Lentil Vegetable Soup

 
 
13-16 cups of chicken/veggie/beef stock (I took the bones from 3 chicken breasts I stripped the meat off of the night before and pressure cooked the bones with half an onion in the pressure cooker for 45 minutes once it came to pressure. Seriously lovely stock is the end result!)

5-7 carrots (peeled and sliced)
1/2 head cabbage
1/2 medium onion
3 ribs celery
1.5 cups frozen peas
1.5 cups dry lentils
salt to taste
1 tablespoon dry Italian herbs
olive oil

Chop onions and celery. Saute in olive oil in large pot.Once soft, add chicken stock, bring to a boil. Add lentils & carrots, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes stiring occasionally. Half way through cooking, add salt and herbs. After half an hour of simmering, add frozen peas and cabbage (chopped). Simmer 10 minutes or until all veggies & lentils are tender.

Serves: a lot

Served with garlic cheddar biscuits

Biscuits
7 tablespoons lard and/or butter and/or shortenting (total 7 tablespoons)
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp salt
2.5 tsps baking powder
3/4-1 1/4 cup of milk (amount depends on what type of biscuit you are making)
1 tsp garlic powder
Modest handful of favorite shredded cheese. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium size bowl place fat (lard, shortening, butter, etc.). Add flour, baking powered and salt. With the back of a fork, "cut" fat into flour until it resembles pebble size balls. Add garlic powder. Add milk starting with 1/2 cup, mix briefly, add more if necessary. For drop biscuits you may need all of the allotted milk, for rolled and cut biscuits, less milk. For drop biscuits dough should be damp. Add cheese, mix briefly. Do not overwork the dough. Mix enough to incorporate most of the flour. Drop by 1/4 cup measure (heaping heaping soup spoon portion) onto Silpat lined or greased cookie sheet. Pop into the oven and bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown on top.

Cheddar Potato Broccoli Soup

Lots of ways to mix and match this one. How much liquid you add depends on how thick (or thin) you like it. 4 pints of liquid for the amount of ingredients listed gives me the consistency I like. I used pints for measure as I had a pint glass handy. The conversion is 1 pint = 2 cups. You can add more at the end of cooking if it ends up being too thick for your liking.

We prefer our soup without chunks so I use a stick blender but you could certainly just dice your potatoes up small if you do not intend to blend it.

I try to make this soup after I've made chicken stock and used the chicken for another meal. It helps to have planned meals for things like this =).

1/2-1 medium onion, diced
1-2 cloves or garlic, diced
3-4 ribs of celery, sliced thin
4-6 Tablespoons of olive oil
8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and roughly cut
2 pints (4 cups) of chicken stock (or 2 bullion cubes and 2 pints of water)
1-2 pints (2-4 cups) of milk
1 16 ounce bag of frozen broccoli (you can also use fresh) optional
8 ounces of sharp cheddar (or more), shredded
1.5 tablespoons kosher salt (more to taste)
Scallions (optional)

Dice onion, celery and garlic. In a large pot, saute in olive oil on low/low-medium until soft. Meanwhile, peel and chop potatoes & add to pot. I like to let them cook a little too in the oil before adding liquids. Add all liquids and salt to the pot and simmer on low/medium until potatoes are still slightly firm, 15-20 minutes or so (depends on how small you've cut them). Don't set it and forget it, the milk may cause the soup to bubble over the top of the pot and you may have to reduce your heat.

Add frozen broccoli, bring back to simmer and cook until tender (approx. 10 minutes). Allow to cool some if you intend to use an immersion (stick) blender (which is what I do) or you can smash the potatoes with a potato masher or use an electric mixer. If you intend to use a stick blender or hand held mixer, DO USE CAUTION as it will be EXTREMELY hot! Once blended, add cheese, let melt and serve. Top with sliced scallions (optional) Makes approx. 8-12 servings.

Occasionally I'll make white or brown rice and serve this over. I try to always serve it with homemade bread or muffins (herb rolls left over from Thanksgiving is what we had tonight). Yum. The soup heats up well (think lunch tomorrow), we never have enough left to freeze after leftovers the next day, but I suppose it might freeze well without cheese.

Homemade Granola

4 tbs coconut oil (vegetable oil or canola would work too)
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar (or 1 TBS molasses and 1 cup white sugar)
6 cups of rolled oats
1/4- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds, etc. (optional)
1 cup flax seeds or flax bran (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a shallow skillet on low/med, heat oil and peanut butter until combined and runny.  Remove from heat, add sugar and mix well. While peanut butter and oil are warming, in a deep dish combine oats, seeds and flax. Once liquids are mixed, add to oat mixture, stir to combine well. Spread out onto a cookie sheet, place in oven for 18-20 minutes removing to stir several times.

