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Brenda’s lATEst gr8

  1. Family made my favorites {spaghetti dinner, scones and chocolate dessert} for my birthday

  2. Popovers. They deserve a much grander name to highlight their delicate custardy catacomb layers encased in a crisp shell that snaps when pulled open to slather with butter (recipe forthcoming)

  3. My XC skiing has improved dramatically .... and now the snow is melting

  4. I’m really loving winter this year. I recently realized my complaints stem from perceived conversational expectations, snow isn't so bad after all

  5. Our garden seeds have arrived! During the selection, John cautioned against any seed with a >60 day maturity (yeah, our growing season is that short)

  6. Did a little sewing for a family wedding: three flower girl dresses

  7. Family travels: it’s a joy to have cartime=unlimited talking with my husband

  8. Social distancing is making my hermit heart happy, but I'm extra grateful for a well-prepared kitchen including my Instant Pot to quickly cook pantry-staple meals

Chelsea's lATEst gr8

  1. Practicing social distancing = being called “domestic” as a direct result of cooking more. A compliment I haven’t received since undergrad. Lol

  2. Helping schools across the nation adapt bulb Digital Portfolios as their remote learning tool. My day job is working on bulb’s marketing team. bulb is free for EVERYONE. We also have lots of templates + activities for kids K-12

  3. Teaching my parents how to play Mexican Train Dominos while in Denver for work

  4. Cheering 2 friends on during the Austin City Marathon. I ate a piece of humble pie when I had to postpone participating 6 weeks before the race. Had the time of my life riding my bike along the course to support them

  5. Celebrating 1 year of knowing Phil. We don’t remember when we became “official,” but our first date was at Hopdoddy Burger Bar on Feb 21, 2019.

  6. This cactus shaped zester = cooking more with cheeses + citrus just so I can use it

  7. Reading You’re Not Listening by Kate Murphy, aka a kick in the pants to start listening more and interrupting less

  8. Having more downtime = creating more art

Brenda’s Bodega:

What’s in Brenda’s Bodega?? One featured ingredient and the related recipes to recreate in your own kitchen.

Have an excess of dry beans thanks to the COVID-19? Have no idea what to do with them? Read on for Brenda’s tip on what to do.

Star ingredient in Brenda’s Bodega: dry beans

Dry beans are part of the legume family. They actually dry on the vine before they are fully harvested. The bean is then threshed from the pod and packaged dry or cooked in cans.

Dry beans are less expensive and much easier to buy in bulk while still in their dry form. With a little planning, they are also just as easy to use as their canned cousins. Check out HOW TO: Cook Dry Beans to pick the method of preparing dry beans that best fits your lifestyle.

While the estimated storage life is considered “indefinite,” dry beans do age and will continue to "dry" as they are stored. This means that the water content continues to decline and it will take longer to revive the bean and for it to cook through. If you know the beans you are using have been stored, consider the following when pressure cooking: 

  • Add 1 minute for every year in storage. 

    • Example: Black beans 8 years stored, add 8 minutes for a total of 28-33 minutes pressure. (Stove or soak directions have flexible time tables.)

Eventually, beans do age beyond redemption. From the kindness of others sharing stored beans, Brenda has experimented and determined that generally dry beans stored longer than 20 years are extremely difficult to revive.
 
So like all food storage: rotate dry beans for continual quality.

Recipes:
Pressure Cooker Chili
Pressure Cooker Texas Chili
Big Batch Chili
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Refried Beans

Chelsea's Recipe Review:

Chelsea and Brenda lived together in a 350 sq ft NYC apartment for 3 years. Brenda would cook. Chelsea would help eat and clean. Now living 1450 miles apart, Chelsea cooks and recounts her experiences here.

Since our last newsletter I've made:

We can label this month’s stories as “Times Where Chelsea Gave Brenda Recipes Her Best Shot and Realized Brenda Recipes Are VERY Forgiving.”

1.  To celebrate our anniversary, Phil and I wanted to make homemade pepperoni pizza. I didn’t look at the ingredients of the recipe before it was time to make the dough, then promptly realized I forgot to get potato flakes. Figured I’d omit it and add more flour. I didn’t proof the dough for long enough (Phil and I were on the verge of hangry), so as we were chowing down on our pizza, the leftover dough kept rising. While we like to think we could eat 4 pizzas, we decided it probably wasn’t the best idea, so we made cinnamon rolls with the leftover dough.

2.  Before social distancing was a thing, I went to a friend’s house for a dinner party. This friend also knows Brenda (we all three lived in NYC at the same time) and understands the great significance of Brenda’s baked goods. After scrolling through the Brenalou Bakes Instagram, she requested cream cheese brownies. Cool, but it was an old picture, and Brenda hasn’t posted that recipe yet. Instead of bugging Brenda for the recipe (since this was last minute - are you noticing a theme here?), I decided I could make Brenda brownies and use Google to figure out the rest. I made the brownies at my friend’s home, and it was going so well. The batter was looking incredible, and the aroma of the brownies was divine. Except, I forgot to set a timer. If you think Brenda Brownies are hard to determine if they’re fully baked, you haven’t tried Brenda Cream Cheese Brownies yet. I took the risk and pulled the brownies out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes, and then I cut into them, only to reveal batter. The edges were done enough though, so we ate the heavenly edges, and promptly popped the pan back into the oven to finish cooking. Even with the double baking, they turned out incredible.

3.  I remembered Brenda suggested to store cilantro like fresh flowers, so that’s what I did. Except, my 2020 goal is to use less plastic, so I didn’t use a plastic bag to cover the bunch of cilantro in the water. Luckily, Texas is humid compared to Idaho. This meant the bunch lasted 3 weeks! #blessed

A window to the gr8: