Baked Barley

I have a lot of barley, now what?  Here is a recipe I found in the book, 'Marlene's Magic with Food Storage'. 
1 cup pearl barley
1/4 cup dried chopped onion, reconstituted
1/3 cup dehydrated sliced mushrooms, reconstituted
5 Tbl. butter
1 tsp dehydrated chicken or beef bouillon, dissolved in 2 cups boiling water
Salt & Pepper to taste.

In a skillet, saute onions and mushrooms in butter until tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in barley and continue cooking until it is browned lightly.  Pour the mixture into a buttered casserole dish and add 1 cup bouillon. Cover and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Uncover and stir in remaining cup of bouillon.  Add salt and pepper.  Cover and continue baking until all the liquid is absorbed and the barley is tender.  Serves 4-6

Cook's Notes:  I used a small can of mushrooms and cut the recipe in half.

Strawberry Kiwi Jam
3 cups of crushed strawberries
3 peeled and diced kiwi
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
1 Tablespoon of minced crystallized ginger
1 package of pectin
5 cups of sugar
Start the recipe out by combining the strawberries, kiwi, ginger, lemon juice and the pectin together in a large saucepan. Do not use any sort of copper pans for making jams. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil being sure to stir it frequently. Add the sugar to the combination and return the mixture to a complete boil again. Once again stir the mixture constantly.

Continue to boil the mixture for an additional minute and then remove it from the heat. Skim off any foam that has developed. Ladle the final product into very hot, sterilized jars and leave a 1/4 inch headspace in each. Place the lids on the jars and process them in a boiling water bath for approximately 10 minutes. You may have to adjust the boiling time according to the altitude

Cook's Notes: I used a box of strawberry jell-o and 1 cup less of sugar. It made (7) 1/2 pints of jam.

Week 5

I've got to keep track of which week I'm on. Jams and jellys are a good way to use your canned sugar.  I used 4 cups in the Kiwi Jam recipe.  You can burn through it fairly quickly at that rate.

We are going to be getting the dry pack canner soon. I need to get rid of the #10 can's of cat food (all died) and can some dog food.  Cozy is 6, so I guess it's time to get her prepared too.

Kiwi Jam
Yield is about 5 half-pint jars.

5 kiwi (peeled and chopped)
1 Package Powdered Pectin
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
4 cups sugar

Combine kiwi, pectin, and pineapple juice in a large pot. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to boiling. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Fill hot canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

high altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes

I tried the leftovers in the pot-way way sweet.  Next time I would cut the sugar by at least 1/2 cup.  Also I didn't like the color of the jam as it cooked.  I added a drop of yellow & blue food coloring. 

The recipe was from this blog:
http://canningjarsetc.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-favorite-jam-recipe-kiwi-jam.html

Jam Tomorrow

I was at Costco today and bought a big package of kiwis and a large one of strawberries.  Both were very well priced.  Tomorrow, I'm making jam.

Cinnamon Rolls

The before and after:

I just wanted to add that they were great.  I gave a pan away, kept one to eat and froze two others.

Brioche

Brioche dough (makes about 4 loaves)


1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
8 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey (this is my all time favorite!)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container.
Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated.
Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours.
The dough can be used as soon as it is chilled. This dough is way too sticky to use after the initial rise, but once it is chilled it is very easy to handle. It can be used to create the Tatin or any of these brioche recipes: caramel sticky buns, grilled fruit tart, Fresh Fruit Muffins, Brioche à tête, apricot pastries and fabulous doughnuts! The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. After that you can freeze the dough.

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=357

Chicken Soup, part 2

A couple of tips for next time.  It is probably much easier to take the meat off the bone, than cook it off.  It seems the chicken literally falls apart when you cook it to get the meat off.  Who knew?  I do now.  It took a while to pick out the bones, skin, and cartilage.  I did end up with 7 pints of soup. 

I added a carrot and celery puree to the chicken as it cooked.  I added bouillion cubes and a package of onion soup mix to give it some flavor.

When I filled the bottles, I added large chunks of carrots, celery and a little bit of parsnip.  I've never eaten parsnip before and just threw it in.

The stock was actually quite tasty and had a lot of chicken in it.  That is 7 meals I wouldn't of had before.  Like I said I usually end up throwing the carcass away after picking at it.

What to do with a naked chicken...

