Late Supper Suppa

Not sure where I have been as of late, my motivation tank seems to be running on empty.

I'm a little woefully behind with this, but better late than never.

Suppa Club Part 2

The recipe selected for the second Suppa Club meal was a Bavarian Sausage Hot Pot It seems to have been a big hit. I personally didn't make any changes, just the addition of a few whole garlic cloves and we all loved it so much that I have actually made it twice. It has my two favourite qualities in a recipe, ridiculously easy and megga delicious. I know it will become a well loved and much used member of my recipe collection.


Sorry about the pic, yummy as this meal was, I found it difficult to get a pic that actually did it justice.

Please check out how the other members of the Suppa Club felt about it. Siri, Ingrid, Kirsten, Nicole and Molly.

The next recipe on the list is Pork Roast with Three Mushroom Ragout. It looks to have the potential to be seriously yummy. I just hope that I don't take forever to make it.

Alive and Well...

I can't believe how quickly September is flying by. Anyhoo, enough with my life on fast forward. I do plan on being more diligent in my postings in the future. I had thought about again participating in NaBloPoMo, but I was really keen on the theme for October. Although I really do like October in general. The trees get all gussied up in their fall colours, there is Thanksgiving for us Canadians, and of course, there is Hallowe'en my favourite of holidays. I will admit though, it doesn't seem to be quite as much fun now that the kidlets are getting older.

On to what is new and exciting. I have joined an online Supper Club, and if all of the recipes turn out as fab as the first, this is a club that is going to a joy to participate in. The particular Supper Club is the brain child of Molly over at Batter Splattered. How it works, someone chooses a recipe and we all, within the same week, make up the recipe. Adaptations are allowed and then by Monday(at least I think that's it) we post with our results, thoughts and hopefully yummy looking pics to drool over. Considering that I am still pretty new to the whole food photography thing, my may not always be drool-worthy, but practice and all that.

This week's recipe was Cheese and Potato Soup, from Epicurious. I made mine up Thursday, but am just posting now as I spent most of the weekend helping a friend prepare to move. Back to the soup. It was delicious with a capital 'D'. Everyone absolutely loved it.

As usual, I did make a couple several of changes. I nixed the celery, as I am not a fan of celery strings, and instead added about a half a teaspoon of celery seed with the other seasonings. I used a bouillon cube, I know, I know, but I didn't have any chicken broth kicking around. I bumped up the cheese factor by using a combination old cheddar, mozzarella and smoked cheddar. I also added more ham, about a half a cup of niblet corn, a few dashes of Cayenne instead of the Tabasco and a sprig of fresh Rosemary for luck. The corn was a last minute thing that I decided on to replace the celery. Oh, I almost forgot, I sautèd the ham with the onions, carrots, garlic(2 cloves, diced,which I apparently also forgot to mention) and seasonings. I wanted to give the ham a little additional flavour.




Overall thoughts, the soup was amazing, and I would even like to try it with more broth and no dairy. For those wondering why, here's a shot of the soup pre-dairy. It even tasted great at this stage.



If you're interested in a few more takes on the soup, have a peek at the other Supper Club member's blogs. Siri, Ingrid, Kirstin, Nicole, Amanda and of course, Molly.

Delicious Thievery

Ever since Foodie Girl posted her stuffed mushroom recipe I have been dying to try them. Bought the mushrooms and the cream cheese, since I already had the other ingredients I figured it was a go. Not so, I am such a procrastinator I hadn't gotten around to them yet and was afraid that they would soon fall the way of the Monkey Bread that never seems to get made.

Tonight, I decided to steal her recipe and as I always do, I doctored those babies up a little. Being that I am not one of those people with super-human self control, who choose not to eat bacon, I added some crisp, crumbled, food of the gods bacon to the stuffing mixture. Then, since there was already a part of one in the fridge, I added some finely chopped, red pepper. Since I had no onion powder, I switched in some finely chopped, green onions. Finally, because I had a recently discovered recipe contest on my mind I topped the little, filled mushroom caps with some grated, double smoked, cheddar. They were incredible, they taste even better than they look.



Kelly's Magical Stuffed Mushrooms, the Moonlit Knit Way

20 whole fresh button mushrooms(I bought 24, but 4 vanished)
1-2 tablespoons finely diced sweet red pepper
3 slices bacon, fried, cooled & crumbled
1 teaspoon bacon drippings
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
6 oz cream cheese, softened(I could have probably gotten away with 4)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese(I used 1/2 Parmesan, 1/2 Romano)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 cup grated smoked cheddar

Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.

