10 posts tagged “food”
As I was fixing lunch for Mara and myself today I asked her if she wanted chips, baby carrots, or apple slices with her sandwich. Since I was planning on having chips with my sandwich, I was already reaching for the chips as I asked the question. Mara looked up at with me with her big eyes and very seriously asked "Can I have both carrots and apple slices?". I quickly pulled my hand away from the chips, and we both had carrots and apple slices with our sandwiches for lunch. How did a total junk food junkie like myself end up with such a healthy child?
Brownies are one of those baked goods that for years I preferred the box mix version over those made from scratch. The recipes that I tried always seemed to lack the strong chocolate flavor that the box mix versions had. Then a few years ago, I bought a cookbook of recipes from the members of the church across the street from our home. I haven't gotten much out of the cookbook except a good deal of amusement at the church cookbook that has three, count them three, different recipes for "Better than Sex Cake" and this brownie recipe:
Chocolate Brownies
2 eggs
1 C. sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C flour
1/3 C Cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8" square baking pan. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Beat eggs in medium bowl. Gradually add sugar and vanilla. Beat well. Blend in Melted butter. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture, blending well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.
This recipe is easy to whip up and yeilds brownies that are rich and chocolately. I almost never buy the box mix now.
I make homemade caramel every year for Christmas. This year I decided to forgo my tried and true recipe for a new one. I made two batches and both of them tasted great, but were hard as a rock. I had to chisel little slivers off the side of the block. I blamed it on the recipe and kicked myself for not sticking with my standard one. I was really busy with the end of the semester at the time, so I just gave up on the caramel. Last weekend I decided that I really wanted some good homemade caramel, so I pulled out my proven recipe and made a batch, and the same thing happened. It had great flavor but was like stone. I'm guessing that I need to check my candy thermometer. I honestly usually buy a new one every year because they are so cheap, but this year I didn't. So I think that it isn't reading acurately. The only other thing I can think of is that the higher altitude here is affecting it, but we really aren't that much higher than we were before. Regardless the pictures that I took while I was cooking it turned out pretty well.
My mom's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. When I was growing up she cooked the same meal every year, all from scratch. The big dish though, the one that it just wouldn't have been Thanksgiving without was oyster dressing. I hated this stuff when I was growing up, but now I really like it. Apparently the family oyster dressing tradition dates back to my great grandmother, but as far as I know no one in our family has the recipe written down. I tried to find the recipe on google, but they were all much fancier than what we eat in our house, so I asked mom to show me how to make hers while I was at home for Christmas break.
Oyster Dressing (all quantities are approximate, just mix until it looks about right)
1 box saltine crackers, roughly crunched up
5 cans oysters
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 stick butter melted
Mix all ingredients together, pour into a 9x13 inch pan, bake at 350 degrees until done to your liking (the longer in the oven, the drier the dressing will be).
I tend to get on kicks where I'll use one particular type of herb or spice in almost all of my cooking. For a long time it was rosemary, but lately it has been dill. When I was flipping through my family reunion cookbook recently I noticed that my grandmother's dill dip recipe was included. I loved this dip as a kid. Grandma would make it in the summer and take it to the lake and my cousin and I would eat it on chips or raw vegetables. She would also make it in the winter and put it in a hollowed out bread round with cubes of different varieties of bread to dip in it. I haven't had grandma's dill dip in years, so this afternoon I made up a half batch of it and have been dipping triscuts in it. It's definitely as good as I remember it being.
Dill Dip:
2 C. Mayo
2 C. Sour Cream
2 Tbsp dill weed
2 Tbsp parsley flakes
2 Tbsp chopped dehydrated onions
2 tsp seasoned salt
Mix well. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
My addiction to fancy potato chips continues. I think this one might actually knock the Snyder Sea Salt and Malt Vinegar variety out of the favorite spot.
I don't know whether my parents felt sad for me and my lack of beef or whether they were just tired of hearing me complain about it, but they sent Dave and I a box of steak for our birthdays. I'd love to cook up a couple tonight, but I'm going to show some restraint and have a really nice dinner this weekend. I can't wait!
