A Favorite Recipe

Oddly enough, my kids really love this recipe. It's Linguine in White Clam Sauce. The don't like it with regular clam sauce (which is nearly the same except for the milk!) but this one they devour!

Maybe your kids will like it too! (Oh, and my kids don't like clams in other things like chowder, but they love them in this. Strange!)

This is excellent on a busy day, too. It only takes as much time as it takes to boil pasta! Pretty awesome.

Linguine In White Clam Sauce: (Serves our two adults and 3 big kids)

Ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons of Butter
• 1/3 Cup Flour
• 4 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 2 Cups Clam Juice (or the juice from 4 cans of clams)
• 2/3 Cup Milk
• 1/4 Cup Parsley, Chopped (I used dried just fine)
• 1 Cup Clams, Canned (4 cans of clams.... how convenient!)
• 1/4 Tsp Salt (or to taste. We don't use much)
• 1 Pound Cooked Linguine (angel hair works nicely too!)
• 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese (Optional)

1. Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the flour to blend and cook over moderate heat for 2 minutes.
2. Add garlic and clam juice and continue stirring as sauce thickens. Cook two minutes more.
3. Add milk, parsley and salt and cook 2 more minutes.
4. Add clams just 2 minutes before you are ready to serve. Let them heat through.
   
5. Toss pasta with sauce when you are ready to serve. Serve immediately. Pass the cheese at the table to sprinkle on top.
6. Yum!

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Fast Pork Tenderloin Recipe

This one is a family favorite, and it's really lovely to serve to guests, too. Best of all: this amazingly delicious meal, fancy enough to serve at a party, doesn't cost very much at all.

We buy our pork tenderloin from our local warehouse club. They sell a package of two boneless tenderloins for around $6.00. This amount is enough to feed our family of 5 with just enough left over for Mommy to enjoy as a snack the next day, cold from the refrigerator. ;) Keep in mind, our kids love this recipe and always have seconds, sometimes thirds.

1. Place the pork in a bowl with some good olive oil and coat well. Let sit while you prepare the next step.

2. In a shallow dish (I use one of my large rectangular Pyrex dishes) sprinkle a fine layer of salt, coating the bottom of the dish. (To your taste, of course) Top that with a fine layer of freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle a little garlic powder over that and then finely chop up some fresh rosemary (dried works too) and sprinkle that over your other spices. Make sure each spice is evenly spread over the whole bottom of your dish.

3. Roll one of the pork tenderloins through the spices, generously coating it as you go. Sop up every last bit of those spices, and don't forget the very ends!

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each pork tenderloin. (I have found that this is the best way to make sure you have an even and heavy coating of spices on your meat!)

5. Lay the meat on a dish to rest while you heat up a skillet.

6. Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of your largest cast iron pan. Let it heat up over medium heat for a few minutes, just until you start to really smell that oil, but before it starts to smoke.

7. Lay two pieces of meat in the skillet and set your timer for 4 minutes. Don't touch them! They'll get a beautiful sear on the outside and the flavor of the rosemary will actually begin to penetrate the meat.

8. When the timer goes off, roll the tenderloins just a quarter turn and set the timer for 4 minutes again.

9. Roll another quarter turn and leave alone for 4 more minutes.

10. Roll the last quarter and leave alone for just 3 minutes if you like medium, 4-5 minutes if you like well done. (We like medium!)

11. Let rest for about 6-8 minutes and you are ready to eat! To serve, slice in 1/2" thick rounds and layer on a plate next to a salad and some rice, or mashed potatoes. If you'd like a grave, the pan drippings will make a delicious sauce!

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do!

A Favorite Recipe

Fast. Cheap. Healthy. Delicious.

These are the ideal characteristics of a great meal around here. We have a favorite that I adapted from a far (if you can believe it) simpler recipe that was lacking a bit in flavor. My version takes no more time than the original Rice and Beans recipe I had read that fateful day, because all my extras can be done in the time it takes to cook rice. But my version has a whole lot more flavor and it looks beautiful on the plate.

I forgot to take pictures last night as I made it and I didn't think to until the plate was already nearly empty, so I'll update with pictures next week.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of water
• 1 tbs tarragon
• 1 tsp ground savory
• 1 tbs chicken base (or enough bouillon for 3 cups water OR replace water with chicken stock)
• 1 1/2 cups white rice (You can sub in brown rice if you have the time)
• One large onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 2 tbs butter
• 1/4 cup good white wine
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can red beans (or sub in any beans you like. Add extras too!)
• Fresh parsley, basil or any other lovely herb you might have. Or, in a pinch, dried will work to.

