Tammy's Recipes

Ever notice how grapes first start going bad where they're attached to the stem? Joshua mentioned this to me one time, and ever since then I always feel compelled to look at where the grape was attached to the stem, to see just how good it really is.

And sometimes the grape doesn't look so good there at the top. But it's easily remedied by a sharp knife (I prefer serrated): just cut off the very top of the grape and eat/serve as normal. :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

We're seriously looking into purchasing a grain mill. Since a grain mill is a significant purchase, I've been waiting to make sure I really want one badly enough. (I hesitate to call a grain mill a "need" since we currently live without one!)

I'd love some advice on grain mills! Please share your experience and recommendations! Things like brand comparisons, how fine the flour is, how long it takes to grind enough flour for a couple of loaves of bread (6-8 cups), how noisy/dusty your mill is, and how much of a taste difference you notice between freshly-milled flour and flour that's been sitting around for a while -- I want to hear it!! :)

My kitchen tip for this week: Get in the habit of cleaning your plate! I'm not talking about stuffing yourself when you're full -- I'm talking about getting into the habit of taking small servings and eating every single bite off your plate. Every piece and scoop of everything.

Why do we eat everything on our plates? We're making ourselves think about what we're dishing up, before we put it on our plate, rather than mindlessly filling a plate with food and then either throwing away what's left after we've picked over it or else going to the bother of putting away individual leftovers.

Before we eat, we thank our heavenly Father for the blessing of a delicious meal -- and we demonstrate our thankfulness for His provision by not wasting any of it.

And on a practical note, requiring that each person at the table clean their plate before being dismissed means that the dish washer (me!) doesn't need to fiddle with the compost bucket after meals. My dish water doesn't get nearly as dirty when the plates have been scraped neatly. And that means I can wash more dishes with less water!

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

Joshua's mom gave us this suggestion a few years ago, and we've been doing it ever since:

When making scrambled eggs, add a dab of sour cream (or kefir!) to the eggs before you scramble them. They'll be moist and fluffy and so yummy! :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

When I make a casserole, I like to make enough for two meals (9x13). I have found that how well we enjoy the leftovers depends a lot on how they're re-heated!

We don't have a microwave, and re-heating leftovers in a pan on the stove is only okay, not spectacular.

So what I have been doing is this: at the end of the meal, I transfer the leftover casserole to a( smaller) glass casserole dish. I cover the glass dish and refrigerate it until we're ready to eat the leftovers. Then I re-warm them in the oven (usually at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes).

It takes longer than warming on the stove top, but the food usually tastes just as good as fresh! :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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Here's a quick tip about making baked potatoes:

Be sure to stick the potatoes with a fork right before putting them in the oven. If you poke them ahead of time, the holes sometimes seal over and cause the potato to still explode in the oven! This has happened to my mom when she tried to use the delayed-bake feature on her oven for baked potatoes while she way away from home...

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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We eat lots of bananas at our house, between packed lunches, smoothies, and snacks. Kim C.'s post about the convenience of bananas rings true! Now, if only bananas hadn't doubled in price recently. At least we're not consuming 30 pounds of bananas each week, like Kim's family. ;)

To keep bananas from ripening as quickly, separate them at the top, and keep greener bananas away from more yellow ones. Riper bananas emit more ethylene which causes the other bananas to ripen more quickly.

If you ever do want a banana to ripen more quickly, you can put it in a brown paper bag and close the top. :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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I'm back in business! Well, the smoothie-making business. ;)

I had been drinking kefir smoothies every morning, but when I was expecting Ruth, "morning sickness" took over and suddenly even just the thought of another kefir smoothie made me sick!

So, I decided to try dehydrating my kefir grains, so that I could save them for later. I rinsed the grains, laid them on a clean paper towel, and laid another paper towel lightly on top (to keep dust off). I put them (covered as described) on top of the fridge (for extra warmth, but not too much warmth). In a few days, they were small and hard and yellow. I put the dried grains in a small container, covered them with powdered milk, and snapped the lid on tight. I put the container in a dark cupboard.

A few weeks ago, I got out my dried grains. I first put them in a jar of room-temperature water for a couple of days. Then I drained them and started putting them in milk. I only used a small amount of milk (1/4 cup) at first, changing it once a day.

