Available at: http://jpfo.org/

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Post 2 of my exercise totals of which I will start tracking yearly distance on 01 January 2012.

Last week was a bit disappointing, as there were a couple days that I just did not feel like going to the gym, or doing any other type of exercise. 

Summary Report: 10 December – 16 December 2012

Total Time: 6:12:32
Bike Duration: 3:08:32
Strength Duration: 3:04:01
Bike Distance: 67.80 miles
Walk Distance: 0 miles

Total Distance: 67 miles
Calories Burned: 3105

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Decided that I wanted to make some bread for the weekend, so thought it would be interesting to make another no knead type bread. The bread turned out great, with just a bit of sweetness.  Considering the amount of whole wheat in this dough, the bread is not heavy at all.  The crust has a huge amount of flavor as is or toasted.  Speaking of toasting – This bread is wonderful when toasted in a toaster oven – put a generous amount of olive oil on the  bread along with a clove or two of minced garlic, a sprinkle of salt, sesame seeds, ground pepper, and a very fine dusting of hot red pepper.  Toast until the edges are brown, but do not let the center become brown, just lightly tan.  This will leave the garlic flavorful and not bitter.

I did not have a recipe that I was interested in making, so I just threw some things together and came up with the following:

Recipe:  Honey Wheat Seed Bread – No Knead

Ingredients:

6 ounces flour, white unbleached
12 ounces Wheat Berries ground (or use whole wheat flour )
2.1 ounces honey
1  teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon yeast active dry
1.25  cups water; room temperature (adjust as needed)
1 Tablespoon Sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
2 Tablespoons Chia Seeds

Procedure:

1. Add all dry ingredients except seeds and combine.

2. Mix water with honey and add to dry ingredients.  Mix until just blended.

3. Add or subtract water as appropriate.  Dough should not be sticky, but will be a bit tacky.

4. Add seeds as desired and mix until evenly incorporated.  All seed measurements are approximate – add whatever seeds you want.

5. Place dough in glass bowl (I used the same bowl I mixed the bread in) and cover with plastic wrap.

6. Let dough sit overnight.

7. Lightly knead dough, form into round shape, and place in well floured Banneton.

8. Place Banneton in a plastic bag and let rise 2 – 4 hours.

9. Place baking stone and a steam pan filled with hot water in oven and preheat oven to 500.

10. Place bread on parchment paper on a peal, and place in oven.

11. Immediately dump 1/2 cup how water in oven – close oven door.  Wait 30 seconds and dump another 1/2 cup hot water in oven.

12. Lower oven temperature to 425 and bake for 30 minutes.

13. Check bread and if not done, lower temperature to 400 and bake another 10 or so minutes.

14. Internal temperature should be between 200 and 205.

15. Let cool and eat…..

Next time I make this bread I will allow it to sit for 24 hours rather than just overnight. I think this will allow even more flavor to develop, and allow for a better rise in the oven. Other than that, I was quite satisfied with the product.

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Thought I would start tracking my weekly mileage and other exercise information. I will start tracking yearly distance on 01 January 2012.

Summary Report:  26 November – 02 December 2012

Total Time:  7:06:56
Bike Duration:  4:00:03
Strength Dur:  2:28:32
Bike Distance:  86.80 miles
Walk Distance:  2.50 miles

Total Distance: 89.30 miles
Calories Burned: 3557

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Went up the West Glacier Trail last week.  After we passed the 1.25 miles, there were no other footprints in the snow – It is always enjoyable being the first up the trail in the winter.

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In the past few weeks I have canned 57 pints of various beans, and just completed canning 25 pints of chili and beans. I really do not have a defined recipe for the chili, it was simply a mixture of meat, beans, tomato sauce and paste, as well as spices.  I just eyeball everything and it usually tastes good. 

I will post the hot salsa recipe next week, as I need to can some more.

Recipe:  Chili

Ingredients:

2 pounds Pinto Beans
2 Pounds Ground Beef – extra lean
3 pounds Pork lion – extra lean
4 cans Tomato sauce
2 cans Tomato paste
Chili Powder
Cumin
Seasoning salt
Hot Salsa – Homemade
Water – as needed to ensure beans rehydrate and to thin chili mixture.

