Candied Jalapeños, Pumpkin and a few other things

Our daughter came up today to see us and to do her laundry, so I needed to get out of the living room (we have limited seating). So first, I spent a little time in the kitchen making Cowboy Candy.  If you've never heard of it, it's candied jalapeños.  I ordered a canning pot, rack, and tools while I was in Colorado, and this was my first time to use it.  (I've made jelly and jam before, but this was the first "canning.")

I saw this recipe on SBCanning, and was intrigued.  I love spicy and sweet combined, so I'm looking forward to trying some of these. It's suggested that these are good on hamburgers, and on cream cheese atop crackers. We'll see!

Cowboy Candy
from SBCanning

1 lb. fresh jalapenos
⅔ cup cider vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons mustard seed
¼ teaspoon tumeric
¼ teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Slice jalapenos. Mix cider vinegar, sugar, tumeric, celery seed, garlic, and cayenne to boil. Reduce for 5 minutes to a simmer. Add jalapenos at the simmer for 5 minutes more. Load sterilized jars with jalapenos first and add liquid filling the jars leaving a 1/4 headspace. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Makes 2 pints (I made 4 half pints).

Next, I went down the mountain to pick up some things at Cost Plus (wine and beer), Trader Joe's, Vons, and the Ranch Market (I have to have their tortilla chips).   When I came back, T was sleeping in her father's recliner, and her father was finished with his painting on the deck and was watching the Ryder Cup (go USA!!!!).  So I went downstairs and grabbed the two pumpkins I bought yesterday at the pumpkin patch.  I was given a pretty good deal - they weren't open for business until today, but forgot to close the gate. The guy said he'd be glad to sell me some pumpkins as long as I had cash, so I got two white ones that are great for making pureé. The larger one would have been $10, and the smaller one $8, but he gave me both for $10.

I cooked these two ways.  One was done in the microwave and the other in my 2-tier vegetable steamer. To microwave:  Cut pumpkin in large chunks, scoop out the seeds and junk, and put in a bowl with about an inch of water. Cover the bowl loosely, and microwave on HIGH 20-25 minutes. Check after 15 and then just add 5 minutes at a time until the flesh is soft.

After the chunks have cooled enough to handle, scrape the flesh in to a bowl.  Pureé in a blender in batches, and place in freezer bags.  I did two cups in each quart-sized bag so it's the equivalent of a can of pumpkin.

After setting aside two cups for pumpkin butter, I ended up with 7 bags of pureé.





While I was bagging the pureé, I started the pumpkin butter.  It takes about an hour to cook it down

Pumpkin Butter
by Kevin of Closet Cooking

2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup apple cider
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves

Simmer everything in a pot until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened.  Makes 2 cups.

This took about an hour, and after the first 10 minutes I had to use a spatter screen to keep it from splattering all over the stove. 

You can't can this for safety reasons, but you can store it in your fridge for a few weeks (if it lasts that long) or for 3-4 months in your freezer. The batch only makes about 2 cups, so we should be able to eat it up!

I also managed to freeze and bag a pound of strawberries and a big basket of raspberries.  I just rinse, hull and slice the strawberries, and do nothing with the raspberries. I spread both fruits on a large cookie sheet and flash freeze. Then when they're solid, I put them in ziploc bags and put them back in the freezer. They're now ready for smoothies and desserts.

Dinner was Kung Pao Pork - and I forgot the peanuts again!  It still tasted good, but I missed the peanuts.  My daughter had never had it, and she gobbled it up. She says she won't have to eat during work tonight (she works midnight to 8 am).

Oh, my aching feet!

Two and a half days' worth of standing in the kitchen will do it to ya.

We got back from Colorado on Wednesday, and spent much of the afternoon putting things away that we'd brought home from the trailer. I'd asked my daughter to turn the big freezer on last weekend, so it was ready to load.

Yesterday I went to Costco, where I spent $365 on meat and some things like maple syrup, pecans, mixed nuts, and some other staples. Then I went to the commissary at March Air Reserve Base, where I spent $328 on everything else. Those two trips started my feet and legs on their way to being really sore.

It took many trips to get everything into the house. Don just couldn't understand why I did it all at once; I tried to explain that I didn't want to make two trips. From there I had to start getting some of the meats packaged and prepared since I didn't have room for everything in the refrigerator.  At the end of the day yesterday, here's what I accomplished:

1) batch of Ruth's Best Chili Ever - made 2 full meals + a single meal for my daughter
2) batch of Mom's Spaghetti Sauce - we ate half of it for dinner and froze the rest for another meal
3) batch of Freezer Stash Meatballs - it made 5 meals' worth, which will be for things like meatball subs, teriyaki meatballs, Swedish meatballs with noodles, and so on.
4) 4 patties of ground beef for Taco Pockets
5) blanched and froze 1 pound of asparagus
6) blanched and froze 3 bags of green beans
7) 2 patties of ground beef for hamburgers
8) froze 1 lb. of skirt steak for Crockpot Beef Fajitas

By the time I was finished with the dinner dishes and the cleanup from the afternoon's work, I was exhausted and hurting. I watched a little baseball and TV ("Big Bang Theory" and "Person of Interest" had their season premiers) and then went to bed.

