The Kitchen Ninja

Pickles!

2014-07-06T14:27:00.001-04:00

I spent part of my holiday weekend canning. This weekend it was dill pickles. I had a good bunch of dill in the garden and decided to put it to good use. In fact I'll have to make another batch to use it all up!

The basic recipe for 4 quarts is approx:
2 quarts water
2 quarts white vinegar and
1/2 cup of salt.
Bring to a boil.

In sterilized quart mason jars place a sprig or 2 worth of dill leaves in the bottom of each jar. Add cucumber (in favorite shape) or whole if mini pickling cucumbers. To help prevent softening soaking whole cucumbers overnight in ice water may help.
Add any additional flavors here. Whole garlic cloves, mustard seed, chili flakes, chilis, and peppercorns are all favorite addins around here.

Pour brine in jars, top with a couple more dill leaves and place 2 part lids. Then process in water bath canner for 10-15 minutes.

Cool till sealed and tighten the lids. Cool another few hours before storing in cool dry place. Give them approximately 2 hours before opening to allow flavors to fully incorporate.

facebook page

2014-07-04T17:09:00.002-04:00

Check out the Facebook page that accompanies this blog! I'd love to see you there!

facebook.com/kitchenninjahomecook

Zucchini Dessert Bread

2014-07-04T16:43:00.001-04:00

Zucchini Dessert Bread

1 medium-large zucchini finely shredded
2 eggs
2/3 cup oil or butter (I used a combination)
1 1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup flax meal
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
2 healthy pinches of salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 cups of AP flour
1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350
Prepare two loaf pans

Mix wet ingredients and incorporate flax meal, spices, and baking soda before adding flower. Once well mixed fold in blueberries. Bake between 30-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Zucchini Bread

2014-07-04T16:40:00.001-04:00

Its that time of year, zucchini over abundance is taking grocery stores and farmer's markets by storm. At our local market they're only 50 cents each (and these suckers are huge!). You know you gotta use them up, but what to do with them?

Well, I started testing zucchini bread. It freezes beautifully, and will give lots of delicious breakfasts for months. This week I tested a breakfast version, less sugar and more fiber, and a dessert version. Both were yummy and a hit with the toddler as well as the hubby.

Zucchini Breakfast Bread

1 medium-large zucchini finely shredded
2 eggs
2/3 cup oil or butter (I used a combination)
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup flax meal
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
2 pinches of salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 cups of whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare two loaf pans.

Mix wet ingredients together then add in baking soda and flax meal to incorporate before adding flour. Split batter between two loaf pans and bake between 30-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

BATCAKE!

2014-07-03T10:35:00.002-04:00

For my son's third birthday I made him a Batman cake. He's a tad obsessed, and while the decorations were a lot of hard work, the cake itself was easy and decadent.

This cake was mostly homemade. I took some help from the grocery store, and purchased a cheap devil's food cake box mix. So that's step one for this, step two is throw out the box and do something very different. I used the cheap cheap box, I can't remember the exact ounces but it was different than the brand name ones, and this seemed to work fine, and should work well with other mixes as well.

To the dry ingredients I added one package of dark chocolate pudding mix
3/4 cup of yogurt
3 eggs (beaten)
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of flax meal
Incorporate well by beating on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes.

Fold in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and then pour into your molds.

Bake at 350 till a toothpick inserted in the center is clean. Around 25-30 minutes.

This cake was so fluffy and light you'll never want to use the directions on the box again!

Homemade Laundry Detergent!

2014-06-16T17:31:00.003-04:00

When you buy detergent at the store, you're getting all kinds of chemicals, and unless you're buying powdered detergent, mostly water. I've worked awhile on a formula that works well, and its all ratio based. You only need 3 ingredients: Bar soap, Borax, and Super Washing Soda (see image below). All these ingredients are readily available and inexpensive. Cheaper in fact than the leading commercial brands of detergent, and you get a heck of a lot more loads out of this mix!

