Recipe of the Week: Rice Alfredo

Macroni and cheese is a well-known comfort food. My daughter has another that comes a close second: Rice Alfredo. Here's how to make it:

• Cook your favorite rice as you usually do (we like a brown/wild blend)
• Stir in a purchased alfredo sauce (we like Classico's Creamy Alfredo)

Serve immediately. If it is too bland for you, try sprinkling it with black pepper or one of the Perfect Pinch seasoning blends.

This is also good with other grains. We used red quinoa instead of rice this evening. It was different but still very much in the 'comfort' on a winter evening.

Gleanings for the Week Ending December 24, 2011

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

A Guide to Wassail - history and good holiday fare!

Holiday Images from Cassini Imaging Team - Saturn and its moons

Planets Dazzle Holiday Skies - At dusk - Jupiter…Venus. At dawn - Mercury, Saturn, Mars

Triple Citrus Cupcakes - Orange, Lemon, Lime…Wow!

Winter Solstice: Patterns of Darkness and Light - Observations from Joanna Paterson

A Prosthetic Eye to Treat Blindness - Sheila Nirenberg’s TED talk…hope this or comparable technology will be available for people with macular degeneration soon since sight is so important to quality of life for everyone and that it may lead to better treatments for deafness as well.

David Zax’s 10 Favorite Technologies of 2011 - How many of the 10 have you heard about previously?

50 most Innovative Companies - Take a look at Technology Review’s 2011 list and suggest ones for 2012

Recipe of the Week: Simple Baked Chicken

This is my daughter's 'chicken for company' recipe.

1-2 pounds of cut up chicken (boned or boneless; good single serving sized pieces)

3/4 cup orange juice

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

3/4 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix together all the ingredients except the chicken in a large measuring cup. Pour half into a baking dish that can be easily covered. Place chicken in a single layer in the baking dish and pour the rest of the liquid over the chicken. Place in the refrigerator overnight.

Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 350 degrees F. 

These are good served with Sweet Potato Wedges.

Cookies: Vanilla Peppermint Pretzels

This cookie, prepared by Glee, was part of theCross Timbers Daughters of the American RevolutionCookie Exchange on December 17, 2011.

8 oz Vanilla Melting Wafer

1 pk Peppermint Candy Canes

Pretzels sticks – size of your pinky or bigger

1. Hand break candy canes and put them in a quart fabric bag. Use a hammer on a wooden cutting board to make the peppermint chips. On parchment paper put 1 inch long peppermint sprinkle. Repeat across the paper at least 1 inch apart.
2. Melt the vanilla wafers in a double boiler.
3. Dip pretzels into vanilla; vanilla  coated side on peppermint strip. Sprinkle more peppermint on top. Repeat for however many pretzels you would like to make.
4. Let dry / firm up vanilla for 15 minutes.

For an alternate, pick the ½ dollar sized pretzel twists and have ½ dipped in vanilla.

Makes 4 dozen pinky sized coated pretzels.

Cookies: Toffee-Almond Sandies

This cookie, prepared by Nadine, was part of theCross Timbers Daughters of the American RevolutionCookie Exchange on December 17, 2011.

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

2 cups chopped almonds

1 (8oz) pkg taffee bits

Granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add powdered sugar, beating well. Add eggs, oil and vanilla, mix well.
2. Combine flours, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, stirring well. Add to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in almonds and toffee.
3. Roll dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in granulated sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart; flatten slightly with a fork.
4. Bake 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Coll slightly on cokkie sheets; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 5 ½ dozen cookies

Cookies: Mincemeat Pecan Cookies

This cookie, prepared by Glee, was part of theCross Timbers Daughters of the American RevolutionCookie Exchange on December 17, 2011.

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups butter-flavored shortening

3 cups sugar

2 eggs

19-oz package condensed mincemeat, crumbled

2 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups coarsely chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. Beat shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in crumbled mincemeat and vanilla. Add Flour mixture, and mix well. Stir in pecans.
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet; flatten slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

Note: These are great cookies to decorate with bottled icing!

