You Are What You Eat

I think one of the biggest problems that we face when it comes to eating healthy is convenience. I don't know about you but I have a jam packed schedule and sometimes I really don't want to have to prepare a meal for myself (much less write a blog about preparing a meal). It is much easier to just grab what you can get and a lot of times people head straight to the drive thru. I have really tried to cut that out of my diet lately and make better choices. After all we only get one life and I don't really want to spend mine sick because I couldn't give up french fries.

On my quest for healthier eating I hit a rough patch. I love sauce. On everything. Well maybe not everything but I do love sauces and enjoy the added flavor it gives my food. I have also recently been reading every food label before purchasing and definitely before eating anything. I hadn't even really given thought to the secret monster that lives in my refrigerator and cabinets. Sauce. When I started reading labels I was shocked at:

1. The amount of sodium
2. The amount of sugar
3. The number of additives and I'm not talking about the good kind. I'm talking chemicals.

If I handed you a bottle of bleach and told you to drink it would you? Absolutely not. Then why are we putting other chemicals in our body? Because the FDA says it's OK? Maybe because we rationalize that it isn't the same as drinking bleach? Or maybe even because we don't think there is another way. Well guess what? Long before packaged food, people ate. It's a shock, I know but it happens to be completely true. So where is our solution? We make our own sauce and it's super easy.

I decided to start with the first thing I could think of. Ketchup.

The first thing I did (that you do not have to do) was to make my own brown sugar. It is one of the easiest things you can do and the benefit is that you don't have to buy multiple kinds of sugar.

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
1Tbsp molasses
(I only made one cup because I didn't need more than that. I stored the rest for future use as you would normally)
There is no trick to this whatsoever all you do is add the molasses to the sugar and mix it together until it looks like brown sugar. You can make as much or as little as you like and if you need darker brown sugar guess what?! You just add more molasses. Easy peasy. Also, made this way it tends to be fluffier and not as dry and lumpy.Literally all I used to mix the two together was a fork. Try it out. Seriously, it's fun.
Pictures!!

 

Now for the ketchup. This is one of the easiest recipes I have ever made. You literally just dump all of these ingredients into a saucepan (I used a deep skillet) and mix it together and let it simmer for about 45 to 1 hour or until its a ketchup consistency. I did about 50 mins and it turned out great. Let it cool down and then store it in a container in the refrigerator. Remember that this has no preservatives in it so it won't last as long. The recommended time is around a month.


2 (6oz) cans tomato paste
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon white pepper (I used black. The only difference is color. Often a recipe calls for white pepper so that you wont see black specks in your sauce. It is always ok to substitute)
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons molasses
2 Tablespoons raw honey
2 and 1/2 cups water

Mine turned out a bit sweeter than I liked but the few people that have tried it liked it. When I make it again I will probably cut the brown sugar and possibly part of the honey out. Now for some nutrition facts just to send you over the edge with happiness. I took a picture of the ingredient label on the ketchup bottle that we already had:


My recipe has 17 calories, 3 grams of sugar, and 115mg of sodium per Tablespoon. I'd say that was a vast improvement over the bottled version especially when you add the fact that mine contains no high fructose corn syrup, natural flavoring, or any other preservative.

xoxo
susan

It's all very pinteresting.

I have taken more than a short break from blogging for many reasons. First because of time constraints and second because I was for a short while concerned that at some point I would possibly want to use these recipes in the future in a kitchen of my own. I was reassured by a friend that if your food is good, it doesn't matter if people can make it themselves with your exact recipe they will still come to you to make it. They like being in on the secret but they also want to taste the magic you make. It was good advice, strong advice. I appreciated it. From there time constraints took over again. Here I am though ready to make a comeback and test all of those recipes for you. Luckily since taking my break a delightful website has caught my attention by the name of Pinterest. I don't even have to try and look for a recipe they are literally right in front of my face all day.

I hope you all will continue to read and please let me know if there is something you would like me to try for you or if you would like me to come up with a recipe. Do you have a whole chicken in the freezer you don't know what to do with? How about a cupboard full of canned vegetables? Can't find a good vegetarian or vegan option for something you love? Let me know and I'll do a recipe just for you.


