Product Reviews

King Arthur Flour Blog & Bake

May 2, 2013 by Rebecca 15 Comments

Last week I had an opportunity that made me squeal with delight; I was invited to attend the Blog & Bake™ conference at King Arthur Flour’s Baking Education Center. I want to give many thanks to Allison Furbish and the entire crew at King Arthur Flour for bringing me there and giving me three days of pure baking heaven.

Be forewarned. I’m about to geek out on you in a very big fan-girl way.

You are probably aware by this point of how very much I love to bake, right? Baking has been my art-form, my release, my comfort since I can recall being allowed to do it as a child. If I am happy, love you, worried on your behalf, excited, nervous, sad, confused, or ecstatic, or angry Imma gonna bake for you.

…Clearly, I’ve had the opportunity over the years to do much of this, what with life being life, and I’ve tried quite a few different flours. When I started studiously pursuing baking greatness years ago, though, I made the conscious decision to use only King Arthur Flour. Why? Well, I’ll explain that in tomorrow’s post. For now, I just want to talk to you about why I was so excited to receive the invitation to attend the third annual King Arthur Flour Blog & Bake™ event.

For years upon years, I’ve received The Baker’s Catalogue: their award winning recipe and merchandise publication. I absorb each and every one of them that I receive both for the tested and fabulous recipes included as well as the ‘window shopping’ fun. My stepmom faithfully subscribed to ‘The Baking Sheet’**; their bi-monthly baking newsletter. Many of our family’s favourite ‘special-occasion’ recipes came from one of those two sources. I knew from reading both of those that King Arthur Flour also offered classes at their Baking Education Center for everyone from kids to master level bakers

**Now available comprehensively in digital form. In other words, every single recipe EVER published in The Baking Sheet since it began in 1990 (over 3500 recipes) is there at your fingertips for just $21.95 per year. Best yet, you can still get the print copy shipped to you to hold in your hands $5 more annually for both!

I had, since learning of the classes, earnestly wanted to take a class there. I wanted to benefit from their unparalleled baking expertise and have the chance to watch masters of their craft show me how it was done. Is it any wonder I jumped at the invitation?

Blog & Bake™ was a three-day opportunity to learn some of King Arthur Flour’s most versatile recipes from their baking educators, meet the employee owners who make the company so special, and network with some wonderfully talented bloggers.

Hogwash Farm and Killdeer Farm, Norwich, Vermont:

They treated us to a tour of two local farms that were instrumental in the local farm-to-table movement: Hogwash Farm and Killdeer Farm, both of which are tied for Best Farm Name EVER.

Behold! Baby Bacon:

…And not so baby bacon enjoying day old baguettes from King Arthur Flour’s Bakery.

Jacob’s sheep at Hogwash Farm. Did you know these guys can grow SEVEN horns a piece?

I was moments away from face planting into these baby lettuces. That’s how I garden you see. If it weren’t for the utter lack of balsamic vinegar on the premises…

Jake Guest, owner of Killdeer Farms, really got me into the idea of using insects to control other insects in the garden. They’re like insect ninjas there.

Cabot Cheese:

Their partners at Cabot Cheese sent a Farmer Spokesperson to explain their company’s commitment to sustainable agriculture. These Cabot farmers are a passionate group!

A Cheddar Master and Cheese Grader to show how they evaluated their renowned Cheddar cheeses and treat us to a Cheddar tasting,

and their Chef to cook us a fabulous meal.

It didn’t hurt that they brought a friend from Harpoon Brewery with some very tasty brews for us.

Simon Pearce Restaurant and Glass Shop:

They treated us to a fabulous demo by Chef Jarod Rockwell and a dinner at Simon Pearce Restaurant where Chef Rockwell serves as General Manager/Chef.

Chef Jarod showing us the meal. He could be forgiven for looking a little nervous. We were, after all, standing by with hungry expressions and forks.

Can you blame us?

We were also given the chance to watch Simon Pearce’s mind-bendingly skilled and focused glass-blowers creating their signature wine glasses and Christmas trees.

The King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center:

The highlights of the trip were, of course, the tour of King Arthur Flour’s facilities and the group baking classes. Chef Susan Reid and her team baked roughly a billion muffins to give us a real clear view of how King Arthur Flours perform against each other AND against competitor’s flours. Chef Instructors Amber Eisler, Jessica Meyers, Robyn Sargent, and Susan Miller walked us through making perfect pizza dough (and wood-fired, brick-oven pizza. WHAT A DREAM!), the basics of bread baking, creating the ultimate pie crust, fashioning a quick and tasty blitz puff pastry. I’m going to be sharing those recipes in the future, but for now, here’s a peek into what we did…

Take a minute to check out my fellow King Arthur Flour Blog & Bake™ participants:

Audra from The Baker Chick, Brandy from Nutmeg Nanny, Carole from Heirloom Meals, David from Spiced, Erika from In Erika’s Kitchen, Eva from Adventures in Cooking, Jen from Tiny Urban Kitchen, Jennifer from Bake or Break, Kate from Food Babbles, Katie from Healthy Seasonal Recipes, Marnely from Cooking with Books, and Tara, Food & Entertaining Director at Ladies’ Home Journal

Does this make you want to bake some bread?

