how to cook dumplings

 When we lived in Calgary, we would occasionally go to a restaurant in Chinatown that had THE BEST dumplings.  They were tender on top and super crisp on the bottom and were served with a few sauces, and they were just the best thing to eat for any occasion.

For years I've been cooking dumplings at home and while they are always good, I could never get them to come out with the same soft on top and crisp on the bottom texture that I remembered from the Calgary dumplings so many years ago.

Recently I was watching Ye Ole Tickey-Toks and  BOOM!  Right there was a video on how to make the perfect dumplings; the dumplings of my dreams.

Go visit Eastswithvan on Tik Tok to see her video, but the basic instruction is - don't mess around with them in the pan.  

I always just dumped them in the pan with some oil, and then tossed and moved them around a bunch before I threw in some water for steaming.  Wrong wrong wrong.  Get them in the pan and then leave them alone!  Who knew.  Probably lots of people, but not me.

Here's what I learned - 

Put a bit of oil in the non stick pan.  Heat it over medium heat.  Put your dumplings in the pan, flat bottom side down.  Fan them, very close to each other, in a circle.  Cook, not touching the dumplings, but maybe rotating the pan on the burner if you have a stupid stove where the burners heat unevenly, like we do.  Cook them for 5 minutes, making sure they don't get too brown.  Add "some" water, and cover and steam for 5 more minutes.  Remove the lid and if there is still water in the pan, keep cooking, again making sure the bottoms aren't getting too brown, until nearly all the water has evaporated.  

Remember to watch your heat, you don't want your dumplings getting too brown and crisp too quickly.

Now this part I'm still working on as I've only done this twice!  You mix some more water and a spoon (?) of flour.  Whisk together and pour around the dumplings.  Then you cook THIS another 5 minutes until the slurry and the dumplings are nice and browned and crisp on the bottom.  Try, if you can, to loosen the edges with a spatula and then flip the whole thing over onto a plate so the bottom is now the top.  Like this.

LOOK AT HOW GOOD THEY LOOK.  LOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They could have been a little browner, but I was nervous.

The second time I made them I did get them a bit browner but my flipping game was NOT on point and they didn't come out in one layer.  But they still tasted delicious.

I put out the Saigon dipping sauce, some chile garlic sauce, and soy sauce as choices for dipping sauces, and then I tried to make a dipping sauce but it didn't taste very good.

ALSO, between Dumplings 1 and Dumplings 2 I bought a bottle of red vinegar (not red wine vinegar) for dipping and oh boy.  So good.

Go check out Eatswithvan for the BEST way to cook dumplings.

how to - make a beer can "cake"

 I wanted to do something fun for The Mister's birthday this year.  He loves beer, specifically trying craft beers from different places, and the liquor stores around us have pretty good selections, so I made him a beer can cake.

These are all over Pinterest, should you need more information or inspiration, but because I am not very crafty, I took the basic "stack cans of beer together" and went with it.  I went to the liquor store and bought 10 cans of beer; 6 "tall" and 4 "regular", then hit the dollar store for some ribbon.  They didn't have any nice ribbon so instead I bought a roll of burlap (MANLY!) and purple yarn.  I also found some tiny lights to use in place of candles on the top of the cake.

I used tape to hold the 6 tall cans in place on the board and to each other, then clumsily tied some burlap and yarn around it to make it purdy.

 I realized once I was done that I should have wrapped the cardboard tray in wrapping paper to make it pretty too.  Fortunately my family knows how bad I am at all of this so no one cared or commented.

 My plan had been to make a second layer out of 3 cans and then the top layer with one, but I didn't like the way the 3 cans looked, so I used 4 cans for the second layer and stole one of The Misters beers from the fridge to make a top layer. 

I plopped a ribbon on top and strung the little lights all over my magnificent creation.

And it looked super cute once it was all lit up!

 Everyone was impressed and kindly ignored all the visible tape holding everything together.  These guys are the best.

the power of orange and vinegar combined

I love cleaning with vinegar - it does a good job and it's cheap.  I decided to try one of the homemade cleaner recipes that are always floating around the internet.  I used this article for guidance although I didn't have any whole cloves or cinnamon sticks to add. 

