Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

I recently craved cinnamon streusel coffee cake. I don't drink coffee, of course, but we had received a postcard in the mail from a local realtor that had a recipe for it. I tossed the card into the recycling and was very shortly sorry. So I googled around for an easy-enough recipe that would produce the fluffy breakfast baked good. I decided on the King Arthur Flour recipe, and I even purchased a 5-pound bag of their product, since I was going to need ~5 cups of the stuff!

I prepared the batter on Friday night so that we would only have to wait a little over 1 hour Saturday morning for the oven to warm up and the coffee cake to bake. The preparations took about an hour and used up almost every measuring spoon and cup plus multiple bowls (wet ingredients, dry ingredients, filling, topping). I have never made a marble cake, so the instruction to swirl the batter and filling with a knife was hard to follow. Streusel topping was also new to me, and I think I broke it up too finely. 

Final critique: I'm not sure I successfully balanced getting the center "done" while not over-baking the outer portions. A 9"x13" pan makes a LOT of coffee cake! We will probably eat half over the next week, and then I'll freeze the other half for a month or so. What a treat to get it back out of the freezer to eat on some more. Despite almost 4 cups of white and brown sugar, Dear Husband declared it delicious and not too sweet. I'm so lucky he lets me "experiment" in the kitchen like this and know what I'll make the next time I host/attend a brunch.

This pie will phyllo you up!

I was looking for a new vegetarian recipe and decided to edit the "Curried Turkey and Couscous Pie" in my Better Homes & Gardens One Dish Dinners cookbook. It...turned into a cooking adventure in 10 steps.

1. Send Dear Husband to the grocery store for ingredients. He can't find frozen phyllo. Put out all-points-bulletin on Facebook. Get tips for ethnic stores and also a personal message from a residency classmate doing fellowship in town who has half a box of the stuff in her freezer after trying a Jamie Oliver recipe. Pick up phyllo dough and tips about how to use it (e.g. do not attempt to thaw in microwave).

2. Dial up a Zoom meeting while you assemble the ingredients: instead of 1lb chopped turkey, a can of chickpeas, drained. Instead of 1 cup frozen peas, an 8-ounce package of frozen spinach, partly thawed in the fridge. Instead of 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, the rest of a bunch of parsley--except you forgot what you were saving it for and used it all in the "fancy rice" with fish for dinner yesterday. Settle on dried tarragon instead.

3. Even though they aren't in the recipe, chop the rest of the green onions and a little yellow onion from the fridge. Also 2 cloves garlic. Sautee on the stove in some cooking spray. Add chunks of partially frozen spinach, chickpeas, a pinch of salt, 1.5 teaspoons of curry powder and mixed spices, and some large amount of crushed red pepper flakes, since you don't have ground red pepper.

4. Look up conversions for 14.5 fluid ounces: 1.8125 cups or 428.8162 milliliters. Add what you think is 425 mL of vegetable broth to the pot. Once it is boiling, remove from heat and add 1 cup of couscous. (The image in the cookbook definitely shows classic couscous, but all you have is pearled couscous, so you go with it.)

5. While the couscous cooks, grab a metal pie plate with a removable bottom that you hope approximates a spring form pan. Apply 3 sheets of phyllo dough coated with cooking spray along the X axis and 3 along the Y axis of the greased pan. Remove lid from pot to confirm that there is WAY too much filling for that little pie plate. Locate and grease a pair of glass pie plates.

6. Meanwhile, notice that one edge of the phyllo dough has dried out and broken off, while another corner appears to have melted onto a wet spot on the counter. Wonder how anyone worked with phyllo dough before cooking spray.

7. Transfer phyllo dough from metal pan to pie plate. Rotate phyllo sheets for second plate to get better coverage. Divide the filling. Fold over the edges of the dough, apply cooking spray liberally, and put in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, forget your own recipe for homemade cranberry sauce: Heat 1 cup of orange juice on stove while you rinse and pick over a thawed bag of once-fresh cranberries purchased around Christmas. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup water (fatal flaw!). Pop berries with a spoon.

9. Realize the sauce is too...saucey. Strain on stove. Looks like a murder scene. Put cranberry sauce in freezer to cool and reserve liquid for oatmeal at breakfast.

10. Remove delicious-smelling pies from oven and let cool before plating. This will require a sharp knife, a pie server, and a spoon for the little bits left behind. Serving size is 1/4 pie. Serve with the cranberry sauce and some yogurt to cut the strong taste of red pepper. (Or sour cream, or a non-dairy substitute to keep it vegan).

DH liked it! It is filling and different and might join the rotation of "every couple of months" dishes that are messy to make but good to eat. Turn-around time on the dishwasher was just 2 hours, a household record.

Polly Wanna Cracker?

In a previous post I explained that Dear Husband and I were trying DIY home redecorating, namely tissue-paper "stained-glass" window hangings. This is the second iteration.

Keeping with the "tropical island" theme, I free-handed a parrot.

I mean, it mostly looks like a pigeon, but what can you expect from a city girl?

Gluing the feathers on the pigeon-bodied parrot, surrounded by dappled jungle.

Ta da!

