Dumplings Alfredo, or, My Second Fail this Week

I wanted to try handmade pasta.  I've never done it before.  Jonas had been sick all week, and so I planned to make his favorite, fettuccine alfredo.  I've been curious about homemade pasta for awhile, so I thought I would give it a go.

Um, not so much.

I made them the same size as the dried noodles in the box.  Just a guess.  Who knew they would quadruple in thickness when cooked???

They really looked, and tasted, like dumplings.

Gross dumplings, not good ones.

I also could have titled this post "The Night We Ate Dinner Twice."

We ended up at KFC.  I am not kidding.

The other fail this week was the first time ever that Pioneer Woman has let me down.  Baked Lemon Pasta was barely edible.  The sauce was clumpy (in a curdled sort of way) and bland.  I had made the quick unbaked version she mentions at the beginning of the post before, and it was good.  That version is a keeper.  The baked one with sour cream....not a winner.  How can pasta and sour cream and butter and lemon go so wrong???

You can thank me for not photographing it.

Pasta in a cream sauce, gone wrong twice in one week?  That's gotta be some kind of a record.

Chicken Pot Pie

Who doesn't like chicken pot pie?

This is a fun recipe because you get to do a little of everything: mixing biscuits, sauteing, and baking. And then it finishes in the oven, so I can clean up all of the other pots and pans while the pie bakes, and sit down to dinner with the kitchen already clean. It can be made ahead and baked at the last minute.

This is from The Best Recipe.

Ingredients:

1 recipe biscuit topping, to follow
1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts and/or thighs
2 c chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 1/2 T oil
1 onion, chopped fine
3 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
salt & pepper
4T butter
1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 T dry sherry
3/4 frozen green peas, thawed

first, make biscuit topping:

1c all-purpose flour
1c cake flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1 t sugar
1/2 t salt
8 T butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
3/4 c buttermilk

1. Pulse first 6 ingredients in food processor. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with pea-sized lumps. (Note: this is the only time I ever use bleached flour. Lots of southern cooks swear by White Lily flour for biscuits, so here we go. I think they are a little lighter and fluffier.)

2. Transfer to medium bowl, add buttermilk, stir until dough gathers into moist clumps. Transfer to floured surface, roll to 1/2" thick. Punch out 2 1/2-3" rounds. (You should get 7 or 8, maybe some extra small ones from scraps). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Back to the filling:

1. Heat oven to 400. Simmer chicken in broth until done. Set meat aside and save broth. (I started with leftover chicken and skipped this step. I wasn't sure how much 1 1/2 pounds was; I used this amount and it was maybe a bit too much:

3. Increase heat to medium high, heat oil in now-empty pan. Add onions, carrots, and celery; saute until just tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper. While vegetables cook, shred chicken. Transfer vegetables to bowl with chicken.

4. Heat butter over medium heat in again-empty pan. When foaming subsides, add flour; cook 1 minute. Whisk in broth, milk, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and simmer until thickened, 1 minute. Season to taste with salt & pepper; stir in sherry.

5. Add chicken & vegetables back to sauce, stir to combine. Stir in peas and adjust seasoning.

6. Make ahead option: At this point you may choose to cover and refrigerate overnight. The biscuit dough shouldn't be made that far ahead though. Reheat the filling before topping with the pastry.

7. Pour mixture into 9x13 pan, top with biscuits, bake until biscuits are golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Oh, by the way, if you don't have a dough scraper, I highly recommend one. It makes cleaning up a mess like this quick and easy. Pie crust, biscuits, that sort of thing are much less intimidating if the cleanup is simple.

best oatmeal ever...

sunday mornings are oatmeal mornings. mainly because sunday is bread baking day, and i use leftover oatmeal in my bread.

we eat lots of oatmeal around here, but our sunday morning oatmeal is my favorite. it is really hardy and delicious! here's what we do:

• soak whole oats and nuts overnight (in different bowls) to neutralize the phytic acid (the bad stuff in grain that won't let you digest it properly or absorb minerals)
• in the morning, rinse and drain the oats and nuts
• put on the stove top with a little water (about half way up the pan) and set to boil, when it starts boiling turn all the way down and cover
• while all that is going on start on the topping- place nuts (i usually use whole raw walnuts or pecans that i chop up) in skillet with some butter (or coconut oil) on a medium heat
• add a touch of maple syrup and some black strap molasses
• add chopped up apple or pear and a touch of cinnamon
• let topping get all caramelized and delicious
• serve up oatmeal in a bowl, add hot topping as well as some raisins and maybe a little splash of maple syrup
• add one tablespoon of raw, virgin coconut oil

all those steps make me think that this is a harder process than it actually is. don't get caught up by the steps! this is actually a pretty quick breakfast!

and did i mention that it is sooooooooo-per delicious?

just ask buddy!

