Microwave Hollandaise Sauce

Green Bean Benedict--a quick but tasty dinner (we usually do this with Broccoli, but I was out, so I improvised and it was still delicious)

I know that the word microwave doesn't sound like it should be anywhere near Hollandaise Sauce.  Hollandaise Sauce should be a venture fraught with peril--carefully adding a chunk of butter at a time to your egg yolks and lemon juice over a double boiler, hoping and praying it doesn't curdle.

I thought this was the only way--consequently I never made Hollandaise Sauce.  However, I noticed the microwave directions in the margin of my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook one day over a decade ago.  I tried it and it was delicious!  I have never, ever had this recipe fail.  We serve it over fish, steamed veggies like broccoli, green beans or asparagus or on one of our favorite recipes from my mother-in-law, Veggie Benedict (just like Eggs Benedict but with a steamed green veggie--usually broccoli--instead of the poached egg).  I'm regrettably the only one in my family who likes poached eggs.

So, here are the steps:

1. Gather:

1/2 cup (1 cube) butter

1 T. lemon juice (fresh is best, but I'm not above using the concentrated stuff if I don't have any lemons hanging around)

1 T. water

3 egg yolks, separated from the whites

2. Put your egg yolks in a large microwaveable bowl or Pyrex measuring cup. Stir the yolks until mixture is smooth.

3. Put butter, lemon juice and water in a Pyrex measuring cup.

4. Microwave for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until butter is melted. 

5. Whisk melted butter into egg yolks, pouring slowly. 

6. When the two mixtures are smoothly combined, cook in microwave for 30-40 seconds, stopping every 10 seconds to stir (and try to ignore the spooky reflection of a woman with a camera).  I find it easiest to just cook for 10 seconds at a time rather than set it for the full 30 seconds.  You can resurrect it, but it is better  not to overcook your sauce.

7. It is done when it has thickened and doesn't run easily off a spoon.  It will be the consistency of runny pudding.

Hint: If it does curdle, add 3-4 drops very hot tap water and whisk like a mad woman (or man :) ) until it looks smooth again.

Also, if you're wondering and need more instruction, Veggie Benedict is simple.  It is just an English muffin toasted and lightly buttered, which you top with ham and a slice of Swiss cheese, then broil until the cheese melts.  You top with steamed veggies (we usually use broccoli because all the kids like it and it's so nutritious) and tippy-top with Hollandaise Sauce.  Eat with a knife and fork.  It really is great.  If you can go the egg route because your family members have taste ;), use a poached egg instead of the broccoli.  Still great.

Bon appetit!

I'm linking up to:   Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam   AND

Sticker Shock: How I'm trying to psych myself up to pay way more than I want to on a home I'm not super excited about...

Our  family moved to the Seattle area last summer.  After lots of thought and prayer, we knew that we needed to make the move to Washington--you know how you just know something is right even if it doesn't make a lot of sense?  We sold my dream home (or at least one of 'em--am I the only person in the world who has more than one kind of dream home?).  This particular dream home was a 1908 beauty with a library, amazing pocket doors, 12-foot coffered ceilings and a huge family/kitchen/eating room.  Anyway, we sold it to some awesome friends of ours after only living there for about five months and they are doing an amazing job continuing to fix it up.  Sadness (for us--happiness for them!).

So now, after renting for almost a year, we are contemplating whether to buy or rent for another year.  I've gotta say, it ain't lookin' pretty on the buying front.  There just aren't that many homes on the market right now, and of the stuff that's out there, nothing is reaching out and grabbing me--at least not in a nice way.  To put it bluntly, I think what is on the market now is pretty picked over.  I'm sure most sellers who can afford to wait are hoping that they can sell in a few years when prices have recovered a little.

I know that we'll be taken care of.  Somehow my scripture studies lately keep coming back to variations of what is expressed in Matthew 6:25-34  (you know, seek ye first the kingdom of God--in other words--stop OBSESSING about where you are going to live and keep your priorities where they belong).  I am trying...I really am.  But I have to admit that I compulsively look at the real estate websites every single day fairly often and belly-ache about my findings to whoever will pretend to listen.

The comparison to Utah is what's killing me.  It's hard to go from a low-rent area to a high-rent one and feel super happy about the transition.  So I look at Washington real estate websites and feel like every house is a rip-off, like some older person who can't get over the fact that everything costs more now because "back in my day" everything was just a nickel.

It's not that I had unadulteratedly happy feelings about Utah real estate.  There are far too many cookie-cutter neighborhoods there, and builders tend to build in whatever style is trendy right this minute, which means many neighborhoods look dated in five years.  But, at least we could actually afford a reasonably nice house that fit our family.

Let me show you what I mean by comparing two houses, one in Washington and one in Utah.  Both cost $500,000--which is an insane amount of money as far as I'm concerned.

