I made fresh Pesto for the first time this summer and WOW, I am in love. There is no comparison to the bland jarred sauce I have tasted before. I knew this would be a dish enjoyed by the adults of our house, but I was not too sure how the kiddos would take a green sauce that smelled like garlic. I forged ahead with the meal anyway and gave it a fun name in hopes that the kids might at least try it: Sparkle Pasta! (said with a flourish and waving fingers to make it sound amazing and magical to kids)
I needn't have worried, after they got over the initial shock of green pasta (Look at the sparkles, kids! Can you see the sparkles?!) they loved it, and now beg for sparkle pasta for dinner all the time.
The initial recipe came from the Pioneer Woman website, but it has evolved somewhat as I have made this dish over and over and over for my family and friends. I use the original recipe as more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule of how much of each ingredient to add. With pesto, garlic, cheese and olive oil, it is hard to go wrong. The pesto itself is amazing, so fresh and wonderful tasting, but the addition of cream (or half and half, which tastes better to me for some reason) takes this dish to the level of food perfection. Make way more than you think you'll need, it is really, really good.
Pesto Cream Sauce
(source: www.thepioneerwoman.com)
Ingredients
• 3/4 cups Fresh Basil Leaves (I use about 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 3 Tablespoons Pine Nuts
• 2 cloves Garlic, Peeled
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream (I prefer half and half)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan (additional)
• 12 ounces, weight Pasta (we use bow tie, or homemade pasta)
• 2 whole Tomatoes, Diced
Preparation Instructions
Cook pasta until al dente.
Add basil leaves, 1/2 cup Parmesan, pine nuts, and salt and pepper to a food processor or blender. Turn machine on, then drizzle in olive oil while it mixes. Continue blending until combined, adding additional olive oil if needed. Set aside.
Heat cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add pesto and stir.
Drain pasta and place in a serving bowl. Pour pesto cream over the top. Toss to combine. Add diced tomatoes and toss quickly. Serve immediately.
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Making Wine... the process
Like everything else we do, we took a bunch of photos last year (2010) of our wine making process. I never blogged on it, because we fully expected it to be a flop. Now that we have a successful batch, I am really excited to look back over our process so we can be sure and repeat it for 2011.
So back in May of 2010 (May 9th to be exact) we had extra mulberries
The raw weight was seven pounds ten ounces (I must have skimmed some off the top for eating, because in my notes, I see we only used six pounds of berries for the wine batch).
We dumped the berries into a clean, food grade bucket and mashed them with a potato masher (notice the hand written recipe and calculations in the background?).
mash mash mash until it was mostly liquidy
We then poured in a gallon of boiling water
then lidded the mash and set it aside for a few days in a cool dark place (our master bathroom)
A few days later, we strained out the pulp leaving a cloudy purple liquid. (May 15, 2010)
The pulp was composted.
We then added lots of sugar and left in the bucket for four more days.
On May 19th we decanted it into a 3 gallon carboy and put an airlock on it. We wrapped the bottle in a black trash sack, being careful not to seal it too tight, it needed air, but it also needed darkness. This contraption has sat in the corner of my master bathroom for 11 months. We would peek at it occasionally, for a while it bubbled, then it got cloudy, then it got clear and finally, we tasted it--11 months later.
Success! First tasted April 5, 2011.
A few notes:
1) I have the actual recipe and proportions we used in my notebook
2) We did not use commercial yeast, we intend to, but never got around to it. This was a huge chance to take and we assumed it was probably not good. By not adding commercial yeast, you are gambling that the right kind of yeast exists in the fruit or air and will make good wine. By buying yeast, you make sure you get the right kind of yeast for wine. It was really lucky that we got drinkable wine.
3) We have no idea the alcohol content of this batch, we have the tools, but we should have made a measurement when we started the process and again at the end. The comparison is what tells you the alcohol content. We do know that it has a nice kick to it, I only drank one glass and had a nice gentle buzz. Hubby drank two glasses and said he'd had plenty (man speak for a buzz?). Neither of us woke up with any bad side effects the next day (some cheap wine and I feel awful after just a glass). My understanding is that wine kind of self regulates, over a certain alcohol content the yeast will die, so it is impossible to end up with 100 proof... no plans for us to start any distilled liquors, yet. Is that even legal?
