Mayonnaise

I recently bought the book How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I started reading it today -- yes, reading a cookbook starting at the beginning (I am a nerd!) -- and ended up making mayonnaise tonight from scratch when I realized I didn't have enough of the storebought stuff for the coleslaw I was making for tomorrow's picnic. I can't believe how easy it was and how great it turned out!

After making it and knowing the few ingredients I used, I decided to take a look at the label on the storebought stuff I had. It is Kraft Mayo with olive oil. Here's the comparison.

Storebought

• Water
• Olive oil
• Canola oil
• Soybean oil
• Vinegar
• Modified Food Starch
• Sugar
• Maltodextrin
• Eggs
• And contains less than 2% of salt, mustard flour, dried onions, dried garlic, natural flavor, enzyme modified egg yolk, beta carotene (color), lactic acid, potassium sorbate, and calcium disodium EDTA as preservatives, phosphoric acid.

Including the less than 2% items, that totals 20 ingredients. 20! 8 of which are non-natural ingredients.

Want to know what I put in my homemade mayonnaise?

• Egg yolk
• Dijon mustard
• Canola oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Lemon juice

Six ingredients, one of which was pre-prepared (storebought) -- the Dijon mustard, the rest of which are natural. Unfortunately, according to Bittman, Dijon is impossible to make with the equipment the home cook has, storebought is a necessity.

A nice thing about homemade mayo is that you can make it with whatever kind of oil you want: olive oil, grapeseed oil, sesame oil -- really whatever you want. You can also make it with a few different kinds of acid to suit the dish your making or your taste. I chose to use lemon juice and canola oil. It turned out great!

It took about 5 minutes to make and was really simple. I used my stand mixer, but you can use a food processor or wire whisk, too. The method involves slowly adding oil to the yolk/Dijon mixture, then finishing with the salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Try it! You won't be disappointed. In fact, I don't plan to eve buy mayonnaise again!

P.S. In case you're interested, this is the coleslaw I made -- it turned out great!

Great post on helping kids make healthy eating choices

I just came across a great post by Lisa at The Well Grounded Life about how to make eating healthy foods more fun for kids. I thought it had some really great ideas.

Check it out here and let me know what you think. Do you have other ideas on how to promote healthy eating?

Evan's birthday menu

It's hard to believe, but the day is here: my baby boy is one year old today! This year has flown by so fast, and we are so blessed to have Evan in our lives. I can barely remember what it was like before Evan.

So what's the plan for his birthday? Family over at 1 for dinner, with extended family/friends for cake at 2:30. His party will be pretty laid back -- nothing too scheduled. Just playing with toys, opening gifts, eating cake, and making memories.

For dinner, I am serving one of my favorite things: Penne Rossa. Matt and I love to go to Zelo, a Neo-Italian restaurant downtown, for special occasions. My favorite dish there is Tortiligioni Rossa, a pasta dish with a tomato-cream sauce, crumbled Italian sausage, peas and red peppers. I love it so much I decided to try to recreate it at home, and I think I did it pretty well. I will be serving it with fresh baked artisan bread and a mixed greens salad with a honey garlic vinaigrette.

For dessert, I ordered a cake from Byerly's -- they offer a free birthday cake when your baby turns one. In addition, I am also making two other cakes. We are expecting 30-40 people! I am basing the recipe for the two cakes on this one, with some modifications. I'm doing one cake with vanilla pudding and strawberries, and the other with chocolate pudding with bananas.

Penne Rossa

Yield: 4 servings

1/2 lb mild Italian sausage

4 cups diced tomatoes (or 2 15 oz cans, undrained)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp garlic, minced
4 scallions with tops, minced
2 Tbsp basil
1 tsp oregano
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 box penne pasta
1 cup baby green peas
1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
Parmesan cheese
Black pepper

In a frying pan, crumble and cook Italian sausage. Drain fat and set aside.

In a large saucepan, saute garlic and scallions in olive oil over medium heat. Add diced tomatoes, basil and oregano. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer.

Meanwhile, bring salted water to a boil for the pasta and add pasta once it's boiling. Cook for 8-10 minutes.

Remove sauce from heat. Blend in blender for a smoother sauce (or don't blend for a chunkier sauce). Stir in cream. Put back on stove and add the red pepper, peas and cooked Italian sausage to the sauce. Simmer at least 10 minutes.

Drain pasta and toss with the sauce.

Sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Dinner tonight: Chicken Piccata

I thought making a little sunny, lemony Chicken Piccata would be the perfect thing to bring a little sunshine to my kitchen tonight. After a fabulous time in Arizona, it's back to my winter reality in
Minnesota. Today is actually a warm day -- a balmy 33 degrees and mostly sunny!

