The Charmed Kitchen

Just letting you know I will be doing a live cooking demo on New Day Cleveland tomorrow morning. The show is on channel 8 and runs from 10-11.

For a dinner with friends I served a tossed salad as the first course. I used romaine lettuce and added some dried cranberries, shredded cabbage, sweet peppers, clementines and pecans. Just ingredients I had available. For dressing just a quick toss with a little oil and balsamic vinegar. Salt and fresh ground pepper, too. We ended up talking about salads and dressings as we ate our salads. It got me to thinking. My mother always served the salad before dinner as a first course. I still prefer salad first. I think I enjoy it more that way.

We rarely had any sort of bottle dressing growing up. My Mother really hated most brands of bottle dressings. She had a big wooden salad bowl and she would get the lettuce washed and dried ahead of time so it could crisp up in the fridge. She’d tear the lettuce into bite-sized pieces and then add an assortment of seasonal veggies. I remember she went through a phase where she would rub the inside of the salad bowl with anchovy paste first. When we were ready for our salad she would toss it with oil and then with the rest of the dressing- vinegar, often with a little sugar in it and some herbs and other seasonings. It always felt special to sit down to eat one of her salads.

Everyone seemed to like the simple dressing last night. Oh, I make creamy dressings sometimes and I must confess a certain weakness for a homemade creamy honey-French dressing once in awhile. But my favorite salad will still be the simple one. Lettuce, preferably an assortment,  a few additions and a light dressing of oil and vinegar or perhaps fresh lemon juice.

So what is your favorite way to dress your salad? Bottled or vinegar and oil?

Do you eat your salad as the start of the meal or with your meal? Anyone eat their salad  after the meal?

Turkey Chili

I’ve made the commitment to see how long I can go without going to the grocery store. To make the challenge more interesting I plan on having people over for dinner on a regular basis. I had friends coming over for dinner last night and had to make something I hoped they would like. Since this whole experiment is about using stuff I already have on hand I looked to the freezer for inspiration.  What struck me was ground turkey. I think ground turkey gets a bad rap from a lot of “foodies”. I know beef has more flavor. I will concede on that one. But ground turkey is a great, healthy source of protein that can be pretty tasty when cooked properly. I decided on chili since the mix of aromatic ingredients would enhance the somewhat bland turkey. It came out pretty darn good. Here is what I did.

Turkey Chili

2 c. dry pinto beans

2 onions, chopped

oil

4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

2 lbs. ground turkey

3 qts. canned tomatoes- I used home canned tomatoes

1 c. chicken stock

1/3 c. chili powder- or more to taste

2 T. paprika

2 t. cumin

1 t. cinnamon

salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste

Extras:

Hot cooked spaghetti

chopped sweet onion

shredded cheddar cheese

Soak the beans in cold water over night or use the quick soak method. To quick soak the beans- place them in a pot and cover with water- bring to a boil- cook 5 minutes then turn off the heat and let the beans soak in the water, covered for an hour. Drain and rinse the soaked beans and place in a pot with fresh lightly salted water and cook until tender. My pinto beans were tender in about and hour. You could use a couple of cans of any beans you like instead. Just drain and rinse well.

In skillet heat oil and saute onions over high heat until they start to get brown. Add the garlic and cook another minute or so- but don’t let the garlic burn. Place onion mixture in a crock pot. Add the cooked beans and the tomatoes to the crock pot, too. In the same skillet that you browned the onions, brown the ground turkey, in batches. I don’t worry about breaking up the turkey, in fact, I leave the turkey in sort of patties. Press it into the skillet to flatten it and turn it to cook both sides. I like big chunks of turkey in my chili. Once the turkey is nicely browned add it to the crock pot with the seasonings and stock and cook it on high for at least 4 hours. Longer is better. Adjust seasonings and serve with the extras.

Note: If you like thicker chili,just take the top off the crock pot for 30 minutes or so before serving.

Thought this might get answered by some of my canning friends. I got a load of free canning jars and supplies a while back. In one of the boxes was this  device. It’s about 14 inches long and has a curved wire at the end. I figure it is for use in canning but I have no idea what. Any one know? I’ve had several friends give me guesses but no one knew for sure. Would love an answer to this puzzle. There is a close up picture at the bottom of this post. Thanks for the help.

Ham and Veggie Stir Fry

Somehow a ham bone lead to this dish. I had been using up leftover ham in all sorts of dishes. I was left with the ham bone, which still had a decent amount of meat on it. I was sure it would be used in soup so I placed the bone in a pot with some water and boiled it for a while. The water took on the smoky flavor of the ham bone. I cooled it, removed the meat from the bone and strained the liquid. I have any number of dry beans, lentils and other legumes I could use for my soup. I just couldn’t decide so I put it all in the fridge for another day.

Inspiration hit when I was checking out what else was in my fridge and spotted some baby bok choy. I decided to use the rest of the ham in a stir fry. Since I had the cooking liquid from the ham I used that for cooking the rice. Not the soup I thought I was going to make, but a fun choice in the end. Here is what I did. Feel free to sub out what veggies you like and have on hand.

Ham and Veggie Stir Fry

2 T. oil

1 medium onion, sliced

1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced thinly

1 c. sliced cabbage

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped

1 sweet red pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

2 c. sliced bok choy

1 1/2 c. cubed cooked ham

2 green onions, trimmed and sliced

1/2 c. whole almonds

fresh grated ginger- or powdered, to taste

soy sauce to taste

dash of hot sauce

Heat oil in wok or skillet and cook onion and carrots for 3 minutes. Add cabbage add garlic and stir fry 2-3 minutes longer. Toss in the pepper and bok choy and cook 3 more minutes. Add ham, green onions and almonds along with seasonings and soy sauce and cook until ham is heated through. Serve over hot cooked rice or pasta. Serves 3-4.

