Lime-Glazed Sugar Cookies and Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays! After a lovely most-of-December, polar vortex-like temps are upon us.  Paul is working and the store is open right up until Christmas, but the rest of us are staying in until temps climb to more respectable levels. Fortunately, we have a lot of crafts and projects to keep us busy. Last year we made cookies and brought them out to all of the people working in Cedarburg on the 24th. The kids made me promise that we would do it again this year. So, we are working on cookies and dipped pretzels for our cookie bags.

Baking with the kids these days is so much less messy than it used to be. Which really brings home the fact that they are growing up. I was watching them glaze cookies yesterday and couldn’t believe how well they did it and how little mess was made.  Honestly, it was bittersweet, no pun intended. These days I enjoy doing more activities with them without it turning quickly into inattention, followed by major cleanup, executed by me. But their competence and independence also signals the end of an era.

I usually have little patience for the overly sentimental, but I guess I’m not immune. The growth of ones children puts the passage of time into sharp relief like nothing else. There is also a whole new world of fun, interesting conversations, complex personalities and a web of inter-family relationships developing. A lot to love and celebrate. 

Finding a cookie that we can all get behind is definitely something to celebrate. Sugar cookies with lime glaze. These little guys are sweet and tart and Christmasy with a little sophistication. But most importantly, we all love them! They are also simple. So simple! I like to make all of my cookie dough in the food processor. I find that it’s so much easier to dump everything in and let the processor mix it for you. It also eliminates the need to soften butter and therefore, to plan ahead.

I don’t refrigerate the dough before rolling out. I hate trying to roll out rock hard dough. With these, I find that if the butter is not too soft, the dough stays cool enough to roll out and cut out right after processing. No waiting! No listening to little people complain about having to wait!  I take the cut out cookies, put them on a cookie sheet and freeze for 10 minutes before slipping into the oven. It could not be easier. Once we roll and re-roll the dough a few times, I shape the remaining dough into a log and keep it in the freezer. They make great cut-and-bake cookies. 

Sugar Cookies with Lime Glaze 

For the Sugar Cookies 

1 cup sugar

2 ½ cups flour

¼ tsp baking powder 

½ tsp salt

1 ½ sticks butter

1 egg 

2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Lime Glaze 

Juice and zest of 1-2 limes (Depending on size)

1-2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F

Place sugar in food processor and process a few seconds

Add flour, salt, baking powder and process about 15 seconds

Add butter, egg and vanilla and process until sandy in texture

Roll out onto a floured surface or piece of parchment and knead until the dough forms a ball

Roll out into a sheet and cut out into desired shapes

Place on baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes 

Bake for 15 minutes until the top and edges just begin to turn light brown. 

Remove from oven and cool completely on rack.

Glaze cooled cookies and allow glaze to set before eating. 

We’ve had many a tantrum over which cookies to make and who gets to decide. So, finding that everyone loves these is a gift.  I think we should make them our Barry-family Christmas Cookie. We have so much more than cookies to be grateful for this year. We are especially grateful for Cedarburg and Greater Milwaukee, and Long Grove and Greater Chicago for supporting our family business. We are so incredibly grateful for our health, our family and all of our friends who are like family.  Wishing you all a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! xoxo

Memories and Masoor Dal

At the beginning of the pandemic, we lost someone very close to us. She was a parent, a close friend, and someone who taught me so much about life. She moved here from India in the seventies to marry her husband, who was studying engineering alongside my father-in-law, Paddy. She was beautiful, smart, independent and overflowed with personality. Her life was cut short by COVID-19 - there was so much she still wanted to do and see. Despite this, her impact on the lives of everyone she knew was immeasurable. There is not a single memory I have of her that doesn’t make me smile. 

I loved her stories about when she first moved to America, how she didn’t know anyone and found herself bored. One day she went out for a walk and came home with a job.  She taught herself to cook because she missed foods from home and because, before they got married, her husband used to eat a pint of ice cream from Walgreens for breakfast each morning!

I love her stories about when her children were born, and when they were small and what her life was like at the same stage as mine is now. She had a way of reminding me to let go of all of the small worries that come with motherhood and see the big picture - without ever trivializing any of those small worries. 

I love how every single time she crossed the threshold of our home she brought something for me. Oftentimes it was my favorite lentil dish. If we were having dinner as a group, she would squirrel it away in the depths of the fridge before anyone could see, because she knew I wanted it to keep it all to myself. Other times, it would be a piece of jewelry for me or clothes or toys for the kids. Usually it was several of these things. But what I always looked forward to was just her.  Her presence. Her effervescence.  Her  effusive nature, her expansive hugs, the joy she flooded the room with, the way she made you feel significant, like she was so excited to see you, and also like she really saw you. She did. 

