Summer Cucumbers

Did you have to help in the garden as a kid?  Boy we did.  In a family of 12, gardens became a large source of our food, ALL year.  My mom canned and froze dang near everything.  Tomato sauce, juice, spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes.  She would can, 200 qts of dill pickles and some bread and butter pickles.  Green beans, carrots and relish were also canned.  Green peppers, corn, and onions were frozen.  Picked beets were canned.  I could go on and on.  Fruits were canned and frozen as well.  We had to hoe, weed, dig, water, and pick.  I knew how to snap green beans before I could talk I think! 

Cucumbers were always my favorite.  We would sneak them out of the garden and eat them in vinegar and with salt.  We would take a salt shaker to the garden and steal tomatoes too!  What great memories.  I have grown into less of an outdoor girl but none the less I enjoy vegetable gardens!  Oh we even had potatoes a few times.....I had forgotten that until now.

This recipe is so much a part of my childhood.  My mom had one bowl in particular she would put the cucumbers in to sit with a random plate and huge bottle of vinegar to force out the liquid.  I can remember meals where we had sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, corn on the cob, maybe some green beans.  and that was it!  That was a summer meal at my house!  I loved it and I still do.

I know that this is easy.  It is very simple, but sometimes the simplest things are the tastiest.  I like to put up recipes for beginners, and readers in other countries.  I think more than anything it is the method with this recipe that makes it so good.  I can remember my mom slicing these SO thin.  No, she wasn't OCD at all.  I swear each slice had to be the same thickness and the actually had to be the same THIN-NESS.  She was meticulous about crazy stuff like that!  Sorry ma......but we both know it is true!

I used about 10 medium sized cucumbers.  Much of this recipes is to taste but I will give you the amounts I used on these "cuc's" as we call them at our house!

10 medium cucumbers
1 onion sliced
salt
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream (optional)

Peel cucumbers and slice.  I use my food processor but if you don't have one no worries.  Use a big bowl and slice a few then put them in the bowl, put on a layer of onion, salt GENEROUSLY and keep going.  Do this until all cucumbers are sliced and use all the onions.  (I went light on the onions, I don't like raw onion but I like the flavor it lends)

You will think you are going to die from high blood pressure with the amount of salt you are using but remember, we are drawing out liquid and you will drain that liquid off so you are good.  Put a plate of the top facing down, one that fits close to the edge and then put something heavy on top to weigh it down.

I let these sit for a good 3-4 hours, draining off the liquid as it accumulated.  They can go a lot longer with no problem.  It makes the cucumbers crunchy but limp which I love!  After you have drained them you simply add your vinegar and mix.  You can use any vinegar you want, I prefer apple cider.   You will know if you didn't use enough salt, because the bite of the vinegar will be overpowering so USE ENOUGH SALT!!   If vinegar is all you want on them which is the way I eat them you are done!!!  ENJOY!

Creamed Cucumbers
Do not add vinegar, add 1/2-3/4 cup sour cream and then just 1 tbsp vinegar.  Mix until thoroughly combined!  Now, you can enjoy YOUR version!!

And can I just warn you the longer these sit in your fridge the better they become!!!  I am certain most people have their own versions of this exact salad but this......is the Smith version!!

Your "cucumbers make the world go 'round" chefwannabe
 

Wait!! It just MOVED!! Tale of 2 Lobsters

(DISCLAIMER: This is a blog detailing the cooking of a live lobster.  If this offends you, please click out and do not read.  Thank you)

My mother-in-law texted me and said, "There is an early birthday gift being delivered for Hoss (my husbands nickname) on Friday.  It is perishable so I hope someone will be there. Well, she knows I am always home so that was no biggie, BUT she didn't tell me what the delivery was. 

Here is the phone dialog between my husband and I Friday morning...

Chris: George this delivery came and it is from Cape May Lobster House!
George: Did you open it?
Chris: NO, it is YOUR box, do you want me to?
George: Well, YESS.....

(I begin to unbox a huge styrofoam cooler, once I get it out of the box I see it is taped so I begin to remove the tape before asking...)

Chris: Should I take the tape off of the styrofoam cooler and open it?
George: YES!
Chris: Ok there are ice packs, and newspapers
George- Keep LOOKING!

