Need More Hands, and Honey Mustard Chicken!

I’ve been remiss in my blogging, but that’s only because I’ve been SO busy designing, charting, knitting up samples, then writing patterns.  

No time to spin or weave, and barely enough time for housework!  I figure if the bathroom and kitchen are kept clean, the rest can wait until one of us can get to it.  

Cooking, however, I don’t take shortcuts on, as we have been eating only home cooked meals for many years, esp. as I need a very low salt diet, but also, eating out is pricey, and neither of us is into eating junk food.  Today’s dinner recipe is below.

Just yesterday, we were out doing a few errands and trying to find hubby a new easy chair, as his is worn down enough to make him uncomfortable, and as he has enough pains, it’s important to alleviate body stresses where we can.  

As he’s driving, and we’re chatting, I mentioned how much I love to chart new color designs, which he likened to being a kid who loved to color.  Perhaps, although charting software means we can create many versions until we find the one(s) we like best, without ever having to erase anything.   I never tire of it!

So, as soon as I got dinner on a simmer and took photos, it’s back to the computer, until I need to rest and get my feet up, then I knit on new design samples.

Honey Mustard Chicken
This has become our new favorite chicken dish.  One day I was trying to think of something new to cook, as although shake and bake chicken is easy, I am now needing my chicken ro be softer. What came to mind is the honey mustard viniagrette I make for summer green salads, even on chopped salads, and I thought, “why not?”

The recipe is easily adjusted to a smaller or larger # of chicken thighs.

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs, skin removed and trimmed of fat
1/2 lg sweet onion, like Vidalia, rough chopped
a handful of flour with S/P mixed in
olive oil
honey
mustard - we tend to have spicy brown mustard on hand, although I prefer Dijon
no-salt or low-salt chicken stock, almost a quart, bought or made
lemon juice - bottled is fine
white wine - optional, we can sometimes have a semi-sweet Riesling on hand
thyme, chives, parsley, garlic powder
cornstarch

Easy Homemade Vegetable/Chicken Stock
We always have a gallon Ziploc on the freezer door, to hold fresh or already cooked chicken bones, and veg scraps, always onion skins, carrot ends, and celery trimmings, sometimes also zucchini and mushroom trimmings.  When the bag is at least half full, into a stock pot they go, then cover with filtered water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer at least 30 mins.  Strain.  If I’m not using it all that day, it gets refrigerated until the next day, then  poured into ice cube trays to freeze, then into a freezer bag.

Toss the chicken in the flour mix, shake off excess and sauté in a generous amount of olive oil. (A splatter screen helps.)  Brown both sides.  Remove temporarily to a clean bowl.

Add the chopped onion, lower the heat a bit and sauté until somewhat softer and browned.

Pour in the stock - stand back as you pour into a hot pan!  Add a good squirt of lemon juice and a splash of white wine.

Scrape up any brown pan bits, add the honey and mustard - several TBLs of each, and the herbs and garlic powder, all to taste.  Don’t add the cornstarch.  Stir to blend.

I like a lot of flavor in the sauce, especially when pouring it over egg noodles, which soak up the flavor!

Add the chicken back to the pan, replace the splatter screen or a lid if you prefer, and simmer for 30-40 mins.

To thicken the sauce - put 1 heaping TBL cornstarch into a cup or small bowl, add a little filtered water (not hot water), then stir into a slurry.  Drizzle it into the pan a bit at a time while bringing the pan to a boil. Stop when it’s thickened to your liking.

Bon Appétit!

Two Yutes!

Remember the court room scene in “My Cousin Vinny”, where the clash of Brooklyn, NY and Alabama accents come to life?  In case you haven’t seen it.  

Well, when I was thinking of a title for this blog post, that’s what came to mind!  Though, in my case, it’s not yutes, or utes, but utensils.

I have been wanting to get new kitchen utensils for quite some time.  Sure, we have plenty of wood ones, which are used all the time, but wood, by its nature, does not provide the kind of surface and edge some cooking and baking requires.  So, we also had a selection of silicone (and I don’t know what) utensils for use with non-stick pans. 

Unfortunately, we’ve had them a *long* time, likely even before they started making BPA-free.  And forget about heat resistance, hence the tips on some of them had begun to melt.  Not acceptable.

So, I went searching, and found this company’s wares on Amazon. I started by replacing the spatula (which hubby uses) and the spoonula, which I exclusively use.

I love it for both mixing and lifting up/turning foods during cooking, especially after I whacked cake batter onto my face using a spatula!  That never happens when using a spoonula. Then came the set of flippers - one slotted and wide, the other not slotted and narrow. 

They’re BPA-free, safe to 600º, and well made, if you’ve been looking to replace yours.  

Please note: I post links to products or  sites that might be of interest. I have no stock in this company, or Amazon (despite how much I need to buy there!), and if you click on any links in my blog posts, I do not earn anything.

