A lot (and I mean A LOT) has gone on in Findley Lake since my last post in July. I'll try and tackle various topic updates in separate posts.
In my life, emotional and physical well-being are tied to my desire to cook. No cookie, no feel well.
After a very social and congenial two hour breakfast with friends at the Blue Heron Inn this morning, I was inspired to cook. Part of our morning discussion concerned comfort food. My straight forward husband goes right for the ice cream. One friend chose Asian food. My choice was whole hominy with butter, salt and pepper. When I was growing up, my Mother served us sausage patties and whole hominy. It was just in the past few years that I found out my youngest brother also opens a can of hominy on occasion as emotional and nutritional sustenance. It's funny how those totally simple foods can soothe the soul.
So starting at 3:30 pm, I started cooking up a storm. Microwaved a small pumpkin (1/2 at a time) and froze most of it for the dog's suppers. Put on a pot of 15 bean soup. Took a spiral sliced ham that we'd been working on and removed the meat. Put the bone into the simmering soup and froze most of the meat. We had frizzled ham and broccoli for supper. The extra broccoli and left over pumpkin are in a bowl ready for the dog's supper tomorrow night.
One recipe ended up a little modified due to my slip of not including sugar in the bowl. I was making two pumpkin pies using the Lakeshore Pumpkin recipe (best pumpkin pie, dense and tasty. The pies were within 15 minutes of being finished when I realized my error. OOOPS ! However, I'm into the glass half full/lemons into lemonade life so this might work out better. The Lakeshore recipe called for 1 1/2 cups sugar. I have taken to using half sugar and half Splenda, which has been OK. Tonight, realizing that I'd completely omitted both, I decided to try caramelizing brown sugar on top. Right now, I'm not sure that I performed the caramelizing process properly but, if we like the pie with a light sugar and whipped cream topping, it will end up actually less sweet than the original recipe. For any of you diabetics out there, I'll let you know if it's good this way. If it ends up that we like it, my glass will be overflowing.
I still have one more recipe to make tonight (beside completing the 15 bean soup). I make a quiche with bacon, onions, eggs, cream, nutmeg, and graham cracker crust. I find it delicious while my husband finds the sweet flavor of the crust too different from regular crust to really enjoy. It's a sweet/savory quiche. I'll post the recipe later.
Now that we've eaten supper and I've got my second wind, it's time to finish up the seasoning in the soup and put the quiche in to bake. Nice to be back.
Showing posts with label ham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ham. Show all posts
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Foxes, Leeks, Weed Harvester, and Food
Here are a few updates on topics that interest me:
Yes, there are three fox kits (Kit, Kat, & Kabboodle). I watched them playing tag, in and out of the den holes. No wonder Rennie was looking kind of puny and run down. These three are a handful but look very healthy.
Wild leeks are nearing the end of their short season. I was able to pick some on Sunday and clean and freeze them today. Still need to make leek cheese spread. For supper we had a wild leek and mushroom/Swiss Cheese tart. That was yummy. For anyone interested in leeks and supporting some good organizations, the Spring Creek Fire Department is hosting their annual Ham and Leek Supper on Saturday, May 3d. Time is 11am - 4pm but they do run out. It's a fixed price for ham, potatoes, leeks, dessert, beverage. Usually the proceeds benefit several churches in the area. It's a fun weekend event, tasty, and casual.
The Weed Harvester has been moved to it's summer dock space. From just an interested by-stander point of view, it would make sense for lake front owners to remove the branches that have fallen into the lake. When the Harvester hits these invisible objects, teeth get broken or the cutting bar jams. Anything that damages the equipment or causes unnecessary time wasted on repairs takes away from the time spent harvesting weeds.
On the topic of the health of Findley Lake, I was appalled to watch a local landscaper blowing leaves INTO the lake. If you use a landscaper to maintain your yard, be sure they know to actually "remove" the leaves from the property. By blowing leaves into the lake, nutrients are being added to the water, which feed the weeds and add debris to the bottom. It's a waste of everyone's money to pay for weed harvesting or weevils, or anything to control the weeds only to have poor lake management practices occurring on individual properties.
Sunday we had an international meal: A French recipe for ground sirloin patties made with ground venison, an Indian spicy sauteed cabbage, and a Japanese grated radish salad. So many recipes, so little time. Now I have my brother trying to get me some purple sweet potatoes to grow this summer.
Yes, there are three fox kits (Kit, Kat, & Kabboodle). I watched them playing tag, in and out of the den holes. No wonder Rennie was looking kind of puny and run down. These three are a handful but look very healthy.
