Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

Truthfully, my grandmother, the one from Tennessee, always bought those round sponge cakes, cool whip and frozen strawberries in syrup when making strawberry shortcakes.  I thought that was it, that was just what shortcakes were like.  Until I found a "gourmet" recipe for shortcake biscuits, and real strawberries, macerated in sugar and orange juice, with real whipped cream.  Oh, how I felt a little bit deprived!  No more, every year we make these the RIGHT way, with biscuits, etc.

So, here's another Carey/Sam recipe.  I have changed it a tiny bit since I was younger, since I can't eat lots of sugar anymore.  But we leave the yummy butter and sugar in the biscuits.  I am hoping Sam will come up with a gluten-free version soon, so I can indulge occasionally without the gluten gut afterward.

Ingredients:

Macerated Strawberries

1 lb. strawberries, sliced or diced

2 packets, or 1 1/2 tsp. stevia (i.e. Truvia, Stevia in the Raw)

1-2 Tbsp orange juice

Shortcake Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for counter top for kneading dough

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp sugar

8 Tbsp butter, very cold

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup half 'n half

Egg Wash

1 Tbsp half 'n half (for egg/milk wash)

1 egg white, lightly beaten

2 Tbsp sparkle sugar/baker's sugar (or just use granulated sugar)

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Mix all ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl (like store this in a metal bowl, it could take on a toxic chemical reaction from the citric acid in the orange juice), or tupperware-style container.  Store up to two days ahead.

2) Adjust rack to lower-middle position, and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

3) Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl.  

4) Cut butter into 16 cubes, without melting any of the cubes.  If your butter gets warm, just place it in the freezer for a few minutes.  It's important you butter is cold when mixed into the dry ingredients.

5) Toss butter with flour and coat well.  Use a pastry cutter to cut butter into the flour, looking for a large, coarse cornmeal texture/small peas.  Alternatively, you can rub the flour and butter together with your fingers, but if your hands run hot, stear clear of this method-you'll melt it, you hottie!

6) Mix beaten egg with 1/2 cup half 'n half; pour into dry ingredients.  Toss with a fork until large clumps form.

7) Flour your counter top then turn dough onto the floured surface and lightly knead it until it just starts to come together.

8) Pat dough into a 9"x6" rectangle, 3/4 inch thick.  Flour a 2 3/4 inch biscuit cutter; cut into 6 rounds.

9) Mix egg wash ingredients together and have pastry brush ready.

10) Place each biscuit 1 inch apart onto a parchment covered cookie sheet.  Don't have parchment paper, that's okay.  It just makes it a bit easier to release from sheet.  

11) Brush tops only with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

12) Bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.  

13) Place sheet on wire rack; cool cakes until warm, about 10 minutes.  These will keep at room temperature for one day; 4 days in fridge, or 1 month in the freezer.

14) Chill metal or copper bowl in the freezer, along with any beater(s) you'll be using to whip your cream.  Keep them in there for at least 10 minutes.  *Make sure everything is completely dry before placing in freezer; water/ice is deadly to whipping cream!

15) Add cream, sugar and vanilla into the chilled bowl; beat on low speed until small bubbles form, about 30 seconds.  Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave a trail; about 30 more seconds.

16) Increase your speed to high; continue beating until the cream is smooth, thick, and nearly doubled in volume, about 20 seconds for soft peaks or about 30 seconds for stiff peaks.  *Please don't over mix, your cream will go back to a liquid form, no good.  Can refrigerate for up to 8 hours.

Dutch Apple Pancake

There's this awesome pancake that The Original Pancake House makes called Dutch Apple Pancake. It comes out of their kitchen so fluffy and sweet.  But it take them 30 minutes before we receive it.  And, We always seem to crave it on lazy days in our home.  I found a recipe a while back, in my copy of a Betty Crocker cookbook. It's not a fancy book, just the basics. So I was psyched when I realized it contained a recipe for an apple pancake.  On closer inspection, I realized it too, came out super fluffy, with a sticky, sweet mess, filling an entire plate.  It is for sharing, although, you probably won't want to.  And the amazing part is, since it has brown sugar underneath, it doesn't need any syrup.  In addition, once you flip it onto a serving plate (I just used my cutting board) you add on powdered sugar and a squeeze or two of lemon. I always stick very closely to the original recipe, but of course, I tweak it a bit for flavor's sake.  The following is my version, so I hope you like it.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter (if you only have salted, it's okay)
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (Siagon is best)
1 medium apple, sliced (preferably Granny Smith, Fuji or Gala)
Powdered sugar
Lemon wedges

Directions: (BTW, for thee 10" cast iron skillet shown in these photos, I doubled the recipe)
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in middle.
2) Cut up the butter into cubes or long pieces, then place on your cast-iron skillet or round pie pan.
3) place pan onto the stove, on medium, for 5 minutes, until butter is melted but not sizzling.
4) Mix together the eggs and milk.
5) Then mix in the flour, and salt, just until all the dry ingredients are it incorporates. It will be lumpy.  If you over mix, the pancake will come out flat.
6) Swirl melted, cooled butter around pan as to coat the sides.  This will give the pancake a slippery surface so it can rise during baking time.  You can also use a brush to ensure you get some butter on the sides, or sometimes, I totally cheat and use a spray oil, and just spray the tar out of it all-around, just to make sure I get a good rise.
7) Sprinkle brown sugar onto bottom of pan, bring careful not to get on the sides of the pan.
8) Sprinkle cinnamon just like the brown sugar.
9) Quickly place your apple slices in any pattern you like, as long as their pretty flat, and aren't touching the sides of the pan.

10) Pour batter over apples, completely covering your apple slices.
11) bake 30-40 minutes. It will be done when it springs bake from the lightest touch, and is a lovely, delicious, golden brown.
12) with a butter or table knife, loosen the edges of the pancake from the sides of the pan.

