Grace and Ben

Yesterday, I followed my mother-in-law’s sloppy joe recipe and was quite pleased with the outcome. Her recipe isn’t very exact and somehow it always turns out just right. I used a fancy tomato soup from Whole Foods as I didn’t have time to shop at a “regular” grocery store. See below for an excerpt of her email:

“Here’s a shot at typical ingredients:
Ground Beef 1.5 lbs
Tomato Soup 1 can
Red (bell) pepper
Onion
Ketchup
Mustard
Brown sugar
Worcestershire sauce
Cinnamon
Garlic powder
All of the above are added to taste
Sorry I can’t be more precise, it’s pretty easy.”

During Ben’s parents’ visit, we drove out to the “Sweet Tomatoes” restaurant in Sandy, UT about 10 miles away. We enjoyed a nice salad buffet for dinner. Sweet Tomatoes is a branch of “Souplantation” and their soups are excellent. One I especially enjoyed was a sweet potato bisque. I am not sure what Sweet Tomatoes restaurant puts in their bisque, but I was inspired to try to make one myself. Ben wanted to know what a “bisque” is. According to Wikipedia, a bisque is supposed to be a creamy soup based on seafood made in the French style. While my soup is not technically a bisque, it tasted very good and was a good way to consume the 3 sweet potatoes that have been sitting in my kitchen for the last three weeks. Here is the recipe.

SWEET POTATO BISQUE

This soup is simple, rich and easy to make.
1/4 cup butter (this is a LOT of butter, you can probably use less)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 cup celery
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
5 cups chicken broth (I used a beef bone broth I made a few days earlier)
1/2 teaspoon cloves (can use less)
salt and pepper to taste.

Melt the butter in a 4 qt. saucepan. Add the onions and celery and saute for 10 minutes. Add the sweet diced potatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium, cover and cook for 90 minutes until the potatoes are very tender. Puree the potatoes in a blender (in small batches) or with a hand-held immersion blender (I have a fantastic hand blender that I use frequently!). Stir in the cloves. Season to taste with the salt and pepper. Reheat and serve.

This past week, Ben and I moved into a new apartment and I haven’t had much time for cooking. Last Monday night, I cooked my last meal in my old apartment–Chinese chicken wings (recipe from Ben’s mom). Essentially, I marinated chicken wings and drummettes in soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, mustard, and brown sugar over night. Then I baked the wings at 450 degrees F for about 1 hour (flipping them over once during the cooking process).
On Friday night, after a busy week, I decided to try a new recipe. I had a can of cream of mushroom soup that I was looking to get rid of. And, I was interested in making “shepherd’s pie” when my friend Rachel said she made one back in October from ground lamb. I chose a recipe that utilized ground beef, because it’s easier to find. I purchased most of my ingredients at the supermarket (Dan’s) that is walking distance from my new apartment. Here is the recipe and a photo of the final product.

Also, recent TV shows I’ve watched included the newest episodes of the Big Bang Theory (CBS), 30 Rock (NBC), Modern Family (ABC), and Saturday Night Live (with Charles Barkley, NBC).

This morning, I made a pumpkin cheesecake following this recipe. (I didn’t use the cool whip dressing, as you can see in the photo) The cheesecake turned out really well and I will likely make it again. I even made the graham cracker crust from scratch using this recipe.

I had some leftover pumpkin puree (from making a pumpkin cheesecake) so I decided to use it to make some pumpkin muffins. They turned out far better than expected (as I had to modify the recipe to accommodate a few missing ingredients).
The original recipe is from King Arthur Flour website. It comes with helpful photo instructions.
Here is my version:

Ingredients:
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar + 1/4 cup of white sugar
1 3/4 cups of King Arthur Gluten-free multi-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice = (1 tsp cinnamon, 0.5 tsp allspice, 0.5 tsp nutmeg)
1/2 cup canola oil

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Prepare 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2) Whisk eggs and pumpkin puree in a small bowl.
3) Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthum gum, salt and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl.
4) Add canola oil to dry ingredients and mix until even. Mixture will look like coarse sand.
5) Add egg/pumpkin mixture (a third at a time), beating well after each addition (1-2 minutes).
6) Scoop batter into prepared pan (mounding full). Let muffins rest for 10 minutes.
7) Bake 22-25 minutes until middle springs back when lightly touched. Wait 5 minutes before removing from pan. Tastes delicious warm, served with a small pat of butter

I enjoy eating potato gnocchi but I usually buy dried pasta at the store. I wanted to try to make it from scratch because no stores in Salt Lake City carry my favorite dried gnocchi.
Here is the recipe that I used.

I followed this recipe almost exactly except I do not own a potato ricer so I had little chunks of potato in my dough. Also, I used 2 little eggs instead of 1 large egg. See the potato and rice flours I used. The secret to getting everything to stick together is the xantham gum. I think it will be useful in the future if I want to make gluten-free baked goods. I am not allergic to wheat but I feel less lethargic if I don’t eat wheat-based products (like bread and pasta).

Water boils at 204 deg F (95.6 deg C) at 4300 ft (altitude) compared to 212 deg F (100 deg C) at 0 ft (sea level). I must boil my hard-boiled eggs longer in Salt Lake City.