Chicken Piccata February 1, 2022

    I rarely buy chicken since moving to the great state of Florida. I have NO idea WHAT they’re feeding them, but I’m thinking it’s gold plated because I cannot account for the price being DOUBLE what I was paying up North. True story. In NY I was buying chickens for $.99/ lb. The least expensive here that I found was $1.69, but usually closer to $1.99/ lb. I have no words, no explanation and it kills me to fork over that much money.

     Wait. Boneless chicken breasts in NY would go on sale, very often @ $1.99/lb., regular price about $3.99/ lb. We always waited for the sale. Here? I have only seen $1.99 boneless chicken breast twice. (because i no longer look at them) Their free range chicken (boneless) I've seen at $5.99/lb, to a staggering $8.99/ lb. Hey, Love you, Mr. George (founder of the big supermarket chain down south), and I know you only stock the BEST-BUT... $9 a pound for chicken ANYTHING???!! Wait! wings? Back in the '60's they used to give them away. Here? They're $4.99/lb. 

     Get the picture? I hate buying chicken since I moved to Florida. However, I came across one of those extremely rare weeks of boneless chicken breasts on sale for $2.39/ lb.!  That is only $.40 /lb. more than I paid 5 years ago. I'll write that off as inflation and pay that extra $.40.

     So, I got some boneless chicken breasts. Last night I made French Onion chicken, another recipe I highly recommend AND will blog about  sometime in the future. I had stumbled upon a recipe for chicken piccata on Sunday. Lemon...mmm. Yeah, chicken piccata went right on the "TO DO" list. And do it, I did. OMG! where did I learn English? (Let's write that off as too long away from the blog and expressing myself on topics I choose, as opposed to my last several years. Let's just leave it there; suffice it to say, I now have time to do "ME". I'll brush up on my English usage and sentence structure (which, as you can tell, is all over the place.) You know what? I don't give a HOOT. (Inside joke, there.) This is how I think, this is how I talk. If only all my talking (to other people) had the benefit of backspace, delete and edit. That would be awesome, but reading this you can tell what's going on in my brain (here's your hint.) You can't tell me that you don't have a conversation (in your head) with yourself while you're interacting with other people. Whether thinking about the drive home, the battle you're gonna have with one of your sons about a "party", saying a silent prayer you're not about to get bad news, I let you see where my brain veered off to. (OOPs!)

     Chicken piccata. The words alone bring a smile to my face. Chicken Piccata is Italian, and that's where I first had this. In Rome; I was 17, on a school trip to Rome and Florence (with a side excursion to Pompeii, Capri, and Naples for dinner.) I could talk about that trip forever, because it forever changed my life, but that story doesn't belong here, but it does on my other blog, the one about living a graceful life, so I'll leave that stuff to that blog. We went for 13 days/14 nights (or the other way around) with 2 meals a day, tours, a guide, Anieck. For a while after that trip I wanted to be a guide in Italy, but, well, you know...life. 

     Anyway, being in Italy everyone was expecting tomato/pasta heavy foods: ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, Manicotti- you get the picture, but that is not what was for dinner. It was my introduction to Mediterranean food. Oh, man! We go to the table (complete with cloth tablecloths and napkins- although this is ITALY, no take-out; no to-go; and no ice! Yikes!). We’re NOT being served tomato sauce and pasta and cheese. And there it was! chicken piccata sitting on my plate. Served with a rice pilaf, mixed green salad and asparagus. Lemon slices, with the fresh lemon aroma wafting up into your nostrils. Okay, stop.

    And that is what I attempted, and, well, yes, nailed!

    As my head is still not completely back to thinking straight, I kept losing the recipe I had found that was exquisitely simple. But I remembered SOME of the ingredients. This happened a total of 3 times. Something in Ina Garten's version caught my eye. Then a recipe off the Food Network intrigued me, and finally I found the original one that I wanted to try. 

   Well, I liked different parts of each. So I took out the parts I thought would work really well and the result?

    No word of lie: FABULOUS!

