Becka's blog

I forgot to mention in my most recent post that Sonia J. was the person who was the first to identify the "mystery ingredient." I'm sorry to have neglected that important information about one of my astute readers. I do appreciate all of you who participated.

Becka

The mystery ingredient pictured above is cardamom pods. You can also purchase ground cardamom. This spice is used in Chai tea, some sweet breads, and in Indian cooking. I have a Christmas bread recipe that instructs you to put the pods in the milk used in the recipe and then warm it and let them steep for a bit to infuse the milk with flavor.

I have never tried authentic Indian food. I discovered recipes for Garlic Naan and Kheema a couple of weeks ago and since I had all the ingredients on hand decided to make them. We had purchased some frozen garlic naan at Trader Joe's a while back and both of us really liked it. This recipe was good, but I think I made it a little too thick.

Rob liked the Kheema right away. I was skeptical at first but it's the kind of dish that grows on you. I will make this again, especially now that I have a little jar of garam masala in my cupboard. To make the spice blend from the cardamom pods you have to open the pods and then grind the little black seeds (similar to large black poppy seeds). I used a mortar and pestle but you could use a spice grinder if you have one. The directions for the Garam Masala follow the recipe for the Kheema. The advantage of making your own blend is that you can control the heat and leave out any spices that you do not care for. You might want to look around Heather's recipe blog. She has many frugal recipes and some great organizing tips.

So, if you are looking for something new and different for dinner you might want to try this simple dish.

Becka

I tried a new recipe last week that called for this ingredient:

Do you know what these are? I plan to post that recipe soon, but I'll give you a chance to guess first.

In the meantime I tried a new recipe for supper tonight that Megan had made for us while we were up visiting her family over Christmas and we really enjoyed it. I saw the recipe posted on another blog and decided to make it this week. The recipe for this soup uses kale:

I had never eaten or used kale before this. It seems to keep its bright green color better than many green vegetables and it's not bitter like collards. (I have never been able to develop a liking for collards, sorry Cathy.) You could probably substitute baby spinach for the kale if you would prefer.

I'll be looking forward to see who is the first to identify the mystery ingredient.

Becka

Not too much of note going on around here this week. I've been working on a quilt for the new baby girl and Rob is knitting her an afghan, but it's doubtful that either one of these projects will be completed before her expected arrival. Megan is scheduled for a C-section on Valentine's Day. She is having frequent doctor visits and tests and so far has been doing very well. Drew had already arrived by this point. We are thankful that this little one isn't following in her big brother's footsteps in that regard. We will appreciate your prayers for continued good health throughout the remainder of the pregnancy.

I have finished up a couple of little girly projects, including:

Two more pink blankets:

A mesh bag for all the little socks that tend to get lost in the wash. (When Megan was a baby Rob came home from work one afternoon and when he changed clothes he discovered he had worn a shirt with a baby sock in the armpit all day.) I saw the idea on Pinterest but there were no instructions so I just had to come up with my own spin-off.

This little "toy" is like one I made for Ryan that he has really enjoyed playing with. It's just two pieces of flannel with a piece of crinkly plastic cut from an empty baby wipe container sewn inside. Babies seem to love hearing the noise from crinkly things. Ryan kept wanting to play with the baby wipe container so I thought I'd make him a toy from an old one. The plastic is a little hard to stitch. I found that it helped to put strips of tissue paper on top of the plastic and then it was much easier to stitch.

My dear husband got me a big bag of shelled pistachios last week so I made a batch of these cookies. They are really tasty and are a pretty Christmas cookie with the red cranberries and the green from the pistachios.

I have a question for the quilters who read my blog. I am using a spray adhesive to "baste" the layers of my quilt together this time. Have any of you used this technique before? So far it seems to be working very well.

Becka

For several months now I have seen recipes on the internet for making English Muffins. In fact, my friend Carrie had a post about making English Muffins recently. I think her recipe is the same as mine. (I'm not the Mrs. L she mentions though.:) I remember making these many years ago using tuna cans for shaping the muffins. I found recipes on Pinterest using canning rings for shaping the muffins and also read about just cutting them out and not using any rings. I decided to go for the simpler route and try not using the rings. The muffins turned out surprisingly well and I was pleased that I didn't have to purchase or come up with some kind of rings! I actually combined several recipes that I have found. Here is what I used:

English Muffins

1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp. honey
2 tsps. salt
3 1/2-4 cups flour (I used half bread flour and half white whole wheat)
2 tsps. yeast
3 Tbsps. soft butter
cornmeal

Mix together the water, milk, honey, and salt. Add 2 cups of flour and yeast. Stir together. Cover and let rise for an hour. Add the butter and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Roll or pat out dough about 1/2 inch thick onto a surface coated with cornmeal. Cut into circles with biscuit cutter or tin can. Let rise until doubled--about 20-30 mins. Cook on a hot (350 degrees) skillet or griddle until they are light brown. Turn just once. These freeze well. Cut or pry open with a fork before freezing for ease of use. These are delicious hot of the griddle or skillet!

Here is a picture of the risen muffins ready to go in the skillet:

Here is a picture of the finished muffins:

They turned out quite tasty. I have made them a couple of times now and we have really enjoyed eating them. They are a bit more tender than the store bought version. The only tricky part is getting the temp of the skillet correct--it's sort of like making pancakes. You have to fiddle with the heat to get the temperature of your skillet just right. The ones pictured above were a little dark, but still pretty tasty. If you have an electric skillet or griddle that might be a good solution.

Becka