Too Hot to Bake

     Do not worry, faithful viewers! Nothing bizarre has happed to the writers/editors of Mouthwatering Gastronomy, it's just that summer is in full swing and trying to toast us alive. 

     Yes, as the title states, it is too hot to bake. Waaay too hot to bake. So, I have taken up a new hobby: beading. If I don't do something with my hands, I get extremely bored and irritated. Me bored and irritated is a very bad thing. I have always liked shiny objects, so this is a really good use of my time and energy. (My partner in Gastronomy has to deal with my siblings, so they're a little too busy to take up another hobby.)

     As a lover of all shiny objects, I am also clingy towards said objects, but I try not to get too attached. Sometimes I combine two of my hobbies, crochet and beading, to make a colorful hybrid of shininess. Here are a few of my pieces:

Beaded finger rings. Handmade with love (and craft wire).

     So far, I have made necklaces, bracelets, rings (shown), earrings, beaded key rings, coiled wire into swirls, and sewed a faceted glass bead into a crocheted brooch.

     We at Mouthwatering Gastronomy will try to think of some summer desserts that do not require raising the temperature of your house an extra 350 degrees or so. For now, we suggest investing in some ice cream, sorbet, and a lot of ice cube trays.


Thanks and stay cool from the two-person team at Mouthwatering Gastronomy!

Anytime Turkey Sausages

Enlarged to show tasty details

These sausages are packed with well-blended flavors. They're easy to make too, but require getting your hands dirty. Have no fear of ground meat; these tasty pieces of goodness are completely worth some extra soap and hot water. We usually have them for breakfast, but, as the name suggests, they can be eaten anytime. And on top of that, no strange science nonsense made in a lab that you can't even pronounce. What more do you want in a sausage patty?



20 oz ground turkey
3 Tablespoons fresh sage leaves, minced ( 1 tablespoon dried)
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 
3 medium cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
olive oil
butter (about a teaspoon to keep the sausages from sticking and give some flavor)


Step 1: Heat a small frying pan to medium-low heat with a small amount of olive oil. Once the oil is heated, add a small pat of butter and move the fats around.

Step 2

Step 2: Toss all the ingredients into a medium-size bowl. If the meat is too cold, you may want to let it sit and warm up to the temperature suited to your hands. If not, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3

Step 3: Mix the meat with the spices thoroughly to  ensure powerful flavor throughout the entire batch. Pull out balls of ground meat mixture and shape them into patties, about two inches across and a half inch thick. Put a small indentation in the center of each so they get done in the middle at the same time as the outside.

Step 4: Once the pan is heated and the patties are formed, place them in the hot pan to cook. They will be ready to turn over (using a spatula) in about three minutes, or when brown is above halfway on the side of the patties. It should take about three more minutes. I cut the thickest sausage in half and check to see if there is any pink in the middle. If not, then they are ready to be set aside and kept warm.

Step 5: When all the patties are finished, serve with whichever meal close at hand. Enjoy your homemade sausage!


Variation 1: Instead of Chili powder, which has a very mild spicy taste, you can add Cayenne powder. This will give the sausage much more heat.

Variation 2: Instead of the garlic, you could put in 1 teaspoon of onion powder. This changes the flavor very slightly, but they are good either way. 

Fruit Smoothie

This yummy cool drink is great for a sweet treat without any artificial flavors or colors and no processed sugars. This makes two servings.

I always pull the frozen fruit out of the freezer a few minutes to let them soften a bit.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup juice (apple or white grape)
2 cups frozen fruit (blueberries, strawberries, peaches, raspberries)
1 banana cut into 2 inch chunks

Process:

Pour juice into blender, add bananas, then the frozen fruits. Process on lowest setting until mixture stops moving. You can wait for the mixture to "burp" itself or you can mix it carefully with a spatula or wooden spoon. Begin blending on lowest setting again for a few seconds, then increase to medium speed briefly, and finish off on the highest when you are satisfied with the texture of your smoothie. This doesn't take very long. If the smoothie is too thick for you just add more juice and blend again.  Pour into cups/glasses and enjoy.

Economy Tip #1

Step 1

Economy Tip #1

  If you like to grow your own fruits and veggies, or like to make your own smoothies, invest in freezer bags. This nifty, wallet-friendly tool helps when you want fruit, but don't want to spend a lot of money buying it during the off-season. This also gives you a reasonable excuse to clean out that freezer. Toss out whatever you don't need (or is now inedible) and pack away inexpensive fruit! You'll feel like you accomplished something! (Something with potentially tasty results.)

Step 4

Step 1: Buy fruit on sale, like strawberries. Don't forget the freezer bags. (Quart-size do well in our house.)

Step 2: Slice, dice, chop, or do whatever to your chosen fruit to make it a convenient size.We also put tomato sauce in ours. Spaghetti in the winter without any potentially hazardous preservatives and chemicals!

