Chowdah!

I'm finally getting back to my long-neglected Day Zero List, and it was time to make a fourth soup that I've never made.  Clam Chowder!  That's New England Style....not Manhattan.  I'm a lifelong New Englandah and we make it with cream, not tomatoes.  I've had the Manhattan style and it was ok but not great like cream-based.

For my first shot at it, it came out pretty well.  I did NOT want to shuck clams, so we got the frozen ones and drained the juice from 'em.  The recipe came out of Cook's County Cookbook from America's Test Kitchen and I was very surprised with how quickly it comes together.  I've always thought of making clam chowder as a day-long process, but am happily to report that I was wrong.  And the simplicity of ingredients was nice too:  bacon, onion, potatoes, clams, cream, salt, pepper and herbs.  Done!  I will admit that it was thinner than I thought it would be, but that's something that I can work on over time.  It was delicious for lunch on a Sunday, and I'm thrilled that it all worked out.

Next thing on the DZ-List....fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls, next weekend!

Homemade Lemonade: Is it Better?

67.  make lemonade from scratch (7/29/13)

As a kid, I can remember my mother bringing out a bottle of Minute Maid lemon juice at dinner time, to put on broccoli with a little butter.  I'd read the back of it, and there would always be a recipe for lemonade.  Always intrigued me, but I never did it.

Brian and I love fresh lemonade, but the closest thing we come to is Newman's Own.  And let's face it, Newman's Own extra virgin lemonade is pretty awesome stuff.  Still, I thought that someday, someday I'd like to make my own.

Well, tonight was the night.  I had purchased 12 lemons at the grocery store last week for that purpose last week, and I just wasn't going to let $6.00 worth of lemons go bad!

The Lemons.

I've always thought that cobalt blue and yellow are a cheery combination.  As is navy blue and yellow.

The Helpers

These two are always willing to lend a hand in the kitchen.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook in hand, we moved to turn these into drink!

They were a little harder to juice than I realized....but we got the job done.  While we were juicing, the simple syrup boiled on the stove.  After that cooled for a bit, we mixed it with the lemon juice.

It's important to note:  this just makes lemonade base.  If you drink this straight, you'll pucker for sure.   Equal parts base and water is key.  I made sure to tell Hubby that before he just grabbed the pitcher in the fridge and helped himself to a cold cup of base.  (bleeecchhhh)

First Tall Glass

One sip and it told me two things:  1, it needed more sugar.  and 2.  sooooo fresh!

Look at it....it's pale and not at all yellow.  That tells you how much artificial coloring is added to lemonade mixes.  I'm not afraid of some artificial color....it certainly has its place.  But lemonade mix just doesn't taste like this.  Hubby said it tasted like summer.  And it does!

So....was it worth it to make my own?  I'd say yes.  I certainly won't be doing it like this all the time.  But it makes for a happy treat.  And now, I want to make limeade.  I love fresh limes!

Sausage Soup

What does one do with their newly honed knife skills?  Make a soup that requires lots of chopping, of course!

This is an Italian-style sausage soup, with garlic, onion, spinach, tomatoes, pasta and cannelloni beans.  The grocery store didn't have two pounds of sweet sausage, so we bought one hot, one sweet.  Even the stock was homemade this time!

It was a good soup, and made a ridiculously large pot.  I brought some to a friend who's due with her first child, a boy, any day now.

So that is three of the four soups on my Day Zero list.  The last one will be clam chowder.  Brian and I both adore a good clam chowder and have never made one.  Then there will be one more thing to cross off the list!

Steel Skills

On Thursday night I took a knife-skills workshop.  I've always wanted to take one, since my husband likes to poke fun at me because I used to only chop with a steak knife.  I'll be honest, I was pretty apprehensive of anything bigger!  As time went on Brian helped me get more comfortable with chef's knives but I still could use some more skills.

The workshop was 90 minutes long and was part demonstration, part hands-on.  I learned how to hold a knife so that it is an extension of your arm and isn't has hard on your hands.  I learned the proper way to dice  peppers and onions, and how to cut an onion with a little less crying.  (NO crying isn't an option for me.)  I also learned the correct way to cut up avocados and mangoes, two foods that I love but avoid because of the messy prep.  No more!

There were six people in the workshop including me, and together we chopped and made a tomato salsa and a guacamole with mangoes.  Delicious!  I came home with a big grin and a little leftover guac, and was thrilled to tell Brian how much I loved it!  He's taken a class there before, and now we want to do a Couples Night sometime.

