A Thyme for Everything

Alright I know I said I was going to try to keep up with this blog better.  It has been way too long since I’ve written.  I can say this though, I’ve been really busy!  Not only with the shop, but with preparing for our next granddaughter.  Our daughter is due with our new baby very soon.  Like, NOW!  We are all excited to welcome this new little girl into our family.  I will keep you posted!

The new Christopher Elbow Fall flavors are now in!  Oh my!  Port Wine & Fig, Pumpkin, Winter Spiced Chai and many, many more.  We still have some of the Summer flavors left, but once they are gone, they are gone.

The shop is decorated and ready for Halloween!  We have everything you need for the kids parties, your parties, fun gifts and decorations.  Stop by soon to see it all!

What a crazy busy week we had at the shop.  This was our second week of Kid’s Thyme in the Kitchen Culinary Camp.  We had 6 kids in this past weeks camp.  I was most appreciative that I had a helper, Sally, for the week.  She made camp so much easier!  THANKS Sally!

This past week, the kids cooked a lot of great recipes, from easy – Trail Mix Tacos, to more complicated – 3 Cheese Stuffed Ravioli.  Their favorite recipe?  Cowboy Campfire Vegetable Medley!  That’s right, a vegetable dish!  Go figure!  This was, I must add, a really delicious recipe.  (I will post it later this week.)

The kids learned kitchen safety, about buying local, and how to read recipes.  They also learned Jet’s number one rule – WE HAVE TO TRY EVERYTHING!  That’s all I ask.  Don’t say “yuck” until you try it.  If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.  But how are you going to know you don’t like it if you don’t try it?

We do Kid’s Thyme in the Kitchen Culinary Camp twice a summer, June and August.  They always fill up quickly, because we limit the number of kids we take.  If you are interested, call Jet at the shop (816)554-3755.

I haven’t blogged in awhile.  In case any of you have been reading my blog, you know this.  I don’t know why I stopped, just got busy I guess.  I won’t tell you I’m going to keep it up daily, weekly, or evenly monthly.  I can’t promise.  But I do want to try my hand again at it!

Yesterday I spent the majority of my day cleaning my house.  It was a mess.  Not dirty, just really messy!  It felt good to get really sweaty cleaning.  I put on some “classic” rock and roll and just went at it.  By the way, why do they call it “classic” rock and roll?  It’s just rock and roll to me.  The best ever!  There isn’t any better music to clean by. 

One of the things I cleaned, was my pots and pans.  Ever wonder why stuff sticks to your pans?  One of the reasons is that they are dirty.  You may not even realize it.  Take a good look at the inside of your pans, do they have a film?  Shadowy?  That is a build up.  When you cook with it, stuff will stick.  The best non-abrasive cleaner to use is Bar-Keeps Friend.  Use it with a non-abrasive scratcher sponge.  Scrub until the film is gone.  Ta-Da!  Next time you cook with it you will see a big difference.

Another reason stuff may be sticking, is that you aren’t properly heating your pan up prior to putting food in it.  Over medium heat, heat the pan till hot.  Then pour your oil in.  Heat the oil completely before adding anything else to it.  A properly preheated pan, will keep food from sticking.

Ok, lesson over!  Check back here often as I will try to post more tips and recipes.

Ugh!  I’m house bound and have NO CHOCOLATE!!!  How can I, who owns a shop that sells premium chocolate be in this predicament?  I do have some hot cocoa, but when you are craving the “real” thing….

This is a nice segue into our announcement – in a few weeks, you will find a new chocolate counter in the shop with a new chocolate line.  Kansas City’s own Christopher Elbow!  And let me tell you, I LOVE CHRISTOPHER ELBOW CHOCOLATES!  They are not only the most wonderful and decadent chocolates, but also the most beautiful! 

We will continue to carry our other premium chocolates from Sweet Shoppe USA and Abdallah.  We will have the best chocolate lines in KC.  Be watching here for further announcements of when they arrive.

It is definetely a soup kind of day out there today!  Brr….  I’m sharing with you one of our favorite soup recipes.  It comes from an old cookbook, Better Homes & Gardens, Soups & Stews.  I hope you enjoy it!

Baked Potato Soup

• 2 lg. baking potatoes
• 3 T. thinly sliced green onions
• 1/3 c. margarine or butter
• 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 t. dried dillweed
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 4 c. milk
• 3/4 c. shredded American cheese
• 3 T. thinly sliced green onion
• 4 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained & crumbled

Scrub potatoes thoroughly with a brush; pat dry.  Prick potatoes with a fork.  Bake in a 425 oven for 40 to 60 minutes or till tender.  Let cool.  cut potatoes in half lengthwise; gently scoop out each potato.  Discard potato skins.

In a large saucepan cook 3 tablespoons green onion in margarine or butter till tender; stir in flour, dill, salt, and pepper.  Add milk all at once.  Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir for 1 minute more.  Add the potato pulp and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese; stir till cheese melts.

