Category Archives: kitchen stories

>Muffins formerly known as Kitchen Sink

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>How much does a recipe have to change before it becomes new? I looked into the refrigerator this morning, saw too many carrots and a final zucchini squash, and decided to make these. This recipe started as Kitchen Sink Muffins (courtesy of Michelle at Scribbit). With my changes it’s still recognizable, but it’s definitely different, too.

Not-so-Prosaic Mosaic Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
½ teaspoon orange peel
½ teaspoon salt
2 cup grated carrots
1 diced apple, skin on
1/2 cup raisins
½ cup crushed walnuts
½ cup grated zucchini
3 eggs or ¾ cup egg substitute
2/3 cup oil or ½ cup applesauce + ¼ cup oil
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl separately mix the next eight ingredients (carrots through vanilla extract). Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing only until just combined. Pour into 18 lined or greased baking cups and bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes.

Will wheat germ work in these? I forgot to try it. A small amount of honey might be fun, too.

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>Vegetable Stew (with beef, eventually)

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>I’m sorry. I can’t give you a recipe. My stews are more likely to be cooked by formula, a formula like this.
Find a little of each and every vegetable in the house, including leftovers. Don’t forget to pick a little of this and that from the garden.
Slice and dice and throw into the crockpot with a pound of stew meat and a few cups of beef stock. Simmer all day. Add gravy (or thickening, if it’s watery enough) about an hour before serving.

The photo was pre-meat and pre-stock. This particular stew includes:
From the garden: spinach, fresh green pepper, one tomato, green and yellow beans, basil
From the farm market: corn on the cob (leftover from Sunday night), red pepper, yellow pepper
From the grocery store: stew meat, a splash of Worcestershire sauce
From the freezer: beef stock

Side dishes: I’ll find something. I have that good light rye bread from the bakery, and I picked up cheese curds at the farm market, too. It’ll be a harvest festival meal!

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>More tomato success with crockpot soup

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>I’ve established that I don’t teach straight from the teacher’s manual. I’m a creative cook when needed, too. When I found myself with a boatload of tomatoes and not much time, I looked for a tomato soup recipe. I found two, combined the best elements of both, and came up with this version of Crockpot Tomato soup.

1 quart fresh tomatoes
1 medium to small onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 cup fresh beans
1/2 cup grated zucchini
2-3 oz. fresh spinach
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4-6 cups chicken broth or chicken stock
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
(optional): 1 teaspoon lemon pepper, 1 teaspoon dill
salt and pepper to taste

Wash tomatoes. Core them, but you don’t have to peel them. Yippee! Place tomatoes in crockpot and tomato guts in the compost. Did you think I’d let that go? Not a chance.
Add onion, peppers, carrot, beans, zucchini, spinach, garlic, basil, and broth to crockpot. Let simmer on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
Close to serving time, blend with an immersion blender (or remove portions from pot and blend in regular blender, but the other way is easier). Use a slotted spoon to remove any skins that are still solid.
Use your favorite thickener. Add slowly and stir. I like a tablespoon or two of cornstarch mixed with a small amount of water or broth, then turn the pot to high for 30 minutes to an hour.
In the meantime, prepare your sides. Salad, fresh bread, even a PBJ will taste good beside this soup. Oh, yes, don’t forget the goldfish crackers!

Adapted by combining Joanne’s tomato soup found on Zorba Paster’s site and Stephanie’s tomato soup recipe on A Year of Crockpotting and adding a few random goodies that were ripe in my garden the day I filled the crockpot. Ah, a vegetable garden is a wonderful thing.

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>Tomato!

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>That’s the title of the cookbook I found in the grocery store bargain bin. How could I resist at book with a big photo of fresh tomatoes and the full title Tomato: a tantalizing tour of ravishing recipes?! It was only $2. I bought it. Then I gathered a bucket of tomatoes and made sauce. As usual, I did it with my own special touches.

Chunky Tomato Sauce
adapted from cookbook Tomato, mentioned above

1 tbsp oil
1 small onion
1 small green pepper
1/4 cup grated zucchini
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
6-8 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, coarsely shredded
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, green pepper, and garlic and cook over low heat to 10 minutes until very soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for an additinoal 10-12 minutes until the mixture is pulpy. Add basil leaves, zucchini, and salt and pepper. Cook gently until all the ingredients are hot. Serve.

To prepare tomatoes:
Choose tomatoes that are soft to the touch for a sweeter taste and easier handling.
Place tomatoes in a large bowl. Cover with boiling water and let stand for 2-3 minutes, then lift out one at a time. Using a knife, pierce the skin and peel it off. Cut the tomato into quarters, then cut out the central core and seeds. Chop the remaining flesh and place in a large bowl.

The original recipe called for black olives and anchovies. I added zucchini because I had a little left over from a batch of zucchini bread. This recipe didn’t make as much as I thought it would, so I added it to a can of tomato sauce and served it over spaghetti. It was a winner with my family!

