How do you say Bagel?

Bay-gle?  Baggle?  How about delicious?

Yeah, I had the energy to make these yesterday.  They're so damn delicious, but they do take some time so it doesn't happen very often.  Let me explain.  (These aren't quite the same as the ones you can get in a bagel shop, but WAY better than the crappy doughy ones you can get by the half dozen at the grocery store.)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups warm water
3 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (you know, to make it ok to eat more than one at a time :))
3 tablespoons sugar or honey
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast
1 teaspoon salt
Optional: an eggwhite for brushing the tops and your choice of topping. (Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, coarse sea salt, dried onion flakes...)

*a pot of boiling water with a 1/4 cup of sugar in it.

In a large bowl, combine water, salt, sugar, and yeast.  Let sit for about 10 minutes to let it get frothy to make sure those yeasties are up for the task of making you delicious, fluffy bagels.  Add the oil and flour, one cup at a time until you get a good dough consistency that is easy to handle.  Knead for about 15 minutes or until the dough is nice and stretchy.  Pour a tiny bit of oil in the bottom of the bowl and place the dough back into it, rolling it around so that it has a nice coat all over it.  Let rise in a warm place for an hour or two.

Once it's doubled in size, punch it down and shape into bagel shapes.  I made 10 smaller ones, but you could also make 6 giant ones if you want.  Let rise for another 30 minutes until they get a little fluffier.  In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the sugar (or some honey if you prefer.)  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  If you have toppings (other than the salt), sprinkle them onto a smaller plate so that they are ready to be dipped in. 

Now, boil each of the bagels for a minute on each side.  Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and dip the tops into the toppings.  (You can also brush them with an egg white wash before dipping them if you prefer.)  Arrange them topping side up on the parchment paper.  Bake them for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Try them toasted with cream cheese and lemon curd and ENJOY!  I promise, you will.

Some Thanks and a Recipe I am Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving all!  Ah, I love holidays and all the joys and excitement it brings.  Despite it being a pretty busy day, I think we all need to slow down and take a moment in our day to think about all the things we are thankful for.  My rolls are rising in the oven, so this is my perfect time.

This year has been a particularly thank-full year.  I am thankful for the lovely situation that came about and put us into our new cozy home.  I am thankful for all the little birdies outside who are currently enjoying a Thanksgiving feast from the recently refilled bird feeder.  Chickadees eat hastily, before the juncos shove them aside, finches take a bite here and there, while the nuthatches hang upside down and feast.  All movement and flitting about is temporarily disturbed when the big guns show up: Stellers Jays and Flickers scare the little ones away for a bit, but their sheer number gives them the courage to hold their own.  This lovely scene is simply topped off by the pair of hummingbirds that come daily to visit our hanging fuchsia plant.  (Sigh.)

I am also thankful for the ladies getting their feathers back.  Frannie looks better then ever, and both her and Elsa are back to their normal selves.  Also, I, as well as the chickens I assume, am thankful for the awesome chicken coop that we built this year that is impervious to large rains.  Gone are the days of coop flooding!

I am thankful that I live in a household where we both have jobs, considering the struggles that so many people are still going through in finding employment.  What we have might not be much, but it brings us satisfaction and sometimes you just have to be glad for that.

I am thankful for my Gus and Nikolai, and even Skipper for welcoming me home each day, keeping me warm while on the couch and giving me unconditional love and affection daily.  They may be a pain in the ass at times and prevent us from going on any trips, but they are my babies and I wouldn't know what to do without them. 

I am thankful for my friends and family, who I can always count on to make me laugh, keep me grounded, and who's presence will never allow me to feel the pangs of loneliness.

Finally, I am thankful for my Shawn.  I am thankful for the amazing epic day we shared called our wedding that I still look back on with excitement.  I am thankful for his "stepping up" that suddenly happened after the wedding and all the hard work he puts into our household and keeping our home feeling warm and cozy.  I am thankful for his daily dealings with my crazy and reminding me it's ok to be myself.  But most of all, I am thankful for the love that he shows me each day, I only hope that I am able to reciprocate in a way that makes him as happy as he makes me.

May we be this jolly for ever and ever.

Now back to those rolls.

This is a recipe that my family has been making for as long as I remember, and since they are SO DELICIOUS, naturally, they only get made for the Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts.  Though I would like to make them more often since they are SO DELICIOUS, they would probably lose their charm so I painfully await them each year.  I've taken them to many a Thanksgiving feast outside of our family and I get rave reviews each time.  I've heard people call them Firecracker Rolls, Orange Rolls, or just "those amazing rolls."  Seriously, you'll be thankful for this recipe.

