Apron Appeal

General observation

2017-09-16T12:09:00.000-04:00

I figured that since I haven't posted here in a few YEARS!!!! No one will mind (or notice) if I borrow this platform to post an assignment for one of my nursing school classes. Ok, lets get to it.

Me and my crew at the zoo getting ready to do some science-ing

As part of the journey to become a registered nurse through the BSN program at IUPUI school of nursing, I was tasked to put my assessment skills to the test and observe a stranger and an orangutan. Why an orangutan? Why a stranger? By overserving someone or some mammal I am not familiar with and have no communication with, I could focus on the visual aspects of an assessment v. the verbal feedback I may otherwise rely on to help paint a clear picture of what is before me. From this assignment, I was asked to determine the general health of my subjects through observation only.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!
From my observation, my orangutan was healthy and my human was….not so much.

Lets take a closer look.

Subject #1 my orangutan.

Yes, it’s a he (because I say it is) and yes, he's mine.

(TRUTH: I have no idea if it’s a boy or a girl and I completely forgot to ask the zookeeper because I’d already made up my mind that it was a boy. Even one of the sign’s in the enclosure failed to identify the gender so I’m not going to worry too much about it.)

While watching these beasts bumble along in their enclosure I really wasn’t too sure about their health. In all honesty, they looked B.O.R.E.D. I’ve seen that look and slump on the faces of each of my kids sometime around 4p on a Saturday afternoon, after Netflix has been exhausted and all the friends seem to be out of town. What is to be done with such boredom? Send in the cute little baby orangutan.

This guy. Oh my word this guy. How adorable? From observation, he seemed to have it all together. He could navigate up and down the ladder, snuggle with his mom, play peek-a-boo, and even annoy the big one in the corner. I learned from a friendly employee at the orangutan enclosure that when there are several orangutans out in the open space together, they are typically female because the males like to wrestle for dominance and sometimes that can cause problems. I also asked the zoo employee how I could tell if the orangutan was healthy or sick. She must have thought that was a strange question because she laughed. “well,” she started. “They are a lot like humans. They can catch the same illnesses we can catch and they’ll present will illness the same way. Look for runny noses and drowsy demeanor” She also assured me however that if an orangutan was indeed feeling under the weather, they wouldn’t be out in the observation areas.

My final question to the zookeeper was about his gate. I noticed that he seemed to rely heavily on the use of his arms to steady himself as he walked.

She chuckled and said, “he is still a baby he’s one-year old and he’s still learning.” She stated that he is, in fact, using his arms to steady himself an as he becomes more adept, he’ll be able to walk upright like the adult models he has at the zoo. Information from Orangutan.org seems to support this idea as well (https://orangutan.org/orangutan-facts/orangutan-behavior/)

“Orangutan offspring will sometimes be carried until they are 5 years old and be breast-fed until they are 8 years of age! Even when young orangutans are too old to be carried and fed by their mother, they may still remain close to her, traveling with her, eating, and resting in the same trees, until they are about 10 years old.”

So from my limited understanding, and trusting those who know more than me, we’re going to say that my orangutan was indeed healthy!

wolverine hair

Snuggles with Mom

Playing Peek-a-Boo!

Moving on to

subject #2: the human

This observation was a little easier than an orangutan because, as a human, I know a little about this species and therefore have general idea of what to look for with what is healthy and what is not.

Despite this subject leaning toward what may be considered the “obese” side of the scale, that was not the first thing that caught my eye. In fact, it wasn’t even the second. The first thing I noticed was her feet. They were black. I’d never quite seen anything like that and it caused me to wonder why. Usually when tissue becomes necrotic, it becomes black but this was different. It wasn’t solid. There was still an element of vascular function. A quick web search indicates that there are 4 possible causes to “darkened feet”

Not my subject
(just a picture off the internet to illustrate what I observed

SOURCE: http://www.veinsurgery.co.za/images/lipodermatosclerosis.jpg)

TWO COMMON CONDITIONS

1. Varicose veins

2. Venous insufficiency

ONE SOMEWHAT COMMON CONDITION

1. Pregnancy

ONE RARE CONDITION

1. hemochromatosis

(http://www.freemd.com/s2/0728/foot-swelling-bilaterally-skin-darkening.htm)

The second observation made was that the subject employed the use of a cane to ambulate. She didn’t appear to have a limp therefore the cane seemed to only be for weakness or stability. As I continued to observe the subject, I noticed that she had limited mobility and had difficulty sitting from standing and standing from sitting. Perhaps these issues were from the problem in her feet, perhaps from her weight. Perhaps one begat the other and there were other issues that lie in wait that could not be seen on the surface.

Perhaps if this individual was confronted about the status of her health she may say that all is well.

Perhaps she is adjusted to her condition and resigned to this level of function.

Without being able to complete the assessment with verbal confirmation and objective data from labs, the extent of health or lack thereof, is often difficult to ascertain from visual inspection alone but it often can give us a good place to start.

Energy Spheres

2012-07-18T09:52:00.000-04:00

Health issues, most likely caused by food and food allergies, have significantly strained and complicated my relationship with food over the past year. Finding recipes and food that everyone in my family can eat AND enjoy has been tough and I’ve all but lost my mojo for being creative in the kitchen. Nothing has been super spectacular or worked out well enough that I’ve felt compelled to share. That all changed when I found these little gals this week.

I have many reasons to share this recipe with you, but the most important is that I’m excited about it. It’s been too long since I’ve made and eaten something that inspired me to share the recipe with the world. These little tasty bites have done just that. Plus they kind of kick the trash out of my food issues I’ve been encountering and remind me that food for the digestinally impaired can be healthy, easy to prepare and taste so great that all my kids will ask for seconds and thirds and fourths until the entire batch is GONE. (Even the toddler [whom we have officially nicknamed Spidey – as in Spiderman - for his incredible climbing abilities]with all of his food sensitivities, allergies and health issues can eat these without a reaction!)

Instead of calling these by their traditional name (energy bites, energy balls) I call them Energy Spheres. It has a ring to it that is more natural and whole and promotes thoughts of calming and relaxation that in turn remind me that everything we consume has an impact on our ecosystem and that I can make a greater effort to use products that have been grown or raised in a manner that compliments both the environment, mind & body. I’m telling you these Energy Spheres are that amazing.

Also, since I’ve been reading ingredient lists and nutrition fact labels like it’s nobody’s business, I’ve decided to learn how to make my own and share that as well. Those of you trying to address the complicated relationship you may have with food might find this useful. (If you click on the label it will take you to a pdf that is a higher quality)

Energy Spheres

(gluten free, nut free, dairy free, vegan, raw)

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Yeild: 19, 1 oz balls

Serving Size: 60 g (2 oz)

Ingredients:

½ cup sunbutter (or nut butter of choice)

1/3 cup rice syrup (or honey)

¼ cup cocoa powder (natural, unsweetened)

2 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

1 cup quick oats (gluten free)

½ cup coconut (shredded, unsweetened)

2 tbls rice protein powder

2 tbsp chia seeds

½ mix-ins (dried fruit, rough chopped seeds/nuts, chocolate chips)

Directions:

In a 3.5 qt. large pot over medium low heat stir the sunbutter and rice syrup until combined and barely warmed
Stir in the cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Once incorporated add in the remaining ingredients.
Form the dough into 1 oz (30g) balls and set on a cookie sheet. Eat immediately or chill in fridge. Store in an airtight container at room temp.

Notes: If you would like to get these closer to the protein level contained in Cliff Protein Bars, only include 6 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut and add an additional 2 tbsp protein powder. Please also note that not, all protein powders are created equal. I used NutriBiotic Organic Brown Rice Vanilla flavored protein powder.

Source: Adapted from Fooddoodles.com

Gwenevere

Chicken Pot Pi(e)

2012-03-14T11:03:00.000-04:00

In an attempt to just get something posted.

I’ve decided to keep this post brief.

Today is Pi day.

3.14 (12)

Remember?...

I mentioned Pi Day on Pie Day.

(Annie taught me about this day)

Of all the pie’s that have been made in my house, this is the one that pleases everyone, Homestyle Chicken Pot Pie. The filling is more stewy than soupy and we really dig that around here.

It can be made with whole wheat or all-purpose flour but I prefer whole wheat. The whole wheat flour gives the buttery, flakey crust a nutty flavor that no one can resist – often, by the end of the meal, the fluted crust has disappeared from any remaining pieces of the pie.

Chicken Pot Pi(e)

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Yeild: 1 pie

Ingredients:

CRUST:

1 ¼ cup flour

½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar (optional)

4 Tbsp shortening (cut into ¼ - inch pieces

6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into ¼ - inch pieces and chilled)

3-5 Tbsp ice cold water

FILLING:

2 large BNSL chicken breast halves (thawed)

3 Tbsp oil, divided

2 large carrots, thinly coined

1 large onion, finely diced

2 ribs of celery, chopped small

½ head of cauliflower (cut into tiny bite size pieces)

salt and pepper to taste

½ cup unsalted butter

½ cup flour

1 ½ cups milk

2 cups chicken broth (2 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 2 cup water)

¾ cup frozen peas or corn (optional)

1 egg, beaten with 2 tbsp water

Directions:

CRUST:

Process flour salt (and sugar if using) in a food processor until combined. Scatter the shortening over the top and process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand (about 10 seconds). Scatter the butter pieces over the top and, using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a bowl.
Using 1 Tbsp at a time, sprinkle ice water over flour, toss with a fork and repeat until dough comes together in rough ball (DO NOT KNEAD OR STIR THE DOUGH – this will result in a tough crust).
Divide the dough into two even balls, flatten each ball into a 4-inch disk. Wrap the disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

FILLING:

Heat 1 ½ Tbsp oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once shimmering, add chicken and cook until browned and a nice crust forms. (3-4 min) Flip chicken and repeat. If chicken is not cooked thoroughly after both sides have been browned, turn the heat down to medium and cook until juices run clear and internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. When done remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
Heat remaining 1 ½ Tbsp oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add all vegetables (expect frozen peas or corn if using) and sauté until just tender (about 5 minutes). If needed add a little of the broth to the pan, cover with a lid and simmer until veggies are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
While veggies are cooking cut chicken into bite-size chunks.
When veggies are done, in a large bowl combine chicken and veggies and set aside.
Wipe out skillet and melt ½ cup butter. When bubbly and frothy, whisk in ½ flour and cook for 1 minute.
Slowly whisk in milk (a bit at a time) to make a thick cream sauce. Thin sauce by slowly adding the chicken broth.
Pour cream sauce over veggies and chicken (add frozen veggies if using), stir, season to taste and set aside.
Adjust rack in oven to middle-low position and preheat oven to 400.
On a well-floured surface, roll out ½ the dough to just under a ¼ - inch thickness, place in pie pan and trim skirted edge to 1”.
Roll out the other ½ of the dough to just under ¼ - inch thickness as well but this time cut 4 vents in the center.
Fill pie with veggie/chicken mixture and cover with top crust.
Trim the top of the crust to 1-inch, to match the length of the bottom then tuck the top layer of dough under the bottom layer, roll it together and flute the edge to seal.
Brush crust with egg wash and bake in oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Source: Family File – Ellen Jenkins

Gwenevere

Snickerdoodle Delights

2012-01-27T12:13:00.000-05:00

It’s January 27^th.

