Elvy's Advice for the Holidays

I’m sorry my blog is up late this month, it’s the holidays, what can I say?

No recipes, although I did make a really delicious kale and black-eyed pea soup a couple of weeks ago, with some homemade whole wheat rolls, and it was delicious.

I’ll post the recipe sometime, I promise.

I realized this morning that everything facing me right now is the result of an action my husband took about this time last year.

For no reason whatsoever outside of the fact our grandson left his new pogo stick in front of his house when I sent his grandpa over to pick him up, my sixty-five year old husband decided to jump on it.

After the rotor cuff surgery in December, the incident the day after the surgery when I thought he’d died (I accidentally gave him his generic Ambien, something beginning with a Z, which he insisted was blood pressure medicine), and beginning to recover from all of that, the toilet in the master bath began to ‘ghost flush’ , and our water bill skyrocketed.

 

As he was still in a sling, I made the executive decision to cut the water off to that toilet, and use the bathroom next door for the time being.

Somewhere in the months that followed (it’s all a blur), I looked up at my bright blue kitchen ceiling, and noticed a line running in two places, one of which extended into the family room.

We’d had a plumber out to fix the upstairs bathroom toilet by then, so called him back, and my second nightmare began.

Very long story short, he finally identified a tiny, infinitesimal, leak, but had turned the downstairs ceilings into giant holes by then.  We wrestled with the insurance crap, paid more money, watched our ceilings get patched, and painted, wrong, twice, and in the process, I noticed a shelf that had been over the large kitchen window, and decorated kind of cool (I thought) with all sorts of old things, like a wooden coffee grinder, mason jars filled with interesting dried beans, an old bread box, were actually covered in years of grime, grease, dust, spider webs, dead bugs, you name it.

I actually said out loud in my empty house, if you can’t take better care of things than this, you don’t deserve them (sounding exactly like my mother). So I pulled all the crap down, gave a lot away (after washing it) and re-purposed a few things.

In the middle of all this, my husband tells me he wants to sell our business, he said he was tired of it. I wasn’t sure if he’d recovered enough to make that decision.

I had mixed feelings. We’d kept it going when everybody else was going under, we had a solid business with a growing customer base, but, we were both getting older, and it was a lot of work.

Selling it turned out to be more complicated than we expected (like everything else), but he finally accomplished it in July.

During the first month of his ‘retirement’ phase, he got to his list of chores (over a year old) which included pulling down the empty kitchen shelf.

That’s when I discovered I’d never actually painted behind it – no big deal, until he did, resulting in white splotch’s on what I realized were greying walls.

So now I’m half through painting the kitchen. The damn pantry took a week, the new blinds required three trips to Lowe’s to find the right size, with hardware, and not damaged.  And the more I look, the more I see of neglected areas requiring sanding, painting, cleaning, scraping.

Oh well, all the brushes, and paint are put away for now. The holidays are upon us, and some heavy cleaning is required before we celebrate Hanukkah on the 15^th (I know, that’s not when Hanukkah is celebrated this year, but it is when MY family will celebrate it).

So, no matter what the universe throws at you, and especially during the Holidays, use it to learn to roll with the punches. I’m still pretty flexible for an old lady; I have to be, and it’s good advice!

 

 And what’s more, you never know what that innocent looking guy sleeping in your bed will pull next.

 

Love on a Half Shell

A shell is a hard object—tough. It can withstand the ocean’s pounding for long stretches of time.

A shell is also cupped. It can hold tender things, protect them and allow them to grow.

 

Meet Rae Greene, a thirty-something woman who has made a few mistakes and doesn’t flinch from acknowledging them. She’s a tough cookie with a good heart, and she’s just been handed her sister’s kids.

Three parts love, two parts grit…the perfect recipe to save a family.

 

Elvy's from scratch Pumpkin Pies

I don’t have any photos of the pumpkins, sliced through their middles, gently collapsing in a jellyroll pan, because I can’t find my *!!#%  camera.  It would have been so appropriate to the season, and beautiful too!

The reason I can’t find my camera is, so far, this has been challenging month. I do have a photo of  some of the Tex-Mex feast my son-in-law had at his surprise 40^th birthday party, so I hadn’t lost the camera yet.

 

 

It was a surprise for me too, but due to things I cannot mention, the party was changed from my daughter’s, mother-in-law’s house, to hers a few weeks before the occasion, and I got to be the caterer for around fifty people.

