A popular garnish to a martini or a nice addition to an appetizer tray, these olives are absolutely delicious.  Well, that’s assuming you like blue cheese, oh, and olives.  With those two very strong tastes, you’d think the whole thing would be overpowering, but I felt they actually complimented each other quite well.

First, what would possess me to try making blue cheese stuffed olives?  A business dinner took my NG Hubby to the fancy Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse.  A couple of his guests ordered martinis with blue cheese stuffed olives from the bar.  The bar didn’t have blue cheese stuffed olives, so they MADE them right there on the spot.  Adam (my NG Hubby) came home and said, “all I could think about was how ‘Next Generation Housewife’ of them to stuff the olives right there by hand.”

He described their method and then, of course, we had to try it!  Luckily we happen to have some huge olives on hand, and we always have blue cheese in the fridge.  Also convenient are my plentiful cake decorating supplies that greatly helped with the project.  Adam described that they took a bag “like you use for the cakes,” filled it with blue cheese, and piped the cheese into each individual olive.  How cool is that?

It really was quite easy and quick.  I prepared a pastry bag with a medium-sized decorating tip, and spooned a little blue cheese into it.  Before I had pastry bags, for this type of thing I used a ziplock bag and cut a tiny hole in the corner.  Here’s a pic of Adam stuffing an olive…

What a beautiful martini.

- Clarissa

Just the name makes this recipe cool, so I really don’t need to explain why I chose it — but I will.  As I explained in the introduction of my Big Easy Shrimp recipe, part one of my new cooking quest is to cook different types of cuisine beyond my Midwestern repertoire.  The perfect chance to continue the quest came when I saw some good Mahi Mahi at the grocery store the other day.  I started into my cookbooks (print and online) once I returned home and found Mahi Mahi Maui style with ingredients I had in the house — perfect because I was NOT going back to the store.

If you’re a regular reader of my recipes, you know that I rarely use a recipe unchanged.  I’m always substituting for ingredients I don’t have or omitting ingredients we don’t like, but this one I actually made exactly as described in the recipe.

This meal won the “Best meal we’ve had in months” acclamation from Adam, my very honest in-house food critic.  Try it out and please come back to share your experience!

Mahi Mahi Maui Style

• 1  1/2 lb. mahi mahi
• 2 tbsp. butter, divided
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp. teriyaki sauce
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 tbsp. sesame seeds

In skillet set at 250 degrees or medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter; add garlic and saute until tender. Remove from heat. Stir in teriyaki, lemon juice, honey and sesame seeds. Pour over fish and marinate 30 minutes.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in skillet. Set at medium heat. Add fish and saute 4-5 minutes on each side, basting with marinade. Garnish with parsley. Makes 4 servings.

Recipe source: Cooks.com

- Clarissa

I was excited to wake up to a leaked photo of the new tablet computer Microsoft is working on.  I know, I’m a computer nerd and love that stuff, but I thought you might enjoy seeing a photo too.  I think it’s pretty cool, but I’ll let you look for yourself:  Technology and Science Tech and Gadgets

P.S.  Coming soon on Next Generation Housewife — Mahi Mahi Maui Style and Finished Curtains!

- Clarissa

A long time ago I mentioned the living room curtains that I was starting.  You probably thought I forgot to show you the finished product, but oh no, I didn’t forget.  There just isn’t a finished product yet.  This project started easy enough, but then quickly blew up into a much more difficult project.

First, I wanted brick-colored curtain fabric — how hard could that be?  I will tell you – very.  There’s maroon, burgundy, merlot, claret, spice, clay, and 500 more, but where’s the brick?  After bringing most of the aforementioned ones home and then returning each the following day, I finally found brick!  I thought that had been the most difficult part of the project – ha!

Next was to create a valance that fit the room, portrayed the balance of formality/informality I wanted, and worked with the curtain rod I had already purchased on clearance.  I sifted through many websites and books for valance ideas and finally found the PERFECT one.  Since I could figure out exactly how it was assembled, I actually purchased a pattern for the valance (If I haven’t said before, I hate buying patterns because I always think I can reverse engineer anything from the picture).  So, after giving in to using a pattern, I bought some super cheap material to create a prototype before using the expensive stuff.  Well, it’s very lucky I did because this “perfect” idea looked horrible on our wall.  Here’s a pic if you don’t believe me…

Yes, that is King Kong fabric, nice?

