Gluehwein a cup-a-wine at Christmas Time

Gluehwein recipe for 2

======================

• 1 1.5L bottle of decent wine
• 2 med oranges
• 1 med lemon
• 6-8 cloves
• 1 little star anise if you have
• about 3-4 heaped table spoons of brown sugar or to taste
• 1 big cinnamon stick

- pour the wine into a sauce pan twice the volume, and turn on med heat

- squeeze your citrus into the wine and microplane some zest into the wine as well (you can also just drop the squeezed citrus into the pot as well)

- add the cloves, star anise, and cinnamon stick

-Stir until it starts to become warmer, then add the sugar until the tartness goes away.

heat until your desired temp - don;t boil!!

- Keep covered and heat off while you drink small cups to see how it affects you - stay hydrated with water!!

Feel free to alter to your taste. This is just a basic recipe. If you look up mulled wine or spiced wine, you will find many recipes online. Click on the image above and it will take you to the Wiki entry for mulled wine. Enjoy!

Star-struck! English Cookies

This cookie recipe came from the Silver Spoon Italian cookbook that I have had for years.  It was such a hit the first time I made this recipe that it has become a sort of go-to for the times when you have an impromptu get together, as is often the case in my neighborhood around the holidays.

Tonight, my neighbors are hosting our annual neighborly get together where there is usually plenty of left overs from the daycare parties that get hosted during the day at one neighbor's house in particular. We then bring a few dishes to augment what is left over from the kids as we catch up on long overdue conversations started at the mailbox, through the open windows of our cars as we pass each other in our day-to-day activities.  It's a time of renewal and joy as we catch up, share and reminisce over the happenings of the past year. I appreciate my neighbors and always look for something special to share with them and let them know in a small, but meaningful way, how much I value them. They are like family.

This recipe is excellent right out of the freezer, at room temperature or if you just can't help it, right from the oven. Either way, portion it and put it away, out of site, immediately or you will find yourself coming up with all kinds of ways to convince yourself this is just ONE giant cookie, after all... What harm can be had from consuming ONE cookie? All by yourself?  Right? :)  I make a double batch, one to share with the neighbors and one, well, for sharing with hubby who would be ticked off if I forgot his cookie...

For the shortbread:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

• 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 lb sweet butter, softened (2 sticks)
• 1/4 c. white sugar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp heavy cream (original recipe uses milk, but I had cream)

Method:
Sift together the flower, baking powder and pinch of salt in a medium size bowl and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and vanilla on low speed, adding in the egg and cream until well combined and fluffy. Slowly add the flour mixture a little at a time to incorporate without making a humongous mess as I usually do. If you add it all at once, it will fly!  Go a bit slow until you get it all in.

Bake:
Scrape the batter into a non-greased, non-stick spring-form or cake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees F. I use a 5 inch non-stick pan where the bottom lifts out like a tart pan. It is like a spring-form without the spring as the bottom slides up with the cake on it, leaving the sides to come cleanly away from the bottom. I usually flip this out onto a pie plate so that you can cut it without damaging the non-stick bottom. But do leave the "cookie" in the pan until it has cooled completely, either at room temperature or in the fridge. I find that refrigerating it creates a much better, denser cookie, but who can always wait it out, right? 

I use a pizza cutter to slice it into mini slices but you could just as easily cut it however you prefer. Or, if you are really feeling festive, roll out a sheet about an inch thick and cut out stars or any shape using a cookie cutter as in the picture. I am a bit lazy for that, so I use a form of some kind.  A mini muffin tin would be easy, too, if you wanted to make little bite size cookies without having to cut pieces, although I haven't tried it yet with this recipe. If you do, let me know how it works for you! Regardless of which method you choose, this recipe is a given for quick, easy butter cookies that are guaranteed to be the highlight of any holiday get together.

Happy Holidays!

Get Dirty - Mamaw's Cajun Dirty Rice

An Ode to my Mamaw. One of my most treasured recipes and this one can make some vegetarians fall off the wagon because it smells and tastes so good. And, the "dirty" in Dirty Rice comes from the liberal, and I mean, LIBERAL use of ground black pepper. If you can't see the pepper, it ain't DIRTY.

Liver is a must. But I don't use chicken livers, I buy beef liver because it looks like steak and has better flavor in my opinion. It also slices, chops much nicer once it cooks.