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>Lesson plans and recipes

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>On the night before Amigo started school, the night before my own Open House, two nights before my students were due in the room, I did what I do under pressure: I went into the kitchen. It was too hot to bake (zucchini bread, I’m ready!), so I worked on planned-overs instead. Planned-overs, for the uninitiated, are leftovers created on purpose.
Example: Beef and bean burritos are delicious. The original recipe came from a mom with seven kids. Seven! So I cut the recipe in half and still have leftovers. The leftovers become huevos rancheros, scrambled eggs topped with a substantial spoonful of beef/bean mix and a dollop of sour cream or grated cheddar (Don’t worry, Amigo, yours didn’t have cheese or sour cream).
On Labor Day I labored in my classroom from 7:00 AM until 11:00 and then gave up in the heat. I packed my schoolbag and headed home to A/C comfort. After a few hours of schoolwork on the computer (and Twitter and Plurk and browsing the MOMocrats latest reactions), I made supper. But while I was in the kitchen, the “Oh, no, it’s school time and I won’t have a chance to cook and everyone needs lunches and whatever will we do” panic set in. It’s okay. I can cope.
Today’s solution:
While grilling superburgers for supper, grill hot dogs for the fridge and freezer.
While simmering baked beans on the stove, brown a pound of ground beef for tacos or sloppy joes later.
While outside tending the fire, harvest the latest batch of spinach.
While the food is cooking, soak and rinse the fresh spinach. Tear it, place it in steamer, and while blogging (Ha! you knew that would be on the list), let the spinach cook. Place cooked spinach in small containers in the freezer for an incredible addition to a winter soup.
Somewhere in this time period, I diced a batch of wax beans for the freezer as well.
Belinda at NinjaPoodles put away enough to feed an army, it seems, or at least a growing kindergartener. I’m not in her league, but I do have a good batch of yummies ready for later.
Next: crockpot tomato soup, perhaps.
And while the spinach cools, make desk tags for the class.

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>Reclaiming the Kitchen

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>

Some people straighten. Some clean. Some de-clutter. Me? I have to reclaim, just like companies reclaim the land after mining. I hope I do a better job than some…but I digress.

Here it is, in full color: the reclaiming of the kitchen table. The “before” picture is first.

The contents of the table reflects the way the day (and week) were going. Whether you can see them or not, these items are all present on the Incredible Bulk of Table Trash.

gift wrapping ribbons
gift wrap tags
small scraps of gift wrap
a wedding gift wrapped in plain off-white paper
large pieces of plain, off-white paper
wrapping tissue in a handful of different colors
1 sweatshirt (La Petite’s)
1 bag of audio books (Amigo’s)
1 cable box, no longer in use
1 cable remote control unit, no longer in use
1 pair khaki pants, tried on but not yet worn (Amigo’s)
1 bag from Steve and Barry’s

Here’s the story. We were headed to my cousin’s wedding. I bought the gift the night before the wedding and then made a trip to Steve and Barry’s because Amigo had, I’m not kidding, nothing to wear. I thought a pair of nice khakis, a white shirt, and a tie would do the trick. While I was at Steve and Barry’s I made the trip worthwhile by picking up a baby gift for another cousin. On my way to the checkout I bought a batch of small items to go in my gift stash.

That accounts for most of the items on the table.

A few days later, it looked like this.

The khakis are still there because Amigo wore the other pair (not visible in the first picture, but still part of the chaos). I hadn’t decided whether to keep or return these (How much would the gas cost to get me across town to the store? More than the $8.98 pants?). Gifts are wrapped, given to one and mailed to the other, S&B bag is hidden in the attic, and wrapping trappings are in their places on their basement shelves. However… the table still plays home to a three ring binder (Amigo’s), shirt (La Petite’s), broken radio (worthy of a post in itself), and still, the cable box and remote control.

Eventually we finished the reclamation effort and set the table. Yes, set the table, as in having an actual sit-down family meal again! Husband was cooking on the grill, we had corn from the farm market, and we were ready to put the table to its intended use again. Oh, I forgot one detail.

The reclaiming of the table called for a celebration. Wine with the meal was most definitely on the menu.

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>Must get rid of that last bit of peanut butter!

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>Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with a hint of Peanut Butter

Remember when we bought crunchy peanut butter by mistake and I had to bake cookies? Such a sacrifice it was! Well, a lovely day came along with a cool breeze through the house, no air conditioning needed, and the snack basket was looking a bit empty…you guessed it. Cookie time!

I used a recipe from the Good Home Cookbook, which is rapidly becoming my go-to source in the kitchen, and substituted the remaining crunchy peanut butter for part of the butter. Feel free to readjust the amounts, as long as the proportions are correct.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs or 1/2 cup egg substitute
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup walnuts – (optional)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Beat together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a large bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, then gradually beat in the flour mixture until just blended. Fold in the oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips.
4. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto ungreased baking sheets.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
6. Let stand for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Mmm. La Petite would probably eat these for breakfast. Me? I’ll eat them any time of day.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as an entry for a contest sponsored by Brothers-All-Natural. But I must confess: even as I’m baking good things for my kiddos at home, I have a small package of Koala cookies (chocolate, of course) hidden behind my desk at school.

