Treats and goodies

My family came to visit me this past weekend "HI FAMILY" and because I never get to host people at the house I was very excited. I baked treats, I planned meals and I cleaned cleaned cleaned. I cooked ahead of time and it was well worth it. It meant that instead of planning a meal I wanted my family to eat and then spending an hour or two in the kitchen making it when they were there, I got to actually spend time with them.

My prep time was spaced out over three days which was the perfect amount of time to get things done without feeling like I was overwhelmed by work and more work. 'Three days?" You query. 'How did you get three days to do this?' Well, let's just say the three days (or really five, two of which my family was doing the visiting part with me) were forced upon me when we had to take furloughs again at work. It's okay because The Courier is actually doing okay, but Lee Inc. (the company that owns The Courier) as a whole took furloughs. I got unemployment, so basically I got a paid extra week of vacation, with just a little more stress and all that fun thrown in due to the lovely economy we all get to live with right now. Anyway, the planning.

You should have seen my starting menu. I was going to do peanut butter balls, chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon sugar muffins, chocolate cheesecake and short cakes, and those were just the snacks.

Oh yeah, in the end I just decided that chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon sugar muffins and short cakes were enough, plenty in fact. I know, three snacks for not quite two days, oh my. But I like people to have options, to have what they want and not to have to worry about running out. The chocolate chip cookies were good for any time, I thought the cinnamon sugar muffins would be a great substitute for breakfast (just like cinnamon rolls!) and the short cakes would make a lovely dessert after one of the evening suppers.

To make it even a little more challenging for myself I wanted my dad to be able to eat any of the snacks or food I made and not even have to worry one little bit about his blood sugar. Why? Diabetes. He found out that he had it a few months ago. Mom has assured me that he's doing really well, he follows the diet pretty well and knows what he can and cannot eat, but that wasn't the point. I didn't really want him to even have to THINK about it.

I had found this diabetic magazine while shopping at Fareway one day and it was full of recipes. Full. Insanely full. Did I mention there were a couple of diabetic recipes in there? There were snacks and desserts and breakfasts and sides and main meals. Meals for two and meals to be made from leftovers. It was incredible. It had all the carbohydrates listed on the recipe as well as calories, fat, protein and all the other fun stuff listed in the nutrients section of a recipe that we normally don't want to read. After finalizing my menu a little bit, I got bakin'.

Chicken a la Jessica

I love chicken. I can't necessarily say that I love chickens, as in the live things that peck around and have alien-looking feet, but I do love the meat that comes off them bones. My new favorite seasoning is blackened seasonings. It's spicy and sweet and does wonders to chicken meat.

If you've never used it before, it's quite easy. Buy some seasoning (George and I found ours at Hy-Vee), take your chicken breast and sprinkle/rub in the seasonings liberally. Pop it in the oven for 45 min. to an hour and you have beautifully seasoned delectable chicken. Pair it with some of the fresh peas you know you've been craving and follow it with some canteloupe for dessert. You've got a great meal.

Blackened chicken also goes wonderfully on the grill. Rub some Olive Oil on your chicken before you season it, but other than that the same thing goes. I'm having it in the oven tonight since George is gone and I'm all by my lonesome, but definitely check it out!

Strawberry Suprise Part 1

I love strawberries. Honestly, what food don't I love? If I didn't love it do you think I'd be putting it on here for all of you to see? Uhm, prolly not.

Strawberries remind me of spring and summer. When I taste a ripe strawberry it almost feels like the sun is shining in my mouth. If you think that's hyperbole just try it yourself. Grab a strawberry - one that's deep red, not too big, not too small - and take a bite. The juices fill your mouth and the smell, make sure you breath in the flavor deeply because there's nothing in this world quite like a ripe strawberry. The scent alone will drive you crazy.

So with strawberries on my brain and in my fridge, and too much time on my hands (I need me some hobbies) I set to work.

FYI, I'm horrible at making pie crusts. Every single one I've tried gets too hard because I end up working it so much. I cheated, well at least I consider it cheating. I bought ready-made pie crusts. I know, it definitely doesn't save me any money and it really doesn't take that much time to make pie crust, but I wanted some mini pies and this was the way I set about doing it to save myself much trouble.

I'm telling you, I shouldn't have bothered saving myself any one bit of trouble at all.

Lent without chocolate

I gave up chocolate for Lent.

It was hard, enormously hard, especially when, on Ash Wednesday, someone brought chocolate mint fudge brownies to the newsroom for a birthday treat. Birthdays suck. Okay, birthdays don't suck, but the fact that I didn't get to eat Barb's goodies wasn't exactly a high point to my day.

Lent without chocolate was hard for me. Some people give up meat, not a problem for me. Some give up alcohol but I'm not a big drinker. So for me it was sweets. Some might not realize the depths of my love for chocolate, but those who know me will laugh and nod when I dive for freshly baked platter with a chocolate something on it.