4) Did I mention it was SWEET? My dad would never drink this--he likes a dry wine, but I'm guessing my sister will love it. Hubby likes it, and he tends to like a drier wine than me. How sweet? My favorite wine is port, and this is similar to that level of sweetness. For any 'real' wine drinkers out there, don't laugh at my unsophisticated palate.
So back in May of 2010 (May 9th to be exact) we had extra mulberries
The raw weight was seven pounds ten ounces (I must have skimmed some off the top for eating, because in my notes, I see we only used six pounds of berries for the wine batch).
We dumped the berries into a clean, food grade bucket and mashed them with a potato masher (notice the hand written recipe and calculations in the background?).
mash mash mash until it was mostly liquidy
We then poured in a gallon of boiling water
then lidded the mash and set it aside for a few days in a cool dark place (our master bathroom)
A few days later, we strained out the pulp leaving a cloudy purple liquid. (May 15, 2010)
The pulp was composted.
We then added lots of sugar and left in the bucket for four more days.
On May 19th we decanted it into a 3 gallon carboy and put an airlock on it. We wrapped the bottle in a black trash sack, being careful not to seal it too tight, it needed air, but it also needed darkness. This contraption has sat in the corner of my master bathroom for 11 months. We would peek at it occasionally, for a while it bubbled, then it got cloudy, then it got clear and finally, we tasted it--11 months later.
Success! First tasted April 5, 2011.
A few notes:
1) I have the actual recipe and proportions we used in my notebook
2) We did not use commercial yeast, we intend to, but never got around to it. This was a huge chance to take and we assumed it was probably not good. By not adding commercial yeast, you are gambling that the right kind of yeast exists in the fruit or air and will make good wine. By buying yeast, you make sure you get the right kind of yeast for wine. It was really lucky that we got drinkable wine.
3) We have no idea the alcohol content of this batch, we have the tools, but we should have made a measurement when we started the process and again at the end. The comparison is what tells you the alcohol content. We do know that it has a nice kick to it, I only drank one glass and had a nice gentle buzz. Hubby drank two glasses and said he'd had plenty (man speak for a buzz?). Neither of us woke up with any bad side effects the next day (some cheap wine and I feel awful after just a glass). My understanding is that wine kind of self regulates, over a certain alcohol content the yeast will die, so it is impossible to end up with 100 proof... no plans for us to start any distilled liquors, yet. Is that even legal?
4) Did I mention it was SWEET? My dad would never drink this--he likes a dry wine, but I'm guessing my sister will love it. Hubby likes it, and he tends to like a drier wine than me. How sweet? My favorite wine is port, and this is similar to that level of sweetness. For any 'real' wine drinkers out there, don't laugh at my unsophisticated palate.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Homemade Yogurt
This year (okay so next year, 2011... in like 2 days) we have decided we want to learn how to make more dairy products. Apart from making homemade butter (which is as simple as putting heavy cream in a lidded jar and shaking), yogurt was the next easiest dairy product to make at home.
I started my online search looking for a 'yogurt machine' for hubby for Christmas, but quickly saw that actually buying a machine was overkill for just how simple the process seemed. Basically it is as simple as this: heat milk, add a cup of starter yogurt, keep warm for a few hours, and... yogurt.
Back when I was a kid, my paternal grandparents used to make yogurt on the back of their stove top at night (I guess the pilot light kept it warm enough). I don't remember eating it, but everything I ate at their house was delicious.
We heated 1/2 gallon of whole milk on the stove (the milk was from Sprouts, not sure all the details, rTBH free?).
We cooked it until it was at 180F. (I think this is to kill any bacteria in the milk)
We then cooled it quickly to 120F by putting the pot into a sinkful of cold water. (this brings the milk back to a hospitable temperature for the good bacteria we are about to add)
We then stirred in 1/2 cup of the starter yogurt into the 120F milk. In this case, I used Stoneyfield plain cream top (this stuff is SOOO good).
Meanwhile, I also sterilized a random collection of canning jars to put the finished yogurt into. (not sure if this step is necessary. I figured we were intentionally creating the perfect environment for bacteria to grow, I wanted to make sure it was the 'right' kind of bacteria and not some random bad bacteria from my jar storage box)
We ladled half of the new yogurt into jars as is (just hot milk and yogurt).
We put the filled, lidded jars into a cooler filled with about 3 inches of hot water (target temp 120F).