I'll be serving the chicken piccata with angel hair pasta and sugar snap peas tonight. A relatively quick and simple meal with tasty results! Because the chicken is pounded so thin, it cooks up very fast, frying quickly with only 2 minutes per side. The whole meal should be ready in less than 20 minutes!

I am using Ina Garten's recipe, found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-piccata-recipe

I don't have seasoned breadcrumbs on hand, so I'll make my own:

Combine the following:
1 c plain breadcrumbs (I will use the food processor to turn some getting-stale bread into crumbs)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Bon Appetit!

Goodbye winter, hello sunshine!

Matt and I are headed to Phoenix early tomorrow morning for a long-overdue vacation. Evan will be staying with my parents for the week while Matt and I enjoy some hiking, kayaking, movie going, southwest eating, Grand Canyon gazing and cave exploring in Phoenix and the surrounding area.

We are going from 20 degree weather to 60-70 degree weather, and I cannot wait! See you next week...

Helpful Tip: Onions

I have a love-hate relationship with onions. I love to cook with onions, but boy do I hate chopping them up! My eyes are ultra sensitive and tear up the second I make my first cut into an onion. My hands smell like onion for days, even when I've tried the different tricks that are supposed to work.

But, I've finally been doing something that really works for me! On Saturday, I chopped and froze 7 lbs of onions. My hands are onion-smell free and I didn't shed a tear! My method? Well, it involves the following:

• Swimming goggles
• Disposable gloves
• Vidalia Onion Chopper

Yes, you read right. I wear a snug pair of Speedo swimming goggles over my eyes to protect them from the sting of the onions. And on my hands are a pair of non-latex disposable gloves. And the Vidalia Chop Wizard? Amazing. I can chop onions so fast with that thing with a lot less hands-on time with the onions. Incidentally, I use the chopper for many things other than onions: carrots and celery for soup, diced potatoes for hashbrowns, the list goes on. 

 I'll admit, my onion chopping method may not be the most fashionable look on the block, but it's what works for me! Maybe it'll work for you too.

I have to share an almost oops that happened when I was cleaning up. I had taken off my wedding ring and set it on the counter. By the time I got done chopping all those onions, my goggles were slightly fogged. I was sweeping the onion skins and ends into the garbage and then -- you probably guessed it -- I couldn't find my ring! I was looking and feeling around for it and was starting to panic slightly. Luckily it was still in a pile of onion skins I hadn't swept into the trash yet, so Matt rescued it for me. Note to self: keep ring away from discarded materials destined for trash!!

Rachel's Taco Soup

So many of the foods we eat have so many additives -- preservatives, sodium, the list is long. Now that my little boy is eating table food, it's become increasingly important to me for our family to eat foods with as little added non-food stuff as possible while keeping my sanity. Not always an easy task!

I've adapted one of my favorite winter go-to recipes to be built on more whole foods versus foods from a can, which usually have added sodium and preservatives. It turned out great and wasn't even that much more work. And considering this meal makes enough for a good four servings of leftovers, I'd say the extra time is really nothing to me. This soup is chock full of good for you, filling foods. It's a recipe you can feel good about serving your family!

I used whole tomatoes frozen from my garden, and kidney and black beans that I soaked, cooked, and froze for later use myself.

Tip: Freeze beans in can-sized servings (about 2 cups). When a recipe calls for canned beans, substitute your frozen ones!

So, without further ado, here is my recipe for Taco Soup.

Rachel's Taco Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

1 T olive oil

1 lb ground beef

Taco seasoning and water, to your taste (I use a lot :))

2 c soaked and cooked black beans

2 c soaked and cooked kidney beans

2 c tomatoes with juices, chopped
1 small can diced green chilies, undrained

1 c corn (I use frozen)

8 oz tomato sauce

1/2 c water

Saute onions in olive oil for 1 minute. Add ground beef to the pan and brown. Drain off fat. Add taco seasoning and water (just as you would for regular taco meat) and combine. Simmer for a few minutes.

Add the taco meat and the rest of the ingredients to your slow cooker. Give it a stir and let it cook on low for at least 5 hours.

Give it a taste. If you want more heat, you can add salsa, taco sauce or hot sauce. Or, better yet, add a halved, seeded hot pepper to the slow cooker to cook with the soup. If you want more depth, add some cumin and chili powder.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, fresh grated cheese, chopped cilantro and/or corn chips. Enjoy!

Yield: 8 generous servings

Rachel's notes

Beans: I slightly defrosted my frozen beans by submerging the bags into warm water for a few minutes. They were still slightly frozen when I added them to the soup.

Tomatoes: I used about 8 Roma tomatoes that I froze last summer from my garden. I soaked them for a couple minutes in warm water, slid the skins off, and chopped them up.