Directions:

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Turn down heat and cover. Simmer for 12 minutes then turn off the heat. No Peaking ;)
2. Meanwhile, saute onion and garlic in butter until onion is translucent, but not browning. Pour white wine into onion pan and scrape the bottom vigorously with a spatula (or spootula if you happen to know my children) to get up any delicious bits that might be sticking there. Then dump in the canned beans, juice and all. Heat through.
3. By now, your rice is done. Choose a pretty serving dish. I like to use a wide shallow bowl for this. Dump your rice in the middle of the dish and flatten out to cover the whole bottom of the dish. Then dump your bean mixture on top, spreading it out to almost cover all the rice (leave a little rice showing around the edge. It's pretty!)
4. Sprinkle some fresh herbs on top and garnish with a little sprig of parsley if you have it. If not, use dried herbs for garnish. You can also top with a little grated cheese for added flavor. You can serve this up just as it is or with some salsa if your family likes it.
5. Enjoy!

(Original recipe, if you want to try it, was simply cooked rice with canned beans mixed in. Not sure why that recipe crossed my path or why I found it inspirational for making this recipe, but there you have it!)

Aunt Sugars Bread and Butter Pickles

Mix the following three ingredients together in a big bowl:

8 Cups thinly sliced cucumbers
2 Cups thinly sliced onions
1/4 Cup salt

Let stand 6 hours or overnight. Drain very well! Then place them in a pan.
Then add:

2 Cups vinegar (5)
3 Cups granular sugar (7 1/2)
2 Tsp. celery seeds (5)
2 Sticks cinnamon (5)
2 Tsp. white mustard seeds (5)
2 Tsp. turmeric (5)

Toss cukes to mix well. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. DO NOT LET IT BOIL.

Add a few small pieces of lump alum to each jar before adding pickles. Seal hot.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above recipe was written by Aunt Sugar. I had the benefit of talking to her about it too. She said she only used pickling cucumbers when they looked great and were inexpensive. Otherwise, she just used regular cucumbers. It takes about 8 or 9 pickling cucumbers to make this recipe. I got three pint jars out of it.

The numbers in parentheses, I think, are for doubling the recipe. I remember her saying she liked it sweeter than the regular recipe called for, which leads me to this conclusion, since she asks for an extra cup and a half of sugar in the doubled version.

One final note: There is no need to water bath process these. Just seal them while they are hot with fresh, hot lids and they will seal up and the pickles will keep a better texture for you.

If anyone knows why the recipe calls for lump alum, I'd love to know. I found some and used it, but I don't know why.

Delicious Recipe

If you have an ice cream maker and the ability to get your hands on a bag of frozen blueberries, you absolutely must try this!

2 1/2 cups blueberries (a tick more, if you want!)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs lemon juice
dash of cinnamon (optional)

Combine the blueberries and sugar and heat until the blueberries release some of their juice and the sugar dissolves. You can either then puree this in a blender or leave it as is. Add the lemon juice to this.

Combine the milk, salt and cinnamon in another bowl. (You can also put the salt and cinnamon in with the blueberries. JUST DON"T PUT THE MILK AND LEMON JUICE TOGETHER YET! You will get curdled milk, not a delicious frozen treat)

Set up and turn on your ice cream maker. Pour in the blueberry mixture and follow that with the milk mixture. Let the ice cream maker do it's work (check the manufacturers directions) It is best to eat this straight from the ice cream maker without packing and freezing it. It's consistency should not be hard, but rather mushy.

Voila. You have just made incredible Gellato!

Black Berry Jamble

I just love the book "Jamberry" don't you? My sister Jennie sent it to us and it has been in my mind, and on our reading list, since we went berry picking not too long ago.

We picked 10 pounds of blackberries and turned them all, well. . . almost all, into black berry jam.

Want to know how to make incredible jam from the insane number of berries your family picks while chasing each other around the long rows of berry bushes you find at the huge pick-your-own farm?

As promised, here you go:


Step one: Go out and pick yourself a whole bunch of berries.










Okay. If you really want to, you can go buy them (about 2 quarts should do it for one recipe) but what supermarket is going to sell monsters like these? Really. Each berry is a mouthful. A big, juicy mouthful.









