T.T.: Baked Potatoes, Now With Half the Baking Time!

A little bit of trivia for you: My favorite TV chef of all time is Jacques Pepin*. He's had various cooking shows on PBS over the years. Probably the most famous one was the show he did with Julia Child. I bought the companion book for that show--Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, in case you need the title--out of the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble maaaany years ago now. And this tip comes from that book. 

It's a way to bake potatoes without having to keep them in the oven for hours.

Okay, so it doesn't take hours to bake potatoes, but it always takes a LOT longer than I think it will. I could never get the timing right on baked potatoes. Half the time they weren't quite done when the rest of dinner was. Or I would forget to put them in over an hour before dinnertime and give up on the idea of baked potatoes entirely. It was annoying.

But with this tip, you can put them in the oven only half an hour before you want to eat, and they will be ready. 

Jacques Pepin said that he learned this from his wife. And what she does is stick the potatoes in the microwave for a few minutes before putting them in the oven.

This is brilliant because, of course, potatoes cooked entirely in the microwave have a bit of a gummy, dense texture. It's just not right. But if you just do some partial cooking in the microwave, and then finish them in the oven, they have the right texture and the crisp skin a baked potato should have, but in waaaay less time.

You need a microwave to do this, obviously. If you don't have one, I am sorry. If you DO have one, just scrub your potatoes, stab them a few times with a knife to prevent potato explosions, and pre-cook them in the microwave on high. 

If you're cooking only one or two potatoes, they would only need about about a minute and a half in the microwave. For four or five potatoes, you need more like three and a half minutes.

Then you just put the potatoes in the oven and finish baking them in there at 350 degrees or so, 20-30 minutes depending on how big your potatoes are. 

Ta da!

I don't have any photos of potatoes to put here, but you know what baked potatoes look like, right? Right.

So here. Have a sunrise instead.

As viewed through the frame of our front gate.

And that's it! 

Have a nice Tuesday.

* He wrote a memoir several years ago that I recommend to everyone. It's The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen. He had an interesting life, and it's a very entertaining book.

Snapshots: Spring Things

Another week, another chance to share random photos!

Last Wednesday was Wacky Wednesday at school, and the kids were invited to "dress wackily." Somewhat surprisingly, every one of the boys elected to do this and came up with their own outfits. 

Not all of them elected to be in the photo I wanted to take of them, though. Only Cubby and Poppy, who of course insisted on dressing like her brothers.

 

Cubby is wearing a cape he made out of a ripped pair of jeans, and duct tape all over. Poppy has long johns under shorts, and three pigtails, although only the two are visible here.

Cameo by Jasper.

Nothing and no one gets by The Sentinel.

We had a big garden day yesterday. A. dug up a couple more beds for me so I could plant snow peas and spinach. Then I dug up the last of the small fall-planted carrots. I wasn't sure how they had fared in the ground when it froze, but they were just fine.

Tiny, but tasty.

After doing the outside stuff, I started planting more seeds for the indoor grow box.

With help, of course, from my lovely assistant.

It's possible I went a bit overboard.

12 Roma tomatoes, 8 Stupice tomatoes, 5 Black Krim tomatoes, 5 Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, 17 basil, 6 Chablis bell peppers, and 4 Alma paprika peppers. Whew.

Also, there was a lot of laundry.

Is there such a thing as too many clothesline photos? Not around here.

And there you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Enforced Seasonal Eating

Friday

Short version: Cheese pizza, scrambled eggs, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: "Hey!" said Jack. "We get to have pizza, and we don't even have any guests!"

Indeed.

Guess I should make pizza more often, huh?

For some reason, I really, really didn't want to make pizza sauce, though. Then I remembered the can of spaghetti sauce a neighbor gave us. It didn't have any terrible ingredients in it (except high fructose corn syrup, which is not so much terrible as unnecessary), so I decided to use that. It was pretty bland, and I had to add extra garlic powder, dried onion flakes, and basil, but it sure was easy. And the pizza was good.

The scrambled eggs were for me. They were completely separate from the pizza. I'm sure someone has put scrambled eggs on pizza, but I'm also sure that person wasn't me.

Saturday

Short version: Pork stir-fry, rice

Long version: When I had cut up the boneless pork country ribs a few days before to make goulash, I set aside the cleaner pieces for stir-fry. 

Oddly, I had two bell peppers, and almost no carrots. Usually it's the other way around. So the vegetables ended up being onion, bell pepper, frozen green beans, and a little leftover steamed broccoli and carrots.

And there they are when freshly cooked! Ah, those were the days, when I had fresh vegetables on hand.

Sunday

Short version: Pot roast, mashed potatoes, mashed calabaza, Holy's cabbage, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

Long version: I made two roasts, figuring that way I would have enough left over for Monday's dinner. (Spoiler: I did not.)

