Queen B

Archive for the ‘Stick a fork in it!’ Category

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Warm kitchen

In Stick a fork in it! on January 29, 2012 at 12:51 pm

While the hubby toils in the basement this weekend, I have taken us around the world in a culinary adventure.

Friday night we went to the East with a stir fry. Chicken, veggies, rice…. the usual. We’re actually talking about taking this out of rotation for a while, we have it too often because it’s so easy and quick to throw together (aside from the brown rice). The kids (and myself, really) are getting sick of it.

Last night it was Mexican. Enchiladas, with refried beans, spiced rice, chips and salsa and guacamole. We made everything from scratch aside from the beans, chips, and tortillas. I wish I had the time to make tortillas, because I’m sure they are out of this world.

Tonight it will be Indian. Shawarma chicken in pita with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and tahini. Here’s hoping it’ll be good.  I plan to find some gluten-free pita today, fingers crossed. We may eat this in some Naan, because it blows pita out of the water in my opinion. Of course it’s not gluten-free, and I have no hopes of finding a gluten-free version. I do have a recipe for Naan waiting to be attempted, because it is literally my bread obsession of choice at the moment.

Tomorrow… I have no idea how to classify. I’ll say straight up American, maybe.

I’m making a Glazed Ox Tail recipe that came up in my Google Reader on Friday. Normally I wouldn’t just jump on any recipe that came up, but my husband got home from work telling stories of the Philippine women at work jabbing him that he had never heard of nor eaten ox tail. We just couldn’t have that. I had no idea that it was a multi-day proposition, of course, but there’s nothing I’d rather do on a Sunday morning than handle raw meat.

**Gag**

I will admit that the house smells awesome now while the ox tail does a long boil in the oven. It better be good, because ox tail isn’t cheap (which was actually a surprise considering its history), and it has required some serious effort. Plus, I’m missing my girl’s soccer game; I don’t like leaving the oven unattended.

I would love to say that all of this cooking exempted me from lifting drywall. It didn’t.

Wop wop…

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So it’s snowing again

In Healthy shmealthy, Stick a fork in it! on March 5, 2011 at 1:53 pm

I like the snow.  I figure if it’s winter it might as well snow.  I know that spring is coming and eventually it will get here and I will feel the warm sun on my face, but right now it’s still winter.  In Chicagoland.  It’s cold.  It might as well snow.

I’m feeling pretty good lately, even in the winter.  I’ve been eating tons of fruits and vegetables.  Mostly fruit, if I’m being completely honest.  Still no coffee.  I’ve been drinking V-8 again, and it’s been a long while since I had that in the house.  I’ve also been drinking Tart Cherry Juice as seen on TV.  Plus, there’s always my gag inducing seaweed and whey protein drink I lovingly call pond water.  Every morning.  I don’t know what’s helping and what isn’t, but I feel pretty good.

My fingers haven’t turned blue even once this year, which is a serious win for me.

However, even with all that goodness, this morning my internet wandered onto a site that had question and answers about Raynaud’s and it’s possible future ramifications for me (possible, not definite!) and it bummed me right out.  It’s very easy, apparently, to go down the “what if” road to negativity and sadness over something that isn’t even here.  And may never come, by the way.

I didn’t stay there long, I promise.

To refocus my mind, I decided to bake.  I pulled out some of my old cookbooks and made some of my husband’s favorite healthy stuff from diets past.

First I made two batches of healthy oat muffins that are full of oatmeal, buttermilk, walnuts and cinnamon.  Low sodium and sugar, fills up your belly in the morning.  I Next I made two batches of veggie mini quiche.  Egg substitute, hot sauce, spinach, peppers, onion and low-fat cheese baked into on-the-go breakfast goodness.  They aren’t much to look at, but they sure pack lots of flavor.

Once cooled, these will be frozen for weekday breakfasts we can grab on the way out the door.

Because, you know, there’s always work to think about when I really want to lift my spirits.

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Oh the suffering

In Stick a fork in it! on March 3, 2011 at 10:14 pm

My poor children.

For days my son has begged me to make Butter Chicken.

First, the chicken needed defrosting.  And then, I didn’t have a lime.  After that, I made homemade chicken noodle soup instead.  On accident.

Today was finally the day, until I realized I was missing cream, which is a key ingredient in Butter Chicken.  On my way out the door, my son realized that what he asked for and what I was making were vastly different.  As in continents apart.

What he wanted was frozen, processed, Chicken Kiev.  Pressed, formed chicken (maybe?), filled with some butter flavored concoction and herbs, too perfectly breaded and probably deep-fried before being frozen for easy re-heating.  Squirts buttery looking liquid all over the plate when you cut it open.  But delicious.  No lie.