This morning, I started early - had one cup of coffee, then went to work. Today's completions:

1) made and froze 2 meals' worth of chicken fried steak
2) made and froze 2 meals' worth of Maui Grilled Chicken Sandwiches (recipe to come later)
3) made and froze 2 meals' worth of Pineapple Lemon Chicken (recipe to come later)
4) made and froze 2 meals' worth of Spiced Citrus Chicken (recipe to come later)
5) made and froze 2 meals' worth of Lemon Garlic Chicken (recipe to come later)
6) made and froze 2 meals' worth of Herb-Wine Chicken (recipe to come later)
7) made and froze Elegant Steak Dionne (recipe to come later)
8) froze 3 sirloin steaks
9) froze 7 double-thick pork chops (each one is a meal for Don and me)
10) made and froze 6 Barbecue Turkey Burgers (3 meals)
11) made and froze 4 marmalade patties for Turkey Burgers with Curry-Lime Mayo (2 meals)
12) made and froze 2 Spicy Asian Turkey Burgers (recipe to come later)
13) made and froze 5 sausage and egg biscuit sandwiches (actually, I made 8, but we ate 3 for breakfast) - I used Grands biscuits, Jimmy Dean sausage, eggs, and Velveeta sliced cheese.
14) froze leftover beef trimmings from the chicken fried steak to make a stir-fry
15) made a batch of Whole Wheat and Oat Baking Mix
16) blanched and froze 2 bags of Brussels sprouts
17) froze 8 packages of ground beef (3/4 lb. each) for other meals

I still have more to do - I might do some after dinner tonight. We're having rahmschnitzel and salzkartoffeln (pork schnitzel with a mushroom and cream sauce, and boiled new potatoes) and possibly a salad. I might just open a  can of peas - I haven't decided yet!

Jumping into Freezer Meals

Hello from Lake City, Colorado. We've been in Colorado for 6 weeks now, and won't be heading home until the first of October. You can read about our fantastic trip on my travel blog, Wanderlust.

Before we left, I emptied out our big freezer in the basement, so when we get back, it'll need to be restocked. Since I plan on going back to subbing, as well as swimming and sewing, I've decided to try making freezer meals - where much of the prep is done all at once, and you pull out your meals or meal components and have an easier time to prepare the meal.

I thought I'd list the resources I'm using to plan this venture:

Books

Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer: Great Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead

Don't Panic - More Dinner's in the Freezer: A Second Helping of Tasty Meals You Can Make Ahead

Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month

When you're looking at those books on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, you'll see quite a few others.  I just started with those three.  They're on my iPad now so I can access them easily.

Yahoo Groups

I re-joined (I was a member many years ago) the Frozen Assets Yahoo Group. I've noticed that the traffic is fairly slow these days - but joining gave me access again to the files and old messages. 

Friendly-Freezer  - similar to Frozen Assets.  It's also slowed down in recent months.

If you search on freezer meals or once a month cooking, you can find several more groups to try. I'm waiting on membership confirmation from FoodPreservationDryingCanningAndMore - it's a moderated group instead of open, so my application has to be approved.

Blogs

There are quite a few blogs out there that either focus directly on freezer meals, or have freezer meals as one area.  Here are a few that I follow and have enjoyed reading:

Freezer Meals for Us - oodles and oodles of great recipes

Journey of a Home-Schooling, Transracial Foster Family

Once a Month Cooking | Freezer Cooking | Once a Month Mom


Other

I found several ideas via Pinterest, and continue to follow the links to more sites.  There is a ton of information out there!

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I've been going through my own cookbook, and have found many that I will be able to adapt to freezer cooking.  I'll be sharing those as often as I can.  I'll start with one that came to mind after Don and I passed a restaurant called "Southern Vittles" yesterday in Lake City.  Their specialty is chicken fried steak.  Well, I can do my own, thank you.  I like my gravy better than any I can get in a restaurant - I don't care for the heavy doses of pepper you get in restaurant gravies.

Chicken Fried Steak
for the freezer

Note:  this can be adapted to boneless, skinless chicken breasts or pork chops, too.  To make additional meals, just multiply the ingredients by the number of additional meals you'd like to make.