    I was cooking only for myself so I used only 1/2 chicken breast (boneless) "which I slice down and "fileted" I got 2 nice size cutlets and 2 "fingers" or maybe nuggets. (Pound them between wax paper to 1/4 inch thick- YES you must flatten the cutlets- tenderizes them- skip it and you might have chewy chicken which is NG in my book.)

    Here's the ingredients:

• the prepared boneless chicken as described above   

• 1/4 cup flour  
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup fine bread crumbs seasoned 
• black pepper - 5 or 6 twists
• 1 egg beaten w/1 T water
• 1/8 t hot sauce 
• 2T avocado or grapeseed (or vegetable oil)
• 2 T butter
• 1/4 cup very dry white wine
• juice of 1 lemon (i had just under 1/4 cup) use the nuke and tongs method
• remainder of 2 lemon halves
• 1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken stock or broth
• 1 T capers, rinsed and drained 
• fresh parsley, chopped 
• sliced lemons for garnish   

  Mix the flour, parmesan, bread crumbs, black pepper in a shallow bowl or dish. 

  In a separate dish beat egg, hot sauce & water.

pat chicken dry, dredge in the flour mixture, into the egg mix and back into the flour mixture. Set aside on a rack to dry while you coat the rest of the chicken. 

   Heat oil in sauté pan. Brown chicken for 3-5 min each side until juices run clear. Drain on paper towel set aside but keep warm. Finish all the chicken.

    Wipe out pan. Add butter to same pan. When it melts and starts to boil add the wine, then the lemon juice, the half lemons, then the stock. Bring back to boil and simmer until reduce by 1/3 - remove the lemon halves and discard. Toss in the capers. Stir and remove from heat.

    Plate chicken, drizzling sauce over, place lemon slices, twisted and sprinkle w/fresh chopped parsley. Serve with buttered noodles, rice pilaf (or rice), green beans, broccoli or asparagus.  The lemon sauce goes nicely on the vegetables, too.

   Mind you, there is not a lot of sauce, so if you're thinking of drowning your chicken and/or veggies, you need to at least double, if not, triple the recipe.  

   Word of advice: do not use jarred lemon juice- just does not cut it.

    I want more. 

    Admittedly I forgot the parsley on top. 

    Oye! Am I out of practice! Not a question. 

    So I put the rest of the chicken in the freezer in each their own little bag. I need only one breast per meal, so I got a few more meals. Of course my signature dish, chicken cutlets w/Swiss cheese sauce is a definite maybe! And I will blog about the French Onion chicken, too, That, too was good! And easy.
     Maybe I should just post  the recipes and shut up. Nah! 

     Until next time: enjoy! Mangia!

~Aunt Barbara aka No-No. (Nonna)

The Stocked Kitchen™ Moo Shoo Shrimp January 28, 2022

  I am full-on in a Chinese inspired period right now. Crispy Orange Chicken and Crispy Orange Beef earlier this week and now, today, Moo Shoo Shrimp- the Stocked Kitchen version.

    Several years ago I discovered a stocking method for your pantry that, if you keep certain items in "stock" in your pantry you have only a few fresh items - produce and meat to get to be able to make over 300 recipes. Its all described in the book by the mentioned name, The Stocked Kitchen by Sarah Kallio and Stacey Krastins; Find it on Amazon here.

     Some years ago I started building this method in my kitchen, and although I never fully got it up and running, by following their shopping list I was able to pull together some really good meals from my "stock". I've made this particular recipe many times, in the past, and since I'm attempting to get this off the ground again, I figured why not go with a tried and true? 

     The thing I'm noticing about the Chinese-style recipes is that there are a lot of ingredients, a lot of prep, but man, once all the sauces are prepared and the meat &/or veggies are prepped the cooking goes pretty quick. And they are tasty!

     Of course, as usual, not liking mushrooms I ALWAYS leave them out, especially if the recipe calls for canned mushrooms, as this one does. Not a fan at all. Not that I'm a fan of fresh mushrooms, either, but I can tolerate a mushroom or two if they are allowed to crisp up- the Big E used to make a pan of mushrooms and onions for Thanksgiving and by the time he was done with them they were almost like chips- I could eat them that way, but that takes forever to get them to that state, so I just skip them. Of course, in your kitchen go ahead if you like them. Your kitchen, your rules.

