I have always wanted to make homemade cinnamon rolls, but I do not have much experience with yeast breads. The other night I was watching Good Eats, and the subject was Breakfast Buns, and I decided to give it a go. I wasn’t brave enough to go for the rolls, but he had another recipe on there that made a pull-apart in a bundt pan, so I combined the cinnamon and the cream-cheese frosting (not pictured) but did it pull-apart style in my mini-bundt pan (about 8 inches across) – it was the perfect size for the two of us, and lasted several days. So good, and not as hard as I thought it would be! I’ll be doing this again for sure!

Last night I found myself with a countertop full of tomatoes that were heading downhill, so I needed to use them up quick. I decided to go for Chicken Parmasian, one of Dave’s favorites.

Saute an onion, some garlic, and a couple bay leaves until soft. I also added some mild peppers because I also had too many of those and needed to use them up. Then I cut up the tomatoes (cut off the soft spots and gave that to the chix), and added them along with a big handful of basil. then boiled that down until it was thick. I added a bit of salt and pepper, and a spoonful of brown sugar. it was PERFECT! And almost everything in the pot was fresh off local farms, except the onion and bay leaves. Even the garlic was local. The taste was spectacular!Yum!

Of course the chicken part involves pounding flat some chicken breast (or butterflying one big one), using a flour – egg – breadcrumbs breading, and browing them in olive oil. Then I pulled the chicken out of the iron pan I was browing it in, added some of the tomato sauce, put the chicken back in and poured the rest of the sauce around it. Grate a generous amount of parmasian on top. Pop it in a 450 oven for 15 while the noodles cook. YUM!

It used to be we couldn’t have pizza unless we had a pre-made crust handy. However, I seem to have conquered that problem with recipes off the ‘net, and a little practice. Check out my home-made crust! Look at the lift on that thing! I’m so proud!

I used this recipe AllRecipes – Jay’s Signature Pizza Crust (I really like the AllRecipes site because people comment on the recipes and often they will give good tips.)

Last time I made it I used some yeast that had gotten old, and it didn’t get much lift. This time I used a fresh packet of yeast, and it really puffed up nicely. I got interrupted after I rolled it out and fitted it to the pan and it got a second rise before I got around to cooking it, but it was still light and chewy and very good! I had no idea pizza crust could be so easy! Why have I been relying on other people to make my pizzas all this time?

Yesterday I was faced with nothing in the freezer except some pork chops we had scored out of the ‘cheap meat’ section a couple weeks ago, and a very busy day ahead. I had gone to the farmer for another basket of veggies on Sunday, and so I had a lot of veggies on hand, including baby carrots and scallions, and a couple BIG handfuls of tiny red potatoes, most of them under an inch to an inch and a half tops. When she gave them to me she suggested they would be perfect for a stew.

So I put the scallions in the bottom of the crock pot, trimmed the carrots and put them in next, washed the potatoes and put them on top, and then thawed the pork in the microwave and laid it over the veggies. I added a half cup of white wine, and a half cup of chicken broth. Salt and pepper on the pork, and closed it up to cook for 8 hours. It was fantastic! The pork was falling apart, the baby potatoes were firm but not mushy, same with the carrots. I drained off the liquid in the bottom and thickened it with a little cornstarch and it made a tasty gravy. Yum! The crockpot saves the day again!

I really enjoy watching Tyler’s Ultimate on Food Network. I have made several recipes I saw there, and they have been very good, so I save them up on the DVR for when I have evenings Dave won’t be around to complain about me ‘cooking something weird’. Last night I decided to try the Chicken and Sausage Etouffee – a thick and slightly spicy chicken and sausage soup.

I looked up the recipe before I left work so I could swing by the store and get anything I was missing, and the recipe called for a bottle of beer for deglazing the pan. I don’t drink, so I know nothing about beer. At the store the beer aisle is quite long and there are lots of varieties. I finally picked one that sounded like a good beer – didn’t want to ruin it with cheap beer!

