Monday's Moment: Hot Chocolate Balls....First Attempt....yum!

 

Monday's Moment: Making Nana's Apple Crisp

 Recipe can be found here.

Monday's Moment: Pizza Night!

When life gives you limes.....

you make LIMEADE!

With the arrival of our UAB last week, we now have my citrus press (can't wait till our HHE arrives and I can use my new KitchenAid citrus juicer attachment I got for Christmas!!). We went online to find a limeade recipe. Our first batch, when we started adding water to get up to the 2 quarts, about halfway there it was already watered down (not enough limes). We added the rest of the limes we had picked at the time and had super sweet hint of lime water. Ever since, we've been tweaking with the lime to sugar to water ratio. We are trying to get the perfect amount of tartness for Richard but still have enough sweetness for the rest of us to enjoy too.

The basic how to:

After acquiring a plethora of limes, get a cute helper.

Put the sugar in your pitcher, squeeze the juice out of your limes (we squeezed over a small colander since the limes have a ton of seeds). Lick the occasional lime to make sure it is still tart.

Then add water, lick lips while you imagine how good it will be, and stir it all about (doesn't hurt to also sing a song about the lime and a coconut while making limeade too).

Limeade Recipe:
Juice of ~8-9 medium-large limes
2/3 cup sugar
add water to make 2 quarts of limeade

Pasta Con Broccoli

….its from my favorite restaurant in St.Louis…The Pasta House Co. Every pilgrimage I make to St. Louis I go there (remember last year when I went, I took my bestie there for her birthday) at least twice. Back when I was in high school the recipe for this favorite dish of mine was published in the newspaper....except we think there was a typo....It called for 4 sticks of butter....it was way too much....as in a pond of butter was floating on top.....so here's the tweaked version!

Pasta Con Broccoli

1 pkg (16 oz ) medium pasta shells

1 1/2 sticks butter (which converted to 170 grams….which I think was a little too much…I might tweak next time I make it)

1 quart half and half

3 cups of chopped broccoli (I go with the florets…when I can find them)

1 tbsp garlic salt

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup spaghetti sauce

Cook Pasta (I do if for a minute or two less than al dente recommendations since it cooks more as the sauce thickens). Drain and set aside. Melt margarine. Add garlic. Simmer a few minutes. Add broccoli, parmesan cheese and spaghetti sauce. Mix. Add half and half. Mix. Add cooked noodles. Cook uncovered, over medium heat until sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally.

Almost ready, needs to thicken just a bit more!

You can also make it in the crockpot (at the school I used to worked at, we did a luncheon for students….I’d mix it in the morning and it’d be ready for lunch).

Cook noodles, throw everything into crockpot. Mix. Cook at least 3 hours, start low 1 hr, high 1 hr, low 1 hr.

You can also cut everything in 1/2 and it makes about 4 servings....

It will be so good that your father-in-law who wasn't very hungry after a large lunch will not only have a bowl-full but also finish off what's left in the pot.....

Sunday Morning Yumminess!

So most Sunday mornings I start making breakfast like this:

(I love the fact that it gets light earlier now and the sunlight is streaming in while I'm cooking). So I've been told I am a yankee being from St. Louis and all. But back in the day when Missouri was trying to become a state, it was actually divided....even the city itself was divided.....but technically I was born in North County....(but my mom was born close to the boot heel of southern Missouri....)....so who knows if I'm a yankee or not....but one southern food I do love.....buttermilk biscuits....as does the family. So that is our typically Sunday breakfast.....

So back when we lived in SC, you could buy frozen biscuits that you baked in the oven....I made these all the time but when we got up to DC.....nary a frozen biscuit could be found. So I took a bread making class at Arlington County Adult Education center and in addition to 7 other yummy bread creations, I learned how to make buttermilk biscuits. Our instructor Ed was great. We met 2 nights and each night made 4 recipes, sampled each and brought home a little goody bag to continue savoring (or share...which I was nice and shared with Richard!) So here's what you need to make buttermilk biscuits (with a few tweaks I've made since class).

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (plus more as needed)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse sea salt
85 g (aka 6 Tbsp) grated cold butter
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 Tbsp vinegar and about 1 cup of milk, see below)

So, since here in Georgia I haven't been able to find actual buttermilk, I start by making the buttermilk. I measure 1 Tbsp of vinegar and pour it in my measuring cup. I then add milk up to the 1 cup line and let it sit at least 5 minutes while I do the rest of the biscuit prep.

