New Blog Series: Culinary Cabaret! :)

Okay guys! I am thrilled and excited to introduce to you to the new blog series starting here on Two's Company! This series will be called "Culinary Cabaret" after the line in Disney's "Be Our Guest" which runs: "Beef ragout, cheese souffle, pies and puddings en flambe! We'll prepare and serve with flair a culinary cabaret!" Essentially, this series is a challenge you all will be able to link up with any week you'd like! It will run for 52 weeks (hopefully 52 adjacent weeks...we'll see how that works out) which is a year. The idea is that each week I'll post a theme, and you will have a chance to make one new recipe (or a variation of an old one) that fits the theme. Themes could be as simple as "Indian", "Greek", "Italian" or as complex as "Pixar Movies", "Downton Abbey", "Autumn", or, hey, something as crazy as "Oxford don". Sarah and I will chose one new recipe a week and blog about it--and you'll do the same!

And for those of you who are sitting there looking at this post thinking, "Aw, gee, I don't think I can be that creative," all I'm saying is that it is one recipe a week. Not a whole meal. It won't be expensive because, hey, people in India don't always have a ton of money and if you've got some watermelon and some milk and ice you can make a melon lassi that would fit that theme and not cost a dime. And besides--a challenge isn't supposed to be terribly easy. It's meant to be doable though, and I thoroughly believe that one new recipe a week is doable. I will be posting the theme for the week on Mondays and you will have until the following Monday to link up with your post and recipe. Not only will Culinary Cabaret improve your own creativity, but we can serve as inspirations for each other! And remember, linking up once does not mean that you have to do all 52 weeks! I would love to see you anytime throughout the course of the challenge. So please spread the word, and if any of you are wizards with blog buttons, feel free to make and share a button about the challenge. I want to get as many people involved as possible. :)

Looking forward to breaking out my skillz,
                                                          Rachel

Ze Sourdough Challenge

I wanted to alert you girls to a new sort of Challenge! I'm reprinting (or re-typing--you choose) a post I did on my blog for Stay-at-home daughters: A Butcher, a Baker, a Candlestick-maker. It's called the Sourdough Challenge...

I am in a dreadfully perverse mood recently. I don't know what it was bred of but it makes me feel rather strongly like doing strangely unaccountable things like...adopting a pair of white ducks to do paintings of, (Me, who hasn't picked up her brush in a month or two entire!) or make cheese or (and this is the point on which this whole post is orbiting...)

Make Sourdough bread.

This has a logical path. We were given some free sourdough bread and it was made with white flour. I try to avoid white flour...I really do. But Sourdough is my one weakness. I broke under the pressure of Trying Not To. ;) I cut the slices very very thinly and toasted them, buttered them, and had myself some Secret-Toast with a hot cup of tea.

"Evangeline, may I have some secret-toast-and-jam?"
"Most certainly not."
"Alright--forget the jam--just some secret toast?"

(Forgive me for quoting Nanny McPhee in a moment like this. ;) I decided I had to remedy the situation. After all, must the White-Flour-Eaters have all the sourdough? No. Never. I flatly refused. So after imibibing in the Secret-toast and tea, I betook myself to the laptop and rummaged up a Sourdough Starter Recipe.

And this is where the challenge begins. I'm starting my starter tonight. (And making it whole wheat.) Will you girls begin a starter too? It "brews" for 5-10 days and at the end of the time if you don't feel like continuing with the sourdough, just toss it--it is rather a cheap experiment anyhow! :)

The recipe I found was from a fabulous little website I just tripped over called Chickens in the Road. I think it and me are going to be good friends by-and-by. (And no, it had nothing to do with the fact that I found a recipe for Apple-lilac jelly. No indeed.)

Here, my fellow Butchers, Bakers, and Candlestick-makers, are the Brewery Instructions:

Sourdough Starter(from www.chickensintheroad.com)
1 Tbs. yeast (not rapid-rise)
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 additional cups warm water
1 Tbs. honey or sugar
Mix the yeast with the 1/2 cup warm water in a non-metal container. Mix with other ingredients and stir well. Pour into a non-metal bowl or jar. (This starter will poof and grow so provide for plenty of room for fluffery.) Cover with cheesecloth and leave on the counter for 5-10 days. Stir 2 or 3 times a day.

That's the basic recipe I found on the website and there are further instructions in The Post itself. I will be posting about the next step in 5 or 10 days so stay tuned! Will you join with me in the Sourdough Challenge? Pretty pretty please? :) Leave me a comment telling me if you are being darlings and doing this Sourdough Challenge with me! :)

Hints From A Homemaker

Here are some random kitchen tips that I decided to post. (My mind is currently bent kitchenward, since I have been doing dishes and tucking cinnamon rolls into a pan while singing "Bonnie Dundee" with Sarah, after gardening all the ding-dong day! Whew! Run on sentence!)
Anyway, without further ado:

1. When you make cinnamon rolls, cut them with dental floss. Really! Take a long piece, tuck it under the edge of the long roll, bring the ends up over the top, and cross, pulling tight. Voila! This way you can see the swirl super well! :)

2. Zucchini takes on the flavor of whatever it is cooked with, so use it to stretch things like spaghetti sauce, ground beef for tacos, etc. Supposedly, you can't even taste it! :]

3. ALWAYS WEAR AN APRON!!!!

4. Wash your feet before doing much in the kitchen. This sounds silly and strange, but if you have been gardening all day (as I was) and then you walk through a puddle of water on the floor, you will be mopping later. :) Ahem.

