PIMENTO CHEESE

Tags

Cheese, Cheese Spreads, Food, mayonaise, Pimento Cheese, Quick & Simple, Roasted Red Peppers, sharp cheeses

These days nothing is cheap, even if you make it at home, vs buying in the store, but we have to save everywhere we can! There is a constant tug of war going on to keep families fed and stretch the home budgets to meet the needs of growing families.

So in the long run it is still cheaper to cook at home, there is a large segment of the population that over the last several decades, that either were never taught how to cook at home, or have just been too busy, it was much easier to stop by the store and pick up the ready made meals. However with increasing food prices it is ever so important to go back to making meals and cooking for our families.

There are many simple things that I grew up with, that can be made for quick meals or snacks. Pimento Cheese is one such meal, either for the school lunch box, or the quick snack filled in a celery stick or just the simple sandwich, and on crackers,  it can stretch much further than what you get in the store.

I was hungry for Pimento Cheese and started looking in the stores and was shocked at the price per pound of this simple thing to make at home. Prices ranged anywhere from $4.99 to 8.99 per pound. When I looked at the ingredients, I found that very few had 100% cheese.

While it is true growing up that not all the Pimento Cheese,, my mother made was 100% cheese, in order to make it go further the base was made with Velveeta and the extra sharp and sharp cheeses were grated and mixed into the Velveeta base. Mom made two versions the regular version, and a cooked version which I will make and post the recipe later.

Also of note, is that we use roasted red peppers in ours, something we started doing probably about 10 years or more ago when roasted red peppers first seemed to come on the market. Pimentos are a type of red pepper that we grew in the garden and the flavor is different, but not that much for the price you pay for a little jar in the store, you can easily find roasted red peppers in most every store and I have found some very nice ones in the Dollar Tree, believe it or not for  $1.00 per jar. While the cost of pimentos in the store for the same amount would be dollars more.

I will also say here about roasted red peppers, if you are used to dull and boring sandwiches, you can easily perk them up with a nice slab of roasted red pepper on them,, or cut up and put in salads, they also work great in macaroni and potato salad, as well as macaroni and cheese for a bright splash of color!

I found that making my own pimento cheese at home the price came to 3.55 per pound, you might say that is not much savings but in the end for as simple as it is to make, this adds up over the course of a month.

 

PIMENTO CHEESE

2 lbs Velveeta Cheese

1/2 lb Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheese

1/2 lb Sharp Cheese

1 Cup Helman’s Real Mayonnaise (add 1/2 Cup and see how you like it, and go from there)

Sugar to taste if desired (I put about 2 tablespoons)

1 Cup Roasted Red Peppers (to taste )

Dice up roasted red peppers.

Have Velveeta Cheese at room temperature.

If using blocks of solid sharp cheeses, have them cold from the refrigerator, as they are easier to grate.

Grate Cheeses.

The easiest way to make this cheese is a hands on job, roll up your sleeves and get into it squeezing the Velveeta (if you have hostilities towards someone take them out on the the cheese)

Add the grated cheese,  peppers and mayonnaise

Mix well squeezing, stirring and folding all together with your hand.

                       

Notes- You can also cut the cost further by using other brands of Mayonnaise,  you can use other brands of cheese as well, it just happens that we liked the sharpest cheese we could get and for years Cracker Barrel has had the extra sharp cheese that really was extra sharp.

Also if you make smaller batches of this cheese, it is great with chopped green onions tops and all, also we have made with drained chopped green olives, I even once had it that another person made and added crumbled crisp bacon to the mixture, it all depends on what you personally like, as well as adding variety

Quick and Easy Seafood Chowder

Tags

Chowder, Clam Juice, Clams, Entree's, Food, green onions, Oysters, Quick & Easy Seafood Chowder, Shrimp, soup, Stew

If you are like me you probably like seafood, and we grew up with many things seafood, especially oyster stew, clam chowder, and salmon soup. Every now and then I get hungry for these soups, stews and chowders, and this one was quick and easy with all the packing and extreme mess in the apartment going on these days. Easy because it all was bought, canned and frozen from the store.

Even though I love Oyster Stew (oysters, milk, butter, salt and pepper) and love to use fresh west coast oysters, this time I was hungry for something different. I wanted a whole buffet in one dish, shrimp, clams, oysters,

While we make oyster stew solely in milk or half and half, I always feel when you use a variety of sea foods it takes longer for the flavors to blend and marry together, so they must be started out in water, this was easy because I had cut up 4-5 medium sized red potatoes so they needed to simmer along with the canned seafood and shrimp.

I felt that it turned out very good for being quick and simple. I actually had 4 large bowls off of it for two days.

            

Quick & Easy Seafood Chowder

 

1 -8 ounce can Boiled Oysters

1 –8 ounce can Whole Baby Clams

1 –16 ounce bag frozen Medium Shrimp

1 –8 ounce bottles Clam Juice

4 cups Water

4-5 medium Red Potatoes (un peeled)

1/2 package (8 ounce) Green Onions (chopped including green tops)

1/2 cup Half and Half, Milk or Cream according to desired richness you want.

Salt, Pepper, dash Cayenne Pepper, several pinches of Rosemary (I used dried)

Butter

Dice up the potatoes, put into a larger pan, add water

Add, the canned oysters, clams, and clam juice

Add the chopped green onions.

Bring to boil, then turn back to simmer, (I used Medium heat) because red potatoes cook quicker and I did not want them to turn to mush.

Once the potatoes are tender or close turn it down to just keep the soup warm.

Add Shrimp at this point as I did not want them to become tough or mushy either.

