Mozzerella

I made mozzerella last weekend. Twice. And I just made it again.

I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and in it is a recipe for 30 Minute Mozzerella.

It's really easy. In fact, the hardest part was finding the ingredients.



Citric acid: I found at Vitamin Cottage
Rennet (vegetarian): I found in Whole Foods, in the string cheese section.
Milk: Anywhere really. If you have access to raw, I hear that's best.

Then you follow the instructions.

After adding the citric acid, the milk starts to curdle:



After the rennet, it looks like cottage cheese:



After draining off the whey:



Kneading:



And stretching (note how rough it looks here):



And the really hot stretching (it gets a lot smoother and shinier):



After this, I cut it into pieces and used it in calzones, and shared it with Yummy, who declared it tasted just like string cheese, and ate some myself. Then I realized I had none left, so I went to the store and got some more milk. The second batch I cut into pieces and marinated in olive oil and crushed chilis.

I probably should be a bit concernaed about consuming 3 gallons of milk's worth of cheese, but surprisingly I'm not.

Where are those tomatoes? And my basil?

Homemade Larabars

My favorite blog this month is Curly Top. A darling little lady who is progressing nicely toward world domination with Pbu, a super-easy concoction that has put peanut butter back on my to-do list.

Now she has gone and recreated the Larabar dubbing it the Farabar. And it's so ridiculously simple we all should have thought of it. But she did it first. What I wouldn't give to have the flexible body mind of an 18 year old again.

What I Made:

Though Larabars are my favorite form of energy bar/meal replacement, they are not the prettiest things to look at.


Real Larabar on left, my version on the right.

My dear little curlygirl encourages experimentation. My rif but her method:

1 cup raw almonds
1 cup macadamia nuts
2 oz dates
2 oz dried cherries
1/2 cup chocolate chips

I wanted to try white chocolate but there was no white chocolate that met my exacting standards, i.e. it wasn't in my pantry.



Not pretty, but so tasty. If you're a fan of the Larabar, give the Farabar a try. I know there will be significantly fewer plastic wrappers in my trash can now.

My next combo: Cranberry Walnut.

Falafel

This is so not a food blog. It really isn't. For one thing, I don't have the photography skills.

But I do cook. Everyday. So, when I knit at what most people would consider a ridiculously fast pace...


Back and two sleeves. Started July 3rd, 2009.

...it's not realistic to expect a new knitted item every day. Or even a new crafted item.

But I do cook. Everyday.

What I Made:

I have never met a falafel I didn't like. I've made several recipes, and they've all been good.

Then Julie over at Everyday Dish posted a falafel recipe. I had all the ingredients at hand and whipped them up (yes, they are that easy to make).



These are the best falafel I have ever made. I don't know if it's because the batter is smoother than usual. I don't know if it's the deep-frying. I don't know if it's the short time it took to make them. They are awesome.

I packed them up with some tzatziki (made with greek yogurt), tomatoes, cucumber, and pita. Then we schlepped the kids to the college campus to enjoy a free concert. We assembled our sandwiches to our liking...



And ate falafel.

The Businessman said he wouldn't mind if these made it into the weekly menu rotation. High praise for a vegetarian dish.

He might be getting tired of cereal night.

Granola

I have a few food related habits I cannot explain:

• I always buy a head of lettuce when I go grocery shopping, but I rarely make the corresponding salads
• I painstakingly store leftovers, but never eat them
• I cut out and save every granola recipe I find, but then wing it anyway

What I Made:

My favorite weekday breakfast: Plain Greek yogurt, fresh summer fruit and granola



My basic granola:

4ish cups rolled grains (not quick cooking) oats, rye, barley, etc.
1/2 cup brown or raw sugar
1 cup unroasted nuts/seeds--if they are already roasted, add them after the baking

Melt together
1/2 cup butter, Earth balance, canola
1/4 cup liquid sweetener (honey, agave, maple syrup)

Combine everything and spread on a cookie sheet

If you want less fat or sugar, you can cut back, or add more grains. I like the browning the oil and sugars provide.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Then check on it. If it looks toasty enough remove it. If not stir it up and check on it every couple minutes. It will be soft when you take it out of the oven. Before it can cool and harden, I remove it from the pan and toss it into my granola bin. A couple good shakes while it cools keeps it from solidifying into a huge chunk. If you want dried fruit and/or roasted nuts, add them now.

Experiments I tried:
Millet-use sparingly, lots of crunch
Flax seeds
Hemp seeds
coconut

Strangely I've never tried chocolate. Hmm. May have to rectify that.

