Saturday, May 28, 2011
Updates
It's not that I've forgotten you, my love, but more that I've been enjoying some really tasty food and have been so consumed with making and eating it that my fingers haven't been free to blog about it. I will attempt to revamp this site and add some pics, recipes and whatnots. Fear not! I am only human, though, so if I fail, please don't judge me too harshly. :)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Not the Mac Mama
I love mac & cheese, I mean, who doesn't? I'm not talking about that stuff in the box with the suspicious orange powder, NO, I mean real mac & cheese like mama used to make (well not my mama, but someone's, I'm sure). The problem is, typically, people use that processed cheese product stuff, and while it does make some awesome mac & cheese, it's crazy unhealthy and not natural. I like to weed out processed stuff where I can, but I cannot make tasty, natural mac & cheese to save my life. I keep trying, but always go back to the orange block of jiggliness. Granted, I haven't used any recipes for mac with real cheese, I've just been going by what I know should be in there, so maybe I should humble myself enough to actually do more research. I made a huge batch of mac & cheese with ground turkey meat last week, and I'm still forcing myself to get through it. It's actually not too bad, but it's not the tasty-dreaminess that I was envisioning. Sigh.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A hug in a bowl
I have a weakness for sick people. My friends all know this about me. For the record, by "sick", I mean some sort of physical ailment such as a cold, the flu, the sniffles, etc. (Although with my dating track record, you'd think I meant the more disturbing kind of sick...) Anywho, so, earlier this week when I found out one of my very sweet girlfriends was sick, I immediately took some chicken out of the freezer. While I'm not a huge fan of soup, I do enjoy making it because it lends itself to all kinds of creativity. Think about it...soup is basically seasoned water. The last few times I've been sick, I made chicken enchilada soup, and it has turned out to be one of my favorite meals.
In November...possibly early December, another friend and I went to the oh-so-amazing, Homestead Heritage. I love that place, just sayin'. While there, among other goodies, I got some pasta mix. Really it's just a bag of semolina flour, but I guess people feel less intimidated by the use of the word "mix". All you do is add eggs, and BAM! it's pasta time. I hadn't used it yet...the poor bag had been sitting in my refrigerator unused for about two months. I thought making a classic pot of chicken noodle soup for my friend would be the way to go...until my creative juices got going. I then decided chicken and dumpling soup was needed. It would be hardier, and thus have greater healing powers. (side note: my secret hope is that one day I'll make soup that actually heals people, maybe even grows back a lost limb).
I set to work taste-patching. Taste-patching is what I do before creating something, or improving upon recipe. It's really no different than what a quilter does when planning the materials they will put together to make a quilt. First, I came up with the baseline flavor/texture: Creamy chicken. Secondly, I mentally flipped through my taste catalog and came up with other flavor components & ingredients: mixed veggies, garlic. Lastly, I picked some accents...some flavors/textures I wanted to stand out...pop...make the dish special. Pasta dumplings & green onions. Basically, the idea behind taste-patching is to mentally go through your taste memory catalog and select flovors you think will work well together, whether they are classic taste combinations or not. After all that was worked out, it was just a matter of figuring out how to create the food experience I'd envisioned.
The most worrisome part of this particular task, was to figure out how to make the pasta dumplings. I thought that if I just used the semolina flour and followed that recipe, I'd have some very dense, doughy pasta chunks. I couldn't remember whether or not I'd ever made dumplings before, so I began scouring my cookbooks for a dumpling recipe. I finally found one in a very old book, who's recipes in the past have greatly disappointed me. My plan wasn't use use the whole recipe anyway, so I felt better about consulting the book.
Chicken and Dumpling soup
2 cups chopped baked chicken (baking/roasting lends better flavor as opposed to boiling)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 cups chicken broth (either homemade or your favorite bullion, set aside 1 cup to help control soup consistency)
3-4 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
16 oz frozen mixed veggies
Salt
pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tbs margarine or butter
green onion bunch
Pasta Dumplings
1-1 1/2 cups semolina flour (regular flour could also work)
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbs shortening
pinch or two of salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
While it's preheating, start boiling the chicken broth (all of it, you'll set aside 1cup after the dumplings are done).
