Soup, cold and snow.

It is cold here!!!!!  So, I made a really good soup yesterday for supper.  I found a recipe here and tried it out.  I didn't have coconut milk so I made some (really easy btw, pour boiling water over dry coconut, blend and strain).  I also didn't have Garam Masala, so I made some (recipe here).  Veg broth isn't something I usually have in the house either.  I used chicken (homemade) and you can't tell.  I am not a vegetarian :) so I didn't think it would matter.  I also used lentils as I don't normally have split peas on hand.  Quite often I have found that Dahl is made with lentils.  It warmed things up nicely here.  W wasn't home so I felt safe trying a new recipe.  I might try it again when he is sometime.  I also shoveled a lot of snow yesterday.  Someone is supposed to be coming this afternoon to look at my wood cookstove.  I have it for sale again as it won't fit in the kitchen when the new cupboards go in.  I did like it for the most part.  It just had to be fed every 30 min or so, the firebox was too small.  I baked in it several times, bread, cookies, cooked on it multiple times.  Sometime when I have a kitchen large enough I want another one.  :)

Have a good, cold day all.  :)

On beans, chicken gizzards and chili.

  Yesterday I discovered how to cook beans.  I have cooked beans many times before but yesterday I finally discovered how to do it properly.  I was making chili for supper and discovered about 4 pm that I had no canned beans.  I always have dried beans on hand but I hadn't soaked and cooked them yet.  Normally that means beanless chili.  However yesterday I thought, I have 2 hours, if I cook them hard for that amount of time maybe they will be good.  I rinsed some and put them on to boil.  Then, just for the fun of it, I googled 'how to cook dried beans quickly .'  Am I ever glad I did.  I have never cooked better beans, and they have never taken such a short time.  I boiled them for about 10 min, then drained them and added more water.  I then brought them back to a boil, put a lid on them and put them in the oven at 300*F for about an hour.  They were ready, they weren't mushy and they didn't have crispy bits.  Also on the subject of chili... We recently killed chickens.  Being Dutch, I hate wasting things, so I kept all the chicken gizzards, liver and hearts.  I haven't tried this with heart or liver yet, but for the gizzards this is the best idea.  Partially freeze (or if frozen partially thaw) the gizzards, cut into chunks/strips grind in a meat grinder.  When they are all ground, regrind them (takes me about 15 min for a lb in a hand grinder).  I mix the ground gizzards half half with ground beef and use it in whatever I use ground beef for.  To date I have made hamburgers, lasagna, and chili.  This is all without the more sensitive tastebuds even knowing that it was anything other than beef.  I tried once to stew them and make a chicken stew and while I could eat them they weren't particularly enjoyable.  Tonight we have a beef roast on the oven with lots of veggies for supper.  Have a good evening all.

Life, sleep, souffle etc.

  I know, I've been terribly delinquent in writing.  Life has been going on mush the same as usual.  W is now working farther away so time starts earlier in the morning.  The furnace is going and it is almost warm in here.  Yes, I did see the spelling mistake in the second sentence, I decided to leave it because that's what my brain is like.  Last night I finally tried to make a souffle.  I have often thought about making one but thought that they were HARD to make.  I decided to make it with cheese as that is the most basic recipe that I had.  It was easy.  It was very easy.  I'll be making that again soon.  Maybe I'll make it with mushrooms, or chocolate.  We had it with steak, sweet potato and peas.  W's first question when he took a bite, 'Where are the mushrooms?'  :)  I think I knew he would ask that.  I would have taken a picture but....... my camera cord is MIA.  I need to get a new one.
  Sunday is a Fellowship meal at Church.  I'll be bringing bread and dessert.  Anyone have a suggestion for the dessert?  I need a new idea.  :)
  My sourdough is mostly used for crackers nowadays.  W prefers yeast bread.  I've recently received some blackstrap molasses.  I love it.  It tastes better than regular molasses.  I made cookies with it and they looked like I had burnt them, they were that dark, but did they ever taste good.  The other thing I've been experimenting with recently is Kefir.  Kefir is a cultured milk drink similar to yogurt or cultured buttermilk.  It is made by adding milk to Kefir grains (look like a cauliflower) and letting it sit at room temp for 24-36 hours.  I eat it with granola, in smoothies or bake with it (like buttermilk or sour milk).  I have also let it sit longer and then placed it in a cloth to drain out the whey.  It made a very nice cream cheese, tangier than a commercial cream cheese but very good.  A is awake from her nap so I'd better go get her.  Have a great day all.  :)

