Mixed Greens with Mandarins & Hazelnuts

One weekend, one salad, four parties

This last weekend was approximately 400% more social than most.  And like most get-togethers, food took center stage, with sports both played and watched a very close second.  The seasonal availability of mandarins and the extra hazelnuts I bought for biscotti, made the Zuni Café Cookbook recipe for Mixed Greens with Mandarins, Hazelnuts & Hazelnut Vinaigrette (pg 141) a clear choice … twice.  For another get-together we all enjoyed shopping for, preparing and savoring BiBimBop … wow.  It definitely wasn’t simple, but the high enjoyment factor (and leftovers) more than compensated.

I recently counted all the recipes in the Zuni cookbook and found a total of 281 recipes … many of which would push me WAY out of my cooking comfort zone.  Squab.  Mock Porchetta.  Rabbit Sausage.   Well, one day at a time.  After recently enjoying Risotto with Wild Rice, Squash, & Wild Mushrooms (pg 197), I figure I have 273 more recipes yet to try-adventure-experiment-rollercoaster through in 2014.  This winter salad is definitely a keeper and easy to make ahead and bring to a party.

We observed that I am on a citrus pinwheel kick. 

Mixed Greens with Mandarins & Hazelnuts

 For one of these salads I didn’t find Frangelico liqueur or hazelnut oil within my grocery shopping time limit… but with a broader search we secured the liqueur and included in the second dressing.  With or without is delicious.  I especially like J. Rodgers’ suggestion of dipping a lettuce leaf into the dressing to taste, and adjust seasons before finalizing (both times I added more olive oil).  I also like to combine the greens and dressing with my hands, the best and gentlest tools for the job.

Time:  10-20 minutes

Cost: $4-5

Servings: 4 adults + 4 kids as a side dish

Ingredients:

1/2 c Hazelnuts (skins removed and coarsely chopped)

6-10 mandarins peeled and cut into pinwheels (video above)

½ extra virgin olive oil

2 T Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar

2 tsp Frangelico liqueur or hazelnut oil (optional)

Salt

~10 c salad greens cleaned and dried

As you slice mandarins transfer them to a bowl and save juice.  In small mason jar combine oil, vinegar, liqueur or hazelnut oil if using, a trickle of juice from mandarins, and salt to taste.  Securely put lid on jar and shake vigorously.  Taste dressing and adjust seasonings.  Drizzle 1-2 T of dressing over sliced mandarins.

Just before serving the salad, drizzle and toss the lettuce with the dressing, coating lightly (you could have ~1/3c dressing left for another night).  Taste a lettuce leaf and add more dressing if needed.  Place mandarins on greens, sprinkle with nuts and enjoy.

Hazelnut (Cornmeal) Biscotti

I used to compare cooking with little kids like having sharks snapping at your ankles while everyone devolves into an agitated state of panicked frenzy.  I oh so wish this was an exaggeration.  Now cooking with my (older) kids is something I enjoy and savor and only occasionally do I still loose my cool.  As I tested out the Zuni Cornmeal Biscotti (pg 478) I kept thinking ... this is so pleasant and seams to be coming together just as intended.  That's weird.  Then, I realized the missing ingredients - my sharks, I mean, helpers.

Tonight the boys wanted to watch The Incredibles, and having almost all the lines memorized by now - I opted to bake ... The peacefulness in the kitchen was divine, equal only to the biscotti.  The flavor to me is really more hazelnut than cornmeal, and the recipe below is adapted from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook in regards to salt (less) and cornmeal (more).  Ironically, I think this would be an incredibly fun and straightforward recipe to make with kids ... with a little Aloha, of course ... imagine numerous smaller biscotti logs rolled by smaller hands and a mismatch of final cut pieces.

Luckily, I may have another chance.  There are two versions to test out ... Coffee in hand.  Dunk. Crunch.

Hazelnut Biscotti

I like that the butter and egg are supposed to be cold.  I NEVER remember or know far enough in advance when I am going to make something to bring the ingredients to room temp.  C'est la vie ~

Time: 50 minutes
Cost: ~ $5 (depends on if you have anise seeds and anise flavor in the pantry - I didn't, but am glad I do now, so I am ready for the next batch)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup hazelnuts
4 T cold salted butter
1 large cold egg
1 1/2 tsp anise flavor
1 1/4 c flour (whole wheat white ok)
3 T fine cornmeal (corn flour ok)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp anise seeds

Preheat oven to 325 deg and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

If the hazelnuts still have their skins on - roast on a baking sheet until fragrent, about 15 minutes.  Place hazelnuts into a spread out kitchen towel and gather "bean bag style" and massage to loosen skins.  Pick out the nuts and discard the skins.  Finely shop 1/4c of the nuts; coarsely chop remaining 1/2c nuts and place in large metal bowl.  Add flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and anise seeds and whisk to combine.