Prep your jars. You can run them through your dishwasher to steralize them (lids too) and keep it on 'warm dry' until you are ready to fill them. Or you can wash in hot soapy water and keep the flat lid parts in a pan of hot water (to keep the sealing compound soft and warm)

Right before you make your jam, lay a towel out on your counter. Something very easy to wash, because it's about to get stained.

Oh, and eat a few berries. No sense in doing this if you aren't going to have some fun!








Make sure you have pectin. This stuff is what makes your jam get firm. It is derived from apples and is an all natural product. All fruit has pectin in it, but unripened fruits have more and we don't want to make jam out of little green berries. So, get a package of pectin. Or several, if your family goes nuts on the berry picking part of this recipe.









Measure out your sugar now. You won't have time to do it later. So, get a big bowl and carefully measure 7 cups of sugar. Yup. 7. Don't be sloppy here. Overfill your measuring cup and carefully run the flat back of a knife over it to smooth out the top. Dump that into your bowl and repeat 6 more times!

Accuracy is key when making jam. Too much or too little sugar and your jam won't set.








Now it's time to mash and measure your berries. You'll need 5 cups of mashed berries. So, get your big measuring cup out and put berries in it. Squish a little with with a potato masher. Measure the 5 cups AFTER you mash, not before. And, of course, after you eat a few more of those irrisistable berries.







Pour your measured berries into a moderately big pot. Notice that I have two pots on the stove. The larger one in the back is half full of water and has a nice high flame under it to get it boiling. We'll need this later.








Before you turn the heat on under your berries, sprinkle in the pectin and stir to combine.









Turn your heat on to medium high and stir constantly. You need to keep this fruit moving and the pectin mixing. Keep stirring until you get the berries to a rolling boil. This means that the boil shouldn't care if you are stirring or not. It should bubble like crazy. (Notice that the black berries aren't black anymore. They turn a lovely shade of raspberry . . .)




. . . Dump in your sugar and . . .








KEEP STIRRING! Bring this back to a full rolling boil. Once you are sure it's boiling hard, time it for exactly one minute. And don't stop stirring. Even if your children wrap themselves around your ankles and try to pull you out the door to play a game of chase the baby. Do. Not. Stop. Stirring.

Notice that my picture of this step is blurry. Do you know why? I was stirring!






When that one minute is up, turn off the heat and don't touch it for about 5 minutes. Then give it a little stir to bring the fruit pieces up again.














Uh oh! Someone stole my jam! This is what your empty pot will look like after you carefully ladle all that hot goo into your jelly jars and wipe off their rims and place their lids and rings on.















Once your jars are filled, put them in that big pot of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Make sure you've turned your heat down to low and you keep it at a slow simmer to avoid breaking your jars. The water should come about 1 to 2 inches over the tops of the jars.

Use tongs to carefully remove the jars and place them on that towel we set out at the beginning. Don't touch them. Let them slowly cool down to room temperature. Letting them sit overnight is best.

Your jam will be good on the shelf, without refrigeration, for about a year. I doubt very highly, however, that it will have that long to wait!

Enjoy!

Tangy Twist on Pancakes

This morning, after discovering that I didn't have enough yogurt for all of the children to enjoy, I decided to find a new use for it. Katie requested pancakes for breakfast so I vowed to find a good way to use the last strawberry yogurt in the meal. I first thought of topping the pancakes with a little dollop, but then I thought of the mess that would occur and I quickly changed tactics.

I used my usual batter recipe and reduced the milk by about 3/4 cup. Then I whisked in the yogurt (or yor-gut if you are one of my twins)and sprinkled in a handful of chocolate chips. (These were really for me, since I needed something chocolate after my morning)
The yogurt added a light tang in the background of flavors and the texture was heavenly. I highly recommend you give this a try the next time your little ones have eaten all but one of the ten thousand yogurts that come in a giant box from your local club warehouse store!

**Note: I use a single recipe right now for my family. The babies don't eat enough yet to warrant any more. However, if you double or triple your recipe, you'll need to do the same with your yogurt. My yogurt was 6 oz. **

My Best Oatmeal

My dear sister Jennie posted her oatmeal recipe today. In response to her request for other recipes, here's my favorite.

