Grilling

I wrote this post back in August or July and didn't finish it but today I decided to add pictures and post as is :)

This month we have had some truly summery days. Hot and sunny. Great for making things grow. I am thankful for those days and I don't want to warm up the house to much so we use the grill more. That is fun. Trying not to use the stove in the kitchen helps us be more creative.

Besides the classic grilling of steaks, brats and burgers we also roasted our vegies on the grill. Baked an apple pie. Created a delectable tilapia and carrots with garlic meal as well. Cooked the rice and corn bread all on the grill. It worked great for every one of those things. The thing to remember though is that rice and potatoes takes longer on the grill than steaks or brats. Just start them first.

 Margaret became a master of flat bread this summer. While I prefer it when she grills it on the George foreman grill it is also very tasty when she makes it on the outside grill along with her "shwarma" chicken that she grills. It is so nice having confident cooks around here.

Peace and Joy,

~Anna

Recital Bars

Beatrice had her recital yesterday evening and I was to take a sweet treat to share afterwards. Not really in the mood for baking once I remembered my responsibilities yesterday afternoon I thought of this recipe only because of the appropriateness of the name Recital Bars. They are also very quick and simple to make making them a perfect treat for more than just when you are going to a recital.

I haven't shared a recipe here for awhile so I thought I would give this one to you. I got the recipe out of our church cookbook. It was submitted by someone who plays music for her profession so I suppose she had her share of recitals over the years.

Recital Bars

These are pretty sweet, it wouldn't hurt to cut the sugar down a bit. You can't too much or they won't stick correctly though.

Melt together:

1 cup butter

1cup sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

Stir in :

4 cups oatmeal

Pat in bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan that is greased, bake for 12 minutes at 350*. Allow to cool and set for a bit.

Melt together: 

6 ounces chocolate chips. (I used more than this, this time)

2/3 c. peanut butter (I never measure this, too messy :)

Spread over oatmeal base.

Allow to set for a bit and cut into small squares. Serve whenever you are ready for them. 

I also have a recipe for funeral bars so someday if I need them I might share that recipe with you, too. Fun names.

Luckily Bea performed yesterday evening because while she was brushing her teeth last night she rested her hand in the door jam of the boys room and got her fingers rather mushed. They are working fine today but we did have our worries about them for a bit.

Ta ta,

~Anna

Canning

Summer is here and so is preparing food for the winter.

I did something this week that I have never done before. I was pretty proud of myself when I thought of it so I am going to share with you my lovely efforts at homemaking.

We buy a whole steer for our beef for the year and that totally maxes out our freezer space, or over maxes it when it comes in so this time I solved a little of the problem. I cooked down all of the soup bones the day after I brought home our beef and then canned the meat and broth so it is all ready to pour into soups or noodles or whatever I need broth for. I am just thrilled with my efficiency. It took two days of quite a bit of labor and now I have 29 quarts of beef stock all put away and ready for a quick meal.

One day while the broth was canning we also made 9 pints of hot pepper jelly. Margaret chopped all of the peppers for me. Which was wonderful and Travis stirred the jam while it came to a boil.

Such helpers I have. We love hot pepper jelly with cream cheese and crackers for a light meal or snack. So I am excited to have all of those jars ready for later as well. In other food preservation news we have canned 14 pints of black raspberry jam this month. I am always very proud of ourselves with that one since we have to fight for every berry from the very prickly viney bushes they grow on that don't like us taking from them. Unfortunately we have already eaten two jars. At that rate we will be through it before winter even sets in.

We also had a visit from Travis' parents this week and they brought us green beans, corn and other treats from their garden. Monday we canned 21 quarts of green beans and put several packages of corn in the freezer, now our freezer is completely full!

We have done more canning this past week than I have done in several years. It is so exciting to use my jars again!.

Happy food preservation to you!

~Anna

Tea-Infused Lentil Soup

I am not really sure why I ever tried this recipe but this very well may be one of the most requested, by my children, meals I make. Certainly it is possible that my eldest daughter requests it the most.

