Top Five Readers Choice for 2011

I know that I have been absent for quite some time....almost a month. But I do have a good excuse. I've been sick since the day after Thanksgiving and I'm still not fully recovered.

It hasn't been anything life threatening...only that horrible cold/flu/crud that has been sweeping the country with a vengeance...but at my age, recovery is a slow, tough process.

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't bake one holiday goodie. No cookies. No breads. No cakes. Nothing. It was all I could do to get myself ready for our trip to Reno to visit our oldest son and his family for Christmas.

But, I'm happy to say it feels like I am on the mend and ready to start posting again.

I'm going to start the year with a resolution: take better photos. Tom gave me a tripod for Christmas and I'm going to purchase some good lights. I'm looking forward to sharing much better photos with you in the future.

But this post will include old photos because this post is about last year, specifically the top five posts you liked, according the the number of hits the post received. Then tomorrow, I will post my top five favorite recipes for 2011.

Let's start with your top five:

Number 5: BANG BANG SHRIMP

I posted this recipe back in October 2011 and it instantly became one of the most downloaded recipes. It's a simple, but delicious dish: shrimp dipped in panko bread crumbs and fried and served with a spicy, sweet mayonnaise based sauce.

Number 4: TIMPANO

Posted back in March 2008, this recipe has topped the list every year since then. It is a traditional Italian dish that requires a lot of prep work, but is worth every second.

Layers of homemade meatballs, Genoa salami, hard cooked eggs, chunks of provolone cheese, cooked ziti and a rich Italian meat and tomato sauce baked in a homemade crust!



Number 3: GRANDMOTHER BREAD

I started making this bread last January after I scoured the inter-webs for what to do with the leftover whey from making ricotta cheese. Now, every time I make ricotta... a simple 30-minute process... I save the whey in plastic zip-lock bags in 3-cup measurements and store it in the freezer to use for making this bread. It makes two beautiful, delicious loaves.



Number 2: ASIAN TURKEY MEATBALLS WITH SESAME DIPPING SAUCE

Since posting this recipe back in 2010, it has been consistently popular with all of you, as well as the guests at my dinner table.

I've made the meatballs as a main dish and served them with steamed or fried rice and sauteed cabbage, and also made smaller, bite-sized meatballs for appetizers. They are a low-cal, low-fat delicious dish.



And finally......

Are you ready????

You are not going to believe this!!

Taaa Daaaa!!!

Numero Uno!!: CAPRESE SKEWERS

These skewers were part of a post that contained ideas for five separate appetizers. So how do I know it was the Caprese Skewers that were popular? Because this photo....

....has been "pinned" on Pinterest several thousand times, as well as featured in the Health and Fitness Blog on GlamourMagazine.com and in Food Served Best on a Stick at TheKitchn.com, in addition to being linked back from several other individual blogs.

Who knew that putting Caprese Salad on skewers in bite sized morsels would be such a hit? I sure didn't. But a hit they were....and I thank all of you for spreading the word!

Tomorrow, I will post my top five choices for 2011. Stay tuned.

What to do with the Whey after making Ricotta Cheese? Make Bread, that's What!

Since I made my first batch of Ricotta cheese about a year and a half ago, I think I've purchased one tub of Ricotta from the store. The homemade Ricotta is so much more creamy and I can make it as dry as I want by allowing it to drain longer.

I've made it several times since then finally settling on a water bath method posted by Gareth Mark @ Stumptown Savory. Using his method, the milk doesn't scorch...ever.

I prepare the cheese using a gallon of milk at a time, but instead of using whole milk, I now use 2% low fat milk, but I still add a cup of cream. It takes about 30 minutes from start to finish and produces about 2 pounds of delicious homemade ricotta cheese. But it leaves a pot full of whey.

I hate throwing stuff away. I do everything I can to use leftovers, bits and pieces of this and that, what have you....and the whey is no exception. So I went looking for what I could do with the whey and I found a recipe for the best bread I've ever eaten posted by Suzanne McMinn @ Chickens in the Road. Her recipe for what she calls Grandmother Bread is only 5 ingredients (warm water, yeast, salt, sugar and flour), takes just a few minutes to mix up, then you knead it, let it rise and bake. I substitute the ricotta whey for the water. Since I found this recipe, I haven't purchased a loaf of bread from the grocery store. I make two loaves every other week just because it is the best bread I've ever tasted. I know I'm repeating myself, but it's true.

It's wonderful toasted and the sandwiches made with this bread are to die for, even a simple ham and cheese.



