Made From Scratch Tuesday 1/31

There's really nothing I love more than a good steak. Usually, I only season our steaks with sauteed onions and garlic, and salt and pepper. I was feeling adventurous tonight, so I made up a batch of steak seasoning loaded with flavor. This will make quite a bit, so save the leftovers in a jar with a tight lid.

What you'll need:
3 T salt
1 T royal peppercorns (or you can use just black peppercorns)
1 T onion flakes
1/2 T garlic powder
1/2 T crushed red pepper flakes
1 T savory
1 T rosemary
2 t fennel seed

Combine all in a spice grinder and grind to a smooth powder. Rub over steaks and cook to desired doneness.

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Made From Scratch Tuesday 1/24

Do you have a go-to sauce or base? We do. In our house, the kids call it Toxic Green Sludge, which is pretty much what it looks like. I let them get away with calling it that because it's mostly spinach and any time I can squeeze some veggies in, I'm all for it no matter what they call it.

In a food processor, combine a 10 oz bag of spinach, one container of fresh mozzarella cheese, a few tablespoons Parmesan cheese,  basil, thyme, oregano, salt and a splash of olive oil.

Process until, well until it looks like toxic green sludge!


Once you have it made, you can use it as a dressing in a chilled pasta salad, or as a layer in lasagna, add chicken and stuff ravioli or shells, and the list goes on! It's a good base sauce to make on the weekends and use during the week when you don't have as much time to pull off a great dinner.

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2. The post has to be made from scratch.
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Iron Chef Challenge-King's Hawaiian Bread

We love King's Hawaiian Bread in this house! They're the perfect size for sandwiches for the kids and they are so tasty with a bowl of soup. So when I heard Ott,A's January Iron Chef Challenge was King's Hawaiian Bread, I didn't have to look far for the theme ingredient.

Sweet and Savory Stuffing
4 Kings Hawaiian Rolls1/2 c stock (I made this with cornish hens, so I used chicken)1/2 c carrots, diced1/2 c celery, diced1 medium onion, diced1 avocado, diced2 tablespoons olive oil1/2 t thyme1/2 t basil1/2 t rosemarysalt and pepper
Saute the carrots, celery, and onion in the olive oil

While they are cooking, tear the rolls apart and place in an 8x8 pan. Lightly toast under the broiler. 

Add in avocados and stock

Toss in sauteed celery, carrots and onions. Toss in seasonings and bake at 350 35-45 minutes. 

Thanks to Ott,A and King's Hawaiian Bread for sponsoring this month's challenge!

Made From Scratch Tuesday 1/17

Tonight, we had artichoke burgers. The husband was giving me funny looks while I was making them, but they turned out soooo tasty! One of these days, he'll learn to quit doubting me!

What you'll need:
1 lb ground beef
4 artichoke hearts, chopped into large pieces (I used canned)
2 T creamy Italian dressing
Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl

 Shape into patties and cook to desired doneness

We topped these burgers with crumbled Feta cheese

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Made From Scratch Tuesday 1/10

So according to Food Network Blog, mustard is going to be the "it" food of the year. I make my own barbecue sauce, but honestly, it never occurred to me to make mustard. Well, consider me inspired. After doing a little searching and comparing recipes, I came up with a spicy, tangy mustard based on Alton Brown's Best Mustard Ever. 


What you'll need:

2 teaspoons light brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon canning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon pickling spice
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup mustard seed

In a spice grinder, grind mustard seed and picking spice 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, stopping and shaking every 30 seconds. Pour into medium glass bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients.

Whisk in vinegar and water until well mixed. Microwave on high heat for one minute. Immediately pour into blender and blend on low for 1-2 minutes with the lid off. I know, it sounds like it could make a mess, but this really doesn't make a whole lot of mustard and you need to let the steam escape so you don't end up with mustard soup! If it's still too thin, microwave for another 30 seconds and blend again. Alton's recipe says to use an immersion blender, but I tried that and still ended up with soup. Round 2, I used the blender and it came out perfect. Pour into glass jar and store in the refrigerator for up to a month. 

I'll warn you now-this mustard is not meant to stay in the background. This mustard screams a tangy, bright flavor that's sure to bring a whole new dimension to any plain hot dog (or whatever you like mustard on)!

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Made From Scratch Tuesday 1/3

 Made From Scratch Tuesday is back from the holiday break! I hope everyone had a happy holiday season and is ready for 2012!

One of the things we did over the holidays was pick up our beef. We bought a side of beef from a local producer back in November. After a few weeks hanging time and processing, it was ready for us to pick up last week. We've only bought quarters in the past, so the sheer amount of beef we picked up was almost overwhelming!

One of the other things I like about buying our beef this way, is we get to choose how it's cut and packaged.

More on that on a later post....

Another thing I love about buying our beef like this is all the bones! And bones mean stock! It seems like I never have enough stock in the freezer, so I make trips to the butcher throughout the year to pick up more. Although, they really hooked me up this time. I left with bags and bags of bones. Want to guess what I spent my Saturday doing? Making stock!

I started out with the bones and enough olive oil just to cover the bottom of my 22 qt pressure canner/cooker.

I slightly browned the bones then added 4 large carrots (broke in half), 4 ribs of celery (broke in half), 2 onions (quartered), salt, 1 T whole peppercorns, 4 bay leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, 5 fresh basil leaves, a sprig of rosemary, 1 t thyme, and 1 t savory. Then add enough water to fill the pressure cooker between 1/2 and 2/3 full.

Then, lock on the lid and turn the heat up. When I could hear the steam coming out, I turned the heat down to low and let it cook for 45 minutes. Then turn the heat off, but keep it on the burner and let it cool down. After the pot cooled enough to be able to touch it, I carefully took off the lid to check out my stock.

My stock had a great aroma and a beautiful color. Now the only problem was storing it. As you can see, our freezer had reached its limit. So, I condensed it down by transferring to smaller pots and simmering until most of the water evaporated. This also gave me a good chance to skim off some fat. When it was all said and done, two batches of stock in the pressure cooker was concentrated down to 10 of these little containers, which fit in my freezer perfectly!

Now it's time to link up all of your creations!
Here are the rules:
1. You can link up as many posts as you'd like.
2. The post has to be made from scratch.
3. The post you link up MUST CONTAIN A RECIPE!
4. If you want to put my button somewhere, that'd be cool. You can grab the code for the Made From Scratch Tuesday button on the top right of my sidebar.