Ben's Eggnog

This is for Ben, our resident eggnog-lover. Unfortunately for him, I refuse to buy eggnog because it's triple (or more) the price of milk! Fortunately for him, I found a recipe and make it myself. Here it is:

Homemade Eggnog
5 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cups sugar
5 cups milk
shake or two of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

In a saucepan, combine eggs, sugar, milk, salt. Cook on medium heat (stirring almost constantly) for 10-15 minutes, or until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. Do not boil. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and chill pan in a pan of ice water to help cool it quickly. Pour through a strainer into your storage container. Chill in fridge. If you like "fancy" eggnog feel free to add whipped cream and nutmeg when serving.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Olivia is a sausage ADDICT. She thinks she needs it every single morning, even with cereal. (She does NOT get it every day, but she wants it.) And 1 yr old Logan is following in her footsteps. I happened across a recipe for homemade breakfast sausage and thought I'd give it a try. It's super easy - mix a few spices with ground pork, and there you have it. It's cheaper than regular sausage (The ground pork was $1.79/lb not on sale, (though I'll be watching for sales from now on!), throw in a dime or two for the spices.) and healthier too. Purchased sausage has MSG, corn syrup, preservatives, nitrites, etc., not to mention whatever "by products" they use. By making it myself I can control what's in it. (Next time I'm going to lower the fat content by mixing in half ground turkey breast.) And yes, there WILL be a next time. It's so easy that I plan to make a bunch and keep it in the freezer. And best of all, it's delicious!

Homemade Breakfast Sausage (from allrecipes.com)

2 tsp ground sage
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground marjoram
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 pinch ground cloves
2 lbs ground pork

Mix spices together. Mix in the ground pork. Form into patties and cook in skillet over medium high heat abt. 5 minutes per side.

I froze the extra patties uncooked, although I think next time I may cook them and then freeze them. (Then I can pull out one just for Olivia and microwave just til hot.) I will also freeze some one l lb chubs for when I make breakfast burritoes or biscuits & sausage gravy.

I plan to make my future batches with half ground turkey. I may cut the salt, and may try using real maple syrup instead of the brown sugar. I might also try putting fennel seed in. So easy to customize when you make it yourself!

Mad Scientist Girls

My kids are NOT afraid to experiment in the kitchen. I think that's a good thing...right? Yesterday 9 yr old Natalie and her friend Cate wanted to invent a snack. (With NO help, mom!) They seemed to have a s'more theme going on. They melted chocolate chips (in the microwave), and spread the chocolate on graham crackers and topped with colored sprinkles. Then they spread the remaining chocolate on marshmallows and sprinkled crushed graham crackers and colored sprinkles over those. They refrigerated them for a while and we had them after dinner. Pretty tasty!

Today their s'more baking theme continues. I came downstairs this afternoon to find them stirring another bowl of melted chocolate chips, and a container of melted marshmallow goo. They stirred them together and informed me that they wanted me to make a batch of muffins, and they were going to put a dollop of yummy goo inside of each muffin. After thinking for a minute, I suggested we whip up a quick batch of cookie dough, and stir the goo into the dough to make s'more cookies. They agreed, so I helped them make the dough and in no time they were ready to stir in their chocolatey marshmallowey goodness. Voila, YUMMY s'more cookie dough! The resulting cookies were rather flat, (they probably needed to be refrigerated before baking), but flat or not, they were delicious! Good job, Mad Scientist Girls!

They say that when they grow up, they're going to own a bakery together. I'll be the first in line!
Now Olivia (5) keeps telling me "Mommy *I* want to invent something, too!"  Maybe tomorrow she & I will have to invent something yummy in the kitchen, too.

Yummy Strawberry Jam!

Strawberry freezer jam is the BEST!!!!! I vowed a few years ago to never buy store-bought jam again. That stuff is awful. It is NOTHING in comparison to real homemade jam. And of all of them, strawberry freezer jam is the BEST!

