Cottage Cheese

I don't know why or how, but we seem to have a never-ending supply of sour milk around here.  For years I've tried to figure out uses--like lots and lots of pancakes_-or freezing it in pancake sized bags...or waffles...or???  I always thought that cottage cheese from sour milk would be the best use, but I had trouble finding a recipe that worked well with sour milk.  Finally, a couple months ago, I ran across this one, which is amazing in its simplicity...

 Here are my copied from the internets notes:
The amounts are approximate, they seem to work with a little more or a little less.
Start with about 1/2 gallon of sour milk. (tonight we didn't have any sour milk, but we had 2 gallons of not sour...it works with not sour milk, too.  A couple weeks ago we had some sour cream (not sour cream, like you put on potatoes, but cream that was sour) and it worked, too...

Ok, back to the recipe--
put about 1/2 gallon of (sour) milk in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir almost constantly.  At altitude this took about 15 minutes, give or take.  Heat milk until it is almost boiling (185 degrees by my candy thermometer, stuck through the hole on a wooden spoon, balanced in the pan)

 When the temperature reaches 185 degrees (ish), remove from heat.  Add about 3 Tablespoons of white vinegar and stir (I don't think you really have to stir, but it seems like you should, so I do).  It should start to separate into clumpy, cottage cheese like lumps, and weird watery stuff.  Don't taste it at this point...it will taste like vinegar.














 Put cheesecloth in a strainer, pour cheese blobbies and watery goop through--the cheese blobbies should stay in the cheese cloth--if you pour carefully and have left some cheesecloth hanging over the sides, then you can gather it all up in a ball of cheese in cheesecloth.  Run it under cold water until the water looks pretty clear (and un-vinegary).  Squeeze it as much as your cheesecloth allows--if you have cheesecloth with big holes, it will smooge through.  I sometimes wrap it all up and tie it to the sink faucet for a few minutes to finish any dripping








Open the cheesecloth into a bowl or onto a clean surface--it if is very dry, it will probably fall out in one big clump, but sometimes I gently shake the cheesecloth to get more out (it tends to stick in the holes).

The original recipe says to add salt and unspoiled cream at this point.  I usually wait to add the salt until I'm going to eat it (but I like this cheese room temperature, so sometimes that is at this point).  Add cream or a little milk and chop it up with a spoon or fork (kind of chop and stir).  Add more milk or cream to reach the texture you want (now you can taste, by the way, if you rinsed well, it won't taste bitter).

There you go--I look forward to hearing if anyone else tries this and how it goes!

What to do when you don't want to go to the grocery store...

The other night we wanted hamburgers...we had ground beef, but no buns.  And there was no way I was going back to that ridiculously crowded grocery store...thank you google...here's my solution:
40 -minute Hamburger buns

• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (110° to 115°)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

• 1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.
• 2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes. Do not let rise. Divide into 12 pieces; shape each into a ball. Place 3 in. apart on greased baking sheets.
• 3. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 1 dozen.

When I followed the recipe, the buns were way too small, so I had to make a second batch.  Unfortunately we were then out of veggie oil...but for the record, olive oil worked really well!  The buns were very tasty and the boy reports the leftovers made great toast this morning!

Quick Cinnamon rolls!

The other day The Boy wanted Cinnamon rolls.  Ummm.  Yeah, I don't know how to do that.  Thankfully, All Recipes does...Quick Cinnamon Rolls

It took about an hour total for us--from start to eatingIngredients

• 1/4 cup butter, divided
• Dough:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 
  

 

• Filling:
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

• Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar (optional)
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush a 9-inch square baking dish with 2 tablespoons melted butter.
2. Whisk flour, 2 tablespoons white sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Work 3 tablespoons softened butter into flour mixture using your hands. Beat milk and egg together in another bowl; pour into flour-butter mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until a soft dough forms.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and roll dough into a 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Brush surface of dough with 2 tablespoons melted butter.
4. Whisk 1/2 cup white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cinnamon sugar mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over butter-brushed dough. Roll dough around filling to form a log; cut log into 18 rolls and place rolls in the prepared baking dish.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until rolls are set, 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Beat confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, 1/4 cup softened butter, and vanilla extract together in a bowl until frosting is smooth. Top hot cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting.

