Positivity in Cooking/Recipe Review

I find great comfort in my kitchen when I cook, even more so since we moved into our new home almost three years ago. My current kitchen isn't really what some would consider to be a "gourmet kitchen", but to me, it's my gourmet kitchen. I love it, and it makes me happy! 

In our other home, my kitchen was rather small with very little room to work. It was hard to move around because the kitchen table was right smack dab in the center of the kitchen. I didn't have very much counter top space, and that tended to make meal preparation a little daunting. 

What makes my new kitchen so nice is that my table now has its own corner, out of the way from everything else. So what you are seeing above here is my whole work space, and for me, it's just enough. In our new kitchen, I love to cook. I love to experiment with new recipe's as well as being creative when I can. That is one thing I wish I could do more of and have a little flare for is being more out of the box creative. For me, cooking has become a very positive and a mentally healing experience for me. But I also think it can be a totally magical experience when you're creating new dishes!

As I said though, I do enjoy finding new recipes to try, so per my daughter's request today, she wanted split pea soup. Off to pintrest I went to look for a delicious, but simple recipe for split pea soup. I don't like to make certain things that are overly complicated with a ton of ingredients, if I can help it. So I found this great recipe from Valerie's Kitchen. Sometimes when I make these recipes, I do them as written. The next time I make them, I often put my own spin on it, but I have to say, this recipe is amazing as is, if you LOVE a good, yet simple split pea soup recipe. So let's get started, shall we?! 

I always double all soup recipe's because I am usually feeding at least 3-4 people, as well as I love to have left over soup, and sometimes I send some home with mom too!! So here we started out with 2-16oz bags of dried split peas and 2 Tbsp of minced garlic. I just used the minced garlic in the jar. I love that stuff. It's easy peasy and always ready to use. 

My next layer here is 4 peeled and chopped carrots, 4 celery ribs and 2 medium white onions. The recipe instructions said to chop small, but to be completely honest, I chopped them, not small, but not really big chunks either because as it cooks, and you're stirring, they're going to get soft and break down anyway. So I wouldn't worry about chopping them too small. 

Here we have some fresh thyme. I needed 2 Tbsp for my double recipe. I have never worked with fresh thyme before and it said chopped thyme. I had no clue what I was doing with my thyme! So I found a really informative video on Youtube. So if you don't know what you're doing with your thyme either, you can watch what to do here. 

So here is the thyme all pulled off from the stems, and then I just gave it a quick run through with my knife per the video before I put it into my crock pot.

So far now in my pot, I have the dried split peas, garlic, onions, carrots, celery and fresh thyme. 

Now, the recipe called for a meaty ham bone to be shoved down into all those yummy vegetables and then pour your chicken broth over just to cover. One of the past recipes I have used before called for a pork hock. It's a part of the pigs leg that is just above the foot and below the knee. I couldn't find any at my local store this time, plus I thought I had a few left in my freezer, but when I got home, I found out I didn't. Now, I always buy a ham steak to chop up into my split pea soup anyway, so as you can see, I have two ham steaks, one already chopped. I feared if that would be enough for flavor, but I called Mom and she said it would be fine. Plus these ham steaks have a little fat in them and that's where you get most of the flavor from. As I was chopping up these ham steaks, I did do a little taste test. They had a very nice smoked flavor and that did end up coming through in my finished soup. 

I layered the ham on top, threw in a few bay leaves and then I poured in about 10 cups of my chicken broth. I had a total of 12 cups as again, I doubled this recipe. As you can see, with all that goodness in the crock pot, I poured in what I could fit and then set the other 2 cups aside. I did end up putting in the rest later on. 

I set the crock pot on high with a plan of letting it cook around 8 hours. This was after about an hour of cooking. I gave everything a stir before going out to run a few errands for my Saturday afternoon. So my hope was to come back to an amazing smelling home. There is nothing quite like coming home to a really good soup cooking in the crock pot and the aroma is just filling the house. It's awesome!!

Now this is my favorite part. This is where cooking feels almost magical to me. We came home from running a few errands and as I had hoped, the house smelled so good. I just let everything simmer, the crock pot still on high and this was where I was at about 6 hours later. The magic that split pea soup is to me had taken place. This might seem silly, but this is just one thing I love about split pea soup! It starts out as this chicken broth based soup and you wonder how is that (see pic above) going to get to this amazing, warmth of comforting, creamy deliciousness?! It just does. The peas soften, the vegetables cook and as you stir it up, that creamy goodness just starts to form and you have this beautiful, split pea soup.

We weren't planning on eating for a couple of hours yet, so once the magic happened, I turned the pot on low and just let it simmer, stirring it occasionally because it does tend to separate as it continues to cook. It was fine though after stirring it a couple of times. I always serve a soup like this with a crusty bread, again, it's a comfort thing. 

Mom was over for dinner last night and we all enjoyed this wonderful soup. The recipe I found is definitely not one that I would do much tweaking to. The only difference I did was I used the ham steaks instead of a meaty ham bone. The steaks worked great, and gave some amazing flavor, but that wouldn't stop me from using a nice meaty ham bone if I found one the next time I plan on making this soup. 

I think out of everything I do make, soups are one of my favorites, especially during the winter months. I love having my mom over to visit. I love cooking for her and the kids. There is nothing quite like gathering around the table over some hearty soup, fresh bread (even if I didn't make that myself) and having family togetherness with some good conversation. That to me is everything. My life has become all about those little moments that I cherish. Life is too short. So find the moments that make you happy, cherish them and embrace the positivity. 

