Applesauce

We like applesauce, but so much of what you get the stores doesn't taste like anything other than corn sweeteners.

So, we have a home made version.

This is my husband's recipe, developed over several months of experimentation, and it's great.

Makes about 2 quarts of applesauce (I know that's a lot, but why make the mess without big results -- it never lasts long enough to go bad!)


Ingredients:

3 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 granny smith apples
4 gala apples
1/4 cup water
1 Tbls cinnamon

Directions:

Mix the lemon juice into the 3 cups water in a large bowl

Peel and core the apples. Slice into even slices (about 1/4 inch thick) into the lemon juiced water as you go. (The lemon juice keeps the apples from turning brown while you're working on them and while they are cooking)

Drain apples well, place in sauce pan, add 1/4 cup water (the water keeps the apples from scorching until the apples start releasing enough of their own moisture)

Cook on medium heat until apples are soft and "mashable" -- stir often and watch carefully so they don't burn.

Remove from heat. Use a potato masher, a ricer or an emersion blender to mash the apples to your desired smoothness (we like ours a little chunky, so the ricer is our best tool).

Add the cinnamon and mix well.

Notes:

If you are not as enthusiastic about cinnamon as we are, you may want to use a little less -- start with 1 tsp and work your way up.

You'll notice there is no sugar in this recipe. If you really feel you need it after you've tasted the finished product, I recommend adding it as you serve it, maybe just a sprinkle over the top.

Cranberry Fluff

EDITED 11/23/11: It is best to mix with an immersion blender in a very deep bowl, otherwise the counter, the floor, the chef, the dog, etc. are pink!

EDITED 12/8: Well, I found Cranberry Jello (yes, you have to but the brand name, which is more expensive, but hey, it's the holidays and a little treat every now and then is ok).

The cranberry jello is even better than the raspberry. This recipe is a "keeper" -- and next tme I want to do cranberry jello with cranberry juice for half of the water -- or maybe some of the cranberry flavored Sierra Mist soda that I saw advertised last night.

I'll keep you informed!

There's something about Thanksgiving that just seems to bring out the jello molds!

I really wanted to try something different this time, and since it was to be just two of us for dinner, and the DH is a willing guinea pig, this is what I came up with.

Since I wasn't making cranberry sauce, I wanted to have some cranberry ingredient, I went through the cupboard and found the craisins -- PERFECT!

Here then is what I did:

Ingredients:

1 small package sugar free raspberry jello (this would be even better with cranberry jello!)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup ice water
4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup craisins

Directions:

Spray a small mold with cooking spray

Add jello powder to boiling water and stir until totally dissolved

Using a whisk, beat in cream cheese until well blended

Add ice water and craisins, mix well

Pour into mold and chill until set


Notes: next time I'm going to try this with cold cranberry juice instead of the ice water, and I think I'll pre-soak the craisins to "plump" them too

I'll let you know how that turns out!

In defense of Jello

Its summer

Its HOT

we're on low fat diet

we're on a low sugar diet

we need a salad

we need a desert


what's the answer?

JELLO!!

now just plain jello (especially RED jello) is a staple in the winter when one of us has a "bug" of some sort, and that's not what I'm talking about here

I'm talking about using jello as the base for some wonderfully cool salads/deserts that hit the spot when its hot

and I'm not talking about just the brand name stuff either -- my grandmother used to swear by Royal -- now days I buy whatever is the least expensive, and I recommend you do like wise!!

Here then are some of my favorite jello concoctions:


Lime Jello #1

1 pkg lime jello
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

drain the pineapple (I usually drink the juice as a "cook's treat" when I do this)
mix jello according to package directions
add other ingredients
chill


Lime Jello #2

1 pkg lime jello
1 small can pear chunks

drain the pears
prepare jello according to package directions
add pears
chill


Orange Jello #1

1 pkg orange jello
1 small can mandarin oranges

drain oranges
prepare jello
add oranges
chill


Orange Jello #2

1 pkg orange jello
2 medium carrots
1/2 cup raisins

grate carrots
prepare jello
add carrots and raisins
chill


Tomato Aspic (Lemon Jello)

1 pkg lemon jello
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped celery (optional)
1 cup cooked salad shrimp

prepare jello by substituting the tomato sauce for the cup of cold water specified on the jello package
add all other ingredients
chill


Anybody got any other versions?

Macaroni and Cheese

I usually think of this as more of a winter time dish, mostly because it requires turning on the oven, but my daughter recently requested the recipe, so here it is.

There is no real good way to make this a low fat meal -- you can use low fat milk, but there is no substitute for really good sharp cheddar cheese -- so just think of this as a "splurge" and forgive yourself!

For some reason elbow macaroni is the traditional pasta to use for this -- its just one of those "we've ALWAYS done it that way" things, but it can be done equally well with medium or small shell pasta -- you want something that the sauce will cling to.

