Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Left Overs a double recipe post

So, to start off, My dad had his 60th birthday party last month. It was big. I mean HUGE. This describes the number of people (50+), the amount of food, the number of decorations and the (sigh) number of shots consumed. There is another reason it can be described as HUGE. My very much adored and beloved boyfriend made a special trip all the way from LA to meet the one set of parents for the very first time.

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Yes, I heard that audible gasp come from you and the words "oh that poor boy" uttered under your breath.
But, alas, do not feel bad for him. He did an awesome job of holding his own and putting quite the dent in the keg, which impressed my father to no end.

Where are you taking this, you ask? So, look back up. Huge was the amount of food. So that means there was an immense amount of leftovers too. It left me with Tupperware's of sloppy joe, and italian hot dish, and rolls and sliced ham, and gallon ziplocks packed with veggies.

I'm going to focus on one ziplock bag in particular. The one filled completely with baby carrots. Now, don't get me wrong. I love me some baby carrots. I do. But, that was a lot and there was no way I was going to eat all of them raw before they went bad. Not to mention that only a few days after the party I flew out to be with said dreamboat boyfriend for 2 weeks in LA. So, everything went into the freezer immediately upon my arrival back at my apartment

Long story short, we had an amazing time in LA. Weather was dreamy, lots of fun activities, not to mention that I enjoy K's company to no end.
I came back with an extremely light heart and a freezer full of puzzles to be solved.
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I attacked the baby carrots first. I knew that I wanted to make some sort of healthy muffin of the whole wheat/bran type with shredded carrots sprinkled in and dotted with golden raisins.
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Only a cups worth out of the gallon ziplock bag.

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Honestly, what goes better together than greek yogurt and honey?

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Golden Nuggets

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They were everything I wanted. Easy to make, healthy, not too sweet and perfect with a smear of Brummel & Brown and a piping hot cup of coffee.

That unfortunately still left me with a whole pound of little babies left. So I searched and what I found was a carrot soufflé. Hmmm. I think I could like that. Even though I don't like cooked carrots. (insert 2nd audible gasp here). Yes, yes. I don't like cooked carrots. It's an atrocity. I know. "But even with a little brown sugar glaze and when they're not too mushy?" Yes, even then I don't like them.

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I don't even think about chopping anything by hand anymore.

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This part was reminiscent of day care. Cooked carrots and Lima beans. Gag.


But, I gave this a shot. I've never made a soufflé before but really how hard can it be? This isn't really even a true soufflé and yet, that sucker still fell faster than me trying to play double dutch. But it was tasty none the less. If there are left overs, I would highly suggest heating them up, as the cold leftovers just tasted like carrot pudding too me. Some people might like that kind of thing, but not this girl.

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Pretty sure K's baby niece would be all over this. Or more like the other way around.

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It turned out well enough but I think that if I were to make this again, I would do it for Thanksgiving or some sort of similar Fall Potluck type thing. Not a whole pan to be consumed exclusively by myself. I would not do that again.

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Whole Wheat Carrot Raisin Muffins
as adapted from allrecipes.com by Abby

The recipe called for vanilla yogurt. I had plain fat free greek yogurt. It worked great. I would do it again although maybe up the honey just a tad. I also didn't have any orange juice but I did have a half of lemon. I would maybe go orange juice next time, but it honestly was just fine.
I also used whole wheat graham flour. This I would totally do again. It gave it great texture and flavor. I was immensely pleased.

Ingredients
2 cups whole-wheat graham flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup carrot, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. The original recipe instructed to grease 14 muffin tins. If anyone is able to find a 14 cup muffin tin, please let me know. I don't have the patience to bake a full 12 muffins. Take them out of the tin and then have to wait for a measly 2 more to bake. I jammed all the batter into 12. Worked like a charm. I also used muffin tin liners. Easy Peasy, lemon squeezy.

Whenever using raisins in a recipe I always like to let them soak in a small bowl with just enough warm water to cover. If I have enough forethought, I will do this an hour or two before making the recipe. But, what usually happens is I do this before starting the recipe and they tend to be plumped up enough by the time I add them.

Mixing all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
Mix yogurt, honey, and veggie oil together in medium bowl. The oil won't combined with everything completely but that's okay. Gently stir in the carrots.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour yogurt mixture in and stir gently, just until combined. Gently fold in raisins.

Distribute batter evenly amongst cups. Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 13 mins.
Allow to cool in tins until you're able to handle them comfortably and then transfer to wire rack.

Carrot Soufflé
as adapted from allrecipes.com by Louetta

Yes, the recipe calls for margarine. I don't use stick margarine. It scares me. Every time I think about it, it reminds me of my grandmother telling me about how they used to call it Oleo and it came with a packet of yellow food coloring you had to knead in yourself because it was illegal to sell it with the coloring already mixed in. Yikes!
I'm not big on the "spreads" either. It's healthy, it tastes like butter, but it's not. Just don't ask what the hell is in it. 
I use Brummel & Brown. I'm not ashamed to pimp it. It tastes good and it's a combination of vegetable oils and actually yogurt instead of milk fats. I don't know how much healthier it is than other spreads, but I like it.

