Awesome Lasagna!

(will post pictures later)

Tonight I made the best lasagna I have ever made. I read up about lasagna in my Williams Sonoma Pasta book and followed much of their recipe and advice and it made a world of difference.

For starters I made my own spinach lasagna. This turned out exceptionally well. The dough was by far the best batch of pasta dough I have made yet. Elastic and shiny, perfect texture and amazing taste.

I also made a white sauce for the white sauce portion of the lasagna. In the past I have always used a mix of ricotta and mozzarella or parmesan cheese for the white part but using just a simple white sauce was perfect. I layered it with a red meat sauce and my green noodles. Quite possibly the prettiest lasagna I have ever seen (and that has to count for something!).

When I get a moment I will upload pictures. Just wanted to write about this before I forget how awesome it was and what I did to make it!

The Great Backyard Chicken Q&A Post

I have been getting a lot of questions about having chickens in your backyard. This post is an attempt to answer them. I should mention that I am by no means an expert on chickens but I have learned some valuable lessons in the past year.

Q: Is it a lot of work to have chickens?
A: No. But that answer is dependent on the set-up you use for your chickens. I have also found raising baby chickens to be considerably more work then getting laying pullets.

The work that is involved with having chickens includes feeding them, making sure they have fresh water, cleaning up their poop, and keeping them safe. For the record, chickens poop a lot. You need to have a chicken poop plan prior to getting your chickens. Chicken poop is very rich in nitrogen, making it a great fertilizer, but it *should* be composted first. We chose a coop design that makes feeding, watering, cleaning poop and keeping chickens safe very easy. Chicken "tractors" are portable chicken coops that you move around every day or so. You can build your own (just google coop designs and you will get a load of responses, or get a chicken coop design book from your library) or you can purchase one. We chose to purchase one because we did not have the time to build one. Our chicken coop is the Henspa and we have been very happy with it. There is an automatic feeder and waterer. It had taken our 3 - 5 hens about 6-8 weeks to go through a 25lb bag of chicken feed. The feeder holds almost the entire bag and has a seperate compartment for a calcium supplement (like oyster shells - necessary to maintain thickness of egg shells). There is also a waterer that attaches to the coop. The only problem with the waterer is that you have to train your chickens to drink from it. This was very easy with our hens last year (which we raised from chicks) but our hens this year (which we purchased already laying) have not been as easy to train. So for now I just keep a bowl of water in there for them that I change everyday. Really, not that much work.

In terms of the poop, the great thing about the chicken tractor is that it has an upstairs and a downstairs. The "downstairs" is the ground and the upstairs floor is chicken wire allowing all the poop to fall through to the bottom and therefore land on the grass. Move the tractor everyday and the poop gets nicely distributed on the ground, fertilizing the grass.

However, if you have only a small area for the chickens I would suggest a system where you can easily collect the poop and put it into a composter. For this I would recommend an Eglu which is a coop with a removable bottom that collects the waste.

Both the Eglu and the Henspa have a secure chicken run which keeps the chickens safe from predators but since you are moving them to fresh ground everday they are still "free ranging" (sort of).

With this coop design the next thing to think about is what you will do in the winter. Snow and ice piling up make it hard to move coops around in the winter. There are a few options - we actually choose to have chickens seasonally (although this winter we might keep them through the winter), therefore avoiding the problem of the winter. The Henspa can house the chickens in the winter but you would need to give them a larger area to go outside, have power close by to provide a heat lamp (if necessary) and for the water (or you could bring fresh water out every morning).

Q: Can chickens be kept in a backyard with something other than grass?
A: As far as I know chickens can be kept on any type of ground. Their primary source of nutrition is their feed, not grass, which can be supplemented with kitchen scraps. I have noticed that chickens are not really in it for the grass, they prefer the grubs, worms and weeds. Coincidentally they are one of the best natural means of tick control.

