a farm in my heart

Happy Chinese New Year - Merry Style!

2012-01-30T16:01:00.002-06:00

I love chinese dumplings and potstickers, or my personal name for them: lazy sui mai. Why lazy? Because I use a dumpling mold instead of mucking about with forming it by hand! But the funny part is that, I will start out making sui mai traditionally, then get fed up with my ugly attempts and pull out my dumpling maker. Sad, sad, sad, and lazy! See, that is where the lazy comes in. But, it does make pretty dumplings, and makes me look far more proficient than I really am.

You can find these dumpling makers everywhere, but I like JapanBargain on Ebay. Free shipping on just about everything, and every japanese kitchen utensil I ever need can be found in their store. The dumpling maker comes with a handy little spatula, to deposit just right amount of filling.

Before starting, set your steamer up. Basically, you need something to hold the dumplings up and out of the simmering water. You could set a plate on top of a cup inside a covered pot of simmering water. Or buy a steamer plate, again Japan Bargain has these, or use the steamer insert that came with your pan set. Line the steamer with cabbage leaves, these keeps them from sticking and I also feel it adds an authenticness, but that just maybe my imagination. Put the heat on low-med to start the water heating, by the time you are done pressing the dumplings, it should be simmering.

Merry's Dumpling Filling

1 lb of skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 lb of shrimp, peeled, cleaned and tails off
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 can of water chestnuts, chopped small
4 tbsp or more of soy sauce
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice vinegar
pepper

You will also need: savoy cabbage leaves for the steamer

Dipping Sauce
Sweet Chili Sauce
Soy Sauce
Peanut Butter (optional)

Process the chicken and shrimp until minced thoroughly. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until well mixed.

Add about tsp or so of filling on top of a gyoza dumpling skin on top of the dumpling press. Push the filling down a bit, then squeeze the maker shut firmly, to seal the filling in. Look at my fat little fingers, they look dumpling like too!!

Proceed as above until all your filling is gone, I was able to make quite a bit, I used about 55 or so dumpling skins. If you don't have the round skins, you can use square wonton wrappers, just cut them into circles with a cookie cutter, or heck keep them square, just set them on the diagonal in the press.

Place them in your cabbage leaf lined steamer inset, cover and steam for about 12 - 15 minutes, break one open at the end of the first batch to see if you have steamed them long enough.

Take them out, and let them cool a bit, before storing them and freezing them. What? Yes, freeze these lovelies so when you have a craving, you can pull a container out and micro them for a few minutes, and soothe that craving!

I mix a few tablespoons of sweet chili sauce with some soy sauce, and that is my dipping sauce. If you want to kick it up a notch, add a spoon of peanut butter and smooth it all together.

Homemade Fish Sticks

2012-01-25T23:20:00.001-06:00

Growing up, I ate alot of fish sticks. Being asian, I ate them with rice, while everyone else perhaps got mac and cheese. Then I grew up and started reading labels, and well, I wish I could like them the same way but I can't. Too much sodium, fat and other ingredients I can't pronounce.

Making them from scratch is very easy though, I bake them so they are healthier, not quite the same as when I was young, but pretty tasty none the less. Instead of ketchup I make a homemade tarter sauce which is even easier!

I used tilapia fillets, and sorry, didn't notice where they were from, and (gasp!) even worse, I served these with a side of Ora Ida Zesty Curls, bad bad bad! Kind of like drinking a diet Coke with your Big Mac! Oh well, I did it, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa. I also made quite a bit of both, and they were goooooood!!

Homemade Fish Sticks

6 small tilapia fillets, thawed

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 c seasoned italian bread crumbs

2 eggs, beaten

salt, pepper and seasoning of your choice (garlic powder, paprika etc)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a foil covered cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Cut your tilapia or any mild white fish lengthwise into "fingers". Season with salt, pepper and or seasonings of your choice. (I used Sylvia's Soulful Seasoning). Put your beaten eggs in a flat container or plate, season. Put your bread crumbs in another flat container or plate and season them a little too.

Dip the fish into the eggs, then into the bread crumbs, pressing the crumbs onto all their surfaces. Place on the cookie sheet, and do the same to the rest of the fish.

Lightly spray the crumb coated fish with cooking spray, or drizzle with a little oil. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, break one open and see if the fish is opaque and fully cooked. Try not to overcook.

Homemade Tarter Sauce

3/4 cup olive oil mayo, or mayo of choice
3 tbsp, more or less of sweet relish
1 tsp yellow prepared mustard

Mix, taste, add more relish if necessary, and chill until ready to serve.

Redwork Garden by Blue Ribbon Designs

2012-01-25T13:37:00.000-06:00

Redwork Garden, number two in the series

I love this pattern, its not released yet, it will be at the Nashville needlework market. The designer is Belinda Karls-Nace of Blue Ribbon Designs. Talk about talented! Not that she needs any PR from me, but just about everytime she releases a new design or I get a sneak peek (she is my best friend after all!) at one of her class pieces, I just nearly wet myself with delight! She does such good work!

Alot of designers come and go, they release a great pattern that's a hit, but are unable to follow up with anything else, sort of like some music artists. Not to say their one hit wonders aren't any good, but sometimes they only have one design in them. Belinda is the Beatles version of needlework designers, she's got hits overflowing out of her. Go to her website, (link above) and take a look at all of her designs, its amazing that this much talent is contained in one person. I think aliens are communicating with her in her sleep, how does she come up with all these beautiful pieces? She also stitches them all herself, on 40ct linen. Yes, you can believe what you just read 40CT LINEN, amazing.

She is also a phenomenal instructor. I have said this before and will be saying it to my grave, she truly sets the bar at what you should expect from a teacher when you attend her classes. None of this nonsense where the instructor gives you the patterns, turns on a dvd about it, then sits in the back and works on her personal stuff and gets irritated when you ask a question. You get a binder with complete perfect instructions, not those copied crappy pages that are barely legible with written in corrections, oh did I mention she also sheetprotects each page, and photos? Photos of every step of the finishing instructions. She doesn't just stand up there and read to you how to complete each stitch, she knows you can read and follow a diagram, that's not where she instructs you, she teaches you how to easily make cording, or finish a pin pillow, scissor fob or needlebook with hidden seams. She teaches you how to construct a round box using the needlework piece you just stitched. Her class atmosphere is fun and relaxed, no one is looking around to see who the best stitcher is, she doesn't create a Stitch Nazi brigade.
She is available to answer your questions in class and out. She will sit with you at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stitch with you at night and share chocolate and drink wine. Is there any wonder that she is one of the most popular instructors on the needlework retreat circuit? If you ever have an opportunity to take one of her classes, or even just meet her, take it. You won't regret it, will totally change your view in regards to needlework designers.

Here is a link to her 2012 teaching dates Some are already full, most have waiting lists. If there is a retreat that is full, put yourself on the wait list, or ask if there will be a second class. Most of these retreats will have to offer a second class due to Belinda's popularity. She also has a blog where you can see all the other great stuff she does for herself and for gifts, OMG, what can she NOT do!! Samplings from a Blue Ribbon Girl

I truly do hope you will, at the very least go to her website and take a look at her designs. If your local shop doesn't carry them you can email her. Heck, even her freebies are awesome!

The REAL Quick and Easy Trivet (or snack mat)!

2012-01-21T16:22:00.001-06:00

The other day, I was shopping at my local quilt shop, and picked up a pattern that was the hottest trend going on in our little quilt shop community, Quick and Simple Trivet or something like that. So excited to find this, it would use up those odd pairs of fat quarters that aren't enough to use with anything, or are so unique they don't blend well, or the ones that I ask myself, 'why did I buy those'?
So, got this pattern home, looked it over, and realized, wow, this isn't either quick or easy. Disappointed!!!
Then I applied my ninja Merry creative brain power to it and realized, if I cut out a kajillion steps, this really WOULD be quick and simple.
For your sewing pleasure, the my own REAL quick and easy trivet pattern! Except, I am using these for snack mats. The rectangle mats are okay, but geez, everybody is using those, and I want to be different.

Need:
8 x 9 inch Hexagon template, (9 x 9, point to point, 8 x 8, flat edge to flat edge)
or any size that suits you, make it smaller for a coaster, or bigger for a placemat
Make your own hexagon template

10 x 11 inch piece of center focus fabric
10 x 11 inch piece of cotton batting, or batting of your choice
12 x 12 inch piece of backing fabric

Layer the focus fabric and batting, place the template on top, and cut out.

Layer the cut out fabric and batting on top of the backing fabric, with the backing right side down. Using a 1 inch ruler, cut around, with an even 1 inch allowance, just like the picture.

After cutting out the backing fabric, pin the three layers together, then turn up the backing edge about 1/4 inch and iron, do this all the way around. Now you are ready to sew!

Turn the folded edge over onto the facing fabric and sew down, do this close to the outer edge, then top sew again, this time a little closer to the inner edge.

Pardon my drunken sewing line :)

Press it, front and back and Voila! You are done!

I hope this made sense, if you wish for it to be a heavy duty trivet, instead of batting, use insul-bright, or several layers of timtex or skirt-tex, something to help protect your table from a hot pan. Since mine will be snack mats, I chose not to do that. Even so, mine is still way less complicated than that pattern I bought!!

White Texas Sheet Cake

2012-01-17T14:28:00.000-06:00

While cruising along Pinterest, I came across a post of a recipe for Texas sheet cake Grammy's White Texas Sheet Cake . This type of cake is pretty popular over most of the south, and I grew up on my Aunt Bessie's chocolate Texas sheet cake, so to find a white cake recipe was interesting. My husband prefers white cake over chocolate (crazy, I know!) and the great appeal of Texas sheet cake is that its fast and easy and you don't have to wait for it to cool before frosting. Its tough to capture the smell and taste of this cake in a picture, so I guess that means you must make it!!

In true Merry style, I did fiddle with this recipe to use the ingredients I had on hand, in general, its a pretty forgiving recipe, and I also cut it in half, as no one in my household needs to eat an 11 x 17 sheet pan full of frosted cake!

To make the original cake, go to the originator's website: Friedalovesbread.com take a peek around her website while you are at it, lots of great recipes there.

A White Sheet Cake - Merry Style

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups white flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp soda
1 egg
1/2 contents of vanilla bean (scrape out the bean, use the innards!)
1/4 cup evaporated milk

Frosting
1/2 cup butter
3 tbsp evaporated milk
3 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 contents of vanilla bean (use the other half of the bean used for the cake)

Preheat oven to 375, butter and flour an 11 x 7 inch sheet pan.

Melt butter and mix in warm water in large bowl. Whisk in sugar, flour, salt, and soda, whisk well, then whisk in egg and vanilla. When all ingredients are mixed well, pour into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Make frosting, and pour over warm cake.

Frosting
Heat butter and milk together until hot, pour into bowl with powdered sugar, salt and vanilla, mix until smooth, pour over warm cake.

Basically, this is a melt, mix and pour kind of cake, don't get technical with it, this cake has been made for generations and generations, and its usually turned out very well. Use your stove to melt the butter, or melt it in the microwave in your mixing bowl, it would be really tough to screw this up, so go for it!!!

Merry Spring Rolls

2012-01-10T23:43:00.000-06:00

I love spring rolls, so fresh, light and filling. Usually I only have these whenever I see them on the menu somewhere, then I asked myself one day, why? Make them yourself! I make lumpia, or filipino egg rolls, why not spring rolls? So I did.

They are not difficult to make at all, and go together quickly once you prep everything and are ready to roll.

You will need:

Spring Roll Wrappers
Mung Bean Thread Noodles, or cellophane noodles or Sai Fun
boiled shrimp, shelled and split
shredded carrots
green onions, white part chopped, green part sliced lengthwise
baby spinach
cilantro leaves
soy sauce
rice wine vinegar
sriracha or garlic chili paste
fish sauce or patis, if you have it, if not, don't worry
honey
peanut butter (optional)

First, soak your noodles in hot water. My new Keurig came in very handy for this, one shot of hot water and a little soak and I was good to go. Do this first before anything else, they need a little tub time to soften up.

Shred your carrots, slice the green part of your green onions lengthwise, and remove any stems from your baby spinach and cilantro.

Boil your shrimp until just done, remove shell and split down the middle until you have two exact halves.

At this point, if necessary, use a pair of scissors and cut your noodles. Just put your kitchen shears into the cup or bowl they are soaking in and cut them a few times. This will make them a good length to work with, otherwise, they are very very long. Drain the noodles, rinse with cold water, then with your hands squeeze out as much moisture as possible.

Briefly dip your dry spring roll wrapper in water, until it softens up a bit, then place on a plate.

The residual water on the wrapper and on the plate will continue to soften the wrapper up so you can roll it. By the time you put your filling on it, it will be ready. If you wreck your first wrapper, congratulations, we all do! Just dip another one and keep going.

On the bottom half of the wrapper, lay down a few spinach leaves, then a layer of shredded carrots, then lay down some noodles. Lay a few pieces of green onion on top. Place the shrimp, pink side down in a row above your veggie noodle pile. Cover with a few cilantro leaves.

Lay the bottom of the wrapper over your veggie noodle pile, then lay the sides over. Now carefully start rolling it all up. Handle this with a firm by gentle hand, the wrapper is stronger than it looks, but it can tear if you are too rough. Just keep rolling....

See how pretty the shrimp and cilantro look through the wrapper, keep rolling, you are almost done!

Tadaaaah! You are done. See? Mine all look different, just like siblings in a family! The cool part is that you can just eat the uglies!!

The dipping sauce is very simple. Starting with a two tablespoons of honey, I whisk in about a teaspoon of rice vinegar, half a teaspoon of soy sauce, a few drops of fish sauce (optional), and a tiny bit of sriracha, which is a spicy hot garlic chili paste, you can use hot sauce or leave it out if you wish. Whisk this all together until smooth, then taste and add ingredients until its sweet, spicy, tangy and salty enough for you. Some people, also add a little peanut butter, and that adds a different flavor. I will make my sauce and put it into two bowls, adding peanut butter to one, and the chopped white part of the green onion to the other.

Substitutions, make them any time you don't have the particular ingredient. No cilantro? Use mint. No spinach? Lettuce works! No noodles? Add more spinach or lettuce or carrots.

As always, make this recipe your own, be adventurous!

Blessed Beyond Measure

2011-12-23T20:18:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I really do sit and ask myself, how lucky am I to have Belinda and Kimber as my best friends. They are both so talented and NICE!! I mean, they are both the definition of grace and kindness, as for me, I am just happy that they allow me to stumble along in their wake. I am also quite blessed that they put up with me!

Wednesday was our annual Christmas get together, we met for lunch at Mimi's. Luckily they seated us in a corner booth, as we were loaded down with bags and ready to settle in and homestead awhile. By the way, I had an awesome bleu cheese burger and sweet potato fries, and order the dessert trio, its so bad, so bad for your diet!

After we finished nomming down on dessert, we started opening our gifts. We started with Kimber's presents. Kimber is an extremely talented free lance writer, she writes quite a bit for Meredith, Better Homes and Garden, and you will also see her in Victoria magazine. She edits quite a few quilting books, and a new magazine, Primitive Quilts and Projects. She is a very busy busy lady!! But she has extremely good taste, when we go antique shopping with her, we follow her wherever she goes because she finds all the cool stuff! That's probably why she is always asked to style the shoots in the books she edits. Anyway, not long ago, she found an adorable vintage wooden grocery list, and I lusted after it mightily, I was so pleased to find one of my own in my present. She also gave me a wonderful community cookbook, because she knows I collect them, what she didn't realize this time was, I was born in Virginia, in the Portsmouth area, and this cookbook is from the Muscarelle Museum of Art, from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. This cookbook is so very near and dear to my heart! She also gave me an adorable set of mini halloween cookie cutters, some vintage thread spools, which both Belinda and I drooled over, a cute set of Christmas trims, my mind was already thinking of ways to use them along with the kitchen stamp. I am anxious to read this cute book, Knit Knacks, Much Ado About Knitting, its full of humorous stories and is illustrated in vintage 1940-1950 pictures, which I love! Also included was an adorable little handmade Christmas book, perfect for recording my Christmas memories, starting with this one! Lastly, on one of her travels, she picked up this cute primitive bird pincushion, perfect for setting by my chair to hold my scissors and pins, so my husband doesn't keep finding them with his feet. My little bird came complete with vintage rick rack, I tell you, Kimber finds the most awesome things!! After opening all her wonderful gifts, my heart was quite full of happiness, and my mind was full of projects and ideas!

