Croci are blooming, new biscuit & gravy recipe & more....

It's spring! Yay! We've got dozens of purple and yellow croci blooming around the property as well as tons of tulips and irises poking their heads out. Oh yeah, not to mention The Rhubarb is back. I'm thinking we should have a rhubarb naming contest this year to finally stick a moniker on the beast....

A couple of new recipes this week-- a gravy for biscuits and gravy and a home-made mac and cheese (both with a southern twist, of course).

As much as I love biscuits and gravy (they are my favorite breakfast dish) I have never made them at the Cottonwood Inn before. I fished around online and found a good gravy recipe-- but it still had a few things missing. The biscuit recipe I use is out of the High Altitude cookbook, a great book for any cook to have. The gravy recipe I concocted reads as follows:

Serves 4

1 lb. pasture-raised pork sausage (please use only humanely raised meats, your food will taste so much better and your immunities will eventually thank you!) We use Beelers.

3 tablespoons of butter (you can use less if your meat is fatty-- Beelers tends to be a bit leaner)

6 tablespoons of flour

4 cups of milk

1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

salt to taste (we found very little was necessary)

1 small can Hatch green chilies (chopped up)Or fresh if you can get 'em!

Brown the sausage in a deep saucepan over med-high heat.
When there is no pink color left add the butter.
Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter/sausage mixture and then gradually add the milk-- stir briskly to keep the flour from clumping.
You can actually dump the green chilies into the milk and they will get added gradually.

Add your pepper and salt after you've added all the milk and the mixture is nicely mixed. Bring the heat up a bit and get your mixture to a boil. Let the mix boil for a few minutes until it has thickened to the consistency you like.

Pour it over your favorite biscuit recipe and fight over the left overs....

I thought this was just fantastic. Brantly isn't a huge gravy fan but even he had a biscuit slathered in the stuff.

The other comfort food we experimented with lately was some homemade mac & cheese. The recipe I found came off the Food Network website but I thought it lacked zip and catered more toward children's tastes. Here is my end result after slight tampering:

served about 6 healthy eaters

1/2 lb bag pasta (your choice of mac & cheese shapes-- I used Texas-shaped because I couldn't help myself)
3 tbs butter
3 tbs flour
1 tbs mustard powder
3 cups milk
1 finely chopped onion, medium
1 bay leaf
1 tsp chili powder (we used chipotle, but it was HOT)
1 egg
10-12 oz shredded cheese (I liked a blend of Monty-Jack and sharp cheddar, but anything you have in the fridge would work)
1 small can green chilies (or fresh!) of course
salt & pepper to taste

I've had this baked (which is nice with the crispy top) or just served it right out of the pot-- you decide how hungry you are and how long you are willing to wait.

If you decide to bake it, you can do it at 350 for 30 minutes or until desired crispyness.

Put your pasta to cook.

In a largish pot melt the butter and then whisk in the flower and mustard powder. You will be making a kind of rue. The recipe I used said do this for 5 minutes, but I think I did it more like 3. Keep it free of lumps and then stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, chili powder, & green chilies. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Take out the bay leaf when done simmering.

"Temper" in your egg-- this means adding a bit of the sauce to the egg first and stirring and then adding the mixture into the pot.

If you are going to eat the mac out of the pot then toss in all the cheese, if not, reserve some cheese for a topping. Add this to your cooked (al dente)pasta and add your salt and pepper.

Yes, green chili and chili powder make EVERYTHING better!

So, other than cooking the news at the Cottonwood B&B is that Eva (our female dog) has turned into a genuine "egg-sucking dog". Yes, it's true. At first I blamed Winston, but I was shortly put to rights when I actually SAW Eva taking an egg from the hen house and burying it in the yard. We kept wondering why she came in every night with dirt on her nose....

Shortbread and Easter

Okay-- for those of you who asked last weekend, here is the shortbread recipe I've been using lately. I say lately because I recently changed over to this version, from Sunset magazine. There were a couple of things about their recipe I didn't care for, so I've made those changes and written the recipe as I make them.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup cold butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

a couple tablespoons extra of sugar

I cut up the butter into smallish pieces before using my pastry knife. I tried using the standing mixer, as the recipe directs, but it never did crumble and I ended up having to use the pastry knife, anyhow. I made it into pretty fine crumbles because when I didn't, the mix separated while I was trying to press it into the pan. I also poked the finished product with a fork before sprinkling it with sugar. I found that it cooked more evenly with than without the fork-poking. I didn't have large grain sugar, but I do use organic sugar which tends to be darker and a bit rougher grained. I tossed the sugar with a bit of lemon zest to add a bit of something different.

Here is a picture of a piece and also a picture of my new Easter dessert plates, napkins and rabbit napkin rings-- they are too cute to wait until Easter to use them.

Doughnuts and snow (and coffee, of course!)

