House of the Wooden Spoons

As inkshaman and I are both back to work now and the autumn weather is creeping toward winter, we started thinking fondly of the crockpot. Now, you can do this on the stovetop, too, but a crockpot is so very low-maintenance that it seems a shame to give yourself the extra work!

Ingredients

Two chicken leg quarters (leg and thigh)
Two tablespoons of lemon juice
Cavender's Greek seasoning, to taste (You can find it at most large grocery stores or here.)
garlic powder, to taste
water
One cup each long grain and wild rice
One small bag of mixed frozen vegetables (I used corn, carrots, and green beans.)

Directions

Put the chicken, lemon, and spices in a crockpot. Add water up to the very tippy-top of the crockpot, turn it on low, and let it go for...let's see, probably eight hours or so. You want the chicken to be falling off the bones. When the chicken is done, strain the broth using a colander and separate the meat from the bones. Put the meat and broth back in the crockpot. Add the rice and cook for another twenty minutes. Add the vegetables and cook until they're hot. Dish up and enjoy!

Elephant Ears


1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup room-temperature milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons canola oil
5 cups flour
Peanut oil for deep frying (you'll need about an inch of oil in your pan)

For topping:
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons ground nutmeg

In a big bowl, combine active dry yeast and warm water and let it stand for 10 to 12 minutes. Add warm milk, salt, granulated sugar, and canola oil to the yeast mixture and stir well. Add 4 cups of flour to make a smooth dough. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead in the fifth cup of flour until it turns soft and elastic. Cover the dough with a towel for 1 hour; it will rise to about double in size. While the dough is rising, mix the topping in a large, flat dish big enough to dredge the cooked dough in.

When the hour is up, start your oil heating on the stove. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface again (note: dough will deflate during this process) and divide it into 12-15 golf ball-sized balls. Flatten each ball until it's about 1/8 of an inch thick. Fry on both sides for 1-2 minutes, or until a golden brown color. Place on a paper towel-lined cookie sheet to drain for about a minute before dredging in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Once they're thoroughly coated, put them on a second paper towel-lined cookie sheet to finish cooling. Try your best to wait to eat one until they're cool, otherwise you risk a burned tongue.

On Friday, while waiting for inkshaman to arrive home with Darling Daughter, I thought, "Hmm, homemade soup. And fresh bread! Yay! The perfect meal for the day before the autumnal equinox!" Or at least, my thoughts were something akin to that, since we did end up with homemade soup and bread for dinner.

So, I broke out our personal bread bible and found a recipe that was simple and fast. And wow, was it ever delicious!

As ever, though, I couldn't just *follow* the recipe. So, the following is my adaptation of Bernard Clayton's recipe for Cuban Bread.

( Cut to save your page space, but you WANT to click...there are pictures! )

Sorry for the long break in posting! It was a long, hot summer with very little cooking done (partly because inkshaman was helping some friends with a project and wasn't here). One thing that was made, several times with the help of my awesome nephew, was Blueberry Boy Bait. As ever, though, the recipe just *had* to be tweaked a bit.



Cake Ingredients

2 cups plus 1 teaspoon flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost if frozen)

Topping Ingredients
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Procedure

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13x9 inch baking pan.

Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour until all of the berries are coated. Pour about half of the batter into the pan and sprinkle the floured berries over it. Bake for five minutes and remove from oven. Pour the rest of the batter into the pan and spread gently to fill the pan. Bake for five more minutes and remove from oven. (Yes, this is a pain in the tush. However, when you eat your cake and have berries all through the cake, not just at the bottom, it'll be worthwhile!) After this five minute span, you'll add the topping.


For the topping:
Scatter blueberries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Start checking at about 30 minutes. If you're like my family, you will then descend upon the pan like a pack of starving hyenas, scorching fingers and tongues as you devour it, warm from the oven. If you're more civilized, though, cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)

Also, if you're looking for a great source of simply delicious recipes, do look through the archives of Smitten Kitchen. I do more impromptu baking after reading her site than I ever have before!

