Rainy Day Equals Italian Mischief

It is super dreary here today. 

Comfort food is calling. 

You would think that being from the middle of the East Coast that my tendency for comfort food may be southern. Now I do love a good bowl of Shrimp n Grits, Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, and a yummy Chop with Stewed Green Beans, but when it comes to real comfort for me I go Italian.

I don't know where it comes from, but I have always been a fool for rich bread dipped in sweet red sauce and heaping mounds of pasta smothered in sauce and cheese. Who isn't? I mean seriously if you don't like cheese and bread and pasta and sauce..who ARE you? (Don't say Batman, because I am almost positive that the Dark Knight enjoys a Pasta Fagioli from time to time.)

So after making a couple of Sweet Italian Loaves for the week, I decided it was a must that Spaghetti be on the menu this evening. 

Last week, using staples from the Food Pantry, I stumbled upon the BEST and easiest Tomato Sauce recipe, so I decided to recreate it today.



Food Pantry Super Sweet Spaghetti

1 Pound Spaghetti (Any Pasta of your choice will do here. This is a versatile sauce)

1 28 oz Can of Whole San Marzona Tomatoes (If you can't find these you can substitute 2 14 oz Cans of Italian Seasoned Tomatoes, but you should add a TBSP more Brown Sugar)

1 8.5 oz Can of Quartered Artichoke Hearts in Water, drained

1/2 of a 24 oz Jar of your any Spaghetti Sauce (I got Traditional Sauce from the Food Pantry, so that is what I used)

1 Bulb of Garlic, roasted and prepared (Roast halved Bulb, doused with Olive Oil, in Aluminum Foil in oven 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Cool, squeeze out of its jacket and smash with a fork and a tsp Honey, pinch of salt.)

1 Cup whatever Red Wine you have around or can borrow from a neighbor (Bribe them with dinner if you have to.)

1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar

1 TBSP of an Herb Mix (Italian, Herbes de Provence, a combo Oregano, Basil and Thyme...something like that!)

That's it!

Everything goes in a non-stick pot and use a potato masher or whatever utensil you have handy to mix and crush your tomatoes.

Here's the prep work

Ingredients

And it goes a little something like this...

Bring to a boil. Knock back to a simmer. Cover and simmer for at least 2 hours.

You only need to stir this about once an hour or so. The longer you simmer, the sweeter the sauce.

Cook off pasta per package al dente. Drain and return to hot pot and stir in sauce. Easy peasy!

I am currently preparing mine right now, so I will add some finished pics with Pasta, once I serve. (If we don't eat it first!)

Enjoy!

MLL

So here are the updated pics. You can reserve some of the sauce for other dishes if you'd like but remember...

the messier the food, the better it tastes!

Enjoy!

MLL

Working With The Pantry

The Food Pantry at the Holy Comforter Church is such a blessing. Here I am two weeks after my visit, and I am still working with the staples I received in the two overflowing bags that they gifted to me. 

The way they have their pantry set up is really great. They allow you to go in and select several items from each category: Veggies, Sauces, Grains, Cereal, Bread and Meat. Pretty cool. I did some quick thinking for menu planning, and grabbed some really great stuff! I was even able to create the BEST tomato sauce I have ever made from the bags I received (I'll be recreating it and posting it soon...I forgot to take pics before it was gone. Yep, it was THAT good!)

Out of my choices, I managed to grab a bag of dried Navy Beans, a can of Mixed Greens, and a package of Turkey Kielbasa. Add a crock pot and soup's on! 

Mixed Greens and Navy Bean Sour Soup

1 Bag of Dried Navy Beans (Soaked overnight and drained)

1 Package (6) Kielbasa cubed (I used Turkey, but use whatever you'd like)

1 14 oz Can of Mixed Greens (This would also work with a frozen block of Spinach, thawed and drained, or even fresh greens if you have them. Just chop them up fine and pre-wilt and cool prior to adding)

1 Medium Onion chopped

3 Cloves of Garlic minced or finely chopped (Remember the harder you smash it out of its coat, the less chopping you will have to do!)

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar

1 Tbsp of Garlic Powder

1 Tbsp of Fresh Nutmeg or 1 tsp ground Nutmeg

1 tsp Smoked Paprika

1/2 tsp Cumin

4-6 Cups of Water or Chicken Stock

Salt and Pepper as you like

**Optional but highly recommended** Finish with 1 Tbsp of Hot Sauce stirred in the pot before serving

Here we go:

Pour drained soaked beans into crock pot. 

Add chopped Onion

Add minced Garlic

Add cubed Kielbasa

Stir it around!

Add Butter

Spices

Salt and Pepper. (I added about 2 tsp Pepper and 1 tsp Kosher Salt)

Grate in Nutmeg

Make sure Greens are strained well and...

Stir it all together.

Add Vinegar and cover with water. Give it one more stir to combine.