Kettle Corn

The Businessman and I are frequent users of both Netflix and Redbox. Sometimes we even get grown-up movies. This week has been highly prolific for us.

Gran Torino: Outstanding. I had low expectations because I was in the mood for something light and frivolous. This movie is not either of those. It's possible I'm starting to get old, but I have newfound respect for Clint Eastwood now. Wow.

The Currious Case of Benjamin Button: A letdown. It's based on a short story which I had read recently. Why a 20 minute story needed 2:40 of film is beyond me. I was sipping The Best Margaritas Ever at the time and I don't pick up on symbolism in the soberest of circumstances. On the heels of Gran Torino: *pbbbbt*

What I Made:

Kettle Corn

I'm not a salty snack person. Chips languish in my pantry and movie popcorn is safe from me. But Kettle Corn? I love me a little Kettle Corn. I use the recipe from Allrecipes. I had to tweak it a little--I suspect high altitude.



Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large pot (preferably one with handles that you can easily lift and shake. Add a couple kernals of popcorn. When they pop you know your oil is ready. My stove is perfect at 3.5 (medium/medium low).



All at once, add 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup popcorn. Cover with a lid and shake shake shake.



Watch your sugar. It should melt and it might darken a bit but you don't want it too dark too fast. I found adding salt at this point guaranteed burnt sugar. Also, vent the lid a bit so it doesn't get too steamy in there.

Keep popping and shaking, popping and shaking until it slows. Remove from heat and sprinkle with salt to taste. Pour into a bowl and serve.

Oops. I forgot to take a picture and now it's all gone. The oldest Kettle Corn I've ever made lasted through the movie previews.

You will never spend $7.00 on kettle corn again.

The Best Margaritas. Ever.

This post is for Sweet Mama Jones, who seems to be in want of frozen beverages.

Two years ago, we were attending a BBQ and as I walked through the door I was greeted with the best question a hostess could ask: "I'm about to make margaritas. Would you like one?"

Watching her make them, I was skeptical. Tasting one, I was converted. I've tried to find the recipe online so I can credit it. She got it from her brother's wife's sister's...Actually I was so sloshed I sort of forget. They were that good.

You will need:




Frozen limeade concentrate (NOT frozen margarita mix)
Club soda
Tequila--Don't bother with good stuff
A can of beer--Yes, yes, Miller Light. I know. it's leftover from my Podracing incident (Also, good beer is wasted, just like you will be)

Step one: Dump limeade into a pitcher. Do NOT destroy carton to do this.
Step two: Fill limeade carton with club soda. Dump.
Step three: Repeat with Tequila (yes, that's 12 ozs tequila.)
Step four: Crack beer and pour in.

That's it. Just salt your glasses, pour, and drink. It won't take long before you have a rosy summer glow and slur your words. It's a lovely feeling.

Just make sure to share with your neighbors or they might start talking about the day you decided to try walking on a tightrope in your short PJs.

Bakerella's Cutest Ever Burgers

Have you seen Bakerella's Blog yet? I mean, I'm sure you have because, like, the whole universe reads it right?


What I Made:

Her Fast Food. This is my kind of vegetarian burger.




Hamburgers: Brownies (from a mix)
Buns: Corn muffins (from a mix--she used cupcakes)
Fries: Sugar cookies (from a mix)
Ketsup and Mustard: Frosting from a can.

I love that Bakerella used mixes. It makes the world feel a little more attainable.

Do check out her blog, I'm fairly certain you can't consume calories from reading it.

Summer Relief

Ah summer. Of the four, it's my least favorite season. I'm so not a sun worshiper. I do not like being hot. And, although I enjoy the occasional hike, I'm not an outdoorsy kind of girl (unless I'm in Hawaii, where the occurrence of snakes is virtually nonexistent).

I do like fresh summer produce.

What I Made:

Ridiculously simple, yet so so yummy. The mini watermelons were on sale for a buck this week. I refrigerate them, then scoop out the flesh into a blender and puree, frappe, and annihilate away. The resulting beverage is just the thing for hot summer days.



I realize I've been very much relying on the photogenics of fresh produce lately. Bear with me and know that I have several projects awaiting completion and, subsequently, blog posts.

The First (and second) Harvest

This year's hot thing is garlic scapes, which I will try to grow next spring, maybe this fall.

Microgreens were the hot thing last year. I feel the need to tell you this, otherwise the following pictures are a bit underwhelming.

My first handpicked greens:



I once dined at a circus dinner theatre that served several courses in between acrobatic acts. The salad course was described as a mache salad served with a fillet of salmon. What I got looked a lot like the above picture, if everyone else at my table had put their servings on my plate.