Ever been to a family gathering and there is a ham bone or chicken carcass with a lot of meat still attached, and someone asks if you want to take it to make soup?  Yeah, right. Not Me!  Well, guess what I'm doing this morning?  Being frugal.  I bought one of those rotisserie chickens that you get pre-cooked at the store.  Chris and I had a nice dinner, but then what?  You are left with a picked apart chicken sitting in the fridge and it usually remains there until you or your spouse gets tired of reaching around it and throws it out.  Yeah, maybe the dog might get a nibble, but then what? Today I am finding out.  I have it boiling on the stove.  I think this is maybe the second time I've ever made chicken soup.  I am going to see if it is edible and can some soup.  I know you're supposed to cook vegetables with it, so I'll add some pureed carrots and celery and season it.  Then here is the brillant part.  I am going to add raw celery and carrots  to it in the jars.  I have to pressure can it, because it has both veggies and meat.  I don't want to have mushy veggies.  I know you aren't supposed to add noodles and can it because they turn to slime.  I like my vegetables to be firm, so I figure why not let them cook in the pressure canner.  More later...

Brioche

Busy day today...I went to a RS meeting for a Brioche dough.  It can be used for Challah and Cinnamon Rolls also.  I'll post it later.  A sister is going through the temple for the first time this afternoon, and then I have a RS pres. meeting at 6 and Stake RS meeting at 7 pm.  No rest for the wicked...

Thanks for Following Me...

The web address has always bothered me. I wanted goodmuse and got ggodmuse.

How to Make Your Own Flavored Gelatin

1/2oz. or 2 1/4 Tbl. unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
3 cups fruit juice
juice of l lemon
sugar, to taste

Soak the gelatin in cold water until softened.  Strain fruit juices, if needed, and then heat to boiling point.  Pour hot juice over gelatin. Add lemon juice. Add sugar to taste.  Chill until jelled.  Serve with fruit, custard sauce or whipped cream.

21-year-old Raspberry Gelatin

I tried it last night.  It gelled, but had a metallic taste.  Good-bye, Jell-o.

Granola

I've decided that I really don't like the dried apricots, I put in the granola.  I think dried pineapple, cranberries and raisins are my favorite fruit combo.  I also used a 3 to 1 ratio of honey to maple syrup.  Real maple syrup is expensive.  I think next time I'll use maple flavored syrup.

Week 4

Okay, did I make the mistake of saying I had the whole wheat bread thing, down?  My mistake.  I tried yesterday to make only one loaf.  I have a new doorstop.  I am DETERMINED to make a great single loaf of whole wheat bread!

Today, I am trying again.  Instead of just halving the ingredients, I am altering the amounts.  So far the proof came out good.  I used 1 1/2 Tbl. yeast, one cup ww flour, and one cup water.  I let it sit for 45 minutes.  It rose nicely.  On to step two; added one cup ww flour & 1/4 cup vital gluten, and mixed well.  I added the oil, honey and salt and continued to add ww flour.  I continued to mix to a nice dough.  I sprayed the kitchenaid bowl with a light coating of Pam and floured it.  I added the ball to the mixed and started to knead on #2 for 10 minutes.  I was worried about the dough sticking to the bowl, so as I saw that beginning to happen, I dusted the sides with a powdered dough enhancer that contains lecithin.  I probably added maybe two tablespoons full.  I placed the dough in my Hammarplast dough bowl and it is rising well.

This bowl is probably one of the best investments I ever made.  You don't need to grease it, the air circulates all around it and with the lid you don't have to worry about drafts.  I purchased it from Williams Sonoma, probably 25 years ago.  I understand the company doesn't make them anymore.  Too bad.

I have been cooking my little fingers to the bone!  I canned chicken, sloppy joes and made granola.  I also had to cook some more wheat and make non-fat milk to go with my breakfast.  I canned mostly 1/2 pint jars.  It is enough for Chris and myself.  I canned some larger pint jars, if we need them.  I had planned on doing plain ground beef also, but it was just so much easier to make it all sloppy joes.  I have a great recipe for them that I made x4.

Sloppy Joe's                                                               

 1 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup water

2 cubes beef bouillion

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp prepared mustard

In a skillet, brown meat with pepper & onion; pour off fat.  Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-20 minutes.  Serve on hamburger buns.  Refrigerate leftovers.  Makes 4-6 servings.