Procedure:

1. Soak beans for 24 hours and rinse very well.
2. Brown meat and add all of the ingredients except the beans.  Simmer for an hour – let sit overnight (or not).
3. Combine rinsed beans with the chili mixture and heat until almost hot (or cold pack – up to you).
4. Place in pint jars leaving one inch head space. 
5. Slowly heat canner until it starts venting – I take about 40 or so minutes for this. 
6. Vent for 10 minutes.
7. Process at 10 pounds for 75 minutes.
8. You know the rest.

One thing I will do differently next time is not mix the beans with the chili prior to filling the jars.  In the future, I will add the beans to the jars, then add the chili mixture.  What I found is that the final 6 or so jars had too many beans and not enough meat.

An image of the 25 pints of chili – all sealed and ready to store:

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After a long day of cooking and cleaning for Thanksgiving, my Carmel Amber Ale was the perfect beer to finish the night with:

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As part of my Thanksgiving Dinner, I made a Cherry Pie.   I am not a fan of cherry pie, but my brother is, so I decided to make one for him.  Everyone liked the pie, and I think that the crust is probably the best crust I have made.  It was very flaky and flavorful, and it was tender.  People usually do not comment much on the crust, but I think everyone at dinner told me how good the crust was. 

The pie only had about 4 hours to cool, but the filling had set enough where the filling was not runny.  I was going to use corn starch because I had it on hand, but I looked up the differences of corn and potato starch, and decided to go with the potato starch as the original recipe indicated.  I used regular, not low fat, cream cheese.  The original recipe calls for almond extract but I ran out, so I substituted vanilla extract – no one complained.

Below is an image of my pie along with some corn bread.

Recipe:  Cherry Pie

Crust:

2 1/2 cup Flour – All purpose
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/2 teaspoons Salt
8  tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces – frozen
4 tablespoons Shortening, in chunks – frozen
8  tablespoons Cream cheese, cold
1/3 cup Water – Cold

Pie Filling:

3 cans Tart Cherries (14.5 ounces each) – water packed and drained – reserve one cup cherry juice.
1 cup Cherry juice reserved from above
1 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Potato starch
1/2  teaspoons Vanilla extract
1 tablespoons Butter

Pie Top:

1 each Egg white – lightly beaten
1 1/2  tablespoons Sugar

Procedure:

1. In a food processor, add flour, sugar, salt and 8 tablespoons frozen butter.  Pulse 4 – 5 times.  Add sour cream and shortening.  Pulse 4 – 5 times.
2. Place mixture in bowl and add water, gently mixing until water incorporated.  Add additional water if necessary.
3. Divide dough evenly into two balls.  Place balls in plastic wrap, flatten, and allow to rest in refrigerator at least one hour.
4. Place oven rack on the lowest position.  Place pizza stone on rack and cover with aluminum foil.  Preheat oven to 375. 
5. In a saucepan, place 1 cup cherry juice, 1 cup sugar, potato starch, and a pinch of salt.  Cook on medium heat until mixture is very thick.  When thick, add vanilla extract.
6. Dump thickened mixture onto cherries, and combine well. Allow to cool before proceeding.
7. Take dough out of refrigerator and roll into appropriate size.  Place dough into pie pan and dump cherry mixture into pan. Dot with butter
8. Roll out pie top and place on pie – crimp as desired.
9. Place pie in oven and bake for 20 minutes.
10. After 20 minutes, remove pie from oven and brush with egg white and sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar on to top.
11. Return to oven and bake 20 minutes longer.
12. To prevent excess browning, after 20 minutes, cover crust with the foil that the pie is sitting on and bake for another 20 minutes, or until filling is bubbling.
13. Remove pie from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack

Adapted from:  http://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/perfect-cherry-pie

Using a pizza stone with foil as in #4 above was an excellent idea.  The pie cooked evenly and the crust did not burn or become excessively brown.  I will continue to use this method with pies.