 Cool and store in a zip lock bag. Serve over ice cream, yogurt, with milk or eat plain.

My Grandma's Noodles & Chicken-Noodle Dinner

It's as much a recipe as it is a memory...

Nothing screams home cooking and stick to your ribs more than homemade noodles...come to think of it, nothing screams those things more than chicken and gravy and mashed potatoes and peas either. My husband would object, he doesn't like them. There are few times when I can say he doesn't know what's good (mostly because I make 90% of what he eats and I can say, if you don't mind, that I am a fabulous cook and he loves my cooking which is evident by the fact that he comes home every night), but whatever, not my problem...more for the kids and I.

Don't expect dumpling-like noodles. There is no soda or powder in these and they are boiled, not steamed cooked. 

Warning: As with most of my recipes, if you are the measuring nazis police, please leave. I don't measure! I guesstimate. And based on the fact I have been cooking more of my life than not, nearly the last 10 of those years exclusively...every single night and sometimes 2-3 times a day. So, if you need measurements, I do the best I can. If that's a problem, seek professional help.

Food Nazis police need not apply. In fact, if you are the food police, just click the "X" in the upper right hand corner now.

First off, you'll need to plan ahead a bit for this meal. You'll need to simmer a chicken with onions and celery (or pressure cook it) in advance (I add herbs too- sage, oregano, basil, etc.). My Grandma uses a whole chicken, or did, when we were growing up. Now, she just uses (fattier) pieces (thighs, for example, as she usually is not cooking for so many people any longer.). You want some fat in the broth. If you're looking for a low fat version, seek professional help and/or  follow the "Food Police" directions above and have a nice day.

To make the noodles, start out early in the day. Morning is best as the noodles will need much of the day to dry out. This recipe may differ a tiny bit from my Grandma's original, but the ingredients are the same. She never measured for these. On more humid days the noodles will take longer to dry and may need less milk.

How many you are feeding will determine how much of everything you use. For a family of 3 (3 being one Mama and 2 young kids), I use one egg. For a larger family 2-3 eggs should do.

For one batch:

In a large bowl, crack your egg and beat. Add approx. 2 cups of plain white (bleached or un-bleached) flour, a small palm of of salt (small palm = about a tsp. or so and I only use Kosher salt but whatever you've got is fine) and enough milk to form a not to wet dough but not too dry either, maybe about quarter cup?

On a floured surface, roll out as thin as you like. My Grandma rolled them out pretty thick, 1/4" I'd say. My Mom likes to roll them out thinner, maybe 1/8". I like them both ways. For as long as I can remember, my Grandma always rolled the dough out on a big piece of left over formica counter-top and cut them with a knife. My mom rolls them out on her quartz counter top and cuts them with a pizza cutter. Either way works. After cutting, they'll need to sit out. Sit out, you ask? Isn't that kind of like a bacteria wonderland? If you are asking me that, you are the food nazis police. Have a nice day, goodbye.

Yes, so, these noodles made with raw eggs and raw milk (if you use raw milk) need to sit out, all day, preferably in a warm place, loosely covered if need be, to dry. Putting them on a cookie cooler type tray works. My Grandma let hers dry right on the piece of formica she cut them on. I roll and cut them on the counter, then transfer them to a Silpat and set them by the wood stove in the winter. I recommend NOT cutting them on the Silpat. Ask me how I know. If you want to ruin one, that's about the quickest way! Can you say,  "CRAP! THOSE THINGS ARE EXPENSIVE!"?  Yeah, lesson learned. Oddly enough though, I was cutting pizza when I cut the mat (which incidentally I make only in cast iron now, but that's besides the point).

After drying all day -and admittedly, I have made them later in the day and they weren't all that dry come cookin' time which goes against everything my Grandma told me to do with them (sorry, Grandma). They came out just as good, maybe a little bit different in texture, but for the sake of following Grandma's orders (big grin), start them early, okay?-, come evening you'll want to start your broth a'boiling. I like to remove the chicken and cooked bits of celery and onions once cooled a bit. We shred the chicken, give the bones to the dog, and set the meat aside (in the fridge if it will be a while before you cook the noodles) to add back in later. And yes, we give the chicken bones to the dog. King wanted to be sure I mention to you that he says chicken bones are fine for dogs and says your dog will love you more if you give your dogs chicken bones too.