This water and cooler will help to keep the new yogurt at a warm constant temperature for several hours to allow the bacteria to grow.
(I don't have a lot of kitchen gadgets, but I really love my digital thermometer.)
As an experiment, we added honey and vanilla to the second half of the batch.
These were lidded too and placed into the cooler to begin the yogurt incubation period. The recipes I found online all called for warm incubation periods of between 3 hours and overnight. Since we finished the cooking and mixing portion of this experiment at 9pm... and we are big babies who go to bed at about 9pm... we opted to allow it to incubate overnight. I read that the longer the incubation period, the tangier the yogurt would taste.
The next morning...
Viola! Yogurt!
Side Note: In all honesty, I only tipped the jar like this because I saw a picture of someone else doing this online to show how lovely and thick their yogurt was. I did it and was so thrilled that ours was that thick too. I snapped a quick picture then in the two seconds it took me to turn back around to put the camera down, the thick creamy top on the yogurt had given way and the sort-of-thick yogurt had poured out and pooled all over my counter. Oops.
Once stirred, the consistency was like a thin smoothie, not terribly thick, but no where near as runny as milk.
We ended up with about a half gallon of homemade yogurt and it was yummy. It was a tiny bit tart, and we all preferred the sweetened version to the straight plain yogurt we made.
By far, the best way we have found to eat this is to mix in a giant glob of my runny homemade peach preserves. Mmmm.
I was a little bit worried that the kids would not care for the tanginess of it, but they really loved it. Since it was so runny, I served it to them in cups with a straw and they slurped it right up. It is basically the consistency of the smoothies we make.
Considering the fact that the Stoneyfield yogurt we all like so much costs between $3.99 (on sale) and $5.00 (ouch) per quart this is a huge cost savings. In Dallas right now, a grocery store price war with the new Aldi store has milk going for around $0.99 per gallon! Even at the usual price of $1.99 per gallon (and with four quarts to a gallon) making our own saves a lot of money.
Basic Recipe:
1 gallon of milk
1/2 cup of live culture yogurt
seasoning:
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sweetener (honey or sugar)
1) heat milk to 180F
2) cool milk to 120F
3) stir in starter yogurt
4) sweeten if desired
5) ladle into sterilized jars
6) place in warm spot for 3-8 hours to incubate
7) refrigerate after incubation period is complete
I started my online search looking for a 'yogurt machine' for hubby for Christmas, but quickly saw that actually buying a machine was overkill for just how simple the process seemed. Basically it is as simple as this: heat milk, add a cup of starter yogurt, keep warm for a few hours, and... yogurt.
Back when I was a kid, my paternal grandparents used to make yogurt on the back of their stove top at night (I guess the pilot light kept it warm enough). I don't remember eating it, but everything I ate at their house was delicious.
We heated 1/2 gallon of whole milk on the stove (the milk was from Sprouts, not sure all the details, rTBH free?).
We cooked it until it was at 180F. (I think this is to kill any bacteria in the milk)
We then cooled it quickly to 120F by putting the pot into a sinkful of cold water. (this brings the milk back to a hospitable temperature for the good bacteria we are about to add)
We then stirred in 1/2 cup of the starter yogurt into the 120F milk. In this case, I used Stoneyfield plain cream top (this stuff is SOOO good).
Meanwhile, I also sterilized a random collection of canning jars to put the finished yogurt into. (not sure if this step is necessary. I figured we were intentionally creating the perfect environment for bacteria to grow, I wanted to make sure it was the 'right' kind of bacteria and not some random bad bacteria from my jar storage box)
We ladled half of the new yogurt into jars as is (just hot milk and yogurt).
We put the filled, lidded jars into a cooler filled with about 3 inches of hot water (target temp 120F).
This water and cooler will help to keep the new yogurt at a warm constant temperature for several hours to allow the bacteria to grow.
(I don't have a lot of kitchen gadgets, but I really love my digital thermometer.)
As an experiment, we added honey and vanilla to the second half of the batch.
These were lidded too and placed into the cooler to begin the yogurt incubation period. The recipes I found online all called for warm incubation periods of between 3 hours and overnight. Since we finished the cooking and mixing portion of this experiment at 9pm... and we are big babies who go to bed at about 9pm... we opted to allow it to incubate overnight. I read that the longer the incubation period, the tangier the yogurt would taste.
The next morning...
