weekly meme – Peaceful Reader

Weekend Cooking; Savoring Chicken

(fabulous enchiladas)

Last Sunday I cooked a whole chicken in the oven, a very traditional Sunday meal for my family. When I talk about chicken here I only mean a local farmer’s chicken-you can use what ever kind of chicken you like but mine always come from a farm. We had plenty left over and instead of just turning the whole thing into chicken soup like I usually do I picked off several large chunks, shredded it and turned it into chicken enchiladas. I looked through several recipes to make it and I realized with an odd clarity that I’d never, ever made enchiladas before. I love Mexican food and make tostados, tacos, and burritos but enchiladas just seemed so overly cheesy. So why did I change my mind? I don’t know. I guess it was the large can of enchilada sauce staring at me from the back of the cupboard. The chicken and the enchilada sauce just came together.

My kids were leary at first but took a few tentative bites. Shockingly enough they both loved them and had second helpings. Groovy Girl usually does a lot of scraping and picking of my recipes, separating the what she is willing to eat and what will remain on the plate scrapped to the edges or on her napkin. Teenage Boy eats whatever because he’s well, a teenage boy, but his look can range from sullen to less-sullen depending on the meal. He ate his entire plates-worth and asked greedily for more. Dad wasn’t home to beat him to second helpings and we managed to eat the whole dish after I set aside the last two enchiladas so he could eat between meetings. This will definetely be added to my regular rotation as they were super easy-it helped that the chicken was already cooked) and every once in awhile my mind drifts off as I think about other combinations for another round of enchiladas. If you have a favorite please leave me a link.

Yesterday I started cold water bubbling with the remaining chicken and half a dozen bay leaves before I left for school. Stopping at the co-op on my way home I bought fresh celery, two large carrots, and noodles for the pot. The house smelled wonderful as I stepped in the back door after a long day at work. Homemade chicken soup is truly a God-send and yesterday was one of them. Even though I felt a bit under the weather it was easy to stand in the kitchen and chop carrots, onion, celery, garlic to toss in the pot with coconut oil slightly simmering at the bottom of the pan. I picked at the chicken bones (hot, hot, hot) extracting as much meat as possible and dumped the meat in the soup pot and added 6 cups of the savory broth.

I crawled into bed after that and just let the soup blend together without my watchful eye. By the time my husband walked in the door he added the noodles, waited, and served. Breaking from tradition I ate mine in bed. I feel so much better today, warding off what ever was trying to take hold of my body yesterday. Lack of sleep is a major problem as I struggle through insomnia. A good night’s sleep and a bowl of chicken noodle soup did the trick though and today things look much brighter.

What did you cook up this week?

Recipes used throughout the week:

Chicken Enchilda from Home-based Mom

(we had a good email chat about plastic wrap in the microwave)

Martha Stewart’s lighter chicken enchiladas

(next time I will make my own sauce)

Closet Cooking

(I looked at Kevin’s recipe before I left work for inspiration

but just followed my own instincts at home)

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking weekly meme.

Click her link to find many other food related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Curry and Chappati

(source)

We’ve been eating…lots of good stuff. Last night I whipped up an easy batch of fettuccine (pasta, olive oil, hard Parmesan, cream, thinly sliced garlic, and loads of pepper) after a crazy day with no heat in our house. Lucky for us by 5:00 last night it was fixed otherwise my hands would probably be too cold to type. But the recipe coup of the week was the curry dish I created last Sunday night for guests. We ate the curry over brown rice, washed it down with a couple of ice cold Stella’s, and popped edamame pods for something green.

I cleaned my house early in the day so I’d have plenty of time to cook with out hurrying which leads to worrying that everything’s not going to come out right. It came out great with very little leftovers. Because of the extra time I allowed I had time to whip up something special for the side that my husband loves; chappati. ( Indian Bread) As a 4th and 5th grader my husband spent two years in Malaysia and he loves most everything related to Indian and Asian cooking. My mother-in-law who I adore and bragged about in this post wrote a short cookbook based on her experiences working with friends in Malaysia. I’ve made a few recipes from her book but the chappati one is one of our favorites. It is incredibly easy and they work perfectly as the tool to get more curry into your mouth.