Canning Friday

I am sooo tired.  Chris and I have been canning spaghetti sauce all day long!  He asked me why we needed to can it instead of just freeze it in foodsaver bags.  Because what happens when the electricity goes out?  The freezer doesn't work.

The sauce spent a few hours on the stove and then we got to work.  We checked on the last items we canned, from 1999 and lets just say I'm sure the worms in the compost bin are eating good tonight.  We really geared up when we didn't know what to expect from Y2k.  This time we canned mostly 1/2 pint jars.  That is enough for two servings of sauce since we're empty nesters...I did can some larger jars for company or when I have to take dinner in to someone at the last minute.

I also made some cafe de Cebada, like I used to drink on my mission.  Cebada is barley in Spanish.  More tomorrow.

Great Coleslaw Recipe

I don't know about you, but I love Kentucky Fried Chicken's coleslaw.  I get the dinner, just so I can get the side of coleslaw (and the biscuit).  Here is a copycat recipe I found somewhere:

KFC COLESLAW
* 8 cups finely diced cabbage (about 1 head)
* 1/4 cup diced carrot
* 2 tablespoons minced onions
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 1/4 cup buttermilk
* 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
* 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions
Finely dice cabbage and carrots.
Place cabbage and carrot mixture into large bowl and add minced onions.
Using regular blade on food processor, process remaining ingredients until smooth.
Pour over vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly.
Cover bowl and refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.

cook's notes: I usually just put 1/2 cup of buttermilk in place of the 1/4 cup milk & 1/4 cup buttermilk.  This time when I made the recipe, I used buttermilk powder that I bought in Utah.

I bought 10 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts today @ $1.99/lb.  I also got 9 lbs. of hamburger @ $1.49/lb.  Both were on sale, so I took advantage of it.  Why might you ask do I need 19 lbs of meat?  Because tomorrow I am going to can meat for the first time.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Banana Bread

This is the WW Banana Bread.

Moist Whole Wheat Banana Bread Recipe and Instructions:

Be sure to use ultra ripe bananas for this. Their skins should be mottled black and they should feel soft to the touch. Using what you would normally consider to be ripe bananas will diminish the bread’s rich flavor.

½ cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter
½ cup (3 ¾ ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (~ 12 ounces) mashed ripe banana (3-4 medium to large bananas)
¼ cup (3 ounces) honey (I used sugar – works fine)
2 large eggs
2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat (I found that 2 cups was closer to 10 ounces – guess my whole wheat is heavy)
½ cups (2 ounces) chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and nuts, stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Bake the bread for 50 minutes. Lay a piece of foil gently across the top and bake until a cake tester (like a toothpick) inserted into the center comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes more. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

http://www.breadtopia.com/moist-whole-wheat-banana-bread/  I got the recipe from this site.
I had 4-5 over ripe bananas and want to use them up.  I bought a 4 small loaf pan in Utah, so it will be perfect to try with this recipe.

Blender Milk Shakes

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/magicmilkshakes.htm  Here is a link to the recipe listed below. Check it out to see her reasoning for the oil and spray.  I'm giving it a try tomorrow.

Magic Milk Shakes
1/2 to 2 cups ice water
1-1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 1-1/2 trays of ice cubes, as much as you can spare
2 tablespoons corn oil plus a 5-second squirt of non-stick spray for emulsification purposes

Place all of the ingredients into the blender, including the oil and the non-stick spray. Use less water for thicker milk shakes and more water for shakes that are easy on your blender motor. The blender should be about 3/4’s full. Place the lid on. Process for a full 2 minutes. Pour into cups and serve. Makes 4 - 12oz servings.

Week 3

I'm counting this a week three, since I was gone last week.  I made ww bread today.  I pretty much have that one down!  I am looking for recipes and info on canning meat.  I want to do some of that this week.  Wouldn't it be great to have pre-cooked canned bacon that you could spinkle on salads, sandwiches, etc?

So far we've seen 3 cars in the snow including a highway patrol. Also a semi was jack knifed and another car was mangled.

We're headed back home. I can't wait to try some new recipes!

We went to Welfare Square in SLC, today. I got another cooking with food storage book and picked up a #10 can of stortening powder and buttermilk powder, also. I am excited to get back home to start cooking and experimenting again.

