Saturday, 04 February 2012

  • Cheeseburger Soup

    This is a favorite recipe:

    Cheeseburger Soup

    1/2 lb. ground beef

    3/4 C chopped onion

    3/4 C shredded carrots

    3/4 C diced celery

    1 tsp. dried basil

    1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

    4 Tbs. butter, divided

    3 C chicken broth

    4 C diced, peeled potatoes

    1/4 C a.p. flour

    8 oz. American cheese, cubed (2 C)

    1 1/2 C milk

    3/4 tsp. salt

    1/4-1/2 tsp. black pepper

    1/4 C sour cream

         In a lg. saucepan, brown beef; drain and set aside.  Saute' onions, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 Tbs. butter until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth, potatoes and beef; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining butter.  Add flour; cook & stir 3-5 minutes or until bubbly.  Add to soup; bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low.  Add cheese, milk, salt & pepper; cook & stir until cheese is melted.  Remove from the heat; blend in sour cream. Makes 8 Servings - 2 quarts

Friday, 03 February 2012

  • Today is National Carrot Day

    ...Or so I hear! So I thought I'd put up my favorite carrot cake recipe:

    Carrot Cake

    3 Eggs

    2 C sugar

    1 1/4 C Vegetable Oil

    3 C A.P. Flour

    2 tsp. baking soda

    1 tsp. salt

    2 tsp. cinnamon

    1 1/2 C grated carrots - about 2

    (1 C chopped pecans)

    1-20 oz. can crushed pineapple, well drained

    2 tsp. vanilla extract

    Combine eggs, sugar & oil in a large mixing bowl, beat well.  Combine dry ingredients, add to sugar mixture & beat well.  Stir in carrots, pecans, pineapple & vanilla.  Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour & 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10-15 minutes, remove from pan and let cool completely. 

    I like to serve it as is, but you can dress it up with a glaze made from orange juice and powdered sugar if you'd like.

    I haven't made this for ages.  I always considered this an easy everyday kind of cake because it doesn't have icing and there's no creaming any butter and sugar.  But, I also see ingredients that I try to avoid most days, vegetable oil, a.p. flour and sugar.  I should try to play with this recipe and make it more whole foods friendly - perhaps coconut oil, whole wheat and nut flours combined and honey? 

Wednesday, 28 December 2011

  • Encouragement for the Home Educator

    It's almost January! I remember years ago, when my oldest boys were young, sitting around with some of the other homeschoolers at church.  We were making light of the frustration and just plain tiredness we were feeling. One of the mothers had confessed that she had called the church's school to ask how much the tuition was (they couldn't afford it). The oldest, most experienced mother said that this is the time of year that she gets out the yellow pages and looks up boarding schools! And I made a mental note. In January, take off and clean out the closets.

     

    School is wearying at this time of year, you've just finished trying to do too much for the holidays, and now after all of the fun and the parties, the kids are not thrilled about going back to an essay a day (or whatever it is that they're not excited about). And you, you are exhausted, physical work is much easier than the work of trying to motivate and instill good character and the right attitudes about something that the kids are already determined to resist. So, I chose another way to continue to motivate and instill good character and right attitudes (we never get to stop doing that!). Housework! We organize and clean and dejunk so that when it is time to get back to school, we have a comfortable, restful home to work in. Try it, it's better than the "funny farm".

    Here is a great article entitled "Rest for Weary Homeschool Moms". I found it at Faith and Family Books. It really is worth the time to read.

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

  • Pie Crust Recipe (with Vodka)

    I got this recipe from the Fall 2008 issue of Cook's Illustrated.  This is what it says:

    "Science: Dough Tenderizer

    Pie dough gets its structure from gluten, long chains of protein that form when flour mixes with water.  But too much gluten will make pie dough tough.  That's why traditional pie doughs are so stingy with the water. We discovered that vodka lets you add more liquid (so the dough is easy to roll out) without toughening the crust.  Why?

    Eighty-proof vodka consists of 60 percent water and 40 percent ethanol.  While gluten forms readily in water, it does not form in ethanol.  Thus, our recipe, which contains 4 tablespoons each of cold water and vodka, gets the benefits of 8 tablespoons of liquid (supple easy-to-roll dough) but actually has the equivalent of about 6 1/2 tablespoons of water- an amount that limits gluten formation and ensure tenderness.  As for the alcohol, it vaporizes in the oven."

    2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour

    2 Tbs. sugar

    1 tsp. table salt

    12 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" slices

    1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces

    1/4 cup cold vodka

    1/4 cup cold water

    Process 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar and salt in food processor until combine, about two 1-second pulses.  Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there  should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around the processor blade.  Add remaining cup flour and pulse until the mixture is evenly distributed around the bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses.  Empty mixture into medium bowl.

    Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture.  With rubber spatual, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.  Divide dough into 2 even balls and flatten each into 4" disk.  Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

    Note: To me, this does have a slight alcohol taste after being baked. I don't fool with the processor, I just use my trusty pastry blender.  I'm not sure that you could completely substitute whole wheat flour for the white, completely, but you could try starting out with 1/2 & 1/2.  I know that white flour and shortening are unhealthy, but you are making PIE! happy

     

    Here is the recipe that I use most of the time for pie crust.  It is wonderfully flaky.  I have been thinking that for all of the pies I plan to make for Thanksgiving, though that I will add a Tbs or two of vodka to make it less crumbly to roll out.

    3 cups sifted ap flour

    1 tsp. salt

    1 cup cold shortening

    5-6 Tbs. ice water

    Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening.  Sprinkle with ice water and lightly mix with pastry fork.  Gather with your hands into two balls and flatten and wrap and refrigerate.

    Note: I have completely substituted butter with only a slight toughening of the crust (remember that butter has some whey still in it, the moisture content is higher than shortening).  I usually go with half butter and half shortening.

    Both of these recipes are for two crusts. 

    Don't forget to re-roll the leftovers, spread with butter, cinnamon sugar and roll up like cinnamon roll dough.  Slice thinly and bake for "snail cookies".  A tea time treat!

     

Friday, 04 November 2011

  • A great fall dish.

    I made a new dish for dinner last night.  I found it at this website. I pinned it to my Pinterest board and there it was waiting for me to make it when the time was right.  This would be good vegan also, just leave out the chicken. The recipe was meant to be divided up into two meals feeding 4 generously.  I made the whole thing and it filled my crocpot too full.  I also added about 2 cups of smoked chicken I had left over from Jeb's.  Even my sweet potato haters liked this dish and plan to eat it for lunch as well.  Definitely a hit.

    Healthy Mama Barbecue Chicken
    3 medium unpeeled  sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
    2 large green pepper, cut into strips
    1 large red pepper, cut into strips
    1 zucchini, chopped
    1 medium onion, sliced
    1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca
    2 pounds chicken thighs or drumsticks
    1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
    2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
    1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
    1 tablespoon yellow mustard
    1 clove garlic, minced
    1/4 teaspoon salt (I ended up adding a couple of shakes of creole seasoning).


    Dump everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer.  To cook, take out of freezer and set on counter for about 30 minutes, then dump contents of bag into slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours.

     

    Update: I made this again on Sunday for Emily and the gang.  I substituted a can of cannellini beans for the meat and added some chopped Kale.  I didn't have any zucchini.  It was very good.  Emily said it sounded weird, but she liked it. 11/16/2011

MargaretinVa

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