In bowl of electric mixer "barely" cream butter and sugar.  Beat in egg and anise flavor to combine.  Add flour mixture in ~ 3 additions and stir until mix well.

Gather dough in your hands and divide in half.  On the same cutting board where you cut the nuts roll out one half of the dough into a long 1-inch thick log, and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. (You may need to dust the cutting board with flour, but I found the nut dust from the chopping was perfect).   Repeat with remaining dough, and place logs with ~2 inches b/w them.  Bake for ~ 20 minutes, until "slightly brown and firm on the surface".

Transfer the cookie logs to cutting board and slice on an angle ~1/2" thick.  Place cut side down back onto the warm baking sheet and return to oven for 5 minutes.  Cool completely on baking sheet and transfer to airtight container.

Orange Slices with Rosemary Honey Drizzle

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“For me, the best dessert is simple and bright, and often overtly sensual.” ~ Judy Rodgers, Zuni Café Cookbook

By this standard the recipe for Oranges with Rosemary Honey (pg 456) in the Zuni Café Cookbook, must be one of the best deserts in Rodgers’ mind.  It is tremendous in my mind for its simplicity, sweetness and use of oranges otherwise not well suited to peeling.  It was a joyful surprise after a rich dinner of Shrimp Cooked in Romesco with Wilted Spinach (pg 334).

Ctirus Slices with Rosemary Honey Drizzle

Thrifty, simple and fast – the triple threat trifecta.  I look forward to experimenting with a mix of citrus for an upcoming baby shower.  Recipe below adapted from Zuni Café Cookbook.

Time: 20 minutes

Cost: $2-3$

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

3 T Honey

4 tsp water

1x small sprig fresh young rosemary

6 oranges, or mix of oranges, grapefruit (lemon or kiwi?)

In smallest saucepan combine honey and water.  Pick off rosemary leaves and mash in mortar with pestel or with back of knife on cutting board.  Add crushed rosemary leaves to  saucepan.  Warm, without boiling, over low heat until honey dissolves.  Let infuse for 15 minutes while you prep fruit.

Using a sharp paring knife, remove peel and slice oranges into pinwheels, arrange on serving plate and drizzle with honey mixture.

Note: Rodgers provides an excellent (!!) description of how to make oranges into beautiful pinwheels on pg. 457.

Gourgeres Fun: Pickled Onions

Laughing and crying in the kitchen, within the space of one meal's preparations, is a good sign.  Crying courtesy of onion slicing on the mandolin for Carol's Pickled Onion's (pg. 271) and uncontrollable giggles while "piping" out New Year's Eve Gougeres (pg. 116) (imagine, little cubes of cheese not quite fitting through the tip ... well ... you will just have to try it).  We savored the (extravagant for us) Gruyere and had the (unusual for us) experience of eating an appetizer for dinner.  We agreed they make an excellent appetizer, but growing boy appetites prefer more hearty fare in the dinner category.

My favorite part was the easy, fast, tart and inexpensive addition of pickled onions; I am looking forward to trying them on sandwiches (BLT!) and salads. Recipe below adapted from Zuni Cafe Cookbook. 


Pickled Onions
Use a Mandolin with a great caution - my fingers get seasick just thinking of one - having danced too close to the edge one to many times...

Time:  20 minutes (with a Mandolin)
Cost: $3

Ingredients:
3 medium yellow onions
1 1/4 cups Champagne Vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
2 T sugar
2 bay leaves
1 small dried chili (e.g. thai)
Pinch of black peppercorns
Salt to taste

Slice onions 1/8" thick, ideally falling into rings.  Combine remaining brine ingredients into saucepan large enough to accommodate addition of onions.  Bring mixture to a simmer over med-low heat, turn heat up to medium and add onions.  Gently stir brine and onions and return to a simmer for 1 minute.  Carefully pour onions and brine directly into a mason jar(s), cover and store refrigerated ... indefintetly.

New Year's Eve Gougeres with Arugula and Bacon

These were made with absolutely no idea what a Gougeres looked or tasted like  - or in fact how to pronounce .. a quick google search shows we weren't too much off the mark in looks.  Now how to say it ...  