I don’t blame you. I came away from the trip so enthused about baking that in the next week, I baked ten loaves of bread and made pizza for my family. I’m already trying to plan a trip to the Baker’s Education Center to take a class with my sisters and brothers.

Tomorrow, I’m going to share a recipe that was inspired by the time spent at King Arthur Flour: Roasted Garlic Rusted Sourdough Boule. Yeah. It is every bit as good as it sounds. Do come back. Great bread is meant to be shared!

Rebecca

Disclosure: King Arthur Flour provided lodging, cooking classes and meals to me free of charge. I provided my own transportation to and from the event and all opinions are most assuredly my own.

Filed Under: Product Reviews, Rebecca

Dirty Chai | Make Ahead Mondays

November 12, 2012 by Rebecca 11 Comments

Dirty chai sounds kind of wrong, doesn’t it? In a sense, really, it is. It’s the marriage of tea and coffee. …And in another sense, it’s a metaphor for my marriage. I am a tea drinker. My husband is a coffee drinker. In fact, he never voluntarily drank tea until he met me. I lived in a boarding house while attending college and one of the fellow boarding house residents was a part-time drummer who was sitting in with The Evil Genius’s band. When I met him, I thought he was cute and offered him a cup of tea. He accepted. Little did I know at the time that he hated tea, but he was apparently smitten enough with me to say yes.

In the years to follow, I realized just how much that gesture meant. In short, it was like a giant hubba hubba.

Anyway, back to the dirty chai. Dirty Chai is what happens when you spill an espresso into a perfectly good cup of chai, or -as my husband would say- pour a perfectly good espresso into a cup of chai. You see? It’s compromise. And this compromise is mighty tasty. Somehow they work -kind of like The Evil Genius and I- against all intuition. I guess it’s because it’s the strongest of both worlds. Chai packs a punch and so does espresso. It’s fortified chai (or espresso, depending on who in the Foodie With Family household you ask.) It wakes you up and gets you going.

This delightful concoction takes advantage of our homemade Spiced Orange Chai Concentrate which makes this the perfect Make Ahead Mondays post. Make double the concentrate and freeze half, two-thirds or three-quarters of it in mason jars. Pull out before parties or on Christmas morning and be so glad you’re the think-ahead type.

Dirty Chai | Make Ahead Mondays

Dirty Chai is what happens when you throw convention to the wind and marry tea and coffee. Earthy, sweet, spicy, creamy chai latte gets a high-octane kick from a shot of espresso. Drink adventurously!

Ingredients

3 ounces Spiced Orange Chai Concentrate
3 ounces hot milk or steamed, frothed milk
1 shot espresso
Optional: Ground cinnamon to dust the finished drink

Instructions

Heat the Spiced Orange Chai Concentrate with the milk and pour in the shot of espresso. Stir gently just a couple of times. Dust the Dirty Chai with ground cinnamon just before serving if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/11/12/dirty-chai-make-ahead-mondays/

Recipe printed from Foodie With Family | Rebecca Lindamood http://www.foodiewithfamily.com

This is the perfect time for me to tell you a little something about the Syntia Focus espresso machine that the good folks at Philips Saeco sent to me because they wanted my opinion on their super automatic espresso maker.

I’m just going to get right to it and break down what we thought of it.

Pros:

It grinds coffee beans for you! No pods, no k-cups, no messy refillable versions of either of those. You buy the beans you want, pour them in the top, refill it when it empties, and empty the dregs receptacle when it fills. I like that. We used to fuss with re-fillable pods and the grounds were everywhere which caused me no end of crabbiness.
On the subject of the grinder. It’s quiet! We used to use a stand-alone grinder for my husband’s refillable pods and that beast made NOISE. I can’t hear the Syntia Focus’s grinder from upstairs but the other grinder used to wake me up.
It brews one cup at a time (or two cups of espresso. Or one long coffee! Options!!) As a one-coffee-drinker household, that is fabulous. No wasted coffee from pots brewed and over-aged.
It cleans up beautifully and easily. Again? No messy grounds going everywhere. You empty the dregs container into the garbage, rinse it and the brew unit and let it air dry. Ta da!
It dispenses hot water! YAY from the tea lover. Now, granted, the water is not hot enough for a proper black tea (because that should be boiling), but it’s absolutely, positively perfect for green tea and white tea. That’s pretty amazing.
The steam wand froths milk perfectly which makes fabulous steamers for the kidlets. They love their milk frothed with a little chai syrup or boiled cider syrup.
This is from my husband (since I already outed myself as a tea drinker): The flavour of the coffee is without compare. He advises you to pick the best coffee bean you can, but whichever one you choose, the Syntia Focus will brew the best cup of espresso or long cup of coffee that it can possibly make.
The strength of the brew is adjustable with simple controls.
There is a little pre-ground coffee chute into which you can pour pre-ground coffee that’s different than the whole beans you keep stocked in the machine. If you like caffeinated coffee in the morning and decaf in the evening, this is the perfect solution!
Once you’ve read the manual, the controls are very intuitive.

