Colorado Teen Literature Conference, 2015 + Hamburger/Hot Dog Buns Recipe & Shepard's Pie Recipe

Last weekend I helped put on the 2015 Colorado Teen Literature Conference. My life has been a ride on the crazy train for a while, but I am sure glad that I made going to the conference a priority.

We had two really wonderful Key Note, featured authors. Wendelin Van Draanen, who has written a ton of books, some of them for middle schoolers, and some of them a bit more serious. My current favorite of her books is The Running Dream. However, I have several titles, including Flipped and Swear to Howdy, that I want to read. Her keynote was funny, serious and uplifting.

Wendelin, her husband and two young boys started out living in a tiny, moldy house in a bad neighborhood where homeless people slept on her porch. For ten years she taught math and computer science while raising her family and writing in the wee hours of the morning. For many of those ten years she received many rejection letters. Eventually, a publisher gave her a contract and that book that so many other publishing houses turned down, won a few rewards. She continues to work like this for some number of years, until she was getting enough from writing that she could do that full time. the son of Rob Reiner had to read Flipped for school, and so Rob read along with him. He loved the novel enough to make it into a movie.

One of the things that I love about Wendelin was that, in addition to being kind, understanding and very real, she was also very funny. Sometimes she sang a little when she was speaking. I love this about her. She was also so kind and attentive to the teens at the conference.

We are going to exchange some fun stuff in the mail. She is going to send me a few books on disc for my struggling readers. I am going to make her a small piece of art.

Our other notable speaker was Andrew Smith. I love his books because they are so daring and really put what I think it must be like to be a teenage boy onto the page. I loved his book, Winger. I was thrilled when he talked about the sequel coming out in September.

I thought Grasshopper Jungle was great, too. It was very daring, indeed.

Andrew and his family live in the mountains of California. He is very dedicated to supporting his children and helping them be who they want to be. I loved the stories about how he empowers both of his kids. He, too, writes early in the morning. He gets up at 3:00 so that he can write before he is off to teach a full day of high school English. I admire and am amazed at his drive, his motivation. The teens at our conference loved him, too.

We had lots of other wonderful sessions, too many to list. One of our new types of sessions this year was one about "No More Bored Games." It was a very big hit.

After the conference we dined at Lower 48. The food was hand-made, but the portions were a bit small. The restaurant is really lovely.

My favorite food was the onion chips. They are made from pureed onion that is mixed with tapioca pearls, made into a foam that is put on parchment, dried and fried. They were very, very yummy!

In a few weeks we will gather to look at the evaluations, and then we will take a break and reconvene in the fall.

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This weekend we had a fun family dinner with all of us, Kohlton, James and Uncle Doug. I made hamburgers, hamburger buns and served fruit. I also made a nice Shepard's Pie for Larr's lunch this week.

Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns
via: King Arthur Flour (recipe is half of the original amount)
This made 9 good size buns.

2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 tea active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
2 cups warm milk (105°F to 115°F)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt
3 - 4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
e<i>gg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
sesame, poppy or caraway seeds or coarse salt (optional)


I made the dough in my bread maker and it worked out great! Here are the directions for doing it by hand:

*We give you this fairly wide variation for a couple of reasons. First, you'll find in the summer that you'll need a bit more flour to absorb a given amount of liquid than you will in the winter. This is because it's humid and flour acts somewhat like a slightly dampened sponge as a result.

Second, this particular dough should be quite slack, i.e., very relaxed in order to make soft and tender buns. So you want to add only enough more flour, past the 6-cup point, to make the dough just kneadable; sprinkling only enough more to keep it from sticking to you or the board.

Mixing: In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar and then the yeast in the warm water. Add the milk, oil, salt and 3 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

Gradually add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.

Kneading: Knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Because this dough is so slack, you may find that a bowl scraper or bench knife can be helpful in scooping up the dough and folding it over on itself.

Rising: Put the dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a tightly-woven dampened towel and let rise until doubled, about one hour.

Shaping: Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide into 18 equal pieces. This is done most easily by dividing the dough first into thirds, then those thirds into halves, then the halves into thirds.