Next I opened Belinda's gifts. Belinda is a very talented needlework artist and designer. She is also an extremely good teacher, much in demand on the cross stitch retreat circuit. Ladies, she sets the bar of what you should expect from your teachers, both with her kits, teaching materials, and attention and technique that you should receive from a needlework instructor. If you ever have the chance to attend a retreat with her, take it! You won't regret it!

Since Belinda teaches at all these retreats, she gets to go to really nifty needlework shops, like Elegant Stitch, and ABC Stitch Therapy, and she picks up the neatest gifts for us wherever she goes! One cool thing was a Just Nan stick pin. Just Nan only makes a limited number of these, and at market for the needlework shops, they go fast! I never ever had a chance to get any for my shop because by the time I could fight my way in the door, they were snapped up! So it was quite a coup that Belinda gave me one! She made me a wonderful, awesome and so very needed knitting needle roll. I really do love this, I have needed one, its perfect! See, I already filled it!

It also has a zippered pocket which is perfect for my stitch markers, cable needles and all the small little whatnots that tend to get misplaced. In the same fabric line, Madeira from Black Bird Designs, she also made a nifty lined gathered bag, which is perfect for toting my knitting projects to and from my knitting group. A neat pair of scissors and 3 inch ruler,(because if you are a stitcher, three inch rulers are pretty handy), a cute primitive notebook, because she knows I like that! When she was teaching at Elegant Stitch this fall, she found in their shop a French General Scissor case, which is also a pretty awesome coup! I love French General fabrics, and their accessories, although adorable, are so hard to find, they are always sold out, even on their website! And we decided I could use this case for my circular needles. (I think she wants me to keep my knitting organized to I can knit her more socks!) A little bag of Hershey mint kisses, and lastly this gorgeous cookbook (do my friends know me or what!) Bon Appetit Fast, Easy French. I have been slowly going through this book, and my mind is overloaded with recipes I want to try.

Everyone should have such kind, talented and generous friends, and I count myself very lucky that I do. I don't know what I did to deserve them, I suspect that I don't, but God has blessed me in spite of myself.

If you want to see what I made them, go to their blog posts, Belinda and Kimber

I hope all of you have very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!

Shrinky Dink Pins

2011-12-12T15:33:00.000-06:00

Remember Shrinky Dinks? Remember how bad you wanted some but your parents were not going to waste money on something like that? Well, you are a grown up now, go to Michael's and get a pack, cause this is fun stuff!

I needed bee pins for some presents I made. I looked for bee buttons and beads, but nothing seemed to be quite right. Either the looks was off, or too big or small, nothing seemed hand made or quirky enough to go with my beehive tape measures.

I had tried to make some shrinky dink pins before, but my ink was too thick and it took forever to dry, so it had gotten abandoned. I decided to resurrect that project and apply some thought. I used a different ink pad, but of course, didn't have the right bee stamp. I love Ebay, I find most of my hard to find items on Ebay, and this stamp was just right.

So to begin, get your sheet of shrinky dink plastic, I chose to use the frosted, as opposed to clear, and black ink. Stamp carefully, my ink was still a bit thick, so be careful you don't smudge.

I let it dry a bit, then cut out my bee, and didn't worry about cutting perfectly on the lines, as it shrinks ALOT. I hammered in my pins, making sure that the pin head was against the shiny side of the plastic.

Heat your oven or toaster oven to 325 degrees. Place your pins on a piece of brown paper bag, I used a piece of lunch bag, and place in the oven. It only takes about 1 minute and some change for these to be finished, so keep an eye on them. I love using the toaster oven, way easier that way. When shrunken, and flattened out, remove, let cool a bit, then admire the heck out of these little cuties!

You can use an alcohol based ink pad, and alcohol markers to color these in before baking. Even though the pigment pads are thicker and take longer to dry, if you use a light hand when inking your stamp, I do like the color intensity better. But experiement and see what you like better.

Homemade Butterfinger Bites

2011-12-12T15:15:00.001-06:00

This recipe is all over the internet, and it is easy to make and surprisingly, does taste somewhat like a Butterfinger candy bar. You can cover it with chocolate any way you choose, dipping each piece, or just covering it while inside a candy cup, which is what I did. Its not pretty, but it was simple, and a sprinkle of crumbs ( of which you will have alot) covered up a few really ugly ones.

Homemade Butterfinger Bites

1 lb candy corn
1 16 oz jar peanut butter (I used Smuckers Natural)
Chocolate candy coating

Melt the candy corn in the microwave, for 1 minute, then in 30 second intervals after that, stirring after each one. When completely melted, stir in peanut butter. I had to knead it with my hands, but wait until its cool enough to handle. Be sure to incorporate the ingredients well, its important to the texture of the final product. Press into an 8 x 8 or 11 x 7 parchment paper lined pan, and chill completely.

Lift out of pan, and slice into bars, then slice as big or small as you would like. This will have lots of crumbs, to use a delicate hand when cutting, and just expect it to crumble.

Melt your candy coating, then dip or cover with chocolate as you choose. If they are less than perfect, sprinkle a few crumbs on top and call it a day.

Have you ever...

2011-12-05T14:25:00.001-06:00

just worked over and over in your mind, how to bring a concept to life? You know it can be done, you've seen variations of it, but you wonder, can "I" do it?

I have finally finished one set of gifts for my friends. It is a needle felted beehive pincushion. I have seen something like these done, but I didn't really care for what I had seen, and couldn't find any instructions on them anyway. So, DIY it was! I didn't know how to needle felt, but I can pretty much teach myself anything, so I jumped in with both feet and vowed not to stop until I completed something to my satisfaction. I will have you know I did several months of "mind construction" before I ever laid a hand to felt or wool, sometimes that's good, sometimes its just an excuse not to start.

But the funny part? Once you start needle felting something with details, its hard to put it down. Everytime you look at it, there is another place to smooth down, or fix etc. I wasn't very happy with how it looked at the very beginning, basically it looked like a pile of yellow dog poop on top of a pincushion. But after I needled it, and stitched a bit on it, then agonized half a day over the pull tab, voila!

My picture is crappy, but I like to tell myself its much cuter in person.

I made the pins with Shrinky Dink plastic and a rubber stamp, very fun stuff that is! I keep looking over my stamps and wondering if they would look good shrinky-dinked! The pull-tab is two Just Another Button Company Buttons. I know many of you are thinking, why didn't I just make a little bee? I did, several iterations of bees, none of them looked right. So after taking my irritation out on the dog and husband, I went prowling through my work room and decided that the buttons would do.

Its not perfect, but I like it, and I think my buddies will find it amusing. I decided it was safe to post this one as my friends might not be able to guess who this one is for. As for the other gifts, well, they will be way too easy to guess!

2011-12-01T22:18:00.001-06:00

I have been terrible!! I haven't updated in quite a while, and there is a reason for that. I am working on Christmas gifts, and all the recipients read my blog!! The gifts would not be a surprise because they would all know EXACTLY who was getting what! So, I promise, after I deliver these gifts, I will have quite a few posts detailing them, as most, if not all my gifts this year are hand-made.

So, Travis, here you go, an update!

Spicy Sesame Peanut Noodles

2011-10-25T18:55:00.000-05:00

I checked out Debbie Macombers Christmas Cookbook from the library. Just out of curiosity, just to see if maybe there were some good Christmas recipes, cakes, breads etc. Boy, was I surprised! I found a recipe for Sesame Peanut Noodles, that is not only super easy, but quite tasty and quick, what a great easy dinner for when you just need something hot quick and delicious.

I am giving you the picture of ingredients, because, well, the actual sauce looks, well, like peanut butter sauce, I didn't have any peanuts or scallions to garnish, so I decided to omit the finished product picture. Debbie Macomber's book didn't even have a picture! If you don't have all the ingredient, just omit or improvise, taste and adjust. It is a bit of a list, but substitue, make it your own!

Spicy Sesame Peanut Noodles

Sauce ingredients:

1/2 c peanut butter
1/4 c soy sauce
2 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp peeled, chopped, ginger (I cheated and used jarred ginger)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp honey or brown sugar
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chili paste

1/2 lb vermicelli, linguine, or asian noodles of your choice
2 green onions, chopped
chopped peanuts, if desired

Cook pasta, rinse and drain, and place in bowl. In a food processor or blender, process the first eight ingredients, until smooth. If too thick, add a little more warm water. Pour over noodles, sprinkle with onions and peanuts if desired.

I only used half the sauce, and I still have some leftover to use on a salad tomorrow! Or, I have some chicken potstickers in mind that may taste really good with this poured over it.

I am so pleased to have found this recipe, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Gorgonzola and Caramelized Onion Pizza

2011-10-22T00:34:00.000-05:00

There is a fabulous pizza joint my friend and Amy and I frequent. Well, we frequent it only about once a month, but that's frequent for us!! Anyway, Michaels Pizza has this wonderful menu item: Sweet and Salty Pizza. Its gorgonzola and pear or peaches, with just a little prosciutto, and is it fabulous! I am pretty embarrassing to sit with when I eat it, quite often moans of gustatory pleasure sneak out, sounds that should never be heard outside of the bedroom, this pizza is that good.

Well, I had some gorgonzola in my fridge, some sweet red onions, and since it was pizza night, I decided to make myself a pizza that I liked. I hoped it would turn out at least edible, I was very surprised that it was extremely tasty! Yes, I will be making this pizza again! I did choose to use convenience foods with this, but, feel free to use your homemade crust or sauce. A fruity red wine went great with this pizza also!

Gorgonzola and Caramelized Onion Pizza

1 thin premade pizza shell (Boboli etc)
Gorgonzola cheese (amount is left to your discretion)
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp sugar
honey
pizza sauce
mozzarella cheese

First caramelize the onion, in a small skillet, heat a little oil on med, add the onions. When transparent and starting to brown, reduce to medium and sprinkle the sugar. Stir often so they don't burn, keep an eye on them! When brown and nearly done, turn heat to low and pour just a drizzle of honey over the onion. Stir until the honey heats up and coats the onion. Take off heat.

Spread a thin layer of sauce on your shell, add a light sprinkling of mozzarella, then evenly distribute your onions all over your pizza. Pull chunks of gorgonzola off with your fingers and dot it all over the top of your pizza, add as much or as little as you like. I baked mine in a 450 oven for about 7 or 8 minutes, until everything was melted and bubbly. Remove from oven, let rest a few minutes, then enjoy!!

linked to:

Smoked Hog Jowls

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hog jowls, pre-cure, raw

So I had this wild hair about smoking my own hog jowls after seeing that Crooked Gap Farm had some available, and also, I found a package at my local grocery store and of course thought to myself, I can do that! I have smoked porked bellies, and this was basically the same.

I purchased about 5 lbs of jowls, I had assumed that they would be in one whole half moonish piece, well, they were not. Imagine my surprise when I opened the packages and realized I had a large pile of jowl pieces. But, too late, already thawed them and had to do something, so in the usual Merry method, I just plowed on, damn the torpedoes! yadda yadda yadda...

My cure mix per pound was thus:

1 Tbsp Morton's Quick cure

1 tsp maple sugar (or use brown sugar)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

After mixing the cure ingredients together and thoroughly coating each piece, I divided the lot and placed them in two gallon ziplocks and placed them flat in the fridge. Since it was pieces, the curing would not take as long. So everyday, for about 4 days, I turned each bag over, and well, I did massage them a little.

After 4 days, I rinsed them, fried up a little piece, and decided I needed to soak them in water a little to get rid of some of the saltiness. After soaking a few hours, I drained them, blotted them with a paper towel, and left them out to surface dry while I got my smoker ready. I chose not to let them dry overnight, and I thought it turned out fine.

My smoker is just the standard bullet style hot smoker, I started my fire, let it burn down, then added applewood chips to my smoke pan, I chose to dry smoke, as I didn't want to so much cook, basically to render down a bit and absorb the smoke. I started with applewood chips, added applewood sticks to my coals whenever my heat started to fade, and chose to finish up with a little handful of hickory in the smoke pan, since these weren't going to smoke for a long long time.

It only took about 2-3 hours to smoke them to my satisfaction. I did have to turn them frequently as the pieces are thin, and I didn't want them to cook, just to dry out and absorb some smoke flavor.

After smoking

After smoking, I placed them on a cookie sheet, not touching each other, and froze them so I could just pull out one piece at a time instead of having to thaw out and commit myself to using a whole bag.

So, how will I use these? Well, some of the pieces are very much like pieces of ham, so I could fry those up for breakfast, but as I was smoking these, I thought a great way to use them would be for flavoring pieces. Throw a piece in a pot of pinto beans or greens, or even a small piece in green beans as they are cooking. Diced up small, and sauteed with an onion would be a great addition to your baked beans.

But, by far, the best way I have used these was as a salad topping. I prepared a green salad, adding a chopped up apple, and I made a simple honey mustard vinegrette. I took one piece of frozen smoked hog jowl, chopped it up small, fried it, let it cool slightly and topped my salad. Beats the heck out of that imitation bottle of bacon bits I can tell you!

Actually, any way that you use bacon as a flavoring agent, would be a good way to use these, and a bit more tasty as the pieces are thicker and have a more robust flavor than that piece of wimpy grocery store bacon.

Apple Butter Bread

2011-10-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

So sorry for the absence! I was getting ready for, then going on, a super-sized quilt shop hop. We went to 12 shops in 6 states in 3 days, talk about power shopping! But it was fun, and as an added gift with purchase, I also caught the bus trip crud, and spent the next week or so hacking and coughing. But all is better now and I plan to post a bit more regularly!

I ran across this recipe at some point in the last week, and kept telling myself to give it a try, as I had a rather large jar of pumpkin apple butter that I needed to use, so today was the day. I really enjoyed this quick bread made with my homemade pumpkin apple butter, but I think it would be equally delicious made with apple butter, or really any fruit butter you have on hand. This is so tweaked about from the original recipe that it is now my own, so I won't even give you the original.

Apple Butter Bread

2 cups flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
3/4-1 cup apple butter
3/4 c buttermilk

Mix dry ingredients, then mix in wet ingredients. Pour into a greased loaf pan, I had enough to also make a little mini loaf pan, bake for 1 hour 5 minutes, but check it near the end, as your oven may vary. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then tip out and cool.

This would be a lovely tea bread, as it is not too sweet, and would be wonderful spread with a little of that cultured butter I know you all made!

Cultured Butter

2011-09-05T14:33:00.000-05:00

I have the most awesome, creative and inspiring friends! This time it was Amy's fault for my current project. She gifted me recently with a little tub of homemade cultured butter. It was so so good! I had stopped putting butter on my toast, and was using it judiciously for cooking, but not anymore. This butter was butter on steroids, if you are using butter purely for its taste, like on toast and potatoes, use cultured butter!

Actually, making cultured butter is quite easy, albeit a bit messy, but no more so than regular butter and the flavor return is tremendous.

To begin, take two quarts of the best heavy cream you can find, but not ultra-pasturized. Luckily I have a few very good local dairies and chose to use Sheeder Cloverleaf Dairy because my favorite local grocery store carries it. By the way, their skim milk is divine, its like NOT drinking skim milk its so good!

Mix your good heavy cream with a small container of yogurt, I chose to use a good greek yogurt, its the only one I could find for small plain unflavored yogurt. Mix well, cover, and let sit overnight in a warm place. I just put mine on my counter, it sat out about 12 hours or so.

After letting it sit out overnight, mix vigorously. Amy said it won't take much mixing, but I have weak little arms and let my KitchenAid mixer and paddle attachment do the work. Soon you will hear a sloshing and voila! A large lump of butter will be sitting in buttermilk! It didn't take much time at all!

Drain off the buttermilk, but keep it! You can use it in biscuits, pancakes, and cornbread. From 2 quarts of cream I was able to reap 1 quart of buttermilk, pretty good return! Now put the butter in the refrigerator to let it firm up a bit and be easier to work.

After chilling for a bit, rinse and knead, then rinse and knead some more. Your goal is to have your final rinse water very clear without a trace of cloudiness. All the buttermilk needs to be rinsed out so your butter won't sour and taste bad. I just kneaded it with my hands, and now my hands are literally buttery soft.