It came in an email newsletter I used to receive called KIWIscoop. I don't have any idea where it came from but it was mostly healthy recipes and fun quick tips for family fun and stuff to do so I would browse through it when it came to my box. It is really a simple and quick meal. Enjoy!

Tea-infused Lentil Soup

2 tea bags Jasmine tea

1 cup lentils (any type will do, it calls for red and I use what ever color those are in the picture above)

1/4 cup rice

2 large yellow onions (cut into thin strips) {I almost always use white onions but red, green, or yellow are all tasty here} [I use just one unless they are small then I will use two]

1 Tablespoon oil -olive is nice

1 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon, or more cumin

1 vegetable, chicken or beef bouillon cube

1/3 cup parsley

5-6 cups water- divided

Fresh bread of some sort to serve on the side.

Directions:

1. Steep tea in 1-2 cups boiling water

2. Boil 3 cups water in a deep soup pot, add lentils and rice. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. {or 2.} In a frying pan saute onions in oil until golden and tender. Add cumin and salt and quickly fry them. { I do this in the pan before I boil the water and leave them in to cook some more with the lentils and rice}

Stir in bouillon and 2 cups more of water. Make sure bouillon is stirred in and dissolved. Return to a boil.

4. Just before serving stir in parsley and tea. Add meatballs if desired (I never do).

They say preparation time is 45 minutes and it will serve 4.

Please try this. It is such a good simple meal to enjoy. And when you are done you can enjoy a good game of chess, maybe if you have a playmate.

~Anna

I am linking this post to Tasty Tuesday's at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Pumpkin Rolls and Cream Cheese Orange Rolls

Keren got me thinking about Jelly Rolls last week as she endeavoured to master the art. I have tried a few different recipes at different times but the one I go back to always is this Pumpkin Roll recipe as I cook to please a pumpkin loving Man. Even though I have made it many times over the years it has been a really long time since I last made it.

I also created a fun orange cream cheese roll that we really enjoyed a whole lot. I took it to our life group meeting on Thursday evening. I am going to put its recipe here so I will know what I did if I ever want to make it again.

Pumpkin Roll

1 cup sugar

3 beaten eggs

2/3 cup canned/frozen,thawed/cooked and mushed pumpkin

3/4 cup flour, I used 100% whole wheat flour this time and they taste great but they were a little harder to work with as they wanted to fall apart more than normal.

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 375*.

Mix the sugar, eggs, and pumpkin in a bowl, add next 4 ingredients and mix well.

Grease a jellyroll pan with oil and line it with a greased wax paper (all of this oiling is really important). Extend paper over the sides of the baking sheet. Pour batter into pan and spread to edges. Sprinkle batter with pecans (I used almonds I had slivered this time and that was tasty).

Bake for 15 minutes, or until done in the middle and turning golden.

Sprinkle a clean dishtowel generously with powdered sugar ans flip cooked cake onto the powdered towel. Gently remove wax paper:

Roll your cake up with the towel on it. My recipe says to roll loosely and I tend to roll it tightly. I guess you can try it both ways and see what is best for your cake. My philosophy on tightness was that would hold it better and not allow cracking. Let it stand until cooled, not cold though.

Filling

1-8 ounce package cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 Tablespoons butter

1 cup powdered sugar

Beat ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

Unroll cooled cake and spread frosting across it. Roll your cake up again (without your towel).

If it is fragile you can use your towel/cling wrap to help you roll it by evenly holding one end of the towel higher and letting gravity roll the cake for you. You will need to start the rolling with your fingers though.

Wrap you roll in cling wrap and aluminum foil. Place in the freezer. Unwrap and slice while still frozen. They thaw fairly quickly.

They keep for sometime very nicely in the freezer and make for a great quick desert when surprise guest arrive. And now the:

Orange roll

1/2 cup flour ( I used whole wheat)

1 teaspoon baking powder

8 egg whites

Zest of one orange (leave about 1 teaspoon for filling)

2/3 cup sugar Oven 375*

2 Tablespoons slivered almonds

Whip egg whites until very frothy. Add the sugar and orange zest and thoroughly beat together.