Cooking Day
1 cube steak for each person (my meals are all for 2 people, so I'll use two)
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t paprika

Set up two shallow bowls.  In one, put eggs and milk, and mix with a fork or whisk. In the other, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika.  Dredge a cube steak in the flour, then dip in the egg mixture to coat.  Dredge again in the flour.  Wrap individually in plastic wrap and place in freezer bags. Reserve about 1/4  cup of the flour in a small bag and add to the freezer bag with the steaks.

Serving Day
To cook:  Thaw cube steaks in refrigerator. Fry in hot oil until browned.  Set aside and keep warm. Drain off all but about 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the reserved flour, and stir while continuing to heat over medium heat. When flour/oil mixture is lightly browned, add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of milk, using a flat whisk to combine. Continue to cook and stir until gravy is thickened.  Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if desired. Serve with steaks and mashed potatoes.

Quick Huevo Ranchero

Normally, when I make Huevos Rancheros, I make a sauce using onions, bell peppers, and Old El Paso Medium Enchilada Sauce. But today I wanted the taste ( and a bit of protein) for lunch, so I came up with this. It took 5 minutes and hit the spot. [I'd like to point out that I don't make my Huevos Rancheros with beans, but you could easily add some to this dish for more protein and a bit of fiber.]

Quick Huevo Ranchero

1 corn tortilla
2 tablespoons shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack
1 egg
Nonstick cooking spray
2 tablespoons salsa
dollop sour cream (optional)

Put the tortilla in a skillet and top with the cheese. Warm the tortilla just until the cheese melts and remove to a plate. Spray the skillet with the nonstick cooking spray and add the egg. Cook on one side, then flip. Top with salsa and cook a little bit longer (until the egg is done to your liking). Put egg and salsa on the tortilla. Serve with sour cream if desired.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Secret Recipe Club - Rocks!

My assigned blog this month in the Secret Recipe Club was Kudos Kitchen by Renee. In addition to making tasty, healthy food, Renee has a special talent of painting. She does fabulous decorative tiles, bowls, and glassware.  You really should go check out her work - and maybe even visit her Etsy shop. There's a lot of eye candy there!

But on to the food.  I found all kinds of things I will be making on Renee's blog. But the recipe I made almost immediately was Rocks.  Yes, Rocks. Renee had been given a vintage cookbook from the 1930s, and found a handwritten recipe for these cookies inside. Don and I had been wanting some cookies, and these came together quickly.  The dough is similar to that for chocolate chip cookies, but with a little cinnamon thrown in.

My cookies came out looking different from Renee's - mine flattened out while hers retained some height to them. Maybe it's the altitude, or it might have been the fact that I used a silpat while Renee used parchment paper. No matter.  The taste was wonderful, and these are definitely on our "do again" list!

Rocks

1-1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
3 well beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of walnuts

Preheat oven to 350˚. Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add gradually to sugar/egg mixture.  Stir in raisins and walnuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet topped with parchment paper or a silpat.  Bake 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned. (Renee's recipe called for 15 minutes - but in my oven that was way too long.)  Makes 3 1/2 dozen.

Even the cookies that I thought were a bit overdone really weren't.  These stayed chewy even after they'd cooled completely. That's the way I LOVE my cookies.

Secret Recipe Club - Whole Grain Mixed Berry Muffins

It's reveal time again for the Secret Recipe Club!  That's the club where we're assigned another person's blog, we select a recipe to try, and then blog about it. The blog assigned to me this month was The Daily Dish Recipes.  Nicole is a wife and mom who loves to cook wholesome meals for her family (along with some not-so-wholesome goodies), and is a much better food photographer than I am. In perusing her blog for recipes to try, her Basic Sour Cream Muffins caught my eye. I've been making different kinds of whole grain muffins lately for Don and me to eat for breakfast in place of those white flour/sugar/fat-laden ones at Costco.  Nicole's recipe is intended for different kinds of toss-ins, from fruit to chocolate chips.

I decided to add some fiber by replacing half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour (I use white whole wheat flour from King Arthur) and by adding ground flax and wheat bran. I've been craving anything berry these days, so I added 3 cups of mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries). I buy those by the bag from Costco.

The result was a much lighter muffin than the ones I've made this month, even with the addition of the whole wheat flour and wheat bran.  It must be the sour cream.  These were delightful, and of course, they disappeared in a couple of days.  Again, I used my Wilton jumbo muffin tin and my brownie tin from Pampered Chef - the recipe filled up both. I ended up with 6 jumbo muffins and 12 square muffins that are about half the size of the jumbo ones.

Whole Grain Mixed Berry Muffins

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
3 cups of mixed berries


Preheat oven to 400˚. Grease the muffin cups or line with paper liners.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and creamy, about a minute. Next, beat in the vanilla, eggs, ground flax, salt and baking soda.
Next, fold in the sour cream.
Now fold in the flour and wheat bran and any of the add-ins that you have chosen.
Scoop batter into muffin cups. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. (Note:  the Pampered Chef brownie pan only takes about 12 minutes, and the jumbo ones take about 20.)
Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in pan.
Remove from pan and allow to completely cool on wire rack. Makes 24 muffins.