Sourdough

I love sourdough.  There are so many things you can do with it.  Since starting it a month ago, I have made, bread, pancakes, biscuits, cake and gingerbread.  They have all been good.  My starter consists of, flour and water, that's it.  I started with 1/2 cup flour  and 1/3 cup water (equal amounts by weight) in a large jar.  I let it sit at room temperature and fed it every 12 hours with 1/2 cup flour (white and whole wheat by turns) and 1/3 cup water for a week.  This is called 100% hydration starter.  All this means is that it is made with equal weights water and flour.  I use half whole wheat and half white flour.  Based on what I've read it's hard to make a 100% whole wheat starter (I haven't tried).  Here I have it in a quart jar with a lid set on top.  The lid is not tight.  When I started it I covered it with a cloth napkin, I find it's just easier to use the jar lid.

 

The first thing I made was pancakes.   They fried up white.  Not too appetizing looking, so I added some sugar and it improved the colour.  They tasted good.  

I next made some bread.  I use an old recipe, modified to use sourdough. I made up my dough and let it rise overnight.

1 cup room temp (fed 8-12 hours before) sourdough starter

1 1/2 cups warm water

1/2 cup all bran (can be left out)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup molasses

2 eggs

1Tbsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp oil or shortening 

Flour to make a dough (about 5 cups)

Soak the whole wheat flour and all bran in the water for an hour or so, then add the starter.  Let start to bubble a little (1/2 hour or so) the add the rest of the ingredients and mix and knead till you have a smooth dough.  Try not to add too much flour, you want it smooth and elastic, not heavy and hard to knead.  It will be sticky when you start kneading.

Let rise overnight (I found this to be the best way).  

 

Next morning punch it down and make 2 to 3 loaves (depending in your bread pans).  Cover with a damp dish towel or napkin and let rise for a few hours.  It won't double but it should grow at least 50% larger.  Bake at 350*F for about 30-35 minutes.  

 

Feed hot, well buttered slices to your husband.  

I also made biscuits.  I changed the recipe slightly, substituting lard for the oil and butter and cutting it in instead of melting it.  I rolled out the dough and cut out the biscuits.  They turned out very good.  Again, serve hot and well buttered.

And finally, I made cake.  I made gingerbread, it was good, but I think it needed a little more salt or maybe just more spice.

I also made Maple pumpkin sourdough cake.  It is excellent.  I used 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp cloves1/8 tsp allspice and 1/4 tsp anise extract for the pumpkin pie spice.   I had no icing sugar to top it off with so I used nutri-whip with cinnamon, cloves and anise extract to taste.  

Serve with a cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate or milk.  :)

ENJOY

BIRTHDAY CAKE

Last Saturday we celebrated Elizabeth's birthday.  She chose what she wanted for supper and I made a girly cake for her.  It was also Mom's birthday this week so I made a cake for her too.  I had fun with these cakes.  I borrowed a couple of books from the library on cake decorating for ideas.  I made a cake that was supposed to look like a jewelry box for Elizabeth.  It was a white cake with a raspberry filling and fondant 'icing' and decorations.  The filling didn't work out very well and the fondant decorations didn't work out quite like it was supposed to, but all in all I think it was a success.  A little girl was more than pleased.

For Mom, I made a dozen eggs.  They were mini cupcakes with white icing and lemon curd yolks, topped with a white chocolate egg shell, served in an egg carton.  They tasted good and were very cute.  The egg shell I made by 'painting' the inside of some plastic eggs with white chocolate.

Smokey Barbeque Pork Sandwiches.

 Recently we bought a smoker.  This week I used it to make smokey pork sandwiches.  You start by lighting your charcoal in the smoker.

