Holy Chicken Stock, Batman!

Seriously, though, I have been on a stock making kick lately!  It's the best =)  I loosely follow the method I found here at the Fabulous Foods Blog.  She suggests saving vegetable scraps and meat bones in the freezer until you are ready to make a batch of stock, which I just LOVE, because I don't really have time to make stock at the drop of a hat.  So, I can keep my ingredients in the freezer until I can set aside some time to do it.  And really, it's not that time consuming.  I mean, you just put everything in a pot, cover with water, and simmer for a few hours. Basically, I put whatever vegetable scraps I've been saving into a pot (about a gallon sized freezer bag worth), then I put the meat bones (or leave them out if I'm making veggie stock), then I season with a little salt, pepper, a couple of bay leaves, and some fresh parsley.  Simmer that for a few hours, then strain, cool, and put into containers for the freezer.  The worst part is putting the stock in containers.  I recommend using storage containers that have measuring tick marks on the side, which I got from my oh so generous neighbor this year for Christmas.  And, my mother-in-law recently gave me a carton of Blessed Salt (is that supposed to be capitalized???), and I use that, so the stock is good for the body and the soul ;).  Speaking of my mother-in-law, she also saves the juice/stock when she cooks a ham for things like red beans and such.  So far, I've tried vegetable, shrimp, and chicken stock, but I am going to start saving both beef and pork bones, so hopefully I can try that soon....I think you are supposed to roast those first.  And let me tell you...that shrimp stock makes for a fantastic gumbo!!  I have a batch of chicken stock brewing as I type, so get thee to the kitchen and make some yourself! 

So She Won't Be Disappointed

For today's Tasty Tuesday, I'm posting my recipe for homemade English Muffins.  This one is for the City Wife, Country Life gal, because she was craving English Muffins yesterday, and when I saw that she was disappointed that she didn't get to post about them today, I just had to share my recipe!  They are so very good, but not like anything you buy at the store.  They aren't the sour dough kind, either...I tried sour dough starter once, and there was a comment by someone in the house about it "smelling like death", so I tossed it out.  I would like to give it a go, again, though.  Anyway, my recipe is from the Baking Bites blog.  She has some amazing recipes there...like, homemade Samoa Girl Scout cookies.  WOW, those are good!  And since the Girls Scouts are openly pro-choice, this is a much better and tastier option, IMHO.  

English Muffins
1/3 cup water, warm (110F)
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup nonfat milk, slightly warm (100-110F) **I'm shameless, so I use whole milk instead**
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour

 

In a large bowl, whisk together water, sugar and yeast and let mixture stand for 10 minutes, until slightly foamy.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.
Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 40 minutes.

Heat a griddle/nonstick frying pan over medium/medium-high heat (water dropped on the griddle evaporates very quickly). Lightly grease with cooking spray.
Drop dough by scant 1/4 cupfuls onto greased surface and cook until medium brown on the bottom. 

Normally, I use my plug-in griddle, and I can cook all of them at once, but I didn't feel like cleaning it after, so I went with the cast iron skillet this time:

The top with look set and the sides will appear somewhat dry. The exact time depends on the temperature of your griddle and the size of your muffins, but expect this to take several minutes. Flip over and cook 2nd side until brown.  Cool on wire rack for at least 15 minutes or until completely cool.

The recipe says it makes about 10-12 muffins, but I usually only get 8, because we like them on the large side...apparently, I ate one straight off the skillet I only got 7 this time:

When ready to serve, split muffins with a fork and toast.
Serve with butter, jam, peanut butter, etc.  SO GOOD!  For St. Patrick's Day this year, we used these to make Shamrock Toasties a la Catholic Cuisine:

 Enjoy!  

 

Tasty Tuesday!

A cousin of mine recommended this recipe on Facebook, and, due to pregnancy cravings, I just had to try it immediately!  She also thought it was funny that only a pregnant woman could crave something that she'd never even eaten before...I'm sure some of you can relate =)  Anyway, it's very simple, but it was sooo good!  So good, I actually want one right now...

Taco Bell Mexican Pizzas a la Homemade!

