Easy Citrus Curd

I needed some orange curd for an upcoming recipe and all I can buy here in rural route is lemon curd.

So I decided to try to make my own…for the first time.

This turned out to be really easy and I can’t wait to make some lime curd.  I made orange but you can also make lemon, lime or grapefruit.  I had planned to just post this and the recipe it goes with all in one post but this really is good enough to be a stand alone. 🙂  Recipe at the end of post.

4 ingredients…oranges, eggs, sugar and unpictured butter.

Butter / Sugar.

Mixed with a hand mixer for 2 minutes.

Added eggs and yolks.

Mixed for a minute.

Added orange juice.

Mixed well to combine.

I didn’t get a good pic of the finished curd in the bowl but this is close to the last stir.  Notice the color of the this.  When cooking you’re wanting to go from the pale color in the previous pic to the deeper color in this picture.

The recipe made this small jar plus a small 8 oz bowl.

Hopefully next time I’ll be posting the recipe I needed this for. 🙂  Trying it out tonight.

 

Orange Curd

6 tbsp soft Butter

1 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

2 Egg Yolks

2/3 cup fresh Orange Juice  (Or Lemon / Lime / Grapefruit)

1 tsp grated Orange zest  (optional…I left it out because I can’t find my zesting plane)

 

Directions 

Mix butter and sugar with a hand mixer for 2 minutes.

Add eggs and yolks and mix for another minute.  This is important.  It will help keep the eggs from separating and scrambling when you cook the mixture.

Add orange juice and mix.

Cook on high for one minute…stirring every 30 seconds.

Cook on medium for 5 minutes stirring every 30 second.  DON’T let it boil.  If it boils it will break down and just be a runny mess instead of a nice thick / smooth curd.  Look at the pics above…when cooking the mixture you’re wanting to go from a pale shade to a deeper shade.  Stop cooking when the color changes.

Remove from microwave and continue stirring until thickened.  It thickens as it cools.

Resist the urge to keep cooking it…trying to get it thicker.  It thickens some as you stir it while cooling…plus more thickening happens in the icebox.   If you keep cooking it you run the risk of it boiling and you don’t want that. 🙂 

Put it in a jar or bowl and place piece of Saran directly on top of the curd to keep it from forming a ‘skin’.

Let come to room temp on the counter and then keep in the icebox for up to 2 weeks.

How’s it Going, Granny Clampet?

If you’ve been reading here for a while you know I have terrible lung function.  The slightest perfume or strong fragrance will send me into a horrible asthma attack.  Because of that I use unscented products…which are often hard to come by.  It seems like everything has to have a gallon of perfume in it.  Really people…do you think you smell that bad?

So…I decided to try to make my own unscented liquid hand soap…using a bar of soap / some water and glycerin.  Recipe at the end of post.

I used this unscented goats milk soap.

Two bars of grated soap.

Water brought to a boil.

Grated soap added to boiling water and stirred til dissolved.

It gets all sudsy and then settles down as it cools.

Overnight it sets up kind of jelly like.  See where I made a finger indention?

New immersion blender.  The pic doesn’t show the true color.  It’s 50’s diner blue and was part of something called the Americana Series.

Looks all sudsy as you’re blending the ‘jelly’…

…but smooths out once it’s all blended.

  

 

I was very impressed with this and I LOVE the goats milk soap.

Mama L walked thru the kitchen as I was making this and asked ‘How’s it going, Granny Clampet?’…thus the post title. 🙂   Anyone not familiar with The Beverly Hillbillies…Granny C used to brew up her goats milk soap out by the mansion pool.

