Free Food!

If you have never made soup from your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey bones, you owe it to yourself to do it. I am an advocate of free food and when it is easy and delicious too, all the better.

The first time I saw this miracle was the year we had Thanksgiving dinner with a friend. As soon as we finished eating and had relaxed briefly, we cleared the table. She went into action, tearing all the meat off the bones and tossing the bones (along with any bits of fat or skin) into a large soup pot. Scrapings left in the roasting pan that did not make it into the gravy went in too, along with any juices from cooking the giblets or from the carving platter.

This was turned on to simmer for hours and eventually became a delicious turkey soup. I have been a convert ever since. One of the best soups I ever made was from the carcass of a turkey cooked on the grill and begged from the hostess, who was going to throw it away, from another Thanksgiving with friends. I have even brought home the carcass from Thanksgiving dinner at the in-laws for making soup without having first made a turkey. Free food!

I now make soup stock from any kind of bones including those from beef or pork roasts and chicken bones - either from chicken cooked at home or fried chicken from the take out place. Sometimes I save them in the freezer until I have a large potful, sometimes I just cook up what I have and then I have enough stock to make gravy or a sauce. Here is how I do it.

After removing all the meat from the bones, toss the bones into your largest pot (break some of them to fit, if you have to, with a meat cleaver or a meat tenderizer hammer). Also add any bits of fat or skin and scrape any juices or drippings from the pan or the platter. I also add things like onion skins and peelings from the scrubbed vegetables I might have cooked with the meal - anything except those from the cabbage family like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, which will give the stock a strong, unpleasant flavor. The vegetable trimmings - everything from onion skins to carrot scrapings to celery trimmings - will add flavor and color to the stock.

Cover the stuff in the pot with water to cover, even filling it to within an inch of the brim. Add a few bay leaves and several pepper corns and turn the heat on to low. Allow the stock to simmer at the very lowest heat, hardly even shimmering. This will ensure a clear stock. Heavier boiling will cause it to be darker and cloudy. The low simmer extracts all the flavor and goodness from the bones. Allow it to cook several hours or all day long but leave enough time to cool it and to discard the bones and strain the stock.

Strain through cheesecloth lined colander for the clearest stock, and portion into tall narrow containers. The kind that Chinese take-out soup comes in. This allows the fat to congeal in a thicker layer that is easily removed. Chill the stock overnight in the fridge. If you plan to freeze it, remove the fat first. Otherwise, leave the fat layer on until you use the stock for soup or sauces.

I also save the fat for cooking things like hash brown, turkey hash or fried potatoes. It adds flavor and it's free! The stock and the fat will keep a day or two in the fridge and much longer in the freezer.

To make gravy, heat a couple tablespoons of the fat (or butter or olive oil) with an equal amount of flour over medium low heat. Cook, stirring with a whisk, for a minute or so. Add a cup or so of your stock, stirring with the whisk to avoid any lumps. Continue whisking and cooking until the gravy thickens and boils. Season with a little salt and pepper and dried herbs. You can also add a little milk for cream for a "country" gravy to serve over noodles, mashed potatoes or biscuits.

Quotable Quotes; in the category Talk Is Cheap!

"I live on good soup, not on fine words."

Moliere

O I Love Hash!

Anyone who watched Sesame Street In the early days (1970s PBS) will remember that each character had their own song - Kermit and "Being Green", Ernie and "Rubber Duckie" and the curmudgeonly Oscar The Grouch and "I Love Trash". To paraphrase Oscar, I Love Hash!

You can make hash out of anything - corned beef, roast beef, roast pork, ham, turkey, chicken or just vegetables even. Hash is a great way to use up leftover ingredients and have something warm and comforting to sustain you.

My mom used to make hash from the leftover roast beef that was too small to become a French dip sandwich (if there was not enough for hash, it went into a pot of soup). When mom made corned beef hash it was always for breakfast and always from a can. Roast beef hash was supper. I am not sure if dad liked or hated roast beef hash - he had a penchant for meat and potatoes but generally in their own separate and distinct places on the plate, not all mixed together, and he detested anything he called "slop".

