Cream of the Crop

I've done A LOT of homemade this or that as substitutions for common commercial items; diapers, lotions, soaps, chapstick, yogurt, clothes, etc. This is by far my favorite of them all. "Cream of __Something__" Soup Mix. At risk of sounding even cheesier than I normal do - it is the cream of the crop.

You can mix up this simple recipe that I found here. Or make a larger batch by tripling or quadrupling it and keeping it in an old juice bottle like me. However you do it, I promise you won't be disappointed.

I make a chicken mix and a beef mix that I use in place of Campbell's Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom soups. I bought the things I needed for less than $10, and it has/will easily make the equivalent of at least 60-70 of the typical cans. On sale the best I have found these soups priced at was 59 cents; which is at least triple the price of the mix ingredients. I could spend at least $100 a year on soup mixes for some of my favorite recipes so this is a lifesaver for us at Bag End.

I usually use these in casseroles or other soups so I don't even bother with the thickening step because I can simply add extra liquid to whatever I am cooking and it will thicken itself and have a stronger taste.

One casserole Mr. Sam has taken fondly to (and so has Hobbit Jo) is Chicken Bacon Casserole.

9x13 pan, serves 6

1/2 lb of bacon (cooked and crumbled)
2 lbs of chicken (diced and cooked up in the remaining bacon grease)
2/3 C of Cream of Chicken soup mix
4 C of Water or Milk
1/2 lb or 2 C of uncooked Macaroni
*Opt. 1-2 C of Vegetable of Choice (we've used corn, broccoli, I'm looking forward to peppers)

Mix all together. Top with 1 C of cheese and breadcrumbs to form a nice crust and bake at 350*F for 1 hour.

Hope you like it, and thanks for checking back in with us at Bag End. I have really come to love blogging and sharing my day to day crafts with you as I work on expanding my horizons, and cooking is something I have always loved. Sharing recipes is something I always looked forward to growing up. In my mind it was a mark of a grown-up woman and mom was to have random 3x5 cards with a recipe from a party scratched down or having a signature dish that people requested. I humbly say thank you for reading and for giving me a chance to share. I hope you keep coming and checking back and sharing us with your friends. Because this is my day to day, cooking for my family and looking for diy versions to my favorite things. And I love it.



World's Best Lasagne

It's easier than you think. Your days of pre-cooking your noodles are over!

Prep time: 30 minutes. Period. That's ask the time you need. Either freeze, refrigerate, or bake. Simple as that.

You'll need:
1 lb. Ground beef
Large tub cottege cheese
5 lb (at least 4-5 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 package lasagne noodles
1 sauce packet
Basil
Garlic
Seasonings
Opt.  Onion

Start with the sauce, which makes an excellent spaghetti sauce.

1- Brown 1 lb. Hamburger, salt and pepper, opt. Onion.
2- Add packet of McCormick Spaghetti mix, 1 qt. Stewed Tomatoes, 16 oz. Tomato Sauce, 2 cloves garlic, 1 Tbs basil.
3- Cook just until combined.
4- If using for spaghetti, thicken until desired consistency.

Assembling the lasagne

1- In a 9x13" start with a layer of lasagne noodles.
2- Create a layer of cottage cheese and mozzarella in a checkerboard pattern. Blobs of about 1/4 Cup.
3- Add a layer of half of your sauce.
4- Repeat (do the opposite checkerboard as the previous layer sui that you get both cheese in each bite).
5- Top with about 2 Cups mozzarella.
6- Bake 350* for 1 hour.

I hope you enjoy it!

Mr. Sam, "It's my favorite. I love it. It's delicious."
Barney Stinson, "True story."

Yogurt, Cheese, and Eggs - The Perfect Food

Welcome to Food Friday, and let me begin by saying that I hate greek yogurt. It's thick, it tastes weird, and I'm not one to quickly join a fad. However, I love what it has given me. It is the perfect food. This one recipe gives me homemade yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, whey, and a healthier home.

