Cranberry Sauce

Allrighty then...sooo, I haven't posted anything on here in well over a year (life got away from me for a while...). I have been promising myself that, as soon as we got a laptop, I would give it another go since I can now tote the Internet with me :)
For me it's one of those things where I am always putting it off in anticipation of just the right opportunity. Well just that presented itself yesterday in the form of some congealed, red, can shaped weirdness with ridges. I came across an add for the canned version of cranberry sauce in the paper containing some proud image of this glob, that sort of makes me doubtful as to anybodies urge to 'run right out and buy one'.
So here we are! While my cranberries are popping on the stove I decided to quick share our version of this indispensable condiment. Homemade cranberry sauce is really about the easiest thing you could think of making (especially around this time of year). I hope some of you try and let me know how you liked it. Happy Turkey Day :)


Cranberry Sauce

2 bags (12 oz. each) of fresh cranberries
1 orange
2 cups of sugar


Dump the cranberries into a pot which has enough room to let them bubble up a bit. Squeeze the juice from the orange into the pot (retrieve any stray seeds) and add two cups of sugar. You can certainly adjust the amounts of orange juice and sugar to your taste or even use lemon juice. Bring to a slow boil over medium to medium high heat and let cook for a while (seriously, I don't own a timer, keep an eye on it, stir and carefully taste every so often). I think cranberries are one of those berries that contain a good amount of pectin because ,as you will notice, this stuff thickens as it cools so I tend to add a quarter to a half cup of water during cooking.
O.K., as I type my berries have simmered away on low-ish for about half an hour and are now squishy but intact. At this point you can whether let the sauce cool and put it in a jar (since our sauce will be gone by Saturday I'm not even going to bother canning it) or use a blender stick (or masher or food processor...) to make the sauce more smooth and then let cool and jar. I puree ours a bit to arrive somewhere in between smooth and texture.
Sooo I hope my first post back has not been waaay to long winded for something as simple as this, but I do so love to talk about food ;)
Enjoy your turkeys and sides and desserts and most of all your families! I know I will! Happy Thanksgiving, S :)

Side note: I got pretty much exactly a one quart jar full of sauce out of this recipe (which means I'll be on the hunt for more cranberries ;)

"Get Well" Chicken Soup

Now, I don't know about you, but in my book nothing combats nasty weather and cooties better than a steaming hot bowl of homemade chicken soup. This is one of those recipes you don't want to get into, if you don't have at least a couple of hours at home, but it does mostly cook away by itself, so there's plenty of time to get caught up on laundry, e-mails or just snuggle up with the munchkins and watch a movie.

You will need:
1 chicken (cut up or whole)
2 small or 1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
1 lb carrots
1 bunch of celery
1 lemon
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper
water

For the broth: Put your chicken, the onion (peeled & halved), the garlic (peeled), about 4 of the carrots (peeled & cut in half), about 4 stalks of celery (rinsed & cut in half), the lemon (rinsed & cut in half), the bay leaves and some salt and pepper in a large stock pot and cover with about 2 quarts of cold water. Bring this to a slow boil, turn down to low, cover and simmer for about 2 hours.
Remove your chicken and pour everything else through a strainer into another large pot. Discard all of the stuff, that ends up in the strainer. The goal here is to catch everything but the broth and end up with a pot full of, what I refer to as liquid gold (and yes, I know I'm weird). Voila, you have homemade broth. Don't be discouraged, if this doesn't taste like chicken soup yet, it gets better.