After kneading and rinsing very very well, you will now press out the water. Using a rubber spatula, press and smooth the butter against the sides of the bowl and pour out any water that "weeps" out the butter. Keep pressing and draining until no more water remains. At this point, your butter is finished, or you can salt it using pickling salt or sea salt. I chose to salt it. Salting also may help the butter firm up a bit.

Years ago, I found a great carnival glass cow butter mold, on ebay. I have had great luck finding good vintage items at reasonable prices on ebay, but I was probably just lucky and looking in the right place at the right time, but that's part of the charm of vintage, right? I set the mold in one of the cream bottles to hold it while I filled it, then turned it over and set in on a saucer to firm up in the refrigerator.

The rest of the butter I put in little containers to give away. This was really so simple, I may put into the regular rotation of kitchen chores along with canning, bacon curing and bread baking.

I do hope you will give this a try, I used 2 quarts of cream and made alot, and I'm sure it will keep well in the freezer.

Liver Love....

2011-09-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in weeks and all you get is a liver post? Well for you non liver people, there's no picture!

I love liver and onions, unfortunately, my husband did not. I didn't make this dish very often, but would try to order it whenever it appeared on a menu.

Until tonight. This is my weekend to celebrate 47 years on earth and I decided I was going to have one of my favorite dishes. This dish turned out so good my husband even asked if we could have it again sometime.

The liver was purchased from Ebersole Cattle Company, they are in my food coop and have some of the best beef I've ever had. Plus Shanen is just a cool lady, she's petite, like me!

To prepare the liver, I rinsed it very well, trimmed any tough pieces(saved them for the dog), sliced it thin then soaked for a little bit in milk. I let the liver soak while I prepared the onions and the rice.

1 lb beef liver
2 Vidalia onions
2 tsp sugar
milk
salt (I used Sylvia's Soulful Seasoning)
pepper
1/2 c flour
butter
lard or cooking oil
1/3 c water

Rinse, trim and slice the liver, soak in milk while you prepare the onions.

Slice the onions in half, then into very thin slices. Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a pan and add onions. When onions are limp, sprinkle with sugar and cook until they caramelize.

Drain liver well, salt and pepper, then toss liberally with flour until each piece is coated. Remove onions when caramelized, and in same pan, melt a few more tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon or two of lard, or use cooking oil over med heat. When oil butter mixture is hot, add liver, cook until browned on one side then turn, only turn once. Return onions to pan with liver, when liver is just cooked, add water and let cook and bubble until a gravy forms.

Serve over steamed rice.

Birthday Macarons

2011-08-19T21:20:00.000-05:00

Orange Flower Water with Vanilla Bean Buttercream filling

and

Lavender Vanilla Rose with Vanilla Bean Buttercream filling

Tomorrow I will meet my friend Kimber at our monthly Prairie Women's Sewing Circle and will begin celebrating her birthday early, she reads my blog so she won't be totally surprised, but of course, I will be bringing more than just macarons!

I decided to try some different flavors this time, orange flower water, or orange blossom and an extract I made of lavender, vanilla and rose. I used a light hand with these flavorings, as too much floral flavor makes them taste like soap, or so my husband says. The filling is a simple vanilla bean butter cream, so as not to distract or overpower the gentle macaron shell.

Macarons are not difficult, this is only the second time I've made them, and as you can see, they turned out pretty good. As with anything, you only get better with practice. Luckily for me I have several friends that love macarons and are more than happy to test!

Here are a few tips that have helped:

1. Aged egg whites - 3 days prior, I cracked my egg whites into a little bowl, covered it, and kept it in the refrigerator until baking day.

2. Room temperature egg whites - several hours before baking, I took out the egg whites to allow to come up to room temp.

3. Sifting the processed almonds and powdered sugar and discarding the 1/2 tsp or so of coarse almonds.

4. Mixing everything correctly - Fold gently until the batter falls in a thick, smooth, satiny ribbon from your rubber spatula. I have read everywhere to be careful not to overmix; only mix 30 strokes, etc etc. Well, hrmph! The lavender ones weren't lavender enough so I added a little more color after I supposedly mixed it correctly and had to mix it a whole bunch more. Guess what? They turned out just fine. I think you can undermix more than you can overmix, but don't get all OCD about it, use your good cook's judgement.

5. Letting them sit for at least 30 minutes before baking - this dries out the surface and helps that ruffley foot form, the sign of well made macaron, and that is our goal. You should be able to touch the surface of one without anything sticking to your finger. They can sit out longer than 30 minutes, but it doesn't help them anymore to leave out over an hour.

6. Letting the filled macarons mature - Put your filled macarons in the refrigerator and let them age for 24-36 hours. This allows the macaron to balance itself, and correct the texure. I don't know all the scientific technical explanations, but its part of what helps your macaron taste like it was made by a professional :)

Floral Macarons

3/4 c finely ground almonds or almond flour
1 c powdered sugar
2 egg whites
1/4 c bakers sugar (very fine sugar, finer than table sugar but not powdered or confectioner's sugar)
1 tsp floral flavoring (orange flower water or lavender extract)
food color (1 drop each red, yellow for the pale peach) (2 drops each blue, red for the lavender)

Process together the ground almonds and powdered sugar to a very fine powder, sift into a bowl, then set aside.

Whip egg whites, add baker's sugar slowly, add floral flavor, then add food color. Start with one drop of each color and keep adding drop by drop until you are happy with the color. Whip to firm glossy peaks. If you are using a Kitchenaid, this won't take long.
Add 1/3 of almond mixture and with a rubber spatula, fold into the meringue, add next third after fully incorporating, then the last third. Keep folding gently until the mixture falls in a thick, satiny ribbon from your spatula.

Use a large round tip in your pastry bag and fill with meringue mixture. Pipe small circles onto a flat, parchment lined cookie sheet, leaving one inch space between each one. Tap gently on the counter to flatten any bubbles, and let sit for at least 30 minutes, meanwhile, heat your oven to 325 degrees.

Bake one sheet at a time for 9 - 12 minutes. Around the 9 minute mark, check them, they should have formed a foot, touch the top, if they are firm and not wiggley, cook one more minute, then remove sheet from oven, let cool. Do not brown, but only you know your oven, so check them often at the 9 minute mark. When baking the second sheet, keep a close eye on them as the second sheet might cook a little faster and you may have to remove them a minute sooner.

Let them cool on the parchment paper, then gently remove, use an offset spatula if necessary. Let them cool completely before filling. The unfilled shells can be frozen! Then you can magically produce macarons anytime to the amazement of your family and friends.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Filling

1 vanilla bean's worth of scraped vanilla seeds
1 stick butter, softened, room temp
powdered sugar
vanilla extra if desired
pinch of salt

Split and scrape down the length of a vanilla bean, put the seeds in mixing bowl. Add butter and pinch salt and cream together, slowly add powdered sugar, and whip until fluffy. Taste and add vanilla extract, this just smooths and rounds out the flavor. Keep adding sugar until the filling is to the consistency you like. Spoon into a pastry bag, and pipe onto wrong side of macaron shell, top with another shell.

Let your filled macarons mature in the refrigerator. I usually allow the filling to set, then put them in whatever container I am gifting them in, and stow in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Allow chilled macarons to come up to room tempurature before eating. Or not, if you can't wait :)

Vintage Tea Pot Basket

2011-08-15T18:59:00.000-05:00

I was looking through one of my cookbooks, and it had a chapter on picnics. One of the picnics was a fall picnic and it had these neat basket that nestled and insulated a tea pot! I thought how cool! I didn't know what it was called, didn't know how to search for it. So time passed and I forgot about it. Then one day on Ebay, I accidently came across the basket, how I do not know! Some baskets offered were antique, some vintage, some in good shape and a few in bad. I finally came across one that was in good shape and affordable, and now its mine. I just love this precious basket, tea pot and cups.

Isn't the lining pretty, and everything just nestles so neat and sweet?

I am envisioning meeting my friends in the park on a pretty fall day, stitching, knitting and drinking tea in the autumn sunshine. Wouldn't that be fun? Hmmmmm, maybe I should start planning a fall picnic tea party with Kimber and Belinda!

Jam in Vintage Canning Jars

2011-08-15T18:41:00.000-05:00

I scored some great vintage jelly jars on Ebay, and took for granted that I would be able to find lids to fit. I had read online where the large mouth lids fit just right, so I thought I would take a chance. Of course, I had the jars where the large mouth lids DID NOT fit. Then I thought some other kind of lids would fit, no dice. How could I use these? Where would I find some lids? So I did a little research about these jars, and what lids were originally used. These are vintage Kerr jelly jars with the tin lids. Originally used with paraffin, then topped with the tin lids. Well, well, well, where would I find tin lids? And isn't paraffin sealing greatly frowned upon in the canning community? Holy cow! I have 16 jars! I can alot, and just couldn't stand to have these adorable jars not perform their original purpose.

So, I decided that I would make refrigerator jam, no need to water bath, but again how to lid these things? I gave in and decided to use paraffin. Vintage jars, vintage sealing technique, and we will just let it go at that. These jams will be stored in the refrigerator and eaten fairly quickly, so I won't be breaking any canning laws.

I used my raspberry-rhubarb jello recipe for these. I received very good reviews from friends so I figured they would not mind having some again. This recipe is so very easy, its almost idiot proof. If you are new to canning, and don't want to invest alot of money and time, this is the perfect recipe to try, especially if you have some rhubarb hanging around in the freezer. You don't have to use paraffin to seal them if you don't choose, just use lids and rings, since these are going in the fridge to keep, it really doesn't matter how you top them.

Raspberry Rhubarb Refrigerator Jam

5 c chopped rhubarb
1 - 1 1/2 c raspberries
3 c sugar
1 large box raspberry jello
2 blocks paraffin (Gulf Wax)

Mix together rhubarb and sugar and let sit overnight out on the counter.

Next day, before cooking jam, place a pyrex measuring cup in a pan of water, just so the bottom touches the surface of the water, put two blocks of paraffin in the cup, and bring water to boiling. These should be melted by the time your jam is ready to put into the jars.

Cook rhubarb and sugar and bring to boil, add raspberries and let boil 12 minutes stirring constantly. Take off heat and pour into clean hot jars.

When paraffin has melted, pour on top of jam in jars, pour slowly, the wax is hot! Put about an 1/8 of an inch layer on top jam, ensuring it reaches the edges. Let sit until it has cooled and turns white. Then pour another very thin layer on top again, making sure it reaches all the way to the edge. Let cool until white, and store in refrigerator.

To use, just push on one side of the wax disc, and it should pop up.

Its so chard....Swiss Chard!

2011-08-14T18:38:00.000-05:00

You will need:

1 small potatoes, diced small

1/4 small cippolini onion, diced small

2-3 or more leaves Swiss Chard, sliced thin
2 eggs

2 slices bacon, diced

1 clove garlic, finely diced (optional)

1 large La Tortilla Factory Wheat Tortilla (10 grams of fiber, you need this!)
Shredded Gouda, Cheddar or Goat Cheese crumbles - a few tablespoons

Cook the bacon about halfway, until it starts to let loose its lardy goodness, then toss in the onions and potatoes. Stir and let this cook until the potatoes soften and begin to brown. Toss in the garlic and swiss chard, stir and cook until the swiss chard is as soft as you like and the potatoes are browned. Crack in the two eggs. For sunny side up, cover pan and turn off heat, let sit until eggs are to your liking. For scrambled, make a well in the middle if the pan, crack in the eggs, stir and scramble until you are satisfied.

Place the tortilla on a plate, sprinkle on the cheese then place the potatoe mixture on the cheese. Roll, or eat open face and enjoy!!

Summer Jams

2011-08-06T22:49:00.000-05:00

Blueberry, Strawberry, Peach, Apricot Jalapeno and Strawberry Jalapeno

I do most of my jam making in the summer, as most people do, when fresh fruit is at it prime. But, the above jams were made with fruit that I had frozen, and even some peppers that I had frozen from my garden last year, and no, time did not dull their sting!

I wanted to try to make an apricot jam using dried apricots, since, in my opinion, we do not get good apricots or peaches here in Iowa. I may be mistaken, but I have yet to find a native grown apricot or peach that tastes good here, and the grocery store fruits? Forget it, waste of time and money!
So I gave this apricot jalapeno jam a try. I definitely used too much jalapenos, plus I left the seeds in, so my batch is burning hot, but real chile heads might really appreciate the flaming heat.

Apricot Jalapeno Jam

1/2 c finely chopped jalapenos (use more or less, leave seeds in for more heat)
2 c chopped dried apricots
2 c cider vinegar
6 c sugar
3 oz liquid pectin

Combine peppers, apricots, sugar and vinegar in a large non-reactive pan, bring to boil, skim foam, cook until apricots are tender.

Allow to cool 2 minutes, mix in pectin, stir well, pour into jars, seal and water bath process 10 minutes.

For the strawberry jalapeno jam, I wanted to use that flex batch pectin, the one where you only use the amount you need for the amount of fruit you have.

Strawberry Jalapeno Jam

4 cups total of crushed strawberries and jalapeno peppers (1/2 c peppers is very hot!)
7 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp cider vinegar (because I ran out of lemon juice!)
5 c sugar
4 1/2 tbsp flex batch classic pectin

Combine berries, peppers, lemon juice, vinegar and pectin, mix well and cook on high to a rolling boil, add sugar and once again cook to a rolling boil, boil hard for 1 minute and take of heat. Skim foam. Pour into jars, seal and water bath process for 10 minutes.

The rest of the jams are just classic powdered pectin recipes for blueberry, strawberry and peach. The blueberries were picked at a local berry farm, and the peaches are from Georgia, ordered for me by that same berry farm, and they were the juiciest, sweetest, biggest peaches I ever had the privilege to have. Happily, all my jars jelled and sealed!

Cutie Pies

2011-07-02T14:58:00.000-05:00

How cute are these little pies in mason jars? I have seen these little pies everywhere and I had to try it. I love the little lattice tops, so cute!! These are blueberry pies, I made them to give to a friend. I will freeze them so she can enjoy them whenever she has the inclination. You can bake them straight from the freezer or thaw overnight in the fridge. What a wonderful to have pie without committing to the whole thing at once! I made these in the 1/2 pint wide mouth jars, but I had a little filling leftover and made a 1/2 c regular mouth jar pie too, its really little and cute!! But what a great way to portion control, no cheating, no going back for one more sliver, no cutting a huge slice and telling yourself its a normal portion size!!

There is nothing special about these, use your usual crust recipe, you don't even have to roll out the inside of the jar part of the dough, it works better if you just press chunks of it all over the sides and bottom. Roll out the top and make a lattice, or using the jar ring as your guide, cut out a solid top, and use a mini cookie cutter to make a vent hole. The first lattice I made, I wove it right on the jar. The second lattice I wove on the flat lid, then slipped it onto the jar, much much easier that way. Use your favorite fruit filling recipe, and you could also do the streusal crumb topping if you would like, these truly can be as personal as you want! How sweet would these be for a picnic or brunch, you could even make them into quiches! Now that would be the perfect brunch picnic!

I'm Freezing!!!

2011-07-01T19:18:00.000-05:00

Since acquiring a deep freeze and a toaster oven, I've fallen in love with stockpiling a variety of small quick treats to warm, bake or toast up in my cute new toaster oven.
So I did a test run on homemade hotpockets, biscuits, mini lasagne, cinnamon rolls and petite apple pies. I took the opportunity every time my husband opened his mouth, to stuff it full of one of these treats. He approved!

For the hotpockets and cinnamon rolls, I decided to use my wheat bread dough recipe. Its just sweet enough for the cinnamon rolls, but not so sweet that it would be distracting in the hotpockets. I doubled my recipe and was able to get 3 pans of cinnamon rolls (5-6 each pan), and 8 hotpockets. For the hotpocket filling, I just decided to go with what I know he likes, I sliced up polish sausage and added cheddar cheese and a slice of american cheese. I know I know, terrible nutrition but I did use a reduced fat cheddar cheese. I also made a ham, brocolli and cheese batch, at least it has a green veggie in it! The hotpockets were baked at 350 until browned, about 30 minutes, cooled completely before freezing. These heated up fantastic in the toaster oven.

