Cooking Philosophy and Thai Wings

One of the first hallmarks I notice in a good cook is not the taste of the dish, the complexity, or the oddity of ingredients. It’s in the HOW. And a big part of that is how the cook uses recipes.

When I first started cooking, I learned from my mother and grandmother. Both are fantastic Old South cooks who mostly make everything “from scratch” and without a recipe. In fact, both of their best dishes are ones for which they’ve never even seen recipes. The balance has to be taught and made to taste and feel. This means dozens of attempts, occasional failures, and art have all occurred.

Don’t get me wrong, they used recipes occasionally. Certain desserts or rare treats had recipes carefully copied onto index cards and filed in a little box. I plan to one day take a scanner to that box and have a treasure trove of favorites from which to draw.

So how does that look in the 21^st Century? My cooking style, though Old South influenced, takes on many more modern twists and turns, most of which land me squarely in Asia. But I still love to pay homage to the recipe-free history from whence I come.

First, I actually use more recipes, instead of fewer. But the way I use them is more loose, more inspirational. I can type in “buttermilk biscuit recipe” and Google will give me nearly 300,000 options. I would then gather what the typical cooking temperatures, methods, and ingredients are and design my own biscuit from that information.

Here’s a semi-regular example of my cooking process from last week:

First, I did research. I’ve never cooked wings before, so I collected a few options. David near about begged for the Thai, so I then narrowed my search and selected the top five Google results for Thai hot wing recipes. I then took some notes:

Sweetness (honey, brown sugar)

saltiness (soy, fish sauce)

tartness (lime juice)

heat (chili)

garlic, onions, cilantro

peanut butter/peanuts

Method:

bake 400, skillet to thicken sauce

marinate, bake

fry, make sauce, coat

marinate, grill

I then chose the ingredients I had on hand, and decided to develop my own recipe based off of these elements and blended it to suit our particular tastes. I dipped mine in Ranch dressing.

Honey

Soy sauce, ginger brine (leftover from sushi ginger--I keep it on hand for Thai cooking)

Lemon zest and juice

Red pepper flakes

Fresh garlic, green onions, and cilantro

Peanut butter, coconut milk

Masti chutney (more garlic, onion, and cilantro, but in a puree)

I marinated it, baked it, then used cornstarch and a saucepan to thicken the sauce. I always make Thai and really any curry to taste (this is the secret of Thai—make it sweet, tart, spicy, creamy, and flavorful in a way that makes your taste buds beg for more).

So, now that I’ve finished, I’ll share what I learned.

1. This recipe was not spicy unless you bit straight into the pepper flakes. If you want spicy, you’ll have to use ground peppers or cayenne.

2. They were delicious! Sweet, salty, flavorful, what have you...

3. Wings are pointless. David loved the sauce/marinade and didn’t like the meat, and though I enjoyed them, I tend to agree. Making this with quarters, breasts, or drumsticks would be so much better than wasting time on silly wings. All fat and bone, no meat…nah, we can do better.

4. I think grilling would be better than baking them. They did great baked, but everything tastes better from a grill.

So…recipe, great. Premise, not so great. You live and learn…and eat tasty Thai chicken.

Eating Healthy on a Budget

I was really proud of myself yesterday. I went to two grocery stores, after having not bought anything in two weeks, and still managed to spend less than $75. I can't find one of the receipts, but it may have been right at $50.

My dear friend, ProVerbs, asked me to share how I manage to eat mostly natural and organic on a budget of $350/month for myself, my husband, and our 8 month-old baby, so here are some of the tips that help me!

A lot of the stores I use are regional, but even Walmart here sells all kinds of organic foods, as do Kroger and Bi-Lo! I also get a few things at Costco by asking my in-laws to pick up the things I want and I pay them back. I go to Earth Fare about once every month or two as I can't leave the place without spending at least $50.

I try to buy things like rice and beans in bulk, so as to save in the long run--and bulk goods and spices look really cool in mason jars on the counter!

