10 Things Every Baker Needs

My list is in no special order; however I feel that this is a pretty comprehensive list of the basic needs of every baker. Even if you’re not using a state of the art, super high powered, “it mixes, it chops, it makes julienne fries, and it walks your dog” type counter top mixer you can make some pretty awesome baked goods with a few simples and important tools.

1. Measuring cups & spoons – liquid and dry measure are both really important. I actually have 2 sets of dry measure in my kitchen. One 18/10 stainless steel and one plastic. There’s no real rhyme or reason I have one or the other however I can use the stainless steel ones on the stove top. I use them to melt butter in small quantities when I don’t want to do it in the microwave. I also have 6 liquid measuring cups. Why? Because I can. They’re all different sizes, from 1 cup to 4 cups, 3 plastic and 3 glass. I actually find myself using the glass more often, no real reason except that they’re in the drawer with the prep bowls.

This may go without saying, but the spoon you use to eat your cereal is not a measuring spoon. Although we call it a “tea spoon” it is really not a teaspoon measure sadly. You need actual measuring spoons, they’re not particularly expensive. If you buy mental go for a heavy 18/10 stainless steel, the steel content will be marked somewhere on the spoons. You want a heavier spoon so you don’t bend it out of shape when you’re trying to scoop out particularly hard baking soda. 

2. A butter knife – this goes with the measuring cups. When you’re making cookies or bread or anything else that you’re using a dry measuring cup for you should always run the straight side of a butter knife over the top to clear the excess off the top to get the exact right measure.  

3. 2 Heavy jelly roll pans/cookie sheets – I use cookie sheets for all kinds of things, to bake cookies (obviously), to catch the drippings from a casserole or pie, to bake loaves of round bread, or to lay out gnocchi to freeze it. 

4. 2 round cake pans 8 or 9 inch – not just for cake anymore! I used mine for cinnamon rolls and for a custard water bath. Even with all these uses however; you really never know when you’re going to be called upon to bake a great cake and a good standard is to have round pans. It’s the most common household birthday cake shape; unless you have 30 people in your household, then you need a sheet cake every time.

5. Pie pans (at least 1 if not 2, I think I have 4)– I personally love my clear Pyrex pie pans. They take the heat really well and they look nice on the table. You can also use them to my layered dips, I think it’s nice when you can actually see the layers so you have some idea what you’re about to get on your chip!

6. A timer – I know this should already be in your kitchen if you’ve read my “10things every kitchen needs” but I say it again for anyone who might have missed it! (but how could you have?) You need a timer. I know most baked goods say “X time to Y time, or until golden brown” so some other description, but what if you’re watching TV? Or got lost in a book and forgot to check on your muffins? Then all your hard work would be for naught. You’d have to throw them away, and you’d be pissed, or at least I would be. There should be at least 1 timer in your kitchen, on your microwave. But you’ll need more than that. I personally like multi timers, I have a quad timer, so I can have 3 or 4 things going at once and know how long everything had left! It’s great! 

7. 2 Good loaf pans – almost every bread recipe makes 2 loaves of bread, so if you’re going to buy one you might as well buy 2 so you’re not stuck with ½ a batch of bread dough that you can’t bake because you didn’t get an extra loaf pan. I’m currently using Calphalon non stick loaf pans. I don’t think they need to be non stick because I always grease the pan with Crisco anyway but it’s a nice added feature.

8. Pizza stone – because I’ve lived in an apartment for so long I’ve never had a new oven so I’ve always kept a pizza stone in my oven. It never comes out. Leave in on the floor of the oven in an attempt to keep the oven temperature fairly stable. Now that I have a gas stove again I’m feeling a little more confident about the stability of the oven temp but it’s still nice to have in there. I’ve never used mine to actually cook pizza, just to regulate temps! 

9. Whisk – I know almost everyone beats their eggs with a fork but it’s nice to have a dedicated tool for the job right? Plus if you need to beat to a foam or a meringue you already have the tool on hand. If you’re making a meringue I’d suggest an electric hand mixer, it’ll make the job much easier, but if you don’t have/don’t want/or can’t afford an electric hand mixer you certainly can do it by hand, I know the Amish can do it so why can’t we?  

10. Lots of prep bowls – I use bowls of all different sizes when I’m baking. I try to measure out all my ingredients before I start so I know I have enough of everything and I’m prepared when it’s time to start adding the ingredients to the work bowl. Some things need to be added in a certain order or at a certain time so it’s nice to have everything laid out and ready. Often I find myself using almost every bowl in the kitchen!

