Turtle Candies

I know, this is a horrible picture, but when you find yourself in the midst of a candy-making spree, hands covered in gooey caramel and chocolate, the last thing you think of is grabbing a camera. This one happens to be courtesy of my wonderful husband.

These turtles were a fun experiment for me. I have recently been making homemade soft caramels like crazy, but wanted to try a new spin on it. So in this post, I'll give you the caramel recipe first(which you will need to make these) and then the rest.  I recommend you read the recipe in its entirety before you start, and gather all your ingredients. When making candy there's not always time to be running around looking for things.  Be forewarned, this recipe is time consuming and a bit labor intensive, but  if you get a sort of assembly line going then it can be kind of relaxing. They make great holiday gifts, freeze well, and ship well.




TURTLE CANDIES
Raw whole pecans
Homemade caramel (Recipe Below)
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Coconut oil

Preheat your oven to 350. Spread your pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Toast the pecans in the oven until they start to smell wonderful, usually 5-8 minutes. Set your timer, it's easy to forget about them and burn them. Let them cool.

HOMEMADE CARAMEL
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar (I prefer brown, but white, brown or a mix of the two is fine )
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cup corn syrup (light or dark is fine, i have even used real maple syrup in a bind but that's an expensive substitute)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment
4 quart sauce pan or soup pot
9x13 pan
candy thermometer(check its accuracy by putting it in water that has attained a rolling boil, it should read 212 degrees, if not then you can just compensate a few degrees one way or the other)
wooden spoon
parchment paper
nonstick cooking spray(to spray your measuring cups)

Line your 9x13 pan with parchment paper(make sure it covers the sides too, this will keep your carmel from sticking, and is much neater than cooking spray with no taste)
In the large saucepan melt the butter on medium heat, stirring constantly.  Add your sugar and stir until it becomes dissolved. Add the corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk and salt. Attach your thermometer so you can keep an eye on the temperature, make sure its in the caramel but not touching the bottom of the pot.  Keep stirring and keep scraping the sides.  Once the caramel starts to bubble you need to keep a close eye on the temperature. As soon as it hits 238 add the vanilla, it will bubble and boil like crazy for a second. When it reaches 240 take it off the heat and pour it in the parchment lined pan.*** Now you can let it cool for an hour or so in the fridge, then cut it and wrap it in wax paper, or you can dip your pecans in it. Be careful! This stuff is HOT!
     ***A great way to check the consistency of your caramel is to drop a few drops straight into a bowl of very cold water.  It should flatten out, but not disperse.  It should form a soft malleable ball between your fingers. This is called soft ball stage, and melts in your mouth. 240 has been my magic number but depending on weather, your stove, there can be little fluctuations. The water test is a pretty sure fire way to check.

Line your work surface with parchment paper.  One by one, dip and roll your pecans in the caramel to get a good coating. Lay them to cool on the parchment paper.  After your dipped pecans have cooled, melt 2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips with 1 tbsp coconut oil in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until smooth.  If you need to add a teaspoon of water or two to smooth it out thats ok, but don't add more than that, your chocolate won't harden again. Now dip and roll your caramel pecans into the chocolate to get a good coating. Let them cool on the parchment paper.  If you run out of chocolate, melt some more. Let them cool, and store in an airtight container with wax or parchment paper between layers for up to two weeks. Or in the freezer for much longer than that (they never last very long in our house so I really don't know how long they will keep!)

If you have leftover caramel, put it back in the fridge to harden a bit. Then you can cut it into pieces and wrap it in wax paper. Wrap as you go, because if you cut it all it will start to melt back into itself.  The caramel also makes great gifts, but be careful about gifting this batch to anyone with nut allergies since you were just dragging a whole bunch of pecans through it.  I sliced a bunch of almonds and kneaded them into it to make it apparent that there were nuts in it!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a while since my last post. First Ramadan, then canning season, and now my 15 month old son has hit a stage that can only be described by his insane urge to desrtoy, knock over, throw, or hide everything in sight. But it seems, now, as it always does, life is settling back into a routine. And it's my FAVORITE time of the year! Fall is here.  Along with it comes straw bales, mums, squash, cider, apples, a chill in the morning air and PUMPKIN FLAVORED EVERYTHING! I am in love with pumpkin. Year round I love it, but in the fall it just feels right. It seems to foreshadow the warmth of a fireplace to come.  Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are one of the best ways to enjoy this yummy fall ingredient.  They are cakey and spongy, moist and spicy, and they go so perfectly with a cup of coffee in the morning.

As always, I like to try to simplify and "healthify" my recipes.  This was a delicious one I found, but as is often the case, had too much oil and sugar for my taste, and not enough kick. I like a lot of spice in my pumpkin. Cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, bring on the spices! i made some adjustments and think it's better than the original, not to mention is now more fit for breakfast with your morning cuppa joe.

These freeze and ship in the mail really well.  I always make a huge batch, because as soon as I mention that I am making them I get requests to mail someone a package of some. And any left over can be tossed in a ziploc, thrown in the freezer, and pulled out to let defrost(or use a microwave) any time you get a hankering for one. You could definitely halve this batch to make less, but I have never had a single cookie go to waste.  If you're gonna make them, might as well make the big batch.