Cons:

There’s no getting around it, it’s expensive. But if you’re addicted to coffee house drinks and buy them frequently, I can see this actually paying for itself in pretty short order.
Unless you preheat the coffee cup with a little steam from the steam wand, it brews a little cooler than my husband would prefer. He says if you drink it right away, it’s perfectly fine, but if you want to tarry over it a bit, you may need to reheat it. I had no such complaint, but I’m not the coffee drinker.
This is a machine that requires you to read the manual before you use it the first time. Is that REALLY a con? Only if you’re a manual hater. Like I said, once you’ve read the manual the controls are intuitive.

The Bottom Line:

It’s a cool piece of kitchen equipment and it makes my coffee drinking husband kind of giddy. Our former one-cup brewer to which my husband was absolutely devoted has been relegated to the basement to make permanent space for the Syntia Focus.

Disclosure: Philips Saeco sent me a Syntia Focus for review but did not compensate me for this post. The opinions are all my own.

Filed Under: Beverages, Product Reviews, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: Breakfast, budget friendly, family-friendly, Frugal Food, party food, quick and easy, seasonal

Fannie May Chocolate Covered Strawberries Giveaway {Giveaway Closed}

November 8, 2012 by Rebecca 287 Comments

Update: The Pick A Giveaway Plugin chose “jessie” and “Caitlyn”… Check your emails, ladies. Congratulations!!

I don’t usually do a straight giveaway, but this is fun, people. I just couldn’t say no! The fine folks at Fannie May Berries offered to send me a box of their chocolate covered strawberries. Just tell me, how could I possibly say no? Furthermore, they said that if I liked them, they’d give away a box to my readers. That’s YOU ALL, folks! I always get excited when people offer to give things away to you guys. It makes me kind of giddy. But I also have a rule… I don’t give it away unless I think someone would be really thrilled to get it. While Fannie May Berries have many indulgent flavours -Sea Salt Milk Chocolate Caramel, Pink & White Champagne, Toasted Coconut & White Chocolate (Trinidad©), Milk Chocolate Caramel & Nuts (Pixies©) and Holiday flavors—Dark Chocolate Gingerbread, Candy Cane and Eggnog- I opted for the Sea Salt Milk Chocolate Caramel. What I really wanted to say was, “SEND ME ONE OF EVERY SINGLE FLAVOUR.” That wouldn’t have been very nice of me, though, and I strive for niceness when people are giving me chocolate and strawberries.

I got my box of strawberries yesterday…

It couldn’t have come at a better time. Mama needed a treat. I opened it immediately. And by immediately, I mean with my teeth. Just look at this people.

I don’t think you can fully grasp the gargantuan size of these strawberries in the box. Maybe it’ll help if I show you what this one looked like moments before it met a very rapid demise due to me inhaling it.

Can you even? I mean honestly. Just. Words fail me. Good golly. It was gigantic.

Was.

And then it was gone.

These berries are BURSTING with juice. It’s incredible really. And when you order the berries through their website, they are in your home or the home of your wondrously lucky gift recipient within twenty four hours. What a great holiday or last minute gift option!

But here’s the point. They’re going to ship a box to not one -which would be nice enough- but TWO very blessed Foodie with Family readers. How do you win? I have a couple of ways for you to win. Here they are:

Mandatory Entry:

Leave a comment on this post telling me what you’d do if you won. Would you have them shipped to you? To a friend or relative?

Want some extra chances to win? Who wouldn’t, right? Do any or all of the options below and leave a separate comment below for each one you do! Each of them will earn you an extra entry. Whatever you do, be sure to get those entries in before Monday at 9 AM EST when I draw the winner and announce it on Monday’s post. Two of you will win. I’m SO EXCITED!!!!