Then you take your pork and rub spices into it.

Place it in the smoker, and let it smoke with maple wood chips for several hours.

I had a really nice pink smoke ring, and tasted very nice.

We ate it on freshly made buns with bbq sauce and some cheese (for some of us).
It was GOOD!

King Cake

A few weeks ago Martin made a King cake.  I saw pictures of it and thought that it looked good.  Yesterday I looked up king cakes on google and decided to make it, as they looked very interesting.  A king cake is traditional for Mardi Gras.  It sometimes have a filling, and it is traditionally iced with 3 colours, purple, green, and gold.  The colours signify, Green for Faith, Purple for Justice, and Gold for power.  There is traditionally a small trinket or bean hidden in the cake as well.

King Cake
1/2 c. butter or margarine 

4 to 5 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. warm water
2 packages dry yeast(1/2 ounce)
3 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 tsp. ground nutmeg or cinnamon

Some "prize" to bake in the cake: large bean, a large button, or a plastic baby doll.  (I didn't do)

Glaze: 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar 1 Tb. lemon juice 1 Tb. water

 Over medium heat in a large saucepan, heat the butter, milk, sugar, and salt until the butter melts and the mixture steams. Do not let it scorch. Remove from heat. Pour the warm water into a large bowl, then dissolve the yeast in it. Add the warm milk mixture, the eggs, lemon rind, nutmeg, and 2 cups of flour. Mix well until free of lumps. Stir in 2 more cups of flour. Then add more flour as needed to make a dough that hold together and is easy to handle. Dust a surface with flour, turn out dough and knead it for 5 minutes until it gets springy. Grease another large bowl, place the dough in it and cover with a cloth. Set the bowl in a warm draft-free place and let it rise until it doubles in volume, about 2 hours. Punch it down and knead it again for about 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll each piece into a rope about 30 inches long. Grease a large baking sheet and carefully braid the ropes close together, curving the braid around to form and oval. Wet the ends and press them together. Push the "prize" underneath and hide it. Cover the sheet again with a towel and let the braid rise for about an hour.  Preheat oven to 375ºF.  Then bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Let the cake cool. In a small mixing bowl, blend the ingredients for the glaze well. Drizzle or paint on the top of the cake and sprinkle it with alternating colors of granulated sugar.

I made the cake and put a filling of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in the dough, and rolled it up jelly roll style, twisting it into an oval.  I iced it with the glaze that I had coloured into the 3 colours, I didn't use the coloured sugar.  It tastes a lot like a hot cross bun dough because of the spices I used.  I really like it.  :)  

Smokey, barbeque chicken

I was going to post pictures of my new bbq/smoker, but my camera or cord or computer isn't working properly.  :(  Tonight for supper I am smoking boneless/skinless chicken breasts.  I spiced the chicken with a bbq spice rub from my Joy of Cooking book.  They smell good, and we will taste them when W comes home from work.  I have also made fried rice and some green beans.  I'll post the spice recipe later.  Wendy

Lincoln's 3rd Birthday

For Lincoln's 3rd birthday I made a cake.  I wasn't intending to do anything like this, but a few weeks ago we were looking at someone else's pictures and Lincoln said 'mine dozer cake.'  I told him I would try.  For 3 weeks I looked in every store I went to, for the little toys.  I looked at Walmart, Dollarama, The Great Canadian Dollar Store, Sobeys.  They didn't have them anywhere.  Finally renovations were done in Superstore so I looked there too.  They had them, and they were reasonably priced.  I used a recipe Nicoline told me about for fondant.  It turned out very good.  The only thing I would do differently with it is to cut out some of the icing sugar when adding cocoa for the brown fondant.  It would make it easier to knead and roll.  I made a buttercream type of icing, (shortening and custard whipped) for a filling and decoration.  I used this cake recipe as it has always made a really good cake for me.  I actually made 2 9x13 cakes.  I needed one for the cake and then I knew I would need some cake crumbs for the decorations.  (We also had a church lunch on Sunday and I figured that I could take cake, it would be easy as I had to make cake and icing anyways.)  I used ice cream cones with green icing for a couple of trees.  I used gel food colouring for the first time.  It was a bit different to use, but it wasn't difficult.
Here is the finished cake.  All ready for eating.

