National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day

Well, here we are on a chilly and slightly rainy Sunday morning in Kansas City.  While my irises are not yet blooming as in the picture above (which was from last year), I am looking forward to them blooming now that spring has begun.

Today is National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day.  Hmmmm ....

I love chocolate candies and chocolate covered nuts and chocolate covered shortbread, etc., but I've never been able to convince myself that chocolate covered fruits are something tasty.  Chocolate covered strawberries are loved by everyone, it seems, yet I don't seem to enjoy them much.  Chocolate covered bananas?  Nope.  And so it goes with fruit.

As for chocolate covered raisins, specifically, well, all I can say is what I always say about raisins:  Why would anyone do that to a grape?!?

Grapes are amazing, but to dry them out, shrivel them up and leave them with an odd chewy texture and an even odder taste ....    What can I say?  It's who I am.

But give me a chocolate covered pretzel, and I'm very happy.

I definitely feel like melting and tempering chocolate.  I have a quantity of mixed nuts here, so perhaps today I'll make some nut clusters.  Now that's a great chocolate covered snack.

Tasks to do but sometimes forgotten

I was rummaging through my freezer this morning as I sometimes do.  I like to keep organized, make sure things are getting used up.  As I did that, I found puréed banana that I had frozen almost a month ago.  I'm glad I found it because I hate to see things go to waste, but also because I had really been hoping to test out making banana bread using this frozen banana mixture to see whether or not this was a viable way to prepare bananas ahead of time, meaning that I am hoping the freezing of the banana mixture doesn't mitigate the high quality of this banana bread recipe.

I like to keep a list of things to do, and this testing of the frozen mixture should have been on my list.  But, alas, somehow it didn't make it on there.  

Neglecting to do previously planned tasks, forgetting to complete special projects, watching foods expire ... these are all things that bug me.   I like to stay organized.  I like to be productive.  And I like to whittle down my "to-do" list to something smaller.  Of course, that last one is a hard thing to do since I'm always coming up with ideas I want to test, recipes I want to try, and all those things get added to the list.

It's a never-ending list.  But that's OK.  I never have a reason to be bored because of it.

Pi(e)

 

Today is March 14.  And it's also known as Pi Day.  3.14.  So I here's a great recipe for pie crust dough.

310 grams of flour

5 grams of kosher salt

32 grams of sugar

60 grams of vegetable shortening such as Crisco

170 grams of cold butter

128 grams of icy cold water

Cut the butter and Crisco into small pieces and freeze them.

Use a food process for the next steps for the best results (with a metal blade).

Place the flour, salt and sugar into the processor and let it run for a few seconds to mix it up.

Add the frozen bits of butter to the food processor and pulse it a handful of times.

Then do the same with the Crisco.

Then finally take the whole mixture out of the processor, emptying it into a large mixing bowl.  Add the icy cold water and slowly mix it up.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and wrap in plastic, flattening them into a disk.  Refrigerate for several hours.  Then it's ready to use.

The dough can also be frozen for a month easily.

The picture above shows an apple slab pie made with this dough.  This is not a small hand-held pie.  This pie is about 9 inches by 5 inches and is not made in a pie dish.  Instead it is baked flat as a slab, hence, the name.

If I didn't have a busy day already planned, I'd make a pie myself.  Perhaps this weekend.

Have a great day, everyone!

Mushrooms

I love mushrooms.  I guess most people either love them a lot or hate them a lot.  As for me, I will put them in almost anything.  I have a favorite mushroom soup I love to make.  I put them in omelets, over chicken, in gravy (mushroom gravy and biscuits are great), and in so many other things.  But many people don't think to have mushroom by themselves, as a main dish.

I remember when I was young and I read The Lord of the Rings for the first time, I found a chapter in the first book where it talks about hobbits' love of mushrooms, steaming baskets of them, lots and lots of them.  At the time I really didn't get it because I had never really had mushrooms before.  But over time, I got it.  And now I love them.

Take a pound of mushrooms of various kinds, clean them, chop them into smaller pieces if you wish, pour a tablespoon of olive oil over them, dust them with a some seasonings including salt, pepper, garlic cloves, and add a tablespoon of butter.  Wrap this all up in a piece of foil, sealing the edges so that none of the steam escapes.  Then bake at 400 F for 45 minutes on a baking sheet.  Serve it hot with a little parsley sprinkled over the top.

And here's what it looks like when it's all done, sans parsley.

Give it a try.  I hope you like it!