Beaucoup d'amour, de rire souvent, et bien mange

xoxo
Susan

Seeing Red

I stumbled across the most interesting recipe about a year ago in a magazine. Now when I say recipe I actually mean that I stumbled across a tiny paragraph about four sentences long squeezed into a magazine with three simple instructions. I have been thinking about this "recipe" somewhat constantly since then. Whenever a dinner party opportunity presented itself, I had always briefly considered taking this dish and promptly decided that it is too weird. Now I have the perfect reason to try it! Red velvet fried chicken. If you are anything like me you might have read that more than once. It is supposed to be the perfect blend of sweet and salty, so here I am to put it to the test.

Red Velvet Fried Chicken

Ingredients
However many pieces of chicken  you would like (we cut up a whole chicken)
1 box red velvet cake mix

Directions
1. Mix box cake as directed and split in half. Save one half in a container and put in the refrigerator.
2. Make the other into a cake. It can be any size or shape you are merely using it for crumbs.
3. Bake cake as directed and let the cake sit out overnight uncovered so that it can dry out.
4. The next day when you are ready to fry your chicken pull the batter out of the refrigerator and crumble up your cake into small crumbs (you can use a food processor, I used my hands) in a separate bowl. 
5. I would suggest using a deep fryer or a large pot filled with oil. We tried the skillet way and it was not successful. Your oil needs to be at least 375º before frying.
6. Roll your chicken in the red velvet batter and then dip in the crumbs.
7. Fry your chicken.

Ok, we found some flaws with this plan. First the bread crumbs seem to burn way before the chicken is done. If I were going to do this again I might fry it just long enough to get a crisp on the outside and then put it in the oven to finish out. Secondly, a way to test to see if fried chicken is done is to pierce the skin with a fork in the meatiest part and if the juices run clear you're chicken is done, if the juices are red or pink the chicken isn't done. My problem is how can a chicken covered in red batter run clear and not red? Unless you know the correct way to "push" on meat and see if it's cooked I would just go with cutting it open. If it's still pink, it's not done. Simple as that.

Anyway, my consensus on the whole red velvet fried chicken thing is simply this, it takes like sugared chicken. In short, I wasn't impressed. I would call this a fail but someone else might like it. As for me if I want my chicken to be covered in sugary goodness I'll stick to OKC's own Bobo's. Their honey smothered chicken wins my vote any day over red velvet.

I hope you try this for yourself if you are any bit interested. It's super easy and doesn't take very much time and you don't have to fry a whole chicken, just try a piece or two. If you do try it please let me know how you like it.

Beaucoup d'amour, de rire souvent, et bien mange

xoxo,
Susan

Ma! Meatloaf!

Meat happens to be one of my least favorite things to eat. However, I LOVE meatloaf. There is just something about it that is so homey and rustic. Up until yesterday I had never made a meatloaf of my own. I have eaten many a meatloaf, criticizing and picking through saying "I could make this better." So naturally yesterday when I was trying to pick a recipe to try, mixed with the fact that we had meat already thawed and ready to be made into a meatloaf, the choice seemed pretty obvious. I watch the food network pretty religiously and recipes could be likened to my choice of pornography therefore I've collected quite a few recipe that I'm sure I'll eventually use someday. However, I have only ever been interested in one meatloaf recipe I have found. One day while half watching the television series "The Next Food Network Star" I briefly heard one of the judges compliment a contestant named Mary Beth and say that she would always use buttermilk in her meatloaf from then on. After I heard that I knew I needed that recipe.

Unfortunately sometimes when you are cooking you don't always have the ingredients listed in your recipe. Don't be afraid to substitute! Last night as I made this recipe, I realized I didn't have everything I needed and the grocery store definitely wasn't calling my name. I decided I would make do with what I had and my meatloaf turned out better than I could have ever expected. I'll give you Mary Beth's recipe but I'll put in parentheses what I used as well. Never be afraid to experiment!