Mix flour and baking powder and stir into egg mixture until well mixed.

Grease a jelly roll pan with oil and line with greased wax paper. Extend paper over sides of pan. Sprinkle slivered almonds across wax paper and then, pour batter into prepared pan and spread to edges evenly.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched lightly near center.

Filling

1-8 ounce package cream cheese

1 teaspoon orange zest

1 teaspoon orange juice

2 Tablespoons butter

1 cup powdered sugar

Follow directions above for compiling the roll.

Now that winter is back I felt like something warm and sweet would be a pleasant drink. Margaret was craving an ice cream treat but our house is way to cold for a cold treat right now. I don't feel like starting a fire or turning on our furnace so it might be chilly around here for awhile. At least until Travis returns, he is always in the mood to start a fire.

I had seen this recipe a while back but never tried it. It was very well received by everyone. Margaret made it with lots of help in stirring from the boys and Beatrice.

Warm Vanilla Soother

3 cups milk

3 egg yolks

1/3 cup real maple syrup

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Mix all of these in a saucepan and stir over medium high heat until it begins to thicken. Shut off burner and add:

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon butter

Mix well and serve warm in mugs.

The kids enjoyed adding a sprinkling of cinnamon to theirs. For our crew we doubled this recipe. We got this recipe from here. I hope you like it too.

~Anna

I like Pretzels, Do You?

Last year just before Easter I was doing some blog browsing and learned from different places that pretzels are a traditional easter treat. I had never heard that before and I thought the stories to come up with that were quite interesting. The main one I remember was, Monks a long, long time ago would give pretzels to children to tell them the story Jesus hanging on the cross. Who knows if that is true but I enjoy trying to make things I have never made before, so I found a recipe and tried it. We like it and here it is for you to try. By coincedence the friend's house we shared our Easter dinner at last year served large chocolate covered pretzels as an afterdinner snack . So I shared my new found knowledge with her, she had, had no idea she was keeping a long held tradition :) Without further ado I give you my Pretzel recipe: 1/2 cup warm water 1 teaspoon honey 1 cup milk- warm 1Tablespoon brown suagr 1 Tablespoon yeast 3 cups whole wheat 1 cup all purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons salt Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and knead until dough is elastic. Add a little more flour if needed. Let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. 8 cups water 4 Tablespoons baking soda Bring water to a boil in a large pot and add baking soda. On a lightly oiled work surface, divide dough into 12 even peices. With your palms roll each piece into a long rope about 20 inches. Shape into pretzel shape by curving each end toward the center and overlapping them. Secure each end by pressing firmly. Place shaped pretzels in boiling water and let boil one or two at a time for about 30 seconds. Remove from water with a slatted spoon that drains well. Place on greased or lined baking sheets. Repeat process until all pretzels have been boiled. Brush tops of pretzels with: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water Sprinkle tops with salt and parmesan cheese, or cinnamon & sugar (our family favorite), or just plain old coarse salt. Bake in a 450* oven for 12 -14 minutes or until golden brown.

So whether you wish to make them as a tradition or just because you like to feed your family very yummy foods you really ought to try my pretzel recipe!

~Anna

Supper time Jokes

Last night at the dinner table we had quite the comedians. Beatrice started because there was salad dressing on the table with

What made the tomato red?

~because he saw the salad dressing!

Knock, knock,

Who is there?

~lettuce

Lettuce who?

~lettuce in it's cold out here!

Nahum, Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?

~He didn't have enough guts!

Harrison, Why did the headless Horseman cross the road?

~to get to the cemetery!

Travis, Why is there a fence around a graveyard?

~because people are dieing to get in!

One last one,

What time is it when the clock strikes 13?

~time to get the clock fixed!

Oh, there was a plethora of lovely ones that have slipped my memory but you get the picture. It was an entertaining meal!