Well, it was all drape-y and pretty which was great, but just didn’t fit the rest of our straight line, clean-looking style at all.  So I scrapped that and went back to the picture books.  This time I picked a more flat simple design and created it.  I did reverse engineer that one which is excellent since I was completely unimpressed with that one too.  By that time I was so frustrated there isn’t even a picture to show.  But then inspiration struck and I drew up (what I think is) a cool idea that is straight and simple while not completely flat.

This has turned into a much longer story than it deserves, but the point is that I’m finally happy enough with a design to work on the “real” fabric.  It’s still taking much longer than I would like, but this might be part of the problem…

I’ll keep you updated and hopefully someday will have a finished result to show.  If it works, maybe I’ll even create a pattern so you don’t have to go through the headaches I did.  I sense a completed valance soon!

- Clarissa

Yup, that’s me IN the freezer.  ‘Cuz why not?

No, really I was trying to fix the ice maker.  Somehow (my guess is from a glass being stuffed into the ice cube compartment where it didn’t exactly fit) a piece of the icemaker got pulled off.  After examining the piece,  I couldn’t find anywhere on it that was “broken” so I figured it could just be clicked back into place.  The problem was we had no idea where it came from, how it was to fit back together, nor how to get close enough to see any of it.  After my search for Samsung icemaker diagrams in the manual and online came up totally dry, I decided to just climb in the freezer and see if I could figure it out by sight.  The story really isn’t all that exciting, but I felt I needed to explain the pic a little.

How’d it end?  I was able to see exactly where the piece fit, clicked it back in, and voila — a good-as-new ice maker.  All in a day’s work

- Clarissa

I love to paint, and I hate to paint.  I hate the actual act of painting, but I love the part when everything is cleaned up and  you look around the wonderful newly painted room.  That love-hate relationship is probably why my house painting is going so slowly.  I just realized we’re fast approaching a year of living in this house, so I think it is high time to get moving on the rest of the painting.

To get a head start, my mom helped me paint Adam’s office during her stay.  Here’s the beautiful “after” picture…

and the always important “before.”

And one more “after” just for fun.

See, that’s the best part

The paint we used is Sherwin Williams “Indigo Batik.”  Now on to the next room!

- Clarissa

Even though this isn’t especially a foodie blog, I realize I have done quite a few food-related posts.  I have started up quite a few new house projects lately (outside the kitchen) so I promise to share that excitement as soon as they’re in a decent state   For now, just one more food post, but I think you’ll like it.

This weekend my sister and brother-in-law made the almost 12 hour trip south to visit us.   We had a great time — showing them around OKC as well as just catching up and hanging out.  Considering the long trip, on the first night of their arrival I knew they would be ready to just relax at home.  The main constraint on the dinner was time — I didn’t know exactly when they would arrive, but I knew when they did, they would be hungry right away.  My husband actually came up with the idea of homemade pizza, and I loved it.  The schedule worked out perfectly because I had all of the pieces ready and then threw it together when our guests arrived.

Any good pizza starts with a good crust.  I did a simple whole wheat crust using my stand mixer with bread hook.  I guess I’ve never made bread without it, so if you know how to substitute a hand-held mixer, please share. The recipe is for white flour, but I substituted whole wheat for half of the flour.

The recipe says to put the toppings on right away and then bake.  I tried that once before, but felt it made the crust kind of soggy.  This time I baked the crust for about 4-5 minutes and then put the toppings on and baked another 12-15.  It’s a small difference, but I thought it kept the middle less soggy.

I made two pizzas.  The first one…

• tomato sauce (you could buy this, or I just make a quick version with tomato paste, a little water, a little olive oil, garlic, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper — sometime I’ll figure out the actual proportions and let you know)
• pineapple chunks
• thinly sliced ham
• shredded mozzarella cheese

And second one…

• olive oil and garlic (brushed onto the crust)
• sliced tomato
• spinach
• sliced fresh mozzarella
• fresh basil

Those pizza topping choices were simply derived from what we had on hand, but I think creativity is a great thing in pizza-making.  Give it a try and please share your pizza creations here!