Holiday Citrus Rolls

Ingredients
One large orange
1 1/2 tsp. Lemon or Orange Zest
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cardamom
1 packet yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
5+ cups bread flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbs. butter (plus 2 more for later)
2 eggs

First, zest the lemon or orange.  Then squeeze all the juice out of the orange into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup.  Add one cup of water and the butter to the juice and heat until the butter is half melted.  In a large mixing bowl, stir together a cup of flour, the yeast, the cardamom, the sugar, and the salt.  Add the warmed mixture and stir till smooth.  Then add the eggs and zest, stir until smooth again.  Now add the rest of the flour until the dough gets to kneading consistency.  Turn out onto floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes.  Place into greased bowl and let rise for about an hour or two.  (I did it overnight since I wouldn't have time to make it and bake it the next morning and it rose really well.)

After first rise, punch down and knead for another couple minutes.  Cut them into the size of your choice and shape them into balls.  Place them into a greased casserole dish or a high sided jelly roll pan about a half an inch apart and let rise again until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a dish.  Paint the tops of each roll with the butter then sprinkle with some sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden.  Enjoy.  The fluffiness, the crunchy sweetness of the sugar, and the citrus/cardamom combination is to die for.  Try not to eat them all before dinner.  I've eaten two already.  You know, for poison testing.  But don't worry, I made a batch and a half so there's plenty left... as long as I don't eat them all on the ferry to our dinner destination.

I am so lucky to have so many things to be thankful for.

Sparkles...

Pho: Chicken Soup for the Asian Soul

Dooods... so sorry for my lack of postings as of late.  I have no excuse.  I simply apologize.

So without further ado:

Two weeks ago, I came down with a cold.  (Hard not to, when you work with germ factories known as children.)  I came home from a long day at work and passed out on the couch.  My body was achy, my head hurt and my sinuses were starting to get clogged.  There was one thing and one thing only I wanted to eat that night.  Pho.  Living in Seattle, Pho is slowly becoming a staple.  It's a simple Vietnamese noodle soup with some vegetables and meat.  You can also get it with tofu and vegetable broth.  Slather it with hoisin and rooster sauce and it doesn't get any better.  It's also super quick, super cheap, super delicious, and super convenient considering there are a ton of places nearby where you can get it.

So I dragged my ass off the couch and we went.  And it was delicious.  And I felt better.  (I still got sick for the whole weekend, but at the time it made me feel awesome.)

Boiling the spices in with the stock and some sweet onion.

Even though it is so easy and cheap to get, I decided that I needed to know how to make it myself.  So I looked around for some recipes and found good ideas and places to start.  I found that the key to making it right is the right spices in the broth: anise pods, whole coriander seeds, and whole cloves.

Note the basil, cilantro, mushrooms, and fried tofu.

So I basically followed the recipe on the above website but started with vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.  I also put in Seitan and fried tofu in place of the chicken.  So I made it, and it was delicious.  Just like the real thing.

But.  In order for it to really be like the real thing, you need a cream puff to cool your mouth off from all that rooster sauce.  So of course, I had to make those also.

For that, I started with my sister's tried and true puff pastry recipe she uses every time:

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1 cup of water
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1tbs sugar
4 eggs

Start by bringing the water, sugar, salt, and butter to a boil.  Mix in the flour until just combined and the dough sticks together but off the sides of the pan.  Let cool for about 10 minutes.  You can help this by stirring the mixture every couple minutes.  Using a hand mixer, blend the eggs into the flour/butter/water mixture one at a time.  Mix until the batter turns sticky and elastic.  Drop them onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet by the tablespoon-full and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  As soon as they are golden and puffed, poke small holes in them to let the steam out and leave them in the oven, with the door cracked, to cool.  (This way you can help achieve cream puffs and prevent them from turning into cream flats.)

While they're cooling, you can make the custard cream filling.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tbs corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk

Put the sugar and milk (minus 2 tablespoons milk) in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Let the mixture come to a boil for one minute, stirring periodically.  Meanwhile, dissolve the cornstarch in the reserved milk and add it to the milk and sugar mixture.  Beat the egg yolk and egg in a separate bowl.  Add a 1/2 cup of the boiling milk mixture to the eggs to temper and mix quickly.  Then add the eggs back into the milk stirring quickly so that the eggs don't curdle.  Stir until mixture thickens to a pudding consistency.  Add the salt and then vanilla. 

I could probably eat about 47 of these in one sitting.

To this, I also added 2 cups of whipped cream to make it fluffier and filled the pastries.  They were sooooooo good.

We'll be making this frequently.

Sourdough Success!

Ever since I wrote about my first try at sourdough a couple weeks ago, I've been nursing my starter on the kitchen counter.  I've made flapjacks and another loaf since then and both have been delicious, but definitely not sour.

I was adding some flour and warm water to the starter everyday for about a week, and then for the last week I've only been adding new stuff and stirring it every 2-3 days.  The result?  It's definitely getting sour.  There are more bubbles forming at the top (evidence of natural yeast formation,) and it just smells stronger.