Your ration is 1:2:2 So for every cup of grated soap, you need 2 of both the Borax and Washing Soda.

I've found the good old food processor to be the easiest method to get the consistency you want.

Put your soap in the processor first and grind till a pretty fine powder (this may take a few minutes, patience). Then add in your Borax and Washing Soda, pulse till well mixed, pour into a storage container and wahla! Laundry detergent. For powder, as per usual, you start the water on your machine, add in approx 2-3 tablespoons of powder, then the clothes. A little goes a long way. I've never tested this in an HE front loader, so check your warranty information, but for the standard top loading washer, works like a dream.

Options:

I often add about a cup of baking soda to this mixture because I have a toddler boy and smelly dogs, and this provides extra deodorizing power, though the original recipe works fine for most stuff.

The soap you use is up to you. Traditionally something like Fels-Naptha or Ivory is used. I prefer an organic low ingredient brand like Kiss My Face, or other natural brands. The one in this picture is a dead sea soap, and has a beautiful vanilla almond scent.

Happy Cleaning Y'all!

Banana Bread

2014-05-15T09:54:00.000-04:00

Yummy yummy Banana Bread. This is a healthified version that my son and husband love. A slice of this for breakfast is a great way to start the day, and it functions as a delicious dessert as well.

1/3 olive oil or melted butter
3-4 overripe bananas
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Optional mix in
1/2 cup slivered almonds (or other nut/seed) or
1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat oven 350
Combine wet ingredients in large bowl...whisk together dry ingredients and combine into wet. Once well mixed fold in your mix in.

Pour into well greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or till toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack.

I recommend doubling and making more, this will go quick and freezes beautifully. You can alter each one with different mix ins, I've used blueberries (great success), strawberries (not as pretty but still tasty), almonds, pecans, flax seed, walnuts, etc. I often top with either some sort of crushed nuts or a cinnamon sugar mixture to give a little bit of a crust.

This recipe is a basic quickbread, you can switch out the banana for carrot or pumpkin or apple or zucchini (approx a cup of puree or equivalent), If using the veggies, more sugar may be needed. For the pictured loaves of bread, I omitted sugar in the recipe as the bananas were VERY ripe, and just gave it a light cinnamon/sugar dusting on top.

Amazon Cards

2014-05-13T13:27:00.001-04:00

I don't usually post stuff like this, but a girl's gotta try and make some cash.

I've recently started using a site where I can get Amazon gift cards for clicking on sites and completing offers, shopping, etc via instaGC!.

Feel free to join me on this internet journey! Maybe we'll make some Christmas cash!

http://www.instagc.com/amazon.com/311746

Happy Shopping Y'all!

Caesar Dressing

2014-05-12T19:16:00.001-04:00

Quick, easy, and guilt-free!

Now, I don't feel much guilt about food anyway, I'm a foodie-but I do try to make things as healthy as possible. For this recipe, there was a little mayonaise, but very little and I used an olive-oil based mayo (which is what I tend to keep around when we don't have veganaise).

1/4 cup of low fat Mayo or Veganaise
1/2 cup of plain yogurt.
2 tsp anchovy paste
2 tsp spicy mustard
2 -3 tbls grated Parmesean cheese
Juice from half a lemon

Freshly ground pepper

Whisk together ingredients and put on your favorite greens for a yummy salad.

For dinner tonight, I seasoned chicken breasts which were given a quick pan fry, then sliced to top a bed of romaine, carrot, and cucumber then topped with the yummy Caesar dressing. Guiltless and DELICIOUS!

Enjoy!

April Canning

2014-05-04T17:31:00.001-04:00

Who's excited for canning season to begin!?

First round this year, salsa (got bulk Roma tomatoes and peppers from the restraunt supply store) and pickled sweet peppers.

The peppers brining liquid:

peppercorns, mustard seed, garlic clove, red pepper flake, salt, water/vinegar

Homemade Crackers!