Next time I think I'll use less filling--they were very sweet!  Just a little cinnamon sugar and the frosting would have been enough--we ate them though--this was about an hour after I took them out of the oven:

 

Snow Day Waffles

On  snow day #2, The Girl left for babysitting and Mr. IM went to  work, so The Boy and I decided to make waffles.  Here's our new favorite recipe:
Mix:  1 1/2 C flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 C sugar, 3T cocoa, handful of salted caramel chips
Add:  1C milk, 2 eggs, 4T melted butter
 "Frost" with topping:  1T softened butter, 3/4C powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1tsp milk

Delicious!

Note...they were pretty sweet--I think I would include less sugar in the actual waffle mix and maybe use cream cheese instead of butter in the frosting--maybe that would help the over sweetness.  We'll have to wait for the next snow day to find out :)

A Snow Day menu and activities

One of the beautiful things about Colorado is that  it can be 75 degrees one day (yesterday) and blizzard conditions the next (today).  Since we're all home, I figured I could cook.  Mr. IM even opted to stay home--it isn't very nice out there.

Although the response of The Girl was "more soup?"  (We had soup from the freezer last night), it smells tasty enough that I think she'll eat it.

This is a combination of the broth left from the corned beef, a bag of Women's Bean Project soup, a bag of frozen mixed veggies, and the lone tomato that was sitting on my counter.

I'm multi-tasking and also making a couple pans of Chicken and Rice Cassarole, hoping that we have a couple more cool-ish days and can use the oven if I freeze one for later.

For an added bonus, I just popped a couple loaves of whole wheat Oatmeal break into the oven...I may just eat that myself...

Meanwhile, Morrison's status has been upgraded from "forced invalid" to "take it easy", since it has been 19 days since her spay and elective gastropexy surgery.  She was allowed to go outside by herself (no leash) and (gently) play in the snow for a few minutes this morning (while Liberty watched sadly from the window).  Now she is enjoying her morning nap while I cook.

The Girl is allegedly cleaning her room and The Boy is doing something...hmm.. Mr. IM is trying to convince the media computer to cooperate so we can stream a movie on the big tv...snow days are exciting!

What I did on my Fall Break

Ok, you caught me...we're only halfway through fall break...but this is a catch all of what I've been up to and what I hope to finish before going back to school on Monday!

Monday:  Cleaning, hauling stuff to Goodwill drop off, picking up The Boy, Guitar lesson, grocery store, Target, Dentist appointment.  The good news is that we have a guest "room" again--bad news is that The Boy has moved into it while we are dog sitting, so he and the dog can bond.

Tuesday:  More cleaning and hauling, watch two episodes of "Outlander"  (it was ok...not worth $1.99 for more episodes though...I'll wait for it from the library), playing with dogs, pick up food to feed 15 freshman volleyball players, pick up The Boy, watch some volleyball, feed 15 volleyball plays, concession stand stint, home to watch Roanoke on the History Channel (meh, it was ok)

Wednesday:  Finish Roanoke while making 4 lasagnas (3 to freeze, one for tonight).  Talk to water heater people about scheduling permit inspection for heater that was installed a couple weeks ago.  Prep to make chicken and rice casseroles for freezer, entertain visiting dog while waiting for her owner to pick her up.  Later today, pick up The Boy at chess club and watch some more volleyball. And pick up some more carbon monoxide detectors, since the inspection requires more than we have.

Thursday plan:  8:00 am coffee with principal at The Boy's School (not just me, grade 3-5 parents), lunch with a friend at 11, COSTO run, pick up The Boy...somewhere in there hopefully run to the post office to mail  gifts to my newest nephew and his brother.

Friday plan: Wait at house for water heater inspection.  Maybe get work done in yard, more laundry (of course).  Pick up The Boy--trick or treat downtown for a few minutes?  Pick up the Girl...run to grocery store to get stuff for Saturdays' adventures

Saturday plan:  Visit puppy at 11, go to friends house to watch Purdue get creamed by Nebraska, drop The Girl off at a friends house to help friend supervise younger sibling trick or treating, take Boy trick or treating with friends.

