ImPerceptibility

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

This choice was made under a tree last month.  I waited to be sure it was true.  It is and it is right. I’ll miss ImPerceptibility but mostly I’ll miss you.  Take care.

Goodbye Stranger

It was an early morning yesterday
I was up before the dawn
And I really have enjoyed my stay
But I must be moving on

Like a king without a castle
Like a queen without a throne
I’m an early morning lover
And I must be moving on

Now I believe in what you say
As the undisputed truth
But I have to have things my own way
To keep me in my youth

Like a ship without an anchor
Like a slave without a chain
Just the thought of those sweet ladies
Sends a shiver through my veins

And I will go on shining
Shining like brand new
I’ll never look behind me
My troubles will be few

(Goodbye stranger it’s been nice)
(Hope you find your paradise)
(Tried to see your point of view)
(Hope your dreams will all come true)
(Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane)
(Will we ever meet again)
(Feel no sorrow, feel no shame)
(Come tomorrow, feel no pain)

Sweet devotion,
It’s not for me
Just give me motion,
To set me free
Land in the ocean,
Far away
By my chosen
Every day

So Goodbye Mary,
Goodbye Jane
Will we ever
Meet again

Now some they do and some they don’t
And some you just can’t tell
And some they will and some they won’t
With some it’s just as well

You can laugh at my behavior
That’ll never bother me
Say the devil is my savior
But I don’t pay no heed

And I will go on shining
Shining like brand new
I’ll never look behind me
My troubles will be few

(Goodbye stranger it’s been nice)
(Hope you find your paradise)
(Tried to see your point of view)
(Hope your dreams will all come true)
(Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane)
(Will we ever meet again)
(Feel no sorrow, feel no shame)
(Come tomorrow, feel no pain)

Sweet devotion,
It’s not for me
Just give me motion,
To set me free
Land in the ocean,
Far away
By my chosen,
Every day

Now I’m leaving,
Got to go,
Hit the road
I’m sayin’ once again,
oh yes I’m leaving
Got to go,
Got to go.
I’m sorry another day
But Goodbye Mary,
Goodbye Jane
Will we ever
Meet again

Oh I’m leavin’
I’ve got to go

Hey, I’m back and I’ve kinda missed you. I know, I haven’t posted in almost a month. But I’ve been busy. No, not with the holidays. They came and went. We had a good time. Ate too much. Gave and received a bunch of stuff we didn’t need or want. Made memories. They’re over. Moving on to what really happened.

You may or may have not figured out by now that I tend to go off on tangents. About a month ago I realized that I really missed my sourdough starter. This was when it all started. I use to have the most awesome sourdough starter ever. I started it with a cup of white flour, some water, and some yeast. As time passed I fed it and stirred it. A little bit of buckwheat. A little bit of rice flour. Maybe a little cornmeal. One day I added some left over pumpkin puree. It began to take on a life of it’s own. I nurtured it and it bubbled. It was good stuff. I used it to make bread. Really good bread. But time passed and I began to take it for granted. After a few weeks of neglect I found it stinky and molding in the back of the refrigerator. I buried it in my compost pile. It deserved a proper burial.

Time passed and I had almost forgotten my sourdough starter. I focused my time on growing tomatoes and baking plain ole bread. I thought I was happy, but I wasn’t. I was lying to myself.

So, I started a new batch of sourdough starter. I was determined to rekindle the passion. It took a few days but before long I was once again baking scrumptious rolls and tasty loafs. The joy of baking was mine. I was a fully satisfied woman once again. Life was good.

But then, I started to want more. The yeast in my fridge was teasing me with its fermentation possibilities. I knew it could take me to new height of culinary bliss. It started out simply enough. I did a quick Internet search and my screen was filled with possibilities. I began to download recipes and read page after page of suggestions and advice. I wanted more. I needed more. It became almost an obsession.

Before I knew what was happening to me, I started to look at other fermentation possibilities. The sourdough starter I once loved just wasn’t enough. I spent every free minute with one hand on the keyboard and the other on my yeast container. I did things in my kitchen I am not proud of. I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life.

It was a twisted crooked road I traveled. When it was all said and done I ended up with a gallon of mead fermenting on my kitchen counter. I like to watch it as the little raisins float to the surface then fall back to the bottom. It’s like a little dance. A mead fermentation dance. It makes me happy.

