Premade pie crust,
pricked with fork and cooked in hot oven for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°.
Combine all fruit and
honey in medium bowl and toss to combine. Pour into cooled pie crust.
In small bowl combine
flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter. Using pastry cutter
work the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add oats and stir
just to combine.
Sprinkle topping over
fruit. Bake in 425° oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and fruit
is bubbly. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
It
is Christmas time and time to bake cookies. There was a time when I couldn’t
make a batch of cookies come out for the life of me.Until my sister shared her secret of how to
make a batch of cookies come out perfect (or almost).
This
is my babysitter, Berta’s recipe (RIP), which came from her mom, Dorothy. It is
over 150 years old.I altered it by replacing
the ¼ cup coffee or tea with 1/3 cup sourdough to the mix.I never liked molasses cookies until I made
these.
2½
cups AP flour
2
tsp. baking soda
2
tsp. ground cinnamon
1¼
tsp. ground ginger
½
tsp. salt
8
tbsp. melted butter
¼
cup dark brown sugar
1/3
cup sugar
¼
cup molasses
1
large egg
1/3
cup sourdough hooch
Combine
molasses, sugars, melted butter, egg, and hooch in large measuring cup or bowl.In another bowl stir together flour, baking
soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt.Beat
the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture until well combined.Chill dough for one hour.
Now
the recipe says to roll out to desired thickness, cut and sprinkle with
sugar.Tried that as you can see.Molasses cookies is Tall Cool ☺ne’s favorite
and he suggested just doing a spoonful, dip it in sugar and bake like a dropped
cookie.OMG, it’s like a crusty outside
and a soft inside, makes me think of the cat treats that we buy for the fur-babies.
Cooking
is all about experimenting.
Roll
or drop and sprinkle with sugar and bake in a 350º oven for 11 minutes.Cool on wire rack.
Growing up we always had “Shepherd’s
Pie” that was made with ground beef, corn and sometimes if we were lucky, a can
of peas would find their way mixed in with the corn, and then it was topped
with mashed potatoes with dollops of butter melted over the top.It was an old time favorite comfort
food.
As an adult, it was still always
one of my favorites, but Tall Cool ☺ne
didn’t care for it, needless to say it has not been on the menu over the years. This weekend we watched a video on one of my favorite YouTube channels and two things
came out of it.
1. I learned something new (I think you should learn something new every day if you can): Shepherd’s Pie is actually
made with ground lamb, (which makes perfect sense seeing how shepherds tend the
sheep). 2. I’ve now found a pie that can and will be added back to my favorite meals
menu.I kind of wonder why they don’t
call it “Cattle Pie”, “Heifer’s Pie”, “Moo Pie”, or “Bull Pie”.
I took the ingredients from the
video and used my own quantities (not from his list) so if mine don’t match Kent’s,
don’t hate me.
1¼ lb. ground beef
2 stalks celery, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 orange pepper, shredded
1 lg. onion, shredded
2 tbsp. tomato paste
¼ cup beef broth
½ cup red wine (¼ for the pie and ¼ for the chef)
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 can white hominy, drained
1 can chili peppers, drained
4 cloves garlic, minced (I used the whole head)
2 egg yolks
3 lbs. potatoes, peeled, cooked, drained, and mashed
½ cup cream (I used half & half)
1½ cups white cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded
¾ cup fresh parmesan, shredded
Seasonings: oregano, basil, salt, pepper, thyme (I don't have his original seasoning spice yet, but I ordered some for next time).
In cast iron Dutch oven, cook the ground beef and
drain off grease.Add celery, carrots
and onion and cook the moisture out of the veggies, but don’t let the veggies
get brown (5-6 minutes).Add the tomato
paste, Worcestershire sauce, beef broth, wine, and stir to combine and let it
get a little bubbly.Carefully stir in
garlic and hominy. Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare potatoes.Once they are cooked and drained and all the liquid is steamed out of
them, mash, mash, mash.Add some cream
(I used half & half) and the egg yolks.Mash, mash, mash.Add the cheddar
and jack cheese, then stir in the chili peppers.
