This post is even later than I thought but there is a lot going on...
First off, Lisa is working hard on her dissertation. She really has a lot on her plate and could use some positive thoughts, prayers and other support. There's a lot with her family too (those who know know and those who don't, it's not my story to tell).
As for me (sir Patrick)...
I'm still working on fallout from the boundary realignment for the ward; I have a book that's about to come out; next month is the month taxes are due; and I'll be going to a memorial for my mom who died in January.
On the bright side... Barbecue sauce!
Since I started the low carb thing it's seemed like barbecue sauce was a thing of the past, but not so! I've been a fan of Carolina style (mustard based) sauce since my mission and I've found a low carb version that I'm working on modifying up.
Here's the basic version:
1/2 cup yellow mustard
2 Tbsp Splenda
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp white vinigar
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
It's a good basic version with a bite. I'm working on improved versions including modifications for chicken vs pork vs beef.
There will also be a red barbecue sauce later.
Sorry, no KC sauce (which in the minds of many barbecue people is really just white sugar that's been lobbed in the general direction of catsup anyway...).
I'm within strike range of getting the Chainmail book out. Hopefully it will be out before the memorial for my mom. I've got the information to do final edits at this point and two of the five videos are done.
I've got the pictures, video and audio for two of the remaining three. They just need final cutting together. The last one is one audio track away and that should be done tomorrow...
Speaking of the videos...
Here's number two...
Stay tuned for the other ones... We're going to set things on fire!
I've got a goal of two books out this year and with number one due out next month (and in strike range of it actually happening) and completed drafts for two novels (both in edits), I'm thinking it's going to happen.
As for the novels, one is at a point were I'll start worrying about showing it to people before too long. The other has a few issues that I want to work out before anyone sees it.
Occasionally people want to read a first draft and I won't let them...
With the help of Google Translate Sings here is a simulation of why...
First drafts aren't quite that bad but some days they get close!
That's it for this one folks. Always more to say...
but for arguments over 5.56 vs 300 Blackout, interesting shop projects, the adventures of people who don't actually exist, and the answer to what Lisa's dissertation is really about, talk to me after the book is out...
NO, REALLY... PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO TALK TO ME FOR THE NEXT WEEK OR TWO...
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Monday, September 21, 2015
Update and chowdown...
Fairly short one this week (and if you don't hear from us next week it's because something big is in the works...)
We (Lisa and I) are fairly up to our eyeballs this week, but I thought I'd get back to something I said I would talk about later...
The pasta sauce in this picture is all from food storage or cabinet items...
It is actually pretty simple and quick and tastes good. We use Thrive freeze dried products in it, but you don't have to (you just have to find someone that does high quality freeze dried (not dehydrated) meats and veggies (sorry this is not a "sprouted wheat" recipe...)). (Lisa and I are also ThriveLife consultants so if you want to do a party or place an order add a comment and we will get back to you!) We also get our spices from Penzeys. (No kick back here, just some amazing spices at awesome prices.)
1 cup freeze dried beef crumbles
1 cup freeze dried sausage crumbles
1/2 cup freeze dried mixed peppers
1/4 cup freeze dried onions
2 6oz cans tomato paste
3 cups water
2 tbsp basil (dried)
1 tbsp oregano (dried)
1 tsp smokey paprika
salt and pepper to taste
Don't bother to re-hydrate anything! Put it all in a pot and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. I'd give it 15 minutes to a half hour to simmer depending on what you want to do with it. Served over pasta I would go for the longer end. If you're like me and like to add some rice (about a 1 to 1 ratio) and use it in stuffed peppers the 15 minute end is fine.
It's good stuff from food storage!
Told you it would be a short one today...
What else is going on? I'm not saying...
But it feels about as calm and orderly as this...
Hopefully be posting again in a week or so...
Till then take care.
We (Lisa and I) are fairly up to our eyeballs this week, but I thought I'd get back to something I said I would talk about later...
The pasta sauce in this picture is all from food storage or cabinet items...
It is actually pretty simple and quick and tastes good. We use Thrive freeze dried products in it, but you don't have to (you just have to find someone that does high quality freeze dried (not dehydrated) meats and veggies (sorry this is not a "sprouted wheat" recipe...)). (Lisa and I are also ThriveLife consultants so if you want to do a party or place an order add a comment and we will get back to you!) We also get our spices from Penzeys. (No kick back here, just some amazing spices at awesome prices.)
1 cup freeze dried beef crumbles
1 cup freeze dried sausage crumbles
1/2 cup freeze dried mixed peppers
1/4 cup freeze dried onions
2 6oz cans tomato paste
3 cups water
2 tbsp basil (dried)
1 tbsp oregano (dried)
1 tsp smokey paprika
salt and pepper to taste
Don't bother to re-hydrate anything! Put it all in a pot and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. I'd give it 15 minutes to a half hour to simmer depending on what you want to do with it. Served over pasta I would go for the longer end. If you're like me and like to add some rice (about a 1 to 1 ratio) and use it in stuffed peppers the 15 minute end is fine.
It's good stuff from food storage!
Told you it would be a short one today...
What else is going on? I'm not saying...
But it feels about as calm and orderly as this...
Hopefully be posting again in a week or so...
Till then take care.
Monday, August 31, 2015
School's in, Word's out!
No, we didn't get to posting last week. Lots going on...
Last week was the first week of school at ISU so it was kind of panic stations at Lisa's work. Not to worry, she's alive and well and working on her dissertation. She is also gearing up for a double conference. Literally she's leaving from one to go to the other. One is the one she wants to go to to build contacts and the other she's presenting at. The book she's published in will be on sale at one of the conferences...
Ok Patrick... that covers the "school's in" part but not the "word's out" part...
As far as that goes...
Words Mean Stuff
Click on that link. Seriously click on the link. I'm not going to repeat myself (this time!).
If you haven't guessed, I am the Farangian (I am he and he is me and we are all together!). There is even a page at the blog (the other blog (remember the link I told you to click on...)) that will tell you about where the name comes from.
If things go at all well, the first book is out by the end of the year. If things go reasonably well, so is the second...
Sadly I can't say that if things go outrageously well the third will be out this year. Three and four are in pieces on my desk but three needs some information that is not expected to be released until January and four... well I have a draft but there is some refining editing left to be done and I'll hedge my bets and say it will be out next year (stupid novellas...).
Getting away from the printed word for a second... in doing the writing for the chainmail book (that's book one if you still haven't clicked that link yet) I felt I needed to make some information available but not put it in the book (didn't want to slow it down...). So, I'm creating my own YouTube channel with videos of the information. The channel is out, but the videos are still coming (they will be out before the book is (but hopefully not by much!)).
In setting up the You Tube channel this happened...
Yes, yes that's an MRI of my brain... No! Wait, that's the picture I took for the channel art for the You Tube channel! (It just happens to look a lot like the inside of my brain...)
But seriously lets take a look at that piece of shiny in the center...
That's an Argentinian fluorite chunk that I picked up at the farmer's market. The gold colored stripes are what makes it really unusual. Hey, even when I don't have time to do rocks I do rocks. That piece is for the collection, but I bought it specifically to include in some channel art picks for the channel and the blog.
Is there anything in this post that isn't about writing?
Did you see the shiny rock?Not good enough... Ok...
How about this...
That's a pretty decent plate of pasta and sauce made from food storage ingredients. It's part of a line of experimentation that started with an "Expo 73" at a little place in Manhattan Beach. Yes, it is good. Yes, I will provide the recipe. But, not till next year (yes that's a hint).
So what have we learned from all this?
Let's see... Lisa's busy. Patrick's crazy. Rock's are pretty. And, food storage is more that wheat!That's it for this week everybody...
Thanks for reading...
Now get out of here before I start talking about book five, and six, and seven through eleven (and maybe twelve). Not to mention thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen. (sadly I'm serious). Basically run! Lisa or I will be back next week (and hopefully not reporting on my "little vacation" to the psych ward!)
Monday, January 12, 2015
New year new posts...
Ok, so the holidays kinda wiped us out on posting for a little while, but we're back.
We went down to El Segundo for Christmas and had a pretty good trip. We did not: blow our car up , blow our bank accounts, blow up at each other, or any other problems of that sort. We did get to: see my Mom and Bill, See Lisa's parents and some of the sibs/in-laws/nieces-nephews/other relations, dig some tourmalines (separate upcoming post (have to get Lisa to download the pics...)), pick a pearl (6.75 mm pink from a place at the Redondo Pier), run around in a Japanese grocery store (with attending Okinawa flashbacks), make pancakes for dinner, and other adventures that may come up as part of future posts.
Christmas stuff is actually still up here at the house as both of us had to jump back into "real" life almost immediately on arrival back home.
We did get a request this week that I wanted to respond to... One of the sister in laws asked about sourdough starter...
As part of our Christmas adventures we took some starter and made biscuits and gravy, and pancakes at Lisa's parents house, and I'm guessing that it went over because we got asked to make more pancakes (BTW I set a personal pancake record for number of people served in one meal... 12). The portion of old Sudden Death that went with us died (due to some unwanted flies trying to get a bite); however, Sudden Death lives! I kept some in the refrigerator up here and it weathered the two weeks just fine. It would be sad to loose old SD as he's the longest lasting starter I've ever had (not really a big achievement some of the serious starters are old enough to collect social security!), but it would not be a disaster as they aren't really that hard to start...