If it all works out, this time next year I’ll have some fine mead to celebrate the New Year. I’m looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to catching up with you. I hope you had a happy holiday and I send you my best wishes for the New Year. Bring on 2009.

Today I got up and started peeling apples. It started out good.

I made applesauce. But I over-processed it and it ended up like stage 1 baby food. Still tasted good if you can get past the texture.

I also made Asian style baked bean with apples from dried beans. I cooked them all day. Then right before dinner, I turned the burner up too high and burned them.

 I also made fudgy brownies. I didn’t cook those enough and the middle was a little too fudgy.

I spent most of my day in the kitchen and the kids had ramen noodles with frozen vegetables, sliced raw apples, and the outside edge of brownies for dinner.

The moral of the story? When life hands you apples, make compost.

This was on the back of the Goya Bulgar Wheat bag. I decided to try it and it’s really good hot or cold. It also smells really good when it’s cooking. Sometimes I eat it plain and sometimes I scoop it up with corn chips. I’m going to put it here so when they take it off the back of the bag I’ll still have a copy of the recipe – that I can find. Unlike my last favorite recipe. Thanks a lot, black bean bag designers! Though, I am a lot less gassy now. Maybe it was blessing.

Bulgar Pilaf (With Two Cheeses)
4 servings (more like 3)

1T Olive Oil
1 Cup Diced Onions
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Cup Bulgar Wheat
1 Can Diced Tomatoes (I use Jalapeno Tomatoes)
1 ¾ Cup Vegetable Broth
½ Teaspoon Salt
(It also calls for cheese but I don’t use it)
½ Cup shredded Edam or Mozzarella
Grated Parmesan for garnish

1. In a saucepan on medium, heat the oil. Stir in the onion and cook for 5mins until the onion is translucent. (Slightly more time if you’re smart like me and chop a bunch of onions all at once then freeze them in 1 Cup freezer containers)
2. Stir in the garlic and bulgar and cook for two minutes. (This is when it smells really good)
3. Stir in the tomato, broth and salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 20mins until the liquid is absorbed. (I just dump everything in and cook it in the pressure cooker for 10mins.)
4. (Stir in the Edam Cheese. Garnish individual portions with parmesan)

Every once and awhile you have to mix it up. Try something new. Step out of your comfort zone. Today was that day. I got wild and crazy in the kitchen. MyHusband wasn’t impressed. He sat on the couch and watched the game. That didn’t stop me. I had no problems with doing it alone. Today I tried not one but two new canning recipes. Yes, I am out of control. Get used to it. I like it that way.

The first was green tomato hotdog relish. I went all out and bought new jars for that recipe. They’re the ones in the middle. Aren’t they cute? The second was Brushetta in a jar. The recipe said I could ‘enjoy the convenience of ready-to-serve garden-fresh tomatoes all year long.’ You know I’m not passing up a recipe that uses both a single and double hyphenated word back-to-back in the description. I like my hyphens. I won’t know how they turned out until I actually open and eat them but I feel good about them.

Also, here is another picture:

This is the other half of the hottest garlic clove ever known to man. As I was waiting for the relish to finish cooking I decided to sample a left over piece of garlic. Next thing I knew I was in serious pain. I screamed and should have spit but instead I swallowed. It burned all the way down and I started crying. I went to wipe the tears from my eyes and unfortunately I had garlic juice on my hands.  It was not a good thing.  But I picked myself up and finished those recipes.  I deserve the gold medal.  As of now my tummy still hurts a little, my ‘can you make that a little hotter’ pride is bruised, and I might have a garlic induced ulcer. The Tums are helping.  I might need a foot rub.

I was tagged by RTK for the Show Me Your Rack meme. I just couldn’t resist. I really like showing off my rack.

I have three places I keep my spices. All the bulk spices go in the plastic basket. It is usually in the pantry but I figured it would OK to pull it out and show you. The second is an actual rack in the cabinet beside the stove. That is where all my spices are supposed to be. But, when I use a spice I put it on top of the stove. Every few months I put them all back and start over. You can see the leftover spices from my fall baking. Judging by the orange sugar in the middle, the last time I cleaned up was when I made Halloween cookies.

