What To Cook Wednesday

For this week's edition of what to cook, I bring you another soup recipe. I like soup. I like fall too, and that is the perfect time for pulling out those stock pots and making soup.

Potato Soup. I know that everyone has a potato soup recipe in their family. Here, I present you with my family's potato soup.

8-10 potatoes, peeled
onion
salt
evaporated milk
water
3 eggs
flour
pepper

I use any kind of potato for this. Last night I used regular Idaho potatoes. I used onion powder last night, I have also used minced dried onion and fresh onion. Really just use whatever you like.

Peel and cube your potatoes. Place in pot and cover with water. Add onion. I like onion flavor, so I added a lot. Use as much as your family will allow. I do not add salt here, but my mom does. I don't add salt to anything until it is done cooking, but that's just me.

While the potatoes are cooking, crack three eggs into a bowl, and start adding flour. I used whole wheat last night, so I ended up with brown dumplings, if appearances matter, use white flour. You want to add enough flour to make a nice sticky dough. It should still be wet looking and very sticky. When the potatoes are almost done cooking, start adding the egg/flour mixture. I use a spoon that has been dipped into the hot water, and scoop a small amount, about 1/4 of the teaspoon, and put the spoon in the water again. The hot water makes the dough slip right off the spoon. Of course now the spoon is hot and you can just go to town dipping your little dumplings out of the bowl and placing the dumpling into the water. By the time you are finished with this, it will be time to add the evaporated milk. Dump one whole can into the pot. The dumplings will only take a minute or two to finish cooking. At this time, I taste and add salt if necessary (always is) and add some pepper. That is it, dinner is done. Add some tasty bread and a salad, and you are ready to go.

Though as I read through this and my other posts, I realize I am one of those folks that cooks without measuring. I just add the amounts of ingredients based on what I know my son and I like. It may be kind of hard to follow recipes that call for adding what you like or adding a pinch. If you think that I need to start adding more precise measurements, please let me know and I can start paying attention and measuring what I make.

I am not sure if that thingy up there will work. I seem to be challenged when it comes to posting the link pictures. Whatever it does, do yourself a favor and go check out Keely's blog at The Unmom. Read through all the randomness floating around over there.

Random Thought Tuesday:

Wow is it ever stormy here. I came in to work this morning and thought perhaps I should be going home for the evening it was so dark.

I am researching work at home articles. I would love to create some kind of income working online. I realize it would not replace the job I have, but it could someday. I would love to be able to stay home on those dark mornings.

I slept like a log last night. It felt great. When the alarm went off this morning, I seriously did one of those sit straight up in bed things. I wasn't even sure what woke me up to start with. At least I did not see any bugs on my ceiling. That is always a good sign-no bugs.

I have a gazillion things to do tonight after I get off work. I leave for a visit with S tomorrow around noon. I have to finish washing all the blankets, pillows, clothes, dishes, etc, etc, for packing tonight so I can load tomorrow when I get off work and get the heck outta here.

My head hurts today. I don't know if it is the weather or just because the monitor for this computer is too big. It's like it has dinosaur-ific proportions. Which would be great if I was old and had bad eyes, or sat 10 feet away, but the monitor is about one foot away unless I stretch my arms and lean back, then I get two feet of clearance. It just makes my eyes hurt. I think I will order a different one.

My son was a chatty Kathy last night on our call. He is making grand plans for our visit. He is timing down to the minute. He told me what time we were eating all our meals. What time and what game we are playing at the top of each hour. I think it is funny when he does this. He will make all these plans, but when I get there he will change them and act like he doesn't know what I am talking about if I ask about the previous plans. He tells me I must be confused.

I am ready for lunch. I am starving. I have been hungry all morning. I had egg salad for breakfast. I know, I'm weird. At least it wasn't like live fish or something squirmy. Too bad it wasn't pizza.

Speaking of pizza, the pizza dude will be here shortly for lunch time deliveries. I need to eat my lunch first so I am not tempted to buy a pizza. And eat the whole thing. By myself. Those pizza's are sure making it hard to lose weight. And the donuts. And the whole box of macaroni and cheese. And the brownies...

Boring healthy lunch, here I come, dreaming you were something tasty.

What to Cook Wednesday

i am still stumped on what to offer here. I again did not cook this weekend due to our (draining) family get together. We had potato salad, Italian pork, chips and of course, chocolate. We had pancakes for breakfast. And this week I have not cooked anything. I had pizza yesterday, macaroni and cheese for dinner from a box *gasp*, and I don't even remember what I had on Monday, cereal maybe?....Can't remember. Obviously it was not that great. So for what to cook Wednesday I bring you: Snack Ideas. These snack ideas have gone over well in my house so I hope they work for you.

