Nicole Sauce - The Tennessee Waltz

Success At Last Non-Gluten Cookies

2009-12-23T15:40:00Z

Nicolesauce's multifarious holiday baking encourages mammasauce to try, yet again, for a cookie-tasting and cookie-feeling confection without gluten. Who would have guessed this attempt would work? Certainly not its older brother and sister attempts

Preheat: 350 degrees F

Cream
1c shortening or butter
3/4 c each brown and white sugar (used organic)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp Xanthan gum

Beat in
2 eggs
1 c brown rice flour
1 c white sorghum flour
Add more sorghum flour, if necessary, to make a spoonable dough.

Stir in
1 c pecans

Spoon onto ungreased sheets. Bake about 10 minutes. Cookies should be slightly soft in center, to avoid hockey puck effect when they cool.

Liberace in the freezer: calls for vegetarian responseR

2009-06-25T15:37:00Z

Ever call yourself crazy for spending what it takes to buy an energy bar, which is essentially a sturdy square cookie? When you need 'em, you need 'em. If you think ahead, you can have a supply in the freezer (next to Liberace).

Energy Bars

4 c rolled oats*
1 c flour*
2/3 c butter**
2/3 c honey**
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c brown sugar**
1/2 c chocolate chips
1/2 c dried cranberries**
1/2 c chopped nuts

In an electric mixer on low speed or with your own strong arm, mix oats, flour, honey, brown sugar, soda, and vanilla. The batter will be thick. Fold in other ingredients. Press into a greased 9X13" pan. Bake 8-10 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut while hot into 48 bars, then allow to cool completely before removing from pan. Wrap one or two at a time, label, and freeze until needed. Those with food sealing systems may shrink-wrap and store in a cool, dark, dry place.

* Gluten avoiders may use non-gluten oats and a mildly-flavored non-gluten flour.
** For butter, use coconut or palm oil, if you prefer the flavor. For honey, agave or other liquid sweetener. For brown sugar, organic sugar. For yummy additions, let your imagination soar.

Recipes for This and That

2009-03-29T21:30:00Z

While Nicole Sauce broods incipient chickens, mammasauce cooks in California and Arizona. Continuing the quest for gluten-free sweets, she tried...

Chocolate Cocoa Cake

9X13 ", preheat 350 degrees F

Ingredients

Cake

- 1/2 c sorghum flour

- 1/2 c all-purpose gluten-free flour (a mixture of several flours)

- 1/2 c rice flour

- 1 c cocoa powder

- 1 1/2 Tbsp xanthan gum – too much: gelatinous dough. Try tsp instead of Tbsp

- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 3/4 c butter at room temperature

- 3/4 c brown sugar

- 1 c white sugar (both sugars may be organic)

- 4 eggs

- 2 tsp vanilla

- 1 1/2 c sour cream

- (1/2 to 1 c brewed coffee) (optional)

Frosting

- 5 oz chocolate chips

- 1/2 c sour cream

- 1/2 tsp vanilla

- 1 Tbsp heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven. Grease pan.

Sift together sorghum, all-purpose, and rice flours, cocoa, xanthan gum, baking powder, and baking soda.

Cream butter. Beat in sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Add vanilla and sour cream.

On low speed, alternately add flour mixture and other liquid (coffee? cranberry juice?) to make batter. Put into pan.

Bake 30 - 35 minutes in preheated oven, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan.

Use your favorite frosting, or this one: Barely melt chocolate chips in double boiler. Stir in sour cream and vanilla; add heavy cream to desired consistency. Ice when cake is cool.

Cheater's Ultra-delicious Frosting (this one in vanilla flavor; you can make the change for an orange, raspberry, or chocolate-flavored frosting)

In a pan, combine 2 Tbsp smooth flour (any kind; sift it if it's lumpy) and 1/4 to 3/4 c milk

Heat gently, stirring constantly, until thick. Add as much liquid as necessary; the final consistency while hot should be pudding-like. Cool completely.

Cream until fluffy

- 1 c shortening (butter is OK, of course)

- 1 c granulated sugar (any color, organic also just fine)

- 1-4 tsp vanilla (your taste)

- pinch salt

When cool, add the paste to the shortening mixture and -- this is important -- my recipe from a sweet elder who absolutely does not cuss says -- beat like Hell.

It might take 10 minutes at high mixer speed (or a pair of very tired arms and a whisk) to achieve a consistency only a tad thicker than fluffy whipped cream.

About that cake: it rose...

