Tag Archives: cooking

Our New Outdoor Toy: The Smoker

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We bought a new cooking toy – the Weber smoker (Star Wars fans: We’re calling it the “R2 unit”). Actually, it belonged to our brother-in-law. The “R2 unit” was going to make the trip out West, but somehow we managed to sway him into selling it to us. Just joking. It totally saved him the trouble of moving it out and this way, he can still cook for us when he comes to visit!

And, I love barbecue: grill or smoke. Give me a pulled pork sandwich and some slaw…Yum! Filipino BBQ skewers. Delicious. I love when my husband grills. I’m happy to prepare marinades, supply sides, just don’t ask me to cook outside. I don’t possess those skills. (Is it a gender thing?)

So we set out on our inaugural smoking: an eight-hour pork shoulder for lunch. The coals were lit at 11:45 pm. Right. At night. omg. I wish I had bought the remote meat thermometer (now I know what that’s really useful for), and granted, it was my husband who got up every few hours to check the temperature, but still. That’ll be our next purchase. Anyone our there have recommendations?

The cook was quite pleased with the way things turned out. Nice smoke ring, tasty flavor, fall-off-the-bone tender… couldn’t have asked for more. I was worried our initial spice rub might have been too weak, but it was fine. We’ll try adding a bit more next time to give it a nice crust.

Our spice rub was the rub I use for our oven-baked baby back ribs: salt, pepper, brown sugar, garlic powder, chili powder, ground thyme, ground allspice. Add a little cayenne or chipotle pepper for some kick! (Check Alton Brown’s Rub No. 9 recipe for ratios. Ours differs a little.)

Since we’re new to the smoking scene, I’d totally appreciate any tips. Thanks! Have a great weekend!

Eating Quinoa and Lentils :: Ready Made giveaway

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Quinoa and lentils… not at the same time. That might not taste very good. But we are trying to include more healthy choices in our kitchen nowadays. Don’t you love light, crisp salads as we head into warmer weather? Here’s a pretty simple recipe for a tasty, Spring salad! My husband prefers this over couscous, and makes for a nice side dish.

Prepare 1 cup quinoa according to directions on package except include one carrot and celery, chopped coarse, and one bay leaf, ten peppercorns and thyme wrapped up in cheesecloth. It’s all for getting flavor in the quinoa… then I discarded all the veggies and herbs after it was done cooking. Set aside. Finely dice one cucumber and one celery stalk. Finely chop one or two green onions, and finely chop 1/4 cup cilantro. Blanch one 10 oz. package of sugar snap peas. Mix all this in with quinoa.

For the dressing grate or mince 1/2 to 1 tsp. of fresh ginger. Blend with 1/8 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp. rice vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Add a 1/2 tsp. of curry powder if you’d like, too. Serve room temperature or chilled.

For another healthy recipe, check out the scoop on my easy lentil recipe at Niles Patch.

Do you have a favorite Spring recipe you’d be willing to share with me and our readers? I would love to share with you a chance to win a one-year subscription to Ready Made magazine (one of my new favorite sites and magazines). It’s pretty simple – share your recipe in the comment section, and you’ll be entered in a random drawing. Don’t forget to include your e-mail, so I can get in touch with you.

Comments will be closed Wednesday, April 20 at 5 pm (CST)

Thanks much! Happy cooking (and crafting) as always!

Crafting or Cooking for a Cause

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I read this article in the paper the other day about volunteer opportunities. This immediately caught my eye:

The Northern Illinois Food Bank needs 260 handmade holiday cards to include in boxes of food sent to senior citizens in December. Contact Tia Milne at 630-443-6910, ext. 130.

And, because my cookie exchange party is just around the corner, I thought this was timely, too. Eight dozen cookies in the house… it’s easy to share.

Advocate Hospice needs holiday decorations for its centers and homemade cookies to give patients and their families.

How many of you sew? There’s a need for you, and not just around the holidays!

Assist in making bed jackets, lap blankets and other items for patients – be a L.O.V.E. volunteer.

I’d love to hear about your favorite organizations or maybe you craft or cook for a cause… more to come.

