Beyond your wildest dreams!

No, this is not what you think.  Those are not raisins with white chocolate chips, but rather dried BLUEBERRIES with white chocolate chips.  It all came to me when I open up my pantry and there staring me in the face were both the white chocolate chips (I had bought to make another batch of peppermint bark) and dried blueberries (to throw into homemade granola but never did that either).  In an instant I decided that I had to make cookies. There were no other options.  These cookies almost beat out chocolate chip cookies for me, but for my sister, they won her over and she never looked back.  She even ate one before dinner, so watch out!

White Chocolate Blueberry Cookies

Mix together and set aside for a few minutes so the sugar can dissolve:
1 cup butter (melted)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar

Add (all at once and in this order):
1 tsp. vanilla
1 whole egg plus 1 egg yoke (if you like more cake-like cookies, go ahead and do 2 whole eggs)
2 1/4 cups white flour (sometimes I'll add an extra 1/4 cup, but no more than that)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
a bunch of dried blueberries and white chocolate (to your liking)

Stir until just mixed.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If you haven't eaten all the cookie dough yet, place small mounds of dough on cookie sheet and bake for about 8-12 min (I'm just guessing since I never actually time my cookies).

P.S. I never use more than one bowl and one spoon to make my cookies to save on dishes.  Do likewise and you'll never regret it.

A Marriage of Flavors: Beef Burgundy and American Strong Ale

I'm reading this book called "The Brewmaster's Table."  It is a complete guide on how to pair real food with real beer.  I've only read 100 of the 350 pages but I applied what I've learned so far to a dinner I made the other night: Beef Bourguinnonne (also known as Beef Burgundy).
Recipe as follows:
6 strips of bacon
3 lbs of beef rump or chuck (cut into small cubes)
1 lg carrot sliced
1 onion sliced
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
10oz can condensed beef broth (or 10oz of water and 1 1/2 tsp of Beef Better than Bouillon
1 1/2 C red or burgundy wine
1 T. tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
1/2-1 tsp. whole thyme
1 whole bay leaf (I don't have bay leaves so I omitted it and it was fine)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 lb fresh mushrooms
3 T. flour
Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp.  Remove and drain.  Add beef cubes and brown well.  Place browned beef cubes in crock-pot.  Brown carrots and one chopped onion. Season with 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper.  Add broth, mix well and add to crock-pot.  Add cooked bacon, wine, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf and half a chopped onion.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Saute mushrooms in 2 T. butter and add to crock-pot about an hour before serving.
To thicken: Turn crock-pot to high. Cream 5 T. flour and half cup of water.  Pour into crockpot, bring to a boil and allow to thicken.
Serve a top noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice.

This meal pairs very well with a Brown Ale, an Old Ale, or an American Strong Ale.  The Brown Ale has a maltiness that pairs very well with the thick beef stew like flavor of the Beef Burgundy.  The Old Ale also does well since the malt flavors and fruity aroma easily handles the delicate balance of flavor that is present in the Beef Burgundy.  My favorite, however, is our home brewed American Strong Ale.  The more muscular malt flavor from the beer brings out the more muscular beef characteristics of the Beef Burgundy and pairs well with the thyme.  However, the hops will cut the fat and cleanse the palate making your mouth beg for the next bite.  The slight sweetness will then marry the malt and hops making the food dance in unison as you partake of the divine meal.  


Enjoy!

FabulizPancakes

These are my all time favorite pancakes.  They are full of protein and can be made with any kind of flour, which means that they can be made gluten free.  Unfortunately these are the kind of pancakes that get judged before they are even tried.  Needless to say, they are super easy and super delicious.

Fabuliz Pancakes (a.k.a-Cottage Cheese Pancakes)-makes approx. 7-9 pancakes:
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup flour (any kind will do: white flour, oat flour, buckwheat flour, wheat flour, etc.)
3 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
a little milk (or water) to thin out the batter
Mix all together.  Add enough milk to make the batter a little thicker than regular pancake batter.  Make into pancakes and enjoy!
Note: I've also made the leftover pancakes into peanut and jelly sandwiches or frozen them for a quick breakfast.

Orange Marmalade

On the second day of Christmas my kitchen gave to me, Orange Marmalade!
I love canning! I love collecting empty jars and having them fill up my husband's garage.  I love finding people who have too much fruit on their trees and would love to get rid of some.  I love tasting the delicious liquid before it has been canned.  I love the "POP" sound that the jars get when they seal.  And I love the look on people's faces when I give them a jar of gold when they were least expecting it.

Recently, I was graciously given several bags of oranges (just in time for Christmas).  Since I love canning, my first (and only) thought was to make orange marmalade.  I was told it was easy.  I was told that its like canning any other thing. And I was lied to.  It is not easy when you need to make 8 batches of marmalade (totally 50 jars-some 8oz, some 16oz) to use all the oranges.  It is not easy when you have a tiny little cut on your finger which stings all day long from the oranges and lemons.  Its not easy when the sticky orange mess gets cooked on your stove and it takes 3 hours to get it off.  Its not easy when you follow the recipe and it doesn't gel, thus requiring you to open all the jars to add more pectin and then sealing them all over again.  However, after tasting the homemade orange marmalade it was all worth it.

