Sunday Dinner

Joe received a pasta machine for Christmas.  He's been waiting impatiently to use it.  Sunday, we picked up some ricotta cheese, fresh Parmesan cheese, and mushrooms.  Joe and Amy spent the afternoon rolling pasta and making fresh ravioli.  They were so good!  I love the tenderness of fresh homemade pasta.  YUM!

Dough has rested and is waiting to go through the roller.



Here is the filling placed carefully on the rolled dough.


Pasta folded and the edges crimped.  Ready for cooking.




  There was enough left over pasta to fill one gallon zip lock bag.  I love having home made ravioli ready for a quick lunch or dinner.  Thanks for another great meal, Joe!

Can I Bake Something?

I'm running really low on groceries right now, but it's been hard to schedule a trip to the store. Joe asked if he could bake something after dinner tonight and I told him to see what was available.

He decided to make crepes with the choice of 3 fillings and 4 toppings. Joe prepared all of the filling and toppings from scratch. I had a cream filled crepe with a cinnamon/chocolate glaze. It was yummy. He had made enough for second helpings and I almost tried the strawberry filling with the caramel glaze, but managed to not eat two servings. Gotta love this kid. My poor diet!

Mocha Brownies

I've been wanting to do more experimentation in the kitchen. The kids and I were throwing around ideas for different types of brownies and I realized that we had never had mocha brownies. I started with our favorite fudgy brownie recipe and took out some of the cocoa, added some instant coffee, and removed some of the vanilla extract. The final product was sensational! These will definitely be made again and again.

Mocha Brownies

1 Cup butter
3/4 Cup cocoa
1/4 Cup Folger's Instant Coffee Crystals, crushed with a spoon
2 Cups sugar
4 eggs
1 Cup flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease 13"x11" pan. Set aside. Melt butter in saucepan. Remove from heat and add sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Add flour and stir until incorporated. Do NOT over beat. Bake in 350 degree for 27 minutes.

YUM!!!

Cheese

My family enjoys cheeses of all kinds, especially melted cheese. We usually make home made pizza once a week. Several years ago, I started purchasing the pre-shredded cheese because finding block Mozzarella was difficult. As our family grew, the amount of cheese stretched to 3 large packages for pizza night.

A few weeks ago, I got a great deal on chunks of Mozzarella cheese. The kids had fun shredding it and the pizza tasted wonderful. While gathering up the empty wrapper, I realized that we had used 30% less cheese on our pizza. The pizza had tons of cheese, possibly even more than normal. I had always know that corn starch is added to shredded cheese to keep it separated in the packaging. The amount of starch came as a surprise. Those "cheaper" bags of pre-shredded cheese end up costing me 25% more every time we eat pizza. Wow!

Yesterday, we had pizza for supper. I ran out of chunk cheese and had Madelyn walk to the store and pick up a small package of shredded cheese for the second pizza. I ate one slice of pizza from the first pizza. YUM! Gooey cheese. Slightly tangy flavor. What could be better?

Then, I had a slice from the second pizza. The flavor was not anywhere near as good as the first slice. Even keeping in mind that a lot of my taste satisfaction was met with the first slice, the second pizza was not as good. We will no longer be purchasing pre-shredded cheese around here. The easy-to-use product convenience isn't enough to offset the loss of flavor and added expense. Try this yourself, I'd love to hear if you had a similar experience.

Children Cooking

Supper was prepared by various children in our family tonight. It's important to me that all of my children learn how to cook and take care of a home. Some of my children have discovered hidden talents in cooking, decorating, and knitting. Others try to be absent when it is time to start dinner preparation. Steve is one of those kids.

This afternoon, I managed to snag him before he headed off to the skateboard park. Mike and I were on the deck discussing gardening plans, so I gave directions. Here's our conversation. Keep in mind that Steve is 16. He's such a corker.

Mom: "Steve, please rinse the chicken and sprinkle it with season salt. Then place it in the roaster."

Steve: "Where is the roaster?"

Mom: "It's in the lower-cupboard, on the right of the stove."

It's been there ever since we moved into this house.

Steve: (looking puzzled) "Where?"

Dad: "Face the stove. Look in the cupboard on the right."

Steve (calling from the kitchen): "Where's the spice?"

Mom: "It's called Season Salt and it's in the spice cupboard."

Steve: "What does it look like?"

Mom: "It says Season Salt on the label."

Steve: "Where's the chicken?"

The chicken has been thawing on a plate top of the stove.

Mom: "It's on the stove."

Steve: "You mean this fat, little chicken? What do I do with it?"

Mom: "Open the package and wash it out at the sink. Do not use soap."

Loud sound and shrieking is heard from the kitchen.