Crusty Pizza Dough

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (105 – 115 degrees F)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used about 1 1/2 cups whole wheat and the remainder all-purpose white)
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl.  Add salt, olive oil, and 2 1/2 cups flour.  Using dough hook, mix about 1 minute.

2. While mixer is running, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes.  Continue about 2 minutes longer.

3. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top.  Cover.  Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.  Punch dough down.

4. Brush 14-inch pizza pan with oil.  Sprinkle with cornmeal.  Press dough across bottom of pan.  Add toppings as desired.  Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Source: Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer: Instructions and Recipes.  I couldn’t find this book or its recipes online from Kitchen Aid, so unfortunately I can’t give you a direct link.  Just hope I didn’t make any typos

- Clarissa

A quick update on the “Big Easy” shrimp recipe I shared a couple weeks ago.  Because of all the pork in our fridge, we’re always trying to substitute pork into many recipes that call for other meats.  Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.

This time we substituted smoked sausage into the Big Easy shrimp recipe and it was excellent!  It kind of defeats the New Orleans idea of the dish, but to the Midwestern taste-buds, it was awesome!  I cooked the sausage on the stove in a separate pan following the directions on the Farmland smoked sausage package.  After it was cooked, I cut it into slices and added it to the sauce.  The other change to the recipe is that I removed the bacon since the sausage would provide plenty of  pork flavor.  Everything else was just the same, and I served it over brown rice.

Give it a try (or substitute something else you like) and let me know how it goes!

- Clarissa

In yesterday’s post, I told about my two-tier cake adventure and gave you the recipe for the bottom chocolate cake tier (even if you don’t want the recipe, go check out the pics because I’m proud ).

The top tier was an almond cake.  This one was very different because it was dense and thus MUCH easier to work with than spongy chocolate.  You’ll see from the ingredient list that the cake is mostly butter, so how can you go wrong?

The recipe instructs to use a “baking dish” and bake for 50 minutes.  I have no idea what they mean by “baking dish” but since I had to make a 6-inch double layer cake, I used two 6-inch pans.  That resulted in quite a thick cake, so I’m sure 8-inch pans would also do well.  Remember to reduce the baking time if splitting into multiple pans — my 6-inch pans required about 35-40 minutes.  One more note on the recipe — the author suggested sprinkling the top with powdered sugar to serve.  I had to frost it for class, but obviously you have options.

Most of the recipes I found for almond cake required almond paste.  Since I had neither the time nor energy to buy or make almond paste, I found this recipe that used almond extract instead.  In the process of searching, I found a recipe for homemade almond paste that looks excellent.  I have long been a HUGE fan of almond paste, so I can’t wait to try that recipe.  In the meantime, here’s a nice almond cake recipe with simple household ingredients…

Swedish Almond Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Beat sugar, egg, almond extract and milk together. Add flour and baking powder. Then add butter. Spray baking dish with Pam or any non-stick coating. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until cake tests done with toothpick. Cool for 20 minutes, then remove from pan.

Source: Cooks.com

Don’t worry if you missed the chocolate cake, you can still get it here.

- Clarissa

This weekend was my last Wilton cake class of Course III (we’ll take a little flashback into my cake classes later, but right now we’re talking about good cake recipes).  The lesson was to create a two-tiered cake, and I used a light chocolate frosting (light in color, certainly not in fat) with fondant roses.  The bottom layer was chocolate cake and the top layer was almond cake.  Due to our busy week and my cold, it’s not the best looking one I’ve done, however, the recipes for the actual cakes were the best I’ve made yet.  They’re nothing extraordinarily special –  just good plain cake, so I thought I would share.

But first, here’s a picture of the finished work.

And a close-up of the flowers

First, the chocolate cake (find the almond cake recipe here).  This cake was super easy to make because it just required one bowl and simple ingredients.  After it was baked, however, was a completely different story because it was so moist and sticky that it was a pain to try to move and frost.  As soon as we cut into it, though, the extra pain was totally worth it.  Well, that’s enough talk, you just want the recipe…

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 10 to 12 servings.

Source: Hershey’s Kitchens

- Clarissa