Extra Entries:

Like Fannie May Berries on Facebook
Like Foodie With Family on Facebook
Like Foodie With Family on Twitter
Follow Foodie With Family on Instagram
I’ve been leading a 30 Days of Gratitude on the Foodie With Family Facebook page. Join the discussion and come back here to tell me!
Tweet the following: I want to win Fannie May Chocolate Covered Strawberries from @foodiewithfam #spon

Disclosure: Fannie May Berries provided a sample to me for review and is promising to send a box to two readers (approximate retail value $34.99) but all opinions are my own and this post is not compensated. Giveaway is open to US addresses only. All prizing provided by Fannie May Chocolates.

Filed Under: Giveaways!, Product Reviews Tagged With: giveaway, holiday gifts

Seared Mushrooms and a Mushroom Melt

December 21, 2011 by Rebecca 12 Comments

I want to talk about my new favourite sandwich.

This sandwich firmly bridges the gap between dude food and chick vittles. Grilled cheese is always the ultimate in sandwichery, but grilled cheese that is crammed to overspilling with seared mushrooms? It’s the best of all worlds. The combination of gooey, salty cheese and umami packed mushrooms with just a hint of onion on buttery toasted rye bread is unparalleled. We’re talking about the kind of food you continue eating after you’re already full just because you want to keep tasting it.

You can go any direction you want with the mushrooms… I opted for baby portabella mushrooms (also known as cremini mushrooms) but you could go with white buttons or chanterelles or any other mushrooms or combination of mushrooms that are readily available and/or ding your chimes. The key is to sear them in a screaming hot pan until you get lovely brown bits on the outside. That’s where the flavour lives in a seared mushroom. While the seared mushrooms are accompanied by a bit of onion and white wine in the cooking and deglazing process, they gain a vibrancy you don’t want to miss when thinly sliced scallions are stirred in after they’re off the heat. Sounds good so far, right?

Enter the cheese which no longer has to stand alone.

Cheese and mushrooms are a match made in heaven. Both naturally contain those flavour compounds commonly known as umami but together they tickle your taste buds in ways that make your eyes roll back into your head.

It’s a well known fact that I love cheese (aside from the waxing rhapsodic above…) but I tell you the truth when I say it’s the mushrooms that really and truly make this sandwich sing. I cannot emphasize enough how much you should make the seared mushrooms. Make them. Really. Today. REALLY. Even if you’re not going to use them in grilled cheese (what are you nuts?!?) you can still have these handy to put on steaks or burgers or wrapped in omelets or topping scrambled eggs or add to sauces or just plain on a fork. They’re so good that I make them with three pounds or more of mushrooms at a time and portion them out in little plastic containers to freeze for the upcoming month. Because a supply of these mushrooms is ever present in my home and freezer, when I read Kevin at Closet Cooking’s post about mushroom grilled cheeses, I was more than halfway there to my rendition of his recipe.

When I’m slicing that many mushrooms at a time, my new best friend, this Togiharu Gyutou 8.2″ knife sent to me by the folks at Korin.com is absolutely indispensable.

In actuality, I’m so reliant on this knife after just two weeks I can’t remember how I sliced things before I got it. It’s the sharpest knife, by far, that I have ever owned. In fact, I have a little confession.

I knew Korin was sending me the knife and I went a little fan girl over it. I’ve admired their knives from afar for quite some time. While some people collect baseball stats and memorabilia, music trivia and cds, etc… I collect information about my favourite chefs and the gear they prefer. I know Chefs Daniel Bouloud and Chris Costentino both swear by Japanese knives from Korin. That was good enough for me. I was hyper waiting for the package to arrive. When the UPS guy knocked on my door and handed me the package he remarked that the return address looked like it was in the same neighborhood as the old Yankee Stadium. I took that as the only ouvre I needed to start yammering about the knife that was in the box. Evidently, my UPS guy is a fan of great knives, too, because he asked to see it. I opened the packaging, took out the gift box in which the knife was packaged, lifted the lid and made my first mistake. Because the gift box was pretty, I didn’t want to put it down on my floor, so I attempted to hold it and slide the plastic safety sheath from the knife simulataneously. I promptly cut my finger. On the plus side, the knife was so incredibly sharp* that the only indication I had that I’d done such a stupid thing was the little stream of crimson dripping from my finger to the floor. The UPS driver oooed and aaahed over the knife (and I’m pretty sure he missed the quick blood letting I performed on myself) and headed out. I retired to the kitchen to bandage myself** and start slicing things that were not attached to me and my nerve endings.

*Like my dad always says, a sharp knife is a safe knife. That was the cleanest cut I’ve ever incurred in the kitchen. It closed itself almost instantly and healed up in two short days.

**Yes, I keep bandages in the kitchen. What can I say? I’m a klutz.

The way I see it, a good knife cuts stuff, but a great knife slices, chops and cuts in a way that takes the effort out of the task and looks good while doing it. This is a great knife. Whether you’re slicing onions and mushrooms or chopping kale stems or slicing paper thin strips of pork for tocino (future post teaser!), it makes the job easy.