The recipe is from Lynn's Kitchen Adventure's.  Her pictures are prettier than mine...

Homemade Taco Bell Mexican Pizzas:

INGREDIENTS:

1 package tostada shells (or, you can deep fry flour tortillas...way too much work, but probably really tasty)

1 can refried beans

1/2 lb. taco meat (I used the recipe here)

shredded cheese (cheddar, colby jack, or a mexican blend)

1 jar taco sauce (I used Old El Paso brand, and I'm now addicted!)

1 chopped tomato (optional)

1 can sliced black olives (optional)

a few sprigs chopped green onion (optional...I actually didn't use these, but they would have been good!)

sour cream, salsa, and/or guacamole for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Layer tostada shell with beans, meat, taco sauce and cheese.  Place another tostada shell on top.  Cover that with taco sauce, olives, tomatoes, onions, and more cheese.  Bake in 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes, or until cheese is melted.  

What's so great about these little guys is that the recipe is totally flexible!  I made a batch of these on a Friday without the meat, and they were very good.  They make for a very quick and easy lunch for the kids, and depending on the ingredients you choose, can also be pretty healthy.  You can also just do a single shell with all the toppings, which is even easier...that's what I did with the meatless ones.  I'd like to try and find a good homemade re-fried beans recipe that uses black beans, as we prefer that to the traditional canned kind, but the canned ones worked just fine.  

Oh, and that link for the taco meat recipe has a fantastic cheese enchilada recipe with a sour cream sauce that is just awesome!  

Enjoy!  And, hop on over to the City Wife, Country Life blog to see what other people are making for Tasty Tuesday =)

 

Harvest Time and Lazy Summer Days

Wow...it's been forever since I've posted on my blog, it seems.  I miss it!  But, we've just been so busy lately.  Summer is here, and we've spent a very nice week at the beach - including a week long internet fast - a week at my Mom's, and then we've been getting ready for Vacation Bible School, Natalie's end of the year Little Flower's Party, and a Catholic Girls' Summer Camp that I help coordinate.  And, we participate in our local library's summer reading activities.  So, despite the fact that school is out, life has just been crazy busy!  But, that's ok...that's what life is for.  On the plus side, I've been really lax with our schedule, so we've been able to enjoy some laziness and "sleep in" (anything past 7 a.m. is late here, but I guess it's all relative).  In fact, it's 11:15, and I'm still in my pajamas!  (Don't judge me...you know you're jealous...just kidding ;).  My favorite thing is that every morning, the kids all come climb in bed with me and we just lounge around and talk, or cuddle, or sometimes fight, depending on our moods ;).  We've also been enjoying a fairly decent sized blow up pool that I got at Target.  That pool does wonders to cool you off on these hot summer days!    

On the home front, we've been enjoying lots of summer vegetables from our garden!  I'm so excited about this.  We've been eating snow peas (those finished producing around the end of April), cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, bell peppers, and green beans.  I was actually really surprised at how many strawberries we've been getting.  The plants were brand new, and we've been picking a handful every couple of days.  Rachel has been in hog heaven over here =)  She LOVES those things.  Actually, she'll eat just about anything we pick from the garden, which is awesome!  Her favorites are the strawberries and cucumbers, though.  I wish the older two were that way.  Andrew turns green just looking at them, and Natalie will eat a very limited amount, and then only if there is an ice cream cone waiting at the end of a clean plate.  Oh well...we'll keep trying, and hopefully they'll grow into loving fresh vegetables eventually.  And, soon, we'll be harvesting the corn, squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  Well, hopefully...I've never actually planted cantaloupe or watermelon before, so I don't know if they'll actually make anything.  But, the plants look really healthy, and they have baby fruits on them!  All my harvest pictures are on my camera...in my diaper bag...in my van...which my husband took to work today, so I'll have to come back later and add them, but I do have some pictures of us making pickles!  I planted some of the pickling cucumbers as well as the slicing ones, so I gave canning a try.  It was pretty fun!  Addicting, you might say.  And, the pickles were so good...I'm ready to make some more.  I used this recipe for Dill Pickles...I'm not much of a bread and butter type gal.  I followed it pretty closely, except I used dried dill, because I couldn't find fresh.  I think I put almost 2 t. of dried dill, which makes for a VERY strong dill flavor, but that's how we like them.  I also added some thin sliced onion, and about 6 small cloves of garlic per jar.  I let Phil take 3 jars and make them spicy, so he did some doctoring up to those (I think he put Chipotle Hot Sauce in one, and sliced jalapenos in the other two).  We really like them, and I recommend the recipe, but I don't think the recipe actually follows proper canning methods, so you may want to be careful there.  I'm probably going to adjust the procedure for the next batch of pickles this week. 

