Sunday Dinner

I absolutely love Sundays in my house. Eric usually gives me the morning off to do whatever I like while he watches the kids. I come back refreshed and ready to snuggle up and read books, do art projects or whatever else the the day brings. I also have the leisure to make a more ambitious dinner than I would attempt on a weeknight. Eric is around to help watch the kids and Echo is usually excited to help me cook anyway. A few Sundays ago Echo helped me make fresh, homemade pasta (my first time ever to make it!). We topped it with our favorite sauce, puttanesca, and even had time to make a home made dessert! Then we got to enjoy a leisurely family meal (I even broke out a bottle of wine), catching up and and talking as a group (it's so much fun now that Echo is getting more chatty). Sundays are the most relaxing and luxurious days in our house, they are a such a great time to connect as a family.

The homemade pasta was fun to make but probably more work than I would normally want to do. It is a fun activity to do with an older toddler though, provided you can keep your cool and not stress out! Echo really enjoyed seeing how the pasta was made though since we eat pasta all the time. For dessert we made a truly decadent chocolate cherry crisp, soooo amazing with vanilla ice cream!
  

Now, so that this isn't just a post with pretty food pictures, I am going to share the recipe for our puttanesca sauce which has quickly replaced jarred sauce in our house, the whole family just loves it!

Ingredients
Three large ripe tomatoes, chopped
one large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs cappers, chopped (my family doesn't like the intensity of whole capers so I chop them up a bit)
20 calamata olives, roughly chopped
crushed red pepper to taste
4 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they soften and some of the juices start to come out. Next add the capers, olives and crushed red pepper. Cook a few minutes more, until everything is heated through. If the sauce seems a little dry I like to add a bit of the starchy pasta water to it. Add the chopped parsley last and toss with warm cooked pasta.

This is an especially great recipe to make in the summer because of the gorgeous fresh tomatoes that are available. If you want to make it in the winter you can used caned diced tomatoes too, I've made it that way it it's still yummy :-)

Hope you all are getting to enjoy your own lovely Sunday dinners with family!

Best Vegetarian Chili Ever!

As I have mentioned on the blog before I have been slowly gravitating to a more vegetarian lifestyle. It's something I have been interested in for a long time and while I don't know that I will ever go 100% veg I am making an effort to eat less meat for ethical reasons. I recently discovered a wonderful meat substitute from Trader Joe's in the form of Soy Chorizo. Now I am not normally a fan of non meat items pretending to be meat but I love chorizo and when I heard about this soy version I knew I had to try it. Most of what I love about chorizo is the seasoning anyway so how bad could a soy version be?

Since I had a tiny bit of trepidation about using the soy chorizo for the first time I decided to use it in chili, you can't go wrong with chili. Well I have to say that the soy chorizo wildly surpassed my expectations and even though I totally invented this chili recipes Eric and I both agreed that it surpassed the meat chili we used to make. I quickly jotted down the ingredients as we ate so i wouldn't forget how to replicate this recipe. The soy crumbles in the chorizo replicate a finely ground beef which is how I like my chili meat and the spices were delicious. Plus the package of veggie chorizo from Trader Joe's is only $2! If you are looking for the perfect vegetarian chili recipe look no further!

Ingredients
1 package soy Chorizo
I onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
2 ears of corn cut off the cob or equivalent amount of frozen corn
3 cups of cooked beans, I did a mixture of black, kidney and pinto beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 cups water, you can fiddle with this depending on how thick you like your chili
2 vegetable bullion cubes
2 tbs chili powder
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs onion powder
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs smoked paprika
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbs cayenne pepper

Remove the soy chorizo from it's casing and in a large Dutch Oven sauté with onions and garlic until the onions are tender. Add the corn and bell pepper and cook another few minutes to soften them up.
 Add the water and tomato paste and stir over medium heat. Add the bullion and other seasonings and stir in the cooked beans. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Served with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream.

Our Home Made Pantry

The list of things we make completely from scratch and pretty much never buy from the store is getting longer and longer. I'm pretty proud of this as it has been one of my goals to gradually increase the pantry staples that we make at home. Making your own has several advantages including that it is usually more economical and tastes better. It also gives you the chance to control exactly what goes in to your food. For example we don't like sugar in our pasta sauce and store bought varieties without sugar can be pricey. The downside of making all these basics from scratch is that then I feel pressured to never buy them again and always make them from scratch. Sometimes I have to be reminded to give myself a break!

For the most part however I really enjoy being able to make a lot of our condiments and other pantry staples. The things I currently make from scratch instead of buying include pasta sauce, bread, apple sauce, yogurt, hummus, granola and most recently salad dressings and ketchup. Well we are now adding one more thing to the list and that is homemade vanilla extract! (See photo above).