Seared Mushrooms and a Mushroom Melt

Seared mushrooms are accompanied by a bit of onion and white wine then tossed with scallions for added vibrancy before being combined with a variety of cheeses and turned into the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich.

Make these exceptional seared mushrooms even if you're not a grilled cheese lover. You can keep them handy to put on steaks or burgers or wrapped in omelets or topping scrambled eggs or just plain on a fork.

Adapted from Kevin at Closet Cooking

Ingredients

For the Seared Mushrooms:

1 1/2 pounds assorted mushrooms, sliced (baby portabellas, chanterelles, button mushrooms, etc...)
1 tablespoon (or more) neutral oil such as canola, peanut, vegetable, etc...
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 of a small yellow onion, diced very small
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
splash of white wine or stock
4 tablespoons butter
3 green onions, green part only, thinly sliced

For the Mushroom Melt:

3/4 cup of seared mushrooms
1/2 cup grated assorted nice melting cheeses (I used a mix of Kerrygold Blarney Castle, fontina and extra sharp Cheddar)
2 slices hearty bread like rye or pumpernickel
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

To Make the Seared Mushrooms:

Place a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil and heat through until shimmery. Add the mushrooms (you can divide into batches to avoid overcrowding the pan if necessary) and a pinch of salt and use a spoon to distribute the mushrooms evenly in the pan. After you do that, don't stir the mushrooms for at least 1 minute (unless they start to smell or sound like they're cooking too quickly.) The goal is to develop a nicely browned surface on the mushrooms.

If you have to cook the mushrooms in batches, just move the previously cooked batch to the perimeter of the pan and add a little more oil before putting in the next batch of mushrooms with a pinch of salt.

When the mushrooms are flecked with brown, toss in the onion and garlic, stir and cook just until fragrant (about 1 minute or less), then add the white wine or stock to the hot pan and scrape up any brown bits that are stuck to the pan. Add the butter and cook, stirring, just until melted. Remove from the heat, taste for salt, then add pepper and any additional salt to taste.

Eat hot or store leftover mushrooms in individual portion sizes in the freezer for up to a month.

To Make the Mushroom Melt:

Toss the seared mushrooms and grated cheese together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Melt half of the butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet or griddle over medium heat. Place one piece of the bread on top of the melted butter, pile the mushroom cheese mixture on the bread, then place the remaining piece of bread on top. Let the sandwich cook and toast until the bottom piece of bread is golden brown. Lift the sandwich with a spatula and toss the remaining butter into the pan. Put your hand on top of the sandwich and carefully flip it over before lowering it to the pan (taking care not to burn your fingers!)

Toast for 1 minute, add a splash of water to the pan and cover for another minute to melt the cheese completely. Remove the lid and continue toasting the sandwich until the bottom is a deep golden brown. Transfer the finished sandwich to a cutting board to slice before plating and eating.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/12/21/seared-mushrooms-and-a-mushroom-melt/

Recipe printed from Foodie With Family | Rebecca Lindamood http://www.foodiewithfamily.com

Korin.com sent the knife to me to review, but all opinions about the knife are mine.

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Product Reviews, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: quick and easy, Vegetarian

Just something I wanted to S.H.A.R.E. with you all

January 30, 2010 by Valerie 7 Comments

Well, it’s been a while since I last posted; some of you may remember a posting from Beccy back in June when she shared I’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then, I’ve had a couple of surgeries, some chemo, and radiation, which is now ongoing, and except for the cancer, I’m in really good health! During much of the recovery from surgeries and from the treatment itself, I’ve been feeling like I’m draggin’ my wagon, both physically and mentally. But things are much improved, and I’m happy to be finally sharing another post with you all.

This won’t include a recipe, but I did want to share some thoughts about feeling the pinch. Financially, that is. While we have excellent insurance, the deductibles and copays for all our visits to the medical world have taken a substantial bite from our budget, and that along with the fact that I’ve had to give up my part time job with the local library means a little less coming in. Fortunately, I’ve been able to find some ways of stretching the food budget, and I thought I’d share these with you.

First, I’m finally using up things from my pantry. I told Beccy that I seem to still have the impulse for stocking the shelves the way I used to when we were feeding the kids before we entered the empty nest stage. I have enough rice, flour, brown sugar, dried beans of various sorts to last us through much of this year, but I find myself still picking up some extras when they are on sale. (Valerie, Just Say No!) I’ve been making myself stop when tempted to do that, reminding myself of the sagging shelves at home. (By the way kids, birthday presents this year will probably be jars of jams, jellies and preserves…I’m sure they are still good!)

