Watch'ya got cookin' 2014

Tonight is Ribs/crash hot potatoes/salad night, and I CAN'T WAIT!!! < =D

Donner: That is super cool -- I had no idea clotted cream could be made at home. I've made crème fraiche, which is easy -- but never even thought about clotted cream. I bet that would be a good Christmas morning treat! Did you make the scones as well?

Happy, how do you make crème fraiche? I've tried making scones before. Ummm... can you say "hockey puck"? < =/

I see I'm going to have to hit up some of the Amish around here for proper cream. =)

I currently have RIBS in the oven cooking, and barbecue sauce on the stovetop simmering. Wheee!!!

LOL! Speedie! Scones are not difficult to make and there are a lot of good recipes online. If you ever make scones again, just make sure you do not over-mix the dough.

Happy, the most difficult part of making clotted cream was actually go get the cream. It was a long drive. The creamery delivers to MD. That's what I will do next time to save a trip. Other than that, there really isn't much you need to do. No measuring or mixing :o). Just leave the cream in the oven. Hope you try it when you have time. The online instructions are here: http://www.joepastry.com/2012/making-clotted-cream/

I'm anxious to try the clotted cream recipe, thanks!

I make 2 types of scones. One is with dried currants and more biscuit-like... even cut with a biscuit cutter before baking. The other is more moist and made in a cake pan. The softer cake-like texture comes from the addition of a small container of lemon or orange yogurt.

Darius, would you share your recipes, please? I would like to try them again. When done right, they are such a treat!

Could I swap out the currants for white raisins?

It may take me a day or two to find my recipes... they are stored on some cd's.

I have no idea if white/golden raisins wouldn't work but it's worth a try. I soak my currants briefly so they are not hard pellets. When I dry my own they are not so hard, but my several currant bushes are languishing and production is down. I need to either move them or replace them.

Take your time, thank you, I'm not going anywhere. :)

I'm sorry to hear about your currant bushes. Wish I knew something to help you out. =/ That's an idea of something we should probably carry at work, and don't, though. Will have to look into that when I start back.

Well, it's nearly rib time here. Gita, I think next time I will alter the barbecue sauce recipe a tad to include only half of the vinegar; I had to do some alterations as it is, to make it a bit less vinegary. However, the onions on the ribs may just help that out. The house sure is smelling good!!
Time to go baste (again!! Gosh, this basting every 15 minutes is for the birds!!) and put together the salads. Y'all have a great evening, and stay safe and warm!!

Are we talking about totally, farm-fresh heavy cream?
The kind that is churned into butter?

Have no idea where I would get some...???
Maybe Richardson Farms could order it for me? They get a lot of their
stuff from the PA Amish.

Not even sure I would make this--but it looks delectable...
What is the taste like????

speedie--we cross-posted.....

I have absolutely NO complaints on the Ribs dish!
Was drooling over a tray of Country Spare Ribs at BJ's yesterday....
Talked myself out of it--as I still had other food in the fridge to eat first.
G.

Re clotted cream: Whole Foods sometimes stocks heavy cream that isn't ultra-pasteurized.

Re crème fraiche: Here are two recipes -- http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-creme-fraiche-recipe/index.html#! and http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/homemade-creme-fraiche

As I recall, I only used a teaspoon of buttermilk to a cup of cream (could be wrong). Some of the commenters on the Lagasse recipe said it didn't thicken reliably until they put it in a warm spot. I don't recall that being an issue. I would recommend making sure the buttermilk has live cultures, and if possible not use ultra-pasteurized cream. Ultra-pasteurization shouldn't make a difference, but it wouldn't surprise me if ultra-pasteurized milk had other trace chemicals added to "preserve" the milk that would counter the fermentation of the crème fraiche.

According to The Splendid Table, this version is only "close" to the real thing (I never had the real thing, so that didn't phase me!), but you can get closer by mail-ordering "a creme fraiche culture from The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, P.O. Box 85, Ashfield, MA 01330, (413) 628-3808 and follow their directions."

Hi, I'm a lurker but wanted to put my 0.02 in - I buy a lot of products from NE Cheesemaking supply and they have an lot of good recipes and are very helpful. They have great yogurt starters that I have been able to carry down through 4 batches - I don't live near good food stores, only Walmart, so it's hard to get unflavored natural yogurts as opposed to ones that have lots of additives to use as a starter for homemade.