In a large roasting pan (preferably the one you used to roast the chicken), pour in the frozen veggies and the butter. Roast at 400 degrees for about 8-10 mins (or until cooked through and browned slightly).
In a small bowl, take a 1/2 cup of the flour and cut the shortening in.
In a larger bowl, mix the rest of the dumpling ingredients together, then add the shortening infused flour. A workable dough should form.
Dump this dough out onto a floured surface (if it's sticky, don't worry, just keep it covered with flour and you'll eventually knead enough in to make it easy to handle).
Knead it just until everything is well mixed.
Roll the dough out until it's about 1/4th of an inch thick.
Cut into squares or small triangles.
Put dumplings into boiling broth one at a time.
Let them cook 20-30 seconds longer after they rise to the surface (they should rise to the surface within seconds of being put in the broth).
Remove them from the broth, and place in a bowl, or in the roasting pan w/the veggies if they are done.
When all the dumplings are cooked, the broth level should be greatly reduced in the pot. Set aside some broth at this time.
Add the cans of mushroom soup.
Dump the chopped chicken in the roasting pan with the dumplings and veggies.
Add all spices to the mushroom soup mixture, then taste for seasoning. If it is too salty, add a little milk or broth (if the broth isn't salty).
When it is the desired consistency, pour the mixture over the contents of the roasting pan.
Mix until everything is coated.
Cover the pan with foil, and bake 10 mins at 375.
When you remove it from the oven, sprinkle with the chopped up stalks of the green onion (should be about a 1/2 cup) just before serving. This can be a fairly labor intensive meal, but it is completely worth it!
In November...possibly early December, another friend and I went to the oh-so-amazing, Homestead Heritage. I love that place, just sayin'. While there, among other goodies, I got some pasta mix. Really it's just a bag of semolina flour, but I guess people feel less intimidated by the use of the word "mix". All you do is add eggs, and BAM! it's pasta time. I hadn't used it yet...the poor bag had been sitting in my refrigerator unused for about two months. I thought making a classic pot of chicken noodle soup for my friend would be the way to go...until my creative juices got going. I then decided chicken and dumpling soup was needed. It would be hardier, and thus have greater healing powers. (side note: my secret hope is that one day I'll make soup that actually heals people, maybe even grows back a lost limb).
I set to work taste-patching. Taste-patching is what I do before creating something, or improving upon recipe. It's really no different than what a quilter does when planning the materials they will put together to make a quilt. First, I came up with the baseline flavor/texture: Creamy chicken. Secondly, I mentally flipped through my taste catalog and came up with other flavor components & ingredients: mixed veggies, garlic. Lastly, I picked some accents...some flavors/textures I wanted to stand out...pop...make the dish special. Pasta dumplings & green onions. Basically, the idea behind taste-patching is to mentally go through your taste memory catalog and select flovors you think will work well together, whether they are classic taste combinations or not. After all that was worked out, it was just a matter of figuring out how to create the food experience I'd envisioned.
The most worrisome part of this particular task, was to figure out how to make the pasta dumplings. I thought that if I just used the semolina flour and followed that recipe, I'd have some very dense, doughy pasta chunks. I couldn't remember whether or not I'd ever made dumplings before, so I began scouring my cookbooks for a dumpling recipe. I finally found one in a very old book, who's recipes in the past have greatly disappointed me. My plan wasn't use use the whole recipe anyway, so I felt better about consulting the book.
Chicken and Dumpling soup
2 cups chopped baked chicken (baking/roasting lends better flavor as opposed to boiling)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 cups chicken broth (either homemade or your favorite bullion, set aside 1 cup to help control soup consistency)
3-4 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
16 oz frozen mixed veggies
Salt
pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tbs margarine or butter
green onion bunch
Pasta Dumplings
1-1 1/2 cups semolina flour (regular flour could also work)
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbs shortening
pinch or two of salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
While it's preheating, start boiling the chicken broth (all of it, you'll set aside 1cup after the dumplings are done).
In a large roasting pan (preferably the one you used to roast the chicken), pour in the frozen veggies and the butter. Roast at 400 degrees for about 8-10 mins (or until cooked through and browned slightly).
