Make the Pasta Sauce

I understand that every now and then dinner needs to be quick and easy. I mean, really quick and easy. And on those nights, I have no problem opening up a jar of premade pasta sauce to pour over noodles. But if I have an extra 20 minutes to simmer my own pasta sauce, that's exactly what I try to do.
When cooking with any sort of canned tomato, I only ever buy Red Gold tomatoes. I saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen where they taste tested canned tomatoes and this ranked #1 with their testers. The diced tomatoes are stored in tomato juice, not water, so there is a strong tomato flavor with these tomatoes. The runner up canned tomato was Muir Glen (organic canned tomatoes).

Easy Pasta Sauce Recipe

• 1/4 cup onion , grated
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves , crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil , chopped

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup grated onion. Saute 2 minutes. Add oregano and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook with stirring 3 minutes until onions begin to brown. Add crushed garlic. Cook 30 seconds. Add crushed tomatoes and sugar. Turn heat to high and cook with stirring until simmering. Turn heat to medium low. Simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in olive oil and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta.

Makes 3 cups, enough for 1 pound of pasta

Make the Jam

An easy way to get the taste of fresh fruit year round is to make your own jam. I make strawberry jam every June, when the berries are at their ripest. You can make jam with just about any fruit though: peach, raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, etc. It is easy and fun to do and fresh jam tastes so much better than anything Smuckers produces.





Recipe:

5 cups of crushed strawberries (about 2 pints noncrushed)

½ tsp butter

1 box of 1.75 oz of powder pectin

7 cups of sugar

Crush strawberries and place in a large kettle. Add butter and pectin and stir. Heat mixture to a rapid boil. Add sugar all at once and stir. Bring mixture back to a boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and ladle into jars. Wipe the lip of the jar to make sure there is no jelly on it. tighten lid and process.

Processing:

Bring a very large kettle of water to a boil. (start heating this water before you start the jelly). Place jars in the water for 5 minutes and then remove (you want 1" of water over the jar tops, once submerged. Any more or less could affect the pressure on the jars, risking them cracking while processing.) Let cool until jars seal. Once jars are sealed, every half hour turn jar upside down for half hour and then right side up for half hour, etc. This makes the strawberries disperse evenly throughout the jelly .

The recipe makes 8 half pints.

Make the Whipped Cream

Last night Chris and I spent the evening at Jenn and Chris O's house (my sister-in-law and brother-in-law). We hung out with my niece and nephews a bit, had a fantastic dinner and then played a few games of Bridge.
I love having family close by, especially on nights like last night. A home cooked Sunday meal, chatting about decorating with my sister-in-law, the dogs wrestling on the floor and the kids climbing on us in excitement as they tell us about their trip to Disneyworld. Oh, and I musn't forget the fun Bridge games we play! What a great way to spend a Sunday night.

The four of us pooled our short ribs together (we all have a meat share from the same farmer) for dinner, which turned out delicious. Chris O smoked them for about an hour and then Jenn slow roasted them for about 5 hours. They were tender and juicy with just the right amount of smokey flavoring.

We took a break from playing cards to have a raspberry tart dessert with homemade whipped cream. I don't bake all that much, so I don't have much of a need to make whipped cream, but I asked Jenn to show me her recipe/technique for making her homemade fluffy whipped cream. It was quick, easy and so delicious!

Jenn O's recipe for homemade whipped cream:
Step 1. Put the Kitchenaid Mixer bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for about 30 minutes to get it nice and cold.
Step 2. Pour 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into mixer bowl
Step 3. Add about 2 teaspoons of white sugar into cream
Step 4. Add about a capful of good Vanilla extract into the mixer bowl
Step 5. Mix on medium/high until soft peaks are formed (anywhere from 1-3 minutes)


Holy cow this was delicious. For sure, if ever I need whipped cream for any dessert I will be making it!

Make the Taco Seasoning

A packet of Old El Paso taco seasoning costs about $1.50 at our local grocery store. And for that amount of money, this is the list of ingredients you and your family get to consume:

Maltodextrin, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, spice, monosodium glutamate, corn starch, yellow corn flour, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, silicon dioxide (anticaking agent), natural flavor, ethoxyquin (preservative).

