Tiramisu!

I made a tiramisu for our parish supper last night. (No pictures, sorry! Some day I’ll get better at taking them.) I actually had people compliment me on it and at least two requests for the recipe I used. So here you go:

Beth’s Tiramisu

  • 1 Sponge cake (I used the recipe here*, I used fresh milled soft white wheat and sucanat for the flour and sugar,it worked well.)
  • 16 oz of ricotta cheese
  • 1.5 cups of whipping cream
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 cups of strong coffee (I put in twice the amount of coffee)
  • 2 tablespoons Rum/Kahlua/Espresso Vodka (totally optional)
  • 1/3 cup of cocoa powder

When I made the cake, I baked it in a 9 x 13 pan. This recipe will make two 8 x 8 tiramisus. 

Step 1: Place the cake on a cutting board and cut evening in half (so you will have two 9 x 6.5 pieces) then split those in half, so you will end up with four 9 x 6.5 pieces.) Place the one piece in the bottom of each of your 8 x 8 pans. You will need to trim the side a bit to make them fit. Take that extra piece and use it to fill in the gap on the 6 inch side.

Step 2: Brush cakes with coffee (I use more coffee on this layer, and let it sit longer, so I’d say use 3/4 cup on each base cake, it will soak in.) If you are using any sort of liquor in your tiramisu, add it to the coffee before brushing it on the cakes.

Step 3: While the cakes are soaking up the coffee, place the ricotta and whipping cream a bowl (I use my stand mixer with the whisk attachment) and beat until incorporated, then add the powdered sugar. Beat until it is thick, but make sure not to over beat.

Step 4: Put 1/4 of the filling on each cake bases and smear it around to cover, it doesn’t need to be pretty, but you want to make sure it is a nice thick layer, so use more filling if you need to.

Step 5: Place the second cake layer on top and brush the rest of the coffee, the add the rest of the filling and spread around to cover.

Step 6: Place the cakes in the fridge at this point and let chill for at least 4 hours, but I’d say 12 hours is the best.

Step 7: Just prior to serving, remove from the fridge and using a fine mess sifter/strainer, sprinkle cocoa powder onto the tiramisu.

Step 8: Scoop out a serving and place in a bowl. Share if you must.

 

This seems to be a somewhat complicated recipe, but the hardest part is making the cake, and that can be down a day or two in advance as well.  While I don’t always recommend starting out with a packaged good, I will say I have made this with a Sara Lee pound cake and it was also very good.

What about that other one you made at the same time? Well, I read that you can freeze them, so I put the other one in my freezer (it’s Lent folks, let’s not get crazy here). I’ll let you know how it is unthawed in a few weeks. Until then, you can always half the recipe. (I’d suggest making the whole cake then freezing the part you don’t use, cake freezes and thaws beautifully.)

*I found Woodland Bakery a few days ago and have been watching the videos to get tips on baking. I’m going to say that Gretchen (the baker) is very good at explaining the ins and outs of baking. I’d compare her to Alton Brown in terms of teaching, minus the sock puppets. The nice thing about her sponge cake is that the eggs are whipped together, none of this separating, whipping the egg whites, then folding them back in business. I like to cook but to be honest, that’s a step I’d rather skip.

One more thing: Yes, I call it Beth’s Tiramisu because I created this particular recipe. I’m going to own it.

 

Filed under: Food

Frugal House Things I

A friend of mine recently made a comment in passing about some of the things I do to keep the cost of running a family down. I started pondering the things we do around here to keep costs down, like buying in bulk or finding the store that has the best prices and wanted to share them. As with most families, your model will vary, but these are things that have worked for us.

I will start with the bathroom and how we save money on toiletries and other bathroom items.

  • Shampoo: A while ago we wanted to get away from harsher chemicals in our soaps and shampoos but still use a product that got us clean, so after some searching, we found Cal-Ben shampoos and after one use, we were sold. It’s been two years since we started using it and it still works the same as it did on day one. We also use that soap in our foaming soap dispensers, mixed with water  and use it as a body wash as well. I’d say a gallon which costs $36.00 lasts us about a year.
  • Face-soap: A few years ago I started using Vitacost (which by the way has a nice referral program) to order the soap for our face, since Joshua has a preference for a certain kind and this was the cheapest place. I have since found them to be a good source for vitamins and vinegar (that’s another post).
  • Toothpaste: I also turn to Vitacost for toothpaste and I order the Jason Powersmile. I was looking for something that was fluoride-free and this fits the bill. It is also sugar free and it is lacking what ever chemical that makes food taste horrible if you brush you teeth then try to eat something or drink citrus. Also, since we made the switch to it, I no longer wake up feeling like “I need to brush my teeth NOW!”.  I order this in bulk and usually have 2 boxes in the linen cabinet.
  • Razors: Well, you can go cheap on these, you can spend a lot of money, or you could just forgo shaving all together. Well, we were in the second camp, spending money but making them last a long long time, even it meant someone had knicks on his face. Joshua did a lot of research on the subject and found Dorco. We’ve been using razors from there for a few months now and they are holding up very well.
  • Cleaners: I use vinegar for most of my cleaning in the bathroom, it really works well on smells that creep in when you have seven people using the same one. Once a week I also clean my toilet with a standard toilet bowl cleaner to keep the rust (we have hard water) away.
  • Toilet paper (because we all need it and I’m not ready to go to family cloth yet): I have found that Bounty Basics works just fine around here, I buy it in the big packages about once a quarter.