 13) Carefully place a plate on top of pan, and with both hands securely in oven mits, confidently flip both over then set down onto a flat surface.
14) Using your oven mits, take off pan.  Sometimes, there is a stubborn bit of pancake. You can fix this by scraping it off the pan, then just slyly place back onto your pancake.
15) Cut into slices, depending on how many servings you need. I use my handy pizza cut and slice either 6 or 8 pieces, but you can cut whatever you'd like.
16) Sprinkle with lots of powdered sugar, then squeeze with lemon wedges. Or, you could serve each portion with the wedges, so everyone can determine how much tartness they'd like.

Ham & Potato Soup

Gluten Free Ham & Potato Soup
ok, and regular gluten soup, too

In our house, we love this soup so much! It’s varied over the years only slightly.  It originally came from a New London, CT family we knew when we were stationed there.  But the roux portion of the dish was all messed up, adding the flour straight to the hot liquid, and expecting this to thicken up correctly.  By the way, a roux is an equal mixture of flour (wheat flour) to fat ratio, usually butter in French cooking, adding before the liquid as seen in this recipe, with the exception of this being a gluten free recipe, so I substituted rice flour for all purpose (wheat) flour.  But you could follow this recipe exactly if you don’t mind gluten, and adjust as mentioned in ingredients list.

Ingredients:

2 lbs red new potatoes, bite sized cubes, about 1/2 inch on all sides (don't take too much time to make them perfect, just enough so they're close in size, and can fit in yo' mouth good)

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

6 Tbsp butter

9 Tbsp white rice flour *For gluten lovers ;) use 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour

4 cups potato reserved potato liquid

4 cups low-fat milk

1 Smoked Ham Steak, at least 2 lbs, cubed into bite size

1 bay leaf                

½ tsp dried ground thyme

¼ tsp dried ground sage

Salt & Pepper to taste

Hot sauce, optional

Shredded cheese, suggested

Directions:

1)      Mise en place all ingredients (chop & measure all before-hand), which includes potatoes, placing them in a bowl full of cold water while cutting, this will stop them from turning grey (an oxidation process, not to pretty); onion, garlic, ham, etc.

2)      In a large 6 quart sauce pot or Dutch oven, place diced potatoes with just enough cold water to coat potatoes.  Bring them to a boil, then turn the temperature to where they still simmer, approximately medium to medium high.  anyCook til just tender, not waiting for full doneness since they will continue to cook in the soup.  This should only take 6 minutes from the time you turn down the temperature.  Check one to see if a paring knife just barely's able to pierce a piece of potato; there should be a slight resistance to the knife still.  It is important not to over cook them, so if you're worried just pull them off earlier rather than later.  They can always cook more, in the subsequent steps.

3)   Place a colander inside a large bowl, and carefully strain the par-cooked potatoes while collecting the potato water, setting aside for a later step.
4)   Place pot back onto burner and turn back to medium-low heat, then add the oil and heat for around 30 seconds.  This will give the oil and the pan a moment to reach the proper temperature.
5)   Add the onions and sprinkle with the salt (the salt is important at this point becuase it helps draw away moisture from the onion, which will help it cook more quickly without boiling in its own liquid).  
6)   Sweat (is to cook at a lower temperature than a saute so as to prevent browning from taking place) the onions for a minimum of 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent the onions from browning.  If at any point the onions become slightly brown, this won't kill anyone ;) but will add a slight tint to the final product.
7)   Add garlic, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds.  Don't burn the garlic, it will taste very bitter.

Below, is what the onions and garlic should look like once we're at this point...

9)  Add butter to pot, allowing it to melt completely, but remember not to burn it ;)

10)  Sprinkle in your preferred flour to onion/garlic/butter mixture....

11) ...and, using a whisk or large spoon, start to incorporate the flour.  Continue to constantly stir for 2-3 minutes.  You'll smell a nice, nutty flavor once it's time to add the liquid.  Immediately add liquid as in next photo.

12) Beginning with potato liquid, add a half a cup at time, constantly stirring and incorporating all the ingredients.

13)  After the first water add-in, you will want the mixture to be well incorporated; enough so that when you wipe the bottom of your pot with your spoon/whisk, it will come clean, as in photo.

14)  Continue to add another 1/2 of a cup, stirring to prevent clumps of flour.  Add another 1/2 cup of liquid once this turns to a paste.  Then add one of liquid, stirring as you go.  At this point you can turn up your temperature to medium high.  Finish up adding the remaining pot water. 

15) At this point, you can add all of the milk at the same time, stirring to prevent any clumps.  You will see the onions of course, but we're looking for a semi-creamy texture.  Don't worry, once your liquid begins to boil, the remaining small clumps will work themselves out.  

16)  Add the ham *notice how my large dice aren't perfectly uniform.  This is a wonderful,-if I may say so-way to add a hint of texture to your food, which will  secretly stimulate the nerves of your mouth and tongue to unconsciously give you a more pleasurable experience!  Who knew, odd cuts could be so sensual ;) j/k

17) Add potatoes back to the pot.  FINALLY!  We're almost done with the active portion of this recipe ;)

18) Add the resto fo the ingredients, except cheese.
19)  After a few minutes, taste to adjust seasonings, including salt & pepper.
If wanting a spice pot, add hot sauce a few tablespoons at a time, if each person wants differing heat, just pass around the bottle at meal time, along with the cheese.
20) Once your liquid gold starts to bubble, turn down to a medium-low, allowing it to simmer for a total of 30 minutes.
21)  Stir soup every 10 minutes, making sure to "clean" the bottom of your pot with the stir spoon.  If you feel any resistance, turn down your temp by one notch, and check again in a few minutes, stirring again.
22) By now, you're probably fighting off the masses, so let 'em at it, just remember to have a ladle, and a paddle for those who don't want to share!

23) Sprinkle with cheese, and ENJOY!

Procrastination is Golden!

Well, it's that time of year, where I'm trying to figure out how much if any, I'll get back from the IRS.  I technically did not work last year (no W-2s etc) and spent most of my time laid up with back & neck pain.  Still, I don't usually procrastinate, but this year, I didn't feel any hurry to do them, thinking we wouldn't really have any type of refund, since we my daughter turned 18 in February last year.  But, lo and behold, we ARE getting a small sum back, so that's good.  Who knows when we'll get it back of course, since I waited til today to complete the e-file, but whatev's.  I've got more important things to worry bout.