For the soup: Peel the rest of your carrots and slice into bite size circles, rinse and cut the rest of your celery into the same size pieces and add all this to the pot of broth. Get it going back on the stove on a slow simmer. Meanwhile you can get into removing the skin from your chicken and shredding the meat with two forks (make sure to get rid of all of the little bones and cartilage). Add the chicken meat to the simmering pot of goodness and cook until your veggies are tender. Give the whole thing a taste every once in a while and add salt and pepper, as needed. The soup should be done within about half an hour. If you feel like it, add some cooked noodles at the end or uncooked noodles, about 20 minutes in (if you choose to cook your noodles in the soup, you might have to add some more water, since pasta soaks up a lot of the broth). Enjoy and here's to health and better weather :)

Strawberry Ice Cream

As I had been complaining about all of the additives in most ice creams, a 'sweet' friend of mine presented me with an ice cream maker at my last birthday. This one of the old fashion variety requires ice and rock salt, but no hand cranking. While playing around with ideas, we came up with this recipe, which according to my daughter makes the best ice cream EVER (I love it, too).

You will need:
1-1/2 pounds frozen strawberries
2 cups heavy cream
1-6 oz. container vanilla yogurt
1 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Put all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and hit liquefy or pulse until smooth. Then pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and process until ready. The way you get from A to B will obviously depend on the type of machine you're using. In the case of my Ice cream maker we end up with a smooth semi frozen mass, which requires further freezing for a few hours, but is so worth the wait. You can also try to freeze the mixture you get from the blender, without using an ice cream maker, but it sadly never develops that creamy ice cream texture.
Since we are busily polishing off the batch we made yesterday, I am very glad, that Strawberry season is just around the corner, Yippee :)

Gaufres de Bruxelles or Belgian Waffles 'the real Deal'

I have been on the Hunt for a true Belgian Waffle recipe for a while. What is generally perceived to be a Belgian Waffle usually turns out to be a basic Waffle, baked in a certain Waffle Iron. Yet, I had this memory of a dense, slightly sweet, slightly decadent Waffle. Finally I found this recipe for a true Brussels Waffle (in Belgium, there are Brussels and Liege Waffles) at: http://www.waffle-recipe.com/recipes/brussles-waffle-recipe/
So here goes:


1 cup Milk, lukewarm
1 pkg. active dry Yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
2 sticks Butter, melted
4 Eggs, separated
1 lb (3 1/4 cup) unbleached all purpose Flour
1 pkg. Vanilla Sugar (substitute: 3 tsp. sugar + 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
dash of Salt

Warm your Milk to slightly above Room Temperature and add the Yeast. Let this bloom for about five Minutes. Then add your cooled, melted Butter and Egg yolks, combine well.
Beat your Egg whites until stiff, in a separate Bowl.
Add the dry Ingredients to your Milk Mixture and mix well and finally fold in your Egg Whites.
Let the Dough rest, covered with a Dish Towel in a warm area for about 1/2 to 1 hour.
Butter your preheated Waffle Iron (you can also use some non-stick Spray, but who are we really kidding here, if you're going for Low Cal. you're not going anywhere near these Babies), put approximately 3-4 Tbsp. of Dough on each square (this will obviously depend on the type of Waffle Iron you are using) and bake off your Waffles until golden brown.
Top these guys with Maple syrup (if you must) or some Fruit and Whip Cream. We usually sift some powdered Sugar on each Waffle and then top them with homemade Fruit Sauces.
However you enjoy your Waffles, you might want to save this recipe for a Sunday morning, due to the amount of Time it takes to make and you may as well go for a double Batch, so you will have Extras to toast up on Weekday Mornings, YUM!

Beautiful Buttermilk Bread

"Jamie Oliver's Basic Bread Recipe" has been my go-to Bread recipe for a while. It's super easy, I usually have everything for it on hand and it makes a great basic Loaf for Everyday Sandwiches.


Jamie Oliver's Basic Bread Recipe

1 pint tepid Water
2 Tbsp. Honey or Sugar
3 pkgs. active dry Yeast (each pkg. = 1/4 oz. or 2 1/4 tsp.)
6-8 cups Bread Flour
2 level Tbsp. Salt

Now, I have used this as my starting point for all kinds of different Breads, by using half white and half whole wheat Flour, adding some Butter and Eggs, Raisins, Cinnamon and so on, but last week I happened to have Buttermilk (who knows, why I bought it in the first place), so I ended up with this.


