Bread

I used the bread machine to make a loaf to go with pasta bake, Tuesday night.  The whole house smelled good.  Like my childhood.  

When I was little, buying flour and oil and other ingredients was...well, more expensive than a loaf of bread, but cheaper in the longer run than buying that many loaves of bread.  And flour also made biscuits, cookies, cornbread, and wacky cake.  Grandma bought flour in 25 lb bags, and went through an entire bag of flour every month. 

(I go through a 25 lb bag of bread flour every six weeks or so, making pizza.  It takes...a lot of dough to go through that much flour.)  

Once a week, Grandma made a four-loaf batch of bread.  Sometimes, in the winter, she'd do that in the wood cookstove that sat back in the utility room--which, really, doubled as a second kitchen, when she had that thing fired up.  There was a double-chambered sink and cabinets and counters back there, too.  But, like I said, in the winter, she actually built a fire in that stove and used it.  For bread.  And homemade, from scratch cocoa.  

The smell of bread baking is the smell of home.  One of the few, unmarred, good memories of childhood.  

Basic, white bread

1 c warm water
2.5 tbsp oil
2-3 tbsp sugar 
1/2 tbsp yeast
3.5 c all purpose or bread flour
1 tsp salt

This basic recipe works in a bread machine OR mixed and baked.  If you're using a bread machine, use all purpose flour,* follow your machine's order of operations (i.e., which ingredients go in what order), then push the button and forget.

If you're mixing then baking...I strongly recommend a stand mixer.  Start with the paddle, then use the dough hook for kneading.  

Normally, I add things in the order I've listed them.  And I run the stand mixer on speed 2.  When the dough balls up in the paddle, grab a rubber scraper, clean it out, and switch to the dough hook.  Then  keep it going until the dough's no longer shaggy looking, but smooth and elastic.  Turn the mixer off, and cover it with a towel.  Give it an hour or so to rise, then check.  If it's doubled, it's ready for a second knead.  If not, then cover it back up and check in about another fifteen minutes.  It's okay if it rises too much at this point.  You're just going to punch it down again.  

When it's doubled, turn the mixer back on to knead it a bit more.  While you're doing that, use cooking spray in a bread pan, and turn on your oven light (it'll make sense in a minute).  Turn off your mixer, and squash your dough ball into the pan, and spray the top with cooking spray or spread melted butter over the top to keep it from drying out.  Then, cover it, and put the pan in the oven with the light on to give it some warmth for the yeast to work.  Give it half an hour to rise, then check.  It should be doubled, peeking up over the top of the pan.  

Turn the oven on.  I bake the loaves I make at 375.  It'll only take about thirty minutes or so--start checking on it when you really start smelling bread.  When it looks done, tap it.  If it sounds hollow, it's ready.  

And boom!  Hot, homemade bread!  All the experts will tell you to wait for it to cool before slicing into it, but I call bullshit: slice into it as soon as you can hang onto it, then butter it generously.  There's absolutely nothing so wonderful as fresh bread with a lot of butter melted into it.  Add cinnamon-sugar if you want, or just chow down without it.  

Your whole house will smell wonderful for hours.  

*Do not, for the love of all that's holy, use bread flour in a bread machine with that much yeast.  Reduce it to a teaspoon. Or do like I do, and just use all purpose flour.  If you use bread flour and that much yeast, the result is...well.  I'm not sure how what caliber you'd use for mutant bread dough trying to push open the bread machine to escape into the wild.  

New foods!

It is like pulling teeth to get my Imp to try new foods.  I think I've found the trick though: he's more likely to try something if I tell him it's spicy.  

Case in point: we got him to try pad thai, recently, by calling it "spicy spaghetti."  He tried it, and liked it well enough to ask me to learn how to make it so I could teach him.  

Last night was another new food: buffalo chicken dip.  I started with a recipe found online, but ended up modifying it a little bit.  I'll probably half the recipe, more or less, next time I make it, and will just make it on the stove top.  

Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 cans chicken, drained
2 bricks cream cheese (I used reduced fat, and thank God I did)
3/4 c shredded cheddar (grate it yourself so the dip doesn't turn out gritty if texture bothers you)
1 c ranch dressing
3/4 c buffalo sauce
1/4 c Louisiana hot sauce (optional--if you need more heat to be happy with it)

Drain chicken (my cats demanded some of the chicken water, so I drained a little into paper bowls for them), dump in crock pot, break up a bit.  Dump in cream cheese, cheddar, ranch, and buffalo sauce, and turn the crock pot on low.  Go back in an hour or so, depending on your crock pot (mine runs way too hot on all settings), and start the process of mixing it up.   It's ready when it's fully incorporated and hot all the way through.  It's good with Freetos, tortilla chips, celery sticks.  Probably would be good with club crackers, but I can't vouch for that, since I can't have those anymore. 

