A New Course
Throughout this blog's life I've focused on one thing: sharing recipes and the tricks I found useful when cooking. I used this blog half for myself (to keep records to help me later on), and to just share what I learned with whoever stops by to read. In retrospect, I have rarely touched on what was happening in my life. So much so that you all probably need to scroll to the top of the page every now and then to remember my name!
I would like to have this blog go beyond the new recipe I just found, or the old-favorite dish I just unearthed. I'm taking a new course in my life (career oriented), and I would like to write about it and hopefully you all will find it interesting, endearing, exciting, or just something that will rock your boat! OK, that sounded mysterious! Before I spill the beans, let me rewind a little bit and take you through the years leading up to this new endeavor of mine.
The blog, Sabbath Supper, was so named because when it first became public (March 1, 2009) I cooked one meal a week for the family: Sunday supper. I started cooking supper every Sunday in 2008 and didn't start the blog until the next year. I wanted to use the blog as a way to track all the new cooking skills I was learning.
I didn't start to cook out of necessity (my step mom was an awesome home cook and have everything done like clock work), but to satisfy the urge to go in the kitchen, knock around a few spoons and measuring cups and create a meal that my large family would love. I remember when I was eleven or so, my two sisters and I acquired a set of pots and pans from a yard sale and started playing what we called "Experiments." Experiments usually was played out like this: we would gather various leaves, berries, bark, dirt, etc. and use them as we would ingredients in a kitchen. We would combine all or a few of these "naturally-sourced ingredients" in our set of pots and pans and stir them around with wooden spoons and serve them up on some old plastic plates, complete with fork and knife. We didn't eat a morsel, even though the choke berry "wine" looked tempting. But we had so much fun concocting these dishes, plating them up, and measuring out ingredients using our old pyrex measuring cup. Measuring must of been the best part, it always created the atmosphere of a true kitchen.
So my first actual meal that I cooked for the family (besides the Cream of Mushroom Soup that I had done previously), was Chicken Argentina and Potato Parmesan. According to my blog post the chicken had lime and olives; it was good but, "...Not good enough for a repeat." The Potato Parmesan, which was technically mashed potatoes with parm thrown in, was the first time for me to use real potatoes when making mash. Overall, the meal turned out to be well received, even though it was 30 minutes late! I write a note about this: "Meat can take a lot longer than a recipe says." To this day, I agree.
Several weeks into this blog I joined the Food Network Challenge blog challenge. The members had to go through the long list of Food Network t.v. personalities, like Bobby Flay, Sunny Anderson, etc., and make one or more of their dishes each week. This challenge really got my cooking momentum going and made me go out and buy new ingredients that the family didn't typically eat, such as mushrooms, cream, fettucini, and so on. I remember this challenge to include some high, YES-I-CAN-COOK moments and some I-GIVE-UP moments. One very hard Sunday supper to prepare was oven baked chicken with homemade curly potato fries. Because I wanted to give myself a jump start on the supper that day, I prepared the curly fries in the morning and had them sit on a cookie sheet in the oven. Not a good idea. When I went back to turn on the oven, the fries had oxidized by then so they had an unappetizing brown color. I cooked them anyway, but only after having a good cry. Those potatoes were not the only thing. The chicken coating for the baked chicken was not adhering and whatever did stay on was so charred and hard by the time the chicken was cooked, it became almost inedible. I think that one brought the tears! My family is made up of troopers, and they ate every bite and told me they can't wait for next week.
In 2010, cooking turned from hobby to necessity when my step mom started working again and someone needed to fill in for her. The first couple months were the hardest for me. I had to learn new recipes quickly and get two meals on the table each day. My family doesn't order in or go out to eat, so from-scratch meals are a daily occurrence and that means a lot of forethought. 2010 also brought grocery shopping. My step mom did all the shopping so I hadn't a clue about pricing, couponing, price-matching, and keeping everything stocked. Because if you do the food shopping you also do the paper towel, toothpaste, shampoo, and light bulb shopping that comes with it! You just can't get around that!
Even cooking every single day and doing the majority of the menu planning, grocery shopping, canning/freezing, etc., I felt like I wanted to cook more and learn more. Granted, I did feel burnt out at times, especially on Sundays (strangely enough!) but these moments didn't last for more than two days. I still enjoyed curling up with a good cook book, watching cooking shows on tv and youtube, and reading Cook's Country magazine.
The blog writing dwindled during this time because I just got way too busy with all the new things that had to be learned to run the house, to keep up with the farm and its never ending job list, and taking on side jobs like working at a summer camp. At this time I knew I had to seriously think about working towards a goal for myself as an individual, but I was unsure on what that goal was.