Keep lots of fruit on hand and out on the counter where it's more convenient than ice cream (my weakness!).   I also keep organic tortilla chips and salsa on hand for the hubby's midnight snacking, since he's on night shift hours.

Use spices to make the same veggies into completely different dishes. My veggie staples are carrots, onions, bell peppers, potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, avocados, spinach, mixed salad greens, squash, and tomatoes. With those, I can make Italian pasta/veggie dishes, Indian curry, Thai curry, stir fry, roasted veggies, sauteed veggies, grilled veggies, baked veggies, raw veggies with dip, Dutch/German pasties, or Mexican fajitas. Who can get bored with that?

To save money, I get the sales papers and compare who has the best sale on the stuff I need that week and completely skip over the frozen and canned sections and stick to fresh produce, meat, and dairy. That way I'm not tempted! If I don't buy it, it's not in the house staring at me. Sadly, coupons don't help me much, since I don't often buy the things they have coupons for. Using coupons tempted me to buy stuff I didn't need, so I stopped.

The grocery stores I use have a "main" branch and a "ghetto" branch. This may sound awful, but I use the ghetto branches because the fresh produce there doesn't usually sell on time. Thus, they put a lot of their salad, spinach, and organic dairy products on half off to get rid of them! I also get my meat this way. There have been times I've gone to the store and ONLY bought things that were on sale or discounted. The main branches never have that much on discount.

I super rarely buy pork or beef. Most of the meat we eat is chicken, turkey, or fish. My stomach just isn't a red meat fan anymore. I love the occasional sausage and cheese balls and steak or ribs a couple times a year, but otherwise we use venison if we can get our hands on it, and not an awful lot of red meat. Ground turkey is great as a replacement for ground beef, turkey bacon is not at all like pork bacon, but it's still good and doesn't kill my stomach later.

Olive oil and real butter!!!!! I get the massive bulk first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil that sets me back a pretty penny, but it lasts for nearly a year. I buy really good butter and a little goes a long way. I use these as substitutes for Crisco, canola oil, margarine, and any other fat. And boy do they taste yummy!

Biggest thing I've noticed this way: It starts off expensive because I was used to eating a lot of food to get the nutrition my body needed. When you eat low-nutrient foods, it takes a lot more food to get your body what it needs, and in the meantime you're loading up on all sorts of things your body doesn't need. After a while, though, your body realizes "umm, that was all I needed. Thank you, no more, please." And you start having to make less, buy less, and the cost starts going back down.

Have fun learning to make things yourself? What is your favorite dish at your favorite restaurants? Look it up online! Make it at home! You'd be surprised at what tastes BETTER at home with your own spin on it, and look at the cost difference! Usually, I can make enough for 6 people on what it would have cost me to go out to eat the same dish!

Try new things! I love spinach and artichoke dip, but don't want to buy canned artichoke hearts...so when I saw artichokes on sale 2/$5...I snagged me a couple and looked up how to cook them. It was super easy, I had PLENTY to make a recipe and eat off of them a couple days, and they were AMAZING! I couldn't stop eating them! I've discovered that asparagus, though disgusting when canned or boiled, is wonderful grilled or roasted in the oven with a little olive oil, sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. Kale, a green leafy thing like collards or turnip greens, is really tasty roasted in the oven to make a crunchy, salty "kale chip" that makes me think I'm eating junk food...when in reality, it's loaded with vitamins! Brussels sprouts, though pretty good roasted, just didn't hit our fancy as much. But it was worth the shot! Make your own french fries and potato chips one day. Make a lasagna and make your own noodles (it's just flour and eggs rolled out and boiled).

I also love gardening. We live in an apartment and don't have garden space, but our porch is covered with plants and our little 8 square feet of flowerbed is loaded to the brim! I blanch and freeze any extra veggies and looove popping those bad boys into a pot of soup or a lasagna to fill it up with goodness!

Another thing I'm a fan of is making a bunch of something (chili and curry especially) and freezing part of it so you can just thaw it out and go with it. It's awesome to have homemade chili to thaw out when you grill hot dogs.

