Cleaning out the fridge

Put 'em Up! Fruit

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Turkey day TreaTs!

Put 'em Up! Fruit

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Cranberry Quince Preserves &

Filled Crêpes

Welcome to the first of a few recipes that feature the fruit Quince.  I spent many hours looking for the beautifully fragrant fruit and thanks to our hometown Kowalski's I found the hard to find fruit.

This pear/apple like fruit softens up within 25 minutes and because of the very high pectin levels, the preserve set incredibly fast.  To finish up this pairing, making the crêpes was a fun treat on Thanksgiving morning because I made them with my dad.  The flavors were really good, but the experience of this recipe was awesome.

Frozen Berries &

Double Berry Pie

Four different types of berries were piled high in my freeze for months, as I was waiting to make this dessert until Thanksgiving; and the wait was worth it.  It made a great holiday addition to the dessert table, right next to the mini cheesecakes (see below) and homemade caramels.  This pie was tart due to the ratio of cranberries over the other berries: raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries; but with the addition of fresh, sweet whipped cream it was fantastic.  

Side note: my dad topped with the sweetened cream cheese and raved about it, I didn't try it thought.

Pear and Honey Preserves &

Mini Pear and Walnut Cheesecakes

These were one of those recipes that I put off continually because they seemed time consuming; but I was missing out!  These little bits did take a little bit of time to prepare and set up, but not difficult to do at all.  I'd love to try a full flavor berry jam, as I think that might make them pop a little more.

Quine Syrup &

Quince Kiss Cocktail

Sweet Sweet Sweet!  Tasty if you looking for a sugar shock.  Perhaps a chardonnay over a pinot grigio would have been a better route with this recipe.

COOK ON!

WIN or LOSE...Cook on!

Put 'em Up! Fruit

8 of 171 recipes...

63 to go...

I've enjoyed experimenting in my kitchen with the recipes out of this book, and I'm very thankful for all the wonderful dishes that we've been able to indulge and savor.  I began to write little blurbs for all the following recipes and deleted them because none of them were positive or constructive; rather than explain in detail that what I didn't like and only write a little sentence of what I didn't enjoy.

Grapefruit Sections in Lavender Syrup &

Vanilla Custard

The vanilla custard was yummy and stayed in fridge for a couple days and was still just as yummy as the first day.

 Maraschino Cherries &

Momma's Manhattan

Cherry infused vodka is the final product from the maraschino cherries recipe and the vodka mixed with soda water is outstanding.  The cherries reminded me of a wapatui from high school.  I have a lot of vodka leftover, please share any yummy recipes.

Peach BBQ Mop &

Sticky Ribs

The 'low & slow' method used to cook these ribs made them ultra tender.  

Berry Apple Leather &

Stained Glass Cookies

The fruit leather reminded me of a fruit roll-up.  They were a hit with the boys in the house.

Cook on!

Who's hungry?

Put 'em Up! Fruit

4 of 171 recipes...

71 to go...

As this project nears the end, I'm taking great pleasure in paper clipping the sections closed.  Each of these recipes are the last recipes in these respective sections.  I have six paper clips in my book of cooks; and will keep cooking.  If you'd like to join me on a Sunday or Monday (generally) and eat to your heart's content; please join me.  We have food flooding our refrigerator.  Thank you...

...and now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Black Bean Panini with 

Tomato Chutney

The recipe for the tomato chutney was simple and straight forward; add all ingredients in a pot and simmer for 30 mins (my only adjustment: I x-ed out the mustard seeds because, through this journey, I've learned that I don't enjoy them).  The panini was super tasty, especially with some shaved ham squished in there.  
There is leftover chutney, and I'll either use it like salsa or make some more paninis for the car ride up to see my pops; either way this stuff will NOT go to waste!

Peel and Pip Pectin &
Farmstead Cheese Wrap with Earl Grey Jelly

Holy hell people, please learn from my mistake...secure your jelly bag well!!  Otherwise a huge, BIG, monstrous mess will be all over your walls, ceiling, and cupboards when the bag plops into you pectin below it!!  My ceiling is now clean, however it has spots of a beautiful tint of red apple.  Hopefully you've learned a thing or two from this episode of D.A.S.H.