Heat oil & bacon drippings in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, chopped mushroom stems and sweet red pepper to the skillet and fry until moisture has disappeared. Set aside to cool.

Stir in cream cheese, Parmesan(and Romano) cheese, green onions and spices with fried mushroom, pepper and bacon mixture. Combine well. Fill mushroom caps generously, using small spoon or butter knife. Arrange the mushroom caps on cookie sheet and top with grated cheddar.

Bake for 12-18 minutes or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

If you're like me and forget to add the cayenne, you can sprinkle it on the mushrooms just before slipping them into the oven, or while they're in the oven, if you're a lot like me.

Sweet Deviation

Today my allergies are still messing me up so there was frozen sausage & cheese pizza and Rice Krispie Square experimentation.

We added cinnamon to the melted butter before adding in the marshmallows, and switched up maple extract for the vanilla. They were quite tasty, though I think I would add more maple next time. Of course there will be a next time.

No Monkey, Just Cats

So, as it turned out, I wasn't energetic enough to head out for groceries yesterday, there-by the making of Monkey Bread has been delayed yet again. It will happen, though maybe not this week (especially since I forgot to buy yeast). Perhaps it will be my weekend goal if nothing else comes up.

This evening the kidlets and I made Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies and twice baked potatoes for dinner. As before, I bumped up the recipes a little. This time the Jalapenos were purchased from Sunripe and, with the addition of the Jalapeno Monteray Jack, were quite a bit spicier. Lip burnin', tongue tinglin' spicier. Tall child will be eating most of them as Megz and I are a little tongue tender when it comes to extreme spice. Even T.C said she could only eat a few at a time.

Tonight a new stray turned up in our yard. She's a pretty, sleek, black sweetheart that Megz has temporarily named Scarlet. This makes two strays that frequent our yard. Well, I don't really know that they are strays, but they show up to be fed. The other is a cute little striped tabby T.C has give the name Demi, because she's not really ours and this makes her half a cat to care for. Apparently my crazy old cat lady gene is sending off signals. Heck, I at least thought it would wait until I was 40.

Oh The Possibilities...

Seriously, how much fun does this look like? My mind started racing with possibilities before the infomercial had even finished. Then I of course immediately looked it up online. I really need to get me one of these. There is a store at the mall that sells all the "T.V stuff". I must remember to have a look next time I'm there.

Pancake Puff Pan

Protege at Work

This evening, Tall Child made us a wonderfully tasty dinner. Chicken wings with rice and steamed broccoli. I oversaw and gave a couple of bits of advice, but otherwise she was at the helm. Okay, so rice and broccoli are no biggie, after all we do have a rice cooker. The wings however were downright dee-lish. Maybe she will be cooking the meals more often. Here are photographic evidence of the delectableness of the wings and her recipe.

Tall Child's Saucy Wings

2 lb Chicken wings (we cooked 26)
2/3 cup Tomato Ketchup
juice of 2 limes
4 tbsp Brown sugar
1 tsp Ground allspice
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
2- 3 tsp molasses
splash of soy sauce
2 dashes of Worcestershire
pinch celery salt
smoked paprika

Bake naked wings on cookie sheet @ 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
Baste with sauce, bake five minutes. Turn wings and baste again, bake five more minutes. Baste again.

Broil 2-4 minutes, turn, baste, broil 2-4 more minutes.

Enjoy

Appetizer & Dessert

Last evening, Tall Child and I tried out a recipe new to us, and a slight variation of one that I have tried in the past.

The new recipe was Pioneer Woman's Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. They were awesome, and really, really easy. We will definitely be making them again. We added a little grated cheddar before wrapping them up in the bacon. Next time I think we might try adding some herbs to the cream cheese. Or topping them with various grated cheeses.

The recipe variation was of Berry Bundt Cake. I made it a while back and have been dying to try it again with different berries. This time we used blueberries, and instead of making in it a bundt pan, we used the mini muffin pan. They were incredible. Tasty, sweet, little morsels of cake, stuffed with yummy blueberries. I know this recipe will be getting a lot of use in the future and will be the subject of experimentation and of course, taste testing.

No photos this time, everything went way to fast, and I missed the opportunity.

What's in a Name?

Before beginning this blog experience I pondered it for several months. There were so many questions. Did I have enough to say? Would people actually want to read it? What should it be about? What should it be called? After all it was going to be my online home.

