Another day of good food and good company.

So often we take for granted the simple things in life afforded to us by grocery stores. We never think about how easy it is to just walk in and buy pre-prepared food stuffs that we take home and heat up, or otherwise cook. 

Egg noodles and other pasta is considered an essential in my house.  And there is nothing better than leftover turkey and noodles. So, today I made egg noodles. 

Well I started to...after mixing by hand, then kneading for 10 minutes, you get to rest for 10 minutes, well I rested while the dough did whatever it did. Rolling out the first part took 10 minutes, so I turned the task over to my dad, who had the remaining three parts done in 10 minutes.

This is why I need the pasta attachment for my stand mixer...

 

While the noodles were drying my mom and I made an Apple Pie, I did the crust, she cut the apples. 

Soon it was time to start the broth and veggies for the soup. 

Finally it was time to eat, and again we overstuffed ourselves on food. 

Time to unbutton our pants and enjoy a movie while we digest!

Thanksgiving Dinner take two!

Thanksgiving is never complete without over stuffing yourself more than once.  Yesterday we were at boyfriend's parents house, and the food there was phenomenal!  I must get the recipes from his mom, and try them myself!  Who says you can only have turkey once a year!

The rest of the weekend we spent with my parents.  My dad smoked a turkey breast on Thanksgiving day, and my mom baked a traditional turkey.  I think we are going to have just enough turkey for the weekend, and maybe just a few meals afterwords. 

Instead of canned pumpkin, my mom decided this year we were going to cook fresh pumpkin and make the whole pie from scratch.  It's a lot of hard work, but worth it! More than enough for a pie, and about four extra cups!

I made the crust, which turned out quite nicely.  I had never made a crust on my own before so it was a new experience for me. 

Of course in true family tradition we doubled the pie crust recipe and rolled out the extra crust and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar.

There was a lot of extra filling left over so I put that in a glass oven safe dish and baked it seperately, of course.  It didn't take as long, to cook, and will be great for whoever doesn't want to eat my lovely crust.

The rest of the day we spent creating dinner rolls, and cinnamon raisin breakfast rolls.

Finally everything was ready to eat! A full table with ALL the fixins!!

And eat we did!!!

Now, the dishes are done, food put away, recycling put in it's place so now we can relax, and digest!  Tomorrow we are making Homemade noodles with the turkey leftovers!

Ms. Fish's Devilish Eggs

Everyone has a deviled egg recipe, this is mine.

I usually make a dozen eggs when I make Devilish Eggs.  They go quickly and have a nice bite. All measurements are approximate.

2 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp mayo
2 caps full apple cider vinegar (get the small bottle)
2-3 tsp honey Dijon mustard

Mash up all egg yolks then add sugar and mix till combined.  Add remaining and mix till smooth.
Fill egg whites.  To finish sprinkle with HOT smoked Paprika.  This is the key to being Devilish instead of just being deviled.

It's all about the Bacon

For a meat eater, you know that any recipe that starts with Bacon is going to be good.  Many of my friends think I have a problem with bacon.  This is simply untrue!  I love Bacon, it is the candy of meats and has been proven to go with sweet and savory dishes.  Maybe this is why they think I have a problem...I also have a "small" obsession with spices, I have a whole cabinet and a half of spices, and my prize spices are in little glass jars that sit in a line above my range.

Anyway tonight while prepping all of the wonderful side dishes I am in charge of tomorrow I realize that at some point I DO need to eat.  There are a few things I consider "staples" in my fridge/cabinets: Bacon, butter, onion, shrimp (this is in the freezer of course) and mushrooms. Tonight I am out of mushrooms (sad face). But I do have leftover red onion from my salad prep so my plan is pan seared bacon shrimp.  I'm not the best at estimating amounts, I usually just add to taste.  I did use two slices of bacon chopped, and added that to the onion in a pan, and a small pat of butter.  Once that was almost done I added minced garlic.  The shrimp goes on top of that for 2 minutes then flip each shrimp.  The spices I  used were Extra Bold Smoked Sea Salt, Cajun seasoning and Blackened Seasoning.  Cook 3-4 more minutes until shrimp is pink all the way through!