The picky kid ate probably a cup of dip, last night.  He only stopped because it was starting to make him queasy (as much cheese as is in it, I'm not surprised).  I had maybe half a cup...and a bottle of hard cider to mitigate the gallbladder attack I knew would follow.  

It was worth it.  This recipe turned out good.

Bread

Growing up, and even in adulthood, I always took bread for granted.  It was just...always there.  For sandwiches, or for if I had heartburn, or when I was a little queasy.  Not something I made myself, really (except when I got a bread machine when I was a young adult), but always available.  Either as homemade bread (my mom, my aunts, and my grandma all made it), or as sliced commercial bread.  Bread was just...always there.  

And then, when my youngest was in pre-school and my oldest in kindergarten, they brought home a stomach bug.  Laid them out for a couple of days, and my husband out for about the same.  

It knocked me on my ass for a week.  There were five days where my entire digestive system just...shut down.  No movement, no noises, nothing.  And then, when I finally started recovering (first noted because things started grumbling loudly), I reached for a slice of bread.  

Holy crap did that hurt.  

I thought it might be because it was high fiber bread--you know, a little bit rough on the guts--and tried a tortilla, then saltines.  

Nope.  That virus had left me with a lasting issue with wheat.  I still can't eat it without a lot of pain.  My younger sister's got pre-celiac's,* so I guess my issue is probably permanent.  

Great Value bread costs $1.32 for a 20 oz loaf of plain white bread.  A loaf of Great Value gluten free bread is $6.74 for an 18 oz loaf.  And it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, despite the weight being almost the same: the gf loaf is smaller.  Visibly smaller, with slices less than half the size of the other one.    

I...really don't like spending that much more for something that's...quite frankly not that good, and I'm the only one that needs it anyway.  

So I started looking into making my own.  It started with getting the bread machine.  

Which...well.  It sort of works, but not on the gluten free setting.  See, it still punches down the raised dough.  And gluten free bread dough will not rise again.  So, I tried it on the rapid setting.  And it worked.  But the recipe was...not great.  So I went hunting.  

I found a lot of recipes for gluten free bread, in varying levels of difficulty.  I snagged an easy one to try.  And it worked.  Tasted fairly decent, considering I grew up eating homemade regular bread.  

It's actually just as easy to make in my stand mixer and oven as it is to make in the bread machine. Which is one thing I cannot say for wheat bread.  Gluten free bread does not have to be kneaded, and doesn't need shouldn't be punched down. So, once the dough comes together, you just...put it in the pan, smooth it down, and give it time to rise.  

I did find one trick that I added that is stupidly simple, and makes an enormous, positive difference: beat the liquid ingredients until the eggs get sort of frothy.  It makes for a much better texture than only mixing the liquid ingredients until the eggs are only just mixed in. 

Gluten Free Bread

 3 ¼ cups gluten free flour blend (I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill with great success, as well as whole grain options—if the one you pick doesn’t have a “gum” as part of the ingredients, add about a tbsp of xanthan gum)

1 tbsp instant yeast

1 ½ tsp salt

1 1/3 c warm water

2 large eggs, room temperature (they MUST be room temperature—gluten free flours will NOT absorb cold liquids at all)

2 tbsp + 2 tsp oil

1 tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 200 degrees, then turn it off.  This works best for helping the bread rise. Crack the door so that it has some time to cool a little before you put your bread in to rise. 

1. Add all liquid ingredients to a mixing bowl (I use a Kitchenaid knockoff, and will probably get a Kitchenaid when I have to replace it), beat until frothy. 
2. Mix flour and salt together in a separate mixing bowl; add slowly to wet ingredients with mixer on low.  Add yeast to the dough at this point. 
3. Run the mixer until you have a soft, sticky dough that looks kinda like cake batter, scraping the sides of the bowl often. 
4. Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl into a glass or non-stick bread pan, oil your fingers, and smooth the top out (optional step—you can opt to not do that, but the bread will end up looking like the moon’s surface). 
5. Loosely cover the pan—you can use oiled plastic wrap or waxed paper, or you can use a muslin dish towel—and set it in the oven to rise.  You’ll want it to be half again larger when it’s done.  Should take half an hour in your warm oven. If you want to let it rise on the counter, that works, too, but takes twice as long.
   