Back then knitting seemed the way to go. It was something I loved, something I knew enough about, and something that I am proud to be involved with. It never occurred to me to to have a food blog. Yes, cooking and baking are things I do, things I love and things I happily share with my family and friends. But cooking is something everyone has to do, isn't it?

Since then I have learned that not everyone cooks, not everyone thinks pie is easy as pie. Not everyone enjoys making their bread from scratch rather than using a bread maker. I never thought (and still don't think) of any of my culinary products as overly special. Heck I think me using the word "culinary" sounds pretentious. I'm just a simple girl who likes to make, share and enjoy simple food. But people, at least many of the people I know, are always remarking on the food items I create. People even remember me for it. I go to a party at my friend Kim's, someone says "You're the one who made those rosemary potatoes, those were delicious." Yes, I made the potatoes, and I brought them to Kim's b-day party two years ago.

I digress, the point I was trying to make is, was I wrong when I named this blog? When I look back at my posts more of them seem to be related to food than anything else. I know there is always the option of having a second blog, which many people do. I barely keep up this one sometimes, me having two is out of the question.

A while back I talked here about the overt foodiness of this blog and through Freudian slip or just plain typo. Several times I accidentally typed "Moonlit Knitchen" and ever since have wondered if this blog should be re-named. What do you think? Does the name really matter? Is it a bad thing for a knitting blog to have more food posts than knitting ones?

Don't get me wrong, I still love to knit, and do it all the time. But I cook more than I knit, probably due to the fact that my daughters find food tastier that knitted goods.

I'm rambling, I'll stop now.

Home, Hearth & Muffins

My modern hearth, which due to the lack of a functional fireplace, is actually the stove in my kitchen. My dream kitchen does involve an Aga, but so far, that is a long way off. For now, I rely on my trusty stove, a much beloved Christmas gift from my Mother. Today my hearth was put through it's paces.

This morning while browsing Tastespotting I fell victim to a photo from The Teacher Learns to Cook, of some wonderfully yummy looking Bretzel Rolls. Being that I am me, and that today is my day off, I just had to make some up. I somehow managed to forget the milk in the recipe. However they still turned out awesome, everyone loves them. I will definitely be making them again. I am even thinking of trying them bite-sized next time. Who knows, I may even make the actual soft pretzels.



After the Bretzels came a batch of Mini Pink Lemonade Cupcakes. Then, while the chili simmered, I played with my corn muffin recipe and wound up with Cheesy Bacon Corn Muffins. They were also very tasty and went perfectly with the chili.



And my hearth isn't done for the day yet. Tall Child has requested Apple 'n Cheddar Muffins for this week's grab and go breakfasts. Who knows, there may even be a few peanut butter cookies before the night is through.

In Need of a Creativity Refill

I've been feeling exhausted for two days now, with no valid reason, so my brain is running a little low on creative ideas. Once again, there will be no knitting content to this post, but I am working on it, I promise. Today, there will be recipes, some of them I have linked to in the past, today, I will be posting the actual recipes here. They are in no particular order.


Top 3 Current Favourite Recipes


1. No-Knead Challah

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp course salt)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and room temp.
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In a large bowl mix together the eggs, water, honey, melted butter, yeast and salt. Add in the flour and mix until all the flour is incorporated. Cover (not airtight)
and let the dough rise for 2-3 hours on the counter. You can shape and bake after it has risen or you can refrigerate 4-7 days.

Either way, shape the dough as desired (I made it into large buns) let rest 40-90 (depending how cold your house is) minutes and bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 20 min. After removing from the oven I gave mine a brush of melted butter.



2. Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter (I reduced it to 3/4 c)
1 1/2 cups sugar (I reduced it to 1c)
1 teaspoons vanilla
cinnamon
1 small can Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.


3. Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites
1/3 cup thawed frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate
1/4 cup buttermilk


In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg whites and lemonade concentrate. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until just smooth.

Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in 350F preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

These are great topped with swirls of white chocolate, cream cheese frosting or a dusting of powdered sugar.

*Note, the original recipe said these made 10. I find one batch makes 6 medium to large cupcakes, or about 24 mini cupcakes.

Upside of Deviation

I had intended today to be a day of knitting and much T.V. viewage. Instead it wound up being a day in the kitchen. There was however plenty of productivity. I baked another batch of apple dumplings, I baked chocolate chip, pecan cookies and then I baked up some pizza-esque flat breads. I also made up a batch of master dough for peasant bread which will be baked up tomorrow or Monday.

The rest of my evening will be spent watching Grindhouse, sipping Kool-aid and munching on parmesan topped popcorn.

