Best SOS Ever!

Yes, I know Thanksgiving is almost upon us, so it may seem strange not to post a recipe for the upcoming holiday. What can I say? There are thousands of recipes for Thanksgiving, and I don’t feel the need to add anything unless I can provide something new and unique. (Or time saving. See the Dressing Corn Bread Muffin recipe posted last year.)

But why SOS? And what is it anyway? Many people know it as creamed chip beef. If you’ve been in the military you may know what SOS stands for. As for the why, when done right, it’s an easy, soul-satisfying meal you may want to enjoy while making preps for the big feast, or after all the T-day leftovers are gone.

Before I get to directions, here are some suggestions that will help elevate what most people probably think is a somewhat ho-hum dish, especially if they’ve only had the frozen stuff sold in a small red box. Quality ingredients really do count here, and they will take a bit of work to obtain. (Making it from grocery store ingredients is still better than the frozen chipped beef.)

First, let’s start with the dried beef. If you have an old-school meat market in your vicinity, they may be making what is known as home-cured dried beef. It will not be tiny pieces of compressed mystery meat sold in a jar. (Those do make cute juice glasses, though.) Nope, it will be a large chunk of beef cured and smoked on their premises. They will take it out of the case and slice to your specifications. Alas, I know of only 2 places to obtain this kind of dried beef. One is New Braunfels (TX) Smoke house. The other is Woudstra Meat Market in Orange City, IA. (http://www.woudstrameatmarket.com/) We used to live in Orange City and get it from Woudstra. In moments of desperation, we will order it and have it shipped. But since our daughter is attending college about an hour away and there is family in the area, we make a dried beef run when we’re up there. Don’t be afraid to order a couple of pounds. When vacuumed sealed or in a tightly wrapped package, it keeps in the freezer quite well. Feel you have no option but to use the dried beef in a jar? The stuff is horrendously salty. Do yourself a favor by removing some salt. Fill the jar with water before starting the cream sauce. Drain off the water when ready to add the dried beef to the sauce.

Now for the milk. Since my husband has MS we need to eliminate processed foods (Good dried beef is an exception) and animals products that have been exposed to all the hormones and antibiotics (plus any other “icks” in commercial feed.) Hubby is not ready to give up dairy yet. Our solution right now is to buy grass fed raw milk directly from the dairy that produces it. It’s super delicious and doesn’t come any fresher. Cows get milked at least twice a day. Depending on herd size and demand for that farm’s product, your milk will probably be from the previous evening’s milking or that morning’s. Corporate dairy will never match that. Want to try it and don’t know how to locate a local dairy? Go to www.realmilk.com.

For those who aren’t bread bakers, if you’re going to source great ingredients for the creamed beef, splurge on good bread. Not in the mood for bread? Try it on a baked sweet potato or your favorite veggie mash.

4 tbsp. Unsalted Butter

4 tbsp. AP Flour

2 c. Milk, warmed (You can add more or less. How thick do you like your sauce?)

1 tbsp. Dried, Minced Onion

Freshly Ground Pepper

Easy melting cheese, to taste (optional)

8 oz. Dried Beef, shredded

Melt butter in a large, non-stick skillet over low-medium heat. Whisk in flour to create a roux. Stir for a couple of minutes to make sure the flour isn’t raw. Pour milk in a little at a time, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Once all milk is in the skillet, add onion, pepper and cheese. Keep stirring until the sauce begins to thicken. Stir in the dried beef and keep to a low simmer until the beef is warm, and its flavor permeates the sauce. Put a heaping spoonful on toast.

A few tips: If you have never made a dairy based gravy or sauce, keep your cooking temp. low to moderate. Dairy can scorch quite easily. It’s not fun to scrub out of the cookware. Why a skillet instead of a sauce pan? It speeds up cooking time when your sauce is spread over a larger surface area. Did you notice this recipe doesn’t have salt? Don’t add it. Like other cured meats, dried beef has salt in it. However, the good stuff won’t need to be rinsed unless you can’t tolerate salt. The cheese does add a little something extra. In the event that you’re like our household, and must eliminate processed foods, you might add something else in its place. I might try some garlic powder or a bit of roasted garlic the next time I make it. On the other hand, I may continue to make it just the way we like it, since this dish is an occasional treat.

The Project Queen

Mini Strawberry Fields Forever

They don't look like much yet, but there are a dozen strawberry plants

in this planter.

Perhaps it isn’t the most original title for a blog post, but it’s the best I can come up with at 9 p.m.

After having the planter in my possession for almost 2 months, I finally got something planted in it yesterday. (It’s called a Patio Picker, and I got it at Lowes in case you’re wondering.) Originally, I bought it with the intention of planting saffron crocus in it. After reading the instructions, I wasn’t sure they would like it, so they ended up in something else.

The Patio Picker has very specific instructions for the planting medium, and when I finally got the appropriate materials I planned to put some of my cold-weather veggie plants in it. Alas, I’m a little slow getting some of my seeds started. A few days ago, when I visited the small store one of my favorite local farmers operates, I came across the last package of strawberry crowns they had available. I snagged them, and in what is probably a record for me, I actually got them planted in less than a week.

The planter I’m using for the strawberries is new to me. If pushed to describe it, I would say it’s a small, sort-of hydroponic kit. I believe I paid about $30 for mine. For those who think they may want to try this product for container vegetable gardening, make sure all the contents of the kit are there, especially the instruction sheet. Besides specifics on the required planting materials, there are illustrated instructions. I followed the instructions for filling the container, but left off the casters since it’s sitting on a bed of crushed granite. I also opted not to use the cover that comes with the planter. Instead, I mulched around my plants with hay left-over from my bunnies. (I don’t give them the pulverized stuff at the bottom of the package. It’s a pain in the rear to remove it from their long hair.)