In a large pot, add 2 1/2 cups water & 2 1/2 cups milk (you may exchange some of the milk for cream or 1/2 & 1/2 if you are feeling rich)

Bring this just to a boil and add 3 cups of quick cooking oats. Cook for the length of time recommended by your package directions. Then, turn off the heat and immediately add 1/2 tsp salt, brown sugar to taste (recommend about 1/2 cup) & 1 tsp cinnamon. You may, of course, also add dried fruit to this if you wish. Or, as my darling husband likes to, you can add a dollop of your favorite jam or jelly on top!

It is very important that you do not add the salt or sugar to the oats while they are cooking. The oats will not release their creamy starches into the liquid if there is salt or sugar to compete with. This will result in a gloppy, sticky, unappealing mess! Waiting until after the oats have finished cooking allows the liquid to become smooth, creamy and delicious.

Give it a try, and let me know how it turns out!

Dinners

In menu planning, I find that I tend to rotate through a few favorites all the time. Meatloaf, Teriyaki Chicken, Pizza, Shells or Ravioli or Lasagna. I asked Sam what his favorite meal was to see if I could gat some new ideas. His answer, which I had already guessed, was steak.

We discussed a few other things which have since become a part of our menus, but I still feel like I don't have enough variety. Most especially in my side dishes. So I have a question for my visitors:

What is your favorite dinner? And what are your two favorite side dishes? Especially ways to prepare veggies. . .

Thanks for the help!

Lasagna

I made lasagna last night for dinner, with tons left over, of course, and I'm wondering why it has such a reputation for being difficult and time consuming. It took me less time to make this meal from start to finish than most of the other dinners I make, and 45 minutes of that time was spent playing with my babies! (The lasagna was in the oven.) They make the lasagna noodles that you don't have to boil first and those are pretty good. But really, it only takes a few minutes to boil the noodles, so it's not a very big deal.

So . . . I'm asking everyone to go ahead and make some lasagna for your families! You can even put it all together in the morning or the night before, go to work and pop it in the oven when you get home!

You'll be glad you did it!

For those of you with mixers . . . or Spaetzle

If you have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, there are thousands of recipes that are now incredibly easy for you. Before I give you my latest discovery, why don't you check out my sister Jennie's incredible bread recipe? I use this same technique once a week and keep my family in fresh bread with just a few minutes work.

I recommend that you start picking up attachments for your mixer (ask for them for birthday and Christmas!). Most of the attachments do far more than their names imply. My tip today involves the meat grinder.

In a conversation with Jennie (you did check out her bread recipe, right? If you didn't, your really missing out. Go ahead. I'll wait here. Did you do it? Okay . . .keep reading!) a long while ago, she mentioned that she was trying to make spaetzle but didn't have a spaetzle maker. I recommended a cookie press might do the trick, but I have recently found that if you extrude your pasta dough through the meat grinder attachment, with the blade in place, you get a pasta that looks and feels a lot like spaetzle!

If you don't have a stand mixer or just don't have this attachment, you can probably do it with the cookie press. . . Did it work for you, Jen?

Recipe: Fudgy Fudge Brownies

These are really fantastic. Start to finish, you can have these cooked in about 30 minutes. I highly recommend these if you are in serious need of something chocolate!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of flour
1/4 cup of cocoa (I used a little more!)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional. I left these out)

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. (Add walnuts here if you are using them.)
• In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until creamy. Stir in the dry ingredients and mix well. ( I used a whisk to get rid of lumps)
• Spread this evenly into a 13 X 9 inch pan (no need to grease it)
• Bake for about 25 minutes. Edges should be just set and center should be soft. Overbaking will make it all chewy and not at all good!
• Cool for a while . . . or just dig in! lol

Bacon (Updated!)

I recently saw a show about bacon and ways to cook it. I tried one way today and I'm in love!

Take a cookie sheet (the kind with the edges on it) and put a rack inside it (you can use the rack you cool your cookies on). Lay your bacon on it in one layer and broil it for about 5-8 minutes! It's so easy . . .no flipping or getting spattered. The grease collects in the pan and the bacon comes out crispy and flat. If you like it a little chewy, just cook it a minute less.

Enjoy!

** Amber, I saw this on "Good Eats" on the Food Network. One of my favorite cooking shows! Also . . . If you want to add a counter to your blog, just click on my counter and it will take you to the page where you can sign up for free ones.

Beckie, I never liked microwaved bacon. It seems too tough. Try it in the oven one day. You can start it and go ahead and cook your other breakfast items while your bacon takes care of itself. Just set a timer so you don't forget it! lol. **