A year of cooking...

I think this year will be defined as a year of cooking. I began the year by joining a cooking group on Facebook. It's called Cook My Book II. (two b/c this is the groups second year in existence). I was so very fortunate to be invited by the group's creator. Basically the premise of the group is for each member to pick one cookbook. Then we mail in a certain rotation that allows all of the members to get every cookbook for about 3 weeks. We write in the cookbook. I know. Some of you book lovers will cringe at writing in a book. I did until I actually saw how cool it was! We write on the recipes we made. What we liked, didn't like, if we changed things up a bit or a tip/trick we think that'll make the recipe better. It's sort of like a yearbook but the people in the group are from all over the US. We started in February and will end around October just before the holidays kick in.

I am now in two cooking groups. The other group is called 37 Cooks.

I still think it's funny that lil' ol' ME is in a cooking group, let alone two. I was never the one who was known for my recipes, cooking, or the time I spent in the kitchen. I mean I do love to cook. I love being in my kitchen. It's the very first kitchen that belongs to me. I love to make food that people can enjoy, but I never thrived in the kitchen. I never had a meal, other than Thanksgiving, that my family begged me to make. I was ok with that. It didn't hurt my feelings and I just made meals to feed my family. I didn't give much thought to my menu before CMBII & 37Cooks. I had a very boring, easy rotation of menus that kept us all in a rut. I like easy. Easy isn't always fun and delicious though.

I was invited to CMBII at the perfect time. I had tried to spice things up a bit in the kitchen. I had started to feel like I wanted to do more in the kitchen. I felt like the meals I was preparing for my family could be better and could actually mean something. I didn't want to just make meals for my family, but I wanted the meals to be an extension of my heart. I wanted my family to know that I took the time to plan the menu with them in mind. I didn't just pull out an already written menu from my files, but that I took the time to think about each and everyones likes and dislikes. I thought about their health. I thought about what would make them smile with excitment. I thought about what smells would make their tummy rumble. I thought about meals that would make them BEG for more. I thought about meals that when they think of them, they think of me and the love I put into it. I wanted them to have very fond memories of me in the kitchen.

Now, reality has sunk in. Don't worry, I'm not livng in a Julia Child's fairytale. I have had many failures in the kitchen this year. But to me, that is also succeeding. I know what NOT to do now. Plus, having Chinese take out on speed dial can be the fastest recovery for any cook.

If there is one thing I have gained this year it would be to relax. Relax in the kitchen. Take your time. Don't rush and don't set yourself up to be in a hurry. Planning is still crucial for me. But that's just who I am as a person. My husband balances me by being the spontaneous one. I do everything with a plan in my mind. Well, if I'm telling the truth it's written down b/c my memory stinks.

Another thing I have learned: read the entire recipe first. I had a pork loin I wanted to make only to find out I needed to have it marinate overnight before roasting it. How do you tell a hungry family that instead of dinner being ready in an hour; we're having a bowl of cereal instead? There is only so many times in a week you can call for the Chinese take out before they recognize you. And to be called by my name....oh the shame.

These are two important lessons one should learn to be a bit closer at succeeding in the kitchen.

My favorite thing that has happened out of all of this cooking is that my daughter cooks almost every single meal with me. She is learning so much. The other day she said something that made me realize how much she is paying attention. The sad part is I forgot what she said. I hate that. I remember it was cute and she was right, but cannot remember what it was about. I just remember thinking, "Wow. She has learned a lot!" I'm going to go put a spiral notebook in the kitchen so I don't forget these times.

Another favorite: I made new friends!!! And we're like our own little gang. These people are THE best people to learn from. I have enjoyed each of them in their own unique ways. I have a genuine love for them although I haven't met them in person. Well, I've known the creator, Sandra, for years through homeschooling in TX together. This group has so much fun via FB that if we met in person the cops might be called. Bow, what a story that would be. I gaurantee you that the people in this group would befriend and cook something delicious for their cell mates.