We never had, for instance, creamed chipped beef on toast or chicken ala king - dishes my husband grew up on, loved, and craves even to this day. Unfortunately, I did not learn how to make these so they are not a part of my culinary repertoire. Consequently, he only gets them on rare occasions or when we eat at this mothers house. And since she does not generally cook this way any more, those occasions are becoming rarer and, I hope, more special.

But it seems to me roast beef and less often, turkey hash, were not so rare at home. We had roast beef quite often. Of course, it was bought on special, and keep in mind there was a lot of food in a good sized roast. Dinner for the family with leftovers for sandwiches, hash and soup at subsequent meals.

One of the best hash dishes I had was ham hash at a diner. Chunks of ham carved from the bone, potatoes and onions, crisped in the skillet or on the grill and served with the requisite ketchup. Delicious.

I make hash from anything, even leftover lunch meat. The routine is pretty much the same. Dice an onion and toss it in the pan with a little butter, olive oil or bacon grease if you have any. Dice up the leftover potatoes and other vegetables, or a raw potato if there are no leftovers. Finally, dice up the leftover meat and toss it in at the end to finish and heat through. Serve with or without a poached egg and toast and don't forget the ketchup.

If I am using a raw potato I will add it soon after the onion and cover the pan, giving it a stir every few minutes, and letting it cook about 15 minutes until the potato is cooked through. A leftover potato requires just enough time to get it hot and a little crispy before adding the meat.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and a little crushed red pepper flakes, if you like it spicy. A dash of Worcestershire or Tabasco is a good thing.

Enjoy your hash and know that meals like this can feed your soul as well as your tummy. Lets see if I can add a verse to Oscar's song - sing along with me!

I have an old skillet of leftover meat,
potatoes and onions that cannot be beat.
I'll cook it all up over plenty of heat.
I love it because it's hash!

Quotable Quotes; in the category But Gimme The Good Stuff!

"There is nothing worse for the health, or for the palate, than a poor hash, while a good hash is not only a favorite dish in most families, but an essential article of economy and convenience."

Catharine E. Beecher
'Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt-Book' (1846)

But What About Those Shoes?

I received this picture in the mail a few weeks ago. It was sent by a friend, tucked into a Christmas card even though it was September. On the envelope, with an arrow pointing to the picture of the shepherds, was written "not yet" and in the card was a message that she was packing to move and this was the only thing she could find in which to mail the picture.

If you go to my sister's blog, you will see the companion picture to this one. Mary is standing in profile, probably to show off the huge bow (no doubt the precursor to the 1980s butt-bow bridal gown). I hope you will agree that these photos epitomize the beauty and innocence of a major childhood event. As Mary said, "Jesus clearly loved us that day, you can tell because our socks aren’t all scrunched down in our shoes like they are in every single other picture that was ever taken of us."

Mary looks beautiful and innocent, as she should. I look like I am about to skin my knee. I think this is the only picture of me as a kid without a band-aid on my leg.

The picture was taken years and years ago in front of the friend's house, maybe by her mom or her dad. The occasion was my sister's first communion. Big sister like, I have my arm around her - either through a protective urge or, more likely, because the photographer told me to!

Click on the picture and enlarge it. I want you to see the beatific expressions on our faces. And the fact that our socks are not all scrunched and falling down. And the fact that I am wearing black shoes.

They are probably not the same shoes I wore for my own first communion two years earlier. As I recall my feet grew rapidly and a few years after this picture was taken I was probably wearing my mom's shoes.

I did wear black shoes at my first communion (see how I make this all about me?) and I suffered because of it. One of my darling little classmates had told me that my black shoes were a sign that my soul was not pure. Of course, I accepted this as gospel. Even though my mother told me my classmate was wrong, I still walked up the communion aisle with a wormy feeling in my tummy, hoping God could not see my black shoes. Luckily they were not black patent leather - that would have been a whole other ball of wax.

Take a good look at the picture. I'll tell you about that coat another time!

Quotable Quotes; in the category This Is What I Should Have Told Her!

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”
Mark Twain

It's Almost Like Famous!

I occasionally clean out my "cookies" and perform other routine maintenance on my computer. Then I have to google everything because it's no longer stored in my web browser memory banks. Last time I did this, I had to google my blog and to my surprise, I found returns to sites other than my own blog. People had actually blogged about my blog in their own blog posts! Unbelievable!

