Scrumptious Saturday...what's not cooking

The bread is baked.

The tomatoes picked.

It's cooled off here, but still I try not to cook too much.

It's summertime; the time of fresh eating.

And, I try not to think about it, but time to start the first thoughts of next year's garden.

Seed saving is in full swing.

I let some of the first green beans go to seed so that I could get more seeds for next year.

My provider green beans have been going berserk...they produce so well and continuously.

So the first dry beans have been picked with hopes of seeds for next year.

I have also been going to the farmer's market to buy tomatoes.

Varieties that I didn't plant this year.

Why?

I save the seeds.

The seeds that will grow next year.

For example I bought "heirloom" tomatoes from a farmer who said they were the variety

"heirloom"

(Some of the family farms, the rest sell at the markets so the sellers don't know as much about the produce as the farmer part of the family sadly.)

I think it's a Cherokee Purple.

Let me know if you think otherwise.

To save the seeds, I scoop out the seedy goo from the tomatoes and place it in a cup.

Then I add a little water (enough to cover the seeds and then an extra inch or so.)
Then I give them a stir to loosen the seeds from the goo.

I put it on a window sill and let it build a moldy crust (about 3-7 days)

Then the goo is removed and the seeds are cleaned from their protective gel.

(This is why tomatoes are moist, but don't sprout inside a good tomato.)

Then the seeds are placed on a towel and dried for about a day.

Then the seeds are placed in labeled envelopes and put in the seed bin part of our fridge.

This process only works for open pollinated "heirloom" tomatoes.

Ones bought at the store unless they are labeled as an heirloom variety usually will not grow true to the parent (they won't look like the tomato you bought and/or may be sterile.)

That simple.

Lets talk cost.

Organic seeds cost about $2.50 for a packet of 20 seeds.

I get about 100 seeds from a tomato (depending on type and size.)

I only spend about $.50 for an organic heirloom tomato or $2.00 for a pint of cherry tomatoes.

See the savings?

Not to mention from those 50 cents I get tomatoes to feed a family for a year.

For many years to go.

For the cycle keeps on going.

For this I am thankful.

Frugal gardening at it's best, the way it was meant to be.

Scrumptious Saturday...the first pie

Pumpkin pie...a fall treat.

Well, not so much.

We harvested our first volunteered squash (Long Island Cheese) last night.

He weighed 10 lbs 5 oz.

(Did I mention it was also my dear husband and my anniversary Tuesday and that's why I needed something desserty?)

He was promptly chopped into eight pieces, guts removed and fed to chickens, and boiled.

After cooling, the squash pulp was removed and put back into the pot.

After simmering for about an hour, the liquidy, faintly sweet and pumpkiny, pulp had condensed into a thin paste.  This was then blended using a stick blender to make the fiber smooth and creamy.

Two cups were turned into pumpkin(ish) pie.

Now, I always had an issue with serving sizes for pie.

I also have a muffin tin.

I bet you can see where this is going.

I have fond memories of my mom making personal pies for school lunches once in a great while.

It was such a treat to find a little pie all wrapped up in you lunch box.

So this Scrumptious Saturday, I will leave for you as a method rather than a recipe.

Personal Pie

Make your favorite pie crust recipe for one pie (one or two crust depending on what kind of pie)

Grease your muffin tin that you will be using.

Roll and cut your crust to fit your muffin tin.

Put filling in.

(if two crust put top crust on.)

Bake as you would for a regular pie...it will be deeper so it will take almost as long as a regular pie.

Store as you would that type of pie.

(If it lasts that long.)

Works well with pudding pies and pumpkin.

Scrumptious Saturday...gluten free 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies...

There's a story behind these ones...

It was one of those days...where dinner was going to be "interesting."

That's code for something that may not be enjoyed.

So I decided to balance it out with one of my husband's favorites.

He loves peanut butter cookies...but I didn't have the time or patience to put together the traditional recipe.

One of my clients had a nanny that thought it was social hour, not therapy time.