The curry recipe is from Serious Eats. This recipe called for lemongrass which smelled incredible as I chopped and whirred it together with fresh ginger.

And the chappati recipe:

3 cups whole wheat flour, or atta flour

Water, enough to make it pie dough consistency

Knead the water and flour well, at least 30 minutes before you are ready to fry it. Grease the top with ghee or corn oil, cover, and leave at room temperature until ready to use.

Pull off small tangerine-sized hunks of dough and work in your hand until it is smooth and round. Roll out into a flat, round circle about 1/4-inch thick.

Fry on a very hot griddle until golden brown on each side. May brush on a small amount of ghee or oil while frying to make chappatis soft. If they puff up while cooking, press the air out. Continue making until all dough is used up. Keep warm in oven or between layers of towels. Makes 10-12.

Thank you Phyllis!

There is a curry puff recipe here that is on my list to attempt soon.

I also have all the ingredients to make this Mexican Tortilla Casserole that I first spotted at Beth Fish Read’s interview with Katie Workman and now I have the book. I hope all my peeps like it.

We won’t be having it tonight though as Groovy Girl and I have tickets to the ballet…the Russian Ballet performance of Cinderella so we are donning our dresses and heavy winter coats and heading out, one foot in front of the other to the ballet!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Enjoy your weekend…

Weekend Cooking; Katie Workman's Lazy Oven French Toast

(source)

As she points out though it’s the cook that’s lazy not the oven. I love this recipe. French toast is easier to make than waffles or pancakes truly and this recipe makes it easier to enjoy all together at the table, especially if you have guests. It is assembled the night before so the bread soaks up all the egg while you are sleeping. I served it for breakfast for the five of us on New Year’s Day and it would be excellent and easy for a brunch.

Lazy Oven French Toast
Serves 6-8
Vegetarian

Butter or oil spray
4 cups milk
6 large eggs
2 T granulated sugar
2 T maple syrup, plus more for serving (optional)(to which I say really, optional?, I don’t think so)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher or coarse salt
1 large loaf challah bread, preferably slightly stale, sliced 3/4 to 1 inch thick
3/4 cup whole raisins, chopped dried fruit, or chopped nuts (optional)

Fresh fruit such as berries, sliced peaches or pears, and/or confectioner’s sugar, for serving.

1. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with butter or spray.
2. Place the milk, eggs, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to mix well. Set aside.
3. Arrange half of the bread slices in the prepared baking dish, cutting the bread so that it fits in a solid layer. Pour half of the milk mixture over the top, then evenly distribute half the dried fruit or nuts, if using, over the top.
4. Repeat, creating a second layer of bread and then pouring the rest of the milk mixture on top and distributing rest of the fruit or nuts over the bread. Lightly press the bread down into the liquid.

5. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap (luckily my pan has a cover so I’m able to skip this step) and refrigerate over night. The bread will have absorbed almost all of the milk mixture. Uncover the baking dish and if there are dryer looking pieces on top, take them off and carefully tuck them underneath the bread on the bottom so that the more milk-soaked pieces are now on top (this is messy but it all works out in the baking). Note that any dried fruit sitting on top of the French toast will get pretty chewy when baked and nuts on top will get toasty; the fruit and nuts tucked into the French toast will be softer, so disperse the fruit and nuts as you see fit.

6. Preheat the oven to 425*F.
7. Bake the French toast, uncovered, until it is puffed and golden, 30 to 35 minutes.
8. Let the French toast sit for 5 minutes to firm up a bit, then cut into squares and serve it hot with your choice of maple syrup, fresh fruit, and/or a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

On the side notes Katie adds perfectly helpful hints as to what the kids can do to help but since I created this at about 11:00 on New Year’s Eve Groovy Girl was too busy being silly with her older siblings to help me pour and squish. It was her first late night NY’s Eve and I can’t blame her.

