Dulce de leche

So I came across a recipe for Dulce de Leche rice pudding on a baking blog that I read. That sure sounds good, huh? The first ingredient on the list was 1 can dulce de leche, homemade or store bought. Now how do you make a can of dulce de leche at home? I clicked the link to her instruction page and walked right out and got in the car and drove to the store. I ended up buying evaporated milk, which is very very different than condensed milk, and had to go back. Not the worst trip in the world, however, I got to pop by the marina with my Dad and visit his sailboat. It was a lovely evening after a day of rain.

So, to put it mildly, I had apprehensions about boiling un opened cans on the stove. Being the brave soul that I am, however, I persevered. The results, incredible.

The cans go in cold water in a big pot

12 hours later, or so

I am going to make myself sick eating this! Time to put the spoon away. 

Possibly I should have waited until after breakfast to open this, but I was too excited. It was the absolute first thing I did when I got out of bed. Mmm, it's so good. Soooooo good!

Yesterday was a kind of vacation hump where, as Kim put it, we all kind of hit a wall. I have been going non stop since arriving and it finally caught up with me. A nice late afternoon nap and some fresh air helped out, then a long, long sleep. I wake today to an empty house, unless you count my three new best friends! A needed bit of quiet time before I get going again!

After about a hundred tries, I got all three of them in the frame!

Chip

Dale

Not a chance of getting a Katala portrait- she doesn't like the camera?

 Anyway, let's catch up with yesterday's pie.
Shannon came over after I got back from the store, she had cherries that she had cooked with sugar and frozen. Thawed now, we thickened them up and made little turnovers. Possibly not the right dough choice, either that or the ones we cooked were a bit over baked. I did forget about them.... there were a few other things going on! We only baked a few, the rest went in the freezer for future pie cravings!

Oh, and blueberry zucchini bread!

Homemade Dulce de leche

1 can- or more if you wish- condensed milk ( not evaporated milk!) label removed

Huge pot, 8 qt is what I used

Water

Time

So, this takes a while, it may be beneficial to do as many cans as you can fit in your pot. I did 2. Put them in the pot, fill all the way up with cold water, up to about an inch from the top. Put on the stove and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to keep it simmering, partially cover, and let it go for 2 1/2 hours. Add more hot water if you need to, the cans need to be well under water the whole time. After the 2 1/2 hours, pull it off the heat and let the cans sit in the water until completely cool. Store your leftovers at room temp. 

I'll get the zucchini bread recipe from Shan and have it up later. Speaking of Shannon, here's a few pics I forgot from the other night!

Biggest day ever.

So big that I couldn't even do this post last night! I was wondering why my legs hurt, after going through the pictures of my day's projects, I knew why! Started the morning off with a huge trip to town, we hit walmart for dog food, home depot for wood and dremmel bits, sars for groceries, and safeway for sandwich stuff. Upon returning home, I realized that I had only bought one pack of cream cheese when my cake recipe called for 5! Kim saved the day and took a much needed break from her homework to run to the store for me. Thanks Kim! Then it was finally cheesecake time! I didn't have the luxury of tried and true recipes at hand, so I had to wing it. Both Kim and my Dad were Shocked at how long the thing took to cook, but I was excited to finally be able to do one right! Never, ever, ever, ever in a restaurant can an oven be at 200 for 3 hours. Usually my cheesecakes have just had to suffer through the same baking temps as everything else, hence the invention of the water bath. Not this one. It got prime treatment, an oven all to itself. All day.

My mom had brought blueberries from Bham, Shannon let me have
half of them- here they are!

This baby will be wrapped and waiting to come to the birth center with me. Much to the serious shock and disappointment of the people who watched me make it all day. Sorry, dad, it's not your birthday cake! It's Rainbow's!

Next was lunch, and then a small rest before the woodworking project begun. My dad had been dreaming of jalapeno bagel burgers evr since he saw the bagels at safeway. And he got them!

Mustard, ketchup, hot sauce, pickles, onions, avocado, tomato, lettuce.
 Jalapeno cheddar bagel.