The calabaza was a small, somewhat immature one that I figured really needed to be cooked already. It was fairly tasteless.

Charlie claims not to like either cooked squash or cooked cabbage, so I put a bit of each on his plate. Just so he could tell me which he dislikes more. The winner (or is it the loser?) was the squash. "I don't like cooked cabbage," he said, "But I don't like squash even more."

Noted.

I made the cookies using Cubby's recipe that calls for melted butter, but I replaced about half of the flour with some of the quick oats a neighbor gave us. And then it was REALLY sticky, so I added some more oats. And then some more.

It ended up being like a cup and a half of oats and a half cup of flour. I didn't increase any of the other ingredients, either, but they came out surprisingly well. A bit dry, maybe, but nothing the chocolate chips couldn't make up for.

Monday

Short version: Waffles and bacon and still-frozen peas for kids, leftover pot roast and calabaza for adults

Long version: I got home from work and took out the pot roast to heat it up, which is when I saw that there was not nearly enough meat for six people.

Plan B! Which I did actually not have a plan for.

Luckily, there was some batter left from the waffles Cubby made the day before for the after-church second breakfast, so I made the kids waffles. They were SO EXCITED. Little did they know it was just because I was tired and didn't plan ahead sufficiently.

They ate the still-frozen peas before dinner. It would have been kind of weird to put peas on the plate with the waffles, right? Probably no weirder than giving them bowls of frozen peas as an appetizer, but whatever. They ate something green.

Tuesday

Short version: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: I made the meatloaf ahead of time, and made six small ones rather than two big ones. I had a meeting and didn't get home until about 4:30, so I figured the smaller ones would cook faster. They did, but they also dried out more. Probably because I cooked them too long, because I'm used to cooking big ones.

Anyway. They were fine.

Speaking of cooking things faster, get excited for the upcoming Tuesday Tip involving how to make bake potatoes bake faster.

I know. It's this kind of scintillating content that keeps you coming back for more.

Wednesday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, leftover rice, frozen peas

Long version: I had only taken one 2-pound package of ground beef out, which isn't quite enough for everyone, so I had leftover meatloaf with leftover fried cabbage and peas.

Thursday

Short version: Carnitas-style pork tacos, mashed squash, canned pineapple

Long version: Hey, anyone remember this photo from September?

Small Poppy, big squash.

I cooked the very last of those squash that we had stored in A.'s office. The last one was a somewhat immature squash that was lacking in flavor, but it was okay.

And don't worry, I still have several bags of cooked squash in the freezer.

I offered the pineapple after dinner because it's been awhile since we've been to a grocery store, thus the enforced seasonal eating. This is what a refrigerator dedicated to seasonal eating looks like in March:

Lots of milk courtesy of the school Sysco program and . . . not much else.

But wait! What about the refrigerator door? Surely that was still full.

That's a negative, Ghost Rider. (Although I do have a few more condiments than the last time I counted.)

But I had a can of pineapple in the pantry! So that was the kids' "vegetable." 

My vegetable inventory until A. goes into the Outside World on Tuesday stands at one head of cabbage, several bags of frozen squash, and a lot of frozen peas.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

T.T.: Go With the Crispy Rice Treats

If you find yourself tasked with providing a treat for any sort of holiday or gathering, I have a suggestion: Crispy Rice Treats.

These are better known to the majority of people by their brand name, which can be abbreviated RKT. However, I use the Malt-o-Meal cheapo cereal we always have on hand for our Sunday Cereal, so I don't call them that.

Plus, I don't like misspelling anything. It should be Crispy, not Krispie.

Anyway.

This is the recipe I use*. It has extra butter and marshmallow than the original recipe does, and therefore is extra good. 

The benefits of these treats are many: No baking involved, very few ingredients, the ability to make a large quantity without too much work (individual cookies, I'm looking at you), gluten-free, almost entirely dairy-free (most people with a lactose intolerance can still handle butter), easy to transport, and universally beloved.

I'm not kidding about that last one. I make them every year on Valentine's Day for every single kid and staff member at the school and everyone is SO EXCITED to get them. This year when I was handing them out, no fewer than three full-grown adults absolutely lit up when I handed them theirs and told me that these treats are their very favorite.

They are definitely much more than the sum of their parts. 

So go ahead. Get the store-brand cereal, generic marshmallows, and some butter, and make these. No one will be sorry. 

* Just a note that I never use mini marshamallows as called for in the recipe. The regular-sized ones are fine. And I just use my hands to press the treats into the pan. If you wet your hands a bit, they won't stick.

Snapshots: O, A-Gardening We Will Go

A. spent some time preparing garden beds for me on Friday. Hooray!

 

The one he's digging in this photo was planted with carrot seeds, plus one row of kohlrabi. And the prepared ground behind him was planted with beet seeds.

