The Charmed Kitchen

The further I get into the challenge of not going to the grocery store the more creative I have to get. Tonight for dinner I cooked whole wheat linguine and served it with vegetables in a sweet and spicy Asian sauce. I used carrots that I have had stored in green bags in the fridge for months. They are from Blue Pike Farm and Carl gave them to me last Fall. They are still looking good, although some have just started to sprout. I also have fresh onions and had some peas and sweet peppers in the freezer. All in all a pretty tasty dish.

Sweet and Spicy Asian Pasta

6 oz. dry whole wheat linguine

2 T. oil

1 onion, sliced

2 c. sliced carrots

1 sweet pepper, seeded and chopped

1 c. peas, fresh or frozen

2-3 T. rice vinegar

1 T. vegetarian oyster flavored sauce

1 T. hoisen sauce

1 T. honey

Soy sauce to taste

hot sauce to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain cooked pasta and set aside.While pasta is cooking heat oil in wok and  stir fry onions over high heat until wilted. Add carrots and stir fry about 3 more minutes. Add peppers and peas and stir fry 3 more minutes. Add vinegar, seasonings and pasta and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes. Serves 2-3

Just into the 11th week of not going to the grocery store. While I have enough to eat I find myself running out of some basic stuff. Today it was brown sugar. It’s not that big a deal. Brown sugar is relatively easy to make at home if you have 2 ingredients, granulated sugar and molasses. Just put white sugar in a bowl- a few cups at a time is easier to work with. Add about 1 tablespoon of molasses per cup of sugar to start and blend together. It will take a few minutes. I used a flat wooden spoon and kept pressing the mixture against the side of the bowl. After a few minutes it was a nice light brown color. Then you can decide if you want the sugar a little darker. Just add a little more molasses and mix well before each new addition until the sugar is the color you want.

This is also handy if you are cooking something that calls for dark brown sugar and you only have light brown sugar. Just add a little molasses to light brown sugar and mix well. You can also turn dark brown sugar into light brown sugar by adding granulated sugar and mixing well.

Store brown sugar in a tightly sealed container to keep it from drying out.

Since I have not been going to the store I must work with what I already have. I decided to cook up and freeze one of my winter squashes since I have freezer space.  They keep a long time but it more convenient to have some cooked squash on hand. I used something called a neck pumpkin that was given to me last Fall by Carl Skalak from Blue Pike Farm. Thanks, Carl! It looks like a butternut squash but with a much longer neck. The taste is similar to butternut squash.

Pumpkin can be used interchangeably with winter squash although some pumpkins are sweeter than others. Some pumpkins are more ornamental and best used for decorations.

Washed the squash. Cut the neck into big chunks. Gee, sounds like the scene from a horror movie. I then cut the chunks in half lengthwise and placed them cut side down in a baking dish with about an inch of water in it. Baked it  at 350 until tender- about 45 minutes. Use a fork to test for “doneness”. The end of the squash that contains the seeds was much wider. I cut it in half and scooped out the seeds. Placed it cut side down in baking dish and cooked like the rest of the squash. Once cool enough to handle I scooped out the flesh and ran it through a food mill. A processor would also work. The squash puree was really watery so I placed it in a strainer, over a bowl and put it in the fridge overnight to drain. This morning I froze a few packages of the squash and cooked with the rest. I made a yummy pumpkin bread with dried cherries and decided to make dumplings with the rest. I measured as I went. The result was pretty tasty.  I browned the cooked dumplings in butter but wanted a sauce so I tossed them in a carrot pasta sauce- recipe follows.

Pumpkin (Squash) Dumplings

1 1/2 c. cooked squash or pumpkin

2 eggs

2 T. oil

2 cups flour

1/4 t. grated nutmeg

salt to taste

Combine squash and eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients until smooth. The result will be a thick batter. Let batter rest 10 minutes. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop batter by teaspoonfuls into the water. Dumplings will sink to the bottom and then surface.Allow to cook 3-5 minutes after they start to float. Drain and either brown in butter or toss with your favorite sauce.

Carrot Sauce

 1 T. oil

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced

2 c. chicken or vegetable stock

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c. cream, half and half or evaporated milk

1-T. fresh dill or 1 t. dried

Sauté onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, carrots and stock and cook until carrots are very tender. Much of the liquid should have evaporated by then. Place mixture in blender and add cream or milk, mixing until smooth. Add dill and adjust seasonings, tossing over hot pasta to serve.