Rememberlutions 2020

2020 was a terrible year: it started with wildfires in Australia, continued with a once-in-a-century pandemic, and ended with severe political discord. It was also one of the best years of my life: I completed a four-year combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency; I was recruited to teach a history of medicine course as an adjunct professor; I studied for and passed not one but two board exams; and I got my dream job as an academic clinician-historian leading a special-needs primary-care clinic. Several weeks into the new year, it's time to finally sit down and pull the scraps of folded paper out of my Rememberlutions Jar (perhaps for the last time?). These are things I want to remember about 2020:

The first items I pulled out of the jar were a ticket to "Titans of the Ice Age," the 3D show at the La Brea Tar Pits, and my ticket to "Light of the Valkyries," the Samuel Oschin Planetarium show at Griffith Observatory. We were lucky enough to take an AMAZING trip to Los Angeles and Santa Monica right before the lock-downs started.

In the spring I taught my first course as an adjunct instructor. We made-do with class 100% on Zoom. (I just wrote a letter of recommendation for one of my students.) Zoom also made it possible to see more of my family than ever before.

I want to remember the time another resident recognized with as "a Med Peds resident and notable local badass" in an email to other residents, and when I was commended by others for my commitment to social justice and medical education. Also the feeling when a patient came out to me as trans...on the anniversary of the nightclub shooting in Orlando.

The first time I heard a murmur in a newborn baby...too bad I didn't know that those babies always need an echo, and she ended up having to be transferred to another hospital for a procedure the next day. The fellow congratulated me, but I wish I had known that to be able to prepare the parents. However, I did successfully learn how to diagnose a clavicular fracture in a newborn after shoulder dystocia from the same fellow. We celebrated the end of a long, COVID-filled month with a particularly delicious lunch of poke takeout together.

When my patient and her family were surprised to learn that the attending was my boss and not the other way around. That was the rotation on which neither the fellow nor the attending had any constructive criticism after observing me leading rounds: "The most empathetic team I have rounded with." I'm still celebrating the (one!) time we finished rounding in the hospital at 10:30am (instead of 11, 12, or 1).

The time a medical student nominated me for a professionalism award that was shared on social media. It reminds me of when a night intern cheered when she found out I would be her senior resident.

One mother of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder I met in the ED told me my hugs were the best medicine. And when I told another mother over the phone that I was leaving my residency clinic, she cried at the thought that I wouldn't be taking care of her sons anymore.

I was interviewed by a local news organization during a socially distanced faith-based rally in support of our neighbors of color: "We are all created in God's image."

I want to remember the joy of celebrating residency graduation with my cohort-mates.

I gave a couple of lectures--on the history of epidemics and xenophobia, on women as breast cancer patients, and on the history of race in medicine--that went very well. A third-year medical student from China appreciated the first one so much that they sent me their final paper on the progression of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Wuhan by way of thanks.

During the months at home, Dear Husband and I baked, took long walks in Frick Park, and held a personal disaster-themed film festival. I studied A LOT over the summer between graduation and starting my new attending position. Rosamunda and I bonded together over my textbooks. Of course we celebrated with ice cream! 

I want to remember a truly relaxing family vacation to a lake house, between board exams and when the pandemic had subsided a little, that started with a rainbow.

When a colleague (and former attending) welcomed me to the clinic with "You are a great doctor and I know you are going to be super successful. We are super excited!" 

As a new attending, I was heartened to read this comment in a specialist's note: "Discussed with patient that her PCP has done an excellent job in managing her diabetes." 

One patient told me, "On the phone the staff said you were pleasant, and it's true!" Another sent me a message: "You're the nicest doctor I've ever had, I mean that. It's why I don't go, but you're like my angel. I'm going to call you that."

We celebrated Thanksgiving together at the hospital. I got my first COVID-19 vaccination. We had a beautiful white Christmas. Finally, we went to bed on time for New Year's and woke up to 2021.

Thanks for reading! Looking back over previous years, I am struck by just how much we used to DO outside the house before (modified) quarantine became our way of life in March 2020. You can see what I mean here: as a medical student (2015), finishing medical school and starting internship (2016), when I completed intern year (2017), in the throes of residency (2018), and riding high as a senior resident (2019).

FrDrDr's Vegan Baking Adventure

A friend from graduate school frequently shares his recipes on Facebook. I've never tried one of his clafoutis before, but when he posted a recipe for pineapple strawberry shortbread, I decided it was recipe I could bake. He's vegan now, so where his recipe uses 1 cup non dairy milk + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, I just used 1 cup of dairy milk.

