Hunt Camp Dinners

Dinners at hunt camp tend to be rather hearty and filling. This is the largest meal next to breakfast and after a long day in the woods and cold a hot meal is much appreciated. After the meal and clean-up the guys sit around talking about the day then the cards come out. The rest of the evening into the wee hours of the morning is spent playing cards surrounded by the warmth of the wood stove.

Steak Dinner

A steak dinner is one must have tradition at hunt camp, the other is chili made with last year's kill. Consuming a meal made from last year's kill it thought to bring good luck to the camp the following year. This year the guys grilled rib eye steaks with sauteéd mushrooms, caramelized onions and baked potatoes. Now picture this, there was softly falling snow while the steaks grilled mingling with the smell of wood smoke and fresh fallen snow. Yum!!!

The potatoes were baked in the oven giving a nice crispy skin yet soft, tender flesh. They were a perfect match for the steaks that for most of the guys were grilled to rare.

Grilled Sandwiches

Even at hunt camp there needs to be a quick, easy to make meal that is filling. In comes the simple grill cheese sandwich with a twist. The guys added cooked ham to the sandwiches made with slices of cheddar cheese. Butter is a key component of the sandwiches for obtaining the beautiful golden brown as well as adding flavour. Served with plain potato chips the sandwiches make for a quick yet filling meal.

Method: Heat a cast iron fry pan to medium high. Butter one side of two pieces of bread. Place butter side down in the fry pan. Top with sliced cheese and sliced ham. Place another piece of bread on top of each sandwich. Butter. Cook until golden brown on the first side. Flip over and lightly push down on each sandwich. Cook until golden brown on the other side. Remove from pan. Cut in half. Serve with pickles or potato chips.

Yummy Dinner! White Pizza

One of the nicest things about the internet is we can easily keep in touch with our kids. Sharing pictures of what we made for dinner has become a favourite activity. They are all talented cooks! A couple of days ago I received pictures along with the recipes for a white pizza made by one of our kids. I immediately called to ask if I could blog about it. Even though I knew there wouldn't be a problem sharing this wonderful pizza with my readers, I still asked. (Thanks for sharing both, sweetie!)

My best pizza dough has both beer and sugar as ingredients something the kids are avoiding as much as possible with the grandbaby. We occasionally use alcohol as an ingredient when cooking however despite claims that the alcohol burns off during the cooking process, that is false! There is a handy alcohol burn off chart here. Even though there isn't a lot of alcohol left in the food there is still some and that needs to be considered when serving the dish to children or those who for whatever reason choose to abstain from alcohol. We have both family and friends that abstain so I make two versions of the same dish, one with alcohol. So do consider do the same if you cook with alcohol. Food like wine jelly or jams made with alcohol should be well labeled as they tend to have a fairly high alcohol content.

White Pizza

The kids have been raving about the following pizza dough that they accidentally stumbled upon. According to them "Hands-down, one of the best pizzas we have ever had! The dough is so fluffy and good that we are making calzones out of it tonight." The kids said that even though the dough contained cornmeal it was not gritty. Using chicken and broccoli is a lovely combination. The Alfredo sauce was homemade as well.

It looks so mouthwatering that I have this recipe on the top of my next to try recipes! The dough was made in a breadmachine but you can easily make it using the KitchenAid® stand mixer. Simply mix the dry ingredients together in the stand mixer bowl then stir the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl and slowly pour into the dry while mixing on speed 2. Adjust flour if needed so the dough leaves the side of the mixing bowl. Knead on speed 2 until smooth and elastic.

Cornmeal Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
3 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup medium-grind yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Combine ingredients and follow your manufacturers directions for your bread machine.


White Pizza
- dough as prepared above
- slice mushrooms and broccoli and cook together (no seasoning)
- cook chicken with no seasoning
- spread Alfredo sauce on bottom
- add broccoli and mushroom mixture
- add chicken
- sprinkle garlic pepper on top
- top with shredded mozzarella cheese

Please Note: Photo and instructions are ©b1 (one of Garden Gnome's kids who is looking at the possibility of changing careers to become a professional chef in the next few years).

