Comforts of Home!

Mmmmmm! I know this isn't the most gorgeous picture, but it is a very comforting picture. Just think...these are warm out of the oven! Homemade! I sat down with a cup of steaming hot joe, these biscuits and a jar of lemon curd. How much more comforting can you get?! Here's my recipe.




Scratch Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
6 tablespoons of shortening, butter or margarine
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt

Cut all of the shortening into the dry ingredients until nice and crumbly.

Then, add...
1 cup of milk or buttermilk (I add 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup of either sour cream or plain yogurt)

Stir this all together until the ingredients are nice and wet.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead about 6 times. This will make a few flaky layers.
Pat into about a 1/2 inch slab.
Cut with a biscuit cutter or a floured drinking glass.
Place on an ungreased baking pan.
If you have dough left over, gather it, fold it once or twice and pat into another 1/2 inch slab.
Cut more biscuits.
When you don't have enough left over to cut, make a hand-styled biscuit (see top left biscuit).
Bake at 400 degrees until nicely browned.

Japanese Meatloaf

I tried a WONDERFUL meatloaf recipe from the blog I follow called Japanese Cooking Lovers. It is listed on the right of this blog. You MUST try this! This is a pic of my Hubby's lunch today. I made smaller meatloaves so they'd fit nicely into a container with other stuff. Green beans to the top left; meatloaf to the top right; baked potato on the bottom.

I can't tell you how yummy this was. It cooked up in a matter of minutes. It was SO juicy and had SO much flavor that I didn't even use the sauce given in the recipe. The best part is it cooks in a frying pan so you don't have to wait for hours to eat it.

There was a tip on the site to make the meatloaf very tender. It was a little hard to figure, but I asked Yuri about it. When you put all of the meat ingredients together, whip the meat until your arms get tired. Then whip it some more. And then whip it some more. This breaks down the fibers in the meat and incorporates all of the ingredients well. The meat should be creamy and loose when you are done.

Please check out the Japanese Cooking Lovers blog! You will not be sorry!

Happy cooking!

Thanksgiving's Just Desserts

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving! This is my holiday to cook for family and friends. I really enjoy having the company and spending quality time with family and friends. We had several friends at our table this year. The more the merrier.

Here is a pic of just my desserts for this year. I went a little crazy.

The yellow bundt cake was made into a banana cream cake. Middle left pic is a cherry and blackberry pie, middle right is pumpkin. Top left pie is apple and top right is peach. I also made a banana cream pie, which was in the fridge. They all turned out well and I didn't have too much left over as most people took extras home. I gave away the apple pie to our yard boy and his family. He came over to help me out with a little chore the day before Thanksgiving, so I gave him the pie and a few bucks for his efforts. I hope they liked it.


Here's a really simple recipe I'd like to share with you. It's for the crumb topping on the pies.


Crumb Topping


Take equal parts of:

Butter, softened
Brown Sugar
Flour
Oatmeal


Mix them together until crumbly. Crumble on top of the pie and bake your pie as usual.


Tip: for each pie, I use half cup increments. This is the topping I use for Apple Betty. It works well on sweet potatoes, too.

Stylin' with Bunnies

Here is today's attempt at obento. After these first few, I'll only take pics of the ones using leftovers or ones of special interest. It can get boring seeing the same veggies and such.

This is my lunch (clockwise): apple bunny, orange slices, grapes, apple bunny, cucumber slices, half of a BLT that hubby took for breakfast, carrots, grapes, apple bunny and tomato.

Hubby took his away before I got a picture of them. He kept saying 'Don't make them so cute. I'm only going to eat them.' That's part of the idea of the style, from what I see. Make them cute and fun!

I'm trying to revamp our diets. After eating all of yesterday's lunch (see previous post), I felt a lot better in my stomach and a lot less sleepy and craving in the afternoon. There definitely is something to be said about obento!

I'm enjoying the creativity part of it, too!

Happy eating!

Style Tips Received!

I asked my Japanese friend to look at yesterday's Bento. She was tickled I tried. She said 'Bento! Bonzai!' Of course, my first try had no method. I just threw things in. This is yesterday's breakfast for my hubby. Not bad, but no style.

Style tip (not quite stated this way): color + food = yum!

She said the more color you pack in with the food, the more 'wow factor' you'll have when you open the box. All of the pretty colors will make you want to eat your food.

Here is today's try at Bento for hubby. Breakfast is on the bottom. Lunch is on the top.

Breakfast (clockwise) = egg, grapes, orange slices, grapes, toast, ham, tomato

Lunch (clockwise) = crackers, tuna salad, celery sticks, orange slices, mustard, tomato, crackers and cheese, carrots

This looks a little bit better. At least, he'll have more choices and snacks to choose from.

