6539. Make homemade spaghetti sauce

 While paging through Our Wisconsin magazine, I saw a recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce. I didn't mention it to the hubby in case he thought it was too much work and too much of mess. After he looked at the magazine, he brought up the homemade spaghetti sauce. We were going to try this. 

I bought the necessary ingredients I didn't have on hand.

It is a simple recipe that is perfect for beginners. You can't really screw this one up. 

1. Brown your meat and onion. -- I just browned the onion as we were having meatballs and those go in the oven.

2. Add 2 cans of tomato sauce, some basil, oregano, garlic, and a bay leaf.

3. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for an hour.

Easy peasy. It made the whole apartment smell incredible. 

And it was delicious. The hubby said our spaghetti and meatballs were the best he ever had with maybe the exception of the ones on Mackinac Island. 

We want to try the sauce with lasagna next. We shall see. In the mean time, I think  we will be having spaghetti and meatballs more often.

6537. Make milkshakes

 Trying to come up with things to put on your Christmas list is always a challenge. I've had a milkshake maker on my Amazon wish list for years. Since I didn't know what else to put on our combine list, I brought the idea up to the hubby. I showed him a picture and he said okay. I don't think he really expected to me to put it on the list or to actually get one. 

We got a Hamilton Beach Classic Drink Maker from my parents for Christmas. It is about $40 on Amazon and comes with the metal mixing cup. Now we just needed ice cream. Besides the cup, everything else is plastic which is kind of disappointing.

After purchasing some vanilla ice cream for the hubby, we decided to make milkshakes one night. The hubby was in charge of making them. It was essentially 3 or so scoops of ice cream, some milk, and splash of vanilla. 

The Classic Drink Maker worked very well for his vanilla shake. He got the consistency he liked (runny) by moving the mixing cup around as it mixed. 

My chocolate brownie shake turned out pretty good as well. The mixing head doesn't break up the chunks of brownie very well so they sink to the bottom of the glass. I ended up spooning that out since my metal straws didn't suck them up either. 

The next time we had shakes, I had a Dr. Pepper Cherry Shake. Instead of using milk, I used Cherry Dr. Pepper and added Maraschino cherries as well. It was AMAZING. The only thing I would do different would be either to chop up the cherries into tiny pieces so they get sucked up in the straw or just use the cherry juice in addition to the Dr. Pepper. The hubby was skeptical but once I told him I loved it, he wasn't so skeptical about my creation.

I also tried to do a mint shake but the hubby put way too much milk in it and it was literally thicker milk and had no mint taste whatsoever. I did not have mint extract in the house so that probably didn't help. Next time I will try it with the mint extraction and less milk.

We do need to get some actual old fashion milk shake glasses. The coke glass and pint glasses we've been using work in a pinch but the taller milkshake glasses would make them even better.

The milkshake maker has become a very useful gift. I don't know why I didn't ask for it sooner. It saves us a trip to Culvers or DQ just for a shake when the hubby wants one and nothing beats a good homemade shake with real ice cream.

458. Make jam

 When we were helping Janis make pickles, she asked if we wanted to help make pepper jam. I've never made jam but always wanted to. I would have preferred to make like raspberry jam but jam is jam. 

I've never made jam because of the quantity of jam produced. If I wanted to make jam, I would only want a jar or two but jam making produces many jars of jam. I could probably give them away but to be all the material to make jam would not worth the expense in my opinion. I am not a jam eater anyways.

Pepper jam is made from red, green, and jalapeno peppers. Janis actually had all the peppers chopped up and frozen ahead of time. That saved a lot of time. You want your peppers in small pieces so dices them in the food processor works great.

In a large pot, mix the peppers, apple cider vinegar and pectin. Bring to a boil and add sugar. Then boil for 2-3 minutes.

Then you need to fill the jars. An ice cream scoop works great because the mixture will be liquidy. You want that liquid. It helps set the jam since it is full of sugar and pectin.

After filling, wiping off the jars, and sealing the jars, the get water processed for 15 minutes. Set a timer. You do not want to forget how long they have been in the water. Once they are done in the bath, let them cool and mature for about two weeks before enjoying.

Besides chopping all the peppers and processing, the pepper jam is relatively quick to make. Since only a few jars can fit in the water bath at time, processing can take forever since they have to process for 15 minutes. It is a great time to drink wine and catch up with your fellow jam makers. Flying solo.. grab a cup of your favorite beverage and read a book.

It might be a while before I sample the pepper jam. I am not a big fan of peppers and the hubby won't touch them at all. I am thinking to gift some of them. I will eventually try it. I can not sample my morning's work.

Quarantine Adventures: Virtual Charcuterie Board Making Class

Janis brought a charcuterie board to the toga party last year which is the only the second time hearing about them. The first was when I was visiting Kelly in Boston and we shared one for dinner. I was impressed with Janis' charcuterie board making skills and I wanted to really learn how to make one. I did toss one together back in December for our cookie exchange since Janis was sick. I wasn't even sure if it was correct or not but everyone enjoyed it.