I know we might be a little late getting in on the home made extract thing but I was originally concerned that it would be more expensive than store bought since vanilla beans are so pricey. But after finding a good deal on bulk vanilla beans on Amazon we decided to give it a go. Our first batch was made with vodka which is what most tutorials will tell you to use and it turned out splendidly! We were so excited by the superior flavor (and the large amount of extract we were able to produce) that we decided to try two more batches, one with rum and one with bourbon.

Making your own vanilla extract couldn't be easier, you just split the vanilla beans and submerge them in your alcohol of choice. Then just let them sit for a few weeks, giving them the occasional shake, and strain before using. I think we left our vanilla beans sitting in the vodka for about 3 or 4 weeks but I'm sure you can leave them much longer if you like.

Once you get going on this kind of thing and see how easy it is it's really pretty addicting. You get to feel really proud of yourself and it's really not that much work when you come down to it. I'll definitely be looking for even more items we can make at home in the future!

Four Indispensable Cookbooks In Our House

I love to cook and in recent years I have become a cookbook fanatic. Anyone who has seen my Amazon wish list knows what I'm talking about. Before I had kids I rarely used cookbooks, preferring to find my recipes on the internet but since it's almost impossible to use my computer with my kids around I started switching to real life paper cookbooks. I have to say I'm glad I made the switch because the experience of sitting down and flipping through a real cookbook is much more satisfying than looking something up online (I still do online recipes on occasion but nothing beats thumbing through a dogeared copy of one of my favorite cooking manuals). In my scarce free time I love to pour over these books and mark recipes I want to try. I also aim to read through them every Sunday evening and plan the week's recipes so I can shop and cook more effectively. I also find that it's really fun cooking with kids out of a cookbook. Whenever I get the urge to bake I flip through my bread cookbooks with Echo and let her help select the recipe and then we cook together. It's a wonderful bonding experience for us and so much fun!

I'm building a great collection of fabulous books but I wanted to share with you some of my tried and true favorite, these are the books I go back to again and again and have consistently loved the recipes from. There are many more cookbooks I adore but these four are definitely my tops.

1. The Family Cooks: This is my newest of cookbook collection and I absolutely love it! Sometimes it can be a little overly healthy and preachy about that fact but if you can get past that it's really a great book full of amazing recipes and suggestions. The suggestions are really what I love most about it actually. As someone who loves to cook and experiment I love that this book gives you jumping off points and then encourages you to run with it. For example, my family's new favorite meal comes from this book and it is totally customizable. They call it nice nice brown rice but we usually just call them rice bowls. You cook up a big batch of brown rice and serve with little bowls of whatever fresh veggies you have on hand. We usually put out corn, edamame, cabbage, red bell peppers, blanched broccoli, chopped peanuts and shredded carrots. Everyone fills their bowl with rice and then adds whatever toppings they want. We also put out a variety of sauces like soy sauce, peanut satay sauce, sriracha and pad thai sauce and that way everyone can sauce it up to their individual tastes. It's amazing for families, especially if you have picky eaters, and is so easy to throw together. I also love that almost every recipe in this book has suggestions for what you kids can do to help you in the kitchen or ways to make the meal more kid friendly.

2. Keepers: This is another great cookbook geared towards families with small kids and offers great tips for shopping and cooking with children. The thing that amazes me about this book is that every time I make a recipe out of it I think "this dish is so good I would serve it at a dinner party". Not that I ever have dinner parties but it's nice to have an array of dishes that are good enough for company. The ingredient lists are short which is always nice for weeknight meals and the results are amazing, I would definitely say that each recipe is more than the sum of it's parts. It's also been the book I own that has taught me the most in terms of cooking technique (outside of my baking books) and that's something I'm pretty lacking in since I tend to be an intuitive cook and just make things up. I've found their tips on how to cook fish really helpful for example.

3. Moosewood Cookbook: I actually own three Moosewood cookbooks and I could decide which one I love most so I just put the original down here. In addition to this book I also have the Enchanted Broccoli Forest and Moosewood Low Fat Favorites. All three of these are wonderful options for vegetarian cooking and full of great ideas. For the past few years I have been moving my family towards a more plant based diet. We still do eat some meat but it's gotten to the point where I rarely cook it at home (except fish). For me it's an ethical issue and I try to limit my meat intake where I can. Luckily my family loves veggies, cheese, beans and grains so it's no problem for them. We made a lot of veggie curries and stir fries, soups and lately tons of salad. The Moosewood cookbook is full of great recipes and ideas for everything from brunch to dinner to snacks to sauces. I love that their recipes are never bland and are always full of flavor. This should be a staple for anyone who wants to cook vegetarian meals.

4. Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day: I have so many great bread baking books that it was hard to pick a favorite but this is the one that changed the way I cook the most and the one I use most often so that makes it the winner. It's important to note that when it says "five minutes a day" it means five minutes of active time. Any yeast leavened dough needs plenty of time to rise and rest so take that in to account. That being said, this books makes having delicious home made bread incredibly easy. My in-laws even told me it tasted like bread from a fancy bakery and that I could sell it! My secret dream is to run a bakery, maybe in my next life). This is a great book if you are new to making bread since it explains a lot of the reasons behind why you do certain things in bread making. The techniques they teach you are a little different than traditional methods but they are incredibly easy and a great starting point. I have a huge love of baking (bread, not so much desserts) and this makes it possible to have fresh bread often even with two little kids around. It's also a great activity to include young kids in as it is almost impossible to screw up. Echo regularly asks me if we can make bread dough today and loves helping me roll out pita bread or pizza dough (both of which you will find great recipes for in this book).

So these are my go to cookbooks and if you are looking for something to liven up your cooking I highly recommend that you check them out. What cookbooks do you use at home? Are there any that you can't live without? I'm always looking for good suggestions now that I am a cookbook addict!

Salsa Verde

It's my due date and no sign of baby Clover making an appearance any time soon so it's more blogging to keep me occupied! Of course this could all turn on a dime so I'm still holding out hope that she will be on her way shortly :-)

The biggest and best surprise of my garden this year was the tomatillo plants! I haven't ever had any luck growing tomatoes and after this year I probably won't try them again. Tomatillos on the other hand turned out to have a number of benefits. First of all they are crazy easy to grow, a must for a lazy gardener like me. Secondly they produce abundant fruit, so you actually end up with enough ready at one time to make something with them. They are also really beautiful plants, the fruits look like little paper lanterns and last but not least they taste great!

The only down side is that it can be hard to find tomatillo seeds in stores but this is an easy fix thanks to the internet. I ordered mine from and heirloom seed company on etsy and they turned out beautifully. Personally I am in love with tomatillo salsa so I used my last harvest to make this simple and delicious recipe.

Ingredients
1 lb fresh tomatillos
3 tbs diced onion
1 jalapeno, diced (I seeded and deveined mine to cut back on the spicy but if you want it hotter you could leave the seeds)
Juice of one lime
1 Tbs chopped cilantro
cumin and salt to taste

Peel and rinse your tomatillos (hint, peeling tomatillos is a great job for a toddler, Echo loved helping with this!) and place in a saucepan of boiling water. Simmer tomatillos until soft but not mushy, they turn a duller shade of green when they are cooked. Transfer to a bowl and combine with other ingredients. Blend with an emersion blender until smooth (or you could do this in a food processor). Enjoy! That's really all there is to it and it is so fresh and delicious tasting.

I bet this would be a great recipe for canning as well but I didn't have the energy this year. Next year I will definitely be growing tomatillos again and I may try to can a few jars then. If you are in to gardening I really recommend trying to grow these little guys, I was so pleasantly surprised by them and have been enjoying them all Summer :-)

A Plethora of Peaches

Wow we are really getting close to having this baby! I have been so uncomfortable this week that I am just ready to get it over with and meet my little girl. Luckily I have lots of things to do to take my mind off the pregnancy. For example, I have had to find ways of using up the gigantic box of peaches I bought at the farmers market last weekend! We buy peaches from Pearson Farm all Summer long, they are seriously the best peaches ever! Peaches also happen to be one of my very favorite fruits so when our peach lady told me last week she could give me a deal on a big box of scratch and dent peaches I jumped at the chance. This gave me about 50 very ripe peaches that I had to find something to do with right away.

Well it just so happened that my Birthday was last week and I got a bunch of canning supplies and a canning cookbook so the time seemed right to try my first ever (unassisted) foray in to canning. I have a good friend who kindly showed me the basics of canning last winter so between her tutorial and the instructions in my book it wasn't too difficult however it was very hot! It's a shame so much canning needs to be done in the Summer, I think I'll wait until cooler weather and maybe do apple sauce next time :-) This time around I made canned peach slices in vanilla syrup. I haven't tried them yet but they have every appearance of being delicious and I was thrilled that I was successfully able to seal the jars and complete the water bath canning process with no incidents. We also froze some peaches for smoothies, left plenty whole for snaking, and used some for making peach simple syrup.

I won't go in to instructions for the whole canning process at this point (maybe some other time when I have more energy!) but I do encourage anyone who is interested to try it some time. It seems intimidating but it really isn't that bad once you learn the basics, I am definitely excited to try it again! The peach simple syrup was so, well.... simple, to make that I will tell you how to do that though! it's also a great way to use up your leftover peach peels.

To make the peach simple syrup you take all your left over peach peels and put them in a large sauce pan. Put in enough water to cover the peels and bring to a boil, remove from heat and let sit for 30 minutes. Strain peels and any solids by poring the mixture through a fine sieve or cheesecloth and measure the remaining liquid. Return the liquid to the pot and add as much sugar as you have liquid (this uses a LOT of sugar, I actually didn't have enough in the house so I had to short mine a little but it still turned out fine so if you want to reduce it a bit you could). Return mixture to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves. Store in an air tight jar or bottle in the fridge.

