Puff Pastry “fingers”

Puff Pastry "Fingers" with Jam

This recipe is even easier (I know it’s really hard to believe) than my other puff pastry desert. It’s equally delicious, but I think that my dad likes this better because the can control (read pile on) the amount of strawberry jam.  Here, I just placed a small bowl of softened jam so people can dip and eat as much as they’d like.

Ingredients:
1 box Puff pastry dough (I used one sheet)
Jam (which ever you like, as much as you like)

Steps:
1. Cut the puff pastry dough in half lenghth-wise and then in about inch intervals.
2. Bake until golden and puffy (about 400 degrees for about 12 minutes)
3. Dip the “fingers” into warmed jam. Or, split the “fingers” and fill them with jam (so the jam is sandwiched between the pieces of puff pastry).

Puff Pastry Dough

Puff Pastry "Fingers"

Mushroom “Stroganoff”

YUM

I was reading a few yummy recipes, some for beef stroganoff and some for a mushroom and pasta dish, and the wires must have gotten crossed and this creation emerged.  I had a rather large packet of mushrooms from Costco and I’ve been trying not to waste them (again).  So I figured I’d saute them and server with ribbon pasta and some sort of sauce, but that’s not exactly what happened.  Here is what I did:

Ingredients:
24oz packet of mushrooms (thinly sliced)
1 cup of low-fat sour cream
Roasted asparagus (optional; I just had some in the fridge so decided to use it)
1 large onion (diced)
Salt, freshly ground black pepper, sweet paprika, smoked spanish paprika (all to taste)
Noodles (I used half a pound of whole wheat ones)

Steps:
Cook noodles according to package directions
1. Saute onion.
2. Add mushrooms and saute them too. If you see it sticking, add some stock or pasta water.
3. Add sour cream. Season.
4. Add asparagus, if using.

Mushrooms and onions

With Sourcream

With Noodles

Chicken Soup

Look at the golden glow!

I’ve never made chicken soup before. Mainly because I don’t really like it. I know, it’s an odd confession as an opening for a chicken soup recipe. But…. The soup I made wasn’t like the chicken soup I grew up with. What never appealed to me was the rich, clear broth that had little pools of chicken fat floating on top.

So I figured that instead of throwing a whole chicken into the pot with a carrot and an onion, I’d do something differently. I used a chicken breast, a chicken leg, and a bone in, skin on chicken thigh. As usual, I tried to remove as much fat as possible. I also added a lot more to the soup. There is the typical carrot, however, instead of just halving it, I diced it into half moons and sauted a little. The onion also got the saute treatment instead of being just halved and thrown in. Potatoes and a bell pepper also made their way into the pot. I wanted to add some more veggies (of the frozen variety) but there was no more room in the pot. Oh well. Here is what I did:

Ingredients:
1 large white onion (diced)
1 large carrot (diced in large half moons)
chicken (whatever you want, but I used cut-up chicken breast, thigh, and leg)
6 cups of water (pretty much the max for my pan, but you can use more if you’d like a looser soup)
2 small-medium potatoes (I use Yukon Gold)
1 bell pepper (chopped in large chunks)
1-2 bay leaves (optional)
Salt, pepper, turmeric, spanish smoked paprika, sweet paprika (all to taste)

Steps:
1. Saute the diced onion and carrots for a few minutes.
2. Add chicken and cover with water.
3. Bring water to a boil and add the spices.
4. Add the potatoes and bell pepper. Add the bay leaves if you’re using them. Check the spices in a few minutes (potatoes tend to absorb a lot).
5. Let simmer on low heat for a half hour or so.

Soup veggies sauteing

Chicken Soup Cooking

Crockpot Oatmeal

You must have noticed that I don’t have any breakfast recipes here. I’ve become a non-breakfast person in the last 10 years or so. But one of my New Year’s resolutions is to eat breakfast every day. So, another try at crockpot oatmeal was a must. I’ve been experimenting with this for a few months on and off and yesterday, I was telling a friend of mine how quick, easy, and healthy a crock-pot oatmeal is.
My experimenting involved different proportions as well as different things I added and when I added them. In one of the earlier versions, I’d add the dried fruit right away, but the raisins plumped up and were a little sour, the dried apricots became a yummy mush but the texture was barely tolerable, and dried cherries were really sour. Also, it seems that a 1:4 proportion of oatmeal to water seems to work well for me (1 part oatmeal to 4 parts water).
This recipe makes 2 generous portions or 3 average portions (in a 1.5QT crock-pot). I always have leftover oatmeal that I don’t know what to do with.
But here is the recipe that worked out:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oatmeal (use steel cut oats, not instant)
2 cups water
brown sugar (a little less than a 1/3 cup)
pinch of salt
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (I used about a teaspoon of cinnamon and a generous pinch of nutmeg)

Optional Additions:
Nuts (I used a handful of chopped pecans)
Dried fruit (I used 3 apricots I cut up in quarters and a handful of dried cranberries)

Steps:
1. Combine all ingredients in the crockpot and mix them up a little, except the Optional Additions.
2. Turn on the crock pot to “warm” and leave on over night (about 8-9 hours).
3. Half hour before the oatmeal is done, add the dried fruit of your choice and add the nuts when you are ready to enjoy.