And now, with all this talk of food, I'm getting hungry. :) Enjoy the amazing variety God has put on this Earth to fuel us and for us to enjoy and praise Him about! Get with it! :)

Iced Tea for a Recovering Southerner

I remember drinking sweet tea by the gallons as a young child. This was when hot tea was an occasional treat. We would sometimes experiment by adding a little milk to our sweet tea and calling it "creme d'tea" and act like we were fancy. If we were really feeling hardcore, we'd heat it in the microwave for an "authentic" tea party.

In college, I didn't have space in the tiny refrigerator in the dorm room to make sweet tea, nor the ingredients, now that I think about it. So the habit fell away and was replaced by hot Earl Grey and other black teas. Now, years later, I occasionally make a flavored iced tea, but even in the Georgia summer, we still regularly drink hot tea for relaxation and taste.

But right now the temperatures have quickly spiked from highs in the 40s to highs in the 80s. While my body is adjusting to the new temperature, my desire for hot beverages has dwindled while my desire for the light flavor of these delicious teas has not. So, do I make the switch back to sweet tea?

When considering what to drink, I like to compare the beverage's sugar content to how much cake I could be eating if I traded the beverage for water. Food decisions are largely emotional, so comparing different aspects of beverages to something that I emotionally equate with special occasion, fattening foods, I make different decisions than if I just look at the facts with no comparison. With all that said, if I use 1 3/4 cups of sugar for a gallon of sweet tea like I was raised to do...that's quite a bit of cake. Hot tea, on the other hand, I lightly sweeten...so not as much cake. (See how I do math?)

So I boiled the water and poured the tea. I selected a light, aromatic jasmine. But when I had sweetened the cup with a dollop of honey and brought it to my lips, I couldn't bear the thought of guzzling the hot beverage. And that gave me an idea.

I grabbed a glass and filled it with ice. After leaving the tea to cool for a minute or two, I dumped it over the ice. Now all morning, I've been sipping on that cup of iced jasmine tea. Soooo....now to experiment. What types of tea would be incredible iced? I feel I have an entire summer to compile a list! So here are a few I have on hand that I think might be fun to try. Drink up and comment what you think about hot teas that you enjoy!

Spiced teas--green chai, coconut green chai, Mary Twinnings spiced black tea, masala chai with mango nectar

Special teas--green tea with blueberry, blueberry tea, oolong, jasmine, white mint, chamomile

Black teas--Earl Grey, loose leaf black tea infused with fruit

Snazz on a Budget

As a new mom, I often find myself craving a bit of something special, an out-of-the-ordinary snack or few hours to break the monotony of sleep/feed the baby that takes up most days. But of course, being a stay-at-home mom, I'm not rolling in the dough to make that happen. So here's an easy, quick, inexpensive solution:

Naan with Chevre dip and a side of blueberry sparkling juice.

The naan can be made by hand or bought at Walmart or Costco. You can use any bread you like, but naan tends to be soft and luxurious-tasting.

The blueberry fizzy is from Earth Fare, and is made by Knudsen, but you can get sparkling anything at Walmart. Just pick something unusual and decadent!

The Chevre dip is goat cheese, which I got at Costco, mixed with my homemade vinaigrette dressing:

olive oil
vinegar
few drops of lemon juice
salt and pepper
Italian spice blend
fresh herbs, if you have a favorite you keep on hand.

Mix a little of everything to taste, add a little goat cheese and blend with a fork until the mixture is creamy and white. It will be runny, that's ok, just let it set in the fridge for an hour or two. I also use this on my baked sammiches to add a little zing. It winds up being very savory and tangy and so offsets the smooth naan and sweet fizzy drink super well!

Enjoy, all! If you want baby-related posts, check out my blog "And Minja Makes Three."

Making Awesome Sauce

It's like one of those "choose your path" books I keep hearing about but have never seen. First, pick apples or pears. Second, pick sauce or butter. Or don't pick at all, since I'll tell you how to make it all.

