Sometimes Life Gets Away From You

Has it really been a week and a half since my last post?  Wow, I must have been busy.  Oh, yeah.  I was.  Here is what we/I have been up to:

Kimball started preschool and I am consequently  trying to adjust to a new schedule.

My in-laws peach tree exploded in fruit and I spent two days canning over 50 quarts of peach jam (no, that was not a typo) and 56 quarts of peaches.

We attended the Brigham City Utah Temple Open House with my in-laws.

I read all these books and couldn't put any of them down.  They are all about cooking and food.  Loved, loved, loved them.  (I tried to make the link work to amazon, but I couldn't, sorry. )

If you are a home cook and want to improve your cooking then the Kitchen Counter Cooking School is a must read.  Loved it!!

Well, now you are all caught up.

The Wisdom of Cookbooks

I have a lot of cookbooks.  Most of them were part of my grandmother's and my mom's collections.  Some I have no idea where they came from.  Like this one:

This cookbook is from 1971 and was put together by the women of the Calvary Baptist Church in Denver.

It has some interesting things inside.  Like recipes from Mrs. Richard M. Nixon and Mrs. Dwight Eisenhower.

There is also this nice ditty from the section on casseroles:

I also like this kitchen prayer.

 THE KITCHEN PRAYER

Lord of all pots and pan and things since I've not time to be
A saint by doing lovely tings or watching late with Thee
Or dreaming in the dawn light or storming Heavn's gates
Make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.
Although I mist have Martha's hands, I have a Mary mind
And when I black the boot and shoes, Thy sandals, Lord I find.
I think of how they trod the earth, what time I scrub the floor
Accept this meditation Lord, I haven't time for more.
Warm all the kitchen with They love, and light it with Thy peace
Forgive all my worrying and make my grumbling cease.
Thou who didst love to give men food in room or by the sea
Accept this service that I do, I do it unto Thee.

Cookbooks are such a snapshot in time.  I'm pretty sure you wouldn't find a section for men only in a cookbook published today.

Or a poem on how to preserve a husband . . .

 HOW TO PRESERVE A HUSBAND

First, use care and get one.  Not too young; but tender and a healthy growth.  Make your selection carefully and let it be final.  Otherwise they will not keep.  Like wine they improve with age.  Do not pickle or put in hot water.  This makes them sour.  Prepare as follows: Sweeten with smiles according to variety.  The sour, bitter kind are improved by a pinch of salt of common sense.  Spice with patience.  Wrap well in a mantle of charity.  Preserve over a good fire of steady devotion.  Serve with peaches and cream.  The poorest varieties make be improved by this process and kept for years in any climate.

. . . or recommendations as to what men love.

What cookbooks do you love to read?

Yellow Squash Casserole

I think I have mentioned before that I read cookbooks in bed.  The other night I was reading this:

It was written by three women who lived in the ward that I grew up in.  One of the women, Maurine Hegsted, lived across the street from us.  Another, Beth Brown, lived a block or so away.  Her girls were some of my best friends growing up.  This cookbook is really cool.  It had the recipe for 7 layer dip before it was popular.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if these ladies invented it!  There is also the most amazing recipe for beef kabobs that has been a family favorite so long we claim it as our own.

Well, the other night I found a recipe for zucchini casserole.  I thought I would give it a try, but I gave it my own twist.  In the first place, I used summer squash.  Here's how I made it:

1.  I diced up three summer squash and half an onion.  I sauted them on medium heat in a little olive oil until they were good and soft.  Maybe 8-10 minutes.  

2.  I also added some small baby carrots sliced up.  

3.  In a separate bowl you are supposed to mix a can of cream of chicken soup with 1 cup of sour cream.  In my case it was about 1/2 c. sour cream and 1/2 c. plain yogurt because that was what I had.  I added in the squash mixture when everything was tender.

Then, in a separate bowl, I melted a cube of butter and mixed in a package of seasoned stuffing.  It makes crunchy stuffing flavored bread crumbs.  Yummy.

I layered a casserole dish with 1/2 stuffing mixture, the squash/soup mixture and the other 1/2 of the bread crumbs on top.  I baked it at 400 for 20-25 minutes until heated through and the stuffing was a bit brown.  You wouldn't have to do it that I, I just had the temperature up for some chicken.

It was so delicious!  Thank you Beth Brown, you are your co-authors created an awesome cookbook.

Ever made your own chorizo?

