laurushka.org/blog

Sorry, been neglecting the blog. I’ll have to do something about that some day soon.
I’m posting this recipe here so I can have easy access to it.
From here:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_shepherds_pie/

Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
* Prep time: 10 minutes
* Cook time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
* 1 onion chopped
* 1-2 cups vegetables – chopped carrots, corn, peas
* 1 1/2 – 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
* 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
* 1/2 cup beef broth
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

Method

1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.

5 Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Yield: Serves four.

Things I do differently: I usually use Ground Turkey and Chicken or Veggie Broth. I also sometimes use leftover mashed potatoes, if I’ve made mashed potatoes recently. I also use Trader Joe’s Organic Foursome frozen veggie mix, but I add that to cut veggies. I also never have Worcestershire sauce so I don’t use that. Sometimes I’ll add a little soy sauce or something. And of course, I eat most everything with Crystal Hot Sauce, so I just add that for flavor at the end.

I wanted to type up this recipe that we have been using for the past 5 years. It comes from “The Ultimate Cooking Course and Kitchen Encyclopedia” edited by Carole Clements. We don’t follow the recipe exactly, which is why I called this post, “Jambalaya, sort of”.

Jambalaya
Serves 6

2 tablespoons corn oil
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into chunks
1 pound spicy cooked sausage, sliced
6 ounces smoked ham, cubed
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
3 garlic gloves, minced
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 sprig of fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 sprigs of flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups rice
salt and pepper
4 scallions, finely chopped

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the chicken chunks and sausage slices and cook until well browned, about 5 minutes. Stirl in the ham cubes and cook 5 minutes longer.

2. Add the onion, celery , bell peppers, garlic, tomatoes, stock, cayenne, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf to the frying pan. Bring to a boil, stirring well.

3. Stir in the rice, and add salt and pepper to taste. When the liquid returns to a boil, reduce the heat and cover the pan tightly. Simmer 10 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the heat and without removing the lid, set aside for 20 minutes, to let the rice finish cooking.

5. Discard the bay leaf. Scatter the chopped scallions on top of the jambalaya just before serving.

—–
What we do differently:

* We use olive oil, not corn oil.
* We used to use Turkey Andouille Sausage as the only meat– no chicken or ham. But I recently looked at the package and saw the amount of salt in that Sausage… I think it would be good with only chicken.
* We use a whole container of tomatoes (usually 20+ ounces), and lots more garlic.
* If you use brown rice, it will take much much longer to cook. Simmer for maybe 20-30 minutes. Which means you need to use more broth– I use closer to 4 cups, and add more if needed.
* I usually don’t have scallions, so we skip that part.

It’s pretty yummy. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Well, since it’s Friday, and I posted a picture of the World’s Best Chocolate Birthday Cake, I might as well post the recipe. I asked for suggestions on facebook, and I ended up trying the one my friend Becky suggested: HERSHEY’S “PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” Chocolate Cake. I am sure glad I tried it!

Ingredients:
* 2 cups sugar
* 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
* 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup boiling water
* “PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” CHOCOLATE FROSTING(recipe follows)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with “PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

“PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

– I didn’t change a thing, except I had an unopened can of Ghirardelli cocoa and I used that instead of Hershey’s. I hope Hershey doesn’t mind.

I really wish there were a birthday coming up for me to make this again… Maybe I’ll just make it this weekend just because. It could cheer me up.

My memories of Valentine’s Day as a kid involve two things: one, the paper decorations we always hung up in the windows (and can’t find in the stores anymore), and two, my mom’s Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies, cut out in the shape of a heart.

I haven’t made cut out cookies by myself EVER. I don’t have a lot of room in my house. Cats tend to jump up on things. I didn’t have a rolling pin or a place to roll the dough. So, I didn’t do it. But I always wanted to try to recreate my mom’s cookies.

Over ten years ago, my sister gave me a computer file with recipes, including the Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies. I had to convert it to a rich text file and clean it up, because the programs have changed since then. But I didn’t have the supplies to make them. Then, Last year, my sister gave me two rolling pins (my mom’s old rolling pin with peeling paint on the handles, and a heavy marble one), the mat she used for rolling out dough, and the old cookie cutters we used.

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, and since we were about to get hit with our second blizzard in less than a week, I decided to finally make them. I told Lilia, I have never done this before, but it is always good to TRY NEW THINGS. She helped out immensely.

These are the cookie cutters we used:

They were quite tough to use– hard to pull back up. I don’t think it was just because I’m not an expert. I think I will get some plain metal cookie cutters in various shapes– I think that would be much easier.

Okay, on to the recipe. I actually googled to see if anyone else had the recipe out there, since I was not 100% sure I had it right (the files had added symbols between all the words and numbers!). I found a scan of the recipe card on a site called Noble Recipes, which has a note that it was from St. Lawrence Dairy– which was (or maybe is?) a dairy in Berks County, Penna., which makes sense. Here’s the recipe:

Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 large or 3 small eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream

5 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Gradually add sugar to butter, creaming thoroughly; add eggs and beat until fluffy.
Add vanilla and sour cream.
Sift dry ingredients together and add, mixing to a smooth soft dough.
Chill thoroughly, then roll out 1/3″ thick on floured board, and cut in large 3″ to 4″ cookies.
Place on greased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in moderate hot oven (375 to 400 degrees) until lightly browned. Makes about 3 dozen fat, soft cookies. If you want crisp cookies, roll the dough very thin.

