Will Work for Buns

Life is an adventure, and every day is a lesson learned. In my food life I still have a long way to go, but there are a few things that are coming along nicely. Like buns, for example. Today I made the most amazing hamburger buns, and they were so worth the effort.

Weekends always seem to bring out the hamburger craving in us, and for some reason it usually strikes at the last minute when there just isn’t time to make buns. Often we improvise with Griddled-bread-buns, just plain bread, or we skip the burgers all together. This day was different. As my honey and I were waking this morning and still laying in bed, relaxing to the lazy day ahead of us, we felt the hamburger craving sneak in.

It wasn’t even 8am yet, so there was plenty of time for buns! And even plenty of time to have buns for lunch!

So, that’s how I spent my morning: In the kitchen, with the family, and my dough. I decided to make 2 batches, so we would have leftovers, and while I was at it I made a huge batch of black bean tortillas, to freeze for later.

Cooking from scratch is really a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it you can plan ahead, develop a rhythm, and make extras to freeze for later. Although frozen food isn’t the ideal, it is so much better (and cheaper) than store bought, and so much easier than slaving away in the kitchen all day, every day.

I was so happy with my buns today, I just couldn’t stop touching them and smelling them. Delightful!

My honey made the burgers, as he does, and they were fantastic. Perfectly seasoned, nicely shaped, and cooked just right. They were juicy and tender. The kids all loved them and gobbled them up.  What an amazing, delicious combination this day turned out to be.

Related Recipes:

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Griddled-bread-buns

Hamburger Patties

Black Bean Tortillas

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Moment of Weakness: 42 lbs of BEANS

As I was out-n-about this afternoon I happened to stop by my local Macey’s grocery store. I don’t do this very often, as it is sort of out of the way for me, but I do like the store and they usually have pretty good sales. Today, it happened to be on my exact route home, and I had only 3 things on my list: milk, celery, and hair gel. I was focused, and determined to run in quickly and not deviate from my direct objective.

Haha, yea right.

I’ve been contemplating over the last few days about what would be the most effective way to shop. I was deciding between either 1. buying bargain items and finding uses for them, or 2. waiting for the items I use regularly to go on sale and then stocking up at that time. Well I had just come to the decision that I would go with #2, and buy only items on my list, and when I saw an item on sale that I regularly stock in my pantry (even if I have plenty at the moment) I will buy a bunch of it.

The first thing I saw when I walked in the store was a huge sale display of bulk food storage items! How could I not at least look? Since I had given myself permission to stock up on stuff, I was able to browse through quickly (without feeling guilty) and find the things I use that were at a good price. I ended up with: dried onion flakes, onion powder, garlic powder, yeast, wheat gluten, and a 42 lb bucket of Black Beans!
(oh yeah, I also did get the 3 original items on my list)

I am so excited! I know I was waiting to buy the beans at Costco, but I decided I’ve found a sufficient amount of bean uses to at least get me started. Plus, Costco only has Pinto beans, and I was going to need to find somewhere to buy Black Beans anyway.

So, that’s my story. I did it. I gave in. And I’m pretty pleased at the moment. I paid $39 for the beans, so I’m hoping that’s a good price; I really have no idea. That would make them just under $1 a lb…but they are in a huge bucket that would cost at least $5-8 in addition, so that makes it a little cheaper. I’ll round it down to an even .85/lb. Now I’ll have to look around and see how much Walmart and Winco charge for Black Beans, just to make sure I got a good deal, and to know for future purchasing. I am so new to actually comparing prices that I really haven’t got a clue about what’s a good deal for most things.

I recently did some comparing between Walmart, Winco, and Costco for some items and made an unofficial (but official in for my own shopping needs) decision that Costco has the best deals in general, on name brand items. Some things I won’t buy generic, so I definitely buy those at Costco. Winco and Walmart are similar for generic brand items, but Winco sells more things in bulk than Walmart.

Basically, to summarize: I buy most bulk things from Costco, if Costco doesn’t have it and I want it in bulk I buy it from Winco, and anything I don’t need in bulk I buy from Walmart. I guess I will now have to throw in an occasional trip to Macey’s to see what they have on sale.

Little hands love beans too

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Purple Tortillas: Best. Tacos. EVER!

Beans and tortillas. It’s a natural progression in my search for bean uses, at least in my opinion. Today I made the most amazing, soft, and purple (black bean) tortillas. They were so soft. They were also really easy to make, and the dough was easy to roll out. My favorite part was the purple color, and being April fools day, my kids thought it was a joke!

Here are some tips for making tortillas:

Let the dough rest before rolling

Roll as paper thin as possible (thin as a dime)

Lift and rotate the actual tortilla between rolls, to stretch and form the round shape

Cook on medium high heat, until bubbles form, then flip; will be softer if not overcooked

Place a clean towel inside a gallon size zipper bag, and keep the tortillas in the towel while cooking the rest. This will keep them moist and soft and not soggy.

Make a whole bunch at one time, to use for later. Store cooked tortillas in the fridge; or freezer.

I made black bean chicken tacos out of these purple tortillas, and they were SO amazing! The best tacos ever, even my picky kids ALL ate them, and asked for more.

Yay for beans!

Related Recipes:

Chicken Black Bean Tacos

Black Bean (purple) Tortillas

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Lazy to Learned: Pasta Dough

Today I made a fantastic discovery. I have apparently been a lazy chef when it comes to making pasta dough. I have been putting all the ingredients in my mixer and expecting it to come out perfectly. Well, it has been a bit of a disaster, and I was becoming discouraged with the abilities of my mixer.

Ok, the discovery:

Last night, as I was laying in bed about to fall asleep (I know, it’s sad, I daydream about pasta) I had a sudden inspiration. I thought I should try to start out with only half the required flour, mix it up really good, and then add the rest a little at a time. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before; I guess I just wanted to get it done fast. This method is similar to how you make bread dough, and I’m quite learned in making bread dough, so it’s silly that I didn’t figure it out sooner. I think I assumed bread and pasta were different enough that they couldn’t be compared.

Well, I tried it out…and voila! Perfect. Yep, perfect. The mixer did a wonderful job. The pasta dough actually came together with the dough hook, formed a nice dough ball, and I was able to knead it fully in the mixer. Neat-o! I’m absolutely ecstatic.

Now that I have the method figured out I’m excited to work with pasta some more. I’m still on my bean path, but today I’m combining the two. I am trying a chicken white bean pasta noodle, and I’m going to serve it with a white bean cream of chicken soup. In the soup I am adding black beans and veggies. It should be interesting, if nothing else. I think it’ll be delicious…or maybe I’m just starving right now and so I would think glue is delicious?

I’ll let you know how it turns out…and then I’ll post those recipes...

OK, here's the update:
Boy #2 said "oh no not pasta, i hate pasta". to which i replied "this is a new one, i have to keep trying new ones until we find one you like". Boy #1 said "don't tell me we're having pasta for dinner". to which i replied "ok, i won't tell you"
...in the end they all ate it, but didn't all love it. Boy #1 ate it all, and didn't complain, Girl actually asked for seconds, Boy #2 only finished his to get a brownie, and littlest only ate one bite--after much convincing.
Myself, I thought it was pretty good (and my honey even had seconds). I served the soup over the pasta and enjoyed it, but it does have a somewhat distracting bean flavor (imagine that? hm), but once i put the pasta and soup all on top of a piece of garlic toast it was amazing. yum! so, be sure to serve it with garlic toast...and don't forget the brownies, in case you need bribes.

Related Recipes:
Cream of Chicken White Bean Soup
Chicken White Bean Pasta Noodles
Garlic Toast
Black Bean Brownies

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