Another thing I’m doing is trying to cook for two instead of 8 or 10. Leftovers are all right with some things, but not so attractive with others, and it’s nice to end a meal without having to add more dishes to the refrigerator with a bit of this and a dollop of that. Too many of those already in the refrigerator (okay, today’s the day I get rid of those…no comment from the husband, please.) Let me emphasize that I am NOT anti-leftovers—certain kinds make wonderful soups, casseroles, etc., but there are certain things that just are not better after a day or two in the refrigerator.

Eating from the freezer—much like using pantry items up, freezer items don’t stay nice forever, so it’s better to use these up rather than keeping them for ‘someday.’ I think part of my problem is I get a degree of security from seeing loaded shelves, and I want to get over that. There is enough food, and I can get more if I need it.

Another problem—false sense of deprivation. This kicks into play when you are gifted with or able to buy some special item that you don’t normally get, and you put it on the shelf, waiting for that special moment when you will get the maximum enjoyment from that item. What happens? The months, nay, the years(!) pass, that item gets pushed to the back of the shelf, and by the time it sees the light of day, you don’t even have the courage to open it, much less taste it. Special foods? Carpe diem! Seize the day! Enjoy it now, for tomorrow may not come! (Sorry for the drama, but it works for me.)

One other very good and helpful thing is the S.H.A.R.E program. Beccy has mentioned Angel Food Ministries in the past, and S.H.A.R.E is much the same. It provides basic foods on a monthly basis for less than most of us would pay at the store. The picture I’ve included in this post shows the foods that we picked up today, for a total cost of 43.90. This included their main box of food (25.00) which includes meats, fish, poultry, usually pasta of some kind and a few canned goods and/or mixes for quick breads, as well as 9 to 10 pounds of fresh produce. You are able to select separate items as well, and I ordered two more portions of the fresh produce ($14.00). There is a 10% shipping charge ($3.90) and a $1.00 handling fee. This month’s box included the following items:

5 lb. chicken leg quarters

1 lb. ground beef patties

1 lb. pork tenderloin

1 lb. tilapia fillets

12 oz. brown and serve sausages

12 oz. precooked cut up chicken

1 8-oz. shrimp, vegetable and pasta meal (For Jim, I’m not that into Shrimp)

12 oz. egg noodles

1 qt. wild mushroom marinara sauce

1 can cling peaches

1 can peas (erk, it’s been a long time since I’ve looked one of these in the eye)

4 oz. jar chopped garlic

6 grapefruit

15 oranges

15 red delicious apples

15 kiwi fruits

3 lbs carrots

3 cauliflower

3 3-lb. bags potatoes

3 2 lb. bags onions

They also offer a couple of organic items, usually some kind of meat or poultry, and a box of produce is always offered, 10 or more pounds of mixed fruits and veggies for $15.00. I order these when the budget is a little more healthy, and the variety and quality is always excellent.

Where we live, here in the Northern U.P. of Michigan, it’s not that easy to find good fresh produce at these prices. Summer and fall offer better options, but we still can’t get the variety of meats and produce for this price. And it’s definitely enough for the two of us. And with my attempts to eat out of the pantry and freezer, there is very little we have to purchase at the store. Milk, eggs, cheese, a few more fruits and veggies (usually the ones on sale) and the odd baking supplies now and then seems to take care of what we need.

My goal for the next 3 months is to come in at under $100 for each month; in January, we spent just under $90.00. In February we might go over a bit due to a larger order I’ll be making from our co-op that includes almond milk. But we should be at least close. I’ll be writing more about this later.

All that being said, I hope all our readers are enjoying these winter months. I thought it would be nice to include a picture of our own status today–sunshine is abundant, sky is clear, and it is COLD.

Here is how things are looking for us right now at home.

Filed Under: Product Reviews, Stretching your dollars, Valerie Tagged With: Frugal Food, Valerie

Mind-blowing, good, clean fun.

November 21, 2008 by Rebecca 2 Comments

We are having a wonderously wintery weather day. The snow is blowing and it’s *brrrrrr* cold out there. It’s enough to make you pull on the wool socks, a super thick sweat shirt, brew a cup of tea (or coffee or cocoa), and curl up with a good book. Trouble is, there’s only so much ‘curling up with a good book’ that five boys are willing to do- blustery winds or not. The little guys lose interest after an hour or so and the big guys get exasperated that the little guys keep bouncing hot wheels off the spines of their books.

Animusic to the rescue. We were introduced to the original Animusic DVD by a friend of ours from our old church. From the first time we heard the music and saw the animation the kids (and the adults) were transfixed. There’s something incredibly mesmerizing about fantastical instruments playing themselves. And no matter how many times we’ve all seen them they don’t lose the ability to keep us all entertained. Every time we see them we catch something we haven’t seen before.

