Man Is What He Eats – Homemade Pasta Tubes
Many things in life are worth doing yourself for personal satisfaction, frugality, or knowledge. Pasta is NOT one of them. Don’t get me wrong, but pasta is not expensive, and save for a few occasions, the pasta itself is only a vessel for tastier sauce, oil, butter, cheese, etc. so the flavor (to me) means very little. Nevertheless, I found myself curious as to the process, and do enjoy learning about how the food I consume is made.
Ingredients:
2.5-3.0 c. all purpose flour
1.0 egg
1.0 pinch salt
0.5 c. vodka sauce
2.0 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
1.0 tsp. parsley
Instructions:
- Create a volcano of flour and begin incorporating the egg by mixing it in the center of the volcano. Truth be told, I’m not entirely sure what this method does over just using a mixer and adding flour until it reaches the proper consistency, which for me is something akin to a tough dough.
- Discard the extra flour once mixing is done and begin kneading for about ten minutes.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.
- Cut the dough as desired. I cut mine into one inch squares and then wrapped them around a small dowel using a dab of egg to glue the corner down.
- In this instance, I dried the pasta overnight before cooking but fresh pasta works as well and only takes a fraction of the time to cook.
For this delicious indulgence, I used vodka sauce and added some parsley and Parmesan cheese. Next time, I’ll be leaving the dough a bit thicker before cutting and rolling. The noodles, after cooking, were a bit limp and not substantial. Without the sauce, they were fairly flavorless and wet – they didn’t absorb water in the same way that manufactured pastas do, so they were slippery-esque.
Ode To Workmanship
As part of the renovations taking place at Grand River we are checking into big and small projects alike. One issue that perpetually perplexed me was the sticking latch on the doorway to the attic, especially now that the weather is turning colder.
I’ve installed lock sets before, even gone so far as to drill the holes in the doors to do so, but this was something that I was totally not prepared for. The lock set is likely original to the house, which was built in 1916, but after taking it out of the door and giving the workings a good cleaning, it worked like new again. The mechanism is very simple, but definitively involved more work to install in a door than modern lock sets. The whole mechanism is contained in a rather large box which needed to be recessed into the door, and appears to have been hand chiseled to accommodate the mechanics.
I don’t know, perhaps I’m perturbed by the quality of some modern hardware, or perhaps its only because I have a fascination with mechanical systems, and the fact that nearly everything in this house seems to have been built to a different standard than they are today.
Man Is What He Eats – Gouda, It’s Been A Long Time
Gouda cheese. Very delicious. Smoked gouda cheese? Absolutely devine. And it has been far too long since I have endulged, mostly because gouda isn’t cheap and I have other things occupying my wallet’s desires. After Jannett and my’s spontaneous double date lunch at Cosi, I knew I needed to make some Cosi-style bread, and wanted only the best for the sandwiches.
Ingredients:
3.5 c. All Purpose Flour
1.0 c. Warm Water
0.5 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2.0 tbsp. yeast
1.0 tsp. salt
Makes enough for 5 sandwiches.
Instructions:
1. I cheated and used the bread maker again. Combine all ingredients and hit the dough cycle.
2. After the dough has risen its final time, cut the dough into 5 eaqual portions and roll out into rectangles. Let rise for 20 minutes.
3. Heat the oven to 500F (or hotter, if you can) and then place the rectangles of dough on a baking stone, or alternatively on a baking sheet though I contest that you lose a lot without using a stone.
4. After the sandwich bread is cooked (approximately 5-10 minutes) remove and let cool before cutting open with a small knife.
5. We layered two slices of roast beef, two slices of smoked ham, and two slices of turkey with tomato slices, Gouda cheese, mayo, and whatever else floated our boat and after broiling for about a minute, combined it with some tomato soup which I dolled up for the photos with a sprig of fresh parsley.
It was a lot of work, and definitely not something you spontaneously decide to make (unless, like me, you sometimes have fresh/frozen dough around). But the end result is some nice crispy bread, a quality hot sandwich and with the soup, an overall very filling meal.
This Flippin House – Grand River Living Room
Our 1916 Colonial will be benefiting greatly from my upcoming week off. Since we moved in, we have done absolutely nothing to this room beyond moving furniture in – partially because we didn’t have to do anything to make it livable, but also because the room wasn’t in too bad of shape.