Because of my little issue, I yielded only two cups of pectin rather than four; and for that I could only make the earl grey jelly rather than that AND herb jelly (a similar jelly that had thyme and wine in it; but because I don't like thyme, I'm okay with this).  
I was surprised that I already had all the ingredients for the farmstead wrap from past recipes; this has been a rarity.  The wrap was ultra simple to make, however while making the wrap I noticed that I probably overcooked the earl grey jelly by a couple minutes.  It was a little extra stiff than wanted or expected.  Regardless there was good flavor from the tea to the jelly which complimented the cheese and greens nicely. 

The app, entree, and de55ert...

Put 'em Up! Fruit

6 of 171 recipes...

75 to go...

Quick Rhubarb Jam &
Skillet Cornbread with Rhubarb Orange Sauce

Rhubarb + sugar = greatness!!  'nough said, right?  
No!  I'd like to take this time to give a big shout out to my friend, Susan, for gifting me her stoneware that, coincidentally, contained cornbread from our BACON party we hosted back in August.   Thank you!
Now time to critique the recipes.  Jam was awesome.  The cornbread was a tad bit dense, but I'm a sucker for cornbread regardless.  I'll make this again cornbread again, however I'll be adding a little jazz and pazazz to it next time.

Whole Canned Tomatoes &
Quick Marinara

Yesterday I made a recipe that called for me to blanch some tomatoes, similar to this recipe;  I now know how to properly do it, unlike how I did it for this recipe.  Canning these tomatoes was tough because I didn't follow the directions the first time.  Lesson learned!
A recipe for marinara is great, sadly there was no amazing recipe to use the marinara so I got creative by adding some chorizo & bell peppers which was a home run mix.  Unfortunately the quinoa pasta that I made to go with it topped with blue cheese was edible but not good.  For leftovers, I used this mix and made a breakfast burrito...SO GOOD!

Limoncello & 
Lemon Pepper Martini

When my girls and I were in Italy together, Limoncello was enjoyed on a daily basis with dinner.  I was excited to make this for that reason, but I had a feeling that I might not enjoy this because I didn't care for it in Italy either; I was an odd ball and thought it tasted & smelled like floor cleaner.  My opinion hasn't changed.  But the process was pretty cool.  I sealed a jar air tight, suspending the lemons over everclear for six months (that's rihgt, I started this one in April) creating a greenhouse effect; which gave me a concentrated lemon flavor liquor.  Add in some sugar and water, and it's it.
Shayne drank it, but I don't think he enjoyed it though.   

THANK YOU!

'JUST DO IT'

Put 'em Up! Fruit

6 of 171 recipes...

81 to go...

Savory Cranberry Relish &
Blue Cheese Biscuits

Thanks to my journey with this book, I now know that I'm not the biggest fan of mixing mustard seeds with fruit based relishes; however, after the flavor settled on my palate, the relish and biscuits complimented each other very well.  Everything was super easy to make, especially the biscuits; which were not as fluffy and moist as I thought they were going to be, but still tasty.  My boyfriend, Shayne, didn't share the same opinion.  He absolutely loved every minute eating this stuff, even the leftovers were enjoyed.

Avalanche Sauce &
Fish Poached in Tomato Sauce

Using our new and exciting stainless steal food mill to crush the oven roasted tomatoes was less eventful, but the product was yummy and healthy; the ONLY healthy recipe in this book without sugar.  Within twenty minutes: vegetables were sauteed, tomato sauce has thickened, and the tilapia was poached.  Very unsure about this dish, Shayne and I plopped our butts on the couch where we found out that Shayne likes fish and I was on the fence.  After a few bites, it eventually grew on me, but it wasn't exciting.

Rhubarb Ginger Cordial & 
Rhubarb Gimlet

WOW!!  Rhubarb ginger cordial is a fantasy way of describing infused vodka.  I don't care what name it's given because this stuff is smooth and tasty.  'WOW' is the first word I thought to myself when I sampled the cordial after weeks sitting and infusing in the fridge (recipe only calls for one week, but I didn't get to this stuff until a couple weeks later).
The 'USE IT UP!' recipe is a rhubarb gimlet that completely washed out the amazing flavor of the outstanding cordial I waited weeks to try.  With a 1/2 ounce of lemon juice, this cocktail tasted like floor cleaner to me.  Working with simplicity, Shayne and I mixed the remaining (all of it) cordial with orange flavored soda water and that was dreamy.