I love that invariably, just as everyone would start assembling on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter while everyone was in the kitchen finishing and warming up dishes and the atmosphere was generally sort of chaotic, she would say “I need a cup of tea! Do you have anything sweet? It’s teatime for me!” If it were anyone else, I would tell them to get out of the kitchen and wait for dinner to be served. But not her, she charmed me so thoroughly and so constantly, I could never refuse her, nor did I ever have the desire. So cookies and tea it would be, one year she fell in love with the brittle that would later top our pumpkin pie, “What is this?” she said, “It’s perfect with my tea!”. And I haven’t forgotten, so the pumpkin seed brittle will be on the menu this year along with so many fond memories of her. 

She would love to see these smiling faces, eating her food.

She lived across the earth from so many of the people she loved. She lost so many people she loved as well, yet she carried all of the best parts of those people with her all the time. She spoke about them often and brought them to life with her vivid descriptions, reliving good times and funny events, moments that changed her, always with love and joy, never sadness or regrets. Her fortitude and the optimism she walked through life with is inspiring. Even as it hurts, remembering her gives me comfort.  It reminds me to see the big picture and to keep trying to be the best parent, friend, spouse, person that I can be, no matter what is happening in the world.  I will keep her close always.

Trying to make Masoor Daal like hers is basically an exercise in futility. Even if I had her recipe, which I don’t, and followed it to a T, which is not my forte, I know it would never be as good as hers. It’s like how sandwiches always taste better when made by someone else? Why is that? It’s definitely the love. There’s no other explanation. Still, it’s tough to ruin lentils. They are pure comfort food to me which is just what the chill in the air calls for.

As much as I didn’t want to, I shared the dal with my family who LOVED it! Even the picky eaters ate it and went back for more. Then, in tribute to this wonderful woman who I miss so much, the leftovers were immediately squirrelled away, deposited in a nondescript container in the back of my fridge where they will become my work-from-home lunch until they’re gone.

Masoor Dal 

Ingredients

1 cup masoor dal (split red lentils)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2.5 cups water

½ large or 1 small tomato or ½ can diced tomatoes (if using the juice, reduce water accordingly), diced

Lime juice from one juicy or two not-so-juicy limes

1-2 tablespoons ghee or olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Pinch of cayenne

Pinch of asafetida (optional) 

Directions

1. Combine lentils, salt, turmeric and bay leaf with tomato and water in the insert of your electric pressure cooker.  

2. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes and allow the pressure to release naturally. You can do this in a pot on the stove also, just cook lentils until they are soft and mushy. 

3. Stir in lime juice. 

4. Heat ghee or oil in a small frying pan. 

5. Once the ghee is melted or oil is hot, add cumin and mustard seeds until they begin to sputter and sizzle (this will happen right away). 

6. Remove pan from burner and add red pepper flakes, cayenne and asafetida if using. 

7. Swirl the seasonings around in the pan, then pour over the cooked lentils and stir.

Festive Fall: Kale Salad with Roasted Squash, Pistachios, Goat Cheese and Champagne-Maple Vinaigrette

Soooo, my oldest child is suddenly showing a great interest in cooking. I love that he wants to join me in the kitchen and we are both enjoying his forays into cooking for the family. I’m a neatnick, but cleaning up is part of the responsibility that comes with cooking so I’m teaching my son both. And he’s learning how to cook and clean like a pro. We’ve got fundamentals like how to make pancakes, take baking trays out of the oven, make pasta and scramble eggs down. He’s even taught me a thing or two. Things like: read the directions on the back of the pancake mix box and add more liquid (I never add the prescribed amount)!  His pancakes are lighter and fluffier and the only ones the girls will eat these days.  Even when I’m tired at the end of a long day and not in the mood to supervise a 9-year-old meal prep situation, I know I should harness this moment, this interest in learning to be self-sufficient.  Learning the important life skill that is how to feed oneself and others. 

I think someone could use a bigger waffle maker.

We had  friends over this weekend to watch an outdoor movie with us and eat BBQ. All the kids contributed. There was shopping to be done. There were ribs to smoke, salads to make, cornbread and brownies to bake.  It all made for a busy, fun, messy Saturday! It must be in our blood or something because, just like Paul and I, our kids love nothing more than a dinner party. Any one of them would choose a dinner with adults and kids over a playdate or kids’ birthday party. 

May we never take being able to gather for granted again.