She would not stop going on about gluten free peanut butter cookies 

(that Troy Polamalu's next door neighbor loves..."I hear at a neighborhood picnic Troy said he loves them."

I guess they are on a first name basis now.)

So here they are Troy Polamalu's favorite Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookie recipe.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

(optional...chocolate chips to taste.)

Mix together, place on a cookie sheet, cook at 350 for about 5-8 minutes. 

(You can also do the traditional roll in a ball, roll in sugar, and put fork marks in them...

again a time and patience issue that day.)

That's it...enjoy...

This and that...

You may or not know this, but Country Sister and I have brothers as well...in fact, sometimes since this is kind of a girl thing, I contemplate asking our sister-in-law to write here and there as well...

Well, I was late posting today and did not post on Saturday due to a visit from my brother and his family...While it was a short visit, it was a lot of fun.  We went to the zoo and to the Children's Museum...

There was lots of play and lots of cranky, sleep deprived children.  

So we spent this morning getting caught up on errands, chores, laundry, and sleep.  

We also made cookies.

My dear little C. decided that she wanted to make cookies with her mother, and I was okay with this because we have lots of little odds and ends around to make them with.  And since things were not scrumptious for you on Saturday...I will make today scrumptious...

Jumbled Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbs molasses

2 eggs (or 1 double yolker as we used today)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup flour

1 1/4 cup oats

2 cups fun stuff (I used malted barley chocolate chips, pecans, and raisins.)

Cream sugar and butter, add molasses, and beat well.  Add the eggs and beat well, then add the vanilla.  Stir in the soda and salt.  Then add the flour and oats.  Mix in the mix-ins, scoop out onto a cookie sheet by the largish tablespoon, then bake for about 8-10 min at 350.

I also have been working on something special, but I cannot show it...it's going to be a gift.  

I am contemplating buying this book...

Does anyone have experience with it?

Is it worth it?

I think I could come up with the perfect sweater that my husband wants for Christmas.

If he wants it then, I better start getting to work...

Which brings me to the new item on our sidebar...

Click on the Eat, Sleep, Knit.

button on the sidebar, and it gives me yardage towards my Yarn Marathon...

(and while you are at it, contemplate their yarn that is at quite a reasonable price.)

I may not run them in real life, but I'd like to be able to knit that much in a year...help me get there!

PLEASE...Pretty Please...with cookies on top!

Scrumptious Saturday

Cleaning out the freezer and refrigerator was necessary this week due to a food delivery.  Yes, our favorite grocer delivers.  They deliver fresh, organic, healthy and not so healthy food for our family (as long as it is a big enough order.)  

So I started looking through the fridge...yes old rice from earlier in the week...cranberries my sister had given me from her friends' bog...beets, but of course...and in the freezer...what meat is taking up the most room...well it would have to be that roasting chicken from the pick 8 I ordered from the butchers a few months ago (yes 8 choices of meat...about 50 pounds has lasted us months...there is still plenty of it frozen in the chest freezer and the fridge freezer.)  

And through this, I pieced together dinner...nothing miraculous...nothing to write home about as my grandmother would have said...just a hearty scrumptious meal to be shared with my family.

Scraps for dinner

or

Your Own Personal Pot Luck Dinner!

clockwise from top...chicken...cranberry sauce...rice...roasted beets.

I mixed my Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and a bit extra oregano with some sea salt and pepper.  I coated the chicken with the seasonings under the skin as well as on top.  I then also brushed lemon juice and olive oil all over the whole chicken and poured about a quarter cup of lemon juice into the cavity...this lends a lot of flavor.  Preheat the oven to 450 and roast the chicken for about 45 minutes and then lower the temperature to 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the bird.  Pull out of the oven and let sit for about 15 minutes (while you finish the beets.)

With the leftover seasonings from the chicken (unused as  not to be contaminated by the chicken meat) I made roasted beets.  Just wash and trim about a pound of beets and rub with a little olive oil and place them in the oven with the chicken  for the first 45 minutes...remove them from the oven and let them cool down.  They should be tender.  The skins should just slip right off...slip them off, chop them into bit sized pieces and then toss with a little more olive oil and the seasonings....cook for another 15 minutes while the chicken rests.

