Sacra-mom-ato

Dinner on the Quick: Tostadas

When I was meal-planning over the weekend, I had a hankering for a crunchy Mexican-inspired dish.  I usually am into fresh soft tortillas but occasionally something crispy and crackling just does it for me.  Tostadas!  That's what immediately came to mind.  Basically, a tostada is a round disk of friend corn tortilla covered with an assortment of toppings.   For me,  tostadas (and tacos and burritos) are the working mom's staple - quick to prepare, easy to throw together, very flexible with ingredients, (relatively) healthful, and kid-friendly.  Perfect for a weeknight meal. 

Tostadas

Basic Ingredients:

1 package of tostada shells 

refried beans, heated through

shredded meat of your choice (optional), heated through

shredded cabbage or lettuce

shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

diced tomato (or salsa)

sour cream

diced avocado or guacamole

green onions, sliced

cilantro, minced

On each tostada, place a dollop of refried beans and smear until it is thickly covered.  Then top with your favorite toppings.  I usually top mine in this order:  tostada shell, refried beans, shredded lettuce, shredded meat, shredded cheese, tomato, sour cream, avocado, onions, and cilantro.  Sometimes I add a little hot sauce for a bit of punch. 

Tonight, we used shredded cabbage (using up produce from last Sunday's farmer's market) and shredded Bledsoe lamb shank (leftover from a failed lamb tagine experiment).  I made the refried black beans from scratch because I was cooking up a pot of black beans for the week anyway.  There was an open jar of salsa in the fridge (and fresh tomatoes are out-of-season now).  And instead of sour cream, I used plain yogurt, that I made over the weekend.  This is what I mean by "flexible with ingredients" - you can basically put anything on top of a tostada and be happy!  

Now, I have to figure out how to make the tostada shells myself (is it really worth it? is a valuable question) and remember to can salsa during tomato season this coming summer. 

Yogurt Add-In #1: Blackberry Sauce

So now that I'm on a roll with making yogurt, I thought it time to experiment with different flavors.  Rather than take a whole container of yogurt and flavor it, I took the advice of other home yogurt-makers and decided that my strategy would be to flavor yogurt with each serving.  So far, it's worked out well with the kids - I can give them a choice between two flavors and it keeps them happy and therefore keeps this momma happy.  I started with simply drizzling some honey and mixing in a little vanilla extract, which is truly delicious.  Then, we used a couple of spoonfuls Trader Joe's peach sauce as an add-in.  Another hit with the kids.  But I really want to get away from using store-bought, packaged products, so I decided to make a berry sauce.

Scrounging around in the freezer, I came up with 4 cups of frozen blackberries from the banks of Robinson Creek, which runs through my parents' property.  Picked at the height of last summer, these blackberries were bursting with flavor when we froze them.  I love these blackberries because their flavor reminds me of HOME and summers spent swimming in the creek and making forts on its banks.  Aaaah, the memories.  But back to sauce-making.  I decided that I would make a delicious sauce for our yogurt.  Basically, it's like making a jam but without as much sugar or pectin added in.  (Here it is in a jam jar.)

Blackberry Sauce

Ingredients:

4 cups blackberries

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Once it comes up to a boil, reduce to simmer and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, or until the blackberries sauce reduces and reaches the thickness you desire.  Taste and add more sugar if you like.  (I prefer mine on the tart side.)  Let cool and transfer to refrigerator-safe container.  I think this would keep for about a week. 

A bowl of yogurt mixed with a couple of spoonfuls of this sauce transports your tastebuds to blackberry pie! 

Crunchy, Nutty, Sweet Granola

My adventures in making-your-own-packaged food continues with granola.  I've made granola in the past, but only sporadically.  Now, I'm determined to always have a jar of granola in the house since it's such a versatile food... great on yogurt, as an ice cream topping, and mixed with milk or soy milk as cereal.  However,the search continues for a recipe that isn't too sweet, isn't too fatty, and isn't too expensive (all those nuts can be pricey!). 

