Healthy Kids Meals Carnival #4

It is Wednesday! That means it is time for healthy kids meals carnival. I was excited to see a healthy homemade chicken nugget last week. I think this was a creative way to take redo an unhealthy food. As a side you could make the delicious folded rolls. Pair that with a side of carrots and you have one healthy meal that kids will definitely enjoy.


I can’t wait to see what unique dishes are submitted this week. The dish can be for any meal of the day, a snack, or beverage as long as it is healthy. If you have a blog, then please link back to this post. If you are nonblogger with delicious recipe, then please feel free to link up the recipe in the comments or write the recipe as a comment, and I will showcase it here next week.

Happy cooking!

Making Yogurt at Home

Updated: October 21, 2011 with more yogurt cultures including Kosher and vegan options.

I adore yogurt. It is great to marinade meat with like in my tandoori chicken or just as an easy and quick snack. I even use homemade yogurt in place of sour cream in recipes or to make creamy soups. Buying yogurt in the grocery store can be expensive especially when you have multiple members of the family who all enjoy yogurt on a daily basis.


To combat the cost of organic yogurt, I make my own. I do not use a specialized yogurt maker because I don’t need any more clutter in my kitchen especially when I can make yogurt with supplies that I already have in my kitchen. It is really easy to do. The basic premise is to heat the milk to kill any other bacteria, bring the temperature down to a good incubation temperature, add the culture, and hold the temperature until the reaction is complete. The other nice thing about yogurt is that you can take your homemade yogurt and keep making new yogurt from the supply that you already have so there is no need to keep buying new cultures.

There are many different cultures that you can use to make yogurt. I started my yogurt with a container of store bought organic Greek yogurt that contained active live cultures (you must start with active live cultures) that contained Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Streptococcus thermophiles. You can also purchase cultures from an on-line vendor. Different cultures will give you different flavors of yogurt. Listed below are some different yogurt cultures with links of where to buy them:

1. Traditional Yogurt Starter from Cultures for Health: This yogurt tastes similar to the yogurts found in the grocery store with a firm texture contains Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifdobacterium longum, Bifdobacterium infanti.

2. Mild Flavor Yogurt for Yogurt Makers from Cultures for Health: mild with a heavy body contains Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus

3. Greek Yogurt Starter from Cultures for Health: thick, rich, and slightly tangy contains L. Bulgaricus, S. Thermophilus

4. Bulgarian Yogurt Starter from Cultures for Health: rich and creamy contains L. Bulgaricum, S. Thermophilus


5. Viili Yogurt Starter from Cultures for Health: This unique yogurt can be made at room temperature making this one of the easiest yogurts to culture. This is a very thick and mild yogurt containing Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris.


6. Piima Yogurt Starter from Cultures for Health: Another yogurt that can be made at room temperature! I wish these yogurt starters were available when I started making yogurt. This would have made the culturing process so much easier. This is very thin yogurt that can be used as a beverage contains S. lactis var. bollandicus and S. taette.


7. Matsoni Yogurt Starter from Cultures for Health: Yet another room temperature yogurt. This is thick and tart yogurt containing L. lactis subsp. Cremoris and Acetobacter orientalis.


8. Filmjolk Yogurt Starter from Cultures for Health: Cultured at room temperature this yogurt does not have a sour flavor instead this soft custard style yogurt has cheesey flavor containing Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides
9. Bulgarian yogurt from New England Cheesemaking: rich, creamy, and tangy contains Streptococcus thermophiles and Lactobacillus bulgaricus

10. Tangy yogurt from New England Cheesemaking: tangy yogurt that contains Streptococcus thermophiles and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Streptococcus lactis

11. Sweet yogurt from New England Cheesemaking: creamy, rich, and sweet yogurt that contains Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium, Steptococcus thermophiles, Lactobacillus delbrueckii

12. ABY 612 from Dairy Connection: full flavor and medium body containing Streptococcus thermophiles, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium infantis

13. ABY-2C from Dairy Connection: mild flavor and thick body yogurt containing Streptococcus thermophiles, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium infantis

14. Yoghurt Type I from Glengarry Cheesemaking in Canada: contains Streptococcus thermophiles and Lactococcus bulgaricus

15. Yogurt Type IV from Glengarry Cheesemaking in Canada: Streptococcus thermophiles, Lactococcus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus

Kosher Options:

1. Kosher Yogurt Starter Traditional Flavor from Cultures for Health: This is the first company that I have seen that offers Kosher yogurt starters. This yogurt starter is tangy with a texture similar to grocery store yogurt contains Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilu and Bifidobacterium lactis.

2. Kosher Yogurt Starter Mild Flavor from Cultures for Health: Mild flavor with a thick consistency contains Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilu and Bifidobacterium lactis.

There are also some dairy free options available for people who lactose intolerant. Dairy Connection sells a vegetal dairy-free yogurt culture that has a mild flavor and smooth texture that can be made with soy or rice milk. The culture contains Bifidobacterium bifidum , Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp bulgaricus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Streptococcus thermophiles, and Rice maltodextrin. Cultures for Health has also started carring a vegan yogurt starter culture with a mild flavor and smooth texture contains Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp bulgaricus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Streptococcus thermophilus. To make dairy free yogurt, follow the same procedure outlined in the rest of this post substituting your dairy free culture for the yogurt culture and rice or soy milk in place of dairy milk.