I have been mixing my simple syrup with club soda to make a sort of peach soda and it is delish! We've also used it in peach milk shakes and has worked quite well but I bet it would be really delicious in a cocktail. Maybe I'll have some left for after the baby is born and I can try it in an alcoholic beverage then :-)

Banana Bread Granola

I apologize again for my lack of posting lately, this pregnancy is kind of kicking my butt and I have been really tired and just struggling to get basic things done around the house. I do miss my blog though and I was realizing the other day how I haven't done a recipe post in forever so I thought I'd share my latest obsession. Seriously you guys, this granola is so good! It's so good in fact that I have abandoned my trusty peanut butter and chocolate chip granola in favor of it. Whenever I have granola out at a restaurant I always think, "well it's not as good as that banana bread granola".

You can find the recipe here at Minimalist Baker. It is so easy to make incredibly delicious! I make mine with just pecans and no walnuts and I use maple syrup for my sweetener which I find gives it a great flavor and the smell that perfumes the house while cooking this stuff is just divine.

 Echo love this recipe too and enjoys eating it with fresh fruit. I like mine with fruit and home made yogurt plus a drizzle of honey. Try this recipe and you will never buy granola again!

Making My Life in the Kitchen Easier

We've discovered a few odds and ends around the kitchen lately that have really made things easier for me and Eric when we cook! When you have such a small space to work in even little changes can make a big difference. 

The biggest and best new thing in the kitchen is the new under cabinet shelf that Eric put in this past weekend (seen in the photo above, please excuse the messy countertop!). I'm kind of ridiculously excited about it. We desperately needed a spot to stash our cutting boards and shallow dishes and this gets them out of the way while still leaving them really accessible. This shelf is by far the best thing that has happened to our kitchen in recent months. 

We also got some awesome new cutting mats that we love but I forgot to take photos of them. You can kind of see them on the right hand side in the photo of the shelf. They are great because they are so thin and take up so little space. They are also flexible and durable and they come as a set of 4, each a different color so we can have designated cutting mats for different types of meat and veggies. We got ours at the Buford Highway Farmers Market but you can fins similar sets almost anywhere that sells kitchen goods. 

Recipe card on display

 The other things I'm posting about are just little tips that have made our life easier. First of all Eric had the idea to hang a chip clip from our kitchen shelves to use for clipping recipes up while we cook. A lot of our recipes are copied on to recipe cards and stored in a box or binder so this is a nice way to have them at eye level while you work.

My last two tips are for freezing. We are in the market for a chest freezer which I am really excited about! Our current freezer is teeny tiny and it makes it hard to stock on meats and veggies when they go on sale because we have no space to store them. I also like to bake all of our bread but it goes bad so fast without all the preservatives that are in store bought breads that freezing it is the only way to keep a supply on hand. so yeah, I am looking forward to having more freezer space in the near future.

Frozen chicken in teriyaki marinade

That being said, I have some issues with freezing things, especially meat. I know it is a really economical thing to do when we can stock up on sale meat and freeze the extra for later but in my opinion freezing meat can change it's texture and flavor and I hate that! Eric recently came across a tip on one of the frugal boards he reads that has really helped with this problem though. When we freeze chicken breasts we now add a hearty splash marinade. That way when it can marinate while it thaws and we have found that this really helps combat the dryness that usually comes with freezing chicken.

Frozen fresh ginger

 Lastly, I came across this tip for cooking with fresh ginger on one of the blogs I read. I love cooking with fresh ginger, you can't beat the flavor. However it is always really hard for us to use it all up before it goes bad. I recently started peeling the whole ginger root when I buy it and cutting it in to chunks. I stick it in the freezer and then when it's time to use it in a recipe I take out just what I need and and grate it directly in to my dish. This way I don't have to waste any ginger and it's easier to grate when it's frozen.

These are just some things I've been thinking about lately and was hoping they would maybe benefit someone else's kitchen life. Hope you all are having a lovely week!

Brunswick Stew

Being the good Southern girl that I am I love me some brunswick stew! I had actually never had this until I moved to Georgia, I think it must be a South Eastern thing. If you've never had it you are missing out. Traditionally it is made with a variety of meats including squirrel and sometimes rabbit but nowadays most people make it with chicken and pork which is what I did. I'm pretty proud of this recipe since I pretty much made it up on my own (with a tiny bit of help from the internet). i think it rivals any brunswick stew I've had at restaurants. It has the perfect combination of sweet, smokey and spicy, perfect for this cold weather we're having!

Ingredients

1 Tbs butter

1 onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 cup chopped green beans ( you can also use lima beans or edamame which is what I did since it's all I had on hand)

2 cups pulled pork

2 cups shredded chicken ( I used leftover chicken from broth I made earlier in the week)

1 cup frozen corn

4 cups chicken broth

1/3 cup sweet BBQ sauce

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tsp black pepper

2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

2 Tbs tomato paste

In a large Dutch oven, saute the onion and celery in butter until tender. Toss in all the other ingredients and simmer for one hour. Optional: top with sour cream, grated cheese or hot sauce. 