Q: Is it really cost effective to have hens for eggs?
A: This is a loaded question. The cost involved in keeping chickens are primarily their coop and feed. The coop can be built inexpensively if you have the time and materials. Chicken feed varies in price depending on what you want. Regular chicken feed is very cheap (around $8 for 25 lbs). Organic chicken feed is more than double the price. You can also look for local sources for chicken feed - maybe a farmer nearby makes feed. Of course you know exactly where your eggs come from and in my mind it is hard to put a price on that.

Q: Do I need a rooster?
A: No. Laying eggs is ovulation for a chicken. It is a natural hormonal process. If you want fertilized eggs you do need a rooster. A rooster is also helpful in maintaining pecking order in a flock, and can keep hens safe from danger. However, with just one or two hens it is entirely not necessary to have a rooster.

Q: Can I legally have hens in my backyard?
A: You need to check local ordinaces for this one. Keep in mind, if you have an enclosed backyard it is unlikely that your neighbors will know you have a hen or two.

Q: What type of hens should I get?
A: This is completely a preference thing. I prefer brown egg layers, which tend to be heavier breeds that can survive a winter. Google can provide you with a lot of information and pictures of different breeds. Our hens right now are a Red Sex Link, a Partridge Rock and a Black Australoupe. We also have 4 baby chicks that are Rhode Island Reds.

If you have any questions please post. I am happy to answer or at least find an answer for you.

Oh Happy Day

Today we got our first... EGG!

Maybe I should backtrack. Last April we ordered a straight run of day old Barred Rock chicks. Over time we gave away all the roosters and a few of the hens until we were left with 4 hens. A managable amount for us and just enough egg production to meet our needs and have a few left over. But, for some unknown reason, the hens never laid eggs. We kept them until they were seven months old and it started to snow and then they, um, flew south. It was a disappointing experiment but we did learn some lessons. So this year I went in search of already laying hens and yesterday acquired 3 laying hens and 4 Rhode Island Red pullets, a week old (for my daughter).

This morning we were beyond delighted to find an egg in the nesting box. A few hours later, another egg. I have been waiting for eggs from hens for a year now and I am so excited to finally have some. This is one less thing that I need to purchase. (Okay, now I need to purchase feed but really I only need to do that once every few months, not once a week). Since my egg production has skyrocked with all the cooking and pasta making that has been happening lately these eggs couldn't have come at a better time. I am not sure that the novelty of walking out to the coop and collecting eggs will ever wear off.

Obama and the FDA

Hopefully this is a step in the right direction:

"Obama announces FDA picks, food safety measures"

Homemade Ravioli!!

Last week after making ultra thick fettuccine for pasta night I vowed that this week I would make ravioli. And so I did. I was very excited about making ravioli and the experience has inspired me to make more in the future and get it perfect. Even in it's first attempt non-perfect state it was pretty good.

For the Love of a Pasta Roller

Let me just say that it is essential to have a pasta roller for ravioli. The dough cannot be too thick and it would be nearly impossible to roll it out so thin without the roller. There are only about four or five pasta rollers available for purchase in the United States, ranging from $40 - $200. I researched them and decided that the Mercado Atlas 150 (coming in around $80) would fit my needs. The MA150 had consistently good reviews on the many websites I consulted. Unfortunately my first attempt to purchase a pasta roller was a failure. I purchased it from a bogus website and never received my merchandise. Luckily I had paid through Paypal and was able to get a full refund. Anyway, things were looking bleak for a ravioli making session this week until I finally decided to pay slightly more and go to a local kitchen supply store. At least I was certain to come home with a roller and therefore able to embark upon the ravioli making journey.

