Avocado Toast - Simplistic Decadence

If you know me, you know that I'm not always the first kid on the block to try something new. The smarter-than-me phones? Harry forced my iPhone 4s on me Labor Day, 2013. I only agreed because I drowned my flip phone the week before while fishing on Georgian Bay near Parry Sound, Ontario. I'm pretty happy with my phone now that I have it, but notice I have a 4s. Yes, there was a big release of the iPhone 6 a couple of months ago. So, still behind the times.

Given this, it should be no surprise that I had never heard of avocado toast until sometime after Labor Day, 2014. I came across an article via Yahoo Food explaining variations of avocado toast. I wondered "how can you modify something no one has ever heard of?" Apparently, I was quite wrong.

I could not name one thing wrong with the concept of avocado toast. I love avocado and don't eat it nearly often enough. Toast made from hearty, crusty bread? Sign me up. A drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper - maybe throw in a swipe of a garlic clove on the toast or a small squeeze of lemon or lime juice and I can't find anything to complain about.

I became slightly obsessed. For several weeks, avocado toast was my Monday lunch. A smoothie instead of cereal or oatmeal for breakfast to allow myself the toast for lunch. I learned that if I was at the store on Saturday, I could buy an under-ripe avocado and it would be perfectly ripe by Monday's lunchtime.

Then, the unthinkable happened. For a few weeks, every avocado was too ripe on Saturday. Maybe because it was the height of college football season and everyone wanted guacamole for the game. Or, was it because everyone else in central Ohio had read the article on Yahoo and decided they wanted to jump on the bandwagon?

I fell into a funk. I would pack my lunch with a sigh and resigned myself to waiting for avocado toast until Cinco de Mayo.

Then, last Saturday, a miracle of sorts occurred. We were getting our groceries on Saturday morning and there it was. The perfectly under-ripened small avocado. I saw the green showing through the flesh and I knew.

It was meant to be.

We already had crusty bread on our shopping list because we were having steak on the grill Sunday and I wanted bruschetta. We can't possibly eat a whole loaf of crusty bread during one meal, so I needed to plan a few other things to use it for.

Avocado toast. Only I didn't eat it for lunch on Monday.

Toast IS a breakfast food, after all.

Chicken and Dumplings from Scratch

When I was a kid, I can remember a couple of my friends' mothers making chicken and dumplings regularly. I still remember Mrs. Altizer whipping together a batch in no time at all one Sunday after church. Mrs. Kerschner made dumplings to serve with mashed potatoes on a week night!

The first time I ever made chicken and dumplings was after I'd been married for about five years. I used a recipe called "Chicken Fricassee and Dumplings" from a Betty Crocker cookbook that was a gift when I first got married in 1983. The ex-husband didn't like them because the chicken was still on the bones. I didn't like them because the dumplings were like biscuits - they weren't like the slippery dumplings I remember from my youth.

For years, the slippery (noodle-like) dumplings eluded me. I would occasionally make the drop dumplings, but I never found a recipe that told me what I was doing wrong. I had to satisfy that slippery-dumpling-craving with occasional visits to Cracker Barrel.

When I saw the picture for this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had found the dumplings of my memories. The recipe, from the Tasty Kitchen, is easy to follow and a bit different from standard noodles. When I make homemade noodles, the dough is very stiff. I mistakenly used the food processor the first time I made these dumplings but it wasn't necessary. I used the pastry cutter (sorry Alton Brown) to blend the butter into the dry ingredients and it's easy to stir the milk in with a silicon spatula.

The dough will be very soft and you need to use a lot of flour with this recipe to keep it from sticking to the work surface. Someday, when I'm all grown up, I'll remember to buy a pastry mat. Just a few light strokes with the rolling pin and I had a uniform thickness of about 1/8". Uniformity is NOT required when you cut the dumplings with a knife or rolling pizza cutter. Useless trivia: Cracker Barrel uses a special tool to insure uniform dumplings. The prep cook uses a sugar packet to size the cuts.

This day happened to be "Harry's making homemade chicken stock" day. I pulled about four cups from the huge, simmering stock pot and poured it into the smaller pot, added 4 cups of water and about one pound of cooked chicken.

Once the stock and meat was at a strong simmer, I added the dumplings. Go ahead and add the leftover flour from the table - it will help thicken the stock or broth into a nice stew-ish consistency. Simmer for about 20 minutes, taste checking the broth and dumplings.

I forgot and added my black pepper before I took the picture. I love lots of black pepper on anything creamy, so adjust accordingly.

You can use leftover chicken or maybe a deli-rotisserie chicken, along with packaged broth or chicken stock to speed up the process. Because we already had our chicken stock and picked meat, these homemade chicken and dumplings took me about 40 minutes to make.

Chicken and Dumplings from Scratch - serves 6

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cold butter
1 cup of milk (you might need a little less)
2 quarts chicken broth OR 1 quart of chicken stock and 1 quart of water
1 pound cooked, boneless chicken

While you are mixing the dumplings, bring the broth to a strong simmer over medium heat.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, pair of knives, or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gently stir in 3/4 cup of milk. The dough should be very soft, like biscuits, so add the remaining milk until you have the proper consistency. It will be sticky!

Spread a generous amount of all-purpose flour on your work surface and dust your rolling pin liberally with flour. Pour/scrape the dumpling dough onto the flour. Use light strokes to roll the dough into a uniform thickness, about 1/8". You might have to dust your rolling pin with flour more than once.

Using a knife or a pizza roller (my choice because it was so fast!), cut the dough into square-ish shapes about 2 inches by 2 inches. Don't worry about perfection - the dumplings will change shape while they are cooking and won't be the same size no matter what you do!

