Perfection from Imperfection

Yesterday I made EMPANANDAS. I've made empanadas before but I used a new dough recipe and they just didnt turn out as good as usual. The dough was a little tough and just didn't look very INSPIRING. I decided to see the good in it though. I had extra cheesy-corn-tomato filling though and thought, why not bake the empanadas again with the extra sauce all over them. My husband dubbed them ENCHINADAS and they were perfectly lovely.

The only thing that can truly ruin food is too much salt, anything else is fixable. Be creative, give it a chance, and find a solution.

Exactly How Big is a Spoonful of Sugar?

Here is a beginning lesson or reminder of measurement conversions, once you can remember these it makes it a lot easier to half/double recipes.

Volume Measurements:

3 teaspoons= 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons= 1 ounce
8 oz= 1 cup
2 cups= 1 pint
2 pints= 1 quart
4 quarts= 1 gallon

Measuring with weight is always more precise than volume. This is handy in baking because the more accurate you are the better the product will be. The reason weight is more precise is because 1 cup of flour one day can weigh more than it does another day depending upon how compacted it is. So if a recipe calls for weight try to measure accordingly and not convert it to cups as it will not be nearly as accurate.. Water, milk, juice and egg whites are the only things that have the same weight as they do volume.

And remember when cooking that measurements are not nearly as important. I rarely measure anything with cooking. Once you get the feel for spices and how much they impact your food it will be second nature to add spices without worrying that you are over/under spicing. The most important thing with cooking I can say is to TASTE things. It's a lot easier to fix something that is still in the pan than something that is on the table.

Why My Feet Are SO DIRTY

Today one of my dreams came true. I know am the proud tender of my very own vegetable garden. We made the framework for the box garden a few months ago, but because of the hot arizona summer we decided to wait to plant until Fall. Today was the day. Two tons of dirt, 3 trips to home depot, too much raking dirt, and one plant shopping trip later we have a garden.

This fall I planted:

Roma Tomatoes
Broccoli
Eggplant
Anaheim Peppers
Artichokes
Butter Lettuce
Zucchini

Some of these are supposedly great for winter here, others we are just hoping, praying will work (tomatoes) because we miss garden fresh ones so dearly. I also bought new basil, more thyme, rosemary and mint(mint mostly because it smells so pretty). I put those in pots beside the garden, for one because I got overly ambitious on what could fit in the garden and for two I thought it gave the garden some nice variance. We also put in a drip line for easy watering and put up some temporary (homemade) sunshades to keep the still 105 degree sun off the plants.

And now, I am in heaven.

The Skinny on Fats

I have a lot of opinions on fats. I believe in butter. I’ve never bought margarine and never plan on it. I use Crisco to practice my cake decorating but that is just because it’s cheap. I don't actually eat the frosting I make out of it. And I don’t use lard. I put a piece of bacon into a meal and will use that as the fat in the meal. And I love olive oil.

MY REASONS:

Butter- Butter melts at mouth temperature. If you have ever noticed a filmy taste on the roof of your mouth after a dessert, 9 times out of 10 its because they used some other fat. It can be harder to work with at times, but I think it is worth it. And I just don’t believe margarine is healthier than butter. Yes limit your intake, but it you are going to do something, I say do it right. Go with unsalted for ALL BAKING and COOKING. Only use salted for toast or sandwiches (I have to admit a love for salted butter, I though it was just amazing restaurant butter until I found out that all we had in my house growing up was unsalted, but I still never buy salted. It helps me eat less because I never smear it on bread)

Bacon- one piece of bacon thrown into a sauce or pasta or pizza can add so much flavor. And one piece of bacon isn’t going to hurt you. We never cook bacon for breakfast, it is always an ingredient, not a menu item. Using it this way gives great fat flavor that goes farther.

Olive Oil- It is the good kind of fat and delicious. If you don’t like the strong flavor or high price go for one that isn’t extra virgin. Save that for when you want that flavor (salads, dips, etc.)

Canola/Vegetable Oil- It is cheap, has little flavor and it good for making brownies or quickly sautéing something. Really that is the only reason I use it. Use it when you don’t want the fats flavor to be noticeable.

Easy, Wonderful Rice

I grew up hating rice. That white sticky stuff that had no flavor, and just seems to stick in my throat on the way down-- no thank you.

Then I went to culinary school. Apparently there is rice out there that has flavor. Now rice pilaf and risotto are two of my favorite meals. My rice pilaf is a mexican rice, but can be easily altered to work for any kind of meal.

Ingredients:

1 cup long grain white rice (the normal stuff)
2 cups water
1/2 onion, diced
1 chipotle in adobo, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T red chile powder
1 t cumin
salt & pepper

In a pot saute onion in a little oil on medium heat. Once it is soft add the chipotle and garlic. Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil. Add spices and mix again. Add the water and wait for it to come to a boil. Once it boils put on the lid and turn the heat down to something low. On my stove that is three, but it could be different on yours, you'll just have to test some batches until it comes out just right. Leave it for 20 MINUTES. DO NOT LIFT THE LID. After that time turn off the heat and let it sit for 15 more minutes. This is a test of your patience, you must still not life the lid. After that time is up you can unveal your rice. It will look very compact. Take a fork and fluff it, and you should have PERFECT rice.

You can change out almost anything in the recipe. The big point is to have 2:1 liquid to rice. We sometimes do half broth/ half water, or add some mexican marinade to the liquid. I personally do not recommend doing all broth if it is store bought as it tends to have a strong flavor that gets a little unpleasant in big quantites. Sometimes we add corn, tomatoes or cooked spinach to the rice after it is cooked to give it more color. With rice, the more flavor the better, make it a vehicle for all the flavors you love. It is such a big part of every major nations cuisine because it is such a good background(and it's cheap, which isn't a bad thing either).