Pinspired Project: Chewy Granola Bars

My latest post at my new Wordpress blog is short and sweet.  And a little chewy!  Check it out:

My Pinspired Project:  Chewy Granola Bars

Happy pinning!

Recipe of the Week: Sausage Muffin Bites

Just dropping by to say check out this week's recipe, Sausage Muffin Bites - perfect for this Sunday's Big Game.

Happy cooking,

Crockpot, you're my hero

A few weeks ago I realized I used my crockpot for four dinners out of seven:   on Monday, it held pork chops; Tuesday, Hobo Stew.  Thursday, it was chicken and wild rice soup, and Friday it got a back-to-back workout roasting 3 pork butts for pulled pork.  Not bad for this humble, hard-working kitchen appliance.

I even waxed eloquently about my crockpot-a-palooza back here.  But I think my crock pot has flexed its culinary muscle even more this year.

There are some tricks to crockpot cooking - off the top of my head, here are six things everyone should know about crockpots.

1.  Ask not what your crockpot can do for you, but what you can do for your crockpot.  Not everyone is home most of the day (as I am), and even I have learned the hard way that it's imperative to respect its limits and yours.  If the food is going to cook for 8 or more hours and you don't have a high-end programmable crockpot with delayed start, auto shut-off and keep-warm-options, then steer clear of recipes that call for a short 4-5 hour stint in the crockpot.  They just aren't going to work on a weekday.  Save them for a weekend or day off when you can adjust your start time accordingly Long-cooking foods like briskets, roasts and beans are generally safe bets, but don't expect the crockpot to keep your food in a holding pattern for much longer than the recipe's cooking time. Overcooked food is dry, tough and tasteless, and that isn't your crockpot's fault.

2.  Less is not more.  You may be a "the glass is always half full" optimist, but if your crockpot is less than half-full, it is a disaster waiting to happen.  Seriously, your pot should be two-thirds full of stuff.  Otherwise, you may come home to the charred remains of the-dinner-that-was.  If you don't need that much food, double the recipe and freeze half in individual portions for quick meals later.  Or buy a smaller crockpot. Really.  Bigger is sometimes better.  Sometimes it's just bigger. And sometimes bigger is a big honkin' headache.

3.  Crockpots and slow cookers are cousins, not identical twins.  A slow cooker heats from the bottom while a crockpot heats around the sides.  That doesn't always make a huge difference, but if the recipe specifically calls for one or the other, know what you have and be prepared to adjust accordingly.  This is especially true if you're making candies or baked goods - heed the recipe directions.

4.  Newer is not necessarily better.  

This is just like mine - only whiter.

This is especially true on the plain-Jane (high-low-off) models. If you're lucky enough to have an older crockpot (circa 1980 to early 2000s), you may be able to relax a bit on the cook times, because they cook at lower temperatures; a recipe that calls for 6-8 hours may still be perfectly edible at the 8-hour mark.  Thanks to our general phobia about germs and bacteria, and the ever-present threat of a lawsuit, crockpot manufacturers decided to up the ante--and the thermostat--on crockpots about 6 or 7 years ago.  "Low" settings are now more like the "high" settings of old.

Don't have an old crockpot?  Trade with your mom. Or haunt yard sales or thrift stores for someone's castoff.

This is just like my first one :-)

Telltale signs:  it'll probably have cute country blue and rose decorations, and maybe a blue insert.  Or it'll be glazed brown insert with a beige, orangey-red or mustard yellow casing and lettering that just screams circa 1981. Just be sure it isn't too old - the truly original crockpots didn't have a removable insert.  That made washing up a bit of a challenge.

5.  The highs and lows.  Here's the lowdown on that high/low knob:   there is no difference between high and low except in the time they take to get to simmer temperature (209 F), and then they stabilize regardless of which setting you selected.  Really.  Who knew?  But don't fool yourself into thinking a 6-hour recipe can hang tight for 8 hours if you cook it on low.  It might work, or you might come home to a crusty mess, especially if you're cooking in a newer model without a "keep warm" option.

6.  Keep yer hands off.  If you are hovering over your crockpot, don't.  It works best alone. At least refrain from removing the lid repeatedly. Every time you lift the lid, you let several degrees of accumulated heat dissipate into thin air.  It's like opening the oven to check on the cake - just don't do it.

So now that you're armed with more info about crockpots than you ever thought you could want to know, let's talk recipes. Crockpots are most forgiving for dishes that have lots of liquid like vegetable or meat soups and roasts.  And foods that need to cook for a long time to tenderize, like brisket.   Thicker soups and stews will do well if you heed the advice above, and don't ask them to cook all day.

Other foods can be prepped and placed in the crockpot, then transported cold with you, and plugged in to cook for a few hours so they are heated through and ready-to-serve at the appointed time.  In addition to starchy dishes like potato casserole and mac and cheese, crockpots work GREAT for heating up fudge or caramel toppings for ice cream or apples when you're serving a crowd.  Just another useful use for our trusty crocks.

it is wise to test-drive these types of recipe ideas at home beforehand, and know exactly how long they need to cook/heat, and how long they can hold,  before you spring your dish on a crowd.

Since January, I've made the usual lineup of chili and chili-esque soups and stews of course, along with countless pork butts.  Other memorable recipes include:

Macaroni and cheese (surprisingly good and perfect for office potluck lunches)
Corn with cream
Hobo stew
Potato soup
French dip roast beef
Ranch chops
Cassoulet
Creamy bean dip
Garlic-lime pork chops (not-so-moist, but I think with a creamy chile verde sauce it has potential)
Lasagna (yes, really - and it was pretty good)
Chicken and wild rice soup (recipe needs to ramp up the flavor, but it's high potential)
Steak and brown rice (an old recipe shared by a friend - she and the dish are pretty wonderful)

This week, the crockpot gets another workout with a new chicken teriyaki recipe, plus some beef barley stew when the temps are destined to dip again in a few days.  Hmmm, now that I think about it, I might have to do a crockpot recipe series after the holidays.  Stay tuned and break out those crocks.  'Tis the season.

Happy crockpot cooking!

