Spaghetti Sauce FAIL

I finally got around to using the crushed tomatoes I canned about a month ago. I used it to make some spaghetti sauce. It tasted really good, but it wasn't quite as saucy as I had hoped it would be. Does anyone know how to remedy this? I was thinking I could puree all the veggies to make it a smoother consistency. Or maybe I could add a can of tomato paste? It looked more like a stew than a sauce. Has anyone out there used their own canned tomatoes to make sauce? And how did it turn out?

Vinegar as weed killer

 I read a few days ago that you could use vinegar as a weed killer. You fill up a spray bottle with undiluted white vinegar and spray the weeds and it kills them in 24 hours. So, I decided to try it on our own weeds. Here's what they looked like before.

Here's what they looked like after.

Not much of a difference. Although, it could be because we had a heavy rainstorm the next day, or maybe they're too big for it to work. I don't know. Does anyone know of a non-Round-up way to kill weeds? I'm interested in what has worked for you guys.

Not quite a horse and carraige

How's this for being Amish? This is how I took my daughter to school today. Last week, our car's check engine light came on and it had a pretty rough idle. We couldn't get it in to get it fixed until Monday, so we just drove it like that. Monday comes and I take it in. At the end of the day I get a call telling me that there is rodent damage in the engine. Sick!! I'm thinking there were all kinds of animals crawling around in there. We had some chewed up wires that needed to be replaced and it wouldn't be done in time for me to take my daughter to school in the morning. I had Craig make sure my bike and our trailer was in working order. Now, it's about a 10-15 minute drive to her school, and I biked it pulling about 90 lbs of kids. Needless to say, I am quite proud of myself. If I did this every school day, I think I would lose a lot of weight. The kids enjoyed it, except on the way there; I think they were pretty squished. The way home was 40 lbs lighter, so that was nice. The two boys also fell asleep on the way back and that was nice too.  I almost had to do it again this afternoon to pick her up, but fortunately, the car was done and I was able to get it just in time to pick her up. I think I might do this again. I forgot how much I like bike riding.

Red Amaranth

 

Last week at the farm, they had some red amaranth. I was like, red what? It looked like some red weeds to me. I asked the lady who was running the show how you use them, and she said to just add it to your salad, but make sure to put some lemon juice with it to break up the bitterness of the leaves. So I did. I added it to our salad and it sure did make it look pretty.

It didn't make the salad taste any different than it normally does. I was intrigued by this new leaf. I looked it up online and discovered that in some places it is, in fact, a weed, but it is edible and people in Asia eat it. You can sautee it or just eat it raw. I figure it has to be good for you because of the color. They say purple and red foods have antioxidants in them, so I assume that would be true for this guy.

That's one thing I really like about getting my produce from the farm. I get to try all sorts of new things and learn how to cook with them. It's a culinary adventure!

Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting

It was my youngest son's birthday about a month ago. I usually go to Stater Bros. and get a free birthday cake from the bakery, but when I went this year, they said they only give the cake away if you buy a sheet cake to go with it! What?? Now I have to MAKE a cake for my 1 year old?! I was not pleased.

I decided to make this carrot sheet cake with cream cheese frosting. I mostly like it because the frosting is sooooooooooo good. And I'm not a frosting fan, so that says a lot. This recipe comes from my Cooking Light cookbook.

Cake:
9 T softened butter
2/3 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 egg whites
2 t vanilla
2 c flour
2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
3/4 c buttermilk
2 c finely shredded carrot

Frosting:
1/2 c neufchatel cheese (just like cream cheese but 1/3 of the fat. It should be right next to the cream cheese at the store)
1/4 c butter softened
2 t vanilla
1/8 t salt
2 3/4 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Place 9 T butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a large bowl, beat with a mixer at medium speed for 5 min or until well blended. Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until pale and fluffy. Beat in 2 t vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and 1/4 t salt, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the sugar mixture. Stir in carrot and pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 30 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For frosting, place cheese, 1/4 c butter, 2 t vanilla and 1/8 t salt in a bowl. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add 2 c powdered sugar, beating a low speed until smooth. Stir in remaining 3/4 c powdered sugar. Cover and chill 30 min. Spread frosting on top of cake after it has completely cooled and add sprinkles if you want.

Does it count as healthy if there are carrots in it?

