Tracy's Food (Life)

White Bread, my Daily Bread

2012-01-27T12:17:00.001-06:00

I've had loads and loads of people ask about the white bread loaf I make. I've passed the recipe along but here is the pictures, the play by play.

In the bowl of your kitchenaid

1 cup of warm milk, 1 T sugar, 2 T melted butter, 2 T vegetable oil, 2 1/4 tsp yeast. Mix and leave it there to come to life!

ADD 1 egg, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 3 cups flour.

MIX slowly with dough hook to combine

This looks a little sticky so I shake in 1/4 cup of flour

There, that looks better

CRANK up to high and let it go for 5 minutes

After 5 minutes, it's soft and has cleared the bottom of the bowl!

Put on lightly floured surface and flatten it, knead it a couple of times and turn it into a ball

I put a dollop of room temperature butter on the top of the ball, smear it around with my hands then gently roll and and pull the dough ball under itself which distributes the butter all the way around. Roll it around in your hand creating a smooth surface and it'll feel lovely and happy.

(*I will do a video because I've been asked)

I put it in a plastic container to rise, these don't need to be greased at all, pop a lid on and I put in the oven with the light on for 60 minutes.

After 1 hour, look how HAPPY it is!! It's easily tripled. THANK you, bread dough, you DO love me!

On a lightly floured board, dump it out (the corners make me giggle). Flatten it with your hands, fingertips actually then fold it into 3rds

Fold the top third down and the bottom third up. Then turn it 90 degrees.

Flatten it a bit then roll from the bottom, tightly, (keep the edges even!) and seal the edge over. Pinch it hard!

I roll it lightly in flour and put it, seam side down, in a greased loaf tin. Sorry mine is really grotty but I love the bread this makes and the shape is right.

In the oven with the light on with a dry towel, for 45 minutes, then peek.

OH HAPPY risen bread!!

Pop it into a preheated 375 oven for 25 minutes. If your oven isn't completely even, spin it at 20 minutes.

Remove from oven. *LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL THIS IS!* and remove from pan immediately and leave to cool.

THAT is how I make my daily bread, every 3rd day or so. I hope you make it, I hope you love it, I hope you show me how yours comes out!

(You CAN substitute 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for a/p if you feel but do not substitute a higher percentage!!)

/enjoy!

Millionaire Shortbread you're welcome :)

2011-12-18T14:37:00.000-06:00

I remember millionaire shortbread from back in the day. I don't know if my mother, my aunts or my grandmother made it. I think my mother made something similar to these, I just remember eating them.

It's my party piece. No one in my house eats it but me so I make it to take away, sneaking the edge bits or a slice for myself of course.

It's best kept in the fridge and left to room temperature to serve.

It lasts a long time, well, if there's no one in your house. Otherwise, sorry for your luck!

This is one of my favorite things.

I took it to a party last night and was delighted to over hear, "don't go near those chocolate things on the end, they're like crack! you'll be addicted immediately, I have to go outside to get away from them".

Here's some beauty shots

you can make it in a tart pan and cut it in wedges

in a square pan, cut into chunks

the chocolate cracks and the caramel oozes

dark chocolate or milk chocolate, oh look how flaky

The recipe:

BASE:

1 1/4 cups a/p flour
tsp salt
1 stick butter or margarine (YES! margarine works just fine here)

MIX with your fingers and press into an 8x8 prepared pan and prick it all over with a fork. I prepare the glass dish with a stripe of parchment paper so I can lift the entire thing out in one piece for slicing. And for slicing off the edges, in the name of square-ness, so I can eat them.

BAKE 350 about 20 minutes, until it's pale light golden around the edges.

COOL (yes, I shove it straight from the oven into the fridge on either a rack or a tea towel. My patience? Not great)

CARAMEL LAYER

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 can evaporated milk (NOT sweetened condensed!)
tsp salt

Put all this in a medium sized pan on the stove. Medium high heat. Get a glass of wine and stir. Stir some more and keep stirring, slowly, until the mixture looks and smells like caramel.

You just have to know how to do this, the mixture will boil like mad, get huge bubbles then smaller ones then suddenly, about 15 minutes later, it'll be lava. The odd blurp and it'll color and thicken fast. This is not the time to check your email or even talk on the phone. I stand, with a glass of wine and stir. I think about things sometimes but mostly I stir and cocktail.

When the caramel is the colour you like and thick, pour it over the cooled shortbread base. Straight back in the fridge if you have no patience, leave it out to set if you do.

CHOCOLATE LAYER:

1 cup chocolate chips, dark or milk or mix
1-2 tsp plain oil.

Nuke until it's melted, don't scorch it! Stir it smooth and pour it over the caramel layer. Score the chocolate layer immediately.

These are very very VERY rich so tiny is fine

Make these, love these, and let me know how it goes. If you're one of the inner sanctum, keep inviting me to functions and I'll keep bringing these! :)

/enjoy!

Salmon Meat Balls (mini cakes)

2011-12-15T11:31:00.002-06:00

T'is the season to be invited to cocktail parties, Christmas parties and just having the chance to get together with friends. I love feeding people. I try to do something new, even though I have a couple of hard core fans who demand I bring the same thing over and over.

Every once in a while, I take a bite of something I've made, and made up, and I'm quite simply delighted. I have had that very experience this morning.

I've been invited to a cocktail/snack Christmas Caroling Singing gathering. Sometimes, I think, Christmas demands a higher level of snacking than something bought and brought although really, that is perfectly fine. This time of year is also when a lot of us are watching our budgets so I stood staring into my pantry wondering what I could come up with that was a little bit special, a little bit that would feed many cocktailing carolers and something that was absolutely deliciously wonderful. I wanted to be the rock star.

I had a can of salmon. *bingo!*

I'll be honest, my mother is queen of the fishcake but I make a killer meatball so what we have here is the cocktail party big bang moment; enter my new party piece, salmon meatballs.

Before I even bothered getting dressed, here's what went down:

Tracy's Salmon MeatBalls

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 small onion, chopped small
2 slices hearty white bread (I used my homemade single white loaf and cut a piece about 1 1/2 inch thick)
2 green onions
handful of fresh parsley
1 egg
1 can salmon, picked and liquid saved
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
juice 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper
panko bread crumbs
vegetable oil for frying

In a small frypan, sautee the onions in the butter until they are soft but not brown. Set aside to come to room temperature. A trick I use is to fry the onions for a few minutes then squirt in a little water and throw a lid on the pan, this will speed up cooking the onions without adding any color to them. Finish the onions without the lid to allow any excess liquid to steam off.

In a large bowl, crumble the bread, add some of the reserved liquid, about 4 tablespoons of the salmon liquid, add the onions, green onions and parsley,the egg, mayonnaise, lemon juice and combine lightly. Add the salmon, trying not to completely crush it in the mixture. I use a fork. Toss it together and if it's too liquid, add a little of the panko to help bind the mixture. It should be soft but not too sticky.

Divide the mixture into tiny balls, roll them lightly and put them on a plate. Cover and put in refrigerator until needed. We love the do ahead. You can just roll them in panko and fry them immediately if you want but there's slightly less risk of disintegration if you let them rest a bit.

Roll the balls in panko bread crumbs lightly, fry them on medium heat until they are beautiful, brown and crunchy. There really isn't anything to cook heavily inside so these go quickly. Blot them on paper towel or a brown paper bag, go green, and set aside. Cook them all.

Serve them with this sauce

Tracy's Salmon MeatBall dip/sauce

3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon sweet relish
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chili sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Combine, chill, serve up with anything. This is a ridiculous flavor addition to the salmon meatballs.

Serve the meatballs with the dip/sauce and stand back, you're going to get solid rock star accolades. These are simply delicious little nuggets. Let me know how much you love them.

Here are the beauty shots:

In a big bowl, here's the breadcrumbs, add liquid from can, a couple of green onions and parsley, chopped up and an egg. Fry up the onions to soften but not color.


Gently mix it all up and form into 1 inch balls, salt and pepper it all. Be light handed, no need to pack these tightly, merely enough to hold them together in a ball. After they are formed, roll in panko breadcrumbs.


lightly fry the salmon balls in peanut oil or some unflavored oil until they are beautiful.


Serve them with/on a little of the sauce and a parsley leaf if you're feeling chef-y. Alternatively, put them on a platter with decorative sticks to pick them up and dip them. I might try them on my mini homemade rolls later as a more substantial snack.

Make these as your new party piece. There's enormous bang for your buck and one can of salmon ($2.29 at my HEB) made 30 salmon meat balls. You will be a rockstar.

Merry Christmas!!

/tracy

Meatballs, pressure cooker style

2011-12-01T12:07:00.000-06:00

Ok, It's December in Austin, Texas. Notwithstanding what the weather may or may not do regarding the coldness, I am going to winter weather cook.

Today, I'm making meatballs, these are my simple, everyday, cook balls of meat until they are yummy, meatballs. I cook them in a pressure cooker. I used to cook them in a dutch oven. I think they are more tender in the pressure cooker but they are absolutely delicious either way.

These are weird meatballs, but it's how I do them and I've never had any complaints.

In a food processor (!) combine:

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1/2 cup milk

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic

Process until it's a paste, leave it to sit a few minutes so the bread absorbs everything. The mixture is like pablum. Worry not, it'll work out!

In a large bowl put

1 1/2 lbs ground chuck

1 tsp each of salt and pepper

1 tsp dry basil

1 tsp oregano

the ground bread, onion mixture

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 egg

Mix well with your hands and add up to 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs to help it come together in a moist but cohesive ball. Form them into little balls, I use the 1 inch portion scoop but you can use any measure you want depending on how big you want them. I portion half on a sheet of tinfoil and pop them straight into the freezer and when they're frozen, throw them into bags so I can grab as many or few as I may need for another meal. Just fry them up, from frozen, and throw them in any sauce or soup or just cook them through and make a killer sandwich.

But I'm sorry, I digress, fry your little balls until they are beautiful, not to cook them just to brown them quickly.

Pour 1 can of whole tomatoes, chopped up and 1 can of stock or water in the pressure cooker. A sprinkle of sugar and 1/2 tsp of vinegar really brightens up the flavor. You can omit these and just throw in a jar of tomato sauce, Hunts works best here for the retro flavor. Either way, throw in a bay leaf.

As you fry the balls, drain them and pop them into the cold sauce in the pressure cooker. Pour off all the fat from the pan and deglaze with a splash of red wine and a half a can of water. Add the liquid to the pot.

Cook on high pressure for 7 minutes, allow to release naturally. Eat. Save. Freeze. Refrigerate. Serve with pasta. Serve with potatoes. Make a sandwich on crunchy homemade bread. Do whatever meatbally thing you'd like. They are tender, meaty and delicious.

ALTERNATIVELY, if you don't 'do' pressure cookers; use a covered dutch oven and bake for 45 minutes at 375.

Mmmmm, meatballs goodness

go make some meatballs in the pressure cooker, you'll be delighted.

/enjoy

Potato Appetizer Snack Side Deliciousness

2011-11-14T09:07:00.001-06:00

Sunday has turned into football watching day. I don't think it's because anyone particularly likes football but rather the call of "the games on!" has become synonymous with "it's justification for laying around in jammies and not actually doing to help put the house back together even though the walls are all cracking and there is paper hanging from cracks in all the corners and the child's bedroom window is falling out day".

Since I was sick the day before, there's not a snack in the house. It's amazing how little gets done when I spend a day laying on my bed feeling well and truly sorry for myself. I mean the dishwasher backup continued, am I the only one who knows how to empty it. I'm sure I am not, perhaps it's just that I'm the only one who would think about it? Am I doomed to be the dishwasher backup emptier and reloader supervisor for the rest of my life? I mean it's sort of like the toilet paper. I actually walked in the bathroom the other day and there was a new roll of toilet paper balanced precariously on the empty roll of it's predecessor. Who thinks of that? I am sure it took more thought, work and mental process to decide to and then execute the opening and balancing of the new roll than simply changing it out.

I'm sorry, I digress. We are here to talk about little fried rounds of delightful happiness making and I'm ranting about broken houses, dishwashers and toilet paper. We are here, really, to talk about food.

I think snacks are important on football day. I like to nibble when I'm staring at the big tv cheering on millionaires who play with little balls for a living. Ok, I'm being facetious but really, grown men? In any event, this is the best, easiest, yummiest appetizer snack side dish you'll ever make.

The only make ahead is the fact you have to have cooked mini potatoes in your fridge. So long as that is done, you're laughing. These, by the way, are also fantastic with eggs in the morning, noon, or night. It's a breakfast dish, it's an anything dish.

Here we go:

Get some cooked mini potatoes
Get a frying pan
Get some sort of hot fat
Sea salt and any herb you love.

Place the potaotes on your counter, squash them with the heel of your hand. Not to thin that they fall apart but far enough to crack the skin open and expose the potatoey goodness inside that we are about to crisp!

Squash the little darlings and heat up your favorite fat in a large skillet. I use a non stick for this. My husband was recently on a business trip to the UK and I had him bring me back a couple of jars of goose fat specifically for frying potatoes. IF you don't have a business trip husband, feel free to use bacon fat, or lard or olive oil, whatever floats your boat works here. It's more the method.

Get the fat really hot and lay the little squashers in, carefully. They have to be in a single layer and as much as you want to futz with them, do not futz with them. You can give them a little shake to feel involved but really, just leave them. You need them more than they need you at this moment in time. You will smell they're frying and you will see a little darkening around the edges, that's when you flip. Carefully, we really want these to stay in tact.

Flip them twice, lay them on a board and sprinkle them with sea salt. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce. My son likes to use ranch dressing, I like garlic aoili. Feel free to cheat here and thin a little mayonnaise with milk and grate some garlic into it, add salt and pepper.

Sprinkle them with whatever fresh herbs you have. They make a really cool appetizer and unusual finger food for a cocktail party or just for hanging around.

Lamb Meatballs or Kebabs

2011-11-02T18:57:00.001-05:00

I've made too many chicken dishes lately.

I needed a change.

I really like lamb. I don't eat it nearly enough. I think we fall into the chicken, ground beef or pork routine too easily as we're all trying to save on our grocery bills.

I found lamb on sale today and snatched it up. I was going to make a lamb meatball curry with bananas and coconut milk, oh the plans I had. I have changed my mind and now it's lamb meatball/kebab hoagie sandwiches for dinner. These are divine, easy, delicious and have a richness you just don't get from beef or pork.

Here is the list:

1 lb ground lamb
1 thick slice bread
1/4-1/2 cup yogurt (PLAIN!)
salt, pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
a few grates of nutmeg
1/2 onion (grated)
2 large garlic cloves (grated)
1 green onion (chopped)
some cilantro (chopped)

In a bowl, crumble the slice of bread and add the yogurt, mash it around and leave it to rest a few minutes. The bread will absorb the yogurt (I usually do this with milk but wanted the added acidity) and turn to a mash that will combine with the lamb and help keep it tender. After it's sat there for a few minutes, add the rest of the ingredients and mix lightly with a fork.

Cover the mixture with plastic and let it rest for a while. This really does matter, the flavors blend and the yogurt further marinates the meat.

Form the meat into little football shapes! They will lay beautifully in the bread later.

These are the loaves I'm going to fill! They are a simple italian loaf that you'll probably just go and buy, I'm a bit bread obsessive and only eat my own. I will post the recipe when I next make it and pay attention to the measurements. I had to add the beauty shots of the bread, the crumb was perfect, in my humble opinion, and we've eaten most of it now!

Make a sauce of yogurt and grated garlic, chopped mint, salt and pepper. Fry the meatballs in olive oil until they are brown and have a lovely crust on them. I did them in two batches, browned them then tossed them on a (grotty old, apparently sorry) sheet pan and put them in a 400 toaster oven for about 15 mins.