Another hink...I am big on store brands. I'm a frugal gal. I went with the store brand pumpkin when I made these last time.  Big mistake. Get the Libbys brand, or another good one. I usually ejoy eating the pumpkin straight from the can.  This stuff tasted like i was licking a nickel.  It was gross. Once I added the spices it was ok, but not great. 


PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Preheat oven to 365

One 29 oz can of Pumpkin Puree(Not pumkin Pie mix, you want just the puree)
1 1/3 cup white sugar
4 cups flour
3/4 cup applesauce(I prefer plain, unsweetened)
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp gound nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tbsp vanilla
2 cups chocholate chips

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and stir till well mixed.  Grease your baking sheet. Drop by spoonfuls onto sheet.  These cookies are more cakey and don't flatten so they may look a bit strane when they come out.  Bake for 18-25 minutes depending on your oven.  These are very forgiving cookies.  Ive cooked them too long and they were still great. A little toughter on the outside but still delicious.  Ive undercooked them, but still YUM!

Leave finished cookies to cool on the counter. Try not to eat them all befire you can give any away.  That's it, one bowl, one cookie sheet and a few spoons for dishes.

Kale Chips

                          

Not a great picture. I admit.  But these little crisps are delicious. They will satisfy even the worst of your salty cravings. And they are healthy. So go ahead, munch away to your heart's and belly's content! 

My husband is a salt and chocolate craver.  I haven't figured out an acceptable substitute for his chocolate needs, but he is in love with these kale chips.  He took one bite and said "You gotta blog these!" Two batches were gone in two days. And he keeps asking when I'm going to make more.  I think that qualifies as a pretty successful kitchen experiment!

I decided to try these because we have an over-abundance of kale in our garden.  I needed a new way to eat it.  And yes, I want to keep those potato chips out of our house! So I headed out to the garden and grabbed an armload of the dark leafy greens. My husband eyed me a little warily, not sure what i was about to do with this strange leaf.  Half an hour later, he was pleasantly surprised....and quite addicted. 

These are so simple and there are so many varieties you can make.  I made a salt and pepper batch, and a seasoned salt batch.  You could do Parmesan cheese, paprika, curry, garlic...the list goes on. 

KALE CHIPS RECIPE

Kale leaves washed and pretty dry

olive oil or olive oil spray

salt and pepper(or other flavoring)

Preheat your oven to 300.  Use a knife to remove the stem from the leaves, so the thick hard part is cut away completely.  Tear or cut your leaves into bite size pieces.  They will shrink up so leave them a bit bigger.  Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper, or lightly spray with the olive oil spray.  You just want a very fine coating. I used too much and they were a bit greasy. Pop them in the oven for 20-30 minutes on a baking sheet until they are crispy.  You may need to flip them after 15 minutes.   Enjoy!

These are delicious.  I would call them crispy and delicate, not crunchy per se. (So store them in a tupperware or bowl not a bag to prevent crushing.)  But they have that munchability that you want in a salty snack. They are a perfect movie snack, just plop a bowl in your lap and pop one after another. And kale has so many wonderful vitamins, as do all those dark leafy greens. So ditch the potato chips. Long live the KALE!

Yummy Frittata

The other night I was watching the movie "Morning Glory" with Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams.  I enjoy it, it's cute, funny and romantic, and just cheesy enough to be a guilty pleasure.  But every time after watching it and hearing Harrison Ford repeatedly talk about frittatas, I want to make one.  So this time I did. 
The next morning instead of pouring cereal, I told the kids they were getting something special.  I read a few frittata recipes just to get the gist of what I should be doing, but took Harrison's advice: "The beauty of the frittata is that you can use almost any ingredient. Whatever you happen to have in your refrigerator." Or something to that effect. I knew I had eggs, so that was good.  I found some leftover, already sliced red onions, some spinach that was starting to wilt, cherry tomatoes, garlic and neufchatel cheese. Sounded good to me.
While the frittata was finishing up in the oven, I sliced up a huge plate of fresh fruit, made a big pot of coffee, and set the table outside in the garden.  When it came out of the oven, it was awesome! All fluffy and pretty.  I was so happy that it worked so well, that I forgot that I had just pulled this frying pan out of a 350 degree oven and of course I went right ahead and grabbed the handle with my bare hand.  Luckily it was nothing too bad, I just spent a few hours holding onto frozen teething rings to numb it. Not painful enough to ruin our beautiful little breakfast al fresco!
The kids loved it! Noorah had two pieces for breakfast and another piece later for lunch.  I was pretty happy myself.  It was very similar to a quiche, but faster, less dishes, and for all you gluten free folks out there, this is perfect. No crust.

FRITTATA RECIPE
7 or 8 eggs
a splash of milk
whatever other ingredients you think would go well!
I used:
3 handfuls of fresh spinach, torn
1/3 red onion sliced
1 clove garlic minced
handful of cheery tomatoes
4 oz neufchatel cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Remember: all ingredients and amounts are only a suggestion. You can easily substitute, omit or add whatever you like. As long as you've got eggs.

