I got a mixer, I got a mixer, I got a mixer, I got a mixer

Yea. I got a mixer. The kitchen tractor. Finally. I have been nagging Clyde for 2 whole years about it, and so he said "lets go get it". We got a 5 Qt. one from cosco. I can't wait to get the pasta making attachment. I think the reason clyde finally caved is that he is currently prescribed opiates for his wisdom tooth pain, so he is more suggestive. but whatever, I finally got a mixer.
Here is how it went down:
I am blurry because I am jumping up and down.





Here it is on our counter next to our new espresso/coffee maker which we love (the magic bullet is in the middle because it always has to represent as the REAL kitchen tractor)



Today is sunday, which is already bread making day. I followed the recipe in the book, it went like this:

Kitchenaid bread:
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
2 cups hot water
2 packs of Active dry yeast
5-6 cups whole wheat flour (I only used 5)
3/4 cup powdered milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup oil
(Instead of 5 cups flour, I substituted 1/2 a cup of 6 grain cereal that I grinded in the greatest magic bullet. Usually I will also do another 1/2 cup of a mix of grinded flax and sunflower seeds, but clyde is afraid they may get into his tooth hole)

Dissolve 1 tablespoon of brown sugar in all of the water and yeast until the yeast rises. this takes about 10 minutes.
Put 4 cups of flour, the powdered milk, the rest of the brown sugar, and salt in the mixer. attach the kneading hook. turn the mixer on to the kneading speed and mix a few seconds. while its kneading add yeast liquid and oil. let it mix for about 2 min longer, may have to stop and scrape. Gradually add in the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time ( allowing it to be completely mixed in between half cups) until it doesn't stick to the side of the bowl. At that point let it go a few more minutes.
Put into an oiled bowl and let rise about an hour. I put the oven on 400, left it on a few minutes (it never even reached 400) , turned it off and put the bread in there.
After an hour cut the bread in half and put it in two loaf pans, or like I used to do, a loaf pan and shape one in an oval and put it on a flat pan. Let rise another hour.
After that put in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temp to 350 for another 20 or so minutes.
its not as good as my old bread, but I will adjust.
here it is:


Take it out of the pan so that it doesn't get soggy.

I also made roti, but it doesn't mix well in the mixer, so I wouldn't suggest it.
Roti
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (but you can just use 2 cups all purpose if you want )
1 teaspoon of salt
Mix these together
Add 2 tablespoons olive oil
Mix
add 3/4 up hot water.
Mix into ball o' dough.
Its sticky. Then I heat up my pan on about 5-7. Med - med. high heat. I use cast iron with no oil. My Teflon did well for this with no oil, but my aluminum (?) metal pans they just stick to with no oil. But if you use oil they turn out crispy. So I take out small balls of dough. really small. smaller than the falafel. I use a wine bottle for a rolling pin for this because it makes it easy to hold one side of the dough while rolling, because you want it pretty thin. Recently I have made it less thin, like maybe the thickness of a tortilla. and about the size of a small tortilla. So when your done you pretty much have a tortilla, which i have used as replacement when I didn't feel like making this bread, but this bread is better. They cook really quick, just a few seconds on each side, and they get bubbles of air on them while cooking. they are good.

I have been putting them on wax paper and inside a plastic bag in the freezer, they last.

Last I made pizza tonight. (to use the mixer again) We had good toppings:
zucchini cut thin, garlic, onions that were sauted, black olives, broccoli, spinach, and mozzarella cheese. I used the frozen sauce from last sunday. it was good.



I had the thick crust on the right










I'll come back to the pizza dough in the mixer recipe, because I did not do it right.
Here is the old way:

Pizza dough:
1 and 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
2 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour (I use half wheat and it works)
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Put yeast in a small bowl and cover it with 1/4 cup of the hot water. Let it sit until its all yeasty, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile mix dry ingredients.
When ready add yeast mix, oil, and rest of the water.
mix and kneed on floured surface about 3-5 minutes.
put into an oiled bowl, make sure its covered with oil, and let it sit for an hour.

clyde got his wisdom teeth out

poor little clyde cannot chew. So I am on the soft food kick again. like thanksgiving, only instead of antibiotics they were fully removed. Miso soup would have been good for tonight, but the tooth extraction was unexpected, and I grocery shop on the weekend for the whole week, so I did not have the ingredients. All I have on fridays are left over vegetables and flour, pantry items, etc. So I made a mixture of things that are soft to give him a spectrum. Unfortunately if you boil vegetables as much as I did tonight they lose all nutritional value. but whatever, we gotta eat. First I made mashed potatoes/cauliflower. I like to mix cauliflower with the potatoes to lessen the amount of carbohydrates. Next I made cream of broccoli soup from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook grandma got me for Christmas. I deviated a lot because I didn't have too much broccoli. Clyde really liked it.

Cream of Broccoli soup (with mushrooms)
2 cups cut broccoli (but recipe suggests 4 cups broccoli, no mushrooms, you be the judge)
1 cup cut mushrooms
1 and 1/2 cup broth (I used vegetable, but you can use whatever kind)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk or cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Boil the cut vegetables for about 10 minutes. I put them directly into the strainer, because I don't like them to be hot when I magic bullet them because of the steam buildup.
Next you make your basic cream sauce, melt the butter, add the flour, stir for a minute.
Then add the milk and stir that for another minute. this is all on med. heat. It will get really thick during this time.
Next stir in 3/4 cup broth.
Put all or half (I did all cause of clyde, the recipe says just blend half and put the other directly in.) of the vegetables into the magic bullet with the other 3/4 cup of broth. I love the magic bullet. blend
add to soup.
add the cheese
season with salt and pepper.

