Bok Choy Dish

I don't remember how I made this. It's been over a month now since I'm writing this. However, I wanted to make a note that it was delicious! A great way to eat dark greens and a bunch of veggies.

The basics I remember were to cut apart the stems and leaves because the stems take longer to cook. Then cut everything up. There was some sauteing of garlic and then simmering in chicken broth. I added an egg in at the very last. Wonderful dish!

....if only I could remember how I made it. Oh wells, I guess I'll have to buy more and figure it out! :D

Biscuits and Gravy

The best start to a day that's greatest goal is to not get dressed? Make a nummy breakfast! 

I figured that if we went out to eat, I'd get biscuits and gravy. I remembered I had some Italian sausage and I could make it myself! So this is what happened. 

First, the biscuits! I mixed all the dry ingredients--3 cups of flour, 3 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of sugar, 3/4 tbsp(?) of cream of tarter--then cut in 3/4 cup of butter, which takes forever. xp I folded in a cup of milk, until just moist. Kneaded it until it stuck together, then used my cup measure to cut them out. In a 400 degree oven for 10-14 minutes and they're ready to eat!

Kitchen Boy was making the gravy while I dealt with the dough. He cooked the sausage, adding in a little bacon grease so we had something to make the gravy with. Added about 1/4 cup flour and mixed it in before adding, slowly a bunch of milk. Then voila!

Vegetable Gratin

So.....here goes! I was reading about winter vegetables and learned of the term "gratin" which is from a French word that means "to scrape/grate." Basically, it's some vegetable casserole-type dish with thinly sliced veggies. So I tried one! But.....I think I made a mistake. I liked the garlic potatoes gratin recipe, but I was trying to make this other one.....that I think is supposed to be sweet, but I made some distinctly spiceful changes....so we'll see how it turns out.

First, I cut up one of everything. Just kidding. But, it was a lot.....1/2 a butternut squash, 2 russet potatoes, a celery root (called celeriac), a orange-skinned sweet potato, and 1 parsnip. I layered those into a 9x13 pan. Then, on the stove, I sauteed a clove of garlic and 1/4 of an onion in butter. Before they were done, I added 1/3 lb of italian pork sausage to brown. When those were done cooking, I added a half cup of milk, 2 cups of water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes. Then the spices: A dash of paprika, three shakes of nutmeg, a 1/2 tsp of thyme, a bunch of black pepper, and two shakes of garlic salt. (See what I mean about the sweet veggies and the salt/spice?) I brought that to a boil, then poured it over the veggies. I baked it for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, then 40 more at 350 degrees F.

So I pulled it out of the oven, sprinkled mozzarella on it and let it sit for a bit. Definitely not the creamy sauce I'd imagined, and I wonder if I can use the liquid as a base for some kind of soup. The dish itself is not...unpleasant. Pretty exotic tasting, actually. I like the spice/sweet play and the sausage definitely helps with that! I will probably try making this again sometime! :D

Update: After a night and more in the fridge, the flavors had a chance to meld together. It is a lot mellower, but still nomnom.

Fruits and Veggies!

So, I decided to buy first and then make second. I spent $21.70 on all these fruits and veggies! (To contrast, I bought some bread, milk, cheese and meat to spread through and that was WAY more. >.<;) So lets see what I come up with!

First! I have another mystery fruit! It came up on the receipt as a "lemon plum".....Wikipedia tells me that it is a rare fruit from Chili typically only available in the US in February. It changes from bright yellow to sunset orange as it ripens, so I should leave it with my potatoes for a while....