So I got home and started cooking and following along the tv show, and on the show instead of deglazing the pan with the beer, he said to DRINK it while the roux was browning! I think perhaps there was a miscommunication between the show producers and the recipe writer 🙂

The etouffee was delicious! Dave even liked it for a late dinner when he got home. Now, what am I going to do with that extra bottle of beer?

I made this for breakfast this morning, using the instructions on this blog post

http://athomewiththefarmerswife.blogspot.com/2009/08/german-oven-baked-apple-pancake.html

So easy, and so delicious! I recommend giving it a try 🙂

I made another 8 jars of raspberry jam last night, but this time I ran it through a sieve to remove most of the seeds, and I used a low-sugar recipe. Still tasted plenty sweet to me!

When I made strawberry jam the flat made 20+ jars, but this time I only got 16 jars out of the flat of raspberries. I think the difference was all the seeds and pulp lost to sieving it. I gave the leftovers to the chix, so they weren’t wasted.

It’s raspberry season, so I got a flat of local berries and made a batch of freezer jam last night. I’m going to make the rest tonight, but I’m going ot try the low-sugar recipe. This adds to the shelf full of strawberry jam already in the freezer, and I plan on doing some blackberry jam when our berries ripen. From what I can see now, it looks like we might have a bumper crop this year!

I have not one but TWO crockpots cooking today. I got up first thing this morning and prepared Chipotle Beef Barbacoa (hopefully close to the barbacoa you get at the Chipotle fast food place, which is very good, but there’s not one anywhere near here) and got it cooking in the crockpot. By dinnertime that beef should be falling apart! I also prepared pinto beans, and have them cooking in the little crockpot with bacon, onions, garlic, some spices, and one chipotle pepper left over from the barbacoa. The house smells terrific 🙂

I also have some beef marinating in the fridge and we’ll grill that for dinner, in case the crockpot beef is too spicy. Either way there will be choice of mild or spicy beef and lots of leftovers! Yesterday I made fresh pico de gallo for snacking on. I saw on TV how to remove the membrane from a jalepeno so it wouldn’tbe so hot, and it’s perfect (I’m a real whimp when it comes to spicy food)!

I read real barbacoa involves cooking a goat in a pit for hours and hours, carefully watched over by a guy drinking a beer – apparently that’s a really important part of the recipe. I would love to have food that was really cooked in a pit someday. Sounds so rustic.

I have recently switched to making homemade rice-a-roni. Dave loves the ‘roni, but we have several problems with the store bought stuff. First of all, it’s expensive for a tiny box of rice. Secondly, there is WAY too much salt in the seasoning. Third thing: In the last two years I’ve probably thrown away a dozen boxes where I cooked the rice and when I got to the part where you add water a bunch of cooked bug bodies floated to the top – ewww! They’re little weevels who sneak into the boxes. I even called the company and they emailed me a nice response and apologized, and reminded me that the bugs aren’t going to hurt you if you eat them. Well, that’s fine, but here in America we don’t like to eat bugs if we can help it. Some countries, I know bugs are on the menu, but not around here. So I finally swore off the store bought stuff.

So here’s how to make your own. A two pound bag of rice of your choice (I went with long grain white this time), and a half pound of orzo, which is tiny pasta. I found orzo at our grocery store. Mix them together. That takes care of the rice mix.

For the seasonings, the seasoning packet is usually just boullion and some spices, so you can easily do much better at home. I like to start out by sauteing some shallot or onion chopped fine, and a minced garlic in olive oil. Then add 1/2 cup of rice and saute that until browned. Then add 3/4 cups of broth – chicken or beef works for me. It’s always 1 part rice to 1 1/2 parts liquid. Add a pinch of seasoning if you like. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer (no peeking) 18-20 minutes.

Last night I made encheladas and made a nice spanish-rice type dish with this mix, only I left out the onion and garlic, and instead just used a can of stewed tomatoes, cumin, a dash of hot sauce, and a little of the taco seasoning I was using on the enchelada filling. I used the regular amount of chicken broth, but I should have used a little less to make up for the liquid in the tomatoes, so it was a little wet. But it tasted fantastic! And it made for great leftovers.

So there you go, easy, cheap, and no bugs. That’s all I can ask for in a side dish!