You'll want to adjust what sort of pan you bake this in based on your family's preference. At our house we like the crusty edges, so I bake in a fairly thin layer in a pyrex pan -- the same one I cook lasagna in -- lots of crusty edges -- yum! If you're not so into the crusty parts, a round pyrex backing dish works too.

So here's the recipe:

2 c raw elbow macaroni
2 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 1/2 c milk
2 tbls flour
2 tbls butter
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp yellow mustard

Cook macaroni following package directions -- don't overcook

Melt butter in sauce pan, add flour to form roux -- let it cook a little bit to take out the raw flour taste

Whisk in milk, worcestershire sauce and mustard. Continue stirring until sauce begins to thicken.

Stir about 2/3 of shredded cheese into sauce and continue stirring until the cheese melts.

Drain macaroni and return to cooking pot. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni and mix well.

Pour sauced macaroni into greased baking pan, top with remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes

Enjoy!!

Mashed Potato Tutorial

Mashed potatoes are a staple cooking technique that every home cook should be able to do.

Yes, I know there are those tubs in the refridgerator section of the grocery store that will try to lure you in with the instant gratification of just "heat and serve".

Worse yet are those bags of dry flakes in among the canned goods --- "instant mashed potatoes" --- only in a dire emergency folks! They are good to add to soups for thickening and for some other things, but not to serve in a bowl bare naked.

Nothing tops a really well prepared batch of mashed potatoes from SCRATCH!

So, in response to requests, here is a tutorial on how to do this.

Good mashed potatoes begin with good potatoes! (Ok, DUH, it seems so obvious) Here it helps to know about potatoes. When I was a kid (back in the "dark ages"), there were White Rose potatoes, Red potatoes, Baking potatoes, New potatoes -- but there were no Gold potatoes or Blue potatoes. You can make mashed potatoes from any variety, and which you use will largely depend on what you find in the store where you are and what you like (and at our house, which one is on sale).










Red, White and Gold potatoes have a somewhat "waxier" and firmer texture. The skins of these kind of potatoes are smooth and really thin. A lot of these look almost round. Blue ones fit in this catagory too, I personally just can't get my head around the idea of blue mashed potatoes. If you want to give it a try though, I can't think of any good reason to say no (someone let me know if you do this, I'd love to see the pictures!)



Baking potatoes are generally used for -- well, baking -- but they make excellent mashed potatoes too, and they need to cook less time. These potatoes are more of what most of us think of as "potato shaped" and the skins have a rougher feel to them.

Either way, just pick good firm ones, and if you're going to buy a whole plastic bag full, give that bag a real looking over. Don't buy one that looks wet on the inside. And give it a sniff too -- it should smell like good clean dirt -- you'll know a bad one when you smell it -- and unless you really want to make your own vodka in your kitchen, don't buy those. Stay away from potatoes that have a greenish tint to the skin -- those haven't been stored properly, and they won't taste as good.

Generally I try to find large, regularly shaped ones with no cuts or black spots on them. The shape helps when peeling, and you just have to throw away all of those areas that are already damaged, so don't pay for that and take it home.

When doing mashed potatoes, there are some other ingredients that you will need. They are: salt, butter and milk (you'll also need water, but I'm assuming here that you've got indoor working plumbing)

And then there are the tools -- two different sets of tools for the two stages of this process.



These are the tools needed for prep and cooking:
*potato peeler of your choice (this is not absolutely necessary, my grandmother used to peel potatoes with a paring knife, but I don't recommend it)
*a good sharp knife (my favorite is a small chef style) the important thing is that its long enough to cut through the length of the potato in one stroke so you aren't "hacking" at them
*a large pan for cooking with a lid (the more potatoes you're cooking, the bigger the pan needs to be. Don't try to crowd them, they don't come out as well)
*a section of newspaper (even if you have a good garbage disposal, potatoe peels are notorious for plugging up the plumbing, so unless you have a plumber instantly available and want to spend a couple of hours dealing with backed up sinks and mopping, just don't go there. Besides, potatoe peelings are a great addition to your compost bin!)



And this is the set for the mashing part:
*potato ricer -- this is the tool with the flat bottom that has holes in it
*hand mixer and beaters -- you can make mashed potatoes without this step, but there will probably be lumps, and its harder to make the whole batch consistant



A lot of you will have seen this tool and perhaps believe this is the way to mashed potatoe nirvana, but don't be fooled -- it will only produce a pale shadow of the lovely consistant texture that a ricer will, so you'll have to work harder with your mixer, but it will do in a pinch. (You DESERVE a good ricer! Go find yourself one!)

Step One


Peel the potatoes.

Here you can see the pile of peelings on the newspaper all ready to go out.



and here are the peeled potatoes in the pan waiting for the next step.