Cut the loaf into enormous pieces, slice them open.

slather them with the sauce and crispy romaine leaves, pile the hot meatballs on top.

Take some beauty shots, add a bit more sauce for effect and DEVOUR!

Although the original curry plan went strangely awry, there was sheer delight on the face of my 12 yr old as he devoured, lovingly, the enormous "just sandwiches for dinner" before him.

I think this is a keeper recipe!!

/enjoy

Pork Ribs in the Pressure Cooker (St. Louis Cut Ribs)

2011-11-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

I stopped by buy pork this morning. Actually, I stopped for milk but apparently I'm incapable of sticking to any culinary plan.

That being said, I love the pork in Texas, it tastes really "porky". I bought 2 pork loin roasts for my peameal (another post) but saw they had St. Louis Cut Pork Ribs on sale. I found the smallest rack and rushed home to experiment.

We know I've become a little bit obsessed with my Pressure Cooker. It simply amazes me. Meat is meatier, chicken is chickenier and everything just tastes that little bit richer and more flavorful and the time is cut easily by a third.

Today's experiment, the pork ribs.

Assemble your army:

1 rack pork ribs
1 can beer
a little water
your favorite bbq sauce
salt and pepper

I cut the slab into 3 pieces so that it'd fit in the pressure cooker. I salted and peppered, liberally, each section and browned it.

I added one beer and about the equivalent of a can of water to the pressure cooker and put a steamer rack inside.

Pile the ribs on the rack, overlapping is ok, obviously. Set Timer for 35 minutes. At the end of 35 minutes, let the pressure reduce naturally and transfer the ribs to a board.

Coat the ribs with your favorite bbq sauce (I coated mine very lightly but feel free to load it on!) Add about a cup of water to the bottom of the pot and set timer for another 10 minutes. Preheat your broiler!

It took all my willpower not to rip these to shred and eat them now. See the lengths I'll go to for a complete recipe? Put the ribs on a rack and either coat with bbq sauce or I just dipped my brush in the sauce/water combo at the bottom of the pot and painted them.

broil a couple of minutes, until they look like this

there.are.no.words. Ok there are words. These are perfect. Juicy. Rich. Porky. Tender. The meat has a slight pull but it comes clean from the bone. Juice ran down my hands. Finger Licking Good. I have never.ever. made ribs anywhere close to this good before and I have make some killer ribs.

Connor is going to go crazy when he comes home from school. I've wrapped them in foil and I'm going to let him munch down on them as an after school snack! I mean, they ARE an experiment afterall.

If you make nothing else I've suggested. Make these.

/enjoy

Yellow Split Pea Soup (pressure cooker style)

2011-11-01T11:06:00.001-05:00

I'm in the mood to cook. I love my pressure cooker. I don't want to go to the store. I don't want to spend any money. I'm starving for something that I love.

All these things coming together equal my very delicious, quick, nutritious, tasty, warming and tummy happiness making yellow split pea soup.

Gather your ingredients!

1 stalk celery

1/2 onion

1 carrot

1 1/2 cup yellow split peas

6 cups homemade chicken stock or water or a combination

some thyme

some bacon

a bay leaf

salt, pepper

appetite

Chop!

I never separate bacon slices but rather slice off the edge of the pound. I used 5 thin slices today. Throw the bacon in the pressure cooker on "brown" and crisp it up!! remove it and try not to eat it. I fail at this step pretty consistently.

oh, crispy goodness!! Leave the dripping behind. Toss in your veggies and fry them around. Add some salt, some pepper and some thyme. Fry it to soften the veggies slightly. You do not have to do this step, I just like to feel involved. You can just toss everything in the pressure cooker, set it and leave but really, I need to feel the whole things needs me!!

This is 1 1/2 cup picked yellow split peas. Toss them into the lightly softened veggies and shoosh it around.

Add 6 cups of liquid. This is about half chicken stock and half water. If you don't have stock, use water, really, it's delicious any way you make this! Toss in a bay leaf. Set for 15 minutes. Go do something.

DING! time's up! I let the pressure come down for a few minutes on it's own then crack under the tasting pressure and release it manually the rest of the way.

OH, soupy yumminess!! Let's taste! I like to add some of the crunchy bacon on top. DELICIOUS!

The peas and veggies are soft and the bacon is crispy. The broth is rich and delicious.

Lets blend it. I have an immersion blender but you can use a regular blender of course.

Oh yes, I think I like this batch smooth better. A little of the bacon on top again for crunch. It's rich and unctuous and happy tummy making.

Here's my stash for the fridge. Not bad for about .50 worth of ingredients.

I just took my "old lady" bread out of the oven http://tracyloopers.blogspot.com/2011/03/old-lady-bread-way-old-school.html and intend on slicing this thickly, buttering and adding some extra old white English cheddar to accompany the soup for my lunch today. I need someone to be really nice to me and apparently that person is going to be me.

Make this. You will be happy.

/enjoy

Ok, I broke into it...the crust is thick and crispy and the center is soft and airy and tasty. Go make this too!!

OK, now I'm going to go eat it.

/enjoy!!

Spaetzle (maybe not authentic but it's mine)

2011-11-01T09:01:00.000-05:00

Sometimes a friend asks a generic foodie type question and it sets in motion a hankering that simply can't be shaken.

I have, obviously, had that occur which is the only reason I would make and eat spaetzle for breakfast. Now, that being said, I see nothing wrong at all with having it for breakfast more regularly. It's taking all my will power not to cook up the rest of it and slather it in Tate & Lyles Golden Syrup or maple syrup or sugar, we'll see how my will power holds out.

IN the meantime, here's my recipe, such as it is and a play by play, the beauty shots.

In a bowl combine 1 cup a/p flour, 1 tsp salt, a few grindings of black pepper and whatever herb you like. I have some tyme in here and a little herbs du provence. I like these quite herby and savory but if you don't then leave it out and merely salt them.

Crack an egg in the middle and mix it up a bit.

Add milk until it's thick but will ribbon on itself when you lift a spoon. This is too thick!

Add a little more milk and this is just right

Now, for instruments. I happen to have one of these makers but for years and years I used a flat grater. You can also set a steel strainer over the pot or even a box grater but that's sort of convoluted to handle in the steam. Use the strainer, biggest holes makes the biggest noodles.

Here's my station, one pot of boiling salted water and one receptacle with ice water and a giant strainer/spider to scoop 'em!

Set your strainer/grater/spaetzle maker over the boiling water and put a giant glob of the batter/dough on it, scrape it slowly so it's forced through the holes and into the water.

When they float for a moment or two, they're done.

Scoop 'em out and dump into cold water to hold them.

Put some butter and a little oil in a pan, heat it up with some herbs, I used tyme and savory. I would have added parsley but whoever is in charge of groceries here failed miserably with the fresh herbs, oh wait, that's me, nevermind. Let it get quite hot if you let the butter brown slightly it adds a lovely nutty flavor to the spaezle.

Toss in some drained spaetzle and shoosh it around, it'll spit and crackle from the water evaporating then it'll heat through, absorb the butter and herbs. You can fry it until they brown, I rarely bother.

Tip into bowl. Grate more pepper if you're in the mood. Add cheese if you like or fresh parsley, *mental note, add parsley to shopping list* Eat joyously.

A little flour, an egg and some milk, really, go make some! It's a super delicious and quick side dish it's also a fabulous main course.

Now, the only decision left is whether I make more and toss it in sugar then ... I'll go eat a piece of halloween candy while I decide.

/enjoy

Bread Bread Dump Cake

2011-10-15T13:17:00.000-05:00

apparently I'm in my 'brown food' period. this is my contribution to tonight's dinner at friends.

three ciabatta loaves

two processor baguettes

one apple dump cake

it wasn't until i took the group shot that i realized i'm into brown food. i'll be rectifying that in the not too distant future. well, after the steak and kidney pie, steak and kidney pudding and the beef stew and the brisket. *sigh* nevermind, apparently I'm in brown food for a while yet ;)

/tracy

Pressure Cooker Experiments

2011-10-03T13:41:00.002-05:00

I got a new electric pressure cooker. I'll post the actual recipes later, these are the action shots.

I was going to hold out for a swanky, expensive, name brand, electric pressure cooker. I knew I wouldn't fork out the cash if I didn't know how well it would do. My local Walmart had the Nesco 6qt on sale. I bought it on the way home from dropping Connor as school. The theory is that when I become a pro I'll toss the $60 pressure cooker for a better one but I tell ya, I LIKE this one.

I skyped my mom (who has an electric pressure cooker) and she talked me through some ideas. This is what we did.

Artichokes. 6 minutes.

Chicken, coconut, potato, onion curry. 8 minutes

Custard. 3 minutes

Jambalaya. 9 minutes.

Delicious. Flavorful. Better than the same things I've cooked the "regular" way. Oh and it was all finished, boxed and put away by 11:30. Heck of a mornings "work".

Buy a pressure cooker. Now.

/tracy

Lemon Ginger Cheesecake Tart

2011-09-19T06:56:00.001-05:00

Any time I pull my tart pan out of the cupboard I know it's going to be good. My mother recently came back from a jaunt to England (our homeland!) and she came back with this little ditty of a recipe.

We skype when she comes back from trips, seeing as she lives 1,675 miles away from me, and recites ingredient lists and recipes that she's acquired.

I had a hankering.

I grabbed my piece of paper and proceeded to make one of the best lemon cheese cake tarts I've had in a very long time.

I'm going to share it with you.

In a tart pan;

Press a ginger snap crust ( 1 1/2-2 cups ginger snaps and 1/4 cup butter)

In a separate bowl, combine:

1 tub marscapone

1 tin sweetened condensed milk

zest and juice of 3 lemons.

Shove it in the fridge to set. Eat, Enjoy, Repeat.

Truly, that's IT! Here's the beauty shots.

My tart pan, I love thee. I sprayed it but I don't think I needed to. I shoved a couple of handfuls of ginger snaps in the cuisinart, just shy of 2 cups ground, and added enough soft butter to make it crumbly, again about 1/2 a stick of butter.

I pressed it into the tart pan, looks like fudge!

I mixed the marscapone, zest and juice in the cuisinart to remove lumps and then added the condensed milk.

Mmm, creamy deliciousness, it's thickening already.

Poured it into the pan and off to the fridge. (the dark flecks are ginger crust edge that somehow managed to flick over when I spread the filling around)

I broke in when it was soft set, willing itself to stay together. Ridiculous good. The ginger crust really adds something special and goes beautifully with the tart TART lemon flavor and the creaminess, well, it's one of those desserts you take a bite of and then stop, and really, truly, enjoy the moment.

I took half to a friend who was equally as delighted with it. I am going to try it next time with regular cream cheese with a little cream added to mimics the marscapone which could be prohibitively expensive to whip this up sometimes and we can't have you NOT make it because of the cream cheese ;)

Make it, enjoy it, and let's send a resounding "oooooooooh yummmy, thanks!" for my mum.

/tracy

p.s. I wonder what other recipe tidbits she brought back?

Chicken Divan - my way

2011-08-27T10:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, there are a few casserole dishes that are my standard go-to dishes for company, to take, or just to use up whatever is in my fridge. For this reason, there are two things that are always in my cupboard, at all times, guaranteed.

Before I confess, I will say I hate (seriously hate hate hate) canned soups and in particular that mushroom soup pap. The two things I always have in my cupboard is two cans of Campbell's cream of chicken soup. Not diet soup or sodium free or healthy or fat free just regular, straight old, cream of chicken soup and frankly, the few cents extra for Campbell's makes it worth it, as much as I hate to admit it, it's better.

THAT being said, let's make us some fake chicken divan!!

Get some leftover cooked chicken, as much as you'd like that will cover the bottom of a 9x13 dish. I usually save 1/2 of my roasted chickens and shred it to make one giant dishful. You also need one small bag of frozen broccoli, either florets, small pieces or whole, your choice. I prefer to use fresh of course but the frozen works fine and we are cheating all the way around on this recipe so go for the frozen bag next time you're in the freezer section. At my HEB it's $1.29 I think so it's a cheap investment to keep in the freezer. You do have to have broccoli here, I've tried other vegetables and they just don't work.

MY FAKE CHICKEN DIVAN

You'll need :

About 1/2 cooked chicken or 2 cups cooked
15 oz bag frozen broccoli
tube ritz crackers
about 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a 9x13, buttered, dish, spread the frozen broccoli, breaking up any giant chunks that are stuck together.

Cover the broccoli with the cooked chicken either shredded or cut into chunks.

In a large bowl, combine:

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can water

1 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp curry powder

zest and juice of 1 lemon

salt, pepper

Stir and taste!! depending on your curry powder and lemon you may need to adjust up. The sauce should be tart yet have a depth from the curry.

Spread the sauce over the chicken.

Grate cheddar cheese in a light layer over the sauce.

Crush 1 tube of Ritz crackers, toss them with a little melted butter or olive oil and cover the cheese.

Bake at 375 about 45 minutes or until it's bronzed, bubbly and you can smell dinner!

Serve with steamed basmati. This is one of my favorite 'fake' dishes and I make it often! I hope you enjoy it!!

Before it went into the oven and when it came out. The bubbly crunchy bits around the end are the absolute best ;)

Scoop it out and serve it on mountains of steamed rice.

Make this, often.

/enjoy

Roast Chicken

2011-08-15T08:15:00.000-05:00

This is my 1 hour chicken. Ok, it takes longer than an hour but if I call it 1 hour chicken it feels faster.

I always cook two of them when I do this. There is nothing wrong with a "spare" cooked chicken. I have plans for it in the week since these are only about 4 lb birds, an entire bird generally is inhaled on roast chicken night. Although I HAVE made a full dinner of leftovers from the bones, one thigh and one wing which always seems be left, I prefer the luxury of a full bird!

HEB had whole roasters on sale for .85/lb so both of these only cost me $7 and we'll eat for a week. Not a bad deal at all.

My "recipe" is as follows:

Dry the chickens, plunk their innards in a pot with some fat and fry them dark brown, cover them in water, a piece of celery, a piece of carrot and salt and pepper and set it off to simmer. Use this stock in any gravy you make or seal it up and put it in the fridge for use later in the week.

Set the oven to 400. Season the birds with salt and pepper, sage, herbs de Provence and thyme. Use any herb you want here, these are just my favorites. Season them liberally inside and out, toss 1/2 a lemon inside, squeeze it too and truss them up tightly.

Put a scrape of butter on the bottom of a roasting pan and put the birds in, on their sides. Add a large pat of butter on the top of each bird and roast for 15 minutes.
Remember to baste on each flip a few times.
After 15 minutes, flip the birds to their other sides and add another pat of butter.
After 15 minutes, flip the birds onto their breasts, butter them!.
After 15, flip them onto their backs, turn the oven to 425 and cook the birds through, maybe 20-25 minutes? Cook them till their juices run clear or the breast is at 160 if you are a temperature taker.
Baste them frequently, they'll get crispy and buttery and crazy good.

*in total it's only 1/2 stick for 2 birds (1/4 cup) it just sounds like way more!

Take them out of the oven, put them on a dish covered loosely with foil for about 15-20 minutes. This resting time really matters. I cut it up with scissors, put it on a serving dish and serve it with peas, mashed potatoes and gallons of my delicious gravy. You can also just de-grease the pan (pour all the juices in a heat proof jar or any tall vessel and shove it in the freezer for 10 minutes, the fat will rise and start to harden so you can remove it. SAVE the fat in the freezer, sealed, for when you want to fry anything and have it taste much better) and serve it with the juice as a light sauce which is also painfully good.

It may take a little work but it's easy work and you can be preparing the vegetables and having a glass of wine in between bird flip intervals ;) It really does make a world of difference flipping a bird around, it browns much more evenly and I think the juices are distributed and it's very very moist and fabulous.

