Home Sweet Home

These past few days have been a glorious thing indeed. I have been home from school spending time with my family, and cooking, and eating marvelously. (Seriously, my mamma is the BEST cook I know and I hope to be as great as her someday...)

A few nights ago, she thought she might fancy a turkey dinner this week. So she made one...full on Thanksgiving (except for pies)...yeah, I told you she was A-mazing!! Just the fact that she has time and energy to whip up a gourmet meal like this on any old weekday is freaking fantastic and I love it!

Anyway, she set the turkey out the night before, but it wasn't until last night that she got down to business and started with stuffing, made from scratch, and potatoes, and rolls(also made from scratch) and veggies(home grown and home canned)...

As she cooked, I helped (a little) and took pictures...

My favorite part is the stuffing..

Butter, Evaporated milk, Sage and Poultry Seasoning...you can't go wrong

*Random fact: Celery is negative calories, it takes more calories to eat than it actually gives you.

 Throw in some minced onion and some ground up celery

 Ain't it pretty?

 mmmm butter :)

Don't forget the Evaporated milk!

Stir stir stir!

Taste, and season accordingly....really there are no measurements...it should be (dare use this word) moist, but not wet, and there should be plenty of seasoning...we used almost two sticks of melted butter and a can and a half of milk, along with lots of sprinkles of spices... including salt and pepper. I have discovered that home cooking doesn't involve a lot of measurements, it always tastes better when you just know. 

 BEAUTIFUL! and I'm not just talking about my mom :}

 We look good in the kitchen!

 Getting ready for potatoes!

 We get SO excited to peel potatoes at this house!

Look at those skins fly!

 Rolls anyone?

 so pretty...presentation is everything :}

 Roll roll roll the rolls!

 mmmm Stuffing :)

 Mashed Potatoes!

 Gravy?

my mother makes the BEST gravy. She takes the drippings from whatever meat she is making and then mixes it on the stove with a cornstarch and water mixture. 

turkey. I didn't eat it but I heard it was good.

And there is Logan, ready and waiting at the table. 

I love being home, and I love my mom's cooking even more! She is so talented and everything she makes tastes good! 

next project?

PARTY MIX!

Hot-dog Buns: The All Purpose Food

One thing about the end of the semester is that you are left with either a fridge full of perishable items and only so many days to eat them....or you have no food and you eat terribly (aka taco bell) 

Kimmy and I are left with the first problem. Our roommates left us with so much perishable food, we weren't sure what to do with it all. 

As we made a mental list of our food, we came to find we have an entire bag of hot-dog buns(thank you Becca) and two dozen eggs...as well as some unidentifiable leftovers and some ketchup.

 {this may or may not be a bit of an eggs-aggeration}

It was decided that we were going to see how many things we can make with Hot-dog buns....we thought of the following:

Eggs and toasted buns, fried egg sandwiches,french toast buns

Egg salad sandwiches

 Mini pizzas..did I mention cheese?

The buns would make good garlic bread to accompany some soup, leftover from some one...and I found a recipe for pineapple upside down cake using leftover buns...I wonder if in the case of no pineapple, we could make sweet corn cakes {canned veggies: gotta love 'em}

Salami Paganini? How about fake lunch meat Paganini?...yummy.

{insert gag reflex here}

To accompany our eggs and buns,

We have also discovered 4 bags mini carrots,  some spinach,2 bags of salad,an onion and something that looks like celery....

maybe we will make croutons to go on a salad!

We figure we will eat fairly well, until Kimmy leaves on Sunday...then its just me and my canned veggies..and maybe some noodles. 

This adventure, if nothing else, will teach me to be frugal...I will no longer be the one who throws out leftovers, this creative culinary experimentation will teach me to use everything. 