Step Two


Cut up the potatoes.

Cutting the potatoes into pieces is good for two reasons:

1. they will cook quicker and more evenly if they are cut into pieces that are roughly all the same shape

2. its easier to mash them if the pieces you start with are smaller to begin with



I usually slice the potato in half down the length of the potatoe, then cut them into about 4 pieces across so I have 8 half "circles" of potato from each medium potatoe.

The main thing is that it leaves each piece about 3/4 of an inch thick.

Step Three


Cover the potatoes with water.

Some people will tell you that you have to start with really cold water, but I think that as long as the water isn't warmer than the potatoes are at the start you'll be ok.

Using water that is a lot warmer than the potatoes are at the beginning may turn them dark brown which is pretty disgusting. That's why you start the water heating with the potatoes in it instead of boiling the water and adding the potatoes afterwards like you do with pasta.

Notice there is head room in the pan for nice boiling without trashing your stove top with water and potatoe starch.



Add salt.

Yes, this is REQUIRED!

There's nothing worse tasting than a flat, unsalted potato, and if you try to add the salt after they are cooked, it takes a lot more salt to do the same job. There's something about the whole cooking process that makes the entire batch take on just the right amount of taste from the salting.

Personally I use sea salt because I like the taste, and you actually get less sodium than from other kinds.

Step Four

Put your pan on the biggest burner on the stove that the pan covers (this makes the most efficent use of the energy you're using to do the cooking), put on the lid and turn the burner up to high.

When the potatoes come to a boil, turn down the burner so they continue to bubble, but not so low that it is only a simmer -- you're not making soup, you want these to cook fairly quickly but not make a huge mess on your stove.

Here's where the cooking instruction gets less precise -- you cook these until they are done.....here at over 6000 feet in elevation it takes about 20 to 25 minutes from the time I put the pan on the stove until they are done, but this all depends upon what your elevation is, what variety of potato you used, how warm the water and potatoes were when you started, how small you cut the pieces -- you get the idea.



Here's how I test to see if they are done.

Use a regular table fork and insert it into the middle of a piece of potatoe. If they are done the fork will go in easily and the potato will split into two pieces, leaving the little "fork marks" when it does.

If this doesn't happen, give them a few more minutes and test again.

If it does, its time to drain -- PRONTO! Don't leave fully cooked potatoes sitting in the water or you will have potato soup!! Drain them right away.

CAUTION! Draining a lot of boiling water out of a pan of potatoes can be a scalding hazard. If you are at all unsure, use your colander in the sink and pour the whole batch of potatoes and water into it, then put the potatoes back in the pan to move on to the next step.


Step Five

Set the pan on the counter on a hotmat or a folded towel.

Add butter. This is largely a "to taste" issue. In the pictures here, I had 5 medium potatoes and I used about 3 tablespoons of butter.

Cut the butter into chunks and drop it into the pan and put the lid back on.

While you're getting out the mixer and the milk, the butter will be melting, which makes it easier to mix into the batch than trying to mash really cold chunks.



Using your ricer (or the masher if you haven't gone out for that ricer yet), break the potatoes into fine pieces.

The smaller the better for the next step.

Step Six


Using your hand mixer on a medium speed, start beating up the potatoe (and butter) pieces.

Add just enough milk to make the mixture smooth. For those 5 medium potatoes that I did in this batch I used about 1/4 to 1/3 cup milk.

A lot of the "how much milk" depends on rather you used one of those "wax-y" potatoes, or a baking potato. The baking potatoes will need less milk.



When you are done, the whole batch should look smooth.

TA DA!


At our house potatoes always went in an oval bowl, but whatever you serve them in, you can do it with pride!!

ENJOY!!

Potato Lovers Unite!

I have yet to find a recipe that includes potatoes that I don't like.

My dad will eat potatoes 3 meals a day and a couple more thrown in for snacks! It must be the Irish blood in us.

And from time to time, my Irish heritage meets something from my husband's background and we have a perfect match. So it is with this recipe.....a match made in potato heaven....

The title of this recipe comes from the tradition among Latter Day Saints of having a meal at the church after a funeral that is provided by the good sisters of the ward. Usually these funeral dinners include baked ham, a green salad, a jello salad (or two or three), rolls and butter and this recipe (or one of its variations).



And so, today we have the famous

Funeral Potatoes


The pictured recipe is just half of what the full recipe makes, and I took some other liberties as well -- all described below.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 glass pan with Pam.

In a mixing bowl combine the following:
1 24 ounce bag of hash browns
2 cans cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom)
2 cups sour cream (or IMO)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped onion (1 tbls of dried works well too)

Spread the mixture in the 9 x 13 pan

Over the top sprinkle 2 cups crushed corn flakes (I used potato chip crumbs on the one in the picture) and 2 tbls melted butter.

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!!!