Dropping Anchor

It has taken me near 35 years to realize the pattern ... I get blue in January.  Perhaps because of a post-holiday letdown or looming birthday - hard to say.  This personal phenom was avoided last year, and I realize now it was due largely to a crazy swim training obsession I was in at the time.  So, for the first two weeks of 2014 I have have been casting about, seeking an anchor; a crazy (or not) obsession to keep me sane until the days lengthen and the weather warms.

My thoughts keep coming back to the recent death of chef and cookbook author Judy Rodgers.  I was given her Zuni Cafe Cookbook as an anniversary present and have enjoyed making a handful of the recipes over the last five years, most notably of course the recipe for roast chicken, which was a repertoire game-changer.  In an attempt to become a better home cook, keep my sanity and immerse myself in a particular style of cooking, I declare 2014 a Zuni Year.  Not sure exactly what this will entail now, but know that I will try to cook as many (all?) of the recipes from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook in 2014.  Why not?

As a kickoff, last night I tested out the Pasta with Spicy Broccoli & Cauliflower (pg 203).  I was looking for a recipe best suited for the variety of vegetables we received in our Friday CSA, which this week included two beautiful heads of broccoli and a fennel bulb.  So, I substituted the fennel for the cauliflower and tapered back on the red pepper flakes, so as not to send the boys into a fiery tizzy.  For next time, I may try roasting the vegetables on a baking tray in a hot oven, as I think they were more crowded then intended in my cast iron skillet.  This was also my first time using anchovies ... a subtle flavor addition.  I will be keeping my eyes out for a good source (or recipe?) for 'salt-packed anchovy fillets'.  Now, for tonight ...

Spidey Boys

Hopefully the boys will don these spiderman costumes on Halloween. 20 days to prime time - fingers crossed that all comes together (literally). Glow in the dark paint and zippers are next on the list, not in that order.

Buffalo Gals

Chicken Drumsticks with Asian BBQ Sauce

I am shocked at how cheap drumsticks are. At Trader Joe's 5 'Natural' chicken drumsticks will run you about $3. Granted, this recipe calls for 16 drumsticks (I use 3 packages which is ~ 15 sticks), so the price climbs to ~$10, but we stretch it over many meals (say 4 large adult portions and 3 kid portions). In our home we eat a lot of meat - admittedly one of the reasons our food budget is larger than our peers - so if I can find good recipes that use cheaper cuts, all the better.

This recipe is from Food & Wine (from who knows when) and since securing it in my recipe book I have made it 5 or so times, and enjoyed each meal. It is however, not fast. I give myself an hour from start to finish.

This makes me realize that I need a whole suite of recipes that use cheap cuts of meat and take 30-40 minutes to make. I joke (though it is all too true) that cooking with kids around makes your kitchen feel like an alligator pit, with hungry critters nipping at your ankles. In sum: not relaxing. So the faster a meal the better.


One thing this recipe uses that I do love and does make things quick: my Immersion Blender. Love it. I use it in this recipe to whip together the ingredients for the sauce and save dishes versus using the big blender. Delici0-s0.

Chicken Drumsticks with Asian Barbecue Sauce
I did not have hoisin sauce the last time I made it, and had to substitute plum sauce making it sweeter than normal. Also - I totally consider the seasame seeds optional. I found cheap sesame seeds in bulk at our local natural food store.

Servings: 4 adult, 3 kid
Cost: $12-15
Time: 20 minutes active, 1 hour total

2 T vegetable oil
1 (+) tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
15 chicken drumsticks (~ 3 lbs)
Salt and fresh ground pepper
3/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup sweet Asian chili sauce or hot pepper jelly
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup chicken stock or broth
2 T minced fresh ginger
2 (+) large garlic cloves
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 - 1 cup toasted sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl mix the oil and 5-spice powder. Add the chicken, season with Salt and Pepper and toss to coat. Line a baking sheet with foil, and arrange the chicken in two rows. Roast for 35 minutes, turning twice. (If things get busy - as in the alligators start biting - it still turns out great if you forget to rotate the chicken.)

In a bowl or cup combine ingredients for sauce: hoisin, chili sauce, rice vinegar, broth/stock, ginger, garlic and sesame oil. Puree with immersion blender until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan, bring to boil and simmer for ~ 5 minutes.

Once chicken is cooked transfer to clean bowl and power sauce over to coat.

Turn oven to broil. Place the chicken back on the tray and return to oven to broil for another 10 minutes, turning once. Brush with extra sauce. Remove from oven.

Place sesame seeds in a bowl. Using tongs, immerse one end of the cooked chicken in the bowl of sesame seeds and transfer to a serving platter. Enjoy.

