Bagels

Today, I made bagels according to a recipe I've used a few times:

Homemade bagel recipe by John D. Lee

4 cups bread flour

1 Tbls sugar

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 Tbls vegetable oil

2 tsps instant yeast

1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, adding the yeast to the water first. Knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for a few minutes.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Also, grease a baking pan with a little bit of oil. 

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled. 

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!

Let them cool before eating, toppings should be added half-way through the baking, at the time of the flip.

My favorite type of bagel is jalepeno cheddar, and normally I add both the peppers and the cheese while I'm flipping them, but today I mixed the chopped peppers into the dough and added the cheese as usual. They're pretty good bagels, give them a try!

-John

Creamy Potato and Carrot Soup

So Justin and I had a long morning playing volleyball in a stake tournament, then hurried by the grocery store to pick up some food for the week (since I have essentially given up on grocery shopping by myself---just too hard and I'm just too busy.  Props to all of you who manage this alone and/or with 2+ kids).  When we came home and I unloaded the groceries and saw the potatoes next to the carrots, I thought, "I bet that would make a delicious soup."  So, at 2:30, starving for lunch, I stumbled upon THIS recipe from My Kitchen Addiction blog, and it looked worth a try!  We had almost all the ingredients, which probably has something to do with the fact that the original recipe comes from a cookbook that I now want, entitled "More With Less Cookbook."  I was happy that I could successfully curb my hunger for the one hour it took to make this. It was very easy, and tastes better with time. Justin gave it 4 out of 5 stars!

So, here's my modified version:

Creamy Carrot and Potato Soup
(Makes 6-8 servings, adapted from More With Less Cookbook)

• 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 4 russet potatoes
• 6 large carrots (about 1 pound)
  (I only had baby carrots so I used like 15 or 20 of those)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried dill (I might do without next time...not a dill lover)
• 6 cups chicken broth (used "Better than Bouillon")
• 1 1/2 cups milk
  (Okay, I fully intended to use milk, but I had some heavy cream leftover that I had to use up, so I put in 3/4 C heavy cream + 3/4 C water)
• 1 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I used regular but I should've used dijon)
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2-3/4 C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• Kosher salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Hot sauce (Cholula)

 

Step 1: Cook the onion on the stove in a skillet with the oil.
Step 2: Use a shredder to shred the potato and carrot. (Since I ended up blending this anyway, you could probably just dice or chop it really small and not shred them).
Step 3: After the onion has browned, add the shredded potato and carrots. Cook until softened, approximately 15 minutes.
Step 4: Add the thyme, dill, mustard, and a dash of pepper. 
Step 5: Move it all to a large pot and add the 6 cups of broth, let cook for 10 minutes.
Step 6: Add in milk and cheese, turn up the heat for 5 minutes, then turn down to simmer until you are ready to each!
Step 7: Add in salt, pepper, and cholula to taste.
Step 8: Enjoy!

While we were waiting for the soup, Justin prepared a delicious Caesar Salad, which we've been enjoying lately with the discovery of a dressing we like.
The Easy Caesar salad recipe is:

• 2 heads romaine lettuce
• handful spinach
• 2 tomatoes
• carrots
• 1/2 white onion
• shredded mozarella cheese
• crutons
• Ken's Steakhouse creamy Caesar lite

 

Cake and Biscuits...

I think my selective memory may be worse than Jeff's. I don't remember details very well but many of the memories I do have of my childhood involve either making or eating food.  As everyone else has shared, I remember Jeopardy! and the "zings" from Dad about the food - maybe because it needed more barbecue sauce. And I'm glad that you can buy Sonny's now because nearly every other sauce is better than Bull's-eye (which I remember having frequently) in my mind.

I remember having superhero cakes as well, but I thought the batman cake was mine.  I think my favorite cake of all was a teenage mutant ninja turtle cake. I don't know why I was so fascinated with TMNT but I was and Mom was willing to make the cake to make my day a special one. As a parent now myself, I am amazed at the amount of time that Mom spent making our cakes.  When Annika decided that she was going to have a Cat in the Hat party for her 3rd birthday, we outsourced the cake making because we didn't think we'd have the time to make it and do everything else to get ready for the party. Yet every year, Mom had our cakes ready to go - whether the cake was a soccer ball, a TMNT, or another superhero. Annika's already let us know that her 5th birthday party will have a Paris theme - anyone want to make an Eiffel Tower cake for us? Mom?

The dish that I remember having most frequently was Chili Chicken Success. I just googled it and found that it is a common name.  I think I grew up thinking that Mom called it Chili Chicken Success because she could throw some chili and chicken in the crockpot and it was a success with both the kids and more importantly, Dad. I don't even know if it was made in a crockpot, but I remember a lot of crockpot chicken meals.

I liked Sunday dinners the best because I could help make dinner. I loved to make the biscuits. When dating Erica I think I could still make them without a recipe. I told her that I could never marry someone that can't make biscuits so I taught her how to make them. Unfortunately, we don't have them often and I'm now craving biscuits. When I met Erica's family, her Mom asked me if there was something that I would like to eat with dinner. Without hesitation, I asked for biscuits. Erica's family gave me some incredulous looks when I asked if they had any syrup. They took a liking to waffles with ice cream the next morning though.