Here is the dirty rice recipe Mamaw taught me:

• celery, diced
• onions, diced
• bell pepper, green or red, diced
• 4 strips of bacon or 1/2 lb, diced; it dices much easier when very cold.
• A huge bottle of black pepper, seriously, you need a lot
• salt
• Cooked box of Minute Rice (no Minute Maid in this recipe! LOL!) instant/parboiled rice. Don't fudge, Mamaw said. It should be Minute Maid.  It cooks fluffy and perfect. Should be cooled though before mixing in the rest.
• Bunch of flat leaf parsley chopped, the whole bunch; Mamaw does not like the curly, it irritates her. LOL!  Add half to the cooled rice and half you put on top as a garnish.
• Green onions, chopped

Cook the livers like steak in a frying pan over Med-high heat and when done, chop finely. Puh you will not taste it and it's the most important ingredient to dirty rice. Kids won't even know its not hamburger unless you tell them. Set aside.

In the leftover grease of the livers, saute onions, celery, bell pepper and bacon, reserving bacon grease if you need to drain off a little.  Add this mixture once cooled to the cooled rice mixture, add the chopped liver, add half the diced green onions and half the parsley. Salt to taste.  Add the black pepper. I usually use about 1/2 c black pepper (you heard me! make sure you buy enough) but this is also to taste. Remember that the "dirty" part of dirty rice comes from the pepper so it should be a lot but not so much you can't eat it of course.

Garnish the top with the remaining parsley and green onions.  Voila.  Dirty Rice, Mamaw style, which we all know is the only style. Love you dearly, Mamaw!

Fa-la-la-la-la Pumpkin Cheesecake

The Filling:
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ginger
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
Juice of one lemon
Zest of one lemon
Zest of one orange
3 eggs
1 can (15 oz) of pumpkin purée
36 oz of cream cheese (4 1/2, 8 oz packages)

The Crust:
2 packages cinnamon Graham crackers, pulsed to crumbs in a blender or food processor
1/4 c sugar
1 stick of melted butter

Oven temp:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the crust:
Make the crust by combining all ingredients of for the crust into a food processor and pulse just to combine. You can crush the crackers by putting them into a ziplock bag and beating the crap out of it or just roll a rolling pin over the top in a civilized manner, depending on your mood. Once the butter and sugar are incorporated, dump it all into a large 10" spring form pan or use whatever you have handy. You will want to form the crust so that it is even in thickness, starting from the bottom of your pan and slowly working all the way up the sides. Once it's formed, set it aside. We will par bake this crust for 5-10 minutes before we add the filling.

For the filling:
Everyone in the pool! Yes, just put all ingredients into a large bowl and whip it until your satisfied or at least until the lumps are gone. If you let your cream cheese soften at room temperature this will be a breeze even if you have to do this part by hand. A handheld emersion blender works well, a blender, stand or handheld mixer.

Bake:
1st, par bake the crust at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 5-10 minutes. This is the temp we will later use for baking the cheesecake. We aren't trying to brown it, but rather firm it up before we put the wet ingredients in so it isn't some soggy, sorry mess. :)

2nd, once the crust has cooled from this quick bake exercise, add your filling and smooth it out, tapping it gently to remove any bubbles from the batter. Go easy, you don't want to dislodge your crust!

Now, bake this big beast for about an hour at 375 degrees Fahrenheit if you are using a deep spring form. The deeper your pan, the longer it will take. If you are using a regular pie pan and splitting your batter into two smaller cheese-pies, bake at the same temperature and start checking on them after 25 -30 minutes. When done, the center should be set and the whole "cake" will start to shrink away from the sides, but the cake should not wobble in the center at all or you will have pumpkin cheesecake mudslide... :) no one wants this, speaking from experience.

This recipe is for my family! My sister resorted to threats and said this was the third and final request before phone stalking begins in earnest. I hear ya loud and clear, sis. Hope it turns out awesome for you. Take pics and we will use the for this blog. Big hugs! Happy Thanksgiving from Minnesota!

*** Update: to keep it from cracking like the one in this picture, use the water bath technique I talk about in my American Cheesecake post. :)

Pumpkin Drop Muffin Tops

2 c. blueberry pecan cereal, bran or any other favorite cereal

1 c raisins or dried fruit such as cherries, blueberries, etc.

1/2 c sugar

3 c flour

3 c unsweetened pumpkin puree (go ahead, make your own; it's easy!)

3 tbsp milk or cream

1 tbsp + 1/8 tsp baking powder

3/8 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

2 sticks of butter, softened at room temperature

Bake 22 minutes @ 350 degrees for cookies. 70 minutes for small loaf pans.

This recipe is posted for my sis who is doing some Olympic style marathon training. I won't go into all the gory details of the awesome training regimen she is pursuing, but suffice it to say that this girl needs some fuel for the trail! She needn't worry about her caloric intake at this point, except to ensure she is taking in enough calories for her training. Those of us that don't train as hard may be tempted to use only one stick of butter for this recipe, but I warn you that they will not be the same if you do. The extra stick of butter was an accidental butter overdose one baking day but to my credit, it actually made a huge impact on the flavor and texture of these muffin tops which are in reality, just very large drop cookies. Ever since then, I don't stray from the recipe or attempt to alter the fat or calorie content of this recipe. It makes that big of a difference.

