Trip to the Farmer's Market 4

I had told you that fall is bountiful at the Farmer's Market and it is true. Saturday I was able to go to the bigger Farmer's Market in town to stare longingly at all the bounty.

Decorations

Gourds and pumpkins

Peppers

Arugula for my liberal self, Chives and Sorrel

Root vegetables, Snap Beans


Apples and House Plants

I took home some purple and white snap beans and a half gallon of apple cider and cursed myself for not liking more vegetables.

Sadly the Farmer's Market only has two weeks left before the end of the season. If I had already learned to can, I could enjoy all of this year-round. I haven't gotten to that point in my kitchen adventures yet but more on that later.

Stay tuned, though, as we take The Good Niece to the pumpkin patch and the apple orchard, soon!

Ingredient of the Week . . . Bread

Since I had two loaves of freshly made white bread, I decided to make two dishes that utilized all this bread I had. The first dish I decided to make was Chicken Parmesan.

I normally do a modified version of this for dinner, dredging the chicken in flour, eggs and milk and then breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, fried to a golden brown. But that's it. I stop at the yummy breading and leave the sauce and extra cheese off. But I decided to do the full recipe this week since we haven't had any pasta in a while.

This dish relies on the bread crumb mixture as much as the Parmesan cheese. To make the homemade bread crumbs, I cubed one loaf of the white sandwich bread I made earlier in the week. I allowed the bread to sit, overnight, on a cookie sheet uncovered. This allowed the bread to get nice and stale. Then I allowed the bread to dry more by toasting it in the oven for 15 minutes on 300 degrees. I then placed the cubes in a plastic bag and whacked at it until it was nice and fine. I then added a handful of parsley, some oregano and basil and voila, I had homemade Italian breadcrumbs.

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons canola or extra virgin olive oil
8 oz dried spaghetti
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:
~To bread the chicken, form an assembly line of three large, shallow bowls. In the first bowl add the flour. In the second bowl combine the egg and milk and beat until combined. In the third bowl, add the breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese and mix until combined.

~Add one chicken breast to the flour, turning to coat and then shaking off any excess flour. Next, dip the flour in the egg wash and allow any extra to fall back into the bowl. Finally add the chicken to the breadcrumbs and turn to coat evenly, pressing the breadcrumbs into the chicken.

~In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the oil and the chicken and allow the chicken to brown, about 4 minutes on each side. When the chicken has browned, removed from the skillet and place on a baking sheet. Transfer the chicken to a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

~Top the chicken with the mozzarella cheese and bake for 5 minutes more.

~Meanwhile cook the spaghetti according to the directions. Drain and add back into the pot. Add the pasta sauce and toss to combine.

~To serve, plate a large spoonful of spaghetti and then top with the chicken breast. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese.

recipe by: The Good Wife

The second dish I made this week is stuffing. Stuffing is one of my all time favorite dishes at Thanksgiving. I like my stuffing baked in the oven so that the top is nice and crunchy. I hate soggy, goopy stuffing. I served this with a nice thick pork chop and peas.

Ingredients:
1 loaf white bread, cubed, see above
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried sage, rubbed between fingers
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 large egg

Directions:
~Spread bread cubes in a single layer on a cookie sheet and let dry overnight. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Bake bread until golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

~Saute onion and celery in butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until soft, 8 to 10 minutes. In a large bowl, mix bread, vegetables and remaining ingredients.

~Add mixture to a greased 3-quart baking dish. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil; bake 15 minutes more.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Poll Results

The results are in and almost everyone loves fall. I can't say that I blame them. Fall got 75% of the vote with summer and spring each sharing 25%. Poor winter. No one loves you.

In the next few weeks, I hope to add some pictures of all my favorite fall decorations with some Halloween ones thrown in as well.

White Bread

MMMMM. Bread.