Buffet at the Golden Nugget

Las Vegas made the buffet famous! Most casinos have a least one restaurant that serves a buffet of some type. Some are larger, more elabourate than others and the food quality will differ from buffet to buffet. Buffets start around the $12 per person mark or less and considering they are all you can eat, they are a good value for your food dollar. When going to Las Vegas be sure to buy a copy of the current American Casino Guide as there are two for one coupons for many of the buffets as well as coupons for a lot of other savings. It is $16.95 but will easily pay for itself within the first day or two. Be sure to get a player's card for each casino and always show your card to be rated if playing table games. Many casinos will comp your meal depending on your table play often including your partner as well. Finally, before going to Las Vegas do a good deal on online research for food options. Many casino restaurants have their menus online but what you will also find out is some casino restaurants offer a special that is not on their menu or advertised other than by word of mouth. This will help you devise a food budget for your trip and get the best value for your food dollar. We have made several trips where the only money we spent for food was at one casino offering an unadvertised special that I will post on one such special shortly.

Shrimp

Vegas buffets generally include salads, seafood, meats, poultry, vegetables, fruits, deserts and breads. A bottomless non-alcoholic drink comes with the meal and some buffets offer complimentary wine. Peel and eat shrimp seems to appear on just about every buffet. The shrimp is always good size for dipping in shimp cocktail sauce. Lemon wedges are usually offered along with the shrimp. While most of the dishes are self-serve there is a meat cutter for the roast beef, turkey, prime rib and steak. Yes, they do have all you can eat steak buffets as well but usually on certain days. There is also all you can eat seafood buffets on certain days. I'll post on both of these later. Some buffets offer a variety of cuisines as well and some of these can be quite good. The dinner buffet at the Golden Nugget Casino is $17.99 per person on weekdays and $20.99 per person on weekends. The Buffet also offers a breakfast ($9.99) and lunch buffet ($10.99) Monday through Saturday with a brunch buffet ($17.99) on Sundays. The Las Vegas buffets usually offer a variety of cuisine as well giving you the opportunity to try other dishes.

Ribs with Collard Greens

The Buffet was quite varied and I did not take enough pictures to show it at its best. The decor is quite pretty with a lot of mirrors and lights. The seating is very comfortable and the service is excellent. I started off with a tossed salad made with salad greens topped with cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, thousand island dressing, sunflower seeds and black olives. My entre was meaty barbequed ribs in a tangy sauce, green beans, carrots and collard greens. Now green beans seem to tolerate buffet conditions well but carrots do not. It's hard to get carrots on a buffet that are not water logged. These carrots were borderline but the beans were nicely cooked with still a bit of crunch. I decided to try collard greens that one of our friends insisted was just fancied up spinach.

Collard greens are a member of the cabbage family, closely related to kale. They are popular in the southern states, often being referred to as mess o' greens because of the quantity. Collard greens are usually simmered slowly with a piece salt pork or ham hock to smooth any bitterness. They are served with fresh baked corn bread to dip into the pot-likker, the resulting highly concentrated, vitamin-filled broth. I have not seen collard greens in the stores here so will be adding them to the garden this year. I'm a bit late planting but it's been a cool spring so I still have plenty of time. This is one side dish I am going to make at home, tweaking until I get it similar to what was on the buffet. Texturally the collard greens differed from the often served steamed spinach or Swiss chard and unlike both which usually get a little butter and salt only, the collard greens had other flavours going on. Bright flecks of carrot dotted the collard greens along with bits of onion. I'm sure they were cooked with ham hock too. They were also seasoned somewhat lightly Cajun so that will be the trick to figure out. Once I figure out a recipe that works I will post it here.

Strawberries

Las Vegas is likely one of the only places a person can drink alcoholic beverages 24/7/365, always free flowing as long as you are gambling. Non-alcoholic beverages are also free flowing compliments of the casino. The problem is alcohol is a dieuretic as are tea and coffee. This is a bad combination in Las Vegas because your body is already losing a lot of water because you are in a desert. Folks forget that. It is essential when visiting Las Vegas to drink at least eight 8 - ounce glasses of water daily. Increase that amount if you are above average weight or height. For that reason our drink choice tends to be water with meals and we load up on both salad greens and fruits since both contain a good amount of water.