Also worth noting, my original recipe called for 3 tbsp of baking powder. One baking day, I was running low on baking powder and decided to google baking powder and came across either a wikipedia entry or some other post that talked about the leavening power of both baking powder, yeast and baking soda. It turns out that if you combine baking powder and baking soda, you can actually use less baking powder and it significantly reduces the amount you need. So I tested it and it worked beautifully.  So here is how it works:

2 tbsp of baking powder is the equivalent to:

2 1/4 tsp baking powder PLUS

3/4 tsp of baking soda

For our recipe above, I needed 3 tbsp of baking powder as noted above and the math, if I actually did it correctly, is this:

1 tbsp plus 1/8 tsp of baking powder PLUS

3/8ths tsp of baking soda

How cool is that? Even if my math isn't what it used to be, those measurements work for me. :) Glad I paid attention in school after all. Cooking is pretty math intensive sometimes. At any rate, maybe it is helpful to you and if not, go ahead and use the 3 tbsp of baking powder. Just thought you might like an alternative if you are running low as everyone usually has a little baking soda in the fridge or cabinet, but not everyone has a steady supply of baking powder, which I seem to use in abundance during the baking season.

Also, experiment with different cereals. I use something bran-y, granola-like as anything that doesn't have texture and substance doesn't seem to come through in the recipe. We are looking for some texture and of course, something that will make an excellent breakfast substitute. It's a cookie, it's a muffin top, it's a bowl of love when you don't have time for milk and cereal. :)

And making your own pumpkin puree couldn't be easier... Just cut the pumpkin into large wedges or chunks and place on a large un-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for about 40-45 minutes and let cool. Remove the rind, add the pulp to a food processor or blender and pulse or puree until smooth. Take what you need and freeze the rest in quart size freezer bags, which as I know from experience, will perfectly hold 3 cups of puree which is the perfect amount for this recipe. Don't forget to save the seeds! You can roast the seeds with a little seasoned salt sprinkled on top after the pumpkin comes out of the oven which may take 12-15 minutes or so for the seeds to roast and brown up a bit. Keep an eye on them as your oven may be different. Just try to save some for later... impossible!

Happy Fall, sis! Let me know how they turn out!

A Chimichurri to Shout About!

Traditional Chimchurri (to the best of my knowledge :)
* 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
* 1 bunch cilantro
* 8 cloves garlic, minced
* 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup red wine, sherry or apple cider vinegar
* 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Hard to express just how incredible this traditional Argentinian "salsa" is... Not one to stray too far from my beloved Mexican sauces, I'm hard pressed to choose between a classic Mexican fresh salsa, pico de gallo or this classic Argentinian Chimichurri.  Truth is, this light, fresh marinade is so good one could be tempted to just throw it back, shot-style. But that would be poor manners, indeed! Still... you may be tempted so if you use it for a marinade, it is traditional to reserve half for serving table side along with you rmeal.  I've eaten Mexican salsa, hot sauce, pico, you name it, my whole life and I had never had chimichurri until we were served this as a table-side sauce at an Argentinian restaurant in Florida.  Long story short: I fell in love with it. 

Traditional American salsas (yes, folks, Mexico is still America!) and chips are the bread and butter of North Americans today. We may not be Mexican, but at heart, we can dig into some chips and dip, depending on where you hail from.  Chips and salsa, chips-n-dip, chips and hot sauce, whatever you call it, this one will become a regular at your table once you see how versatile and easy it is to make yourself! Truly a recipe I went on the hunt for and have used ever since.  Because the consistency is somewhat more liquid than our salsas, it is best suited as a dressing or marinade, but as I said, one could, theoretically drink it and really enjoy it! :)  You'll see what I mean...

And because I have used this recipe so extensively, I have a few variations based on what the garden is presently producing.  Just as every household has its own recipe for salsa, you will eventually modify this recipe for your tastes, too.   Or at least I hope you do! I didn't have parsley handy, so I used the flowering stalks of shallots and it was amazing. More like a shallot pesto, but totally and completely inspired by Argentina grilling. And, of course, Chimichurri. Time to get your chimi on, friends...

Shallot Chimichurri
* 1 bunch of shallot flower stalks
* 2 tablespoons Mirin or rice vinegar
* 2 tablespoons White Balsamic vinegar
* 5 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Additional Flavorings for Traditional Chimichurri
Additional flavorings such as red onion, hot chili, paprika (pimenton dulce), oregano, cumin, thyme, cilantro (coriander leaf), lemon, and bay leaf (laurel), and in the red version, tomato and red bell pepper may also be added to the traditional recipe to create a flavor profile unique to your dish. Experiment and see what is your favorite addition and go ahead, be brave, try a few of your favorite herbs and spices to make it even more complimentary to your meal.

