coffee joy in a time of quarantine

On an ordinary day, I drink two to three cups of strong, black coffee every day. Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't, but what I'm really going for is the bracing strength of black coffee to slap me into being a functional human. However, since nothing seems to be ordinary at the moment, I decided to try an intriguing coffee recipe that popped into my inbox the other day, called dalgona coffee.

  (It's apparently very popular over social media at the moment, but this was the first I'd heard of it.) 

If you, like me, find yourself lolling about the house around 3:21 pm and wish for a caffeinated pick me up, I recommend giving this one a try. I don't typically prefer sweetened coffee beverages, but I found this one to be a perfect mix of intense frothy coffee with creamy milk to balance it out. 

Recipe

makes 1 serving

1 TBSP instant coffee

 (apparently Cafe Bustelo is the best 

but I used an old jar languishing

 in my cabinet with good results)

1 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP boiling water

Your milk of choice

 (I used vanilla oat milk, but whatever you like normally will obviously work because...you like it)

If you have a frother, use that to mix the instant coffee, sugar and boiling water together until creamy and whipped. If not, never fear! You can apparently put them in a mason jar and shake until frothy, though I haven't tried this. You can also whisk them by hand (this is tiring, I tried it once) or using a hand mixer. Whichever method you choose, once it's lightened in color to a rich caramel and looks very creamy, spoon it over a cup about 3/4 full with milk and ice, then stir gently before drinking.

I didn't do a great job of taking process photos last time I made this, but if you need further inspiration just google "dalgona coffee" and you'll be in endless supply of them. 

A Charcuterie Board

Adding a brief contribution to this blog, witness this delicious charcuterie board that Carson and I made a few nights ago! By way of explanation, she and I are essentially self-quarantining and considering each other as "family" for the shelter in place order, so we will occasionally travel back and forth to each other's dwellings and nowhere else (other than essential visits to the grocery store). It was delicious! For the curious, those are Miso-Glazed Roasted Brussel Sprouts that I am still attempting to perfect the texture of, although the flavor is amazing.

Another week of (confined) deliciousness

So, we’re about two weeks in to our “stay home, stay safe” mandate, and the children haven’t been bothered by a lack of extra activities. We have been eating well, and they’ve been burning their energy in creative ways. Here’s a sampling of what we’ve enjoyed this week...

  Elisabeth made church window cookies, a recipe that I remember my Grandma making when I was growing up. She always had a batch of these ready for when the grandchildren stopped by. Our kiddos enjoyed their first taste of them!

 Every Saturday is pizza night...last week's pizza options were pepperoni, cheeseburger and our "waffle ball" of the week...barbacoa and Mexican style beans.

"Pigs in Blankets" are always a treat.  Peter and Timothy are ready to eat their portion.



Our family really enjoys hummus for snacking and meals.  Steve usually makes our hummus (which is amazingly delicious!) from a tried and true recipe that we've had for years.  However, I recently found the Classic Hummus recipe in the Feed Zone Table Cookbook, and here's my take on it.  We also really like this one (this one has no garlic, but gets topped with toasted chickpeas and paprika).

This is our family's upgrade of a recipe that I grew up calling "sick rice," because my dad always made it when we were sick (colds, flu, whatever).  Steve has made us change the name, so in the Barnhart household it's now known as "comfy rice" and it's been slightly improved.  A double boiler is the required cooking implement (and Steve just got me a huge one, so I can make a large enough batch for our family), 1 cup of brown rice and 1 quart of milk, cooked gently for about 2.5 hours, stirred occasionally.  We top it with the standard toppings: honey, butter and cinnamon.  But we've now added nuts, raisins, coconut oil.  Anything that could make it extra delicious. (Note: our family requires 3 cups of rice and 3 quarts of milk....we eat a lot)  If you decide to make this with white rice (how I knew it as a child) it would cook completely in about 1 hour.

We make bread almost every day (sometimes it's every other day, and very occasionally every three days).  This is our standard batch.  If it's fresh for lunch time and sandwiches, we'll devour two loaves then.  Then a loaf with dinner, and a loaf for snacking or to supplement breakfast the next day.  Then we bake another batch.  We eat a lot of bread.  No gluten-free diets in this household!