Onward!
Dawn

Lip Balmed!

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity, as hubby had a doctor’s appointment 2 hrs away, which meant that I could make hay while the cat was away (I know, one of my mixed metaphors!) Many chores got tackled, including the making of lip balm.

I no longer need body moisturizer, since switching to Dr. Woods coconut milk soap, but lip balm I use all the time.  I had been using Sierra Bees lip balms, which are inexpensive enough and organic.  But with 2 empty tubes, I decide to Google to see if they are recyclable. I used to toss empty tubes into the recycling bin, but if hubby’s around, he catches me out on what can actually be recycled, as I want to toss *everything* into recycling.  So, this time, I decided to check first.

It turns out there’s apparently 200 million lip balm tubes removed to trash each year, as the tubes are too small - they clog up the machinery.  Egads.  So, these tubes will get reused until they no longer work properly.

I then checked online DIY recipes.  I had made a small batch years ago, which was also just about used up, but I’d forgotten how much of what I had used.  I do remember that the recipe was a bit of a hassle.

One recipe was super simple - 1 TBL each of shea butter, coconut oil, and beeswax into a microwaveable container, stir, then pour into jars or tubes.  Other recipes used cocoa butter instead of shea, some added raw honey, many added essential oil for scent/flavor, one recipe used a double boiler, but using the microwave makes it a quick process, with far less clean up.

As I was out of shea butter, and I have no sweet almond, avocado, or jojoba oil on hand, I substituted 1 TBL of grapeseed oil which I do have, but the mix ended up too oily - it wouldn’t set properly, so I scooped it all back out, and remelted it with an additional TBL of beeswax.  This blend turned out perfectly.  

So, 1 TBL each grapeseed oil and (solid) coconut oil, with about 2 TBLs of beeswax filled 2 small glass jars, which I use at home, and refilled 2 lip balm tubes, to use when going out.  When the tubes need refilling, I can remelt the mix in one of the jars.  

The cost was almost nil - the jars I had (one was a jam sample, the other was a face moisturizer sample), the grapeseed oil was a gift, the beeswax came from what was left of 2 handmade rolled beeswax candles I made 20 or 30 years ago!, and the coconut oil was here, as it’s the only oil I use for my occasional scrambled eggs. 

The microwave method is SO quick and easy, I will experiment with more formulas, and as small glass jars are easily available, they could make nice stocking stuffer gifts!
Onward!
Dawn  

It's Whoop-si-Daisy Time! (Yet Another Baking Rabbit Hole)

(Originally posted on WP 11/13/21.)

We moved from NY to MA 10 years ago, making us New Englanders, yet I've never bought or made an apparently well-known New England treat – whoopie pies! What can I say, I've lived a sheltered life. Actually, we just never dine out. In the past 10 years, we've only been to 4 restaurants, and only like two:  Scargo Cafe in Dennis and The Wicked Oyster in
Welfleet.

As I no longer want to/can afford to spend 6 months of every year making (usually knitting) Christmas gifts in my spare time (yes, it really takes that long!), I tend to opt for baking gifts.  But I don't like to repeat myself, at least not too often.  So, I recently went
searching for some new ideas to consider.

What came to mind was the Two Fat Cats Bakery in Portland, Maine, featured in PBS's 'A Few Good Pie Places'.  I remembered their whoopie pies.

I thought, OK, this is different, not a cookie, not strictly a cake, and should definitely be easier than the 12+ Martha Stewart Christmas Stollen I made one year, from her 1989 'Christmas' book. What a workout those puppies were to mix by hand! Not the least because (to save some time) I mixed several at once in my largest SS bowl.

The Initial Research
I always first consider just buying baked treats or food items and having them shipped, because, let's face it, I'm not superwoman any more, and being exhausted from before Thanksgiving until after the taxes are finally done in February is just too much for me. I would ike my winters to finally be the restful, unstressed, good-sleeping, recuperative seasons I need them to be. Well, that's the idea, anyway.

I have done this with citrus (had it shipped from Florida), but most other food gifts cost too much – manageable if one has a small extended family, not so much as the family and friend count climbs.

So, I found and saved at least 10 whoopie pie recipes, noting that some used buttercream fillings, while others used marshmallow fluff fillings, and others yet used a cream cheese filling. So, of course, I had to go looking for buttercream and marshmallow recipes, as well, because buying jars of marshmallow fluff made with gmo high fructose corn syrup isn't my idea of showing love to my family.  

So, as I fell further down the rabbit hole, I went searching for alternatives to corn syrup, which is necessary in order to make fluff, and found these two options:

Organic Lite Corn Syrup and Lyle's Golden Syrup also available on Amazon, at a much higher price.

Ufda.

But it's not until one delves into all the variables can one see the best route towards the end product.  Am crossing off the marshmallow creme filling, and will focus on the much easier buttercream fillings.