And the cranberry sauce...well that is simple enough...Just 3 cups cranberries still frozen...one cup water...one cup sweetener (or a little less...honey and sugar work well at a 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup ratio only using 3/4 of a cup)  Bring it to a boil and boil until it looks like jelly...put it in the fridge to cool.

Heat up whatever little tidbits you have in the fridge to round out the meal...and what have you got...a cleaned out fridge, dinner, and a scrumptious delight!

Scrumptious Saturday...eating from storage

It's the beginning of the time of year where we actually get to eat freshly grown food out of the backyard (right now just oregano, mint and chives...but more will come.)  It also is the time of year to start clearing out what we have so that we will have room for what is to come as the seasons progress as they tend to do.  Soon lettuce and spinach will grow and be replaced  by tomatoes and peppers, which will give way to broccoli and apples. Oh the wonderful cycle of a garden. My jar filled shelves are now quickly emptying and more empty jars are going into the canning cupboard.  Soaking beans and sourdough are out frequently, and store bought food is becoming more common.  Some previous posts will be shared in this recipe.  It is with fond memories that I share this recipe as many of the items in it are home grown, preserved, and loved.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

3 cups garbanzo beans (post soaking volume, about 2 cups before soaking)

1/2 cup roasted red peppers in olive oil

4 cloves garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup yogurt strained (makes about 1/4 cup Greek style yogurt and 1/4 cup whey-keep!)

Spices as you like (I used oregano and chive since I have them!)

Place everything except the oil in the food processor.  Give it a whiz around and then slowly stream in the olive oil.  Depending on your beans may need more or less oil.  

Enjoy.  

Recently the husband and I went to a restaurant and had some hummus made from black beans and it was really good too...we may have to make a batch of that some time.

As another note, when I strain my yogurt, I usually strain two cups at a time.  To do this you put a strainer over a  container and line the strainer with cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Place it in the fridge for a few hours.  This yields 1 cup yogurt, and one cup whey.  I have been topping the strained yogurt with granola and honey and then using the whey in my pancakes.

Whey Cultured Pancakes
(as in sophisticated too...right?)

1c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbs. sugar

1 Tbs oil

1 egg

1 cup whey.

Mix the dry ingredients, add in the wet.  Pour out by the 1/4 cup full on a hot oiled griddle (I'm in love with cast iron.)  When they git bubbly on the top, flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes.  The whey makes them extra fluffy and just a touch tangy.

So I just figured out how to do something.
Did you cook something SCRUMPTIOUS this week.
Share it here!
Just click on the below button.
Then enter your information.
Others will be able to go to your recipe that you made this week.
Let's see how it goes!
(Don't forget to leave a comment too, I love reading what you have to say.)

Scrumptious Saturday...a pie for my guy

My husband starts a new job on Monday...Friday was his last (official) day at his old job.

So technically he is unemployed this weekend.

So I made pie.

Somehow it seems fitting.

He wanted cherry pie.

I didn't have enough in the freezer.

So this is what he gets.

Mixed Berry Pie

One recipe double pie crust

about 6 cups blackberries, blueberries, and cherries

2 TBS cornstarch

1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

Mix the berries, flour, cornstarch, and sugar in a bowl.

Roll out the crust and place in a greased pie pan.

Put the berry filling in.

Put the top crust on in any manner you see fit.

(I did lattice, but I saw a lovely one done once with cookie cutters and seasonal shapes.)

Brush top crust with milk and then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Bake at 350 for about an hour.

You may want to cover the pie with tinfoil once it turns the correct color brown.

Enjoy it.

Scrumptious Saturday

As long ago promised, I have made a vegetarian meal.

(Yes, you could add bacon and it would be great, but for today, we are all out of bacon.)

Often I will "accidentally" make too many mashed potatoes.

What is one to do with leftover mashed potatoes.