Typical settlement cracks plague the walls, and there’s evidence of prior water damage on the ceiling from a leaking radiator in my brother’s room. Beyond that, the only thing we were worried about was the paneling that covered the west wall of the room. Having pulled paneling off of the walls in the Foyer during a spring break a couple years ago, I was really hesitant to pull this paneling off but we’re Schroeders. When we do something, we do it right, or at least we try.
Imagine my surprise when I saw 
a window hiding behind one of the pieces of paneling! I was shocked, and could feel the adrenaline kicking in because I felt like I had found treasure. Usually when we uncover something here, it’s a problem.
There’s more though. To the right of the fire place is another window, or at least a hole where a window used to be. But, under panel number three was… ANOTHER WINDOW. The third window is actually in place just like the first one, so we have two complete windows just waiting for hardware and a saw to cut an opening through the siding to let the light pour through. That’s right, somewhere in this house’s past (est. 30-40 years) someone boarded over the windows and put new siding on the house.
Why would someone do that? I haven’t a clue. I expected to see water damage or something but it really looks like someone just hated windows and covered them up. This is far more exciting than the porn and panties we found left in the walls of the house (I wish I were kidding, but there was women’s underwear in the insulation in the attic. Don’t ask. I don’t know).
This is just day one though. All that’s left in the room is some clutter, the entertainment center and couch. After Greg gets home from work I’m going to con him into helping me extract the couch and entertainment center. Once the room is cleared out, we can get to the always exciting task of plastering walls and ceilings.
Game plan for the week:
- Fix all of the walls and ceiling with plaster.
- Prime and paint the entire room.
- Add insulation around the fireplace and windows since we can clearly see daylight in some places.
- Replace the carpet.
- Build a fireplace surround to cover the hideous brick and tile “creation” left by some previous owner.
- Fix the pocket doors.
It’s a good thing I have the time off because this would be a nightmare to work on in my “free time” in the evenings.
My Inner Nerd Tingles – TI EZ430-Chronos Watch
I’ve been pondering the purchase of another watch ever since I caught the band of my existing watch in the mouth of my lovely husky puppy Aurora. Only recently did I find a watch that piqued my curiosity – the Relic ZR5505 Moving Color Silver Dial Watch. The only bit of interest was the face of the watch which sports an interesting LCD display. Unfortunately, that LCD display didn’t do anything useful like the watch from Stranger than Fiction, so it was merely a conversation starter and distraction.
But today I saw a posting about the 
TI Ez430-Chronos, a fully programmable watch with pressure sensors, a 3-axis accelerometer, temperature sensor, altimeter, and a wide variety of other nerdy goodness AND it includes the tools for developing new firmware and interfacing the watch with the computer. The possibilities are nearly endless, and my inner nerd can hardly wait until February 2010 for it to finally become available.
Oh.. and it was only $49 + shipping. Oh wait… no it was $25 because some helpful co-nerd posted a coupon code for $24 off. My total cost was just over $30 with shipping. I figure that if nothing else it satisfies my desire for a new watch, and it has all kinds of cool functionality built in with the prospects for even crazier functionality to be added later.
I already predict cult-like community similar to that which follows the TI-83+ for this watch, support and added functionality. It’s been quite a while since I’ve messed with any real sort of programming, and really my best programs were written for the TI-83+ so this echos deeply with my desire to have something fun to work with.
As mentioned, I probably won’t actually see the watch until sometime in February 2010, but until then I can dream up fun things to try with it. Given the amount of time since I’ve actually programmed anything though, I’ll probably have to start with blinking some LED segments (of which there are 96!) but I can work my way up from there.
NERDGASM!
Man Is What He Eats – Down South Potluck
No instructions or ingredients this time, just a photo to drool over. My team held a potluck lunch to celebrate two Southern states going live with our product. (I’m being intentionally vague here). I decided that my smoked pork shoulder would be perfect for this occasion so I set out with eight lbs of Boston Butt on the smoker for 6 hours. The next day I cooked them low and slow in the oven for another 6 or 7 hours and finally after pulling finished them off with a 12 hour simmer on low in the slow cooker. But, the pulled pork wasn’t enough for me.
No, when it comes to this kind of stuff I like to go all out and decided that I’d make my own kaiser rolls. I did cheat and deviated from the traditional way of forming the rolls, but I think with the egg wash and poppy seeds they turned out great. As an aside, half of my office probably would have tested positive for opiates after the pot luck. Whoops.
