sausage and sauerkraut - a "duh" post + an idea for baked apples to make the post legit

We were driving between Athens, GA and Wisconsin on Jan 1 and 2 this year, so we didn't get a chance to make the traditional sausage balls and sauerkraut for New Year's.  (We did, however, remember to take all of our candy canes off the tree and down to Georgia with us, so we didn't miss peppermint stick ice cream on New Year's Eve!)  So, I decided tonight was better than never for blowing out the bad omens for the year, and I busted out some of the sauerkraut I made this past fall, bought some brat buns and some brats, and cooked it all up for sausage sandwiches.  And the main point of this post is just to say oh man, what an amazing combination!  (Like I said, a "duh" statement).  Mmmm-mmmm!

I also made baked apples to go along with it, and tried something new for the filling.  First, (I may have posted this before), but I've discovered that a melon baller is by far the best tool I've ever used for hollowing out the center of an apple.  For the filling, I usually use mostly granola, with a little extra cinnamon, maybe a little brown sugar, and a bit of flour added in.  Then I usually cut in some butter.  On a whim, tonight I cut in a lot less butter but stirred in some almond butter too.  The almond butter was on the dry side, so our filling was a little crumbly, but a more normal, wetter almond butter would probably hold things together better.  It was pretty good - Aleks said it was like his own personal apple pie.  I used about 2-3T almond butter for 6 large apples, and I think it was on the upper limit of what would be good.  Any more would be over-powering.  So, just a tip for anyone looking to increase protein content and decrease butter.

But, man, sausage and sauerkraut..!  And now I think I probably have enough leftover sauerkraut and a few sausages to make a small dish of sausage balls in sauerkraut.  Yay!

Happy New Year!

-Maggie

Happy Solstice!

Sunday morning and Solstice Day, 2014; what to have for breakfast??

I sauteed some chopped onion, garlic, and bell peppers, added some small red beans from the frozen bean stash and a can of petite diced tomatoes, and seasoned with a little ground mustard, turmeric, cumin, chilli powder, chopped dried chili pepper, bay leaf, salt and black pepper.  We served this over fried polenta (aka corn meal mush) made with dark roasted corn meal.  Following Jo's advice, I dropped a poached egg on mine.

We had this with a breakfast salad of baby spinach, sliced white mushrooms, sliced black olives, clementine slices and craisins with a tarragon vinaigrette dressing.

It was excellent!  Happy Solstice Day, Everyone!

Miso soup

Several weeks ago in the midst of the two and a half months of feeling constantly exhausted, nauseous and just generally like crap that is the first trimester of pregnancy, I was walking down an aisle at the grocery store when all the individual serving pre-packaged Asian noodle soups caught my eye.  To be clear, I haven't bought any of these things, umm, maybe ever.  I think we had a few packets of ramen noodles that Aleks's mom sent us one year back in Tucson that I ended up throwing away because the bugs ate them before we did.  But, on this day, they caught my eye and then some, and I loaded up the cart a bit with some of the Thai Kitchen brand packets and an instant miso soup pack.  And boy did they taste amazing!  I ate three different kinds for lunch that day.  Maybe it was the salt...

Anyway, it got me thinking that I could probably make miso soup from scratch for a lot cheaper, so the next time I went to the store, I bought a tub of miso, some tofu, and some dried seaweed.  I haven't had luck figuring out how to incorporate the seaweed yet - I always just end up with a slimy mess of it.  But, other than that, I've been enjoying making miso soup. It takes about 2 seconds to make, so it's a nice option on a cold day when you want a bowl of soup but don't have time to cook, really.

Miso is fermented and if you avoid boiling it, comes with all the great gastrointestinal benefits of other fermented foods (think probiotics).

I bought red miso, because that's all the store had.  It's a bit of a darker, fuller flavor than the light miso you normally get in a sushi restaurant.  It's great for winter. I think I would be inclined to try a lighter miso in the summer.

I just boil a bunch of water, then turn off the pot and stir in the miso paste until it tastes good.  I usually add some chopped tofu then too.  Like I said, I've tried adding dried seaweed without any much luck.

I would love to know some more tips if anyone has any.  I think next time I make it I'm going to try to add some pre-cooked noodles.  I'm also inclined to try adding swiss chard.  Any other suggestions?  I like that this soup is so quick and easy to make, but I'm also open to ways to dress it up and make it more interesting.

Thanks!

Maggie

To follow up on Molly's post - Broccoli cheese soup

Hi fam, 

I haven't made cauliflower soup, though I should try.  But Joy of Cooking uses the same recipe for Cream of Cauliflower as they do for Cream of Broccoli, so I always associate the two.  And tonight I made broccoli soup and thought I'd post a recent innovation that has made a nice change in our basic soup.

I don't have a super set recipe.  Here's the general idea of what I do:

- Cut a carrot and an onion and saute in some oil or butter.

- If you've got an open bottle of cheap white wine, add 1/4-1/2 cup.  The drink a glass of it.

- Roughly chop 1-2 heads of broccoli and add to pot.

- Add water to just cover the broccoli, with the realization that some of the broccoli will float.