Copycat recipe: Lambert's "Throwed" Rolls

For Turkey day I was asked to prepare a leafy salad, and some rolls.  Just so happened I found the copycat recipe for Lambert’s “Throwed” Rolls.  I have never made rolls or bread by myself before.  I’ve always had my mom right there with me making sure I didn’t mess it up…well this year mom is not here so this is my first solo attempt at making something edible.

First step is to assemble the ingredients, no matter what I’m making I always gather everything in the recipe so I don’t forget something.  Yes I’ve done that before with almost disastrous results that I ate anyway.  At this point I would also remove all jewelry that will get in the way when kneading, and just leave it OFF until you are done messing with the dough, my finger got swollen after the first off and on, so I had to hold it under cold water to get it off again later...

Once the yeast was going, one of my favorite smells ever, I started mixing the milk, butter, sugar and egg using my regular beater.  After that time seemed to fly and before I knew it the timer was going off saying the yeast was ready.  I switched to the dough hook; I’m sure I could have used the dough hook the whole time but I wasn’t sure and erred on the side of caution, and extra dishes.  It took a bit more than the 3 1/2 cups to form what I thought was the correct consistency and then I dumped it out on the flowered board as suggested.  After trying to knead on that board I quickly dumped the whole mess on the counter and finished it there.

I did wash dry and start to butter my mixing bowl before I decided to use a different metal bowl instead, so that got buttered and then it was time for the kneading.  Four minutes went by quickly and I got a great arm workout!  And then it’s the waiting game, the directions don’t quite say how LONG it takes for the dough to double, so I called my mom.  Anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour…

…an hour later it’s time to butter the muffin tins, punch down the dough and get it formed!  I need to practice with this, nothing is the same size, but then it's the taste that matters right?  And now to wait another 45 minutes…

…time to heat the oven and get these bad boys baking!

And the finished product!!  Even though the recipe didn't say to, I smothered them in butter when they came out of the oven!

Lambert's Cafe Throwed Rolls

1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 package dry active yeast
1/4 cup tepid water ( 105 to 110 degrees F)
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg beaten ( at room temperature)
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

Combine the 1 teaspoon of sugar and yeast in tepid water. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes until yeast begins to foam. Thoroughly mix milk, butter, sugar, egg and salt in large bowl.

Stir in the yeast mixture and 3 1/2 cups of the flour, adding a bit more if necessary to make a soft pliable dough. Turn dough out on floured board and let rest while you clean and butter bowl. Knead dough gently, 4 to 5 minutes, adding flour if necessary, until dough is smooth and silky.

Return to bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in size.

Butter a 12 cup muffin tin. Punch down dough. Pinch off pieces about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (enough to fill 1/2 of muffin cup), and roll into smooth spheres. Place two such pieces in each prepared muffin cup. (It should be a tight fit). Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap for 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake rolls 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown. Serve as soon as they are cool enough to throw.

Makes 12 rolls.

Hot Salted Caramel White Russian

I live in Missouri, and tonight like most nights this time of year is quite chilly.  I ran out of dark chocolate squares last week so I was considering all of my options for a warm adult beverage and came up with the idea to make a steamer of sorts.  You remember the steamed flavored milk that you can get from QT, but nothing powdered in my kitchen!

To start I added some whipping cream (yeah) and some milk, and some White Chocolate Caramel creamer and set it on medium heat so it wouldn't scald.  In my mug I put Vanilla Espresso Vodka, and Vanilla Kahlua.  When the milk combo started to heat up I tossed in a dash of white Mexican vanilla and some vanilla sea salt.  I stuck my immersion blender into the pot on low and let it foam until the perfect temperature.  To finish simply pour over the alcohol in the mug and stir slightly!  Make sure the milk isn't overly hot, you don't want to cook out the alcohol.

Welcome one and all

So tonight I started thinking about all of the comments from my friends about me starting a blog about my adventures with food, especially those that include bacon.  I think they are right and starting tonight I will start to photograph and blog about my exploits and knowledge from the kitchen.

Please sit back from the keyboard (so you don't drool on it) and enjoy my blog!