May all your dining experiences be as fun,

~Anna

Corndogs, My way!

I have always loved corndogs, I think. I certainly have for the last 12 years or so. Back when I was a working out of the home woman and I bought more fast food type things I would buy corndogs individually packaged at Sam's and take them to work for my lunch. People would comment on my funny lunch, but that is what I liked. Now once in awhile I see them in the store and think about buying them but my practical side always says, No! so I don't but then a couple weeks ago I had an epiphany. I will make my own. Here is how I do it and we all like them a lot except for Beatrice who told me the other day "when I have kids I won't make them eat corndog muffins". So I guess she doesn't like them. So the recipe is: 6 Hot dogs cut in half ( the type of hotdogs you use really makes a difference to how many you need) If they are the longer type you probably can cut them into thirds) The breading: 1cup whole wheat flour 1cup corn meal 4 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoons salt 1-2 eggs (beaten) 1 cup milk 3tablespoons oil 3 tablespoons butter The method: Turn on the oven to 425*. Slice the butter evenly into 12 muffin tins. Melt the butter in the oven.

Mix dry ingredients altogether in a large bowl. Add egg, milk, and oil and mix it all up. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins about 1/3 full. Place 1/2 hotdog into each tin. Cover each hotdog with more batter.

Bake for 12- 15 minutes until golden brown and firm in the center.

Serve them with ketchup, potato wedges and spinach. A wonderful meal for sure :) You can use your favorite cornbread recipe and it will be just grand I am sure. For our family I double this recipe.

Happy baking,

~Anna

Happy Valentines Day!

~♥Anna♥

Rumpledoodles

Have you ever had a Rumpledoodle?

Well, neither had I until a few years ago.

When this young lady watched a Pooh movie and decided we really needed to

try the recipe at the end which they said was Pooh's most favorite food other than Honey.

It turns out that it is one of our favorite cookies, too.

So here, is our recipe for Rumpledoodles!

1 cup rolled oats (I didn't have rolled oats yesterday when I made them and used just plain old oatmeal and they turned out just fine)

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour (I use whole wheat)

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup raisins (I used craisins this time and you couldn't tell any difference from when I use raisins, at least Margaret told people they were raisins and I didn't tell them otherwise because they don't like Craisins in their food very well)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix all of this together well in a large bowl. Then add

3 tablespoons molasses

1/2 cup oil

3 tablespoons boiling water

1 egg

beaten all together.

Mix all of the ingredients together. The mix will be dry and crumbly but that is the way it is. Don't worry.

Heat your oven to 350*. Place tablespoonfuls of dough onto a greased cookie sheet. You might have to kind of squish the mix together to get it to stay in cookie shapes on the pan.

I did anyways.

Bake them for approximately 10 minutes. Once they are set and getting a little crunchy on the edges is just about a perfect time to remove them from the oven.

Let the cookies cool on the pan for a minute and them remove.

They make an excellent accompaniment to a cup of coffee!

Let me know if your family likes them as much as mine does.

~Anna

How to make a graham cracker

To me these are extremely delicious. Maybe they aren't that amazing but they are really good and very easy, and if fat doesn't worry you they are really a nutritious snack. What it takes: 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (for a really crunchy cracker) or

1 3/4 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup white flour ( for a more nabisscoey experience)

1/3 cup brown sugar 1 t baking powder 1/2 t baking soda 1/2 t salt 1/4 t cinnamon 5 T honey 1/4 cup water 1 t vanilla 1/2 cup butter- melted How we do it: Heart oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients all together. Then add the liquid ingredients. (A quick tip- don't measure the honey. You will just get the spoon all sticky. Just do 5 nice tablespoon size piles onto your flour mixture :) Stir this all well until a ball forms. Put dough onto a greased bar pan and spread with a greased rolling pin or your hands to cover the pan. Cut into 2 inch squares and and prick with a fork if you wish. Now place them in the oven and bake for 18 minutes at 350*. Turn the oven off after 18 minutes and leave crackers in the oven for another 20-40 minutes. This allows them to have a nice crunchy, crumbly, flakiness. Store them in an airtight container.