6.  Uncover your bread loaf—it should be peeking up over the top of your pan—and bake at 375 degrees for about 55 minutes.  Since gluten free loaves don’t really brown, you’ll want to check the internal temperature with a thermometer: it should be about 205-210 degrees. 

There are variations you can do with this loaf--one of my favorites is that I leave out a quarter cup of flour blend, and add in a quarter cup of ground flax seed.  It makes it taste better, and adds a bit of texture and fiber. 

*She has the issue with gluten, but not the damage from having eaten it after the issue popped up. 

ADHD Hack: checklists

 

I forget things.  Badly.  All the things. All the time.  It's worse when I'm trying to clean the house because the tasks are so tedious that it's actively painful, if I don't let my mind wander.  And sometimes, I get distracted mid-task by another task that needs to be done before I can finish what I had been doing.  And then, I forget what I was doing, distracted by another idea, and wander off to write.

(I get some great ideas while I'm doing housework, and carry a little notebook to pause and write them down...and that's one of the ways and reasons I get lost.) 

So, how do I combat the whole "wait, what the fuck was I doing?" 

Checklists.  I have checklists.  So many checklists.  I have every day checklists (it's on the fridge, because it's mainly the "before I can even get started on my coffee" tasks).  I have day of the week checklists.  There's a whiteboard calendar on my fridge where I keep the weekly tasks noted, and the approaching appointments written. 

My checklists are exactly that: a list of tasks typed up with a space to check them off, printed, and slid into a page protector.  I use a dry erase marker to check off finished tasks. 

What's on my checklists?  I'm glad you asked!  Because the things on my lists?  Are the things that I'm trying to build into a routine.  Into habit.  Into something I do automatically enough that I don't have to think about it. 

"Things like what?" you may ask.  

Everything.  I have everything on a checklist.  From "make sure the kids have their breakfasts" to "make sure the kids have their lunches" to "make sure your other half has his lunch" to "make the kids follow their checklists.*"  And all of that goes before coffee. 

Some of it has made its way into habit (specifically, the making breakfast for the imp, who still won't make his own).  But there's a lot that hasn't.  Not even in doing the same thing every morning for decades.  

My morning checklist ends with "get the kids to school." 

Day of the week checklists involve straightening up a single room: the bathrooms; the entry hall,  hallways, and the walk way into the kitchen; the kitchen, pantry, and utility rooms; the living room; the dining room and craft areas; the TV area; the bedrooms.  Then, there's a week-of-the-month deep cleaning for each of those areas (thank you FlyLady!).  

One thing I've managed to turn into a habit? Checking my checklist.  It actually was one of the hardest things to turn into a habit (it feels overwhelming, sometimes).  But it has kept me going, without forgetting too much.  

Wait, where was I going again?  Oh yeah, building routines.  

How do checklists build routines? Easy: they help you not to get lost in your attempts to create habits of your day-to-day, every day chores.  Eventually (maybe?), you won't even have to look at your checklist while you're moving through the chores--just remember to skim through it before you move on to make sure there's nothing you missed before you celebrate.  Or you'll end up with the cat so disgusted by the litterbox (that you've forgotten for weeks) that she's peeing on anything fabric left on the floor...and sometimes, fabric that she's pulled onto the floor to cover up a puddle.  

Seriously.  Make yourself a checklist (or more than one).  And use it. 

*The kids' checklists start with get dressed. Goes through assemble and eat breakfast.  Take your morning meds--focus pills for one, allergy pills and vitamins for the other.  Feed your pets. Wash hair, brush teeth, wash face, PUT ON DEODORANT!!!  Get your stuff ready to get out the door. Are you wearing shoes?

Adventures in breadmaking

My most beloved other half recently got me a bread machine.* I used to have one, but gave it away to an aunt because I barely used it, and because I developed an allergy to wheat.  

Gluten free bread is...expensive. And most of it really isn't good enough to justify the price charged for a Walmart brand loaf of standard white sandwich bread...on sale.  Gluten free flour is expensive, but not that much more than regular flour, really.  Not enough to justify the difference in bread cost.  

I went looking for bread machines for making gluten free bread.  Because I really don't have the energy budget to just do it by hand, not really.  

I found them.  Several, at several different price points.  I put the one I thought would do in my Amazon wish list.  

It's...a bread maker.  Fairly easy to use.  Has recipes in the back for a few different basic types of bread.  Including gluten free bread.  So, I gathered up my courage and got a new jar of breadmaker yeast, and gave it a try.  