Making my own yogurt allows me to choose the fat content and guarantee that my family is getting pure food without the chemicals, preservatives, and general gunk that companies put in our food. And it is WAY cheaper!

 

Yogurt

 

To make your own yogurt all you need is a crock-pot, milk, a start, a bath towel, cheese cloth, and an oven.

A quick note about the start. Buy a full fat, plain greek yogurt- this will be the last time you buy yogurt or sour cream of any kind (as long as you remember to save a start from your own yogurt to use for your next batch). Get ready to save lots of money!

 

1- Measure milk (I usually do 8 cups, but for your first time start with a smaller batch to practice) into crock-pot.

2- Turn to low and set timer (important: I never use times when I cook because I just watch the clock, but things happen and earlier this week I forgot my yogurt and went to bed without going to the next step. Ruining a half gallon of milk) for 3 hours.

3- Turn off pot and set timer for 3 more hours so your milk can cool. If you don't let it cool it will kill all the good bacteria in your yogurt and you will just end up with funny smelling milk (has also happened to me because I'm impatient).

4- Whisk in start**.For 4 cup batch use AT LEAST 1/4 cup start. Basic rule of thumb is 1 Tbs start:Cup milk.

5- Pre-heat oven to lowest setting, mine is 170* F. IMPORTANT it must be below 180*!

6- Turn off oven, wrap your yogurt pot in the towel to insulate its remaining heat and place in warm oven (THAT IS TURNED OFF).

7- DOUBLE CHECK that oven is off.

8- Leave overnight or 10 hours.

9- Whisk your new yogurt and place in fridge for 4 hours to continue thickening.

10- Whisk. Now comes the harder part, straining. Pour your yogurt into your cheese cloth/muslin/tea towel and strain over a large bowl while covered in the fridge. Depending on how thick you want it this could take 1-6 hours.

**For a smoother texture, remove 2 Cups of Milk and whisk in start, return to pot, and whisk in.

 

A word on whey - keep it, refridgerate it, and use it anywhere you would use water or milk. In baking or cooking. My favorite is to use it to mix Hobbit Jo's oatmeal because it gives her a lot of extra nutrients and extra flavor. If you plan on keeping and using it - make sure during the straining process that all yogurt stays out of the whey.

 

Yogurt Cheese

 

1- After you are done with the yogurt process, continue straining and squeezing out whey. It will take another 10-12 hours, but it is worth it!!!

 

This cheese works in almost every instance that you would use cream cheese; be it frosting, bagels, etc.

However, from my experience, it does NOT melt well. So, if you were wanting the classic cream cheese eggs (recipe to follow) it does not work. Which is a shame because it is what we use cream cheese for most at Bag End.

 

Cream Cheese Eggs

 

1- Scramble eggs in frying pan until cooked but still shiny.

3- Season as usual.

2- Put in softening cream cheese is chunks (1 Tbs:Egg).

3- Mix and melt cheese among eggs to make a creamy, delicious treat.

*This is one of Mr. Sam's favorites!

 

Enjoy your healthier, cheaper, and happier yogurt!

1-1-14

The Wednesday Weigh-ins begin again. I succumbed to my fitness enemy (sleep) yet again and gained even more weight due to holiday goodies. And start this year out at 169.5 lbs.

But, a congratulations to those who stuck to their fitness goals during the delicious holidays. My sister Nellie and both of my parents! My parents have each lost 16 pounds in the past few months. HOLY COW! That is amazing!

I mentioned the myfitnesspal app that my family uses previously but I would now like to invite you all to download it or join online (FREE). If you want to add me to your support group then comment and I will contact you!

Now for an awesome recipe courtesy of Mr. Sam.

