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!

National Strawberry Day!

Today is National Strawberry Day!

You can do so many things with strawberries.  I make berry fools (pic above) when combining them with raspberries.  I reduce them in a sauce pan until they are almost completely liquified and add them to a variety of things, especially whipped cream (with a few other ingredients in small quantities) to make an amazing strawberry cream.  Sometimes I even roast them (yes, roast them) and use them to make a strawberry cream cheese ice cream.  Sometimes I even pair them with mozzarella, making a strawberry syrup that I pour over fresh mozzarella with sliced berries, or adding both to a salad.  

I love putting strawberries in things because I often find the strawberry by itself to be a bit more tart than I would like.  I'm not sure if that's simply because they were picked too early, or maybe the plants didn't get enough water, or for some other reason.  Maybe the berry itself is simply stronger than I would like.  So I usually take strawberries and put them in other things. 

But when I combine them with raspberries, I find that any possible tartness in the strawberry is completely mitigated.  I think it's a perfect combination.  

So I think I will head out to the grocery store today and pick up a few quarts of berries and celebrate the day with a few experiments.  It's a warm late winter day here, windy and bright, and it seems a perfect day to do a little experimenting.

Freezing batters and doughs

I freeze cookie doughs all the time.  But not every cookie dough freezes well.  So it's important to test each one.  

When it comes to freezing batters, I wouldn't even consider it in most cases.  I think that batters have too much liquid in them to maintain their integrity and still come out just as good after baking as those items which are baked from fresh batter.

What about fruit purées?

This week I made banana bread for a small event.  I like to freeze banana bread loaves after baking.  In fact, it's an important part of the process because I wait a good long time for my bananas to over-ripen and one can't guarantee how long that will take.  In this case, I bought slightly green bananas about 10 days before I used them, baked them, and froze them for a few days before thawing the day of the event.  You can't always know for certain whether they will be ready for use on the same day as they are to be eaten.

I bought extra bananas this time because I wanted to purée some for freezing.  So now I have extra puréed bananas in the freezer waiting to be used for another batch of banana bread.  I wonder if they will come out the same or if the freezing process affects the bananas enough the significantly alter the finished baked product.

That question will be answered soon here in another post.

In the meantime, enjoy the warming weather.  Spring is still a few weeks away, but it certainly feel like it's trying to come early.

Cabbaga and other unfavorite foods

Today is National Cabbage Day.  Remember any of my previous posts on national food days?  I chuckle every time I learn what today's national food day is.

Cabbage is one of those foods that I've always shied away from.  As a kid, remember being served boiled cabbage and sauerkraut, and I never could develop a taste for them.  I didn't even like coleslaw.  However, as an adult, I appreciate strands of cabbage in salads with other greens, I love coleslaw if the dressing is good, and so I guess I can't say that I hate cabbage any longer.

Except that I can say that any cooked cabbage is something I can still say I hate.

There are so many good foods in the world, but cabbage is part of a handful I do not care for.  The others?  -- Brussels sprouts, and beef liver.  

Now, there are some other foods I haven't tried yet, that I probably never will try, and so I can say I hate the idea of them but I can't say I actually hate the food.  Things that fall into this category are brains, tripe, pigs feet, sweetbreads and other similar internal parts of farm animals. 

I try to be open to sampling any new food, but some of those items, I simply can't get myself to try.  Perhaps I'm missing out on something tremendously delicious.  I probably will never know for sure.

National food days

It seems that every day is a day that celebrates some food.  Today, for instance, is National Peppermint Patty \Day.  Yesterday was National Cream Cheese Brownie Day.

I'm not sure who the original decision makers are when it comes to these days.  I imagine it's often a company that is making the product.  Perhaps they decide on a day to celebrate the food item they make, and then they market it assiduously, getting the word out, and then do it again the next year and hope that it sticks.

I'm surprised that grocery stores haven't latched onto the calendar of food days and used it to market these items.  It sounds like it would at least raise awareness of these foods in a way that would perhaps temporarily give people a reason to buy them on a day when they might otherwise not even think of them.  And certainly everyone loves celebratory days, so I would imagine it would increase sales.

I know that when I heard it was National Peppermint Patty Day today, I immediately thought of how I could create a recipe for them.  I imagine the filling is probably easy to do with something like sweetened condensed milk and powdered sugar, adding peppermint extract, of course, and then dipping the whole thing in melted dark chocolate before chilling.  Or avoid the chilling by tempering the melted chocolate.

Well, it's fun to look and see what food is celebrated each day.  I don't check every day.  But when I do, that food is on my mind for at least a little while.

I won't make peppermint patties today, but the idea is now in my head and perhaps I'll add it to my food to-do list.  It's a list that never ends......

Breakfast ice cream

Those who know me are very aware of my fondness for ice cream.  So you can imagine my delight when I discovered that today, February 3rd, is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day!

I learned of this quite by accident today and immediately went to Wikipedia for more information.  There I discovered that this day was established in the 1960s by a mother of six children on a cold snowy day.  I will let you head to Wikipedia yourself to read more on this.  

The important point, though, is that we have a reason for eating ice cream for breakfast today!  I have done that before, of course.  But it's nice to know that there is a day set aside for this particular culinary idiosyncrasy.  

We've all eaten pizza for breakfast, right?  And who hasn't polished off leftover chocolate chips sitting on the counter from the night before?  (Regarding the cookies, am I the only one?)

It is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  If it is, then I can think of no better way to honor it's importance than by eating my favorite food, ice cream.  I'm only joking, of course.

Considering other foods which we eat for breakfast that are rich and sugary, perhaps it's not such a stretch to think of ice cream as a breakfast food.  Pancakes with syrup, waffles and whipped cream, blueberry muffins that are more cake than muffin, donuts -- the list of breakfast foods that aren't exactly the best for us in terms of our health goes on and on.

Well, as I said, I'm delighted to know that a day which commemorates ice cream in this way exists.  While I like to indulge by fondness for ice cream, I probably won't use this as an excuse to make it a staple at breakfast.  But it's a nice thought anyway.

Tea

It's a bright, sunny Wednesday morning and we're on the way up to 62 F today, a big change from the sub-zero temps we had not that long ago.

Warm or cold, though, it's always a good time for tea.  Here's a good recipe for a wonderful tea drink that was taught to me by my wife.

Into a saucepan, pour one cup of liquid, 50% milk and 50% water.  Add two Lipton black tea bags.  Add a tablespoon of sugar.  Add a mid-sized pinch of cardamom, and also the same for ginger powder, and then add a light sprinkling of cinnamon.

Heat this up on medium heat or high heat.  You can bring it to a boil or not.  I like to let it slowly heat up so that it has time to blend all the flavors.  Discard the tea bags and pour it into your mug when it's all finished, and enjoy.

That's it.  It's a wonderful drink.

I love to end the day with this.  It's great if you have a headache or are feeling a little stressed.  It's great for a throat that is a little sore, or to help with a little congestion or cough.  But most of all, it tastes great and is very soothing.

That's the final post for January.  Enjoy the warm day, eat well, and enjoy life.