It was easy enough: measure the ingredients, and put the liquid ones in the bottom.  Mix the dry (except the yeast, and dump them on top of the liquid. Then add the yeast on top. Set the cycle, and set it going. 

It smelled...almost right.  The recipe lacked eggs, and wheat flour smells different from other types of flour. The baking cycle finished while I was getting the kids. I fished the bucket out and dumped the loaf out onto the cooling rack. 

It smelled okay, but it didn't look quite right. Granted, gluten free bread lacks what browns on normal bread, so I was expecting the very pale look of the loaf, but it was...squat. I sliced into it, and found out why. It...failed to rise.  I made the 1.5 lb loaf, and it didn't rise.  My yeast was new.  I followed instructions.  I went looking for answers about what happened online.  

As it turns out, what happened was the breadmaker.  It was programmed to do two knead cycles.  Which is one knead cycle more than gluten free bread needs.  

Normal bread, for example, has gluten in it, which provides a protein structure for the yeast to inflate.  You have to punch it down part of the way through the knead cycle, or you end up with everything overflowing.  

Gluten free flour...yeah, it'll rise, but not as well as wheat flour, and it WON'T rise again if it's knocked down.  It's wimpy like that.

Still, in spite of making a loaf with the consistency of a small rock, the bread machine's recipe was fairly good on flavor. I will be trying the recipe again, but on the quick bread setting, rather than the gluten free setting.  We'll see how that turns out.   

*Bread machine is Amazon's house brand, and was a birthday gift. 

Canned spinach

Spinach is awesome.  It's delicious, and has a lot of vitamins and minerals the body needs.  I love the stuff fresh, frozen, raw, cooked...

Canned spinach, on the other hand...*shudder.*  It's...limp, slimy, the flavor's weird as hell, and just ugh.  

I need more of it.  And feta.  Because damn if I didn't just come up with something really freakin' tasty.

Background: I love spanikopita.  I can't have it anymore, but I absolutely love the stuff.  It's literally my favorite way to eat spinach.  I doubt I could make phylo dough with gluten free flour and have it...ya know...work.  So.  

No more spanikopita for me.  

I had two cans of spinach in the pantry.  See, I love canned mustard greens.  And I had that in my Walmart cart for curbside pickup, and they ran out (I asked for four cans, they had two), and subbed in canned spinach, instead.  It's all green, right?  Right?  

One thing spinach has going for it is relatively high levels of iron.  Lots of different nutrients--it's actually really nutrient-dense, even in canned form.

Even if it's really gross.  

My mom used to do something with canned spinach and scrambled eggs that I loved when I was a little girl, and was never able to replicate properly.  Still haven't been able to, but I approximated, and potentially improved on, it today.  

Take your can of spinach and drain it.  Drain it more than that.  Okay, now dump it out of the can into a really fine-mesh sieve or colander, and squeeze as much liquid out of it as you can.  Dump it into a hot skillet with a little bit of olive oil, and let it start warming up.  Hit it a couple of times with Cavendar's Greek seasoning blend while it's warming.  

While that's going on, crack a couple of eggs in a measuring cup and add a splash of whole milk.  Whip it together like you'd do for scrambled eggs, and then pour it into the spinach.  Start mixing all of it together.  Add about a quarter cup of crumbled feta cheese to the skillet, and really start working the stuff together.  When the eggs are set and cooked, taste it.  Add a little more salt or Greek seasoning if needed (some brands of canned spinach use less salt than others).  

I added a little bit of balsamic vinegar to my bowl just before I dug into it.  

I think Mom may have used more eggs, but I'm really not sure.  This honestly would have done well as a pie, or folded into puff pastry, but...yeah.  Wheat allergy.  

I'm not sure what you'd call this, but, recipe's below:

 [Recipe name goes here]

• 1 can of spinach (WELL drained--almost dry, if you can manage it)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp of milk, more or less
• 1/4 c feta cheese 

1. Spray a skillet with olive oil cooking spray, start heating it.  2. Squash all the canning liquid out of the spinach that you can, then dump it into the skillet and break it apart to start it warming.  Season.  3. Mix two eggs with a little milk like for scrambled eggs.  4. Scramble the eggs and spinach together.  5. Add feta cheese, mix well into scrambled eggs and spinach.  

Serve hot, with balsamic vinegar, if you want, or without if you don't.  

Takes about five or ten minutes to prep and cook.  Might serve two, might not.  Depending on how much you like it and how hungry you are.   

