Tip- Cinnamon Coffee

Want delicious cinnamon coffee with out the cloying sweetness of those syrups? And it never works to just mix in a dash of cinnamon at the end because the spice is too oily so it just sits on top and forms a weird skin.

Tip: Add a few shakes of cinnamon to the grounds before you brew.  Deeelish!

 

Tip- Have Extra Pumpkin?

You know what I’m talking about, you buy the extra large can of pumpkin because it’s on sale and you are at Costco and heck, who doesn’t need a gallon!?!  Then you end up with load of extra pumpkin to use- what do you do?

Freeze it!  I divide up the remainder that I do not use into one cup portions in plastic zip lock bags.  I squeeze out as much air as possible and then smoosh it flat and stick it in the freezer.  When you defrost it is slightly watery but I’ve used it in many baked goods with no issue.

 

 

Home Made Granola

Hi- remember me? Yes I know I know.  I can tell by the look on your face that you are upset with me.  I am sorry.  I promise to do better.

Wanna hear about my granola?

I thought so.

So, I love granola but it can be one of those fake healthy things.  Most of the time while it is made with healthy ingredients it tends to have a boat load of calories.  If you read a box of granola and actually portion out that 1/2 cup, you are not getting much.  Therefore I have steered clear of it at least trying to do my part in not ingesting an entire day’s worth of calories at breakfast.

I found this recipe that while not sugar free to be sure, it does have a lot less sugar than your average honey bear.  I don’t know the calorie counts on this but once you see the massive amount of granola that this makes,  you will not feel bad about the 1/4 cup of canola oil. The link to the orginal post has perty pictures and extras, I recommend checking it out but full recipe below:

Strawberry Banana Granola

1 or 2 bananas
1 cup strawberries
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup water
½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
several gratings of nutmeg (optional)
2½ pounds rolled oats
½ cup wheat bran
½  cup flax seed
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1 cup almonds, sliced, slivered, or roughly chopped
1-1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries

Combine the bananas, strawberries, sugar, honey, oil, water, cinnamon and nutmeg in a blender and blend till thoroughly pureed.

Combine the remaining ingredients except for the dried fruit and mix with your hands till the ingredients are evenly distributed. Pour the fruit sauce over the oat mixture and stir till it’s all evenly mixed.  Bake for 45-60 minutes at 300 F., stirring every 15 minutes or so.

When the mixture has cooled, add the dried fruit and store in an airtight container.  Excellent with homemade yogurt.  Yield: Plenty! Can be halved.

A couple of things to note- when they say “Plenty!” NOT KIDDING.  I halved this and still came out with tons.  Also, I would ramp up the spices just a bit and maybe even add a pinch or two of salt to bring out the sweet.  Finally, I roasted this in two big cheapy tin foil roaster pans and it worked really well.   If you put this all in one pan it’s probably just going to steam and not get crunchy, just watch it a little closer when in two pans so you don’t burn it.

So it’s great, not too sweet and I can add a little extra fresh honey if I like.  Of course following a recipe is just torture for me so now I want to alter it.  I am going to try to substitute pumpkin for the strawberry banana part to give it a fall flair and maybe even add in some pumpkin seeds.

Any other theme ideas?  Christmas spices or “egg nog” granola.  Could be potential there!

 

So, it’s offically fall

Or at least it’s supposed to be.  I am not sure that 38 degrees really counts as fall but I will take what I can get.  Anyway, it’s gotten cold which has re-vamped my desire to get in the kitchen.  Within the last week or so the following has been produced: pumpkin bread, granola, roasted chicken, braised cabbage and veggies, chicken pot pie, chicken stir fry (see you gotta use up that roasted chicken) and pumpkin muffins.  WHEW!

So, what have you been up to?

 

I know, I know

I’ve been really bad! Sorry not more new exciting stuff going on here. My school is kickin into high gear and there are just not enough hours in the day. But SOON I will be attempting my first try at making homemade granola that is a little healthier (aka less sugar) As soon as that goes down you guys are totally the first to know.

 

The County Fair Food- a Slice of Nostalgia

I had the luxury of getting to go home this last weekend right over the Cuming County Fair time.  As soon as I booked my trip I started reminiscing about some of the great memories I have from the fair and one of them (of course) is the food.  On Friday night we headed into town ready for some dinner followed by tractor pull.  Make fun of tractor pulls and I will kick your ass, they totally rock and anytime you strap a jet engine onto something slightly resembling a tractor chassis only good fun can come of that.  We wandered around the barns for a while looking at livestock, the local school art submissions and the open exhibits of quilts, flowers and preserves.  We decided it was time to dine and I knew exactly what I was going for: the pork burger. It’s not fancy but for some reason I crave these suckers.  Served up by the local pork producers stand, it’s simply served on a white bread bun and that’s it. The table off to the side has diced onions and some pickles and some sweet BBQ to top with.  Behold:

uh YUM!

And yes, that is a pork burger with a side of brat.  Hee hee.

Check out these prices! I think all three of us had dinner for $8.

And of course to go with it a side of fresh squeezed lemonade from the FFA stand for $2.

After the feast we grabbed our cooler of beer and headed off to the pull. It was a  good fair indeed.

