Unsprung by the Snow Gods

This morning Anchorage awoke to a fresh blanket of snow.  Wow the weather station was actually correct in the forecast!  Thanks Jackie ~ please bring back the SUN!

Many of you outside Alaska may be thinking...Hey it's Alaska It Snows...wrong by mid April it should be melting not snowing LOL!  We Alaskan's want to see green by April and May have our tree's starting to bud. 

So for the record an official photo of the day "April 14, 2010 Six inches of snow at 9am"

As I mentioned yesterday my adventure of Pantry organizing ~ a glance onto a shelf of things we use.  My guy loves corn nuts...I personally can't stand them terribly salty and rock hard!  If I'm going to be bad and eat lots of salt Give me Potato Chips.  As I look at my photo I'm so glad everything is not in alphabetical order ~ at least it shows a am a tad relaxed when organizing.

P.S. another note: when I use a can good for cooking, I do rinse the veggies in fresh running cold water before use to rid them from most of the salt.  Although many company's are now selling low salt or no salt canned goods ~ so I do purchase those when available! 

Veggie Soup Stock Part Dux

The soup stock turned out really good. Safely put into ice cube trays and is now frozen. Whenever I need stock I'll be able to take out a couple of veggie stock ice cubes and make up something tasty in different recipes for a couple of weeks. For this basic veggie stock: three carrots along with the green tops one large potato 3 celery stalks 1 large tomato 3 yellow turnips 6 red tipped lettuce leaves 1 large onion - I used yellow 10 red grapes 6 cups of water 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 1 tsp dried dill 1 tsp Mrs Dash tomato basil 1 tsp herb de Provence Chop all the veggies into large chunks, toss into water that is in a large pot I use my 5 qt pot, add seasoning and start cooking! Bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes on full boil, then simmer about 4 hours. This reduces the stock to about 3 to 4 cups of usable veggie stock. Remember to Stir a few times while cooking just to make sure nothing has stuck to bottom of 5 qt pot. Let sit for a few minutes after turning off heat. Then stain stock into a bowl. Reserve the cooked veggies and 1 cup of the stock. I let it cool down for about 10 to 20 minutes then I pull into ice cube trays for freezing. This did two trays for me with a few tablespoon left over which I just added back to the reserve veggies. I put the reserve cooked veggie into blender and blend into a fine thick stock with the 1 cup of the veggie stock. To do this portion I suggest you do 1/2 of the veggies at a time with about 1/4 cup stock. Once the veggies are blended totally add remaining stock and blend until smooth. This is great just heated as its own soup for the next day. Looks very much like a thick split pea soup

Trial and Error

Over the last few days I've been testing out my #1 basic recipe for my Zucchini Bread. A short time ago I was asked by a bakery to sell this recipe to them. I said no. Plain and simple its mine and it can not be beat for taste. Yes I know its good and I'm not above on bragging on it ! I know many cooks say oh Mine is Great...but read my lips: MINE IS SIMPLY THE BEST. It took me a long time to prefect this recipe soooooo now I'm adding additional treats in it. Let me tell you all the new flavors I will be adding to my shop at Etsy:

Totally Gourmet Zucchini Mini Loaves ->

Almond Jalapeno Cheese

Wasabi Nut

Five nuts plus one (pumpkin, sunflower, pine nut, almond, pecan, and chocolate chips)

Fruits Ole' (ohhhh you are going to love this one)

I can't wait to load these into my listings and start selling! Over the next weekend I'll be stocking the shop up once again for the holidays. Summer is half over and the heat will end, school will begin and I need to be ready with tasty treats and desserts!