At least 4 of those ingredients are not available at a typical grocery store and stuff like that scares the bejesus out of me. Also the 4th ingredient listed is "spice". What the heck does that mean?
It's super easy to make homemade taco seasoning and if you mix up a batch in a Ball jar you can keep it stored in your pantry for quick and easy access.

Here's my homemade taco seasoning mix recipe:

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or cayenne)

Make the Guacamole

Guacamole is one of the easiest things to make so I'm always surprised when I see people buy a container of it at a store. I don't think it really saves money to make guacamole but I am sure homemade tastes a lot better and has a better consistency. Who wants creamy smooth guac? I prefer mine chunky.

Quick recipe (serves 1 or 2 people)
1 avocado (ripe)*
1 roma tomato**
pinch of kosher salt
half a pinch of pepper
half a lime (squeezed)

*Take the avocado and cut it in half. Scoop out the flesh on one side of the fruit, and mash it into a pulp with a Molcajete tool or a fork. Take the other half of the fruit and use a knife to cut it into small pieces, then scoop out and mix in with the mashed avocado. This will give the guacamole a chunkier texture.


**I use Roma tomatoes because they have less water and seeds, so the guacamole doesn't get runny. You could use a different variety of tomato I would just recommend first scooping out the seeds/water before dicing the tomato.

If you don't have a lime lying around, a splash of lemon juice will work.

Also, the picture I attached is from a year and a half ago (gosh, has it been that long?) My friend Matt was visiting from Los Angeles and we whipped up a batch of guacamole in my kitchen using the Molcajete that Will and Thea got Chris and I as a house warming gift. :)

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

My girlfriend Kristin recommended this book to me after watching an interview with the author on The Today show. The premise of the book is that the author, newly unemployed, spent a year making food staples instead of buying them in hopes of saving money. She chronicled her experiments and rated them as "Buy this" or "Make this" depending on how easy/difficult the recipe was and if it really did save money.
For the past 2 years I also have tried making more kitchen staples of my own. Not so much to save money but more so I know the food is fresh and not loaded with salt and/or sugar, as most store bought package food are. So for the next few posts I will share with you some of the basic recipes I have for kitchen staples.




SALAD DRESSING
Two years ago I started making my own salad dressing. In the winter and springtime, Chris and I eat a lot of salad greens and the store bought dressings either have high fructose corn syrup in them or they're crazy expensive. This recipe includes simple ingredients that I always have around my house, it takes about 2 minutes to mix up, and it always tastes fresh. Feel free to adjust the ingredients according to your palate (I'm not a big vinegar fan, so I tend to go light on the vinegar). You can also play up flavors by adding/exchanging out mustard, honey, balsamic vinegar, or different herbs.

Recipe
3 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Teaspoons of Red Wine Vinegar
Pinch of salt
Half a pinch of pepper
pinch of dried oregano

Put all of the ingredients in a Ball jar (of Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker) and mix up. Pour over the salad greens and toss until coated.

Table Centerpiece

I love Christmas! This year I brainstormed elegant and creative ways to decorate our home. We put a 4 1/2 foot tree on our front bay window, decorated with white lights and pretty ornaments. We had to trim some of the lower branches off the tree to get it to sit properly in the tree stand. I saved those branches, dried them for a week in the basement (so they wouldn't drip sap on everything), and then arranged them in our dining table centerpiece (low bowl).
I picked up some fresh pomegranates at the grocery store and voila! We have a beautiful, fragrant centerpiece which at the end of the season I will be able to eat. Merry Christmas!!

Quinoa

In an attempt at expanding our vegetarian meal options, Monday night I decided to try my hand at cooking Quinoa. I researched recipes online for about a week, trying to understand the basics of how to prepare a meal with Quinoa. From what I gathered, these are the universal truths:
1. Quinoa doesn't have much flavor, so you gotta add a lot of flavor with other ingredients
2. Quinoa dries out quickly, so a vinaigrette is helpful

So here's what I started out with: Quinoa, chicken stock, one garlic clove, large chopped bell pepper, chopped onion, and sliced zucchini. For the vinaigrette I had EVOO, an orange, salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. (and a glass of white wine for inspiration) :)

I smashed the garlic clove and threw it in a saucepan with the chicken stock. Once that was boiling, I added the quinoa, reduced the heat, covered, and simmered for 15 minutes until all the liquid was absorbed. Then I discarded the garlic clove and set the quinoa aside in a large bowl.