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Cookies: Oatmeal Cherry Walnut Cookies

This cookie, prepared by Glee, was part of the Cross Timbers Daughters of the American Revolution Cookie Exchange on December 17, 2011.

Oatmeal cookies are an old favorite. The variation below uses dried cherries instead of raisins and whoopie pie pans  instead of cookie sheets to make perfect round cookies.

1/2 pound butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups oats

1 cup dried cherries (cut into smaller pieces if they are large)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat together margarine/butter and sugars until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

Add combined flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix well.

Stir in oats, cherries and walnuts. Mix well.

Drop by rounded spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet or whoopie pie pan.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool one minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

About 4 dozen.

10 Favorite Meals to Take Traveling

Food that can be packed and taken with you when you are going to be traveling can result in significant savings and, in many cases, save time by allowing you to eat something you enjoy whenever you are hungry. Over the years, I've discovered that my preference is 'anything but a sandwich' and I've started almost always opting for reusable containers rather than disposable. I also tend to like to package my meal so I can eat it all at once or as several snacks. Use good sense if you are traveling by air and pack items that can be easily accepted through the security checkpoint (i.e. no liquids or gels). My favorite meals when traveling are:

1. A container of small tomatoes, carrots and celery along with a tub of peanut butter (the small tubs of peanut butter can be purchased or you can make your own with small containers)
2. A container of plain yogurt with some fresh fruit  and chopped pecans on top
3. An apple with piece of favorite cheese
4. A pumpkin/pecan muffin
5. A small piece of dark chocolate, a few whole almonds, 2 dried apricots
6. A peanut butter and jelly burrito
7. A piece of crustless quiche
8. Apple crisp with a piece of cheese
9. Carrot, pineapple, raisin salad with marmalade/olive oil dressing
10. A few mixed nuts with a pear

You probably have noticed that these are light meals. I feel better if I eat less when I travel. How about you?

What are your favorite meals for travel?

Recipe of the Week: Quik Beet Muffins

I had several open packages of Nestle Quik powder in my pantry – left over from when it was my daughter’s favorite drink. I decided to do some baking to use it all up. These muffins were supposed to turn out red – but they are really brown with the chocolate. The mint chocolate flavor is still wonderful so this is a great way to get a little extra veggie nutrition and still have a wonderful treat.

15 ounce can of sliced beets

2 cups Quik (or 1 ½ cups sugar and ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder)

½ cup olive oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin pans.

Drain the beets, reserving ½ cup of the juice. In a food processor, puree beets with the reserved juice to make about 1 ¼ cup puree. Add Quik and olive oil. Pulse until blended. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs and extracts well.

In large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour and soda). Pour in the beet and egg mixtures, whisking until smooth.

Pour the batter into muffin pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve at room temperature topped with powdered sugar sprinkles or whipped cream.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 3, 2011

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

• Painting Of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area  - Robert Dalegowski’s painting made while he was artist-in-residence there…capturing the feeling of the place
• Coral pictures – 5 pictures of coral that show the tremendous variety in appearance of these animals (actually mostly their skeleton is what is seen)
• Fixing the Pentagon's Broken Windows - Small Steps Can Bring Focus, Efficiency – An opinion piece that takes New York’s ‘broken windows program’ and applies it to the Department of Defense
• The Art of Everyday Wonder – Joanna Paterson’s blog…full of nature photos of Scotland and accompanying poetry
• Caterpillar molting video – almost like a little dance
• Yarn/thread and glue bowl – a great craft project – colorful and functional
• Gulf Islands National Seashore – a warm place to visit…maybe at its best in the winter?
• Spicy Orange Greens – Collar greens are not a routine food for me…this sauce recipe sounds so interesting though…something to try

Celebrating December 2011

What do you celebrate in December?