There are basically two ways to start a starter: (other than buying one...)
I use the following:
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon of sugar
Put it in a bowl that's at least double or triple the volume you're starting with (trust me give it too small a container and it will try to escape!). Wake up a teaspoon (or packet) of active dry yeast in a little warm water (that's warm not hot (we want to wake the little beasties up not make soup!)) and mix it in.
Note: Use non expired (by markings on container or just plain dead) active dry yeast. Don't fool with rapid rising yeast, yeast protein or any other 'modified' yeast products. You want a good strong yeast not a modified yeast or yeast derivative...
Now you cover your mix with a towel, paper towel or similar covering that will allow the mix to breath and let it sit overnight.
The next day you can use your starter for whatever fun recipes you find (there are even a couple on the blog here...). Try to save a quarter cup of starter to keep it going... you really can keep one going for a long time.
Your starter will be happiest living on a room temperature kitchen counter. Generally it is best to feed it regularly (like every 12 hours if it's on the counter) and use it regularly (it tends to build up pretty fast so you have to use it or throw some out on a regular basis). Most reasonable people will tell you to either use it or discard down to a 1/4 cup and feed it a quarter cup each of flour and water at each feeding (when you're going to use it soon (4-12 hours in the future say...) you can feed it more to build up).
You can also keep it in the refrigerator and feed it once a week. If you do this there are a couple things to be aware of...
1) let it warm up a couple hours before you try to use it in a recipe;
2) cover it but let it breath (starter releases CO2 if you put a tight lid on it you're building a bomb...); 3) when it stays in the refrigerator starter will generate a liquid, this is normal. The liquid is actually an alcohol product that comes from the yeast only partially breaking down its food. Opinions very as to whether you should stir the liquid in or drain it off, (I usually drain it off) but if you want to avoid it all together keep your starter on the counter! BTW if the liquid is black that really creeps me out and makes me wary of your starter (you may have some unpleasant bugs going there...time to start again).
The last thing about starter... a starter that sticks around should really have a name. The name is up to you, but it should have one.
Lisa's book chapter is coming along. So are my novella and novel. Yes... the novella was supposed to be out last month but that didn't happen. I decided some stuff needed to be added; it turns out it's really hard to write in a moving car (or at your in-laws kitchen table with family running around); and for some strange reason my writing partner insists on working on her doctorate and sleeping! It will be out this year though (before November) and the novel will be out late this year or next year. I also have some non fiction stuff coming up but more on that later...
I'll tell you more about the characters in the stories I'm working on in later posts (probably most of that will go on on my writing blog (I'll put up a link here when that happens)). In the mean time I found a fan video for the Avengers that resonates with me. I'm not writing an Avengers story (I create my own characters thanks!) but with the song I can place one of my characters in the place of just about every character in the video:
And no, I am not being derivative... I'm just saying that if my characters were superheros I know which one of these guys each of my characters would be.
Well, that's it for today... one of us will be writing here again next week.
We went down to El Segundo for Christmas and had a pretty good trip. We did not: blow our car up , blow our bank accounts, blow up at each other, or any other problems of that sort. We did get to: see my Mom and Bill, See Lisa's parents and some of the sibs/in-laws/nieces-nephews/other relations, dig some tourmalines (separate upcoming post (have to get Lisa to download the pics...)), pick a pearl (6.75 mm pink from a place at the Redondo Pier), run around in a Japanese grocery store (with attending Okinawa flashbacks), make pancakes for dinner, and other adventures that may come up as part of future posts.
Christmas stuff is actually still up here at the house as both of us had to jump back into "real" life almost immediately on arrival back home.
We did get a request this week that I wanted to respond to... One of the sister in laws asked about sourdough starter...
As part of our Christmas adventures we took some starter and made biscuits and gravy, and pancakes at Lisa's parents house, and I'm guessing that it went over because we got asked to make more pancakes (BTW I set a personal pancake record for number of people served in one meal... 12). The portion of old Sudden Death that went with us died (due to some unwanted flies trying to get a bite); however, Sudden Death lives! I kept some in the refrigerator up here and it weathered the two weeks just fine. It would be sad to loose old SD as he's the longest lasting starter I've ever had (not really a big achievement some of the serious starters are old enough to collect social security!), but it would not be a disaster as they aren't really that hard to start...
There are basically two ways to start a starter: (other than buying one...)
1 the 'wild capture' method:
Basically put some water, flour, and sugar in a bowl. Mix well, and wait for what ever local yeast buggies happen to be in the area to start growing. Um no thank you... I've seen enough technicolor mold and other less than desirable buggies and I prefer a more consistent, dependable method.2 the 'mix it your self' method:
In this method you start with the same basic mix of flour, water and sugar.I use the following:
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon of sugar
Put it in a bowl that's at least double or triple the volume you're starting with (trust me give it too small a container and it will try to escape!). Wake up a teaspoon (or packet) of active dry yeast in a little warm water (that's warm not hot (we want to wake the little beasties up not make soup!)) and mix it in.
Note: Use non expired (by markings on container or just plain dead) active dry yeast. Don't fool with rapid rising yeast, yeast protein or any other 'modified' yeast products. You want a good strong yeast not a modified yeast or yeast derivative...
Now you cover your mix with a towel, paper towel or similar covering that will allow the mix to breath and let it sit overnight.
The next day you can use your starter for whatever fun recipes you find (there are even a couple on the blog here...). Try to save a quarter cup of starter to keep it going... you really can keep one going for a long time.
Your starter will be happiest living on a room temperature kitchen counter. Generally it is best to feed it regularly (like every 12 hours if it's on the counter) and use it regularly (it tends to build up pretty fast so you have to use it or throw some out on a regular basis). Most reasonable people will tell you to either use it or discard down to a 1/4 cup and feed it a quarter cup each of flour and water at each feeding (when you're going to use it soon (4-12 hours in the future say...) you can feed it more to build up).
You can also keep it in the refrigerator and feed it once a week. If you do this there are a couple things to be aware of...
1) let it warm up a couple hours before you try to use it in a recipe;
2) cover it but let it breath (starter releases CO2 if you put a tight lid on it you're building a bomb...); 3) when it stays in the refrigerator starter will generate a liquid, this is normal. The liquid is actually an alcohol product that comes from the yeast only partially breaking down its food. Opinions very as to whether you should stir the liquid in or drain it off, (I usually drain it off) but if you want to avoid it all together keep your starter on the counter! BTW if the liquid is black that really creeps me out and makes me wary of your starter (you may have some unpleasant bugs going there...time to start again).
The last thing about starter... a starter that sticks around should really have a name. The name is up to you, but it should have one.
Lisa's book chapter is coming along. So are my novella and novel. Yes... the novella was supposed to be out last month but that didn't happen. I decided some stuff needed to be added; it turns out it's really hard to write in a moving car (or at your in-laws kitchen table with family running around); and for some strange reason my writing partner insists on working on her doctorate and sleeping! It will be out this year though (before November) and the novel will be out late this year or next year. I also have some non fiction stuff coming up but more on that later...
I'll tell you more about the characters in the stories I'm working on in later posts (probably most of that will go on on my writing blog (I'll put up a link here when that happens)). In the mean time I found a fan video for the Avengers that resonates with me. I'm not writing an Avengers story (I create my own characters thanks!) but with the song I can place one of my characters in the place of just about every character in the video:
And no, I am not being derivative... I'm just saying that if my characters were superheros I know which one of these guys each of my characters would be.
Well, that's it for today... one of us will be writing here again next week.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Whose side are you on???
I know, I know people like happy things like pancakes and cool projects. Well, we'll get to those but there are a few other things to say first...
Lately a polling rep took note of the fact that I'm not affiliated with either major party. I could tell in talking with him that he really wanted to know why I'm not a member of his party... "after all we have a number of views in common..." Well, to quote Tree Beard (and for what ever NSA spook is reading this that would be the JRR Tolkien fictional character Tree Beard) "I'm not all together on anyone's side because no one is on my side". One party has Barak Obama (do I really need to say anything else?). The other party has Idaho's attorney general who signed a legal opinion stating that there is no right to bare arms in the second amendment!
Can't, won't and shouldn't vote a straight party ticket for either party. Like so many other things in life one needs to make informed personal choices in voting. Short and sweet why would you choose the guy who doesn't represent your beliefs and interests? Choose the guy who is the best fit for what you want and hold him or her to what they say.
A couple of years ago Lisa and I made it down to LA for a graduation... at the time our sister in law was running for the local school board. Guess what, even though we don't agree on everything, if I were voting for the school board in that area I would have voted for her. It has nothing to do with whether she has a 'D' or 'R' after her name. Actually I'm not sure which party she belongs to (if any!) and it really doesn't matter. If I were voting in that election what mattered was that she was an actual mother of children in those schools who wanted to improve the education of her children. She was someone I could trust to actually look into policies and programs and make the decision that would best benefit her children. I would much rather that than someone who's going to just pick whatever seems popular because it's a stepping stone to the real office or job they're looking for.