What I made was a dish I think is of Indian descent containing butter, tomatoes, onions, cardamom, cayenne and cumin with cream and cilantro, served on a hot bed of rice.  Juicy in a completely different way.  Delicious AND clears your sinuses.

Top that.

To add insult to injury, I made oatmeal cookies afterwards.  Bless their poor little hearts, not a chocolate chip to be found.

The nerve.

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The LIST

In Stick a fork in it! on February 13, 2011 at 8:48 am

At work, I have this list at my desk.  It’s THE LIST.  When people are ugly to myself or my coworkers, I take a moment to put them in the spreadsheet.  Once printed, they’ve made it.  Of course they have no idea, and on the surface it isn’t transparent.  We’re still just as pleasant to them the next time they call, offer the same services.  But we know.  If they are on the list, and they want a little something extra?  NO.  Favor?  Absolutely not.  Rush job?  Hmmmmm, I think we have about a hundred million ahead of you.  I’m sorry, is this inconvenient for you?  Perfect.

As an aside, I recommend that you don’t call people names when you’re trying to get assistance.  Really, it’s quite simple to be decent and stay off THE LIST, just so you know.

This morning I awoke at the ungodly hour of 6:00am.  I am not a morning person.  However, I had my sourdough loaves on long rise overnight, and this morning I was baking them, so instead of calling bullshit on 6 am, I got out of bed thinking that at least I had a task to take my mind off of it.

Chad Robertson of Tartine Bread, you just made THE LIST.

I am looking at failure #2 and #3 through the haze of a dust cloud of flour.  I don’t even know for sure that I can keep San Francisco as a whole off of the list at this point.  It’s serious.  Flat, doughy bread I wouldn’t even want to serve to my family.  I’m not even photographing it this time.

Is it wrong to go back to bed and have a Sunday morning do-over?  Seriously, I got up at six.

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Deux

In Stick a fork in it! on February 11, 2011 at 10:24 pm

Tomorrow is the big day.  Bread day.

AGAIN.

Tonight, in preparation, I followed the instruction in Tartine Bread and put together my starter with the correct amounts of filtered water and flour mixture to make a leaven.  However, I can be taught.  The rest of the starter I treated as I would normally, feeding it and putting it in its little spot on the counter.  I don’t want to end up in the same pickle with crap bread and my starter (that I worked so hard on) wasted.  It was quite a relief putting all of the starter into play, rather than throwing a good portion in the garbage as I normally do.

Here’s my dilemma, if you care to help a sister out.  Every day I feed 1/4 cup of starter with approximately 1/4 cup of both water and flour (although I measure by weight, it’s approximately 1/4 cup of each-ish).  I do this twice a day, at morning and night.  I am getting a good rise, probably doubling of the starter within those twelve hours.  I still don’t see how on earth one tablespoon of this starter is going to be enough to create a leaven from 700 grams each flour and water with a 20% rise?  Not to mention be enough to rise not one but TWO loaves of bread?!

Seems improbable.

Prove me wrong, Baby.

(as in “Nobody puts Baby in a corner!” because it’s like that)

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Game Day

In Stick a fork in it! on February 8, 2011 at 6:01 pm

For those who tried to help me out, I give to you the game day menu:

  • cheese and crackers
  • fruit and fresh whipped cream
  • chips and french onion dip
  • veggie tray with onion and dill dip
  • pita and bagel chips with hot spinach artichoke dip (not shown because it was still cooking’!)
  • spicy black bean humus
  • onion butter balls  (not shown)
  • big ass pan of homemade mac and cheese (not shown, Juanita Jordan’s recipe… none of the kids nor my husband liked it, so thanks for nothing, Juanita!)
  • hot italian beef sandwiches (not shown)
  • bacon explosion on biscuits (not shown)

In addition my girlfriend brought barbecue flavored chips, yummy sugar cookies shaped like lips that were a big hit, and bruschetta that was delicious.

My husband was in charge of the beer.

Let me remind you that we had 4 guests.  Two of those guests were children.  Also, my girlfriend and I were drinking wine.  We each had our own bottle.

Don’t you judge.

And for those of you nice folks who have asked me about the Bacon Explosion via Facebook (yes, The Tiny Tyrant is on Facebook, feel free to totally “Like” me), here are some photos:

PRE-COOKED

Notice the tightly woven bacon.  The assembly process was serious.  All total 4 (four) pounds of pork products in a heart stopping roll of fat and spices.

