Let the Cookie Extravaganza Begin!

03. November 2008 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

It’s that time of year.

“Election Season?”

Well, yeah, but that’s not what I’m talking about…

“Autumn? Leaves falling? Raking? I didn’t know there were leaves to rake in Nebraska…”

Yes, that too…but keep with me here…

It’s COOKIE TIME!

“So soon?”

In the Vollmer house, yes. Actually, this year is going to be extra early because I’ll be in Florida for most of December for some Air Force training.

But I typically do the cookie thing a little early anyway…

In 1997, I spent Christmas in Tuzla, Bosnia. It was surreal, the amount of kindness that gets showered upon servicemembers from all over the country! We had stacks of care packages taller than me in one corner of our weather office, filled with sweets, treats and books/magazines! And the “any servicemember” mail we received was so touching. Wasn’t I cute back then? I guess I was about 24 years old.

Note: This picture was part of a media photo shoot, a story was written up for the base paper about me and the work I was doing on the base.  One of those “in case there’s nothing better to report” kinds of things, but I don’t think it ever ran.  The hard copy print of this picture is one of the first digital photo printouts I’d ever seen, incidentally.


I’ve tried to send cookies to deployed folks every Christmas season since.

So this is the 11th year, and even after 9/11, when the military shut down “any servicemember” mail, I’ve known people in the hostile file zones every year…with a definitive address to send cookies.

That being said, I want to get the cookies sent out by the US Postal Service deadlines. One of the recipients this year is in an “093” zip code (within Iraq) so I need to get them mailed by December 4th.

I’ve typically done the cookies over Thanksgiving weekend, giving me the last week of November to get them mailed out. But this year Thanksgiving is late — so I expect to do the baking the weekend prior to Thanksgiving.

I have a repertoire of cookies that have proven reliable for shipment to the Balkans and the Middle East over the years, from biscotti to oatmeal cookies with Hershey kisses inside.

I will make a full recipe of Neiman Marcus cookies. Honestly, I don’t care whether the legend is true or not, the cookies are fantastic and a big hit no matter where they’re sent. I make them nice and small so they don’t fall apart in transit.

For the past couple years, I’ve attempted to get the boys involved…last year Jake wanted to break all the eggs, and then they both enjoy rolling the oatmeal cookies in the colored sugars. Hopefully this year they can do a little more, like measuring flour and adding ingredients to the bowl.

I’ll go ingredient shopping next weekend – I even joined Costco today, in part because of the outstanding deals on bulk sugar, flour and eggs.

I’ll keep you posted with pictures later this month!

Taking Stock!

14. August 2008 · Comments Off on Taking Stock! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I get to blog about cooking again, yay! Vegetarians, avert your eyes!

Incidentally, the Offutt AFB commissary just so happens to be the nearest grocery store to our house. How cool is that? There’s a store called Baker’s nearby, but it’s just a couple more traffic lights away. I take 4-lane divided highways to the base, and an exit dumps me out about a mile from the gate nearest the commissary in 10 minutes.

So I check out the selection — not the biggest commissary I’ve been to (that distinction goes to Ft. Bragg), but definitely not the smallest (NAVMAG Lualualei, where I lived from 1977-1980, wins that one). They carry local produce (sometimes) and has a sushi bar and a decent organic foods selection. I see that whole chickens are only $3-4 each, and they’re sized perfectly for our family. About 1/2 the price per pound compared to the Tyson “Whole Chicken Cut-up”. So I pick one up and dissect it for a couple of meals. The breasts went into chicken soft tacos, and last night I oven-fried the leg quarters. Yum.

I’m left with the carcass and wings. I stuck them in the freezer over the weekend and today I started to think about making a chicken ettouffee either Friday or Saturday. My favorite recipe in the whole wide world!

So I decided to break out the carcass and get it simmering on veggies for some homemade stock. I don’t do this often, I typically take the lazy route and use the Swanson’s stuff. I also delved into the blogosphere a bit to see what folks are saying about making chicken stock. Holy cow — who woulda thunk there was so much to say about it?

