Mommy Cooks

Ham and Pasta Salad

Here is a delicious pasta salad, perfect for hot summer days because there is nothing to cook but the pasta.  I've adapted this from a Betty Crocker recipe so that there is much less measuring involved, and more vegetables, both of which are good things any time, but especially in July. 

Use any mild white cheese your family likes, such as Emmentaler, Jarlsberg, Jack, or Gouda.  I get a couple of thick slices of good ham from the deli, at least a quarter-inch, so that cubing it is easy.

Ham and Pasta Salad

1 lb. uncooked small pasta, such as fusilli, gemelli, shells, or elbows
1 lb. frozen sweet peas
1 lb. cooked ham
8 oz. Swiss cheese
2 or 3 stalks celery
1 or 2 red bell peppers
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup ranch salad dressing
1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped (optional)

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  In the last minute or so of cooking time, add the peas to the boiling water with the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, cube the ham and the cheese, chop the celery, and seed and chop the bell pepper. 

When the pasta and peas are done, run some cold water over them to cool, or let sit for a while if you're feeling lazy.  When it is cool enough at least that the cheese won't melt, add the ham, cheese, and vegetables and toss.  Mix together the mayonnaise and ranch dressing, add the chopped chives if using, and add to the salad, tossing well.

Serves a crowd.  Active work time: about 30 minutes.

Ham and Cheese Pinwheels

I saw this recipe in a magazine the other day, thought it would make an interesting packed lunch for the girls, bought the ingredients, promptly lost the recipe, found it quite easily online Sunday evening, and managed to whip up a batch on Monday morning, it went together so easily.  Laura tried one and said, "Mom! you've got to save this recipe!"  Julia took one look and said, "Eeuw!" but changed her tune however unwillingly when she'd actually sampled one. 

There are various versions of this appetizer around the internet -- some say it's from Taste of Home, others from The Pampered Chef -- under various names and guises.  That's not surprising, really, with such a simple and delicious recipe.

This would be very easy to double or even triple -- just estimate about a tablespoon and a half of cheese for each rectangle of crescent dough.

Ham and Cheese Pinwheels

1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
6 tablespoons garlic-herb spreadable cheese
4-8 slices deli ham
fresh baby spinach leaves

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Separate crescent roll dough into four rectangles and pinch the seams to seal. Spread the cream cheese over each rectangle to within 1/4 in. of edges; top with the ham and then the spinach in a thin layer.

Starting with a short edge, snugly roll up each rectangle, and pinch the seams to seal. Cut each roll into six slices with a sharp knife. Place the slices cut-side down on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Makes 24. Active work time, about 5 minutes; total preparation time, 20 minutes.

Cranberry Sauce with Lime and Ginger

Here is a cranberry sauce even for those who don't really like cranberries -- which is in fact most of my immediate family.  From the 2001 Better Homes and Gardens "Holiday Cooking" magazine -- a veritable treasure trove of good recipes, by the way -- the sauce is sweet and tart with hints of lime and ginger and maple, and has become a staple at our holiday table.

This recipe can be doubled quite easily.

Cranberry Sauce with Lime and Ginger

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 12-ounce package cranberries (3 cups)
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

Stir together the water, sugar, maple syrup, zest, and lime juice in a heavy medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil, and reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 3 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the cranberries and continue to simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in the ginger. Simmer, about 10 minutes more or until the berries have popped (feel free to help them along a little with the back of a spoon) and the sauce starts to thicken, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and let cool.  Serve at room temperature.

Makes about 2-1/3 cups (fourteen 2-tablespoon servings).  Active work time: 30 minutes.

Naan

I made naan this afternoon, one of the flat, leavened breads of India.  These are traditionally baked in a tandoor, a large clay oven in which the naan dough is literally stuck on to the inside wall and baked at the same time that the meat dish -- tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, and so on -- is cooking.  Madhur Jaffrey, actress and food writer, offers this version to be baked in the oven.  I used a large stoneware baking sheet, which worked perfectly.

