Author Archives: michele343

Memories

10 Saturday Dec 2011

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A memory I have growing up is of my dad always playing county music. Well I loved all music as a little kid. But as I got older (a teen) I wanted to find my own style. I had some cd’s he took away (probably because of language). But I always heard him playing it in his shop, truck, in his classroom at school.

And as I got older I found myself turning back on the country music.  But not 100% I had to be diverse.  So I would listen to whatever was striking my mood.  Later here in my life as now I have kids and my family is growing I am finding I am listening to country more and more.  It is just something that well is known, comfortable, and well it means something to me.  Plus I think I also understand what made my dad love it so much too.  It has true feeling, talks about life, and has no bad words in it.

Now I have had friends wonder why am I a down home country mom?  Well I have a life long answer for that but the best is that my dad and my parents gave me great opportunites and well it is part of my soul.  I love the country & I like the city.  It is yes a different mix but well I have learned to adapt.  I love my rodeo’s, PBR, going looking for deer, 4×4, and so much more.  Some of my friends have told me I am well rounded. 

But now that it is christmas time it is fun to be listening to the songs and singing along and hear my kids saying to me “mom how do you know all the words”?  I am so excited to see how they take the things I am showing them and what they do and what they say years later.  I hope that they will learn to enjoy the simple things, the meanings, to slow down, and to realize that they have been loved for many generations. 

In a daze or lack of sleep??

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Kids

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Have you ever wondered how it is some days you function and get things done? Well I do. We have our kids in activities they want to do & love everyday of the week but sometimes I just don’t know how to fit all the things in. Its almost like a puzzle. I get so tired some days but I have to keep going. And not even coffee or things helps anymore. I just go & go naturally til I crash. And it isn’t bad I’m not saying that.

Now my mother-in-law tells me from time to time that I have the kids in to many things but I remind her that the kids have picked these sports and activities.  We don’t push them to do these and well we use to be this active when we were kids.  But I don’t argue with her I just am sweet and let her know that some how we make it work.

But that is the thing that amazes me.  At the end of the day how do I fit it all in?  It is crazy.  The homework, the study, research, the cooking, cleaning, appointments, etc.  It just all amazes me.  And well I am not a mom that runs on 5 hour energy drinks, coffee, or other things.  I just wake up with natural energy and keep a pace some how.  But some mornings I feel a little slow.  Like all my thoughts and plans just haven’t connected yet.  I am such an organized & planning person so to have this slight disconnect from time to time drives me nuts.  But I am sure that it maybe has to do with lack of sleep.  If only I could sleep in one day.

White Chicken Chili

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Recipes, Soup

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Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped or 1 cup
  • 1-2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped green chiles (fresh or canned) or 2 jalapeño chili peppers
  • 2 pounds ground chicken or cooked and chopped chicken breast pieces ( I have found most chicken works good)
  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 2-4 (15-ounce cans) cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
  • 4-5 cups chicken stock
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
  • Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
  • Cheese for topping
  • Sour Cream for topping
  • Crackers or bread for topping or dipping
  • Flat leaf parsley for garnish or topping
  • Green onions for topping
  • Serve with Tortilla Chips

Directions

  • In a large heavy bottom pot, dutch oven heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook, garlic, and chiles and sauté for 5 min. 
  • Add the chicken, cumin, oregano, and chili powder, red pepper flakes. 
  • Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 min. 
  • Stir the flour into the chicken mixture. 
  • Add the beans, corn and chicken stock. 
  • Bring mixture to a simmer, scrapping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. 
  • Simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Combine all in slow cooker cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 
  • Ladle into serving bowls. Add toppings Cheese, sour cream, crackers, bread, parsley, green onions. Enjoy!

Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Recipes, Soup

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Makes: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground Italian sausage
  • 11/2 tsp crushed red peppers
  • 1 large diced white onion
  • 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
  • 2 tsp garlic puree
  • 10 cups water
  • 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
  • 1/4 of a bunch of kale

Directions

  • Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft. Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
  • Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
  • Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve. Delicious!

Baked Potato Soup

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Recipes, Soup

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If you prefer a lightened version, use 2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth and 2 cups of milk instead of 4 cups of milk.

Although potatoes are already providing carbohydrates in this meal, serve it with bread so you can sop up every drop.

