2009 March

Basic Jook (a.k.a. Juk, Congee or Rice Porridge)

March 17, 2009 by Rebecca 4 Comments

My boys gave me a cold this week. I cannot tell you the joy this gives me. Not because I love slobbering and running from the nose, eyes and every other mucus membrane on my head. I’m just relieved that I got it from them instead of the other way around. That way there is no guilt! And since I was fully healthy to take care of the little shavers when they were under the weather, they got the royal treatment. From cartoons on t.v. to hearing their favorite stories fifty times to their favorite foods they got whatever their little pea-pickin’ hearts desired. So again? No guilt! I was free to feel as punky as I actually did feel. So I read my favorite stories to myself, watched ‘What Not to Wear’ on t.v. and made whatever I wanted to eat. Namely, jook (a.k.a. juk or congee.) I had made it for the kids, too, but it’s good for what ails you. What can I say?

Tangent alert: I will clear this up right now. I have no claim to being an expert in the field of jook/juk/congee/lugau/rice porridge. None whatsoever. Crave info on it? See this link. I just know that millions upon millions of people eat some version of it daily and they do it for a multitude of reasons. Among those reasons: It’s simple to prepare. It’s dirt cheap to make. It’s delicious. It’s filling. And it’s really, really hard to screw up. This is a major bonus when you can hardly see through the bleary, cold-addled eyes in your head. Tangent over.

Okay, wait. One more little bit of tangent. I’m probably going to horrify a bunch of traditionalists with this recipe, but I’d like to reiterate that I’m not an expert. I simply know how I like it. Now the tangent is officially, seriously over.

How many of you out there want to slave over a pot of soup when you feel like crud? I don’t see any hands going up. Yeah, I thought so. I don’t either. This is where jook is the king of all soups.

Last tangent today. I promise. Is it a soup? Is it a porridge? It’s both. Depending on the rice/water ratio you use you can push it in either direction. More water? More like soup. More rice? More porridge like…

Jook is traditionally served with all kinds of accompaniments that vary depending on where in Asia you’re eating it. In Korea it might get a side of kimchi. In Japan? Maybe some umeboshi or salmon. In China it could be served with fish or century eggs, among other acoutrements. I, not being bound by tradition, can put whatever the heck appeals to me. And what appealed to me was the way I usually make it; chicken broth and short grain rice simmered until the rice disintigrates topped with green onions, sesame oil and Sriracha and a hard boiled egg. Take that you nasty cold virus!

My head is clearing up just looking at this.

Make it any old which way you choose. Throw a chicken neck in there and nix the chicken broth if that floats your boat. Got a squirrely tummy? Nix the chicken completely and prepare with just the rice and water and serve it with a drizzle of honey or sprinkling of brown sugar. Feelin crazy? Toss in some minced chile peppers while the rice and water simmer. Make it yours. As long as you keep close to the basic 1 part-rice-to-10-parts-water ratio you can do what you want to make it taste the way you want. Make it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The best part of this recipe is that it prepares itself in the slow-cooker while you loll about in your flannel jammie pants with a box of tissues and a good book. Isn’t cooking fun?

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Basic Jook

1 cup short grain rice (I use sushi rice)
10 cups chicken broth (or you can use 10 cups water and 4 bouillon cubes *gasp*. It’s not all awful, you know…)
1 teaspoon neutral oil (like canola, vegetable, peanut, etc…)

I love sushi rice. I love it in sushi. I love it in jook. If you don't have some go buy some now. Or order some.

Not pictured? Chicken broth. If you've seen one mason jar of chicken broth you've seen 'em all...

Have you seen sushi rice before? See the stubby little grains? They are fabulous.

optional for serving:

1 cup milk, either dairy or soy
thinly sliced green onions
leftover shredded meat
hard-boiled eggs
julienned carrots
soy sauce
hot sauce
toasted sesame oil
congee eggs

In the bowl of a large slow-cooker, stir together 1 teaspoon of neutral oil and the short-grain rice until the rice grains are coated. Add the chicken broth (or your desired substitute) and stir to combine. Place the lid on the slow-cooker, turn heat to ‘LOW’ and allow to cook for 8 hours. Just prior to serving, bump the heat up to ‘HIGH’. If you’re using milk, stir it in now. Recover the slow-cooker and allow to cook for 30 minutes. Turn off the cooker, uncover and stir prior to serving.