Mashed Potato Pancakes

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

2 eggs

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. cheddar cheese shredded

salt and pepper

Stir everything up in a bowl.  Place on a very hot oiled pan (I love my cast iron griddle for this.) by the 1/4 cup full and mash down into a pancake.  Let cook for a few minutes until golden brown, then flip.  After flipping, I like to give it a little smash so that it is about 1/4 inch thick.  Let cook for a few more golden minutes and serve hot.  I use it as a main course, a side, a breakfast whatever my fancy is that day.  But there is no doubt about it, they are rather scrumptious. 

Scrumptious Saturday...Cook once for 3 days.

Sorry, the whole household has been sick.
The seasonal flu and cold took me out for a while.
I was planning on posting this last Scrumptious Saturday.
But, better late than never.

I love making roasts.

Why?

You cook once and can eat for days.

I made a 2 pound pork roast make 3 meals for 4 people

(aka 12 meals or about 1.25 oz/person/day at a cost of less than a dollar a meal.)

Day 1 Recipe

1 2 lb pork loin roast

1 can tomato paste

4 cloves garlic peeled

veggie stock

seasonings to your liking

Rub seasonings onto pork.  Cut 4 deep slits into the pork and insert garlic into the holes.  Place the roast into a hot pan with some oil and sear it off.  Pour in veggie broth mixed with the tomato paste.  Put in oven at 300 degrees until tender. Serve with rice (hint...make too much rice so you have leftover rice) and savor.

Save the roasting liquid and make into BBQ sauce by adding

sweetener (molassas, brown sugar, and honey all do nicely and play together nicely as well.  Amounts vary as some like sweet bbq and some like hot.  It also varies by the type of sweetener(s) you use.)

hot pepper powder (I use a touch, like 1/8 tsp of chyanne pepper)

garlic powder (as much or as little as you wish)

ketchup (about 1/4 c)

lemon juice (about 1/4 c)

vinegar (again depending on what kind you like and how sweet/sour you like it.)

Take half of the leftovers and dice...refrigerate with your leftover rice and then make fried rice.

Take the other half, shred it using 2 forks and cook in the above bbq sauce.

My family doesn't always like to eat "theme and variations" style, so I will let you know that the bbq and the fried rice all freeze nicely. 

What else would you do with this "theme and variation"

Not so Scrumptious Saturday

Broken oven...not so good.
We've been eating lots of items cooked on the stove top...pancakes, rice, chicken.
Old favorites, comfort food.
My sister in law came over for the weekly cooking lesson.  On the stove today was...
Chicken Cacciatore
1 Whole Chicken broken up into pieces
1 can tomato paste
2 onions cut in1/6ths
6 carrots
4 ribs celery
4 cloves garlic smashed.
olive oil
Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, oregano etc to taste
flour
1 cube veggie broth bouillon

Put olive oil in pan and heat.  Break chicken into thighs, drumsticks, breasts, and back.  Dredge the chicken in flour and then brown the chicken in the pan for about 8 min on each side...be careful not to crowd the chicken or it will not sear/brown nicely.  Take the chicken out and put the veggies in.  Let them hang out and get nice and soft.  Dissolve the bouillon  in 1 cup hot water and mix in the tomato paste (if you don't have paste, you can use canned tomatoes...just dissolve the bouillon in water.) Then pour the tomato/bouillon mixture in the pot and add the chicken.  Put a top on and cook on low or put it all in a Crockpot (vintage orange from your parents, not a dump, works best!)  I also will put it in the oven (if it's working) for a few hours while I do baking.  It's one of those recipes that are done when they are done, but just make sure the chicken is done.  The longer you cook it, the better it is!  Serve over some sort of grain or pasta, either one will soak up the yummy juices.

Scrumptious Saturday

My sister and I both adore bacon...

As you may have read last week in our bean-off it is true.  

My sister even raises beautiful pigs which produce a lovely bacon.

I was even lucky enough two Christmases ago to be gifted a whole pound of it.