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>Martha Stewart definitely wouldn’t make this one

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>Black Bean and Beef Burritos — well, it started that way.

1 lb. ground beef
I have that.
1 clove garlic
1/4 onion, diced
So far, so good.
1 15 oz. can black beans
In the pantry: can do.
1 cup jarred salsa
We’re out of salsa? When did that happen?
1 package flour tortillas
Okay, the package LOOKED full. I didn’t realize there were only two tortillas in it.
1 tsp. ground cumin
shredded cheese to taste

Based on the recipe and the actual ingredients present in my kitchen, here’s how it went.
Chop the onion. Saute until clear. Add ground beef and minced garlic. Stir and simmer until browned.
Drain beef. Return to pan.
Add beans.
Now here we go with the creative additions.
Add taco seasoning, 3/4 cup water, and 1 can diced tomatoes. (We didn’t have salsa, so this would have to do.)
Start water for….(drumroll)…. pasta. Yes, pasta. Why not? Martha Stewart doesn’t live here.
Add spices (cumin and a little chili powder: All right, already! I didn’t list chili powder in the ingredients! It wasn’t on the original, okay?!)
Simmer beef and bean mixture. Let it thicken while the pasta cooks. I used angel hair spaghetti. Yes, I did.

Reaction from La Petite: “What taste should I expect when I eat this? Mexican or Italian?”
She added parmesan cheese.
Husband added grated cheddar.

I called it Spaghetti Mexicana.

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>Passive vs. Active

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>A passive chore is something that “does itself” while I’m doing something else. I like those chores the best!

Passive chores:
crock pot cooking – cooks supper while I’m teaching school all day
laundry – washes and dries while I’m correcting papers at the kitchen table
cleaning the oven – well, it’s passive if you have a self-cleaning oven.
running the dishwasher – and then comes the tedious chore of emptying it
composting – and it takes a long, long time. But oh, so satisfying!
watering garden – hook up the sprinkler, let it run!
Making coffee – but that’s not really a chore.

Active chores that feel passive:
weeding the garden – I let my mind wander while I weed. I like to think I solve the worlds problems while pulling up clover and dandelions.
harvesting veggies – it takes so little time, but it’s so satisfying.
baking (especially bread in bread machine) – and the house smells so good!
making soup stock – letting the bones and scraps simmer while I blog or load the dishwasher, eventually yields as an end result a tasty soup or stew.

Today, Labor Day, I’ll be laboring in my classroom getting ready for school to start. That’s a very active chore, so maybe I can arrange for something passive to go on at home while I’m working there. Crockpot supper? I’m there!

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>Back to school, back to crockpot with chicken, spinach, and tomato casserole

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>During the school year I use my crockpot at least once a week. It gives me a chance to cook from scratch, avoid preprocessed garbage, and add a few vegetables into our diets — all without struggling through a complicated process after teaching all day. I’ve added to my collection over the summer with help from Stephanie at A Year of Crockpotting and other crockpot aficionados in the blogosphere. The original version of this recipe came from Chris at Ordering Disorder, her blog at Work it! Mom. I’ve added a few twists to it, of course. (FYI: I don’t teach straight from the textbook, either.)

Chicken, Spinach, and Tomatoes Served with Spaghetti

2 chicken breasts
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 packages (8 ounces each) baby spinach, or 1 pound washed and dried fresh spinach leaves
2 cans diced tomatoes, drain liquid
small onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup diced green pepper
herbs as desired (I used a little fresh basil and thyme)
a splash balsamic vinegar
1 lb spaghetti, or preferred pasta

Thoroughly wash spinach.
Toss chicken breasts into the crockpot. (I diced the chicken first)
Drop the mustard on top of the chicken.
Put all the spinach on top of the chicken. Squash it down to make it fit. The spinach will shrink in the cooking process.
Let cook for about 5-6 hours.
About 20 minutes before serving, fill spaghetti pot with water and set to boil.
Open up and drain the cans of diced tomatoes. Dump them into a skillet. Add the balsamic vinegar and onion.
Saute it for a few minutes, until most of the excess liquid is gone.
Scoop out the chicken and spinach from the crockpot and add to the tomatoes. Mix it all up and allow to simmer on low while the pasta cooks. Stir often.
Add some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano on top. La Petite suggested feta cheese; that sound delicious to me. Next time, feta cheese it is!

Notes:
My spinach came from the garden. It was quite fresh, and the aroma from the crockpot was very strong. The end product, however, was delicious.
Consider rice or couscous instead of spaghetti or pasta.
MidCentury Modern Moms has also been posting on the Back to School theme. No new little preschoolers or kindergarteners there; we’re dealing with teens, college kids, IEPs, ACTs, SATs, GPAs, and more!

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