Meatloaf (source Mary Beth Albright)
Makes 12 Cupcakes

For the Glaze
1 cup ketchup or (1 small can tomato sauce)
1 cup barbeque sauce or (2 parts barbeque sauce and 1 part sriracha) 
1/2 cup brown sugar

For the meatloaf
1/3 cup panko crumbs or (1/3 cup instant mashed potato flakes)
1 cup whole fat buttermilk or (1 cup milk- any percentage you like but preferably 2% or above and either 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice or 3 Tablespoons vinegar. Either of those mixed with your milk makes buttermilk)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Clove garlic, minced
1 Cup small diced onion
1/4 cup chopped parsley (I did not use this because we didn't have any instead I added green bell pepper)
1/3 cup chopped basil
2 Tablespoons tomato paste (I used tomato sauce. After taking out the 2T I used the rest for the glaze so you don't waste opening more than one can)
1/2 pound ground beef (85/15)
1/2 pound ground pork ( I used 2 pounds of ground beef instead of 1/2 a pound of each. It makes a denser loaf)
1 Cup grated parmesan cheese (I used Feta)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 425º. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until soft and translucent (try not to brown). Add parsley, (green bell pepper), basil, and tomato paste or sauce and cook for about a minute. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl combine panko or potato flakes with buttermilk and set aside for 5 minutes. Then in a large bowl, place beef, pork, cheese, salt, pepper, your onion mixture and your panko or potato flake mixture. Mix with hands until well combined.

Now here is where I deviated from the recipe. I didn't want to make a loaf so instead I make meatloaf cupcakes. I used cupcake papers to line my cupcake pan but with the amount of liquid and fat in meat you don't have to use anything. You can just place your "meatballs" directly into your cupcake pan if you aren't interested in the look of a real cupcake. However if you do use a liner I recommend using an aluminum one instead of paper so it wont soak through.

Make individual balls of meat and add to your cupcake pan, they should be about level with the top of the pan. If you have excess you can make more. I just added my excess meat to each slot to make them a little bigger. Put your pan in the oven for 30 minutes. Now baking time will always be different based on individual ovens. Mine were perfectly done at 30. To check if your meat is done you can cut one open while still in the oven and it shouldn't be pink on the inside. It should also be considerably shrunken.

While your meatloaf is baking prepare  your potatoes. I actually used a box of instant red potatoes and added butter and milk for a creamier consistency and salt and pepper to taste. It took all of 10 minutes, I love that!

You can also mix your glaze while you wait. Very simple just add all the ingredients in a bowl and stir! When your meatloaf is done baking take the pan out and spoon your glaze over the top of each ball. Replace in the oven for 5 minutes. When your meatloaf comes out, put a scoop of mashed potatoes on top of each and sprinkle cheese (optional) over the top and stick back in the over for 5 minutes or until your cheese gets kind of melty.

Et Voila!! You have meatloaf cupcakes!

Please let me know if you try this and how it turns out! Also, If you know what movie the title of this blog came from you get a high five from me!


Beaucoup d'amour, de rire souvent, et bien mange
xoxo,
Susan

Pizza! Pizza!

In recent years a phrase has been coined to describe a food that is nutrient rich and beneficial to health and well-being. They call these "superfoods." While it may not meet those exact specifications, I consider Pizza to be a superfood. You can eat it hot, cold, for lunch, dinner, breakfast, it can be gluten free, vegan, contain meat or not, you can pile it high with vegetables or have simply cheese. Now if that isn't superfood, I don't know what is. I personally could probably eat pizza almost every day which means we try out a lot of pizza places. Caleb and I are always up for something new and joined the trend of trying the 'take 'n' bake pizza' from Papa Murphy's. I would liken them to being the Subway of pizza. Pick your bread and topping and they wrap it up and send you on your way where you can bake it yourself at home. We are definitely the get-every-topping-you-can-possibly-get kind of people. So needless to say we were a little sad when we had to pay extra for toppings ($1 for anything extra) and we ended up taking our pizza home and adding toppings ourselves. So why not make the pizza yourself too. It just makes sense. 

Pizza Dough - Source Joy of Cooking
(makes two 12-inch crusts)

Combine in bowl of heavy duty mixer (I use a kitchen aid) and let stand until yeast is dissolved about 5 mins
Your dough should double in size after you let it sit. If it does not then your yeast may not have activated so make sure that you get the correct temperature of water and that it is fully dissolved before you move on.