Off to the garage! I have been planning this project for at least a month now, the idea came to me while working in the classroom with all the little wooden toys. Just like Tonia would say- I can make that! So I decided that I would. I found myself a nice scroll saw on craigslist, got some wood, and after a few disheartening attempts, brought the whole thing up north with me to get some help from my dad. The other night he busted out the building blocks on his big saw- the ones we were sanding in pics a few posts ago- because I had bought wood too thick for my little saw. Today my goal was to finally make a little wooden duck, and oh did I! It's freaking hard, but I got better and better. We eventually branched out to other critters, more to come....

Kim drew the duck outline on a piece of paper and I traced it onto the wood.

I actually cut them out on the band saw, not the scroll saw,
due to saw complications and the lack of serious detail,
 which would have required the little saw.

Two little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away....

Papa gives new life to this duckling, with a round cutter drill bit and a bit of glue

He made a bunny!

 I made a whale, but somehow there isn't a picture of it. Next time, I guess. All in all, a very successful woodworking day, more ducks to come! We called it a day when Kim brought to my attention that it was after 7 and I hadn't even started the dinner pie. She got the ball rolling by making a crust while I finished sanding, her mom's recipe- we shall see if she shares it!

Spinach and pork

That's one of my farmer's market onions!

This was definitely one of my favorites, I love corn and tomatoes! It was very, very good. Finished the day with strawberry cheesecake ice cream and then it was bedtime! Oh, what a day!

Rosemary Corn Pie

Marilynn Franklin's Pie Crust

2 cups flour, sift with 1 tsp salt. 

Cut in 2/3 cup crisco until it's in "peas"

Make a paste with 1/3 cup flour and 1/4 cup water,

 add to flour mixture until dough is in a ball. 

Roll out and lay into pie pan or tart pan, crimp the edges nicely, it's not getting a top!

Filling:

1 pork tenderloin, or any pork of your choice, sauteed, salt and pepper

1 red onion, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, taken off the stem and chopped

glug of white wine

pat of butter

2 t lemon juice

1 ear of lovely, sweet corn, kernals cut off

a head of spinach, with tough stems removed, rinsed, torn up a bit

1 ripe tomato, an heirloom would perfect here, or if you have one from your garden! I used a medium ish vine tomato. Sliced thin and laid out of a paper towel, salt and peppered, left to dry a bit.

1/2 c or so grated ramano or parm

Cook the pork first, transfer to a bowl, set aside. Wilt the spinach in the pork pan, little salt and pepper here, just until it's all hot, put into colander to drain. Press it a bit with the back of your spatula, it needs to be pretty dry. In a seperate pan, get some olive oil hot, throw in the garlic and rosemary with some salt and pepper, add the onions, cook until onions are beginning to look soft, pour in the wine, let it get hot, then add the lemon juice, and butter. Only reduce this a little, it's the only sauce going in the pie. 

Ok, spinach in the crust first, pull it apart and spread it out as best you can. Put the pork on top, corn on top of that, then add the onion mixture on top of the corn. sprinkle on half of the cheese, lay on your tomato slices, then top with the rest of the cheese. 

400 for 35-40 minutes. 5 minutes to rest. 

Perfect (if you have time) Cheesecake

1.5 c graham cracker crumbs

1/4 c + 2 T melted butter 

1/3 c white sugar

t of salt

5 8 oz packages of cream cheese, room temp

1 1/2 c white sugar

5 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 t vanilla

2 t lemon juice

1 t salt

Mix the crust up and press into the bottom of a spring form pan. I used an 11 inch pan because that' what we had on hand.

Get the cream cheese going in the mixer, beat until it's nice and smooth, add the sugar, beat another 2 minutes or so. Plop in the eggs one by one with the mixer running, add the vanilla and lemon and salt. Beat for 3 or 4 minutes, until it's nice and mixed and fluffy. Pour into the crust, flavors can be added here- i put blueberries in- whatever you like.

Bake at 200 for 3 hours. Seriously. After 3 hours, turn the oven off and crack the door. Let the cake sit right where it is in the oven until it reaches room temperature. Hours. Just leave it alone. When you can reach in and pick it up with your hands, do it, then refrigerate for at least 24 hours. 