In my family there seem to be more than the normal events to celebrate with the addition of a birthday and an anniversary. The ideas below are more generic –the ‘winter holiday’ celebrations:

• Take a winter walk. This is just the beginning of winter so there is a lot to notice in the natural world transitioning from fall. Winter is the starkest time of year but there is a beauty in clear cold days – crystalline nights.
• Holiday light displays are popular in the December evenings. I enjoy walking through the one at a local garden, rather than driving. There is wonderful hot chocolate with whipped cream on top at the nature center too – a perfect treat on cold nights.
• Finding or making the perfect gifts is the prelude to witnessing the delight of recipients.
• Baking favorite foods is part of the tradition in almost every family. My particular favorites are oatmeal raisin cookies and red cake (plain or with whipped cream or with cream cheese icing).
• Gearing up for gatherings of friends and family with lots of party mix and veggie trays always ready is another happy prospect.
• Cards/letters of seasonal greetings are sent out early in the month and then arrive from others.

December is the special month to savor all the good things that happened over the past 12 months and to fill your thinking with optimism for the New Year to come.

10 Cosmetics from the Kitchen

A well stocked kitchen has many ingredients that can be used as toiletries as well. I've made a list of my favorites.

1. Olive or almond oil - Great to use as oil for your skin and probably better for you than petroleum based oils. Almond oil has almost no smell but it seems to go rancid more quickly that most olive oil.
2. Baking soda - This one has a myriad of uses…in the bath, a paste to brush your teeth, a slurry to cleanse your skin.
3. Honey - While it is sticky - it also feels really good on your skin (try a honey facial mask!) and can be used with ground oatmeal to make a wonderful, exfoliating scrub for your face.
4. Tea - After you use the bag to make tea, let them cool rather than throwing them in the trash and use them on your eyes while taking a 10 minute break lying down. A spray bottle of strong tea can be quite refreshing in the summer time but be careful to not get it on anything besides your skin because tea can stain.
5. Oatmeal - Did you know that the 'juice' from oatmeal is great for your skin? You can put it in a small back and use it in your bath - squeezing out the milky juice but keeping the oatmeal from clogging the drain. It can be processed in a small food processor and used with honey for a facial scrub as well.
6. Cucumber – Cucumber slices feel great on closed eyelids for a 10 minute break lying down. It can also be used as another ingredient in your honey/oatmeal scrub…just process it in the food processor after the oatmeal.
7.  Salt - Can be another ingredient for a scrub…it dissolves relatively quickly so is actually very mild when used for this purpose. Dissolved in warm water, it can be used as a mouth rinse and helps heal any mouth soreness.
8. Lemon juice - When I was growing up we sprayed our hair with lemon juice then went out in the sun to let it bleach; it only bleaches a little but is easy on the hair while it does it. It can also be mixed with water to make a great rinse for oily hair any time of the year.
9. Vinegar - Used similarly to lemon juice. It also can be used as a spray for sunburn; it has great cooling properties. The apple cider variety is the best for your skin, but be careful not to get it on clothing that it could stain.
10. Vanilla - A teaspoon in bathwater along with some unscented oil or Epsom salts on a winter's night - lovely. Vanilla is one of my favorite winter scents.

Recipe of the Week: Homemade Soup for a Cold Day

Variety is the spice of life. Trying a new recipe each and every week is something that works well for me. Enjoy!

 

The first cold snap of the year feels colder than the temperature actually indicates. Soup is always welcome and it is quite easy to make. The recipe below can be easily modified for what you have on hand using the generalized techniques noted as the bottom of this posting.

5 medium size fresh mushrooms – chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

Small amount olive oil

Beef bouillon and water

Seasonings to your taste: onion flakes, black pepper, a favorite no-salt blend

Egg noodles

1 can rutabaga, drained of liquid (I got it on sale so that is why it was in my pantry)

¼ cup frozen green peas

Dollop sour cream

Dried basil

In your soup pot, sauté mushrooms and celery in a little olive oil. When they are softened, add the water and bouillon.

Process half the rutabagas in a small food processor and set aside.

Add the seasonings to the soup pot. When the liquid is hot, add the noodles set a timer for their minimal cooking time. Toward the end of the time add the green peas and half the can of unprocessed rutabagas.

When the combination is heated through, stir in the processed rutabaga.

Pour hot soup into your bowl, top with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of dried basil.

