Stories From My Kitchen and Other Places

Caramels!

2011-11-20T23:41:00.001-06:00

Here is a break from the coupon adventure for a recipe that has been requested that I post (Hi Sue!):

Granny's Caramels

This recipe was introduced to me through my husband's Grandma.

1 lb (4 sticks) butter
2 lbs light brown sugar (1 bag)
2 cups white Karo syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Butter a 9x13 inch pan (or a long cookie sheet with at least an inch high edge.
Melt the first two ingredients in a heavy kettle (needs to be deep because it bubbles up).
Add 2 cups light corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk.
Cook until candy thermometer reads 245 degrees F. (do not go below 240 or above 250 degrees)
Carefully pour mixture into buttered pan. Cool mixture in the refrigerator.
Take out 30 minutes before cutting, Wrap in waxed paper.

Tips to take into consideration: It takes a few makings to figure out your stove and how much to heat these caramels to. The candy thermometer is very important because it is your key to either caramel sauce or hard HARD caramels.
This recipes does make roughly 250-275 caramels depending on how big you wrap them. You should keep that in mind when you see how much butter and sugar is in this recipe.

I love this recipe. When I need to wrap these I put a movie on, and sit at the table and wrap, wrap, wrap (and try very hard to not eat them all.)

Couponing this weeks meals - Working out the Kinks - Week 1

2011-11-06T13:34:00.006-06:00

Okay so a few friends asked me to post a blog about my attempt to keep our weekly food budget at the grocery store under $25. This is week one...I like to call it working out the kinks...

So We've run into a rough patch with money this month between paying for a couple vacations from previous two months, car problems, and probably some unchecked spending. As a stay at home mom, there isn't much I can do to help bring in more money so I decided to help where I could.

First, I decided to take a month off my ballet classes (a whopping $165 a month savings) because yes I love it but I'm hoping to figure out how to work at the studio to earn some free classes to go back. I also decided if it's just a month or two it's ok. I can do my ballet at home and maybe take a class here and there. I'd like to mention this was voluntary as my husband did say I should keep going. I feel that it's an extra splurge at the moment.

Second, I have been dabbling in couponing since july and decided I could "kick it up a notch" and really try to spend only $25 dollars at the grocery store for a weeks worth of food. This week happened to be the best week for it as our local grocery store, Albertson's, had twice the value coupons in the sunday paper. They will double a coupon up to a dollar making some items on sale free.

For those not new to the best way to use coupons, here's a quick run down. Manufacturer's put items on sale. They also send out coupons weekly in papers they have contracts with. Your best bet is to match the coupons up with the sale (which makes things WAY cheaper than just using sales only or coupons only.)

How did I figure everything out? Well luckily there have been a couple ladies who live in my are on the show Extreme Couponing and they actually make things easy for me. They figure out the ads and coupon match ups and even highlight those items that are best to "stock up on".

DISCLAIMER: I do love to watch Extreme Couponing but I am not of the opinion to get something I don't need because it's free. I like to think of what I am doing as realistic couponing. I stock on the items my family uses and try to work off my stockpile when money is tight (such as now). Also stockpiles take time to create, unless you have buckets of money laying around, try just using $25 aside from your weekly budget to add new items to your stockpile (anything left over from that $25 you can add to next week's $25 stockpile budget.)

Anyway...So I used my favorite site Coupon Connections and made a list of things I would like. A few months ago I had a friend (Hi Becky!) send me her spreadsheet on how she lists out her trip to the grocery store. It helps me figure out where I'm using coupons, how to maximize any Catalinas that print for "future" purchases (coupons that print when you check out good on your next purchase), and what my total might be.

I must tell you I went back over that list 3-4 times trying to make sure all my math added up and I was making the smartest choices. So Jeremy, my husband, went with me last night around 10:30pm because I was afraid a couple items I wanted that would actually make me $3.00 would be sold out at midnight and that would blow my budget. (when I have money makers that expands my budget without costing me more.) I was working on getting those items that would make me the $3.00 and asking the nice cashier if the items I got matched my coupons when we found out the store actually closes at midnight...well darn...

The nice, nice, nice cashier told us we could still shop for our items and she would put them in the freezer/fridge and we could pick them up today!

So we did that, I came home, secure in my purchases...and then I woke up and checked back on my favorite website to make sure one last time that things added up. Boy am I glad I did...i almost didn't make the extra $6.00 because I failed to put 4 items in one transaction...so I quickly re-organized and added a couple free products I found I had coupons for and off I went.

I had a total of 5 transactions (normally unless you find a cashier as nice as I did, the store says 3 transactions per store trip.) Plus one transaction at a different grocery store yesterday for some produce and things.

Here's a list of what I bought:

1 French's mustard
3 20 oz Heinz Ketchup
1 Kroger's brand Aluminum Foil 75 feet
1 bag pinto beans
2 Hass Avocados
4 roma tomatoes
1 2lb bag carrots
1 gallon 1% milk
1 box Loaded Mash Potatoes
5 Loaded Chicken and potato TGI Friday meals for one
2 heads of iceberg lettuce
3 Steak Fajita TGI Friday meals for one
3 Bird's Eye Steamfresh Frozen broccoli and rotini with cheese
2 Bird's Eye Steam fresh Frozen penne and veggies
3.29 lbs chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
1.27 lbs broccoli (bunch of three heads)
1 loaf bakery cinnamon bread (this was free from a coupon I had from a previous purchase)
1 5 oz kikkoman soy sauce
6 jello puddings (2 chocolate, 2 vanilla, 2 butterscotch)
2 jello - strawberry
2 Dreamfield Pasta spaghetti (this is pasta good for diabetics - very expensive normally)
1 small Morton's sea salt
3lbs 85% lean ground beef
1.48 lbs Honey Crisp apples
1 Sara Lee Whole Wheat Hearty and delicious honey bread
2 Beechnut Baby Oatmeal Cereal

Total retail value: $134.60
Total paid : $60.44
Total saved: $74.16
Percent saved: 55%

So I ended up getting more meat and chicken then I was planning on because the cost was better and I can roll that meat over into next week's meals. Best things I got for free: 2 boxes of Baby Oatmeal for Lucas, 1 loaf of cinnamon bread (which I used to make yummy french toast for brunch), and the pasta which is normally $2.79-$2.99.