This day stands out to me for a few reasons.

1)- It’s the day Boy proposed to me. Yep, just 2 short months from the time I brought him home to meet the family to the time we decided to take our relationship to forever. We’ve had our issues (believe me we’ve had our issues) but I’ll keep it all as they have helped us understand one another and allowed us to grow closer than I ever thought possible. Love you, Boy.

2)-It’s the birthday of: my oldest brother, (Happy Birthday Jon) a good friend from high school, (Happy Birthday, Tiffany) and as I logged onto facebook this morning I saw that it was the birthday of not only a few of my real life friends but also of some of my new online friends (Happy Birthday friends)

3)-It’s a day that in the past has hosted the super bowl. (Random I know but it all ties in.) As many of you know, I live in Indianapolis. Home of the 2012 Super Bowl and today marks the beginning of the events that our great city will be hosting.

To help kick off that event as well as say happy birthday to my brother (and everyone else) and commemorate the day Boy and I decided to join our family traditions together and be married…I’m giving you….

Snickerdoodle Delights

It’s a recipe that my family has been making for YEARS and one I was completely stoked to introduce to Boy as we began planning our life together. It’s also one of my brother’s favorite desserts (at least I remember it was- hopefully it still is) AND I think it would make an awesome addition to your super bowl spread. How’s that for tying it all together?

I’m not really sure how my family came up with the name; Snickerdoodle Delights. The treat has absolutely nothing to do with snickerdoodles. I think perhaps they have more to do with a Snickers candy bar than anything else and so explains the “snicker” part of snickerdoodle.

These have a soft cakey crust with a layer of roasted marshmallows topped with a caramel-ish, peanuty, crunchy top that makes these little ditties incredibly difficult to resist….even for my peanut allergy kids. They are usually pretty good about rejecting peanut treats, but this gets them loathing their allergy every time I whip them up. For their sake, I rarely make them. Hopefully allergies will not restrict you from enjoying these delights.

Snickerdoodle Delights

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Yield: 32 1-inch squares

Ingredients:

BASE:

1 pkg/recipe yellow cake mix
1/3 cup softened butter

1 egg

3 cups mini marshmallows

TOPPING:
2/3 cup corn syrup

¼ cup butter

2 tsp vanilla

10 oz peanut butter chips

2 cups rice krispies cereal

2 cups salted, roasted peanuts

Directions:

Heat oven to 350
With a pastry blender (or a fork) mix the cake mix, butter and egg until crumbly.
Press into the bottom of a ungreased 13x9-inch glass baking dish and bake for 12-18 minutes or until barely browned or golden.
Remove from oven, and turn oven to broil. Sprinkle marshmallow on top of base layer then put back in oven until marshmallows puff and brown (2-5 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool (turn oven off)
In a 3.5-quart pot, over medium heat, frequently stir together the corn syrup, butter and peanut butter chips until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
Remove from heat and mix in vanilla until combined. Then stir in peanuts and rice krispies cereal.
Spoon topping over marshmallows and spread to cover evenly. Let it rest on the counter or in the fridge to set. (if you set in the fridge be sure to take it out to come to room temperature before cutting or serving)

Source: Family File

Notes: I've included a link to a homemade yellow cake mix recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - I've never tried it, but I want to and thought you might be interested as well.

Gwenevere

Orange Julius

2012-01-25T18:50:00.000-05:00

Last week, this little buddy arrived at my house.

After a week of furious blending, I’ve decided it can stay. Thanks to its low clearance, I’ve found a permanent place on the counter where it can always be found. (This feature was actually the selling point for me. I’ve been shopping around for this caliber of blender for a while and was sold on the Blendtec when I learned that the jar can be put on and off of the base without ever having to move the base from it’s resting place on the countertop, under the upper cabinets.)

I am a little worried that the other appliance might get jealous though, of all the appliances on my counter, this one seems to drum up the most conversation. I didn’t know a blender could do that. Truth is; once you start using a Blendtec you may begin to wonder if there is anything this thing can’t do. Seriously, it’s amazing (and I’ve only just begun).

Because I was a little overexcited to get started on blending I bypassed the instruction manual and just got to it.. I figured the advertisements I’d been studying were instruction enough.

Fill to the brim and blend:

Why bother with instructions? Let the sky be the limit.

Well let me tell you that if you double an Orange Julius Copycat Recipe and fill the blender to the rim, the sky will be the limit and that is how high your Orange Julius will fly when you hit the smoothie button. J

Clean up on aisle 4!

So how full can you fill Blendtec jars? Well, if what you are blending is mostly liquid, I would follow the guideline in the instruction manual (yes, I did decide to read it) and only fill to the highest measure mark. After a quick clean up and wipe down I tried again.

Something easy – Orange Julius.

All of the views stated in this blog are my own.

If it sounds like I'm trying to sell you a Blendtec Blender, that is because I probably am.

I think they are fantastic.

DON'T bet on this being the last post you'll see from me on the subject.

Also if you want to win one (a Blendtec Blender)....click HERE.

Knockoff Orange Julius

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Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 cup water

6 -8 oz frozen orange juice concentrate

¼ cup sugar (completely optional)

1-teaspoon vanilla

24 ice cubes (of the skinny, orange wedge shape, variety. 12 if using the fat squares from a manual ice tray.)

Directions:

Place all the ingredients into the Blendtec in the order listed, hit the smoothie button and ENJOY!

If you don’t have a Blendtec do the following:

In a blender, combine the orange juice concentrate (thawed), milk, water, sugar and vanilla. Cover and blend until smooth. With blender running, add ice cubes, one at a time, through the opening in lid. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Source: Slightly adapted from Taste of Home

Gwenevere

Green Monster

2012-01-11T10:46:00.002-05:00

Ok, so since September (through correspondence on my facebook page) I’ve been taunting y’all with a promise that someday soon I was going to write a blog post explaining what I’ve been up to that has slowed me down in the blog-posting department.

Well, “someday soon” has finally arrived and I’d like to make my first post addressing the “slow down” but before I do, I just really quick want to thank you for your continued support through all the comments, tweets, pins, stumbles and referrals. All that LOVE kept this blog alive and even helped it grow. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Now…. let me tell you about what’s been keeping me.

No, it’s not a Green Monster Smoothie that's been keeping me from posting. This is just what I’m using to illustrate the story….it serves several purposes:

1)- it has the word “monster” in it so it adds drama to the story that otherwise would not be there. J

2)- It can be made in a Blendtec Blender (more information on that later)

3)- It may look scary, but once you try it you will find there is nothing to be afraid of…it’s wonderful, (kind of like the impetus for my story. It seemed really scary to me at first but now that I’m mostly through it…I can see that it was an experience I was grateful to have.)

4)- it’s in a cup. (Ok, I know it’s not a "cup", it’s a glass…. but I wanted a picture of something GOOD in a cup so this picture will just have to do.)

So…a summation of the past 6 months of my life presented in parable form (so as to allow everyone the opportunity to relate. I see no good reason to alienate anyone just because they haven’t had a similar experience.) Here it goes....

Often I hear folks talking about “filling their bucket”. When I hear this, I think of a bucket that rests near a fountain that is used to gather water that can be used in case the fountain (from which it is filled) runs dry and there is no water to be had. The bucket holds enough water (i.e. goodness) to provide what is needed until the fountain flows again.

Well, I have a [figurative] bucket and in it I keep all the goodness I can catch. Truth, happiness, joy, love, giggles, hugs, kisses, laughter, experiences, memories, goals & hope…if it’s good, it goes in my bucket.

My bucket has never failed me. It has always held the sweet refreshment I needed, exactly when I needed it, until late last summer (2011).

Being wise (like I so often am) I decided that even thought the fountain was still flowing I should go and check on my bucket…you know, just to make sure it was filled and prepared for when I needed it. Well, when I took a peek inside, I was a bit astonished. There was nothing in it. It was completely empty.

“Someone must be taking my goodness.” I thought. “Oh well, I’ll just fill it back up.” So I pushed it under the full stream of the fountain. When I thought the bucket should be close to full, I took a second glance inside. That is when I began to panic (just a little).

My bucket wasn’t holding water!

First, I tried to fill it up, again. When that didn’t work I thought that maybe the integrity of my bucket had been compromised so I began to inspect it for holes or leaks. When I found none, full on panic ensued.

WHY WOULDN’T MY BUCKET HOLD WATER?

WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO WITHOUT A PROPER BUCKET!?

Quickly, I decided to put my bucket down and take a step back in order to give myself some distance to either calm down or get some perspective in order to see if there was something I had missed.

With each step backward the problem became increasingly clear. It wasn’t that there was a leak or a hole; it was that my bucket wasn’t a bucket….

IT WAS A CUP!

The force of water coming out of the fountain was so great that when it hit the bottom of the cup it immediately splashed back out! From where I was I had two choices I could either:

A)- take my cup to a slower running fountain or

B)-get a proper bucket!

I decided to stick with the fountain I was familiar with and set out to find a bigger bucket.

In a frantic effort to find what I was looking for I called everyone I knew who I thought might know anything about buckets or might have one for me to borrow until I could find my own. It seemed my peace was dependant on finding something big enough and sturdy enough to hold the goodness that came from the fountain.