Preheat your oven to 350.  Spray a good stainless steel, or cast iron frying pan with nonstick spray. I'm not sure if you could use a pan with teflon or not. I think it would be ok, but you want something with a metal handle.  You're going to be putting the whole thing in the oven. 

First I sauteed the onions with just a touch of olive oil.  Then I added the spinach, garlic and tomatoes.  Just until they were wilty and soft. Beat your eggs with the milk, with a whisk or a fork.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Crank up the heat on your pan for just a second. You want a screaming hot pan, apparently that's what makes it nice and fluffy. Pour in your egg mixture.  Use a rubber spatula to lift the spinach and onions a bit to make sure the egg gets to the bottom.  I scooped quarter size dollops of the neufchatel cheese and dropped it onto the top of the frittata.  Let the whole thing cook for a few minutes, it will start to set up. Then take your pan and put it into the oven to finish.  I didn't let mine set up very much on the stove top, so it cooked for 30 minutes.  When you take it out of the oven, it should be slightly browned on top.  And the edges should begin to pull away from the pan.  USE YOUR OVEN MITT! And when you set it on the stove top or counter, leave a towel wrapped around the handle, or use an ice cube to cool that handle. You will almost surely forget, and just grab it. It's a habit. And it HURTS!

Use your rubber spatula to loosen the edges, slice and enjoy hot! It's also delicious later, cold. 

Next time, I plan on trying some brie or feta, maybe some asparagus, or even leftover hash browns. Hmmmm. 

If you have other suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Our Farmer's Market Feast!

I walked out into the garden this morning, in my pajamas, coffee in hand, to peek around and grab a few bites.  I was so happy to see more cherry tomatoes were ready, as were a bunch of yellow pear tomatoes (not enough for a salad, but definitely made this girl's mouth happy).  I also noticed another ear had emerged on one of our corn stalks-that takes us up to two. We have about 15 peaches starting to turn pink, and more zucchini, butternut and delicata squash than I care to mention. Good thing I love squash and good thing it keeps really well in a dark closet.  I think I'm going to be eating it until March.   I turned up a few handfuls of red potatoes, and munched on a few sugar snap peas.  There is no better way to start a morning, for me at least.
 

We are in the middle of a pretty serious drought here in Indiana, and a very big heat wave.  It's been between 90 and 108 for probably 16 out of the last 20 days. Hot! So I've been watering the garden a lot. I've left most of the flowers to fend for themselves, and the lawn too. But I'll be darned if I'm gonna let this drought kill the garden I planted from seeds I saved on my kitchen counter. I'm pretty attached. And the best is yet to come! I'm expecting a HUGE tomato crop.  Salsa, marinara sauce, salads, we eat tomatoes like apples in this house.

So after my stroll through my garden (or in arabic "janene"...which means little heaven...i think that's much more appropriate) I decided our dinner would come from there, and if not totally from ours, from someone close.  I took stock of what we had......pretty much just the basil and potatoes. That was a good start. At the farmers market we found some more red potatoes, sweet corn and the most delicious loaf of bread. It had apples and dried cherries in it, apfelbrot it was called....soooo good...it's gone!

This was the quickest, most satisfying, and healthy dinner.

RED POTATOES
Throw a couple of handfuls of red potatoes in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and coarse ground black pepper and a sprig of fresh rosemary.  Cover pan with foil, cook in the oven on 400 till a fork pierces one easily.

TOMATO SALAD(I have to admit these weren't from our garden or local farmers, but I just really wanted tomatoes and these were on the counter)
Chop three or four tomatoes into large chunks, a little salt and pepper, drizzle with balsamic vinegar. That's it. It is so delicious.

FRESH PESTO- this is sooo good on fresh, creamy red potatoes
I use about a large colander full of basil. Take the leaves off the stems and discard the stems.  Wash the leaves well and shake dry.  Lightly pack them into food processor.  I fill mine up to the top.  I usually use Parmesan cheese, but we ran out, so I used a half cup of shredded mozzarella. 1 1/2 handfuls of walnuts, a heaping teaspoon of chopped garlic.Put it all in the food processor, and turn it on.  While its going, drizzle some olive oil in.You may have to scrape down the sides once or twice to make sure you get all the leaves.  I like to leave mine with a bit of texture, some people like a creamier taste, it's all up to you and your preference.  Pulse until you've got it how you like it. 

I store mine in a mason jar in the fridge but it freezes really well too.  You can even just freeze it in a ziploc, but my mom puts it in ice cube trays, freezes those, and then dumps her pesto cubes into a bag so she can grab just a few without defrosting the whole batch.  Smart lady.

CORN ON THE COB
Tonight we shucked it and boiled it, usually we grill it-husk on. That's my favorite way, but honestly I needed a chore to keep Noorah busy while I finished the pesto. This was it.

We sliced up our loaf of bread and took our meal out to the back deck to eat. It was the perfect end to a great day.  We watched the hummingbirds and jays as we happily munched away.