Instead of sprinkling with sugar, I decided to ice them. I used this recipe:
Sugar Cookie Frosting
Ingredients for 4 dozen:
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring
but I halved it:
Ingredients for 2 dozen:
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring
•
Directions
1. In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners’ sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

I googled natural food colors, and found a suggestion to use Pomegranate Juice to color the icing pink.
Here is how they turned out. My disclaimer: I am not a food photographer. I’ve seen luscious photos of my friends’ meals and treats, but I cannot do it. I think part of it is that the cookies themselves are sloppy. The cookie cutters were VERY difficult. And I assigned the icing to Lilia and Joe. And, we don’t have a lot of room to store cookies and cool them– so the cookies stuck together once the icing was on. They still tasted pretty good!

We finally saw Food, Inc.
I already knew a lot of the facts in it, having read one chapter of The Omnivore’s Dilemma (I only read one chapter because it was recalled from the library before I could get through it), and having seen The Corporation. But it was very powerful, and makes me want to make even more changes. We already don’t eat much meat. We rarely cook anything other than chicken or turkey at home. I get the chicken and turkey from Trader Joe’s, and I think it doesn’t have antibiotics and hormones, but I’m sure it’s produced in large factory farms. And I’m not careful about the kind of meat I do eat, because my policy is not to be picky about what people serve me… but if I’m at a picnic, and eat a hamburger, I’m probably eating the kind of hamburger that has parts from hundreds of cows. So, maybe I should be more picky. I get cravings for meat when I don’t have it from time to time, so I don’t see myself become a vegetarian. Lilia used to love bacon, but at some point, I decided to tell her it was made out of pigs. She stopped eating it immediately, and hasn’t eaten it in a year or more. She says she will eat cows, but doesn’t often.
We joined a CSA this year, and had local vegetables for 26 weeks. We have signed up for it again next year. Joe already has a small garden out front– tomatoes, greens, garlic, peppers, and herbs.

But the scariest and saddest story in Food, Inc. was about the woman who became a food safety advocate after her two year old son died from e. coli in a hamburger. There have been a lot of stories about unsafe food– bagged spinach, peanut butter, hamburgers, tomatoes– and I was always thankful that we hadn’t bought anything involved in a recall. But one of those news stories did effect us, back in May 2007.

I was looking at my journal, and found these entries:
Thursday, May 24, 2007:
…Lilia ate chicken & noodles from my soup, some meatball, and some spring roll. And all of her Veggie Booty (her favorite snack). She was eating non-stop, it was adorable.
Sunday, May 27, 2007:
Lilia will be 15 months tomorrow! And she has her first tummy bug ever. It hit yesterday– she was super lethargic. And then she woke up in the middle of the night BURNING UP. Her fever (underarm) was only 101.7, so not too bad. I don’t have any pain relievers/fever reducers– they expired last year– so I just nursed her, gave her water, and crossed my fingers. Then she started with the Big D, which so far has not been TOO bad. She’s been mopey and clingy (to me), but is currently making her dad read ALL of her favorite books to her. So I’m hopeful this won’t last too long. Although Dr. Sears explains that intestines are slow-healing, so it could linger. Oh, this morning her temperature was 100.5. Much more reasonable.
Monday, May 28, 2007:
Saturday, it was hot, and we didn’t go out until late afternoon. We went for a little hike in Fairmount Park, and Lilia did not seem to be having any fun. I chalked it up to tiredness and the heat. We had to stop at 2 CVSes and the grocery store, and she was very tired looking– Joe said, She seems sick. Well, of course, she WAS sick.

Today, Lilia seemed better in the morning, and our pal M came over to hang out. Unfortunately, Lilia is not all better. I hope we don’t all catch it.
Aww, she just woke up with a cry, but is drifting back to sleep. Her eyes are purple from being tired and sick. I’m so glad we are still nursing, or she’d be starving!

Thursday, May 31, 2007:

Lilia is getting better. Still clingy and not quite eating a ton, but she’s definitely improving. She’s been waking up in the night crying though. That is not fun. Especially because nothing helps

June 28, 2007:
Robert’s Veggie Booty is recalled

Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
–

So… it dawned on me… Lilia’s favorite snack food was recalled for salmonella. Lilia ate it before she got sick (not just the one day I posted about– she ate it constantly). I had been worried that we all would catch it, but we never did. It was never confirmed that she had salmonella, but her symptoms, combined with the fact that we never got sick, seem to indicate that she did have it.

She had an allergy to dairy when she was little, so I couldn’t give her goldfish or anything with milk in it. I didn’t feel bad giving Veggie Booty to her. I know it was just a snack food, but it had green stuff in it– veggies- and a little bit of calcium. I personally didn’t really like it, so I didn’t eat it. I couldn’t buy it at Trader Joe’s– they sold Pirate’s Booty, but not Veggie Booty, and I didn’t realize why until later– the green veggie powder has stuff from China, and TJ’s has a policy not to sell items from China. And that green veggie powder from China was the source of the salmonella!

If Lilia had any sort of compromised immune system, she could have been much sicker. I don’t even see Veggie Booty listed on Robert’s Gourmet’s website anymore, so maybe they don’t make it? I wasn’t sure if I should contact anyone about Lilia’s case. In August, 2007, I did email Robert’s to let them know they might want to add another case to their list.
They emailed back and told me to fill out a claim form for medical costs reimbursement. We didn’t have any medical costs– just an increased cost of diapers for a few days, and a few days of a holiday weekend spent tending to our sick girl–so I did not fill out the form. I found an article, about a family suing– there little boy had to be hospitalized.
This is the kind of stuff that makes me feel helpless. I know that I can never ever buy something from Robert’s Gourmet again… but how can I make sure that it isn’t going to happen with another snack we get? With the peanut butter scare, we know that it just isn’t China’s fault, so avoiding all things from China won’t solve the problem.