Another aspect of these that never ceases to amaze is the accuracy of movement in these musical instruments. They have proper fret placement. Scales and timing are perfect. AND THEY’RE ANIMATED. Take THAT guitar hero. Check them out and see whether you agree…

This one is my favorite. The kids and the Evil Genius have their own preferences, but this one makes me feel very mellow and very relaxed. That’s priceless around here!

…And take it from me. If you find the videos you just saw intriguing, go ahead and spend the $13 to get the DVD (for Animusic 1 or $20 for Animusic 2). You really have not seen these properly until you’ve popped ‘em in the DVD player and turned up your T.V. volume almost as high as it goes and watched the video all the way through. One of the pieces from Animusic 2 actually had us cheering and clapping. When’s the last time you did that?

Filed Under: Product Reviews, Rebecca

It’s a Yummy Earth.

August 28, 2008 by Rebecca 2 Comments

My sister Jessamine’s kids have severe food allergies. The last time I had a peek at the list of no-no foods it included soy, corn, dairy, gluten, wheat, chemical preservatives and chemical dyes, among other things. Those of you who spend as much time as I do staring at and clucking over product labels will recognize that the preceding list pretty much eliminates all the ‘fun’ food that we remember as kids. Last year, though, Jess found candies that actually were acceptable for her kids to eat. She was rapturous over the phone telling me that she had found stuff her kids could have at Halloween. I, being the optimist that I am, was a shade more skeptical. **

**Healthy versions of junk food often taste, er- how to say?- much like cardboard. The flavors are off and/or dull, the colors are BORING, and the texture sometimes borders on gag-inducing. So this is the opinion that tempered my enthusiasm for my sister’s discovery.

Sometime after Jess ordered her five pounds of healthy lollipops she came to visit. She plunked a container up on the counter and invited my kids to eat a few. I was shocked. The first thing thing that hit me was their vibrant coloring. These things rivalled Lifesavers with their brilliant hues. I waited for the kids’ reactions to the candy. Shock number two. They finished the first ones quickly and begged for seconds. At that point I needed to try one.

Holy cow! They were so good. They were tangy, sweet and sour all at the same time. They actually tasted like fruit. Not the bland, flavorless fruit in most healthy candies, but BANG- fresh, flavorful, intense fruit!

Now came the really hard sell; my husband. He is a candy connosieur. Actually, he’s a candy consumer. He finds one he likes and eats vast quantities of it. If he doesn’t like it the candy can sit on the counter for a year and he’ll push it around like dust bunnies. He ate one and was instantly in love. He liked it so much that he asked me to order some. So began our love affair with Yummy Earth Lollipops.

I’m passing this information along to those of you who feed folks with allergies and those of you who are seeking to improve your diet. You must try Yummy Earth lollipops. From a flavor standpoint alone, I’d choose these over all the other candy readily available on the shelves. From a health vantage point, these simply cannot be beat!

Look at the ingredient list:

Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Non-GMO Citric Acid, Organic and Natural flavors (Watermelon, Lemon Oils, Pomegranate, Mango), Organic and Natural Color, Red Cabbage, Purple Cabbage.

Don’t let the cabbage scare you. There are no cabbage flavored lollis.

…And look at the list that appears on the side of the label:

Certified Organic
100% Natural Colors No Chemical Dyes
100% Natural Flavors
Real Fruit Extracts
100% Vegan
GMO-free
Allergen Free
Egg-free
Soy-free
Nut-free
Gluten-free
Wheat-free
Casein-free
Dairy-free

All this and FLAVOR-FULL!

One slight problem is that I have never found a place to purchase these locally. Happily, like many other good things, I can buy them online or through my health-food co-op. They are usually least expensive through Amazon. You save the most money by purchasing a 5 pound bag. ‘Five pounds of lollipops?’, I hear someone yelling… Get them now. They are good for about a year after purchase provided you don’t store them in the sink or some place really damp. You’ll be able to give out HEALTHY candy to your neighborhood kids at Halloween. You can put GOOD treats in the stockings at Christmas (or any other candy giving religious holidays.) …And this all presupposes you haven’t eaten them by then.

Filed Under: Desserts, Product Reviews, Rebecca

Homemade English Muffins

August 21, 2008 by Rebecca 12 Comments

In last Monday’s column for the Record-Eagle, I ran a recipe for Speed of Light English Muffins. Due to the constraints of space, I was unable to go on and on and on about what I do with those English muffins. Mercifully for my family, the unusal ‘beneficiaries’ of conversations about my culinary obsessions, I have this blog as an outlet.