I put my peels in a jar........

And added vinegar to cover.........

Let it sit for 2 weeks!

Pulled out the orange peels and there's my orange infused vinegar.

I added it to a spray bottle with some water.

 

And got to cleaning.

It works well and while it still smells very strongly of vinegar (of course) this is some orange there too.

Up next I want to try the lemon and rosemary cleaner - we used to have a rosemary plant in our garden, but I didn't notice if it came back this year!  Off to check.

How to cook dried beans in the instant pot

Last Sunday I was going to make a soup for Sunday Dinner.  It had mild Italian sausage in it, but "some" people in my family find that can be too spicy sometimes, so I was second guessing myself.  Should I figure out a different meal to make?  Or add some side dishes so if the soup doesn't appeal, there are other things to eat?  Or!  Should I make a second soup????

The Mister was all down with that idea of course, and suggested ham and bean, since we have bags and bags of ham in the freezer from Thanksgiving.  The problem was that we didn't have any canned beans, only dried, and I was trying to make this dinner happen without having to go back to the store.

I had the instant pot out as I'd make some hard boiled eggs that morning, and I couldn't help but wonder, could you cook dried beans in the instant pot?

You can, and I did, using this recipe!

Toss your beans into the pot,

Add some water, salt, olive oil, and optional garlic and bay leaf.

Close it up and cook for 25-30 minutes.  Let the pressure release naturally for as long as you can, 

et voila!  You have perfectly cooked beans!  

How to: Read More

I have been on an endless cycle of number 4 for about a month now.

Send help.

Tis the Season - Tick Spray

A couple of weeks ago I spotted a black fluff on The Boy's shoulder and I went to brush it off - and it was a TICK just beginning to burrow into his SKIN.  He'd been at the Wildlife Park that morning with his sister so we pushed aside the heebie jeebies and picked through their hair to make sure there weren't any more.

The Boy had one in his hair a few years ago so he's obviously delicious, and a FB friend had mentioned that she'd found a couple of her kids clothes and it was starting to freak me out, so I did some investigating into making a tick spray.

Top essential oils to use that I came across in my research were eucalyptus, lemon eucalyptus, lemon, lavender, and geranium.  

Lavender is too strong a scent for me, and the one natural food store I've been to so far didn't have geranium, so I got a bottle of lemon eucalyptus and a bottle of witch hazel and made my own spray.

I used a tablespoon of witch hazel (I realized after I'd opened it that the lady sold me a bottle of witch hazel toner, but since I'd already opened it I'm hoping it's pretty much the same) and 40 drops of lemon eucalyptus oil and topped it off with water.  

The Mister and I tried it out on ourselves to make sure we didn't break out in a rash or anything so we've been using it on the kids along with always wearing their hats and hopefully we won't find any more.

The Boy has heard some stories about ticks from his friends and there was Big Drama at school last year when one was discovered in the hair of one of his classmates, so now he's even more obsessed with them- so much so that he picked the TICK as his animal to do his science project on, so now I get to research these gross creatures even more.....shudder.

Keeping track of the freezer

My freezer is always a mess. It's small, so there really isn't that much we could do with it, but everything is always jumbled and tangled together. 

 We try to not be wasteful, so there are always containers and freezer bags with random buns and bread ends, cooked meats or stews, soups that no one liked much but I saved anyway. 

 I can never keep track of what we buy or use, so I try to keep an inventory list. 

An inventory list that The Mister never updates when he takes stuff out, that I 

forget to update when I put stuff in, that gets chucked in the recycling bin after a 

few weeks when I get frustrated that it's no longer up to date. 

 But I persist.

 I have no motivation for menu planning and cooking any more, so knowing what I

 have to work with is more important than ever.

 This time I tried a slightly different method than my usual handwritten list - I made a "spreadsheet". (I use quotes because people who actually use spreadsheets would

 laugh at what I call one, but whatevs.) 

I started with my usual handwritten, illegible, unorganized list.

Then I put the information into a computer, and tried to group it by categories that seemed helpful - meats, breads, potatos....

