12.21.2013

Festive


coat: cole haan, cardigan: worthington, scarf: thrifted

Leonard and Tiberius: brotherly love <3



Happy Holidays!




11.12.2013

Sausage and Kale Soup


This soup recipe is so delicious and easy to prepare. It is definitely a favorite in my house!




11.06.2013

Chicken Noodle Soup



Few things taste more comforting than homemade chicken noodle soup on a chilly autumn day. I followed my mom's recipe to make this delicious soup for dinner with friends last week. Soup is great for get togethers because it is convenient to keep warm, easy to eat and almost universally loved. Here's how I made it:


Begin by placing a whole chicken (insides removed) in a large stock pot with some halved carrots and  celery stalks, quartered onions, garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, sprigs of thyme basil, oregano and salt. Cover just barely with water and bring to a boil. Skim the surface for any impurities floating around. Reduce the heat to med-low, cover and allow to simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours depending on the size of your bird.


For the noodles, start with a couple cups of flour. I used cake flour because I was out of all purpose, which is normally what you would use. Cake flour worked well, though! I suspect the fineness of the flour prevented the dough from rising, which is great because puffy noodles are weird, unless that's what you're going for. Next, mix a teaspoon of salt into the flour mixture.


Make a well (dig out a hole in the middle of the bowl, piling spoonfuls of flour mixture along the sides of the bowl until a nice well forms in the middle) and crack three eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork and then start incorporating the flour mixture. Do this gradually. At some point, you will need to use your hands to mix/knead. Keep adding flour until it won't take anymore. You can knead it in the bowl or on a floured surface, about five minutes. Let the dough rest for a few minutes before rolling it out.


Cut the ball of dough in half and roll each section out separately- this helps with getting it as thin as possible.

Halfway there!

Perfect!

Roll the noodle dough up like a jelly roll.

Cut off pieces of any width you like and unroll them to make long noodle strands.

Dry them on a tea towel for a few hours and then they're ready to boil! Some of my noodles had funny shapes like zig zags because I didn't roll my dough into a perfect rectangle (or a rectangle at all, let's be honest) so if that bothers you, roll your dough out to have four right angles and you'll be good to go.


By now, the chicken should be done, so remove it and let it cool. Strain the broth with a fine sieve and reserve the strained liquid. Once the chicken is cool, shred it into pieces using two forks, removing skin and bones. Set aside.

  
Add fresh chopped carrots, celery, onion and herbs to a pan and saute in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Cook for about 6 minutes until vegetables start to soften but are still crunchy. 


Add the strained broth to the vegetables and bring to a boil, then drop in the noodles a couple at a time. Keep tasting the noodles to see when they're ready- mine took about eight minutes. Reduce the heat when the noodles are done and add the chicken. Adjust seasoning to your liking- I added a generous about of Lawry's seasoning to mine. Warm and serve!



10.23.2013

Runzas


I grew up eating these little meat-filled pastries called runzas. My mom would make them every so often, even though they are a TON of work, because they are really tasty. My family calls them runzas but I've also seen them called bierocks. According to the internet, they originated in Russia and Germany. Communities of Volga German immigrants brought the recipe to the Great Plains region of the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Runzas remain popular in Midwest apparently, but I've never heard anyone else talk about them in real life. 

Anyway, that's your history lesson for the day! Here's how I make my family's Iowan version of runzas:

Start by proofing your yeast. I used 2 1/2 Tablespoons yeast for this and stirred it into a half cup of sugar and one cup of warm water. After ten minutes or so, yours should look like frothy like this. If not, start over.

While we're talking about yeast, here are some things I've discovered to be murderers of yeast:
Hot water
Salt
The Microwave


Next up is adding the flour. Use 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour and 2 cups of high gluten bread flour. These two bags of flour came from Stringtown Grocery, one of my favorite places to shop for baking supplies.
Add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a teaspoon of salt to the flour mixture. You can sift the flour if you want, but I usually just whisk it- it accomplishes nearly the same thing. Whisking the baking powder and salt into the flour prevents the salt from killing the yeast, too.