Shape each piece into a ball. For hamburger buns, flatten the balls into 3 1/2-inch disks. For hot-dog buns, roll the balls into cylinders, 4 1/2-inches in length. Flatten the cylinders slightly; dough rises more in the center so this will give a gently rounded top versus a high top.

For soft-sided buns, place them on a well-seasoned baking sheet a half inch apart so they'll grow together when they rise. For crisper buns, place them three inches apart.

Second Rising: Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Baking: Fifteen minutes before you want to bake your buns, preheat your oven to 400°F. Just before baking, lightly brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash and sprinkle with whatever seeds strike your fancy.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 190°F. (A dough thermometer takes the guesswork out of this.)

When the buns are done, remove them from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. This will prevent the crust from becoming soggy.

Nutrition information per serving (1 bun, 93 g): 206 cal, 3 g fat, 7 g protein, 37 g complex carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 1 g dietary fiber, 17 mg cholesterol, 255 mg sodium, 119 mg potassium, 2 mg iron, 120 mg calcium, 83 mg phosphorus.




Shepard's Pie

4 cups mashed potatoes
1 lb ground beef
1/3 cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tablespoons flour
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 can (14.5oz) Beef broth
2 cups frozen vegetable medley (I used bags of peas, carrots and green beans, instead of the medley)
2 cups Cheddar Cheese, shredded
salt & pepper


Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Brown ground beef, onions and garlic in a large skillet on med-high heat. When meat is completely cooked, stir in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Stir in tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and beef broth. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, or until sauce is thick. Turn the heat off and stir in frozen vegetables and salt and pepper, to taste.
Pour beef mixture into a large, oven-proof casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes and smooth with a spatula. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of mashed potatoes.
Place casserole dish on a large sheet pan (in case the sauce overflows) and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Ladle and serve!

My Daughter, the Graduate

I'd like to present my daughter, Ellie, the graduate. After much work, which included a few tears and plenty of nashing of the teeth, Ellie has successfully and beautifully completed her written thesis. Last night she defended her thesis in her oral presentation. After deliberations, her panel has declared that Ellie has met the requirements to graduate from Alpine Valley School. We are all so very excited for her.

The ceremony will take place next month. For now, I think she is very relieved to have the process completed. She certainly had a spring in her step this morning.

The process of writing her thesis and presenting it was hard. It required a lot of soul searching, introspection and being both honest, as well as forgiving, with herself. We are proud of her for meeting that challenge head on and taking that journey. I think she is better for it.

More Altered Book Art from Two Hands Paperie

Last Wednesday I went up to Two Hands Paperie, my favorite art store, to spend time with other artists working on our submissions for the call for altered book art. I didn't want to leave anything to chance, so I actually finished my piece before I went to the work night. I spent the evening admiring the art made by the others, teaching people a few helpful techniques and starting another altered book, which I may or may not actually finish.

It was really fun to see what Jennifer Ghormley did with the colored cones that a bunch of us help make at the community art making night about a month ago.

It was really something to view and think about. Jennifer printed the colored portions during one of the snow storms we had in January.

We helped make the forms at a Two Hands Community Art event. (Fun, Fun, Fun) and then I get to see this. I think about all of the measuring and ladder work it took to install it. It took her two days to put it all up. I am impressed by her art.

I also took photos of the submissions for the altered book exhibit and contest. I thought you might like to see those, too.

This is "Sea Foam." It is made by Jeane. She told a great story about making her piece. I loved the part about her going to Whole Foods to by a Red Snapper, then taking it home to prepare the bones for her sculpture. It took her weeks. She even referenced video instructions by an 11 year old boy who is a sort of bone preserving expert. I loved watching her talk about her creation.

I did not get to meet any of the other artists, but I did get to see their art.

It is exciting to anticipate what might be the next art making event.

Tall Ship and Lighthouse - Altered Book Sculpture + Cheese Enchilada (Quick) Recipe

I have finally finished the piece that I created for the Altered Book contest and display over at Two Hands Paperie. I had such fun making it. I had never created a book sculpture before, but I have a long history of making small scale replicas out of paper. Making the lighthouse and the ship were pretty easy. Creating the water, now that was a challenge. I loved doing it all.