After about 2 weeks, the grains were making kefir again. Now those same grains have been re-hydrated for about 3 weeks, and I am using 2 cups of milk for them each day, which makes a nice thick kefir.

The children love smoothies, and we have been having fun trying different varieties with our kefir. :) Our favorite one is really just a simple strawberry banana kefir smoothie. We like to drink our smoothies from these wine glasses, just for fun. We may as well enjoy our fancy glasses, right? ;) I do have to be careful to keep the glasses away from little fingers when we are washing dishes, though... :)

My grains seem to be thriving! I'm making about 2 cups of kefir each day, which is plenty for smoothies, fluffy kefir pancakes, and any other recipe that calls for buttermilk. ;)

I'd love to hear if any of my blog readers are making their own kefir! :) How much to you make each day, and what are your favorite uses for it? :)

If you're still wondering what kefir is, go here. :) You can also read my instructions for making homemade kefir.

I got this email from Andrea:

My question is about the pita bread recipe. I have dry active yeast, the recipe said dry yeast. Is there a difference or do I need to go and look for something specific?

You can use active dry yeast or instant active dry yeast. There should be some basic directions on your package of yeast. :) I have been using instant active dry yeast, since that's what I can get in bulk. Until just a couple of years ago, I didn't even know there were two different types of active dry yeast!

I was going to write some more about yeasts, but came across this forum post which has some good information. :) Anyone interested in bread baking might enjoy checking out the rest of that site, as well! :)

I also got this email from Julie:

I just made your whole wheat pitas and they were very good! I had issues with some of the pockets being stuck together in places. Have you had this issue? Do you know how I can avoid it next time?

I have had great success with the homemade pita pockets, except for one occasion.

For some reason, I rolled them very thin, and they didn't make nice pockets. They were stuck together in places... and some of them didn't puff at all!

So make sure you're not rolling the dough too thin. A six-inch circle will still make a nice pocket when cut in half! :)

Has anyone else had trouble with the pita pockets?

My gallon jar of honey is in a semi-solid state. This is actually a good thing, since that makes it much easier to measure.

When I'm making bread (like challah, for example!), I measure my honey into a bowl (or the bread machine pan). To be completely honest, most times I just use a long-handled spoon to scoop out the honey, and try to guess on the amount. ;)

Then I heat up about half of the water that's called for in the bread recipe. I heat the water really hot (maybe even to boiling!) and add it to the honey in my bowl. Sometimes I add salt or sugar or other things that the recipe calls for, but not eggs, flour, or yeast, for sure. ;)

Then, I get one of my kitchen helpers to come and stir the honey until it melts. Before long, I have some lovely melted honey! I add the rest of the water that the recipe calls for -- only I use cold water this time. This makes the water and honey mixture the right temperature for making bread. And I continue on with my recipe... :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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Here's how we keep our grilled cheese sandwiches from getting soggy while we get ready to eat:

We use a wire cooling rack (the one in the picture has a plate under it to catch the crumbs). We like our grilled cheese to be crisp (and not soggy!). :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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A recent question asked in a comment here:

How could you measure out a certain amount of dry macaroni or a certain ounce size of block cheese from bigger portions? Would you use a measuring cup? I don't know if this is the same type of measurement. Thanks!!

Usually recipes call for a weight of dry pasta. One pound of elbow macaroni is about 4 cups of dry pasta, so if your recipe called for 8 ounces of macaroni, you would need 2 cups. You can either measure two cups from your box, or (what I usually do) take a guess. If it's a 16-ounce box, I just try to estimate how much would be half of the box.

If you buy your pasta in bulk, the dry measurements would be helpful! If you're not buying in bulk, the label of the box of pasta should have the weight and measurements (look under "serving size" and "servings per container").

For measuring cheese, I am usually cutting cheese from a fairly small (8 or 16 ounce) block. Shredded cheese is easier to measure -- 1 cup of shredded cheese (not packed) is supposed to be about 4 ounces. In most of my recipes, I try to give both measurements for the shredded cheese (ounces and cups).

Edited to add: Actually, I think I misunderstood your question!