Two leaves of mache and a sliver of salmon the size of a postage stamp does not a salad make.

The next day produced a slightly more substantial snack;



Fresh greens, with blueberries and shaved Parmesan. It was only two bites, but it was divine.

One thing I love about salads from my garden: I don't need dressing.

What I Made:

I'm still trekking on this one, but it's almost finished. I had to find different blue yarn and reknit all the blue bits.



I only need to knit the small blue piece that goes on the right armscythe (polite term for armpit) and then a band of blue around the bottom.

Then I will probably stare at it for a few weeks in the hopes that the ends will weave themselves in and the thing will block itself.

My Favorite Salad

I'm in a quandary. I started knitting a summer top, with the intention of wearing it on the 4th of July:



If you look carefully it's a white star. The rest of the bits were to be made with the four skeins of denim yarn I had leftover from making my denim cardigan.

The problem? I can't find my fourth skein. Ergo I can't finish the sweater. Ergo I will be naked that day.

It's really my only option.

That or drinking heavily, shrouding myself with the star and poking knitting needles into my eyes and out my ears (I call this self-voodoolation) to create lovely red stripes on the antique white I chose because it looked so good with this blue.

Two options. How to choose, how to choose...

What I Made:

This time of year I fall in love with my favorite salad.



A couple handfuls of spinach, a small handful of blueberries (any berry works), a sprinkle of candied nuts, some crumbled chevre...



...and a tasty raspberry vinaigrette. Brianna's Blush Wine vinaigrette is also wonderful, but Annie's was on sale.

I have tried unsuccessfully, to recreate this dressing. Does anyone have a good recipe for a sweet, raspberry vinaigrette?

RunPee

The Businessman saw that I was on the computer yet again and told me to go to a cool site he had heard of on NPR.

"Type in run pee dot com."

I hesitated, worried this would be just like the time when I was blogging and he needed to know what time Dick's (Sporting Goods) opened. For future reference, their URL is a lot longer than the one I first typed in. Oops.

RunPee.com is where you go if you're the kind of person who has to pee in the middle of a movie. Always. They list the current blockbusters and tell you at what point you can go and not really miss anything important. They even tell you what happens during the three minutes you were gone.

My favorite part: They sell maternity-sized T-shirts. Looks like they figured out their target market.

They also sell "multi-purpose" mugs. I didn't want to think too hard about that one.

What I Made:

I have a couple BBQs in the schedule (vegetarians heart BBQs). I made a double batch of this Sesame Peanut Noodle Salad. It's vegan, and it can be a light side or a substantial meal. My pics didn't do much much for the dish.

BBQ Pizza

Last year about this time, my father in law announced that he was going to hook his propane grill up to his natural gas line. Knowing this man was the key role model of the Businessman, and therefore the font of all home improvement knowledge TBM has, I got worried. Very worried.

"Did you get the adapter?"
"Nope, don't need one!"
"Uh, yes you do."
"Nope, I don't!"
"Is your will up to date?"
"I can just hook it right up."
"There is a difference between the propane your grill usually uses and the natural gas your home uses."

Luckily, I managed thwart his attempt at becoming a gas explosion.

This year, we inherited his old grill (this was not my motive all along), and he is getting the UberFlamethrower 6000X, which is configured to use the natural gas line. Our 'new' grill is any self respecting American Family's dream, but I'm a vegetarian and am really fond of my little round grill. It's the perfect size for my paella pan and for pizza.

What I Made:

Barbecued Pizza

I don't have a recipe for my pizza dough--I sort of wing it and go by the feel--but any pizza dough recipe will work. This dough was half bread flour/half white whole wheat flour (white whole wheat flour is my favorite all purpose flour these days, but you need the gluten in the bread flour). Add a slurp of olive oil, salt and water with your yeast dissolved in it. I let my KitchenAid knead it about 10 minutes.

Or you could go the the grocery store and get their lumps of pizza dough. I've done it and it's great.

When it has risen, punch it down and divide it. A large handful of dough will make the size crust you see here. Let it rest a little (optional) and roll it out or toss it. Smack that puppy on the hot grill and let it firm and puff up a little (about 10-30 seconds)

My grill works best at low because it has these tongues of flame that will reach out and burn the crust to charcoal. If you don't have lingua el fuego go ahead and raise the heat.

When the crust has set, flip it over and add your ingredients. This one is fairly traditional pepperoni. It's for my kids and the Businessman. I make meat for them on occasion in order to get that feral look out of their eyes.