Here's the current recipe of the week:

Granola

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups shredded coconut

2 cups sliced almonds

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup honey

2 cups finely chopped dried fruit (such as raisins)

Preheat oven to 350.  In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, coconut, and almonds.  In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and the honey.  Drizzle over the oat mixture and mix to combine until the oats are well-coated.  Place oat mixture in a 13x9 rimmed baking sheet and put in the oven for 45 minutes, mixing every 15 minutes or so.  Remove once all the oats are browned and let cool.  Add the dried fruit and mix to combine.  Store in an airtight container (I use Mason jars). 

Cream Puff Heaven

Today we had a fun adventure in San Francisco, meeting up with my godparents, and going to see the Maurice Sendak show at the Jewish Contemporary Museum.  Afterwards, we had our first family trip to the Japanese cream puff chain called "Beard Papa".  It was heaven.

Now I need to figure out how to make cream puffs at home!

Dinner on the Quick: Oyako Donburi

Another Japanese-inspired meal tonight and a warm childhood memory.   The name of the dish is funny: "Oya" means parents and "ko" means child - it's the chicken and the egg  - and a bit gruesome, considering that you eat the parent and child!  Gulp.  The dish is easily adapatable to whatever ingredients you have on hand;  I used leeks instead of onion and added matsutake mushrooms (foraged by my parents in the forest). I also added broccoli florets to up the vegetable value of the dish.  You can basically add any vegetable you want - carrots, snap peas, asparagus come to mind - and substitute the chicken for other proteins, such as tofu or beef.  Instead of matsutake mushrooms, you can use shiitake shrooms for a nice flavor.  It's really the salty-sweet broth with the eggy layer that makes this dish, and the fact that you ladle it over a steaming bowl of rice.

Menu:

Oyako Donburi

Steamed Japanese White Rice

Oyako Donburi

Ingredients:

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 cup dashi broth (or plain water)

5 Tbs. soy sauce

2 1/2 Tbs. sugar

1/2 cup frozen green peas

4 eggs, beaten

2 green onions, thinly sliced  

In a medium pot, add the yellow onion to a little vegetable on medium high heat.  Saute for a few minutes and add the chicken.  Add the dashi broth or water, soy sauce, and sugar.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for 6 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  Add the green peas.  1 minute later, add the beaten egg to the top of the simmering broth and let set, about 1 minute.  To serve, ladle over a steaming bowl of white rice.  Makes 4 servings. 

Dinner on the Quick: Honey Soy Salmon

Sometimes my body desires food of a more Asian bent.  Having grown up with a Japanese mom's cooking, a week cannot go by without me craving something Japanese from my childhood.  My mouth is salivating just thinking of oyako donburi, okonomiyaki, iri-gohan, tonkatsu, gyoza, etc.  Last night, I was really craving fish and Japanese sticky white rice.  So out came the salmon and I wanted to make a tasty sauce/glaze to go over it.  What is a great combination?  Sweet with salty.  So I whipped together a little soy honey sauce that I'll share with you here.

Menu:

Broiled Salmon with Honey Soy Glaze

Japanese Sticky White Rice

Kabocha (Asian Pumpkin) Simmered in a Soy Broth

Steamed Broccoli

Broiled Salmon with Honey Soy Glaze

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. honey

3 Tbs. soy sauce (make sure it is REAL soy sauce - made from soybeans!)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch fresh ginger, minced

1 lb. wild caught salmon fillet

2 green onions, thinly sliced

2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger.  Set aside.

Place the salmon on the broiler pan under a preheated broiler set to high.  After 7 minutes, prick the salmon all over with a fork.  Pour the soy honey sauce over the salmon and place back under the broiler for another 3 minutes.  Remove and serve topped with green onion slices and optional sesame seeds.  Makes 4 servings. 

I served the salmon over the white rice so it could catch some of the dripping glaze.  Oh yum. 

Dinner on the Quick: Turkey Spaghetti

Yesterday's weather was so dark and dreary - a foggy Sacramento winter's day - that I was craving some comfort food.  I pounced on the chance to make some spaghetti.  This spaghetti recipe is easy because it is flexible; you can throw anything into the sauce and it comes up tasting great.  And it is quick - of course, the longer you simmer the sauce, the better, but you can also serve it 30 minutes into the simmer.  The recipe below makes a huge batch of sauce so that I can freeze the leftovers for a quick dinner on a night where I'm just not inspired to cook.  Best of all, it is kid-friendly and nutritious so I know that my kids are getting a good meal into their bellies.  I used store-bought dried pasta but next time, I just may try making my own pasta!  (Has anyone tried drying their own pasta or freezing it?)