I don’t think I’ve missed any of the truly important basics. If I have let me know in comments!! Of course from here you can go all different routes with bunt pans, popover tins, muffin pans, and all different shapes and sizes of cake pan but this list is what I classify as the basics.

Now that you have all the tools to bake I have one thing to say in the words of a wise man who loved food:

“GET IN THE KITCHEN AND MAKE ME SOME PIE” – Cartman, South Park

Lamb Breast, Not Impressed

HAHA! Look I can rhyme! Now if I only had rhythm. As impressed as I am with my linguistic abilities I'm equally unimpressed with my lamb breast preparation. I'm not sure if it was my preparation or the cut of meat or (most likely) both. I marinated it in red wine(Cabernet sovengnion), balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, honey, salt, pepper, ground mustard, and nutmeg. After marinating for a few hours I set the lamb on 2 overturned ramekins in a pan full of the marinating liquid and covered the whole thing with tin foil. I didn't want the meat to sit down in the liquid because it would boil instead of roasting in a moist environment.
The meat was moist due to the massive amounts of fat under the muscle. The meat tasted ok, but the texture wasn't much to write home about. I didn't hate it but it certainly wasn't special. I think it needed a glaze or something with an intense flavor. The marinade lacked pop. It had no standout flavor. Now that I'm drinking a glass of the wine I can say with certainty that the wine has something to do with the lack of flavor. It's flat, there is nothing terrible or outstanding about it. I think it's actually on the edge of going bad. It's not even old.
It's really too bad. I like lamb when it's done properly. I'm going to need to do some more research before I attempt lamb again. Maybe next time I'll actually get a leg of lamb to roast in the rotisserie.
I know yesterday I said I was going to do the summer squash. I didn't get to it tonight. I tried but I got distracted by the lamb. I'll get to the squash... I promise!

Okra Part 1 ... before the pan

Ok so I’ve done it. I bought okra. Although it’s not fresh it’s still okra. I’ll be honest I approach the cooking of this particular vegetable with some trepidation. I have heard all kinds of things about it being pretty gooey and slimy if cooked improperly. In my efforts to buy fresh okra I decided to search the internet first. It turns out that you can buy it in the 2 metric ton shipments (yes really). While it would give me a great opportunity to play and learn about how to best to serve okra I don’t think my apartment will hold 2 metric tons. My next venture was to the local supermarket but they don’t sell it fresh. So to the frozen food section I went on a whim.

Random useless and useful information about okra (thanks to Wikipedia)

Okra is:
in the same family as cotton
a traditional food in Africa
used to thicken stews including the southern American favorite: Gumbo

On a side note
I’m pretty sure I could go to the grocery story every day for entertainment. I just went to a different grocery story today. I’m actually really excited about this one. I forgot how much I like SuperFresh. My ACME is no good. I have an issue when the vegetables and fruits are crawling with fruit flies and other bugs. SuperFresh is bigger and better lit and has a better selection of fresh produce. I'm probably only going to ACME for packaged stuff last minute. I'll actually have to plan my shopping trips now but it will definitely be worth it.

Ok to the cooking of the okra. We'll see how it goes!

Bored

Ok guys. I'm totally bored with my food. I need some help. I'm apparently not very imaginative lately. I'm trying to be healthy but I seem to not be able to branch out form carrots, bell peppers, and broccoli for veggies and chicken and sausage for meat. Any suggestions?? I'm heading to the farmer's market tonight to find new foods. If you suggest something I will try to eat it (unless it's truly nasty or I can't find it).

Sushi!!!

I know some people are really scared of sushi. I’m not one of those people. There are very few things I will not eat, and I will try it once before I decide I’m not going to eat it again. I’m pretty hard to gross out.

So anyway, back to sushi and why I’m a big fan. I found it’s the best quick meal when you’re starving and wondering through the grocery store. Think about it. You know it’s fresh, it has to be. You know there’s not much salt or preservatives in it; all that’s in it is raw fish, rice, and seaweed. How bad could that be? And my favorite part, it’s ready to eat. You could eat it in the car on the way home from the store. I wouldn’t recommend it, sometimes the rice falls apart, but you could if you really wanted to.

