For the love of pickles

 

 

Today, as I was refilling the pickle container to go back in the fridge it hit me that I always want to remember how much the Husband loves pickles. Each Summer I can between 17 and 20 quarts of dill pickles especially for him. I don't really care for pickles so he eats all the pickles each year all by himself, and he loves them! I keep the Tupperware pickle container in the fridge full of dill pickles at all times. It's just a small way that I can show him how much I love him. 

When to Make Biscuits

 

 

 

I debated whether or not to share here on the blog about the events of the past three weeks. I finally decided that this blog is an extension of myself and since the events of the past weeks have affected me then it would be appropriate to share them here.

 

In the early morning hours of January 12th, while we were in bed asleep, we had an attempted break in at our house. Fortunately my stepson was here spending the night and was asleep on the couch when the intruder started banging on our storm door. My stepson woke up the husband and I right before the intruder starting breaking the glass out of our storm door and front door itself. He then started kicking our door trying to get in and reaching his hand inside our door to try and unlock it. I called the police, and we do own a gun and were prepared to protect ourselves by whatever means necessary. The police got here and the suspect was apprehended. It was an unbelievably scary experience. I wasn't able to sleep the first week after it happened. We are now in the middle of court dates and such for the trial of the intruder. It's been an emotional few weeks to say the least.

 

The night after the attack I was unable to sleep, of course, and so I scrubbed the kitchen and bathrooms, put on a pot of pinto beans, and in the early morning hours I made a batch of biscuits. Later that morning I was thankful I made the biscuits because I had them to share with the sweet, caring, supportive friends who stopped in throughout the day to check on me.

 

When company is coming, these are the best biscuits to make. Slightly crispy on the outside, and completely fluffy and soft on the inside.

 

 

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 Cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1/3 Cup Salted Butter
3/4 to 1 Cup Buttermilk (or in a pinch you can use milk mixed with a bit of vinegar) 

 

 Mix dry ingredients together. Cut butter into small pieces and work into dry ingredients with a pastry blender.

Add in the buttermilk a bit at a time until the mixture is moist throughout but not overly sticky.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times, just until it holds together well.

Roll out dough and cut with glass or biscuit cutter.

Allow the biscuits to rise on your baking sheet while the oven preheats to 450 degrees. This bit of rising time (about 10 minutes) will give you a tall, fluffy biscuit.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 ish minutes. Watch them and don't let them get over done. Sometimes they bake in 10 minutes and sometimes it takes 12.

 

The thing about biscuits is they get easier and better every time you make them.When I first started making biscuits they were hard as hockey pucks. So if they are less than stellar the first time, keep trying. You'll get there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Grinding Your Own Grain

Recently I was asked by a blog reader to send her some info on how I grind my own wheat. I went ahead and emailed her, but then the other day I decided it would make a great post for the blog as well.

I am by no means an expert at grinding my own grain. I will simply share with you my process and hopefully answer any questions you may have in the comment section.

 

 

 

Let's start off discussing grain mills. The one I have is a Wondermill and is an electric grain mill. There are also manual grain mills you can purchase. The one I have was purchased second hand from a friend. She purchased it at Bread Beckers in Woodstock, GA. You can purchase the same mill from them here. This is the mill I have because I was able to get it at a really good deal second hand. If I was going to purchase a brand new mill I would go with the Nutrimill. The main reason being this: with the Wondermill you have to make sure the mill is on before you grind your grain and you have to make sure you do not turn the mill off before the grain is done. Otherwise grain could get hung and jam the mill. From what I understand the Nurtimill is made so that this is not an issue.

 

Different grain mills grind different things. For instance, my mill can grind the following: wheat berries, oats, rice, triticale, dried pinto beans, dried green beans, popcorn, split peas, buckwheat, spelt, kamut, rye, millet, sorghum, soybeans, dried mung beans, dried field corn, and chick peas. You cannot grind these things however: sugar, sunflower seeds, nuts, dried fruits, sesame seeds, flax seeds, coffee beans, peanuts, and tapioca

 

The grain container is the one on the right, that's where the ground flour goes after it exits the mill thru that gray tube connecting the two. I store my grain container in our freezer when I'm done grinding grain. I try to grind only what I need for each recipe, but I usually have a bit left over in the container. Keeping it in the freezer keeps it from going rancid.