(I used raw, already peeled, tailed and de veined)

Add the butter,,

Add Salt, Pepper and seasonings desired

Notes- At this point you can add a thickening of corn starch (cornstarch and water) to thicken, or melt some butter and mix with flour to make a roux and bring the soup to close to boiling and thicken for a heartier chowder.

If times were different for me I would have used fresh oysters, canned clams, possibly some crab meat, and would have steamed my own shrimp or picked up a pound (steamed at the store) at the store and peeled and added them.

Also I found that I liked to garnish the bowl each time with a bit more rosemary and cayenne pepper and some crusted red pepper flakes

Old Bay could be used to season your stew with also.

SIGNS OF SPRING IN FEBRUARY!

Tags

Budding Trees, Odd Winter, Snow, Spring in February

This is just too early!

Just a quick post to show you what is going on in Western Virginia in February! This is just way to early for trees to be budding out!

Excuse the pictures it is breezy here today, nature would now even cooperate with the camera. Soon I should be able to spot March and April flowers blooming this month also.

Also a picture of the huge snow storm we got here yesterday, as usual the weatherman went overboard and we may have had 1/4 inch at best!

So here is February in pictures

 

 

                                 RED BUD & BRADFORD PEAR

 

                                       ORNAMENTAL CHERRY

 

 

                                          CHINESE ELM TREE

 

                                                  SILVER MAPLE

OLD FASHIONED “REAL” POUND CAKE

Tags

butter, Cakes, Cold Oven, eggs, flour, Food, Old Fashioned Pound Cake, Real Pound Cake, sugar

Realated Posts-

 Lemon Pound Cake w/Clear Lemon Glaze

Saving Butter Wrappers

COLD OVEN METHOD

NOTE- Cold Oven means DO NOT PREHEAT YOUR OVEN! The cake is baked from a cold oven.

I never knew why exactly but from what I have found on the internet that denser cakes have a finer grain, crumb, and texture when started in a cold oven.

Lately I have noticed on the blog statistics many searches looking for Old Fashioned Pound Cake, Real Pound Cake, A pound of everything cake and the search terms are endless.

Having grown up in a home where we made the “Old Fashioned “Real” Pound Cake I decided since I had everything at hand, it was time to make a real pound cake. Which is one of the simplest cakes that you can make.

This is a heavier dense pound cake, which uses NO Leavening what so ever, it rises from the volume of air that is beat into it. As you might have guess already your grandmother had some really good arm muscles built up to make this cake, well before the invention of electricity or electric mixers it was all done by hand.

As you might guess again, I do have a Kitchen Aid Mixer, and you are certainly right in guessing this was NOT mixed by hand!

My mother told me years ago (as in 4 decades) that this was the first cake that young girls learned to make, because it was easy to remember.

To make this cake it is as simple as pound of everything. Butter, Eggs, Sugar and Flour, a pinch of salt, dash of vanilla, and mace or nutmeg, I used freshly grated nutmeg.

OLD FASHIONED “REAL” POUND CAKE

1 Pound Butter (room temperature)

8 Eggs (Large) 7 Eggs (Extra Large) this is what I keep on hand.

3 Cups Flour Sifted

2 1/4 cups Sugar

1/4 to 1/2 Teaspoons Salt

1 to 2 Teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg or Mace (according to personal preference)

With the flat beater of the Kitchen Aid, cream the 4 sticks butter at medium speed, for about 5 minutes, until nice and fluffy. (I stopped twice and scrapped the bowl down)

Gradually add the sugar and continue to cream the butter and sugar, adding the sugar by 1/2 cup increments slowly. (I stopped twice to scrape the bowl down)

When the creamed mixture is nice and fluffy

Add your Eggs one at a time beating on medium speed for about 1 minute each, this is what helps to incorporate the air into the cake, in place of leavening.

Once all of the eggs have been added,  add 1 – 2 teaspoons vanilla (depends on preference) add the pinch of salt probably about 1/4 teaspoon, could be 1/2 teaspoon if you used unsalted butter.

If using nutmeg or mace, add this to the flour just stirring in a bit (it will all get incorporated when adding the flour (I used 1/2 a grated nutmeg in mine)

Slowly add flour in 1/2 cup measures, stirring speed to avoid flour flying all over, and gradually add flour like this until all is incorporated.

You can make this cake in a large 10” tube pan (very nice stately looking cake) or in two loaf pans, (I used loaf pans this time) and will explain why at the end.

Either Grease and dust with flour (I greased with my butter wrappers) and dusted with flour, you could use PAM or other spray coating. and dust with flour.

Pour batter into pans, and place in a COLD OVEN,  then set the oven to 325

 LOAF PANS- the baking time will be about 1 hour (check at about 45 minutes to see how they look as every oven is different.

TUBE PAN- set batter filled pan in COLD OVEN, and bake at 325 degrees for about 1 1/2  to 2 hours (once again all ovens are different and you will want to check at about the 1 1/2 hour mark, and go from there.

What you are looking for is the top will ridge up and break, the cake will be a light brown and insert a knife in the center of the ridge and when it comes out clean it will be time to remove from the oven.

Place the pans on a wire rack and let cook for approx 20 minutes, then remove from pans, or if using the tube pan, it is helpful to run a long knife around the tube, before turning upside down.

This cake is better after it sets for a day, the flavors develop and the cake becomes more moist.

Note:

 I used loaf pans this time because as a child my Mothers favorite way to have a slice of this cake was to slice about the width of a slice of bread and then place a slice in the toaster, and it will brown slightly and serve with butter (like you need more butter) but this was very good.  I have found that sometime if you have a toaster oven this works better as the slice is not as large in size as a slice of bread.

This is also good with either season fruit on top of it (such as strawberries) or other fruits, but it is great alone!