Things I learned: My grocery store closes at midnight. I need to patiently look at the deals from the website to make sure I put my transactions in order. Have transactions as low as 67 cents is pretty awesome when the retail value is $25.

Food to make this week:
Chicken Stir-Fry (from fridge and pantry - rice and veggies, chicken from fridge as well)
Roast with potatoes and carrots (roast and potatoes in the fridge already)
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup and bread bowls (from stock and from my list)
Tacos
Pot Roast Pot Pie (from stock and fridge Items)

Planning already for next week:
Juicy Lucy burgers (from stock)

So there is my adventure.

Things I need to buy next week:

Dish soap if on sale
Vanilla extract
Butter

Last thoughts: I usually spend between $150 - $200 a week - this weeks purchase was a 70% savings. I think that works for us.

Baltimore Beef Sandwich

2011-08-16T20:35:00.003-05:00

So after letting the piece of top round beef marinate for two days we finally took it out of the fridge and grilled it up for sandwich meat.

This is from an episode of Guy's Big Bite where he was making a Baltimore Beef Bad Boy.
My brother, roommate, and I drooled over what he did to this piece of meat. So I thought I'd try making the meat at least. I'm not a horseradish person so I figured we could make our own sandwiches out of the beef.

First and for most...when marinating this meat with the spices - know that when you open your fridge you will smell the seasoning...and it will happen when someone else opens the fridge and you are across the room and you will smell this deliciousness. It's a big tease for how it will smell when cooking it.

Side note - make sure you have enough propane in your tank before you start your grill...we ended up bring this in and cooking it over our stove top grill board.

It's juice and delicious and each of us in the house made it a bit different on our sandwiches. There isn't much left.

Cooking marathon continued

2011-08-14T00:22:00.002-05:00

What else have I been working on you say?

Oh well I made some of my standard dessert recipes.
Peanut Butter Balls and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Both of the middle part of these yummy treats comes together very quick. What is the most time consuming is the dipping of the balls in Candy-quick/Almond bark like yummy coatings. They are really easy desserts that take time but usually have a wow factor when you bring them to a get together.

What else can I say - they are both very rich desserts and I love them.

Roasted Chicken - Just a little note

2011-08-13T23:38:00.000-05:00

I've been cooking the last two days. I haven't really taken any pictures but I can tell you what I've been doing and some successes I've had.

First the biggest success. I have been dabbling in couponing. Not the Extreme couponing you can see on tv...but realistic couponing which scales down extreme couponing to have a nice stock at home for 8-12 weeks until the product goes back on sale.

In this endeavor I found chicken thighs and legs on sale for 88 cents a pound. So I got one of each plus an extra package of legs for a BBQ I was invited to. The last time we had a gathering at this friend's house she had "marinated" her chicken legs in buttermilk before grilling them. I have never done that nor have I actually cooked thighs or legs aside from the Thanksgiving turkey.

So I do what I always do when I'm experimenting in the kitchen...I went to the net for inspiration. I finally settled on a recipe from Nigella Lawson found here.

It was a very simple recipe and I dove right in did this recipe with all of the chicken I had in the home - Two packs of ten chicken legs, one pack of ten chicken thighs, and four boneless chicken breasts. I used garlic powder instead of bruised garlic, I also added Lawry seasoning, and used some Maple Syrup from my hometown that has been in my fridge for a long time.

The trick is to let it brine for 2 hours if you need to cook it the same day. It was very quick to get all this chicken in their plastic bags. When these chicken pieces started cooking I could start to smell the seasonings...oh man...it was smelling delicious and my brother could smell it downstairs so much that he commented on it on facebook.

This recipe makes such juicy roasted chicken! It's now going to be a staple for me to cook a bunch of chicken quickly and deliciously. Today we had the second chicken legs over the grill at the BBQ and oh man...soooo good. I'm looking forward to using this chicken meat in other dishes this week.

On a side note: When I'm feeling down...I cook and invariably I feel somewhat better.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-02-12T23:41:00.004-06:00

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

So I was thinking of other ways to make my dinner cooking faster this week (working 10 hour shifts makes this pregnant momma super tired and not ready to tackle dinner after work). I do know that making food ahead has helped me have time relax and get my dinner in my belly on time for

I'm in love with cream based soups, however I'm also diabetic and pregnant and my husband is lactose intolerant...so I'm looking for ways to have comfort food that fits into my restricted diet and won't hurt his stomach. I found this recipe here and adapted it to what I can eat (the low carb pasta and lactose free milk for my hubby.

Ingredients

Directions

In the soup pot, add butter, onions and carrots, pinch of salt, on medium high heat. Cook until carrots are tender. Add in garlic, broth, water, poultry seasoning, chicken, heat until boiling then add noodles. Cook noodles the amount of time specified on package. Ladle out 1/2 cup broth into small bowl and blend in flour until smooth, no lumps. Add back into soup pot and cook for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and slowly stir in milk.
Optional: Serve with warm French bread. (This is very good the next day, too.)