Stinky! Asiago Broiled Tomatoes

I had some Asiago cheese in the refrigerator that will be used for a potato gratin in the next day or so, and decided to use a little of it on these tomatoes. Don was grilling some pork steaks and corn on the cob, and instead of a tomato salad, I decided on these. They tasted wonderful - but that cheese sure stinks!  Don couldn't wait to light the candles to try to get rid of the pungent smell.

Asiago Broiled Tomatoes

1 medium tomato per person
melted butter
salt and pepper
grated Asiago cheese (or Parmesan, if that's what you have)

Slice tomato(es) into thick slices - about 3/4" - 1" thick. Place on a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter, and top with salt, pepper, and some grated Asiago cheese. Broil 5-7 minutes until cheese is melted and starts to brown. 

This weeks' muffins: Zucchini Gingerbread

As we're enjoying a spring Sunday here in the mountains, as well as a Kings playoff hockey game, I decided to make a batch of muffins for the coming week. As I mentioned before, Don used to eat the ones from Costco - the ones with zero fiber and lots of sugar.  He needs fiber.  So I've been tweaking some of my recipes to add it and still make some decent muffins.

I used two different pans this time - I just got my brownie pan from Pampered Chef, and used it along with the jumbo muffin tin I got at JoAnn (I used a 40% off coupon). The recipe is for two loaf pans, so that's just the right amount of batter for the two pans.

Zucchini Gingerbread Muffins

1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c wheat bran
2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c brown sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 c ground flaxseed
3 c grated zucchini (3-4 small)
3 eggs
3/4 c molasses
1/2 c applesauce
1/2 c oil
1 c raisins

Preheat oven to 350˚. Prepare two loaf pans (or two jumbo muffin tins) by spraying with nonstick cooking spray. (If you're using one of the Pampered Chef brownie tins, it needs no spray.) Combine dry ingredients (except for flax and raisins) in a large bowl. Combine flax and wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, and stir until just combined. Stir in the raisins. Pour into loaf pans or muffin tins. Bake loaf pans 45 minutes/muffins 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Secret Recipe Club - Broccoli-Cheddar Soup

It's reveal day again for my group in the Secret Recipe Club!  I'd like to say that the Club has kept my interest in food blogging alive.  There have been times I haven't felt like writing about what I cook - mostly because I've been making the same things over and over.  But since I started the Secret Recipe Club, I've not only HAD to make new things, I've found all kinds of new blogs to read and new recipes to try.

This month, my assigned blog was The Double Dipped Life.  I spent several hours over a couple of days going through Krista's blog, and made a list of 5 different recipes I want to make.  The one I made for this post is Broccoli-Cheddar Soup.  I had just gone to the commissary the day before, and my refrigerator was full of fresh produce, including two crowns of broccoli.  I'd been thinking about just steaming them as a healthy side dish, but when I saw Krista's recipe for the soup, I knew that was the first recipe to try.  It was a winner!

Don loves soup - almost any kind of soup, so when I asked him if he wanted to give this a try, he was enthusiastic.  We had a loaf of multigrain bread in the freezer, so I thawed that to have with the soup.

This soup was not only easy to make, it came together fairly quickly.  It was nice to find out that it wasn't a cream-based soup as I'd expected, but broth-based, thickened with a little flour, and had only 1/2 cup of cream in it.  It tasted as if it had a quart. We ate nearly all of it for dinner last night, and today I finished it off for lunch - I subbed at Yucaipa High today and needed to take my lunch.

The ingredients I used are below.  For Krista's original version, which is only slightly different, go here.

Broccoli-Cheddar Soup
from Krista of The Double-Dipped Life

 3 T butter, plus 2 T cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup yellow onion, chopped
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
pinch nutmeg
1/2 t minced garlic
pinch dried thyme
3 T all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
2 heads (approx. 1 pound) fresh broccoli
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

In a medium pot, melt the 3 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, pepper, and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until soft, 3 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and cook, stirring, until fragrant, for 20 seconds. Add the flour and cook, stirring until the mixture is well blended, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the broth, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, until tender, for 10-15 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender. (Alternatively, in batches, puree in a blender or food processor and return to the pot.)

Add the cream and bring to light simmer to heat through. Add the cheese and cook over low heat, stirring, until melted. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter, stirring to blend.

Remove from the heat and ladle the soup into bowls.  Makes 4 servings.


This is now going to be part of my "routine" recipes. I really, really like this soup!

Whole Wheat & Oat Baking Mix

For many years, I've been buying the Whole Grain Baking & Pancake Mix from Trader Joe's.

