Paladini Potpie

Around day 20 of the Covid Quarantine John and I dashed out to get supplies. We were wandering, masked, through the grocery store, eying all the empty shelves.

Then I happened to notice a bunch of cooked chickens in the meat case. They were rotisserie chickens that hadn’t been sold on the day they were cooked, so the store marked the price down for a quick sale.

I quickly I bought six of them. Why not? There was plenty of room in my cart since there was no toilet paper or bleach to be had.

It was time for a marathon bone broth party!

I’ve been making this bone broth for years; not only with day-old rotisserie chickens, but with Thanksgiving turkey bones, and bones of chickens I roast at home. I’ve always called it chicken broth or stock, but I guess bone broth is the new term.

When I got home with my pile of birds I washed my hands thoroughly for 20 seconds. (Long enough to say The Lord’s Prayer, by the way.) Then I pulled out a big bowl and my cast iron frying pan. I put all the bones, skin, fat, and juice into the frying pan, and all the nice pieces of lean chicken into the bowl.

This was actually a two-day project, since I had so many chickens. I made 2 batches of three chickens each.

I put the bones and skin into my big heavy frying pan and roasted it for 30 minutes at 400°.

Meantime I got into my freezer where I had been storing all kinds of carrot tops and peels, celery nubs, and tough broccoli ends. I try not to waste anything, so throughout the weeks I toss the veggie scraps into a big plastic zip-lock bag for the next batch of broth.

While the bones are roasting I bagged up the lean chicken to freeze in resealable vacuum bags.

When the bones are roasted I transfer them to my instant pot. (Before I had an instant pot I used a big soup pot that worked just fine.)

Add the frozen vegetables scraps, and cover with water to the top line of the instant pot.

Set the instant pot for 6 hours.

Strain into a big colander, and throw the used bones away. The bones will be so soft you can mash them with the side of the spoon. But don’t.

Pour the broth from the bowl into a big jar, and let it cool overnight, or until fat hardens on top of broth.

Skim off the fat and pour the broth into smaller jars to freeze. You will have nice savoury bone broth ready when you need it!

(This is a devotional my husband, John, sent to his staff. I thought it would be a good reminder for all of us during these fuzzy times.)

The other day I got up from my chair for a snack, and inexplicably had trouble navigating the microwave. I sat down at my computer and thought there was something wrong with the light. I looked at my watch and knew something was very wrong. It wasn’t til I got back to my chair that I realized I had put on an old pair of glasses with the wrong prescription.

I put on the correct glasses, and immediately, I could see clearly, and everything was normal again.

When we turn on the news, the media amplifies the problems in the world and distorts reality. “What bleeds, leads”.

When we open our bible, the true solution to our every need comes into focus. Jesus is our hope!  Magnify Him and our problems become small and inconsequential. He will set everything right again.

 Let them say continually, The Lord be Magnified”. Psalm 35:27

Let’s keep our hope in Jesus as the lens we choose to walk through the days ahead.

It’s been awhile, and I am looking forward to writing some more posts for Paladini Potpie, but for today I’m proud to introduce a special guest blogger: My very own daughter-in-law, Amanda Paladini!  After you read her post you can click here to find out how Amanda came into our family.

But for now, enjoy her writing and then later enjoy her cheese. (I love them both!)

We Like Cheesy Dates

by Amanda Paladini

            Like most couples with children, it can be hard for my husband and me to find time to spend together. But it is important for couples to continue dating after they get married. This is healthy for their relationship (and their sanity) to spend a little time as a pair rather than letting the kids take every ounce of their time and energy.

But, how do you date without breaking the bank, or having to pay a babysitter? Sometimes it’s as simple as having a date at home. Or even ditching the kids with grandma and going to the store and grocery shopping together. A “date” doesn’t have to be your stereotypical, dinner-and-a-movie type of thing.

For our five year wedding anniversary, we decided to tour the Hilmar Cheese Company facilities. We brought along our youngest child, who was only a few months old at the time, and had a blast walking through learning how cheese was made, from grass to cow to milk tank. Super romantic, right? We thought so. And to this day, we are still cheese enthusiasts.