(though I enjoy eating seafood I do not enjoy touching any that is uncooked or God forbid, ALIVE with apparent claws or pinchers which at this point, I do not suspect.  I carefully and slowly lift each layer of newspaper)

George- What IS it?
Chris- It looks like crabs, like HUGE blue claw crabs.
George- Christine it isn't crabs, look again
Chris- WHOA, it looks like HUGE lobster claws!
George- Are you sure it is just claws?  How many are there?
Chris- I don't KNOW George I am NOT touching them.  It looks like 4 or 8.

(I lean into the cooler, my eyes are bad and it was dim, so I go all in, face is 4 inches from crustation in question)

Chris- (screams) OMG, OMG, OMG, IT MOVED!
George- (hysterical laughter) It's lobster!?!
Chris- I think so!
George- Cover it back up with the newspaper and ice and shut the lid so they stay cold, because it makes them sleep. 
Chris- Ok.... (does as told)
Chris- OMG, I hear it MOVING in there!  Is it going to come through the cooler?
George- Chris their claws are banded they aren't coming through.
Chris- I can't stand that noise of them in there. I feel bad for them.  *after realizing there were two*
George- Are you going to name them and make them pets?
Chris- I already did.  Sebastian and Flounder
George- Funny I just thought of names for them too.  Dinner and Dessert

Ok so it went something very close to this.  I am not SO dramatic usually, especially over this, but I had NO idea what was in the box was alive and startled me when I had gotten in so close.  Meanwhile, my husband has given me a list of what I need to get at the store to prepare the glorious lobsters his dad and stepmom sent him from his favorite lobster place from home, Cape May Lobster House.  Anyone been there?

I had never cooked lobster at home, in fact I only tried lobster a few months ago.  Sad shame I learned I like it in Nebraska, and not back east, on the shore where it is the specialty!  Anyway, considering the cost of lobster out here, I haven't cooked it at home since I learned I liked it.  My husband decided it was time to learn and after aquiring his requested item for cooking and he got home from work, he set out to teach me. 

This is the method my husband uses.  You may or may not like Old Bay Seasoning.  He learned it from his father, and has taught it to our son who hopefully one day will teach his children!  I love family recipes, methods and stories of the kitchen.  You can use beer in this, or you can just use very salted water to mimick the sea water.  He uses beer on crabs, but not lobster.

Here is what you will need to cook lobster OUR way!

LOBSTER(S)  These 2 happened to weight in at 5lbs and 5.5lbs respectively!
  

OLD BAY SEASONING
 

A pot or pots large enough to submerge the entire lobster in

And a stomach not too weak to put them in the boiling water alive.  I know, I know, it disturbed me, until it was over and I was eating......Yum!

Fill your pots with hot water and bring to a boil  Add in approximately 1 tbsp of Old Bay for each quart of water used.  We used less because we didn't want the flavor of the Old Bay seasoning to overpower the delicate flavor of the lobster we just wanted to enhance it.  This isn't rocket science, just guess.  You can also just add a couple of tbsps of salt to your pot. 

When they come to a rolling boil, drop the lobsters in head first, upside down if possible.  Once the water comes back to a boil, cook until they are completely red.  Our lobsters cooked 14 minutes at a rolling boil.  Remember they were starting to cook already before they came back to a rolling boil! (probably 16 min in the water)  Hubs let them carry over cook 3-4 minutes when they were done!  Don't over cook or they will be so tough!  He cooked them PERFECTLY!

Here is an approximate guide for cooking your lobster:
1lb Lobster/4-5 min.
1 1/4lb Lobster/6-7 min.
1 1/2 lb Lobster/7-9 min.
2 lb Lobster/10-12 min.
3 lb Lobster/ 12-13 min.
4 lb Lobster/13-15 min
5-6lb Lobster/ 18-20 min

You will know your lobster is done when the shell is completely red.  Don't worry about all the tricks and wives tales about pulling antennaes or anything like that.  Just go with this guide!! 

PERFECTION

I got an entire lesson on the cracking and cleaning of the lobster.  We dipped them in melted butter.  Neither of us are big on clarified, if you roll that way go for it!

I recall snapping this as he was saying, OMG look at the size of this claw meat, I can't believe I got it out in one piece!

I hope you enjoyed the drama, and hair raising experience this was.  I have a video, but in the name of respect, I am not posting it.  Besides all you can hear is me being a drama queen.  Imagine that?!?

Your "lobsters are DEFINITELY good eats for my birthday boy"

chefwannabe

Cheese Frenchee's!

I remember going through Kings Drive-In when my family would travel to Lincoln, NE.  I remember onion petals and cheese frenchee's! 

When my husband and I moved back to the midwest, one of my sisters suggested taking the hubs for one.  He was madly in love.  However, once I found out there was mayo or a mayo substance involved I was out like a light! 