To eat the Foodie With Family way, drizzle with a little toasted sesame oil and soy sauce, top with sliced green onions, add a few drops of Sriracha and chop a hard-boiled egg into the jook. This may not cure the cold, but it sure makes you feel better!

This is my comfort food. This makes me very, very happy.

Back to normal programming tomorrow. If you want to play along here’s what you’ll need:

2 lbs dried cannelini beans (a.k.a. white kidney beans)
1 onion (or the frozen tops of two onions… were you paying attention here last week???)
olive oil
Herbes de Provence
salt and pepper. But you had that anyway, right? Please say yes.
garlic, darling… You must have the garlic.
pita chips, crackers, breadsticks or bread.

Are you interested?

…Just in case you, like me, live in the middle of nowhere and can’t buy sushi rice at your local mini-grocery, here’s a link to my life-line: Amazon.com. What do these people NOT sell I ask you.

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Component Foods, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, slow-cooker, Soups & Stews Tagged With: comfort food, congee, jook, juk, porridge

Ultimate Glazed Corned Beef: Part III of a St. Patrick’s Day Feast!

March 13, 2009 by Rebecca 4 Comments

I know I promised to deliver this recipe, but I have a good reason for pushing if off until today and it only requires one sentence of explanation. I have five kids and they all had a 24 hour stomach bug. Oh yeah. I think that says it all, right?

Today, however, the sun is shining, the temperature is mild for March, and the kids are all better and all playing outside. So, let’s get our corned beef on, shall we?

When I said that this corned beef is the be all and end all I meant it. I always loved corned beef and it was one of my three cheat foods when I had my many-years vegetarian stint (along with Kielbasa and HAM, oh sweet ham. What a way to go…) A good old fashioned boiled corned beef is nothing to sniff at, but a few years ago I started glazing my corned beef after reading ‘The Good Stuff Cookbook’. I had made her Golden Crunchy Pickled Onion Rings and read the directions for using the leftover syrup to glaze a corned beef. Lo and behold, I found a semi-eaten jar of the onions in the fridge while preparing our St. Paddy’s feast and decided to give it a go. From the moment we sunk our teeth into that brisket there was no going back. Whatever alchemy this process performs turns it a vibrant pinkish red on the inside with a sweet and sour crackling crisp crust on the outside. It is truly the ultimate corned beef.

But I wax rhapsodic again and my kids are desperate for someone to fling them around the yard on a huge wagon. Don’ t ask.

Just make this corned beef. I’ll look forward to getting your feedback on the recipe! In case I haven’t mentioned it enough, I love hearing about how you all do with the recipes you try here. You. Complete. Me.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Ultimate Glazed Corned Beef

Inspired by Helen Witty’s, “Good Stuff Cookbook”

Ingredients:

1 corned beef brisket (about 3 pounds)
1 1/2 Tablespoons pickling spices
1 cup brown sugar, dark or light
1/2 cup pickled onion ring syrup (or sweet pickle brine or bread and butter pickle syrup)

Remove corned beef from packaging and rinse in clean water.

Rinse! My corned beef didn't come with spices, but the packets they stick in there seldom have enough in them anyway.

Place in a large stockpot and cover with cool water by 3 inches.

Add pickling spices and place pan over medium high heat, uncovered.

I get my pickling spice in bulk at a local Mennonite store. The stuff in the little red-lidded jars will stand in just fine here...

Doesn't that look fun? I wouldn't mind throwing some pickling spice in a hot tub and soaking in it. It might be a bear to clean up, though...

Doesn't that look fun? I love the way pickling spice smells. I wouldn't mind throwing some in a hot bath and soaking in it. It might be a bear to clean up, though...

Bring to a boil and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Lower heat to a simmer and allow to simmer, uncovered for at least 3 hours or until the brisket is fork tender.

