Category Archives: Food

It’s gouda stuff!

Family, Food, Thoughts, ,

I was wandering through the grocery store the other day (which is really the only way I ever experience the grocery store) when I passed by the cheese area.  A certain joy overtook me as I saw that delectable red wax wheel covering, what I remembered to be, the cheese of the gods.  When I was a kid, my parents used to get a wheel of gouda cheese every now and then.  My brother and I waited patiently as mom and dad unwrapped the cellophane and sliced through the wax to cut out our wedges.  It was a bit of a delicacy when I was growing up so we got a fairly small piece each time so we could make it last several days.  I remember enjoying that whole experience so much.

That was supper one night

So, I bought a small wheel of gouda cheese the other day and did the routine, opening the wrapper, cutting the wax, doing all the stuff like when I was a kid.  You know what?  It was almost as good as I remember.  My tastes are probably a little more exotic now than they were when I was a kid but I think my “taste memory”  kicked in and made it taste far better than it really was.

Now I am no longer bound by rules of sharing or making it last or even letting anyone know I even bought the stuff.  It’s weird maybe, but I wanted to sort of keep it to myself a little.  Isn’t that weird?  Anyhow, I plowed through that wheel all by myself.  It was the first I had in a long time and was just sort of cool.  I think I will buy another wheel of gouda cheese though, and this time, I may just share small slivers with the kids.  We may try to make it last and talk about how special gouda cheese is.  I think my kids need to develop a “taste memory”.  I don’t know if they will ever have the love affair with gouda that I do, but I can try!  After all, not too many other foods can describe themselves…it’sa gouda!

Anyone else have a “taste memory” for something from when you were a kid?

Make whoopee pies, not war!

Food,

I got a wild hair on Sunday and decided to bake.  It’s not often when I feel a deep need to bake, but it happened this weekend.  I searched through stacks and stacks of newspaper clippings and cookbooks and websites…well, not really.  I pretty much had a hankering for whoopee pies, an old favorite my Mom used to make.  I am pretty sure Emily was taking a nap and the kids were doing…whatever it is that my kids do when their Dad is baking.

I cracked my Mom’s homemade cookbook and started adding ingredients.  About half way through adding stuff into the mixing bowl, I discovered that I was actually making a peanut butter ball-whoopee pie hybrid.  Being a food pacifist, I decided to press on man, you know, live and let live man…it’s all groovy man.

I just added a bunch more stuff to the bowl and pressed on through.  Did you know that flour and cocoa and a Kitchen-Aid mixer can rocket clear to the ceiling?  Anyhow, I got stuff all mixed up and baked and then Isaac and I shared the remains of the icing on the mixer and the bowl and the ceiling.

I was pretty so-so on them when they were warm but the next morning, yesterday morning, I ate more than one for breakfast.  Now that, my friends is when they are good…and good for you too!

In case you feel a need to journey with me on my quest for health-less-ness, here’s the recipe:

Pies

1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup sour milk plus 2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups flour

Mix together then add 1 cup of hot water.  Daub big goopy spoonfuls onto a slightly greased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes in a 400 deg oven.

Icing

2 egg whites – whipped (and beaten…and taunted)
2 Tbsp vanilla
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix and add 1 more cup powdered sugar and 3/4 cup shortening.  Once the pies are cool, spread the icing between like sized pies and hide from your children!  Oh yeah, cats seem to like them too…

Punkins 2010

Family, Food

Is it a regional thing for people to say, “punkin”?  I can’t decide where all I have heard people say pumpkin that way.  Anyhow, we carved our punkins/pumpkins this weekend.  The kids are super squeamish when it comes to…well, about everything.  Abigail assured us that she could not continue the carving (or even start it really) without nitrile gloves.  Neither kid could bear to actually put their hands into the pumpkins to remove the stuff in fact.

Just to assert my awesomeness (and to remind the kids that I am not mentally stable), I grabbed a handful of the goo and pretended to eat it.  In fact, I did eat some of it which really sealed the deal for the kids!

They did a great job carving their pumpkins.  I saved a bunch of seeds…some for roasting and some for saving to plant next year.  We’ll see how both endeavors turn out later…

I have never seen seeds sprouting inside a pumpkin before but this year, we found several seeds which had good sprouts developing within the parent pumpkin.  I guess it is possible that the pumpkins we got were cannibals but I figure it’s just that the seeds got impatient and started to grow.

So, we lit the jack-o-lanterns and had big fun making spooky sounds and such.  I tried taking pictures and was able to get a few good ones.  I looked at the ones where I moved and believe that they may be even cooler…they sort of have a bit of spookiness to them, don’t you think?

I moved a bunch on purpose…I think it looks like they are leaking fire or something

The iron age

Food, Fun

My parents were in town this weekend for a visit.  They come from someplace north of the Mason-Dixon line where it’s cold and where Yankees live.  We never cook at the house when we have guests…not sure why but it just never happens.  Typically we eat all sorts of snacks as well and then we fall asleep on the couch – just like Thanksgiving.