Viola! Yogurt!
Side Note: In all honesty, I only tipped the jar like this because I saw a picture of someone else doing this online to show how lovely and thick their yogurt was. I did it and was so thrilled that ours was that thick too. I snapped a quick picture then in the two seconds it took me to turn back around to put the camera down, the thick creamy top on the yogurt had given way and the sort-of-thick yogurt had poured out and pooled all over my counter. Oops.
Once stirred, the consistency was like a thin smoothie, not terribly thick, but no where near as runny as milk.
We ended up with about a half gallon of homemade yogurt and it was yummy. It was a tiny bit tart, and we all preferred the sweetened version to the straight plain yogurt we made.
By far, the best way we have found to eat this is to mix in a giant glob of my runny homemade peach preserves. Mmmm.
I was a little bit worried that the kids would not care for the tanginess of it, but they really loved it. Since it was so runny, I served it to them in cups with a straw and they slurped it right up. It is basically the consistency of the smoothies we make.
Considering the fact that the Stoneyfield yogurt we all like so much costs between $3.99 (on sale) and $5.00 (ouch) per quart this is a huge cost savings. In Dallas right now, a grocery store price war with the new Aldi store has milk going for around $0.99 per gallon! Even at the usual price of $1.99 per gallon (and with four quarts to a gallon) making our own saves a lot of money.
Basic Recipe:
1 gallon of milk
1/2 cup of live culture yogurt
seasoning:
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sweetener (honey or sugar)
1) heat milk to 180F
2) cool milk to 120F
3) stir in starter yogurt
4) sweeten if desired
5) ladle into sterilized jars
6) place in warm spot for 3-8 hours to incubate
7) refrigerate after incubation period is complete
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Ginger Honey Cough Syrup
Why oh why do my kids and I still get sick in the summer time? The rest of the country has to deal with colds during the severe winters when everyone retreats to heated homes and shares germs by the fireside. Here in Texas, we have a mild winter and a fierce summer, forcing us to retreat inside and share germs... by the AC unit.
Late June and both my kids and I got a nasty cold, complete with runny nose, hacking cough, and sore throat. Time to whip up a batch of ginger honey cough syrup. The ginger is good for sore throats and to help clear mucus (yummy!), the honey is an antibacterial and also soothing for sore throats, it also helps to calm the coughing reflex. (except in the case of my hubby who gags when he tastes ginger).
Ginger Honey Cough Syrup
1 tbs fresh ginger, peeled and diced
2 tbs local honey
1/2 cup hot water
Mix all ingredients and stir well. Allow to cool slightly then sip as needed. For a very strong tea, leave the ginger pieces in the jar. For a more mild tea, scoop out the ginger after about 10 minutes.
*It is meant to be thick and sweet, like syrup. Increase the amount of water for a more tea-like drink.
*This cough syrup will keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.
Late June and both my kids and I got a nasty cold, complete with runny nose, hacking cough, and sore throat. Time to whip up a batch of ginger honey cough syrup. The ginger is good for sore throats and to help clear mucus (yummy!), the honey is an antibacterial and also soothing for sore throats, it also helps to calm the coughing reflex. (except in the case of my hubby who gags when he tastes ginger).
Ginger Honey Cough Syrup
1 tbs fresh ginger, peeled and diced
2 tbs local honey
1/2 cup hot water
Mix all ingredients and stir well. Allow to cool slightly then sip as needed. For a very strong tea, leave the ginger pieces in the jar. For a more mild tea, scoop out the ginger after about 10 minutes.
*It is meant to be thick and sweet, like syrup. Increase the amount of water for a more tea-like drink.
*This cough syrup will keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Mulberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
Mulberry
2 parts olive oil
1 part balsamic vinegar
1 part mulberry syrup
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp herbs (I used parsley, oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary)
Mix all ingredients in a salad dressing cruet (or any lidded jar), shake until combined. Serve over spinach salad with strawberries and pecans.
2 parts olive oil
1 part balsamic vinegar
1 part mulberry syrup
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp herbs (I used parsley, oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary)
Mix all ingredients in a salad dressing cruet (or any lidded jar), shake until combined. Serve over spinach salad with strawberries and pecans.
Mulberry Syrup
Mulberry Syrup
This recipe was inteneded to make mulberry jam, but the jam never set up so I'm calling it syrup.