The concept of making yogurt is simple just heat the milk to 185⁰F to kill any other competing bacteria in your milk, add the Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Streptococcus thermophiles (and possibly other bacteria depending upon your started culture) and hold the temperature at 110⁰F for 6 to 8 hours. This sounds simple enough.

1. Heat the milk to 185⁰F in a double boiler or in a heat proof bowl that snugly fits on top of pot of simmering water.

2. Remove the milk from the heat and let it cool to 105⁰-122⁰F. Placing your culture in milk that is too hot will kill the culture and milk that is too cool will not allow the reaction to occur.

3. Stir in the culture and place the yogurt into a glass container that has a tight fitting lid (I use pyrex dishes but I know others who use baby food jars). For store bought yogurt or homemade yogurt add ½ cup yogurt per 1 gallon of milk. If you are using cultures purchased from a cheese making supplier then follow the package instructions.

4. Incubate the yogurt for 6-8 hours.

However, holding a constant temperature in a kitchen without an incubator can be a challenge. Richard Helweg gives several ideas on how to hold yogurt temperature steady in the book,The Complete Guide to Making Cheese, Butter, and Yogurt at Home: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply. He recommends:

“1. If you have a slow cooker with a “warm” setting, you can fill it with water and set your jars of yogurt in a slow cooker. Be sure to keep a close eye on the temperature of the water.

2. You can fill a cooler with water and place your jars or yogurt in the water at the preferred temperature. Make sure the cooler stays closed for the required time to incubate. You can provide additional insulation by placing a towel over the cooler.

3. You can wrap the jars in a personal heating pad. Again, check the temperature of the pad to make sure it does not get too hot.

4. You can pour yogurt into a thermos. The best kind of thermos for this operation is one with a wide mouth; a small mouthed thermos can be problematic when it comes to removing thickened yogurt.

5. Preheat your oven to 150⁰ or its lowest possible setting, then turn it off. Use an oven thermometer to monitor its temperature. Place your yogurt in the oven after it has reached 120⁰. You can turn your oven on and off to keep it at the ideal temperature. Watch it closely.

6. If you have a home appliance that runs hot or produces a good deal of heat, you can wrap your jar in a towel and place it on the appliance. People have been known to incubate their yogurt on televisions, personal computers, and audio equipment. This works, but it is not recommended.

7. If you live in a warm climate, you can simply wrap your jar of yogurt in a towel and put it in a warm part of the house.” pp94-5

The trick is to keep the temperature of your yogurt between 98⁰ and 130⁰F. I have tried the crockpot method written above, but my “warm” setting was too hot. My solution was to turn the crockpot on low for 15 minutes. Then I turn the crockpot off and wrap in a towel and place it in a warm oven (preheated the oven to the lowest setting then turned it off and let it cool for 10 minutes before placing the yogurt in the oven). This method seems to give me the best results. You will have to play with the settings in your own home to come up with a solution that works best for you.

To stop the reaction, place your yogurt in the refrigerator. You can now flavor your yogurt with anything that you want. I like to add fruit and honey or fruit and maple syrup to mine. To make a Greek yogurt:


1. Line a mesh strainer with a double layer of cheese cloth.

2. Place the fresh yogurt in the strainer over a bowl.

3. Place the strainer and yogurt in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.

4. Remove the yogurt from the cheese cloth and place in clean bowls and cover until ready to use. The whey can be used in bread recipes in place of water.

If your yogurt does not turn out correctly or tastes bad, thenRichard Helweg gives the following troubleshooting tips:

“If your yogurt is too thin after six to eight hours of incubation:

You may have allowed your milk to cool too much before you added your starter. Try to add starter when the milk temperature is between 105⁰ and 120⁰.

You may not have kept your yogurt warm enough during the six to eight-hour incubation period. Remember, yogurt will not ripen at temperatures below 98⁰.

If you used farm-fresh milk, there may have been antibiotics present in the milk that killed the starter. If you use farm-fresh milk, let it sit in your refrigerator for at least 48 hours before you use it to make yogurt.

You may have used a weak starter. If you use yogurt as a starter, make sure it is as fresh as possible. If you use store-bought yogurt, check the expiration date. Also, it is good to date the yogurt you make and keep in your refrigerator so you know that you are using the freshest possible starter.

You may not have properly rinsed your equipment before making yogurt. Detergent can have an ill effect on the starter, not to mention give it is a bad taste.

If you have cultured yogurt after the six- to eight-hour incubation period:

You may have heated the milk too high before adding your starter.

Your milk may have been too hot when you added your starter.

If your yogurt has a bad taste:

You may have scorched the milk while heating it. If you do not use a double boiler, be sure that you constantly stir the milk and monitor its temperature.

The jars or containers that you incubate your yogurt in may not have been clean. It is vital that everything is clean and free of detergent.

You may have allowed your yogurt to incubator too long. The long incubation period will give your yogurt a tart flavor. Six to eight hours is usually a long enough period to incubate yogurt.

Your milk, milk powder, or starter may have been spoiled. Make sure everything you use is fresh.” p 96

Now that you have homemade yogurt you can use it marinade chicken, make cheesecake, top it on chili, or eat it as a snack. The Balkans claim that many of their people live to be over 100 due to a diet based largely on yogurt (Toussaint-Samat, 2009, p108). Perhaps it is time that you took up this healthy food.

