Weekend cooking

We made some yummy food this past weekend.  I made some fresh butter from whipping cream - shaken in a mason jar.  It was easy!  Just put the cream in a mason jar, let it sit out for 12 hours -- it will start to sour a bit.  

Then shake, shake, shake.  It looked like whipped cream for a long time, then all of a sudden it separated and began to look like butter.  After the shaking, I poured off the buttermilk into a separate bowl.  Keep the butter in the jar and add some water.  Cover and shake some more.  This ensures that all of the buttermilk is gone (which could spoil the butter).  Pour off the water into the sink and voila!  Butter!  

You can add a pinch of salt if you want salted butter.  We used the buttermilk to make some whole wheat waffles and used the homemade butter on the waffles.  To top it all off, a friend from work gave me some maple syrup they boiled down from their own trees.  Wash it down with some chickory coffee -- yum!  If heaven serves breakfast -- this one is sure to be on the menu.

I also wanted to show off dinner from the night before.  I started with mushrooms, zucchini, green beens, green onion and garlic (ginger too if you have it)... 
Start chopping and throw in a wok with some vegetable dumplings (they have them in the freezer section at any Asian grocery store).  I just used a seasoning packet from the store with some soy sauce and a touch of sugar.  I'm sure you could use any number of different sauces though.  Serve with rice.  

Take the leftovers to work for lunch the next day.  Two days of healthy food for 20 minutes of cooking.  

Sorry for the long break from posting blogs lately.  I had a touch of late winter blues and didn't have much to write about.  Be sure to check back often now that spring and summer are starting up.  Things should be more interesting...