Mother's Day Camping

Definitely not the traditional approach to maximizing the Mother's Day free-to-relax- card, but a wonderful way to get outside the day-to-day routine. This last weekend found us in Henry Coe State Park gobbling up Smores, savoring Banana Muffins, and ... well ... wearing all of our clothes to stay warm.

And just a moment to say how awesome it is to camp. I love it. It was SO wonderful to see the boys running, jumping, and peering down 'creature holes. Note: just peering - I did my best to enforce a no hands or feet down holes rule. And THRIFTY. We split a campsite with another family for a grand total of $32/family or $16/night. That is good old fashion cheap fun.

We did however totally splurge on the Mother's Day Breakfast - which was very sweet and the first time we had eaten biscuits cooked on a griddle (imagine a really thick pancake with butter and jelly instead of syrup).

So, sigh. Perhaps not the way you picture 'relaxing', but rejuvinating and memorable all the same.


Smores

Not that you need a recipe, but just for inspiration, consider ....

graham crackers
chocolate
golden roasted marshmellows
cookies
peanut butter

Place the graham cracker and chocolate on a BBQ grate near the campfire or wrap in foil to get the chocolate nice and gooey while you roast your marshmellow. Once you've roasted, smoosh together your ingredients, and enjoy. Probably will need a wet wipe to clean up ... especially those little hands.

Greywater

I am having so much fun researching a paper on residential greywater recycling. This is an article (and video) about a woman, also a reporter for the LA Times, who created a plumbing system to capture the water from her washing machine to irrigate her front yard ... for $312 and two days of work. I should add ... it sounds like she spent MANY more days planning, researching and procuring!

My mind is full of ideas for our own house ... wonderful.

Other sites for inspiration:
Greywater Guerillas
Oasis Design

Baby Poncho Project

Spring Break ... what a bizarre and wonderful concept, and a great chance to give creative me some time to play.

Project One was making a long overdue "baby poncho" for my niece. Way back when I cut out a picture of an adorable baby poncho (cost $56), which looked easy enough to make with the help of my ol'trusty sewing machine. And wa'la ... with some $3 red fleece from the bargain bin at Joanne's, some $1 blue ribbon and some striped cotton fabric tucked away in my fabric container ... a $4 red fleece pancho was born.

If anyone is interested in pattern details, I would be happy to share more info!

On another note, I have been cooking up a storm but between kids and school I haven't found time to post to TK. Alas, hopefully this will change soon. Who knows? Until then ~ Welcome Spring!

Happy Halloween

Or should I say, Happy Obama-ween?

We had a LOT of fun carving ours with premade Obama stencils, from Yes We Carve.

Vote. Vote Early. and Vote Often.... as my grandpa used to say.

The Professor’s Apple Pie

An apple for the teacher? Sure. But how about an apple pie? I can just picture the look on my environmental biological-chemical processes (wait, what’s the name of the class? Ah, oh well) professor’s face when a nice, golden hot apple pie is waiting for him before class next week.

In the last three weeks I have been having a little “pie off” of my own. I kid you not – I have made a total of eight pies – 7 apple pies and 1 peach pie. I have dealt with apples and dough in varying states of freshness, coldness and sweetness and think I have found my winning combination, once again originating from my mom’s recipe box and the family apple tree.

Never have I felt so strongly the correlation between apple harvesting and the start of school, as this week found me dusting off my mechanical pencil and graphing calculator to return to school. All in all it is a very happy thing, though I imagine in a few short days away from the boys I will miss them terribly … or maybe not, as I am feeling totally fantastic about where they will be spending their days. The other thing I will miss of course is the “extra” time I had to dedicate to saving money in the kitchen. Now, like most folks, I will have less time and less money. So, I guess as a last hurrah of sorts I set a personal mission to put all my thrifty muscle into enjoying and preserving as many “free” apples as possible.

The apples mostly found themselves eaten, pureed into applesauce (Lane’s first food) and into apple pies for immediate consumption and for the freezer (!!). My inner homesteader is beaming with the knowledge that our freezer has three beautiful apple pies just waiting for February (or some other winter month in need of a good occasion) when I can savor the “labor” of my last weeks of summer.

When you make the pie dough there will, of course, be extra, which is wonderful rolled out, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and baked at 450 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. Let it cool as long as people can wait, then huddle around, break into pieces and enjoy. I like to think this is one of the kitchen treats my kids will love the most.

And don’t forget the vanilla ice cream. Can you imagine the professor’s expression if some yummy ice cream found its way onto his desk as well? Priceless.