One thing leads to another...

Last week, I found myself gravitating toward the Le Creuset store while swimmer girl and one of my "other daughters" (friends of swimmer girl that I happily adopt on a temporary basis now and then) were prowling through yet another boutique.

I love my Lodge Dutch oven. (Remember?) But even I know the gold standard of Dutch ovens is Le Creuset - unless you are a Staub fan. They're both made in France and both makers are extremely proud of their products, which is reflected in their hefty price tags. I had no plans to buy another Dutch oven, but it is fun to look. (I took a long gander at the Staubs while in Williams-Sonoma a few days later. Again, killing time while the girls bushwhacked their way through the labyrinth of shoe stores and other shops.)

Anyhoo, back to Le Creuset. As soon as the clerk heard me utter the word "Lodge," she put on her best French-American accent and tsk-tsk-ed me for buying a cheap Chinese import. (Yes, Lodge cast iron is made in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, but their enamelware processing is in China, thanks in large part to the laws that make it impossible to manufacture them on American soil.) I gently rebuffed her overtures and promised that if/when my Lodge fails, I will be looking to upgrade to the real deal. In the meantime, I'll live with the chips in the rim of my Dutch oven.

I found two treasures while I was there. One was a marked-down jam/marmalade jar in "flame" (aka ORANGE) 

and a small cassoulet in the same screaming shade:

In generalities, I was familiar with cassoulets and the distinctive shape of the dish they are prepared in (and why), but I bought this cute little number as a small side bowl for vegetables or relish.  (Another terrible faux pas in the eyes of the Le Creuset store staff, I'm sure.)

After I left with my purchases tucked away, I started contemplating cassoulet.

And the fact I've never made one.

With weather starting to turn cooler, it's more conducive to heavy, rich dishes full of meat and beans. So I did a little research, satisfied myself there is no "right" way to make one (it's a regional food, much like gumbo or chili - everybody's got their opinion as to what ingredients are authentic and which are blasphemy.) I'm ready to take a stab at it for Sunday's big meal.  Lardons (salt pork), chicken (because you can't find ducks, let alone duck leg quarters in just any old grocery store), cannellini beans, chorizo and all the spices are on hand to give it a whirl.

And...I will cook it in my Lodge Dutch oven, which surely elicits a "Sacrebleu!" somewhere in the universe.


Happy cooking,

Recipe of the Week: Beef Pepper Steak

Pepper steak is one of those Americanized "Asian-style" foods, kind of like chop suey.  Its origins are murky, but it is tasty.

When I was growing up, we occasionally enjoyed a canned version of pepper steak.  I remember being impressed that it was actually two cans in one; a smaller can on top held the beef and gravy, while the larger can on the bottom contained the vegetables.  There were no Chinese restaurants in my childhood, so we didn't eat a lot of Asian cuisine.  Pepper steak was an exotic culinary adventure, bean sprouts and all.

As the cook in my own family, I've also purchased the two-can pack and fixed it with some rice for a fast meal every now and then. But setting aside the convenience factor, there are some downsides to it:

1.  It is somewhat expensive to feed to a family (especially with two hungry boys);
2.  It is full of preservatives and the meat is of questionable quality; and
3.  It is more than a little soggy.

Many years ago, I came across this recipe in one of my books of recipes contributed by a civic group in the town where I grew up.   It works well and is nearly as convenient as the canned version. (The rice is going to take a while to cook, no matter what, so I prepare this while the rice is simmering in the pan.)  I have added more vegetables to it than the original called for, and I prefer at least one red pepper when they're available - it lends a sweetness the green peppers lack.  A plain white onion can be substituted for the scallions in a pinch, but the green onions are recommended.

Green Pepper Steak and Rice

Ingredients:
1 pound sirloin steak, cut into strips (I often use flat iron or flank steak instead)
1 tablespoon (or more) paprika
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons butter or oil
1 cup diced green onions, including tops
2 green (or red) peppers, cut in strips
1 can bean sprouts, drained (or half a package fresh sprouts)
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained (or 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced)
2 large fresh tomatoes, diced
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3-4 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:
Sprinkle paprika on beef slices and allow to stand while preparing other ingredients.  Heat large skillet and quickly saute beef strips and garlic in butter or oil.  Add peppers, onions, sprouts, water chestnuts and mushrooms; cover and continue cooking until vegetables are wilted - about 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes and broth, cover and simmer 15 minutes.  Blend water with cornstarch and soy sauce. Stir into steak and cook until thickened. Serve on a bed of hot rice.  Makes 6 servings.

Happy cooking!

Day of Rest, Week 3: A close call

Once again, I managed to keep us out of restaurants and stores on Sunday, but it took some mental gymnastics.

I had planned roast beef for Sunday's meal, but I didn't think to check my stockpile of ingredients I typically pour over a roast when it goes in the slower cooker.

Early yesterday morning, I pulled the beef from the refrigerator and set up the crockpot. All the while, I was mentally congratulating myself for having planned ahead.

I then reached in the pantry for a can of cream of mushroom soup and pulled out...nothing.

Hmmmmm.

In my head, I heard my own big lecture about making foods from scratch, as my hands groped vainly for a can of soup in the empty spot where it wasn't.  To be honest, it had been a while (a long while) since I made a roast without relying on the tried-and-true canned mushroom soup and powdered onion soup mix blend to smother it and keep it moist while cooking.

In my near-panic, I remembered I had ordered some roast beef seasoning from Penzys.  And my mind began a quick inventory.  Onions, check.  Celery, check.  Carrots, check.  Garlic, check.  Mushrooms, check. But I was still at a loss for a liquid. Until I reached in the refrigerator for the vegetables, and remembered I had a large tub of beef base just sitting in there, waiting to be mixed with some water and used.

I seared the roast, sprinkled it with seasoning, piled the vegetables in the bottom of the crockpot, placed the roast on top, then covered it with mushrooms and some minced garlic, then poured a cup of beef stock over the top.  Mission accomplished, and a lesson learned about keeping fresh ingredients on hand.  Maybe I can even "can the can" and stop relying on condensed soup, one recipe at a time. (Canned cream soups are a handy "binder" in a lot of recipes, but as yesterday's exercise proved, they aren't necessary - especially if I keep stock and vegetables on hand.)