Number of Servings this makes: 6 (roughly two to two 1/2 ladles full)

Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 6
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 304.5
Total Fat: 7.4 g
Cholesterol: 57.7 mg
Sodium: 724.1 mg
Total Carbs: 38.7 g (my restriction is for 45 g of carbs for lunch or dinner)
Dietary Fiber: 4.1 g
Protein: 23.1 g

What I loved about this recipe. It is a creamy soup. It's warm and comforting and the pasta I use is processed in a way that make it react more like fiber than carbs (which is why it's low carb pasta) .

What I would do different next time? Probably cook the pasta separate. The pasta soaks up the liquid broth and water. I knew this but decided to go with the recipe at the time to see how it would turn out.

What the food critics in my house thought (husband and brother): They both loved it. My husband had 2 bowls (because he had missed lunch and was still wanting to eat both lunch and dinner).

Grilled Chicken Tacos with Pineapple, Strawberry, and Red Pepper Salsa

2011-01-16T23:19:00.003-06:00

Well since the last time I posted I have had a bunch of things happen in my life. Namely I am pregnant and expecting a little boy at the end of May. The first half of my pregnancy has been quite blissful however I just was recently diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and what that means for this sweet tooth is a diet over haul and monitoring my blood sugar levels. Tonight I hemmed and hawed about what to make for dinner after my ten hour shift.

I chose this recipe from Spark Recipes because of the low carbs (what I have to keep an eye on) and it sounded very interesting. Here's a picture of how mine turned out:

So what I didn't follow in the recipes...well I didn't remember to buy fresh mint or red onion or lime...so how did I make it my own?

I mixed the strawberries and pineapple with half a red pepper and used lemon juice instead and finally I sprinkled Red Cayenne pepper in the salsa for a kick (beware...it can get spicy). I then took the chicken and diced it up when it was done and served it taco style on two six inch corn tortillas that I ended up spraying a pan with cooking spray and cooking the tortillas until warm/brown. I added lettuce to the mix as well for a taco feeling.

The whole recipe nutritional information breaks down like this for a serving size of two tortillas heaping full:

337 Calories
40 grams Carbs
7 grams fat
30 grams protein.

It falls 5 grams short of my limit for dinner carbs. and the verdict around the house is that it is "very flavorful" and that it was "really good" with "the right amount of spice." Until next time with another Diabetic friendly recipes...have something sweet for me.

The Great Donut Experiment

2010-10-10T20:32:00.004-05:00

I find inspiration for cooking/baking from many places: T.V., friend's recipes, what people are talking about eating of facebook, and from FoodGawker and Tastespotting websites. I particularly like these websites because they have pictures for the recipes and food topics. While browsing through Foodgawker this last week I came across this website Honey Butter that talked about Chocolate Glazed Donuts. Man do I love donuts.

I remember growing up and getting up early to go with my grandpa to the doughnut shop and having a plain glazed doughnut with orange juice while he had coffee and a doughnut. Whenever things are gloomy some in my family turn to donuts (doughnut holes, cake donuts, glazed, you name it.)

So I decided that today was the day to do this. I mixed the dough using my bread hook in my kitchenaid mixer (I like to find ways to use it) and put the bowl over my oven as I preheated it for making lunch. Lunch was Cresent Roll Wrapped Turkey dogs. I love using this method to proof my dough. I have found it works well for bread and pizza dough as well. Once the time had passed I rolled out the dough and used a metal doughnut cutter to make about one dozen doughnuts, doughnut holes, and used a small pumpkin cookie cutter for the left over dough. I laid them out on two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and put them on the "proofer" once again.

I did follow the recipe precisely for the doughnuts and the chocolate glaze, but I am a sucker for plain glaze as well. So I used The Pioneer Lady's recipe found here reduced quite a bit. I was also thinking about a white chocolate type of glaze...and when I went to get more butter from the fridge I saw a bunch of packages of raspberries from Cost-co staring at me so I also made this White chocolate Raspberry Frosting recipe as well.

So how did they turn out? Great - My husband scarfed a few up and so did I. I have a plate on the counter for my brother and roommate to try. I think that the Chocolate Glazed ones are the most successful, and the rolled in sugar ones.

What would I do different next time?
Well I definitely think that frying doughnuts is an art. It will take a few tries to get the right amount of browning on them. I would also try more ways to make glazes where I am satisfied with them. The Plain glaze doesn't look so good once it dries and the raspberry glaze I would have like to be more like a frosted than glazed. But they taste great and now I have left over glaze to figure out what to do with! Also what I might try next time is something like the VooDoo Doughnut's Maple Bacon Bars if you haven't tried one and are in Portland, Oregon - you need to have one.

On a personal note...I know this is the first post in a long time. I am thinking of future posts and hoping that they will be more frequent than the length of time between this post and the last. Hope you like the new background as well.

edit: I will add photos in a while. Now it's time to make dinner...

Asian Inspirations

2009-02-21T01:04:00.003-06:00

So I tackled making pot stickers and home made fried rice tonight.

I filled the pot stickers with ground chicken, cabbage, beansprouts, fresh ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice wine, dark sesame oil, salt, pepper, and white pepper. I also made a dipping sauce for these bite size scrumptious delights. The sauce consists of soy sauce, rice wine, dark sesame oil, chili paste, salt, pepper, and a dash of white pepper.

I found that this time folding the wrappers was very much easier and they turned out more uniform. I also added less water to the pot stickers when steaming them and also letting them fry a bit longer after steaming them to make them more crisp.

I ended up with 59 potstickers and 30 of those are now in the fridge waiting for the next time someone to be hungry.

My first turkey

2008-11-28T01:33:00.001-06:00

My first turkey, originally uploaded by Elisabeth Scherer!.

Here is my first ever turkey. I stuffed the inside with Onion, carrot, celery, an apple, rosemary, sage, and a cinnamon stick. Then rubbed under the skin of the breasts - butter with rosemary, sage, and minced garlic. I then put it in an Reynold's Oven bag and baked it for 2 1/2 hours at 350. This was a fresh 14 lb turkey.