Ants on a log:
celery, peanut butter and raisins. Wash and cut celery, spread the pb on, and line the ants, ahem, raisins along the pb.

One eyed Sams:
bread, egg. Butter both sides of the bread tear/cut out a circle, and place in hot pan. Crack egg into the middle. Either eat the buttered bread or cook right along side the bread/egg for a toasted circle.

Apple dunkins:
apple, peanut butter. Slice apple, dunk in a bit of peanut butter.

Chocolate:
You knew I had to include this. I could never forget my lovely smooth rich wonderful chocolate.

Iceburgs:
popsicles. We would either use store bought or home made popsicles and call them iceburgs. You have to eat them before they melt and cause a flood.

Home made ice cream sandwiches:
cookies (we liked chocolate chip of course), ice cream, whip cream. Take one cookie and lay it upside down-soft cookies work best, add a spoon of ice cream, top with another cookie right side up, and put in the freezer until ready to eat. Add a dollop of whip when you are ready to eat. And why not have a real sugar rush and add some sugar crystals or sprinkles on top of the whip. Then go run it off with the kids and their post sugar rush....

So what kind of snacks do you serve in your house?

What To Cook Wednesday

I was really having a hard time deciding what to post for today. I have been thinking about it since last week. I could not think of anything that was calling my name: Post me, Post me. Nope, it just was not there. Maybe because I was not really craving anything. Except ice cream, but that is a whole other topic...

So I decided to ask what my co-workers were having. No good ideas there either. Next I thought to ask what sounded good. But I was getting the same suggestions I had; Ice cream. It's always good. Finally I decided to fall back on something I make when it gets cool out, since it is not even 70 degrees here right now.

Mostly home made veggie soup. I usually make it in the crockpot. I like to throw it together in the morning and come home to a delicious smelling house. I usually just add bread and butter to go with it. This is also one of those recipes that you can adjust to what ever you like. There is no right or wrong combination.

If you want, you can add stew meat. Just brown it before adding to the pot. My mom likes to add it because she likes the flavor, me, I don't add it. I think it is fine without it and it makes it cheaper to make.

I use a variety of veggies, mostly depending on what's in my freezer and pantry. I usually use green beans, lima beans, corn, carrots (I like fresh baby carrots), black or kidney beans, cut up canned tomatoes, peas, spinach, onions. Like I said just about anything. I do not use broccoli or cauliflower. The taste is too strong. I throw the veggies in the crockpot. If you are using canned veggies, for added flavor you can leave some of the water it is packed in. I usually use the juice from the tomatoes and sometimes the green beans and corn. Depends on how "soupy" you want it. Next add V-8 juice. You can use which ever variety of V-8 you like. I personally like the reduced sodium. My mom likes the spicy. My sister uses the regular. If I am making a big batch, I use the big bottle and use it all, if I am making a smaller batch I either use a portion of the big bottle and freeze the rest, or just use a smaller bottle. I also add herbs or spices like pepper, sometimes basil or sage. I cook it on low all day, give it a good stir and serve. That is it. Super simple. Easily adaptable. It just hits the spot on a cool day. Especially with some warm fresh baked bread and melty butter.

What To Cook Wednesday

Like Annie, I am all about ham. I think pigs are cute and tasty. I love ham, pork roasts, bacon. Yum Yum. So, in the spirit of ham loving today, I bring you another pork roast recipe.

Dill and Garlic Pork
1 pork roast or loin (boneless)
fresh dill - approx 8 tblsp chopped up
minced garlic - I will say to taste as I use a lot more than average folks, perhaps 1 tblsp
2 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
dash salt and pepper
1 tbsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
1/4-1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

Mix 3 tbsp dill, yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper together and spread over the top of the pork loin. Mix another 3 tbsp dill, oil and panko. Spread this over the top of the pork loin as well.

In a preheated oven (425 degrees) bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce temp to 375 and finish baking (25 to 30 minutes). Let stand for 10 minutes and then sprinkle the remaining dill on the top and serve.

I love panko bread crumbs. They are the best bread crumb ever. I also love fresh dill and grow it in my herb garden every year. Garlic goes with just about everything in my book. I hope you like these tastes together as much as I did.

Home Made Food

I am really getting into this whole home made bread thing. I made another loaf of bread, rolls, and a pita bread last night. I got home and decided to make the bread and it is so easy, I get to multi-task while making it. I am still getting ready for my weekend trip, but got basically three loaves of bread made. And it tastes so good. I am glad I found that book. I also have been enjoying all the other stuff I made on Sunday. I did a lot of batch cooking again. I made tuna casserole, taco stew (usually called soup but I don't make mine that thin), hard boiled eggs for egg salad, pasta salad and healthy sloppy joes. I just had a really good time making everything from scratch. It all tastes better and there is no added salt to anything, just good for you herbs and spices.