Then things took an unexpected turn when my stepmom became critically ill in 2013. She somewhat gained her health during the summer but fell ill once more in January 2014. She passed away the following month. My first mom, Susan, wasn't able to share with me her love of cooking before she passed when I was ten, but my stepmom, Annemarie, was happy to show me around the kitchen and share with me what she knew with her newly acquired home cooking skills. She cooked everyday and especially loved to bake. We're Catholic so she made sure to include a special dessert for every feast day of the year. I admit, I had to run to the calendar to find out what saint's feast it was that day when I saw that she was making a special cake or bread!
My step mom said that I had a lot of talents and I need to choose one of them and grow with it. A lot of different pursuits were floating in my head. I love to sew and knit so for a time I thought I should enter the field of design or fashion. I also like to help others on a physical level so humanitarian work entered my mind. Neither one of these I thought could work for me because, a.) I am more into the construction process of fashion design and not really the fashion scene, and b.) the humanitarian work would be for me very stressful and probably wouldn't be something I could do day after day.
But cooking was there. It had been there for such a long time and according to family, friends, and acquaintances, I was good at it. Could a career be made out of it? There is a demand for chefs, sous chefs, pastry chefs, personal chefs, caterers, and dietary chefs in almost every city in my area and throughout the state and beyond. Would a career in the food industry be something I can see myself doing? Yes. Technically, I've been in the food industry for a good long while because I've worked on my family's fruit and vegetable farm my entire life. I have a good grasp on what is fresh and what is in season. You can't help but be inspired to cook by growing your own food.
This long and drawn out story of mine brings me to what I wanted to state at the very beginning of this post. My entirely new life course is culinary school. Yes, I am going back to school! Its been awhile! I am twenty-five now and will be starting culinary school this coming January. I am going the Culinary Institute of Michigan (the CIM) located in downtown Muskegon. The CIM is connected with Baker College, which is right next door to Muskegon Community College. I am beyond excited to start!
I was able to take a tour of the campus earlier this month and visit both the Baker Campus as well as the CIM, which is located five minutes from the campus.
I would like to look at this post as a prelude to a series of posts. I am looking forward to writing about my experience through culinary school, from the weeks leading up to the first day to the final day of the final semester. There is so little information on the internet/literature about the culinary school experience; believe me I've looked. I wanted to know what I will be getting myself into! That is why I thought a series on this topic would help so many prospective students decide if a degree in such a field is something they want to do and can do. I know, of course, that the Culinary Institute of Michigan is not like all other culinary schools but I do believe it will be a good benchmark. Just gaining the "feel of the land" would be so helpful.
So in the upcoming posts I will be covering how I enrolled in the college, what degree I am shooting for, and all about the campus tour I took, which included free chocolate by the way! :) Hope to catch up with you all soon!
Even cooking every single day and doing the majority of the menu planning, grocery shopping, canning/freezing, etc., I felt like I wanted to cook more and learn more. Granted, I did feel burnt out at times, especially on Sundays (strangely enough!) but these moments didn't last for more than two days. I still enjoyed curling up with a good cook book, watching cooking shows on tv and youtube, and reading Cook's Country magazine.
The blog writing dwindled during this time because I just got way too busy with all the new things that had to be learned to run the house, to keep up with the farm and its never ending job list, and taking on side jobs like working at a summer camp. At this time I knew I had to seriously think about working towards a goal for myself as an individual, but I was unsure on what that goal was.
Then things took an unexpected turn when my stepmom became critically ill in 2013. She somewhat gained her health during the summer but fell ill once more in January 2014. She passed away the following month. My first mom, Susan, wasn't able to share with me her love of cooking before she passed when I was ten, but my stepmom, Annemarie, was happy to show me around the kitchen and share with me what she knew with her newly acquired home cooking skills. She cooked everyday and especially loved to bake. We're Catholic so she made sure to include a special dessert for every feast day of the year. I admit, I had to run to the calendar to find out what saint's feast it was that day when I saw that she was making a special cake or bread!
My step mom said that I had a lot of talents and I need to choose one of them and grow with it. A lot of different pursuits were floating in my head. I love to sew and knit so for a time I thought I should enter the field of design or fashion. I also like to help others on a physical level so humanitarian work entered my mind. Neither one of these I thought could work for me because, a.) I am more into the construction process of fashion design and not really the fashion scene, and b.) the humanitarian work would be for me very stressful and probably wouldn't be something I could do day after day.