2014-05-01T12:56:00.001-04:00

These have been a huge hit...they won't be quite as crisp as store bought, but you get to control the salt, fat, and quality of ingredients.

Preheat oven to 400

I used the dough blade in my food processor to make this much easier, I imagine a stand mixer would work as well.

1-1 1/2 cup of any fine grain flour oat, AP, whole wheat, corn, etc
2-3 tbls oil 3+ tbls of water
salt and other other spices

Pulse till it comes together in a ball, add water or flour as needed to get the consistency. Roll super thin, approximately 1/8th of a inch and either cut into shapes or cook as is then break apart once baked.

I made three varieties, one with garlic powder, onion powder and oregano, one with basil and tomato powder, and one with a splash of vanilla, sugar, and less salt (ala wheat thins).

The smaller the piece the less time it takes to bake. I baked them off in sheets and broke apart, they took about 20 minutes in this format, if you cut into shapes, they should take less time so start at about 10 minutes there. The less water/oil in the recipe the crisper a cracker you're going to get since it'll be a drier dough. Pictures to come soon.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

2014-04-15T14:26:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I made up a big freezer batch of cream of mushroom soup. I love using it in recipes, but I hate all the extras that come in store bought cans (BPA, a ton of salt, etc). So I made my own, turns out its not so hard. The recipe I used as a base can be found in the link above. Based on my needs I adjusted the recipe. I had recently purchased a large amount of mushrooms from a local food supplier and needed a place to use them up. This made a lot of soup, and was pretty simple to make. Using the food processor to pulse the mushrooms saved me a great deal of time as well. 4 tbls of olive oil 1 large onion, minced 4 cups of minced mushrooms 3+ tbsps of flour 4 cups of cream 4 cups of vegetable stock Saute the onion in the oil till soft, add in mushrooms and continue to cook a few minutes more adding in a pinch of salt and a couple good pinches of pepper. Sprinkle flour and adjust amount as necessary to get a wet sand consistency (a roux). Slowly add in warmed liquids whisking as you go to prevent lumping. Serve as is, or simmer till soup is reduced by one-third to one -half for storage. This recipe calls for very little salt (good for those who are monitoring intake). If you intend to eat it as a soup, additional seasoning is required, since I plan on using this in recipes that will be seasoned themselves, it would only be excessive to add more than a pinch of salt. I then placed reduced soup into 8 half pint mason jars and freezing them, as well as a small container in the fridge for immediate use. Whenever freezing in glass remember that liquids expand and to leave sufficient head-space. This can be used in place of canned condensed cream of mushroom soup in your favorite casserole, and I intend to use it in a chicken pot pie casserole this week!

2014-04-10T19:11:00.001-04:00

Tonight’s dinner was quick, simple, and absolutely delicious!

3 Cheese Tortellini in a tomato bacon sauce with sweet peas. 1 package of your favorite tortellini from the freezer aisle 1 small can of crushed tomatoes (I used Muir Glen so I know its BPA free!) 2-4 Cloves of garlic 1/2 lb of bacon medium dice (I like an all natural, uncured bacon) Pancetta would also be perfect here 1 small onion or a couple of shallots Favorite Italian herb blend Frozen peas Crisp up your bacon in a skillet, drain off most of your fat. Add in your onion and garlic, saute till translucent. Add in tomatoes, favorite spices, like oregano, basil, thyme, chili flake (to taste) (you prob won't need much or any salt with thanks to the bacon). Cook off your tortellini and drain then add to your sauce. Toss in your frozen peas and serve. Garnish with fresh torn basil. This dish would also do very well with spinach ribbons in place of the peas, or with a cheese and spinach tortellini. Keeping quick ingredients like tortellini and canned tomatoes on hand helps you make dinner in a snap!

Butter!

