Pantry Turn Around

June 18, 2016June 19, 2016 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t been cooking much lately. Or baking. I got in a rut. An infant and toddler – when do I sleep – where’s the coffee – how do I balance two kids’ needs – when do I get anything done – we ran out of diapers – oh S%!@ it’s dinner time?! rut. In the process, my main pantry closet became a typhoon twister, disorganized, dirty, frustrating mess. I don’t think I cleaned it out, organized it, or did anything to otherwise keep it “in shape” shall we say since having Isabelle almost 7 months ago. See Exhibit A:

Get it? It was overwhelming.

So, I took it all out. See Exhibit B:

And I mean, ALL out. See Exhibit C:

We found a pile of mini garbage cans, left over from Jack’s 3rd Birthday last year, stuffed in the back of the cupboard – such a mess! But then, we put it all back, in an organized fashion!! Except for the expired stuff, the stale stuff, the stuff that didn’t belong, re: the mini garbage cans.

See Exhibit D:

Happy to report that it’s been about 3 weeks since I finished cleaning up this mess, and it still looks like this! So. Much. Better. Preparing dinner is such an easier process when you know what you have and where it is.

Also, the only thing I had to buy was that lazy susan you see there holding the oils and vinegars. Amazing what a little time and effort can do.

Cheers!
Agustina

Lemon Curd For the Win

May 13, 2016May 13, 2016 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

At some point in my early life I fell in love with lemon desserts. I’m not sure when it happened, which dessert it was, where I was… I’ve always loved lemon desserts. Lemon curd straight up, or served on anything, lemon bars, lemon pound cake, lemon icing, lemon cake, lemon with blueberries, lemon bundtinis. I even cook with lemons! In chicken, fish, dressings… you get the idea.

The other day I needed a quick little something to help me say “Thank You” and show my appreciation. I had heard through the grapevine that they enjoyed lemon curd as much as I do, so I decided to whip some up since it’d been a while. I used this recipe as a guidepost. I added a little twine and a quick “Thank You” stamp on some cute paper. That evening, after Chris came home, we put the kids in the car and drove out for our little delivery. Nothing like a drive to get the kids to sleep, get a Thank You out, and have a little one on one quiet time to chat and connect – everyone wins!

P.S. This takes 5-10 minutes to cook!

This is how I “strain” it after it’s cooked, in case you were wondering! *See recipe below

: This is how you want the curd to coat the wooden spoon, and you’ll know it’s done

INGREDIENTS:

3 large eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest

½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

I used a double boiler, but you can improvise by putting a heatproof bowl over a pan of water. Cook the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest and juice, by whisking it until it becomes thick (like in the above photo, where the curd coats the wooden spoon). This should take no more than 10 minutes, be sure the water is hot hot hot – boiling even!
Remove from heat and strain the curd (as seen in the picture above). Add the butter, cut into pieces, and whisk until it’s melted and mixed in.
Cover, by placing saran wrap right on top of the curd, and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.
Enjoy! Especially, on pound cake with a cup of tea 😉

Cheers!

Hey There, Cookie.

April 10, 2016 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

The other night, while watching the March Madness Final my husband requested dessert. “Dessert?! I don’t have dessert!” I thought. So, I told him I needed a glass of water (to think), how do I tell my husband I don’t have dessert right now? And then it dawned on me: chocolate chip cookies! This recipe. Easy peasy. 1,2,3 style. From no cookies, to cooling in about 25 minutes, if that.

So here’s the thing about chocolate chip cookies. I love to eat them, right? But when it comes to baking them, well, they’re a bit finicky. Sometimes they turn out too thin, other times too thick. Sometimes they’re too sweet, sometimes the dough is too dry, sometimes there aren’t enough chocolate chips, sometimes they aren’t soft enough. For a chocolate chip cookie to be amazing, so many elements have to perfectly blend and bake in the oven. For this reason, I rarely make the same recipe more than a couple times. Generally, this is because by the second or third time, I’ve decided I don’t like the recipe.