Garnish each serving with the remaining shredded cheese, 3 tablespoons green onion, and bacon.

Makes 6 servings.

Tonight and tomorrow I will be doing my planning for next year.  What do I want to change?  What do I want to add?  What worked?  What didn’t?  Chefs need dates to plan for classes, and I need dates to plan for events.  2010 has been such a wonderful year.  So many changes happened.  We moved (next door to 229B), we put in an incredible kitchen and more space for great retail.  We introduced new chefs and added some incredible classes.  So what does 2011 bring to us?  I don’t know, but I look forward to the challenges and blessings that it will bring.  I thank you for being such wonderful customers and friends.  See you in the shop soon!

This afternoon I was blessed to work with a group of Daisy Girl Scouts.  Six little first grade girls.  Their leader contacted me back a bit and asked about me helping them earn a “fun” badge.  Of course I couldn’t turn them down.  I too, was Girl Scout Leader (and Campfire Girl Leader). 

The girls worked on rolling out gingerbread cookies and cutting them out into fun gingerbread men and snowflakes.  Then they frosted them with buttercream frosting and enjoyed the fruits of their labor.  One little girl said, I don’t like gingerbread cookies.  I gave my usual answer that any child whoever has attended any of my classes will tell you, “You have to try one bite.  If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it, but you need to try it.”  Next time I looked over at her, 3/4 of a cookie was gone! 

The recipe I used today came from Mary Engelbreight’s Tis the Season Cookbook.  It is a mild gingerbread cookie flavor most people love! 

Have fun and make some cookies!

I was approached by Miranda Wycoff at The Lee’s Summit Journal to see if I might be interested in a little challenge.  Of course I jumped right in!  I know like I have all the time in the world!  LOL  The challenge was this, to see what I could make from list of things that are in the typical box folks recieve from Lee’s Summit Social Services for their holiday meal.

I knew right away that I would have difficulty with “boxed” mashed potatoes.  I tried, truly I did try, I put them in my basket and got all the way up to the check out counter.  My daughter can attest, but I just couldn’t do it!  I would not buy “boxed” mashed potatoes!  There is something that just seems wrong about it!  Anyway, the list also had on it the following:  chicken, boxed stuffing, canned vegetable, bagged lettuce, canned fruit filling.  My mind was a whirl at all the wonderful recipes I’ve come across in my years cooking.  The one that I’ve always loved for a roasted chicken is from an old William Sonoma Chicken Cookbook.  It is so easy, and yet so elegant looking and tasting!  For the stuffing, it was a no brainer for me, Shirley’s Zucchini Stuffing.  It has been my favorite from the time I first tasted it over 15 years ago. 

Shirley Legner was my best friend Rebecca’s mom.  Because we lived away from our families, we would get together for most holiday’s.  Shirley was a wonderful cook and a great mom.  I called her “mom” on many occasions myself! 

Miranda came in around 10 a.m. this morning and the challenge was on!  We got started on the chicken and had it in the oven quickly.  The most important thing I can share about the chicken is to remember to clean up the area well after handling the raw chicken.  Put your knife, scissors, cutting board into the dishwasher to keep from having any cross contanimation.  The chicken takes about 1 1/2 hours to roast.  The shop smelled incredible! 

After getting the chicken in the oven, I started on the stuffing.  This recipe isn’t hard, but if you get all your items, sliced, shredded and diced before you start cooking, it will be much easier on you.  I timed it that the stuffing would go into the oven when the chicken had only 1/2 hour left.

Then I decided we should experiment!  I bought a can of jellied cranberry sauce.  We all serve it, and we all have most of it left over at the end of the meal to just toss.  So why not use it for another purpose?  I mixed some cranberry sauce with some apple cider vinegar and olive oil and made a delicious Cranberry Vinaigrette that we served over our “bag-o-lettuce” with thin sliced apples. 

The meal was delicious!  I didn’t make the dessert, but offered up as a idea, Fruit Crisp.  You can always add fresh fruit to the canned to make it taste even better.

All the recipes will be in next Wednesday’s (11/24/10) Lee’s Summit Journal Newspaper.  The recipe for the stuffing is available on my website.

Oh my goodness!  It was soooooo delicious!  The acorn squash stuffed with my meatloaf was incredible!  The meatloaf seasoned the squash perfectly!  And the best part – my husband LOVED it!

The shop, A Thyme For Everything, participated this harvest in a CSA from Fahrmaier Farms of Lexington, MO.  I’ve got an abundance of sweet potatoes, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, etc.  So tonight for dinner, I’m cooking from the “harvest”!  I’ve sauteed some sweet potatoes in butter and seasoned them with salt and pepper till slightly crunchy-coated.  I had pre-made and froze 4 meatloaves.  I pulled one out and defrosted it enough to pull apart.  I halved an acorn squash, removed the seeds and stuffed it with my meatloaf.  Now for something green!