{yes, I AM becoming my mother}

{who I LOVE}

{and is following this blog...}

{:)}

Wonderful World of Wheat

As I had mentioned before, Julie got me a Vegetarian cookbook for Christmas. Contained within it's glorious pages was a recipe for Taboula, a dish made with Bulgar wheat and fresh vegetables. It is a light salad like dish.
anyway, I was interested in trying it, but I have no Bulgar wheat. So I looked up what it was and found that I could transform wheat berries into Bulgar wheat with a process involving steaming, baking and crushing the berries.
I decided to try it...what else was I going to do with a tub of food storage wheat berries and no wheat grinder....thanks mom.
SO the process began.
I soaked the wheat overnight in water, similar to this picture....

Then I boiled the wheat in 2x as much water needed(so as to avoid burning) on low heat for a good three hours. When I finished boiling it, I spread it out on a tray and then baked it for 30 mins in ten min, intervals, at 350*. It is now cooking on my kitchen counter, waiting for me to crush it, turning it into Bulgar wheat.
And then, I will make my Taboula. and it will be good. and I will post about it.

Clash of Cultures, Malagasy Soup and Doughnuts?

Today was a fun step in my food appreciation journey. My good friend Dave came over to our house and made us food from Madagascar. Malagasy food. 
When he came in, and began unpacking ingredients, I won't lie, I was a little nervous, though very excited. There were some tomatoes, ginger, onion, garlic cloves, a chunk of pork, and some watercress...which is a plant I'd never heard of...it still had the roots on it...sketch. 
As he began prepping the food, Julie and I began to help and take pictures.

 We're so excited! woot!

 and THIS is watercress....The roots were still on it, but it is a pretty color, so I guess its alright with me. 

Onions in the process of being minced. 

 There is the happy chef now!

 Tomatoes, cut like a boss by Miss Julie. 

 and that my friends, is the hunk of pork....I don't know what kind of cut, Dave called it a hunk, which I don't think is an actual cut, just go ask for a hunk of pork and I'm sure the butcher will know what you are talking about.

 in the bowl.

GINGER! This is one of my all time favorite things, and Dave was nice and let me keep the leftovers :)


After we prepped everything, I am not exactly sure what happened. Dave worked some magic in a big pot on the stove, and created one of the best meals I have ever eaten. It was served over rice(provided by Addison, Dave's mission buddy and Julie and I's new friend.{personal shout out to my new follower}

This is the wonderful stuff, I picked the pork out and ate the veggies and sauce over rice, but I heard that the meat was delish! IT may not look appetizing, but it was so so good! 


As for the second part of our meal, dessert. We made doughnuts...really good doughnuts. 
The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

·         2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast

·         1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

·         1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

·         1/2 cup white sugar

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         2 eggs

·         1/3 cup shortening

·         5 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 quart vegetable oil for frying

·          

·         1/3 cup butter

·         2 cups confectioners' sugar

·         1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

·         4 tablespoons hot water or as needed

Directions

1.      Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.

2.     In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains.

3.     Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth.

4.     Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is somewhat thin, but not watery. Set aside.

5.     Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess. Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up.

*A few adjustments: I used a larger package of yeast and so I just did 2 heaping tablespoons instead of the packages, but either would work fine. And, I didn't use the recipe for glaze they have here, I used my own. Mine is 2 cups of powdered sugar, 3 TBS of milk, and a tsp of vanilla, blend until smooth. Add milk or sugar to get the consistency you want. 

*and just a side note, if the oil gets too hot, it will cook the outside too dark and leave the inside raw and gooey. heating the oil hot hot and then letting it cool for a few minutes is the best route, which we ended up doing towards the end. 

As we made the doughnuts, they started out great

we used cookie cutters to make a y and a dragon fly....

as the recipe progressed and we put the dough into the hot hot oil, they began to go in an undesirable direction.....and this is what we ended with:

Yeah, I know they look like dog toys..or treats, BUT they were good, really good, probably too good for clean eating. 