But I was particularly interested in this posting — everything you EVER wanted to know about chicken stock. Enjoy! It’s definitely rated PG-13 for some frank discussions of chicken parts.

The BEST Banana Nut Bread!

03. June 2008 · Comments Off on The BEST Banana Nut Bread! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags:
This isn’t the best picture of my latest baking creation, but hopefully it captures the quality of this recipe!

Today I made my favorite banana bread recipe. In this case, it ISN’T a Pioneer Woman recipe.

It’s from my handy-dandy Betty Crocker cookbook…one of my wedding gifts from a billion* years ago.

*Billion = 12 1/2

Anyway, I had 3 old bananas that I wanted out of my fruit basket before I populated it with fresh non-spotted ones from Harris Teeter. (Semi-useless factoid: The ethylene gas emitted from ripe bananas hastens ripening of other fruit). So I picked up some buttermilk at the store today, and found a small stash of chopped walnuts leftover from my holiday baking.

I use a 9″ long bread loaf pan, so all the batter goes into the one pan. Let it cook till the edges are VERY brown so the center is cooked through. One loaf allegedly makes FORTY-EIGHT servings. I try, but the best I can do is 40 very small pieces. Today’s loaf will cut into about 36, I think.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

16. April 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags:

“WHAT???”

“Eeewwww….doesn’t that defeat the purpose of chocolate chip cookies? Sinful bliss?”

Well, does it HAVE to be so sinful?

Okay, a little truth time here. I had everything to make chocolate chip cookies for the family, you know, that recipe on the back of the bag of the 12 oz. Nestle Chocolate Chips.

Except for white flour. I go through about 5 lbs. of all purpose flour per month on all the assorted things I make for the family: pancakes, waffles, cake, pie crusts, rolls, biscuits, etc.

But I had plenty of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, which has a similar gluten content to all-purpose flour and can be used nearly interchangably.

So in this case, I made a Betty Crocker Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

And my kids didn’t know any better — happy faces all around. With 1g of fiber per cookie to boot!

My Latest Cake Creation

09. April 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

This is my latest cake creation. Duff Goldman, I’m not.

This was made in honor of my reserve flight’s outgoing commander, Lt Col Chuck Buckler. He drinks 6-8 cans of Diet Coke daily, and we would watch him accumulate a pile of empty cans on his desk every drill weekend. Sort of horrifying, if you ask me…all those chemicals.

Anyway, making the Diet Coke shaped cake was Paul’s idea. Paul will be my commander after Lt Col Buckler leaves. I guess starting in mid-May, you’ll be seeing me call him Major Gifford. 🙂

I offered making a Diet Coke cake, but it seemed to gross everyone out.

I really wanted the gray-colored icing to be more silvery, but I was limited in my resources. I ordered some silver food coloring from a British retailer (only 5 Pounds! Which comes to about $11 U.S.!) Someone more professional might have been able to hook up her food-quality airbrush and spray it on, but I wasn’t that lucky. I mixed in the coloring into some white buttercream and ended up with a white sparkley icing…not gray at all! Hence the addition of a little black coloring to make the gray tone. The picture doesn’t show the subtle sparkle that well.

Underneath? One layer of white cake, one layer of devil’s food, the cake was trimmed to look like a half-cylinder on its side.

More cake pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/vollmerdp/CokeCake

Enjoy!

Toaster Oven Update

03. April 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Thanks everyone for your comments/advice. We are definitely a “toaster oven” family, I don’t think we’ve owned a standard toaster in our 12 1/2 years of marriage. Don’t know why — I think it’s because we received a great toaster oven from Dave’s parents the first Christmas after we got married (1995) and it’s just seemed crazy to me to have both a toaster oven and a standard toaster. That first toaster oven lasted until we sold out FL house in 2005 and the unit was hard mounted under a kitchen cabinet and figured the new owners might like it there.

Dave got a good deal on the same toaster oven at Linens ‘n Things, so he bought it while I was in VA visiting my Mom with the boys.