I use a slotted spatula to transfer the dumplings from the table into the simmering broth. You want to add most of the flour you have left-over from the rolling to thicken the broth. Stir the dumplings gently and add the chicken meat.

Continue to simmer the dumplings for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Usually, I add a few chopped veggies to our chicken and dumplings. Diced carrots and celery add a great flavor. Simply saute them in a splash of extra virgin olive oil or canola oil in the bottom of the stock pot before you add the broth. I like to saute the carrots and celery just until they start to color to add more flavor to the broth. They will finish cooking as you simmer the dumplings.

Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder

This, my friends, is about 5 pounds of slow-roasted pork shoulder. Harry did a great job of hand-pulling the meat and now it's ready for a variety of recipes - or just nibbling on it until dinner is ready!

When we find a great deal on a huge piece of meat, we can't pass it up. While we would prefer to smoke it, Harry's cooking hours are severely limited. That doesn't mean I can't have juicy, tender pulled pork that I can use in ways other than sandwiches.

I like to keep slow-roasted pork in the freezer for a quick start to a meal. We use it in a lot of our Asian-inspired dishes such as Hot & Sour Soup or stir-fry. It's super-easy to make a quick Pork Fried Rice when all I have to do is chop the meat. When we roast the pork, I also get a large amount of pork broth that I can use to make pork & noodles or simple open-faced pork sandwiches smothered in gravy.

The prep work for the pork takes about as long as it takes for your oven to preheat to 250 degrees. Low and slow is required to keep the shoulder from drying out. Someday, when I plan far enough ahead, I'd like to experiment with oven-smoking.

The rub for this pork shoulder is simple. We started with close to seven pounds of raw meat (bone-in), so I went a little light with the rub. In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of sage, 1 teaspoon each of Kosher salt, granulated garlic and ground black pepper, and one-half of a teaspoon of paprika.

You can see that I didn't build up a crust on the pork, but rather a nice, light seasoning. You don't want to mask the flavor of the pork by going too heavy with the rub. Add about a half-cup of water or beer, cover the pan with foil, and walk away for about 6 hours. Do the laundry. Clean the bathroom. Sit on the porch with cocktails and watch the clouds pass by.

I never peek before the pork shoulder has been roasting for at least 6 hours - constant checking will allow the moisture to escape. Since we will remove the fat when we pull the pork, I'm not concerned with getting a crispy crust. You want the pork to test at at least 180 degrees Fahrenheit before you remove it. I've gotten distracted and let it go to about 200 degrees without losing any flavor or tenderness.

Once the pork has cooled enough to handle, you can use your clean hands or a pair of forks to pull the meat from the bone. Package the cooled pork and freeze for later use. OR - mix up a batch of it with your favorite barbecue sauce for sandwiches immediately - do NOT forget the dill pickle slices. They are very important.

Homemade Chicken Stock

It's no secret that Harry is the primary hunter when it comes to the meat in our kitchen. He has an eye for the bargains. Whenever he's in the store, he always checks the meat department and looks first for the orange markdown tags.

There is nothing wrong with the meat that has been marked down. By law, grocers have to sell fresh items by a certain date. To cut their losses, grocers will mark down the price, sometimes by as much as half. We've been stocking our freezer this way for years.

Last week, Harry found chicken leg quarters at a stupid low price. He even said later he should have bought more. But, he brought home 11 pounds of quarters for around $5.25 - that's a great deal. We stuck them in the freezer immediately until we could make chicken stock on Sunday.

All you need to make homemade chicken stock is time. Prepping the vegetables took him about five minutes. The time needed is inactive - you just have to let it simmer, skim it occasionally and add more water as needed. Whether we're using whole chicken or quarters, we always pull the meat out when it is cooked - usually after 45 minutes to an hour. Harry picks the meat from the bones and the bones go back into the pot.

For this batch, we used carrots, celery, shallots, a leek, bay leaves, kosher salt and crushed peppercorns. We like pepper, so you might not want as much in your chicken stock.

This stock pot - a gift from my mom - holds three gallons and the only time we use it is to make stock. The technique is simple - put the chicken in the pot, cover it with cold water and bring to a simmer. Add the vegetables and seasonings and let it cook over medium with a slow boil until the chicken meat is cooked. Usually, unless you're serving chicken salad with breast meat, you're going to cook the meat again. It isn't necessary for it to be "cooked" cooked.

After Harry picked the meat from the bones, we have about 3 1/2 pounds of dark chicken meat. In the bowl is the meat I'm going to use to make Chicken & Dumplings and the rest of it will go into the freezer for Chicken Pot Pies, stir-fry, soups or whatever I decide. The skin and the bones go back into the simmering broth.

In another pot, I've added the picked meat to about 4 cups of chicken stock to make the chicken and dumplings. We were running short on time so I didn't chop up any extra vegetables to saute for this batch. Our stock is generally very strong and flavorful, so I also add about 2 cups of water.

Harry will generally let the stock and bones simmer for about two hours to draw as much flavor as possible out of the bones. Sometimes, he needs to add more water and let it cook down. We probably use 4 to 5 gallons of water to make two gallons of stock. The slow cooking and evaporation helps create a sturdy stock that will kick the pants off of anything you buy on the shelf.

When the stock has cooled enough for Harry to handle the pot, he strains it into containers. We let it chill overnight in the fridge, allowing the fat to rise to the surface. Then, I scrape the fat off and put the chicken stock into the freezer for future use.