Ethan worked a bit with me to make sure that the ropes on my tiny ship were in the correct places, even though I do not have as many ropes as a real ship would have. He said that he would post a picture of this on his Facebook page and that his shipmate friends, especially the boatswains, would really like it. Thus, we had to make it as realistic as was reasonable to do so. We had detailed discussions about wind direction and how the sails would respond. We talked about the water and the waves. Creating those was the most challenging part as I have not spent enough time on a boat to visualize it very well. My first attempt at waves ended up looking more like flames. When I searched for inspiration, I found that other artists struggled with the water, too. Some of them simply ignored it. Others dealt with the water in the sculpture in a way that was too patterned and regular for what I wanted mine to look like. In the end I used torn pieces of paper that I curled with a hot curling iron. It was really wonderful getting a chance to work with Ethan like that. I would like to find more ways to do collaborative art with my kids.

I also love adding light to the sculpture. I used a tiny set of LED lights to accomplish this.

I carved out hidden channels to thread the copper wires between the edge of the book. the lighthouse and the boat. Lighting up the scene gives me a little thrill.

Ellie, my faithful encourager and avid photographer took great pictures of my piece before I delivered it. Kohlton says that this piece is his favorite piece of art that I have created, so far.

On my way to Two Hands, I stopped by Nick-n-Willie's pizza to pick up a slice of pizza. The college aged employees loved my art and took photos of it. I encouraged them to give it a try, if they like making fiddely, precise things, which I enjoy.

I spent the evening at Two Hands at a work session. I made other things since my book sculpture was done. In my next posting I will share photos of the other entries.

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Tonight I might make cheese enchiladas.

Cheese Enchiladas
via: Herdez

2 tablespoons canola oil
4 corn tortillas
1 cup Mexican cheese blend
(Sauteed Red Onions)
1 cup HERDEZ® Salsa Verde

For Garnish:
HERDEZ® Jalapeño Chiles
Cilantro

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9x13­inch baking pan with canola cooking spray.
2. In medium­large pan, heat 4 corn tortillas. When finished, lay them on top of each other to
keep them soft and heated.
3. Add 2 tablespoons cheese to one end of tortilla; roll and place seam side down in baking
dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and cheese.
4. Pour HERDEZ® Salsa Verde on top of enchiladas covering completely. Sprinkle remaining
cheese on top of enchiladas.
5. Bake 10 minutes. Garnish with jalapeño slices and cilantro.

Of Lighthouses, Tiny Ships and Good Food (Scalloped Potatoes, Pasta Bolognese & Guajillo-Braised Beef Short Rib Taco)

This past Saturday I spent the day buried in my art. This time, instead of encaustics, I am creating a piece for an altered book display and contest. The art has to involve altering a book and the rest is up to you.

I settled on a ship related story; I choose Captain Courageous by R. Kipling. I am excited with how it is going so far. I am especially excited that I figured out how to make it light up. Oh how I love technology!

Here's what my desk looked like this evening:

I had hoped to finish it tonight, but the evening has gotten away from me. I was late coming home because a few kids at school were in need of someone to focus, listen and relate. They needed to feel heard and validated. That is one of the most important things I do, so the rest of the work was pushed off.

I need to finish it tomorrow as I am going to deliver it on Wednesday.

We spent Easter Sunday at a family party at my mother's house. Most of Kohlton's family that lives in town joined us. We closed up the evening at a party at the Cure homestead. It was a nice way to end the evening.
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Here's what I made for Easter dinner:


Scalloped Potatoes
Via: Martha Stewart (and modified by me, of course)

3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, and sliced paper thin (I used russet potatoes that I sliced with my food processor and that was just fine.)
1 small Onion (diced)
5 TBL flour
6 tablespoons Butter, diced
1/2 tea Pepper
1/2 tea Dry Mustard
1 tea Garlic Powder or 1 clove Garlic, minced
1 tea Paprika
1-2 TBL Parsley
1 tea Salt
pinch of Cayenne Pepper (omitted)
1 quart whole milk, or as needed (or 2 and 1/4 c milk)
1 cup heavy cream (I left this out as I do not like really rich food.)
5 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (I probably used more than this amount.)
1/4 c Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 325 degrees with a rack set in the lower third of oven. Combine sliced potatoes and milk in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, and immediately reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until potatoes are just tender.

