Here's to New Traditions!

My family has some pretty serious holiday food traditions.  I've mentioned that before.  And the hubs has a fairly strict view of Thanksgiving fare.  So serious that I finally had to nail down what exactly is essential to him, since it's apparently his favorite meal AND he takes it so seriously.  The result?  Turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, Stovetop stuffing (NOT homemade) and pumpkin pie with whipped topping.  Though now that he's gluten-free, he does enjoy pumpkin pie bars, which are basically pumpkin pie without the crust.  And evidently, he's never been a big crust fan anyway.

This year, we all gathered at my brother's home for a family Thanksgiving affair.  Beautiful weather, an abundance of food, a brand spanking new baby and a great-grandmother rounded out the day.  It was exactly what Thanksgiving is about.  

And to top it off, those of us that are not of the crazy persuasion (i.e. those of us that love coconut with an everlasting love) enjoyed my brother's perfectly crafted homemade Coconut Meringue Pie.  He made one last year, but that was when he lived far, far away in a land called Illinois.  Now he's able to grace us with his presence.  And he's perfected the crafting of a fine meringue, something yours truly has not yet attempted.  But not only that.  He used an actual coconut for his Coconut Meringue Pie.  You know, one of those brown hairy things that look like a rock?  Yep, that.  And apparently he broke a knife in the process.  


I guess this pie called for unsweetened coconut flakes in the pie filling.  And after looking at a couple stores and not finding unsweetened coconut flakes, my brother decided he'd give the real deal a go.  Me, I'd just grab a bag of the sweetened stuff & call it good, knowing that it's PIE afterall.  But I'm not a glutton for punishment.  Just pie.


It was great, though.  And totally worth the effort of drilling a hole in the coconut, draining the milk, peeling the coconut, putting it in the food processor, and then actually making the PIE.  (His super awesome wife made a homemade crust for him too.  SERIOUSLY, people!  They need a show of their own.)


Since this is the second year Matt's made this pie for Thanksgiving, I officially declare it a tradition.  You're welcome, Smith family.  You're welcome.  (Make a note, Matt!)


After the Smith family affair, we stopped by my husband's relatives to say hello & goodbye.  And in the meantime, we learned that Jake's aunt Marti (she's been noted highly on this here blog before) had a bag of unsweetened coconut flakes in her pantry that she'd apparently procured at the Supersaver store just down the street.  My brother was super happy to learn of this the next day.


We extended our Thanksgiving celebrations to the following day, not with crazy shopping but with sushi.  As it should be.  Jake & I joined a couple of friends, my two younger brothers, their wives, and one sister-in-law's parents and brother at Hiro, our fave sushi joint for happy hour sushi on Friday night at 10pm.  LOTS of sushi was had by all.  And we declared the newest family holiday tradition to be Black Friday Sushi.  So you'll know where to find us next year.  Our table is open to all!

Lemon VS. Lime

The debate has been raging in the Christian household for some time now.  ("Raging" *might* be overstating it a bit for effect. Might.)  I think it started when my helpful younger brother stated his preference for lime juice over lemon juice in cooking.  And my ever faithful husband hopped on that bandwagon with glee.

I don't mind lime juice.  I simply prefer the lemon variety.  It's slightly less tart & pungent.  More soothing and discreet.  There - with a kick - but not a kick AND a punch.  Know-what-I-mean?

Not to mention that lime juice is infinitely more expensive than lemon.  I can find multiple generic varieties of lemon juice on the market.  Not so much with lime.  And for MORE money, I can be the proud owner of a SMALLER bottle of lime juice.  What a deal!

My favorite Skinny Taste Black Bean Corn Salad calls for fresh lime juice.  Newsflash: I prefer it with lemon juice.  And the kind out of the bottle in my fridge works just fine, thanks.  (I know, this pretty much knocks me out of the "Foodie of the Year" award running, but I can deal with it, so join me, won't you?)  

We've been eating lots of fish lately & a preferred method of preparation is to drizzle the fish with olive oil & lime juice, sprinkle with some salt & pepper (and maybe some garlic salt or powder) and bake it at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.  Top it with chopped avocado (sprinkled with a bit of garlic salt) after baking for added panache.  I would be more than happy to substitute lemon juice for the lime juice, but I think I might be met with a revolt.   


What's the verdict in your household: lemon or lime?

Best Cheese Curd in Wisconsin

Growing up we had white cheddar cheese curds from the Kalona, Iowa, cheese factory in Amish country.  Our parents taught us that the freshest cheese curds squeak when you bite into them.  And the field trips to the cheese factory in grade school taught me that cheese making is kinda gross to look at but definitely delicious.  Mark Chitwood’s recent blog post reminded me of my innate love of cheese curds.

http://www.markchitwood.com/2011/10/best-cheese-curd-in-wisconsin.html

While in WI this fall I went to the Vernon County Fair. This fair has been going strong for 150 years. Though, this was my first time.