COOKED TO PERFECTION

I didn’t take a picture of a slice on biscuit, but it was a perfect spiral if I do say so myself.  My son loved it and was totally stoked that I actually kept my promise and made it, although I’m pretty sure he was feeling sort of bad about it when I was trying to manipulate a bunch of raw bacon into a weave and pressing out two pounds of italian sausage into an even square patty.  I may have washed my hands a thousand times during the process.

Yes, I tried it.  It wasn’t horrible.

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Make some bread already!

In Stick a fork in it! on February 5, 2011 at 9:24 am

Just an update to let all interested parties know that I haven’t made any bread yet.  We’re into February now.

I will have to knock on wood after typing this, but I THINK I MIGHT HAVE FIGURED THIS STARTER THING OUT!

I started with whole wheat flour and freshly squeezed orange juice.  On day 4 I switched over to the filtered water with a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and unbleached white flour.  On day 6, I thought it seemed a little lifeless, so I added 1/4 tsp of apple cider vinegar to the feeding based on some reading I had done online.  It did kick it into gear, I must admit.

This shouldn’t be rocket science, but here some tweaks I’ve made lately:  I measure everything by weight, rather than by measure.  Although I keep the filtered water on the counter, my house in pretty cool, so I warm the jar I am transferring the culture to before I start the feeding by putting it in hot water for a minute.  I use a Ball type jar so that I can use a lid rather than covering with a dishtowel; we poked two small holes in the top of the lid with a nail for circulation (t doesn’t get that tough outer skin using this method, which I like).  I transfer the culture from one jar to another when I measure out for feedings, because I like a clean jar every time.  I mark the jar with a dry erase marker so that I can obsessively monitor the rise of the culture.

Sad, isn’t it?

I don’t know what flipping day I’m on at this point, but I’ve finally got some measurable volume in the culture!  Yesterday I started feeding it twice a day, just for kicks.  No, really I am doing it because the internet powers that BE told me that all the professional bakers feed their culture twice a day.  So I’m either totally professional in my approach, or I’m a complete follower.  You decide.

The smell has evolved from buttermilk to yeasty, sort of beer-ish to now sour.  I think I’m getting close.  No, there won’t be any bread this weekend.  Maybe next weekend.  Maybe.

In other news, I am completely torn up over the Superbowl.  My girlfriend and her family are coming over to watch with us.  She is a vegetarian, however, her family is not.  We used to be vegetarians (before I got sick) and so I totally know how it is, and I make extra efforts when I am feeding a mix of veggie and non veggie people come together.  It happens more than you would think, actually.

My dilemma?  Damn it if I didn’t make a distracted promise to my son that I would make the horrific and disturbing Bacon Explosion for him on Superbowl Sunday.  Weeks ago I did this to myself!  Of course he reminded me just last night, and is LOOKING FORWARD to it.  Just the thought of it is literally breaking my heart.

It’s going to be embarrassing, that’s all I’m saying.

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Third time’s a charm?

In Stick a fork in it! on January 27, 2011 at 8:44 pm

Officially on day four with the new yeast culture, for those following the epic saga of the sourdough bread.

Riveting, I’m sure.

After I thought about it, I decided that it was rather stingy of me, not telling my methods this time around.  I have found several sources online suggesting that cultures start more successfully using juice for the first crucial days rather than water to activate the yeast.  The thought is that it provides more sugar for the yeast to feed on and simultaneously prevents bacteria from flourishing and competing with the yeast for food.  So that’s what I’ve done.  Freshly squeezed orange juice in place of the filtered water of yore.

Does it work?

I dunno.

So far I’m seeing the same things I saw in the early stages using water for the hydration.  Some bubbles in the medium.  Whoop de do!!  I’m not going to jump for joy over the activity at this point.  Really though, I wanted to post this because there is one difference.  The smell.  It’s different.

Walk down memory lane with me for a minute:

  • Culture #1:  I smelled a horrible and strong aroma of stinky feet, which was just as disgusting as you would imagine in the kitchen.  It ended up in the garbage when I thought it had died.  Now that I’ve done more research (read:  ANY research), I believe that it wasn’t actually dead, and I acted rashly (and harshly) because of the horrible smell.  Oops.
  • Culture #2:  Thankfully this one had no repulsive smells, only the yeasty scent of bread, (which was awesome!!) but when push came to shove this culture didn’t produce a good leaven.
  • Culture #3:  Smells like buttermilk!  Strongly.

It’s so strange to get such drastically different results changing only the liquid.  I totally feel like a chemist.

Sweet as hell.

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Weekend FAILs

In Stick a fork in it! on January 25, 2011 at 6:18 pm

Rough weekend here in Frank-dom.  There were two failures for me this weekend.

Da’ Bears.

Also…

Da’ Bread.

