Week 5 - Homemade Egg Noodles

I decided to try a new recipe from pioneerwomancooks.com and she recommended using homemade noodles for it and then she confided that the frozen bag of homemade noodles found at her grocery store in her small Oklahoma town. She often implies that if she has it there in Podunk, OK then we all will for sure have it wherever we may be.

I am here to tell you that despite being apart of the great metropolitan area of NYC the grocery stores here SUCK! There are no frozen homemade noodles to be found. The problem with grocery shopping here is that there are thousands of small stores -- each one with its own peculiarities and to find all the "normal" stuff I need it is not uncommon for me to have to frequent 4 grocery stores. Some of them even have names like "Super" in front of them. What they mean is "Super" expensive, super inconvenient, super likely to not have what I want.

So I had to make my own noodles. I followed the instructions on PW's website. Here is the link http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/homemade-pasta/

It was not so hard (6 eggs, 3 cups flour). But it was messy.

Lots of kneading and adding in a little flour.

I rolled it out (and now after they have been cooked) wished I had rolled it thinner, but I had already spent more time on this than I wanted. They were tasty.

Southwest egg rolls-- week 4

 

 

 

This is an easy meal all my kids love.

Brown ground turkey in a skillet with fajita seasoning.
When turkey is thouroughly cooked add a can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
Then add a cup or so of frozen corn.

Fill flour tortillas with the mixture and also add grated cheese.
Fold them up tightly and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Eat with lots of lettuce, tomatoes, salsa and cilantro jalapeno ranch!

Hot Chocolate -- Week 3

We make and consume a lot of Hot Chocolate. I have tried so many recipes. Here is one of my favorite (and easy and low in calories)

4 cups milk (I use skim)
1 package no sugar added chocolate pudding.

Stir together on the stovetop until you reach the desired temperature.

Drink! Because of the gelatin it has a creaminess that is only parallelled with LOTS of cream -- but this is a pretty low cal way to enjoy all the creaminess.

Baptism Cookies - week 2

These are the cookies that we have handed out as "favors" after both our daughter's baptisms. I use these cookies because they have white chocolate chips (since white is meaningful for a baptism) -- But trust me, they are good anytime. In fact they are so good that I don't have a photo (they were all eaten).

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups of oats
1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix well.

Note: This dough is thick. Spoon drop them onto a cookie sheet. (I use a cookie dough ball maker and you can also roll them into balls).

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Because there are so many oats, the cookies do not really flatten while cooking, so as soon as they are out of the oven give them a good smash with your spatula. Then move them to foil to cool down.

Also -- this makes a large batch of dough . . . so large that if I double the recipe it doesn't fit into my kitchen aid mixer.

Salsa by Michelle -- week 1

 

My friend made this delicious salsa. I got her recipe and now make it a little too often. I love that is is mostly canned ingredients (meaning I can make it even on the days when I haven't been to the store for a while). I also love that it is great straight out of the blender AND it is great if you choose to simmer it.

2 29oz cans whole peeled tomatoes
1 can diced green chiles
2-3 diced jalapenos (deviened and deseeded)
2 bunches of green onions (white and green parts)
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch of cilantro
some salt (wait til after it has all been blended before adding)

Put it all in a blender (my blender is not big enough for it all so I put all but 1 can of tomatoes in the blender). I despise chopping so I put everything in whole and then blend and blend (because I prefer my salsa without chunks). Pour that first mix into a bowl and then blend the second can of tomatoes (here is where I don't blend very much -- I like chunky tomatoes, just not chunky onions and jalapenos!)

Now, Michelle serves it just like that (although she usually lets it sit in the fridge for a little while to marry all the flavors)

I am always in a hurry and want to eat it right now, so I decided (in an effort to marry those flavors faster) to put it in a pot and bring it to a simmer for 5 minutes. Then I served it warm.

It is great either way. Probably because it is winter, but I loved serving it warm. It reminded me of all my favorite Mexican restaurants in Houston who serve their salsa warm (pappasito's, guadalajara's).

Enjoy

P.S. my goal??? post 1 recipe a week all year!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

 

My friend brought me a grasshopper cupcake from Crumbs the other day. It was good. It had everything I like in desssert, chocolate, chocolate, and mint. So I decided to try my hand at making them myself. The result was even better than the original! And not hard to do at all!

First, make a batch of chocolate cupcakes. Just follow the directions on the box. Any chocolate mix will work.

