7 Quick Takes - Cooking Edition

It's been a while since I have participated in 7 Quick Takes hosted by Conversion Diary. I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately...

1.
Bread Machine Fail.
Subtitled "what happens when you forget to snap the pan in the bread machine so it can knead properly AND when you mess up setting the delay timer."

2.
What the cinnamon rolls were supposed to look like (and the next attempt did):
You can't see the bottom, but there was butter and brown sugar that melted and gooped together into something wonderful. (Well, it wasn't exactly brown sugar - I ran out and used white sugar and molasses, but didn't bother to check the proportions, so it was a bit...strong. But still good!)

3.
Did I mention my dad and I picked strawberries at a patch belonging to the family who sits next to us at Mass?

4.
I love doing things that aren't necessarily hands-on, but once you're finished, you feel like you've accomplished a ton. Pictured here: soaking oats, soaking nuts, beans in the crockpot.
I am almost out of oatmeal, so I made a small batch. I'm thinking of ordering again from Azure Standard and getting 25 pounds or so - the price is MUCH better than what I can get at Wal-Mart.

5.
Goose isn't a fan of the grain mill or the food processor as she thinks they're too noisy. I wanted to get a picture of what she did when I ground flour the other day, but she popped up as soon as she saw the camera.
Initially, all I could see was a pair of eyes peeping over the back of the couch. Once I shut the mill off, she always asks several times "all done, Mama? All done grinding wheat? All done, Mama?"

6.
I got Goose's jar of miscellaneous beans out yesterday for her to play with, and wondered why I don't do that more often. Well, this is why:

7.
My friend Katie at Kitchen Stewardship is giving away an Excalibur dehydrator. Go check it out!

Freezing in Plastic

I'm a big proponent of freezing food, and also a big proponent of re-using containers, whatever they may be. However, did you know that when plastic freezes, it becomes brittle? This also goes for plastic bags (such as the ones with zip tops), to some degree.

This becomes a problem when you, say, drop something frozen on the floor (or against other frozen items). You have the hard floor meeting something frozen solid (and ice crystals can be SHARP!), with brittle plastic in between. Even pin-holes, which are almost undetectable, will let air in and moisture out, leading to frostbite if you put it back in the freezer. If you drop it while removing from the freezer, you'll want to take care in the way you thaw it because it could leak.

I was reminded of this while I was thawing frozen tomatoes to use in spicy tomato juice, salsa, and tomato sauce. I put the bags of tomatoes in the bath tub to thaw since I could spread them out and there would be no danger of condensation damaging the surface underneath. I picked one up, and water just *streamed* out of a hole the diameter of my pinky finger. I was pretty thankful it was still over the bath tub!

For more kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes!

Cutting and Freezing Jalapeños

The pepper plants in my garden continue to produce well, and I still have some blooms so it looks like we'll be getting peppers up until it freezes. (Which, based on the buzzing insects - locusts or cicadas, whatever you call them - may not be too far away!) I canned some jalapeños but I like to freeze some, too.

Kitchen tip: ALWAYS wear gloves when cutting jalapeños. Seriously. It is SO NOT worth the burn! You can get plastic or latex gloves similar to what food service workers wear that are pretty cheap, but they can be a bit flimsy. Replace them as soon as you notice them sticking to your hand - that means you likely have a leak somewhere. Wash your hands immediately. DO NOT rub your face, eyes, or anything else. If you wear contacts, I highly recommend removing them before working on the jalapeños just in case. That is the reason Alton Brown always wears glasses now.

If you do find yourself suffering from "jalapeño hands", you can visit this post by Newly Purnell for a number of suggestions for relief. (warning - some comments are a bit crass, and some contain swear words - that pain would drive a saint to drink, though . . .) It sounds like different things work for different people. Some that I noticed included:
* milk - I recommend pouring on a cloth or paper towel and applying that to the burning area
* rubbing alcohol (also pour on cloth and apply) and/or hand sanitizer
* rubbing the affected area on something made of stainless steel if possible
* paste made of baking soda and water
* Calamine lotion
* An anti-oil facial astringent or anti-oil acne cream containing benzoyl peroxide
* honey
and many, many more.

Actually, I'm thinking I might declare a pair of rubber gloves (like those used for washing dishes) for jalapeño use only, because I tend to use my left thumbnail and index fingernail to scrape out seeds and membranes, which eventually weakens the glove and that leads to a very high likelihood of jalapeño hands.