Grandma Margaret’s Pie Crust

This recipe comes from my dad’s mom, a fantastic Nebraskan cook. I tried two different piecrust recipes and this one won out due to its ease to make, workability and flavor. It doesn’t have the typical crazy flakiness of a shortening crust … but you get the comfort of having a healthier crust and I preferred the sturdier crust to the other which I found tender but kinda tasteless. I like to mix the dry ingredients and cut in the butter in a food processor, then transfer to a bowl to add the wet ingredients and bring together with my hands into two discs (one for top and one for bottom). The recipe below is reproduced in its beautiful straightforward simplicity. I always forget about the ice water until right before the recipe – so do that first!

Servings: 1 pie, 8-12 slices (depending on the slicer)
Cost: ~ $2/pie (if the apples are free!)
Time: 1+ hour prep, 1+ hour cook

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter

1 egg, beaten
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
Ice water, if necessary

(Make ice water.) Sift flour and salt together. Cut in butter. Toss in egg and vinegar lightly with fork. Start to gently work dough with hands to form discs, add ice water if necessary to bring dough together.

Apple Filling

This recipe comes from the 2007 Santa Cruz County Fair Best of Show award winner. So yeah, it seemed like a good place to start. While you are peeling and prepping the apples keep them in a bowl of cool salty water to prevent them from browning (another tip from Grandma).

8+ cups apples peeled, cored and sliced (approximately 12 small/med apples or 8 large)

1 ½ cups raw sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbs butter
3 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs milk
white sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a pie plate with half the crust rolled thin. Spread half of apples atop bottom crust. Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon and sprinkle half of dry mixture over apples. Place remaining apples in crust and sprinkle remaining dry mixture on top. Dot with butter and sprinkle brown sugar on top. Cover with top crust and pinch to seal. Brush top lightly with milk and dust with sugar. Place pie in oven with foil or baking sheet below to catch drippings. Bake for 15 minutes at 425, then lower heat to 350 and bake an additional 45-50 minutes. Cool (just a bit) and enjoy.

Notes on freezing:
This is my first time freezing pies, so I will have to report back in February about the results. Based on my web research I; froze pies unbaked; and froze the pies in pie plates lined with parchment paper (which will help me remove the pies from the plates for storage). The common recommendation was to use tapioca as a thickener, but I didn’t have tapioca, so instead stuck with the winning recipe that uses flour as a thickener, though this could make the pies “runny”. We shall see.

Camp Cookin’

Where o’ where have I been? Sadly, not keeping up with the Thrifty Kitchen!

During the last several weeks I learned many things about myself; one of which is that I cannot take care of two kids full time and adequately chronicle my cooking adventures.

I did however dream of an alternative technological future. Numerous times in the previous weeks I composed a post or recipe in my head only to be separated by distance and free time from my computer (and glasses – doh! I am going blind). What I needed was a telepathic link to my computer, a way to download my brainwaves, if you will. What do you think? Is it the future? Bluetooth turned brainwave?

But back to wondering, where have I been? We actually have been doing a bit of adventuring this summer, starting off with a couple nights camping at New Brighton State Beach in Santa Cruz. The highlights included Cole playing a seemingly endless game with our tent stakes, Lane bundled like an Eskimo, and creating a sand dude named “knock” who we gleefully knocked over shortly after he was created.

Before heading out I did some quick web searching for camp cooking suggestions. Reading a post from Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks about camp cooking led me to the Food & Wine website and a number of camp recipes, most of which we made. My favorite was a recipe for Corn Cake with Dried Cranberries. We thoroughly enjoyed two full recipes one morning for breakfast. I did make some modifications, below. It was kinda like a fuss-less pancake, and it tasted better too. Win-win for camping I would say.

Camping is a thrifty vacation option though a night’s stay costs at least $25, and reservations are insanely hard to get. I have to admit, I like to indulge a little on the food end while camping … I mean you surely aren’t indulging in many of the “typical” vacation accoutrements. This trip I packed in a cast-iron skillet, which we cooked every meal on. My inner river guide recoils at the amount of “stuff” you can bring car camping, but a good skillet is surely worth the space. Now the air mattress, I am still working on that one…

Corn Cake with Dried Cranberries ~ Modified

One cake will probably feed two people breakfast. Cole, Jon and I ate a double batch, though we are notoriously “big eaters”. This recipe has an increased amount of milk and doubles the amount of dried fruit compared to the F&W version. I also made a substitution of butter for oil which helped with the flavor ~ though of course don’t bother if it is too fussy to melt the butter on the camp stove! I also pre-packed all the dried ingredients in a ziplock bag before heading out … this way there wasn’t much measuring to do and we were only moments away from breakfast. Lets see what else ~ F&W recommends serving with butter and maple syrup. Hot with butter sans syrup was good with us. And yes, everything does taste better camping.