...like a souffle... like an amorphous chocolate sculpture...well, there's no single word for it.
Then it fell to moist, fudgy cake-pan-sized confection. We'll eat it tonight and let interested folks know.
Next time, I'll use 2 1/2 TEASPOONS of Xanthan gum. I thought the TABLESPOON designation was high, but it was my first use of this bacteria-related thickener.

Another recipe:

Raisin Granola
Mix:
- 1 c each cornmeal, (buckwheat groats), any other preferred non-gluten grain that's rolled or small enough to eat raw
- 5 c non-gluten oats
- 1 c each nuts (cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds: you choose), sunflower seeds, pepitas -- all nuts raw
- 1 c sesame seeds
Mix in:
- 1/2 c innocuous oil (much as I love olive oil, its taste is too strong)
- 1 1/2 c honey
Spread this in large, flat pans (1" deep is about the maximum for good cooking).
Bake 1 hour at 300 degrees F.
Stir in total of 2 c raisins and other dried fruit.
Good eaten out of hand; cold with milk; or as hot cereal, with boiling water added and a wait of 5 minutes to steep.

Now’s the time to find chicks in Nashville

2009-03-20T20:34:00Z

AAAh it is that time of year again - I like to start baby chick season with this video:

I especially like the tasteful way they address the chicken waste issue.

Found a few places in Nashville to get your chick as well - they are listed in this article I wrote for Examiner.com as the
Nashville Country Living Examiner.

Big new federal regulations proposed for small farms

2009-03-19T19:54:00Z

A big new federal food-safety bureaucracy being proposed in Congress could impact how small and independent American farmers do business, and not in ways that promote viability and growth, worries the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

Read more on examiner.com.

Get farm-fresh flavors with community supported agriculture

2009-03-17T12:01:00Z

With Nashville-based Plumb Good Food out of business, and for those who do not live near the Green Hills' vegetable buying mecca, getting a taste of farm fresh country produce can be a challenge.

CSAs can link city dwellers with country fresh foods. Spring harvest is just around the corner, so now is the time to set up your CSA subscription while there are still available slots.

more at examiner.com...

Nicole Sauce - Nashville Country Living Examiner!

2009-03-16T19:06:00Z

Examiner.com just made me the Country Living Examiner for Nashville!

Good Food with Friends

2009-03-16T15:55:00Z

A few weeks ago, Melissa and JP came out to the holler for a quick visit. We had a great time and Melissa advised me through my first home made pasta adventure with my Kitchenaid.

The food was fabulous!

Melissa also brought a brown rice salad that was to die for. Here it is on her cooking blog!

http://www.strawberryberet.com
/2009/03/brown-brown-rice.html

Great Cooking Starts With Great Ingredients

2009-03-10T19:18:00Z

Nicole Sauce Holler Homestead Update

Spring is in the air in Tennessee. But wait - be careful. It can still freeze. This weekend, with the sunshine and gentle breeze, it was difficult not to put out a bunch of seeds and starts, but we resisted. We did work our soil, spread some cow SH** around, and we contemplated risk.

In the end, we decided that it was worth the risk to plant peas, transplant half the cabbage and broccoli, and put down carrot and chard seeds. The leeks will wait another week for transplant. Onion sets will probably make it at this point so long as we don't have one of those late April week long deep freezes.

And trees. Trees like to be planted in February, but we ran late and got them in last weekend: Peaches, cherries, figs and plumbs. Heck, in five years, we might actually get some fruit around here. We are thankful that somebody planted what is now a giant pear tree years ago. I wonder if it was "Old Man Kruse" or the people who lived in that old shack we had to tear down?

Why We Bother

All of this work is worth it if you love to cook. We have been living off our home canned tomato sauce, apple sauce, pears and pickled okra all winter long. It turns out that home canned tomato sauce is so much better than even the highest quality tomato sauce at the store that we may never ba able to go back. Mark adds spices and cilantro for salsa that tastes better than fresh tomato salsa and I make pasta and pizza sauces. We figured out that if we only eat a quart of it a week, we can eek through to Mennonite tomato season.

I am jealous of the Mennonites' abilities in the garden. They get bigger, better tomatoes in less time than we do here. But our tomatoes are good too and well worth the effort.

Soon to Have Hot Chicks

That's right. The incubator is on the way since none of our 10 hens is feeling motherly. Today, I gleaned 6 good eggs for hatching and will throw them in an incubator tomorrow or Thursday.

Farmers' Market?