Jaffrey suggests that if you don't want to use egg, increase the amount of yogurt by about 4 tablespoons.

I free-formed mine, really -- rolled them out with a mini-roller, but had more fun stretching them in my hands rather like a pizza dough.  I have to say that on a rather chilly autumn day like today, the warm, yeasty smell of the rising dough was fabulous.  The girls were clustering 'round the whole time -- pinching off bits of dough to nibble, asking "is it done yet?", tearing off pieces of the steaming-hot bread fresh out of the oven.  Quite a success.

You can serve the naan brushed with a little melted butter, if you are feeling luxurious.

Naan

2/3 cup warm milk (not hot)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for the bowl
2/3 cup plain yogurt, lightly beaten
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Add the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar to the warm milk, and stir.  Set aside for 15-20 minutes, until the yeast has dissolved and the mixture has become frothy.

Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl.  Add the remaining 1 teaspoon sugar, the oil, yogurt, egg, and yeast mixture, and mix well to form a ball of dough.

On a floured work surface, knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and shiny; form it into a ball.  Pour a small amount of oil into a large bowl, and roll the ball of dough in the oil.  Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 500° F, and place in it a large, heavy baking tray to warm.

Punch down the dough and knead it again.  Divide it into 8 equal balls.  Cover the pieces that you are not working with.  Roll each ball into a tear-shaped piece about 1/2-inch thick.  Slap 2 or 3 pieces of dough onto the hot baking sheet and return it to the oven.  Bake until lightly browned, 5-8 minutes.  Repeat with remaining naan.

Makes 8 naan.  Active work time, about 25 minutes; total preparation time, about 1 1/2 hours.

Recipe adapted from Mahdur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking (Barron's, 1983).

Vegetarian Marshmallows

Some of the girls in my Girl Scout troop this year are vegetarian.  I was rather surprised to find out that they cannot have marshmallows and Jell-O, as gelatin is made from animal products.  This left me a bit nonplussed -- Girl Scouts make s'mores, and for s'mores you really have to have marshmallows!

So the hunt was on for vegetarian marshmallows.  Ready-made ones seem to be very hard to come by, and so I started searching for recipes.  One at About.com's dairy-free cooking site seemed promising, and I even managed to find agar-agar flakes, a seaweed product, at a small local health-food store.

I could not, though, get the agar-agar flakes to dissolve completely, and so the first few batches were gritty and unpleasant, and tasted vaguely like the smell of the beach.  I am not sure how determined I am to perfect a recipe on my own -- since there may be a much better one out there that I just haven't found yet, and to be honest, my own need for them is somewhat limited, not to mention that agar-agar flakes are absurdly expensive -- but I post my version here in the meantime.

These marshmallows are very soft, and they toast rather quickly over an open flame, but make pretty decent s'mores.  You will need to be careful not to let them drop off of the toasting skewer once they get hot!

Vegetarian Marshmallows

1/2 cup hot water
2 tablespoons agar-agar flakes
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 egg whites
a pinch of cream of tartar
3 tablespoons powdered egg substitute, such as Egg Replacer
1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla
powdered sugar

Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.

Pulverize the agar-agar flakes in a clean coffee grinder.  Add the flakes to the hot water and let dissolve as much as possible.  Alternatively, let the whole flakes sit in the hot water, stirring occasionally, as much as 15 minutes, then strain.

Put the sugar into a small saucepan, and strain the water and agar-agar flakes into it; stir well.  Over medium heat, stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes, until the mixture is thick and syrupy.

At the same time, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, until fluffy and stiff, about 5 minutes.  Gently fold in 1 tablespoon of the egg substitute.

Carefully, in 3 or 4 additions, pour the warm sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl into the egg whites, beating well between each addition.  Add the remaining 2 tablespoons egg substitute and 1 teaspoon vanilla, and continue to beat at medium speed until the mixture is glossy and stiff, about 2 minutes.  Add the rest of the vanilla to taste, if desired.