Oh yeah, baby.  Sour.  Still kinda gross when you really think about, but I'm willing to deal for deliciousness.

I should've waited a little longer for more sourness to form, but I couldn't so I made a loaf yesterday.

Dear readers, I'd like to present to you, my first legit loaf of sourdough bread!

So soft, and sour.  And delicious.  It's almost all gone.  Don't make it unless you're ok with gorging on carbs for a day.  It's impossible not to eat it all.  In fact, it's a sin not to eat it all.  There are few things on this earth that can bring pure happiness and joy than a fresh baked loaf of bread.  And this one is fantastic. 

I'm going to tell you the recipe now.  Just remember I warned you.  Don't come back to me complaining of a bellyache because you had to eat it all in one day.  If anything you should thank me for enlightening you to this keeper of a recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sourdough starter
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cup bread flour

Mix all ingredients except the flour in a bowl.  Add flour one cup at a time.  Add enough to form the dough into a sticky ball.  Knead for a few minutes then put it back into the bowl with some oil, cover, and let rise overnight.  This is key, people, gotta give it time to rise since no extra yeast has been added. Next morning, knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.  Form into a loaf shape and drop it into a greased 9x5 loaf pan.  Let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for  30-35 minutes or until the top is brown.  Eat it all with your favorite jam.

You're welcome.

Sourdough: Biology in the Kitchen

This year for Christmas, my grandma gave me some sourdough starter that she got in Alaska when she was up there on her cruise.  She didn't wrap it and put it under the tree and instead handed it to me as an afterthought after we opened all our gifts on Christmas morning because she didn't know if I would want it.  Are you kidding me?!  Naturally, I was very excited.

Before I go into what I did, let me talk about sourdough bread.  First of all, it's delicious.  Especially when toasted and smothered in butter and jam.  Having said that, the process of sourdough baking can be a little gross.  It isn't something that you can't just whip up on an afternoon like a regular loaf of bread.  You have to start with a starter.

Starters are usually small batches of old dough from past sourdough recipes that are saved.  Sometimes they're called "seed sour" or "mother dough."  They contain a live culture called Lactobacillus, which lives in a symbiotic relationship with yeast.  Starters are usually best when they are saved from a tried and true sourdough recipe that has been alive (literally) for years.  As the starter is used, more flour and water is added to the starter to let sour again to maintain the live cultures.

Starters can also be created by allowing flour and water to naturally sour.  (Meaning mix them together and leave it on the counter for a while.)  The needed cultures and yeasts are available in the air all the time, but the key is to catch the right bacteria and not the wrong ones.  Starting a culture can be a pain because it is likely that in the beginning there will be an imbalance in good bacteria vs. unwanted bacteria, but eventually it will even out with the good stuff replacing the bad.  Every 12 hours to a day, new flour and water is added to the starter.  A lot of starter is often thrown out as it is replaced by new flour and water, otherwise by the end of it, you could have gallons of starter.  But once a starter is created it can last forever with proper maintenance.  This is a really complicated process that I have not described well enough to do it justice, so I recommend more Googling to get more deets.  Wikipedia helps too.

Back to my starter gift.  I looked at the ingredients and noticed there are a lot more ingredients than are needed.  Hmmm...  I did some research and found out that this isn't "true" starter and more just a tourist trap kind of gift.  Bummer.  Oh well, we'll still give it a shot.

What it looks like after 48 hours.

Inside were instructions on how to start the starter.  It said to add the packet of stuff to a 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of warm water.  After mixed, it needed to sit in an 85 degree location for 24 hours, with periodic mixing.  Once it sat in the 'fridge for 24 hours after that, the starter would be ready.  I was excited.  The starter smelled slightly sour so I had some hope.  I made the bread recipe that the starter packet came with.

How did it taste?  Not sour at all.  Bummer.  But the bread was really delicious.  I made some orange rolls a few days later, which were also super delicious, but also not at all sour.

After new flour/water added.

So now the rest of the starter is sitting in a jar on my counter.  I'm adding some flour and water periodically and am hoping that it can start a real natural souring process.  I've been nursing it for 3 days now and it looks ok, no mold or anything.  It also tastes slightly sour, but not enough to make a good bread.  I'm still going to bake some bread tonight with it and see how it tastes.  I may have to start over with fresh flour and water because I don't know if the extra additives that the starter came with will disrupt that natural process.

So it sucks that the starter wasn't legit.  But if anything, now I'm determined to do it right.  By the end of this, I will have a good starter, I will make sourdough bread, I will smother it in butter and jam, and it will be delicious.  Just you watch.

Sourdough, this isn't over.  You will be mine.

P.S.  Just in case you didn't get enough cuteness the first time, here is another chance.

Blurriness will not get in the way of cuteness.