Last I made biscuits. thats on here a bunch of time and I am too lazy to link it.
I gotta find more soft food recipes.

sunday is funday. aka. cooked a lot

OK so I have been not feeling like cooking a lot on the week, so I tried an experiment of cooking a lot of freezable items on sunday to see how well they turn out unfrozen. this is because I do not like the taste of reheated/frozen food so much that its an experiment. I was looking at giadas first cookbook and found that tomato sauce is freezable. Although I do not use her recipe, I do use a lot of sauce during the week, and it does take awhile to cook. So I tried it. yesterday I tried to reheat it, and it takes a while. Not as long as cutting up all the stuff for the sauce and cooking it, but I guess if you have a microwave it will help to thaw the sauce first. here is my sauce recipe:

Marinara sauce:
saute onion (I don't like a lot of onion, so I usually only do half of one)
with 1 carrot and 1 celery
with 2-3 garlic cloves (clyde likes garlic)
Until it is pretty soft
Next I magic bullet 2 cans of diced tomatoes and add
add:
1 table parsley
1 table basil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
Cook until tasty, about 1/2 hour

I also tried cooking ravioli to freeze. THIS DOES NOT WORK. very disappointed. The recipe was good, and without the freezing problem it would have worked. The advise was to line the ravioli on wax paper in the freezer for 15 minutes, then put into a ziplock bag.
Problem #1: they stuck to the wax paper when peeling off. made holes.
Problem # 2: they stuck to each other in the bag and made a lump. I tried to pry them apart. make a mess.

So if your not freezing them, here is the recipe:
Ravioli
The first thing you want to do is press a container of tofu. This is easiest by cutting it lenghwise into 4 pieces, wrapping it in a towel or shirt, and laying a baking sheet on top if it with many heavy items on top of that. if the tofu isn't pressed for this recipe it is too watery, and you can really tell. After about 1/2 hour or more take the tofu out and crumble it by just squeezing it thru your fingers until its in small pieces. In this recipe I am using it to substitute for ricotta, so it should have a similar texture when finished. add a little bit of sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper, about 1 or 2 tablespoons of basil and 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. mix and set aside.

next you need
10-15 mushrooms cut
1 ten oz. pack of frozen spinach- thawed and drained
I added a few pieces of broccoli, optional though
1 egg mixed with a teaspoon of water
1 package of won-ton wrappers

about 10-15 mushrooms cut into pieces. saute until they have lost all of their liquid. when these are finished you can decide whether to food process them with the spinach (as suggested by recipe) before mixing with tofu, or just mix them with the tofu, like I did. its total preference.
lay out won-ton wrappers.
one at a time use brush to put egg around the edges of wrapper, add spoonful of filling, then egg another wrapper, and top it. squeeze the edges together. it should seal. put them on floured baking sheet until its time to cook.
It helps me to wash fingers occasionally, or they stick to wrappers and make mess.
bring salted water to boil. add oil and ravioli, 4 at a time so they don't stick. The cooking time varies. she says 3 minutes, but that isn't really enough. I just pull some out and try it every few minutes until they taste done. cheese on top.
I use the extra filling and put in my red sauce I pour on top of this. I serve it with penne.


Man, I haven't even gotten to the curry, flat bread, and yeast bread I made on sunday, but its time to make dinnerd. fajitas. mmmmm.

melissas miso recipe

Melissa sent me this recipe. I love miso soup.


>
> Miso Soup 2
>
> Ingredients:
>
> 4.0 cup Water
>
> 3.0 tbsp Miso Paste
>
> 1.0 packet (8 ounces) Silken Tofu
>
> 2.0 whole green onion, chopped
>
>
>
> Cooking Directions:
>
> 1. In a medium saucepan over a medium-high heat, combine dashi granules and
> water. Bring mixture to a boil. 2. Reduce heat to medium and stir in miso
> paste, tofu, and vegetables. 3. Cook on low heat for about 3-5 minutes.
> Serve.

getting settled

First post of the new year!!! I wanted to start taking pictures and video for each one, but we are still getting set up in the new place, so we aren't so high tech yet. I have had lots of food on the mainland that was so good I wanted to mention it, but I am going to digress to today.
meals have been spotty since I came back because of new food and new kitchens, but we have finally found our own little place to live, and my kitchen is quite nice. I have two big windows and much cutting space. The oven is spotty, but only because the seal is broken so it doesn't seal. So far so good. Tonight I made the tvp (textured vegetable protein) sloppy joes and spicy baked macaroni, which I got from the cookbook Giadas Everyday pasta. I got this cookbook from Melissa for Christmas, she is my favorite food network person. here is the recipe: (modified by me)

(I will give her measurements, but I reduced by a lot)
1 pd. macaroni pasta (I used Radiatori, cause I had no mac. noodles)
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 and 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 and 1/3 cup grated romano cheese (I only had parm cheese, so It was find without this)
2 tablespoons butter, softened, and 2 table cold butter
12 oz. mozzarella cheese, cubed
(I added chopped broccli)

preheat to 350 deg.
cook mac noodles (or what you got) until somewhat firm
heat oil and cook onion, mushrooms, and garlic until tender. stir in tomatoes, spinach, and red pepper flakes about 5 minutes.
in a small bowl mix bread crumbs and 1/4 cup of both cheeses
cover the bottom of a 9 * 13 * 2 in. glass baking dish with the soft butter
spread 1/2 of the bread crumb mix on the bottom
in a large bowl mix the veggies, macaroni, and cheeses. I added lots of salt, pepper, garlic salt, and basil. put into pan. top with the rest of breadcrumb mix and finish with putting cold butter pieces around. cook for 20-30 minutes