Preheat oven to 400º
Transfer the beef mixture to a casserole dish.(I almost missed this tidbit of information.
Tall Cool ☺ne pointed it out to me). Can’t cook
this in the cast iron in a 400º oven or it would burn to a crisp.
Trowel the potatoes over the beef mixture.Make little plops with a spoon for aesthetics,
sprinkle with parmesan cheese.Bake for
45 minutes.Let cool 10-15 before
serving.
Tall Cool ☺ne brought home a half dozen or more summer squash. It wasn't enough to make squickles so I had to come up with something else. I borrowed this recipe that I found
in the Southern Living Magazine last month.
OMG, usually when I’m making recipes I find in magazines I have to tweak
them to please me or Tall Cool ☺ne (there
was no tweaking on this one that he would like….so forget about that). I really liked this recipe and enjoyed it
better cold. In fact two days after I made it I filled Romaine lettuce with and
called it Succotash Boats.
1 (3/4-oz.) habanero
chile, pricked all over with a fork
1
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black
pepper, plus more for garnish
1 cup halved cherry
tomatoes
1 tsp. coarsely
chopped fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
Directions
Place bacon in
a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Cook over medium-high, stirring occasionally,
until crispy, 12 to 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a
paper towel-lined plate to drain, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings in
skillet. Save remaining drippings for another use.
Add onion to
reserved drippings in skillet; cook over medium, stirring often, until
softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic; cook, stirring constantly,
until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Increase heat
to high; stir in green beans, squash, corn, habanero chile, salt, and
black pepper. Cook, stirring mixture occasionally, until vegetables are
slightly charred, about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high, and stir in
1/4 cup water; cover and cook, undisturbed, until vegetables are tender,
about 4 minutes. Remove and discard habanero. Stir in halved cherry
tomatoes, fresh thyme, and cooked bacon. Garnish with additional thyme and
black pepper.
This is Grammie Averill's old fashion zucchini bread
2
cups zucchini, shredded
2
cups sugar
3
eggs, slightly beaten
1
cup vegetable oil
3
tsp vanilla
1
tsp salt
3
tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
1
tsp baking soda
1
tsp baking powder
½
cup raisins
½ cup walnuts
Preheat
oven 350°
Grease
two 9x5 inch bread pans.
In
medium bowl combine zucchini, sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla; set
aside. In large bowl combine flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and
baking powder. Mix well and create a well in the center of the
mixture. Pour zucchini mixture into well all at
once. Stir just to combine all ingredients. Fold in
raisins and nuts. Pour into prepared bread pans.
Bake
350° for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Enjoy♥
This is part of the A-Z blogging challenge. Don’t forget to visit some of the other bloggers
in the challenge and also check out Crackerberries!
When talking about foods that begin with a Y, Tall Cool ☺ne said YOOHOO was a food. I debated that with him for a bit and then decided to consult with a trusted family member. Our granddaughter Ella L♥ve says YOOHOO most certainly is a food and here are the pics to prove it.
There really isn't much going on for Y unless you want Yams, which are sweet potatoes and I've overworked them so much in the past I really wanted something different. I have Sandor Katz Wild Fermentation book that that has a recipe in it for yogurt but I haven't tried it yet. Yellow potatoes, but a potato is a potato. There are yellow-eye beans which are really yummy and I'm actually placing an order from Green Thumb Farms today. (Okay, no I'm not...the shipping is too expensive.) I'm trying to grow some red kidney beans in the garden this year, but they probably won't grow as well as they grow in Maine.
This is part of the A-Z blogging challenge.Don’t forget to visit some of the other bloggers
in the challenge and also check out Crackerberries!
I am sorry for the delay and I appreciate you checking back. We had company so I was a little behind today.
¾ cup fat free
milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
4 tbsp. butter,
cut into small pieces
2¾ cups all-purpose
flour
1/3 cup white
rice flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground
cloves
2½ tsp. bread
machine yeast
2/3 cups dried
cranberries
¾ cup
confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp. lemon
extract
2 tbsp. half
& half
Place first 10
ingredients in bread machine hopper, in order shown. Program for the dough cycle. Pres start and let cycle through.