Sunday plan:  Church and collapse...I need a vacation from my vacation...geez.

Other items on the "to do list"  (let's see how far I really get:  clean yard and prep for winter, dispose of dead dorm fridge, change smoke detector batteries and clocks, work on school work, and the usual....laundry, dishes, bills..egads)

What's for dinner?

As you may recall, we had three lovely (small) butternut squash from the garden this year.  Unfortunately, Alice the Cat decided she likes to attack the butternut squash, so storing them long term seemed like a bad choice.  Luckily, today was cold and rainy, a perfect day for squash soup.  Here's the recipe I started with with notes of the changes we made...

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/235965/sunset-soup/?prop24=etaf:  Sunset Soup

And here is what I actually did:

Last night I baked the butternut squash, cut in half, in a little water for about an hour at 350 degrees, until soft, scooped out of shell and refrigerated.

Cut up, added a tiny bit of water, cooked in microwave for about 5 minutes, until all soft:

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

4 little turnips (from CSA basket), peeled and chopped

2 small gala apples that were bruised and the children refused to eat, peeled and chopped
4 little onions from the garden, chopped

While the other veggies were cooking, put squash and a can of beef broth in the blender and blend until smooth.  Transfer to pot.

Put other veggies in blender with another can of beef broth, add to pot.

Season with cumin, curry, chilli pwd,  and paprika.  

It had the seal of approval from the whole family...so yay!

Recipe of the weekend: Banana Muffins

One of my friends posted on facebook that they found a "green light lamp" to teach their two year old when it was ok to wake up mom and dad.  We could have used one of those when The Boy was younger.  These days we get a slow start on a lot of Saturdays.



We were all up fairly early this morning--The Girl had to "work" at a JV volleyball tourney--The Boy and I slept in until about 7, while Mr IM took The Girl to school.  I was drinking coffee and making a grocery list when The Boy appeared, with grand plans to cook breakfast.  He was slightly miffed when I told him that his "ingredient of the week" was the brown bananas on the counter (he wanted more apple cinnamon waffles, using last week's ingredient, the brown apples...)  We visited AllRecipes.com and again found something that would work.  Because I didn't want my phone or computer slimed by our cooking efforts, I copied the outline of the recipe onto a piece of scrap paper, shown here after we spilled on it...So without further ado...Banana Muffins...

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (we used a little more, there were a lot of brown bananas...)2/3 cup sunflower seed oil (I didn't find any in the pantry, so I used plain old veggie oil.  I did consider using coconut, but in the end went with veggie) 1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 C flour

1/2 C sugar (we used a little less)

2T unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powderr 

1/2 tsp salt

1C semisweet chocolate chips (we used white chocolate chips)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. In a medium bowl blend the banana, oil, egg and vanilla together.
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in the banana mixture until just blended. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling 3/4 full.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.  (We cooked the mini muffins for about 10 minutes and they were perfect)

And finally the finished product--they must have been good, because this is all that is left (original recipe made 24 mini muffins and 9 big muffins)


I intended these for snacks this week,  but it looks like we'll be having cheez-its again.....but these were yummy!

Cherry Frozen Yogurt--Yum!

We're always trying to find new ice cream recipes.  Last weekend we didn't have any cream or any pasteurized egg product...so we improvised, with a little help from All Recipes...Cherry Frozen Yogurt!   Here is our version:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (softened)
1 T lemon juice
3 C Vanilla yogurt
1 can cherry pie filling

Mash the cream cheese and lemon juice, add the yogurt about a cup at a time, until smooth and creamy.  Mix in the cherries, freeze in ice cream freezer.

Yummy!

Pancakes without milk

This post is brought to you courtesy of The Girl, who finished off the Thursday milk delivery by Friday afternoon (and a brief Internet search by me). The recipe is pretty simple and similar to our usual recipe. I doubled it, the original said it made 6 pancakes..ummm..not quite enough! I also only used about 3/4 C water.

 Recipe (already doubled)
2 cups flour
6 Tbsp sugar
4.5 tsp baking powder
5 Tbsp melted butter or margarine
1.5 C water  (I used about half of that)
2 eggs (the original recipe says that the eggs can also be replaced with 1.5 C water, if you need eggless, too)

In other news I'm proud of myself for writing this using only my phone while sitting on the deck....ahhhh....