I've been going to get different procedures and injections over the past year and a half, trying to get to a point where I feel I can be a full-time chef again.  If this takes much longer, I'm just gonna go back to school, and get my bachelor's and forego the torture of working on my feet, and sweating in front a stove all day/night, working up to 80 hours a week.  Why do we chefs do this?!  We're a little bit crazy I think, but in a good way (for most of us, lol).

Thank GOD I'm getting "fixed" by my wonderful pain doctor, Dr. East in Addison, TX.  He's God's blessing in my life.  I don't think I'd be able to sit and type anything let alone this blog without his expertise and care.  I'm seeing a new dr at the office, Dr. Lavelle, who is also as adept is East.  Both have the best bedside manner.  That's my little plug for them #bestdoctorsever

As a person with #lupus and #fibromyalgia,  I have dealt with so many different days of pain, illness, and general malaise.  I can't even begin to explain how horrible it is when you want to do things, have fun with friends and family, work, get laundry done, jeez, even just take a shower (I'm not kidding, it's embarassing).
Why does God give me these physical and sometimes mental (I have what's called #brainfog ) symptoms, many temporary and a few permanent?  I've delved into this with my hubby, who is a disabled vet, with sleep apnea, asthma, etc.  I feel I'm never alone.  The Holy Spirit is always with me, encouraging me, prompting me to either rest, or push myself & get up, and "deal with" the pain, till it gets better.  God wants me to speak out, speak up, and not tl allow myself to wallow in my irritation, get depressed or feel sorry for myself.   I've also been without my #lupusmedication for like three weeks, which I take when my lupus is active.  It helps keep my immune system working, so I if I come into contact with viruses, bugs, and germs I don't get super sick, just mildly under the weather.  A simple cold or food poisoning can put me down for days, sometimes months!  I've had the flu for three months once, when I wasn't on Plaquenil.  I just have to watch out for my eyes, cause if I get a build up of this med in my system, then I could have it build up in the backs of my eyes, which can cause splotchy vision, or worse.  So I get eye exams often.

The following is my rant on my experiences with our prescription mail order company, you don't have to read, just a public plea for intelligence:  I recently went to my rheumatologist and received refills on my normal meds.  However, none of them were filled, and instead of calling/emailing me, the mail order company decided to just place a hold on these medications.  So I've gone for more than three weeks without any of them, and one is a very sensitive mediation I take so I don't get sick, Plaquenil.  It's so important for me to take this one everyday, I can get sick from just one day without it.  When I finally called them, they told me that they had tried to get my doctor's office to give their correct mailing address and phone #, and they had spoken with someone at the dr's office, but weren't able to receive a call back with the information.  First of all, I was like, "Wait, you just admitted someone called AND spoke with a person at my dr's office, but you weren't able to get any information, including the phone number?!"  What kind of #dumbemployee says this and gets away with this response on the mail order company's note software?  I freaked out a bit, then breathed, and asked if this made any sense to the girl/CSR I was speaking with; she agreed it didn't make any sense.  And so I asked if I could just give them the information, but she said it was policy to not take information from the patient when dealing with a new prescription.  UGH!  #sofrustrating #stoopid #healthcareplan  So, I called and told my dr's office assistant/nurse what the issue was, and she told me should deal with it and call me when it was taken care of.  That was Thursday.  Today is Monday, since I didn't hear back, I called her and asked if it was done, since my mail order company still didn't have it down on their website as processing.  She informed me she never called them cause they called her before our conversation, and they were given the address & #.  Duh,, gurl, I told you I spoke with them right before I called YOU on Thursday!  What does it take for a patient to get the needed meds so she can stay alive?!  I'm praying this will be the last of my frustrations with mail order prescriptions.  I can't go back to buying them at a retail pharmacy.  I spent over $1k last year, and found out our new rates give us FREE mail order prescriptions, so I'm rooting for this mail order thing.  Come on, lets communicate.  Honestly though, just sounds like a customer service rep was just trying to cover their butts by saying they didn't get any information.  Too bad they weren't smart enough not to mention the name of the nurse when they called. #craziness #doctorsoffice #expressscripts.

I obviously haven't been feeling so great, so I made a couple of different dishes which are pretty simple and are on our family menu often.  There's a ham & potato soup and some stuffed peppers.  Check out the next two blogs for recipes.  As usual, thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is doing well!

Update re my arthritis, gluten & sugar free diet, and other life stuff

Hi guys!  I've been receiving some injections for my arthritis.  Today, I began injections for my neck.  All things considered, I'm very lucky.  I haven't needed any surgeries, just nerve blocks & rhizotomies.  Looking forward to a day really soon where I won't need to see my pain specialist, and can work on Sam & I's cottage bakery full-time, and finish up my culinary degree.  I can't believe it's going on two YEARS since I had to go on medical leave due to my pain levels & active lupus.  I love being home with my family but I miss doing God's work in the kitchen.  I do love thinking about posting here on my blog as well, but my true passion is teaching face to face.

I've accumulated a few different recipes with pics, so I'll be posting those soon. Just bear with me, our wi-fi at home is temporarily off too.  It's difficult at times, not being able to pay all our bills when they're due. We're juggling them at the moment, but Sam's gotten a government job, so we should get back on track real soon.  God always blesses us with what we need, just not always what we want, when we want it.

As for my eating habits/gluten & sugar free-I am still focusing on eating gluten free, but I've gone back to having sweet tea during the day.  I can't consume a lot of sugar though, or it'll make me sick to my stomach.  I did start eating regular loaf bread for sandwiches, and immediately got a skin rash, and a slightly upset gut.  The gut irritation subsided after a day, but my skin rash is still around.  It itches rarely, when I eat gluten bread two days in a row.

