Creamy Leeks (p. 280) and my wedding dress! (but not together)

First off, I have started indexing my blogs. If you click the keyword "index" on the right-hand side, it will pull them all up. I figure I will update the indexes about once a month and re-count every few months. I'm actually doing a little better than I expected! Also, if you've made any of these recipes, I would love to know your thoughts!

I can't even tell you how many times I've bought leeks recently and they've gone bad before I've used them. I was absolutely insistent that they get used this time before I left for Chicago. I decided to make Creamy Leeks (p. 280).

First step, julienne three large leeks. My leeks were HUGE. I'm pretty awful at julienning, as you can see in this picture. Remember to always soak the leeks--otherwise they can get sandy. I am getting over my fear of the leek, which makes me happy (TJOTJOC is accomplishing it's goal--I'm getting over my fears!).





Next, the leeks are added to a big pan and sauteed with butter.




Chicken stock is added (sadly, canned stock, I'm totally out of homemade stock) plus some thyme. It's simmered. A little bit of wine is added and it's simmered again. So far, so good. Pretty easy!



A couple tablespoons of cream and some curry are then added, as well as salt and pepper. Simmered a few more minutes and it's good to go!



How was it? Good! I really like leeks, kind of a garlicy onion. The creaminess is wonderful and the curry is a nice addition (plus it makes it a really pretty color! I used my homemade curry). This would be a great side dish, especially in the winter.



As many of you know, Josh and I are getting married in September. Since we are getting married about a thousand miles away from where we live, we are doing most of the vendor choices in a few hectic weekends--one of which was this weekend. I think we have about everything selected! I'm really getting excited and can't wait--I think that the wedding will be extremely fun!

Here is a picture I took of the back of my dress. What do you think?

Sauteed Greens with Garlic (p. 278) and Leftover German-fried Potatoes (p. 300)

I had leftover baked potatoes from the baked potato soup and decided to use them for Leftover German-fried Potatoes (p. 300). The recipe says to use leftover boiled potatoes, but I figured it didn't matter very much.

This is an incredibly easy recipe. Slice some potatoes, add some onion, sprinkle paprika and salt on top, and cook until brown!






Golden brown and delicious!




I had a bunch of kale that had to be used before it rotted and decided to make Sauteed Greens with Garlic (p. 278). I realized while making it that kale is the green in the Olive Garden's potato soup (which, along with the salad, are the only things I really like at the Olive Garden)...interesting!


Kale is kind of an ugly green but perhaps it has inner beauty.

The recipe says to cut any stems and ribs into half-inch pieces, but on the previous page it says to de-rib kale, so I removed the stems and threw them away.

Garlic and red pepper flakes are heated in some olive oil. Yum! A good start!





The kale was then added in. The recipe says to cook until tender, 3-5 minutes. That must be for chard because my kale took FOREVER to become tender. I swear, it was at least 25 minutes before it was done--but it's possible the kale was old. I'm definitely not an expert on kale.




A little red wine vinegar is added and that's that!





So how was it?



Surprisingly good! The vinegar flavor mingled well with the garlic and oil. The kale was kind of chewy--but flavorful. I really love Swiss Chard, so I'll probably try it with another green in the future.

The potatoes were AWESOME!! Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside--absolutely wonderful. And super easy! A great use of leftover baked potatoes. Amusingly, the recipe says it makes four servings. I hate to say it--but I ate it all (except for a small amount Josh smuggled out). So I say, it makes one giant serving if you love potatoes like I do!

Baked Potatoes (p. 297) and Baked Potato Soup (p. 130)

First off, I posted two blogs together--so make sure you read them both!


I needed to use my chicken stock before it went bad (I have a tiny tiny freezer and no room for stock) so I went to my favorite section of TJOC--Stocks and Soups. I decided that Baked Potato Soup (p. 130) sounded great! The first step of the recipe? Obviously, making Baked Potatoes (p. 297). I even bought Russet's for the baking, passing by my beloved Yukon Golds.

Scrub the potatoes, poke them with a fork, and throw them in the oven. No problem!






What's that? No pan??? Fine.





Easy! I needed five cups of potatoes for the soup and figured that five potatoes would take care of it. So why are there eight potatoes (one potato, two potato, three potato, four?) in the picture? LEFTOVERS of course! I love baked potatoes. Love them!





The finished product! Delicious and potato-y.


The potatoes then had to be stripped nude and cubed.



The first soup step is to heat up some butter and add an onion. I think my heat was too high because my butter (and onion) browned unattractively. Oh well! It still smelled good.





The potatoes and a LOT of chicken stock (all of my stores!) were added.




It barely has to simmer and heavy cream (my favorite!) and sour cream are then stirred in. This concoction is then heated through (but not allowed to boil!).






Salt and pepper are added! And then bacon (king of foods!) and cheese is sprinkled on the top. Perfection. Absolute, delicious, artery-clogging perfection!




Watch out though...this recipe makes a TON of soup. Josh and I have eaten several servings already but...there is still a TON left! Even so, it heats up well.


My mother has a funny baked potato soup story. One of her co-workers was talking about how tasty and easy potato soup was on a cold, Iowa day and mom thought it sounded good. So she went home, looked up a recipe (very likely in TJOC), baked potatoes, chopped, sauteed, and stirred. When she finally finished, she thought the soup was good but not easy like her co-worker had said. Well, the co-worker was talking about POTATO soup not BAKED POTATO soup. The co-worker just threw some potatoes in milk and called it soup! Not the same thing :)

Penne with Vodka Sauce (p. 328), Madras (p. 58) and White Russian (p. 58)

I had no idea what I wanted to make on Saturday night--but I knew I wanted it to be fast! I settled on Penne with Vodka Sauce (p. 328). First off, I had bought a bottle of plain vodka, so it didn't need to be Penne with Vanilla Vodka sauce, unlike the Vanilla Bloody Mary catastrophe. Secondly, I had never had penne with vodka sauce and it sounded interesting. Looking the recipe over was eye-opening--this is the least spiced pasta sauce I've ever seen.