Until tomorrow, I leave you with some "Cookie Porn".

New Unofficial Holiday

Here at Chez Moonlit Knit today was unofficially named as "Dumpling Day".

For supper, the girls made Gyoza. A Japanese version of pot stickers. Basically a dumpling, filled with a cabbage and pork mixture, that is fried and them steamed. They were very very tasty. They used an online recipe we had found, and made a delicious dipping sauce of soy sauce, lime juice and ginger. Meg took this picture and is very proud that she was able to capture the steam in the shot.



As my contribution to the meal I made Apple Dumplings, from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. They were absolutely wonderful, complete and true demon food. You know, the kind that calls to you, pummels your will power and makes you want to eat the whole pan. I reduced the butter to 3/4 of a cup, and the sugar to one cup. I definitely don't think that the finished product lacked for the alteration in any way. This recipe will surely be going into regular rotation.


For anyone keeping up on my battle with Bread Making Disease, I made it through one more day, unless you count dumplings as bread. Though I did buy a 10 kilogram bag of flour while grocery shopping today.

Relapse.

There will be no list for today, as I have suffered a relapse of Bread Making Disease. This afternoon I decided to try out the Challah/Brioche master dough from Artisan Bread in Five, and this evening, unable to restrain myself, I baked the entire batch.

I believe my relapse was triggered by news of a possible flour shortage. I have to give thanks to my Foodie Girl, aka:Kelly, who has alerted me to this potential impending disaster. I have already begun researching methods of bulk flour storage that will not require taking over my Children's bedroom. Depending on the future outlook, I may even consider growing my own wheat in the back yard. I have to consider that there is more than just bread at stake here. This may well effect the future of cookies, cupcakes and muffins for which I also rely heavily on flour. For the love of all that's good, I even used flour in the chicken wings we had for dinner. Do I start stockpiling now, before prices begin to rise or do I live cavalierly, buy only as needed and risk being caught off guard and flourless. I'm only hoping that this relapse doesn't send me into a downward spiral of bread and goodie baking that I am unable to recover from.

I leave you with a photo of one of this evening's Brioche buns, which by the way were incredibly tasty and very addictive. I don't think I will be able to resist baking more of them for long.


Brioche bun, fresh from the oven dressed in a glossy coat of melted butter.

It May be Contagious

First off, let's pretend that it has not been almost two months since my last post. We (meaning me), are going to overlook that little detail and move ahead.

Anyone who knows me well, and probably a few who don't know me so well, know that I love to cook and bake as much as I love to knit. I often think this blog looks more like a cooking blog that a knitting one, but they're both a part of me.

Well...

I think I may have contracted a new addiction. Bread making. My Foodie Girl, aka: Kelly, and I discussed this book, a while back, then she went and bought it. She kindly shared her experiences and the recipe formula, and now I too have the "Bread Making Disease". Yeah, 'cause there weren't already enough carbs in my life. Although, in my own defense I have already shared my bread making results with my children, my friend Kim, neighbours, and several co workers, so at least I am not hording. The first batch of dough never even made it in to the fridge. The second managed a whole 12 hrs or so before being delved into to make a few cheesy, herby rolls.

I have had to slightly modify my cooking method from what the recipe suggests. I don't have a baking stone, so I have utilised the method from another no-knead bread. I place my Grandmother's cast iron dutch oven into the oven, and allow it to pre-heat. When the dough has rested and the oven is fully pre-heated I carefully plop the semi-shaped dough into the pot and place on the lid. I then let the bread bake and turn into a much desired orb of yummyness. Works pretty well, the crust is crispy, yet not to tough and the bread is light and moist without being either too dense or too wholey. I definitely think this will become a problem. Between, cookies, cupcakes, biscuits and now bread, I may need a part time job just to supplement the costs of baking supplies, not too mention the knitting supplies.

Speaking of knitting, it's been a little slow. I have been experiencing some hand an wrist troubles that occasionally get in the way, and I'm still busy playing with the new oven. I did however manage to finish a hat for little Charlie Girl, requested by her Mom. A Bumble Bee! I love the way it turned out. It is exactly as I imagined it, and it was very easy. A simple, striped , rolled brim hat with i-cord antennae.


One more thing, Kelly has coerced me into attempting to partake in National Blog Posting Month or NaBloPoMo as it is more commonly known. It is apparently going monthly. I will try. However, I don't always have access to the internet on weekends, so I can't make any promises.

A Most Excellent Gift.