Generalized soup making techniques:

1. Sauté the firmer vegetables prior to adding any liquid.
2. Some kind of stock is required. Bouillon cubes are easy to keep on hand and sufficient for most soups since the flavor comes more from the other ingredients. Be aware the they contain salt so don’t add salt while you are cooking your soup.
3. If you want noodles or rice – add them after the liquid is hot and let the seasonings cook into them.
4. If you use canned vegetables, drain off their liquid since it is usually laden with salt – way more than you need in your soup.
5. Keeping frozen vegetables in the freezer (peas and corn, for example) are handy for both salads and soups.
6. Processing a softer ingredient in a food processor before adding it to the soup (or taking some of the veggies out after they are cooked to puree) can give the broth of the soup a natural thickness that makes it easier to keep on the spoon.
7. A dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of a dried herb on top of your soup after it is in the bowl can make a hum drum meal into something quite special!

10 Extra Special Holiday Gifts

Extra special gifts require some extra thought …to make it perfectly tailored for the recipient. The ideas listed below are intended to get your creative juices started! Remember – sometimes the most memorable gifts are not the ones that cost a lot of $.

1. An IOU (on pretty paper) for something they would enjoy or need like: a home cooked meal (maybe 3 or 4 of them), 4 hours of babysitting, a trip to a local attraction like a garden or museum with transportation provided, 3 months of pet food (delivered a month at a time), or rototilling of the garden come spring.
2. A homemade favorite dessert.
3. A homemade favorite cookie dough for the freezer….to bake and enjoy long after the holidays are done.
4. A favorite blend of coffee or tea or hot chocolate…or their favorite special creamers.
5. A box of microwave popcorn wrapped with that movie on DVD they asked for
6. An exact replacement for a favorite T-shirt or pair of socks that wore out sometime during the year.
7. A thumb drive of family pictures (assuming they have a computer or frame to view the pictures).
8. If the person is a reader and you have access to a used book store where there are a large number of books they would enjoy – buy a number of books and wrap them each individually in different kinds of paper…newspaper, glossy magazine pages, etc.
9. If they are a person that enjoys personal notes – send one daily – either email or the old fashioned snail mail….that lets them know you are thinking about them every day. Do it for a month or more around the holiday. If snail mail is used, there are lots of small flat ‘presents’ that can be slipped into the envelope – a well-wrapped tea bag, a pressed flower, a paper snow flake or heart, a dried leaf, a recipe card.
10. Create a collection of digital images that the recipient would find soothing or visually appealing that you can load on their computer with instructions on how to play the ‘slide show.’ Natural images are my favorites - botanical prints, bubbling/rippling water, feathers, wood grain.

Do you have some ideas to add to the list – things that you’ve given or received that were extra memorable or needed….and obviously appreciated?

Recipe of the Week: Sweet Potato Wedges

Years ago – sweet potatoes were almost the same a pinto beans as far as providing easy-to-grow (and therefore inexpensive) food. They still are quite a bargain in food value so it is worthwhile to experiment with new ways of preparing and enjoying them. One of my favorites is as baked wedges.

Sweet potato

Olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)

Cinnamon (about 1 teaspoon)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Peel sweet potato and cut into wedges. Place in a ziplock bag with a small amount of olive oil and cinnamon. Close and move the potatoes around in the bag until they are lightly coated with oil and cinnamon. Empty the potatoes onto a cookie sheet. Cook for about 1 hour or until the potatoes are soft.

To use the oven more efficiently, I often cook them with a meat dish that cooks for  the same amount of time and at the same temperature. The sweet potatoes in the picture below are shown with boneless pork chops baked with salsa topping (baking dish covered with foil for 1st 75% of cooking time).