THANK YOU!

I'll CURRY you to the END

Put 'em Up! Fruit

8 of 171 recipes...

87 to go...

There is under two months to complete my 2014 New Year's resolution (which, if you just joined the show, is to complete all the recipes in Put 'em Up! Fruit), and I have sadly come to the realization that I won't be able to finish all the recipes in this book due to  my lack of research of when certain fruits were in season.  I could use frozen fruit for some of the recipes, but there is one fruit that has me stumped.  QUINCE, I can't find this fruit anywhere.  If someone can help me, I'm open for any ideas.

To get as close as I can to triumph over a book that has simply taught me how to cook, I'll keep cooking on...

I'm clustering recipes together again because I'd rather keep cooking than writing to finish this project.

Pear and Prune Compote & 

Turkey Curry

In two words: HELL YES.  There are a couple home runs in this book thus far; both of these recipes separately are outstanding.  I mixed the pear and prune compote with yogurt this morning and I had curry leftovers for dinner tonight for dinner; but together the mix of flavors when hot danced on my pallet like Romeo and Juliet would have.

Pears Poached in Wine & 

Hearty Greens with Poached Pears

I'm a wine-o and I enjoy my fruit, though I wasn't sure how this recipe would turn out.  With my b.s. radar on high, I made a beautiful salad with a homemade vinaigrette, blue cheese, and toasted pecans (rather than toasted walnuts, per the recipe, because the pecans were on hand) paired with a amazing flavor of arugula and poached pears.  This salad was awesome.
  

Peach Melba Compote & 

English Meringues

Hello sugar, topped with sugar, served with a side of sugar.  This recipes was overly sweet and hard to eat because it was so stinkin sweet.  They are both good separately, but together the level of sweetness was too much for me.

Berry Jelly & 

Berry Vinaigrette

The berry jelly takes some time to prepare because you have to wait for the berries to drain; and for that, I expected this stuff to be awesome and sadly it fell short.  I had the recipe for the 'Use it Up' vinaigrette, but I wanted something special to add the vinaigrette to rather than building my own salad.  Overall, the mix was tasty; I make a damn good salad.

THANK YOU!

Well-rounded DINNER

Put 'em Up! Fruit

4 of 171 recipes...

95 to go...

Apple Cider & Braised Bangers

Bangers?  What is that?  Turns out it's a delicious pub style dish that is quick and easy to make and feeds the masses with ease.  Traditionally English sausage links and mashed potatoes are used to make this recipe happen, however I used un-cased sausage and baked potato wedges (not reading the recipe thoroughly is my thing).  Regardless, it's potatoes and sausage made with apple cider gravy.  

A recipe with many winning qualities.  I might not go through the work of shredding, cooking, and mashing the apples to get the fresh apple cider to make this recipe again; but I will make bangers in the future.  

Having cooked for my roommate and myself; his only suggestion is to use a spicier sausage to identify the sausage over the sweet gravy.  I don't do spicy often but I would agree in this case. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas Cordial & Boozy Parfaits

Also known as Rumtopf, this cordial is meant to be a mixture of all harvest fruits that are added as they ripen through out the year; then at the end of the year, you enjoy the fruits of your labor.  My crop of fruit is non-existent, so I went to the market when grapes and strawberries were in season and made this very potent concoction of fruit infused Bacardi 151 rum.

With some fresh whipped cream and vanilla bean ice cream topped with the fruit that soaked in 151 for six months; roomie and I enjoy this dessert.  Wooowa!  I was good, but it was strong.  Since I have leftovers, I'll make this again; up until I run out.  I don't drink or buy 151 as it's brewed to make an impact.  We did enjoy it though.

Chick of the pea?

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2 of 171 recipes...

99 to go...

