Thundercat Says Hello!

The Tree is Down

Thundercat helped me take down the Christmas tree this week.

Aah, pets.

Scenes from My Living Room

Have I mentioned that my grandmother's beagle, Meathead, is visiting our house for a while? We're calling it "fat camp." Yep, grama let her eat and eat and eat... now she's too obese. We absconded with her for diet and exercise at our house for a few weeks.

And boy, is she getting some exercise.

Thundercat has established Meathead as her playmate. I took a very short video today. Here they are:




Fortunately I was able to keep my composure. Usually I'm laughing hysterically while they go at it!

Thundercat's New Perch

Shortly before Christmas I dug out four red stacking bins that were going unused. One went on the closet's top shelf for hats, gloves and scarves. And one went on the top shelf of my wire kitchen rack at the window. The perfect spot for a kitty perch.

And no matter how often I put Thundercat in her little red bin, she jumped right out. I guess a mere hand towel (an old, discarded one) didn't suit her feline tastes for comfort.

So my friend M brought a fleece scrap, because we discovered that Thundercat prefers fleece. And on Christmas my g'ma gave us this sweet Christmas bear, so I put him in the bin, too, so at least he could look out the window.

Now Thundercat loves her window-side perch. And while it's not keeping her out of other windows, it is becoming a favorite spot.

Christmas Recap

Every year I can't help but be relived when all the holiday hubbub is over. As I look around my house--a disaster of dishes, ribbons and bits of paper, I think about a lovely day now over as a "whew" issues forth from my lips.

Here are some photos:

My brother, the Christmas Warrior

I turned around to get my camera and they devoured the ham

My super-sweet potato casserole

The desserts: A fruited and rum-infused cake, and cuban leche flan

Thundercat discovered that it's possible to climb INTO the Christmas tree

Pickle, decked out in her holiday finery

Mr.W tells Sandy a Christmas story

I will leave you with one recipe that I served yesterday to great raves. This is, by far THE BEST quinoa dish I've made to date.



Broccoli, Quinoa and Bacon
serves 8

3/4 pound bacon, cut up
olive oil
1 medium onion, vertically sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried chile flakes
1 pound bag frozen broccoli
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup quinoa, rinsed

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium-low heat until crispy and drain on paper towels; set aside.

If you want to be good, reserve only two tablespoons of bacon grease and discard the rest, adding a good 1/4 cup olive oil to make up for the grease you just threw out. But if you want to be very, very bad--and I know you do--just keep all the bacon grease and skip the olive oil altogether.

Cook onions until transparent; add garlic, dried chili flakes, salt and pepper and stir (depending on how salty your bacon is, and how much grease you use, be careful with the salt); cook until garlic becomes fragrant, about 1 minute. Add frozen broccoli and toss to coat with onion mixture. Saute five minutes.

Add broth and quinoa; bring to a simmer, cover with a lid or foil and cook until most liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.

To serve, plate broccoli-quinoa mixture covered with cooked bacon.

Sugar- and Gluten-Free Maple-Pistachio Sandies

I've gone too far.

I have this bag of rice flour just calling to be experimented with... so yesterday was my first try. And you can't win 'em all, can you?

The dough came together nicely, and tasted okay in dough form, though a little 'floury.' When cooked they're even MORE floury. They actually suck all the moisture from your mouth as you chew.

Not good.

Okay, they're not completely horrible, but they are just too... sandy. They explode into a million crumbs as soon as they go into your mouth. And I don't think stevia was the right sweetener for this cookie--there was definitely a slightly bitter taste going on there.

That said, this dough would make an excellent SF/GF pie crust.

I made these for one of the sugar-free treats at my upcoming holiday open house... and I need to figure out how to resurrect them. Coat them in chocolate, perhaps? Any ideas?

And if anyone reading this is a gluten-free guru, can you tell me where I went wrong here?

Sugar- and Gluten-Free Maple-Pistachio Sandies

makes 3 dozen

2 cups rice flour

1 cup salted butter

3/4 teaspoon powdered stevia (or any sweetener to equal 3/4 cup sugar)

2 tablespoons sugar-free maple syrup

salted pistachios

Preheat oven to 350*F. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until blended. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Top with a pistachio and press down to flatten lightly. (These cookies do not spread, but puff up slightly while baking.)

Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

The idea was a buttery cookie with a nice salty-sweet balance. I just ate another one with a squeeze of SF maple syrup on it. That was a little better, but I still needed a bottle of water with it.

And here's a sleepy pic of Thundercat... isn't that just adorable?

Brr!

It has been downright cold. And snowing. And sleeting. And freezing rain.

Over the last few days we've been experiencing all forms of cold-weather precipitation, piling one upon the other to make everything very Christmas-y. It's still cold today, but at least the sun has emerged at last.

