One of the things I love about being married is that I have a whole extra set of family members than before. Now don't get me wrong, my husband and I were together for quite a long time before we got married so I felt like I had already been part of the family for a while. Along with being involved in someone else's family you get to experience the joys of their food traditions. I have found over the years that sitting down to dinner at his home provided me with new foods and new flavors that I enjoyed but just did not grow up eating. Take this recipe for example, it was developed from my mother-in-law's spaghetti sauce. I grew up eating spaghetti sauce, but not in this way, usually with meatballs added, but not in a more meat sauce form. This was something new that I remember eating at my husband's house and just wanting the sauce it was so good it didn't even need the pasta. Developing this recipe was quite a challenge. First of all it feeds many people, so one batch lasts a long time and I did not want to only eat spaghetti sauce for weeks on end. Second my mother-in-law is an intuitive cook, meaning she cooks by feel and taste rather than by measurements. This means each batch she makes ends up slightly different but all great. I remember asking her to make this so I could watch and I stood next to her at the stove eyeballing measurements and writing down ingredients hoping it would be something I could eventually make myself. Then as with all recipe testing there were the usual pitfalls, the testing it using canned tomato sauce, which was too metallic for my taste. I am glad to say I am finally here at a recipe that is close to hers, it is not the same and it never will be. Hers is made with a few changes, but as I have written about before part of what makes food great is the setting and the people. I cannot replicate meals at her table without her, so it will never taste exactly right, but I think this is as close as I will ever come. I hope you try it out and enjoy the flavors and then feel free to make it your own, as with all things our tastes are different and what I enjoy might not be the same for you. Bulk Spaghetti Sauce
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Salad season has arrived. Spring is happening and we are surrounded with an abundance of fresh produce. The perfect conditions for salads. I eat salads, not to be healthy, but because they are refreshing and delicious. I am telling you right now, the following salad dressing recipe is the epitome of delicious, NOT the epitome of health. My husband and I ate this particular dressing in a chicken Caesar salad. If you want an idea of how to serve it here is what I did. I butterflied a chicken breast, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I cooked the chicken in a sauté pan over medium heat with nonstick spray. The chicken breast cooked through in a few minutes, but I needed to cover it to get the inside to cook through without burning the edges. I then proceeded to make some homemade croutons. I had previously chopped and washed some romaine lettuce. I added some sliced cherry tomatoes and a shaved parmesan mix. This salad was yummy and delicious, my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The dressing makes more than enough for a few salads. This recipe was adapted from Chrissy Teigen's Cravings cookbook. Caesar Salad DressingI considered calling this post "How To Kick Your Salad Up a Notch", but I figured honest titling would help people find my post. I have spent a lot of time recently reflecting on food and my relationship with food. When I think of food I think of community, love and family. I realize that sometimes in practice I mix up the message with the messenger. I think that sometimes I overeat food because I want the feelings that go along with it. I have started to recognize that food may bring people together but eating more food does not give you those emotions, those feelings. I am slowly finding my way to eat mindfully and enjoy my food more. The reason I have been considering this is because these croutons remind me of home. When I was little, my mom would often make us salads. She would prepare them before dinner so when we were really hungry we would eat our salads because they were ready and there. One lesson I learned from my mom, that was passed down from my dad's mom is that the small things matter. Love can be shown in small acts, chopping up a carrot, kind hugs, encouragement, recognition, space, time, freedom, and homemade croutons. My mom said when you cut up the vegetables or make homemade croutons it is a way to communicate to others that they matter, taking the time to do it well matters. Croutons encapsulate all these things. Also they are easy, but beware once you make homemade croutons you may not be able to go back to boxed croutons. I know for me I do not care for store bought ones anymore. I find them to be too crunchy and dry. I also have baked croutons on a baking sheet numerous times, but I find the skillet ones get more evenly browned and just crispy enough. Homemade Italian CroutonsAs I have read through cookbooks, I have noticed that each chef has a veritable pantheon of ingredients, and techniques they favor. Typically in the beginning of most cookbooks the author will tell you tools or ingredients they swear by. One thing I do know