A week later, in the middle of the cold our two-year-old, twin grandsons had been happily giving everyone, I got the same little boys for five days while my daughter and her husband went to Dallas TX for a Redskin/Cowboy football game (it's a mixed marriage)

.

 

I know, they are adorable, and it's a good thing they are, too.

My grandsons are back home now, and I’ve had a few days to rest up (the last time I was that tired was after giving birth), yet still can’t find my camera.

Anyway, since I can’t show you, I’ll tell you.

Pie pumpkins are smaller than the regular ones you cut up for Halloween, and it’s easy to scoop out their seeds and strings, bake them (I put them on parchment paper; makes for easier cleanup) in a 350 degree oven for an hour.  The flavor of fresh pumpkin is an improvement over canned, but not such a major one you couldn’t use canned. I encourage you to try baking them though, just to see how easy it is, and how good they are. Your friends, and spouses will be amazed by your skills.

Ingredients for two pies:

·         Two unbaked, single crusts, in deep-dish pie pans

·         4 cups of pumpkin (a little less is okay)

·         4 large eggs

·         2 cans evaporated skim milk

·         2 ½ cups dark brown sugar

·         2 teaspoons good quality cinnamon

·         1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger *

·         1 teaspoon nutmeg

·         1 teaspoon cardamom

·         1 teaspoon allspice

·         1 teaspoon salt

I’ve tweaked this recipe for years, which began with the one on the Libby’s canned pumpkin label, and this one everybody loves. It's not bland, like too many pumpkin pies, and two will be gone in no time for any good sized group.  

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees, reduce to 400 after fifteen minutes.

Use a mixer to blend all the ingredients, scrape bowl, and when everything is one color, pour into pie crusts and bake 45 to 50 minutes.  Turn pie pans at the 30 minute mark. When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, it’s done. Some homemade whipped cream, with a little vanilla and maple flavoring, is wonderful on top.

                *GREAT TIP –Keep fresh ginger on hand without worrying it will go bad. Freeze it in one piece, in a freezer bag. Use a micro plane style grater whenever you need some, you don’t need to peel it, or thaw it, only grate the amount you need.  

You can find more recipes like this, along with a great story, in my book: 

 

Love on a Half Shell

A shell is a hard object—tough. It can withstand the ocean’s pounding for long stretches of time.

A shell is also cupped. It can hold tender things, protect them and allow them to grow.

Meet Rae Greene, a thirty-something woman who has made a few mistakes and doesn’t flinch from acknowledging them. She’s a tough cookie with a good heart, and she’s just been handed her sister’s kids.

Three parts love, two parts grit…the perfect recipe to save a family.

Elvy's End-of-Harvest Soup

The sudden cold snap we’ve been having got me to thinking about warm soup, so I looked in my refrigerator and found six ears of old corn, and a pile of cherry tomatoes from the garden, beginning to wrinkle and get tough. What to do? Make soup, of course. 

Ingredients:

·         Chicken broth, or two cups of homemade

·         Tomato Paste, one small can

·         Bacon, four slices

·         Corn, fresh,  and shucked * (six ears) or frozen (two large bags, three small)

·         Unequal amounts of sugar and vinegar (I used one tablespoon of cider vinegar, and two tablespoons of brown sugar)

·         Black pepper to taste, salt if needed

(Depending on what you like, all the rest is optional)

·         Tomatoes (any kind, Cherry – halved, Roma or regular, cut up)

·         Fresh Basil is nice, but Cilantro from the grocery would be fine too, or, now that I think about it, both.

·         Diced Onion

·         Smoked Paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, to taste. I used a teaspoon of each.

·         Zucchini or Squash, diced

·         Oregano and Marjoram (dried), two teaspoons each

·         Something for heat, I used ground Chipotle peppers

Here’s what you do:

Cook bacon, and remove from pan to drain on paper towels. In fat remaining, cook onion (or if you don’t like onion, try green peppers, scallions, or garlic. If using garlic, only sauté for less than a minute).

While bacon is cooking, mix one, small, can of tomato paste with a box of chicken broth (like you get at the grocery), or use three cups of homemade, if you’ve got it, in a stock Pot. Set pan on medium heat and begin the soup.

Remove cooked onion and add to pan (the onions should be beginning to brown). If using fresh corn, slice kernels from cob* and reserve, then throw the cobs in the pot (yes, you heard this right).