I love county fairs. The people are amazing. There are barn animals everywhere. Fried food. Need I say more.

The Westby Dairy is by far my favorite place to buy cheese curd in the world. Every time I am in SW Wisconsin I go to this dairy.

Well they had the curd mobile at the fair. I kid you not - there was always a line. Always. All they have there is Curd or Fried Curd and shakes. YUM YUM. If you love cheese - and I know you do - find your way to Westby, WI and go the this dairy. You cannot miss it - right on the main drag.

(Reposted with permission.  To learn more about great photography, visit Mark’s blog regularly: www.markchitwood.com)

Starbucks' Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

The days are turning cooler on a more regular basis.  This leads me to crave a hot drink in my hand.  A yummy, sweet, flavorful drink.

So my drink of choice lately has definitely been the new Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate at Starbucks.  I'm not a huge fan of coffee.  I like it moderately, but a lot of times I find it much too bitter for my tastes.  Thus, hot chocolate.

The first time I ordered this particular beverage, I didn't notice much - if any - of a difference with the "Salted Caramel".   But I think if you drink it with the lid on, I find that you miss out on the specialness of the salt.  (And it takes too long for the drink to cool down enough for me to actually drink it!)  So since I've been removing the lid, it's been much more noticeable.  The "salted" part anyway.  I'm still not sure the "caramel" part is strong enough.


I'm intrigued with the balance of sweet to savory in my diet.  Just the right amount of salt brings out the full flavor of the chocolate, something I've known about in cooking for some time.  (Hello, Wendy's fries dipped in a frosty!!)  It's this kind of "science" of food that I find most interesting of late.  How cooking & baking are really just chemistry, but a kind that I enjoy much more than anything I worked on in a high school lab!

I am trying to cut down on my sugar/caloric intake most days.  So this particular drink is a special treat!  Though I do order it "nonfat, no whip", which helps a bit.  And I don't miss those extra calories one bit.  The froth on top is just as yummy without the added "whip".

Have you tried the new Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate or Mochas at Starbucks?  What's your favorite new food combo?

Homemade Yogurt

A fabulous fellow blogger recently posted about making homemade yogurt and said I could repost for y'all here.  I'm going to try it myself very soon.  I promise.  I hope.  Enjoy!!

http://ifthesewallsspoke.blogspot.com/2011/09/homemade-yogurt-instructions.html

So first of all, this was not my idea.  I didn't even know it was possible to make yogurt at home without a yogurt maker (which would make enough to last about one DAY over here), or at least a lot of jars, temperature checks, storage space, blah blah blah.  I had looked into it, and thought it was way too time consuming and tedious for me to mess with (for instance, a very long tutorial on this site here).  Then, my friend Robyn, sent me this link:  here.  Robyn is a lot smarter than me, and a lot more kitchen savvy.  Plus, she likes to make stuff from scratch and she's thrifty.  See why I like her?  All my good recipes started from her, somewhere along the line! 

Anyway!  I finally sucked it up and tried it, and it worked.  Glory, Glory, Halleluiah!  She and I were both skeptical, because it was that easy.  So, I sucked it up again, and read thru the long, boring, tedious instructions on the first site.  Just to make myself feel better, I thought I'd better check temps and make sure I wasn't going to kill us all with rotten homemade dairy products.  Turns out, to start you only need to remember a few things, and once you've got a system, you won't have to check temps ever again. 

I have a big crock pot, I don't know what size.  I'm guessing it's between 6-8qts.  I should go fill it up right now and check, but I'm too lazy.  Laziness is what got me to this recipe in the first place, so think whatever you want about that!  Anyway, this is what I use.

• Big crock-pot, milk, starter yogurt.  

This is the yogurt I used for my starter.  This 6oz of yogurt costs $1 and contains 6 different strains of bacteria.  I thought, if I'm going to make my own, I may as well make some really good yogurt, right?  Once you've got your batches going, you don't have to buy another starter, you save back some of your own, and use that.  For every 8 cups of milk you use, you'll need 1/2 cup yogurt (4oz, for all of you who are math-challenged like me).

• Start by pouring 8 cups of milk into the crock-pot, set it on LOW, and leave it for 2.5 hours.  I discovered that mine cooks hotter than some, maybe because it's bigger?  Your goal is to get the milk to 185*.  I caught mine at 189* after 2 hours, so I wrote that down, and will never check the temp again for that step.

• Then, turn off (or unplug, if the knob fell off six years ago) and leave it for another 2.5 to 3 hours.  Again, you will just have to check temps and see how long it takes...your goal is to get the milk back down to around 110*.  Some people put it in the fridge to make it go faster, take the crock out of the warmer, put it outside...whatever.  I'm lazy!  So, I just unplugged mine, and left it sitting on the counter, and it took about 2.5 hours.  This is where other recipes get crazy with pouring into individual jars, setting up warm baths, packing hot water in coolers...too much work for me. 