Servings: 2 modest appetites
Cost: ~$4
Time: 10 min prep, 12 min cooking, 22 min total

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ stone ground cornmeal
3 Tbls (packed) light brown sugar
Pinch salt
4 Tbls coarsely chopped dried cranberries (or try apricots)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
2 Tbls butter or vegetable oil
soft butter and (warm) maple syrup for serving

Whisk together dry ingredients and fruit before heading out and place into a ziplock bag. On morning of use, in a small bowl mix egg, milk and 1 tablespoon melted butter (or vegetable oil). Combine with dry ingredients, careful not to overmix.

In your favorite camp skillet, melt ½ tablespoon butter. Scrape batter into the skillet, spreading evenly. Cook over medium heat until, like a pancake, surface looks dry and bubbles have formed on the surface, about 5 minutes. Boldly flip with a spatula. Add remaining ½ tablespoon butter to pan, and cook another 5 minutes until cooked through and top springs back when pressed.

But really, is there such a thing as a “brainwave”?

Molasses Crinkles – What to save in case of fire?

With the summer heat most of us are not thinking of firing up the oven to make cookies, but the recent heat has gotten our family thinking about what is most precious to us. Cookies? You bet – along with all the memories of happiness they have inspired in the past and the possibility of their enjoyment into the future.


This sounds so philosophical, so let me back up. While down in Santa Cruz this last weekend - for my brother’s graduation from Junior High (Yeah Unkl Ty!) and father’s day - we were talking and reading about nearby fires in Bonny Doon . My mom heard a story of a man who stayed to protect his home after his family evacuated. In evaluating his options and preparing his strategy to protect the family homestead, he took the thoughtful measure of throwing the family silver into the swimming pool. This story absolutely captured our imaginations … and ignited numerous theories and speculation as to what our own strategy would be. What would we want to save?

After some thoughtful reflection, my mom confidently identified the item we should grab from the house in case of emergency. Her recipe box. It is just so perfect … So simple and packed full of more memories than any photo album or single treasure, and the best part is that if everything else burns, you still have the comfort of home and new memories to make with old favorites.

The one catch … not all of her favorite recipes are in the recipe box. Which is where I come in. One purpose of the Thrifty Kitchen (and one of my motivations for creating it) is as an online trove for all my favorite recipes. My own little recipe book was getting so full I was inspired to create an online cookbook of sorts. Now in case of fire our family favorites are safe … just in case the water proof box and swimming pool aren’t available at a moment’s notice.

This recipe for Molases Crinkles comes from my mom’s first childhood cookbook. The cookbook is wonderful, dogeared and loved by all of us. We tried to convince her it should be grabbed along with the recipe box, but alas this opened the door for confusion, so we kept it simple. These cookies are possibly my favorite ever - though I hesitate to commit – wonderful anytime of year, but especially around the holidays. So we have a while to wait. But just in case of fire, the recipe is safe here with us.

Molasses Crinkles

My mom has tried numerous variations on the original recipe to improve its healthiness. The winning combination is replacing the shortening with half butter and half Earth Balance (a butter substitute common at health food stores) and the flour with half wheat and half white. I have a little aversion to Earth Balance, and prefer the prior “healthy” version with some butter and some shortening (gasp!). This recipe makes a lot of cookies, so I love freezing half the dough in a log shape and defrosting it when a cooking craving strikes.

Servings: ~36 cookies
Cost: $4.50-$5 total, ~$0.12/cookie (MUCH cheaper than at the coffee shop!)
Time: 2 hours, 40 mins active

Adapted from Mom’s copy of Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls

1 cup butter
½ cup shortening
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
½ cup molasses
2 cups wheat flour
2 ½ cups white flour
4 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
½ cup white sugar

Cream the shortening, butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs and molasses and mix to incorporate. In a separate bowl whisk together flours, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon and ginger. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in one cup increments, mixing completely after each addition. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into balls the size of walnuts, and dip tops into a bowl filled with white sugar. Place dough balls onto greased baking sheet, three inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, just until set but not hard. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a rack to cool completely (or enjoy warm of course).

How to Hard-Boil an Egg

It has taken me 29 years to learn how to hard boil an egg – but today, alas, I boiled four beautiful hard boiled eggs. Victory. I think my days of cracked, mangled and protruding boiled eggs are over.