My ham was also in an oven bag and I put two oranges chopped into wedges in it. I highly recommend this because it infuses into the ham and the smell and taste is amazing!

cooking

2008-10-19T01:22:00.003-05:00

I have been cooking but I haven't gotten to posting about these dishes. I have made Rye bread, whole wheat pizza, sugar cookies with frosting, and enchiladas.

Yes lots of cooking, very minimum photos, and no posts or recipes...I hope to get there...some time soon. If not I will take pictures the next time I make these...since all were so good I will be putting them in my file of stuff to eat!!!

Twice-Baked Garlic Loaded Potatoes

2008-07-14T23:16:00.004-05:00

I have been making this recipe for a while. It started when I half-hearted started using weight watcher recipes. I found this because as a foodie I am drawn towards potatoes! You cook them - I'll eat them....my favorite is the fried potatoes that my grandpa used to make me (that his sister now makes me identically). But I like them mashed, fried, french fried, baked, hash browns, au graten...in soup...yummmmmmm!

So I've been wanting to make this for a couple of days and finally pushed myself into the kitchen and started the oven.

Twice-Baked Garlic Loaded Potatoes

Ingredients:
4 large baking potatoes, scrubbed
1 garlic bulb, point sliced off
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 slices of microwave ready bacon (the pre-cooked kind is easiest).
pinch of paprika

Preheat oven to 425 degrees with rack in middle position. add potatoes onto a cookie sheet. Place garlic bulb cut side up in a piece of aluminum foil and close. Set garlic on cookie sheet and place in oven to cook for 50-60 minutes (until potatoes are tender and garlic is browned and softened. Let potatoes and garlic cool until comfortable to handle (about 15 minutes).

Halve potatoes lengthwise; scoop the pulp into a large bowl, leaving the skins intact. Squeeze out garlic into the same bowl add milk, Parmesan cheese and a pinch of salt and pepper into potato mixture. Stir and mash with a fort to desired texture then spoon back into potato skins; sprinkle with a bit more cheese and paprika.

Return to oven until heated through and cheese is melted (tops are slightly browned). Top with crumbled bacon and serve!

Now the Weight Watcher version uses 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth and 1/2 cup non-fat sour cream and the Parmesan just on top. 4 large baking potatoes would serve 8 with 3 points per serving...not including the extra cheese, milk or bacon of my recipe...but mine is a meal...yum!

Chinese Potstickers and Fried Rice

2008-07-07T22:28:00.006-05:00

I have now made this recipe twice and it is quickly becoming a family favorite. The first time I made this because my husband and I were watching a random episode of Throw down with Bobby Flay and the competition in this particular episode was on Chinese dumplings, also known as Pot-stickers. Jeremy and I looked at each other and both craved them at the same time. The first time I made these I think I under stuffed them and I chose to boil them instead of pan-fry them. They turned out like a strange squishy ravioli with the wrapper part way to wiggly for my taste. Jeremy loved the flavor and proclaimed them tasting just like the Panda Express ones we had not long after.

Well yesterday I had another craving to make these treats. I wanted to better the recipe and have another go at making them properly. Jeremy quickly said, "Yes" to me making them and so we zoomed around the grocery store picking up the filling ingredients. To the produce department to by a small head of cabbage, a few green onions, a package of bean sprouts, a package of shredded carrots, ginger root, and two packages of dumpling wrappers (next to the wonton wrappers - but circles instead of squares). As I was gathering the last of the ingredients (a pound of ground chicken) I mentioned that fried rice goes really well with these, so we zoomed to the frozen food section to pick up a bag of peas and carrots. With everything else at home we headed there.

The other thing I wanted to change about the first time I made these is I made Jeremy wait way to long to eat (I started filling dumplings at like 4:30 or 5 and we didn't end up eating until 8:30-9p.m.) So I started around 2:30-3p.m. and we ate at about 6p.m. The recipe made about 90 dumplings, so I cooked half of them and froze the other half for later use!

Original Recipe of Dumplings

This is what I did:

Filling:
1 lb. ground chicken
1/2 cup of cabbage, chopped fine
1/4 cup green onions, minced
1/4 cup bean sprouts, chopped
1/4 cup shredded carrots, chopped
1/4 cup ginger root, minced
1/4 cup bamboo shoots, minced
1/4 cup water chestnut, minced
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
pinch of salt and pepper
dash of white pepper

Wrappers - 2 packages round pasta wrappers (the original recipe link tells how to make your own dough wrappers.)

Sauce:
3 parts soy sauce
1 part sesame oil
1 part vinegar
1 Tbsp ginger root, minced
1 Tbsp green onions, minced

Mix everything for filling and then take about 1 Tbsp of filling and place in the center of a single wrapper. fold the wrapper over and pinch in the center. pleat the edges over on one side all the way to the end, return to the other side of center and pleat it to the end of the other side. Seal edges with a bit of water on the tip of your fingers run across the pleats. Set on a grease plate and repeat until filling or wrappers are gone.

Now because there are only two of us, I took half of the dumplings and froze them before they were cooked. I placed the dumplings on a cookie sheet (not touching each other) and placed them in the freezer. After frozen through, place them in a freezer bag and back in the freezer for later use!

Pan frying them: coat the bottom of the pan with oil and set dumplings down in a single layer on medium-high heat. Fry until bottoms of dumplings are golden brown. Add 1/3 cup water (pan will sizzle), cover with vent for steam to escape. Once water has halved, turn heat down to medium. Once water has evaporated, uncover and let dumplings cook for 1 - 2 minutes more.

While the water was cooking down, I made a pot of rice.