Step 3: Pack the fruit into the bag, fill to within an inch or two from the top, depending on how chunky your fruit is. 

Step 4: Squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and put the bag in your freezer.

Step 5: If you feel the need for some strawberry smoothie, or maybe some cherry crisps, pull out those frozen fruits and whip it up! You can reuse the bags by washing them out with hot, soapy water and letting them air dry. 

Note: You can also freeze vegetables, like squash, water chestnuts, green beans, carrots, etc for an easy stir fry or quick sweet bread addition. Just measure the shredded veggie to the needed amount and freeze. Then, in the middle of the winter, you can pull out the shredded veggie and mix it in the batter or dough. Bake up something warm and delicious to chase away those frosty chills! 
 
Save money! Go Gastronomy!

 

Not Gastronomy

We haven't posted recently because we have been very busy and not making any terribly interesting, new foods.

I was commissioned by an administrator at my school to make two head bands for baby girls. She provided the the yarn and told me what she wanted.

Here is what I crocheted! I am happy with how they turned out.

Soft "Pretzels"

These are a wonderful, home baked, savory treat.  This recipe could be easily finished as a sweet treat. I opted to vary the shapes and sized of our pretzels. I was having so much fun. There are many steps to this recipe, but if you enjoy soft pretzels or baking projects here is a great one!







Dough
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups  all purpose flour
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
Boil bath
2 quarts water
extra 3 Tablespoons salt
salt to sprinkle (optional)
Egg wash
1 egg white
1 Tablespoon water

Mix together whole wheat flour and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, mix 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and yeast. In a sauce pan, heat butter, milk, 2 teaspoons salt, and sugar until reaches 115 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, or lukewarm. (Lukewarm is when it feels neither hot nor cold. 120 is almost too hot to leave your finger in.) If it is too hot, take off stove and set somewhere to cool to the right temperature.

Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients in the large mixer bowl. Add the eggs. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula. beat on medium for 3 minutes, then mix in the whole wheat flour by hand. When becomes hard to stir, dump onto a lightly floured surface (cutting board, clean counter top). Knead firmly using the rest of the flour until it becomes elastic and "smooth", which means it stops sticking as much.

Grease a bowl, preferably glass but any will do, and shape the dough into a ball. Place in the bowl, then flip over to coat in oil. Let rise in a warm place, covered with a damp towel. make sure the bowl is big enough, because the dough needs to double in size before the next step, about an hour.

When the dough has doubled, punch down (literally, just punch down, with both fists if you feel like it. Just don't break anything.) Roll out the dough into a 15 by 12 inch rectangle on a floured surface. Try to make it as even as possible, and flour the rolling pin to be safe.

Next, cut the dough into 15 inch long strips, roughly a half-inch wide. roll them into ropes about 20 inches. Try to keep them close in size to make baking time even. Now comes the fun part. Just go shape-crazy. Hearts for your mom and dad, flowers, twists, actual pretzels, braids, coils, knots, anything. After you finish shaping the pretzels, you have to let them rise. While they rise, dissolve the 3 tablespoons salt in the water and bring to a boil in a large pot.

Grease pans and set up a place to drain you pretzels with paper towels. Beat egg white with water in a small bowl, and set aside with a small bowl of salt. Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

With a slotted spoon, lower 1-2 pretzels at a time into the boiling water. Try to pick out the ones you did first, because these have been rising longest. Wait for 1-2 minutes, then pull out and place on paper towels. Place a couple more pretzels in the boiling water. When the first two cool, peel them off the paper towels and place them on the greased sheet. Brush the pretzels with egg wash and sprinkle salt if desired.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden. Pull out and set in a place to cool, then put in the next batch. If you start to run out of liquid in the pot, just add a cup to a quart more, depending on how empty it is. Remove pretzels onto wire racks to cool after the next batch is in. The amount the recipe makes depends on the size of your pretzels. Store in an airtight container.

Dipping suggestions:
Soups
Broths
Mustard
Favorite jams, jellies, preserves
Drizzles
Barbecue sauce (not saying we tried it yet, just that it's a possibility)
Cream cheese spread

Hopi Corn Soup

This recipe was originally for a stew, but we like it more as a soup. My first choice is diced tomatoes from the garden, but canned are sufficient.  We enjoy this soup with freshly baked cornbread.This is, of course, even yummier the next day!

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 potatoes, diced
1/2 pound carrots, diced
1 can (29 oz) hominy
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with liquid
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chillies, with juice
3 cups water (or beef broth)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over medium heat, cook ground beef until evenly browned.Stir in onions and sauté until soft and translucent. Season with chili powder, and cook for about 2 minutes.  Add potatoes, carrots, hominy, tomatoes, and chillies. Pour in water (or broth). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat and simmer up to 2 hours. About an hour into simmering test the firmness of veggies and adjust seasoning if necessary. You may also want to add liquid if you are looking for a more soup-like consistency.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!