Float Your Climb

Made this tonight and it was good. Not eat-it-everyday good but a nice reliable supper option. Would have gone good with some fresh bread but was fine on its own.

CREAMY TORTELLINI SOUP

Another good recipe. I halved it and it still make two decent sized loaves, good for bread boules or just eating plan like I did. The right balance of salt and crunch. Plus no kneed! One bowl. What's not to love?

Crusty Artisan Bread

Servings: 3 loaves
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Total Time: 40 Minutes, plus 2 hours and 40 minutes to rise
Ingredients

845 g (6.5 cups) all-purpose flour, sifted (no extra gluten used in this one)
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1-1/2 tablespoons instant/rapid-rise yeast (see note)
710 ml (3 cups) lukewarm water (no need to be exact but lukewarm is about 40°C/100°F)
Cornmeal, for dusting the pan
(I cheated and snuck in about 1/2 tsp honey into the water/yeast mixture to feed it, see note at bottom)

Instructions

In a very large (I mean large, 6-liter) bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast. Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is uniformly moist, without any patches of flour. The dough should be sticky and conform to the shape of the bowl. If your dough is too dry, add a few tablespoons more warm water. If it's too wet, add a few tablespoons of flour. It will be shaggy and not very doughy-looking. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter in a warm spot for 2 hours. If you plan to bake a loaf immediately, proceed to the next step. Otherwise, place the bowl of dough in the refrigerator to be used over the next 14 days. (Once refrigerated, the dough will shrink back a bit; that's okay. Do not punch down the dough at any point, and keep it loosely covered with plastic wrap.)

Dust a sturdy baking sheet/silpat with cornmeal.

Dust the surface of the dough and your hands lightly with flour. Pull out one-third of the dough and coat the outside lightly with flour (you don't want to incorporate more flour into the dough, you just want to be able to handle it). Gently work the dough into a smooth ball, stretching the surface and tucking the ends underneath, adding more flour as needed so it doesn't stick to your hands. (Don't overwork the dough; this process should only take about 30 seconds.) Put the dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered, for about 40 minutes. (If the dough has been refrigerated, allow it to rise for 60 minutes, or up to 90 minutes if you want a more open and airy crumb structure.) The dough will rise a bit. It may also spread/flatten a bit; that's okay.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Set one rack in the lowest position of the oven and one rack in the middle position. Place a metal pan (any metal cake pan or broiler pan will work; just don't use glass) on the bottom rack. (You will fill this with water later to create steam in the oven).

Generously dust the dough with flour. Using a sharp knife, make a few 1/2-inch-deep slashes in the dough -- a scallop, cross, or tic tac toe pattern all look nice.

Slide the baking sheet with the dough into the oven, and carefully fill the metal cake pan with one cup of hot tap water. (Try to do this quickly so as not to let heat out of the oven.) Bake until the loaf is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

This bread is best enjoyed fresh on the day it is made. Once sliced, place the loaf cut-side down on a cutting board or plate and leave it uncovered. (If it lasts beyond a day, I suggest slicing and freezing.) -ed: Day two was pretty damn good too but it dried out a bit.

Freezer-Friendly Instructions The dough can be portioned into thirds and frozen in airtight plastic containers for up to 1 month. Defrost the dough in the refrigerator overnight, then shape, rest and bake as usual. The baked loaves can also be frozen whole or sliced: Wrap in a zip-top freezer bag and freeze for up to 1 month. (If you plan to use slices one at a time, place pieces of parchment between them so they don't stick.) To thaw, take the bread out of the freezer and let it come to room temperature on the countertop. Reheat in a 175°C oven until warmed through, about 10 minutes.

Note: Active dry yeast may be used instead of instant/rapid-rise yeast, however, the dough will take longer to rise. To give active dry yeast a boost, you can dissolve it in the lukewarm water and let it sit until frothy, about 10 minutes. After that, add it to the flour and salt, and proceed with the recipe. I'm an active dry yeast type of girl so that's what I used.

Note2: The recipe called for King Arthur flour, which is higher in protein than the Aldi all-purpose flour I stock. If using a flour with a lower protein content, such as Gold Medal, Aldi or store branded, you will likely need to add a few more tablespoons of flour.

Didn't grow up listening to KLOL, but it was on WNCX seasonally. It was funny because my grandmother was a bad alcoholic and my dad always laughed at his (unfortuate) in-laws.

Another recipe. Apparently it's a rather popular dish in Pakistan. Easy to modify the spice levels, I made mine really bland today after the spicy Taco Soup.

