handwritten with love...

Recently I had someone stop by when I had a bunch of recipes spread out on my counter. He suggested that there was a better way for me to keep my recipes, like on a computer. My response was that I love to have my handwritten recipes. I have recipes in the handwriting of my mom, dad, grandparents all the way back to my great grandparents and not to mention friends. Cooking their recipes brings them close to me. It makes it personal and loving. They helped build my love for cooking and creating and help me to continue with it... and plan for an eventual business, maybe.

A few years ago I began the culinary arts program at Ivy Tech. I loved it. I took 3 classes that semester, 2 were online and 1 was a hands-on cooking class once a week. We got to bring home samples of what we made each week. My daughter would meet me at the door each week with a fork in her hand... My class was on Tuesday and on Wednesday my mom and I would make one of the recipes that I hadn't made in the class. It was amazing and some of my great memories. I haven't gone back, not sure that it would have the same magic... though maybe someday when I grow up.

I'm not giving any recipes today. I am going to give you some advice. Take it if you want! Most people have a recipe that is a family tradition, or something that everyone just loves... When you ask for the recipe they say "Oh, it's just a little of this, a little of that..." and it never gets written down. Make them write it down!!!! When they are gone, if it's not written down, that recipe is gone... and you will miss it! My family had a New Year's day tradition of snack foods. Most of them are the grossest things. My favorite, pickled pigs feet. Yep, you heard me... Pickled pigs feet. When I lost my mom, I lost that tradition... Make your loved ones write them down. Recipes are a part of who our families are, traditions that we need to carry on!
Enjoy!

Baking and creativity

Last night I wasn't in the mood to cook dinner. I'll admit that part of it was the kids and I had already done a good job destroying the kitchen when I should have been fixing dinner, but that is definitely worth it every now and then!

After Christmas our daughter had money to spend and was on the hunt for one of those big pans that makes a BIG cupcake. She bought it and has been after me to make it. Yesterday was the day. The two kids made a cake mix, great lesson on following directions. They had fun and were so creative! Makes a mom proud! C had many plans for her giant cupcake, but time was running out... so she iced it and put smiley faces all around the top. N on the other hand had a single layer cake. He put a thin layer of buttercream frosting and then thought that cookie crumbs would be good. He crushed Nutterbutters and sprinkled them on top. They both had fun with decorators bags and embellishing their cakes!

Scott got home just as they finished decorating and enjoyed sampling their homemade buttercream frosting! YUM!

It's Monday night again...

Yep! It's Monday night again, and that means Monday Night Michigan Matt is here... Which means I need to cook a lot of filling food to fill him up! I loved tonight's dinner. My son loved tonight's dinner, not too sure about my daughter or the men. Monday nights quite often leave me feeling like a maid. Matt comes in and he and Scott head to the basement. They only come upstairs to get more food. They do not speak to me. Not sure that they even really talk to each other much... It's odd!

Anyway, today I made a biscuit topped chicken stew. I have made it before and we really liked it, but I did tweak it a little bit. The original recipe is taken from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style. Love her recipes!!!

4-6 cups cooked chicken*, diced or shredded

5 cups chicken stock

2 chicken boullion cubes

12 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups chopped yellow onions

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

4 carrots, medium diced, blanched for 2 minutes

1 10-ounce package frozen peas

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

For the biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, diced

1/4 cup half and half

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

*I want to begin by saying I am not a huge fan of chicken breasts... at least the boneless kind. For this recipe I used bone in chicken breast with the skin ON! Don't worry, I remove the skin after baking them, but baking them with it on helps keep some moisture and flavor! I follow Ina Garten's way of baking them. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put chicken breasts on the a cookie sheet with sides. Rub each breast with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Yum! Then take the skin off and discard and cut up! You will see the difference, I promise!

Heat the chicken stock and boullion cubes in a medium sized saucepan. In a dutch oven melt the 12 T. butter and add the onions. Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the hot stock and cook for 1 minute more, stirring until thickened. Add 2 t. salt, 1/2 t. pepper, and the cream. Add the chicken, carrots, peas and parsley. Mix well. Place in a 13x9" pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, make the biscuits. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed, until the mixture is crumbly and mixed well. Add the half and half and combine on low speed. Mix in the parsley.