Baby Bok Choy

Served over cooked brown rice

Just starting to dry

I’ve been dehydrating apples the last couple of days. Apples are very easy to dry and the final product makes a great snack. Some of you may remember that I picked over 600 apples at a local orchard back in November. What can I say?  They had an end of the season deal- all you could pick for $25. I certainly got my money’s worth. I have made applesauce, apple pie filling, apple desserts, salads and main dishes. I have sent visitors home with bags of them. I have also eaten lots of them fresh. Still, there are plenty in the fridge and I don’t want to waste any of them.

Apple peels tend to be tougher when dried so I peel apples that I am going to dehydrate. I then core and slice the apples and place them in a solution to prevent/reduce discoloration.  I use a mixture of water and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). You could also dip them in water mixed with lemon juice or citric acid. Once they have all been prepped I pull the slices out of the water and drain before placing on the dehydrator trays.  The time it takes to dehydrate them will vary depending on your dehydrator, temp you use to dehydrate, type of apple and thickness of the slices. I have had them dry is as little as a couple of hours when done at 150 degrees. It also depends on whether you want the final product to be soft and pliable or crispy.

A few hours later- all done!

Apple and Cabbage Salad

I think the extra cold weather makes me want summer foods even more. We warmed up to a balmy 2 degrees today. I wanted a dinner that made me think of summer and picnics. I had some boneless chicken thighs, cooked pasta and a head of cabbage to work with. I  pan broiled the chicken and then added some barbecue sauce and let that simmer a little while longer. I also made pasta salad the way my Mom would have- pasta, hard cooked eggs, celery, green onions, mayo, salt and pepper. When I got to the cabbage I wanted something more than just traditional cole slaw. I ended up using a combination of shredded cabbage and slivered apples in an apple cider vinegar dressing. The sweetness of the apples was a nice touch and worked well with the cabbage.

Apple and Cabbage Slaw

6-8 c. shredded cabbage

2 large apples, unpeeled, cut into thin strips

1/2 c. cider vinegar

2 T. sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Combine cabbage and apples in a medium bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the cabbage mixture and toss to coat evenly. Salad can be eaten right away or chilled for a couple of hours.

Dinner tonight

Freshly sliced bananas

I hate to waste anything and I often find myself with bananas that are getting ripe faster than I can eat them. I freeze them often but I actually like to dry some and use them later in baking and cooking or as a snack. Dried bananas are not to be confused with banana chips. The crunchy banana chips are actually fried to get their crunchy texture. Home dried bananas will have the same texture as other dried fruits, soft, pliable and a little chewy.

They are really easy to make. Just peel and slice your bananas and dip in a solution to prevent darkening. You can use citric acid, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) or lemon juice combined with a little water. Some people don’t bother with this step. Frankly I do it, but with or without treatment your bananas will darken a bit. Place on an oiled dehydrator tray and dry until pliable. This can take several hours. I normally place them in the dehydrator overnight. You can leave them in long enough to get crisper, if you like. I just prefer them softer.

Same bananas a few hours later

Warm Winter Salad

The coldest night in years and I had a taste for salad last night. I wasn’t in the mood for a side salad I wanted the salad to be the meal. Don’t get me wrong, I love soup and eat it all the time. I just craved crunch last night. I also wanted a warm meal so I decided to add some warmth to my salad. I had romaine lettuce so I had the crunch part covered. I also had a perfectly ripe avocado to add richness. I checked out what I had in the fridge and ended up with leftover turkey from making stock. I did a sort of pulled turkey thing and added barbecue sauce and heated the whole thing up. I also wanted fresh croutons- so much better than store bought. I sauteed up a small shallot in oil, added bread cubes and some parsley and cooked, stirring often, until the bread was toasted and crunchy. Time to assemble the salad. Romaine lettuce in first. I cut the avocado and tossed the slices in olive oil, lemon juice and a little salt and placed them in the salad next. I drizzled the lemon juice mixture over the lettuce. Next the hot barbecue turkey and then the croutons and toasted shallots. Not exactly what you might think of having on a below zero evening but every bit at comforting as a big bowl of soup.

Pasta with Carrot Sauce

I made this for lunch today and it was awesome.  Since I’ve been pushing myself to not waste food I used something I might normally throw away. I was making turkey stock yesterday. As usual I added aromatic vegetables like onions, celery and carrots to the stock. Normally when the stock is finished I strain out the veggies and toss them. OK, I do like the carrots and may munch on them, but still, I often toss them. I was wondering what I might do with them. They are cooked to mush but still have some flavor. I saved the carrots and some of the onions from the stock-making.  I put them in a pot and warmed them with a little of the stock then I pureed the mixture using a stick blender. After I blended it I added some leftover diced ham, parsley and a little hot sauce. The sauce looked great and even better, it tasted great. The addition of the ham added a little smoky flavor, which I liked a lot. Even before I added the ham it tasted pretty good. It was tossed over hot cooked pasta and I added a little Romano cheese. So good and made from something I would have thrown away without a second thought.

Puree carrot mixture until smooth

It was smooth in no time

Toss sauce with hot cooked pasta

Ready for plating- and cheese!!