Roast one, be happy.

/enjoy

Salmon Cakes and Asparagus

2011-08-05T08:43:00.001-05:00

It's been 106+ in Austin for weeks. And weeks. And weeks. As much as I love to cook, it's just too hot. To cook anything. Inside or outside. I had to kill a couple of hours while Connor was in band camp so I wandered the local grocery, use their air conditioning! They had asparagus on sale and I had a hankering.

I remembered I had left over mashed potatoes in the fridge, some romaine and a can of salmon. Voila, dinner for 3 for nothing basically.

I splurged and bought the asparagus. Even though it was skinny I knew I could enhance it's "asparagus-y-ness" and have myself one heck of a feed for $1.99/bunch. I found the biggest bunch ;)

I made my Nana's hot water hollandaise. It's rich and creamy and induces less guilt due to the fact the butter is reduced and boiling water is added. I add black pepper and a smidge of tarragon to mine which makes it my own version. I'm all about the futzing.

I don't know if it's a family recipe so I will hold off putting the recipe out here for the moment and check with the current matriarch. I made it in the blender, transferred it to a pot to thicken and moved it into a jar, sat in hot water, and it waited for me.

The salmon cakes are the 1 1/2 cups of left over mashed potatoes, a drained tin of salmon, one green onion, salt, pepper, 1/4 cup breadcrumbs soaked in the juice from the salmon tin. I formed them into 9 1/3 cup balls and tossed them into the fridge until I was ready for dinner.

I rolled them in 2 beaten eggs then into Panko breadcrumbs and fried them in peanut oil until they were brown, crispy and heated through.

I drained them on paper towel quickly then put them in the pan with the cooked asparagus to keep warm. The asparagus got a reasonable dose of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. I cooked it in the toaster oven!! to avoid heating the house and they were great!! I cooked them at 450 for 8 minutes. They came out crisp tender with a roasty flavor and just perfect.


oh yummy roasty goodness. I grated a few passes of lemon zest on them fresh out of the oven, I could have eaten nothing else.

Connor opted for the salmon cake, hollandaise, salad combo.



I thought the simple approach best, a couple of crispy cakes and a generous helping of the crisp tender roast asparagusy goodness. Naw, who are we kidding, hollandaise me baby! Yes, we all know that after the photo shoot, I slathered the hollandaise on my salmon cakes too. Painfully good.

It has the illusion of health and the rich decadence of a hollandaise that's light yet flavorful!

/enjoy

Waffles

2011-07-26T11:38:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, you just feel like waffles. Real waffles. I think those boxes of circular cardboard that you get in the freezer section are revolting. They should have some warning on them stating they don't actually taste like waffles, but that's just me.

I have an old Betty Crocker cookbook that my mother gave me hundreds of years ago and I cook from it still. There is a really basic, delicious, waffle recipe in there that I use as a base. I add vanilla and cut the sugar a little bit, I also tweaked the procedure but it's still simple, basic, delicious and something you should make.

I "found" my waffle maker a couple of months ago during a massive "what the hell is at the bottom of this closet anyway?!?!" purge and was delighted! It heats really evenly and gives a nice range of done-ness. I like my waffles crispy on the outside and soft on the inside so I bake them at 4.5. I turn it on before all else so it waits for me until it holds my waffles hostage and makes me wait for the green bling announcing my joy is forthcoming!

If you need to go off and make some immediately, here's the recipe. For the rest, take the photo tour below...it's so worth it ;)

WAFFLES

2 eggs
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter (you can half with oil)
2 cups a/p flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Whip the eggs and sugar until VERY thick and fluffy. Add dry ingredients, milk and vanilla, mix until just blended. Add the melted butter in a stream while you whip on high, quickly, until very thick without any lumps of flour.

Cook in waffle iron. Eat, repeat.

Here's the rest of the tour:

Put the eggs and sugar in the mixer and beat like crazy. We want very very pale and very very thick here. I also was feeling chef-y this morning so I properly measured out my flour, baking powder and salt; the milk and the melted butter.


This is the color of the eggs and sugar, it's just shy of being able to ribbon on itself. Add the milk, and flour alternatively rather quickly, add a splash of vanilla and drizzle and melted butter in. Look how thick this batter is, it's exactly what you want!


My waffle iron is pretty well used but I still spray the first time when it's hot. Put a thick ladleful on each square and shut the lid. Wait, wait, wait. Mine takes about 3 minutes but really, it's an eternity.


Red light...wait wait wait.....GREEN LIGHT...EAT EAT EAT!

Oh look at these babies. This recipe makes 10 decent waffles. They are crispy on the outside and tender and yummy on the inside. I keep them on a rack on a sheet pan in the oven to keep them warm and crispy while you make them all. Connor tends to steal them as they come off the iron. I have them laid out on a rack now cooling. These things freeze beautifully. I freeze them individually so Connor can grab as many as he wants, throw them in the toaster oven and have a real toasted waffle for breakfast or lunch or a snack.

Ok, that's the waffle story. This is the P.S.

My mother and I were skyping this morning. Sometimes we talk about food. Oh wait, we ALWAYS talk about food. It's our thing. I think I judge the happiness of us and of our relationship based on what the food topic d'jour may be. Crispy loaves of french bread spread with soft cold butter, soft savory meat pies with mashed potatoes, 1857 Mrs. Beeton sausages, egg and chips from her youth; it speaks volumes and I think it's our food that keeps us grounded. Anyway, I digress, we are here to talk about waffles and that's precisely what we were chatting about. We talked about mixing flavor and ingredients into a base batter and wondered if the iron would be too hot for a "sprinkled" add in. Well, never one to sky away from a science experiment, I ventured bravely into waffle battle sprinkle land.

I have bananas and I have pecans. Yeah, this is the way to go, sprinkle on the batter, cook, top with fresh bananas and pecans and some Canadian maple syrup. You don't even want to know how delicious this is.

I sprinkled the batter with a generous helping of chopped banana and some pecans, closed the lid and waited. The bananas cooked into the batter and the pecans got lightly toasted. All good. Nothing burned, nothing scorched and they were perfect for my waiting addition of a couple more slices and a few more nuts.

Sure, it's beautiful but we need syrup!

Sometimes...I shouldn't be allowed in a kitchen. This ranks with one of the best things I've ever made. Hot, crispy, tender, sweet, savory, ab-so-lutely perfection.

I'm going to need a moment alone here. Make these, let me know how delicious you think they are too.

/enjoy

Apple Cobbler

2011-07-15T10:25:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite ways to spend time is sitting with grand ladies of Texas and listening intently while they tell me about the food their mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers cooked, 'back in the day'. I had just such an opportunity last week. Ms. MaryJo sat under a large Live Oak tree with an enormous straw hat that she'd embellished with hundreds of brightly colored ribbon twists and told me stories. She talked about killing snakes by shooting their heads off, by chopping 'vermin' up with a hoe and she talked about the food.

One of the things she told me to make was a "real cobbler". I can't imagine arguing with Ms. MaryJo so I didn't, I dutifully typed out (on my iphone) the directions as given and this is the result. Yes, it's ridiculously good, easy and I'm going to make it all the time. This is apple but the same day I made a peach and my mother made a raspberry/blackberry. It turns out perfect each time and it's old fashioned, pure and ab-so-lutely delicious!!!

The "recipe" is below the beauty shots.

Heat oven and take a stick of butter or margarine or both (this is half and half) and put it in your pyrex dish. Shove it in the oven to melt it.

Meantime, heat about 2 cups of some sort of fruit. If it's fresh, cook it down in a saucepan a little bit with some water and flour. If it's in a can, just heat it up. I heated up a can of unsweetened pie filling to which I added a little cinnamon, a squirt of lemon to freshen it, some water and a little flour. I nuked it. In another bowl, mix the batter.

When the butter is melted, pour in the fruit and sort of flatten it out a bit but don't mess with it too much.


Pour the batter into the middle of the hot fruit, hot butter/margarine. Do not mix! "You can run your knife through to do a figure 8 once or twice but don't mess it around"


Bake it 30 minutes then sprinkle it with some cinnamon and sugar then let it cook another 15 or so, until it's bubbly and beautiful. *I think this is pretty beautiful.


She said let it sit a bit then eat it. So I let it sit, then we ate it.


I added a little cream. See how it's thick like a super moist cake with the fruit in layers through it. Oh my goodness it was so crazy crazy good. The sprinkle of sugar cinnamon added a really lovely crunch.


Connor added cream out of a can.

Apple (fruit) Cobbler ala Ms. MaryJo

Heat oven to 375

1 stick butter or margarine

2 1/2 cups hot fruit for filling with a little (4 Tbsp) flour mixed in

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle

1 stick of butter or margarine (1/2 cup) melted in 9" round or square pan

Add hot fruit to melted butter and spread out gently, don't mix in!

Mix flour, sugar and milk in separate bowl and pour into the middle of the hot fruit. Gently run knife through in figure "8" pattern to distribute if you'd like, you can do it without doing the cutting in.

Bake in 375 oven for 30 minutes, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake another 15-20 minutes until it's bubbly and brown and you just can't stand it anymore.

Let rest a few minutes before you devour it.

/enjoy!

Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

2011-06-27T12:53:00.000-05:00

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake. There's nothing at all wrong with those four words. People think this is difficult or fidgety, it's not, it's easy, quick and best of all, it stores in the freezer and you can pop it in the oven and have chocolaty, cakey, liquidy, fudgy deliciousness oozing all over your plate in mere moments. The recipe is below, here's the process (and beauty shots!)

Melt the chips and butter in the microwave, set aside to cool down. Butter mini mason jars liberally. You can store in the freezer in these dishes and bake in them as well, I do my pork pies and meat pies in them and keep them in the freezer. You can serve up one or two of the savory pies whenever the urge hits without the time and effort (and leftovers that get tossed) of making a full size pie.

Try to keep melted chocolate yumminess away from any lurking 12 yr old boys.

Whip eggs in the kitchenaid and add sugar and flour. Beat until it's fluffy, add the chocolate and fill the mini dishes about 3/4 full. Put lids on and freeze or bake at 375 for 11 minutes.

I pour the mixture back into the measuring cup to make it easier to fill the dishes, it's up to you.

IF you bake right away, it's 375 for 11 minutes, I cook them on a sheet pan. Run a knife around the outside and invert onto a plate. Have them plain or add some poured cream or cream out of a can. Either way, these are crazy good.

Inverted success!

Oooziness success!

Sure, add whipped cream!

My Lava Cake recipe;

Melt:

1 cup of semi sweet chips

1 stick of butter

Combine to smooth and set aside.

In mixer:

Whip 3 eggs until very thick and pale.

Slowly add

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

Beat until very thick, add chocolate mixture and fold quickly. Divide between buttered ramekins or small dishes. Bake on a tray at 375 for 11 minutes or freeze. If cooking from frozen, bake at 375 17-19 minutes. It should still look wet in the middle.

Quick, simple, delicious. Not too sweet yet desperately chocolatey.

/enjoy

Pie in a Jar

2011-06-20T16:53:00.000-05:00

There is always room for pie. Sometimes you need pie, not just feel like pie or wish you had pie or think that pie would be a good idea. Sometimes it's a need that if you don't satisfy you'll burst into flames.

I can fix it so that you never, ever, have to be without pie again. You don't need to run to the store or *gasp* the bakery. You certainly have to open your freezer but it's YOUR freezer filled with YOUR pie. You can have one or twenty and there is absolutely no waste. This works for a family or a single, I've been both and I've always had pie.

This is a cheat version. Trust me, frequently I peel some apples, shred them into a pan with some melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and cook them down a bit and use that as my filling. Not this day, this day we're straight out of a can because I had a can and really, I had to be wasteful.

On that note, I know how to make pastry, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. It's your call, if you WANT to make pastry; go for it. If you don't want to make it, help keep those Pillsbury people employed and buy a box (or two) when they go on sale and keep them in your freezer for pie making day. That's today.

The only other thing you need is the mini jam (mason) jars, short and wide mouthed is what we need here. These are about 2 inches high and you can buy a gross at Walmart for next to nothing.

Assemble your ingredients, however fresh or homemade they may be. You need pastry, some sort of fruit filling, some lemon and some cinnamon and the half mason jars. If I use canned apple filling (this one is sugar free) I add a squeeze of lemon and some cinnamon to it in a bowl and chop the apples a bit, it makes the filling 'brighter' and less 'canned'.

Roll out whatever pie dough you feel the urge to use and line the mason jar. Fill almost to the top and put the 'lid' on, seal it up the best you can. I should have left more up the sides or maybe not filled it quite so full, it's a trial and error thing.

After you put the top crust on it, put the mason lid on and shove it in the freezer.

I baked this immediately on pie day without having been frozen because I couldn't stand the wait. I sprinkled a little bit of sugar on it and baked about 40 minutes. I drizzled a little cream on it and ate it right out of the jar after it rested about 15 minutes, it's too molten much before that.

I baked this one from frozen solid at a lower temperature, I could have let it go longer to get a darker crust but I wanted pie! There was some explosion but really, it's all good. I did run a knife around it and invert it on a plate, it was cool and it made my mother (who was skyping me at the time) green with envy at my instant hot apple pie. I covered it with heavy cream and ate it ruthlessly.

Make it, use any cooked filling and fill your freezer with these pies. You can do sweet or savory fillings and if you don't want to use a pastry crust you can do a crumble topping. Make this, you'll be happy happy happy and you will never be pie-less during your next pie emergency.

/enjoy

Brisket 101

2011-06-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

I live in Austin, Texas. Making a good brisket is a residency requirement, it's sort of like having big hair and drinking margaritas. I made a pretty decent roast beef when I arrived in Texas, it didn't cut it. I have played with many briskets over the years, each one, I think, was better than the one before. I'm all about experimenting. I finally mastered a killer brisket a few years ago. I make it as often as I can get away with it, I love it, it's my favorite brisket in town and it's sadly simple. There are all sorts of people here in town making killer briskets but they have 2 page recipes from the 35 ingredient rub to the special wood you need to smoke 'em as well as the fact you have to babysit your grill to keep the smoke at the right temperature and direction. Really, I shove mine in an oven and frankly I'd put mine up against any of them...and now I'm going to share with you.

Take 1 brisket, any size. Here I find they range from about 10 lbs to 24 or so, this works with any size. Rub it liberally with salt and pepper. IF you have a favorite rub mix, do it. I rubbed this one with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, cumin and smoked paprika. IF you don't have a favorite, use loads of salt and pepper, trust me, it'll be delicious.

Rub your giant hunk of untrimmed meat, cut a gash or two if you are feeling artsy fartsy, don't if you're not. Put the brisket in a large pan and seal it TIGHTLY with tinfoil. Heavy duty is best. Be sure you seal this baby up.

Put it in a 225 oven and go have a life. In about 5 hours (or before you go to bed) pull it out, gently peel the corner back and pour out any liquid, there'll be loads. Reseal it tightly and put it back in the oven. This is going to be 24 hours from start to finish.

Here's the start and the finish!

Rip a hunk off the short end (this was a random piece that got particularly dark, check the bark!! The fat gets crunchy and hard and the meat, oh the meat is so tender and juicy and delicious!

After 24 hours, turn the oven off, leave it in there, covered about an hour. Pull it out and it'll have rested and be sliceable. Use a sharp knife, this stuff is crazy tender juicy!

You can rip it apart or slice it

There are some things in life I do very well, this is one of them and now it's one of yours!

/enjoy!