I'm still cooking gluten free and learning new recipes all the time.  The problem I'm coming across is the texture and fluffiness of the baked goods.  There are plenty of all-purpose mixes out there, so I wouldn't have to buy a lot of different starches, flours & add-ins, but there's nothing like figuring it out for yourself, especially when we're trying to match our already delicious baked goods from our cottage bakery.  My next challenge is pate a choux dough, or creme puff & eclair dough.  I'd LOVE to offer these in our retail space we're planning on opening.  Most of these recipes won't be posted on this blog though since my husband & I know how easy it would be for other restaurant owners to "steal" them for themselves.  We don't want to give away all of our hard work & research.

That brings me to our business.  Sam & I have been blessed with many avid fans of our sweets.  We've been featured in the Dallas Morning News, and we've met lots of folks.  However, when I had to take time away from our business, we lost a lot of customers, and we "cut off" many due to legal issues re shipping baked goods out of state.  We want to start accepting funds through a crowd-funding website, so we may begin construction asap.  That is our goal at this time.  In the meantime, we'll be opening up a new website to offer our baked goods, decorated cakes, private chef parties, catering events, and culinary teachings.

I especially love to teach children and families.  I've done it through a non-profit organization called Cooking Matters for a couple of years now and enjoy meeting so many eager students.  Sam & I both love giving back to the community, and we especially love our church.  We do whatever we can to assist them with catered events and dinners.  In the past, we worked with a Cares Team couple as well.  Cares Team is another non-profit organization who offers planned events for specific apartment complexes.  We demonstrated Chicago style pizza from raw dough to finished product.  We also catered three other themed events at their apartment, including a healthy eating habits and a Mardi Gras event.

I'm logging off for now, but will be back on soon with the recipes I promised.  Everyone have a blessed weekend!

Easy Chips & Salsa recipes

In my many years living in Texas, I've craved for many different styles of salsa.  But the one I loved the most was from a restaurant I used to wait tables at, called #Tia's #Tex-Mex.  They've long since closed down, but I finally decided to sit down and figure out what it was about it I loved the most.  It was the freshness, and the abundance of cilantro they used.  Some people don't like it at all, many stating a soapy taste.  But in Tex-Mex cooking, this herb is like chervil for the French, or Basil to Italians - it's in everything!  Down here in Texas, even the street tacos come with a topping of chopped onions and cilantro.
There aren't any quality fresh tomatoes I can get to at the moment, so I decided to try my hand at using diced tomatoes.  The only problem was the weird, canned flavor from the aluminum cans.  There's an optional addition to help abate this flavor, it's the use of baking soda.  Here's what I came up with....

Easy Salsa Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cans diced tomatoes
6-8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 serrano pepper, one half deseeded, entire pepper, chopped
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 limes, juice of
1 tsp baking soda, optional

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a food processor, and all the ingredients, excluding the salt and pepper.  Blend well, using the pulse button at least 8 times, or on high for 5-10 seconds.
2. Once the salsa is well blended, add salt to taste, I used almost 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt, but this is entirely a personal preference.  The same seasoning step goes for the pepper.  Once both are added, blend well in the processor, tasting as you go.  Once the seasoning is to your taste, you're done.
3. Serve immediately, and refrigerate the rest.

Makes approximately 4 cups of salsa.  Fresh tomatoes and their juice can be used when in season; this will eliminate any of the odd, aluminum taste that we get from the canned tomatoes, without the use of the soda.

When I was mixing all this salsa up, Sam realized we didn't have very many tortilla chips left.  I had bought a large bag of yellow corn tortillas, so Sam decided to bake them so we could have plenty for dinner.  

How to heat up lots of tortillas at a time:
At 375 degrees, I took the tortillas and in a single layer, I placed them each a half inch apart on a cookie sheet pan.  I baked them for 4 minutes.  They were still very moist but did not fall apart like they normally would if I tried to microwave them.  And I didn't have to stand at the stove, warming them up on our large cast iron skillet, although they are delicious that way.  
How to make chips out of corn tortillas:
Cut them into the shapes you want, and bake them for 7-10 minutes at 375 degrees, checking them at 7 minutes.  You're looking for a dry chip, with a light golden brown color.  Cool them before eating.

Tilapia, Brown Rice and Edemame Dinner, just another #glutenfree dinner at the Walker House!

Decided to follow a couple of recipes close to their originals tonight.  Can't say I listened to everything they posted, but the fish recipe ingredients I did.  The brown rice I HAD to fix. Here's what we had for dinner, another #glutenfree meal! BAM!

BTW, I used a frozen bag of tilapia filets, drying them off carefully before placing in the baking sheet.  Lots of folks, even chefs, forget to dry the fish filets before marinading, cooking, etc.  The sauce will not adhere to the protein the way it needs to to get maximum flavor.  And I'm all about big flavor. :)

Baked Tilapia with Coconut-Cilantro Sauce

Here's the Garam Masala  spice blend, needed for the tilapia.  You will have enough left to use again.  I used the ingredients as was called for, but instead of putting them in the oven, I just placed them in a non-stick pan on the stove top set on medium heat, shaking occasionally.  I took them off the heat once I was able to smell them without sticking my nose straight to the pan.  I allowed them to cool for a couple of minutes, then placed them in my husband's coffee grinder, and pulsed til they were powder.  Yes, I did clean the grinder. He wouldn't be too happy if it smelled like Indian spices in the morning.  To clean the coffee grinder, I just used the heel from our loaf bread and ground it down.  This will get rid of most of the powder, then I just took a damp paper towel to wipe off the rest.  His grinder looks almost new!

Chile-Garlic Edemame as another side dish.  This is for the edemame still in their pods, but you could use the same method to coat them without the pods.

The brown rice, I made "on the fly", as we say in the restaurant kitchen.  It means to make a dish without any recipe, just an idea of what might go with the main dish.  The tilapia recipe had both Asian and Indian inspired ingredients, especially the Garam Masala spice blend.  So I recalled some flavor profiles, and created this dish.  I like to read a lot, so even before I went to culinary school, I could tell you lots of different flavors which went together, thanks to #JuliaChild, #FoodNetwork, #BonAppetit, Galloping Gourmet, and various cookbooks.  If you wanna learn and can only afford one book, I would suggest The Flavor Bible.  It helped me so much, and my culinary school issued these to all the students when we first began classes.  So study up! You'll be improvising in no time.