Ten weeks into the challenge to NOT go to the grocery store I still have food- although have run out of plenty of things and getting low on others. Since its been a mild winter around here haven’t had to deal with a power outage. Part of the point of this little experiment has been to think about those sorts of things, though. How well would you fair if there was no power? For how long? I want to share the e-mail I got from my sister Cindy this morning. She and her husband , Bob live in Northern Michigan. They recently had a bad storm and no power for 5 days.Here is her recounting of their adventure.

These rolls are so cute, but also tasty.  I like making them because you only use enough flour to make a thick batter then toss it in the fridge. No kneading. You can make and bake  them up to a couple of days later.   Slightly sweet from honey and honey glaze they can be for breakfast, dessert or even served with dinner.

Honey Bunnies

4-5 c. flour

2 packages yeast

1 t. salt

2/3 c. evaporated milk

½ c. each water, honey and butter or margarine

2 eggs

Raisins

Honey glaze

1/2 c. honey and 1/4 c. butter or margarine heated together until warm.

In bowl combine 1 c. flour, yeast and salt. Heat together milk, water, honey and butter until very warm and beat into the flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes on high speed. Beat in 1 cup flour and eggs. Beat 2 more minutes, until batter thickens. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff batter and chill, cover with plastic wrap for 2-24 hours.

Place dough on lightly floured surface and divide into 15 equal pieces. Roll each into a 20- inch rope. Cut rope into a 12- inch piece, a 5-inch piece and 3 one-inch pieces. Coil 12 inch piece to form body, five inch piece to form head and inch pieces to form ears and tail. Place on greased cookie sheet and let rise, covered until doubled, about 25 minutes. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove to cooling rack and brush with honey glaze. Place raisins on each to make eyes. Brush with additional glaze before serving, if desired. Makes 15 bunnies.

I got a special request for this recipe. So here it is. I didn’t get a picture of them last night- the class ate them too quickly!!! Enjoy Sarah!

Orange Upside Down Biscuits

¼ c. butter

½ c. sugar

½ c. orange juice

2 t. grated orange rind

2 c. flour

1 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

¼ c. shortening

¾ c. milk

4 T. butter, melted

¼ c. sugar

1 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter in 8-inch square pan in oven. Add sugar, orange juice and rind and stir. Stir together flour, powder and salt. Cut in shortening to resemble coarse crumbs. Stir in enough milk to make soft dough. Knead about 20 strokes and roll or pat dough into a 6 inch square (about 1/4 inch thick). Brush with melted butter. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the butter. Roll dough up jellyroll fashion and pinch seams to seal. Cut into 12 slices (1/2 inch thick) and place in pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Invert on plate to serve. Makes 12 rolls.

We had such a wonderful time in Mentor last night doing some Easter Baking. Lemon Cookies, Orange Upside Down Biscuits, Honey Bunnies, Hot Cross Buns and Easter Egg Biscotti. Here are some pictures from last night. Hot Cross Buns are always a favorite. Here is the recipe.

Hot Cross Buns

 2/3 c. sugar

1 t. salt

2 packages active dry yeast

About 5 cups bread flour

1 ½ c. milk

½ c. butter or margarine

2 eggs

1 c. raisins

Icing

¾ c. powdered sugar

1 T. milk

In bowl combine sugar, salt, yeast and about 1 ½ c. flour. Heat together milk and butter until very warm. Beat milk mixture into to flour mixture and beat 2 minutes with electric mixer. Beat in 1 egg and 1 cup flour and beat 2 more minutes until batter thickens. Stir in raisins and enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top, cover with a towel and allow to rise in a draft free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Place dough on floured surface and divide into 15 equal pieces. Cover with towel and lest rest 15 minutes. Meanwhile grease a 9×13 inch pan. Form dough into smooth balls and place in prepared pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat remaining egg. Cut a cross in each bun and brush with the egg. Bake for 25 minutes or until buns are golden. Remove buns to wire rack to cool 15 minutes. Make frosting, place in decorating bag and pipe onto buns. Makes 15.