The best coleslaw ever

I'm not making this up, my friend, J, calls this the best coleslaw ever.  So get ready for another secret family recipe...This one brought to you by Cooking Pleasures Magazine, February/March 2005.  The real recipe on this page is Cumin-Crusted Salmon with Guacamole (also tasty, and included, but not photographed).  We love the salmon recipe, but have probably served the coleslaw many more times without the salmon than with (with burgers, brats, as the "base" for fish tacos, at carry-in meals....)

Cilantro Coleslaw
In a large bowl, combine 1 (1 lb) package of coleslaw mix with 6 chopped green onions and 1 C chopped cilantro.  In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 C mayonnaise, 2 T lime juice and 2 T honey.  Pour dressing over coleslaw mix, toss to combine.

That's it...yummy, right?
The original article suggested serving it with the salmon and cornbread or pan-fried potato wedges.

Cumin-Crusted Salmon with Guacamole.
2 T ground cumin
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
4 (5-6 oz) salmon fillets, skin removed
2 tsp olive oil
1 C prepared guach (they suggest 1 avocado and 1 C salsa...I've done it there way and 10,000 other ways as well.... sometimes we just use sliced avocado, sometimes store bought, sometimes home-made)

Heat oven to 425 (sometimes we do it on the grill).  In a small bowl, still together cumin, salt ,and pepper, sprinkle on salmon.  Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium high heat until hot.  Add salmon.  Cook 2 minutes or until browned. (sometimes I skip that step and just do it in the oven). Turn, place in oven.  Bake 5-8 minutes or until salmon just begins to flake.  Serve topped with guacamole.  4 servings, usually with lots of coleslaw left over for fish tacos or burgers the next day.

Chicken and Rice Cassarole

In honor of Mr. IM's birthday tomorrow, here is one of his favorite childhood recipes, as made by his mother.  I usually take too many shortcuts and he says mine isn't as good as hers.

This is a good weeknight recipe, as long as some prep is done before.  I usually leave this for a weekend though and make several recipes worth at once to freeze (it freezes well). My shortcuts (that the Mr. objects to) are:  Use 4 chicken breasts, either baked in the oven or (gasp) in the microwave;  use canned mushrooms, use "regular" rice (cook it first, mix it all together)....I've even been known to use celery salt instead of celery.
Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Present

Last year's Thanksgiving post was about Thanksgivings Past...This year I bring to you Thanksgiving Present (not to be confused with presents on Thanksgiving...see last year's post for some of those).

We decided late last week that staying home is the way to go--we have two invitations to join friends, but decided that all of us will benefit from cooking at home and hanging out in our jammies.  And this way we'll have leftoevers....yum!  IM says we all have to get dressed before lunch, but I'm thinking of testing that ultimatum.  The kids and I picked up about 5 movies at the library, so I figure between that and football...we're good.  Especially since we'll probably have to get dressed and leave the house at some point anyway.

Here's our tentative menu...some recipes included below:
Breakfast...hmm..I'm thinking something in the cinnamon roll family?

Turkey (family recipe--see below)
sweet potatoes
gravy
green beans
green bean cassarole
key lime pie (ok, fake key lime)
pumpkin cheesecake
smashed potatoes
rolls
cranberry sauce
stuffing
roasted vegetables

I'm sure I'm forgetting something important...but I think we'll be good!
Turkey--Mr IM's grandma's "famous" recipe:

Key Lime Pie ---My mom actually makes this with sugar free ingredients and makes a strawberry version as well--very tasty! (and easy)

6-8 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients

• 1 package (3 ounces) lime gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) key lime pie yogurt
• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine gelatin powder and yogurt. Fold in whipped
• topping. Spread into crust. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes
• before serving. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Pumpkin Cheesecake 

Cranberry Sauce

Santa Bread

It is a little early for Christmas stuff...but this is too cute (and I have a running joke about gnomes with a couple friends).  I came across this recipe last week and thought I'd try it....Here are my results:


 This is Santa before  he was baked and below is one after.  I made him as a gnome instead of Santa, because Santa would be seasonally inappropriate. This time I used the bread recipe included and followed all the directions--I'm not thrilled with how the egg brush turned out on his beard.  I think the next time I'll use my grandma's coffee cake recipe and maybe only the egg brush on the colored portions of his face..  I also made four smaller Santas from the recipe that says makes one large Santa --I think that they were a good size to share with a friend...I might make them slightly smaller and serve the mas a holiday breakfast.

