Applesauce I (p. 216) and Kumquat compote (p. 225)

Applesauce I (p. 216) was a recipe that had been on my to-make list for a long time. My method of grocery shopping is to flip through TJOC, make a list of all the recipes I think look interesting, and buy ingredients for those recipes at the store. I had bought the apples for applesauce about ten times without ever getting around to making the recipe. I figured it was finally time.

I use our apple corer all the time but never for apples. It's a really good way to quickly slice up a potato if you don't mind having one wedge that is a cylinder (I don't). This time, though, the corer got used for Empire apples.




The apples were combined with a little water, some lemon juice, and half a cinnamon stick.

(As an aside, I learned a lot from the wikipedia entry on cinnamon sticks. Apparently, cinnamon sticks are the inner bark of the cinnamon tree rolled into quills.)



When the apples started to fall apart, I added brown sugar. Eventually the sauce thickens.




I don't have a final picture, but I used the immersion blender to make the applesauce more smooth. Delicious! The cinnamon flavor wasn't very strong, which was great, because it's one of my least favorite spices. And it was really easy.

I've been trying to knock items off the randomized list as fast as I can because I really want to make a new list (it's exciting to see what's on it!). One of the pages included Oranges in syrup and Kumquat compote (p. 225). I had never had a kumquat before and, to be honest, I know nothing about them. How do you even pronounce kumquat? TJOC says that they aren't actually citrus fruits, which is bizarre, because they look, smell, and taste like tiny, strong oranges. And they can be eaten whole, which is terrific because it would be really difficult to peel such tiny fruit.

Kumquat compote only had three ingredients so I decided to make it. Two cups of kumquats went into cold water and were brought to a boil.



They were then drained and sliced. Any seeds were removed (a pain, the seeds were really small). Two cups of water and a cup of sugar were combined and brought to a boil, then the kumquats were added.



About five minutes later, the compote was done. Delicious! Nice and sugary. Much like the pickled grapes, this is a recipe that quickly disappears. Josh liked to use some of the compote in his smoothies and said it brightened all the flavors.

Tortilla soup (p. 132), Refried beans (Frijoles refritos) (p. 254), Bean burritos (p. 103), and Chicken burritos (p. 104)

I have written a number of blog posts in the last few days, so be sure to check them all (I think I've written about seven in a week with four more to go). Also, comment if you have anything to say :) I wrote this whole blog and then it disappeared, so it might be short. I hate re-writing when things poof.

I decided to actually made a cohesive meal--Josh and I had a Mexican food night. We tend to eat a main entree and no side dishes which is not the best way to eat.

I adore tortilla soup in general, and since I had a boatload of chicken stock, I decided to make TJOC's version--Tortilla soup (p. 132). The first step is toasting a jalapeno or two and some garlic in a dry pan on the stove. Joy says this will only take ten to fifteen minutes but it took at least twice as long for me. Why does nothing cook more quickly? Everything I make seems to take longer than TJOC says it will.




I forgot to take pictures for the entire middle of this recipe but the jalapeno and garlic need to chopped in a food processor or blender. I didn't want to dirty my little food processor so I decided to use the immersion blender--a lifesaver! A big can of tomatoes was then added--although TJOC says to drain the tomatoes, I didn't because I didn't read that sentence until it was too late. I didn't think it would matter (and it didn't matter).

At the same time, in the soup pot, I sauteed onions in a little olive oil. A few cups of stock and the tomato mixture were added.

I couldn't imagine ruining homemade tortilla soup with store-bought chips so I whipped up a plateful of tortilla chips. I may have eaten a few too...



The tortilla chips were mixed into the soup, cooked a few minutes, and the soup was done. I put a little shredded Monterrey Jack cheese on the top.



DELICIOUS! But really really spicy. I can't imagine using two jalapenos when just one made the soup incredibly hot. The leftovers heated up extremely well. It was so good that just writing this blog is making wish I had another bowl...

