Homemade Gnocchi.. Made from a RUTABAGA?!?!

Ok so I bought a rutabaga the other day, not knowing what it was, what it tastes like or how to cook it. But it was cheap and I'm in "cheap mode"! So Pinterest to the rescue! Most recipes were for mashed or baked rutabaga. Eh. That was ok I guess. But one was for rutabaga gnocchi- ok, this was different! So yesterday I took the plunge and hoped for the best! Of course, you know by now that I didn't follow the recipe exactly... Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

1 rutabaga

2-3 cups flour

A pinch of salt

Peel and dice rutabaga. This was easier than I thought it would be. 

Boil that sucker for 30-60 minutes until you can stick a fork in easily. 

Mash it! 

Let it cool completely in the fridge. 

Now- mix in about 2 cups of flour and kneed it in the bowl. Make sure it's not too "sticky" then take a chunk and using your hands, roll it into a snake on a cutting board. Then use a butter knife and cut that snake into small pieces. (Like an inch each). Set aside onto a floured or sprayed sheet pan. I used non stick cooking spray. When you're done you can put that in the fridge till you're going to cook it. 

To cook it- boil a pot of water and drop them in one at a time so they don't stick together. Original recipe said about 20 at a time. I did that. The first "batch", but I sure didn't want to stand there all night so after I fished them out I just dumped the rest in all at once. Boil for about 4-6 minutes. They seemed to float to the top when they were done which was super nice of them! Fish them out with a big spoon with holes in it. Done! 

So here's the thing- they tasted just like TURNIP. Not my fave. So you have to make some kind of sauce to kill that taste, unless you're a turnip fan, then you're good. So I also fried up some turkey sausage and mushrooms to add to my gnocchi bowl. Then sprinkled some fresh cut up cilantro and parsley. (Would probably use basil next time, but I was too lazy to be chopping more herbs). Then- here's the special sauce- in a bowl mix some lemon juice (2 small lemons) and about 3-4 Tbspns of syrup... Yeah, pancake syrup... Trust me. It just makes a small amount but when you pour that on the gnocchi, it completely changes that flavor!! 

So let me know if you make this and how it goes over in your house! And let me know if you made any changes to the recipe and how it worked!!!

The pre-cooked gnocchi ready to go!

And the finished meal below!

Don't Knock it till You've Tried it!

I've been wanting to try this depression era recipe I've seen on Pinterest for a while now- called TOMATO SOUP CAKE- but keep putting it off because, quite frankly, it sounds utterly disgusting! Well tonight I finally made it. Maybe i had a change of heart because I was running on fumes after only 3 hours sleep last night... Who knows, but there I stood in the kitchen mixing up a batter that closely resembled that stuff you see after giving birth.. Yeah, I said that. I really didn't have much hope for it even as I poured it into the baking pan, but alas, while in that oven for exactly 35 minutes, it transformed into pure deliciousness! I used a recipe I found on Pinterest that happened to have a super sweet caramel frosting, but there are others that use a cream cheese frosting. I also added a handful (or two) of chopped walnuts- because that's just how we roll here! 

http://chindeep.com/2013/08/06/tomato-soup-cake-with-boiled-caramel-frosting/

Ingredients

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 lightly beaten egg

1 can tomato soup

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ginger (ground) 

Directions

Mix the butter and sugar. Then add the rest. The directions said to sift the flour, baking soda and salt- so of course that didn't happen! Not sure I even own a sifter! Throw that hot mess into your baking dish and pop it in the oven- 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. Stick a butter knife in it to make sure it comes out clean. 

To make the caramel glaze- grab the following:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Throw it all in a pot. Heat until it's boiling. Then boil for one minute. Make sure you're whisking it the whole time. You'll have to keep moving it off the heat intermittently because that shit was starting to boil over. Anyway after you've babied it for a minute. Take it completely off the burner and keep whisking for 5-10 minutes till it thickens a bit. I went middle of the road and whisked for about 7 minutes. I was bored. Then pour it over the cake- YUM!!!!!! 

Depression Era Crack... I mean CAKE ~ pure deliciousness!!!!