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This year, for Thanksgiving, I decided to have a simple, but good, meal.  I did not want leftovers, and I did not want to work for two days cooking.  So,  I came up with an easy menu that included:  Crown Roast of Pork, Rice, Corn, Corn Bread, Roasted Vegetables, Eggless-Milkless-Butterless Cake, Cherry Pie, and Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream.

While I have two good recipes for the roast and pie, I decided to try new recipes for these items, and I have included the crown roast recipe below.  For the other items, I went with my existing recipes, and the rice was more or less ad-hoc.

First, the rice.  I simply took enough short-grain white rice for 8 people and rinsed it until the water ran clear.  I placed the rice in a strainer, and set it aside to dry for about 3 hours stirring occasionally so all rice was exposed to the air.   When dry, I cooked the rice in enough butter to coat all of the rice, one stick in this case, until some of the rice started to take on a bit of color.  I then added organic chicken broth to complete the cooking.  I wanted the rice to have a bit of tooth, so I shorted the broth just a bit, as I had plans for it……See Notes in recipe.

The above image is of the finished roast, and the image below is what was left over – a perfect amount!

Recipe:  Crown Roast of Pork

Brine:

1/2 cup Kosher salt
1/2 cup Sugar
3 each Sage Leaf
3 sprigs Thyme
1 each Bay leaf
3 each Cloves Garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Juniper Berries – Crushed
1 teaspoon  Allspice berries – Crushed
1/2 teaspoon  Peppercorns – Crushed
4  cups Water – Cold
4  Cups Ice water

Herb Paste:

4 each Garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon Fresh Sage – Chopped
1 tablespoon Fresh Thyme – Chopped
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2  teaspoon Peppercorns – Ground

Meat:

10 pounds Crown Roast of Pork

Procedure:

Brine:

1. 24 hours prior to cooking:  Combine all brine ingredients with 2 cups water.  Bring to boil, stirring to dissolve salt and sugar. Simmer until all ingredients dissolved.
2. Take off of heat and add ice water.
3. Pour cooled brine over roast and brine for 24 hours.

Herb Paste:

The night before – Mix all paste ingredients and set in covered bowl in refrigerator until needed.

Roast:

2 hours prior to cooking:

Take roast out of brine and rinse roast with cold water to remove excess salt.  Set aside and let come to room temperature.

1 hour prior to cooking:

Rub roast with Herb Paste – Place roast in shallow roasting pan and allow paste to marinate roast.

30 minutes prior to cooking:

Preheat oven to 450.

To Cook Roast:

1. Place roast in 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.
2. Lower oven temperature to 325 after 15 minutes and roast until internal temperature is 150 degrees – about 2 hours.
3. Take roast out of oven, tent with foil, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Note:  Rice Stuffing – 30 minutes prior to completion of roast – Stuff roast with rice.  Place remaining rice in roasting dish along with the roast, and cover with foil.  This will allow the rice to cook further and absorb the juices from the meat.

Note2 – Rice Stuffing: Because of the rinsing, the rice will absorb some water, so that has to be taken into consideration when cooking.

Adapted from: http://leitesculinaria.com/

Overall, this was an excellent dinner.  The roast was very moist and tender, while the rice was extremely flavorful.  Unusually, I did not make gravy for this dinner.  However, because of the quality of the meat, and the flavor of the rice, gravy was not needed and would have been.  The only thing that I may change in the future is taking the roast out at 145 degrees rather than 150. 

Two mistakes that turned out rather well:  I usually bake my cornbread in a round springform pan, and my cake in a square cake pan.  I don’t know why, but when I made my cornbread, I put it in the cake pan, requiring that I make the cake in the springform pan.  This resulted in a thinner than normal cornbread, and a thicker cake.  However, both turned out excellently, and I may do this again in the future.   

I will post images and the recipe for the cherry pie in a future post.

Roasted Vegetables – convection roasted at 450 degrees for around 30 minutes:

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This is just too funny not to comment on:

It seems that the turkey that President Obama pardoned last year was murdered (euthanized) the day before Thanksgiving this year.  The reasons for the murder of the innocent turkey have not been given, but it was noted that the residence of the now deceased turkey also has a restaurant that serves turkey for Thanksgiving.  

Death Panel preview?  You decide!

The story can be read at World Net Daily.

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