Once the broth is boiling, add your noodles, loosely cover and cook for approx. 20 minutes. Add your shredded chicken back in to warm. Serve the broth over mashed potatoes with peas and noodles on the side. You may not serve this with anything else. It HAS to be mashed potatoes and peas, okay? Drew and my Grandma smash their peas. They say the peas are easier to pick up with a fork. I prefer to mix them with a bit of the potatoes and gravy myself.

I forgot to mention how much broth to use. Usually for a 2 egg batch you'll need the entire stock pot (or pressure cooker's) worth of broth (approximately a gallon or more). From my pot of chicken, I get half a gallon of broth for soup another time and there's enough broth left over for cooking the noodles in. In measurement, you'd probably need, in my opinion, about a half a gallon of broth to cook a one egg batch in. Too much broth and there won't be enough flour on the noodles to thicken it to a gravy, too little and it's like cooking pasta without enough water. You can always thicken up the broth once the cooking is nearly done with  little flour and water so it's better to have too much, than too little. King is much appreciative when I make too much.

Your plate may need salt once it's all served up. Our family normally left the salting up to the owner of the plate. 

This is half of a 1 egg batch. Separate them a bit once cut, they'll shrink up too.

Sorry, no photos of the cooked meal. I normally only cook this on nights Jeremiah won't be home for dinner so I was single parenting it and to be perfectly honest with you, I wanted to eat more than I wanted to take a photo of the finished product.

Enjoy!

How I cook

Jeremiah forwarded an email to me from someone at school requesting recipes be sent in to make a cookbook for a fundraiser of a gal who passed away not to long ago. This was my response to Jeremiah.

"I feel badly for the person who has to follow my recipe(s). They would read like this...

Brown your ground beef (or turkey if you wish), add some onions (how much I don't know...use "some" as a measurement) and garlic (the "some" measurement applies), cook on low and stir...while that's cooking chop this that and the other. If you don't have this, no biggy, substitute that or if you don't like it leave it out. Before you added this that and the other, you may have thought about draining the fat. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Drain if you wish. Then add some salt and pepper and chili powder and Italian seasoning and cumin. Then some tomatoes and homemade chicken broth left over from the chicken you cooked the night before and if you don't have that, I suppose canned stock or cubes would work too, stir. Let bubble for a while, stir. Taste, add this that and the other if needed. Cover. When it's done which is in about...well, I don't know how long, it's done when it's done. Serve with green onions and sour cream and Frito corn chips and if you don't have any of those, improvise or eat it plain.

If they don't mind this type of recipe, I could write their whole book! I've got tons of them!

Want a bread recipe? That's easy! Take some yeast, put it in a bowl. Take some honey, put it in there too. Add some eggs if you want. Put a cup or 2 of warm water in the bowl, add some sea (or kosher salt) and enough flour to allow the dough to still be wet. Stir, add more flour if needed but don't overdo it, you want it wet! Don't worry about kneeding, REALLY! Cover, let sit for as long as you got and then bake at whatever temperature your oven happens to be at for however long it takes them to brown.

The end. "

Good recipe for a cold day 2: Carrot raisin bread

If you've ever visited Mimi's Cafe, you've probably had their delicious bread assortment that's brought to every table. I started making this bread from a recipe I found online a few years ago tweaking it a bit so it's a a little better for the consumer. The recipe originally called for a lot of oil! Yes, the oil makes it so very moist and you're more than welcome to substitute 1/2 cup of oil for the apple sauce but I prefer the applesauce.

Ever wonder what to do with molasses?  Here's the ticket! Quite frankly though, I love molasses and I won't buy brown sugar any longer (brown sugar= white sugar with molasses). Molasses is multipurpose and I love multipurpose.

For those of you who do not cook and/or cannot improvise, I advise not to use my recipes. If I ever write a cookbook it will have find print with cautionary words letting people know not to expect exact measurements or cooing times and to expect a lot of extra opinions from me.

Oven: 350 degrees

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (and I LOVE cardimum so if you can get it and like it, this would be so so so good! If you're a fan of ginger this would be good too (I am NOT unless it's in tea or chinese food.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2-3/4 cup apple sauce
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1- 1 1/2 cup(s) shredded carrot
1- 1 1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts  (optional)

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and carrots.Mix.

In another medium bowl combine sugar, eggs and molasses. Blend well. Add vanilla, apple sauce, oil. Blend well. I add the dry ingredients to the wet but it can be done either way. Mix until blended but DO NOT over mix! It will make your bread/muffins dense and tough. If there's a little flour on the bottom of the bowl, this is okay.