I enjoy chocolate more than the average person probably does. I especially enjoy Cadbury eggs during the Easter season. But more than Cadbury eggs, my favorite chocolate treat has to be the simple, delectable chocolate chip cookies. I will make them with white chocolate chips, which I haven't quite gotten the hang of, or chocolate chunks from semi-sweet chocolate or double chocolate chip cookies with a fudge-like consistency and a mixture of milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate pieces and any other chocolate concoction I can pull out of my head. But my favorite cookie still comes down to the simple ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookie.

I've also discovered, that to satisfy my tastebuds and my chocolate chip cookie fixations, salt is the key ingredient. Take any chocolate chip cookie recipe, double the salt (okay, be careful, sometimes double is trouble) and the savory part of my tongue as well as the sweet is satisfied. The salt in the following recipe already is doubled.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• a dash of cinnamon
  
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• chocolate chips as desired

Directions:


PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels . Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Cinnamon Roll recipe

Ingredients:
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water
1 tsp. sugar
2 c. milk, scalded
1/2 c. sugar
1 stick butter (8 T.)
2 tsp. salt
7 c. all purpose flour
3 lg. eggs

Filling:
1/2 c. butter, melted (4 T.)
1 T. cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg
1/2 c. white sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar

Frosting:
1 pkg. 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 c. powdered sugar
1 stick butter, melted (8T.)

Directions:
Soften yeast in water. Stir in 1 tsp. sugar. Set in warm spot to rise. combine scalded milk, sugar, butter and salt. Cool to lukewarm. Add 3 c. flour; beat well. Beat in yeast mixture and eggs. Gradually add remaining flour to forms oft dough. Place in buttered bowl, turning once to grease surface. Let raise until double in volume (1 1/2 hours to 2 hours). Turn out lightly on floured surface. Cover with towel and let rest 10 minutes. Roll out to approximately 28" x 16" rectangle. Spread melted butter over surface clear out to the egdes. Sprinike buttereed surface with cinnamon, nutmet, whit3 sugar,b rown sugar, raisins and nuts. roll dough up as in a jell roll; seal edge. Cut in approximately 1 1/4" slices Lay flat in 9" x 13" greased pan. Cover and let rise till double (approximately 30-40 minutes). Bake at 375 degrees for appoximately 20-25 minutes. Frost.

Oh, my, Cinnamon Rolls

Did I mention I love baking? That I get these sudden insane urgers to put flour or sugar or baking powder in something that will turn out sweet and delicious and make people say, 'oh, my'? That I love how chocolate smells when it was pulled out of the oven seconds earlier in the form of chocolate chip cookies? Yes, I may have a problem.

Yesterday I got the cooking bug shopping for groceries. This was new for me. Normally I'm sitting at home on my couch or at the table or somewhere in the house and I have to bake. There is no saying 'no,' I cannot think 'but I don't have all of the ingredients' and there definitely is no running away from the house to get away from the oven because if I do, I'll just be up until 1 a.m. when I need to wake up at 4:15 a.m. for work. Not. Good.

So yesterday afternoon at approximately 1 p.m. I was browsing through the grocery aisles. I had picked up flour, white and brown sugar because we all know that we need to replace these every week or two (or maybe it's just me) and, as I put them in my cart, I knew I would have to make something with them that night. That was it, the baking bug bit and I was gone.

So what can you make with flour, white and brown sugar and time on your hands?Since I have no kids and no hobbies - other than the baking and the cooking - I knew I could make pretty much anything I wanted. Well, with the undecided Iowa weather gusting around my house I decided I needed to make something warm, something that would remind me of winter nights in a warm house surrounded by family. I was going to make cinnamon rolls.

As soon as I got home and the groceries were tucked away I got out the recipe books that had been gifted to me from the people who know me best, my family. I needed to look up cinnamon rolls.

I have made cinnamon rolls on only one other occasion and that day I was not happy with the results. I think I put too much butter on the dough before I rolled it up and after I took the rolls out of the oven and dished one up I realized all of the filling had pooled on the bottom of the pan. At first I didn't think it was a bad thing because it was tasty, kind of like a caramel topping. After the cinnamon rolls cooled I changed my story. It was hard, hard and brittle and not even reheating the rolls in the microwave would do any good. It made me sad. I often turn to the internet for recipes with a little something extra or for a dash of something special, but I knew that today I wanted a tried-and-true recipe. Of course an old-school Dutch cookbook (from the very Dutch community I grew up in) hopefully would be the perfect place to find one.

I opened up my cookbooks and found a few recipes, but none of them tantalized me. I blamed this on my previous cinnamon roll trauma and decided to just go with one. It worked. It took some time due to the rising of the dough and all the amazing fun stuff that goes with baking anything with yeast, but they were, oh, my. To top off the rolls I pulled together a cream cheese frosting, very easy, and very yummy.

I held out until after supper to have one and shortly after that I knew the cinnamon rolls had made the grade. While taking a bite of mine, with the cream cheese and cinnamon and dough melding together in my mouth I couldn't help but let out a little moan of happiness. George was walking by right then and he said "is it good?" When all I could do was nod he took a bite and with a surprised (shame on him) look said "This is really good" and went to get his own.