In this little south-facing area that's sheltered by stone walls, I planted arugula and radishes. And then we put the plywood up to keep the dogs out. They can't resist digging in freshly prepared garden soil.

"You think me capable of such perfidious destruction?" says Jasper. "I am wounded to the heart, madam."

A.'s fall-planted garlic field is looking pretty good. There are a few shallots in there, too, which I'm REALLY hoping we get to the harvest stage this year. Gophers like shallots, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, Cubby built a a pretty rad fort out of the old fenceposts A. was going to cut into firewood.

Poppy was a fan.

I also stuck some ground-cherry seeds into starter pots inside. Those are a totally new thing for me, so we'll see how that goes.

And there you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Squishy Bread for Mopping

Friday 

Short version: Tuna patties, mashed potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: Lenten meals are here again! It's hardly a penance for my kids to eat meatless on Fridays. I mean, what kid wouldn't rather have grilled cheese or tuna patties instead of a chunk of meat for dinner? Particularly the tuna in Cubby's case. That boy does love his fish. Always has.

Saturday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, bread and butter, steamed carrots and broccoli

Long version: The only thing of note here is that every single one of my children likes cooked broccoli. The only other cooked vegetable I can think of that they all eat without complaint is peas. 

Including Mermaid Girl here.

We have peas much more frequently than broccoli, though, because peas come in a convenient frozen form. Broccoli we only have right after a trip to the store, which, as you know, is not a frequent occurrence.

I am aware that frozen broccoli is available as well, but I've never had good experiences with it. Maybe I just never prepared it right, though. Do you cook with frozen broccoli? How do you cook it if you do?

Sunday

Short version: Roasted chicken, garlic bread, frozen peas, fake ice cream

Long version: A simple roast chicken with crusty bread to mop up the juices is a soul-satisfying meal to . . .

Sorry. I seem to have lapsed into Food-Media-speak.

I can't tell you how many rhapsodic Odes To The Roast Chicken I have read over the years. I mean, roasted chicken is good, but I think people get a little carried away with it.

Anyway.

This was just a store chicken. Into the cavity I stuffed a squeezed-out lemon, two cloves of garlic, and the ends from an onion I chopped up and roasted in the chicken juices. 

The only one who mopped up the juices was Cubby, who was very disappointed he couldn't have thirds of the chicken (he would probably agree with the food media chicken enthusiasts). I suggested he could use the last pieces of garlic bread to, yes, mop up the juices in the pan. 

I make garlic bread as a round loaf, and I keep it pretty soft, so it has lots of soft interior that's good for soaking things up. I don't think standard, very crusty and toasty slices of garlic bread would be so good for that. They're not squishy enough. 

But I guess telling people to use "squishy bread" to soak up the juices doesn't sound quite as appetizing as "a crusty loaf." Works better, though.

I had a bag of frozen banana pieces in the freezer, so I used that to make fake ice cream. I also added cocoa powder to it and the kids each got one Oreo, which was all that was left from the package I had bought to make the crust for Cubby's birthday chocolate cheesecake. 

They enjoyed the ice cream, but they were REALLY excited by the singular Oreo. Those low standards again.

Monday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, bread and butter, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: But wait. Didn't we just have this night before last? Yes. Did anyone care? No.

I had taken out extra ground beef in anticipation of making either meatloaf or meatballs ahead of time so I could just put them in the oven when I got home from work on Monday. But then we ran out of eggs.

Hamburgers it is! And bread, because I had just made bread the day before. 

No one ever complains about hamburgers (I suspect it's the ketchup, which is a rare condiment in our house), and the children certainly never complain about bread with dinner.

Tuesday

Short version: Boneless ram ribs, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli and carrots

Long version: When we butchered the ram in November, A. cut most of the rib meat off the bones. Storing the ribs is a pain because they're too big for the bags we use, so I think maybe he was trying to find a better way to freeze the meat.

I pulled that bag of meat out this day. Ribs are best cooked slow and then crisped up. And sheep ribs are best marinated first.

So I marinated the meat in apple cider vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper for a few hours, then put it in a covered casserole in the oven at 350 degrees for about four hours.

I didn't add any liquid, and although the meat did release some liquid, it sure released a heck of a lot of fat. So the meat ended up basically frying it its own fat much of the time, kind of like carnitas. 

One benefit of this cooking method is that the fat kept bubbling the entire time I had the casserole out of the oven to dish up, thereby avoiding the dreaded Congealed Sheep Fat situation. Nothing ruins a meal faster than that.

I didn't end up crisping it any further because of that frying situation.

The resulting meat was similar to very thick-cut bacon in both texture and appearance. It tasted pretty good, actually, but I figured it might be a bit of a hard sell for the children.

