Extracts

(from left to right: Lemon Extract, Mint Extract, Almond Extract, Vanilla Extract)

As with many other things I do in my kitchen, I found out how easy it was to make my own vanilla extract. I happily made my vanilla extract and excitedly checked every couple of days to watch the color change and darken. Ahh, finally I had my own extract to use in all of my baking projects.

And then like with everything else in the kitchen, I decided to see how many extracts t hat I could make on my own. I made almond next because I like it in a lot of cookie recipes.  I love lemon anything so that was next. I don't know why I thought I needed an entire quart jar of lemon extract, but that is what I made. Sometimes I get a little over excited in the kitchen. I see lots of lemon desserts in our future. I received quite a bit of mint in my Bountiful Basket last pick up and used part of it to make a mint extract. I was going to make some coconut too, but I ran out of vodka!

Vanilla extract I used 3 vanilla beans split and 1 cup of vodka. You can use bourbon or rum, but since I was making others around the same time, I stuck with the vodka.

Almond extract: I used 1/2 cup of sliced almonds that still had the skin per 1 cup of vodka. The almond extract that you buy in the store, I believe, is made with raw almonds,which are harder to come by. The extract is a little weaker than the one in the store, but this still has a lot of flavor.

Lemon Extract: I took three organic lemons and used a vegetable peeler to peel the outer layer each lemon and added vodka. 

Mint Extract: 1/2 cup of mint leaves to 1 cup of vodka.

I use the vanilla all the time and have been very happy with the taste. Last year for Christmas I made smaller bottles to give to some of my baker friends. I left one on my boss's desk and she called me to thank me and said "I think this is what heaven will smell like"! The bottles were a big hit.

Brussel Sprouts

I like Brussel  Sprouts. My husband doesn't care for them all that much. He will eat a couple of I make them, but I don't make them all that often since he doesn't like them. A few weeks ago we got some at the Bountiful Basket pickup so I went searching for a new recipe. The Food Network came to the recipe as they often do! I found this recipe from Sunny Anderson. I followed the recipe, with the following changes; I used a three peppercorn bacon, used an entire onion and I cooked the onions for about 10 minutes before adding the sprouts. By the time they were done the onions had started to caramelize a little.

I ended up with this dish:

And oh my, were they good! We both liked them and we both had seconds!

I know bacon makes everything better, but these exceeded my expectations!

I am fortunate that I have a husband that likes a huge variety of foods and he will try everything.  I do try new things all the time, some with better success than others, but he is a great sport about it. 

Butterscotch Pudding

This dessert happens to be one of my husband's favorite things in the world. I have never been a fan of pudding, with the exception of banana pudding, but he loves it so much that I like to make it for him occasionally. 

I just realized I took the picture without the milk and cream the recipe requires, so just pretend they are there!

The recipe doesn't call for the molasses, but does call for dark brown sugar and all I had on hand was light brown sugar. So I added a tablespoon of the molasses to the light brown sugar to make it dark brown sugar.

Brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, milk and cream are cooked together until it starts to cook.

When it thickens, it comes off the heat and one cup of the hot pudding is added to the egg yolks, and after that is combined it goes back in the pan, and back on the heat for just another minute or two.

It is removed from the heat at that point and the butter and vanilla are added.

I like to pour my pudding through the sieve so that if there are any lumps they are removed. And my pudding usually has a small lump or two, so this makes sure I have a smoother consistency.

Pudding is then poured into bowls and refrigerated. I cover the dishes with plastic wrap touching the surface to keep a thick skin from forming. 

Topped with some fresh whipped cream and I have a very happy husband!

Butterscotch Pudding

3 egg yolks, whipped together

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/4 cups of milk

3/4 cup of heavy cream

3 tablespoons of butter, cut into pieces

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine brown sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Add milk and cream; stir well. Cook on med heat, whisking continually until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat. Combine 1 cup of hot pudding to the egg yolks, stir well and then return to the pot. Return to the heat and cook for another 2 minutes, whisking the entire time. Remove for the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Stir to incorporate into the pudding. Pour into bowl or serving dishes and let chill.

Bountiful Basket and plans

This is what was in my Bountiful Basket this week. I usually try and pick out my favorite basket item, but this week that was too hard! I love cucumbers and carrots, and those little pepper make a great snack, I think those gorgeous artichokes might slightly edge out the others by just a bit. All I know is that we will be eating good at my house this week. 

How will I use these items in my meal plan for this week?

Artichokes: will be steamed and served with a garlic butter sauce as a side dish

Carrots, Cucumbers, Lettuce, and some of the Onions will be used in salads

Broccoli, some of the Carrots and the rest of the onions will be used in a Stir Fried Rice one night

Cauliflower will be eaten raw with hummus or some ranch dip

Sweet Mini Peppers will be used in salads, but I love these raw with hummus

Pears will be used in a Pear, Walnut Gorgonzola salad 

The melon, apples, bananas and the rest of the pears will be eaten as is with breakfast or lunches.

Really Can't Eat Just One of These!

In my quest for eating a real food diet, I decided I didn't have to give up eating everything that I like. I just  had to give up the overly processed versions. Basically, if I can cook it in my kitchen, I can eat it. I have since learned to make many of the things that I buy in bags and boxes.

I really like potato chips. Homemade chips are just amazing and very simple.

Potatoes, oil and seasoning.

Potatoes are sliced very thin using the slicer attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I have also done these on a mandolin slicer, but the one I have currently doesn't get them quite thin enough. 

Potatoes are dropped into hot oil to simmer and bubble. I usually watch them pretty closely and remove them when the are golden brown.

I know some brands of potato chips on the market only have the same ingredients that I used, but then I have an entire bag of chips to eat. When I make them at home, I only make the amount that we will eat for dinner that night because they really are addictive.