Crock Pot Marinara Sauce

Home made sauce with pasta and goat cheese crumbles

A little while ago it occurred to us to look at the list of ingredients on our pasta sauce jar. I can't remember why we were looking at it but what i do remember is that we came away from it feeling shocked by the amount of sugar that was in store bought sauce. It's not that I am against sugar per se (it tastes sooooo good!) but I really don't feel like it has any business being in my pasta sauce. I decided it would be cheaper and healthier to make sauce on my own and this is a recipe I came up with by combining a number of different recipes I found online. It's so easy because you can just put all the ingredients in the crock pot and leave it all day and it has a wonderful fresh taste. I find that the balsamic vinegar gives the sauce just a hint of sweetness without having to add any sugar at all. It should keep for a week or two in the fridge or you can freeze it for later use. This recipe makes the equivalent of  3 jars of store bought sauce.

Ingredients
2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
i onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, diced
1 tbs oregano
2 bay leaves
1 tbs basil
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
fresh ground pepper to taste
1 cube beef bullion

Toss all the ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours. Carefully (it's hot!) transfer to jars and allow to cool before refrigerating or freezing.

3 Cheese Potato Pizza

This recipe is so gloriously full of carbs I could just die. I love carbs, mmmm...

I've been toying with the idea of a potato pizza for a while now but couldn't commit to a recipe. I ended up kind of making this one up and it turned out tasting amazing! I guess you can't go wrong with potatoes on a  pizza huh? Unfortunately I didn't write down exactly what I did to make this so this recipe is an approximation. My advice is to do what I do and just fiddle with it until it tastes good.

For the Dough you can use store bought or any recipe you prefer. I used the recipe for pizza dough that came with my stand mixer, it was easy and delicious.

For the the toppings you need..

3 new potatoes sliced extra thin (I used a mandoline slicer)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbs goat cheese, crumbled
3/4 shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (the good stuff, not the Kraft kind)
A handful of chopped fresh herbs ( I used thyme, rosemary and oregano)
2 tbs olive oil

For the sauce you need..
1 tbs butter
one medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine

Start by roasting your potatoes at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Before you roast you should brush them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. You'll also need to arrange them on a single layer on a cookie sheet, I had to do mine in two batches. Once the potatoes are softened set them aside to cool and make your sauce. To do this you just need to sauté the onions in butter until the start to get tender. Add your white wine and reduce liquid by half, remove from heat.

Stretch your pizza dough in to the desired shape and begin heating your oven to as hot as it will go (usually 500 degrees) with the pizza stone inside. To avoid a soggy crust you must preheat your pizza stone, I learned this the hard way. Spread your sauce over the pizza dough and arrange the potatoes on top in a single layer. Sprinkle with all three cheeses and chopped fresh herbs. Brush the edges of your crust with olive oil.

Carefully transfer your pizza to the hot pizza stone (this is so tricky! If you find an easy way to do this let me know!) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

This recipe was really fantastic I must say, especially for a potato lover like me. It is however a bit of work so I probably will save it for when I'm trying to impress someone :-)

My Favorite Way to Eat Sweet Potatoes

Fall is officially upon us as of this weekend and I am really digging the fall flavors already. Somehow I am the only person in my family that loves sweet potatoes (I know, crazy right?) so whenever I eat them it feels like a special treat just for me. I always used to have them baked with brown sugar, cinnamon and butter but this year I have been trying a new combination of flavors and really loving it. This is a photo of my baked sweet potato with goat cheese and fresh sage and thyme. It's so yummy and the flavors go so well together. Any other sweet potato lovers out there? How do you like to eat them?

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

I love love love tomato soup! Especially of the creamy variety. I got some lovely tomatoes at the farmers market a few weeks ago and decided to make up a tomato soup recipe using some fresh basil from my garden. After some experimentation I came up with this recipe and I think it turned out pretty well. It would probably be even better with cream instead of milk but I just used what i had on hand.

Ingredients
4 Large tomatoes
2 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup whole milk
1 Chicken bullion cube
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Handful fresh basil

Chop tomatoes in to large chunks. Arrange on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove tomatoes from oven and transfer to a large saucepan. Use an emersion blender to blend tomatoes until smooth, then add milk, basil, onion powder (and more salt and pepper if you like) and blend again until smooth. Add chicken bullion cube and simmer over medium heat until it dissolves.