Line a baking
sheet with parchment paper. When the
machine beeps at end of cycle, power off the machine and immediately turn the
dough out on a lightly floured surface.
Pat dough into large rectangle.
Sprinkle with dried cranberries and press in. Fold the dough into thirds and knead a few
times to incorporate the fruit.
Divide the
dough in half and roll each portion into a 10” log. Cut six equal portions and form each portion
into a ball. Place buns two inches apart
on baking sheet. Cover with dish cloth
and let rise until doubled in size (about 45 minutes).
Preheat oven to
375º
Using a sharp
paring knife, gently cut a cross into each bun.
Bake in preheated oven 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
While buns are
baking, prepare the icing. Whisk the
confectioner’s sugar, lemon extract and half & half together in a small
bowl. Beat until the icing is smooth and
firm.
Remove rolls
from oven and place on cooling rack.
Place the icing in a pastry bag, or I use a zip-lock bag (throw away and
less clean up) and pipe a cross over the top of each indentation where the cut
is on the bun. Let stand for about 20-25
minutes to set before serving.
¼ cup black beans (today I used leftover rice because I didn't have beans)
Sriracha sauce
In a small skillet sauté zucchini and mushrooms for about 2 minutes, add beans(or rice) and place spinach over top. Cover and let steam about 3 more minutes. Crack egg in center, cover and let steam about 2 minutes. Slide on to plate, top with sriracha sauce and serve with your favorite beverage.
Enjoy ♥
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in the challenge and also check out Crackerberries!
Oddly enough it just so happens we have two pasta recipes in a row. Tall Cool ☺ne is not a fan of pasta, but me, I probably could eat it every day. I love pasta, but it makes your butt big (lol). This was my first go at shrimp scampi. I think it would be wonderful with scallops or even chicken if you don't like seafood. It's wicked easy and wicked quick to make.
8 oz. pasta cooked according to package directions. (I used fettuccini)
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled & deveined (I used Argentina shrimp)
½ onion, finely diced
1 head garlic, minced (I like a lot of garlic)
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ cup white wine
1 lemon
2-3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Grated parmesan (optional)
Have your pasta all cooked, drained and set aside.
Melt butter and olive oil in skillet over medium heat, add onion and garlic and cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Add shrimp and sauté 2-3 minutes. Pour in wine and squeeze lemon juice over shrimp. Toss with hot pasta, sprinkle with chopped parsley and fresh parmesan.
Enjoy ♥
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in the challenge and also check out Crackerberries!
So I found these lobster stuffed ravioli the other day at the grocery store and thought these will be perfect for the ravioli carbonara that I make. But I wanted to try them first to see what they taste like and I had heard of fried ravioli but never made it.(Okay, I lied. After going through my archives, apparently I have made it.) A lot of recipes call for dipping it in an egg mixture then a bread crumb mixture. I really just wanted to taste the lobster inside so I skipped that and went for air frying without anything. To be honest I couldn't taste the lobster so I think next time I will use the original recipe and dip them before frying.
16 frozen ravioli (your choice of flavor, they come in many different versions now)
¾ cup panko bread crumbs
1 tbsp. grated parmesan chees
¼ tsp. garlic salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tbsp. milk
Fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
1 cup prepared marinara sauce, warmed
Coat air-fryer basket with cooking spray. Preheat to 400º
Cook ravioli according to package directions; drain, rinse with cold water, drain again and pat dry with paper towels. (Make sure not to over cook).
In a shallow dish combine panko, chees, garlic salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
In another dish combine egg and milk and mix well.
Dip the ravioli through the egg mixture then dredge through the bread crumb mixture. Place ravioli in a single layer in prepared basket and cook 4-5 minutes until golden and crisp.
If desired sprinkle with fresh parsley and extra cheese. Serve with marinara to dip.
Enjoy♥
This is part of the A-Z blogging challenge. Don’t forget to check your spam folders for comments (I actually found quite a few) and also check out Crackerberries!