I also use their starters and products to make mozzarella and ricotta cheeses and have never had them fail. I have to say I have never tried crème fraiche or clotted cream, will have to get some heavy cream to try that next time I travel to a Kroger (minimum 1 hour drive) for Meadows Dairy milk in the glass bottles. I don't mind the travel for it because it's the only whole milk I can drink and not experience the usual repercussions!

Speedie--

I am looking for VERY honest feed back on the ribs. Not only how amazing they were
and how you just loved them (I hope you did...). You know me--I like honesty.

Honest feedback might help the next person down the line...like--you thought
there was too much vinegar in the sauce. That kind of stuff.
When I cook--I never measure--but try to stay close to the recipe...

Good night! g.

dragonfly -- thanks for chiming in! I had never heard of NE Cheesemaking supply -- you have made me really eager to learn more!

I didn't know there were different yogurt starters (though of course it makes sense now that you mention it). When I used to make yogurt, I would just use a scoop of Dannon plain and it worked fine. But I do keep a crock of sourdough starter in the fridge, and I know there are many varieties of that.... yogurt is probably the same.

Here's the link if anyone is interested: http://www.cheesemaking.com/

I got the heavy cream from here http://www.southmountaincreamery.com/home.php -- thank you Terri for the info. It was a long drive for me. This place also does home deliveries to MD, DC, VA, PA, and WV for $4.99 per delivery.

Darius, I would love to try your scone recipes. The one I used this time was ok, but the scones were a bit too crumbly. That's why I didn't put the recipe up here.

Need a manly breakfast to venture out into the Arctic netherworld? Grits and eggs did a good job for me. I'm still thinking about supper.
I have another question, have you all tried the Tost-tos, Garlic and black bean chips? So goooood I forget to eat the salsa or con queso.

Spinach, mushroom, onion, feta omelet, and English muffin. I usually don't like a big breakfast but I must have made up for yesterdays shoveling…while surfing the net I shoveled it in! I like grits too. Yesterday's chili idea turned into burrito for DS and taco salad for me. And a petite burrito.
I'll venture out today and look for those chips, plus milk, bread, half and half…and a dinner idea. }: ^/

Here's the recipe for the soft Orange Scones, haven't found the one for currants yet.

Orange Scones
Yield: 10 scones. Serving size: 1 scone
Per serving: 180 calories, 3.9 g Fat (1.5g monounsaturated fat, 1.2g polyunsaturated fat, 9.7g saturated fat), 0 Cholesterol, 215mg Sodium, 3.3g Protein, 3.3g Carbohydrates, 0.6g Fiber, 1.2mg Iron, 82mg Calcium

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 (8 oz.) carton low fat lemon yogurt
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tsp. orange zest
Vegetable cooking spray
1 Tbs. sugar

Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add yogurt, orange juice and zest. To dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened. Dough will be sticky.

With floured hands, pat dough into a 9” circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, or parchment paper. Cut dough into 10 wedges, cutting into but not through the dough. Sprinkle with 1 Tbs. sugar. Bake at 400ºF for 16 minutes, or until golden.

Sounds very tasty. I may have to try these, and the total carbs would be OK for Holly.

Thank you for the scone recipe. I will definitely give it a try.

Copied it. Looking forward to trying it.

Saved it as well Darius, thank you very much. That looks really easy to follow and yummy!

OK, Gita... here we go. I'm sorry to say that the ribs did not turn out as yummy as I'd hoped, but I must admit that I'm SURE much (if not most... or all?) was my doing. Seeing as I do not have a rack of any sort that fits into ANY baking dish that I've got, I had to improvise. I made several rolls of thickly rolled up tin foil and lined the bottom of my 15" roaster with them. Being that it was such an improvisation, I then had to leave the ribs intact, could not cut them into smaller pieces or they would fall through my rolls of foil. I thought I'd compensated time-wise sufficiently, but either I didn't (I added 2 hours cooking time, part of which the ribs were covered), or they were simply NOT good cuts of beef. The packaging said "country boneless ribs".. but not all cows are alike, I guess. They turned out tough. :(

On the plus side, the barbecue sauce was THE BOMB!!! That is DEFINITELY a sauce that I will make again and again, in LARGE quantities, and just keep on hand... instead of store-bought stuff. It's got a lot more.. depth and richness of flavour than any store-bought sauces I have ever tried, and I've tried a LOT.