Collard greens...my way

When I make collard greens, I do tend to make a lot of them at once.  And then freeze them in individual portions for my picky imp that won't eat other veggies.  I made them on New Years, and took them to my mom-in-law's for the traditional New Year's Day lunch of ham steak, black eyed peas, etc.  She'd never had greens before (her mom had hated greens of any type).  And she thought they were pretty good, and has requested them again, once or twice.  

I start with the 2lb bag of chopped greens I can find at some of my local Walmart stores.  I could start with fresh bunches, but I'd probably need at least three bunches to make sure I had enough once I'd picked through, washed it, and chopped it up.  Yeah the chopped costs more than two bunches, but doesn't cost more than three, so it...evens out.  And yeah, they may say "washed and chopped" on the bag, but I wash them again. 

First thing I do is drop about a tablespoon of bacon grease in the bottom of a large stock pot, and start that melting while I roughly chop a large onion.  And when I say a large onion, I mean damn near softball sized large onion.  You can do more or less, depending on tastes and what your digestion will tolerate.  Drop your chopped onion into your melted bacon grease, and saute it a bit.  

Next, dump the greens in the pot.  All of them.  It's gonna take some cramming to get them all in.  And then I add 2-3 quarts of chicken broth.  You can use plain chicken broth, bone broth, or water and bouillon--I've done all three, depending on what I had on hand, and they all work.  I usually don't have pulled pork on hand, but I always have bacon bits.  I add about half a cup of those.  And a touch of Cajun seasoning--just a touch, because you can add more later, if it's needed, but can't correct the other way. 

Bring everything to a boil and let it go for about 40 minutes.  Collards are tough.  Check it around 40 minutes, and keep in mind it may need longer.  It probably will, but not a whole lot.  Again, collards are tough.  You want them tender, but not limp.  

I'll usually serve them with whatever else we're having, then package them in 1/2 c servings for my imp, plus one more larger, family portion.  

 Damn it, now I want greens...

Collard greens

2 lbs bag of chopped/washed, or equivalent of fresh (some places may have them chopped, blanched, and frozen, but our local area doesn't).  

1 tbsp bacon grease (you can use olive oil...but why?)

1 large onion (more or less), chopped 

2-3 quarts chicken broth

1/2 c bacon bits

Cajun seasoning--to taste, but be careful when you add it

1. Saute the onion in the bacon grease in the bottom of a large stock pot.  2. Cram collard greens in stock pot, then add chicken broth to not quite cover (they cook down fairly quickly).  3. Add bacon bits.  4. Bring to a rapid boil, cook for 40 minutes or longer.  5. Serve hot with barbecue, ham, or whatever. 

Oops.

Note to self: don't do a double-batch of beef stroganoff in the instant pot, then let the pressure off fast.

Last night, I made a big batch of beef stroganoff.  I'd asked my mother-in-law over, but she forgot, so I've got a lot of leftovers of the meat and sauce without noodles (makes an incredibly good gravy over a baked potato--yum). 

I'd decided to make it last month--and I decided yesterday morning to make it in my instant pot.  Because stew meat cooked in that turns out utterly perfect. 

So, I dumped in about 2 lbs of stew meat, 2 cans of mushroom soup, about a third of a pound of sliced mushrooms, a chopped onion, and a cup and a half of beef bone broth, and a couple of sprinkles of Knorr beef bouillon for a little extra flavor.  And then I thought about it, and set it to soup/stew, and left it running for half an hour.

When it was done, I turned the valve for quick release.

That...was a mistake.

It made a HUMONGOUS mess.  Sprayed stroganoff sauce through the pressure relief valve, and splattered the cabinet doors, the counter, the back side of the pressure cooker, the lid, the handle--the only reason nothing else got by mushroom soup and beef broth was because nothing else was close enough. 

And thankfully, the sauce was thick enough that it didn't hit the ceiling. 

So, yeah.  Sauce was thick enough I don't have a bigger mess to clean up than I could manage without help.  Still thinner than I wanted, and adding only sour cream/Greek yogurt would thin it even more.  So...I adapted.  I halved the amount of sour cream, and substituted in half a brick of cream cheese. 

It turned out utterly delicious, and even the imp liked it (the pixie liked the noodles, but wasn't happy with the rest of it).  It's going on the regular meal rotation for during the winter. 

But I do need to remember--next time, let the pressure come off naturally. 

I'm pretty sure that cleaning up that giant mess is going to etch that into my memory. 

I need to experiment more often, if this is the result

So, this morning, I pulled out some chicken leg quarters to thaw and bake.  And then changed my mind and decided to do chicken breasts, instead. 

