Strawberry Shortcakes

Strawberry Shortcakes

I'm not going to post the recipe this time - I can't find it online and I don't want to copy it from Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics. There should be plenty of shortcake recipes out there - though my whipped cream came from a can.

It's delicious but very sweet. Those strawberries are mixed in with pure sugar. I can't recommend making this too often. But given that I have no other use for shortening, I'll need to make more of these later on. I wonder how they would taste with raspberries or spiced apples?

Decisions, decisions...

Italian Summer Salad

Another school year, another kitchen.

Virginia is hot and muggy in the summer and a hot kitchen is never ideal. Good thing this salad requires no cooking!

Italian Summer Salad
Serves 3-4
Ingredients

• head of romaine lettuce
• 2 tomatoes or handful of cherry tomatoes
• 1/3 cup of red wine vinaigrette or Italian dressing
• 1 can of cannellini beans
• 1 can of sliced water chestnuts (optional)
• 3 oz of pepperoni or other deli meat

1. Chop the romaine into 1/2 inch wide slices along the core and rinse, discarding the root.
2. Wash the tomatoes and chop them into small pieces, if not using cherry tomatoes.
3. Mix the lettuce with the tomatoes in a large bowl.
4. Drain the beans and water chestnuts and add to the bowl.
5. Toss in the pepperoni and mix with the dressing.

I believe this recipe was modified from one in a Betty Crocker book.

I prefer my salads crunchy which is why I included the water chestnuts, but this recipe lends itself well to modification. Cucumbers, squash, onions - whatever you have on hand would probably taste just as good.

The pepperoni can be substituted for any other deli meat or omitted - as I like to eat just this for dinner, it's good to get a little protein in.

Head of Romaine Lettuce: $1.79 at Food Lion

2 Tomatoes: $1.09 at Food Lion

Can of Cannellini Beans: $0.89 at Food Lion

Can of Water Chestnuts: $0.99 at Food Lion

Pepperoni, 1/2 of a bag at $3.49 /bag = $1.75 at Food Lion

Italian Dressing, 1/3 of a bottle at $1.79/bottle = $0.60 at Food Lion

Total Cost: $7.11 for 4 servings or $1.78 per serving

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 5

This one turned out much creepier than the others. I'm not sure why.

I've decided to end my project in felting. Each step feels like more and more of a chore instead of a new hobby. I'm tired of felting whips of wool that won't stay on. I want my projects to be fun, not boring.

I made 3 seal pups, enough that I got what I paid for ($19). The kit was for 3-4 seals, though given the amount of wool I have left over, I'm not sure what the manufacturers were thinking.

I'm a bit miffed about the waste of wool here but I can't keep it.

I can definitely say that I've tried felting and it wasn't for me. At least I got one good animal out of this:

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 4

2 Seal pups down, 2 (?) more to go:

I'm pleased with how this one turned out: the body is shorter and has more structure because the 'chest' is thicker than the rest of the body. The back flippers curve up and the head is better placed. It still doesn't look the picture in my instruction booklet but it's closer than the last one.

I still didn't sew the eyes in; there aren't any instructions on how to do that. I wasn't really happy with the face because it looks like the head of a polar bear. Felting 'wisps' of wool is difficult and it's the most noticeable part. I don't have the patience for this sort of work.

It does make this guy look happy which is a happy trade-off. I can live with that.

Pasta with Homemade Tomato Sauce and Meatballs

Pasta with Homemade Tomato Sauce and Meatballs
Serves 4
Ingredients

• about 8 oz of pasta
• 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 6 oz can of tomatoe paste
• 2 onions
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 tsbp of vegetable oil
• 1 slice of bread, crumbled
• 1 egg
• 12-16 oz of ground beef
• oregano, basil, or Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper

1. Chop the onions and garlic.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan and add 3/4 of the onions and 1/2 of the garlic, cooking until tender.
3. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato pasta and cover, simmering for 30 minutes.
4. While the sauce is cooking, mix the remaining onion and garlic with the bread crumbles, egg and beef. Form into 24-26 golf ball sized meatballs.
5. Cook the meatballs on a cookie sheet on 350F for 20 minutes.
6. Cook the pasta according to the instructions.
7. Drain the pasta and cover with the sauce and meatballs, seasoning liberally with the spices.

Modified from http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pasta/spaghetti-sauce/

The site that I got this recipe from has a bunch of variations that are worth checking out. I wanted to make meatballs with onion and garlic, though, and this was a good one. The meatballs taste a lot like meatloaf, which makes sense because my own meatloaf recipe looks a lot like the recipe for the meatballs. 

I think next time I'll make more pasta and use actual bread slices instead of really hard French bread.