Let me tell you there isn't to much yummier than these with a homemade marshmallow warmed in the microwave for about 10 seconds!!! So yummy.

So enjoy them however you wish, with milk, hot chocolate or marshmallows. Just be sure to enjoy them. Blessings,

~Anna

Kefir, an educational post

Making kefir is one of the most important things I do to keep our family healthy. It is not always readily appreciated by other people. Somehow it's flavor can be offensive to some people, but I think anyone can learn to enjoy a kefir smoothie. We sure do!

Now, I do not do a lot of research so I am not really that knowledgeable of all of kefir's health benefits, but I have read that it has more probiotics than yogurt does and is easier for you to digest. The guy I got my grains from said that the kefir had healed him of his lactose intolerance and acid reflux.

When you first start your kefir journey you might feel like you need to do it just so. That is not really the case with kefir, it is a very simple product that is very forgiving. Just keep going and giving it fresh milk and your grains will live.

It starts with getting the kefir grains. You find a friend that already has some and they can share. They are always growing so they won't mind sharing. Or there is a website where you can get them from someone else for a small fee or just the shipping cost, this is how I got mine. Although they are called grains they aren't of the wheat, barley type grain family. Sometimes your grains will be a big glob and other times lots of little globs.

Once you have your grains you need to put them into a jar with milk, any milk will do. It is creamier with whole milk but works with raw, pasteurized/homogenized, and skim. About 1/2 cup of grains to 1 quart of milk. You need to place them in a glass or ceramic container ( Islamic people used to keep it in a goatskin water bag) that is a little bigger than the amount of milk you use as they do produce a gas and expand some as the fermentation process continues.

The more grains you use to the amount of milk just speeds up the process and the kefir will be ready a little quicker. If you are a person who likes to measure and do things on a schedule than it might be wise to keep track of the amount of grains you have. I just notice that the kefir looks ready and so on, no measuring ever :)

Now that your grains are in the milk you can put the lid on and let sit for 24 hours on the back of your counter. They do seem to grow faster in a warmer environment. If you notice a little whey in your kefir before you are ready to strain it you can give your jar a shake, shake, shake. In fact you should do that at random intervals anyways. (in some cultures they kept their kefir hanging in the doorway and everyone who passed by was to give it a swing, to mix the grains up)

The next day after they have sat for about 24 hours put a strainer over a container and gently pour your kefir into the strainer. It can kind of splat a lot, so pouring slowly and having a rubber spatula handy is useful. I rub my grains with the spatula to get all the kefir out of them.

If your kefir gets to a chunky with whey stage don't worry, use it anyway. It does that if it sat a little to long.

After you strain your grains put them in room temperature milk, give it a shake and start the process all over again.

To use your kefir is as varied as there are people, but my favorite way is to make smoothies. Once in awhile I use it for sour cream and in baking but rarely very much there as I feel like a lot of its value is then baked out of it, or killed. I do soak my wheat in a little kefir plus water before making bread.

To make a smoothie I place some frozen berries and about 1/4 cup of sugar into the blender and then pour kefir to fill it about 3/4's of the way full. Too full and it will find a way to escape from the blender! We also use frozen juice or apple sauce, cinnamon and brown sugar. Beatrice's favorite way right now is orange juice concentrate, tiny bit of sugar and vanilla added to the kefir and blended well.

Store your kefir in the fridge until you are ready to use it. It will continue to ferment/ripen as long as it isn't eaten. Keeping it in the fridge just slows down the process.

Things to pay attention to.

Don't expose grains to chlorinated water, always use dry jars, strainers and so on.

Don't expose your grains to heat, such as hot containers from the dishwasher.

Don't expose your grains to metal unless it is stainless steel, or has a a non- reactive coating.

Don't keep them to long in a closed container that is too small as gas will build up which could burst your container.

Happy kefiring!