We've had to really crack down and budget since I quit my job to go back to school. Our Springfield utility bill included all utilities, electric gas, water and sewer in one bill. When we moved here we got our first utility bill. I looked at the short period amount and made a rough calculation of what a full month's worth would be and set that as our utility budget. A couple of weeks later another utility bill showed up. Apparently the first one was just electric and gas, the second, seperate bill was sewer and water. I redid my rough calculation and increased our utility budget. Then our first full month electric bill showed up and I had very much underestimated the full month amount of that bill. So I increased our utility budget. Today our first full month sewer and water bill showed up and I must be the most optimistic person in the world, because I sure underestimated that one as well. First I stared in disbelief at it, then I opened up our budget spreadsheet and stared at it for a while, and then I baked a blueberry cobbler and made homemade vanilla ice cream. The picture is actually from the last time I made cobbler and ice cream. Today's is still baking. I'll worry about the utility bill tomorrow.
I am not in any way, shape, or form a food snob. I like good food. I like fancy food, but I also eat velveeta cheese, put ketchup on my hot dogs, and eat at national chain restaurants. When it comes to brisket, however, I am the ultimate food snob. And by that I mean that if the brisket wasn't prepared using my Grandma Lois's recipe, I question its edibility. I have seen many brisket recipes that are real similar to Grandma's, but it seems that no one can resist dumping a bottle of bbq sauce over a brisket after it's cooked. I want to hunt down these people and dump a bottle of bbq sauce over them. You don't spend all day cooking a tender brisket with fabulous flavor and then dump a bottle of store bought bbq sauce on it! THAT'S JUST WRONG!!!
Since we have been getting lots of fresh veggies at the farmer's market, I have been making easy and quick meat dishes to go along with them. I decided I would cook a brisket tomorow because it makes a lot and is still great when reheated. Everytime I make brisket I lament how no one outside of my family cooks brisket correctly. So here is my Grandma's recipe:
The night before:
Trim (or buy a pre-trimmed) 5 to 6 pound beef brisket. Sprinkle the meat with meat tenderizer and rub on 4 tablespoons liquid smoke, Wrap in heavy foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning:
Mix together: 1-2 teaspoons each - celery salt, onion salt, nutmeg, garlic salt, paprika and 1 cup dark brown sugar.
Open foil and spread mixture over brisket. Close foil tightly and bake 1 hour at 300 degrees. Loosen foil and cook brisket another 5-6 hours at 200 degrees or until brisket is nice and tender. Slice brisket and serve.
Grandma would sometimes make a gravy out of the pan drippings to drizzle over the brisket and the potatoes that should be served along with it, but that is the only sauce that should come near this meat. The hardest part about the recipe is the 5 or 6 hours you will sit around salivating from the awesome smell coming from the oven. I realize that the majority of my vox neighbors are vegitarians, but for you few meat eaters out there, try this recipe sometime. I promise you won't be disapponted. The only risk you'll take is that you'll become a brisket snob like me.
Edited 8/7/06:
Here's the final product, waiting in the oven for the potatoes and green beans to finish cooking on the stove top:
I know this is probably not considered very lady like, healthy, or even politically correct these days, but I love red meat. I would much rather have steak, roast, brisket, even a good hamburger over chicken or fish. I'm sure that my love of red meat is a result of my upbringing on a Midwestern farm where beef was aplenty. I'm spoiled because each year my father has several steers butchered and gives my brother and I each a side of beef. We pay for our own processing costs, but it's still a heck of deal.
Of course I have now moved from a house with room for a deep freeze a few hours drive from my parent's farm to a townhouse with absolutely no room for a deep freeze a two day drive from my parent's farm, which means no more cheap beef for me. I knew that buying beef at the supermarket would be a bad experience, but late last week in desperate need of a slab of red meat, I came face to face with the horrible reality. I paid an insane amount of money for two scrawny little steaks with no marbling and little flavor. Since bad beef is practically worse than no beef at all and since my return to school has necessitated a drastic cut in our spending, I tried to resign myself to a drastic drop in the amount of red meat in my diet, but after a week of chicken and pasta, my red meat craving came back with a vengence. Tonight I was able to curb the craving with a trip to Five Guy Burgers, but sometime soon I will need a steak. And I mean a REAL steak.
