Drying Rosemary

 I was all set to bypass this week's Sunday Funday until inspiration hit.  The theme this week is Hunter/Gatherer, and it's hosted by Stacy Livingston Rushton of Food Lust People Love. We're to blog about something hunted or foraged.   

Well, I don't know anyone who hunts anymore, but I do love my venison, even if I haven't had any for years.  I didn't have any favorite parts, but I was always happy to accept whatever my former neighbor and good friend was willing to share.    My FIL would also share some of his hunting bounty with me.  And I love it all.  

I decided to become a forager for this challenge.  I went foraging in my garden, or rather, what's left of it.   I do have a rosemary plant out there that needs pruning.  

As I said, I have a rosemary plant that survived my absence this summer, so I decided to pick some and dry it to use in future dishes.  So I did.  I also wanted to shape the bush a little, and hopefully train it better for the spring.    

This is foraging, right?  Even if it's in your own front yard.     I also found out the rosemary was growing very nicely.   

I love the resinous scent of rosemary, and the flavour is amazing as well.   I've used it in many dishes over the years.  

I have a good friend who is teaching me how to forage; in fact, she shared how tasty Spiderwort blossoms are, and I used some to top this soup a few years back.   

 

I washed and dried the leaves, chopped them up very fine, and then used the dehydrating feature on my Nuwave toaster oven to dry them further.   I'll use them for seasoning when I want a hit of rosemary in a baked or cooked dish. I'll also process them further once I find the coffee/spice grinder I packed, since I know it's somewhere in the bins I haven't unpacked yet.  😜

  And those woody stems, well, they'll be used as skewers or chucked into a stew for extra flavoring.  

And before I forget, this is a Sunday Funday post.  

You can see what my fellow bloggers foraged and hunted here: 

• Chili Cheeseburgers with Bison Chili from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Dried Rosemary from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Momiji Tempura from Culinary Cam
• Pork Korma from Sneha's Recipe
• Roast Pheasant Crowns from Food Lust People Love
• Urban Foraged Stovetop Potpourri from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Venison Tater Tot Shepherd's Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Breakfast spaetzle

 A few years back, I was part of a blogging group called the Secret Recipe Club.  We were a pretty big group, and were divided into several groups, and each month were assigned a blog to make a recipe from, and post about it at a certain 'REVEAL' time.  Well, I had a lot of fun doing it, and one month I found a recipe on Sarah's Kitchen, well, it was more of a how to, but I glommed onto it and posted about Breakfast Spaghetti.   

So last week I posted about how to make Spaetzle, and guess what I have in the freezer right now?  Yup, lots of Spaetzle.   I need to make some dinner, but I couldn't think of anything that sounded really good, but I did have bacon, eggs, and lots of Spaetzle.  So I put my thinking cap on, or let my hunger decide what dinner was going to be, and here it is.  Breakfast Spaetzle. 

Well, it should probably be renamed cause I made it for dinner.  I honestly don't think it cares what it's called, cause I call it delicious.  

I cooked the bacon first, set it aside while I thawed the spaetzle and scrambled the eggs in a separate pan.  I then added the thawed spaetzle to the pan I'd cooked the bacon in, and warmed them through with the little bit of bacon fat in the pan.  Then I put it onto a plate, took a couple pictures and then devoured it.  

I have some more bacon and spaetzle in the freezer and can see this dish making an appearance again.   Maybe next time I'll make an Æggekage.     Which is basically a baked omelette.  

And now I have all kinds of ideas on how to use these little nuggets of deliciousness.  My waistline may not approve, but I do. 😘

 

Spaetzle

 This week's assignment/challenge for SundayFunday is Pasta Dishes, hosted by Camilla Mann of CulinaryCam.    
I made Spaetzle.  And yes, that is Jaegerschnitzel alongside it. 

She said that since October is National Pasta Month, she wants us to share a favorite pasta recipe. It can be homemade pasta or the sauce you serve with pasta. Sunday Funday is a group of bloggers who blog every Sunday on a theme.

I kinda bowed out of posting a few years ago after my husband died, but I'm back and excited to keep trying new stuff. This week, we're posting about Pasta. `

I got a little excited. I love pasta —homemade, commercial, doesn't matter. I love it all.

Since I finally cracked the secret to really good Spaetzle, I thought I'd share it here. I've made spaetzle in the past, and the batter has been alternately runny or too thick. I've tried quite a few recipes. Honestly, some of them were pretty good, and others, well, at least I know how to clean up messes.

I'm going to let you in on the secret, at least the secret I found. It's all in how long you mix the batter. Yup, it's that simple. And since I'm single, I end up freezing the majority of the spaetzle for later meals. It's actually really good that way. I also broke another rule. I didn't rinse it in cold water after cooking. I just threw a big clump of butter onto the cooked spaetzle while it was in the colander, gave it a bit of a stir, to keep the noodles from sticking, and ate some while it was hot.