Strawberries and watermelon are two items that are commonly found on the Las Vegas buffets, likely because folks like them. They are an excellent refreshing choice for adding both nutrition and water without adding a lot of calories. So when you are in Las Vegas skip those tempting, calorie laden deserts and opt instead for a bowl of fruit for dessert. You body will thank-you :)

Glazed Pork Shoulder Roast

Pork shoulder roast is a family favourite. I like using some type of sauce usually tomato based or semi-sweet glaze. Quite often the semi-sweet glaze has a home canned jam, jelly or chutney as an ingredient for my glazes. Last night I decided on a semi-sweet glaze for the pork roast and as normal used the clay baker. A clay baker needs to be soaked in water before using for best results but it does cook a pork roast beautifully!

Glazed Pork Shoulder Roast
The glaze for this roast is very easy to make and can be use in one of two ways. Depending on the desired thickness of the glaze, pour over roast while raw (thicker) or about 15 minutes before the roast is cooked (thinner). For a variation, substitute the French dressing with Catalina or Russian dressing.

This pork roast was glazed while raw, then then basted a few times while cooking allowing the flavours of the glaze to penetrate the meat. I used low fat French dressing since there was a nice layer of fat on the pork roast. The apple jelly was homemade using the recipe in an earlier entry. The roast was served with basmati rice and home canned Kentucky Wonder green beans.

Glaze
1 c French dressing (low fat)
1/2 c apple jelly
1 tsp honey
3/4 tsp dijon mustard

Wisk together and pour over roast.

Pork Sirloin Dinner & Eco-Spuds

My husband stopped to pick up two items, one being potatoes. He forgot the other item but managed to make a splurge purchase on pork sirloin chops.

Eco-Spuds

I must say I'm impressed. He bought Eco-Spuds something I have not seen in this area before. These are Adora light creamy golden fleshed potatoes are grown using ecological practices developed by the World Wildlife Fund Canada. The potatoes were grown from non-chemically treated seeds. They are not genetically modified and were grown using natural pest management, plant nutrition and health as well as protecting the natural environment. No herbicides are used and no chemicals treatments are used during storage. Despite all the pluses, I did not see the word organic on the bag which I found rather surprising. According to the labelling, these potatoes can be boiled, roasted, baked, stewed or fried. The store well at home and will not discolour after cooking.

It was a beautiful sunny and mild day yesterday so we decided to cook dinner on the outdoor natural gas grill. The potatoes were rolled in seasoned olive oil then wrapped in foil to bake on the grill.

Pork Sirloin Chops

The itch to grill outdoors was just too great for my husband yesterday. One look at these beauties and I could see why. There is just something about seeing a good cut of meat that gets your mouth watering well before it is ever cooked. There were six lovely pieces about an inch and half thick. While pondering how to prep them for grilling, I spotted the bottle of Stubb's™ Original Bar-B-Q Sauce I picked up at the last ribfest. We don't use a lot of barbeque sauce so I thought it would be a nice change. The sauce was applied using a silicone brush after the first turn.

Plated

Dinner consisted of the grilled sirloin chops, sauteed mushrooms, the grilled potatoes, steamed baby carrots and cottage cheese. The chops were nice and tender, lightly flavoured with the barbeque sauce. True to the promise on the potato bag, the potatoes had a fantastic taste. It is more gourmet in flavour and texture with thin skin, shallow eyes. I will definitely be buying these potatoes again. They are more expensive at $3 per 10 lb and here they are only available at one store chain but the flavour alone without even the the ecological benefits are well worth it! An added bonus is they have a 30% lower calorie value than Russet potatoes which is good news for those watching their caloric intake. According to one source no butter or milk is needed to make a smooth creamy mashed potato! I will report back whether they actually do make smooth creamy mashed potatoes

A Bit of Everything: Two Homemade Cheeses, Crystal Cut Candy, and Roast Beef

I love experimenting and playing in the kitchen. This is the perfect time of the year to experiment just a little while relying on tried and true recipes for gift giving and meals. I've been doing a lot of canning for Christmas gift baskets and to restock my jellies. Yesterday I decided to take a bit of a break from canning to do a little dehydrating, freezing, cheese making and candy making. After a day spent doing a lot of genealogy and playing in the kitchen, a pot roast was the ideal meal!