 

 

Filed under: General Stuff

Celebrating Life

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Nine years ago this week, we found out that I had miscarried our first baby. I wasn’t very far along and I didn’t know if the baby was a boy or a girl, but I was certain I was expecting a girl, so we named her Gianna Marie, in honor of the great St. Gianna and for Our Lady.

We were blessed to have her with us, even if for a few short weeks. Our kids know about the little baby who went to God and talk of her often. Karol is at the age when he wonders what life would be like with her here, but he knows it would be very different because he wouldn’t be here.

We celebrate her life twice a year, around the date I miscarried and again in November, on what would have been her due date. Sometimes I make a cake, sometimes we have ice cream sundaes, this weekend we did cookies, big fat cookies, scooped out with an ice cream scoop sized cookies, because really, she is a big deal.

Our goal as parents is to get our children to heaven, and while it was hard to lose a child (and it is still hard, I cry whenever I think of her), ultimately, she is in heaven, she’s with God, our job with her is complete.

 

Filed under: Catholic

Feasting with the Bridegroom I

Yesterday we feasted while the Bridegroom was with us. After Mass we had eggs with bacon, potatoes and cheese, then worked on cracking some pecans for a cookie bar later. (Oh and watched the Red Wings lose.)

Later in the day some friends came over and we did burgers on the grill. We make our burgers small, so you can eat two, with different toppings if you’d like. The burgers were served on homemade buns with a side of grilled asparagus (1.19 for a huge bunch, it was such an awesome deal that we stopped and picked up more). Our friends brought chips with them. I ate Doritos for the first time in a long time, they weren’t as horrible as I remember. However, I’m thinking I mostly remember them as a snack along side of a pop, gross.

I made a pecan cookie bar for dessert, short bread crust and a sort of pecan pie topping. We are really blessed to have five pecan trees in our yard, it makes adding them to recipes simple and well, free.

On Saturday, we organized the snack cabinet and cleared out a lot of the older snacks we’ve had up there. I also baked the rest of the cookie dough I had made earlier in the week, so after dinner we ate the old snacks with the cookies. The kids get sweet so seldom that they’ll enjoy anything, including the (ew gross) stale fortune cookies we had.

Filed under: Food, General Stuff

Lenten Food Update II

Last night we went to Mass (which was followed by Stations of the Cross, Confession and Adoration, nice) so I needed to make something that could be made ahead of time but eaten as soon as we got home. Tuna casserole fits the bill for that need perfectly.

My tuna casserole was a bit iffy when I took it out of the oven, but it had set up better when we got back home. I know now that I didn’t cook my white sauce long enough and I used a cheaper cheese, so it was a bit oily, but it still tasted nice, so it was a win.

I started with making the pasta. If you haven’t made your own, it is worth the little extra effort. I started with two cups of durum wheat, but I’ve made it before with all purpose flour. In the end I had three cups of flour and I mixed that with four eggs, a quarter cup of olive oil, and water to pull it all together. I let my dough hook do the work and kneaded it in the bowl for 5 minutes, then I let it rest for another 20. I rolled it out pretty thin then using a pizza cutter, I cut it into 2 inch by 1/2 inch pieces (give or take).

Cooking them is simple, about 5 minutes in boiling water, then strain. I do it in batches, because overloading the pot could cause them to stick. I just pull the cooked ones out with a slotted spoon.

Once those are done, put them in a grease 9 x 13 pan and move on to make the white sauce. (I didn’t mean to turn this post into a recipe, but I guess it is!)

The white sauce is pretty easy, but it takes a bit of time to get the hang of it. It is something that needs to be practiced when someone is around to watch the kids, so you can focus 100% on it. However, once you get the hang of it, you can do it in your sleep. (just don’t rush the cooking like I did!) Alton Brown has a great recipe for mac and cheese and it is what I use for my tuna casserole, then I put it two cans of tuna in and bake according to the recipe.

I also put a bit of cheese over top when I have extra.

For today, the garage wasn’t worked on so I did more of a clean out the fridge meal day. Joshua made a nice beef-veggie soup with the left over pot roast from Sunday. We ate it for lunch and dinner, adding wheat berries to the dinner portion, and served it with Ezekiel bread.