Pan roasted Chicken with Sugarsnaps

2011-06-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

My local HEB puts chicken breasts on sale frequently. I can buy these three breasts, skin on, bone in, for $3.00. Really? They also had sugar snaps peas on sale the other day so I grabbed a handful that cost me $1.00. Ok, $4.00 spent and I'm about to put a sweet meal on the table. The 3 of us will eat well, these are huge breasts and when you cook them with skin and bone, they stay ridiculously flavorful and moist and juicy, yeah, it makes me happy.

Salt and pepper the chicken liberally and drizzle with some olive oil.

After they are browned DARK on the skin side, flip them, let them sizzle for a moment and pour some water or chicken stock or wine in the pan. WHOA, steam and it boils like crazy, we like that!

I squeezed half a lemon into the molten juices and tossed the lemon in the pot as well as a clove of garlic. I put the pan in a 400 degree oven until the chicken was just cooked through, 20 minutes I think these took, I just stab a knife in the thickest part to be sure they're done. Take them out of the oven, put them on a plate and cover them loosely with foil, we don't want the crispy skin to sog out on us.

Ah, my resting beauties. In the mean time, put the pan on pretty high heat and stir up all the chickeny juices, I added a drizzle of cream but you can just boil it down to have a think juice to pour over. It's your call. Cream is better though ;) Add a few scrapes of nutmeg into the sauce and let it boil like crazy to reduce and thicken up. It'l also darken from the brown bits on the bottom.

I picked the ends off my sugar snap peas, tossed them into a steamer and turned the heat off and let them sit there for a few minutes. We like crisp tender here. Toss them with a little butter, salt and pepper and voila, the veg done!

When the peas are done, the sauce has thickened. I had some corn in a can I heated up to add to the plate. I cut the chicken off the bone in one large piece and sliced it, added the peas and corn and drizzled the thickened sauce over all.

About an hour from deciding we needed dinner to sitting down eating a pretty nice feast. It's fresh, delicious, filling and light all at the same time. It also fed us WELL for $4.00 and there was leftovers which will be a cold chicken/pea/corn salad tomorrow that I'll toss with a little mayo, lemon juice, curry powder and tarragon. I will pile it into one of my french baguettes, sliced length ways and lightly toasted and I might just like meal 2 as much as meal 1!

Hope you make it, you'll certainly enjoy it!!

/enjoy!

The Quick French Baguette

2011-06-13T15:35:00.001-05:00

There are few things so wonderful as a couple of hot, steamy, crispy, crunchy, crackly, tasty, tender, french inspired baguettes. Sadly, in order to attain this nirvana you've had to start days ahead. I don't know about you but I'm never inspired enough to think of something 3 days before I'm going to want to eat it, also I don't have that sort of patience.

I have this delicious go-to on days that I'm home and feel the need for some crispy crunchy tender warm deliciousness that needs to be slathered with cold butter, have a slice of old cheddar on it and a large glass of wine. Go on, I'll share it with you. It's a different creature all together than my go-to ciabatta that I make a couple of times a week, this is thicker, heartier, softer and harder at the same time. This takes about 4 hours but you only need be involved a small percentage of the time, it merely needs you to pop in periodically to check on it and voila, you're a bread producing rock star!

Tracy's One Day Cuisinart Baguette

in a small bowl, combine:

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 cup warm water

mix with a fork and leave it aside to foam and bubble and do it's yeasty thing.

In the bowl of a cuisinart (fitted with the blade) combine:

3 1/2 cups a/p flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 Tablespoon sugar (OK already purists, sure a "proper" baguette doesn't have sugar but this isn't a proper baguette, it's my quicker, lovelier, tastier distant cousin)

Add 1 cup of warm water to the bubbly yeast, stir and add in a gentle but steady stream into the cuisinart as it blends. Let it go until the mixture comes together in a blob and clears the side of the bowl, 30-45 seconds?

Replace the feed tube and walk away. When the dough has risen to fill the bowl (1 hour) pulse the dough 4 times to deflate. When the dough has risen to fill the bowl (45 mins this time) pulse the dough 4 times to deflate. When the dough has risen to fill the bowl (35 mins) pulse once to deflate and remove to a lightly dusted (with flour) board and bring together in a loose, soft, ball.

Divide dough into 3 and shape each into a long baguette shaped loaf. I lay mine on a floured towel to rise about 30 minutes.

Bake at 450 on a stone in a heavily steamy oven. Put a container of water in the oven while it heats and mist the loaves before you bake them, about 20-28 minutes.

Leave on a rack to cool for as many minutes as you can stand. Rip into it.

Make more. Repeat

Here's the beauty shots and play by play:

After one hour, look at the rise! Pulse to deflate and leave it 45 minutes or until it fills the bowl

Rise number 2, very full bowl, again pulse a couple of times to deflate

Last rise. Each time it takes less time, this was 35 minutes.

Tip it onto a board, you can see it's gooey and wants to stick to your hands, keep the flouring light, we don't want to make heavy bread, just barely enough to keep it from sticking. Bring it together as a lovely soft ball and divide into 3

Flatten each ball to an oval, fold the top third down and pinch, the bottom third up and pinch. Press the heel of your palm into the seam to seal it and pull up the sides to pinch together. Roll it back and forth a few times, taper the ends a bit and leave it covered, on a floured surface, to rise while the oven heats.

I was trying to be artsy and left this batch to rise on a floured towel, it worked great but if you don't feel like trying to wash the flour out of a towel, you can just leave it to rise on any old floured surface. I let it rise 45 minutes and it got puffy and wobbly, we love puffy and wobbly.

Bake until it's beautiful, 20-28 minutes, leave to cool on a rack for a bit and either rip it open or cut it, your call but either way, you're gonna love this!!!

these are purely beauty shots :)

/enjoy!

Peach Crisp

2011-06-08T12:26:00.000-05:00

Springtime in Texas means peaches. Peaches everywhere. Fredericksburg, Texas, boasts some of the best in central Texas. There is peach everything as far as the eye can see. People set up booths all along the roadside for a couple of months, it's hard to avoid them.

I wish I liked peaches. I really do. I try. Every year I buy some, eat some and am thoroughly underwhelmed. Husband loves them, well likes them, he doesn't 'love' any food. I won't even go into how hard it is to be a foodie, have a foodie son and a husband who merely eats to stay alive and never says anything other than a deadpan 'cool' for everything I present now matter how many hours went into it's creation. But I digress, we're here to talk about peaches.

We had a day out with my dear friends who live in Fredericksburg last weekend and stopped at a local farm on the way back into Austin to buy peaches. Husband has been eating them up, neither son nor I are fans, but came to me last night and ASKED ME TO MAKE SOMETHING. I thought I would pass out from the shock. He asked me if I could make something with the peaches as they were starting to get "a little soft". I smiled sweetly and said sure, I can come up with something.

I thought to myself that if I didn't like peaches off a tree then maybe I would like peaches out of the oven. I was absolutely correct there! I have tried the crisps and cobblers in restaurants and buffets but the peaches are always overcooked and slimy and the topping soggy and limp. Nope, husband wants peach crisp and i'm going to make the best one on earth.

Oh and before we go any further; worry not, I did!! Here's the recipe if you just want to grab it and not bother with the beauty shots:

9 peaches, peeled

1/2 cup quick cook oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

tablespoon cinnamon

teaspoon salt

splash vanilla

couple of grates of fresh nutmeg

1/4 cup butter

Peel the peaches. Squish 3 between your fingers and lay the goo in the bottom of a lightly buttered dish. Slice the rest of the peaches and lay them on top of the squashed peach flesh. This lets some of the peaches cook away and release more juice and leaves some with a firmer texture and the combination makes for one hell of a fantastic peach crisp.

Mix the oats, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, vanilla together and knead in the butter. I do it on a board and form a log with it and then bread off chunks of it to mostly cover the crisp. Put on sheet pan and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Enjoy warm with cream, ice cream or custard.

Here's the play by play:

Make a small 'x' slit in the bottom of the peach and drop them into boiling water for 45 seconds or so. Plunge them into ice water immediately.

The skin will slip right off. Then run a knife around them, split them open with your thumb and remove the pit.

Oh look at these blushing beauties, sometimes a naked peach is a pretty sexy thing.

Lightly butter a dish and squash 3 of the peaches between your fingers to break them up small, this will allow them to cook faster and softer than the rest and they'll exude delicious juice without making the whole thing slimy and soggy.

Slice the remaining peaches and lay them on top.

Combine the topping ingredients then knead in 1/4 cup of butter on a board until they make a log. Crumble the log over the peaches making sure some poke through, we want rustic comfort food here.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. The smell is amazing. The topping is crisp and flavorful. The peaches still have texture but are soft enough to explode juice with every mouthful. The peaches at the bottom make a delicious juice you can top your crisp with. Yes, this works nicely!

You can serve yourself up a spoonful of peach and crisp or you can cover it in a spoonful of that delicious, slightly thicked, peachy, juicy goodness... No slimy overcooked peaches here. Go. Make this. They're everywhere!

Now, go find some Fredericksburg peaches and have yourself a crisp!!

/enjoy

Pork Loin

2011-06-06T21:16:00.000-05:00

Panko Crusted Mustard Pork Loin with Buttered Noodles, White wine cream mustard sauce and steamed broccoli.

Heck of a title for a quickie mid week meal!

I found pork loins (2) in the freezer. I have 2 freezers and buy things on sale then shove them in the back and forget about them. With the cost of gas, I'm on a mission to eat the things I've already bought! I'm playing freezer roulette. Whatever I reach in and grab, that's what's for dinner. I grabbed the double pork loin package, thawed it and cooked us up one heck of a Monday night dinner. It's a company and family pleaser but it's crazy easy.

Here we go:

Tracy's Panko Pork Loin

2 pork loins
olive oil
dijon mustard
panko (or any kind) breadcrumbs
angel hair pasta
garlic clove
heavy cream
chicken stock or water
salt, pepper and thyme
frozen broccoli

Throw half the bag of broccoli in a deep bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Nuke it for 2 minutes, leave it in the microwave to reheat when you're ready to eat.

Boil a giant pot of water with lots of salt and one garlic clove.

Dry the pork loins well and remove any silver skin with a thin knife, don't take too much meat if you can avoid it. Fry them in hot olive oil until brown on all sides. Oh and in case you're counting, a round loin has four sides! Brown it all the way around.

When they are all brown, transfer them to a board and let them sit for a moment, I dry them with paper towel so the mustard sticks easier. Brush the loins with dijon mustard then roll them in a light coating of Panko bread crumbs, or regular bread crumbs, whatever you have.

After they are coated in bread crumbs, transfer them to a rack over a sheet and roast them in a 450 oven for 20 minutes. Check for doneness. I didn't take their temperature but if you have a thermometer, roast them to 140 max, they will continue to cook. I roast them until they feel firm but slightly squishy.

While they roast, toss some mustard into the fry pan, whisk it around with some chicken stock (or water) and some cream. Salt and pepper the sauce and let it boil hard. Taste often and add a sprig of thyme, it really adds to the sauce. When the pork comes out of the oven, cover it with foil and boil your noodles. If you use angel hair pasta, it'll take 4 minutes.


Save a cup of the pasta cooking water to add to the sauce if it gets too thick. When the pasta is cooked, toss it in the sauce and serve a hearty portion. I cut my angel hair into quarters so it's short straws of pasta. It's not heavily sauced but the sauce is so delicious it only needs a little bit.

Don't forget the broccoli, microwave it for 30 seconds to warm it up without over cooking it and serve it up beside the pasta.

After the pork has rested, slice it. Look how juicy it stays and how crispy the crust is and how there's a tinge of pink throughout. This is very easy and very, very, good. Connor squealed with delight when I presented it to him and dove into his dinner hungrily. I think husband might have liked it because he went back for seconds but didn't actually say anything. I should be used to it. I thought it was delicious, flavorful, satisfying and light at the same time.

There's not a lot of describing needed here, enjoy the beauty shots.



Make it, you can get this dinner on the table in an hour or less. Good food takes a few extra minutes sometimes but trust me, it's so worth it!

/enjoy

Twice Fried French Fries

2011-06-02T12:39:00.002-05:00

Connor graduated 6th grade yesterday. Well, I say "graduated" but I mean "finished". The school doesn't acknowledge or celebrate it in any way, but I do so I said yesterday was graduation day.

We are off now. We are free from other people's obligations and schedules. I don't have to drive 100 miles a day for 3 months, I will drive by choice, for fun, and not sit in traffic and weep. I digress.

I am going to make burgers for dinner, "juicy lucy" burgers, you know the kind with the cheese on the inside that'll all oooze out when we bite into them? In my book, the only thing that can go with a burger like that on the first day of summer vacation is, of course, double fried french fries.

I make killer fries. I've made killer fries for a long time. My mom taught me how to make them. She'd tell me the story of my grandpa Williams' french fries. I think of both of them every time I make these.

I thought I'd blogged them but apparently I haven't. Here's the quickie technique. It seems persnickety but really it isn't, a couple of steps and two quick fries and you'll be the happiest soul in your neighborhood. Really.

Take a few potaotes, if it's just you then use two or three large russets if there's a crowd, use more. Peel and slice them up into french fry shapes and drop them in a very large bowl covered in cold water. Leave them there will you go do something else. I leave them at least an hour and many times cut them up in the morning and deal with them when I come home. Toss them in the fridge if it's going to be more than a couple of hours.

When you are ready to cook, drain them well and dry them in a towel, we want very very dry potatoes here.

Heat some oil to about 300 degrees, my thermometer is broken so I do the bread trick. Toss a piece of bread into the oil, when it's brown, the oil is ready to fry. Keep the first fry to a lower temperature, we are cooking them the first time around, letting them sit there and rest then frying them at a higher temperature to brown and crisp them.

Cook them in the low oil in a couple of batches about 5 minutes, check for doneness.

See how pale and limp they are? They are, however, softly cooked through, light and airy. Leave them on some brown paper bag or on a rack and leave them alone. You'll see I slit through most of them to make more edges to brown and crisp up, it's a personal choice but really, if you care about this experience, you'll slit them!

When you want to eat, reheat the oil to 375, do the bread trick again, we want a harder 'boil' this time though, we're looking for shatteringly crisp exteriors and soft potatoey innards. A couple of minutes of frying, pull them when you love the look of them, remember they're cooked! Drain on paper and sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt.

Eat. Be happy.

I didn't take a picture, because of the guilt, but the only way to eat these is with a big blob of really good mayonnaise. *yum* let me know how yours turn out!

/enjoy

Scalloped Potatoes

2011-04-24T11:57:00.000-05:00

Quickie. Someone asked me for a 'recipe' for scalloped potatoes recently. There isn't one, if someone gives you a recipe, they've persnickity'd it to death. Really, this will rock your, and whoever else has the luck to share it, world!!

I'm going to Easter dinner at a friend's place because we don't have family local. I'm on a side this year, I picked scalloped potaotes. It'll go beautifully with the lamb they are roasting, the ham being brought and just about any other meat that arrives, hot or cold!

Pay attention, this goes fast:

Peel a load of russet potatoes. Slice them thin and "dry fit" them in the casserole dish you're going to bake and take them in. When you have enough, cover them barely with milk. Transfer the whole lot to a gigantic frying pan. Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Gently heat it to boiling. Be gentle, you don't want to break up the potatoes much. Salt and pepper it, add a couple grates of nutmeg.

When it boils, transfer the whole lot back to the casserole dish, which you've buttered in the mean time, and toss it on a sheet pan and into a 350 oven. I grate a little good cheddar on top and dot with butter.

Bake it until they are just tender, about an hour. You can eat it hot, let it cool to room temperature (my favorite) and it'll thicken a bit as it site. Travel with it or eat it all on your lap in front of an Easter parade. Really, you're done and when you present it, you'll be a rock star.