In a small bowl, take a 1/2 cup of the flour and cut the shortening in.
In a larger bowl, mix the rest of the dumpling ingredients together, then add the shortening infused flour. A workable dough should form.
Dump this dough out onto a floured surface (if it's sticky, don't worry, just keep it covered with flour and you'll eventually knead enough in to make it easy to handle).
Knead it just until everything is well mixed.
Roll the dough out until it's about 1/4th of an inch thick.
Cut into squares or small triangles.
Put dumplings into boiling broth one at a time.
Let them cook 20-30 seconds longer after they rise to the surface (they should rise to the surface within seconds of being put in the broth).
Remove them from the broth, and place in a bowl, or in the roasting pan w/the veggies if they are done.
When all the dumplings are cooked, the broth level should be greatly reduced in the pot. Set aside some broth at this time.
Add the cans of mushroom soup.
Dump the chopped chicken in the roasting pan with the dumplings and veggies.
Add all spices to the mushroom soup mixture, then taste for seasoning. If it is too salty, add a little milk or broth (if the broth isn't salty).
When it is the desired consistency, pour the mixture over the contents of the roasting pan.
Mix until everything is coated.
Cover the pan with foil, and bake 10 mins at 375.
When you remove it from the oven, sprinkle with the chopped up stalks of the green onion (should be about a 1/2 cup) just before serving. This can be a fairly labor intensive meal, but it is completely worth it!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
The plumcot...why not?
Another fun find during the grocery shopping trip mentioned in my previous post were plumcots. If I'm not mistaken, they were on sale. Never having had a plumcot before, I decided it was high time to ride myself of that particular ignorance. I selected three succulent looking victims, (ended up being less a dollar for all three!), and added them to the already growing number of fresh fruits and veggies in my basket at the time.
Granted, like many Americans, I tend to be slow to actually snacking on fresh fruit when I'm standing in my kitchen looking for something to munch, so it's taken me a few days to actually get around to trying these pear-green beauties. I love plums, and I've recently become a fan of fresh apricots (I grew up eating the dried ones). True to my beliefs about trying new foods, I took a massive bite of the fruit, and let the juices run down my mouth. Upon first taste, it was like biting into a ball of honey. The flesh was extremely sweet and fairly mushy. The skin had a delightful tartness that cut into the almost unbearable sweetness.
I'm not really a fan of very sweet fruit, I actually prefer tartness. When shopping for grapes, most people sample them for sweetness; I go for the ones that look hard and will likely be more sour. Tart berries are the best. I even prefer watermelon that's not very sweet (I also like it warm rather than cold). So while it would be an overstatement to say I hate the plumcot, I'll just say I'm not really a fan. To each; her own. I've still got two more, and I promise you, they won't go to waste.
Granted, like many Americans, I tend to be slow to actually snacking on fresh fruit when I'm standing in my kitchen looking for something to munch, so it's taken me a few days to actually get around to trying these pear-green beauties. I love plums, and I've recently become a fan of fresh apricots (I grew up eating the dried ones). True to my beliefs about trying new foods, I took a massive bite of the fruit, and let the juices run down my mouth. Upon first taste, it was like biting into a ball of honey. The flesh was extremely sweet and fairly mushy. The skin had a delightful tartness that cut into the almost unbearable sweetness.
I'm not really a fan of very sweet fruit, I actually prefer tartness. When shopping for grapes, most people sample them for sweetness; I go for the ones that look hard and will likely be more sour. Tart berries are the best. I even prefer watermelon that's not very sweet (I also like it warm rather than cold). So while it would be an overstatement to say I hate the plumcot, I'll just say I'm not really a fan. To each; her own. I've still got two more, and I promise you, they won't go to waste.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Just in thyme
I love going grocery shopping early in the morning. If you've never done it; you should. It's so luxurious to go in, and feel unrushed. You actually have time to compare labels, prices, and make a more thought-out decision. I tend to feel like I have more freedom to be creative and let the food speak to me. I also find I tend to make less impulsive buys, because I can walk around slowly and really think about each purchase. Seriously gang, give early AM shopping a try.