When it came to items that I had multiples of - like ground beef and turkey, instead of writing the number 3 to show I had 3 packs, I did 3 lines, apart, so in theory if I take one out of the freezer, I just cross off one line and that shows I have 2 left, and that should be correct.  In theory.

The printed copy hangs in my kitchen.

So far, so good! 

How To: Break up ground meat

This is one of those tips that is so easy, so obvious, that when you see it you're 

like - why didn't I think of that???? 

Sometimes when you're cooking ground meat, it's a bit tough to get the meat 

broken into small uniform pieces while cooking. 

The solution? 

Your potato masher.

Use the masher to mash and break up the ground meat as it cooks.

It's easy to break up clumps.

Switch to a spoon or spatula once the meat is broken up as you like, to finish the cooking.

Easy!

How to : roast and freeze garlic

I remember the first time I tried roasted garlic. 

 I'd read about it in a magazine and for some reason I already owned a little terra cotta garlic roaster, so I picked up a head of garlic and a baguette and tried it out. 

 My boyfriend at the time was a basic meat and potatos guy,and declared many many times he was not interested in trying it. 

No sir, not the kind of thing he would eat! 

Well, once the garlic came out of the oven and was plated with the sliced bread, he materialized over my shoulder and announced that fine! He'd try it! Get off his back! 

 And proceeded to eat the entire thing. 

 Men. 

 Roasted garlic is amazing - on bread, in pasta or sauces - but it takes time to make, so I always have some frozen in my freezer.

 First, roast the garlic. 

 Heat your oven to 400'. Cut just the bare top off the whole heads of garlic to expose the tops of the cloves. 

Place in a baking dish and drizzle well with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper 

and cover the top of the dish with foil.

Roast in the oven for an hour, until tender and golden.

They are ready to use as you like, or cool them completely, and wrap them individually in plastic wrap and then in a freezer bag, and store in the freezer until you need them.

They thaw in the microwave in a matter of seconds, or leave them in the fridge overnight.

So good.

How to: Freeze Spinach

This is a, I think, helpful share for an easy way to store spinach and add it into your meals.

I buy those big bags of spinach that cost only a few bucks and pack one or two large
handfuls into baggies and freeze them. 

Then they're available anytime to be added to smoothies, curries, soups,
rice bowls, pastas, stir fries.

Whatever floats your boat and needs some greens.  

Easy peasy.

How to : Freeze Zucchini

I bought way too much zucchini which normally wouldn't be a problem, 

but we were getting ready to go away for a week. 

I didn't want to leave it in the fridge in case it spoiled 

while we were gone,  and there was no time left to eat it. 

 What to do? I froze it.

 I washed and cut the ends off the zukes, and cut them in half lengthwise

 to make sure they would fit in the food tube of my food processor. 

Then I shredded them.

I was ready to start portioning out the shredded veg, but since

 frozen veggies can sometimes be a bit mushy once thawed, 

I decided to squeeze out as much liqiud as I could before 

measuring out 1 cup portions into bags.

The little bags were loaded into large freezer bags and then placed gently in the freezer.

I haven't used any yet, but I'm thinking baking and soups will be good 

places to see how the zucchini stood up to freezing.

How to: Freeze tomato paste

Just like I freeze ginger, I do the same with tomato paste.

Most recipes I make that call for tomato paste only need one or two tablespoonfuls. 

So annoying to open up a can for only a little amount.

I occasionally buy tomato paste in tubes, but lately I haven't been using them fast enough before the tubes spoil, so I'm back to freezing the paste in spoonfuls.

This is much faster and less messy than the ginger.  No prep required!

I lay out a piece of plastic wrap.  

You want to leave a couple of inches between each blob of paste 

and down the side for the sealing step.

Spoon the paste onto the plastic wrap.  I did mine in one tablespoon blobs.

Fold the plastic wrap over the paste onto itself, like you're making ravioli.

Press the plastic wrap all around the paste to seal.

Cut the plastic wrap between each tomato paste package to separate.  Fold over any extra wrap to seal up.  Place the blobs in a freezer bag, and put in the freezer.