So, I would like to thank you Mom for not only providing and accommodating our wants, but making it fun and allowing us to participate in the experience. You've done a great job teaching our kids in the same way you taught us - all three of my girls expect me to be able to teach them to draw because of the time that you spent teaching them. Annika asks to make Nani's cookies because of the times she spent making them with you. So, partly thanks to you, my kids are learning the skill that I mastered quickly - sprinting into the kitchen to eat desserts fresh out of the oven, a critical skill in any Holland household. In all seriousness, I really do appreciate the time that you spent with me - teaching me to cook and bake - and wish I could be making you a meal with biscuits tonight.  The first recipe I post on the blog will be the soup that you've asked about often.

I love you and Happy Birthday!

Brad

John's Food Memories

What foods come to mind when I think of my childhood? Biscuits and honey, mashed potatoes, salsa and chips on Sunday afternoons, and lots and lots of cookies.  I remember my teeth getting dyed black from the frosting on a soccer ball cake. I remember using the broth from black-eyed peas as gravy for potatoes even though I refused to touch the peas themselves. I even remember that the jalepeno kind made the best gravy.

Mom, you made us thousands of great meals over the years and fulfilled countless orders. Looking back, the atmosphere that you created with those meals was more important than the dishes themselves. There was a family dinner every night, no matter how busy you or the kids were. Those dinners left a deep impression on us all- you need not look farther for evidence than our bizarre family habit of hooking our elbows around the backrest of the chair when we're done eating. 

There was a lunch packed for me every day up through my senior year of high school. I can't tell you how jealous all of my friends were that my mom still packed lunches for me. A sandwich, an apple, fruit snacks, and a drink were waiting for me every morning. My favorite cereal was always in the pantry, seemingly in an infinite supply. The milk was always in the fridge, just as infinite as the cereal. Only now do I really understand that those things run out, and fast. 

Mom, your work keeping us all feed as what made our house a home. We always congregated around the food, most of the time devouring it in minutes. Remember when Tammy came to meet the family and brought a decorative box full of gummy snacks? She was shocked that we polished them all off in a matter of minutes. I remember how I used to eat the frosting off of cakes, Wendy would eat the crust, and Brad would eat the middle. I'm grateful for all of the work you did for us, I wish we had thanked you more at the time. Hopefully, this blog will help you see some of the influence you had on us.

Happy birthday!

Love, 

John

Sweet Memories

Happy birthday, Mom!  When Andrea made Reid’s and Grant’s fire truck birthday cake this year, it brought back fond memories of the birthday cakes you made for us.  Other than the superheroes from cake molds and perhaps a few sports balls here and there, the specific cake designs have faded from memory.  What has stayed with me is the care that went into them, the effort to create something special for me, and successful results (not to mention the lifelong love of desserts).  I realize now as I didn’t then that it was never about the cake, it was about the relationship it represented.  So thank you, Mom.  I wish we there to make you a cake for your birthday.

The back reads, "Frequent helper in the kitchen."

 And it’s because of you that I am able to make a cake.  I seem to recall a stretch in middle school when I was making a white cake with some sort of add-in on a weekly basis, usually coinciding with Seinfeld on Thursday nights (which I’m not sure you ever watched).   In addition to cake, there are the cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls (pattern, anyone?), bread, biscuits, chicken—just about anything, really.  Put a recipe in front of me, I can make it.  Without a recipe, I’m happy to experiment.  I remember adventurous left-over experiments on Sunday afternoons when the Saturday pizza was gone, and always accompanied by salsa and chips.  I’m grateful for the time we spent in the kitchen together—for the skills it imparted, but also for the quality time itself.  I find myself doing the same thing with my children.  Just this morning, Reid helped me make pancake batter before everyone else woke up.  Yesterday, both Reid and Grant helped make blueberry muffins.  Last week, it was snickerdoodles.  The cycle continues.  I hope they find the same pleasure in it that I did as they sneak bites of dough, lick the batter off spoons, and watch a little work produce delicious results.

Reid and Grant "helping" in August 2011.

Because of you, making and eating food is a family experience for us.  We’ve tried to replicate our practice of family meals.  Those were often the best of times, and only occasionally the worst of times.  Once again, my memories are less about the food served than the family time—the laughing, teasing, joking…criticizing—and Jeopardy!  But I do remember the food.  I recall chicken.  Lots of chicken.  Cajun chicken (with barbecue sauce, of course), barbecue chicken, chicken casserole, cashew chicken, chicken chili surprise, and more.  I’m still a fan.  And then there were the ever-present mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, green beans, which will forever have a place in my heart.  As for our lives in general, you provided a good, solid, comforting foundation to build on.  Or, if you will, a nice springboard for pursuing our own interests.

So thank you, Mom, for teaching me and inspiring me.  Thank your for the memories and for the memories my family will have as a result.  Happy birthday!                         

