My Dad's Spaghetti Soup (hopefully)

I haven't had my dad's spaghetti soup in years and over Christmas we were discussing it when he mentioned what he planned on making once he had his kitchen back (it's being remodeled). He instructed me on how to make it verbally and I figured I could probably work it out so that it was hopefully at least 75% as good as how my father makes it.

His instructions (as best as I remembered them, I'm sure they're not exact):

Cook onions and a little olive oil in a large pot as if you were going to start a spaghetti sauce (I also added a clove of garlic minced). Add ground beef and brown. I seasoned the beef with pepper, salt, oregano, basil, and one bay leaf. I'm not sure of when he said to add the sauce spices but this worked for me. Add two cans of Pastene Kitchen Ready (these are the only canned tomatoes I use. The flavor is out of this world and it's not concentrated. I also read that they don't line their cans with the plastic bpa coating which is an added bonus for me.) Add four cans of water and cook for a while. Adjust seasoning to taste. You can tell when it gets that "sauce" flavor and the kind of tart flavor smoothes out. Add 1/2 box thin spaghetti (he said thin spaghetti or angel hair but I prefer thin spaghetti) breaking it up into lengths of about 2-3 inches. Simmer until spaghetti is cooked through. I turned the heat off and let it sit for about 15 minutes before having a bowl. The spaghetti was just perfect at that point. Top with shredded parmesan (or whatever you have).

Favorite Oven Fries

These excellent fries have been part of a near weekly ritual since my oldest started Kindergarten. His school offers a fast food lunch twice a week and after discussing compromise options with him, he sticks with the pizza lunch on Fridays and we send our own homemade chicken tenders and fries on Wednesdays. These are usually made the night before and I pack them in his sandwich container with chicken strips I've made and frozen previously and the school heats it up for him.

Oven Fries:

8-10 small to medium round style potatoes

1/4 cup canola oil plus 2 TBS olive oil

salt and seasonings to taste

Wash and cut potatoes into thin wedged shaped pieces. Toss slices in a large bowl with oil and other seasonings. (I use a blend of rosemary, pepper, sage, thyme, sea salt, orange rind, lemon rind, garlic and onion). Arrange slices into single layer on cookie sheets and bake at 425. Start to check them in 8 minutes and then every 3 minutes after. When golden brown on one side, flip them and bake again starting to check after 5 minutes. Blot with paper towels if desired.

related links:

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

Butter Biscuits

I'll be honest. I've been cheating. With my oldest starting Kindergarten and some work exhaustion I've been feeling my midnight baking has turned more into 9PM baking over the past couple of weeks. I've accomplished quite a bit, however, remembering to take photos hasn't been my strong suit so there are definitely a few things I will have to make again (like managing to actually make a decent pie crust lately).

I have one thing to say about these butter biscuits...and it's that if you make them, you might be tempted to never buy another can of biscuits again. Since discovering this recipe, it's probably been a few years since Pillsbury cans have found their way into my fridge. These are preservative free, tasty, and a fraction of the price if you buy your butter on sale. They take me about 2 minutes to mix and about 8 minutes from start to oven. You don't need to roll them and the kids usually eat about half the batch as soon as they come out of the oven.

Butter Biscuits:

2 cups unbleached flour (if using whole wheat, use no more than 1/2 cup wheat flour)

1 TBS sugar, brown sugar, or honey

1 TBS baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 stick butter (the real stuff) quartered and cut into small cubes

3/4 cup milk

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

Together in a bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Sprinkle a few cubes of butter into the mix and toss. Repeat until all cubes are integrated into flour mix. Cut in butter using two knives or a pastry mixer until mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can use your bare hands if you find the knives clumsy to work with and you don't have a pastry mixer. Add milk and stir together until well coated.

Dump ball of dough onto a floured surface and dust the top with flour. Using your hands, press the mix into a disc about 1/2-1/3 inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter to cut biscuit shapes and lay the circles on an ungreased cookie sheet. I use 2.5 inch diameter circles but you can use any size that you prefer. Gather dough together and repeat the pressing and cutting process until all the dough is used.

Bake biscuits about 12 minutes until golden. Adjust accordingly for the size of the cutter you use.

These are delicious warm and while they are super buttery already, a little pat of fresh butter after splitting is absolutely amazing.

Star Calzones

My oldest son started Kindergarten today. I wanted to make him something fun for his first lunch in his new lunch bag and over the weekend while outlet shopping I found this cute little star shaped pie mold and decided to try to make him some pocket calzones.

What I learned is that they call it a pie mold for a reason. Much better suited for sandwiches or pie crusts. Bread dough is best formed into calzones by hand. I made four of these little pockets then gave up and made a big calzone for slicing.

I did manage to have a couple of stars that came out nice and those went into his lunch along with an encouraging note for his first day.

Dough: Basic bread dough

Filling: Turkey pepperoni, mozzerella cheese, red sauce, minced green beans

Mini Quiches Start: 10:32 PM End 11:31 PM

The last thing I thought I wanted to do tonight was cook. But at 8:45, I found myself getting home ridiculously late from the Magic Show/Surprise-all-the-kids-get-free-ice-cream-sundaes bash at the library and I still had two loads of laundry to finish. That's when I figured to throw caution to the wind and make quiche. It's breakfast. It's lunch. It's options.

I'm not a very good pie crust maker but months ago after getting a handheld pastry tool I stubled upon a recipe that mixes all of the ingredients into one bowl and presses it into the pan. No rolling involved and no dusty flour counters. My hands get really greasy using this method but the crust is buttery and rich and exactly the way it should be in the end.

My crust is:

1.5 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 stick of butter

2.5 tablespoons milk

Mix everything into one bowl until it's completely blended. I have a pastry tool that helps me but honestly, you can do just as well and even better by kneading the whole thing with your bare hands. With this mix, you don't have to cut the butter into pea sized pieces and you don't have to roll it at all which eliminates the dreadful "roll as soon as it starts to stick together" method of traditional crusts.

When fully mixed press into pie pan to evenly cover bottom and sides. I prefer to use a coated muffin tin and it's the same method for each muffin cup.

My quiche filling base is:

4 eggs

1 cup milk

Beat together well and pour into molds. Before this step, you'll want to add whatever ingredients to the empty pie shells. Tonight I just added shredded cheese. Often I make it with cheese and spinach. It's important to add the non-egg ingredients first and then fill with the egg.

Baking time varies. I usually bake at 375 until edges are golden and egg is set. I finish off with 5 minutes at 450 just to get the top done a little more. If you are doing these in muffin tins, they'll come out rounded like cupcakes but as they cool they'll set nice and flat.