I didn't have any green vegetables (gasp), so we carbed our way through lunch with sides of Dijon-crusted roast potatoes and macaroni and cheese (made with  a different shape because...you guessed it, we were out of elbow mac.)

Just three weeks into this experiment, it is already becoming easier and more natural to plan ahead for Sunday, so we're not left at loose ends when we leave church.  It takes effort to be creative and flexible when something isn't on hand, and it will take some convincing for our children to completely warm up to this idea.  Years of routinely eating out for lunch (and often dinner) on Sundays is deeply etched into our family's instincts.

But I think we'll succeed.  And on another positive note, I managed to get us through a full 7 days with only one trip to the store.  This week's shopping trip will be a doozy, but it was nice to make it an entire week without an emergency raid on the grocery store.

Happy Monday,

There is no such thing as a free lunch, or free time.

I never knew where this expression came from, but apparently there was a time in America when saloons offered "free" lunch as long as the gun-slinging patrons were buying drinks.  (Back when bars were called saloons, and patrons carried sidearms, I guess.)  But then as now, the expression rings true:  there's a price to be paid for everything.

There's also no such thing as "free" time, even though we've brought the full force of technology to bear in our attempts to create more discretionary time in our 86,400 seconds of every day.  Cooking and cleaning time has been drastically reduced by the introduction of appliances and "convenience" foods, and I love my washer and dryer, as well as my refrigerator, freezer and stove.  It's common that they are all going simultaneously, in fact.

But sadly it seems whatever free time we created has been sucked up by other activities: longer office hours, longer commutes, more activities for ourselves and/or our children and more hours spent in front of an electronic screen, whether it's a computer or television.  (Or for those of us who are multi-taskers, both.  Simultaneously.)

I fear we have made some poor trades in our relentless pursuit of "free" time, starting with cooking.  Or the dearth thereof.  Our grandmothers (and for some of us, our mothers) thought nothing of taking fresh, raw ingredients every day and preparing them into delicious, nourishing food for their family - there were no other options.  Eating out was a rare treat.  Food was never fast, except maybe the occasional grilled cheese sandwich.

Yes, it took time to cook beans or a roast, or to make cornbread or biscuits from scratch.  But whether they recognized it or not, they had the advantage of knowing - and controlling- exactly what they fed their families.  Now many families rely on purchased meals for more dinners than not.  (Let's face facts: there is nothing happy or healthy about a drive-thru dinner.)  For many families, a home-cooked dinner consists of heating up frozen, canned or boxed prepared "food" full of unpronounceable chemicals and laden with salt and sugar to preserve them.

Time and again, economists have pointed out that foods made from basic staples (dried beans, pasta and rice) and plain vegetables and meats are the most economical food choices, bar none.  It makes sense there's a price to be paid for the convenience of someone else cleaning, dicing and cooking, even if that "someone" is an assembly line of robots and minimum-wage workers.

The hidden cost is even more insidious - our backsides are bloating and our arteries are clogging, even as our wallets are shrinking.

What is our family's health worth to us?

I know (I do!!!!) that it's not easy to choose to spend any of our "free" time preparing food, especially if you view it as a drudgery or chore.  That choice may be harder if you lack confidence and experience.  And even your best efforts may be met with resistance if your family's palates are hardened through repeated exposure to high doses of fat, salt and sugar, courtesy of processed foods.  That's a lot of negatives to overcome.

But look at the positives: a gradual shift toward real food is healthier and eases your family's cash outlay.  Whether they realize or appreciate it now, your children will one day be glad you established a tradition of weeknight family dinners, prepared and eaten at home.  It's worth it when you find recipes your family likes and their eyes light up when they hear (or smell) a favorite is on the nightly menu.   That seems like more than a fair trade for the investment of some time and effort in the kitchen most evenings.  And who knows, you might find yourself enjoying it more than when you spent that time in other pursuits.

I hope the recipes and ideas I post will help others to take control of their family's nutrition and finances.  It may not seem natural or easy at first, but anyone can choose to invest some time into weaning their family off convenience foods and introducing real food to their table.  One of my favorite Facebook feeds is LifeHacker, and they recently gave a list of foods that everyone should know how to cook.  It's a decent list, and if you start with basics like spaghetti sauce and chicken soup, you can slowly fill in with other favorites you and your family like.  Once you've established a repertoire of "thumbs-up" recipes, you can look for make/freeze adaptations like once-a-month cooking.  A few hours of prepping and freezing once every few weeks can mean a month of hot, delicious dinners on your table faster than the pizza guy can deliver. Not to mention way cheaper.

Since there's really no such thing as a free lunch, or free time, let's choose wisely how we spend our family's time and money.

Happy cooking,

Day of Rest: Week 1

A week ago, I encouraged us all to try to give up one day of commercialism each week.

For our family, that target day of giving our local merchants a rest is Sunday.

So how'd we do?

Bottom line:  we did great.  But it wasn't without some angst.

On Saturday morning, we were getting ready to head to Knoxville for the big game. "I need to run to the grocery store before we go," I announced. Mr. Official replied, "For what?" (In the south, we don't just ask "why?"  We ask "for what?" which means the same thing as "what for?" but avoids that pesky dangling preposition.)

I said that I needed some items for the next day's menu. He assured me we would be back in time to hit the grocery store before bedtime. As luck would have it, he was overly optimistic - it was 10 pm before we rolled back into town.

I confess my first thought was I could slip to the store at the crack of dawn. Ugh.

Or I could go after lunch. Or we could just break down and eat out. More ugh.

Then I began to consider what I thought I "needed" from the store, and if I could rearrange our menu plans a little and avoid the trip.

I could and we did.

We'll have yesterday's pork chops tonight. And the chicken that was waiting to be cooked has been cooked and eaten in the form of chicken chile verde and cornmeal dumplings. (Recipe is coming soon, but I won't recommend cooking it in the crockpot.)