Beyond the whole “it’s healthy” thing it’s actually really tasty. It’s how I get to eat salmon. I can’t do cooked salmon. I know I said I eat almost everything. Fish is almost 100% out for me. I just don’t like how it tastes or how it feels in my mouth. So I find other ways to eat it. I can roll the raw fish any day of the week. Throw it on the grill and it’s over for me. I can’t take it. I know I’m super weird but I’m ok with that.

The nice thing about sushi is that if you’re weirded out by raw fish you can get sushi with cooked fish. Your options are limited to shellfish but you can get the happy combination of fish, rice, and seaweed without the rawness of normal sushi. I actually like to switch it up every once in a while and pick up Philadelphia rolls or rolled sushi with smoked tuna.

Stir Fry!

So I don’t have a wok but I’m still able to stir fry up a mean orange chicken. I was so excited by my moment of food genius last night that I need to share. I had planned to make chicken and broccoli for dinner and intended to prepare it in some boring way either bake or fry the chicken and steam the broccoli. I’d planned to add a little olive oil and maybe a few spices, nothing extravagant as it was already 9:30 I wanted food fast. Then I opened my spice/oil cabinet and it hit me (not literally thankfully) I have soy sauce, sesame oil and red pepper! Why not make spicy chicken. As I began to prepare the chicken I realized I also had an orange and orange juice in the fridge. So now I had spicy orange chicken coming together right before my eyes!

Recipe:

6 Oz chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1 C broccoli cut into bite size pieces
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Red pepper flakes
Orange zest
Orange juice

Heat a large frying pan on the largest burner on medium heat. Coat the pan in sesame oil and let it heat through until the oil starts to shimmer. Add the chicken to the pan and cover. Check it every few minutes and turn the chicken as needed. When the chicken is almost cooked add the broccoli and cover again. Allow the broccoli to cook almost all the way (it should still be bright green and a bit crunchy) add the soy sauce red pepper flakes and orange juice to taste. Zest the orange over the whole pan and stir while still on the heat. Once all the broccoli and chicken is coated in the sauce take it off the heat and serve.

You could serve this as is if you’re watching your carbohydrate intake or put it over rice.

It’s simple but very satisfying!

5 Gadgets every kitchen "needs"

Ok so I know I’ve written about kitchen gadgets and/or things to clutter your kitchen before but I need to revisit. I found this blog a few days ago and I still can’t get it out of my head. So I’ll go through the list and give my thoughts on the matter. You’ll see the author of the article and I disagree a bit.

1. Apple corer: Why do you ever need apples that still have the skin and are still in the normal apple shape but don’t have the core? I have never needed to core an apple, and if I did I’d use a sharp knife because really who needs to spend $15 on a piece of crap that will sit in your “gadget” (AKA junk) drawer for years before you pull it out, wonder what it was before it got rusted, then throw it out.

2. Wine pourer: also known as your hands. If you can’t pour wine without a big ugly metal C we might need to have a chat. In fact I’ll teach a class on pouring wine. You won’t need to spend the $35 or more on the ugly piece of metal, you can pay me! You’ll get the double bonus of spending time with me and learning to pour wine without being a pretentious jerk.

3. Banana Holder: I understand banana hangers because they actually keep the bananas from bruising, however this device actually adds pressure points. That is so illogical it makes my brain hurt. Plus it takes up all kinds of counter space and when it’s empty it looks like you have a block of ceramic swiss cheese on your counter.

4. Cherry Pitter: how often do you eat cherries that you need a device devoted to taking the pits out? See item 1 for information about how often you will use it and what will happen after years of disuse.

5. Soda Bottle Holder: Bring this to your next party and you’re likely to get a smack upside the head. See item 2 about being a pretentious jerk. At least this is only made of plastic and not metal. Now that I think about it it’s actually the redneck version of the wine pourer. Or would that be a beer pourer? No, rednecks don’t pour beer, they drink it straight from the 40.

So really what you need in your kitchen is: A good knife, 2 hands, a banana hook, and common sense. Good luck with the last one 

Medium Raw

I can’t wait to read Anthony Bourdain’s new book Medium Raw. For some reason I really never got into his show on the travel channel. And I actually haven’t ready his previous book Kitchen Confidential. However I read a review of this book and I just can’t wait to go get it!

