A Hogwarts Dinner for Harry Potter's 34th Birthday!

Today, July 31st, marks a very special occasion - it's Harry Potter's 34th birthday! He's just returned from Patagonia, where he cheered on old friend Viktor Krum as Bulgaria beat Brazil in this year's Quidditch World Cup (seriously, if you haven't checked your Pottermore account recently, or if for some strange reason you don't have a Pottermore account, log in right now and get reading!), so suffice it to say it's been a good month for the Boy Who Lived!

In honor of his birthday and the fact that I have an arguably unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter (I threw myself a 25th birthday party that was completely Harry Potter themed), I prepared a meal featuring items mentioned during the course of the books. With the help of Dinah Bucholz' Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, which really is a great addition to your library (even if Harry Potter isn't your cup of tea, there are a lot of quintessentially British foods included), we had roast beef, roasted carrots, and vegetable pies, followed by a rhubarb crisp with warm custard. Sadly, I couldn't use my wand to clean up the dishes afterwards, but the meal was worth scrubbing a few pots!

Slughorn passed around a plate of pies . . .

The cookbook has recipes for British pies, two savory and two sweet. The savory pies both sounded great - chicken and mushroom and meat and potato - but since I was already cooking a roast and didn't want to go to the trouble of preparing more meat, I combined the two recipes to create a vegetable pie. Just follow the directions for the crust, and then lightly saute a medium onion, a medium zucchini, a handful of new potatoes (or one medium potato, depending on what's in your pantry), and mushrooms, all finely diced. Fill and bake as directed, and voila! They lifted easily out of the pie tin. And don't be fooled by their size - each one is surprisingly filling.

Roast beef, carrots. potatoes . . .

As you can see, my roast was a bit over-done, but still yummy. I added a herb crust because I like herbs and because I'm trying to clean out our cabinets. Combine two teaspoons each of basil, thyme, oregano, and mustard, then rub all over and bake as directed.

Harry looked up from his rhubarb crisp and custard . . .

I love tart tastes, so this dessert was right up my alley. If you don't want to do all rhubarb, you can always substitute half of the fruit for strawberries, which will sweeten the palate.

Homemade Fruit Lemonade! (Sort of)

While out at restaurants, I'm never really tempted to overload my body with sugary drinks . . . like Coke, that is. Strawberry lemonade though, is a different story. The combination of sweet berries and tangy lemon is mouthwatering, especially when the drink is so thick it's almost like drinking a smoothie. For the Fourth of July this year, as our tables were groaning under the weight of so much fresh produce, my mother had an absolutely brilliant idea - turn the fruit into fruit juice! And then add it to lemonade!

Fruit, fruit everywhere and so many drops to drink

We used our Nutribullet to liquify strawberries, mangoes, and watermelon (all separately, of course). The watermelon benefitted from being strained through a paper towel to remove the grainy bits, but it isn't absolutely necessary if you're not set on a juice that has to be completely smooth.

Now, we didn't actually make the lemonade by hand - this was a rather last-minute idea, and there wasn't enough time to squeeze lemons in the quantities needed to hydrate about twelve thirsty people. We took the shortcut and mixed up a batch from a Minute Maid can, which tasted pretty good, in all fairness.

From there, it was just a matter of pouring everyone a glass and pointing them to the table, where they could add as much or as little fruit juice as they wanted. The strawberry proved most popular, although the mango contingent was pretty vocal. Suggestions were made for darker berries next time - blackberries and blueberries, beware!

Brit + Co Post: Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes

Gluten-free vegans have just as much of a right to "10 Vegan, Gluten-Free Recipes More Delish Than Your Lunch" that the rest of us do.

Pizza pizza!

From the article: "Let’s be honest; for those of us with dietary restrictions, such as a gluten intolerance, or those who follow certain eating practices, like veganism, it can be hard to find recipes that make your friends and coworkers legit jealous of what you brought for lunch. And for those of us who combine both, it can be tough to create interesting meals on the daily. But don’t worry! You aren’t relegated to rice and vegetables — from appetizers to desserts, here are a week’s worth of recipes that are vegan, gluten-free and, most importantly, delicious!"

Homemade Ice Cream

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! I don't know if I would actually "scream," but I certainly throw fits when someone else eats the last serving and will drive to Publix at ten at night if I'm having a mint chocolate craving, so I certainly love the stuff. It's a family trait, really - my father has a serving of ice cream every night before bed (and he's thin as a rail, go figure) and my brother thinks nothing of destroying an entire Ben & Jerry's pint in one sitting. Given the amount of ice cream consumed at my house, plus a desire to focus on food with natural, pronounce-able ingredients and without laundry lists of preservatives and additives, I finally bit the bullet and bought an ice cream maker! The Cuisinart ICE-21 Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, to be precise. And man, was that money well spent.

We started with vanilla, the most basic ingredient in the included recipe book. Instead of a entire cup of whole milk, I subbed in half a cup of almond milk. Mixing the milks, sugar, salt, and cream took about five minutes with a whisk, and after sitting overnight in the fridge and a mere 15 minutes in the machine, look what we had!