Finally, after making a colossal mess from pulling everything off of my shelves, out of storage and from the places I go to look for lost things....I found what I was searching for. I can now report that what I found holds water very well.

Now, not wanting to repeat this event anytime in the future, I have decided to keep my eye out for bigger and sturdier buckets - you know, just in case there comes a day when the pressure of the fountain is turned up again and the bucket I have is no longer enough to hold what it needs to. When that happens, I’ll know exactly where to go to replace it.

The only real problem I have now (beside the mess that I made that I may never be able to clean up) is that I can’t get the goodness out as fast as it’s coming in, so it often… runneth over!

Thanks again everyone for sharing your goodness with me through this phase in my journey when I thought I had none.

Now get out your blender (a Blendtec if you have it) and blend up a delicious, healthy Green Monster so that we can raise our “cups” to the New Year. May this year be filled with enough goodness to share with everyone. May our world view be big enough to find goodness in every relationship. May our minds be open to new information and may our hearts allow us to receive it.

Happy 2012!

Basic Green Monster

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Yield: 1 Gianormous Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 cups (packed) fresh spinach, steamed

1 to 1 ¼ cups milk (I prefer rice milk)

2 Tablespoons chia seeds

1 banana

1 - 2 cups of ice (about 10 depending on the size)

Directions:

Place all the ingredients into the Blendtec, hit the smoothie button and when it’s done, ENJOY!

If you don’t have a Blendtec do the following:

Place the ingredients into your blender in the following order: 1) chia seeds, 2) spinach, 3) banana, 4) milk. The reason for this order is so the heavier ingredients weigh down the chia seeds and spinach and keep it from flying up around the blender and sticking to the side.
Blend everything on the highest setting for 1 minute or so. Finally, add ice and blend on the ice setting. Pour into a large glass.

Source: Slightly adapted from Angela at Oh She Glows and Green Monster Movement.

Gwenevere

Vegan Sweet Potato Biscuits

2012-01-05T12:38:00.000-05:00

Finding the best biscuits on the planet is not as easy as finding the best hamburger buns, mostly because opinions are quite varied on the subject. Some like their biscuits, crumbly, some like them flakey and some prefer a tender, more cake-like crumb. The short of it, biscuits come in all kinds textures and flavors so it makes it rather difficult to find the best. So instead of finding very best, I’ll share the ones I really like.

The biscuits I’m sharing today are my vegan version of the sweet potato biscuits I found over at The Kitchn. They are tender and soft with just a bit of a crust. I thought the texture was actually fairly close to the KFC biscuits I’ve been trying to imitate but the flavor (obviously) wasn’t close, which is ok, because the salty biscuits at KFC wasn’t what I was going for either.

I’m seeing a lot of soup recipes being posted around and these biscuits would be a delightful pairing with just about any of them.

I’ve made these two ways; one with solid coconut oil and the other with earth balance soy free butter substitute….the version with the Earth Balance was my favorite. If you have a legume/peanut allergy or sensitivity in your family please be aware that Earth Balance Soy Free is made with pea protein. Because of that, I can’t use it for my family with legume issues. For the buttery taste, next time I think I’ll try soy-free Spectrum butter flavored palm shortening.

Vegan Sweet Potato Biscuits

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Yield: about 18 2” biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour 

4 teaspoons baking powder 

½ teaspoon kosher salt 

6 tablespoons chilled *Earth Balance Spread, cut into cubes 

1 cup steamed and mashed sweet potato (approximately 1 large potato) 

½ tsp lemon juice or vinegar

½ cup rice milk, plus additional as needed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°
Sour rice milk with lemon juice or vinegar and set aside (rice milk does not sour like cows milk so don’t expect the same texture)
In a large bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender (or your fingers if you don't have one) cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is a mix of pea-size balls and small crumbs.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed sweet potato and rice milk until well-combined. Fold into the flour mixture, adding more (up to 4 tablespoons) rice milk if necessary. The dough should form a nice ball, and be just a bit on the sticky side, as opposed to crumbly and dry. Chill the dough for thirty minutes, if desired, although you can bake them off immediately if you would like. I happen to like the way the biscuits look when the dough has chilled (a bit more crackly on top), but the flavor is not affected by this step.
Pat out the dough onto a lightly floured surface to about a 1-inch thickness (do not roll out the dough with a rolling pin). Cut out rounds using a well-floured biscuit cutter. (I prefer a square cookie cutter so that I don’t have scraps.) Gather the remaining scraps and repeat until all the dough is used. Place the biscuits on a large sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes (or bake in batches).

Notes: The cooked biscuits will freeze beautifully and can be pulled out at a moments notice. Just bake at 375° until heated through.

*Any preferred butter substitute or butter will work just fine.

Source: Adapted from The Kitchn: Sweet Potato Biscuits

Gwenevere

Rainbow Jell-o

2011-12-21T07:16:00.002-05:00

I left you hangin’ with my last post. I should have said something like, “and the rest is history”. Since there is no fun in that, I’ll just tell the rest of the story.

…So this boy that my heart was in love with drove home with me for Thanksgiving weekend. It was the first time I remember not hating the 4-hour drive. What did I say? What did we talk about? I certainly don’t remember anymore, but I do remember getting kind of nervous as we pulled up to my parents’ house. My brain kept trying to tell the rest of me that this guy was just a friend and it was no big deal (apparently my brain didn’t get the memo that this was a very big deal).

I was sure that by the time we pulled in, my mom would have heard at least heard one of the message I’d left on the machine (we didn’t have cell phones back then so there was no way to get in touch as we traveled) and so coming through the door with a friend wasn’t going to be a total shock. (This is where I need to insert my mom’s side of the story because I think she’ll remember it how it really happened and not how my flooded-with-dopamine brain recalls it.)

My friend and I walked in the front door and I remember everyone running to us all excited and patting my friend on the back and welcoming us into the home and he into the family. We recounted the details of the past 24 hours and had my mom fill in the missing details from her end. After all that we settled into our weekend and the reality of what was happening.

We enjoyed a fabulous meal for Thanksgiving (complete with layered jell-o …got to get the recipe plug in here) and by the end of the weekend faced that music that we were so sickly sweet in LOVE with one another that we didn’t quite know what to do with ourselves. We returned to school and decided to play it off casual (we didn’t want our friends to abandon us because to a person NOT in throws of a new romance, there is nothing more annoying than two people who are). You could maybe then imagine everyone’s surprise, when 2 months later, Boy asked me to marry him and I said YES!

You’re now thinking…Rainbow Jell-O? That is the tie in? I know it’s a stretch but lets be honest…what ISN’T a stretch with me?! J What can I say, it’s a memory, just like the one I’ve just shared, that is inalterably connected with our holiday feasts.

A few years after Boy and I got married the jell-o became my assignment for the meal. Much like my relationship with Boy, it’s a constant and every year I make some tweaks and adjustments to make it better. And like my relationship with Boy, It’s not too incredible difficult, just apply some patience and time and it usually turns out great. J

My Cousin Mickelle had the best seat in the house for the Jell-o Mold photo op.

I lifted this picture from her blog - stop by and say hi.

Rainbow Jell-O Mold

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Yield: 1 bunt pan size jell-o mold

Ingredients:

8 - 3 oz boxes of various jell-o flavors (NOT sugar free)

1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Boiling water

Directions:

Spray pan with cooking spray
Boil water and pour 1 ¼ cup into a small bowl with 1 pkg. of gelatin (the color that will be your top layer). Stir until dissolved.
Pour ¾ cup of the dissolved gelatin liquid into the pan and refrigerate until set BUT NOT FIRM. This can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes and will vary as the layers are built. You know when you are ready for the next layer when the gelatin sticks to your finger when lightly touched. If it doesn’t it’s ok, it just means that your next layer will not FUSE to the set layer and may slip when slicing for serving.
5-10 minutes before jell-o layer is set, refrigerate the remaining, dissolved gelatin until slightly thickened (consistency of unbeaten egg whites).
Once the set layer is ready, gradually stir in 2-3 Tbsp. of sweetened condensed milk into the remaining dissolved jello to make the opaque layer. Carefully spoon or pour the opaque jell-o over the gelatin set in pan. Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until gelatin is set but not firm (again gelatin should stick to finger when touched).
Repeat steps 2-5 for the remaining layers. Once the opaque layer is in the fridge setting, boil the water for the next layer/color, dissolve the gelatin and set aside to cool so that when you pour it into the pan you don’t melt the set layer.
Refrigerate the entire mold for 2 hours or until firm. Unmold and serve. Store leftover gelatin in refrigerator.

Notes:

I used 2 boxes of 3 oz. jell-o for the middle layers of the mold so that the layers were thicker. To create the mold in this picture I used a total of 8 boxes of gelatin and my pan could NOT have held more.

HOW TO UNMOLD GELATIN

Dip mold in warm water for about 7-15 seconds. Gently pull gelatin from around edge with moist fingers. Place moistened serving plate on top of mold. Invert mold and plate; holding mold and plate together, shake slightly to loosen. Gently remove mold and center gelatin on plate.

Source: Family File/Kraft recipes (I got the idea to use sweetened condensed milk from the Jell-o Mold Mistress of Brooklyn)

Gwenevere

Mom's Apple Pie

2011-11-23T05:30:00.000-05:00

Today is Pie Day.
(Not to be confused with Pi Day -March 14th)

On this day in 1997 I was preparing to go home from college for Thanksgiving break. I was almost 20 and I’d met this boy and my heart was in love. Without clearing anything with my mom I asked him to cancel his plans to visit a friend and come home with me instead. I left a dozen messages on my parents phone trying to see if it was ok if I brought someone home with me but finally had to bag it and just head home - with friend in tow. I knew my parents wouldn’t mind. I’d brought plenty of friends home in the past, but this friend was different and I wanted to give them the heads-up, but no one was home.

Pie Day is the day before Thanksgiving that is USUALLY set aside to bake pies and finishing any pre-Thanksgiving Day prep. Why my mom wasn’t doing the usual 14 years ago - I can’t say but that’s ok because I have plenty else to remember from that Pie Day.

So, today is Pie Day.

