Chewing the Fat

Have you ever wondered which fat is the healthiest to use when baking?

To be honest, there has been so much talk about good fats and bad fats that I have a hard time keeping them straight.  I’m familiar with the  health benefits associated with using olive oil, but one website I found clearly stated that heating the olive oil did not give you the same health benefits as using it straight from the bottle.  Hmmm…

I have to admit I am typically a label reader if the products are side by side. But if the oil is in one isle and the butter is in a cooler in another isle then I don’t generally compare the two.

I usually bake with butter, margarine, vegetable oil, and vegetable shortening.  A lot of what I bake with is based on what it is that I’m baking.  For example, if I’m making a pie, I’m a die-hard vegetable shortening kind of gal.  Cookies, I prefer margarine, although sometimes I use butter depending on the type of cookie.  Cakes, um… I honestly think oils make a moister cake.  

So what’s good for you in the fat department and what’s not? I decided to do a little research and see if I could sort this mess out. 

First let me share this – none of the fats (surprise) have any significant nutritional values, or should I say, very little if any. 

Secondly, I found all kinds of warnings to  stay away from hydrogenated oils and shortenings that contain trans fats.  Pure oils and shortenings were recommended.  This is something to take into consideration when shopping. 

I got a wee bit nervous at the thought of giving up my pie baking so I looked a little farther and found that all of Crisco’s shortening products are now trans fat free and cholesterol free – yea!  I also found that many margarines are noted for having trans fats in them.  I recommend this article written by the Cleveland Clinic  to help clarify that  issue.

Not all fats are bad for you either.  This is where olive oil gets some recognition.  For a better explanation of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats see the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website.

My conclusion after all of this?  It is something that you may already know.  Butter seems to be the worst choice of the five for you.   It’s super high in saturated fat and has cholesterol.

Butter (1 tbsp.) 102 calories. 11.52g total fat, 7.294g saturated fat, 0.432g polyunsaturated fat, 2.985g monounsaturated fat, and 31mg of cholesterol. 

What I really couldn’t get over is the amount of calories found in each one of the fats I looked at.  The highest was vegetable oil which contained 120 calories in a 1 tablespoon serving – wow!  Olive oil came in second place with 119 calories per tablespoon.

I guess it stands to reason that non-fat yogurt and applesauce might be the best alternative to replace fats when baking.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you have a secret to limiting fats when you bake?  I’d love to hear it.

Creamy Harvest Tomato Soup

 

With an extremely hot summer, our garden was didn’t fair so well.  It’s much quicker to tell you what we actually harvested, than what we didn’t. Tomatoes…

With that said, I am not a huge tomato fan.  I love pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce,tomato soup, sun-dried tomatoes and ketchup.  I actually can’t imagine life without those foods.  I just don’t care for fresh sliced tomatoes. Odd? Probably…

So what does one make when they have an over abundance of sun ripened tomatoes that they don’t particularly care for?  They make a delicious, creamy tomato soup and serve it with gooey grilled cheese sandwiches.

Creamy Harvest Tomato Soup 

9 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 medium onion, diced

1 tbsp. olive oil

4 c. chicken stock

1 tsp. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 tbsp. white wine

1/2 c. sour cream

Pinch of salt

2 dashes of black pepper

In a large stock pot, add olive oil and onion. Cook onions until soft and tender, stir often to make sure they don’t overbrown. Add chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, wine, sugar, and Italian seasoning. Bring to a full boil on high heat, reduce heat and simmer until liquid has reduced about 1 quart. Cool for 20 minutes.

In a blender, puree soup stock in small batches and return to large saucepan.  Add sour cream; cook on low heat until soup is re-warmed and sour cream is completely mixed in.  Add salt and pepper.

What’s your favorite thing to make with fresh tomatoes?

 

Get Out Your Soup Making Pot

One thing I’m going to try to make more of this fall is homemade soup, and the first soup on my list was Buffalo Wing Chicken Soup.

