Potato Pancakes
2 cups Mashed Potatoes (left overs work the best-the more flavourful the better)
2 eggs
6 tblsp flour
1.5 tblsp onion (I grate/mince mine in the food processor), browned in butter. (I actually use a whole onion 
)
2 tblsp chives (optional, I never use)
Salt and Pepper
Vegetable oil (for frying)-I have used canola or coconut oil for this
In a bowl combine well the potatoes and egg, stir in flour throroughly and stir in onion and chives. Add salt and pepper to taste.
In a heavy skillet heat 1/ inch of oil over med high heat until hot but not smoking. Fry heaping tablespoons of the potato mixture, flattening them slightly with the back of a spoon, for a minute per side, or until they are golden brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain. If needed keep them warm in a 250 degree oven.
Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 pound fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
2 cups light cream (we use Half & Half)
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Pinch of cayenne pepper
salt to taste
Wipe mushrooms clean with a moist paper towel; trim off the stem ends. Melt butter in a large saucepan; gradually add flour; stirring to make a paste. Add 1 cup of the broth and stir until slightly thickened. Add remaining broth and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer 4-5 minutes.
Cut up mushrooms and puree in a blender of food processor with a small amount of the broth. Add the mushroom puree to the broth; then stir in cream. Season with thyme, cayenne pepper and salt and simmer 4-5 minutes longer – do not boil.
8 – 10 servings (about 3/4 cup each).
NOTE: If you plan to hold the soup before serving, or if you choose to prepare it ahead of time, place in a large pan of hot water to keep warm or to reheat. Do not place over direct heat. Add cream just before reheating.
Burn Out
It seems for me Spring has become the time of my undoing. I am not sure if it’s the allergies; the dread of the upcoming summer heat or what, but I am just worn out.
I ran across this in a blog post about burn out during homeschooling, from Chocolate on my Cranium:
- Take One Day at a Time. Sometimes that is all you can do! We were reminded of this in January’s CES Fireside by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. After quoting part of the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day, our daily bread.” Elder Christofferson said,
“Jesus is teaching us, His disciples, that we should look to God each day for the bread — the help and sustenance — we require in that particular day. The Lord’s invitation to seek our daily bread at our Heavenly Father’s hand, speaks of a loving God, aware of even the small, daily needs of His children and anxious to assist them, one by one. . . Take it one day at a time. The Spirit can guide us when to look ahead and when we should just deal with this one day, with this one moment. To deal with something very big, we may need to work at it in small, daily bites.”
I really like this. When life seems insurmountable and overwhelming…just take it slow…don’t shut down, but take small bites. I find giving myself a to do list and a schedule. A schedule helps if I am particularly unmotivated. Also of course prayer: keeping God in my thoughts….keeping up with my scripture study.
My zucchini plants look like they have succumbed to the Squash Vine Borers. They are wilty and the embryos have all aborted. Oh well, I did get a nice harvest and some really nice meals out of them. Next year…I will use more DE and maybe a screen.
Tomorrow the boy scouts are coming over to tackle the backyard jungle. They earn some money for camp and I get my backyard back. I think it will be a small help; a big check mark of completion.
I think
Zucchini Tian
I planted 4 gold rush zucchini plants this year. I am of course practically drowning in nommy zukes. I decided to make a tian. It’s french country food. Basically a dish roasted in a shallow pan. I layered carmelised sweet onions on the bottom, then a layer of sliced zucchini, tiled, then some more onions, garlic and thyme infused olive oil and some parm and then more zukes, oil and parm…extra parm on top. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
What You Need:
- 6 cloves garlic, 5 whole and one minced
- table spoon butter
- one onion, sliced in to moons
- 2 tablespoons or so extra virgin olive oil
- tablespoon fresh thyme
- 3 or 4 zucchini, sliced 1/4 in thick
- 1/4 cup or so Parmesan
- salt and pepper
Start with a 450 degree oven. Wrap a five cloves of garlic in a bit of aluminum foil and place in the oven. While its roasting, melt butter in a pan and toss in sliced onions and salt, on medium heat. While onions carmelise, pour oil into a small dish: add thyme and minced garlic. Then slice zukes. When the garlic is roasted and soft, mash it up
Once onions are a nice golden brown, spread half of the onions on a square 9 inch baking dish, mix garlic with onions, layer zukes, slightly overlapping. Sprinkle, salt and pepper, oil and then parm over zukes. Repeat once more; adding the rest of the parm liberally over the top.
Place in the oven for 30 minutes until it’s brown and soft. If you want it extra brown on top place it under the broiler for a few minutes.
Enjoy!