He’s quoted as saying “It was like being mauled by Gumby. Afterwards, you’re not sure it even happened.” In reference to being criticized by Alan Richman. I literally laughed out loud. Add that to the fact that he slams vegetarians and Sandra Lee in the same book makes me giggle with glee. I’ll have to get back to you when I’m done to let you know what I thought.

Bacon Followup

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/food/2010/05/16/2010-05-16_at_almost_83_a_pound_cured_meat_from_the_sheep_pig_commands_a_lot_of_bacon.html

Check out this link then tell me you don't want to try that bacon! And they're so fuzzy. They look adorable!

Fast track dinner

I’m not usually so busy that I can’t stop for a meal but there are a lot of times that I’m so hungry I just don’t care to cook. I’ve tried to find ways to cook faster but not lose the flavor and the health benefits of a fresh home cooked meal.

The best thing I’ve found so far for veggies is frozen. Frozen spinach and broccoli are the 2 greatest things for me when I’m too lazy to cook. They’re fast and easy, just throw them in a bowl in the microwave add butter, salt and pepper and you’re good to go!

My biggest challenge I think has been potatoes. I love potatoes but they usually take so long to cook that it’s not worth the effort. Solution: chop it! I throw my potato in the food processor and pulse for a few seconds (yay it’s dishwasher safe). Then heat up a pan on the stove and put down a little bit of vegetable oil, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan throw the chopped potato down and let one side brown, flip the whole mess over and brown the other side. You could also mix it while it’s cooking so you end up with more crunch and less cooked but not fried potato. I prefer it as a potato pancake esq side dish. To finish I add a little salt and pepper (sometimes some poultry seasoning too)

No dinner is complete without a meat so to finish off my quick dinner I take a chicken breast and cube it and throw it into a heated pan with some olive oil and seasoning (either a poultry mix or just salt and pepper), I put a cover on the frying pan and let it cook for a few minutes, then turn all the pieces of chicken over and let the other side cook for a bit.

Soup to nuts you should be able to have dinner for 1 or 2 on the table in about 25 minutes.

Champagne

Who has extra champagne in their fridge? I do... I know it's weird but that's what I get for having a New Years party, people bring alcohol and the champagne gets ignored. So I had 2 bottles of champagne and I didn't know what to do with it so I decided to cook with it because you can't open it and have only one glass.

I'll start with the bad. I tried to bake cookies; it was bad. I put champagne, flour, sugar, butter, shortening, 1 egg, and baking soda. I baked it at 350 for 13 minute. They looked so good. They smelled really good. They tasted nasty. I have never thrown out cookies before but these were awful. They tasted metallic. I'm not sure if it was the champagne or the baking soda. I think it may have been that my baking soda was old.

The good: Italian sausage, spinach, onion, and champagne. Put the sausage in a pot of champagne and let that simmer for about an hour. Then drop 1 chopped onion in the pot with the champagne and let that simmer. Pull the sausage and drop in the spinach and let that wilt down (you could also use frozen spinach, just defrost it and drain it before mixing it in the pot). My secret for spinach is nutmeg. Add a little bit for that extra something. There shouldn't be much champagne left in the bottom of the pot. Now cut the sausage up and mix it back into the pot and let the sausage heat back up again. I threw a little pepper and salt over the top. To complete the meal make a bowl of rice and drop the whole mix over the top. It's pretty fantastic!

Happy cooking!The Finest Wines of Champagne: A Guide to the Best Cuvées, Houses, and Growers (The World's Finest Wines)

Iron Chef Ocean City - Battle BACON!

I know it’s been a long time since my last post. I’m sorry! I’ve been crazy busy or not in the mood for real food (Shocking but true). This weekend was the most amazing culinary adventure I had to share.

Friday night was “date night”. Dinner and a movie. Dinner started with a Sam Adams Cheddar Cheese fondue that was just amazing. I’m going to have to figure out how they made it because I’m a huge fan. I’m pretty sure it’s cheddar cheese, Sam Adams, and cream. Although maybe it would be better if I didn’t know so I can’t make it at home when I’m having a cheese craving because I’d probably eat a whole block of cheese plus the Sam Adams. Dinner itself was a pretty good grilled chicken and bacon sandwich but nothing compared to the cheese fondue.

Saturday night was dinner and karaoke. Dinner was very good. Lemon chicken with capers and grilled veggies. I didn’t make it but I’m pretty sure I probably could make a pretty good approximation if I were up to the challenge.