Dave was such a great sport and stood at the stove and cooked them for almost the whole time

The gloves were provided by Julie,  isn't she so thoughtful...(;

In the end, we were thoroughly satisfied with our meal and our dessert. Clean up wasn't too bad, and Addison even made it back after his final to enjoy some doughnuts :) 

It was a great way to spend the day!

Roommate Gift Exchange

My roommates and I just finished our gift exchange. a few weeks ago we drew names out of a hat and got assigned a roommate to buy gifts for. we put a price limit on it -no more than 15$.
I had my roommate Kelby and got her a webkinz puppy, because she really wants a puppy so bad, and also some smelly-good stuff from Bath and Body Works :) which she squirted up her nose....don't worry it wasn't on purpose.
Anyway, my dearest roommate, Julie, had my name and she was kind enough to get me a book entitled "College Vegetarian Cooking...Feed yourself and your friends" Julie wants me to know that much emphasis should be put on the "...and your friends" part haha
But, this book is one of the greatest things ever, and I will be starting some of the recipes out of it soon, with posts to accompany them :)
 Good eats everyone!

Yummy Bread

Hello,
Today is Sunday and I am sick, home from church. As I sat wondering what I could do with my time, I decided what better way to spend a chilly Sunday afternoon, than to bake. Now, I know that cooking or baking when you are sick, with a runny nose, probably isn't the best way to avoid getting others sick, but I really wanted some bread. So that's the end of that.
I decided to use a recipe given to me by my seminary teacher, for french bread. It is super good FYI and SUPER easy.
So here is the recipe and a picture.

FRENCH BREAD
2 1/2 C. warm Water
2 T. Yeast
2 T. Sugar
6 C. of Flour
1 T. salt
2 T. oil

Combine water, yeast and sugar in a bowl. let sit for 15 min. Add the rest of the ingredients to the yeast mixture and mix. when dough is formed, divide it into two parts. Roll each piece into a 9x12" rectangle. Roll up like a jelly roll and pinch ends. Let ride for 30 min. Cut three gashes in top of each loaf and brush with egg whites. Bake at 400* for 20 mins.
:) YUM!
Then eat with Honey and butter to make life wonderful :):)

Yes, that is a half eaten loaf and yes, I am the only one home...I told you it was good. 

The Epic Lasagna Tower

This term, my roommates and I decided that we were going to have roommate dinner every Sunday. A few weeks ago, it was my turn for main-dish. I found this recipe for a Lasagna tower on http://www.stumbleupon.com/ (which if you don't know about...beware. It's a bigger time waster than Facebook.

ANYWAY

Here are pictures and my own personal commentary :)
This first part was so hard...I cooked the noodles and then I had to  put them in a bowl in this spiral pattern in order to form a noodle crust...it was harder than the recipe made it look...way harder

 So this next part was also quite the adventure...The recipe told me to chop the onions...well I hate chopping onions, so I put them in the bgz-bgz (that's the magic bullet..or the sound it makes) but, it pureed them, instead of chopping them. when I opened the lid, my eyes burned...so don't do that. But DO chop the onions and then saute them with garlic and a bit of olive oil.

 

 Next, combine some Italian seasoning with cottage or ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese.

 then, add some chopped celery, green peppers, yellow squash and zucchini to the garlic and onions.

 Then mix up some alfredo sauce with cream, parmesan cheese and nutmeg...oh and don't forget the butter!

 Then mix up some red sauce to add some variety to your layers.

 It is time to start assembling :)

 layer one :red sauce and cottage cheese mix

layer two: veggie mixture and red sauce

 Layer three: Spinach and alfredo

 continue layering and then fold excess noodles over like so:

Then bake at 350* for one hour when finished, remove and admire like this:

Then comes the fun part...time to FLIP! 

This was really nerve racking...

BUT, though the presentation wasn't a perfect ten, it tasted so good! 

This was definitely a recipe I would try again...but not anytime soon...it was a lot of work!