KP's Completely Arbitrary but Possibly Life Changing Project

We are 22 days into the month of December and I am 22 days into my project. What's the project? I don't have a catchy name so we'll call it "KP's Completely Arbitrary Project." (Can you think of a better name? Leave a comment.) It's a little bit like Sharon Astyk's Anyway Project and a little bit like Andrew Wilder's October: Unprocessed. Basically, I'm fixing DBF's and my health by changing how and what we eat. My kitchen is where I find my center in, what I perceive to be, the chaos of my life. Change happens slowly for me; I am like the river slowly eroding the rock...and meandering. I have no illusions of completely changing DBF's eating habits, he won't suddenly start liking salads, but I intend to improve upon the quality of the food that he consumes.

Twitter followers will notice that I've been doing a lot of baking this month. Well, it's December and I need to make gifts. I'm also trying to use up all my mixes because that's phase one of the project, "use up the prepared/pre-packaged foods." Thus far, I have used all the cake mixes and I'm down to my last packs of brownies and muffins. The challenge is using the big box of pancake mix that I bought right before Thanksgiving; in hindsight, I should have purchased a box from a store other than Costco. We also have a good collection of canned soup but I can always take those to the food bank. Cleaning out the freezer will be difficult because we're down to the store bought frozen entrees that I don't like, ie. orange chicken with too much peel. I don't want to throw out food and I can't donate frozen meals so these items might end up in other people's freezers.

Some Guidelines

1. Eating out should be avoided. That being said, I will not turn down a free meal but all unplanned free meals must have a planned meal as a back-up (ie. I cannot go to work without a packed lunch because they're having training in my office and I might be able to snag something). In an effort to be sociable, I can have one planned meal out once a week. Starbucks can happen two times a month.
   
2. Every effort should be made to make meals from scratch. I will eventually find something that I can't make myself or the equipment/materials to make the ingredient is cost prohibitive on a home scale. Balsamic vinegar comes to mind.
3. Comparisons of commercially produced products to the homemade equivalent will be documented. I really enjoyed doing the pumpkin pie test.
4. Food must be prepared for travel lasting less than two days. This is actually an extension of guideline #1 but I log a good number of frequent flier miles and I don't like ending lists on #4.
   
5. DBF is exempt from guideline #1 if he's spending his own money but I will offer to pack him breakfast and lunch Monday to Friday.

Phase 1 (Using Up the Open Mixes) will extend through the end of January since I keep finding more processed food as I clean the pantry.

Phase 2 will involve baking, lots of baking. I make an OK white bread and quick breads but I need to work on replacing the hamburger and hot dog rolls that I purchase from the store.

Phase 3 is getting into serious canning. I'll be making sauerkraut between Christmas and New Years but the major canning goals for 2011 are: apple sauce, tomato sauce, strawberry preserves, bread and butter pickles, corn (creamed and regular), and green beans. This will replace the majority of the canned goods that I purchase.

I'm still trying to figure this out so things will change. What are your food plans?

Warm Wishes!
KP

Friday Challenge: Asuparagasu

Asparagus is probably my favorite word to say in Japanese. It's written in katakana because it's a "borrowed" word and sounds like the English word. It's also one of my favorite spring vegetables and that's why I've chosen it for this week's challenge.

Some people prefer pencil thin stalks and others prefer the more mature thick stalks; I like them all! Cleaning asparagus for cooking is simple, cut or break off the ends on and you're done. Some people like to shave down the thicker stalks. The important thing is to have stalks of similar diameter so that you have even cooking.

Asparagus can be steamed on the stove or in the microwave. The photo for this post is from the feast kitchen at an event I attended recently. The cooks had tied up the bunches with aluminum foil, you can also use string, so they could stand the asparagus up in the pot for steaming. I walked past the door and thought that the little bouquets of asparagus were so beautiful that I had to take a picture.

How do you like to prepare your asparagus? DBF will only eat it if it has been pickled in balsamic vinegar. I like mine chilled and dipped in mayonnaise, on a salad, in a stir fry, wrapped in bacon...I just plain like asparagus.

		Happy cooking! - KP

What Might Have Been...Mushrooms

Hobbits have a passion for mushrooms, surpassing even the greediest likings of Big People. A fact which partly explains young Frodo's long expeditions to the renowned fields of the Marish, and the wrath of the injured Maggot. On this occasion there was plenty for all, even according to hobbit standards. - J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings

First, an apology for not posting on Friday or Monday. I want to say that it's because I had two busy days at work and my computer at home doesn't like to edit photos but that's a lame excuse. I had intended to make the Friday Challenge mushrooms but Friday has come and gone. I had intended to do the Challenge follow-up with beef stroganoff but Monday is also come and gone. So, dear reader, what follows is my big catch-up post.

Mr. Brown suggests storing fresh mushrooms in a brown paper bag in the refrigerator. Moisture can condense on mushrooms stored in their Styrofoam containers wrapped with plastic and moisture can lead to accelerated decay.