When I make the cheese, I measure the whey 3 cups at a time into a small zip lock type bags and freeze it. It yields about 4 bags of whey, which will make 2 large loaves of bread per 3-cup bag of whey.

Oh, and by the way, I hope you visit Chickens in the Road for more wonderful variations of this bread.

Grandmother Bread
Adapted from Chickens in the Road, Breads, the Farmhouse Table
Two-loaf standard recipe

3 cups warm ricotta whey or warm water
1 tablespoon yeast (1 packet)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
7 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast, sugar, and salt. Let sit five minutes until slightly bubbly.

Stir in first three cups of flour with a heavy spoon. Add the next cup of flour a little at a time as needed, stirring until dough becomes too stiff to continue stirring easily. Add a little more flour and begin kneading. The amount of flour is approximate–your mileage may vary! (I've used as little as 6-1/2 cups to as much as 7-1/2 cups depending on the temperature and weather conditions). Continue adding flour and kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. (I generally set the timer for 10 minutes and knead for that long.)

Let the dough rise in a greased, covered bowl until doubled, about an hour. Uncover bowl; sprinkle in a little more flour and knead a few more time. Form into an even ball and divide the dough in half. With floured hands, shape dough into loaves and place in two greased loaf pans. Tear off two pieces of waxed or parchment paper and grease with oil spray (to prevent it from sticking to the loaves as they rise) and cover loaf pans. Let loaves rise for about an hour until they are tall and beautiful.

Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven. Makes two loaves. Recipe can be cut in half.

Our Foodie Weekend

Our food plans for the weekend were pretty ambitious.

Last week, I found two small packages of Maytag Blue Cheese at Kroger, so Friday night Tom made a delicious Grilled Fillet of Beef with Blue Cheese Glacage that he saw Chef Emeril Lagasse prepare several years ago on his program, Emeril Live!

I don't know why Chef Emeril would call it a "glacage" since it really isn't a glaze in the traditional sense of the word. It's more of a loose, savory custard. But, by any name, coming hot out of the oven, it smells absolutely wonderful.



Tom has prepared this dish many, many times and if you love blue cheese, you will love this. He almost always serves it over the Bacon and Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes and garnishes it with crumbled bacon and sliced green onions instead of the worcestershire sauce called for in the recipe.



It was the perfect meal to start a weekend.

Saturday we were up early and out the door by 7:15 am, heading for the North Little Rock Farmers Market for some nice eggplant and tomatoes. We scored more than that. We purchased two baskets of the season's first figs.



Those beautiful tomatoes would become an ingredient for an Insalata Caprese and the figs would be transformed into a Fig Galette for Sunday's dinner.

When we got home from the Farmers Market, we made a large batch of ricotta cheese to use for stuffing portobello mushrooms for dinner that night.

We mixed some of the fresh ricotta cheese with cooked sweet Italian turkey sausage, one beaten egg, some grated mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, some chopped fresh basil and a little Italian seasoned bread crumbs, then filled the large portobellos with the stuffing and cooked them on the grill outside. So creamy and luscious.



We also made large batch of mozzarella cheese for the Insalata Caprese to serve with our Sunday dinner, Brick Barbecued Chicken.



And, finally, I made the Fig Galette, also for Sunday's dinner.

A couple of weeks ago, I made my very first attempt at preparing a galette, sharing the painful experience here, but I vowed to try it again.

For the Fig Galette, I decided to avoid another crust fiasco and just use a prepared pie crust. It was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made.

First, I covered the bottom of a large baking pan (I used a round pizza pan) with parchment paper and laid one pre-made pie crust in the middle of the pan. I gently stretched the crust out a little with my fingers to make a little bigger circle. Then I sprinkled the crust with a couple of tablespoons of plain sugar. So far, so good.



I trimmed the stems from the figs and cut them in quarters lengthwise. I laid the fig quarters in circles, overlapping each other slightly, until I had filled the crust but left a 1-1/2 to 2 inch border on the outer edge. For the center, Tom took one fig, cut off the stem and cut 6 slits lengthwise, making sure not to cut all the way through. He sat the fig upright in the center and gently opened it like a flower. He's so clever...



I sprinkled the figs with another 2 - 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar, then gently lifted the border edge of the crust over the figs (the parchment paper really helped control this), slightly pinching the crust together every so often so the border was even.

I brushed the edge of the crust with some beaten egg white and sprinkled the edge with turbinato sugar (just because I like the way turbinato sugar keeps it's shape during baking).