My inspiration to make this soup came from the RiverPark Grille in Waterloo, NY.  My husband nearly always orders this when we visit there.  And I’m always up for a few tastes of his, but on occasion, I’ve found it a bit too spicy for my blood.  That doesn’t seem to slow him down though.

I did some searching on-line and tracked down a recipe from the cool blog, sports-glutton.com (check it out).  I used the sports-glutton’s recipe as a guide but I did adapt it to fit our tastes. 

This is a great game day soup, but it’s not for those who are watching fat and calories. 

** I have adjusted this recipe since first publishing it.  This version is not as heavy and thick as the picture depicts.

Buffalo Wing Chicken Soup

1 small – medium onion, diced

1/4 c. celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c. margarine

3 tbsp. all-purpose flour

4 c. chicken broth

1 c. skim milk

1/2 c. light cream

1/4 c. sour cream

3/4 c. mozzarella cheese, grated

1/4 c. Mexican cheese, grated

Pinch of salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/3 c. Frank’s Hot Sauce

3 c. cooked chicken, cubed (I used a store-bought rotisserie chicken)

In a large stock pot, add margarine, onion, celery and garlic.  Sauté on medium heat until veggies are light golden brown.

Add flour to margarine and veggie mixture; stir completely.  Once veggies, butter and flour are completely mixed, add chicken broth and milk, whisk all ingredients together and bring to a boil on medium heat for one minute; stirring constantly.  Remove from stove, puree ingredients, and return to heat.

On low heat, pour in light cream, sour cream, cheese, hot sauce, and salt and pepper.  Cook until cheese is completely melted. 

Add chicken to the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.  Pour into bowls and serve with a dollop of  your favorite blue cheese dressing.  Drizzle hot sauce on top.

** Cooks note:  My suggestion is to start out with a 1/3 cup of hot sauce.  If it’s not spicy enough, turn it up a notch like I did.

What is the first soup you’re going to make this fall season?

Vanilla Cream Pie

Pick your poison: Banana Cream, Coconut Cream, Almond Cream, Chocolate Cream, Butterscotch Cream, or Vanilla Cream Pie.  And so I did; Vanilla Cream Pie.

This pie is so simple, yet so rich and creamy.  It has a hint of old-fashioned to it – which I like.  Nothing fancy or extravagant, just pure deliciousness. 

This recipe comes from Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook.   I increased the vanilla extract in the recipe by 1/2 teaspoon.

You will need one 9” prepared pie crust.  I used a recipe for my pie crust out of the same cookbook.

Vanilla Cream Pie (Original Recipe)

2/3 c. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. all-purpose flour

3 c. milk

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 tbsp. butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix in a large saucepan; sugar, salt, cornstarch, and flour.  Gradually stir in milk.  Heat mixture over moderate heat (stirring constantly) until it thickens and boils.  Boil 1 minute.

Remove from heat.  Slowly stir half the mixture into the beaten eggs.  Then blend the hot egg mixture back into the saucepan.  Return to heat and bring to boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. 

Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla.  Pour into prepared pie crust.  Chill for two hours before serving.  Top with whipped cream, toasted nuts or coconut, or fresh fruit. 

I topped my pie with homemade vanilla-cinnamon whipped cream - yum!

I want to thank Mike and Molly again for the bottle of their homemade vanilla that I won in their give-away last winter.   It  is awesome and ranks right up there with the more expensive brands that I often purchase.  Thanks guys!

Strawberry Freezer Jam 2012

This is my favorite time of the year.  Fresh fruits make their way onto our table and into our freezer for those long winter months ahead. 

Making strawberry freezer jam has been a seasonal tradition in our family since I was a small girl. 

If you didn’t catch my recipe for it last season than get it here now!

Do you make your own jams and jellies?  What is your all-time favorite flavor?

Happy 4th of July

I was up late last night making Jell-O Firecracker Shots to share on this great day of independence.  And as my luck would have it, mine turned out as if someone had already detonated them!  How the heck can you screw up Jell-O you ask?  Well, let me tell you.  You hastily read the directions to a recipe that you should have printed off the computer but didn’t.