I plan to give the strawberries at least a few weeks to see how they like their new home. In the meantime, I hope to get cabbages and some other brassica seeds started. If the strawberries do well, I’ll go get a few more Patio Pickers. My husband and I have also been looking into vertical growing systems since they can be great space savers. If we find something we like, those may make an appearance here, too.

The following pictures show the supplies I used for my Patio Picker. The bag shown by itself is also known as dolomite. (It’s not in a re-sealable bag, so I couldn’t lay it on the ground with the other packages.) You will also notice a water bottle. I used it to moisten the peat moss as I filled the planter. There is a water reservoir at the bottom of the planter, and you will want the planting medium to be moist enough to start wicking the water up to your plants. However, since there are no drainage holes at the bottom, you won’t want the soil to be super-saturated.

If anyone has tried one of these planters, or something similar, indoors, I would be interested in finding out how it worked for you.

Happy fall and winter gardening.

The Project Queen

March 2014: These are the strawberries planted last fall.

They've been blooming despite the cold weather we had recently.

In a few more days, I should have some ripe berries I can photograph.

So far, I'm satisfied with the Patio Picker.

I'm considering a second one so I can double the size of my strawberry "patch".

Flower Power

There is no object that seems more forlorn than an empty vase. I have a few of them around, relics from floral gifts past. Occasionally, a few roses or other flowers from my yard might find their way into one of them. No fancy arrangements, though. I consider myself floral challenged.

There have been a couple of occasions lately where I thought it might be possible to rise above the challenge. I really don’t know why I tend to jump into big projects when attempting things that are outside my comfort zone. I felt my mosaic vase (It’s a Vaahse!) needed some silk flowers in it. One rule in floral arranging I do know. Large vases need large floral displays. A few months later, I can’t remember how many hours I spent on that arrangement trying to find a configuration I thought pleasing. I’m still not sure the final result thrills me, which is why only the bottom of the arrangement is shown in that blog post.

My older daughter gave me a flower arrangement for my birthday in September. I suppose I could have dried the whole thing while the flowers were at their peak, but the roses in it were a very pale pink. They would have turned brown. So I enjoyed the bouquet until it wilted, then picked out the components which were salvageable, such as the peacock feathers and dried, purple stasis. It seemed a shame to leave the cute green vase nearly empty, so I made another attempt at arranging.

Initially, I thought it might be easier to do a recreation of the bouquet my daughter gave me. I had a photo of it for reference. But when I was shopping for the flowers I changed my mind. After working as a graphic designer for several years and creating art of some sort most of my life, I tend to gravitate to stronger colors and like more contrast. I bought 2 large dahlias in dark blue and 3 multi-flower stems of pale gold ranunculus.

Sometimes, maybe smaller is better. I spent less than 20 minutes arranging the flowers in a design I could be happy with. I’m glad I made another attempt. My studio needed some flower power.

The Project Queen

 

The original bouquet from my daughter.

Swedish Waffles

My mom got this recipe from one of her cousins recently. They found it in their mother’s belongings and scanned the recipe card before sending it on to those who might be interested. My mom knows I would like to collect old family recipes, so she emailed a copy to me a few weeks ago.

Since I did a post on Dutch Poffertjes for the end of Daylight Savings last year, doing a post on Swedish Waffles seemed fitting this time.

First of all, let me just state that I won’t get into a debate about the authenticity of this recipe. Family members believe it is well over 100 years old. Its exact age is not known, however. It came from Hulda Carolina, the mother of my maternal grandfather. She was born in Linkoping, Sweden in 1869 and immigrated to the United States in the early 1890s. According to family members, she got the recipe from her mother, Hulda Johanna. Waffles apparently started becoming a part of Swedish food identity in the 15^th century, when yeast was the only leavening. The version I received uses baking soda and powder, which entered home kitchens in the 19^th century.

When you read this recipe you will note it has a lot of eggs. Apparently, they make two versions of waffles in Sweden, an egg waffle and a thin, crispy waffle. The egg version is known as äggvaffla. This particular version also has a lot of buttermilk in it – 1 qt. + ½ c. (4 1/2c.). I had to make an adjustment there, partly because I was a bit short on buttermilk, but also because I was certain the batter would be too thin for my Belgian waffle maker. In Sweden, the crispy waffles are made in a shallow waffle iron, so it’s possible that was the standard for this recipe too.

The taste and texture of these waffles remind me a lot of Swedish pancakes. They’re light and fluffy, but the large amount of eggs gives them a distinctive chew as well. With holiday season upon us, it’s certainly a large enough recipe if you’re having a lot of people over for a gathering. (Brunch? Breakfast for Supper? Waffles for dessert?) Not having company? Don’t worry about decreasing the recipe. If you allow your waffles to cool completely (doesn’t matter what kind they are), they can be frozen in heavy-duty zipper bags and used as toaster waffles whenever waffle cravings sneak up on you.

1 tsp. Baking Soda mixed with ½ c. Buttermilk. Let stand awhile.

5 Eggs

½ c. Sugar

½ c. Butter, melted (1 stick)

2 c. Buttermilk (4 c. in the original)

3 c. All-purpose Flour

1 tsp. Baking Powder

Beat eggs with sugar. Add half of buttermilk and flour. Mix well. Pour in soda with buttermilk, remainder of buttermilk and flour, baking powder and melted butter. Mix well.

Place batter on a pre-heated waffle iron. The amount needed will depend on the kind of waffle maker used. If you happen to own an iron that makes thin, heart-shaped waffles, you may want to try the recipe with the full amount of buttermilk.

The Project Queen

A scanned copy of the recipe card