Healthy Carrot Cake

Last month was our son's first birthday.  We created a tradition with our daughter that on their first birthday we just give them a HUGE. HUNK. OF. CAKE. and we let them tear into it any way they can.  It's a lot of fun to photograph, and even more fun to witness.  For my daughters first birthday two years ago I made the standard box cake mix, confetti cake with confetti frosting. It was delicious, but the part she loved wasn't the cake itself. It was really getting carte blache and tearing it to bits and smearing it all over her face.  Now, I know my kids. And I knew my son was gonna love tearing into it, but I also knew he was gonna EAT that cake.  So I decided this year, it was going to be a healthier version of a cake.  There's no saying that healthy has to taste any less amazing than junky stuff. So I resisted the urge to buy the cake mix, and googled carrot cake recipes.  I found one that had some great reviews.  But looking at the ingredients, I knew I was going to have to make some changes. A LOT of changes.  The recipe listed 2 cups white sugar. I cut that down to 1 scant cup. Also 1 1/4 cup oil....that became applesauce.  I subbed out the white flour for whole wheat (or sometimes....I make this a lot.....sometimes I do half whole wheat, half white).  The biggest shock to me was what the frosting called for.  8 oz cream cheese(that's ordinary,  I use neufchatel...easy switch.)  1/2 cup butter...I use 1/4 cup instead and then.....  4 cups of confectioners sugar.  You read that right. 4 CUPS!!!! Of SUGAR!!!! in the frosting alone. Geez Louise! I used 1/3 cup confectioners sugar and it was sweet enough.  The next time I tried a bit more and it was too sweet! So I can't imagine it with 4 cups. 

Zayd loved his cake.  I mean loved it! The next weekend I took another one of these cakes to my in-laws.  My nephew who does not eat vegetables loved it and came back for more.  When I say he doesn't eat vegetables, I mean he really doesn't. We once offered him $10 to eat a tiny piece of a tomato. He declined. But he ate this cake, knowingly.  Even when he knew how much carrot is in there.  The weekend after that I went to my parents house, and took another cake. This one didn't last two days. They devoured it! Success all around!

 I love sweets. And this has been one of my biggest healthy eating pitfalls. So I have tried to substitute as much as I can, so I can still have my occasional sweets, without derailing my day.  Also, I know you always hear this, but the less sugar you eat, the less you crave it.  It is so true.  Now, for the first time since I can't remember when, I can have a small bite of something sweet, and easily push the rest away.  I don't feel deprived.  In this cake I subbed out what was really unhealthy and added something good in its place.  Lots of spices, applesauce and whole wheat.  The best thing about this cake too? It gets better and more moist over the next few days. And if you really can't finish it? It freezes really well!

ZAYD'S BIRTHDAY CARROT CAKE
CAKE
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup applesauce(unsweetened is best)
1 scant cup white sugar (you could use brown too)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour (whole wheat, white or any mix of the two)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp allspice
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 cups grated or shredded carrots
       (if you have an attachment for your food processor that will do this for you, by all means use it!It will save you so much time, hassle, and probably bloody knuckles)


FROSTING
8 oz pkg of neufchatel cheese, room temp
1/3 cup butter, room temp
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350.  Beat eggs, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla in a good sized bowl.  Add your dry ingredients right on the top of your wet, but don't mix it in.  When all your dry ingredients are piled together, lightly mix just the dry ingredients with your fingers or a fork.  Now mix all your ingredients together.  (i just saved you a bowl. You're welcome ;) ) Now fold in your carrots, lightly. Grease(I Prefer nonstick spray coating) a 9x13 pan or a large round one as I use.  Bake for 30-50 minutes, depending on your cake size.  Until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

For the frosting, Beat all the ingredients together with a hand mixer or stand mixer until its fluffy.  Refrigerate the frosting while the cake bakes.  When the cake is done, allow it to cool completely before you frost it. 

That's it. The best carrot cake I've ever had.  And its healthy-er....

My pallet project

There are so many great ideas of how to re-use pallets out there.  But a lot of them require dismantling the pallet, which is more dificult than it may look. Trust me, I've done it.  Often pallets are not in the best condition and the wood splits, cracks, breaks, easily.  Often times the nails holding it together are unneccessarily huge. Or rusted. Or bent horribly.  More often than not, a project that you thought would take an hour or so, ends up taking the whole day, most of your pride and a piece of your  dignity along with it (I found myslef pleading with an inanimate object to please, please release the nails into my custody. I promised to give them back!) So after my first project which was of the "dismantle/reassemble" sort, I decided my next one would be more of the "put it where I want and leave it" sort.  So after getting a great idea from a friend, I leaned my pallet against a nice sunny wall, and rested some terra cotta pots I found in our shed in it.  I filled the pots with a bit of potting soil and herbs, ivys and vines.  It looks great, but after our many days away, no rain for weeks and some of the hotteset weather Indiana has ever seen, it's looking a little sad.  These pictures are taken immediately after potting the plants so some may look a little wilty due to being transplanted. 

This is a great way to keep all your herbs in one area, it's a huge space saver, and it creates an interesting wall display.

Caprese Salad, so easy so YUM!