This is part of the A-Z blogging challenge. Don’t forget to check your spam folders for comments (I actually found quite a few) and also check out Crackerberries!
I know it's lame but the store didn't have quail and I've already done a ton of quiche.
Quickie snack fits right into the challenge
10.1 oz. bag of Chia & Quinoa tortilla chips
15 oz. jar spicy Queso
Candied jalapeños
Tonic water with quinine
Lime slices for garnish
Microwave the queso in small bowl for about 45 seconds. Place chips on small platter and microwave for about 30 seconds. Pour sauce over chips, top with jalapeño and serve with tonic water garnished with lime. (Isn't it 5:00 somewhere? Pass the margaritas please!
Enjoy♥
This is part of the A-Z blogging challenge.Don’t forget to visit some of the other bloggers
in the challenge and also check out Crackerberries!
The simplest thing in the world to make is pork chops but too many times they come out dry, over cooked and no flavor. Why? Because many people don't know the secret to cooking pork chops. This is simple, easy and trust me when I say, you will never cook them another way.
2 bone-in pork rib or center-cut chops
1 tsp. vegetable oil
Salt & ground black pepper
½ tsp. sugar (it makes all the difference in browning)
Rub both sides of chops with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle sugar on ONE side of chops.
Turn on burner to medium heat. Place chops, sugared side down in a cold non-stick skillet (cast iron is the way to go), with bony ribs facing center. Cook until lightly browned (4-9 minutes). Chops should be sizzling after 2 minutes...if they are not, crank up the heat a little.
Using tongs, flip the chops and position in same manner with bone facing center. Cover, reduce heat and cook until center of each chop registers 140º on meat thermometer (about 3-6 minutes). Chops will barely brown on second side.
Transfer chops to platter, tent with foil and let rest 5 minutes. Add any juices accumulated in plate back to skillet, turn heat to high and scrap skillet to mix in any meaty pieces and salt & pepper. Adjust seasonings to your liking. Return chops to skillet, turning to coat with juices.
Serve chops immediately, pouring remaining juices over top.
Enjoy. ♥
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Combine
2 tbsp. soy sauce, 2 tbsp. dry sherry, 1 tbsp. cornstarch and salt in medium
bowl and mix well. Add octopus (chicken) and stir to coat. Let stand 30 minutes to marinate.
Combine
remaining soy sauce, sherry, chicken broth, vinegar, sugar, and cornstarch in a
separate bowl or large measuring cup and mix well. Set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp.
oil in wok or large skillet over medium heat.
Add peanuts and cook until golden. Remove and set aside.
Heat
remaining oil in wok over medium heat. Stir fry carrots for 3 minutes, add
chili peppers and stir fry just until peppers start to darken and become
aromatic. Increase heat and add octopus (chicken) and stir fry 2-3 minutes and
then add ginger, Oriental spice mix, onion, and chopped peppers.
Stir fry 2 more minutes.
Add
peanuts and mushrooms to mixture, stir cornstarch mixture then add to pan; cook
and stir until sauce boils and thickens (1-2 minutes).
Garnish with fresh chives and lemon balm leaf.
Serve
over rice or Raman noodles.
Enjoy ♥
This is part of the
A-Z blogging challenge. Don’t forget to
visit some of the other bloggers in the challenge and also check out
Crackerberries
Sometimes it's not about food for us, this is the time of year for our little feathered friends to make their way back. Make sure you have a clean hummingbird feeder and fill it with nectar. Here's an easy homemade recipe.
¼
cup white sugar
1
cup boiling water
Mix sugar and boiling water together until sugar is
dissolved. Cool the mixture, then fill feeder. Refrigerate
leftovers.
Your feathered friends will thank you
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1 packet beef flavored seasoning from Ramen Noodles
Combine the ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, and onion and form into a loaf in baking dish. Stir together the hollandaise sauce and beef seasoning. Spread over the loaf and cook for one hour at 350º.
Serve with your favorite sides.
Enjoy♥
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in the challenge and also check out Crackerberries!
