Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

I have told you over and over that I don't like to bake cookies, but I baked for you.

Triple Chocolate Ginger Crinkles.

Rich chocolate cookies with just a hint of spicy ginger and dusted with powdered sugar. Each unique like a snowflake. All delicious.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. May you find peace and love in this holiday season.

Triple Chocolate Ginger Crinkles

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup candied ginger, finely chopped

1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

1 cup powdered sugar

Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate, stirring until smooth.
Let cool for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F; line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat the eggs and sugar together.
Whisk in the cooled butter and chocolate mixture.
Stir in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until incorporated.
Stir in mini chocolate chips and ginger.
Place powdered sugar in a wide bowl.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. (I found that using a cookie scoop to worked well.)
Roll each dough ball in powdered sugar to coat.
Place cookies about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake 14-17 minutes, until cookies are puffed and cracked. (14 minutes made perfectly chewy cookies for me; 17 minutes yielded crisper cookies)
Allow to cool for a minute before transferring to racks to cool completely. (Yield: 3 dozen)

The Worst Part of Cooking at Home

Hubs and I went out with friends last Saturday night, and at the Wild West Steakhouse enjoyed the best Seafood Tortellini I have had in some time. They were previewing their Valentine's Day menu over the weekend, and that pasta dish in all its carb-overload glory really hit the mark for me. A little salad, crusty bread, a couple cocktails, a mini cupcake, and some good company made it all bliss.

When the Tuesday of Valentine's Day rolled around, Hubs offered to take me back for another round of said bliss. However, partly out of thriftiness (I am trying to budget for finally finishing that office reno.), partly of laziness (I was willing to shower and dress, but didn't want to do the fuss and muss that I require for going out.), and partly of not wanting to sully the high of that great meal with the chance that trying it again on one of the restaurant's busiest nights might not seem as outstanding, I declined. I chose to cook at home.

I knew just what I was going to make after sifting through some pages torn from magazines long ago. Rachael Ray offered up Shrimp and Spaghetti in Coconut Broth as a new, lighter twist on seafood pasta for us. Pan-frying a few of my Pork Dumplings as an appetizer would be the perfect start for this slightly Asian feast, and of course, chocolates would be the luscious ending. It was very different from that meal we had Saturday night, but still special and delicious.

I had forgotten one thing, though. The worst part of cooking at home is THE.DISHES. Even though I can make a fabulous meal at home, I think I might take Hubs up on his next offer for dinner out. I don't like dishes.

Shrimp and Spaghetti in Coconut Broth

(adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray)

1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 tablespoon Asian fish sauce

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger (I don't chop my ginger, instead I grate with microplane.)

1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 pound frozen, raw shrimp, thawed (Hubs' preference is tails removed in pasta dishes.)

1 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped

3/4 pound spaghetti

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. 
Cook the spaghetti until al dente; drain.
Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, bring the coconut milk and chicken broth to a simmer.
Stir in the fish sauce, garlic (that's right, you don't saute the garlic first), ginger, chili sauce, and lime juice; cook for 2 minutes.
Stir in the shrimp and cook until just opaque, about 4 minutes.
Add the cooked spaghetti.
Stir in the cilantro, reserving some as garnish. (Serves 4)

Haters Are Gonna Hate

I wasn't going to blog about this, but here I am. Blogging. Late at night. Words swirling in my mind. Thoughts trying to connect in a sensible order. A story feeling its way out of my head. Here I am, and I hope it is OK.

If you follow this blog at all, you know that I recently did a giveaway with a good friend that I have known since high school (which in total number of years is a lot longer than I care to admit...not that I don't appreciate having this friend in my life for such a long time, but I sometimes feel like I am still in my early 20s and having a friend for 20+ years just seems...well, OLD...yikes). Anyway, this friend and I collaborated, and with our own funds provided a total of $100 worth of Pampered Chef products to 2 lucky, randomly drawn winners. (key words: RANDOMLY DRAWN)

Readers from across the nation commented and entered. Traffic wasn't outrageously out of the ordinary, but people that have been reading this blog came out of the darkness and let us know they were here. Every new Pampered Chef wish list made me smile, and references to the recipes I have shared made me giddy. It was an extremely fun week of reading what you had to say. I liked it.

When the day of the magical drawing arrived, I was busy with life outside of the online world but just as anxious to learn who the winners would be as all of those that had entered the contest. I had considered using an online random number generator to chose the winners. However, as the hours ticked by and I still hadn't had time to research that option, I decided that an old school, name in the hat, or Pampered Chef Batter Bowl, would do. I detailed this process in my blog post announcing the winners. I hoped that everyone would find it fair. But, everyone didn't.

The day after the winners were announced, someone chose to reach out to me with their grievances. It was done anonymously through the contact form here on the blog and with a bogus email. This person was angry. This person felt cheated. This person called me a liar.

It seems that this person also must have local ties to my area. I am not sure how else to explain the so-called "information" they spewed in such ugly terms. You see, both of the winners that I randomly drew--with my eyes closed--from my Pampered Chef Batter Bowl have ties to the specific area where I live. This was the reason for the hate mail. They felt I had rigged the drawing to hand-choose people that I knew.

I didn't. The names drawn were PURELY BY CHANCE. In fact, if the totally honest, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die truth be told, when I drew two names that I personally knew, I thought about throwing them back and drawing again. Really. I had hoped this giveaway would give me an opportunity to get to know a broader selection of my readers. I had hoped for a chance to reach out and build new relationships. Drawing names of people new to me fit that sort of PR idea, but that isn't what happened. That wasn't the luck of the random draw. I randomly drew names of people that I knew, and I honestly stuck with those two winners.

And so, I received hate mail. At first, it upset me, but now I am shrugging it off. (Kinda, I guess...if I shrugged it off totally, I wouldn't be blogging about it, huh?) I am going to choose to believe that it wouldn't matter which names jumped into my hand when I did the drawings. Some people are never happy. Haters are gonna hate.

And, as for a recipe to go with this rambling, whining, not-sure-what-the-whole-point-of-this-is tale? How about Beet Marmalade? Beets are a polarizing vegetable. People love them. People hate them. When I found a Beet Marmalade on Pinterest toward the end of summer, I knew that my love for beets demanded that I make it. The earthiness of the beets pairs really well with the citrus and ginger. I like it spread on biscuits or toast, but it could make an interesting appetizer with goat cheese on crackers. I love Beet Marmalade, and it doesn't bother me that the haters are gonna hate.

 Beet Marmalade

(adapted from Lemons and Lavender)

4-6 medium-large red beets
2 cups sugar
2 large lemons
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Trim the beets leaving about a half inch of stalk intact and remove the thin root end.
Wrap each beet with foil and place on baking sheet in oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. (Beets are done when they yield to pressure.)
Cool and peel. (If you are messy like me, don't wear white. Beets are colorful, to say the least.)
Place the beets in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. (I went for an apple sauce-like consistency.)
Transfer the beets to a heavy saucepan and stir in the sugar.
Cut the lemons, skin and all, into large chunks (remove all seeds) and place in food processor along with the chopped ginger and pulse until finely chopped.
Add the chopped lemon and ginger to the beets and sugar and stir to blend.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the marmalade has thickened a little, about 2-5 minutes.
Ladle into hot, sterilized jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace, and seal.
Process in boiling-water bath for 15 minutes.