Braised Chickpeas

with Lemon Cranberry Chutney

A lot of work went into making this dish: chopping and preparing the chutney (six months ago), chopping and preparing the braised chickpeas, and then the rice.  The rice was AWESOME; I made it with chicken broth in a pressure cooker.  The braised chickpeas were OKAY; I'd make this again but without a few of the ingredients.  The lemon cranberry chutney was AWFUL.  In my not so professional opinion, the sweet, tangy, mustard flavors didn't mix well.  With an almost marmalade texture, it kind of slopped out of the jar.

While waiting for the braised chickpeas to simmer for an hour or so, I took a heaping spoon full of the chutney that I've been excited for for months; and from that point on, I was disappointed and greatly hoped the main dish didn't taste as bad as the chutney, especially since the recipe made a lot of food!  My favorite part of this dish was the rice topped with cilantro.  If I were grading recipes, this one gets an F!!  

Two things I gain from this recipe:

1) I learned that I really enjoy chickpeas straight out of the can.  YUMMY!

2) a mile marker of less than a triple digit number of recipes to go.  YAY!

Holy Hanna! Tons of goodness

Put 'em Up! Fruit

10 of 171 recipes...

101 to go...

Crunch time.  My desire to finish these recipes is a huge; so I've been cooking and not keeping up with the blog I started to document my journey.  As follows is my hard work in a nut shell.  Short and sweet, since I have more food to cook before the years end.  

___________________________________________________

Classic Blueberry Jam 

& Pan Roasted Chicken with Blueberry Reduction

The jam was good and the chicken prior to the funky reduction was good; add it all together and it was so so.  Not my favorite!

___________________________________________________

Carrots with Plum Sauce

Made with the chicken above, this veggie side dish was the best part on the plate.  I will make this again because now I love carrots and parsnips in plum sauce. 

___________________________________________________

Rhubarb Goat Cheese Crostini

Rhubarb + Cheese = a yummy snack!  The roasted rhubarb was very simple to make.  Through the power of the picture, you can see how easy the rest of this recipe was.  Worth every bite!

___________________________________________________

Blueberry Vinegar

 Who drinks vinegar anyways?  Apparently it's becoming the new thing and I'm in with the cool kids.  Mixed with lime infused soda water, this beverage was shockingly refreshing; though it did take a minute to determine if I liked it or not.

___________________________________________________

Green Grape and Moscato Jelly with Parmesan Frico

The use of wine to create jelly seemed to be a waste of good wine; however after I tried the jelly, I can see why.  It was good.  Not good enough to buy expensive wine to add to jelly.  Additionally the cheese for the frico part of this recipe was expensive and don't think it was enough to have me make it again.

Now that I've shared my penny pincher frustrations; the final product was okay.  The flavors were balanced and I enjoyed trying something totally new to me.

Fool Me Once, shame...

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2 of 171 recipes...

111 to go...

Frozen Rhubarb & Rhubarb Fool

As my first post in over a month, I feel like I'm cheating posting these recipes on their owe because they were SO simple and only four ingredients.  I chose them for their simplicity and I actually cut and froze the fresh rhubarb at least a month ago, when they were ripe out of my mothers garden.   Thanks Mom!

Step One: freeze some rhubarb

Step Two: cook with sugar.  If you've ever eaten rhubarb, you know you need lots of sugar to cut the sour/bitter taste.

Step Three: add fresh whipped cream.  The book called for regular sugar, so that's what I used for this recipe; but I prefer making whipped cream with powered sugar and add some vanilla extract.

Because this little dish of heaven was so simple and delicious, I will make it again and again and again...

Wait 'til you try it.

Is it Sweet or Sour?

Put 'em Up! Fruit

2 of 171 recipes...

113 to go...

Sweet & Sour Chicken with Peach Jam

 

If I made a top ten list from this book, you'd find this dish near the top.  Between the yummy flavors and limited number of ingredients; this recipe is outstanding with much ease.  The main fruit recipe was quick peach jam that was made with pectin; which translate to freaky fast jam.

