Buckeyes

This is another one of my Grandma's recipes. Buckeyes, I've learned recently, aren't just a Lancaster County, PA Christmas speciality. In my not very extensive research, I've learned that buckeyes are commonly eaten at Ohio State "Buckeyes" football games. Those buckeyes, are slightly different than mine. The football buckeye candy is not completely coated with chocolate, but instead made to look like eyes. That approach looks really cool, but I'll take total chocolate coating any day over appearances.

My Grandma and her two sisters would make candy every year for many, many years. Buckeyes were the simplest candy they made and also my favorite. I was relieved to learn exactly how easy they are to make when I tried to make them. To make buckeyes the easiest, they will need to chill twice before being coated with chocolate. When coating them with chocolate, be careful not to let them sit in the chocolate. The chocolate will melt. I use an electric skillet, set to between 200 - 250 degrees. If you are fortunate enough to have a double boiler, use that. (I am not one of the fortunate ones...) If the finished buckeyes don't look perfect, don't fret. Everyone will ignore that once they eat one (and then another and another).

Do I need to say my kids love these?

Buckeyes

1/2 c butter, at room temperature
2 c crunchy peanut butter (not the organic/natural type--stick to Jiff or Peter Pan or the like)
1 3/4 c confectioners' sugar
3 c Rice Krispies

approximately 8 oz of chocolate chips or chocolate pieces
approximately 2 - 4 oz of a Hershey Bar (or similar chocolate bar)
approximately 1/4 slab of paraffin (Gulf Wax is a very common brand--pictured below)

Mix together butter, peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, and Rice Krispies well, using your hands if necessary. Form into small balls and chill.

Melt chocolate slowly in a double boiler or in an electric skillet (set between 200 - 250 degrees). If the chocolate is too hot, it will get crumbly. It will not recover from this (the heat being an "irreversible change," as M likes to remind me). Water and moisture will cause the chocolate to harden, so don't cover the pan while melting. Stir frequently. Stir in a little melted paraffin to thin chocolate. If chocolate is thin enough to coat, you won't need the paraffin. (Play around with this---taste or cut buckeyes in half to see if the thickness is right. It took me a several attempts before I figured out how thin it needs to be.)



Dip balls into chocolate. The easiest way I found to do this was dropping the buckeye in the chocolate, rolling it around, lifing it out with a fork, and scraping the bottom of the fork clean with a thin knife. Drop coated buckeye onto parchment paper to cool. Chill to harden and store in the refrigerator or freezer.

Mac and Cheese with Chard

I needed new ways of using chard and few this recipe. I think it passes as a recipe that can stand up to the rigors of chard. It's nice for the kids (who won't eat the chard, because it is green and leafy), because the chard is in a layer in the middle, making it easy to eat around it.

Mac and Cheese with Chard
adapted from Bon Appetit

3 T butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c flour
3 c milk
2 c Gouda cheese, coarsely grated
2 c Edam cheese, coarsely grated (or you can use 4 c total of whatever cheeses you want)
a pinch of chili powder
a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 1/2 lb chard, stems and center ribs removed
12 oz macaroni

Melt 3 T butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in garlic, then flour, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Cook, whisking occasionally, until mixture begins to boil, about 5 minutes (longer if you use skim milk). Add 1 1/2 c grated Gouda and 1 c grated Edam. Stir until cheeses melt. Stir in chili powder and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook chard in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 1 minute. Transfer the chard to a plate with a slotted spoon to cool. Reserve water in the pot. Squeeze water from the chard and coarsely chop. Return the water in the pot to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook until al dente. Stir drained macaroni into warm cheese sauce. Place half of macaroni in a 9 x 13" baking dish, smooth top. Top with 1 c Edam cheese and then chard. Top with remaining macaroni mixture, spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 c Gouda over top.

Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven and bake for 40 minutes, until macaroni is golden and edges are bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Rigatoni with Fennel and Sausage

My kids don't dig fennel. That's unfortunate because fennel is one of my favorite things. I am excited that we've gotten fennel two weeks in row in our CSA box and I hope the streak continues.

That said, neither M or J ate the fennel in the pasta. They ate the pasta and sausage quickly, they just avoided the fennel, leaving it to their parents to eat off their plates (mostly me).