We found a great place nearby for a farmers' market. Now we need to find someone to run it and people to sell things. I wonder what the TN regulators think of such things? Do they seek sales tax on roadside stands? EGADS.

http://valueaddedag.tennessee.edu/resources/farmersmarkets.htm

It is annoying that you can't just set out a table and go for it. No. You are supposed to get liability insurance in case someone sues you, check local zoning laws, etc, etc, etc - Oh yeah and apply for gov't funds to finance the selling of food to people. WTF?

Easy Sour Cream From Half and Half

2009-02-26T04:33:00Z

Driving to the store for a carton of sour cream is not economical when the nearest store is 12 miles away. Yet green chili rellenos (baked from the frozen stock of the summer) just don't taste as good without the creamy additive in the rice.

A few weeks ago, when faced with this problem, I started wandering around the Web looking for recipes. After testing a few, I found that the half and half, plus the last few tablespoons of sour cream method is the easiest. The biggest surprise was that the resulting homemade sour cream tasted much better than the very batch that supplied the "sour cream start."

The way I do this is as follows:

2 cups half and half
1 quart-sized mason jar
2 tablespoons sour cream

Put all into the jar. Cover. Shake it! Wait 12-24 hours until it is firm and enjoy.

My theory is that it tastes better because the half and half that we put in our coffee is of a better quality than the cream used in commercial production of sour cream. Or maybe it is just fresher.

WARNING: Don't used ultra pasteurized half an half - I get mixed results with it.

I had a little fun with my new Storm and shot a casual video demo - not bad video quality for a phone.

Bacon Mayonnaise

2009-02-23T22:32:00Z

Bestbyfarr.wordpress.com brings us this recipe for bacon mayonnaise. Why bacon mayo? Well, from my country perspective, I can see this happening on the old Homestead when we run out of oil and only have animal fat...

I think Ryan Farr did it for flavor. Or shock factor. Most will think that this is so unhealthy it is not worth a try, but since mayo is already fatty, who not add pig lard?

http://bestbyfarr.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/bacon-mayo-the-new-black/

My favorite quote: "Render till all fat has clarified."

My curiosity is killing me: Why does one want Velveeta if there's real cheddar on hand?

2009-02-20T01:03:00Z

Mamma Sauce wrote "My curiosity is killing me: Why does one want Velveeta if there's real cheddar on hand?"

It's simple, really. We live off the land out here as much as possible. We even make our own sour cream these days. Heck, I have a series coming soon on home cheese creation and would have a healthy supply of home brew if I could just find a darn GLASS carboy or two to use.

With all that, there are still days when all I want to cook for dinner is a box of mac n cheese. A good work around to this is boil noodles and use Velveeta- BUT- the additives, oh the additives.

Thus, I was thinking, make homemade Velveeta without the additives and freeze it in ice cube trays and you're good - right?!

Well, really, time will tell. I still need to buy the ingredients next time I happen by a store.

Government Bailout/ Stimulus Plan Video: Food, Eggs and Politics!

2009-02-18T00:56:00Z

This video has it all - food, politics and even a chicken reference! H/T to Liberty on the Rocks' video crew.

My rooster is flogging me an he is not yet stew

2009-02-02T19:16:00Z

The easy process of getting eggs in the chicken coop has turned challenging. Every morning I make sure the flock is happily pecking about outside and then go into the coop. Lately, our flaboyant, friendly rooster has taken to coming in and attacking me. He's 1/10 my size and just goes crazy!

It turns out this isn't so odd. Spring is in the air. The ladies are thinking about setting their eggs. Soon we may have some babies around. He's feeling protective of his girls.

That is all well and good, but if he keeps at it going into summer, I am likely to replace him with new blood - and make yummy chicken n dumplin' stew.

Country Venison Conundrum

2009-01-26T22:15:00Z

A pack of dogs in the region chased down and killed a deer. Now, this can put a person in a conundrum because it leaves a dead animal, with 20 pounds of meat, and no legal way to use it. Instead, we are forced to bury 20 pounds of food to keep the coyotes away from the area.

A few years ago, because of outcry from hungry country folk, it became legal to butcher fresh road kill so long as you report it within 48 hours. Perhaps it is time to legalize dog kill too?

January Garden and Farm Recommendations

2009-01-15T19:12:00Z

Here is what is recommended for us to be working on this month to prepare for spring planting… Do these tips look right? What are y’all really working on this month, besides keeping up on firewood?