Pie Crust Problem Solving

I hate prepping pie crusts.  This is a problem if you bake as much as I do.  I always end up fighting with them and worry about working them too much and making them tough.  I don't like getting pie crusty fingers and the worst is getting it under my nails.  It gives me the heebie jeebies.  They always fall apart on me and the mess that it creates (bowl, rolling pin, bread board, etc.) is just too much.  I usually pass the task off on to my sister since she doesn't seem to hate it as much as I do. 

BUT!  I found a recipe for a no-knead, easy peasy pie crust that creates no mess at all.  What?!  Are you serious?!  Totes people, totes.

Some believers in true pie crusts made from lard/butter/shortening may think this is a travesty.  I have yet to introduce the idea to my grandmother, the pie-making buddha.  But I think it's awesome.  The recipe listed is a little wonky so here is what I did:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs milk

Place all ingredients in a 9 inch pie pan.  Mix together to make a dough, then use your fingers to pat it into the bottom and sides of the pan evenly.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, then continue on your way and make your pie as usual, like nothing changed.  That's it.  Super cool.  Did I mention no mess, aka no cleanup?

The reviews for the pie crust say that it was a little salty and better used for savory pies, but I think if you cut back on the salt (which I did in the above recipe anyway,) and added more sugar it should work for desserts too.  Also, the original recipe says to use vegetable oil, but I'm on the team that thinks vegetable oil tastes like satan's pee pee so I rarely use it.  But for desserts it might be a good idea to find an oil with a more mild or dessert friendly flavor.

Why did I make a pie crust in the first place?  Duh.  Quiche.

Just in case you're curious, here are the ingredients for the quiche:

4 eggs
1 cup milk
several handfuls of spinach, torn apart
a quarter of an onion, chopped
1/3 cup of shredded Jarlsberg cheese
1/2 cup of shredded Colby Jack (for sprinkling on top)
2 Field Roast smoked apple sausages (sliced)
garlic salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the non liquidy ingredients together and pour into pie crust.  Mix the liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl with the salt and pepper and pour over the other stuff into the crust.  Top with some cheese and bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.  It might be a good idea to protect the edges of the crust with foil so it doesn't burn.

Will definitely make this again this week.

I don't normally toot my own horn, but damn, that was a good quiche!  And the crust made it even better.  It was a little more fluffy and thicker than a normal pie crust, but it had such good flavor, I didn't care.

(Oh, and using the above recipe in a sweet dessert pie should be just fine.)

Nutty Cheesy Pesto Rolls

Last week I found a small batch of shiso pesto that I made a month ago, looking sad and lonely in the back of the 'fridge.  I also had a handful of pumpkin seeds on hand that needed to be taken care of.  Add these things to some carbs and cheese and I had a feeling they wouldn't be so lonely anymore: Nutty cheesy pesto rolls to the rescue!

First was the dough:

Ingredients
1 cup warm milk
Half a stick of butter
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs

Heat the milk until the butter is just melted and add to the premixed yeast, sugar, and salt.  (Make sure the milk is around the happy yeasty temp of 115 degrees.) Let sit for 10 minutes to make sure the yeasts are still active.  Add a cup of flour and mix in.  Drop in the eggs and mix.  Add the flour one cup at a time until the desired consistency is reached.  Let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until the volume has doubled.

Knead the dough for a few minutes.  Let rest of 10 minutes while you get the other stuff ready: plesto (shiso or basil, whatever works,) grated cheese like cheddar, feta, and parmesan, and pumpkin seeds.  Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.  Spread the pesto evenly across the dough and then sprinkle seeds and cheese evenly on top.  Roll up into a log and slice into 1 1/2 inch lengths using a super sharp knife or flavorless dental floss.

Line on a 13 x 9 inch greased baking pan and bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

I actually made a batch and a half of the above dough and made cinnamon rolls too.  Delicious.

An-Pan

An-pan is a deeelicious treat that is a staple in the Japanese diet.  There is not a single supermarket or bakery in Japan that doesn't sell it and it is loved by all.  An-pan is pretty much bread filled with sweetened red bean paste. (That's the 'an' part, and 'pan' means bread.)  My dad isn't a huge fan of it, because during his first days in Japan he bit into one thinking there would be chocolate or custard inside.  I think he's held a grudge against them since then.

I used this recipe to make them, and I think it was a success.  They looked pretty much like the real thing and tasted pretty good too.  I might add a little more milk or add less flour to keep the pan part moister.  It also took longer to rise than the recipe said, but that could have been an error on my part.  Making sure it properly rises in all the steps is key, people.

You should click HERE for a little surprise.  This is how much an-pan is loved by all in Japan.

You're welcome.

Bubba Gump Apples

Apple crisp, apple pie, apple sauce, apple cider... I feel like a Bubba Gump with all the apples we have up in here!