Turkey Spaghetti

You can use any combination of vegetables that's hiding in your fridge.  For this night's dinner, I happened to have carrots, celery, mushrooms, and cauliflower, but you could easily use eggplant, broccoli, kale, spinach, etc.  Just remember to season with salt & pepper& dried herbs as you go along, tasting all the time to adjust the seasonings.  That will make all the difference! 

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

4 stalks celery, finely chopped

3 medium carrots, finely chopped

8 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. assorted dried herbs (oregano, rosemary, basil)

salt & black pepper to taste

1 1/2 cup cauliflower florets, finely chopped

1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey

2 14 oz. cans of diced, roasted tomatoes

water (optional)

1 Tbs. sugar

1 lb. dried whole-grain spaghetti (I actually used spaghettini)

In a large stockpot on medium high heat,  saute the onion in a little olive oil, until translucent, about 4-5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the celery and carrots and saute for another 2 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and saute another 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and dried herbs and saute for 1 minute.  Add the cauliflower and ground turkey.  Saute until turkey is browned, about 8 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and sugar (and water, if you think the sauce needs more liquid) and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and let simmer for 30 minutes.  Taste the sauce and add more salt & pepper & sugar to balance out the flavors, as necessary.  Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions.  To serve, you can add the spaghetti to the sauce and mix, or simply put a little cooked pasta on each dinner plate and ladle a scoop of sauce over.  Make sure to grate some fresh parmesan cheese over the sauce! 

French Boules and Bread-Baking Fools

I truly believe in the theory that you are either a "cook" or a "baker" but not both.  I am most definitely a cook.  I can whip together a savory dish like nobody's business and for the most part, I don't have to follow a recipe to make a tasty meal.  In fact, I hate having to following recipes;  I get flustered and miss steps and feel like I'm losing that spontaneous creative process that I so enjoy in cooking. 

I think you have to love following recipes to be a baker.  The measurements have to be precise, no steps can be skipped, and you have to be patient.  That big mixing bowl of goo will eventually become a cake, but it takes many exact steps and a lot of time to get there.  One slip-up and a cake it will not be and all of your efforts will have been for naught.

I so admire bakers and have wished I could be one.  When Jeff's grandmother sends over one of her amazing baked goods, I have a little pang of jealousy.  When I need one, I just resort to buying a beautiful baked product at the store, whether it be bread or cake or cookies because I know I don't have the tools to make these delicious creations.  (I have somewhat mastered challah, that scrumptious egg bread which is the centerpiece of Shabbat dinner, but that's another story.)

But, folks, I can bake bread!  I can!  I can!  It is a revelation! 

My friend Kati has been raving about this book called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking." She has talked to me about how this bread is so easy to make and the book is true to its word of making fresh baked bread an everyday occurrence.  I really didn't believe her (sorry Kati!) but I thought I would try, given my pledge to try to make as many food products at home as possible.

So I followed the master recipe for boule (a French artisan free-form loaf) and it was the easiest AND most successful baking project I have ever undertaken.  Literally, you throw the ingredients together (no proofing of yeast), let it rise for 2 hours, and you have a dough that you can keep in your fridge for up to 2 weeks.  Every time you want some fresh baked bread, you cut off a piece of this mother dough and shape it into a round (or any shape you want!), let it rise for 30-40 minutes and then bake.  The bread emerged from the oven as if I had just gone to a gourmet bakery.  Beautifully browned and crispy on the outside, dense and chewy on the inside.  (And I didn't even use a baking stone as the authors recommend.)

Was it a fluke?   No, I baked bread again this morning, using the same refrigerated dough I made a few days ago, and the results were still spectacular.  

(My photo shows half of the boule next to a failed bread machine creation of sesame seed and poppyseed whole wheat bread.) 

Thank you, Kati, for the book recommendation.  I may actually become a baker!  You can find the book on Amazon.com at this link or find great tips at the authors' website:  http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com . 

