Fast Taco Rice

Middle of the week fast meal here it comes! I think sometimes I get a little too caught up in trying to make things too gourmet. I do. I think it's the chef in me, but sometimes I am reminded by the non-chef husband and children that simple-silly is okay too. Case in point, while trying to come up with a fast delicious healthy rice dish, I made this rice. We call it Taco Rice. It uses instant brown rice, a lot of vegetables, and lean meat. It takes all of fifteen minutes to make. Yikes, right? What's not to love? It can also be made with my homemade rice-y-roni but you will need to increase the final cooking time to 20 minutes, and then use a full 15 ounce can of broth or homemade stock. Those who know about my zany husband Ace will remember is total disdain for any kind of yard bird used in cooking. However, he hardly noticed the taco meat. It adds great flavor. If you are totally vegetarian, you can use a can of red or black beans in place of the meat and season with a fajita seasoning or taco seasoning of your choice. Homemade Meatless Wonders seitan works well in the place of the meat if you add a little oil to the pan so the veggies saute properly.

Tess' Taco Rice
1/2 lb lean turkey meat (taco seasoned)
2 bell peppers, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic chopped fine
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups instant brown rice
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth

sour cream or Homemade yogurt (optional)
chopped cilantro (optional)
Directions: Saute the bell peppers, onions and garlic with the taco meat in a 12-14 inch skillet with a lid that fits. Cook 4-5 minutes until meat is no longer pink and the veggies are tender.
We like a lot of vegetables around here and after years of practice, my kids are finally on board with wanting a lot of the good stuff in their food too. It's a process. I've read that it takes fifteen exposures to a new food before kids will want to eat it. You may have to prepare it a lot of different ways as well. I'm happy to report that Face totally approves of bell peppers, onions and garlic in the meal. He even stirs the pot.

Add the tomatoes and broth. Stir and bring to a boil. Add instant brown rice, mix well. Cover with lid and turn to lowest heat. Cook 10 minutes. Stir in cilantro if desired.

Serve with taco chips, sour cream. Homemade yogurt also works as a topping. Really anything you put on a taco would work. Yes, this would work wonderfully as the base for taco salads. You're so smart.

There you go.

Bigger Bolder Solar Oven is Done...

Bigger Bolder Sun Oven...big enough for 12 loaves started a little while ago. If you didn't peek at that entry, we've basically made a cooker out of an old dresser drawers and some common household items. We have finished the baker for the most part. Looking close to 350 degrees after 1 hour in sunlight.

For the windows we used glass picture frames (16 by 20 inches) so far they have been the biggest expense at eighteen dollars each. For the reflective panels...plexi-glass mirrors (1$ each at our local dollar store). We purchased an oven thermometer (at the dollar store too) to track the temperature and for the gasket/seal around the edges of the glass, we nailed some heavy laundry rope (about 3 dollars). The only other thing I would recommend is getting the metal hinges. Those doors get warm and it's nice to not have to take them all the way off each time it needs to be lifted.

Finished. The mirror panels are leaning against a lawn chair for now until I can figure out a metal chain system. They are clamped together with the metal clips pictured about.I'll let you know how that goes.

Bread is baking as I type. I'm excited to see how it goes.

That's all I have to say about that.

More Gardening

I don't know how many remember us first Getting The Garden , or how pathetic my little plot of land looked. Thanks to Hometown Seeds, again for the wonderful seeds! They have been the bomb-dig-a-dee. Oh hey...no pun intended on the dig-a-dee. That's totally geeky.

Just over a month ago, my baby plants had just started to peek through the dirt. I was ever so elated...mainly because I was working straight from seed and wasn't sure if I would get any growth at all. I hoped. I prayed. I watered and gave them good soil.

