Refrigerated Doughs

Ahhh... the world of refrigerated doughs.  I have experimented in the past with different doughs from the freezer and fridge sections in the grocery store with sad results.  I used to think it was me, but I have come to realize that it is likely the ingredients and the way the dough was processed.  But I'm always up for a new baking adventure, so I saw a new brand in the grocery store and went for it.

Wewalka makes four types of doughs that are rolled in parchment paper and sold in colorful tubes -- croissant, puff pastry, bistro pizza, and family-style pizza.  We tried the croissant and puff pastry dough over the last two days.

Because my children are 2 and 4, the first meal involved nitrate-free beef hot dogs "pigs in a blanket"-style.  I cooked the hot dogs completely, then rolled them in the dough triangles.  For best results, cool the cooked hot dogs before wrapping and don't take the dough out of the fridge til you are absolutely ready to wrap.  Doughs like these depend on the butter in the dough to make the flaky layers, so putting super hot meat in there or leaving it out to get warm will change the texture, as the butter will melt.

They baked at 350 for about 15 minutes and came out perfect!  I wish I had thought to take a picture. Perfectly puffed, golden brown, and the triangles were just the right size to wrap a whole hot dog. And the dough TASTES great!  No rubberiness or chemical aftertaste.  One package has 6 croissant triangles, for 6 pigs in a blanket.

Dinner the next night was perfectly imagined by my husband and perfectly timed for the Outlander premier last night.  We took the meat mixture from my cottage pie and wrapped it in the puff pastry dough.  High fives for that idea.  Same lessons apply from the croissants -- protect the butter in the dough by keeping it cold til ready to use, and cool the meat before loading up the dough.  We wrapped it in a log shape, sealing seams with an egg wash, then Eric tenderly egg washed the whole thing.

It baked at 425 for 18 minutes, and when I went to pull it out of the oven, I swooned.

Look at this brown beauty!  I could hardly wait to slice into it!  So I did -- with a serrated knife, so as not to mangle it:

Amazing.  In hindsight, I could have stuffed all the meat mix in there -- we conservatively tried with half, to make sure the dough would close.  There's totally room for more in there.  Good thing I have one more roll of croissant dough!  And I was so excited to bake this, I forgot the cheese.  When have I ever forgot the cheese??  So the next one gets cheese.

So we celebrated the Outlander premier festively with this!  Yay to Outlander being back on TV... gives me something to look forward to every week.

Chocolate Chip Gelato

One of the things I have in the kitchen that I don't use as often as I should is my KitchenAid ice cream bowl.  It's a bowl that fits on your mixer, which you freeze a day ahead of time and then mix ice cream in.  It has a special ice cream paddle attachment that comes with it and a recipe book.

Home-made ice cream is great because you get to control the quality of the ingredients and pick your mix-ins.  The first time we used the bowl, Eric made amazing (and organic!) pumpkin pecan ice cream that we enjoyed with marshmallow topping.  YUM.  I think we had it in July or August, so we were nowhere near pumpkin time (I blame pregnancy cravings).

Tonight I made simple chocolate chip gelato.  Gelato is a creamier version of ice cream -- denser because less air is whipped into it.  The higher fat content with the added cream is where the creaminess comes from.  It's rich and delicious!  All this required was milk, cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips.  As usual, I like to use organic ingredients where possible.  I used this recipe from Allrecipes, then added about a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a cup of chocolate chips at mixing time.

The gelato base is cooked, cooled for 3-4 hours in the fridge, and then added to the frozen ice cream bowl for mixing.  After 20-25 minutes of slow stirring, the gelato is finished.  It has a soft-serve consistency, and if you're impatient, you can totally eat it now.  However, if you can wait about 6-24 hours, put the whole mixing bowl back in the freezer for firmer gelato.

The eggs and vanilla gave an overall effect of french vanilla ice cream, which I love, but some people may not love.  I'll have to experiment with other recipes to find one that doesn't taste so much of eggs.  And likely involving hazelnuts.  But in the meantime, I have home-made chocolate chip gelato.  Buon appetito!

Blueberry Super Smoothie

1/2 cup fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
1/2 banana
1/4 cup creamed coconut
1/4 cup pureed sweet potato
about 2 cups ice
cold water as needed

Blend all ingredients until smooth and ice is completely crushed.  Add water 2 tablespoons at a time for easier blending.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

I am pretty good at baking a lot of things, but biscuits from scratch is not one of them!  I watched a good tutorial recently about making cut out biscuits, which was very enlightening, but I was still afraid to try it.  Then I came across a wonderful drop biscuit recipe from Outlander Kitchen and thought, it seems so simple... I could probably do this.

I followed her recipe exactly, using 2 cups all-purpose flour instead of 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup cake flour.  I also clabbered whole milk with lemon juice instead of using buttermilk.  This is also the first time I put my cast iron griddle pan in the oven and probably the first time I've ever baked anything at 475 degrees F.

Note that my pan has ridges in it -- but it made no difference.  The biscuits baked PERFECTLY and did not stick one bit.

After baking -- minus one because Eric had to taste-test right out of the oven.  He was bowled over! Perfect, tender, buttery, restaurant-quality biscuits.  It was a great side for a beef stew I made in the crock pot.