When I went to set some aside for us and get the others ready for me to take to work the next day to share he even asked if I could put a couple more aside for us to have. That made my night. George doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. He'll eat some of whatever I make, but one is normally enough for him. So, on the George meter, I'm pretty sure my cinnamon rolls were a success.

What tasty treat makes your mouth water?

Jambalaya

This week I attempted to make Jambalaya. My sister has told me multiple times that it is an easy dish, cheap to make and filling for her whole family. She was right.

I made the Jambalaya the easy way: I got a mix from the grocery store and all I had to add was the meat. The original recipe calls for just the mix (I used Zataran's) and a pound of meat. I used kielbasa sausage and chicken. I cooked both before putting them into the mix. The mix was super easy and it was so quick to make. In less than thirty minutes I had a meal ready for George, George A. and I to eat.

There was rice, there was meat and that was good enough for the three of us. We all had pretty generous portions and I had leftovers to take to work the next day.

None of us had ever had Jambalaya before and I can tell that we'll be having it again. There will be some tweaks and some twists, as any good recipe does, to make it a meal we'll crave again.

Changes
I do not think I'll use Kielbasa sausage again. It turned out very greasy and I had to add some spice (thank you red pepper flakes) to get it a little hotter, the way we like to eat.

While the mix was lovely, next time I'm definitely making it from scratch, that way I will know exactly what's in it and I can change the spices to make it taste the way we like it. I honestly do not think that it would take much more time to make Jambalaya from scratch. The longest thing that took to cook was the rice and that will probably take the longest from scratch.

When making the recipe from scratch, if I do have extra time I know I will be able to let the pot simmer before adding rice to it. This way the flavors can meld together and the heat will be more intense.

I'm going to use smaller portions of meat with more kinds available. When I think Jambalaya I think of a mixing of so many different things. We'll definitely have shrimp next time and possible some clam meat. Who knows, it will be interesting.

Are there any Jambalaya tricks to know to become a pro? Or at least as close as I can get to a pro living in Iowa?

Beginner's Cake Truffles

Cake truffles are an up and coming trend in baking that can be twisted any which way. No from-scratch cooking is required and kids can definitely help with the process.

They are made from a cake mix, a can of frosting and melted chocolate, candy bark or candy melts. Simply pick out a cake mix and corresponding frosting. Try carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. Or go double chocolate with devil’s food cake and fudge frosting.

Start at the beginning
To make cake truffles begin by baking a cake. Bake the cake according to the directions on the box.

Soon after the cake is out of the oven cut into pieces and dump into a larger bowl.

Add the can of frosting to the mound of crumbled cake a couple of dollops at a time. The cake truffles should be moist enough to stay together, but too much frosting can cause the truffles to become mushy. While this may taste delicious, if lollipop truffles are on the menu a stiffer cake truffle is necessary. Normally at least 3/4 of a can of frosting will be required.

Grab a mixer and mix it all together. The creamier the mixture is the more like a truffle it will be.
After mixing the frosting and cake together, let the mixture cool down to room temperature.

Rolling the truffles
Most cake truffles come in the shape of a ball but simple cookie cutters can work wonders on a cake truffle.

To make the original cake truffle, take a chunk of the truffle mixture and roll it into a ball or use a melon baller or mini cookie scoop. Try to make the cake truffle about the size of a ping-pong ball. The truffles can be bigger or smaller depending on what you want.

When planning a party keep in mind that one cake mix will normally make in between 40-50 cake truffles.

To get simple shapes out of a cake truffle mixture think of it like cookie dough. You can roll some truffle mixture out on a cutting board or take a chunk out of the truffle mixture and flatten it down a little so that it is bigger than the cookie cutter being used. For lollipop cake truffles make sure the truffle mixture is thick enough that a lollipop stick still can be put in it.

After rolling or cutting out the cake truffles, especially if there is a large amount of them, put them into the refrigerator or freezer to set a little longer.

Dipping cake truffles
When the desired cake truffle is achieved it’s time to start dipping.

Cake truffles can be covered in melted chocolate, almond bark or candy melts.

Chocolate pieces (chocolate chips) and almond bark are found in most grocery stores. Candy melts can be found in stores such as Hobby Lobby along with lollipop sticks. While chocolate pieces and almond bark traditionally come in white or chocolate, candy melts come in a variety of colors and can add depth to a cake truffle display. White chocolate and almond bark can be colored with food coloring to achieve a desired color.

If the chocolate is too thick, add some paramount crystals or some shortening to the melted candy coating to thin it out.

To coat cake truffles drop them in a bowl of melted candy coating. Cover them with the coating without moving them around in the bowl. Then lift them from the coating with a spoon. Tap off the excess and slide the truffles carefully off your spoon onto wax paper to set. If the coating pools at the bottom, use a toothpick to draw a separation line. Then, once it dries completely, it will be easier to break off the part you don’t want.

If creating truffle pops, first insert a lollipop stick into one side of the truffle. Make sure the stick does not come out the top, but it’s deep enough to hold the cake truffle firmly. Dip the pop in one dunking motion and remove. Tap your left wrist lightly with your right hand and rotate the lollipop stick over your bowl to remove excess coating, smoothing the coating out at the same time.
To keep the truffle pop upright while the coating place the lollipop stick in the styrafoam after dipping.