We made two gallons of chicken stock and the total cost - including pantry items - was about $6. A quart-size box of chicken stock costs around $3 on sale. Plus, we also have three pounds of picked chicken meat in the freezer. I'd say it's worthwhile to make your own.

And these are the Chicken and Slippery Dumplings I made while Harry was finishing the stock. More on that later.


Two Gallons of Chicken Stock
8 to 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters OR
one whole fryer chicken, thawed
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 leek
1 shallot
1-2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon cracked peppercorns
3-4 bay leaves


Clean and slice the vegetables in half. All you're trying to do is create a surface for the vegetable flavor to come out of - you don't have to be precise.

Place the chicken in a large stock pot, and cover with at least 2 gallons of water. Bring to a strong simmer over medium-high heat, then add the vegetables and seasonings. Continue to simmer over medium heat for 45-60 minutes until the chicken is cooked.

Remove the chicken to a plate and reduce the heat to low. When the chicken is cool enough, using your hands or forks, pull the meat from the bones, cleaning the skin away from the meat.

After the chicken is pulled, add the bones and skin back to the stock and increase the heat to medium. Continue to cook at a strong simmer for one to two hours, adding water as necessary to concentrate the stock. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

Allow the stock to cool at room temperature until you can safely strain it through a fine sieve or a colander layered with cheesecloth. Pour into containers the size you desire and refrigerate overnight. The next day, skim the chilled fat that has risen to the surface and freeze the containers. We've kept frozen chicken stock for nine months with no flavor issues.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake from The Wright Taste

No, I didn't take this beautiful photo of a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake - all credit for that goes to KimberlyVardeman over at Wikimedia Commons. I honestly can't remember if we ever did take a picture of any of the dozens of these yummy cakes we made.

For the most part, we always said "if it can be baked, we can make it!" Very rarely did I ever tell a customer "no, I can't do it." We did turn down requests for sour dough bread because of the storage issue and I experimented (badly) with pumpernickel bread. So, when a man asked if we could bake a pineapple upside-down cake, of course the answer was "yes."

I started searching through my cookbook collection. A lot of the newer books didn't even have a recipe for this heritage cake. I struck gold with "Blue Ribbon Recipes", published in 1968. When Gramma passed away in 2004, I received her collection of cookbooks and this book was in there. I was a little surprised to see it listed and available on Amazon. If you have an appreciation for heritage recipes, this book is a steal at $8.95. "Blue Ribbon Recipes" is a compilation of county fair prize-winning recipes from throughout the country during the fifties and sixties. Some of the ingredients might make your inner foodie say "eewww" but I've been able to modify successfully.

A pineapple upside-down cake is basically a moist, vanilla-flavored cake baked in an iron skillet that has been layered with melted butter, brown sugar, pineapple rings and maraschino cherries for color. It's a simple cake that comes out of the pan already decorated. One word of warning - don't be tempted to let the cake cool in the pan before turning it onto a plate. The brown-sugar glaze will stay in the pan!

This recipe doubles easily in order to make a 9 x 13 inch sheet cake. The original customer came back the very next week and ordered TWO 9 x 13 cakes. It will be a little less thick than those baked in a skillet, but it will be just as moist. I've also baked the batter strictly as cupcakes or cake layers (double the recipe for a 2-layer cake) and it is the most moist, delicious cake I've ever made. Beats any box ever!

So, Kathy Poe of Placerville, Calif. who won a ribbon at the El Dorado County Fair: if you are still out there, thank you for this recipe.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
6 canned, sliced pineapple rings in natural juice, drained
6 maraschino cherries
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, softened**
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt 1/3 cup of butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium low heat. When melted, remove from heat and sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the butter. Arrange the pineapple slices and cherries over the brown sugar/butter mixture and set the pan aside.

In a medium mixing bowl (or your stand mixer), combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix thoroughly. Add the softened butter, milk and vanilla extract.*** Mix on low speed for 2 minutes or "300 vigorous strokes by hand". Add the egg and mix for 2 more minutes.

Pour the batter over the fruit and bake in the preheated oven 40-50 minutes or until a tester is clean. Immediately invert the cake onto the serving plate. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving (the caramelized sauce will stick to you and burn!)

**Ms. Poe used "soft shortening" rather than butter in her recipe.

***I know that current cake gurus recommend creaming the sugar and fat, then alternately adding the dry and wet ingredients, ending with the dry. I used my stand mixer but figured if Ms. Poe could win a ribbon with this recipe, I should probably follow her method.

Roast Beef Po' Boys - almost - for the slow cooker

I say these are "almost" Roast Beef Po' Boys for a few reasons. First, I made our hoagie rolls in our standard 5-6 inches-ish length, rather than making something 8-10 inches like they do in New Orleans. My debris gravy is definitely not authentic. And, while we got them "almost" dressed, there's no such thing as a good tomato in Ohio in February, so they were missing a shirt.

But, yes, that IS gravy dripping down the side!

What is a Po' Boy? A sandwich filled with goodies by another other name is still a sandwich filled with goodies. Your area of the country might call them hoagies or submarine sandwiches or grinders. In New Orleans, Po' Boy is the local lingo. Of course, the most famous versions are usually filled with breaded and fried seafood - shrimp, catfish, crawfish, or oysters. To me, a Roast Beef Po' Boy (poor boy for those who prefer to spell the whole word) is like an open-faced roast beef sandwich all wrapped up in a bun.

