Cookies for me, cookies for Asta

Coffee all day works against me if I'm not madly typing and clicking so I switched to green tea during the Ike days. I decided to make some cake mix cookies to go with my tea while I was cooking and Foodsaving 4 family packs of pig last Thursday. The recipe is 1-2-3 simple and we made them all the time since my now 17-yr-old granddaughter was 5 years old.
Cake Mix Cookies
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 box cake mix [any flavor]

Mix all ingredients together and drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie
sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

The small cookie on the left is 1 tsp. Obviously, I used 1 tbsp for these. One thing about using the gas grill for baking is you can only use 1/2 the grill to bake at 350. This doubles baking time and I'm not patient enough for that... with all the other prep and cooking being done during this.
Asta patiently waited (and got her treat) but I decided this was a good time to try that recipe for dog cookies while I had the peanut butter out.
Simple Simon's Birthday Bones
from Three Dog Bakery Cookbook by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $12.95)
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup skim milk
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix the peanut butter and milk. Add wet mixture to the dry, and mix well.Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead. Roll out 1/4-inch thick, and cut out shapes. (I made these way too thick and will correct for the next batch. She doesn't seem to mind the only cookie cutter I had that was in any way dog treat shaped was a snowman.)
Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly brown. (Ah, here you can see I've switched from tea and cookies to red wine.)
Cool on a rack, then store in an airtight container. Makes 30 large bones.
Asta loves these so much when I ask if she wants a treat, she runs to me licking her chops over and over and over.

Cooking spree! Pork and Cabbage Soup

I was afraid to restock my Ike-emptied fridge for the first 2 weeks after electricity was restored. Catching sight of both doors open for 15 days never failed to give me a start... kind of like seeing a relative laying on the kitchen floor bleeding profusely would. Not sure I'd survive throwing away another freezer full. Not to mention the dread of cooking everything all at once again.

Good decision because 10 days later it went off for 24 hours (new tree-falls on my lines). But it knocked comcast out of order which took 5 days to fix. I decided the odds of electricity failing again were enormous, and I couldn't work with no internet access, so I went shopping. I purchased 4 family packs of different pig parts :O! None of them cost over $1.67lb so I drug out the Foodsaver and started cooking (Please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch - this time it was fun cooking everything at once.)

First start was a loaf of whole wheat bread. My courtyard table gives the best rises but I wondered how it would be affected when the current coldwave kept the temp below 80 even at high noon. No worry. This happened in just under an hour. And, by Jove, Jon Stewart's right. Karl Rove's face DOES look like a loaf of unbaked bread dough.
All three dishes were prepped at the same time, in 3 different areas of the kitchen, so I guess I'll separate them by dish. (Hope I don't have to say these were finished and eaten over 36 hours) First was getting the pork and cabbage soup started in the crockpot.

This was .99lb pork steak cut into pieces and sauteed. Under the top steak (both packages) the steaks were 25% pork fat so I guess I'll be rendering lard in the near future. Not sure what I'll use it for but everyone from Homesick Texan to the top chefs give how to instructions and recipes on their blogs so what the hey.
Tossed the pork, raw onions, celery, carrots, and cabbage in the crockpot with Italian spices and poured in a can of diced tomatoes. 8 hours later it looked like this and I sliced into the whole wheat bread.


Mmmmm. This is good even if it's not cold outside.

Cooking spree! Ratatouille

No pork here but I have a Musgovian eggplant half and have never even eaten the dish. Since even 2nd graders can pronounce the word correctly now, it's time.
It's pretty enough to eat raw.

And smells good enough to wait.
Excellent with a salad using homemade 1000 Island dressing and homemade croutons from the last loaf of bread. Consists totally of staples so this is a do-over.


Odd, Mom made this dish all the time but called it Eggplant Creole. Just googled that recipe and it's a legit modification of shrimp creole for vegetarians. Huh. Can't find it in Joy of Cooking so it must have been a clipped recipe.

Joy of Cooking did have a recipe for Grilled Ratatouille Salad, very similar to this one on epicurious.com, but Joy includes grilled fennel, tomatoes, and a head of garlic. Yum. I even bought fennel last week (to make Italian sausage) but need to pick up some feta... and another eggplant!