1 1/3 cups warm (105° to 115°F) water
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast

Then using your dough hook attachment (you can mix this by hand but it is much more labor intensive and takes longer) turn your mixer on low and add the flour 1/2 of a cup at a time until well mixed. Add olive oil, salt, and sugar. I use kosher salt but table salt is fine too.

3 1/2  to 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon salt
(1 Tablespoon sugar)   

Turn mixer on medium and let mix until dough is smooth and elastic looking. The dough should completely pull away from the sides of the mixer and be in a ball. There should be no dough stuck to the sides of the bowl. If your dough is too sticky* add 1/4 cup more flour and let mix repeat this until smooth. Take dough out of the bowl. If it sticks to your hands without releasing clean it still needs more flour.  

Coat the inside of a medium bowl with olive oil (about 1/2 a Tablespoon) put your dough in the bowl and then flip it over so that each side is covered in oil.

Make a damp kitchen towel and cover your bowl. Set it someplace warm (I set mine on top of the stove when it is off)  to rise. Do NOT turn the oven on but set a timer for 45 mins and let your dough rest.

When the timer goes off punch down your dough and recover. You may need to re-dampen your towel. Turn oven on to 475º and preheat your pans for 45 mins while your dough continues to rise. When the timer goes off pull out your pans and punch down your dough again and let it rest for 10-15 mins. This is to ensure that your dough will not be too elastic to roll out. Lower the oven temp to 350º

Dust your work surface with flour to keep your dough from sticking. Coat the bottom of your pan or pans with olive oil.  Now you are ready to roll out your dough. You can use any shape pan you like, I use traditional round. You don't want to handle your dough too roughly or the gluten will reactivate and cause it to become elastic again. If this happens recover your dough and let it sit for another 10 minutes. This will cause the gluten to relax and you can continue to roll again. If you don't have a rolling pin you can use anything round and heavy. In fact we use a heavy (empty) wine bottle at our house.

After you roll your dough out to your pan size, place in your pan and roll the edges over and press so that it creates a crust. Spread a little olive oil over the bottom of the crust. This creates a barrier that keeps your sauce from soaking in and making your dough soggy as it bakes. We like to pepper the dough and sprinkle a layer of shredded asiago cheese on before we spoon on the sauce. After you spoon on your sauce (we typically use spaghetti sauce but you can make your own or use whatever you like) you can add your toppings.

Bake at 350º for about 20 mins or until your crust is golden brown and your cheese is melted. Enjoy!


Beaucoup d'amour, de rire souvent, et bien mange

xoxo,
Susan

I can write a blog, I have thoughts

If I am going to be honest right off the bat, I have to say that I started this blog months ago. It has sat blank and lonely while I have tried to figure out what I want to say. I constantly think of  a quote from "Julie & Julia" in which she says "I could write a blog, I have thoughts." As it turns out I just couldn't think of any thoughts to share and couple that with the fact that writing isn't my strong suit, it really just sounds like a recipe for disaster.  Finally I decided to just buckle down and work it out. Many ideas have been tossed around about what I want to accomplish here. Do I want to share my personal recipes? Do I want to "perfect" and simplify classics for an easy "how to guide" to make sure your dishes turn out perfectly every time at home? This list goes on for days. In the end I decided I was not quite ready to give up my recipes so easily out into cyberspace. Then it hit me. How many times have you watched a cooking show drooling over your television, found a recipe on the internet you just had to print, or heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that a recipe was "to die for" only to be completely disappointed by the outcome? It has happened to us all. My new rule of thumb is just because they are paid to be on television, or in a magazine does NOT mean the recipe will be good. I personally have countless recipes in folders, binders, books, and magazines. Much like "Julie & Julia," I am going to cook, bake, grill, poach, and sous vide my way through the mass of recipes I've collected and if you have one at home you'd love to try but sounds a little out there, send it to me! I'll try it out for us. Hopefully I can make use of all of my recipes (which might make me feel better about all the trees I have killed collecting them) and help you find some great go to recipes as well.

Beaucoup d'amour, de rire souvent, et bien mange
xoxo,
Susan