15 posts tagged “cooking”
In addition to the 4 pigs and mushrooms Ken brought home this weekend he also brought home the prized possessions of the large pig. We had them for dinner this evening. Here they are after they were peeled (those little devils did NOT want to come out of their sacs) and soaked in beer for two hours (can you say "happy balls?"). Each one is about the size of my fist.
Here they are cooking.
And here they are ready to eat. I made hush puppies with the left over breading.
As we were sitting down to dinner Ken informed me that he had primarily brought them home as a joke, but was fully prepared to eat them if I cooked them. They were quite tasty and he plans on bringing more home.
I found some Anasazi beans at the grocery store a few weeks ago and thought I'd give them a try. Today I finally got around to cooking them.
I'll let you know tomorrow whether or not they also hold up on the promise of creating less gas!
What are your rituals or traditions for starting off a new year?
Black Eyed Peas.
5 strips bacon
1 onion, chopped
2 cans black eyed peas
1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilis
1 cup uncooked rice
1 cup waterCut bacon into 1/2" pieces and cook over high heat. When it's as done as you like it add onion and continue cooking until onion is tender. Add two cans of black eyed peas and the can of Rotel. Do not drain any of them. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 2 hours. Add 1 cup water and 1 cup uncooked rice. Continue to simmer until rice is tender; about 20 minutes. Eat.
Show us how you're spending the day after Thanksgiving.
Working--
And making a pot of turkey soup* (I got to bring home the dead carcass!)--
Here's the last of my pies. The ones I presented yesterday are the standards that I bake every year. In addition to those I make one whose variety varies from year to year. I call this one my "wild card." Sometimes I decide what it will be, but most years I let someone else do the choosing. This year's choice is for my nephew's wife.
I'm afraid I put very little effort (though lots of inspiration) into this one. I started with a ready made graham cracker crust. [1] The filling is instant chocolate fudge pudding with 1/4 cup of the milk replaced by orange liqueur. On top of this I have placed mandarin orange wedges.
The topping is just a large tub of Cool Whip. I've garnished it with more orange wedges and chocolate chips (this way everyone knows what flavor it is without asking).
If this were your year to choose the wild card pie what would you pick?
[1] Largely because it's in a disposable pie tin that doesn't need to be returned. This way she can take the leftovers home and I don't have to worry about getting my plate back.
I'm done baking for the day. The first out of the oven was the pumpkin pies.
The problems didn't end there. Since I had a shortage of pie plates I used a stoneware plate for this one (I prefer clear glass plates). This pie should only take 30 minutes to bake. After one hour it still wasn't as browned as it should be, but I gave up and pulled it so I could get on with my work.
For the filling I use the boxed mince meat that must be reconstituted. Instead of using all water I use 2 parts water, 1 part brandy, and 1 part spiced rum. This year I also added a little extra cinnamon to the filling.
Next in line were the pecan pies.
The crusts on these are flavored with bourbon. Then one more pumpkin pie.
This was a bit of an experiment. A few weeks ago maura_ea asked a question that got me thinking. I've always used Milnot in my pumpkin pies because my mother said to. She claims that it's way better than real evaporated milk. I just took her word for it. Today I decided to find out for myself if I agree with her. The two pies made earlier have Milnot in them, but this one does not. It will stay home with me (insuring that I get leftover pumpkin pie) and I'll judge for myself. Since this is a test pie the crust is plain.
After the pie baking I decided to whip up a batch of cookies. Why? Because I have no life and there was nothing better to do.
Oh, yeah. And since I can't stand to throw away the left over bits of pie crust they get sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and baked.
Today I'm baking all the pies for Thanksgiving. 3 pumpkin, 2 pecan, 1 mince meat, and 1 chocolate orange cream. I'll post pictures after they're done.
Saturday it was sunny and 85. Today it's raining and 47. I'm celebrating with a nice pot of chili.
OK, her birthday really isn't until tomorrow, but we're celebrating today at her request. My sisters and I are bringing dinner over to the house. Just us girls. No husbands, no kids, nobody. Nice and quiet. Just the way my mom wants it. My contributions to the meal are marinated roast pork tenderloin and apple raisin cobbler.
Apple Raisin Cobbler
About 5 Granny Smith apples peeled, cored, and sliced
½ cup raisins
¼ cup brandy
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash cloves
dash nutmeg
1 batch basic pastry dough [1]
sugar
Put raisins and brandy in the bottom of a large bowl. Prepare the apples and add to bowl stirring frequently to coat the apples with the brandy. In a small bowl mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Pour over apple raisin mixture and stir well to coat all fruit. Coat baking dish with cooking spray and add apple raisin mixture. Roll out pastry dough on a sugared (not floured) surface until large enough to cover the fruit. Place dough over fruit. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.
Basic Pastry Dough[2]
1¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup lard
4 tablespoons very cold water
Mix together flour and salt in a bowl. Add lard. Cut in lard with a fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal (it will have tiny lumps). Add water, quickly toss mixture with a fork just until the dough comes together. With your hands mold the dough into a ball and wrap in waxed paper. Store in refrigerator until ready to use (at least 30 minutes). Roll out dough on a floured surface.
[1] For this particular cobbler I added about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the pastry dough before cutting in the lard.
[2] This is my basic pie crust recipe. I use it for lots of things. The flavor can be altered by adding dry ingredients before cutting in the lard or substituting other liquids in place of the water. (I learned this trick from Noddy.)Yesterday I made a batch of venison stew using a recipe I came up with last fall when I needed to make some for my German class's Christmas party. For that I made about 3 or 4 times this much and there were no leftovers.
Venison Stew
8 strips bacon [1] [2]
2 pounds stew meat [3]
1 large onion
1 can beer
3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
Horseradish (to taste) [4]
1 tablespoon thyme
½ teaspoon pepper
1 pound red potatoes
1 pound carrots
Cut up bacon into one inch pieces. Place in hot stew pot and cook until done. Do not remove. Cut up onion into chunks and add to pot. Add stew meat. Cook stirring often until onions are tender and meat is browned. Add beer, mustard, horseradish, thyme, and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and let simmer for about two hours until meat is tender. Cut up potatoes and carrots into bite sized pieces and add to the pot. Let simmer for another hour or two until carrots are tender. Serve.
[1] Yesterday I had no bacon in the house so I used 3T of bacon grease. The flavor was just as good, but I did miss the extra meat.
[2] If you prefer a stew with thicker broth dredge your meat in flour before throwing it into the pot.
[3] If you can't get (or don't like) venison you can certainly substitute beef.
[4] The amount you use really depends not only on your personal preference, but on how strong your horseradish is. I recommend starting with about 1 teaspoon and going up until you happy.
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