Corned beef takes on an unappetizing grey color while simmering. Ignore that. You'll remedy it with the glaze.

This may take longer depending on your cut of beef. Just plan ahead as this part can be done well before the meal is served. If you are boiling the brisket up to two days ahead of time, just remove the meat from water when cooking is complete, wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate until about an hour before serving. Remove chilled from fridge, allow to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes and then proceed with the recipe.

Preheat oven to 450°F with a rack positioned in the center. Place brisket on a roasting dish, fat side up. Drizzle the onion syrup (or pickle syrup) over the top. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the surface, patting lightly to help it adhere.

Brown sugar. How come you taste so good? Er, I just noticed for the first time ever how creepy those lyrics are. Excuse me.

Place pan in the oven and bake, basting occasionally with the pan drippings or additional pickle syrup, until the coating has bubbled into a crust. This should take between 15 minutes and 25 minutes, depending on your oven and how crispy you want the crust. We like ours flecked with little charred areas.

This is perfection in a corned beef brisket. I was going to play Henry VIII and eat this with my hands, but the kids were looking.

Let the beef rest for 20 minutes before slicing.

Ain't it perty? Good enough to make your tongue slap your brain silly.

This beef will rock your world. It is fantastic hot and superb cold on sandwiches (or simply snuck from the fridge at midnight.) Store leftovers tightly wrapped in the fridge.

Oh… and it makes killer reubens.

…and corned beef hash.

You heard it here first…

Filed Under: Instructional, Main Dish, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: corned beef, Irish food, St. Patrick's day

Colcannon Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes: Part II of a St. Patrick’s Day Feast!

March 11, 2009 by Rebecca 4 Comments

I don’t know what’s going on with my computer today, but half of my photos are out of whack. Please pretend they’re all centered. Thank you.

Colcannon: Mashed potatoes studded with tender cabbage or kale, onions, salt, pepper, butter and cream. Oh my. It’s the stuff of dreams. This wondrous concotion graces our St. Patrick’s Day table, but it also makes frequent dinner appearances throughout the colder months. We love our colcannon recipe. We adore it. And in the name of my pet theory that you can never have enough good potato recipes I messed with it.

The usual way we go about preparing our colcannon is pretty straightforward. Peel, chop and bring potatoes to the boil. Add cabbage. Drain, mash, add butter, salt and cream. Stir in chopped green onions. And occasionally add an indecent quantity of shredded Cheddar cheese then stir. Okay, not so much occasionally. We pretty much do that every time. And normally, I would then add this to a buttered casserole, top with an equally indecent quantity of Cheddar cheese and pop in a hot oven until bubbly and lightly browned on top. That makes colcannon pretty hard to beat. Wouldn’t you agree?

But let me clue you in about how my brain works. My brain is a pendulum swinging wildly between the two extremes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and “To boldly go where no man has gone”. (Even though that requires me to split an infinitive. Anathema I tell you.) As I was gathering the ingredients to make colcannon my eyes flitted across the Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese in the fridge. A little voice inside my head said, “Hey! Wouldn’t that potted cheese be good dolloped on a baked potato?” And from there the grey matter skipped lightly over twice baked potatoes and straight to colcannon stuffed twice baked potatoes topped with Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese. Why the heck not?

And boy, did these things end up being good. I’m afraid to admit how many of them I ate, because they’re not really, er, diet friendly. Not that I’m on a diet, mind you, but I might need to be if I eat too many of these. They’re just plain good. And even though I could just save myself the trouble and strap them to my thighs, the flavor and texture makes it all worth it. Please make some of these and eat them with me. I don’t want to be the only one not wearing corduroy slacks because my thighs whisper “Po-ta-to. Po-ta-to” when I walk.

Oh! I should mention that you can whip these up ahead of time and then bake them just before serving. How handy is that? Delicious and flexible. All food should be so friendly.

Speaking of friendly, be sure to come back tomorrow for my corned beef recipe to end all corned beef recipes. It is amazing. It is delicious. It just might help achieve world peace. Yes, it is that good.