Beautiful Buttermilk Bread

1 pint slightly warmed Buttermilk
2 Tbsp. Honey
7 tsp. dry Yeast
2 Eggs
3 Tbsp. soft Butter
6 cups unbleached all purpose Flour
1 Tbsp. Salt

I put all of the Ingredients in a Bread machine on the Dough Setting, but you can certainly make this Dough in a Stand Mixer with a Dough Hook or by hand. Either way you will want to warm your Liquid, add the Honey and Yeast and let it bloom for about five Minutes.
If you are making this by hand, you would then mix in the Eggs and Butter and combine well, before adding the dry Ingredients and kneading into a smooth Dough Ball (this is where my Bread Machine comes in, since kneading Bread Dough can be a real Bear on your Wrists).
Put your Dough into a Bowl, cover with a Dish Towel and let rise in a warm Spot for about one hour or until doubled in size. Give it another good Knead, shape into two medium sized or one XL Loaf and let rise again until almost doubled. Finally, bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 Minutes, cool, slice and enjoy! Store in covered container for several days or freeze one of the Loaves for later.

A few things to remember

Pantry Staples


Olive Oil: Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, whenever possible. Anything else will be diluted with other oils and therefore won't posses the same health benefits as Extra Virgin, also you just can't beat the flavor.

Garlic: I fell into this particular trap for a while, jarred, chopped Garlic. Seems like a great Idea. Not so, when you consider, that garlic starts losing it's medicinal qualities once chopped, the stuff in the jar therefore does not provide many of the benefits of fresh, chopped garlic.

Sugar: This has become one of those reasons, why we try to stay away from processed 'foods'. Have you any idea as to how many products contain High Fructose Corn Syrup? It's mind boggling! Personally, I don't care how many cutesy commercials the big Companies put out to make us believe, that HFCS is not any worse than sugar, if you pay attention, you know it is! I still use regular granulated Sugar in some baking, but in many instances it can actually be replaced with Honey or Agave Syrup.

Flour: I can't think of any reason, why I would want Bleach in my food, can you? When I found out that most flour contains actual Bleach I was shocked. Many flours are also processed to death, leaving them with little nutritional value and then fortified with Vitamins and such, Go Figure! I use unbleached flour for all of my baking and honestly can't tell a difference. My favorites are: Eagle Mills All Purpose Unbleached Flour and any product by King Arthur Flour.

The only 'Bag' you'll ever need

Full Circle 100% biodegradable Trash Bags

This sort of fascinates me (I realize, that I'm easily entertained): These Trash Bags are made out of 80% recycled materials and not only the bags, but also the packaging are (ready for this?) 100% biodegradable! I love finds like this. The thing about this particular find is, it really isn't one. They are being sold right next to the other Trash Bags (at least at Meijer, for those of you in Michigan) and don't really cost more per bag. Now, why can't everything in Life be this easy???

You're gonna love these!

Absolutely Yummy Dryer Sheets

Of course I know, that it would be best for the Environment, not to use any fabric softeners at all and I tried, believe me I did. Now, this is in the Grand Scheme of Things certainly no big Sacrifice. But, if I'm honest I missed the smell and the soft shirts. So I found these and I've never looked back.
Method Dryer Sheets are made from a Wood Fiber Base and rely on natural Plant Oils (as opposed to Animal Fats, YUCK) for softness and scent. You really only ever need one of these Babies per load and the smell is heavenly (they do come in several scents). Method products are widely available and quite economically priced.

A greener Sandwich Bag

Natural Value Waxed Paper Bags

We are using these in place of the plastic Sandwich bags. They are made from unbleached Fibers, will not contaminate Groundwater, are Landfill safe and non toxic when Incinerated.
Little Bonus in my book: when I pack cut up Apples for my daughters lunch, they do not turn brown, as they did in plastic. So far I have only found these at Harvest Health Foods and Horrocks, but since each box contains 60, they last us quite a while. Price $3.15 at Harvest Health Foods.
You can also order them at Amazon online.

