Venison Bourguignon

Oh hey, here's another extremely time-consuming recipe.  I don't know why these always attract me.  Maybe because the end result is a true culinary wonder.

I followed Rachel's recipe, so I'm not going to repost the entire thing, just the photographic highlights :)

My parents provided a wonderful venison roast for this recipe, so of course I invited them to partake in the the spoils.  So start by cutting the roast into stew-sized pieces and coat them a quarter cup of flour and a sprinkling of salt.

Once coated, put that on the stove and start browning.  In the meantime, cut up some celery, onion, garlic and carrots and start cooking them in a large stewpot.

 

When the meat is browned, add it to the veggies along with around 3 cups of red wine (traditionally a burgundy is used to make beef burgundy).  This is just enough to cover the meat and leave a cup or so to drink while you cook everything.

 By now the smells have permeated the entire house, but you don't get to eat this delicious meal for another three days!  I started this on Thursday night for a Sunday noon meal.

Create a bouquet garni of rosemary, basil, thyme and two bay leaves.  A coffee filter makes this easy to pick out when you're ready to serve the meal.  Add this to the pot and simmer for three hours, stirring occasionally.

 

Simmer simmer simmer!

And then take it off the heat and let it sit for three days (no refrigeration necessary).  The day you wish to serve it, add a package of mushrooms and then simmer for three hours before serving.

 Enjoy with family, and a glass of nice red wine.

 

This is a good dish to serve over potatoes, or if you want to keep it Paleo, use almond flour in step 1 and serve it by itself! 

Orange Custard Pudding

So one day, Kyle came home with a large bag of oranges from the Nearly Dead cart at Meijer.  Neither of us are big orange eaters, so I searched high and low for tasty orange recipes.  Orange custard pudding was the winner, and conveniently it also took care of all the egg yolks leftover from making macaroons.

Here's the thing about making cheese.  You're basically stuck in the kitchen for a few hours but not really doing that much.  So while I was making cheese, I was also making...several other things.  Because what's the fun of being in the kitchen unless you can have everything go wrong at once?

Orange custard pudding, cheddar cheese, macaroons and almond milk...It was a busy day!

Ingredients:

½ cup of sugar.
¼ cup of cornstarch.
Pinch of salt.
1 ½ cups of orange juice.
3 medium egg yolks, beaten.
1 cup of plain yoghurt.
2 tablespoons of margarine.
2 teaspoons of orange peel, finely shredded.
2 cups of fresh orange segments.

Directions:

Combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt; then stir in the orange juice.
Cook and stir until bubbly.
Gradually stir 1 cup of the mixture into the yolks.
Return to the pan and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the yoghurt, margarine and shredded orange peel.
Cover and chill.
Stir in the orange segments before serving.

So here's the thing about oranges:  they don't have much juice in them.  They must use a different variety of oranges to make juice.  Three oranges yielded 3/4 a cup of juice.  Not great.

Everything in the kitchen was so perfectly timed so that when the pot of cornstarch, sugar and juice started bubbling, the macaroons timer went off, and then the cheese was ready to be drained.

The good news was that I had all the rest of the ingredients waiting in the measuring cup so the custard was disaster-proofed :)

The custard turned out great.  I brought it to my parents house as a dessert/side, and mom had also made a wonderful pear crisp, so we combined them for dessert!  So fancy and fantastic.

Side note: since I zested all the oranges before I juiced them, I ended up with a small container of orange zest and put it in the freezer.  That worked out great for a recipe I used later!  Frozen zest is nearly as good as fresh and definitely better than dried.

American Macaroons

So, since French macarons are apparently beyond my abilities, I decided to downgrade to the American version.  Gluten-free and paleo-friendly!  And perfect for fondue with friends :)

Macaroons:

• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar (preferably organic or turbinado)
• 1 bag (8 oz) shredded coconut

Beat the egg whites until stiff, slowly add sugar while beating.  Add coconut.  Drop onto parchment papered cookie sheet and bake at 350* for 15 to 20 minutes.

Since we don't have an egg beater, we had to improvise...and this is how engineers improvise:

 

 I think that maybe we overbaked them because they don't look as fluffy and white as most of the other internet recipes say they do.  In fact, this might be another kitchen disaster.  If you're really looking to make some macaroons, I'm going to advise you to find some other blog.  Just use this one as a warning :)

 

But they tasted delicious and went really well with the chocolate fondue!  As did the strawberries and bananas, not to mention the really great friends!

Paleo Shamrock Shakes

So you want a Shamrock Shake, but what McDonald's has to offer is...unappealing.  Would you prefer something with fewer calories?  Something dairy-free?  Something tasty and, dare I say, healthy?  Look no further, friend.

I have not eaten McDonald's food in over six years, but last March, Kyle and I went on a Shamrock Mission.  Mission NOT accomplished.  Apparently all the McDonald's in Hampton Roads didn't feel the need to provide people with the best treat of the year (or at least none of the ones we made it to).

It's time to take matters into my own hands!  And I am so proud of my creation that I'm making it my namesake.  My four-leaf clover of recipes.  Something to make up for all those kitchen disasters. 