"New Year, Same Anxiety Strawberry Pineapple Breads"

Ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 cup sugar, 1 pinch of salt, 1 cup non dairy milk + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar [OR 1 cup dairy milk], 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp lemon extract, aquafaba from 1 can of chickpeas, 7 oz of canned crushed pineapple (include juice) [this is a small can! or 7/8 of a cup], about 7 strawberries, sliced thin [I didn't want to pay for out-of-season strawberries, so I used walnut pieces]

Directions: 

Heat oven to 350F (180C) 

Combine flour, baking soda, sugar, salt in a bowl 

In a measuring cup, pour in milk, vinegar, vanilla, lemon extract, stir and let sit one minute [can skip this step if using dairy milk; I combined the wet ingredients without waiting]

Whisk the measuring cup of liquids into your dry goods bowl

Stir in aquafaba 

Fold in the pineapple 

Pour into tins or ramekins, top with strawberry slices/walnut pieces

Bake for 25-30 minutes [our oven is weak-sauce, so I baked my muffins for 40 minutes]

Meanwhile, I made hummus with the chickpeas according to this recipe. It turned out very well! (The trick is to include some of the tahini hiding in the fridge.) I will add hot paprika for hummus and cucumber sandwiches for lunch this week.

Dear Husband had bought me a regular/large can of crushed pineapple, so I will use the rest in oatmeal--I'm saving it in the fridge while eating my way through the muffins. Mine came out a little tacky, so next time I will short the milk a little bit. Still, delicious, and different!

I always appreciate new recipes, like this "Miracle Soup" from two vegetables that aren't usually paired together, or this soup made with coconut milk, a vegan substitute I don't usually have on hand. Do you have one that I should try?

Let the sun shine!

Dear Husband in particular is mourning the loss of the ability to travel due to COVID-19. For many years we were unable to leave town during the short gray days between New Year's and Easter. He rejoiced when we were able to fly to Tampa two years in a row and to Los Angeles right before the pandemic hit. The weather was a little warmer, we could see friends and family, and there were 300% more palm trees.

We aren't going anywhere this spring. I am about to get my second COVID-19 vaccine shot, but we haven't even begin to think about when DH will be allowed to get his. When he wondered what we could do to brighten up the study, I took my cue from our across-the-street neighbors to make translucent window art out of waxed paper, tissue paper, electrical tape, and watered down Elmer's glue.

Measuring and cutting the waxed paper

I free-handed the design while DH tore up the tissue paper

It took two trips to the Walgreens to get liquid glue (not glue sticks). I wasn't going to sacrifice my basting brush for gluing, but it turns out the back of a plastic spoon works just as well.

Finished product, waiting to dry

Let the sun shine!

Our next project is to acquire some different colors of tissue paper and make a seashell-themed pane for the bottom window

FrDrDr Cooks Dinner

Ingredients:
10-ounce package of frozen chopped broccoli
4 cups cooked, deboned, diced chicken

2 10 3/4-ounce cans of cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

4-ounce can of sliced mushrooms

1/4 tsp curry powder

3 tbsp sherry

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.  Choose a "light" movie to watch while cooking, like I'm Thinking of Ending Things, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, or my choice, Effie Gray. First mistake.

2. Edit the recipe: 1/2 cup mayo? Not in my casserole. Mushrooms? Dear Husband would pick them out, so omit. There's no carb: decide to add 2 cups rotini, cooked al dente.

3. Put the pasta on to boil. Grease a 9x13-inch casserole dish.

4. Start chopping 2 lbs of chicken breasts, which are not completely thawed = frozen fingers. Notice that the chicken should be diced: cut every piece in half. [Editor's Note: This was either the second mistake or the saving grace.]

5. Drain pasta and layer in bottom of dish. Add chicken. Realize broccoli was supposed to be layered next and decide you will just mix everything up when you're done.

6. Empty 1 can of soup into a bowl. Add what amounts to an "American" amount of curry (it smells delicious but is ultimately undetectable in the final product). Empty other can of soup.

7. Google "alternatives to cooking sherry." Give up and use 3 tbsp water with "some" chicken bouillon. 

8. Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and mix. DH bought mozzarella, but who can tell the difference? Not FrDrDr. Pour over casserole contents and stir. Top with enough cheese (at least 1/2 cup, maybe more).

9. Leave in fridge for DH to put in oven while you are ice skating with colleagues. Except the first-come, first-served tickets at the outdoor public rink sold out an hour and 15 minutes before the ice time, so take a damp but nice walk through the park instead and get home early.

10. Baking instructions on handwritten recipe card: Bake, covered, at 350 for 40 minutes and uncovered for 20 minutes. Decide the oven has been underperforming recently, so cover and bake at 400. Meanwhile, get a bad feeling about the chicken, re-read the recipe, and realize you never cooked the chicken.

11. After an hour, remove the casserole from the oven and fish some chicken from its depths: pink and raw. Put back in oven and send DH to Wendy's for dinner. The situation calls for a small chocolate frosty.

12. After 2 hours, remove the casserole from the oven and look for chicken: every piece you can find is white and cooked through. Leave to cool on the counter until bedtime, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

13. Lucky 13! After re-heating in the microwave, the chicken and broccoli casserole is edible. It is somewhat more set than it might otherwise have been, and it needs salt and more curry powder, but at least a week's worth of dinners has been saved. I would have been very sorry to have to throw out all that food if the chicken hadn't cooked.

If you enjoyed this recipe, consider the original FrDrDr cooking adventure, the first and only time I have ever made green bean casserole, and a recent experiment with cauliflower and cabbage that turned out better than we could have thought. Do you have any cooking fails with happy endings?