Weeknight Potroast

O.K. so right off I want to admit that I am not one to measure, when I cook. Since I shop by what's good and on Sale, I get what I get and use things as they are available. I use recipes, when it comes to cooking, really only for inspiration, never as a step by step guide. Which is only to say, that I am trying to be as precise as possible, when posting recipes, but if you think something is too bland or spicy or you have some more veggies, that need to be used up, run with that and adjust recipes as they fit your budget, the season and your family's taste.


Ingredients:
3 lbs. beef cut into large chunks (I happened to have an English Roast, that I boned and trimmed of some of the fat, but a nice piece of chuck or round should work great for this)
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb of carrots, peeled and cut into thick slices
1 small (6 oz) can of tomato paste
6-8 cups of beef broth or stock (substitute: water + bouillon or beef base)
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Tbsp. Salt
1/2 Tbsp. Pepper


Preparation:
Bring a nice big pot up to about medium high heat on the stove. Add the Olive Oil, then your beef chunks. Move them around a bit, to let them brown evenly. Add your onion and garlic, Salt and Pepper and let cook for a few more minutes, stirring frequently, to avoid burning the garlic. Now add the tomato paste and stock, give it a good stir and turn the heat down to low. Cover the pot and adjust your heat as necessary, to keep at a steady simmer. Let this simmer for approximately two hours, check and stir occasionally. Make sure to give it a taste, when you're checking. Since Ingredients and Equipment inevitably vary, you will be the best judge on how to adjust temperature and seasoning. Once your meat is fork tender, serve with bread, rice, potatoes or egg noodles and enjoy!

Simple Vinaigrette

This is actually something my Grandfather taught me. Once retired he spent a good amount of his time at his second home in Tuscany. One of his friends there had an Olive Grove and we never lacked amazing Olive Oil. Since salad is a major staple at our house, it is absolutely essential to know how to dress a salad well and I have to say, nowadays my daughters skills put all others to shame.

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper

Just whisk everything up really well and toss it with your salad.
This is the very basic version, which is delicious tossed with just about any lettuce or fresh vegetable. Now, make it your own!

Mediterranean version: add a squeeze of Lemon and some chopped Garlic, some fresh Herbs, if you have them.
Summery Salads: whisk in some pureed Raspberries.
Go Asian: replace your Olive Oil and Balsamic with Soy Oil and Rice Vinegar, then add a squeeze of Lime and some Soy Sauce.

Your options are only limited by your imagination, so have fun with it and enjoy your greens!

'Green Day'

I recently discovered a place to get the most fantastic lettuce, you're likely to find in our area. At Mud Lake Farm all of the lettuce varieties are grown hydroponically, meaning in water, instead of soil. They are using sustainable practices and no pesticides. Lettuce is delivered to several locations in the G.R. area on a weekly basis and you can sign up to purchase a weekly or biweekly share. For more information, check out the website: http://mudlakefarm.com/

Ingredients


Organic I have seen a lot of 'information' lately, claiming that organic foods are only labeled as such to ensure the company selling them a higher profit and that they do not actually provide more nutrition. The fact of the matter is that you wouldn't buy organic to get more vitamins, minerals or what have you, but to avoid all the added pesticides, preservatives and hormones found in most conventional food products.
It is true, that in most cases you'll pay extra not to have those things in your food (ironic, isn't it?), but if you consider cutting some of the processed stuff (store bought cookies, chips, snacks of all sorts and really any prepackaged junk with a list of ingredients, a mile long) from your shopping list, you will quickly make up the difference.
Don't get me wrong, we're on a budget here. The times I'm able to walk out of the store with all organic groceries are still few and far between, BUT if you're interested, you will start noticing, that retailers are starting to respond to the ever increasing demand for better products and more and more you will find organic products, even on Sale.