To freeze "whole" jalapeños, I cut the tops off, then run the tip of my knife around the top of the pepper between the flesh and the seed pod in the center, through the ribs, or membranes. I then make one cut down to the bottom tip. I open the pepper up, remove the seed pod, try to remove as much of the ribs as I can, and all the loose seeds. I then put them in a freezer zip top bag and freeze. Today I fit about 32 jalapeños per quart bag, though I could have packed a few more in if needed.

Hubs likes jalapeños but isn't crazy about cream cheese, so the standard jalapeño popper recipes aren't his cup of tea. A few years ago, I came across a recipe for Jalapeño Chicken Wraps in a Taste of Home magazine that Hubs really likes.

I found that in order to get the bacon as crisp as he likes it, I needed to pre-cook the bacon if I used the grill. I have also made them in the oven, and that seems to crisp the bacon better.

Enjoy your hot peppers - but do it safely! And for more kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes!

Porcupine Meatballs

One of my favorite meals at my grandma's house when I was little was porcupine meatballs. Of course, it may have been influenced by the macaroni and cheese and homemade bread she served with it - and I'm sure there was some sort of vegetable, but it has certainly faded to the background. If my memory serves correctly, once I grew up I asked for the recipe and she just used tomato sauce. That doesn't quite fit with my grown-up palate (or the memory, but I digress), so I set out to create my own.

I've actually combined two recipes, one that I found somewhere for the meatballs themselves, and another for the sauce. Perhaps I'd better back up - in case you aren't familiar with porcupine meatballs, they contain rice, which kind of sticks out like little quills.

This time, I used four pounds of hamburger, and I tried making the meatballs larger than usual . . . the scoop I used was probably about 1/3 cup, though I probably only had about 1/4 cup of mixture in there. I then put the meatballs on cookie sheets and baked them instead of browning them in a skillet. Since I had 44 total meatballs, I divided them 11 to a batch and froze three batches and cooked the other one.

Being me, I was out of white rice so I used brown . . . and during the simmering part, I cooked it and cooked it and cooked it. Still wasn't done. So the next day, I put the meatballs and sauce in the crock pot and THEN the rice finally got done. But the meatballs pretty much fell apart! Can't win for losing, and it tasted great. I've added white rice to the shopping list, though.

So. Recipes!
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Porcupine Balls

2 pounds hamburger
1 cup regular uncooked white rice
1/2 cup water
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon celery salt (optional - I never have it)
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Mix well, shape into about 20 balls, brown.

Mix 15 oz can tomato sauce, 1 cup water, and 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, pour over balls. Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes or until rice is tender.
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And here's the meatballs and sauce recipe that *I* like for the sauce (more on that in a bit):
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Barbecued Meatballs - from a former co-worker's mother who is a good cook! And it's an honest-to-goodness freezer cooking recipe.

Meatballs
3 pounds hamburger
12 oz can evaporated milk
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup cracker crumbs (~27 saltines)
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons chili powder

Sauce
2 cups ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (see my riblet post for a link on why it's OK to use - no crazy chemicals!)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup chopped onion

Meatballs: combine all ingredients (will be soft) and shape into walnut-sized balls. Freeze in single layer on wax-lined cookie sheets until firm, remove to air tight container and return to freezer.

Place frozen meatballs in 9x13 pan. Combine all sauce ingredients in bowl and stir until sugar dissolves. Pour over meatballs. Bake at 350* for one hour.

Notes: may want to make half again the sauce amount if you like saucy meatballs. Sauce can also be used on meatloaf.
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My problem? Hubs thinks the sauce is too sweet. I can see his point.

So this time I experimented with a mixture of BBQ sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, and Worcestershire. I used about 1 cup BBQ sauce, 1/2 cup ketchup, about 3 tablespoons brown sugar, several good shakes of Worcestershire, and some water to thin it, though I'm not sure I needed it. In actuality, I intended to use more ketchup but ran out. I thought the sauce smelled too BBQ sauce-y, but the flavor wasn't quite as strong. Still, I intend to use a higher ratio of ketchup next go-around. And, with three pounds of meatballs in the freezer, there WILL be a next time . . .

Canning Spicy Tomato Juice & Jalapeños

It's been a while since I've introduced a new category to my blog, and I hope this one ends up with lots of posts eventually! This week, I canned spicy tomato juice. It's a recipe I've had for a while (and I actually managed to track down via the Taste of Home website - spicy tomato juice recipe) and I'm sure I clipped it because it gives instructions on freezing it. I've been afraid of canning for a long time (something about sending your whole family to the hospital does that to a girl) but I really want to conquer it!