But cooking was there. It had been there for such a long time and according to family, friends, and acquaintances, I was good at it. Could a career be made out of it? There is a demand for chefs, sous chefs, pastry chefs, personal chefs, caterers, and dietary chefs in almost every city in my area and throughout the state and beyond. Would a career in the food industry be something I can see myself doing? Yes. Technically, I've been in the food industry for a good long while because I've worked on my family's fruit and vegetable farm my entire life. I have a good grasp on what is fresh and what is in season. You can't help but be inspired to cook by growing your own food.
This long and drawn out story of mine brings me to what I wanted to state at the very beginning of this post. My entirely new life course is culinary school. Yes, I am going back to school! Its been awhile! I am twenty-five now and will be starting culinary school this coming January. I am going the Culinary Institute of Michigan (the CIM) located in downtown Muskegon. The CIM is connected with Baker College, which is right next door to Muskegon Community College. I am beyond excited to start!
I was able to take a tour of the campus earlier this month and visit both the Baker Campus as well as the CIM, which is located five minutes from the campus.
I would like to look at this post as a prelude to a series of posts. I am looking forward to writing about my experience through culinary school, from the weeks leading up to the first day to the final day of the final semester. There is so little information on the internet/literature about the culinary school experience; believe me I've looked. I wanted to know what I will be getting myself into! That is why I thought a series on this topic would help so many prospective students decide if a degree in such a field is something they want to do and can do. I know, of course, that the Culinary Institute of Michigan is not like all other culinary schools but I do believe it will be a good benchmark. Just gaining the "feel of the land" would be so helpful.
So in the upcoming posts I will be covering how I enrolled in the college, what degree I am shooting for, and all about the campus tour I took, which included free chocolate by the way! :) Hope to catch up with you all soon!
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| The Culinary Institute of Michigan building. Source. |
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| Culinary school students at CIM observing a presentation given by visting chef, Sylvain Leroy. Source. |
Tried and True Recipe: Ultimate Cheesecake
It's been awhile since my last Tried and True recipe so I thought it was high time to write up a post featuring this concept. For those who need a refresher, Tried and True Recipes (TNT) are those great, no-fail recipes you reach for again and again. I was doing a series of TNT recipes last year and so if you want to check those out, I will be including a compiled list with all the links at the end of this post.
The recipe that is highlighted today is the Ultimate Cheesecake. I've done this one before, as you might remember, and really is foolproof as you're going to get. Which is no easy feat when considering it is cheesecake. Cheesecake can have all sorts of issues: lumpy filling, crumbly crust, holes, etc. Not with this recipe!
I first came upon this recipe when I was watching Tyler Florence's show, Tyler's Ultimate, for the first time. (Yeah, I guess it's been awhile!) His recipe is called The Ultimate Cheesecake and is topped with a decadent blueberry and lemon sauce that is really, really good (I've tried it once). I didn't include the sauce in my recipe and I did change a few things, just because my TNT series is all about the recipe's simplicity. But if you are looking for a cheesecake with that extra something something, here's Tyler's original recipe.
Now onto my recipe!
Ultimate Cheesecake
click here for printable recipe
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups finely ground graham crackers (about 30 squares)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
1 pound cream cheese, 2 (8-ounce) blocks, softened
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream
1 dash vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 325F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the crust ingredients with a fork until evenly moistened. Lightly coat the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Pour the crumbs into the pan and, using the bottom of a measuring cup or the smooth bottom of a glass, press the crumbs down into the base and 1-inch up the sides. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.
For the Filling:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on low speed for 1 minute until smooth and free of any lumps. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue to beat slowly until combined. Gradually add sugar and beat until creamy, for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add sour cream and vanilla. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. The batter should be well-mixed but not overbeaten. Pour the filling into the crust-lined pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Set the cheesecake pan on a large piece of aluminum foil and fold up the sides around it. Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until the water is about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan; the foil will keep the water from seeping into the cheesecake. Bake for 45 minutes. The cheesecake should still jiggle (it will firm up after chilling), so be careful not to overcook. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Chill in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least 4 hours. Loosen the cheesecake from the sides of the pan by running a thin metal spatula around the inside rim. Unmold and transfer to a cake plate. Enjoy!