Fried Chicken

2011-04-22T19:59:00.001-05:00

There are few things so delicious, homey, retro, warming, comforting and just plain good as a pile of fried chicken.

Sure you have to invest in some fat of some kind but crisco is cheap and if you buy a whole chicken and cut it up, the investment is $4.00 and some flour. My local store puts the whole chickens on sale frequently so I always have a couple of them in the freezer. I am a firm believer that a couple of frozen whole chickens in the freezer equal about a million meal options so buy them when they are on sale!

It's one of my go to meals when cash it tight and it feels extravagant somehow. For it's old school simplicity, there's something special about a home made fried chicken dinner.

I don't know why people think it's a fuss or takes too long or is too fatty or greasy. Truly, it's not that much extra work and the payoff is most definitely worth it in my book.

I made it tonight for dinner, I was asked for my recipe, this is it. It's tender, juicy, delicious, crispy and soft and moist all at the same time. It's one of the few things I actually think I do very well. It's easy, you'll be brilliant at it too! Here's the play by play shots, the recipe is so easy and so classic and anyone who says fried chicken needs more than a couple of ingredients is just fussing with it too much

Tracy's Fried Chicken:

1 cut up chicken, about 4 lbs?
1 1/2 inches oil/crisco/lard in a dutch oven
(heated till water sizzles, the bread is brown, the flour dances or the temperature is 365)
1 cup flour with a small handful of cornstarch mixed in (for crispness) plus more if needed
3 eggs and a splash of milk (but you can CERTAINLY do this without egging the chicken, just go straight for the flour)
salt and pepper, paprika and/or cinnamon

There's a couple of steps but they're easy and you can stand at the stove with a glass of wine through most of the cooking process so it's low stress too! Here we go:

Cut up a fryer chicken, about 4 lbs, into 10 pieces (2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 breasts each cut in half). Dry the chicken and salt and pepper the chicken liberally! This matters.

In a gallon zip lock back crack 3 eggs add a splash of milk and loads of salt and pepper. Squish it all around and put the chicken pieces in. Toss them into the fridge for whenever you're ready for chicken.

Put about 1 1/2 inchs of oil in a dutch oven with a lid. Toss a tiny square of bread in the oil and turn it on medium high. When the bread is brown, the oil is ready to fry. I have a ceramic cooktop and I set mine to 6.

In a very large bowl mix about a cup of flour with loads of salt and pepper and a bit of paprika (add cayenne or whatever other dried spice you want here, I'm a purist and keep it really simple). A secret is to add a pinch, and I mean a pinch, of cinnamon, it does something to the chicken, try it, or not but remember it's just a teenie pinch if you're going to add it.

Mix the flour around and dredge the dark meat pieces first. Coat them thickly and put them gently into the hot oil. The oil should be about half way up the chicken. Lay all the dark meat in the pan and clamp the lid on. Time it for 8 minutes, do NOT peek. Stand there and watch the steam come out, listen to the sizzle, wonder if it's burning (it's not!) but don't peek.




After 8 minutes, open it! LOOK! oooooh, the chicken is steamy and soft and juicy and the bottom is beautifully brown! You can flip it gently, clamp the lid back on and time 5 minutes, again, no peeking!


After 5 minutes, open it! OOOH, it's chickeny beauty!!! Leave it to fry without the lid for 2-3 minutes, until it's just cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a rack on a baking sheet and do the rest of the chicken.

Repeat with the breasts. 8 minutes with the lid on tight, flip, 5 minutes then let it go another 3 topless minutes.


Pop the chicken in a 300 oven for about 15 minutes. It'll finish cooking and rest all at the same time. This is some juicy chicken!

Meanwhile, pour off all but a couple tablespoons of the fat, add a little flour and some water and stir like heck! Add a little milk to make it a bit creamier, loads of salt and pepper and let it boil like mad for a while. Taste alot! Make some mashed potatoes and cook some frozen peas if you have to have green, I didn't today and although my mother would have a coronary at the lack of green on the plate; I've had a hellova week and just needed some fried chicken, mashed potatoes and cream gravy. I ate it and it made me happy. Next time, there'll be green :)


Random beauty shots. Wow, this is some good chicken. You can see it's not greasy and only took 30 minutes for a whole bird. The nice thing is you can make this early in the day, there's nothing bad at all with room temperature fried chicken. Make way extra for cold in the week or picnics or midnight fridge raids when husband gets the munchies after hours of angry birds. Trust me, make loads, you'll eat it!

Take some beauty shots of your chicken and send it to me, i'll post them!

/enjoy

Teriyaki chicken with rice stick noodles

2011-04-21T19:38:00.001-05:00

So, I sort of felt like something with an oriental flair. I sort of felt like pasta. I had 2 chicken breasts in the fridge. Bone in, skin on and they'd been on sale for $1./lb. They cost me a cool $1.98.

I'd made a killer cold thai inspired peanut noodle salad that I'd taken to a "mommies who cocktail" meeting recently so didn't feel like a repeat of that. Plus, I'd cheated and used thin spaghetti so I needed a softy slurpy oriental noodle fix.

I was inspired the other night. Mid week teriyaki chicken with noodles might be on my new short list of quick tasty meals out of the bottles in the fridge in the middle of the week. Sure, the chicken roasts for 45 minutes but while it does you don't have to DO anything or you can DO everything else and when it's done, mix it up and eat.

This isn't a "recipe" because I made it up as I went, it's a process and you can do it too. Add any veggies you have, delete the veggies I have. Use frozen or fresh. Don't chop the chicken, mix the noodles with the sauce and serve with a whole roasted breast. You feeling it??

CHICKEN TERIYAKI WITH NOODLES

2 chicken breasts

package rice stick noodles

bottled teriyaki sauce

grated ginger

grated garlic

slivered 1/2 onion

salt, pepper

wine, water, chicken stock

toasted sesame oil

sugar snap peas

*I had a few snow peas which you'll see in the pics

Rub the chicken breasts with some oil, salt, pepper and teriyaki sauce, roast at 375 for 45 minutes.

Look at the juice and sticky beauty that is on the pan, THIS is the base for the sauce! Dump it into a saucepan with some grated garlic and ginger, slivered onion and some additional teriyaki, taste it, thin it with water or wine or chicken stock. Boil like mad and taste it again, it should be a cup and a half of liquid.

These are the rice stick noodles. The package said 5-8 minutes, I set it to boil for 6 then added the sugar snap peas to cook them the final few minutes.

Meanwhile, deskin and debone the chicken. Cut into cubes and toss into the sauce. Mix it about and leave it on low heat.

Drain the noodles and sugar snap peas and return to the pot. Add the chicken in sauce mixture. Stir it about and sprinkle a couple of green onions on top, I like the fresh crunch and gentle onion addition.

SERVE! Slurp it up. Child and I loved it. Husband ate some then got seconds but doesn't ever comment on what I cook. It might have passed his, "I'm not dead from it" scale.

I think it's a lovely tasty light meal and I think it should be a fresh addition to your repertoire. Let me know what you think!

/enjoy

Artichoke Dip

2011-04-20T06:16:00.003-05:00

Artichoke dip

Ok, get a fast pen, this is a quickie, a goodie and it'll be your new 'go to'.

You will be making this to take to every function you go to. You'll start to think it's dull but your audience will be delighted, it's a fantastic, easy, go to and once you've made it a couple of times they'll be waiting in the wings for you to make it again.

It is THREE ingredients: In a bowl, combine even amounts of

1. mayonnaise
(NOT low fat or half fat or thin or skinny or diet or anything other than REAL mayonnaise, if you use low fat no egg fake oil mayonnaise-like condiment, you can't read my blog anymore )

2. fresh grated Parmesan cheese
(yes, go get the triangle of cheese and grate it, you'll notice the difference. there's only 3 ingredients, they ought to be good. Now then, that being said, you can certainly cheat and use the pregrated/shredded stuff in the round tubs at your deli section, but try to get the better stuff)

3. artichoke hearts, chopped
(I buy them in the giant jars at costco, they're in oil and I drain them and rinse them.

Mix the ingredients in a big bowl. If you're desperate for specific amounts, 1 cup of each is a good amount. The nice thing about this recipe is you can make a teenie one just for you or a gigantic one for 25 people. This is another one of those processes rather than recipe.

Ok, sometimes, to be artsy fartsy, I grate a teensie bit of lemon zest and squeeze about a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice in. It hardly seems worth it but it really makes a big difference. Another cheat is to add a teenie bit of cream to thin it out, it won't puff so much but it will be saucier, it's a to taste thing. Do remember to add some pepper, no salt is needed because of the cheese.

Plop the mixture in a buttered oval and I bake it at 400 until it puffs and it golden and, well, you saw, it's stupidly beautiful and it's light and stays puffy for a long time.

Eat it with sea salt pita chips but anything, chip or cracker will do. Be sure to let me see the beauty shot when you make it.

I feel the need for some suddenly, Connor loves it as an after school snack and you can make it in the morning, or the day before and bake it off last minute which is handy.

/enjoy

Egg Rolls

2011-04-17T19:10:00.002-05:00

Egg Roll Tower

I had a hankering today. It's a dangerous thing when I have a hankering. I have knowledge that rarely is useful as is evident by my ever expanding backside.

When I lived in Burlington, there was a Chinese food restaurant up the street. The restaurant was completely and totally ordinary but they made the most amazing round egg rolls. I would drive by and order them hot and fresh with just enough of the grease they'd cook them in pinching out to burn my chin. I seriously loved those egg rolls. They were bean sprout heavy if I recall correctly, I never have healthy bean sprouts here. If I actually do buy them anticipating some delicious health dish, by the time I get to them they are the day past when I should use them. I don't think there should be the beginnings of a slime bath in the bottom of any sprout bag. I buy bean sprouts with great intentions but really, they merely come here to die. But, I digress.

Every once in a while I think of those egg rolls and wish I had some. I have tried and failed at making anything similar to theirs but I do make a reasonable pork egg roll. These are absolutely meat egg rolls with veggies as opposed to my leaner days when I'd make veggie egg rolls with pork. Pork is cheap, the pound cost me $1.62 today so I indulged and used the whole thing. Frequently my pork egg rolls will satisfy me during the times of such a hankering. Today was such a day.

In a big blue bowl combine:

1 lb ground pork

2-3 cups cole slaw mix (shredded cabbage, carrot)

2 spring onions

salt and pepper

soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic chili sauce and sesame oil.

There's no amounts, I do a couple glugs of each but just a little sesame oil, it's very strong.

Throw the mixture into a screaming hot sautee pan and cook it just until the pork is no longer pink.

Put it back in the bowl to cool down a bit and heat 2 inches of oil. Throw a piece of bread in the cold oil, turn the heat on medium and when it's brown, the oil is ready to fry. It's one of those old school tricks that will never let you down.

Assume your standard rolling position. These are store bought egg roll wrappers, sure, I make alot of my own stuff from scratch but seriously, I'm not a fanatic ;). Brush water all around the edges of the wrapper, I use my fingers but if you'd rather use a brush, have at it. Put a healthy line of filling down, roll the bottom up, fold in the sides and roll it up.

Fry a couple at a time, seam side down, until they are beautiful. Salt them lightly when they come out of the oil then serve them up.

I stack them in a ridiculous manner because it impresses the heck out of Connor!

EAT THEM!

/enjoy

p.s. ok, i'll confess, but don't tell anyone. one of my favorite guilty pleasures on egg roll day is the next day when everyone is at school and work. Take an egg roll wrapper and spread it with nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) then slice a banana thinly and lay it on the nutella. Roll it tightly and shallow fry it quickly. When it comes out of the fat, roll it immediately in cinnamon sugar then put it on a plate and drizzle a little of that Hersheys chocolate syrup on it, stand at the counter and eat it like a woman possessed. Oh and you're welcome ;)

Apple Crumble

2011-04-17T18:49:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is embarrassing, writing a recipe for apple crumble or apple crisp, really? I have been asked though so this is a quickie for those who think they need a recipe for this. I will be successful if no one ever asks anyone for a crumble or crisp recipe again *grin*

Here we go, this isn't a recipe as much as a process that you will follow with any fruit you want. You're going to love this:

I wanted a reasonable sized crumble, the one I made last week didn't last long enough and that's never good. Today, four apples, cut thin. I peel the apple, cut it in half, core it and slice it in four pieces then turn and slice it thinly. Toss it into the bowl. Zest and juice a lemon over the fruit and toss it around so the apples won't go brown. No one likes a brown apple.

You can use this method with any fruit, I use blackberries, raspberries and figs doing the same thing, cut it up, toss some flour and seasoning, into a buttered dish then top with the crumble mixture. You can scale it up or down easily. It's the same amount of flour, sugar and oats and half the amount of butter. Salt is mandatory, it enhances the flavor and a little vanilla is a delight in there as well.

Ok, here's the apples and the zest, there's lemon juice and a splash of vanilla in there already. Add this much white sugar and this much brown sugar

Add this much cinnamon, and this much flour, mix it all up and put it in a buttered dish.

TOPPING TIME!

This a scant cup of oatmeal, flour, white and brown sugar mix, a couple tablespoons cinnamon, some salt and some zest. Mix it with your finger tips till it's chunky, put it over the fruit and dollop butter on top.

Bake 35 minutes at 350. Drool, eat, repeat. With or without cream, ice cream or custard, go for it!

/enjoy

Creme Caramel, Flan

2011-04-17T15:54:00.000-05:00

I love crème caramel and there are more recipes online than you can count or that you could ever make. If you look at the recipes, they are long, convoluted, involve straining and transferring to and from vessels and seem daunting at the very least. No worries, you need not look any further. This is the recipe you need, the recipe you want. It makes four; it doesn’t take a dozen eggs, hours to make or special equipment of any kind. You can double it easily if you feel the need for 8.

I use a microwave to make the caramel and to scald the milk. Shove it in the oven after a few easy steps and you end up with the perfect crème caramel. I have been making this for years. It worked brilliantly when I lived alone, when I was a couple and then when I turned into a family.

There are a few preliminary, preparatory steps to take, they’re easy and you can do them with a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine, in your hand.

Boil a kettle of water, we will need the water for the water bath the custard will bake in.

Find a casserole dish that will hold 4 ramekins and set it on the counter, with the ramekins inside.

CREME CARAMEL

½ cup sugar

2 Tbsp water

1 cup milk

1 egg

1Tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp vanilla

For the caramel

Put ½ cup sugar in a 2 cup (Pyrex) measuring cup with 2 Tbsp water.

Microwave on high for 3-3 1/2 minutes. As microwave power varies, you want to cook the sugar until the water boils off and the sugar turns a lovely pale, caramel color. If you use the clear glass cup, you can easily see as the color changes. It happens quickly so no dawdling or talking on the phone. Stand with your cup of coffee and watch it.

Remove it carefully, it’ll burn you badly, and divide it evenly between the ramekins.

Here's the beauty shots in the microwave, 2 mins, 3 mins and 3 mins 45 seconds. You really have to just stand there and wait until it's the color you like. It'll go from perfect to burnt in no time so keep an eye on it.



Pour into the dry ramekins, evening. If you are feeling brave then gently rotate the caramel around the sides but remember, this stuff will burn through you to the bone in a split second so unless you're brave, don't.

Scald 1 cup of milk; I scald it in the microwave. Scalding merely means to bring the milk to slightly below the boiling point. I’ll be honest, I have no idea what the scalding actually does to the milk but I’ve been scalding it forever so that’s what we will do. You should see small bubbles around the edge of the milk with the slightest wisp of steam from the top. In my microwave, it takes exactly 90 seconds.

In a bowl combine the egg, sugar, salt and vanilla. I cheated and added a yolk today because I felt like something a little richer but my "recipe" uses a single extra large egg Slowly add the scalded milk and divide the mixture evening between the ramekins. I whisked a little vigorously today, you really shouldn't have the bubbles, oh well, it'll still be delicious.