Two nights of really good food would probably be enough for most people in one weekend but there was a whole lot more to come because after karaoke we all trooped the 1.5 hours down to the shore to spend a few more hours together.

Best way to start a Sunday morning: Blueberry Pancakes and Sausage with some of my best friends (new and old). The combination of the fresh fruit, syrup, and the savory sausage makes for a very complete and happy meal.

But wait… there’s more. Bacon… lots and lots of bacon. It’s not just for breakfast anymore!

During breakfast we discussed the virtues of bacon and decided to take on the challenge of putting bacon in every part of our dinner. And we did.

Post breakfast (and a walk on the boardwalk) 5 happily full twenty somethings descended upon the Ocean City ShopRite with no list or clue. All we had was an idea and a mantra, “we need bacon”. An hour and a half later we ended up with 3 lbs of bacon, 2 flank steaks, shrimp, mozzarella, spinach, tomatoes, chocolate, onions and some various other cooking necessities. We were still left without a plan, just lots of food.

Soon the sounds of chopping, bacon frying and laughter filled the house.

The end result: The only item that did not have bacon or bacon grease in direct contact while cooking was the steak. I did meet its bacon in the end though.

Salad:

Spinach, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, bacon, slivered onions, and a strawberry/bacon vinaigrette. I learned that you can emulsify a vinaigrette with strawberry jam (necessity is the mother of invention, we had no mustard).

Dinner:

I have no idea what the steak was marinated it because I was not paying attention but it was amazing. I know it had cinnamon and balsamic vinegar.

On the steak we had browned onions with bacon

Grilled shrimp wrapped in bacon. The bacon was partly baked in the oven then wrapped around the shrimp and grilled.

Dessert:

We actually didn’t get to eat dessert because we took so much time to enjoy dinner that we didn’t need the bacon dipped in chocolate. But we did eat the strawberries that were supposed to go on shortcake.

Had we truly been on Iron Chef we would have had to come up with at least 1 more dish and I’m sure we would have made a bacon martini with a bacon rimmed glass or something but it was the 1^st time this crew worked together and frankly there was no head chef running things. We all just picked something and went with it. We really all had a hand in making every dish.

But this weekend wasn’t really about the food. It wasn’t really about what we actually ate (although it was delicious). It had everything to do with the company. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard nor had a more enjoyable weekend in a long time. I am a very lucky person that I have friends that can come together at the drop of a hat to share an extraordinary adventure in food and fill the house with laughter, love, and the smell of cooking bacon. My dear friends thank you for reminding me what life is all about. To those who were not there hopefully we can do it again soon.

News Articles

Ok So I'm feeling a little lazy today but I wanted to post something. So here goes.
I found an article on the scariest processed foods in the US.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/144395/the_6_weirdest,_scariest_processed_foods/

It's so sad that I love half of them. The only two that don't surprise me with their weirdness are the spam and the avacadoless guacamole.

"Easy cheese" is a staple of any good camping trip. It's also very close to cheese-wiz without wich you cannot make one of Philadelphia's only culinary advancements, the cheese steak. My favorite is "Wiz wit" (translation for the non eastern Pennsylvanian: A cheese steak with cheese wiz and fried onions)

Oreo cookie filling- did anyone actually think this was good for you? Or had any nutritional value. That's what's so appealing about them!

Condenced soup- wait what? soup isn't bad for you! but... but it's so good.

Spam- Really who knows what it really is. And does anyone actually still eat it? And how? Do you just slice it up and eat it? or do you fry it? or try to hide it in other foods? Like a spam omelet.

The "blueberries" in frozen waffles- really? Are these even really a "food". I don't know. I never thought of them as real food. I always thought they were just colored blobs in my waffles. I'd prefer real blueberries in pancakes.

Avacadoless guacamole: Who knew? That's just nasty. I'm going to stick to the home made variety or the refrigerated stuff. MMM green colored oil on a chip!

A note on sauces

Sauce can be a wonderful addition to any dish. Be it a top sirloin, chicken, ham, or pasta sauces can enhance any dish. However sauces can swamp the food you’re cooking and you may lose the textures and flavors of the main part of your dinner if you’re not careful.

The Apartment Chef’s 5 Rules of Sauce:

1. Sauce is not soup. That means your meat or pasta should not be swimming in liquid!
2. Watery runny sauces are gross.
3. Patience is your friend. All sauces take time.
4. Lumps = BAD
5. Harmonize: Like in music you can harmonize with flavors. Citrus and red pepper goes well together. Apple cider and tomato paste don’t go well together.