Truffle decorations
Decorating cake truffles is part of the fun and beauty of the tasty treat.

Truffles can be covered in sprinkles or flakes or additional coating can be used to write words or create designs on the truffles after the first candy coating has set.

If putting sprinkles or flakes on the truffles do so before the candy coating sets. Rolling the coated truffle directly in the sprinkles can be messy. It is easier to sprinkle the decorations right on the truffle while holding it with a toothpick or by the end of the lollipop stick.

The truffles are small enough and scrumptious enough to fit any busy day. They can be made ahead of time and frozen. Cake truffles also keep for 3-5 days at room temperature after the candy-coating is applied.

Make little chicks with orange sprinkle feet, shown here on bakerella.com, or for spring or decorate ‘Easter Egg’ truffles for the upcoming holiday. Choose school colors for graduations or team colors for sports parties. Imagination is the limit when it comes to cake truffles.

Pantry Challenge: Final Day

The pantry challenge was interesting. At times it was quite a challenge, trying to plan ahead and make an adequate meal for those eating around my table. Other times it felt like any normal day. I stretched myself during this challenge. I made meals I might have otherwise skipped over. I used things from the freezer that had been there for quite some time and would probably still be there today, and I definitely ate fewer fresh fruits and vegetables.

Day 7 of the challenge was probably the easiest of all. We ate Hardee’s for breakfast like we normally do on Saturday or Sunday. Lunch we normally graze (find a meal for ourselves) and so I had an egg sandwhich. Oh, it was good. Two pieces of bread and one egg. The bread was toasted, the egg was fried and my stomach was full. That night I had to work to put out Sunday’s paper and so my supper was Subway and I think George had some of the leftover chicken.

My freezer is not empty and my cupboards are not bare, but that’s not the point of this challenge. I got rid of things that I had been lying around for too long. It almost felt like spring cleaning. While I went grocery shopping Sunday, I didn’t spend more than I normally would. I stocked up on some of the sides I went through during the past week but skipped almost all the meat – the main thing I was trying to get rid of. And yet my freezer has a little more space than it used to.

A part of the challenge I hadn’t put a lot of thought into turned out to be the most interesting to me: Reading what my co-workers were doing and getting a take on what the pantry challenge meant for them in their homes. It’s amazing at how differently four people in one office cook. Granted we have different lives and family situations, but having a window to look at someone elses table made me take a second glance at my own.

George and I are continuing the challenge, but in a much smaller capacity. We both talked about the fact that there are other things in the freezer that we still need to get rid of. Because of this challenge we may be more apt to run to the freezer to grab that roast beef out for sandwiches instead of running to the store to pick up some more.

Have you set out any cooking challenges for yourself that you have or have not met? Let's dish!

Pantry Challenge: Day 6

For Day six of this challenge I had grand ideas of leftovers. We had chicken one night that is coming to the end of its leftover life and we still had to get through the other half of the pork roast. The leftovers remain.

I blame beer. Beer and birthdays.

No I did not get hammered. I’m quite a light weight and normally the designated driver. To put aside anyone’s fear of drunk driving I will tell you, I drink one beer an hour at max. It gets warm.

After a tough week George and I decided Thursday night that we would go out for a couple of drinks Friday after he got off of work. He got home, we got changed and off we went.

We met up with another couple, Blair and Joe, and had some Miller Lite, at least George and I did, and Blair and I shared some cheese fries. Halfway through the fries we learned some of our friends were headed up to another bar to celebrate a birthday and to cash in on two-for-ones until 8 p.m. There was no choice. Two-for-ones? Birthday? We finished our beers and were off.

I knew now that the pork curry planned for the night was not going to happen. There was no way with our friend Nik turning 30 that George would want to leave the bar anytime before 8 p.m. We don’t go out often and when we do, it’s hard to tear George away from friends he seldom sees.

So friends gathered and merriment was had. At about 8:30 I broke down and ordered a burger. I will tell you that it was delicious and I didn’t the miss the planned supper for one moment. Not at all. It was nice to order something and not worry if I had the ingredients and the time and patience to make a meal.

The leftovers definitely will wait for another day

Pantry Challenge: Day 5

Chicken got put on the back burner last night. I couldn’t find a good recipe for soup and I honestly didn’t feel like having chicken for a second night in a row if I didn’t have to. I didn’t have to. When I pulled the chicken out of the freezer I also took out a pork roast and so I decided we were going to have pork for dinner.

How many different ways can you cook a pork roast? We’ve probably had a pork roast once a week for the last couple of weeks. There were a few down in the freezer from sale days somewhere or another and I’ve been trying to get rid of them. I didn’t know if I could come up with another recipe that was so much different from what we had a week ago and a week before that.

I couldn’t. There are only so many ways to cook a pork roast and not being able to shop for extra ingredients definitely put a damper on my creativity. With no roast ideas I thought we would use the pork a different way. We’d make pork curry.

