 Don’t forget that today is the last day you can comment to enter our Fall Giveaway for the bread mixes!! Drawing is tomorrow!! I did a small show on Friday night in Edmond, OK and debuted the soaps. I was very pleased at the response and of course, the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ was a hit. It was a fun time. Last night, I had to cook for 25 young people, and considering that over half of them were young men, I figured that was the equivalent of 40 mouths. Guys eat – alot – I know that well. And what better food to fill 40 mouths on a cool night than soup? But not just any soup. This had to be a soup that would please the taste buds of the potato chip munching, coke guzzling, pizza party crowd. I found a recipe online that looked interesting, but when I made it, I was left kinda blah. Just not much taste. It was pretty, but that was the most I could say for it. So, in my usual “Let’s just dump the frig into the pot and call it supper”, I took the recipe and made it my own.  By the time I was finished, I had pizza in a pot – and I might say a really, really, really big pot. I made close to 20 quarts. I figured THAT should hold them!! So here is the result of my craziness. I have broken it down into a more reasonable amount for you that makes enough for about 8 people. Oh, and just a side note, I used my dehydrated veggies instead of fresh. They worked great. Supreme Pizza Soup Ingredients: 3/4 lb Johnsonville Sweet Italian sausage (can use the turkery or chicken sausage too) 1/2 – 1 lb ground beef 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 medium green pepper chopped 1 small onion chopped 2 tbsp. minced garlic 8 cups chicken broth 28 oz Red Gold diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil (other brands are fine too) 1 tbsp sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 can Hunts 4 cheese Spaghetti Sauce 2 1/2 cups large macaroni, farfalle or your favorite pasta Parmesan Cheese Note: You can thicken this soup with cornstarch and cold water if you prefer a thicker soup. Make it first and then determine if you want it thicker. Add cornstarch mixed with cold water into boiling soup, stirring constantly to thicken.  I actually started the day before because I was going to be making so much, but you don’t have to do that. I browned the Italian sausages on both sides in a large skillet and then placed them on a baking sheet to bake at 350º for about 20 minutes. They were taken out of the oven, cooled and then put into a plastic bag in the frig to cool all the way down. This makes them easier to slice. All of the sausages were sliced realatively thinly and put into a bowl and set aside.  Brown the hamburger, mixing in salt and pepper and fennel seed before browning.  In a stock pot, add all ingredients except for the Italian sausage. All of the herbs here were grown in our garden and dried and are so pretty in the soup! Simmer on medium heat for two hours. Bring to a low boil and add sausage and pasta. Cook until pasta is tender, stirring occassionally to keep pasta from sticking to the bottom.  Serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top of the soup. Add some Italian bread and you have a meal!!  |
|
| |
|
Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ Company on Facebook
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Archive for October, 2012
Supreme Pizza Soup
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
New!! Handmade Goat Milk Soaps
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012
 Don’t forget to leave a comment to enter the Fall Giveaway, to be held on November 1st. The winner will receive two boxes of our Frontier Fixin’s breads just in time for Thanksgiving. I wanted to take a moment to guide you over to the shopping page for our newest addition to the product line – our own, handmade and all-natural Castile goats milk soaps. Our soaps are made with organic goats milk, fresh olive and coconut oils, hand purified tallow and pure essential and fragrance oils for an experience that softens your skin and soothes with the faintest hint of scent. Our small bars which weigh at least 2 oz are $3 per bar and our larger bars weighing at least 4 oz are $5 per bar. Mix and match for a unique gift for your favorite person this Christmas or make these soaps stocking stuffer surprises for your loved ones. Below are the four kinds that are available at this time. Be watching for our newest fragrances that are curing right now, such as English Rose Garden, Winter Balsam, Evening Jasmine and, just in time for Christmas, our earthy Frankincense and Myrrh, tied with gold ribbon! And remember, while we are working as fast as our fingers can take us, it takes 4 weeks for the soaps to cure and so it is first come, first serve until the next batch is ready.  Bathe in the earthy and intoxicating fragrance of Sandalwood and Patchouli. Real oatmeal flakes act as a light scrub in this cream colored soap.  This wonderful soap has the light and fresh aroma of Rosemary and Peppermint from essential oils with real, rubbed sage, grown right here on the farm, added as a soft scrub. Rosemary is supposed to be good for the hair and skin, as well as a mild analgesic for muscular pain. While peppermint is supposed to act as an anti-inflammatory.  This rich soap smells like a warm slice of spice cake with a dripping, sugar icing. Infused with Cinnamon Leaf essential oil, this soap also includes real powdered cinnamon and cloves with actual cocoa for a soft, brown color. You will have to resist taking a bite!!  Made fresh with whole lavender flowers grown at a lavender farm just 1 mile away, this soap has the fresh and Spring time fragrance of pure lavender essential oil. You will feel like you just stepped off of the English moor after using this soap! All soaps are handmade right here at the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ digs. And for a unique wedding or wedding shower idea, contact us at creatingconceptsent@yahoo.com for custom gift soaps to match colors or a specific scent for your special event. Coming soon:
|
|
| |
|
Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ Company on Facebook
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fall Giveaway
Monday, October 15th, 2012
|
It’s time for a new giveaway and since it is Fall, I guess we’ll call it our 2012 Fall Giveaway! And since Fall means cool nights, football games and food, I’m thinkin’ fresh, hot bread is the order of the day. So, comment here or on any other post until Novemeber 1 and you will be entered for two large packages of our Frontier Fixin’s bread mixes. These savory breads are great with spicy cheese spreads, meats or pestos or just plain ol’ butter. So enter as many times as you wish by commenting!! Good luck. |
|
| |
|
Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ Company on Facebook
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How To Freezer Wrap Meat Like the Professionals
Friday, October 12th, 2012
|
Today, we cooks have all kinds of new products to process the various meats that we love to store in the freezer. Electronic sealers, zippered freezer bags and machines that vacuum pack into plastic bags can be costly and, though they promise no freezer burn, often times, the frost and freezer burn still appear. I love my FoodSaver Vacuum sealing system, but I have to say, the tried and true wrapping in freezer paper, like I did at my job in the meat department many years ago, still seems to be the best way to preserve food in the freezer. In fact, if you really want to preserve your meats, you can vacuum pack them and THEN wrap them in freezer paper. I continue to wrap most of my meats in the wax coated freezer paper that can be found at any store. It comes in a large roll that is found in the same grocery section with the plastic wrap and aluminum foil and wax paper. The most common brand is Reynolds. I thought that I would show you how I have wrapped my meats for the past 35 years, having cut and packaged meat professionally after graduating college. (An art degree just didn’t put food on the table – let alone wrap it!!! ) What you need: Roll of freezer Paper Freezer tape or Masking tape Sharpie for labeling  Cut paper to at least 6″ wider than the object that is going to be wrapped. If you are doing large steaks, use two thicknesses of wax paper to place between the steaks. If you are wrapping small steaks or pork chops, chicken breasts, etc, lay the meat side-by-side with large end of the first piece of meat next to the small end of the second piece of meat. The freezer paper should be at least 6″ wider than the width of the two together.  Place the meat in the center of the paper. Here, I am wrapping one pound balls of ground beef.  Pull uncut ends of the paper up between fingers and match the edges so that they are equal and even.  Fold over and slide fingers across the crease to make flat and crisp  Continue folding and creasing over and over until your fingers are stopped by the meat inside the package  Press the flattened roll to the top of the package to make a flat seam  Turn package over to seam side down  Press finger tips into the end of the package to force down the top paper into the bottom, as done when wrapping a present  As in wrapping a present, fold the edges over to a point  Pull pointed end over to the back of the package and tape. Repeat process for the other end of the package  Turn the package over to the seam end and write the date and what type of meat has been wrapped.  Stack packaged meat and then carry to the freezer. Lay meats into the freezer in layers of one to two packages deep on several shelves until they are completely frozen. Stacking too much unfrozen meat into one area of the freezer keeps flash freezing from occuring and can make the packages freeze unevenly. Once frozen, you can move and stack them however deep you wish. |
|
| |
|
Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ Company on Facebook
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good Intentions
Friday, October 5th, 2012
|
I’m a big ol’ softy when it comes to animals, especially hurt animals. That awful ASPCA commercial on television that uses the Sarah McGlaughlin song, Angel, just sends me into sobs and now, I just have to turn the channel at the first strains of the song. Dump a dog and I’ll hunt you down. Bugs and snakes, I could care less about, but birds and mammals hit my tender spot. And so, this morning, as I was preparing to leave the house for the day, that instinct kicked in. I heard Mr. Fix-It come back in the front door after I thought he had left for work. “There’s a hurt cardinal in the flower bed. He must have hit the window,” he said matter-of-factly. Actually, Mr. Fix-It wasn’t expecting for me to do anything about it. He was just informing me in the same manner that he would tell me that the UPS truck had just driven up. He headed back out of the door, hopped into the car and was gone. I, of course, went out to check on our feathered friend. My heart broke to see this gorgeous, male cardinal flopping around under a rose bush, wing dragging, and obviously broken, and mouth open in a pant. I had to do something!! And so, I went into the house, slipped on my pair of leather gardening gloves and