While it’s not my turn to be bringing anyone home for Thanksgiving weekend, it is my turn to bake some pies and finish up some pre-Thanksgiving Day prep. I’ve got my list and I’ve got my ingredients and of all the pies that will be made, there is only one that MUST be made – Mom’s Apple Pie.

It’s time to fill up the pie crust with plenty of Golden Delicious Apples and then top it off with a buttery crumb layer that is way too good to pass up.

Mom’s Apple Pie

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Yield: 1 pie

Ingredients:

1 pastry pie shell

FILLING:

10 golden delicious apples

½ cup sugar

3-4 teaspoons cinnamon

CRUMB TOP:

1/3 cup sugar

¾ cup flour

6 tablespoons softened butter or butter flavored shortening

Directions:

Peel, core and slice apples.
mix sugar and cinnamon then sprinkle over apples. Put apples into pie pastry until heaping.
Mix flour and sugar in another bowl. Add butter/shortening and cut in with fork or a pastry blender until mixed to a crumb.
Sprinkle over apples.
Cook pie at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes

Source: Family File

Gwenevere

P.S. I know those aren't Golden Delicious Apples. But the Granny smith work too. Sometimes I use whatever I've got.

Basic Pie Crust

2011-11-19T09:50:00.001-05:00

It’s not that I’m completely oblivious to the passage of time. It’s just that I can’t do anything to stop it so I’m having a hard time keeping up. Argh! It’s the middle of November. Thanksgiving is next week and I haven’t written a single list of what needs to be done and what needs to be purchased. So why not get started right now? Lets see… I’m in charge of the rolls, the jell-o mold (I’m Mormon remember)….what else? Drat! I’m forgetting stuff. I knew I should have started this list sooner. OH! The turkey. Good thing I remembered that one. Maybe I’ll throw a pie into the mix.…if I feel like it. But just in case I don’t I’m posting the recipe so you can.

We'll start with the crust because...I'm not makin' a crustless pie.

In my experience, the less you know about pie crusts, the better your pie crusts will be. When I started making crusts all I had to go on was a memory of watching my mom make the crust while I waited to eat the apple skins and the left over pie dough cookies –not so useful. (Basically I was on my own.) For my first few pies, I had to just follow the recipe. After I got the hang of it I tried refining my skill…that’s when things got screwy. Instead of giving you something that isn’t great I thought I’d go back to the basics and remember that while it’s nice to learn new things, sometimes its good to just leave well enough alone. (Yes, you did just hear me say that. You can now pick your jaw up off the floor.)

For real. Just follow this recipe as best you can interpret and DON’T knead the dough. Do that and you will have a perfectly flakey pie crust for your Thanksgiving pie. Anyway, that’s what I did when I learned and that method worked for me…except for when it failed: once when I tried it in a food processor and once when I kneaded the dough. (Do NOT knead the dough.)

Basic Pie Crust

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Yield: 1 pie crust

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups flour

¼ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons shortening

5-8 Tablespoons ice cold water

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using pastry blender or two knives, cut in 6 tablespoons shortening until pieces are pea-size.

2. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon ice water over part of the flour mixture then gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon of water at a time until all the flour is moistened. (Usually this takes no more than 6 tablespoons.)

3. Form flour into a ball (without kneading).

4. On lightly floured surface, flatten dough. Roll pastry from center to edge into 13-inch circle.

5. Transfer pastry to a 9 1/2-10" deep-dish pie plate with a ¼ - ½-inch rim. (if my crust is stuck to the rolling surface I run my frosting spreader between the surface and the crust to loosen it.

6. Trim crust edge 1/2-inch beyond pie plate. Tuck the ragged or trimmed edge of the crust under itself.

7. Flute the edge high.

Notes: If you need your pie shell cooked before you fill it preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Poke lots of holes into the crust with a fork to release steam, Line pastry with double thickness of foil. Bake 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 6 minutes more or until golden. Cool on wire rack.

Source: Better Homes and Garden Magazine, November 2008

Gwenevere

24 hour date

2011-11-06T22:11:00.001-05:00

Boy and I left for an overnight date to Louisville, KY on Thursday afternoon. I was a bit giddy with anticipation. It’s been too long since we’ve been on date let alone an overnight one. We drove down with some friends to go see the comedian Brian Regan. Do you know of Brian Regan? The first time I heard his standup I cried from laughing so hard. This little clip is a portrayal of me in the kitchen…I swear I’m so slow to figure things out. It definitely does not come quickly or naturally yet I love it so.

Before we went to the show we needed to get some goodness in us so we looked around for somewhere to eat. Someone saw Morton’s. “Oh, I’ve heard their good!” said I. After a short Google search we decided we didn’t have the time or the funds to enjoy Morton’s. We parked the car and decided to find a place close to the theater. Just around the corner was a place called Theatre Square. Cute little brick laid street that has several café style restaurants on either side. We chose the Marketplace Restaurant because it wasn’t crowded and they could serve us quickly.

What a fortunate happenstance. This restaurant was the coolest place I’ve been to in a while. It was chic and modern and because I didn’t have my kids with me, I felt like I belonged there. Besides the atmosphere the food was to die for! You know I feel fairly confident with my skills in the kitchen but after eating at the Marketplace, I’m not so sure. I don’t know that I could ever turn out food that was as tasty as what we had. Oh and if anyone is worried about portions, these were all ordered off the appetizer menu.
You may not be able to tell from the pictures but that is scallop on a bed of perfectly seasoned spinach, garnished with chickpeas and a side of pureed sweet potatoes topped with bacon (a/k/a pork belly) strips and drizzled with a spicy red sauce. Everything was cooked to perfection and just melted in my mouth.

Boy ordered the caprese salad. Believe it or not, that was my first taste of a caprese salad. I’ll be dreaming of the nut-free pesto and mozzarella for a while.

We also ordered some flatbread with cheese. That was good too, but there’s not much to write home about on that one…except maybe if I were to duplicate anything we enjoyed from the restaurant, that would be it. I think even I can manage melted cheese on bread. J

After our quick meal we headed over to the theater to burn off our dinner by laughing non-stop for the next hour and a half. Seriously after the first 10 minutes I looked at Boy and told him that I didn’t think I was going to make it through the whole show. My cheeks and sides already hurt from laughing so hard. In the end I decided that if I ever get to choose my mode of death, I choose to die laughing!

Here is a picture of us. Tina Fey and Steve Carell are almost as cute as we are.

Gwenevere

Carver's Salad - Baking Bad's Virtual Fall Feast

2011-11-01T04:00:00.000-04:00

A little confession....I heard there was a virtual feast being planned by Baking Bad, I wanted to participate, so I asked a friend if she could squirrel me an invite. Despite my lackadaisical blogging patterns, these fantastic bloggers took a chance and let me participate. Thank you and although I don't deserve to rub shoulders with all of you, I more than appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to do so.

So here we have it a virtual fall feast...the word “feast” brings lots of great images to mind and the one I’m focusing on for this post is a finely set table.

(and hey, I know this type of picture isn't in the preferred style by all the food porn sites

but I'm really diggin the grain, shadow and subtle color tones)

Growing up, Sunday dinner was a formal affair in my home. Well, formal in that Mom brought out the fine china and the table was formally set with linens, chargers and all the elements that make for an elegant meal. My parents wanted my three brothers, my sister and me to be exposed to the “finer” things in life, formal Sunday dinner was one attempt to tackle this goal. I think they did a pretty good job. We learned to eat with one hand in our lap, how to say, “please pass” and “thank you”. Some us know how to fold fancy napkins and I’m pretty sure we all know which side of the plate our spoon goes on. That however is where our formal training ended. Our topics and manner of discussion could never quite live up to the formality of the occasion. J

There were no defined social boundaries during Sunday dinner. There were no parents and no children, we were contemporaries and [mostly] treated one another as such. No topic was off limits and no point of view was shunned. We were given a stage to articulate our thoughts and sometimes the discussion was animated and loud, sometimes someone left crying and more often, we laughed so hard that someone sprayed beverage out of their mouth (or nose).

It all seems perfectly normal to each of us but every time someone new comes for dinner we are reminded of how skewed our sense of normal really is – AND I LOVE IT! I love it so much that the most important item on my wedding registry was my fine china. I wanted to extend this tradition to my own family. I want my kids to learn how to be open and honest with their thoughts and feelings and I want them to be able to have great memories of the instances that these lessons are learned.

Sure I don’t have a dining room or a place to even pretend that we are somewhere more formal than where we really are, but you know me, I’m not going to let that stop me. What we lack in location we more than make up for in character and [sometimes in] food. J

This salad is my attempt to introduce my kids to fancy food. Yes, I have to leave off the toasted almonds but the apples and craisins are a hit. The honey cider dressing helps too.

Bon Appetit!

Carver’s Salad

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serves: 8

Ingredients:

1 small bunch baby spinach (washed, dried and chilled)

1 head romaine lettuce (washed, dried and chilled)

1 head red leaf lettuce (washed, dried and chilled)

1 16 oz. bag raisins

1 cup sliced almonds, *roasted

1 golden delicious apple, sliced or cut into pieces

Honey Cider Dressing:

3 Tablespoons cider vinegar

3 Tablespoons honey

6 Tablespoons mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

1 ½ Tablespoons finely minced onion

1 ½ Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

¾ Cups Oil

Directions:

Honey Cider Dressing:

In a small microwave safe dish or in a saucepan, heat cider vinegar and honey together until honey dissolves.
In small bowl whisk mayonnaise and Dijon mustard together until smooth
Add in onion, fresh parsley, honey and cider vinegar then whisk together until combined.
Whisk in the oil to emulsify then chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Salad:

In a large salad bowl, toss lettuce, apples, craisins and *roasted almonds. If eating immediately, toss the salad with dressing and serve.

Notes: To toast almonds: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread pre-sliced almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer and put in the oven for 10-20 minutes. Watch them closely to be sure they do not over roast.

Source: Dina’s Diner (unpublished) / family recipe

Gwenevere

Steph's Virtual Bridal Shower - Dinner in a Pumpkin

2011-10-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

When Kita sent me the invitation to help support Steph (a fellow blogger) with her upcoming wedding by being a part of a virtual Bridal Shower I was ALL IN! As much as I love dressing up in a dry-clean only gown in order to spend an evening keeping four kids, also clad in dry-clean only attire, away from the chocolate fountain bubbling in the corner, a virtual bridal shower sounded more than ideal.