Put the cover on and let it cook away until the top is done to your satisfaction. If this is your first pizza, you might want to stick with olive oil/herbs as a topping (AKA Fococcia) until you get the timing right. No one eats pizza that looks awesome if the bottom is black beyond recognition.

I made my pizza with sauteed mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, olive oil, fresh mozzarella and salt. Then we ate it and I forgot to take a picture.

But there will be more this summer. There always is.

And because I'm ornery like that, I inaugurated the new grill with...



...A veggie burger. I'm sure the ole FIL will be pleased.

Hats Off For Oatmeal!

I'm friends with a wonderful person in my SnB. She's a generation removed from me which means she can give me all sorts of solicited advice. She's a knitter, so we always have something to talk about. She also cooks and sews, which means I have a bit more in common with her than some other friends in the SnB.

She gave me a piece of parenting wisdom so profound I feel the need to pass it on. With love; from her, to me, to you.

Put ice cream on your oatmeal.

*Gasp* What? How could you? That's horrible!

Relax! Think about it. What traditionally goes into oatmeal? Cream? Sugar? I pride myself on making oatmeal so toothsome with brown sugar, raisiny goodness, my kiddos ask for it on cold mornings. But sometimes I forget to soak those steel-cut oats overnight and the rolled oats--though quicker--aren't as tasty.

Until you add ice cream. Kids will eat it so fast (probably in fear that you'll come to your senses) you'll almost hear their future cholesterol levels drop.*

What I Made:

This cute hat. Vogue sewing pattern (7619).



I wore this hat all winter. The fabric is embroidered suede cloth. I lined it with some leftover satin brocade. The pin is something my mom found years ago and felt I should have since I'm living in CSU Ram country these days.

The hair is windblown. Yeah, that's it...windblown.

*I know ice cream has cholesterol. My kids also eat kale, brussels sprouts, and broccoli. So there.

Daring Cooks May-Gnocchi

I have a secret... I love the gnocchi you can buy in the pasta aisle. Those larvae-looking blobs that are sealed in plastic. They boil up into slightly larger larvae with a dense, chewy texture. It's what happens when a German American wishes she were Italian. I can't be held responsible.

I have tried making potato gnocchi before. It was disasterous. All three times. So when the Daring Cooks' challenge was posted and I saw our inaugural recipe was ricotta gnocchi I was worried.

And I was right to be worried.


Exhibit A: Test gnocchi after 10 seconds
Exhibit B: Gnocchi? Gnocchi? Where did you go?

I drained my ricotta. I added a little bit more egg. I added a whole egg. I searched my memory and remembered a trick for German bread dumplings and added 1/2 cup flour. That worked and my dough finally held together in the boiling water.



But they had a Spaetzle (pronounced SHPAY-tsul) feel to them. Then I remembered I'm a Kraut and love Spaetzle. So it all worked out in the end.

I sauteed sage leaves I stole from my neighbor's garden until crispy and drizzled the sage-y butter over the gnocchi.



I still can't make gnocchi, but I have always made awesome Spaetzle.

Green and Garlic Soup

This morning I woke up to one of those beautiful, drizzly mornings my six years in Seattle genetically modified me to love and realized I had the faint foreshadowing of a cold. This isn't the most tragic thing to happen to me but the combination of a cold and cold rain may prove disasterous to tomorrow's plans, which I'll discuss tomorrow.

What I Made:

The vegan podcast I listen too put out a video of a green and garlic soup a few months ago. I've probably made about 25 batches of the stuff since then. It's warm, low calorie, super-nutritious and...

Vicious (my 3yo) eats it like it's chocolate frosted sugar bombs. Seriously, the kids gets a big spoonful of soupy greens and slurps them like spaghetti. We call it our leaf soup and act like it's a big secret.

Anyway, it's like a vegetarian chicken soup and hopefully it will work it's magic on my mental facilities.

So go visit the site, watch the video, and pretend I spent the day maintaining my mom-of-the-year status and didn't let the kids watch movies all afternoon.

A Light Spring Meal

What I Made:

A sun worshiper I am not.

It was a warm sunny day in my neighborhood and riffing Cuban fare just felt right. It also indicates that I was too hot to actually get any other sort of creative mojo going. It was smart of me to decide anything I cooked qualifies as What I Made.



Fried plantains with toasted coconut. Black and garbanzo beans with red peppers, lime, cumin and orange juice (OJ and black beans sounds weird but is really tasty). Rice with lime and cilantro. Mango, tangerine and blackberries. Someone from Cuba may poo poo my food, but my heart was in the right place.