Progress is made in this country when every day citizens make informed decisions (not educated because that has a slightly different meaning (and communists, fascists, cult leaders, etc. just love to 'educate' people)). Why do we need the EPA making rules to cut carbon emissions when people are already going that way? For example, people were upgrading to 90+% efficiency heating for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with government regulations even before some of the rules were made. (this time I really do mean educate) Educate people, provide them with good information, teach them how a particular path benefits them, show them what the options are (and the results and consequences of those options), and then back off and let them choose. True some will choose the wrong way, but they know the consequences and get to deal with them. In the case of the heater I'd much rather have the 90% (or better yet 95%) efficiency model than the old 70-80% models that are floating around out here. The higher efficiency ones are cheaper, more efficient and can be vented with a piece of PVC pipe which makes set up and operation cheaper and easier! In the case of elected officials I want the one that will represent my values and principles; that does not necessarily mean membership in a particular party... (actually some days I'd like to elect a Dalek to office... that would make for an interesting filibuster...)
Well enough said on that, well one more thing... we need to be responsible for the choices we make. And how we do that can have fun and interesting results! For example today I was clearing some weeds and putting in some bark mulch. I had some old mulch that I had previously purchased but I needed some more, so I bought some. Unfortunately I chose not to take the time to check on color... so, my old mulch was brown and the new is red... Really didn't feel like returning mulch so I needed a new solution...
solution...
Create a pattern! Now if I do the same thing on the other side it looks like I did something artistic on purpose rather that just "he screwed up and got the wrong mulch"
Ok, for those of you who like pretty stuff or just don't want to deal with scary things like making choices...
The first rose of the year... Just meditate one that...
For those of you who are more adventurey... I kind of uncovered a major ant hill in the yard while I was working outside today. Haven't dealt with it yet but I'm considering something like this...
Ok, so I've got something for the voters, choosers, meditators, artists, adventurers...so how about something we can all (or mostly all) agree on...
The night before cooking mix up
2 Cups flour
2 Cups milk
1 Cup sourdough starter
Use a fairly large bowl 1) you'll be adding more to the bowl and 2) if its warm enough, your starter is strong enough, and the bowl small enough it will try to take over you kitchen! Let it stand over night at room temperature (I like to cover it with a towel to help control it's environment and prevent ideas of world (or kitchen) domination (I hate competition especially from single celled organisms!))
When you're about ready to cook heat up your pan or griddle to 400F.
When the cook surface is just about ready mix into your batter
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Butter your griddle/pan
I use 1/3 cup portions and it makes 12 pancakes that way, but use your own initiative on size of cake and when to flip
The extra flour added structural integrity without adding toughness. You could probably add the 2 tablespoons of brown sugar from my last recipe, but I didn't and they didn't seem to need it (I tend to go for jam or syrup so they don't have to stand entirely on their own sweetness).
Ok, figured it out and just in time for berry season!
That's it for today...
As for next week... Lets see... pan, torch, random aluminum... "Zeek, git the propane"
Lately a polling rep took note of the fact that I'm not affiliated with either major party. I could tell in talking with him that he really wanted to know why I'm not a member of his party... "after all we have a number of views in common..." Well, to quote Tree Beard (and for what ever NSA spook is reading this that would be the JRR Tolkien fictional character Tree Beard) "I'm not all together on anyone's side because no one is on my side". One party has Barak Obama (do I really need to say anything else?). The other party has Idaho's attorney general who signed a legal opinion stating that there is no right to bare arms in the second amendment!
Can't, won't and shouldn't vote a straight party ticket for either party. Like so many other things in life one needs to make informed personal choices in voting. Short and sweet why would you choose the guy who doesn't represent your beliefs and interests? Choose the guy who is the best fit for what you want and hold him or her to what they say.
A couple of years ago Lisa and I made it down to LA for a graduation... at the time our sister in law was running for the local school board. Guess what, even though we don't agree on everything, if I were voting for the school board in that area I would have voted for her. It has nothing to do with whether she has a 'D' or 'R' after her name. Actually I'm not sure which party she belongs to (if any!) and it really doesn't matter. If I were voting in that election what mattered was that she was an actual mother of children in those schools who wanted to improve the education of her children. She was someone I could trust to actually look into policies and programs and make the decision that would best benefit her children. I would much rather that than someone who's going to just pick whatever seems popular because it's a stepping stone to the real office or job they're looking for.
Progress is made in this country when every day citizens make informed decisions (not educated because that has a slightly different meaning (and communists, fascists, cult leaders, etc. just love to 'educate' people)). Why do we need the EPA making rules to cut carbon emissions when people are already going that way? For example, people were upgrading to 90+% efficiency heating for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with government regulations even before some of the rules were made. (this time I really do mean educate) Educate people, provide them with good information, teach them how a particular path benefits them, show them what the options are (and the results and consequences of those options), and then back off and let them choose. True some will choose the wrong way, but they know the consequences and get to deal with them. In the case of the heater I'd much rather have the 90% (or better yet 95%) efficiency model than the old 70-80% models that are floating around out here. The higher efficiency ones are cheaper, more efficient and can be vented with a piece of PVC pipe which makes set up and operation cheaper and easier! In the case of elected officials I want the one that will represent my values and principles; that does not necessarily mean membership in a particular party... (actually some days I'd like to elect a Dalek to office... that would make for an interesting filibuster...)
Well enough said on that, well one more thing... we need to be responsible for the choices we make. And how we do that can have fun and interesting results! For example today I was clearing some weeds and putting in some bark mulch. I had some old mulch that I had previously purchased but I needed some more, so I bought some. Unfortunately I chose not to take the time to check on color... so, my old mulch was brown and the new is red... Really didn't feel like returning mulch so I needed a new solution...
solution...
Create a pattern! Now if I do the same thing on the other side it looks like I did something artistic on purpose rather that just "he screwed up and got the wrong mulch"
Ok, for those of you who like pretty stuff or just don't want to deal with scary things like making choices...
The first rose of the year... Just meditate one that...
For those of you who are more adventurey... I kind of uncovered a major ant hill in the yard while I was working outside today. Haven't dealt with it yet but I'm considering something like this...
Ok, so I've got something for the voters, choosers, meditators, artists, adventurers...so how about something we can all (or mostly all) agree on...
Pancakes!
Saturday I actually achieved criterion fluff-age!
I realized that my starter was being a bit thin and liquidy and that the eggs would make it more so, so I added a couple tablespoons of flower to the mix just before the eggs and got the seriously fluffy and tender sour dough pancakes I'd been looking for.
Found the Fluff Sourdough Pancakes by Patrick
The night before cooking mix up2 Cups flour
2 Cups milk
1 Cup sourdough starter
Use a fairly large bowl 1) you'll be adding more to the bowl and 2) if its warm enough, your starter is strong enough, and the bowl small enough it will try to take over you kitchen! Let it stand over night at room temperature (I like to cover it with a towel to help control it's environment and prevent ideas of world (or kitchen) domination (I hate competition especially from single celled organisms!))
When you're about ready to cook heat up your pan or griddle to 400F.
When the cook surface is just about ready mix into your batter
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Butter your griddle/pan
I use 1/3 cup portions and it makes 12 pancakes that way, but use your own initiative on size of cake and when to flip
The extra flour added structural integrity without adding toughness. You could probably add the 2 tablespoons of brown sugar from my last recipe, but I didn't and they didn't seem to need it (I tend to go for jam or syrup so they don't have to stand entirely on their own sweetness).
Ok, figured it out and just in time for berry season!
That's it for today...
As for next week... Lets see... pan, torch, random aluminum... "Zeek, git the propane"
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Mid Week Mischief
(What ever we do in this post don't let my sense of humor get going... it really is that kind of week!)
First: and foremost... Happy Birthday Lisa!
Second: thank you to all the moms, dads, grandparents, aunts/uncles, siblings and other people who have sent presents or birthday wishes (what! No emoticons! Gaaah, have to do it the old fashioned way :-) )
Third: a while back I put a contest up on the blog to name our sourdough starter. Well, the winner is... ME! Note that only people who actually sent in a suggestion can complain... and since when Monday rolled around and I was the only one who had contributed a suggestion I guess I am the only one who can complain! Actually Lisa helped... when the weekend hit and there weren't any suggestions yet she suggested a sudden death, who ever can get a suggestion in wins kind of thing. Well, I got thinking and just flat out decided to name it SUDDEN DEATH!!! (and yes the all caps and three exclamation points are part of the name (See I told you not to let my sense of humor get going...)).
Lets see SUDDEN DEATH!!! sourdough, we're planting three kinds of peppers in the garden, plus I still have a stock of little Thai peppers from last year... Maybe someone wants to rethink me doing breakfast for the reunion? :-)
Ok, Lisa is annoyed with the sudden death thing (note that making me laugh more is not a valid way of stopping the sense of humor!)
Speaking of trying to stop me... I have been plead with not to burn the house down... that's really good advice... I don't mind being reminded sometimes...
But...
First: and foremost... Happy Birthday Lisa!
Second: thank you to all the moms, dads, grandparents, aunts/uncles, siblings and other people who have sent presents or birthday wishes (what! No emoticons! Gaaah, have to do it the old fashioned way :-) )
Third: a while back I put a contest up on the blog to name our sourdough starter. Well, the winner is... ME! Note that only people who actually sent in a suggestion can complain... and since when Monday rolled around and I was the only one who had contributed a suggestion I guess I am the only one who can complain! Actually Lisa helped... when the weekend hit and there weren't any suggestions yet she suggested a sudden death, who ever can get a suggestion in wins kind of thing. Well, I got thinking and just flat out decided to name it SUDDEN DEATH!!! (and yes the all caps and three exclamation points are part of the name (See I told you not to let my sense of humor get going...)).
Lets see SUDDEN DEATH!!! sourdough, we're planting three kinds of peppers in the garden, plus I still have a stock of little Thai peppers from last year... Maybe someone wants to rethink me doing breakfast for the reunion? :-)
Ok, Lisa is annoyed with the sudden death thing (note that making me laugh more is not a valid way of stopping the sense of humor!)
Speaking of trying to stop me... I have been plead with not to burn the house down... that's really good advice... I don't mind being reminded sometimes...
But...
Uuuuummmmm! Exactly how did you get to the people that made my lunch? (Sadly I am serious this time, this warning was on the label of the noodles I had for lunch yesterday!)
In happier food news...
That would be at least five meals worth of pulled pork straight out of the cooker!
I highly recommend getting to know a real local butcher, and keeping an eye on meat prices and schedules at a local market. I managed to get a 8lb bone in pork shoulder for less than a dollar a pound! Drop that in the slow cooker with half an onion, some carrots (we use baby carrots that come pre peeled and we use for lunches anyway), some dehydrated red and green bell peppers (we use Thrive), salt, pepper, a couple of appropriate herbs and spices (always garlic, but the others vary a bit by what we're feeling like), some Worcestershire sauce, and water (amount appropriate to your slow cooker (8 out of 10 times you don't need nearly as much as you think you do)). Let it cook all day. When it breaks into pieces when you go to flip it or pull it out, it's ready. Prep time maybe 15 minutes. Cooking time all day but it doesn't take much attention (and remember you're not just cooking tonight's dinner, but tomorrows carnitas for tacos or burritos, the pulled pork you're doing for sandwiches on Saturday, meat for next Tuesday's casserole and/or a meal or two to be named later (it freezes well)).
Well, that's our story for today. Tune in next week when...well, that would be telling ;-)
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
You made a what???
(Note: this one is out a day late for a classic reason. I like to have Lisa look over these things before I post them, unfortunately her editing pass was delayed. Lisa's editing was delayed due to a Monday night class in which the group assigned to report on group work could not work as a group (got that?) resulting in them giving three separate presentations.)
Ok one of the points to today's post is to encourage feedback. Feedback is a good and sometimes fun thing (not to mention me being a little jealous of Lisa's comments when I haven't gotten any comments yet). I know a couple people have opted to email me because they didn't want to (or couldn't) comment, and I'd like to encourage those too, so if you can't or don't want to comment email me at psknewone@yahoo.com.
Anyway to encourage comments/emails... I realized that I really haven't named my sourdough starter and at least in the online community, names for your starter seem to be really, really important so... I am announcing the official Adventures of Patrick and Lisa Shameless Plug to Get Comments Name that Starter Contest! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls (and any in laws, out laws, or other readers of this blog that for some reason don't fit into one or more of those categories) comment or send an email with a name for my sourdough starter. We'll choose the one that we like best (or the one that strikes us as funny) and name the starter (Note for those of you going to the Layne family reunion: we are planning on making sourdough biscuits as part of the breakfast for our day so you may actually have to eat your words (I'm just saying...)). If your name is chosen will you get a prize? Possibly, probably, (I haven't gotten that far in thinking this through yet!) at a minimum you will get glory (or infamy) in this blog when your name is announced, you might also get a prize (and it may be featured in this or an up coming post). Please have your comments/emails in by May 4, 2014 and the announcement of the winner should happen by May 12 (I'm actually hopping for May 10th (just in case some happy or suicidal person chooses to name it for their mother!))
Second point: Talk about one of my favorite topics creativity. (Don't worry I'm not going for the big preach here and there will be pretty pictures). When we're talking about creativity there are a lot of definitions or ideas 'out of the box' thinking, novel behavior, seeing/discovering things. For my purposes right now, creativity is finding uses for things that are positive (i.e. solving a problem, enhancing your environment, or in some way creating or increasing value) or creating something new.
Example the first...
At the moment, that box has become a very useful tool in keeping some of my projects from being permanent residents of the workshop. A little tape and a sharp craft knife and I have a custom tray for holding the stones.
Example the second...
We picked up some Mandarin oranges at a case lot sale last month. Problem we both missed the fact that the oranges were packed in juice not syrup (and not particularly sweet juice at that); we don't want to use them in some of the standard recipes because they are more acidic and could create problems for jello and so on...
Solution (sort of): orange chocolate biscuits. This is one that didn't really work right out of the gate but did answer some questions and is leading to new ideas... the oranges brought a lot of liquid to the party and some extra acidity meaning they didn't act quite like the usual versions of the recipe:
These particular stones are in the mix of stuff that will be going up to the reunion. They are (from left to right) obsidian, moss agate, mookaite jasper (fairly new out of Australia), gold stone (its a synthetic, but it's cool enough I wanted to throw a piece in), another cool but unnamed jasper, and chrysocolla (a bit softer and more of a pain in the #%$$#%@#$@ to work with some times but I have seen it in some very cool and very real antique scabbards, knives and swords... (note on the note: in checking the spelling on this I realized one of my favorite sources has it marked out of stock... which is making me want to order some of their bags of random tumbling rough in hopes of getting more. Somebody stop me, or at least call my bank and tell them I need another safe deposit box!)
Ok one of the points to today's post is to encourage feedback. Feedback is a good and sometimes fun thing (not to mention me being a little jealous of Lisa's comments when I haven't gotten any comments yet). I know a couple people have opted to email me because they didn't want to (or couldn't) comment, and I'd like to encourage those too, so if you can't or don't want to comment email me at psknewone@yahoo.com.
Anyway to encourage comments/emails... I realized that I really haven't named my sourdough starter and at least in the online community, names for your starter seem to be really, really important so... I am announcing the official Adventures of Patrick and Lisa Shameless Plug to Get Comments Name that Starter Contest! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls (and any in laws, out laws, or other readers of this blog that for some reason don't fit into one or more of those categories) comment or send an email with a name for my sourdough starter. We'll choose the one that we like best (or the one that strikes us as funny) and name the starter (Note for those of you going to the Layne family reunion: we are planning on making sourdough biscuits as part of the breakfast for our day so you may actually have to eat your words (I'm just saying...)). If your name is chosen will you get a prize? Possibly, probably, (I haven't gotten that far in thinking this through yet!) at a minimum you will get glory (or infamy) in this blog when your name is announced, you might also get a prize (and it may be featured in this or an up coming post). Please have your comments/emails in by May 4, 2014 and the announcement of the winner should happen by May 12 (I'm actually hopping for May 10th (just in case some happy or suicidal person chooses to name it for their mother!))
Second point: Talk about one of my favorite topics creativity. (Don't worry I'm not going for the big preach here and there will be pretty pictures). When we're talking about creativity there are a lot of definitions or ideas 'out of the box' thinking, novel behavior, seeing/discovering things. For my purposes right now, creativity is finding uses for things that are positive (i.e. solving a problem, enhancing your environment, or in some way creating or increasing value) or creating something new.
Example the first...
I mentioned out of the box thinking, well what about empty box thinking... beyond the typical store stuff in it and recycle it answers how can this lowly piece of packaging help out in the workshop?
Well, lets take a look at one real use answer: I needed a way to glue some caps on tumbled stones. Problem 1: the glue
needed is epoxy and there is no way to be sure it won't ooze around the
fingers of the cap to touch the workbench or what ever else I lay them
on so I need to keep the top off the ground. Problem 2: except for one, none of the stones are going to stand up on their own. Problem 2a: since the shapes are random and sizes vary standardized things like soda caps and ice trays failed to do the job.
Solution:
Example the second...
We picked up some Mandarin oranges at a case lot sale last month. Problem we both missed the fact that the oranges were packed in juice not syrup (and not particularly sweet juice at that); we don't want to use them in some of the standard recipes because they are more acidic and could create problems for jello and so on...
Solution (sort of): orange chocolate biscuits. This is one that didn't really work right out of the gate but did answer some questions and is leading to new ideas... the oranges brought a lot of liquid to the party and some extra acidity meaning they didn't act quite like the usual versions of the recipe:
As you can see they ended up flatter, and browned faster than intended (yes that lead to burning...); they also didn't taste as great as I'd hoped. But, this one has signaled that I can probably deal with some other wetter ingredients than I had done (just not as wet as the oranges) and led me to ask "how do I get more orange flavor in there?" which leads me to dealing with some of the flavorants at my favorite spice places and thinking about using orange zest. True the recipe itself goes down as a 'mission failed' but it leads me to asking new questions that will lead to better/new things in the future (I hope) and thse things would not have come up if I had not tried for a creative use of our fairly useless oranges.
example three...wait what is that?
Actually there is no third example. Instead I'm going for the audience participation thing. I have a real love for 'shop made' problem solvers; these are things that people have made or modified to do what they do and run the gamut from things that people piece together for their hobby (often so they don't have to buy one or to make it do something people say it can't), to household items that get modified to solve problems, to items used in real live professional shops and businesses (artists, farmers, construction types do these things all the time and really should get more respect for it!). So, what are some of the things that YOU have built to solve problems? Comment or send an email. Like I say I like this stuff and will be talking about shop made stuff again (note: if you email you can specify whether you are willing to let me mention your stuff in a post (you can also send pictures) if you comment I'm going to assume you're ok with it being mentioned since you're the one who mentioned it in the blog).
Ok, two more teasers and another picture of our box...
This is a collection of stone that we will be following through a couple of linked posts in the near future (split between a couple of posts because the total process time is about 40 days (though the hands on time is considerably less). I'm doing these to answer some questions people have had about what I do with some of the stones I get (and potential questions about what to do with stones that will come from the up coming Layne reunion.
Speaking of the reunion:
Monday, March 17, 2014
Cookie biscuits! (see and you thought I was kiding)
Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone. Today's post is about our ongoing saga with sourdough. I found a recipe for sourdough drop biscuits which don't need a lot of kneading or rise time so they are quick to make and a pretty good little biscuit. Of course being me and being in 'research mode' I sort of pushed the limits of the recipe a bit (with more to come!) one direction I went (with Lisa's encouragement) was toward cinnamon sugar type biscuits.
The first recipe variant I tried crashed and burned (for once not literally!) so we will ignore that one for today. Lisa came up with the idea of using cinnamon chips (which works!) this combined with my decision to experiment with a couple other new ingredients resulted in the three recipes included in today's post: cinnamon apple biscuits, cinnamon chocolate biscuits, and peanut butter chocolate biscuits. Note: Lisa said she really liked the cinnamon chocolate ones but kept eating my peanut butter ones...
So, lets get started!
Cinnamon Apple Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 350
Part 1 (wet ingredients)
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sourdough starter
mix well.
Since these are sweet biscuits a reasonably mild starter is appropriate. I frequently use the 'discard' from when I'm feeding my sour dough for these (I prefer to pour off the liquid that is generated if the starter stays in the refrigerator but if you prefer to mix it back in do so).
Part 2 (dry ingredients)
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons of brown sugar (pack it up when you measure but break it up/sprinkle it into the bowl before you mix)
1/4 cup cinnamon chips
1 tablespoon dried apple (I used dehydrated applesauce which we get from Thrive, but there are other apple possibilities (Dad sent us some dried apples that would work well)
Mix well, then mix in the wet ingredients.
Drop by appropriate sized spoon (For these Lisa prefers smaller, that would be a table spoon or heaping half table spoon. I prefer a heaping tablespoon) onto an ungreased baking sheet. Note that these do rise/puff pretty well in the oven (unofficially I will say double in size) so give them plenty of space.
Bake for 12-17 minutes (remember ovens differ so your time may differ; also size can change the baking time (for heaping tablespoon in my oven 15 minutes is about right) so know your set up and adjust accordingly)
When they come out loosen them up with a spatula. I can't say how long they keep because none have lasted that long!
Cinnamon Chocolate Biscuits
This one is a goof that worked out...
Follow the same recipe above except omit the sugar and the apples and add 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips.
The mini chips started with Lisa's fascination for all things mini but they distribute chocolate through the whole mix better than full size chips.
The dropping of the sugar was initially me rushing and forgetting, but it works out. Chocolate plays well with a bit more tart environment (dark chocolate anyone?) and these are a nice treat with less sugar (and calories) than the other versions.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscuits
Start with the cinnamon apple recipe again, but this time instead of 1 tablespoon apples add 1/4 cup peanut butter chips. I just finished some for the pictures below, they might or might not make it to tomorrow.
The pictures:
Before
After (see I told you they'd puff)
So there you have it three easy treats off one base recipe (I have others too but those aren't cookie biscuits)
Looking into the future, now that the work bench is up and I have my snack maybe we get onto that stamping thing, the rocket stove gets used, no specific promise of what exactly, but the next post should be about fire and bent metal.
For any one looking for a reunion teaser...sorry no rock pictures today (better luck next time), but in the mean time ponder an tool I'm working of for the reunion: the ballistic paint brush! (Lisa: Yep, he's crazy. Patrick: Just be glad I was kidding about the fire arrows!)
The first recipe variant I tried crashed and burned (for once not literally!) so we will ignore that one for today. Lisa came up with the idea of using cinnamon chips (which works!) this combined with my decision to experiment with a couple other new ingredients resulted in the three recipes included in today's post: cinnamon apple biscuits, cinnamon chocolate biscuits, and peanut butter chocolate biscuits. Note: Lisa said she really liked the cinnamon chocolate ones but kept eating my peanut butter ones...
So, lets get started!
Cinnamon Apple Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 350
Part 1 (wet ingredients)
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sourdough starter
mix well.
Since these are sweet biscuits a reasonably mild starter is appropriate. I frequently use the 'discard' from when I'm feeding my sour dough for these (I prefer to pour off the liquid that is generated if the starter stays in the refrigerator but if you prefer to mix it back in do so).
Part 2 (dry ingredients)
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons of brown sugar (pack it up when you measure but break it up/sprinkle it into the bowl before you mix)
1/4 cup cinnamon chips
1 tablespoon dried apple (I used dehydrated applesauce which we get from Thrive, but there are other apple possibilities (Dad sent us some dried apples that would work well)
Mix well, then mix in the wet ingredients.
Drop by appropriate sized spoon (For these Lisa prefers smaller, that would be a table spoon or heaping half table spoon. I prefer a heaping tablespoon) onto an ungreased baking sheet. Note that these do rise/puff pretty well in the oven (unofficially I will say double in size) so give them plenty of space.
Bake for 12-17 minutes (remember ovens differ so your time may differ; also size can change the baking time (for heaping tablespoon in my oven 15 minutes is about right) so know your set up and adjust accordingly)
When they come out loosen them up with a spatula. I can't say how long they keep because none have lasted that long!
Cinnamon Chocolate Biscuits
This one is a goof that worked out...
Follow the same recipe above except omit the sugar and the apples and add 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips.
The mini chips started with Lisa's fascination for all things mini but they distribute chocolate through the whole mix better than full size chips.
The dropping of the sugar was initially me rushing and forgetting, but it works out. Chocolate plays well with a bit more tart environment (dark chocolate anyone?) and these are a nice treat with less sugar (and calories) than the other versions.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscuits
Start with the cinnamon apple recipe again, but this time instead of 1 tablespoon apples add 1/4 cup peanut butter chips. I just finished some for the pictures below, they might or might not make it to tomorrow.
The pictures:
So there you have it three easy treats off one base recipe (I have others too but those aren't cookie biscuits)
Looking into the future, now that the work bench is up and I have my snack maybe we get onto that stamping thing, the rocket stove gets used, no specific promise of what exactly, but the next post should be about fire and bent metal.
For any one looking for a reunion teaser...sorry no rock pictures today (better luck next time), but in the mean time ponder an tool I'm working of for the reunion: the ballistic paint brush! (Lisa: Yep, he's crazy. Patrick: Just be glad I was kidding about the fire arrows!)
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Adventures Continue...
Because there is no single big thing this week here are updates on a few things...
First off the pancakes:
Yes, use the baking soda not the baking powder. It makes them lighter and fluffier. I haven't achieved perfect fluff yet but I'm working on it. BTW for those of you not believing in sourdough's ability to escape confinement...
Second the rocket stove: I got one burn test in this week. I and my impatient self overloaded it with fuel before I started so it never got the right air flow. In the process of demanding that it concede to my will I moved the half block chimney over the other hole. This did not improve the air flow at all but did lead to an interesting discovery...
Note to self: before making sure your bench is level try making sure the ground is free from obstacles (cords, hoses, small children, attack trained lawn gnomes (yes that is a joke...there are no small children in my basement))
First off the pancakes:
Yes, use the baking soda not the baking powder. It makes them lighter and fluffier. I haven't achieved perfect fluff yet but I'm working on it. BTW for those of you not believing in sourdough's ability to escape confinement...
I barely caught mine before it made a break for it this week. I also learned from this that it will shrink down a bit if you put it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Having served it's time in "Zee cooler" (Ok, you try typing Schultzy's bad German accent from Hogan's Heroes!!!) I think I'm attempting some hamburger or hotdog buns tomorrow.
Second the rocket stove: I got one burn test in this week. I and my impatient self overloaded it with fuel before I started so it never got the right air flow. In the process of demanding that it concede to my will I moved the half block chimney over the other hole. This did not improve the air flow at all but did lead to an interesting discovery...