We've had a crazy few weeks! One weekend we drove 11 hours to Philadelphia, the next we were visiting family in Michigan. This weekend we plan on travelling again.  We've been living out of a suitcase as much as we've been home.  We've also been living off leftovers from my nephew's graduation.  The food was fantastic, and I really didn't even mind eating it three days in a row, it was THAT good! But by the third day, I just needed something fresh to add to it. Something simple, summery, and easy. Not to mention the tomatoes on our counter were starting to go bad in a few spots and needed to be used up.  So I cut off the yucky parts and used 'em up! The basil is from our garden, which is really starting to produce now.   

This is such an easy salad, you can make it even easier by buying fresh mozzarella, but I love to make mine.  As soon as it's done I drop it into ice water for a minute or so and then toss it into the salad. It only takes 30 minutes (less time than it takes to go to the store with 2 kids in tow) 30 minute mozzarella recipe.

CAPRESE SALAD

5 or 6 medium-large ripe tomatoes (whatever your preference, ou can use roma, beefsteak, yellow pear or even a lot of cheery or grape tomatoes) chopped into large chunks

a handful of fresh basil sliced into thin strips

fresh mozzarella (3/4 of the batch if you make your own, probably about a whole pack if you buy it at the store)

balsalmic vinegar

extra virgin olive oil

salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Toss your tomatoes, cheese, and basil in a bowl. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and vinegar.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lightly toss. Enjoy!

I like this salad best at room temperature.  I find that keeping tomatoes in the fridge causes them to become mealy and lose a lot of flavor.  We keep ours on the counter.  They keep just as long and have a better taste and texture.  In a salad thats primarily tomatoes, you really want them to taste their best. 



Ice Cream That's HEALTHY?????!!!!!!!

Yup. You read that right. Seriously. Put it this way, I'm really particular about what I feed my kids.....and I gave it to them FOR BREAKFAST! And I had a bowl myself.  The reason it's so healthy? The only ingredient is bananas. 

Ice Cream. Breakfast Of The Champions!

I love bananas, but sometimes I forget to eat them. Or sometimes I buy too many. So I end up making banana bread (which I have devised a healthier version of and will post soon) but it's not the healthiest thing in the world.  So when I found this recipe I was super excited!  I was amazed by the texture. It comes right out of the food processor with a texture like soft serve.  (You can put it in a container and freeze it too.  Just let it thaw a few minutes before scooping.) It is very creamy, and so much like real ice cream that my husband kept asking "This is really just bananas?". Yup. Just bananas. It's not as strong of a banana taste as you might expect, but if you're not a fan I came up with a few quick "fixes" that completely change the taste and are so yummy. 

BANANA "ICE CREAM"
3 or more ripe(slightly spotted) bananas

Cut your bananas in slices on a plate or tray.  Put them in the freezer for an hour or so.

Put your banana slices in the food processor.  Blend. It will start to look a bit like gravel.  You may need to stop once or twice to scrape down the sides.

It will all of a sudden start to come together, and them it will become this smooth, creamy whipped texture. Scoop and EAT! That's it!

And that's what I gave my toddler for breakfast! My daughter got some too.  But I wanted to try another version, so we tried adding a few ingredients to the ice cream that was remaining in the food processor.

CHOCO PEANUT VERSION(Add to banana "ice cream")

1 tbsp natural peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, either would work)

1 tsp cocoa powder(unsweetened)

When your ice cream is ready, just toss these ingredients in the food processor as well and blend till well mixed.

That was my favorite version of it.  It had the most "ice-creamy" texture, taste and overall feeling. It could definitely replace regular ice cream for me any day of the week and I would be a happy camper. This recipe, in a cone would taste just like the real thing. I forgot to take a pic of this variation.....I think that speaks to how delicious it is, and how it really did not last!

The other version was more of a fruit smoothie version. Because of the added liquid it was runnier, and not nearly as creamy.  It was like eating a heavy smoothie. Still great, but not as satisfying.  But definitely more of a healthy, breakfasty taste.  Funnily enough, this version has more sugar than the choco version!

FRUITY ICE CREAM VERSION(Add to banana "ice cream")

1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries(I used fresh, just popped them in the freezer when I put my bananas in, so they weren't frozen hard)

1 cup mango puree(sweetened...that's where the extra sugar came in)

When your ice cream is ready, just toss these ingredients in the food processor as well and blend till well mixed.

For this you could really use any fruits or berries you want! Just put them in the freezer when you put the bananas in so that they will not make it too runny. (Mango puree tastes good, but really made it liquidy) It may have also had something to do with the fact that it was 90 something degrees in our house when I made this version....versus the 70 something when I made the other version...hmmm.

Runnier, but still sooooo good!

I did eat a good sized bowl of this version, and loved it! But I saved a lot to put in a container in the freezer. I'm hoping it will firm up a bit and will be more like sherbet. We shall see. Either way, I know it won't go to waste since everyone in the house was a fan. 

This has to be the simplest, fastest recipe ever! And I love that I can eat ice cream every day now and not worry about sugar or fat content.  Try it. You'll be very pleasantly surprised!