Tomorrow is burgers on the grill, I can taste them now!

 

Filed under: Food, General Stuff

Lenten Food Update I

Ash Wednesday was a day of fasting, so there isn’t much to tell about what we ate around here. The kids ate full meals at each meal time, oatmeal with peaches for breakfast, bread, butter, cottage cheese, and fruit at lunch, and leftover fish and peas for dinner. For my full meal (which Joshua and I had when we got home from Mass that night) was an egg salad sandwich with celery on the side. Simple yet nutritious.

Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day, as we had our grain co-op pick up at 1215. For breakfast I made coffee. Okay, the kids had fresh fruit (strawberries and bananas) with bread. Lunch was a quick one, so we could leave to pick up the grain. The kids had cottage cheese, tomatoes and a slice of bread*.

Dinner was scheduled to be  Salad with shredded chicken, hard boiled eggs, and home made dressing. We did have a salad, but I cut up the chicken in to small pieces, “soaked” them in a lemon-mustard sauce, then Joshua breaded them in a cornmeal-flour mixture and fried them. The salad had lettuce from our backyard, romaine hearts from Trader Joe’s, spinach from Trader Joe’s**, roma tomatoes, green peppers, shredded cheddar cheese and hard boiled eggs. I made a honey mustard dressing (recipe below) to go over top.

The salad was served with a side of Ezekiel bread (recipe also below). The bread was a hit, the kids call it “honey bread” and they asked for seconds.

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*I serve a lot of bread in this house, however, I think the bread I make is healthy. I use fresh ground wheat, so none of the good stuff is taken out then I use basic ingredients like eggs, water, salt, vinegar (or yogurt). No additives or preservatives.

**Yes, I drove to Tallahassee for Trader Joe’s last weekend. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. It’s a nice trip with my friend, kind of like a girls day out, plus a chance to pick up foods I can’t get around here.

 

HONEY MUSTARD RECIPE:

  • 4 oz Rice Wine Vinegar (I had a bottle, we seldom use it, so I finished it off.)
  • 4 tablespoons yellow mustard
  • 3 tablespoons good quality honey
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all ingredients in a container with a lid (or a blender) and shake to combine.

 

EZEKIEL FASTING BREAD 

Combine the following whole grains:

  • 2-1/2 cups hard red wheat
  • 1-1/2 cups spelt or rye (Biblically spelt was used, Ezekiel 4:9, I used rye)
  • 1/2 cup barley (hulled barley)
  • 1/4 cup millet
  • 1/4 cup lentils (green preferred)
  • 2 Tbs. great northern beans
  • 2 Tbs. red kidney beans
  • 2 Tbs. pinto beans

Stir the above ingredients very well.  Grind in flour mill. (NOTE: all of these grains and beans can be ground in WonderMill or NutriMill with no problems).
Measure into large bowl:

  • 4 cups lukewarm water
  • 1 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup oil

Add to liquids:

  • freshly milled flour from the above mixture of grains
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 2 Tbs. yeast

Stir or knead until well kneaded about 10 minutes. This is a batter type bread and will not form a smooth ball.
Pour dough into greased pans. You may use 2 large loaf pans (10x5x3) or 3 med. loaf pans or 2-9×13 brownie pans. Let rise in a warm place for one hour or until the dough is almost to the top of the pan. If it rises too much it will over flow the pan while baking. Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes for loaf pans and 35-40 minutes for brownie pans.

*For fasting divide bread into 8 equal parts weighing 1/2 pound each. Eat a 1/2 pound cake and drink a quart of water every day. For fasting I do not alter the recipe.

This is a very sweet, moist, cake-like bread. For a more traditional bread texture I have used this combination of grains in The Beckers Bread and Roll recipe. Replacing the 7 cups of flour with the 9 cups of flour from the milled grains in this recipe. You may also add fruits and nuts or use the flour made from this mixture in other favorite recipes. This healthy combination of grains and beans is worth experimenting with. Combining grains and beans makes a complete protein.

 

 

Filed under: General Stuff

Lenten Meal Plan

This year, I have been working on ways to make my grocery budget less of the “I have no idea what I’m spending each month” and more of the “I have $X to spend on groceries this month and this is what I did with it” type.

As we were nearing the season of Lent, I was thinking of meals we could have that would be simple, filling, nutritious, and inexpensive. I also had the realization that if I refuse to buy meat if it is over $3.50/pound (and that’s for a nice beef roast, I only buy on sale), that spending $9.99/pound on shrimp was not going to keep with the simple and inexpensive part of my plan.

Yesterday, I sat down with a calendar an now I have the next six weeks (plus Easter) planned out for our meals. My plan is (don’t hold me to it if I get caught up in the day to day) is to follow up this post with the recipes for the meals if the recipe turns out well.