Grandpa and Grandma White came to celebrate with us.

Blowing out the candles.

And so, Have a good day all.  

Next I have to come up with an idea for Wesley's cake.

I already have an idea for Elizabeth.

Cashew 'Cheese'

This week I was looking for a recipe to make 'Cheese Whiz' and as I was looking I came across a cheese alternative.  It had never occurred to me that I could make a fake cheese.  I found this recipe for a soy and dairy free 'cheese'.  I read it and thought, "this looks easy."  So, I started looking for raw cashews.  They had them at Friendly Bulk Foods here in town for a lot cheaper than at Superstore.  I measured out the cashews that I would need,

added water,

and left them to sit in my fridge for the weekend.

On Monday, I took them out, rinsed them, and put them in the blender along with the other ingredients (sorry, I forgot to take pictures).  Then I blended them.  A powerful blender is almost a must.  I had no cheesecloth so I used a fairly thin dish towel to hung it to drain.  After 24 hours approx I took it out of the dishtowel and 

here is my 'cheese'.  

I put it in a dish

and put it into the fridge.  

It isn't exactly like cheese, but it is fairly smooth and creamy, has a bit of tang, and tastes pretty good.  I've tried it on a sandwich with lettuce and tomato and I enjoyed it. I will probably make it again.  

Notella Pancakes and Blueberry Ice

I was going to do 2 posts, 1 last week and 1 now, but..... anyways, here they are.

Notella Pancakes

Last Thursday the kids and I had Notella pancakes for supper. I used this  pancake recipe using extra milk (almond) and a Tbsp of oil.
                                      
I spread them with nutella (made with double cocoa and double honey), and sliced banana and apple, and rolled them up.  They were very good.

Blueberry Ice

I found this recipe in a magazine.  It looked good so I tried it.  It tastes good.

Cookies.

I made a batch of thumbprint cookies today.  I used this recipe and used marmalade in some and raspberry jam in the rest.  Because I'm not eating any dairy right now I substituted lard and 1 T water for the butter.  They taste really good.  I'll post some pictures later.  :)  Wendy

Don't they look lovely.  They are already gone.

laundry soap

  Today I made another batch of laundry soap.  I've made it several times before and it didn't gel.  Someone told me that I needed to cook it a little longer and it should gel.  It has to cool yet but it does look like it's going to gel this time.  I made a double recipe so I don't have a half bar of soap sitting around (losing itself when I need to make a new batch).  I used 1 bar soap, grated, 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda and about 4 gallons of water.  First melt the soap in about 1 gallon of water, let it cook, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes (every time I walked past while I was doing other things) on medium.  I didn't let it boil.  Mix in the borax and washing soda.  After letting it sit for a few minutes, stir it again.  Fill your pail with 2 1/2 gallons of water and then pour in the hot soap mixture.  Rinse out the pan with the last 1/2 gallon of water and pour that in, too.  Stir it well and let it cool, then stir again (adding lavender or tea tree oil [30-60 drops]) and pour into whatever bottles you want to store it in.  I use a vinegar jug and some apple cider bottles usually.  The tea tree oil helps keep it longer and also helps make your laundry smell fresher.
That's all for today.  W

My favourite picture so far.

March 19.

Easy Croissants

Friday I wanted to make croissants and was looking for an easy recipe.  I found this one.  It was a cheat recipe. really easy to make.  I made them and filled them with shredded chicken, bbq sauce and cheese.  Wesley really liked them.  I didn't take any pictures.  :(

I took a picture on Sunday night of the plain ones.

and also of the ones with chocolate. 

My Three Munchkins

Andrea Ruth White was born this morning at around 8 am.  She is 8lbs 3.4 oz and 20 inches long.  :)  I'll post pictures sometime. 