This makes a fairly small amount, maybe 2 or 3 servings but Eric doesn't like tomato soup so it was the perfect amount for me. I think it would be even better with some grilled cheese or homemade croutons, maybe next time :-)

Irish Soda Bread

Maybe it's that hint of Fall in the air but I have been kind of crazy about baking lately. I have been working really to make all of Echo's snacks from scratch and to make all of our family bread at home. I feel so much better us all eating home grown goodies instead of store bought ones which are full of preservatives and dyes. It's been a lot of work to keep on top of but so rewarding and I am turning in to a decent baker if I do say so myself :-)

I had some buttermilk left over from my Mom's Birthday pie and jumped at the chance to use it in some traditional Irish soda bread. It always puts me in mind of the trip to Ireland that I took while in college so it is a warm, nostalgic bread for me. It's also an incredibly easy bread that requires no yeast and it slices thin so it's great for sandwiches. here is the recipe!

Makes one loaf

1 c all-purpose flour

1 c whole-wheat flour

¾ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 c buttermilk 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray (or use a silicone baking mat like I did). In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the buttermilk until just incorporated. Turn on to a well floured surface and knead 4 or 5 times. Shape in to a an 8 inch round loaf and place on prepared cookie sheet. Cut a 1/4" x in to the top of the loaf with a  very sharp knife. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Without opening the oven, turn the temperature down to 400 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving warm with butter. 

Buttermilk Blackberry Pie

 I don't typically make a lot of desserts just for us because, well, we will eat them all and gain a thousand pounds. Birthdays are a perfect excuse to whip up something special however! My mom is a huge pie person and loves buttermilk pies and blackberries so I decided to combine the two make this yummy confection for her Birthday last week! I was a little intimidated since I'd never actually made a pie before but it came out great and the pie pieces even held together in perfect little wedges when we cut them.

You can find the original recipe here, I just subbed blackberries for raspberries. I'll write out the recipe on this blog as well for anyone who wants to try it.

For the Crust

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter

• 1/4 cup water, plus 2 tablespoons

For the Filling

• 1/4 cup blackberries

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• Salt

• 3/4 cup white granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 3 large eggs

• 3/4 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and salt. Use a cheese grater to grate butter in to flour mixture (this is genius by the way! Such and easy way to make crust!), this works best if the butter is very cold. Using your hands, mix butter and flour mixture together until the butter resembles small peas in size. Add 1/4 cup water and mix with your hands until dough just holds together. Add the extra 2 tablespoons of water gradually if you need it to keep the dough together. Shape dough in to a disc and wrap in plastic, refrigerate for one hour. 

Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on a well floured work space until you get a roughly 14 inch round crust. Roll up on your rolling pin and unroll on to you pie tin to avoid breaking the crust. Trim the edges and crimp with your fingers. Chill crust in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Score the bottom of the crust with a fork and line the pie tin with foil. Add dried beans or rice to weigh down the center of the crust. Bake the crust at 400 degrees for  15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and bake uncovered for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature. 

Meanwhile, you can start making the filling. Heat the blackberries in a small sauce pan with sugar for about 10 or 15 minutes, mushing with a spoon as you go, until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool. Combine eggs, salt, flour and buttermilk, and whisk until smooth. Pour the buttermilk mixture in to the cooled pie crust. Add blackberry mixture to pie filling in dollops and use a bamboo skewer (or something similar) to swirl the blackberries, making a pretty design. Be careful to keep the pie level as you put it in the oven to avoid messing up your pretty design. I also find it helpful to put foil around the edges of my crust to keep it from burning. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to forty minutes, allow to come to room temperature and garnish with fresh blackberries before serving. 

I thought the crust would be hard to make but it was actually pretty easy if a little time consuming. That trick of grating the butter worked wonderfully and I would definitely use it again. 

Essentials for a Small Kitchen

I love just about everything about our house, including our small kitchen. While our kitchen is on the littler side there is still room for two of us to work in there and cooking together is one of our favorite things to do as a family. Having a small kitchen does mean that you have to prioritize and conserve your counter space as much as possible. We have really worked at pairing down our kitchen appliances to just what really use. Here is a list of our kitchen "must haves", our "nice to haves" and what we can live without.

Must Haves

At least one really good knife, preferably two. We have more than one knife but we only have two really good ones and they definitely get the most use. Our favorite knifes are our wonderful Santaku that was a wedding present and a small pairing knife. These have very different uses and there are lots of other knifes that are nice to have but we find you can do most of what you need to with just these two.

Emersion blender. If you have a regular blender you probably don't need this. However it is great for saving space in a small kitchen and eliminates the need for a food processor and a blender. The only exception is if you want to make smoothies since it doesn't handle ice well but for most of my blending needs it does just fine.

Mason jars. We use mason jars for pretty much everything. They are kind of a fad right now but there's a good reason for it, they are awesome! They are heat and cold resistant and keep air out so they are great for storage. eric also loves to drink out of them, especially his Scotch out of the teeny ones.

Wooden spoons and spatulas. These are great because they won't ruin your non stick cook ware. If you take care of them they last pretty much forever and they have a million uses. My little girl also likes to bang them on the floor which helps keep her occupied while I cook :-)

Enameled cast iron dutch oven. This is probably the single most used item in our kitchen. It is nonstick, you can cook on a stovetop with it, you can bake in it and it is pretty much invincible. I can't tell you how amazing this piece of cookware is, get one!