Cherry Okara Bran "Mountain" Muffins

I'm a huge bran muffin fan. Raisin Bran muffins and I go way back.  When all the kids wanted chocolate chip muffins or the ones with blueberries on top, I wanted the ones with Raisin Bran. 

At Costco, you used to be able to get massive raisin bran muffins and these were a staple until about two weeks ago when I interrupted the bakers in the back to ask them when we were to expect the bran muffins to start filling the huge aluminum racks that were packed with all kinds of other muffins. No offense to those tempting treats but I needed a muffin suited for breakfast, my kind of breakfast. Not the kind of breakfast suited to doing 500 laps around the parking lot or so I thought. Much to my dismay, the baker yelled back that they are being discontinued.  "But! These! are the ONLY ones you don't need to go for counseling after you guiltily consume one all by yourself," I whined back rather loudly and with a little more force than perhaps I wanted. (I was hungry!)  The Baker came closer to me and said, "you know... none of these muffins are really all that good for you, if you know what I mean."  I scowled deeply, refusing to face the truth of the matter. "But still... that's lame... right?" I meekly responded.  She just smiled and winked, knowingly.

And so, what I had known all along, finally gripped me by the belly pretty tight... I had to make them myself, like everything else in life; if I wanted to really KNOW that bran muffins were as good for me as I suspected they really could be, then I would have to embark on this educational experience forthright.

That is how I stumbled upon Okara Mountain. One woman's need to use her heaps of Okara has led to her blog, a blog very specific to the purpose at hand. I've been to Okara Mountain, figuratively speaking. I have my own Mountain and I too, feel rather guilty adding this healthy bi-product of soy milk to the compost heap. Ah, the pressures to be green really do weigh ya down sometimes, I mused with my own knowing grin... I could recognize a fellow Okie from Soy-Land.  I, too, have a burning need to use my Okara since we make our own soy milk and so far, I've done a pretty darn good job of it. So much so, that one of my cherished bffs will look at me with a very suspicious eye when I offer her anything from my kitchen and ask, "does this have beans in it?" To which I reply even when it isn't true, "OF COURSE, dahling!" Gotta luv the leery people and of course, you gotta mess with em just a bit! And so, it dawned on me that my Craisin Okara Cereal Bread recipe was truly just a few modifications away from being a truly spectacular Okara Bran Muffin.  I was so close to really tackling this Mountain; nirvana was at hand and this could just be the one recipe to get me over the proverbial Okara Hump.

Here is my rough start:
Okara from a batch of soy milk (~3 cups of "wet" Okara)
1.5 cups wheat bran
1.5 cups of Eagle Mills Unbleached White Flour MultiGrain
2 tsp vanilla
.5 cup sugar
2 tbsp molasses
.5 cup golden flax seed
1-2 cups of dried cherries or raisins, whatever floats your bran boat
1 cup of unsweetened apple sauce (that's what I forgot this morning, doh!)
1 1/8th tsp baking soda
3 3/8ths tsp baking powder (these two measurements combined equal the rising power of 3 tbsp of baking powder!)
1 stick of organic butter
1 large organic egg

Now that I write it out today, I know what I did wrong this morning. I was tired and sorta missed a key step by leaving out the apple sauce accidentally. I've worked this recipe now many times. The first, I did just like I do my Okara Cereal bread but that calls for 2 sticks of butter and 2 eggs. Great, but I thought I can surely do better cutting out more fat and using way less sugar.  The recipe above reduces the 2 sticks of butter to 1 by replacing half the butter with 1 cup of apple sauce.  I made my own apple sauce last weekend just to try out this theory and it totally worked.  Okara itself is said to be a replacement for eggs and/or oil so I tested this theory and left out an egg, which worked just fine. Now, if I only would have followed my own recipe it would have been perfect. I haven't tried the ones from this morning yet but they don't look as full as my first few batches. I know why. I left out the 3 tsps of baking powder(got the 3/8ths in and obviously got distracted from finishing the task!) and totally forgot the apple sauce. What a dodo!  I bet they'll still taste good though. We'll see tomorrow. Regardless of whether you are making soy milk and subsequent muffins in your sleep, like I obviously was doing this morning, it is still more than likely that your foray into Okara baking will not be stifled by a few glitches. Onward young Okara Soldiers!

If you try them, be a doll, post back and let me know how they turned out for you and by all means, swing by this gal's Okara Mountain blog for more awesome ideas on so many wonderful things to try with Okara! Thank you, Toontz, for being an inspiration!