**Note** The original recipe called for fresh Italian parsley, which I just found in my fridge with my soup leftovers in the fridge. I completely forgot that I bought it and it never made the soup. It wasn't missed. But I'll definitely have to make this soup again and include the parsley! Sorry about that. 

Source: Recipe can be found at http://www.fromvalerieskitchen.com/2015/04/slow-cooker-split-pea-soup/

Dutch Oven Cooking

Hey Everyone! So as you all know, I received this beautiful, enameled cast iron dutch oven for my birthday which I just absolutely love! You can cook with it on the stove top, or you can also put it into the oven for roasting or baking. It honestly has become my favorite piece of cookware in the kitchen. So, needless to say, I have been experimenting with it, and I tried a couple new recipes!

The first thing I tried was a roasted chicken. I'll be honest, I didn't really have a recipe for this per se, so I kinda....winged it. (ba dump bump chhhhhhh....Ok, that was bad! LOL) However, I did borrow the concept behind my roasted chicken from this recipe here , but did a totally different take on my chicken as I didn't have rosemary on hand, or lemon. I had cilantro, and lime. This recipe was very easy and it made for a really easy, throw together kinda meal. 

I used about a 5lb bird for my meal. So, preheat your oven to 475 degrees. I started by taking 1/2 stick of melted butter. To that melted butter, I added some fresh minced garlic, but you could use the garlic from the jar. I added some chopped cilantro and zest from my limes. I also seasoned the melted butter with some salt and pepper to taste. Next, I used salt and pepper to season the cavity liberally. I cut the limes in half, juiced them and set aside the juice as well as the rinds. 

I sliced some onions, a little bit on the thick side and lined the bottom of the dutch oven with them. I also drizzled a little bit of extra virgin olive oil ("EVOO" as Rachel Ray likes to say) over the onions as well. Save the scraps from your onions. By this time, the butter mixture has hardened some. Using your hands, get very friendly with your bird and slather him up with the butter mixture everywhere. Carefully peel the skin away on the breast and slather the butter where you can on the meat under the skin as well, but don't tear the skin. Place the chicken in the dutch over right on top of the onions. Stuff the cavity of the bird with the onion scraps, garlic, the lime rinds and extra cilantro. 

It is usually suggested that you tie the chickens legs together. They say it helps with the cooking process and helps with even cooking. I didn't have any kitchen twine, so I didn't tie up my chicken. But if you have some twine, or even PLAIN dental floss, now would be the time to tie up your chicken. Pour the reserved lime juice over the chicken.

Don't cover your chicken. Let it roast, but if you see that it's getting to dark for your taste, then cover it ajar so that your protect it from the direct heat. With that being said, place your chicken in the oven at 475 for the first 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 and roast at 20 minutes per pound or until the internal temperature reads 165. You can also baste your chicken about half way through, if you want. Although I didn't. I tried not to disturb it too much and just keeping the good heat in the oven. 

This chicken turned out amazing. It was very tasty and moist. I am looking forward to making it again soon!! 

Mmmmm roasted chicken with lime, cilantro, garlic and onion!! pic.twitter.com/NNADNAnMI2

— Pamela Eberle (@crazycatmomma8) October 22, 2015

The next recipe I tried was this homemade apple cider beef stew from the Taste Of Home website. This is a wonderful recipe for fall. A little bit of a different twist from your standard beef stew. It has sweetness from the apple cider, (you can also use apple juice) and yet subtle savory flavor. I really enjoyed the sweetness in this stew though. 

We made this on Halloween evening as I had my mom over for dinner. I did make a slight alteration on this recipe though. The original recipe called for 3 cups of apple cider and 2 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar. After I added that with the stew beef, it just didn't seem like it would be enough for 4 people. My daughter and her boyfriend were here for dinner as well. Anyway, I actually added 6 cups of apple cider and 4 Tbsp aopple cider vinegar to my 2 lbs of stew beef. We adjusted the vegetables accordingly to a double recipe and the ratio of beef to liquid actually worked out pretty well. I don't know, please feel free to experiment, but after I added the liquid to the beef, I was fearful that it wouldn't be enough. I also found that although the cook time states 1-3/4 hours, we found that it took longer to get the veggies tender. Other than that, great recipe....tasty and pretty easy!! Below is the recipe that I altered, but you can get the original recipe here!!

Apple Cider Beef Stew #fall #fallcooking #heartygoodness pic.twitter.com/q0mp4VO4Lg

— Pamela Eberle (@crazycatmomma8) October 31, 2015

 TOTAL TIME: Prep: 30 min. Cook: 1-3/4 hours (you will probably need more time than this)

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 6 cups apple cider or juice
• 4 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 4 teaspoons salt, optional
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6-8 medium carrots, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 6 celery ribs, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 3 medium onions, cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, brown beef on all sides in oil over medium-high heat; drain. Add the cider, vinegar, salt if desired, thyme and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/4 hours.
2. Add the potatoes, carrots, celery and onions; return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until beef and vegetables are tender.
3. Combine flour and water until smooth; stir into stew. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Yield: 8 servings.

Final product! #appleciderbeefstew #fallcooking #coolerweathercooking pic.twitter.com/o6w38rt7nw

— Pamela Eberle (@crazycatmomma8) November 1, 2015

If there is nothing else I enjoy more, it is being together with family, cooking and having a meal together. I find I enjoy this the most when I am feeling down, or a bit stressed. Being with family and having meals together is one way that I find the good moments in my life, cherish them and embrace the positivity!! Thanks so much for reading.

Sources:

Bowl Of Delicious
Taste Of Home