I am guessing that it is also a lot cheaper than buying stuff at the store. For example, the taco soup that I make, I used a pound of turkey ($1), one bag of kidney beans ($1), two cans of corn ($1), one can of tomatoes ($.50) and then homemade seasoning mixes (guestimate of $.25). I will get at least 7 meals out of this. I packaged them individually and then stuck them in the freezer. That means that for just over $.50 each, I have just made 7 main courses or total meals. I may add bread or some other veggie if I am really hungry. All in all, even if I add something else to the meal, I can't beat a meal with a cost of around $1. And since I batch cooked, I do not have to keep turning on the oven and stove, I can just microwave it when mealtime rolls around.

I have not calculated for every meal what the cost is, but I am confident that it is cheaper than prepared food from the store, with a whole lot less salt.

I also wanted to add that in many of my dishes, I use shredded carrots. You cannot tell they are in there, you don't taste them, and you will get an extra serving of veggies. I added them this past weekend to the pasta salad, the tuna salad and the healthy joes. Instant serving of veggies for those picky eaters.

I Made Bread - Again

And this time I took pictures of my ugly bread!

This is the bread as soon as I was done shaping it.

This is the bread when it was rising. It looked more like spreading than rising, but whatever, it worked out in the end...

This was the bread when it was done baking. I wish I had scratch and sniff, it was heavenly. The loaf on the right stuck to the mat I was using so it kinda just fell on to the baking stone. It was a little misshapen, but this is my ugly bread after all.

And this is me cutting into the tasty ugly good smelling bread.

And here is the wonderful yummy insides of the bread. Oh, the smell......Have I mentioned that it smelled absolutely divine?

And meet Blue and Magenta, my friends when I cut myself while trying to cut the bread......

Hope you enjoyed looking at my ugly tasty bread. It is super easy to make following the recipe in the bread book that I got the other day: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. It was easy to mix, easy to make, easy to smell.....wait that was not part of making it. It was easy all around, especially easy to slice my finger open. Man, that knife is sharp.....

What to Cook Wednesday

Here is another recipe for you. Like last week, I do not have any special name for it, unless I should call it an a la Centralil recipe!

This week's recipe is an egg/tuna/chicken salad recipe. Since it is starting to warm up, this is a great dinner that is not too heavy, but is pretty filling.

I use can tuna and chicken because I can almost always find that fairly cheap around here. It also makes it easy to throw together. No precooking the chicken, and no cutting it up before hand. You most definitely could use "regular" chicken though. I have before when I had chicken already on hand.

1. one can of chicken or tuna (if using)
2. 2 hard boiled eggs
3. 1 generous tablespoon of mayo (if not using meat, just use 2/3 of a tablespoon-eyeball it)
4. 1/2-1 teaspoon of mustard (I use plain old yellow mustard-start with the 1/2 tsp and add more if you think you want more)
5. celery seed
6. onion powder

Using a pastry blender if you have one, cut up the eggs in a bowl. If you are using the tuna/chicken add it. Then add a pinch of celery seed and a dash of onion powder. Put in the mustard and mayo and mix. Serve with crackers or on bread.

What to Cook Wednesday

I would like to post a recipe for my lovely readers today. (I just love you guys! I am glad you come around.)

You could use this recipe with any meat as far as I can tell. I have used pork roast, chicken and turkey. I guess that you could make this in the oven too, but that is not how I have ever made it. I always use either my crockpot or my nesco cooker.

Italian Pork

1 Pork roast (or meat of some kind)
1 Bottle Fat free italian dressing
1 packet Italian dressing mix
1 onion chopped (can be chopped to what ever size you prefer-me, I like bigger chunks)
2-5 pepperoncini's (optional)
a bit of water (optional-see directions)

Place pork roast into cooker. Throw onions and pepperoncini's on top. Dump the bottle and mix of dressing on top of the whole mess. If I use my nesco cooker, I add a bit of water by filling the empty bottle of dressing about 1/4-1/3 full and shake it up to get the last of the dressing out and dump that in as well, but not if I use my slow cooker.

Since I am gone at work all day, I cook it on low or on the slow cook setting on my nesco. If you wanted to have the meal sooner or were not planning on being gone all day before you get to come home for dinner cook it on high or about 350 til the meat is fully cooked(this will depend on how large your roast is-check it with a meat thermometer).

When the meat is done cooking or when I get home, I grab two forks and start shredding. This is wonderful on some crusty rolls or hoagie buns. Serve with a salad and/or a fruit and dinner is ready!

I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does.