I thought Refried beans (Frijoles refritos) (p. 254) would go well with tortilla soup. I like refried beans but have never been particularly motivated to make my own. The first step is heating up some fat--either vegetable oil, bacon drippings, or lard. Might as well make it lard since I had some in my cupboard.





I added chopped onion and garlic to the delicious lard.



It's a rather strange system--add one cup of black or pinto beans (I used canned black beans), and smash smash smash. Then add the next cup and smash smash smash. A couple more times and it looks like refried beans.




There was a confusing part of the recipe--TJOC says not to drain the beans if they are canned, so I didn't. Then it says to stir in one cup of reserved bean cooking liquid or water. I didn't have any cooking liquid because I didn't drain the beans. Do you think I should have added in a cup of water? I didn't and the beans seemed okay.



There is nothing attractive about refried beans but they were really good. Josh pointed out that they were strong and they were--I assume that is a combination of using black beans instead of pinto and all that garlic and onion.

Because I had such a big batch of refried beans, I decided to make both Bean burritos (p. 103) and Chicken burritos (p. 104). They are easy--take a flour tortilla (burrito sized), smear some refried beans on it, add some cheese, and roll it up.



To make it a chicken burrito, add chicken (obviously) and slightly less refried beans:




Heat them up in the oven and serve them. They were good--I think the burritos were way better with homemade refried beans than they would have been with canned beans. If you used canned beans, a rotisserie chicken, and bagged shredded cheese this recipe would take about a minute to throw together. The burritos heated up really well, which is great because eight burritos is way more than we can eat in a sitting!

Stuffed artichokes (p. 248) and Fish stock (p. 118)

Artichokes are one of my favorite foods and I had never made them before. My grandmother used to make me stuffed artichokes and it was a special delicious delicacy that my mother almost never made. I'm extremely happy when I see whole artichokes as an appetizer on a menu (rarely, I realize people don't like to eat with their hands at nice restaurants). Artichoke hearts with Wishbone 5-cheese Italian dressing (which I think they discontinued--very upsetting!) is one of my favorite snacks.

That all being said, I'm counting what I produced as Stuffed artichokes (p. 248), even though I didn't *completely* follow the recipe. I read the recipe and felt that the main point was that the artichokes are stuffed with something (they give a number of choices) and steamed. And the recipe uses medium artichokes.

First off, I used baby artichokes.




The top third of the artichoke was chopped off and the outside leaves were removed (they are tough and stringy). The stem is chopped off.



Instead of using TJOC's recommendation I stuffed my artichokes with a breadcrumb, Parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic powder, and olive oil mixture, which is my grandmother's recipe. Water was added into the pan until it was half way up the artichokes (TJOC recommends the steamer basket but they don't stand well that way).



After about twenty minutes, they were totally done.



I then gorged myself on them. I LOVE these. Artichokes are amazing! Now that I've passed my irrational fear of making my own stuffed artichokes I will make them more often--far far more often. I don't know how long Whole Foods will have baby artichokes, so I better eat large amounts while they are available.


I bought two trout on sale at the grocery store. They were field-dressed, so they had their guts removed but their head, tail, and bones still intact. I had no idea what to do with them and was too intimidated to follow any of TJOC's recipes, so I decided to make them into Fish stock (p. 118) (I know it's a waste but they were really cheap).

Like most stocks, it was easy. the fish, onion, a leek, garlic, lemon juice, and bouquet garni went into a pot with enough water to cover.



(The fish are under the veggies)




After about thirty minutes, the stock was done! It was incredibly fast. I drained the stock into a bowl and threw all the veggies away. Looking at my fish, I thought I could make another batch out of them, and made a second batch of stock. After the second batch, I threw the fish away (again, I know it was a huge waste, but I had no idea what to do with the fish).