Darcy's Shamrock Shakes

• One banana
• 1/2 cup of peaches (I used home-canned stuff from this summer)
• 3 or 4 almond milk ice cubes
• A generous handful of spinach
• 1/4 cup of mint leaves

Everything goes in the blender!   Blend until smooth, garnish with mint leaves.  Makes two very filling smoothies, and you can choose whether to tell people how healthy they are.  The spinach and peaches don't add much flavor, if at all.  The almond milk really calms the banana and sweetens the shake.  The mint prevails to make a very tasty shake!

On a different note, I signed up for the chili cook-off at work.  I've never put my cooking to the test like this before, and I've heard that two of the judges are quite picky.  I do have a secret chili recipe, but since it's been so long since I've cooked with beef, I might have to make some adjustments.  So stay tuned!  Trophies are at stake!

Thundersnow 2012

I have never been a big fan of winter.  But there are some times that you can't help but just love it.  A great winter storm, some great trekking around in the snow, enjoying the beauty of the it all.

The wonderful slow horror of watching your vehicle disappear beneath a snowdrift...and shoveling it out the next morning.

 

 What better way to spend the day than to brave the trip over to Mom and Dad's to take care of their dog?

 

And finding Dad's snowshoes made it a lot easier to keep up with Zeppy.

Some of us slower folk had to entertain ourselves by just taking photos of the awesome snow-covered trees.

 

It was so much fun!  And gorgeous.  The perfect winter day.

 

Winter!  And Zeppy and snowshoeing and fun with the camera!

February Goal Round-Up

February goal round-up:

• Kick this strep. Ha! Done. Actually, I had some lingering laryngitis for a while, but that’s long gone too.
• Budget. Uh…I’m not going to lie, it’s really hard for me to get this done because I’m still not entirely sold on the conjecture that I NEED a budget.
• Plant things. I planted SO MANY things. Some of them are even growing! I planted the majority on Feb 25, though, so not much has happened yet.
• Transplant things. Didn’t happen
• Reintroduce carbs into my diet. Fail. I guess I’m going to keep up the Paleo until Lent is over. I don’t really know why.
• Read a book. A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway, and part of The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.  Both quite interesting, in completely different ways.
• Plan a trip. I thought about it enough that if I really need to escape, I know exactly where I’m going. But I didn’t get down to the nitty gritty, nor did I look at dates.  All these Spring Breakers aren't helping the situation.
• Side projects. So I did finish my paint chip clock, but I didn’t get anything else done. Put it on Saturday’s list, I guess.
• Whittle my middle! Consider me whittled, friends. And since this only takes about five minutes right before my regular workout, I think I’m going to continue it. My moment of triumph was when Kyle joined me for the whittling, and I out-planked him!

Successes and failures. I aimed high, and I’m happy with what I accomplished. I did a lot of other things this month, like make cheese, have people over for lunch/dinner, host Kyle’s family for part of a weekend, go up to “the city” a couple times, and up my workout to level two.

So what will March bring?

• One TED Talk per week. I spend enough time on non-edifying internet sites, surely I can devote 20 minutes a week to something that will make me a more informed, educated person. Would you like me to report back on what I’ve learned?
• Greek-style meatballs. On a whim, we bought a fennel bulb, which I’ve never cooked with before. I went on a recipe hunt, and I’ve been salivating over this recipe for days but haven’t had time to make it. Before the weekend is over, expect these meatballs to be in my tummy.
• Budget. It’s really going to happen this month, I promise.
• Finish The Omnivore’s Dilemma
• Red Wings game?
• Make magnets. Do mending. Seriously, this stuff just needs to get done.
• Buy a car.  I've been putting it off for nearly a year.  It's time to make this one happen.

Homemade Cheddar: Ricotta and Whey

If you're here to find out how to make cheddar, take a look at the previous post.  This post is about the byproduct (whey) and how to maximize its potential.

Ricotta, I have learned, means "re-cooked."  This is an extremely apt description.

After you have separated the curds from the whey when making cheese, put the whey back into a pot on the stove.  I didn't actually take a picture of the whey, but you can see it sitting in the bowl below - kind of a dishwater color.  Appetizing.

You should probably use the double boiler method here.  I was lazy.  I put the pot right on the stove.  Heat the whey up to 200*F.  As you can see, the why turns milky again - the ricotta has started to curd up.

 After attaining 200*, drain the whey off the ricotta.  I highly recommend using cheesecloth here, because the ricotta curds are so small that they'll drain right through a colander.

So obviously this is MUCH easier than making cheddar, but with much less yield.  I believe we got about 1/2 a cup of ricotta out of the whey.

Alright, so you've pushed this whey to give you as much cheese as you can.  But don't throw it away just yet - it is still healthy and useful.  It is full of protein!

Some great uses include putting it in soup stock, putting it in smoothies, using it to make bread or oatmeal, cooking rice in it, watering your plants with it, etc.  You can put it in virtually any recipe that calls for water.  I haven't drank straight whey, so I can't speak to the taste of it, but I haven't noticed the flavor in anything that I've put it in.  I don't think I care to try drinking it straight :)