Now that you’ve tried to think about what apple cider and tomatoes taste like together think about this classic flavor combination:

Red Wine Sauce:

1 C Red wine (whatever you have around)

1 C beef stock

1 tbs honey

1 tbs molasses

2 tsp flour

Salt and pepper

Mix the red wine, beef stock, honey and molasses in a small to medium sauce pan over medium heat.. Now comes the technical part, this is where your sauce can go very very wrong. Grab your whisk and start whisking. While whisking start adding flour a little bit at a time. A very little bit. Any more than a tiny bit and you’ll end up with lumps (see rule 4 for my feelings on lumps). Once all the ingredients have met in the pot you can slow down your whisking. Now comes rule number 3 have patience. It will seem like the sauce is still watery but let it bubble and reduce for the next 20 minutes mixing every once in a while and voila! You have a thick, flavorful, glossy sauce!

This particular sauce is great over a strip steak or a nice sirloin.

We’ll talk white sauces another day.

Free steak!

It's not every day that free steak shows up on your door. But you know what they say. Don't look a gift steer in the mouth. I'm certainly not complaining!
The whole story is this. I came home from work at lunch after having made an emergency grocery store run (I had a very empty fridge and had reverted to not eating enough again) and there was a big white cooler on my doorstep with a hazmat placard on the side. The placard was a hazard class 9 which could be just about anything. So needless to say I was a little concerned and approached with caution. What I found was a cooler of Kansas City Steak Company steaks on my doorstep. The problem? They were addressed to someone else, who hasn't lived here in over 3 years. I contemplated taking the cooler inside and not telling anyone at the company I had received a miss addressed box of steak. Unfortunately my conscience got the best of me (damn all that Catholic school training) and I called the company when I got back to work. When I relayed my story to the lovely lady who answered the phone she said "Congratulations you have steak!" It was like Christmas in October!
Currently I have 8 burgers, 6 sirloins, and 8 strip steaks. Now I need to figure out what to do with it all! I'm thinking a free steak party is in order!!
I've already cooked up 2 sirloins and they were quite good with just a little Mrs. Dash steak seasoning on the grill pan and some A1 on the side.
Here's KSCS's website. They might not be free for you but they were so nice to me I thought I'd give them a plug. Plus I can endorse them because the meat is quite good
http://www.kansascitysteaks.com/

Soup's on!

As the weather starts to get cooler and the fall fruits ripen on the trees it’s time to start thinking about cozy foods for the colder nights. I always feel warm and cozy coming home to a nice hot bowl of soup. You can’t go wrong with a good hearty chicken soup after a long day of raking leaves or picking apples. And as an extra bonus I get to pull out the crock pot again!

I’m a big fan of setting up a soup the night before and leaving it to cook all day. It’s great, you wake up to the smell of chicken, or beef, or turkey knowing that it will be waiting for you when you come home from work or school.

Here’s my recipe for chicken stuff (a soup like concoction that can be served on it’s own or over rice, barley or some other grain):

1 can cream of ____ soup (whatever cream of soup you’re feeling, I like cream of chicken with herbs)

1 chicken breast

½ onion

1 potato

Corn (however much you feel like)

Chicken stock

Carrots (I use crinkle cut frozen)

Thyme

Start by cutting up the potato and the chicken into small bite size pieces. Layer the all veggies and chicken in a 2 qt crock pot and pour on the can of soup. Pour in as much chicken stock as you need to cover the veggies and chicken. Add the thyme and mix. Set your crock pot on low and let it cook overnight. In the morning check to see if the potatoes are cooked. If not set the crock pot on high and let it cook the rest of the day. You’ll come home to a nice creamy warm soup for dinner and you won’t have to do anything but serve it!

Garden's bounty!

Ok so I'm back again. Again it's been awhile. Life happened. But the good news is so did my garden! With all the crazy that has been going on I've still been able to harvest a crazy amount of food!

My garden is actually starting to attack my upstairs neighbors. I planted runner beans and they took off like wildfire and have wrapped themselves around the upstairs balcony.

This year I planted tomatoes, runner beans, bush beans, strawberries, chives, parsley, and basil. I also had some surprise tomatoes that grew on the other side of the garden. I had planted tomatoes there last year and I guess some of the seeds fell and the soil and water and whatnot was all right for them to grow so I have more tomatoes that I expected!