Tomorrow night I'm making soup.  And I can't wait to chop all the veggies....by hand!

Mac N Cheese Success!

5.  perfect macaroni and cheese from scratch

Finally, a success story!  Years of separating sauces, general gloppiness and all-around YUCK, I've finally made a decent baked macaroni and cheese.  The recipe was from Cooking Light, part of their 25th anniversary issue.  I know I know, light mac n cheese sounds like a drag.  But it wasn't!  It had parmesan, sharp cheddar, fontina and yep, Velveeta cheese product in it.  I think the secret is making sure the cheese is shredded fine, and the continuous whisking.  The garlic cracker crumbs baked on top weren't bad either.  This was so good, I had a second helping and was thrilled to have tons of leftovers.

Sadly, the kiddos wouldn't touch it.  So next time I make this (and there WILL be a next time) I'm going to trick them by leaving an empty box of Kraft on the counter. 

Soup#2: Bacon Corn Chowder

With the arrival of fall comes the cool air that makes me want to have soup.  So last weekend seemed like a good time ti to make a second soup in order to work on my Day Zero list.

This recipe came from Taste of Home online, but I found it on Pinterest.  It's a very simple recipe, and doesn't have a ton of leftovers.  The ingredients include celery, bacon, potatoes, cream style corn, onion, milk and salt/pepper. The first step, sauteeing the bacon, onions and celery on the stove made the house smell incredible. It came together quickly and made a nice lunch for a cool Sunday.  I did add a sprinkle of smoked paprika before serving to give it that extra oomph.

The Beginning of the Mac n Cheese Quest

Today I'm working on my list of 100 Things in 1,001 Days.  Specifically, #6, "Perfect Macaroni and Cheese from Scratch."

I've said it before, sauces are not my forte.  I've only attempted homemade baked mac n cheese once.  The results were awful with a capital A, Aw-FUL!  I made it for our friends, Tracy and Michael, before we headed to a charity event together.  The failed roux, the clumpiness, it was just a mess through and through.  The sauce separated and it was in a word, disappointing.  However, Tracy is ridiculously polite, and they both ate it.  (What's wrong with you people?:)  )  I called it for what it was (total flop) and haven't tried again since.

I follow a blog called The Brown-Eyed Baker, my friend Alisha from knitting turned me on to this blog.  Every post looks SO GOOD, but I've never tried any of the recipes.  But when I saw a post this week about stovetop macaroni and cheese, I knew that I had to give it a shot.  And it came out fantastic:  very creamy and lots of good cheese flavor.  Plus, it's REAL cheese instead of orange powder, so it must be better for you.  (I can rationalize anything!)  I did make a couple of minor changes:  1.  I used up some small pasta shells instead of opening a new box of elbow macaroni, and 2.  Have you ever seen shredded American cheese at the grocery store?  I haven't.  I would've been OK shredding my own from a block of cheese, but all I could find was the "singles."  Not going to work.  And then I saw this, and brought home two of 'em:

This turned out to be a really good recipe to cut my teeth, so to speak.  I won't cross this off from my list until I make baked mac n cheese, but now I feel like I have a bit more confidence.

Italian Wedding Soup

From my Day Zero List, or 100 Things in 1,001 Days:


71.  Make four different kinds of soup from scratch that I have never tried to make before.


Soup #1:  Italian Wedding Soup


Got the recipe from allrecipes.com.  I've had this soup before and it's pretty simple.  Just spinach, mini-meatballs, mini shell pasta, chicken broth and diced carrots.   I briefly considered adding a can of cannelloni beans, but I know that Hubby doesn't like beans and I wanted him to eat some of this soup.  Plus we have a rule around here, the first time you make a recipe you do it as-is.  The next time around, if it's worth keeping, is when you tinker.  I'd say we obey it about 80% of the time.


 The most challenging part was dicing the carrots and making the meatballs.  I used to make my own meatballs to go with spaghetti and sauce all the time.  I'd make them just like I used to watch my mother make them:  mix the ground beef with bread crumbs, herbs and egg, roll out, and fry in oil.  Now she and I both buy the kind frozen in a bag, because they taste good and are really a timesaver!  As for the carrots, I don't have a ton of experience cutting up veggies other than coarsely chopped.  Hence, the reason for #42.  take a “knife skills” cooking class.

So there you have it, Italian Wedding Soup on a chilly winter day.  No wedding required!