Grace Brings Contentment

So Week 2 came and went and I only have 1 workout to show for it. However, I do have a full week of following my diet (even somewhat last night) and much to dish about my gourmet adventures (and mishaps).

Miss M came to Butler for a tournament this weekend, so she was going to drive separate from the team and stay in town for a visit. Since her car was towed in the Muncie Village the night before, she had to ride with the team. Approximately 15 seconds after I picked her up outside of Butler, she realized her luggage was in route back to Muncie inside the team van. After stopping the team on the northside of Indy and retrieving her suitcase, we returned to Broad Ripple for an amazing meal at Brugge Brasserie. Good thing I stored up my extra points today so I could indulge in the pomme frites (somewhat) guilt-free.

Have I mentioned it's colder than a witch's tit this weekend? Seriously.

So this morning, we were just too cozy inside to be bothered to make a trip to the gym. Plus we were engrossed with kitchen stuff...like our amazing Ginger Fruit Teabread with Mashed Banana. Too bad I didn't have any ginger, a loaf pan, or the foresight to read the directions thoroughly before I started the recipe. But I did improvise and, as to be expected, something turned out alright, but it wasn't the intended creation from the book.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup dried apricots (do not soak), coarsely chopped
scant 1/3 cup jumbo golden raisins (do not soak)
1/4 cup pitted prunes (no soak), coarsely chopped
1 1/4 strongly brewed tea (w/o milk), cool
1 1/2 all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground ginger
generous 1/2 raw brown sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
1 small banana, mashed (for topping)

[Sidebar: as I type this, I realize I misread and/or incorrectly estimated some of the amounts above which may explain why my creation is different. First, I only had cranberries and golden raisins, and I chopped that with my knife. I also estimated about 1 cup of fruit instead of the 2/3 plus 1/4 which would be less. Second, I smartly chose a ginger green tea to compensate for the lack of ground ginger in my pantry, but I not-so-smartly brewed 1 1/2 cups instead. Another possible reason my "mixture" was the consistency of pancake batter. Third, I didn't beat the egg. I must have missed that point too, as I just cracked it and added it to my sticky, uncooperative mess I had sitting in the blender. It was kinda like when you throw a wrench into a motor. Not pretty and almost a disaster until I added more liquid. Lastly, I never did make it to the banana topping, in part because I compensated regular & mini muffin pans plus one ramekin crock for the lack of a loaf pan. Mashed banana would have been a nice touch, I think.]

Beyond the sidebar substitutions listed above, I thought I was ready to move ahead.

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 2 lb loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

[No loaf pan, no parchment paper. Learned my lesson with a previous recipe NOT to substitute waxed paper when using the oven. So I sprayed the muffin pans and lined with muffin liners. I flattened a liner to use in the bottom of the ramekin crock later when I had too much batter.]

2. Put the dried fruit in a large measuring cup or bowl, then pour over the tea and let stand for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

[This is where I learned the lesson of completely reading the directions before I begin a recipe. At this point, I turned off the oven, put my tea-fruit mixture to the side, and redirected my efforts into making my omelet breakfast SANS teabread.]

2 hours later...

3. (Return to #1 and resume instructions.) Put the flour, baking powder, ginger, sugar, and egg into a food processor and blend for a couple of minutes, or until well mixed. Add the dried fruit and blend again until mixed.

[Seriously, these post-cooking epiphanies are starting to annoy me. As I type this out, I realize yet another mistake is how I actually poured the tea with the fruit into the blender, upon which my pasty, sticky mess smoothed into a batter with no visible chunks of fruit. Interesting. This explains so much.]

4. Turn the mixture into the prepared pan, then level the surface and brush lightly with water. Place on the center rack in the oven and cook for 1 1/4 hours, or until cooked.

[Yes, I greatly modified the time given my 3 types of bakeware used. No, I found no need to either level or brush with water for obvious reasons.]

5. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. When cool, cut off slices and serve topped with mashed banana.

Serving size = 2 slices
Per serving: 240 calories, 1.3 g fat (.3 sat. fat)

I yielded 6 muffins, 12 mini muffins, and 1 "chunk" from my ramekin dish. I don't even know what that means, nutritionally. However, I must admit my creation is very, very good. Once everything cooled and the muffins actually peeled from the liners, these are dense like good old-fashioned breads (banana nut, etc.), and the flavor of the tea and fruit is really good.

I still wonder what kind of results the real recipe would have yielded. I'll be sure to let you know.

So after this, we decided to make my very first batch of sorbet.

What went right:

1. I allowed my freezer bowl to freeze for over 24 hours to ensure proper function.
2. I purchased freezer containers in advance.
3. I read my instructions twice before I started anything at all.
4. I used fresh lemons for my Amazing Lemon Sorbet.

What went wrong:

1. My freezer containers don't completely seal like they did in the store.
2. Lemon zest, apparently, is NOT the yellow rind of the lemon. It's the white rind below the color peel, and it's what dissolves on the stove, not the peel.
3. 6 lemons do not yield 1 cup of fresh juice. This yields 2 cups. [Please note, when the recipe offers two methods for measuring volume, one should always default to the actual yield according to the standardized measuring tools we've all come to accept as accurate.]
4. All ingredients going inside the freezer bowl need to be icebox cold, even if the instructions aren't as explicit. Otherwise, an hour of churning results in less-than-slush.

So. This did not turn out. At all. It's been almost 5 hours now since I started the sorbet process, and it's still a sub-standard state of slush. I can't even redeem this as a granita. Not sure what will happen when I check this mess tomorrow morning, but I am pretty certain that the world is not ready to turn super-tart lemon slush with chewy lemon peel into the next big gourmet breakthrough.

But I will not be discouraged. I've already primed the freezer bowl for a new batch I'll make tomorrow morning. And I've already liquefied my mixture and have it chilling in the fridge overnight to ensure my success. On tomorrow's agenda: fresh pineapple sorbet.

As I recap my adventures this past week, I've been sipping a Yogi tea. "Grace brings contentment" is the spiritual note provided, so I've been thinking how appropriate this is about me. I am the opposite: I am a klutz, I get lost, I make mistakes, and often, I'm not so content about much of anything. So, am I not so content because I'm not graceful? Or could this mean that I must seek out grace so that it will bring me contentment? Or could the opposite apply? Find contentment and I'll find grace...in any case, I felt the sentiment was appropriate today. Clearly I do not cook with grace, and my fumbles and follies continue to drive me to push on and keep trying. So maybe this is a good thing, yes?