Well, here we are 7 weeks into it...and wouldn't you know, I'm already thinking I planted too many zucchini. Apparently...they do grow like gang-busters. Dad warned me and I did remember to only plant 3 seeds. Who knew that all three plants would grow! Crap. Now I'm going to be doing the midnight fly-by runs. As a random fact, I look good in a bandit cap. That dark hooded figure dropping off random bags of zucchini at unaware neighbor's doors may or may not be me. Ding and ditch is such a lame way to get rid of extra veggies. You who left bags of the large puffy squash at my door last year at 12:34 AM will have to find another drop zone this year. Fess up you zucchini bandits. I know who you are...and I'm not making zucchini bread for you this year...again. I have bigger squash to fry.

The peas are a couple feet high. Cussing Granny danced around in a circle when she saws these today.

Everything has come in. I couldn't be more excited if I tried. Why is that? I'm a complete garden geek. There. I said it. I know my Dad is happy to hear it. Compare that picture to what we started with and I'm feeling darn right giddy! Oh dear..."triple G". Giddy Garden Geek. That's a whole new level of dork right there. Okay...the onions and potatoes got a head start. The ones from seed look a lot like chives right now. The potatoes are most exciting to Cussing Granny who grew up on a potato farm. It won't be a huge crop...but it will be ours. Anyway, I just had to share. That's what I do.

I know you're glad to hear me say , "That's all I have to say about that. "

Mom's Best Red Velvet Cake

After yesterday's post on diabetic food, I don't know if I can post this. Really. If I admit how many of these I actually ate, I'm sure I will have to talk to my bishop. It's a sin. Perfectly evil. That being said, I love red velvet cake. If it is done right and it isn't just a lame chocolate cake that someone poured a jar of red food coloring into. This one is the real deal. By real, I mean the classic with the butter frosting that has a cooked pudding mixed into it. The classic where the cake is rich and thick and moist like a brownie...but fluffy, with only a hint of chocolate. Real vanilla...hints of raspberry. After all, that is what I was raised on. The real deal. Not a box mix with cream cheese frosting. It isn't anywhere close. In fact, I love the real deal so much that when I got married, my dear aunt Dorthea made a wedding cake for my reception in Utah using the real cake...and the real frosting. It was an act of love. Indeed. So, forgive me if I only ever share the real red velvet cake recipe that my mom used for years. It's the one her mother gave to her, with a few alterations. So we are indeed going on the third generation of red velvet freakishness. Straight from my mother.
Thanks Mom!
Here goes:

Mom’s Best Red Velvet Cake
by Geneve C. Wanberg (Mom to 4 wonderful "kittens")
formulated for high altitude (2010)

"My search for a moist and light red velvet cake began in my 17th year of life. Because I couldn't find a recipe for the red velvet cake I was looking for, I have developed a high ratio cake from basic ingredients that is tender and moist. The mayonnaise is an emulsion and lends itself well in a high ratio cake made in the home kitchen. The classic chalk white frosting I became acquainted with in my youth has been enhanced with the addition of white chocolate baking pieces."


Yield: one (1) 9 inch cake
24 cupcakes
Cake:
2 cups cake flour (sea level, use 1 3/4 cup flour)
1/3 cup cornstarch (sea level, use 1/4 cup cornstarch)
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder (sea level, use 2 tsp baking powder)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1/4 cup red food coloring (2 ounces)
3/4 cup milk, at room temperature
3/4 cup mayonnaise (Best Foods)
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon LorAnn’s Royal Raspberry oil (optional)
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature


Frosting, recipe follows.


Directions:


Cake: Make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature. Preheat oven to 350º. Line two (2) 9 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and then butter and flour the pans.


In a medium bowl sift or whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set dry ingredients aside for use later.


In a large liquid measuring cup combine the food coloring, milk, and mayonnaise. Beat milk mixture slightly with a fork (mixture will appear to be curdled).


Cream together the butter, vanilla, and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat another 3-5 minutes or until the mixture is a light lemon color.


Add the flour mixture to the batter in three (3) batches alternating with the milk mixture, mixing well after each addition. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.


Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then invert onto cooling racks. Allow cakes to completely cool before frosting (allow 2-3 hours for cooling). The cakes can be frosted without splitting the layers, however, I love having four layers of cake with the frosting layered in between. For this effect you will need to split cakes in half horizontally prior to frosting the cake. Note: Because the frosting utilizes a pudding mixture, store cake in fridge after frosting.
Frosting:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1-1/2 cups whole milk
8 ounces white chocolate baking pieces
1-1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla (or 1 1/2 tsp LorAnn's vanilla bean paste)
2-3 drops LorAnn’s Royal Raspberry oil (optional)
1-1/2 cups sugar
Frosting: Whisk together milk and flour in a two quart pan. Heat on stove over medium heat while continuously whisking until the mixture comes to boil and is very thick. Take the pan off the stove, add white chocolate pieces and stir until they are melted (don’t mix too much as the baking pieces may become oily). Force thickened mixture through a fine sieve into a small bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the “pudding” mixture and cool for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator.


Cream the butter, vanilla, raspberry oil (optional), and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whist attachment and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and the sugar is dissolved, about 6 minutes. Add the cold milk/white chocolate paste, a few tablespoons at a time to the butter mixture and whip until light and fluffy.


Oh...and I use the LorAnn real vanilla bean paste in the frosting. Shameless plug...10% off through the end of April if you mention my name at checkout... See the flecks. It's evil, but in a very good way.

Until you've actually tasted the frosting, the picture really doesn't do it justice. Let me just preface it by saying that this is not sweetened bleck-ish shortening junk. This is melt in your mouth buttery love. It's lightly sweet with a wonderful hint of vanilla and raspberry. It's breathtaking. I'm being very reserved with my praise...for how I feel about this frosting. Please...put one in my coffin when I die. I'll need it on the other side. If it's not in heaven...well, then I don't want to go. Okay...that may be a little extreme.

See the flecks of vanilla bean?

Let me help you see them better...

That was a total sacrifice to show you that. I just want you to know. Look at my eye twitching. Great...now I have guilt. Lie again, and I'm sure to not go where the frosting is.

Okay. There you go.

Tess Eggette (pull apart baguettes) tutorial

Remember these little cuties from Easter? I make pull apart egg shaped baguettes that I lovingly refer to as eggettes. I've had a lot of requests via email for a detailed tutorial on how to make them. Don't worry...you'll get to see it. Just remember that this will be one of my signature loaves at the bakery so don't think this tutorial will always be here on the blog. It may only stay for a few weeks. Who am I kidding? It will be here forever. If you have the initiative to actually make them then more power to you. I'm not going to be stingy when it comes to sharing my recipes and ideas. There are few recipes that I safely guard other than my spice blends.

I use 10 ounces of 5 day bread dough per eggette. I also use a nice baguette shaped loaf pan. So, if you have the loaf pan you are ahead. Now here's where I check who has been really reading the blog. If you leave a comment after this post, on Friday I will be giving one of those baguette shaped pans away to one of the luck comment leaver persons. Is that English? Does that make sense even?

They can be made without the pan and just put on a flat sheet pan that has been lightly oiled or coated with cornmeal...but the indented baguette pan helps keep that very "eggy" shape.

Roll the dough into a tight log.

Now this next picture...try to imagine what my husband had to drink...Just guess.
While you're guessing...be sure to notice that you need to pinch the heck out of that seam so the loaf doesn't separate.

Here's where I do my best Jackie Chan impression. High-yaaah!
Take that you...dough log. Wow, somehow calling it a "dough log" doesn't seem like a big insult does it? If I called my husband a "dough log" he'd probably run away crying like a little girlie man. Seems like I should use the log as whip or something if I'm really doing a good Jackie impression. He'd put some one's eye out with the blunt end. Then he'd do a flying leap over my rolling pin. I love Jackie. His use of props is so existential.

Now, you really want to be sure it gets good and separated. Not like this little dent...
pathetic loser...dent. Somehow that didn't seem like a big insult either...for a dent.

You want really well defined curves. Really.

Take the eggette and place it in one of these special pans if you have one.

Now...look at these. So perfectly defined.