Set heat to High for the first 3 hours, and then set back to Low for at least another 2 hours, or until you are ready to serve. The longer the cook, the better the flavor!

Then it should look a little like this...

Once you serve it up with a big hunk of bread, this scrumptiousness will be calling you back for seconds and thirds!

Remember, a little grating of Parmesan never hurts! 

Enjoy!

MLL

A Sweetie For Friday

If you grew up in the south, then at one holiday or another you encountered "Fudgies" "Cow Patties" "Peanut Butter No-bake Cookies" or "Peanut Butter Chocolate Drops." These are all the same cookie/candy with the name changing from household to household. 

For me, as a child, this was such a comfort food. Every holiday there would be counters filled with all sorts of miniature desserts and candies, but these were the ones that would send their aroma all over the house and let me know that cookies and candies were almost ready. I remember peering over the edge of the counter for exactly 15 minutes until they were cool enough to solidify and snag and dash to the bedroom and cram it in my mouth before the empty spot on the wax paper was noticed. I was a professional chocoholic early on in life...call it a gift!

These guys are an absolute crowd pleaser! I mean how could you possibly go wrong with peanut butter, chocolate, and oatmeal? There are a million ways to vary the recipe and it is a fantastic recipe to whip up with the kids for a yummy teacher gift! The batch in the pictures has a couple of alternative ingredients- 1 1/2 Cups of Rice Cereal (subbed for half of the Oats) and 1/2 tsp of Cayenne just for a little kick! You can also choose your chocolate strength. I am a dark chocolate girl, so I used Dutch Processed Coco Powder. Regular Coco powder will create more of a milk chocolate and stronger peanut butter flavor. It is really your choice to play with as you like! Here's the basic recipe...PLAY AWAY! 

Fudgies

1/4 Cup of Coco Powder (Dutch Processed for Dark/ Regular Coco for Milk Chocolate)

1 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Stick Unsalted Butter (Cut or cubed)

1/2 Cup of Milk

3/4 Cup Peanut Butter

3 Cups of QUICK Oats 

1 tsp Vanilla

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Wax Paper or Parchment


In a Medium Saucepan combine Coco and Sugar until they are completely mixed and no lumps of Coco remain. Stir in milk until mixture is a chocolate sauce consistency. 

Place saucepan over medium high heat and add butter.

As butter melts, stir until completely incorporated.

Bring to a rolling boil. 

Be patient this may take a little while.

Once rolling boil is reached, stir once or twice and set a timer for two minutes.

After two minutes stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and peanut butter and remove from heat.

Stir in Quick Oats, 1 Cup at a time until all oats are incorporated.

Drop on sheets of wax paper by Tablespoon sized drops, about an inch apart, and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.

TAH DAHHH!

Variation Ideas:

For a kick Cayenne 1/4 tsp

For a different nutty flavor 3/4 Cup of Almond Butter and swap Almond extract for Vanilla

For a richer Sugar Flavor use 1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar for 1/2 of Granulated Sugar

I also have a Hazelnut Mocha Batch rolling around in my noggin. Once I tackle it, I will post and please give it a go!

I hope you try these!

Have fun and enjoy!

MLL

Meatloaf Lady's Sinful Secret...

Lady's and Gents, I am having a secret affair. I have to hide from the hubs on a daily basis. I am OBSESSED with...bread. There. I said it. It's out in the open. Ahh, I feel a little better now.

Having spent the last few years working out my dough recipes and playing with all kinds of flour, I have discovered a KEY to the best bread. 

DON'T USE ALL OF THE RECOMMENDED FLOUR IF YOU DON'T NEED IT!!!!

A lot of new bread makers, this lady included, fear the loaf. It's a whole science and art combo that can be a bit intimidating from the get go. So to impress the teacher and get the A+ on our baking skills, we try so hard to follow the recipe to a tee. 

Here is the problem, HUMIDITY is different, not only from region to region, but household to household, bakery to bakery, and even bedroom to bedroom (WINK WINK). So what's with the humidity? Well, it can make or break your dough. Humidity plus a great rise to your dough. Humidity minus, well since they differ so much, one bread maker's 3 Cups of flour may be the equivalent of another bread maker's 2 and 1/4-3/4 Cups due to the moisture in the air. 

Say you follow a recipe to a tee, rise your dough perfectly, shape it, rise it again, and cook for just the right amount of time, and as you are slicing that first slice that should have a wonderful "hole-y" consistency, you instead cut through a very DENSE soft brick.

"Oh Gods! Where did I go wrong? How could you be so cruel? You took three hours of my day, taunting me with you incredible aroma for the last 45 minutes, only to be a doughy brick on my counter? WHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?"

Snap out of it! Make French Toast. Sheesh.