So I told you folks about the apple crisp I made last week from our backyard apples that fell during the windstorm.  Well, they're falling off the tree with little more that a light breeze these days, so we're taking that to mean that these apples are ready for picking!  Shawn got up on the roof of the party shack and we picked some good ones from there.  We'll still need to borrow my dad's tall ladder to get up to the ones higher up, but we got a good 40 pounds or so with just this attempt.

The really good ones we saved in a separate bucket for good eatin'.

Most of them had evidence of bugs getting inside so I cut them open right there as Shawn tossed them down to me and I did a quick quality inspection and chucked the really bad ones into the compost.  The ok ones I cored and the buggy parts cut out and saved in a bowl.  Once I got a good ten pounds of these, I washed them and Shawn and I peeled them.  A majority of them were cubed and went into my big stainless steel pot to be turned into apple sauce.  Into a separate bowl went some other ones that were sliced for apple pie.

I'll give you my recipes for both of these, but for both, I didn't follow any recipe myself, let alone measure much so these quantities are best guesses.  Sorry.

Good Ol' Home Made Apple Pie
(Ever had an apple pie from a store that sucked?  You know the kinds with the gelatinous goo that surrounds the undercooked still slightly crispy apples?  Well making your own apple pie at home will help you realize how inferior those pies really are!)

The last slice...

Ingredients
8-10 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs agave syrup (I've been putting this shit in everything!  It's my new fav sweetener.)
2 tbs flour
1 tbs lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix above ingredients together.  Prepare two pie crusts.  Fill pie pan with apple mixture and top with second pie crust.  Crimp edges together and make sure to slice a couple air holes in the top.  Top with a nice sprinkling of cinnamon sugar and put into preheated 350 degree oven.  Bake for 45 minutes or until some bubbles of deliciousness start showing from your air holes.  Serve warm with ice cream for a dessert or chilled with a cup of coffee for breakfast.  Delish!

Grandma's Apple Sauce
(Much like apple pies, I don't really like store bought apple sauce because it reminds me of wet sawdust.  This applesauce is chunky, with a touch of cinnamon, just like my grandma always has with dinner at her house.  I know most of you haven't had dinner at my grandma's house but trust me, it's always awesome.)

Ingredients
5 pounds of apples peeled, cored, and cubed
1/2 cup white sugar (or to taste)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup agave syrup (here it is again!)
1 tbs lemon juice
5 cups water

Canning Stuff
Mason jars with lids and rings (All washed and sanitized)
Large stockpot that will hold the mason jars
Tongs to grab hot jars and stuff
Funnel (optional, I made one out of the top of a bottle of lemon juice.)

Wash the jars, lids, and rings in a dishwasher or in hot soapy water.  Fill the larger stock pot with water and place it on the stove to heat up till hot, but not boiling.  Add the mason jars before the water gets too hot and have them wait there while the apple sauce is made.  As far as how many mason jars to have ready, just guess and prepare one or two more jars than you might need just in case you guessed wrong.

Put all the ingredients into your other large soup pot.  The water amount is really a guess, you just need enough to bring the water level up to just below the level as the amount of apples you have.  Put it on medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Once the apples heat up and start cooking down, stir them more.  This will break them down little by little so you have a sauce and not justa bunch of soggy apple bits.  Once the apple mixture has boiled for a little bit and is the consistency you like, it's time to start canning.

Get your tongs ready.  Pull out a jar and fill it quickly with sauce (using the funnel like in the pic or not.)  It's generally a less messy procedure with one.  Fill the jar to a 1/2 inch from the top and quickly screw on the lid and the ring.  Put it back into your large pot with the hot water.

Fill the rest of the jars until you have no more sauce and place them all into the large pot to process.  The water level in this pot should be an inch over the top of the jars, but mine's not like that because I like to break rules.  Do as I say, not as I do, folks.

Process (or boil) those jars for 15 minutes, then gently lift them out to cool and wait for the familiar "plink!" as your jars seal in the goodness.  If done correctly, these jars should last in a cool dry place for 2 years or so.

And yes, I did mention apple cider at the beginning of this post.  That is for next time...

Eatin' good in the neighborhood

With all the food that's coming in from the backyard and the free time that I've been given, it's like Applebee's all up in here!  Over the last week or so I've done a bunch of cooking and every meal has incorporated something from the homestead.  Some of the deliciousness includes:

* Several batches of kale chips with a mix of sesame oil and olive oil (thanks April!)
* Vegetable stir fry with our cabbage, zucchini, peas, and carrots
* Salsa
* Apple crisp
* The most delicious marinara ever, with our tomatoes and onion
* and as usual, Eggs: egg salad sandwiches, french toast, purin, etc.