5. Wash you dishes while you go. I am sure you all already know this one, but seriously, it is important to avoid dish-overwhelm at the end!

6. Forsake the mixer now and then, and experience making something by hand for real! And use a wooden spoon! Nothing is quite so sturdy and comfortable as that! If you seek a real challenge, try whipping egg whites till they are stiff and glossy using elbow grease and a whisk. I did it the other day, and it wasn't all that bad!

7. Do things by hand. No, this is not a repeat of the tip above. I mean, doing things literally with your hand. Like when I make my cinnamon rolls, I rub butter on the dough with my hands. Then I scrub the cinnamon and sugar in with my hands like I'm scouring the floor. It helps the flavor really sink in! :)

8. Always bribe siblings with tastes. ;) This worked on Leah when I begged her to go upstairs and get me the dental floss for cutting my rolls!

9. Sing some random song and laugh if you hit the high notes wrong. This helps keep you from getting stressed, and makes anyone smile who walks into the kitchen! ;) Singing while you work is an art that goes by the wayside far too much!

10. Spatulas are handy tools for smacking over-eager hands that reach into the cookie dough too many times! ;)

So, these are some things that aren't as helpful, maybe, as you'd expect, but I hope they make you laugh, and realize once more how much fun being a homemaker is! :) -Rachel

The First of The Zucchini

Zucchini is a desperately misunderstood vegetable. ;) It exists in most peoples' minds as something their parents made them eat. Katie Wilson and I remember it as something our mother's threw on the grill on the way down to Clayton, GA, and that we ate with plugged noses. (For shame! :) I like it now. But did you know that some people don't even realize it is a vegetable? Abigail insists that the reason we don't like going down to the beach in the summer is because there are lots of immodest ladies walking around in zucchinis. Poor vegetable, it has such a false reputation amongst modest little girls who unbeknowst to themselves, daily tend it in the garden! :D All this to say, I have found two recipes in which even the most picky of eaters would fail to detect the presence of zucchini. The first is something Benjamin begs me to make each year. So yesterday, with the first zucchini from our garden, I made it: May I introduce you to:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake!

2 1/2 c. flour 2 c. sugar

1/2 c. cocoa 3 eggs

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. orange zest

1 tsp. salt 2 cups shredded zucchini

1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 c. milk

3/4 c. softened butter 1 c. nuts (optional)

Combine dry ingredients. Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, zest, and zucchini. Alternately add dry mixture and milk. Add nuts. Spoon into greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes. Frost with Chocolate frosting (recipe follows)

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 c. softened butter

2/3 c. cocoa

vanilla to taste

3 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. milk

Cream butter and cocoa. Add vanilla. Add milk and sugar, alternating. Beat till smooth.

Sound good? We ate ours with fresh strawberries. Here is a picture. (Isn't that hand most mysterious? I wonder who it belongs to? ;)

And the other, equally great recipe that I don't have a picture of:

Zucchini Spice Bread

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups grated zucchini

2/3 cups melted butter

2 tsp. baking soda

1 pinch of salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 cup raisins or nuts (optional)

Mix the eggs, sugar, and vanilla together. Add zucchini and butter. Sprinkle the soda and salt over the mixture, and stir well. Add flour, one cup at a time. Add spices, raisins, and nuts. Bake in 2 greased loaf pans at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes.

Enjoy the recipes! They were super good! We ate the cake last night, and the bread for breakfast this morning! :P -Rachel

Help me! My Head Shall Explode! For Real! :(

Oh my stars and stockings. That is all I can say, and grasp my head with both hands to hold it on. I had written quite a long post detailing how nothing was going right AT ALLLLLL in the kitchen today, and then lo and behold, the internet disconnected, and the post was lost. Hadn't been saved. Hadn't been anything. Gone! I should make up some new word that expressly describes the frustration I am feeling. Rats! Grrrrr!!! Or, to be cheerful, and give you an idea, maybe the most appropriate word, for when you can't think of anything to say: (And I give a murderous glance kitchenward as I type in bold capslock: SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!!!!!! There. That seriously relieved me. Now to go deal with dinner. -Rachel

My Recent Baking

I know posts about baking are getting old, but here are some things I've made more recently:

Angel Biscuits

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cp. warm water
2 cps. buttermilk
5 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. salt
1 cp. lard or shortening, chilled


Have all ingredients at room temperature.
In choosing lard or shortening, be sure to use non hydrogentated products. Butter may be substituted.(we did the latter)

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar. Set aside for 5 minutes.Stir in the buttermilk, making sure it has first been warmed to room temperature so as not to shock the yeast.

