by hand

Some may think it unnecessary work with modern conveniences like bread machines, but I really love making bread by hand. I don't do it that often, but I find it very satisfying (and delicious) when I do. I guess my reasons for this are many.

For one, living in an apartment with a tiny kitchen makes extra appliances, which require storage that I do not have, not very appealing. Plus, a bread machine takes away the satisfying part of bread making: kneading the dough. It's an excellent exercise if you're feeling stressed, upset, or any number of other things. Plus, I can see the progress as I work the dough from a sticky or floury mess to a smooth ball of dough. I find it fascinating that five simple ingredients - flour, salt, yeast, water, and oil - can make so much deliciousness.

Another thing I'm realizing about bread making is that it makes me feel more connected with family. My mom always made bread when we were growing up and would sometimes rope us kids into helping. I remember the smell of bread baking in the oven and how it was always (even now) such a treat to get that first slice as soon as the loaf was cool enough to slice. Her mother made homemade bread too. Even now, I think grandma still makes all her bread from scratch. So now, when I make bread, I mix the dough in a stainless steel bowl that used to belong to my great grandmother (my mom's mom's mom - did you get that?), and I wear an apron that my sister bought me. And so when I make bread, I'm perhaps just a little closer to all of them.

Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna

Last night Diego was craving lasagna, so I decided to hunt online for a yummy sounding recipe. I came across this one (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/350399) and then modified it. Here's what I did (loosely based on the above recipe).

Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 4-ounce can sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 28-ounce can and 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/2-pound hot Italian sausages, casings removed (2 sausages)
1 pound lean ground beef
1 9-ounce package no-cook lasagna noodles
1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
2 8-ounce bags grated mozzarella cheese (4 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Heat oil in heavy large pot over high heat. Sauté mushrooms and onion until they begin to soften, about 6 minutes.
3. Add crushed tomatoes, oregano, basil, and garlic. Heat through and then reduce to simmer.
4. In a frying pan, brown sausage and ground beef, about 5 minutes.
5. Add wine to tomato-sauce mixture. Let simmer 2-3 minutes.
6. Add cooked beef and sausage to tomato sauce, let simmer 2-3 minutes.
7. Assemble lasagna in a 13x9-inch baking dish. Spread 2/3 cup sauce at bottom of pan. Layer with noodles and 1/3 of the sauce, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella. Repeat until ingredients are used up. Reserve 1 cup sauce and 1 cup grated mozzarella to top.
8. Cover with tented foil and bake 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes longer, until bubbling at edges and cheese is browned.
9. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

It was delicious, so if you're looking for a good lasagna recipe, I recommend trying this one :) If you're not a fan of cooking with wine, I'm sure it would be just as good without the wine.

And for those of you who might be interested, the nutritional information is listed below:

8 servings
587.25 calories | 27.5 g. fat | 40.23 g. carbohydrates | 5.23 g. fiber | 42.54 g. protein | 630.13 mg. calcium

12 servings:
391.5 calories | 18.33 g. fat | 26.82 g. carbohydrates | 3.48 g. fiber | 28.36 g. protein | 420.08 mg. calcium

like mom makes it

This past weekend I made chocolate mousse for Diego in lieu of a birthday cake. I was a bit hesitant about making mousse since I had never made it before and because I had this suspicion that it was difficult to make. But after looking at the recipe in the Betty Crocker Big Red Cookbook (p.s. I totally heart the BCBRC; it rocks my socks off), I decided that it didn't look so terribly difficult and decided to give it a try.

It turned out beautifully. Perfect texture and consistency. Perfect fluffiness and creaminess, just as good mousse should be. So I chilled it in little dessert bowls and served each one with a strawberry garnish on top. Delicious. Diego agreed. The conversation went something like this...

D: Mmm... this is amazing.
M: Thanks.
D: Seriously, next time you make this, don't change a thing about what you did. It's perfect.
M: Well, I'm glad you like it.
D: Know what you could do next time? After it's cooled, you could grate a little chocolate into it so that there are chocolate chunks mixed in with the mousse.
M: Is that the way your mom used to make it?
D: Yeah...

So that leads me to the post title... What is it about men wanting things the way their mom made them? I have this theory that men more frequently than women want certain foods to be the way their moms made them. I think this is for several reasons:

1. Women try not to become their mothers and feel more free to experiment with recipes and make them their own.
2. Men like to be taken care of especially in the area of food (just like mom did).
3. If women really want something like mom made it, they can just make it themselves.
4. All men really marry their mothers; just like all women marry their fathers.
5. It's a comfort thing.