Anyhow, when I do cook, one of my new traditions is to cook eggs for the kids and Emily as they prepare for school/work in the mornings.  You may remember awhile back when I got Emily a frying pan for Valentines day.  It seemed like a reasonable gift to me but it didn’t end well.  I think I have learned my lesson though.  You see, for her birthday this year, I got her a cast iron skillet.  The frying pan was clearly too light and flimsy to suit her…why else would she not like my gift?

I used to cook eggs in the non-stick valentines day pan but I didn’t really like cooking in it.  Is it weird to analyze what sort of pan one likes to eggs in?  I thought so.  Alas, it has to be done.  So, I no longer use the valentines day pan for eggs.  I tried cooking eggs in the cast iron the first day and it was just absolutely marvelous!  It heats so evenly and I can control the temperature just right.  If the President ever needed an eggs-only chef, I could do the job!  Well, I could do the job if the President only ordered scrambled eggs.  Anything else and I am out…

After I cook the eggs, I like to play short order chef…”eggs are up!” I holler every morning.  It doesn’t matter if everyone is right beside me.  I channel Mel from Mel’s diner every time.  It’s cool to clean up too…I just wipe out the pan, add a dollop of butter and put it back on the heat to melt so the pan stays seasoned.  The cats love to lick the butter (found that one out the hard way) so I always have to watch the pan and store it in the oven when it cools some.

Aside from the race with the cats, I really like to use Emily’s cast iron birthday pan.  As long as I use it, she doesn’t feel the need to place it along-side my head!

Irish cream + ice cream = goodness!

Awesome, Food

Ok, I know I said last week that I am eating a lower fat, lower cholesterol vegetarian diet…yeah, yeah, yeah. I still gotta live a little! It’s all about portions and frequency. You see, I discovered Ben & Jerry’s Dublin Mudslide ice cream. It’s really unhealthy and all but dang it tastes good.

I am determined to eat healthy but this treat is a nice diversion now and then. I eat a spoonful here and there and I have found that it’s enough to curb my sweet-tooth…plus Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is sooo expensive that I can only afford to eat this sweet goodness now and then anyhow!  It sort of keeps me in check because, above all, I am a cheap-skate!

I found some great news about my new diet too.  I have been on blood pressure medicine for years.  I have tried a few things here and there to try to get my blood pressure to change but nothing ever seemed to have an impact.  Lately though, I started feeling light-headed and dizzy a little too often.  In consultation with my doctor, we decided to go off of the medicine and see what happened to my blood pressure.  After two weeks off of the meds, I went back and found that my blood pressure was great (I had been monitoring it at home too and consistently found the same thing)!  I am off of blood-pressure medicine!  I can only attribute it to my dietary change as nothing else is different!

As much as I might like to go and gorge on Ben & Jerry’s after finding the news, I think I will go get a tofu burger instead!

Another apple cider press!

Awesome, Food

Some nice folks emailed me awhile back asking for my thoughts on building an apple cider press of their own, similar to the one I built.  We talked back and forth a bit and discussed stuff I liked about mine and stuff I would do differently if I were to make another one.

Attached are some pics of their finished product and a bit of text describing their setup.  I think it is super exciting to make homemade cider so congratulations to my new web friends on a job well done!

from the builders…

“here are some pictures of our press.  We ended up making ours a lot shorter, because the bottle jack wouldn’t reach.  The holes in our pot were 5/32″ diameter one inch apart around the bottom, and two inches apart in two staggered rows up the side of the pot (the blue tape is just so that I can keep the height semi-even).  I love your set up it was very inexpensive, and easy to build.”

I am a veggie-saurus

Food, Green, Thoughts

I haven’t said much about it but I decided to become a vegetarian as of June 1. I am not really interested in crusading for any causes, but I decided to become a vegetarian for a few reasons. Mainly I want to get my cholesterol under control. I am following a regimen of eating a low fat/low cholesterol vegetarian diet that has worked for some folks to control or regulate their health. I have no idea yet whether or not it will work for me. Still I expect to remain a vegetarian regardless. Again, I have no intent to crusade about this and the rest of my family still eats meat. For me though, I like the lower environmental impact that eating vegetarian requires. I have seen commentaries and debates one way and the other about the topic. I have no interest in debating the topic but this just works for me and I am all about “live and let live”.

I am not sure why I feel compelled to even talk about this subject with so many qualifiers but I suppose it’s because I am fully aware that food and environment and green topics often result in “religious” debates on the topics (that is, people hold their opinions on these topics somewhere very close to their hearts).

