Monthly Archives: September 2012

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Water (Explanation of Types)

Spring Water:  Flows naturally from underground to the surface.
Mineral Water:  Contains sodium and calcium and sometimes other trace minerals.
Drinking Water:  Tap Water that has been cleaned further and bottled.
Distilled Water:  Has no minerals, which is actually not a good thing.  Distilled water is “hungry” water, chemically, and can actually strip your body of certain nutrients as it is absorbed and processed.
Reverse Osmosis Water:  Mimics the body’s own filtration, which is a good thing.
Sparkling Water:  One of the above, only carbonated.

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Flavored Vinegar

Put washed and dried whole herbs or vegetables in a bottle or other container, preferably glass, and pour in vinegar until filled.  Steep for 4 to 6 weeks for full flavour before removing.

Combination Suggestions:

Red Wine Vinegar:  Shallots, garlic cloves, tarragon
White or Cider Vinegar:  Dill, Mint, Lemon Peel, Thyme, mustard seed, Lemon Grass (I’ve had luck with sage and basil as well.)
Rice Wine Vinegar:  Peeled ginger, green onions

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Split Pea Soup (Betsy Codier)

2 lb split peas
3-4 qt water
1 ham bone or smoked ham hock
1-2 c chopped celery
1 c chopped onion
3 large diced carrots
1-2 bay leaves
1/4 – 1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper (and turmeric) to taste

Wash and sort peas, add enough water to cover them + s inches.  Boil for 2 minutes, cover and let stand for one hour.  Add everything else, heat to boiling, and simmer for three hours.  Remove bone, add diced ham if desired.  Fix seasoning.

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Saturday Night Casserole (McCalls)

This one went over quite well.

12 bread slices (it specifies white, I used a whole wheat white)
2 T soft butter
4 slices swiss cheese (for both the swiss and the bread, it is going to depend on the size of your casserole)
1 large tomato, cut into slices
4 eggs
2 c milk
1 tsp salt (it calls for seasoned salt, but I used salt and then added some more seasoning to the end result)
1/8 tsp pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp dry mustard (or to taste)
1/4 tsp paprika (or to taste)
1 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
(I’d suggest a little garlic as well)
2 c grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Lightly grease a 2 qt casserole, shallow is better for this recipe.  Lightly spread one side of each slice of bread with butter.  Take 4 (or however many it takes) slices of bread and put them butter side down in a single layer in the casserole.  Make Swiss sandwiches out of the rest of your bread, again placing the buttered sides out.  Cut them in half, diagonally.  Place the sandwiches in the dish center edge down, and sort of layer and pinwheel them.  Place slices of tomato between the sandwiches throughout.  If you end up with extra tomato, just tuck it in where it looks right.
Mix together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, mustard, onion, paprika, and Worcestershire.  Stir in cheese.
Pour mixture over the bread, and stick in the fridge for an hour.  Preheat your oven to 325 while waiting.  Then bake the casserole for about an hour, or until it seems firm and cooked through when checked.

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Hems

Basic Hem:  Fold up inch of fabric, press, tuck in the raw edge.

Blind Hem:  Turn back raw edge an inch, iron.  Fold up some, press again, fold back down so only 1/8″ original fold shows.  Apparently takes a special sewing machine foot and stitch.  Not checked yet to see if I have either.

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Baked Macaroni and Cheese (McCall’s)

Had this for dinner last night.  Quite tasty, even in its present format, however, I would suggest upping the cheese in the sauce by 1/4-1/2 c cheese.  It could definitely have been cheesier.  I also doubt I actually used the stated amount of salt and pepper, as I sort of eyeballed fresh ground for our tastes.  (Less salt, probably a little more pepper.)  Also seemed it would go well with some garlic added somewhere in the process, which we will probably do next time.

1 pkg (8 oz) macaroni

1/4 c butter

1/4 c flour

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

2 c milk

2 c (8 oz) grated Cheddar Cheese

1 large tomato, thickly sliced

Preheat oven to 375.  Cook macaroni as package directs, drain.