We Can’t All Be Hermits All The Time
When things go rough, I tend to do the hermit thing. Things still feel rough, but I do miss blogging. I need to keep my writing chops up…especially in the more than 180 words form.
I decided to resume blogging today when I realised I might need to back up my recipes that I keep in my Facebook notes. So I posted a couple today…might post a couple more in the coming days.
I haven’t written since August. Since then my kids had birthdays and I have a TEN year old. It’s been 3 months and it STILL blows my mind. We got a puppy and rescued a teeny young kitten. Lorelei started to play violin. I am SO living thru my daughter, as I always wanted to learn to play the violin. She’s thru the honeymoon stage, so she’s complaining about all the practise. But she had her first recital earlier this month and she did fantastic. Lorelei had a lot of stage fright and was very nervous about standing in front of strangers; never mind playing an instrument in front of them. She was very brave.
It feels weird to be back on the blogging train. My camera is still broken, so I am not sure how many pictures I will be able to share. I am gardening again…but smaller. I am only growing Golden Zucchini. I am sure I will have funny puppy and kitten stories. The older cats are miffed that we got the dog; but the kitten doesn’t know better. He has just gotten old enough to play; and seems to have some fun with the puppy, Mars. I think I’ll save each of their stories later. It’ll give me incentive to blog again.
Sweet Onion Gratinate
This is one of my favourites. It’s a recipe I got from Lydia’s Italian Kitchen. My knitting friends love when I bring it to the monthly potluck. It’s super easy to make and SUPER yummy.
For the onion Topping:
3-1/2 pounds large sweet onions, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons butter4 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Base and the Gratin:
9 or more thick slices of hearty white bread (about 3/4 pound),
8 tablespoons (1 stick) soft butter
2 cups freshly grated parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano (about 12 ounces)
Peel the onions and cut in half through the stem ends. Rinse them halves in cold water for a moment. Slice the halves cross-wise into very thin half-moon shapes: you should have over 12 cups of onions.
Put the oil and butter in the skillet, set over medium heat, and before the butter is all melted, dump in all the onions and turn them over to coat. Drop in the bay leaves, sprinkle with the salt, turn and stir the onions a bit more, then cover the pan. Let the onions sweat and soften for about 10 minutes, stirring just once or twice, but otherwise keeping them covered.
Uncover the pan and continue to cook the onions and to gradually evaporate the juices. Adjust the heat to keep the juices bubbling without any danger of burning the onions and stir frequently. After 10 minutes or so, the onions should be very soft, wet and glassy, but with hardly any liquid left in the pan. If there’s a lot of liquid, raise the heat slightly and cook longer, stirring as the juices evaporate. But don’t let the onions or the pan get completely dry. Remove it from the heat while they’re still moist and let them cool off just a bit.
Assembling and Baking the Gratin:
When you start cooking the onions, set a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425°. Butter the baking sheet generously, using 3 to 4 tablespoons of the soft butter.
Trim off the crusts of the bread slices and lay them in one layer in the sheet pan, sides touching, to cover the bottom completely. Fill any empty spaces with pieces of bread cut to shape. Now press down gently over all the bread with your hand, to compress the layer slightly and close any gaps. Spread the remaining soft butter all over the bread with a rubber spatula or big spoon.
While the onions are still warm, spoon them onto the bread and spread in an even layer; scrape the flavorful cooking juices from the pan too. Sprinkle all the cheese evenly over the onions, covering the entire surface, but don’t press the cheese down at all.
Bake for 10 minutes or so; rotate the pan for even cooking and bake another 10 or 15 minutes. until the cheese is a deep brown-gold crust and the edges of the bread are also crisp and dark (but not burnt).
Let the gratin cool for at least a few minutes on a wire rack (the pan will be very hot!). Serve it warm or room temperature, cut in any size pieces you want.
Sesame Pasta Chicken Salad
1/4 cup white sesame seeds
1 (16 oz bag) bow tie pasta
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup white rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups shredded, cooked chicken meat (I use a rotisserie chicken)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup chopped green onion
Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add sesame seeds (add no oil) and cook stirring frequently until lightly toasted. Remove from heat and set aside. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil, add pasta and cook until al dente (8 to 10 minutes). Drain pasta and rinse under cold water. Set aside. In a jar with a tight fitting lid combine: vegetable oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds, ginger, and pepper. Shake well.
Combine pasta and chicken in a large bowl. Pour sesame dressing over pasta and chicken–toss to coat. Then mix in cilantro and green onions.
Sit for at least 30 minutes…then serve or store.