    Okay, so.... I found that using a smaller size shrimp is best with this dish, but, as usual, I found the best price on the 16-20 per pound size, so I cut them in half. I also learned, in the future not to use angel-hair Cole slaw mix, but that was the only one the store had when I ordered, so I tried it. did not like the texture, too stringy, but the flavor was still good. In the past I have also shred fresh cabbage, too, but as I am not 100% myself yet, I took the shortcut. My scallions were on their last day, too, so I was a bit light on them. Claiming Post-Covid brain. Whatever.

    As usual you start by mixing up the sauce- as I previously mentioned there's a list of ingredients. but mix it up and set it aside to blend together. One thing that always got me on this recipe is that there's peanut butter in it, but you do not taste peanut butter, I'm assuming that's because the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, honey and hot pepper sauce overpowers it, but whatever, its in there, although i cannot pick the flavor out.

Sauce in a medium measuring cup mix:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce ( I always use lower sodium)
• 1 T peanut butter (smooth, please)
• 1 T honey
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar 
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 10 drops Tabasco or hot sauce  (I use Frank's)
• 2 T pureed ginger

 Whisk up and set sauce aside.

• 3 eggs  beat the eggs with 
• salt & pepper to taste (trying to watch my sodium I leave out the salt)

set aside;  

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil ( I use avocado or grapeseed these days)
• 12 oz to 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled completely (take those tails off) deveined (please) best to use 31-40 or smaller size, or cut larger ones in half crosswise
• 1 clove garlic minced
• One 4-oz can mushrooms drained and chopped- or you can use fresh if you care to, but I cannot advise if 4 oz fresh will be the same as 4 oz can-- you can try it and let me know? Maybe?
• 3 cups cabbage and carrot mix (cole slaw mix from produce section) I do not recommend using the angel hair size, though, and by all means shred you own if you care to.
• 3 green onions thinly sliced on an angle
• hot cooked rice (Jasmine would be divine!) or flour tortillas for serving ( i recommend the burrito size, as I had the soft taco size and they presented a problem with being rolled up- they were too small. 

    When you get a moo shoo dish from a Chinese restaurant, you get "pancakes" with them, and I have tried to make them; let me tell you they are more trouble than they're worth- they're thinner than crepes and tear and make one of my famous "messes" so when they suggested to try flour tortillas instead I went that way and I am glad for that option. I usually use the tortillas and roll the mix up burrito style 

   Heat a fry pan on high heat, add oil and heat until very hot. add shrimp and stir around until pink.

   Add the egg mixture and scramble around for about 2 minutes. You want fluffy pieces of scrambled egg.

   Add the garlic, mushrooms, if using, cabbage mix and green onions and cook and stir until the green onions are tender- it only takes a couple minutes.

   Serve over hot cooked rice or roll in warmed flour tortillas like a burrito. 

   Please note, the cabbage releases water so there is a considerable amount of liquid and the wrapped version can be drippy and messy. Still good. 

   Photo does not show it wrapped 

   As time goes on I will happily share more of these recipes but please be sure to check out the book yourself!, In the back of the book is a shopping list you can use to help you stock your kitchen! No , I get nothing for referring you, but you get lots of recipes and suggestions on how to stock your kitchen so you can make these fabulous recipes.

   Until next time! 

Sources: Sarah Kallio and Stacey Krastins: The Stocked Kitchen - One Grocery List ... Endless recipes/Atria Books 2013 pg 206

Crispy Orange Beef Wed, January 26, 2022

      Hello!  Hello!  Been a long time, but I think I might FINALLY be able to start paying this blog some attention. Operative word: might. 
     So, what have all you been up to? Me? RETIRED - mostly at least- I went from working 52 hours a week to a mere 13! So far, so good. Well, if I hadn't started out the year being ill, that is. But I am starting to feel human again, so maybe I can get on with life?