Hot Pockets -
Dough ingredients: (for one batch/loaf, just double it for two)
1 1/2 cups white wheat flour
1 1/4 cup white flour
1 c warm water
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp dough enhancer (optional)
2 tsp instant yeast

With the warm water already in your mixing bowl, add the salt, oil, honey and dough enhancer, mix well. Sprinkle yeast on top of mixture, saturating yeast well, let bubble and foam, then add flour and mix until forms a ball. Knead with dough hook 8 minutes, or knead by hand for about 15 minutes.
Let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, punch down and roll out to approx. 19 x 13 rectangle (cause thats how big my dough board is) and cut into 8 squares. Place your fillings in the center of each square, I may have used a generous 1/3 cup of filling per pocket. Fold the corners of the square to the center, then start mushing the folds together to enclose the filling completely. Then gently start elongating the package into the approximate shape of a commercial hot pocket. Put seam side down on a greased baking sheet, repeat for rest of dough. Bake for about 30 minutes, until nicely browned. Cool completely, package in freezer bags, I was able to get two per quart size bag. Don't forget to label the bag of the pocket's filling. I have not tried to reheat these from frozen, but in the thawed state, 15 minutes at 400 in the toaster oven did just fine. Watch the last 5 minutes to keep from getting two brown.

Merry Cinnamon Rolls
Use the above dough recipe
Filling ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 cardamon

Mix above filling ingredients together.

After dough has risen in a warm place for one hour, punch down and roll out to approx 19 x 13 rectangle, and spread butter on rectangle, and sprinkle combined filling ingredients evenly over buttered dough. Starting on the long end, roll as compactly as you can, enclosing filling. Cut into even rounds, and place them in greased pans, you decide how big or how many to fit into your pans. Let rise until double, then bake 350 for about 30 minutes, check on them in the last 5 minutes. Or let rise then freeze. Thaw overnight in fridge then bake 350 for 30 minutes approximately.

For the icing, I just mixed together powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and enough milk to make it loose and spreadable. Some people ice their rolls hot, some wait until they cool. Personally, I believe you should do both. Put a nice coating on while hot, let it melt into the rolls, then when they cool, give them another coat. But thats just me. My husband would like them iced twice with a bowl of additional icing to dip each bite into. I also think these would taste good with a maple icing, just switch out the vanilla for maple flavoring. I suppose you could make the icing ahead of time and tape it to the frozen rolls, thawing both out at the same
time, that would be the best time saver.

Mini Apple Pies
The apple pies were pretty easy to do also, I made a batch and a half of pie dough. I just estimated the half part, I didn't get scientific about it. I had a dozen shallow 4 inch tart pans, and just lined them with pie dough and used my standard recipe for apple pie filling, chopping the apples into a small dice. For the top of the pie, I used a cookie cutter and cut out the top, and used a smaller cutter to cut a hole in the middle. I did not overfill these, as I didn't want a mess in my toaster oven when I baked them later. Next time I may do a lattice top, cause those are so cute! These were frozen unbaked, before topping, I did put a small pat of butter on top of the filling.

Pie Crust
1 stick butter, cold in pieces
3/4 c lard, cold in pieces
1 tsp salt
5 tbsp approx ice cold water

Filling:
6 apples, mix of granny smith, golden delicious, pink lady etc., peeled, sliced, cored and diced small
1 c sugar
1/2 c honey
1/4 c cornstarch
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cardamom
pinch salt

1stick butter, sliced into 12 pieces

Place flour, salt, butter and lard in food processor. Process in pulses until the fats are incorporated into the flour. Add the water 1 tbsp at at time, giving a short pulse after each addition, process until the flour just pulls together and forms a ball. Divide the dough in half, wrapping each with wax paper or plastic wrap. Flatten each out into a disk, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Mix together all the filling ingredients, except the butter.

Roll out one disk of dough, using your tart pan as a guide, cut out a circle of dough and place it in pan. Do this for each tart pan. Tidy up the edges of dough in the tart pans, then fill with apple filling mixture, top each with a pat of butter.

Roll out the second disk of dough, incorporate any scraps from first disk. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the tops for the tarts, in the center of each top, cut out another hole, this will keep the filling from bubbling out. Place tops on tarts, ontop of butter pat. Place these on a cookie sheet, and freeze. After tarts are frozen, I put these in a large freezer container, separating each layer with wax paper.

You can bake these from a frozen state, or thaw in fridge first. These took about 30 minutes at 400 in a toaster oven. If thawed, then the bake time will be less.

Fairy Cookies

2011-06-26T13:27:00.001-05:00

I wish I had come across this recipe last week before my girlfriends and I had our tea, these would have been perfect! If you are looking for a slightly sweet, delicate cookie, a very girlie girl cookie, then you must try these fairy cookies.

I had never heard of them before, but after doing a search online, discovered there are many iterations, and this is but one of them. I am using the Lemon Fairy Cookie recipe from Kristin's Domestic Diva School, with my own variation on the buttercream frosting. I thought raspberry would be a nice flavor to pair up with these, but I didn't have any raspberry flavoring, so I used the next best thing, raspberry-rhubarb jam that I made that was in the fridge. I made sure I blended it very well so any junks of berry and rhubarb were indistinguishable and it was smooth enough to flow through a 22 tip. I also used a homemade extract of lavender and vanilla, with rosewater, so there is a very subtle floral undertone, but plain vanilla would be just fine, or none at all, let your taste and jam variation be your guide. Also, you don't have to pipe these or use a cookie gun, you can just roll them into a ball and dent the middle before baking, but I thought using a large star tip made them girlier.

Merry Fairy Cookies

1 c butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon extract
3/4 c cornstarch
1 c flour

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together until fluffy, blend in the zest and lemon extract. With mixer on low, add the the cornstarch and then the flour, mixing until well blended.

Put into piping bag, or cookie press, and pipe onto parchment covered baking sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes in preheated 375 oven. Cookies should barely be golden around edges. Let cool completely on sheet before removing, these cookies are delicate! When completely cooled, move to serving plate, and pipe with frosting.

Raspberry Buttercream

1/4 c softened butter
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp lavender-vanilla-rosewater extract (or vanilla)
1-2 tbsp jam

Cream butter and sugar, add extract, then jam. Blend on high until fluffy and well blended. Pipe onto cooled cookies with a #22 tip.

Come over and visit the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop!

Swiss Chard Gouda Quiche

2011-06-22T14:52:00.001-05:00

This post is linked to

Lets Do Brunch

I love making a dish with whatever I have on hand. If it calls for spinach but all I have is swiss chard, guess what I use? Same with cheese, gouda instead of cheddar or swiss? Why not? Go for it!!

Swiss Chard Gouda Quiche

Pastry for a single-crust 9-10 inch deep dish pie
1 bunch onion, chopped
1 bunch swiss chard, stems removed and chopped
1 1/2 cup shredded Gouda cheese
8 bacon strips, diced
5 eggs
2 cups half-and-half cream, or 1 can condensed milk (I've even been successful using Land O'Lakes Fat Free half and half)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Saute bacon in pan until crisp, remove and drain. Add onions, red pepper flakes and chard to skillet and saute until cooked.
Whisk together eggs, cream or milk and seasonings. Sprinkle cheese and bacon in pie plate and add egg/milk mixture.
Bake for 45 - 55 minutes, until center is set. If sides begin to brown to much, cover crusts with ring of foil. Let rest a few minutes before cutting.

Homemade Frozen Pizza

2011-06-21T19:47:00.002-05:00

In the interest of helping my husband and myself eat healthier, but not get bored or bogged down in the chore of it, I decided to start making homemade frozen pizza. Not a new idea for anyone, but we certainly like my pizza alot better than any other frozen brand or even delivery, and I'm certain its more healthy.

The Dough:
1 1/2 c warm water (100-110 degrees)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp dough enhancer recipe (or omit, your choice)
4 1/2 tsp yeast
2 1/2 c white flour
2 c white wheat flour (King Arthur brand)
olive oil
garlic salt

Mix the water, oil, honey, salt, dough enhancer, and yeast together until yeast is thoroughly moistened and foamy.

Add to the flours and stir until shaggy and forms a ball. Using a dough hook, knead for 12 minutes.

Let rise in a greased bowl in a warm place one hour, or until doubled.

Punch down and divide dough into four portions. Spread dough into a 9" x 13" tin foil pan, spread evenly and up the sides. This recipe will make 4 pans, 9 x 13 size. Spread oil on the outside crusts only and sprinkle with garlic salt.

Bake for 5 minutes in a 450 degree oven. Remove, let cool before adding sauce and cheese.

After adding sauce and cheese, double wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.

To bake, thaw overnight in refrigerator and bake at 450 for 13 minutes, if frozen, bake time will be longer, but bake until cheese is melted and bubbling in the center of pizza.

Sauce Recipe
1 lb ground turkey
large pizza sauce, spagetti sauce or tomato sauce and sloppy joe seasoning
8 slices bacon, chopped and sauteed
1/2 lb shredded part skim lowfat mozzarella cheese

Saute turkey until cooked, add pizza sauce, or use tomato sauce and sloppy joe seasoning or a can of Manwich.

Let cool before spreading on par-baked pizza crust. After spreading on crust, scatter bacon over pizzas (4 pizzas).

Scatter cheese over 4 pizzas. Bake in 450 degree oven for 13 minutes, or double wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for later.

Linked to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, come over!

Rose and Lemon Creme Macarons - French Style!

2011-06-17T12:48:00.001-05:00

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to make french style macarons for my dear friend Kimber. She really does love them, and I hoped my paltry attempt would be at the least, edible. Well it was! Not nearly as hard as I had thought they would be, so it goes to show, don't believe the hype, ignorance is bliss, just go for it!

Rose and Lemon Creme Macarons
For macarons:
3/4 c ground almonds
1 c powdered sugar
2 large egg whites
1/4 c superfine or bakers sugar
1/2 tsp rosewater
1/8 tsp rose paste*(found in asian food stores)
red food color if necessary

Place ground almonds and powdered sugar in food processor and process until very very fine. Sift into bowl. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Place the egg whites in large bowl and whip until holding soft peaks, gradually add in superfine sugar to make firm, glossy meringue, beat in rose paste and rose water, add food coloring if necessary to reach YOUR ideal shade of pink.

Using a mixing spatula, fold the almond mixture in a third at a time. When all dry ingredients are thoroughly combined, continue to cut and fold the mix until it forms a shiny batter with a thick ribbon like consistency. This is very important, under mix and it won't have that smooth top and frilly foot when baked. Over mix and it won't hold its shape at all.

Pour batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2" round plain tip. Pipe 32 small circles onto the prepared cookie sheets. TIP: trace with pencil a small circle 1 1/4 inch on the parchment paper, turn paper over and you have your guidelines for your circles.

Bang the sheets firmly on the counter to remove air bubbles. Let the macarons stand at room temperature 30-45 minutes, to let them dry out a bit, until the surface no longer sticks to your finger when touched. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Bake one sheet at a time in preheated oven for 10-13 minutes, cool 10 minutes. Carefully peel off parchment paper and let cool completely.

Rose Creme Filling
1/2 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
juice from one lemon
pinch salt

Cream butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, gradually at lemon juice and zest and salt. Put in piping bag and fill cooled macarons.

Unfilled macarons can be stored for a few days at room temperature or for a month in the freezer. Filled macarons should be stored in the fridge, allow to come to room temperature before serving.

As always, add flavorings and colors to your taste and desire, but always start out with a little, then taste and add more if necessary.

These were not hard, go for it, if it doesn't work, figure out where you went wrong and try again. Really, these were much much easier than people let on.

This is part of the Feed Me Tweet Me Follow Me Home Friday blog hop

A perfect tea.....

2011-06-16T13:05:00.011-05:00

Yesterday, my friends Kimber, Belinda and I, had our first annual Spring Tea. The theme seemed to be pink, which is one of our favorite colors. I love these friends, we can get together and be girly girl, and then go right to gardening, and then the nitty gritty side of their business.
Kimber had a beautiful table set for us, she has quite a collection of vintage and antique tableware, and she doesn't mind using it, my kind of lady! We chatted and visited, and ate lots and lots, in between all of that, we opened our gifts. We always bring each other little things, usually in keeping with the theme of whatever gathering we are having, or sometimes just because we want to!!
Kimber, the consumate hostess, she really is, made these lovely little party favors filled with vintage rick rack and laces and buttons, and gave each of us, a lovely vintage tea pot, in memory of our day together. Kimber also gave us one of the latest books she edited, one that Belinda had been drooling over for some time, Some Kind of Wonderful. This book is full of sewing and hand embroidery projects, lots of ideas for gifts. She really is most generous!!

Belinda made a wonderful button bag, using pretty button patterned fabric, and filled with buttons, all kinds! She just whipped it up, no pattern just her own amazing creativity.

Kimber provided the prettiest tea food, petit fours, pink sugar cookies, red velvet cake, pastel nonpareils, I was all over the cucumber watercress sandwiches - I was not lady like in my consumption of them! Of course, we had a wonderful selection of teas to choose from too!

I offered to make the main course, a gouda spinach quiche, fresh wheat bread loaf. Belinda made the best fruit salad I have ever eaten. She is the best at choosing the freshest fruits!!

Kimber loves macarons, french macarons. I had never made them before, so of course I considered this my next culinary challenge. I decided to make rose and lemon buttercream macarons, and happily they turned out very well!

The day was perfect, good friends and good food! I hope you all get a chance to experience your own wonderful tea with friends, so my challenge to you, get together with a few friends, make good food and spoil each other rotten with friendship!!

Welcome!

2011-06-07T11:50:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to say a quick hello and welcome to new followers! It always takes me by surprise whenever someone follows, so thank you!

Homemade Pickled Ginger

2011-06-06T21:10:00.001-05:00

This post is also linked to the Feed Me Tweet Me Follow Me blog hop!!

I love sushi, traditional, fusion, american style, whatever. I will take my sushi and sushi rolls whenever I can get them. Many times, I just make my own at home. I don't make raw fish sushi, but I do like the spicy crab rolls. But, sushi rolls are another post, this post is about the pickled ginger. One problem I run up against, in store bought ginger, is the ingredient MSG, or even aspartame. Of course, pickling my own is the answer.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, I did tweak it a little, but you can find the original recipe here.

You will need a large piece of ginger root, about 1/2 lb piece, peel it with a spoon, just scrape the papery skin off the root.
Using a mandoline type peeler, or whatever you have, slice the ginger into paper thin slices, as thin as you can.
Put the ginger and scant 2 teaspoons of sea salt in a non-reactive bowl, and let stand for 30 minutes or so.
In a medium pan, put 1 cup rice vinegar and a scant 1/2 cup sugar, and heat until boiling and the sugar is dissolved. Pour boiling liquid over ginger and salt. Let stand until cool enough to handle, then put all into a clean jar. Let cool completely, then refrigerate for at least a week before eating.
Mine didn't turn pink, I've read that is because I didnt use a high quality rice vinegar, maybe. I also know they sometimes add red food coloring, so there.
I did have some this week when I made my spicy crab rolls, and it was delicious! So flavorful! I noticed I only needed a small portion to cleanse and enliven my palate while enjoying my sushi.

Where I live, ginger root isn't very expensive, and rice vinegar is a nice vinegar to have on hand, its light and mild, really good for salads.

Shopping bag potato update

2011-05-31T12:26:00.000-05:00

I have sprouted!!!!
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Easiest Jam in the world....

2011-05-29T23:18:00.001-05:00

I had alot of rhubarb to use up, and my husband can only eat so many crisps and pies, so I decided to try this easy easy jam recipe, using, again, jello. I was pleasantly surprised! It turned out great. Of course, I made a few changes, like adding fresh strawberries, and raspberries, but I have to make it my own.

Rhubarb Strawberry Jam

5 c chopped fresh rhubarb

1 c fresh strawberries

3 c white sugar

1 3oz box of strawberry jello

In a large non reeactive pot or bowl, stir together rhubarb and sugar. Cover and let sit overnight.

Bring the rhubarb sugar mixture, and strawberries to a boil over medium heat. Boil stirring constantly, for 12 minutes on low heat. Remove from heat, and stir in dry jello packet. Transfer to sterile jars and refrigerate.

This recipe is very forgiving, I really don't think you can mess this up, so give it a try!!