Recently I saw a story on the news about labels on "whole wheat" products, and one of the things I remembered was that if the product is truly "whole wheat," then the first item on the ingredients list is "whole wheat flour" - not "wheat flour." I started checking the labels of a lot of the products I buy, and noticed that they all have "wheat flour" as the first ingredient.

I went in search of a recipe to make my own baking mix, and found one to adapt on the King Arthur Flour website.  I borrowed theirs, but added wheat and oat bran to it. In addition, since I wanted one that would have a longer shelf life, I substituted shortening for the oil. If you use the oil, which some people would find healthier, then the mix must be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Whole Wheat & Oat Baking Mix
adapted from King Arthur Flour

3 cups old fashioned or rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup wheat bran
3 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 cup shortening

1) To make the mix: Grind the oats and oat bran in a food processor until it's all chopped fine, but not a powder.

2) Put the flour, oats, and all other dry ingredients into a mixer with a paddle. (I used the bread hooks, since I didn't have a paddle, and it mixed it all beautifully.) Cut the shortening into chunks (if you're using the stick shortening) or drop by spoonfuls into the dry ingredients. With the mixer on low, mix until the shortening has been broken up into small bits and all is well-combined.

3) Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature, or indefinitely in the refrigerator or freezer.

To make pancakes: Whisk together 1 cup of mix, 1 cup of buttermilk (or a combination of half plain yogurt and half milk; or 3/4 cup liquid whey), and 1 large egg. Don't worry if it seems thin at first: the oats will soak up the milk, and the mix will thicken a bit as it stands.

Let the batter stand for at least 20 minutes before cooking. Yield: a batch using 1 cup of the mix will make about 5 to 8 pancakes, depending on size. Use mix as you would use Bisquick.

Whole Wheat Banana-Blueberry Jumbo Muffins

I've gotten away from healthy cooking for a while. I'd been doing water aerobics and laps, and everything was just fine. But then I injured myself (it's a long story, but after a month of steroids, muscle relaxants and vicodin all is healed and I"m pain-free), and have to stop the swimming and water aerobics for a while. Following his colonoscopy last week,  Don was ordered by his doctor to start eating more fiber. He has diverticulosis, and we don't want it to turn in to diverticulitis.  So the first thing I did was get some whole wheat flour, oat bran, wheat bran, and flax.  I can make all kinds of things and add fiber to them.  We had oatmeal for breakfast two days ago - I used steel cut oats and added some diced pears and spices.  It was similar to apple pie oatmeal.  This morning I made some waffles with Trader Joe's Multigrain Baking and Pancake Mix - and added a quarter cup of wheat bran to the batter for some added fiber.  They also had some mixed berries in them, so we used less syrup than we usually do.

Speaking of syrup - I've been using sugar-free syrup for a couple of years, but have gotten tired of the taste.  Regular pancake syrup has too many carbs, so I mix the two together and just use less on my pancakes and waffles. 

Don likes to eat carbs for breakfast - but he's been loading up on empty carbs and I need to change that. One thing I'm doing is making muffins to replace the ones he ate from Costco.  The Costco ones are made with white flour and lots of fat and sugar.  I found a recipe for banana bread that I'm going to adapt for different flavors - it uses whole wheat flour, and I can mix in things like ground flax, oat bran or wheat bran, almond flour, and other things that add fiber or protein.

Today's muffins are banana-blueberry.  I'm going to Costco tomorrow, and decided to finish up a bag of blueberries that's been in the freezer forever - and buy a new one tomorrow. I also had two bananas in the freezer - I just throw them in there in their skins, and they're fine for breads once they're thawed. (Did you notice I just used there, their, and they're in the same sentence?)

Whole Wheat Banana-Blueberry Jumbo Muffins

1 stick butter, softened
1 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c oat bran (adds fiber and nutty texture)
1/4 c flax seeds, ground
1 c blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease and flour 6 jumbo muffin tins. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Add the bananas and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour, oat bran, and flax seeds, stirring until smooth. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling almost to the top. Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Makes 6 jumbo muffins. 

I went to Ethiopia for dinner

In a way. Let's say it was my take on some Ethiopian food. My book club recently read Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone. Most of the book takes place in Ethiopia - we attempt to make food related to the books we read, so we had some pretty interesting dishes.

I was hesitant to even try the food my girlfriends brought - but once I tasted each dish, I kept eating, and went back for more!  Each one shared the recipes with the group, and tonight I made two of them. The main dish was Linda's Doro Wat - a spicy chicken stew.  It's a very simple recipe - chicken, onion, and spices. In Ethiopia, it's served on injera, a flatbread made from teff - a flour unavailable here. At book club, Debbie brought some Indian flatbread called Malabari Paratha. It's from the frozen food section at Trader Joe's.  You could also use pita bread or some other flatbread, I suppose. But I really like the paratha, and since we have a Trader Joe's fairly close, I bought two packages. There are five in a package - two for Don, two for me, and one for my leftovers that I'll take to work tomorrow.