- Add chicken base/boullion to make about 1/2 - 3/4 strength broth relative to how much water you added (ie, most chicken base says to add 1 t or 1 square/cup of water.  So, add 1/2 - 3/4 t / cup of water.

- Boil for a while until the broccoli is really tender.

- Here's my new addition:  Add some chopped kale.  It gives a GREAT flavor.  Boil until the kale is tender.

- Turn the heat way down or off.  Puree the soup

- Grate 1-2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese.  Add gradually, sprinkling some on top and stirring until melted before adding more (otherwise, you'll get a big clump of cheese and/or the cheese will separate giving you rubbery curds. - ick)

- Enjoy!

*I always used to serve this soup with fresh bread, but in an effort to up the protein content of our meal, I started serving it with popovers instead.  I've been following Kate's recipe that involves adding diced, sauteed carrots and onions to the popovers.  I found tonight that I could shorten the prep time of the whole meal by doing carrots and onions for the soup and popovers together in the food processor and then sauteing them together too.  I just separated some out for the popovers before adding the broccoli.  Since the food processor was already out, I employed the rule of not dirtying dishes unnecessarily, and just used that to chop the broccoli too.  This made for a finer chop of the broccoli than I normally used which also decreased the cooking time.

Cauliflower Soup

Hey all!

I'm not posting this because it's a new, superb, or life changing recipe.  Nope.  Just posting it in case you've been stuck making the same few meals lately.  I find that I forget that certain foods exist and so I never make them.

I was reminded of cauliflower soup the other day for some reason, so I decided to whip up a simple batch.  It hit the spot on these chilly 68 degree days we've been having.

So anyway, while nothing special, I decided to post it in case you forgot how good and easy cauliflower soup is.

1 onion
2 celery stalks
2 carrots
garlic, some
1 head of cauliflower
4 cups of broth
1 cup of milk
bay leaves
S & P

I just chopped up my onion, celery, carrots, and garlic and threw them in a pot with some butter til they softened.  Then I threw in the chopped up cauliflower and bay leaves.  Once it looked good, I threw in my liquids and simmered until the cauliflower was tender.  Then I used an immersion blender to make it a "cream of" soup.

I'll tell ya, it really hits the spot.  You could be FAR more creative than I was and maybe throw some cayenne in with the bay leaves to give it some kick.  There's a lot more you could do with spices and seasonings.

Simple, healthy (if milk doesn't offend you), and lends itself VERY well to dipping bread!

P.S.  Dad, if you read this, can you add mollyschad23@gmail.com to this blog so that I don't have to sign into my old email account to update.

Not My Mother's Chicken Liver Not Pate

Growing up, whenever we had roast chicken for dinner or whenever there was a holiday meal festive enough to call for hors d'oeures, my mother would make what she called "chicken liver pate", basically a spread made from cooked chicken livers eaten on crackers.

Our local supermarket offers a 20 oz. container for chicken livers for $1.58.  Seems cheap at the price so I recently tried to duplicate my mothers recipe from what I remembered seeing her do (I thought) and what I remembered as the outcome.

I took some of the product over to Mom's to share before dinner one night and in the ensuing discussion found out that what I thought I remembered her doing was not what she remembered and what I had made was not really what she had made.  So, this is Not My Mother's.  Then, before sitting down to write this I looked up the definition of pate in a couple of cookbooks and discovered that it is very different from this so it's not pate either.  Hence the name.  In any event, I think this is pretty good and like to keep some on hand to spread on a cracker whenever hunger strikes.

I take a 20 oz container of chicken livers and rinse well (they tend to be pretty bloody as received), then boil them in water for 8-10 minutes or until done (brown color inside).  Transfer the cooked livers to a stainless steel bowl and mash with fork, adding ~1 t. of mayo and, to taste, a splash of Worchestshire Sauce, a splash of Marsala, salt, pepper ground mustard and dried thyme.  The thyme works very well and is my contribution to this flavor ensemble.  There is obviously a huge opportunity for experimentation and further seasoning development in this basic recipe.

Lentils and Hominy

Someone in the family - and I ain't namin' names - got a little over exuberant in the hominy buying department, so I was looking for a way to use up an extra can of white hominy.  I decided to try making lentils and hominy, basically lentil soup with a can of hominy added.  So:

2 cup concentrated chicken broth
2 cup water
1/2 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery
1 carrot
1 medium potato
1/2 cup dry lentils
1 20 oz can of white hominy
seasoned with salt, black pepper, red pepper, bay leaf, ground mustard - suit yourself

Veg all chopped or diced into the broth, lentils in when it comes to boil, cook 55 minutes or until the lentils are done (you all know how to make lentil soup, right?).

Because there are only 2 of us these days, I made just 1/2 cup of lentils resulting in a low lentil to hominy ratio.  Would be better with everything doubled but still use just one can of hominy, or else buy a smaller can.

Anyway, this turns out to be a really good flavor combination leaving itself open to future exploration of seasonings.  Plus, turns out lentils and hominy are complimentary proteins, so it's very nutritious.