And then added more butter after I put it into a bowl. (It keeps the noodles from sticking to each other, and it just plain tastes good.)

I have to say I've actually been making some form of pasta for many years. I've made potsticker wrappers, aka Gyoza; Pierogi; regular Egg Noodles; I've even made ravioli; and my personal favorite, Melboller, which is a Danish Dumpling that goes in soup. So lots of different kinds of pasta.

I've never posted about how to make Spaetzle. Spaetzle is actually a basic egg noodle or dumpling, cooked fresh in boiling water. It's in irregular shapes, and the name, derived from the Germanic languages, means little sparrow. You can read more about it here. I actually bought a spaetzle maker, well, it's more like a disk which I can also use as a colander to strain pasta and other items. And it's not a single-use item.

I have several of those already, and do not need any more. And have to say it was easier to use than my old method.

I have a flat skimmer ladle with holes in it that I used to use when making spaetzle. It was good, but it's packed away somewhere. I tried making some spaetzle a couple of weeks ago, using a small Ziploc bag to squeeze out the batter into the boiling water. And it worked, but this spaetzle maker is a touch easier to use. Besides, the batter got all over my hands when I squeezed the bag too hard, and it was yucky and goopy.

As I said, this time round I broke a couple of rules, but not the most important one. Keep stirring the spaetzle dough until bubbles form. I think I could have actually mixed the batter a little longer, but I was hungry and couldn't wait. And I could have maybe added another couple of tablespoons of flour to the batter as well. It was a touch thinnish. Maybe next time.

 

 Here's the recipe:

Check out what my fellow bloggers posted about their pasta adventures; it's at the end of the recipe card. In other words, keep on scrolling.

 

 

Spaetzle

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking adapted from many recipes

Prep time: 10 MinInactive time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min

This easy peasy pasta is perfect with Schnitzel, or any pasta sauce you like. I've enjoyed it with bolognese sauce as well as plain with butter.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup AP flour + 1-2 tablespoons if needed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 quart boiling, salted water. (You can flavour the water with chicken or beef stock if you wish. I like to use chicken stock.)

Instructions

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the flour, milk and salt and using a hand mixer, mix it together.
2. Continue to mix it for at least 10 minutes. You are basically encouraging the formation of gluten here. I've read you have to mix it until you can pick up some of the batter and holes appear. I just mix it for 10 minutes or a little less.
3. I like to let the batter rest at this point for a few minutes, up to half an hour. (Usually, while I'm preparing and frying the Schnitzel).
4. Using a spaetzle maker, spoon some of the batter onto the maker and, using the scraper, press the batter through the holes, into the boiling water.  It will cook very quickly, and as soon as it rises to the top, it is done.    Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. You can add a little butter to the just-cooked spaetzle to keep it from clumping together at this point.
5. Add the buttered spaetzle to your plate to serve. Or pour your sauce of choice over it. The spaetzle lends itself very well to being frozen for a later date. You can also refrigerate the leftover spaetzle (if there is any) and reheat it in a pan with some butter for a little breakfast treat. I like the leftover spaetzle browned in a little butter alongside some eggs and bacon, or with chopped up bacon.

Estimate only

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sidsseapalmcooking on instagram and hashtag it #Sidsseapalmcooking

• A Voyage into the Pasta Universe with Gluten-Free Pestazzule. Malfadine. and Stringozzi by Culinary Cam
• Pasta alla Norcina Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Pumpkin Gnocchi by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Spaetzle by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Vegetarian Rice Roni With Homemade Rice Roni Mix by Sneha's Recipe

Stove top 3 cheese Mac n' Cheese with Asparagus and Black Olives

 I can't say I was looking for a healthier version of Mac n Cheese, but was in the mood for some comfort food and needed to use up some asparagus and some garlic scapes.   

And it just so happened I also had some sliced black olives that were calling my name, rather loudly and rudely, I thought.  

I'd actually bought the olives to use in some Cheese Enchilada, Tijuana Tilly style And you know I still have all the rest of the ingredients, but haven't committed to making them yet, but I will.  

To get back to my little story, I made this whilst staying in a furnished apartment earlier this summer which had a 2-burner cooktop, and I decided I was tired of eating out. If my Mom could cook for a whole family on a 2-burner cooktop and make good meals, I can make some decent food for myself.  And I wanted some comfort food, so I fired up the stove, cut up the asparagus and a couple of garlic scapes, cooked some macaroni, and made a cheese sauce of some Colby Jack cheese and the heel of a Port Salut cheese.  

As the macaroni cooked, I melted a little butter in a pan, added some half-and-half and some milk, and then chopped the cheeses into fine dice and added them to the butter-milk mixture.   Let that cook over very low heat until the cheeses melted, then whisked it together.  (If I'd had some cornstarch, I would have added about a half teaspoon.)  

