Feast Day of St. Joseph

I love this image of St. Joseph. You can see the love in this man's eyes for his foster son. It reminds me of TFOLT with our children. Saint Joseph is one of my favorite Saints. I have come to love St. Joseph through out the years.I have asked him to intercede on my behalf to save my marriage. I am sure the man understands all too well the difficulties of a troubled marriage. He is the Patron Saint of Retrouvaille. I am amazed at Josephs strength and grace when he answered God's call. He might not have had to go raise an army or be burned at the stake, but what he asked to do took amazing courage and humility. 

This year, we are starting a new family tradition. We are going to celebrate St. Joseph's Feast Day with all the tradition, pompt and circumstance that can be mustered on Tuesday during Lent. We will be decked out and red and busting out some new recipes and tring some food we have never had. Fava will be on the menu. I understand in medieval times fava was horse food.  Fava is the traditional bean used to celebrate St. Joseph's feast day. Who knew? I sure did not. 

Here is the recipe: for Bessara:

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Yield: Serves 4 to 6 as side dish.
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups (about 8 oz. or 200 g) dried fava beans
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons (or more) reserved cooking liquid
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon hot paprika or cayenne pepper
• ----------------------------------------------------------
• additional cumin, paprika and olive oil, for garnish
• chopped parsley or cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Preparation: Soak the dried fava beans overnight in a large bowlful of water. The next day, drain the beans and peel them if they weren't already skinned and split.


Place the peeled fava beans in a pot and cover with a generous amount of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium or medium-high, and simmer the beans until tender, one hour or longer.

Drain the beans, reserving the liquid.

Transfer the beans to a food processor, and add the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the reserved liquid, and spices. Process on high speed until smooth, adding additional liquid if necessary to thin the bessara. It should be thin enough to pour or spread out on a plate. Taste the bessara, and adjust the seasoning if desired.


Reheat the bessara and serve warm. Garnish with any of the following: ground cumin, paprika, hot paprika, olive oil, and chopped parsley.

I have read that canned or frozen fava beans work well with this recipe. It is time to experiment and see if I can come up with a gluten free pita bread that taste good. I will let you know how it goes. 

A little Saint Joseph humor:

You see, heaven is a large walled compound, with gates of pearl at the entrance, where St. Peter takes his post with his keys. When the newly departed arrive at those pearly gates, St. Peter looks them up in his book, and either lets them in, or sends them down the road.

So one day it is St. Pete’s day off, and he is wandering about, and he sees some folks that he is pretty sure he sent down the road — but there they are inside heaven. He doesn’t think too much of it, though. He’s not paying all that close attention to faces, and after all they do tend to all run together anyway. But he does spend the next days paying closer attention to exactly who is being let in and who is being sent down the road. And on his next day off, he sees 3 different people who were definitely sent along their way.

St. Pete decides to do some investigating. He marches out the pearly gates and down the road. Around the corner, down a little ways, around another corner, where he is brought up utterly dumbfounded by the sight. There is St. Joseph, and he is boosting people over the wall! St. Pete marches over to St. Joseph and starts haranguing him. He says that this is utterly against the rules, absolutely unacceptable, and that therewill be consequences! St. Joseph doesn’t say anything. Finally St. Pete finishes up his harangue by telling St. Joseph that he will not mention this little incident to anyone as long as St. Joseph makes sure that it never happens again.

Thinking that he has dealt with this outrage very well, St. Pete then spins on his heel, marches back up around the two corners and down the road and through the pearly gates. He resumes his job, but is still being careful to remember faces and who got let in and who got sent down the road. On his next day off, again, there are the Wrong People in heaven!

So again St. Pete marches out in high dudgeon; again he comes around the corner; again St. Joseph is boosting people over the wall. This time Pete is utterly apoplectic. He rages on and on about how unacceptable, wrong, not be tolerated, Pete is going to report this straight to God, terrible things will happen, maybe even Joe will get thrown out of heaven. Around this time Pete needs to pause for a second to take a breath. At which point St. Joseph, shrugging, says, “Hey, I go—I take the wife and kid with me.”

A little Pope humor for the weekend

This picture made TFOLT and me giggle all morning

Tomorrow is a busy day besides being Saint Patrick's day we have pretty much managed to fill every waking moment with an activity. My remicade has yet to kick in for my PsA, so I am going to have to put some things on the chopping block. I have yet to decide what it will be.

 I thought for tomorrow I would bake Quick Tea Cookies from Elizabeth Gilbert's At Home on the Range courtesy of her Great Grandmother. Her Great Grandmother updated the recipe in 1922 from the original that was found in 1837. Of course I have to add my own twist and make the cookies gluten free. Liz says they are more like a tiny cake then cookie and best eaten straight from the oven. Everyone in our house agrees they are better cool. Each their own I guess.

Quick Tea Cookies

makes 8-12 small cookies

2 tbsp brown sugar (and a few for more pinches for step 2)

2 tbsp butter, softened

1 egg well beaten

1/2 cup flour sifted

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of cinnamon

2 pinches of caraway seeds (optional)

1. Cream the brown sugar and butter. Add the egg, sifted flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, beat well. (add caraway seeds here if you like the old fashion flavor).
2. Drop by small flatten spoonfuls, well apart on a greased cookie sheet. Put a pinch of brown sugar on the top of each cookie and bake 425 degrees for 8 minutes

My Gluten Free version.

Because this is a rather light cookie, I am using white rice flour and tapioca flour rather then my usual sorghum flour. 