After 30 energetic minutes of shovelling while the doggies did their outdoor business this morning, I'm laying low in the house. Still safely ensconsed in my pj's, I'm about ready for some hot chocolate.

As you know, I have some special dietary needs, so hot chocolate in my house is a bit of a different affair. So I'll evict Thundercat from her nap on my chest and go make some.

Mrs.W's Sugar-Free Hot Chocolate
serves 1 jumbo serving

2 cups sugar-free chocolate soy milk

1/4 cup sugar-free hazelnut coffee creamer

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Whisk together all ingredients in a saucepan set over low heat. Heat to just below the simmering point, whisking frequently.

Prepare your coffee mug with a metal spoon (for heat distribution) and a splash of your favorite boozy beverage. (Optional, of course.)

Pour in hot chocolate. Keep cat away from mug.

Savor as you watch the snow falling outside.

Perfect. I think I'll go back to bed.

The Cooking Marathon Begins

Mr.W has made it home safe and sound, and is pleased to find the new addition to our household. Here is our sweet kitty, who has been permanently dubbed, "Thundercat."


Now I can concentrate on cooking. I am expecting a crowd of 10 to stroll through at some point during the day. Dinner is scheduled for 4pm, but there are some folks who will arrive for dessert, come by for 2nds later in the day, and so forth. Here is my Thanksgiving Menu:


Appetizer: Hot Spinach-Crab Dip with Multigrain Crackers

Salad: Salad of Baby Spinach, Dried Cranberries, Grape Tomatoes, Crumbled Blue Cheese and Chopped Hazelnuts with a Maple-Balsamic Vinaigrette

Entree: Orange-Roasted Turkey with Giblet Gravy, Quinoa-Stuffed Hubbard Squash

Sides: Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Pureed White Beans, Sweet n' Spicy Roasted Yams, Carrots and Onions, Macaroni and Cheese

Extras: Dinner Rolls and Butter, Cranberry Compote, Fruit-Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

Dessert: Sugar-Free Pumpkin Custard, Assorted Pies and Whipped Cream

Beverages: Wine, Coffee, Tea, Bottled Water


Today I'll be making the stuffing, mashed potatoes, pureed white beans, maple-balsamic vinaigrette and the sugar-free pumpkin custard, as well as prepping for the other dishes and setting the table.

When I prepare a menu, I like to also plan what serving dishes and utensils will be used so that everything moves ahead easily. I'll be labelling all the serving containers with small slips of paper so that last-minute frenzies are avoided and any helpers I may be blessed with will know which dish to bring me when it's time to plate things.

Thanksgiving is quite a casual day at my house--paper plates and plastic cups. A little ghetto, maybe, but it makes my life much easier to keep my dish-doing to a minimum. After all, I don't have an automatic dishwasher!

Pitter Patter

I have two dogs. Sandy, a blonde corgie-mix is an aged 13 years, has been my companion for a long time. Now hard of hearing and sight-impaired by cateracts, she is still my beloved little nummy that I brought back from South Korea.

Then came Pickle, the Dog Who Named Herself, who is now a 7 years old seemingly rat-terrier mix. I originally intended to call her Peanut, but every time I'd call her name, Pickle would emerge contrarily from my lips instead. I continue to tell everyone that she brainwashed me and picked her own name. Or pickled her own name. Whatever.

And last night, my brother called me from our local library.

"Do you want a cat?"

"What?"

"It's trying to get into the library, and it doesn't belong to any of the neighbors. It's a sweet little thing."

"Well..."

"Do you hear it meowing? Awwww..."

"Bring it over."

See what a pushover I am?

So here is the little darling in many modes from the last several hours. And oh, what an interesting several hours it has been! She's been all over the place--fiercely curious and bravely challenging the doggies, who, at first, were mostly oblivious to her presence. However since that time she has scared the wits out of poor Pickle, who won't go near her. Quite the little dominatrix. She jumps, she growls and hisses at the dogs, yet is sweet and cuddly with a purr that could bring down the walls of Jericho. Little one had to sleep ON me. Not near me, not beside me, but on me. Especially on my armpit while she made buns in my hair.


Now comes the best part. Naming her.

I've been making a list of the names that appeal to me. Names like Thundercat and Steppenwolf. But she didn't answer to those two. Catzilla would be funny, but I'm afraid of what kind of cat a catzilla would become. Would that be creating a monster?

McLovin'? Toejam? Ginseng? She has answered to Taterbug, Tinkerbell and Pushka. But I'm not sure about those, either. The search continues.

So if you have any suggestions for Miz Thang's name, comment away! My only criteria is that it shouldn't be a human name. I don't like to name my animals human names--and before you go pointing out that Sandy is a human name, she came to me already named after a year with her first family.

And shhhhh... this is a surprise for when Mr.W comes home!