Kefir - A Whole New Adventure

It looks like cauliflower but it is loaded with all sorts of good bacteria for you.  A friend of mine who is having similar kidney problems suggested that I started looking into taking kefir. I know you can buy kefir in the store, but I am always leery of anything "store bought" and you know HOW I love making anything on my own.

So off to the Internet I trotted and, lo and behold, I found a woman in Indiana that was sharing her kefir grains for the price of postage.  A new adventure was born.

"Growing" kefir is so easy!!!   The picture above are live kefir grains.  As I said above, they look like cauliflower.  All you do is dump the grains into a clean mason jar, fill the jar about 3/4 full with good whole milk (I am using goat's milk since that is all I have), put the lid on the jar

and let the jar set out on your counter or some place relatively warm for about 12 to 24 hours.  When you see the grains floating at the top, it is time to strain the kefir into a separate bowl and start a new batch (i.e., put the grains into a clean mason jar and fill with milk).  The kefir is the "fermented" milk.

I usually pour the kefir into a half gallon mason jar and store that in my refrigerator.  The consistency is similar to buttermilk.  In fact, you can use kefir in place of buttermilk in any of your recipes.

I have just touched the tip of the iceberg with kefir.  Stay tuned for more recipes and ideas about using kefir.  If you are interested in obtaining some of my grains, please send me an email at BDGoats@yahoo.com.  I will only charge you for the postage ($6.85).

My Mother-iin-Law's Macaroni & Cheese Recipe - the best!!!

This is the best macaroni and cheese recipe you will have ever tasted and it is so easy!!  You can whip this up in a matter of minutes (well, not counting the time it takes to cook the macaroni!)

Preheat oven to 350

Cook 1 pound of elbow macaroni according to the directions on the box.  Drain.

Put 1/2 of the macaroni in a large baking dish.

Sprinkle with salt and flour and dot with butter.

Place sliced Colby Longhorn cheese on top of macaroni.

Repeat this for the second layer (below is a picture of the beginning second layer)

I didn't have the Colby longhorn cheese, so I just used regular Colby cheese, don't think that will make much of a difference.

Crush Ritz crackers on top and dot with more butter

Fill the dish with milk (about 1/2 gallon)

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes. until the top is brown.

This is the BEST macaroni and cheese you will EVER have. 

ENJOY!!

Braided Calzone

Looking for an easy and quick dinner?? ALWAYS!!  I found this recipe, I think, on Facebook and it has become a weekly favorite with my family.  And you can whip this up in a matter of minutes.  Yes, it will involve a run to the grocery store but it is so worth it!  This is now my "go to" recipe whenever we want a pizza.

Braided Calzone

Ingredients

your favorite pizza sauce (we found LaRosa Pizza Sauce here in Cincinnati, OH to be THE BEST!)
Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Pepperoni (or whatever ingredients you want in your calzone)
Melted butter
Italian Herb spice

Directions:

Roll out the pizza dough with a rolling pin to spread it out as much as you can on a large sheet of parchment paper.

Spoon and spread the pizza sauce in a thick stripe down the middle of the dough - about a 3 to 4 inch stripe

Cover with your favorite ingredients . . . pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, etc, etc, etc

Sprinkle with cheese (and we have put goat cheese before the mozzarella cheese and it was GREAT!)

Cut slashes on each slice of the dough to the filling on both sides.

Place one slash on top of the filling and take a slash from the other side and place on top of the filling.  Continue down the calzone.

Brush top with melted butter and sprinkle with Italian herb

Bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes until the top is a golden brown.

Slice and use the excess pizza sauce for dipping!

Enjoy!

Ham and Potato Scallop

I have been getting in "one of those ruts" where I start cooking the "same ole things" over and over and over again - my poor family!!  So early this week, I opened up my Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook and started leafing through the pages searching for new recipes.  If I found one that sounded interesting, I marked it with a paper clip, wrote down whatever ingredients I might need to buy and continued looking through the cookbook.  I think I found about 7 or 8 new recipes to try.

Well, last night was the first night of "experimenting."  This recipe sounded like a good place to start. 