     So, what's new here is that I suddenly have been plagued with cravings for Chinese-type foods. Made Crispy Orange Chicken last week, and when I make it again I will add it here, but last night I went for the Beef version.

     So let me tell you a bit of background. I love steak. I grew up eating grilled steak just about every single Saturday night from the beginnings of my memories until I left my parents house at 23 years old. Sirloin, shell steaks, London broil, and flank. After leaving my parents home I discovered filet mignon, T-bone, porterhouse, and then onto Delmonico, only to culminate with my all-time favorite bone-in Rib steak. The absolute ultimate in this person's steak-eating world. There is nothing and I mean nothing finer than a perfectly medium-rare bone in rib steak, just a pinch of salt (watching my sodium intake, thank you, but cannot give up a pinch of salt on a hot grilled juicy piece of steak.) 

      My husband, on the other hand grew up eating chuck steaks and sirloin. He will agree with me, if you were to ask him, that rib steak is the A #1 top of the line steak. Of course, we veered off that course while we had three boys growing up, who could afford that, right? We discovered chuck-eye steaks, which are now nearly impossible to find. Yeah, the rest of the steak eating world discovered the eye of chuck, marinated and grilled to medium or medium rare offers a flavor that is nearly as tasty as a rib steak, for a lot less money. Problem is I haven't seen a chuck-eye in a store in over 10 years. OH, bother.

      So, early on I reached into my bag of tricks and brought home a flank steak one day. Turns out his mom would use flank to make braciole, a rolled and stuff piece of beef that is browned and cooked in spaghetti sauce. There's another topic we can get into in another post. 

     He had never had flank in any way other that braciole, and I only had had it marinated and grilled. I bought one from the local butcher one time, and the butcher even squawked, "the worst cut of beef ever"  to which I asked why. The butcher went on to tell me it was tough and stringy. And right there, I taught a butcher something. How to properly slice a flank steak so it was not tough and stringy. 

     You have to slice it, against the grain keeping the knife at a 30-45 degree angle, almost like shaving the beef into thin slices. Problem solved. Tender, not stringy, extremely tasty and no waste. Win-Win. Seeing the butcher again weeks later, he told me that he tried my slicing method and since has changed his opinion of the cut. 

     So, imagine, if you will, coming across a recipe that cuts this piece of meat that can be tough and stringy before it is cooked? I looked at the recipe and gasped! Sacrilege? I have always been of the school that you cannot cut beef before cooking it because it shocks the muscle and makes it tough ( I'm not a fan of store bought stew beef for that every reason, however, I am known to cut up my own chuck steak or London broil for stew, don't ask me why that doesn't toughen it up, can't explain the phenomena...?) 

    This crispy orange beef recipe does just that: takes a perfectly good flank steak and cuts it up before dredging it in cornstarch and cooking it. Imagine my surprise that this actually came out more tender than simply grilling this steak that had marinated in an butter, onion, &Worchester sauce . OMG! How can this be? ALL my beliefs have now been thrown out the window... Live and learn, I guess. Live and learn. 

    So there are no photos of this dish because I made a total mess of my kitchen in preparing it. No, really this is not a recipe for a messy cook (like me) but you know what? I don't care, I'm making it again, it was THAT good! 

     The other "issue" is that it has a lot of ingredients! See photo below:

    Oye vey! But I got through it and man was it good! Of course its not my own recipe, here's the link:

Crispy Orange Beef -Woks of Life

    Let me know if you try it and how it worked for you. Me? I'm making it again! (After I scrape up all the cornstarch) LOL.

     I will also post about the Crispy Orange Chicken, which is a completely different recipe than this, but it was also very, very good. 

    I currently have all the ingredients to make Moo Shu Shrimp and its on the agenda for this week so hopefully, my plans will pan out and I'll be posting again real soon! 

    Thanks for hanging in there with me, I know, I'm not as attentive here as I once was, but we all know how life gets in our way, right?