These hot, cheesey little packages of crunchy love are a great accompaniment for soup, a salad, or just a snack.  These are not something I have ever made, this was my first attempt.  I knew what I needed, the ingredients are stupidly easy and likely things you already have on hand.  However, I forgot to check the bread situation and so I had to use hamburger buns.  Was it a complete fail?  NO!  In fact hubs told me he liked them better that way, that they were "fun" because they were round.  Hmm...proof he is just a grown up little boy sometimes! 

These are fried.  I feel like I have been posting alot of fried recipe rewinds as well.  I am not sure why that is, I certainly don't make a habit of frying things, I guess it just what I have been posting.  In regards to that, hubs informed me he didn't think I fried them because they were SO, "not" greasy.  I don't know, but I am glad.  I fried them in peanut oil like I always fry things and drained them on a paper towel. 

Let us get to what we need here.  The ingredients will completely depend on how many cheese frenchee's you want to make.  I will go with what I made which is 6.  Bread and cheese are up to the amount you want to make.  This recipe does use cheese wrapped in plastic.  Freaks me out, but it is what makes it closest to the real deal.  Just close your eyes and do it!

Hellmanns

2 cups bread crumbs (I used fresh)

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

6 hamburger buns (or 12 slices of bread)

6 slices of kraft cheese singles

salt and pepper

Peanut oil

In a pan with high sides, fill with peanut oil  Just enough to cover have of the thickness of your sandwich so it will fry evenly!  Heat to 325 degrees.  In a bowl whisk together eggs, milk and salt and pepper to taste.  In a seperate bowl add in breadcrumbs and salt those as well. 

Assemble sandwiches.  Mayo on both sides, cheese in the middle.  Tear the cheese to get it to the size of your bun or bread, you don't want any hanging out of the edges.  Assemble all sandwiches before frying, I think it is easiest. 

Dip sandwich in egg mixture, covering it completely, then over to the bread crumbs and then into the oil! 

BE CAREFUL these will burn easy!  You want your oil to be hot enough to fry it, but cool enough not to brown it faster than the cheese melts.  Got me?  Fry until golden brown and flip, frying again until it is golden brown.  Drain on paper towels and then serve!

See how easy?  I wouldn't lie about easy guys!  If it were me, I might even add a squirt of hot sauce into that egg mixture but you know how I feel about hot sauce!

Hoping your 4th of July was filled with fun, friends, family and tons of FIREWORKS!!

Your "wishing the neighbor would run out of firecrackers"chefwannabe

Swiss Meringue Butter Cream

And lavender roses are my favorite!  Sterling roses.  No thorns.  Perfect.  "Every now and then, um, everybody's entitled to too much perfection".  Know the movie?  One of my all time favorites! 

Now for the icing.  I love decorating with this icing.  I love how it tastes because it is only slightly sweet.  In fact it is SO slightly sweet I added extra sugar at the end.  *shrugs, no judging* HAHA!  I will warn you if you are not aware, this icing is the consistency of the creamiest sweet butter you have ever eaten.  I could not eat it on a regular basis, not that I would want or need to but, the consistency took me a second to get used to.   ON the cake, it is much better than just tasting it alone. 

YouTube Demonstration! 

Here is what you need:
(This will fill and decorate a 2 layer 9 inch cake) 

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
5 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups (3 US sticks) of butter cubed. DO NOT MICROWAVE!
2 tsp vanilla
Coloring - optional

In a double broiler set up, add in sugar and eggs.  Make sure simmering water underneath is NOT touching your bowl or pot.  Whisk continuously, when you test the mixture between your fingers you should feel no sugar grit.  When it smooth, it is done and the egg whites are safe and ready!  Pour mixture into your standing mixer bowl.  Yes, I would use a standing mixer, there is SO MUCH mixing involved.  If you have only a hand mixer just be ready to work it!  Using your whisk attachment whisk egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks and the bowl feels room temp to the touch.  If it is to warm, it will melt your butter!.  Add in butter a little bit at a time.  Do not dump it all in at once.  Now is where the mixing forever comes in.  After all the butter has been added let it roll.  It may take up to 10 minutes or better to get this into one cohesive mixture.  It may at one point look clumpy, do not freak out.  It will do this before it comes together, just keep the mixer going!  Add vanilla at any point during the mixing and food color at the end.  I used Wiltons VIOLET with a light hand to get this lavender that some might mistake for silver or gray. 