We have goats. Nigerian Dwarf goats, to be specific. They are a miniature dairy breed, and we have two of the little darlings in our back yard. That’s right, ya heard me. In our back yard. We live in the middle of town, and we have chickens and goats. Anyway, both of our goats are pregnant for the first time, which means that late this spring, we will have goat milk. I will be outside twice a day, trying to figure out how to milk them while they stand and look at me with “judgement eyes”.

In preparation for what I’m sure will be a vast influx of possibly a quart of milk a day between the two of them, I have been training myself in making my own dairy products. I have now completely switched over to making my own yogurt (because it is way healthier than the sugar-loaded grocery store stuff, and we love the taste). I have also been experimenting with a farmer’s cheese recipe. I have been buying whole cow’s milk for my practice, and every batch gets easier as I make myself familiar with the processes.

I was getting ready to make another batch of cheese, because it actually turns out to be so much cheaper than buying fancy spreadable cheeses, and I can make my own flavors. As I was plotting what seasonings I wanted to put into it, I suddenly had an idea. “Hey, honey. Do you want to have a date and make cheese with me?”

My husband, who is an avid consumer of said cheese, readily agreed, and it was a date. We had had previous plans for our three children to spend the night at their grandparents’ house that night, so it seemed like the stars had aligned. The fates had deemed that this would be a Date Night. (This cheese doesn’t take very long to make, so we could have even done it after the kids went to bed if they had been home.)

Farmer’s cheese is a very simple cheese; it doesn’t require any special ingredients aside from any seasonings that you choose to put in it. Most cheeses require a rennet to make them. Rennet is an enzyme that causes the milk solids (curds) to separate from the liquids (whey). This cheese, however, requires nothing more than whole milk, vinegar (any kind), and salt. And it is so simple to make that it is a great project to do WITH kids if you so desire.

To start, you pour a whole gallon of milk into a large pot. You may think that this seems like a lot, but believe me it will be worth it. I get the two-pack of milk at Costco, and usually one gallon goes to the cheese while the other will be yogurt for the next week or so.

Heat the milk on the stove while stirring constantly. This is to prevent any milk from scalding to the bottom of the pot. I have done this with both a spoon and a spatula, and the spatula has won my allegiance, hands down. The wider point of contact does a much better job of moving the milk off of the bottom of the pot, so that every time I’ve used it I have had zero scalding. This takes a while if the milk was in the refrigerator moments before being poured into the pot, so this is a great time to just chat while slowly swirling your spatula through the milk. If you want to cut down on time, you can take the milk out ahead of time and let it get to room temperature. Personally, I’ve never planned far enough ahead to take it out. My kitchen projects are usually crammed into whatever time frame I can squeeze them into, with very little forethought.

Check the temperature using any cooking thermometer. I have a digital meat thermometer that works just fine for all of my dairy projects. Keep checking the temp and swirling the milk until it reaches about 190 degrees. Once it does, immediately remove the milk from the heat. Then we pour in about 2/3 cup of vinegar. We used white vinegar because it is both what we have and what is least expensive.

This is the fun part. Gently stir it just a little bit to incorporate the vinegar into the milk, and watch chemistry happen before your eyes. And I don’t just mean the sparks flying between two people in love. The curds will almost immediately begin to separate from the whey. This is the part where we just leave it alone for ten minutes. This is a good time to prepare any seasoning if you are flavoring it. My husband wanted to make a spicy jalapeno flavor, so he spent the time finely chopping some pickled jalapenos while I fawned over how much I love him for doing such silly little things with me.

After ten minutes check your milk. You should see very distinctive solids floating in a yellowish-clear liquid. Give it a tiny swirl. If you see too much white in your liquid then you don’t have enough vinegar. A small cloud of white will billow in any case, but play it by ear to determine if you need more vinegar. You can’t really have too much, and it won’t affect the flavor. If you need to add more, then add about 1/3 cup and wait another ten minutes.
Once it has separated to your satisfaction, line a colander with a fine cheesecloth or, in my case, a flour sack towel. I have found these towels to be better suited to this type of cheese. It is a very soft cheese and sometimes wringing it out in a cheesecloth results in cheese mess all over my hands. The towels are fine woven, and large enough for this project. Pour the curds into the towel slowly. The whey will drain as you go, but if you pour too quickly you will overflow your colander and lose curds.