Homemade goodness

The ice cream was absolutely delicious. It was sweet, creamy, and even better than store-bought, in my opinion. The consistency isn't as hard as the stuff in cartons, but if you prefer it that way, just scoop the ice cream out of the mixer, place it in an airtight container in the freezer, and wait a couple of hours. We didn't have the patience for that though, so into our mouths it went! I hadn't even finished making the last serving before the first person was buzzing around looking for seconds - pft, like there were any.

The Cuisinart is really a great machine. The bowl is double-insulated with liquid in the middle, so it has to be frozen before the mixture is poured in (in our fridge, it didn't even take six hours to do the trick). We just turned it on and went about our business - you can definitely hear the engine running, but it isn't loud enough to make you reach for a pair of earplugs or anything, and my mom was able to hold a conversation in the next room, which is open to the kitchen, just fine. I actually found the hum oddly comforting, but maybe that's just because I knew what it was saying . . . ice cream is coming! ice cream is coming!

It's actually really fun to watch it work, too. The paddle stays in position while the bowl rotates around, so you could see the ice cream being summoned from the sweet liquidity depths of the milk and cream mixture. Once the liquid was gone, you just pull out the paddle and eat!

All ready to be scooped out

The possibilities are endless. I want to try substituting all the milk for almond milk, which would drastically cut calories and fat without, I think, sacrificing flavor. And that means I can have three scoops next time, right? Right?

Quotable Corner: Erma Bombeck

"Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I'm taking with me when I go."

Brit + Co Post: Chocolate and Peanut Butter Recipes

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were one of my favorite treats growing up. "25 of the Best Chocolate and Peanut Butter Recipes #GuiltyPleasures" is inspired by that love, and takes the classic chocolate/peanut butter pairing to the next level.

Is it bad I'm tempted to eat ALL THE STACKS?

From the article: "In the culinary world, there are some combinations that are widely accepted as tasting better when they’re together. Case in point — tomato and basil, bagels and cream cheese and of course, chocolate and peanut butter. Whether you’re looking for something vegan, a treat that’s quick to make or a dessert that’s completely show-stopping, here are the best chocolate and peanut butter recipes on the planet."

Berry Trifle

I love berries, and I love angel food cake, and I love all things British, so obviously I love trifle. The colors made it a perfect choice for our Fourth of July festivities,  but this dessert lends itself to any event at any time, really. And it offers endless room for variation, which I love. Prefer raspberries to strawberries? Go right ahead. Want to make a few individual servings in Mason jars because you can't be bothered to pull out your trifle dish? Knock yourself out. The sky's the limit!

Blueberries and strawberries and cake, oh my!

Our trifle used strawberries, blueberries, premade angel food cake, and premade lemon loaf cake, both purchased at Walmart since there wasn't going to be enough time to make the cakes from scratch, but that's always an option if you want to go to the extra mile, of course. The lemon loaf cake tasted delicious and added a nice dimension to the flavor palate, but red/white/blue fanatics or trifle purists might want to stick with regular loaf cake to avoid any yellow.

The cream layer is, like everything else in a trifle, customizable to your taste. I like beating one brick (8 oz.) of softened cream cheese with a half cup of sugar and a dash of vanilla, then gradually beating in two cups of heavy whipping cream. This makes a soft, spreadable cream with just enough tang from the cream cheese to make us happy. If you want a firmer or more cream cheese-y spread, use two bricks and a cup of whipping cream. If cream cheese isn't your thing at all, whip one to two cups of heavy whipping cream until its at a soft consistency and add a tub of softened Cool-Whip for extra volume.

Once you've got your chosen cream, berries, and cake (cut into cubes if you're feeling geometric or just torn into shreds if you're feeling rugged), it's time to layer! Half the cake, half the cream, and half the berries, and then the next half of cake, half of cream, and half of berries. As you can see, I went for the natural (aka "just thrown about") look, but you can also arrange the berries in fancy patterns. Cover with cling wrap and let chill in the fridge for at least an hour, and then dig in!

Brit + Co Post: What to Do with Leftover Applesauce

I like to purchase various jars and bottles, use them for the recipe I had in mind at the time of purchase, and then forget to ever look at them again. Well, I don't actually like to forget them, it just happens. Ergo, "10 Creative Ways to Finish That Jar of Applesauce," which will help rescue the applesauce jar, at least, from obscurity.

I'm a sucker for smoothies

From the article: "Applesauce is one of those items we all buy, use once or twice to make a pretty cake for company, and then forget about as it sadly languishes in the back of the fridge until Thanksgiving comes around :( We know that trying to figure out what to do with leftovers can be a pain, so we pulled together some of the most delicious ways to use up what’s left in the jar."

Homemade Crunchwraps

I have a confession to make. I like eating healthy, and try to get as many fruit and vegetables as possible into my diet, but I also love eating at Taco Bell, even if I try not to think too hard about what's actually in the food. So, the last time I had a craving, I figured that anything they could make, I could make, and decided to try my hand at one of my favorite treats from the Bell - crunchwraps!

