Our girls cook for us

The girls get cooking!

Well, our girls are trying to cook a meal at least once a week for us.  Last August they went all out and did a wonderful evening meal for us.  I was picking saskatoons and Gregg had been at work, so the girls did this all together! We were so happy, thrilled, proud...you name it! It truly felt like we had gone out for supper.  So relaxed and so yummy ~ I didn't have to use my compliments wisely.  It was yum yum in the tum.

Our greeting

One of our lovely waitresses/cooks

Gregg added a slice of rye toast to his, just to be difficult  ha ha

A beautifully set table set the mood

Taking his order

Frying the Gnocchi

 

What is under the lid?

Lookin good

Fresh strawberry water with a minty ice cube

Meatloaf, fresh snap peas and gnocchi

We got to eat with the not-hired help girl...what a cutie!

Finally the cook got to enjoy the fruits of her labors

Head cook was last to eat

Gnocchi (recipe to follow)

We are trying to add more beauty to our home and life..
tasty old fashioned oat cookies

Giggles came with the ice cream

Made my heart shaped cookies into an ice cream sandwich with saskatoons

Wonderful cookbook with out of the ordinary teenage cuisine.  Highly recommend looking in your library for it and give some of the recipes a whirl.

Herb Gnocchi Recipe

Gnocchi (with sage and lemon sauce)

1 3/4 lbs baking potatoes (russet, yukon gold)

2 egg yolks

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

1 tbsp finely diced parsley or sage

1 tbsp snipped chives

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Scrub spuds and pierce with fork.  Bake 1 hour or till soft.

2. Scoop out potato insides and mash until smooth.  Add egg yolks, flour, salt, and herbs.  Knead briefly into a ball of elastic dough.  Divide into 4 logs.  Cover with a cloth.

3. Put one log on a board and roll into until it is about as thick as your thumb.  Cut into 1 inch pieces.  Press each lightly with a fork (our girls liked them better without this step).  Store side by side on a cloth.  Repeat.

4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook gnocchi in batches very gently for 10 minutes.  When they swell a bit, remove with a slotted spoon.

5. To make sauce, melt the butter in a small pan, then add the lemon juice, herbs, and salt.  Pour over the gnocchi.  Or top with tomato sauce or a creamy sauce.  Sprinkle with parmesan.

A little involved at first, but so much cheaper than in the store!  One batch feed our family of 5, but they were not huge servings.  We were satisfied, but loved them so much, we wanted to keep eating.  Girls made no sauce, just used salt and pepper.

Amazon Cookbook Link

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If I can't figure out the Amazon Link...it is on my Amazon Favorites list on the Right Hand Side of my Blog.  You can click on it :)  Thanks!

Homemade Cabbage Sauerkraut Recipe

 Start with a nice home grown organic cabbage...remove outer leaves and rinse off any dirt.  Try not to get too much water into the inside of your cabbage.

Boiling water used to disinfect your crock.

Just like with canning, etc, always disinfect your pots/jars/crocks.

Use Kosher Salt...not your regular salt, your cabbage will get soggy!

We borrowed a nice cabbage slicer from a neighbor and Mom got to show off her muscles!  Do not cut off any digits ~ you'll need those!

The slicer 

Shredded cabbage

Adding Kosher salt

 The idea is to layer shredded cabbage and salt...pound away as you do this.

Pounding the cabbage

Notice the liquid coming up ~ that's from the cabbage

 What worked well for us was my Mom shredding the cabbage while I pounded it.  Jiggly arms and all...great fun!

Place a plate over the cabbage

Plastic wrap/bag over the top

Add something heavy to weigh down the plate.

The cabbage will rinse and fall and sometimes it may spill over!  This is ok.  Don't put your crock in a warm spot...furthest from the heat source is good.  Remove the weight for awhile if it is spilling over.

Mom says my Grandma's sauerkraut was always better because she had a wood stove for heat.  Now we do too, and Mom says this sauerkraut tastes like Grandmas!

Sauerkraut Day 15

We ate some the other day on Day 15.  It was wonderful.  We will can it up in the next few days when our schedule allows.  SO YUMMY!

Update ~ we did leave this for 3 weeks and then put it into clean glass jars and froze it.  We ran out of time, or we could have also canned it.  Now we just open a jar, thaw it and use it on pork, etc.

Shared on Frugally Sustainable 

Peanut Pepper Stir Fry

Sometimes a little kitchen experiment pays off well!  I was looking through the cupboard and fridge, doing the ole' "what to make for supper" routine.  I didn't want to use meat.  So, well maybe some beans.  I didn't have any cooked and frozen, so ended up with a can of "mixed beans".  

We had lots of peppers from Ashcroft, so it would be nice to use those...and the purple onions too.  HUMM ... Maybe I could mix them all together in a sort of stirfry.

I started making my brown rice (as it takes awhile to cook).

Then the girls chopped up peppers.  I simply sauteed the purple onion, peppers and added the rinsed beans.  

Now, I remember in Indian cooking they put peanuts/peanut butter in some of their dishes.

SO, I stirred up some water, beef soup base, cornstarch and a few tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!

The girls asked me to please make this again.  They practically licked their plates.

Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe

Cottage Cheese

1 gallon 2% or Homo. milk

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tsp. salt

Heat milk to 190F

Turn off, remove from heat and add vinegar.

You will see curds forming.

Allow to cool.

Drain in colander.

Pour curds into a bowl, salt and mix and enjoy!

OR

Pour curds into a cheesecloth to allow it to drain/drip so you'll have a dry cottage cheese.

OR 

If you want a creamier cheese, add 1 tbsp cream to it and stir and add fruits, etc.

Here's the final product.  I got 3 store-bought yogurt containers full.

I'll add the final picture as soon as it is done...it's sitting and waiting very patiently for me.  I want to freeze the dry cottage cheese for perogies or lasagna later.

UPDATE ~ this freezes SO well.  I use dry cottage cheese in recipes.  My hubby added a little cream to it and ate it with fruit.  If he adds something juicy like pineapple, he just eats it.  Personally, I am not a fan of the texture of any cottage cheese and am a little too lactose intolerant to force myself to eat it plain.  Hope that helps!