Author Archives: Laurie

Best Ever Gluten-free Blueberry Muffins

Posted on by Laurie

The first time I heard of gluten-intolerance was about fourteen years ago, back when we still had the B & B at our previous house. A guest who was staying with us for six weeks had Celiac’s disease and so I learned how to cook without wheat, barley or rye, and how to avoid cross contamination of  the gluten-free foods. After that, it was several more years before I had another guest ask for a gluten-free breakfast.  Now we receive that request every few weeks. Our gluten-sensitive and gluten-intolerant guests are always delighted to have these sweet and moist muffins. (Note, there are different degrees of gluten-sensitivity; but if you are cooking for someone who is truly gluten-intolerant, you will need to be extremely careful to avoid cross-contamination and even use cookware that has never has never had a gluten product in it. I always make a point to tell people on a gluten-free diet that we do not have a gluten-free kitchen, but that we take every possible precaution to avoid cross-contamination.)

Best Ever Gluten-free Blueberry Muffins

(Makes about 12)

2 c. white rice flour

1 c. granulated white sugar

1 T. baking powder

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 c. low-fat buttermilk

2 lg. eggs

2 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)

confectioner’s sugar for serving

(1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line muffin pans with muffin cups (using a foil cup inside a paper cup) or place muffin cups (using a foil cup inside a paper cup) on a large baking tray.

(2) In a large bowl, whisk together rice flour, sugar and baking powder. In a medium bowl, whisk together butter, buttermilk and eggs. Stir buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients. Fold in blueberries.

(3) Scoop batter into muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes or until muffins are firm to the touch and lightly golden brown around the edges.

(4) Place muffin pans or baking sheet on wire racks until muffins are cool enough to serve – about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar before serving.  Individually wrap any leftover muffins in plastic wrap and freeze.

For the Love of Old Houses

Posted on by Laurie

Our house was built in 1902. Its architectural style is Queen Anne transitional and it has many lovely features that one doesn’t often see in modern homes. One of the comments that we frequently hear around the B & B is “Boy with an old house like this, you sure must have a lot of work to do.”  We do have quite a list of work that we’ve done, or had done, to the house in the years that we have owned it. But the list isn’t long just because the house is old. A number of the repairs are ones that a anything except a brand new house could potentially require. (See my post “Basements and Butterflies.”)  All houses require maintenance and ours happens to be a big house with interesting architectural details which we would like to preserve.  So in a way, I guess, that does come back around to the age of the house.

Our contractor, Russ, employs a euphemism which we dread hearing  … “deferred maintenance.” That is when a home owner doesn’t stay on top of repairs and something that could have been a smaller job turns into a bigger and hence more expensive one. So when my husband recently discovered water coming through the porch roof between two of the columns, I got on the phone to Russ. Russ sent brother Tim over who told me that they were going to have to prop up the porch roof and pull several columns so that they could remove and replace the damaged boards. I didn’t like the image that conjured up. I had visions of broken columns and  layers of rotten wood. The wrap around porch with its columns and its varnished wood ceiling is one of our favorite features of our house and I didn’t want anything bad happening to it. Russ and Tim and the guys have always done good work for us, though, so I did my best to put my worries aside.

We chose a sunny day when there weren’t any guests around the house as the best time to have the work done. Once the guys to started, they had the roof secured and the columns pulled  out in almost no time. And violà the house was still standing. Thanks to Bill’s observant eyes, and to our trusty contractor, we caught the damage before it had gone very far; and everything has been fixed. They were able to do all of the repairs yesterday and today painting is all that needs to be done.

 The culprit in all of this  — improper gutter installation. The gutters didn’t have the appropriate backing where they wrapped around some of the porch’s corners. They looked fine from the front. We just had no idea what was behind them. So you can guess what is next on our list. But if you own an old home like ours, you’ve got to love it and that means giving it some t.l.c.

