A PAWful Experience

I found this recipe on the internet. The title was "Pueblo Indian Bear Paw Bread". I had never made bread before, and this sounded pretty cool. I spent 60 dollars (that I didn't have) at H.E.B for all the ingredients (such as 10 cups of flour) and supplies that the kitchen didn't have.

The first time I attempted this recipe I killed the yeast. Three hours in, when the dough didn't rise, I realized I made a mistake. Penny was kind enough to explain that "warm" water didn't mean boiling water, and the yeast probably hadn't made it.

I tried again the next day, being sure to provide the yeast with adequate living conditions. All went well until I got to the forming of the "bear paws".

There was no picture on the internet, just a lengthy description of how to fold the dough into a "bear paw". My result was something more like a club foot. It was after I had dominated the dough and forced into a paw like shape that I realized I had neither pie plates nor cookie sheets to bake the bread on, as called for in the recipe. I was able to remove the plastic handles from two sauce pans which I hoped to heaven were oven proof (they were!).

The end results was mediocre. The dough had risen, and made a hollow sound when tapped, which the recipe said was good, but didn't explain why...It tasted ok, but was rather bland and disappointing after 2 tries and 5 hours of work. I think next time I'll just make cookies.

making gumbo makes my tummy grumblyyy

there's a lot of chopping and preparing in gumbo making. I always knew there were a lot of vegetables, meats, and spices in gumbo to make it tasty, but I didn't expect to spend almost 5 hours making it.

I don't have the recipe with me at the moment, but I will tell you what I remember from this experience.

First I went to the grocers and bought all the ingredients I needed, which included- a whole roast chicken, andouille sausage, green peppers, red peppers, celery, onion, chives, garlic, ocra, canned tomatoes, and a bunch of spices.

After my shopping experience I gathered all the knives, chopping boards, and containers I could find and began chopping like crazy. Okay, that's a lie, I first watched an episode of Criminal Minds, and then I began to rip/ chop the chicken to bit sized pieces for the gumbo. After that I chopped the sausage into inch rounds. It looked pretty good, so I actually got out a skillet, fried some, and tried it. It was spicy. good.

Then came the veggies. There was so much to do for them. I first washed all the celery and took them apart from their stems and took off some of the stringy stuff. Then I diced them. Then came the bell peppers, which I washed, halved, and cleaned the inside. Then I diced them. Onions were a bit difficult to dice, as I needed so many, and they made me cry. But I dealt with it for you guys. <3

so I chopped up the other vegetables without any care as I was kind of tired from chopping then. Then I washed my hands and measured out the spices. I was a bit worried about this part as I know even the littlest spice can alter the flavor. However I did the best that I could.

The end result, from Katherine's taste test as it was spicy, but not spicy enough and didn't really have a Cajun kick. However it was filling and was good so I guess, I still have a lot to work on.

From the chopped vegetables, and spices, I combined them in a big pot with some flour to make roux. After cooking that for awhile I began to add the large cans of tomatoes.

That is were I hit some problems.

The pot was too small.

So I poured everything from that pot into the biggest pot I could find.

And I poured the rest of the tomatoes in and let them cook for some more.

I stirred.

and stirred.

oh, what is this black stuff?

OH NOES, THE POT IS STICKING!

so I quickly transferred the ingredients from the large pot into two smaller non stick pots and continued to cook from there.

it was tons of fun, moving boiling hot, red soupy masses around by my onesome.

It ended up being alright(no smokey, burnt flavor!), so I added the meats into the gumbo. After stirring for a bit, I just let the gumbo sit and simmer for approximately an hour, occasionally checking it and stirring the great vat of it around.

In the end, it turned out to be quite delicious and I saved some of it for my parents, who in turn asked for more to give to their friends, until I was left with one small pot of it for our FYS. which went to a good cause- feeding a hungry girl who was pulling an all-nighter. Love you Katherine.

Despite it being a big mess and a lot of work, I think I will make gumbo again. It was homey tasting and made a lot of bellies full.

yeah, I eat everything with rice.

if I could have only one food...

I would want an INFINITE AMOUNT OF RICE!

For my comfort food, I decided to share rice with my FYS. However I usually eat white steamed rice at home which can seem kind of plain, so instead of white rice, I prepared fried rice.

This is a dish I usually make with my mom. We would rummage through our fridge to find whatever leftover meats and raw vegetables. Taking everything in a hot wok, we would cook it and throw it around. After everything was almost cooked through, it would be taken off the heat, hot oil would be poured into the wok with rice and then some soy sauce and sugar(only a little!) Once the rice was all hot and separated, a little well would be made in the center of the rice and I would crack an egg into it as my mom handled the wok. The egg would get scrambled and cooked, and all the ingredients were then altogether mixed in the wok with some diced scallions for a final flick of the wrist.

When I made fried rice for our FYS, I didn't have any leftover rice so I used freshly steamed white rice instead, which worked perfectly fine. The only thing I had to watch about that is to use less water when steaming the rice to reduce the moisture of the cooked rice. The vegetables that went into the rice were diced onions, corn, and scallions. I was a bit hesitant to use corn as first, as we had just finished reading section 1 of the Omnivore's Dilemma, but then decided to go for it as I couldn't really find another vegetable that paired well with the chicken breast in the rice. The chicken breast in the rice was marinated beforehand with a bit of soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and flour. All these ingredients were diced, stir-fried, and incorporated into the fried rice for a simple dish.