We have been driving all over Utah since early this morning! We must have hit 5 or 6 Deseret Industries. My DH thinks they're great. I thought I would be able to find some great food storage cookbooks. I found 4-5 books, but not exactly what I was looking for.

Honey is a great sweetener for bread. It improves both flavor and keeping quality. Honey can sub for sugar in equal amounts.

Honey French Dressing
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. salt or pepper, to taste
Dash of pepper
2 tbl. honey
1/3 cup vinegar
1 cup oil
Combine dry ingredients, blend in honey and vinegar. Slowly add oil, beating constantly. Makes 1 1/3 cups.

We qre making our way to SLC. We stopped in St. George. I got a bottle of root beer extract, and found a book, 'Cooking With Honey', by Hazel Berto. I got that at a second hand store. More later...

Bread part dos

Okay, let's just say I made 2 ten-pound bricks.  Learn from my mistakes.  Batch two made later in the day came out beautiful. Here is what I think happened.

I made the mistake of putting the yeast proof in a small glass bowl.  I thought that I could make the mix in the KitchenAid with the beater.  After proofing, I added everything to the mixture and then when it was done mixing change out the beater for the dough hook.  I noticed right away that the consistency was not the same.  There was a lot of dough that stuck to the sides of the bowl.  It didn't knead cleanly and was an elastic mess. 

Here's what I should have done.  I should have started the proof in a large glass bowl. When it was done, I needed to add the other ingredients to the bowl (like the recipe) and mix it all by hand.  It took a few minutes, but the result was worth it.  I added about a tablespoon of flour to the bottom of the KitchenAid bowl, to help prevent sticking, and added a nice ball of dough to the bowl.  It kneaded the bread to a beautiful, non-sticky, dough.  I followed the rest of the recipe as it was and guess what? The next two loaves came out great.

BTW, I'm in Las Vegas to attend my daughters graduation from Le Cordon Bleu's baking and pastry program.  Then it's on to Utah for her wedding open house.  More later...

Bread Day

Okay, I was looking to make a great loaf of ww bread, that was eatable.  I tried one recipe and wound up with a 10 lb. brick.  Luckily, I did a search and found it!  My first attempt was great, so today I am trying to duplicate it.http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/wholewheatbread2

I ground the wheat in a Grain Master grinder.  I was a bit short on the wheat, and didn't want to go down to the basement to get another can, so I used some of the six-grain mix.  It was a bit tougher to put through the grinder, only because it was flat flakes and not roundish kernals.  IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure the lid to the receiving bowl is on tight...

I will preface this by saying I may have already have botched it by not measuring the yeast correctly.  I was thinking 4 1/2 Tbl. but it was really teaspons.

Let me just say the the proof is rising beautifully.

Wk. 2 con't

Okay, I was lazy and didn't go to Trader Joes. My daughter, Courtney, was doing a huge favor for someone at church, and was making a small wedding cake for TONIGHTS ceremony. I had to stay close to home so I could sneak buttercream frosting from the bowl. Hello. My name is Kim and I am a chocoholic, junk foodaholic and carboholic. I'm waaaay beyond 13 steps at this point in my life.

What I did do last night was open some potato pearls we had canned in 1998. You know in anticipation of Y2K? The label says they should be used within 3 years. It's true. Yikes, they were a dark gold color and tasted, well less than appealing. I told my DH that we probably have 2 cases we need to dump. The worms in the compost bin will be in heaven.

My hubby was opposed to it, but I mentioned if there really was an emergency, would you want to eat something we wouldn't eat now? Courtney asked about that. In our culture, food is such a comfort item to many people. We have good feelings when we eat mom's apple pie, or we were rewarded with candy for doing something good. I want to at least eat something that is palatable.

I served a church mission in Guatemala for 16 months. Whenever I was having a bad day, or week, I'd reach for my comfort food. I managed to find white bread, bottled jelly and a jar of peanut butter. A PB&J. Good times.

Week 2

Beans, beans, the magical fruit...I have never cooked beans before, so this was a new experience for me. I cooked a petite bag of small white beans. Yikes. They smell gross and don't look any better. I pureed them after cooking, because I have a recipe for low-fat, whole wheat, blueberry muffins. Supposedly, you can substitute the puree for the oil in the recipe. This could be scary. I need to run to Trader Joe's to get the berries. I'll let you know how it turns out. ...to be continued...