Seeing as the texture of beef in general is not a big favourite in general in our house, I think I'll just keep the barbecue sauce for future use; you can enjoy the ribs! =)

Speedie--

Sorry it did not turn out as you wanted. Your last comment above confuses me...

Did you use BEEF spare ribs--or Pork Country Spare Ribs????
The recipe is for Pork. And--I like the long, bone-in ribs when I make this.
They have plenty of meat around the bones.

Yes! The sauce id awesome...not too much vinegar at all!....:o)

This is a decent picture of what the ribs I use look like. Did you use these????

Errmmm... it was beef "country ribs". Mine didn't really look like that, they were shorter in length, but fatter across and taller. Being beef, that's why I added more cooking time. And DH got these ones 'cause they're boneless and that's what we wanted -- no bones. The attached picture is what they looked like pre-cooking.

That's ok, the sauce itself is Heavenly and I'll be using it for loads of chicken.. which is something we prefer anyway. ;)

Made up a new recipe, I was looking at total carbs for meatloaf additives and decided to try grits. They were fantastic! I like fairly large pieces of celery and onion through out my meat loaf and a little thyme, this one held together worth slicing. I now wanna' try baked sausage and grits with Brussels sprouts.

Ric, don't let your meat loaf! Hahahaahaaa!!!!!! OK, sorry, I just had to. But really, do you ever let your meatloaf "rest" for a bit before you cut it? That seems to help the 'holding together' of it. Also, I just recently tried a new recipe for meatloaf that included pre-slicing it halfway through the baking time. That was really nice! It was a tiny bit difficult, thankfully I have REALLY sharp knives, but it shortened the baking time considerably, and there was no "holding together" problem at all.

OK, the baked sausage and grits with Brussels sprouts... you mean, all together? Interesting!

Tonight's menu includes left-over lasagna, salad, and garlic toast. =) Oh, and that wonderful pumpkin/banana bread for dessert! < =D

NEED SOME SUGGESTIONS--ASAP!!

Today, in Safeway's bargain meat cubby-hole, I picked up 2pkgs. of
ground turkey patties. They are only 1/2" thick. Cost $1+ per pkg. of 6.
so I could not refuse. Got some other things as well. Been cooking all day.
There goes another day for working on my seeds.....:o(

Now--ground turkey can be a challenge if you want it to, actually, taste like something good.
They do not have to stay as a "burger--after all--it is still just ground turkey meat.
I am trying to figure out some way to prepare them that will be yummy.
I am NOT on a diet--so adding good things to it is OK with me.

I have a concoction I have used (twice) to make Turkey Burgers--and they were good.
You should see all the stuff I added to the meat!!! Bacon--for starters...

I could make "meat balls"--or use the meat to stuff into something.

Sally--you are a frugal cook. What would you do?

I cannot wait more than one day to decide--and I do not want to add these
to my forever stuffed full freezer.

Hmmmm....***Brain working***....What if I took 2 of them and put them together--
and stuffed them with sausage stuffing (like I make for Th-Giving? Then baked them?
That sounds good--NO? I think I may consider that!
Would you do anything special to the ground meat before I did that?
How would you use up these patties???

Gonna check tomorrow for some of your bright suggestions....then, dive in and do my thing...

Thanks--G.

This link is an oldie--but a goodie---It ran a few years ago---
All filled with delectable N. European and Polish Holiday recipes.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/795466/#new

It went to part #2--but then died.... Gita

Gita, I hope I've caught you in time!!

Such a versatile meat, ground turkey; you could use it to make tacos, chilli, add it to other ground meats for a meatloaf (or 3), add yummy spices (like sage, basil, a little thyme), some bacon fat, and make them like breakfast sausages; brown it for use in a red sauce (for pasta)... heck, you could even add the spices/herbs making it breakfast-y like, then scramble it into eggs with onions, shredded potatoes, peppers... and make it a real full-on breakfast-type meal! =)

I hope I'm not too late (today would be a good day for cooking!!) =)
Now I need to go check out that link you shared. ;)

I use turkey frequently for different dishes, especially since Cortney doesn't eat beef and pork. I use it for tacos, chili, meatballs, all sorts of stuff. Many times I get the bulk containers, 2 1/2-5#s on special and divide it up to freeze it. The one thing I try not to do is dry it out while cooking, which gives it the consistency of sawdust.
Has anyone tried the black bean and garlic chips yet?