Helweg, R. (2010). The Complete Guide to Making Cheese, Butter, and Yogurt at Home: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply. Olcala, FL: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.

Toussaint-Samat, M. (2009). A History of Food. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publisher.



This post was submitted to Simple Lives Thursday.
Note: I do get a very small commission if you buy from Cultures for Health. I signed up to be a promoter of thier products because I love the breath of their products, and their quality.

Arroz con Leche: Mexican Rice Pudding

Growing up I had a lot of Mexican friends, and one of the best things about having a lot of Mexican friends is the food. They would always have big parties with lots of food and everyone always went home with leftovers. One of my favorite dishes was arroz con leche. It is a sweet rice pudding that can be made full strength as a dessert or with less sugar as a breakfast (I prefer it as a breakfast.)


This is not a thick rice pudding, but rather it is liquidy and the sweet milky liquid adds to its charm. The flavoring with the cinnamon and lime zest is simple yet delicious. Whenever I eat this dish I think of hot days, earthen wear pots, sand, and the big yellow sun in the sky. Even if it twenty degrees outside I feel warm inside when I eat this dish.

To make party planning easier, you can prepare the dish a day or two early and brown it in a broiler right before serving. The dish also travels well to pot luck dinners. I love eating leftovers for this dish. It is my secret treat in the refrigerator. No one else in the family seems to care about this dish as much as I do, so this means more for me.

Ingredients from Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico by Rick Bayless with Deann Groen Bayless pp 286-7; The authors based this recipe on Zelayarán’s Las 500 mejores recetas de la cocina Mexicana

2 inches cinnamon stick
A 2-inch strip of lime zest (colored rind only), ¾ inch wide
1 cup rice
1 quart milk
¾ cup sugar (or 1/4 cup for a breakfast dish)
¼ tsp salt
4 large egg yolks
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup raisins
1 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into bits
Ground cinnamon for garnish

Directions

1. The rice. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium-size saucepan, add the cinnamon stick and lime zest, then cover and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Pour in the rice, let the mixture return to a boil, stir once, then cover and cook over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

2. The pudding. Stir in the milk, sugar, and salt, and simmer over medium to medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid shows the first signs of thickening, 20 to 25 minutes. Take from the heat and remove the cinnamon stick and zest. Beat the egg yolks until runny, stir in the vanilla and a few tablespoons of the hot rice, then stir the yolk concoction back into the rice mixture. Mix in half the raisins, then spoon the rice pudding into decorative 8-inch-square baking dish.

3. Browning and finishing the pudding. Preheat the broiler and dot the rice pudding with butter. Set the dish under the heat long enough to brown the top, 3 or 4 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining raisins and the ground cinnamon, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Hint: In step 2, the mixture should be simmered only until the milk takes on a slight creaminess (it will still look soup). Overcooking will give you something dense and unapproachable. Should the latter be your fate, stir in a few tablespoons of milk just as you’re about to serve, dot with butter and brown again.


Posted on Cinco De Mayo Recipes, Mexican Dishes, Cinco De Mayo Recipes

Feeding the Birds in Winter

This post has moved to Nirvana Homeschooling! Come check out my new homeschooling blog.

Healthy Kids Meals Carnival #3

It’s Wednesday! That means it is time for healthy kids meals #3. Last week brought us a delicious looking cantaloupe and carrot juice drink that will add a fun splash of color to your dinner table and a recipe for homemade pizza. Both of these dishes look like real winners. What kid doesn’t love pizza?


I look forward to seeing what other exciting dishes readers submit this week. For bloggers, please link back to this post and tell your friends about this fun blog event. For nonbloggers, you are always welcome to leave a recipe in the comments section, and I will post it up for everyone to view next week.

Zuppa di Cipolle Tuscane: Italian Onion Soup

Dr. Lazy Palate got me an amazing Christmas gift this year. He got me an Italian cooking class at a local Old World Restaurant. So far I have taken one class it was a lot of fun. One of the things that we made was Zuppa di Cipolle Tuscane. The soup was probably my favorite thing that we made that night. However, the soup was not perfect. A lot of people commented that they thought that the soup was too salty. I thought it was too salty as well, but the thing that made the soup special was the vinegar that was added right before serving. The chef recommended that if you add vinegar to a dish that you do it just before serving because you do not want the vinegar to sit in a dish for too long before eating.

When I left the class, I was really excited about going home and playing with this dish to make it perfect for me. Little did I know that I would end up quickly throwing this dish together two days after the class using ingredients that I had around the house. Dr. Lazy Palate belongs to a soup club at work. I offered numerous times to make his soup so he wouldn’t have to worry about it when he got home from work, but he insisted upon making his own soup. He wanted to make a chicken noodle soup from scratch. He started by boiling his chicken bones to make a broth. Then, he proceeded to meticulously cut all the potatoes in perfect little cubes. Next, he added the noodles, chicken, and potatoes to the broth. Up until this point this all sounds pretty normal for chicken noodle soup except that he forgot about his soup. He decided to let the flavors mix together by leaving the soup on the stove overnight. Instead of putting the soup in the refrigerator over night or turning the burner down to low, Dr. Lazy Palate leaves the soup on medium and goes to bed. At 5 o’clock in the morning Dr. Lazy Palate jumps out of bed yelling, “my soup!”