My final 2007 Christmas gift arrived January 3, 2008. I love it and I have to say, it is one of my most favourite gifts ever. Actually everyone in the house loves it, well, maybe not the cats. It was first used late the day of it's arrival, though not for very long. Today, I put it to proper use. Wanna see?

Here's how things progressed.




You may need a napkin for this part. Here is the results of my toil.

Have you guessed my gift yet? Those who know me I'm sure have, but just in case here it is, posing for a couple of photos upon it's arrival.


It's not fancy, but it's mine and works wonderfully. After almost 2 years without a working oven, I am over the moon, and the moon sparkles just like a sugar cookie made with real butter.

Btw, the cookies are an adaptation that began with a no-frills peanut butter cookie recipe from my Grandmother's Five Roses Cookbook, which I have named Peanut Butter Sugar Blossoms.

Weekly Randomness

Today I started taking antibiotics to combat the spider bite I received earlier this week at work. The scariest thing the Doctor said, "Watch that it doesn't start to turn black". How comforting. I would normally have knit to ease my mind, however my wrist has been a little sore of late. So, I did what I often do when I want to feel better; I headed to the kitchen to cook. Soup was the item of the day. First there was Mushroom Sausage Penne Soup. It was really quite tasty, perfect with a sprinkle of parmesan and a nice warm piece of garlic bread. The kiddles both had second helpings. Next, a big pot of Cauliflower & Squash Soup, which tasted incredible, wonderful and creamy, but with surprisingly little fat. I adapted the recipe just a little, by roasting both the cauliflower and squash, also roasted a few garlic cloves to be added in. I used maple syrup, regular sour cream, and stirred in a spoonful of parmesan and a bit of fresh thyme after pureeing. I will definitely be making it again, for now this batch goes into the freezer... well, with enough left out for tomorrow's lunch.




Since I have no knitting progress to show, another random quiz...

You Are Fall!

Thoughtful Expressive Creative Poetic Smart

What Season Woman Are You?

From Peach to Jam.

What I did on the weekend? Several things, the one I choose to share ... jam. Lately I've been experimenting with making jams without pectin, aka: certo. I usually make very small batches, just in case the experimentation goes awry. So far I've been lucky..although there is one batch of peach raspberry that came out more like peach butter..I don't like it, but the Em does so it's not a total loss. This weekend there was the Peach Raspberry butter and Ginger Peach jam. The ginger peach turned out awesome. The only problem with the small batch idea ... if it's really good, there's not enough and since I'm dash and pinch kind of cook, it is sometimes difficult to exactly replicate the results. I find myself actually writing down the recipes as I create, something I've not often done. Anyway, back to the ginger peach jam. I photo documented its evolution for the sake of posterity, well, and the blog( hi Kelly!).

Randomness.

Work ended prematurely today due to a nifty power outage, which gratefully did not affect my home. This means, the cats and I had an afternoon nap. Tonight's menu; spinach, tomato and bocconcini pizzas on naan bread. They were very yummy. Here's photographic evidence.



On the knitting front, Ravelry is my new addiction. There is just so much to look at.

On the cat front, a photo of a kitten (who loves mashed potatoes) in her natural habitat.

In the spirit of self discovery and sharing, I took this quiz. Does it sound like me?

You Are a Warrior Soul

You're a strong person and sometimes seen as intimidating. You don't give up. You're committed and brave. Truly adventuresome, you are not afraid of going to battle. Extremely protective of loved ones, you root for the underdog. You are picky about details and rigorous in your methods. You also value honesty and fairness a great deal. You can be outspoken, intimidating, headstrong, and demanding. You're a hardliner who demands the best from themselves and others. Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Tidbit Tuesday

Here we are again, it's Tidbit Tuesday. To begin, a photo, taken by me. This is in fact, my favourite photo taken of my summer garden. It shows an orchid petunia, my Mexican luck pots and one little bacoppa blossom. Interesting trivial fact, this arrangement is actually just to the side of the back kitchen door.


Speaking of kitchen, here's look at dinner this evening. It consisted of Maple pork chops with applesauce, red potatoes with butter & fresh dill, and pan fried brussel sprouts. There was mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate cupcakes for dessert.


Finally, on the knitting front, here's a peek at the progress on the orange toddler sweater, with a cute little Jack O'lantern for mood. Interesting trivial fact (or maybe not so interesting), this photo was taken on my bed.

Recipes currently under consideration ... Cranberry Jalapeno Relish, Crantini Jelly and Spiced Apple & Red Pepper Jelly