Midsummer’s Night Eve and Irish Soda Bread

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I love Irish Soda Bread. Of course, it tends to get a lot of press at St. Patrick’s Day, but why not make it or eat it any time? Need an excuse? June 20 marks the eve of summer solstice, or longest day of the year for the northern hemisphere, where lots of festivals, fairs and concerts occur in Ireland (leftover from Pagan days) and Europe, for that matter. The dates change yearly, but is usually around June 20-22.

The recipe I make at home turns out all rustic looking, which is very different from a lot of Asian baked goods I’ve had. At the bakery the Chinese baked buns (bao or pao) and Filipino buns are typically these beautiful golden brown, rounded hills lined up on a tray.

from centurycafe.com

But, I love me a rustic bread anytime… the displays at Corner Bakery and Panera Bread are enough to make me want to carbo-load.

Irish Soda Bread recipe (from Bridget, friend of friend, Megan)

  • 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 c melted butter
  • 3/4 c milk with 3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar (let this mixture sit for a few minutes) OR 3/4 c buttermilk
  • 1/2 c raisins or currants

Preheat oven to 425. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients. Mix until ingredients are just combined; don’t overmix. It’s okay to look lumpy. Fold in the raisins or currants. Transfer dough to baking sheet. Dough should hold its shape, but you can form your bread loaf how you want. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, turn down to 375 for 20-25 minutes (or until toothpick inserted at center comes out clean). Remove and cool completely.

My daughter told me it tasted store-bought. I guess that meant she liked it! Maybe next year, I can make a corresponding craft? Anyone out there make or bake anything to celebrate summer?

Happy Father’s Day to all tomorrow! I’ll be back next week with crafty tales!

Trying to Bake Bread… again

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Since we’ve been talking about food, what is it about fresh-baked bread that makes the house smell so good? There’s a grocery store two blocks away, and it’s just as easy for me to pick up their fresh-baked goods (they’re still warm, too). I think I’m pretty good at baking (quick breads, especially) but I’ve had no luck in the past with making anything that starts with yeast. Let me recap my epic failures.

About 8 years ago, I attempted to make a coffee cake. The “Rosy Red Coffee Cake” was a recipe from my “Great American Home Baking” binder cookbook. You know, the sort of cookbook that grows because you’re paying a few bucks a month and in return you receive myriads of recipe cards to fill your binder. I had such high expectations before I got married that I would try all the recipes. No such luck. But this recipe seemed so easy… yeast bread, cranberries, sugar, orange juice in a beautiful wreath. My wreath was all deflated, looked melted, and the bread itself… hard. Clearly, I must have killed the yeast.

About 4 years later, I tried to make cinnamon rolls from my aunt’s recipe. This recipe didn’t seem hard. I had a few years of quick bread recipes under my belt, so I thought, maybe my technique would be better this time. Pucks, hockey pucks, 12 of them.

Fast forward, April 2010. This time, this time I think I may have found a recipe I can count on. A recipe that has restored my faith in cooking with yeast… a No-Knead bread. (Aaaaah… the angels are singing for me.) You knead, I mean, NEED time – time for the dough to rise on its own. Don’t do this if you want your bread the same day. And where did I get this recipe? Actually, I saw Jim Lahey on Martha Stewart and heard him say “no knead bread”. I watched, and then thought, “Hmph, cool,” end of story. (Not like when I watched Good Eats with Alton Brown and he cut up a whole chicken, and did a southern fried chicken recipe. I ran to the store the next day, cut up my own chicken and made… fried chicken. Another story for another time.)

Actually, it was in the April 2010 Living magazine that they showed the no-knead bread (Pane Integrale) recipe and some step-by-step pictures. My one mistake: I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour. In the magazine, they call for bread flour. In the television recipe, they call for either; I didn’t remember this. Everything else in the recipe was the same. I only realized I used AP flour after I had mixed everything and the dough was sitting to rise. Seriously, I thought, NOT AGAIN. I messed it up AGAIN! Well, let’s see how it turns out. Not to worry, though, because as you see from my pictures, I think everything turned out okay. Not a lot of fuss. I couldn’t have been happier about baking bread. It was really rustic, crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. Lovely. I’ll try it again with bread flour next time.

Click here for some more of Jim Lahey’s recipes from the Martha show.

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