The side dish was a room-temperature green bean dish, recipe from Betty. It's actually from South Africa, but I bet something similar is made in Ethiopia.

Doro Wat

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1" chunks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
3 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup water

Sprinkle the cut-up chicken with the lemon juice, and let sit while you cook the onion. In a 4 to 6-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, brown the onion without fat until quite dark, stirring often. Add the butter and spices and stir to blend. Add the water and the chicken, stirring to combine everything. Cover the pot and simmer over low heat about 20 minutes until chicken is tender. Add more water, if necessary, to bring the mixture to stew texture. If the dish is watery, then thicken with 2 tablespoons of flour dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water. Serve with flatbread or pita bread. I use Malabari Paratha, which you can get in the frozen foods section at Trader Joe's.  This served two with a little for a leftover meal.

Note:  Browning the onion without fat is important - the caramelization of the onions adds both color and a bit of sweetness.

This is the flatbread we had. It needs to be browned more - but can be eaten hot or at room temperature.

African Green Beans

1 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed

1/2 t salt

2 T olive oil

1 T lemon juice

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1 garlic clove, mashed

1/4 c sweet white onion, thinly sliced

2 T sliced green olives

1/2 T hot red pepper flakes

Cut the ends off the beans, and cook in a large pot of boiling water along with the 1/2 t salt for 10 minutes. Drain and cover with cold water for about 5 minutes. Drain again. Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the onions, green olives and beans and toss until well coated. Eat either room temperature or chilled.  4 Servings.

Secret Recipe Club - Flapjacks the British way

Here in the USA, flapjacks are pancakes. I was looking through my assigned blog (The more than occasional baker) for this month's Secret Recipe Club, hoping to find some good recipes for breakfast.  Among the categories listed on the side was the heading "flapjacks."  "Oh, goody!" I thought, "pancakes."  I clicked on it, and was taken to two recipes for some bars made of oats with some added sweeteners. "Huh?"  To Google I went, where I learned that in the United Kingdom, "a flapjack is a sweet tray-baked oat bar made from rolled oats, butter, brown sugar and golden syrup."

Okay. That part's easy.  Now, what's golden syrup?  Back to Google. Golden syrup is a light form of treacle, which is a by-product of refining sugar.  It's similar to molasses - and as a matter of fact, several different sites told me I could combine molasses and corn syrup to make a fairly decent substitute for golden syrup.  So that's what I did!

I decided to follow Ros's idea of adding chocolate chips. Ros says it's important to make sure the oat mixture is cooled before adding them so that they hold their shape while cooking. Otherwise they'll just melt into the mixture.

The verdict:  These remind me of chewy granola bars - but better. Don and I really like these - and since they're so simple to make, we'll be trying a couple of variations - peanut butter chips or  raisins and cinnamon are two combinations that come to mind.

Go here for Ros's original recipe. 

Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons Karo corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups rolled oats (not steel-cut)
1 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease a 13 x 9" baking pan. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the molasses, corn syrup, and brown sugar. Put the oats in a large bowl and add the butter mixture. Stir to combine, and let cool. Add the chocolate chips and press the mixture into the baking pan. Bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool in pan, and cut into squares.

3-2-1 Mug Cake

In my previous post, I extolled the virtues of homemade brownie mix. I have jars of it waiting to be cooked, in between the other various desserts that are my downfall.

But there IS a good use for packaged mixes!  This one's going around the internet - I've seen it on at least 5 blogs the past week - so I just had to try it.

Take one box, any flavor, of cake mix, and put it in a gallon-sized zip storage bag. Add one box angel food cake mix (the size that makes a tube/bundt cake, not the small one that makes only a loaf pan). Seal the bag and shake to combine.

Put 3 tablespoons of the mix in a microwave-safe mug. Add 2 tablespoons of water and stir to combine. Cook on HIGH in the microwave 1 minute. Eat.

I made my first mix using German chocolate, and opened up the can of coconut-pecan frosting I've had in the pantry for months and put a spoonful on top. You could also try Hershey's syrup, or whipped cream, or ice cream.  If you use other flavors of cake mix, you could try berries, or caramel sauce, or lemon curd - the possibilities are endless.

What do I like best about this?

Portion control.  It's "just right."