So I let them have some ketchup.

They have ketchup rarely, and it's a handy treat to save for meat that I know they won't be wild about. Dipping almost any meat in ketchup makes it more palatable for them. 

And so it proved with this rib meat. Both Poppy and Jack asked for seconds. Of both the meat and the ketchup.

The worst part of cooking sheep meat for me is cleaning up.  You see, there tends to be a lot of fat. And it's a hard fat--not soft like chicken or pork fat--so when it cools, it's solid and very hard to clean up. You'd better have a lot of really hot water and dish soap ready for cleaning up a meal like this.

Wednesday

Short version: Green chili and ground beef soup, cheese

Long version: I made this soup the day before with about a pound of the ground beef I had thawed that hadn't been cooked yet, in addition to onion, garlic, celery, carrot, chilis, shredded calabacita, frozen peas, and chicken stock. Plus some sour cream at the end, since the chilis ended up being spicier than I expected. As always.

I had also cooked a few extra baked potatoes the night before so I could chop those up and add them to the children's bowls, to make it more filling for them.

Thursday

Short version: Pork goulash with carrots, mashed potatoes, Holy's cabbage, custard

Long version: Anyone remember Holy's cabbage? Probably not, so here it is. It had been awhile since I made it, and even longer since I had given any to the children. For some reason, I thought none of them liked it much. Turns out, though, that both Cubby and Jack like it quite a bit. Yay.

Charlie was sick and had a sore throat, so he didn't eat anything but the custard. Which is the whole reason I made it. When children are too sick to eat anything else, they will still eat custard. At least, mine will.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

T.T.: Water Talk

For many people in our neighboring state of Texas, last week was Not A Good Week. No heat, no electricity, no water. 

No good. If that was you, I'm sorry, and I hope things are better now.

Thankfully, we had a very short power outage, and no other inconveniences to speak of.

Well, we did have a very slight inconvenience later in the week, when we got a call from the neighbor who, with her husband, manages the "municipal" water in our ghost-village. Our water system serves all of three households and the post office, and so it's very much a local affair when anything goes wrong.

A pipe to the communal well froze, which required a backhoe to get at the water lines, so it was not a quick fix. Our neighbor called us to let us know that the well tank wasn't filling, and there wasn't a lot of water in it, so until they could fix it, we needed to conserve water.

Got it. A. announced to the household at large that all boys must pee outside until otherwise notified.

The boys are more than happy to do this (there's even a tree over by the barn that they call "the pee tree," for obvious reasons), but toilets are not actually the biggest users of water.

I spent some time figuring out how much the various water-using activities actually use in gallons, and I am now going to share that with you. Just in case you, too, find yourself in the position of needing to conserve water for whatever reason. 

So! The biggest water-hog of all is a full bathtub. That's about 30 gallons. 

A ten-minute shower uses about 20 gallons, depending on the water flow. So any sort of bathing is an easy thing to put on pause if you're trying not to use too much water.

The other big water-user, unsurprisingly, is a washing machine. The average load in a washing machine uses 20 gallons of water.

Clean clothes are THE status symbol of Water Wealth.

So, basically, forget about cleanliness for awhile if you don't have a lot of water to spare.

Except for cleaning your dishes! Surprisingly--to me, anyway--a dishwasher only uses a little over 3 gallons of water for an average cycle. The night we were conserving water, I didn't even have a full dishwasher (a very unusual occurrence for us), and so I just did most of the dishes by hand. 

I had the soapy water in my big stockpot, since I needed to wash it anyway. I rinsed the dishes into that, too, so I could see how much water I used.

It turned out to be just a bit over a gallon. 

This surprised me, because I have seen more than once the assertion that washing dishes in a dishwasher actually uses less water than handwashing. I was always skeptical of that claim, and now I really am. Granted, I didn't wash a full dishwasher's worth of dishes, but even if I had done twice as many dishes, I still would have used only about 2 gallons of water.

Maybe I wash dishes differently than most people? I dunno.

Anyway.

Lastly, those toilets. Unless you have a really, really old toilet--like, from the 1970s or earlier--your toilet probably only uses about a gallon and a half of water for each flush. Reasonable.

So here are my takeaways from this analysis of water use:

1) You can flush a lot of toilets with the water used for one shower.

2) Keeping a clean kitchen is possible with very little water.

3) If you're out of water for awhile, give up on clean clothes and clean bodies. 

4) When you are once again able to use water freely, it will feel very luxurious. And maybe make you feel a little guilty, now that you know just how much water goes into that load of laundry.

I hope you never need to know all this, because it's kind of a bummer to be anxiously watching where every gallon of water goes, but it's good information to know nonetheless.

Happy Tuesday.