Since my fathers death in 2001 my mother seldom cooks at home. In fact even when Dad was living the last several years with only the two of them they would dine out 3 out of 7 days. I guess after cooking for so many years for 8 children and two adults that when we all left the family home and started our own lives/families moving across the country, that my parents found it was enjoyable to be able to have a meal prepared by others. I like to go out once in a while. In Anchorage the choice for spots of good food is getting better but still is needs more. We have lots of little Mom/Pop places. Some you wonder how they manage to stay open, and then you will find one where the burger is big, juicy, and a treasure to bite into. Another spot has potato soup that equals my own. One day I had visited the Library and I was developing a headache because I had not eaten all day, so at two o'clock I ventured into a small place I had driven by several hundred times saying "got to try there one of these days". I had the most awesome Red Lentil Soup! Thick and spicey served with a homebread bread that only enhanced the soup if that was even possible. Lunch is when I get to sample the different eating spots. Every several weeks 8 friends gather for lunch. We are due to meet again and there is a place we not been to and I'm sooooo wanting to try it! Maybe I can talk the owners into carrying my newest creation of Marshmallows: May I introduce "Ba nana nana Royal" Has banana flavoring and covered in coconut. Okay I ate 6 pieces in one day. I had to stop myself from eating all of it because 1/2 was getting shipped to my sister in St. Louis to taste test for me. Now I'm just waiting for the results. So you might get a chance to also taste soon!

Yes this is dinner from last night!

cAs I said we eat rather well in this household. I love to cook, I love to bake, I love trying out new recipes, I love doing old recipes. I have my favorites, and the man who eats my cooking has his favorites . When I hit the jackpot he says "Can we have this again" then I know the recipe is a keeper. He loves wild rice. If you do not know wild rice is black and takes longer to cook and has a nutty crunchy taste - it is also a more expensive rice to purchase. I love rice of any flavor! Red rice is fun, brown rice is nice, and white rice although bleached out it is just pretty to look at. I like rice on the side, fried is omg so good, in soups, as mixture of the main course, but not as dessert. So to help the grocery budget I get Black Rice and jasmine rice and mix them together so that the flavors can mingle and makes the Black Rice last longer. So we had roasted boneless & skinless chicken breast with BBQ sauce added last 15 minutes of cbaking, my rice dish, red/green/yellow fried pepper slices, and the ever favorite of both of us - Asparagus. On the asparagus I roasted in the oven just a little to long...it was not quite overdone but was close. Asparagus cooked should still have a slight snap to it when you bite into it. If you bite down and its mushy well thats just nasty and wayyyyyyyyyy over cooked!

Sometimes Life gets in the Way

It's been one of those weeks...real life getting in the way of my internet life. It snowed a few times again since last post. Went to store, slipped on ice and totally hurt my pride and gave myself a hand that was a bit sore. And was just posting to my groups. Short and sweet. Anyhow - So I just baked up easy things for testing and tasting this week. I have added a new wonderful yummie to my Lollishops! Chocolate covered marshies! OMG total divine, mouth watering, rock my socks tasting sweets! I added a orange extract into the marshmellow. Then covered them in dark chocolate. Of course each nite for the last few days been eating them with my after dinner coffee! HEAVEN! One of my Food network Italian cooks Loves chocolate and orange herself. You know who I mean she is just beautiful and I love watching her show esp when her aunt is helping out...such faces Giada De Laurentiis does when her beloved aunt says something Giada does not agree with. I love the Everyday Italian show. Oh heck I love all of them! I'm glued to them in the late afternoons here in Alaska. But anyhow Run - DO NOT walk - RUN over to my shop drool over my latest addition and Just so you know Easter is just around the corner and IF you want a winner I'll be doing marshies in Egg, Chick and Bunny shapes! Order up a batch now and receive 10% off. They will be $15.00 plus shipping if you don't advance order. Use code EasterAdvance#10 email me with your wishes and I'll put up a 'custom order' just for you!

Baking for Profit

"Spiced Chocolate Pecan Bars" just about to cut and add to my online shops! I'm setting goals for 2009. I love to bake. By this year's end I will have a real brick and glass shop that is primary my baked goodies and will also carry products from other handcrafters! I have two venues I sell my baked Gourmet Edible Desserts at. I ship priority mail...4 cupcakes can weight a pound and you want them fast! I am a vendor at Etsy and Lollishops. Visit either shop and I do allow drooling while looking at my baked creations! http://www.CoveredinChocolate.etsy.com http://www.lollishops.com/CoveredinChocolate I do catering, custom orders, and offer private teaching classes for learning or improving cooking/baking skills.