Pulling Out Columns

Getting Ready to Paint

Arroz Con Leche: Morning Comfort

Posted on by Laurie

The air felt cool and crisp when I got up this morning and the sky looked grey while I was thinking about making breakfast. It was a late breakfast this morning. Usually even in May I start cooking before or right around sunrise, so it was a luxury to be able to step outside to take a peek at the weather.  Feeling in the mood for some comfort food, I decided to make a pot of Arroz Con Leche. Arroz Con Leche – a sweet and creamy rice dish – is a dish that I love, but don’t make often enough in part because I often feel too pressed for time in the morning and in part because I know that if my guests don’t eat it all, I will finish off every last bite myself.  This morning, though, I decided that I could deal with both of those things and just when I was done cooking the rice, I noticed that the cloud cover had broken and the sky turned to sunshine.

Arroz Con Leche

(makes 8 side dish or 4 main dish servings)

1 3/4 c. to 2 1/4 c. water

1 stick good quality cinnamon

2 wide strips of orange zest about 2″ long

1/2 t. salt

1 c. long grain rice

4 c. whole milk

3/4 c. granulated white sugar

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. mixed dried berries or currants

Cinnamon Sugar

(1) Place 1 3/4 c. water, cinnamon stick, orange zest and salt in a medium sauce pan. (It is good to use a pan with a glass lid so that you can keep an eye on the rice once it gets added.) Cover pan and bring water to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

(2) Add rice to the pot and simmer, covered, until rice is tender and water has been absorbed, about 10 to 20 minutes. (The time will depend upon the heat of your stove and the type of rice you are using.) If the water is absorbed before the rice is tender, add a little more water as necessary.

(3) Once the rice is tender, stir in milk, sugar and vanilla extract. Cook rice and milk over medium to medium low heat, stirring frequently, until the milk has thickened just slightly, about 20 minutes. Do not let the milk boil.

(4) Once the milk has thickened slightly, remove the cinnamon stick and orange zest. Stir in dried fruit. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before serving. Serve warm.

Note: I tried many rice pudding recipes before I settled upon this one –  based on Rick Bayless’ recipe from Mexico One Plate at a Time (Scribner, New York, 2000) – as my favorite for breakfast. It goes nicely with fruits such as sliced bananas or diced mangoes.

An Honor and A Pleasure

Posted on by Laurie

Last evening we hosted a wedding at the Bed & Breakfast.  We’ve had weddings here before and, in all honesty, every one of them has been special. The one last night, however, was the first one that I have performed. It is a wonderful feeling, and a privilege, to be an integral part of such an important and happy event in two people’s lives. Chris and Ashley were married in the garden by the fountain. It was a simple and sweet ceremony with a best man, maid of honor, and four friends in attendance.

Below are a few pictures that I took while we were getting ready. I had made the cake earlier in the day yesterday. It was an almond flavored-white cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and sparkling sugar.  (I’ll post more pictures if I get some from the photographer.)

Wishing Ashley and Chris a world of happiness!

Lemon Midori Margarita

Posted on by Laurie

As I write this post, I am taking a break from preparing for a wedding to be held at the B & B this evening. I have the flowers arranged and the wedding cake layers are in the oven. Hopefully that means that all is going well. If it weren’t the case that I still have a lot of work to do and that it isn’t even yet nine in the morning, I might be tempted to have a margarita because it is Cinco de Mayo … and really it feels much later in the day than it is. But I shall wait until the festivities tonight.  It is always so exciting to host a wedding!

This is a slightly unusual margarita, being made with lemon juice instead of lime and having a touch of Midori for color and for a little extra sweet-tart flavor.

Lemon Midori Margarita

(1) Fill a cocktail shaker with crushed ice. Add 2 oz. of a reposado tequila, 1 oz. Cointreau, 1 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 oz. Midori. Shake vigorously for one full minute.

(2) Run a slice of lemon around the edge of a margarita glass or cocktail glass. Dip glass in kosher salt or margarita salt. Fill glass with ice.