This is a quick meal, but a tasty one!

Ingredients

14 oz. bacon
3 heads fresh broccoli
3 bundles Udon noodles (or pasta of choice)
dried basil, garlic powder, and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter

Procedure

Slice the bacon into inch-wide strips and toss in a frying pan with 2-3 teaspoons of basil, 1-2 teaspoons of garlic powder, and some pepper. While this is cooking, start the water boiling for your pasta and chop the broccoli heads into small chunks (we save the stems for soup stock). When the bacon is about three minutes from done, toss in the broccoli and stir fry until tender.

When the pasta is cooked and draining, put the butter and milk in the pasta pan. Add a teaspoon or so each of basil and garlic. When the butter is melted and the milk is warm, stir the cooked pasta back in. Add Parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce; about 1/4 cup should do it,but you can add more or less to your taste.

Put the pasta on plates and spoon the bacon and broccoli mixture over the top. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over it and dig in!

We'll get back to a regular posting schedule shortly. inkshaman and I have been under the weather, for various reasons, and there hasn't been a whole lot of cooking going on.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Dreamwidth.

inkshaman slaved over a hot stove all day today to make us a lovely Thanksgiving feast. The recipe we're sharing is a quick bread that we've used as a base for several different flavor combinations. Tonight's was simply lovely!

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
minced peel of 1/2 lemon
2 lightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup plain applesauce
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

PRODCEDURE:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a metal loaf pan with cooking spray.

Stir together flour, sugar, walnuts, baking powder, rosemary, salt, and lemon peel. In another bowl, blend eggs, applesauce, and olive oil; stir into dry ingredients. Pour into loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out clean; it may take an extra five minutes.

( Yummy Bread Photos! )

This is modified from a recipe inkshaman's ex-wife used to make.

INGREDIENTS:
matzoh boards (enough to cover the bottom of a cookie sheet)
1 1/4 cups firmly-packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cups butter
1 teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely-chopped almonds

PROCEDURE:

Spray the cookie sheet with cooking spray. Place a single layer of matzoh boards on the sheet. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, clove, cinnamon, and salt. (WARNING: This will become VERY hot...boiling sugar gets to be about as hot as molten rock. You have been warned.) Stir until the mixture comes to a hard boil (one you can't stir away) or about 180 degrees if you're all fancy and have a candy thermometer. Carefully pour over the matzoh boards and spread to cover with a spatula. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and spread them over the caramel as they melt. Sprinkle the almonds over the top and press them firmly into the chocolate-caramel mixture with the back of the spatula. Let it sit until cool, or until you can't stand it anymore. Do try not to burn your mouth, though...

( Pics ahead! )

Well, tonight's culinary adventure was adventurous! Delicious, too, which is always nice!

CHICKEN INGREDIENTS:
2 chicken thighs with skin
1/2 of a lemon rind
1 clove garlic
1 stem fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

PASTA INGREDIENTS:
1/2 box radiatore pasta
10 ounces of canned blackberries (we used Polar brand)
1 Gala apple, cored and minced
1/2 of a lemon rind
4 ounces frozen peas
1 cube of chicken bouillon (we used Maggi's brand)
water to cover pasta
salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse and pat dry chicken. Cut the 1/2 lemon rind in half. Pull back the chicken skin, leaving it attached on one side. Against the meat, place one part of the lemon rind (pulp side down), half of the garlic, and half of the rosemary (leave it on the stem). Do the same to the other thigh. Fold the skin back over. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place chicken, skin up, in the pan. Cook 5-7 minutes or until the bottom is lightly browned. Turn over and repeat on other side. While this is cooking, use cooking spray on a baking dish with a lid. Put the pasta, uncooked, in the dish. Mince the lemon rind. Mix the blackberries, apple, lemon, and peas with the pasta. Add water to just cover. Set aside until chicken comes out of the skillet. Place chicken pieces, skin up, on top of the pasta mixture. Cover and bake 45 minutes or until the pasta is fork-tender.

( Pictures, for the visual amongst you )