Dump Cake

  So, today I got a kindle recipe book for Dump Cakes.  Never having made a dump cake I wasn't quite sure what they were.  I made one that looked good, Rich Pumpkin Dump Cake.  It wasn't anything like a cake.  It turned out like an upside down pumpkin pie with a crumbly cookie crust.  The taste was good.  The pumpkin layer was creamy and good but there was too much crumbly crust.  If I make it again I'll only use half the cake mix called for.  I didn't have any cake mix in the house either so I found a recipe online for  cake mix.  I'll have to try it for making cake sometime, too.
  For supper I made some bbq chicken and cheese crescents.  We saw an advertisement on tv that showed them and Wes said that they looked good.  I never buy Pillsbury crescents, but for this recipe I did.  I filled the crescents with about 4 times as much chicken and cheese as it called for because I was serving them for supper instead of a snack.  They were really good tasting.  Next time I should make them with homemade croissant dough.  There was just one left for a snack for in Wes' lunch tomorrow.  I would have taken pictures but.... I couldn't find the camera.  :)
  Tomorrow is the EDA of baby A.  I'm looking forward to meeting him or her.  I'm feeling very pregnant.  Today was a very tired day.  This morning after breakfast I read Elizabeth and Lincoln a couple of stories and then I fell asleep.  Fortunately they didn't get into too much trouble.  I woke up when they were throwing books down the stairs.  :(  Other than that, today wasn't overly interesting.
  Have a good day.  Wendy

I made not nutella this morning with the kids.  It tastes good.  :)  I figured out the price and it came to about $8.00 for the recipe which yielded 4 cups.  Pretty good price since nutella would be at least that too, and this is so much better for you.  It might not be as super smooth as nutella but it is still smoother than natural peanut butter.  There are so many recipes out there but this is the one that I used.  I did substitute dark chocolate (chips) for the milk chocolate just because I never have milk chocolate on hand.  I used the blender as I don't have a food processor.  My hazelnuts (also known as filberts) were not quite brown enough but I didn't find it mattered.  My hazelnuts and almonds cost $2.00/100g, milk is $3.24/2L, chocolate is $12/kg, honey is about $4/cup, powdered milk I couldn't find the price but it wouldn't be too much.  The recipe did say that the yield was about 2 cups but I found that it was double that.  I don't know what I did differently but I definitely had 4 cups (2 pint canning jars overfull and enough for a couple slices of bread too).  Actually looking at the recipe there is no way that the yield should be only 2 cups.  There are almost 2 cups milk, the same of nuts, and chocolate.  I've made this before but I think that the recipe I used was slightly different.  It kept fine for a couple of months in the fridge, not the week that this recipe states.  I see no reason to have to eat this amount of nutella in a week.  :)  Wendy

1/3 cup (40g) whole almonds
1 1/3 cup (160g) hazelnuts
1 3/4 cup (400g) whole milk (see Notes)
7/8 cup (60g) powdered whole milk
3 tablespoons (40g) mild-flavored honey
pinch of salt
6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
5 ounces (140g) milk chocolate, chopped (use one that’s at least 30% cacao solids)

1. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet, keeping the almond separate, and toast the nuts in a 350ºF (180ºC) oven, stirring a few times, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the hazelnuts are browned.

2. While they are roasting, warm the whole milk and powdered milk in a small saucepan with the honey and salt just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat.

3. In a clean, dry bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, or in a microwave oven, melt the chocolates together until smooth.

4. Once the nuts are well-toasted, remove them from oven and use a spatula to place the warm hazelnuts in a clean tea towel, then fold them inside the towel and rub them vigorously to remove any loose skins. They don’t need to be pristine; just try to get as much off as possible.

5. In a food processor, grind the warm hazelnuts and almonds until they’re as fine as possible. You may not be able to get them completely smooth, depending on your food processor. (I have a brand new one and even after five minutes, there were little bits of nuts in mine, which is normal.)

6. Add the melted chocolate and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the work bowl, as necessary.

7. Once the mixture is smooth, add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well-combined.

(The original instructions here said to strain the paste, which I didn’t do because I don’t mind the little bits of toasted nuts, but you can.)

9. Transfer the mixture into two jars and refrigerate until ready to use.

Storage: The Chocolate-Hazelnut Paste will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week.