Indian Brown Rice Pilaf
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut, shredded
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup brown rice
1 Tbsp golden raisins
1 1/2 cups water
2 fresh cilantro stems only, no leaves

1 tsp Kosher salt

2 Tbsp Cilantro, chopped

Directions:
1. Pour olive oil in a medium sauce pot, which is on medium heat.
2. Once oil is glistening, add onion and cook for 3 minutes.  Then add garlic ginger, and coconut.  Continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes.
3. Add remaining oil, brown rice, and raisins.  Cook and stir for 3 more minutes, allowing the rice to becoming warm.
4. Once the mixture has had a chance to incorporate, add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, turning up temperature to Medium-High if needed.
5. Lower the temperature to Medium-Low, cover, and allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes.  You will know when it is done when all the water has evaporated, and the rice is al dente, or slightly resistant to the bite.
6. Serve with a garnish of cilantro leaves.

Stuffed Boneless Leg of Lamb with Smashed Roasted Fingerling Potatoes & Parsnips

I first made this recipe the Easter before Sam enlisted into the Navy.  I've wanted to make it again forever.  I just happen to notice that Sprouts had boneless leg of lamb cuts on sale, and I decided right then and there that I would have to make it again.  There are so many things that could be part of the stuffing ingredients.  I think the key is to include items that will that will add loads of flavor to the lamb.  This particular recipe is Mediterranean inspired.  I thought afterward of various greens I could have included as well: Of course the trend of the moment, Kale, but I love Swiss Chard more, since it's a milder green. Artichokes, tender asparagus, eggplant, roasted red bell pepper, kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.  You can always make your own version of this stuffing.  Just make sure you're tasting as you go.  Also, the panko bread crumbs can be replaced with lentils, quinoa, barley, brown rice, farro, etc.  It just depends on whether you're eating gluten free or not.  Have fun!  I hope you like this as much as my family. 

Stuffed Leg of Lamb with Smashed Roasted Fingerlings and Turnips, with a simple Pan Gravy

Stuffing Ingredients:

2 oz smoked bacon, cut into lardons (1/4 inch wide, by 2 inch long strips)

2 oz olive oil

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1/4 cop red & yellow bell peppers, chopped (can use any color(s) combination, just not green)

1 1/4 Tbsp garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

large pinch pepper

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

small pinch of cayenne, or ground red pepper 

1 bag baby spinach, chopped

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 cup dried breadcrumbs

1/4 cup feta cheese (or substitute with Parmesan, Romano, or Pecorino)

Lamb Ingredients:
2 1/2 lb boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of silverskin only

salt & pepper

olive oil to drizzle pan, and lamb
Gravy/Pan Sauce Ingredients:
2-3 Tbsp Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour (or regular All-Purpose Flour)
3-5 cups Beef Stock (can substitute with Vegetable or Chicken stock as well)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Garnish, optional: 
Either lemon zest or chopped parsley

Directions:

1. In a large skillet (I used our cast iron skillet), oh medium heat, cook the bacon until it the fat has rendered, about 4 minutes.  Add onions, continuing to cook and stir occasionally, for 3 minutes.  Then add the chopped peppers cooking another 2-3 minutes.  Sprinkle on the garlic and seasonings.  Allow to cook another minute, stirring occasionally.  Now add the spinach and zest, and toss to coat.  The leaves will instantly begin to wilt.  Using a pair of tongs, flip the spinach around, so the un-cooked leaves will be able to get heat, and the wilted sides can get off the heat.

 BEFORE

AFTER

2. Once all the leaves have wilted, turn off the heat then add in the breadcrumbs and cheese.

3. Then pour on the lemon zest, and allow to cool off before handling stuffing.
4. In the meantime, it's on to prepare the lamb. Oh, and preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  That might help :)

This is how the lamb looks when you get it from Sprouts Market.  Some butchers will wrap it with twine, but they'll use something to bind it all together.  If I had some, I would've used some caulfat, none in the fridge though.  The green spot is the Done gauge, but they don't work, they only tell you once the meat is over temp, so throw it out, please.

I decided to reuse this mesh again, so I could recycle it.  If you have twine, and know how to truss this type of meat, go for it!
Here's how I prepped the meat:

 This first photo, I just began the first of many diagonal cuts, just trying to go through the thick fat layer.  If you're watching your saturated fats, this can be trimmed off, and replaced with a generous rubbing of olive oil.

 Here, my daughter just wanted to take a picture without my terrible nail polish job, lol!

 Here you can see I did diagonal cuts all the way down the fat, and I did do very thing slices into the silverskin, or shiny fat, farthest away from the photo.

Again, we start at one end, cutting periodically with the previous cuts.  I'm afraid I did get a bit too enthusiastic, but it just allowed the melted fat to penetrate the meat.

Here, I made the last cut.  CAUTION! Don't do what I did and lay your tips so close to where you are cutting.  I usually have a claw hand, holding onto my "victim" ;)  Now, back to the instructions......
5. Take the cooled stuffing, place it in large mounts on the inside of the lamb (opposite side of the fat).  Make sure you leave at least a 1/2 inch border around the edges of the meat.

6. Roll the meat over the stuffing, jelly-roll style, and tuck in the ends (as much as possible anyway).

Don't worry, the other side looks like it exploded. c:

7. Take the trussing, or mesh which came with the lamb, do you best to wrap it back up.  I did mine like you would a pair of pantyhose, well just one leg of them anyways.

8. Drizzle the olive oil inside a heavy baking casserole, or roasting pan.  Place the roll inside.  Then, drizzle with the remaining oil.  Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

9. Roast the meat for a minimum of 40 minutes.  Using a instant read thermometer, push it into the center of the lamb, touching the stuffing, to get an accurate reading.  It will need to read 135 degrees to be cooked to medium-rare; it will continue to cook while it's resting.  Place on a cutting board and allow to rest while you focus on making the gravy/pan sauce.  Make sure you remove all pieces of the stuffing that might have fell out of the lamb.