Put the dough on a well floured counter and roll out with a rolling pin to 3/8" thick. Cut out 12 circles with a 2 1/2" round cutter.

Remove the stew from the oven and top with the biscuits. Brush the biscuits with the egg wash. Return it to the oven and bake for 20 - 30 minutes until the biscuits are browned and the stew is bubbly.

This can easily be made ahead of time. Refrigerate the stew and biscuits separately. Bake the stew for 25 minutes, then add the biscuits and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

I served this with a simple cranberry sauce. If I were having "real" company I would have made a layered cranberry sauce. It was excellent and very pretty!

Leftover nights...

Yesterday morning we were trying to decide what we were going to do... Talked to some friends and decided that they would come over for dinner. I asked what they would like for dinner, and he said "Spaghetti, garlic bread and a good salad". She said that was too much, and I said "No, that is easy!" I am going to share with you my easy spaghetti sauce recipe. This is not the recipe that I use to make my magnificent lasagna... But it is very good and quick!!!! That's always a good thing!

Kate's Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb. hamburger
1 green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, broken up
1 small can can mushrooms, drained
1 large can tomato paste
red wine
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper, oregano
thyme

Brown hamburger with green pepper, onion and garlic. When fully browned, drain and put back into pot. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, tomato paste. Then use can from tomato paste and add 1/2 can water and 1/2 can red wine. Add 1 bay leaf, salt, pepper, oregano and thyme to taste. Let simmer for half an hour or so... Remove bay leaves and serve with your favorite pasta.

Now when we have friends over I never know just who might actually show up... So I made store bought garlic bread and a Caesar salad. I did make homemade croutons for the salad! Yum!!!! Tonight friends are coming over for the leftovers and to watch some football game that I guess is playing... Haha! Enjoy!

Pot Of Soup...

What do you do when the grocery has potatoes on sale???? You make potato soup! This is a simple soup, that seems to please everyone! My hubby loves potatoes, my son bacon and my daughter loves cheese... I love a recipe that uses what most people have in their cupboard and fridge! I had planned on doing a corned beef, but a pedicure got in my way! Haha! So, if you love corned beef, come back tomorrow! I promise it won't disappoint you!

This potato soup is simple and can be changed to suit your tastes. All amounts are approximate.

3-4 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
3-4 stalks celery, sliced thin
1/2 small onion, diced
enough water just to cover

Cook above until potatoes are fork tender. Do not drain! Mash all together. Add the rest of the ingredients and serve warm. Serve with cheese, bacon, chives... Great for all!

16 oz. or more sour cream, light and fat free work well
1-2 cups milk
salt and pepper
rosemary, thyme or herbs of your choice...

This easily served my family of 4 with plenty for my hubby's lunches this week!

Lasagna Bake off!!!

Today I am getting ready for tomorrow! I am not sharing my recipe today, cause this is all about competition!!! LOL... We live in a great neighborhood. I am chairperson of the Rec committee and my hubby is on the Board of Directors for the neighborhood association. Control freaks, right??? We have neighborhood happy hours, holiday parties, cook offs and so on. It's all in good fun! Tomorrow I am in charge of the Lasagna Cook off. I am determined to win this one! So far we have had a chili cook off and a rib cook off. Neither of those are really my thing, but lasagna is a different story! All I will say is YUM YUM YUM! Sunday I'll let you know how it turns out.

I am also trying a new recipe that I took from someone else's blog. It is a Jalapeno Popper Dip! Sounds wonderful, and we'll see what Scott thinks of it tonight! If we love it, I will probably post the recipe tomorrow.

One last thing. I had an email from my cousin this morning telling me she was going to make my Bolognaise sauce this weekend. I had to warn her, I thought it was good... BUT my family was not as happy. It almost tasted dry. I did a little research and found recipes that added things like pancetta, carrots and celery. I almost think you shouldn't use a LEAN ground beef. I'm going to have to play with it, and see what I come up with! Enjoy your weekend, and cook something!