So now that I have all this fresh produce I've had to find things to do with it all. So far I have pickled beans, I steamed beans and made a green bean salad, I made tomato sauce and canned extra tomatoes so I can do it again when I need more.


The tomato sauce was surprisingly easy. I took fresh tomatoes cut off the top and made an 'X' in the bottom with a knife and steamed them. This is so I could pull off the skin without losing any of the meat. Then I ran them through a food mill to separate the seeds and the pulp from the juice. Then saute some garlic in oil and add the tomato juice. If you're using dried spices add them at the same time. If you're using fresh spices chop them really fine and add them about 1/2 hour before you're done cooking. Cook the tomato sauce on med/low for 1.5 to 2 hours depending on how much water is in the tomatoes. I could have cooked mine for longer this last time. But live and learn! The longer you cook the sauce the more concentrated the flavor becomes.

There is no real recipe for this one. It's a little of 'this' and a little of 'that' until it tastes right to you. I usually use garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, and a little bit of sugar.

BBQ

Ok so I know I haven't posted in a long time. I've been having computer issues. The good news is I have a new computer and I can post again! YAY!
I have done all kinds of cooking and I have so much to share. My most exciting development is barbecue sauce. I made a killer pork last week and I felt like I needed a sauce to complete the flavor. The pork was coated with a spicy pork rub and orange juice. I only used a little bit of OJ to make a paste. The pork takes a few hours to roast in the oven (the internal temp should be 150 when you take it out of the oven).

BBQ sauce *
1/2 can tomato paste
1 c tomato sauce (no spices)
2 tbs vinegar
1/2 c molasses
1 tbs honey
3 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients on medium for 1/2 hour. Stir to combine. Stir occasionally so the tomato paste and sauce don't burn on the bottom of your pot.

I'm not 100% sure on the amounts of the ingredients I used. This is a rough estimate but you get the idea and it's yours to play with.

Ode to the Potato

I live up to my Celtic heritage in my love of the humble tuber. I think the thing I love most is how easy they are to prepare and how different they can taste.

White Potatoes:

Right now I have normal Idaho white potatoes chopped with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme. They have a very homey flavor. This style of potato is a fantastic comfort food. White and yellow potatoes are great because they're so inexpensive and widely available. They're also a blank slate that you can build any flavor profile on.

Red Potatoes:

You could do the same thing with red potatoes for a little more tender of a potato. I've found red potatoes are a little smoother of a texture which makes them great for mashed potatoes. The only problem is that they're smaller than a typical white or yellow potato so you need to peal more of them if you don't want to have potato skin in your mashed potatoes (which doesn't bother me at all I actually like the added texture and flavor)

Sweet Potatoes:

I love sweet potatoes. They are fantastic baked with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter. Alternatively you could make it with onion and the juices from whatever meat you're cooking. I like to make this with apple cider and cumin.

I've never tried blue potatoes so I can't speak to their benefits or what they taste like. I'll get back to you when I do.

Really?!

I discovered something most unexpected yesterday, especially for how much I love food. I’m not eating enough! I know you’re probably laughing right now. How is it possible that I’m not eating enough?! I felt like I eat every spare moment I get. I wasn’t eating enough to the tune of at least 800 calories. As of yesterday I was only eating about 1200 calories. And that was generous. I am of course only talking about normal days, not holidays, special occasions, or company meeting nights (free food!). This count was on my normal daily intake. It certainly explains why I’ve been so tired.
I’m trying to work out how and where to add good calories. I’ve been on a health kick since January so I’ve been eating more vegetables and fruits and less processed foods. The problem now is that processed foods have a ton of extra calories for some reason and now I have to replace those. Which I suppose is great because it means I get to eat more! So today I started on my project. I doubled my lunch. Normally I eat a ham sandwich or a salad for lunch (and not one of those salads that you could feed a family in Uganda for a week with). Today I had both. I know it doesn’t seem like much but I’m taking baby steps.
I’m trying to be really careful because I could start sliding down a very slippery slope. Because I love to eat so much I could easily start justifying my inhaling a pint of ice cream or that huge plate of chicken fingers and fries as ‘adding calories to my diet’. It’s good though right? Studies say we need more dairy… and as for the french fries and chicken fingers… well I haven’t worked that one out yet.
And now because I need the extra calories: Wine, cheese, and crackers!