I decided to use the chicken leg quarters and experiment in my instant pot, because we're headed into soup weather, it's hard to find soup that tastes good that I can eat, and chicken leg quarters are cheap to experiment with.  I dunno what to call it other than yummy. 

2 chicken leg quarters*
1 can enchilada sauce**
 2 cans Ro-Tel
1/2 c white rice
1 can corn
1-2 cans black beans
2 c chicken broth or stock

1. Toss the chicken, rice, enchilada sauce, broth, and Ro-Tel in the instant pot, select for meat/chicken, and set it to go for 30 minutes (set the time manually, if you have to).  Let off the pressure when it's done, and remove the chicken (careful--don't grab the drum stick, or you'll come up with nothing but bone: the chicken just falls apart).  Shred, then add back, and add your corn and black beans.

Delicious soup.  I'll see how it is tomorrow for lunch, all warmed up.  With cheese.   



*Chicken breasts can likely be subbed in, but probably won't turn out as rich and flavorful.

**I used hot; you use what you want.

productive day, for feeling this awful

I got the cat box cleaned, the dishwasher unloaded, reloaded, and run, got 1600 words done writing (1200 on Liquid Diet Chronicles Book 2, and 400 so far on the last chapter of Gods and Monsters--not counting the side plot I came up with that needs written and inserted).  I'm not done writing yet, either. 

And I made supper.  And lunch for Odysseus for the week.  Tacos.  Only, I didn't have the canned Old El Paso Refried Black beans I usually use. 

I wanted to try to recreate it.  With my instant pot.*  I think I did it. 

Refried Black Beans

1 c dried black beans
3 c water
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt
splash RealLime

1. Put ALL THE INGREDIENTS in the instant pot.  2. Set vent to seal.  3. Choose the beans function (this is going to take a while).  My version of the electric pressure cooker only goes up to half an hour of cook time--others go all the way to an hour.  It takes the full hour of pressure cooking to get the beans done without soaking them, half an hour if you do a soak, first.  I set it to the maximum it goes to, let it go to done, then set it to the maximum again.  4.  Drain beans into a mixing bowl--keep the liquid so that you can add in as much or as little as you  want in mashing the beans.  5. Put beans and as much liquid as you want into a blender and puree it. 

I have the little bit that didn't go into the tacos set aside in the fridge for something yummy later in the week.  Might be nachos, might be Mexican pizza (on corn tortillas). 

I still have more that needs to be done.  I need to make egg muffins for my imp (egg wedges for Odysseus is going to wait another couple of days).  And make up and box up the soft tacos for Odysseus's work lunches. 

I'll finish up with the food, then get the chapters I was working on for the two distinctly different books finished.  And then...then I'm gonna pass right out. 

*My pressure cooker is the brand Sam's Club sells.  I still say this was one of the best presents I've ever gotten. 

Needed more salt.

Yesterday, I tossed a pork loin in the crock pot.  I added a few things, and then shredded it and put it back before serving.

It was delicious.

But.

It desperately needed more salt than the recipe I used called for.  Next time, I'll salt the damn thing first, then put all the stuff in with it.

Tex-Mex pulled pork

at least 3 lb pork loin
2 tsp, piled up a bit, minced garlic
1/2 c tequila (use a decent quality)
1/2 c chicken broth
2 cans Ro-Tel
1/2 c chopped, fresh cilantro
1/2 c chopped green onions

1. SALT the pork loin first.  Then put it in the crock pot.  2.  Drop minced garlic along the top.  3.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  4.  Cook on LOW for 6 hrs, then shred, then put back in crock pot to simmer in juices a little bit.  5.  Serve, warm, on tortillas, in taco shells, or over tortilla chips, with desired toppings.

I love this as nachos, topped with a lot of cheese, sour cream, and olives.  Odysseus likes it rolled in a flour tortilla with cheese (doesn't care for sour cream or olives).  The pixie likes it on chips with melty cheese.

The imp doesn't like new foods.  ;)

Do be aware, this is really rich.  The alcohol cooks out, but it's really, really rich, and may make you sick if you overeat. 

Almost there...

I have been looking for a good, gluten free, thin-crust pizza crust recipe.

I think I've found the base of one.  I'm playing with it.  It's based on this one, sort of.  Maybe.  A little.  Well, that one and the more biscuit style pizza crust on the back of the gluten free Bisquick box.

I've cut it down significantly, since I'm the only one in the house that can't eat real pizza.  I've taken it down from 2 c flour to 1/2 c.  And I'm using Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour.