So what did we do instead of eating out? For starters, we had leftovers for lunch, which was a nice way to use up a lot of odds and ends hanging out in the fridge. And then - since I was feeling so virtuous (downright smug even), I plunged into multi-tasking: laundry, cooking, and floor maintenance.  You know - vacuuming and mopping. All the things I didn't get done on Saturday. For some strange reason, the laundry and cleaning fairies don't show up unless I'm around to make sure they get their jobs done.

I then put dinner in the crockpot before we headed off to evening services.

And so we get to start the work week with a rotated and flipped mattress, fresh linens, and a fairly clean house.  And a clear conscience, since I successfully dodged the clutches of consumerism for the day.  Mission accomplished, plus some lagniappe.
  
I did have to hit up the grocery store bright and early, right after this morning's run. Because I don't do mornings without coffee, and I don't do coffee without cream. Hopefully I also got everything else I need for this week (I am also working on cutting down on multiple trips to the store during the week, since a quick dash for a few items often turns into a bigger and more-expensive trip than I planned.)

Happy Monday!

Where's the beef?

I was working away the other day when there was a knock on the door. I was expecting a USPS delivery, so I figured it was the mailman.

Nope.

It wasn't Clara Peller, either.  (She died 24 years ago this month.)

(If you remember this 1984 commercial, you may be older than you realize!)

It was a guy with a local frozen meat delivery route.

He was in luck.  We are most definitely omnivores in our family - voracious ones, and we love meat along with our vegetables.

He was down to the end of his freezer, and he was willing to cut a deal to move his remaining inventory of steaks and burgers from his freezer to mine.  We've had good success with frozen steaks before, so I was willing to deal, too.

So where's the beef?

It's now in our freezer! Some nice-looking sirloin strips, T-bones, filets, and 1/2-pound patties. Thank goodness we have at least three more months of grilling weather before we'll park the grill for a few months, and set our sights on cold-weather beef cuts, like briskets, stews and roasts.

By then, I hope we'll have cleared out enough room for me to do an overdue freezer cleanout and make room for some venison.  A broad hint to all our hunting friends:  we would be happy to take your excess ground deer meat for soups and stews this winter.  And some venison sausage sounds pretty tasty, especially on a cold winter morning.

Happy dealing and grilling!

The pasta lineup

Many of my formative years were spent immersed in a melting pot of Italian and Mexican culture and cuisine.  And I've always been a macaroni girl (it's as patriotic as Yankee Doodle, right?  I mean he stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni...)

Anyway.

Apparently the pasta thing really stuck.   It's why low-carb diets and I are star-crossed and doomed to fail.

In my pantry at any given time, you will find - without fail - several basic dry pastas, including elbow macaroni (big and/or small), spaghetti, fettuccine, lasagna and penne pasta. These days, the last three are whole wheat or tri-colored as we try to eat a little healthier. With those staples (plus a few cans and jars of tomato products) at hand, I know I can throw SOMETHING for dinner no matter what.

Then there are the seasonal pastas: ditalini in the colder months (for pasta e fagioli) and rotini or fusili in the summer, for pasta salad. The other day I found squiggly radiatori for BLT pasta salad since true fusili (spiral not corkscrew) is rare in these parts.

Occasional guest stars include bowtie, shells (big and small), linguini, mezze penne, mostaccioli which means "little moustache" and is a little hard to get these days); gnocchi, large egg noodles and Amish noodles (small and big), orzo and manicotti.

For whatever reason, wagon wheel pasta has never been on my list of go-to pastas.  Maybe because most of my encounters with it have been mushy.  But I hear Barilla has a miniature version of rotelle or ruot, so maybe I'll have to give it a try one of these days.

In case you're wondering if I skipped it, no - ravioli is not  found on my pantry shelves, ever.  Not since my kids outgrew canned pasta, and they sometimes ate it despite my groans.  I'm a snob when it comes to ravioli - it must be fresh (or frozen) and preferably homemade.  Occasionally I'll pick up a package of fresh tortellini.  Most of the fillings aren't quite what I'd put in my own, but I'm too lazy to make it myself.

I guess you can tell, we love our pasta, in pretty much all shapes and sizes.

While typing this post, I took a peek in my pantry.  And this is what my pasta shelf (yes, I have a shelf of pasta - doesn't everyone?) looked like.

The "just-moved-in" look

Oh dear.

I confess, I can get a little gung-ho about pantry organization. Surely it didn't look like that when we moved in a few months ago, did it?

But daily use does tend to wear off that just-moved-in, everything-in-its-place look.  A box or container comes out, then goes back in; new boxes come home and get tucked in wherever they'll fit.

Before you know it, it's a jumble.

After I got a look at it through the objective eye of the camera lens, I did a quick assessment of what I had already, determined the number of various sizes I would need, and made a dash to the store to pick up 6 or 7 canisters to put everything in its own matching stackable storage container.

Now it looks like this.

Having everything matchy-matchy isn't particularly frugal or necessary.  But before you dismiss it as frivolous (and a little OCD), consider these reasons for using a set of mix-and-match modular storage containers:

• This is front-and-center when you open my pantry.  It needs to stay tidy, regardless of how I do it.  Otherwise, I can't find what I'm looking for and wind up buying a second or third box of this-or-that.  Been there, done it.
• These stacking modules by Rubbermaid are designed to create tidy and accessible pantry storage.  Everything is the width of the shelf and can be stacked.  No more peeking and peering around the front row to see what lurks back behind.
• Aesthetics and accessibility aside, with everything out of boxes and sealed up, if critters should appear in one tub of pasta, they can't easily migrate to the others.  (Unless you cook your pasta almost as soon as you bring it home, you are bound to encounter some hibernating stowaways at some point.  Gross, but true.)
• I can even argue for cost-effectiveness.  A box of pasta can run anywhere from $1 to $6, depending on brand, type and size.  The containers were a one-time investment of about $4 each.  Cutting down on accidental over-buying and eliminating the risk of having to clear out all the pasta if it gets buggy can pay for the containers over time.  (That's my rationale, and I'm sticking to it.)

So now that you've seen mine, do tell:  what are your must-have pasta shapes? And what do you store them in?