You can now wash your bacon pan, everything else goes in the stock pot, which you cover, and cook the cobs for half an hour. Turn down the heat if it boils too vigorously.

If using frozen corn, take a third of it, thaw, mix with ¼ cup of milk and process in a food processor or blender.

If using fresh (which I highly encourage), remove cobs from pot, let cool enough to handle, and scrape them with a serrated knife, into the pot. All the insides of kernels left on the cob will be mush, and help thicken the soup,  (Which is why, if using frozen, you have to make some mush in the blender) and the cobs add a deeper corn flavor to the broth.

Now, throw in all your other ingredients in the pot, except for basil, cilantro, bacon and reserved corn,  cover and cook for another half-hour, or so, on med-low. You want this concoction to simmer, and cook all the vegetables. Do not hesitate to add water, or more chicken broth, if it appears too thick. You DON’T want the bottom to burn.  Put in reserved corn, cook another ten minutes, and adjust seasonings.

Right before serving, stir in chopped up bacon pieces, cilantro and/or basil.

This makes great as leftovers, if there's any left, that is.

Happy Early Fall everyone!

    *A great way to get the kernels off the corn is to use a serrated knife and put the shucked ear of corn in a Bundt cake pan, or any type of cake pan with high sides and a hole in the center.  Stick that ear of corn, right in the center hole, and scrape corn into the pan, no mess, no corn scattered all over. I wish I could remember, and give credit to whoever told me about this.  

         

                                                      

Love on a Half Shell
A great book, with some great recipes

A shell is a hard object—tough. It can withstand the ocean’s pounding for long stretches of time.
A shell is also cupped. It can hold tender things, protect them and allow them to grow.
Meet Rae Greene, a thirty-something woman who has made a few mistakes and doesn’t flinch from acknowledging them. She’s a tough cookie with a good heart, and she’s just been handed her sister’s kids.

Three parts love, two parts grit…the perfect recipe to save a family.

Summertime is a-Popping at Elvy’s

I wish I had a photo I could use of how beautiful these are. I took some. I’d made a lovely spinach salad, and chive/parmesan popovers, but somehow I saved my photos as videos (don’t ask me how), and I can’t paste them anywhere.

Still, when you see how easy these are, and try any of the variations I’ve included, you will find people asking, “Will you make those great popovers again?” a lot.

These can be baked in regular muffin pans, or custard cups on a cookie sheet, or, if you’re like me, you’ll invest in a popover pan, which I took a photo of, and cannot show you.

Here’s the basic recipe:

• 1 stick  (1/2 cup) of butter (real butter – do not substitute) 
• 4 egg
•  1 ¼ cup milk (whole, skim, anywhere in-between) 
• 1 ¼ cup regular, all-purpose flou
•  1 tsp. salt

Begin early in the day. The success of popovers is due to two factors: temperature (room temp) and consistency (heavy whipping cream like you get in a carton, not yet whipped).

Make sure your batter sits out at least four hours, or all the ingredients are room temperature by the time you’re a half hour from dinner being ready (or brunch, I’ve made them then too). Often I’ll make the batter the night before. Put everything in a pitcher and refrigerate overnight, then pull it out and let it sit all day.

How to make the batter:

• Melt ¼ cup of your real butter (that’s one- half of one stick). 
• Preheat oven to 400° 
• In a food processor, or with a mixer, or whisk, beat eggs, add milk, then flour and salt until there are no lumps. You don’t have to overkill this, just until smooth. 
• Add melted butter and mix in. 

That’s it. That’s the whole shebang. If for ANY reason the batter isn’t the consistency of heavy cream, add milk by tablespoons until it is.
Take the last half, of your half stick of butter (get that?), and divide it between your muffin tins, cups, or whatever you are using. Just throw it in the bottom of each cup, and feel free to get more butter if you don’t end up with a good size pat in each. Put the pan, sheet, whatever, in your hot oven for five minutes. The butter should be sizzling when you take it out.

Pour your batter into the center of each cup until ¾ full, the melted butter will go up around the batter, do not go over ¾ full or there will be a mess in your oven. You can fill them ½ full if you want. Throw away any unused batter.

Pop popovers (yes, I wrote that on purpose) into oven, and bake. DO NOT OPEN OVEN!!!!

Eyeball your results THROUGH THE OVEN WINDOW. The popovers will POP, and turn a nice golden brown in about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how much batter is in each cup, how large the cups are, etc., etc.  Just keep an eye on it. They are done when they look done.