Steve: "Mom! You should come in here."

I walked into the kitchen and discovered Steve standing in front of the sink, holding the chicken and laughing.

Steve: "You could have told me that stuff will come out of the chicken when the water runs through it. I thought the chicken was taking a dump!"

Eventually, the chicken was placed in the roaster and sprinkled with seasoned salt. After talking to Steve, I realized that he has developed a masterful plan to get out of cooking anything. He acts like he doesn't understand the directions and asks stupid questions. Eventually, someone else will step in to help poor defenseless Steve. Not anymore! That boy is gonna learn to cook this summer!

Madelyn, age 12, prepared the biscuits without any assistance. Paige (8)and Allie (6) managed to cut up vegetables to make a delicious salad. Steve sure managed to hide in our crowd!

Home made soup

Mike's mom and I talked on the phone the other day. She offered us some ham bones to use for making home-made soup. I commented that Mike would probably enjoy making some bean soup, and added that I don't make soup from bones. I tend to use purchased broth, because I make soup from leftover meat.

Today, Mike's mom gave him the soup bones and a stack of magazines. The magazines were all cooking magazines and had pictures of bowls of soup on the cover. (I am sure that this wasn't planned.) I jokingly told Mike that she must feel sorry for him because I don't make completely-from-scratch soup and she must feel that he is deprived.

Mike commented, "Don't feel too bad, my mom made lousy soup too." He may never live down that little zinger!

Cooking

It's been hot and I'm not very motivated to do much cooking. For example, yesterday we had deli-style lunch meat sandwiches twice. Today, my skinny non-cooking, non-eating child asked if she could make dinner. She wanted to make oven roasted potatoes, a pot roast, tomato basil feta cheese salad, green beans, and corn. I asked her to wait until Monday when the temperatures will be back in the 80's.

A short time ago, she approached me and explained that she will need to get up early Monday morning to bake a chocolate cake, with pudding filling and fudgy chocolate frosting for dessert. Could I pick up some whipped cream to dollop on top of the cake? Talk about a fattening meal!

Who is this child? I'm really glad to see her want to do some cooking. It's great to see her want to expand her cooking skills. But, do we need to eat thousands of calories in one meal?

Catching Up

The kids and I have been really busy working on school work and trying to stay warm. We are all experiencing cabin fever due to the very cold weather and looking forward to a break in the temperatures. A friend called me on her cell phone to let me know that she was wading in the Gulf of Mexico. It didn't help.

Poor Allie hates to go outside in the cold. The other day I noticed that one of my little girls was dressed in snow pants, hat, mittens, winter coat and had a scarf wrapped around her head. I thought that it was Paige who likes to go outside, regardless of the weather. It was surprising to see that Allie was heading outdoors. I asked her if she was going to play in the snow. She looked at me in surprise and mentioned that she was taking the trash out to the garbage can. I guess the 15' walk to the trash can needs the proper clothing!

My mom is still recovering from shingles. Her depression has lifted and she sounds more like her normal self. I worry about her because she keeps her house so cold in the winter. The cost of heating her 150+ year old farm house with 15 rooms is really beyond her means. She doesn't want to move now and prefers to keep her house at 55 degrees F. Since her illness, she has started keeping her house at 62 degrees.

The kids have started the second semester of their music classes. The classes are taught free by a professional musician who wants to encourage children to pursue music in their lives. The instructor is enthusiastic and encourages the children to try various instruments. I love that the children are getting excellent music theory instruction and learning to also play by ear. Most of my kids have been playing the piano for several years, but I (their piano teacher) have very limited ability to play by ear. I can usually figure out a tune and basic harmony, but it is a laborious process for me. The teacher encourages parents to stay during class, so hopefully my playing by ear ability will improve.

During music class, Allie was struggling with keeping her fingers on the correct buttons of her recorder, so the teacher gave her a harmonica. She is thrilled with her new instrument. All Friday evening she played her harmonica. After being sent to bed, she continued to play the harmonica. Eventually, I took it away from her and placed it on the piano. At 1:00am, the household heard the sounds of the lone harmonica player. At 2:30 am, we were once again serenaded by "sweet" music. At 3:45am, 4:30 am, 6:00 am , and 7:00 am our ears were blessed with the harmonica's mellow sound. I'm going to have to end up deaf or crazy before she loses her enthusiasm. I'm really need to find new hiding places, she has discovered all the old ones.

Amy is home from college this weekend. Money has been tight for her, so I brought her home to raid my pantry. She also got a job, here in town, tutoring literature and writing for a homeschool family. During the tutoring sessions, Amy covers material, then assigns writing and reading assignments to be done before the next session. Her students will be emailing their writen work to her at school. She will be coming home every two weeks for the rest of the semester! It will be wonderful to see her more often.