Nice and toasty

It may take a little practice to get them crisp, but even if your early efforts don't come out as perfectly-looking as Taco Bell's, don't worry, they'll still taste delicious! My brother swears they're even better than the store-bought ones, and he's a hardcore Bell aficionado, so I'm trusting his judgment.

Recipe:

Large/extra large flour tortillas

Ground beef (I used a package that had slightly less than 2 lbs, and ended up with 10 crunchwraps)

1 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

Olive oil

Seasoning to taste: paprika, cumin, oregano, basil, chili powder, taco seasoning, etc.

Spreadable cheese (like Tostito's Cheesy Dip)

Hard taco shells

Sour cream

Romaine lettuce, chopped

Tomato, diced

1. On high heat, add olive oil to a large frying pan and cook the pepper and onion until onion is translucent.

2. Add the ground beef and seasonings and brown. Transfer the meat to a bowl and clean the frying pan (you're going to use this for the crunchwraps now.)

3. Turn the burner down to medium.

4. On a tortilla, spread some cheese in the center, in about a 3 inch circle.

5. Place some of the ground beef right on the cheese.

6. Take a hard taco shell, break it in half so that you have two half-circles, and place the sides together on top of the beef, flat sides touching, so that you have a circle.

7. Spread sour cream on the taco shells.

8. Add romaine lettuce and then tomatoes.

9. Fold the sides of the tortilla around the filling. Don't worry, there will be open space in the middle.

10. Spray just a little cooking spray on the pan and place the crunchwrap on the pan, open side down (be careful not to overspray, as your crunchwraps will turn out more soggy and not as crisp and brown).

11. Press down with a plate/spatula, and let crunchwrap cook for about 3-4 minutes. You can carefully pull up a side with the spatula and check to see if it's browning.

12. Flip over and do the same to the other side. Done!

Brit + Co Post: Fourth of July Desserts

The Fourth of July might be one of my favorite holidays - there's barbecuing, there's fireworks, and there's tons of red, white, and blue treats. Check out these "20 Perfectly Patriotic Desserts for Independence Day" - whether you're looking for something fruity, something cake-y, something for a group of sixty or something just for the family, I've got you covered!

Ombre icing? Sign me up!

From the article: "Independence Day is just around the corner, which means it’s time to start thinking about the menu for your patriotic get-together. You’ve got your all-American recipes, festive decorations and other Fourth of July must-haves, so make sure you don’t forget dessert! These 20 red, white and blue treats are just the thing to help you add a little flair to the table and cap off a great July 4th celebration."

What to Do With A Butternut Squash

We were gifted with a large butternut squash the other day, and as the giver of said squash would demand to know when and in what form it was eaten, and my family isn't really too keen on just roasted butternut, I knew I had to do something. Thank goodness for the wonder that is the Internet.

Now, this butternut was a big boy, so big that I was going to have to come up with a few different recipes. The first thing I made were butternut squash and black bean burritos. They were good. So good, in fact, that I didn't even have time to grab my camera before they were disappearing into hungry bellies. I followed the original recipe pretty faithfully, but there's room to play around depending on your personal tastes and what's in your fridge at the time. For example,

• We didn't have the red pepper that was called for, but the green and yellow peppers on hand did just fine. 
• I took the time to make the black beans from scratch, half because I like the taste a little better and half because I had a bag that had been sitting around for a while and wanted to be put to good use (I could tell). Because I made a whole bag, instead of using one can, I was also able to stretch the mix to make more burritos.
• The original recipe is vegan, but none of us have any particular qualm about animal products and I had a half-used bag of cotija cheese in the fridge. Cheese of some sort definitely adds to the flavor, so use whatever you've got.
• My mom isn't too big on spicy foods, so I omitted the cayenne pepper, which left the mix a little sweeter, if you like that sort of thing.

Layered on a bed of romaine and sliced tomatoes, these were delicious. And the mix keeps well - I ate it cold with lettuce the next day at work, and it was just as good. And it's not difficult at all, only a little time-consuming (roasting the squash takes between 45 minutes to an hour depending on the size and your oven).

But as good as the burritos were (and as many people as they fed - eight, three of whom were 20-something boys), they only used up half of the my squash. I try to avoid making dinners that feature the same taste/item more than once in any given week, so onto dessert it was!

I like using my ramekins, since I think they're oh so cute, so steamed butternut squash pudding sounded like just the ticket. I was even better at being faithful to this recipe, except for three little things. I cut the sugar to 3/4 of a cup, I omitted the ginger and doubled the cinnamon (on the basis of I didn't have ginger and I did have cinnamon), and since I was hampered by the number of ramekins we own, I made six puddings instead of 12.

Fresh right out of the oven

The recipe says these take 22 minutes to bake at 325 degrees, but they took me about an hour and ten minutes at 350. It could be that I was effectively doubling the amount of batter in each ramekin, but other reviews said they had the same trouble vis a vis baking time, so I wasn't too worried.

These were great. Served with homemade vanilla whipped cream (much quicker to make than a sabayon), they made a great dessert, and were just as good cold the next day for breakfast. Hey, if we can eat muffins in the morning, why not butternut puddings, right?