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I've been reading a ton of autobiographies lately, and the thing that impresses me the most is the detailed memory of the authors.  They describe in full detail meals from when they were five years old.  Granted, Justin reminded me that people generally have better memories of traumatic experiences, and the stories I've been reading have been filled with trauma.  So, the good news is, my childhood was never traumatic!  In fact, the most vivid memories I have of eating together growing up include: falling out of my chair while eating fishsticks and busting open my lip, thereby missing church and going to the Urgent Care, discovering blood in my chicken casserole either the night of or sometime around Jeff's graduation, and sitting for hours at the dinnertable because I refused to eat my dinner.

Ha, those 'traumatic' experiences aside, I have fond memories of eating together as a family.  I loved that we had that time together every night, and I was always sad for my friends when I went to their houses and they didn't have family dinner, with a prayer.  If fact, my friends were always more than happy to stay over for dinner.  I don't ever remember Mom saying no to any of my friends joining us at the dinnertable, and that happened frequently, whether it was Megan (who made the lemonade first, of course), Liz, Fran, Brett, or anyone else who was around. Good thing we were willing to adjust our "assigned seats" around to include a few more:)

Other pieces of memory in the kitchen include peeling and coring apples and learning how to dehydrate them, mixing cookies or brownies, doing dishes with Brad (who always mysteriously had to go to the bathroom every time we had to do dishes), making lots and lots of mashed potatoes, mixing Country Time lemonade, and making that delicious truffle with pudding and Angel Food Cake (what was that?!  Yum!).  More recently, I remember retaliating against Dad when he criticized Mom's cooking (he's less prone to do so now!), and I do recall a dinner when Brad and Erica were engaged and Dad told Brad he shouldn't go into the guest room with Erica with the door shut, and Brad tried to shift the blame to me, saying that I did worse things, and then Dad said, "Well I sleep with your Mom!"  End of story.

So, Mom, you made mealtimes fantastic.  I didn't know that chicken casserole with rice and a cream of something soup wasn't the very best of meals.  In fact, if you asked me now what my comfort food is, that's it...with yellow rice.  Yum, yum!  I specifically remember asking for that as a special birthday meal one time.  Speaking of birthdays, I had the very best ones ever!  I had a lion cake, a watch cake (can anyone remind me of WHY I would want a watch cake?), and a very amazing golf cake for my 8th birthday party at Putt-Putt golf.  I also remember making pinatas at my 10th birthday, inviting like half the school over for my 14th birthday party, where we had to rent a special building to have the dance party, and then having the most special surprise 16th party!  You made birthdays awesome, Mom!  I hope you have a great one today!  I love you!

Jeff's Food Memories of Youth

I always had awesome birthday cakes, with Superman and Batman standing out from the rest.  I'm not sure those particular cakes stand out because they were my favorites at the time or if it's because they're the ones that would be most popular with my kids now. But as great as the memories of birthdays are, they're surpassed by the memories of the menu of my high-school years.

With remarkable consistency, I think I ate nearly the same daily menu for the better part of high school. For breakfast, I'd have the ggrreeaat!-est cereal known to man, Frosted Flakes. For lunch, a PBJ. For dinner, a chicken-rice casserole. 

Even all these years later, I can picture those dinners with remarkable precision. We'd be gathered around the table with ABC News or Jeopardy! on the TV. At the time I thought the TV was to help us learn current events or random trivia. As I reflect on it now, however, the TV's purpose may have been to distract us from the monotony of our everyday chicken casserole. Served in a white casserole dish with small floral flourishes on the side, the dish had three main ingredients: chicken, rice, and cream of something soup. The soup ingredient kept it lively: Tuesday, it'd be cream of chicken; Thursday, cream of mushroom. Maybe Wednesday would have a little extra black pepper to spice it up. Remarkably, I don't think we ever complained about the meals...we were either too happy just to have food or just maybe the dinner menu wasn't as consistent as I remember.

But one thing I remember for sure is my favorite food--potato cinnamon rolls. How good were they? Embarrassingly, coming home from college on breaks, it was those cinnamon rolls that occupied my mind more so than reuniting with family. Had it been socially acceptable, I probably wouldn't have talked to anybody until I ate them. Typing about them now, I'm starting to salivate and I haven't had them for years. Truly, there's nothing better than a gallon of milk and a sheet of those rolls--and not having to share until I'm done. 

So, thanks, mom! Thanks for having sheets of cinnamon rolls hot from the oven at remarkably inconvenient times, thanks for keeping us all fed, and thanks for teaching us all to be courageous in the kitchen. Most of the time, Tammy and kids appreciate the culinary skills you taught me (and when they don't, it's clearly my fault!). Happy Birthday!

Let's do this!

Welcome to the Holland Family Blog! Here, we hope to post our adventures in the kitchen and share with each other some of our favorites.  We are hoping to compile the best of our easy go-to recipes, fancy meals, quick dinners, fun lunches, gourmet recipes, tasty desserts, and festive creations.  Each Holland (and/or their wonderful spouses!) must post at least once a month to the blog.  Within one year, we'll have at least 60 wonderful recipes to enjoy!  And if we're good enough, we'll all retire early, open a restaurant, and maintain this blog together.  Hey, why not? :)