Another favorite: my family is asking for certain recipes and meals now. I made a cake last night. My son sat down beside me and told me why he loved it. He went into detail about why he generally doesn't like cake, but LOVED this one. He said that he felt like the cake (bread) part is usually dry. He generally eats more icing on the cake b/c it takes away from the dry cake. And he's not a big icing person anyway so cake hasn't always been a favorite. He told me that last nights cake was very moist, but the best part was that it tasted good. He went on to say he has eaten a moist cake with no flavor. Who knew he thought about this with such detail? Anyway, he continued by saying the icing was also perfect. I made a homemade whipped topping/icing. Neither of my boys like sweets that much. Store bought icing has always been detested by them. So much so that they would scrape off icing and eat the cake part at birthday parties so not to offend the birthday person. This whipped topping I made last night was airy, not too sweet and just about melted in your mouth. This cake is even better the next day when it's been refrigerated overnight. The topping caramelizes with the cake and is out of this world. I very much enjoyed listening to my son tell me why he loved this cake. I loved his thought process and I loved that he appreciated the effort I put into making it. He thanked me more than a few times. That is happiness to me.

Here's a few of the recipes I have made this year:

Balsamic Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

 

 

Chinese Chicken Salad

 

 

Grilled Orange Chicken Drumsticks

Onion, Tomato & Basil Mayonaise Sandwiches

 

 

Peppered Porkchops with Balsamic Sage

 

 

Pineapple Planter's Punch

Shanghainese Mini-Meatballs, Five Spice Potatoes with Sweet-soy sauced broccoli
 

Texas Tortilla Soup
 



My friend, Willie, his creation: Frito Pie Burger

My latest CMB book is Mexican. I had not even opened the book before my husband looked it over & said we needed to buy it. Another fave: my husband loves this cooking group and year of cooking just as much as I do.

Until next time,
Reb

Strawberry Bread Sandwich w/Fresh Whipped Topping

Summertime.

What comes to mind when you think of summer?

Scorching heat...the south set records this year!

Grilling out.... grilled hot dogs! I take mine with ketchup & mustard only, please.

Iced cold lemonade...love a glass of sweet lemonade to quinch my thirst.

Watermelon....sweet, juicy, cold watermelon....mmmmm....

Swimming in a cool pool...ah! So refreshing!

Fireflies....I love sitting outside on a long summer evening watching fireflies.

Strawberries....fresh, bright red, juicy strawberry shortcake! Yummy!

Summer holds such fun times and promise but yet in a blink of an eye it's over. Is it me or is summer the fastest season? 

Fall starts September 22nd. So we have about 5 weeks left...what are you going to do to finish up the season? I made this:

Strawberry Bread Sandwich with fresh whipped topping ... NOT Cool Whip!

I  will never buy Cool Whip again. Never. My friend Sandra told me about a better alternative. It's so easy and taste better than CW.

I don't have any pictures of me making fresh whipped cream, but it's so easy you don't need to see instructions. I promise.

Here's what you need: a bowl, about 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, sugar & blender.

Take your whipping cream and pour about 1 cup of it in the bowl. Pour some sugar in...just a little. You'll add some later if you need to. Get your blender, turn it on and whip the cream until stiff peaks form. About 4-5 minutes. Taste. If it needs some sugar stir in some sugar.  Done. That's it! And I gaurantee you it taste better than anything you could buy at the store.

I couldn't pick which one was the better picture so I am showing you all of them.

This is a little dark, but it still looks delish, huh?

Strawberry Bread Sandwich
Adapted from Pike Place Market

I changed this recipe a little. You can do that. Whatever suits ya that day. First, I didn't add nuts. Second, the actual name of this recipe is Strawberry- Nut Bread. Third, they serve it as a stand alone bread. It's delicious by itself. They give some ideas on how you could serve it, so really they leave it up to you on if you want to serve it alone or with toppings. I had two toppings available. I made a sugar and milk icing and the fresh whipped topping. My youngest son loved it with the icing and my older son & I loved it with the whip cream. My daughter & husband liked it plain. You could add fresh berries, ice cream, yogurt & granola, or dust the top with some powdered sugar. Fourth, I used a carton of fresh straberries. The recipe calls for 2 cups of frozen berries.

Ingredients:
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 c. chopped pecans
1 1/4 oil- they suggest a light vegetable, canola, corn or soy oil.
2 cups of frozen, unsweetened, sliced strawberries, thawed- they suggest that if you're going to use fresh berries to let them sit out on the counter 'til room temperature..about an hour. This way they can get juicy. My berries were very juicy. I didn't leave them out for the hour. I didn't measure 2 cups. I just cut all the berries in the carton into slices and let them sit while prepping the other ingredients. I didn't feel the need for them to get juicier, they had enough.

Preheat oven to 350* and grease 2 9x5 loaf pans with spray,

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, & sugar.