My Atlas 150 and My 2 Year Old
A pasta roller is unquestionably a fun piece of equipment to have in your kitchen. I opted for a model without a motor (anything I can do to burn calories while in the kitchen) and quickly realized that the absolute biggest advantage to using my pasta roller was that not only could my 2yo help out with it but she was actually very helpful and it was easier to cook because she was participating. She stood on her chair and cranked every single piece of pasta over and over for me, freeing up my hands to feed and catch the pasta as it rolled. And she had a great time doing so. Another bonus: since she was so involved in the cooking she ate really well at dinner tonight. She was so excited about the ravioli.

The Ravioli Making Process

Due to my irrational tendency to complicate things in the kitchen, I chose to do both a meat filling and a cheese filling in my raviolis. And not only that, I decided to make so much filling that I would never have to cook ravioli ever again. When cooking ravioli it is important to figure out how much rest time the various components need. The fillings generally have to be refrigerated for at least an hour so they stick together better. The dough needs to rest for at least 30 minutes so it relaxes and is easier to roll out. Given these parameters I started my fillings first. The recipes were from my Williams Sonoma Pasta cookbook (which I highly recommend if you are new to this whole pasta thing). After the fillings were started I made my dough. There are many different recipes for making dough out there. My friend Sue experimented with dough making this week and her recipe follows. Making pasta dough is one of those things that requires some attention to detail. No recipe can work the same every time. You need to get a feel for the dough to get it right.

Once the dough is rested and the fillings are ready it is time to roll out the pasta. At this point I always put my pot of water to boil because that can take a long time. With ravioli you don't want a rapid boil, something closer to a simmer is desirable. I rolled out my dough to two thicknesses - the #2 setting on the roller which I believe is 1/16" and the #3 setting which is a little thinner. Next time I do this I am going to try the #4 setting because I really like thinner pasta when it comes to ravioli. The #2 setting was much to thick, #3 was okay and if I can get #4 to work without breaking I think that will be the winner.

When I purchased my roller I also bought a round ravioli stamp. I wanted a pasta cutter but the store was all out of them. I believe, after using the stamp, that the cutter would be an easier tool. Of course, you could just use a knife but I wanted to cool edge.

Basically you roll the pasta out into a long sheet and then place very small drops of filling at whatever interval you need for your stamp or cutter or whatnot. It is important to not overfill your ravioli. I made this mistake with a few of mine and the center took too long to cook, overcooking the pasta. A teaspoon is really sufficient (and since I have six cups of filling left over you now know that I was not exaggerating when I said I made too much - a little goes a long way). Using your finger, put a cold water ring around your filling and fold over the pasta, sealing the filling. Work out any air bubbles that remain inside. Air bubbles will cause your raviolis to burst.

Once you have completed all of your raviolis place them, a few at a time, in gently boiling water. They are done when they pop to the surface. Add some sauce and serve. So delicious, and really quite easy once you get the hang of it.

Sue's Dough Recipe

four cups flour
four eggs
salt
sprinke of olive oil
cold water till it willingly forms a ball

Pile o' (Banana) Pancakes

Here is another one of our favorite, from scratch, recipes. When I make these I double the recipe and freeze a lot of them. When you are ready to eat them just put them in the toaster and breakfast is ready shortly thereafter. As usual, I substitute 1/2 the regular flour for whole wheat flour. I also add a little vanilla to the mix. I have been making these for years and I am never consistant with the amount of banana I add. One banana, two bananas, three bananas... I just use whatever I have that needs using. Another piece of advice - cook over a low temperature really slowly. Otherwise the outside cooks too fast and you are left with mush on the inside. Enjoy!

Food Concern: Genetically Modified Food

In the recent issue of Eating Well, my favorite food magazine, there was a short piece on GM Food. The article prompted me to blog about this issue as genetically modified food is something I am very concerned about and I feel that a lot of people are not well informed about.

A good definition of GMOs, from the World Health Organization: Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally.