2014-04-08T16:45:00.001-04:00

Have you ever tried making butter? Does it remind you of times of old and endless churning? Well, its easier than you think. If you've got a food processor you're already halfway there! Just add a couple of cups of whipping cream to the food processor and leave it for a few minutes. In light of the growing evidence that fat is not in fact a leading cause of heart disease, that hydrogenated oils (i.e Margarine) are slowly killing us and are more dangerous than butter, perhaps its time to stock that freezer! Take a carton of whipping cream and set in the food processor and let it go at a low to moderate speed until it separates. You'll have solid fat (the butter) and a liquid (buttermilk). Strain well, reserving the liquid, and rinse, then pat dry. Once strained and dried store in the fridge or freezer like you would regular butter. You may need to use it more quickly, so freeze anything you won't use up in a week or two. An additional benefit, is this is unsalted, making it easier to manipulate for recipes as you want. The buttermilk can be stored in the fridge for a couple weeks as well. Use it in your favorite biscuit recipe, when making tortillas, pancakes or waffles.

2014-04-02T15:05:00.002-04:00

Fruit Leather! Who doesn't love fruit leather (or the common fruit flavored commercially available snack)? This recipe takes awhile, but it is delicious, and significantly more filling (i.e real fruit), and less chemical filled than any commercial snack even if they claim its made from fruit flavors. I made a large batch starting with 8 cups of fruit, bc I had a bunch of strawberries to use up, but the recipe can easily be halved. The process Im giving isn't exactly what I did, but more what I think would work better than the recipe I recieved. I started with 8 cups of washed hulled strawberries (or whatever fruit you have on hand-just no pits or stems) and puree in a blender/food processor In a saucepan pour in puree and add approx 4 tablespoons of sugar and 4 teaspoons of lemon juice. Taste your fruit here, something like ripe bananas wouldn't need the sugar, and many apples won't require quite as much. These were very early for berries and are quite tart. the lemon juice helps prevent oxidation and brightens your fruits natural flavors and sugars. Simmer mixture till reduced by at least half and rather thick and spreadable (this step consentrates flavor and reduces a lot of the moisture before the oven drying process) . Spread mixture evenly about a 18-1/4 inch thick onto parchment lined sheetpans Dry in a 150 degree oven for 3+ hours. You know the fruit is dry when the surface is no longer tacky. Cool completely and tear or slice the fruit leather. This will keep for quite sometime in the fridge, assuming it lasts that long. My toddler had this devoured in a couple of days!

2014-03-31T10:14:00.000-04:00

After streamlining a few things, I've finally come back to my blog. Here I hope to keep up with foodie postings a bit better. I've redesigned a few things, and hope you enjoy the new layout. I do aim to please some of the time ;) and would like to know what YOU want to see here. Any recipe requests? Got a recipe you can't figure out how to get it to work, or a technique you'd like help with, let me know in the comments or over on my facebook page and I'll do my best to answer in a post.

2014-03-31T09:51:00.001-04:00

Homemade tortillas and the taco filling, turns out it IS a 30 minute meal! Tortillas: 2 cups of flour (AP or whole wheat) 2 tsp of salt 2 tablespoons of solid fat (lard is traditional, but I've also used butter, coconut oil would work as well) 3/4 cup of warm liquid (milk, whey, water) incorporate salt into flour, then cut in your fat, add milk and knea on floured surface till comes together relatively smooth form a ball and rest 10-20 mins (this is when I prepped and started my filling on the stove) preheat a griddle or dry cast iron skillet pull several bouncy ball size rounds and roll each very thin, they'll puff on the heated surface cook on the griddle till puffed, and flip to brown both sides keep warm and serve with your favorite Mexican/texmex dish

