Crunchy Goodness

I recently got the book, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making, from the library.  It has so many wonderful recipes including how to make your own yogurt, cheese, butter.  Plus many other wonderfully tempting recipes that I really shouldn't be making right now, like a recipe for some toaster pastries with Nutella inside.  Oh. My. Goodness. Yum.  However, I chose to make something that was more nutritious and something hopefully that my girls would eat.  Mary E. has been a huge fan of the version of this granola that I made without the almonds.  This is really saying something because that girl won't eat much of anything, unless it has chocolate of course.

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Granola 

(This recipe was adapted to fit our family's needs)

10 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

2 cups raw sliced or roughly chopped almonds

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup canola oil

1 cup maple syrup

1 1/2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract (yes, tablespoons)

1/4 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, and whisk the wet ingredients in an other bowl.  Pour wet ingredients over the dry.

Line two jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and spread granola in an even layer. Bake for 30 minutes. Shuffle the granola and switch the trays and rotate them.  Bake for another 30 minutes and shuffle/switch/rotate.  Then bake for a final 30 minutes.  

At the end of the full 90 minutes, turn off the oven and leave the granola there for up to 6 hours.  It will crisp and harden as the oven cools.

Enjoy your weekend!

In the Kitchen Lately...

This pizza dough recipe is the best!  I have made homemade pizza probably 5 times this summer with this recipe, it's simple and good.  Everyone in our family approves which is nothing short of a miracle.  I kept wanting to get a shot of the actual pizza, but it gets gobbled up too quickly.

Emeril's Basic Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
• 1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Yellow cornmeal, for sprinkling the baking sheet

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, honey, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, stirring to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until the dough is smooth but still slightly sticky. You might not need all of the flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes.

Oil a large mixing bowl with remaining olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place, free from drafts until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

I recently had a MOPS get-together and Mary Elizabeth suggested I make these Homemade Oreo cookies.  Super sugary and rich, but yummy!

HOMEMADE SOFT OREOS 

From A La Graham
Adapted from Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman 
Makes 20 large cookies 

Chocolate Cookie:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

Filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Preheat to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Bake the cookies:
Using a standing electric mixer on low speed, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. 
Add the butter, and then egg. The batter will look dry but continue to mix for about 3 minutes until dough forms.

And, another batch of sidewalk paint was requested.

Sidewalk Paint

1 cup of water

1 cup of cornstarch

Mix

Add a couple drops of food coloring to each cup.

What have you been cooking up these days?

Peter Rabbit

 Natalie has recently become captivated with Beatrix Potter's stories; in particular, The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.  She loves to have me read the stories to her, and to improvise and just tell her what I remember from the stories.  She likes to pretend that she is Peter Rabbit, and Benjamin is... Benjamin Bunny of course, Mary Elizabeth is Flopsy or Mopsy?,  and I'm Mr. McGregor?  Not sure why I'm the mean gardener, but anyway.  So, the other day in the grocery store I spotted these radishes and immediately thought of Peter Rabbit (Okay, so maybe I'm enamored with the stories, too).  I showed the girls the radishes and they caught on right away.  So, long story short, I bought the radishes and the girls actually took a couple of nibbles.  Not because I was forcing asking them to, but merely because Peter Rabbit eats radishes.  Little did Beatrix Potter know that she would be inspiring young children to eat their vegetables, or try new vegetables at that.

The girls tried the radishes raw with a little salt which is a common way to eat them.  But, I found this recipe in Joy of Cooking:

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 Red Radishes and Scallions

Ingredients:

2 bunches red radishes 

1 tablespoon butter 

2 bunches scallions 

1/2 cup chicken stock  

salt 

Scrub the radishes well before trimming leaves and any excessively long roots. Cut any large radishes in half or in quarters. Cut only the white part and 1 inch of the green part of the scallions into 1/2- inch long pieces. Melt in a large skillet the butter. Cook gently over medium heat until the scallions are softened (approximately 2-3 minuets). Add radishes along with chicken stock to skillet. Cover the pan and simmer until the radishes are tender. Uncover, increase the heat to medium-high, and boil rapidly to reduce the pans juices while shaking the pan back & forth a few times. Season with salt to taste.

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The girls did not try these however, but I thought they were yum!  Butter never hurts.