Quiche

I love quiche, but we don't eat it as often as I would like because my husband is not a huge fan of eggs. So anytime he has to work late or has other plans, this is our dinner! And then breakfast and lunch the next day too.  I love that I almost always have some sort of combination of ingredients that will work for this.  I can make it as fancy and gourmet as I want with brie and mushrooms and dijon, or simply use a block of frozen spinach and some shredded cheddar cheese. I have always used the frozen premade pie crusts, because they were so easy and the ingredients were pretty minimal.  (This is for the frozen ones only, the refrigerated ones use lard. Gross.) But we didn't have any and I figured it's about darn time I figure out how to make a good pie crust from scratch. I've tried many times before to no success. But my friend Renae just recently told me that you're not supposed to mix it all the way, the chunks of butter are what make it flaky. Ooooooohhhhhhh, so that's what I did wrong. Armed with this new knowledge, I used my All Recipes app on my phone and found the simplest one possible.  I tweaked it a bit because as I was mixing there just was not enough liquid to pull it together. (It called for 1/3 cup water. I used more like 3/4 cup). It was my first really great homemade pie crust. And the recipe made two so there is still one waiting in the freezer. Even better!

SPINACH AND CHEESE QUICHE

THE CRUST
1 cup butter, chilled
3 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp white sugar
3/4 cup ice water

Combine flour and sugar in bowl.  Cut butter into tablespoon size pieces.

Add butter to the flour mixture, use a pastry blender to cut the butter and flour together.  It should remain pretty lumpy. While stirring the mixture with a fork, slowly add the water(You may need less, so add a small amount at a time, starting with about 1/4 cup) Stir gently not to really blend the ingredients, they should come together but not be an even mixture. When it starts to clump, but before it forms a ball, stop stirring.  Lightly form into two balls.

Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer or fridge for about 30 minutes.

While you are waiting for the crust to chill. Prepare the innards of the quiche. I only had frozen spinach, some onions and cheddar cheese on hand. So that's what I used.

QUICHE FILLING

1 block frozen chopped spinach

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil for sauteing

1 tbsp chopped garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Defrost and squeeze the moisture out of your spinach while you are sauteing your onion.  Once the onion becomes translucent add spinach, garlic, salt and pepper.

Cook until the spinach begins to lose a bit of its "green-ness"

THE EGG MIX

4 eggs

1 cup milk

2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese(depending on your love of cheese)

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, reserved for the top

Pepper to taste (I find the cheese has enough salt for me, but if you like salt you may want to add a bit in to this mixture as well)

Beat the eggs with the milk. Stir in cheese.  Season with pepper.

Now you are ready to roll out your crust. If you have wax paper, do it on that. Save yourself a headache. I didn't. Lay a big piece of wax paper on the counter.  Roll out your pie crust on top of that.  Roll as little as possible, so the butter pieces remain in pieces.

 Turn over into a glass or metal pie dish. Pinch up the edges of the crust. It's very forgiving if you need to grab some from one side to add to another. I don't worry about it looking too nice, but I like it kind of high so I can really pile my ingredients in.

Spoon your spinach mixture into the crust.  Pour the egg mixture on top, making sure you don't over fill.  (Egg that spills over the edge of your crust and burns in the bottom of your oven will smell terrible!) Use a fork to gently mix the spinach with the egg. Sprinkle a little extra cheese on top. Put in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes.  If you are worried about it spilling, put a cookie sheet under your pie dish.

Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting, to ensure the pieces actually hold up.  Enjoy!  Noorah LOVES her quiche!

Quiche is such a forgiving dish. You can really add whatever you like depending on your tastes, or like me, whatever you need to use up before it goes bad.  I love it with broccoli, mushrooms and feta. Ricotta is great in it, as it goat cheese. If you do brie, lay a few slices on the bottom of the crust then slather with dijon.  Add veggie and egg mix.  Bake for 15 minutes, add some brie strips to the top then bake for another 30 minutes.  After you get it right once, experiment, try new combinations.  And good luck!





Margherita Pizza

Now here's where all these homesteading skills, or whatever you like to call it, come in handy. You can begin to combine techniques! I was in the mood for a quick and easy dinner-PIZZA.  But since we've essentially "cut the crap" from our diet, regular pizza just does not appeal to me anymore. Homemade pizza is still pretty quick and easy. It takes a little more time, but with the help of my handy dandy breadmaker ( and yes I just said that in Steve from Blues Clues' voice) it isn't much effort.

We have a lot of fresh basil in our garden, so I was really craving a margherita pizza.  Simple, perfectly matched ingredients.  Basil, fresh mozzarella, ripe tomatoes and a crispy crust.  Problem was, I was out of mozzarella. Oh well, I could make more!

So, I tossed the crust ingredients in the breadmaker.  Here's my Basic Pizza Dough Recipe

And I got to work on the Mozzarella

The cheese was done before the dough! So while we waited for the dough to rise, Noorah and I headed to the garden to pick some basil. 

By the time we came in, the dough was ready.  We rolled out our dough into two crusts and got it in the oven. As it was baking we sliced our tomatoes, cheese and basil (and ate quite a bit of cheese and tomatoes in the meantime) 

We topped our pizzas and sprinkled with a little cracked black pepper, and just popped it back in the oven just long enough for the cheese to get melty and the tomatoes to get warm. 