Place a colander over a large bowl and drain potatoes, reserving milk. You should have 2 cups of thick, starchy milk. If potatoes have absorbed more than 1 cup of milk, add enough milk to bring the reserved milk volume to 2 cups.

In another sauce pan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour, garlic, dry mustard, paprika and salt. cook the roux a bit longer, turn off the heat just as the flour begins to brown (if you can tell that.) Pour the reserved milk into the pan and stir to combine and thicken.

Rub a 3 1/2-quart oval baking dish with garlic and butter. Arrange sliced potatoes in the baking dish; season with salt and pepper. Dot with remaining butter, some parsley and pour over reserved cooking milk (and cream). Do Sprinkle cheese over top. Do this for each layer, ending with cheese on the top.

Transfer baking dish to oven and bake until cheese becomes deep golden brown and milk has reduced and thickened, 80 to 90 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

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Here's what we had tonight. It was great, but I will most likely wait until the fall to make it again.

Nigel Slater's Really Good Spaghetti Bolognese
via: Food52

For the bolognese

4 tablespoons butter
3 ounces cubed pancetta
1 medium onion
2 fat cloves garlic
1 carrot
2 stalks celery
2 large, flat mushrooms such as portobello, about 4 ounces
2 bay leaves
1 pound ground beef or lamb
1 cup crushed tomatoes or passata
1/4 cup red wine
3/4 cup stock
1 nutmeg (just a few grinds, really)
3/4 cup half-and-half or cream
Spaghetti or tagliatelle for 4
Grated Parmesan

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-based pot -- then stir in the pancetta and let it cook for five minutes or so, without coloring much. Meanwhile peel and finely chop the onion and garlic and stir them into the pancetta. Peel and finely chop the carrot and celery and stir them in, too. Lastly, finely chop the mushrooms and add to the pan, then tuck in the bay leaves and leave to cook for ten minutes over a moderate heat, stirring frequently. Turn up the heat and tip in the meat, breaking it up well with a fork. Now leave to cook without stirring for a good three or four minutes, then, as the meat on the bottom is starting to brown, stir again, breaking up the meat where necessary, and leave to color. Mix in the tomatoes, red wine, stock, a grating of nutmeg and some salt and black pepper, letting it come to the boil. Turn the heat down so that everything barely bubbles. There should be movement, but one that is gentle, not quite a simmer. Partially cover the pan with a lid and leave the putter away for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring from time to time and checking the liquid levels. You don't want it to be dry. Pour in the half-and-half or cream a bit at a time, stir and continue cooking for twenty minutes. Check the seasoning, then serve with the pasta and grated Parmesan.

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Guajillo-Braised Beef Short Rib Taco
Recipe adapted from "Tacolicious" by Sara Deseran, published on Tasting Table

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 4 hours and 30 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours and 30 minutes

For the Guajillo-Braised Beef Short Ribs:

8 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
3 dried chipotle chiles, stemmed and seeded
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 pounds boneless beef short ribs (see note above)
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 (12-ounce) bottle dark Mexican beer, preferably Negra Modelo
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1½ tablespoons Mexican oregano
½ cup water
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Tacos:

Corn tortillas, warmed
Diced white onions, for garnish
Chopped cilantro, for garnish
Salsa of choice, to serve
Lime wedges, for garnish

1. Make the guajillo-braised beef short ribs: Preheat oven to 325. Toast the dried chiles on a sheet tray until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Remove and set them aside on a plate.

2. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sear the short ribs until deep golden brown on both sides, about 6 minutes. Add more oil to the pot to prevent any scorching. Remove the short ribs and set aside on a plate.

3. Adjust the heat to medium. Add the onions and cook, stirring often, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the reserved chiles and beer and adjust the heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the chiles have softened, about 5 minutes.

4. Place the contents of the pot in a blender. Add the cumin, oregano, water and season with salt and pepper. Purée on high speed until smooth, adding more water if needed to thin out the chile mixture.

5. Return the meat to the pot and add the puréed chile mixture. Cover and transfer to the oven, and cook, stirring occasionally until the meet is fork-tender, about 3 to 4 hours.

6. Remove the meat from the oven. Using two large forks, shred the meat. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

7. Make the tacos: Serve the guajillo-braised beef shorts ribs over corn tortillas and top with onions, cilantro, salsa and lime.