2 pounds mulberries (both ripe purple berries and unripe red or green berries)
2 pounds sugar
2 tbs lemon juice
Wash mulberries in cool water and drain. Prepare sterilized jelly jars, lids and bands if you plan to can the syrup.
Combine the berries, sugar, and lemon juice in a large sauce pot and cook over medium heat stirring constantly. It will look like entirely too much sugar at first. Use a potato masher or spoon to smash the berries.
Cook and smash until the sugar is dissolved and the berries have all been smashed, about 10 minutes.
After the berries have released their juice and the seeds and other chaff is floating on the surface of the juice, it is ready to strain.
Strain through several layers of cheese cloth, or a fresh paint strainer bag squeezing to get as much juice as possible. Return the juice to the pot and continue to cook until the syrup sheets from a spoon. Ladle into prepared jelly jars and process in a boiling water canning bath for 5 minutes. Remove from canner and listen for the pops to know the jars have sealed.
My Notes:
* My jelly never gelled so it is more like a very thick syrup, which is delicious on pancakes, french toast or in oatmeal.
*I made a second batch with Sure Gel fruit pectin, but that did not gel either.
*Internet research indicated that it might gel better if I add more sugar, but I don't want to use that much sugar. I'm happy enough with a syrup.
* I added 2 tbs mulberry syrup to my 7-up and it was delicious.
This recipe was inteneded to make mulberry jam, but the jam never set up so I'm calling it syrup.
2 pounds mulberries (both ripe purple berries and unripe red or green berries)
2 pounds sugar
2 tbs lemon juice
Wash mulberries in cool water and drain. Prepare sterilized jelly jars, lids and bands if you plan to can the syrup.
Combine the berries, sugar, and lemon juice in a large sauce pot and cook over medium heat stirring constantly. It will look like entirely too much sugar at first. Use a potato masher or spoon to smash the berries.
Cook and smash until the sugar is dissolved and the berries have all been smashed, about 10 minutes.
After the berries have released their juice and the seeds and other chaff is floating on the surface of the juice, it is ready to strain.Strain through several layers of cheese cloth, or a fresh paint strainer bag squeezing to get as much juice as possible. Return the juice to the pot and continue to cook until the syrup sheets from a spoon. Ladle into prepared jelly jars and process in a boiling water canning bath for 5 minutes. Remove from canner and listen for the pops to know the jars have sealed.
My Notes:
* My jelly never gelled so it is more like a very thick syrup, which is delicious on pancakes, french toast or in oatmeal.
*I made a second batch with Sure Gel fruit pectin, but that did not gel either.
*Internet research indicated that it might gel better if I add more sugar, but I don't want to use that much sugar. I'm happy enough with a syrup.
* I added 2 tbs mulberry syrup to my 7-up and it was delicious.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Hard Candy--Mexican Mint Marigold
My MIL has a huge row of Mexican Mint Marigold growing along her privacy fence. The row stretches about 40 feet with plant clumps every 1 foot. She has told me many times to bring some plants home, try it, try it, I hear they make candy from it in Mexico... can be used instead of Tarragon in cooking... so finally this weekend. I did.
Mexican Mint Marigold Hard Candy
Step 1: Herbal Tea infusion
1 large handful/bunch of Mexican Mint Marigold (or any herb), stems and all (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup water
Boil water. Meanwhile, use cool water to rinse surface dirt from the herbs. Unless the herbs are really dirty, be very quick with the rise, you don't want to wash off the tasty plant oils. Put herbs into a heat proof bowl and pour hot water over the herbs. Cover the bowl and allow to steep for 15 minutes to 1 hour. Scoop out the herbs, strain if necessary, reserving the liquid. Remeasure the tea and add water to equal 1 cup total liquid.
Step 2: Hard Candy
1 cup herbal tea infusion (see step 1)
2 tbs corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
candy thermometer
1 tsp powered sugar for dusting the finished candy--optional, but prevents sticking
Prepare cooling dish by spreading silpat pan liner or wax paper onto a cookie sheet.
In a small saucepan over low heat, boil the herbal tea, corn syrup and granulated sugar, stirring constantly until temperature reaches 280°F, or soft crack stage. About 35 minutes.
Immediately pour onto prepared cooling dish and allow to cool. When cool, break into bite sized pieces and dust with powered sugar.