It looked a lot yummier than my photography would have you think.

Daring Bakers-April

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I think all basic cheesecake tastes the same. It never stops me from devouring a whole recipe mind you, but I've never really had one that stood out in my mind as truly exceptional.

Knowing I would consume the entire cake, I immediately decided this concoction would go straight to my knitting group. Not that 3 bricks of cream cheese and a cup of heavy cream don't sound light but...



The recipe went together easily. The only variation was using gingersnaps rather than graham crackers for the crust. I love gingersnaps.



I wasn't able to chill it in the fridge before serving. This caused the cake to have a fluffy mousse-like texture.

As I did the car swap that heralds Boy's Night Out/Mom's Knitting Night the Businessman eyed the cheescake wistfully and hoped some would come home. But even he had to admit the odds of this dessert surviving an evening among women were slim. The ladies enjoyed it and it was a small group so I managed to bring home a quarter of the pan...of which the Businessman may have gotten a sliver--after it chilled in the fridge.

He declared it the best cheesecake he ever had. I thought it tasted like cheesecake. But the recipe is straightforward so I'll keep it in my bag of tricks.

I'm Still A Vegetarian

I have been a vegetarian for a year, for environmental reasons and thank you Yarn Harlot for that link. But I'm a hypocrite. I love raw fish. Sushi and lox. I cannot resist them. Which makes my whole environmental argument fly out the window living in a land-locked state and all. But it's so good.

First PW tortured me with images of Nova Salmon. Then I was reading a friend's personal blog and out of curiosity I clicked a blog link on her site, where thay made bagels from this site.

Of course, despite my clicking finger being exhausted (and possibly having everyone with personal blogs block me from reading their culinary escapades), I thought "I can do that."

What I Made:

And I did.



Breakfast of champions here.



I don't want to know how far this traveled, or how it got so orange. It fulfilled a primal urge--eating raw fish, freakishly overgrown capers, and hot coffee while my cereal consuming family stared at me in concern.

Perhaps I'm reading too much Twilight.

Happy Easter

It's 6:30 AM and my children are still sleeping. The Businessman is brewing some coffee for me and we are waiting impatiently (and suppressing the desire to meander into their rooms and ask if we can sleep with them and then hog the entire bed).

What I Made:

What to do when you have a fresh pineapple and a couple black bananas?

Tropical breakfast. I took a banana pancake recipe (from Vegan With A Vengeance by Isa Moskowitz) and instead of making several, I just dumped the batter into an iron skillet I preheated in the oven (about 375). It took about 25 minutes to bake through.



Then I concocted a quick fruit compote of pineapple, mango and clementines. A touch of maple syrup, a sprinkling of toasted coconut (I only burned it a little bit) and a dollop of whipped cream (or the creamy stuff on top of the coconut milk if you want to stay vegan) and the kiddos (and the businessman) will be singing the Hallelujah Chorus in no time.

My Spice Racks

When I first set up house with the Businessman, I realized quickly how expensive spices can be. I grew up with my mom's spice rack and wanted to start my own collection. We decided to purchase one jar per week. After a few months, my collection was seasoning our lives nicely.

I then spent a few years looking for the perfect way to store my spices. My mother's racks are perfect and the search began for racks similar to hers. It was an exercise in futility.

Real Simple Magazine came to my rescue. I adopted their method for the following reasons:

I have 70+ different spices in my kitchen.

This system keeps the spices out of the light.

It is uber-compact.

I can access whatever spice I need in less than ten seconds.

Basically, you decant your spices into watchmaker containers (Lee Valley corners the market) and then label them (labelling is so important in organization).



The only thing I would add to RS's system is to alphabetize. This is especially crucial with multiple cases. I labelled the cases 1-4 so I wouldn't be permanently stuck with A-E, F-I, etc. I've used these for years so I know 'cinnamon' is the first four containers of case 2 (yes I have four different kinds of cinnamon).

The whole shebang fits beautifully next to my stove.

I'm about to graduate into a fifth case. I'm worried that this is an obscene number of different spices.

What are your favorite spices? How do you organize them? Do you have a favorite spice blend you like to make?

What I Made:

The Businessman can't handle spices. He likes spice blends (calling them "Man Spice"). Thirteen years ago he got a container of Tony Cachere's Creole Seasoning. One day he panicked because he was in the middle of cooking eggs and realized the container was almost empty. I secretly looked at the ingredient list and whipped up about 1/2 cup of fresh seasoning blend for him and poured it into the container.He still has that same container.

I still fill it. I still don't know if he knows this. I made a fresh batch today.