AwesomeBites

Category: My Pantry

If you have prepared your pantry, you can whip up some great meals and snacks in short order. Everyone will think you have magic!

  • Preserved Lemons

    Preserved Lemons

    Ingredients:
    Lemons
    Salt Pink or Kosher or Sea Salt (Non-iodized)
    Jars

    Wash your lemons
    Cut your lemons removing the top and bottoms. Cut in quarters almost all the way thru.
    Remove the top and bottom ends.
    Clean your jars in the dish washer along with the lids on sanitize.
    (These will be keep in the refrigerator after the first 30 days of fermenting.)
    Add a Tablespoon of salt to a jar
    Add a Tablespoon of salt inside a lemon, turn upside down and place into the jar. Use a wooden rolling pin to squish and squeeze the lemon juice out as you fill the jar. Each lemon gets a Tablespoon of Salt.
    After you have filled the jar with 1/2 inch of the top, fill the remaining space with lemon juice so it covers the lemon.

    Allow to ferment for 30 days. Each day, give the jar a shake, then unscrew the lid a quarter turn. Fermentation needs to out gas.
    After 30 days put in the refrigerator and when you are making something that needs a lemony salt flavor, cut up the rind of the preserved lemon and add to taste.

  • Chipolte Mayonnaise – Reduced Fat Style with all the flavor

    Chipolte Mayonnaise – Reduced Fat Style with all the flavor

    Ingredients:

    1/2 cup lowfat mayonnaise
    1/2 cup greek style yogurt or nonfat sour cream
    2 chipotles in adobo sauce
    1 tablespoon adobo sauce
    1/2 lime, juice
    Salt and freshly ground black pepper

    This is a staple in my kitchen pantry. So very good, the smokey type hot is wonderful on sliders,pork sandwiches,pork tacos and even with my very own Shrimp and Crab Cakes!

  • Butter! Every kid should make it!

    Butter! Every kid should make it!

    I was telling a story the other day to a co-worker about how one of my chores as a kid was to make butter. “What? You made butter? How do you make butter!” It was pretty easy as I remember. I did the shaking and my dad would do the rest. He liked salted butter, so he added salt. He didn’t use food coloring, instead he left it natural.

    1 to 1 ½ quarts heavy cream (You need at least 30% butterfat cream, so buy the heaviest cream you can.
    1 tblsp salt (optional)
    4-6 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

    Our cream came from our cow Jesabelle. My brothers and Mom would milk her daily. The milk was refrigerated and the cream from the top would be skimmed off for making butter.

    Did I mention you could get in big trouble if you tried to ride Jesabelle? Mom would chase you around the yard letting your know she would tell father. (Apparently, Jesabelle needed to have a stress free environment to keep giving milk.)

    You can place the cold cream in your kitchenaid bowl and whip it, but I think you need to take a quart jar and fill it 1/2 full, and hand it to your kid! Then they will always know where their food comes from.

    As they shake the jar, the butter will separate from the buttermilk. When it clumps together, pour off the buttermilk, and knead the butter to remove the excess moisture. Save the buttermilk for the pancakes or baking later. Use your hands and press the butter together adding the salt you love so much. You can add the food coloring drop by drop to the desired color you prefer, careful not to stain your hands.

    By the way, depending how vigorously you shake your jar it will take 10-20 minutes. I often raced with my sisters to see who could finish first!

  • Fig and Olive Tapenade

    Fig and Olive Tapenade


    I was telling someone the other day that I hadn’t found a tapenade that I loved. I happen to love olives, but tapenade from the store has been left many a month in my refrigerator. Just don’t like it. That is until I was browsing the internet and stumbled upon this Fig and Olive Tapenade. Rather than spend a bunch of time making something I wasn’t sure I would like, I made a quick sample from ingredients I had on hand. My sample consisted of fig jam, kalmata olives and a little butter on a piece of breakfast toast. I know, it doesn’t have all the spices in it yet, but I can tell by the flavor profile, I am going to like it. Now, I am about to embark on the real thing. I have visions of taking this delicious concoction to a friends house as a hostess gift, or perhaps my dish for potluck.