Let it drain for a couple of minutes. Very important tip: Wash your pot while the curds drain! If you forget about it and let it sit on the counter and harden, the bits left behind will turn into cement and be very difficult to remove. Wash your stirring spatula too. If you don’t you really will be sorry as you spend several minutes scrubbing. You can choose to save the whey, but it is a vinegar whey and therefore not quite as useful as others. I discard the cheese whey and save the yogurt whey, with which I spoil the dog and pour over her food sometimes. (*At some future time Amanda promises she will write a post about how to make her yogurt).

Now is the time to salt your cheese, or separate if you are doing multiple flavors. We split the batch into two equal(ish) halves.

For a whole gallon of milk, you will need a tablespoon of salt. I know that it seems like a lot of salt, but believe me, undersalted cheese is flavorless cheese. And somehow cheese is one of those foods that can absorb salt and still stay bland. So a full tablespoon it is, or if the batch is split then do half of a tablespoon in each half of cheese curds. I happen to have a half-tablespoon measuring spoon, which makes my life easier, but for those who don’t have one, half of a tablespoon is one and a half teaspoons. We also use Himalayan pink salt, which is why the pictures look weird, but you can use regular table salt too.

This is also the time to add in any special seasonings. For my half, which is a garlic and herb flavor, I used ½ tablespoon of each dried basil and oregano, along with 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder (and if I’m honest, it could have used a little more garlic flavor, but I was afraid of overseasoning my half-batch). So if you want to do a full batch of this flavor then double the ingredients. Hubby put in his jalapenos (I have no idea how many he did, so you can just gauge how much you want into it), along with 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, the ½ tablespoon of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder. Fold all of the ingredients into the curds until you think it is fully incorporated.

Now comes the squeezing. Now, I know it’s date night, but I’m talking about the cheese here. Twist the towel until whey starts squeezing out, and then twist it some more. The purpose of this is to press out as much of the liquid as possible. This will help the cheese to take on some form rather than being very loose. The end result of this cheese is soft enough to spread on a cracker, but firm enough to crumble into a salad. Be careful, though. These curds will still be HOT!

Be careful not to twist too far, though. This can result in curds getting stuck in the kinks and squeezing out through the mesh. Soft cheese can only be squeezed so hard before coming out any opening possible to relieve the pressure. So a good option is to move your towel full of cheese to the countertop. Place an absorbent towel under the cheese and use your body weight to press down on it, releasing more liquid into the towel.

When you feel that you’ve gotten as much liquid as you can out of your cheese ball, it is time to unveil your work of culinary art. It will still be very soft, since it is still very warm, but you will see a very distinct impression of the fabric from the towel printed into the side of it. Now you can transfer it to whatever container you want to keep it in, pressing it down into the container to form fit it if you so desire. Then take a picture of the two of you with your creation(s) and put it in the fridge to chill. Then descend upon the little cheese bits stuck to the towel that were too small to fuss over getting into the container and enjoy.

As soon as possible, throw the towels into the washer. I made the mistake once of forgetting to take care of the flour sack towel. I had made a batch of cheese just before Thanksgiving, and we left the next morning to spend time with family for a couple of days, and the towel sat in my sink the entire time, turning my kitchen into a place that smelled like a nasty combination of dirty diaper and dog vomit. The towel never recovered and had to be thrown away. Moral of the story: DON’T FORGET TO WASH THE TOWELS!

My husband and I had a lot of fun making cheese together, joking and talking the whole time. Generally just enjoying being together. We didn’t have to spend a lot of money; in fact, we saved quite a bit. Breaking it down, one gallon of whole milk from Costco cost a little more than three dollars, we used only pennies’ worth of vinegar, the seasonings were all already in our kitchen, and we ended up with enough cheese for our snacking needs for probably a week (if we eat it every day).  That really makes for a very stress-free date, as we are both very conscious of what we consider “unnecessary spending”.