The soup was a gross brown color and smelled awful. It was burnt and the pot was ruined. I don’t know how many times I have told Dr. Lazy Palate to never leave the stove on overnight, but I am hoping that he will listen to me from now on. He told me that this was the way he cooked chicken noodle soup in college, but he is not in college any more. He has not been in college for years, so it is time to cook soup like a normal adult. No more soup cooking in the middle of the night.

This is where I come in since Dr. Lazy Palate still has to go to work; I have to make a soup for his soup club. At this point, I have two sleeping kids and decently stocked kitchen. The thing is that I did not have enough of anything in the house to make a soup for 25 people except for onions. When Dr. Lazy Palate bought the stuff for his soup, he did not check with me to see what we already had on hand so he bought another set of onions after I had just bought a set myself. This curious event ended up being a stroke of luck because it allowed me to make onion soup. Granted this onion soup would be far different than the onion soup that I made at my cooking class. I left only two ingredients the same from my cooking class, onions and balsamic vinegar. The soup is so different that in the culinary would I could pretend that I thought up this soup all by myself since I changed almost all the ingredients, but there is no point in being stingy with credit, so this soup was inspired by Chef Rosa at an Old World Kitchen restaurant.

Ingredients (serves about 6)

3 tbsp salted butter
1 quart yellow onions, thinly sliced
6 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
3 basil leaves
3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
20 Petites Galettes Salées: Little Salted Biscuits or 20 crackers
½ cup Swiss cheese

Directions

Heat the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat, add the onions and caramelize the onions about 25 minutes. Remove the onions from the heat and add them to a stock pot. Wash the skillet with vegetable broth and add the broth to the stockpot. Add the basil and bay leaf to the stock. Simmer the soup for 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. To serve, add the vinegar to the soup and stir. Ladle the soup into bowls and add the salted biscuits and cheese.

This post is dedicated to Gravy as part of charity super bowl. Gray is my wonderful cat whom I got in grad school from a shelter to keep me company on long sleepless nights when I was burning the midnight oil.

This post was submitted to Simple Lives Thursday, the Ultimate Recipe Swap, and Real Food Wednesday.

Petites Galettes Salées: Little Salted Biscuits

I know I have already raved about my Breads of France book here on my blog, but I am going to rave about it again. I have always wanted to make crackers, but I have never gotten around to making them. It seems like there are always a million other recipes that I want to try first. My list of recipes that I want to try always seems longer than my time can handle.

I finally got the perfect excuse to make these little salted biscuits, also known as crackers, with Dr. Lazy Palate’s soup club at work because soup and crackers go hand in hand. These crackers were really easy to make. You make them just like you would a cut out cookie. I used a pizza cutter to make lots of different sized rectangles. The crackers do not spread in the oven so you can cram a lot of crackers on one baking sheet. The only catch is that the crackers bake extremely fast, so you cannot walk away from your oven. Thinner and smaller crackers will bake much faster than thicker and larger crackers. I found that I had to remove my smallest crackers from the oven after a mere 5 minutes while the largest crackers took eight minutes.

These were the best crackers that I have ever tasted. They were perfectly buttery. You can pair these crackers with a something sweet like champagne blush jelly or something savory like chili. I loved the versatility of the crackers. Both of my kids loved the crackers. Little BBQ put the crackers in his soup while Miss Bubbles ate her crackers plain. I preferred mine with a little bar-le-duc and Dr. Lazy Palate ate his crackers with soup.

Ingredients (makes about 45 2-inch pieces) from Breads of France pp 186-7

½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
½ cup hot water (125⁰F)
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, approximately
¼ cup non-fat dry milk
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

Equipment

One ungreased baking sheet (no grease is required due to the high butter content of the galettes)

Directions

Cut butter into several pieces and drop into a medium-sized bowl. Pour in hot water, which will further soften butter. Let stand for 5 minutes or until liquid is warm but not hot. Stir in ¾ cup of flour, non-fat dry milk, sugar and salt. This will be a soft batter. Stir to blend thoroughly. Add rest of flour, ¼ cup at a time, to form a ball of dough.

Turn dough onto dusted work surface and knead until the dough is smooth. It may need additional sprinkles of flour to give body to the dough. There is no leavening in this dough so it is not necessary to develop gluten as for a yeast-raised product. The kneading is to blend ingredients and make a smooth dough.

Place dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, put aside at room temperature (70-75⁰F) for an hour.

Preheat oven to 400⁰F.

Turn dough onto work surface and roll into a rectangle about 10 inches by 18 inches—and no more than 1/8 inch thick. Don’t rush. Pull gently with the hands to help form rectangle.

A pastry wheel or pastry jagger, especially the latter which is a wheel that cuts with scalloped edge like pinking shears, makes a handsome gallette and does not tear or pull the dough as a knife might do.

Before moving galettes, prick each with the sharp tines of a fork 3 or 4 times.

Life galette carefully and place on baking sheet. If sheet won’t hold them all, cover balance with wax paper and leave on work surface.