Rissoto Wraps

1 lb Ground Chicken
Fajita Mix Packet
1 Cup Rissoto
4 Cups Turkey/Chicken Stock
1 small onion
1/2 Cup chopped peppers (I buy a bunch on sale, chop them and keep in the freezer for quick adds to recipes)
2 Tbs oil
Romaine Leaves
*Opt, Water Chestnuts for extra crunch

1- Brown chicken in fajita mix packet in frying pan. Depending on how spicy you want it, do 1/2 - 3/4 of the packet. the whole packet is too powerful. 
2- In separate pot, sauté onion and peppers in oil.
3- Add risotto to vegetables and coat with remaining oil.
4- Cook risotto according to directions (add liquid as you go)
5-Combine, mix well.
6- Wash and dry Romaine.
7- Enjoy!!!

It will make about 20 wraps. And each lettuce leaf worth is about 103 calories! Yeah for low cal, delish food!
 ***We did this as a Chopped adventure. Mr. Sam did it all himself. And I am ADDICTED!

Christmas is a Season for Crafting and Cooking

I apologize for being an absentee for the last month or so. But I still want to share our holiday season with you and tell you all about the wonderful smells, sights, and joys we experienced here in Bag End. Again I have to apologize - being so caught up in the hustle and bustle I forgot to take many pictures so all I can do is share the recipes or the results.
I'm sure you've all heard the saying 'just like mom used to make' well we had Christmas just like Great-Grandma used to make. From the homemade popcorn garland and gingerbread cookies to one of my favorite Christmas traditions from growing up; my Great-Grandma Nellie's Poorman Cake. At my house we knew what Santa really wanted. After all the cookies he needed something different so he got a couple slices of poorman with butter and eggnog. As a result I'm certain that he liked our house the best because poorman cake is excellent. Within about 2 or 3 hours of making ours I had eaten 3/4 of a loaf myself.

Boil 2 1/2 Cups Raisins and 3 Cups Water together until they have plumped and there is only about 1/3 of the water left (there was about an inch of water left in my little pot or about 3/4 of a cup liquid)

Meanwhile, cream together 1 Cup Shortening, 1 1/2 Cups Sugar, and 3 Eggs.
Add dry ingredients (mix together in another bowl prior so you just have to dump them all in)
3 Cups flour, 2 tsp Baking Soda, 1 tsp Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp Salt, 1/4 tsp All Spice

Mix in Raisins, 1/2 Cup finely chopped apple, and 1 Cup nuts (optional)

Line greased loaf tins (2 large/normal) with waxed or parchment paper and pour in. Bake @375 for 45 minutes. Cool and Enjoy :)


Despite my firm belief that all Santa wants is Poorman Cake; Mr. Sam disagrees and insisted that Santa eats cookies so I'm sharing with you my mom's sugar cookie recipe that stays soft and a sweet buttercream frosting to knock your socks off.

2/3 C. Shortening
3/4 C Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 Egg
4 tsp Milk
2 C. Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt

Cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla. Beat Egg in and stir in Milk. MIx flour, baking powder, and salt; dump in. Refridgerate overnight. Roll out on powdered sugar; keep it relatively think - about 1/4" and cut out cookies with powdered cookie cutters. Bake on greased pan for 6-8 minutes @ 375. Made about 2 dozen medium cookies.

Betterhomes' Buttercream

1 stick softened butter
3-4 Cups Powdered Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Almond Extract
Milk

Cream the butter and a cup of sugar together. Add the vanilla and extract. Gradually add more sugar until it makes and keeps stiff ridges. If you accidently make it thicker than you'd like add a few Tbs of Milk and add sugar until it is as you like. It will take about a pound of sugar to a stick of butter. Add color as you like with the extracts.
This isn't an exact science it is the way you like it. If you like it more creamy than sweet than it'll make less (because you'll do less sugar). But I make it like above.

Here are some links to other recipes we made during our traditional 'Great-Grandma' Christmas.