A cup of water, for example, is 8 fluid ounces. Eight ounces of pasta is a weight measurement, and not a fluid or liquid measurement, so that is why 8 ounces of macaroni is actually more than a measuring cup full.

Does anyone else have tips for measuring these items, particularly if you purchase them in bulk?

First, as I mentioned last week, this is "backwards kitchen tips" week -- your chance to ASK everyone for kitchen tips instead of giving them! :)

I would really like to start making all of our salad dressings from scratch. My problem with this in the past has been that all of my homemade dressings have a life-span of about one week, due to the ingredients used (milk, tomato sauce, chopped onions, etc.).

We don't eat enough salad to use the dressing that quickly, partly because Joshua and I have different tastes in dressings so I always need at least 2 kinds on hand. I really don't want to make up two kinds of dressing from scratch every week, either... I'm busy enough as it is! :)

Are there any good homemade salad dressing recipes that will keep for a longer period of time? If I used dehydrated onions or garlic in the dressing, would it not go bad as quickly as freshly chopped onions and garlic? Help!!

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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Clean dishes, clear counter. At least, that's how it's supposed to work! ;)

I've probably mentioned this before, but I always try to have my dishes washed before I go to bed. (I wash them by hand.) That way, they can air dry in the drainer on my counter over night. (No towel-drying = more free time!)

In the morning, I can quickly put away the dry dishes, stash my drainer under the sink, and have a clear counter for a while. When it was just Joshua and me, the "clear counter" part lasted almost all day. Now, it doesn't last long at all, but it's still a great motivator to keep the kitchen clean! :)

So, anyway, that's what helps me keep on top of the dishes somewhat! :)

Next week, let's all ask for help on kitchen-related issues, okay? I have a question I've been meaning to ask for advice about! :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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Have you ever read a recipe that told you to pre-heat your oven first thing -- before doing 20 minutes (or more!) of work to get your food ready to be baked? That's a lot of extra heating time!

I timed how long my oven takes to pre-heat. (Mine takes about 5 minutes to get up to 350 degrees; higher temperatures take a little longer, of course.) Now, when I'm baking, I turn on the oven when I am just a few minutes from being ready to put the food inside -- usually for me, that's about when I'm greasing the pan(s) and getting ready to pour in the batter or form the cookies. :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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Jessica asked,

Since you do a lot of baking, how do you determine what you keep 'in stock' at home? Every family is different and has different likes, but I was curious as to how you decide what to keep on hand for cookies, muffins, breads etc. I bake a good bit, but would like to do more and keep it the freezer too. Do you make a list of things to make each week and have the ingredients on hand for it, or do you just keep the same stuff handy and make whatever you can with it?

I don't have a menu for baked goods each week. I do try to always keep certain things on hand, such as granola, a healthy treat (muffins, banana bread, etc.), and a sweet treat (cookies, cake, etc.).

I use the freezer for storing a lot of my baked goods, because I usually want them to last for at least a couple weeks! :) This especially applies to the sweet desserts. I like to make large batches of cookies at one time, but there's no way we can (or should!) eat that many in one week.

I put two different baked goods in Joshua's lunches -- something healthy and something sweet. I decide when and what to make based on what we're running low on... and I also make whatever sounds good to me at the time -- or, if I have ripe bananas, something that uses up what needs to be used! :)

I do keep most of my ingredients on hand, like flour, sugar, raisins, spices, oats, canned pumpkin, etc. I don't buy bananas just for baking, because we usually end up with some extras every few weeks (I do keep those on hand for eating fresh). :)

I also don't have a "baking day", but instead just try to fit some baking in as needed. Yesterday, I noticed that we were almost out of granola, so that was on my list for today. :)

I'd love some input from readers! How do you decide what to keep on hand? Do you put baked goods in your freezer? How do you fit the "extra" baking (i.e. not for regular meals!) into your schedule? :)

I just recently came across this tip, but have already used it numerous times:

When you have a baked casserole that needs to be covered with foil, and you've filled the dish so full that the foil touches the food, just grease the inside of the foil before you put it on the dish. This is especially handy for dishes with cheese or tomato sauce (acidic) on top.