Place in preheated oven but stand by as these bake rapidly. Look at galettes after 8 minutes. Galettes should be light brown with somewhat darker edges and brown on the bottom. Don’t be afraid to shuffle them around to achieve uniform baking. If some are fatter than others and feel soft when pressed on top, return to the oven, but watch them!

As they are removed from the oven, place on metal rack to cool. Delicious warm. They will stay fresh for days in a closed container, and freeze well.

This post was submitted to Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays #16.

Chicken Confit and French Cassoulet

This month Jenni from the Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives challenged us to make a confit and a cassoulet. Both are rich in history. Here is what Jenni and Lisa had to say about this month’s challenge:


“Cassoulet is a rich, slow cooked stew or casserole that originated in the south of France during the 14th century. It traditionally contains pork, sausages, and white beans as well as a duck or goose confit and then topped with fried bread crumbs or cracklings. The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, which is a deep, round earthenware pot with slanted sides. This is a dish that traditionally takes about three days to prepare, but is oh so worth all the effort!! A confit, in case you don’t know, is one of the oldest ways to preserve food. It is essentially any kind of food that has been immersed in any kind of fat for both flavor and preservation. When stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months! Typically meats (most often waterfowl) are preserved in fats, while fruits are preserved in sugar.”

This past Christmas I received an awesome book called A History of Food by Maguelone Toussaint-Samat. I decided to see if Toussaint-Samat had anything interesting to say about cassoulets. Not surprisingly the foodie French are passionate about cassoulets with different regions staking claim to the rite of cassoulets. Here is what Toussaint-Samat had to say about cassoulets in her subsection entitled, "The Holy War of Cassoulet”:

“Ever since the persecution of Protestants and the Albigensian Crusade in Languedoc, a holy war has been waged in that part of France, and it is nowhere near dying out. The various ways of making cassoulet are the issue at stake. For there is not just one cassoulet. The dish exists in several versions, each of which has its fanatical supporters, vehemently defending their faith. Every little local district proclaims that it alone practices the true rite—for rites rather than recipes are involved in the perfect preparation of this baked bean dish. People can discuss the matter for whole evenings on end as passionately as they will discuss sport. But all are in agreement on the following points:

--The dish’s name derives from the cassole of Ussel, an earthenware pot which came from Ussel Castelnaudary.

--Before the discovery of America and of New World haricot beans, cassoulet was made with broad beans, known as favolles. The best haricot bean to use is the mounjete, ‘monk-bean’, a bean of plump shape like a Capuchin friar, but the large, white, tender butter bean can be used if need be.

The beans must be cooked in two lots of water, the dish itself must be finished off in the oven, and its crust of breadcrumbs should be broken six times. The seventh crust (seven is the magical number) is the sign of the apotheosis of the dish.

In Touleouse, breast of mutton and the famous local sausage are essential ingredients.

In Carcassonne they preach the virtues of pork chops.

In Castelnaudry only preserved duck or goose is really acceptable, but a little garlic sausage may be tolerated.

Finally, it would be sacrilege to make cassoulet in Cobières without lightly salted pig’s tail and ears.”
(pp43-44)

For my cassoulet, I used modified a recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman that is supposed to be the best cassoulet outside of France. Indeed this cassoulet was amazing. I was a little nervous to be cooking with so much fat. I don’t normally incorporate this much fat into my recipes, so this was a bit of a challenge to get past the mental hurdle of childhood where my believed that all foods should be low fat or no fat. The flavor of the dish is divine. It is rich and heavy just like most amazing French food. I would not recommend this dish if you are on a diet, but if you are a food history buff or want to explore traditional French cooking, then a cassoulet is something that you must make.

The dish took 3 days to prepare. It was a labor of love. The dish is not difficult to make, but it does take time. I do not own a cassole, so I made my cassoulet is a large Dutch oven, and it worked perfectly. Instead of lining my cassoulet with pork rind on the bottom, I lined it with thick cut bacon which fit in perfectly with all the other meats included in the dish. I chose to make my cassoulet out of chicken confit (I used bacon fat as my fat for preservation), pork chops, great northern white beans, and beer brats. I thought that the beans had the best flavor that I have ever experienced in a bean. Dr. Lazy Palate was a big fan of the chicken and sausage. My mom loved the entire dish which surprised me because she is not a fan of fat. She will not eat dark meat because she says that it is too fatty, so this cassoulet must have been amazing if it won her seal of approval.

Ingredients for chicken confit modified from Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations

Serves 4-8

4 whole chicken legs (leg and thigh), size does not matter
sea salt, for the overnight (at least 6-8 hours) dry rub (the amount varies depending on the size of your legs, so just know that you need to have enough on hand for a good coating.)
2 cups bacon grease
a healthy pinch or grind of black pepper
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 garlic clove

Directions

Day One

1. Rub the chicken legs fairly generously with sea salt, place in the shallow dish, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. At all times, keep your work area clean and your ingredients free of contamination - meaning don't allow any other food, like bread crumbs or scraps, to get into your chicken, bacon grease or confit, as they will make an otherwise nearly non-perishable preparation suddenly perishable.

Day Two

1.Preheat the oven to moderately hot 375ºF/190ºC/gas mark 5.

2.Render (melt) the duck fat in the saucepan until clear.

3.After seasoning with the black pepper, place the duck legs in the clean, ovenproof casserole.