Fried rice recipe:

2 cups jasmine rice
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
dash of white pepper
1 10 oz bag of frozen peas and carrots
4 eggs + white and pepper
2 tsp table sugar
3 3/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil

Bring water to boil, add rice, oil, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil again. Let water cook down.

...Now this is where I pause in my directions: I used the pan I fried the dumplings in for the eggs and the fried part of the rice...

scramble eggs, then add a bit more oil to the pan and add the rice, sugar, peas and carrots, soy sauce, sesame oil, and dash of white pepper, salt and pepper. Fry until desired quality. Serve warm!

Second time around critic:
Very good, filling was much more satisfying, and the pan fry made the dumplings crunchy enough to give eating them an extra depth! Frying the rice in the dumpling pan added a nice flavoring for rice and pulled the meal together.

I served the dumplings and rice with the dipping sauce and a pot of Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea and a fortune cookie each.

My husband's reaction: so good he had two helpings and I had to cut him off.

Fan Tan Rolls

2008-07-02T14:25:00.003-05:00

Sunday I made another round of Foccacia Bread (sadly forgetting to take pictures of them). After that I decided to try my hand at making rolls. I picked Fan Tan Rolls. My Great Uncle had these at his house when we visited him at the beginning of June. He served them with home-made raspberry jam. I wish I had more of that home made jam...

This is how they turned out! Don't they look good?

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1/3 cup table sugar
2 packages active dry yeast
2 tsp salt
6 1/2 cups of flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
butter, melted (for brushing on dough)

Directions:
combine water sugar and yeast and stir until dissolved. Add salt and 2 cups of flour. Beat for 2 minutes with electric mixer then add eggs and shortening. Beat for another minute and then work in remaining flour (4 1/2 cups). Cover and let rest in bowl for 20 minutes. This makes the dough easier to handle.

Shaping:
1. Divide dough in half and roll each into 9 inch square. Brush with melted butter; cut into six
strips.
2. Stack strips on top of one another. Cut into 1 inch widths. Place in greased muffin pans, cut
side up.
3. Cover and let rise in warm place for 40-45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes.
Brush with melted butter for last five minutes of baking.

What I would do differently Next time: I'm not sure I would actually put six strips together in a muffin pan...maybe four instead. This one, as you can see, exploded! Still yummy but way over proofed. Probably was too hot in the house and didn't need the full rise time.

Pineapple Upside Down Muffins

2008-06-23T00:26:00.004-05:00

Recently I took out a box from our spare bedroom that contained my grandmother's recipes. I was searching for good bread recipes. I had just made a fantastic Foccacia bread and I will make it again (and take pictures). Anyway, I know my grandma had many breads, rolls, and muffin recipes. As I flipped through one of her home-made books.

I came across a recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Muffins. They sounded so good that on my grocery list went Crushed pineapples.

I had everything else at home...

They were so good! When they came out of the oven I flip them them over onto a cookie sheet. This is the point where I would change what I did...I just flipped them over, next time I would put the cookie sheet or cooling rack right on top of the muffins and flip them so nothing spilt as much as this first time. Here's how they turned out:

I am going to make these again. It's a nice dessert that doesn't have chocolate in it. One thing I did different than the recipe was added 2 - 3 teaspoons of cinnamon in with the dough.

It's a nice way to make personal signed cakes for a dinner! Try the recipe and I know you'll love it!

Chicken a la Queen?

2008-04-14T22:53:00.003-05:00

Well I decided to use up the last of the chicken I had in the fridge as well as some veggies I have had sitting around for too long. Being that it rained hard all day today I thought this recipe by Rachael Ray sounded good.

So I set to work on this recipe - chopping the veggies.
Easy to follow, however I decided to use a can of cream of chicken soup instead of the heavy cream. I also did not add asparagus as I didn't have any at home. I halved the recipe for two of us but forgot to half the chicken stock so my recipe came out like chicken a la queen soup. I served it with some store bought oven ready biscuits and some apple juice.
It was comforting and yummy but would like to see it more creamy next time.

Memories of Home

2008-04-13T02:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I didn't post but did do cooking in the kitchen. The reason I didn't post is because what I created took a good chunk of the day and evening. I was then distracted by my neighbor stopping by for a chat and the next thing I knew it was 2 am and I was shooing her home to bed (she had to work today) and I was stumbling to bed where my wonderful husband had been since about 9:30 due to a headache.

So Saturday after work I came home and pulled out the George Foreman grill and plopped some hot dogs on the grill because it was 75 degrees outside. While enjoying the grill my Mexican neighbors were celebrating their daughter's 6 birthday with a party including two pinatas to bust open.

This combined with a phone call to my mom had me hankering for some home made refried beans, home made flour tortillas and Spanish rice.

The first milestone in making this ambitiously yummy dinner was to sort the beans
(you're looking for any rocks that may be in with the beans

or any nasty looking beans you don't want to eat...)

Place them into a slow-cooker in the morning on low. One of the things my mom does with the beans in the slow-cooker is add 2-3 strips of bacon to help flavor the beans.

Refried Beans
1 lb bag of pinto beans, sorted
4-6 strips of bacon
4-5 slices of Kraft American Cheese
dash of salt

Soak beans and half the bacon in slow-cooker for 8 hours on low (or follow stove top directions on package). Take other half of bacon and snip into small strips with kitchen shears. Heat in a deep pan until bacon has render some liquid and is cooked well. Add beans and a bit of the liquid it cooked in to the pan and use a potato masher to crush up the beans. Add more liquid as needed to keep beans moist but not runny. Once mashed to your liking add torn up pieces of sliced cheese and mix into the beans. Add a dash of salt. Let cheese melt completely and serve hot. Save left over liquid from slow-cooker and add to whatever beans are left over to keep them from drying out in the fridge.

So as those cooked slowly I turned to my second project...Home made flour tortillas. These recipes were made so many times by my mom growing up and we all helped.