Add your raisins and nuts (if you're using them) and stir just a few times to incorporate. Pour into one large greased loaf pan or 2 smaller ones or 8 mini-loafs or muffin pans.

Now, this is where I am kind of bad about writing recipes. I don't know how long to cook it for. I don't normally time things. I'd say for a loaf perhaps 45-60 minutes but ovens are different. I've gone from a gas stove that I've cooked on my whole life to electric for the first time ever and things cook faster in it. The mini loaves took about 30 minutes, muffins may take 15-20, . My best advice is to check them when they start to look puffy and the edges a light brown, they may be done. If you gently touch the top and it springs back, they're done. If it doesn't spring back so well it's not and if it's raw in the middle, well, I hope you know what to do.

Good recipe for a cold day: Potato Soup (with or without additions)

I did a lot of baking yesterday afternoon- chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and one of my favorites, carrot raisin bread. I also made potato soup for dinner. It's turning cold again and there's no better time for soup and fresh bread hot from the oven.

If you've ever seen me cook you'd know I don't go by recipes other than what's in my head/what I make up. There are so many variations on what I do and I do try to give good directions/ingredient lists/measurements but mostly, "I am a pinch, douse, and handful" type of gal. I also substitute ingredients too depending on what I have. This recipe could be done with all milk and no stock, water instead of stock or all stock. You can add heavy cream and/or butter. There are so many variations. The recipe for soup makes about 10 single size servings.

Potato broccoli soup-
1 medium onion (or half a large)
3 ribs of celery (more or less)
1 clove of garlic (more or less)
3 slices of bacon (optional- sometimes I have it, sometimes I don't.)
8 ounces of frozen broccoli (half a 1 lb. package, more or less, optional)
7-10 small/medium potatoes (peeled, cut tin half and chopped-how small you chop them will determine cooking time.)
2 cups cheddar cheese (I like sharp the best but a mixture of cheeses will due. I had a "fiesta" blend last night that I used)
*2 cups of water (or 2 cups of chicken stock or veggie stock)
2 chicken bullion cubes if you aren't using stock and want to (or vegetable cubes or just plain water)
*2 cups of milk
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil (if you're not using bacon to saute the veggies in)
Heavy cream (totally optional to be added at the end when you add your cheese. DO NOT add this during cooking or it will curdle.)

*Please note: We like our potato soup on the thicker side so the liquid measurements worked well on consistency for us. If you have more potatoes (or less) you'll need to adjust measurements accordingly and depending on how thick (or thin) you like it, you'll need to adjust too.

Chop onions, celery and garlic and saute with bacon or olive oil on med/low stirring occasionally. DO NOT LET THE GARLIC BURN. Sometimes I prefer to have crispy bacon as a topping so I'll cook it up first, set it aside on a paper towel to drain and saute the onions, garlic and celery in the fat. Last night I just cooked them all together.

Usually it takes too long to peel the potatoes while this other stuff is sauteing but if it's on low, you may be able to peel and chop in time.  Once your onions, garlic, and celery is soft, add your potatoes and coat them in the oil/grease and let them cook a bit. You don't have to do this but I think it adds more depth of flavor. You could just throw the potatoes in and then your liquid(s) & bullion cubes. Add broccoli after your liquids.

You can put a lid on at this point but I would recommend setting it in such a way that it can vent but don't want away and forget it you may need to turn it down. With milk in this soup, it WILL boil over. I prefer to leave the lid off and cook on med/low and turn the heat down if need be just so it's at a slow simmer. 

Simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Cooking time will depend on how coarsely chopped your potatoes and broccoli were. You want them as soft as you would if you were cooking mashed potatoes. At this point, I turn off my heat and use my stick blender carefully to blend it all. I have used a potato masher in the past but an electric mixer would work too, IF you even want it blended at all. Some people don't. Some times I dice the potatoes small and roughly blend it so I get bits of potato. At this point, if you want to add a few pads of butter, you're welcome to. I let my soup sit a while before adding my cheese if I have time.

And serve. There have been times I have served this over white rice (starch lovers dream I know!) or brown rice (especially if I am making Jambalaya and people don't like Jambalaya and prefer potato soup. Since both dishes start out the same, it's not too much work). Toppings run the gantlet and are optional: sour cream, crispy bacon, green onions, etc. So, you can get as hearty (and fat laden) as you wish, or don't.

Some other ideas for additions would be corn or shredded carrots (like I did lasts night since I was making carrot raisin bread and shredded too many). I've even added shredded zucchini once and it was delicious.