4.Nestle the thyme, rosemary and garlic in with the duck legs, and pour the melted duck fat over the legs to just cover.

5. Cover the dish with foil and put in the oven. Cook for about an hour, or until the skin at the "ankle" of each leg pulls away from the "knuckle." The meat should be tender.

6. Allow to cool and then store as is in the refrigerator, sealed under the fat. When you need the confit, you can either warm the whole dish, in which case removing the legs will be easy, or dig them out of the cold fat and scrape off the excess. I highly recommend the former. A nice touch at this point is to twist out the thighbone from the cold confit. Just place one hand on the drumstick, pinioning the leg to the table, and with the other hand, twist out the thighbone, plucking it from the flesh without mangling the thigh meat. Think of someone you hate when you do it.

Ingredients for cassoulet from Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations

5 cups dried Great Northern beans
2 pounds pork chop
1 onion, cut into 4 pieces
1 pound thick cut bacon
1 bouquet garni (tie together two sprigs parsley, 2 sprigs thyme and one bay leaf)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup bacon grease
6 beer brats
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
4 confit chicken legs

Directions

Day One

1. Place the beans in the large bowl and cover with cold water so that there are at least 2 or 3 inches of water above the top of the beans. Soak overnight. (Beans will double in size upon soaking, so use a big bowl!)

Day Two

1. Drain and rinse the beans and place in the large pot.

2. Add the pork chop, the quartered onion, 1/4 pound of the bacon, and the bouquet garni.

3. Cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and continue to simmer until the beans are tender, about 30 minutes more.

4. Let cool for 20 minutes, then discard the onion and the bouquet garni.

5. Remove the pork belly, cut it into 2-inch squares, and set aside. (If you plan to wait another day before finishing the dish, wait to cut the pork belly until then.)

6. Strain the beans and the rind and set aside, reserving the cooking liquid separately.

7. In the sauté pan, heat all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease over medium-high heat until it shimmers and becomes transparent.

8. Carefully add the brats and brown on all sides.

9. Remove sausages and set aside, draining on paper towels.

10. In the same pan, over medium-high heat, brown the sliced onions, and the garlic.

11. Once browned, remove from the heat and transfer to the blender. Add 1 tablespoon of the remaining bacon grease and purée until smooth. Set aside.

12. Preheat the oven to moderate 350ºF.

13.Place the uncooked bacon in the bottom of a deep ovenproof non-reactive dish. You're looking to line the inside, almost like a pie crust. Arrange all your ingredients in alternating layers, beginning with a layer of beans, then sausages, then more beans, then pork chops, beans, chicken confit and finally more beans, adding a dab of the onion and fat purée between each layer.

14. Add enough of the bean cooking liquid to just cover the beans, reserving 1 cup in the refrigerator for later use.

15. Cook the cassoulet in the oven for 1 hour, then reduce the heat to very slow 250ºF and cook for another hour.

16. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight.

Day Three

1. Preheat the oven to moderate 350ºF.

2. Cook the cassoulet for an hour.

3. Break the crust on the top with the spoon and add 1/4 cup/60 ml of the reserved cooking liquid. (Don't get fancy. Just pile, dab, stack and pile. It doesn't have to be pretty.)

4. Reduce the heat to very slow 250ºF and continue cooking another 15 minutes, or until screamingly hot through and through. Then serve.

jalapeño cornbread

This Christmas I made a huge basket of food for some friends because they are always there when we need help, so this Christmas I wanted to make a wide variety of food that they can enjoy. The family loves peppers. The daughters all eat peppers raw for a snack, and chili is one of their favorite meals, so I wanted to make them something that accommodates their love of peppers and could pair well with their regular chili lunches.


I made a large pan of jalapeño cornbread since there are six kids, and I wanted to make sure that everyone could enjoy a slice. I modified a basic recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. I thought that the recipe needed some more spices so I added some paprika and chili powder. I also added some corn since you can’t have cornbread without actual corn inside the bread in my humble opinion. Some reviews said that they had trouble with the jalapeños sinking to the bottom of cornbread like a pineapple upside down cake, but I did not have this problem. I added the jalapeños to the batter last before pouring it into the pan, and I did not have any trouble with the jalapeños sinking.

I don’t normally make cornbread because I always remember cornbread as a kid being a grainy and dry bread that had a lifeless flavor. This cornbread was far different than the cornbread that I remembered as a kid. It was spicy and full of life. The bread was crumbly without being too dry. My friends told me that this was excellent gourmet cornbread with its specs of red color from the jalapeños.

Ingredients (makes an 11 x 13 in pan) modified from allrecipes.com from user Archie Timmons

3 cups cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
kernels from 4 ears of corn
6 jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk and oil. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Stir in corn and jalapeño s. Pour into a greased 11 x 13-in. baking pan.

2. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut into squares or wedges. Serve warm.

This post was submitted to Bread Baking Day #36., Ingredient Spotlight: Cornmeal

Healthy Kids Meals Carnival #2

It’s Wednesday and that meals more healthy kids meals! Last week brought us a wonderful and frugal pasta dish using leftover broccoli stalks. What exciting new dishes will this week bring us? To recap, your healthy kids meals can be a main course, side dish, or snack for any meal of the day as long as it is not a desert. Nonbloggers can enter in a recipe in the comments section of this post. Bloggers please link back to this post if submit a recipe. Thank you.