I made this exactly as the recipe states EXCEPT since my kids are not fans of either nuts or dried fruit I did a cranberry twist. I made a compote out of one bag of cranberries, a little orange juice, local honey, and some lemon zest and let it simmer on medium heat while I prepared the French toast. I poured this in-between layers and on top. The cranberries were a pretty addition against the yellow/white bread/egg mixture plus they were tart and perfect with our real maple syrup.

This post is connected to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts. Happy Saturday. I know have to cart Groovy Girl to a drama class and an art class. I plan to take my laptop so I can do some writing and a book-I am just about finished with Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

Weekend Cooking; Party treats

(cranberry salsa)

Over the last few weeks I’ve done a lot of cooking. When I cook I like to cook with love, with feeling, with happy thoughts in my head which takes me beyond the mundane of just cooking a meal, if that makes sense. It’s more than that or I might as well stop and go buy a take-out pizza!

We had guests to entertain a few nights before New Year’s Eve and I wanted to prepare a few special recipes. I had already made this hummus recipe because Eldest daughter likes it so I planned to serve that with crisp celery and a variety of crackers including these snappy little rice crackers from Blue Diamond that I love. I planned on serving quesadillas cut into thin wedges for an appetizer and served some of our own famous salsa with that. I wanted something just a little bit more and found it in this cranberry salsa recipe that I served with those little scoop chips that are perfect for well, scooping dips.

Cranberry Salsa

12 oz. cranberries

1 granny smith apple

1 red or orange pepper

3 T. cilantro

3 T. pickled jalapenos

1/2 of a red onion, diced

1/3 cup apple juice

3/4 cup sugar

Chop first six ingredients. Mix apple juice with sugar in a small saucepan and heat until dissolved. Mix juice mixture with chopped ingredients and stir thoroughly. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

My modifications: I didn’t chop up the cranberries because I like whole berries so I added the berries to the cooking apple juice (I used cider) and let them pop, pop, pop. I replaced the sugar with honey because why not?

This dip is tangy and wonderful on a tortilla! Our friends wanted some to take home with them (and they took a container of hummus as well!). I took a small container of it with me to work on Thursday and Friday and ate if with blue chips for lunch and I still have a little leftover for a sometime soon treat.

hummus plate mid-preparation

The original recipe is published in a school cookbook our staff put together a year or two ago. I found that recipe while I was looking for my friend Stephanie’s margarita recipe. Two recipe hits just pages from each other. The margaritas were a perfect balance for the spicy appetizers on our table.

I used Katie Workman’s The Mom 100 Cookbook to pre-make our New Year’s Day brunch menu. My mother-in-law made a french toast dish like this for us one year at the beach but dang if I could not find that recipe. It is such an annoyance when I know I’ve had a recipe but I’ve lost it in the midst of my recipe chaos. Katie saved me though as I paged through a few books looking for something similar. This one is it exactly I believe. It was so delicious served with warmed maple syrup and a dap of real whipped cream. I’ll save that one for next week’s post.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads where many other fabulous food-related posts are waiting for you to check them out.

Weekend Cooking; Almond cravings

I’ve written in previous posts about my love for lemons but I don’t think I’ve shared how much I love almond-flavored baked goods. We toss back a lot of almonds as a snack item here and did you know that a handful of almonds may help you sleep better? Yes, it’s true. This bar recipe combines both almond flavor with a nutty topping and they were delicious!

I made them for a holiday party and wanted something that would appeal to adults in the crowd, something a little more sophisticated.

Almond Toffee Bars
KA Baker’s Companion
about 48 squares

Cookie Base

1 cups (2 sticks) butter
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Topping

1 cup brown sugar, packed
5 1/3 T (2/3 stick) butter
1/4 cup (2 ozs) milk
1 cup (3 ozs) sliced unblanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350.