The fish looked like it was swimming away! I packaged half the fish stock and put it in the freezer and saved the other half in the refidgerator to use in a future recipe. The stock was easy and fish scraps can be used instead of wasting whole fish.

Pumpkin or sweet potato muffins (p. 635) and Pumpkin bread (p. 628)

I was hungry for muffins after the delicious blueberry muffins that I made in January. They were delicious and heated up really well. I didn't have any blueberries but I did have a can of pumpkin that I picked up on sale at Wal-Greens (strange, I know). I decided to make Pumpkin or sweet potato muffins (p. 635).

Easy start, with a couple more ingredients than the blueberry muffins--I mixed flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in one bowl and eggs, cream, brown sugar, butter, pumpkin, pecans, and vanilla. Quite a few ingredients!





The flour mixture was quickly mixed into the wet ingredients--the batter shouldn't be overbeaten and should still be lumpy.



The batter was then ladled into the muffin pan--this time I used a cookie scoop and it was perfect (easy!).



They weren't quite as pretty as the blueberry muffins but they looked okay.




The pumpkin muffins were good! Moist, tasty, and the pumpkin wasn't overpowering. They didn't have that pumpkin pie taste that most pumpkin-based baked goods seem to have (and I don't like pumpkin pie). Unfortunately, Josh doesn't like pumpkin, so these didn't all get eaten before they went stale.


I wanted to use all the pumpkin because I knew the excess would rot in the fridge (although I do have an awesome pumpkin crepe cake with maple cream recipe that I actually developed myself!) so I decided to make a second pumpkin dish--Pumpkin bread (p. 628). I did realize that my day of pumpkin was incredibly out of season but that's probably why the pumpkin was on sale.

Flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves were mixed in one bowl while milk and vanilla were mixed in another bowl (cup in this case).



Butter and brown sugar were mixed until fluffy, two eggs were added, and then one cup of pumpkin...uh oh...

There wasn't an entire cup of pumpkin left--and I certainly didn't have any more in the cupboard. I figured there wasn't much I could do and steamrolled on, adding the pumpkin I did have to the mix.



The flour mixture was mixed in, with some raisins and pecans, and the dough was poured into a loaf pan.



It was baked for about an hour (until the ubiquitous toothpick came out clean):




The bread was tasty and hearty--much like banana or zucchini bread. My favorite thing about these heavy breads is that I can eat a slice or two for lunch and I'm full. The lessor amounts of pumpkin didn't seem to make much of a difference although I'm sure it would have been more moist with it.

Stovetop macaroni and cheese (p. 325)

I searched through TJOC for a quick recipe that I had all the ingredients for and stumbled upon Stovetop macaroni and cheese (p. 325). I had previously made baked macaroni and cheese and it was good, so I was optimistic about the recipe. The first step was easy--boil two cups of elbow macaroni in salted water, drain, and add a half cup of butter. Elbow macaroni always reminds me of preschool craft projects rather than dinner, but I suppose it's appropriate for mac and cheese (a dish I think is one of the most truly American meal--what do you think?).





I readied my ingredients ( my mise en place, if you will)--evaporated milk, cheddar cheese, beaten eggs, dry mustard dissolved in hot water, salt, and ground red pepper. Since they are all added at once, I really recommend getting everything prepped ahead of time--shredding all that cheese takes a surprisingly long time.





All of those ingredients are mixed into the pasta and it's cooked until the sauce is smooth. This took forever--I was afraid the cheese was never going to melt. A finer shred of cheese would probably be helpful because it would melt a lot faster.



After stirring for what seemed like hours, the cheese melted.




It was good! Easy (not quite as easy as Kraft but without the creepy fluroscent orange color) and with a sharp, authenic sharp cheddar tang. Creamy! I would definately make it again although I would probably test out other cheese combinations.

I'm posting multiple blogs today so make sure to check!

