Scottish Oatcakes (aka Gluten-free Crackers)

It's time for this month's Secret Recipe Club contribution. This month I had Shelley at C Mom Cook. She had plenty of recipes that were family-friendly, but still interesting. That's right up my alley. One that caught my eye was these Scottish Oatcakes. They are not a cake or even a cookie, but a cracker. A cracker made almost entirely from oats.

Which is why it seems almost magical to me how good they are. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't expect them to be bad or I wouldn't have made them, but I was surprised by how very tasty and flavorful something could be that was basically grain and water with a pat of butter and maple syrup. Now I have to tell you something. As I made these, I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out. To look at the dough (a grey blob of oatmeal) and expect it to turn into a cracker that was not only edible, but enjoyable was a small stretch of faith. And then as they were cooking, I was a bit like, "These are never going to harden up." But taste good, they did. And harden up, they did. They're the best homemade cracker I've ever made. And super simple to boot. Also, my girls and I had a great time cutting them into different shapes. We ate them with hummus (me and Savannah) and peanut butter (everybody else). Delightful.

Scottish Oatcakes (aka Gluten-free Crackers)
adapted from C Mom Cook
Makes about 20-24 largish crackers
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Cost: $.35
oatmeal.25, butter: .06, syrup: .04

2 1/2 C oats (Shelley used old-fashioned; I used quick)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C water
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp maple syrup (I used the real stuff and recommend this or honey)

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine oatmeal, baking soda, and salt in bowl.

Heat water and butter until butter melts (this could be done in a saucepan or the microwave).

Pour liquid into the center of the oatmeal mix and stir it up (a bit quickly--you want to get the water well-incorporated before in is absorbed into the oats). If you're using quick oats, the water will get sucked up pretty quickly. If you're using old-fashioned, it will seem wet at first, but will absorb and make a dough-like blob.

Dust work surface with oat flour or wheat flour (depending on whether you need these gluten-free or not). Roll dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick. (This is thicker than a store-bought cracker will be. Go thinner if you wish to and can. I liked the thickness.) Cut into squares or if you're an exciting person, use cookie cutters to cut shapes. The advantage of the cookie cutters is funness. The advantage of the squares is that you don't have to re-roll the dough at all. I will confess that by the 3rd or 4th re-roll, my dough was starting to fall apart a bit. It still made tasty crackers though.

Place crackers on baking sheet. Bake for 20-30 minutes (I did 30), flipping them over every five minutes or so. I know that this seems like a pesky instruction, but it ensures that the crackers don't steam themselves and get nice and crisp. Also, this recipe is so simple a little extra flipping didn't seem too painful.

When cooked, they'll be crisp and just barely turning golden. (Note: They'll firm up even more as they cool.)

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Zuppa Toscana

If you've every been to The Olive Garden and ordered the soup, you know what this is. You also know that it is awesomeness incarnate. And while I'm not going to claim that it's health incarnate (sausage, bacon, potatoes, cream), it does pack a mighty kale punch. And a good dose of kale can cover a multitude of sins. At least I convince myself of that every time I eat this soup.

Zuppa Toscana Knock Off
Serves 4-6
Prep time:10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Cost: $3.15
sausage: 2.00. bacon: .40, onion: .10, cream: .50, kale: .15

1 1/2 C spicy (or not so much) sausage
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (we use red potatoes)
3/4 C onion, diced small
6 slices of bacon (you can totally get away with 2-3)
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
2-4 C kale leaves, cut into inch pieces
1 quart water
1/2 C heavy cream, or a bit more if you're feeling lucky
4 tsp chicken bouillon granules or Better than Bouillon

Note: You can sub chicken broth for the water and bouillon if you've got it.
Note: You can peel the potatoes or not. Olive Garden leaves the skins on.
Note: You'll notice a wide range in the kale amounts. I like kale. I usually add a bunch, but I think the more authentic recipe would use the lower amount of kale.
Note: I use 2-3 strips of bacon. I love the flavor it imparts, but don't much love bacon in soups. It's pretty good the first day, but I notice as the days go by that it gets kind of chewy and blah.
One last note: Leave that bacon fat in there folks. It adds a lot of flavor. If you are looking to lower your cholesterol, then simply omit all ingredients in this soup except kale and water. Thank you.