 

 

Once the jam was cooled (over night), I mixed the jam with lemon juice and set to the side.  Then mixed up some basic sauce ingredients, including corn starch to thicken the sauce.  I browned the chicken without cooking it though and set aside for a short moment in time.  Sautéed some onions, add mixes then chicken to finish.

to ANCHO or not to ANCHO?

Put 'em Up! Fruit

2 of 171 recipes...

115 to go...

Pulled Pork Tacos with Cherry Ancho Chile Jam

Recently at work (cooking school job), I was turned onto ancho chile powder and was pleasantly surprise the added flavor it provided to shrimp and beef recipes.  So when I came upon the cherry ancho chile jam, I was all set to go.  Excited for the outcome, I made this as soon as I got the cherries.

 

 

It took me sometime to get around to making the pork butt; but when I did, the house more fragrant than a bakery.  A dash of this, pinch of that, and a cup of red wine; the pork butt roasted for ten hours.  I've never sliced a more tender cut of meat.

 

The flavors were subtle but I could distinctly taste all the ingredients.  These tacos were tasty, but it was missing something.  I can't put my finger on it because I don't have a pallet for that, but it was good.

 

 

| pop youR cheRRy |

Put 'em Up! Fruit

2 of 171 recipes...

117 to go...

Cheers to another couple tally marks under the down recipe column!  Just got overwhelmed looking through the book, thinking I might not be able to complete my New Year's resolution.  Chop chop, right?  LITERALLY!

~~~

Nut-Crusted Goat Cheese with Cherry Mostarda

~~~

Cherries are one of my most beloved seasonal fruits; so much so, I planted a sour cherry tree in my back yard the first spring I moved here.  This last winter was rough on my poor, young tree; so much so that unfortunately the production of fruit is extremely minimal (total of ten cherries I think).  But thankfully CostCo has tons of cherries for my recipes.

Making the mostarda was quick and simple; that is only after de-pitting all of a pound and a half of cherries (I only made half of what the recipe called for).   Combining all ingredients in a sauce pan, reduce (this took double the time than what the book described), and chill.  The mixed smells of mustard, sugar, and cherries made my mouth salivate; excited for when I'd be able to try the 'USE IT UP!' portion of this coupling.

Nut-crusted goat cheese day has arrived.  After just a couple minutes of toasting the pecans in the oven, this recipe was ready to through together.  After rolling the goat cheese in the toasted pecans, place on a plate (I put the mostarda on the plate first for a good visual effect), and serve.  *SUPER EASY*

The initial flavor had me wondering if I like the mix or not.  It's not your traditional cheese and crackers find of plate.  I had cherries mixed with mustard, wine, and sugar (per the book, an ancient recipe the upper class would do to preserve such luxury foods); my taste buds were not ready for such a combo.  But I assume by the empty plate in front of me, that it wasn't awful.  Also, Shayne approved. 

If I were to ever make this again, I'd hold back on the thyme mixed in when roasting the pecans; not because it was bad, I'm not a big fan of this herb.

Teach with PEACH

Put 'em Up! Fruit

2 of 171 recipes...

119 to go...

 

Fried Won Tons with Duck Sauce

 

In my rare, sometimes stolen free time, I choose to cook now days.  Not sure if I do this more for the enjoyment or the need to follow through with a New Year's resolution; either way, cooking is what went down on a surprise day off this week.  So much fruit is in season right now, and it was hard to choose and settle on a peach based recipe.  If you need a quick and easy party appetizer, whip up some duck sauce in advance (pre-party) and the fried won tons can be cooked in no time flat and stay fresh for at least an hour after frying.

 

 

As I was multi-tasking, also making banana bread, guacamole, and grilled steak; the duck sauce was slowly simmering on the stove top.  Once the peaches were soft, I used a immersion blender to make the sauce smooth rather than keeping it chucky per the recipe.  Now the fried won ton chips were beyond simple.  The recipe called for frying of the won tons for 30-40 seconds in canola oil, but I found that if I left them frying for that length of time, they would taste burnt.  Ten seconds was a good, round number to cook these tasty chips.

 

These fried won ton chips reminded me of dinner outings with my family at the Grand Casino as a kid.  I had fond flash backs when eating these and because I still find them yummy, I'll definitely make them again.