Anyhow, I was pretty worried at first. I like fruits and veggies and beans and grains and all, but could I live on those things? Would I lose a lot of weight? Would I lose all my strength? Would I be more gassy than the local Exxon? Yeah, just shooting straight here. Anyhow, I discovered that with some work, it’s not too difficult to eat a healthy, not overly processed, tasty vegetarian diet. I also get more protein now than I ever did when I ate meat. The stuff I eat often takes care of that very well. And that list I gave above…well, it’s a mixed bag, but I gotta tell you, it’s been well worth it. I never feel bloated or crampy or sick after I eat now. I have plenty of energy and I just plain feel better. Aside from the potential health and environmental impacts, I will remain a vegetarian because I flat out feel 10x better than I ever did when I ate meat!

So, just like the humble brontosaurus, I am now a veggie-saurus! I surely hope I fare better than my reptilian cousin!

Practically Perfect Pumpkins

Food, Garden

We grow all sorts of stuff in the garden…we grow beans and corn and peppers and tomatoes.  We’ve grown gourds and squash and zukes too.  This year though, we tried pumpkins.  Last year we bought an absolutely perfect pumpkin at the local farmers’ market.  We carved it up and roasted most of the seeds.  I saved a few though figuring I would give it a go this year.  Holy cow those seeds made more perfect pumpkins this year!

Most of the garden is pretty well done for us this year.  I expected  that pumpkins would take much longer to develop…you know, so they would be timed right for the coming of the Great Pumpkin (Charlie Brown).  I suppose real pumpkin farmers plant their seeds a bit later than we did.  Anyhow, our pumpkins turned orange and were looking awesome last week so I decided to harvest them.  They are winter squash so I expect that they will last a good long time (’til Halloween at least I hope!)

I have enjoyed thinking about saving seeds and have done it some but this year I was impressed and really see the point of saving seeds from the best fruits.  We’ll keep seeds from the best of these pumpkins again this year.  I’ll be playing Gregor Mendel with pumpkins here in W-by-God-VA.  Mark my words folks…WV pumpkins are gonna be incredible in a few years!  You can say you heard about it here first!  Well, either that or I will end up living in a monastery when Emily gets fed up and throws me out…I am hoping for the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

The HOT light is on!

Food,

Isn’t it strange how sometimes your brain follows some stream of consciousness and you end up someplace completely different from where you started?  Yeah, well, welcome to my life…actually, welcome to my lovely wife’s life putting up with me.  Anyhow, Monday morning we started off planning to make some sort of healthy vittles where we end up hungry again a half hour after eating.  Well, a bunch of twists and turns went through my head and we ended up making homemade donuts in one of the world’s most ingenious creations – The Magic Chef Donut Bakery machine!  I am not sure how I got there but I suppose the idea of eating some sort of fru-fru breakfast sparked some sort of ancient survival mechanism deep within my hindbrain…something screaming, “give me donuts, not some fruity-I-am-still-hungry food”.

It’s really hard to beat hot donuts.  Isaac was born at Baptist Hospital in Nashville.  His birth was complicated so we spent a good bit of time in and around the hospital.  Our room overlooked the Krispee Kreme donut factory so whenever the “Hot Now” light came on, I hustled down and bought a dozen.  I don’t know how many meals of donuts we ate but Krispee Kreme stock hit its high point when we were active consumers.

My parents had a version of the Magic Chef Donut Bakery machine though theirs made only three donuts at a time (but they were larger).  Anyhow, somewhere between 8-10 years ago, I was at my brother’s place in Indiana.  We were bored so we went junkin’.  We trapsed around town and looked over other peoples’ junk.  I didn’t expect much but under a pile of 8-track tapes, I saw it…the Magic Chef Donut Bakery machine…and it was marked $1…and it worked!

So, like I said, the stream of consciousness this weekend somehow reminded me that I had that glorious donut maker tucked away behind the pile of 8-track tapes I bought in Indiana.  We broke out the recipe and made a gigantic batch of cinnamon donuts.   Sometimes my streams of consciousness make for some pretty fun times and this time, I found that the “Hot Now” light is on!

Purple fingers

Canning, Food, Nature, WV, ,

It seems like this time of year finds our fingers all sorts of different colors. It really just depends on what we’re picking at the time. Last night was no different really. A co-worker of Emily’s has a bunch of grapes growing at her house. She has picked a ton and canned/preserved them every way she knows how. That’s where we come in. The grapes are still plentiful so she gave us a bunch of them…and there are more to pick so we are hoping to be able to go and harvest a bunch more. It’s hard to beat real concord grapes I think!

this is just a portion!

We cleaned them last night and are making grape jelly with the ones we have now. Do you remember when you were a kid and even the store bought grape jelly had flavor? I have tried some recently and it seems like the grape jelly is completely without flavor. I guess it’s like everything – homemade is really hard to beat. But gee whiz, the store stuff isn’t even fit for slug bait!

Anyhow, does anyone else gather grapes? What do you do with them? I remember my Mom and Grandma canning grape juice but they always left whole grapes in the jars. It freaked me out because I could have sworn they canned eyeballs!  Oh, and don’t get me started on when they canned whole tomatoes…eeek!  Anyone make raisins or juice or wine? I’ve nibbled on wild grapes but does anyone do anything more specific with them?  I’d love to know what options I may have!