To make the base: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream the butter, then add the almond extract and the confectioners’ sugar, beating all the while. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Press the dough into an ungreased 15 x 10 x 1-inch baking sheet (what my mom calls a jelly roll pan), pushing the dough all the way to the edges and up the side just a little. Bake the crust 15-20 minutes, until it is golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Topping: Combine the brown sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan stirring over low heat just until the brown sugar is dissolved and the butter has melted. Spread this mixture over the cookie base. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. This is the only step I veered off recipe. I already had a mason jar full of whole almonds, I had all other ingredients on hand so when I put together my ingredients previously I just took from the jar and loosely chopped enough to sprinkle over the top. The end result was they were still delicious and had a more rustic look instead of a finished look. At the holiday party they were swooped up and talked about by several groups of adults. We ran out of them even as a table of ladies asked for more. Huge hit. Will make again. No photo exists.

Several other sweets I’ve enjoyed over the holidays:

I made The Brown-eyed Baker’s Salted Caramel for the second time. A friend of mine from school has been on home rest for about 6 weeks after a nasty spill she took off the roof of her house. Yes, real women DO clean their own gutters! She (thankfully) is a daily reader of my blog and had asked many times for this salted caramel recipe. Yesterday I made it for her and took it to her still warm in the jar. Enjoy Kay!

I’ve written several times about my friend Barbara who owns Marilyn’s Bakery in Hobart, IN. She sent us a tin of their to-die for English toffee. The tin is almost gone (small sob) and December is almost over. There won’t be any more until next December. Luckily I can always look back on the memory of my husband and I standing in the kitchen as we both read different sections of the newspaper while we nibble at the toffee in the tin. It was about 9 in the morning. You could order some for yourself but you’ll have to wait, just like us.

Life’s too short not to eat delicious things.

Happy Holidays.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads where you will find many other food-related posts.

Top Ten Tuesday; Authors I've discovered

2012 New discoveries for me:

(links take you to my review)

A.S. King

Loved Ask the Passengers.

Colleen Clayton

Ditto for What Happens Next?

Kelly Barnhill

Iron-Hearted Violet-excellent.

Lauren Oliver

Liesl and Po!

Patrick Carman

(Groovy Girl and I are reading The Dark Hills Divide together and love it)

Anabel Pitcher

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece-timely realistic fiction

Love Maia

True urban tale DJ Rising

Katherine Schlick Noe

Native American reservation fiction in Something to Hold

Louise Erdrich

(knew of her; just had not read any of her books,

loved The Birchbark House series and am now

reading The Round House)

Thank you to all these wonderful authors for brightening my year!

This meme is featured over at The Broke and the Bookish and one day

I will have my post ready so I’m not the thirteen thousand participant!

Top Ten Tuesday; I am thankful for these authors…

The Broke and the Bookish host this weekly meme. Today we celebrate at the proverbial table to give thanks to those whom we love and those that keep us reading. This was an easy list to create and if you’d like to play along or just read other lists click to their site and find many more authors and books.

I’m thankful for:

1. Barbara Kingsolver-I’ve read nearly all of her books and loved them all. We could be friends.

2. J.K. Rowling-She brought magic back to reading and I will always be grateful to her for that. I loved the anticipation of getting a new one in the mail from Amazon and cracking open the cover, not letting go until it was finished.

3. Jodi Piccoult-I’ve enjoyed her books and her willingness to bring unique topics to light.

4. Kate DiCamillo; Love all of her books especially The Tale of Desperaux, Winn-Dixie, and Edward Tulane.

5. Mildred D. Taylor- As I read about Cassie Logan and her family’s struggles I fell in love with historical fiction.

6. Stephen King-In college I read a lot of his books and spent one freezing weekend in a cabin on the outskirts of Duluth and the main source of entertainment was me reading some of his short stories aloud to several friends. It was perfectly creepy.

7. Maya Angelou-Phenomenal Woman.

8. David Leviathan-Love his humor and and his memorable characters.

9. Rick Riordan-Like J.K. Rowling I will always be thankful that Mr. Riordan keeps boys (and girls) reading and hungering for more.