So I promise, cross my heart and hope to die stick a needle in my eye, promise this is the last time I will write my Scruptious Saturday about a baconed item...who knows...maybe next week I will even go vegetarian for pennance of my bacon consumption.

Any one who knows my husband knows one thing.  

He does not like veggies.

When I first met him he claimed, and I quote, "It isn't a meal unless an animal and a tree died during the process of it's making and/or consumption."

Even his school's cafeteria worker was stunned when he actually took some salad one day.

I have a recipe that will entice even my non-veggie loving husband to eat spinach.

On the other hand, I was a vegetarian when I met him.
I only began eating meat right before I got pregnant with W.
I was dreaming of hamburgers every night.

I will admit, I have weird taste in food.

Once in college, a psychology professor asked each person to write what food item they were craving at that particular moment on a card.

It was to demonstrate how culture has influenced people's taste in food.

Most people wrote:

1) Chocolate

2) Coffee

3) Pancakes

(note 8:00 am class)

I wrote spinach and butternut squash.

Odd.

So here I will share one of my favorite spinach recipes.

One that will confirm my theory.

Everything is better with bacon.

Saute of Spinach

with bacon and garlic

4 thick slices of bacon

4 cloves of garlic

1 package frozen spinach (thawed and drained)

that's it!

Cut bacon into small pieces and place in a frying pan over medium heat.  Chop the garlic and add to the bacon once it starts releasing some fat.  Cook until the bacon is done and the garlic is golden brown.  Add the package of spinach and cook until the spinach is warmed through (and tastes like BACON and GARLIC.)

Even though I do firmly believe that everything is better with bacon, I will say that it is still good if you saute the garlic in olive oil and then add the spinach.  It can also be done with fresh spinach, it's just not in season right now...

And I love bacon!

(locally pasture raised and smoked...once you have it, you can't go back to the slimy grocery store stuff.)

I served it with chicken wings raised locally and some local potatoes.  Amazing what you can find in your own "backyard"

(If your backyard was 20 miles or so.)

So what's your favorite enticing scrumptious recipe?

Scrumptious Saturday: The Sisters' "Heirloom" Baked Beans

New England Baked Beans are a big part of...well...New England.   ETC ETC

It was a plan...
Two sisters craving baked beans....
Two crock pots...
Two recipies....

It shakes out something like this:

Country Sister's  Baked Beans
Step 1.  Acquire Vintage Orange Crock Pot as awesome Dump Find after City Sister acquires the much sought after family heirloom crock pot in a questionably underhanded manner one holiday visit (I'm kidding here of course--but the whole crock pot debaucle has been the source of many laughs so we of course HAVE to keep it going...and make the story more crazy every time)

Fill crock pot about 1/3 to 1/2 full of rinsed drybeans.  I use a combination of Great Northern (bought bulk) and Jacob's Cattle (homegrown)
Add One Medium Onion Coarsely Chopped
Just Cover with Water
Turn Crock on High

Check in an hour or so and again cover with water

When the beans are basically soft through
ADD:
4T Ketchup
1/3 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Molasses
3 T Dry Mustard
2 Strips Bacon (raw)

Cook on High 2-3 hours
Check for doneness
Salt to taste and turn down to low until you eat or store them for later in the fridge or freezer (yes you can freeze them!)

That Country Sister thinks she's something special because her (not so) beautiful (non heirloom) crockpot came from the dump.  Doesn't she now.

Citysister's crockpot beans.

3 cups dry rinsed great northern beans (purchased...during the last great shopping adventure)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
4 slices bacon raw chopped up
1/3 cup Molasses
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
Water
(I have a sweet tooth...it shows here in the bean recipe.)
Put beans in a bowl with 6 cups water.  Try to fight off the 2 year olds manic cooking impulses to crazily stir the beans into oblivion.  Put bowl of beans in a hidden area to baffle the aforementioned 2 year old.  Let set overnight.  First thing in the morning drain the liquid off the beans and put in the crockpot with all the other ingredients as well as water up to the top of the beans.  Tell husband that the weird smells are not his breakfast.  Set crockpot on low for the rest of the day checking on the water level.  Enjoy.