Anywho. this morning, I heard some good things coming from the pork chops that were on sale, so I snagged a pack. It was a pretty good deal. I got 8 nice sized chops for under $5! With a find like that, you have to do something tasty to celebrate!
Garlic-Thyme Pork Chops
What you need:
1 stick of butter
pork chops
1-2 tsp garlic powder (or granules)
1-2 tsp dried thyme leaves
salt & pepper
What you do:
Melt about half of the butter in a large pan.
Season the chops with the thyme, garlic, salt & pepper.
Place chops in the hot butter. There really should be a nice layer of melted butter, maybe as much as 1/4 inch thick, but definitely enough so that it comes up the sides of the chops.
Make sure you've got the pan under a low fame. We're not trying to fry the chops, just make a little butter hot tub for them. Let everything hang out for about 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick your chops are. Turn the chops over. They should have some good browning on the first side. Allow the other side to cook another 5-7 minutes, and you're done!
You can toss some chopped or sliced onion into the pan after you remove the chops, with a bit of extra oil or butter, for a tasty topping for the chops.
Slowly cooking the chops in butter makes them SO tender and yummy! I hope you give this recipe a try. If you do, let me know how it goes!
Happy eating!
Anywho. this morning, I heard some good things coming from the pork chops that were on sale, so I snagged a pack. It was a pretty good deal. I got 8 nice sized chops for under $5! With a find like that, you have to do something tasty to celebrate!
Garlic-Thyme Pork Chops
What you need:
1 stick of butter
pork chops
1-2 tsp garlic powder (or granules)
1-2 tsp dried thyme leaves
salt & pepper
What you do:
Melt about half of the butter in a large pan.
Season the chops with the thyme, garlic, salt & pepper.
Place chops in the hot butter. There really should be a nice layer of melted butter, maybe as much as 1/4 inch thick, but definitely enough so that it comes up the sides of the chops.
Make sure you've got the pan under a low fame. We're not trying to fry the chops, just make a little butter hot tub for them. Let everything hang out for about 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick your chops are. Turn the chops over. They should have some good browning on the first side. Allow the other side to cook another 5-7 minutes, and you're done!
You can toss some chopped or sliced onion into the pan after you remove the chops, with a bit of extra oil or butter, for a tasty topping for the chops.
Slowly cooking the chops in butter makes them SO tender and yummy! I hope you give this recipe a try. If you do, let me know how it goes!
Happy eating!
Monday, July 13, 2009
menu plan monday
This is what I've got planned for my meals this week. Being single has it's perks...there are only two different meals listed here, but they will feed me for an entire week.
Red Beans and Rice
BBQ Sloppy Joes
What's missing? Oh yeah, sweet yumminess...how about a chocolate-banana cream pie? Mmmm...
Anywho, I hope your planning tasty yumminess this week as well!
Red Beans and Rice
BBQ Sloppy Joes
What's missing? Oh yeah, sweet yumminess...how about a chocolate-banana cream pie? Mmmm...
Anywho, I hope your planning tasty yumminess this week as well!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
For the love of...
I recently made a promise to food. I promised I would be kind to it...give it a chance, and try not to judge it too much by it's appearance. When trying new foods, I've found diving in and taking a huge bite proves to be much more satisfying than taking a tentative nibble. It also helps avoid a premature proclamation of disdain. You really can't get the full, honest impression of something if your tongue approaches it with fear and trembling. I've trained my tongue to approach completely ready to fall in love. No hesitations or hiccups at the gateway of my taste buds. Thus far, this theory has provided me with countless treks to Yum-town. On a few occasions my tongue has found itself a bit incompatible with a few items, but that's to be expected. You can't really be a foodie if you have no discretion in your tastes. I've also found it's best not to ask what something is until after you've swallowed a good mouthful of it...possibly two. This tends to keep you honest. Think about it...how often have you tried something and liked it...until you found out what was in it? So what if that new dish you tasted is actually cow eyeballs boiled in rat dung puree? If you liked it when you tried it, then own up to it! Don't suddenly leave it hanging because you found out it doesn't run w/the cool crowd of ingredients. Alright, folks, enough of muh preachin', get out there and try something new!
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