Ingredients
1 pound carrots, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

I looked over the original recipe and thought to myself, how are there no spices in this. Boring.
I added ground ginger and cinnamon. Because carrots love them some ginger and I think the feelings are reciprocated by ginger. And, why not cinnamon. Why not?

Also, it originally called for 3/4 cup of white sugar. I have a sweet tooth. I love sugar. But, that is too much. Plus, recall that comment of not even liking cooked carrots with a brown sugar glaze. So why not brown sugar. Why not?

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
Lightly grease a 2 quart casserole dish. I used my 2.75 quart rectangle pyrex dish. Then I can just pop the lid on and stick it in the fridge.

Place carrots in a large pot and fill with enough water to just cover. Water can be salted but I didn't. I like to be able to adjust saltiness in the batter stage. Bring to boil and cook just until tender. 15-20 mins. Mine took a little longer because they weren't happy to have been in the freezer and then thawed and then cooked. I guess I don't blame them.

Drain and then puree in food processor or blender. Add the eggs, "margarine" and vanilla extract to the process or blender and process until smooth.

In separate small bowl, mix all dry ingredients together and add to processor. Pulse until well blended.

Transfer to prepared dish. Bake for 45 mins.
 I hope you have better luck with the falling part than I did. 
Please let me know how it goes. 

Friday, July 16, 2010

The beginning of the beginning

For weeks I have been agonizing over how to start this thing. Do I just launch in with a recipe? Do I do an introduction with background? Do I come up with some zany, wacky, unexpected post? Nope, I'm gonna do a clique, hokey kind of post. When beginning with a recipe or project of sorts what do you start with? The ingredients and supplies! That's right. Bam. That's how you start a blog about food/recipes/eating.

I'm going to preempt all conversation about ingredients by stating two things. 1) I'm a firm believer in whole milk, butter, full-fat sour cream and cheeses, deep frying, bacon and anything else that makes life worth living. With that being said, I also work out like a maniac. So much so, that I'm currently laid up for the next 6 weeks using crutches because of a stress fracture in my right femoral neck. You say, "Liz, are we understanding you correctly? You have a broken hip?". Yes, I'm 28 years old and I have a stress fracture in my hip from running too much. Awesome, but I digress.
The second thing about ingredients is 2) I believe in the whole buying local and sustainable. How could you not? But, I'm currently in Madison, WI and even though we've got great co-ops and farmers markets sometimes it just isn't possible to obtain some things through a local or sustainable channel. I try, I really do, but by no means am I going to put myself up on a high-horse and make some kind of social statement through my cooking/baking because, let's be honest, everyone needs to eat. I'll leave the social statements to the celebrities and the politicians.

So, with those ground rules laid, we venture on to my favorite part.
Where do I get my ingredients, you ask?

One of my most loved places to shop for groceries is Woodman's. It's a warehouse type grocery store, employee owned and based in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Now, for those of you who have shopped at either the west or east side locations in Madison(which are the only ones I've been to), you're probably rolling your eyes at me. It's Huge, it's always packed, the lines are long no matter what time of day, sometimes the produce isn't the greatest and most of the time people refuse to go because of the overall clientele.

I love Woodman's specifically for that reason. Not only do they have, hands down, the widest variety and most extensive listing of anything you could ever want to buy at a grocery store, but everyone shops there. You will find all walks of life there. It's awesome. You do, however, need to go with a zen like state of mind and a list. If you're in a hurry or don't know what you need to get, hold on for a bumpy ride. But if you go with a plan and a cool head about you, you'll do just fine.

On my most recent trip I passed an older lady being followed around by a young man probably in his late teens/early twenties. I would have guessed grandma and grandson and he was home for the summer from college. As I passed them, I smiled at her (I do have a habit of smiling at strangers, because really, why not?) and she smiled back and after passing me I heard her say to him, "this has been kind fun grocery shopping." He responded in a sarcastic tone, "yeah, super fun." It made me laugh. She was probably super stoked to be out and about and having a helper like him. Even though he wasn't so excited to be there, I hope he is able to appreciate the time he gets to spend with her now and maybe after she's gone he won't say, "you know, I wish I took grandma shopping every time she asked me to."

There are some other great places to shop, i.e. Brennan's, Willy Street Co-op, and the Capitol Square Farmers Market to name a few. But in all honesty, I could probably shop any of those places every day of the week and not come home with the kind of stories I come away with from Woodman's and isn't that kind of the point of life? -experiencing it?

And BOOM, that's how you write a first blog entry. Hope you enjoyed.