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List of past TNT recipes:
TNT Recipe: Turkey Dressing
TNT Recipe: Mashed Potatoes
TNT Recipe: Pizza Buns
TNT Recipe: Chicago Style Pizza
TNT Recipe: Favorite Brownies
TNT Recipe: Blueberry Pancakes
Tried and True Recipes Intro
Chocolate Chip Cookies - My Favorite Recipe
I've tried many, many different recipes. For a time the Toll House recipe was trending high on my favorite list but the recipe is always a hit and miss because the cookies sometimes spread when baking and create a thin cookie. Not what I want a lot of the time.
I wanted to try out another Chocolate Chip recipe to make a cookie that has a chewy exterior and soft interior and that doesn't spread, the last being top priority. I'm excited to announce that I found one! It turns out that it was right under my nose. Let me explain. . . I was baking my favorite Four-Way Fudge Brownie recipe one day and I was saying to my brother that the cookbook I was using (Better Homes and Garden Cookie Classics--the first cookbook that I ever owned), has AWESOME recipes. Not only do they have some really approachable cookie flavors (such as their White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies), the recipes never fail. They always turn out great.
That made me thinking. . . How about the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe at the beginning of the book? There were so many recipe treasures in this book, the Chocolate Chip recipe could be a winner as well. And as I soon found out--it was.
Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
click here for printable recipe
Yield: 50 cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
5 cups all purpose flour
2-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.
In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat mixture until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla. Follow with the eggs, drop in one at a time. Add flour and beat until dough just comes together. Beat in chocolate chips.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto lined baking sheet. (Line with either nonstick foil or parchment.) Using a #40 spring loaded ice cream scoop really makes this step go a lot faster.
Bake cookies in a 375F oven for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool.
Watch and Bake
I filmed a how-to video on how to make these chocolate chip cookies. It is a really fun video to watch and hope you check it out before you turn on the mixer. :)
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| click on image to view video |
Homemade Tuna Noodle Casserole (Without the Can!)
The condensed soups, be it tomato, chicken noodle, cream of this or cream of that, they all have personal recipe books to their name. Instead of choosing the pot o' soup route, you can take your condensed soup and make Southwest Chili or Garlic Chicken.
Or arguably the most famous condensed soup based recipe: Tuna Noodle Casserole.
Cream of mushroom soup, the star of the Tuna Noodle Casserole stage, was actually my favorite Campbell's soup when I was growing up. And it was one of the few meals that I could cook for the family when I was eleven. (Yeah, it was basically soup and cinnamon toast then!)
Using the cream of mushroom as a base for Tuna Noodle Casserole is always a fast and effortless way of pulling a casserole together, but sometimes this is not always possible. Such as last week. I proposed the idea of making Tuna Noodle Casserole that week and since we haven't had it in SUCH a long time, the family was getting kind of excited about the whole thing. I started check-boxing the ingredient list in my head. . . "So I will need peas. Check. Cheese. Check. Tuna, cheese, milk. Check, check, check. Think I'm all set. Wait a minute. I don't have any cream of mushroom soup. Actually no cream of soup at all!"
I just couldn't bring myself to burst the Tuna Noodle Casserole bubble for the family so I scoured the internet searching for a recipe that didn't include the "can." I found one at "Sing for Your Supper Blog." It it not your traditional Tuna Noodle. It uses spaghetti, olives, canned mushrooms, etc. Not many flavors or textures the family would like. But the recipe has good bones, especially when speaking of the roux. So I took some components from this recipe, added a few of mine and produced a casserole that we think is better than the Campbell version. And hey, making Tuna Noodle Casserole from scratch also means less salt and the sometimes "chalky" aftertaste you get from a canned soup. Not a bad comeback!
Homemade Tuna Noodle Casserole
click here for printable recipe
Yield: One 5 quart casserole
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. jumbo elbow macaroni (use any pasta shape you like!)
2 cups chicken stock (I use chicken bouillon cubes. To make: Drop in two cubes into two cups boiling water. Boil until cubes have dissolved)
4 medium onions
1/2 stick butter
5 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons dried parsley
1 quart frozen peas (I use whole sugar snap peas. Alternatively, you can use two 15 oz. cans of shelled peas)
2 cans chunk white tuna (5 oz. cans)
2 cups shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
2 packets of Ritz crackers, crushed (Tip: Put two Ritz cracker packets into plastic bag and crush by hand until crumbs resemble large bread crumbs)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Boil 4 quarts water in 6 quart pot. In the meantime, chop onions into small dice. Add macaroni to pot and boil until fully cooked (around 11 minutes). Drain pot and pour cooked pasta into separate bowl. Return pasta pot to medium-high burner and add 1/2 stick butter. As soon as butter is melted add onions, salt, and pepper. Put lid on pot and cook onions until softened, about 10 minutes. Next, add 5 tablespoons flour to onions, stir vigorously and cook onion-flour paste for 2 minutes. Slowly begin adding chicken stock and milk to pot and stir continuously. Simmer until thickened. As soon as liquid has thickened, add in dried parsley, salt, pepper, cooked macaroni, frozen peas, tuna, and cheese. Bring pot to a simmer. Pour tuna noodle mixture into casserole dish that has been either buttered or sprayed with nonstick spray. Pour a little milk at the sides of the dish to prevent a dry casserole. Top casserole with cracker topping. Place dish into oven and bake for 10 minutes or until cracker topping is slightly brown. To avoid an overly browned topping, top casserole with aluminum foil and return to oven to cook for an additional 30 minutes. Look for a ready casserole that is golden brown and bubbling around the edges. Enjoy!
