Plaintains and LINKY LOVE!

This week, I decided that we were going to learn how to cook plantains.   I have had them before in Jamaica (and enjoyed them),  but I have never eaten them successfully here in the States.  Mr. Bishop had some great recipes.  First we made the "sauteed plantains".  The kids and I could not put them down.  Then I made the "Baked Plantains",  but I was the only one who enjoyed them.  I am ok with that!
I still have two more yuca recipes to complete,  and I made the "Yuca Soup".  I did not care for it.  I am not a big vegetable soup lover.
  Other things made?  I made a the "Buttermilk Pancakes" from this gals e-book and loved them!  I also made fruit leather from this other gal's e-book,  and the kids loved them and gave them a new name... 'fruit skin'.  I invented a new recipe using the dough from my "Joy of Cooking" croissant recipe.  I browned some ground beef with garlic,  shredded some cheese, and put them in the dough and squished them together.  Next time I will shape them in nice shapes and cover them in butter so they will not look so weird.  Ok... now for the pictures...





<3<3 LINKY LOVE <3<3
Sadly,  no one has told me if they wrote a blog post about their favorite kitchen tools.  So,  I only have a small number of links to share with you today.  If you are interested in doing this challenge... let me know in the comments below!

1) COMFORT FOOD!
2) I just bought some apples to make these...
3) In Love!  I want some.  :D  I think I am going to get some of the 'asparagus' and fill it with the grains I use and display them in my cabinets. 

Linky Love Friday #7 and Chicken Broth

So, I did not cook tonight.  But it is always good to take a break.  I had to go to the eye doctor to find out what was going on with my eyes.  Apparently,  I now offically need glasses.  I guess I'm getting old!

Anyways,  the good news is that my chicken broth congealed perfectly!  I love it when it gets this thick,  all the good minerals and collegian is in there.   Yes, that is me almost holding the jar upside down.  That is how thick it was.  So happy!

Now for LINKY LOVE FRIDAY!

• Make some of your own fruit strips without a dehydrator! So excited about this.
• momofukufor2 just finished cooking through her cookbook.  So excited for her!
•  I'm exploring Teff, so this was cool to find.
•  My Beloved loves salsa, so I am waiting for this recipe to ferment.  Just started it today (See picture to the right). I only made a half recipe, since I did not purchase enough tomatoes. 

Cookies, Curry, and Zucchini

     Today was a fun day.  We had a project that needed some chocolate chip cookies (don't you love it when there is a need for those?!?) so the chefs and I whipped up a batch in no time flat.... kind of.  Chef Turbo enjoy measuring out the flour,  and Sous Chef Squeaker enjoyed playing with the salt shaker.  Thankfully,  the salt shaker had a lid on it,  otherwise the butter/sugar mixture would have had lots of Sous Chef love in it!  What did I enjoy?  Just the fact that I was eating chocolate.  Yum!

   Made some of my our favorite curry tonight.  This is the best tasting store bought curry.   Sadly, we will have to limit how much we eat this since we are switching to a "Real Foods" lifestyle.  Look at these lovely ingredents!   Funny thing is,  My Beloved was desiring this on his way home.  I'm glad I was making it!! Nothing like filling your mans stomach with something he loves.  The side dish on the other hand was not something that he even desired tasting.






Sauteed Zucchini with Lemon and Parsley pp.370

      I decided today was a good day to teach Chef Turbo how to safley handle knives.  As Chef Turbo and I were cutting away (safley) at the zucchini,  Sous Chef Squeaker grabbed a "Big Daddy Spoon", pulled up a stool, and started poking, prodding,  I dunno, you fill in the word,  he was doing that to the left over ends of the zucchini.   We let the zucchini soak for a long time and then made dinner.  I enjoyed this side dish,  although the boys (and My Beloved) did not.

It's Friday... which means... LINKY LOVE! 
Through out the week,  I am crawling through the web finding great sites to share with you all.  This is also my way of loving my Facebook friends by not always posting links as I find them.  So, this weeks love goes out to...

1. Whoochies!  You have to read the blog post to find out more.  It's a great read :D
2. Make your own potato chips:
3. I would not use the canola oil,  prob. olive oil,  but this is a great recipe idea!
4. Make some penguin appetizers!! I'm all about penguins :D
5. Travel to Poland and read about these sandwiches…
6. You might be a real foodie if….
7. Coke Float?  How about in a cupcake with a side of some awesome photography?

Chicken Feet Broth

 Cooking with Chicken Feet
     So, I have been doing all this research into healthy eating and cooking.  The gals on these sites talked about making homemade chicken broth.  People kept mentioning about cooking with chicken feet to make the broth gel better. In fact, the gelling substance in the feet are actually good for us.  But preparing the feet would not make you think so.

Deal With It
     One of my friends sometimes tells her kids "Just deal with it" when they go through a hard thing.  This was hard. I agree with Elise when she said,

"The "Eww" factor of chicken feet I think comes from the fact that chicken feet look a lot like our hands."

    Look at the nails, and how the chicken feet kind of just sit there so elegantly,  I really did not want to do this.  You might say,  oh, just throw them in the pot and cook them,  but you have to pre-cook them and then cut off their toes and calluses.  That was just plain gross.    Why? I don't know.  And people seem to ask that question on forums and it never gets answered.  So I guess,  since they scratch in the dirt and stuff, it must be a sanitary thing.

Chicken Pedicure
  So, here I am cutting the toenails and calluses off these warm, gooey, chicken feet.  I did all but two of them (the last two did not seem worth it).  But I survived and made it through the whole process.  Apparently our great-grand mothers used to do this all the time,  and chefs and peoples in other countries do this all the time. Why can't I?  I told my friend (who was over to hang out with me and give me emotional support through this) that I just need to become desensitized and then I can keep doing this.  For Pete's sake I fabricate whole chickens,  why cannot use the feet too?   I also have a local source at the farmers market.  Making a healthier broth... is it worth it?  

Result
     Yes,  it's worth it.  I've been wondering all this time how to make a chicken broth that smells as good as the Ramon Chicken soup.  This is how they do it.  Chicken feet is the answer.  Super gooey goodness (as cooled,  it becomes a liquid again when warm).  Loved it!
Are you up for the challenge to make your own?

Linky Love

Check out these awesome sites about using chicken feet:
1) A gal's experience in using chicken feet and chasing her husband with them
2) What are chicken feet?
3) Where I followed instructions on how to do this
4)  Here is a great story about a gal who ate chicken feet!


Hope you had fun reading about my little adventure! Until tomorrow...