Meat and veggies

So this was an easy way to fix up some meat. Jeff likes those Hormel/Tyson meat dish meals. Well, all they are is meat. So, I decided to make it a little healthier by slicing some carrots and dicing a yam into it. I just slice/dice them into a bowl, add a splash of water in the bottom, cover it with some kind of lid (usually tuppaware in my case) and throw them in the microwave for a while. Then, cook the meat like normal, add in the veggies, and it's a meal!

I was going to also add some potatoes, but I didn't want to be too obvious/overwhelming in my vegetable-adding.

Garlic Potatoes Gratin

It's been quite a  while since I made these, but I will endeavor to remember what I did. Here, however, is the recipe:

The recipe called for 3 lbs of red potatoes, 6oz Gouda,shredded, 3 tbsp butter, 5 cloves garlic, 1.5 c heavy cream, 1 tsp salt, and a 1/2 tsp pepper.

Again, I didn't have any cream. I also decided that russet potatoes were cheaper and could work just fine. I don't know how many I used and had no idea how many 3 lbs were, so I just put them into my 9x13 pan until it looked like enough. I peeled and sliced them thin (remember "gratin" = "scrapings"). I shredded.....6 oz of mozzarella? or was it monterey jack? a little of both? I shredded cheese.

I layered the pan--1/2 of the potatoes, 1/2 of the cheese, then the rest of the potatoes.
Then I sauteed the garlic and half an onion in the butter, adding flour to create a roux with 1/5 c of milk. (added salt and pepper)
I poured this over the potatoes and added the rest of the cheese.

Baked for 75 minutes at 325 degrees. For the first 30-40 minutes, cover with foil.

These were delicious, but I shouldn't have made so many. I got sick of them. Jeff really loved them, though.

Elderberry Syrup

This is a lot more delicious than the picture looks....

This was fun to make and even medicinal! (To take when it is cold and flu season.)

We made it from already cooked and strained berries, but I got a piece of paper with all the steps that I'll convey here:

*Use 1 cup of dried berries and add 2 cups of boiling water. Let it sit overnight.
*In the morning, pour the softened berries into a blender and blend.
*Pour the berry mixture through a fine sieve and press through, or put in a pressing bag and press out in a tincture press.
*(2 cups juice) Simmer juice on the back burner until it reaches half volume (1 cup). It'll take at least an hour, maybe 2. Stir occasionally. (If fresh berries are used, this step could take all day)
*Stir in 1 cup of glycerin or honey (we used honey!) to make the V 2 cups again.
* Filter through 4 layers of cheese cloth, and squeeze out the cheese cloth.
* All done! But in a jar or bottle. The honey-based syrup should go in the fridge.

The dose is 1 tablespoon taken 2 or 3 times daily. :)

Macaroni

So I've been horrible about keeping up with everything, including what little cooking I have done and this blog. >.<; So here's an attempt to remember what the heck I cooked and how....

I was headed home from work and I talked myself into craving some deliciously processed Kraft macaroni and cheese.....then got home to find out--that I had none. This discovery sent me into a deep spiral of despair until I realized that I had bought all that cheese....and I actually had good milk in the house! And off I went to make some good ol' macaroni and cheese.

First change--it called for a lot of cheeses that I didn't have. So, I just used what I did--the rest of the cheddar block and half of a.....the speckled one.....jack? Monterey jack! half a block of that.

I started off by sauteing some onion and garlic in a decent amount of garlic. I then added around a 1/4 cup of flour to make a roux (since I had no cream) and added in 1/2 cup of milk.  The rest of the wet ingredients went into the pan because it's my biggest container. >.<; (1/2ish cup of cottage cheese stand-in for ricotta, a small tub of sour cream, and random seasonings). I grated......probably 3 cups total cheese. Some over half of it was mixed in with the wet (Oh! And to noodles, too!). And then it all went into a 9x13 cooking pan, topped with the rest of the cheese and crumbled ritz.
Baked in the oven at 350 for 30 mins.

I don't remember much about the cooking of this. I used penne noodles, which was amazing because the cheese melted into them. Then, when I got sick of this dish and made the rest into garbage vegetarian lasagna soup, the cheese inside was an awesome flavor/texture thing!

Chai

So what happens when I get a craving that I don't fulfill? I crave it more later when it's harder to get! So, I end up learning to make chai. Which, actually means "tea." So, I should technically call it "masala chai," spiced tea.
Then I find out I don't have the ingredients. But, that craving. So I decide I don't care and cobble together something that, in the end, tastes close enough to what I wanted to be delicious!

I brewed three tea bags (One I tore open and added cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to before re fastening it shut) in 3.5 cups of water. After 5 mins, I added it to 1.5 cups of milk, 1/8 cup of brown sugar, and roughly a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

I also found out that using boiling water releases the bitter part of the tea leaves more, so you should bring the water to boiling and bring it down to a simmer or below before adding the tea to steep.
One other thing--leaving it in longer also releases more of the bitter, so for stronger tea, add more tea leaves instead of using hotter water or steeping it too long.