It was a strange feeling to know that others had not only read my blog but had posted links to it in their blog posts. I felt suddenly revealed and vulnerable. But after reading the blog posts, I felt really, really good. Somebody had found something in my writing that was worthy of commenting on and passing on to others.

This particular post was about the pink turnip pickles from a few posts back. And there were comments about the recipe and the success others had with it. Great feeling!

I contacted the blogger, thanked her for linking to my posting and asked if I could link to her blog. If you look in my blog headings for You May Also Like . . . , you will notice a new link to this blog, the one that highlighted the pickle recipe. I hope you will follow the link to wherever it may take you. I guarantee if you keep going, you will find a lot more than pickled turnips.

Quotable Quotes; in the category I Thought There Was More To It Than This!
“It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.”

Albert Einstein

This Is Just Too Easy!

I am morally opposed to most "convenience" food products. Things like Spam, Rice-a-roni, instant ramen noodles and, most especially, Hamburger Helper. The problem with many of these "convenience" foods is that they are more expensive than they are convenient, and they contain more sodium and chemicals than they do food and nutrition.

Then there are the REALLY convenient foods. Shelf stable TV dinners, individual servings of soup, stew, and other things that used to come in a can or live in the freezer. I don't like these because of the extraneous packaging and extra pollution they cause, not to mention they usually taste like $#!+, at least to me.

But there are some convenience foods I cannot do without. Namely, potato chips, spaghetti sauce and frozen puff pastry.

Don't think potato chips are a convenience food? You don't know Oprah, do you? A bag of chips and a stiff martini contain all the major food groups (salt, grease, cold, wet) with a double helping of vegetables. Hey, potatoes are a vegetable, and so are olives. If they are pimento stuffed olives, that's another helping of vegetables. And if they are blue cheese stuffed, you now have your dairy. I am telling you, this is a balanced meal.

Spaghetti sauce, what can I tell you. I used to use Ragu. Then I started making it from scratch. Now I use one of those "fancy" brands, sometimes adding cooked ground beef or Italian sausage. I use it on pizza, on pasta, in lasagna and in making stuffed peppers and other recipes. Yeah, it probably has too much sodium but you are talking to someone who eats potato chips for dinner. Salt is a dietary requirement for me.

That brings me to the frozen puff pastry. You need to get to know this secret ingredient. There is practically no end to what you can make - savory, sweet, and everything in between. And if you have never thought about how this product is made from scratch, all I can say is DON'T!

First you have to make the dough. Then you wrap it around a block of cold butter. Whack it for a while with a rolling pin. When it's sort of flat you start folding it, like a letter, and rolling it, again and again and again. Eventually you end up with a thin sheet of dough that is actually infinitesimal layers of dough and butter. When it bakes, the liquid in the butter heats up and expands, causing the layers to separate and the dough to puff up. Then the liquid evaporates, leaving behind shatteringly flaky layers of buttery pastry. Mmmmmm!

What can you make with this miracle food? Anything! Topping for pot pie; turnovers; cheese puffs; angel cookies (I can't remember the real name - some people call them elephant ears) just to name a few. My favorite is a fruit tart. Couldn't be easier and boy is it tasty! Another one of those "too easy" recipes. Don't blink or you'll miss it.

Place the pastry, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator to thaw for a day or two. Don't try to hurry this step along. The pastry is going to crack anyway but the longer it takes to thaw, the easier it is to work with. Re-wrap the other piece (usually comes two to a box) and return it to the freezer.

Peel and slice an apple. Or a pear. Or two. Use any fruit you like. Pitted cherries, sliced peaches or nectarines, plums or apricots. Whatever you like, have on hand, or don't want to eat raw.

Unfold the pastry and roll gently on a lightly floured board. If you are fussy you can trim the edges to be square and neat again. This is supposed to make it puff better. Or just leave it as is. You may also have to sort of pinch the creases back together where they broke apart. This area won't rise much but it will be okay.

For individual tarts, cut into equal size pieces about four or six inches square. For family style just leave it whole. Take a sharp paring knife and score the edge of the pastry all around, making about 1/2 to 3/4 inch border. Transfer to a baking sheet. It's best to line the sheet with baking parchment. Don't scoff, you'll be glad later when you don't have anything to clean up.