Ingredients

  • 2 large baking potatoes (about 8 ounces each)
  • 6 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion (3)
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons snipped fresh dill or chives or 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 4 cups milk
  • 1-1/4 cups shredded American cheese (5 ounces)
  • 4 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled

Directions

  • Note – Sometimes I use 1 cup whipping cream, some onion for flavor. directions 
  1. Scrub potatoes with a vegetable brush; pat dry. Prick potatoes with a fork. Bake in a 425 degree F oven for 40 to 60 minutes or until tender; cool. Cut each potato lengthwise. Scoop out white portion of each potato. Break up any large pieces of potato. Discard potato skins. 
  2. In a large saucepan cook 3 tablespoons of the green onion in butter over medium heat until tender. Stir in flour, dill, salt, and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir for 12 to 15 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Add the potato and 1 cup of the cheese; stir until cheese melts. 
  3. Top each serving with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese, remaining 3 tablespoons green onion, and the bacon. 4. Makes 5 to 6 servings (5 1/2 cups)

Butter And Lard Pie Crust

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Desert, Recipes

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This crust is based on one I found elsewhere, except the original did not use lard. Try making 2 pies, one with lard and the other with shortening. You’ll notice the difference then, and will henceforth be a lover of lard. One reason lard is so great is because it tastes better than shortening, which tastes like a cross between Vaseline and plastic. Lard tastes good. It also melts at a lower temperature than shortening does. In fact, like butter, the other great animal fat, it melts on the tongue, at body temperature. Shortening does not. This means that shortening users never get to experience that crumble then melt in the mouth texture we get from using lard. It may be light, and it may be flaky, but it will not melt in your mouth.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
  • 3/4 cup (6 ozs. or 11Ž2 stick) Unsalted Butter , chilled and cubed
  • 3/4 cup (6 ozs.) Lard, chilled and cubed
  • 4-5 Tbs. (~1/3 c.) Iced Water

Directions

  • The best way I have found to make a perfect pie crust is with a food processor. Put the dry ingredients in the bowl and mix well. Add the chunks of chilled butter and lard on top and pulse the food processor until it looks like coarse meal. Do not overmix this, and make sure the fats are cold ! Dump this into another bowl. It should still have large chunks of fat in it, ranging in size from the size of a pea to the size of shelled walnuts. Add the water and mix it with a fork until it comes together. 
  • Stir with a fork until it gathers together. It should still be crumbly.
  • Divide this in two and dump it onto a piece of waxed or parchment paper (or plastic wrap) and flatten it to a disk, about 4-6 inches in diameter. 
  • Divide into two piles, and dump each onto some parchment or waxed paper (or plastic wrap)
  • Gather the pile together gently with your hands. DO NOT KNEAD THE DOUGH !
  • Wrap the dough in the parchment, waxed paper, or plastic wrap and flatten it. Chill in the refrigerator, or freeze for later use.
  • Cover the disks well and let them chill until very cold. The dough should not be wet at all. In fact, it should be somewhat dry and crumbly and difficult to work with at this point. As it cools in the refrigerator, the flour will absorb the water, and solidify. You do not want to knead this at all. Kneading this will form gluten, which is the enemy of pie crust. Gluten makes a pie crust very tough.
  • You can also freeze these disks of pie crust for a very long time. I am not really sure how long, but I know I have gone a year (hey, it got buried in the freezer) and the crust was perfectly fine. Just make sure it is tightly wrapped.
  • Once your crust is very cold, it is time to roll. Flour your work surface and take out the crust. Place it on the flour and roll it gently from the center outward. Roll it a bit larger than the pie tin you will be using. If you made this correctly, you will see the chunks of fat in the dough, and as you roll the dough these will flatten, and THAT IS WHAT MAKES THE FLAKES. You cannot do this with oil. Nope !
  • Gently press this into your pie tin, and proceed with your pie of choice. If you want to bake this “blind” (empty), chill the finished crust in the pie tin and then poke holes in the bottom with a fork. Place some baking parchment paper or foil inside the crust and add some beens or rice to weigh down the crust. Bake this at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 15 minutes. Let the crust cool and remove the beans or rice. Bake the crust again for another 10 minutes, or until a nice golden brown. If you bake the crust without the beans or rice in it, the crust may shrink while it bakes. If you bake the crust completely with the beans or rice in it, then the inside of the crust will not bake.
  • Remember, when baking a pie where the filling is cooked in the crust, set the oven rack low and start with a high temperature (around 400 Fahrenheit) and then turn the temperature down after about 10-15 minutes. This will assure the bottom crust does not end up raw and soggy. A metal pie pan is better than glass for insuring a properly cooked crust. Glass pie pans take too long to transfer heat to the crust, and the pie top sometimes gets overdone while the bottom crust stays raw. Glass pie pans are okay for baking blind crusts, because you can just bake it longer to get it done. Foil pie pans are great, but do not look as nice. I like to flip my pies out of the foil for serving, and the foil pans can be washed and reused. Hey ! Every penny counts these days.
  • Note: Some recipes call for oil. This does melt in the mouth, but cannot make a flaky crust. Flaky means crumbly and tender, and that is a good thing in a pie crust. But how do we get these flakes ? What is the secret to flaky pie crust ? The answer lies in the mixing technique. Butter is great because it is butter. No need to explain. Lard, on the other hand, is nothing short of miraculous in pie crust. Lard is the secret. Truly, this is a shame, since you CANNOT make a perfect pie crust without butter and lard. So go get some right now.