Amy and I spent today preparing food for the upcoming couple of weeks. We made Stromboli (which was fabulous), empanadas, meatloaf, oatmeal breakfast bars, and spaghetti sauce. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll finish the remainder of the cooking.

Mike is going to take Monday off to return Amy to college. He's planning on spending the day catching up on his TO DO list and doing things with the kids. I am going to spend some time at the library alone.

Katie, Madelyn, and the boys are enjoying their martial arts class. After class, I'm asked to try to hit them or try to kick them, so they can practice their newest block or attack. Pretty soon, they will be able to kick my butt. I really need to get in better physical shape! Katie is quite sore for a few days after each class. I can see the changes in her back after the class. She's spending a lot more time each day, doing the exercises necessary to keep her scoliosis under control.

Paige (my girly-girl) has discovered the joys of making jewelry using bendable plastic inter-locking triangles. She makes rings, necklaces, bracelets, crowns, etc. It's a joy to watch her plan her next creation. Recently when I asked what she was making, Paige proudly announced that she was making a "sniper gun." Her older brothers are certainly making their mark with her.

Easy Christmas Treat

My children are giving each other treats from the kitchen as presents this year. This morning Allie and Paige made Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods as their selection. We had planned on using white chocolate. Did you know that white chocolate seizes up if you add 1 tablespoon of butter? I didn't. Both girls sampled their creations and declared them delicious.

Apples, Apples Everywhere

Instead of exercising this weekend, I worked on putting up apples for the winter. I completed 24 pints of apple butter (which my children feel is NOT enough) and 20 quarts of apples. I still have a couple of bags to complete, but I'm going to do those in small batches when I have a few minutes to spare throughout the week. My favorite thing about preparing apples for later is that they don't spoil immediately. I love being able to work in small blocks of time.

My mom has talked me into freezing the remaining apples. I have always canned apples, so this is a new experience for me. I hope the apples are the same quality as canning because it will be a lot quicker to do and a lot cooler in the house.

Stew

We're out of a lot of staple foods and I can't go to the grocery store until Friday. We have food in the house and need to make meals with what's available. Our freezer contains stew meat, one whole CHICKEN, sausage, and a flank steak. Around 3 pm yesterday, I realized that all the meat was frozen. The choice of meal was stew because nothing else would thaw in time.

I didn't make my usual stew recipe, but used what was on hand. Everyone loved it. It may now be our family stew recipe.

2 pounds of stew meat, thawed in microwave
6 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
8 potatoes, cut into 3/4 inch pieces. Skins not removed.
1 tablespoon of dried onion
4 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups water
1 can tomato sauce
1 can corn
pepper to taste

Throw all ingredients into covered roasting pan, except corn. Cook at 375 degrees for 1-3/4 hours. Add corn. Return to over for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set on top of stove. Bring to boil. Add slurry of 2 tablespoon flour and glass of water. Stir well. Cook until gravy is desired thickness. Water can be added if gravy is too thick.

Sausage Rolls

We had a potluck picnic at church today. My children wanted me to bring one of their favorite dishes. So last night, my daughters and I made sausage rolls. Sausage rolls are another meal that I only serve occasionally. They are great at potlucks or buffets because they taste great warm or room temperature.

Start with a sheet of puff pastry. Unfold the pastry, while frozen and let thaw.


Cut pastry sheet in half.

Make a 1" log of your favorite sausage and place in the center of the 1/2 pastry sheet.

Fold up one side of the pastry dough.

Fold other side of pastry across, the two edges should overlap. Roll in to log.

Slice in equal size pieces. We tend to make 2-bite sausage rolls, so we cut ours into about 1" segments.

Place on ungreased jelly-roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. If the slices are larger, the cooking time will increase.


The puff pastry is light and flaky with the sausage center. These sausage rolls are shown on a 6" plate.

Scotch Eggs

My children have been begging me to make Scotch Eggs for the last two months. I don't make them very often, because they are rich. I take them to pot luck dinners occasionally and they always get rave reviews. We originally prepared this recipe when learning about the British Isles. Scotch Eggs are considered "pub food" and are served hot or at room temperature.



Scotch Eggs

Hard Boil eggs. We usually prepare 1 1/2 eggs per person in my family. Remove shells.



Cover eggs with sausage, taking care to seal fully. Roll eggs in plain bread crumbs.

Heat vegetable oil in large skillet/fry pan. Carefully place eggs in oil and fry on all sides.
Remove from heat when sausage is fully cooked. Drain.

When slightly cooled, cut eggs in half. Serve with crispy French bread and tossed salad.