 

Cherry Vodka Apricot Basil Cocktail

I had infused some vodka with Michigan cherries a couple of weeks ago.  Now, admittedly I’m no “mixologist” (yes I put that word in quotes. What certifies someone as a mixologist? I want to know.) Anyway, today before heading to the baseball game in the steam bath heat, I decided I wanted a cocktail.  I shook up some of the vodka, apricot juice and a leaf of basil in a shaker and poured it into a chilled martini glass.  Yum!

I also made some blueberry vodka as well.  I’m thinking some minced ginger and a splash of grapefruit.  I’ll let you know how it turns out!  Any other ideas?

 

Straight from Mom’s Kitchen

So I’m heading back home in a couple of weeks and am super excited.  Not only do I get to see my family and some friends, it’s County Fair time (complete with a totally kick ass tractor pull), the lake water might finally be warm enough and mom will make my favorite foods.  What will I request?

First and foremost, fried chicken.  Soooooo gooooood.  That will come with corn on the cob and maybe potato salad if I’m lucky.  All homemade of course.  In the winter this would be served with mashed potatoes and corn with homemade gravy.  The corn goes on top of the potatoes, and gravy all over everything.   I dated a guy once who said he had never had homemade fried chicken and I couldn’t imagine how sad that must have made his soul.

Also, steak.  I come from beef country.  In fact at one point the county I’m from produced the highest amount of beef in the country but that probably has changed due to large scale factory farms in California and the like.  Anyway, back to my steak.  At the lake, grilled with a few dashes of Graybeals steak seasoning.  That’s it.  Just steak.  It’s actually the appetizer to the rest of the meal. See in the picture below the one off to the side, that’s the appetizer one while the rest cooks. Sweet!

Beautiful steaks and burgers at the Lake at home. All the meat is from our friends cattle.

Finally, pasta.  If we have time we will make fresh, homemade pasta.  It’s fun, easy when you have a) the space and b) more than one person.  It doesn’t matter the sauce, probably something light and easy but the fresh pasta is amazing.

So what do you crave when you go home? Anything special that no many times you try to make it it’s never going to be the same as when mom makes it?

 

Harvestime Value Challenge

Anyone who knows me knows I can’t stop talking about my grocery store.  It’s an independently owned store called Harvestime Foods here in Chicago.  When I first started going it was about half the size.  In the last couple of years they have expanded the space and it’s really heavenly.  So today I am going to give you my list receipt from this morning and you can do your own value challenge.  If you bought the same stuff, what would the price be at your store.  Now, this is not Whole Foods or a farmers market.  These items are not necessarily organic or local.  I love things that are local and organic, don’t get me wrong- but in these times value is also important to me so that’s what this is all about.

Receipt

1 32 oz container of Dannon Lowfat Yogurt
1 roll paper towels
1/2 Gallon 2% milk
1 liter pink grapefruit nectar
1 green pepper
2 jalapeno peppers
3 plum tomatoes
2 weird Dandy plums ?  we’ll talk more about those later
4 bananas

1 bag spinach
1 crown broccoli
1 lb Rainier cherries
1 box rotini pasta
1 can black beans
1 container of blueberries (not the super small one- what size is that?)
1 container of strawberries ( the double size of the blueberries)
1 big carrot
1 head cauliflower
4 ginormo peaches
1 large white onion
1 can tuna
1 package of those sandwich thin bread thingys that are AWESOME
1 bundle of green onions
1 bundle of cilantro
2 limes

Ok, guess how much.  $33.49.   Thirty three dollars and forty nine cents.  Now the paper towels, yogurt and stuff like that I’m sure are not priced that much differently, in fact I’m sure Jewel or Dominic’s has those on sale more often for less.  But the produce- lordy the produce.  Each jalapeno was 8 cents.  The Rainier cherries- $1.95.  Green onions 33 cents.

So…. do you have a favorite spot too? Do you have your own special Harvestime Foods?

Oh the beautiful bounty of Harvestime- all $33.49 of it

 

Lemon Roasted Chicken

Well, it’s the middle of July and typically this time of year I would never dream of cranking on the oven to roast a chicken.  But today, like yesterday was about 65 degrees, cloudy with a stiff breeze.  I am not complaining, although I would like to start to be able to wear some of my summer dresses and not sweaters to afternoon baseball games but I digress.

So I decided to roast up a whole chicken.  I have to say, I don’t know why people do this more.  It could be the time factor. It could also be the fact that most grocery stores you go into these days have rotisserie roasted chickens all done up and ready to grab in the deli which are totally good. But, I have to say, if you have a couple of hours it’s really worth it and NOT DIFFICULT. I’m not kidding.  Totally easy.

Use the KISS method.  Keep it Simple Stupid.  Rinse off the chicken under some cold water and then don’t forget to violate it a bit and take out the baggie of innards hiding inside.  If you forget to remove this NOT GOOD.  Melty plasticy chicken is gross and not particularly edible.  After that a sprinkle of salt, pepper and olive oil and if you want you can stop there, really that’s all you need.  Today I had an onion, garlic and lemon so I chunked them all up and stuffed some inside and around.

In the oven at 375 for about an hour to an hour and a half.  Check the deepest part of the thigh with your meat thermometer for 175.  I also check by pricking it and if the juices run clear it’s done.  The third method is wiggle the leg a bit, it should give which would also mean it’s done.

Result crispy skin, moist meat and a delicious meal.  I accompanied mine with an arugula and roasted beet salad.  Happy summer roasted chicken Sunday indeed!

Lemon Roasted chicken