Keema Alu
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp (44mL) vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 tsp (8 gr) minced garlic
2 tsp (8 gr) fresh ginger, grated
2 tsp (6 gr) ground cumin
2 tsp (6 gr) ground coriander
1 tsp (3gr) tumeric
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (to taste, I used 1/4 tsp cayenne and 1/2 tsp paprika)
1 lb (0.5kg) ground beef mince
1/2 cup (120 mL) chopped, diced tomatoes
3 Tbsp (40mL) of the canned tomato water/juice
3/4 tsp (3gr) salt
12 oz (.34 kg) potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes
1 cup (25ml) water

Directions:
1. Use a large heavy bottomed pot that is fairly deep. I used my cast iron. Get it heated over medium high and add the oil.
2. When hot, add the diced onion, stirring, until golden brown, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and red pepper. Stir it all up and cook until well mixed but not necessarily cooked.
4. Add the ground beef, tomatoes+juice, and salt. Cook and stir until the meat browns off. It will be greasy. Most of the water will evaporate and it should be fairly dry except for the beef grease, depending on how much fat was in your beef. 76/24 is pretty oily. 94/6 is really dry looking. Should be about 8-10 minutes.
5. Add the water and potatoes. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 15-20 minutes. If you like it a bit wetter, add some tomato sauce. I liked mine a bit wetter.
6. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
7. Serving options: Rice, pita bread, dal, raitia, whatever you've got. Works good with fresh coriander on the top and jalapeno slices.

Trying to make Picklesagain. Will know in a month or so.

Had to interview 3 potential managers today. Two were really good and I think would do well. One was not ready for the job and he showed it comparatively. Unfortunately he is a gay male and so is the uber-manager who will ultimately do the hiring. The uber-manager has so many prejudices and preferences I'm not sure how he's risen so high in the management chain being so discriminatory. If the third candidate gets the job I will have to go to HR. His resume is sub-par and he interviewed really poorly. I don't mind working with men - in fact I prefer it generally - but he was a very weak candidate.

Stupidly hot outside. Will tell the story of the five hour MRI tomorrow. Too tired tonight.

Made my first good fried rice ever this morning/afternoon whatever tf time it was. Not a recipe as much but got it from a video review of another video. Fried rice is always a 'clean out your fridge' type of recipe but the method actually seemed to work for me. Normally what I make turns out crappy and gluey so I just order out and don't bother.

Ingredients:
-Day old rice, whatever you've got left over. I used about 1 cup uncooked that turned into a fairly big pile when I cooked it up. Rice has to be cooked, cooled, and put in the fridge for at least a few hours or it doesn't work right.
-3 eggs
-chillies. Chopped fine. I used a jalapeno and it was too sweet. Wished I had some low spice but high flavor like a cowhorn or maybe even a serrano? There has to be something at the Asian Market but I didn't get there.
-MSG. A spoonful or so.
-Soy sauce. I just poured straight from the bottle, maybe 2-3 tbsp? 30mL? Meh. Whatever.
-Green onions. I love green onions and threw in three, sliced into rings.
-Various veggies. I used bean sprouts but in the past have also used mushrooms, carrots, peas, daikon, as I said, whatever you've got. Just make sure they're diced fine and fairly dry.
-Oil. For the pan. How much? More than you'd think to coat the pan and fry the egg, but you don't want to swim in it either.

Directions:
1. I have a shitty old wok. They're the best. It's cheap. Heat it up over mid-high to almost high. It's going to smoke, Yes. Pour in a high smoke point oil (corn, etc) and wait for the oil to come up to hot. Swirl it around the pan to coat.
2. Crack eggs into a bowl. Swirl oil again and pour eggs into swirling oil so they don't stick. Mine stuck anyway but a good scrape with a wooden spoon kept them relatively non-stick. Keep swirling the pan to move it all around.
3. Throw in the rice. Mine was a blocky clump of cold rice. That's ok. Break it up with the spoon and keep stirring and swirling the pan as much as you can.
4. Throw in a spoon of msg.
5. Put in your hardier veggies first (daikon, carrot, water chestnuts). Let them fry off a bit. Then add softer veg like bean sprouts, peas, mushrooms. Let it all fry off a bit.
6. Green onions get mixed in quick
7. With the soy sauce right behind it. It helps to kinda of drizzle the soy sauce around the edge of the pan for even distribution among the rice grains.