Yogurt Miracles

So I am on this kick to try to make as many foods as possible, foods that I typically buy at the store already manufactured.  I'm really wondering if it's possible to eliminate much processed, manufactured food from my family's diet, without sacrificing quality or a lot of time.  Time really is the deciding factor here:  I don't have a lot of time, with two small children and a demanding full-time job outside of the home, but I am willing to sacrifice a little time to have healthier foods for my family. 

Which brings us to yogurt.  My children are yogurt fiends... and gee, I guess they must get that from their mother.  I LOVE yogurt - a creamy bowl full of goodness.  I love yogurt in all its incarnations (except soy yogurt, sorry!)  but I especially love Greek yogurt and vanilla-flavored yogurt. 

We have committed fully to organic dairy products but the organic yogurt at the grocery store is EXPENSIVE!  In our neck of the woods, a small container of flavored organic yogurt is almost $1.  Each kid can go through one of these a day, as can their momma.  And my husband has a secret yogurt obsession too.  Altogether, our yogurt addiction can cost over $20 a week!!!  

So this past weekend, I tried making my own yogurt.  My husband got me a cheese-making kit for my birthday and I decided that yogurt would be my first project.  It seemed very easy according to the instructions - just bring any type of pasteurized milk (but NOT ultra-pasteurized) up to 185 degrees, then cool it down to 110 degrees.  Add a starter (either freeze-dried yogurt starter or 2-3 Tbs. of plain yogurt with live cultures) and place in an insulated container (came with the kit, though there are instructions for making yogurt with a hot pad here and a crockpot here).  8-12 hours later and voila...yogurt!  

The first batch didn't take.  I don't know if it was because I heated the milk too much (it scorched the bottom of the pot) or if the freeze-dried yogurt starter was ineffective or if the milk itself was too pasteurized.  In any case, I was disappointed.  But I tried again and it worked!  Miracle of miracles, I made a half gallon container of thick, plain yogurt!  

This time, I heated the milk more slowly in a double boiler (intently watching the candy thermometer) and I used actual yogurt (3 Tbs.) as the starter.  10 hours later, I checked the product and it was thick and creamy. Like magic.  I tasted it - very tangy but delicious.  I added a little vanilla extract and citrus blossom honey to a bowlful of my homemade yogurt and it was heavenly.  I had more for breakfast this morning, as did the kids.  They asked for seconds so I know it passed their muster! 

The verdict:  I am hooked.  It takes very little time (just about 5 minutes of actual prep, but mostly just waiting to for the correct temperatures and then for the yogurt to set) and the results are great.  And oh-so-cheap compared to the store-bought organic yogurt... I made 1/2 gallon of yogurt for the cost of 1/2 gallon of organic milk - $3.35.  This means I saved about $17 for a week's supply of yogurt.

Now it's time to experiment with flavorings:  strawberry jam, honey, cinnamon, blueberries, vanilla... the possibilities are endless!

Beans, beans, a glorious fruit...

Today I decided to cook up a batch of pinto beans for all those Mexican-inspired dinners in the next several months.  I soaked 2 lbs. of beans overnight and then drained them;  I put them in a pot and covered with water and brought them up to a boil.  After boiling, I reduced them to a simmer and cooked them for 2 hours, salting to taste about half way through the simmering.  So easy and so flavorful and delicious.  I scooped out a little for my lunch and seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, and smoked paprika, something I would NEVER do with canned beans.

I've placed the rest of the beans in canning jars - making about 6 pints.  Once they've completely cooled, I will label them and place in our storage freezer in the garage.  Then, I can take each pint out as I need them, defrost, and then add to rice or make into refried beans, as our dinner menu requires. 

The cost?  Here's the crazy part.  I bought the 2 lb. bag of dried beans for $2.47, which netted me about 6+ pints of cooked beans, much more delicious than their canned counterparts.  To buy these beans precooked and canned, I would have spent about $1.80 a can, which means 6 pints would be $10.40!!!  

I'm really shocked at the cost difference and unless I'm really pressed for time, it will be dried beans for me, baby.  I really can't justify buying pre-cooked beans. 

I also bought bags of black, garbanzo, and great northern white beans.  I think I'll be a bean-cooking fool this week!