Better-than-Nutella, from scratch.

Photo from Su Good Sweets

Last week, I used Su Good Sweets‘ recipe for homemade nutella.  (I made the caramel base version.)  I think I ate too much of the unfinished product as I went along, because when I was finally done, what I made tasted like nothing.  I had fried my taste buds.  I said Oh, well and threw it in the fridge.  Later, after explaining to Eric that it probably wasn’t as good as “real” nutella but was better for you, he tasted it.  He said he didn’t know what I was talking about and that it tasted a lot more similar than I let on.  As we sat there with spoons eating little bites, I realized how amazing it was, and how much BETTER than nutella.  Here are the main differences:

Ferrero brand Nutella’s list of ingredients, in order:

Sugar, Modified Palm Oil, Hazelnuts, Cocoa, Skim Milk, Reduced Minerals Whey (from Milk), Soy Lecithin: an emulsifier, and Vanillin: an artificial flavor.

Su Good Sweets’ recipe (from greatest amount to least):

Hazelnuts (2 c), sugar (1/2 c), cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla extract.  ALL the fat comes from the nuts, making it good fat, and the amount of sugar doesn’t compare to Nutella, which has more sugar than hazelnuts (!).

This cocoa hazelnut butter is more expensive, but if you get a good deal on hazelnuts (for instance, in Oregon in season) it is well worth it to have a delicious treat that tastes like nutella but is about as good for you as peanut butter.  I will make this again as soon as I find hazelnuts on sale. 

p.s. It’s heavenly as a dip for plain, raw pecans.  Even Eric, who doesn’t like nuts, says so.

Our home, part 1.

We’ve been working very hard on making our home liveable… this means finding a place for everything, which is intensely challenging for a number of reasons.  The main reasons are:

1) horribly designed cabinetry and VERY little usable storage space in our 1-bedroom apartment

2) enjoying lots of hobbies that require large equipment, such as a full-sized keyboard, keyboard stand, amp, boom mic stand, skateboard, longboard, and snowboard, skiis that aren’t even here yet (they’re in Spokane!), 2 bikes, etc.

Leading up to the wedding, our apartment was a horrendous mess of clutter, random boxes of my things because I was working on moving in, and random boxes of Eric’s things because we agreed not to decorate or make it homey until I could live there too. That agreement made it easier to go home when I should have.

Add to that the wedding week and wedding supplies, Eric’s bachelor party happening and some of the guys staying at the apartment with him, and housing the groomsmen for the weekend of the wedding, and it was surely more than I wanted to come home to.  Incredibly, our wonderful families cleaned the apartment (as well as they could) the day after the wedding, when we were on our way to Maui.  I’m posting some “before” pictures, and soon I’ll do an “after” post showing improvements we’ve made, decorations, additions, etc.

I was overwhelmed (in a good way) and didn’t think to take pictures of the disaster, but here’s a vague idea of what our families did for us.  Hopefully adding some apartment improvement posts soon! :]

The NEWLYWED post.

Hello!

We are now both officially Kings, officially living in Tualatin, and officially out of excuses to not update this blog.

So we promise to keep it up better.

For now, here is a recipe we really enjoyed last week, from allrecipes.com:

Red Lentil Curry (serve with Basmati rice and Naan bread)

2 cups red lentils
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons curry paste
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ginger root, minced (we used powdered)
1 (14.25 ounce) can tomato puree (we pureed 2 overripe tomatoes and used canned puree for the rest)

1. Wash the lentils in cold water until the water runs clear (this is very important or the lentils will get “scummy”), put the lentils in a pot with water to cover and simmer covered until lentils tender (The recipe says “add more water if necessary” – we did.  Watch it carefully so they don’t stick!).
2. While the lentils are cooking: In a large skillet or saucepan, caramelize the onions in vegetable oil.
3. While the onions are cooking, combine the curry paste, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, salt, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a mixing bowl. Mix well. When the onions are cooked, add the curry mixture to the onions and cook over a high heat stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomato puree and reduce heat, allow the curry base to simmer until the lentils are ready.
5. When the lentils are tender drain them briefly (they should have absorbed most of the water but you don’t want the curry to be too sloppy). Mix the curry base into the lentils and serve immediately.

Even if the lentils do get “sloppy” the curry will be delicious.  And it’s not too spicy – trust me, I’m a huge wuss.

We bough Naan at Fred Meyer, but you could use pita bread too. 

a bridal shower and a weekend apart.

Brynna here.

I’m posting from Spokane, actually.  I came home for the weekend to go skiing with my family in the beautiful Fernie, B.C.

In the evening before we leave, we decided to squeeze in a Spokane bridal shower after the very gracious Judy Newbold offered to host one with her daughter Andrea.  So we gathered at the Newbold’s house tonight for one of the most surreal experiences of the engagement so far — having an entire house full of people who are dedicating their Thursday evening to playing wedding bingo and giving me presents…. I saw people I haven’t seen in ages — Tabea, Margie, Olivia and Susan were among the most surprising.  24 people were there, which is huge!  And I have so many amazing gifts.  Kitchen gadgets, a lovely nightgown, candles, a more sophisticated magic bullet contraption (I realize this is a kitchen gadget but I feel it deserved its own mention) and many other things.  I am so thankful to Judy and Andrea and everyone who came.  I had way more attention paid to me than usual, and so many people to pay attention to….  I don’t think I could ever get used to it.  [EDIT: Eric wants me to clarify that he pays attention to me.  I meant, of course, the celebrity, dozens of people doing nice things for me for no reason type of attention.] One more next weekend thrown by the also-gracious Janet Lamoreaux, who I haven’t even met.   Actually, I haven’t met 90% of the people that will be there.