Credits:

 Crispy Orange Beef retrieved 1/22/2022 from https://thewoksoflife.com/orange-beef/ 

©2022 Aunt Barbara/ Food Flavors & Fun No Warranties Implied . Attempting techniques described within this blog, or at sites directed from here are done at your own risk, we assume no liability or responsibility for your outcome.
   

Disclaimer!

      Hello, all! Gearing up to start a new journey and want to try to cover my bases, and butt, if you must...LOL

     Like anyone who likes to eat and cook my inspiration comes from many places: Memories, other peoples' cooking, restaurant fare, street fairs, cookbooks, cooking shows, recipes received in my email (that's probably the MOST emails I get these days), cooking sites, TV shows. Not all my recipes are original, and I do try to give credit where its due, as far as I can be sure. The point is that I am not trying to steal, or take "credit" for recipes that are not my own. I am, however, sharing what I use, how I use it, or change or alter it.

 

     I posted a copyright notice earlier in this blog, so, while I might be inspired by another published recipe, any changes or alterations are mine, and it is only the alteration that I am copyrighting. Some recipes are "family" recipes, and I include that information the story, some recipes are from something I had in a restaurant and tried (and succeeded) in coming up with something similar; for example my "lobster fondue" recipe is only called that because it was inspired by a recipe of the same name by a famous national restaurant chain that has "lobster" in its name. My "take" ended up not being a fondue at all, but a bisque that tastes very much like its namesake, but in a different form. The entry credits where the inspiration came from but the recipe is mine because I changed it to a completely different dish, although very similar in taste, there is a vast difference between a fondue and a bisque.  Some recipes are merely inspired from others. 

     I promise to do my utmost best in giving credit to my inspiration, or to directing my readers to the source of my inspiration, to the best of my ability.

     I do not earn anything from sites I refer to or direct you to. I'm not in this for money. Although I will not rule out accepting referral credits in the future. Not there, yet.

      I strongly recommend you follow basic safety measures if you decide to try any of these recipes, when handling knives, scissors, cleavers, stoves, ovens, food processors or any other kitchen equipment I mention in these pages as I cannot accept responsibility of your kitchen equipment. If in doubt, don't try any of my suggestions at home.

     All images are copyrighted to their respective sources, as noted and if not noted Aunt Barbara @55butterflies @gmail.com retains copyright. They're my photos, credit or forget it. 

     Probably doesn't cover it completely, but I'm trying. And I detest the need to post this.  CMA.

   Try to enjoy. 

Aunt Barbara

Sunday November 28, 2021

    Where has time gone??? I had such plans to get this up and running and now look! It’s been 3-1/2 years! What in heck?

    Now, I’m on a very short countdown ‘til retirement! In a mere 24 days I will no longer be working 52 hours a week, but a mere 15-20 hours! I’m so excited I cannot stand it! I am tired, and tired of not doing what I love- cooking and writing about cooking! So, here’s to ANOTHER shift in this journey called life! 

     And… talking about shift in a journey wait til you hear what I have in store! Are you ready? Are you sure? Ok here goes!:

     Vegan pastas. You read that right! 

      One of my dearest and longest friends (over 50 years) has a daughter who is not only vegan, but she is also a chef! We are going to commensurate on a vegan ricotta cavatelli pasta! I have had many things JA has cooked and have enjoyed most- so I’m gonna give this a whirl. Don’t worry, I’ll share the experience and results. Of course this won’t happen til after the first of the year, I feel pretty safe in saying. And I look forward to learning some vegan ways. Don’t fret, however, I seriously doubt I’ll be switching sides any time soon- love me some rib steak! Lol

      That’s all I’m gonna say for now, but hope to see you all soon. 

Macaroni Salad/ May Celebrations

      Hello again, everyone. I know I have been away for a while again, and I have a great reason. While I have been cooking things up in my absence, I have not been cooking food. No, no, no, I have put much time into my second passion of natural soap making. I have created several "signature" scent and additive concoctions that seem to being flying off the proverbial shelves. I say proverbial because I do not actually have a store, as of yet, nor a working website, but I am working on both those options as I write this. Even though times flies by in the speed of light times 10 around here, I don't ever seem to have enough to address everything I want to. Someday, maybe?