Happy cooking!

How do you approach a new recipe?

Cooking is not difficult.

Seriously, it isn't.  If you can read and follow directions, you can cook a lot of stuff.  Unless you're eating a steady diet of junk food - or at the opposite end of the spectrum - gourmet meals prepared by top chefs every night, it's probably a safe bet that more than half the foods you enjoy eating are easily cooked by anyone willing to take a stab at the task.

But choosing how to approach cooking...there's where people tend to divide into camps.

Camp A:  Recipe followers.

Before Martha Stewart,
there was Marion Powers

You know who you are.

We know who you are.

Ever since you mastered the basic motor skills, you've always colored inside the lines and you were the kid that actually read test directions in school before lifting a pencil.

You probably heed speed limit signs, too.  No white shoes or handbags for you, unless it's between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Precision, order, logic and organization are  your guideposts, yes?

Domestic perfection

Before you cook, the recipe is reviewed, ingredients are lined up and measured, equipment is at the ready.  No surprises, no substitutions, no scrambling.

Your dishes turn out according to plan, every time.

Sometimes I am in your camp.  If I try (and like!) a food and the cook shares the recipe, I know what to expect, and I tend to follow it faithfully (at least the first time through.)

I tend to follow my own tried-and-true recipes, too.  Why mess with success?

However, even the most precise execution of a recipe can fall flat if the recipe is faulty.  And cookbooks and internet sites are full of recipes that do not live up to their billing.

Which brings me to the second camp.

Camp B:  Culinary renegades.

Oh snap.  Can I make it without eggs?

Your byline is "we don't need no stinkin' recipes."  Impromptu cooking is your forte.  (Which is pronounced "fort," not "for-tay, just in case you care about those things.)  You are committed to creativity and the pursuit of excellence, even if it means you wind up with some epic failures, too.

I confess I often fall in this camp, but I hedge my bets. When I want to cook a food I've eaten but don't have a recipe for, Google becomes my BFF.  A little cooking experience helps out here - you kind of know what ingredients will yield a certain texture or flavor, so you can narrow your search down to recipes that are likely to give you the desired results.

No use crying over spilled milk!

Since recipes are like opinions (nearly everyone has one), I try to narrow my results down to two or three variations and take a little from this recipe and a little from that. I ain't skeered - that's part of the cooking adventure.

And never forget, you can't spell misadventure without adventure.  Risk-taking means sometimes you achieve greatness. Other times it can be summed up in a single-word tweet:  fail.

Between the two camps lies a neutral DMZ. Sometimes the results aren't spectacular but they aren't inedible.  A learning curve just needed to be scaled and a second attempt will yield much better results.

A lot of my cooking falls into this zone: the first time through is passable, but it leaves room for improvement.  Thankfully my family overlooks the disasters, grins-and-bears-it when I test-drive a new 'un on them, and they celebrate the triumphs with accolades.

Take my last week's squash casserole attempt, for example.  One recipe sounded promising, but used only yellow squash and was heavy on the mayonnaise.  Other recipes used a combination of yellow squash and zucchini (which is what I had on hand), and sour cream, hold the mayo.

My experience has been that sour cream and mayonnaise work pretty well together in this genre of food (think poppy seed chicken, hot chicken salad, etc.)

And another recipe had a tip for cooking the squash and squeezing out the excess moisture, which sounded good to me.  My one and only objection to a lot of otherwise good squash casseroles is encountering watery, warm squash.  Blech.

So I picked and chose from all three recipes, creating my own amalgamation (now there's another fun word to use on your friends.)

It was mostly successful.  Next time I will probably dice them a little finer and cook them a tad bit longer before mixing them together.  And add a little more cheese and dairy to the whole shebang.   If I can get it perfected, I'll post it for you to try.  And tinker with to suit you.  Because that's what makes cooking fun, and why there are a gazillion recipes out there - everybody adds their own little somethin' somethin' to make it their own.

Happy creating!

Cooking for a crowd: Lessons learned

Last Friday, we invited a rather large group of friends to a come-and-go open house. (I think I'm officially caught up on the "have-people-over-once-or-twice-a-month" resolution.)

It's hard for me to guess-timate food for a crowd bigger than a dozen. But then again, the pros struggle, too - I've never ordered catering that didn't way over-estimate how much food we would need for the number of guests I told them I needed to serve.

I fear running short, but I really hate wasting food, too. (I know the starving children in China can't eat what I don't, but it still bothers me to throw away food, so I try very hard to pinpoint how much to fix for anything, whether I'm cooking for two or 200.) Friday night was somewhere around 75 guests.

So what do YOU cook for a huge crowd? Since it was an all-evening event, I chose foods that would hold up as well as possible if they had to sit out for a few hours:

Pulled pork (heated up in batches), served with sauce and buns
An array of chips, pickles and fresh veggies
Cold melon and berries
A trio of bar cookies - million dollar bars, lemon bars and cheesecake square
Lemonade, tea and bottled water

and...

just for the kids, of course...

S'mores.

What is a summer bash without some flaming-sticky-gooey-chocolatey goodness?

The menu is easy.  The quantities are where it gets dicey, at least with me as I try to shoot for Goldilocks.  ("not too little, not too much, but just right.")

• I asked the butcher for 20-25 pounds of Boston butt; he gave me three big 'uns that totaled a little over 27 pounds.  It was about 5 pounds too much.  Like I said...20-25 pounds.
• Twelve packages of buns were about 7 packages too many.  (Lots of low-carb folks, maybe?)
• Four jars of pickles was one jar too many
• Four bags of chips and two tubs of dip could have been cut in half.
• Four bottles of sauce were just about right.
• One watermelon, 3 cartons of strawberries and 2 cartons of blueberries - I shoulda cut up a second watermelon and bought more berries.  They went fast.
• Two packages of baby carrots, two cartons of grape tomatoes and two heads of celery - more or less on the money.
• Three huge trays of bar cookies were about two times too many.  (But we've somehow forced ourselves to take care of the extras :-)
• A few too many Hershey's bars.  (tragic, eh?)