When it is done, using a Wilton 1M tip and a piping bag,  start creating your roses.  You can practice on a plate or baking sheet and then scrap them back into the bowl. 

I hope this is helpful.  And I am so glad so many of you loved the cake.  I am no professional so I take the easy things and try to create fun stuff.  I loved how this turned out.  It was for my sister for her birthday.  I think this cake would be perfect for a bridal shower too!!  It is so sweet and has the look of "shabby chic" roses.

Thank you again for all of your kind words when I posted the photo of this cake a couple of days ago on my Facebook Fan page!!   

Your "feelin' a little rosey" chefwannabe

PS.  If you want to be sure your egg white and sugar mixture cools properly, you can put it in the fridge for 30-45 minutes before beginning the whipping process.  (right after taking off the simmering water)

Who feels crabby? Easy Crab Dip

I LOVE that you all have opinions.  I loathe fence riders and you certainly let me know!  Some of you are staunch real crab meat lovers and some like imitation, a few don't mind either.  I am a real crab only girl and I don't like it mixed with anything.  It is such a sweet, delicate flavor I don't want anything to ruin it for me!

My husband, a coast boy, who loves almost all seafood, also occassionally enjoys imitation crab meat.  I know in small towns and rural areas, you are lucky to even find the imitation!  I loathe canned crab. Ack!

So hubby got sent to the store, and if you have followed me for awhile you know how a trip for 2 things turns into a 100.00 shopping trip.  Friday was no exception.  He found some imitation crab meat and bought it because, ya know, he thought I might "make me a hot dip for while we have some drinks". Of course darling, I would LOVE to.  Does your husband ever do that?  Mine does and even though he wasn't sure what would be in said dip, he brought home a few things I could add and had some idea's on where I should go with this recipe.   I mean, of course he would have an opinion!  He ALWAYS has one!  That is what I love about him.  Umm...right? HA!

I am sure this is really a pretty standard recipe.  I am likely not the first person to come up with it, however, it is just what I had in the fridge that I thought might work.  It did and he loved it!  I made a half recipe but I will give you the full recipe amounts.  I would use an 8x8 or 9x9 casserole to bake it in!  Dip bagel chips, pita crisps, or crackers!  The choice is yours and the choices are endless!

Here is what you will need....

8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup Hellmanns!
1 3/4 cup crab meat.  (I chopped half very fine and left half quite a bit chunkier)
1/2 tsp Sriracha (or any hot sauce optional)
1/4 tsp black or white pepper
1/2 cup grated parm or Italian mix cheese (mix half in with mixture and half on top)

(I would also add a scallion, chopped fine either mixed in or on top, hubs hates onions)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees!  In a small bowl combine cream cheese, Hellmanns, crab meat, hot sauce, pepper and half of the cheese. 

Spread into a baking dish 8x8 or similiar.  Spread evenly, and then sprinkle remaining cheese on top.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Make sure to check at 20 and make sure it is bubbling and the cheese is melted!  Garnish with chopped parsley or green onion if you prefer!

Serve with your choice of crackers or crisps or chips!

Your "sometimes I feel crabby "chefwannabe...

French Silk Pie!

As a kid I can remember my mom going to "the city" which was Grand Island, Nebraska and once in a great while "splurging" on a piece of french silk pie and bringing it home.  It was heaven, pure chocolate heaven.  It was nothing like I had ever tasted and I couldn't WAIT until I was able to drive, I was going to go to Grand Island and get my own dang piece of pie one day!  Great goals eh?  Yea well.......come on I was a city kid at heart trapped in small town America and I was bustin' out baby!

Well, when I asked my mom about a recipe for it years and years ago, she told me she didn't have one but thought it was really difficult to make so I never even looked any further.  Well now that I am an advanced wannabe (in my mind anyway) I was ready to find this recipe, divide and conquer!

That being said, I waited a long time to find a recipe with cooked eggs.  Traditionally this pie has raw eggs in it.   This is the only kind of pie I will eat.   Last week, on that fateful day  I was surfing You Tube as I normally do and there it was.   There was the video I had been waiting for, showing how to make it.   I thought there was no way it could be that easy. I mean yes, there are alot of steps and you will dirty alot of bowls and dishes, but who cares?!?!? This is...FRENCH. SILK. PIE. we are talking about! (was that really even a sentence? Nah, I didn't think so).   This is the channel in which I found it.  I emailed this user and never heard back but it wouldn't be right to not link you to his channel , croutonsandcrackerjacks. 