Following the other recipe, though, had a heavy, doughy crust.  Really heavy.  Like, break the floor if you drop it heavy.  I talked to my sister, who's a pretty gifted baker, and she suggested adding baking soda.  Asked me about how much flour I was using, and suggested half a teaspoon.

It helped.

But now, I need to play with other proportions.

Because baking soda makes it taste salty.  And I am still working on finding the right amount of salt.

At the moment, what I've got is this:

1/2 c gluten free flour
1/2 t baking soda
some salt (still playing with amounts)  Leave the salt out, and it's perfect

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Italian herb blend
about 1/4 c water, give or take

It's easiest to mix this with your hands.  Because you've got to be able to feel the texture of the dough: too sticky, and you need more flour; too crumbly/dry, and you need more liquid.  Getting the dough to stick to itself actually works best if you sort of knead it in your mixing bowl.  Then you sort of shape it into a ball, and roll it out on your pizza pan (if you can--it's easiest if you can get a flat pan or stone instead of a pan with a lip).  Or, you can roll it out between sheets of waxed paper.  Roll it THIN, too.

Oil the top, or it won't brown, and it will absorb the sauce.  Hell, it tries anyway.  Then bake it at 425 for about 5 minutes.  Pull it out, top it, then put it back for about 5-8 more minutes, or until the cheese is browned.  If you're feeling adventurous, slide it off the pan/stone onto the bare rack for that last bit of baking. 

It's still crumbly.  But it's better than most of the gluten free crusts and pizzas I've tried.  And it's a hell of a lot cheaper to do it that way than to get the frozen Udi's crusts (2 for $6), or any of the frozen gluten free pizzas (one half-naked one for $6).  And a giant FUCKING hell of a lot cheaper than getting a gluten free pizza at any place that actually makes/serves them.*

I'm pretty happy with this recipe.  But I'm going to keep playing with it until I get it as close to right as pizza crust substitute can get.

*One place locally charges the same for a 10" gluten free pizza as they do a medium hand-tossed crust.  The other charges as much as a medium deep dish pizza.  And you're also trusting that the kitchen is keeping your pizza away from the ones that will bring gut pain. 

Simple Stroganoff

1.5-2 lbs stew meat, cut smaller
1 sm. to med. onion
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup*
salt, pepper, paprika to taste
1 c (or more) sour cream or Greek yogurt

1. Season and brown meat with onion.  Put into crock pot. 
2. Add soup and sour cream.
3. Simmer on low in crock pot for 5-6 hrs. 

Serve hot over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or baked potatoes.

This is mostly a cheap, filling, delicious meal that feeds five or six.  Leftovers warm up nicely.

*I use Pacific Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup--it's not just wheat-free, but flat-out tastier than Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup. It is, however, a LOT more spendy.

Supper.

4-5 medium potatoes, cut in chunks
1-2 bell peppers, cut in strips
1 kielbasa, cut in chunks
Shredded cheese (any kind, any amount)
seasoning to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450.  Layer potato chunks in bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish (or a half-size steamer pan from Sam's Club, like I did). 

2. Spread the bell pepper strips over the potatoes.  Season (I used Slap ya' Mama cajun seasoning), then spray with olive oil or cooking spray. 

3. Put the kielbasa on top of the veggies, and cover the dish with foil (or use the steamer pan lids from Sam's Club). 

4.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, then check potatoes.  If the potatoes are done, add cheese (I used Italian blend, about 1 c, and another 1/2 c chedder/colby jack) over the top, and put back for 3-5 minutes.

This was stupid-easy, and gut-bustingly good.  

No idea what to call it, besides tasty.

Recipe

I ran across something at Sam's Club--Jimmy Dean friatta.  I read through the ingredients, and found that it was basically eggs baked in a muffin cup, so I went looking for how to do that. 

I found how to do it. 

Egg muffins
1 doz. eggs
1/2 c heavy cream or whole milk (using 2% or less might as well be using water)
1 c shredded cheese (your choice--cheddar, mozzarella, pepper jack, etc)
1/2 lb browned sausage

1. Preheat oven to 350, brown your sausage, and spray your muffin tins. 
2. While your sausage is cooking, mix your eggs, heavy cream, and cheese.
3. Mix cooked sausage into the egg, then fill muffin tins to within 1/2 inch of the top.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.  Try not to scorch the tops.

Depending on the size of the muffin tin, this could make anywhere from six to twelve or more muffins.  My muffin tins were the big ones, so this made six for me.  

I made mine with plain bulk sausage because the imp prefers that (and he actually ate half of one of the giant muffins doused with salsa), but you can use maple sausage, add fresh spinach, mushrooms, onions, or whatever. 