What did I learn? For the next big gathering (in a few weeks), I'll probably ramp up on fruit and veggies and lighten up on carbs.

'Cept the S'mores.  Because a few too many mallows and milk chocolate squares are never a waste.

Happy entertaining!

Recipe of the Week: Goulash (?)

When my foodie side joins forces with my word-geek side, you just never know where we will wind up.

Growing up, I think I remember us eating something we called "goulash."  My mother would never serve (or at least never admit to serving) Hamburger Helper, so I'm not sure why I gravitated to the boxed "Chili Macaroni" mix.  But as a young bride, I found my wonderful husband liked it as long as I added a can of diced tomatoes and we called it "goulash."  I really don't even know why we thought it should be called that - truth be told, I wasn't sure exactly what goulash really was.  (But I was pretty sure a boxed mix of something called "chili macaroni" probably wasn't going to be mistaken for authentic Hungarian cuisine, either. So I always felt a twinge of guilt when I called it that.)

A few months ago, I tried out a "Mexican Pasta Skillet" recipe from e-mealz.com that wasn't bad for a Wednesday night one-dish-fits-all meal.  A side of crispy carrot sticks and celery, some bread and we had dinner ready before Bible study.  Score one for mom and e-mealz.  In fact, I'm probably going to repeat it tonight.

Of course, it tasted a whole lot like...you guessed it: chili macaroni, aka "goulash."  There are some good things about this version, like

• no MSG;
• I can control the sodium content;
• no mystery packet of seasoning, thank-you-very-much; and
• it's easy and pretty cheap. 

No wonder he looks confused

As I was serving it, it got me thinking:  what is goulash really?  Am I insulting Hungarian heritage by appropriating this name for a very Americanized quick-food?  So I went looking, and was relieved to find I wasn't too far off.  Or at least not alone in calling my dish "goulash."  True classic Goulash is a braised meat (beef, lamb, venison, etc.) stew/soup.  Its ingredients vary depending on region, but it involves onions, paprika, and even tomatoes and pasta.  It is generally accepted that the American and Australian versions are made similar to good old "chili macaroni." So there we have it.

But wait!  Wikipedia (and they're always right, aren't they?) also says in the South, "goulash" describes a mishmash of foods. Wow - that seems kind of insulting.  And I discovered this Americanized version of goulash (typically made with tomatoes and elbow macaroni) is also called American Chop Suey in New England.  Say what?  Now we've dragged the Chinese into this multi-national culinary debacle, with a food that involves dried chili powder, tomatoes and pasta, and that all-American classic, ground beef?  No wonder the pudgy little helper guy always looked perplexed.  I figured it was the missing finger, but maybe it's something deeper than that.

So there you have it - the scoop on goulash.  Or chili macaroni, aka American Chop Suey, or now, Mexican Pasta Skillet.

Mexican Pasta Skillet 

(with some gentle revisions)

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
16 ounces salsa*
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup canned corn, drained (I used frozen and would again)
2 cups elbow macaroni or other pasta
1 cup shredded cheddar
coarsely crushed Frito chips (optional)
sour cream (optional)

*Next time I'll use mild salsa or reduce this to half a jar of medium salsa and add a 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained.  A full jar of medium-hot was a little too hot for us.

Directions:
Brown ground beef and drain.  Add water, salsa and tomatoes; bring to boil.  Add pasta and corn; mix well and cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 12-14 minutes or until pasta is tender.  Before serving, sprinkle with cheese.

The original recipe didn't call for it, but knowing my family's preferences, next time I'll serve it with crushed corn chips and/or a dollop of sour cream on top of each serving. 

Hmmm....ever wonder why it's called it a dollop?  Maybe we'll figure that one out, too.

Happy cooking,

Recipe of the Week: Bakin' Bacon

We are a bacon-loving family. We enjoy it on summertime BLTs, wrapped around holiday  green beans and crumbled in our potato soup and salads, and of course as a favorite breakfast meat, accompanying pancakes, eggs, muffins, or just about anything else I put on the table.


I could probably convince my children (and Mr. Official) to do just about anything by waving a strip of perfectly cooked bacon under their nose.  Getting bacon to that perfectly cooked state got a lot easier when I discovered this method of preparing it in the oven.   I wish I could say I came up with it on my own, but I can't.  You'll find scads of recipes and directions floating around cyberspace, so if you haven't tried baking your bacon, you really should. 

Sweet and Peppery Bacon

Ingredients:
Sliced bacon (we prefer thick-sliced but you can use thin - check after 5-6 minutes on each side)
Coarse-ground pepper
Brown sugar

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 F.  Line a heavy baking sheet or broiler pan with foil.  (Use at least two layers and maybe three - you'll thank me later.)

Place bacon strips on foil and sprinkle lightly with pepper and brown sugar - roughly 1/8 teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon brown sugar per 6 slices of bacon.  Turn the strips over and sprinkle the other side now, or midway through with another sprinkle of pepper and brown sugar.

Place in oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.  Turn and finish cooking to desired crispness, usually another 5-7 minutes (more or less depending on thickness of bacon strips.)  Drain on paper towels.

In case you're wondering, no this doesn't splatter up the oven - the only cleanup is to throw away the foil.  (I told you it was a perfect recipe.)  At last, I can concentrate on creating perfect pancakes instead of dividing my attention between flipping the hotcakes and bacon sizzling in a skillet or in the microwave!  The addition of a little pepper and brown sugar adds a scrumptious layer of flavor.

Happy cooking,

Recipe of the Week: Easy Lasagna

Once upon a time, I faithfully followed the directions on the lasanga noodle package, cooking the noodles and then fishing the slippery things out of scalding hot water, rinsing them to keep them from sticking together in one pasty blob.  

And then I discovered a secret:  you don't need to do that.  And you don't have to buy the "ready-to-use" noodles, either.  Really.  

This recipe is flexible - you can make it up ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate it until time to bake.  (Thaw overnight in the refrigerator if frozen - it will cook much more evenly.)  It can also be thrown together and baked in about 45 minutes.