Curtis and I enjoyed this recipe. It wasn't as rich as I was worried it would be based on the cream sauce. I made some serious adjustments to the original recipe, but I think it turned out just right.

Rigatoni with Fennel and Sausage
adapted from Gourmet

1 lb mild Italian sausage (either bulk or links with the casings removed and discarded)
2 T olive oil
1 c onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large bell pepper (red is preferable but green is fine), chopped
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin (about 2 c)
2/3 c dry white wine
1 c chicken broth
1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 lb rigatoni or other tubular pasta
1/4 c minced fresh parsley leaves
grated fresh parmesan cheese

Cook the sausage over moderate heat in a heavy skillet, stirring and breaking up any lumps, until it is cooked through and transfer it with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet, reduce heat to medium low, and cook until the onion is softened, stirring occasionally. Add the bell pepper and fennel and cook the mixture over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the bell pepper and fennel are softened. Add the wine and broth, bring to boil and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Add the cream and boil until it is thickened slightly and reduced by about a 1/3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente in a pot of boiling water. Place pasta in a bowl, toss with the fennel mixture, sausage, parsley, and Parmesan. Serve

Cookies Galore!

It's Christmastime and for those who know me, you know that I love to make cookies around Christmas. I give plates of cookies as gifts of thanks to teachers, neighbors, friends, pretty much anyone I can for as long as the cookies last. I enjoy coming up with a cookie menu with something for everyone--peanut butter, chocolate, sugar and butter, nuts, and spicy.

This year, that has gotten more challenging. The addition of another child and continued health issues for Curtis has made finding the time required a little more difficult. I have found the answers though. 1) Don't make as many kinds of cookies (the list of this years cookies to follow) and 2) Break cookie making into parts and divide over days.

We are fortunate to live in modern times of good freezers. This makes my problem so much less of a problem. Currently in my freezer, I have two different kinds of cookies, waiting until the week I want to give them to be baked. Most cookies freeze easily before baking or at least will last in the refrigerator a week or so. Rolled cookies and ice box cookies actually require refrigeration (or freezing) before baking. Thus, I have started making my cookies 3 weeks before I intend on giving them.

My cookie list for this Christmas:

Buckeyes
Linzer Cookies
Molasses Sugar Cookies
World Peace Cookies
Sugar cookies or sand tarts
Pecan Sandies

The buckeyes are waiting to be coated with chocolate in my refrigerator and the Linzer Cookies and World Peace Cookies are chilling in the freezer. I plan on having the molasses sugar cookies join them there tomorrow and making sand tarts with the kids next week. Pecan sandies will be made only right before I bake them. The plan is to post recipes for the buckeyes and sand tarts this year. The World Peace Cookies can be found here, at smitten kitchn.

What We've Been Eating Lately

Fennel in Roasted Chicken with Fennel (pictured)
Poblanos and Tomatoes in Pork and Tomatillo Stew
Chard in Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti
Mustard Greens in Greens and Smoked Gouda Sandwiches
Bell Pepper, Lettuce, and Salad Turnips in salads
Kohlrabi in Boiled Pot Pie
Poblanos in Cranberry Salsa

Plus, new recipes coming this week and Christmas Cookies!

Grandma's Boiled Pot Pie

I have no less than three pot pie recipes in my collection. Two are very similar---baked in the oven with a dough topping or crust. This one is different.

This is what I grew up thinking pot pie was like. My Grandma would make it and it was my absolute favorite thing she made. Rolling out the noodles is a lot of work, so we wouldn't get it every time we visited their farmhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, just on rare occasions. Pot pie was said as one word, kinda like pah-pie. It was until I was in upper elementary school before I was introduced to what others called potpie. Even for years after that, I couldn't understand why they called the baked aberrations pot pie.

Getting this recipe was a bit of a challenge. Like all good family heirloom recipes this wasn't written down. When I asked my Grandma for the recipe several years, she tried to write it out for me. I attempted to make and had to call her to have her help me figure out what she meant and what I was meant to do. I still use making pot pie as an excuse to call and talk to her.

The noodles are basically an egg pasta (duh, right?). I used the Pennsylvania Dutch method of rolling it out, which is pure elbow grease. I think I may be sore tomorrow from my rolling workout (I am serious--it used serious abs and arm muscles). I understand now why I didn't attempt to make this last winter when I was a 5 + months pregnant. The recipe itself goes fast if you have cooked chicken and broth in the freezer, which I did. The whole house smells wonderful. There is no better cold winter's day meal.