However, I’ve finally found a recipe that I somewhat do, actually, like. And I’ve know made these cookies maybe 5 times! Amazing, right? Oh, and it is a Pinterest recipe, so that makes it all the more cool. The only clincher, is that it calls for powdered non fat milk. I think it may be the secret ingredient, so just pick it up next time you’re at the store if you don’t already have it on hand. Also, this will not be the last chocolate chip cookie recipe I ever post. In other words, I will likely post another chocolate chip cookie recipe (or two, or three) as time goes on.

However, for the time being, these cookies are great to throw in a ziplock bag and take with you as a homemade treat for road trips. In our family that means a long drive to Lake Tahoe for the weekend – they keep the little guy happy if we hit traffic or just get fed up being cooped up in the car. I imagine you could also take these with you on a flight, to work, to school, the park,you get the idea..

This picture is from when I made these cookies last summer. See the JOY these cookies bring?!

Here’s the link to the recipe: http://www.foodiecrush.com/milk-bars-salted-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Note: I don’t completely melt the butter, but I do let it almost entirely melt. I just don’t like when the butter gets too warm/hot because then it causes the chocolate chips to melt when you add those to the batter… get my drift?

Cheers!

Easter Easter, Brunch All About It!

April 2, 2016 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

I YouTubed Easter napkin fold, and these cute “bunny ears” came up, which was fun to do. I copied the bunny design with the kids’ names from someone on Instagram I had seen and loved.

Easter, He is Risen! My favorite holiday. Every time Easter rolls around, I find myself saying “Easter. This is my favorite holiday. Truly, Truly, my favorite.” Family, close friends, deeeeeelicious food, champagne, chocolate, egg hunt, bunnies, tulips, flowers, spring time. It’s one of the few holidays, that renews, recharges, leaves me feeling at peace. Maybe it’s because it stands all on its own, maybe it’s because it marks the start of spring, maybe it’s because we never travel for Easter, or a combination of those things. The point is: Easter is my favorite.

Before I say anything else, let me tell you that this Easter I did not cook or bake a thing. Instead, I set the table, which was fun and actually very relaxing while the littlest slept and the oldest hung out with Dad and Uncles and Aunts. My Mom, as she always does, made the most incredible Easter brunch. We look forward to it for weeks and weeks, and it did not disappoint! There were fresh made crab cakes with an amazing little sauce I could have eaten straight with a spoon, breakfast croissants with a homemade sun dried tomato mayo, a perfectly cooked Spanish tortilla, and plenty of mimosas with fresh squeezed OJ.

Oh, and dessert. Holy cow, dessert. My sister made a Banffi Pie! So good, so decadent. It is deceiving because it has bananas in it, so you think it is healthy. But it’s not. It’s pure sugar and cream. And to top off the pie we had chocolate mousse!

Voila! Now go ahead and gain 10 pounds with these pictures 😉

Crab cakes, again, because they were that good!

Chocolate mousse cups put us all in a food coma 😉

Happy Easter!

A Smoothie Green St. Patrick’s Day to You

March 18, 2016March 19, 2016 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! On St. Patrick’s Day everyone is Irish! Except, I didn’t wear green. Nope. Every year I “forget” to wear green. Mostly I’m too lazy. You see, I don’t have a lot of green in my wardrobe. I just don’t. Don’t judge. Maybe next year, alright?

That said, I always love to consume something green or “Irish” on this fun day! Today it was so incredibly hot out, that by the time we got home this afternoon, all I wanted was a smoothie. Do you remember making smoothies on hot summer days when you were a kid? I would make my smoothies with strawberries, milk, and ICE CREAM! And I called it a smoothie!? More like a milkshake! So, I made myself a smoothie sans all the dairy…

I pulled these ingredients right out of my fridge, and within minutes voila! What I most like about this smoothie, is that the banana really masks the spinach, yet you still get all the great health benefits of the spinach.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 c. ice

1 large banana

2 large handfuls of fresh spinach

3/4 c. almond milk

INSTRUCTIONS:

I always put all the ingredients in the blender in that order. And give it a good long blast until it’s smoothie delicious! Pour it into a fancy schmancy glass. Add a straw and enjoy!

*Makes about 2 cups

Agustina's Kitchen

stories of family, food, and fun times