Side thought…if any of Mama L’s side of the fam is reading this…do y’all remember when we’d stay with Meme in the summer when she had that big quilting frame hanging from the ceiling?  We’d play under that thing all day long…like it was a tent…while watching The Hillbillies / The Munsters / Adams Fam and Father Knows Best reruns on TBS / WGN.  Every time I see those shows today I think about playing under that quilting frame…watching old black and white tv while she quilted.   Some of my favorite non-cooking memories. 🙂  

Anyway back to the soap…it turned out I didn’t need the glycerin.  My bar of soap already had a good amount of glycerin and adding additional made the test batch too oily.  If you can handle it you can add essential oils to this.  Tea Tree oil is recommended for it’s antibacterial properties.

With the gallon of water and two bars of soap I was able to make a gallon of hand soap for around $2.75.

If you’ve ever had to purchase unscented body products you know what an amazing deal that is.

Cost aside…I loved this and will keep making it as long as I can find the soap. 🙂

Have a nice weekend. 🙂 

 

Liquid Hand Soap

1 Gallon Water

2 (5 oz) bars of Soap

2 tbsp Glycerin (use ONLY if your soap doesn’t already contain it)

 

Directions

Bring water to a boil.

Grate soap.

Add grated soap to boiling water and stir til dissolved.  Move it off the burner once the grated soap stops clumping.

If using glycerin or scents…add them now.

Let mixture come to room temp and then cover and let sit overnight or until it completely sets up.

Use a hand mixer or immersion blender to blend to a smooth liquid.

Pour into bottle(s) and store in a cool area of your house.

Every soap will react differently…depending on it’s ingredients…but the texture of this soap produced a liquid that is kind of like Aveeno Body Wash.  It’s thick and kind of goop-y but I’ve got it in a mason jar with a pump and it pumps out perfectly.  So it’s not too thick to pump.

Another Lent Friday Idea

I decided I should put these up earlier in the week instead of waiting until Friday.

I didn’t get a picture of this before it was opened but it’s Parm Encrusted Tilapia from Treasures by Odyssey.  They have this brand at HEB down here.  Just make sure you look at the packages closely.  The gluten-free versions all say gluten-free right on the front of the package…in a red and white label.  I got this parm package and in addition to the the gluten-free parm version they also have a regular parm version…so just check them carefully. 🙂

It was so good.  No thawing.  Just bake.  It was very crisp.  Loved it and will definitely have it again…even outside of lent.

Can you believe this bun?  Still playing around with the recipe.

McDonald’s / Sonic…I miss you a little bit less today. 😉  Not that I miss them that much day to day but I do miss the fish sandwiches during lent. 🙂

Hope y’all are having a great week. 🙂

Yeasted ‘Tortilla’

Wet Burrito.   No words for how happy this made me. 🙂

Mixed with the hand mixer.  In the ice box to rise.

Divided into four balls.  Rolled thin.

Cooked on a very lightly oiled comal.  Super soft, roll-able ‘tortillas’.

Refried beans.  Rice and corn.

Spicy chopped beef.  Enchilada sauce and queso blanco.

Look at that gorgeous roll. 🙂  It was so unbelievably soft and didn’t split at all.

Smothered in enchilada sauce and queso blanco.

These stayed soft on the counter…under a damp towel…for hours.  Later that night I had half of this ham, cheese and egg taquito.  You can see how tightly I was able to roll it and not one split.

A wet burrito is something I’ve really missed since the diagnosis from h3ll.  I’ve had good results making gluten – free flour tortillas with Cup4Cup but none of them have been this soft or have been able to roll tightly like this.  Also, I haven’t been able to get one this large using Cup4Cup.  So…I decided to try a yeasted / ice box version and I think you can tell from the pics how happy I am with them. 🙂

I’ve only tried this with the bread flour blend (the flour recipe is found within the recipe at that link)  but if you want to experiment with using regular gluten – free flours I’ve halved the recipe and if you make half it only uses a little over a cup of flour.

Yeasted ‘Tortilla’ or Wrap

Amount on the right makes 8 .  Amount in ( ) makes 4.