We’ve been married for almost ten years now, and we are still dating. Maybe not going on “traditional” dates, but we’re taking the time to just be a couple still. We wear many hats now as we enter our thirties: provider, parent, personal chef, chauffeur, landscape engineer, handyman, animal handler, hair stylist, launderer, maid, etc. But our most important roles to each other are still to be each other’s spouse, support, best friend, sounding board…

Don’t get too caught up in responsibilities and expectations. Remember to take the time for “cheesy” dates.

December 26 is our traditional Pasta Day. Most of our extended family like to extend our Christmas celebrating, so I make a huge pot of Pasta Shuta for dinner. The Paladinis  have good appetites, but there is always some left. This year I put the leftover in the freezer, with a plan to try something new – Pasta Shuta Lasagna. A few days ago I told my grandson, Caleb, that was what I was going to make for dinner, and he was so excited. “I want to help you make Mazanya!” He clapped his hands. How could I resist such enthusiasm? “How about if you make it,” I suggested, “and I will help you a little bit. But first you need to go wash your hands really good with a lot of soap.”

Here’s the ingredients:

A 9×13 Pyrex dish

A 9 oz. box of Barilla Oven-Ready Lasagna

About 6 cups of leftover pasta shuta sauce.

1 small can of tomato sauce

1 pound frozen spinach, defrosted

3 cups cottage cheese

1 egg

1 tsp. dried basil

About 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

Here’s how to make it:

Slice any leftover Italian sausage links, and stir the tomato sauce into the pasta shuta sauce so it will be more spreadable.

Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the lasagna dish.

Place four uncooked pieces of lasagna on top of sauce. Spread another layer of sauce on noodles, and top it with four more pieces of lasagna.

Squeeze excess water from the spinach.

Cover the noodles with a layer of spinach.

Mix the cottage cheese, egg, and dried basil. Spoon this mixture on top of the spinach.

Place one more layer of lasagna noodles on the cottage cheese.

Cover the noodles with the remaining sauce. Top with shredded mozzarella.

We covered it with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for the rest of the day.

When it was time to prepare dinner we baked it at 350° for one hour.

Nathan and Audrey were home from school by that time, so Nathan spread butter on garlic bread, and Audrey arranged an antipasto.

It was a group effort, but the biggest kudos went to Caleb, who “made the Mazanya” all by himself.

I’m happy to introduce to you a guest writer who is one of my favorite people in the world! My little brother, Brian, has been a sheriff for almost my whole adult life. I have always been so proud of him, and knew him to be a kind and fair peace officer, but I didn’t know what an engaging and gifted speaker he is until I had the opportunity to hear him speak a couple of weeks ago. The following post is the text of an article he wrote and distributed on June 15, when he spoke at an event for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.  (I will put Brian’s professional bio, and e-mail information at the end of this post so that you can contact him if you’d like him to speak to your group.)

The Golden Years – By William Brian Morris

I think it is most appropriate to begin this article with a disclaimer: The information contained here are my opinions, based on nearly 34 years of law enforcement experience, and not necessarily the opinions of any law enforcement agency.  For the last 12 years of my career, I worked as a major fraud detective sergeant, with a particular focus on the financial abuse of elders and vulnerable adults.  The abuse of vulnerable adults comes in many forms including physical, sexual, mental, neglect, isolation, abandonment, and financial.  Through the years, I investigated most of these kinds of abuse, but only as peripheral issues within fraud cases.  My primary investigative experience is with financial abuse, and that will be the focus of this article.

Over the years, I have repeatedly heard the mission of American law enforcement as focusing on three main categories: the protection of life, the preservation of property, and the apprehension of criminals.  Based on this mission, I have come to the conclusion that the primary role of American law enforcement is crime prevention.  If we can prevent crime, we automatically accomplish two of the three missions: protection of life and preservation of property.

Oddly enough I have never read anywhere that a primary mission of law enforcement is the recovery of stolen property.  That being said, of course the police always try to recover stolen property.  In fact, it was always an overarching goal of mine to make the victims in my cases whole, through the recovery of their property or through restitution by the perpetrator as part of the court proceedings.  Nonetheless, it is not law enforcement’s primary mission.  For this reason, it is up to each of us to protect ourselves to the extent possible though safe measures, and knowledge of possible scams and frauds.