French Fries

I like making my own french fries. It's a great way to use potatoes that have been sitting around waiting to be used. I cut up the potatoes into long strips, put them in a bowl, and drizzle what I would guess to be a tablespoon of olive oil over them. Add salt and italian seasoning to taste. I mix it all together in a bowl and spread them out on a greased baking sheet. Then I bake them at 425 for about an hour, flipping them halfway through. The ones that get nice and golden are especially good. And I'm going to bet these are a lot better for you than fast food french fries.

Garden Update

Well, here we are in the middle of April. Today it is hot. When I went to pick up my daughter from school the thermostat in the car said it was 90 degrees. I thought now would be a good time to check the status of my plants.

We have one lonely lemon left on our tree. But we do have blossoms for next year.

The cilantro and oregano have done well, although the basil did not make it. I probably should have kept it inside for longer. I'll probably get some more later and try again.

Our little pomegranate tree is still hanging in there. Craig's grandma gave it to us a few years ago. I believe she started it from a seed. Every winter, when it loses it's leaves, I'm sure it has died over the winter, but every spring those leaves keep coming back! It amazes me every time. Anyone know how long until it produces?

I was excited to see blossoms on our cherry tree. We got it last year and it never got any blossoms. I am not excited that the birds have already eaten some of the budding cherries. All I know, is that there were some little buds and now they are gone, stems and all.

We have one avocado tree that is flowering like crazy. I assume these are the flowers, right? If I am wrong please correct me. We've had this tree for two years now, so I'm hoping we'll get an avocado out of it sometime soon.

I like parsley because it is nice and hearty. No problems with this one and it's so nice to just go outside and pick some whenever I need it for cooking.

I check on this pea plant daily, almost willing it to grow faster. It's slowly getting bigger and my mouth waters imagining all the peas that will grow on it.

Jalapeno peppers. Still working on those leaves, eh? Is it too soon for blossoms from these guys?

I am amazed that our blueberry plant has blueberries on it. We originally bought two plants, but our dog ate one of them over the winter. She was a puppy, so I will allow her to live. We were told we needed two plants to produce fruit when we bought them, but apparently that is not the case.

I am assuming that this is my bell pepper plant and not a weed. Only time will tell. I am suspicious of it's position so close to the edge of the bucket. The water may have moved the seed when I watered it.

If we still live here next winter, we are going to have oranges up to our ears. Look at all those little baby oranges starting! This is only one tiny branch of the tree!

Our peach tree has about five small peaches that are almost ready to pick...I'm just keeping an eye on those birds...they're always trying to sneak some!

The tomato plants are flowering. I'm just waiting to see those little green tomato balls. Last year we had a purple beefsteak tomato plant that grew so big and flowered like crazy and never produced one single tomato!

And finally, my pride and joy, the apricot. I think I counted about 5 apricots this year, which is two more than last year! There is nothing like a freshly picked apricot. After you have one on the tree you can never get the ones from the store. Is it June yet??

How is your garden growing?

Strawberry Jam

I finally made it out to the strawberry stand last weekend and bought an entire flat of strawberries. That's 12 baskets. Needless to say, that is a lot of strawberries. We went through the entire flat in 48 hours. I made 2 batches of jam and we ate the rest. One batch of jam uses 2-3 baskets of strawberries, depending on the size. The recipe I like to use is my Grandma's, which you can actually use to make raspberry jam too, although I have never tried it. Her recipe originally called for a packet of unsweetened strawberry Kool-Aid, which I always thought was the secret ingredient that made it taste so good. I started this blog to try to get away from food additives, and Kool-Aid seems to be ALL additives. So I made a batch with the Kool-Aid and one without. I discovered that the secret to good strawberry jam is, in fact, the quality of strawberries you are using. I suppose if you have sub-par strawberries, the Kool-Aid would make it taste better, but I have found that leaving it out makes for sweeter and better tasting jam. Sorry Grandma!

2 c mashed strawberries
1/4 c lemon juice
1 3/4 c water
1 package pectin
1 T butter

Mix all together and bring to a boil. Let butter melt completely. It helps prevent the jam from getting foamy.

Once the mixture is boiling, add 6 cups of sugar and bring to a boil again. Boil for 3 minutes. It will rise up and be a little foamy.

After the 3 minutes are up, turn off heat and pour into hot sterilized jars. I wash mine really well, or you can run them through the dishwasher and the keep them in a pot of boiling water until they are ready to fill. I keep the lids in boiling water too. Once the jam is in the jars, make sure there's none on the lip of the jar, so it will seal. Place the lid on top and secure with the rings. Let them sit for at least 24 hours to cool and seal. As they cool, you will hear that "pop" sound as they seal. If they don't seal, put the jars in the fridge and use right away.