Apple Crisp

Ingredients
8-10 backyard apples (about 6 cups cubed)
1 tbs flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup water


Crisp ingredients
1 cup quick oats
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp each of baking powder and soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
dash of salt

Toss together the apples, flour, sugar, and cinnamon and pour into a 13x9 baking dish.  Sprinkle the water over the top of apples.  Set oven to 350.  Toss together the brown sugar, oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.  Cut the room temp butter in until incorporated.  Top the apples with an even layer of the crumble and bake for 40-45 minutes.  Serve warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top.  YUM!

Spaghetti with the Best Marinara Ever (I got the basic recipe here and changed it up a bit.)

Ingredients
A dozen or so ripe garden tomatoes (or however many it takes to get about 4 cups of crushed tomatoes.)
1/2 small onion (chopped)
3 tbs olive oil
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
Salt, pepper, sugar to taste
A couple tsp balsamic vinegar to taste
(You can add a bay leaf but I didn't have any and it still tasted delicious.)

First you need to peel the tomatoes by blanching them in boiling water.  Put them into the water and let them boil for about 45 seconds.  Take them out and put them immediately into an ice bath.  The skins will peel super easily.  Remove the seeds and chop them up into big pieces.  (I actually crushed them with my hands.  The preschooler inside of me was really excited about the sensory experience.)

Replace the boiling water in the pot with the olive oil and chopped onion.  Saute for about 5-10 minutes and add everything else.  Cover and let it simmer on low heat for a few hours.


Now taste it.  With a small spoon.  Then have someone waiting there to pull you away as you try to grab a larger spoon and eat the whole pot right there.  Seriously.  So good.

Luckily I had some self control today and it lasted long enough for me to add some vegan ground meat and put it on pasta.  Delicious.  I'm glad I waited.

Staying ahead of the zucchini

Any backyard gardener knows the issues that zucchini can cause in one's vegetable inventory.  Let's just say there's a reason why there is a national "leave a zucchini on your neighbor's front porch day."  (Too late, it was August 8th.) 

Though my zucchini plants didn't produce as much as they have in past years, we've still gotten enough to fill our summer squash needs and more.  The last two that we picked were both monsters so some creativity was in order, which resulted in today's dinner: Stuffed Zucchini and Zucchini bread!

Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients
1 large zucchini that got away
1 pound of your choice of meat (I used hockey pucks)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 cup marinara sauce
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 clove of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated cheese

Saute the onion and meat in some olive oil until browned.  Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and marinara sauce.  While that cools, slice your giant bandit zucchini in half lengthwise and use a spoon to carve out the seeds.  Some of the stuff that comes out can be chopped and added to the meat/marinara mixture so you don't have to throw it away.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the zucchini halves in a baking dish with a little cooking spray on the bottom.  Mix in the bread crumbs into the meat/marinara mixture then fill the zucchinis with the mixture and top with the cheese.  Bake for 40 minutes or so until the cheese is browned.  Enjoy!

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
3 Cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsps cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 applesauce
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light agave
3 cups grated giant zucchini
optional: chopped nuts of your choice (I was out of walnuts so I used toasted almonds.)

The oven should be set around 335-350 degrees.  (It was 350 for me because I wanted to bake the two things at the same time.)  Sift the flour baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together.  In a separate bowl mix together the sugar, agave, eggs, vegetable oil, and applesauce.  Stir together the contents of the two bowls until combined and add the zucchini and nuts.  Pour the mixture into a bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes or until done.

A note on agave:  I've been using a lot of it in my cooking lately.  It's slowly gaining popularity as the sweetener of choice for many.  I don't really know much about it but apparently diabetics can eat it easier than sugar because it doesn't cause spikes in our blood sugar like regular sugar does.  I like it because it doesn't taste like crap like all other sugar substitutes do.  (Stevia?  Seriously?  Disgusting.)  I think it tastes kind of like a liquid brown sugar.  We got two giant bottles for free from Shawn's uncle who works for UPS and gets lots of stuff for free so I've been trying to think of ways to use it up.  So far so good.  I like it.

So there you go, two deeelicious zucchini recipes that will make you sad when zucchini season is over. Happy homesteading!

Kasutera Update!!!

Hello all!  I'm feeling refreshed and relaxed after three and a half days at grandma's house.  I was down there for my cousin's wedding, but also got a chance to try my hand at this dubious cake again at the request of my auntie Martha.  (You can read the original blog post about my battle with Kasutera here.)

Ok, so making this cake meant I had to hand write the recipe since my grandma's house doesn't have internet.  (Isn't that refreshing?)  As I was writing it down, I noticed a major error in my conversions from grams to cups when I originally made the cake.  It turns out I was using a whole half cup less flour than reqiured.  FAIL.  I was actually pretty happy to find this out because it offered a fairly simple explanation for why all my cakes have fallen.