Tortillas are interesting because they are made out of four ingredients: flour, lard, water, and salt. It's a neat thing to see the dough come together. The trick my mom said with making th dough is to let it sit for 2 hours after you form them into balls because it helps the dough become more elastic and in turn will roll out thinner.

I always double the batch of tortillas because they go so fast. (because they are so good and I can just have one at a time.) So after that was done I chopped tomatoes, olives, and grated cheese.

Finally the two hours passed and I could start rolling and flipping the tortillas then browning them. I had 44 for make with the double batch of dough. This is a picture of me flipping the dough back and forth in my ands, my mom is so good at this and does it so fast. I remember being young and never understanding how she did it so well. Mom always said, "I've had lots of years of practice."

Here is the assembly line in my small kitchen. First i pat it with some flour then roll it out with the rolling pin, then pick it up and flip it between my hands to thin it out a bit more then place it on a hot griddle to brown up on either side. After it's done browning I place it in a waiting pocket of a tea towel around aluminum foil.

Here's a picture of the tortilla on the griddle with my third recipe on the stove behind it.

Flour Tortillas
4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 to 2 cups tepid water

Combined flour and salt, cut in shortening until well blended. Add water slowly, maybe 1/2 cup at a time until dough pulls away from the edge of a bowl. Using hands, form a dough ball and knead out on a well floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes. Take dough ball and make two halves. Take one half and pinch off golf ball sized pieces of dough, roll into a ball and coat with shortening on your hands so the ball is well "greased" Continue with dough until all the halves are into balls. Cover with Cling Wrap and let set for 2 hours. Then take a well floured surface, dip the ball in a bit of flour on either side and roll out to a basic size of what you want. Then pick up the dough and flip back and forth between your hand to thin out the tortilla more. Place tortilla on heated griddle (medium to medium-high heat). When dough bubbles flip with a spatula and brown second size. Place in a sheet of aluminum foil that has been set inside a tea towel to keep them warm. Continue until done cooking. When storing left over tortillas place tea towel and foil wrapped tortillas inside a large zip lock bag and seal. Refrigerate.

Thirdly was Spanish Rice. This rice turns out so good with flavor and is relatively easy to make. (Rice is the one thing I have a hard time cooking.)

Spanish Rice
1 cup long grain rice, uncooked
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 of a white onion diced (you can use up to the whole onion if desired)
1 can Mexican Stewed tomatoes, drained and cut into bite size pieces.
1 tbsp of oil
wax paper

Take oil onions and rice and heat over medium heat in a medium sized pot. Once onions are starting to brown add in chicken stock and stewed tomatoes. Bring to a boil then turn down to where it is barely boiling/simmering place wax paper over the top of the pot and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes (or until the liquid has disappeared) Discard wax paper and fluff rice with fork.

My poor husband was so hungry he got a headache waiting for this scrumptious meal. I was dumb and start the tortillas at 4 pm so I could start cooking them until 630 or so. So we were finally eating around 845pm. I'm so glad to have a husband who would suffer for my cooking. He had three burritos then put himself to bed to sleep off the headache.

I served these tortillas with some pan fried chicken pieces, some of my father-in-law's salsa and something to drink. You could also do a variation on scrambled eggs and beans that I will have to do a blog on soon with tortillas in the house.

Chilled Grape/Apple Chicken Salad

2008-04-11T16:51:00.007-05:00

This is the truest form of experiment in the kitchen. A co-worker brought something like this in for a birthday party a few weeks ago and I decided to try to make it today because it's fresh and light and a nice lunch. I did not have specific amounts to include, just the list of what she had in her dish.

Chilled Grape/Apple Chicken Salad

1 red Jonsgold Apple, diced
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
3 rips celery, chopped
2 small cans white meat chicken breast (rotisserie chicken would work too)
1 cup red seedless grapes, halved
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese cubes
1/2 cup Colby cheese cubes
1/4 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp Light Mayo
1/4 cup pecan pieces (almonds would work too)
dash of salt and pepper

Take all these pieces and
toss with the mayo, sour cream
and add a dash of salt and pepper.
Refrigerate until serving.

What I did differently than the original:
I added two types of cheese, and I think the original cheese was just jack cheese. I also added two kinds of apples.

What I would do differently next time:
Not sure, i like it the way it is. Maybe leave the nuts out or try like cashews or something.

***EDIT*** I sent the leftovers with my husband for lunch today and he sent me a message saying it didn't look like it was suppose to be a main course (he thought it was a fruity dessert salad) but was pleasantly surprised to find it really good! Yay me \o/***

Lemon Yogurt Anything Cake

2008-04-11T16:35:00.003-05:00

The Second thing I made while the pretzel rolls were rising was a Lemon Yogurt Anything cake. This was also a Smitten Kitchen recipe that looks so yummy in her picture that I didn't care that I didn't have any berries in the house.

So what did I do differently:

Well no berries meant it became just a Lemon Yogurt cake, but to make up for it I added Orange zest and some fresh squeezed orange juice to the dough. It was a perfect consistency for a bread/cake batter. I popped it in the oven and while that was cooking I decide the cake would need some kind of dressing up. SO... I made and Orange Mango sauce.

Recipe for sauce:
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
orange zest
1 mango peeled, sliced and cubed
1/4 cup sugar

take juice, zest, and sugar and
simmer for 15 minutes in a medium pot.
Add Mango and set aside for bread.

Lemon Yogurt Anything Cake:
Adapted by Smitten Kitchen from Ina Garten

1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (if you’re skipping the fruit, you can also skip the last tablespoon of flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed (miniature wild blueberries are great for this, and pose the least risk of sinking)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 (+) minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in (a pastry brush works great for this, as does using a toothpick to make tiny holes that draw the syrup in better). Cool.