My most unusual spice? I don’t know. I think the usual spices change depending on where you live and what you cook. I have a lot of different curries. Maybe the vaious bags of mustard seeds? I also like it hot. I have a variety of dried peppers. Would fennel seeds be considered unusual? I use them for fennel seed cookies.

Here’s how you play:

1) Take a picture of your rack. (You get to decide which one)

2) Post it on your blog.

2b) (optional) Answer the (2-part) question: what is the most obscure spice you have, and why do you have it?

3) “Tag” several other people whose racks you’d like to see

I want to see everyones rack. You’re all tagged! And if I don’t know yet, what better way to introduce yourself?

Since I am not the type of person to deny an expectant mother  a potato recipe, I am posting potato recipes. These are my top three potato recipes based on compliments received over the last 10-12 years. Enjoy.

Potato Casserole

Serves 2-4 people depending on how hungry they are

• 4 Boiled, peeled and diced potatoes
• ½ Cup American Cheese (Cheddar works well also)
• ½ Cup Mayonnaise
• ¼ Cup Chopped Onion (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ lb. Partially fried bacon, chopped
• 1/8 Cup sliced chopped olives

Mix 1^st four ingredients. Place in a 9X9-casserole pan. Top with bacon and olives. Bake 1 hour at 325.

(Notes: I boil the potatoes until they fall off a fork when I poke them. Then I drain and mix them with the other ingredients. They break up fine and you don’t have to burn your fingers chopping them. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, halved, whatever and it it’ll turn out fine. Leftovers re-heat well.)

Potatoes Anna

Serves 4-8 people depending on how much they want

• 2 T Butter
• 1 T Kosher Salt
• 3 Large Potatoes (About 4 Cups)

Melt butter with salt. Slice raw potatoes about ¼ inch thick. In greased 8-inch pie plate, arrange potatoes so they look nice, overlapping them; Drizzle butter/salt over the top. Cover with foil and bake for 20 mins. At 450. Uncover and bake 55 mins. or more until potatoes are tender and top is crispy. Let stand five minutes. Then you are supposed to remove the pie from the pan and cut into wedges. This has never worked for me so I serve it from the pie plate. It still tastes good.

Potato Soooprize

Serves however many you want to serve and the rest of them too.

• Chop one good-sized potato for each person into 1″ cubes.
• Melt 1T butter or Olive Oil per potato.
• Add a little salt and pepper and whatever seasoning you feel like adding to the oil.

Toss potato cubes in the expertly seasoned oil and spread into single layer on a baking sheet or casserole dish. The Casserole dish is less messy. Cover loosely with foil and bake at 350 until they are tender. Turn oven up to 450; remove foil and quickly brown outside.

Early in our relationship my husband told me he didn’t like vegetables. Being young and naive I thought that meant he didn’t like the way I fixed vegetables. To solve the problem, I decided to do a Veronica/Gopher search with the search phrase “Vegetable Recipes”.   If you enter that into Google in 2007 you’ll get almost a million results. I’m guessing most of them are links to on-line cookbooks. In 1992 I got about 12. One of them was titled “Debbie Does Vegetables”

How about that, I thought. Here is a woman that created a file about vegetables and various tasty ways to prepare them. She must be a very dedicated woman. I clicked on the title to download the file.

My 2400-baud modem downloaded the file in lightening fast time. Well, lightening fast considering I had just upgraded from a 1200-baud modem. A modem I literally got out of a trash dumpster. I watched as the images started to open up on my screen.

It started out innocent enough. The head of a smiling and somewhat attractive woman appeared on the screen. As the lines of the jpg started to fill in, my eyes popped wide open.

“Oh my God! MyHusband, you gotta get in here and see this!” I screeched in a high pitched voice.

He came in quickly thinking I had found a new version of Lemmings to play. We spent way too much time running Lemming off a cliff back then. Or maybe he was worried that I had found his “secret” stash of naked boobie pictures. Either way he got there quickly.

He was shocked to find me sitting in front of the monitor with images of Debbie “doing” vegetables. I’m not talking about your run of the mill cucumber or zucchini. That woman had a whole tossed salad going on in there.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” he cautiously asked.