10. Suzanne Collins-Before The Hunger Games there was Gregor and I cheered for him.

11. Cornelia Funke-Just for Inkheart. I heart this book so much.

I know I could have come up with more and I’m sure throughout my day I might think of others but off the top of my head this is my list. Enjoy. What ten authors are you thankful for?

Top Ten Tuesday; Top Ten Bookish people I'd like to meet

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish this top ten list are the authors I would love to meet for dinner, coffee or maybe even a glass of wine. I’d be so nervous to meet them I’d have to have a list of top ten questions to use for talking points!

1. Barbara Kingsolver; I would ask about what inspired The Bean Trees and we could talk a long time about sustainable living.

2. J.K. Rowling; I would nudge her to talk about magic and her wonderful HP characters. I might ask her even about her new adult book.

3. Anne Lamott; I could listen to her stories for hours-she can make me laugh about parenting like no other! And then when we are all done laughing we could talk about our faith as well.

4. Judy Blume; Just to give her a hug and tell her thank you for all those stories that helped me go from elementary to middle and beyond. Thank you.

5. Louisa May Alcott; I would love to take a walk in the garden with her, just to listen to her tell stories about her sisters.

6. Henry David Thoreau; Same here, a walk would suffice and I’m sure he could give me advice on the simple life and civil disobedience.

7. George Washington Carver; I think of all his accomplishments but would love to just talk about gardening with him.

8. Kate DiCamillo; I’ve loved everyone of her stories and have a huge crush on her writing style. The Tale of Desperaux and Winn-Dixie are two books I could read every year.

9. Mildred D. Taylor; Roll of Thunder, Hear my cry is one of my favorite novels and I would love to have the opportunity to sit and share a meal with Ms. Taylor to talk about Cassie and her family.

10. Alice Hoffman; Alice Hoffman’s writing style fascinates me and I don’t think I could keep up but I would love to hear her speak.

Honorable mentions go to Dr. Seuss and President Barack Obama! I’ve heard the president speak but would love to have a one-on-one conversation about some important issues over a cold White House brew. Michelle could come also. What bookish person would you love to eat or chat with??

Weekend Cooking; Salsa Olympics

Sun-kissed girl and tomatoes

We spent another weekend up at the farm with my mom. She called and said tomatoes were not selling at the farmer’s market any more and we needed to make salsa. She said this with such enthusiasm I couldn’t resist even though I had so much to do at my own home, getting ready for school. I tucked Groovy Girl into the car with the new Kindle Fire and a good book and took off for the wilds of Northeast Iowa.

We’ve prepared this same salsa for the last few years although last year my mom made it herself as we just couldn’t coordinate a time to do it together. This year my cupboard was completely bare of any salsa and I knew I couldn’t make it through the year without this particular staple to my diet.

Groovy Girl collected ALL the tomatoes for our second batch of salsa!

Friends of ours, our minister and his wife, passed this recipe on to us. They also make it every year although I think we’ve changed our version up enough that they do not taste similar anymore.

Salsa

Skin 20 cups of tomatoes. To do this you need to boil a pot of water, place tomatoes into hot water and watch for skins to start “popping.”

1 1/2 cup cornstarch
4 cups onions, chunked up
2 cups green peppers, chunked up
2 banana peppers, chopped
5 large garlic cloves, smashed
1 jalapeno, sliced
2 cups sugar
3 T. cayenne pepper
4 tsp chili powder
2 T. cumin
1 T. coriander
4 T. salt
2 1/2 cups white vinegar

Once the tomato skins have popped scoop them out and run a little cold water over and peel skin back. Cut out the stem and down to get that odd white core out (about 1/4 down). Loosely chop tomatoes and add to food processor. After each batch is processed add it a large pot. (We only processed our tomatoes for about five quick spins-we wanted to it to be medium chunky) Save out two cups of processed tomatoes and add the corn starch in and stir to dissolve. After you finish processing tomatoes and they are cooking in large pot add onions, peppers, and garlic to food processor and quick pulse to combine. Again only a few pulses because you want to see small chunks of greens and yellows. Combine spices, peppers, and garlic into tomato pot. Stir to combine. This is a great time to do a taste test to see if you want to spice it up more. (The original recipe calls for more hot peppers and cayenne but I like it not as spicy because my kids eat it like this. We’ve worked hard to make it kid-friendly without compromising flavor. )
Our pot was so full we had to scoop back and forth to really mix it up. Slowly add the tomato/cornstarch mix and stir well. Cook 20-30 additional minutes.

(My grandmother’s canning pot)

Put in hot sterilized jars and seal. The tops should pop if sealed correctly. What a satisfying sound as you hear them go “pop”, “pop”, “pop” 14 different times! A glorious happy feeling.

This salsa-making session will always be remembered as our Olympics-

1. We made one batch and crazily decided “let’s do it again!”
2. The Olympics played non-stop on my mom’s kitchen television while we (I) chopped, stirred, pulsed, and poured. I’m sure I took home a medal-14 in fact!

Our goal is to include Groovy Girl a little more each year. This year about all she wanted to do was gather the tomatoes but next year she will help a little more. Eventually my mom will have taught me how to do all that fancy canning stuff on my own and Groovy Girl will by my helper. I clearly remember making jam in my grandmother’s kitchen. She sat in her green chair while my mom and I took out samples to her so she could check our progress. The cycle keeps turning.

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to read many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking without the cooking; Food For the Soul

It is blisteringly hot here. We just rode our bikes to the library. It was Groovy Girl’s idea…oh, it was hot, hot, hot especially for a little girl to pedal a bike without gears. We did pick up quite a few tasty nuggets while we were there though so I present to you today a combination Library Loot and Weekend Cooking; a mixed bag of ~~greens~~ books!

Food for the Soul:

1. In The Green Kitchen; Techniques to learn by heart by Alice Waters (2010).

Alice is a food queen, to me! I’ve briefly paged through this handy book and know I’m going to enjoy it. She highlights chefs known for their love of local food and each shares a cooking tip and a recipe. As I open the book at a random page, David Chang is the featured chef , and his tip is “Pickling Vegetables” (81) where he writes about using salt and sugar for quick pickling to serve watermelon, radishes, daikon radishes and cucumbers as appetizers. Right now this sounds like an excellent idea as it doesn’t involve turning on the oven. I may have to request this for my birthday which is just around the corner (Aug. 3rd).

2. Mama Panya’s Pancakes; A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary and Rich Chamberlain; ill. by Julia Cairns (2005).

This is a delightful book from one of my favorite publishing companies, Barefoot Books. Adika and his mother head to the market. As they travel Adika, always one step ahead of his mother, invites all the friends they meet to join them for his mother’s delicious pancakes. He brags and she worries! Mama knows she only has two coins in her pocket to buy flour and a hot pepper. Adika keeps telling his mother it will all work out and as their friend’s arrive for the pancake feast they each have something to share.

The watercolor illustrations are filled with the bold colors of Africa and the end pages have tons of related information including a map of Kenya! I love when a book about a country does that; it makes it so much easier to share that information quickly with students as you read the story. Great choice. Of course, the pancake recipe is included. According to the notes pancakes are eaten around the world and it shares the names-Scotland-bannocks, France-crepes, Mexico-tortillas, Indonesia-dadar gutung and China-bao bing. Now I’ll know how to order one of my favorite foods.

Find other food-related posts at Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking post.

What else did find at the library, you ask?

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (read yesterday’s post and find out why I was happy to find this one on the shelf.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman-It was on the hold shelf for me and it will be my next read after I finish One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus.

A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper-This one just practically jumped off the shelf at me as I perused the YA new shelves.

Now I’m grabbing my book and I’m off to the local water-~~ing hole~~ park to join Groovy Girl and her friend.
Have a blissful weekend whether you’re cooking or not!

ps. I found this great blog, Sweet Mama Jane while perusing for a photo of Alice’s book. Click there to read a full review of In The Green Kitchen.