Our first cucumber:

Slicing up the pickles:

Filling the jars:

The equipment:

All ready for the brine solution:

Lids:

My improper canning method (they're *supposed* to be totally submerged...oh well):

All done and cooling!!:

I Also found this beauty:

Farm raised pork chops!  Talk about good!!!  I made pork chops with rice and gravy (we're from south Louisiana....rice and gravy goes with anything!).  We cashed in on the larger of our pigs, and brought him to the butcher.  We ended up with 23 lbs. of smoked sausage (which makes a fantastic rice dressing!), 33 lbs. of breakfast sausage, 27 lbs of pork roast (7 roasts all together), 26 lbs of 1" thick pork chops (there were 36 pork chops in all - I wish we had cut them a tad thinner, and gotten more chops out of it, though), 5 lbs. of spare ribs, and 8.5 lbs. of thick cut bacon).  If you've never had farm raised pork, you are missing out.  I almost can't bring myself to buy it in the store anymore.  And, now, I don't need to!  

Well, that is what we've been up to so far this summer.  I love summer!  It's my favorite =) 

Waffles!

Typically, Friday is pancake day in my home.  Back when I just had 2 children, I used to ask this question in the morning, "what do you want for breakfast?", to each of them.  NEVER AGAIN do I ask that!  It didn't take me long to nip that one in the bud, either.  I got tired of them each wanting different things, so now, we have the same thing for each different day of the week:  Monday = grits with ham & cheese, Tuesday = tortilla wraps, Wednesday = scrambled eggs & toast, Thursday = cereal and milk, Friday = pancakes, Saturdays = big family breakfast with whatever Daddy wants.  Throw in a glass of milk and whatever fruit I have on hand, and it's done.  And, this is about as organized as I get, people.  I find this system makes my mornings run so much more smoothly, though.  Now, the kids ask me "mom, what day is it?"..."Wednesday"..."so, we are having eggs today, right?"  Much better.  Anyway, today was *supposed* to be pancake Friday, but when I went to the pantry, I saw no box of pancake mix!@#@!$!@#  I know...shameful!  I warned you that the breakfast menu is the extend of organization here.  I usually get the 'just add water' kind because it's quick, easy, and tasty.  But, I made the most of it and suggested we have waffles instead.  I found THE BEST Belgian waffle recipe ever on a Google search once, so the kids and I made a batch of them, and they didn't even make it to the kitchen table!  We said Grace right there at the stove and just ate the waffles hot off the waffle iron...they are that good.  And, while my kitchen was a big mess, my dining room was not, so it was all good =)  Here we are making our fabulous breakfast (recipe at end of this post):

 Natalie whipping up the egg whites:

 Andrew mixing the batter:

Rachel helping by beating on the floor: 

Everyone enjoying their waffles =): 

 Eating & cooking:

 

As you can see, they had fun making these and eating them =)  And, I guess you can tell that I got my camera back!!  I am pretty excited about that.  My sister was kind enough to mail it to me this week...love that gal!  So, later today we are going to head outside and enjoy the beautiful spring weather and take some pictures.  That post to come later.  Now, the kids are playing happily in the playroom with waffle-filled tummies =)  Here is the recipe I used:

 

You will need:

3 bowls

2 c. flour

3 1/2 t. baking powder

3/4 c. sugar 

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. butter, melted

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

 

In the largest bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and sugar.  In the smallest bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  In the 3rd bowl, beat the egg yolks.  Add the milk, butter, vanilla extract, and mix well.  Pour the egg/milk mixture in with the dry ingredients, and mix just until moistened.  Fold in egg whites.  *the actual recipe didn't call for separating the egg whites, but I like to do it that way.....you don't have too, though.*  Cook in batches on a hot waffle iron.  