Coffee maker. Ok, I know this isn't essential for everyone. But for a sleep deprived new mommy it it sure is! We used to have a French press which we loved for many years but these days I find that it doesn't produce the amount of coffee I want (I tend to sip on it all morning, getting warm ups as needed). We got a cone filter machine a few years ago and love the quality (and quantity!) of coffee it produces.

A decent set of of basic pans. This includes at least one frying pan and a sauce pan with a lid. You really need these for sautéing things and for boiling water.

Nice to Have

Stand mixer. This is really only for someone who bakes a lot like me. I really resisted getting one of these for a long time, they are so big and take up so much room! However I saw one on sale and couldn't resist it and now I am rapidly falling in love with it. It is amazing for making bread and pie crusts!

Silicone baking mat. Again, if you are a baker this is something that will make your life so much easier. It replaces parchment paper so you don't have to buy that anymore. Literally nothing sticks to it, you don't have to worry about greasing your cookie sheet ever again. It's easy to clean and great for all kinds of baking.  

Rice cooker. I realize this is a huge indulgence on my part, it's really not hard to cook rice in a pan. However we eat a ton of rice in this family and it is so nice to be able to turn this thing on and then forget about it. We have a small one that we keep in a cabinet when we aren't using it.

Good tupperware. It's great to have a nice set of tupperware for leftovers. If you really want to pair down you can do without and just use mason jars though.

Pot with a strainer lid. We love pasta and this pot makes it super easy. it is also a space saver since you don't have to have a colander handy anymore.

Slow cooker. Any mom will tell you slow cookers are the best! It's awesome to be able to throw you ingredients in a pot in the morning and not think about it again until dinner time. As an added bonus you can cook cheaper cuts of meat and they always turn out tender so it can be a big money saver as well. I use our slow cooker a lot on days when Eric works late. I can have a nice hot meal ready for him when he gets home and I don't have to worry about getting my timing just right.

Not Necessary

Microwave. We cut this out of our kitchen years ago, we never miss it at all. Everything can either be warmed up on the stove top or in the oven. It tastes better that way and it really doesn't take that much longer. In my opinion the microwave is the most useless of kitchen appliances.

Toaster. A toaster is only slightly more convenient than an oven. I always just set my oven to broil and stick my bread in for a few minutes, it toasts up nicely and I don't need a special kitchen appliance.

Food processor. If you have an emersion blender you really don't need this. Everything you need cut up you can either cut by hand or use the emersion blender on.

Toaster oven. This is just like a toaster but worse, why does anyone need this?

Bread machine. Personally I am really not a fan of bread machines. To me the bread from them always comes out tasting funny. It's not hard to make bread by hand, it just requires a little patience. And now with all the no knead bread recipes  out there you really don't have an excuse to not make bread by hand. it doesn't get any easier than no knead bread.

Popcorn maker. I'll admit that I do have a popcorn maker and I do use it. It's a little easier than making popcorn in a pan but not much. If I had it to do over again I would skip buying this and just do it the old fashioned way.

Special glasses for every kind of drink under the sun. For example, margarita glasses, red and white wine glasses, champagne flutes, martini glasses, the list goes on and on. Regular glasses will do just fine for most drinks. we regularly use our wine glasses and our pint glasses but that's about it.

I realize this list would probably be different for everyone since we all have different cooking priorities but this is how it goes down in our kitchen and we are pretty serious about our food. In an effort to avoid clutter we have pretty much cut out unessential kitchen gadgets. You should try it sometime, you won't believe how nice it is to have the extra counter space!

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

I made a yummy soup for dinner the other night and was looking for the perfect roll to go along with them. These rolls are 100 percent whole wheat and are soft, chewy and slightly sweet. They have a fantastic flavor and go great with just about anything. I got this recipe from Averie Cooks and I think it's pretty fantastic. Check out the instructions below.


Ingredients3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup warm milk
1/4 cup honey
2 to 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon molasses
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
pinch salt, to taste

Combine first 5 ingredients (through molasses) in a bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top; wait 5 to 10 minutes, or until yeast is foamy. This means it's alive and will work. 

Add the flour, salt, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Then stir for about 1 more minute, mashing the dough around (this is as much 'kneading' as this recipe requires).

Stir dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel, and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 3 hours. Whole wheat rises slowly so don't be surprised if it takes a long time. 

Punch dough down, remove it from bowl, and turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Knead it only so much as necessary to shape it into balls for rolls (I divide the dough into 16 rolls and they're just a bit bigger than golf balls). 

Place balls of dough in a cooking sprayed round baking dish or pie plate, or in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan; size depends on how many you're making. They can be close to each other, but not squished, or they'll rise and bake into each other.

Cover baking dish with a tea towel, and allow rolls to rise in a warm, draft-free environment for about 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. 