The theme for the bridal shower is “Date Night” and in order to come up with a suitable idea I had to go back 14 years and remember what we did for date night when we were newlyweds…well besides spending our Saturday’s pretending to be interested in furniture just so we could get free hot dogs and soda at the local furniture store, we also liked to watch the TV’s shows we had recorded throughout the week on our VHS recorder or grab a bite to eat at the local hospital cafeteria after our Friday night volunteer shift was over. Yeah! We were pretty wild and crazy back then.

Surely we did other stuff too? I consulted the photo album. Ahhhh yes, our first Halloween together. We hosted a murder mystery night with all of our friends from school. Look how cute we were! (and no we were not dressed up as ghosts, we just had no idea how to use a flash properly.)

It was great looking back at our first Halloween together and I realized that a tradition began that year….Pumpkin Hunting.

Since we have been married, we have always enjoyed searching for the perfect Jack-o-lantern pumpkin together. It’s the perfect date regardless of the variation you choose. We would either go to a local farm stand to pick up our pumpkin and then take some time browsing the stand and gift shop. We’d grab a bag of hot sugared pumpkin donuts and a class of cold apple cider to enjoy while we sat at a picnic table and talked about whatever crossed our minds. Once the sun had set and I was sufficiently frozen we’d drive home. Sometimes we’d carve the pumpkin right away but usually we would save that for another date night. For carving night, we take the time to carve the pumpkin and then we’d eat roasted seeds while watching a rented movie (not a scary one…remember? I don’t do scary well).

As the years have gone by our tradition has stuck and now we enjoy doing this with our kids. Today our pumpkin patch haul includes 6 carving pumpkins (1 for every member of the family) and about 3 or 4 sugar/pie pumpkins to be used for whatever baking treat needed baked. And that brings us to the food….Date Night wouldn’t complete without something to eat right? I present to you...

Dinner in a pumpkin!

I got this recipe from my good friend Camille who we met while we lived in Michigan (when/if you have kids Steph, you’ll defiantly want to check out her blog, A Curious Thing, filled with reviews on children’s lit). Although the recipe is enough to feed 6-8 adults, you can easily stash away half of the filling in the freezer and use it on another night (You know me, I’m a fan of make-a-head meals).

Good luck Steph. I wish you the very best on your wedding day and everyday after. Your marriage will be worth every effort you put into it and I hope you and Lucas are able to start traditions that you will look forward to participating in year after year after year.

Congratulations!!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

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serves: 8

Ingredients:

4 small pie pumpkins, prepared with top cut and strings and seeds removed.

1 lb. sausage

1 lb. ground beef

1 large sweet onion, finely diced

2 large celery rib, finely diced

3 cups cooked brown rice

1 can cream of chicken soup

3 tablespons brown sugar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 can (8oz) sliced water chestnuts, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large skillet brown the sausage and beef with the chopped onion and celery. When done, drain and return to the skillet. Add rice, cream of chicken soup, brown sugar, soy sauce and water chestnuts then stir and heat together. Simmer for about 10 minutes on medium low heat.
Spoon the filling into each cleaned pumpkin shell until stuffed. Place tops onto each pumpkin, place pumpkins on a cookie sheet and back for 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Dinner is done when the inside of the pumpkin easily peals away from the skin with a fork. Excellent served with a bit of cheese sprinkled on top.

Source: Camille (not posted) A Curious Thing

Gwenevere

Fajita Steak Sandwiches

2011-10-02T08:56:00.000-04:00

I don’t even know where to start with this post. Should I just pretend that it hasn’t been THREE WEEKS since I last posted?! (how did that happen?) Or should I fill you in on all the nitty gritty details that have kept me away from the blog? If I do the latter, I may drive many of you away because that means I’ll be forced to explain the inner workings of my psyche to you and that could just get scary. :)

In order to keep you around for just a bit longer (because I do so love your company), today I’m going to just quickly say that the past few weeks have been a bit of a mental and spiritual challenge for me. Because this challenge has had such a profound effect on me, I really want to share bits of it with you but first I want to finish what I’ve started. That means, I want to show you the third recipe of my [non]trifecta and how I said adieu to a wonderful summer. Remember summer? it seems like a lifetime ago. The weather here turned cold on Labor Day and even though I tried to hold onto it as long as I could, summer just wouldn’t have it. I had to let it go.

Well, a week before school started this year we packed up the family car and drove from Indianapolis to the Oregon Coast to vacation with my family. It was so great. We kicked up our feet and just soaked in the greatness of being together. Kids played, adults debated, we all laughed. It was perfect. See for yourself.

To be sure that no one was stuck in the kitchen more than anyone else, we divided dinner duty up amongst each family. For my dinner I chose Fajita Steak Sandwiches, the third component to the trifecta of bun, filling and side.

This is a favorite in our house and the kids are almost always guaranteed to gobble it up. It’s quick, easy and so darn tasty! The only mistake I made was that I didn’t calculate enough for people to have seconds. So when you make these, calculate enough for people to have seconds…I promise it will get eaten.

Fajita Steak Sandwiches

Printer-Friendly Version

serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 pound beef sirloin, cut into 1/8 inch strips then cut into 1-inch squares

3 tablespoons cooking oil

1 onion, sliced

1 green bell pepper, julienne

1 red bell pepper, julienne

3 ounces deli sliced cheese, (I prefer pepper jack. swiss, or provolone)

4 deli buns, split lengthwise

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon dried marjoram

½ teaspoon dried basil

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together spices (salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, marjoram and basil). Sprinkle over beef and toss to coat.
Heat half of the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté beef to desired doneness, and remove from pan. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet, and sauté the vegetables until they reach desired doneness.
Preheat oven on broiler setting.
Divide the meat between the bottoms of 4 rolls, layer with vegetables, and then top with sliced cheese. Place on cookie sheet, and broil until cheese is melted. If desired spread fresh guacamole and/or sour cream over the bun top then replace the bun top over the broiled bottom and serve (with onion rings or zucchini fries).

Gwenevere

Onion Rings

2011-09-11T00:33:00.000-04:00

Today, I feel like an onion - we both have layers. J

I had this big plan to post part II of my trifecta (filled with charm and wit of course) and then I looked at the date (9/11) and I couldn't do it (which is weird for me because once I have a plan in motion, I usually just run with it - regardless of what is happening around me). As I typed my post, I felt kinda petty going on and on about how great onion rings are - when really, other than providing me an outlet and a recipe to try, they really don't matter - especially when I am aware that there are so many other more important topics I could be blogging about. Someone is fighting in a foreign land so that I can feel safe in my home. Someone is mourning the loss of a spouse, a child or a friend. Someone has lost their job, someone else is going to lose their home. Someone's marriage is falling apart. Someone is fighting cancer and someone else is losing their faith in men, God or both.

How could I blog about onion rings?

Would you think I'm being superficial for wanting to be reflective when I hadn't put a single thought into it until I saw a calendar?

As a general rule I try not to care too much what other people think about what I write, how I think, how i dress, how I rear my kids, how I manage my money, or how I manage my stress...but sometimes I do. Sometimes I worry that people will read my blog and think that I don't care or have an opinion about what is really important in life and they will dismiss me as a person who is out of touch and oblivious to what is happening all around me. Sometimes I worry people will think I'm insensitive for blogging about something as insignificant as onion rings.

Today is one of those days.

Today, I don’t want people to think I’m insensitive to the challenges we all face so I’m not going to go on and on about onion rings. Today I’m just going to share a recipe, some pictures and then go play a game with my kids, laugh with some friends and remember that 10 years ago, I thought the end of the world had come.

Today I’m going to marvel at how we can forgive, how we can heal, how we can move on, how we can build one another up, and how we can change when we never thought we could.

Onion Rings

Printer-Friendly Version

Ingredients:

½ cup all-purpose flour, divided 

1 large egg, room temperature 

½ cup buttermilk, room temperature 

¼ teaspoon white pepper 

½ teaspoon salt  

30 saltine crackers 

4 cups kettle-cooked potato chips 

1 large yellow onion, cut into ¼” rings

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

Adjust oven racks to lower-middle and upper-middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees F. Place a piece of parchment paper out on the counter to place your “battered” onion rings on before cooking. Pulse saltines and potato chips together in a food processor until finely ground and then transfer crumbs into a shallow baking dish.
Place ¼ cup flour in shallow baking dish.
In another shallow baking dish beat the egg and buttermilk together then add in the remaining ¼ cup flour, salt and pepper.
Working one at a time, cover each onion ring in the contents of each shallow baking dish in the following order: 1)-buttermilk mixture, 2)-flour, 3)-buttermilk, 4)-crumbs. Place each covered onion ring onto the parchment paper and continue until all onion rings are covered.
Pour 3 tablespoons oil onto each of two rimmed baking sheets. Place baking sheets in oven and heat the oil until just smoking, about 8 minutes. Carefully tilt heated sheets to coat evenly with oil, then arrange onion rings on sheets. Return sheets to oven and bake onion rings for about 15 minutes. Flip rings ½ through baking and switch the sheets on the baking racks. Bake until golden on both sides. Remove from oven and if necessary drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.

Source: Adapted from Michelle, The Brown Eyed Baker.

Gwenevere

Deli Buns

2011-09-10T00:30:00.000-04:00

This recipe is the first of three that make up a TRIFECTA of food blog posts. Yes, a TRIFECTA! Ok maybe not a trifecta but when used in combination with what is to come….YUM.

These buns come to you from Frieda at Frieda loves bread. Although I wouldn’t go as far as she did to say these are French Bread Buns, (they lack the complex flavor of a bread created from a mature starter) they can definitely be classified in the same family - there are no eggs or milk and they are steam baked. The result is a bun that has a fine, moist crumb and a slightly hard, crisp crust. The best part is that because the crust isn’t as hard as real French bread, you can enjoy a crusty bite without tearing the roof of your mouth to bits.