It's been snowing since dawn today-- probably about 3 inches on the ground, but melting as it is fairly warm down here at the base of the mountain.

Yesterday I experimented YET AGAIN with yeast doughnuts (cake are my favorite, but I keep trying). I used a recipe from the William Sonoma website and was very happy with the texture and particularly with the chocolate glaze. I thought they could have used a pinch more salt-- their recipe called for 1/4 tsp and it just didn't seem like enough. Still, Brantly and a guest stood around eating them right as they came out of the fryer, so there were at least 4 enthusiastic thumbs up....

Here is a photo of one of the beasts after I have glazed them. Also, a photo of a Fiestaware mug that a very kind guest sent us recently-- I love the shade of periwinkle blue, which is a perfect retro color for the mug shape.

Snow, snow, & more snow

Yes, it's doing it again. We've had about a foot down here at the Cottonwood Inn and over 3 feet up at the Taos Ski Valley-- all in the last couple of days. Right now the snow is drifting down and the weather is just around freezing. Earlier in the week we had one day of unprecedented cold-- with the morning temp dropping to -7. The chickens hate it, they are tired of snow and dreaming about earth worms. But our skiers are loving it!

We've had good responses from several guests about the local snow-shoeing and snowmobiling. A couple from Dallas raved about the snowmobile tour they took from Big Al up at the TSV, while newbie snow-shoers from both Connecticut and Albuquerque both enjoyed the their experiences-- one with the Stuart and Leah over at Wild Earth (the llama people! Yay!! Llamas!!) and our Albuquerque guest with the folks over at Enchanted Circle.

Brantly has been getting his work-out every morning shoveling snow off balconies and front walk, while I've been keeping fit raking and shoveling the chicken run as well as keeping their favorite dust bathing areas free of snow and ice.

Also, Brantly and I recently went over to Taos Clay and had a blast doing a raku firing as well as experimenting with clay on the wheel. Logan Wannnamaker, who owns the studio, is offering all types of lessons to fit every schedule. You can do a one night session (like the one we enjoyed) and get to glaze and fire a pot (made by Logan or one of his two in-house artists) learn how to throw a pot on the wheel, and then get to enjoy firing the pots you glaze in his outdoor raku kiln. The results were spectacular and Logan and his crew are the best when it comes to everything clay. This is the perfect way to spend an evening after a day on the slopes or a day checking out the local color in Arroyo Seco or Taos.

Spectacular snow

If you haven't booked to come skiing in Taos yet-- what are you waiting for?! The snow up at the Taos Ski Valley is absolutely perfect-- 2 feet this week alone. Our guests have been raving about the skiing conditions up at the Ski Valley. Everybody knows about how great the Taos Ski School is-- nationally rated in the top three- but even more interesting is the popularity of our new snowboard lessons. As many people may know, the Taos Ski Valley only opened up the slopes to snowboarders a scant few years ago and already we've heard rave reviews about the snowboarding lessons that are available.

And while its frosty & powdery up at the Ski Valley, it's been lovely and warmish down here at the base of the mountain-- perfect weather for hitting our great Taos art galleries and museums and the funky area shops.

Baked Oatmeal Recipe

Here is one of our most popular breakfast dishes. Even people who normally don't care for oatmeal as for a second helping. The fruit in the dish can be altered according to availability. Make a double batch and enjoy leftovers for breakfast for several days.

Baked Oatmeal
Pre-heat oven to 350
3 cups milk
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbs butter
Bring these 3 ingredients to a boil in a pot on stove top
While these are coming to a boil mix the following in a bowl:
2 tsp cinnamon
1 ½ cups oats (not the instant kind)
2 granny smith apples cubed and chopped
¾ cup raisins
¼ cup dried cranberries
¾ cup chopped nuts

Spray a 9 inch square pan with non-stick coating
Put dry mix into pan and then pour boiling milk mixture over dry mix
Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes

Post Holiday Life at the Cottonwood B & B

Wow, another month and a half has flown by. We were packed here at the Cottonwood Inn, many interesting guests from all walks of life. The skiing was good over the Christmas holiday and most of our guests found the time (and energy) to spend a few days up at the Taos Ski Valley.

Around the first of the year my Dad came to visit and we built the long-anticipated day run for the chickens. We had an interesting time working in the 10 degree weather and digging post holes in the frozen ground. Of course that activity finally answered a topic of some debate around here-- just how deep does the ground freeze. Well, not too deep-- about 3 or 4 inches in most places. This means that I have some hope for a few bulbs that got left in the ground last year. Who knows?

We were given an old barn gate by a friend and Brantly and I have spent some time trying to get it set into the frame. We're about half-way there and pictures are forthcoming.

Very cool guest Pamela C. gave us a FANTASTIC oil pastel of our bad boy Bernard. Pamela is an artist down in the Albuquerque area who found a muse in my ill-tempered rooster. Thank you Pamela, we love our new art work! Again, a photo of the painting is forthcoming....