I then baked the galette in a 375° oven for about 45 minutes, or until the figs were bubbly and the crust was a golden brown.



It turned out perfect!

Now that this galette was a success, I suppose I'll have to make another, but next time I'll have to make my own pastry crust.

The Mozzarella Masterpiece!!

When I read Karen's blog about how easy it was to make Homemade Ricotta Cheese, I tried it and it was a success! The cheese was smooth, creamy and the perfect consistency with none of that kind of "grainy" feel or texture that I sometimes find in the store bought versions.

My first cheese making success gave me the confidence I needed to try others. So, once again I went searching and came across this site, which touts "30 Minute Mozzarella!" Ricki Carroll's instructions, just like Karen's, made it sound easy enough, so I ordered the starter kit.


Click on the photo to order your kit!

Yesterday, Tom and I made mozzarella cheese!!

(Gulp!!) Here we go. Pour a gallon of milk into the pot. So far, so good...


Add the citric acid solution. Bring it up to temp, then add the dissolved rennet. Yep, easy enough...


Cover and wait for about 5 minutes.(I'm good at waiting). Now, check the curd. (Uh oh, It's not exactly like the photo in the instructions, but I'll try to be patient)...


Cutting the curd with the knife...check


Stirring slowly (I don't think it's supposed to look like this)...


When I finished the slow stir, I removed the curds to a microwavable bowl(I was using the microwave method for heating the curd). After a minute in the microwave, I took out the bowl of curds and added the salt, then back in the microwave for 30 more seconds.

When it came out it was HOT! Tom has tough hands, so he took it out of the bowl and starting stretching it...


More stretching until it was smooth and shiny (Oh my Gawd, it's really turning into cheese!!!)...


IT'S CHEESE !!!


Now for the water bath...


And what do you think we had for dinner? Well, fresh homemade mozzarella cheese, of course...and some beautiful heirloom tomatoes...and fresh basil from my herb garden, then drizzled with just a little olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. In the middle of the plate is just a little Eggplant Tapenade (1 small eggplant, diced; 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped; 3 cloves garlic, finely minced; 1 heaping tablespoon of capers, chopped; 2 anchovy fillets, chopped; all cooked together in a little olive oil and adding at the end a little salt, a little pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar), all of which was simply perfect with some sliced french bread, brushed with olive oil and toasted in the oven.

It was so unbelievably tasty that I may never buy mozzarella again.

Window Wednesday, Blackberry Cobbler & A Little Teaser

June in Arkansas has been unseasonably hot. My plants are suffering and when we returned early from our vacation, we had some serious casualties.

My squash plants did not survive...



Maybe in the fall I'll plant something else in their place. Right now it is too hot to plant anything.

I had to rip out what was left of my 2 year old thyme and my oregano is looking at me with soulful eyes, pleading with me to save it. It's just pitiful...



And, yesterday, I ripped out the nasturtium. It was just barely holding on...



What's left? Chives, Italian parsley, basil and Texas tarragon are all doing well.



The rosemary is showing signs of distress, but surviving.



I've picked a few roma tomatoes and some of these grape tomatoes...



But my heirloom tomatoes refuse to blossom. I have no idea why, but we are taking some desperate measures. I decided to take the no-dig organic garden approach.

We bought 4 soaker hoses and 4 yards of compost and Tom has laid about 3 yards of the compost in the garden, around the blackberries and under the roses. We left last year's straw in the herb/vegetable garden and put the compost right on top of it. Every bed has at least 3 to 4 inches of compost on top and a soaker hose buried underneath it. The rest of the compost is in a pile in the back of the yard waiting to be fortified with more organic material that we add from the kitchen and the yard, and a couple of bags of rotted manure. I refuse to use chemicals!

Even the blackberries are showing signs of stress, some of it caused by some damage to the canes when a large branch of our neighbors tree broke off during a storm and fell over the fence onto blackberry plants. But, the intense early heat and lack of water hasn't helped either.



But, Tom was able to salvage enough to make a Blackberry Cobbler.



As you have probably guessed by now, I'm not really a baker. Sure, I make cookies, bars, an occasional cake (usually from a cake mix) and a pretty good apple pie, but I really don't bake like some of you out in the blogosphere. I'm getting more adventurous though and baked these sweet potato rolls for last Thanksgiving and made scones for the first time when I saw these.