And yesterday's batch of pizza.  We made the Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza from Cook's Illustrated (I think David originally got us a subscription to this magazine, and we've made lots of delicious foods from it...we've made this one a number of times over the years).  We made a double batch, for a total of 4 pizzas, as the recipe indicated a single batch would serve 4 to 6 people.  Definitely didn't want to run out!  Two of these were plain cheese and two had added pepperoni (we could tell them apart by their pans). 

 

Steve decided we'd just cut into two of them to start with....and that's actually all we needed for all of us! (with 2 pieces left over)  Here he is wielding our pizza knife; it's long enough to cut through the pizzas we bake on our half-sheet pans in one go.

We'll be eating deep dish pizza again for another meal this week....very happily and without all of the work!

Happy Eating from the Houghton Barnharts! (And that food on the table really did feed all 8 of us!)

(Houghton) Barnhart Bread and Brownie Baking Bonanza

As the Houghton Barnharts are in the beginning days of "stay home, stay safe," the baking has been a highlight of our days indoors.  
 



We had been perfecting pies....
 






(It was Pi Day....had to eat pies!)








And Elisabeth has been working on muffins (of amazing deliciousness).  She makes them for breakfast on Tuesday mornings, and usually saves three to share with the Cischke ladies (who are very grateful for a delicious treat mid-morning). 
 
Because the governor issued an executive order on Monday requiring us to "stay home, stay safe" effective midnight Monday, she decided to do her breakfast baking early....and deliver 5 muffins on Monday evening for their usual Tuesday mid-morning snack (we've increased the number since Kit and Cameron are home now as well).  These are the Rhubarb-filled Streusel Muffins from King Arthur Flour's website.  There were still nearly 20 left for the Barnharts to consume....very willingly over a couple of days.


 
 But today....our third day of "confinement"...was bread and brownie day! 

 Our sourdough is a regular Thursday dinner item, usually accompanying a big pot of soup.  We've been using this batch of sourdough starter for a little over 10 years now.  Our technique has definitely improved in that time, as well as having an increased number of sourdough consumers.  It was especially excellent today....the whole wheat dough had a nice long rise before baking.  Bread is usually made by Rachel, though Ella may try her hand at it next week after watching the process this morning.

After dinner, Elisabeth decided that we should have dessert, and we had all of the ingredients on hand for a "big batch of brownies" (exactly what my recipe says).  They were most excellent, though we did make a slight modification and used some coconut oil for part of the butter (I'm trying to ration my butter until grocery day).  They were still warm!

Oh Shannon Dogs!

to be sung to the tune of Danny Boy

Oh Shannon Dogs the dinner bell is ringing,

A call to all from near and far to come.

To taste once more the wonder of the Shannon Dog,

To know that this old recipe is still alive.

Who would have known that celery and hot dogs,

and onions sauted would be so good with cheese?

When baked so gently the tastes are more than we can say 

and all who taste will sing their love of thee dear Shannon Dog.

A Beautiful Evening for Apples

We picked our first early fall apples this evening - McIntosh and these lovely unnamed green apples with a blush. They grow on what seems to be a wild tree out in the middle of the field - maybe planted by a farmer's apple core or a passing deer.

Timothy was a willing helper.

A Lovely Meal at the Fitz

Rachel and I enjoyed a late anniversary celebratory meal this past weekend by driving up to one of our favorite restaurants - Fitzgerald's.  Sitting on the scenic Eagle River beach with views of Lake Superior sunsets and wind surfers, the restaurant is well known for its excellent smoked meat, accompanying sides, and drinks.  

Poutine

We always like to get the poutine as an appetizer.  Crispy french fries are covered with sauteed pearl onions, white cheddar cheese curds, and a light gravy.  It's practically a meal in itself (if you get it with smoked meat on top, it would be for sure).

Douglass Houghton's Anchor

This is the first time we've gotten Douglass Houghton's Anchor - a hefty platter that must be split.  Smoked pork sandwich, ribs, and brisket with three kinds of barbeque sauce and sides.  Eagle River has the ominous distinction of being the place where Douglas Houghton died a young death.  His boat sank in a storm just off shore.  If we had finished his namesake meal, I do think we would have ended up on the bottom of Lake Superior somehow.  Gladly, we did not - and went on to enjoy a piece of caramel cheesecake to top off the meal.

Caramel Cheesecake