Gingerbread cookies
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/161074124146728287/

Divinity
There are dozens of recipes, variations, and tutorials; I couldn't find one quite like ours but they are all basically the same. I recommend a basic divinity with vanilla, karo syrup, sugar, water, and egg whites. That's all you need. Good luck, it's messy but so worth it.
http://www.sweetandsavorybyshinee.com/2013/12/18/divinity/ is a pretty good one.

If it seems like we cooked a lot during our Christmas break, then you're in for a shock to see the crafts we did.
Being strapped for cash and the fact that you have to be a millionaire to ship anything these days, we took a homemade approach to our Christmas gifts this year. We made 1 oven mitt, 3 skirts, 2 headbands, 1 dress, 3 snowmen, 5 lotion bars, a dozen chapstick, 4 pillowcases, 7 fish, 1 fishing pole, 2 soup mixes, 2 pajama pants, and I'm sure I've missed things along the way. I'll share some instructions for my favorites and some links to others in my next post.

The Festa Continues...

Has anyone else found things on Pinterest that say Café Rio this, restaurant that? And you try it and it's just not good? Yeah, me too. But I keep getting pulled in and trying them. Some are better than others.

So after being disappointed with my rice recipes I just resigned myself to making something up. And as chance would have it - I accidently created a great recipe the takes quite a bit like cilantro lime rice from Café Rio. But don't take my word for it - try it yourself. And it's super easy!

Cilantro Citrus Rice

2 C uncooked rice (rinsed)
1 small onion diced
2 pieces of garlic minced
3-4 Tbs fresh chopped cilantro
A few splashes of citrus
Salt, Pepper, Season salt to taste
Water

1-Get a frying pan hot with a drizzle of oil and sautee the garlic and onion
2-After the rice is rinsed and in the rice cooker (you can do it on the stove if you want but my rice cooker is my best friend. I highly recommend investing in one).
3-Add all other ingredients (if you'd like to use chicken stalk/broth in place of the water or throw in some bouillon it makes it even better).
4-You can use fresh citrus- lime is best- just cut in half and squeeze one of the halves into the rice; save the other half for after it has finished cooking.
5-I don't always have limes hanging around so I've used lemon juice (always in the fridge) and it was still great. If using this method put in a couple Tbs and then one at the end and just splash it over and mix in.
6-Amount of water determined by type of rice so look at package directions or rice cooker instructions.

***If you don't know what to do with your extra cilantro then chop it up and pack it into an ice tray. Drizzle some oil in there and freeze. Next time you want to party Rio style just pull those out and stick two in the rice cooker with the rest of these ingredients (or use in almost any other recipe).
If you can't get them to come out as a cube then just grab a butter knife and scrape them out - they'll be pretty soft.

Hope you like it. Sound off below if you make it and let me know what you thought!

Rio anyone? (Revised)

Today I'm sharing two of my new favorite recipes.
Homemade White Flour Tortillas
Café Rio Cilantro Lime Rice

I searched and searched online for a tortilla recipe and most of what I found were pretty much identical. Now, this recipe will work with either a tortilla press or just rolling them by hand- whatever you have available to you.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1 heaping tsp salt
6 Tbs lard or softened butter
3/4 cup warm water - as hot out of the tap as you can handle on your hands

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and then cut in butter until crumbly. Use your hands - it's just easier. You won't lose butter on ______utensil that you are using and it'll be faster. PLUS - that's how it's always been done, so take a trip into history.


Slowly add the water in and form a soft dough. You may not need all of the water (I used my whey from my homemade yogurt so I actually needed more water than it called for). The dough won't really be sticky because your oil wasn't in liquid form. *If you decide to substitute oil for the butter it will change the consistency. I've read mixed reviews on this - some do it and some say to NEVER do it. I haven't tried it because we always keep butter on hand and it's so much more delicious.

Roll into golf ball sized clumps (will make about 12 of these) but keep in mind that the more you work with dough the tougher the end result will be so this is not the time to be a perfectionist.


