Welcome to My Kitchen

January and the new year often bring the urge to spring clean. Finding places for new Christmas gifts spurs the need to purge unused items or bring them out to replace the old and tattered. A close look at kitchen pantry items may also have you discovering a number of specialty items that didn’t get used over the holidays.

One option is to donate those items to your local food bank. On the other hand, food dollars were spent on these items and there are many non-holiday recipes calling for these same ingredients. Feta Dill Biscuits is a recipe I tried recently to use up the remainder of container of feta cheese. I found the recipe on the website, Damn Delicious. It also calls for fresh herbs and other ingredients often bought for specialty cooking.

Feta Cheese Biscuits

4 cups sifted, all-purpose flour

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

3 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp lemon zest

4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp course ground black pepper

3/4 cup frozen, unsalted butter

1 3/4 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl, combine flour, feta, parsley, dill, basil, green onions, lemon zest, baking powder, salt, baking soda and pepper.

Grate frozen butter using the large holes of grater. Stir into flour mixture. Add buttermilk and stir using a spatula until a soft dough forms (it will appear kind of dry)

Working on a very lightly floured surface, knead dough 3 to 4 times until it comes together. Roll dough 1 1/4 inches thick. Cut into 10 to 12 rounds using a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter. Place on a parchment paper lined baking pan and place in freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove biscuits from freezer and place in oven. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 10 to 12 biscuits.

Note: if fresh herbs are not available, about 1 tsp each, of dried herbs may be substituted.

If you have more fresh herbs to use up, Becki’s Herb Butter from the recent Magnolia Table cookbook is great for panfrying steaks and chops. Freeze in tablespoons amounts for ease of use. This is my reduced volume version, the original calls for 4 cups of butter.

Becki’s Herb Butter

1 cup butter

1 Tbsp oil pack, sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 Tbsp assorted, minced fresh herbs (parsley, dill, basil, thyme)

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 tsp lemon zest

1/4 tsp course ground pepper

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate 30 minutes then form into a log or scoop onto a parchment-paper-lined tray in tablespoon amounts and freeze. Store in airtight containers up to 3 months. Yield: 10 to 12 tablespoons.

Granola is a favorite breakfast or snack food in many households and is easy to make. Granola calls for many baking items in addition to the base oatmeal. Charlene Kagele shared her granola recipe with me a number of years ago. I use it as a base for all granola, adjusting according to what I have on hand.

Granola

5 cups rolled oats

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup sesame seeds

2/3 cup honey

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 to 2 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease an extra large rimmed baking pan and set aside.

Combine first five ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, combine honey and vegetable oil and heat over medium heat until hot but not boiling.

Pour honey mixture over rolled oat mixture and mix well. Spread evenly in prepared baking pan (use two pans if you don’t have an extra large pan).

Bake 25 minutes, stirring every 7 or 8 minutes to avoid scorching. Remove from oven and stir in raisins. Cool completely and store in airtight containers. Yield: about 2 quarts granola.

Note: Other nuts may be substituted and a combination of any dried fruits may be used (craisins, blueberries, tart cherries). For a less sweet granola, add an additional 2 cups rolled oats to the mixture.

Linda Nuttman shared the recipe for Costco’s Rotisserie Chicken Soup. It incorporates fresh herbs and a number of vegetables that may be languishing in your refrigerator vegetable bin.

Costco Rotisserie Chicken Soup

1 Costco rotisserie chicken carcass

8 cups water

Carrots

Celery

Onions

Fresh herbs, sage, basil and rosemary

This recipe is designed to use what you have on hand, so adjust according to your ingredients and tastes.

In a large kettle or slow cooker, simmer chicken carcass in the water until meat is tender and falls from the bone. Separate broth and chicken and cool each until chicken is cool enough to handle. Remove meat from the bones and cut into bite size pieces. Discard bones.

Return meat and broth to kettle. Peel and chop vegetables into bite size pieces and add to kettle. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot. Yield: about 3 quarts soup.

Note: if vegetables are a bit limp, soak in cold water to freshen while chicken is cooking.

A word about bacon fat. It makes up approximately 1/3 of the product you paid for. Used sparingly, as you should any fat, bacon fat can lend wonderful flavor to many recipes. Corn bread, hash brown potatoes and biscuits are just a few examples of recipes that benefit from the flavor boost. Just remember to omit salt from the recipe. Next time you make crust for an apple pie try substituting 2 to 4 Tbsp bacon fat for part of the butter or shortening.

– Share your favorite recipes for stretching food dollars by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159, email therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office. Save and wash thoroughly, the domed containers from rotisserie chicken and other foods. They make perfect little greenhouses for starting seeds in the spring.