Apparently if you burn the right fuel load in the high chamber instead of the low chamber (go back a couple posts to see what I mean) you get not a rocket stove but a pretty fair imitation of a Japanese charcoal making oven! This one is not really big enough to be a 'production' model charcoal oven but I can do the charcoal making process with it (which if you're an old school metal worker or back yard chief is kinda neat).
A couple posts are waiting for their projects to be done because I'm working on a new portable work bench (which will get it's own post when it's finished). My main work bench isn't really clamp friendly and my shed bench is an old metal desk which is just about as bad so the project is to make a version of a jeweler's bench that is clamp friendly, can easily be broken down to move (to take to shows, farmers markets and so on) and is still solid enough to work/pound/do what I do on. The thing is giving me fits, but it's getting there and sadly I can't say all the problems have been the bench's fault!
That's it for now. Remember if you got it all right the first time you wouldn't learn anything on the way.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Basic Potato Soup
My sister, Marisa and her roommate, Laura came to our house for Thanksgiving. To make things easy on me I decided we would have soup and salad on Wednesday night. The soup could get happy all day in the crockpot and my sister would make layered salad.
The soup turned out so good Laura has been asking for the recipe, so here is what I did...
Peel and cut potatoes into large chunks (about 1/4's of a regular potato) to fill the crockpot about 1/2 to 2/3.
Chop an onion and add to crockpot.
Chop about 3 stalks of celery - you want about 1 c of chopped celery.
Pour in a box of Chicken stock/broth. This should cover the potatoes, if not add more.
Add salt/pepper. Potatoes need lots of salt, but you don't want to add too much at this point. Same with the pepper. Probably about 1/2 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp of salt.
Let cook about 1/2 a day on low.
After cooking that long the potatoes should just want to fall apart.
At this point I puree the lot. I have a stick blender which I just stick in the crockpot and blend until it looks good. You can also scoop out portions and puree in the blender/food processor. If you use the blender/food processor method, be CAREFUL the hot liquid will be steamy and want to push open the lid to the blender!
Just before serving add 1/2-3/4 c. heavy cream and gently stir into the soup.
Add more salt and pepper to taste.
That is basic potato soup. To this base you can add different items to change things up. Some possibilities...
1-2 cup grated cheese after the puree
Bacon after the puree
Chopped carrots at the beginning with the celery
Use pork broth/stock instead of chicken
1 c chopped leeks
a couple of crushed garlic cloves at the beginning (they will be pureed later)
It is possible to cook this on the stove and not the crockpot, however, you will need to watch it more carefully. The low constant temperature of the crockpot cooking for several hours is part of what makes this simple soup so delicious!
The soup turned out so good Laura has been asking for the recipe, so here is what I did...
Peel and cut potatoes into large chunks (about 1/4's of a regular potato) to fill the crockpot about 1/2 to 2/3.
Chop an onion and add to crockpot.
Chop about 3 stalks of celery - you want about 1 c of chopped celery.
Pour in a box of Chicken stock/broth. This should cover the potatoes, if not add more.
Add salt/pepper. Potatoes need lots of salt, but you don't want to add too much at this point. Same with the pepper. Probably about 1/2 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp of salt.
Let cook about 1/2 a day on low.
After cooking that long the potatoes should just want to fall apart.
At this point I puree the lot. I have a stick blender which I just stick in the crockpot and blend until it looks good. You can also scoop out portions and puree in the blender/food processor. If you use the blender/food processor method, be CAREFUL the hot liquid will be steamy and want to push open the lid to the blender!
Just before serving add 1/2-3/4 c. heavy cream and gently stir into the soup.
Add more salt and pepper to taste.
That is basic potato soup. To this base you can add different items to change things up. Some possibilities...
1-2 cup grated cheese after the puree
Bacon after the puree
Chopped carrots at the beginning with the celery
Use pork broth/stock instead of chicken
1 c chopped leeks
a couple of crushed garlic cloves at the beginning (they will be pureed later)
It is possible to cook this on the stove and not the crockpot, however, you will need to watch it more carefully. The low constant temperature of the crockpot cooking for several hours is part of what makes this simple soup so delicious!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Baking, Baking and some more Baking...
Within the past couple of months baking has been happening a bit more often. The first endeavor was by Patrick. He loves sourdough, so he set about to make a sourdough starter. He carefully measured and nurtured the starter for a week and then made some biscuits. He made three batches before letting the starter go.
Here is a picture of the man at work.
On my baking front I decided to attempt to make my own bread. The first week I tried this recipe. It looked easy. Now I know that this may not seem so terribly exciting to others, but you see I have not done that much baking with yeast. I worry about the whole kneading thing and then there is the bake time and worrying about too crispy of a crust. Just plain too much worrying.
The bread was good! I couldn't believe it I actually made bread!
The following week I turned to my new favorite cookbook Joy of Cooking. Wonderful birthday present from Herm and Frederica! The very first recipe was white bread. It stated that this recipe was in the very first Joy of Cooking in 1931. I figured, it must be good if they've kept it around for the 75th anniversary cookbook. (That's the one I have.) It also said it "stales slowly and cuts well for sandwiches." I also learned that if you cover the cooling bread with a damp cloth it makes a nice soft crust.
So for the third week in a row I have two homemade loaves of bread cooling in the kitchen. One will get wrapped up and put in the freezer and the other will make some wonderful toast in the morning.
As I was brushing butter on the warm bread (that's the other thing you do to make the crust soft). I started to think about my great grandmothers. I thought about them brushing their bread on their bread making day. (Yes it does take about 1/2 a day.) I knew most of my great grandmothers and I wondered which one would be the most proud of me. I then I remembered that my Great Grandpa Gray was a baker.
Of all my great grand parents he is one that I knew the best. He said that if he could do it again, he wouldn't be a baker because they have to get up way too early. I thought of him mixing dough and getting the ovens ready for the bread. I think he would be proud that I've tried my hand at baking bread. I wonder how different his bread recipe was the one I've been using. I don't recall any of his bread - but I DO remember his shortbread cookies. I wish I had his recipe.
In the meantime I will try to continue to bake bread on Saturday. We'll see how that works out during the summer. If it gets too hot, I will definitely pick it up in the Fall again. Hmmmm homemade bread and soup. I think that is a good combination.
Here is a picture of the man at work.
On my baking front I decided to attempt to make my own bread. The first week I tried this recipe. It looked easy. Now I know that this may not seem so terribly exciting to others, but you see I have not done that much baking with yeast. I worry about the whole kneading thing and then there is the bake time and worrying about too crispy of a crust. Just plain too much worrying.
The bread was good! I couldn't believe it I actually made bread!
The following week I turned to my new favorite cookbook Joy of Cooking. Wonderful birthday present from Herm and Frederica! The very first recipe was white bread. It stated that this recipe was in the very first Joy of Cooking in 1931. I figured, it must be good if they've kept it around for the 75th anniversary cookbook. (That's the one I have.) It also said it "stales slowly and cuts well for sandwiches." I also learned that if you cover the cooling bread with a damp cloth it makes a nice soft crust.
So for the third week in a row I have two homemade loaves of bread cooling in the kitchen. One will get wrapped up and put in the freezer and the other will make some wonderful toast in the morning.
As I was brushing butter on the warm bread (that's the other thing you do to make the crust soft). I started to think about my great grandmothers. I thought about them brushing their bread on their bread making day. (Yes it does take about 1/2 a day.) I knew most of my great grandmothers and I wondered which one would be the most proud of me. I then I remembered that my Great Grandpa Gray was a baker.
Of all my great grand parents he is one that I knew the best. He said that if he could do it again, he wouldn't be a baker because they have to get up way too early. I thought of him mixing dough and getting the ovens ready for the bread. I think he would be proud that I've tried my hand at baking bread. I wonder how different his bread recipe was the one I've been using. I don't recall any of his bread - but I DO remember his shortbread cookies. I wish I had his recipe.
In the meantime I will try to continue to bake bread on Saturday. We'll see how that works out during the summer. If it gets too hot, I will definitely pick it up in the Fall again. Hmmmm homemade bread and soup. I think that is a good combination.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Philly Cooking Creme Party!
On March 12th - I hosted a Philly Cooking Creme Party! (Yeah, houseparty.com!)
On the menu was...
Homemade Pizza Rolls
Homemade Pizza Dough
Red Pepper
Sausage
Pepperoni
Mushrooms
Handful of Mozerella
Italian Cooking Creme
I chopped up all the pizza toppings into tiny dices. Then mixed in the cheese and the cooking creme. Rolled out portions of the dough, cut into rectangles. Taking each rectangle I scooped some of the mix in the middle and pinched all the sides closed. - cooked according to the dough recipe, served with some pizza sauce for dipping.
Chicken Veloute Supreme Soup
This was, by far the favorite recipe of the night. I wasn't sure about this so I made some the week before and loved it. Due to the fact that I couldn't find any of the Garlic Cooking Creme, I had to make some changes.
Changes:
First - the whole trying to make a rue with mushrooms still in the pan, just didn't work for me. May work for you, but I didn't do so well. I sautéed the mushrooms and then pulled them out of the pan, made a rue with equal amounts of flour and butter and then returned everything back to the pan.