 

| PIGGED OUT |

this little piggy...

BACON EXPLOSION  

Every Saturday before Labor Day is International Bacon Day, and there is no better way to celebrate than with a soiree in the backyard; and this year marks the second annual bacon event at the Wiener/Johnson household.  Testing recipes in hopes of adding new items to the menu has been lots of fun.  Follows is thankfully an edition that erupted into the top five items I will definitely be making come the weekend before Labor Day (and every week until then). 

Looking to the internet for a recipe, this is one of those dishes people cook that calls for 'a little bit of this and a little of that' until it tastes good.  This is the part of cooking that I have trouble with because I don't have the eye or tastes buds to determine what I should use and/or what is missing.  Raising above my cooking issues,  I graced my first bacon explosion with ground pork as my filler; then seasoned with a bit cayenne pepper, a touch of garlic powder, a dusting of herbs provence, a smidgen of fennel, and Lowry's salt to taste.  

Was that vague, yet descriptive enough? 

After the seasoning, role the basket weaved bacon shell over to encase all the goodness inside.  Once the meat is in a tight role, cook it on the grill until internal temperature is to 165 degrees (I cooked it on tin foil for the first part so the fat from the bacon and pork didn't messy up my grill.).  To achieve 165 degrees with my grill, it took about and hour on low heat (it jump 3 degrees when I went to get the camera, so keep an eye on it).

Now comes the best part of all, EATING it.  The smell of bacon permeated my entire house.

It was awesome.  Paired with a simple salad and a beer.  And I was set.

Variation of this are endless!  

Next time, I might try a BBQ flavor or add some vegetables inside.

beer + caramels = OKAY!

ooey gooey, extra sticky...

Salted Beer Caramels

 

Having tried a few different recipes the hand full of months I've been making caramels, none have been easier than this.  There is a little more cooking time than the others, but I'm guessing that's because I used cold beer rather than room temp beer (recipe didn't specify).  I now have two absolutely amazing caramel recipes, the most recent is:

 

 

Salted Beer Caramels (by Becky's Blissful Bakery)

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup corn syrup

1-14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-12oz bottle of your favorite beer (full flavored beer - experiment)

sea salt

 

Directions: melt butter and brown sugar together in large saucepan over medium heat.  Slowly add beer, syrup then milk while stirring constantly (will scorch otherwise).  Cook caramels to 240 degrees.  Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract.  Pour mixture into a 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper.

Sprinkle sea salt on top of hot caramels.  Allow to fully cool at least 4-5 hours.

Cut into little bit size pieces and wrap with waxed paper.  Store in fridge.  Good for about three weeks.

 

side note: I sprinkled pretzel pieces on top of 1/2 the caramels.  It's good, but not needed.  Great without.

 

I'll have to try this recipe again when my home brewed beer is ready, but for this recipe I used Deschutes' Black Butte Porter. 



Grape n Steak

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2 of 171 recipes...

121 to go... 

Classic Concord Grape Jam

&

Butter-Basted Steak with Grape Reduction

As a photographer, I should be doing a better job at capturing the beauty of these dishes created from this book.  Sadly by the time it's ready to eat, I'm too hungry to putts with it further than what I do. Enough with the excuses!  

Let's discuss the grape jam: it's sweet, it's purple, and it's super easy to make!  I made it a few weeks ago, and since then I've been mixing it with plain greek yogurt (SO YUMMY).  Maybe sprinkle on some granola??  I figured I should make the 'Use it Up' recipe before I have consumed it all and am force to make it once more.

Let's discuss the steak: it's pan seared, it's a ribeye, and it's good.  I'm a big ribeye fan, and I traditionally enjoy this cut of meat simply marinaded in olive oil, salt, and pepper - nothing more; grill it to a nice medium and I'm all set.  Now to the 'Use it Up' recipe, I felt that I should have used a different cut of beef, as if I was wasting a perfectly good cut of meat by smothering it with a sauce that masked the natural flavor.  This does NOT mean the jam/wine mixture atop the steak was bad; it means I enjoy my beef el natural.  I'll continue to use the jam for cookies, yogurt, and toast rather than to waste my steak, wine, and jam.