I remember looking through my mom’s recipes many moons ago and stumbling across a recipe card for ‘How to Boil Water’ … As the story goes the recipe, now a family secret to be sure, was given to my mom as a bridal shower gift. A must have for every new bride (or groom… or college student?). This basic recipe for hard boiled eggs, I propose, should accompany the matrimonial recipe bouquet. I wish I had been spared the years of miserable looking hard boiled eggs!

Jon and I were struck with sticker shock the other day when we purchased two dozen antibiotic/hormone free/organic/cage free eggs at 4.29/dozen (~$0.36/egg). Alas, it still makes for a thrifty snack when compared to packaged granola bars (~$1/bar). Happily for me, it did rekindle our conversation about a backyard chicken coop … someday.

Hey Bryn … now that I know how to hard-boil eggs can you teach me how to devil them?

Hard-Boiled Eggs

Good for so many things, like sliced in a salad or a sandwich. Also a thrifty snack at home (peeled over the sink and sprinkled with salt) or at the park.

Servings: Up to you
Cost: ~$.36/egg for eggs from “happy” hens
Time: 25-30 mins

Eggs
Water

Place eggs in the bottom of a saucepan. Fill with water to approximately one centimeter above eggs. Cover and bring to boil on stovetop. When water begins boiling turn off heat. Leave eggs covered on stovetop for an additional 15-20 minutes (varies depending on the size of the egg). Run eggs under cold water until eggs and water are cool. Crack, peel and enjoy.

My First Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb is beautiful. I had no idea. It was a joy to wash the long maroon and green striped stalks, pat them dry and cut the stalks lengthwise in preparation for these pies.

I think the seasons are moving by faster than I can keep up. Each month I am trying to experiment with a new ingredient (beet greens) or a spin on an old ingredient that is in season (asparagus). When I updated the last 'What's in Season' I knew rhubarb was this months' bird (so to speak). Jon and Cole found some rhubarb at the local farmers market for $3.99/lb, and with two pounds of rhubarb I made two yummy rhubarb pies. (I later spied rhubarb on sale at our local natural grocery for $2.99/lb and our local big retail grocery doesn't carry rhubarb even in season)

Finding the time to cook these days usually means spending the afternoon nap time in the kitchen instead of catching some zzzzzs. So depending on how exhausted I am, and how badly I want to cook something up, you will know where to find me. On Saturday the call of the kitchen won out and the pies were created. I did have a little mishap with my favorite pie dough recipe ... some overeager measuring of the shortening led to a very tender (and difficult to work with) pie crust. But alas, the pies, served warm with vanilla ice cream, were met with great applause and worth every lost zzzzz.

Rhubarb Pie

This recipe originated from Nancy's copy of the Complete American-Jewish Cookbook . When I told Jon I wanted to make a rhubarb pie, he immediately responded, "Oh, Nancy makes a wonderful rhubarb pie". It's so rewarding to chronicle these family favorites.

Servings: 8 good sized slices
Cost: $4/pie (based on $2.99/lb and pie dough from scratch)
Time: 1 hour total, 15 minutes active (this time does not include the pie dough)

2 eggs
3 cups rhubarb, diced
1 cup sugar
3 Tbls flour
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg
1/2 recipe plain pastry dough
1 Tbls butter or margarine

Preheat the oven to 425. Beat eggs with fork. Combine rhubarb, sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Add egg and mix well until all the rhubarb is equally coated. Place the rhubarb in a pastry lined pie plate. Cover the top with remaining rolled out pie dough. Dot the pastry with butter and place pie in oven for 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Nancy's Sweet Salad Dressing

I love my in-laws.

How rarely those words must be uttered, I know ...which makes me even more grateful. This last week they have been visiting, and I kid you not, it is the most relaxed I have been in months. Granted, I have taken a back seat in the kitchen ... and I mean I am sitting so far in the back of the bus I can't see the driver type of back seat. What is for breakfast, lunch and dinner tomorrow? I have no idea ~ but I know there is a plan and it will be delicious. I am on vacation in my own home. Unbelievable.

My one worry - how can I ever repay the kindness? A gift? Maybe. Flowers? This seams silly, as I would be the long term beneficiary as they don't travel well... The one thing I know I can do is pay their generosity forward. I hope to have the same opportunity to care for others. They have shown me how to do it with style, grace, ease and enjoyment. And, it gets better. I get to learn the "secrets" of the family's favorite eats, such as for Nancy's Sweet Salad Dressing.

One cost cutting measure we have employed is making our own salad dressing. Rarely (okay never) do I have time to make a salad specific dressing, so I am starting to make dressings ahead of time in saved salad dressing bottles. Not only is it economical, but it also feels good to pour my own dressing out of a nice glass bottle. This salad dressing is wonderfully sweet due to the addition of some maple syrup (the REAL stuff) and simple. We had it recently on an arugala, pecan and pear salad ... mmm, delicious.