Melt about half a cup of vegetable shortening and cooled it to room temp, then add it to the mixture. Add a half cup of milk and mix it all up.


Next, start incorporating the flour mixture, adding a little less than half to start. Gradually add all four cups and continue mixing until the dough pulls together and forms a ball at the bottom of the dough hook. Let it rest for a few minutes, then knead it in the bowl until it begins to feel elastic- about seven minutes. 

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rise!
You want it to double in size, but don't be discouraged if it doesn't. 
Mine definitely did not double, it did rise substantially, but it turned out fine. It took about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, grab a head of cabbage and shred it up. I hack off big sections of cabbage and use the cheese grater on them. It's worth the extra effort to grate rather than chop, trust me.

Cabbage shredded up and looking fine...

Isn't it pretty?

Chop up a whole white onion next. You can also chop some garlic now if you'd like. I cheat and buy the bottles of pre-chopped garlic because I'm lazy, but to each their own.

Sautee the onions in a skillet with some olive oil, then after they've softened add 1 pound of ground beef or turkey. I'm sure there is a good vegetarian substitute but I'm pretty clueless about those things. Leave me a note if you know of one!

Brown the meat and then drain out the extra fat. Season with a few tablespoons each of soy sauce, worcestershire, yellow mustard and dijon mustard. Add any other seasonings you like; I used celery salt and black pepper. Finally, stir in the cabbage. If it seems like a lot of cabbage, don't worry because it wilts down a lot.


Finished meat mixture

 By now, your dough should be ready so punch it down (yes, literally punch the dough) and set it on a lightly floured surface. Let it rest a few more minutes and then begin cutting out sections to make the runzas. You want to dough to hold about 2 tablespoons of meat each, so experiment with the proportions and see what works for you. 

Here they are ready to go into the oven- 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Save the leftover cabbage and meat to eat with the runzas!


Bon Appétit!


Runza Recipe

2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm water
Stir ingredients together and let stand for ten minutes to proof yeast

2 cups high gluten bread flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Whisk together and set aside

1/2 cup melted room-temperature shortening
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
Add these to the yeast mixture and combine, then add the flour mixture gradually. Knead dough for about seven minutes and cover with damp cloth to let rise, about 45 minutes.

1 white onion
1 head cabbage
1 pound ground beef/turkey
2 Tablespoons each of soy sauce, worcestershire, yellow mustard and dijon mustard
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp black pepper
Meanwhile, chop one white onion, shred a head of cabbage and mince garlic. Sautee the onion first in a bit of oil, then add the garlic and sautee one more minute. Add the meat and brown, then drain the extra fat. Season with soy sauce, worcestershire, mustards and spices. Finally, stir in the cabbage.

Punch dough down, let rest a few minutes, then cut off pieces to flatten for making runzas. Flatten the dough by hand or roll out, then fill with 2 tablespoons of meat mixture. Seal up the rolls and place, seam side down, on greased 9x13" baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes, dough should turn golden brown. 

Serve with extra meat and cabbage or with a sauce of your choosing- grainy mustard would be good!

10.18.2013

Friday Faves

A delightful birthday feast 

Happy Birthday to me

I celebrated my BIRTHDAY a couple of weeks ago. These food pictures were taken at my parents' house- my mom made all the goodies. Those are guitar picks on my cake!

Presents, including Tom Servo

A cute lil tea infuser from my friend, Sam

Naked Palette by Urban Decay makeup from my sister

Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!

TSB

10.17.2013

Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Pumpkin Seed Pesto Pasta Salad
Fresh basil

Pumpkin seeds

Tomatoes and black olives

To be a little more festive, I substituted pumpkin seeds for the usual walnuts in my pesto. The recipe I use is similar to this one, but I never measure anything. I add a little lemon juice, too. I always toast the seeds/nuts first before throwing them in the food processor. A good tip is to add chunky ingredients: nuts, garlic and cheese first and the softer ingredients like basil later so they combine easily and nothing gets lost.

Pumpkin seed pesto with pumpkin seed garnish
Current decor on the dining room table

Getting excited for Halloween! We expect over 100 trick or treaters and have a pretty good start on decorating the yard... pictures coming soon!