With this in mind, Martha and I made the cake.  We didn't use green tea powder and tried to stick to the recipe as closely as possible.  We also had my grandma's KitchenAid mixer on our side to do all the hard work so we could make sure that the eggs were good and fluffy.  Here is the revised list of ingredients:

1.6 cups of flour
8 eggs
1.2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons honey

As far as the directions go, those are still the same which can be found on the post which I've included a link to above.  Oh, another thing that was different was we used a rectangular cake pan instead of a loaf pan.

With high hopes, we put the cake in the oven.  It was baked for the exact time and we pulled it out.  Within about 20 minutes it fell a little, which made me sad.  HOWEVER, once we cut into it, it was perfect!  There was no doughieness, just fluffy kasutera-ness.  We had finally done it!  I think maybe increasing the flour another quarter cup will really make it more perfect.

And guess what?  I have no picture because we ate most of it in one sitting.  Big surprise, huh?  My uncle brought over a flat of delicious strawberries so some people ate it with those saying it was the best strawberry shortcake they had eaten in their lives, but my mom and I just enjoyed it plain.  It tasted exactly like the good stuff you get in Japan.  Success feels so good!

Since I was gone for four days, coming back meant noticing a huge difference in the babies.  They have way more feathers now and are literally busting out of their box.  Shawn and I are feeling a little panicked about getting this coop of theirs finished, until I realized how cold it still is outside.  Even if we did get their house finished in the next few days, they'll just freeze in it at night.  So the rushed feeling of getting the coop built has just been replaced with an anxious feeling in hopes that summer will be here soon...

Speaking of summer, here are the ladies sunbathing last summer.  Notice they're still pretty young because their faces aren't red yet.

Baking... Rustic Style

Remember a couple months ago I said I did a fun baking experiment but forgot to take pictures of it?  (This one.) I finally got around to doing it again, though it wasn't exactly the same.

Anyone who knows me knows that I loooooove baked goods.  Pastries, cakes, pies, cookies, bread... you name it, I love it.  And think twice about having me babysit your donut if you ever want to see it again.  So it goes without saying that rustic bread makes me very happy.  You know, soft and doughy on the inside, thick and chewy crust on the outside.  It makes the best sandwiches and toast.

I've been making rustic bread for a while now, though when I first started I didn't realize how scientific the whole process was.  You can't just make the dough, let it rise for a bit and throw it in the oven.  No, no.  The whole process usually takes about 24 hours, and requires some special equipment.

This is the trusty website that I used when I first started making rustic bread.  It does a good job explaining the whole process and why it needs to be done that way.  It's a good basic recipe that I use and then make small adjustments based on my bread mood.

For this go-round, just like the recipe calls for, I started with:
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 (heaping) tsp. yeast

I also added two tablespoons sugar and a coarsley chopped head of roasted garlic.  Yep, this is gonna be roasted garlic bread.  Hold on to your butts!

I mixed everything except the garlic and let it rest to rise overnight.  The next morning, the dough was getting nice and bubbly, and I added the coarsely chopped roasted garlic cloves.  I let that rise again for another 10 hours.  Here's the cool part about this bread: the dough is really wet and sticky which makes it nearly impossible to knead without adding too much extra flour to it.  So you don't have to knead it!  Well, kinda.  I just take a wooden spoon or a spatula and just mix the dough (warning: tired arms result,) until it gets nice and elasticky.  That's the sign that the gluten in the flour has developed, giving you a chewier bread.  It doesn't take too long to get there.

Ok, now the good part: baking.  In order to get the right consistency on the crust, (thick and chewy) you have to bake it in something with a lid.  The lid allows the bread to be steamed in a way which results in the awesome crust everyone loves.  I've used pyrex baking dishes before, which work well, but my parents just recently gave me this:

Cast iron, baby!  This thing is awesome... and heavy.  I feel rustic just holding it.  This works the best.  Every since I started baking rustic bread in this, my success rate has doubled.

Ok, so in order to prevent the bread from sticking to the sides, you have to pretty much coat it in flour.  I usually "knead" it one last time just before baking and let it rise again for about 30 minutes while the oven is preheating.  It's also important to put the baking dish, whatever you're using, into the oven while it's preheating.  475 degrees is what you want.  HOT.

(Now just to get off topic a bit:  The reason I was so excited about this when I mentioned it a couple months ago is because that time, I baked it in our wood stove!  Sustainable baking, baby!  I built a fire as usual, but once the fire was almost done, I scraped all the coals to the back and put the cast iron right inside.  I don't know what the temp of the oven was, I think it was pretty low because instead of 25 minutes, the bread took about 45 minutes to bake.  But it worked and it was delicious.  It's too bad we're not really in wood stove season anymore, (even though the weather totally sucks,) but I'll definitely do it a lot next winter.)