I usually do my greasing with butter, though you can use oil, shortening, or cooking spray if you want. I use butter because it's fairly healthy and won't leave marks on my pans. :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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A reader asked:

How old were your boys when they were ready to help in the kitchen, or around the house at all? How old when they started standing on chairs (safely) to help or watch? I would love to be including my little one more... any ideas for a first job?

Well, the first job I have given to both Yehoshua and Eliyahu, was helping with dishes. I wash my dishes by hand, so I just put a chair up beside me and let them "help". They could do this job as soon as they could stand up while holding onto things (i.e. before they could walk). This post has more details about exactly how I (safely) do it... and a few more pictures of Eliyahu helping me the first time he got to do dishes. :)

I took this picture of Eliyahu the first time he helped with dishes ,at 10 months -- he's 25 months old now and still runs for a chair whenever he hears me turn on the water. :)

Helping with the dishes is so much fun for my boys. Many days, they still both stand on the chair together and help. Dishes is one of the easiest chores for me to get done with little children around -- because I just let them help! It does take some patience, and sometimes my back hurts from leaning around them to reach the drainer, but they have so much fun. :)

But really, I just play things by ear when it comes to helpers in the kitchen. The first few times I let Eliyahu stir things for me, he made a mess... but we worked on trying to be more neat, and now he does pretty well. Don't be afraid to try new things with your little one, just to see if they're big enough to do it! Sometimes my boys surprise me with how capable they are on the first try! :D

This post about working alongside our children also has a lot of great starter ideas for chores around the house, and I also have a podcast about cooking with children -- that page includes links to lots of other cooking-with-children posts, as well. :) I'm almost wondering if I should start a whole new category for posts about cooking with little helpers! :)

Now, my tip for this week is this:

When you are measuring things, and you have lots of little helpers, invariably you will be interrupted at least once while you're counting out the 12 cups of oats, or the 6 cups of flour. Counting out loud makes it much easier to remember where you left off before you were interrupted!

I now know why my mom always counted out loud when she was measuring things. It wasn't to teach her little ones how to count... it was so that when someone asked, "Hey, mom, where's my ____?" and the baby got into trouble, and the other little one said "I have to go potty!", she wouldn't forget how many cups of flour she had already measured.

But, I'm sure all you moms-of-many already knew this tip, right? I just figured it out a few months ago. :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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Amy wrote with this question:

I've made your herb bread, and your wheat bread. I just can't get my bread to rise above the pan. Well, the herb bread does rise a bit higher, but nothing like the picture. What am I doing wrong?

Hi, Amy!

First, I'm sure you already know the basics -- things like making sure you have good yeast, not using cold ingredients, and placing the dough in a warm location to rise. There are more bread tips and ideas posted here and here.

My guess, though, it that the height of the loaf has more to do with the size of loaf pan you're using. I have two sizes:

The pans on the left are 8 x 4 inches, and seem to be commonly sold these days. The pans on the right are 7 x 3 inches, and are the size my mom always used for bread loaves. (I got mine at a garage sale.)

I really prefer the slightly-smaller loaf pans, as they make a taller loaf, but still aren't too narrow. If you have the 8 x 4 pans, you'd have to use a lot of dough to make a tall loaf...

However, you could try increasing your loaf size by increasing the recipe amounts. We've found that the "secret" to big fluffy bagels or cinnamon rolls wasn't a new recipe, but rather decreasing the number of rolls or bagels we made from our recipe. :)

I hope this helps! :) By the way, if you have emailed me recently, please be patient... I just haven't taken time to answer much email lately. :)

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I don't have a kitchen tip to share this week... we've been taking it easy... I even went to bed early last night, without posting the Mr. Linky for you all! :| But, I'll be ready next week with a good tip (just need to take pictures for it!). In the meantime, you can browse my kitchen tip archives or visit the links below! :)

To participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Post a kitchen tip in your blog, with a link to this post. Then come here and add your name, tip subject, and URL to this post! Links must be family friendly, as always. If you don't have a blog but would still like to share a tip, just leave a comment here with your tip! Everyone's ideas are appreciated. :) Note: Please link to your individual post, not your blog's main/front page! Thanks for participating! :)

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