gotta have...

Black Eyed Peas on New Year's Day!

This is a Fath family tradition for good luck in the New Year.

Here's how my husband makes them:

-:- You Need -:-

One can of black eyed peas

Turkey bacon

An onion

One can of green chilies

Some olive oil

Finely chop your onion. Sauté it in some olive oil until soft.

Add your turkey bacon and cook until done through.

Add your (undrained) can of black eyed peas and green chiles.

Season as you please.

Cumin and chile powder are recommended.

Cook until hot.

Serve with cornbread.

Love, T.

gotta have...

Homemade pretzels!

-:- Ingredients -:-

1 c. warm water

2 packages (about 4 1/2 tsp.) active dry yeast

2 tbsp. sugar

3 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

butter

1 egg

Kosher salt

-:- Method -:-

Mix yeast and warm water.

Add the sugar and stir. Let the yeast proof for a couple of minutes.

Stir in the flour.

Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes.

Let the dough rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring half a pot of water to boil. Add the baking soda to boiling water.

Form pieces of dough into the classic pretzel shape.

Set the formed pretzel in boiling soda water for 5-10 seconds.

Place on a greased cookie sheet.

Brush with beaten egg wash and sprinkle with salt.

Bake until golden brown. Ours were in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Love, T.

gotta have a plan b

There are some days where all you can do is throw your hands up and have a cup of hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows.

Today was one of those days.

Love, T.

gotta have...

...Bavarian potato pancakes! And here's how you make them...a method from our very own Frau Boch, passed from her to my mom to me to you.

The pictures in this post show ten pounds of potatoes, but when I talk about the recipe, I'm going to use much smaller quantities. That way you can increase the recipe if you want, but won't be locked into eating potato pancakes for the next month (as enjoyable as that would be).

-:- What you need -:-

2 lbs potatoes

a food processor

a dish towel (not terry cloth)

a big bowl

some white vinegar

1 egg

3 tbsp. flour

an onion

salt to taste

-:- What to do -:-

Peel your potatoes.

Fill the bowl with water and dollop some white vinegar in there. Our bowl was pretty big and we used about a half cup of vinegar. This keeps your potatoes white.

Wet a towel and place it inside the bowl, with the corners of the towel draping over the edges. The ultimate goal is to strain the potatoes with this towel, so you want to be able to gather the potatoes up in it.

Food process the potatoes and put them in the bowl.

When all potatoes have been processed, gather all four corners of the towel until you have a ball of potato in the middle. Wrap this tightly and squeeze the potato ball over your bowl until no more water comes out. (You'll see another towel in that second photo...we put it there because we had so many potatoes! You probably won't need a second towel if you're working with 2 pounds of potatoes.)

Don't drain your bowl full of water! It contains potato starch that will settle to the bottom...we'll use that, so let it rest while you finish your batter.

Put your potatoes in another big bowl. Food process your onion and add it to your potatoes. Add your egg and flour, then mix well. Add salt if you'd like to. These can also be salted once they are finished.

Check your potato starch...when you start to empty your bowl, you should see some of the starch at the bottom...if you don't see it, let the bowl rest for a bit longer.

Once the starch is ready, drain the bowl completely and add the starch to your batter.

Heat some oil in a skillet on the stove. When the oil is nice and hot, add a spoonful of batter to it and spread it out until it's pancake shaped.

Cook until the edges look brown...when you flip the pancake, it should be golden brown on the other side.

Serve with applesauce and/or sour cream. I always eat mine with both. Yum!

Love, T.

gotta have...

...breakfast for dinner! Casy and I spent the day cleaning our apartment and running errands so we decided to celebrate being clean and organized with a fun dinner.

We made buttermilk pancakes (fresh whipped cream and strawberries optional), sausages, and eggs. We drank orange juice (which I read helps kidney stones pass...I'll do anything at this point) and if your name is Casy, you had a glass of buttermilk and thought about your dad.

Don't be fooled by Casy's lone pancake. He just wanted to have one with nothing but maple syrup before having any with strawberries!

So good.

-:- Buttermilk Pancakes -:-

from here

Ingredients

1 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 c. buttermilk

3 tbsp. butter, melted

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and all wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Dump the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Don't over mix! Heat a griddle or skillet, melt a little butter in it, and scoop about a 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook on each side for around 2-3 minutes.

Love, T.