The cream cheese filling idea makes me a *bit* nervous. It was used for he oatmeal whoopies. It should be fine though, as I've made rugelach a few times and shipped them, and they use quite a bit of cream cheese.

But that's just the ingredients and recipes. I also then tend to research the best way to produce said foodie item en masse, as well as wrap and safely ship them.

There's actually a Whoopie Pie Pan (who knew!) also called a Muffin Top Pan (not to be confused with that other cause for consternation), or this silicone job.

But I also noted that some recipes simply use a medium-size cookie scoop. Yay, I actually have this in my kitchen gadget drawer!

Last item to consider if using the cookie scoop is  A) parchment paper or B) silicone pan liners.

I have the former, but only one of the latter and it's small, it doesn't fit the larger 11" x 17" baking trays I have.

When making lots of something, I like to have a 2nd pan ready to pop into the oven when the first pan comes out, but they're $25 for 2 liners, eh, I'll stick with the $2 rolls of parchment from the Dollar Store.  Have too many more important things to spend the $ on.

The Test Batch
I figured a half batch of Whoops would be plenty - about 7-8.

I rarely eat cake or cookies, much preferring a few spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream in the evening, but hubby likes a cakey nibble with his early evening coffee, and he has friends more than willing to try out my baking, but it may still take some time to gather feedback and hopefully have a consensus on the Whoopiest Whoopies!

The test batch used this recipe.

Which I had to adjust *of course*.  I don’t usually have brown sugar around, but do have molasses, which I mix into white sugar. And the 1/2 batch would then only need 1/2 a large egg - yeah right, so a whole egg went into the 1/2 batch.

The other change was that when. i printed the recipe, the pdf somehow didn’t show the oven temp instruction, which turns out to be 400” - much hotter than I would bake any cake.  I had set the oven to 355”, so instead of taking 9-10 minutes, they took 11.5 minutes, and I could have baked them longer, but the little cakes came out nice and moist. I will try again, baking at 400” and see what difference it makes.

This was also my first time making buttercream.  When I bake coffee cakes, I don’t frost them – who needs all that extra sugar? But this is a treat. One thing’s for sure, now that I’ve made buttercream, which is SO easy to do, I’ll never buy those small containers of frosting again, as they totally underwhelm me.

I medium scooped the first 11 whoopies, filling tray 1. I also never used a scoop     to scoop batter, but then, I’ve never made any small baked items that weren’t enclosed in a small or medium muffin pan.  Scooping doesn’t clean out a mixing bowl as neatly as using a tablespoon or spoonula – it just can’t, because of its bowl shape.

This irritated me, as I need things to be neat and orderly, and NOT wasteful, so I spooned heaping tablespoons of the batter for the last 4, on the right in the photo, cleaning out the bowl.  They’re fine, just not as perfect as the scooped cakes.

Because these puppies are moist, after cooling and filling, I put them onto a piece of parchment on a dinner plate, so they wouldn’t stick to the plate, and put one whoopie pie out for hubby along with his evening coffee things. (I need to do all these little things for him, as it’s been difficult for him to reach things in the cupboards and fridge.)

I later noticed the dinner plate was looking distinctly light. Hmm. Yup, he liked them and ate two!

As I try out the remaining whoopie pie recipes, I’ll likely just make the little cakes, and save all the buttercream-making for if I decide to make them for the holidays.  Am scoping out sources for little waxed paper bags to pop each one into, just in case.

Onward,
Dawn

Basil

 (Originally posted on WP 9/10/20.)

Basil

I’ve had 7 pots of basil growing indoors since at least springtime, if not from last year.  I used to grow it outdoors in pots lined up on the rear deck, which gave them enough sun. but found that as soon as cooler nights set in, the basil would shrivel up, pretty quickly too! 

So I said the heck with that, and have had them in the living room, which faces south, and with no shade trees, so they get plenty of sun every day.

Harvesting and drying the leaves has been on my very long To-Do list, for quite awhile. I hemmed and hawed over it, as regular hanging upside down to dry *anything* has never worked well for me – likely as the east coast climate is just too humid.

I did blend and freeze basil one year, but hubby prefers dried basil in his marinara and bolognese sauces, so I Googled, and found this easy oven-dry method.

The oven temp knob on our old gas stove was so worn off, it involved guess-work! This new-to-us gas stove has an electronic temp thing. It only goes down to 170º which I thought might be too warm, but it worked!

2 pans of washed and patted dry basil leaves yielded 1/2 of a disused 5” tall herb container. 2 pans in the oven never work as well as one pan, so the bottom pan dried first, then the top one needed more time.

I had also seen that one can propagate basil stems into new plants, although, LOL, all these stems are stripped, for drying the leaves. 

They may or may not grow roots – will see!  

Onward,
Dawn