But, to me, “Deep South” means some sort of spice, especially Cajun inspired flavors. I read about two sauce types commonly used, one tomato based and the other vinegar based. I also wanted to please as many people as I could so I made one normal with apple cider vinegar, whole pepper corns and some Worcestershire Sauce but I kicked it up for the other and added some Louisiana Hot Sauce and lots of red pepper flakes. To appease those who weren’t fond of the vinegar based sauces I also included some Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce.
Man Is What He Eats – Salisbury Steak
Ah Salisbury, you quaint English town, what wondrous delights you have imparted upon the frozen TV dinner world. Up until now, most Salisbury Steaks I’ve had were part of a “microwave on high for 5 minutes” dinner package that I pulled out of the freezer which contained a very salty brown liquid that they called gravy. Don’t get me wrong, I love my salty foods, but it always lacked depth and interest in the flavor. So I decided to pull a random recipe and make some of my own. Coupled with the tator tots and ranch they were quite scrumptous and quick to make.
Ingredients:
1.0 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1.5 lbs. ground beef
0.5 c. italian bread crumbs
0.5 tsp. salt
0.125 tsp. pepper
0.5 onion chopped
1.0 egg beaten
Instructions:
1. Combine everything in a bowl using only 0.25 can of the soup.
2. Form into thin patties and cook in a skillet (I used the cast iron one and it was perfect)
3. Top with the remaining cream of mushroom soup and enjoy with any number of sides.
I tried a new beer with this recipe – Bell’s Third Coast. It’s not my favorite, but it worked well with the meal. Overall the flavor of the Salisbury steak was pretty good though I wish I had chopped the onions finer. I like the flavor was a touch bland, and next time I’ll make my own gravy instead of using the mushroom soup. But, for a 20 minute meal, it worked out quite well. Definitely will make again!
Man Is What He Eats – Western Style Ribs
When something goes on sale at the grocery store, I’m always a bit tempted to try something new with it. A few weeks ago Meijer had some western style boneless ribs for less than a buck a pound. I him-hawed about it for a while and the next day I bought a pack.
After marinading overnight 
(or… 4 nights in the case of the first time I made them) and cooking on the grill, they were absolutely amazing. The texture was a bit off because this cut of meat was intended to be cooked much slower than I did and as such, the fat didn’t all melt away. Not too shabby though. I fried up some potato slices and added some steamed broccoli with habenero cheese to accompany the meat for this feast.
Ingredients for Marindade:
0.5 c. brown sugar
0.5 c. yellow mustard
Parsley to taste
Garlic Seasoning to taste
Black pepper
Various other herbs/spices
Instructions:
1. The night before cooking, cut the ribs into chunks and rub the meat down with yellow mustard and then coat with the brown sugar, parsley, garlic, and whatever else you like and wrap tightly in foil or store in a plastic bag.
2. I used a propane grill and turned one of the burners on high to heat things up.
3. Put the rib chunks on the grill opposite the burner side and turn the burner to low.
4. Let the ribs cook for 20-30 minutes and then flip them over and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes.
5. Enjoy with whatever side dishes you may have prepared.
This time, I turned the flames up on high and let ‘er rip for the last few minutes. And then I did the worst thing you can do when grilling – turn your back on the grill. I stepped inside to check the sides and when I returned everything was on fire. Fortunately, it only braised the outside of the meat a bit, and after dousing the flames with some homebrew beer the meat could be devoured, which we promptly did.
Pizzamorie – Homemade Pizza
It seems as though one of my signature specialties has been pizza. It started probably two years ago when I saw a recipe online that called for the use of a cast iron pan and let me tell you, to this day, my cast iron pan is my favorite cooking tool. I can use it for baking, frying, throw it on the grill, etc. The only thing you can’t do is use soap, but because of that it maintains a nearly stick-free finish. But, all of that gushing is for another post – this one is for PIZZA. Last night we had some delectable homemade pizza again.
Ingredients:
2.75 c. All Purpose Flour
1 tbsp dry yeast
1 pinch salt
0.25 c. olive oil
0.75 lbs shredded mozzarella cheese
0.25 c. Italian dressing*
Toppings of your choice
Instructions:
1. I cheated this time. Normally I make a double batch of dough by hand but this time I just popped it in the bread maker on the dough setting.