Green Tomato Salsa

Under the threat of a not-so-early frost, I picked all the green tomatoes I could. Since the family won't eat fried green tomatoes, I opted for my old stand-by, Green tomato salsa.

 Here are most of the green tomatoes...I did save about three big ones to make some fried green tomatoes for myself tomorrow  Those little ones mystify me..I don't think I planted them...maybe they are from the compost dirt?

The Girl, who is reading over my shoulder, just pointed out that my blogs aren't very funny any more.  Hmm.  Well, here's a funny story about when I made pickles last year...I chopped up jalapenos and made my hands burn.  Ok, not funny, but I did learn that if you wash your hands in olive oil and Dawn dishsoap it is still possible to take out contacts without dying.

Recipe:

Green Salsa Dressing  from http://www.bostonplus.com/tomato.html#salsadress

A variety of Mexican salsa, this dressing can be used as a topping for beans and rice, or mixed with beans to make a salad. Makes 1 2\3 cups. (The way I made it, I had about 8 cups of finished salsa)

• 1 cup green tomatoes, coarsely chopped

• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper or chili pepper (I used jalapeno)

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

• 2 scallions, green and white parts, cut into l-inch lengths

• 1/3 cup water

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Combine green tomatoes, pepper, garlic, scallions and water in a 4-cup glass measure or small microwave safe mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave at High for two minutes. Let stand one minute. Pick plastic to release steam.

Remove from microwave and uncover carefully. Scape into a blender or food processor. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

So, as you can see from the number of tomatoes in picture one, I had to quadruple the recipe.  I used about 5 jalapenos though and about 8-10 scallions from the garden--the rest was pretty straight forward.  I microwaved it in a big glass bowl, then dumped it into this bigger bowl to mix in the cilantro, etc.  I microwaved it for about four minutes-- I think if I was going to use it for a dip or sauce on something without cooking it more, I'd cook it more on this end.  I also always contemplate cooking it in a pan...but this is so fast I usually give in and use the microwave.

I've never followed their recommendation to put it on beans--I 've made it into a dip (I think once by adding sour cream?) and have used it on baked potatoes and on baked/grilled chicken--very tasty!  I store it in the freezer in about 2 cup portions in tupperware and then thaw in the fridge or a sink of hot water.

The famous birthday cake

It almost seems ridiculous to post a recipe for this cake...but it is sooo yummy!  I tried finding an official recipe online, and saw a few that are similar, but not the same. So I don't know if that means my mother-in-law modified one or if it truly is a secret family recipe--in any case, the secret is out...

Ingredients:
Cream--I suppose that half and half or something else could work, but we always use heavy whipping cream.  We've toyed with using Cool Whip and re-whipping to add the chocolate, but never had...I don't think it would turn out as well.  For this cake I used about 2 C
chocolate syrup--any will do, but Hershey's is the best...don't know why, just trust me.  For this recipe I used about 2T
graham crackers--if you can find the "big" ones, I like them best, lately all I've been able to find are the "half" ones, which are great for smores, but a pain for this recipe.  I used almost a whole box (one partial sleeve from an open box and one whole new sleeve) It is ok if they are getting a little stale/soft (but if they taste stale, they might be too far gone)
optional fruit--not part of the "original" recipe, but for several years we've been adding raspberries to the top of our creation--strawberries would be yummy, too...or whatever you want.  I used one pint of raspberries for this one, they didn't cover the whole top, but looked pretty.

Directions:
Pour cream into a glass bowl (chilled, if you remember), add chocolate syrup (enough to make it taste as chocolate-y as you would like) and whip by whatever method you usually use until stiff. (I use my fabulous $6.99 hand mixer).