Imagine me drooling like Homer Simpson and that is how I feel about bread. Any bread. I can't even attempt a low carb diet because of my bordering on unnatural love of bread. Once, a long time ago, I even worked at Panera Bread, a job I loathed, just for the free loaf of bread I got every month.
Bread is something new to me in the baking department. I really haven't tried it before and you can tell. My first attempt with a yeast bread was this French Bread recipe. This was my first go at white bread, or sandwich bread. It was also my first recipe out of Joy of Cooking, the cookbook I got for my birthday.

I used bread flour instead of all purpose flour and I think the texture was affected. The bread was slightly chewy. It wasn't fluffy like Wonder Bread and I didn't do a very good job rolling the loaf and sealing the seams.

But it did have a nice, slightly sweet flavor and it wasn't rock hard. Overall I think I did a B+ job but I will work on perfecting this.

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup warm (105° to 115°F) water
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry
6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose or bread flour

Directions:
~Combine in a small saucepan and heat until warm (105° to 115°F)the milk, water, sugar, shortening, butter and salt.

~Combine the water and yeast in a small bowl and let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes.

~Add the lukewarm milk mixture to the dissolved yeast. Stir in 3 cups of the flour and beat 1 minute, then stir or work in 3 more cups flour.

~Toss the dough onto a floured board and knead until it is smooth, elastic, and full of bubbles, gradually adding more flour until the dough no longer sticks to your hands.

~Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn the dough over once, and cover with a cloth. Let rise in a warm place (75° to 85°F) until doubled in bulk, at least 1 hour (I filled a large pan with hot water, placed it in the oven and then placed the bread in to allow it to raise).Punch down the dough and, if time permits, allow it to rise until doubled once more, then punch it down again (For this second rise, I allowed the bread to rise for one hour).

~Divide the dough in half, shape into 2 loaves, and place in greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Brush with oil, then cover with a clean cloth and let rise again until almost doubled in bulk (Again, about one hour).

~Preheat the oven to 450°F. Bake the bread 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350°F and bake about 30 minutes longer. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, 595. Remove the loaves at once from the pans and cool completely on a rack.

NOTE: I used two glass loaf pans, so I reduced the heat to 325. I also only baked the bread at 450 for 5 minutes since I like a lighter brown crust.

recipe by: The Joy of Cooking

French Fried Onions

Like any good Midwestern girl, I love fried vegetables, especially onion rings. But I have always been scared to make them. I don't know what struck me as particularly scary about making homemade onion rings, but I never did try. Until I saw this recipe for onion strings on The Pioneer Woman's website.

I was amazed at how fast and easy these were to make and they provided for a great topping for homemade burgers. I foresee great use of this recipe now that Thanksgiving is coming up and I always get stuck making green bean casserole.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, I used one medium white onion
2 cups buttermilk, I used two tablespoons of lemon juice plus enough milk to make 2 cups
2 cups flour
1 scant tablespoon salt
Lots of black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper, I omitted
Canola Oil

Directions:
~Slice onion very thin. Place in a baking dish and cover with buttermilk for at least one hour.

~Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Heat oil to 375 degrees.

~Grab a handful of onions, throw into the flour mixture, tab to shake off excess, and PLUNGE into hot oil. Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown.

recipe by: The Pioneer Woman

Burgers

Nothing is better or easier than burgers. Every time I make burgers at home I am reminded of that old Eddie Murphy stand up. The Good Husband like the thinness of McDonald's burgers but TGH never made homemade burgers and cannot understand that I cannot possibly make the burgers that thin. I am not a machine, damn it!

So my burgers turn out somewhere between McDonald's' thin and Eddie Murphy meatball, green pepper welfare burger. There are a million ways to dress up a burger from the meat to the seasonings to the toppings. This is the basic burger recipe I use most of the time. Any different seasonings and toppings are all based on this basic burger recipe.