I realize I am a bit nutty because I make so many things from scratch.  I may be a fanatic but the truth is I just love being in the kitchen.  Sometimes cooking meals doesn't satisfy my need to create.  I also like to find new ideas for cooking projects.  I checked this book out of the library this week: Simple Food, Big Flavor by Aaron Sanchez.  It's a cool book because Mr. Sanchez gives 15 recipes for ingredients like salsas, pastes, rubs that can be used to make meals.  It's an awesome format for a cookbook.

I think I'm up for one of the projects (maybe more).  I am considering making my own chorizo.  I have already tried to make this elk sausage and thought it was delicious.  Do you think it's wrong to put elk in chorizo? I'm going to guess that while not authentic, Mr. Sanchez would prefer I have a crack at his recipe in any form.

Cookbooks I Love: Allrecipes.com

I don't know that a website can count as a cookbook, but I don't know what I would do without allrecipes.com.  If you haven't used the site, you should check it out; if you have, you probably know what I mean.

Allrecipes.com is a site when regular people like you and me have submitted their recipes, and then more regular people like you and me have rated them.  It's so helpful when I am looking to use up ingredients or find something specific.  I especially love the reviews because I can get an idea of how easy the recipe is and how it might need to be altered.

I used this site to find a recipe for graham crackers to modify for butter powder and for countless other things I have made before this experiment began.  If you are looking for help in the kitchen, allrecipes.com is a great place to start!

Cookbooks I Love: Not Your Mother's Casseroles

A few months ago I checked this book out of the Salt Lake City Library.  I happen to like casseroles.  They make great freezer meals, there are fewer dishes to wash and the leftovers make easy lunches for Bryce.

This is probably the best casserole book I've read.  I used this book to inspire the Asian Pork Meatballs, as well as, the bean dish with dehydrated vegetables.  I am also working on a curry potato dish with dehydrated potatoes that has its roots in this book.  I'll post it as soon as I get a chance to throw it together.

If you like the ease of casseroles, but don't want to use another can of cream soup, this is the book for you!

Cookbooks I Love: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Ok, this isn't really a cookbook, but it does contain recipes.  I think subconsciously this is the book that inspired my no grocery shopping journey, and if not that then at the very least I was inspired to attempt to make cheese (which I hope to blog about soon).

In the book Barbara Kingsolver and her family chronicle the year they moved from Mesa, AZ to their 40 acre farm in southern Appalachia to produce the food they ate, or at least buy it locally.

The book really made me think about the sources of the food I eat and the political and economic impacts those choices have.  I am trying to make better food choices for my family as a result.  In addition to the chickens and growing our own garden, we plan to pick blackberries and raspberries this summer in Payson.  I also hope to buy more organic vegetables from local farms.  We are a little late to purchase a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share, but maybe next year.

In any event, I highly recommend this book.

Cookbooks I Love: Mix-A-Meal

I have had a copy of the Mix-A-Meal cookbook for probably 2 years (thanks to my sister-in-law Jill).  But I have only really been using it in the last year.  The book offers recipes for creating mixes, like Bisquick or cake mixes, as well as recipes to use the mixes.  When my in-laws gave us some powdered eggs, butter and cheese to use, I turned to this book to figure out what to do with those powdered products.

In this book there seems to be a mix for everything.  Since I wasn't interested in using all the mixes, I set out to find the ones that I liked that would work for the way I cook.  So far my favorites are the cheese sauce recipe, the hot roll mix (which we use for bread sticks and pizza) and what's called the Oriental Stir Fry recipe (which makes a good sauce for any kind of meat and veggies).

I had a friend interested in the tomato sauce recipes and since I had just acquired some tomato powder we made some BBQ Sauce Mix and some Tomato Sauce Mix.  I haven't had a chance to try them, but I will let you know how they turn out.

In the mean time, here is the hot roll mix.  I love this because I can get some garlic bread sticks in the oven even if I don't have time to let them rise.

10 c. flour
1 c. dehydrated butter
2/3 c. sugar (I like to use less)
1/4 c. powdered milk
2 T. salt

Combine 1 1/2 c. warm water to 1 T. yeast.  Add 4 c. hot roll mix.  Knead 5-10 minutes.  Let rise for 1 hour (optional--I will say if you let it rise the texture is softer).  Use cornmeal on a baking sheet and roll out.  Bake 375 for 15-25 minutes until edges are golden.

Four cups of the mix will make enough for 2 pizzas.  I often use half as much for one sheet of bread sticks.