I pick up a container of crimini mushrooms almost every week at Costco. They're a little more expensive than the white button mushrooms but I think that the crimini have more depth of flavor. I like to use my egg slicer to make quick work of fresh mushrooms that need to be sliced.

What can you do with mushrooms?

• saute slices with some butter, onion, salt, pepper and red wine to serve with meat
• added texture in spaghetti sauce
• remove the stems, fill the cavity with minced garlic, wrap in bacon (securing the bacon with toothpicks) and broil or cook on the grill until the bacon is crispy and done
• sliced raw on salads
• portabella mushroom sandwitch
• a lovely gift for your friendly neighborhood hobbit or penguin ;-)

The following recipe is adapted from the Curves Members' Guide.

Beef Stroganoff
1 bag egg noodle(cooked)
2 t olive oil
1 lb lean beef sliced or 1 lb of lean ground beef formed into meatballs (the original recipe is for meatballs)
1 small onion, diced
2 T AP flour
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cup beef broth
Salt, pepper, & Worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup sour cream

Brown the beef in the olive oil until cooked through. (Above photo is of the meat first going into the pan.)

Remove from the pan and add the onion. Saute onion until translucent.

Sprinkle the AP flour over the onion and remaining fat. Stir and cook the flour until it starts to brown.

Add beef broth, mushrooms, a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste then simmer until the mixture is thickened. Add the beef back to the mixture.

Turn off the heat and gently stir in the sour cream.

Serve on egg noddles and enjoy!

Happy cooking! - KP

Friday Challenge Roundup: Cornmeal

I hope that everybody had a good weekend; I know I did. So, what did you make? As I mentioned in my post on Friday, I made cornbread. Isn't that pretty on DBF's mother's silver?

There is some debate in my family as to where this recipe came from; I swear it's from Girl Scout camp and my mom claims she got it from a friend. Either way, it makes a sweet moist cornbread that usually earns me rave reviews.

Cornbread

3 blocks butter
4 c Bisquick
1 1/3 c sugar
1 t baking soda
4 beaten eggs
2 c milk
1 c yellow cornmeal

Melt butter, add to milk and eggs. Add sugar and dry ingredients. Mix. Pour into greased 9"x13" pan. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 I usually do a half batch in one of my unglazed pie pans from Ironwood Pottery. Best cornbread pan EVER!

And I leave you with a picture of DBF's mother's cat Dickens.

Happy cooking! - KP

Friday Challenge: Cornmeal

This is the first "Friday Challenge." The purpose of these posts is to build community and maybe get some people to step outside of their comfort zones. I will suggest an ingredient, technique or tool that I want you to try out and we'll all report back on Monday. Suggestions for Friday Challenges can be posted as comments and I'll add them to the list.

I've been reading Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and so far it reads like corn is in everything. What can you do with cornmeal?

• They're like little ball bearings under your pizza and bread helping to keep it from sticking to the peel.
• Polenta.
• Grits.
• Thickening agent in creamed corn.
• Cornbread.

I'm making cornbread and will have photos and a recipe on Monday. Real life friends will probably call me on doing something that I've made many times but I'm out of town this weekend and I already have to make cornbread for DBF's mother. It's my blog and I get to pick the secret ingredient :-P Have a great weekend!.

-KP

Spoke Too Soon (re: Gear Friday)

I took a couple of hours on Saturday to plan out future posts for this blog and it turns out that I don't have nearly as many gear related thoughts as expected. So, to supplement the Friday Gear posts I'm going to alternate them with Friday Challenge posts.

What's a Friday Challenge?
A Friday Challenge is an opportunity for my readers and I to try out different ingredients, styles or techniques. I will suggest something on Friday and we have the weekend to make something to share and discuss on Monday. I'll try not to pick expensive or completely obscure items because I want everybody to have the opportunity to participate in the Friday Challenges.

I am also taking suggestions for Challenge or Gear items; please drop me a comment and I'll add your suggestion to the list.

What else is new?
There's an About Kitchen Penguin page and a Friday Gear page. Links are at the top of the blog. Safeway is having a really good sale on London broil and top round roast, $1.99/lb, so I stocked the freezer. Speaking of Safeway, they discontinued their United Airlines partnership yesterday. I heard that it's because Safeway wanted to focus on offering better prices; we'll see how that pans out.

Friday dinner was pork fried rice and leftover rotisserie chicken. Saturday dinner was chopped steak and rice. Sunday breakfast was pancakes and bacon. DBF marinated and broiled one of the London broils on Sunday and started a small fire in the oven. Perhaps I should have started the Friday Gear posts with a fire extinguisher because it's more important than an apron. I have three fire extinguishers in the house: one in the furnace/laundry room adjacent to the kitchen, one in the dining room next to the sliding glass door (it's part of the BBQ equipment), and one upstairs in the linen closet. Everything and everybody is fine but DBF is going to be doing a thorough cleaning of the oven tonight.

Be Safe. - KP