10. Place the pan on a stove top burner and turn on to medium.  Using the flour, we're going to make a rue.  Whisk it around, picking up as many bits and pieces off the bottom of the pan as you go.  The flour flavor has to be cooked out of the flour before we can move to the next step.  This should take 1-2 minutes.
11. Slowly begin to pour in stock, at first only pouring in a 1/4 cup at a time, stirring to completely incorporate before adding more stock.  Continue to do this until all the stock is added.  Then raise temperature to Medium High, and stir constantly til it just begins to bubble.  then lower temperature to Medium-Low.  Your gravy will be done once the gravy will stay on the back of a spoon.  My gravy had enough seasoning, but make sure you taste yours before taking it off the heat.
12. I made smashed roasted fingerling potatoes and parsnips to accompany this dish.  You can make anything you'd like, including couscous, brown rice pilaf, or even garlic mashed potatoes.  To make the potatoes and parsnips, I just cleaned and dried the potatoes, cut the parsnips into 2 inch strips, tossed in olive oil, minced garlic, lemon zest, dried crushed rosemary, and salt and pepper.  Then they were roasted at the same time as the lamb, at the same temp in a medium roasting pan.  They took about 30 minutes.  You can tell when they're done by piercing with a fork.  They're done when the fork pierced very easily, and they should be a nice light golden brown.  After I removed them from the heat, I  used a potato masher to mash them right inside the roasting pan.  After they were mashed, I sprinkled some fresh lemon juice all over and served with some pan gravy along the top.
13. The lamb can be sliced with either a serrated or long carving knife.  Serving size is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.  Don't forget to take off the mesh wrapping before you carve! ;)  Once both the meat and any side dish is on the plate, drizzle the gravy across them.  If you would like, you can garnish with either lemon zest or chopped parsley.
14. Enjoy!

Chicago-Style Pizza Cooking Demo, done in October 2011

I thought this would help show our skills :) We were very blessed to Lauren & Clint from Candlelight Films film us . Thanks y'all! I feel I should point out, this is NOT gluten free, nor is it a part of a healthy diet. However, if can share this pizza pie with several others, have a hearty salad along with it, then it's not so bad ;) and it's very tasty! love Sam's pizza dough too. I'll try to round up the actual recipe, and edit this post soon to show the recipe. Hugs y'all!

Carnitas Tamale Pie Night

Well, we've had some Carnitas (or Spanish for pulled pork) in the fridge for a few days, and I wanted to make something fast, or at least easy prep, so I thought why not make a casserole-ish dish?
What did I come up with, a lighter version of tamales, better known as a tamale pie! YUM
I looked up some recipes, found one that helped me figure out my main steps, and decided on a Verde (green) sauce would work well with my pulled pork.  Luckily I have tons of Mexican ingredients in my fridge, including Anaheim chiles which are so tasty.  Here's the recipe:

Carnitas Verde Tamale Pie

Ingredients:

Casserole Topping:
1 cup masa harina
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground Cayenne pepper
1 cup boiling water
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp baking powder


Casserole base:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Anaheim or Poblano chile pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 cans Salsa Verde, 7-8oz each
1 lb leftover carnitas, or pulled pork (also can substitute with any lean ground meat)
1 can white beans, drained; such as Navy or Cannellini
1 Tbsp ground Cumin
1/4 tsp Chili powder
1/4 tsp dried Oregano
salt to taste

Garnish:
3oz Queso Fresco (can use Monterey Jack, or Mozzerella if needed)
2 Tsbp fresh Cilantro, chopped
lime wedges

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine the masa harina, salt, and cayenne, stirring well with a whisk.  Add water to mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.  Cover until ready to use.
3. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.  *If you don't have a cast iron skillet, you can use any large, nonstick skillet as long as it can take the heat of a 400 degree oven.  Add oil to pan, and allow it to heat up before adding vegetables.  This should take just about 30 seconds.  Add onion, and allow to cook for two minutes.  Add garlic, chile pepper, and mushrooms, cooking for an additional two minutes. Once this is done, you can add the rest of the ingredients for casserole base.  Cook until sauce is gently bubbling. This will take about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat.
4. Add melted butter and baking powder to masa mixture/base, stirring until smooth.  Press the masa mixture in palm of hands, then lay each piece on top of the casserole base.  Spread out into an even layer.  If there are small spaces with the masa mixture, it is okay.
5. Cover pan with foil, and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned around edges.
6. Remove from heat, and allow to set for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with crumbled queso fresco and cilantro; serving with lime wedges.

Been eating off the Spaghetti Squash for a couple of days now, since the husband's been working nights, and our daughter's been working in Mesquite since Wednesday.  I'll blog tomorrow about my next recipe which will involve some leftovers.  Just wait til you see what I can do with a little bit of masa and pulled pork. :)