Easy Lasagna

Ingredients:
1/2 box lasagna noodles
1 pound ground beef
1 can tomato paste
1 can pureed or finely diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water
1 package spaghetti sauce seasoning
1 16-ounce carton cottage or ricotta cheese
1 egg
3-4 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Brown ground beef; drain.  Add tomato paste, tomatoes, water and seasoning mix and mix thoroughly.  (You can also substitute 1 large jar marinara or regular spaghetti sauce if you prefer; reduce water to 1/2 to 3/4 cup .)  Over medium heat bring to boil, let simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  The sauce should be fairly runny - if it's thickened too much add a little more water.  (The excess water will be absorbed by the noodles while baking.)

Mix together cottage or ricotta cheese and egg.

In 9x15 glass pan, place a few spoonfuls of sauce, just enough to coat the bottom.  Place one layer of noodles, 1/3 of the sauce.  Dot with half the egg/cheese mixture, sprinkle with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese.  Repeat with noodles, 1/3 of the sauce, the remainder of the egg/cheese mixture and 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. 

For the final layer, place noodles, remaining sauce and mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Remove foil, test for doneness by inserting a knife near the middle of the dish; it should slide in easily.  Remove foil for the last five minutes of baking to get the cheese lightly browned on top.  Serves 6-8.

This technique creates a firm lasagna that cuts and serves beautifully.  And no more blistered fingers trying to corral the slippery noodles!

Happy cooking! 

Preparing for my introduction to Trader Joe's

Confession time:  I have never been to a Trader Joe's.

Quite honestly, I have no idea how I've lived in the Nashville area for ten years and ignored the delicious fact there's one just a hop, skip and jump from me.   It's time to rectify the situation.  I have a list of "must-buy" items recommended by my fellow foodies over at Dave's Garden.  I think it takes a special breed of person to get excited about grocery shopping...and I would count myself among that breed.

So instead of battling the after-Christmas bargain shoppers for markdowns, we're headed to Green Hills to see if this legendary grocer lives up to its reputation among its loyal customers.  Pumpernickel pretzels, green tea mints and organic pasta sauce, here we come!

Happy Monday,

Recipe of the Week: Mexican Pizza

Several years ago, I attended a Pampered Chef's party and the hostess made a scrumptious "Mexican Pizza" with a cornbread crust. I faithfully clung to the brochure with the recipe for years, but during one of our two most recent moves, it got lost in the shuffle.


I tried to make the recipe from memory a few times, but my efforts were less-than-successful (I couldn't get the crust right, and didn't remember the exact measurements.)  I begged all my friends with Pampered Chef connections to help me track down the recipe, but no one remembered it or had a copy of it.  I had given up on it until early this year when I came across a posted copy of the original recipe again.  That's also when I realized how much I had modified the toppings!  So here's my rendition of this delicious, easy recipe.  It makes a great appetizer, game-day food or weeknight dinner.

Mexican Pizza with Cornbread Crust

Crust:
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Stir crust ingredients together. Place on pizza stone or greased pizza pan. Let rest 3 to 4 minutes, then use a rolling pin to make a 12 to 15-inch circle (or square it off if you're going to cut it in squares). Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven.

Topping:
1 pound hamburger, browned and drained
1 package taco seasoning
1/2 can refried beans
1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained (hot or mild, you choose)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Brown and drain hamburger. Mix in taco seasoning and water, according to package directions. Cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat.

Spread par-baked crust with refried beans; top with browned and seasoned hamburger, Rotel tomatoes and cheese. Return to oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until top is bubbly and golden.

Makes 8 slices or 16 squares

Happy eating!

Why change JUST the bulb?

If you've ever decided to trade cars because your tags were up for renewal, you'll probably relate to this story...

The light over the kitchen sink went out a couple nights ago but the recessed lights take a special long-neck halogen bulb, and I didn't have any spares on hand.  I looked for some at my favorite-discount-store-to-dread (WalMart) yesterday, but they have stopped carrying them, so I figured I'd wait until I was headed to Home Depot or Lowe's to pick up a few.

Lo and behold, this morning I was browsing Thrifty Decor Chick's blog and found this post for a DIY pendant light, using a conversion kit from Lowe's.

My heart skipped a beat:  I had long been toying with the idea of a pendant light above the sink, just to add a little panache to a really ho-hum fixture.  Go ahead, you can agree with me - it was a snoozer.  But I put off even seriously contemplating a pendant until I was ready to tackle all the steps in the process, namely taking out the housing for the recessed light in order to replace it with a new light fixture - which never fits exactly and then drywall repair and painting ensue.  (The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.)

This $20 kit was designed for slackers like me.  No killing the breaker (well, the kit says you should--but honestly, who does that if all you're doing is changing a bulb?), no climbing up in the attic, figuring out WHICH light fixture to remove, as you communicate with someone below as they tap, tap, tap their location.  No coming back down covered in fiberglass fibers.  I tend to work solo, and changing light fixtures typically requires some teamwork, and several hours of trial-and-error frustration.

But this...this was no more difficult than changing the bulb.  It took me longer to pick out the pendant light than it did to put this whole thing together, even including the time to adjust the length of the pendant.

One thing I did realize after I got it up is that our recessed "can" is seated a little low...so I guess I will have to go up in the attic one of these days and cinch it up.  For now, the flush-mounted cover is...well...not quite flush.  But I'm in no hurry to scurry up there - it may be the first day of fall but the thermostat is reading 96 F.  Whew.

Instead, I'll whip up some lemon bars and ice down some waters for a summer Bible Vacation debriefing tonight, then get some rice started for dinner.  (Note to self: watch the rice this time...scorched brown rice is not just unpalatable, it's inedible and stinky.)

Hmmm.  You know, my car tags ARE due at the end of this month...

Happy DIY-ing!

Menu Planning: The basics

Monday...for me, that's menu planning day.

For purposes of this blog post, I'm going to assume everyone knows the virtues of menu planning (bottom line:  saves you time and money, lets you plan a better variety of healthy foods, etc.)  But I know from personal experience and talking to other moms (of all ages) that HOW to menu plan is not always as well-known or understood.  And not to be sexist...but for most guys, menu planning is a foreign concept.  For them, dinner happens.

