Pass it on: The Liebster Blog Award

I'd like to sincerely thank Pint Sized Baker for nominating me for the Liebster Blog Award. Having another blogger say that you are doing a great job is a welcome pat on the back and she really brightened my day! Thanks!

This Liebster Award has been around for a while but I couldn’t track down how or where it started. “Liebe” means “love” in German so this is a whole lot of blog love being shared around. How wonderful! Once a blogger is fortunate enough to be recognized, here are the rules of passing on this encouragement to others:

1) Thank your nominator (and link back!).
2) Nominate 5 other blogs, with less than 200 followers and post a comment on each blog letting them know they have been given the award.
3) Copy and paste the award onto your blog.

I would like to nominate the blogs listed below and want to tell them how much I am enjoying their blogs. As a new blogger myself, sometimes you don’t know who is reading your posts or how your content is being received by others. I know I am thrilled each time a new follower joins my blog and I want these bloggers to know that I have learned from them and appreciate the time they are putting into their blogs. Check out the links, I am sure you’ll want to get to know them too.

Simply This and That
The Stonybrook House
Melanie Ham Designs
The Cards We Drew
Tales of the Scotts

The Dime Test for your KitchenAid Mixer

I was really excited to receive a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas a year ago. I envisioned plans of freshly baked bread, batches of cookies, and delicious cakes all to be made with this mixer. Has that happened? Well…no, not exactly. I have used the mixer frequently but not as often as I intended. I get frustrated that I am forever stopping the mixer to clean the sides of the bowl with a spatula and to give the batter a quick mix to incorporate the bits that the mixer has missed.

I’ve seen advertisements for a special mixer blade that has softer edges that will scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl more efficiently. I found one at Homegoods recently but once it was in my kitchen I realized it was for a smaller bowl (4-5 quarts and mine is 5.5). I still may go online to purchase the right blade for my mixer but in the mean time I went on KitchenAid’s website for more information.

Did you know that there is an easy test you can do with your mixer to see if your beater blade is in the right position for its optimal performance? All you need is a dime. Here is the link to KitchenAid’s site with the specific instructions. Basically you put the dime in your bowl and turn it on to “stir”. You hope that your beater blade will gently nudge that dime around your bowl. Did mine? No—not even a whisper of movement on the dime!

This is an easy test with instant feedback. First find a dime.

Drop your dime into your bowl.

Turn to "stir" and see if the dime moves. Mine never does!

You can follow directions from the KitchenAid site to then try to adjust the height of your blade but I did not have any luck with that step. I could barely get the adjustment screw to budge and the little movement it made did not help to pass the dime test.

I wondered if anyone reading has tried the special mixing blades with any success? I hate for my mixer not to be used to its potential and would love to figure out the best fix.

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Raisin Bread French Toast

French toast is yet another reason to make homemade raisin bread. There is no comparison in the taste of this French toast as compared to one made with store-bought bread.

I followed a loose recipe: add some cinnamon & vanilla to a bit of milk & one egg. Whisk it all together then allow the slightly stale bread to soak up all of that goodness before you place it in a pan with a dab of butter. Cook one side for two minutes then flip to cook the second side. It’s a great (sweet) way to start the day!



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How to Clean a Cast Iron Grill Pan

I love to use my cast iron grill pan…cleaning it is another story. Even after one use it looks icky, for lack of a better word. You don’t want to dunk it in water and scrub it as you would a usual pan but you do need to take care of it so that it is part of your kitchen for years to come.

Here is what I do, all you need is kosher salt, a nylon scrub brush, and a VERY dirty grill pan.

  

1. Coat the pan with salt. I may have been too generous with the salt this go round so feel free to use less.


2. No water is necessary; simply start scrubbing with the nylon brush and the salt becomes a paste-like substance that helps to take the bits of food and grease right off the pan.


3. Brush the excess salt and gunk off the pan and you are done. If you need to season the pan you could brush it with vegetable oil and bake it at a very low temperature (200-250 degrees) for about 30 minutes.


The salt scrub process isn’t necessary every time. Usually you can wipe down your grill pan with a paper towel or cloth in between uses. Happy Grilling!

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Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Stock

This is no ordinary chicken noodle soup. The homemade stock made in the crock pot elevates it to a meal worth thinking about, waiting for, and devouring on a normal day—not the sort of day you usually associate with chicken noodle soup: the day when you are sick, tired, worn out and need something to warm you through. No, this is not that kind of soup, although it would work wonders on those days too. The simplicity of this soup is its strength. Combine a delicious stock with chicken, a few vegetables, some seasonings, and a small serving of noodles and you’ll have a flavorful soup that will put the store-bought, canned version to shame!

Ingredients:
3 cups of homemade stock
1 cup carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 chicken breast, cooked
1 cup of noodles, uncooked
salt & seasonings (thyme, oregano, whatever you wish)
parsley to garnish


Directions:
Soften the carrots, onion and celery with a TB of butter or a touch of oil for about 5-7 minutes. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the noodles. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the noodles, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the noodles are tender. Sprinkle with parsley if you wish.



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Rotisserie Chicken Stock in the Crock Pot

Buying a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store is an instant invitation to a tasty meal made quickly. Fajitas, chicken salad, tacos, and wraps are just a few of the directions your rotisserie chicken might lead you. Once the week is over and your chicken is on what looks to be its last leg, don’t throw out the rest. There is a delicious homemade chicken stock just waiting to be created with very little effort at all.

The beauty of this chicken stock recipe is that it really is NOT a recipe; it is a method to be followed loosely. Add the chicken, an assortment of vegetables—I used carrots and an onion because that is what was in my refrigerator, peppercorns and water, then let the crock pot do the work.  Other suggestions to add would be leeks, herbs like tarragon or thyme, celery; all of these would add flavor to your broth.

This broth is tasty enough to be sipped by the spoonful on its own; it is the star of its own show! I’ve made it once and now am giving the case of store-bought chicken stock in my pantry a funny look. How does it pretend to be the same stuff?? I made a chicken noodle soup with this stock which I’ll feature in a few days. Definitely the best I’ve tasted of its kind.

Ingredients I used: rotisserie chicken carcass, 1 cup of baby carrots, 1 onion sliced in half with skin left on, 10-12 peppercorns, 4 cups of water.

Crock Pot: Cook on low for 4-6 hours then strain the mixture to produce your lovely, homemade stock. I made three cups of stock with these ingredients.






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Teacher Appreciation: Tagxedo Apple Print

Do you need another teacher appreciation idea? Don’t wait—go right to http://www.tagxedo.com as soon as you finish reading this post. It’s almost too easy and too cute not to try it out. This website allows you to create a shape filled with any words you’d like. There are a variety of shapes, colors, and choices but you cannot go wrong with this apple for Teacher Appreciation week.

I plan on asking each student in my son’s class for a descriptive word or two about the teacher. Then I’ll enter all of the words into the Tagxedo site and it will produce a wonderful piece of artwork. I haven’t decided whether I’ll print a copy and frame it as the gift or if I’ll use the shape to print notecards for the teacher. What fun! The possibilities are endless. I am sure I’ll revisit this site for other holidays too—birthdays, Mother’s & Father’s Day, even for Thanksgiving or Christmas with a list of things our family is grateful for—I could get carried away!

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