So, I missed the part about boiling the water.  Who would have thought?  Especially since that’s what you typically do when you make Jell-O. 

And you thought it was just you – right? 

Regardless,  Vanessa and  Heather from the blog, At The Picket Fence, did a great job making and photographing their firecrackers. 

If you get a minute to hop over there and take a look you will see how darned adorable their firecrackers are.  And you will  see why I was   disappointed to find mine didn’t set properly.

Have no fear.  I will try again.  Happy 4th!

A Must Read Guest Post by Denise of BeBetsy

Preserve Your Family History with Recipes

It’s funny how things that once seemed ordinary and taken for granted become so dear to the heart as we move along in our life’s journey.

I can picture our mother with her apron on hard at work in the kitchen of our home that my parents built brick by brick.

The kitchen walls were lined with cedar wainscot. Closing my eyes I am transported back watching my father take pleasure in our mother’s cooking. Oh what meals she could whip up! Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, freshly baked rolls slathered in butter and fresh plum jam made from the bounty of our grandmother’s tree.

It remains so vivid in my memory.

In winter the kitchen was the place to be with the warmth from the oven and wonderful smells that made your stomach churn in anticipation! I cherish those memories and right this minute I swear I can smell the chocolate, sugar and butter of the Saturday night fudge as it bubbled in that old, heavy saucepan.

Food memories are powerful and an important part of our family history. What a gift it would be to our children, and for generations to come, if through our recipes our family history would come to life!

Shortly after our mother died my sister Sharon and her family put together a collection of our family recipes in a beautifully handcrafted scrapbook of my sister’s own design. Included were pictures of our mother’s handwritten recipes cards.

This precious memory book reminds me of how our mother’s home-cooked meals brought us together around our kitchen table. Thinking of that I smile and cry all at once.

So scour your family’s cupboards and locate those old cookbooks and recipe cards. Spend time with the older women in your family and consider recording them talking of the foods they would prepare for their family.

What a great treasure that would be to pass on to your own children.

Please share your own precious memories!

“A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.”
— Tenneva Jordan

I’m so glad to share Denise’s post with you.  There are few things more precious to me than my mother’s and grandmother’s hand-written recipe cards.  The preservation of their recipes is important to me, and my memories of watching them stay busy in their kitchen’s will always make me smile.

Denise and her sister Sharon are the masterminds of BeBetsy.com, a  FREE on-line lifestyle magazine. 

BeBetsy features great articles on health, beauty, fashion, money, gardening, home décor, food and drink, DIY, tech savy tips, along with information on today’s hottest products. 

Oh,  I almost forgot to mention the printable coupons and great giveaways and contests they share with readers too.

My suggestion, subscribe to their site so you don’t miss a single thing.    And why stop there? They can also be found on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. 

Now, a bit more about Denise, the author of this  post.  She is the editor and co-founder of BeBetsy.  She is a writer, self-proclaimed musician, food junkie and sometimes funny person, who enjoys spending as much time as possible with her husband and family.

She loves classic cinema and indie movies and most forms of musical expression.  She loves to hike, camp, fish canoe and howl at the moon.

When she’s not howling at the moon, she spends time working-out, swimming, singing, writing, sewing, reading and telling others her opinion on any subject.  She ignores age and pretends she is 27.  (Don’t we all?)

Originally from Salt Lake City, she now lives in Southern Nevada enjoying the daily sunshine and serenity of the dessert.  Lucky girl…

 

Hamming it up

I’m a fortunate girl.  My husband is an awesome cook and he actually enjoys cooking.  We share the cooking responsibilities in our house and we each have our own cooking style, favor certain herbs, and there are things I make that he typically doesn’t, and vice versa.

For example, while I am the exclusive mac and cheese maker in the house, he turns out the chicken wings.