Chicken, beef or pork all make excellent curry dishes and it’s a meal we normally have with leftovers. Add rice as a side with potatoes in the curry and your meal is done. I called George to make sure that curry sounded good to him too. It did.

To make the curry I started with my pork roast. To be honest, I’ve never made the curry, George always does that. I can’t imagine it’s terribly hard but I’ve never been called upon for the recipe. I knew that my 3 lb. pork needed to be fully cooked and cooled before we made the curry so I preheated the oven to 450 degrees, stuck the roast in a glass pan (not even a roasting pan) and stuck it in the oven. I cooked it for ten minutes at 450 degrees and then lowered the temperature to 250 degrees because the recipe I found on how long to cook my roast told me to do that.

Don’t trust all the recipes you read.

Having never cooked a roast in the oven before (I’m new at this, what can I say) I wanted the roast to be juicy. The other ones I did recently in the crock pot turned out dry and I wasn’t having any of that. Needless to say I should have cooked it at a slightly higher temperature and it might have been done in time to cool. As it was it remained in the oven for about four hours until it temped properly. Too late to make curry but just in time to eat the pork roast. I had not put any seasonings on the pork because I expected to make it into curry, but it was delicious.

A side of potatoes from the box finished the meal. While I like having instant potatoes on hand, I enjoy home-made potatoes much more. But it was nice to be able to get rid of a box.

I was sad that pork curry was taken off the table, but I was very excited the roast turned out as well as it did. I think pork curry is on the menu for later tonight anyway so it’s a win-win situation.

Do you have any recipes you go to immediately when you have leftovers? I’d love to get some new recipes.

Pantry Challenge: Day 4

Beer-can chicken was on the menu for day four of the pantry challenge. We have had a whole chicken in our freezer for about six months. It seemed like such a good idea when I saw the chicken on sale at Fareway. A whole chicken for $3. I couldn’t pass it up.

This is probably where some of our freezer trouble comes from. I see good deals and buy them, knowing I can freeze the meat easily. When I get home the meat gets shunted into the freezer. Then, when it’s time to cook a meal, it’s easier for me to run down to the grocery store and buy meat that’s not on sale than plan a day ahead and pull out a pot roast or chicken breast or steak to defrost. I see more meat on sale, I buy it and it also ends up in the freezer.

Planning ahead for the pantry challenge, I pulled my frozen chicken out of the freezer the day before we were going to eat it, along with a roast I hope to do something with on day six. Supper is so much easier when I am able to plan ahead. There’s no sitting around at 5 p.m with George and I asking each other what we’re going to have for supper and then we end up throwing something together that’s probably not healthy.

When I got home to make the chicken on day four, the hardest thing I had to decide was what seasoning I was going to put on it. For those who have never had beer-can chicken — or soda-can chicken as some people call it — it is delicious.

You can put the chicken on the grill or in the oven. There’s a contraption available at some major hardware stores (we found ours at Menards in the grilling section) that is basically a stand. You set the pop or the beer of choice into a circle, then place the chicken over it. The stand holds the chicken up and the can with it. When cooking, the can releases juices that keep the chicken juicy while cooking it thoroughly.The end result is a tender chicken, almost like a rotisserie chicken, without complicated equipment or a lot of work.

Another wonderful thing about beer-can chicken is that you can leave it plain or put whatever spices you want with it. Recently I have fallen in love with blackened seasoning. Found at most grocers, (Hy-vee for us this time) it’s a mixture of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper and some other spices I can’t remember off the top of my head. When preparing the chicken I covered it with some olive oil and then liberally spread the blackened seasoning on it. I also put about a teaspoon of the blackened seasoning in the beer we were using. That way the flavor gets on the inside of the chicken as well as coating the outside. If cooking beer-can chicken in the oven, place a pan under the chicken and cook it at 350 degrees for an hour and a half. If using the grill cook the chicken on medium to medium-high heat for the same amount of time.

For the side of the night I pulled out some frozen green beans and I thought we were good to go.

Then George and George A. got home.

Now I have to say this, George loves stuffing. For me it’s one of those soggy things that I’m not a huge fan of, but he really can’t get enough. When he heard the night before we were going to have beer-can chicken he looked in vain for stuffing in our pantry since it’s almost always a side we have to go with beer-can chicken. No stuffing. I told him if he really needed to break down he could have some and I would just put it in my blog or I could try to find a recipe to make some. He didn’t want any made because he likes the stovetop kind much more. Nothing more was said on the subject.

When he and his dad got home the next evening he pulled out a box of stuffing his dad had bought at the grocery store that day. I was upset. I wanted to live by the pantry challenge. I truly wanted to eat out of our pantry for a week other than a stark few necessities and I didn’t feel like stuffing was a necessity. In that moment I completely forgot I had said “Oh, I’ll just put it in my blog” a day earlier and completely overreacted. I told him he couldn’t have any. Needless to say that was the wrong answer. Specifically the wrong answer on my part since I had said only twenty-four hours earlier that stuffing would be fine if he really wanted it. Conflict ensued. Over stuffing.

