner’s sugar. I will serve them up with my favorite white cocktails, White Russians, Toasted Almonds and something new I have just come across, Toasted Marshmallow Martinis. Then I’ll send my friends home in a sweet, slightly loopy sugar haze.

Recipe Type: Cocktail

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 5 mins
Total time: 10 mins
Serves: 2
Ingredients

2 ounces vanilla vodka
2 ounces Frangelico hazelnut liqueur
2 ounces heavy cream
2 ounces Smucker’s marshmallow topping, plus more for rimming martini glasses
mini marshmallows (optional), for garnish

Instructions

Combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice. Shake for 30-40 seconds.
Serve into martini glasses rimmed with marshmallow topping.
Garnish toasted marshmallows

Enjoy and Add Light to your Life, Joy

Moonlit Night

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Joy

Fancy Fire Pit | Firepit I was driving home two days ago at about 6 pm and caught a glimpse of the huge orange moon rising over the harbor. I drove into my neighbor’s driveway to get a good look and could have sat there gazing for ages, it was just so magnificent. unfortunately, I had my teenage daughter in the car and she was less impressed and wanted to get home to do her homework (at least that is what she said- she could have been video chatting all night for all I know!). The whole experience ~~(minus the teenager)~~ made me feel so blessed and then I started thinking about how to spend more time outdoors enjoying the moonlight and what snacks I could make that would be orange. I am a little ADD so bear with me here. It seems that we take these small miracles of life for granted and sometimes I just want to stop, pause and take it all in. Truth be told, I don’t do this any more than the next person but I would like to and I guess that is a start. So where to go from here? I have recently designed a fabulous starry fire pit, which I have called Stella, and with the warm winter we are having, was able to light a fire in it.

Fancy Fire Pit | Stella Firepit What to make to snack on while I enjoy my new creation? I am still in the New Year, New Me mode so I thought mini turkey burgers with monterey jack cheese and salsa would be good. If you roast some sweet potato fries in the oven to serve with them, you have a delicious and healthy little meal. In the orange theme, a friend suggested orange jello shots, which would certainly make it a party! I was thinking more along the lines of spicy hot cocoa spiked with a little cinnamon and cayenne but the choice is yours. Enjoy this little break from winter before the snow flies!

Add Light to your Life, Joy

New Year, New Plans

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Joy

The New Year is a big time for resolutions, mainly diet related, and often, or in my case always, broken. As of two years ago, I gave up the “lose 5 pounds” resolution. Truth be told, it is more like 10 pounds now but it is too depressing to think about so I guess I will have another glass of wine.♥

I digress. A resolution that is fun and doable is home improvement projects. If you live in the Northeast, like I do, or really anywhere north of zone 6, the winter is a great time to curl up inside with a plant or seed catalog and an assortment of outdoor furniture catalogs. You can then spend the winter dreaming of spring and the fabulous changes you are going to make in your garden. The view from my window is neither as lovely or as snowy as the photo but allow me to imagine that there is a Fancy Fire Pit living under the snow in front of those chairs. At the moment my garden is a study in browns but one can wish for white!

In the meantime, while I wait for snow, I can think about the perennials I will plant and the vegetables I can grow. And I can start thinking summer garden parties around my fire pit.

Add Light to Your Life, Joy

Christmas in the Mountains

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Joy

I am blessed to be spending the holidays at a friend’s ski house. It has everything going for it- great location, a view of the mountains and an outside hot tub. What is missing?? Nothing, really, but a Fancy Fire Pit would be so gorgeous and fun, sitting out in the snow. Frankly, it is a little too cold to sit outside at the moment, with temperatures hovering in the low double digits. But after skiing, while the sun is still shining and the air is a balmy 35, I would love to sit by the fire with my glass of red wine and look at the mountains.

I would not be opposed to making something delicious to enjoy with my wine. A big piece of raclette cheese, melting by the fire (put it on a tray and set it next to the fire pit, on a table) would be great. Serve it with a bowl of boiled tiny new potatoes and chunks of bread to skewer and spread with the cheese. So delicious and very Swiss apres ski.

For something more familiar and retro, but equally fortifying, make potato skins. Bake russet potatoes in a 350 oven for about an hour. Let cool slightly and then scoop out all but 1/2″ of the flesh. At this point, you can go traditional with bacon and cheddar cheese or get creative. I like to go Italian with crisped pancetta, diced fire roasted tomatoes and parmesan cheese but making them Mexican with diced peppers, salsa and monterey jack cheese melted on top would be good as well. Make sure to put out sour cream and chopped scallions for topping.

If you bring a warm blanket outside with your drinks and appetizers, all will be happy and warm, sitting around the fire pit enjoying the view.