For Easter we bought a Tavern Ham which he immediately took charge of.  He sliced the ham thin, piled it into a hotel pan and flavored it with a honey mustard sauce and a few of his secret ingredients.  As usual, it was a huge hit.

With the baking of this ham we had leftovers.  And that’s where I came in.  I decided to make some homemade bread so we could make enjoy tasty ham sandwiches.

I made my Soft White Bread recipe but substituted 2 cups of whole wheat flour for 2 of the cups of all-purpose flour. 

Without question, homemade bread takes some time to make but it is well worth the effort.

I think you might be hard pressed to find a deli sandwich that could compare to this one.  But if you happen to know of a deli that serves up homemade sandwiches like these I’d love to hear about it!

Who does the cooking in your house?

Petit Fours or Petit Four-Get it?

Petit Fours are irresistibly cute, pretty, and delicious.  It’s those characteristics that inspired me to make my own.  But when I was done making them I was chanting Petit Four-Get It!

You will probably agree that  they look cute and pretty.  And I will attest that they are delicious.  But… they were extremely time-consuming to make.

Warning!  If you want to make petit fours you will need a lot of time and patience. 

Since making these was a new adventure for me I decided to take a shortcut and use a store-bought pound cake. 

I started by cutting the cake into one inch by one inch cubes, or as close to that as possible.  For experimental purposes I also tried using a small round cookie cutter but found that was more time-consuming than cutting the cubes, and there was considerably more waste of the cake doing so.

I made the icing once I finished cubing the cake.  I had never made this type of icing before so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The recipe I used came from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook.  I used a small pound cake so I only made a half of batch of icing.  As far as ratios go – that worked out perfectly.

Once the icing was ready I removed a small amount from the double boiler and then colored it.  I  set a cube of cake on a dining sized tablespoon and spooned the icing over the piece of cake.  This is where it got very time-consuming.  The only other alternative was to place the cubes on a wire rack and pour the icing over a few pieces at a time.  Neither seemed like ideal ways to cover small pieces of cake.  I found this icing was difficult to work with once it cooled down, and that happened fairly quickly.

I transferred the iced pieces of cake onto parchment paper and left them  at room temperature overnight.  The following day I melted some white chocolate wafers and drizzled it over top of each piece of cake.  I decorated each piece with Celebration pearls candy which you will see more of early next week.  You won’t want to miss that post – I promise!

Even though my initial thought was petit four-get it!  I would make these again.  When I do, I may try a different icing recipe and see if that helps speed up the process any.

If you want to make a treat for extremely special occasion, or if you really want to wow someone, petit fours are a perfect choice.

Shittake, Almond, Wild Rice Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Last year, around this same time, I visited  Blue Oyster Cultivations, a mushroom farm located here in the Finger Lakes Region. 

I visited BOC to conduct some research for an article I was about to write for a local publication. 

Once I was done interviewing the owner’s of the farm they picked some of their fresh shiitake and oyster mushrooms for me to take home. 

With their delicious, fresh, and locally grown mushrooms I made this salad.  

This salad pairs well with chicken and fish.  It can be served warm or chilled, and it makes a picnic dish.  It’s a welcome change from other  salads that are loaded with calories from the mayonnaise used in them. 

Shiitake, Almond, Wild Rice Salad with Balsamic Dressing

1 – 7oz. box of long grain & wild rice

2 green onion, sliced

1 - 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 c. oven roasted, no salt, sliced almonds

3 – 4 large shiitake mushroom caps, sliced thin

3 tbsp. olive oil

3 tbsp. Balsamic vinegar

dash of salt & pepper

Prepare rice according to box; set aside.  In a large skillet, warm olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions, garlic, almonds, and mushrooms.  Cook until tender, about 8 minutes.  Remove from heat, add cooked skillet ingredients to rice.  Pour Balsamic vinegar over rice, along with salt & pepper.  Mix thoroughly.

Serve warm, or chilled. Makes 4 servings.

Surprise your family with this rice salad that’s loaded with tasty flavors!