I added the asparagus, garlic scapes, and black olives to the pot with the macaroni and let them cook a bit.   After they were cooked a little, I drained the pot, added them to the pan with the cheese sauce, and let them cook together for a couple of minutes.  

And there you have it, a fancied up version of Mac n' Cheese done on a stove top.   

2025 Road Trip Restaurant Meals (for now)

 It may look like all I did was eat my way across the country, but these meals, as well as those in the previous posts, were enjoyed over a period of 5 months.  

Once I was back in Sequim, I went to the 7 Cedars Casino and then to the 7 Brothers Restaurant there.  They've had consistently good food when I've eaten there.   And a lot of it is fun as well.    I love a good Chicken Fried steak, but am also in like with Chicken Fried Chicken as well, and really don't like a lot of sauce glopped over it, so I asked for the sauce to be served on the side here.  The veggies were perfectly cooked. As for the chicken, well, I ate it all, along with the mashed taters.    It was my only meal of the day.  And I also won on the slot machines, so my dinner was paid for, 😜.   And if you're a member of the casino,  you also get a slight discount on your meals.  Always a nice benefit. 

There is a little restaurant in Sequim called the Oak Table Cafe.   I decided to go there for Breakfast the next morning.    My realtor introduced me to this little gem last year.   And as usual, there was a line up, but I was ok with waiting, cause I knew there was deliciousness inside.   The bacon was some of the best I think I've ever eaten.  Thick, perfectly cooked, and well, the whole meal was amazing.  

We're not finished with Sequim either.   Or with bacon and eggs.   I tried out the Black Bear Diner the next day and have to say their bacon and eggs were good as well.  And as you can see, I was a hungry person, and started eating before I took the picture.    Bacon and Eggs are such a simple meal, and yet, I think one of the hardest meals to make, and this is speaking as someone who's cooked for people.    I know I'm picky on how my eggs are cooked, and have offered many an egg to the kitchen goddess when I've overcooked or broken the yolk or just didn't like the way the egg was looking at me in the pan.  

I was staying in an Airbnb and didn't feel like cooking much while I was there, so I ate out for many of my meals.  

I did go back to the Dynasty Restaurant for one meal. I really like their Sweet and Sour Pork, and the rice is good as well.  

Have I mentioned the Halfway House restaurant in Brinnon, Washington, yet?  I've only eaten there a couple of times, but I will make the effort to stop in there for a meal when I'm either on my way to Sequim or leaving there.  The Monte Cristo has got to be almost an inch thick, and so good.  I've only ever been able to eat half of it.  And it's cooked all the way through.   

Don't forget the desserts either.  I didn't.  I got a Coconut Cream pie to go, and thoroughly enjoyed it later on.    I would have licked the container, but couldn't get my mouth in there to do so.  It was worth every single calorie.  

And as I was enjoying each mouthful, I kept thinking of a friend who would have loved it as well.  Sorry, Lynn, I ate it all.  

As I said, much of the time, as I was driving across the country, I had fast food.  One night, though, I stopped in Sidney, NE, at a Days Inn, I think it was.  A friend texted me and told me about a Mexican restaurant called Three Margaritas, which was pretty much next door.    I was tired and not hungry, but wanted a drink.  So I headed over there, and ummm, if I'm ever in Sidney, NE I'll be going back to that restaurant.   I ordered their Guacamole Salad and a Margarita and had a lovely end to a long day of driving.  

The margarita was in a very heavy glass, too heavy to pick up, and tasted amazing.   

I stopped in Mansfield, MO, cause I wanted to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder house museum,  and decided to fuel up at the Wingos Cafe.  The clubhouse was huge, and I ended up taking the other half with me and eating it later on.  

The museum was everything you'd want a Laura Ingalls Wilder museum to be, and I'll be writing about it over on my other blog, Sea Palm Treasures.    I've written about my other adventures and posted them there.  

I had to do it, saw that there was a Shoney's restaurant on my way home, and decided to stop for a meal.  We used to go to a Shoney's in Kingsland, Georgia, and so this was a nostalgic stop for me.    I think it was in Clanton, AL.   The offerings were the same on the buffet as I remembered, but the dessert bar was where I got excited.    They offered canned pears with mayo and cheddar cheese sprinkles.   It was a dish I was introduced to after moving to Florida.  I had never liked canned pears, still don't, but there was something about how this was done that appealed to me.   And it's also fun to introduce people to this southern delicacy.  😜  I mean, who puts mayo, grated cheddar cheese, and a maraschino cherry on top of a canned pear and offers it to people?  I would never have dreamed that that particular combo would taste, not only good, but really good.  

And now I'm home and back to cooking for myself.   Mostly.  I did go to the Legion for Burger Night

and then out to breakfast at a local restaurant the next day.    I got the Yoghurt Parfait 

and a bread pudding with a caramelized whiskey sauce.  

and that's it for my 2025 Road Trip.