Here's my lunch. This is much better for me. You can see I have pretty much everything he has between his two meals.

After work, yesterday, I went shopping for Bento stuff and foods with color. I bought the cupcake papers, the divided trays, the metal cups and the green silicone cups to hold rolly things like the egg. I bought apples, carrots, grapes, celery, tomatoes and oranges. I was running low on staple foods that hubby will eat.

Here's a pic of the cups I bought.

The green one on the left is called a 'pinch cup'. Supposedly for a pinch of this and a pinch of that. I like the little pedestal on the bottom of this. I like this so nothing will roll and you can actually put a lot of stuff into it. This comes two to a pack for under $2. See the Bento pics for size reference. The egg is a medium-sized egg.

The metal one on the right is a sauce cup. It holds 2.5 oz. This comes four to a pack for under a dollar. We can probably spread the tuna on 3 of the 4 plain crackers I put in our lunches.

Both of these cups fit nicely into the divided trays. They were cheap, too...all the better.

I can hardly wait to start using leftovers for more surprising lunches.

Now, I'll have to see what my friend says about this try at Bento.

Thanks, Yuri!

Happy Bento-ing!

Bento...kinda...

My Japanese friend and I were talking about Bento yesterday. In case you don't know what Bento is, I'll tell you in as simple of terms as possible.

Bento is a little of this, that and the other thing when it comes to making a breakfast or lunch. It is the style of putting together food items into an appealing arrangement while using either leftovers or first runs.

Let me show you my inspiration for this morning's breakfast for my hubby.

We have cubed cheddar, cottage cheese, raisin scone and pork sausage patty. He's diabetic, so I best watch what I give him. I should've put a bit of canned fruit in there, too. I had the room, but time is limited in the morning.

The box you put it in is a Bento box. Anything will do as long as it has a lid, but there are special boxes for Japanese meals. I need some style tips from my Japanese friend. Her blog is in my faves list to the right...Japanese Cooking Lovers. Check it out. There are some great recipes there and lots of tips for Japanese cooking.

Because of the economy, this style of meal is becoming popular. Of course, big cities like New York and DC already have this in fashion. But us little guys in the 'burbs of SC can do it as well.

Creativity is the key. Leftovers help, too!

Have a good day!

Okonomiyaki!

Anyone know what this delicious thing is?

OKONOMIYAKI!!! That's what.

If you never EVER try any other kind of Japanese cuisine, you MUST try this. This has to be my all-time favorite Japanese food. It is very filling and it is very tasty. The best part of it is, it is a rather healthy food.

What it is...a cabbage and veggie pancake smothered with Tonkatsu Sauce (brown stuff) and mayo (white stuff).

It is very easy to make.

Okonomiyaki Recipe

Mix 3/4 cup COLD water with about a teaspoon of Hon-Dashi fish boullion. If you don't have Hon-Dashi, leave it out. It doesn't make much of a difference in taste. It is important to use COLD water or you'll make a noodle dough, which you don't want.

Then add 1 cup of regular flour and 1 egg. Beat this together to make a very loose batter. Set aside.

Slice about 4 cups raw cabbage very fine. You want either hair-like strings or you can chop it in half so it is manageable. Add to the flour mixture and stir together.

Chop some onions, carrots, green peppers and meat or fish into very fine dice. Mix them together and set this aside. You can use almost any vegetable or any meat, except for celery. Celery is not a Japanese flavor.

This is a trick to keep the veggies and meat together. Beat one egg in a cup and set aside.

Heat up a skillet - non-stick works best. I use an electric skillet set to 225 degrees F.

Add a little oil to the skillet. If you use a small skillet, put about 1/4 of the veggie/meat mixture into the oil. If you use an electric skillet, use about half the veggie meat mixture and divide into two. Some on one side of the skillet and some on the other.

Put a little bit of the beaten egg in a cup over each pile of veggies and meat. Just enough so it all kind of looks like a very sparse omelet.

On top of this, put about 1/4 of the cabbage mixture, after you've stirred it to coat the cabbage. Make sure it covers all of the veggie/meat mixture and goes a little over the edge of it. Flatten a bit so it is one thickness the whole way across.

Cook it slowly. When the bottom gets a bit browned and holds together, flip it over. You may want to cover and cook it the rest of the way at this time. This will help the middle get done.

Put the finished pancake on a plate. Lightly schmeer with mayonnaise...the real stuff. Drizzle the bulldog sauce over top. Eat and enjoy!

This takes a little time to make, but, in my opinion, it is totally worth it!

Happy eating!

Pie Done Right

It's been a while since I've posted. It's not that I didn't cook during this time, it's just I've been trying to get the house cleaned and my poison ivy rid of. YUK!