At our yard sale on April 20th, some lucky soul will get to buy a very good condition toaster oven without a rack for $2 OBO.

Support Assistance Request

31. March 2008 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,


Hi!

Oops, I did it again. I committed a brain fart and now I’m in need of a replacement RACK for our toaster oven. I popped in these little dessert h’or deurves the other night and the directions said they could bake in these little plastic “oven proof” trays that came with the dessert. Well I put the oven on about 100 degrees too hot and the pan melted all over the rack. So the rack is in the trash and I’m in need of the new one.

We really like our toaster oven, but for now I have to tell the boys, “No frozen waffles, bagels, English muffins or toast for breakfast.” I’ve been searching searching searching on the web for a replacement rack and so far, no luck.

Black and Decker makes a billion different kinds of toaster ovens and I can’t seem to find a replacement for my particular model.

And before you ask, no, I’d rather not just run to the store and get a new toaster or toaster oven. The one we have is pretty new (less than 2 years old) and we’re feverishly trying to get rid of stuff in advance of our move, so getting a new toaster would defeat the purpose…

So if anyone is more astute than me at finding a replacement oven rack for a B&D TRO390W, please let me know. Leave a comment!

Emeril’s Chicken Etouffee

21. March 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags:

One of my favorite recipes — and when made with a little less cayenne and hot sauce, it’s becoming a favorite of the kids, too!

Emeril’s Chicken Etouffee. Etouffee is basically a variant of a stew with lots of “aromatics” and flavorful herbs and spices. Popular in Cajun cooking, the definition I found gives it Creole roots. The two are NOT the same. No matter who takes credit for it, it’s incredibly delicious.

Admittedly, this is one of the more labor intensive recipes in my family’s repertoire, but it’s SO GOOD, it’s worth the work. I make this up 3-4 times per year for the family, and the recipe linked above makes enough for my family of 4, plus another dinner for just Dave and me, if I made Spaghetti-o’s or Macaroni and Cheese for the boys.

Things go most smoothly when I cut up the chicken and chop the aromatic veggies well ahead of time. I’ll spare you pics of cutting up a whole chicken, but that was the first thing I did…disassemble a whole chicken.

Side note: from a financial standpoint, the cost of a whole “fryer” chicken is about 1/2 of the cost of a “whole chicken cut up”. If you’re willing to learn how to dissect it on your own, in about 10 minutes, you not only save a few dollars, but you also can keep the back, neck, organs and giblets for other uses.

So after the chicken, I cut up the peppers (2 large) and one really-large-honkin’-onion:

From 2008 03 20 Em…

From 2008 03 20 Em…

From 2008 03 20 Em…

From 2008 03 20 Em…

You might notice that the recipe calls for celery, too…I usually include a little, but I forgot to pick some up at the store this morning, so I omitted it. No biggie, means more onions!

Next, I oil up the pot, season the chicken with lots of Tony Chachere’s seasoning instead of the salt and cayenne (hey, I’m serving young children here!) and sear all sides. So here’s a gory close-up of the seasoned chicken. The inside is still raw, so don’t drool too much…yet.

From 2008 03 20 Em…

With the oil and remnants of the seared chicken and spices in the bottom of the pot, throw in an entire stick of butter. Real butter. Margarine won’t cut it here.

(As our friend the Pioneer Woman would say, “Hey, I never said it would be healthy!”)

From 2008 03 20 Em…

Once the butter melts, turn the heat down to straight medium and sprinkle in the 3/4 c. of flour. Put on some comfy shoes and start to stir…you’ll be doing this for a while. This is the foundation for a good-old-Cajun “roux”. The recipe calls for “chocolate” colored roux…when you first start, your roux is basically the color of the butter you just melted. It takes 10-15 minutes for it to darken down to “chocolate” colored…but from there it can quickly turn to “Burnt”, so I tend to stop at a peanut-butter color.

Here are before and after shots of the roux process…this took about 15 minutes.

From 2008 03 20 Em…

From 2008 03 20 Em…

See the difference?