There are still quite a few tomatoes in my freezer from last year (I'll have to share with you how I freeze tomatoes!) so I tried using about half frozen and half fresh. I ended up making about half again the recipe, although I ended up with about double the yield. I also didn't pay strict attention to the amounts, just put in about what I thought it should be and had Hubs taste test it when it was done. (YOU tell ME how many tiny onions make up "three medium onions" worth - plus half again, to boot!)

I will use about two quarts of this when I make chili (mmmMMM, can't wait until I make it so I can share that recipe with you!) and I also canned several smaller jars as Hubs enjoys it in a red beer every now and then.

Surely you know I couldn't do this without an "incident" right? Since tomatoes are so acidic, I went with my dad's advice that I didn't need to put them in a water bath to can them. So I washed the jars in HOT soapy water (using rubber gloves - it was that hot), and rinsed them in HOT water, then filled them with HOT juice, then put HOT lids on them and screwed on the rings. Then I started clicking around to some friends' sites, and got nervous.

I ended up removing the lids, using new (boiled) lids, and processing them in a water bath. (EDIT: I now am adding lemon juice to each jar, and I've also read that juice should be processed in a pressure canner. Good grief this stuff is complicated, isn't it???) Since I had a bit of extra space, I also made some pickled jalapeños since Hubs likes them.

Like everyone's kitchen, mine HEATS UP when canning . . . some things that I did to try and keep it cool included:
* setting a fan in the doorway to blow cool air in (while Goose was napping, of course).
* dumping my hot water as soon as I was done with it (I would also recommend taking it outside to cool and then using it on your garden).
* taking my jars from the water bath into the bathroom to cool - I lined the tub with a towel and set them in there. I also put the pot in there until it cooled down.

I also wasn't quite sure where to store my newly canned treasures. Away from heat and light is recommended . . . so I put them under the bed in the spare room! It's close enough to the kitchen that they won't be hard to grab when I need them.

If you're new to canning, I highly recommend Laura at Heavenly Homemaker's Canning 101, and you may remember that Lori at A Frugally Old Fashioned Homemaker put together a great post on Helpful Canning Information.

A Good Day To Be Alive

Yesterday was a fantabulous day. It was cool without being cold or rainy, just enough breeze to keep away the bugs that are out already. Goose and I went for a short walk around town in the morning, then after her nap, we walked out to the farm.

On top of that, I weeded much of my gourd patch - it's about 15'x5', with approximately five gourd plants. The rest is solid weeds! I squatted almost the whole time, so combining that with the walk, I didn't think I'd be able to get out of bed this morning. So far, so good.

We started the day off with pancakes - I have been using the recipe on the container of powdered buttermilk, but it's finally used up. Since Kim's recipe for honey maple syrup (scroll down a bit) was so good, I think I'd probably better try her pancakes next, too. (We halved the syrup to make sure we'd like it - and since we're half the size of her family!) It was delicious - thanks, Kim!

What's a day in the kitchen without some sort of incident? I cooked my bone-in chicken breasts in the crock pot during the evening night before last, and took them out to let them cool a bit. Then I forgot to put them in the fridge - they just sat on a plate all night. Surprisingly, my cats left them alone (my mom just fell out of her chair at that bit of info) so I had Hubs shred them up and I used them to make Chicken and Rice.

As an aside, one of the links I provided on cutting split breasts noted that she got about 2 cups of shredded chicken from two split breasts. After I cut the meaty breast piece off, I noticed there was another meaty piece, like a chicken tender - long, skinny, and narrow. (This is probably actually where chicken tenders come from!) So I cut that off, too, and threw it in with my marinades. I then ended up with about three cups of shredded meat from eight split breasts, just enough for this recipe.

Chicken and Rice

Cook 1 1/2 cups rice in water per package directions. (I have been using brown rice, I'm still not quite used to it in here, though.) Saute one onion, chopped, and 1 cup celery in butter. Combine rice, onion mixture, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 2 cups chicken broth (I usually use less), 3 cups cooked diced chicken, 1 can water chestnuts (I usually run them through the handy chopper) and one can mushrooms.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, then cover with crushed potato chips (I usually don't have any plain ones, so I skip this) and bake another 15-20 minutes until heated through. Yield 8-10 servings.