Cooking spree! Pork and Broccoli Stirfry

This one I did after starting the cabbage soup and sauteed it and the ratatouille at the same time. One of the best parts of my Vacuumsaver is using the vacuum to marinate meats. The vacuum sucks all liquid into the meat and what used to be a one-hour marinade is done in 5 minutes. This consisted only of soy sauce and garlic powder.

When garlic was sauteed to golden (Supposed to take it out at that point but I don't. Everything added afterwards cools it all down for a while.), I added the pork.
When pork's half done I added diced carrots, onion, and celery.
When they're cooked, I stirred in frozen chopped broccoli and the sauce: 1/4 c soy sauce, 1/4 c rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp grated orange zest, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. When the sauce thickened I added a cup of day old rice.
Could have used a splash of sriracha but the vinegar was tangy enough. After this I vacuum packed the rest of it because I have a lot of food coming up!

Most Bang for the Buck Appetizer

Unique, fast, and easy.

Bought Rosa Bianca eggplant seeds (heirloom, Italian) on a whim, not knowing they take so long to ripen. They're softball size and the blooms are, too!

These should have been picked before IKE. Every morning I'd see four of them from my kitchen window getting older and older but who has time??? I did have time with no electricity for 15 days but unable to google a recipe. Finally peeled, cut into chunks and roasted them last night then mixed with olive oil, red wine and balsamic vinegar, green onions, capers and mint leaves. Wish I'd remembered the mushrooms in the fridge. This was delicious and so quick to prepare.

But everyone roasts eggplant. The topper is the Crisp Rosemary Flatbread I found on epicurious.com (be sure to read the reviews for other ideas). I've been searching for a cracker-like bread recipe since I first tried it at Sorrento years ago. This one is so easy, takes no yeast/kneading and even the first time was super simple. (I don't use parchment paper, just oiled the baking sheet and cooked it on the grill which may be why it took an extra 10 mins to brown.)


I have a fresh old-fashioned eggplant in the fridge and am making it again tonight with the addition of sliced mushrooms and chunks of roasted carrot. Wish I had Parmesan or goat cheese but there's only so much lost food you can afford to restock per month. Plus, I have this nagging feeling the electricity will suddenly go off again and I'll have to start all over. When does that end?

First Meals Post Ike

After more than a week of Dinner Impossibles - entrees and sides dictated by what's going bad the fastest instead of compatibility - Fiesta had the brand of NO olive salad I saw at the restaurant trade show and assumed I'd never find retail. Grabbed it and the rest of the fixings for a muffaletta... on a bolillo roll.
Saved a recipe last month from NPR which stated the olives go on one side only. Compounded that error by trimming meats but using both pieces on the tiny bolillo.

Tasted swell but next two made with those bolillos will have one layer of salami, olives on both sides, cheese on both sides. Will heat it in a cast iron skillet with another on top instead of using the microwave as well.

Made a loaf of whole wheat before grocery shopping thinking I'd only have sandwiches for a day or two while catching up with work. Couldn't wait to dig into it so this was breakfast the next morning.

Breakfast Sausage

SCORE! Fiesta had .99 lb family packs of pork sirloin. Made a batch of Homesick Texan's Breakfast Sausage on Day 3. I've tried four different online recipes and hers is by far my favorite. Only used 2lbs of the pork for this recipe so have enough left to freeze for stirfries, to grind for a freezer stock of dumplings,* and make more sausage.

So glad to have access to my food processor again.

Grind the pork, mix in the spices and it's done! I add 4 T water, as Nathan Lau suggests. He actually says water or wine which will be an interesting experiment.

Delicious, preservative free, and half the cost. I think this is what my Mommy and Daddy ate as breakfast sausage when they were young. Tomorrow is biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast.

* Did you assume, like I did, that wonton skins must be refrigerated because they'd get moldy? Ike taught me THIS is what happens when they're not refrigerated!

Grillin' and Chillin'

Grill Temperatures
I bought an oven thermometer after baking an unsatisfactory meatloaf and incinerating some sliced eggplant. Well, part of that was leaving the area while experimenting with thinner-sliced eggplant. The grill's outside thermostat didn't seem to match the heat it's giving off and has no numbers on it anyway. I found:
2 burners on med high = 550 degrees (perfect for pizza)
2 burners on low = 450 degrees (yikes, who knew?)
1 burner on low and one off = 350 degrees on the off side

I've got pizza down but have started using a pizza plate so I don't fret so much over an occasional wet dough slipping thru the grid.