English muffins have been one of my favorite bread forms since I can remember. I like them pure- split with a little butter-, toasted, as a sandwich base, loaded with marmalade or jam, holding a poached egg and some hollandaise sauce, and just about anything else you can think of to do with it. I’ve tried making English muffins many times over the years. They were all decent, but they lacked that je ne sais quois that the perfect English muffin has; the chewiness, the crust, the holes and ‘nooks and crannies’ to trap the melting butter and running warm jam.

A couple weeks ago, while gnoshing on bread from yet another successful experiment with the ‘Artisan Bread in Five Minutes’ dough, my husband tossed out an idea.

“Hey! You should make English muffins with this dough. I bet it’d be perfect,” quoth he. I have said before that my hubby is an Evil Genius, but it bears repeating. His mind works unlike others and he has had brilliant ideas before, but this one was BRILLIANT! (So brilliant that it requires all-caps and italics.)

I pulled out the muffin rings and the griddle and went to town (metaphorically- town’s pretty far. I just mean I went to work.) The resulting muffins rivalled the best I had ever eaten (starts with a ‘W’ ends with an ‘S’ and rhymes with Pull-For-Fans.) I was so excited about it that I wrote to Zoë François , one of the book’s co-authors, and requested her permission to print the recipe in my newspaper column as well as here on the blog. She was incredibly gracious and generous and granted the requested permission. Here’s the thing. I’m giving you one of their recipes, but by no means is that the only thing of value the book has to offer. I suggest you procure a copy. It is invaluable.

Master Recipe

*The recipe, as it appears here, has been condensed by cutting out the author’s commentary and paraphrasing. To read all of their instructions and comments, see “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day”.

6 cups lukewarm water
3 Tablespoons instant yeast
3 Tablespoons kosher salt
13 cups all-purpose flour

Mix water, yeast and salt together in the bowl of a large stand mixer or in a 10 quart food-safe container. Add flour and stir until the mixture is uniform. You don’t have to knead, but you want everything uniformly moist, without dry patches. The dough will be wet and will conform to the shape of its container.

Cover with a lid that fits well, but is not airtight and allow to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours or until the dough collapses back in on itself. You can now refrigerate the dough for up to two weeks, using the dough whenever you need it or you may use it immediately.

This is what the dough looks like midway through the process of making muffins. It ain’t perty, but it sure makes gorgeous bread.

And here’s what the muffins do inside the rings while cooking on the griddle. I tell you- don’t worry if it doesn’t fit perfectly, it’ll fill in the rings!

Speed of Light English Muffins

*For this recipe you will need English muffin or egg rings. If you do not have either of these, you can cut the bottom and top off of tuna cans and wash them thoroughly or use round, metal cookie or biscuit cutters. I did make a couple free-form, and they’re still good, but not as tall. In a pinch, though, it can be done. These are best prepared a couple hours or a day in advance so they can cool and the crumb can set up.

To make these you need:

Master Recipe Dough
Semolina Flour or cornmeal for sprinkling

Oil as many muffin rings as you plan on using. Preheat a griddle or frying pan to approximately 325F. Place rings on hot surface and sprinkle about a teaspoon of semolina flour in the bottom of each ring. Pull of scant ½ cup pieces of the dough with wet hands. If you’re having trouble determining what ½ a cup of wet dough is, use water to rinse a ½ cup measure and put the dough in the still wet measuring cup. It will slide right out! Gently stretch the dough to approximately the size and shape of your ring and carefully put it down on the semolina. Don’t fret if it’s not the exact size or shape. As it cooks, it will expand.

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with another teaspoon of semolina flour and allow to cook until the bottom crust is a lovely brown color and is crisp. Remove rings using an oven mitt or tongs and flip the muffins over. Continue cooking until second side is also golden brown and delicious and crisp. Remove to a rack to cool.

When muffins are cool, use a fork to split them. If you’ve never split a muffin with a fork, don’t be afraid. It’s not tough. Just hold the muffin flat in the palm of your hand and slide the tines of a fork in parallel to the edge but halfway down on the side of the muffin. Remove tines, turn muffin partway and repeat until you’ve poked a line of holes around the center of the muffin. Use your fingers to gently pry apart the muffins. Opening them this way ensures the lovely butter trapping holes that we all want in our English muffins…

Splitting the muffins with a fork is the only way to get those ‘nooks and crannies’. If you use a knife it just won’t be the same!

This muffin is just screaming for cold butter and blueberry jam.

If you tune back in tomorrow I’ll show you the breakfast that has changed my boys’ lives. This makes everyone happy and propels our household into an alternate universe where kids do their chores quickly after breakfast, say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ at the table, don’t fight with each other, and sing wonderful old-timey bluegrass songs in five part harmony with perfect pitch. **That last part was a momentary blip away from ‘honest’ on my moral compass. I realized that what I was saying sounded too good to be true, so I threw that in there, but the other stuff really does happen. Such is the power of the good breakfast.