yummy

we ate beef with snow peas and fried rice and creamcheese puffs. ummmm.
it was good!

The Pea is On The Plate....The Pea is Off The Plate

Need I say more?

50's Jello Mold

Stephen requested a jello mold for his birthday party. This is made with 4 1/2 cups of rose wine, 2 T peach schnaps, 8 packets of jelatin and 3 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar. The recipe is from epicurious - they call it Rose-Peach Gelee - I call it chewing wine....

(the tiki embelishments look like they are comming out of the jello - they are not - I wish I had done that.)

Swedish Meatballs

Swedish Meatballs w/Gravy and Red Potatoes

Based on Ojakangas recipe for Swedish Meatballs from Country Tastes written in 1988.
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 chopped onion
1/4 cup bread crumbs (or more)
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice (required!)
Mix and form into 1 inch balls and bake at 500 for 10-15 minutes

Gravy:
brown 1/4 cup flour in a pan, whisk in 2 cups milk (or half and half) cook until thickened and add meatballs.

This picture is from our vacation in January to a cabin on Lake Superior.

Pop - Successfull Sealing!

I've never liked Marmalade but I figure maybe it's because I haven't made it myself....I'm not sure I like it made by me either. I'm processing the last batch as I write this - a 15 minute hot water bath for the smaller jars - I'm done with the larger ones.

In my opinion most jelly and jam recipes have faulty instructions for determining when the jelly is "set". Almost all say when "the one drop becomes a sheet off the spoon it is done" - usually that means your jelly is entirely overcooked. So here is a picture of first and slightly undercooked jelly and then a just right jelly (in my humble opinion).

If you compare the base of the drop of jelly in the first picture to the second picture you will notice a much wider base in the second. That I believe is the key to making good jelly - no it doesn't "sheet" off - it drips off and pulls from a wide base of the spoon. You'll also notice in there is less of an O with a belt shape in the second picture - the drip is more sloping.

Also you will notice I use the back of the spoon - I find this to be a much better method of looking at the drip - if you use the concave part of the spoon the liquid wells up at the base and then spills over and it's difficult to get an accurate look at the liquid because it all wants to spill over. However, if you watch the liquid drip off in a nice slow non hurried fashion off the reverse side of the spoon - you'll get a much more accurate look at it's thickness/viscosity.

Anyway that's my rant. This Seville Orange Marmalade has been a three day process. Tuesday: wash the oranges, juice the oranges, strain the juice, slice the peel, add an equal volume of water as juice/peel, let sit in cool place 24 hrs. Wednesday: Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and gently simmer 20 minutes. Today: measure liquid, bring liquid to a boil and add 2 T balsamic vinegar, gently simmer 20 minutes, add an equal volume of sugar as liquid measured at the start, bring to a boil and then simmer 35 minutes (till done) add 1 teaspoon bitters. Process.

sticky toffee pudding

Last night was a fun cooking night. Matt and I tried a new tempeh recipe, potato and tempeh patties. They turned out delicious, tasted kind of like pakoras but bigger and creamy. So so tasty, I had leftovers for lunch today and they were just as good. They were spiced with coriander, cumin, cayenne, and tandoori. We had coleslaw on the side.

At work yesterday I stumbled on a recipe for sticky toffee pudding and had to make it for dessert that night! (pudding in the British for dessert, it is a cake) It's from epicurious, here's the recipe, it is really sweet, but very good.

Simmer 1 cup dates in 1 cup water about 5 minutes and then let sit covered.
Beat 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in 1 egg.
Sift 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/8 tsp salt and mix into butter mixture.
Then add dates (and the water they were soaking in) and mix just until well combined.

Bake in a greased and floured 8" round pan for about 30 minutes at 350.

Then, melt 1/2 cup butter, stir in 1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup water, and a pinch of salt.
Boil over medium high heat until sauce is reduced to 1 1/4 cups. (how does one know when it is 1 1/4 cups? no idea, I just boiled it until it ran off the back of a spoon slower and smelled all caramel/toffee-like, maybe about 5-8 minutes?)

With "pudding" still in pan poke it all over with a chopstick or a fork, then pour over half of the warm toffee sauce. Let it sit for 15 minutes to soak in, then turn the cake onto a plate and pour the other half of the sauce over the "pudding"
Then dig in!

dinner

For dinner I backed potatoes and cut them in circles and filled the bottom of a dish, then i took leftover thick bean soup and poured that over, then covered it with cheese that melted. It was pretty good.

Soup

Mom made some great, cailiflower/brocolie/cheesey soup.
It was good!

Happy Valentines Day

Mom made a whole batch of cookies, choc chip, walnuts, almonds. And she made the entire batch into one big heart! Yumm yumm
It's huge! and tastes great!

Chinese

Yumm, I got some food from the 'Fortune House' Beef with snowpeas and pork fried rice and creamcheese wontons.
It was really good!

HEllo?

Hey, is anybody out there?
lalalala
I had chilli while watching the big game, Kenny - Allisons husband- made it. yummyumm