We are taught, or inherently know, to protect ourselves and our possessions through safe measures that are ingrained in our minds and daily lives.  We lock our houses when we leave.  We don’t walk down dark alleys at night in “bad” areas of town. However, protecting ourselves from fraud can be much more tricky to recognize and avoid, as the goal of the “fraudster” is to get you to willingly GIVE your money to them with a smile on your face.

It is widely accepted that elders own 70% of the wealth in America, primarily through family real estate holdings, personal savings, and investment accounts.  This makes older Americans huge targets for theft.  Please keep in mind that you don’t have to be “rich” to be victimized.   We all have some level of wealth that can be viewed by some criminal as worth stealing.  Generally, our wealth has been acquired over many years or even decades, which should be a clue that true “get rich quick” opportunities seldom present themselves and recognizing them at the time is even more difficult.

In order to avoid the world of scams and fraud, it is important to remember that scams are always changing.  Today’s scam is gone tomorrow and something new has taken its place.  However, there are usually common threads that remain consistent:  The deal won’t last.  Everyone is doing this.  This is an emergency.  Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when assessing opportunities and events as being potential scams and frauds:

• Contrary to generational upbringing, it is wise to be less trusting of strangers, whether it is someone knocking on your door needing a drink of water, or someone with an orange vest presenting themselves as a representative of a utility company.  You do not need to invite them into your home. For those individuals helping a vulnerable adult family member, be cautious and watchful when choosing and including outside individuals into family affairs.
• Be wary of phone solicitation.
• Be very cautious of strangers telling you their sad stories that can be minimized through your generosity.
• Be cautious when someone wants information regarding your credit, personal wealth, or credit card information.
• Utilize the internet!  It is a wonderful resource that allows you to research people, products, investments, and companies to determine their legitimacy.
• The government, in any form, will never call to tell you that you own them money.  The government sends official letters.
• Legitimate businesses, the government, and investment opportunities do not accept payment by Western Union or cash cards.
• Law enforcement will never telephone you to collect fines under the threat of arrest warrant issuance.
• Winning lottery tickets are not sold for cash in the grocery store parking lot.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The world of scams, fraud, and deception is ever growing.  Many of us can not even imagine the extent some criminals will go to in order to separate us from our money.  The days of armed criminals engaging in robberies are diminishing because it is a very dangerous way for criminals to get something that is not theirs.  It is much safer to convince someone to happily give away their money.

Finally, make sure to have a support system in place to discuss your financial decisions. The world of financial abuse of vulnerable adults is constantly changing and is as colorful as the minds of the criminals engaging in it.  Live well! Be happy! We have all worked very hard to have the comforts and lifestyles we do. As you get older, don’t let someone take the gold out of your “Golden Years.”

Brian Morris was a sworn member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for nearly 34 years and a sergeant for 21 years.  His assignments included Custody Division, Patrol Division, Administrative Division, and Detective Division.  From 2004, until his retirement in 2016, Mr. Morris was a Detective Sergeant assigned to the department’s Fraud & Cyber Crimes Bureau, which is tasked with investigating a myriad of financial crimes.  For more than 12 years, Mr. Morris supervised a team of detectives dedicated to investigating the financial abuse of elders and vulnerable adults.  In addition to overseeing the investigations of others, Sergeant Morris conducts investigations himself.

Mr. Morris was an active member of several multidisciplinary teams, including the Los Angeles County Financial Abuse Specialist Team (F.A.S.T.) and the Los Angeles County Elder Death Review Team.  Sergeant Morris was a founding member of the Los Angeles County Elder Abuse Forensic Center, which is an affiliate entity of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

Sergeant Morris has served as a consultant to the California Department of Justice – Commission on Peace Officer’s Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) and regularly provided training for law enforcement and other government and private entities who seek greater understanding of his narrowly focused and highly specialized area of criminal investigation.

For information or booking Brian can be reached at brianinhb@yahoo.com