As most of us have figured out, there are many ways to plan your menu:

• Ask for suggestions from family members (definitely hit-or-miss)
• Go to the store for inspiration, buy and fix whatever sounds good today.  Tomorrow, do the same thing.  (Pssst, that's really NOT planning.)
• Plan a menu around whatever you bought at the farmers market.
• Plan the menu around weekly store sales and coupons (on your own, or with help from sites such as e-mealz.com)
• Select from pre-made items from the freezer (for me that means using up stockpiled raviolis or tamales, or ready-to-assemble entrees from Once-a-Month Cooking or the Dinner A'Fare plans.)

I have used all these approaches at various times, with varying degrees of success.  But generally, I have found a weekly menu is most efficient and economical (both in terms of time and money) for us.  A two-week plan has never been successful for our family because we inevitably run out of milk, juice, sandwich bread, or something I *need* for a recipe in between bi-weekly trips, so I'm still back at the store at least once--or more--during the fortnight.

A weekly trip may occasionally be supplemented by a second store run as well, but usually I can rearrange my menu plans to eek out another day or two until the next scheduled store run when I'm on a weekly schedule.  Weekly shopping also lets me offer more fresh fruits and vegetables; not everything holds up well for 7, 10 or 14 days.

My menu planning takes place on Monday.  This became an established routine a few years ago, when I offered to take Monday night dinners to a nearby friend who was on bedrest for most of her third pregnancy.  It was just what I needed to nail down my own menu for the week.  I'd simply double up on whatever I planned for Monday, and take half to them.  This was a double blessing, since I also wanted to be a little more creative in what I shared with another family...no relying on trusty old spaghetti week after week!  (My family LOVED this arrangement, because they got a dessert each Monday - something that doesn't typically happen around here.)

Even after she successfully delivered her baby and I stopped carrying food in to the family, I kept up the Monday planning routine.  Now it's the day I pull down my e-mealz.com list and peruse it, compare it to what what we've recently eaten, what's in the freezer and pantry, and then rotate and balance the main dishes among chicken, fish, beef and pork, with the occasional vegetarian or egg dish thrown in. 

Once I've settled on the meat for each day, I choose a recipe to prepare it; typically something we already love or something new I've been wanting to try (at least one new recipe a week.)  Busy nights (Wednesdays year 'round, and swim practice days during the season) are geared toward super-fast and easy meals or something I can slow cook in the crockpot or my Lodge dutch oven.

Then I choose the side dishes. Confession time:  this is a weak spot in my planning.  Except for "big" meals, I rarely plan for more than one or two basic side dishes - salad and starch, fruit and starch, green vegetable and starch (I think there's a pattern here.)  And sometimes it's just a salad, veggie or other side if the main dish contains pasta or rice.  I'm working on expanding my repertoire of more side dishes, simply because dinner is a lot more interesting if you pair up the entree with something more creative than merely a serving of green beans or potatoes.  (I live in the land of meat 'n threes - you'd think this would have become ingrained by now!)

Other known weaknesses?

Breads.  Arguably, we don't NEED bread each meal, but this fall I do plan to introduce more home-baked breads to weeknight meals.  I've already got several good recipes for savory muffins and biscuits, and my cheese garlic bread is always a hit.  But I'd like to get better at making crusty breads, soft rolls and add more whole wheat and other grains to my yeast breads.  Practice makes perfect, so we a'practicing we will go this fall and winter.

Dessert is almost always an afterthought , too.  Unless I'm just really hankering for something or there's a birthday or other special occasion during the week, dessert rarely happens.  But that may not be such a bad weak spot to have, since all of us are striving for a little more health-conscious diet.

Once the menu is complete, two more steps:  First, I post it on my blog so my children and husband can see at a glance what we're having (because they FAITHFULLY read my blog each week...not!!!), and so I can remember what I planned!  Second, I jot down a grocery list and head to the store, and try to not forget anything.

Happy planning!


P.S.  A shout-out to my "little" brother (he's only a foot taller) who's celebrating his 41st birthday today.  Love ya!!!!!

Recipe of the Week: Chicken Spaghetti

I first tasted this dish when our church brought in food for our family; most likely it was after Mr. Official (I think that's what I'll call my husband from now on...) had surgery to repair a ruptured disk after slipping on a basketball.  (Sidenote to all parents whose athletic careers ended more than two decades ago:  be very careful when playing a pickup basketball game with your kids.  You're not as agile as they are, and all those hits you took during games and two-a-day practices took their toll on your skeletal structure.  Just sayin')

I have seen many recipes for King Ranch chicken that are very similar to this, but they typically use corn or flour tortillas instead of spaghetti noodles.  Me?  I'm not so keen on raw tortillas in my casseroles, so this recipe suits me to a "T" - which works out well, since this dish came courtesy of a friend named Tamara. 

Tamara J's Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1 12-ounce package spaghetti noodles
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 can Rotel (tomatoes and chili peppers), undrained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces chicken broth
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups cubed chicken (if I don't have diced cooked chicken on hand, I usually boil a few breasts, cool and dice into cubes; you can also used canned chicken in a pinch.)

Directions:
Break spaghetti noodles into thirds and boil in salted water; cook to al dente, then drain and rinse with cool water.  Lightly grease a 2-3 quart casserole dish (I love my deep "French White" Pyrex casserole for this recipe.)

Saute onion and bell pepper until tender-crisp.  Add Rotel, mushroom soup and broth; stir well and let simmer for a few minutes until bubbling.  Remove from heat.

Layer half the noodles in the bottom of the greased dish; sprinkle half the chicken; pour half of the sauce and sprinkle with half the cheese.  Repeat with remaining noodles, chicken, sauce and cheese on top.  Cover and bake at 375 for about 25 minutes, or until bubbling.  Remove cover and let bake another 5 minutes to lightly brown the top.  Makes 6-8 hearty servings.

This casserole is perfect for potlucks and it also reheats very well.  You can use mild, medium or hot Rotel, depending on your family's preferences; the choice will definitely influence the heat index of the dish.