The reason I use the “warm” setting instead of “low” is because I noticed that there’s less oatmeal that sticks to the sides and burns.

Banana Bread Experiment

I’ve been looking for an easy recipe that doesn’t call for exotic ingredients. And by “exotic” I mean something I’d actually have to go look for in a store. My goal really was to use ingredients I already have on hand. And I really wanted to use bananas. Since I can’t really eat raw bananas and I really like how they smell, I was really looking forward to some kind of a banana bread. I learned that when fruit is cooked it has different digestive properties and those who are allergic to the raw variety might be able to eat the same fruit cooked. I’m one of those people when it comes to bananas. So, I found this recipe and have been trying for weeks (or has it been months already) to make it. But with the holidays and birthday season of the past 6 weeks, it hasn’t been a priority.

I’ve finally managed to find some time today. It turned out OK, but a little darker than the picture on David Lebovitz’ site. I think that’s because I used some espresso. However, his recipe doesn’t specify how much of it to use, so I used just a little bit (one teaspoon dissolved in just enough hot water). Other than that, I followed the recipe to the letter. We’ll see if anyone else likes it.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!
I hope you had a wonderful and safe holiday season. This year my family and I decided to go out instead of celebrating at home, though as usual, we were together. In the image you can see the typical blintz (not rolled, but folded) with caviar on top, stuffed shrimp, pickled things (tomatoes, pickles, and cabbage), cold cuts (beef tongue, and some sort of other meat), seafood salad, and of course alcohol. These were just the appetizers. For the “main course”, of which there were two, there was lamb and then Chicken Kiev. I should say that the lamb was decent, but we prefer it the way we make it ourselves. We like our spices (cumin and coriander) and we also get really fresh lamb from the same vendor we’ve been going to for the last 20 years.

I must mention the pickled tomatoes. Absolutely fantastically good. Considering it’s my favorite food, I was very pleased at how good they were and I ate quite a few.

As with any typical celebration, there was plenty of food, live entertainment, dancing, and alcohol. Though, the only drunk people we say were Americans who “crashed” the party (they came in from the bar across the ballroom).

If you’d like to see how this holiday is frequently celebrated, please check out this post by another local blogger.

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I consider myself to be richly blessed and thank God for my blessings regularly. Having a nationally recognized holiday to do so is wonderful. In my family, I have taken over Thanksgiving responsibilities in the last few years and relish the opportunity to cook up a feast. And a feast it truly is.
This year our menu was as follows:
Appetizers:
Baked Salmon
Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
Pickled tomatoes (store-bought)
Hummus (store-bought)
Smoked fish (store-bought)
Goat cheese bruschetta
Seafood Salad
Roasted Red Pepper Salad
Roasted Asparagus

Main course:
Vegetable Soup
Mashed potatoes
Turkey

Dessert:
Spice cake
Puff Pastry “strips”
Meringue cake (store-bought)

The turkey I’ve made in the last 5-7 years has always been moist as a result of both brining and baking it in a bag. However, this year it was absolutely superb. Please don’t think that I’m boasting. I did absolutely nothing differently from years past. The difference is in the turkey itself. I ordered a turkey at a farmers market earlier this year through Rueggseger Farms. The turkey was never frozen, it was “harvested” on Tuesday morning and we took delivery in the evening. It was astonishingly fresh and well-cleaned and absolutely lip-smacking when cooked.

Additional Recipes will be coming soon.

Ella’s Borsch

Finally! A recipe!

My family has been blessed with phenomenal cooks.  My grandma and her sister make absolutely different but fabulously sumptuous borscht.  That’s right, borscht.  The funny thing is, as ubiquitous as borscht is and as fundamental to “Russian” cuisine, I’ve never made it before today.  Usually, this is how the conversation about borscht goes:

Me:  Grandma, how do I make borscht?
Grandma: When would you like it?  I’ll make some for you.
Me:  No, thanks Grandma, I’d like to learn how to make it.
Grandma:  Well, you’ll need beets and other things.
Me:  Ok, I’ll call you this evening for a complete list of ingredients and quantities.
… Later that evening…
Grandma:  Come by when you can, I have borscht for you.

But today, I decided to pick grandma up so we’d cook it at my place, under her supervision/guidance. Between bouts of laughter, spilled grated carrots, spilled bag of dust from the vacuum, and life advice, we ended up cooking her sister’s recipe (my great-aunt Ella’s recipe).

Though this soup is completely vegetarian, even vegan if you avoid the dollop of sour cream, it doesn’t taste “weak” or like it’s just water and a cabbage.