Perhaps the most well known GM crops are Roundup Ready crops. Roundup is an herbicide primarily used to control the growth of weeds. In fact, Roundup is such an effective herbicide it will kill anything it is sprayed on, weeds and crops alike. The company that produces Roundup, Monsanto, created a genetically modified soybean in 1996 that is resistant to Roundup and it is marketed as one of their Roundup Ready crops. Other crops include corn, canola, and cotton. By planting these crops farmers are now able to use the herbicide Roundup without fear that their crops will be killed.

The story of Monsanto's success with Roundup Ready crops raises two concerns. The first one is the potential development of super weeds, weeds that are resistant to roundup. This can occur by cross pollination between Roundup Ready crops and other nearby plants. Conceivably a super weed would require the use of a more potent chemical to kill it. Certainly Monsanto will be able to counter that with another crop resistant to that chemical but one has to wonder when the cycle will stop. After all, the use of increasingly dangerous chemicals has very hazardous effects on the environment. Which brings me to my second concern: how safe is it for us to be eating crops that are heavily sprayed with herbicides? I feel the more we can reduce our exposure to dangerous chemicals (even in trace amounts) which have the ability to kill large plants, the better. My concern is compounded by this startling statistic: It is estimated that around 70% of processed food contains genetically modified ingredients. Read more information here and here and here.

Obviously super weeds and increased exposure to chemicals are only two of the many concerns brought about by GM foods. I recently saw a documentary about GM food and it showed how these foods are actually altered. I found this extremely interesting and thought provoking. The range of techniques used to transfer cells from one organism to another is discussed here. Of particular interest to me is the use of viruses. I guess it is common sense that if you want to invade a cell you would do so with a virus. It happens naturally everyday. With the creation of GM food, the desirable trait carrying DNA is inserted into a virus and the target cell is exposed to the virus. The virus invades the cell and replicates, leaving the specific DNA behind in doing so. Immediately upon viewing this I wondered the obvious - if we are eating food that has been exposed to a virus in an effort to transfer a specific genetic trait then aren't we also putting ourselves at risk for some part of that virus. I mean surely the sought after trait is not the only thing left behind by the virus. Disclaimer: I am not a scientist. These were just my thoughts immediately following the program and my further research on the topic has not answered this question. Maybe there is a way to extract all the viral remains from the cell and reproduce it with only the intended DNA strands involved. Is that what happens? I honestly don't know, but it is fodder for thought. I think this specific concern that I had while watching the documentary falls under the "unknown" category of concerns about GM food. The fact is that we simply do not know how the introduction of unnatural organisms (that is to say, organisms that would never have formed without the specific intervention of humans) will affect our health or the environment.

So why risk it? A quick overview of benefits and controversies can be found here. Some reasons supporters of GMOs give for using the technology include increased yields from crops and perhaps the introduction of more nutritious crops, especially in third world nations. However, I think it is clear that thus far the only benefits of GM crops has been one of financial gain for large corporations. As Lisa Weasel points out in the article that prompted this blog, "Between 1994 and 2005 there was a 15-fold increase in the use of Roundup..."

The issue of GM food is much deeper then what I have been able to write about here. Hopefully this is just enough to get you thinking, and questioning the food selections available at the supermarket. GM foods are outlawed in most European nations. Other countries have labeling laws regarding the use of GM ingredients. This seems to be a reasonable step we can take in the United States. I would like to know what I am eating so I have the ability to choose whether to eat it or not. If this is something that you are interested in, research it more and take appropriate steps by contacting your legislators and letting your opinion be heard.

Fodder for Thought

I want to comment on these articles but I need to wait until my daughter goes to bed tonight. Until then, here is some fodder for thought:

"It's Organic, but does that mean it's safer?"

"Food Problems Elude Private Inspectors"

Cinnamon Raisin Bread: Updated

It took us about three weeks to eat three loaves of cinnamon raisin bread. The bread is so delicious and has been requested by many friends and family members that I had to make another batch.