Washington House--$500k

This house is reasonably big for Washington (2,500 square feet) and looks like it's been maintained to a decent standard.  It has 4 bedrooms and doesn't list the number of baths.




It does have a peek-a-boo view of the water and the wood floors look nice (although that fireplace is crying out for paint, don't you think?

Utah House--a "bargain" at $485k

Oh yeah.  That' s what I'm talking about.


Cutest stairway evah!  Awesome door, too.



Even cute from far away.



My flow blue and tea trios would look amazing in these built-ins.



The wainscoting, the french doors.  Sniff, Sniff...  This is such a gorgeous house.  It is about 3,600 square feet and located in a prestigious historical neighborhood in Salt Lake City. 


In all fairness, the Salt Lake City house is a short sale, so it is probably undervalued, but still--wouldn't you rather live in a red brick house with charm galore than a 60's Brady bunch house where you know you'll want to revamp every thing about it and it still won't ever be what you really want?

It's even more torturous to look around the country and see all the amazing houses you can get for $500k nationwide.  I was looking at houses online in this great St. Louis neighborhood recommended by "This Old House" magazine, and you can get beautiful 5,000 square foot turn of the century mansions for around $500k there.  Yes, I'm sure the heating bills would be another mortgage, but man are they gorgeous!

Anyway, in case you are ready to hit me over the head with my laptop, I'm ready to get back to reality now.  I need to remember a few important facts:

• We are lucky that my husband has a great, steady job that he enjoys here.
• We are truly lucky that be they ever so humble/time-warped, we can even contemplate buying a house right now.  
• We are lucky that we can live in a good area, with good schools and a reasonable commute to my husband's work.
• Put in a global perspective, having a warm, safe place to live (whether rented or owned, darling or lame), food to eat and my family all around me is a one of the most precious of life's blessings that I thoroughly take for granted in all my grousing about how real estate here is such a rip-off.

I'm sure I'll eventually become desensitized to the insanely high prices and will be willing to bite the bullet and buy at some point.  Until then, I probably need to stop torturing myself with what I could have if I only lived somewhere else.  Sigh :).  I live here, and I'm sure we'll figure out what to do in time.  Until then, please forgive my escapism and whining--I'm still experiencing a leeetle bit of sticker shock.

Grocery Shopping Made Easy (or at least, easier)

Here is a picture of me shopping.  Now that I save so much time with my list, I have time to wear heels and a skirt to the grocery store.  And bring my own spotlights and everything :).

It is no secret that I really don't enjoy laundry, and that I sometimes have to do pretty creative things to psych myself up for it.

I actually sort of like the shopping part of grocery shopping, but I sometimes feel frustrated by the overall time investment.  The fact is, that between making the list, culling my fridge of spoiled/old food, going to the store, buying all the food, putting it in my car, unloading it from my car, and putting it away in my house (including dividing larger quantity buys into more manageable packaging), grocery shopping for my family turns into a four-hour minimum investment (since I am doing the rest while taking care of my two youngest kids).  Anything I can do to reduce this time expenditure while not reducing the quality of the food I'm able to provide is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned.

So, I figured I could start at the beginning and streamline the list making portion of grocery shopping.

I typed up a standard grocery list of foods I regularly buy.  If I have all the things on this list, I can automatically make about 80% of the meals we normally like to eat.  I can just write additional/one-off ingredients in the margins of my list, or in the extra blanks provided on the list itself.

The great thing about this list is that it also helps me maintain a good pantry of food at all times.  Pre-list, I would find myself forgetting things we like to have on hand  It also allows me to focus on what to buy in bulk when there is a good sale--thereby saving time and money.  Oh yeah! :)

So how does the list work?

Here's how it worked this week: I printed off a copy of my master list from the computer.  I quickly looked in my fridge and freezer to see what needed to be used up and what I have on hand.   I then loosely planned a week's worth of dinners based on what we have, what's in season/on sale and what I want to eat, writing them down on the bottom of my list.  Then, I used my trusty highlighter to highlight the things I need, and wrote down a few additional things I needed that aren't a standard part of my list.

This made doing my grocery list take about 5 minutes rather than the normal 20.  I can do a lot of other things in 15 minutes, so to me, this is worth the initial time investment I spent putting the list together.  It would probably be even quicker to just keep the list handy all week, and mark what I need as I notice we are out of or low on something.  

I am sure everyone's list of "essential" food is different, but for what it's worth, here is a link to the list I typed up.  Happy shopping!

I'm linking up to:

Family Finer Things Night...

I started collecting "Tea Trios" when we lived in England from 1999 to 2002 (named that because of the three parts--tea cup, saucer and small plate).  

Sometime after we moved back to the States, we instituted our Family Finer Things night.  On many Sundays, we make two teapots--one of herbal tea and one of hot chocolate.  Then we all sit down at the table, stuff our face with a treat, drink our tea/hot chocolate and read some fine literature.