We sometimes will have as a lunch the next day weenie beanies (our) Grannie's recipe!

4 cups baked beans
4 hot dogs
3 Tbs or so of ketchup and mustard
1/4 cup sauteed onion
Saute the onion.  Add in chopped up hot dogs (even when I was older, Granny insisted on chopping them up...after all you could choke.)  Cook the hot dogs until browned and warmed through.  Add the beans, ketchup and mustard to taste.
Serve with BUTTERED (no margarine!) bread.

Scrumptious Saturday

With our food order that came in, I knew that the husband would be out of town (he hates Mexican food)...

We have been studying the continents...and so we have been studying North America first.  

With that in mind, I knew what would be yummy. 

And educational.

And just plain fun.

Normal people have breakfast for dinner upon occasion.

Upon occasion, I like to have dinner for breakfast!
(And switch sentence structures around.)

Quesadillas

2 blue corn tortillas per person

1/4 cup (more or less as desired) shredded cheddar cheese per person

Shredded cold chicken (optional)

Veggies (optional)

Mexican seasoning

Salsa (my kids eat salsa like most people would have soup)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Lay down on a cookie sheet one tortilla per person.  Top with (chicken, veggies) cheese.  Sprinkle with Mexican seasoning.  Top with other tortilla.  Put in oven for about 5 minutes, take out and flip, then return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes (this ensures proper crisping of the tortillas as well as even cheesiness on each tortilla if you add the optional items.  Dip in the salsa (or like my kids do, spoon salsa on each bite.)  

It's a great item to cook with children (if adults take care of the oven and flipping) as they can customize it to their liking.

I also found this meal to be very inexpensive. 

I paid $1.79 for 10 tortillas ($1.07 for 6 used)

$3.50/lb for the cheese (which we have shredded and frozen always on hand for snacks about, we used about $0.30 worth) 

The chicken was leftover ($1.30 for the amount we used.)  

The Mexican seasoning was something we have on hand.

The salsa is something we have in stock as well usually ($0.30 for the amount used.)  

So for a little less than $1 per person I made a wholesome breakfast with plenty still around to make more!

(compare to the price of a weekend breakfast of toast, eggs, and bacon

instead of tortilla, cheese, and chicken)

Or you could have it for dinner...wow, a great price for dinner!

or I could imagine it being used for a kid's lunch party...

or...or...or...

let's just call it Scrumptious!

Scrumptious Saturday

It's Saturday again...

This week I made some brown rice to be topped with

Cranberry pork roast.

I first made a batch of cranberry sauce

I had about 3/4 of a bag left so I added 3/4 cup honey and 3/4 cup water and brought it to a boil for about 5 minutes.  I put half of it away for later and added the other half to MY crock pot (somehow country sister believes it should be hers as it was our parents original 1970 orange crockpot.  She found another similar one in her junk yard pickings.)  

I then put in a 2 lb. pork roast which I had stabbed several times to let the sauce flavor it.

I also added about 1 tsp of garlic powder, thyme, salt, and pepper was well as about 2 tbs of vinegar.

I let it cook for about 4 hours.

And wallah! 

As I said, I sliced some up on top of a bed of brown rice with a little of the sauce.

I had pictures, but the focus is way off...sorry.

It was still yummy.

If you don't like the sweet and sour taste of it, you might not add the vinegar and instead add a little brown sugar and ketchup and make more of a cranberry bbq version.

Scrumptious Saturday

Camera down...no pictures. I am sorry.

This week I made something yummy.

I made...

Stuffed Chicken

2 stalks celery

1/2 an onion

Bell's seasoning (taste varies...I use lots, it's poultry seasoning at it's best in my humble opinion.)

salt

pepper

1/4th loaf of bread ripped into quarter sized pieces.

1/4 cup butter

Milk (not sure how much)

2 lbs boneless chicken breast (leftovers are intentional in this case) skin is up to you.