• Once you're at about 110* remove about 1/2 cup warm milk and mix with your 1/2 cup starter yogurt.  I say mix, but I actually kind of fold gently.  Then, pour the starter + milk back into the crock.  

• Wrap the crock-pot (which now contains milk + starter, at about 110*) in heavy towels, and let it sit.  This is when the starter is going to make yogurt out of all that warm milk, and your goal is to keep everything warm while it's doing it's thing.  Since we like our house pretty cool, I decided to warm up my oven to 200*, then turned it off, then shoved that whole mess into the oven and shut it.  I figure it keeps the heat in a little better, plus it's out of the way.  Then I unplug my oven so I don't forget it's in there :) 

That. Is. It.  You can let it sit anywhere between 4 and 24 hours.  I've been letting mine go between 6 and 8 hours, and think the consistency and sweetness are great.  Plus, since I'm not checking the temp or keeping it heated, I figure 6-8 hours is probably the max I should go.  However, this last batch went closer to 13 hours, because I forgot about it...and it was fine.  It did have more whey on the top, which is OK.  There are all kinds of sites with info about the length of time you should let it incubate...like this one, if you care and aren't as lazy as I am :)

I store mine in quart containers, in the fridge.  We go through it so fast, I can't imagine it would do me any good to freeze it, but you can freeze yogurt! 

THICK!  And, cheap.  Holy thrifty goodness.  I owe Robyn $$ for getting me obsessed started.  With a $3 gallon of milk, you can make 6oz of that expensive yogurt for $0.15.  For real?  Let me check my math again... YES.  FIFTEEN CENTS vs. $1?  I am in.  Just don't forget to save some back to use as a starter for your next batch, otherwise you'll have to add another dollar... :) 

And yes, I'll probably stand a utensil up in the yogurt every time I make it, just because I'm so amazed that it's so thick and it worked!  Every time I open that container I feel like I'm cheating the system.  Take that, suckas!  We've been adding pureed fruit or homemade jam to ours, and making parfaits.  Anything tastes better when you call it a parfait! 

If you want to copy and paste, here's the quick version:

Heat 8 cups milk to 185* in crock-pot (approx. 2.5 hours)

Turn off and cool milk to around 110*

mix 1/2 cup starter yogurt with 1/2 cup warm milk-then add back into crock-pot

Cover, wrap, and let sit 4-24 hours

Viola!

Out of Gas

For my faithful readers and staunch supporters (yes, Judy - you!!):

I have had a hard time with the idea of blogging lately.  I've simply run out of ideas, motivation, etc.  I'm not entirely sure why, but it probably stems from the fact that I haven't really been "cooking" much lately.  I do make meals.  But they rarely start with much of a recipe.  They're mostly just "fish" or "chicken" with veggies or rice.  And I rotate the fish and/or chicken.  Sometimes I even throw in some pork or a different kind of fish.  Wild, I know!

So I'll try to work up some blogging steam and in the meantime, I'm just enjoying this perfect place that food has in my life: fuel to keep me going (tasty, tasty fuel) but not something that overwhelms my every waking thought.

Aunt Marti's Tailgate Time

Recently Jake’s aunt added me to an email list she has for sending out recipes on a regular basis.  Hallelujah!! What a fabulous idea, right?!  The first email was all about some great tailgating recipes she has, so I thought I’d share it with you all since this is the perfect time to start gearing up for just such an occasion.  I even have a friend who told me recently that his wife is about to be quite lonely due to the approaching football season schedule – apparently for four months he will be preoccupied with the sport.  Here’s to feeding him & trying to keep him happy!

Hello {friends}........time to start again with the recipes of the week.....since summer is nearing to a close and FOOTBALL is upon us I thought for the next few weeks I would share some great grill and tailgate food.......here are 2 recipes that are cheap and sure to please.......hope you ENJOY the recipes........


BEER BRATS

1 dozen brats
Enough beer of your choice to cover......lager is good
1 large sweet onion, sliced
1/2 stick of REAL butter

Put the brats in a dutch oven with the onions and butter, cover the brats with beer and bring to a boil reduce to simmer and simmer till the brats are cooked.  Remove the brats from pan and set aside the beer mixture.  Grill the brats till golden brown and then return to the beer mixture on warm till ready to serve.  Serve on your best buns with sauerkraut, onions, green peppers and your choice of condiment..........can't beat them.........

GRILLED SAUSAGE with SPICY SAUCE

Soak wooden skewers in water about 20 minutes.

2 pounds of good quality kielbasa or other smoked sausage.... cut into bite-sized chunks
red onion or green pepper
3/4 cup of ketchup
3/4 cup spicy brown mustard
1 TB. hot sauce

Preheat Grill to med.....Thread the sausage onto the skewers using a chunk of onion or green pepper to separate them.  Grill till slightly crisp about 3-4 minutes on each side.....mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl and serve the sausage with.

I know – Jake has the best aunt ever, right?!  We are more than lucky to sit at her table from time to time.  I plan to pass on many of her other fantastic tips, so be vigilant, friends!