Next, make a bowl of instant chocolate pudding. Again, just follow the directions on the box. Let it set for about ten minutes and the put the frosting into a piping bag with a small tip (I use the little star tip)

Then, make some homemade frosting. (this is definately worth the effort)

1 1/2 cups of Crisco vegetable shortening (this is the one thing that I have noticed a taste difference between the brand name -- Crisco and the generic ones, so go ahead and splurge on the Crisco -- it will matter)
2 pounds of powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 - 2/3 cup of milk
1 tsp vanilla

That is the basic recipe -- for this specific cupcake, lower the vanilla to 1/2 tsp and then add 2 tsp of peppermint extract. (I always taste it -- you may decide you like it mintier and add more -- or you may decide that 1 1/2 tsp of peppermint is enough)

Now -- after you have added the vanilla -- but before you add the peppermint, get a quart freezer ziplock bag and put in 2 heaping spoonfuls of the white frosting.

Then add the peppermint and several drops of green food coloring to the big batch.

I then load the green mint frosting into a piping bag with a plain tip -- although for this cupcake you could just put it on with a knife.

Last, gather or prepare the chocolate shavings -- I used hershey's bar that I chopped. You could use mini chocolate chips (that is what crumbs uses) or really any chocolate. How can you go wrong???

Now you are ready for the assembly.

1. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cool.
2. Using the piping bag filled with chocolate pudding, shove the tip into the middle of the cupcake about 3/4 of the way down the metal tip. Then squeeze about 1 1/2 Tbs of pudding into the middle of the cupcake. You will see the cupcake get kind of fuller and when it is "full" the pudding will be at the top of the hole. Do this to all the cupcakes.
3. Now frost them nice and green. Important, go all the way to the sides -- so that when you roll them in chocolate there is something for the chocolate to stick to.
4. Take your freezer ziplock of white frosting and snip the corner and add the little dollap of white in the middle.
5. Roll the edges in the chocolate.

6. This step is not necessary, but I think it makes them better. Refrigerate them for an hour or two. It gives the pudding a chance to set up even firmer and gives the cake a chance to absorb all the moisture from the pudding and be so yummy and moist.

7. Eat and Enjoy.

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

I set out to make this soup last night. I looked for a recipe and found 2. One for cheesy broccoli soup and one for cream of broccoli potato soup. I combined them and tweaked them.

It was the best soup. Everyone agreed. All the kids loved it. Trent loved it. I loved it!

So here is the recipe (so I can remember what I did)

1/2 quart of half and half
6 cups skim milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (I prefer sharp)
1 1/2 to 2 crowns of broccoli
2 large potatoes (peeled and diced)
1/4 cup minced onion
1 Tbs chicken boullion
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour

salt and pepper to taste.

You will need 3 pans.

I used a 6qt, a 3 qt, and a 2 qt saucepans.

In the 6 qt pan, I melted 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter. I added a slightly heaped 1/2 cup of all purpose flour and whisked the two together. Then I added about 2 inches of skim milk into the pan (probably 3-4 cups) whisking constantly until the flour/butter roux was smooth and the milk was starting to thicken. Then I turned off the heat until the other two pans caught up.

In the 3 qt pan, I steamed the broccoli. The pan was nearly full and I would guess it was 1 1/2 crowns of broccoli. (I used the fresh broccoli that is already trimmed and ready to go from costco -- You could also use frozen, but I think fresh made a big difference.) When the broccoli was done I drained off the water and ran 2 sharp knives through the broccoli a few times to break up any large pieces.

In the 2 qt pan, I added 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced and 1/4 cup dry minced onion. (I am sure real onions would be great too, but I didn't have any) I covered them just barely with water and let them boil until the potatoes were tender (not mushy)

Once the 2 smaller pans are finished I turned the heat back on the white sauce. I added 1/2 quart of half and half and a TBS of chicken boullion. Then I added the broccoli and the potatoes/onions (and all the water from the potatoes and onions -- do not add the broccoli water-- too green!) I stirred it all and then added more milk until I had the desired consistency. Slightly runnier than I wanted the final product to be.

I brought it up to a nice simmer and then turned off the heat. Then I added the grated sharp cheddar cheese and stirred until it was all melter. REMEMBER, if you add the cheese and your soup is too hot or it boils your soup will be grainy and greasy -- Always add the cheese after removing from all heat and make sure it is not still boiling.

Serve with fresh bread!