When I have pictures to post of the cheesecake being eaten, they will no doubt take second stage. Come on baby!

Mom Pie

Mom today! Bright and early start, about 11 o clock, down to langly to the farmer's market. I was worried about the traffic, being island county fair weekend and all, but it was a breeze. The market is in Bayview, I really don't know if that is a budding new town or just the name of a neighborhood or strip mall, I forgot to ask. It was right next to this huge barn on the side of the highway where Shannon and I used to take gymnastics, long, long ago. Random, useless fact thrown in there for ya. The market was nice, small, only one or two big veggie stands and two great places to buy fruit. Shannon has been raving about the pluots from this market- they are the main reason we made the jaunt. She got a big bag of them, as well as some peaches and all her veggies for the week. I got a mix of donut peaches, plums, and pluots, and some gorgeous red onions. We had lunch at a little asian restaurant next door- good- and then had ice cream bars from the local ice cream maker's son's cart. He was maybe 15, made a great recommendation on the strawberry rhubarb bar dipped in dark chocolate. Fantastic. Mom got loganberry, Shannon got black cherry. Highlight of the trip, for sure.

My farmer's market loot

Check out those onions!

 Then we stopped in a little market and picked up dinner supplies and we were off. Shannon steered us to an enormous thift store on the way home, two stories, we only had time for a quick browse, the ladies were getting tired. While they napped, I popped home to get my box of blocks that need to be sanded. Mmm, story for another time about that. Then we made dinner. Pie, of course.

Shannon is a great block sander.

Lots more to be sanded.
Luckily, rainbow won't play with them till it's at least  2 so we have some time!

Shannon had a couple of big zucchini that needed to be used up, so we found a recipe online for a zucchini pizza crust. I was a bit skeptical, but went for it anyway. The thing had more cheese in it than zucchini, so it couldn't go too wrong, right?

Mmm, sticky mess!

But it baked up just great. 

Of course, it required flipping!

Add toppings,

More cheese!

Pizza Pie!

Top with Shannon's homemade pico de gallo and sour cream, yum!

Zucchini pie

Crust:

4 c shredded zucchini, green or yellow- or both!

1 c flour

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 c grated parm

1/2 c grated mozz

Salt, pepper, herbs of choice

Our pizza topping:

1 pork tenderloin

1/2 c or so salsa

1 onion, sliced

1 carrot, sliced

1/4 c or so shredded mozz

Pico:

Handful cherry tomatoes, chopped

Onion, chopped

Bell pepper, chopped

lime juice

salt

Sour Cream

The shredded zucchini needs to be super dry! I grated it, mixed it with a t or so salt, pressed it down in a colander, and let it sit for an hour. Then i squeezed it by the handful as hard as I could into the sink. Then I rolled it up in a paper towel and squeezed it again. 

Heat oven to 350

Mix nice, dry zucchini in a bowl with the flour and spices, add the cheese and mix it up. Pour in the beaten eggs and mix again. I did it with my hands.  Grease a cookie sheet, one with sides, just in case. Pour on the zucchini mixture and spread it out as best you can. Aim for about a 1/4 in thick. Bake for 25 minutes. After that time, kick the oven onto broil for 3-4 minutes, watch it closely! When it's bubbling and getting brown on top, you gotta flip it! I put a second cookie sheet on top, flipped, then slid it back onto the original sheet. Bake that side for a few minutes, just to be safe. 

In the meantime, saute the onions in a bit of oil, add pork and carrots, salt, and cook until the meat's about done. Add the salsa and simmer until most of the liquid is gone. Pour it onto the crust, top with cheese and bake until the cheese is brown and bubbly. I hit it with the broiler again for the last 2 minutes or so to get the cheese nice and toasty. Serve with the pico and sour cream on the table. 

It's a fork pizza for sure. 

Turning the thing into pizza was the inspiration we had for tonight's dinner but this zucchini crust would be fantastic on it's own, for breakfast, with salad, or just about any other way you could think of. Any pizza toppings would work great, if you go the pizza route, the base is so neutral that it would compliment lots of different flavors. I will be making this one again, there is no doubt. Great recipe.