Technically speaking, the debris floating in the gravy are bits and pieces of meat that have naturally fallen off the roast while it is braising. I didn't technically braise (slow cooking in liquid) my roast, but it's close enough for rock 'n roll when you're using a slow cooker. When I'm cooking with chuck roast, I prefer to use my slow cooker - turn it on in the morning and around supper time the meat is fall-apart tender. But, when I trimmed the fat, there were a few pieces of meat left in the rind plus a 3-ish ounce piece of roast. I pulled these little bits and pieces out of the fat and added them to my gravy.

Finally, a lesson in dressing your sandwiches in New Orleans. You don't have to say you want "lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayonnaise" on your sandwich, whether it's a po' boy, burger or muffuletta. All you have to do is say "dressed" and your sandwich miraculously comes laden with that specific quartet of goodies. Be warned: if you are in NOLA and you ask for your muffuletta to be dressed, they'll look at you funny.

The voice inside Harry's head told me to trim the biggest part of the fat off of the chuck roast before cooking it. I wasn't about to let that flavor go to waste, so there it sits waiting on its happy purpose. My knife also needed some love and I'm not as skilled in the meat-trimming department as Harry. I made a simple rub of Kosher salt, ground black pepper, paprika, granulated garlic and ground oregano and slapped it on both sides of the meat.

Then, something very strange happened. Harry was at work and the voice in his head told me to sear the meat. Usually, when I'm making a pot roast I just throw everything in the slow cooker and forget about it. I have a strange fear of cooking things at too high of a temperature but this worked very well. Just a few minutes and the flavor at the end was well worth it.

I don't think it's possible to eat beef without onion as flavor. I had a half of a huge sweet onion in the fridge and just sliced it real quick and covered the chuck roast with it. You can't see it but on the very bottom of the crock is the fat I trimmed from the roast - I just used it to make a nice bed for the seared chuck. After the onions, I poured in a half-bottle of Great Lakes Brewing Company's Edmund Fitzgerald Porter (again, I think Harry's voice was speaking to me) and drank the rest. My cooker has settings ranging from 4 hours - high to 10-hours slow. I used 6 hours - high and it was about 7 hours (automatically turns to warm) before I started the gravy.

After pulling out all of the bits and pieces of meat from the fat and setting them aside, I strained the cooking liquid into my saucepan. I added about a half-cup of water and brought it all to a boil, including the bits and pieces of meat. Then, I made an easy flour-water slurry and added enough to thicken the gravy. I also added about a teaspoon of red wine vinegar and even though Harry was sitting there, his lips didn't move when some strange voice told me to add some butter to finish the gravy.

Now, a secret I read yesterday from New Orleans Magazine that the locals won't share with us Yankees is this: they all add a few splashes of hot pepper sauce to their Roast Beef Po' Boys. I have to agree with the logic - the Frank's didn't really add any heat but the vinegar cut through the richness of the gravy for a nice contrast. (The mayonnaise is buried under the shredded iceberg lettuce and yes, I sliced those pickles myself.)

I've actually only had one Roast Beef Po' Boy in Louisiana and it wasn't even in NOLA. We stopped at Abita Brewing in Abita Springs, LA to have a beer and decided we needed to eat. No, I don't think mine is as good as that one was but this sandwich is killer. Harry thanked me for not making them 10 inches long because he still would have felt the need to eat two. This size is just right!

Roast Beef Po' Boys for the Slow Cooker - serves 6
2 1/2 to 3 pound beef chuck roast, trimmed of large fat and rind
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 ounces amber beer or porter (yes, you can use wine or water or beef broth)
1 cup sliced onions

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cold water, divided
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon butter

6 hoagie rolls or submarine sandwich buns, toasted
shredded iceberg lettuce
dill pickle slices
mayonnaise
tomato slices (if available)
hot pepper sauce (if desired)
lots of napkins

In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, granulated garlic, paprika and ground oregano. After trimming the chuck roast, rub both sides of the meat with the rub ingredients.

Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. When heated add the olive oil and swirl around, then place the roast, flat-side down, in the skillet. Allow to sear until a nice crust forms on the bottom, about 3-5 minutes. Turn the roast over and sear the other side. Remove from heat and set aside for a moment.

Layer the fat trimmings in the bottom of your slow cooker, then place the seared chuck roast on top of the trimmings. Cover the roast with the onion slices then add the 6 ounces of beer. Cover the cooker and let roast for 6 to 8 hours or until very tender.

Remove roast to a plate and cover with foil to keep it warm. Remove any small pieces of meat that might remain in the slow cooker or the fat and set aside in a bowl. Strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan, add 1/2 cup of water and the bits and pieces of meat, then bring to a strong simmer.

In a cup or bowl, mix 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour with one cup of cold water until smooth. Slowly add the slurry to the simmering liquid, whisking to prevent lumps, until the gravy is thickened. Add the red wine vinegar and continue to cook for 5 minutes until the flour taste is gone. Whisk in the tablespoon of butter and the gravy is finished.

To assemble the Roast Beef Po' Boys:

Thinly slice the reserved roast beef. On each toasted hoagie roll, spread mayonnaise on the top half. Pile several slices of roast beef on the bottom half of the bun and then ladle on some gravy. Top with tomato, pickle, hot pepper sauce and shredded lettuce and serve with several napkins.

The great homemade yogurt experiment - round one

This was my breakfast this morning. Yeah, I love a hearty breakfast filled with peameal bacon, scrambled eggs, whole wheat pancakes, biscuits and sausage gravy and any host of other breakfast yumminess. But, Harry's working 6-7 days a week and I'm still working on actually eating breakfast every day AND I made my first batch of homemade yogurt in more than 20 years.