I used the same recipe for this batch but this time I increased the whole wheat flour to 4 cups, from 3 (so half whole wheat flour and half white flour). I will stick with this ratio in the future; it was perfect. I also added some cinnamon to the flour mixture for a little more cinnamon flavor. Once again this is a change that I will maintain in the future.

Some people have asked how I stored the bread. After allowing it to cool completely I sliced the loaves (I averaged 15 slices per loaf) and then froze the entire loaf. When we ate the last slice from a loaf I put the frozen loaf into the fridge. I almost always toasted the bread before eating it (with a little whipped cream cheese it is such an amazing snack). If necessary I could remove one frozen slice from the freezer and pop it right into the freezer.

The next time I made this I am going to attempt to make six loaves and my plan is not to double the recipe (because that would be an overwhelming amount of dough to work with) but to make the two batches back to back so as soon as I am done with one step from the first batch I will repeat that step with the second batch. This way there will be just a little more time in between my cinnamon raisin bread cooking sessions.

If you haven't tried this bread yet I highly suggest making it soon! It is a really good one.

Granola Bars

On baking day, which was this past Wednesday, one of the things that I made was Granola Bars. I looked at a lot of granola bar recipes and was interested in the different things used to bind the bars together. A lot of recipes I found used peanut butter as a binder. While I like peanut butter I prefer it in small doses so I stayed away from those recipes. In the end, I used Alton Brown's recipe and I am pretty pleased with the results. Of course I did make a few changes and I have a few suggestions as well.

I ran out of honey so I ended up substituting maple syrup and molasses for about half of the honey. I think the maple syrup added a nice flavor and the molasses cut down some of the sweetness. Some of the criticisms of the original recipe are that it is too sweet. I didn't find it to be so with my substitutions. For dried fruit I used apricots, prunes, dried blueberries and craisins. One of the reviewers also mentioned that these were expensive bars to make. I didn't do a financial analysis of the recipe but considering that you pay anywhere from $3-$6 for 6 commercially made granola bars I think that these were pretty cost effective.

One problem with homemade granola bars can be that they do not stick together well. It was true that some of mine crumbled but I just put those into an airtight container and have been eating them with yogurt for breakfast. It is really yummy granola. To help with the sticking I pressed the granola bars down with a fondant roller (any smaller roller would work) before, during and just after cooking. I also let them cool off for a long time before cutting. In the end I individually placed them in snack bags and they've been a great on-the-go treat.

Best EVER Beef Stock

I was going to go to sleep but I just had to post quickly about the beef stock that I made today since it is the best beef stock I have ever tried.

The recipe is of course from trusty AllRecipes.com. But, as with all stocks, you can really substitute a lot of the ingredients. For example, I didn't have any celery today so I tossed in some celery seeds. I also didn't have any parsnips. The addition of parsnips in stocks is a worthwhile one if you have them on hand. A word to the wise though, be careful with parsnips. A little bit goes a long way. And parsnips will really sweeten up a stock.

I think the most important ingredient that I added to my stock today was the beef bones (and not just because these are clearly the essential ingredients - I believe they were of a superior quality and that accounted for the final result). When we got our 1/4 cow this fall we got all of the soup bones. They have been in the freezer for months and I have been meaning to make a beef stock with them. Oh My Gosh they added soooo much flavor to this stock. There was still quite a bit of meat on them so when they roasted up in the beginning the flavor from this meat really came out.

Basically I could go on and on about this stock but I encourage you to just see for yourself. You can purchase soup bones from your butcher. I have seen them also in the meat cases in the past but since our investment in bulk meat last fall I haven't spent too much time at butcher counters recently. I have also asked farmers at the farmers market for soup bones in the past and they have handed them over free of charge. Hey, it's worth asking.