While the quinoa was simmering I started working on prepping the veggies. In a large skillet I heated up some olive oil. Then I sauteed all the veggies for about 10 minutes until tender. Then I combined the sauteed veggies with the quinoa in a large bowl where I mixed in a cup of Craisins for a bit more flavor.

I created the vinaigrette by mixing 3 Tbsp Olive Oil, the juice of one orange, pinch of salt, half a pinch of pepper and some fresh chopped parsley. I shook that up in my Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker and poured the dressing over the quinoa, stirring to incorporate.

The meal turned out to be a success! And I've discovered that Quinoa leftovers even heat up well the next day. Yay!

Organic Valley

Sometimes eating organic, whole foods can take some getting used to. I've been a skim milk drinker since the age of 12 and was always grossed out when I would see people drinking 1% or 2% milk, because it just looked like thick paint to me. Like drinking glue.

But darn the interwebs and the information out there on the Google. Cause I got bored one day and decided to read up on how skim milk is made. I researched how the fat is removed from the milk and with what I learned I decided a change to my diet needed to be made.

Here's a little lesson on how to make skim milk:
Back in the old days, milk was allowed to sit in a bucket or bottle for a few days so the fat would rise to the top. The fat was then skimmed off and the milk was used for drinking or cooking with. Now, with increased demand for milk, machines spin the milk in order to separate out the fat. The more fat that needs to be removed, the more cycles of spinning. Once all the fat has been removed you are left with a watery substance. It can look really pale so some companies inject dyes into the liquid to make it look more white. Then they bottle it and call it skim milk.

The thought of drinking dyes makes me shudder and in my quest to eat more whole foods, I knew my milk choices needed to change. So after 20 some odd years (gulp...I'm old.) I have finally made the switch to 2% milk. (I just can't bring myself to drink whole milk. At least...not yet...BABY STEPS, PEOPLE)

It was a slow process that began in August where I tried to eat cereal with 2% milk and seriously could not eat the whole bowl. So I opted for 1% milk for a few weeks as a transitional period, eventually working my way up to 2%. I've been drinking 2% now for about a month and I gotta say I have actually started enjoying it.

In terms of what brand of milk we drink, Chris and I milk shopped for months trying to find an organic brand that tasted good and wasn't 'big box business' like Horizon. (I've heard some real horror stories about Horizon Brand Milk not being honest about their "organic" processes.) We settled on Organic Valley out of Wisconsin.

Things I love about Organic Valley:
1. The farms are in Wisconsin so it's fairly close in proximity to my house
2. It tastes really good.
3. The milk carton notes the farm that the milk came from; you can go on O.V.'s website to read about the farm and the farmers.
4. I really believe that it's organic.


So anyway, if you're trying to consume more whole foods consider changing the milk you drink. Changing from skim to 2% may seem like a small step but in all actuality it's a pretty good leap in a healthy direction.

Chicken Stock

Monday I took the day off of work and took all those leftover chicken bones and made a big batch of homemade chicken stock! I used Alton Brown's recipe, which I found online. I had never made my own stock before and was REALLY excited about trying my hand at it. It takes a few hours to do but is really quite easy. I saved the stock in 2 cup freezable containers, so I can just pull one out to thaw for a batch of soup or to use while slow cooking meat.

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds chicken carcasses, including necks and backs
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2
• 4 ribs celery, cut in 1/2
• 1 leek, white part only, cut in 1/2 lengthwise
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 10 sprigs fresh parsley with stems
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 to 10 peppercorns
• 2 whole cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 gallons cold water

Directions:

Place chicken, vegetables, and herbs and spices in 12-quart stockpot. Set opened steamer basket directly on ingredients in pot and pour over water. Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains low, gentle simmer. Skim the scum from the stock with a spoon or fine mesh strainer every 10 to 15 minutes for the first hour of cooking and twice each hour for the next 2 hours. Add hot water as needed to keep bones and vegetables submerged. Simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 hours.

Strain stock through a fine mesh strainer into another large stockpot or heatproof container discarding the solids. Cool immediately in large cooler of ice or a sink full of ice water to below 40 degrees. Place in refrigerator overnight. Remove solidified fat from surface of liquid and store in container with lid in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months. Prior to use, bring to boil for 2 minutes. Use as a base for soups and sauces.