 

I have one of those Farberware, square waffle irons, and I got 4 batches out of this recipe (so, 16 smaller square waffles).  The original recipe was actually double this, but it makes so many, I cut it in half.  I don't remember where I found this recipe online, so I can't give credit, but if I come across it again, I'll come and post the link.  These are pretty sweet, so they are good just plain without syrup.  My kids didn't even use plates...they just ate them as they were.  It pairs up nicely with fruit, too.   Enjoy! 

 

 

 

 

Good Friday Recipes

Ok...so having Good Friday recipes is probably an oxymoron given that it is THE fasting day of the year, but nonetheless....here goes.  After Mass this past Sunday, a fellow parishioner invited us on a Good Friday Walk.  I had never heard of such a thing!  It is a really cool idea, too.  Basically, you meet in downtown New Orleans (or other large city rich with Catholic culture, cuisine, and large beautiful Cathedrals) with other families.  We will then walk around the city to 9 different Catholic Churches and stop to say one or two Stations of the Cross at each one - all to be done before the 3:00 p.m. services.  It should be a really amazing experience.  A beautiful way to commemorate the Passion of our Lord, I think.  Kids are expected to come (we are Pro-Life here, after all ;), and the only rule is you bring your own wagons, slings, water, snacks, and other paraphernalia needed to tote lots of kids around for several hours.  I can't wait for our family to experience this.  I'm hoping this will quickly become a LeBlanc family tradition.  Now for the recipe part of this post.  While most of us are expected to fast on Good Friday, obviously a 5 year old, 3 year old, 1 year old and her accompanying nursing mom are more limited in that regard.  So, I plan on bringing some light snacks to get us through the day.  I got both of these recipes from my mother-in-law, and I think they will pack up nicely for this occasion. 

 Sweet & Spicy Nuts

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp each cinnamon, cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, chipotle powder

1/8 tsp nutmeg

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 cups nuts (I used fresh pecans)

¼ cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp water

½ Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

dash hot sauce

In small bowl, combine salt and spices; set aside.

In a large heavy skillet, melt butter. Add nuts.

Cook over medium heat until nuts are toasted, about 4 minutes.

Sprinkle with spice mixture.  Add brown sugar, water and sauces.

Cook and stir for few minutes until sugar is melted.  Spread on foil to cool. 

Store in airtight container.

*these are actually not that spicy...you can leave out the hot sauce and chipotle powder if you like, though*

Peanut Butter Balls

1 c. peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)

1/4 c. honey

1/2 c. instant dry milk

1/2 c. raisins 1/4 c. sesame seeds (optional - I don't use this)

MIx peanut butter and honey together.  Thoroughly mix in instant dry milk.  Stir in raisins.  Scoop out 1 T. of mixture and roll into balls with hands and place on a plate.  Optional:  Roll balls in sesame seeds to geta nice even coating.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before eating (they are better this way).

My husband says he remembers coming home from school all the time and his mom would have a plate of these waiting for him =)  She is one of those moms we all aspire to be.  I actually made these as a surprise for him tonight...I hope he likes them!  And, really, depending on the choice of peanut butter, these are probably a nice alternative to other unhealthy snacks for kids.  I know my kids really enjoyed making them, so that's a plus too!

I wish I had pictures to post of these (I tried the nut recipe last night), but my sister is holding my camera hostage 2 hours away!  Not really...I left it there from my Mardi Gras visit.  Ah well...such is life.  Enjoy the recipes!

Oh!  For good measure, here is an actual simple, meatless recipe that is probably more Lent-ish.  It is Pioneer Woman's Simple Sesame Noodles.  They are very good and easy to make.  She also has a baked lemon pasta that looks awesome, but I haven't tried yet...I would like to one Friday soon!   

Happy Feast Day of the Chair of St. Peter!