My Grandma's recipe didn't include kohlrabi. I've also made this with some turnips thrown is as well. The original versions only has carrots, peas, celery, and potatoes. I however, use this recipe as a good excuse to use up some of the root vegetables that have been collecting in my fridge.

January 2018 edit:  Last fall I went to Lancaster and watched my uncle make this.  He wasn't fighting with the dough nearly as much as I normally do.  It doesn't need to be so hard, I realized as I watched.  Thus I did some research when I got home, tweaked the recipe the a bit and now my noodles are even better!!

Grandma's Boiled Pot Pie

2 qts + 2 c chicken broth**
3 c cooked chicken, chopped**
pinch of saffron
3 medium sized potatoes, cut into large bite-sized chunks
1 c celery, diced
2 - 3 carrots, sliced
1/2 - 1 c frozen peas
2 kohlrabi, peeled and diced
a teapot full of boiling water

Dough
2 1 /2 c flour
1/2 t salt
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 t butter
1/4 - 1/2 c water

**can substitute one whole uncooked chicken. Cover chicken with water in a large kettle and boil until cooked. Use the liquid for the chicken broth. Remove the chicken from the bone when it is cool enough to handle.

To make the dough: On the counter or work surface, put the flour and salt. Make a well in the flour and add the two eggs and butter. Mix with a fork until a shaggy dough forms.


Mix flour, eggs, and butter together with a fork in a large bowl.  Add water, starting at 1/4 c and continue to mix.  Add up to a 1/2 c of water, until dough holds together (it shouldn't be gritty or coarse).  Transfer to counter and knead until dough feels soft and "dough-like" (almost like bread, not quite that far, but almost).   Form into 2 round balls. Let sit for 15 - 30 minutes. Roll out on a floored surface as thinly as possible. Cut into 2 - 3 inch squares with a knife. If the middle of the dough is significantly thicker than the edges, continue to roll out squares after they are cut or cut the edges first, roll at the middle some more, and then cut the middle. Set aside. Do not stack the dough. It will stick together and you'll have to start all over again (with the rolling out).


Once the dough has been cut, begin the soup. Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large soup pot. Crumble a pinch of saffron into the boiling water. Add the potatoes and kohlrabi and cook just until the potatoes are tender. Drop the dough squares over the potatoes when the broth is boiling vigorously. Do not overlap dough. Broth should boil over squares before more dough is added. Occasionally add some carrots and celery. Once almost all the dough has been added, add the peas. If the pot pie is starting to look dry and there is not much broth boiling over the dough, add some boiling water (the boiling water is better than cold water because it allows the pot pie never to stop boiling). Continue until all dough has been added. Add the cooked chicken last. Taste and season with salt and black pepper as desired. Serve hot!

Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti

Two years ago, I could not get enough of swiss chard. I was thrilled with every bunch we received and would trade it for it in the trade box. Last year, I was sad because insect pests made the swiss chard crop smaller. I thought I would be totally thrilled with getting swiss chard this year, in November, no less.

I wasn't. I haven't figure out why. I was thrilled to have this recipe though, that didn't accentuate the taste of the chard, at least until I can get used to it again. Everyone liked this recipe, even I had some ground up tastes. I served leftovers to our neighbor kids (who were 3 and 1 1/2) and they also both liked it. This was an easy recipe to make, the most time consuming parts were sauteing the meat (which you could leave out, if you desire) and grating the cheese.

Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti
adapted from The Kitchn at Apartment Therapy

12 oz penne
1 T olive oil
1 lg onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb lean ground beef or Italian bulk sausage
4 c marinara/pasta sauce (1 26-oz jar)
4 c spinach or swiss chard, thick stems removed and coarsely chopped
1/2 c ricotta
1/2 c Parmesan, grated
1 c mozzarella, grated

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and put into a 9 x 13" pan. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 4 - 5 minutes. Add the meat and cook until it's no longer pink, 5 - 6 minutes, breaking up large chunks. If using swiss chard, put with the meat and cook until the chard wilts. Toss the pasta with meat and chard, marinara sauce, spinach (if not using chard), ricotta, and 1/4 c Parmesan in the baking dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella and remaining Parmesan. Bake in a preheated 400 degrees oven until the cheese melts, 12 - 15 minutes.