For the cake plate, I usually  take a tupperware-like container, flip the lid , so the part that snaps into the bowl is up, and put down some wax paper.  When I'm done building the cake I just put the bowl part on top like a cake carrier. You can use a plate, or a cake carrier, or whatever you want--something like a plate though that can be covered.  The cake needs to be refrigerated overnight (ideally) and the cream will absorb smells/tastes from the fridge if not covered.  It is tricky to do the "toothpick and saran wrap" method with this cake, it can be pretty unstable at first (it firms up overnight).

Place graham crackers in a single layer on your "cake plate".  The cake can be bigger than one graham cracker, as large as you want to deal with, actually.  The only trick is that all the crackers need to touch with as little room between as possible.  Some years I've put a very thin layer of the whipped topping under the first layer of crackers to hold them in place, but this year the cake was small enough that I didn't need to do that.  The cake pictured is about 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide at the base, which was 3 "half" graham crackers end to end with 3 halves (of the halves) to make it wider. Spread whipped topping on crackers--the thicker it is the more unstable your cake and the fewer layers you'll be able to stack.  There is a happy medium though...you want enough whipped cream that the graham crackers can absorb the moisture and become soft and cake-like, but not so much that the cake tips over as you build it. Between a quarter and half inch seems to work pretty well.  Continue to add layers (graham crackers, whipped topping, repeat) until the cake reaches the height you would like.  This cake was about 3 inches tall.  I could have gone taller, but was running out of crackers and this was plenty for the four of us to have a piece both last night and tonight. If you haven't "frosted" the sides with the whipped topping as you went, frost the sides.  Decorate with fruit, cover, and refrigerate (ideally for about 24 hours).

After 24 hours, take out of the refrigerator, slice, and serve (with ice cream) if you would like.  Enjoy!

Garlic Soup? Really!

This is the bag of garlic that I harvested earlier this week and wasn't sure what to do with it.  Apparently, it is difficult to preserve garlic at home, there are lots of ways to do it, but none that sounded "easy" enough to me for now, so I decided to ask friends for ideas/recipes.

My friend, J, shared this recipe, stating that she hasn't tried it yet, but it looks good:

Roasted Garlic-Potato Soup  from Cooking Light, May 1995.

Yield 7 1 cup servings

• 5 whole garlic heads  (I used about 8, because the ones from the garden were small)
• 2 bacon slices, diced (I used three and cooked them most of the way in the microwave
• 1 cup diced onion (I used a leek we had in the refrigerator)
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 2 garlic cloves, minced  (again, I used about four cloves because they were pretty small)
• 6 cups diced baking potato (about 2 pounds, I used red potatoes, left the skin on, cut out the eyes)
• 4 cups low-salt chicken broth (four bouillon cubes and 4 cups water)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (left out, because the bouillon has some in it, but we seasoned a little at the table)
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper (left out, because the bouillon has some in it, but we seasoned a little at the table)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup 2% low-fat milk (I used cream, again, because we had some to use up)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (We only had dried...it was fine)

Remove white papery skin from each garlic head (do not peel or separate cloves). 

Wrap each head separately in aluminum foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; let cool for 10 minutes. 

(I let it cool about 20 minutes, while doing the rest of the recipe, so I could handle it)

Separate cloves, and squeeze to extract 1/4 cup of garlic pulp; discard the skins.

While the garlic is baking, do the rest of this:

Cook bacon in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until crisp. 

Add onion, carrot, and minced garlic, and sauté 5 minutes. 

Add potato, broth, salt, pepper, and bay leaf; bring to a boil. 

Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender; remove bay leaf.

Combine garlic pulp and 2 cups potato mixture in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. 

Return purée to pan; stir in milk, and cook over low heat until thoroughly heated. 

Remove from heat, and stir in chopped parsley.

The finished product--yummy veggies (and bacon...)

Although we loved this soup, it was kind of time intensive--lots of veggies to peel and lots of steps.

I think it will be good though if I make it in bigger batches and freeze it or prepare the parts and freeze them...

The seal of approval from The Boy..

Boiler Up!

For Christmas my parents gave Mr. Ranch and I each a package of Purdue themed pasta.  I didn't realize until the other day that it included dressing to make it into pasta salad!  Luckily it would have stayed "good" well into the 2020's... Ha!  It says right on it that it is "salad"...shows how observant I am.  It was tasty and fun to eat little trains...thanks again, Mom and Dad!

