I Saw An Angel

First of all, let me tell you I am a sane person. I do not have nor have I ever had a mental disorder that would cause me to make up stuff or see stuff that isn't really there. Just thought you would want to know. Now here is my story:

When I was 16 years old, my family went to Tennessee to visit extended family during the Christmas Break. On one occasion we went and picked up pecans but many had not yet fallen. So being the adventurous sort, I climbed up into the tree and was shaking limbs by stomping them, causing the pecans to fall. I was about 40 feet up when one limb I stomped on broke...now here is where it gets interesting.

I started falling and saw white feathers. I landed straddling a branch about 20 feet below and a 1/4 turn around the tree without a scratch and not singing soprano the rest of my life. I remember looking up and seeing the limb I was standing on dangling and wondering what just happened. I climbed down out of the tree and knew something significant happened but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I never really talked about the experience until about 15 years ago because I thought people would think I was "kookoo for cocoa puffs" if I talked about it. But it was the first time I knew God loved me and cared about me in a tangible way. It made me feel special, that God cared about me enough to not let me die or be horribly injured. I can't explain why I was spared while others were allowed to have gravity take over and splat on the ground. I just know that God saved me that day and I am grateful.

What Every Kitchen Should Have

After cooking at a professional kitchen at school and my own (very well equipped) kitchen at home, I decided to write a list of what gadgets, utensils and equipment kitchens should have in order to cook meals regularly. I cooked in several ill equipped kitchens last year of relatives and if they would just get the basics, cooking would be so much easier and enjoyable. Compare your list to mine and see how you come out.

The MUST HAVES (the minimum):

Four burner cook top (gas preferred) All four should work properly.
Single oven (electric preferred) Double Oven preferred
Stand Mixer (Kitchen Aid is awfully nice)
Microwave oven
Refrigerator/Freezer
Canisters to hold flour and sugar (at least 1/2 gallon)
Automatic dishwasher
Blender
Can Opener
2 compartment sink
Two 12 inch saute' pan (Non Stick)
Two Stainless Steel Skillets ( 9" and 12")
2 quart saucepan
1 1/2 quart saucepan
1 quart saucepan
Dutch Oven (1 gallon)
Stock Pot (2 gallon)
2 cookie sheets
2 muffin pans
2 Pyrex glass 2-quart Baking dishes
2 9" X 13" Pyrex glass baking dish
1 9" X 13" Baking pan
2 pie plates (12")
2 12" cooking racks
Strainer
1 set of measuring cups
1 set of measuring spoons
1 Pyrex measuring cup (1 cup)
1 Pyrex measuring bowl (4 cup)
1 Pyrex measuring bowl (2 quart)
2 mixing bowls
3 2-quart Serving bowls
Roasting pan
Vegetable Peeler
Chef's knife (French knife)
Paring knife
Bread knife
Utility knife (8")
Santoku knife (7")
Butcher knife
Melon Baller
Cook's Fork
4 Spatulas (Use plastic Spatula on nonstick cookware)
2 Rubber Spatulas
2 slotted spoons
2 solid spoons
Tongs
2 Wire Whips
Cheese Grater
Colander
Wire Mesh Skimmer
Bench Scrapper
Pie Server
2 Ladles
Meat Thermometer
Digital scale
Electric Mixer
Toaster
Steamer
12 piece table setting (plates, bowls, drinking glasses, forks, knives, steak knives, spoons, saucers)

Food to always have on hand:

All Purpose Flour
White Sugar
Brown Sugar
Bread Crumbs
Eggs
Milk
All the spices (get small containers of less used spices)
Salt
Pepper
Vanilla
Cocoa Powder
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Yeast
Tea
Coffee
Cooking Spray
Olive Oil
Vegetable Oil
Potatoes
Onions
Celery
Carrots
Fresh Vegetables
Fresh Fruits
Butter
Bacon
Cream Cheese
Meats
Beans
Rice
Honey
Red and White Wine (for Cooking)
Cream
Canned Tomatoes
Chicken Broth
Beef Broth
Salsa
Dijon Mustard
Worcestershire Sauce
Hot sauce (Franks or Tabasco)
Parmesan Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Monterrey Jack Cheese
Cream of Chicken soup
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Spaghetti Sauce
Dried Pasta (Spaghetti, Penne, Farfalle)

Can you think of anything I left out? Anything you can't live without in the kitchen that I left out? Compare what you have in your kitchen to this basic list. How did you come out?

Cream Cheese Pie with Sour Cream Topping

Yesterday, the bake shop gave the basic cooking class two pies in exchange for our Cream of Broccoli Soup and Cream of Mushroom Soup. We got the better end of the trade, by far. The pie is awesome, easy and, if you use low fat cream cheese and low fat sour cream, only 75 calories per slice. WHAT!!???!! Yes, I said 75 calories per slice. That's like eating broccoli its so healthy. WHAT UP!