Let us delay no longer.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to let this puppy sit at least 8 hours.  Pfftt...I was like, you have GOT to be kidding me.  But I did it! 


Here is what you need to get started!
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 squares of UNSWEETENED baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick of butter softened to room temperature (NO margarine)
1 cup whipping cream (
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1 pie crust, blind baked and cooled. (350-10-15 min, or until done)

Topping
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp powdered sugar
Chocolate shavings (optional)

Ok here is where I change things a little.  The order in which you prepare your steps. 

1. Prepare pie crust and let it cool.

2. Melt chocolate, 30 seconds at a time in the microwave.  Took me 3 times.  Let cool.  I didn't let me cool completely and it was still just fine.

3. Combine sugar and eggs in a saucepan.  Whisk constantly and let come up to 160 degree's.  It will cook the eggs to make them safe but not make scrambled eggs!

4.  Poor cooled melted chocolate into eggs/sugar mixture, then add in vanilla.  Combine thoroughly and let cool 1 to 2 hours.  (or for you fellow impatient folk, put that baby in an ice bath and careful stir here and there and cool it in 20-30 minutes) Just sayin...

5. While it is cooling, whip 1 cup whipping cream just beyond soft peaks or to practically stiff peaks like I did. 

6. Beat butter until it is fluffy

7. When chocolate mixture is cooled,  pour it into the butter and beat until smooth, then carefully fold it into the whipped cream and fold until totally combined!

8.  Pour into prepared pie shell and refrigerate at least 8 hours, mine was overnight and then some.  My GOD the perfection of it all.

Before serving, cover in whipped cream, spread it, pipe it, or whatever method you want to use!  You can also top that with shaved milk chocolate shavings!


I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.  I had to wait to cut it to see if it really worked, it had to have the "French Silk Pie" texture, you know?  It does and boy is it fantastic!!

Your "there is NOTHING I can't do now"chefwannabe

Swiss Cheese Dip!

So, I was in the grocery store the other day.  Sometimes I shop that store as if it holds a single golden coin somewhere in the aisles of product.   I am obsessed with finding new things to try or to incorporate into a recipe.  I like new and exciting stuff, even if it is stuff I don't care to eat myself.

We are "picky" eaters.  I don't mean we are choosey about food, we call chips, dip, finger foods, "picky's".  My hubs is a chip and dip lovin' fool, and along with his love for all stinky feet cheese I knew it would be a hit.....

 

I was eyeballin' the specialty cheese case when I saw some cheese with a clearance sticker.  I was having a hard time getting to it as some managers were discussing rearranging right in the middle of the aisle. Why in billy heck they do this I have no idea.  It was annoying and each of the 3 times I tried to shoot for that piece of cheese I got, "Oh we are in the way aren't we?".  Hell yes you are, and you were in the way that last 2 times I tried as well.  Bleh.  Anyway, as I finally made my descent into the cheese case to grab that hunk of cheese a very nice woman named Fran asked me if I had ever tried the dip they make with that cheese at the holidays.  I told her I had not, and asked if she could give me the recipe.  She of course makes it with 5lb hunks of cheese so she sweetly gave me her approximated amounts for a small batch. I thanked her and went on my way, ready to make a delicious dip I would never even taste!

Now this being said, I feel like I prepared the dip wrong but I am going to share it anyway.  I feel like I should have put this entire mixture in my food processor.  My husband chimed in with, "maybe you should heat it and serve it hot".  Why do our husbands need to chime in?  HA!   In retrospect I would like to see this in the processor, but I imagine the taste is great either way, just maybe easier to get "all up on" a cracker if it was processed.

Admittedly I feel a little guilty, because this is so easy. I added to much onion for the hubs so now it is up to my sister to demolish the entire bowl.  I think it would be a nice touch to add green onion instead of chopped onion, for some color.  Here we go!

2 cups Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese
1/2 cup Hellman's (no miracle whip people)
1 tsp grated onion or 2 tsps minced onion
Pepper to taste

Shred cheese.  Add Hellman's and onion.  Mix thoroughly.  You can put this in your food processor and process until it is at your desired consistency or you can serve just as it is with crackers!


So here you go, easy, peasy, quick and cheesy!  I hope you enjoy it.  Might make a great 4th of July get together dip.  Something easy and different.  It will surely tempt the taste buds of everyone in your life who loves cheese that smells like......

Wishing you happy dipping!!  Let me know if you try it and put it in the processor or heat it!

Your "stinky feet and cheese loathing" chefwannabe

Chris