Mrs. Bug's Buttermilk Drop Biscuits from "The Fiery Cross" via Outlander Kitchen

Eeleen's Hummus

My great grandmother's favorite hummus recipe:

1 15oz can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
3 Tbsp plain yogurt
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1 clove minced garlic
1 green onion, chopped fine

Process beans and sesame seeds til smooth.  Add all other ingredients and process again til smooth. Serve on crackers or as dip for vegetables.

Laundry room remodel

Two years ago I started my laundry room remodel.  We took out the lame wire storage shelf over the washer and dryer to put in oak stock cabinets from Home Depot.  We bought a matching 24" sink cabinet for a new stainless, undermount sink, and a decent American Standard faucet with the pull-down sprayer.  This is all to coordinate with the kitchen, where we had black galaxy granite counters installed, a large undermount single bowl 18-gauge stainless sink, and a Moen touchless faucet with a pull-down sprayer.

I had the best of intentions, but we did not get around to installing the sink cabinet and the fancy new sink.  They have been sitting in the garage for years now, and the gross, white, fiberglass laundry sink has been offending my eyes every day.

Well now the house is going up for sale, so the time to complete the project is now.  I would crumble with embarrassment for anyone to see my laundry room with the filthy sink as it is now.  So with a couple tools and parts in hand, we are ready to do this!

The only difficult part of this is building a 24" countertop for the sink to mount to. I would have cut down a stock piece from home depot that was already laminated, but it was almost $80, and I had the black laminate sheet in the garage ready to go.  So we bought some 3/4" MDF for $15, adhesive, and some carbide bits for our router.

At home, I cut a 24" piece of MDF for the counter and a 5.5"X24" piece for a backsplash.  I screwed the two pieces together.  I though about how the edges would be laminated and though that I wouldn't be able to cut such slim pieces of laminate with my table saw, so instead I banded them with 3/4" birch hot melt edge veneer, which I will paint matte black to match the laminate.  This is a wood veneer tape with heat-activated glue on the other side.  It can be heated in place with a standard iron.  It was incredibly easy to do!  After it was applied, I filed the edges and corners with a straight file and it looked SHARP.  At this point I was impressed with myself.

Til this point, I was thinking of taking the easy way out and doing a drop-in sink instead of undermount.  But I was feeling super confident after the veneer tape, so I thought, I can do this!  Let's do undermount!  So that means cutting a different sink opening with a very even, clean cut, and laminating the interior edge.  I figured between my jigsaw and router I could do this.  After it's cut, a thin piece of laminate covers the whole edge, then the top of the sink is laminated.  The final sink cut out in the laminate is done with a flush trim router bit with a bearing on it to follow the interior edge.

Well, let me tell you.  I have the wrong jigsaw blade and the wrong router bit to cut the MDF.  After more than an hour, I only finished half of the sink cut out and it was nerve-wracking the whole time. The jigsaw blade kept falling out and the router bit chewed the edge.  I probably inhaled a 1/4 pound of made-in-China MDF dust (next time -- mask).  Seeing as it's Easter Sunday, I'm waiting for tomorrow to get the right blade and bit to finish the sink cut out.

Overall, this may have been easier if I went with plywood over the MDF, but this is my first countertop, so I guess you live and you learn.  Hopefully with the right tools, the rest of this will be easy and we get the sink finished before anyone comes to look at the house!

*Cut out sink hole and faucet hole
*Laminate interior edge of sink
*Laminate top of counter and backsplash
*File all edges
*Paint veneer trim black and seal with matte sealer
*Mount sink under the counter with clear silicone and screwed brackets
*Liquid nail the countertop to sink cabinet
*Install faucet
*Make sure all plumbing connections are correct
*Caulk with clear silicone at backsplash joint and sink juncture

Basil Spinach Cashew Pesto

I love fresh basil, olive oil, garlic, and cheese.  These things when combined with spinach, cashews, and salt, make the most delicious pesto.  So quick and so fresh!  This makes enough for two or three portions.  You can easily double this for a larger family.

3 oz of fresh greens like basil and spinach

1/4 cup unsalted cashews

1/4 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 tsp salt

Notes:  

*You can use other fresh greens like kale and chard.  Do not use dried.

*You can use other nuts like pine nuts or almonds.

*You can sometimes substitute cheeses, like another hard Italian cheese.  I used a shredded Italian 6 cheese blend (not technically all hard cheeses) with great results.

*The best olive oil is cold-pressed, non-GMO types sold in dark bottles.  After you have the good stuff, other olive oils will taste cheap with a bad aftertaste.  It's worth it to try the good stuff.

*I almost always use pink Himalayan salt for the extra minerals.

The easiest way to mix this up is in a food processor.  Just throw everything in, and in under 30 seconds you will have perfect pesto.  A blender could work in a pinch -- just pause and scrape down the sides every few pulses to be sure all ingredients get chopped and blended.

I like to eat this over fresh pasta with grilled chicken.  This would also be great on flatbread with fresh mozzarella slices and sliced Roma tomatoes and a balsamic drizzle.