: Oh so yummy. Totally worth my thighs rubbing together and whispering, “Po-ta-to. Po-ta-to…”

For a printer-friendly, photo free version of the recipe, click here!

Colcannon-Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

14 medium sized all-purpose potatoes
1 small head white or green cabbage
1 cooking onion
1 cup warm whole milk
½ cup warm cream or half and half
3 TB butter (for cabbage)
¼ cup butter, melted (for mashed potatoes)
1 cup shredded extra sharp Cheddar cheese
3 Tablespoons Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Optional for serving:

Additional Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese
sliced green onions
minced cooked corned beef

Preheat oven to 425F. Wash potatoes, prick all over with a fork, and place on a rimmed sheet pan.

Storage potatoes. A bear to clean, but cheap, plentiful and great to have on hand.

Show them who the boss is. Jab 'em.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until they pierce easily all the way through with a skewer. Allow to sit and cool slightly while working on cabbage.

Fresh baked potatoes. Mmmmm. See all the holes from poking it with a fork?

Cut the blossom end off the onion, stand on the flat spot, and cut in half. Lay halves on their cut sides, slice down from about ½” below the root end all the way to the cut end at ¼” intervals. Turn the onion 90 degrees and cut across the slices you already made to dice the onion. (For step-by-step photo instruction on how to do this, see this post!) Add the onion to the cabbage in the pan and toss to coat.

Slice a round off the stem end of the cabbage to make it stand sturdily on the cutting board.

Again. Round things roll on cutting boards. Rolling things are dangerous to cut.

So remove that end and give it a flat spot.

Place cabbage, cut side down, on the board and cut in half.

Now that it can stand still, cut it in half from top to bottom.

Even better flat surfaces! Yippee for safety!

Carefully cut the core away from the cabbage. Lay the half on its side and slice as thinly as possible without getting out the ruler. We’re just slicing cabbage here, folks.

Don't worry about precision here.

Turn knife (or cutting board) 90 degrees and cut your thin slices into small squares.

And don't worry about precision here, either.

This is the size you want.

Melt 3 TB butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat.

Am I the only one in the world who wants to bathe in melted butter?

Add cabbage to the pan.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and toss to coat.

Be generous with that pepper!

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add diced onions and toss to coat.

Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender and beginning to brown.

See this? Not done yet. It's not at all tender. Put it back on the heat.

Perfect! Tender but not mush. Everything cabbage should be...

I could just eat a big bowl of this alone.

Remove from heat and turn your attention back to the potatoes.

Cut each potato in half so that they will lay, cut side up, on a sheet pan. With a spoon, scoop most of the insides of each potato into a bowl, leaving a ¼” thick potato shell.

Mash or rice the potatoes in the bowl.

Are you a masher or a ricer? I'm a ricer kind of gal. You can use either method here, though...

Aren't riced potatoes just pretty?

Add the warm milk, cream and melted ¼ cup of butter to the potatoes and toss with a fork until evenly mixed. Add the potted cheese, the shredded Cheddar, and the cabbage and onion mixture to the potatoes and stir to combine.

Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese. Sneak a bit of this into everything!

Preheat your oven to 375F (or simply lower the heat if it is still going from baking the potatoes.)

Use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to fill the potato shells.

Lightly spread the colcannon filling so that it mounds and covers the entire cut surface of the potato.

If you wish to freeze some of these to prepare later, place desired portions on another sheet pan.

Is anyone else getting twitchy fingers seeing that back pan hanging over the edge of the counter? I assure you that I moved it and nothing fell!

Cover lightly with plastic wrap and place in freezer until frozen solid. Transfer frozen potatoes to a zipper top bag and store in freezer for up to three months. See cooking instructions for frozen stuffed potatoes below.

Otherwise, return to the sheet pan with the potatoes to the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until hot all the way through and lightly browned on top.

You're beautiful just the way you are...

Serve topped with Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese, finely chopped cooked corned beef and thinly sliced green onions. Yum. Store leftovers (minus toppings) tightly wrapped in the fridge for up to a week.

Colcannon. The cure for the common potato.

Fully loaded with Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese, Corned Beef and Green Onions. Commence drooling.