To make applesauce or pear sauce:

I used about 1/4 of a Walmart bag full of pears. Whatever you pick, core it and slice or chop it. Leave the peel on.

Then, take a big pot with a thick bottom and put about 1 inch of water in the bottom. Bring it to a boil, then add fruit and simmer until the fruit is tender enough to be squished.

I did the squishing the low-tech way with an old-fashioned colander and pestle, but I've heard there are fancy, potentially more expensive ways of doing this as well.

Add cinnamon to taste. Serve warm or chilled. You can also can this stuff for later use--it makes great baby food and has no added sugar, since the fruit has plenty to spare.

Hint: Orchards often sell their ugly/damaged fruit for super cheap, and ugly fruit tastes just as good!

-OR-

If you want to make this stuff into the butter version (apple butter or pear butter), which is a thick, spiced jelly-like critter that will make you, to use a colloquialism, "wanna slap yo momma," (Translation: it's delicious) then continue down the line.

Per quart of sauce you have, you will need the following:

1/8 t. nutmeg
1/16 t. cloves (a pinch)
1 allspice clove (half a pinch)
1/4 t. orange peel
1/8 c. orange juice (which I didn't have, so I doubled the orange peel and used the juice from the pears)
3/4 c. sugar (I'd skimp on this, especially if you have very ripe fruit. This will be very sweet even with less)

Add all of the above to the sauce and let simmer in a crock pot 6-12 hours, or overnight. The variables will be how thick you want it and how patient you are with these amazing fall aromas wafting about.

This is also can-able (not cannibal, that's not something you eat, that's something that eats you.) I just highly doubt that it will last long enough to be preserved anyway, with the bipedal hounds that ransack the refrigerator on a regular basis.

Enjoy! Happy Autumn!

POTATOES! Boil em, mash em, stick em in a loaded baked potato salad...

It's recipe time! My hubby and I brought this one to a birthday party this weekend, and it didn't last the evening. It was decently easy to make and would be delicious served warm or cold. Without further ado:

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

3 lbs red potatoes, pricked, brushed with olive oil, and baked in a 425 degree oven until fork tender
1lb cheap bacon (I discarded half of it in fat, so if you get good/turkey bacon, you only need half of a pound)
2-3 green onions, snipped
sour cream
sharp cheddar cheese
sea salt, black pepper, Morton's Nature's Seasons seasoning

I think you can see where the instructions are going. Everyone has their own preferences in amounts of creaminess or cheesiness, so pretty much everything is "throw it in there to taste." Mix and serve, or mix and chill and serve, your thing. You can cut up the potatoes with a knife while they're hot and melt it all together, that really disperses the sour cream and cheddar flavors well. I kept some of the bacon out and used it as a garnish on top, but you could do that with most of the ingredients.

3 DIYs for baby that I plan to use forever

There are quite a few things that are made for babies that are only useful for while the baby is little. These things, though, I plan to keep using until I wear them out, and I already have several applications for them.

One, pictured above, is the diaper bag. Far from being a baby print item, I made this to be functional. It has 6 pockets, one that is bottle or sippy cup applicable, stroller straps (pictured), and the other side has a detachable fold-out changing pad. The whole thing is washable, and I made a detachable messenger bag strap that could turn this into a laptop case, school bag, or multi-purpose tote with ease.

This is a lifesaver. The last of my Basmati rice got a bug or two in it, so I decided to make a heating pad. The fabric was an over-sized pair of soft terrycloth pajamas. A minute in the microwave, and angels sing. Any achy muscles for the rest of my life have met their match. The best part? It's big enough to stretch across my hips or over my spine, and it holds the heat for around 20 minutes.

These still need to be serged, but I pictured them anyway. That stack represents 50 small pieces of receiving blanket, and will be my homemade baby wipes. When they are no longer needed for that purpose, the surviving ones will become my dusting wipes, and generally multipurpose cloths.

What are some other DIYs that will be great for baby and beyond?