about the way I cook is that I love spices. I love them so much I use an entire cabinet in my kitchen dedicated solely to spices. I am not in love with this current organization, so if you have any ideas of how I could improve it please share below. My favorite spices at the moment include: Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend, Garlic Salt, Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt (a.k.a. Krazy Salt) and Lawry's Seasoned Salt. Most of these spices are things my mom used in cooking as we were growing up. When I went to college I realized that the funny thing about spices is you cannot always find them everywhere. Specifically I was unable to find Krazy Salt in Portland, OR when I was going to school. I was so upset by this that I told my grandmother who proceeded to buy a few jars and mailed them to me. I was ever so grateful. Also when I recently went to Japan I noticed they had Krazy Salt in their store, I was surprised and excited! On to the topic at hand. I have always loved garlic salt, growing up I ate it on croutons and garlic bread and I bought it at the grocery store frequently. This all changed last Christmas... Underneath my Christmas tree my dad sent me a bottle of homemade Garlic Salt. I waited until my normal jar ran out and then proceeded to use his. It completely changed my world. As my husband likes to say I could replace salt with Garlic Salt and be completely happy. Homemade garlic salt may seem like an extravagance, but it really has made all the difference. Since last Christmas we have gone through two jars alone and I proceeded to try my hand at making it at home. It did not go well, Yes my house smelled like garlic yes I did make usable garlic salt, but it turned green. I researched and realized that it was most likely because of the age of my garlic, a week or so old, and the low temperature garlic salt cooks at, so I tried again and had much more success. I will still be using my green garlic salt, because the flavor is still amazing, but if you care about color use new garlic from the store. To make garlic salt, preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silpat; mine is this one from Amazon. Then take 2 heads of garlic, about 24 cloves and peel them, if you want to save yourself time you can buy them pre-peeled at the grocery store, but I do not mind peeling while watching TV so I usually just buy regular garlic. Once your garlic is peeled add it and 2 1/2 cups of salt to a blender or food processor. Blend until the mixture is thoroughly mixed the texture of damp sand, and there are no visible pieces of garlic. Next spread the mixture onto your prepared tray. I use a butter knife to help make it thin. Then place the tray in your preheated oven and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until it is crisp when tapped with a nail. Then allow the mixture to cool completely and reblend with your blender or food processor until the mixture is the texture of cornmeal. Then store it in an airtight container and use on everything. Also I typically use old spice jars but otherwise I buy them at Bed Bath and Beyond and they are relatively inexpensive. Garlic SaltI have decided to go back to the basics. I am cooking foods that I grew up with and that remind me of home. One of those is garlic bread. Our family had a rotation of meals, like most families. It looked mostly like: roasted chicken, vegetables and potatoes; or pasta pesto, sausage and vegetables; or spaghetti and meatballs and vegetables. We ate a lot of Italian-inspired food. Along with that, we always had bread. Great for cleaning the bowl with or dipping in soup. I did not realize growing up how lucky we were to have good grocery store bread. I assumed that the chewy and crunchy ciabatta we grew up with was everywhere. I started cooking for myself in college and realized I was sadly mistaken. Hence, my venture into bread baking. I wanted to make the ciabatta I had missed. In reality, that typically failed, my ability to make a decent ciabatta has not yet come to fruition and the loaves I have gotten in the past have been inedible. I am not sure what the ciabatta future holds, but I am not holding my breath. What I am ultimately trying to get at here is that you need good bread to make good garlic bread, not any loaf will do. I used a baguette for this recipe, specifically the Trader Joe's ciabatta baguette, which is better than the regular baguette in my humble opinion. This is the best grocery store bread I have found, and unless I am making sandwiches, it is my go to. I use it for croutons (or leftover homemade bread, but I am pretty sure most people do not have that just laying around their house), for garlic bread, for cheeseboards, to dip into baked brie and a number of other delectable creations. Other than starting with good bread, the other trick is to wrap your baguette or loaf before it goes into the oven, the result is a moist and delicious garlic bread, this is not going to be crunchy, but it will be totally worth it. If you wanted it crunchy you could broil it after baking it, but I have never tried that so beware, also report back, I would like to know if it improves it (though I very much doubt it). Garlic Bread |
About MeI'm Sarah; a wife, traveler, foodie, and adventurer. Archives
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