Facebook told me about a Virtual Charcuterie Board Making Class hosted by Nicole, the author of For The Love of Food Blog. She invited us into her kitchen and showed us how to put together a charcuterie board using whatever was in your pantry.

The first step is to create a centerpiece on your board which in Nicole's case was a wheel of brie with jam on it. Then fan out meats, cheese, fruit, crackers, etc from there.

There is no right or wrong way to create a charcuterie board. It is best left up to the people eating it and making it. You definitely want some sort of meats, cheese, crackers, and fruit. Think of the season and what you have in your house. Olives and pickles if it some sophistication while nuts and other snack foods give your texture and crunch. Stand bread sticks up in jelly jars. Don't be afraid to give height and dimension.

Even though I didn't think I made a successful charcuterie board last December apparently it had all the ingredients to be a board. I guess a refresher course was nice. With the amount cheese and sausage eaten in our house, we could make charcuterie boards every day of the week. Heck my lunch is usually a mini charcuterie board of cheese, sausage, and cracker. Okay so it's just thrown on a plate but it's the same concept.

Whoever thought of making these charcuterie boards mainstream had a great idea. They are a great go to item for any party or get together. You can make them for family movie nights or dessert with the ladies. It's one of those trendy foody things that you can adapt to any situation especially if you think outside of the box.

Quarantine Adventures: Carroll U Alum Cooking Demo

Within the last couple of years, I have started noticing alumni events in different areas in my Carroll e-newsletter. I thought about doing a couple but always decided against it. This year prior to the pandemic, Patrick and I joined Carroll for a Brewers spring training game in Phoenix. Since the pandemic started, they have taken these events virtual.

They have started a book club at like 10 in the morning. Hello.. working people here. They have also done some musical performances and fitness classes. The one the piqued my interest was a cooking demo. I can always use new recipes. I signed up and received my Zoom link. The world we live in now.. meetings and events with people all over the country and world by a computer screen. I can't even imagine how we would have coped if this pandemic happened 20 or even 10 years ago... and I digress.

The Pandemic Pantry Cooking demo was hosted by Kate Peterson of Kate Peterson Nutrition LLC. We went sent an email with the recipe ahead of time so if we wanted to follow along or make it again in the future we were able to. We were making a stir fry and cauliflower fried rice recipe.

Kate walked us through making both the stir fry and fried rice. She talked about substitution for the cauliflower rice. It was all very easy. Kate was great at explaining how to make both dishes and answered all of our questions.

Since we were such a small group, Derek the moderator and alumni office employee, asked what we were made during the pandemic so far. And of course when it was my turn, my audio on my laptop didn't work. So I had to quickly join the meeting via my phone while I was in the midst of making our own dinner. I told them about the garlic knots. They were impressed it was 2 ingredients. Those are the best thing ever.

Being able to connect to other people that you have a connection to however small is a wonderful thing during this crazy time. Thank goodness for technology.

I will keep looking for more alumni events either virtually or in person once this is all over. I do have a cheese tasting coming up at the end of the month. I can't wait for that one.

Quarantine Adventures -- Homemade Garlic Knots

As I was reading the recipe for cinnamon rolls, I noticed that I could use the same recipe to make garlic knots. I figured why not.

Like with the cinnamon rolls, you mix yogurt and self rising flour together.

Then you roll out the dough.

Cut them into strips.

Tie into a knot.

Bake. Then brush with garlic butter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Initially I did without the garlic and Parmesan cheese. They weren't bad but I definitely used too much flour. I used the whole 1 1/2 cups it called for. It was too much. I probably could have used only about a cup.

We decided to try them again with the garlic butter and less flour. I only used about 1 1/4 cups, just enough for the dough not to be sticky. They tasted much better. They just didn't look like garlic knots but more like pretzels.

We will definitely make them again using the garlic butter.

I really like this dough. It's easy and very versatile. Maybe I will I will use to make pizza rolls or something in the future. Stay tuned.

Quarantine Adventures: Bread in a Bag

Back when this pandemic and quarantine started in March, my friend Kris posted a picture of the bread she and her kids made. It was actually made in a bag and looked delicious. She sent me the recipe. Due to the yeast shortage, yeah kind of odd thing to be out of at the grocery store.., it took me a few weeks to actually get around to make the bread.

The recipe was pretty simple and barely took any time at all.

Basically mix flour, sugar, and yeast in a bag and add warm water. Squish together and let sit for 10 minutes,

After 10 minutes add more flour, some olive oil and salt. Squish again. Then add the rest of the flour and mix.

Remove from bag and knead for about 5 minutes. It's a bit messy getting out of the bag.

Separate the dough into two halves and put each half in a mini loaf pan. Cover with a towel and let raise for 30 minutes. Yes it really does rise.

Then bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy

This is a heartier bread perfect for stews, soups, and chilis on a cold winter night. We actually had it with out chili and it was perfect. Since it made 2 loaves, we had enough bread for both nights of chili.

I am not a fan of making bread because I don't like using yeast or waiting for things to rise. This recipe is painless and create for kids too. Who does like squishing things.

Try it out. You wouldn't be disappointed.