Ingredients

Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes, diced in medium-sized chunks (I like Yukon Gold)
1 red bell pepper, diced in smallish-sized chunks (if you’d like to use 2, it would be great)
1 medium onion, diced
2 small beets, grated
1 large carrot, grated
1/2 head of cabbage
3 bay leaves
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced (if you like more, you can add more)
2 TBSP of tomato paste (I used catchup instead)
Salt and pepper to taste
2-2.25 cups of water
dill

Steps:
1. Cook the potatoes and cabbage in a pot of boiling water till just tender. About 10 minutes or so.
2. Saute all the veggies (onion, grated carrot, grated beets, and diced bell pepper) till just soft. About 5-10 minutes or so.
3. Combine the ingredients to one pot (whichever pot is larger). I had a cast-iron pot where I sauteed the veggies that had enough room to add the potatoes, cabbage, and the cooking liquid of those, so that’s what I did. I transferred the cabbage, potatoes, and water to the pot with the veggies.
4. Once combined, check the salt level, add the bay leaves, check the water. This is where we added 2 cups of water.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer about 15-20 minutes. Check water again. If it’s too thick, add more water. We added about a quarter cup at this point.
6. Add the minced garlic and minced dill (dill, salt, pepper are all to taste).
7. Turn off the heat and let the pot stand there for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy the rich deliciousness. This is typically served with a dollop of sour cream and everyone I know eats it that way. My preferred way is to eat it instead with a slice if somewhat crusty bread and a few cloves of raw garlic. No fear of vampires here.

Veggies Sauteing

Cabbage and Potatoes cooking

Borscht cooking

Yikes! It’s been a while

I can’t believe I haven’t posted a recipe in so long!  Trust me when I say I’ve been cooking, but most of the time I’be been cooking things I already wrote about.  For example, last week I made a roasted chicken, and today, I’m planning on making roasted chicken chili with the leftovers.

Though, I have made a few new dishes and I’ll have to blog about them.  I’ll have to make them again since I have no pictures from the first time I made it.  See, I’ve been testing some recipes from a book I just bought and I’m pretty excited to try these new and healthier recipes.  So far, they’ve been very tasty and very easy.  Watch, now I jinxed it.

Jeff-Leen Farm

Ok, I know I have neglected this blog for a loooong time.  My apologies.  But you know how it goes; work, work, more work, family, friends, hobbies, school, etc.  Actually, I have quite a backlog of material for blogging, but let me start with this.

Jeff-Leen Farm

For the past several years I have been purchasing meet during the summer at farmers markets.  I have settled on ground beef and chickens from Jeff-Leen.  You see, Jeff has a different breed of cattle, it’s not Holsteins, it’s Piedmontese.  The breed originated in the Piedmont region of France and is naturally very lean.  Actually, Jeff has a brochure that compares various meets with this partucular type of cow.  Since I am not willing to give up beef for a healthier lifestyle, I figured I should try this since it’s so low in all the “bad” stuff.

I also purchase their summer sausage with garlic almost weekly.  It’s a great snack and doesn’t spoil eaisily.  I’m sure I’ve tried their eggs too.  Delicious.

But about the chickens.  So worth every penny.  They’re fresh, tender, and succulent.  It’s orders of magnitude better than a fresh Sendik’s chicken, and I know I’ve made my best roast chicken with a fresh Jeff-Leen chicken.  But, they go quickly, so if you want one, it’s a good idea to get to the market early or even call ahead.

So Cute!

Chicken Coup

Knowing that farmer market season is nearly over, I asked Jeff what’s the best way to get his products during winter.  He said that they can drive it down and meet at a park-n-ride or other such location so you wouldn’t have to drive all the way to Random Lake. But I would recommend the drive. It’s not that far and it’s an absolutely gorgeous area.

Band for Customer Appreciation Day

Jeff-Leen also has an annual Customer Appreciation day at his farm.  This year it was in early September (I told you I have a backlog) and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  There was a band, great food (duh!), a hay ride (I’m lucky I’m not allergic to hay); got to see the chickens and the cows.  It turns out that the real Piedmontese cows have black circles around their eyes.  And the chickens get moved around at least once a day to a new piece of pasture so they get fresh grass and bugs to pick through.  But they are confined in their coups and there are about 100 chickens or so per each coup.  It was great to visit the farm, try out some other foods (I didn’t even know that they have hot dogs until I tried them at this event and they were really great), and just generally spend the day relaxing in a beautiful setting.  There were also lots and lots of prizes, but unfortuntaly, I didn’t win anything.    Oh well.

The cows roam around and looked very calm and peaceful.  I was surprised at how it didn’t smell of the typical “Wisconsin Dairy Air”.  Walking round the farm I noticed how clean it is.  As a customer, it makes me feel better knowing that the products I buy are from animals that are well taken care of and that they’re in a clean environment.  Jeff and his family are really friendly and are ready to answer any question.

Cows in the field

Piedmontese Cows

See the black around the eye?