Easy Peasy Alfredo Sauce
Alfredo is SUPER easy to make. It takes the same amount of time to boil the pasta! AND it doesn’t have the chemicals and such of the prepared packets!
Enjoy:
About 3 tablespoons of butter (maybe nearly 4), melted in a pan, 3 cloves of pulverised garlic browned in the melted butter. Add about a tablespoon of flour…mix with butter/garlic stir until brownish. Then add about a cup and a splash of half and half, heat that until hot, but not boiling. Next add one hand full (I have small hands) of parmesano reggiano, one and a half hands of parmesean from digornio (cheaper-good but not as good at the reggi). Stir until melted had salt and pepper to taste, Voila, amazing sauce.
Last weekend I had Fettucine Alfredo at a restaurant that had added white wine..it added a very nice depth of flavour. I would add it with the flour. And let it cook down before adding the milk.
Meaningless
Language is defines us. How we use language to communicate creates who we are, what we believe and how we act. When we use words we either add power to them or destroy the word; thereby changing our perception of what is communicated and learned.
Racist! Racism! Lately these words have been thrown about willy nilly. If you don’t agree to raise the debt ceiling: RACIST! If you support having voter IDs to ensure fair elections: RACIST! If you want our government to protect our borders from terrorists, drug dealers, and gangs: RACIST! If you question the current president in any way (in the same way you criticized the former president): RACIST! It seems if you do anything you risk being called a RACIST!
It’s used so often it’s becoming the new Godwin’s Law word. (The minute you call someone a Nazi in an argument, the argument is over with YOU as the loser)
Like many others, I started reading the book, The Help. It takes place in the early 1960s in Jackson Mississippi. I am about half way thru it and I already feel sick. I remember feeling this way in fourth grade, when we were learning Maryland state history and specifically slavery. I was absolutely shocked that slavery was ever thought to be okay. The idea of enslaving someone based on the color of their skin just made no sense. I couldn’t believe it! My very best friend, Erica, was black. I looked at her and thought how could ANYONE think my beautiful strong friend was property and inferior just because she had dark skin.
Now I read The Help, I have never read a book before that actually detailed the racism of that time. Sure from history I knew about separate bathrooms, drinking foundations, schools, neighborhoods and the like, but it was just facts…and something I really couldn’t relate to. All those things seems silly, separate made no sense to me. I grew up in the military and we moved around a lot. I made friends with who ever would let me. Looking back to my childhood, my best friend of all was Erica. We did EVERYTHING together and I loved her. I loved everything about her. She was strong and tough. She had the neatest poofy hair. I wanted more than anything for my hair to stand up like hers. To hear/read the exact sentiments, were shocking and so alien.
It made me think: this is alien to most people now. Those racist sentiments that were the powder keg to the civil right movement do not exist any more. People have come to their senses. The racism from the past is GONE. So few actually believe that just because your skin is a certain color you are dumb, diseased, alien, or slaves.
“I do not think this word means what you think it means.”
So to drag this term up again when essential you are not getting your way disrespects those who suffered actual racism. It disrespects those that fought for civil rights for everyone. It disrespects those that suffer actual racism the world over. (it’s happening in Libya right now folks, the rebels are rounding up the black Africans just because, under the guise of “you supported Gadhafi”) And of course it begins to change the word–it becomes something new and it ERASES the old meaning and the history behind it.
Melting
It’s been 2 months of 100 degree temps, usually kissing 105. The Devil called up our governor, Rick Perry, demanding his weather back. I made cookies in the car again. I am officially DONE with Texas Summer. And apparently I can thank La Nina, for this lovely hot, dry weather. It’s keeping the northern states cool and the southern bone dry and baked. We don’t even get the relief of hurricanes.
My garden is parched. Nothing dares to grow in this heat, despite the daily watering. I am so tempted to just give up and let the Devil take it. This heat also makes me cranky and tired. Blergh.
I watched one of Micci’s friends over most of the summer, so I was able to buy myself a fancy super duper iPod. My old one was a second gneration Nano ipod, just one gig of space. Barely held my favourite songs. I was really excited to get the 160 GB!!! classic…I toyed for a second with a iPod Touch, but I wanted the space and my phone has the games and apps that make the Touch nifty. I plan on putting all my CDs on the iPod and (gasp) get rid of most of my CDs. This also required me to buy an external DVD/CD rom since the one on the laptop died. I also had a plan to put the Primary songs on the iPod so I could play those for my Sunday School class. The lessons frequently ask me to sing and I totally can’t. I also play them after the lesson while they color.
And seriously sometimes the dream of the iPod got me thru early mornings and a cranky boy I couldn’t slap upside the head.