~Anna

Basil

Update April 18, 2010See they grew! Except I had to replant and I added parsley seeds too.

Gregory, Beatrice and I planted basil seeds today. I can't wait for them to come up and be flourishing plants. Ever since fall I have intended to plant them, but I keep forgetting. We have been studying plants and roots and such in science, these two and I, so it seemed time to get it done! I saved seed pods from my basil plant this summer. They were a bit immature when I brought them in so I really hope they germinate. It was going to frost or I would have waited a little longer. We shall see. I'll show you the plants if they grow.

Blessings,

~Anna

The Making of a Marshmallow

Here is how I make marshmallows. It takes: 3 Packages or Tbsp unflavored gelatin 1 cup ice cold water 1 1/2 cup white sugar 1 cup light corn syrup 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 cup powdered sugar 1/4 tsp cornstarch Nonstick spray To create the marshmallows: 1. Place the gelatin in your mixer bowl along with 1/2 of the ice water. 2. In a small sauce pan combine the remaining 1/2 cup of water, the white sugar and the corn syrup and whisk together. Cover and place on medium/high heat and allow to cook like that for 3-4 minutes. Uncover and stir until syrup boils at a full rolling boil, approximately 8 minutes. Remove from heat . 3. Turn the mixer on low speed and stir the gelatin, slowly add the sugar syrup into the gelatin mixing constantly until thoroughly blended. Once all of it has been added turn the mixer to high speed and allow to mix for about 15 minutes. Until it is lukewarm and very thick. Add the vanilla during this last minute of whipping. (It will be okay if you forget the vanilla, I know because I did this last time, but it is better having it in.) 4. While the mixture is whipping prepare a 9x13 pan by spraying it thoroughly with a non stick spray. 5.Mix the powdered sugar and the cornstarch together and sprinkle across the greased pan. (save any extra powder as you will need it later) 6. When the mix is lukewarm immediately pour it into prepared pan. Spread evenly with a greased spatula. Sprinkle the top with more powder.

7. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours, or overnight even.

8. Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1 inch squares with a greased pizza cutter dusted with powder mix. Once cut, dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining powder mix.

Store in an airtight container for up to three weeks.

These take about 35 minutes of prep time and 4+hours of waiting time.

The recipe makes about 1 1/2 pounds of marshmallows.

This is where I found this recipe.

The fine photos for this post were done by none other than Keren Ruth!

I hope you try this and have lots of fun doing it.

Enjoy!

~Anna

Hurry Curry Chicken

First let me say, I don't think Curried Chicken is very photogenic. It really is a very delicious meal but there in the picture it just doesn't look to great.

• So the ingredients are:

1 1/4 lbs frozen skinless chicken breasts (sliced into strips across the grain)

1Tbsp oil

1 t paprika

1Tbsp curry powder -to your preferences- more if you like a spicy curry

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1 8oz container plain yogurt

1/2 c low fat mayonnaise

1/2 c chopped onions

1/2 c raisins ( I never put these in, but sometimes serve them on the side for people who do like them in their curries)

1 t ginger

• Now saute' the onions, and spices in the hot oil until hot, add the chicken and cook until the juices run clear on med-high heat. About 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, Combine the yogurt (you may substitute with sour cream if you like) , the mayonnaise and the ginger.
• Add sauce to chicken and let simmer for 3-4 minutes until warmed through and flavors mixed.
• Serve with rice or couscous and Enjoy!

Marshmallows

We have a new passion at our house this week. It is Homemde Marshllows!

They are very good to eat and lots of fun to make, yet really they taste pretty much like the ones you buy in a bag at the grocery store- not super exciting.

But, if you add them to a hot cup of cocoa= YuuMm!

Even better,

roast them over hot coals in the stove- Oh My! they are a truly sticky, delicacy!

So, although they are not a practical item to make they are a fun one and one I am sure we will do many more times. I am wanting to try them in rice krispy bars and all sorts of other ways.

Happy day to you!

~Anna