Finger Licking Good

Today I was supposed to be gone in the afternoon, when I would typically be fixing dinner. So, this morning I tossed some spare ribs in the crockpot and mixed in a bottle of barbecue sauce. Set it on low and let them cook all day. When my plans fell through for this afternoon, I decided to add some new potatoes and a tossed salad to our dinner rather than just canned veggies. The potatoes were a new "recipe" that we all loved!!! I thought that I was making a ton of ribs and we would have them for leftovers tomorrow night... Little did I know that my darling 6 year old would eat 7 ribs, sucking the bones clean! I guess I'll be figuring something else for tomorrow night! Anyway! This was a great, simple dinner that my family loved! We all need those every now and again!

Mustard baked new potatoes (neither of my kids love mustard, but they certainly loved these!)

2-3 lbs red new potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

1-2 onions, halved and then cut into slices

olive oil

2-3 Tablespoons whole grain mustard

kosher salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place potatoes and onions on a cookie sheet that has sides!!!!! (mine didn't have sides and I have a big mess in the bottom of my oven... not to mention the smoke that filled my house!) Drizzle maybe 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil over potatoes and onions. Mix in the whole grain mustard and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Toss all together. Bake at 425 degrees for about 1 hour. With a metal spatula stir or toss everything 2-3 times during the cooking time. I promise you will like this one!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Today I am so on the ball! Flank steak is thawed, in the fridge, marinating in wonderful flavors... Rice is cooked and cooling, ready for me to turn it into Mom's wonderful fried rice. Broccoli is in the fridge ready to be cleaned, and steamed... maybe a little cheese sauce on the side for my darling daughter. That was all this morning! Fast forward a few hours and I am putting away groceries. I open the fridge. The flank steak falls out of the fridge. Marinade is everywhere. Could there be any good news to this? Yep! It landed on the plastic wrap, so at least it's not covered in dog or cat fur!!!!! For the family, this can be salvaged. I quickly whip up a new marinade and figure it was just time for it to be turned! LOL! Now if I were having company or catering it would have gone in the trash (I PROMISE!), but for my immediate family the 5 second rule is in effect! WOOHOO!

Flank Steak Marinade

Flank steak is a tough piece of meat. It really needs to be marinated, and grilled. Now since I would have to shovel the deck to get to the grill, I will probably use the broiler. Not as great of a way, but much warmer and easier... and today I am into easy!

The amounts are up to you. I just use my eyeballs to judge, I will try and give you some estimates to the amounts.

1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons dry white wine, I use dry vermouth
couple of dashes of Worchestshire sauce
couple of dashes soy sauce
1 clove of garlic crushed

Mix all in a nonmetal pan that will fit the steak flat. Place steak in and then flip it over. Let it marinate for at least 4 hours (flipping 1/2 way through) or overnight. Grill or broil to desired doneness.

I will tell you that I was a kid who had to have all meat well done, and I really didn't like meat all that much. I have learned with my kids that they actually love steak when it is done to medium rare. Steak is safe this way. Hamburger is not! Try it! You might like it!!!

Mom's Fried Rice

However many servings of rice that you are serving. I like Uncle Ben's Converted Long-grain rice.
couple of pieces of bacon, diced
bunch of green onions, chopped
couple of carrots, grated
1-2 eggs, beaten
soy sauce to taste

Earlier in the day, cook the amount of rice you need. I do not use anything other than water to cook my rice. Chop green onions, and grate the carrots. Shortly before serving, in either a wok or large skillet, brown bacon. Remove bacon and reserve. Do not get rid of the bacon grease, use it to cook green onions and carrots until just tender. Push the veggies to the outside of the skillet or wok. Add the eggs and scramble, breaking them up into little pieces. Mix the veggies into the eggs, add the bacon back in and add the rice. Stir all together and let warm. Season to taste with soy sauce.

This has been a favorite recipe of my Mom's forever. It really is easy and just wonderful!!!!

Enjoy!

Monday nights...