Homemade Sherbet

2011-05-29T23:01:00.002-05:00

In the quest to help my husband, and myself, be just a little healthier, I decided to make my own sherbet. My husband loves ice cream, but it just makes him miserable when he eats it because, well, he makes a pig of himself. I also believe because its so full of sugar and fat, plus he heaps Cool whip and toppings on it, its no wonder he feels bad!
So here is my offering of a non-fat orange sherbet. It does use a jello packet, but I can live with it. At least when eats this, he doesn't keep ME up all night!

I made this in my Rival ice cream maker. Its small, its cheap, but we don't need a workhorse for this.

2 c skim milk
1 can fat free condensed milk, or fat free half and half
6 oz box of Orange jello
6 oz can of orange juice concentrate
3/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Dissolve jello in 1 c boiling water. Add sugar and salt.

Mix in can of orange juice concentrate.

Add milks, mix well. Follow the instructions for making ice cream or sherbet in your appliance.

I plan to try Lime sherbet next time!

Hearth and Soul Blog Hop!

2011-05-24T18:54:00.000-05:00

Im participating in the Hearth and Soul blog hop, check it out, lots of cool blog links!!

Dry Pantry Mixes

2011-05-24T15:53:00.001-05:00

I got started on this preparedness kick, probably because I started following Preparedness 365. Check her out, she takes a common sense approach, in my opinion. But, even if you aren't a prepper or doomer, so to speak, these dry pantry mixes are timesavers, and healthy alternatives to box and package mixes.

My very favorites is of course, the cake mix, a big hit with the husband. Our next favorite has turned out to be the homemade shake and bakish coating mix. So far I have used it with chicken and porkchops and both have been fantastic! (recipe below)

Another good one was the Sloppy Joe Mix.

After knitting with my friends last week, I wanted something fast and warm, so I fixed up a mug of my home made cream soup base, it was good, I added some dried mushrooms to the water and soup mixture while it was heating. It wasn't terribly thick, but it was satisfying and soothing. (recipe below)

A pantry mix I began making and using more frequently, since I found out the store bought I used to use contained MSG, is a lentil rice pilaf. I have used this with chicken and pork, and various vegetables too, it makes an easy and satisfying skillet dinner. (recipe below)

As with any recipe I post, personalize it and make it your own. Add, take away or sub ingredients to your liking.

Homemade Shake and Bakish Coating Mix

4 c flour
4 c finely crushed saltines (I used fat free saltines
1/4 c salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp pepper
3 tbsp paprika
2 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 c canola oil

Mix all dry ingredients, then drizzle oil in, and incorporate until well distributed fine particles. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.

To Use:

Dip chicken, pork or fish into milk, water, or beaten egg, then dredge completely in 1/2 to 1 cup of mix.
Place on baking sheet, I drizzle with a tiny bit of oil, but you can omit if you like.
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes for boneless, and 1 hour for bone in.
Internal temp for chicken should be 160.

Dry Cream Soup Base
2 c instant milk
3/4 c cornstarch
1/4 c chicken bouillon ( I used an msg/sodium free product)
2 tbsp dry onion flakes
1 tsp dry basil
1tsp dry thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp or less of salt (or to your preference)

Mix well, store in air tight container.

To Use:
1/3 c mix stirred into 1 c of water. Adjust water or mix to your preference.

Rice Lentil Pilaf

1 1/3 c each of long grain rice, lentils and orzo pasta
5 tsp chicken bouillon (again, I used 5 packets of the msg/sodium free product)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp italian seasoning
1 tbsp dehydrated onion
1 tbsp dehydrated garlic
1 tsp pepper

Mix well, store in air tight container.

To Use:

4-5 pieces of chicken or pork
1 c pilaf mix
2 1/4 water
2 tbsp oil
1 c of frozen peas,or fresh broccoli, or asparagus pieces.

Brown meat pieces in oil in skillet. Brown til each side has good color, remove to plate. Lower heat and add pilaf mix. Stir and heat for a few minutes, then add water. Bring to boil, lower heat to simmer. Add the meat and accumulated juices back into skillet. Simmer, covered for 25 minutes, until lentils are cooked and tender. remove cover, add vegetables, replace lid and turn off heat. Let sit for 10 minutes.

I did test a Hamburgerish Helper mix, but I need to tweak that recipe. Either its not a very good recipe, or I dont know what hamburger helper should taste like. Personally, i think the sloppy joe mix would be awesome for hamburger helper.

Good quote...

2011-05-23T13:32:00.001-05:00

Posted by Donna Kates on Facebook

Another Favorite Saying

If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.

Rosalynn Carter

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Cross Stitch Patterns

2011-05-20T14:01:00.000-05:00

When I closed my shop several years ago, I had patterns leftover, how? I don't know! But its your gain! I've created a new blog just sell my excess stitchery supplies. These patterns are new, from my shop, some are kits, some just patterns, and some are patterns with fabric or threads. If you have any questions, let me know merriest_one @ yahoo.com. These are going out at below wholesale cost, and nothing is newer than 2008, so if you are trying to complete a collection or some such, I may be able to help.

I will be listing every day, so if today you don't see anything, keep looking, tomorrow maybe your lucky day!

http://merrieststitches.blogspot.com/

Homemade Sloppy Joe Mix

2011-05-17T13:31:00.001-05:00

So last night I test drove my homemade sloppy Joe mix and was very pleased! The cool thing about this mix is that it can be adjusted as you go, I don't feel there is a hard and fast recipe for this, as I usually make this with whatever I have on hand anyway. Add, increase, or leave out ingredients as you wish. Makes about one cup of dry mix.

1 tbsp each of:
Dried basil
Italian seasoning
Dehydrated onion
Dehydrated garlic
3 tbsp of cornstarch
2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp each of:
Dry mustard
celery seed, powder, whatever
Chili powder
Paprika
Onion powder
Garlic powder
3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Blend well, keep in airtight container.

To Use:

Brown 1lb of ground meat, pour off grease.
Add 2 tbsp of mix, 1/2 c of water and 1 can of crushed tomatoes, sauce or ketchup.
Simmer 20 minutes, adjust seasonings to taste.

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Growing Potatoes in a Reusable Shopping Bag

2011-05-16T18:38:00.000-05:00

I was chatting with my friend Amy awhile back, and she expressed a curiosity about growing potatoes in a grow bag. Of course, curiosity is contagious so I had to do a little research of my own. What I found out was that potato grow bags were a little pricey, to me anyway. So I researched a little more. Didn't want to use garbage bags or trash cans or tires. Then I realized that I could use landscaping cloth and sew up a few, but I didn't need to buy as much as was in the package, not for an experiment. If I spent that much I might as well buy the grow bag! So I hit on maybe using my reusable HyVee grocery bag, its black and approximately the same dimensions, just square not round, but its porous! And only cost $.99!
So, off to Earl May garden store, picked up 6 seed potatoes, on sale.
Folded down the sides at least 4 inches, filled with soil, and planted 7 "eyes" of my potatoes.
Covered them with 3" of soil, and watered thoroughly.
We'll see how this goes, I planted so many in each bag so in case a few questionable "eyes" don't open.
When the plants are 8" tall, I will add more soil, then add more again when there's another 8" of growth.
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Setting a little back

2011-05-10T13:35:00.000-05:00

In order to keep my pain from arthritis in check, I'm very careful about portions so I can keep my weight down. So, many nights when I finish cooking dinner, I take a portion out and freeze it. This has proven to be an asset for those nights I don't feel up to standing and cooking a full meal, or when there aren't any leftovers for lunch! The biggest plus has been that it takes away that extra serving I may be tempted to eat, and it keeps me from serving too large a portion. Not just that, but what a treat to have that tasty meal again, without all the work!
Cool down your food completely before freezing, and I don't reheat in the same container I freeze, I tip it out onto a plate. Not everything freezes well, but give your food a try and see how it works.
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make it yourself - brown bag popcorn

2011-05-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

I love popcorn! I love the convenience of microwave popcorn, but too many questionable things inside that bag.
I'm probably the last person on the planet that discovered popping it in a brown paper bag in the microwave. What I like about this is no pan to clean, nothing unpronounceable inside the bag, and I don't burn myself!
So, take a lunch bag,
put a good handful of popcorn kernels in it, about 1/4 cup,
a squirt of canola oil (about 3 tsp), fold down the top loosely,
Cook on high, about 2 minutes, 20 seconds, pull it out when there is more than 2 seconds between pops, and voila! Popcorn!
This will burn easily, just like the commercial kind, but with a bit of practice, you will be a pro!
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Such a Cream Puff!

2011-05-06T14:17:00.000-05:00

My husband loves cream puffs, I think he loves the filling most!
I've never made these before, and I loved them, not difficult at all, so give em a go!

1 c water
6 tbsp butter, diced
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 c flour
4 med eggs
Place salt, sugar, water and butter in saucepan over heat medium heat, and heat to boiling, take off heat.
All at once add flour and mix until smooth and forms a ball that pulls away from sides of pan.
Add eggs, ONE at a time. Beat until egg is absorbed, keep adding rest of eggs one at a time, beating until each egg is absorbed.
Using a pastry bag, two spoons, or I used my cookie press, pipe onto parchment covered baking sheets, with enough room between as they will double in size when baked.
Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, until browned and puffed. Remove from oven, cut a slit in side to let the steam out, then return to oven, door ajar and oven turned OFF for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool completely before filling.

Cool completely before storing, unfilled in an airtight container at room temperature, or in freezer. You can recrisp for a few minutes in very warm oven, but cool completely before filling.

Buttercream filling
1/2 lb powdered sugar
1/4 c milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup shortening (I used my own home rendered lard)
1 stick butter, sliced

In mixer bowl on low, mix powdered sugar, milk, salt and vanilla until smooth. On high, add butter, on piece at a time until smooth, then add lard or shortening and whip on highest speed until volume increases by 50%.
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And sometimes....

2011-04-30T19:56:00.001-05:00

Inspiration hits you like a bright light...or in this case, a solar lantern!!!!
Gifts for my friends!
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Mason Jar Solar Lantern

2011-04-29T22:19:00.000-05:00

It must be DIY day, as I got inspired to make a solar lantern. This is basically the top of a solar powered yard light, stuck into a jar. You can paint the inside of the jar to frost it, use colored plastics to line it etc.
I wound some wire around the top of the jar so I could hang it in my garden.
My husband kept asking me, why do it? What's it good for etc? I don't know, I just thought it was a fun outside luminary, put a few little ones on crooks in the garden, hang one under the tree over a bench, I thought it looked sweet and romantic, must have been that wedding I stayed up and watched!

How to DO it:
I knew I wanted to use canning jars since I have so many. So I took a canning jar ring, wide mouth and small with me to Walmart, to size the wide array of inexpensive yard lights. Really, they had a lot to choose from, many of them 4.00 and less. I found some that fit the wide mouth, although it does stick up. I will continue to look around to find some interesting jars to experiment with. I removed to stick part, and kept the plastic protector and reflector on for the quart jar, and removed them for the half pint jar. I wound some wire around the rim to make a handle. This would be cute wound with beads and wire curliques too! I set them out in the sun to charge and waited for darkness.
They looked so cool and actually gave off pretty decent light. These would be fun table decos when camping, safer than open flames or candles and actually, would be useful at night if you lost electricity. And they look sweet and romantic!
Heck, you probably have lots of jars you can re-purpose into lanterns. The cost is limited to how fancy a yard light and jar you use. Did you know these retail anywhere from 20.00 to 39.00 dollars online? Make your own! Hang them all over your garden and patio!
If you can't find a yard light to fit, what you can do is take the solar panel, battery and bulb portion out of the plastic housing and tape them to the inside of one of the clamp on lid type jars, or an empty Yankee candle jar with lid would work too. The solar panel needs to receive light to charge, so opaque or non see through lids won't work.
Just do it!
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Homemade Cake Mix

2011-04-29T21:31:00.001-05:00

Somehow, I came across some information on making your own cake mix, as opposed to buying a box mix. This appeals to me because I can control what's in it, and what is NOT in it.
I had everything in my pantry necessary to make this which is always a plus, and I also decided to come up with a cake flavor enhancer.
I sifted the flour and cornstarch together twice, blended the butter with some of the flour mixture, then blended the rest of the ingredients together. Make sure you mix well, as the sugar is heavy and tends to fall to the bottom.
I took 4 1/2 cups out to make my test cake, and divided the rest into two - 1 quart ziplock bags, writing the additional ingredient list right on the bag.
This will keep 1 month in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer.
In a large bowl, I put my cake mix, eggs, oil, skim milk, and cake flavor enhancer. Mixed it just like I would a box mix, and poured it into a greased Longaberger bundt pan. Each mix should make two - 8" cake pans, or one - 9 x 13. Baked it for 45 minutes.
How did it taste? Like a light pound cake. It was good, moist, but holey, I think I mixed it too much!
What would I change or adjust the next time I make a big batch? I would use cake flour, instead of all purpose and cornstarch, and when blending the butter and flour, add a vanilla bean, just the seeds scraped from the inside.
I did like my flavor enhancer, which was basically lemon extract, homemade vanilla extract and butter flavor. Gave it a warm and creamy flavor.
I think I will have a piece of this cake with some strawberries!
Is this cheaper than buying a box mix? No. Is it healthier than a box mix? Yes, no additives, no long chemical names. If you like organic, you could use all organic ingredients.

Big Batch Cake Mix
(makes 3)

6 1/2 c flour (or use 7 1/2 c cake flour and skip the cornstarch)
1 c cornstarch
4 1/2 c sugar
4 tbsp baking powder
5 tbsp meringue powder
3/4 c cold butter
1 tbsp salt
Process butter with 2 c flour until very fine. Sift together rest of ingredients 2 times. divide into three 4 1/2 c portions. On the ziplock write the additional ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 c oil
1 c milk or water
2 tsp vanilla or flavor enhancer.
35-45 minutes @ 350

To make cake:
Put cake mix and additional ingredients into a big bowl.
Mix on low until just blended, then on high 2 minutes. Pour into greased cake pans. (bundt or 9 x 13 or two 8" round pans)
Bake 35 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees, until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool 15 minutes, then tip out of pans onto plate and cool on rack.
Cool completely before frosting or glazing.

Cake Flavor Enhancer
Butter flavor
Lemon extract
Vanilla extract

Start with 1 tsp each, and add more of each, sniffing after each addition, until it smells pleasing to you. You can use orange instead of lemon, tweak and change it to suit you.
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Nephew's quilt

2011-04-29T12:55:00.001-05:00

My great nephew turns one this June, and I decided he needs a big boy quilt!
I have been collecting firefighter and fire truck prints, intending on making my husband a fire themed quilt, but I think Colby Ryan would like this one more than hubby. He's been waiting forever for a T-shirt quilt, I think he'd want that one more!
Its just the usual fat quarter shuffle. I like using that pattern because its fast, and you can really showcase fun prints and fabric combinations in a simple way.
This is going in the mail soon. Stay tuned for a new spin on my fat quarter shuffle that I used for my father-in-law's 80th birthday quilt!
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Get out and vote...

2011-04-14T19:18:00.001-05:00

For my friend Belinda's quilt block! http://blueribbondesigns.blogspot.com/2011/04/crossing-my-fingers.html
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Healthi-er banana muffins?

2011-04-08T13:32:00.002-05:00

Maybe. Soooo, I decided to re-make my mother's wonderful but not particularly wholesome banana bread.
Here's the funny part, in my quest to make it better, I completely forgot to add sweetener :(, of any kind! So, the only sweetness is from the banana, and it actually tastes fine. But then I realized you could drizzle honey on it and control your own sweetness. I love it when I can redeem a baking mistake! This recipe will make 12 jumbo, or probably 24 regular, so freeze a batch to eat all week. I also used a homemade dough enhancer mix, and I will give that recipe too. Dough enhancer will help the rise and texture, and also the moistness. I like to use it when baking wheat bread especially, gives you light fluffy loaves that keep well.

Banana Muffins

1 c flax seed meal
1 c oat flour
1/4 c flour
2 tbsp dough enhancer
3/4 c canola oil
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
5 very ripe mashed bananas
2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all dry ingredients, make a well in the center and add eggs, oil and mashed bananas. Lightly mix these wet ingredients together in the well, then start stirring in the dry. Mix just until no dry lumps remain.
Use muffin papers or lightly spray or oil muffin tin.
Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake about 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Eat them drizzled with honey, or make a cream cheese frosting!