**Common sense warning** only use herbs that you know have not been sprayed with pesticides, because illness and death is not a nice side effect when you want to enjoy a piece of candy.
Options and hints:
* For evenly sized pieces, use a large flat bladed knife to press score lines into the candy as it cools. This works best after the candy has cooled for about 10 minutes and has formed a skin across the surface.
* Neatly placed drops of hot candy across the cooling dish also make great smooth edged lozenges.
* It is possible to make lozenges by rolling the partially cooled candy into balls. This is very tricky, it requires the exact perfect temperature of the candy. It looks great if you can get it just right.
*This recipe can be used with any herb to make candy. Horehound candy was the basis for this recipe, but I have modified it to make rosemary candy, homemade mint candy, etc.
*If using a herb for its medicinal and not flavor properties, 1-2 drops of food grade wintergreen oil can be added at the end of the cooking time to improve flavor.
The original recipe came from a Martha Stewart Living Magazine in March 1999 and has been well used and modified by me ever since.
Mexican Mint Marigold Hard Candy
Step 1: Herbal Tea infusion
1 large handful/bunch of Mexican Mint Marigold (or any herb), stems and all (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup water
Boil water. Meanwhile, use cool water to rinse surface dirt from the herbs. Unless the herbs are really dirty, be very quick with the rise, you don't want to wash off the tasty plant oils. Put herbs into a heat proof bowl and pour hot water over the herbs. Cover the bowl and allow to steep for 15 minutes to 1 hour. Scoop out the herbs, strain if necessary, reserving the liquid. Remeasure the tea and add water to equal 1 cup total liquid.
Step 2: Hard Candy
1 cup herbal tea infusion (see step 1)
2 tbs corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
candy thermometer
1 tsp powered sugar for dusting the finished candy--optional, but prevents sticking
Prepare cooling dish by spreading silpat pan liner or wax paper onto a cookie sheet.
In a small saucepan over low heat, boil the herbal tea, corn syrup and granulated sugar, stirring constantly until temperature reaches 280°F, or soft crack stage. About 35 minutes.
Immediately pour onto prepared cooling dish and allow to cool. When cool, break into bite sized pieces and dust with powered sugar.
**Common sense warning** only use herbs that you know have not been sprayed with pesticides, because illness and death is not a nice side effect when you want to enjoy a piece of candy.
Options and hints:
* For evenly sized pieces, use a large flat bladed knife to press score lines into the candy as it cools. This works best after the candy has cooled for about 10 minutes and has formed a skin across the surface.
* Neatly placed drops of hot candy across the cooling dish also make great smooth edged lozenges.
* It is possible to make lozenges by rolling the partially cooled candy into balls. This is very tricky, it requires the exact perfect temperature of the candy. It looks great if you can get it just right.
*This recipe can be used with any herb to make candy. Horehound candy was the basis for this recipe, but I have modified it to make rosemary candy, homemade mint candy, etc.
*If using a herb for its medicinal and not flavor properties, 1-2 drops of food grade wintergreen oil can be added at the end of the cooking time to improve flavor.
The original recipe came from a Martha Stewart Living Magazine in March 1999 and has been well used and modified by me ever since.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Solar-Oven Chicken and Rice
Pretty, huh? The chicken was delicious, moist and fall off the bone tender. The rice however was a mushy mess. I probably need to use a sturdier rice grain next time. I used plain old short grain white rice this time (not quick cook, we don't even own any quick cook rice). I also sliced up two zucchini and they were just okay. The chicken was definitely the star of this dish.
Solar Oven Chicken and Rice
3 chicken thighs, 3 chicken legs
salt, pepper, paprika, garlic salt, Lawry's seasoning
1 cup rice
1 cup water
2 sliced zucchini
Put rice and water at the bottom of a covered baking dish. Arrange sliced zucchini over the top of rice. Arrange chicken pieces over the zucchini and season. Cover and place in solar oven.
Cooking time will vary. I put this out in the solar oven at about 11 am and pointed the oven at where the sun would be at 2-3pm. When I got home at 5, I reoriented the oven (it was still at ~225F) and let it heat back up to 300. I used a clear glass baking dish and covered it with a dark dishtowel to help minimize heat reflection out of the oven.