Tweaks - I have dumped it all in a crockpot and cooked it on low for a few hours, and I have just heated it through on the stove. That's probably why I use less chicken broth. Yesterday, I actually dumped everything in the rice cooker and let it cook that way. It took two cycles, though.

After cooking, I put about half of it in the freezer for another meal and we still had some leftovers after eating it for lunch.

Goose and I are supposed to go to the nearby "city" for a Nebraska Friends of Midwives potluck at the park, and it's raining! We don't really have a backup plan, so I'm thinking we'll just go and get a little wet and have a good time.

Southwest Salad Version 3.1

Last week, Tammy's Recipes shared a link to this salad. I thought it sounded good, but perhaps a bit bland.

So, I followed the basic recipe but added seasoned salt (use more if your beans were cooked from dried; less if canned), chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder to my beans and corn. [edit: I also added some oregano! Most people think of it as an Italian seasoning, but it also compliments Mexican food.] I then heated them a bit because that's how I prefer my taco salads. I love the cool, crisp greens contrasted with the warm, spicy meat (or in this case, beans and corn).

And, in keeping with my Kitchen Incident tradition, I accidentally used cinnamon instead of cumin the first time around. No problem! I just dumped the beans and corn in a colander and rinsed, then re-seasoned properly.

For dressing, I combined a blop of ranch with about an equal-sized blop of BBQ sauce. It was perfect.

This is also a very good recipe to keep me on track with Laura at Heavenly Homemaker's eat more fruits and veggies challenge. I estimate the salad I had to be around four servings of veggies. Yeah!


For more salad recipes, visit Tammy's Recipes for the in-season recipe swap.

Kitchen Incident Confession

So yesterday, I got five packages of hamburger out of the freezer for sloppy joes. I set them on the burners of the stove to thaw a bit while I did a few other things, and promptly forgot about them. Once I returned, they'd thawed enough to leak meat juice on the stove and down into the drip pans, some actually overflowing into that no-man's-land that you have to lift up the top of your stove to access. Major eew.

Fifteen minutes, one cranky toddler up from her nap and wanting MILK NOW, several paper towels, some Lysol, a quick soapy dunk of drip pans in hot water, and a few rags later, I was back in business. You may have guessed that dealing with raw meat is one of my least favorite parts of cooking.

My most famous incident, though, is the time I started a fire. It was a bunch of dumb little things that added up - and it added up big! A few days prior to the flaming incident, I had attempted to soften two sticks of butter on the back burner (not even the one over the oven vent) while the oven was on.

Of course, they melted a bit and some butter collected in the drip pan. I had needed new drip pans for oh, a little over a year at that point. I had actually tried to find some, but the one set I bought didn't fit. I'm also usually in a huge rush when I go to the "city" because I have a finite amount of time to get Goose home for her nap - and if I don't make the deadline, we both pay for it and that isn't fair to her. (or me.) And then I forgot that I needed them for a while. So, I didn't bother trying to clean that gunk out of the drip pans because I had good intentions of replacing them shortly.

Here's where it gets exciting. A few days later, I put a pot of water on to boil on that burner, forgetting about the butter in the drip pan. I continued with the other things I was doing, and realized it was smoking about the time that the flames started peeking out. Yikes! I moved the pot to another burner (I may have even used an oven mitt!) and shut the burner off. I then quickly assessed the situation.

On a side but related note, after moving here I opted to keep the fire extinguisher at the base of the stairs into the basement. Our bedroom is down there, and it would be difficult (at best) to get out of the windows down there in the event of a fire. We rent from a family member, and after casually mentioning that issue, he commented that "it wouldn't be too hard to put in one of those egressed windows . . . " and that was the end of it.

So. I grabbed the biggest pot lid I own, put it over the flaming burner, snatched up Goose, and headed down to get the fire extinguisher. After we got back upstairs (in a matter of about ten seconds), the fire had gone down considerably. Instead of using the extinguisher at that point, I just grabbed my box of baking soda and dumped. It worked! I was rather shaken for the rest of the night, but the next day, I just vacuumed up the loose soda, chucked the drip pan, scrubbed the top of the stove, and breathed a sigh of relief.

At least it finally prompted me to get the new drip pans! They were only like $12 for the set, too.

Anybody care to make me feel better about myself and share your best/favorite/most memorable "kitchen incident"?