Melt butter in a skillet.  Add the onion and celery.  Saute until soft.  Take off heat.  Put bread into a large bowl and add veggies and any butter in the pan.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and bell's seasoning.  Pour in milk until everything is firm but wet.  Cut breasts to make a pocket (horizontally about 3/4th of the way through)  Shove stuffing in and place on an oiled cookie sheet stuffing up.  Cover and bake at 400 for about 45 min (internal temp of 170) taking the cover off for the last 15 min to let it brown up a little.  We had green beans from the freezer with it, and that's that.

I was able to source everything pretty locally...the grain was raised just north of here to make the bread.  The chicken was raised also just north of here.  The celery and onion came from a local farmer, and the butter came from the Amish community near here.  The milk came from a little west of here.  And the Bell's seasoning is from away...sorry I have to import it on my journey to visit my family.  It's that good.  Salt and Pepper...it also comes from away as does my yeast for the bread (but the honey in it is local.)

Scrumptious Saturday...Happy New Year

As the sun set on 2010, I looked out my kitchen window.  I had to capture it.  I find myself spending lots of time in the kitchen, cooking, cleaning, puttering while on the phone...I love that I have a window that looks over the sunrise, and another that looks over the sunset, as usually I get to see both.  My kitchen looks over the gardens and the chickens.  A nice reminder of where the food I cook comes (or could come) from. A big goal for next year is to grow a larger percentage of our food.  I'm already itching to get out there.

This time of the year we have so much cranberry sauce.  It's winter comfort food.  I love mixing it with chicken or spreading it on bread.  I planted 10 little cranberry plants last fall.  I can't wait to see what happens! I was reading Cooking Light, and found this recipe...it appeals to my cranberry love, even though I am not a big drinker.

Cranberry Kir Royale

(from Cooking Light, November 2010)

1/2 C. whole berry cranberry sauce

3/4 C. Vodka

Mix and let sit in the fridge for 4 days.

Put a little in the bottom of a champagne flute and then pour on the champagne (OK sparkling wine... or whatever)

We have a tradition of having a picnic of duck on New Year's Eve.  This year we had Roasted Duck Adams County (the recipe is from the Bed and Breakfast cookbook of Gettysburg) as made at the Dobbin House in Gettysburg (my favorite dish I've had there.)  The whole recipe is quite convoluted so I will not write it here.  And as our picnic is late at night, I couldn't get natural light...and the pictures were too yellow to show.  Oh well, it was delicious.  As a side, I made bacon cheddar smashed potatoes.  

Everything is better with bacon.

Scrumptious Saturday...early: A cup of coffee...Theme and variations

I will not be posting on Saturday for Scrumptious Saturday...

It is Christmas.

So I am posting early.

I love my family.

I enjoy coffee.

Hence my recent comment about my compost heap providing caffeine for the neighborhood scroungers.

All coffee grinds go in to the heap.

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law came over for our traditional Thursday night cooking class. 

As a little treat, we made one of my favorite drinks...

Almond Cold Brew

First you need Cold Brew Coffee

1 c. coarsely ground coffee (as if for a French press)

2 c. cold water

(or a similar ratio)

1 quart jar

cheesecloth, strainer, or coffee filter, French press 

or a combination of the above.

Place coffee and water in a quart jar (yes, all mixed up.) 

Cover and give it a good shake and then let sit for about 6 hours on the counter.

Strain the coffee through the filtering method into another clean jar.

Keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Cold brewing gives you all the caffeine and a smooth taste without all the acid or bitterness and stomach turning parts that make coffee not so delightful.

• To make regular hot coffee mix in a ratio of 1 part coffee to 3 parts boiling water (alter to your preference.) 
• Heat straight up for super strong coffee.
• Mixed with sweetened condensed milk 50/50 it makes what they called Cafe Bon Bon when I was in Spain.
• To make Almond Cold Brew mix about 1 part cold brew to 4 parts sweetened vanilla almond milk. (I usually use  Blue Diamond Almond Breeze.)
• Mix one part cold brew, one part chocolate syrup, and 3-4 parts hot milk for a nice mocha.
• Mix in as some of the liquid for a baked chocolate recipe to make a chocolate espresso item.