    Ingredients
    1 cup chopped dried figs
    1/2 cup water
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
    1 teaspoon dried rosemary
    1 teaspoon dried thyme
    1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
    2/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    salt and pepper to taste
    1/3 cup chopped toasted black walnuts
    1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
    Directions
    1.Combine figs and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, and liquid has reduced. Remove from heat, and stir in the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, thyme, and cayenne. Add olives and garlic, and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.
    2.Unwrap cream cheese block, and place on a serving platter. Spoon tapenade over cheese, and sprinkle with walnuts. Serve with slices of French bread or crackers.

  • Homemade Vanilla Extract

    Homemade Vanilla Extract

    A couple of friends and I got together yesterday with some bottles of booze and had a great time. We sloshed a little vodka, rum, and bourbon into bottles with vanilla beans and made our own Vanilla Extract.

    My hubby the auction freak (buys everything at an auction that is a good deal) had several small bottles that we used.

    We cut the stem of the vanilla bean up the middle leaving the top together for easy removal, filled the 2 and 4 ounce jars and added one bean to the small jars and 2 beans to the bigger jars.

    Homemade Vanilla Extract – Day 1

    The house was alive with the smell of Vanilla.  It reminded me of baking sugar cookies and made me want to bake a  batch.

    Viki and Denise would do the filling of the bottles and poke the stem of the vanilla into the jar.

    We had  a lot of smiles, a bit of the spirits leftover and lots of Holiday unique gift prepared.

    Mmmm Good.

  • Garlic Confit

    Garlic Confit

    One of the items in my pantry I cannot live without.  If you want to put good food on the table, you must get a kick start by making a few items and having them on hand. 

    Garlic Confit is used to make garlic bread, as a spread on a roast beef sandwich, and this makes everyone think you have been cooking for hours!  I will always have this in my pantry. I love it. The taste is roasted garlic. Sweet.

    Doing it the hard way. Peel the garlic yourself. I used to do this until
    I found the large peeled fresh garlic at Costco.

    Garlic – like it!But from time to time, I do have heads ofgarlic that need to be used. So, peel garlic easily like little onions and other fruits like peaches. For garlic and onions, cut off the root end, then drop into boiling water. Leave for 1 minute, purge into ice coldwater. When cool pop them from their wraps.         Place the peeled cloves in a pan, cover with olive oil. Low simmer until they aretender. This simmer is so low, you should barely see little air bubbles rising to the surface. They should stay white. When you put the garlic in the jar, oil needs to cover the garlic to keep it preserved.Place in a jar and keep in refrigerator. I am going to try to process them in a water bath for longer term storage.Yes, this is make a lot, but I usually give a couple of jars away. My friends love me!

    Use the garlic oil for sauted spinach or salad dressing or ,
    garlic bread, anything you want garlic for.
    I used them also as condiment for sandwiches. Just spread onto
    your bread then add your mayo. Excellent.

    Another great use, you can add them into the center of your meatballs or a thick steak you bbq. Remember, it has been cooked, so the flavor is sweet.

    FYI: 1 T is about 3 cloves of garlic.

    Yes, this is make a lot, but I usually give a couple of jars away. My friends love me!

  • Basil Dressing

    This is Ina Garten’s recipe.  Excellent.

    1 cup good mayonnaise

  • 1 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (6 to 7 scallions)
  • 1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
  • 2 teaspoons anchovy paste
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup sour cream

    • Serve with tomatoes and bibb lettuce.

  • Bread and Butter Pickles

    I can do better with a bit of practice.

    It’s been about a week. Had to open the pickles for a test. Hey, somebody has to be in charge of quality. Mmmm, Good. Recipe is a keeper.

    1 Gallon Cucumbers thinly sliced
    8 Onions
    2 Bell Peppers
    1/2 Cup of Coarse Salt
    Let sit for 3 hours

    5 Cups Sugar
    1 and 1/2 tsp Tumeric
    1/2 tsp cloves
    2 T. Mustard Seed
    1 tsp Celery Seed
    5 Cups Cider Vinegar

    Use salt, mix with vegetables let stand for three hours before draining.

    Bring to a boil dissolve sugar, add vegetables.
    Heat to just boiling.

