welcome to whathejill
California->Spain->California
Starting a new life in a new place.
Starting a new life in a new place.
Homemade Bath Salts
This is a super fun and relatively inexpensive homemade gift that is perfect to give out to friends and family around the holidays. I found the idea HERE and it turned out really well. Homemade bath salts are a great gift, not only for the homemade factor, but also because they turn out really pretty in the jars, flecked with the dried flowers and herbs. Once you gather up the ingredients, the process is super easy and quick. I definitely recommend making bath salts for your friends.
The ingredients that I chose cost about $50 and I made 12, 1-pint jars. There was some left over, but I ran out of jars! I bet I could fill another 6 jars with the leftovers. That’s on today’s agenda…get 6 more jars. So, basically, with what I bought, I could have made 18 jars. The ingredients I chose are as follows, although you can mix and match flowers, herbs, scents as you wish:
8 cups of epsom salt
4 cups of Kosher salt
4 Tbsp of sweet almond oil
40 drops of tangerine oil
2 Tbsp dried Calendula
2 Tbsp dried Hibiscus
4 Tbsp dried Lavender
(I made TWO batches of the above recipe because only 1 fit in my mixing bowl at a time)
Mix everything together really well and then you can fill your jars. Don’t forget to put a pretty label and a festive bow on the jars! Enjoy!
Merry Christmas!
I discovered/created an awesome Thanksgiving leftovers recipe!
I found a recipe (from the Costco cookbook) for a chicken salad with dried blueberries in it. I didn’t have any chicken, but I DID have turkey leftovers….a lot! And I didn’t have any dried blueberries, but I DID have fresh cranberries….a lot! So I got the idea to make the recipe, substituting the ingredients I didn’t have for those that I did have. And it turned out SO GOOD! My mom said it was the best turkey leftover dish she has ever had. We ate the salad on toasted croissants and it was heaven!
OK, so for dish number 2, you must save your Halloween pumpkin! Insane, right? Well, I have SUCH a delicious pumpkin soup with my leftover Halloween pumpkins. Claire, my sister, and I spent a good deal of time chopping, cleaning and peeling our two Halloween pumpkins and we got 16 pounds of pumpkin out of it! The soup turned out so delicious, it was so easy and I still load a ton of pumpkin left to repeat it another day.
So, here are my recipes. Enjoy and make your own twist on them. They’re both really easy and well worth the effort.
TURKEY CRANBERRY SALAD
4 cups of leftover turkey, chopped
1 cup of chopped fresh cranberries (mix in a few tsp of sugar to take away the bitter taste)
2 Tbsp chopped red onion
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup sour cream
sea salt and fresh black pepper
Mix all ingredients together well and chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve on warm, toasted croissants. (Serves at least 8. You’ll probably have leftovers.)
PUMPKIN SOUP
a big glug of extra virgin olive oil
2 red onions, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 sticks of celery, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeño, chopped (or crushed red chilies would work too)
4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
salt & pepper
good pinch of fresh sage (dried if you don’t have fresh)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves removed
4 pounds of pumpkin meat, chopped into smallish chunks
8 cups of good chicken stock
This is dead simple. I promise. Grab a big soup pan and heat the olive oil a few seconds before you add the ingredients. Dump in all together the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, jalapeño, salt, pepper, sage and rosemary. Let everything cook together for 10-15 minutes, until a little softened and the flavors have really started working together. Dump in the pumpkin chunks (your Halloween pumpkin!) and cover with the stock. Let it all simmer for about 30 minutes or until soft and smooshy. Blend it together with a hand-held immersion blender and you’re good to go! (Serves at least 8. You’ll probably have leftovers.)
I’ve been a little m.i.a lately as I was super busy with a big move from Spain to the US. It was an intense summer in so many different ways and now I’m finally back in the US after 5 wonderful years in Spain. The past 11 days have been full of re-adjusting to American life and helping my hubbie get situated: driving test, getting a SSN and his first interview in the US! So now that I’m getting a little bit settled, I am some free moments to post pics of what I’ve been cooking up the last few months. And here they are!