A Big Batch of Brownie Mixes - Secret Recipe Club

I was assigned Kelli's blog Ambition's Kitchen for this month's Secret Recipe Club assignment. I've spent many hours going through nearly all of her recipes, and found several different ones I want to try.  But the one that grabbed my attention was one of her Frugal Friday posts.  Every Friday, Kelli gives a recipe for something that is usually store-bought, but is cheaper and usually better for you when it's homemade.  She's given us pudding pops, Larabars, aluminum-free baking powder, maple pancake syrup, and more. The one I chose to make was the homemade brownie mix.  I had plenty of flour and sugar, and last month I bought a bag of Ghirardelli dark cocoa.  I wanted to make multiple batches, so I got out some large mason jars I'd bought for baking small loaves of bread.  As I began to dish out the ingredients, I realized that the jars were too small - I needed quart-sized, not pint-sized.  My husband came up with the solution - just put half the ingredients in one jar, and use two jars for a batch of brownies.

He's so smart.

In less than 10 minutes I'd measured out 5 batches - four into the jars and one into a bowl.   Then to the bowl, I added the wet ingredients; then put the batter into a 9" stoneware pan. 20 minutes later, they came out of the oven -- dark, rich, decadent brownies.  I chose not to do any mix-ins, and these are so good they don't need frosting.  (Though I love a good frosting!) They hold together when cut, and are perfectly fudgy; just the way I like them.

Brownie Mix

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons buttermilk powder or nonfat milk powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 cup add-ins, such as chopped nuts or dried fruit (optional)

In a medium bowl (or deli container), combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, buttermilk powder, baking powder, salt, and whisk (or shake) to blend. Stir in the chocolate chips and add-ins (if using). Store airtight.

To make fudgy brownies

Brownie Mix (above)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan.
2. Dump the Brownie Mix into a bowl. Add the oil, water, vanilla, and egg, and stir just to blend.
3. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it.
Makes 16 brownies

Just for comparison, here's the ingredient list on a box of Betty Crocker Original Supreme brownies:

Sugar
Enriched Bleached Flour (wheat flour, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid)
Chocolate Flavored Syrup (high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, water, cocoa, salt, mono and diglycerides, polysorbate 60, xanthan gum and vanillin)
Cocoa Processed with Alkali
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil
Contains 2% or less of: Corn Starch, Salt, Corn Syrup, Artificial Flavor

I like the homemade mix better, anyway!

Follow the links below for more great recipes from the Secret Recipe Club!

Migas - my way

I've "discovered" - or maybe "created" a new breakfast for Don and me. In one of the novels I was reading last week, a character made some migas, and the dish sounded like something I wanted to try. The basic concept of migas is that it's made with tortilla strips, chorizo, and eggs, and some recipes add other ingredients such as cheese, salsa, green chilies, bell peppers, and onions.  I like Jimmy Dean pork sausage, and have used it (with some chili powder added) as a tasty chorizo substitute.

I was given some thick, homemade corn tortillas by a friend a couple of weeks ago, and decided to use some of them in this recipe. (I keep them in the freezer, and take them out as needed.) The steps I used when Don and I had this for breakfast this morning had me blending everything together at the end, and that caused the tortilla strips to lose their crispiness.  We both decided we wanted them crispy, so my solution is to cook them separately, plate them, and then put everything else on top of the tortilla strips.

Migas

2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

2 corn tortillas, cut in 1-2" thin strips
4 oz. bulk breakfast sausage (I use Jimmy Dean)
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1-2 tablespoons chili powder (I used 1 this morning, and decided it wasn't enough.)
4 eggs
grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Heat oil in a medium skillet.  Add the tortilla strips. Cook, stirring, until strips are crispy. Divide the strips between two plates.  In the same skillet, brown sausage with the onions, breaking up the sausage as it cooks. When it's nearly done, sprinkle with chili powder and finish browning the sausage. Add the eggs - just break them right into the sausage mixture. Cook, stirring, until eggs are done. Divide between the two plates, putting eggs over tortilla chips. Sprinkle with grated cheese.  Enjoy!

Variations:  add bell peppers or green chilies to the sausage-onion mixture

Kitchen Stashbusting Days 6, 7, and 8. The end.

I succeeded in getting rid of some more meat:  pork chops, chicken breasts, and ground beef.  On Saturday, we had one of my favorite "comfort food" meals - pork chops and scalloped potatoes. From scratch, the way my mother taught me.  I've tried those dehydrated-nasty-boxed scalloped potatoes, and they are just awful.  I also do not like any onion flavor in mine.  So here's how Mother says you must make these - for two people.