Yo! Make your own Yogurt!

Making your own yogurt couldn't be easier than this!  I've been making my own homemade yogurt for years now.  One of my best friends in the whole world is from India and always has the best yogurt on hand. I saw her once make a milky concoction one night only to see her sneak off, wrap up the bowl in a blanket and carry it off to bed, literally. Ok, not really, but she did put the incubating yogurt under her bed and when I asked her why, she said it was because it would be warm there and keeping your yogurt warm, wrapped up like a baby is a key to making excellent quality yogurt.

I found that my counter space in the kitchen tends to be fairly warm and is adequate for culturing the yogurt overnight but I got so into making yogurt that I purchased two electric yogurt makers which holds the temperature steady at exactly 110 degrees F, which I later found to be the real key to yogurt success. Yogurt needs about 12-18 hours of incubation or culturing time to allow the yogurt cultures to activate and grow.  Having a unit with very low energy requirements to keep the yogurt at the perfect temperature gives me peace of mind because of where I live. Sometimes, it is a little chilly up here. :)

The family size model I own, the Tribest Yolife Yogurt Maker shown in the picture above, is great for making more than one batch of yogurt at a time.  I like this model a lot because I found that you could use cold milk and it still worked perfectly versus heating the milk to just below 180 degrees on the stove, which activates the yogurt cultures. However, to avoid any texture issues from using a cold starter in a warm maker, I found that warming the milk properly will ensure success every time.

Later, I purchased the Easiyo Yogurt Maker.  I mean, what if you wanted to make yogurt while camping or during a power outage or heck, if you are on a budget and want to cut down on electrical appliances? That is where the EasiYo comes in. Now, it doesn't make better yogurt, it just makes yogurt without using an electric appliance, which speaks to me on an energy conservation level, so I bought this one in the picture and gave it a try.  My purchase included the Easiyo kit, which you can find on Amazon for around $25-30, including shipping.  I eventually splurged on a second set of interior canisters so that I could make one batch of yogurt right after the other without waiting for us to eat and empty the interior canister first before making the next batch.  

You can buy their yogurt packets, too, but I prefer to do it the old fashioned way and use fresh yogurt as a starter instead of the packets. Although for ease and the sake of learning, the packets really are a foolproof introduction.  Should you choose to hybridize the method and use fresh yogurt starter, you can try my method below and see if it works for you.  Full instructions for Easiyo can be found here.

• Get a pint of Dannon plain yogurt (not non-fat or low fat, it has to be full fat lol! trust me) and it HAS to be Dannon or any other plain yogurt that has NOTHING but milk and yogurt cultures. I use Dannon because it doesn't have any other additives or preservatives and the cultures are live, which is important. If you buy Dannon, you will make perfect yogurt.
• Take about a cup of yogurt and put it in the canister that fits inside the pink thermos.  
• Fill the rest of the canister nearly to the top with milk warmed to just hot to the touch (110 degrees F is ideal) but not boiling. Leave a tiny bit of air space, about a 1/2 inch, so you can shake it up without it exploding from the confined steam and heat with the top on the canister, of course. 
• Shake it up to mix it well. 
• Make sure the plastic "riser" is inside the pink thermos. The yogurt canister rests on top of this. 
• Add hot water (hot to the touch) to the thermos. There is a fill line in the thermos that will tell you how high the hot water should be. This creates a thermal water bath for incubating the yogurt and keeping the temperature steady.
• Put the canister in the pink thermos with the hot water and the water should rise to be about halfway up the canister of yogurt, which is enough.
• Put the lid on the pink(or whatever color you have) thermos and leave the whole thing to sit out overnight on the kitchen counter.
• Next day, take the canister out and refrigerate. If you're curious, open it and look at it. Does it look set? If so, refrigerate, if not, leave it on the counter for a few more hours.

I use the large YoLife maker the most because we do eat that much yogurt but for smaller batches, the EasiYo is really super.  By the way, I did test the YoLife temperature over the course of 12 hours recently and found that it did a superb job of keeping the temperature steady at exactly 110 degrees, which is the ideal temperature for setting up yogurt.

If you do want Greek style yogurt, you simply strain the fresh yogurt overnight in a yogurt strainer such as the Donvier one I have. This allows more whey to drain out of the yogurt which creates that classic thick texture. The more you strain, the thicker it gets. 

If you want to flavor your yogurt, always make plain yogurt first and then add your jams, honey or other flavorings after the yogurt has been made and strained. Flavorings are added to yogurt after the process is complete. If you add them in the beginning, the yogurt cultures cannot activate properly which is why flavored yogurt or yogurts that "cheat" by adding pectin and other gelatins to thicken them will NOT work as yogurt starters.