In a seperate bowl mix eggs, oil, strawberries, & pecans.

Now...another thing I didn't do...the recipe suggest making a well with the dry ingredients  & then add the wet ingredients. And then dividing the batter between the two grease pans.

I took my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and threw in all the dry ingredients. I used the flat beater to make sure they were all incorporated. Then I threw in all the wet ingredients. Once mixed together I divided into the pans.

Bake for 1 hour. I had one 9x5 and an 8x5 loaf pan so I had to bake the bigger one a tad longer. I just put foil on it after the hour so it didn't brown too much.

Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Turn out loaves. Slice into 8 slices per loaf and serve as you wish!

Enjoy this summer treat b/c before you know it you'll be making pumpkin bread! Ahhh....fall does sound nice.

Until next time,
Reb

Hand Made Egg Pasta

I have never made pasta from scratch. And especially not by hand. I've never considered doing it  b/c I buy pasta in bulk at Sam's. Why make it when I have 600 pounds of it sitting on the pantry shelf? Besides, I like simple & easy. It's nothing to toss in some pasta with a pot of boiling water. Set timer and drain. Nothing to it. However, I am in this cookbook group. The main premise of this group is to cook from another persons cookbook (within the group) and to challenge yourself while finding some incredible recipes.

When I took a glance at this recipe it was just that. A glance. I didn't give it a second thought. I bookmarked the recipes I wanted to try and hand made egg pasta didn't make the cut. Again, I have that 600 pounds of pasta all ready for some boiling water.

Then for some reason as I was getting the book ready to send off to the next member of the group, I asked myself if I had done one recipe that I was afraid of. My goal is to always learn something new and to become an amazing cook. I want to carry down a legacy of loving the kitchen and make memories my kids can share with their kids about mom being in the kitchen and great food. I want them to crave "mom's cooking" when they are older. I also want them to laugh with me at the mistakes I make in the kitchen. It is going to happen. As a matter of fact, I made a terrible chicken recipe just the other night. It was way too dry. The kids liked it and scarfed it down, but Adam and I gave that look to one another that said, "horrible".

So, I had not made one recipe I was afraid of. I made an incredible Patate e pomodori al forno aka Potatoes Baked with Tomatoes. It was awesome. I will make that again. I also had made a Granita di limone aka Lemon Granita that was so refreshing and delicious. I love anything lemon. I need to grow a lemon tree...anyway...

So, I had made nothing too hard. And then it hit me...MAKE THE HAND MADE EGG NOODLES. Yup, that'll make ya stretch. And it will teach you something new. Instead of packaging it up to mail, I opened up the book to the recipe and started Mise en place!

Adapted from Cook's Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking by Carla Capalbo
This recipe is for 1 - 2 servings.
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 eggs
pinch of salt

(Did you know that that is all you need to make pasta? I didn't. Probably why I never considered making fresh pasta.)-- HEY! I'm learning!

You will need toppings: cheese, red or white sauce or whatever color you want, pepperoni, chicken, red pepper flakes, pepper, butter. etc....what are you in the mood for?

For more servings add one egg for every 1/2 cup of flour...so if I had 1.5 cups of flour = 3 eggs serves 4-6, 2 c. of flour = 4 eggs serves 6-8 etc.

Make a well in the middle of the flour. (BTW- let me apologize for the photos up front. I like to think I take better pictures normally, but these aren't that great.)

Add the eggs and pinch of salt. See the fork? Take the fork and gradually mix the eggs and flour until you have the below pic....

Roll until it's a nice elastic. Your fingers will be sticky, just add more flour. The excess flour gets shaken off and when you boil it, the flour washes away. Roll out the dough until paper thin (for spaghetti or angel hair.) I made mine a little thicker b/c I like a thicker  noodle.

Take a sharp knife or pizza cutter (that's what I used) and cut the dough into strips. You can cut them however you like...big, small, just remember the noodle will swell a bit once boiled.

Shake off excess flour and place in a bowl. Set aside. Get a pot of water boiling. Add salt to water.

Don't forget to give the kids some of the dough so they can kneed and cut, too. It's about memories and loving the kitchen, right?

Notice her sleeves are rolled up. She did that. Not me. She's serious about this noodle business.

Now, as tempting as it might be-- DO NOT add noodles until the water is a rapid boil. Once water is boiling, add noodles. They only need to cook 30 seconds after the water comes back to a full boil.