Pasta, 1/2 of a box at $1.09/box = $0.55 at Fred Meyer

2 onions: $1.18 at Fred Meyer

Garlic, 1/2 bulb at $0.33/bulb = $0.17 st Fred Meyer

2 cans of diced tomatoes: $1.20 at Fred Meyer

1 can of tomato paste: $0.85 at Fred Meyer

1 lb of ground beef: $5.08 at Fred Meyer

1 egg of 12 at $4.18/carton = $0.35 at Fred Meyer

Vegetable Oil, about $0.10

Total Cost: $9.48 for 4 servings or $2.37 per serving

Caribbean Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Onions

Caribbean Chicken
Serves 4
Ingredients

• 2 lbs of chicken breast, about 4 breasts
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic bulb, broken into whole cloves
• 3 tbsp of brown sugar
• 3 tbsp of lime juice
• 1 bottle of chili sauce
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger*
• 1/8 - 1/4 tsp of red cayenne ground pepper*
• aluminium foil
• 1 cake pan, about 9" by 13"

*omit for a less spicy dish

1. Slice the sweet potatoes into thin slices and the onion into strips. Set aside with the garlic.
2. Combine the chili sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, ginger and red pepper together and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Line the pan with the foil - this is to collect the juices and prevent the pan from burning.
5. Spread the vegetables in the pan and cover with 2/3 of the sauce.
6. Cover the pan with more foil and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
7. While the vegetables are cooking, cut the chicken into strips or chunks.
8. After 20 minutes, pull out the pan, add the chicken and the rest of the sauce to the vegetables and recover with the foil.
9. Cook for another 40 minutes and then serve.

I don't think there's anything inherently Caribbean about this dish but I've called it that for so many years that I can't call it anything else. I generally dislike spicy dishes but I make an exception for this one - the sauce is probably my favorite part.

Overall this takes about 2 hours to make. It's best done on the weekend and if I make a whole batch, with or without chicken, it's enough to feed me for a week.

Timing-wise, it's possible to add the chicken at the beginning, but I find the chicken can dry out too much in one hour and if the pan is in for only 40 minutes, the sweet potatoes tend to be hard.

Of course, I've also cooked this for an hour with no chicken at all and it was just as delicious. If I don't need to worry about the meat, the sweet potatoes and onions can be in the oven for as long as I want.

4 Chicken Breasts: $8.19 at Fred Meyer
2 Sweet Potatoes: $1.53 at Fred Meyer
1 Onion: $0.97 at Fred Meyer
1 Garlic Bulb: $0.33 at Fred Meyer
Lime Juice, 1/4 of a bottle at $0.99/bottle = $0.25 at Fred Meyer
Brown Sugar, 1/10 of a bag at $1.99/bag = $0.20 at Fred Meyer
Heinz Chili Sauce: $2.53 at Fred Meyer
Total Cost: $14 for 4 servings or $3.50 per serving

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 3

Round 2 of the Seal Pups went better.

The body is shorter:

The head is bigger:

 And better placed:

The body is curved and not flat:

The front flippers help support the body:

And the back flippers are up:

This looks more like a seal than a voodoo doll:

I still have all of the detail work to do but so far, I've improved in my felting abilities.

Time spent: about 20 minutes.

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup
Serves 4

• 3 large red onions or 4 medium ones
• 1 quart of beef stock
• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• pinch of sugar
• 1/3 cup of apple cider (or red wine)
• 2 tbsp of French or Italian seasonings and a bay leaf
• 1 chopped garlic clove or 1 tsp garlic power
• Parmesan cheese (or other type of shredded cheese)
• Thick bread (optional)
• Brie or other type of soft cheese (optional)

1. Cut the red onions into long strips from pole to pole
2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottom pot on medium to medium high heat
3. Add all of the onions and cook for 35-40 minutes, stirring constantly
4. After 10 minutes, add the sugar to help caramelize the onions
5. After the 35-40 minutes, add the apple cider or wine and scrap the brown fonds from the bottom and sides of the pot into the liquid
6. Add the stock, seasonings and garlic and cook for another 20 minutes
7. Slice the bread and soft cheese and arrange on a plate
8. Serve the hot soup in a bowl with Parmesan on top and enjoy with the bread and cheese

I love my mom's homemade soup. It takes an hour to cook and and the constant stirring is tiring but this soup is delicious! So much better than soup from the French Onion mix... It makes for good leftovers as well.

This is possibly my favorite recipe that I've ever made.

4 red onions: $3.90 at Fred Meyer

3 cups of beef stock + 1 more cup: $3.28 + $1.09 = $4.37 at Fred Meyer

Apple Cider, 1/5 of a carton at $3.69/carton = $0.74 at Fred Meyer

Vegetable Oil, about $0.15

Seasonings, about $0.50

Parmesan, about $0.30

Garlic Powder, about $0.15

Sugar, about $0.05

Total Cost for Soup: $10.16 for 4 servings or $2.54 per serving

1/2 loaf of French Bread at $1.99/loaf = $1.00 at Fred Meyer

1/2 wheel of Brie Cheese at $6.49/wheel = $3.25 at Fred Meyer

Total Cost for the whole meal: $14.41 for 4 servings or $3.60 per serving