When they came out, I did a quick drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and that was it! It was delicious, the cheese just melted in my mouth, the tomatoes were sweet and earthy.  I love fresh bread in any form, so it was a win/win/win for me! The only change I would have made....I should have waited until the pizza was out of the oven to add the basil. It got a little wilted, a little dry. But still pretty tasty.  And a healthy meal that I am proud to serve my family!

I know, this is not what most people would consider convenience food. And it certainly isn't. But it was less than an hour of work, which my daughter and I did together.  When she asked why we were making the cheese, I replied "Because we try not to buy things that we know how to make at home".  I am trying to teach her to be self reliant in a variety of ways, and I know it sounds silly, but there is a sense of accomplishment when you are able to take a gallon of milk and turn it into cheese, or yogurt.  I try to live and teach this self reliance on a variety of levels.  We have a food garden, where we grow vegetables and herbs.  Most of them aren't ready yet(being early June) but we try to use the ones that are.  We planned the garden on our own eating habits and personal tastes.

Food isn't meant to be a convenience. Yes it is a necessity,  but the quality of that food can seriously impact your life.  And its not only about nutrition labels.  It is a whole process - growing food, preparing food, serving food and eating food.  The more tasks in this process that we can do ourselves, the more control we have over the quality. And the more we get to watch our children light up and realize "I can do that!" when they help roll out some dough or pick a tomato.

Basic Pizza Dough

The Dough
2 cups white bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast(I use it for everything)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 cups water (play around, it depends on your flour and the humidity)

You can also make this dough in the bread machine, if its free.....

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl (I use a large wooden salad bowl because its nice and wide and gives me lots of room to knead).  Mix it until it forms a nice ball, it should be stick but not messy.  Add a bit of flour or water until you get it where you want it.  Knead for 5-10 minutes until its smooth and elastic. Take the dough out of the bowl, and put a small amount of olive in the bowl(just enough to lightly coat the bread) Throw the dough back in, rolling it in the oil to coat.  Put a piece of plastic wrap lightly over the dough, and then a towel.  Find a warm spot for the dough to rise.  I put mine on top of the water heater and run a load on hot in the washer.  It seems to work pretty well and is a good incentive to do a load of laundry.  If you don't have a nice warm place to let your dough rise, a heating pad works well. You can do it in the oven if you're really in a rish, but put it as low as it will go and maybe keep the door cracked.  Anything abouve 140 can kill the yeast.  Yeast will rise, even without the warm area, it just rises much quicker with it. If it's a warm day a sunny window, or in my case, just out on the deck, works great.

After the dough has doubled in size, divide it in two and roll out both halves on a floured surface.  Keep its as thick or thin as you like (but remember it will puff back up so i reccomend between 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick) lay each crust on a baking sheet and cover with a towel to rise a bit while you preheat the oven to 425. No need to find a warm spot, i just lay it on the counter, or the stove.  After it has risen for about 10 minutes, use your fingers to poke in all over the dough like foccaccia bread.

Bake till it starts to get golden brown and crispy, keep an eye on it, all ovens are so different. I bake one crust at a time, they just seem to bake more evenly that way.  While the second one is baking, I do all the toppings on the crust that's already done.

Add whatever toppings you want, and pop back in the oven until they are warm and melty. 

30 Minute Mozzerella

My new favorite thing!

If you want to make something that will wow the pants off your dinner guests, or just yourself, this is it.  I always wanted to try cheesemaking. It sounds so much more involved when you say "cheesemaking" rather than just "make some cheese". I don't know why.  Anyways, I was always a bit intimidated by actually making cheese at home.  I had thought of buying a cheesemaking kit, but  I figured I probably had all the tools I needed already, or could make do. So I used a recipe I found on Pinterest, seemed easy enough, only a few ingredients (2 of the three i had to make a special trip to buy, but what the heck, I was excited about this cheese project!).  All of the recipes I found were slightly different, but funnily enough, they almost all credited the same original recipe, Ricki Carrol's book, Home Cheese Making. 


30 MINUTE MOZZERELLA
1 1/2 level teaspoons citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water
1 gallon pasteurized, NOT ULTRA PASTEURIZED whole milk (raw milk from a safe source is ok, as well as 2% or 1%)
1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet (or 1/4 rennet tablet) diluted in 1/4 cup cool, unchlorinated water (I just used water from our filter pitcher, it seemed fine to me)
1 teaspoon salt (optional, I used kosher salt)

I found the citric acid and renet at our local health food store(renet was vegitarian variety).  I had to ask where it was though, and even the woman who worked there was having a bit of trouble finding it. The citric acid was in the baking aisle and the renet was in the refrigerator with the cheese. Your store may be different, but just a hint if you're having a hard time. It's also available online.

Starting to curdle

Gently heat the milk to 55 degrees in a large stainless steel pot. (Being used to making yogurt, I forgot to watch the thermometer closely and before I knew it the milk was 80 degrees!! Oh well, I proceeded like normal anyways!) Add the citric acid solution while stirring. 