Have a great Wednesday, and I can not wait to see what amazing dishes you all serve up this week.

Thumbnails:  3 entries so far... you're next!

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Vegetarian sausage and whole wheat english muffins Cantaloupe-carrot juice Home Made Pizza

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Méture au Potiron Basquais: Basque Pumpkin Bread

If someone is just browsing at the pictures of my blog, they would probably just gloss over the picture of this basque pumpkin bread. It looks like normal cornbread in a loaf shape; however, it is something special. It is not your typical lackluster cornbread. This cornbread is moist and flavorful with the wonderful subtle taste of pumpkin. It is slightly sweet and dense.

The bread is leavened with egg whites, so this bread can easily be whipped together without waiting on a rise or kneading. The rum adds a wonderful depth to the bread, but you can omit it if you don’t like alcohol in your bread.

From a historical perspective, I found this bread particularly tantalizing because I was surprised that pumpkin and corn were found in a French bread. However, the author of Breads of France, Bernard Clayton, Jr, colorfully explains the history of the unique diet of the Bayonne region of France in the following passage:

“In the southwesternmost corner of France where the Atlantic end of the magnificent Pyrenees is anchored in both that country and Spain, it comes as a pleasant surprise, like meeting an old friend in an unexpected place, to discover that basketful of native American foods has been a part of the French Basque cuisine for almost 400 years. Corn and pumpkin interested me most because they were made into breads, but the list included tomatoes, peppers, and of course, turkey. A little later, along came potato.

Christopher Columbus brought back corn to the Old World as a curiosity and shortly thereafter several of his Basque crew gave it to stay-at-home relatives in the Nive valley. It became so important in Basque culture that in the largest festival of the year the Corn Spirit parades as a white horse while the Wheat Spirit must be content as a dog. Corn took precedence even over hunting—dogs’ tails were docked in order not to break the fragile young stalks. Corn replaced millet in the diet of the peasants while pumpkin enjoyed more imaginative treatment in the hands of Basque cooks than it ever received at home and was used resourcefully in a wide variety of pies, gratins, cakes, and breads. “ (p 130)

Next time you want to wow some guests with your knowledge of world foods I would recommend serving this bread. Likewise, if you want to add an unexpected twist to your weeknight dinner table, then I would add this fun addition to your dinner table. Enjoy the unexpected greatness of this bread as its subtle charm will win over everyone at the dinner table.

Ingredients (makes 1 loaf in a 4 x 8 inch pan) fromThe Breads of France p 136

1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup milk
1 tbsp butter
¼ cup sugar
2 cups yellow or white cornmeal (I used yellow)
½ tsp salt
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp light or dark rum, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 375⁰F.

Pour pumpkin into medium bowl. Heat milk, butter and sugar in saucepan over low flame, stirring constantly to soften and melt butter. Pour into bowl with pumpkin, and add cornmeal, ½ cup at a time, stirring to blend thourall. Add salt.

Separate eggs, dropping yolks into center of the corn mixture. Blend. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter with rubber scraper. Add rum, if desired, and mix.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Place in over on middle shelf. Test méture with a knife blade at the end of 1 hour. If it comes out clean, bread is baked. If moist particles stick to blade, return méture to oven for an additional 10 minutes. Test again.

Allow méture to cool for 20 minutes before unmolding. Slice into thin servings. Enjoy as finger food or with a fork. It is best eaten warm.

This post was submitted to Bread Baking Day #36. Ingreident Spot Light: Cornmeal, Perfectly Pumpkin Contest

Pain d’Epice: Spice Bread from Paris, France

Dr. Lazy Palate found this cool cookbook, Breads of France: And How to Bake Them in Your Kitchen by Bernard Clayton, Jr., at a small town festival. He was walking by the market area where people were selling used books and handmade crafts when this book caught his eye. He knew that I would love this book. It contains a lot of unusual bread recipes from various regions from France.

One of the recipes contained in the book was pain d’epice of spice bread. The bread looked intriguing with its combination of strong spices and rye flour. After I made dark German rye rolls, I wanted to make more bread with rye flour. I thought this rye bread would be perfect on a snowy winter day.

The bread came out delicious. The anise was very strong in the bread, so if you are not a big fan of anise, then I would consider using less anise seed. The bread was also very dense as you can see by the picture. My only note about the recipe was that it made one 7 ½ x 3 ½ inch loaf and not two. I will definitely be making this bread again during winter.

Ingredients for pain d’epice from Breads of France: And How to Bake Them in Your Kitchen pages 76-77

1 cup hot tap water (120-130⁰F)
1 cup honey
¼ cup sugar
1 pinch salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking soda
¼ cup rum, or water to substitute (I used rum)
1 ½ tsp ground anise seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
¾ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
2 cups rye flour
1 ½ cups unbleached white flour
1 tsp orange rind, grated
2/3 cup chopped almonds
½ cup currants or raisins (if the latter, chop fine)

Directions

In a large bowl, pour hot water over honey. Add sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Stir to dissolve and blend.

Pour in run (if desired) or water to substitute, and add anise seeds, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Add 1 cup of rye and 1 cup of white flour, stir. When ingredients have been blended, add the additional 1 cup of rye and ½ cup of white flour. The batter will be thick but smooth.