In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients(not the lard). Mix well.

Using your fingers, two knives, or a pastry blender, work 1/2 the chilled shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Work in the remaining shortening until it resembles large peas.

Stir buttermilk and yeast mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended. Do not over-mix.

On a clean surface dusted lightly with flour turn out dough and knead 5-8 times, patting together lightly into a flattened circle.

Roll a circle out 1/2 - 3/4" thick and cut using a floured glass or a 3 inch biscuit cutter.

Arrange biscuits on a lightly greased baking sheet. Leave 1/3" between for softer sided biscuits, or 1" for more crisp sided biscuits.

Cover with a damp towel or lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, or about 45 min.

Bake in pre-heated 450 oven for 10-12 min. or until golden brown.

This dough can be refrigerated for 3-5 days or frozen for up to a month.


So I served these with chicken soup and they were REALLY GOOD!
Enjoy!





And..............


Apple Spice Cake
3 cps. flour
2 cps. sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. pumpkin spice
1/3 cp. milk
2 eggs
1 cp. mayo
3 cps. chopped apples
1 cp. raisins

Sift together dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl. Stir in apples and raisins. If you want nuts, add those, too. You can layer the apples, or stir them right into the pan. Pour int ogreased and floured Bundt pan, and bake at 350F for 45-55 min.


I hope ya'll try these, cause they're very good!!!!!
Next post shan't be just recipes!:)
-Sarah

Rachel's Crumb Cake

Cheerio! Since I am going to be so busy the next four days, I thought I'd share a really good recipe I made yesterday for breakfast. Everyone likes Crumb Cake right? This is the good kind: almost more crumb than cake! :) It turned out really well! But I would next time add a little lemon zest to the cake, and a bit more vanilla. Anyway you look at it though, this is a great, figure-fattening breakfast cake! (Like anyone is looking for a fattening breakfast! :)
Without further ado I present:

Rachel's Crumb Cake

2 Tbs. oil
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used white wheat as usual)
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Pour in an ungreased 9X13 baking pan, spreading to edges with spatula. Sprinkle topping (see below) over batter. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, turning pan after 15 minutes. Remove, cool, and dust with powdered sugar before eating. Cut into squares.

Recipe for the Crumb Topping :) 2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar (I used Demerara sugar)
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup butter, melted

Combine all ingredients until crumbly. sprinkle over batter.


So anyhow, the recipe book said that it would serve 6. I don't know what they were thinking! It served 10 of us with good sized pieces, with left-overs! :)
Hope you enjoy this recipe, and tell me how it turned out if you used it! -Rachel

Cookies for Prison Ministry

Today we made 30 dozen cookies for Kairos Prison Ministry. The cookies are going to be given to prisoners this week by this ministry as they hold an Emmaeus type weekend. We had a few girls over to help us bake the cookies. The idea is to pray for the prisoners as you make the cookies so we started off by praying as a group and then split into teams. Rachel, Alaina W. ,and Abby made oatmeal cookies, Sarah and Hannah T. made peanut butter, Anna, Emma W. and Lydia T. made chocolate chip, and Leah, Charity T., and Benjamin made sugar cookies. We had stations set up around the kitchen for all the different teams, and a no-man's land in the middle for the ingredients everyone would need. We also had a little bell that we would ring every once in a while to pray for the prisoners and keep us in the right spirit of the whole thing. When we started, Mama read this passage from Matthew 25: 34-40: "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, `Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.'
"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, `Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothed You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison and come to You?' and the King will answer and say to them, `Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, My brethren, you did it to Me.'"

So we really wanted the spirit of the whole thing to be prayerful and focused on ministering to the prisoners. Also, we had been asked to make 36 handwritten notes for them. That meant about 4 for most of us. We wrote favorite Bible verses and verses from hymns, and decorated the cards with markers, crayons, and gel pens. Every time a batch of cookies was finished baking one of the girls from the team would ring the bell and pray for prisoners, guards and chaplains. Mrs. T. had the good idea to pick a certain name like"John" or "Daniel" and pray for all the men of that name who would be ministered to this weekend. Although, it was a focused time, we still had a lot of fun working together to make all those cookies! We started a 10:00, and didn't stop baking until 2:30! We sort of ate lunch on the fly, and then cleaned up! Boy, there were a lot of dishes!
After everything was cleaned up, and we were all thoroughly tired, we got Daniel (who'd been running the chipper with Benjamin) to help us play volleyball. Each team won 1 game, so of course we had to play a tie-breaker. And Sarah's team won! Rachel would like to think that the reason her team lost was because the the sun was in their eyes, but unfortunately, the sun was behind a cloud all through the last game. ;)
It was a really blessed time and we hope to repeat it soon. There were a lot of extra cookies so that each family got a dozen of each kind to take home!
Well, that's been our day and Sarah's gonna have to fix dinner soon, so we'd best go!