In the final minutes of rising, preheat oven to 350F. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until rounded and slightly browned. 

 

Peach Pecan Muffins

We have been getting great peaches at the farmers market all Summer and as a money saving technique we usually go for the "scratch and dent" peaches which are discounted. Usually this means they will just have a little brown spot or the skin is scratched up but they still taste great and are perfect for baking! I got this recipe from mrbreakfast.com and man is it ever good! I think it is like a cross between muffins and coffee cake, definitely had to struggle not to eat the whole batch at once. Here is the recipe.

Peach Pecan Muffins

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter - melted

1/4 cup milk plus 2 tablespoons

1 large egg

2 medium peaches, diced

For The Topping:

1/2 cup pecans - chopped

1/3 cup brown sugar - packed

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 Tablespoons butter - melted

To make the muffins combine all ingredients from the topping list in a small bowl and set aside. Next mix sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and in a separate bowl mix egg and milk, whisking until combined.  Gradually stir the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients until just combined and stir in the peaches. Fill a greases muffin tin with muffin mixture and sprinkle pecan topping on each one. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Quick French Bread

I know we are late to the game but we finally got a stand mixer! I really didn't want one for a long time to be honest. I felt like it would take up too much room on our counter and that we really didn't need one. I was however frustrated to see how many recipes (especially bread recipes) assumed I had a stand mixer. Well when I saw one on sale for a really great price at Target I broke down and got one and it has revolutionized my bread making. I had previously stuck to knead varieties because it was too much work to knead and keep an eye on my baby at the same time. Well no more! I love that this machine does the kneading for me and I feel like the quality of the bread is soooo much better than the kind you get from a bread machine and is just as easy.

I have been on a quest for the perfect French bread recipe that is just the right mixture of chewy, crusty and airy so I have been trying lots of new ones (with the help of my stand mixer of course). While this is not quite what I was looking for ( I found it not quick crispy enough in the crust department and a little too dense in the middle) it is still a very solid recipe and great for sandwiches! I got this recipe from Hungry Hungry Highness, like I said it is very solid and a great easy recipe for beginners plus it is quick to make (by bread making standards anyway).

Quick French Bread

Yields: 2 baguettes

1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (split)
2 tbsp honey
3 1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
5 ice cubes

1. Combine honey with 1/2 cup warm water. Add the yeast and stir with your finger. Let it sit and activate for 5 minutes.

2. Mix the flour and salt in a mixer. Add the water with the yeast and mix with the dough hook. Mix with the mixer for 1 minute, or until combined.

3. Pour out of mixer bowl onto lightly floured surface. Knead for 2-6 minutes, or until elastic. Do the fingerprint test. If you can press your finger very lightly into the dough and the dough pops back out slowly, it is elastic enough. Put it back in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 25-30 minutes or until doubled in size.

4. Punch down dough and divide in half. Shape into 2 baguettes by trifolding the dough (like you fold a letter). Pinch the seam closed and repeat the process twice until it's about 14 inches in length. Fold the ends round. Set in a baguette pan or a lined cookie sheet (baking stone would probably work well too). Cover with a dish cloth and let rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit. Set an old (non-glass) baking dish on the bottom oven rack.

6. When the rising is done and the oven is ready, quickly put the baguettes in the oven and throw the ice cubes into the old baking dish in the bottom. It should steam.

7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Skillet Enchiladas

Sorry I didn't get a better picture of this, I was impatient to eat and it was getting dark!

As a Texan (born if not raised) I love Mexican food almost more than anything! Unfortunately it seems like I don't cook much of it at home. This is because a lot of authentic mexican food can be kind of labor intensive and I have no time to mess with it. For example, I love enchiladas but traditional enchiladas require you to lightly fry each tortilla to make it pliable before rolling it. This has long kept me from making enchiladas since I hate frying but I recently became inspired by some recipes I was browsing online to make skillet enchiladas. Not only do I get to use my beloved cast iron skillet (one of my favorite cooking tools of all time) but I get easy, tasty Mexican food! It's a win win. I also got the chance to make my first ever homemade enchilada sauce, yum! Here is the recipe I came up with.


Ingredients

For the enchiladas
2 tbs olive oil
3 cups diced sweet potatoes
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 can black beans
8 corn tortillas cut in to thick strips
1 cup shredded cheese
1 avacado, chopped to serve
2 cups enchilada sauce

For the sauce
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 chicken bullion cube
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs chili powder
1 tbs all purpose flour

Directions
Saute onion, garlic, jalapeno and sweet potatoes in a large cast iron skillet until sweet potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. It the mean time whisk all ingredients for sauce together over low heat until smooth. Add black beans, tortillas, spices and sauce to sweet potatoes and stir to combine. Remove from heat and stir in half shredded cheese, sprinkling the rest of the cheese on top. Place skillet in broiler on high for 3 to 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.