Spread the marshmallow cream into the prepared pan and place in the refrigerator or freezer at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight.

To cut individual marshmallows, sift the powdered sugar in a plate, and remove the parchment-lined marshmallows from the pan.  Carefully cut with a sharp knife -- you will need to wipe the knife frequently -- and roll each marshmallow in the powdered sugar.

Makes about 30 marshmallows.  Active work time, about 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Apple Dip

We made this treat for Julia's birthday snack at school this week.  She has a little way lately of rolling her eyes back into her head and smiling dizzily whenever she thinks that something is really good, and when she first tasted this, the performance lasted nearly a full minute -- and so she was quite giddy when I suggested it as her contribution to the celebrations.

I misread the original recipe when I first made it, and used four packages of cream cheese instead of three to this gargantuan amount of brown sugar, but upon reflection we actually like it better with more cream cheese.  It's a little less toothachingly sweet, and it goes further at a party!

It's best with Granny Smith apples, I think -- the tartness and brown-sugary-sweetness together are wonderful -- but Galas are nice, too, and really, you can hardly go wrong.

Cream Cheese Apple Dip

32 oz. cream cheese
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
Granny Smith apples

Beat all ingredients except the apples together until well-blended.

Core and cut the apples into wedges, and serve with the dip.

Keep covered in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

Makes about 16 1/4-cup (2 oz.) servings.  Preparation time, about 5 minutes.

Easter Eggs

Quaker Ridging Dishcloth

This dishcloth is based on the Quaker Ridging stitch in Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  It makes a beautifully simple cloth.

Quaker Ridging Dishcloth

Materials: 1 ball Lily Sugar 'n Cream in color 00084 Sage Green; US 5 (3.75mm) or 6 (4mm) needles.  Gauge: about 5 sts per inch/2.5 cm.  Finished size: approx. 7 x 5 in. (18 x 13 cm).

Cast on 45 sts.

K 2 rows, P 1 row, K 1 row.

Begin patt:

Rows 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10: K.
Rows 2, 6, and 9: P.

Rep these 10 rows 6 times more.  K 1 row.  Bind off loosely, and weave in ends.

Note: The cloth will shrink a little vertically with use and washing.  An extra pattern repeat has been added to make up for this.

Orange Sorbet

It was very hot today -- just right for orange sorbet, a perfect summer afternoon flavor.

This recipe is based on the one in "Cook's Illustrated"'s The Best Italian Classics.  They recommend that you add 2 teaspoons of orange zest, but we found this far too bitter, and after some experimentation decided that the juice alone made a sorbet that was a nice balance of sweet and tart.

We use Valencias from local groves, and have discovered that sometimes the sorbet is a pale, rather creamy orange, and sometimes brightly vivid, according to the particular oranges -- but always delicious!

Orange Sorbet

2 cups fresh orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vodka
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Whisk the sugar into the orange juice until completely dissolved.  Add the vodka and lemon juice.  Refrigerate if necessary until completely cold.

Prepare in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Makes about 4 servings.  Active work time, about 3 minutes if you don't have to squeeze the oranges; freezing time, 20-25 minutes.

Garterlac Dishcloth

Garterlac Dishcloth

Pattern by Dave of "Criminy Jickets", free pattern available here and here (PDF version)
1 ball Lily Sugar 'n Cream in color 00202 Midnight Magic Ombre
US 5 (3.75mm) needles

This clever entrelac dishcloth is not as hard as it looks.  Once you can get your mind wrapped around the fact that you are knitting a flat piece that appears three-dimensional on the needles, entrelac makes a nice change of pace from back-and-forth garter stitch.  (Said wrapping may take a bit of practice, mind you -- I tried this cloth a while back and didn't get past the first few triangles, but this second time took a mere afternoon of uninterrupted knitting.)

Mine was a bit, er, pointy at the intersections -- I had to laugh at myself for primping it with the steam iron.  Ironing dishcloths for a photo shoot! what next?!