The first step is to soften some butter in olive oil and add some garlic. I love garlic, so I added extra.







Next step...add tomatoes, vodka, and crushed red pepper! I'm a big proponent of the idea--don't cook with any alcohol that you wouldn't drink...





It looked pretty tasty...




And then heavy cream is added in to give it that pinky tinge of all vodka sauces...





The drained penne is then drained and added to the sauce. Parmesan is mixed in and it's ready to go. Easy and fast!




It was good! Really good! And Josh liked it to. This is a nice dish to add into the rotation when we need something quick to heat up (and are out of real sauce).


I HATE reheated pasta because it gets mushy. How I get around this (a lesson taught to me by my mom) is to fry it up in some olive oil. That way the mushyness is totally averted. I imagine this is what they did before microwaves--I'm not a fan of microwaves anyway because they make everything.



I decided to mix us up a couple drinks to go with dinner (because I'm woefully behind on that chapter). The first drink I made--the Madras (p. 58). Vodka, cranberry juice, and orange juice--2 oz of each.




Now, I know that I always say that TJOC underseasons food. Let me state for the record that they mix a stout cocktail. The drink was good--but plenty strong! And the cranberry and orange tasted like grapefruit, which was strange. Very drinkable though!




I followed that up with a White Russian (p. 58). Vodka, heavy cream, and Kahlua--yum! Very very tasty. TJOC says that a Black Russian is the same thing without the cream--I always thought a Black Russian included coffee. Does anyone know the answer to that?

Baked Macaroni and Cheese (p. 326), White Sauce I (p. 550), Buttered Breadcrumbs (p. 960), and Corn Bread, Muffins, or Sticks (p.632)

When dinner rolled around, I figured I would knock out another TJOC recipe. I know I'm doing horribly on several sections (fruits, for example) so I decided I would make Baked Macaroni and Cheese (p. 326), which is in the highly underused (by me) "pasta, noodles, and dumplings" chapter.


The first stage of the recipe is to make a double recipe of White Sauce I (p. 550). And the first part of THIS recipe (it's like a Choose your own Adventure novel!) is to melt some butter in a saucepan and then add a couple tablespoons of flour. Don't let it burn! The picture is blurry because it's difficult to to take a picture while whisking.




A cup of milk is then whisked in.



The milk is whisked (constantly to prevent lumps) until it starts to thicken. I am proud to say that my white sauce was entirely lump-free!


I figured this was the point when the M&C recipe started. And at this point, onion, a bay leaf, and some paprika are mixed in and the sauce is simmered until it super-thickens.

It goes from this (thicker than the last picture but not very thick):




To this (although the cheese IS mixed in for this pic):





At this point, you need to have the sauce ready, have cooked up some pasta (I used elbow macaroni), and have grated cheese prepared (unless you buy it pre-grated--but I tend not to). Two thirds of 2.25 cups of the cheese are supposed to be mixed into the sauce. I'm no math major and that's a bizarre amount. Whisk whisk whisk, and the sauce is combined with the drained pasta:




Half is then poured into a buttered dish and sprinkled with half of the remaining third of the 2.25 cups of cheese (got that?).





At this point, I had to make Buttered Breadcrumbs (p. 960). Easy enough--melt some butter, add some breadcrumbs, a little bit of salt, and brown the breadcrumbs.




I don't know if I browned them enough but this M&C recipe was getting complicated and I thought it was good enough:



The remaining cheese is sprinkled on the mixture and then the breadcrumbs are added to the top and the whole concoction is stuck in the oven for about a half hour.



When it was was finished, it looked pretty tasty....






So what did it taste like?



(You can see Duchie, lusting for some mac and cheese!) It was great! I had low expectations but it was creamy and delicious. It also heated up wonderfully. I really liked the breadcrumbs on top because they gave it a terrific "crunch". Would I make it again? I don't know. There were a LOT of steps and although it was difficult, it was complex, and required a lot of kitchen-time. Plus, *hangs my head* I kind of like the taste of powdered cheese!


While the mac and cheese was baking, I figured that I would whip up some cornbread. I LOVE cornbread but I don't have a lot of luck in making it. TJOC has a number of cornbread recipes, but I settled on Corn Bread, Muffins, or Sticks (p.632) and decided that muffins would be delicious!

The cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt are mixed together. Anywhere from 1 T to 4 T of sugar can be added and I like my cornbread rather sweet--so I added 3 T. I lessoned the baking powder to 2 teaspoons from 2.5 t because of the altitude (it's always guesswork).





The recipe specifically says that all the ingredients should be at room temperature. I used a little trick I picked up somewhere (likely somewhere in TJOC) and placed the (straight out of the refrigerator) eggs in water for five minutes.




The beaten eggs, melted butter, and a cup of milk were added to the dry ingredients.




The recipe makes it very clear that the batter should be combined in only a few strokes. But it did look mixed enough! So I have a bad feeling I overbeat it. Do any of you have experience in cornbread?




The buttered pan is supposed to be put in the oven until it's sizzling.



I don't think that is a great idea because it seemed to burn the butter...I added some more, non burned butter to the hot cupcake pan. I then ladled the batter in the pan...




I only left them in for 15 minutes but I may have overcooked them:




So how were they? Eh, the flavor was good but they were too dense. I will say, they were attractive, so they managed to rise correctly (that must mean that I used the correct amount of baking powder) but they were tough. Maybe they were overcooked? Frustrating but I have many many more cornmeal recipes to try.