Eventually we got it worked out. There was no stuffing at supper that night, not because I forced it, but because George was no longer in the mood to have stuffing after I nixed it so immediately and so definitely. Because I was so focused on the “rules” of the game I didn’t take into consideration that to George the beer-can chicken wouldn’t be the meal he wanted it to be without stuffing.

For no reason other than wanting to succeed completely at a challenge I created a fight. I forgot that the “rules” are more like guidelines. If you want to be strict you can follow them as strictly as possible but if you’re like me you left a little elbow room. Well, I left the elbow room but then reneged on it the first chance I got and our supper — and part of our night together — paid the price.

Even with the stuffing fight the meal was fine. The chicken turned out great and I have some leftovers for lunch today. The green beans, though not eaten last night also are part of my lunch. And the stuffing is sitting in our cupboard waiting for the next time it’s needed. But I learned that tonight or tomorrow or the next day, if I break down and get an ingredient the world is definitely not going to end. I may even learn something in the meantime.

Have you ever lost it over something small in your kitchen? A pot of water boiling over, a missing ingredient or something else?

Pantry Challenge: Day 3

The pot pies are gone from my freezer. They were small in diameter, each of the three aluminum containers measuring approximately 2.5″ by 5″, but it suddenly feels like the freezer has much more space.

Along with the relief of getting rid of the pot pies, George A. is home and is going along with the challenge. That may mean he doesn’t do any cooking this week, but I’m glad he doesn’t mind participating.

I made the pot pies that formerly resided in my freezer right after Thanksgiving. With a turkey that fed five people - and probably had enough left to feed at least five more - I did not want it to go to waste. Of course, we all ate the turkey sandwiches almost required after Thanksgiving, but there still was more turkey.

Out of the leftover leftovers I made two turkey tetrazzini casseroles, one Italian turkey casserole, and my three little pot pies. Meat is expensive and I was going to stretch that Turkey as far as it would go. The tetrazzini and the Italian casserole were new for me: Dishes I had never made before and I will definitely make again. The pot pies are a favorite of mine.

The pies I make really aren’t pies. They actually consist of whatever vegetables I have in the house that taste scrumptious warmed up or one of those cans of veg-all that can be found in almost any grocery store for under a dollar. I choose a jar of gravy that goes with whatever meat I’m using. Since I was putting Turkey meat in the pot pies I used chicken gravy. I also added some red pepper flakes to top it off since we like a little heat with most food in our house.

The secret to my pot pies, which makes them super easy and at the same time not really pies, is that instead of pie crust I use biscuits. Homemade biscuits work fine, but I prefer the biscuits that come in a tube (they’re easier).

If you’re baking the pot pies right away you put them in the oven for about fifteen minutes, add biscuits to the top and cook for however long the biscuits require at whatever temperature they require. When the pies are done baking you turn them upside-down onto a plate and there is my version of a pot pie. Kid-friendly, aunt approved and great for the cold weather that surrounds our house right now.

If you want to freeze the pot pies to use at a later date, leave the biscuits off and pop the pot pies into the freezer. The meal will stay good for quite some time. When the craving for pot pies kicks in, thaw them on the counter (or in the fridge overnight) and bake them like you would if they were fresh.

The turkey pot pies have been in my freezer since Thanksgiving because I forget to buy biscuits to go with them once they’re frozen. They’re an easy, heart-warming meal to have any time, but I do not enjoy them much without biscuits. Luckily for me, when I went shopping before this challenge I bought biscuits to go with some meal or another I forgot to use them.

This week, when thinking about what I was going to make for supper and scrounging through the fridge for whatever needed to get used, I came across the biscuits. I know if all else had failed I could have made biscuits from scratch, but that would have taken time and energy I did not want to expend on the meal.

For a side I broke out one of the many packets of macaroni and cheese that sits on the dry-goods shelf of our pantry. After I had the macaroni and cheese boiling on the stove, I went to the fridge to get out the butter and milk the box required. Unbeknownst to me I did not have any milk.

I know I am allowing myself to get milk during this challenge. But I also knew last night that it was freezing out, we were going to eat in less than ten minutes and I did not want to run to the store for a quarter cup of milk. I improvised.

I added a little extra butter to the macaroni when it finished boiling, dumped the powdered cheese that comes in the box and then - for some extra liquid to get the macaroni and cheese creamy - threw in some water. I have to admit, water is probably not as nutritional as milk but it got the job done. No one sitting at the table that evening even missed the milk. Until they read this they probably won’t even realize there was no milk in it.

In the end we had a meal that I wanted out of the freezer and that warmed us up as the wind howled around the house. I didn’t even have to run to the store when my fridge threw me a curveball.

I don’t know if I would have just tried water with macaroni and cheese instead of milk if we hadn’t been doing this challenge. For all I know, especially with as well as it worked, moms across the country have been substituting water for milk for years.

Have you ever changed a recipe, planned in advance or on the fly, to accommodate what you have in your cabinets?

Pantry challenge: Day 2

Since on day one I broke out steaks and cube sandwiches, I knew exactly what we were going to eat: cube sandwiches.