Here's a little peek at what I LOVE to do. I LOVE pies! Fruit pies, especially.

This is what I call 'done right'. A little slice...well, maybe not so little at times. A little whipped topping. A little ice cream. A little cup of coffee. Oh, a taste of heaven! My pie crust recipe is as follows. This includes a family secret. Don't tell anyone! LOL!!!

PIE CRUST

(for two crust pie, plus a little extra for decorating, if you wish)

3 cups of flour 

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons of hard shortening

3/4 teaspoon of salt

Cut the shortening into the flour and salt.

Add enough milk to hold the flour mixture together. This should be dry and crumbly, but it should still hold together if you squeeze a little in your hand.

Roll out between waxed paper and put into pie plate. 

Prick the bottom of the crust, if you're filling with fruit. If you fill with liquid (like pumpkin), don't prick or the pie will stick to the pan.

Crimp the edges of the top and bottom crust together.

Prick, slit, or cut designs into the top crust to let out steam. This is very important!

Wet the top of the crust with either a little milk (preferred) or water. Sprinkle with sugar to make the crust sparkly.

Bake at 350 degrees until the crust is done. I like glass pie plates so I can see if the bottom of the pie is cooking when I check on it.

Note: This will make a two crust pie. If you want less crust, cut the recipe into thirds and work from there. 

Two family secrets: using milk to hold the dough together will make a flaky and tender crust. Rolling between waxed paper allows you to pick up the crust without breaking it when you put it into the pie plate.

Happy eating!

 

Creamed Chicken and Pasta Soup

I found a really cool website called CopyKat.com. It has loads of recipes on it that are remakes of restaurant foods.

I just made this last night. It is the Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocci soup.

OK. So I took license and changed a few things around. I used pasta instead of gnocci. I used cream and milk instead of half and half. I chopped a chicken breast and cooked it along with the veggies to add extra flavor. I used 2 cups of water and 2 chicken boullion cubes for the broth.

It is a KILLER soup! It was sooooo good that I had two bowls of it (larger than this bowl) and wanted to eat the rest. I was too full to do so.

If you decide to check out the CopyKat site, take a look at the recipe for the soup. It is very easy and you don't have to slave all day to make it. That's the good part!

Take care. Happy cooking!

Tiramisu!

Bless you!

Oh. It's not a sneeze! It's a lovely dessert!

We had a going away luncheon for a gentleman at work. The company is returning him to his home country in Japan. However, he LOVES Italian food. We ordered the food from a local restaurant, which was really yummy. But the dessert was $40 for this size of a pan of Tiramisu. Since it's one of my favorites to make, I offered to make it. The only thing is, I don't use raw egg whites in this version. Raw egg whites gave me a stomach ache. I have made substitutions so I can eat it. Here is the recipe.

TIRAMISU

1 plain cake, cut into slices - I used angel food. You can use pound cake or bake a plain box cake.
(Ladyfingers are traditional for this recipe, if you can find them.)
1/4 cup strong black coffee
1 tablespoon orange flavoring or orange Curacao
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package mascarpone cheese - you can use plain or the 'tiramisu' flavored one
(If you're in a pinch, substitute Neufchatel cream cheese. I don't recommend it, but I have.)
1 package whipped dessert topping from the freezer section
chocolate syrup
grated chocolate or cocoa powder for dusting the top of the finished dessert

Method:

Put coffee and flavorings into a shallow bowl.
Dip one side of the cake slices into the coffee mixture and lay coffee-side up in an 8" x 8" baking dish.
You will use all of the cake. You will not use all of the liquid. Throw the rest of the liquid away.
After all of the cake is lain out in the pan, drizzle with chocolate syrup.
Mix the mascarpone with about 1 cup of the dessert topping until it is loose enough to spread.
Spread over the cake.
Spread the rest of the dessert topping over the mascarpone mixture.
Sprinkle with cocoa powder or grated chocolate.
Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.
That's it!

Grab yourself a cup of espresso and have a seat with a chunk of the tiramisu drizzled with more chocolate syrup. YUM!

'Hello' Post

Hello!

As you can see from my About Me section, I love to cook. My husband, family and friends are the recipients of my practicing. Lucky them?!

All of my 'family secret' recipes and tips will be lost with my passing. So, I want to share with all of you what I know about cooking, how I do it, etc. Long after I'm gone from this world, maybe my tips, tricks and recipes will still be used by those of you who love to cook.

I have some food allergies to additives and soy, so I'll be cooking from scratch. I do use some pre-packaged foods, but they are not a lot. So, if you're like me, this may be the blog for you.

I hope to entice all of you into trying to cook along with me. It's not hard. It's fun!

See you later!