Vegetable Garden Preparation

Test your soil if you haven’t in awhile (they say to contact our extension office for testing info, but I called on Monday and STILL no call back.)
Plan what you will plant and where
Build raised beds if you have clay only soil in order to plant your tomatoes and basil, etc in them
Order seeds
Indoor start list: Parsley, onion from seed, Brussels Sprouts
Indoor starts that might or might not make it depending on the last frost date this year: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage

Bulbs

If the soil isn’t frozen you can still plant tulips and daffodils (I did last year and they bloomed about 3 weeks after everything else)
Rebury any exposed bulbs you find in your bulb gardens

Trees

Plant bare root treesnow while they are dormant
Check tree stakes from last year and remove any that will damage trees as they grow
Prune your dormant trees

Homemade Velveeta - Substitute / Copycat

2008-11-26T21:26:00Z

2 pounds (change servings and units)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups very hot water
1/2 cup instant milk, plus
1 tablespoon instant milk
1/2 (1/4 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin (1 1/2 teaspoons)
1 1/2 lbs grated cheddar cheese

Directions

Line a 8x4x2. 5" loaf pan with plastic.
In a blender, put 1/2 cup of the water , 3 tablespoons of the milk, 1/2 teaspoon of the gelatin.
Whip until gelatin is dissolved.
Quickly add 1/2 lb. of the cheddar to the hot mixture.
Whip until blended.
Pour into the prepared loaf pan.
Repeat this twice, until all ingredients are used.
Cover the pan with more plastic wrap and chill overnight before unmolding.
Keep cold and slice as needed.

Cooking Truly Free-Range Turkey

2008-11-20T13:23:00Z

Well, the Thanksgiving Menu just got expanded - and it's a good thing. Looks like some neighbors might stop by.

We got our hands on a free-range turkey - the kind that is not only allowed to go outside, but also gets to run all over the place living off bugs and grass with no grain suppliments.

Know what that means? I think I do - TOUGH MEAT.

That's right - I've cooked a rooster or two from our farm this year and I know what happens when you let poultry run around and eat lots of underbrush. They get tough as nails, only good enough for stew.

Actually, that's not true, but you can't handle them the same way as store birds. First of all, they have excellent muscle definition. Think of that muscle chart you had in biology class. Chickens and this turkey look like that chart when you remove their skin. Why remove the skin? We started doing that this year with the large number of roosters we had to harvest and discovered that we LIKE poultry without the skin and it is better for us. Win-win.

Back to the bird. When I researched free range turkey recipes folks just recommended that I roast the bird. But I know better. Free range meats often have less fat, and I can tell that this little guy or gal was in really good shape. I realized it was probably more like a wild turkey than a store-bought free range one, so I looked into those options and found lots of advice:

How to cook wild turkey on ask a chef is a forum conversation with a person who is worried about a gamey taste. Not my worry, but there are some cool looking recipies there.
Cajun Deef Fried Wild Turkey - when in doubt fry it - not for me, but sounds yummy.
Braised Wild Turkey looks pretty good.
More discussion on wild turkey cooking advice - ok got it - truly free range turkey and wild ones are apt to be dry.

With all this in mind, and Jewish guest coming over (thus eliminating the option to bacon-wrap the bird), here is my plan, an adaptation of my Roasted Old Rooster recipe.

Slow Cooked Wild or Free Range Turkey (AKA Tough Old Bird)

Brine

1.5 cups salt
1 cup vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
Water
1 cup Sorghum

Disolve above ingredients and let mixture cool. Place turkey in a large pot and cover with mixture. Add additional water until turkey is covered. Place in fridge for 48 to 72 hours.

Thanksgiving Day Cooking Instructions

1 Free Range or Wild Turkey (Or tough Old Rooster from the Yard)
4 sticks Butter or other fat
1/4 cup Rosemary (Fresh is always best)
2 Apples
Onion
1/2 bottle Dry White Wine
Sorghum

Rub the turkey inside and out with half the butter and rosemary. Preheat oven to 425. Roast bird uncovered for 30 minutes - should get golden colored.

Remove turkey from the oven, rub with more butter and rosemary. Stuff with apples and one onion. Place breast down in huge crockpot, dutch oven, or anything big enough to enclose the bird.

Pour wine in the cooking pot. Slow cook until done - you can do this in your oven at 350 (make sure the bird is very tightly covered), in a crock pot, or on your wood burning stove.

30 minutes before it is done, uncover the bird and place it breast up, drizzle with sorghum.

Make sure you cook your bird to the proper temperature - safe handling is very important with food!

Marxists don't really want kids to get a better education

2008-11-19T20:58:00Z

I had a conversation last June in New York with a self-declared Marxist. I have thought of this conversation on and off over the last few months because she got so very upset by our talk. Today, I realized why.