Back in the day when I was young and married and filled with adoration of making everything from scratch, we made yogurt often. The father of my children had purchased one of those Salton makers when he was a teenager and yeah, it worked OK. My memories are hazy but I do recall that the yogurt was usually very dry and sour to the taste, and I always had to flavor it heavily to get the kids to eat it. Then, we got divorced, I got custody of the kids and he got custody of the yogurt maker.

Even though I was reduced to buying yogurt at the store, I'm pretty sure I got the better end of the deal.

A couple of years ago, I came across an article from my friend Angie, How to Make Raw Milk Yogurt . I've lived in this area my entire life. I'll admit to not being involved in the local farmers market scene until about five years ago, but those raw milk people are very, very secretive. I was interested in getting my hands on some to make a sourdough starter. NO ONE would talk to me. The one person who admitted to knowing someone who might be able to get some raw milk wouldn't help me out - I guess he was afraid I would follow him.

So, I was stuck buying my milk at Kroger because I didn't have time to go to the Hill's Market to get some low-temp pasteurized milk.

I found a post via Pinterest (are you addicted yet? shoot me an e-mail at debbieandharryskitchen at gmail dot com and I'll send you an invitation) from Emily at Keeper of the Home explaining the slow cooker method of making homemade yogurt. Emily was making 8-cup batches in a round slow cooker. But, I had read a few other yogurt-making blog posts that indicated my huge, oval slow cooker might not work well with a small amount. So, I'm starting with a half-gallon of organic whole milk that, unfortunately, is ultra-pasteurized but at least it's not UHT.

For my yogurt starter, I bought (mistakenly, because I meant to get full-fat) an organic fat-free plain Greek yogurt. In reading through comments from other homemade yogurt-makers, I found that I should try to get a yogurt that has at least five active cultures.

Time to start - by the way, the actual working time about 20 minutes.

Plug in your slow cooker and turn it on to heat up while you are heating the milk. I put mine on the "High - 4 Hour" setting. I poured the milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and heated it over medium until it was 185 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir the milk every once in awhile so it doesn't stick to the bottom and scorch.

As soon as the milk hit the right temperature, I put it into half a sink-full of cold water (make sure the water doesn't come up over the top of the pot!). I don't know if I was supposed to leave the milk 'still' but I kind of stirred it around with my digital thermometer until the temperature was right around 100 degrees.

I took my starter yogurt out of the fridge when I started heating the milk. The picture is deceiving - it was a 5.3 ounce container. Add about one cup of the cooled milk to the yogurt to temper it, then add the yogurt/milk mixture to the rest of the milk in the slow cooker.

Turn off and unplug your slow cooker and wrap it in a huge, heavy towel. I took care to tuck the towel under the sides of the cooker. And, in the words of my favorite kitchen geek Alton Brown, 'just walk away'. Leave the yogurt sit idly for 6 to 10 hours. Emily said she usually leaves hers for 8 hours (again, she makes one-quart batches). I unwrapped the yogurt at 9 hours and immediately put it into the fridge where it slept overnight.

Emily suggested resting in the fridge for 12 hours. Mine was there for a little longer than that because the satellite guy showed up early to install the new receiver/DVR so we can feed our "Walking Dead" addiction. After he left, this is what I found. I was shocked that the yogurt seemed so firm! Wow - I actually did it. I made homemade yogurt and I have visions of smoothies and dressings and just yogurt with granola for breakfast dancing in my head. I also saved back one cup of the yogurt in a separate container to start my next batch.

For my first try, I'm very happy. The full texture, once I poured it out of the slow cooker into a container, is a little less thick than your standard Greek yogurt. But, one of my teenage memories of yogurt is staying with a family near Barneveld, Holland and pouring the yogurt out of a carton like milk, then adding a spoonful of this wonderful woman's homemade strawberry preserves. The taste of this yogurt is actually very mild. I was trying to explain it to Harry last yesterday - think about a mildly dry wine, it doesn't suck your cheeks into each other when you taste it and there's just a bit of sour tang.

So, for breakfast this morning, I had some of my homemade yogurt over some really good granola I found in the natural foods section at Kroger. I sprinkled on just a pinch of turbinado sugar, but the granola has a natural sweetness from pomegranate, acai and apples that balanced with the tart of the plain yogurt - I really didn't need the sugar but it sure looks pretty.

The yogurt experiment will be ongoing. I'd like to make smaller batches more often just so I don't risk letting any go bad. I need to know how many times I can "inbreed" my starter before it stops working. I'm sure if I were to use this to start a salad dressing, I would definitely drain it for awhile to thicken it. I'm also thinking about trying a yogurt cheese.

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Yep, another attempt to infiltrate Harry's belly with vegetables. He's getting easier to get along with about it, only reminding me three times a week that I need to learn to eat more beans. The rice blend I got at Costco a couple of weeks ago has lentils in it - isn't that making progress?

I love spaghetti squash. To me, it doesn't have a "squash-y" taste that I associate with butternut or pumpkin. If I manage to cook it properly - which DID happen this time - the spaghetti squash isn't mushy and the strands separate easily. I knew tossing it with just butter, salt and pepper wouldn't be enough to hide the vegetable taste from Harry and I didn't want to go with a marinara sauce.

I found a recipe on Pinterest for Roasted Red Pepper Penne from Jessica at How Sweet It Is. I'm pretty fond of the sounds of her original recipe - whole wheat penne and chicken breasts tossed in this super-simple roasted red pepper sauce. I was going to cheat and just buy a couple of roasted red peppers from the olive bar but Jessica made it easy to understand how to quickly roast the peppers in my oven. Well, almost.