I’ve made these with both all-purpose flour and 100% whole grain flour. Both are absolutely fantastic and worth the effort. The 100% whole wheat version is include below as it requires a little more time and care over the all-purpose flour version (that can be obtained from Frieda’s site)

I’ve been wanting to share this recipe with you for a while but due to circumstances within my control but beyond my current level of ability I have not for the following reasons:

Myth: I am the worst food stylist and food photographer on the planet.

Truth: I am easily frustrated with my inability to materialize the image in my head to an image in a photo and often think I should give up and do something I’m more comfortable with.

Truth: I enjoy short-term challenges. I tend to lose interest in long term challenges

Myth: I am not cutout to stick with something that challenges me.

Resolve: I may be slow and my pictures may not be perfect, but so long as I’m learning, I’m succeeding. Despite the imperfections of the photos, I’m going to post them anyway and try to remember that

If I wait untill I’m perfect, I’d never get anything done.

Deli Buns

Printer-Friendly Version

Makes 10 buns

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 ½ cup warm water

2 c. whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2-2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)

Directions:

In a small bowl dissolve yeast in water.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 2 cups flour and salt. Stir to combine.
Add honey and oil to yeast water, then poor the wet ingredients over the flour and salt, then mix until just combined. Cover and allow to sit for 20 minutes.
Add remaining flour to make a soft dough that barely sticks to your finger. Then knead it until soft and elastic (4-8 minutes) Shape dough into a round, place in a bowl, cover and , allow dough to rise for 1 hour or until doubled. Gently deflate the dough, reshape it into a round and cover to let rise for another 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 10 pieces (about 3.3 oz) Shape each into a round then roll the dough out with fingers into the shape of a 5” snake, place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and slightly press down with fingers. Cover plastic wrap with cooking oil spray then use it to cover dough. Allow rolls to proof for 30 – 45 minutes.
During last 15 minutes of proofing, put an old tin pie pin on the lowest rack of the oven and put the other rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 400ºF.
Just before you are ready to bake the buns, spritz dough with water, sprinkle with sesame seeds then with a serrated knife, slash the tops of the buns, 1/8” deep.
Put buns in the oven on the middle rack and put 1 cup of hot water into the pie tin. Close oven door. 30 seconds later, spritz tops of bread with water, close door. Wait another 30 seconds, spritz, close door. And repeat 30 seconds later for the last time. Allow buns to finish baking for 15-17 minutes rotating pan 180º half way through baking until golden brown.

Source: Adapted from Frieda Loves Bread.com French Bread hamburger/Deli Buns.

Gwenevere

S'mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-09-03T10:07:00.000-04:00

I know it’s September and that many are gearing up to welcome fall this Labor Day Weekend, but I’m not there yet and I don’t think I will be for a while. (It certainly doesn’t help that its 100+ degrees around here either.)

As much as I LOVE fall, in all its crisp air, crunchy leaf and comfort food glory, I’m nowhere near ready to say goodbye to summer. Not even close. This may have something to do with the fact that this summer has felt a little like a dream. You know the kind of dream when you are trying to run and no matter how hard you try you never make any progress…yeah, that’s been my “dreamlike” summer. It really hasn’t been that bad but work schedules and doctors appointments have kept me from really basking in the simple joy that is summer and until I do that, I don’t think I’ll be ready for autumn.

For now, while everyone else is about to be up their eyeballs in apples, pumpkins and gourds, you’ll be able to find me here in my little fantasy world of endless summer, posting about the “SOOOOO last season” picnics, barbecues and barefeet. I know I did more than just work all summer and until my blog can prove that, summer it must stay. Plus since I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to let current trends determine how I wanted to live my life, I’m ok with being passé and lovin’ on summer just a little bit longer. This post can stand as my declaration of that philosophy.

It’s not so hard to do really, holding on to summer, especially when you have such great food to hold onto it with. I’m not kidding, with a handle as big as these cookies, we could hold onto summer FOREVER!

And now I feel like singing Karaoke to “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

…And if you only hold me tight

We’ll be holding on forever…

Thanks Jenny at Picky Palate for your stuffed cookie series, it’s incredibly fun to see the look of disbelief on everyone’s face when you serve these giant cookies. If you want pictures on how to shape these cookies, her site has them….I don’t know how she does it, my hands were a mess through that stage and althought my camera isn’t the best, it’s all I’ve got and I didn’t really want to see it get all gummed up with cookie dough, so no pictures from me. J

S’mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

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bakers dozen

Ingredients:

2 sticks softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

24 graham cracker quarters

3 Hershey Bars, broken into rows of 3 bars

12 large marshmallows cut in half lengthwise

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment or silpat liner.
In a stand or eclectic mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluff. Add eggs and vanilla; continue to beat until well combined.
Place flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl; mix to combine then add slowly to wet ingredients. Once mixed, add the chocolate chips.
Make your s’mores stack: layer a quarter of a full graham cracker sheet with three Hershey chocolate squares and 2 marshmallow halves, top with another quarter of a full graham cracker sheet.)
Surround the s’mores stack with cookie dough by placing cookie dough balls on top, bottom, front and back of the s’mores. Play with the dough until the s’more is completely enclosed. The dough balls will be about the size of a child’s fist.
Place 6 of the large cookie dough balls on a prepared baking sheet. And bake for 15-17 minutes until the edges are golden and centers are cooked through. Let cool for 10 minutes on the hot cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack or serving plate.

Notes: The s’mores stack shifts around while you are putting the cookie dough around it – don’t sweat it, it will still taste delightful. Also, prepare to have sticky fingers; this process is a bit messy. If you would like your cookie to be a little bit smaller, make smaller s’mores: saw the graham quarters in half with a serrated knife (it reduces the likelihood of crumbs and breakage) then stack with ½ a large marshmallow, 1 Hershey’s chocolate square and top with anther 1/8^th of a graham cracker sheet. Cover with dough as instructed above.

Source: Picky Palate

Gwenevere

Baked Parmesan Zucchini Fries

2011-08-31T21:39:00.001-04:00

In order to introduce zucchini I don’t need to go into detail about how much I disliked it and all other members of the squash family when I was a kid do I? Or how, as a child, I vowed I’d never feed squash to any of my children. I certainly don’t need to go on further by letting you know that I was certain that if squash were the only cure to a deadly disease I would most likely consider death to be the optimal choice. Finally, I wouldn’t need to explain that a few years back, a trusted friend practically dared me to try some and since I wanted her to like me, I did ….and wouldn’tcha know it, I LIKED it.

No, I don’t need to go into such detail. (Although now would be a good time to soapbox the importance of choosing good friends because, peer pressure is going to happen so it’s better to choose friends that will pressure you into doing something good…like eating zucchini v. pressuring you into doing something bad…like eating mushrooms. J)

All that really needs said is that, if you have overcome your childhood squash scars (or are a freak of nature - like my 4 year old - and have always liked squash) you are going to enjoy these baked zucchini fries. If you have NOT overcome your childhood squash scars – maybe you should let today be the day. Go ahead…I dare ya. ;)

Baked Parmesan Zucchini Fries

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Ingredients:

3 large zucchini, sliced lengthwise and cut into 3” (or so) sticks

1 egg 

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs 

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated 

1 tsp dried oregano 

1/2 tsp dried garlic powder 

Cooking spray/oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and generously coat a baking sheet with cooking spray or oil.
In large shallow bowl, whisk the egg, set aside.
In another large shallow dish OR gallon ziplock bag, combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, oregano and garlic powder.
Working with 3-4 zucchini sticks at a time dunk and completely cover each zucchini stick with egg then take the zucchini sticks out of the egg dish (I use tongs or a fork), allowing any extra egg to drip off, and place into breadcrumb mixture. Gently coat the zucchini stick completely with breadcrumb mixture. Place breaded zucchini stick onto baking sheet.
Continue this process until all zucchini sticks are breaded and on baking sheet. Spray each zucchini stick with olive oil spray and place into oven.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Using a spatula, flip each zucchini stick and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until crisp and golden brown. I forgot to for the picture but do sprinkle the zucchini fires with a little more parmesan cheese - it makes them that much better, then serve with marinara (I used leftover spaghetti sauce).

Source: Aggies Kitchen

Gwenevere

Knock You Naked Brownies

2011-08-23T06:59:00.002-04:00

Did you see “Knock You Naked” Brownies when Pioneer Woman posted them on her blog in May? Probably for the first time ever, it wasn’t the picture of the food that piqued my interest, it was the name - Knock You Naked Brownies. Why on earth would anyone name brownies after something that would leave you naked after eating them? (Especially something that certainly wasn’t going to help reduce the measure of your waistline.) After I scrolled through Pioneer Woman’s pictures and read through the recipe I decided the last thing I wanted was to be caught naked after eating one of these brownies so I moved on… no bookmarks and no pins.

But see, thrs [yes I mean thrs] caramel in there so although these brownies were out of sight…they most definitely were NOT out of mind! Caramel and I get along quite well so naturally, I thought about these brownies a lot. A LOT. I even tried to think about how I could possibly make them healthier….that was a short thought.

Finally, while on vacation this summer with my parents, siblings and our families, I decided it was time to bust these babies out… and of course a single batch wasn’t gonna cut it. Oh no, I had to double it! My justification for such an action went as follows:

ONE) - I have a big family. I need enough of the goodness to be shared.

TWO) - It’s vacation. It’s ok to splurge a little.

THREE) - Since this recipe called for a box mix, which I usually try to steer clear of, I justified that with the vacation excuse too... I didn’t want to go buy a lot of ingredients to make this ONE treat and then have a bunch of leftover foodstuff that I’d have to schlep across the country or throw away. Box Mix and I made peace for this recipe.

After I returned home from our vacation, I didn’t have any of my handy excuses to justify making these brownies again, so the second time, I was just going to have to own my actions….I made them, because I needed them to live.

And now after having made (and eaten) these twice, I now understand why these are called, “Knock You Naked Brownies”.

It’s cuz…if you make these, you are going to eat so many that you won’t fit into any of your clothes so you, quite literally, will be, “knocked naked”. J

So be warned: If you like caramel and you like chocolate these brownies just may be too much too handle. If you can manage to just eat one of these moist, chocolaty, gooey, drippy, caramely treats you should be prepared for their deliciousness to, at very least, knock your socks off!