2. Preheat the oven to 500ºF… at least. Mine only goes to 500 so that’s what I use.
2. Brush a thin coat of oil on your cast iron pan or if using a pizza stone, spread a thin layer of corn meal. (Side note: Pizza stone pizza definitely has a different taste and texture to that of pizza made in a cast iron skillet or a pizza skillet but both are equally delicious)
3. Once the dough had risen, I turned it out and cut it in half. Stretch the dough out to fit into the cast iron pan.
4. Spread your Italian dressing or tomato sauce on the pizza.
5. Add your shredded cheese and toppings. One of the pizzas tonight was a bacon pizza, and the other was pepperoni.
6. Once the oven has reached cooking temp, slide the pizza into the oven and let cook for 15-20 minutes. Check on it after about 12 minutes though and adjust cooking time as needed. Once the cheese on the crust starts to get crispy and the crust starts to brown it’s ready to be pulled out.
7. Pull the pizza out of the skillet and slide onto a cutting board (or in my case, the pizza box of a chain pizza store that sells cheap pizzas) and let cool for 5 minutes before cutting. If you don’t let it cool, the cheese just melts back together and makes a mess.
8. Prep your second pizza while the first is cooling or store the dough in a plastic bag in the fridge and use later.
That’s it. As a note from above I tried using Italian dressing instead of a tomato based sauce once when I realized that I didn’t have any tomato sauce and was hooked. The dough is enough for two 12-14″ pizzas and I usually make one with sauce and one with dressing. I also usually make one that I know I’ll like and one that Jannett will like – mine usually has lots of red pepper flakes on it and pepperoni. Both are quite delicious though, and just like pizza-store pizza, they’re just as good if not better served cold the day after.
I made mention of using a pizza stone as well. I’ll probably elaborate on it more but basically on the lowest rack of my oven I put a 20×20 1/4″ unglazed slate tile that I cut to fit with my grinder. The oven takes a bit longer to heat up but allows for free-formed pizzas to be made. With a thin layer of corn meal as a base to prevent sticking, the pizzas turn out great and have a nice crispiness that cooking in the skillet lacks.
Also, a bread machine is a very valuable tool if you’re a busy person but still enjoy fresh homemade pizza (or any bread-based food for that matter). It takes about two minutes of my time to get everything setup and the dough started, and in an hour and twenty minutes, I have dough that’s been kneaded and punched down and risen already whereas if I do it by hand it’s at least a 20 minute process of mixing, kneading, punching down and letting rest for an hour or so. In this case, that allowed me to clean my car, do some picking up around the house and pick Jannett up from her volunteering – all after getting off of work and playing with the pup for a bit.
Midnight Snack – 5 Minute Potato Chips
Some people have a vice for potato chips and others simply have cravings from time to time (like me) but the dilemma is the same – having fresh chips on hand when that craving strikes.
Some people are also quite health conscious and avoid deep fried chips. It seems like the food companies have caught on because baked chips are quite popular, but also seem to be a bit more expensive. Well, I’ve found a way around that and it only takes about 5 minutes for a satisfying amount of chips (for one) and only takes a potato and a microwave.
Ingredients:
1 good sized potato
Seasonings to taste, I used coarse salt this time
Instructions:
1. Put a piece of paper towel on 
a microwave safe plate
2. Slice the potato with a potato peeler*
3. Place the slices on the paper towel making sure that they don’t overlap. They’ll stick together if they touch.
4. Season to taste. I used salt this time, but have used Parmesan cheese, various herbs and spices, red pepper flakes and various other pantry items in the past. Whatever suits the moment.
5. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
6. Remove from the microwave and flip them over. You can season this side too. The potatoes will still be soggy, and they will be hot so be careful.
7. Microwave on high for 2 minutes again but keep an eye on them. If sliced very thin, they may begin to brown and burn toward the end.
8. Remove the chips from microwave and peel them off of the paper towel. Most should come off easily. If they are still soggy, continue to microwave for a minute at a time until fairly crisp – they’ll continue to cook a bit after being removed from the microwave and crisp up as they cool down.
Enjoy! I had these for lunch today, but they make a great, quick, relatively healthy snack when you’re in a hurry and all it takes is one potato. If you’re making for more people you can bake them in the oven at about 350, though I don’t know exact times since I messed up last time. You can also deep fry the slices, but again it takes longer to setup and there are more dishes to do in the end defeating the purpose of a midnight snack!
* I’d have preferred a mandolin slicer for consistency and avoiding peeling my knuckles but you do with what you have when a craving hits!