And that's it. Plate it up and serve. Not sure what I was doing wrong for 20 years, but I finally got it right.

Made blueberry buckle this morning and it came out really good. It's almost a breakfasty-cake sort of thing but I'll probably make it again with a few tweaks.

Recipe in American, sorry to the rest of the world.

Cake Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 large egg
3/4 cup whole milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen) *I used frozen, thawed, patted dry then rolled in flour
Additional shortening and flour to prepare the baking pan
*lemon zest and juice wouldn't go amiss, but I didn't have any at the time

Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar *I would use some demerara sugar on top for flavour and colour and crunch
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until blended. Then add the milk and mix again until blended.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the 2 cups flour, baking powder and salt. Fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture slowly until blended. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Grease and flour a 9×9 or 8×10 pan. Spread the blueberry batter evenly into the prepared pan.
5. To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the cake mixture in the pan.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes for an 8×10 pan or 45-50 minutes for an 9×9 pan (until cake tester comes out clean). Other size baking pans may be used – just adjust the cooking time accordingly.
7. Serve warm or cold, plain or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. *Or coffee.


In better news the Black Hyundai is gone. Donated it to the National Kidney Foundation in J's name. Was all great until I had to call them yesterday to set up the pickup with William in the room. "National Kidney Foundation" is a perfectly respectable way to answer a business phone, but it gets bit cringy to donate to the charity of what killed your first love in front of your current husband. William, smartly, didn't say anything. I'm hoping he's forgotten. But anyway, junk car is gone and now I see how badly the driveway needs a pressure wash. Some other day.

Been crappy weather the last few days. Dreary and misty - not even raining just a constant heavy mist. Feels like London. Only slept for a few hours, could use some more. Might take a nap now that it's going on 2300.

Still not much sleep. Got some groceries and did a lot in the garden. Still needs more, but a lot of the hard work is done. All the beds are weeded and the old bricks are pulled up. Just need to get the bricks to the sideyard and out of view. They were looking like hell around the trees after shifting a few years.

Went to Lowes to walk around.

Cooked that tarka dhal finally. Really good.



Still have to take a bath. Covered in yard junk and a shower just isn't going to cut it tonight. Tomorrow I have to be back to mental health, so going to cram whatever coverup work into tonight. Everything just needs to go back in its box and away again.

I don't think I've eaten anything quite so horrible in a long time. It's not horrible as in bananas per say, and it's not cooked poorly or rancid horrible, it's just nasty. Seems to be quite British, and I'd bet my money it's a Steve Howe recipe. If not him, then his lackey Jim. I like all the ingredients which makes it doubly confusing. Granted, it wants you to put extra custard on top when it's done - good luck finding custard in America. So it was a bit naked but it still didn't excuse the soggy, flavourless lump that it ended up being. 10/10 not again.

Apple crumble baked oats (serves 1):

Ingredients:

50g oats
50g yogurt
50g apple (peeled, chopped and cooked)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sweetener (I used brown sugar)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Handful of sultanas
3 tbsp boiling water

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180C/ 350F/ gas mark 4.

Put hot water and oats in a bowl and stir to thicken slightly.

Add all of the other ingredients to it and combine.

Pour mixture into an oven-proof dish and bake for 25 minutes.

Serve with low fat custard or extra yogurt.

While not super exciting, they are a staple and a good way to use up that pint of blueberries from the farmers market.

56g butter
260g unsifted flour
215g white (regular) sugar
2 large eggs
120mL milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pint fresh blueberries, can be a bit more, I like small blueberries here
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar (for top of muffins)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F/190C.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

In a second bowl, combine all dry ingredients. (You can use an electric mixer to combine the dry ingredients thoroughly at this point so that you won't need to overmix once the wet and dry ingredients are combined. But don't sift the flour - I know it's unusual but trust me.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar mixture along with the milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Don't overstir. Like pancakes they will turn to rocks. Just get everything mostly together.

Optionally, mash 1/2 cup of the blueberries, and stir in by hand (this will turn batter a light shade of blue and add a touch of blueberry flavor, but this step may be skipped, if you wish). Add the remaining whole berries and stir in gently by hand.

Line muffin baking tray with paper muffin cups. These babies stick and a spray or oil is not recommended, go with the liners even on silicone. Fill muffin cups.

Sprinkle sugar on top of unbaked muffins. Lemon zest can also be added if desired.

Bake at 375F/190C for 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan. They do get a bit soggy with the moisture from the blueberries, but typically they're gone before it becomes a problem.