Heat the milk to 90 degrees over medium to low heat, stirring constanltly.  Take the pot off the heat.  Add the renet mixture while stirring in an up and down motion, then cover and let the pot sit for 5 minutes. 

After five minutes, check the curd.  It should be custardy with a definite difference between the curds and whey.  If it's too soft or the whey is too cloudy, let it sit a few more minutes.

Cut the curd with a knife that goes all the way down to the bottom of the pot.

Cutting the curds

Return the pot to the heat, and bring to 105 while stirring gently. Remove from the heat and continue to stir for 2-5 minutes. 

 With a slotted spoon, scoop out the curds and place them in a microwave safe bowl.  Use your hands to press off as much of the whey as possible. It still seemed wet to me, so I scooped up one handful at a time and packed it just like I would a snowball. It got much drier that way. Pour the whey back into the pot and put your snowballs into your microwave safe bowl. Mash them all together.

Scooping out of the pan

In the microwaveable bowl(straight out of the pan) and then my "snowballs"

Microwave on high for 1 minute.  Remove and knead with a spoon or your hands.  This will distribute the heat evenly.  It will be hot, a pair of clean rubber gloves can be very helpful(wish I had a pair!)

Microwave two more times for 35 seoconds each.  If you want to add salt, do it after microwaving the second time. After it comes out of the microwave each time, knead to distribute heat.  I actually had to microwave it two more times after that, and as I was kneading it I found it just wasn't coming together. It seemed more of a ricotta texture rather than gooey and smooth. But that was because I was kneading it with a spoon it seemed....I sucked it up and used my hands to do it and it smoothed right out. I didn't have gloves, and don't get me wrong, it kind of hurt. But when the heat got to be too much I switched to the spoon and then back to my hands again. It should be smooth and shiny and stretch like taffy.  If it breaks or tears its not hot enough yet-back into the microwave it goes!  Stretch it and fold it back on itself until it's nice and smooth. Stretch it nice and long, at least a foot or two if you can. It makes the texture really nice, then fold it back on itself and do it a few more times.

I chose to make mine into little balls, although you can leave it in one big mass, or braid it.  It's great to eat warm, but if you're going to refrigerate it, make your shapes and drop into a bowl of cold water to cool quickly. This helps keep a smooth texture.  Then put them in a tupperware or pyrex with some water and refrigerate. I'm really not sure how long these will last in the fridge because ours lasted less than three days. Granted I did give some to my sister, but if I hadn't done that, they may have made it a few more hours. 

Pinching off into balls

Drop into cold water to cool quickly

Store in a sealable container in the fridge with some water (you can lighlty salt the water-2 tsp salt to one cup water if you like). 

This cheese is delicious, very smooth, mild and just chewy enough!  As soon as my basil starts growing, I start thinking caprese salad, tomato/basil/mozzarella paninis, fresh pizza....the list goes on and on.  Fresh mozzarella is soooo much better than the dry shredded stuff in the bag (though I don't actually turn my nose up at any cheese) but paying $5-$7 for a little ball and having it gone in minutes....I'd prefer to spend a half an hour, have it fresh, and be able to proudly say "I made that cheese!" before I gobble it up! 

According to all the recipes/blogs/pins you should save the whey to make ricotta. I saved it, I followed the instructions. I failed miserably. I'm not sure what went wrong but it just did not work. The cheese didn't separate from the whey.....maybe I was overconfident from my mozzarella success. I don't know. But it really didn't work. Oh well, next time! Because I think I'm making this cheese again REALLY SOON!

UPDATE ON THE RICOTTA! IT WORKED!

Ok, I tried it again.  The mozzarella came out great, so time to try my ricotta again.
As soon as I finished my mozzarella, I put my whey back on the burner to try my hand at ricotta again. I decided that since following instructions got me nowhere, I would freestyle it. I'm not much of a stickler for the rules when it comes to food, and I figured it couldn't go any worse than the last time.  Instructions said to keep the whey on the stove until a foam appears, right before it boils, then take it off and strain it through butter muslin and wait 15 minutes. Well, I did that, and basically it all went right through. Nothing was there. So this time I decided to go past the point of "foam" which was only about 10 minutes, and just cook the heck out of it! It got foamy, I stirred it, I turned the heat up to a low boil, then down again.  I kept stirring occasionally, scraping the bottom making sure nothing was getting stuck. I would leave the pot for 15 minutes at a time, when it was on medium or low.  All in all, it cooked for a little over an hour.  I could see chunks of curd forming.  When I was pretty certain that there were definite "curds" and definite "whey" I slowly poured it through a clean kitchen towel (not a terry towel, but a smooth one, kind of just a cotton fabric, muslin would work well, cheesecloth isn't fine enough) that i had tied through the handles of a pot.  The whey drained through and my ricotta stayed! It doesn't make a whole lot of cheese. Not enough for a lasagna, maybe a cup and a half or two. But it was made from left over whey, that I otherwise had no use for.  I would't go out of my way to make this, but as a byproduct, it's a great thing.  It was delicious in scrambled eggs this morning and again in a spinach pasta bake for dinner. And now its gone. We ate it all in one day. I guess that answers your question of how does it taste!