It's Kansas Day!

I've probably been in the state of Kansas on three different days in my life. However, I have several wonderful friends; Angela, Ashlee, Jeana, Joy, Peninnah each a native Kansan and a great ambassador of their home state. Each year on January 29, Kansans celebrate the day they were admitted to the Union in 1861. (If you are doing the math, you realize that the US has been blessed with Kansas as a part of the country for 150 years now!) So, just how does Kansas celebrate their day? Well, I've heard there are special t-shirts and a commemorative stamp for today, but I don't have any plane tickets to make the celebrations, so I decided to share some of the goodness of the Sunflower State by making special treats from a recipe I found on the internet for the class I am adjunct teaching called Sunbutter Scothaceroos.

I liked that the recipe involved Sunflower Seed Butter, a food product that has become a favorite of mine in recent years. Without a doubt, I prefer it over peanut butter. The recipe also called for chocolate and I was able to incorporate my commitments to support fair trade chocolate growers who practice sustainable farming methods and therefore fits into the theme of Environmental Science which is the course I am teaching at Somerset. (Some time next month, I hope to blog more about fair trade farming and my commitments to specific chocolate products.)

Bring 1 C corn syrup and 1 C sugar to just a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 C sunflower butter till smooth and then add 6 C rice crispy treats. Press the mixture into a greased 9x11 pan and let cool.

Empty the bag of butterscotch morsels into a microwave proof bowl.

I melt mine in 1 minute intervals on 80%

Stir it till smooth

I added a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder

And suspected that it was a little thick to spread evenly, so I hedged bets and added a little bit of Crisco and heated it again, this time for 20 seconds on 80%.

Good call

It spread very nicely on the rice crispy surface

If I could make this a scratch and sniff photo, you'd be running to the store for your ingredients!

I let them sit on the counter overnight and got up this morning to cut and wrap them in wax paper for class this afternoon. I made one fatal error: instead of cutting them into 24 bars in the pan, I cut 18! My class has 20 enrolled students and I know one person will be missing today due to a funeral. Either two students will earn gold stars for sharing or I'll find out I have a diabetic who will pass on the snack I've prepared or I'll have another student who won't be able to make class for some reason or another and things will work out perfectly! Regardless, I managed to cut off a sliver and sample - I think I better leave now for class and buy a couple gallons of milk!

Soup's On!

Tomorrow night is the last night for the Advent Hymn study and I need to get a pot of soup ready. I am planning my favorite bean and sausage soup. Earlier in the day I soaked a bag of navy beans in boiling water for 5 minutes and then let them cool to room temperature. This evening I transferred them to a crock pot with a large box of chicken soup stock. And I added a bunch of carrots slices.

Then I added a minced onion, 2 cloves of garlic and a healthy amount of kielbasa till I decided I had enough that could feed 8-10 people for class tomorrow night. At that point it looked like I needed more stock.

So I added another box.

A few sprinkles of oregano and a dash of basil before stirring, putting the lid on the crock pot and setting the whole operation into cook down mode on the lowest setting overnight. Tomorrow I'll puree a 2 cups of the chunky stuff and stir it back into the soup. A loaf of pumpernickel bread from the local bakery and things should be ready for a hearty meal to feed the body while we examine "Hark the Herald Angel Sings" to feed our spirit and soul.

Time to get serious

Once in my life I made pumpkin pie from a pumpkin. I never saw the need to do it again because Libby's makes it simple dimple. All I have to remember to do is make half the recipe on the label.

Pumpkin pie and mince are done and ready for desert on Thursday!

I let a cookie cutter help me with the mince pie decorative top.

Getting the cloth pressed off now is as good as tomorrow when we'll set up the tables.

And thanks to our neighbor Jane, I was surprised with a delivery of the best cranberry chutney ever. She's sweet enough to make plenty to share, but keeps the recipe secret.

TIme to start the pies.....

Thanksgiving and tradition. And at my family's Thanksgiving celebration there is always a mincemeat pie. It's the only time of year we make one and thanks to Bordons, the recipe is easy peasy and only needs a little bit of doctoring.

The older generation insists that this pie be served and added to the jar is more raisins, diced apple and a little blackberry brandy. My Nana taught me to rinse the jar with the brandy thereby getting all the mince out of the jar w/o having to scrape it.

Some chopped apples and raisins to suit by look.

Stir heat on low to let the brandy soak through and the alcohol to cook out.

Forty five minutes to an hour later, its bubbling and the apples are softening. Time to turn it off for the night, let it cool and tomorrow it'll bake in its own pie shell.

Bubble and Squeak!

When I got home early this evening, the fact that the dog dish on the floor signaled dinner plans weren't quite what they were when I left in the morning. Indeed, Mom and Dad had a huge lunch out and weren't interested in dinner. They thought it would be a treat for me to order from a local restaurant, but I wasn't so keen on the idea. I searched the fridge and cupboards for inspiration and finally decided on making some leftovers of corn beef and cabbage. But first I decided to "kick it up a notch" and create my own bubble and squeak....or hash as it is more commonly called here in America. So I started off with cooking up some bacon which both brought a new flavor and provided the skillet with a little grease for cooking. Meanwhile, I chopped up the left over corn beef, cabbage and potatoes from last week and heated it up after I cooked up a small amount of onion in the pan. Yes, it looks like hash, but I prefer to call it bubble and squeak. Not only is that the name of the dish in most UK countries, but it is named for the sound the food makes as it heats up in the pan.

I don't know why exactly, but the bacon must have gotten me thinking about eggs. So, when the everything was heated through, I decided it needed a little something else.....

So, less than a minute later, thanks to the hot skillet, an egg scrambled up easily, a little paprika on top and my dinner was perfectly satisfying.