 



 

 

 

My Wondermill has a range of settings for the consistency of the flour you can grind. For pie crust and biscuits I use the pastry setting. For most everything else I set the dial between pastry and bread. I assume the coarse would give you a cracked grain consistency but I have never used that setting.

 

 





 

 

Again, my mill must be turned on before you put any grain in. After turning it on you put the grain in the hopper on top of the mill. The mill will pull the grain down into the hopper by itself and I usually just push the last little bit around to get it moving faster. After the grain has gone thru I let the mill run an additional ten seconds before turning it off. Generally 1 cup of wheat berries is about 1 and 1/4 cup of flour. That is not a 100% accurate measure, it's just what I have noticed the result to be with my mill.

 

 



 

 

This is a peek in the flour container after grinding. Remember when you grind your own wheat you get all of the parts of the grain including the oils so it should be stored in the fridge or freezer so it won't go rancid.

 

 





 

 

As for the types of grain I grind I haven't ventured out very far. I keep on hand hard white and soft whie wheat, hard red and soft red wheat, kamut, spelt, and rye. I buy my soft red wheat, and rye berries from my local farmers market. The other grains I buy in 25 pound sacks from a local food co-op. When I get my grain home I break it up into these gallon size hefty zip bags and store it in my freezer.

 

 





 

 

I was very fortunate that my grain mill came with the Bread Beckers recipe collection. There is lots of information about wheat in general contained in the book, as well as lots of recipes to get you started. Different grains have different moisture and gluten content so baking with fresh ground wheat takes a bit of getting used to (I am still learning) and a resource like this helps a lot. You can order this book here. If you are really interested in grinding your own grain I would also recommend reading the articles found here. 

 

I think that about covers it. If you have any questions about grinding grains post them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them or point you in the right direction to find the answer. 

 

 



Black-Eyed Pea and Greens Soup

 

This is what my kitchen looks like more often than not when I am making a meal. I am one messy cook!

 

 

For Christmas 2012 I gave each of my Grandmothers (who live alone) a membership to my soup of the month club. I made up cute little cards and listed out the months of the year on one side and the kind of soup I would be bringing each month on the other side. I promised at the bottom to deliver a large batch of soup once each month, enough to have some then, and enough to save for later. Last Monday I made up three big batches of soup (one for us too) and delivered theirs to them as soon as the Husband got home from work. Despite what the mess in the above picture might indicate I even had enough time to make them each a little loaf of bread to go with their soup.

 

 

This months soup was Black-Eyed Pea and Greens Soup. The greens I chose to use were collards. I can't get enough of them lately. I wake up everyday thinking "what could I put some collards in today?" It might start to be a problem, I'll get back to you on that. You can use any greens or mixture of greens you might be craving in the recipe below, I know it will turn out great!

 

 

Black-Eyed Pea and Greens Soup (Adapted from a recipe I clipped from the newspaper years ago)

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 Cup Diced Onion

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced

1/2 Cup Diced Carrots

2 Bay Leaves

1 and 1/2 to 2 Cups Chopped Greens (can use all or part kale, collards, turnips etc.)

1 Cup Diced Ham or Bacon

6 Cups Chicken Stock

3 and 1/2 Cups Cooked Black-Eyed Peas

1/2 tsp. Dried Oregano (I know just add it, it works in the soup)

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

In a large dutch oven or stock pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic and carrots for about 7 or 8 minutes. Add the bay leaves, greens, and meat to the pot and saute and additional 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the stock, black-eyed peas, and oregano. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with some nice crusty bread for dipping.

 

 

Note: When I made it this go around I used 1/2 diced onion and 1/2 diced leek tops. Super yummy. Leek tops (the dark green part) can be saved and used like onions in recipes.

 

 

 

 





Blueberry Zucchini Bread

 

 

 

My sister came by the other night to learn how to make this blueberry zucchini bread. At least that's what she said she was here for, but I think it might have been to drink coffee and talk about her new boyfriend. I didn't mind though. I love that she is getting old enough and we can get in some good quality sister time these days. She is 9 years younger than me so it has been a long time coming. While she was here we made a double batch of the bread and she kept two loaves and I kept two loaves. As I hear it her new boyfriend loved the bread too.