Cover with a damp cloth and get your skillet hot (medium heat). One a lightly dusted surface roll out your balls very thin. They may not be round at first - my first batch I only had one round tortilla.



*Tip, if you turn the tortilla a few inches between each roll it will be easier.

Throw it on the skillet and continue rolling out. But be sure to watch the tortillas in the pan.


Hold finished tortillas in a towel to keep warm and soft. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers. If freezing - make sure they have fully cooled.

Happy Festa!

Foolproof Whole Wheat Bread

Atkin's Shmatkins! I love bread. And in almost every instance (except a grilled cheese with tomato soup, yum :) ) it is more delicious to have wheat bread. More delicious and more healthy.
My mom used to make this and now I make it every week. *Yes, with only 2 1/2 in the house it goes that fast. It's that good.
If you're new to wheat and don't want the fiber overload- been there and it does not feel good on the belly - the you can do half white and half wheat; just be wary that the moisture to flour ratio will change with the protein contain of the flour so you may need more or less flour towards the end. Baking is a science but it's also an act of love and it takes practice; just be patient while mixing it up.

Here are a few pictures (sorry they aren't labeled or in order) for reference if you have some questions about what to do.

6 C HOT water
About 12 C Wheat Flour
2 Tbs Salt
1/3 C Oil
2/3 C Honey or Raw Sugar
2 T Yeast

**If your yeast is not instant (most is these days/ look at your package and follow directions) then you will need to start it now. If you aren't sure if your yeast is instant you can do this with all yeast, it just adds an extra step. Put 1/2 C lukewarm water in large container (trust me, I've had it spill over when it grows) with a few Tbs of sugar and mix in your yeast. Leave it to grow-grow-grow.

1- Put 6 C hot water in your mixer equipped with dough-hook (unless you jumpstarted your yeast then you only use 5 C).
2- Add 7 C wheat flour (if you are doing half/half, save the white flour for later). Mix on low until blended. It will be runny and goopy
3- Add salt, oil, and honey. Blend. Again, goopy
4- 1 C flour and mix again.
5- Add yeast or yeast mixture now.
6- Once it is well blended you can start adding the rest of your flour (you can use your white flour now, half/half people). Start with 2-3 C and slowly add remaining cups by 1/2 cups until the dough cleans the sides of your bowl.

Remember that the stickier the dough the more moist and wonderful your bread will be. But you still want to be able to work for it. So use your best judgment. I let mine stick to my finger a little after I've poked it, but still maintain it's shape.
Once your dough is mixed and to your liking. Put your mixer on it's lowest setting and let it knead for 10 minutes. Just walk away.
Now you are ready to make your loaves. Grease 4 bread pans or 7 medium sized ones and set aside.
Grease your hand and pull it out 1/4 at a time and shape on a lightly greased counter top.
Cover loaves with a damp tea towel or if you don't have one (like me) use some damp paper towel.
Raise for 35 minutes and preheat your oven. 350 deg. Fahrenheit 40-45 minutes.
If you like a softer crust oil your tops before baking. Or for a sweet kick, drizzle honey on top before you stick it in the oven.

We love this and hope you do too. See, even Hobbit Jo likes it!

Elevensies

And food for any other time of day. Hobbits LOVE food. And we are no exception. Here is my online cookbook, I'll post tutorials to my favorite discoveries from Pinterest, my mom's tried and true recipes that I will ALWAYS make and brag about, and some of our Chopped adventures that actually work.
We lived with Mr. Sam's parents this past summer and we both became addicted to Chopped. He watches and I practice. It's probably my favorite thing to do after Hobbit Jo is in bed. Mr. Sam will pull some stuff out of the cupboard and I go to work. Sometimes it's awesome and sometimes they get a little weird, but I'll share food for any appetite.
So check back for healthy, homemade food. And sometimes not so healthy.