Monday, January 26, 2009

When your bread dough feels "dead"

Our house has been sadly lacking in homemade bread for the last few weeks - everyone was just too busy dealing with the snow and cold. But today, Carl got out the flour and the bowls and got busy.

The bread had been rising for a while when he decided he needed to get out to the shop, so he asked me to finish it.

It seemed like it was taking too long to rise, which was odd. And then when I turned it out onto the rolling board, it acted like it was dead. I was wondering if the yeast had been old, but decided to just keep working it and see what happened.

At first it felt stiff and didn't even want to blend together - but as I kept kneading, it got softer and more pliable. It took about 10 minutes, but suddenly it came back to life and began acting like bread dough is supposed to act.

I remember an old logger giving me advice way back when I was a newlywed learning how to bake bread. He said "Knead it until when you punch it, it punches back."

I'm not sure today's bread actually punched back, but it did bounce back when I punched it!

The end result: Darned good bread!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Better taste, better nutrition: steam the broccoli

Do you like broccoli? Unlike George Bush Sr., I love it - but only when it's cooked correctly.

That means getting it off the stove while it's still just a bit crisp. Let it cook too long and it turns into yellow mush. Well today I learned a second reason for cooking it my favorite way - in the steamer - where you can watch it and turn it off before it gets mushy.

Broccoli contains contains glucosinolates, which are anti-cancer compounds. And as much as 90 percent of that glucosinolate content leaks out into the water when it's boiled. So if you boil it, you pour the good stuff down the kitchen drain.

I would say that means it IS fine to cook it in the broth with your stew - as long as you plan on thickening and eating that broth along with the meat and veggies! Just remember that broccoli cooks a lot faster than potatoes and carrots, so add it to the stew about 20-30 minutes before you're ready to eat.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Not all recipies are worth trying

This morning my husband handed me a magazine article about "The Best chili I ever ate." What was so different about it was that it was made with a cornbread topping.

Since I already had a pot of chili cooking for tonight, I said I'd put it in the oven and try the cornbread topping. What a mistake!

The cornbread recipe called for a can of creamed corn, which didn't appeal to me much in the first place, but I did it. As it cooked it appeared that maybe this would be cornbread dumplings on chili, but no, it wasn't.

It was corn mush on chili, and not very tasty. Instead of staying on top, the cornmeal batter slithered down into the chili, wrecking the whole darned thing!

All I can say is the green salad and the bowl of fruit tasted pretty good.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Save money - eat healthier - Cook it yourself!

All of the recipes you'll find here and at www.carlcooks.com are made from healthy ingredients rather than processed food - that's because we don't want to fill our bodies with chemicals from food any more than from prescription drugs.

But if that isn't enough, how about cooking to save money? Some things take so little time to do that buying the expensive packaged variety is just silly. For instance, salad.

Not only do you run the risk of buying contaminated lettuce - remember the scare last year - you pay dearly for that little bit of convenience. Not only that, bagged lettuce wouldn't last for weeks in that case if they weren't treated with something - do you REALLY want to eat preservatives?

A little bag of already cut up lettuce costs $3 or more - while a head of lettuce runs about a dollar. And you can choose the extra stuff you want to put in it - carrots, celery, a bit of spinach, a little onion. Most of those things will last in your refrigerator for quite a while, but if you don't think you can use it all before it goes to waste, split your salad fixin's with a friend.

Now consider a can of soup as opposed to the homemade variety. 12 oz. of Progresso chicken soup costs in the range of $2.50 - $3.00. You can make it yourself with one potato (can be cooked, leftover), one carrot, 1/2 cup of frozen peas, a couple of boullion cubes (or chicken broth) 1/2 cup of pasta shapes or noodles, 1/2 cup of cubed chicken (leftover), and enough water to make 2-3 cups of soup.

(Add the pasta after everything else is almost cooked - otherwise it will turn to mush. If you're using cooked potatoes, put them in toward the end as well.)

I prefer making enough for 6-8 cups of soup, because I'm lazy. I want extra to put away for tomorrow or the next day.

Since at least part of that list can come from leftovers that would otherwise sit in the refrigerator until they turned into a green science project, the cost is minimal - and the soup tastes better. You also get the benefit of controlling the sodium level - add enough to please your taste buds. Use Sea Salt if you have it.

Some of the things I see for sale shock me - Like the potatoes in a plastic bag that are already peeled and cut up - so you can microwave them and then mash them. Why pay 3 or 4 times extra just so you don't have to peel a potato? You still have to mash them yourself!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Beef & Rice Stuffed Green Peppers

My retired carpenter is falling down on the job lately, and leaving the cooking duties to me again. I guess he thinks that plowing and shoveling snow all day gives him a pass.

Maybe it does. I'd rather hang out in a warm kitchen than in the cold snow.

So, because I get bored cooking the same things over and over, I've been searching for old recipes that I used to like. I found this stuffed green pepper recipe in my Mom's old cookbook. It's a good way to use up that little bit of leftover ground beef - and you can add it cooked if you happen to have a leftover burger patty in the fridge. Just crumble it.

This is kind of like having old friends come to visit...

6 green peppers
1/3 cup rice
3 cups canned tomatoes
2 cups water
1 t. salt
2 eggs
1/4 t. onion salt (or 2 Tablespoons minced onion)
1/2 cup crumbs
1/4 - 1/2 lb. ground beef

Wash the rice. Bring the tomatoes and water to a boil and add the rice and salt. Cook until the rice is tender, stirring frequently. Add the eggs, onion salt, bread crumbs, and ground beef.

Wash the green peppers and remove the seeds. Then fill with the rice and beef mixture. Put these in a dutch oven or baking pan with sides, cover, and cook at 350 degrees until the peppers are tender.