(3) Strain margarita into glass. Garnish with a wedge of lemon. Enjoy!

Growing and Cooking with Herbs

Posted on by Laurie

The Portia Club from Wamego came over today for a tour of the house and garden and a discussion of growing and cooking with herbs. They are a very lovely group of women to chat with.

Here are  some of the things we talked about:

(1) Using herbs in the landscape versus growing them in pots. Some herbs such as Golden Oregano make wonderful groundcovers without being invasive. Some such as Sage are attractive accent plants when in bloom. Parsley is a good plant for butterfly gardens. Anything in the mint family, however, will have a tendency to take over the garden if not harvested on a regular basis and so should be grown in pots. The pots can be placed in the ground, though, if you want to hide the pots in the landscape. Many herbs are suitable for container gardens.  Basil, Parsley, and Cilantro come to mind for potted arrangements as well as some of the fancy Sage varieties.

(2) Herbs want sun. I’ve tried growing herbs in shade to part shade. I haven’t found any that are happy with those conditions. They don’t all like heat, however. Cilantro, for example, will go to seed as soon as it gets hot. So in hot areas, late afternoon shade will help extend its growing season. Others, such as Basil, are very intolerant of cold temperatures. So don’t put basil outside when temperatures might still dip into the 40’s. Grey leaved herbs such as Sage and Lavender are more drought resistant than green leafy herbs such as basil which will need regular watering when it is hot.

(3) Overwintering of herbs.  This year I left large pots of Rosemary, Oregano, and Spearmint outside over the winter. They came back fine. It was the first winter that I have had luck doing this.  Two things were different from other years. One, of course, was that we had a milder winter – it was still definitely a winter with freezing temperatures, though. The other difference was that I had the herbs in large pots so I think that they had enough soil to give the roots a bit of insulation. Some people have luck bringing their herbs inside for the winter. Expect the herbs to go through a period of adjustment and make sure that they have enough sun if you are going to try this.

(4) Cooking with fresh herbs. When cooking with fresh herbs, the thing to remember is that they are fresh. Their fresh flavor is what you want to come across. I like to use them in cold sauces and dips – added right before serving. Their fresh flavor can also be harnessed by using them in compound butters – in a food processor blend softened butter and herbs with citrus zest, citrus juice and/or spices. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate. If using herbs in a cooked sauce, add them right at the end of cooking to get the best flavor.

(5) Other ways to capture flavor. The flavor of herbs can also be preserved by using them to flavor simple syrups and vinegars. (See my post, The Underrated Chive.) Simple syrup is made by heating sugar and water (either equal parts or twice as much sugar as water) until the sugar is dissolved. Herbs, such as spearmint or lemon balm, can be added during the cooking and allowed to sit in the syrup for about 20 to 30 minutes after removing from heat. They should then be strained out before the syrup is bottled. Simple syrups can be used to flavor drinks such as iced tea or cocktails or to flavor desserts. Flavored vinegars can be added to salad dressings and sauces.

(6) Drying herbs. Generally herbs should be harvested before blooming – unless it is the blooms that you are harvesting –  and before the weather starts to turn cool. The real key to drying herbs, though, is to dry them quickly so that they don’t rot before they are dried out. Herbs such as Rosemary, with a lower moisture content can be suspended in small bunches in an airy, dry space out of direct sunlight. For herbs with a higher moisture content, such as Parsley, the method with which I have had the best luck is spreading the cleaned leaves out on a large baking sheet and placing them in the oven using just the pilot light or the lowest heat until the moisture has evaporated. Then I transfer them to a zip top freezer bag and freeze. Some herbs such as chervil, however, just don’t dry well.

Happy gardening! Happy cooking!

Top photo: Sage, Rosemary & Oregano

Middle photo: Golden Oregano by Day Lilies

Bottom photo: Potted Herbs (Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Thai Basil, Tarragon)

Basements & Butterflies

Posted on by Laurie

A lesson that I’ve learned over the years is that the best antidote to an unpleasant experience is to do (or plan) something pleasant as soon as possible. That isn’t to say that I am always good at following my own advice; but sometimes I actually manage to.