Orange Marmalade (yield 7-8 16oz jars):
-4 C. chopped oranges
-1 1/2 C. chopped lemons
-4 C. water or orange juice-divided (I did 2 C. of each)
-1/8 tsp. baking soda
-4 C. sugar
-1 box low-sugar pectin (plus a little more if you want to save yourself the trouble of another day to re-can everything)
-jar grabber
-mid-sized pot for cooking the orange marmalade
-BIG pot for canning your jars (I don't have a special caner or anything, a big pot works just fine)

-Before preparing fruit, put clean jars in the dishwasher on a sanitize cycle (or you can boil your jars if you don't have a dishwasher).  Start boiling water in a big pot so it is ready when you're ready.
-Using a peeler, peel just the orange part off the orange (white equals bitter), chop and place in pot with 2 cups of water (or orange juice) and baking soda.  Bring to a boil, cover it, and let simmer for 20min.
-In the meantime, discard the outer white part and the middle white part of the oranges and chop them up until you have 4 cups.  Peel and chop lemons as well (discarding as much of the white part as possible) until you have 1 1/2 cups.  Note: Be careful to save all the precious juice as you are chopping everything up.

-In a bowl, mix 1/2 cup of sugar and the pectin together. Then add the chopped oranges (with any juice that tried escaping), the chopped lemons (with any juice that tried escaping), and the remaining 2 cups of water (or orange juice).
-When the pot of peels are done simmering, add the fruit/pectin mixture to the pot and bring to a boil for 10min.
-After 10min, add the remaining 3 1/2 cups of sugar.  Bring it to a full hard boil, and boil for 1min.
-Take the hot, sterilized jars out of the dishwasher or boiling water and fill with orange marmalade until it is 1/4 inch from the top.  Using a clean damp towel or paper towel, clean off the top of the jars.  Apply flat lid and ring (tighten lightly), and place in pot of boiling water.  Make sure that there is 2 inches of water covering the tops of the jars.  Boil for 15 minutes.

-Now comes the fun part:  Remove from boiling water and set on a towel to cool.  Let a smile creep onto your face every time you hear a "POP" (although, don't sit around and wait for it because sometimes it can take several hours).

Variations I did:
-added some cinnamon (before boiling it for 10min)
-added some vanilla bean (before boiling it for 10min)
-left out the peel to make it less bitter (skipped the peel part but still made sure to add a total of 4 cups of water (or orange juice)


Fixing your Orange Marmalade if it is too runny:
Note: don't fix more than 4 quarts (or 8 pints) at a time
Things you'll need (for 4 quarts):
1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp.  powdered, low sugar pectin
1 cup white grape juice
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice and bring to a boil.
new flat lids (the jars and rings can be washed and reused)
-Mix the sugar, pectin, white grape juice and lemon juice in a pot and bring to a boil (be careful not to let it burn)
-Add the runny marmalade and bring to a full hard boil for 1min.
-Fill clean, sterilized jars, wipe off jar with clean towel, place new flat lid, screw on ring, and boil in a pot of water for 15min.
-Remove from water and listen for the "POP"

Cheesy Potato Soup and Dinner Rolls

When trying to think of what to write for my first post, I got a little overwhelmed. Should I post about the amazing sour dough pizza I just made? The jalapeno jelly that had no jalapenos but instead every other kind of pepper that was in my garden? Or the sourdough crackers that taste like cheese-its? Or the Kombucha I'm planning on bottling when I have a moment of free time? Or the orange marmalade that finally turned out to be a success? And I could go on and on. Instead I'll tell you what I made last night for dinner. 
 Sundays are usually my days to take a break from the kitchen. However, when you have company for dinner, you're forced to cook.  Creamy potato soup and rolls are the easiest thing I could think of so here are the recipes

Dinner Rolls: this recipe is actually the Pioneer Woman cinnamon roll recipe made into dinner rolls (I know, I'm super creative).  I just followed the recipe until I had a big lump of workable dough.  Formed a bunch of dough balls and placed them in the pans.  Since I was running out of time, I let them rise in the oven while the oven was heating up to 375.  When the were almost done (maybe 20min but I never use a timer in the kitchen so who knows exactly how long they cooked), I brushed a little oil over the top (you can use butter or whatever).  Let them cook another 5 min, take them out, and serve.  


Here is the Cheesy Potato Soup recipe (serves 6-8): 
1 onion (chopped)
couple of cloves of garlic (chopped)
some chopped celery (as much or as little as you'd like)
4 carrots (chopped)
6 potatoes (peeled and chopped)
Simmer above ingredients with about 3 cups of water until potatoes and carrots are soft.
Add 2 C. milk, 2 TBSP of Better than Bouillon, and salt and pepper to taste (I also ended up adding some garlic garni).  Bring to a soft boil.
Take another cup of milk and mix 3 TBSP of flour into the milk until there are no lumps.  Then add to soup.
Cook until slightly thickened.  Turn off heat and add 2/3 C. Greek Yogurt and 1 C. of grated cheese (I used a little sharp cheddar and Romano).
Enjoy!