went back out to retrieve my patient. I have this bad habit of acting before I think, and this time was no different. I tried to gently capture the bird, but he dove farther into the rose bush. I managed to finally grab him with one hand and he let out a squawk that so surprised me that I nearly dropped him. He grabbed a gloved finger of my other hand and bit down for all he was worth. He would not let go. I stood in the garden, unable to free my hand, unwilling to turn him loose from the other hand’s grip, and contemplating the fact that I had not made preparations for this invalid in the way of a “hospital” setting. I stayed stock still in an attempt to keep the bird calm and for me to decide what to do. Mr. Cardinal let out another squawk which released my finger. Then he looked at me, calmly, with the biggest, blackest, most unsettling eye as if to say, “OK, dummy. What’s your big plan?” I opened the front door with my free hand and wandered around the house, carrying the bird and trying to be creative. I thought of our pet carrier, but thought the cat smells might upset the birdie. “I tawt I taw a pootie tat.” I spotted a couple of laundry baskets and a brilliant idea formed in my pea brain. With my one hand, I grabbed newsprint and lined one basket with the newsprint. Dragging the basket into the front guest bedroom, I situated it in a draft free location and went to retrieve the second basket. And of course, Mr. Cardinal was still trapped in my left hand, being whisked from room to room in my frenzy to solve my problem. I grabbed a small bowl and filled it with water, went to the garage and got cardinal food with whole sunflowers and then placed the water and the food into the floor of the papered basket. I gently placed the bird onto the floor of the basket and quickly put the second basket upside down on top of the first basket. Mr. Cardinal just sat on the paper and stared at me. It was then that I remembered my suet that I had made and proudly announced to the stricken bird that he was in luck. I grabbed some of the suet from the frig and shoved it through a slat in the laundry basket right in front of the cardinal. I shut the door to the bedroom to protect the bird against our aging, but agile, Mr. Sway Cat.  I had to get on my way and so I decided that I would call an animal rescue mission near us and see if I could bring the bird by later in the day. In the meantime, I would text my friend down the road to see if she might have a bird cage. Feeling rather proud of myself, I took off to accomplish my various required journeys. It was around 1:30 in the afternoon when Mr. Fix-It called me to let me know he had gotten home early. I told him about my brilliant accommodations for the bird and I explained that he could not open the door or leave the door open to the bedroom because of the cat. I neglected to tell Mr. Fix-It that I wanted to take pictures of my friend before I took him to the shelter. A few minutes after this conversation, my phone rang again and it was Mr. Fix-It. He nearly screamed, “There’s a cardinal flying around the bedroom!!!” I told him to shut the door so the cat wouldn’t get it. He seemed to think that was a little condescending for me to think I would need to tell him that! And then he said, “Now he’s perched on top of the curtain rods of the window! He’s going to mess on everything!!” I asked Mr. Fix-It, rather incredulously, if the bird was actually flying. I got a very curt “of course…how do you think he got onto the curtain rod??” I then asked Mr. Fix-It if he had taken the top laundry basket off of the bottom one. I was definitely NOT making any Brownie points with him at this point. He said that he had opened the door to the room and that the bird had already escaped. It was my fault. I hadn’t tied the baskets together. I guess cardinals are strong little suckers. And I guess this cardinal didn’t have a broken wing after all. He had just been stunned. I told Mr. Fix-It to just wait until I got there and that we would figure something out. I was mentally visualizing a butterfly or fishing net, neither of which we own. My hubby wasn’t too happy. I could just see him standing in the room next to the antique 4-poster bed, ducking each time the red bird dive bombed him. And he couldn’t open the door to leave because..well, yes…because of the cat. Of course, my blogger brain was calculating, “I’ll take a picture of the cardinal on the curtains, for the blog, and THEN we’ll catch him. I kind of giggled, because I was certain that the distinctive cardinal ‘peep peep’ was being aimed at my husband and that the cat was probably outside the door in a fury. Poor Mr. Fix-It. However, I don’t give my husband enough credit. Before I ever reached the front door, Mr. Fix-It had managed to get the window open and the screen removed so that Mr. Cardinal ‘flew the coop’ without so much as an ‘au revoir’. I got no picture – just bird poop on the carpet, the comforter, the curtains and the window table, bird seed scattered all over the carpet and a soggy mess of water and newsprint in the bottom of my laundry basket. But, yay for the bird. He’s off somewhere happily reunited with his wife and hopefully a little wiser about big windows.   I know they say that hell is paved with good intentions, but this time, I like to think that I gave that bird some R & R so that he could gather his wits before a dog or cat got him. At least he lived to fly another day!! |
|
| |
|
Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ Company on Facebook
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Homestead Revival
Paratus Familia
Rural Revolution