kale with bacon

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With spring officially here, I am drawn toward eating lots of leafy veggies. Of course a salad is fantastic on a hot day, but I've also been craving cooked greens of various types, particularly after reading again about how nutritious and delicious they are in all their various forms. And after reading more about their botany and history, I'm inspired to try greens I rarely make or haven't tried before. Hence I bring you kale with bacon! It's seriously good.

Kale with Bacon

makes about 2 generous servings, feel free to double (or triple) the recipe.

ingredients:
1 bunch fresh kale
1 package bacon (preservative-free, if you are so inclined)
handful of chopped onion
a couple of minced garlic cloves

Rinse kale and chop coarsely, removing hard stem bottoms, and set aside. Fry bacon (I use a big ol' cast iron pan). Transfer to plate and put aside a few pieces to later add to the kale; munch on the rest with your Hubs and kids. Pour bacon grease into container of your choice (I use a small mug or ramekin). In a medium/large saucepan, sweat chopped onion and garlic in a few generous tablespoons bacon grease over medium/low heat. Add chopped kale and stir around a bit in saucepan to prevent burning. When slightly wilted, add a splash or two of water and cover, simmering and stirring occasionally until kale reaches desired tenderness. Near the end of cooking, add a few strips of chopped, cooked bacon. Enjoy!! (This also makes great leftovers.)

God bless,
Mrs. Bear

irish soda bread is so easy and delicious

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I love Irish soda bread! Half my family loves it too, and the other half doesn't, so I don't bake it as often as I'd like. But it's so simple, so filling, and so good. I like to use the recipe from the Joy of Baking website here, though according to these awesome peeps the recipe isn't entirely traditional.

Anyway, it's a great accompaniment to soups, or spread with butter and jam, or made into cinnamon toast, or for dipping into sandwich fillings (like egg salad), but my favorite is a lightly toasted slice with cream cheese and cherry jam.

Enjoy!

God bless,
Mrs. Bear

homemade turkey stock

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Several days ago I made a random turkey feast...I had found an approximately 10lb turkey still on sale after Thanksgiving, and saved it in the freezer for when we were in the mood for a turkey dinner. A couple of days later, after removing as much meat as I could, I put most of the turkey bones and the turkey neck (with whatever meat was still on them) into a large stock pot and filled it up almost to the brim with filtered water, then added about 3 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar (you could also use apple cider vinegar), placed the lid on, and brought it to a boil. When it started to boil, I brought it to a simmer and let it sit for the next several hours, stirring it every now and then. When it was done, I turned off the heat and let it sit for maybe half an hour before stirring it and then gently ladling the broth into a smaller pot, cooling it in the freezer for a little bit before transferring it to the fridge.

With salt and other seasonings of your choice, this stock is great just for sipping, for cooking things like rice, and for using as a base for soups or stews. You can also freeze the stock to use later.

The vinegar and long simmering time are supposed to increase the mineral and nutrient content of the stock, making it a very wholesome addition to your kitchen, particularly if you ascribe to a traditional foods nutritional perspective. Also, the process of making stock, perhaps particularly for someone like myself who hasn't always done such things, is very soothing and even solemnly contemplative...as I gratefully worked with the turkey bones, and as I enjoy the stock, I find myself contemplating the food chain and the order of creation, life, death, sacrifice and thanksgiving, the fall and how these things figure into a world redeemed by Christ.

God bless,
Mrs. Bear

super easy beer bread

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I found this whole wheat beer bread recipe at Farmgirl Fare a long time ago, but just got around to trying it last week. It is probably the easiest batter bread ever, and it's really delicious. Give it a try!

God bless,
Mrs. Bear

homemade ghee

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I finally made homemade ghee!

Ghee is basically butter that has been rendered, or "clarified" (though it's not technically the same as "clarified butter") so that any water in the butter evaporates and all the milk solids and impurities foam up and then sink to the bottom. The butter then continues to cook until the milk solids at the bottom brown a little bit, giving the ghee a warm, distinctive flavor. The clear oil left behind is the ghee--pure butterfat. The hot melted ghee is then ladled or strained into a glass jar or crockery container and left to cool (uncovered, so no water condensation forms). When it cools, it solidifies into a light yellow, grainy consistency (Indira, who writes the Indian cooking blog Mahanandi, writes that it is the consistency of fudge, which is pretty accurate), and melts into a very smooth, beautiful golden oil when heated.

Ghee is traditionally used as the main cooking oil in Indian dishes, but variations on the theme of ghee are used in cooking throughout the Middle East and North Africa as well. Water and milk solids are the parts of butter that make it susceptible to rancidity, so removing them by evaporating the water and separating out the milk solids renders the ghee shelf-stable for a long time. (This is why you let the ghee cool without a cover, as the condensation that would form if cooled with a cover on would affect its shelf life...also, always use a dry utensil to scoop ghee from its container!) Additionally, ghee has a high smoke point and is very heat-stable, which makes it a very good oil for frying (though it can simply be enjoyed melted onto warm bread, rice, or vegetables). Another neat thing is that when you cook spices and foods in an oil like ghee, it becomes infused with nutrients from those ingredients, something particularly nice for those nutrients that require fat in order to be assimilated.

I read something really neat about ghee...first, the milk comes from the cow. Then the best part, the cream, is separated out. Then the best part of the cream is extracted as butter. Then the ghee is rendered from that butter. Because of this one can see that it's important to use good-quality butter from healthy cows that have been well-fed and well-treated.

To that end, I procured a pound of organic unsalted butter and followed the instructions here, straining the finished product through a coffee filter and into a small canning jar (as you can see in the top photo). It smells like shortbread cookies, and I've been storing it on the counter...so far I've melted it onto veggies and used it to saute veggies for soup. I'm looking forward to trying it in curries, with rice, and on flatbreads!

God bless,
Mrs. Bear

chocolate chip cookies

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I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it comes from the wonderful people at Guittard, makers of my favorite chocolate chips ever. This recipe makes a lot of cookies; you could probably halve it or freeze some of the cookies for later!

"The Original Chocolate Chip Cookie"
from Guittard chocolate company

(makes 7 dozen 2" cookies)

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (12 oz) Guittard semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.
In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.
In separate large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy and lighter in color. Add eggs and vanilla, whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture a little at a time, and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Transfer rounded teaspoonfuls of dough to ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375F for 8 to 10 minutes. Enjoy!

God bless,
Mrs. Bear

blueberry cornbread muffins

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While we're on the subject of cornbread, I wanted to link to this great recipe I found for blueberry cornbread muffins. The recipe is unique in that it soaks the cornmeal in hot water and oil first, softening the cornmeal and making the muffins less gritty and more moist and tender. This also takes the place of milk, so if you need a dairy-free recipe or happen to be out of milk, you could still use this recipe. These muffins are also very big and fluffy...don't be afraid to fill up those muffin cups! :-)

God bless
Mrs. Bear