First Harvest of August.

August 1^st is known as the first of two harvests, this date chosen primarily for being between the summer solstice and autumn equinox.  Lughnasadh, or Lughnasa, are the Gaelic names of this Middle Ages holiday celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.  Named after the god Lugh, it was celebrated with horse racing, athletic competitions, trading, feasts and, for those within marriageable ages, matchmaking.  Once Christianity had a strong hold upon the people, the holiday was renamed as Lammas (Old English for “loaf mass day”).  The first harvest included wheat, and the first loaf made was brought to church to be blessed. 

Looking outside my window, as I take a break from typing on the keyboard, I see the apricot tree and its bounty of deep orange colored fruit.  Time to harvest, and good thing too, as I have seen many an apricot cake recipe that interests me.

Of course, there was a bounty of Roma tomatoes, juicy red round tomatoes, yellow squash and multi-colored peppers to collect as well.  The tomatoes were divided up with one half being made as homemade salsa, the other half a rich pasta sauce.  The larger of the squash was sliced and frozen; but the smaller ones were saved for a special recipe.  The same will happen to the peppers, sliced and diced, but not all will be frozen.  While cultivating, growing and harvesting is an excellent way to have your favorite vegetables, and fruits, for the winter time, do not cheat yourself from the now.

In my previous article of August 2, 2023, I wrote about how to bake a cake in a microwave.  I did mention that this was an alternative, in case the oven went kaput.  Well, the universe must have read my article, and guess what?  Just so happens the gas oven went kaput, but a new one will be delivered soon from Knowles of Moab.  The old gas range was almost 15 years old, the oven being fixed once already, and this was a sign that it wanted to be put to rest.  However, a dish, that Roy enjoys with freshly harvested vegetables, is a savory quiche, but it needed to be baked in an oven, or did it?  Time to get the ingredients together, take out a microwave safe casserole bowl, and convert a recipe of a baked dish, to a microwaveable one.

As I stated before, this is a savory quiche, but can still be a lovely dish to serve for breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch, or bring to a social get-together.  It is crustless which means gluten free.  With some vegetarians, they still use milk and egg products, so they will enjoy this recipe.  Vegans?  I am very positive they can convert my recipe to satisfy their taste buds, while keeping to their diet regime.

 

Microwave Crustless Quiche

 Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. of melted butter; or butter flavored nonstick spray

6 baby yellow squash (2 to 3 inches in length), thinly sliced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (a cayenne pepper will work too)

¼ of small onion, diced

1 small red bell pepper (or 2 mini sized), seeded and diced

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

¼ tsp. dried celery seed

1 tsp. dried, crushed thyme

6 large eggs

1 cup 2% milk

Preparation:

 

Coat the bottom and sides of a deep 3-quart microwave safe dish with melted butter, or the spray.

Mix together vegetables, salt, pepper, celery seed and thyme; spread evenly in coated dish.

 

 

 

 

 

Whisk together eggs and milk; pour over top of vegetables, moving slightly, with a spatula to make sure liquid gets between the vegetables, and flows to the bottom.

 

 

 

Microwave in increments of three minutes for a total of nine minutes. First three minutes, the top will begin to firm up.  Second three minutes, the sides will firm up.  Third three minutes will firm up the center and bottom. Remove bowl from microwave and rest for five minutes.

Carefully tip the bowl, use a spatula for guidance, and allow the quiche to slide onto a serving dish.  Cut into triangles with a sharp knife, and use a pie server to keep that beautiful shape.

Makes 8 servings.

 

 

While working on the bounty of your first harvest, be it freezing, dehydrating or canning, treat yourself, or others, by creating some delicious recipes to enjoy immediately.  Did not have a garden this year?  Make sure to check for notices on local farmers’ markets, as some grow more than they can personally handle.

Mary Cokenour

 

 

 

 

 

Microwave Baking, Does It Work?

Microwaves, for home use, became popular from the 1970s to the 1980s.  At that time, they were large, bulky, heavy, and cooking food properly was hit or miss.  Nowadays, they seem to be a standard in every residential home, apartment, business office, and fast-food chains.  They have become more compact, easier to carry, take up less room on the counter, and definitely more efficient.

Back in, oh around 1989, I purchased a microwave cooking set put out by Tupperware. It was stackable bowls in which a complete meal, including dessert, could be cooked around the same time as your favorite sitcom show.  Unfortunately, unless the included cookbook was used, making other types of recipes was again, hit or miss.  After a while, the set was boxed up, placed on a shelf and forgotten about.  Oh, I still have it, as you never know when the gas range will go kaput, and eating out is, also, not an option.

 

 

How do microwaves cook food exactly?  According to a 1999 article, by Scientific American, and I quote, “"A microwave oven cooks food because the water molecules inside it absorb the microwave radiation and thereby heat up and heat the surrounding food. The microwaves cause water molecules to vibrate; the increased friction between the molecules results in heat.”  Basically, after getting those molecules a rocking and rolling, the food, or recipe ingredients, cook from the inside outward.  That is why, sometimes, the center will be fully done, or even well done, while the food closer to the container sides is not completely cooked.

Often, I have seen recipes regarding baking cake in a microwave, mainly inside a ceramic mug.  In fact, you can purchase a kit, of pre-measured ingredients, mix in the mug, microwave, and “wallah!”, dessert.  Maybe I am microwave challenged, but these kits did not work for me; usually ended up with a gooey, inedible mess.

So, when I recently found a recipe, to bake an entire chocolate cake, in a microwave, I was intrigued, but hesitant.  Why?  I have been working so hard to learn “bake from scratch” which, in turn, has been teaching me patience.  What if this recipe fails?  Will it set me back in acquired baking skills, and lead to frustration instead of patience?  These, and other questions, would be answered, same bat time, same bat channel…if you do not get the reference, we certainly cannot be friends.