I am not promoting Amazon, but I do price comparison shopping there and have a shipping account with a Prime membership which saves me a lot on shipping and usually provides 2 day shipping for free.  If I can find these items locally, I will usually make the effort to buy them locally but it's not always feasible. That is what Amazon is for!  It should be noted that Target now carries the Tribest Yogurt Maker, which is awesome.

Vermont Cheddar Bread

Another awesome recipe from the local bakers who wrote Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day!  This is a variation on the master boule recipe that incorporates Vermont cheddar. Now, I happen to love Vermont cheddar and my sister has to have it over-nighted to get her aged cheddar fix; who can really blame her?  We love Tillamook, so we used Tillamook, but being a Midwesterner, we can really dig into some local Wisconsin cheddar, too. It's all about what you have around or what lengths you will go for something you really cherish. Cheese, in my family, is one such staple that falls into the true love category. Try to take a piece of cheese from a child in this family and you will witness some tantrum activity, no lie.

Let's proceed.

The recipe:

• 1 cup of your favorite cheddar, preferably without the Orange Glow of unnaturalness (no color added)
• 3 cups of lukewarm water
• 6 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

A Rant About Orange Cheese:
I like my cheese natural. Un-oranged, if you will. Most people don't realize that cheese isn't and shouldn't, be orange in color.  To get the orange cheddar most Americans are familiar with, food coloring is usually added to the cheese.  I don't like it, doesn't make sense (must investigate) and more importantly, it doesn't add anything to the flavor or appearance. Having said that, because of that, you should feel free to use it if you like it. If you like orange cheese, use it! And yes, I know Tillamook has orange cheddar, but we prefer their Black Label Aged Reserve White Cheddar and this is what needs to be sent priority mail to my sister from time to time because she can't get it where she lives and my Costco carries it year round. So we've struck a deal: I will mail her cheese and she will mail me lemons from her coveted and worshiped lemon tree.

General Dough-Dos:
I just put everything in the Kitchenaid and pulsed slowly until it was incorporated. I then put the whole mass in a 6 quart storage container and let it rise on the counter for about 2 hours or until doubled in size. I punched the dough down (for me this step is a must or it will explode in the fridge as it continues to rise, but see for yourself ;) and then put it in the fridge until I was ready to use it.  My dough for this recipe was 2 days old and made 10 huge rolls.

General Baking Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 and bake for about 30 minutes, depending on the shape of your bread and oven temperature. You should also have a baking stone or cookie sheet preheating on the middle shelf, with another baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch the water you will add to create steam when baking the bread.  This step is pretty important and I know because I've tried it with and without. With steam, creates the right result. Without, it is still good, but the crust will be missing that crackle pop that makes this bread oh so good!

This bread can be baked like a loaf but I chose to tear off chunks, roll palm size balls and let them rest for about an hour or so before baking to let them rise.  I rest the dough on a pizza peel heavily dusted with flour, but cornmeal is probably better to make it easier to slide them off onto the baking stone at bake-time.

Some Tricks to Employ, a Pep Talk:
When your oven is ready, prepare yourself by getting a cup of hot tap water ready to pour onto the bottom tray. This piece will take a bit of practice, so go slow and don't worry if you make a mess the first time.  I have a trick of making sure that the bottom cookie sheet is pulled slightly to one side of the oven so that you can dump your water in the edge of the "steam pan" without freaking yourself out, but as long as you get the bread on the stone, the water in the steam pan and shut the door without burning yourself, you are in business.

You will want to a) slide the rolls into the oven on the hot baking stone or middle cookie sheet and b) as quickly and safely as you can, dump the hot water onto the bottom cookie sheet and quickly close the door to capture the steam. "Quickly" is a relative term and safety should always come first, but the idea is to capture as much steam as possible before shutting the oven door. Do it in two steps if you must, closing the oven door, gathering muster, what have you... opening the door and dumping the water the last thing before setting your timer for 30 minutes. And of course, goes without saying, but your cookie sheet should have edges, right?  Otherwise, you're a right goof!

**It may not be so easy to "slide" the rolls and if they stick, help them off the pizza peel and arrange them on the stone. Mine didn't slide so well so I'll use cornmeal next time to make it easier to get them off, but no worries, if yours stick to your peel like mine did, just push them off with your fingers and arrange them as best you can for baking.  Mine became a little misshapen, but who cares? They were still perfect and yummy to me.  Don't forget to dump the water into the bottom pan to create steam before shutting the door and setting the timer!**

This recipe is indeed, a keeper. Seems to be a theme, huh?

Cookbook Recommendation and Credits:
Seriously, buy the cookbook by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg, MD. (I will add a link to the Amazon book as a sidebar; note to self. :)

Hot buns! Get your hot buns!