    Have 12 pint jars sterilized with lids ready to fill.

    Process in waterbath for 5 minutes.

  • Make your own cake mix

    This wonderful mix can be substituted for any purchased cake mix. Unlike other homemade cake mix recipes, this one has less fat, so it can be substituted for the purchased cake mix recipes, which often add oil or butter.
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Total Time: 15 minutesIngredients:

    •7-1/2 cups sifted flour
    •1 Tbsp. salt
    •4-1/2 cups sugar
    •4 Tbsp. double acting baking powder

    Preparation:
    In very large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar and baking powder and mix well to blend.
    Divide the cake mix into three equal portions and store in ziplock bags, or store in one large container and scoup out 4 cups when you need cake mix. To finish the cake see each of the flavors to add below. Yellow, White, Spice or Chocolate.

    Cover tightly and store in the your pantry. Each 4 cup portion of cake mix will make two 8″ cakes or one 13×9″ cake.

    Make your own Homemade Cake Mix, then make a white cake from that mix. It’s easy to make your own mix, less expensive, and good for you – you control the ingredients!

    WHITE CAKE
    Ingredients:
    •4 cups Homemade Cake Mix
    •2 tsp. vanilla
    •1/2 cup butter, softened
    •4 egg whites
    •1 cup milk

    Preparation:
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8″ round cake pans OR one 13″ x 9″ cake pan with nonstick baking spray containing flour and set aside.

    Pour one portion of the cake mix into a large bowl.
    Cream sugar and butter together, then add eggs and beat well. Add flavoring and milk and then cake mix. Beat mixture 2-4 minutes at medium speed until batter is smooth.

    Pour into prepared pans and bake the layer cakes at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until cake springs back when pressed lightly in center and begins to pull away from edges of pan. Bake the 9″ x 13″ cake for 25-35 minutes until the cake tests done.

    YELLOW CAKE
    Ingredients:
    •4 cups Homemade Cake Mix
    •2 tsp. vanilla
    •1/2 cup butter, softened
    •3 eggs
    •1 cup milk

    SPICE CAKE
    Ingredients:
    •4 cups Homemade Cake Mix
    •1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    •1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
    •1/8 teaspoon cloves
    •1/8 teaspoon allspice
    •2 tsp. vanilla
    •1/2 cup butter, softened
    •3 eggs
    •1 cup milk

    CHOCOLATE CAKE
    Ingredients:
    •4 cups Homemade Cake Mix
    •3 tablespoons cocoa powder
    •2 tsp. vanilla
    •1/2 cup butter, softened
    •3 eggs
    •1 cup milk
    •2 tablespoons milk
    •3 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
    Preparation:
    Pour one portion of the cake mix into a large bowl and stir in the cocoa powder. Make a well in center of mix and add vanilla, butter, eggs, and 1 cup milk. Beat mixture 1 minute with electric mixer at low speed until blended. then stir in 2 tablespoons milk and the melted chocolate. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl and beat 2 minutes longer at medium speed until batter is smooth.

  • Red Onion Marmalade

    4-6 large Red Onions
    2 T Olive Oil
    1 tsp dry mustard
    1 tsp thyme or sage
    1 tsp salt
    1 tsp course ground pepper
    1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar
    1/4 cup brown sugar

    Cut onions tops and bottoms off, slice from top to bottom into thin slices.
    In 2 T olive oil, cook onion slices with cover on so they become soft and translucent, stir often.

    With a fork, mix the dry mustard and thyme into the balsalmic vinegar and add to the onions. This keeps the seasonings mixed into the onions.

    Continue cooking as the onions carmelize and the balsalmic thickens.
    Taste, adjust flavors to your taste buds.

    I love this served hot or cold on burgers, roast beef or turkey sandwiches, warm on a broiled steak, or served next to your scrambled eggs in the morning.

    Enjoy!

    Update: August 2nd, 2010
    Dennis just made grilled cheese sandwiches and they were so good! Sharp Cheddar cheese and onion marmalade- great match on Sheepherders Bread. Remember when making to put cheddar on both sides of the bread and the onoin marmalade in the center.

    Cheese platter is in our future.