Monday nights are interesting in our household. Scott and I have been married for over 11 years. When we live in town every Monday night brings a visitor, Monday Night Michigan Matt. Matt has been a friend to Scott forever. 11 years ago he came over on Monday nights to eat and watch wrestling. I like to think that they aren't watching wrestling anymore, but some Monday nights I do catch them watching it. The thing about Matt is, he eats A LOT! I'm not kidding, he eats in one sitting as much as my family of four eats in two nights. So Monday nights we serve a lot of pastas, soups, and things that make a lot!!! Tonight will be Spaghetti Bolognaise. Kind of a glorified spaghetti, with a little cream and not too much tomato. Yummy! Hopefully!!!! Matt always compliments me on the meals, and he will tell me that they are good, even when they are bad! Trust me, he has seen plenty of bad!!!

PASTA BOLOGNAISE

Serves 6-8 or a family of 4 and Matt! (hopefully)

2 large onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 bottle (750ml) dry red wine
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon italian herbs
1cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 pound spaghetti, cooked and drained
Parmesan, grated

Cook the onions in the olive oil in a heavy bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat, until softened. Stir in the garlic, add the beef. Cook and stir to break up beef until browned. Add the wine and turn up the heat so that the wine bubbles continuously. Reduce by about half. Add tomato paste and stir. Cover and turn the heat down very low, and cook for at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours. Stir from time to time, scraping the bottom to make sure that nothing sticks or burns. Right before serving stir in the cream and italian herbs. Taste, and then add the salt and pepper. Let simmer uncovered another 10 minutes. Taste again and stir in the parsley. Serve with pasta, sprinkled with Parmesan.

ENJOY!

Breakfast experiments!

When I married my hubby, I am pretty sure that he had never even made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! His mom hates mess... and found it easier to spoil her only son than to have him make a mess in her kitchen. I am a messy cook. That is not to say that my kitchen is dirty, but when I am cooking, things spill and get messy! That is part of the fun of cooking, baking and creating!

My kids love to go out to breakfast. Right now one of our favorite places to go is a pancake house that makes those BIG apple pancakes. They always split one with a side of ice cream. Then my daughter who really loves to eat, shares my mushroom omelet too! Our experiment this morning was to try and recreate their mushroom omelet... It wasn't perfect, but we are very close! We went with simplicity today, using canned mushrooms and canned soup. At the restaurant there is this delicious sauce with mushrooms, and a hint of sherry. Today we made it using cream of mushroom soup, a touch of sherry, milk and some cheddar cheese. I think when they are off to school this week, I will attempt to make a homemade sauce and see if it comes closer with some fresh mushrooms. It was fun and tasted pretty darn good! I'll let you know when it is up to par! Have fun experimenting!!!!

I love reading other people's blogs. I love to cook. Whenever I post on Facebook something new that I am cooking, people ask me questions... I thought maybe people would be interested in a blog that I could write about things that I cook, bake and create! Who knows! I will first warn you that I am one of the most computer illiterate people around. In fact, I am amazed that I have figured out this much! I hope to include photos, funny stories of the good and bad meals and great recipes! Due to the fact that I do some catering and sell some of my goodies, I will not be sharing all of my recipes. Now let's have some fun!!!!

I am a mom to 2 great kids aged 6 and 9! I was looking through a cookbook of Ina Garten's and found a recipe for homemade marshmallows. For a couple of months I kept thinking about it, but I kept buying the store bought ones... Finally, the other night, I thought, what the heck! Let's give it a try! OMG!!!!! They are amazing! Totally worth the work and almost burning up my loved Kitchenaid mixer! I'll start by giving you the recipe:

HOMEMADE MARSHMALLOWS

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup of cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and allow to sit while you make the syrup.

Meanwhile, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Put the mixer on high speed and whip until the mixture is very thick. This took mine about 15 minutes! Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

With a sieve, generously dust an 8 x 12 inch nonmetal baking dish with confectioners' sugar. Pour the marshmallow mix into the pan, smooth the top, and dust with more confectioners' sugar. Allow to stand uncovered overnight until it dries out.

Turn the marshmallows onto a board and cut them in squares. Dust them with more confectioners' sugar.

This recipe is taken from Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook.

Alright, I know this recipe takes some time, but it is so worth it! We have eaten them plain, made simple kid s'mores in the microwave, and done a chocolate fondue with them! Tonight is sledding with great friends and you can bet that they will be added to our hot chocolate!