Making Spaetzle

It's Sunday. The weather is chilly. Glad we planned spaetzle to go with dinner tonight. If you have any knowledge of German food, you know what this means. For the rest of you - it's a fresh German pasta dish that is made minutes before dinner. It is a little labor intensive, but with planning and foresight, I managed to get all the steps recorded and explained.

Beat eggs and milk till frothy

Stir in sifted flour mixture a bit at a time

When all flour has been mixed in, it will resemble thick gooey paste.

Having a spaetzle maker helps the process along. If not, you better have a good German Tante or Oma visiting (that's German for Aunt or Grandmother). And since both my Aunt Carlyn and Karin's (a childhood friend) Omi couldn't be here - I am glad to have this tool!

Water needs to be at a high boil

Dough in the basket

Bits of dumplings fall through the spaetzle holes as basket moves back and forth.
(I removed my hand from the basket to take this picture - the process is NOT automatic!)

Boil for 2-3 minutes

Retrieve with strainer and set in colander

Towards end of batter, heat butter in frying pan

Heat up in pan one last time before serving

Goes great with last night's roasted squash casserole, and braised bratwursts and sausages.

Recipe makes for 6-8...but we've cut the recipe down by thirds. Those reductions are in parenthesis.

3 (1,2) eggs
3 (1,2) C flour
1 (1/3, 2/3) C milk
1/4 t nutmeg (few scant shakes)

Beat eggs till foamy and combine with milk. Mix together dry ingredients. Add to eggs and milk a little at a time until stiff and elastic. Fill basket with dough and place over boiling water. As basket slides back and forth, tiny dumplings or noodles will drop into boiling water. Let cook 2-3 minutes. Use large slotted spoon to remove from water and place in large covered bowl. Repeat process till all dough is used up. If spaetzle has become cool, place in microwave for a bit or heat in pan. Lightly butter and salt to taste and serve in place of noodles, rice or potatoes.

Oh yes, indeedy!

Mom and I were out doing the weekly grocery shopping this morning and low and behold, in the Shop-Rite grocery aisles we discovered that a 'pancake puff' pan - as seen on TV - is available for sale!

Why is it, I wondered, that my Danish ancestors (and Williams-Sonoma) insisted upon calling this an ebelskiver pan? Didn't they realize the real marketing secret was in alliteration?

Turns out that it comes with its own turning tool AND a recipe, too!

Dinner by Dad

After a very full week of research, reading and note-taking it was incredibly nice to come home to dinner prepared by Dad. Not only is this one of his signature recipes, but he and Jake brought home the pheasant during last winter's hunting season. It's a good tasty meal and with the side of asparagus, I don't think I could have gotten anything better at a high end restaurant. Thanks, Dad!

The joke's on me

When I spied this cookbook and ebelskiver turning tongs, I decided to take a picture as a friendly family joke. My Dad makes ebelskivers and has a family recipe along with two different pans - but he is always searching for a better instrument to turn the little puff pastries. He has a pair of wooden tongs and a pair of long wooden chopsticks and the overpriced tool at this store is a hybrid of the two. I just snapped the picture for grins and giggles thinking I'd take a picture of the Apple store which is where I was headed for a 5:00 appointment for my weekly one-to-one session with an Apple consultant. Turns out I totally forgot to take a picture of what I intended - but I did at least have a decent one for the day even if I meant it for some other purpose.

Chicken Pie

While I was at Cindy Lee's, I spied a new recipe I wanted to try. When I returned to The Homestead, Mom mentioned she wanted to use up some leftover chicken and I told her I had an idea and all it required to be put on the grocery list was pie crust! She was happy to let me have at it and a little after 4PM I started melting 1/2 C butter (ok, I used Smart Balance) in the cast iron skillet. Its a good Southern recipe and though it has exact measured ingredients I thought the write up left a lot to be desired so I am not including one at the end - and I am telling you the substitutions I made along the way - because it is just that kind of recipe that allows for leeway....

Once the butter melts, add 1/2 C of flour and blended in till smooth.
This step is works like a charm with the little mini-whipper you see above.

Add 4 C of chicken stock blend till smooth again.

After a bit of heating on medium high it begins to thicken slightly....

Add a pint of half and half and blend in till smooth again. Ok, my confession - we had just a bit more than a 1/2 pint of heavy cream in the fridge. I topped it off w/ some 2% milk, shook it and used it for the sauce - the point was to use up stuff we had on hand, right? Next time, I'll cook this step longer and let it thicken even more - it was a little runny when the pie was baked.

Pie crust put in the pie plate, I added the pie bird before filling so he could vent away steam and then the chicken pieces were added. And yes, we did supplement the leftover chicken with a chicken breast we got at the Amish Farmer's Market and I steamed up prior to the documented sauce making above. Now, true confession - I do make a mean flaky pie crust, my grandmother taught me how but sometimes having the Pillsbury Dough boy as a sous chef is just the ticket.

I added a layer of chopped onion and mushrooms that were hanging about the fridge and waiting to be used. The recipe did not call for it - but my family never met a mushroom we didn't like in our food! Over that I poured the sauce but didn't manage to get it all in there before it started overflowing.

Add the top layer of pie crust, crimp close and cut a few more slits to vent steam before brushing with an egg wash (1 egg white mixes with 1 T water) Pop in a hot 350 degree oven.

Bake till crust browns - I discovered this was about 45 minutes allow to set a little before serving. We had it with a string bean/cucumber/onion salad and almost 2 dozen cherry tomatoes plucked off the vine while the pie was baking. I really don't ever recall picking tomatoes as late as October 2nd! It's another winner of a recipe and the extra sauce that didn't make it into the pie is a good candidate for a cream of chicken soup over the next week or so with a can of chicken to give it some meat.