Okay so I am always trying to make new recipes but keeping the cost LOW! And when they taste good, then that's a WIN for me! I started looking up "depression era" recipes on google and pinterest and found some pretty cool recipes. One of my favorites is this Depression Era Cake recipe- which should really be called Depression Era Crack, it's that good. When I make this cake it is gone in a day! I even made one and took it to the town historical society annual picnic and it was a huge hit. So, give this a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1.5 cups water
1/3 cup oil
2 cups raisins
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 cups flour
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking SODA
2 tsp water

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly spray 9X9 pain with some cooking spray. In a saucepan (a pot) combine the brown sugar, water, oil, raisins and spices (everything from the first section of the ingredients!). Bring this to a boil and stir frequently for about 3 minutes. Not sure why it's three minutes. I did it for 2 just to see what would happen and it turned out just fine!

So let this cool a bit... (just turn the burner off)

Mix the baking SODA with the little bit of water and put that in the mixture... let the kids watch because that shit will foam and it's super cool!

Then dump in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Original recipe said to mix them all together in a bowl first... but of course I didn't do that. Just dump that stuff right in the pot.

Dump this whole mixture into your greased baking pain and bake at 350 for 34-55 minutes. This is SO delicious!!!! Enjoy!

(picture is NOT mine... it's from Pinterest from JoandSue.blogspot.ca.... because I kept forgetting to take a picture of mine before us heifers dug into it!!!

Chicken Wings: Madison House Chef style... modified!

CHICKEN WINGS: Courtesy of Madison House Chef- modified a bit!

So, growing up my parents have always made some of the best chicken wings I've ever had. When I have asked them for the recipe it always seems so complicated- some frying, some baking, lots of steps! I end up just baking them with some spices and while they turn out edible, they are nothing to write home about. Last night I did a Pinterest search and found a recipe that not only got good reviews, but seemed easy enough even for me! Modified a bit- here is my recipe taken from www.madisonhousechef.com for chicken wings: 

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken wings

1/3 Cup Flour

1/3 Cup "Cajun Spice" Seasoning- this has salt, paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, onion, oregano, thyme and something called TCP in it; which are pretty much the same spices that the original recipe uses, give or take.

DIRECTIONS:
Mix the Flour and Spice in a large plastic zip lock baggie. Put 1-2 chicken wings in at a time and coat them completely. Shake off excess and place on a baking pan that you have first coated with oil. When all wings are coated and placed on the pan, brush with some oil or put a pat of butter on each one. Bake at 375 degrees for 60 minutes. Turn them over after 30 minutes.

These came out so nice and crispy- Almost as if they were fried! And the coating is absolutely delicious! My kiddos actually asked for seconds! I'm calling this a "Pinterest WIN"! 

Homemade Rice-A-Roni

Years ago I was on a frugal kick and bought the book The Tightwad Gazette. One of my favorite recipes in that book was for a homemade rice-a-roni mixture. I hadn't thought about that much in the past several years since I wasn't the one doing the cooking; until I was searching for a side dish for tonight's meal. We really didn't want plain rice and the only box mixes I had left were too spicy. So I grabbed the kiddos and whipped up our own!

INGREDIENTS 

4 cups rice

2 cups angel hair pasta broken into small pieces. 

1/2 cup parsley 

2 Tbspn garlic

2 Tbsn thyme

Mix all ingredients in a large container. 

To cook: add 2 cups water, 1 Tbsn butter, 2 chicken flavor bullion cubes and 1 cup of mix to pot and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Kefta with a twist

KEFTA WITH A TWIST!

In our family we enjoy a wide variety of cuisine- Italian, Korean, Lebanese, and more. One of my husbands favorite Lebanese foods is Kefta- like a spiced hamburger shaped like a big finger! Generally we make this and serve it along side rice and sliced cucumbers with some cucumber/yogurt stuff. Since we had just had that a few weeks ago, I decided to put a different twist on the Kefta tonight by making Kefta Zucchini Boats. While they didn't look like much, they were quite tasty! I also deviated from the traditional Lebanese version and incorporated a bit of Italian influence by adding Parmesan cheese. 

Kefta Zucchini Boats:

Ingredients:

4 medium sized green Zucchini, ends cut off and sliced once long-ways; scoop out the insides.

1 lb ground beef

1 egg

1 Tbspn Mint

1 Tbspn Tarragon

1 Tbspn Oregano

1/2 Tbspn Cumin (may want to use less per your taste).

1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese

Arrange zucchini on baking tray. Mix Ground Beef, egg and spices in a mixing bowl. Scoop meat mixture into the zucchini's to fill them. 

Bake on 400' F for 30 minutes then cover with tin foil and decrease heat to 350'F for the last ten minutes (10 min).

Serve with Rice Pilaf and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.