What I would do different next time:

I would like to try the blueberries in with the lemon cake, I would also like to try strawberries, and a version of oranges with chocolate chips in it.

First of Many

2008-04-11T16:16:00.004-05:00

Today I started by cleaning up the kitchen, doing all the dishes, cleaning the counters, the stove-top, and the dining area. That means I was preparing for a day in the kitchen. First thing to try today was from Smitten Kitchen one of my food links on this blog.

I chose these Bretzel Rolls:

Smitten Kitchen's Bretzel Roll

It's a pretty simple recipe and the original picture just looked like you could dip it in some cheese and munch on them all day (or at the movies). So I mixed up the dough. Smitten's recipe calls for a food processor but I mixed this by hand. I put it in a bowl with cling wrap then a towel over it and placed in on top of the oven that I had put on Warm setting. I left it set for 35-45 minutes to rise once, then on a floured surface punched it down and formed 8 balls with it. I took the balls in my hand and pulled over the sides to create a nice round shaped dome. I then covered them back up with a towel and let them rise for another 25-30 minutes. This is where the experiments get fun. I followed the recipe about boiling water and adding baking soda and sugar, yes the liquid did foam up *not far though* and then flash cooked the rolls for 30 seconds on each side in the water. I took one of Smitten's commenter's advice and snip the x into the buns after this step, then brush egg white over the top of them and down the cracks and popped them in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes.

They are so good.

What I did differently:

I already mentioned how I shaped the balls, I also didn't have cornmeal so the second time I just used All Purpose flour.

What I would try next time...

I would make them in bit pieces and make a creamy cheese dip. I am sure this would be a good smuggle into the movies when you don't want to buy the food there...hmmm I didn't say that.

Bretzel Rolls:
Adapted by Smitten Kitchen from Bon Appetit January 1994

2 3/4 cups bread flour
1 envelope quick-rising yeast*
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (about) hot water (125°F to 130°F)
Cornmeal
8 cups water
1/4 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg white, beaten to blend (glaze)
Coarse salt

Combine bread flour, 1 envelope yeast, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar in food processor and blend. With machine running, gradually pour hot water through feed tube, adding enough water to form smooth elastic dough. Process 1 minute to knead. Grease medium bowl. Add dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then towel; let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 35 minutes.

Flour baking sheet, or clear area of counter. Punch dough down and knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 8 pieces. Form each dough piece into ball. Place dough balls on prepared surface, flattening each slightly. Using serrated knife, cut X in top center of each dough ball.** Cover with towel and let dough balls rise until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease another baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.*** Bring 8 cups water to boil in large saucepan. Add baking soda and 2 tablespoons sugar (water will foam up). Add 4 rolls and cook 30 seconds per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer rolls to prepared sheet, arranging X side up. Repeat with remaining rolls.

Brush rolls with egg white glaze. Sprinkle rolls generously with coarse salt. Bake rolls until brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Serve rolls warm or room temperature.

So That's experiment number one!

Gooey Grilled Cheese Toast

2008-04-10T21:43:00.006-05:00

Well food wise I played it safe today, dinner was the good old blue box mac and cheese. But for lunch I found my new favorite way to make a grill cheese sandwich. Sorry I forgot to take a picture because I was so hungry.

Gooey Grilled Cheese Toast

2 slices of bread
1 pad of butter
2 thin slices of mozzarella
2 slices of Colby cheese

Toast bread slices in toaster, then butter the insides. Add one slice of each cheese to each piece of bread. Microwave for 30-45 seconds. ENJOY gooey goodness!

It is a great snack, dinner, lunch, or breakfast if you substitute the bread for an English muffin! MMM mm mmm! You could add a tomato or some other things to change things up!

This next few days should be major updates because I am going to do a bit of baking as well as some home-made Mexican goodness to use with the salsa! So check back!

Great Aunt Lu's "Hot Sauce"

2008-04-09T22:38:00.004-05:00

While visiting my Great Aunt Guadalupe on the Olympic Peninsula, she made some home made "hot sauce" for her husband Jerry. Well I tried it and it was addictive in a good, so I asked for the recipe. I loved it because it was so spicy you wanted more but not too spicy to keep going. Aunt Lu thought it was way too hot (and she is more Mexican than I) and even had to drink some milk to calm her tongue down. Jerry Loved it. Lu put this salsa into my scrabbled eggs the next morning - home made Huevos Rancheros!

The first thing the recipe calls for is 3 jalapeños and this is how Aunt Lu told me to prepare them:

This is the completed salsa:

I don't think it's as spicy as my Aunt Lu's but I did just try it and the jalapeño flavor is sinking in some with the rest.

LuLu's Hot Sauce:

3 jalapeños
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup onion chopped (can add more)
1/2 can tomatoes chopped (about 4 ounces for a small batch)
a dash of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp of vinegar and oil
1/8 tsp of white sugar

Simmer the 3 peppers for 20 minutes until they are soft. wrap them in a wet paper towel and then a dry paper towel, leave set for 5 minutes. *Unwrap and take the seeds and membranes out. Chop all other ingredients finely and blend together. Serve with crackers, chips, eggs, and other things that would use hot sauce or salsa.

* Warning: Please wear gloves when chopping Jalapeñod. If braving the chop without gloves make sure to thoroughly wash your hands before touching your eyes. Jalapeños can burn the eyes and if you have dry skin can get in the cracks and burn for hours. I know from first hand experience. I chopped one, then washed my hands really well but it was in Minnesota in the winter and my hands were so dry that the Jalapeño turned my hands red and burned through the next day. Needless to say I wear gloves now when handling them.