I kept saying to her things like "You and I want the same things - a better society, better education for our kids, fewer starving people. We just disagree on what it takes to do this - I think that parents should be able to send their kids to any school they like, not leave those decisions in the hands of a chosen few. If the kids get a better education, who cares if they have a corporate or personal sponsor, get home schooled or go to a public school? I just don't want poor kids stuck in inner city schools getting beat up for being different."

At one point, she started explaining commodity fetishism in retort. I honestly got confused about the connection and eventually we all went our separate ways, but now, I FINALLY GET IT.

It turns out that she and I don't want the same things. I want better education for kids, she wants to control how those kids develop philosophically. In other words, she actually cares more about how we get there than ever arriving.

All these years, I have been facilitating research about solutions to public policy problems and it turns out that the disconnect is not how to make the world better, it is a fundamental difference in philosophy. I want to make the world better - my enemies want to control how we make the world better, even if that means we never actually change a thing.

Sadly, my enemies dominate both viable parties in the US. Third party anyone?

Opening Day at Del Monaco - Tennessee's Newest Winery

2008-11-19T14:45:00Z

Well, my blogger buddy Lannae Long emailed me late last week and mentioned that there is a new winery in the state. They had their opening festivities last Saturday and it just so happens that they are right around the corner from my house in the country!

Del Monaco Winery is already producing wines, though not yet from their own grapes. Now, this will sound snobby, but I usually dislike Tennessee produced wines. They are usually way to sweet for me - or too "boxed winey" tasting. I think it is just a difference in preference - from my perspective, the dryer the better.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to find both a white and red option that I liked. The Cabernet Savignon is very dry, not quite as full bodied as many cabs, and has a pleasant finish. (Meaning it doesn't stick around with you for 20 minutes, reminding you why you might have been better off with a beer.) They have a white blend that is good table wine and not a Chardonnay. (We all know that Nicole Sauce dislikes Chardonnay - it's my tequila, so to speak.)

The bottles cost $20 and $15, respectively, and if you return the cork with your next purchase, you get $1 off your bottle, limit one cork per bottle. I did not ask about case discounts.

The really special part of the day came when Lannae introduced me to one of her coworkers who volunteers for the winery. We got to meet the vintner and tour the wine making facilities. We even got to taste some of the wines pre filtration. It was a huge treat for me - usually I am relegated to the wine room in a winery, looking slightly bored. Del Monaco has a few interesting wines coming up including a Shiraz and a Gewurtztraminer and I look forward to tasting them!

The winery itself boasts a custom carved cement floor that is beautiful and the facilities are stunning. This would be a good place for a wedding, anniversary celebration or higher end party. Better yet, when the weather is nicer, they will have outdoor tables overlooking the grapes for folks like me to use for a wine and cheese visit with friends. Looking forward to spring at Del Monaco!

On an unrelated note - is anyone else really pissed off that the state of Tennessee STILL hasn't given trader Joes their liquor license? Rumor has it that it would compete with local stores too much. I think the government is missing the point: Folks like me who don't usually buy wine in Tennessee would start buying it here instead of driving to the show me state! The tax revenue alone should get their interest.

Nicole Sauce - The Tennessee Waltz

Success At Last Non-Gluten Cookies

Liberace in the freezer: calls for vegetarian responseR

Recipes for This and That

Now’s the time to find chicks in Nashville

Big new federal regulations proposed for small farms

Get farm-fresh flavors with community supported agriculture

Nicole Sauce - Nashville Country Living Examiner!

Good Food with Friends

Great Cooking Starts With Great Ingredients

Easy Sour Cream From Half and Half

Bacon Mayonnaise

My curiosity is killing me: Why does one want Velveeta if there's real cheddar on hand?

Government Bailout/ Stimulus Plan Video: Food, Eggs and Politics!

My rooster is flogging me an he is not yet stew

Country Venison Conundrum

January Garden and Farm Recommendations

Homemade Velveeta - Substitute / Copycat

Ingredients

Directions

Line a 8x4x2. 5" loaf pan with plastic.

In a blender, put 1/2 cup of the water , 3 tablespoons of the milk, 1/2 teaspoon of the gelatin.

Whip until gelatin is dissolved.

Quickly add 1/2 lb. of the cheddar to the hot mixture.

Whip until blended.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan.

Repeat this twice, until all ingredients are used.

Cover the pan with more plastic wrap and chill overnight before unmolding.

Keep cold and slice as needed.

Cooking Truly Free-Range Turkey

Slow Cooked Wild or Free Range Turkey (AKA Tough Old Bird)

Marxists don't really want kids to get a better education

Opening Day at Del Monaco - Tennessee's Newest Winery