Hi ya'll!
I've been contemplating starting a blog ForEvER! It seems like it anyway.  Plus, loads of folks have asked me to begin one on cooking, nutrition, etc.  It's just time, right?  So here's a bit about me...
I'm 42 y/o, on extended LOA (leave of absence) from culinary school, or Le Cordon Bleu, Dallas, due to huge amounts of pain, misterious undiagnosed pain, lol, and several other (boring to me) issues stemming from my chronic condition, fibromyalgia, and my autio-immune disorder, lupus.  Yep, I've got both.  For a long time, I was told you couldn't have both, but tongues out to them doctors, patients can have both.  I'm not going to go on about it, I definitely don't want pity, just giving the basics as to why I've got the time to blog if I'm a chef.  I have to say, being a chef is such grueling yet fascinating work. And here in 2014, we can finally get a glimpse of what it's like, sort of, to work in the professional kitchen, thanks to food television.  Just don't get me started on why Hell's Kitchen should be banned, lol.  It's NOT okay to abuse your staff, even though many a chef will understand why a lot do yell during service, and even get down right mean.  It's their heads on a spike if the kitchen doesn't produce gorgeous plates, with mouth-wateringly deliciousness.
Okay, so as far as school goes, I've completed like 99% of my classes, which has been infuriating, since I'm such a stickler for finishing what you start, and I'm so conscience especially since I have medical barriers which tend to rear their ugly heads when I've made a goal for myself.
Also, another tidbit, I've worked in the service/restaurant industry since I was 17 y/o.  Back when you could fake your age, yep, I lied about my age and when I lived in Atlanta, GA, I told an HR employee that I "forgot" my ID, but showed my SScard.  I still feel bad about it.  I was hired as a day hostess at this fine dining restaurant and jazz lounge.  Eventually, they gave me management duties, but never officially gave me the title of assistant day manager, since I was so young.  Good excuse not to raise my pay, right? Anwyays, after about 4 months, I moved back to Denton, TX with my H.S. sweetheart.  And on my 18th bday, went in for an interview for a waitress position.  The mgr was so impressed with my desire to come in on my bday that he hired me on the spot.  I still miss those fun, low-responsibility days where all I had to worry about was saving enough $ to pay my rent (all utiliites paid) and have money for food & gas.  Even though I immediately started living with my HS sweetheart, I still had a blast at Chili's.  Yep, that was my first foodservice position.  I moved on to work all over the Dallas area, being anything from a hostess (when needed), cocktail waitress, banquet server, to FOH trainer.  When my daughter was 3, and I was 27, I worked at a well-known steakhouse, as a trainer, bound for management.  There was a mgr who did NOT know his boundaries, and decided to slap me (as a joke, right), twice.  I did what you're supposed to do, call the police, and immediately notify the other mgr on duty.  However, I did not understand to keep my mouth shut around the rest of staff, being way too naive to realize the ramifications of gossip.  So, I eventually was squeezed out of that job altogether.  I did go through a depression, and since I was a single mom, yep, I had to temporarily lean on ppl I did not really feel I wanted to be pals with.  They weren't mean folks, just knew they didn't care about me unconditionally.  Today, I look back on that time and realize God was screaming for me to listen and come to him.  But I got in my own way.  I can even remember my bfriend's mom taking us to church on a couple of occasions, and me even getting into the worship & sermon.  Oh well, I just thought, hey, I'm already a Christian since I was raised in the church.  Nope, wrong.  All is well, though. I now know I was loved even back then.
Another interesting story: When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was told I was a complicated pregnancy due to my lupus, and blood clotting disorder stemming from my lupus (called autphosphilipid syndrome).  My fiance and I thought moving to live with his dad and stepmother in Florida would be better than living in Dallas, without help from his family. FYI: His mom wouldn't believe Darion was his child, so she refused to be of any assistance during the pregnancy, and none of my family lived nearby, nor had any time or space for us.  So off to Ft Myers we went.  On Valentine's Day, 1995, I rebelliously ate a 1/2 dozen oysters on the half shell, and yes, I KNEW some of them weren't at the correct temperature, as I was eating them.  SMH!  So, within the following next 24 hrs, I spent without food or drink, even sips of water caused horrindous responses.  I eventually ended up at the ER, and was placed in the Triage unit for overnight observation.  What happened next was TERRIFYING!!! no joke...I woke up around 11pm with my hand throbbing.  I mentioned it to the nurse, who noticed the IV had infiltrated (google it peeps).  Unlucky for me, one, the IV was mostly potassium chloride, which is ToXic to the tissues, and secondly, the on-call dr was a bit of a lazy butt and would only order a wet, warm compress which did NOTHING! for me.  Overnight, my hand swelled up, at 1am they cut off my engagement ring (don't worry, it wasn't expensive).  At 8am, when the dr's did their rounds, they immediately decided I needed emergency surgery.  By that time, the swelling had pasted my elbow, and the fluid had began to burn through to the top layer of my skin just by my wrist.  OH! and this was all happening to my left hand/arm which is a big, HUGE deal to me, since I'm extremely left-handed.  I was freaking out on the inside, but still very exhuasted and still in pain from the food posioning.  By 1pm that day, Saturday, I was getting plastic surgery where they cut both sides of my lower arm and hand, trying to leave the top side of my wrist intact (this would help me to have movement quicker than if they cut it open).  The doctor did NOT sew my wounds back up, only the bottom side of my hand (to the wrist).  They had to leave the wounds open to debreed (yeah, google that one too, be forewarned it's pretty gross). By the next day, I was transferred to another hospital, an long-term care/wound care center where there were no other pregnant women, only very mature ppl who's wounds wouldn't heal correctly.  I was in terrible pain.  The drs decided I needed more intensive treatments, and asked me to agree to hyperbaric oxegyn therapy; I was the first pregnant lady to undergo this treatment, ever.  After I signed the releases, lol, I successfully completed five without incident.  However, on the fifth day, a Saturday, I had a grand mal seizure while on the toilet, yep very embarrassing. The nurses told my fiance that it was only my passing out, yah right, thanks for the concern, and put me back in bed, where my fiance attempted to fight with me and force feed me waffles and coffee.  Not an ideal diet for a person with hypoglocemia since she was 14, and esp not for a pregnant person (food options were not his fault, just what was offered).  Come to find out, I had bit my tongue, but was unable to communicate this to him or the nurse on staff, since my brain wasn't functioning correctly, and I was wiped out from the episode.  Later, my obgyn from the other hospital visited me when I was on my way for my sixth chamber treatment.  Lucky for me!  I ended up having another grand mal seizure in his prescence while I was inside the chamber.  Now, in case you haven't googled this yet (how dare you, j/k), it takes time to come off the full oxegyn pumped into the chamber, just like it is for scuba divers.  So, I was having this seizure, and they couldn't do anything but try to get my attention.  They were so sweet to me, but I eventually went totally out, and didn't regain full consciousness until I was on a gurney flying down the hall.  My fiance was talking to me, freaking out, asking me if I could hear him.  My brain had forgotten any recent events, including him, my baby, the city we were in, etc.  I totally looked at him, and was like, who are you? but couldn't say it.  I began ripping off all the gauge from my left arm, which of course started bleeding everywhere.  It was dificcult for the staff to get ahold of me since my left arm was an open wound, without hurting me more than I already was.  Anyways, I finally calmed down, and did remember who he was, etc.  Once I was transferred back to the original hospital, my OBGYN was able to do some tests, including an ultrasound of my womb, he found a blood clot in the placenta as well.  During the night, it grew.  I was told that it was a very big possibility that it would kill me if left alone, and would def kill my unborn child.  So I had to decide to have an emergency c-section, and Darion was born!  She was only 1-lb 9.25oz, and only 12 inches long. She was a tiny little thing, being born 3 months preemie.  I couldn't hold her though for over a week.  The only major medical issue she had was she was Jaundice the first three days, and she couldn't breath very well the first couple of days.  Other than that, we just had to tube feed her most of the time she was in the hospital, and get her to gain as much weight as possible.  We couldn't take her home til just one week shy of her due day, May 24th (released 5/17).
As for me though, I had it pretty rough for a while.  After the c-section, I stayed in the hospital for another week, trying to connect the dots in my head, and not having much luck.  I slept a lot.  It took forever for me to realize I had this huge chunk bitten off my tongue and gum.  But that wasn't the worst of it: The worst was my arm was still not healing and the nurses & I had to keep debreeding my wound.  They put my arm in a sort of compression sock, and hooked it onto an IV pole so I didn't have to lay it down on anything.  Seriously, it was a purely open wound, here's TMI: It was open down to the muscle!!!!  And the staff had to purposely allow gauge to stick to all the flesh then, RIP it off.  This was an attempt to remove/pull off any dead flesh which wouldn't come off on its own.  It was like having scabs but inside your arm/hand. Eventually, my plastic surgeon had to cut the topside of my wrist to allow us to get to some hidden areas which needed debreeding.  This was the site where the liquid had burned its way up to my epedermis.  Once they released me, I had a home nurse visit me twice a day for three months.  During the last month, I was able to do some of the debreeding on my own.  I just felt it was easier for me to be able to anticipate the pain.  By this time, the wounds had mostly healed on their own, with just one small gash having some black, dead flesh (sorry, I'm immune to this type of talk.  I can hear my mom telling me it sounds gross).
I continued to have seizures and lost time on a daily basis for the first two months after my grand mal seizures cause my body was not absorbing the dilantin I was taking for them.  Eventually we did get it under control, just in time for Darion to come home.  Unfortunately though, my fiance & I did not fair well.  We were both pretty young.  I was able to handle this better since I already dealt with having lupus, and took these events with an optomistic attitude.  For him, he was in shock for months.  We fought every day, not knowing really how to move forward.  We wanted to make a home for Darion, but we were still living with his dad.  He ended up working lots of hours, and I ended up staying home all the time, with only one thing to do when I could make it-visit Darion, and love her, touch her, learn how to care for her (the hospital had classes for parents with a preemie baby), and eventually got to feed & HOLD her.  It was scary though, knowing she needed such gentle, constant care once we got to bring her home.  He & I looked at places to rent, bought the furniture, etc we needed, but never moved out of his dad's house.  At some point, I think he gave up, and knew he just couldn't handle being a father.  I agreed, but felt he deserved to be around her.  It just didn't work out.  I don't wanna say anything bad about the guy, it's not like he & I were married, and had the time to build a loving relationship.  However, it's unfortunate for Darion.  I tried to keep in contact with him, etc, but he just wanted to hide behind what his mom always said, which was who knows who's child she was.  I still can't believe that he's STILL using that as an excuse though.  It's ridiculous since I hadn't been promiscuous at all before I met him.  And, I was going through my divorce, so I wasn't seeking out one night stands (never really did).  Hmph, just wish it had been different for D.  She's the BEST daughter, ever!