MMMM. All I can really say about this!  This lovely hunk of brioche dough is extraordinary actually.  I am putting up the recipe here for my sister who wants to see if she can raise enough money to refinish her pool by making, you guessed it, hot buns! Ok, really, this is only funny to keep saying but in reality this dough is more than hot buns.  It's a whole lotta love just waiting to happen and seriously, I think this recipe could make someone very rich...

Brioche dough is traditionally full of butter, eggs and whatnot.  This one is no different. However, the special part of this dough is that it is a no-knead dough. Brioche isn't a knead-y (lol! come on, that pun is awesome!) kind of bread dough anyway, but what sets this one really apart is that it is also no-fuss. And when I say no fuss, I mean it's Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day! no fuss.  I'm linking to this book on Amazon for those of you who wish to know more about where I found this treasure of a recipe.  Buy it. You will not be disappointed. I have cookbooks upon cookbooks that expound on the art of baking bread but you will never find a more concise, practical how-to cookbook no matter how high and low you look. I do not do it justice, but I find the need to promote it ruthlessly because it is written by a couple of local folks who I hope to meet someday as they live and play here in the Twin Cities like I do.

On to my magnificent experiment!

I made the brioche recipe from this book and wanted to play around a little bit with the recipes and see how well adapted it would be for all of the recipes I love. Can't say that I make too many hamburger buns in general, but since I had the dough ready and veggie-burgers were on the menu for dinner, I wanted to see if it would work.  I'm not a traditionalist by any stretch of the imagination but I wanted to see if it would create a hamburger bun that was close to what most Americans expect for in a hamburger bun. Ok, I wanted to see if it would pass the kid-test. And since I am close to a kid, at least at heart, I knew I could be an impartial judge.

By the looks of it, I hit the nail on the head, didn't I?  Maybe a bit large, but it fit the burger bill in a most excellent way!  I followed the recipe, took the dough out, rolled navel-orange-size balls of the dough, let them rest/rise for an hour and 20 minutes while I went to workout and well, I was super excited to see them go into the oven!  After the rise, I brushed an egg wash over the tops and sprinkled on the sesame seeds to get that requirement settled.  I baked them for 40 minutes at 350 degrees and then let them cool for about 15 minutes before slicing them for dinner.

HOLY BUCKETS!! I couldn't stop staring at these buns!  They were magnificent. Light, fluffy, but with a good tooth, not all soft and gooey in the mouth like some soft buns that will remain nameless and forever un-bought because I now have the ultimate burger bun! At last, I have found the bun of choice... The veggie burger was yucky, but I could likely doctor that up much better so if I had to grade the burger, I'd not really pass at all with that attempt at veggie-ness, but alas, "Tah-mahrra  is anutha daay, Scarlet.."  The BUN, though, let's be real, is superb!

The recipe is as follows:
3 sticks of butter, do not even question this, just proceed. :)
8 eggs
7.5 cups of all purpose flour
1.5 tablespoons of kosher salt
1.5 tablespoons of yeast
1.5 cups of lukewarm water
.5 cup of honey

I mixed everything, except the butter and flour, together in a large 4 cup pyrex measuring cup.  My butter was soft but not melted. The recipe says to use melted butter and mix this in with the other wet ingredients, which made perfect sense to me, but I didn't do it that way because I have a 5 quart mixer that gets really rowdy if I don't add the liquid ingredients a little at a time and I wasn't sure I could fit it all in so I left it out until the last minute. So I added this wet stuff to the flour a little at a time so as not to lose it all over the counter top in a whirly kind of moment... Once I could see I had room for the butter, I just added it, stick by stick to incorporate until I got it all in. No magic, it was too too easy.

I put all the dough into a 6 quart rising container and left it on the counter for 2 hours to rise. I then refrigerated it overnight and only took out the dough to tear off enough for 4 buns. I put the rest of the dough back in the fridge for something else wonderful later this week. (Hint: STICKY BUNS FROM HEAVEN on the next episode of Heartland Kitchen)

Let me know how it works out for any of you, the one of you... :)  All the credit goes to authors of this awesome little book, Jeff Hertzber MD and Zoe Francois, my personal heroes!!  Awesome job, you two!  This book is a keeper. The one you need on a dessert island where no prayers for Julia can be heard... no lie.

The Humble Pinto - Ham Hocks and Pintos

Hubby made an awesome meal tonight. He's made this dish before and what I remember from the last time he made it was just how succulent the ham hocks were. I forgot the pinto, although it's hard to imagine how.  This under-estimated, under-valued supporting actress, if ever there was one, clearly shines and deserves an Oscar for her "role" in this dish.