282g Bread Flour Blend*                  (141g Flour)

1 2/3 tsp Yeast                                        (1 tsp Yeast)

1 1/2 tbsp Sugar                                      (3/4 tbsp Sugar)

1/2 tsp Salt                                               (1/4 tsp Salt)

1/3 cup Sour Cream                              (3 tbsp Sour Cream)

3 tbsp Butter or Lard                          (1 1/2 tbsp Butter or Lard)

2/3 cup warm Evaporated Milk        (1/3 cup Evaporated Milk)

1/2 cup Water Roux                       (1/4 cup Water Roux)

Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt.

Make a well and add sour cream, butter, evaporated milk and water roux.

Mix with spoon or mixer.

Ice box it overnight.

The next day divide into balls and roll thin.

Cook on a lightly oiled skillet about 30 – 40 seconds per side.

If not using right away cover with a damp towel to keep from drying out.

*Again, the recipe for the flour can be found within the bread recipe at the above link.  

Also, I use 125g flour to equal 1 cup.  And if you’re wondering about the sour cream making these sour…I think the yeast must ‘eat’ the sourness or something because these don’t have even a little hint of sour.  

Do~si~do Saturday

I don’t usually post on the weekend but this recipe seems like a weekend kind of kitchen project. Not because it’s difficult but because you have to chill the dough for a while.  So I wanted to get it up today. 🙂

Super yum. 🙂

Dough balls scooped and ready to chill.  I left mine in the icebox for 3 hours.

Dough balls moved to parchment lined cookie sheet and flattened with palm.

Filled, sandwiched and stacked.  Someday I’ll move that computer off this counter when I’m taking pics. 😉

Like a large portion of the population…I love love love peanut butter Girl Scout cookies and to me GS cookies are a spring thing.  I will always associate them with spring break / Easter time.

It’s spring here now so it was officially time to try to de-gluten this yearly tradition. 🙂

I followed this recipe exactly as written just replacing the wheat flour with cup4cup.

These taste exactly like I hoped they would.  I didn’t get mine quite as small or crisp as the originals but that’s easily corrected with a smaller cookie and longer bake time.

I will make these every single March from now on.  🙂

Hope y’all have a nice weekend. 🙂

Brioche Dough ~ w/ Regular GF Flours

I got this book for Christmas and I really like it a lot.  It’s where the Crockpot bread came from.

As a guide I’ve been using the regular recipes in it…with the gluten-free bread flour blend recipe from this book.

It’s working great.  I like the Bread in 5 method because I find the baked bread to be a lot lighter / softer.

Even though I’ve been using the regular recipes…the book also has a gluten–free chapter.

Since I’ve been using the bread flour blend exclusively the last few months…and many of you can’t get your hands on some of the ingredients…I decided to try one of the gluten-free recipes using standard gluten–free flour.  As always…recipe at the end of the post.

I chose the gluten–free brioche on page 286 because it’s the closest to the dough I’ve been playing around with…most recently used in the Parker House Pull Apart rolls.

The idea behind Bread in 5 is that you make up around 4 pounds of dough at a time and then bake from it all week.

I’ve been making half batches of dough but since I was just experimenting with this brioche dough I made a fourth of the recipe.

It wasn’t bad at all.   In fact Mama L asked me to make her some more.  She doesn’t have to eat gluten–free but she is eating gluten–free now about 80 % of the time.  She says this is her favorite dough so far.  She likes super super soft stuff.

Now I have to add here that I’ve gotten so used to the bread flour blend that I found this baked dough a little too soft and chewy but for something old school gluten–free flour based…it was pretty good. 🙂    

It’s a wet dough that starts out looking like this…

But firms up after a night in the icebox.

I was able to roll it.

It was able to stand up like the pull apart dough.

It made nice little round / hamburger type buns.