Consequently, I don't have a cache of recipes for cobblers and, once again, had to go searching. I decided on a recipe from the Betty Crocker website. But, I can't help myself, I did tweak it a little bit. Although the original recipe called for only 2-1/2 cups of blackberries, I had 4 cups and wanted to use all of them, however I did not increase the amount of batter. Oh, yeah, and I also added lemon juice to the blackberries. Following is the recipe with my changes. If you'd like to see the original recipe, just click on the "Betty Crocker website" link above.

Blackberry Cobbler
adapted from a recipe from BettyCrocker.com

4 cups fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) blackberries
1-1/2 cups sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted

In a medium bowl, stir together blackberries, sugar and lemon juice. Let stand for about 20 minutes or until fruit syrup forms. Heat oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt and milk. Stir in melted butter until blended. Spread in ungreased 8-inch square pan. Spoon blackberry mixture over batter.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until dough rises and is golden. Serve with ice cream or cream.



And the Little Teaser? Well, I got so excited when I was able to make that wonderful ricotta cheese, I thought I'd try my hand at some others...



Stay tuned!

Back Early from Vacation, Catching Up & Ricotta Cheese

Okay, this is the third time I've started this post. I guess I am a little disoriented because I keep hitting the wrong keys. I have mistakenly closed this post twice and closed my browser altogether once.

So, yes, we are back early. I will not belabor our reasons for returning, other than to say, Tent + Cold + Rain + Illness + Endless Driving = Miserable. The next time I visit, I will not camp. I will rent a travel trailer or stay at one of the resorts in Yellowstone. I will visit again. The Rockies are simply breathtaking. This is just a sample of the beauty that surrounded us, taken last Thursday at dusk from the shore of Jackson Lake a few steps from our camp site...



You will notice the clouds. It rained that night. Luckily it wasn't a torrential rain. Thunderstorms and heavy rains were expected Saturday and Sunday. We left Saturday morning as the clouds began to form and we pulled into our driveway on Sunday night about 9:00pm, a 24-hour drive over two days. Whew!

On Monday afternoon, I sat down to the computer and checked my Google reader. Aw, shucks, ONLY 410 entries! But one post stood out. A simple recipe posted by Karen @ Karen Cooks for homemade ricotta cheese. It only required 3 ingredients and it looked so darn simple, I had to try it.

I put 8 cups of whole milk (1/2 gallon) and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt in large pot and brought it to a simmer over medium high heat.



When the milk started to simmer, I stirred in 3 Tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice and turned off the heat. You can just barely see the curds beginning to form.



I had lined a colander with four layers of cheesecloth and after about 5 minutes, I started scooping the curds out with a slotted spoon (with small holes) into the lined colander over a large bowl and allowed the curds to drain for about 10 minutes.



The recipe yielded about 1-1/2 cups of fresh ricotta cheese, but I had a pot full of whey and I just couldn't throw it away! So I ran to the computer to get some ideas on how to use this stuff.

Now let me say here that I think I did something wrong with the first batch I made because the whey was not clear. It looked almost like regular milk. I don't think I let the milk get hot enough.

Anyway, I found this article about making Ricotta Cheese from the whey of other cheeses. I have to admit that I only skimmed the article before I decided to make more Ricotta from the Ricotta whey. Had I read the article completely, I would have seen the part that said, "PLEASE NOTE that you cannot make Ricotta from the whey left over from making an acid precipitated cheese such as Panir/Queso Blanco or whole milk Ricotta. That is because you've already precipitated out all the albumin protein the milk has to give using acid and heat and there is nothing left over in the remaining whey to make whey Ricotta. Since the Ricotta I made is "whole milk Ricotta," I should not have been able to make more Ricotta from the whey. That's why I think I did not make it properly the first time.

So here's what I did. I lined the colander with fresh cheesecloth and placed it over a large bowl. I put the whey on the stove and brought it to 200° (I just used a digital thermometer). When it reached 200°, I stirred in 1 Tablespoon of distilled white vinegar. It immediately formed curds...



I poured the curds and whey into the colander and lifted the colander out of the bowl over another large bowl to allow the cheese to drain. It was just like the first batch. Rich, creamy and very tasty. You can't tell them apart.



I was fearful that the vinegar would give the cheese a different flavor. It didn't. They both taste the same.

I wasn't planning anything specific to prepare with my fresh Ricotta, so today for lunch we had sliced french bread (drizzled with olive oil and baked in the oven for about 10 minutes) slathered with fresh Ricotta and topped with fresh basil and chopped tomatoes (drizzled with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and sprinkled with salt and pepper). Heaven.





Tomorrow night's dinner will be Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Ricotta and Basil.