"Dancing in Meadows of Strawberry Jam"

This entry will be a little different, as my husband is doing the cooking! Actually, we are calling it a team effort.

The day before the 4th of July, my son and I went strawberry picking again(http://kristinesoares.blogspot.com/2014/06/strawberry-fields-forever.html)! Because they were so good the first time, we need to get more before the picking season ended. This time we got over 6 pounds! We had a plan, a "jam plan" (Friends fanatics will know what I'm referring to).

I needed some help, as I've never canned anything before. Marc, however is pretty skilled at this. He's spent hours canning tomatoes, relish and sauce. Lucky for us, he had some time off and we spent our rainy 4th of July making bread and strawberry jam. And boy was it good.

Ingredients:

Roughly 6lbs of ripe strawberries hulled and washed
A little less than 3 cups of sugar
2 packets of Sure-Jell low/no sugar pectin
2 tbsp lemon juice

My "job" was to hull all of these babies and some of them were super tiny. Thankfully, Marc decided to buy us a strawberry huller which made it faster. It kind of looks like this one http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-5582-Strawberry-Huller/dp/B006CFQ33K/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1404676381&sr=8-5&keywords=strawberry+huller

Wash and dice the strawberries

In a large pot, cook them down until strawberries are very tender. Mash them up a little. If you want a smooth jam, just blend it with a immersion (stick) blender.

Add in your pectin

Then 1/4 cup of the sugar and bring the mixture to a rolling boil.

After the rolling boil, add remaining sugar and boil again for another minute. Take off the heat.  Big hint, taste as you go! You may or may not need all of the sugar listed. This jam is not nearly as sweet as some others (others would call for double the sugar then what we used), but taste before you add it all in. If the fruit is sweet enough on it's own, you can probably omit some sugar.

Prepare your jelly jars. First we wash them well with soap and water. I am a novice at this part, so follow along proper safety instructions (http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started).

Fill the jars, put on the lids and then they process in a water bath for ten minutes.

Take out and let cool. As they cool, the jam/jelly starts to set up nicely. This was the hard part, because all I wanted to do was try it on a piece of freshly made bread.

And then...it was time. Hands down, the BEST jam I've ever had.

Yogurt!

Sometimes in the kitchen, I feel like I am stepping back in time. Certain recipes let my mind wander back to when times were a little less complicated. People worked hard, processed food was a foreign concept and families spent real quality time together. I like my little daydreams while I cook.

When I learned to make yogurt, I really felt invigorated. I was not relying on a machine, just simple, everyday tools and a gallon of milk. I had no idea if it was going to work or even be good for that matter, but when I saw and tasted the final product, I must say my eyes welled up a little bit(in a good way)! It is the creamiest, smoothest yogurt I've ever had without too much tang. Funny thing is, I don't even eat yogurt! I never liked the after taste. I will put it in smoothies or swap sour cream for it in recipes, but hardly ate it on it's own. This may change all that for me.

I've been making yogurt now for a month. It's become a weekly occurrence, as my husband and son cannot get enough of it! My husband will eat it plain or top it with some frozen fruit. My son gets really giddy when I swirl a tiny bit of maple syrup on it.

Ingredients: (This recipe will make over 64oz)

9 cups of WHOLE milk (I found this to work best)
1 cup of plain store bought full fat yogurt, preferably Greek yogurt (Once you've made this, you'll have leftovers to become your starter for next time)
2 Ice Cubes

Equipment:

Candy thermometer
Whisk
Rubber spatula
Large pot
Ladle
2 32oz mason jars and 1 16oz mason jar (with screw on lids)
4 cup measuring cup
Towels
Insulated bag or cooler

Once again, I would like to give a shout out to Alana Chernila (http://www.eatingfromthegroundup.com/) for the inspiration. And for the awesome tip of icing the pot before you cook the milk. This will help try to prevent scorching. Still, watch the pot though, because scorched milk is no fun! I just take a couple of ice cubes and run it around the pot a few times and then dump them out before they completely melt. 