You know--every since I thought of stuffing them, I am now set on doing that.

Here's my plan----
Fix Stove Top stuffing--possibly adding some sausage, or bacon, for more flavor.
Put stuffing between 2 of the 1/2" patties and pinch them together all around
--so now I will have a filled turkey patty. Season with my usual stuff.
Brown on both sides and then saute them in a bit of chicken broth in a semi-covered pan
so they will be a bit moist.
How does this creation sound?
I might mess around a bit more with seasonings....haven't decided on a side dish yet...
Home made Sweet Potato fries would be good....with my Cranberry sauce .

This will not happen until Monday--so you Guys can still post inputs.
Hope the meat is still OK---I did buy these on clearance....

Like--what is the best way to make brown, crunchy, Sw. Pot. fries?
G.

My stuffed-with stuffing Turkey Burgers are done.

Look awesome--haven't eaten one yet.....but judging by licking the spatula--
they should taste good.

I made a small amount od Stove Top ch. stuffing. Added some sausage Crumbles,
diced onion--diced Celery..fresh parsley..spiced etc...

Had 8 patties--flattened them a bit--put a heaping Tbs. of stuffing on top--
topped it with a second patty--pinched edges together--and fried them until
browned on both sides in butter and OO.
Added a small amount of Ch. broth and let the pattys continue browning until
all liquid was evaporated...
Looks yummy to me! Will eat one before i go into work--weird hours tonight---5-10PM.
Geesh! I go to bed around 10PM!!!!

Mmmmm they look yummy Gita!! A little asparagus on the side and you're all set! =)

Gita I love your stuffed burgers idea, please let us know! I'm sure they are really good though.
DS finally told me he prefers ham or roast beef sandwiches for school lunch (after how many years of suffering through turkey sandwiches?? Kids!!) so I feel free to use more turkey for dinner.

I make a turkey meatball recipe that gets a barbecue sauce which goes over rice and is a favorite here.

I try not to butt in much on the mid atlantic forum since I don't live there anymore. HOWEVER I want to remind everyone that fresh produce will be at a premium this summer (drought in CA and freezes down into S. FL) so start thinking about growing more of the produce you like this summer.

Yes, I think we'll survive this winter and eventually have summer!

Darius, you are never ' butting in'- please make yourself at home!!

Good idea- !

Darius---
I second what Sally said----I love to see your name on a post--and know,
ahead of time, you will offer some wise, practical advice.

Sally--
So far I have eaten half of one burger. It was still warm--which made it taste good.
Overall--I think they tasted good--all together in my mouth.
However--the patties themselves were a bit bland. The stuffing filling was good.
I always "doctor up" my stuffing...

SO--what would I do differently?
I would mix all the meat together and season it somehow. They were bland....
Then make the patties and fill them and do all the browning and sauteing...
NOT a lost cause! Just needed a tweak.
These would taste good with fries and a salad...


OK???? What goes in your Turkey Meatballs????? Give!
Thanks...G.

Darius, I third what the other two said -- You're family, and like Gita, I always know when I see your name, it'll be something GOOD!

Mmmm Sally, the turkey meatballs with barbecue sauce sound really yummy!! I'd make up my favourite veggie brown rice to serve the meatballs over. (nothing special, just a bunch of diced veggies that I'm in the mood for at the time, sauteed in OO, THEN add the rice and broth to the veggies in the pan, along with whatever spices I'm in the mood for at the time.. cook per rice directions). Oh, and I always use Organic low-sodium low-fat chicken broth for the rice, not water. Plain water is too boring. ;)

Tonight's menu will be Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti, garlic toast, salad. I think I'll throw in a couple of meatballs in with my spaghetti... DH doesn't like meatballs when he's having the chicken, so all the meatballs are ALL FOR ME! =)

I will post the bbq turkey meatballs later- the recipe is stored on the other computer. But basically, the meatballs are turkey, onion, egg, bread crumbs, dash of hot sauce, black pepper. The sauce is ketchup, water, brown sugar, vinegar, minced onion, dash hot sauce …I think dry mustard and 'worshter'- worcestershire- sauce…

It's Pasta Night! I have some pre made sausage and sauce out of the freeze, with salad and bread

I'll fourth what has been said, Darius!