Add the recently boiled water to a level half way up the sides of the ramekins and bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, until the custard is just set. If it barely jiggles and if you slip a very tiny knife into it, it should come out clean.

Carefully remove the ramekins from the casserole dish and chill in the refrigerator, it might take up to 2 hours.

Turn the crème caramel out onto a plate or eat it straight from the ramekin. Cover them when they are cool and eat at will. There’s only the 4 so you won’t waste any, didn’t invest any real working time and it total cost was a little bit of sugar, 1 cup of milk and 1 egg. It’s impressive to make for company and it’s a lovely thing to make for yourself, or your family. As well, it’s a pretty sweet dessert for virtually nothing.



Put in the fridge and let it cool. When it's cold throughout, run a knife around the edge and invert it on a plate, the caramel will run all over the place and the custard will be just firm and soft at the same time. It can be cut and barely stays together. Make it, you'll be happy.

/enjoy

Biscuits for breakfast

2011-04-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have insomnia. I hardly sleep. Generally I watch bad infomercials, drink coffee and stare at boring television. Today I was inspired to bake up a batch of my 'brain biscuits' named by Connor because the tops look like brains to him. They are patted out gently in powdered sugar and baked with a little blob of butter on top. The recipe is here on the site with more details I think but here's the dirty:

2 cups a/p flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tb baking powder
1 Tb sugar (ok it's a heaping Tb)

Mix with your fingers then cut in (I use my fingers) 6 Tb butter or margarine, either works fine! If you're not thrilled with mixing/cutting in the fat with your fingers, use two knives or a pastry cutter. This is a quick small recipe so no need to pull out the big gun equipment like a food processor, c'mon, you can do it.

Stir in 3/4 cup milk with a fork quickly and dump it onto a board floured with powdered sugar. Flip it twice, pat it to 1 inch thick and cut with a medium biscuit cutter, don't twist it! Bake the biscuits, barely touching, on a cast iron pan in a 450 oven for about 12 minutes or until they look like this:

They should pull easily and you should slather them with good butter and a blog of raspberry jam.

Husband wasn't bothered and child could have cared less about hot, fresh, delicious biscuits on the island when they came downstairs this morning, I'm trying not to be in a snit about it and sent the batch to work with husband with the hopes someone he works with will be delighted. Hey, I don't care where I get it so long as SOMEone is delighted :) Make some, they're easy, they're quick, they're delicious and I'm sure you'll make someone happy!!

/enjoy

RIBS

2011-04-10T19:15:00.000-05:00

Baby back ribs are a joy and there are few people who would say otherwise. I like my ribs moist with a slight char and not too much sauce. I like the meat to fall off the bone with little to no prodding (although purists will finger wag). Generally a bbq, particularly here in Texas, implies there are a number of things happening simultaneously and many cooks and many different meats cooking on numerous grills. I have seen many a rib lost in the shuffle, the brisket is always king here and like the quintessential older sister gets all the attention and fan fare (Marsha Marsha Marsha!) which results in the ribs ending up a overcooked/undercooked dry hunk of meat with bones in it.

I like to mess with my ribs as little as possible; they are manna from heaven after all. Then, I try to leave them to do their “ribby” thing; some foods don’t need you as much as you think.

I remove the membrane from the back of the ribs before you do anything, it’s easy to do, slide a knife under the end rib bone and grab the membrane with your fingers and pull back straight and hard. Rub the ribs with a heavy course of salt and pepper and rub in your favorite bbq sauce. Not too much, just enough to make it moist and give it a good rub in. I live in bbq alley in Texas so the choices of sauce are truly overwhelming! Pick one you like, not too sweet, and stick with it.

Two slabs of pork ribs, on sale at HEB for $7/each, that'll work. Open then and toss 'em in a sink so you can attend to them without the risk of them slipping out of your hand and onto the floor *experience speaking here!

You see on the back its slippery and shiny, that's the membrane we don't want. Make a slit along the bone on one end and stick your knife tip under the membrane. It's thin and very tough.

Ease your knife tip the length of the slit and ease the membrane up so you can get a grip of it. Tear it back the length of the ribs. It should come in one piece, if not repeat the process. It's paper thin and sounds like paper ripping when you pull it back. When it's ripped off, you can see the exposed meat and fat - THAT is flavor darlings, not that tough membrane. If you've never been a membrane remover, I think you'll notice a difference in tenderness and ease of cutting and eating the ribs.

Dry the ribs and salt and pepper liberally on both sides then rub on some of your favorite sauce.

Ahhh, look at my darlings all wrapped up and ready for the grill, or the oven, I'm not telling you which way I'm doing them today ;)

Once salted and peppered (heavily!) wrap each slap in foil, TIGHTLY, and toss it on the cold side of the grill for about 2 hours. No need to attend to it but if you feel obligated to participate, flip it once or twice. It’s a low and slow moment here, ribs are cooked slow, eaten slow and that is one of the reasons they make me a happy soul, there's joy in slow.

You can spend your time cooking burgers, making slaw, having a beer, sitting on the porch with a book or chatting with good friends. There's loads of things to do while this is happening.

After 2 hours, carefully unwrap the ribs, coat them with your favorite Sticky Bbq sauce and lay them on the grill to char around the edges.

Today, I cheated and did them in the oven because I wasn't sure about my propane levels and had no charcoal. I broiled them for a few minutes to get the bark. No, there's none left.

Straight out of the oven, after 2 hours at 275, they are a bit pale. I leave them in the foil and rip off the top, helps with cleanup, trust me. I leave them to sit for a few minutes to firm up a bit and then spread a little bbq sauce on them.

Five minutes under the broiler and they're starting to look good. I brush them again and broil for a few minutes. I do this twice.

Oh baby, that's what I'm talking about! I sliced them into double rib hunks, serve them up to your waiting audience and then wish you had made more.

Tonight I made them with grilled corn, also a cheat. Bake the corn, in the husk, on a sheet pan in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. You can remove the silk AFTER it's roasted and it slides right out. I serve it still in the husks and it keeps it warm, although like the ribs, there's none left.

I'm going to blow my horn a bit and say I pretty much am the finger licking rock star at dinner tonight!

I'd wax poetic for longer but, um, I have fingers to lick ;)

/enjoy!!

Boiled Eggs

2011-03-31T11:57:00.000-05:00

Good morning, it's boiled eggs 101.

Don't flip away, seriously, I got asked for basic stuff so here we go.

A boiled egg is a beautiful thing when done correction and a dismal disappointment when done wrong. I am going to share MY egg system and if all goes right, you'll be a happy camper with a beautiful thing on your plate every morning.

I will say, as simple and basic as a boiled egg is, you must have good toast. I suggest making the old lady bread and the next day making relatively thick toast with it, butter heavily and let it wait for your egg. It's solid enough not to sog out on your while the egg cooks. Alternately, make your own toast ;)

Put 1 or 2 eggs in your favorite saucepan, cover them with 1 inch of water and then remove them! HA! way to measure the exact perfect amount of water! Put the eggs on the counter beside the stove and turn the water on medium high, until it's a rolling boil. GENTLY put your eggs (extra large for this version to work right) in the boiling water. When it returns to the rolling boil (which will be pretty instant) set your timer for 4 minutes. Leave them to boil and attend to your toast! When the timer goes off, pull the pan off the heat and let it stop boiling completely. Remove the eggs.

In order for this to work you also need one more thing, it's mandatory, a ridiculous egg cup. No, really, it matters. I like my ridiculous set; I used to have a beautiful plain white set of egg cups but really, why? Go silly whenever you can!

Ok, butter and slice your toast into soldiers (again, non optional!). Put your egg in the egg cup fat side up and with a serrated knife, whack it 1/2 inch down then saw quickly through to flip off the lid.

Use a teensie weensie spoon to scoop the white out of the lid, look how beautifully cooked it is!! The white is set and the yellow is still runny, no stringy bits or mystery raw eggy blobs, nope, it's a lovely thing.

Dunk the toast to sop up the warm runny yellow and the teenie spoon to scoop out the white, also eaten on the toast soldiers.

My contribution to college students everywhere who hate the fact they can't peek into their egg to the desired doneness.

OH and if you have a large egg, do 3 minutes 45 seconds. Small or medium eggs, well don't even bother because the effort isn't worth the feed :)

Let me know how it goes! Enjoy breakfast!!

/enjoy

Chicken with 40+2 Cloves of Garlic

2011-03-30T12:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm sort of a garlic gal. I like it when it's cooked long and low and slow, it gets sweet and nutty and has that background flavor of garlic. I like it raw when it's sharp and spicy. I like it slivered in a pan gravy when it's slightly browned, crisp and on the edge of bitter. Yeah, I'm sort of a fan. When I was in Costco last week they had the gigantic net bags of garlic on for $5.00, there was no way I could have left the store without them.

Wandering my local grocery shop yesterday I was delighted to see that chicken thighs were on sale AGAIN. Seriously, do people not know what a sweet deal they are? They are way cheaper than breasts, better tasting, better suited to cooking of any type, never dry out and, well, I guess there's more for me this way. The sale netted me a "family pack" of thighs, 10 rather large ones, for $4.00. Really, there's no way I could have left the store without them.

I am seriously in love with my large, 6 quart, red, 1,000 lb, cast iron, white enamel lined dutch oven. I have noticed I look for things to cook in it just so I can use it.

I don't know if it's the moon, the pollen in the air, the tilt of the planet or what but I have a feeling three of my most favorite things are about to come together in a cosmic boom that'll leave me, and whoever is lucky enough to be near me later, licking lips, fingers and toasting the fact it all came together with a few minutes of activity, 2 hours of doing something else while it dealt with itself and a mountain of mashed potatoes that I never mind making!

In the dutch oven, drop a blob of bacon grease and get it smokin' hot. Salt and pepper the skin side of the thighs liberally!! and fry them in two batches. Salt and pepper the top side while you are waiting, do not futz with it! Leave it good 3-4 minutes. Check to see if it's brown enough to flip...this is NOT brown enough!

Ahhh, THIS is brown enough, flip! Cook a few minutes then transfer to a bowl, do the other half. We aren't trying to cook the chicken through, merely give a good base to the sauce and get the skin nicely crispy for later when we reheat it without a cover to get it crunchy again.

You can see (above) there's loads of fat in the pan, toss most of it, this (below) is how much you want left. Throw in 42! unpeeled cloves of garlic, shush them around a moment then pour in a couple of glugs of chicken stock, just enough to boil madly and pick up all those yummmmmmy brown crunchy crusty chicken flavory bits on the bottom.

Boil it for just a minute then glug in a little white wine. Boil it for a moment, and seriously, look at this sauce already! couldn't you just drink it? Salt and pepper a little if it needs it.

Nestle the chicken thighs pack in the pan in a relatively flat layer, we will be reheating this without the lid and I want as much skin as possible in direct heat to re-crisp it later. You will see the liquid is barely 1/4 of the way up the chicken. I don't care if the meat it in liquid. The beautiful thing about thighs is they are virtually impossible to overcook so this is a great meal to cook in the morning and then leave to reheat when the masses are drooling at the kitchen table. I have fresh thyme growing in my laundry room (don't ask) so I cut off a few sticks of it and tossed it on the chicken. Clamp on a tight lid and toss it into a 325 oven for 2 hours.

Ahh, here we are 2 hours later, the chicken is ridiculously tender, the sauce is concentrated (you can add stock if you want more sauce after you remove the chicken and boil it down, I'm not going to today). The skin is softened but a few minutes under a broiler or in a hot oven without a lid will bring it right back, or you can eat it as it. The garlic is so soft you can press down on a clove with your fork and the soft, nutty, garlicky innards ooze out. I like to spread it on bread but tonight i'll smear it on the chicken as I eat each glorious mouthful!

I fished come garlic cloves out for you, in the name of science and thorough blogging of course and, um, yeah I ate them for you too! mmm

Oh why not, here's a couple more beauty shots, see you can squash them out whole or keep squashing them and get a delicious blob on the end of your fork and then eat or spread on bread or on the chicken. Hmm, would my family mind if *I* ate 6 hours before they did? The smell in here is unbelievable!

Oh, ok, I'm busy for the rest of the day so I'm leaving it covered on the stove-top and will heat it up when I come home and make mashed potatoes and I'll steam some sugar snap peas to go with it tonight. So, sure it took me 2 hours this morning but it'll reheat in the time it takes to make the vegetables and it is so delicious and the garlic is soft and you can squeeze the cloves out to have along side.

Go on, make it with your three favorite things, it's a keeper "recipe", you know you want it!

/enjoy!

Floured Bacon

2011-03-29T10:16:00.004-05:00

My Nana retired to Mesa, Arizona with her best friend, Bertha. Bertha was from somewhere in the South and had some fantastic recipes. My most favorite dessert is Bertha's carrot cake and unfortunately I don't have the recipe anymore. I don't know if it'd ever taste quite so good without her anyway. She was taken many many years ago but I think of her still sometimes.

One of the things Bertha did was microwave bacon. Ok that's not so wacky in the scheme of things but back in the day it was cutting edge! Oh and maybe telling you she floured the bacon first then nuked it on newspaper (which I am absolutely sure enhanced the flavor) makes it odder?

I was pondering my world this morning, feeling quite reflective. I have an idea to try to help me make a few dollars and that made me think of Nana. I also decided that I'm getting a tattoo and I finally decided what it is, it's going to be ivy on my left arm. Nana's name is Ivy. I can't say 'was' even though she's been gone from our eyes for 12 years, only gone from our eyes, she's ever present in our minds, hearts, memories and in my inspiration. Anyway I'm waxing way too poetic here, basically, I had a hankering this morning while I thought of Nana and Bertha. Bacon. Floured bacon.

There's no bells, whistles or great culinary brilliance here. Here's my breakfast:

A few pieces of paper from the local Statesman and 3 slices of bacon. Put the newspaper in the microwave and lightly flour your bacon. I cut my bacon slices in half so it looks like more! You can heavily pepper the flour if you are in the mood, I wasn't today.

Put the floured bacon on some paper towel (or not) and cover with a double piece of paper towel. You need the paper towel on the top, you don't need it on the bottom. It depends on your concern with eating newspaper ink. I don't have any but I transfered the bacon from the island to the microwave on the paper towel and, frankly, forgot to take it off. Microwave on high for 3 minutes (in my 1100 watt machine)

I like VERY crispy bacon. 3 minutes will give you VERY crispy bacon. Do it less if you must but don't tell me. The bacon stays very flat, straight and has a slightly thicker feel without actually being thick cut bacon. I really like it this way and am glad I had the hankering today.

The bacon is also very dry when it comes out, the flour absorbs fat and so does the paper and paper towels, there's condensation below the paper but no puddles of grease. When I want bacon grease, I cook the bacon on a rack over a sheet pan in the oven, 425 for 15 minutes and I get crisp bacon and a sheet pan full of grease that I put in jars and use to cook. Did I mention I'll never be a size 2? or any single digit? or hardly any of the lower double digits? But I digress, this isn't about my ever expanding girth, it's about bacon! Look at these beauty shots!

Luckily, I had a loaf of old lady bread from yesterday that perfectly fit my bacon slices. YES I did eat most of it before it managed to make it into my sandwich. I believe we have had this conversation before, I am incapable of NOT munching on cooked bacon. In any event, look at these lovely ripe tomatoes, I sliced one thin and added it onto the buttered bread and salted and peppered liberally. Squash them together, cut in half purely for the beauty shot and voila, breakfast in 3 minutes.

Oh well yes, it was THAT yummy. The bacon stays very crisp and very straight and well let me just say, Thank you, Bertha. x

So, in conclusion, go nuke yourself some bacon but be sure to flour it first!