 

 

 

Blueberry Zucchini Bread (Yield: 2 loaves)

3 eggs

2 Cups Sugar

1/2 Cup oil ( I use olive, you can't taste it)

1/2 Cup unsweetened applesauce

2 Cups shredded zucchini (I shred this in the summer and freeze it in 2 cup portions to make this bread)

1 Tbsp. Vanilla

2 Cups unbleached flour

1 Cup whole wheat flour ( I use soft white that I grind fresh)

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon (trust me it makes this bread)

2 Cups frozen blueberries

 

Mix together the eggs, sugar, zucchini, oil, applesauce, and vanilla in one bowl. In another bowl combine the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir to combine and then stir in the blueberries to coat. Doing it this way the blueberries won't stick together as much. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir well breaking up any clumps. Pour into two well greased loaf pans (I use coconut oil for the pans) and bake one hour at 350 degrees. Insert a toothpick in the middle to check if they are done. If the toothpick comes out with wet batter on it bake for an additional ten minutes.

 

I highly suggest eating a slice warm from the oven smeared with butter. After the loaves cool you can wrap them in foil and put them into a large freezer bag and freeze for later. Just defrost them in the microwave when ready to eat. Ours usually never make it to the freezer. I slice and eat it for breakfast and pack some in the Husbands lunch for a snack.

 

 







Chicken Pot Pie



Chicken pot pie is one of those dishes I consider a "clean out" dish. As in, you clean out the fridge/freezer when you make it. There are no set veggies for this pie, I pretty much wing it each time I make it throwing in odds and ends leftover from the weeks meals. This can be one of your best money saving dinners, plus it is super yummy on a cold night.



Chicken Pot Pie
To start you will need one recipe pie crust and one recipe basic white sauce.

For the filling in addition to the white sauce I use the following:
3 to 3 and 1/2 Cups lightly steamed veggies
1 to 2 Cups shredded chicken. (usually left over from a whole chicken I roast)



For this pie I used the following chopped veggies rounded up from the fridge and freezer: corn, leek tops, carrots, onions, potatoes, and peas. I put them into a microwave steam container and steam them for 12 minutes. You could do this on the stove top as well using a steamer insert or in a pot with just a bit of water. You want the veggies (especially potatoes and carrots) to be lightly steamed before adding to your pie. For the meat I used the leftover chicken from a roasted chicken we had for dinner the night before.

 

 

 



 

 

Mix the veggies and chicken with the white sauce you made first. Stir so that all the meat and veggies are coated well.

 

 

 



Pour the filling mix into the pie crust you prepped.

 

 



Roll the top crust over the filling.





At this point you can trim the edges a bit if you want to. We like a thick crust so I usually just keep them as they are and fold the bottom crust up over the top crust and pinch together.

 

 

 

 

It doesn't have to be perfect, just make sure the edges are sealed well. Cut a few slits in the top of the crust to vent the steam. Pop in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Watch the crust to make sure it doesn't get too done. You can always cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil if it is starting to get to brown.

 

 

 

 

Allow the pie to set about 15 minutes before you cut into it. As you can see by the picture I didn't let ours set for long before cutting it and the sauce was still a bit runny. It thickened up after it had a chance to sit on the counter for a bit longer. We were starving the night I made it and "couldn't" wait!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Pie Crust

Monday I told you how to make your basic white sauce for homemade chicken pot pie and today I am going to tell you how to make the pie crust. The recipe below is my recipe for a basic double crust pie. When I made the chicken pot pie I used unbleached all purpose flour. However, you can use whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe with very good results. I have done both and like it either way.


Pie Crust
2 Cups All Purpose Flour (Or whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp. Salt
3/4 Cup Cold Butter cut into pieces
6 to 9 Tbsp. Ice water.


Before I start I fill a one cup glass measuring cup with water and a bit of ice so it can be chilling while I work on the flour mixture.

 

 

Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut up your cold butter into pieces. Combine using a pastry blender until the butter is incorporated and the flour mix resembles course meal.