End of summer veggies

2012-09-07T16:38:00.000-04:00

Well, I thoroughly suck at this whole blogging process, but alas-here's a new post. I recently made apple blueberry bread off my basic banana bread recipe. I used brown sugar instead of standard granular, and a bit more of it since apples aren't as sweet as bananas. I still added my blueberries, and it was in fact delicious. Banana bread is a favorite in this house, and I look forward to a zucchini bread in the future. I don't have any recipes to share at the moment as I've shared the ones I use the most often. I have however been doing an incredible amount of produce processing and freezing. I've set our family up to have fresh frozen produce all winter long. I must admit I'm looking forward to fresh corn in December! As a heads up to my other midwesterners, if corn has been good in your area, this week is probably going to be the last of it at farmers markets. I have every intention of stocking up. Bumper crops are great for preserving. The fruit is at its peak and least expensive! A quick blanching in salt water is sufficient to set yourself up for quick cooking deliciousness. The vegetable will maintain its texture and nutrition while being a very quick cooking side dish or addition to any meal! I also plan on stocking up on the last of the tomatoes and preserving large amounts of tomato sauce! If anyone needs a recipe for tomato sauce, I'd be happy to oblige! Happy gatherings and happy cooking!

Strawberry Banana Bread

2012-03-27T11:58:00.003-04:00

Here's an awesome Strawberry Banana bread that I made this week, so far the husband and baby are big fans!

3-4 overripe bananas mashed
1/3 cup diced strawberries
3/4 cup of sugar
1 beaten egg
1/3 cup of canola or olive oil
1 tsp of vanilla
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt (1/4-1/2 tsp)
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1/4 cup crushed pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan

No electric mixer needed, a wooden spoon does great!

Mix wet ingredients with sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle soda and salt over mixture then mix in, add flour in last. Once well combined pour into pan and top with pecans. Bake for 1 hour then cool. Once cool enough to handle cool the rest of the way on wire rack. Slice and serve!

On the Making of Bread!

2012-02-28T11:44:00.003-05:00

I have been reintroducing myself to breadmaking recently. I got another bread machine from the thrift store for all of 4 bucks and am improving on previous attempts. So far, there have been some great successes. One thing that's pretty important in the bread machine thing from my experience, is they're really only good for the dough cycle. I have tried dozens of times to get good bread from one of the regular bread settings, and the loaves are simply too dense for any regular bread purpose. The dough cycle however allows for fresh, homemade delicious bread with the right texture and density without the constant hand kneading, proof, knead, proof cycle.

So far, I've made a dense (baked in the machine) white loaf. It was delicious but only good for french toast and bread crumbs once the rest of the loaf went stale. I've made an awesome fluffy whole wheat bread and an amazing Italian bread. Those recipes are below.

Since I believe in doing the dough cycle only, the order of ingredients is important, no setting this up and letting it work overnight, or in the morning after setting overnight.

Italian Bread
In this order place in the machine:

1 1/3 cups of very warm water (let the hot tap run then put measure your water from that)
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp of active yeast (1 package)
1 1/2 tsp of olive oil
2 cups of bread flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp of salt
about 1 tablespoon of dried oregano

Close your lid select dough cycle and let it go. When done, just barely flatten onto a flour surface, roll it and place on a greased baking sheet seam side down. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise 30-40 mins. With a sharp knife or razor blade, slice a ~one inch deep slit down the center of the loaf (leaving an ~inch on either end) Brush with an egg wash and dust with garlic powder and salt. Bake at 350 about 30 mins.

Whole Wheat Bread
In this order add to the bread machine

1 1/4 cup of very warm water
2 tablespoons of honey
2 1/4 tsp of active yeast (one package)
2 tablespoons of oil
3 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup of bread flour
1 1/2 -2 tsp of salt

Close your lid and select dough cycle. When finished pull out and place directly in a greased/floured loaf pan. Cover with warm towel and allow to double in size (approx 30-40 mins). Bake at 350 for half an hour and remove immediately to a wire rack to cool.

Rustic Chicken Noodle Soup

2012-02-16T12:55:00.004-05:00

This is a from scratch chicken noodle soup that I made for the sick hubby. I used the veggies I had on hand, so its not a traditional soup, but super tasty all the same.

First you need to poach a couple of pieces of bone in chicken (I used 2 thighs) in boiling water. Add in your favorite herb bundles, in this case I used bay and rosemary. I also lightly salted the water...this is the only place I added salt making for a lower sodium dish, but you can add salt in other places, or a little more at the end to finish the soup.