Quick and Dirty

I am happy to have this new blog and happy to meet some new mamas. I love knowing how others do this food thing at home. The farmers are interesting to me too. To get down to it and join in, here is my blog for more about me and my family.

First on the subject of food, I want to share a tip if you don't already do this. With little ones and only one pair of mama hands, I use a meal tray for our meals. I just started this practice anticipating leisurely tea times with my new tray (screech on the record player sound) Back to reality..I use it practically. Especially for breakfasts and lunches during the week. I load up our tray with our food in the kitchen on plates, napkins, flatware, drink glasses and water carafe for the table and vitamins or any condiments, sauces, whatever. The whole tray goes to the table, the kids help set the table from it and then when we are finished, reload and I haul it back to the kitchen. So have fun with that if you like it. By the way, I picked up this tray at Target for 20$ and it is made of bamboo..I love it and worth it for sure.

Those bottles (exception, the honey bear) are my dead kombucha tea and my dead kefir grains! Yes, the kombucha is no longer fizzy and the kefir got left for over seven days...so this is reality..I will restart the fermenting process again soon...I hope.

Okay, now for the food: Quick Green Eggies (common, easy meal in my house adapted from Cathe Olsen, The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook, buy on her site: http://www.simplynaturalbooks.com/

Get out a medium iron skillet, set on medium heat on stove, warm up with olive oil or butter and then gather ingredients:

• Five eggs in bowl, beaten (or, if short on eggs, use three and add a bit of water ;-)



• Fairly well chopped couple of handfuls of spinach, kale, chard, bok choy



• Dash of tamari



• Scant tsp. of curry powder



• Clove of garlic minced or through a garlic press as I do OR, use garlic powder ( I keep a foil bag from Froniter in my freezer for real quick cooking)

Put it together:

1. Mix up with whisk or fork all ingredients except the greens.



2. When butter melted in skillet, put greens in, let sizzle and spread out to an even layer with spatula



3. When greens look to your liking, a little softened, pour egg mixture in, push around until to your desired cooked level for eggs. Top with grated cheddar cheese (optional)



4. Plate up with a side of plain yogurt and applesauce in a small bowl OR, fresh diced fruits and hot chamomile tea with honey and cream. In the photo, I also added bacon, carrot bran muffins and cranberry orange muffins (Veg. Mother's Cookbook) that I prebake and freeze but that is another post. ;-)

Enjoy! If you find that you want to adjust the seasonings on this..you can!! Add more, leave stuff out....just get some green veggies in your little people right??? Let me know if you try this one or already do it. (hey, posting this took me 20 minutes..I think I can do this!!) -Traci

P.S. -made this a day or so ago and took a photo..I stack the plates but you can always have more than one tray. It would still save trips back and forth to the kitchen while you are wanting to keep their attention for morning bible study/homeschool. You know how they scatter if you are not prepared??....oy!

short cuts to whole foods

cooking with whole foods doesn't always have to be a time consuming process. i wanted to share our lunch today to show that simple short cuts can save lots of time in front of the stove!
moonpie found snow peas at the grocery store this week and REALLY wanted them. how can you say no to that? i had thought to stir-fry them with some other veggies, but i found that i wasn't really in the mood for that much food prep. so we improvised.

first i started the rice around 11. the basic measurement i use for that is 1 cup short grain brown rice to 2 1/4 cups water. it takes about 45 minutes to cook (once it starts boiling turn the heat down and cover).

around 11:45 we headed to the kitchen to finish up lunch prep. by this point the rice was turned way low and all of the water was absorbed, so i threw the fresh snow peas on top and put the lid back on. i do this all the time! it is a quick way to steam some veggies without having to mess up another pan! i love this method. i do it with noodles and broccoli too.

while that was steaming, moonpie set to work peeling and cutting carrots into sticks. you could save even more time by buying the little carrots, but i always just buy the big 5 pound bag for juicing and snacking. works out to be cheaper for me.



buddy and i worked on the tahini peanut sauce for dipping the carrots and snow peas in:

3 T tahini
1 T peanut butter
1 t maple syrup
1 T brown rice vinegar
1/2 t coriander

mix with fork. (adapted from cynthia lair's 'feeding the whole family: cooking with whole foods')

when we were done with the sauce, i turned off the stove and plated the snow peas. then i added turmeric and kelp to the rice, plated that, and the raw carrots. i gave each person their own dipping bowl of sauce.

that was it! it was super easy- took about 15 minutes of actual hands-on time (that includes searching for the rice vinegar!). the kids really loved this meal. man, they will eat anything with that sauce on it!

happy eating!

-mandi