/enjoy

Old Lady Bread! (way old school)

2011-03-28T12:12:00.016-05:00

I watched a youtube video a while back of an old lady making bread. She made a lot of loaves at one time. I figured I could scale it down and make one loaf at a time. I tried a number of ways, techniques and measurements then it occurred to me; the old lady didn't measure. I need to trust my sense of feel and just do it. I think I succeeded rather brilliantly so I share this with you, such as it is.

I grabbed my giant tin bowl, old lady bread should, realistically, be happier on an old bowl. I dumped in 2 cups of flour (approximately!) 1 mini palmful each of salt, sugar and yeast. I am guessing 1 tsp of each.

I mixed it around with my fingers. I filled an old jam jar (purely for the old lady bread affect, I could have used a measuring cup but really, what fun would THAT have been?) with warm water from the tap and started pouring it in until it came together as a really shaggy dough. I turned it onto my board and kneaded about 3 minutes dusting LIGHTLY with flour if it tried to stick. I made it a pretty soft dough, just at the edge of sticking.

I covered it with a damp cloth and left it on the counter, it doubled in about 70 minutes. I didn't punch it down, I gently coaxed it out of the bowl and rolled it back and forth GENTLY until it looked like a log, I cut a couple of slits and lifted it into a vessel in which to cook it. I've done it on a sheetpan (long wide loaf) in an 8x8 square pan (weird shape but yummy) and in a regular loaf pan (slightly taller, more bread v crust ratio). Pick your vessel! I left it to rise, covered about 45 minutes then into a 350 oven until it was "rosy". 40-45 minutes maybe? Remember old ladies not only don't measure, they don't time.

It's a hearty, rustic loaf that takes nothing to make if you're home anyway and you can have it sliced thick with butter and cheese (and a lovely Chilean Merlot) for lunch when your day has gone to hell in a handbasket anyway.

I just gave you the recipe, this is one of those "all pics and no substance" posts. Here's the play by play shots: *remember, make it and let me know how it went!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, tip it in the bowl:

Mix it around and start adding some of the warm water from the jam jar!

I sort of use my fingers like a whisk and add the water down my palm and sweep around from the outside of the bowl in then squish it. It becomes a shaggy dough then a couple of squishes later, it clears the side of the bowl and almost looks like dough!

I knead it a couple of times in the bowl then transfer it to the board and knead with a very light dusting of flour until it looks lovely, about 3-5 minutes?

It's still sort of a blob but only a few more minutes and it'll be dough! These are only a few minutes of kneading apart, the second ball is much smoother and softer. Plunk it back in the bowl, I don't worry about greasing or buttering, this is old school bread, remember?

Ok, my favorite Ikea .49 tea towel is dampened and put over the bowl. I think I'll go do a load of laundry while it rises.

I don't punch it down, I sort of release it from the bottom and roll it out of the bowl. I rolled it back and forth a few times until it looked like a loaf and was long enough to go corner to corner on my sheet pan.

This is the long loaf on a 1/4 sheetpan, lightly sprayed because everything sticks to it *as is evident by the ghost cookie outlines! Throw a towel over it and leave it about 45, until it WHOA did it EVER double!

This loaf (above) was very wide and very short, good for angle slicing, toasting and smothering in fresh tomatoes, basil and olive oil.

This loaf (below) is more traditional and good for, um, everything else.

Today's loaf (below) in the loaf pan I hate but it came out beautifully.

Cut thickly, slathered with butter and some good, sharp, English Cheddar. Sure, this may be why I'll never be a size 2 (or 12) but hey, I am happy at lunchtime on a really crappy day. :)

Grab an old tin bowl and a few ingredients, work with your hands and don't measure. You'll be delighted at lunchtime with your creation, it means more doing it this way somehow.

/enjoy!

Pecan Pie

2011-03-27T15:44:00.007-05:00

I may have one of those, "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first" moments tonight.

When we were in New Mexico during March Break, 2010, a friend gave me pecans. (C&R Pecans for those who want to get some from them, I think they ship, call them and ask. The contact information is at the bottom of this post, tell them I sent you! ) I love friends who give me pecans. I live in Austin where they fall from the trees downtown but still have to pay a fortune in the store. Luckily I know people here with trees but today we have a haul from NM and it's those beauties we'll be using!

Husband isn't a fan of sweets, or treats, or food or really anything so I am on a constant mission to get some reaction other than "cool" out of him ;) . That being said, I love to cook and would either way. Husband and Connor had their first father son day today and I was inspired to cook for them. A little something special for each.

Connor's favorite (or one of them) meals I make for him is a cheater chicken divan. (will be posted later) I roasted off 4 chicken breasts when they left then wrapped them in foil to keep warm and moist till I needed them. For Husband? Pecan pie, who can resist it??

In a store bought pie crust (hey, I'm not a fanatic!) dump a thick layer of pecans. Yes, I hear my mother cringe from 1,600 miles away. Hey, she does pastry all the time, I do it a portion of the time. Sometimes, though, you need to utilize the brilliance of those who make pastry for you and toss it in the freezer! I'm just supporting Pillsbury ;)

The pecans are "Burkets" and apparently one of the best! *thanks Gloria! Ray! Don! Heather! Brantley State Park! and New Mexico in general!

In a large mixing bowl combine:

4 eggs

beat like crazy then add

1 cup corn syrup (I cheat and substitute 1/4 cup of Tate&Lyle's Golden syrup but really, just pure corn syrup is fine and delicious it just won't take like mine *grin*)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 large teaspoon vanilla

1 tsp salt

whisk like mad then add

4 tablespoons soft butter

whisk

Now, this is not of the faint of heart! This looks completely curdled and separated. Worry not, trust me and beat it in the best you can, it'll be relatively smooth but don't worry about the butter globs. Can there be anything wrong with a good ole blob of butter?

Pour the mixture into the waiting crust, add more pecans if you like, they float. You can add up to about 3 cups but I think 2 and a bit if perfect.

Put the pie on a sheet pan and put in the oven. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes then check it. It should be set around the edges and a little jiggly in the middle. If it's just too jiggly then bake in 5 minute increments up to 55-60 minutes. Don't let it bake all the way through, it won't be so, um, smoothly delicious.

Leave it on a rack to cool. Go shopping or lay a floor, you need to be busy, it's a hard wait!!

Slice, eat. You can serve it with ice cream or whipped cream or custard (which is how I will have it later). You can throw a few chocolate chips on top when you take it out of the oven if you want as well, that's quite nice! Connor thinks he's a fan of chocolate pecan pie but will only eat one slice and I didn't want to chocolate the pie away from husband so it's plain today. I may drizzle chocolate sauce on it for Connor if he wants some later, we'll see.

The money 'slice on the plate' shot will be around later, check back in a few hours! This is a quickie pie to throw together, the middle is soft and smooth and silky and yummy. Put it in your repertoire and you'll be a happy soul, and so will the people who come to your house for dinner!

/enjoy

C&R Pecans, Carlsbad, NM

http://national.citysearch.com/profile/6988457/carlsbad_nm/c_r_pecan_landscaping_inc.html

Fajitas

2011-03-24T06:56:00.013-05:00

Busy weeknight, day on the road under the auspice of running errands and getting things "done" but really it was a day hanging with some of my mommy friends. We did coffee for a ridiculous number of hours. I went to 3 stores to try to find a bra, luckily at store 3 I found one that actually fit so I cleared them out of one of every color, I don't want to go do that again for a while.

I met a friend for a late, lingering lunch and we munched on enchiladas and had a cocktail so by the time I grabbed Connor from school and dashed home there was a finite amount of time to get food on the table.

Enter fajita night.

Four skinless breasts, two peppers, one onion. Flour and lard for the tortillas and bingo! DINNER!

Let's play, here's how it went:

Salt, pepper and lightly the oil the breasts and lay them in a screaming hot cast iron pan. I crowd them slightly because they shrink and frankly I can't be bothered to get out a larger pan. I managed to use my new pink retro pyrex dish as holder for the sliced veg.

Turn it when it's quite brown and then cover it with a piece of tin foil. It keeps it moister I think and it speeds it up a bit. Flip a couple of times until you peek into a fat bit and it's just barely cooked through. Wrap it in thick foil and leave it on the side. It'll steam a bit, cook through a bit more and stay ridiculously juicy!

Toss the sliced onions into the pan and toss them around a bit, I put the comal on top and you see the foil chicken package was on it, I just wanted a little steam.

When they are slightly soft and slightly crunchy and a little brown around the edges, toss in the peppers, salt and pepper. Toss them around a little, plunk the chicken package on top and toss the whole pan into a 300 degree oven. DONE!

Heat a cast iron skillet or comal on medium high heat. Toss a tortilla on it and leave it there until you get a few bubbles, Connor timed it at 38 seconds. Flip it and cook it till it puffs... maybe 20 seconds? *you can buy tortillas or make your own, your choice. I have a recipe and process for flour tortillas, go there if you want to make EASY fresh tortillas!!

Pull the peppers out of the oven, if there's a ton of juice, toss them on high heat to boil it off. Slice the chicken thickly and toss it in with the peppers.

Take your yummy warmed tortillas and stuff them full! Add sour cream, cheese and I like avocado. There were leftovers that I may use in scrambled eggs and do a breakfast taco or two, or three :)

I love fajitas and I don't make them nearly enough. They are quick and easy and really delicious and I think you should stop reading and go make some, now!

/enoy

Cheese Turnovers

2011-03-22T10:50:00.012-05:00

Ok I'm still playing with the 1923 cookbook. Cheese turnovers with 3 ingredients? Oh, I've got to try THAT!

I love the random nature of many of these old recipes. I love that they assume you can cook. I love you add 'some' and merely 'bake'. No temperatures, no baking pan or instructions as to greasing or not. I think maybe that's why I write my "recipes" the way I do, I assume you can cook and if you can't, you should be cooking and you don't need someone to hold your hand the whole way. You don't NEED to measure all the time. Sometimes you cook by feel and smell and sight. Ooops, I'm ranting again. Back to the turnovers.

I am playing with only half the recipe here as a test. I put a block of cream cheese (80z) and 1/4 lb (1 stick) butter in the kitchen-aid and beat like heck. I didn't bring them to room temperature, I just put them in my beloved "big red" loaded it with the paddle and turned it on medium high until it was combined.

I sifted the flour into it, mixed it to a blob and kneaded it quickly then put it in plastic wrap. Into the fridge with you, I'm off to have a shower, we'll revisit in a couple of hours. Actually, I have crochet patterns to invent...loopersaustin.blogspot.com is what I do when I'm not doing this, over here.

I cut the dough in half and rolled it out. It didn't need much flour on the board really and kept turning it as I rolled it out. I cut it in squares with a giant knife. A blob of jarred raspberry jam in the middle of each and I folded it over. Some I pricked, some I sealed tight and some just the point.

I baked them at 375 for about 18 minutes. Oh they exploded alright but that's part of the fun and homemade-ness of them.

Yes, they're keepers!

Here's the recipe:

CHEESE TURNOVERS

2 packages cream cheese

1/2 pound butter

Mix well, knead in 2 cups of sifted flour. Let stan in cold place several hours or overnight. Roll out thin. Cut in squares. Put jam in center and turn over. Bake about 15 minutes.

*I just ate one, um, two *sigh* OK already, how many I ate is irrelevant. They are flaky, tasty, yummy and easy. Another shortlist keeper!

Make them, you'll thank me.

/enjoy!

Breakfast rolls

2011-03-22T09:44:00.013-05:00

Yes, I'm back in 1923 land. I was Skyping with my mother and since she's a foodie too, we started talking about, well, food. I shared with her the book I found on my latest adventure into the desert and subsequent antique shops and we giggled through some of the recipes and suggestions in the 1923 cookbook I recently acquired. It's the Chicago Evening American Cookbook; Practical Recipes for the Housewife.

We were intrigued by two recipes this morning and since I am at home and feeling peckish, two recipes it is.

The first I decided to try was the "delicious breakfast rolls" I felt like something delicious and it was breakfast!

Here we go:

sift a couple cups of flour in my new tin bowl, add baking powder and salt

add in some shortening and cut it in, I use my fingers

add enough milk to make a shaggy dough and stir with a fork for a minute and it'll turn into a ball. I didn't measure the milk, sorry.

I rolled out the dough to about 1/2 inch and cut it with a biscuit cutter. The dough only needed a little bit of flour on the board

I cut them out, put a blob of butter on each and folded them in half. Bake on parchment at 350 for 22 minutes (that's how long mine took)

In the name of science, pure science, I sampled, um, some. I tried them plain, lovely. With pomegranite jelly I got in NM from friends? Yummy and slightly tart. With butter and raspberry jam? Oh yes. I ate one with butter and tate and lyles golden syrup, I may have moaned with delight. That's the type I ate when I sampled for my mother, while she watched me on Skype; yeah, I'm special like that.

They are flaky and sort of crispy. Not too doughy and almost roll like? I like them a lot, sometimes regular biscuits are just too flaky for me, if there is such a thing and sometime too stodgy, I think these will be in regular rotation.

Make them and let me know what you think.

DELICIOUS BREAKFAST ROLLS

4 cupfuls of flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 tablespoonfuls sugar

1/2 cupful of any kind of shortening

Enough milk to make a stiff dough

Sift the dry ingredients together. Cut in the shortening. Add the milk. Toss on a floured baking board, roll half an inch in thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place a small piece of butter on each. Fold in half. Place in a slightly floured baking pan. Bake from fifteen to twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

*I made half this recipe, increased the salt and baked at 350.

/enjoy!

Fried Chicken, in milk, c1923

2011-03-21T19:46:00.012-05:00

I haven't written about food, I went on vacation. We camped in the desert in New Mexico, just outside Carlsbad. It was heaven. Yeah, I'm a desert rat. I ate Oryx and Elk, I can't tell you how delicious they are.

I cooked on nothing but charcoal for a week, in a single cast iron pan. By the end of the week, the host and camp ranger were popping by for breakfast tacos. I love that. Apparently I was good at it.

I had great plans to come back to write copious amounts about camping cooking. Um, no. I made the faux pas of hunting through antique stores in Roswell, yes, home of the aliens, and came up for air with an old cookbook and couple of sweet kitchen finds! Cookery books and cookery paraphernalia are the things I look for on any foray off the beaten path.

As a result of the finds, I'm solidly back in old school land, so bear with me. Look at what I found, a gem of a tin/enamel washbasin bowl and have used it every day, numerous times a day, since we got back a few days ago. I use it to make bread (twice) and tonight it was the vessel in which the chicken was floured for the recipe I made up, and then washed and held the spuds. The recipe is inspired by the 1923 Chicago Evening American CookBook I found in the antique store. Here's tonights dinner.

Joint a chicken ($4.00 for a 4.5lb bird from my local HEB) then salt and pepper it, flour it heavily and let it sit while you melt a blob of butter in a large dutch oven and melt a couple of blobs of shortening in a high sided frying pan.

Toss the chicken around in the flour again then fry it quickly, in batches, just until it's brown. We aren't trying to cook the chicken here, we're merely adding the beauty.

*the tiny square of bread in the first frypan shot is how I test oil. When the shortening melts, throw in a piece of bread, when it's brown, the oil is hot enough to fry!

When it's all fried up, toss the fat from the pan and add a little milk, salt and (obviously) loads of pepper. Whisk like crazy and boil it down a few minutes. Add it to the chicken in the pot, pouring down the sides.

When the liquid is in the pot, cover loosely with foil, pop the lid on and put the dutch oven in the oven at 300 degrees, leave it for 50 minutes.