I thought I was picking a rather small spaghetti squash. But, the instructions on the label gave some microwave time per pound. Harry broke out the kitchen scale and this puppy weighed in at 1 pound, 13 ounces - YIKES! On the bright side, I do have some leftover spaghetti squash for my lunch today. Remember that you won't eat the peel or the seeds.

I usually just cut the spaghetti squash in half, place them cut side down in a baking pan with a bit of water and bake for 30-45 minutes. The label told me to pierce the skin all over with a fork, then microwave it whole for about 2 minutes per pound. I went about 3 1/2 minutes. Then, I put the whole, uncut spaghetti squash in a baking pan in a 375 degree oven for about an hour. I pulled it and the ham loaf out when the peppers were roasted and peeled, and let them set for the five minutes it took me to make the roasted red pepper sauce.

These would have only taken about 8 minutes or so to char except I screwed up when I turned on the oven. I think the last thing I baked in the bottom oven was the ham at Christmas and the rack was near the bottom of the oven. I preheated the oven to Broil and slid the pan into the oven. Near the bottom. Fortunately, Harry can actually lift the stone-covered rack while it's heated to 500 degrees as long as he's wearing the Ove-Gloves (love those things - thanks Mom!). Once we got the peppers close to the broiler, things moved along pretty quickly.

As soon as the peppers came out of the oven, I wore an Ove-Glove and slid them into a zip bag. No the peppers didn't cause the bag to melt but touching the hot pan created a small hole - I just folded the bag over. Let the peppers steam inside the bag for 20 minutes or so - this will soften the skins so they peel right off.

Everything got to moving quickly once the skins came off and I didn't get many pictures. I tossed the roasted red peppers into the food processor, added the garlic, basil (dried, because I'm lame), black pepper and Parmesan cheese then gave it all a few whirls. Next, we drizzled in the olive oil and let it run until the sound changed, meaning it was emulsified. We each tasted and Harry declared "needs Franks and red wine vinegar" - that's just how most everything ends in our kitchen.

But, he was right. The Frank's added a kick without too much heat and the red wine vinegar brightened up the sauce.

As soon as the sauce was done, I grabbed an Ove-Glove and cut the spaghetti squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and use a fork to separate the strands. I actually only used about half of the sauce and I've got another cup in the fridge that I'll use for a lunchtime pasta later in the week.

The verdict? I loved it! Harry decided that 1) the squash didn't taste green 2) it was actually kind of good because it held a bit of crispiness and 3) he'd like to try it with a tomato-based sauce. Sigh.

He liked the sauce but I'll have to tread carefully. Another vegetable into our menu planning! And, this dish can actually be considered healthy!

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce - serves 4 as a hearty side

2 medium red bell peppers
5 cloves garlic (remember we love garlic! - use less if you prefer)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried basil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Frank's Red Hot Sauce to taste
1 2-pound-ish spaghetti sauce

Place your oven rack near the top of the oven and preheat the oven to broil. Clean the bell peppers, cut in half and remove the seeds and stems. Place the peppers cut side down in a baking pan and place the pan in the oven. You'll want to keep an eye on the peppers - once they start to char, things will move very quickly.

When the peppers are black, remove them from the oven. Quickly place them into a zip bag so that the skins can steam and become easier to peel. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees.

Wash the spaghetti squash and pierce the skin all over with a sturdy fork (the skin is pretty tough!). Microwave on high for 3 to 4 minutes, then place the squash into a baking pan or dish, uncut. Bake at 375 for about one hour.

While the spaghetti squash is baking, make the sauce. The heat from the squash will warm it, so you don't have to heat it up. Peel the blackened skin from the peppers and place in a food processor. (If you have an immersion blender, you can do all of this in a bowl.) Add the garlic, chopped small, Parmesan cheese, basil, black pepper and red wine vinegar and pulse a few times until all the ingredients are incorporated. Drizzle in the olive oil as the processor is running until you hear that it has incorporated. Add a few splashes of Frank's to taste and set the sauce aside.

When the squash has softened, remove from the oven. Working quickly with oven mitts or a potholder, cut the squash in half. Remove the seeds (there won't be many) and discard them. Using a fork, scrape the flesh and it will separate into spaghetti-like strands. Add sauce to coat, stirring gently but mixing well (the sauce will be kind of thick). Sprinkle a little extra Parmesan on top to serve.

Lightened Up Italian Wedding Soup

Please pay no attention to the fact that my work table is apparently crooked! This Italian Wedding Soup was so easy and so fast! It's a little bit on the "light and brothy" side for Harry, but I made up a batch of calzones to go with it and the meal was hearty and satisfying.

I love Italian Wedding Soup, but I've only ever had it in restaurants. So, I had to turn to the web looking for inspiration. The first recipe I found via Pinterest turned me off - it suggested adding beaten eggs to the finished soup, similar to Hot & Sour or Egg Drop Soup. That definitely didn't ring any bells for me so I kept searching. I actually found this one at Cooksdotcom and it gave me a good starting point.

I had our homemade chicken stock in the fridge but decided to go with canned vegetable broth instead to cut down the fat content. I've made my own vegetable stock but I'm usually money ahead to use the canned stuff (very rare!). I used our own meatball mix that I froze in bulk for this purpose, but you could easily use turkey meatballs to cut down on the fat some more or frozen meatballs of your pleasure. The seasonings in the meatballs were just right to flavor the broth and I only added a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.

I'm starting with raw meatballs and borrowing a tip from my friend Pam - she never browns her meatballs before adding them to sauce or soup. After the broth came to a simmer, I gently added the meatballs and remembered to stir gently so I did break them up. They cooked beautifully and I think it helped them release their flavors.