Now lay your fruit slices all over the pastry, layering them or overlapping them or just jumbling them all over. Be as neat or as messy as you like. Take a spoonful or so of sugar and sprinkle it all over the fruit and the edges of the pastry. Likewise a little ground cinnamon, nutmeg, mace or cloves, whatever you prefer or have on hand.

Pop the tart(s) into a preheated 400 degree oven and bake about 15 minutes or so. The pastry will puff dramatically around the edges, the fruit will cook and the juices and sugar will make their own "sauce". But don't let that deter you from serving the tarts with a dollop of whipped cream.

Luckily, the pastry sheets are kind of small so this makes just enough dessert for two for a day or two, or a nice presentation to take with you to a brunch or your book club meeting. I kid you not, they will think you bought this at Le Patisserie Expensive or that you are a Cordon Bleu chef.

Make this often, using the sheet of pastry left in the freezer. Once you open the package, you don't want to keep this around for too long. Besides, you need the fiber.

Quotable Quotes; in the category What The Heck Is A Runcible Spoon?

And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart.

Edward Lear

Hawk Sighting

Yesterday Bill and I went to his favorite store for big & tall jeans and shirts to see if I could find a hooded zipper sweatshirt. They did not have any that I liked (and I secretly don't really want one anyway, I guess) so we left.

This shop is located in a place that is pretty easy to get to, but quite a challenge to get home, as are many places in Chicago. We turned the corner and there in the middle of the block was a red tailed hawk plucking its catch - a pigeon - in preparation for its Sunday meal.

Bill and I see hawks when driving on the expressway and we have seen a variety of wildlife in our little urban wilderness - deer, skunks, opossums, raccoons, chipmunks and yes, even hawks. But this is the first time we have seen one in somebodies front yard!

Earlier this spring Bill watched a hawk building the beginnings of its aerie in the top of a tall tree on someones yard, but the nest was never occupied and he never saw the raptor after the initial sighting.

This bird was apparently at ease and intent on its pending supper, in spite of a row of cars trundling up the street past its dining spot. We resisted the urge to go "around the corner" since in reality it would mean going around several corners, and contented ourselves with this rare and rewarding sighting.

So I didn't get a sweatshirt - I got something better, a happy memory!

Quotable Quotes; in the category I'm Sorry, I Guess I Wasn't Paying Attention.

“The bird hunting a locust is unaware of the hawk hunting him”

Old Proverb

Patches

Once again, the recent postings about Chris have resurrected yet another memory - patchwork quilts.

Sometime around fourth grade, Chris and her sisters invited friends over to her grandmother's house in Ferndale after school for quilting "bees". We would learn to piece patchwork quilts, have an after school snack and a good time, and make new friends.

Actually, the most fun was hearing Chris' grandmother ream out one of the girls for cutting her material in mid-air instead of laying it down on the table. She cut crooked and wasted fabric. A big no-no in the thrift centered world of patchwork quilts.

Chris' grandmother would pick us up in her car (a sedan, not the requisite station wagon that everybody else drove) and drive us to her house. Down to the basement we went to learn to draw and cut out our four-inch-square cardboard template; how to trace it onto fabric (placing it just so to get the greatest benefit from the design of the material and making sure not to waste any); how to stitch the patches together to create our four patch design (Cathy was making a nine-patch - a more advanced pattern that we novices were not yet ready to tackle).

There was some kind of snack of the cookies-and-juice variety and probably some form of gossip, although in the 1960s fourth graders were a bit less worldly than they seem today and we probably did not have a whole lot to gossip about. What was happening at the next Girl Scout meeting, who had a new pair of shoes, who had seen Sister Mary Cool Nun at the dime store the previous Saturday. Still, it made for an enjoyable afternoon, and there was the excitement of the ride home and the beautiful scraps of fabric from somebody else's scrap bag to tide us over until next week.

I don't think many of us ever finished a quilt. I know Chris has made countless quilts and her sister Cathy did as well. At least, I'm sure she finished the nine-patch, I'm not sure about any further progress.

I have made exactly five quilts in my lifetime, including the four-patch I started that year. I first sewed the whole thing together, but later learned that if I pieced out my meager stash of quilt blocks with solid fabric blocks, I would not only have enough for a bed size coverlet, I would have a more interesting design as well. I think I took it apart and finally put it together when I was around 18 years old - a mere nine years after its genesis.