Local Hey, I get it, we live in Michigan and buying local produce is pretty much not an option for about six months out of the year. BUT, watch out here comes Spring, which means farmer's markets and roadside stands and even in this case retailers are starting to respond to demand and offer options grown and produced locally.
I personally can't think of a better way to support farmers, who have a vital interest in producing 'the good stuff', than buying from them directly or making an effort to choose products that have not had to travel around the world to get to us.

Fair Trade This is, for now, a bit more of a tough one. Fair Trade certified products, simply put, ensure that the good folks involved in producing, whatever it is you're buying were paid a fair wage for their work and were allowed to perform their job under reasonable conditions. This may seem like a given to most of us, but you would find yourself amazed at the sort of unfair conditions many of the things we use every day are produced under.
So far, fair trade products, that seem most easily attainable are coffee, tea & chocolate. A bonus to buying these things Fair Trade certified is that they are usually of very high quality. Again, for more information on this I refer you to a website: http://www.transfairusa.org/

Whole Food I know, I know, sounds like 'crunchy' stuff, you're not a hippie and don't intend on reliving the sixties.
Actually, this is so easy, it hurts. EAT FOOD! You know, stuff that grows without the aid of super chemicals. Stuff you can pronounce.
Things that come in packages and have fifty gazillion unpronounceable ingredients aren't really food anymore. Those things were thought up in a lab somewhere, produced as cheaply as possible (generally at the cost of our health and the planet's), ensuring big companies even bigger profits.
Try to dial back and think about eating and cooking what used to be good, REAL FOOD.

Meat Free Mondays


No, I'm not trying to convert you into a vegetarian!
Meat Free Monday is an Initiative to get people experimenting with meat free dishes, at least once a week. I consider this a freak-out proof way to try something new.
In all seriousness though, meat consumption has risen to such dramatic proportions in the past few decades, that it now has a greater effect on the environment than pollution due to transportation.
Sounds crazy? I couldn't believe it either, but once you start looking into, what it takes to produce a steak or pork chop or whatever, you'll be surprised at the amount of resources used.
Also, as most of us are aware by now, it does not 'do our body good' to live on a diet largely made up of animal products. We could all use more whole grains, veggies and fruit. If you're interested in learning a bit more about this, check out this website: http://www.meatfreemondays.co.uk/
I also recommend the book 'Food Matters' by Mark Bittman, who (as opposed to me) really knows, what he's talking about.
So, give it a go! Start with one dinner and see where it leads. Who knows, you might like it.
P.S.: In the spirit of Meat Free Monday I've chosen our recipe for 'Spaghetti with fresh tomatoes' as my very first Recipe post. I hope you like as much as we do.

Spaghetti with fresh Tomatoes

This is just about my favorite way to have Spaghetti and it is a great option for Meat free Monday.


Ingredients:
1 lb Spaghetti
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 small onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

If you like your pasta really 'saucy', go for it, double the tomatoes, onion, garlic, oil and seasonings or simply reduce your Spaghetti to 1/2 pound.

Preparation:
Cut all of your tomatoes in half and put them in an oven safe pan. Chop your onion and garlic and add to the tomatoes. Drizzle a good amount of Olive oil on top of all this and season with Salt and Pepper. Now make sure to give it a good toss, before you put it in the oven, so everything is coated in Oil and seasoned. Stick your pan in a preheated 350 degree oven and get a large pot of water going on high heat. Make sure you check and stir your tomatoes, every so often, since you want them broken down, sweet and gooey, but not superglued to the pan. Once your water comes to a rolling boil drop in your Spaghetti and cook until they are tender. Depending on how temperamental your stove is, your tomatoes should be done right around the same time as your Pasta. Toss your Pasta with the tomatoes and VOILA, you've got dinner. Enjoy :)