     This evening I took some much deserved time-off to try to catch up on things and I got a look at the food celebrations for May. At first I was surprised that May is National Barbecue Month, then I realized that Memorial Day, the "unofficial start of summer" rounds out the month, so why not? And the observed Memorial Day Monday is also National Barbecue day and National Hamburger and Cheeseburger day. Someone was thinking on this one. 
     While I love hamburgers and cheeseburgers as well as anyone I think we should address some of the other foods often served at the traditional Memorial Day "cookout". Learning that cooking foods on a grill, whether gas or wood or charcoal, is not what real "barbecue" means, I have been trying (with much difficulty) to refer to backyard  cooking as grilling, and reserving the term "barbecue" for the real thing.  Whether I will ever address barbecuing in the pages of my blog has not been decided yet, I think I have a lot more research to do before I would even attempt to try to sound like I know what I am talking about. Maybe I just have so much respect for real  cooks, chefs and others that spend many years perfecting their methods of barbecue, and I don't want to insult them by pretending I belong in their class. For not, at least, with a few more years of practice and experimenting here, well, don't be surprised one day if I throw my 2 cents in on the topic as well.
    One day. Maybe.
     So what traditional sides are served on National Barbecue Day?  I think that really depends on where you are, regionally at least.  Speaking strictly for this blogger I admit we are B.O.R.I.N.G. We do the traditional Macaroni Salad, Potato salad, Cole slaw. We do occasionally, however, kick it up a bit: Cucumber and onion salad, carrot and raisin salad, Caprese salad with home made Mozzarella, homegrown Tomatoes and Basil-which is awesome when you have produced everything--if we only owned the cow and milked her ourselves, then, it would be a 99% self sustained dish, but as for raising dairy cow...I pass thank you.
   The men around here also like Italian Pasta Salad, which is a "take" on antipasto, however, they seem to miss the point that the "salad" is supposed to be a salad made with the things you would find on an antipasto platter, mixed in with some kind of pasta and mixed with an olive oil and vinegar dressing, The antipasto salads I have seen, and even made by mixing the ingredients requested by my menfolk, are so far from what a real antipasto is that I cannot even bring myself to eat it. I did learn, recently, however, one of the problems I have with this type of "salad" is that I do not like it cold. I can eat is right after its made and still warm, or room temperature, but once it chills, I do not like it. I don't know if its the oil and vinegar on the cold pasta, but I just don't see what everyone gets all warm and fuzzy over.

    Macaroni salad and potato salad, on the other hand OMG-- I just love them! The most astonishing thing about those two salads is that I use the same dressing recipe for both, oh and for cole slaw and carrot salad, now that I think about it. One dressing all salads. How convenient is that? Ready? Here goes:

Start with 1-1/2 cups mayo

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup white or cider vinegar. Sometimes you have to add a bit more sugar, I think because of the vinegar. Sometimes its a bit more tangy than others, probably happens during distillation. Who knows? Anyway, these measurements are approximates, but really really close. 

Mix the sugar and vinegar to start melting the sugar, add the mayo, and stir until smooth. Now here's a first: if you are making macaroni salad, and ONLY macaroni SALAD, rinse the macaroni in cool- cold water. Yes you read that correctly. You need to rinse the pasta and cool it before mixing the dressing into it, otherwise all that dressing will be sucked up and vanish into the pasta. Yes it still tastes great, but it dries out the salad so much I found I was forever making additional dressing and adding it later. Tried rinsing the pasta in cold water an Voila! problem solved. The pasta still absorbs some of the dressing,  but it does not suck it all up, leaving it dry. Who knew? Probably someone out there. And now we know, too.
     Macaroni salad, in my opinion also requires about 1/4 cup diced red and/or green bell pepper. the raw pepper imparts its mild flavor into the dressing and gives the salad just enough "umph" to make it what my childhood dreams are made of.