Attach the thermometer to the pot and heat the milk to 180 degrees. Stir occasionally. Once it reaches 180 degrees, take it off the heat and let it cool down to 110 degrees. I remove the skin that forms on top. Pour the cup of yogurt into the measuring cup. Ladle 2 cups of the warm milk into the yogurt and whisk until well combined. 

Add the milk/yogurt mixture into the pot with the rest of the warm milk and whisk until a little frothy. Pour carefully into your jars.

Close up the jars tightly and wrap in towels. I then double up two insulated bags (you know, the ones you use for grocery shopping?) and put the jars inside. I place the bag in a warm spot (just not directly in the sun!) in the house and let it do it's thing for 6-7 hours. After the yogurt has set, remove from the bags and put in the fridge. Sometimes, it can take less time to set or sometimes it takes longer. It all depends on the environment the yogurt is in.

Just look at how creamy it is!

Not that we've ever had the yogurt last longer than a week in our house, but the yogurt should keep well for at least 10 days. Once you've tried this and get the hang of making it, it really is quite simple. Plus, it's a huge money saver! With one gallon of milk, you can make almost 4 large containers of yogurt!

Be curious, be brave and have fun in the kitchen!

Easy Peasy Hummus

Are you still recovering from Easter like I am?

Last week was full of planning, prepping, cleaning and cooking. It was one of my most successful dinner parties I've ever held. I made just about everything from scratch, from appetizers to dessert and everything in between. Spent about 20 hours in the kitchen in two days, so needless to say, by the end I was absolutely exhausted.

That's why I decided to share an easy recipe.

Behold, the humble chickpea.

I didn't become a fan of these until a few years ago. Whenever I was served them, I couldn't get past the strange skin that popped off while eating. Or I was given them straight out the can, almost sour tasting chickpeas. Yuck.

When I decided to start eating less meat and cook more vegetarian meals, I decided to give them a try to add a little more balance to a dish. Dried chickpeas with a proper soak are best, but a can will work in a pinch.

I'm probably sharing this against my husband's wishes (he likes to keep recipes a secret), but I want everyone to try hummus the way we make it. It is ridiculously easy, fast and delicious. And like most things that are homemade, it's waaaayyy better than store bought.

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
Ground cumin
Ground pepper
Coarse salt
Extra Virgin olive oil

Trader Joe's makes my FAVORITE peanut butter. It's the stir kind, but it has the best peanutty flavor. We use the peanut butter in place of tahini (my husband isn't a fan of tahini).

After I've rinsed and drained the chickpeas, I add them to the food processor and pulse a little to make a coarse paste. Then I add in all the ingredients but the olive oil. The seasonings are going to be according to your taste.

Then turn the food processor on and slowly drizzle the olive oil in until you get a nice, smooth consistency.

And...you're done! I serve it up with homemade pita chips, carrot sticks or I make hummus veggie wraps (the meal I request for my birthday every year).

All Good Things- The night I made crab cakes from Heaven

One night, my husband and I were watching America's Test Kitchen. This episode was about crab and how to make the perfect crab cake. That sparked a craving. I haven't had a good crab cake in a long time. Most restaurants serve crab cakes that are mostly filled with breadcrumbs and not a whole lot of crab. I wanted to take a stab at ATK's version, with a little twist of my own. But I didn't want to stop there, I wanted to make the buns and an aioli to top it. This was going to be the ultimate crab cake.

Before I begin, my eyes glance at a sign that has become a fixture in our kitchen. It may seem sappy, but this rings true for the love in our little family. We have gone through our share of struggles, but no matter what, we will hang on to that deep love and respect we have for one another.

First I started with the buns. I had mentioned that a book I often refer to is The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila. Once again, I turned to her for her expertise. http://www.eatingfromthegroundup.com/2009/09/brioche-hamburger-buns-and-passing-the-love-updated/

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar
3 large eggs
3 3/4 cups of flour plus some for covering work surface
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp unsalted room temperature butter
If you'd like toppings you can use poppy seeds, sesame seeds, coarse salt etc

In a measuring cup I add the warm water, milk and sugar, mix and let it stand for 5 minutes. Let it get all foamy on top.