Ham and Potato Scallop by Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 medium potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced) - I used the Yukon gold potatoes - didn't peeled, just sliced.
1 10 3/4 oz can Cheddar Cheese Soup
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup bread crumbs ** (I substituted crumbled up Ritz Crackers - so much better!!
2 T dried parsley
1 T melted butter (I omitted that)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, layer half the ham, onions and potatoes.  Repeat the layers.

In a separate bowl, mix the soup and milk.  Pour over the layered potatoes/ham/onion mixture.

Bake for about 1 hour until the potatoes are tender.  Remove from the oven.

Mix the crumbs with the parsley and sprinkle over the top of the casserole. 

Bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

Entire Recipe:

Ham and Potato Scallop by Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 medium potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced) - I used the Yukon gold potatoes - didn't peeled, just sliced.
1 10 3/4 oz can Cheddar Cheese Soup
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup bread crumbs ** (I substituted crumbled up Ritz Crackers - so much better!!
2 T dried parsley
1 T melted butter (I omitted that)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, layer half the ham, onions and potatoes.  Repeat the layers.

In a separate bowl, mix the soup and milk.  Pour over the layered potatoes/ham/onion mixture.

Bake for about 1 hour until the potatoes are tender.  Remove from the oven.

Mix the crumbs with the parsley and sprinkle over the top of the casserole. 

Bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

ENJOY!!

Comments:

This was good!!  I definitely see me making this again - both my husband and son loved it.  And it is so very easy to make.

 

Spaghetti Pie

Last night was one of those nights where I had no clue what I was going to make for dinner.  I walked into my kitchen and nothing seem appealing - do you ever have one of those days (months???).  So I picked up my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  It opened to this page and at the very top was a recipe for Spaghetti Pie.  Now that sounded interesting and, as luck would have, it I had most of the ingredients.  Once again dinner was saved and my family would not have to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner!

Spaghetti Pie by Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:

4 ounces spaghetti
1 beaten egg
1/3 c grated Parmesan Cheese
1 T butter
1 c cottage cheese (I used small curd - not sure that made any difference)
1/2 lb ground beef (or Italian sausage)
1/2 c chopped onion
1/4 c chopped and seeded green pepper (I didn't have that so I omitted)
3/4 c your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350
For the crust, cook the spaghetti per the directions on the box.  Drain.
In a separate bowl, add the egg, Parmesan cheese and butter.  Mix in the hot spaghetti.
Spread this evenly around the bottom and the sides of a 9 inch pie plate.
Drain the cottage cheese.  Mix the egg with the drained cottage cheese and spread over the spaghetti crust.
In a skillet, cook the meat, onions and pepper.  Drain off any fat.  Stir in the spaghetti sauce.
Spoon over the cottage cheese mix.
Bake for 20 minutes. 
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cheese over the top of the pie.
Bake about 5 minutes for or until the cheese melts and crust sets. 
Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

ENJOY!!

Comment:

This was really good!!  I served homemade bread sticks with this, though I think a salad would have been a better choice.  My husband loved it.  Definitely a keeper recipe!!

Quiche Lorraine

What do you do when you literally have a ton of eggs (like 17 dozen!!)?  Well, you make quiche!!  I have always wanted to try Quiche Lorraine.  When you think of quiche, at least for me, this one always comes to mine.  So off to the Internet I trotted!  So many different recipes . . .

The recipe I chose was by Emeril Lagasse.  I have never tried any of his recipes, but this one sounded good and, fortunately, I had most of the ingredients - as always I had to do a bit of improvising and I will not those below.

Quiche Lorraine by Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

Single pie crust

6 ounces thick cut bacon
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cup half and half ** (I didn't have, so I just used whole milk)
1/4 tsp white pepper ** (I didn't have, so I just used black pepper)
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss ** (I had smoked Gruyere cheese)

Directions:

Make the pie crust according to your directions
Roll out the dough to fit into a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom or a 9 inch pie pan.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375F
Line the pie dough in the tart pan/pie pan with parchment paper and pie weights (I used dried beans).