"Homemade" Dinner

For tonight's dinner I made quite possibly the most homemade dinner I have ever made. For the first time ever I made my own pasta with a mushroom cream sauce, salad with homemade dressing and homemade italian bread. I was feeling all proud of myself but then I realized that homemade is a pretty relative term. Although I made my own pasta it is not like I grew and ground the wheat for flour. I didn't press my own olives or make the cheese in the salad. Basically my idea of "homemade" falls in-between Sandra Lee's version and that of a frontier woman. But, still, the dinner was pretty awesome and worth the effort that my few extra "homemade" steps took.

Make-Your-Own-Pasta
A girlfriend of mine, Roxanne, casually mentioned that she had stopped buying pasta because it is just so easy to make your own. Little does she know that her remark has been residing in the back of my mind for sometime now and I have just been waiting for the right opportunity to make my own pasta. (Roxanne also makes killer egg rolls. She made them recently for a get together and I played the pregnancy card to eat way more than my fair share. They are also on my list of things to make...but, I digress). Late last night (okay, who am I kidding, it was 7:30 and I was about to fall asleep) I was browsing through my cookbooks looking for something to read (seriously, I read cookbooks when I am not in the middle of another book) and lo and behold there was a yet unopened one: "Mastering Pasta, Noodles, & Dumplings". I read much of the book and decided that I was going to make pasta for dinner tonight, come hell or high water. Only I had a few problems. #1: I burnt out the motor on my food processor last week (think smoke and fumes) and haven't replaced it yet and #2: I don't have a pasta roller. I considered the alternatives - go out and buy a pasta roller and a new food processor or make everything by hand. Well, I abhor driving and I love kneading so I chose option two. I was also on this homemade-high and thinking I could take on any dough. Dummy.

Actually the pasta came out really good but it was way too thick. I even had my husband help me roll it but he gave up after a minute or two. Unless you like thick pasta, buy a pasta roller and save yourself a s**tload of time and energy. Oh, and to add to the patheticness of my rolling out pasta was the fact that I am so short I generally stand on a stool to knead or roll out dough. So there I am, laboring away over this freaking dough on a little tiny kitchen stool. Quite the sight. Despite my minor set backs I highly recommend making your own pasta, even if it is just once. I also made italian bread using a recipe that has been a go-to for me for a long time. It is really easy - do the dough in the bread machine, shape two loaves, let them rise and bake.

Now my big plan for the rest of my life is to make one pasta dish, from scratch, every week and one batch of Italian bread every two weeks. I will just freeze the extra loaf for use on the in between weeks. Add a salad and viola! Homemade dinner in under an hour.

Here is the pasta recipe I used (from Williams-Sonoma Mastering Pasta, Noodles & Dumplings):

Fresh Egg Pasta Dough
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
+ I added about 1tb of italian seasoning to the flour

-Combine dough in food processor (assuming you haven't recently burned out the motor in yours)
-Turn out dough on lightly floured surface and gently knead it.
-Allow dough to rest for 30 minutes under a large bowl (this prevents it from drying out)
-Put dough in your pasta roller following manufacturers instructions (assuming you have one. Otherwise start rolling. Stop, beg family members to help, roll more, stop, decide you wanted to make thick pasta all along and cut dough with a pizza cutter using the edge of a cutting board as your guide).
-Allow pasta strands to dry for 10-20 minutes.
-Boil for 1-3 minutes (or, in the case of thicker pasta, 7-9 minutes)

The mushroom sauce that I made to accompany the pasta was really fantastic (who am I kidding? I have never tasted anything made with real heavy cream that wasn't fantastic) and so very easy to make as well. Also from the same cookbook:

Fettuccine with Mushrooms & Cream
In a frying pan melt 2tb unsalted butter.
Add 10oz sliced mushrooms (I mixed baby bellas and white mushrooms), 1tsp kosher salt and 1/2 tsp ground pepper.
Saute until the mushroom juices evaporate, about 10 minutes.
Add 1 cup of cream and allow to thicken, about 5-10 minutes.
Stir in 2 tb freshly chopped flat leaf parsley.
Taste, die and go to heaven.

Next week: Ravioli