I'm going to be getting more eggs tomorrow, and will make some for myself with onions, peppers, and mushrooms and perhaps bacon. 

Huh. Tasty.

So, I experimented for supper.  It wasn't bad, but I'm gonna keep playing with the recipe until I get something we really like.

Without further ado:

Sorta Shepherd's Pie

1lb ground beef, or ground beef blended with pork.  Or beef and mutton.
1 can green beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained)
1 can diced tomatoes (not drained)
1/2 onion, chopped
Tater tots (not frozen)
shredded cheese

1. Cook meat with onion in a nice, deep 10 inch cast iron skillet.  Drain if fatty.  Put back in cast iron skillet.
2. Add cans of veggies.  Make sure you taste to make sure there's enough salt.
3. Top with cheese, then tater tots, then more cheese.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until tots are hot and cheese is browned.

Serve hot.  Probably good with burger condiments, likely good with barbecue sauce.

I'm gonna play with the filling (maybe leave out the tomatoes and use brown gravy in the meat and other veggies) but this was good as it was.  Warm and comforting on a damn cold night.

I'll post the finalized recipe when I figure out what we like best.  

Rather proud of myself for this ruse...

I convinced the kids that they were both "It" in a game of hide and seek with toys in the imp's messy room; first, the blocks; then, the dozers (and steamrollers, and diggers); the wood trains and the die cast trains; and the Matchbox cars and trucks into one big box for sorting tomorrow once their boxes are found.

I pulled a Mary Poppins, and got one of two disaster areas cleaned up.  And the pixie wants the same done with her room tomorrow.




I cannot believe I managed that.  I will have to admit I'm a little more impressed with myself than I may have any right to be.

Supper tonight

1 bag frozen hash browns (or about four cups of leftover tater tots)
1 can Spam, cubed, or 1 lb chopped smoked sausage, or 1 lb bulk sausage, cooked.
1 green bell pepper (optional)
1 small onion, chopped

Brown the meat.  Then toss in the onion, and saute a bit.  Add the potatoes, and give it a good stir around.  Then add the bell pepper (you don't want to overcook it).  Stir constantly until it's all heated through, and as done toward crunchy as you want it, then season to taste (I used Tone's Six Pepper Blend tonight; last time it was Slap Yo' Mama Cajun seasoning). 

Serve hot, with hot sauce or salsa (if you want) or whatever you like, then top with shredded cheese.  Serves at least four.  More if you want to scramble eggs in it.

Well, what do you know...

I recently found a recipe for powdered laundry detergent.  Thought I'd give it a try, so I got the materials, thinking that if it didn't work, I could sprinkle the borax in some of the places I'd seen bugs coming in.

It worked.  It worked better than the commercial liquid soap I'd been using for years.  Fairly inexpensive, to make, too.  About a third of the cost per load of the soap we'd been getting.  And it doesn't break me out like some soaps can do.

Laundry detergent*
1 bar Fels Naptha laundry soap, grated**
2 c washing soda
2 c borax

1. Grate the soap.  This step will take the longest if your food processor doesn't do it for you.  2. Mix soap, soda, and borax.  3. (optional, but advised)  Run the powder through a blender or food processor to turn it into powder fine enough to dissolve in cold water.

You'll need about 2 T of powder per soiled load of laundry.   Depending on how soiled, you may need a bit less, for less dirty, or a bit more for really nasty clothes.

One batch of homemade detergent will do about 40 loads.  But each box of washing soda and borax will make three or four (or more) batches. 

The interesting thing is that it works better to get whites really clean, when you do a warm cycle with nothing but, than the commercial detergent does.

*This link is to a kit on Amazon that is a bit more expensive, but will show you exactly what you're looking for.  You can probably find the same things at your local Walmart or grocery store for a lot less.

**Or you can substitute Ivory.

Lazy Tuna* Noodle Casserole

I came up with this recipe a few years back.  My other half doesn't like tuna, so I substitute either canned chicken or canned roast beef (leftover roast also works well).

1 box macaroni & cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can meat (tuna, chicken, roast beef), drained
1/4 c milk (if you have it--water works, if not)

1.  Cook macaroni according to box instructions, and drain.  2. Ignore the directions for the cheese sauce--dump in the cheese powder, the can of soup, and the milk, and mix together.  3. Add can of tuna, chicken, or beef. 

If you want, you can add frozen peas to this, or canned corn, or whatever vegetable you think will taste good. 

It's a great wintertime dish: hot, filling, and satisfying.