In theory, if you want, when they are popped and golden, you could pull out the pan, cut a slit in the side of each popover, turn off oven, and put them back in the oven for five minutes to let them crisp up, and keep their shape. (If only it was that easy for me to keep mine...recipes like this make it a challenge.)

This is theoretical as I have never done it, mainly because everyone is already drooling (including me), and we can’t wait that long.  Besides, we like them popped-over, which means they sort-of collapse on themselves.

 Sometimes popovers are tricky to get out of their pans. Don’t worry, run a knife around the edges, and POP them out. (Another on-purpose way to use the term ‘pop.' Aren’t you impressed?)

Serve hot, with another stick of real butter on the table. You won’t believe how good they are.

And, as promised, variations to this recipe:

Variation #1

Add ½ cup finely grated (I took a photo of this too, but you know what happened) parmesan reggiano and ¼ cup of fresh, or dried chives. NOTE: when adding cheese, and especially dried herbs, make batter early and give batter time to set. Check and make sure consistency is not too thick, add more milk if needed, a little cold milk at this point won’t ruin anything.

Variation #2

Add ½ cup finely grated, extra sharp cheddar, ¼ cup parsley, a quarter teaspoon of Franks hot sauce (you won’t taste it, it boosts cheddar’s flavor) and a teaspoon, or so, of onion powder.  Read NOTE above.

These are the only two I’ve come up with so far, so experiment! Have fun! If making popovers for a brunch, serve with butter and strawberry jam. As my daughter’s two-year-old twins would say, Yum!

____________

Elvy Howard shares more of her love of cooking in her debut novel, Love on a Half Shell.  It is available in print and e-book at Amazon, Barnes&Noble.com, and other online retailers . 

Love on a Half Shell
Three parts love, two parts grit...the perfect recipe to save a family.

Oh Boy, Elvy's Waffles!

 

 

 

Yeast Waffles with Whipped Cream and Maple Syrup

My older Grandkids spent the night a while back, and I spoiled them with the best waffles in the world on Sunday morning. This recipe is my own, culled from a lot of other recipes, and a few of my own inspirations. My grandson cut his up before I could get a photo!
The following recipe will probably make four, or five, of the small, round waffles my waffle iron makes. You can add to all the ingredients but the yeast, which, because it works overnight in the refrigerator, can accommodate a doubling, or even more, of the rest of the ingredients.
Start these the night before (don't worry, none of it's difficult, or even time consuming) and put one package of yeast in a half-cup of warm water with two Tablespoons of sugar dissolved in it.
When the yeast gets bubbly, add:
- a cup of milk, a half cup of all-purpose flour and whisk, or use a hand mixer, or food processor, to beat it all together for a minute or so. Put this in the refrigerator, covered in plastic wrap, overnight.

When you get up the next morning, it will look like this:

 

 

 

Kind of goopy and awful, I know, but don't worry! Soon you'll have this:

 

 

 

 

Here's what you do:

 

- Add a six oz. container of any kind of fruit yogurt (even if you don't like what fruit is in it, you won't taste it)

- a teaspoon of salt

- a quarter cup of sugar

- a teaspoon of vanilla

- a cup of flour

- enough milk to make the batter thin, more like heavy cream than pancake batter

- two teaspoons of baking powder

Immediately put batter in waffle iron.

 

My maple syrup is water, and dark brown sugar, with a dash of salt, boiled into a syrup. No high fructose sweetener in it, it tastes great, and it's cheap!

 

For home-made whipped cream, buy a container of heavy whipping cream, and whip.

 

 

 

 

________________________

Elvy Howard shares more of her love of cooking in her debut novel, Love on a Half Shell.  It is available in print and e-book at Amazon, Barnes&Noble.com, and other online retailers . 

Love on a Half Shell
Three parts love, two parts grit...the perfect recipe to save a family.

 

 





 

Stress Eating by Elvy Howard

As a few people who know me, know, I’ve been feeling a little stressed lately, due to the, ahem, publishment  (I know, publishment is not even a word) of my book, Love on a Half Shell (I’m supposed to insert a link here to the Amazon page where you can get it. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=elvy+howard. Evidently it’s impossible to not promote yourself enough.)

Feeling the stress of this reality, of having worked most of my life towards this goal, only to find out I am completely freaked out that it is actually happening, has prompted my latest urge to Stress Eat.