Nancy's Sweet Salad Dressing

This dressing is best with the highest quality olive oil you can afford ... uh, which for us is the cheapest! All these ingredients can be varied to taste and what you have on hand, but here are the basics.

1 1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried or fresh herbs such as dill and/or thyme
1-2 Tbl maple syrup
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a salad dressing container with lid and shake vigorously. Taste dressing and adjust seasonings accordingly. We have kept this dressing at room temperature for two weeks and continued to use and enjoy it. Hope you will too...

Steel Cut Oats

I am back … or almost all back. But where, I ask myself, have I been?

Our little clan has been reeling with illness the last three weeks. Okay not to whine, but maybe just a little … two weeks of horrible cold/virus left me with the farewell gifts of a sinus infection/ruptured ear drum. After finally knocking the infection we got THE MOST contagious 24-hour stomache flu ever (thank you day care:). So there I was two mornings ago, having not eaten for over 24-hours and all I could think about was how wonderful a bowl of good’ol steel cut oats sounded.

One of our favorite breakfast meals is steel cut oats – a bulk oat that takes longer to cook than rolled oats but boasts a creamier texture. When I was working and/or in school I would make a big batch of steel cut oats on Sunday night and we would reheat bowls in the microwave for a simple, fast and nutritious weekday breakfast. Another plus for the steel cut oat: it goes great with lots of additions (chocolate chips! – I am such a junkie). Despite this awesome convenience, they really are best the day-of, though you need to give yourself at least 45 minutes from starting the water to sitting down to eat.

I have had some good conversations with folks lately about ideas for how to be thrifty in the kitchen - a universal theme is cooking more with bulk grains. This is definitely an area of my cooking repertoire I am eager to expand upon and hope there will be many future posts sharing recipes and stories from the bulk grain arena. Please, let me know if you have any ideas or favorites to share!

Steel Cut Oats

Servings: 5
Cost: ~$1 (CHEAP!)
Time: 5 minutes active, 45 minutes total

6 cups water
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups steel-cut oats

Boil the water in a medium size soup or sauce pan. Add the salt and oats. Lower the heat and allow the oats to barely simmer … bubbling like the La Brea Tar Pits ... for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the oats are desired consistency.

The Compost Chronicles – Part I

I am by no means a compost expert… In fact, without Unkl K’s initiative I am sure we still would not have a composting system. I was totally hung-up on this idea that we needed a well constructed, wooden, three-tiered compost system. Well, we simplified – and the moral of the story is that you too can easily compost your kitchen scraps and transform them into “black gold”.

We took a clue from my mom, the owner of an inspiring garden and a thriving and simple compost system. Her compost, and now ours, starts with a bottomless garbage can set approximately four inches into the ground. Enter Unkl K: within 15 minutes he sawed off the bottom of a plastic garbage can and buried it in the ground. Thank the stars for people who “just do stuff”!

So now we are collecting our green waste in a container under the sink and have been happily composting for the last 10-weeks. We asked my mom to take a look at our “system” and she touted its benefits: no need to “turn” the layers AND it is rodent proof. What (dumb) luck – two things we most definitely wanted and most awesomely ended up with.

We haven’t yet harvested our compost, which probably won't be for another three months or so ... the simplicity of this approach means it takes longer for everything to decompose. We also have not added additional bins to our system, which we plan to do when our first bin fills up. So stay tuned for more posts on this topic – including tips from Unkl K’s doggy-doo composting system – which totally works! As Cole would say with hands clapping: “Yay Unkl K!”

Composting Notes and Tips

Servings: 32 gallons
Cost: ~ $15 for the garbage can
Time: 15-20 mins to create a bottomless bin and dig a hole

· Alternate layers of wet and dry waste
· Examples of wet waste include veggie scraps from the kitchen, pulled garden weeds, egg shells and coffee grounds.
· Examples of dry waste include dead leaves, dried grass, straw, sawdust and newspaper.
· The moisture of the compost should be like a “damp sponge” – if it seems to dry add more wet waste, if it seems to wet add more dry waste.
· The compost should not smell. If you smell it (without sticking your nose down into it), it is likely too wet, so add more dry waste.
· Use newspaper torn into strips as “dry waste” to absorb excess moisture.
· DO NOT put meat, oils (no salad scraps with dressing!) or dairy products into the compost
· We have been light on dry waste, so we started a pile of pulled weeds and grass adjacent to the compost. Once dried we add them as dry waste.