Bake until the crust is set, about 12 to 14 minutes.  Remove the weights and paper and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes until the crust is a golden brown.  Leave the oven on.
In a medium skillet, cook the bacon until crisp (beware family members will appear out of nowhere to eat bacon!!!).  Remove bacon and let drain on a paper towel.
Crumble the bacon and scatter around the bottom of the pie crust.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks and half and half (or milk) together.  Add the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the crust and bake until the custard is golden and puffed, roughly 30 to 35 minutes. 

The center might still be slightly wiggly (that is ok!).
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before serving.

 
Entire Recipe:

Quiche Lorraine by Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

Single pie crust

6 ounces thick cut bacon
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cup half and half ** (I didn't have, so I just used whole milk)
1/4 tsp white pepper ** (I didn't have, so I just used black pepper)
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss ** (I had smoked Gruyere cheese)

Directions:

Make the pie crust according to your directions
Roll out the dough to fit into a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom or a 9 inch pie pan.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375F
Line the pie dough in the tart pan/pie pan with parchment paper and pie weights (I used dried beans). 
Bake until the crust is set, about 12 to 14 minutes.  Remove the weights and paper and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes until the crust is a golden brown.  Leave the oven on.
In a medium skillet, cook the bacon until crisp,  Remove bacon and let drain on a paper towel.
Crumble the bacon and scatter around the bottom of the pie crust.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks and half and half (or milk) together.  Add the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the crust and bake until the custard is golden and puffed, roughly 30 to 35 minutes.  The center might still be slightly wiggly (that is ok!).
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!

Comments:

This was a winner!  The resident experts loved it.  It is a very easy meal to make and not very expensive.  This definitely will be a repeat dinner! 


 

Ham, Potato and Cheddar Cheese Quiche

If you were like us at Easter, you serve a pretty large ham for Easter dinner.  Considering there are only 3 of us which means I had leftover ham!  Of course, my husband and son will be eating ham sandwiches everyday for lunch!  But, I also wanted to find another way to use up all the ham, so off to the Internet I went.  I found this recipe on the website "The Farmer's Wife Cooks".  I did have to improvise a bit as the recipe called for half-and-half and onion powder which I didn't have.  So I used regular milk and just skipped the onion powder.  Can't say that made too much of a difference.

Ham, Potato and Cheddar Quiche by The Farmer's Wife Cooks

Ingredients:

1 9 inch pie crust (either store bought or  your own favorite recipe
1 cup potato, boiled and diced (I did not remove the skin)
1 cup cooked ham, diced
2 t vegetable oil
5 medium size eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half (**I used regular milk because I didn't have half-and-half)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder (**I omitted because I didn't have it)
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/4 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Prepare your pie dough and place in pie pan.  Pierce the sides and bottom of crust with a fork.
Bake the crust for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven, set aside and lower the temperature of the oven to 350.
In a skillet, cook the potato and ham in the vegetable oil for about 10 minutes.

Spoon the potato mixture into the pie crust.

In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, half-and-half (or milk) and the seasonings.  Pour over the potato mixture in the pie crust.

Sprinkle the top of the pie with the cheese.
Bake uncovered for about 45 to 50 minutes.
Serve warm.


Entire Recipe:

Ham, Potato and Cheddar Quiche by The Farmer's Wife Cooks

Ingredients:

1 9 inch pie crust (either store bought or  your own favorite recipe
1 cup potato, boiled and diced (I did not remove the skin)
1 cup cooked ham, diced
2 t vegetable oil
5 medium size eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half (**I used regular milk because I didn't have half-and-half)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder (**I omitted because I didn't have it)
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/4 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Prepare your pie dough and place in pie pan.  Pierce the sides and bottom of crust with a fork.
Bake the crust for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven, set aside and lower the temperature of the oven to 350.
In a skillet, cook the potato and ham in the vegetable oil for about 10 minutes.
Spoon the potato mixture into the pie crust.
In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, half-and-half (or milk) and the seasonings.  Pour over the potato mixture in the pie crust.
Sprinkle the top of the pie with the cheese.
Bake uncovered for about 45 to 50 minutes.
Serve warm.

Enjoy!!

Comments:

My two resident experts loved it!!  Personally, I thought it was OK, sort of bland - maybe I did need the onion powder!  But, both of them went back for seconds, so it looks like this one is a keeper!