After spending an unnatural amount of time cultivating a wild yeast culture (for the second time), I finally felt that I was ready to bake some bread over the weekend.  Except, our weekend was sort of busy, and I kept pushing it back farther, and farther, and farther until I found myself forming dough on game day.  If you’re familiar with the methods from the Tartine Bread book, you know that it’s an all day affair.

I had a previously scheduled date with football.

My husband knew that I was sort of freaking out about leaving my dough all alone, and told me to just bring it already.  So I did.  I named it Baby and took it to the party for turning on the half hour during bulk rise.

I shouldn’t have wasted my time, nor exposed myself to the ridicule (which, not surprisingly, came in the form of my husband’s voice).  After going through the thousand steps to make the loaves, my worst fears were realized when my bread failed to rise much.  Certainly not enough, anyhow.

Witness my shame:

Not crazy about the focus or composition, but that’s what you get when I’m late for work on a dreary midwestern winter morning.  Also, I’m obviously severely vision impaired.  It’s a condition, dammit.

I have already thrown away the baked loaf, the unbaked loaf, the disappointing culture, and the leaven.

Bad news for everyone who wants to use this book for making sourdough bread, I have since read some pretty disappointing reviews of the Tartine Bread book.  I have seen some rumblings from people who know of these things that the “baker’s math” used in Tartine Bread Country Loaf instructions contains an error or errors.  Don’t ask me what the errors are, as I am neither a professional baker, a rumbler, nor a mathematician.

I’m on day two of the new culture, using techniques I have found online.  It promises an active and energetically rising culture.  There is a plethora of information to be found on growing wild yeast cultures, apparently.

I’ll find the right one, eventually.  It’s only bread.

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Eureka!

In Stick a fork in it! on January 13, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Maybe you know about my recent bread obsession?

I have been nurturing and/or killing a wild yeast culture since Christmas.  Now, that might not seem all that long, but I have been thinking about this culture on a daily basis and let me assure you that on January 13, it most certainly IS that long.  Truly, I should find other things to think about, but so far there’s nothing.  Nothing good, that is.

So… here’s the problem:  I get a culture going pretty good, and then I start the daily feedings and the activity of the culture just seems to die off.  I’ll see a couple of bubbles in the batter, but no rising or any signs of life.  Why?  Why, oh, why do I kill the culture?!

Here is my daily routine:

  1. Drive home from work.
  2. Change out of my work clothes so that I don’t get them all floury or worse, glue-y, or even worse…. stinky, because sometimes the culture stinks to high heaven!
  3. Blend together the flour/water concoction which is the feeding.
  4. Look at the sad state of the “culture” and try to decide which 20% would be the best to use as the medium in the new dish, top, middle, sides, bottom?  It all looks the same to me!
  5. Scoop some and think to myself that it looks *EXACTLY* like the flour mixture I am adding it to.
  6. Pray for some rising action.
  7. Cry a little.

Every day on that drive home I hope I’ll see something different in the culture when I get there.  Every day I am disappointed when I look under the little cloth in my glass dish.  And yet I feed it.

Well, my friends, I am a problem solver.  I just said so the other day at work!  Wild yeast will not get the best of me.  I have tried many things to get different results, and yet see no change.  I have used bottled water, I have used Reverse Osmosis water, I have warmed the water, I have used it at room temperature, I have stirred the flour mixture with a whisk to remove all lumps, I have stirred it with my fingers to contribute additional yeast, I have added the culture to the feeding, I have added the feeding to the culture, I have varied the amounts I use of the culture in the feeding, and vice versa, I have kept the culture in every out of the way spot I could find.  Except one.

Yesterday I wondered if my house was a little chilly.  Yes, it is.  Guess where it isn’t so chilly?  California, my dears.  Where Tartine Bakery is located.  Damn, I’m in the midwest!!  I’m looking at snow, people, of course it’s chilly here!  I think I’ve got it!

Before I fed my culture yesterday, I turned my oven on warm (approximately 170 degrees when preheated completely).  I left it on for about 5 minutes and then turned it off.  I fed the culture as I had been every day:  1/4 cup of flour, 1/4 cup filtered, bottled water to which I added 1/4 cup culture.  I mixed it up, covered it, and placed it in the now slightly warm oven.

Two hours later I checked it to see if there was any evidence of rising, and the answer was a resounding YES!!  I did a little dance!  I didn’t want to get over confident, because I wasn’t sure it would sustain itself after the oven cooled completely and it rested for 24 hours doing its thing.  This afternoon, though, I took out my culture to feed it and GUESS WHAT?!  I have a sustained culture, people!  With rising, and falling, and bubbles all over inside of it and EVERYTHING!!

The best part?  It didn’t smell like feet.

Amen.

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