(November 7, 2006 additions to this post. What was I thinking? I forgot to add the sourcing so have made those corrections. )

Ricotta Cheese

Ricotta cheese is a creamy white cheese with a rich mildly sweet taste and grainy texture. Homemade ricotta cheese is very easy to make. It is best made in small batches because ricotta does not keep long. So make it fresh in small amount and use up within a week. This is a cheese best used fresh as it does not freeze well. Ricotta cheese can be used in main dishes and desserts. Two notes when making ricotta cheese. Use a high fat milk. The higher the cream content the creamier the ricotta cheese will be. Low fat milks will not work well for this recipe. I prefer using pure cider vinegar as it give a slightly better flavour to the finished cheese.

Ricotta Cheese
Source: unknown

1 qt 3.25% MF Milk
1/8 c white or cider vinegar

Heat milk to 180ºF. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar. The milk will separate into curds and whey. Let the mixture sit to develop curds. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Pour the milk mixture into the strainer and allow to drain until curds are dry but moist. This will take two to four hours. Transfer the curds to a container and seal.

Yogurt Cheese Setup
Source: unknown and one handed down through the family, modified by me to use homemade yogurt

I make a lot of yogurt and the method can be found in an earlier blog entry. Not only do we eat a lot of plain yogurt since we eat it daily, I use plain yogurt for dips, cooking and making cheese. Yogurt cheese is very easy to make and it is quite versatile. It is a very creamy cream cheese that can be flavoured with fresh herbs or other seasonings. It is perfect for spreding on crackers as a base for appetizers.

The setup for making yogurt cheese is rather simple. Line a strainer with cheese cloth. Pour in about 2 cups of plain yogurt. The higher the fat content, the creamier the cheese will be. Homemade yogurt is perfect for this. Set the stainer and yogurt on top of a container then lightly cover the top of the yogurt with the cheese cloth. Put the entire setup into the refrigerator and let drain 18 to 36 hours. The long the cheese drains the firmer it will be.

Yogurt Cheese

Once the cheese it at the desired consistency you can stir in seasoning or leave as is. Transfer the cheese into a 8 oz (250 ml) wide mouth mason jar. Place a lid on then vacuum seal. Store in the refrigerator. Use as a spread for bagels or crackers. It makes a nice dip base too, simply use in place of cream cheese. This makes a lovely gift just be sure to keep it refrigerated.

Old Fashioned Crystal Cut Candies

Crystal cut candies are an old fashioned candy with a lot of flexability. They are perfect for gift giving. Flavour and colour as desired. You can use candy molds or cut into square puffs the old fashioned way as described in the instructions.

Crystal Cut Candies
Source: Better Homre and Gardens®, Cookies and Candies, 1972. Meredith Corporation, 1966, New York. Pp. 82.

2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c water
dash of salt
food colouring
candy flavouring

Combine ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook to soft-crack stage (290ºF). Add desired food colouring and 4 to 6 drops of candy flavouring like oil of cinamon. Gently swirl the mixture to blend. A neat trick I use is to drop two or three colours of food colour on top of the candy after adding flavour. Then I use a toothpick to create multi-colour swirls for an interesting effect. Pour the candy into a 8"x8"x2" metal pan. Do not use glass and be very careful as the candy is hot enough to cause burning. Let stand a few minutes until a film forms over top. Mark the candy into 3/4" squares being very careful to not break through the film. The candy will cool from the edges first. Go over the markings pressing downward slightly but not breaking the film. Continue this procedure until the candy has cooled. Once cooled pop out of the pan and break into pieces. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup icing sugar over the candy for storage in an air tight container.

My Notes: Instructions for crystal cut candies have modified to get the results pictured.

Roast Beef Dinner

After a day full of genealogy and cooking a nice easy meal straight from the oven is a true delight. I put a small rib eye roast into a roasting pan, seasoned with Worchestershire sauce, Montreal steak seasoning, sliced onions and a little water. This cooked for about 2 hrs at 275ºF. I added potato, carrot and turnip pieces along with whole mushrooms and raised the temperature to 350ºF and let the roast and vegetables continue cooking until the vegetables were cooked. The roast was removed to rest before slicing and the vegetables were transferred to a serving bowl. I used the juices to make gravy by adding mushroom powder, salt, pepper and thickened with a corn starch slurry. The end result was a nice meal with very little effort.

Enjoy!