My nephew Danny really liked this so I promised to get the recipe to him. Thought I would share it with you, too. This far into the challenge of not going to the grocery store I have to deal with the ingredients I still have around. Managed to make a pretty yummy and healthy soup with what was on hand. I’m calling it Smoky Vegetable Soup- but  I really just call it Orange Soup. Since the soup is going to be pureed you don’t have to be too fussy about chopping things up in even pieces. Rustic works here just fine. Had it Saturday night with a little cheese on top.

Smoky Vegetable Soup

1 T. oil

1 onion, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 small cauliflower, cut up – I had some in the freezer

1- 1 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut up

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 can, about 14-16 oz. stewed tomatoes

6-8 cups  vegetable or chicken stock

1 lb. fully cooked turkey smoked sausage unsliced

1 T. Tuscan Seasoning- recipe follows

In soup pot saute the onions until tender and just getting brown. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the seasoning and cook, covered, until vegetables are  really tender, about an hour. Add seasoning and remove the sausage. While the sausage cools down a little puree the soup. I use an immersion blender so I can puree it right in the pot. If you have to puree the soup in a blender do it in small batches. Since the soup will be very hot use a towel to cover the blender- the soup will splash because it is hot. Be careful. Once the soup is pureed you can slice the sausage and return it to the soup. If the soup is too thick for your taste feel free to add more stock. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve. Serves 6-8.

Tuscan Seasoning

½ c. dried basil

½ c. dried oregano

½ c. dried marjoram

3 T. dried minced onion

2 T. dried minced garlic

2 T. dried rosemary

2 T. dried parsley

1 t. crushed red pepper

Use this blend in tomato sauce or other Italian dishes. Also, you can add to vinegar and oil with a little salt, if desired, to make a quick salad dressing.

Starting my 3rd month of no trips to the grocery store. Entertaining always the biggest challenge. Hosting my nephew Danny, from Michigan and one of his college friends. On the menu- homemade pizza. We all run for take out so easily but home made pizza is not that hard to make and you can really personalize the toppings. We will be have sausage and pepperoni pizza and an artichoke and spinach pizza.  I have plenty of canned tomatoes so I made sauce yesterday and I had mozzarella cheese and topping ingredients in the freezer. Stop by if you want a slice. 🙂

Homemade Pizza

1 packet active dry yeast

1 t. sugar

1 2/3 c. warm water

4-4½ c. flour

2 t. salt

3 c. pizza sauce

16 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Cornmeal

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/3 c. of the water. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of the flour and let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.  Add remaining water to yeast mixture. Stir in salt and 3 cups of flour. Stir until soft dough forms. Place dough on floured surface and knead until stretchy and smooth, about 10 minutes. Allow dough to rest 3 minutes and knead a few more times. Place in bowl and cover. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Punch dough down. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 12-inch circle. Dust back of baking sheet with cornmeal and place dough on cornmeal, pressing down a little. Slice dough off sheet and onto a clean baking sheet. Place half of the remaining ingredients on the dough and repeat with remaining half of dough. Add more toppings, if you like and bake in a preheated 450-degree oven for 13-15 minutes. Cool a few minutes before cutting. Makes 2 pizzas.

Been busy tonight baking bread. I decided to make Swedish Limpa. It is one of my favorites. I thought you might like to make some, too. It will be one of many recipes we’ll be trying in my Easter Baking cooking class at Wildwood in Mentor on Tuesday night.

Swedish Limpa

 6 ½ c. flour

2 c. rye flour

¼ c. brown sugar

2 t. salt

2-t. caraway seeds

2 t. grated orange peel

2 pkt. Active dry yeast

2 T. margarine, softened

2 2/3 c. hot water (125-130 degrees)

Set aside 1-cup flour. Mix remaining flours and other dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add margarine and water to flour mixture and stir to blend. Mix in enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface until smooth about 8-10 minutes. Place dough in oiled bowl turning to oil top. Cover and let rest in a draft free area until doubled, about 30 –40 minutes. Punch down. Divide dough in half and form into 2 balls. Place on greased baking sheet and cover until doubled in bulk, about 30 –40 minutes. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped lightly. Makes 2 loaves.

Note: you can also divide the dough in 2 9×5-inch greased loaf pans.