Second - I used only half a tub of regular cooking creme (Cheryl used a whole thing of regular cream cheese whipped with some milk). I then added about a teaspoon or so of garlic.
Third - I added green onions.
This soup REALLY needs to be served with good bread. Dipping bread into the soup is just too wonderful for words.
Santa Fe Casserole
I had no doubts that this would be good. Notes for next time...Add in chopped olives and perhaps a small can of green chiles!
Creamy Bacon Pasta
Again I couldn't find anything but the regular cooking creme the day of the party, so instead of the italian creme listed in the recipe, I used regular. I forgot to add some garlic when I sautéed the onions - that would have been good. The next day I reheated this with some extra cheese - that made it much better. (Isn't everything better with a little cheese?)
Cream Cheese mini tarts
Cream Cheese tart shells
Filled with nutella, peach-raspberry jam and pear butter
I have to say that these little things are ADDICTIVE. I have now made three batches - well the third batch is in the oven as I write. I don't know if I would make these any bigger than the mini-muffin size. Although the suggestion of pushing the dough out flat and baking it as one big dessert sounded good. I am justed excited to have a mini-muffin pan - plus I love little things. I have also added vanilla and almond to the batter.
If you would like to comment on Philly Cooking Creme see this link.
On the menu was...
Homemade Pizza Rolls
Homemade Pizza Dough
Red Pepper
Sausage
Pepperoni
Mushrooms
Handful of Mozerella
Italian Cooking Creme
I chopped up all the pizza toppings into tiny dices. Then mixed in the cheese and the cooking creme. Rolled out portions of the dough, cut into rectangles. Taking each rectangle I scooped some of the mix in the middle and pinched all the sides closed. - cooked according to the dough recipe, served with some pizza sauce for dipping.
Chicken Veloute Supreme Soup
This was, by far the favorite recipe of the night. I wasn't sure about this so I made some the week before and loved it. Due to the fact that I couldn't find any of the Garlic Cooking Creme, I had to make some changes.
Changes:
First - the whole trying to make a rue with mushrooms still in the pan, just didn't work for me. May work for you, but I didn't do so well. I sautéed the mushrooms and then pulled them out of the pan, made a rue with equal amounts of flour and butter and then returned everything back to the pan.
Second - I used only half a tub of regular cooking creme (Cheryl used a whole thing of regular cream cheese whipped with some milk). I then added about a teaspoon or so of garlic.
Third - I added green onions.
This soup REALLY needs to be served with good bread. Dipping bread into the soup is just too wonderful for words.
Santa Fe Casserole
I had no doubts that this would be good. Notes for next time...Add in chopped olives and perhaps a small can of green chiles!
Creamy Bacon Pasta
Again I couldn't find anything but the regular cooking creme the day of the party, so instead of the italian creme listed in the recipe, I used regular. I forgot to add some garlic when I sautéed the onions - that would have been good. The next day I reheated this with some extra cheese - that made it much better. (Isn't everything better with a little cheese?)
Cream Cheese mini tarts
Cream Cheese tart shells
Filled with nutella, peach-raspberry jam and pear butter
I have to say that these little things are ADDICTIVE. I have now made three batches - well the third batch is in the oven as I write. I don't know if I would make these any bigger than the mini-muffin size. Although the suggestion of pushing the dough out flat and baking it as one big dessert sounded good. I am justed excited to have a mini-muffin pan - plus I love little things. I have also added vanilla and almond to the batter.
If you would like to comment on Philly Cooking Creme see this link.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Brown Butter, Pumpkin, Spice Muffin Goodness
A few weeks ago I ran across this recipe for Brown Butter Spice Cake. I still had some pumpkin in the freezer and thought this sounded good, so I took the pumpkin out to thaw.
I have now made this recipe three times! Well, each time it got a new variation...
Round 1
The first time was a double batch, I did follow the recipe on the website with the following exceptions:
I have now made this recipe three times! Well, each time it got a new variation...
Round 1
The first time was a double batch, I did follow the recipe on the website with the following exceptions:
- I didn't have any toasted hazelnut oil so I substituted butter as suggested by Heidi (the author of the blog post).
- I didn't have whole pastry flour, sea salt or natural cane sugar. I used regular flour and salt and 1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 regular sugar.
- I used my food processor to puree and then "whisk" in the eggs, sugar, butter and milk.
- I made muffins instead of bread. I have to plan too much to have something in the oven for a whole hour. The muffins take about 16-18 minutes!
- I also put toasted almond slivers in only half the batter.
Results: Ended up with 18 muffins, plus some extra in my little corning ware dish. We loved these! I liked the ones with the nuts on top. Patrick preferred them without nuts. And we both felt the spices could be increased.
Round 2
The second time was a single batch, I changed the following (on purpose)
- I used bananas instead of the pumpkin - as they were taking up way too much room in the freezer.
- I again skipped the toasted hazelnut oil.
- Instead of nuts I added milk chocolate chips to half the batter. (I was actually craving Mary's Chocolate Cake - but I didn't have all the ingredients for that, nor did I need a whole chocolate cake sitting around.)
- I added more of the garam marsala (1 1/2 tsp.) and cinnamon (1 tsp.)
- I did not sprinkle extra sugar on these ones.
Results: Made about 16 muffins. These were just ok. Perhaps, it was because I was really wanting chocolate cake, but they did not rise as well as the first batch making them kind of sadly flat. They were good, but not overly so.
Round 3
The third time - this was a double batch again, I changed the following (some on purpose, one not so purposefully)
- Again, no toasted hazelnut oil (I just don't have any on hand.)
- I used pumpkin - about 1 1/3 cup before pureeing because that is what I had.
- I added the following spices: garam marsala (3-4 tsp.), cinnamon (1 1/2 tsp.) and ground ginger (1/2 tsp.)
- I also added a rounded teaspoon of baking soda (from the last rather sadly flat experience.)
- I also added an additional 1/3 c. flour. I knew I would have more pumpkin than I needed so I thought this would offset some of the extra moistness.
- My not so purposeful change was in the butter. I put a stick of butter in the pan to brown and then made the recipe. I was actually stirring in the "liquid" into the flour and noticed that the batter was rather dry. Woops! I turned around, pulled the beautifully browned butter from its cooling spot and poured it into the batter, stirring well to get all the stuff incorporated. Did you catch my mistake here? I doubled the recipe, but not the butter.
Results: Made 18 muffins, plus my little corning ware pan. They were wonderful. I loved the smell of them as they reached the end of their cooking. The house filled with wonderfully fragrant smells. I had to eat two of these while they were still warm. I had part of my "extra" pan for breakfast the next day with hot chocolate. yuuummm!
It was as I was getting ready the next morning that I realized, "Hey! I think I forgot to double the butter." After checking the recipe and realizing my mistake, I still had a good breakfast. While the lower fat content made the muffins more bread-like, the extra pumpkin made up the difference. And, slightly warm, you wouldn't notice a difference.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Mulligatawny Soup 2/27/2010
I can't remember what caught my eye about this, but it looked good. There are several recipes on All Recipes with this name and I ended up using a little from several of them (not surprising).
1 med.onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
4 carrots, diced
1 cup red pepper, diced
6 Tbl butter
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2-1 tsp ground ginger
pinch of saffron
1 bay leaf
4 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast half - cut into cubes
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white rice
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch dried thyme
1/2 cup heavy cream
1. Melt butter on low heat until slightly brown in large soup pot. Saute onions, celery, carrot. Add curry, ginger, saffron, bay leaf, garlic, and apple and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock, and chicken breasts. Mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 hour. Add rice, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done. Just before serving, stir in cream, simmer until heated through.
This soup was FANTASTIC! A definite keeper and a meal in itself.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Potato Cheese Soup 11/14/09
Last winter my fall back for our Saturday soup was potato soup. There were several variations, but the best one by far was a simple version made with the stock I made from the Christmas ham. The simple substitution of the ham stock instead of my usual chicken stock.
With all the plans we had for today, I wasn't sure if we would have soup tonight, but the snow storm this morning changes our plans and you get another soup recipe.
I don't have any ham stock in my freezer, but I did have a ham hock so I tried a quick one.
Ham Stock
1 ham hock
handful of baby carrots (worked out to be about 5)
about 6 small stocks of celery (I needed about 5 for tomorrow's dinner so I just pulled out the little ones on the inside)
3 bay leaves
Fill a soup pot with water, add all the ingredients - no need to chop the carrots and celery as you will just pull them out later. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Drop the temperature to a low/med and let simmer for several hours. Pull out the hamhock and bay leaves. Pull the meat off the hamhock and return to pot.
.....
I waited too long to finish this so now I don't remember what I did. I probably cut up some potatoes, let them simmer in the ham stock. Blended the mix and then added cheese. I used velveeta in this one, it melts very nicely. Add salt, pepper to taste and finish with a bit a cream or half/half.
The real point of this potato soup recipe was to try the quick ham stock option - well not so quick, but still good.
With all the plans we had for today, I wasn't sure if we would have soup tonight, but the snow storm this morning changes our plans and you get another soup recipe.
I don't have any ham stock in my freezer, but I did have a ham hock so I tried a quick one.