I'm gonna stop for now, I've been working on this post for three days.  I haven't even really discussed my love for food, nutrition, etc.  Or how I'm doing physically, etc.  Not that that is what this blog will be all about.  Just want to give my back stories. Can't tell just one. lol

Spaghetti Squash with Marinara on the Food Network

Spaghetti Squash with Marinara on the Food Network

I used the squash portion of the recipe to make an early dinner for the family.  The variation I made was to make a quick bolognese, or meat sauce instead of using marinara sauce, but either is delicious.
Here's my meat sauce, in case you wanna try it, btw, my mom taught me this, and I've been doing it the same ever since.  I do know the "correct", or Italian version, but it's a bit more tedious if I must say ;)

Ingredients:
1-lb lean ground beef, or ground turkey
1 jar or can of favorite spaghetti sauce
1 Tbsp red wine, sherry, or balsamic vinegar
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp light olive oil, depending on your style of saute pan
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, or your favorite addition to your sauce, such as oregano, basil, thyme, etc
Salt & Pepper to taste
Shredded parmesan, if desired

Instructions:
1. Using a large saute pan, at least 12 inches, heat it on medium, drizzling your oil around the pan.
Place onion in pan, and stir occasionally for 2 minutes, then add garlic and mushrooms.  Continue to saute, stirring occasionally for 2 more minutes.
2. Pushing vegetables to the edges of the pan, place ground meat in the middle of pan, breaking it up as you go.
Try not to crowd the pan, or your meat will steam instead of brown.  Browning the meat will give it more depth of flavor.  If the meat ends of steamed, it's not the end of the world, just continue with recipe.  Continue to stir occasionally for several minutes.
3. Once your ground meat is thoroughly cooked, pour in vinegar and stir around to get any bits off bottom of pan. Then, pour in your sauce of choice, and the rest of seasonings.    Allow sauce to come to a low simmer, stirring occasionally.
4. Lower temperature to low for at least two minutes.  This will allow all the seasonings to come together.
5. Mix in with squash, and serve.  Top with parmesan if desired.
ENJOY!