We Northern folk forget about the pinto. Yet, it's one of the cheapest ways to stretch a budget you can imagine.  Southerners have been doing it for years.  So, it's little wonder really that my heart sorta skipped a beat when hubby made it for me tonight. I was totally in the mood for some home-cooking, some soul soothing, comfort food. Pintos are as Southern as Grits. Maybe more so. For me, it was familiar like the smells of Mamaw's kitchen; comfort food at its finest.

Let's take a look at how he put it all together:

• 2 cups of beans
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder or 2 garlic cloves
• 2 large smoked ham hocks
• 3 quarts of water, bring to a boil, turn down to medium heat.
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 can of American beer
   (something in the Miller/Bud category)

Simmer beans, water, garlic and ham hocks for 2 1/2 hours in a large, enameled pot over medium to low heat.  Bring to a boil, cover, then turn down the heat to medium low so that it simmers gently, but doesn't boil over.  You shouldn't need to, but add more water during cooking, if beans absorb all of the water before the cooking time is up. If that happens, definitely turn down the heat a notch as you want to keep a good deal of this bean "liquor", which gives them such a creamy taste.

Salt! (He had an exclamation in there, I swear!) We had a discussion about salt and Hubby was adamant enough on this point that I just accepted it, although every instinct felt like this might be a mistake.  I was totally wrong and glad I kept my mouth shut.  The seasoning was absolutely perfect when dinner was served.  He continues to exclaim: Salt comes later! Never add salt to beans until they are completely cooked!  This will make your beans tough! (Who knew? but these beans were so perfect, it HAS to be true! I mean, there is salt in the hockies, after all, right?)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F ( 220 degrees C). Place the cooked beans and hocks, uncovered, directly into the oven to bake further for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and NOW, the salting can begin.

Salt: Tonight, he added 1 teaspoon of salt per cup of beans (2 tsp total) to a can of beer and then, he poured this salty beer concoction over the ham hocks and then baked it for another half hour, which creates the crunchy, caramelized, perfectly seasoned crust for the ham hocks. The texture of the hocks is just unbeatable. The ham hocks were fall off the bone tender, yet chewy and deeply satisfying.

But just you wait until you get to the scene about the Pintos...  A perfect pinto bean is well, tricky. I have had the traditional Mexican pinto which resembles nothing of the sad, pasty Taco Bell or even El Paso canned pinto bean you may have tried before.  The beans were creamy yet firm in texture and had fantastic flavor.  No bland, pasty bean up in this joint!  This, I assure you, will be a "Whoa, Nelly!" moment.

When you realize just how easy it is to make a good Pinto recipe, it may stop you dead in your tracks and you may never go back to a pinto that lacks texture, succulence and downright goodness again. Let's face it, the ham hocks always lend flavor to the party so its hard to go wrong with this one. However, if you have time some weekend or weeknight for this Slow Cooking recipe, you won't be disappointed.

A Heart-y Early Spring Soup

 So, it's been awhile. An UrbanGirl gets busy sometimes and gets forgetful of passwords and well, worse things have happened... I tell myself: "Tomorrow is another day, Scarlet."

Today, my hubby helped me recover and claim my long-lost and honestly, missed, blog about our kitchen adventures.  Obviously, in 2005, I was all about Thai and I still am, but today, it's all about a soup that can be made from the bounty of my early spring garden.  A heart-y soup to soothe the soul. The one that's desperately awaiting for Spring to really and honestly begin.

Here we go:

• About 2 quarts of homemade chicken stock
• 2 lbs of kosher chicken drumsticks/legs, seasoned with salt/pepper
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 4-5 medium tomatoes, chopped
• About 2 quarts of white wine
• 1 fresh bay leave
• 2 lbs of greens

This is one-pot-stop cooking. One pot. Everything in the pool. So easy a cave-chef can do it. I know, it's complicated. Just throw everything in and simmer for about 2 hours over medium-low heat.  But if you want the nitty gritty details, I added the stock first, the drumsticks, onion, tomatoes and covered with wine. Once the stock had simmered, I threw in the greens.

A word about Greens:
I am lucky enough to have greens growing year round in the greenhouse. No need to covet the idea. You can do it too; even on a windowsill. You can't know what you can grow until you try and "greens" of unimaginable varieties will do the trick in this recipe.

Until then, though, think about what you do have in your crisper or taking up space in the freezer.  Do you have beets with the tops on? frozen collard greens? A half-eaten head of cabbage? A handful of brussel sprouts? wilting scallions? Radicchio?  I usually buy vegetables with "greens on" or basically, still with their green tops or leaves in tact. This way, I can usually make use of the entire vegetable without throwing half of what I just paid for in the composter or down the disposal. What a waste! Use it! Get creative. If you like to eat it, chances are good that the greens will please you just as much.  If not, substitute spinach or cabbage for the 2 cups of "greens" and you're loving life.