Wild leeks are nearing the end of their short season. I was able to pick some on Sunday and clean and freeze them today. Still need to make leek cheese spread. For supper we had a wild leek and mushroom/Swiss Cheese tart. That was yummy. For anyone interested in leeks and supporting some good organizations, the Spring Creek Fire Department is hosting their annual Ham and Leek Supper on Saturday, May 3d. Time is 11am - 4pm but they do run out. It's a fixed price for ham, potatoes, leeks, dessert, beverage. Usually the proceeds benefit several churches in the area. It's a fun weekend event, tasty, and casual.
The Weed Harvester has been moved to it's summer dock space. From just an interested by-stander point of view, it would make sense for lake front owners to remove the branches that have fallen into the lake. When the Harvester hits these invisible objects, teeth get broken or the cutting bar jams. Anything that damages the equipment or causes unnecessary time wasted on repairs takes away from the time spent harvesting weeds.
On the topic of the health of Findley Lake, I was appalled to watch a local landscaper blowing leaves INTO the lake. If you use a landscaper to maintain your yard, be sure they know to actually "remove" the leaves from the property. By blowing leaves into the lake, nutrients are being added to the water, which feed the weeds and add debris to the bottom. It's a waste of everyone's money to pay for weed harvesting or weevils, or anything to control the weeds only to have poor lake management practices occurring on individual properties.
Sunday we had an international meal: A French recipe for ground sirloin patties made with ground venison, an Indian spicy sauteed cabbage, and a Japanese grated radish salad. So many recipes, so little time. Now I have my brother trying to get me some purple sweet potatoes to grow this summer.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
End of the Easter Ham - Great Soup Recipe
First, it was a nice day with temperatures reaching 52 degrees. The lake had a light skim of ice on the edges in the morning, which would melt off later. Still no sign of the eagle but seagulls were flying around.
I signed up at www.presidentschallenge.com to try and do some exercise for 1/2 hour , five days a week. Today I did my first half hour on the recumbent bike. Took a walk around the property and dug a little in the garden. Pretty good for me.
Now, on to the Easter Ham. It was a particularly meaty, spiral sliced ham from Giant Eagle. We'd reached the end of about a week of ham meals so I decided to finish up cooking and/or freezing it.
HAM, LEEK, AND MUSHROOM SOUP
2 cups diced ham
3 leeks (about 6 inches long) thin sliced, including green
2 Yukon potatoes, cubed small
2 - 14 oz. cans low sodium/low fat chicken broth
1 - 2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup half and half (or milk)
3 TBSP flour
Dice about 2 cups of ham and start it sauteing in a 2 quart sauce pan. Clean and slice three leeks and tossed them in on top of the ham. Keep heat low and add a little water to prevent from scorching. As leeks begin to soften, add the potatoes. Saute a few minutes and then add both cans of chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, stir, and continue to simmer until potatoes are tender. Stir flour into the half and half (or milk). Slowly stir into simmering soup. Soup should thicken some but still be liquid. Serve hot with fresh ground pepper.
Between the low sodium chicken broth and the ham, no additional salt is needed.
I have an experiment to run. I think if I take 4 eggs, whip them up, add two cups of the soup and maybe a cup of milk or cream, I can bake it and it will be somewhere between a custard and a quiche. Still sounds good to me. I wonder if Mikey will like it?
Renee and Nyardo were out enjoying the sun. Nice to see a family spending quality time together.
I signed up at www.presidentschallenge.com to try and do some exercise for 1/2 hour , five days a week. Today I did my first half hour on the recumbent bike. Took a walk around the property and dug a little in the garden. Pretty good for me.
Now, on to the Easter Ham. It was a particularly meaty, spiral sliced ham from Giant Eagle. We'd reached the end of about a week of ham meals so I decided to finish up cooking and/or freezing it.
HAM, LEEK, AND MUSHROOM SOUP
2 cups diced ham
3 leeks (about 6 inches long) thin sliced, including green
2 Yukon potatoes, cubed small
2 - 14 oz. cans low sodium/low fat chicken broth
1 - 2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup half and half (or milk)
3 TBSP flour
Dice about 2 cups of ham and start it sauteing in a 2 quart sauce pan. Clean and slice three leeks and tossed them in on top of the ham. Keep heat low and add a little water to prevent from scorching. As leeks begin to soften, add the potatoes. Saute a few minutes and then add both cans of chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, stir, and continue to simmer until potatoes are tender. Stir flour into the half and half (or milk). Slowly stir into simmering soup. Soup should thicken some but still be liquid. Serve hot with fresh ground pepper.
Between the low sodium chicken broth and the ham, no additional salt is needed.
I have an experiment to run. I think if I take 4 eggs, whip them up, add two cups of the soup and maybe a cup of milk or cream, I can bake it and it will be somewhere between a custard and a quiche. Still sounds good to me. I wonder if Mikey will like it?
Renee and Nyardo were out enjoying the sun. Nice to see a family spending quality time together.
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