A new breakfast treat

I found a new (small) series of books set in Northern Minnesota.  The series is about a small town minister who solves mysteries.  He also loves to cook and has provided us with a yummy new breakfast recipe.  Of course, we set off the smoke detector, because the pan overflowed, so if you make this, I'd recommend a pan under your pan.  

Here's the writer's quote that intrigued me enough to try the recipe, "Next, I broke three eggs into a bowl, and beat them with a cup and a half of milk before adding the same measurement of flour. A small handful of sugar, some salt and vanilla followed, and, voila, I had batter for pannekoeken." (Tom Hilpert (2013-11-11). Superior Justice (Lake Superior Mysteries) (p. 124). Spring Creek. Kindle Edition.) and here's the recipe from the back of the book.

Pannekoeken:  A great recipe to feed guests for breakfast.  It leaves you time to visit while it bakes.  It can be easily doubled or tripled.

Put 1/4 C butter in a small baking dish or pie plate.  Put in oven and turn oven on to 400 degrees.  While the oven pre-heats the butter will melt.

While the butter is melting, mix together:

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

handful of sugar

1 1/2 C milk

3-4 eggs (we used 3)

dash vanilla.

Pour the mixture into the pan with the butter.  Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.  It will puff up as it bakes.  Serve with maple syrup or fruit and whipped cream, or lemon juice and powdered sugar.

Picky eater..sigh

Thanks to the time change, we at the Ranch are moving slowly this morning.  We decided to go to church at 10:30 instead of at 8:30...meaning a great deal of my day will be done when we walk out...but not a great deal of "the list" (you know that list, parents!).  So, I snuck downstairs to start on my list (dishes, laundry, grocery list...) and Mr. Ranch snuck into the shower...guess I'll write a blog post while I wait for him to give me my turn!

Neither of the kids were a picky eater when they were little--occasionally someone's lunch or dinner plate spent some time in the fridge until the next meal, but not very often.  Recently, The Girl has become a slightly picky eater.  Unlike her friend E, who is a vegetarian, except for bacon, The Girl is just being picky.  I think it is part of her grand scheme to drive me absolutely nuts.  Thankfully, we still get the Sunday paper, and almost every week there is a recipe section, with pretty pictures and attention grabbing headlines...."Go Healthy!  Smart Lunchbox Layering!";  "Rice and Easy!";  "Your Nutrition Survival Guide!" and so on... Mr. Ranch pointed out to her that by the time he and her aunt were her age, they were in charge of cooking at least one meal a week.  Inspired, she has provided me with the following grocery list:  avocados, blueberries, bananas, turkey bacon, shrimp, vanilla yogurt, cottage cheese, pecans, slivered almonds, rice, and peanut butter cheerios.  I don't think the cheerios go in a recipe.  But I don't know for sure.  There were a few other things on the list, like oatmeal, that I assured her we already have (I believe we also have a great deal of the other things on her list, or did have, before the locusts ate them).  After we try a couple recipes I'll have her report back  to all of us.  In the meantime, here is the most likely recipe to be tried by the whole family:

from: http://parade.condenast.com/264496/sarahdigregorio/easy-oven-baked-risotto-plus-3-ways-to-make-it-special/
Easy Oven-Baked Risotto
Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 diced onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves. Season with kosher salt. Cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 1¼ cups Arborio rice. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Pour in ½ cup dry white wine and season with salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until liquid evaporates, 3 minutes. Add 4 cups boiling chicken stock. Cover and transfer to oven. Bake 15 minutes or until rice is just tender. Stir in 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice and 1/3 cup grated Parmesan. Taste; add more salt or lemon juice if desired. Choose a flavor (see below) and add stir-in. Ladle into dishes; add topping. Serves 4.
Stir in: Fresh herb puree
In a food processor, combine ¾ cup water, 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 cup firmly packed chopped fresh mint, 1 cup firmly packed chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, 2 Tbsp olive oil, ½ cup chopped fresh chives, and 1 tsp kosher salt. Pulse until pureed.
Top with: Cooked shrimp

Shrimp-Herb