While that is going, prep your veggies. I used some sliced mushrooms, one small onion, blanched broccoli, cooked corn that I cut off the cob (4 small cobs), and a tomato-carrot puree stash from the freezer (about 4tbls). Then garlic is an absolute must have for just about everything for me.

I sauteed the mushrooms and onion and grated in 3 cloves of garlic. I omitted salt so the mushrooms would brown faster, but once they begin to brown, this is the best place to add any other seasonings you would like.

Once the chicken was cooked, I pulled it out and shredded it off the bone with a couple of forks, threw it back into the pot with all the veggies and one box of tri-color rotini. By the time the rotini was cooked, the other veggies were soft and pliable and heated through. I served it up with peanut butter and honey cracker sandwiches. So delicious! This one takes awhile, but will feed a crowd and is very flexible!

Make Ahead Meals

2012-01-31T10:06:00.002-05:00

Lately I've been experimenting with make ahead meals. Something that can be frozen and then just popped into the oven when you want to make dinner. I've done a shepherds pie (I mixed the cheese into the mashed potatoes rather than topping), chicken pot pie casserole-put the crust on before putting it in the oven rather than before freezing or just top with biscuits after its cooked, and lasagna. I would've done enchiladas too, but those we ate that day. Also, I'd be worried the tortillas would get a little too soggy, I mean they get soggy anyway, but I don't know how well they'd freeze and thaw then cook. A couple of tips, don't use a glass pan-the temperature differentials are not safe for glass, even the super duty tempered stuff like Pyrex. With most things, you probably want to bring it to room temp first, so pull it out a couple of hours before you put it in the oven. The big point of making stuff ahead is to cut down your prep time, if you use the disposable foil pans, you also cut down on cleanup at the same time!

Other recent experiments have been homemade granola bars and homemade enchilada sauce. I like to cut our overall costs as well as improving overall health by cutting out unnecessary sugars, dyes, and preservatives. They were both hits! The links below are to the recipes I used. I adjusted for our personal pallates, which makes it fun! You usually don't have to follow a recipe to the letter, its a guideline not a law!

Happy Cooking!

Granola Bars

Enchilada Sauce

My first Turkey

2012-01-18T11:02:00.002-05:00

Ok, so last weekend wasn't thanksgiving, but I made my first turkey anyway. A friend brought over an extra turkey that he had gotten from a work giveaway, and we had a little dinner! It was a 13lber and unfortunately was still frozen a little in the center, so it didn't quite cook through, though it was damn near close. He had pulled it out of the freezer two days early, but it just wasn't long enough. That mini disaster aside, it was awesome! The bird was salvageable, leftovers will be heated through in other dishes, so there were no worries. I made a compound butter with your standard poultry suspects (rosemary, sage, and thyme) to rub all over and under the skin. Can I just say, not only was it delicious, it was pretty! Aluminum foil is most definitely your friend here!

Bacon Butternut Squash Risotto

2012-01-09T15:36:00.003-05:00

I made this recipe awhile back, back before the holidays, at least before Christmas anyway. I've got a few pictures. Its adapted from Rachael Ray's recipe. The adjustments are turkey bacon and omitting a few ingredients I didn't have, and don't tend to keep around. Mostly its your typical risotto recipe, but you add in pureed roasted butternut squash and you start off with bacon, onion, and garlic in your veggie mix. Its delicious but very rich!

Browned Butter Cookies

2011-12-08T19:51:00.002-05:00

Browned butter cookies

These cookies are absolutely fantastic! This is the first time I've been successful at actually baking cookies from scratch! Hooray! I'm making the second batch in a week, because even though they were supposed to be for company over the weekend, they haven't lasted that long. I used dark chocolate chips, makes it so decadent. I highly recommend you give them a shot. They'll be great for holiday parties and hostess gifts!