This was my first time at purchasing 'humanely raised, organic, hand cut' chicken from a local store. Most of the time we buy the big bags of pre-frozen chicken breasts from Sams (with sodium broth-and who knows what else-added), or we use fresh chicken which we have butchered ourselves--kind of a leap from one to the other right? I have found that with our home butchered and organic chicken from sprouts, I have to add a lot more salt to get the meat to taste right. I'm guessing it will take some time to re-calibrate my taste buds from being used to broth infused chicken breast to all natural chicken.
The most amazing part is that this meal cooked with zero electricity, gas, or other fuel which requires a monthly bill. This whole meal was cooked in my solar oven, using only the heat of the spring time sunshine. How great is that?
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Orange Cashew Chicken Recipe
Orange Cashew Chicken (loosely based on recipe from Taste of Home Magazine)
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes (I generally use less chicken and more veggies)
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 2 zucchini sliced
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 head broccoli florets
• Any other veggies that are in the fridge (green beans, peas, frozen corn, mushrooms, celery, pineapple etc)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade (could also use honey for non-orange flavor)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup salted cashews
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• Hot cooked rice
Directions
• In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry the chicken in oil for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken and cook the veggies, carrot and onion first, then add softer veggies. Add chicken back to pan and reduce heat.
• In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, ginger, garlic powder, chicken broth, marmalade and soy sauce until blended. Stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cashews, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with rice.
-If you like really sweet stuff (like honey and orange marmalade are not enough) you can add a few tablespoons of maraschino cherry juice to the sauce. It turns it into a pretty pink color and tastes a lot like Sweet and Sour chicken, especially if you add pineapples to the stir fry. I’m generally not big on sweet meats, but my family loves it.
-I cook up a huge batch of this each time I make it, we eat the leftovers for lunch the next day.
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes (I generally use less chicken and more veggies)
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 2 zucchini sliced
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 head broccoli florets
• Any other veggies that are in the fridge (green beans, peas, frozen corn, mushrooms, celery, pineapple etc)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade (could also use honey for non-orange flavor)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup salted cashews
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• Hot cooked rice
Directions
• In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry the chicken in oil for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken and cook the veggies, carrot and onion first, then add softer veggies. Add chicken back to pan and reduce heat.
• In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, ginger, garlic powder, chicken broth, marmalade and soy sauce until blended. Stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cashews, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with rice.
-If you like really sweet stuff (like honey and orange marmalade are not enough) you can add a few tablespoons of maraschino cherry juice to the sauce. It turns it into a pretty pink color and tastes a lot like Sweet and Sour chicken, especially if you add pineapples to the stir fry. I’m generally not big on sweet meats, but my family loves it.
-I cook up a huge batch of this each time I make it, we eat the leftovers for lunch the next day.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Solar Oven Cooking, Trial I
Hubby bought us a Solar Oven last week. It arrived just before Easter, but it has been cloudy, or chance of rain-y since. Yesterday morning, as I was preparing a batch of beans for the crock pot, I discovered that my leftover ham bone was much bigger than I thought and I ended up with an extra cup of soaked pinto beans.
With only a 10% chance of rain forecast for today and the sky totally clear before sunrise, I decided to give the solar oven a go.
I sliced off a small portion of ham for each of 2 half quart jars and added 1/2 cup of soaked beans to each. I put used canning jar lids on and barely tightened the screw bands.
I put the solar oven in the garden and pointed it approximately south/southwest so it would catch the rays the hottest part of the day. Ideally, the oven can be roatated throughout the day to follow the main rays of the sun; not-so- ideally, I work away from home all day long, so I had to work with what I had. Start time... 7 am.
Fast forward many hours of work.. and at 5 pm I returned home to find the sun oven sitting in full shade and the temp gauge reading ~80F...ambient air temp. But it appeared that something good had happened during the day. The liquid at the bottom of the jars was a milky beany color and the jars were quite warm to the touch. I quickly moved the oven to a sunny spot in the yard and realigned it to catch the last 2 hours of sunlight of the day. Within 10 minutes, the oven was reading back up at 200F and within 15 minutes the temp was at 250F.
By dinner time at 6, I had to use potholders to lift the jars--a great sign!
I also saw that at least one of the jars had reached a full rolling boil and had even boiled over onto the tray.
Now the review, and very handy comparison with crock pot beans.