Ok, back to the present.  Once the oven is ready, take the dough and plop it into the hot dish while it's still in the oven.  Put the lid on, and set the timer for 20 minutes.  If the top is still not brown after that, add five minutes until it looks like this:

Mmmmm... Now listen to it.  You'll know the crust is right when it talks to you.  It sounds like a light crackling.  Wait 20 minutes, slice a nice thick piece, load it with butter, and enjoy!

What flavor should I make next?

Kare-Pan

About a week ago, I was feeling motivated and in the mood for something Japanese, so I decided to make Kare-Pan.  What is Kare-Pan, you ask?  It is a delicious fried treat that you can find in any Japanese bakery or grocery store.

Basically it's fried bread filled with curry.  Yep, sooooo good.

I had a tupperware full of curry that was taking up space in the freezer so I decided something needed to be done with it.  Mind you, this is Japanese curry, very different from Indian or Thai curry.  No coconut milk, and a much milder, sometimes sweeter flavor.  Curry rice is almost the equivalent of spaghetti here, a go-to dish that any kid will eat, and is super easy to make.

Anyway, you can't just use curry as-is for this recipe, you have to simmer it down to a thicker, more paste-like consistency.  So I dumped the curry into a saucepan and put it on low to start that process. 

In the meantime, it was time to make the dough.  I started with a pretty generic sweet bun recipe.  Let me see if I can remember what I did:

* One packet active dry yeast
* 4 cups bread flour
* one cup milk
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 2 eggs (set aside one tablespoon for later)
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

* About a cup of panko breadcrumbs (for later too)

Warm the milk to 110 degrees and dissolve the sugar into it.  Then add the yeast and let proof for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients (minus the panko) until combined.  Pour it out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until soft and stretchy.  Put it back into the bowl with a little oil added to it, roll the ball around to cover it with a light coating of oil and set it aside to rise in a warm place for a little over an hour.

While that's going, check back on the curry.  I had some chopped up sweet potatoes sitting in the 'fridge so I popped those in, and let the whole thing simmer away for about an hour.  Then, since there were still some large chunks of this and that floating around, I used a hand blender and blended the whole thing.  This really brought the curry to the right paste-like consistency, so I took it off the burner to cool.  It should be pretty cool before you fill the buns.

After the dough has risen, punch it down, knead it a little bit, and divide it up into 10-12 pieces.  Roll each of these out, trying to keep the edges slightly thinner than the middle (it's hard to do, so don't worry if it doesn't happen,) and drop a heaping spoonful right in the middle.  Paint a little bit of the egg you saved from earlier around the edges to act as a glue and fold the dough over.  Press the edges to seal to make a nice pillow of deliciousness.  After you've filled all of them, paint the tops with the rest of the egg mixed with a little oil or milk and give them a light coating of the panko breadcrumbs.  Now let them rest for about 15-20 minutes.  Sometimes the seals come open during this resting period, so squeeze them shut if this happens.

The next step is your choice.  Generally, Kare-pan is deep fried.  And of course, that is half the reason they are so delicious.  But, I wasn't really feeling up to getting the whole deep frying process going, so I decided to bake them in a 350 degree oven.  I don't remember how long they were in there, but I waited until they looked like this:

Yes, they were delicious.

They weren't quite the same as real kare-pan since they weren't deep fried, but yummy nonetheless.

On another note, through all the rain and the cold nights, the seeds I planted seem to realize that it is indeed officially spring.  The peas and kale that I planted in the ground are all up and happy, the broccoli, zucchini, and onions in the greenhouse are going strong too.  Still waiting on the tomatoes and peppers, but I'm not gonna rush those.  I planted some lettuce and sunflowers last weekend.  What's next?

I heart carbs.

Since my cheese-making jaunt, I've been cookin' like a crazy lady trying to use up all the whey that was leftover.  So far, I've made baguettes, pizza crust, butternut squash soup, cream of wheat, pancakes, and now... Cheesy Jalapeno Bread!!!!  I got the recipe from my homesteading "bible" that I wrote about a couple months ago.

What's in it:
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 Tbs sugar
1/4 cup butter (softened)
1 egg
1 cup whey
1 cup shredded cheese (I used colby jack and mozzarella.)
1/2 cup chopped jalapenos (not fresh, the kind in the jar.)

What to do with this stuff:
Sift together the flour, corn meal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Cut in the half stick of butter until well combined.  Add the shredded cheese and toss together.  Beat the egg slightly and add to the whey and pour mixture into the dry ingredients.  Mix till just combined and fold in jalapenos.  Pour the batter into a loaf pan and toss into a 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes or until skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let it sit in the pan for about 10 minutes then let cool on a wire rack.  Be prepared to be blown away!  Drizzle some honey on your slice and oh boy!!!  It's like southwestern cornbread but whey better!!!

Yum yum yummy-o.

8 cups of whey down, 4 more to go.  I'll probably make this bread again.  mmmmm...