Ham Stock
1 ham hock
handful of baby carrots (worked out to be about 5)
about 6 small stocks of celery (I needed about 5 for tomorrow's dinner so I just pulled out the little ones on the inside)
3 bay leaves
Fill a soup pot with water, add all the ingredients - no need to chop the carrots and celery as you will just pull them out later. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Drop the temperature to a low/med and let simmer for several hours. Pull out the hamhock and bay leaves. Pull the meat off the hamhock and return to pot.
.....
I waited too long to finish this so now I don't remember what I did. I probably cut up some potatoes, let them simmer in the ham stock. Blended the mix and then added cheese. I used velveeta in this one, it melts very nicely. Add salt, pepper to taste and finish with a bit a cream or half/half.
The real point of this potato soup recipe was to try the quick ham stock option - well not so quick, but still good.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Peanut Curry Bisque 11/7/09
I found this recipe on epicurious.com under the name "Lightly Curried Peanut Bisque". According to Wikipedia a Bisque is a seafood soup or smooth soup. I did look into possibly adding shrimp, but I can only afford shrimp when it is a really good deal. And good deals on shrimp doesn't happen very often in my land locked state. I changed the name, because I always tend to change the recipe. And while it might look like a lot of ingredients you could very easily just use 2 1/2 tsp of curry powder in the soup, plus salt and pepper.
My changes come from laziness in measuring (Rachel Ray doesn't measure!), needing to use something up or after a taste or a good smell I think, "hmmm this would be good with this and I have some." The nice thing about soup is that it is very flexible :-).
A note about curry: Curry is a blend of spices. Each company has their own version. If you don't like one, try a different brand. We discovered a spice store when we lived in Torrance, Penzeys. They had bottles of each of the spices that you could smell. I loved going there, but my sniffer would stop working about half way around the store. We happen to have 3 of their 9 curry blends, and I used a little of each one - Sweet curry and Hot curry on the chicken; and Sweet curry and Maharajah in the soup.
This one turned out incredible!!!!! It doesn't look like it would be a full meal, but it was very filling.
2-3 Chicken breasts
Curry powder
2-3 Tbl butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 carrots (I did a handful of the baby carrots), chopped
3-4 stalks of celery (my celery was on the small side), chopped
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 box chicken broth
1 sweet potato, chopped
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 salt
Cover chicken breasts liberally with curry powder. Bake chicken (350° for about 1 hour), chop into bite size pieces.
Saute onion, celery and carrots in the butter. Add the curry spices let cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the peanut butter until fairly blended. Add the chicken broth, stirring to blend. Let simmer for about 30 minutes.
Add the sweet potato and cook until the potatoes are tender.
Blend the soup (hand mixer or food processor). Stir in the cream, salt and the chicken, heat the soup gently on simmer.
Next time I think I will use coconut milk with the cream, maybe 3/4 c. coconut milk and 1/4 c. cream.
My changes come from laziness in measuring (Rachel Ray doesn't measure!), needing to use something up or after a taste or a good smell I think, "hmmm this would be good with this and I have some." The nice thing about soup is that it is very flexible :-).
A note about curry: Curry is a blend of spices. Each company has their own version. If you don't like one, try a different brand. We discovered a spice store when we lived in Torrance, Penzeys. They had bottles of each of the spices that you could smell. I loved going there, but my sniffer would stop working about half way around the store. We happen to have 3 of their 9 curry blends, and I used a little of each one - Sweet curry and Hot curry on the chicken; and Sweet curry and Maharajah in the soup.
This one turned out incredible!!!!! It doesn't look like it would be a full meal, but it was very filling.
2-3 Chicken breasts
Curry powder
2-3 Tbl butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 carrots (I did a handful of the baby carrots), chopped
3-4 stalks of celery (my celery was on the small side), chopped
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 box chicken broth
1 sweet potato, chopped
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 salt
Cover chicken breasts liberally with curry powder. Bake chicken (350° for about 1 hour), chop into bite size pieces.
Saute onion, celery and carrots in the butter. Add the curry spices let cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the peanut butter until fairly blended. Add the chicken broth, stirring to blend. Let simmer for about 30 minutes.
Add the sweet potato and cook until the potatoes are tender.
Blend the soup (hand mixer or food processor). Stir in the cream, salt and the chicken, heat the soup gently on simmer.
Next time I think I will use coconut milk with the cream, maybe 3/4 c. coconut milk and 1/4 c. cream.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Pumpkin Ginger Soup 10/31/2009
Another week, another Saturday soup. And what else to make on Halloween but Pumpkin Soup. I have a recipe for a Curry Pumpkin Soup, but I wanted to try something a bit different and I wanted to use a real pumpkin instead of the canned puree. So here goes with this week's recipe.
2 Tbls butter
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thin
1 medium pumpkin or 6 c. pumpkin puree
1 box of chicken broth
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cloves and add more nutmeg)
Fresh nutmeg, several passes on the grater
salt
pepper
1 c. cream or half and half
Cut pumpkin in half, remove the stem and seeds. Place skin side down in a roasting pan, put in 1-2 inches of water, cover with foil bake at 300 until tender.
Saute onion, red pepper in butter. Add garlic and ginger after the onions and red pepper have softened. Let the whole mixture saute to bring out the flavors. Add salt and pepper, just under 1/2 tsp each.
Add pumpkin and chicken broth. Let simmer about 30 minutes. (I tend to let the soup simmer while I finish other things on my list, sometimes it is 30 minutes, other times it is up to 1 hour).
Puree the soup with a hand blender or in batches with a food processor or blender.
Add the pumpkin pie spice, freshly grated nutmeg and more salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in the cream, heat until the cream gets warmed up.
We served the soup with some sun dried tomato and chicken sausage, just a little spicy, but good.
This one turned out well. Patrick suggests serving next time with grilled cheese sandwiches.
2 Tbls butter
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thin
1 medium pumpkin or 6 c. pumpkin puree
1 box of chicken broth
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cloves and add more nutmeg)
Fresh nutmeg, several passes on the grater
salt
pepper
1 c. cream or half and half
Cut pumpkin in half, remove the stem and seeds. Place skin side down in a roasting pan, put in 1-2 inches of water, cover with foil bake at 300 until tender.
Saute onion, red pepper in butter. Add garlic and ginger after the onions and red pepper have softened. Let the whole mixture saute to bring out the flavors. Add salt and pepper, just under 1/2 tsp each.
Add pumpkin and chicken broth. Let simmer about 30 minutes. (I tend to let the soup simmer while I finish other things on my list, sometimes it is 30 minutes, other times it is up to 1 hour).
Puree the soup with a hand blender or in batches with a food processor or blender.
Add the pumpkin pie spice, freshly grated nutmeg and more salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in the cream, heat until the cream gets warmed up.
We served the soup with some sun dried tomato and chicken sausage, just a little spicy, but good.
This one turned out well. Patrick suggests serving next time with grilled cheese sandwiches.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Cream of Chile Soup - 10/24/2009
Last year we started a tradition of having soup every Saturday during winter. We tried a variety of soups last year and have been collecting recipes in anticipation of the cold weather for our new winter of soups to begin.
Today it is Cream of Chile Soup. Mostly because we bought too many pasillo peppers last week. I usually start with a recipe and then adjust as I go. I tend to do things like chop up the whole onion rather than stopping at exactly 2 cups. I use the last nub of butter instead of cutting off exactly 2 tbls. Since it is soup, it doesn't matter as much.
So here is the recipe - my way.
2-3 Chicken breasts
2 tbls butter
2 tbls butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped (frozen from our garden)
7-9 pasilla or poblano peppers, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 tsp oregano
2 bay leaves
3-5 potatoes
1 box chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 can of corn
Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Tortilla chips
Cilantro - optional
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 can of corn
Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Tortilla chips
Cilantro - optional
Bake the chicken with some oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.
Saute butter, red pepper, onion, pasilla peppers, jalapeño, garlic, oregano, bay leaves. (I turn the pan on med-high, put the butter in and start chopping, adding the ingredients as I finish chopping each one and adding the spices at the end).
Saute butter, red pepper, onion, pasilla peppers, jalapeño, garlic, oregano, bay leaves. (I turn the pan on med-high, put the butter in and start chopping, adding the ingredients as I finish chopping each one and adding the spices at the end).
While still sauteing, peel and chop 3-5 potatoes.
Move the saute mixture to a large pot, add the potatoes, chicken broth, cumin, salt and pepper. Let simmer until the potatoes fall apart. (Yes you could just put all the saute mixture into the large pot from the beginning, but I find I get a better flavor when I use my saute pan.)
When the potatoes are easily smashed with a spoon, remove the bay leaves. Puree about 1/3 of the soup in food processor with the cream. (If I had a hand blender I would just use it in the pot, still leaving some of the bits whole and chunky.) Add the puree mixture and the can of corn back to the pot.
Shred the chicken, add to the pot. Heat until warmed all the way through.
Serve with shredded cheese, tortilla chips and cilantro (if using).
Turned out well - this one is a keeper!
Shred the chicken, add to the pot. Heat until warmed all the way through.
Serve with shredded cheese, tortilla chips and cilantro (if using).
Turned out well - this one is a keeper!
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