I'm always trying to sneak vegetables into our meals and this soup is no exception. I knew we probably wouldn't eat a whole bunch (head?) of spinach before it went bad and didn't want to go to heavy with it in here. We were in a Kroger that had a salad bar so I just bought enough to tightly fill a one-cup measure. Hey, it only cost 23 cents!

And the rest of the veggies I snuck in - every little bit helps!

Lightened-Up Italian Wedding Soup Recipe

1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
3 cans (15-ish ounces) vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 pound small meatballs
1/2 cup dry orzo (or broken spaghetti)
Kosher salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup fresh leaf spinach

In a medium saucepan, saute the celery, carrot and onion in olive oil just until softened. Add the vegetable broth and water, then bring it to a simmer.

Gently add the meatballs, then allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Increase the heat to medium.

Add the orzo, stirring gently and cook until orzo is al dente, about 10 minutes. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the spinach just before serving.If you're feeling really indulgent, feel free to top the Italian Wedding Soup with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Harry's Mom's Meatloaf

For some people, meatloaf is boring but for many households, it's a fairly easy go-to dinner when time is tight. We we make meatloaf, it's always two loaves - Harry loves sandwiches and sometimes, we don't even eat it for dinner but make it specifically for meatloaf sammies.

I love my mom's meatloaf - when she makes it. Mine never turned out the same for some reason. I failed HUGE with a meatloaf recipe in 1984 that caused my then-husband to turn green at the slightest mention of meatloaf for dinner. OK, ok, the sausage wasn't quite as thawed as it should have been and that was long before I learned the joys of a digital thermometer. When Harry and I started The Wright Taste, my ex-mother-in-law - more than 20 years after the fact - chirped "You can't even make a meatloaf and you expect people to buy food from you?"

Harry wasn't, in general, a fan of his mother's cooking. We both have memories of the same general meals and these days, I'm not a fan of the way my mom cooked a lot of things when I was a kid. I still loved them - the only place I'll eat Ragu on my spaghetti is when Mom makes it - it's kind of hard to explain. And I STILL can't get my Boiled Dinner (corned beef and cabbage) to come out the same way Mom does, even if we buy the same brand of corned beef at the same time!

But Harry did like his mom's meatloaf and the first time he showed me the recipe, I thought "ICK!" But, this is the best meatloaf recipe I've ever tried. It's never dry and it's the perfect sandwich meatloaf - it doesn't get crumbly when you slice it and it also freezes beautifully.

This is the "normal" recipe - plenty for dinner for six plus leftover for sandwiches. Save yourself a little time and double the recipe. Freeze one loaf whole to heat for another dinner or freeze it in slices for sandwiches later. I don't know where Mrs. W got the recipe but since Harry was eating this as a kid in the late 50's, early 60s, I don't stand a chance of tracking down the original source.

Harry's Mom's Meatloaf

2 pounds ground chuck
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 can evaporated milk
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon Frank's Red Hot
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the evaporated milk, ketchup, dried minced onion, eggs, granulated garlic, Frank's and salt. Mix it well and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the ground chuck with the bread crumbs - take your time to work all the crumbs into the meat.

Now is when it will get really messy: Have Harry pour the liquid mixture into the ground beef mixture. As you squeeze the liquid into the meat, it will originally appear to be very soupy. Mix it with your hands until the liquid and meat are well-combined, then allow to rest for five minutes. The resting time will give the bread crumbs time to absorb the moisture, so it's possible to form it into loaves.

Add the cooled melted butter and mix well. Now it's time to shape your meat loaf. Only shape it into two loaves if you have doubled the recipe.

This is where I deviate from Harry's mom's recipe: I love ketchup baked onto my meatloaf. Harry's mom always covered it with American cheese slices - the choice is yours.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for about an hour. I check the temp and try to keep it between 170 and 180 degrees inside.

Remove from oven and let rest for five minutes. Then, remove to a serving platter (to get it out of the grease), cover with foil and allow to stand for another 10 minutes - this will help the meatloaf "stiffen up" so that it's easier to cut without crumbling.

Garlic Smashed Cauliflower

Looks like smashed potatoes beside the meatloaf, doesn't it? I've been trying to find ways to incorporate more veggies into our meals and find ways to cook them so they don't taste green. After this meal, Harry said the garlic smashed cauliflower was tasty. He'll never say anything like "Oh - I just love smashed cauliflower! Can we have it for dinner tonight?" But, I know that if I throw this into the mix every couple of weeks, he won't turn up his nose.

I think it was ingenious to introduce the garlic smashed cauliflower with a main dish that he associates with smashed potatoes. We never have smooth potatoes - I just use a potato masher and leave some texture in them. So, it made sense to me to leave some texture in the cauliflower.

I found a recipe from nomnompaleo for "Garlic Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes" via Pinterest

While she pureed the steamed cauliflower and garlic, it was good inspiration for me and the recipe is fast and easy. I also cheated a bit - I got the bag of cauliflower florets at Kroger. I was worried that a whole head would make too much and we wouldn't like it. Twelve-ounce bag? No leftovers!

I've written before about how much we love garlic - I never would have thought of steaming it with the cauliflower even though I make garlic smashed potatoes often. The garlic was actually balanced with the strong cauliflower taste - neither was overwhelming. Feel free to adjust the volume of the cauliflower and/or garlic at will.

Garlic Smashed Cauliflower

12 ounce bag cauliflower florets
5 cloves garlic, peeled
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter

Clean the cauliflower and slice like you would mushrooms - stems and all. Coarsely chop the garlic.