Both jars needed more liquid, and in fact, so did the crock pot... My extra large ham bone had partially propped open the lid of the crock pot and the top inch of water had boiled out, leaving hard crunchy beans in the top inch of the crock pot. I had to carefully scoop the crunchy beans off the top of the crock pot. I figured the same fate faced the beans that were left out of the water in the solar oven cooking jars, but no. Actually, the solar oven beans above the water level were tender and soft, not at all crunchy.
Here is a side by side comparison:
crock pot beans are on the left and Solar beans are on the right. Both are perfectly cooked through and tender, the crock beans have a bit more fat and flavor (they also cooked with about 2lbs of ham bone, skin and fat) whereas the solar oven beans only got about 3 oz of ham meat per jar. The darker beans on the left were kind of hard due to being cooked above the water line (apparently, I was not successful in picking them all out). There were NO crunchy beans in the solar oven jars.
In conclusion:
1) beans in the solar oven were cooked to perfect consistency
2) beans in the solar oven above the waterline fared better than beans above the waterline in the crock pot
3) flavor of crock pot beans was better, but only due to the huge ham hock
4) solar beans took NO ELECTRICITY to cook, nada.
5) crock pot beans cooked all day on high in the crock pot (wish I had a way to measure how much electricity it took...)
Next time for solar cooking:
1) bigger jars
2) more water in the jars
3) Solar oven located in a place to get full afternoon sun (not the garden, apparently)
4) not too much to add, I am SO very pleased with our first solar cooking experience. I usually don't hit it right on the first try, but I could not imagine a better first attempt at something so novel.
Now, my next effort will be... Solar baking
With only a 10% chance of rain forecast for today and the sky totally clear before sunrise, I decided to give the solar oven a go.
I sliced off a small portion of ham for each of 2 half quart jars and added 1/2 cup of soaked beans to each. I put used canning jar lids on and barely tightened the screw bands.
I put the solar oven in the garden and pointed it approximately south/southwest so it would catch the rays the hottest part of the day. Ideally, the oven can be roatated throughout the day to follow the main rays of the sun; not-so- ideally, I work away from home all day long, so I had to work with what I had. Start time... 7 am.
Fast forward many hours of work.. and at 5 pm I returned home to find the sun oven sitting in full shade and the temp gauge reading ~80F...ambient air temp. But it appeared that something good had happened during the day. The liquid at the bottom of the jars was a milky beany color and the jars were quite warm to the touch. I quickly moved the oven to a sunny spot in the yard and realigned it to catch the last 2 hours of sunlight of the day. Within 10 minutes, the oven was reading back up at 200F and within 15 minutes the temp was at 250F.
By dinner time at 6, I had to use potholders to lift the jars--a great sign!
I also saw that at least one of the jars had reached a full rolling boil and had even boiled over onto the tray.
Now the review, and very handy comparison with crock pot beans.
Both jars needed more liquid, and in fact, so did the crock pot... My extra large ham bone had partially propped open the lid of the crock pot and the top inch of water had boiled out, leaving hard crunchy beans in the top inch of the crock pot. I had to carefully scoop the crunchy beans off the top of the crock pot. I figured the same fate faced the beans that were left out of the water in the solar oven cooking jars, but no. Actually, the solar oven beans above the water level were tender and soft, not at all crunchy.
Here is a side by side comparison:
crock pot beans are on the left and Solar beans are on the right. Both are perfectly cooked through and tender, the crock beans have a bit more fat and flavor (they also cooked with about 2lbs of ham bone, skin and fat) whereas the solar oven beans only got about 3 oz of ham meat per jar. The darker beans on the left were kind of hard due to being cooked above the water line (apparently, I was not successful in picking them all out). There were NO crunchy beans in the solar oven jars.
In conclusion:
1) beans in the solar oven were cooked to perfect consistency
2) beans in the solar oven above the waterline fared better than beans above the waterline in the crock pot
3) flavor of crock pot beans was better, but only due to the huge ham hock
4) solar beans took NO ELECTRICITY to cook, nada.
5) crock pot beans cooked all day on high in the crock pot (wish I had a way to measure how much electricity it took...)
Next time for solar cooking:
1) bigger jars
2) more water in the jars
3) Solar oven located in a place to get full afternoon sun (not the garden, apparently)
4) not too much to add, I am SO very pleased with our first solar cooking experience. I usually don't hit it right on the first try, but I could not imagine a better first attempt at something so novel.
Now, my next effort will be... Solar baking
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