Beer Battered Cod and Chips Minus the Beer

Lately our meals are based on whatever I have a hankering for and tonight that hankering was for nothing in particular until I walked by the seafood counter at Haggen. I saw the cod on sale and "fish and chips" immediately came to mind. There are only 1 1/2 people in this house to feed right now so I asked for just under a pound. I probably needed more like a 1/2 lb.
I am awaiting a good fish batter recipe so I picked up a box of beer batter. Using batter in a box is very easy, just add water.
I made home fries again. This time I cut them into smaller strips at the request of Griffen. I suppose the wedge style just wasn't his thing. I tossed them in olive oil and added a couple sprinkles of Johnnys before putting them in the over at 400 until golden brown.
Last summer I blanched and froze quite a bit of squash and zucchini from the garden. This was an easy solution for our veggie tonight. I threw them in a pan with a little bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper and cooked until soft. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese when I plate them but not tonight.
To cook the cod I put some vegetable oil in a pan and set the stove to medium. You don't want the oil to get too hot because you can burn the fish pretty quick so don't set the temp too high. While your oil is heating go ahead and mix your batter. Once the oil is hot, it doesn't take long, cover each piece of cod in batter and gently place it into the pan. Make sure you don't drop the fish into the pan, you don't want oil splashing back at you. Unfortunately, I don't have an exact cooking time. I let the fish set for a little bit and once the bottom is golden brown I flip it. Make sure that when you prepare the cod you don't have any pieces that are too think or you will run the risk of having a nice brown outside with a raw inside. Check the bottom once it has been cooking for a little bit and once that side is browned go ahead and move it to a paper towel lined plate.
I do own a Fry Daddy, however the idea is to have homemade food that is still healthy. Homemade doesn't always mean healthy. This is the reason I have hidden the Fry Daddy. :)
There were a total of 6 ingredients in this entire meal. I bet there are more ingredients than that in a box of fish sticks and you don't know what 1/2 of them are!
This meal took me about a 1/2 hour to prepare. I will admit there is a little more cleanup due to the oil splatters but it was completely worth it.
P.S. Griffen absolutely loved the cod!!!!

Burgers and Fries

When I picked Griffen up from school I asked him if a cheeseburger and fries sounded good for dinner. Of course he said yes, he is 6! He then followed this up with "I wonder what toy they have right now", referring to the happy meal. Oh heck no....we weren't having fast food for dinner.
I made cheeseburgers and homefries for dinner. Ohhhhh they were so good! Homemade burgers are super easy. Just dump your meat into a bowl add some spices, I usually add garlic powder, pepper, and a beef rub that I picked up from a local ranch. Then add an egg and some bread crumbs to hold the burger together. Lastly I add some good bar-b-que sauce. Cook in a frying pan and WALLAH you have a gourmet burger. Don't forget to add your favorite cheese - we had Havarti tonight. Next time I will make homemade rolls but we happened to have a few thin buns that served their purpose. Piled high with tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles made these burgers amazing!
Homefries are just as easy. Cut your potatoes into wedges (don't bother pealing them) and toss in a bowl with a little olive oil. Add your favorite spices. Lay the wedges out on a baking sheet and put into the oven at 400 degrees until golden brown.
This meal took me about a 1/2 hour. Yes, this was longer than going through a MCD's drive through however, I know exactly what ingredients were included in my entire meal. I can be guaranteed that my organic extra lean ground beef isn't pumped with antibiotics and wasn't washed with ammonia. The buns I used were whole grain and didn't include high fructose corn syrup. The potatoes were fresh and cooked in olive oil. The only preservatives found in our meal were those used in the ketchup, mustard, and baked beans. I haven't found a recipe that I want to use for baked beans and I am realistic......not every night can be 100% homemade. Baby steps!

We love Raspberries

Last summer I froze 15 lbs. of Raspberries so today I decided to pull out 3 lbs. and do a little baking. Well 2 lbs. were used for baking and the other pound was ate as I baked. I love raspberries!

Here are some great recipes for Raspberry Scones and Buttermilk Raspberry Muffins. Of course you can substitute any type of berry that you would like and I think that peaches would even be wonderful.

As the scones were baking I prepared the muffins so they could go into the oven right afterwards. I believe it took me just over an hour to prepare, bake, and clean up. If it only took you an hour to have quick breakfast or snack items that could last you as long as a week I think that is a pretty good trade off.

I placed about 1/2 of the muffins and scones in the fridge to eat this week and I used my foodsaver to seal up the rest so that I could freeze them. If I hadn't ate 1 lb of raspberries I could have doubled a recipe and had more to freeze....maybe next time.

Fresh Raspberry Scones

Ingredients:

1 cup raspberries - cleaned

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup cream (you can use light or heavy)

2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into cubes

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lone a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Placed raspberries on a paper towel in a strainer to absorb liquid.

3. Combine the cream with the vanilla extract in a small bowl and set aside.

4. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest together in a mixing bowl. Drop the cubed butter into the dry mixer. Use a pastry blender to cut in butter until mixture resembles course, pea-sized crumbs (If you don't have a pastry blender this can also be accomplished by using a butter knife in each hand and slicing through the mixture, it does take a little longer). Stir in the berries, and gently toss the ingredients.

5. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture; pour cream mixture into the hole. Quickly stir dough together until just blended. Allow dough to rest 2 minutes.

6. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; and knead until smooth and satiny, 4 to 5 minutes. You will continue to add flour as you knead because you will notice that the dough is rather sticky until you get a good consistency.

7. Pat dough into an 8 inch flat round. Use a serrated knife to cut the round into 8 wedge-shaped pieces.

8. Place the wedges on the baking sheet with at least a 1/2 inch space between each.

9. Bake in preheated oven until tops are light brown and crusty. 16 to 18 minutes.

10. Transfer to a wire rack, and cool 20 minutes before serving.

Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

6 tbsp cold butter cut into cubes

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup of berries

1. In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender until is resembles course, pea-sized crumbs.

2. Add egg and buttermilk; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.

3. Fold in berries.

4. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until browned.

Something New

I'm constantly getting asked where I find the time to cook, bake, garden, can my own foods, raise chickens, and the list goes on. I've decided that blogging would be an easy way to share my tips and tricks with you. I love knowing that I have the ability to create wonderful nourishing food for my family. It does take a little time and effort (yes more than putting a frozen pizza in the oven or dumping a box of macaroni in a pot) but the end results are amazing, delicious, and healthy for my family.
Now that I'm pregnant and staying home I am "experimenting" more in the kitchen. I have a new found love for the Food Network and instead of going out I would rather try making something in my own kitchen. My husband has some amazing cookware and I almost feel like I am fit to host a show with my fancy gadgets.
Matt is coming home in a few weeks and has promised to bring home the bread maker. I am saying goodbye to store bought breads, rolls, croissants, biscuits etc. I will be making all of these things from scratch from now on.
I'm hoping to purchase the pasta attachment for my Kitchen Aid very soon. We will then say goodbye to boxed pasta as well. You might think I'm crazy and making too much work for myself, however I like the idea of knowing exactly what is in my bread with no surprises!
This blog will be an exciting way to keep everyone posted on the veggie garden and our new chicks: Dijon, BBQ, Teriyaki, and Alfredo. Don't worry we won't eat them, we just want their delicious eggs. Unfortunately they won't start laying until later in the summer so I'm looking for someone local that I can purchase eggs from until our girls start leaving us daily gifts.
I won't guarantee that all items I prepare are my own concoctions. Many times they may be recipes that I have tried and I feel they are worthy to pass on to others. I hope that everyone enjoys the information that I share and decides to spend a little extra time in the kitchen!