FYI: there are three ways in which these brownies can be made. A single version in a 9x13, a single version in an 8x8 and a double version in a 9x13 (same as the single version in an 8x8- just with less servings)

The pictures you see are of the doubled version in a 9x13 pan however the recipe I’ve included is of the single version in a 9x13 pan. The single version in a 9x13 pan makes for a more fudgy brownie where the caramel really stands out.

Knock You Naked Brownies

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1 9x13inch pan of brownies

Ingredients:

1 box (18.5 oz) German Chocolate Cake

1 can (5 oz ) Evaporated Milk (divided)

½ cup Butter, melted

60 whole caramels, unwrapped (14 oz-16 oz-I opted for 16 oz)

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and melted butter. Stir together until totally combined. Mixture will be very thick.
Press half the mixture into a well-greased square baking pan (9x9 or 8x8). Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set aside.
In a double boiler (or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water) melt caramels with additional 1/2 cup (remaining – if using a 5 oz can) evaporated milk. (For thicker caramel, use more caramel – not less evaporated milk). When melted and combined, pour over brownie base. Sprinkle chocolate chips as evenly as you can over the caramel.
Turn out remaining brownie dough on work surface. Use your hands to press it into a large square a little smaller than the pan. Use a spatula to remove it from the surface, then set it on top of the caramel and chocolate chips.
Bake for 20 to 28 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for several hours. When ready to serve, generously sift powdered sugar over the surface of the brownies.

Notes: If you’d like you could add 1 cup of finely chopped pecans to the batter however due to allergies, I skipped that part.

Source: Adapted from Peetabear @ Group Recipes AND The Pioneer Woman

Gwenevere

Crazy life

2011-08-12T04:45:00.002-04:00

No, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog.

Trust me.

I haven't forgotten.

It's something I really look forward to doing each day however life has been throwing my family some curve balls and I've had to put the blog on the back burner. I just wanted to let you all know that I haven't burned out or lost my blogging mojo (like I did with my previous blog venture) I've just had to focus my time and energy on some other matters.

Yes I know there are some who can blog through their board certifications, or while their families are in the hospital recovering from illness. There are even more who can blog while on vacation or when their computer crashes. Many more, can blog AND keep their house clean all while singing songs and reading stories while they tuck their little ones into bed. I know this because I read your blogs and you AMAZE ME!

YOU AMAZE ME!

Someday I hope to be just like you, but until then, I can only do what I can do.

...Which today means...

I'm ordering Italian take-out and picking up a chocolate cake from Costco. :)

-If you follow me on facebook perhaps you know why. :)

Angel Food Cake

2011-08-04T16:53:00.002-04:00

When I was little (and by little, I mean when I was in High School) I was afraid of the dark. I remember going to see the movie Jurassic Park when I was in 9^th grade and when I got home from the late show, I made my older brother, look in the closet and under the bed for…dinosaurs? Really? – no! I knew there weren’t going to be dinosaurs under the bed but there could have been something else scary under there… so after I had him inspect my room for scary things, I made him sleep on the floor.

So that is what scared me then, what about now? Well, I still do not like scary movies or things that go bump in the night, but what I’m really afraid of these days are things that I worry about failing at; like, parenting or making technical food items. J

Perhaps if I figure out how to succeed at the latter, than the former will just work itself out. Kids will give their parents a break if they provide good food right? I mean forget that you are 8 and still can't tie lace up shoes - you had a mom that made good food.

Well, here’s to hoping but just in case hoping isn’t enough, I’ve decided to face my fears. The parenting will take a bit longer in order to report the results but the cooking of technical foods…that is what the blog is for. So, food fear: Angel Food Cake, here I come.

The funny thing about this (and other food’s I’m afraid of – like cheesecake) is that I’d never made them before so all of my fear is based on someone else’s bad experience. That’s right, before I ever had a chance to figure out if this cake was going to be a challenge for me, I’d already made up my mind that it was. Why do I do that? It kind of sucks the excitement & joy out of the whole experience. (Good, something else to work on.)

What I learned in baking this cake is that Angel Food Cake really isn’t that tough. Technical? Some may say so, but really…follow the instructions and this recipe is literally…a piece of cake.

A few things to keep in mind:

Have all of you ingredients pre-measured and ready to go

Use weight measurements instead of volume measurements when they are called for.

No yolks in the egg whites (it really messes with getting your whites stiff)

Cream of tartar is your egg white soft/stiff peak friend

Don’t grease the pan

Also, when you use a recipe from the American Test Kitchen Family (this recipe came from Cooks Country - click here to watch the episode) you really increase the likelihood of turning out a really great dish. That said – I did NOT use cake flour, I never have because I feel like I have too many flours in my pantry as it is, plus I couldn’t find it so I made my own. To do this I measured 3 tablespoons cornstarch into a 1 cup measuring cup then filled it with AP flour and put it in a small bowl with additional ½ cup AP flour. I whisked it together then processed it in my food processor until it was fine and well combined. For the recipe I then weighed the amount needed and discarded the remaining.

You know, since this cake is packed with egg whites and at the time I was still nursing my extremely egg white allergic baby I shouldn’t be able to tell you that the cake was absolutely divine but what can I say - I’m weak - the cake was delicious and [other than failing at parenthood by taking generous tastes that would leave my baby itching for at least a week] I had nothing to be afraid of.

Angel Food Cake

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1 Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (4 1/2 ounces) or make your own (see notes)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces)

12 large egg whites

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk 1cup plus 2 tablespoons of cake flour and salt in bowl.
Process sugar in food processor until fine and powdery, about 1 minute. Reserve half of sugar in small bowl. Add flour mixture to food processor with remaining sugar and process until aerated, about 1 minute.
With electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high. With motor running, slowly add reserved sugar and beat until soft peaks form, about 6 minutes. (if using a plastic bowl or a Bosch, it took 4 ½ minutes on highest speed for soft peaks to form)
Add vanilla and mix until just incorporated.
Sift flour mixture over egg whites in 3 additions, folding gently with rubber spatula after each addition until incorporated. Scrape mixture into 12-cup ungreased tube pan.
Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean and cracks in cake appear dry, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool, inverted, to room temperature, about 3 hours. To unmold, run knife along interior of pan. Turn out onto platter. Serve.

Notes: To make your own cake flour, measure 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a 1 cup measuring cup and then top the cup off with AP flour. (repeat this measure until you have the amount needed) Use a whisk to combine then powerize in a blender or food processor until fine and aerated.

Source: Adapted for use of homemade cake flour from Cooks County

Gwenevere

100% Whole Wheat Cinnamon Pull-A-Part Bread

2011-07-28T23:06:00.002-04:00

I’ve been reading Chef Dennis’s Blog, “More Than a Mount Full” since I began blogging. How could I not? His blog provides a wealth of knowledge for both new and seasoned bloggers. For seasoned bloggers, he provides recipes and tips that are inventive and original. For new bloggers, in an effort to help them find their niche and succeed, in what some may consider, a saturated market, he dedicates a great deal of his posts to [food] blogosphere “trade secrets”. He also dedicates every Friday to giving a blogger the opportunity to blog on a stage, other than their own.

I’ve been secretly dreaming about the day I would be able to metaphorically, sing on his stage. (I’m sure this isn’t a surprise to many of you as I’ve already shared what happens when I have an opportunity to sing.)

Well, today is my first opportunity, since launching my blog thee months ago, to have my voice heard in front of an audience other than what I’ve been able to generate on my own. Sure the timing wasn’t ideal, and I didn't really feel ready, but when is it ever the right time and when do we ever feel ready? If I spent my life waiting for the perfect moment, I’d never get anything done. So, I said, “ YES!” (As it turns out…that was the easy part). To find out what I did next, you’ll have to head over to Chef Dennis’s Blog More Than a Mountfull. (don't forget to say hey when you stop over.)

Thank you Chef Dennis! I’ve truly appreciated how this opportunity has helped me find my [blogging] voice.

Dutch Oven Funeral Potatoes

2011-07-27T14:00:00.001-04:00

If posting frequency is an indication as to whether a blog is active or dead, then I should probably start planning my blog’s funeral. Man! My summer schedule and new full time hours at work are really throwing me for a loop. I’m sure that once I figure out how to juggle it all, my kids will be back in school and it won’t matter anymore. Oh well, please forgive me of my infrequent posting and know that my blog is not dying. J But hey, why not go along with the theme? (oh yeah, it’s kind of morbid to talk of death) hmmm…how about a happy spin on the theme? Funeral Potatoes…in a dutch oven! And hopefully when you eat these it will be at your next cookout and not your next funeral.

Oh I feel it necessary to let you know that this dish is NOT from scratch. That is generally unusual for me, but when I’m on vacation (yes I consider camping a vacation) I like to keep meal prep as simple as possible that is also why this recipe can be prepped almost entirely in advance.

Dutch oven Funeral Potatoes

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Serves 10-12

Equipment: (for cooking – not prepping)

12” dutch oven

Charcoal Briquettes

Optional

charcoal chimney

tongs

lid rest

lid lifter

grill gloves

large spoon

Ingredients:

33 oz (8 cups) potatoes, cooked and shredded you can use frozen hashbrowns)

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

2 cans cream of chicken soup

3 green onions finely chopped

1 ½ cups sharp cheddar, shredded

1 ½ cups sour cream

1½ - 2 cups corn flakes, coarsely crushed

Corn flakes

salt

pepper

onion powder

Directions:

Cook whole potatoes until tender, cool then peel and grate (Or use frozen uncooked hash browns)
In a 12 qt stockpot, heat 6 tablespoons of butter until melted then add green onions and sauté. Stir in soup, sour cream and cheese and heat until cheese is melted.
Mix in shredded potatoes and mix until combine. Add salt, pepper and onion powder to taste. (If making this in advance, empty the contents of the stockpot into a large ziplock bag and put in the fridge or freezer until ready to cook. Before cooking, be sure the potato mixture is thoroughly thawed)
Heat briquettes
Empty contents of the ziplock into a 12” dutch oven. Combine crushed corn flakes with melted butter and sprinkle on top.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or at 325 for 1 hour. To achieve proper heat with charcoal briquettes in a dutch oven refer to the heat/briquette calculator.