You didn't feel your dough. That's the tip here, FEEL YOUR DOUGH. If you want a sturdy sandwich bread, then you want your dough to be firm. If you want light and airy breads, then you want your dough to be just that, light and airy. It should feel like a soft gooey pillow of flour, yeast and water.

The best way to achieve these types of dough is to reserve some of your flour, until you FEEL YOUR DOUGH. I will usually hold a 1/4 to the side and use it on the bench as necessary. Another thing to keep in mind is not to OVERWORK your dough. Give it a rest. Once you mix your dough, be it in a mixer (Oh how I wish) or by hand, turn it out onto a LIGHTLY floured surface and give it a break for ten minutes or so. Now, lightly floured, really means just a thin layer of flour to keep your dough from sticking. 

After resting, kneading with your hands should only take about 3-4 minutes. Then you are ready to rise until doubled in size. As far as punching down and going for a second rise goes, it really is optional contingent on the type of bread. Generally, if I am working on a sourdough or a sandwich style bread, then I will go for the second rise. Dough that I have already infused with flavors or I really want a quick bake on, I will rise 'em, punch 'em, rest 'em then bake away. I will say this though, I have yet to make a loaf with self-rising flour, so I will have to get back to you on my thoughts regarding rises with that.

Baking. Wonder why your bread doesn't come out like "Wonder Bread"? Well aside from the different preservatives and different flour and such, there is also the pesky detail of convection vs. conventional oven. A conventional oven is pure heat. A convection oven periodically puffs out moisture into the heat, again utilizing HUMIDITY! There is a trick to compensate for this...H2O. By adding water to the conventional oven WHILE baking, you can add the moisture to help your crust be tender and your dough to cook out fluffy. You can do this several ways:

Adding a shallow pan of boiling pan of water to a lower rack of your oven can create enough moisture.

Baking your bread on a sheet pan, on a cooling rack, on a cake pan half filled with water can also add enough moisture.

My method...Chuck 1/3- 1/2 Cup of water onto the floor of your oven and watch it steam as you SHUT THE DOOR!

Now whatever you do, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR until you are removing your bread. This would allow the moisture to escape, and defeat the whole purpose of the extra step taken to add the water in the first place.

Well, this is as OCD about bread baking as I am going to get for now. I absolutely welcome new ideas, questions, comments, postings of the color of your ceiling...you know whatever you want to say! Write away!

Since you have been so wonderful reading to this point, I'm gonna give you a little gift ;)

Herb Focaccia Breadsticks

YUMMO!

2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour (member don't use it all if you don't need it)

1 Cup Warm Water (Body Temp warm is perfect)

1/4 Cup Parmesan (Shredded, Grated..your call) 

3 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 TBSP Granulated Sugar

1 TBSP Garlic Powder

1 TBSP Herbes de Provence (You can also use an Italian herb mix of your liking)

1 TBSP Fresh Cracked Pepper or 1 tsp Ground Pepper

2 1/4 tsp Rapid Rise Yeast

1 tsp Salt

In a bowl, combine yeast 

and the sugar

and 1/2 of the WARM water. 

Be patient and allow your yeast to eat its dinner, and in about 10 minutes it will be belching and bubbly and ready to go to work fluffing up your dough.

In another large bowl, combine 2 1/4 Cups of your flour, 

salt

garlic

Herbs

and Pepper. Whisk or sift these together with a fork, and then add

1 TBSP of Oil

The remainder of your water and add Yeast mixture

Stir until the dough begins to come together. Only add pinches of flour as needed.

 Dough should be a little sticky and light when it comes together. 

Turn out onto LIGHTLY flour dusted surface.

Again, only a little amounts of the remaining 1/4 of flour so that dough doesn't stick to you or the board. 

Rest 10 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. 

Lightly oil a large bowl.

After resting, knead easily for about 3-4 minutes.

Place dough in the prepared bowl, turn dough in bowl to coat the top.

Place a tea towel over bowl.

TURN OVEN OFF!

 Place covered bowl in preheated oven and allow to rise for 25 minutes.

Or until DOUBLED in size.

Pour 1 TBSP of Oil on 9 X 13 Cookie Sheet and coat the entire sheet.

Pour dough on the prepared sheet.

No need to punch down, you will be doing that as you spread the dough to fit the sheet.

Use your finger tips to gently press dough to fit sheet.

Pour on the last TBSP of oil, and poke fingers almost through to the sheet, creating pockets of oil.

Top with your Parmesan.

Poke it once more.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Once the oven reaches temp, open door and pour 1/3 cup of COLD water on the floor of the oven.

Position your bread in the middle of the oven and SHUT THE DOOR.

DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR.

LOOK THROUGH THE WINDOW!!!

And if you are very patient for a whole 13-15 minutes, you will wind up with 

THIS!

Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, and serve!

A really great, easy bread for breadsticks, sandwiches, and even works great as a pizza crust!

I hope you make this and tell me how it goes.

Enjoy

MLL