Dinners:

  • March 6: Salad with shredded chicken, hard boiled eggs, and home made dressing. (This will be served with Ezekiel bread, a recipe I will be trying to day after I pick up the co-op order.)
  • March 7: Tuna casserole, served with a salad on the side. We have stations of the cross in the evening, so this will be made early in the day and reheated for after we get home.
  • March 8: Leftovers or burgers, if friends come to help work on the garage/barn roof. Burgers will be served with the usual toppings.
  • March 9: Burgers (fresh if we don’t have friends over, leftovers if they do, but done differently for a not-so-leftovers feel).
  • March 10: Cheesy potato casserole, with a salad side.
  • March 11: Spring vegetable soup, served with bread on the side.
  • March 12: Leftovers
  • March 13: Veggie and bean burritos.
  • March 14: Tuna melts on fresh bread.
  • March 15: Ham and beans made with the frozen ham juice/bone in the freezer.
  • March 16: Lemon swai and a nice salad.
  • March 17: Leftovers
  • March 18: Mexican bean chowder served with homemade tortillas
  • March 19: (Feast of St. Jospeh) Baked chicken, Brussels sprouts, fresh bread and a dessert.
  • March 20: Eggsketti
  • March 21: Egg salad sandwiches with fresh veggies.
  • March 22: Meatloaf, cheesy rice casserole, salad, birthday cake (it’s Scholastica’s first brithday!)
  • March 23: Lasagna
  • March 24: Leftovers
  • March 25: (Annunciation) Corned beef and cabbage, carrots, and potatoes, with a dessert.
  • March 26: Corned beef sandwiches (with an attempted rye bread made by me)
  • March 27: Minestrone soup
  • March 28: Leftovers
  • March 29: Dinner out to celebrate Scholastica’s baptism day (on the 30th)
  • March 30: Dinner with friends.
  • March 31: Potato soup with bread
  • April 1: Onion Soup with toasted bread
  • April 2: Chicken salad sandwiches with leftover soups.
  • April 3: Mac and cheese with a salad.
  • April 4: Tuna melts with fresh veggies.
  • April 5: Homemade pizza
  • April 6: Baked chicken, cheesy rice, salad.
  • April 7: Spicy tomato and chickpea soup
  • April 8: Leftovers
  • April 9: Fresh pasta with olive oil and cheese, big salad with chicken.
  • April 10: Eggs in purgatory
  • April 11: Egg salad sandwiches, cheese and veggies
  • April 12: Leftovers
  • April 13: (Palm Sunday) Burgers, chips, salad, dessert.
  • April 14: Leftovers
  • April 15: Tuna casserole with a salad
  • April 16: Leftovers
  • April 17: (Holy Thursday) Menu still being worked out, lamb being discussed. 🙂
  • April 18: (Good Friday, a day of fasting) Egg salad sandwiches, veggies.
  • April 19: (Holy Saturday) Clean out the fridge leftovers.

Breakfasts will be from a list of:

Eggs, toast, granola, yogurt, oatmeal, fresh fruits (Bacon or sausage on Sundays)

Lunch will be from a list of:

Cottage cheese, cheese, fruit/veggies, bread, Ezekiel bread,

Water (with lemon) will be the drink for most meals, with milk being served once a day.

Snacks will be offered twice a day, in the morning and in the afternoon and will be a piece of fruit or a vegetable (usually carrots).

Notes: If not listed, a salad will be offered for most meals as well as bread or Ezekiel bread.

* For those interested, Easter Sunday we may be eating Beef Wellington, maybe. 🙂

** I usually make enough food for leftovers and for Joshua’s lunch, leftovers sometimes take over my fridge, which is why we have them a lot. They are particularly helpful on Mondays and Wednesdays as the big kids have violin at dinner time.

***If you are looking for a cheap snack for your kids, carrots are the way to go. We go through five pounds a week.

****We also have chickens and get at least a dozen of eggs a day, that is why we eat a lot of eggs.

Filed under: Catholic, Food, General Stuff

Birthday Cake

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I made a German Chocolate Cake for Joshua’s birthday on Sunday. I will say I did a pretty good job. I didn’t actually have a bar of the German chocolate, instead I used 16 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 6 tablespoons of sugar, and 4 tablespoons of coconut oil, heated in the microwave and stirred.) 

 

 

 

Once assembled, it wasn’t very pretty on the sides, so I whipped together some butter cream and put it on the side. (Note: Palm shortening can be used in butter cream in place of butter with no taste difference!)

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We had a little party for him (okay we had friend’s over for dinner, but the kids all thought we were having a party. I asked Joshua is he wanted to start a game of pin the tail on the donkey, he declined.) the kids loved singing happy birthday to him and presenting him with the cards (and crown) they worked so hard to make for him!

It was also the 11th anniversary of the day we met.

Filed under: General Stuff