In the Kitchen

It seems it has been awhile since I have posted any cooking posts.  I guess maybe it is because I have been lacking inspiration in the kitchen lately.  We have been grilling a lot since it is easy, fast, and does not heat up the house.  I grabbed this cookbook at the library recently, The Stocked Kitchen, and I really like the concept of the whole book.  

They give a standard grocery list in the back of the book to stock your kitchen.  Each week you are supposed to make sure you have the items on hand, then you are set to make any recipe in the whole book.  Most of the items on the list are items that I normally buy.  The authors make a good point that many recipes have you buy specialty items that you will only use for that recipe.  In this book, they only have you buy ingredients that can be used in a variety of recipes.  Also, their theory is that if your kitchen is stocked with these ingredients you should always be able to make "fast food" ie sloppy joes, pancakes, etc.  And, that you should be able to entertain on a whim.

  I've only made the enchiladas thus far, but they were hit with the family.  I did make "tacos" for the girls leaving off the enchilada sauce for them, but they actually gobbled them up.

What are you cooking up these days?

Lasagna Noodles

For Valentine's Day this year, I made Lasagna for my husband and I.  Knowing that we wouldn't be going out to a restaurant I wanted to make the meal special.  I got it stuck in my head that I was going to make a new recipe out of the Joy of Cooking.  In the recipe they suggest using homemade lasagna noodles-which is optional.  Once I get something stuck in my head I just have to follow it through, even if I know that it's going to require a lot of time.  To date, I put more energy, time, sweat, and effort into this lasagna dish then I have any other dish.  I have made this home-made pasta recipe before, here is the recipe.  Not only did I make the pasta, the recipe also calls for meatballs-which requires even more time.  All in all, the lasagna was good, but unfortunately NOT worth all the effort.  The noodles needed to be rolled out thinner for one thing and a couple of other tweaks were needed in the recipe.  It was four layers deep of noodles, so it was a little heavy.  I may not make this recipe again, but I would make the noodles again.  It's very simple to make your own noodles and satisfying.  

Speaking of getting an idea in my head and not being able to let it go...

These are some hand-made Valentines that we made for M.E.'s Kindergarten class.  Is it obvious that I'm a first-time mother of a Kindergartner?   Needless to say, I will most likely be buying the perfectly easy, ready-made Valentines that come in a little box next year...Instructions for these Valentines can be found here.  After all the tracing, cutting, hole punching, and gluing that was required for these I had visions of the kids ripping out the suckers and tossing all our hard work straight into the garbage... I have a new found appreciation for elementary teachers.  

*Party*

We had a birthday party for my mother-in-law today.  It was a beautiful warm day.  The little girls played in the pool and enjoyed time outdoors.  I've included a couple of items from the party.  I have wanted to make fresh-squeezed lemonade ever since I read this recipe here.  It's my favorite thing to get in the summertime at an art festival or wherever.  Also, M.E. has a lemonade stand planned for our upcoming garage sale, and I thought this recipe would be perfect (even if it's a little more work than buying frozen).

Also, I made a Pineapple-Upside Down Cake for the first time.  Once I started looking up different recipes I was educated on the popularity of this cake.  This classic cake gained it's popularity in the 1920s when canned pineapple became widely available and inexpensive.  Here is the recipe I used given to me by my sister-in-law.

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

7 slices canned unsweetened pineapple (one 20-ounce can)

6 T. unsalted butter
1 c. packed brown sugar

19 maraschino cherries

Drain pineapple slices and layer on paper towels to absorb excess juice.

Melt butter in 9-inch cast iron skillet* over medium heat, tilting to coat sides.

Sprinkle brown sugar evenly into melted butter. Stir until mixture is foamy, 3-4 minutes.

Remove from heat. Place one pineapple ring in center of pan with six others around it.

Place one maraschino cherry in center of each ring. (Optional: fill in any other "empty" spaces with pecan halves.)  Set aside.

*I didn't have a 9-inch cast iron skillet so I used a 9-inch cake pan.

2 large eggs

2 T. buttermilk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

6 T. unsalted butter, softened

6 T. buttermilk

Whisk together eggs, 2 T. buttermilk, and vanilla.

In large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add softened butter and 6 T. buttermilk, beating on low until flour is just moistened. Increase speed to medium (stand mixer) or high (hand-held mixer) and beat for exactly 1 1/2 minutes. Batter will be stiff.

Add one-third of egg mixture at a time, beating for exactly 20 seconds and scraping bowl after each addition.