“I was searching for vegetable recipes and found this”, I said incredulously. He looked relieved. We had a good laugh.

It was almost six weeks before I stopped blushing every time I entered the produce department at the local grocery. Maybe a bit longer before I could hold a cucumber and look the produce manager in the eye. Vegetables aren’t something I’m into. They did make me curious about what else was out there. Since then I’ve found a few things I did want tell my husband. He hasn’t had any complaints.

So, there you have it. My first taste of Internet porn. Anyone else dare to tell about yours? 

Links:

Porn-Bread

I’ve been thinking about my blog and blogging. I decided I needed to post a few things that might actually be useful. Occasionally I will be posting lists of 10 whatevers for whatever. I could only think of 7 uses for sticky notes and a wall (You think I’m kidding!) so I’ll kick it off with

10 Fun Recipes for Kids

Peanut Butter Dough – For each child mix about ¼ a cup of peanut butter (we use soy nut butter because of a peanut allergy) with a Tablespoon or so of honey. Mix together then add about ¼ cup powdered milk a little at a time. When the dough starts to form a ball sprinkle a little more milk and let the kids knead the dough until it is smooth. They can use it like play dough but it tastes better when they eat it.

Pigs in a Blanket – All you need some bread dough and those little cocktail wieners. I usually make my own dough but the breadstick dough works great with these. Just dry the baby hotdogs and wrap them in a small piece of the dough. Bake until they start to brown. We usually bake half for a snack and freeze the other half for later. You don’t have to thaw the unbaked half before baking. Just put them in the oven and turn it to 350 degrees. Once it pre-heats give them a few more minutes to brown and there done.

Drop Danishes – Here’s the recipe. I’ve been making these since I was teenager. The kids like picking their own jelly for these. Here’s a recipe for homemade baking mix.

English Muffin Pizza – Lightly toast a split English muffin and place them on a cookie sheet. Let the kids add sauce, cheese, and whatever finely chopped leftovers they want from the fridge.(Anything goes) Broil until the cheese is melted and hopefully enjoy. If not make another.

Quesadillas – Put a flour tortilla in a small pan. Sprinkle with cheese and anything else they want to add. Cover with another tortilla and heat at medium heat until the cheese melts and sticks the two sides together. Flip over and lightly brown the other side. You can cut these into triangles and serve as a quick afternoon snack.

Shape Cinnamon toast – Cut bread with cookie cutters. Spread a little butter on the bread and have kids sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Broil in the oven for a few minutes until the toast just starts to brown. Don’t worry about wasting the bread. You can put the leftovers in the oven (turned off) when you’re done and dry them for breadcrumbs.

Mini Cobbler – Cut piecrust into circles, or squares, or triangles that are larger than a muffin tin cup. Press into the bottom of the cups and fill with there favorite pie filling, or fresh fruit, or chocolate pudding. Sprinkle with bits of leftover piecrust. Bake as directed for piecrust.

Painted Cookies – You need a batch of your favorite sugar cookie dough. Store bought works fine. Spread it flat on a greased jellyroll pan. Bake as directed. Allow to cool completely. Mix powder sugar with a little water to make a glaze and add some food coloring. Put into squeeze containers. Let them paint a masterpiece on their cookie canvas. Just remember, if you make very dark colors, food color stains everything. Use an old tablecloth. Children tend to go all Jackson Pollock with this. Embrace the creative process. :)

Cereal Granola – Give each child a zipper top bag. Write their name on it with a permanent marker. Make it fancy. Fill about 1/3 full with a favorite cereal. Let them add a few favorite treats. (Chocolate chips, marshmallows, raisins) Toss in a few handfuls of a new food you’d like them to try. (Dried blueberries, pineapple, banana chips, soybeans, sunflower seeds, etc) shake and enjoy. If they complain about the new food, tell them to just eat what they like.

Fruit Smoothies – This is easy. You take the fruit the kids didn’t eat at dinner. Put it in a blender with a scoop of ice cream and some milk. Blend.

I hope you enjoy these. They have all been fully tested over the years with my family. I’ve only included the ones voted least likely to give a parent a headache.  If you have any others let me know.

Also, if you think of any non-conventional uses for sticky notes let me know. I would really like to finish that list.

recipes cooking kids+cook fun+recipes