How I strayed from the original: Well I added 2 red bell peppers, a full white onion, 3 extra garlic cloves, and way too many tomatoes (was trying to use some up). I also added 1 tsp of vinegar because there was so many veggies.

What I would do different next time: I think for the salsa I would add less tomatoes. I will try it just as Lu made it next time to see if mine was as hot.

Also I made baked cod with roasted veggies for dinner tonight. I took frozen pub-house battered cod and bake it at 425 for 15 minutes and roasted potatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash with a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. I sprinkled grated Parmesan cheese over the top and served it like this. Jeremy took the salsa and dabbed some on the cod. We've had this before. It's pretty simple and the zucchini is sweet, potatoes perfect, and Parmesan just enough.
Over all rating from the husband on a scale of one to ten was: 8. It's a keeper.

Tomorrow I am going to try some baking of some sort.

Ratatoullie

2008-04-07T00:35:00.004-05:00

Well I decided I would like to try to make Ratatoullie from Smitten Kitchens website last week. We bought a Mandolin slicer with one of our wedding gift cards and I wanted to work with it to get better at using it. Ratatoullie made perfect sense. I had zucchini in the fridge to use up and the rest is all fresh veggies.

So I came home from work and set to work slicing. The Zucchini and yellow Squash went quite well, as did the red pepper, however when I started slicing the egg plant is where I ran into issues. I sliced my thumb straight down the middle as well as on the side (both cuts on my left hand (I am left-handed). It was a big cut with blood and I was worried for a bit about having to get stitches. This mainly worries me because I use my hands for teaching art and that would put me out of commission somewhat. But I stanched the blood and bandaged it and went back to work. Everything smelled wonderful Thyme, Oregano, Majoram, and Basil. While that baked in the oven I boiled red skin potatoes and sauteed some chicken in a pan. I topped everything with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. My husband thought was great. I was partial to the potatoes and chicken, but am willing to experiment more with the recipe and try again. It sounds and looks great. I had enough veggies to make two dishes so I passed on along to my neighbor and she texted me later that night saying it was really good!

While I was gone this weekend my husband ate more of the leftovers but didn't realize that the chicken wasn't in the dish...so he was still hungry later on and didn't know why until he found out there was no chicken in the actual dish. Silly Husbands!

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup

2008-04-07T00:20:00.006-05:00

I have been experimenting with soups since moving out to the Pacific Northwest, as with the rain comes yummy weather for soups! What I like most about soups is the creamy or cheesy type of soup that "sticks to your ribs" as my dad would say and leaves you full for a long time. The latest experiment was a slow-cooker Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup:

Recipe:

1 can pinto beans
1 can creamed corn
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of mild enchilada sauce (average heat)
1 can nacho cheese soup
1 can diced tomatoes
2 boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
a dash each of cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper

Dump all ingredients but chicken into crop pot, add chicken breasts and push them down so they are covered in the liquids. Cook on low setting for 8 hours, or high setting for 4 hours. When chicken is cooked through, pull the breasts out and shredded the meat back into the soup.

Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips for scooping!

What I thought:

I loved it! I love the flavors and that you can taste the enchilada sauce. I also like the way it tastes with tortilla chips and cheese. When making it again I would add a can of diced green chiles or some jalepeno (seeded and cored) for more heat. I will be making this again!

Basil Chicken Hash

2007-08-29T22:31:00.000-05:00

This dish was dinner tonight. I found this recipe on the Food Network's website under the Barefoot Contessa recipes. It looked really good and I had almost everything for this meal. Plus there were potatoes, chicken, and cheese involved (naturally I was on board.) So I worked on the recipe tonight added to the original by using the yellow zucchini and red pepper I picked up at the farmer's market this weekend and a green pepper from my garden. It was surprisingly easy to make (a bit time consuming) and tasted good too. I have decided when I make this again to take a page out of Robin Miller's book and cook the chicken and potatoes in advanced and probably get the veggies cut up in advanced too (like on a Sunday afternoon), then I would only have to brown the Potatoes, caramelized the onions and veggies, and heat the chicken through.

The Yellow zucchini was probably my favorite (aside from potatoes - which is the ultimate favorite food of mine.) It was sweeter than a green zucchini.

So that was a success.

I did have a minor disaster tonight in the kitchen while cooking. I burned my thumb pulled the chicken out of the oven. I hate when that happens (which is too often for my husband's liking).

The Battle Wound

My next post might be my first major failure to report. I am experimenting with truffles (not the mushrooms, but the desserts) and I am trying out White Truffles with Bailey's Irish cream in them. I don't know that they are going to turn out well.

Tuna, Noodles, and Peas...

2007-08-29T22:21:00.001-05:00

My dad used to make this dish for us any time my mom wasn't home. Mainly because she doesn't like the smell of tuna. It always caused arguments to break out because I hated peas growing up and didn't want them to touch my pasta or tuna sauce. Now as you can see, I like peas. I occasionally throw in a can of peas and carrots with my mac and cheese for some extra veggies (don't we all need more veggies in our diet?)

The other argument that ensued was over plain or ripple chips. Mainly this was between dad and the kids. Us kids loved ripple chips, because let's face it they are stronger than plain chips. Dad liked regular Old Dutch potato chips.

This brings me to my next topic dealing with TN&P (as I am now referring to it). We do NOT use forks for this dish. We use the potato chips as scoops. Or if you are crazy like my dad you crush up the chips and mush them in with the mixture. I find this is not the best idea though if you like more crunch because the chips tend to get mushy and soggy if the tuna white sauce is too runny.

Here I am demonstrating the proper use of the "utensils" for this meal.

No Bake Cookies

2007-08-26T21:12:00.000-05:00

I tried making some no bake cookies tonight. I got the recipe from my sister, Tia, who just attended a summer themed recipe exchange party. They were pretty simple to make. However I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal. My husband likes them!