I have strategy to not weigh three hundred pounds, and one component of it is, thou shalt not imbibe high-fructose corn syrup of any kind. So, if I’m gonna eat anything like cookies or cake, I gotta make it. 

Another strategy in my plan, if I’m ever so stressed that I actually take the time and effort it takes to make some kind of goody, I’ll also have the time to be smart about it, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (with optional walnuts) is the smart answer. The reason? They are delicious and even I, in a state of being able to eat the entire house, can’t eat more than six of these. Because they fill you up. And you poop good too, a second benefit to counter-act symptoms of highly stressed individuals. 

 So I’m giving this gift to you, anyone else who gets stressed out there. Enjoy!

De-Stressing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-1 tsp baking soda (not powder)

-1 tsp salt

-two sticks butter (I use salted), softened

-two cups packed dark brown sugar

-one egg

-one tablespoon vanilla

-two teaspoons vanilla/nut/butter flavoring

-two tablespoon of Cinnamon and one tablespoon of nutmeg

-three and a half cups rolled (not instant) oats (I love the organic brand I get in the bins at Good Foods Grocery)

-one cup of organic raisins and an optional cup of chopped walnuts for people lucky enough to be married to someone who LIKES walnuts.

In your mixer, beat the butter for at least three minutes. Add all the sugar and beat it for at least three more. Mix in the egg, the flavorings and slowly pour in the flour/baking soda/salt/spice mixture.

When all mixed, put in the oatmeal, raisins and optional walnuts. You may need your hands to accomplish this.

Pre-heat oven to 375. Use parchment paper on cookie sheets or on baking pans. Parchment paper is the bomb and if you’ve never used it, you owe me five dollars for telling you about it. Or, you could go to http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=elvy+howard and buy my book instead.

I use the little ice-cream scoop I bought just for this purpose. But you can use your hands to make walnut sized balls you place on the parchment sheet I already got you to buy, and then flatten them out some with the palm of your hand, and bake. 

Here comes the cool part. If you like chewy oatmeal cookies, bake them for around ten minutes until they are very light brown. 

If, like me, you like them crisp, cook them for around fifteen minutes, or until very brown, let them cool for ten minutes on the parchment and then put them on a rack to finish cooling.

You can’t eat over six, I promise. 

____________________

Elvy Howard's debut novel, Love on a Half Shell, is available in print and e-book at Amazon, Barnes&Noble.com, and coming soon to other online retailers . 

Love on a Half Shell
Three parts love, two parts grit...the perfect recipe to save a family.

How to Make the Love of Your Life Believe He Can’t Live Without You

Elvy Howard's
Cheese Stuffed Potatoes

or How to Make the Love of Your Life Believe He Can’t Live Without You

This was the Valentine’s dinner I made for my husband. Next to the blue plates you can see them (although small and difficult to see in this photo). 

They are easy, delicious, and great accompaniment to the filet mignon and Caesar salad we had. You can make these ahead of time and heat right before serving, which makes it great company food.   

Here’s the recipe:

One russet potato for each person (if you’ve got big eaters in the group, go for some additional ones). I use organic because they have a much better flavor. Do not peel.  Poke a hole in the top and bake them at 400 degrees until an inserted knife lets you know they are soft and cooked.  

If using large potatoes, cut in half. Smaller ones need an oval cut from the top of the potato.  Scoop out insides, and with a mixer add any (or all) of the following to the hot cooked potato:

Grated extra-sharp cheddar, Asagio, Parmesan (not the canned type), Swiss or other cheeses you like. The amount of cheese per potato is not fixed but make sure you use the cheddar. It’s hard to put too much in, but I probably end up with a 3:1 ratio of potato to cheese.  

Add Franks hot sauce to taste (even if you are not a hot sauce fan, put a little in. It boosts the cheese flavor and you won’t taste it at all), seasoning salt (I like Cavenders), celery salt (optional) and fresh ground pepper. 

Repack the potato shells with this mixture and bake until beginning to brown in a 350 degree oven. 

That’s it. Men love these, so if you are trying to make a special meal for someone, try this. You won’t be sorry, and neither will he. 

This is one of the recipes from Love on a Half Shell due to come out soon!

____________________

Watch for Elvy Howard's debut novel, Love on a Half Shell, coming soon from Edward Allen Publishing. Three parts love, two parts grit...the perfect recipe to save a family.