Drain but don't rinse the noodle. This keeps the good starchy goodness on them. Add your favorite topppings or sauce. I added red pepper, fresh shaved parmesean and romano and butter.

So, there ya have it! I challenged myself to do something I have never done before. I can't fib. I did feed my kids a different meal just in case I completely messed this up. Boy, did they miss out!

Until next time,
Reb

Coconut Shrimp

Ever had a recipe that you wanted to make over and over b/c not only was it so easy, but delicious?! That is this recipe. You cannot mess it up. It's always tasty. It's not loaded in fat. It's always a hit with everyone.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of  sweetened shredded coconut (if you don't use sweetened coconut add 3/4 tsp of sugar to step 3)
1 tbsp. cooking oil
 1 lb. raw, deviened shrimp; patted REALLY dry
2 tbsp. butter
4 green onions; cut into 2 in lengths
1 tbsp. of finely minced garlic
3 tbsp. Rum ( you can use cognac or brandy, but I use Rum b/c it's not as strong. I sometimes use Coconut Rum.)
generous pinch of Sea Salt (I use Ocean's Flavor Low Sodium Sea Salt)
Angel hair pasta (You could also use another pasta or rice if you wanted. Or you can put it on a salad. Oooo!! A salad...I'm gonna have to try that!)

Some of the best cooking advice I ever recieved was Mise en place. It means to prep everything before you start cooking. Have it all out and ready. I LOVE this and it has changed my cooking for the better. I'm never hurried or rushed to get to the next ingredient. Love it.

 In a wok or frying pan add coconut and toast. Usually takes 4-5 minutes. Don't leave it and keep stirring. Watch it carefully. It can burn FAST! Once toasted, remove from pan and plate to cool.

Toasted coconut!



Start a pot of boiling water for the angel hair pasta. Salt water.

Wipe the wok/pan you used for the coconut clean. Set on high heat. When you add a bead of water & it instantly sizzles and evaporates, add oil & shrimp. Keep shrimp in a single layer. Flip and cook other side of shrimp. Cook thoroughly. If they're 100% defrosted, it takes about 5 minutes. Remove and plate.



Is your water boiling? If so, add pasta.

 Back to the same pan, turn heat to medium. Add butter and when it boils add onion and garlic. Cook until fragrant; about 30 seconds. Add Rum, salt and sugar if you did not buy sweetened coconut.



Stir and return shrimp to wok. Let it bubble and thicken just a bit. The sauce should cover the shrimp in a light coat.



Check pasta. When al dente, drain and plate a portion. Add shrimp mixture. Sprinle on toasted coconut.

I added red pepper flakes and shredded parmesan cheese. You can add anything you like or eat it as is. It's amazing either way.

This recipe is adapted from The Steamy Kitchen cookbook by Jaden Hair. I love this cookbook. She says if there was just ONE recipe you could cook from her book- it should be this one. If you make it you'll taste why.

Until next time,
Reb

Herbed Tomato-Chive Tarts

I have never made a tart. I am scared of them. I don't really know why. I think it's the dough. But thanks to some of my cooking buddies, I am feeling a little braver than a few months ago. So, I am challenging myself and diving deep into tart land. The first one up is from the Back In The Day Bakery cookbook. You need to get this book. It's got some of the best recipes I've ever made and it's adorable.

When most think of a tart they think sweet. Or at least I do. So, I wanted to really do something that was different from my thinking. As I looked through my cookbooks this recipe was the first one that caught my eye. It sounds delicious and super easy.

So far, it's been a breeze. It's in the oven baking now so I'll update you on the delicious part later.

It's a cornmeal crust. I have never made anything with cornmeal. Ever. Is that weird?

Now, I know that the crust is ugly. I could have rolled it out and made it prettier, but it's going to covered up soon so why?

I thought this was so pretty. For the filling; tomatoes and chives.

Heavy cream with egg yolks, fresh thyme and pepper. Again, part of the filling.

While the dough is baking I'm waiting to fill the dough with the rest of the yummy-ness....

Ready for the oven. Bake at 325* for 40 minutes. It's topped with fresh nutmeg.

I am sooooo hungry!

Ok, so drizzle with oil & vinegar. Wait 5-10 minutes for it to cool....

So pretty and it smells amazing!!!

Delicious!! Seriously scrumptious!! 

Scared of tarts? Who me? Never!

This will be made again and again. Next up is a Rustic Peach-Blueberry Tart from this same book.

Until next time,

Reb