What else can you make with Cold Brew?

Scrumptious Saturday

Winter is here.

It's in the cold brisk morning air when I bring boiling water (to defrost the waterer) and hot tap water down to the chickens in the morning.

It's in the snow that falls every day.

It's in the two hour delays that good ole hubby calls in at least once a week.

It's in the bells ringing in front of red kettles outside stores.

Yes, it is here.

And so is gingerbread.

One of my favorite winter treats.

Gingerbread Pancakes

1 c. flour (I use 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat)

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 Tbs. sugar

Stir together.

Mix in

1 egg

1 Tbs Molasses

1 c. milk

Heat up the griddle and oil well.  Pour on by the 1/4 cup.  When the edges get bubbly, flip it over and cook for an additional minute or so and serve...oh the toppings...syrup...powdered sugar...blueberries... Which brings me to..

Blueberry gingerbread

1/2 c. butter

1 egg

1.5 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 c. blueberries

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. molasses

2.5 c. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 c. milk

3 Tbs. sugar

Cream the sugar and butter.  Add in the egg and molasses.  Stir in the spices, salt, and baking soda.  Stir in the flour.  Stir in the milk.  Fold in the blueberries.  Pour into a loaf pan and sprinkle with the 3 Tbs sugar.  Bake at 350 for 50 min or so.

I have about 20 pounds of frozen wild Maine blueberries in my freezers. 

Oh how I love these treats!

Again I am sorry about the lack of pictures, but so it goes...

Let me what you cook to remind you of the Holidays.

Scrumptious Saturday

Okay, so it's not really a soup...it would even be a stretch to call it a stew...

It's a wonderfully starchy filling meal that feels so good after coming in

from a cold winter day.

We are very fortunate that all the ingredients were grown/raised locally.

Beef Bean Barley Soup

One large beef soup bone (optional)

2 cups sliced carrots

1 large onion 

2 stalks celery

2 more cups assorted veggies

1 cup chopped beef (optional)

1 cup barley 

1 cup mixed lentils (golden and green come in my favorite mix)

Water to cover the items

Simmer the beef bone for about an hour in water that will cover it.  Remove any beef leftovers from the bone and discard (or give to the dog) the bone.  Add in the veggies and beef.  Let simmer until everything is tender.  Bring to a boil and add in the grains.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the grains are tender.

Simple

Yummy

Good for you

What did you make this week?

Scrumptious Saturday

Sorry this is a bit late...We had these for lunch Sunday, before we left Maine, so technically it was this week...So without further adieu...  

My dear husband was taken aback when he found out my family had Thanksgiving Dinner in the early afternoon.  He thought Thanksgiving Dinner should be at regular dinner time between 5-7pm...no no...the main reason being the target of this week's Scrumptious Saturday. (No, I will not show a picture of a turkey dinner with a perfect looking turkey and display of the table.) Soon, he learned the reason we have such an early dinner is so that you can digest a little, have dessert, digest a little more and then have:

THE THANKSGIVING SANDWICH

(aka a "help me Rhonda")

Ingredients

2 slices of hearty bread, toasted

leftovers from Thanksgiving Dinner

I use:

mashed potatoes

cranberry sauce

congealed gravy

turkey

stuffing

sweet potatoes

squash

Spread gravy and mashed potatoes on one slice of bread.  Spread cranberry sauce on the other.  Stack/spread/mash remaining ingredients on bread. 

 ENJOY!

It's really sad to admit that sometimes mid year we will roast a turkey breast or a chicken and make all the fixings for dinner so that we will have leftovers for the sandwich of doom.  Especially on years that we do not host Thanksgiving, thus we don't have leftovers, or sandwiches.

It's that good.

I would love to hear about something that you made this week.  Drop a comment, maybe a picture...or link to your Scrumptious Saturday!

What's your favorite leftover turkey recipe?