Cook sausage until it's no longer pink. Remove from skillet. Cook bacon and onion over medium heat. Take bacon out when it's crisp and keep cooking onion longer if it's not tender yet. Add garlic and cook a minute until it's fragrant. Add water, potatoes and chicken bouillon. (Note: If you've got tough or thick or extremely curly kale, put it in the pot here; if it's young and tender you can add it later.) Cook about 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

In the meantime, crumble your bacon.

When potatoes are soft, add bacon, sausage, cream, and kale (if it hasn't already been added).

Simmer 4 minutes and serve.

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Pear Sauce

Boy, I've been out of town and have so very very many things to write about. There's pretzel bark and the truly perfect chocolate chip cookie (yes, you heard that from me; I've committed to a cookie; I'm still freaking out about it) and a book about French children eating everything, which I'm hoping will transform my life (I kind of sort of think it will, at least a little). There are thoughts on rolling pins and peach pie. But for today, we're doing a simple little gig involving pears.

Confession: Pears on not my favorite fruit. Every once in a while I come on one that is juicy and sweet and soft, but usually I find them too hard and dull-tasting and with a slightly woody mouth feel. But. Remember my cheapskate creed: If someone gives you something healthy and it's free, you should take it, even if using it up will take some thought or creativity. So when my friend Ronnie, who has a pear tree, offered to let my kids pick a "few" pears and when my kids (especially Mark) went just a little crazy in the "few" department and we ended up with a good 30 pounds of pears, I knew I wasn't just going to ignore the dears. I figured if I could make apple sauce, I could make pear sauce. And I did.

This is great to do if you have too many pears. But it's also a good way to salvage pears that weren't that great from the store, or to make them yummier to a picky child.

The pears I used are (I believe) green D'Angou pears--one of the most mild (read: not sweet) and firm varieties, which--for me--meant that I needed to use a little sugar to sweeten the pears. Also, these needed to cook longer than the apples before they were mashable. Finally, I made a big ol' batch, which took a bit of time. To spare yourself some time, do a small batch or throw the lot into the crock pot and go read a book.

Pear Sauce
Adapted from smitten kitchen
Prep and cook times depend on how big your batch is. For the below recipe it would probably take an hour or two (if not using crock pot), but I can't say for sure since I probably tripled it.
Cost: For me, it was about $.16 for the sugar, so you'll have to figure it according to the cost of your pears.

10 lb pears, peeled and cut into cubes (or cut into whatevers as is the case with me)
1/2-1 C sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla
2-3 C water
cinnamon, opt. (I didn't use)

Note and Confession: I kind of sort of didn't write down how much water I used. Consequently the above amounts are a guess. This I can tell you: You need less than you think and you can always add more (unless you've burned your pears to the bottom of the pot; don't do that). You need just enough water to keep your pears from burning. The pears will release water as they cook so you'll get more and more moisture in the pot. Start with 1 C and then after they've cooked for a while, add more if necessary.

Peel and cut your pears. With those super firm pears, this was the peskiest step. Once peeled, here's the easiest way I know to cut a firm fruit (maybe it seems silly to talk about this, but after peeling 70,000 pears, I really cared about how fast I was moving).

Cut of the top and bottom of the pear.

Then stand your pear up.

And cut the sides off.

You'll be left with a little square core. Throw that away unless you lived through the Depression, in which case I'm sure you'll find something else to do with it.

Okay, so now that you've got your pot of cubed pear pieces, add them to a big pot (or your crock pot) . Then add your water and your sugar. See the note above about water.

Put a lid on the pot and simmer gently for as long as it takes for those pears to get mashy. Mine took forever because I basically put so many in the pot that I had to cram the lid on. Ahem.

Stir the pears occasionally (as in every 30 minutes or so if you're doing a big pot full), doing your best to bring the ones from the bottom to the top. Check your water level to make sure you've got enough so your pears don't burn.

After they're mashable, mash them. (Rocket science.) I use a potato masher. If you'd like a really smooth puree, you can put them in the blender or use an immersion blender.

Add the vanilla extract and any other spices that float your boat. Taste a bit and add more sugar if you feel it's needed (it will be slightly sweeter after cooling, just so you know).

If you wish to can them, see here for instructions (yes, it is just the same as apples). Otherwise, put them in jars or Tupperware containers and let them cool off a bit before putting them in the refrigerator. If you'd like you can freeze it as well. The sauce will keep for a couple weeks in the refrigerator and a good year in the freezer.

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