I really like this recipe because it's quick and you don't need any special equipment, besides the jars. It's also the best tasting strawberry jam I've ever had. What kind of jam is your favorite?

Ham and Swiss Stromboli

As promised, here is the Ham and Swiss Stromboli. Looks delicious, doesn't it?

3 c flour
1 c warm water
1 T dry milk
1 T olive oil
2 1/2 t yeast
1 t salt
1/2 t dry mustard
chopped ham
cubed swiss cheese
cornmeal
1 egg, lightly beaten

Add first 7 ingredients to a large mixing bowl. I usually just dump it all in and mix it with the dough hook until it forms a dough. Then put in a greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Take dough out of bowl and knead some more and then let it rest for about 10 minutes. Roll the dough out to form a rectangle or oval and place ham and swiss cubes in the center.
Fold the dough over and pinch the edges to seal. Kind of like a giant hot pocket. Place loaf on a greased baking sheet, dusted with cornmeal, seam side down. Cut 3 slits in the top with a sharp knife. Cover and let rise for another hour. When done rising, brush the top with the beaten egg and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Voila! This goes great with soup on a rainy day (just like today!). I originally found the recipe in my Cooking Light cookbook, but have adapted it just a bit. I hope you find your comfort food on this cold, wet day!

Sauceless Pasta

This is an old favorite recipe of ours that we got out of the cookbook "Everyday Italian" by Giada de Laurentiis. I was excited to make it this time because I used my homemade italian sausage in it. It is quick and easy to make and quite delicious.

1 lb bowtie pasta
2 T olive oil
1 lb italian sausage
1 small package mushrooms
1 lb frozen peas
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat 1 T olive oil in a large skillet and add sausage. Cook until golden brown. Remove meat with a slotted spoon or spatula and heat the other T of olive oil in the skillet. Add the mushrooms and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Then add peas. Cook until heated through. Return the meat to the skillet, add salt and pepper, and heat all ingredients together.

When pasta is done cooking, drain water, reserving about a cup of the cooking water. Add the meat mixture to the pasta and stir. Add a little of the reserved cooking water to moisten the noodles and maybe a little bit of olive oil. Add the grated parmesan cheese and mix until melted.

This takes about a half hour to make. Enjoy!

Pork and Beans

How many of you have leftover ham from Easter? Me too. A lot of ham. I let my daughter pick out our ham this year and she, of course, picked out the biggest one. My brother and his family were visiting, so a little extra ham was ok with me. Besides ham sandwiches, we have two favorite meals we like to make using our leftover ham; ham and swiss stromboli and pork and beans. Yesterday, we made the latter. I take whats left of the meat off the bone and stick the bone and a little meat in my pressure cooker. I added about a pound of beans. (Normally I use white beans, but I was out, so I put pinto beans in instead.) I filled the pot with water, added some bouillon, 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery, 1 chopped tomato, and feeling a little daring, I added a bunch of chopped swiss chard and kale. Basically I just put in whatever vegetables I had on hand. If I had used the white beans I would have added a little brown sugar too. I put the lid on my pressure cooker and cooked it all for about an hour. This is what it looked like when it was done.


It does not look very appetizing to me, but I went ahead and tried it anyway and I was surprised at how good it tasted, even with the greens in there. It had a delicious smoky flavor. I normally make it so it taste like navy bean soup, which this did not. Even so, I think it was a good use of the leftover ham.

After you cook everything, you can take out the bone and the meat you couldn't get off before just falls off. I let the bones cool off and then gave them to my dogs to chew on. I feel good doing that, knowing that I'm using every last bit of that ham. Stay tuned for the ham and swiss stromboli later this week!

Easter ties and bow ties

This Easter, I wanted to make some matching ties and bow ties for the men in my family. I came across this pink and brown striped fabric during Black Friday sales at Joanns and thought it would be perfect for Easter. But then I forgot about it until 2 days before Easter. I then frantically tried sewing them all together in time for church on Easter Sunday. Fortunately, they don't take a lot of time, just a lot of tedious hand-sewing.

Now don't think I'm this great seamstress making stuff up. I always need a pattern when I sew. I scored this awesome pattern from the 70s off Etsy. (I don't think there's anything you can't get off there and E-bay.)

How awesome is that hair?? I hope someday Craig can have hair like that.

I made this tie for Craig.

And this bow tie for my two boys.