I'm sure there are a hundred exceptions to this, but that's why I'm saying it's a theory not a rule ;) And I'm not trying to be sexist here. I know that many men are excellent cooks and that many women are horrible cooks, so this could even be more dependent on who the main cook is in the household. What do you think? Especially you married ladies out there. Do you think that you or your husband is more likely to want things the way mom made it?

the way to an argentine heart

The way to an Argentine heart may be through his stomach in general but more specifically with beef. Our travel plans were reversed this weekend since I had the misfortune of being sick, so Diego, being the wonderful boyfriend he is, came down to visit me. I knew that it would be well after 8, possibly approaching 9, by the time he got here, so I decided to have supper ready and waiting for him.

Because he's a carnivore at heart and because I was hungry for it, I decided to make my mom's chuck roast with homemade noodles. It's actually not a bad thing to make when you're feeling under the weather because the prep time is relatively short and it requires no fussing-over while baking.

The timing was perfect for once, and just as he arrived the roast and noodles were ready. After taking one look at the roast, this is the conversation that followed:

D: This is the best meal you've ever made for me.
M: You haven't even tasted it yet.
D: It doesn't matter. It's beef.

And it was delicious even though I struggled to eat since one of my wisdom teeth was being literally a pain in my mouth. So in case any of you carnivores out there are looking for a tasty new recipe to try, here's one for you (for my dear vegetarian friends, I'll post a more vegetarian-friendly recipe soon). Enjoy!

Chuck Roast with Homemade Noodles (from Taste of Home)

Ingredients:
1 boneless chuck roast (3 – 4 pounds)
½ c. chopped onion
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 ½ c. water
1 c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
1 egg
2 Tbs. milk
1 can (14 oz.) beef broth
Pepper to taste

the roast
1. In a Dutch oven, brown roast and onion in oil.
2. Add ½ c. water.
3. Cover and bake at 325° for 2 ½ to 3 hours or until meat is tender.

the noodles
1. Meanwhile, for noodles, combine flour and salt in a bowl; make a well in the center.
2. Beat egg and milk; pour into well.
3. Stir to form a stiff dough.
4. Turn onto a well-floured surface; roll into a 15-in. x 12-in. rectangle.
5. Cut into 1/8-in. strips.
6. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.

the finishing touches
1. Remove roast and keep warm; add broth and remaining water to pan.
2. Bring to a boil; add noodles.
3. Cook for 8 – 10 minutes or until tender.
4. Drain; season with pepper.
5. Serve with the roast.

Note: Uncooked noodles may be stored in the refrigerator for 2 – 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

my weekend, or, what to do with 13 lbs. of strawberries

This past Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed to go strawberry picking. For only $1.29 a pound, you too can go pick your own strawberries. Among other things, the Valley seems big on pick-your-own farms. Apples in the fall. Peaches and strawberries in the spring. It's really kind of neat.

I think I got a little carried away because when I went to pay, my pickings weighed in at 13 pounds. Oops! It's a good thing I only grabbed one flat to fill. I had considered filling 2.


So this weekend I basically did 3 things: I picked strawberries, I washed and hulled strawberries, and I made things out of strawberries. I am so glad I didn't pick any more berries than I did.



Those of you living within driving distance may be receiving some strawberry freezer jam in the near future since I made 3 batches. Those of you who aren't nearby... well, maybe I'll find a way to bring some with me when I make my road trip through Indiana to South Dakota in late July.

apples, anyone?

Two weekends ago, in a moment of either brilliance or insanity, a couple friends from the library and I decided that it would be great fun to go to one of the local orchards to get apples. Initially, we had assumed that we could actually pick the apples ourselves, which would have been fantastic. We were momentarily disappointed to find that, that was not the case. While we could purchase apples, we didn't get to pick them ourselves.

Determined not to let the disappointment get the best of us, we each set out to selecting apples and filling up a 1/2 bushel bag of apples each. They were only charging $8 for 1/2 bushel. For those of you (like me) who aren't up on what a bushel actually is, here's a quick conversion:

1 bushel of apples = approximately 42-48 pounds, or 126 medium apples, or 15 9 inch pies, or 30-36 pints frozen, or 16-20 quarts canned**

So divide that by 2, and that's what I have in my apartment at the moment.

On Saturday, I decided to make use of my Betty Crocker skills and make an apple pie from scratch, including the crust. It is delicious and perfect :) However, it only took 6, count them, 6 apples to make the pie. Between that and the few that I've eaten, I still pretty much have 1/2 a bushel of apples.

I had my mom send me her recipes for apple pie and apple crisp and apple butter and apple sauce. If you all lived here, I could make a pie for each of you and still have a ridiculous number of apples left over. I'm hoping that apple butter & apple sauce will help to get rid or a large chunk of the apples.

Next time, I need a better plan for what to do with the apples before I purchase such a large quantity of them :)

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** Info from http://www.applejournal.com/ref.htm