That original quilt lived on my bed for years and went with me to Chicago when I married. Eventually, the backing fell apart and the stuffing disintegrated. I did not replace it but instead cut down an old blanket for a new lining, and added a new backing of fabric that I had purchased for another purpose, then decided I did not like. When that second generation also went the way of all quilts, the remainder became a sort of slip cover for the couch, then for the front porch glider and eventually a sort of de facto picnic blanket. I think we last used it as a moving pad some 14 years ago.

If you want to make a similar quilt, cut a pattern of stiff card four inches square. Using this pattern, cut two patches from solid color fabric, and two more from a coordinating or contrasting print. Mix and match your fabrics for the most whimsical look.

Sew a solid and a print square together with a 1/4 inch seam by hand or by machine. Repeat with the other two patches. Now sew these two together, flipping them so that the two solid squares are next to the two two print squares, with all four corners meeting in the center. Your finished block will be about seven inches square.

Once you have a supply of these "blocks" you can lay them out on the floor with space in between. Twist and turn them and move them around until you like the arrangement. Now, buy some material to coordinate or contrast with your quilt blocks. Chris usually favored small gingham check, the one with the 1/4 inch square checks. This fabric comes in many primary and pastel colors and makes a good background for your quilt.

Cut squares from the gingham the same size as your finished quilt blocks. You will need at least as many as you have pieced blocks. Once again, lay them out alternating the plain and the pieced blocks. Begin sewing the blocks together in strips, then sew the strips together until you have one solid piece. This is your quilt top.

Measure the top and purchase sufficient material for the back. Most material comes 44 inches wide. Your quilt top will be wider. You can sew a seam down the center, but it will look better if you have one 44 inch wide piece down the center, and cut another length of fabric in half, sewing the narrower pieces to each side of the center strip to make your quilt backing. The backing and the top must be the same size.

You will also need a quilt batt. These are sold in standard sizes for single or double beds. You may have to fudge a bit to get your quilt top and your batting the same size. If you trim the batting, you can use leftovers to make pillows, mini quilts, or for other craft projects.

Lay the backing down on the floor, face down. Lay the batting on top of this, then lay the top over all, face up. Line up all the edges and safety pin the whole thing together, all over. There should be a pin every 4 or 6 inches or so. You will need a lot of pins.

Now, thread a heavy darning needle with a length of knitting yarn or embroidery floss. You will want to use this doubled. In the center of every pieced block, where the four points come together, you want to take a double stitch with the needle. The needle goes in one corner and comes out another, then goes in and out the other two corners. Keep your stitches close. Leave a tail of yarn and tie in a double knot. Snip the yarn, leaving tails about 1 - 1/2 inches long.

Repeat this in the center of every pieced block and in the center of every plain block. Repeat also at the corner of every plain block. Eventually, you will have knots all over the quilt about 3 - 1/2 inches apart. This holds the whole thing together.

To be fair, this type of quilt is often called a knotted coverlet to differentiate from a quilt which has been quilted all over with millions of tiny, tiny stitches. I have a quilt I have been working on for 31 years - a wedding gift to my husband, Bill. The pattern is called "Nelson's Victory" and resembles a series of naval flags. It is named for Lord Nelson's battleship, The Victory. It was originally knotted, then I decide to quilt it about 15 years ago. So far, I have not been victorious.

To bind the edges, you can buy quilt binding or make it from strips of leftover fabric. Or you can simply fold the back of the quilt up over the top of the quilt and hem this down, using stout thread and firm stitches. Be sure to leave your backing a few inches larger than the top to allow extra for the hems.

Your quilt is finished, ready to place on the bed or on the wall, or folded over one of those cute little quilt racks at the foot of the bed. Be sure to make a label to sew on the back of your quilt. Or just embroider your name, the date, and the name of the person the quilt was made for on the back. This is important - it gives your quilt "provenance" so that when it shows up on Antiques Roadshow in a few years, they will know it is incredibly valuable and will appraise it for thousands of dollars.

Quotable Quotes; in the category Couldn't I Just Have Some Lemonade?

“When life gives you scraps make quilts” Anonymous