I do not make bow ties with clasps. It seems like a lot more work to make, so I make them old-school style, where you have to tie them yourself. I like that Craig knows how to tie one. It just seems so much more sophisticated.

Plus, you can sport the after-party look...

What a little stud.

Resurrection Rolls

I'm always on the look-out for good ideas for teaching my kids about the real meaning of holidays. Since Easter is this weekend, there have been a lot of posts about cute stuff to do, but I liked this the best. They are dessert rolls that are empty inside and you can teach your kids about the resurrection while making them. Here's how we did it.

3/4 c warm water
1 large egg
3 c flour
1 t salt
3 T sugar
6 T butter
3 T dry milk
1 1/2 t yeast

Combine these ingredients together and let rise until double. Divide into 12 balls and flatten.

Mix 1 cup of sugar and 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon together. Melt 1/2 cup of butter in a bowl. Brush melted butter onto rolls, then sprinkle cinnamon on top. The butter represents the oils of embalming they used on Jesus' body. The cinnamon sugar represents the spices used to anoint the body of Jesus. Place marshmallow in the center of the dough. This represents Jesus and his purity.

Fold up the sides and dip rolls in butter and cinnamon sugar again and place seam side down on a greased pan. The dough represents the cloth Jesus was wrapped in. Let rise again until double.
Once they are ready, you put them in a 375 oven and bake for 15 minutes. The oven represents the tomb.

When they are done, the marshmallow should have melted away and you are left with an empty tomb.
The picture doesn't look too appetizing, but they tasted like cinnamon rolls. We had a great time making these with our kids and remembering the real reason we celebrate Easter. I hope you all have a great Easter and a great weekend!

Idea and recipe can be found here.

Paneer

Some of my neighbors went on vacation this week and gave us a gallon of whole milk and some eggs, since they would not be using them. Besides our fridge being overrun with eggs this Easter, we were excited to get the milk. I've been wanting to make cheese for a long time and have just not gotten around to it. I really want to try mozzarella, but I have yet to order some rennet. So when we got this milk (which was close to its expiration date) I thought it would be perfect for experimenting, since it was free and all that.

I looked up some recipes online and found this one on how to make paneer, an Indian cheese. It seemed easy to make and I could use lemon juice instead of rennet. First I poured the whole gallon into my stock pot and started heating it up.

I had read somewhere that the temperature needs to be 185 F for the curds to separate from the whey, so I tried to bring the milk to that temperature. (I held my meat thermometer in there to check it.) I stirred as it was heating up so the milk wouldn't burn on the bottom. When it started boiling I added the lemon juice and water. (I had mixed 1/2 c of lemon juice with 1 c of water previously) As the curds and whey started separating, I turned off the heat.

After some trial and error with the lemon juice, (I ended up adding more because it wasn't separating) the curds sank to the bottom of the pan. I didn't realize they would be so small and grainy. I had assumed they would be big chunks, so that was a learning experience for me. My pot of milk ended up looking like this.

I then poured everything into a strainer lined with a couple layers of cheesecloth.


Once that was done, I was left with a bowl of curds...

...and a bowl of whey.

I learned a while back that you DO NOT throw away the whey. When Craig had tried making cheese earlier, we saved the whey and I used it in the place of buttermilk to make buttermilk waffles. I didn't notice a difference in the flavor, but I was proud that I used it. I had also heard that you can use it as plant food, so that's what I did this time. I took it out to my "garden" (I use that term loosely) and watered my plants with it. It might just be my imagination, but I swear the next day our cherry tree suddenly had a bunch of leaves on it. Or maybe that was because it's spring. I choose to believe it was the whey.

Back to the cheese. I took the curds and placed them in the cheesecloth in another strainer and rinsed them with water.

I think this is supposed to rinse off all the lemon juice. I don't think I did this part very well because the end result had a lemony flavor. After I rinsed, I tried to squeeze all the water out.

After I got most of the water out, I had a nice round ball of cheese. I was surprised by it's consistency, since it was ricotta-like. I suppose I expected it to be like mozzarella. I even thought I could melt the cheese and stretch it to make it like mozzarella, but that didn't work. It just made the cheese really hot. I ended up just wrapping the ball in saran wrap and stuck it in the fridge.

Looks kind of like cauliflower, huh? I didn't want it to go to waste, so I put it in some lasagne for dinner. I liked the way it tasted in there, but Craig said there was too much cheese in there. I didn't know there was such a thing as too much cheese. Maybe after this experience I'll order that rennet and start making some fancier cheeses. Have any of you made cheese? Do you have any tips for me?