Yes, that is totally my lens cap.  I'm a dork!

Usually, we end up reading from one of our Norton Anthology of English Literature texts (probably the only college textbook we're slowly getting our money's worth from :) ).  Last night, Aaron read some Aesop's fables and I read a chapter from a book the elementary kids' school is reading called A Cricket in Times Square (which I know is well-known, but I've never read it before).

The kids are always really cheerful.

And well-behaved.

Everyone takes it extremely seriously.

We have a great time, and the kids really look forward to it.  Sometimes after a long weekend of watching the house descend into chaos, I'm not in the mood to have to hand-wash a bunch of china (I could let the kids do it, but they are not as careful as I am and I don't like to have wanton breakage :) ).  But I have to remind myself that it really only takes five minutes to wash dishes and the family memories last forever, right?  Right....

Here's one of our kids' favorite poems. They allude to it whenever they have eaten the last of whatever it is that someone else wanted.

This Is Just To Say
by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold

What do you do to introduce your family to the finer things? 

I'm linking up to:
 

  

A Spoonful of Sugar...

My husband is out of town on business and I was gearing up for a fun evening of this:

Yes!!!  Almost as much fun as dental work.

But then I got to thinking...what if I added:

and

Suddenly an evening full of laundry is almost sounding...fun!  Shhhhh.   

The only thing lacking tonight was my husband.  We like to watch fun British movies and TV together--but that's hard to do when he's out of town.  That he genuinely likes Jane Austen books and movies is only one of the many reasons I love him.

What do you do to whistle while you work? 

I'm linking up to Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now.

DIY Greek Yogurt

I have become a big fan of Greek yogurt.

But I am not a fan of the hefty price tag.

What oh what am I to do????? (Besides cease with the multiple question marks, I mean...)

Why make my own, of course :).

I was reading in my husband's MBA alumni magazine (I'm a nerd, I know) about "Tempting Trends"--tasty food that is trendy right now.  Not surprisingly, Greek yogurt was listed.  They described it as "strained, to ensure an ultra-tangy taste and creamy texture."

Long ago, I made a "Yogurt Cheesecake" (not too bad, actually) by straining the whey out of yogurt through cheesecloth until what was left was the texture of cream cheese.

Could this method be what they were talking about in the article?

It is.  I googled it and found support for my theory.

I made it, and it was soooo good.  Yay!

Here is how:

First, you will need:

• Cheesecloth--about a 2 1/2 foot strip, cut in half
• Plain, natural yogurt (you could probably use a natural flavored one, I was just starting with the basics)
• Wire strainer
• Bowl for underneath the strainer

1. Put the cheesecloth in the strainer in an "X" (more of a "+" sign, actually) pattern.  Put the strainer in the bowl.

2. Get your yogurt out of the fridge.

3. Dump your yogurt on top of the cheesecloth

4. Cover with plastic wrap (or not, if you like to live dangerously).
Put in fridge.

5. Wait for about 8 to 12 hours and take out of the fridge.  I did mine for 12, and I think it may have been a bit too thick.  I plan to continue to rigorously experiment.  :)

6. This is what the whey looks like that drains out.

7. Dump the strained yogurt into another container and sweeten/flavor to taste.  I used some strawberry jam, and it was great.  Even better would be pureed real strawberries and honey with a few drops of vanilla.

Yum!!

And the Winner Is....

Well, my acute camera problem has been alleviated by my sweet mom's willingness to share her camera with me until I can blackmail convince Aaron to get a new DSLR :).  Only joking! (at least about the blackmail--deathly serious about the camera...)

I thought I should post some pictures of the actual haircut.  I know anyone who loves me enough to read this has been waiting on pins and needles and everything, right ;)? Just so you know, after all my bluster/messing around on the makeover tool, I went for a cut I've probably had about 20 times in my life.  I always seem to end up with the same haircut.  Shorter, longer, same basic thing.  Sad, but oh so true.  Someday I am going to shock and awe with a totally different look, but apparently not right now.

Anyhoo, it may not be completely revolutionary, but I highly recommend this Heidi Klum-inspired haircut.  Here are some things you can expect from it:

This is the end of a long, tiring, day (or maybe that's just my new look?  scary :) ).  But this haircut is versatile.  You can expect it to look good even when you don't :).

It also looks great when you are kissing a smoochy baby.  Lucy is so chill about being smooched on all the time.  Oh yeah, people love me--so what else is new?

It looks great when your face is expressing--what would you say this is?--chagrin?

It even looks good when you are glaring at your 15-yr-old son for using his Grandma's borrowed camera without your permission.  

Of course, then I proceeded to rope him into using the camera some more by taking pictures of the haircut.  Such mixed messages--bad mom!