Also note the lack of rolling flour in the pics.  For all of my bread I’ve been just using oil sprayed Saran and sprayed hands / rolling pin.  It’s working SO much better and the baked dough isn’t dry or heavy.  Plus there’s no mess. 🙂  

Anyway…I decided to share this incase y’all want to play around with it.  I will definitely keep making this for Mama L…and let me know what you think if you give it a try.  But send your complaints to Bread in 5 if ya don’t love it. 😉 

Gluten-Free Brioche Dough from Bread in 5

Amounts on the left make around 2 pounds of dough.  Amounts in ( ) make 1 pound.

3/4 cup or 110g White Rice Flour       (6 tbsp or 55g)

2 cups or 256g    Tapioca Starch          (1 cup or 128g)

up to 1/2 cup Sugar                                   (I used 2 tbsp)

1 tbsp Yeast                                                 (1 1/2 tsp)

1/2 tbsp Salt                                                (I used 1 tsp)

1 tbsp Xanthan Gum                               (1 1/2 tsp)

1 1/4 cup lukewarm Water                       (I used 2/3 cup)

2 Eggs                                                           (1 egg)

1/2 cup Oil or melted Butter                  (1/4 cup…I used butter)

Plus Vanilla if you’re making a sweet dough.

Legally I can’t share their directions here but what I do…which differs from their method but works best for me…is that I…

•         combine all the dry ingredients
•         make a flour well and add all the liquids
•         mix well with my Danish dough whisk
•        transfer to a larger proofing bowl
•        either let rise on the counter for a couple hours then put in the icebox overnight or just put it straight in the icebox overnight or up to 5 days

In the book they say that if the lumpy looking dough bothers you to use an electric stand mixer for a minute or so to get rid of the lumps.

The lumps don’t really bother me for day to day stuff but I’ve done it both ways…used the dough whisk and my hand mixer with the dough hooks just to combine it all and make it smooth.  I used the mixer for the pull apart dough since I was serving it as part of a special meal.

Left…smooth balls of dough that had been mixed with the hand mixer.  Right…less smooth balls of dough from dough mixed with the whisk.

Also on the Bread in 5 website people have written in the comment areas saying they’ve tried gluten-free blends in the various gluten-free recipes in the book with success.  So if you don’t have individual flours and have a favorite standard blend you might still give it a try. 🙂  I think they did specifically say though that any blend with bean flour will not work in their recipes…so skip the bean flour. 🙂

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

OK, y’all so with the exception of Ballykissangel …which I just binged watched the entire series for probably the twentieth time… I’m not really that into Irish stuff…or foods or drink.

I’d found a few Irish recipes and thought about trying them for the blog but I just couldn’t get inspired…SO this really isn’t anything Irish…but it is green. 😉

It is one of my favorite party punches.  It’s nice for spring too.  You can add fruit / alcohol or both.

This weekend we had it plain.

Lime Sherbet.  Sprite (or Ginger Ale).  Pour Sprite over sherbet.  Let soften.  Add any fruit / alcohol you like.  Rum for ‘nice’ punch?  Tequila for a ‘wild’? 😉

There isn’t a specific amount of liquid.  It’s up to you.  Use more for a thinner drink and less for a thicker consistency.  But as a guide…

1 liter of Sprite / Ginger Ale per gallon of sherbet.

 

We had ours with BBQ sandwiches.

It was brisket so let’s just play like it was Texas corned beef. 😉

Speaking of Ginger Ale…cheap / lazy ‘soda stream’. 🙂  Club Soda and Soda Stream mix.

I wanted to try out the Soda Stream flavors before investing in the whole contraption.  This works so well I’m just going to keep using the flavors without the machine.

Hope y’all had a nice weekend. 🙂

 

Parker House Pull Apart ‘Loaf’

I’m going to share the recipe for this dough sometime next week…still doing a little tweaking but I’m sharing the pics today because I’m really wanting to share the idea more than the recipe.

The reason the recipe doesn’t matter so much is because you can do this with any dough that is foldable…even if it needs the support of a bread pan.  You can also do it with any filling you want…sweet or savory.

This one is savory because Mama L requested lasagna for her birthday meal and I wanted to do something different from the usual garlic bread.  But one day I want to do a caramel / cinnamon version.