 

 

 

Next you will add in the ice water one tbsp. at a time until the dough comes together.

 

 

 

At this point I pull the dough out of the mixing bowl and knead it lightly on a floured work surface.

 

 

 

Knead just until it comes together. This is maybe 4 turns with my hands on the floured board.

 

 

 

Next, divide your dough in half and roll out the first half with a floured rolling pin.

 

 

 

Roll the dough up around the rolling pin to make it easier to place it in the pie plate.

 

 

 

Once it is on the rolling pin you can just gently unroll it onto the pie plate.

 

 

 

Don't worry about trimming the edges. You will fill the pie with your choice of filling (check back Friday to see the chicken pot pie filling) then top with the other crust. After the top crust is on you will fold the lower edges up over the top crust edges and pinch them together to seal the pie crust.

 

 I'll be back Friday with my chicken pot pie filling.

 

 

 

 



Basic White Sauce

A couple of nights ago I roasted up a whole chicken I bought at the farmers market. When it was done and I went to cut into it I discovered this hen was more of a "stewing chicken" than a roasting chicken. She was an old girl. We ate what we could and I scrapped my plan to make it into barbecue chicken the next day. I knew it needed to be used for a pie or casserole. I decided on chicken pot pie for the next night's dinner. I make my chicken pot pie completely from scratch. I thought I would share with you how I do it. In order to keep the post from being so long I am going to break it down into three parts, the first being the basic white sauce.

This sauce is versatile. You make the base and then can add in all kinds of things: cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, celery etc. to make it into the kind of sauce you need. I use this base for making my Alfredo by adding in Parmesan cheese. I use it for macaroni and cheese by adding in some shredded sharp cheddar and a bit of mustard powder. For chicken pot pie I use it plain or sometimes with a dash of curry powder. One batch of sauce equals about one 14.5 ounce can of cream soup.







White sauce takes only a few ingredients that you probably have on hand already in your kitchen.

Basic White Sauce
3 Tbsp. Butter
3 Tbsp. All Purpose Flour
1/4 to 1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 Cup Milk


Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted add in the flour and salt and whisk briskly until hot and bubbly.



Add in the milk and continue to whisk over medium heat until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. I like mine a bit on the thick side.


 


Once thickened put in any of the additions you desire.


Wednesday I'll show you how to make the homemade pie crust for your chicken pot pie. See you then!



Leek Potato Soup

Last weekend (while we were both still sick) the Husband and I took a trip to the Atlanta Ikea to pick up the finishing touches for my new craft studio. I had perused their online site several days in advance and was able to go to the store armed with a detailed list of what I needed. We were in and out in an hour and 26 minutes flat, a real record for us. Since we had finished so early we decided to hop on over to the Dekalb Farmers Market. My Aunt told me about this place a couple months ago, and oh my I love it! You can get pretty much any ingredient for any dish you could think of. The prices are really great too! I had a cart full of stuff, and I was sure the total was going to be $250. Our total? $109!!!

One of the items I picked up while I was there was a bundle of leeks for under $2. Yesterday they were calling to me from the refrigerator and I decided to whip up some of this leek potato soup. We had it with some leftover french bread from the night before...oh...so...good.

Leek Potato Soup

1 Bunch leeks (about 3) cleaned and chopped small. I use the white and light green parts and save the dark green parts to make stock later.
4 Medium potatoes peeled and diced small. I use Yukon Gold but any potato will work.
4 Tbsp. Butter
4 Cups water or vegetable broth
1 and 1/2 Cups Milk
Salt and Pepper to taste


Saute leeks in butter on medium heat for about 20 minutes. Add in diced potatoes and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes.

After the soup has simmered use a potato masher or immersion blender to mash up the soup a little bit. I usually blend up about half of the chunks and leave the other half so the soup has a nice consistency.

After blending add in the milk and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on low until heated thru.

I recommend serving with a big hunk of french bread.

Breakfast Buns

The dryer went out again. It's back to my rigged up indoor clothesline for a while.