George, my super-duper cooking boyfriend, once again make the cube steaks exactly the way I like them: pepper, salt and garlic. Amazing how often we use that combination to get meat the way we like it. We’re garlic people for sure.

While we always have bread on hand, we rarely have buns. Every now and then we get smart and put our extra buns in the freezer for future use, but buns are one thing we are not good at saving. They sit out with every intention of getting used, but in the end they sit out too long and we end up throwing them away.

Bread it was.

The side also was easy. Hashbrowns.

I am not a hashbrown fan. I have to be in the right mood to eat them. They remind me of soggy messes and, while I’m not a hashbrown fan, I also am not a soggy fan. This worked itself out because I was not very hungry. George had hashbrowns and I decided to forgo the side dish.

Our complete meal consisted of two cube steaks, four pieces of bread, a piece of cheese for George’s sandwich, ranch to dip the sandwiches in and hashbrowns with cheese. George likes cheese. We each had a soda to drink.

Day two was super easy.

After I realized this I began thinking George and I may be going about it the wrong way.

We’re eating things we always eat, the things I buy every week. I think part of it was when I got into my steak mood. I told myself I was going to put the spontaneous eating on the back burner but I’m not doing a very good job of it.

I know there are things in my freezer that I want to get rid of. There are some pot pies I made that have been in the freezer too long. I know we won’t eat them once it gets warm out. Those need to go.

There also is a whole chicken that, while nice to have, won’t get used because it takes a whole day to thaw. That is my goal, to get rid of the chicken. Then there’s the turkey broth I mentioned in my first post. We had such grandiose plans of using it and saving money. This week it’s going to happen.

A whole chicken is too much to eat in one day and in a normal week what to do with leftovers is constantly on my mind. I think we might have a couple of leftover meals from the chicken. Since I have turkey broth in the freezer and I’m going to have extra chicken to get rid of, I’m thinking chicken soup. Anyone have any good recipes or other ideas for my soon-to-be leftover chicken?

Pantry challenge: Day 1

George and I enjoy cooking. We’re not horrible at it, we might even be adept. More than once, out of laziness, we make do with what we have in the house for supper rather than go to the store to pick up what we really might want and nine times out of 10 it turns out pleasantly well. Not shopping would be an inconvenience, since we both enjoy eating what we want when we want it, but it is very doable.

As life happens, the day after agreeing to take on this challenge, I learned George A. would be coming down to Waterloo. While I was very glad to be able to spend time with him because he is an amazing man, it did put a kink in my plans to survive a week of not shopping with flying colors.

I call it a kink for a couple of reasons. First of all I assume it is much easier to cook for two people out of a disappearing pantry than three. A single chicken breast split two ways can be done if necessary, three gets a little dicey, literally.

The second part of the kink comes because George A. can cook. He can really cook. He comes up with concoctions that are brilliant and tasty and usually involve a few things not kept in the house. He probably has a years worth of recipes kept in his head and he uses them well.

Since he can cook up a storm, naturally he also shops. And I was hoping he would give this up to go with the challenge of living out of the pantry that I had taken on for all three of us a day earlier.

I knew the pantry challenge would test me and stretch me, mostly because I am not good at meal planning. When I decide what I want I am fully capable of bringing a meal together, but George and I are procrastinators when it comes to meals. Planning ahead with enough time to defrost whatever I was taking out of the freezer would be a challenge for me.

Many times I’ll set something out to defrost and by the next day, while supper nears, my tastebuds change. The chicken I set out to thaw would get put into the fridge for the next day and I’d pull out some steak for tacos or quesadillas instead.

At the start of this challenge I told myself that since I was not allowing myself to shop for groceries, some of my spontanaeity might get put on hold as well. I would have to deal.

With George A. not home yet and with the evening meal approaching on the first day of pantry mania, I went down to the freezer. For some reason I really wanted to grill. Maybe it was the smell of rain in the air and spring on the horizon, but the 31 degree weather couldn’t deter me.

After rummaging through the freezer I found two cube steaks and two sirloins. I got both out to defrost, deciding we could eat one that night and then have whatever was left the next night.

I should state here that I normally work from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. so I get off early enough to do some defrosting. For someone who doesn’t get off work until 5 p.m., defrosting a steak may not be appealing for supper.

Lucky for me George was up for grilling.

By the time he got home the steaks were mostly thawed and he set the grill out for the charcoals to burn down. George sprinkled some olive oil on our steaks, added a little salt and pepper and garlic to taste and we were ready to go. When he went to put the steaks on, I set three of our precious potatoes in the microwave to cook.

Nine minutes later we were ready to eat.

For our ‘baked’ potatoes we normally use butter, salt, pepper and sour cream. George also puts bacon bits and cheese on his potatoes. We used the last of the sour cream, but other than that and the steaks, there wasn’t a dent in the pantry.

I’m slightly disappointed because I want immediate results, but I also know that I still have a week to go.

When the weather gets warm and cabin fever kicks in, what's your favorite go-to grilling dish?

Pantry Challenge: About me

I am a full-time employee at The Courier, a daily newspaper. I live with my boyfriend George, our cat Winston and, for a week every month or two, George’s dad, George A. I have learned a lot about cooking from those two men.