Mrs. Pickles

There's a chain of sandwich shops in Northern California (and Nevada) called Mr. Pickles. We only ever went once but they had good sandwiches. That's besides the point though.

Jeremiah has said since we were married I should open up my own restaurant but just like sewing, I need the freedom to be creative and making the same monotonous things over and over and over would take the love out of it all.That's kinda besides the point too except for the fact that the sandwiches I made today for lunch kinda reminded me of Mr. Pickles except for the fact that I don't even know if they make panini style sandwhices and in that case it would have nothing to do at all with my own restaurant or Mr. Pickles.

ANYWAY, I had 'kraut in the fridge, home made bread I had to use up and we always have cheese and sandwich meat. So, I set to work on a toasted sort of reuben sort of grilled cheese ham and pickle panini type sandwich and it was delish. It wasn't until after I was done shoveling it into my mouth that I realized I should have taken a photo but at that point it wasn't looking its best.

Recipe:
-2 pieces of bread (rye, wheat, sourdough, white, whatever)- I used home made white that was a couple days old
-butter or margerine (butter makes nicer grilled cheese I think)
-sandwich meat (turkey or ham or pastrami or whatever)- I used ham
-sliced pickles
-kraut
-ranch dressing (or mayo or miracle whip, though quite frankly I think miracle whip ruins just about everything so take your chances :o)- I used ranch
-processed cheese (or rubber cheese as my Mom would call it, or swiss or whatever)- I used Kraft processed "rubber" cheese although swiss sure sounded good!

Preheat an iron skillet on medium or so before you start assembling but make sure all your ingredients are ready to go when you start to preheat.

Layer your sandwich as follows (it may work a different way but I hate when the middle layers fall out and I found this layering to hold together quite well!):

Bread, cheese, pickles, meat, 'kraut, ranch dressing (on the bread), bread.

Butter your top piece of bread lay the buttered side down in the pan. You don't want your skillet so hot that it burns right away and smokes up the whole house though so be careful in timing your preheating. . Put a heavy weight on top before you butter what is now your un-buttered top piece of bread. I used another skillet for my weight and viola, home made panini press without the grill lines. Once your bottom bread is toasted, butter your top piece of bread, flip and put your weight back on. The heat under the sandwich shouldn't be searing hot, you need enough time so that cheese melts and the insides get warm without burning the bread (just in case you didn't know how to make a grilled cheese).

As a side note, the weight on the sandwich kinda smooshes it all together and gives a really nice crunchy crunch on the bread...not just a soft crunch of a regular grilled cheese-or boy cheese as Drew would call it.

Drew's so funny. For those of you who don't know him, he will NOT eat a grilled cheese (girl cheese), it must be called a boy cheese.

Anyhoos, there's a new recipe to try if you feel so inclined. Really really good!

My Easy Chili

I made a pretty easy chili last night and I wanted to share the recipe. I didn't get a photo. I meant to, really but...um, we kinda ate it all before I could. Maybe next time.

P.S. It's not the same without the toppings!

This will make 2 good child size servings and 4 adult servings (or seconds for the adults in a family of 4 with two small children)

Ingredients:
1/2- 1 lb. ground Cookie beef (for anyone who doesn't know who or what Cookie is/was, Cookie was the neighbors angus cow in Ca. that was put into the freezer. She was the best Cookie I ever ate. If you've never had home grown beef, there is no substitute!)
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1/2 of large can of water (use tomato can)
1 cup of chicken stock (optional. I had stock left over from the other night so I threw it in. Would be good with beef broth too, and if you have neither of those, more water will work too.)
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic
3 tsp. ground cumin (or to taste)
A few good pinches of salt (more or less to taste)
1 can of kidney beans (the whole can juice and all)
A few dashes of Worcestershire
2 tbs. chili powder (more or less to taste)
bag of Frito's corn chips
green onions
sour cream
shredded cheese
jalapenos (optional)

In a cast iron dutch oven (or large pot) brown beef, add diced onion and garlic. There was not much grease from my beef but if there is, drain it off. Once the beef is browned, add tomatoes, water, kidney beans, spices, Worcestershire and chicken stock.
Let simmer for about an hour, stir occasionally and tasting. If you need more spice(s), add and let simmer some more. I put a lid on mine for about 40 min. and let it simmer without the lid for the additional 20. It really thickened up after that, but that's optional too. Depends on how thick you like your chili.

Top with shredded cheese, then Fritos, then sour cream and then green onions (and picked jalapenos if you wish). YUMMMMM, great on a cold day!