Minus the Guinness cheese spread for the little honyak who still likes the works.

: And minus everything but the green onions for the honyak who inexplicably decided to dislike Corned Beef.

But you? You're all mine. Let's go somewhere we can be alone.

To Cook Previously Frozen Stuffed Potatoes:

Preheat oven to 350F. Place desired number of potatoes on a sheet pan and loosely cover with foil. Bake for about 45 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until they are hot all the way through.

Not as good, but much quicker, is microwaving these potatoes from frozen on high for about 8-10 minutes. Like I said, it won’t be as good, but it’s still a sight better than fast food.

Don’t forget to come back for the corned beef tomorrow. I’ll save you a slice. Maybe.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Component Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes Tagged With: freezer friendly, Irish food, potatoes, St. Patrick's day

Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese: Part I of a St. Patrick’s Day Feast!

March 10, 2009 by Rebecca 10 Comments

Update: Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I made a mistake on the quantities for the recipe. It should’ve read ’1 pound extra sharp cheddar’. A friend pointed out that her cheese ended up ‘pourable’. My apologies and this recipe can be saved by adding an additional 1/2 pound of cheddar and re-processing or blending. It should freeze jim-dandy, too, so the extra quantities shouldn’t be a horrid burden. And if they are, ship ‘em to me. I’ll eat my mistakes.

I am, like most people I know, a true American mutt. I know we can account for Irish, German and Native American ancestry. And I believe I’ve heard tell of some Romany and Scots heritage tossed in for good measure. I love being the melting pot personified. There’s something romantic about knowing there are all of those wonderful cultures with me, before me, behind me, within me.*

Growing up, my parents always made a very big deal of St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t know if it was because our family tree is vastly dominated by Irish roots or if it was because it was just plain fun, but green was definitely the theme! My Mom managed to make everything at the table some shade of green. We looked forward to it for weeks ahead of time. Around here, I save the green for the ubiquitous Shamrock Shakes but the fun continues in other ways. We read “The Last Snake In Ireland” in our best Irish accent, play The Chieftains at top volume on the stereo, read a certain piece of historic literature*, and put on a massive Irish/Irish American feast. Each year we have a massive corned beef -boiled then glazed to crispy topped perfection- along with creamy colcannon, and soda bread studded with raisins.

*Bonus points if you catch and name the literary reference…

Are you ready for a week of St. Pat’s worthy recipes? I know there are more than just a few of you out there getting ready to entertain for St. Patrick’s Day either this weekend or next Tuesday. I have all the components needed for an Irish shindig whenever the fancy strikes you. Since some of you may be planning your fete for this weekend, I’ll share these with you in super scientific order so you can be better prepared. In other words, the order that I like the best.

Let’s start with something new!

This year the repertoire is expanding just a wee bit with a cheese course. Oh yeah. The Irish do cheese very well. Irish Cheddar and Dubliner? I’m in love. Have you ever had Dubliner? It’s like a Cheddar crossed with a Swiss crossed with a parmesan. It’s a beautiful thing. And what goes with Irish cheese? Well, Irish beer, of course. Specifically, Guinness.

This cheese spread is inspired by several recipes (here, here and here) for the delicious fromage fort -a spreadable French concoction of wine and cheese. I sallied forth and created this Guinness and cheese laden tribute to my Irish heritage and it was too good not to share. A little bit of this spread on onion or rye crackers would be meal enough in itself, but the Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese will appear on our table in the potato recipe I’ll share with you tomorrow. Trust me. You’ll want to come back for our potato dish. I mean it. Really.

But back to our Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese… This is so incredibly complex in flavor, but so incredibly simple to make it’s rather shocking. In addition to reminding me of the French concotion of Fromage Fort, it is also reminiscent of the American South’s pimiento cheese (another heaven-inspired creation). And that just goes to prove that every great culture has a distinct cheese dish. And if they don’t, perhaps they should get one. Perhaps the road to historic greatness is paved with cheese. ‘Do you have a cheese? No? No cheese, no country!’*

*And more bonus points if someone other than my sister can tell me from which comedian I am shamelessly stealing material…

Even if you don’t make the rest of this week’s St. Patrick’s day offering, make the Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese. You’ll be so glad you did.

: Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese. A match made in heavenly Ireland.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese

This versatile cheese spread can also be molded into shapes like logs or balls or SHAMROCKS and coated with finely minced parsley. Pretty food doesn’t have to be hard!

Ingredients:

Not pictured: mustard powder. My bad.

1 pound extra sharp Cheddar Cheese (or 1/2 pound Dubliner cheese for a stronger flavored spread)
1 bottle Guinness Stout
1 yellow onion
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder, like Coleman’s
fresh ground black pepper to taste

If there is any rind present on your cheese, trim it away and save it for other purposes (like flavoring soups or currying favor with your otherwise immovable and useless dogs.) Cut the cheese into 1/2″ cards…

A hand of cheese anyone?

Then cut into rough 1/2″ cubes.

Cut the cheese! (I'm sorry. I'll be back after I stop giggling...)

I just loooove cheese. Really I do! (Triple points for whoever identifies the source for this caption.)

Don't sweat it if you're cubes aren't perfect. You're going to blitz them in the food processor anyway.

Now it’s time to turn your attention to that onion. Slice the blossom end off of the onion. If you don’t know which end that is I’ll clue you in. It’s the not-hairy end. You want to leave the hairy end intact. I’ll show you why in a minute.

Slice that little blossom end right off. We won't be needing it.

Now set the onion up on it’s newly leveled flat spot and cut it in half from top to bottom.

Tuck your fingers in and keep your thumb behind the other fingers. I don't want to be responsible for you lobbing off a fingertip or two.

Peel away the outer skin of the onion and lay it down on its flat side. Holding the hairy, root end of the onion (aren’t you glad you left it now?) use your knife to make perpendicular slices 1/4″ from the root all the way to the end at 1/4″ intervals. Like this:

That wedding ring is looking rather snug on my fingers. Maybe I should lay off the cheese a bit...

Turn the onion 90 degrees and, holding your knife perpendicular to the slices you already made, cut down through the onion at 1/4″ intervals. Like this:

Make me cry, will you onion? Take that!

Please don’t throw out that root end of the onion. Stuff it in a specially marked zipper top bag and stick it in your freezer. I’ll tell you why next week. Believe me it’s worth looking eccentric with a bag of onion roots in the chill chest.

This little 'throw-away' piece has a lot of flavor left in it. Stick it in the freezer and check back in with me next week. I wouldn't steer you wrong.

(If you don’t have a food processor, see alternate instructions below the recipe.)

Measure one cup of Guinness.

Keep your lips off the rest of the beer in that bottle until you're done with the recipe. You just might need it...

Add the stout, onion and black pepper to the bowl of a food processor.

This is close to divine.

Put the lid in place and process until the contents are a spreadable consistency. Transfer the potted cheese to a container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate for at least an hour, but preferably two or more hours to allow the flavors to intermingle.

Butter crackers do the job here, but rye crackers would sing!

This spread will be good, refrigerated and covered tightly, for at least two weeks.

So creamy, so cheesy, so Guinnessy. What's not to love?

Assuming it lasts that long.

I want to stick my face in this bowl.

Which it won’t.

Serve on crackers, bread, or on *whoops*… I almost told you about tomorrow’s killer potato dish. Do come back. Your thighs won’t thank me, but your tastebuds will!

Instructions for preparing without a food processor:

I won’t lie. Preparing this without a food processor is going to be a bear, but it can be done. Chop the cheese and onion together as finely as you can on your cutting board and scrape into a large, sturdy mixing bowl. Add the stout and pepper to the bowl and use a pastry cutter or the bottom of a jar or measuring cup to squish the mixture together until it holds together nicely when a small amount is pinched together. Transfer to a container with a tight fitting lid and follow instructions above for storage.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Component Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Snacks Tagged With: Guinness, Irish cheese, St. Paddy's Day Feast, stout

Purple Cow Smoothies

March 5, 2009 by Rebecca 7 Comments

It is simply gorgeous outside here today. And for that reason, I will not be long winded here. (And there was much rejoicing…) My kids are standing on the porch, pressing their faces against the window asking me when I’ll be out. They’re also waiting for their smoothies so I have to make like a bird here, and fly.