My favorite way to eat them is at this point, when they are good and brown but before they burn. Yum!!

You can season them any way you want, these were seasoned with just seasoning salt, but you can a dd whatever seasonings you are in the mood for or happen to have on hand.

Soap Class

I have had this fascination of soap making for a long time. I have done several versions of the melt and pour variety, but really wanted to learn to do the lye based soaps. I have watched videos and read many manuals, but I really wanted to watch someone do it. Since lye is caustic and can potentially hurt me, I wanted to learn from someone that I could ask questions as I was going.

There is a new artists's center tht has recently opened near me and I noticed that they had a Primitive Soap Making class planned. Perfect! It was a great class, the instructor talked about the history of soap and soap making in addition to the process of making our soap. That made my inner nerd very happy since I have to know why and how something works.

Here is my soap poured into my mold after it had hardened:

And my block of soap after I peeled away the paper mold:

And my soap sliced and ready to dry:

We just made a basic lye soap, not adding any color or fragrance. Great class and I can't wait until they offer an advanced class.

For the Freezer--Chicken Lasagna

I really do spend a couple of hours every other week or so doing some type of food prep. That used to be mostly a canning related activity, but now that I have a freezer, I include more things that are frozen.  One of the biggest reasons I do this is so that I can have meals ready to go, meals that need no prep other than defrosting and popping in the oven or the crock pot. I have a chronic pain condition and have flare-ups on occasion that leave me not able to stand too long and getting dinner on the table is an issue. Before, this meant that Kip would stop by a drive thru on the way home or we would order delivery. The problem with is that I have cut out most of the processed foods--including fast food out of my diet. Once in a while it wouldn't bother me, but sometimes flare ups last for several days.

Since I have food in the freezer and in canning jars, I can put a healthy dinner on the table with almost no effort! I bought a couple of freezer cookbooks to get a feel of what freezes well, and looked through many others. A lot of the freezer cookbooks are the cook once-a-month-eat-all-month-after-one-marathon-session type cookbooks. That doesn't work for me, I never have that much stamina! I did however find some good guidelines and recipes.

This week's project was a Chicken Lasagna. First I gathered all my ingredients. I don't always do that when I am just cooking a meal, but if I am canning or cooking for the freezer, I always do.

In this recipe, the mushrooms, artichokes, broth, seasonings, and half and half are cooked together until everything is tender.

This is layered like a traditional lasagna--lasagna noodles, shredded chicken, mushroom mixture, cheese, repeat.

I now have two more dinners in the freezer! 

I wrap them in heavy duty foil, and label them with the name of the dish and the cooking directions. 

The chicken lasagna recipe came from this book. A lot of the meals can be frozen, but there are a lot that are just make ahead and are great to use if you are having a dinner party or whatever and you want to get as much done as possible ahead of time.

Food Memories

I am sure if you are at all like me, you have strong memories associated with food and preparing food. I absolutely love cooking and sharing food with other people. 

Cooking soothes me; chopping and cooking from scratch have a calming effect for me, after a rough day, it is stress relieving.

Cooking, trying new recipes and experimenting in the kitchen helps fulfill my need to be creative.

Cooking comes easy to me. A man a know, Mr. Charles, always told me that every one of us has this little flame inside of us, and when we use those talents to benefit others, that little flame grows and grows and the bigger that flame gets, the happier and content we become. I can and have cooked for 1 person up to groups of 200. It is all fun for me. 

Cooking also connects me to so many people, some are still with me and some are not. But those memories tied to food and cooking are all happy memories.

I never make Chicken and Dumplings without thinking of my Granny.

Making pancakes and omelettes make me think of my Dad.

Canning make me think of parents, grandparents and great grandmother.

Mixing up a batch of jalapeno cornbread brings Allyson to mind.

Banana Pudding reminds me of my Mamaw.

When I make chicken pot pie I think of my friend Mr. Charles, he always raves about mine, and in the past when he introduces me to people, he tells them about my chicken pot pie.

Fudge and peanut butter cookies remind me of my Mom.

There are so many happy memories that come to mind when I cook. 

What cooking memories do you have?

Tropical Fruit Salad

The other day I posted about my excitement over my dragon fruit that I got from Bountiful Baskets. It was tasty and kind of tasty. I decided to use it in a fruit salad. I combined the mango, dragon fruit, sliced strawberries and some pineapple together. I then mixed 2 parts pineapple juice, 1 part orange juice and i part lime juice together and poured it over the fruit and gently stirred. Very tasty!

One Box, Two Boxes, Three Boxes!

I decided I needed to add another couple of raised beds for this year's gardening. I want to add an herb garden and have room from some flowers to attract bees. 

These are very simple boxes, I bought two 8' cedar boards and had Lowe's cut them in half. When I got them home, I just screwed them together.

At first I was only going to add one, but I decided I really needed two, because I like symmetry. Another box means that I will be growing even more of our food and hopefully reducing the grocery bill even more.

Both of these boxes are 4' x 4', I took the photo at a weird angle so one looks smaller than the other, but they are the same. You can also see my new manual mower there, I wanted to make sure that the mower could get between them.

And here you can see how the boxes are placed in the yard. We have a patio right outside the door, then there is a small strip before you get to the big box. Kip built the big box for my birthday last year and then my Dad added the fence that I use as a trellis for my beans, peas and cucumbers.

In the back along the fence you can see my compost bin, To the left of this area I have raspberry bushes and blueberry bushes.

I have to say, I am really happy with the way my back yard is coming along. I have a places to grow food to eat, and flowers for beauty, I have bird feeders because I find them so relaxing, I have a grill to cook on and a table to sit at. I love to sit out there in the mornings with a cup of coffee. The only things missing are a chicken coop and a bee hive!