German chocolate cakemix cookies with diced carrots and oatmeal never firmed up but I think those would have been better as cupcakes. Asta loved them after her pulled pork dinner, tho.


Plain white bread comes out better than in the oven. Below is from dough I started in the bread machine one night. I remembered it at 6am and it had fallen seriously but I started the grill anyway. The result was 7am hot bread and butter outside at Le Bistro. I should do this every day!


Whole wheat is troublesome anyway but yesterday's wheat/oatmeal/sesame seed loaf was undercooked. Looks like I'll be making more to get the timing down. It may work better on a baking sheet than in a loaf pan.

UPDATE: It may have seemed undercooked while hot but the next day it was perfect. Expected it was doomed to be toasted for crostini but sliced thinly and schmeared with roasted eggplant was excellent.

Things I learned from Martha Stewart

Every girl needs an electric drill. My house purchase coincided with the closing of all Sears Hardware stores. For $99 I got a battery-operated kit with a drill, screwdriver, reciprocating saw, and two other things I probably should investigate. Martha's also the reason I bought a drillbit for ceramics. I didn't use it for 3 years but it's the only way to drill holes in ceramic pots for plants or lamps.

Fill your hibiscus vase with ice. They're notorious for lasting 1 day even on the shrub but if you fill your container with crushed ice and water they'll be perky for hours and hours after cutting. Hint: it WILL need a coaster under it and will need to be replenished with ice.

Water radishes every day. Makes them sweeter and the leaves are really hydrated and excellent sauteed.

Fold bedspreads down to the end of the bed. It's so inviting and doesn't really look like an unmade bed. If you have a white dog it doubles the time between washings. Always a Good Thing.

Misfires

Misfires - Turnips

How to consume an overload of turnips at one meal a day? One night I tried deep fried turnip chips. Who knew they'd curl up with centers like flowers? They never did crisp so I tried some thicker -- no good at all. Made hummus to plop in the middle and they were delicious but sloppy. Back to julienned in salad, stirfry, and summer rolls.

Misfires - Mimosa

Rusty's mimosa has bitten the dust. Or not. I refused to look at it for a week then when I pulled it out the roots (a lot of them) were all alive. I'm sure I overwatered it. I put 3 drops a day on it and there's green down on the stem now. Should have remembered what survivors these things are. Now I'm torn between putting the rest of the seeds in the fridge until Sept and planting more. Afraid if I wait until March the seeds will be dead.

Misfires - Soy Sprouts

From HEB.
Soak overnight, put in a container with holes in the bottom, change water twice daily, and in a week you have sprouts.

First, I filled the container and THEN soaked... and didn't remove all the extras.

Things went well until I skipped changing the water for a day. Yeeesh. Thought I had one of those hidden potatoes in the pantry somewhere. Compost dump. Google has hundreds of sites with instructions and many use a 1 liter cola bottle with the top curved part cut off and cover it with cheesecloth. I may try that but am so bummed it will be a while.

Sunday Update

Lots happening around the homestead this weekend. Sidewalk poured and sod laid over the now cemented solid sinkhole. I water this every evening at 6pm (you can see in this shot my hose doesn't reach to the farthest end. I've hooked a third hose so I can sprinkle their grass as well. It's not high quality grass; a quarter of the squares are more Johnson Grass than St Augustine but at least the city puts it in.

My grandfather Bob Duke did this when the city of Dalhart planted trees along their street back in the 20s. Amidst the neighbors' teasing he watered those trees every evening. Thirty years later my mother pointed out that's why the trunks of their trees were three times the size of all others on the street.

Irises have moved to a Garcia's house. Top 10:30am, bottom 3:30pm

Bed 4 is finally finished. After an HD run for brackets: okra, tomatillos, black beans and Italian green beans. Blank space in Bed 3: I got caught for the first time using 3 yr old black-eyed pea seeds. None came up and my online seed sources don't carry them! On the HD list. White flowers in Bed 2 are arugula sprinkling seeds for next year.

My first tomatillo almost doubles every day and all tomato plants have flowers on them.

Sounded good until I came across my garden May 10, 2004 (below). This was the last year I could garden because the trees on the right blocked all sun. It was cool enough to sit around and drink out there but not so much fun.