Add orange rind, almonds and currants. Stir 25 strokes to blend thoroughly, but don’t overbeat. Set aside while preparing pans.

Preheat oven to 400⁰F.

Grease pans, line sides with wax paper (not the ends), and grease paper. Leave 1-inch tab projecting to pull out loaf later.

With large spoon and rubber scraper, fill pan ¾ full. If the dough sticks to the scraper, dip in water. Fingers are also good to pat the dough into the corners of the pans.

Place loaf on middle shelf. After 10 minutes reduce heat to 350⁰F, and continue baking for 50 minutes. The bread will be deep brown when baked. There will probably be a large crevice running the length of the loaf. This is good. Test with cake pin or metal skewer. Thrust into center of the loaf—if it comes out with no particles sticking to it, the bread is done.

Place pans on metal rack. Turn loaf on its side and gently tug free with the paper tab. Repeat for the other loaf. When loaves have completely cooled, wrap tightly in aluminum foil or place in plastic bag to age several days. Bread keeps exceptionally well and is an ideal gift for sending to friends overseas, on the other coast, or around the corner.

Healthy Kids Meals Carnival #1

Welcome to the first healthy kids meals carnival! I am so excited to see the amazing recipes that you submit. To review, this carnival is for healthy kids meals. The submission can be for any meal of the day, a side dish, snack, or beverage. Sorry no deserts, alcohol, or processed foods (no dressing up boxed foods to make them healthy.)For further explanation see my blog post introducing the blog carnival.

If you submit your linky below, then please link back to this post and mention in your post that you submitted your recipe to this carnival.

If you do not have a bog, but you would like to submit a recipe, then please leave a link to the recipe in the comments section of this post or type the recipe out in the comments section of this post.

Again I can’t wait to see some of the wonderful things that you are cooking in your kitchen.

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Healthy Buttermilk Oatmeal Pancakes Home Made Breakfast Pastries Awesome Macaroni Sauce

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New Healthy Kids Meals Carnival Starting

I constantly hear other moms saying that their kids are super picky and will not eat anything except for boxed macaroni and cheese, or I hear parents who say that their child will never touch a fruit or vegetable. To help these parents I am starting a blog carnival show casing healthy meals that kids love. Every Wednesday log on to this blog and submit your healthy kids meals.


A healthy kids meal should be:

1. No deserts.

2. No alcohol.

3. No processed food. This is not the blog carnival for dressing up boxed macaroni and cheese with carrots. The focus of the carnival is foods made from scratch.

4. The submission can be an entrée, a side dish, snack, or a beverage.

5. The submission can be for any meal of the day including snacks as long as it is a healthy recipe.

You do not have to have kids to participate in this blog carnival. Perhaps you made an amazing side dish at a family gathering that even the most discerning member of the younger generation gobbled up then please share your wonderful recipe with us! If you do not have a blog but would like to share a recipe, then leave a link to the recipe in the comments section of this blog every Wednesday or type the recipe out in the comments section of the blog.

If you do have a blog, then please link back to the blog carnival in your post if you choose to submit your linky to this carnival and mention in your blog post that you submitted your post to this blog carnival.

The carnival starts Wednesday January 5th. I look forward to seeing all of your wonderful recipes!

10 Things I want to Cook in 2011

The New Year brings new goals. I have so many things that I want to cook all the time, but this I decided to make a top 10 list of things that I want to make as way to gauge my progress and keep me focused throughout the year. I chose a variety of cooking techniques, so I don’t get stuck in a rut. I also chose recipes that that can be spaced out throughout the year. I didn’t want to get stuck making things that can only be made during the summer harvest.


1. Tamales: growing up I had neighbors who made amazing tamales. This year I want to try my hand at making tamales. DONE!

2. Braised Oxtail: I keep seeing this economical meat at the local mom and pop healthy grocery store, and I want to braise this meat this year. I hear that oxtail is phenomenal when it is braised so this year I will find out first hand.

3. Injera: I have always heard that this is a challenging flat bread to make. This year I want to add this to my bucket list of things that I want to make.

4. King Cake: In high school I visited New Orleans, LA, and I admired their fun and colorful culture. I want to make a King Cake this year to add some more color to my life. DONE!

5. Hard Cheese: I got a book on cheese making for Christmas, and I cannot wait to try my hand at making hard cheese.

6. Wine: This Christmas I received a book on wild wines and meads. I cannot wait to try my hand at brewing some of my own wine.

7. Pressure Canning: My mom got me a pressure canner for Christmas, and this year I am going to try my hand at canning some low acid foods. I think I see some cans of corn in my future. DONE!

8. Moroccan Ragout: I have seen this recipe so many times now that I think it is a sign that I should attempt to make this dish this year.

9. Tres Leches Cake: I attempted this super moist cake once a few years ago, and it was a giant failure. The cake was so moist and gooey that it did not stay together. Worse yet, the cake did not taste very good. This year I want to redeem myself in the kitchen and make a good tres leches cake.

10. Flan: I want to make an amazing flan this year. One that holds its shape, tastes amazing, and looks great on the plate. DONE!

I hope you join me this year as I cook way through another year. Leave me a comment and tell me what is on your cooking list for this year. Or send me recipes for some of my goal recipes this year.