When I was a wee thing my favorite snacks and desserts were milk shakes, purple cows, and my Mom’s version of an Orange Julius. There is something so exciting about using the blender to whip up dessert. It seemed like such alchemy to put all those bumpy, multi-textured ingredients into the carafe and spin it into perfectly smooth thing of beauty. Plus I just dug anything I could drink with a straw.

A couple years ago I realized -and not for the first time, I might add- that my mother is a genius. Look at the list of ingredients that go into a Purple Cow: plain yogurt, frozen bananas, and grape juice concentrate. That’s it. It’s cheap. It’s simple. It blows the doors off of most other snacks in terms of nutritive value. The yogurt gives you protein, calcium, magnesium, riboflavin, vitamins B-6 and B-12, and vitamin D. The bananas give you vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, and manganese. The grape juice concentrate gives you a power punch of vitamin C and antioxidants. Not only that, but Purple Cows take 5 minutes or less, start to finish. Thank you, Mom.

My kids are clinging impatiently to my thighs while I take this picture, 'scuse the angle.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Purple Cow Smoothies

Prep time: 5 minutes or lessCooking time: NA

Yield: 4-8 servings, depending on desired size

Ingredients:

4 cups plain yogurt, divided
1 (11.5 ounce) container frozen 100% Grape Juice concentrated, divided
3 frozen bananas (peeled prior to freezing, if available)

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Beverages, Desserts, Instructional, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: grape juice, Snacks

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

March 3, 2009 by Rebecca 12 Comments

May I talk to you for a moment about cake? I have a love/hate thing going with cake. When I was a kid I disliked cake. My poor mother. I asked for a pie every year for my birthday and my Mom has what borders on piecrust making phobia. I was a selfish little child.

After much contemplating over the years-which included eating many, many cakes of many, many varieties-I realized that what I really hated was frosting. And after playing around with frosting a bit I realized that what I actually hated was bad frosting, specifically. As in frosting made just with shortening, sugar and food coloring.

What really changed my opinion of cakes was learning to think outside the pastry bag. By chucking the ubiquitous buttercream I discovered that cakes -simple buttery cakes- weren’t just merely edible. They were sublime. For years now I’ve topped my cakes with ganache, whipped cream, fruit preserves, syrups, and all sorts of other goodies. If you haven’t made the leap, give it a try. In fact, try it with this cake.

Because this cake, in particular, is my favorite cake ever. And The Evil Genius’s favorite cake ever. And three of my five children (but not the one who doesn’t like fruit and not the one who doesn’t like anything that the non-fruit lover dislikes. Please, Lord, let this be a phase.) I originally made this from the recipe that appeared in Everyday Food Magazine. I made it as written the first couple times and changed it out of necessity (was missing the allspice, but had nutmeg) the third time. There was no looking back. Nutmeg took up permanent residence in the recipe.

The rich, buttery cake provides the perfect foil for the sweet, tart, spicy, explosively flavorful cranberry topping. And could it get easier? I don’t think so. This cake I could make in my sleep. And I think I have a couple times. Including the year that I gave birth four days before Thanksgiving, but was ‘going to make a cake, dangit’ to have with our dinner. This cake pleases everyone (excepting the aforementioned two children who call me Mama) who eats it. But don’t just take my word for it. Make it. Heck, make two. Trust me. You’ll be glad you did.

In the spirit of pleasing everyone all the time I’d like to point out that if cranberries ain’t your bag you can definitely make this with an equal amount of fresh or frozen blueberries. Just scale back the cinnamon and nutmeg and maybe add a bit of lemon zest. We’ve made it -and loved it dearly- that way, too!

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Recipe tweaked from the original appearing in Everyday Food Magazine. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I’m making two cakes in the pictures while the quantities given below yield one cake. Go ahead and double it like I did. You know you want to…

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg (omit if you don’t have fresh.)
1 -3/4 cups cranberries, fresh or straight from the freezer!
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 -1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 -1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Directions

Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350F. Use 2 Tablespoons of the butter to generously grease an 8-inch round cake pan.