I feel compelled to give “prizes” to a couple.

Prize for the tiniest and cutest:

This little guy has a 1/4 cup capacity and measures in tablespoons, ounces, and milliliters.  It’s only a couple inches tall and it’s adorable.

Prize for the most matchy and creative packaging:

These silicone muffin cups, bag clips, and corn holders were tied together to the outside of the Wiersma’s gift with an amazing pink and red heart ribbon.

Also mentionable was Janie Bruce’s amazing cutout bird decoration.  I’ll try to take a picture of it and get it up here.

There were a lot of awesome hearts, including heart-shaped frozen juice in the punch.   And I love me some tacky hearts (I say “tacky” with so much love…).  I’m happy my shower was so close to Valentine’s Day.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, my sweetheart surprised me with a dozen red roses and a HEART-SHAPED PIZZA last night.  I was so excited we completely spaced house church.  Some things are just too good to not enjoy. <3

False appendix alarm and some radiant golds.

The last day has been quite an adventure.

Last night I (Brynna) had a strange sharp pain in my lower abdomen that didn’t go away for hours.  We eventually looked up the symptoms of appendicitis and were quite unnerved to find that most people feel pretty much exactly what I was feeling – an overall belly pain that localizes to the lower right.  So we called the ever-wise Dr. Murray, who recommended we go to the E.R. to get it checked out, since appendixes (appendices?) are “not something you want to mess with.”
So we went to the E.R.  Poor Eric had gotten very very little sleep the entire week because of end of the month work things, and the visit made him stay up until 2:30.  Not that he complained; I just felt bad.

At the hospital, I was questioned by a number of pleasant and good-natured nurses and doctors.  Really, they were the friendliest bunch of docs.  Since we weren’t quite positive it was appendicitis, and if it was it was probably pretty early — too early to do anything yet — we decided to hold tight.  Until I said that I had “an overall belly pain that started hurting only in my right side.”  Apparently I said some magic words, because the doctor immediately ordered a CT scan and I was hooked up to an I.V. and given pain meds, fluids, and an anti-inflammatory.  The nurse doing my I.V. was amazing.  She drew 3 vials of blood and stuck my I.V., all while talking to me about my plans for the future.  I had trouble talking and thinking about all the poking into my arm at the same time, but it went well and she got in the I.V. on one try.  After my meds, a CT scan with a hilarious radiologist, and a 20 minute wait feeling rather doped up, it was revealed that my appendix was fine.  No one knows what was wrong.  I was sent home, and today I feel fine.  So very strange, but I’m glad it didn’t require surgery.  Although one more sweet scar would be okay…

Today, we had a lovely lunch experience purchasing our wedding bands!  I’ve been hanging out at Eric’s (soon our!) apartment waiting for him to get back from work, and I had a ring photoshoot.  Here is a good shot:

My ring is a small white gold band (c. 1960) with baguette diamonds, that compliments the setting of my ring beautifully even though they are different metals.  The rings don’t sit tight against each other, but apparently that is a modern development, and in the olden days people just found pretty, complimentary rings to put together.  So that I did.  Don’t mind the gross toaster oven burn on my ring finger:

Eric’s is amazingly unique, and so so so cool.  We are both obsessed with it.  It was made in 1880 and has an engraving inside showing a wedding date of some people.  It just says “80,” and it’s amazing to think it means 1880 and not 1980.  It is yellow gold, rose gold, green gold, and platinum, and is incredible:

And one more picture of the rings together:

Hopefully you all (who are you?) had a wonderful week.

Love,

Brynna (and Eric)

Eric and Brynna’s Recipes: Stuffed Mushrooms!

Last night, we made some delicious stuffed mushrooms for dinner.  We got the recipe from Brynna’s “Savor Washington Cookbook“.  Since we loved it so much, we are going to share it with all you lucky readers.  Here it is:

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:
12 medium-size white mushrooms
1 medium yellow onion, diced
Olive oil
1/2 lb bacon, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced thinly
1 lb gorgonzola cheese

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425º. Remove stems of mushrooms and put mushroom caps upside down on a baking sheet.
Sauté onion with olive oil until gold. Add bacon and cook until crisp, about 5 minutes. Add celery and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Stuff the mushroom caps with this mixture and cover stuffed mushrooms with cheese. Bake in 425º oven for 8-10 minutes or until cheese has melted and mushrooms are tender.  Finally, eat and enjoy!

Eric and Brynna’s Suggestions:
There was too much filling so you could use more than 12 mushrooms. Also, a half lb of cheese is sufficient. Save yourself the $5.

Salutations/Mazel Tov.

hello.

And welcome to our blog.  Please make yourself at home with a nice cup of tea, not too hot.  Might I suggest Mighty Leaf loose-leaf African Nectar, to facilitate your entry into the world of the once and future King.  (That would be us.)  This will preferably be had from some sort of nice sufficiently zen tea set, and you should have a blanket of sorts around you.

Now you can join us.  Kieran will come bring you his toys and then maybe fall asleep on you as we have a long, simple conversation or a short, profound one.  Then we will all laugh, a lot, and make some more tea.

Or instead of this serene scene, we may instead eat multiple Wendy’s double-stacks, heath bar ice cream, and hamburger helper leftovers while we wish we had had much more water in the last week.  We will break out the Settlers of Catan and convince you to play, grateful for your company because we need at least three people.  We might do a lot; more likely we’ll do nothing, and we’ll love it, and you will go home late but safely to your own home, and you will come back as soon as you can.

Please?