Pork Chops and Scalloped Potatoes

Preheat oven to 350˚.
Peel and slice 2-3 large potatoes - about 1/4" thick.
Slice your boneless pork chops about 1/2" thick.  I use ONE of the thick boneless chops you get at Costco, and I slice it into 4 pieces.
Put a layer of the potatoes in the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish (I use Corningware - the one with the glass lid). Sprinkle the potatoes with about a tablespoon of flour, some salt and pepper, and then dot with about a tablespoon of butter (cut in small pieces).
Repeat with another layer of potatoes.
Use the chops for the next layer, and finish with a layer of potatoes - each time sprinkling with flour and dotting with small pieces of butter. You should have 3 layers of potatoes with the chops underneath the top layer.
Pour in about 1/2 cup milk - you should be able to see it down in the layers of potatoes, but it shouldn't be as high as the chops. (How do I know this? Major mess in the oven from overflowing, burning milk!)
Bake, covered, for an hour and a half. I've tried it for an hour, but the potatoes don't get tender.

I used to try to eat ALL of this. But I would have potato overload, and I just don't need this any more. So we have leftover potatoes, which are wonderful fried up for breakfast the next day.

On Sunday, I tried a new chicken recipe, which I won't be sharing because it was AWFUL.  I took about 3 bites, and the rest went into the trash.  A bowl of cereal filled me up.

Tonight we had hamburgers - Don had his with a bun, and I ate mine without. I was just craving some beef.

I'm trying to decide how long I want to go with this.  What's my goal?  To use up some of the excess, I think.  But as I've been doing these posts, I'm now wondering if it's a bad thing - to have the excess.  So, I've decided to stop, and go back to just doing what I've been doing for years. This has been fun, but now it's over.

Kitchen Stashbusting Days 4 and 5

Yesterday Don went fishing, and I wanted to spend most of my day sewing, so I put dinner in the crockpot.  I made Hearty Italian Sausages - and we enjoyed the leftovers for lunch today. I'm going to add a note in my recipe to use the thicker slice setting on my mandoline.  I used the really thin setting, and the bell peppers almost disappeared into the meat mixture.

Yesterday's breakfast was my big sister's recipe - a quiche made with sausage, mushrooms, and bell peppers. Since cream cheese is mixed in with the eggs and milk, the texture is creamy, and the taste is delicious. 

My daughter came up to do her laundry today, and stayed for dinner.  Now, what does a 30-year old request for dinner?  Her favorite - with the fancy name Rice-a-Roni Stroganoff. I take a box of Beef-flavored Rice-a-Roni, and add ground beef, mushrooms, and sour cream.  Sure, I know it's high in sodium - but I eat a small amount, and she and her father eat pretty hefty portions. We had this with some of those little soft rolls you buy by the bag at Costco.

I enjoyed my swimming and water aerobics today - though the knot in my back started hurting at the beginning of the water aerobics class. It was really painful - and the instructor recommended a massage and the hot tub.  I tried the hot tub - and 15 minutes of a hot jet blasting that knot really helped. I was told that it means that there isn't a muscle tear - that if it was torn, the heat would not have  helped. But it really made it feel better.  I told Don when I got home that I wanted him to massage that knot with the heel of his hand - we'll give it a try later. But right now there's no pain.

I had my blood work done this morning, too - so I'm curious to find out next week how the swimming and water aerobics have affected my blood sugar.

Kitchen Stashbusting Day 3

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and most Fridays (when I don't have my monthly quilt guild meeting) I go to the Drayson Center at Loma Linda University for a water aerobics class. I show up 45 minutes early, and with a classmate named Tony, "swim" laps.  What we actually do is tread water while slowly moving. We do it in the deep water lanes, as both of us enjoy what it does to our backs. The extra swimming before class has really helped - my back is stronger and my blood sugar is slowly lowering.

On swimming days Don and I eat bagels with cream cheese or Nutrigrain Eggos with cream cheese and a small bit of jam.

Lunch was some chile con queso and chips.  I had a craving to satisfy and it worked.

Dinner was going to be Chicken Piccata Potato Salad - but the green beans I'd gotten at the commissary had turned bad more quickly that I'd expected and I had to toss them. So I cooked the chicken in strips, breaded with corn flakes crumbs, and I roasted the potatoes.  I had a new basket of cherry tomatoes, so I used half of them in a tomato salad.

For dessert, we finished up the cherry cobbler. 

Kitchen Stashbusting Day 2

Don and I went down the mountain today to pick up my old drafting table that I used to have in my classroom. I'd lent it to my friend Patrick - and now that he's succeeded me as YCEA president, he doesn't need it. It's now a perfect cutting and ironing table in my new sewing studio. We got down to Yucaipa early, so we went to the produce stand down the boulevard from the high school.   I picked up some mushrooms, cabbage, tomatoes, and some lovely corn on the cob. 

Breakfast - Eggs Goldenrod over toast.

Lunch - Don had corndogs, I had half a PBJ sandwich and some Fritos.

Dinner - Barbecue Bacon Keilbasa (take a piece of kielbasa, wrap it with bacon, and grill it. Brush it with barbecue sauce while grilling. Serve on a sandwich roll), cole slaw, and grilled corn on the cob.

Dessert - Cherry Cobbler