To make a batch of jam, about 7 cups worth, you need about 2 lbs of strawberries, a box of MCP pectin, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, a cup of corn syrup, and 4 cups of sugar. Follow the directions in the box of pectin for quick freezer jam (uncooked.) Basically you clean and mash the berries, stir in the lemon juice & pectin, let sit for half an hour (stirring occasionally), then stir in the corn syrup and sugar. Put it into freezer containers (I use gladware containers) and there you have it. About as easy as it can be, and once you taste it you will NEVER be able to choke down Smucker's again.

Memo to self: MCP pectin and Sure-Jell pectin boxes look identical and cost the same. However, Sure-Jell requires about twice as much sugar per the same amount of fruit. Make sure to get the MCP. (I accidentally got a bunch of Sure-Jell last year when couponing, and am donating it all.)

I didn't take a picture of my jam before I stashed it in the freezer, so here's a picture I stole off the internet. You can almost taste the yumminess through the screen!

Our Daily Bread

I started making all our bread around December, 2007. Since then, I've bought bread exactly *once*. The rest of the time, I've made it. Yes, even when it was 105 degrees outside. Even when I was 9 months pregnant. Even with a newborn. Why? It's MUCH healthier, cheaper, and a batch takes, oh, maybe 10 minutes (of hands-on time). Honestly, it takes longer than that to go to the bread store. A 3-loaf batch usually lasts us 5 or 6 days, and costs far less than $1 (for 3 loaves). Plus there's something really satisfying about making your own bread. (Not to mention the yummy smell & taste of freshly baked bread!) I make 100% whole grain bread - freshly ground whole wheat (I use hard white wheat which I get from the LDS cannery - white wheat has a milder taste than red wheat), oats, and ground flax meal. Lately I've been experimenting with adding other whole grains, like millet and triticale. I use fresh local raw honey, sea salt, olive oil, water, yeast, & wheat gluten. No high fructose corn syrup. No partially hydrogenated oils. No unpronounceable ingredients. And it is G-O-O-D!!

100% Whole Grain Bread:
3 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
4 teaspoons yeast (I use bulk from Winco)
5 cups whole wheat flour

~Mix this together in my Kitchenaid, cover, and let sit for about 20-30 minutes, until double or so in bulk. This is the "sponge" and it helps to soften the bran so the whole wheat bread is light and fluffy.

Then add:
another 1/3 cup honey (lately I've often been replacing this with 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce)
1 Tbsp salt
4 Tbsp wheat gluten (really helps whole wheat bread become light and fluffy / -bulk from Winco)
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 more cups whole wheat flour (or a little more/little less - adjust til it's the right consistency) / (For this, I actually use 1 C old fashioned oats (bulk from Winco), 1/3 cup ground flax (bulk from Winco), and the rest whole wheat flour - enough til it's the right consistency)

Mix on speed 2 on the Kitchenaid for about 10 minutes. You want the dough to be slightly sticky. Cover with a towel and let sit til doubled in bulk. Divide into 3 pieces, make loaf shapes out of them, and put them in large bread pans sprayed with Pam. Cover with the towel and let sit til double. (Or about 2" over the tops of the pans). Cook in 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Take out and bang pans on sides til the bread falls out. Put on rack or breadboard to cool. Once cool, put in bags. I put 2 bags in the freezer, and we use the 3rd. It's easiest to cut them the next day (or after thawing the frozen ones). Use a long serrated knife. I get 16 slices from each loaf.

Yes, it *sounds* like a lot of work, but as I said this is like 10 minutes of hands-on, and the rest is letting it mix or rise or bake. If you're home for a few hours anyways, it's honestly no big deal. Give it a try!

I use a Nutrimill Grain Mill and a Kitchenaid Professional 600 mixer. Both of them should pretty much last me for life, but if the Kitchenaid dies, I will replace it with a Bosch, which can handle a bigger batch.