Ingreidnets:
1 lb ground beef
1 tablespoon grill seasoning, I use McCormick Salt-Free Steak
1/2 tablespoon all purpose seasoning, I use Riley's Salt-Free
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon A-1 steak sauce

Directions:
~Combine all the of ingredients in a large bowl and mix by hand until well blended.

~Form into 8 patties and cook, either in a large skillet over medium high heat for 5 minutes each side or on an indoor grill for 5 to 6 minutes.

This burger I topped with French Fried Onions and pepper cheese. I should have added thick cut, black pepper bacon, smoked cheddar and BBQ sauce, but I didn't. But that sounds awesome, doesn't it? TGH likes his traditional, with a slice of American cheese, catsup, mustard and pickle. Sometimes he likes it with catsup, mayo, lectus, pickle and tomato, but those burgers are better left to summer, when a tomato really tastes like a tomato.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Porcupine Meatballs

Thanks to The Good Grandma, I was introduced to this strange dish a while back. It might look like a regular meatball, but no, this is a Porcupine Meatball. It is basically your basic meatball but with white rice added so that when the meatball cooks, the rice pokes out like a porcupine quill. Thank god for google too, since a quick search assured me that TGG was not, in fact, crazy and others had heard of this dish before.

Now, the recipe calls for tomato soup. We hate tomato soup in The Good Household so I never have any on hand. No problem, I thought, since we always have tomato sauce on hand. But always failing to check to make sure I have all the ingredients before I start to cook, I already had the meatballs formed and in the pan before I realized we had no tomato sauce. No problem, I thought again, since we had a can of Italian diced tomatoes and some tomato paste. I placed the diced tomatoes into the food processor and added 2 heaping tablespoons of tomato paste and blended. The sauce therefore, turned out a little chunkier but it still tasted the same.

You would think lesson learned - to always check for all the ingredients before you start cooking - but no, I am sure I will do this again in the future. Such is life.

Ingredients:
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup uncooked instant rice
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound ground beef
1 can condensed tomato soup, undiluted OR 1 can tomato sauce (see note above)
1 cup water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
~In a bowl, combine the egg, rice, onion, parsley, salt and pepper. Add beef and mix. Using your hands, shape into 1-1/2-in. balls.

~In a large skillet over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil (I use canola) and drop the meatballs in the hot oil. Brown for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

~Add the tomato soup or the tomato sauce, water and Worcestershire sauce to the skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover and cook for 30 minutes until the rice is tender and the beef is cooked through.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Apple Pie

As American as . . .

I'm a bad American. I don't really like apple pie. I love making it but I am not a big fan of the eating it part. Thank Ben Franklin, The Good Husband loves apple pie, so that when I make it, someone is around to eat it. TGH's favorite type of apple pie is Dutch Apple Pie. So maybe it isn't that American after all.

For some reason The Good Grandma put rolled oats in her Dutch Apple Pie topping and TGH won't eat it any other way. This is one of those modifications that I inherited from someone else, and I cannot now make the dish without it.

Ingredients:
1 recipe for pastry crust (to follow)
5 cups apples - peeled, cored and sliced, I used Granny Smith
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup butter

Directions:
~Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

~To make the filling, place apples in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons flour, white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and toss to coat the apples.

~To make the topping, combine 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, brown sugar, oats and lemon peel. With a fork or pastry cutter, cut in 1/2 cup butter until mixture is crumbly.

~To assemble the pie, pour the apple filling into the pastry shell and top with the streusel topping. Cover the edges of the pie in aluminum foil to prevent excess browning and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 20 minutes more.

Pastry Shell
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening, chilled
3 tablespoons ice water

Directions:
~Combine the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a fork or pastry cutter, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.

~Form the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.

~Roll the dough out and place in a pie plate, fluting the edges.

recipe modified from: Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredient of the Week

There isn't one this week.

I suck.

I am hoping this killer case of heartburn/acid reflux will go away soon and I can start posting again. Besides, my cookies are so damn pretty, they can stay near the top for a while.