In a large saucepan to fit your steamer, bring 2 inches of water to a boil. While the water is heating, place half of the cauliflower and garlic into the bottom of your steamer basket. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Add the rest of the vegetables to the basket and sprinkle once again with kosher salt.

Reduce the heat to medium and place the steamer basket into the pot and cover. You don't want to cook the cauliflower to mush, so it should be fork-tender in about 10 minutes.

Drain the cauliflower and garlic and place in a serving bowl. Using a potato masher or immersion blender, smash the cauliflower to desired texture. Add butter and pepper to taste, mixing well.

Twelfth Night and Muffuletta

So maybe it isn't the best picture but it's the best one I had. A darn-close-to-New-Orleans-authentic Muffuletta with a side salad. The onions in the middle are definitely a Debbie & Harry thing and we just kind of prefer to warm it in the oven. This is honestly one of Harry's favorite meals and while the olive salad needs to be prepped at least one day before for the best flavor, putting the sandwich together takes no time at all.

So what's all this Twelfth Night stuff? Well, January 6 is an important date in religious customs, marking the Feast of the Epiphany. Christians celebrate the pronouncement that the baby Jesus is the savior from the Three Wise Men. It is written that the kings had traveled for 12 days before reaching Bethlehem, so with the establishment of December 25 as the "official" birthday, 12 days brings us to January 6.

In older times, Twelfth Night kicked off "the season" - weeks of parties and balls leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. I think you can guess where I'm leading with this.

January 6 also marks the official beginning to the Carnival season that will end with Mardi Gras. In 2012, the season will be a little shorter than last year as Ash Wednesday falls on February 22 this year. So, there will be less time to celebrate the season with Muffuletta and King Cake (coming soon) and Po'boys and...

My preferred way to buy most of the ingredients for my Muffuletta olive salad is at the olive bar at the store. This recipe will make enough olive salad for two muffulettas and I've kept it in the fridge for up to a month. My friend Angie has a recipe for homemade Italian Giardiniera for home canning and it really is quite easy and quite good.

You don't have to chop the olives and all of the other ingredients super-small. It might look as though I've filled 12-cup food processor, but our model has a mini-bowl that sits on the top of the big bowl. For me, it works perfectly. This is one of the rare times that Harry will let me use "his" food processor.

All mushed up! I pulse 4 or 5 times and use my spatula to scrape it down a bit after the third time.

Parsley, oregano and red pepper flakes. I use about a quarter teaspoon and it adds a nice spice without adding a lot of heat. Of course, if you're allergic to red pepper leave it out.

Here's that funky color again! I've mixed together the minced olives, vegetables, spices and red wine vinegar, then added enough extra virgin olive oil to cover it - about one cup.

Yep - smear the olive salad all over the sliced Muffuletta bread as thick as you like. These are vegetables that Harry will willingly eat because they don't taste green.

Now it's time to play Picasso - alternate layers of the meats and cheeses. We put the sliced onion rings in the middle - it adds a nice crispness and sweetness in the middle of all that meat!

Unwrapped after 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. The cheese is melted at the edge, the bread is nice and warm and it's OH SO GOOD! Yes, we made the bread - same recipe as the Hoagie Rolls we made on Bread Day but I cut it in half. Traditional NOLA-style dictates sesame seeds on top but we just sort of leave them off. Also - you don't have to bake your own bread. I will admit to a substitute a few times and if you aren't in NOLA, most local bakeries don't sell the traditional bread. Go to the store and buy a round Italian loaf - it's usually sold in the paper bags in the bakery. We cut the top inch or so off before we slice it in half, just to reduce the thickness.

Harry has had an insanely killer week at work - strange considering he had Monday off for the holiday. I think I'll have Dad run me to the store this afternoon so I can get the Muffuletta ingredients. I can make the olive salad tonight while I'm fixing something fast for dinner. Then, Harry can have his favorite meal after working all day on Saturday!

What a way to kick off Carnival!

Olive Salad for Muffuletta

5 cloves garlic, quartered
1 cup green olives, pitted (pimiento-stuffed are fine)
1/2 cup Kalamata Olives, pitted
1 cup Giardiniera, drained and gently chopped
1 tablespoon capers, drained (I prefer the small capers)
1/4 cup cocktail onions, drained
1 whole roasted red pepper, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (approximately)

Combine the garlic, olives, Giardiniera, capers, cocktail onions and roasted red pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel chopping blade. Pulse 4-6 times, stopping to scrape a couple of times, until the ingredients are well minced but not a paste. (Alternatively, you can mince everything on a cutting board with a very sharp knife and mix together - it tastes just as good!)
Add the spices and red wine vinegar and stir well to combine.
Add enough olive oil to cover the salad and stir well.
Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. I've kept this olive salad in the refrigerator for up to a month and trust me, it taste much better later than sooner.

Debbie & Harry's Almost-NOLA-style Muffuletta

1 loaf Muffuletta Bread or round Italian bread, sliced across the middle
One-half recipe of Olive Salad
4 ounces Genoa salami or sandwich pepperoni
4 ounces Capicola ham (spicy)
4 ounces regular ham (OK, for truly authentic you need Mortadella but we don't care for what's available here)
4 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese
4 ounces sliced provolone cheese
1 sweet onion, sliced and separated into rings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay the two bread halves on a large piece of foil and smear them liberally with the olive salad. Layer the meat and cheese, alternating at each level. We use the onion rings as the middle layer.
Carefully turn the top half of bread over onto the Muffuletta. Wrap it in foil and heat in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. The traditional sandwich in New Orleans is served cold and one-fourth of the sandwich is a HUGE serving.