Becka's blog

It is about 20 degrees cooler than normal here this weekend, so it's a good week to pull out all the recipes for soups and stews.

I made couscous for our supper last night. It is a dish that originates in North Africa and that we have been served many times in France. They even have a special piece of cooking equipment that looks kind of like a percolator to prepare it in called a couscoussière. The stew cooks in the bottom part and the pasta steams on the top.

The name couscous refers to both the grain and the stew that is served on top of the grain. The pasta is available just about everywhere now and is very versatile. You can find larger boxes of it at Middle Eastern grocery stores. You can use the grain as a side dish as you would use rice or potatoes, in salads, and even in desserts -- sort of like a rice pudding. It is very easy to cook -- sort of like you would cook minute rice. You just add the grain to boiling water with some butter or oil then place the lid on the saucepan and let it steam for about five minutes. Then you fluff it with a fork and you are good to go.

The stew probably has as many variations as there are recipes for chili here. Here is how I make it:

Couscous
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 small turnips, peeled and diced into 1/2" cubes
6 carrots, peeled and cut into about 1 inch pieces
1 can chick peas, drained or 2-3 cups cooked chick peas
1/2 pound kielbasa, sliced about 1/4" thick
2 chicken breast quarters or 4 thighs, skinned, but bone in
2-3 small zucchini, sliced about 1/2" thick
4-5 cups water
salt and pepper
garlic powder
hot sauce and chicken soup base
1/4 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. cumin

In large crock pot place onions, turnips, and carrots, seasoning with the salt, pepper, tumeric, cumin and garlic powder. Top with the water, the sliced kielbasa, and the chicken breasts. Cook until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is done (about 4 hours on high.) Remove the chicken to a plate to cool. Test the vegetables for doneness and season the broth with chicken base and hot sauce to your taste. At this time add the zucchini and chick peas and cook for an additional hour or until the zucchini is tender. Bone the chicken and add back in right before serving.

This should have quite a bit of broth. To serve you ladle the stew on top of the couscous and serve with additional hot sauce on the side if desired. It's definitely an acquired taste, but I love the sweetness of the carrots, the slight bitterness of the turnips, the nuttiness of the chick peas and the salty smokiness of the sausage and chicken.

So, if you are in an adventurous mood, give it a try.

Becka

I didn't mean to abandon my blog for quite so long. We had a wonderful Christmas with many special services at church and fun times with family. I hope to post more about our family times in upcoming posts, but wanted to post at least briefly to say that we are back in town after spending a few days up in MI with family.

It was cold and blustery and we saw all sorts of weather including snow, rain, sleet, and fog! It was nice to get back home to warmer temps, but we will certainly miss our family up there.

One thing we try to always do when we are up in Michigan is to go to the thrift store. We found lots of treasures this time including some clothes, some books, a big bag of new towels with the tags still on, and a big bag of Tupperware for $4.00!

Here is a picture of what was in the bag:

Here is my favorite piece:

I'm not exactly sure what this little sifter was intended for, but I think I will use it for powdered sugar. It seems like it would be perfect for sifting on top of cakes, cookies, etc. and then for storage afterwards.

I hope you are having a wonderful start to this new year full of the Lord's blessing.

Becka

In my last post I mentioned some new things I had been baking in recent days. I also hope to make a couple of old recipes too. One of my very favorite cookies are these snowballs. My mom didn't bake much during the year, but she always made some of these for Christmas. They are very simple to make but they are so good. You may already have a recipe similar to this one in your file.

Snowballs
1 cup (or 2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Additional powdered sugar for rolling

Cream butter and then add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix in flour and chopped nuts. Form into small balls a little smaller than a walnut. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 mins. Cookies should be brown on the bottom only. Let cool slightly and then roll in additional powdered sugar. After they cool a bit more roll in the sugar a second time to give them a more "snowy" appearance. Makes about three dozen.

Another family favorite is this peanut butter fudge. This is another recipe I got years ago from that recipe program on the radio. It, too, is very simple, but very good. Mrs. Pra---, who used to teach in the RTV department at school gave this recipe and said that her boys called pieces of this fudge erasers because it looks like those brown art gum erasers. It is good plain, but over the top with the chocolate layer added. Sorry there's no picture--haven't made this one yet.

Peanut Butter Erasers
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine evaporated milk and sugar in a saucepan and cook to softball stage (a drop of the mixture with form a ball when dropped in a cup of cold water. The ball will be soft and will flatten when you try to pick it up on your finger.) Stir constantly while this mixture is cooking and be sure to use a big enough pan as the sugar mixture will froth up.
Remove the pan from the heat and then add the peanut butter. Stir the fudge until it is about the consistency of runny mashed potatoes and then quickly pour it into a buttered 7" x 11" pan. Immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and let sit for about 5 mins. until the chips soften and you can spread them on top of the fudge. Let cool completely and cut into pieces. Enjoy your delicious fudge!

Becka

I've tried a couple of new Christmas cookie recipes this year from the King Arthur Flour recipe website. I love their Baker's Banter Blog. They post recipes a couple of times a week with step-by-step pictorial directions. It is interesting to read about the new products and new recipes. The cookie recipes I have tried have been very good and all of these cookie recipes feature dough that can be made ahead.

Last weekend I made these butter pecan cookies. I didn't have any of the unusual flavorings so I just used 1 Tbsp. vanilla. The combination of the butterscotch chips, toasted pecans, and the sugar/salt coating is very good.

I also made this Mandelbrot, which my husband, the former German teacher,told me means Almond Bread. These cookies are like biscotti. The recipe on the blog uses walnuts, but since I had a large bag of almonds I used those along with the chocolate chips. These are delicious!

I also recently tried these Cranberry Pistachio cookies from a blog called Joy of Baking.

My friend, Cheri, shared some fresh pistachios received as a gift from a relative in California. The green pistachios and red cranberries made a very pretty and tasty cookie. These are a refrigerator cookie and the dough can be made well advance of when you bake the cookies and refrigerated or frozen. I can remember my Aunt Hazel making refrigerator cookies when I was a little girl -- long before you could buy refrigerated cookie dough in the grocery store.

How about you out there in blog-land -- have you tried any new cookie recipes this year that you are willing to share?

Becka

From the news I've seen lately it sounds like it's been cold just about everywhere this week. It's actually 41 degrees here today, but it has been damp and windy the last few days making it seem even colder. These cold, blustery days are perfect for soup.

DD Megan posted a link for this recipe for delicious Cheeseburger Soup on her blog a while back. I tried it during the time she and her family were here visiting a couple of weeks ago and made it again this morning. I made a few changes to lighten it up just a bit. Here's my version:

Cheeseburger Soup
1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
3 cups water
1 Tbsp. chicken soup base
4-5 medium size potatoes, peeled and diced
3/4 cup instant potato flakes
8 oz. diced velveeta cheese (or cheese of your choice)
1 cup milk
dash of pepper

Brown beef in soup kettle. Drain off fat and then add onion and cook until it wilts. Add water, Italian seasoning, soup base, and potatoes. Cook about 10 mins. or until potatoes are tender. Stir in the potato flakes and cook a minute or two to thicken. Add the milk and heat through. Add the cheese cubes and stir until they melt. Serve and enjoy!

Becka