Ovens cook/bake using Fahrenheit, or Celsius (metric) units which is basically temperature increase or decrease, under standard atmospheric pressure.  Microwaves, however, work using wattage which is electrical energy transferred over time.  While ovens are standardized, microwaves are not; cooking speed increases dependent on the power (wattage) of the microwave.  So, when using a microwave-based recipe, results will not be the same if using a wattage different from what the recipe states, if it states one at all, and most do not.

 

Back to the chocolate cake; the list of ingredients, and directions, were simple, so decided to give it a try.  The author did not list what size microwave used, so my baking time actually doubled from the time indicated.  Other than that, the cake itself came out moist, not too dense, and pretty tasty by itself.  Of course, after adding on the frosting, it was even better.

Happily, my baking skills were not challenged, nor diminished, and my learning of patience continued.

Does microwave baking work?  Trial and error, and patience, will give the answer.

 

 

 

5-Minute Chocolate Cake

(Youtube Channel - Emma’s Goodies)

Ingredients:

1½ cups all-purpose flour

⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup granulated sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

½ cup + 1 Tbsp. oil or melted butter

1¾ cup + 2 Tbsp. warm water

Method

Prepare your dish (microwave-safe container, around 9- to 10-inches in size) by lining with parchment paper, then greasing and lightly flouring the inside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder in a bowl.

Stir in the sugar (I used a combination of brown and white sugar for more flavor).

Add the oil followed by the water and combine using a whisk.

Pour into your prepared dish and microwave 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Chocolate Icing

Ingredients:

1-ounce square unsweetened chocolate

1 Tbsp. shortening

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

½ tsp. vanilla

Method

In a small saucepan melt chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Add boiling water to make a spreadable consistency.

Mary Cokenour

 

Marie Callender's Brings Breakfast to a Low.

Convenience food; yes, sometimes I rely on a frozen product because I am in a rush to get somewhere and there's no time to cook up something fresh. When it comes to breakfast though, I really, truly should know better by now. I have tried many of the products out on the market: IHOP, Jimmy Dean, Special K, Pillsbury and now Marie Callender joins the ranks of the frozen breakfast sandwich. This new product comes in a three pack and good thing too; it will take three tries before you finally get it to a semi-decent, edible state.

The directions begin with "Open carton.  Position open sandwich to match image on left."  Since it is a frozen product, I have to wonder why this first direction?  While in transit from the distribution center to store, could it have been tampered with?  Were the eggs and bacon doing the rumba when no one was watching?  After checking to see it matched the photo, I closed up the carton and microwaved it for 90 seconds, then let it rest for 1 minute as instructed.

As you can see in the above photo, it looks almost exactly like it does on the box; but is it the same?  I needed a knife to pry the sides of the biscuit off the silvery lining it sat upon while microwaving; that's a negative.  The bacon was crisp; that's a plus.  The cheese was not totally melted and oozing all over the place like with other brands of breakfast sandwiches, but it was still on the cold side; that's a neutral.  The eggs were not frozen, but still too cold to eat and liquid oozed out when bitten into; that's a negative.

The second sandwich was microwaved an additional 15 seconds; eggs were warmer, but the biscuit was totally stuck to the silvery lining and hard as a rock.

Third sandwich was microwaved for the recommended 90 seconds; however I removed the eggs and microwaved them separately on a separate dish; so a two step cooking process.  Third time was the charm!!!

The package information states the product was tested in an 1100 watt microwave; mine is a bit more powerful, so you would have thought that it would have been just about perfect on the first try.  Nope!

Until I can find a breakfast product that cooks up perfectly and tastes great on the first try; I guess I'll be getting up earlier to cook up my own.  Sorry Marie Callender, but I'm considering this new product a fail.

Mary Cokenour

Pillsbury Grands Breakfast Sandwich Doesn't Satisfy.

 

When I saw the television commercial for Pillsbury's new Grands Biscuit microwaveable sandwich, I thought, "great, something I can make quick when I'm in a rush.  Yes, it's quick to make, but disappointing when it comes to taste and texture. 

Inside the box are two packages; within each package is an open biscuit with chopped up pieces of scrambled egg and bacon on top of each.  There's supposed to be cheese, but it is very hard to see.  The instructions on the back of the box state the product should be microwaved while still frozen, and gives heating times dependent on the power of the microwave itself.

Test number one:  as stated on box, took product out of plastic wrapper, set on microwave safe dish, heated at the appropriate temperature and time.  Conclusion: so this is what hockey pucks taste like with eggs, bacon and cheese on them.  The biscuits did not fluff up and become flaky as insinuated on the commercial; the eggs and bacon were hard and tasteless, but a good dose of ketchup gave it flavor.  However, after the second bite, the rest of the sandwich ended up in the trash.

Test number two: let the second package defrost in the refrigerator; followed rest of the instructions but cut the cooking time in half due to its not being frozen any longer.  The biscuit was softer, but wet and mushy; however the eggs, bacon and cheese cooked up better; it still needed a good dose of ketchup though.

Overall opinion: this product is something I would not purchase or try again; I certainly would not recommend it to anyone.

Conclusion: best to give myself extra time in the morning and cook up my own all American breakfast of scrambled eggs, crisp bacon and buttermilk biscuits.  For the scrambled eggs, add one tablespoon of half and half for every two eggs, a dash of salt and pepper and some shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Here you go Pillsbury, a breakfast worth all the time and work to prepare it. As to something quick when I'm in a rush, still working on that one.

Mary Cokenour