Crispy potato skins (p. 79)

I had been meaning to make Crispy potato skins (p. 79)--I adore potato skins and although I've never made them, they seemed simple. The first step was to bake four baking potatoes (I used Yukon Golds which are all-purpose because I think they have the best flavor, but Russets or Idahos would work well too). When they cooled, I cut them open (and then hollowed them out).



A mixture of melted butter, chili powder, and garlic was mixed together. It was an unappetizing color.




The butter mixture was brushed on skins and baked for a half hour. There was enough butter that it pooled--I thought that was a good sign (I really like butter).




They were already smelling delicious when they came out of the oven (the first time).



Bacon and cheese (I used Colby Jack) were sprinkled on the top.



And the skins were baked for another five minutes.



They were DELICIOUS! Don't make them unless you are willing to eat them all though--because you will gorge yourself on them. Potatoes, butter, garlic, bacon, AND cheese? Those are some of my favorite foods. Potato skins, baba ghanosh, veggies with blue cheese dressing, tortilla chips (with salsa), and potato chips with sour cream dip would be awesome for a football game, Super Bowl party, or any other appetizer event.



And Happy Birthday to Jennifer at Pieknits! Go check out her blog at www.pieknits.com , especially if you are a knitter. She occasionally posts recipes, too, and they are usually unique (saffron cookies) and always awesome.

Chocolate chip cookie (p. 766) and Bread pudding (p. 822)

The Chocolate chip cookie (p. 766) recipe is an old TJOC standby, orginally in the wartime 1943 edition. I have a terrific chocolate chip cookie recipe that takes me about ten minutes (not including the cook time) because I make it so often--it uses shortening because I like soft cookies. TJOC's recipe looked pretty simple. Like most cookie recipes, I mixed flour and baking soda (more flour, less baking soda, since I'm at high altitude) in one bowl and butter, sugar, and brown sugar in another bowl.

The flour mixture was then added to the butter mixture:




An egg, some salt, and vanilla were added:





And then I added the chocolate chips. I would normally add pecans but Josh doesn't like nuts in his cookies (insane!) so I held off (this time).



They only take about eight minutes.



They were soft and had a great consistency but had a strange off-flavor. I don't think it was due to the recipe, I think my vanilla might have had a strange taste. It was disappointing though--all that work and the cookies weren't very good. I figure I will make them again--I'm sure the problem was due to me and not to TJOC.


I have mentioned before that I'm usually not very excited about TJOC recipes of which I already have a terrific version on hand. There isn't a huge list of these--Bolognase sauce, rice pudding, chocolate chip cookies, and maybe a handful of other things. Bread pudding is absolutely on the list.

When my parents were young and in college, they were very poor. Somehow they had a supply of cheap, day-old bakery goods on a regular basis. My parents would make bread pudding out of the leftover donuts. When I was an undergrad, I stumbled upon a bread pudding recipe of my own and it was a staple item in my kitchen--an easy way to use up bread, eggs, and milk that might be nearing their expiration dates (and it's terrific both hot and cold). TJOC has three bread pudding recipes and two of them are quite a bit different from what I used to make (one is chocolate and one is New Orleans-style) but I decided to make the one that was the most similar--Bread pudding (p. 822).

To begin, I sprinkled dried cranberries (I like them a lot better than raisens) over about a pound of bread that had the crusts removed and had been cut into cubes (use a serrated bread knife--otherwise cutting bread slices is a nightmare).


\


Eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a tiny bit of salt were whisked together. I measured the milk into my giant measuring glass and then just added everything else to it--less dishes.



The liquid was then poured over the bread, the bread was pushed down with a spoon, and it was let sit for a half hour.





It did make a difference--the bread started to break down by the time it went in the oven.



About an hour later the bread pudding was done:



It was really good and very attractive--I would make this for company, especially since it can be made a few days in advance. Is it as good as my stock recipe? Surprisingly, yes. It heated up amazingly and was delicious. I will definately make it again. What do you consider your "stock recipes"?