I had a little oops, which turned out to be great. This differs from the original recipe, but I liked the outcome. I beat 3 eggs instead of 2. If you want to try it my oops way, just know you will need a fourth egg for the egg wash later.

I weigh my flour and add the salt. Then I add the butter in pats and use my fingers to gently mix into the flour.

Add the eggs and the yeast to the flour and mix well with hands until a dough forms. On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is pliable and can form a nice smooth ball.

I rub a little olive oil on the bowl I put the dough into so it won't stick. Cover with plastic and let it rise for 2 hours.

Then I go to work on the aioli. This is just "fancy" mayo.

Ingredients:
1 Egg
1 roasted bell pepper
1 roasted jalapeno
1 head of roasted garlic
salt
pepper
cayenne
lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 tbsp mayo
3 tbsp Dijon Mustard
Safflower oil

Cut the top off the garlic head so you can see the cloves inside. Rub with olive oil and cover in foil. Leave the peppers whole, wash them and rub with olive oil. Roast at 350 degrees. The peppers take about 30 mins until blistered. Keep turning to let them blister evenly. The garlic takes about 45-50 mins. Once peppers are done, put them in a paper bag for 10 mins to steam and cool enough for you to remove skin, stems, ribs and seeds. Take garlic out of foil to cool and then just squeeze the cloves out.

In a food processor, put all the ingredients in except the oil. I just eyeball the spices. Again, I like stuff spicy, so I do a lot of cayenne. Pulse until combined. Then slowly feed the oil through the tube as the mixture blends. Unfortunately had another oops : (
The safflower oil came out a little too fast, so my aioli was too thin. I then added some Dijon and mayo to thicken it up. Still thin, so it's more like a sauce then a mayo. But still tasted amazing. I put it in a airtight container and put it in a fridge.

Now the dough is ready for the next step. Split it into 8 sections of dough and form into a ball. Put on parchment lined cookie sheet. Cover with clean dish cloth and let it rise another hour or so.

Time for the crab cakes.
Ingredients:

1 can good quality jumbo lump crab
4 oz shrimp peeled and deveined
1/2 bell pepper seeded and chopped
1 whole onion minced
1 1/2 cups Panko bread crumbs
black pepper
heavy cream
milk
lemon juice

I went to the local fish market and got a can of good quality lump crabmeat. I pick through it to look for any shell. One trick America's Test Kitchen taught me was to soak the crab in milk and put in the fridge while working with the other components.

I also got unbelievable shrimp that is used for a binder (another ATK trick). These might have been too good to use for this purpose, but I couldn't pass on these babies!

The bread is ready to go in the oven. I heat it up to 400 degrees. I place a cheap foil pan filled with water on the oven floor (this helps to steam the bread). Mix together one egg and a little water. Brush on bread and top with any toppings you like. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden on top.

Take 1/2 of the panko and toast in a pan. The other half needs to be crushed a little finer. I just put it in a plastic bag and using a rolling pin to crush them. Take all the panko and put into a big bowl. Wipe out the pan and add a little olive oil.  Add in onion and bell pepper. Add salt, a little lemon juice and pepper and let saute for about 5 minutes. Add that to the panko bowl. In a food processor add your peeled and deveined shrimp. Pulse a few times. Then while the blade is on, slowly pour in some cream. It will create a mousse. Add that to the bowl. Now drain the milk from the crab and add that to the bowl. Mix well until all combined. Create patties. Add oil to a large pan and a few patties at a time. Let them develop a nice crust on each side.

Now that all the pieces of the puzzle are done, time to assemble. I was dying to try this out.

If there was ever a recipe where you could taste the love that was put in it, this would be it. When I asked how it was, my husband couldn't even form a sentence. He sat there happily eating with a smile on his face. That was the biggest pat on the back I could receive.