One on the left, not so twisted. One on the right...eggette. See how much difference a little Hi-yaaaah can do? Doesn't it make you want to sing that old camp song..."some one's laughing laaaurd coom-bye-aaahhhh...some one's crying laaaurd coom-bye-yaaah"...but put in the words "oh laaurd Hiii-igh-yaaaah". No? Just checking.

There you go.

Happy Easter...Bread of Life Section

Sunday is my day to share a piece of my soul. Enjoy.

I am a Christian. This Sunday marks a very special day in my Faith. The Atonement of the Only Begotten Son of God is the crucial foundation upon which all Christian doctrine rests and the greatest expression of divine love this world has ever been given. That being said, this is one of the strongest testimonies to the reality of Christ's Resurrection that I have ever read. I thought today a perfect day to share...

"I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross.
On that terrible Friday the earth shook and grew dark. Frightful storms lashed at the earth.Those evil men who sought His life rejoiced. Now that Jesus was no more, surely those who followed Him would disperse. On that day they stood triumphant. On that day the veil of the temple was rent in twain. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were both overcome with grief and despair. The superb man they had loved and honored hung lifeless upon the cross. On that Friday the Apostles were devastated. Jesus, their Savior—the man who had walked on water and raised the dead—was Himself at the mercy of wicked men. They watched helplessly as He was overcome by His enemies. On that Friday the Savior of mankind was humiliated and bruised, abused and reviled. It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God.
I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest. But the doom of that day did not endure.
The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind. And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise, for Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, stood before them as the first fruits of the Resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence.
Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.
But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.
No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come." Joseph B Wirthlin

Bigger Bolder Sun Oven...big enough for 12 loaves

I thought I would share the newest solar cooking adventure we've embarked on. It's been really crazy. We've converted a used oak clothing dresser into a solar baker with the capacity of baking 12 loaves of standard bread at a time. It started out like this...

I liked the idea of having wheels, but this one had really been used a lot to move around. So we took them off.

Using the wood from the dresser drawers, we went about breaking them apart and using the high quality wood for the sides of the cooker.

The advantage of using the dresser was that it already had the sections divided and supported by the wood slates. It was just a matter of adding the insulation and building the inner walls of the cooker. Oh...and putting a bottom on the thing.

Insulating we went with rolled fabric, the same height and width of the panel sections.

Sliding the fabric into the sections, we then covered them with another layer of wood.

This is what it looked like when it was all sealed up. Tight seams if any at all. Insulation encapsulated inside the walls to hold the heat in the baker.

Painted black with high temperature oven paint 5$ a can,(safe up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit), available at any hardware store.
New wheels...2$ each.

Nice handle for easy lifting. 2.50$

Fully painted and drying, it is now awaiting the oven gaskets, glass cover and metal reflective panels. So far we've only spent about 20$.

I'm getting really excited. Can you tell? When we get it finished and bake some bread, y'all will be the first to know. In the meantime, we are having fun.

That's all I have to say about that.

Ornate Crown Loaf

Thought I would tease everyone a little with some of the decorative bread for the upcoming seminar at Orson H. Gygi's Culinary Institute June 26th. The cost is 49$

Check it out here:
http://www.gygi.com/institute/schedule.htm

Braided star loaf with Roses and Easter Eggettes

Braided star loaves are intertwined strands of bread that are braided in the shape of a star. This bread will be one of the featured loaves in my Decorative bread seminar in Salt Lake City coming up June 26th.

Once you see it done, you will be amazed how much detail this loaf really covers. Each braid, like I say, is linked to the next braid.

I will also be covering some decorative dough for baked bread goods that is edible ands adds another level of complexity to your work.

Combined with the painted bread technique it will be a class worth every penny. More details to come but the classes are listed on the Orson H. Gygi culinary institute website. http://www.gygi.com/institute/schedule.htm feel free to check it out and sign up if you will be in the area.

Easter Eggettes are baguettes that are in the shape of eggs stuck together end to end. Once baked and painted they look really funky cool.

Rock on!

Classic.

There you go. Some amazing ideas for Easter, along with a teaser for the upcoming classes.