We enjoy food, simply said. When it comes to cooking, we don’t stick to a style or ethnicity or even a particular food other than potatoes. I go by a simple rule I learned from George A. “When you start with things you really like, it can’t be bad. It might not be exactly right but it can’t be bad.” That rule has never failed me.

Cooking, while sometimes a chore, still is interesting. I enjoy putting a meal on the table that people will enjoy. It may not be gourmet and it may only take fifteen minutes to bring together, but I want it to be tasty.

George and I start the cooking process — normally at 5 p.m. — by thinking about what we’re hungry for. When you’re hungry and it’s early evening, defrosting the chicken sitting on the bottom of the freezer isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. If we think a day ahead, the meal is easy, if we don’t, it takes a little more thought. I might run down to Fareway to get whatever we have a hankering for, we might do with what we have or we might eat out.

When George A. is home and doing the cooking, he normally has a plan. The roast comes out of the freezer or he goes to the store to get one, along with whatever else he wants to put with it.

Regardless of what we eat and how we eat it, I normally go shopping for all of the major things we need every other week and spend about $120. In between shopping trips I visit the store a couple times a week to get lettuce or potatoes or even the munster cheese I particularly want to melt over a chicken breast that night. Each time I make a little side trip to the store I seldom spend less than $20.

The freezer is filled to the top, the dry goods are well stocked, but eating from the pantry for a week could definitely pose a challenge for the three of us.

The freezer is a smorgasbord of meats and pizza and things saved throughout cooking extravaganzas. Many things were frozen with good intentions. For example, that broth from the Turkey could definitely be use to make a killer soup. In the freezer we have ground beef, a frozen chicken, steaks, pizzas, vegetables, frozen dinners for me when there are no leftovers to take to work, a loaf of bread and a couple casseroles from the last time I spent a day bent over the stove to make some plan-ahead meals. There’s also ice-cream, a daiquiri mix and other miscellaneous odds and ends we may revert to by the end of the week.

On the dry-goods shelves there is an assortment of pasta: spaghetti, rotini and fettucini. Macaroni and cheese, various rice packets, regular rice, instant potatoes and a couple of hamburger meals. There is a shelf with cream of chicken, celery and mushroom soup, cheddar cheese condensed soup, cans of vegetable and vegetable beef soup and clam chowder. On another shelf we keep our fridge extras: ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. Along with canned tuna and chicken, some cans of corn, beans, peas and many spices, our pantry is complete.

Our freezer holds so much because in our fridge there is a tiny little cubby-hold that makes up the freezer. Otherwise it’s all fridge space.

There aren’t very many staples in our fridge. There are eggs, milk, butter and cheese . We use the fridge to house foods we are in the process of making or in the process of eating. Sometimes there are just too many leftovers to bring with me to work.

There are some carrots and celery in the vegetable drawer, and in the cubby of the fridge we horde the hashbrowns. Normally there are lunch meats for George to brown bag it to work, and yogurt for my breakfast and fruit for snacks, but sadly those are lacking with no trip to the grocery store this week.

This is where the pantry challenge may break us. George will possibly get cheese sandwiches for lunch and my breakfast may consist of the leftover packets of oatmeal floating somewhere in a cupboard. I’m planning on subsisting in the mornings on snacks which flow into the newsroom on an irregular basis and what I may find in the vending machine.

For sides to go with our evening meals, rice and potatoes may get us through the nights, but fresh vegetables and salads will be missing from our table. Potatoes are a staple at our house, but with only half a bag left for three people and one week worth of meals, sides may get left out all together.

At least the week will be interesting.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it

The challenge is really quite simple — do not go grocery shopping for one whole week. Sounds easy enough, right? Except, this does not give you license to eat out for every meal. The end goal is to use up the food in your pantry and freezer (including the mystery meat hiding behind those frozen peas) and to save the money you would have spent on groceries.

This is not an original idea and that many people may do this anyway. But, with news of the sinking economy headlining every newspaper and 6 p.m. newscast few can say they aren’t trying to find ways to save a few bucks. This is our attempt for the week.

The idea was presented to four Courier staffers March 5, with the challenge set to begin March 8. That meant there was no real time for any stockpiling trips to the grocery store, though we have no real way to prove that.

We challenge you to do the same. For those with stocked cupboards this challenge will be a breeze to undertake. Those who usually shop for the week may find themselves eating a bun-less hot dog, a chunk of cheese and a pickle spear come Saturday afternoon.

There are no real rules. We won’t be thrown out of the newsroom if we cheat with a quick trip to the store for bread, milk or even an ingredient for a night’s meal. But, the goal is to buy nothing more than bread or milk. Regardless, in the end, everyone who participates should be able to say they saved most of their grocery budget for the week.

The Courier staffers chronicled their experiences at http://www.wcfcourier.com/blogs/community/?p=7#more-7.

I'm putting my blog up here because it lists my experience and some of the recipes I used during the challenge.

A story about the challenge also appeared on the Courier’s Food page March 17.