Make sure you get the crease in the pan really well. Leave no surface un-buttered!

Now I can say I have butterfingers in a very literal way. Come 'ere boys and let mommy pinch your cheeks.

Now I have butterfingers in both the literal and figurative sense. Come 'ere boys and let Mama pinch your cheeks.

Set aside.

Add 1/2 cup of the sugar and the cinnamon to a small bowl. Grate the nutmeg over the top…

Don't jump, Little Nutmeg, you have so much to live for...

…and whisk together.

Cinnamon and nutmeg sugar is one of the prettiest smelling things in all of the world.

Pour mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Can you smell the cinnamon sugar?

Tilt and swirl the sugar around until it evenly coats the bottom -but not the sides- of the pan.

Tilt the cake pan and swirl the sugar.

Make sure the entire bottom is coated evenly.

This is the effect you're shooting for.

Arrange cranberries in a single layer on top.

These cranberries were stashed in the freezer right around Thanksgiving for just such a craving. Thank you foresight!

One even layer of cranberries will do the job.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using an electric hand-held mixer) cream the remaining 6 tablespoons butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until well combined. Add the vanilla and mix in well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Whisk the dry ingredients. We don't need no stinkin' sifter.

Start your mixer on low speed and carefully add 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by 1/3 of the milk. Repeat, scraping down the bowl occasionally, until you have added all the flour and milk.

This is perfect cake batter.

Spoon batter on top of the cranberries in the pan.

Scientifically dividing the double batch of batter ultra-precisely by eyeballing it. Throw some caution to the wind here, people. We're talking cake, not rocket science!

Smooth the top bringing the cake batter to the edges of the pan.

Try not to lift the cranberries into the batter while spreading it.

Keep rotating and spreading the batter...

...Until you get this.

Place pan on a baking sheet to help protect your oven in case the syrup boils up and over.

Bake the cake until a toothpick, skewer or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Insert a skewer, toothpick or cake tester in the center of the cake.

When it comes out clean the cake is done!

This should take about 30 to 35 minutes. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.

Cakes cooling on the counter.

Note the lurking presence of The Evil Genius. He is hoping I will turn away so he can eat some. I said he was 'Evil' and 'Genius'. I didn't say he was subtle.

Run a butterknife or thin spatula around edge of cake.

Slide a butterknife around the edge to loosen that precious cake.

Lay your cake plate or platter on top the pan, flip, give a little tap to the bottom of the pan and remove the pan. The manoeuver looks like this:

Lay your cake plate or platter on top of the pan.

Holding the pan to the plate, invert.

You naughty, naughty cake.

Gently lift the pan from the plate.

Oh yeah. Excuse me while I lick the rest of the cranberry syrup from the pan.

You look good enough to eat.

This cake is definitely best when served slightly warm, but it will still put a smile on your face and a song in your heart at room temperature or chilled.

Look at the beautiful layers of cranberry syrup and buttery cake.

Check out that crumb!

I've teased myself long enough. This piece of cake is getting ett right now.

And if you pull chunks from it with your hands (or teeth) instead of slicing it into wedges I won’t judge.

Oh my. Would you just look at that?

If you heeded my advice, you will now be grateful you made two...

On a side note, have a gander at the kitchen I’ve been working in for the last couple of years.

See this kitchen? Prepare for transformation. We're finally attacking the kitchen. Tile away, Evil Genius. Tile away!

It’s not going to look this way for long! You may or may not know that we bought our home/farmland from an Amish family who was relocating. The Amish in our area have no electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, etc… so we’ve been adding all those *cough* amenities while living here. We’ve finally reached the point where we can pretty things up! I’ll chronicle more about this in the LifeHappens! section of Foodie With Family for those who are interested. In the meantime… Bake your cake and eat it too!

Filed Under: Desserts, Instructional, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: beautiful desserts, cakes, family pleasers, holiday dessert, simple desserts