While that is cooking, melt butter in medium saucepan.  Stir in flour, salt, and pepper, until smooth.  (Make a roux, essentially.)  Gradually stir in milk.  (Very gradually, especially at the beginning.  Once it starts to become liquid again, you can go a bit faster.)  Bring to boiling, stirring constantly, and then simmer 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Stir in 1 1/2 c cheese and the macaroni.  Pour into a 1 1/2 quart, shallow casserole (works quite well in a not shallow one, too).  Arrange tomato slices over the top.  Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

Bake 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown (or until cheese is beautiful and melty and the sauce is boiling around the noodles.)

(4-6 servings)

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Country French Toast (Cooking with Bourbon)

This should be called French Toast Grog or something along similar lines.  Next time we make it, I am definitely cutting back on the amount of bourbon used.

1 loaf of thickly sliced bread (depending on the sort of bread and size of loaf, you may have to double the wet ingredients)
4 eggs, beaten
1 – 1 1/2 c milk
2 oz Bourbon
2 T sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

For topping:
2 T butter, cubed
2 T sugar
2 T cinnamon

Grease baking dish, put slices of bread in it.
Mix:  eggs, milk, bourbon, sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Cover and allow to soak overnight in the fridge.  Warm 30 minutes before baking.  Dot with butter.  Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the top.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until eggs look set.

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Lamb and Vegetable Casserole (McCall’s)

This was lovely.

2 T oil

2 lb lamb shoulder, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 medium onions, sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed (I used a handful)

1/2 c raw regular white rice (we used jasmine, and yes, it works from raw)

1 lb potatos, pared and very thinly sliced

4 tsps salt

1 1/2 tsps curry powder

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 lb zucchini, sliced

9 oz artichoke hearts

2 cans (1 lb size) tomatos

Preheat oven to 350.  In hot oil in large skillet, saute lamb cubes, until browned well on all sides.  Remove lamb as it browns.  Add onion and garlic to drippings in skillet; saute until golden.  Return lamb cubes to skillet, mixing well.  In 3 qt casserole, place in layers by thirds:  the meat mixture, rice, potatoes, salt, curry powder, pepper, zucchini, artichoke hearts, and tomatos.  Bake, cover, 1 1/2 – 2 hours until lamb and potatos are tender.

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Spaghetti Sauce (Betsy Codier)

Originally my grandmother’s, it has seen a few tweaks since then.  Not the least of which is the semi-math equasion nature of the recipe now.

Start with deciding how many pounds of meat you want to use.  Typically, I use half some form of beef, half some form of italian sausage. A “normal” batch starts with about 1 1/2 lbs of meat, a fridge-filling-stick-some-in-the-freezer batch is double that or more.

So, take your amount of meat, and double it.  This becomes your “X” number.

X Carrots, chopped

1/2X to X stalks of celery, chopped

X Peppers (colour dictated by flavour preference), chopped

X Onions (small to medium), chopped

Canned Tomatoes – this one depends entirely on how thick you want your sauce.  Generally works out to 1 large can per pound of meat, without worrying about saving half cans.  I use whole tomatoes, and squish them over the sauce before putting them in.  Helps to break them up, and messy fun, too.

Tomato Paste – For colour, and entirely optional.

Meat – as above

Olives – By feel/to taste/until it looks right

Mushrooms – 1/4 to 1/2 X lbs, halved and sliced

Saute/Add in the following order, in enough oil to keep from sticking:  onions, celery, garlic, meat, spices part one, carrots, peppers, canned tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, tomato paste, spices part two.

Spice Suggestions (not necessarily all at once):  Salt, Sugar, Basil, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Parsley, Marjoram, Anise, Black Pepper, Cayenne, Paprika

Simmer for at least two hours on low heat.  6 or more is preferable.  Best next day.