   I am just publishing posts that have been sitting in limbo --forever-- I had lost my password and moved and well life took over. 
    Now that I've been able to get back into my blog I plan on seeing how I can get restarted. 
    BUT..... I am about to embark on a long distance move. Like over 1200 miles! And beach and sand and hot humid muggy weather...sounds divine to me! I'm going to Florida! I'm not promising anything, because I do not know what I'll be walking into down there, but... I intend to try.

    Wishing you all the love and luck in the world. 

    Praying I receive the same.

    Until we meet again, I love you all.

~barbara

March Madness...again

     March is upon us once again, seems I always get back here for March.

      Instead of complaining or giving you 1,000 reasons why I have been MIA, how about we just pick up where we left off and just get on with this?

      In a previous post, I am sure, I began telling you about the food celebrations for the month, and because there are so many I probably skipped a few. Maybe I can fix that.

     March is National Celery Month and while I am not a huge fan of straight up celery it is indispensable when it comes to cooking especially when it is combined with onions, and bell peppers in the "holy trinity" of Louisiana Creole and Cajun cuisine. Celery, onions, and carrots make up the French mirepoix, often used as a base for sauces and soups. I certainly use celery in cooking, however, I dice it up very small, because I do not like to bite into a piece of celery. The flavor it brings to the party, however, prevents me from altogether omitting it from my cooking.

     March is also National Flour Month; I have a very strong attachment to flour; unbleached flour is my personal favorite, and I admit I am a big fan of King Arthur Flour. Until I find a way to grow, harvest and mill my own wheat I am stuck buying commercial flour and that's the way it has be.

     Flour, like celery,is not a stand alone ingredient, but there would be far less food products in the world without flour. No cakes or cookies or pasta or bread. Heaven forbid.  Seriously.

     The next food celebration for March is Frozen Foods, so important are frozen foods that not only is March the month they are celebrated, but frozen foods also has a special day, March 6th. With the current trend to go all natural and fresh its a wonder why this is being doubly celebrated, unless, of course you consider Ice cream, sorbet and gelato. Those are frozen foods to be celebrated!

   March also is the National Nutrition Month which highlights First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative to raise a healthier generation of kids, and No Kid Hungry which the entertainment industry has embraced.  Raising children to eat properly and teaching as many people as possible how to eat properly is a cause near and dear to my heart. Coming from an immigrant family learning how to stretch the food dollar with nutritious and delicious foods is a combination of skills which need to be handed down to each generation. Our forefathers immigrated here for a better life for their children, feeding them was one of the top priorities on their list. 

  Moving along, March is also National Noodle Month, which goes hand-in-hand with National Flour Month. Noodles offer so many options it boggles my mind. Noodles can mean almost anything, and now with the invention of the Spriralizer® you can make "noodles" or noodle-like foods out of just about anything!

 Moving along, March is National Peanut Month, National Sauce Month and National Caffeine Awareness Month, the latter being one that many of us will sigh and roll our eyes, "they're going to tell us all the evils of caffeine". Yeah, I will have to investigate that one before I weigh in on it. I had to mention it, however, otherwise I would be remiss.

     March also has a few week-long celebrations: the second week honors Chocolate Chip Cookies and National School Breakfast Week, the third week is American Chocolate week.
     One special celebration is Maple Syrup Saturday observed on the third Saturday of March; and who could forget the most famous Irish celebration of them all? March 17, St. Patrick's Day- also known as Corned Beef and Cabbage Day?