While the buttermilk is brewing, I put the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine.

When I buy my 400g bricks of butter from the store, I go ahead and precut it into 85g chunks. I then throw these chunks into the freezer. When making these biscuits you don't want the butter melting until the biscuits are baking in the oven, so you want the butter cold during prep.

I use a grater to add the frozen butter to the flour mixture.

When I get down to just a little bit of butter that I can't grate without adding some flesh to the biscuits I put it aside and save it for later.

After grating the butter....

Then you mix the grated butter with the flour. You want it throughly mixed (you want little bits in every bite). You can use a pastry cutter to mix it well, but last time I made them I forgot that step and it turned out fine (if you don't grate the butter you will need the pastry cutter).

Next stir in the buttermilk. After mixing put the dough on a floured surface.

You must be gentle with southern food (no kneading allowed)......pat the dough out into an ~1 inch thick rectangle. If the dough is super sticky sprinkle with some more flour.

Then fold the dough in half and then pat out again (sprinkling more flour if needed).

Repeat the fold and pat out one more time (this is what gives the biscuit its layers of yumminess).

Next use a biscuit cutter (or a glass) to cut out biscuits. You don't want to twist the cutter or it will making it harder for the biscuits to rise in the oven. When you are left with dough scraps, pat them back together and make another rectangle and cut some more out.

Place the biscuits on a baking sheet. I've found a silicon pad (or parchment paper) makes them real easy to remove the biscuits when done.

At this point I preheat the oven to 450°F and let the biscuits sit and rise while I get the rest of breakfast going.  Once the oven is preheated, I put the biscuits in for 12-15 minutes (until puffed up and a nice golden brown). Remove the biscuits from the oven and take that little piece of butter left over from grating and rub on top of each biscuit.....

Then enjoy!

Taco Night

So back when we lived in the states and I got home from work late....easy quick to put together, yummy, relatively healthy dinner = Taco Night.

Now that we are living in the land of lack of hispanic food....Taco Night is not so easy...... I stocked up on taco meat seasoning so I have that covered. Beans, rice, lettuce, tomato, and cheese those are easy to find (buying local I'll use canned kidney beans or I'll use the canned black beans I sent with our consumables). SO what's the tricky part? Tortillas/Taco Shells. Those have a very short shelf life....so I didn't ship any so I must make them myself. My friend Laura has a friend that makes homemade tortillas....she sent me the recipe....I am now an expert at making rectangular taco size tortillas!

Laura's friend got the recipe from 'How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman. I have tweaked it a tad. These are so yummy, I might have to check out the rest of that cookbook!

Wheat Flour Tortillas

Makes 16 taco-sized tortillas

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
57 grams of butter (or 4 tbsp)
~1 cup warm water (plus more as needed)


Combine flour and salt. Mix in butter with pastry cutter until butter is pea-sized or smaller.

Add water slowly until dough holds together.

Before Kneading

Knead on lightly floured surface, adding flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic (~4 min by hand).

After Kneading

Place in container with lid and let sit at room temperature for several hours.

Divide dough into 16 balls. I have found cutting the dough with a knife makes it easier to get the dough balls close to the same size.

On lightly floured surface, roll out as thin as possible into a disk.

Heat large skillet over medium heat. Cook one at a time, for ~4 min, flipping once (wait for brown spots to appear before flipping).

I pile them up on a plate as they cook. Once they are all ready I finish up getting the taco fillings lined up. Then each of us can make our own tacos (Clarissa does just cheese (rolled up to spill out less), Mason will do cheese, rice and lettuce (with a side of beans....much to his dismay), I make bean tacos, and Richard mades meat tacos).

I think I am onto something with rectangular tacos.....you don't have that wasted bite at the top and stuff seems to stay in better.

Any that are not eaten at dinner can be stored in a plastic bag (I will make the kids a taco to send in their lunch....I tend to make it more a burrito shaped to keep everything in being bounced around in lunch boxes). A lot of times between what we eat at dinner and packing lunches for the kids and Richard I don't even get leftover tortillas :(

Now on to hard taco shells......wonder if that will be worth the hassle.

**Note: The batch I took photos with I was making 1.5 batches.....so it is a little more dough.