BLTAs!!! On mini croissants!!
Bacon + Lettuce + Tomato + Avocado + Mini Croissants = HEAVEN!!
GAZPACHO!!
Por fin, me he atrevido a hacer gazpacho extremeño (!!!), gracias a mi cuñada, Esther, que me ha dado la receta. Creo que ha salido muy rico…por lo menos Carlos lo terminó todo! Super fresquito para el verano, me encanta! Para mí, no pueden faltar los picatostes y el picadillo de pimiento verde, pepino y cebolla. A mi me encanta el toque crujiente y fresco de los picatostes y las verduras crudas. Buenísimo.
Best Hummus Ever.
OMG, I think I just made the best hummus I have ever eaten. I followed a basic recipe, but as it always happens (maybe a skill unconsciously inherited from Denise), it wasn’t good enough and I had to spice it up on my own. So I started with a big jar of garbanzos, a few shakes of salt and cumin, 4 tablespoons of Tahini, the juice of half a lemon, extra virgin olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic and I think that’s about it.
BORING.
Add juice from the other half of the lemon, Spanish green olives, more cumin, more olive oil….still not right….it was too dry. So a splash of pickle juice (next time I will throw in the liquid from the garbanzos), a shake of Cholula hot sauce and a few slices of canned jalapeños. Keep whizzing with the hand mixer and oh.my.god. did the best hummus ever appear.
It’s so cumin-y and creamy, with a hint of spice, but not overwhelming. The flavors really come together nicely and none of them really overpower the others. Hay-zeus this is good. I guess I’ve got dinner covered now!
Funky iPod player with phonograph design from The Cool Hunter
I love this little gadget. Maybe I’ll get one next Christmas…
TUMBLRR by Jonathan O’Connor
Check out this cool site if you also have a Tumblr. It creates one collage image from various images from your own blog, using opaque renditions of the images and layering them together. Supposedly it’s especially interesting to use with architecture or design blogs and also with blogs that have animations in them, as the image produced also includes animations.
Tumblrr was created by a recent Industrial Design grad from the Rhode Island School of Design, Jonathan O’Conner.
Brownie disaster!!
They were supposed to be oreo brownies with a chocolate peanut butter topping, but it turned out to be a chocolate volcanic mess. Tasted pretty good, but it was sooo rich, I don’t know if I’d repeat this recipe again…
Spinach, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Puff Pastry Packages
They turned out amazing! I grilled the mushrooms with a chopped onion, salt and pepper and then threw in a shot of sherry and let it simmer together. Then I added the spinach until it cooked together with the mushrooms and onion. I filled the puff pastry with the mixture, threw in chunks of goat cheese, brushed the puff pastry with a beaten egg and threw it in the over. They turned out great and Carlos gave his seal of approval too!
It’s Tuc-Time! Tuc’s are seriously the best crackers ever…or at least the best ones in Spain. Especially the “bacon” flavor. The hot and spicy ones are too, but I think bacon beats them. This is gross, but heavenly…put a thin layer of light margarine spread (like Brummel and Brown) on them and chow down. Great midnight snack…or 5:19am or whatever…
Sales de Mallorca
During my last trip to Mallorca at the beginning of this month, I bought a second round of Mallorcan salt from Llum de Sal. This time, I went away from the flavored salts and wine sprays, and just bought a plain-flavored salt that comes in tiny little pyramids and broken pieces. It’s amazing and so fun to smash in crunch right over the top of a salad or fresh pasta. Anyway, this time I didn’t make it to the small town where the salt comes from, Ses Salines, instead I just bought the salt at a small shop in Palma. I have to say, the place in Ses Salines was cool, but I think I’d rather save the trip there, buy the salt in Palma and hit up a beautiful beach instead!