Now that my kids are getting older, having them help with the food is a great way to spend the day and to forestall the inevitable complaining about when people will arrive.  Is it time? When will our friends be here? A spatula and a bowl with brownie batter remnants will distract at least one or two of them for a good twenty minutes. A pair of garden shears and instructions on how to clip kale is good for ten. Instructions to “Go outside and check the temperature gauge on the smoker” will buy at least a couple, and could buy an hour, if they get distracted and play outside for a while.

It can be tough to watch them grow up so fast, morphing into new, only somewhat recognizable humans from year-to-year.  But sometimes, like when they spend a day at home with me, cooking, I also see a glimpse of what it might be like in the future. What it might be like to have grown kids who come over for dinner, whose homes I go to for dinner. It’s crazy to think about, but I know it will happen, just like all of the things that happen to us which we thought only happened to other people. Wrinkles. Gray hair. Hearing yourself say all the same things that your mother once said to you. I see how days like this set the scene for those future days. How clipping kale and eating brownie batter leads to future dinner parties in future homes where I am not the main cook. And I want my kids to remember these times with joy.  I want them to associate cooking and feeding people with feeling loved and cared for.  Because they are, by me, their Mama, with unimaginable intensity. I know I’m critical, but do they know how proud I am of them also?  I want so much for them. But most of all happiness.  

Our dinner was wonderful. We made smoked ribs, corn bread, potato salad, kale salad with roasted squash, goat cheese and pistachios, and brownies. We attached a projection screen to our tree house and got cozy with lots of blankets and watched Sonic (?). I don’t even know. I was inside, camped out in front of the fire. Dare I say, it was a perfect evening to ring in the beginning of Fall with Our People.  

The prep was easy, especially with my four little helpers who are getting really good at actually helping. Even my youngest can crack an egg without getting eggshell in the batter bowl (ADVANCED!!! LOL.).  In the morning,  we prepped the ribs by removing their membranes and coating them liberally with dry rub. Then Emmett guilted me into making a basic potato salad with hardboiled eggs. I was going to buy it but he said “You know Mom, homemade always tastes so much better”. Haha. I guess you reap what you sow.  

Ribs prepped!

By noon we had the smoker up and running and started the ribs while we roasted squash for the salad and picked some fresh kale from the garden. We kept the oven on for the cornbread and brownies, both of which we made from our favorite respective mix. Sorry Emmett, it cannot all be homemade. We checked in on our ribs from time to time, spraying them with apple juice and wrapping them in foil when they’d had enough smoke.  When it was almost time for our guests to arrive, we assembled the salad. My favorite part was the pride on my little ones' faces at having contributed. Then the real fun began.

What is even going on here?

Kale Salad with Roasted Squash, Pistachios, Goat Cheese and Champagne-Maple Vinaigrette

1 large butternut or honeynut squash (about 3 pounds), peeled cut into 3/4" cubes

1/2 cup, plus 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 whole head garlic

1 pound Tuscan kale, stemmed, leaves sliced thinly 

1/2 cup pepitas or pistachios, toasted and salted

2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar (apple cider vinegar would work too)

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot

⅔ cup goat cheese, crumbled

Step 1 Heat oven to 425°F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss squash with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Liberally salt and add pepper and or smoked paprika, nutmeg, allspice, cumin, cinnamon or other spices to your taste. 

Place the whole head of garlic on a sheet of aluminum foil, drizzle with 1 tsp. oil, wrap securely in foil and roast with the squash. Cook, turning the squash pieces over once, after about 20 minutes, until squash is golden and tender and garlic is tender, 35–40 minutes total. 

For dressing: cut off the top of the garlic head and squeeze 1/2 to all (use as much or little as you like, I used about 1/2) of the softened garlic into a medium bowl. Whisk in the vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, shallot, and oil. I used my immersion blender to blend the dressing, but it’s not necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Kale massaged!

Now, sprinkle a couple of pinches of salt onto chopped kale and have your kids massage it until it shines. Once it’s been thoroughly massaged, add dressing, nuts or pepitas, roasted squash and goat cheese and serve. 

This salad, like other kale salads, is great for a casual dinner party because it doesn’t get soggy if you don’t eat it immediately (i.e. you can bring it to work for lunch next week).

Thrilled by the success of our first Fall gathering, we’ve been brainstorming other simple dinners that we can throw together without too much fuss. Chili and toppings bar plus a football game? Grilled cheese and tomato soup with board games? So many possibilities! Cheers to shorter days, colder nights and dinner parties thrown by the kids.