Notes: Rotate lid and/or dutch oven a ¼ turn every ½ hour to avoid hot spots and scorching. Replace coals that have burned to ash with new hot coals to ensure the chicken cooks in the time allowed.

Source: Adapted from a family recipe provided by Dina at Dina’s Diner (unposted).

Gwenevere

Dutch Oven Chicken

2011-07-18T18:03:00.000-04:00

Every year, since I was 9 years old, my family has been going to Jackson Hole, WY to camp along the banks of the Snake River and to go whitewater rafting.

In an effort to minimize the amount of work that must be done in the kitchen while at camp, the week prior to the trip is set aside to prepare as much of the food as possible. Food assignments are divvied out among those who are attending and everyone takes a part in preparing something; a sauce, browning meat, cutting chicken, washing lettuce, etc. By the end of the week much of the meal prep is complete and all that is needed to prepare each meal is to put it all together and heat it up. It’s a nice little system and it allows the cooks the opportunity to play along everyone else rather, than slave away in the kitchen all day.

This is that week. Well…it would be…if we were going…but for the first time since I can remember, the trip isn’t happening. I’m more than just a little bit sad about it but rather than dwell on what cannot be, I’m going to share some of the most memorable bits and bites from years past.

The portable outdoor kitchen has grown over the years in order to accommodate the 40-65+ people who accompany us, there are a few items that have been coming along since the beginning. One such kitchen essential are our Lodge dutch ovens. I don’t know what it is but eating food that has been prepared in a dutch oven, after a day spent paddling an 8-man raft into the eye of over a dozen rapids, flipping capsized rafts, water fighting other boats, pulling rafters in [and out] of the raft all while keeping a keen eye out for mutiny among your own raftmates, just tastes better than food prepared by conventional methods.

Although dutch oven cooking really isn’t that difficult, for someone who doesn’t have much experience with charcoal or open flame cooking, it may seem a little intimidating. (At least it was for me the first few times I tried it) So, to lessen the intimidation factor I’ll start with something relatively simple, dutch oven BBQ/Teriyaki Chicken.

The most difficult part of this recipe (and really any dutch oven recipe) is adjusting and distributing the heat so that you cook your food properly. How much heat you use depends on the size of your oven. How to distribute the heat depends on what your cookin’

First – Calculate the heat

The general rule is to use twice the amount of coals as the diameter of the oven. For this recipe I used a 12-inch deep dutch oven, therefore 24 coals will be used on the oven at any given time.

Second – start your briquettes

Start more than you’ll need incase you need to replace some once you get started.

I prefer to use charcoal that has NOT been pretreated with lighter fluid because we have found that charcoal with lighter fluid starts out super hot, but loses it’s heat quicker and thus must be replaced more often in order to ensure the food is cooked properly.

I also prefer to start my charcoal in a chimney. The chimney keeps the coals from losing too much heat plus it’s easier to keep the coals going.

Third – determine your cooking method

Baking = more heat on top than on bottom

Roasting = even heat

Stewing = more heat on bottom than on top

Frying/boiling = all the heat on the bottom.

For this recipe, we prefer to stew so we distribute the heat with a little more on bottom (14) than on top (10).

Once you’ve done all the calculations it’s time to cook.

Place your chicken in a well seasoned dutch oven and coat with the sauce of your choice. (Since we’re camping and I want to keep it simple, I prefer to use my favorite store bought sauce.) Replace the lid on the dutch oven. Put the dutch oven over the coals and then place the needed amount of briquettes evenly, on the lid. Cook for 2 hours, rotating the lid and oven a ¼ turn every half hour or so to ensure there are no hot spots burning the food. If necessary, replace dying coals with new. If you’d like the chicken to have a nice char on it before serving, thrown the chicken pieces on a hot grill for 2-4 minutes.

For more information on dutch oven cooking please visit The Dutch Oven Dude. He has a handy little calculator to help you figure out how many coals to use and he has a lot more information on how to prepare your ovens and such. Just make sure that you write down the numbers BEFORE you leave camping as hopefully wherever you are going will be out of range for cell and internet service and you will not be able access the information once you arrive.

Dutch oven BBQ/Teriyaki Chicken

Printer-Friendly Version

Serves 8-10

Equipment:

12” deep dutch oven

Charcoal Briquettes

Optional

charcoal chimney

tongs

lid rest

lid lifter

grill gloves

large spoon

Ingredients:

10 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks, skinless

40 oz bottle of BBQ or teriyaki sauce

Directions:

Heat coals
Place chicken into a dutch oven and coat with desired amount of sauce.
Replace lid and put dutch oven over 14 hot briquettes. Place 10 briquettes on top and let cook for 2 hours. Chicken is done when it begins to fall off the bone.

Source: family file, Apron Appeal original.

Gwenevere

100% Whole-Wheat Waffles

2011-07-08T08:24:00.002-04:00

Does someone in your family make the best…something? Have you ever asked for the recipe? If your family is like mine, what you end up with is a recipe that reads something like this.

You add a little bit of this to the mixture until you get it to the right consistency.

Then you sprinkle some of this and that in until it tastes just the way you want it to.

These recipes frustrate me to no end because up until about 6 months ago I followed recipes religiously. It’s all I knew how to do. I followed them blindly always believing that what the creator had written would turn out as promised if I followed the directions. I lacked the understanding and knowledge to tweak the recipe at all. So when I came across recipes like the one above, I was parallelized and didn’t really know how to move on. Plus even if I did take a chance, I didn’t keep notes in the kitchen so if a miracle did happen and my tweaking worked, repeating my happy mistake was nearly impossible. So what was to be done with Dad’s whole-wheat waffles?

When I got married I wanted to continue some of the traditions I grew up with, like Saturday morning waffles. When I asked my Dad for the family recipe he said:

“The recipe?” while staring at me with a worried look. “Well I guess I could come up with a recipe, I just kinda throw it all together.”

Ergggh!

Over the past 13 years (or is it 14) I’ve been doing my best to make these waffles just like Dad’s. Sometimes I hit; sometimes I miss.

When I started this blog I knew eventually I wanted to share this recipe with all of you but before I could I knew I had to get it right AND it needed to be duplicable so with my handy kitchen notebook in tow, I set out to get it right.

There were two issues with the original recipe that I wanted to change. 1)- I wanted it to be 100% whole wheat and 2)-I wanted to eliminate the sugar.

The biggest problem I had in trying to reach my goal was that the 100% whole-wheat batter was too heavy, even with the egg whites. While the first batch of waffles was cooking on the waffle iron the eggs would separate from the batter leaving a less than ideal runny mess in the bowl for the next batches. The second issue I had was that the waffle, although super tasty with syrup and fixings, wasn’t good enough to stand on its own. After several attempts to add flavor with other sweeteners & flavors I began to think a bland waffle was just the way it was meant to be, after all It would be loaded with fruit, syrup (may I suggest strawberry or white), whipped cream and what have you.

While watching Food Network Star this week, Bobby Flay made a comment on how it was essential for each component of a dish to be able to stand on it’s own while still being able to meld with everything else in the dish and on the side. I knew what had to be done - my goal to keep sugar out of the recipe had to be nixed – a little bit of sugar was necessary to keep the acidity of the baking powder and buttermilk at bay. It worked!

Well, that day has come. I’ve finally done it! I’ve tweaked the recipe just enough so that it can be shared and duplicated. And wouldn’t you know it, the day after I figured it all out, someone emailed me a waffle recipe that was almost exactly the same as what I had come up with. Why didn’t I just google in the first place? You think you have an original idea or an “old family recipe” only to find out that about a million other people had the same idea and the same recipe. How does that happen?

100% Whole Wheat Waffles

Printer-Friendly Version

Yield: 20 4x4” waffles (easily halved)
Serving Size 2, 4" waffles

Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 tablespoons lemon juice

~2 cups milk

¼ cup vegetable oil

3 – 3 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ teaspoon cream of tartar

¼ cup sugar (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Separate the eggs placing the yolks in a small bowl and the whites in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Set aside and bring to room temperature (or just long enough to take some of the chill off)
Pour 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into a 2-cup measuring cup and then fill the measuring cup to the 2-cup capacity with milk (this is essentially a 2 cup buttermilk substitute but I prefer this to buttermilk in this recipe). Stir the lemon juice and milk together then set aside to sour and thicken.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and waffle iron to desired setting.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 cups of the whole-wheat flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt; set aside.
With a stand mixer on low, whisk the egg whites until frothy (about 1 minute). Add in the cream of tartar and whisk eggs on high until soft peaks form. With mixer still on high, slowly add ¼ cup sugar (if using) to egg whites until stiff peaks form. With mixer on low add in vanilla until just incorporated. Set aside.
Whisk egg yolks, soured milk and oil into the dry mixture. If batter is too runny, whisk in another ½ cup of flour until lump are gone.
To temper the batter, stir in a quarter of the egg whites into the batter until well combined then carefully fold in the remaining egg whites. Once folded together, the batter should be airy and silky.
Spray your waffle iron with cooking pray then pour a portion of the batter (about 1cup or so) onto the center of your iron, close the top and cook to desired doneness. Place waffle onto a wire rack in the oven until all the waffles are cooked or serve immediately with syrup, fresh fruit or whipped cream.

Source: family file, Apron Appeal original

Nutrition Facts/Info:
Without sugar: Serving Size: 2, 4" waffles. Calories - 231, Fat Calories - 75, Total Fat - 10, Saturated fat - 1.7, polyunsaturated fat - 1.9, Monosaturated - 5, Cholesterol - 113, Sodium - 122mg, Total Carbs - 29, Dietary Fiber - 3.6, Sugars - 2.5, Protein - 10, Vitamin A - 5.6%, Vitamin C - 1.6, Calcium - 9.6%, Iron - 2.4%.

WITH sugar: Serving Size: 2, 4" waffles. Calories - 250, Fat Calories - 75, Total Fat - 10, Saturated fat - 1.7, polyunsaturated fat - 1.9, Monosaturated - 5, Cholesterol - 113, Sodium - 122mg, Total Carbs - 34, Dietary Fiber - 3.6, Sugars - 7.3, Protein - 10, Vitamin A - 5.6%, Vitamin C - 1.6, Calcium - 9.6%, Iron - 2.4%.

Gwenevere