Pour batter over fruit in pan and spread evenly, gently so as not to disturb fruit.

Bake at 350 until top is golden and toothpick comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and tilt in all directions to detach cake from sides of pan.

Let cool 2-3 minutes. Carefully slide knife around edge of pan. Invert serving platter over top of pan and flip to unmold, using oven mitts. Lift off pan and straighten any fruit gone askew. Scrape pan and spoon leftover brown sugar onto cake.

Serve warm or cool, plain or with whipped cream.

Hope you had a lovely weekend as well!

Clean Food...

I picked up this book Clean Food by Terry Walters from the library.  Our local library didn't have a copy so I had to get it through interlibrary loan.  After I flipped through the pages and glanced at the recipes, I felt very intimidated by the whole book.  Then I read the introduction and one particular paragraph struck me. Walters writes,

 "The further we remove ourselves from the source of our food, the less we are able to maintain physical and emotional balance.  Our processed food diets are so lacking in nutrition that we require coffee to wake up, sugar to get through the day, television to calm down, alcohol to let go of our inhibitions, chocolate and ice cream to feel satisfied, pills to sleep through the night and drugs to provide us with the illusion of health."

After reading that it felt like- the way my husband likes to say, "someone just punched you in the teeth".  I know I've been guilty of all of the above at sometime in my life.  So, needless to say, this book got my attention.  It has a lot of ingredients listed in the recipes that I've never heard of, and many that I can't pronounce.  But, I felt challenged, and decided to embark on a learning experience.  The first recipe I chose to make was something with CHOCOLATE, of course, (I'm wondering if there's any hope for me.).  The recipe uses dark chocolate, which is technically a health food, right?
 

Chocolate Coconut Granola Bars

2 1/2 cups Maple Nut Granola

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet dark chocolate chips

2 cups shredded unsweetened dried coconut (I used sweetened)

Spread granola and cranberries evenly over bottom of an ungreased 8x8-inch glass casserole.  Melt chocolate chips and drizzle over the top until all the granola is covered.  Sprinkle with coconut and refrigerate to cool and set.

The verdict:  Very yummy and very rich! (M.E. picked out the cranberries...)

{If chocolate is involved, you know this little girl is never far.} 

For dinner tonight I made pork chops, collard greens and quinoa with sweet corn.  It was my first time making collard greens.  Being from the Midwest, collard greens are not a typical staple on our tables growing up.  For my husband growing up in the south, this is a familiar dish.  After I read in this book about all the health benefits- "They are a rich source of calcium, manganese, chlorophyll, antioxidant vitamins A and C, minerals, cancer-fighting phytonutrients and much more." I just couldn't see why we shouldn't start making these a staple on our kitchen table. 

Sauteed Garlic Greens

2 bunches dark leafy greens (kale or collards, etc.)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon mirin (or any rice wine vinegar)

Sea salt

Remove dry stalk ends from greens and chop leaves.  Heat oil and saute the garlic for 2 min or until soft. Add greens and mirin and saute 1 min.  Increase heat to medium, add water as needed to prevent sticking, cover and cook until greens break down.  Remove from heat and toss with remaining tablespoon of olive oil.  Season with salt.

The verdict:  The little girls refused to touch them. My husband said I needed to cook them longer.  I thought they were pretty good and will consider making them more often.  I just kept reminding myself of all the health benefits!

Okay, last recipe for today...

Quinoa with Sweet Corn

1 cup quinoa*

1 1/2 cups water

Sea salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups corn, fresh or frozen

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Extra virgin olive oil

*I bought a box of quinoa that was pre-washed and didn't need rinsing.  If it's not, you'll need to rinse and drain it first.

Cook quinoa according to the instructions on the box with water and salt. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 min. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 

In skillet over medium heat, saute chopped onion in olive oil until soft.  Add corn and heat through.  Fold in quinoa and parsley and drizzle with olive oil.  Season with salt.

The verdict:  This was good- and 3 out of the 4 of us ate it up.  This was the first time I've ever used quinoa.  But, after I read this, "Quinoa is a high protein, non-gluten grain from the Incas.  It is a complete protein with significant amounts of lysine, helpful for repairing tissue.  Like other whole grains, quinoa helps fight cancer, prevents heart disease and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes."  I was pretty convinced that this was another health food I needed to add to my repertoire.

Stay tuned for more recipes...

Happy Cooking!