It was so good, I asked the teacher for the recipe and it is so easy even a trained monkey could make it. You probably have the ingredients in the fridge right now. Take this pie to a pot luck (keep the other for yourself) and it will disappear faster than your kids disappear when it is chore time.

Cream Cheese Pie with Sour Cream Topping (makes two pies)

Pre-made Graham Cracker Crust
24 oz Cream Cheese
8 oz Sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

Mix the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth.
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Pour into the graham cracker crust.
Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.
Top pie with Sour Cream topping and bake an additional 5-10 minutes to set the topping.
Show some self discipline and let it cool or refrigerate until cold before digging in. If your monkey made this pie, give him a piece of pie to reward him for his hard work.

Enjoy.

Crumb Pie Recipe

The bake shop at ElCentro College has a bake sale every Friday. I bought a crumb pie for two dollars because nothing else really appealed to me. I brought it home and my family devoured it. It was one of the best tasting "pies" I have eaten. So I asked the baking teacher if I could get the recipe from her and she happily made a copy for me. So here it is:

CRUMB PIE

Crumb Topping:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbl (3/4 of a stick) unsalted butter at room temperature

FILLING
2/3 boiling water
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs

1 frozen pie shell, thawed at least 20 minutes

Preheat the oven to 450 F.
To make the topping, in a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, using a whisk or fork. Cut the butter into several pieces and drop them into the bowl. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, blend the butter into the flour until their are no visible pieces of butter and the mixture resembles coarse, dry crumbs. Set aside.

To make the filling, in a medium bowl, whisk together the boiling water and brown sugar. Add the baking soda and whisk until well incorporated. Add the eggs and whisk well. The mixture will be quite thin. Pour into the pie shell and sprinkle evenly with the topping.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake for 25 to 30 minutes longer. As the pie bakes, it will puff dramatically and the crumb surface will crack. It is done when you insert a knife into one of the cracks and it comes out clean. Cool for one hour before serving. There won't be much left after people taste this pie so get a big piece first.

Enjoy

Chip

Please watch this video about a man who attends The Branch, the church I attend. It is a powerful testament to the power of God and to the fact that God still works miracles. It's awesome!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0lgQEO6qp4

This video is a response to people who think God wound the Earth then stands back without interference. I don't know why God chose Chip, but I am glad he did.

Texas Ranger Baseball

I have two team in Major League Baseball that I love to watch. The TEXAS RANGERS and any team playing the New York Yankees.

But if you watch baseball, have you noticed the Rangers are playing really well? I don't get to write this very often so I am going to write quickly while they are winning.

Go Rangers!!!!!

Culinary School

I am in my third week of culinary school and can scarcely wipe the smile off my face. It's awesome. I am taking three classes: Intro to Hospitality (how to run a restaurant), Sanitation and Safety (how to not make someone sick or kill them with your food) and Intro to Cooking (how do use a knife, convert recipes and cook).

I wish I would have done this years ago. I am a duck to water.

Top ten things I have learned in culinary school:

1. How to hold and handle a knife.

2. Cover the pan when you are boiling water and it traps the heat energy in the pan and boils the water faster.

3. Beef stock is made by boiling beefs bones for 8 hours with mirepoix.

4. Mirepoix is celery, carrots and onions cut in a large dice and added to most soup and stew recipes.

5. There are about 35 food borne diseases that can kill you or make you really sick. Use Clorox Clean-up to wipe down your kitchen. Seriously. Go wipe down your kitchen right now to kill all those germs. Throw away your kitchen sponge.

6. The internal food temp of 165 (for about 15 seconds) kills bacteria in your food. Especially eggs.

7. If a cow uses the muscle to walk or move, it will be tough and you have to cook it on low heat (225 degrees) for a long time with a little water and covered to make it edible. You only grill steaks that have enough fat in them to keep the meat juicy and tender.

8. If you get sick at a restaurant, it usually is because a restaurant worker DID NOT wash their hands after going to the restroom and got feces in your food. Ugh!

9. Eating raw oysters is a bad idea. The diseases you get from doing that are really bad and can cause you to forget your name (seriously) and go into a coma.

10. Chef's aren't necessarily good cooks (although it really helps if they are)...they run a team of people that are good cooks and have a kitchen staff that work their butts off to make great food and they depend on incredible waiters to make the customers feel great. But the back bone of the entire restaurant rests on the shoulders of the pot washer and the ones that do the dishes. Without them, nothing could get done.

11. Most likely, you can't go to the store and buy the steaks they serve at Three Forks, Ruth's Chris, or Bob's Steak and Chophouse. Those are Prime and cost a lot of money. Buy Top Choice (if you can find it) and only cook your steak to medium (never well done). Salt meat at the end of cooking or it will draw out all the moisture in the meat and make it dry.

Bon Appetite! More tips later.