      Sadly, very sadly, our Irish ancestors did not really enjoy corned beef much before they settled in America, escaping their homeland due to poverty and starvation spurred by the failure of the potato crop for a few years. Of course the reason the peasantry was so reliant on potatoes is regrettable, as well, due to some competition between Catholicism and the Church of England the English stripped the Irish Catholics of their lands and forced them into the position of tenant farming, and setting up an entire people to nearly starve to death as a result of the potato blight. One thing affects the other on a grand scale. It always amazed me that the strain of potato that was susceptible to the blight that caused the tubers to rot in the ground was not the only species of potato, just the one that flourished in the Irish climate and eventually nearly caused the demise of an entire class of people; the entire country of peasants put their lives in one basket, so to speak.
     Moving back on track, we start with the daily celebrations and as every month's celebrations March's are just as diverse as any other month's. A few years ago I made a Frozen Coconut Torte on March 13 for that day's celebration, and unfortunately working full time out of the home and more appropriately, out of the kitchen, it is indeed difficult to post my personal forays into the food celebrations; most of the time I hand off cooking duties to my right hand, the Big E, and he's done great with cooking for the family. I greatly miss cooking all day and posting photos of my creations, perhaps in my next life, or after I retire, whichever comes first I will be able to indulge myself. In the meantime, I have to make do with what I have "Bloom Where You Are Planted – 1 Corinthians 7:17-24. Okay I hear ya.
     This year we get to observe Good Friday in March, as it is a movable holy day, that coincides with the full moons in spring, if I remember correctly, and Easter, as well; Good Friday is also National Hot Cross Bun day.

     This year I think we will tackle Hot Cross Buns, which will also honor National Flour Month and I will get to work with a sweet dough, which I don't get to work with very much. I am getting excited!
    The following recipe is courtesy of King Arthur Flour:
Hot Cross  Buns:

• 1/4 cup apple juice or rum
• 1/2 cup mixed dried fruit
• 1/2 cup raisins or dried currants
• 1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
• 3 large eggs, 1 separated
• 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 4 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Topping

• 1 large egg white, reserved from above

• 1 tablespoon milk

Icing

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 4 teaspoons milk, or enough to make a thick, pipeable icing

Buns

• 2 ounces apple juice or rum
• 2 3/4 ounces mixed dried fruit
• 2 3/4 ounces raisins or dried currants
• 10 ounces milk, room temperature
• 3 large eggs, 1 separated
• 3 ounces butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 7/8 ounces light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 19 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Topping

• 1 large egg white, reserved from above
• 1/2 ounce milk

Icing

• 4 1/2 ounces confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 4 teaspoons milk, or enough to make a thick, pipeable icing

Buns

• 57g apple juice or rum
• 78g mixed dried fruit
• 78g raisins or dried currants
• 283g milk, room temperature
• 3 large eggs, 1 separated
• 85g butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 53g light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 539g King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Topping

• 1 large egg white, reserved from above
• 14g milk

Icing

• 128g confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 4 teaspoons milk, or enough to make a thick, pipeable icing

Instructions

1. Lightly grease a 10" square pan or 9" x 13" pan.
2. **Mix the rum or apple juice with the dried fruit and raisins, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave briefly, just till the fruit and liquid are very warm, and the plastic starts to "shrink wrap" itself over the top of the bowl. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Note: If you worry about using plastic wrap in your microwave, simply cover the bowl with a glass lid.
3. When the fruit is cool, mix together all of the dough ingredients except the fruit, and knead, using an electric mixer or bread machine, till the dough is soft and elastic. Mix in the fruit and any liquid not absorbed.
4. Let the dough rise for 1 hour, covered. It should become puffy, though may not double in bulk.
5. Divide the dough into billiard ball-sized pieces, about 3 3/4 ounces each. A heaped muffin scoop (about 1/3 cup) makes about the right portion. You'll make 12 to 14 buns. Use your greased hands to round them into balls. Arrange them in the prepared pan.
6. Cover the pan, and let the buns rise for 1 hour, or until they've puffed up and are touching one another. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.
7. Whisk together the reserved egg white and milk, and brush it over the buns.
8. Bake the buns for 20 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.
9. Mix together the icing ingredients, and when the buns are completely cool, pipe it in a cross shape atop each bun.

**  Being microwave-cautious I will, instead, warm the liquid and soak the fruits until they are plump.

  I have been doing some research on Hot Cross Buns and was a bit surprised to find they have been around since pre-medieval times, although probably not the same, exact recipe, however the tradition of sweet bread with dried fruits and a cross across the top, sometimes made into the actual dough, sometimes an icing. Here's a link to a very interesting piece about the history of Hot Cross Buns: Hot Cross Buns  Who knew?

     Now that my mouth is watering, I am going to go start collecting what I need to attack this recipe.