Dough enhancer

1 c soy lecithin granules (Bobs Red Mill)
1 c vital wheat gluten
1 c potato starch flour
1/2 c non-fat dry milk powder
2 tbsp citric acid (fruit fresh)
1 tbsp ground ginger (you won't taste it, helps the yeast)

Mix well then store in a quart mason jar with clean tight fitting lid, in the refrigerator. Use as directed in baked goods, or as a rule of thumb, about 1 tbsp per cup of flour. This works best in recipes that use whole grain flours, not really necessary for all white flour recipes, but then I might only use a teaspoon per cup of flour for those recipes.

This post is linked to Lets Do Brunch!
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Flax seed Apple Muffins

2011-03-29T12:49:00.000-05:00

I picked up a bag of flax seed meal and found this awesome recipe, I did make a few changes, not many, and everyone was pleased with the results! Very moist and flavorful, better than a bran muffin and very nutritious.

1 1/4 c flax meal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c brown sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 c oil
1/2 honey
1 tbsp vanilla
2 medium apples, finely chopped
Mix dry ingredients together, then mix in the wet. Let the batter set for ten minutes then fill 3/4 full paper lined regular muffin pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 18 regular muffins.
You could tweek the spices and add cardamom, ginger, etc. You could switch out the apples and use pineapple, squash, etc. Make this recipe your own!
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Quilts for Japan

2011-03-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

If you want to send a comfort quilt to Japan, I found a link!
http://www.quiltersnewsletter.com/blogs/insideqn/2011/03/18/call-for-quilts-for-japan/
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Twins! Or The birth of my first socks

2011-03-09T11:32:00.001-06:00

I finally finished my first pair of socks, no they are not beautiful, but like any new mother, they are the most perfect socks in the world, except for all the mistakes, but I love them anyway!
I used Malabrigo sock yarn in Parisian Nights, and I was taking a toe up-two at a time-magic loop sock class, so these are very very basic. The birthing process was not painful, and I plan to birth many many more. So friends, if I email you with the request to measure your feet, just do it. That certainly won't be the weirdest request I've ever made of you!!
I can't leave replies at the moment, but to address and recap my wheat bread post: the bread was fantastic!! My husband said it was the best wheat bread he ever had, so I think the recipe is a keeper! Thanks Sue for the good advice and lecithin!!
Denise: I purchased my leaf lard and regular lard through my Coop, and was happy to be able to get it from organically raised pigs, but if I didn't have a coop, I would contact a small local pork producer and ask them to let me have or buy it the next time they slaughter. Some producers may just give it to you.
Carol: I've been thinking of you!!! Try the bread recipe, you will love it! Try something new on a regular basis, its very healing!

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Cast your bread...

2011-03-08T20:18:00.000-06:00

My friend Sue, graciously gave me some soy lecithin and some good tips for baking wheat bread.
She uses the lecithin, vital wheat gluten and citric acid to get lightness and a great rise out of her wheat bread.
I wanted to give it a try, and happened upon this recipe that surprise! It uses all three plus a pinch of ginger too. My husband is anxious to break into it, hopefully it will taste as good as it looks! If you want to try the recipe, here is the link: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_wheat_bread
I also rendered some leaf lard yesterday. I love rendering lard, I am not sure why? Maybe its because I know what great pies I will make with it, or how good my eggs taste cooked with it! I even tried popping popcorn with it one time! It was just okay, I will stick with corn oil for popcorn :)
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Old friends...new friends!!

2011-03-03T19:05:00.001-06:00

Had lunch today with a good friend that I don't see often enough. We have such a good time together!
One awesome side effect of having been ostracized finally from that mean ol' stitch group has been that I'm able to spend time with people that want to spend time with me!! Up until recently, when the last one finally let go, I've felt as though people were just friends with me out of pity, obligation, neediness, etc. But, now, wow!! My real and true friends let me know that they like me for me, not because I will stitch, knit or complete some project for them, they don't keep me around to use me to make sure they get a birthday present or because there is no one else available to use. Today really made that point clear to me, although it was becoming clearer and clearer all the time. One thing I love love love about my current friends is that I can invite them to do something or whatever and they don't constantly make lame excuses, and they are all this way! All I have to do is suggest something and they jump on board!! Makes me feel good they want to spend time with me! Yes, its a small thing, but I'm embarrassed and mad at myself that I wasted years and income on friends that were self-centered users, when I could have been with people who know the real meaning of friendship. I know...same rant different day!! Just saying, I appreciate the people that appreciate me.
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Making candy...

2011-02-06T14:15:00.000-06:00

So my dear friend Sue has been such an inspiration, I've started sprouting seeds, drinking twig tea, scrapbooking (sort of!) And making candy.
I made a tray for ny physical therapy office, wonderful people. I wasn't sure my shoulder could be fixed without surgery, but now I'm healed!
The other tray is for the ER where my paramedic husband works. When he brings stuff in, it makes them happy :)
Here for your viewing pleasure are two trays of assorted truffles and chocolates. What kind you ask? I will try to list them, but honestly, I was creating, not taking notes.
Dark truffle-pecan filled white chocolate hearts.
Peanut butter filled milk chocolate hearts
Pecan covered truffles
Caramel-Pecan covered truffles
White chocolate covered peanut butter and truffle
Dark chocolate covered caramels with pecan sprinkle
Sea salt caramels
There maybe other combos, but no one will know until they eat them, which is the way I like it!!!
My friend Belinda influenced my wrap job, and I found the trays at Michaels, so springy. I think its called Foofing? Which is funny since that is also the euphemism my husband and I use for sex!
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So cheesey...

2011-01-22T12:15:00.000-06:00

Last fall, I signed up for a cheese class at Prairieland Herbs with my friend Amy. I was a little apprehensive, wasn't making cheese hard? I mean, all that measuring and temperatures and rennet? Wasn't rennet hard to get and didn't rennet fail sometimes and bye bye milk?
Weeeelll, this cheese class cleared up all those myths and more!
Miss Effie (aka Cathy Lafrenz) is a great teacher, no pressure, and lots of fun. Plus she knits, quilts, and spins and basically if its DIY, she's all over it!

I used Picket Fences whole milk in class and made a luscious ball of cheese. I used 1 % this time, and made a nice lowfat ball of cheese. So use the milk your diet will allow.

(use an instant read thermometer, trust me)

Heat one gallon of milk, when it reaches 55 degrees,
add 1 1/2 tsp citric acid crystals dissolved in 1/2 c non-chlorinated water.
It will begin to curdle. (Photo 1)

Heat it a bit more, to 90 degrees, then add 1/4 tsp liquid rennet (a coagulating agent, from animal or vegetable source), mixed with 1/4 c cool non-chlorinated water, and continue to cook to 100-105 degrees, it will curdle even more, and begin to separate, that watery liquid is the whey. Be sure to check the temp of the whey too, not just the curds.(Photo 2)

When it reaches 100-105 degrees, turn off the heat and wait until it begins to solidify and pull away from the sides, about 5-15 minutes, or more, your experience may vary dependent on the milk and the rennet and any other unseen things that are out to get you that day.
When he whey is clear (if the whey is milky, keep waiting until it clears) the curds will be shiny, thick, clumpy clods then pour your curds gently into a colander and drain. You may choose to save the whey to use in baked goods, soups, it does still contain many nutrients.
Drain your cheese well, gently pressing out all the whey. (Photo 3)
Place the curds into a microwaveable bowl and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute on high, take it out and squeeze out more whey and stretch it. Use a wooden spoon as its hot, or use your hands if you like pain. Heat it again for 35 seconds on high, and repeat the squeezing and stretching. Do that one more time. Now is the time to add some sea salt if you choose, just sprinkle and knead it in.(Photo 4)
As you stretch and knead, begin to smooth it into a ball, if it breaks insteads of stretches, reheat for 35 seconds again.
When it looks is smooth and shiny and feels like a solid ball of cheese, its done! (Photo 5)

I highly encourage you to take a class, I'm not sure I would have been successful the first time on my own if I hadn't taken a class. But if you don't have access to a teacher or a class, then just go for it. Use whole milk for your first time, but don't use ULTRA pasturized, I'm told it won't work. Whole milk will give you a lovely product, exactly what you want the first time out.
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Book give-away!

2011-01-20T21:18:00.001-06:00

My good friend Kimber is hosting as awesome give-away!! Check it out! http://heirloomsbyashtonhouse.blogspot.com/2011/01/book-giveaway.html
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From a friend...

2011-01-18T10:55:00.001-06:00

This quote was posted by a friend:

"Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." ~Erica Jong

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Sprouting

2011-01-10T15:44:00.001-06:00

For Christmas, I gave myself an Easy Sprouter, http://www.sprouthouse.com/Easy_Sprout_Sprouter_p/ezsprout.htm and yes it really was easy!
First, and especially, the quality and freshness of homegrown sprouts is head and shoulders above store bought. Mine are crunchy, fresh, and odor free, whereas I suspect the store sprouts were old before they hit the shelves.
I'm snacking on them with Laughing Cow Light garlic and herb cheese spread and fat free saltines. Wow, all I can say is wow.
When I finish this first batch, I will do a post showing how I sprout from beginning to end. Supposedly sprouts are a powerhouse of nutrients, but they are also a way to have fresh greens in winter.
Another favorite is a flatbread sandwich made with sprouts, cucumber, hummus and greek yogurt.

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Running the gauntlet

2011-01-07T12:16:00.000-06:00

I've been knitting a lot lately, and many of my latest projects have been fingerless mitts.
I found many patterns on Ravelry, if you knit you must join this community, its pretty darn awesome, if you do join, friend me, I'm Merryone!
Anyway, the blue pair (3rd pair) is a pair I knitted for Belinda, I made the same style but in light green for Kimber. The first pic is made from a lovely yarn called Malabrigo Rios in the color Piedras. Its simply cabled in the round with a stockinette cuff at the top. The second pic is my first cabled project. One of my goals this year was to learn how to knit cables, and I love it! So much detail with minimum effort! I again used a Malabrigo Rios, this time Paris Night, and used the Blue Monday pattern from a link on Ravelry. Did all that in one night, I was afraid to stop and lose my place and momentum. I do need to work on the thumb portion, that's my goal when I knit its mate.
Another goal I can cross off my list, hmmm, what else should I learn?
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Goooooaalllll....

2011-01-02T13:39:00.001-06:00

I heard someone say, I think it was Dr. Oz, don't make resolutions, set goals, making resolutions just sets you up for failure.

These goals are fluid, and none are do or die, I will find many more important things to do besides this.

So, a brief and incomplete list of some goals for 2011:

Devotion, prayer list and bible study everyday

Lose the weight I gained over Christmas - DONE (how, I'm not sure, I stepped on the scale this am and was pre christmas weight)

Get weight down appropriate for height/frame (lose approx. 15 lbs)

Try growing sprouts

Knit a sweater - started

Learn to knit socks (signed up for class)

Finish Cowl/Snoood

Complete Christy's mitts (50% done)

Complete table runners (May deadline)

Make Tom's quilt (july deadline)

Make Janis baby quilt (start now end of Feb deadline)

Join Ankeny Community Choir (if I like it)

Organize room (again...)

Have a garage sale (spring)

Sell excess patterns from shop

Complete to expert any incomplete maryjane merit badges

Expand garden (spring)

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The Truth About Your Weight Gain

2010-12-29T12:05:00.001-06:00

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/truth-about-your-weight-gain

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Winter solstice thought...

2010-12-21T11:38:00.001-06:00

Be the blessing this time around...

Be the giver this time around...

Be the first to say thank you this time around...

Be the first to apologize this time around...

Be the first to forgive this time around...

Be willing to take the risk this time around...
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Christmas Day, the rest of the best...

2010-12-19T16:56:00.000-06:00

I had to wait until I had time to tell you about the rest of my gifts from Belinda.
When you receive a present from Belinda it will be very nicely wrapped, she foofs, and she foofs well! I wish I had thought to take a picture, but I couldn't wait to tear into my presents!
The first gift was this most awesome book by Darina Allen, which I had been coveting, Forgotten Skills of Cooking. Its magnificent, it tells you everything, I've only had small moments here and there to look through it, I can't wait to sit down and devour it cover to cover! The next gift was this pretty kitchen towel, the fabric used was a favorite print that a dear departed friend loved, Belinda knew I would appreciate that and I do, very very much. The last gift was a gorgeous wall quilt. I had read in her blog that she was making this, I had no idea at the time I was a recipient. Its really beautiful, my crappy pic does not do it justice. She is so amazing, she has no time at all, but she found time to make this and to get together with Kimber and I.
I thank God everyday for Kimber and Belinda, I wish everyone could have friends as kind, thoughtful and talented as these two, on top of it all, we just have a good time together. Every time I get together with them its a treat, and I do not take their time for granted, its too precious to waste.
They have both made this Christmas very special for me, and I do not know what I would do without them!
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It was Christmas yesterday...

2010-12-16T12:08:00.000-06:00

I had the joy to spend the day yesterday with my two best friends Kimber and Belinda. We did our gift exchange and wow! What awesome friends I have, as if you didn't know that already. I am always surprised, happily so, at their generosity. Not only in regards to gifts, but also with their time, talent and advice. Oh and their patience!
Today I will show you Kimber's gifts to me, and tomorrow I will show you Belinda's.
I cook a lot, and I have outgrown my recipe box. Kimber her extraordinary wisdom saw this and gave me this beautiful new recipe box, already loaded with some new recipes to try! I also have been attending the Prairie Women's Sewing Circle with Kimber, and being a newbie to Civil war fabric collecting, I received this great collection of civil war fat quarters. Then she gave me this little box, which the box itself was neat but I loved what she put in the box: a little folder of nifty post it tags, which I love and need, a lovely handmade vintage paper christmas box, and pretty little blocks of sticky notes. She's such a quilter, she knows I put sticky notes on everything!
It wasn't just the gifts that made it all special, it was spending time with these two beautiful and talented women, who both inspire me to be not only a better quilter and stitcher, but also a better person.
Tomorrow, Santy Claus Belinda!
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Cinnamon Maple Honey Granola

2010-12-07T21:22:00.001-06:00

Working on Christmas basket stuff and tonight was the perfect night to make this granola. Its cold cold cold outside but this made my house warm and it smells so good! One more thing, this isn't exactly healthy, its got lots of butter and sweetness!

Granola

1 stick butter
1/2 c honey
1/2 c real maple syrup
6 c uncooked old fashioned oats, or quick cooking oats
1 c brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
1 c sliced almonds (I omit)

Melt butter with honey and syrup, set aside.
Mix oats, cinnamon, sugar and almonds, if using.
Blend in butter mixture. Spread in well greased 9 x 13 pan, pack down firmly. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, turn mixture and pack back down, bake 15 min more. Turn out on foil to cool. Break into bite size pieces. Store in air tight container. Makes about 2 1/2 lbs.
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Mitford

2010-12-05T11:42:00.001-06:00

I think, now that I am on the fifth book in Jan Karon's Mitford series, I know one reason why I like it so much. This is just one of many: they love to help others. No one grouses about money or what's in it for them (pet peeve in regards to helping), they love to welcome people without complaining about being put out (another pet peeve). No wonder everybody wants to move there!
Oh, and its set in the south, so they cook REAL southern food, not just a bad imitation (okay, last pet peeve for this post).
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That time of year...

2010-12-02T13:50:00.000-06:00

Its that time of year, making gifts, decorating and trying to keep the focus. I miss my family so much this time of year! I have no family close by, no kids even in laws a hours away. But maybe I wouldn't appreciate or long for them so if they were closer.
I'm giving my good friend Trahvae some homemade liquors this year. He takes good care of my hair, I've yet to get a bad color or cut. Best part? I never have to worry about trying to describe what I want, he thinks about and plans my style before the appointment! He will receive a bottle of coffe liquor that I have been mellowing for a year now, limoncello, pear liquor, and when its ready spiced rum.
Last year for Christmas, my dear, sweet and awesome friend gave me Jam It, Pickle It, Smoke It, and its been my go to book. If. I could have Christmas wishes, one would be that everyone has a friend like Belinda, but I am one of the lucky ones because I do!
So, happy holiday preparation everyone!
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Good quote...

2010-11-29T01:02:00.001-06:00

From a friend who recently lost her father,

"Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different, it's accepting the past for what it was and using this moment and this time to help yourself move forward."
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Olive Bread

2010-11-21T13:53:00.000-06:00

I just made a ring of olive bread and remembered I never posted the recipe. So here for your baking pleasure, Olive Bread.

Olive Bread
1 pkg yeast
1 c warm water (110-115)
1/4 c canola/olive oil blend
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 - 3 c flour
3/4 c pitted olives, I used kalamata and brine cured kalamata

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil, sugar, salt and 2 c flour, beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour to form a stiff dough.
Knead until smooth, 6-8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to cover with oil. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch down, roll out to a 16 x 12 rectangle and spread olives evenly all over. Roll up jelly roll style. Pinch seams, I form into a ring, and tuck ends together somehow.
Place seam side down on greased baking sheet and rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 375, for 20-25 minutes until holen brown. I butter the crust when I take it out of the oven. Let cool at least 30 minutes before eating, and this tastes marvelous even on the second day.
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Give away!

2010-11-15T11:57:00.001-06:00

My good friend Kimber is having a hive away on her blog! Check it out! Enter! Win! http://www.google.com/gwt/x?source=reader&u=http%3A%2F%2Fheirloomsbyashtonhouse.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fowl-pincushion-giveaway.html
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Epiphany

2010-11-15T11:54:00.001-06:00

I am lucky enough to have dramatic upheavals on a pretty regular basis. Why lucky? It causes me to pull back and soul search, to remember past lessons I thought I learned or forgot, to glean deeper meanings.
Today it hit me, that forgiveness is not a one time act, its not a this person in this situation action, that to forgive one person truly, you have to forgive the others in your life. I'm aware of this deep down, but I finally allowed it to float to the surface. Now I will put it into action.
To change because of forgiveness means to evolve, to progress, become stronger, more aware.
To forgive also means opening yourself to be hurt again, but you can forgive and still move on without allowing another the opportunity to hurt you.
Sometimes letting go and moving on means making room for something new, it also allows the other person room for new things, people and experiences.
What I've learned:
Change won't kill you,
Forgiveness won't kill you,
Moving on won't kill me.
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Give Away!

2010-11-11T17:57:00.001-06:00

My very very very talented friend Belinda of Blue Ribbon Designs is have an awesome give away, peek at the details and enter! http://blueribbondesigns.blogspot.com/2010/11/sewing-companion-giveaway.html#comments
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good times, bad times, in between times...

2010-11-04T14:46:00.000-05:00

I havent been happy with the status quo. Why? I realized I don't want to be that 50 year old overweight woman going through menopause making the same mistakes over and over again. Although I am not 50, I don't want to start waking up and evolving in the middle of menopause, its going to be hard enough without trying to make life changes.
So I am starting now. I don't want to have to enable people to keep them happy with me or in my life. People, you are put on notice, Step Up or Step Off. The women's groups in Iowa that I have been a part of have a terrible habit of dumbing everything down to the lowest common denomimator. That is not my way of doing things: put yourself out there, rise up. Don't expect me to babysit your way through my life. I want partners in my life adventures, whether its quilting, sewing, home made or whatever. I don't want tag a longs, I want people that I can learn from and be inspired by.
This public opinion was brought to you by one fed up lady.
Please dont take this personally, it doesn't apply to anyone who follows me. Its just a rant, vent and need to express.

Best Friends

2010-11-01T11:54:00.000-05:00

Friday was spent with the best of people I know, the best of the friends I have. It had to be one of the more perfect days I have spent with my friends, even today, I am still aglow with the awesomeness of that day.

I don't use the term best friend often. One reason is I have had that term held against me, with a huge level of expectation that was impossible to live up to.

For me, best friends is more a category than a position or title. It is the category of stellar, affectionate, reciprocal people that I have in my life. The people that are closer than family, ones I try to give my BEST to, and also ones that have a high degree of tolerance and acceptance for me.
I am fortunate to have a few people like that in my life, and I was lucky enough to spend the day with some of them on Friday. What would have made the day perfect would have been if the fourth leg of our group could have been there, but, that means that we have many more days to plan together to reach our goal!
Belinda, Kimber and Mary are my people, my best people, my best friends, with no other expectation than to just keep being the lovely, wonderful people that they already are.
I am blessed!
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Rendering Lard

2010-10-22T16:14:00.000-05:00

I had heard someone mention that she renders her own lard, then read a little about on Mary janes Farm forum. I then realized that Crooked Gap Farm was having a pie bakers special on lard, so jumped at this opportunity to make my own lard.
I use lard in my pie crust, ask my family, it makes the best pie crust, but I didn't realize that the store brand that I buy is partially hydrogenated which equals bad and unhealthy. Well I'm not gonna eat that much less serve it to my family, so rendering my own lard is the only logical step, right? I'm not changing my crust, I'm certainly not gonna stop making pies!

I did as much research as I could find, and of course there is tons of info out there. But knowing myself, I needed an idiot proof way to do this the first time out, so crockpot lard it is.

RENDERING LARD IN YOUR CROCKPOT

Use clean largemouth jars and clean lids and rings.

(1) My lard arrived in 4 - 5 pound chunks, and was already ground up. If yours is not, cut into very small chunks or grind, it makes the whole process much nicer. You can use frozen, or thawed, it didn't matter much in my case.

(2) Put the lard in your crockpot, add a 1/2 cup of water, cover, turn on low and let cook for about 3 hours. Check it, stir it so nothing browns or burns. I checked and stirred every hour or two.

(3) when most of the fat is melted down, (12 hours for me), start filtering and putting into wide mouth jars or containers. I put a funnel in my jar, then a strainer, then a coffee filter. Filter while you jar as once it starts cooling it doesn't filter very well. You do want to filter and not just strain, especially if you intend to use for pastries, it makes a nicer end product and no pork odor. Start filtering and jarring before the lard starts browning. When jar is full, lid it and put in the fridge. You can keep it in the fridge or freezer. Opinions vary!

(4) what is left in the crockpot will need to keep cooking, but keep checking and stirring and pouring off, filtering and jarring until its just solid stuff and its difficult to get any more liquid out. This lard will be light but will turn white when it cools.

(5) transfer out these semi solids to a tall pot and keep cooking on medium low watching carefully and stirring so it doesn't burn. As the liquid rises to the top, scoop out solids and oils and filter and jar as before, just stir the solids around so the liquid filters into the jar. Keep doing this until the solids are nearly dry. Keep watching and stirring so it doesn't burn. This lard is amber, but will turn creamy white as it cools. This will be good for savory dishes and frying.

(6) cook these solids, which are now called chicharrones until crispy and dry, but don't overcook. These are good salted for snacking, but I am saving these as a special treat for my dog :)

I haven't used my lard yet, but I'm excited to use it in my pie crusts!

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Thankful

2010-10-14T16:20:00.000-05:00

My garden didn't really over produce this year, it did alright, I don't believe anyone in this area had an outstanding harvest this summer, but that's how it goes sometimes. Although, I do find myself with a deep profound thankfulness for what I did harvest. We had green beans, pattypan squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and lots and lots of basil and other herbs. My garden have me all I needed, when I wanted it.
I purchased a lot of jalapenos from my Coop, and I make bread and butter jalapenos, they are hot! I also canned green tomato and jalapeno relish. I still have peppers left and wondered if my poor tomato plants had enough for me to do another batch. Of course they did, and happily have them up for me. I also needed a red sweet pepper for my relish, and of course, there was one, plus a lot of my own jalapenos to use.
See? What I needed when I wanted! I'm a lucky lucky lady! Its the little things :)
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Little Lunch Tote

2010-09-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

I have been anxious to get caught up on a few projects so I could make this awesome little tote. I used this tutorial http://ayumills.blogspot.com/2010/08/tutorial-lunch-bag.html

I pretty much made it exactly as the tutorial, except for the inside gathered top, I did piece part of it (inside the bottom portion) because I didn't quite have enough using fat quarters. But if you use 1/4 yd cuts width of fabric, you will be fine, providing they are cut generously, or straight and accurate.

I intend to make some for my buddies for Christmas. I think part of the fun was finding fabric that I knew they would like. I am so excited to start sewing their totes!

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pumpkin pie Oh My!

2010-09-27T21:57:00.000-05:00

I think I have finally found the perfect fresh pumpkin pie recipe. This might even pass the husband test. This was this best pumpkin pie I ever made, and it might even be the best I ever tasted!

My issue with fresh pumpkin pies has been that they taste blah. Not pumpkiny, but watery, pulpy, just not good at all. So I researched a few recipes and hit upon one that seemed good. This recipe also gave me tips on how to make the filling smooth etc., and a secret ingredient, molasses. Wouldn't you know I didn't have molasses? Well they don't call me the queen of punt for nothing! I used dark karo syrup and brown sugar and it worked. Next time I will use molasses, in fact, next time I will try the recipe exactly as written. Sure, right, but there's a first time for everything!

I am going to give you the recipe as I made it, also the original before I changed it. Make them both, you decide.

Be aware that sometimes your pumpkin may just not be a tasty pumpkin. I try to use sugar pie pumpkins. I try to choose ones that are small but heavy for their size.

Homemade Fresh Pumpkin Pie as I made it

Single, unbaked crust
2 large eggs
1/2 c fat free evaporated milk
1 1/2 c pumpkin puree (instructions below)
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp dark Karo syrup
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I use Penzey's)
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat eggs until frothy, add milk. Whisk in pumpkin, sugar, syrup, butter, salt and spices. Whisk until well blended.
Pour filling into crust, bake until center is firm, 45-50 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie - original recipe

Unbaked single crust
2 large eggs
3/4 c milk
1 1/4 c pumpkin puree
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 c sugar
1 tbsp dark molasses
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Heat milk in saucepan over medium heat until just starts to bubble around edges. Remove from heat.
Beat eggs until frothy, add milk stirring constantly. Stir in pumpkin, sugar, butter, molasses, salt and spices. Whisk until well blended.
Pour into prepared our crust, bake until center is firm 45 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

How to make pumpkin puree

Split pie pumpkin in half cross wise, remove seeds and fibers.
Place cut side down on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 325 until tender, about 1 hour.
Scrape pulp away from skin, discard skin.
Place pulp in blender or food processer, process in batches until smooth.
Push puree through a course sieve. Puree can be stored in freezer for up to 6 months.

My way of doing things

Cut pumpkin, remove stem. Place cut side down on greased baking sheet, seeds pulp and all.
Bake at 350 until tender, scrape away seeds and fibers, discard. Then scrape pumpkin pulp into bowl, discard shell. Blend until smooth with stick blender.
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Easiest Cookies in the World

2010-09-12T19:04:00.000-05:00

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies

1 c peanut butter, any kind
1 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c Mini chocolate chips

Mix all together, drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
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babka.jpg

2010-08-30T22:07:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased the book A Blessing of Bread by Maggie Glezer. This is a fantastic book about challah, and how bread is used in the Jewish life all over the world. I'm not Jewish but I loved this book.
I learned more about how to make bread with this book than all the bread books I have read put together. Also, there are many usable recipes, unlike a lot of cookbooks, that look good at first, until you get them home and really read them, only to realize that the few recipes you saw skimming through are truly the only ones you liked.
So I made chocolate cinnamon babka using this books recipe. It turned out beautifully! I didn't have to fine tune or change the instructions, I could make this exactly as written. A rare occurrence let me tell you.
Maggie has obviously done her research and has done it well. I won't give you the recipe for the babka, I want you to either check out this book from your library or buy it. I believe this book has been titled accurately, you will feel blessed when you read it.
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Homemade Cottage Cheese Redux

2010-08-24T14:41:00.000-05:00

So, although the quick way to make cottage cheese is one way to do it, I wanted to try the longer version to see if it was better. It was.

Put one gallon of skim milk in your crock pot, mix in 1 cup buttermilk. Cover and let sit for 12 to 20 hours until milk clabbers. Cut curds into large cubes and heat on low until whey separates from the curds and the curds firm up. Drain in a tea towel lined colander and rinse with cold water. Squeeze out water, place in container and salt. Add cream and enjoy!

This is the link to the directions I used.
http://www.essortment.com/all/makecottageche_rloh.htm
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Refrigerator Pickles

2010-08-20T13:54:00.000-05:00

Best refrigerator pickles I ever made, and the leftover pickle juice after the pickles are gone make a great salad dressing!

Pickle solution

1 1/2 c cider vinegar
1 2/3 c sugar
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp pickling spice
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 c kosher salt
1 sprig fresh dill
3-5 pickling cucumbers or enough to firmly pack quart jar.

Slice cucumbers and pack into jar, slide dill sprig down side so it shows and looks pretty :)

Put vinegar, sugar, spices, salt, garlic is pan and bring to boil, cool.

Pour over cucumbers in jar and refrigerate. Let sit in refrigerator for at least 24 hours before eating.

Pickling Spice mix

1 cinnamon stick, crushed
5 bay leaves, crushed
2 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp whole allspice
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp peppercorns
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp dill seeds
2 tsp cardamom seeds
1 - 2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp whole cloves

Mix, store in cool dark place.

Pickle juice salad dressing

1/2 c leftover refrigerator pickle juice
2 tsp brown spicy mustard
Olive oil

Take 1/2 cup juice and add 2 tsp brown spicy mustard, whisk in olive oil until desired taste is reached.

Keep in refrigerator.
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Turkey Skillet

2010-08-20T13:35:00.000-05:00

I am loving these skillet recipes, doesn't heat up the kitchen too much and just add a salad and bread and your meal is done!

Turkey Rice and Brocolli Skillet

4 turkey cutlets
2 cups rice (not minute rice)
2 cloves garlic, diced
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 packets turkey gravy
1/2 tsp Italian herb seasoning
1-2 cups chopped brocolli
Pepper
Seasoning salt
Olive oil

Season cutlets with seasoning salt and pepper, brown on all sides in olive oil in hot skillet. Remove
In same pan saute garlic and add chicken broth, bring to boil.
Add rice, gravy packets and Italian seasoning, stir and being to simmer.
Cover and simmer 15 minutes, them add brocolli on top.
Cover and cook until rice is done and broccoli is cooked.

I didn't add too much additional salt because of the broth and gravy, so taste as you go and adjust seasonings as necessary.

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Homemade Cottage Cheese

2010-08-19T16:03:00.000-05:00

Ever since I watched Alton Brown make quick cottage cheese I have wanted to try it myself.

Well today was that day. Truthfully, I didn't hold out much hope for the taste because I love my creamy cottage cheese and there is no way I can replicate that. Was I ever wrong! It was a bit firmer but it was so fresh! I say that every time I make something from scratch, which tells me that what we get at the store is definitely not fresh. It was salty and creamy and it was yummy! It only keeps for about 5 days, but one gallon of skim milk will only get you about 1 1/2 cups of cottake cheese.

This is the recipe directly from Alton Brown on the foodnetwork website.

Ingredients

• 1 gallon pasteurized skim milk
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt • 1/2 cup half-and half-or heavy cream

Directions

Pour the skim milk into a large saucepan and place over medium heat.
Heat to 120 degrees F. Remove from the heat and gently pour in the vinegar. Stir slowly for 1 to 2 minutes.
The curd will separate from the whey.
Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a colander lined with a tea towel and allow to sit and drain for 5 minutes.
Gather up the edges of the cloth and rinse under cold water for 3 to 5 minutes or until the curd is completely cooled, squeezing and moving the mixture the whole time.
Once cooled, squeeze as dry as possible and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add the salt and stir to combine, breaking up the curd into bite-size pieces as you go.
If ready to serve immediately, stir in the half-and-half or heavy cream.
If not, transfer to a sealable container and place in the refrigerator.
Add the half and half or heavy cream just prior to serving.

Give this a try, I think I could even use this as a ravioli filling, or even in lasagne. Mixed with some eggs, herbs and a little cream, I think it would work.

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Friends

2010-08-10T17:19:00.000-05:00

If you've kept up with the national weather, you know the Midwest has been deluged with torrential rains. Relentless, unending hard rains. Like many people in Iowa, I have a leak on my lowest level, in the corner of my den. Also like many, I have to wait several months before I can get it fixed because of the long long waiting list.
The last few nights have been one long exercise in staying ahead of the flood. My husband has had duty most of these nights, so me and my arthritic body have been doing our best. Oh did I mention my dog is scared of thunder? Negotiating a quivering dog while hauling heavy sopping towels and blankets to and fro, emptying buckets and mopping. *wipes weary brow* oh and these storms come about 10p to 5am, long long nights.
Last year I joined the Maryjanes Farm sisterhood. I have met a lot of people there, but one of the best has been Diana, Gramadinah on the forum. From the beginning we have become fast friends. She is just an awesome, thoughtful friend. She always knows when I've had a bad day, I would get a card or little present in the mail, so unexpected and very very appreciated. Best of all is the knowledge that she is there for me.
Today I received a bouquet of flowers. I wasn't sure who sent them until I saw the card.
I am unequivocally blessed with wonderful friends. After the last few nights, my perky levels were a little low, and those flowers were just what the doctor ordered.
Thank you Diana, for being my friend and for being the wonderful person you are.
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Zipping Corn

2010-08-07T17:06:00.001-05:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but here in central iowa, the corn is really growing! We have a plethora of corn! Having ordered quite a bit from my Coop, I decided to freeze it.

I remember helping my mom can corn when I was a kid, corn boiling in the big canning pot, that is what summer smells like to me, cooking corn!

I shucked, de-silked and blanched them for about 4 minutes in boiling water. My friend Carolyn reminded me of a trick I had read about, to make zipping the kernals off the cob easier. Take your angel food cake pan, pop that cob in the center, then start cutting down with a sharp knife. I put a cloth on the edge because I kept hitting my hand, but wow! I was able to zip and freeze several quarts this afternoon while watching TV! Well, I was really just listening to it, I had to keep my eyes on my cobs! My corn had been in my refrigerator for a while, so the sugars had turned to starch mostly, but I am looking forward to zipping some fresh corn I just ordered from the coop.
Spread a kitchen towel underneath your pan, and be aware the corn will spit its juice everywhere, on your cell phone and especially your glasses!
Happy Corn Season!

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Eating Local

2010-08-07T16:48:00.001-05:00

You may know, or not, that I am a member of my local food coop, Iowa Food Coop http://iowafood.org
I found them through http://localharvest.org

I was on a quest to support my local farmers and producers. When I owned my small business, I learned how important it was to have loyal local customers, and wanted to return the favor. Its been a good thing, I have met wonderful people and have tasted the best whole food that has ever been grown and raised my human beings.
Making your living as a producer or farmer isn't about making money, oh it may be for the huge operations, but for the local guy, its mostly a labor of love. Long hours, sweat and sometimes tears to hopefully break even. But what they give us, the consumer is the best of what they have to offer, a basket full of beauty, masterpieces of nature, and a little bit of their heart and soul.
Recently, I checked this book out of my local library. Eating Local http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=mp_s_a_1/180-9106406-5370007?qid=1281215871&a=0740791443&sr=8-1

I loved this book. If you ever run out of ideas for recipes to use up your weekly CSA share, buy, borrow or check out this book. Creative recipes from the growers and the best part? Lots of backstory on CSA's from across the country. Some are century farms passed down for generations, local kids who moved back home and married their childhood best friend to individuals from the professional side changing their career and wanting to make a difference in the health of their community.
Very often I feel to many retailers I am just a dollar amount, do they care if I am happy with their goods? Not really, as long as my check doesn't bounce, I'm not given a second thought. Not so with these local producers, they care and they care a lot. We don't give much thought about how our food got to the distribution sight, we mostly just care if its there! Just as much care went into prepping it for market as went into the growing and harvesting.
The recipes are great, the stories and interviews are heartwarming, and even though you don't know these particular people, you do know many just like them! Many with just as much heart, courage and chutzpah!
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Chicken and Yellow Rice with roasted green beans

2010-08-03T15:48:00.000-05:00

We ate this dish so completely, and packed it away for lunch so quickly, I didn't get a picture. The rice I used was the Mahatma Saffron Yellow rice package, the small one. I would think any rice mix would work, and just about any frozen vegetable would too, adjust your seasoning and cooking time accordingly.

Chicken with yellow rice

6 boneless, skinless, chicken thighs
1 minced clove garlic
1 package yellow(saffron) rice mix
1 c frozen peas

Season chicken with seasoning salt and pepper. Brown in deep skillet in small amount of olive oil. When browned on both sides, remove and saute garlic. In the same pan, prepare rice by bringing indicated (package directions) water to a boil, add rice, bring back to simmer, including the cooked garlic. Place chicken on top, cover and cook until water is absorbed and rice is tender. Sprinkle peas on top, cover and cook 5 minutes more. Turn off heat and let steam until peas are hot.

Roasted Green Beans

1 lg red onion sliced
2 lbs fresh green beans, cleaned and trimmed and snapped
3 cloves garlic, diced
3 tbsp or more of olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Copius amounts of sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Toss all together, spread evenly in large baking dish and roast at 375 for 30 minutes or until beans and onions are cooked and caramelized.
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Egg Obsession

2010-07-28T12:16:00.000-05:00

Ask anyone that knows me well, and they will tell you that I periodically go on what I call a Quest for Knowledge. They simply call it Obsessing.
Well, my latest quest is all things eggs. Egg coddlers, cups and spoons. I purchased a few egg coddlers, oops, now I have a collection! Found out I already owned an antique egg spoon. I only have one egg cup, its all I could find at the time. I used it for the first time today and realized, the dorky butterfly on it is a handle so I don't burn my fingers while digging for eggy goodness!
I am able to purchase the most incredibly flavorful eggs from my local Co-Op (coop, get it?) and have been having the most enjoyable breakfasts lately.
EBay seems to be a great place to find coddlers and cups, but I plan to make a trip to my local antique barn to look for more.

Here are some instructions and recipes for to use with your coddlers and cups.

Soft Boiled Egg
Get a small saucepan of water boiling, make sure water completely covers egg. While water is boiling carefully lower eggs with a spoon into the water. Cover, turn off heat and let sit 3 to 5 minutes.
If you find your egg softer than you would like, I just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. I like mine med hard, just when the yolk gives in and solidifies.

Coddled eggs

1 or 2 eggs
Shaved Ham
Shredded cheese
Chopped parsley and chives

Spray the inside of your coddler with Pam or butter it.
Crack one or two eggs carefully into it, depending on the size of your coddler. Don't use jumbo eggs, it wont leave room for anything else!
Sprinkle a little salt and pepper or I use Sylvias Soulful Seasoning.
Top that with some shaved ham, shredded cheese and chopped parsley and chives. Gently screw on the lid, but keep it loose.
Lower the coddler gently into a pan of simmering water that comes 3/4 of the way up the coddler.
Two eggs will take at least 10 minutes, depending how hard you want the yolks. One egg may only take 6 minutes, depending on how hard you like your yolk.
I remove the lid to check on the eggs, remember the coddler holds heat, so they will continue cooking for a bit after you remove them from the water.
Remove your coddler from the water, using a fork through the metal loop on the lid.
Let sit for a bit while you make and butter your toast.
Gently unscrew the lid, plunge in your spoon, take a dip with your toast 'soldier' and enjoy, yum!

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Easy As Lemon Pie

2010-07-22T21:49:00.000-05:00

Love this recipe. Comes out right every time and once the ingredients are assembled, comes together rather quickly.

Graham crust

1 pack graham crackers, crushed fine
6 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 c powdered sugar

Mix, press into pie plate and bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Lemon pie

1 c sugar
2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 tbsp butter
4 egg yolks

Whisk sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt together in pan.
Stir in lemon juice and zest. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until comes to boil.
Stir in butter.
Place yolks in a small bowl and whisk in 1/2 c of lemon mixture, whisk that mix back into pan.
Bring to boil and continue to cook until thick, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat, pour into crust.

I top this pie with cool whip because *sigh* its what my husband loves. But I think whipped sweetened cream would be great, or nothing at all! Just eat it like that, straight from the pan!

Enjoy!
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Thanks Donna...

2010-07-21T13:25:00.001-05:00

For catching that!

Yes, please add 2 1/2 c all purpose flour to the cake ingredients for the banana cake.
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Banana cake with peanut butter frosting

2010-07-15T12:19:00.000-05:00

I had over ripe bananas, buttermilk that needed to be used and lots of peanut butter. What to do? Make a cake!
This was truly one of the easiest cakes to make, from beginning to end.

Banana Cake
2 c sugar
3/4 butter Crisco
3 beaten eggs
1 tsp each baking powder, baking soda
1/2 c buttermilk
1 1/2 c mashed bananas
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Mix all in large bowl and beat for 3 minutes. Pour into greased cake pans or 9 x 13 pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Peanut Butter Frosting
3 c powdered sugar
1/2 c peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
Enough milk to make spreadable frosting

Beat all ingredients together, frost cooled cake.

I hope you try this and I hope you like it!
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My little harvest

2010-07-13T10:59:00.000-05:00

I did get a late start on my garden this year, but I'm just grateful the weather cooperated and I even have one instead of the scientific experiment in fungi and disease as was last years garden.
Its enough for lunch and a start on the peppers I freeze for winter spaghettis, chilis and quiches.
Hopefully, this is just a small taste of what's to come!
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Shrimp Garam

2010-07-12T21:52:00.001-05:00

When you diet, you want flavor, you NEED flavor since you're eating smaller appropriate portions, every bite counts so every bite must have flavor!
So I came upon this shrimp garam masala recipe. Oh my, its wonderful! So easy and relatively fast, serve over steamed long grain rice, or splurge and make jasmine rice! I froze the leftovers in portions and they thawed and reheated beautifully.

This is a simple, mild and basic garam masala recipe. Its seems to be one of those recipes where every family has their own. Adjust the components to your own taste. As always, fresh spices are best and fresh and freshly ground spices even better.
In the shrimp recipe, I didn't have garlic ginger paste, so I used equal parts fresh ginger root and garlic clove, mashed to a paste.

Garam masala

1 tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tbsp ground red chile
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 ground cloves
1/2 ground nutmeg

Shrimp Garam

1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp garlic ginger paste
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tomato, finely chopped
2 lbs med shrimp, shelled and cleaned
1/4 c water
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

Saute onion and add ginger garlic paste, salt, tumeric, tomato. When onion is soft, add shrimp. When shrimp is pink, add water and garam masala, cook until thickened, stirring constantly but don't over cook shrimp. Serve over rice, garnish with cilantro. If you would like this dish spicier, add more red chili or even cayenne to suit your tastes. There is a lot of leeway in the spice area.
(Of course, since I am Asian, I added a dash of soy sauce)
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Jalapeno Jelly

2010-06-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

5 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 medium green peppers, chopped
1-1/2 cups cider vinegar
6-1/2 cups sugar
2 pouches (3 ounces each) liquid fruit pectin
About 2 drops green food coloring, optional
Cream cheese and crackers, optional
Directions:
1. Chop peppers fine, leave in jalapeno seeds if more heat is desired.
Add the sugar, peppers and vinegar to pan. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
2. Quickly stir in pectin. Return to a rolling boil; boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; skim off foam. Add food coloring if desired.
3. Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids.
4. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Serve over cream cheese with crackers if desired. Yield: 7 half-pints.
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Herbal Tea Jellies

2010-06-22T14:03:00.000-05:00

Another experiment in jelly making was tea jelly. This was easy and rewarding and plus used up those herb tea bags I seem to collect.

The first tea was a Davidsons Chamomile. I steeped 12 tea bags in about 2 cups of water, set it in the sun for about 2 1/2 hours. Combined with lemon juice this jelly was tasty! I was a bit surprised, I didn't think it would be so yummy and it turned a deep orange. The second tea was a Crabtree and Evelyn. Orchard herb tea, I know it contained rosehips, but not sure what else. This turned a deep plum color and was delicious also.

I think I might try this with some of those limited edition seasonal teas from Celestial Seasonings, what a fun holiday gift!

Herb Tea Jelly

2 c hot water
12 tea bags
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
3 c sugar
3 oz liquid pectin

Steep tea bags in 2 c water for about 2 1/2 hours, in the sun if possible.
Take out bags and combine tea with juice and sugar. Bring to rolling boil and boil for 2 minutes. Take off heat and stir in pectin. Bring back to boil and boil for 1 minute. Take off heat, skim foam and pour into jars. Seal and process for 20 minutes.

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Lemon Thyme Moscato Jelly

2010-06-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

You know its a good day when your jellies jell and your jars seal.

I wanted to make wine jelly, and I wanted to make an herb jelly. So I decided to just make an herbal wine jelly. I had a bottle of Moscato and lots of lemon thyme in my garden, it seemed like a good match and it was. I warmed the wine in the microwave and steeped about 2 cups of fresh thyme, for about 2 hours. I strained the mixture and added lemon juice. This turned out a golden green jelly that tasted like liquid honey sunshine. So glad I have another bottle of Moscato as I will definitely be making this again.

Lemon Thyme Moscato Wine Jelly

3 cups of white wine or moscato
2 cups loosely packed lemon thyme
3 TBsp fresh lemon juice
4 cups sugar
3 oz liquid pectin

Warm wine in microwave and steep thyme for about 2 hours. Strain out herbs.
Combine wine, lemon juice and sugar in deep sauce pan. Bring to rolling boil, boil for 2 minutes. Take off heat, stir in pectin. Bring back to rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Take off heat, skim foam and pour into jars. Place a sprig of thyme into each jar if desired. Seal jars and water process for 10 minutes. Allow to cool. This will not jell hard, and will firm up more as it cools completely.

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Jam-it!

2010-06-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

What a weekend so far! I picked up some lovely raspberries at the Coop this week and decide to make some jam. The berries were riper than I realized, and this jam is very soft set, its a little set, but I'm afraid if I re-batch it, it will be gummy or hard. Personally I like a soft spread, so I'm not gonna mess with it. I did test it on my bagel and I am pleased with the flavor.
The very Merry berry came about because I had a cup each of blueberries, strawberries, mulberries, blackberries and raspberries, and I didn't want to waste them, so I combined them and made this all berry jam. Now it did not set, so I re-batched it, its fine now. Tested that on my bagel today, its good. All the berry flavors mellowed into one flavorful jam!
I used green and yellow bell, a red pimento, and red pepper flakes for the hot pepper jelly, its very good! I may make that one again. The jalapeno contains jalapeno and green bell, its mild but does have that nice green chile flavor. I wanted to use only one drop of green color, but two drops slipped out so its greener than I anticipated, but its mellowed now that it jelled. The recipe called for two packs of pectin, so it is not a soft spread at all!
I tested the pepper jellies with cream cheese and crackers, I must say, very very tasty, it was hard to stop eating them!
I usually give these away to family and friends, I hope they like them!
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Garden, life update

2010-06-14T12:55:00.001-05:00

I am loving this summer, and having much more fun than I have had the past two years. I've decided to do those things that hadn't felt well enough to do that last few years. Farmers markets, sun tea, and just generally being more active.
I feel better, my garden is doing great, plenty of rain and warm weather, found a fix for mildew on my squash and cucumbers and have gotten ahead of the weeds, for now.
I always have a project or more accurately, an obsession, this time its rediscovering my Asian roots. I have been eating more Japanese-philippino food, and I really like using my Chopsticks, I eat slower and get less indigestion. I feel close to my mom and that's a big part of this too. When I use her Asian bowls etc. I remember the meals she made for us, the summer mornings when it was just the two of us, sometimes I cry, but mostly thank God she was my mother and praise that I was lucky enough to be her daughter. She taught me so much.

Bought a bento tray for home and bento box for away from home. I have been cooking bao and shumai, and making onigiri and sushi, and having an awesome time prowling through the local Asian stores, seeing lots of foods and home stuff from my childhood.

I am enjoying going meatless too and feel better now that I have given up red meat, and I don't miss fried food, well, except when I have PMS, then you deep fry my house shoe and I would salt and eat it! Mark is on board with the new healthy eating too, which makes life a lot easier.

I've decided to get back to stitching too, and to quilt whenever my carpel tunnel and arthritis are too painful for stitching, and to read when its to painful to do anything else.

I am loving my friends, both near and far, and appreciating them more everyday, I do truly have treasures in Belinda and Mary.

I also have reconnected with my cousins, they were my best friends from childhood, a time when life was happy and full of new adventures, when family was always there and you could count on lots of hugs, good food and family stories.

I am a lucky lucky lady.
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