Then you throw in the onions, celery and bell peppers…do this quickly. And quickly get as much of the roux around the veggies as you can…there’s a lot of heat in the roux that can help the veggies cook down. And the smell that will fill your kitchen will be DIVINE!

Afterwards, add the bay leaves and 2 cloves of minced garlic and continue to cook down.

From 2008 03 20 Em…

Between searing the chicken, making up a roux and stirring in all those veggies, you might have noticed the glop accumulating at the bottom of the pot. You’ve probably heard Emeril, Rachel, Bobby or Alton say “That stuff is FULL OF FLAVOR! We need to RELEASE THAT FLAVOR!”

So here’s where the beer comes in — the alcohol in the beer will dissolve the stuff at the bottom of the pan and will be able to blend right in with the roux/veggie mix. Get a wooden spoon/spatula ready…you’ll want to work quickly before all the alcohol cooks off!

From 2008 03 20 Em…

Get ready? Get set? GO! Pour in the 12 oz. bottle of beer and use the wooden spoon to scrub scrub scrub the bottom of the pan! If I weren’t using one hand to hold the camera in this picture, I’d be simultaneously pouring and scrubbing the pot with my wooden spoon.

From 2008 03 20 Em…

And again, the kitchen will be smelling like you’re running your very own Cajun restaurant! Brennan’s, the Apex, NC branch!

Now you add the remaining liquids, which include the Worstershire and hot sauces.

From 2008 03 20 Em…

Yes, that’s Texas Pete hot sauce there, and NOT Louisiana’s own McIlhenny’s Tabasco Sauce…but Texas Pete (despite the name) is a North Carolina tradition, and I have to thank an AF friend and Hickory, NC native, Rick Sapp, for introducing me to it in 1996. Besides, Texas Pete is a bit more mild than Tabasco and this is a family show here. I personally like Tabasco a little bit better, but Texas Pete passes muster here…especially for Buffalo Wings.

Okay, enough about the hot sauce.

Finally! Time to add the chicken back into the pot…

From 2008 03 20 Em…

Let it all come to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 1:15 hours. Pull the chicken off the bones — it should come off easily by this point, return the meat to the pot, and simmer for another hour or so. The chicken pieces will start to take on a stringiness that means “I’m ready to eat now!”.

Ladle the hot etouffee over a bed of rice (or other starch of your choice, although I can’t see it served any other way). Sprinkle on chopped fresh parsley…I didn’t have any on hand today, so that was omitted along with the celery.

From 2008 03 20 Em…

(You’re looking at my second helping here…I forgot to photograph the first serving, I guess I was that famished after smelling the etouffee all afternoon!)

This recipe is a hit with visitors, and if you’re serving more than 6 adults, you could double the recipe quite easily…you’ll have to sear the chicken in shifts, and use a bigger pot.

P.S.: Have the Tums or Pepto Bismol ready if you try to have 2 servings like I did. Oops.

Pioneer Woman’s Chocolate Pie

24. February 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Pioneer Woman had posted this recipe for a chocolate pie right before Valentine’s Day, and I had briefly pointed out her latest posting, but didn’t get around to actually trying the pie until tonight.

I’m improving from my bout with the flu, and had enough energy to catch up on chores (laundry, vacuuming, general straightening of the house). I made arrangements to start my 2-weeks tour on Tuesday instead of Monday, which bought me another day to pack and prepare some meals for the boys in my absence.

I came across a spare ball of pie dough from when I was planning to make two quiches for my Stampin’ Up party last Thursday. Since turnout was pretty small, I opted to just make one quiche. So I blind-baked the pie crust and went forth to make the PW Chocolate Pie filling. I took PW’s advice and used the raw eggs, blending each one for 4-5 minutes before adding the next.

From 2008 02 24 PW…
From 2008 02 24 PW…
From 2008 02 24 PW…

This was a resounding success! Using pure baking chocolate with sugar made such a RICH chocolate flavor. I couldn’t even finish my sliver-of-a-piece…it was most delicious, so rich.

Chocoholics, Unite!

17. February 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags:

Oh my goodness!

« Older articles
Newer articles »