Love You Mommy

Being a single working mother didn't exactly leave my mom with much time to show Betty Crocker up in the kitchen. The pantry was stacked with prepackaged meals, and my siblings and I would often be passed around from neighbor to neighbor when my mom had to work late. Looking back I don't remember many home cooked meals, but I do remember my mom at every single one of my soccer games, ballet recitals, school plays, and mother daughter events. How she managed to be so involved in her children's lives while at the same time working the snot filled hours of a Kindergarden teacher, I have no idea, but her hard work did pay off in the end and when I became a senior in high school she was able to stop working and spend my last year at home with me.

Although she had plenty of time to cook now, my schedule didn't allow me time to eat. I was never home for dinner during the week due to basketball, team dinners, numerous church events, and eating out with friends. The weekends followed a similar pattern and I would be lucky to every now and then find leftovers in the fridge. Once again though my mom went above and beyond and decided that if she was not able to cook for me at home, she would bake for me on the go. Our kitchen soon became filled with cookies and brownies and other delicious pastries. She would randomly show up at school around lunch and drop of gobs of sweets for me and my friends. Life was good….

Every away game in basketball someones mom would put together goody bags for the all the players. When it was my moms turn I was so stoked! That was until she forgot to make them and we ended up not having goody bags that game. Even though it wasn't that big of a deal, my mom felt horrible, and the next day during lunch she showed up in the locker room with a bunt cake I had never seen before and a gallon of ice cream. Seeing how our basketball team was never going to actually win a game, we might as well sit around getting spoiled with cake right? And spoiled we were… that thing was delicious! She ended up making three that week just to satisfy me and my teammates. Whenever I had company over you could find a freshly, sugar powder covered, chocolate bunt cake on a platter in the kitchen. I defiantly owe about 10 pounds of my body weight to that thing.

Every time I eat that cake, memories of my mom and senior year come to mind. In a way, the chocolate chip bunt cake serves as a reminder that although my childhood was different then many, my mom was as great if not greater than any other mom, and always loved me with her entire heart. Choosing to make this cake was a simple decision for me, but it was not my first time to try and recreate my mom's "masterpiece". Although the one I made today might be a little a dry and not even in the same category as mi madres, at least this time I remembered to mix the cake mix in with the other ingredients before attempting to cook it. Note to self: pudding mixes, water, eggs, oil, and chocolate chips mixed together and put in the oven for an hour is a hazard.

Easy as Pie

I have been baking with my grandma for as long as I can remember. She teaches me the recipes that were passed down to her by her mother, including lemon meringue pie, spritz cookies, scotcharoos, and my favorite, apple pie. Since she first taught me to bake an apple pie a few years ago, I have been making it for my family for holidays and and get-togethers. I have even changed the recipe a little to make it my own.

The filling of the pie is easy, but tedious. It calls for 6-8 cups of apples, which must be cored, peeled, and thinly sliced, then set to absorb sugar and cinnamon. My grandma also gave me the family recipe for the home made crust, and insists that a pre-made crust would be "sacrilegious". My mom and sister have been unsuccessful in their attempts at my grandma's apple pie, so I feel like it is something that I can share with my grandma. I like having something that only we can do.

I was worried about making the pie in the Mabee kitchen. The climate here is very different from California, and the oven is here is evil. I sat in the kitchen the whole 50 minutes it took the pie to bake because I was scared it would burn, or combust, or explode. I was relatively happy with the result. The filling was mushier than usual, but the crust was flakier, and not as dry as I have found it to be at home. I bought vanilla Bluebell ice cream from the cove to serve with it, and served it to the neighboring FYS, who fought over it bite for bite. I think it was a success.

My ultimate comfort food is tuna noodle casserole. It has been a favorite of my mom's and mine for as long as I can remember. She makes it for dinner sometimes and we eat it warm, then we finish the cold leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

My mom never actually wrote down a recipe for it because she usually uses what she has around the kitchen and doesn't measure anything out, as she does for many things she makes. Most tuna and noodle recipes also involve baking time in the oven, but we eliminated that step throughout the years because we were ready to eat as soon as the stovetop heating was done.

Here is the basic recipe for my mom's tuna and noodles:

Add cream of mushroom soup and milk to cooked egg noodles on stovetop. Stir in onion, cheddar cheese, tuna, and peas. Turn heat to low and add curry, thyme, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. As soon as everything is heated through, it is ready to eat.

I made this as a late night snack, and shared it with members of my FYS. Only after finishing his serving did one of the guys tell me mushrooms make him sick, though. So although he enjoyed the treat, he was regretting his choice later, and I felt bad. Sorry Ross!

Delicious On The Whole

I was a tad skeptical about how much I would enjoy my trip to Whole Foods. I thought that all I would see was expensive food and stuck up employees. Man was I surprised!! Don't get me wrong, the food was still fairly expensive, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The employees though, those guys were awesome. They all really knew what they were talking about and were super friendly about sharing that info. (as well as some of their food)

While some of the group went throughout the store looking for stuff on the shelves, Luc, Ross, and I all took the easy way out and went back to the BBQ bar for some lunch. I got the pulled pork and mac and cheese (as both of my sides) haha. I got a mug of root beer too; draft, straight out of a keg into a frosty mug. It was all fantastic! I don't think I've ever had BBQ or root beer that good! The mac and cheese could have been a little better though. But all in all, it was a fantastic field trip. Yay college! hahaha