Dough divided into 10 (38g) balls.  Soft butter, mozzarella, parm, garlic, parsley.

  

Ball flattened.  Filled with butter mixture.  Folded.

Rolls lined up on baking sheet.  Risen for about an hour in a very warm kitchen.  If your dough won’t stand up on its own use a bread pan for support.  

Baked and brushed with more butter.

Lasagna with a roll.  Later I had an opened roll covered in sauce and ranch of course. 😉

For my non gluten-free readers this was inspired by a recipe from Rhodes so you can just use their frozen rolls.  Follow the thawing directions on the package.  Then just follow my pics for the process. 🙂  

I have a massage today and will attempt to eat out for lent Friday (fingers crossed for a good / safe experience).

On tap next week…

*Maybe a St. Patrick’s day recipe.  I’m still undecided on this one. 

*The bread dough recipe from this post.  Hopefully it is going to include a version using the gluten-free bread flour blend AND a version using plain gluten-free flours.  🙂  It’s chilling in the icebox as I type.

*I’m also ready to start working on some fun Easter treats.

Have a great weekend and thanks so much for stopping by. 🙂  

Happy Birthday, Mama Lupiac

I don’t have any pics or recipes today…if you want to skip the family stuff. 🙂

Today is Mama Lupiac’s birthday. 🙂   She said the wedding picture is the only pic of her I can use on the blog and since it is her birthday I won’t even try to slip one in today.

I’ve written about her here…and here and here. 

To me she’s just simply the very best Mom in the world. 🙂

My most favorite memory of time spent together with her…just the two of us…was something we used to do every summer. 

Y’all know how much I love music.  Before the lupus took over my body I used to go to a lot of concerts…all great memories but none as great as George Strait. 

From the early 80’s to the mid 90’s he held his annual team roping event and concert in Kingsville, TX.  It was a very small venue and was ‘first come first served’.  No reserved seating.  People would start lining up early in the morning for the 8 pm concert. 

Every summer we would go camp out with the other crazies.  Now remember…this is summertime in South Texas we’re talking about.  Super-hot.  Humid beyond words.  Zero wind.  By the time you got inside many hours later you’d made a bunch of new friends 😉 and were a sweaty mess. 

Still those were some of the best days (and concerts) of my life. 🙂

Mama L loves George a lot but truth be told she would have been perfectly happy just watching concert videos at home.  Still she got up at the crack of dawn and sat out in the hot humid air all day long because I asked her to and I don’t know if she’ll ever truly know how much those days spent together…just the two of us…meant to me. 🙂 

Happy Birthday, Mama L.   Thanks for sitting out in the heat for me…for taking care of me and all this dumb health h3ll…and for the million other things you do for us.  I can speak for us all when I say we’d be absolutely lost without you.  I love you. 🙂  

A couple weeks ago one of my friends asked me to tell her my favorite George song.  Weeks later I still can’t decide on just one.  I asked Mama L hers and before I could even get thru George in “What’s your favorite George song?” she replied “Marina del Rey”. 🙂 

 

Lent Friday Idea

This is my first Lent as a celiac.  Prior Lent Friday meant fried fish and shrimp…Sonic Fish Sandwich / Luby’s / Red Lobster / little local fish places…etc.  Nothing I can eat now. 😦

As I come up with new or interesting ideas for Lent I’ll share them here.

First up…I had some left over crawfish from the gumbo making so I decided to make a pasta dish.

Crawfish / Butter / Spices.  There’s not as much butter in there as it looks like.  Some of the liquid is what cooked out of the crawfish.  Even I wouldn’t put that much butter in there. 😉

Alfredo Sauce.

Added some parm and cooked for a few minutes to meld.

Schar Tagliatelle Pasta.

I’ll definitely make this again.

Any good seafood ideas for lent?  Link away if you want to share. 🙂

Have a good weekend. 🙂