Just before check-in yesterday,  I discovered that one of our four hot water heaters had broken and that water was running all over the southern half of our basement. After calling my husband and the plumber, I had to haul dripping wet boxes out to the back yard and mop up the mess downstairs. No fun. But afterward, I went outside to photograph the garden and found that my sage plants were covered with butterflies – at least four different kinds. The one pictured below is a Painted Lady. While I wish that the water heater hadn’t broken, taking pictures of butterflies was good stress relief; and in the end, all is well.

Cinco de Mayo Roses: A Festival of Color

Posted on by Laurie

Back in the Autumn, I picked up a Cinco de Mayo Rose on whim. At our old house, where we had originally opened the bed and breakfast, I put in a rose hedge, a rose bed, and some landscape roses. In total, I had around 60 rose bushes, give or take. For various reasons I had decided not to attempt to reproduce that garden when we moved the B & B to this house 12 years ago and instead came up with a completely different garden design. But at times, I found that the three ground cover roses that I planted here just weren’t filling my rosy desires; and here and there, now and then, I’ve had to add more specimens from the genus rosa. Cinco de Mayo was one such planting. I am now seeing it in bloom after its first winter and so far think that it is a very nice addition to my growing collection. The blooms range from a deep purplish-red to coral-pink. Depending on the light, they can look completely different at different times of the day and the color is more intense in cooler weather and when the blooms are new, becoming less saturated in color but no less attractive on warmer days and as the blooms age. One review that I read described the blooms of this All American Rose Selection as “mysterious”.  Roses and Other Gardening Joys has a fun post on Cinco de Mayo as well. Ah, so nice to have roses!

Counting Down to Cinco de Mayo: Shrimp Tacos

Posted on by Laurie

Tacos don’t have to be just ground beef and shredded lettuce. There are so many yummy fillings that can go in a taco to make a casual yet delicious meal.  On a gorgeous evening, we love to sit outside and eat shrimp tacos … while drinking margaritas, of course!

Shrimp Tacos

1/2 c. cooked fresh corn kernels

1/2 c. chopped cherry tomatoes

1/3 c. diced orange bell pepper (or other sweet pepper)

1/4 jalapeno pepper, diced

1 T. fresh lime juice

1 T. olive oil

1 lb. raw shrimp, cleaned and shelled

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 t. ground cumin

1/4 t. ground chipotle

8 fresh corn tortillas

shredded cheese.

(1) Toss together corn, tomatoes, orange bell pepper, jalapeno pepper (optional), and lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

(2) Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil, shrimp, garlic, cumin and chipotle. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until the shrimp are about two-thirds cooked. Add reserved corn mixture to the skillet. Stir to combine ingredients. Continue cooking until shrimp are fully cooked.

(3) While shrimp finish cooking, warm tortillas. When shrimp are done, place two tortillas on each plate. Top with shrimp mixture then with shredded cheese. Serve right away.

Blackberry Mojito: A Festive Warm Weather Cocktail

Posted on by Laurie

If you are planning a warm weather party, you might be looking for a fun cocktail to serve. Blackberry Mojitos are a festive drink for Spring and Summer celebrations.

Blackberry Mojito (1 Serving)

(1) Muddle (i.e. crush together) several fresh mint leaves, 6 large blackberries, 1.5 T. of sugar in the bottom of a short cocktail shaker.

(2) Fill shaker with crushed iced. Add 2 oz. rum of your choice. (Lighter rum will yield a lighter drink color.) Squeeze the juice of one lime into shaker. Shake vigorously for 1 full minute to chill drink and melt ice.

(3) Run a slice of lime around the rim of a cocktail glass. Dip glass in sugar. Fill glass with ice cubes.

(4) Strain cocktail into glass. Garnish with a slice of lime and sprig of fresh mint. Serve right away. Have fun at your party!