I had high hopes this morning of getting an early start and getting some work done around the house, nothing major just the daily puttering to get things in order. I decided first off to get in the kitchen and whip out some of the breakfast buns I'll tell you about in a minute. It seemed like I had been in the kitchen but a few minutes and I turned around and it was 10:15 am already, I was sure it was only 8:30 at best! I text my friend R to lament this fact which was along the same lines of a conversation we had yesterday. We went back and forth a few times via text and came to three conclusions.


1. It is far better to be thinking it is 8am and find out it is 10am than the opposite to be true and the day drag by.

2. The ability of a house to be “in order” may or may not be a lie perpetrated on women by men of past generations to keep said women out of their hair. We may or may not still be believing this “house in order” lie.

3. We conclude it would be nice to have nannies, maids, butlers, and cooks such as in the day of Anna Karenina but we are unsure we would give up our cable TV, cell phones, extra automobile, and any other modern day money sucking luxury to have such. (Note: The Husband and myself have but one car, I am speaking of Americans in general)


Now it is after noon and I have only accomplished a text conversation, vacuuming, and Breakfast Buns. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

On to what I wanted to share with you in the first place, Breakfast Buns. The husband takes his breakfast and lunch to work each day and sometimes (most times) I get tired of having to prepare a new something each day. Enter, breakfast buns. This recipe is a combination of the breakfast burritos I like to make, the recipe for Bierocks in the More with Less Cookbook, and the post Jennifer Jo did on her lovely Bierocks. I can freeze these and then pull out one or two to pop in the Husbands lunch box for breakfast. Easy peasy. AND since we are on spending lock down right now ( See January Money Diet) I was able to make these up with ingredients I had on hand.

These are made with store bought flour because he likes them better that way. I assume, although I haven't tried it yet, that you could make these with your favorite fresh ground, whole wheat bread recipe too.


Breakfast Buns

For the bread part:
3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups bread flour ( I use Gold Medal Better for Bread, my fav.)
2 Tbsp. Yeast
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Salt
2 Cups Hot Water (110 to 120 degrees)

Combine bread flour and one cup of all purpose flour in the bowl of an electric mixer, add in yeast, sugar, and salt. Spin a few times to mix. Slowly pour in the hot water and mix on low for 3 minutes.

Add in the additional flour one cup at a time until dough forms a ball. At this point you can switch to a dough hook and knead the bread 6 minutes with the mixer, take it out and knead it by hand for 8 minutes. After kneading place the dough on a floured surface and let it rest.

Meanwhile prepare the filling.

For the filling:
¼ head of cabbage diced small
½ onion diced small
½ pound chorrizo sausage (or breakfast sausage of your choice)
1 to 2 carrots diced small
6 eggs
a few drops of hot sauce



In a skillet combine the cabbage, onion, sausage, and carrots and saute until the carrots are tender and the sausage is browned. In a separate bowl lightly beat the eggs. Scoot the cabbage mixture over to one side of the skillet and pour the eggs in the empty spot. Lightly scramble the eggs and then stir to combine with the cabbage mixture. Add a few drops of hot sauce if so desired.

 Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. I don't get real persnickety on dough thickness. I just go with it.

 Cut dough into approximately 5x5 pieces. I messed these up an ended up having to split each of those rectangles in half. Again, whatever you want to do here you could even just pull of lumps of dough and roll them individually.

 Place about 1/4 cup of filling in each piece of dough. Bring opposite ends together.

 Repeat with other ends of dough.

 Pinch dough closed along the seam line.

 I usually roll them lightly around on the cutting board just to get the shape I want and get them sealed well. Don't apply too much pressure while doing this.

 Place them on parchment lined cookie sheets and let them rise for about ten minutes. At this point you can brush them with a beaten egg mixed with 2 tsp. of milk if you want. I only do this when I feel like it. I had extra egg wash left over from the french bread I made yesterday so I brushed these today. Bake the buns in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

 Some of the buns may split open while they bake, I suggest gobbling those split open ones up straight out of the oven so no one sees them. :)

They make a great breakfast or lunch. To freeze for later just wait until the buns have cooled and put them straight into the freezer still on their cookie sheets. After they are frozen completely take them off the cookie sheet and put them into a gallon size freezer bag. When you are ready to heat one up a minute or two in the microwave is all it takes.