Richest Spritz Cookies

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Desert, Recipes

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Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 c Confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 c Butter, softened
  • 2 Egg yolks -OR 1 Egg
  • 1 t Vanilla extract
  • 1/2 t Almond extract (opt)
  • 2 1/2 c All-purpose flour
  • 1/2 t Salt Food color (opt)

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 400’F.
  • Cream confectioners’ sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed.
  • Beat in egg yolks, vanilla and almond extracts.
  • Combine flour and salt.
  • Add to butter mixture; mix well.
  • Tin dough with food color, if desired. Place dough in cookie press.
  • Press onto ungreased baking stones about 2″ apart.
  • Decorate as desired.
  • Bake 6-8 minutes or until very slightly browned around edges.
  • Remove to wire racks to cool.
  • Makes about 6 1/2 dozen cookies.

Company Pot Roast

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Dinner, Recipes

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Ingredients

  • 1 (4 to 5-pound) prime boneless beef chuck roast, tied
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • All-purpose flour
  • Good olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
  • 2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
  • 2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks)
  • 2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 to 4 leeks)
  • 5 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • 2 cups good red wine, such as Burgundy
  • 2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
  • 1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in puree
  • 1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube
  • 3 branches fresh thyme
  • 2 branches fresh rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. 
  • Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Dredge the whole roast in flour, including the ends. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large plate.
  • Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the wine and Cognac and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, bouillon cube, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Tie the thyme and rosemary together with kitchen string and add to the pot. Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil, and cover. Place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is fork tender or about 160 degrees F internally. Turn the heat down to 250 degrees F after about an hour to keep the sauce at a simmer.
  • Remove the roast to a cutting board. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Transfer half the sauce and vegetables to a blender or a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree until smooth. Pour the puree back into the pot, place on the stovetop over low heat, and return the sauce to a simmer. Place 2 tablespoons flour and the butter in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Taste for seasonings. Remove the strings from the roast, and slice the meat. Serve warm with the sauce spooned over it.

Zabaglione with Cream

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Desert, Recipes

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Ingredients

  • 6 large egg yolks
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 6 tablespoons Vin Santo wine or Marsala
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

  • Put the egg yolks in a stainless steel bowl. Whisk in the sugar, and Vin Santo wine or Marsala.
  • Cook’s Note: A good rule of thumb is a tablespoon of each ingredient per yolk.
  • Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Lower the heat and place the steel bowl over but not touching the water. Whisk the yolk mixture for 8 minutes, or until it becomes light and creamy. Monitor the heat, otherwise you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. Set aside and let cool.
  • In another bowl, whip the cream with a hand mixer.
  • Gently fold the zabaione into the whipped cream with a rubber spatula, and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until ready to serve. Serve in glasses with blueberries on top.

Pizza Dough #2

10 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Dough, Recipes

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This is a fantastic, reliable, everyday pizza dough, which can also be used to make bread. It’s best made with Italian Tipo “00” flour, which is finer ground than normal flour, and it will give your dough an incredible super-smooth texture. Look for it in Italian markets and good supermarkets. If using white bread flour instead, make sure it’s a strong one that’s high in gluten, as this will transform into a lovely, elastic dough, which is what you want. Mix in some semolina flour for a bit of color and flavor if you like.

Ingredients

  • 7 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo “00” flour or 5 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo “00” flour, plus 2 cups finely ground semolina flour
  • 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
  • 2 (1/4-ounce) packets active dried yeast
  • 1 tablespoon raw sugar
  • 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Directions

  • Sift the flours and salt onto a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a large measuring cup, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.
  • Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.
  • Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called punching down the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straightaway, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.
  • Timing-wise, it’s a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don’t roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it’s better to leave your dough, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there’s 1 less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 1/4-inch thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted aluminum foil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with plastic wrap, and pop them into the refrigerator.