Watch and Cook
I also filmed a how-to video on this Tuna Noodle Casserole of mine. Be sure to watch it before you tie on your apron!
Or arguably the most famous condensed soup based recipe: Tuna Noodle Casserole.
Cream of mushroom soup, the star of the Tuna Noodle Casserole stage, was actually my favorite Campbell's soup when I was growing up. And it was one of the few meals that I could cook for the family when I was eleven. (Yeah, it was basically soup and cinnamon toast then!)
Using the cream of mushroom as a base for Tuna Noodle Casserole is always a fast and effortless way of pulling a casserole together, but sometimes this is not always possible. Such as last week. I proposed the idea of making Tuna Noodle Casserole that week and since we haven't had it in SUCH a long time, the family was getting kind of excited about the whole thing. I started check-boxing the ingredient list in my head. . . "So I will need peas. Check. Cheese. Check. Tuna, cheese, milk. Check, check, check. Think I'm all set. Wait a minute. I don't have any cream of mushroom soup. Actually no cream of soup at all!"
I just couldn't bring myself to burst the Tuna Noodle Casserole bubble for the family so I scoured the internet searching for a recipe that didn't include the "can." I found one at "Sing for Your Supper Blog." It it not your traditional Tuna Noodle. It uses spaghetti, olives, canned mushrooms, etc. Not many flavors or textures the family would like. But the recipe has good bones, especially when speaking of the roux. So I took some components from this recipe, added a few of mine and produced a casserole that we think is better than the Campbell version. And hey, making Tuna Noodle Casserole from scratch also means less salt and the sometimes "chalky" aftertaste you get from a canned soup. Not a bad comeback!
Homemade Tuna Noodle Casserole
click here for printable recipe
Yield: One 5 quart casserole
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. jumbo elbow macaroni (use any pasta shape you like!)
2 cups chicken stock (I use chicken bouillon cubes. To make: Drop in two cubes into two cups boiling water. Boil until cubes have dissolved)
4 medium onions
1/2 stick butter
5 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons dried parsley
1 quart frozen peas (I use whole sugar snap peas. Alternatively, you can use two 15 oz. cans of shelled peas)
2 cans chunk white tuna (5 oz. cans)
2 cups shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
2 packets of Ritz crackers, crushed (Tip: Put two Ritz cracker packets into plastic bag and crush by hand until crumbs resemble large bread crumbs)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Boil 4 quarts water in 6 quart pot. In the meantime, chop onions into small dice. Add macaroni to pot and boil until fully cooked (around 11 minutes). Drain pot and pour cooked pasta into separate bowl. Return pasta pot to medium-high burner and add 1/2 stick butter. As soon as butter is melted add onions, salt, and pepper. Put lid on pot and cook onions until softened, about 10 minutes. Next, add 5 tablespoons flour to onions, stir vigorously and cook onion-flour paste for 2 minutes. Slowly begin adding chicken stock and milk to pot and stir continuously. Simmer until thickened. As soon as liquid has thickened, add in dried parsley, salt, pepper, cooked macaroni, frozen peas, tuna, and cheese. Bring pot to a simmer. Pour tuna noodle mixture into casserole dish that has been either buttered or sprayed with nonstick spray. Pour a little milk at the sides of the dish to prevent a dry casserole. Top casserole with cracker topping. Place dish into oven and bake for 10 minutes or until cracker topping is slightly brown. To avoid an overly browned topping, top casserole with aluminum foil and return to oven to cook for an additional 30 minutes. Look for a ready casserole that is golden brown and bubbling around the edges. Enjoy!
Watch and Cook
I also filmed a how-to video on this Tuna Noodle Casserole of mine. Be sure to watch it before you tie on your apron!
 |
| click the image to see the video |
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