Blog Archives
Chicken Rice
This was going to be chicken rice soup but it ended up more stew than soup. Here are a couple of kittehs in a tub to make me feel better.
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Mmm… Cinnamon Bread
Cinnamon bread with raisins because that’s how I remember it when I smell the aromas and close my eyes go back to being 6 years old and shouting “Me Me Me” when my mama asked “who wants cinnamon toast”.
Spreading melted butter on the rolled out dough makes it hard to seal the seams but I don’t care.
That plastic mat is just the handiest thing but don’t let them tell you nothing will stick to it. Use plenty of flour when you roll the dough out. I have a silicone baking mat under it ti keep it from sliding around.
These aren’t the prettiest loaves. I went with this bread machine recipe for these and it seems to work ok.
You can’t have too much cinnamon.
Christmas Eve Dinner Menu: Dessert Tray, Pt 1
With the dinner menu being fairly simple, I’ve spent the week baking desserts. I started with Spritz Cookies. I used this recipe, and then I divided the dough in half. I added 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, about a 1/4 cup extra flour (a little at a time until it was workable dough again) and 2 tsp of lemon zest. I dusted those with powder sugar when done. The other batch was just the yummy butter half of the dough.
Next up, this cake. I had leftover Cranberry-Apple Sauce from Thanksgiving, which I froze with this recipe in mind. It made for a very tasty fruit bottom. Here’s the original recipe:
Cranberry Upside Down Cake
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups cranberries, chopped*
- ½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp orange zest (rind)
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup milk
Topping
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1-1/2 tbsp orange juice (more as needed)
- 2 tsp butter, softened
8×8 glass baking dish & mixing bowl
Preheat oven to 350°
Melt 3 tbsp of butter and pour into baking dish, spread to cover bottom and up the sides. Add ½ cup sugar, mix with butter on bottom of pan. Add cranberries & walnuts, spread over bottom of pan. Cream remaining butter & sugar, add vanilla, egg, orange zest, mix well. Add flour, baking powder & milk, mix until well blended, don’t over mix. Pour batter over cranberry mixture. Bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown and center bounces back at the touch. Invert on plate. Let cool.
Topping: Mix together butter, orange juice & powdered sugar, pour over cake and serve.
* if you don’t have a food processor, you can leave cranberries whole.
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I’m not done yet. I’ll be baking more later this week, so stay tuned….
Mmm… Butterbeans and Cornbread
Nothing special about these, I will note that I used the “boil for a minute and let sit, covered, for an hour” method rather than soaking overnight. It worked fine. You drain the beans after the hour and then cook to your regular recipe. These are cooked in chicken stock with carrots, celery, and onions that were sauteed briefly. I like to add a Creole/Cajun seasoning to mine, and a couple of bay leaves. These have ham chunks that simmered in stock while the beans soaked to get a head start.
The cornbread isn’t anything fancy, just the back of the box recipe.
Dinner Menu: Salmon in Dill Sauce with Raspberry Pear Salad
Haven’t posted a dinner menu for a while. Pears are on sale right now, so I wanted to take advantage of that. It has nothing to do with me being tired of plums, grapes and tomatoes. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
On the board tonight:
- Salmon in Dill Butter Sauce
- Rice
- Pear-Raspberry Salad
Salmon in Dill Butter Sauce
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp fresh chopped dill
- 4-6 oz boneless, skinless salmon fillets
- Juice from 1 lemon
- ½ cup chicken broth
skillet
In skillet, melt butter, add dill & lemon juice. Brush lightly over fillets. Add chicken broth to remaining butter in skillet and bring to a low boil, lower heat and let simmer until reduced by half . Grill fillets for 3 to 4 minutes each side (be sure and oil grill rack well before using. You can also grill on foil or in a grilling pan). Drizzle with sauce.
Pear-Raspberry Salad
- 8 oz walnut halves
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp crushed garlic
- 16 oz baby greens
- 2 ripe Bartlett pears
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
- 2 oz blue cheese, crumbled
- 1 cup raspberry vinaigrette dressing
baking dish, serving bowl
In baking dish, toss walnuts with oil, soy, ginger, salt & garlic. Toast in a 250° oven for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until walnuts are crisp. In serving bowl add lettuce. Seed and slice pears, add to lettuce, along with raspberries, bleu cheese, & walnuts. Toss with dressing.
Mmm… Cream Horns
Making these was a fun way to spend a sweltering late August day.
Cut a flat of puff pastry into strips like so. These are roughly 3/4″ wide – each one will become one horn when wound around the specialty pastry molds. We had 6 so we had to run relays, I ordered more.
Mrs J brushed them all with an egg wash and sprinkled on some sugar. They will bake for about 12 minutes at 350, check them every 5 minutes, turning them once.
When they’ve cooled use a pastry bag to fill with cream. We tried this recipe:
MARSHMALLOW FLUFF ICING
1 stick butter (no substitutes)
7 oz jar of marshmallow creme
4 oz confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp. vanillaBeat butter until creamy. Add marshmallow fluff and incorporate into butter. Slowly add sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until light and fluffy.
Alas, we didn’t read the method closely enough and dumped everything into a bowl and set at it with a hand mixer, I think the cream we ended with was a bit heavier and not quite as stiff as it could have been. Delicious, though!
Here’s a cream recipe we didn’t go with:
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1 c. Crisco
1 t vanilla
Dash of salt
1/4 c. boiling water
Whip this all together and it will last about a month
And another one that we did try:
1 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
This last one was Mrs J’s favorite, and seemed to work a tad better:
Memorial Weekend Recipes: Grilled Potato Packets
Grilled potatoes and peppers above can be found here
These are so easy to make, one of my most requested and clean up is a breeze:
Grilled Potatoes
- 4 large potatoes
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 to 2 tbsp butter
- parsley or chives
- salt & pepper
foil
Thinly slice each potato, layer one on each piece of foil, then layer sliced onion and parsley or chives. Melt butter and add garlic, drizzle equally over each potato. Wrap and seal foil. Grill, turning halfway through (about 15 minutes each side). Cook until potatoes are tender and onions crispy.
Apple-Raisin-Walnut Crisp
I love fruit crisps. They are quick and easy to make and with all the good ingredients I feel less guilty about the sweet treat. This one kicks up traditional apple crisp a notch.
Apple-Raisin-Walnut Crisp
- 3 Granny Smith apples, cored & sliced (peeling opt)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
- 1 cup flour
8×8 glass baking dish, lightly greased, small mixing bowl
Place apples, cinnamon, raisins, nuts and ¼ cup sugar in baking dish, mix well.
In mixing bowl, cream butter and remaining sugar, add flour and oats, mix until crumbly. Crumble over the apple mixture.
Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes until top is golden brown. Let cool.
Alternately you can use this cast iron skillet method for making the crisp.