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 19, 2011

The items below were the cream of the articles I read this past week:

1. National Park Service Documents Ancient Towers in Afghanistan - this is the second week in a row there has been an archaeology story from somewhere dangerous on my gleanings list (last week is was Lybia)
2. Baby Elephant pictures (Borneo) - note how large the eyes of the baby are in relation to the rest of him
3. New Mouthwash Targeting Harmful Bacteria May Render Tooth Decay a Thing of the Past - Wow! If this works as the early tests revealed (and without bad side effects), this is a disruptive technology....maybe to more than denistry if the same idea could be applied to other bacterial problems
4. Lots of Bundt Cake Recipes - some of the recipes reference books, others online - there are a lot of great ideas (and pictures) on this site to motivate me to dig out the Bundt pan!
5. Cynthia Kenyon: Experiments that hint of longer lives (TED talk) - genes have been identified that cause organisms to not age as fast (and thus live longer); studying what those genes do in the body is a very active area of research
6. Cranberries (info and recipes) – Cranberry upside-down cake…sounds good…think I’ll try this next week!
7. Fossil poop - coprolites - some discoveries from these bloob-like fossils...one included a human hair
8. Gaston Lacombe’s Fundy National Park Picture sequence - the photo of water smoothed rocks pulled me in (it is a great first picture for the series)

Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Custard Variations

Pumpkin and Thanksgiving seem to go together...so I have pumpkin featured again this week.

My family enjoys pumpkin custard - skipping the pie crust completely. Over the years we have experimented with several variations to the recipe on the canned pumpkin. 

• Substituting honey, molasses, maple syrup, or frozen apple juice for the sugar (same amount as the sugar) provides a pleasant extra flavor to the custard. Add an extra egg to make sure the custard sets with the extra liquid. My favorite is half honey/half molasses to replace the sugar.
• Clean and save the outer part of an orange skin, grate it up in a small food processor (or simply grate off the skin from the orange before you eat it). Add it to the custard to add a citrusy flavor.
• If you want something a bit crunchy - try adding unsalted sunflower seeds to the custard. They will rise to the top of the custard (somewhat like a pecan pie!) and make a crunchy upper surface to the custard.
• I almost always round up on the cinnamon and ginger from the recipe on the can. My family likes a spicey custard!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 12, 2011

The items below were the cream of the articles from this past week!

1. 25 Inspiring Pictures of Snow - beautiful!
2. Castles in the Desert: Satellites Reveal Lost Cities of Libya - now if the country could become safe enough to find out more about them from the ground.
3. 5 Foods Threatened by Climate Change - Arrgh! Chocolate is one of them!
4. Cave Paintings Showed True Colors of Stone Age Horses - yes - there were spotted horses around at that time so the paintings are realistic rather than symbolic
5. Nature Notes: The Black Oaks Of Yosemite National Park, The Video - great visual about how the Indians processed the acorns for food
6. Impact of Space Weather - now that we are more dependent on satellites (for things like GPS), maybe we should be paying more attention 
7. New System of Intelligent Management of Street Lighting Enables 80% Savings in Energy - makes sense to only power lights when you need them, just like at home
8. Condors in Grand Canyon – 3 chicks - one has already died but the other two seem to be thriving; bit about trash being a potential threat quite depressing
9. Why we need public libraries is the future - for a subset of the reasons we need them today but very real and long term (it's not about books)

Book of the Week: Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson

Diane Mott Davidson was mentioned in another book I was reading…I was intrigued enough by the concept of murder mysteries with the ‘Sherlock’ being a female caterer (luscious food) and set in Colorado.

The first one I picked up was Dark Tort (Goldy Culinary Mysteries, Book 13) . It was entertaining and I learned how to make homemade croutons (and there is a Journey Cake recipe too).

Now I’m reading Sweet Revenge. I’m already half way through but am wonderfully entertained – again – and am in sync with Goldie’s (the sleuth’s) idea that eating chocolate for breakfast (fudge with peppermint candy chunks!) is a very good way to start the day.

Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins

Variety is the spice of life. Trying a new recipe each and every week is something that works well for me. Enjoy!

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 cup frozen apple juice concentrate

15 ounce canned pumpkin

½ cup oil

¾ cup molasses

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons orange juice

2 large eggs

• Combine dry ingredients.
• Combine wet ingredients (Note: if you use the same liquid measuring up for the oil and molasses…putting the oil in first…both will pour out smoothly to the mixing bowl). Whisk.
• Combine everything…allow to sit for 10 minutes.
• Spray muffin top or regular muffin pans. Put batter in pans.
• Bake at 350 degrees F. until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.