Oh look how my wonderful new tin basin can be washed out and used to hold and wash potatoes. Yes, I love the dish! OH OH I also found THIS little gem. A VERY retro Pyrex oval covered dish in pink with crazy daisy's on it. Oh retro kitchen kitsch heaven. I nuked a can of corn with some butter, sugar and salt on it.

Ok, 50 minutes in, this is looking pretty good!!

I removed the lid, raised the temperature to 350 and let it go another 15 minutes while I mashed my potatoes. When the time was up, I removed the chicken to a casserole with foil to keep warm and boiled down the sauce, whisking like crazy. I cheated and added a drop of cream but you could add milk or nothing. I ended up having to add a little water to thin it. It needed only a smidgen of salt and pepper to finish it off.

*I absolutely know there should be something green on the plate but dammit, sometimes I just want corn :)

Ok now, I know I say this a lot but seriously, this is crazy good. The chicken is moist and tender. It needs to be tried. No, really. It's knife and fork chicken OR it's finger food chicken. The meat is barely holding onto the bone. Even the breast is juicy and, well, seriously, make this. I can't wait for someone to invite me to a potluck. I'm bringing this!

/enjoy

Meatloaf

2011-02-27T13:56:00.008-06:00

Hi;

Sorry to be gone for so long. I've become a slave to my embroidery machine and have been working toward building my embroidery/crafty business to generate enough income to cook? All I know is I need to find a way to split my time between half food and half craft. Oh wait, then i'll need half mother, half wife, half driver, half soccer mom, half crochet gal, half Loopers! teacher, and half - shouldn't there be a moment for me in there?

I've also been featured on The Art of Crochet, or rather my gnomes have!

http://loopersaustin.blogspot.com/2010/12/lilttle-christmas-gnome-dudes.html

http://loopersaustin.blogspot.com/2011/02/gnomes-for-all-seasons.html

...they may be little but Gnomes keep you busy! I have a new 'line' of spring gnomes which I shall add to the loopersaustin page.

ANYway, that being said; with Connor's math pentathlon club on Monday after school and his soccer practice Tuesday and Thursday and social life on Friday that leaves Wednesday as the only day in a week we can eat at home! *there's not enough time to come home and then get back to soccer or life and it's after 8 till we get home and no one can wait till then to eat. You'd think I could cook Wednesday but that's husband's "night out with the boys" *you'll notice a serious lack of my night out with the girls, boys or anyone without the child in tow* anyway, Connor likes me too cook little things he loves like the fettuccine alfredo with shrimp or something out of the freezer on "our" nights so it's never really a cooking day.

So, for the next few weeks, i'll be cooking on Sunday for our Sunday night meal and that's it till the next weekend. I hate not being able to cook but I am going to try to figure some way around it.

In the meantime welcome to this week's one meal ... meatloaf. Ya, I have a hankering. So we're having meatloaf, mashed potatoes, steamed green beans and cauliflower with cheese and a crazy crunchy panko topping. mmm meatloafy!

I make my meatloaf with 1 lb each of pork and sirloin. I run it through the food processor a little with some saltines that I crush and soak in milk. I add some fried onions, soft not brown, a squirt of ketchup and mustard, some Worcestershire. I salt and pepper with a heavy hand. 2 eggs and as many breadcrumbs as it takes to make a barely cohesive blob and there ya go.

I always cook my meatloaf free form and on slices of bread. The bread soaks up all the excess grease and gets crunchy and soaked with beef fat but doesn't actually burn. Yeah break off a shard or two of that and tell me how much you love it!

I squirt a little ketchup and a little barbeque sauce on top and rub it on gently, a very thin coating that I then cover with strips of bacon. Trust me, if there's a way to add bacon that I can snack on while dinner cooks, I'm there. I cook it at 325 for an hour and a half (2 lbs loaf) with bacon slices on top so I can snack while I cook.

I made a tasty onion gravy to go with it all and it was rather yummy. Of course my attempt at a family dinner blew up, no one ended up eating and I threw most of it away but I'll say this, it was delish!

go make a meatloaf, they're yummy, cheap and I think better later in the week as a leftovermeatloafcheeseburger sandwich (one of Connor's favorites!) Just make sure you eat it with people you love, who love you back because that's the best way.

/enjoy

Refrigerator Quiche

2011-02-06T10:59:00.007-06:00

Sometimes you just want quiche.

It's a Sunday morning standard but lots of people think it too much work, too temperamental and don't bother. That's a shame. If you follow me at all you know you must always make the $1.29 investment on a weekly basis and have a box of pre-made, rolled, pastry in your fridge. You must have it there at all times. No, really, you must.

If they're on sale, buy more and toss them into the freezer. There is never going to be a time we can't whip up a pie, quiche or treatie for lack of desire to make pie dough. My mother, as I say this, will be horrified but sometimes we need to stray from the straight and narrow and have boxed dough at the ready.

Sure, we can make pastry but sometimes, the need for quiche surpasses any desire or gumption to actually make the pastry and then wait the 30 to let it set and all the flour and rolling pin and other accouterments that come with a fine bout of pastry making. Today we go to the fridge, we grab the box and we are content with that.

Let's begin. Take your pre-rolled pastry out of the fridge, let it sit there and soften enough to unroll. *on a Sunday morning that is happily the extent of my pastry involvement.

Fry some bacon, 6 slices, until crisp.

Search through your fridge for anything left over that you can chop up and sprinkle in an even layer in the pie shell. ANYthing works here. I've made it with taco meat and crumbled tortilla chips and cheese, really, search around and find any combination of food you like, it'll work.

My search today left me with a small pile of chopped ham, some cheese; Havarti, cheddar and Parmesan, a few sick cherry tomatoes, 2 spring onions, 3 small boiled potatoes. That works.

By the time the bacon is crisp (remember to drain the fat into a jar! everything you make will taste better!) and the fridge search complete, the pastry has relaxed enough and we're ready to go. Preheat the oven to 375.

This isn't as much a recipe as a process:

This morning, I rolled out the pie dough slightly so that I felt as though I'd participated in the process but really you don't have to. I lined my pie plate and set it to one side.

I chopped small each of my delicious finds from the fridge. I sprinkled each in the bottom of the pie shell, in an even layer. Don't make your layers too thick otherwise you'll run out of space and that's never good.

I layered my crisp bacon then spring onions then tomato. Then the chopped ham, ripped Havarti, grated Parmesan and I had some Lancashire cheddar. I chopped the potatoes small and again, a sparse single layer.

*Here is the only "recipe" part, this is good for one 9' pie shell

In a large mixing bowl combine

5 large eggs

1 cup of milk. Wisk heartily!

Salt and pepper heavily and mix in any

herbs you have and like.

I found some almost done parsley in the fridge which I chopped fine and some dry herbs de Provence.

Pour the egg mixture over the filling and put it in the lower rack of the oven for 25 minutes. Move the quiche to the upper rack (it's a me thing but I always do this) for another 15 or so until it's beautiful, puffy and a knife comes out clean.

Put it on a rack to cool down, slice and eat! Really, no fuss, no muss and it's absolutely delicious. Also, your fridge is now organized and ready for you to fill up with left overs this week so we can have a completely different quiche next week... brisket and pepper jack perhaps?

/enjoy

*this is what I buy and keep in my fridge/freezer when I just can't muster the mood but need the end result:

Perogies

2011-01-27T18:49:00.009-06:00

A confession, I am a slave to my hankerings. Although I suppose if any of you have spent 5 minutes with me or reading my stuff, you already know that. Never-mind. On with the confession of a Thursday night.

After I went into "filled noodle" land, my culinary memory set upon me a hankering of ridiculous proportion. From that day to this I haven't been able to think of much other than perogies. If you don't know what they are, picture noodle dough, with sour cream in it, wrapped around mashed potatoes, cheese and a few fried onions. Boil them then, um, ya, fry them in butter with a few onions softened in the pan. I like to sprinkle some finely chopped green onions on them, Connor likes cheese grated on top of that!

I have to remember what I did to come up with these beauties but in the mean time, here's the beauty shots, I'll try to figure out what I did and write it down for you as quickly as I can. I "winged" the dough the other day and shoved it in the fridge. I made the filing the next day, some nuked potatoes and sour cream and butter. It's been sitting there waiting for me and tonight after school, a day with the mommies and my first eyebrow wax (we'll have to talk about that a different day) I had the biggest hankering and the delight in the knowledge the parts were in my fridge. By the time the water boiled, the perogies were rolled out, filled and sitting in wait. When they floated, I gave them 6 minutes then transfered them to the waiting pan of fried onions submerged in an obnoxious amount of slightly browned butter. A quick toss/fry and onto the plate.

Did I mention they're stupid, ridiculous good? Tender but slightly chewy dough, thick, rich, soft tasty filling? Oh my goodness, I need to sit down.

I'll get the recipe to you but in the mean time, here:

I rolled out the dough I made, cut it into rounds, used my mini ice cream scoop to put the same amount in each round then pulled it over and sealed. This dough is super soft, super stretchy and seals beautifully. If only I could remember how I made it.

Ok ok, I'll get on the recipe. In the meantime,

/enjoy

UPDATE;

The dough was 2 cups a/p flour, 1/2 milk, a "blob" of sour cream (maybe almost 1/4 cup?), 1 egg and some salt. I combined it, stirred like mad and when it was a dough, I flipped it a couple of times on the board in a gentle knead and wrapped it in plastic wrap and threw it in the fridge. I made it 3 days before I made the perogies so it's definitely a do ahead, and we love a good do ahead.

The filling was some nuked potatoes, ok maybe 4 large ones? some grated cheese and some fried onions. I salted and peppered heavily!! This filling is intense and absolutely delicious. The dough needs it and can certainly handle the aggressive filling.

/make these!

Bacon wrapped Jalapeno "Poppers"

2011-01-25T18:18:00.008-06:00

Seriously, take 11 jalapenos, $.22. Cut in half and spread some cream cheese in each one, $.50. Wrap 1/3 piece of bacon around each one, $.90.

Bake in 450 oven, single layer, for 20 minutes. Spin pan, bake 5 minutes. Spin pan, sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake 5 minutes.

You make these and you are a hero!

Eat many many many!

Try really really hard to save one for your husband who saw the pictures you posted and is screaming home in a sad attempt to make him home before they are all gone. As I am writing this, he's on the phone cursing the traffic gods who he feels convinced are conspiring to keep him from the bacon wrapped jalapeños. Poor thing, I'll have another while I sympathize.

/enjoy *I'd wax poetic or lyrical here but really, I have poppers to snarf down

Filled Noodles (c1920 recipe)

2011-01-24T10:48:00.009-06:00

It's common knowledge I will read a cookbook before all other things. I read them like novels, they are novels, they're historical fiction. They are "this is what we ate and this is how we made it delicious" books and I love them.

We were invited for dinner the other day and the "grandma" was there. I love when anyone's grandma arrives, we always end up talking about food in a corner. She waxes poetic and I sit mesmerized, it's a common picture that's played out with all of my friends if their mothers happen by.

That being said, this particular household and this particular grandma had an old cookbook with them. Fredericksburg, Texas, PTA put it out in 1918 and then reissued with additions and "improvements" till the 40's. I love that book. Grandma was talking about certain dishes and one of them was "Filled Noodles". I'd never heard of it, but by the description it's a Germanesque version of ravioli that's boiled in then served in a very thin tomato sauce. We found it in the cookbook, I shot a picture of it with my iPhone (random acts of technology collide, the 20's cookbook and the iPhone, sort of like the fact I download 1600's cookbooks to read on my Nook?!)

I'm making it for dinner tonight, pictures will follow of course.

FILLED NOODLES

(courtesy of Mrs. Ernst Ottens and Mrs. Theo Haag)

Dough:

2 eggs

2 Tbsp water

1/2 t baking powder

flour to make a stiff dough which you roll out and cut into 12-14 4x4 squares

*we know I'm going to add salt and maybe pepper

Filling:

3/4 lb ground beef

1 small onion

salt and pepper

Fried in 2 Tbsp shortening

*again, we know I'll go heavy on pepper and may add mace which is an old school spice that would seem to fit here

Sauce

4 cups water

1 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 can tomatoes

chili powder if you'd like

*I think I'll like the addin chili powder. I only have a small can of tomatoes so may add some of the cherry tomatoes, chopped, that we are still harvesting in JANUARY in Texas.

Boil the noodles in the sauce for 15-20 minutes. Place on platter and serve with sauce.

That's all they wrote. I would have thought you boil the noodles in water and transfer but perhaps boiling in the sauce will thicken it slightly from the starch/flour in the noodle. I can't wait to try it, as I said, I'll post the play by play pics later today. I'm making a couple loaves of bread at the moment, one sandwich loaf for Connor's lunch and one rustic Italian crusty boule to have with the filled noodles tonight!

Well the sauce is done, I did cheat and dropped 1/4 of an onion in the sauce, just for more flavor. I'll boil it up when the noodles are being made. The filling is made and I added more onion because I love it. Just dough and dropping and boiling to do!

Ok, here's the beauty shots. The dough was very easy to deal with. I used just shy of 1 1/2 cups of a/p flour to make the dough soft but easy to roll out without sticking to anything. I had the rest of the cup measure at the side of the counter and used it for dusting as I rolled.

I boiled them for 15 minutes but thought they needed a little bit more so another 3-4 minutes. Husband wasn't home so I left the pot on the stove (turned off) and he ate an hour later and they were still hot and a little softer still.

The final verdict? The sauce was delightful, thin and flavorful but needs the addition of more onion or spice (for my families tastes) The filling was also a little bland but then we're all exposed to so much more spice these days I'm not sure if it's the filling or our taste buds. I'll simply amp up the salt and pepper and maybe add some pork to add fat to the filling, I'm sure the ladies of the day had beef with substantially more fat and flavor that we have today.

Will I make this again? Oh you betchya, it's definitely a keeper!

In honor of Mrs. Ernst Ottens and Mrs. Theo Haag, I thank you.

These are a hearty fare and worth the investment of energy to make. Not that there's alot of energy but some people think making and rolling any sort of dough an effort. Thankfully, I'm not one of those people and will continue to search through old cookbooks, chat to everyone's grandma and keep the recipes going that were staples when people had less, worked harder and had to make what little they had stretch further. It's my little ode to those who came before.

Tonight, perogie!

/enjoy

Tracy's Food (Life)

White Bread, my Daily Bread

Millionaire Shortbread *you're welcome* :)

Salmon Meat Balls (mini cakes)

Meatballs, pressure cooker style

Potato Appetizer Snack Side Deliciousness

Lamb Meatballs or Kebabs

Pork Ribs in the Pressure Cooker (St. Louis Cut Ribs)

Yellow Split Pea Soup (pressure cooker style)

Spaetzle (maybe not authentic but it's mine)

Bread Bread Dump Cake

Pressure Cooker Experiments

Lemon Ginger Cheesecake Tart

Chicken Divan - my way

Roast Chicken

Salmon Cakes and Asparagus

Waffles

Apple Cobbler

Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

Pie in a Jar

Brisket 101

Pan roasted Chicken with Sugarsnaps

The Quick French Baguette

Peach Crisp

Pork Loin

Twice Fried French Fries

Scalloped Potatoes

Fried Chicken

Teriyaki chicken with rice stick noodles

Artichoke Dip

Egg Rolls

Apple Crumble

Creme Caramel, Flan

Biscuits for breakfast

RIBS

Boiled Eggs

Chicken with 40+2 Cloves of Garlic

Floured Bacon

Old Lady Bread! (way old school)

Pecan Pie

Fajitas

Cheese Turnovers

Breakfast rolls

Fried Chicken, in milk, c1923

Meatloaf

Refrigerator Quiche

Perogies

Bacon wrapped Jalapeno "Poppers"

Filled Noodles (c1920 recipe)

Millionaire Shortbread you're welcome :)