1/2 cup of brown sugar (plus a little more to sprinkle on top of the cookie)

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1 egg well beaten

1 1/2 cups white rice flour, sifted

1/2 cup of tapioca flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon xantham gum

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg (I grate my own. So when my hand gets tired)
2 tablespoons milk or cream if it is a little dry

1. Cream the brown sugar and butter. Add the egg, sifted flours, salt, xantham gum, cinnamon and nutmeg, beat well. (add caraway seeds here if you like the old fashion flavor).
2. I use my smallest scoop and then flatten with a back of a spoon place on a cookie sheet lined with a splat mat (I like Silpat Mat ) sprinkle brown sugar on top, bake for 8 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Makes 2 dozen

GLUTEN FREE NAAN BREAD

We love Naan Bread especially in the summer. I like to make it on the grill. It is a quick and easy. I have not made it since I have been gluten free though. So tonight I decided to give gluten free a try.

I just have to say I love sorghum flour. I use it for almost everything. We get it directly from the mill.

NAAN BREAD

1 cup Sorghum Flour
1 teaspoon yeast ****
1 teaspoon honey or sugar
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 cup olive oil

Add ins: We like garlic the best but any herb or spice would be good like rosemary.

In a small bowl add yeast, sugar and warm water. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes. It will get all foamy. Combine flour, salt, xantham gum. Add olive oil and yeast mixture. Stir. It will be pretty sticky. Let rest for 15 minutes. Divide into 6 big pieces or 12 small pieces. Roll out on a flour surface. I need a little of the flour in so it is not sticky to handle. Place on grill for 2 or 3 minutes per side.

**** 1 teaspoon of yeast are you freaking out? A package has 2 1/4 teaspoons in it but why oh why are you buy individual packages. It is much cheaper to buy a jar of yeast or better yet a bag. You should store it in the fridge.

My Second AH Ha Momment

Boy I have just been on a roll. I was looking over what we spend on groceries and decided we could cut back on the chocolate sauce, carmel etc. I do not buy it that often maybe a bottle every other month but it was something that could go. I started exploring how to make Carmel sauce at home. All I wanted to say now DUH. Took me less then 5 minutes to whip up a cup. I did substitute half and half for the heavy cream as I always have that in my fridge. It does make it a little thinner but once you cool it down it thickens right up.

Caramel Sauce Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup of sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream ( I use half and half)

Yep that is it for ingredients

Oh ya I use the water method as you all know I would burn up the sugar.

1 First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.

2 Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.

3 As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.

4 Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big. (Check here for an explanation of why adding the cream makes the mixture bubble up so much.)

5 Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

Makes a little over one cup of sauce.

My AH HA Momment

Sometimes I think I make life to hard. My kids like smoothies. I like making them out of yogurt. We like them thick but not diluted. It is a hard consistency to get because if you add to many ice cubes the smoothie is not flavorful enough. I always use frozen fruit but that does always help either. A couple of weeks ago I got organic plain yogurt on sale. It was a great price but I was left with the dilemma what to do with a gallon of plain yogurt before it spoiled. That is where my ah ha moment came. Why not freeze the yogurt in an ice cube trays thus eliminating the need to add ice cubes to the smoothie but still being able to obtain a nice smooth thick cold smoothie. I froze the yogurt in the ice cube trays. Once frozen I transferred to a zip lock bag. We use the Hamilton Beach single serving blender that we leave on the counter top for easy access.

Levi's Favorite Smoothie

1 cup cold milk (always add liquids first as it will blend better)
6 ice cubes of yogurt or 1/2 cup of yogurt. We prefer plain for this one
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon chocolate sauce(trader joes has a yummy organic one)
1/2 frozen banana (I throw over ripen bananas in the freezer and use as needed. No need to wrap them up or peel. Microwave for 30 seconds and the peel will come right off).
1 tablespoon of peanut butter.

Add all the ingredients and blend. Levi likes a dollop of whip cream on the top.

Gluten Free Dinner Rolls

This recipe is awesome. I made it tonight. I cannot beleive how yeasty the rolls tasted. It was surprising how they tasted since they looked like baking powder biscuits but had this yeasty dinner roll taste. Everyone in my family loved them.

28 min 10 min prep 7 -9 Rolls

4 tablespoons shortening (I subsitute coconut oil)
3 tablespoons honey
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup potato starch
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients. Mix well to remove all lumps. The dough will be quite wet. Wet hands to handle dough. (Re-wet hands as needed.) Take about 1/4 cup of dough and shape into a ball. Drop into greased baking tin. (Repeat until all dough is used). Let rest for 10 minutes. Bake 18-20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in middle tests clean.

I doubled the recipe and baked in muffin tins. It made two dozen. Cook time 15 minutes.

FINALLY DID IT

I finally finally made a decent loaf of bread. I am so excited. It was not dry and crumble like most gluten free breads. Levi could not tell the difference. M&M was thrilled to death. She loves toasted cheese sandwiches. I also made french toast.

The Recipe:

1 cup sorghum flour

2/3 cup tapioca flour

2/3 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1/3 cup dry milk powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast granules

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup lukewarm water (more or less)

I made mine in the bread machine.

Grease an 8 1/2" by 4 1/2" loaf pan and dust with rice flour.

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
In the mixing bowl of a heavy duty mixer, whisk the eggs, vinegar and oil. Add most of the water holding back about 3 tablespoons to add as needed. Turn mixer to low and add the flour mix a little at a time. The mix should be the consistency of cake batter. Add the remaining water a little at a time to achieve this texture. Turn mixer to high and beat for 3 1/2 minutes. Spoon into the prepared pan, cover and let rise in a warm place about 35 minutes for rapid rising yeast; 60 or so minutes for regular yeast or until dough reaches the top of the pan.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes in a 400° oven, covering after 10 minutes with aluminum foil.

Turn out immediately to cool. For a softer crust rub immediately with butter or margarine. Cool before slicing.

I also made gluten free peanut butter cookies which I make all the time since they are so easy.

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon salt

Bake 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes