Chicken and Herbs

Four+ Herbs Chicken

1½ -2 lbs chicken leg quarters

3-4 cloves garlic, sliced

Fresh basil leaves

Fresh oregano leaves

Fresh lemon balm leaves

1 tbsp tarragon leaves

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Olive oil

Wash chicken.  Preheat oven to 350°

Place chicken in cast iron skillet.

Finely chop basil, oregano, and lemon balm leaves and combine with tarragon leaves.  Slide pieces of garlic underneath the skin of the chicken with 1 tsp of the herbs. 

Rub the outside skin generously with extra virgin olive oil.  Salt and pepper and sprinkle with remaining herbs. 

Bake 50 minutes at 350°.  Flip chicken and increase heat to 400° and cook 10-15 minutes longer. 

© Crackerberries 2012

Pear Pie

Harvest Time Pear Pie

1 9-inch pie crust

10 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced

1 cup fig conserves

¾ cup sugar

2 Tbsp whole wheat flour

Pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cardamom

1-2 tbsp butter or margarine

Preheat oven 400°.

Combine sugar, flour, and spices together.  Add to pears, and mix well.  Fold in conserves. 

Spoon mixture into pie crust, and dot with 1-2 tbsp butter or margarine; lay top pastry over top.  Pinch edges all the way around, and crimp to seal.  Cut air vents in top of crust.  (Use a festive cookie cutter before putting top pie crust on — be sure not to cut all the way through.)

Bake at 400° for 50 minutes, reduce heat to 350° to cook an additional 10-15 minutes, sliding a sharp knife in one of the air vents to check tenderness of pears.  You may need to tent aluminum foil around the edges if they start to get too brown. 

Serve warm with ice cream if desired.

© Crackerberries 2012

Parmesan Crusted Burgers

Parmesan Crusted Burgers

1 lb ground beef

½ cup Italian style bread crumbs

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 egg

¼ cup parmesan cheese

¼ cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese

½ tsp garlic salt

1 tsp fresh coarsely ground pepper

½ tsp BBQ spice

Combine ground beef, bread crumbs, 1 tsp garlic salt, onion powder, and egg and mix well.  Shape into four patties. 

In small bowl combine parmesan cheese, garlic salt, pepper and BBQ spice and mix well.  Roll outside edges of patties in mixture, shake off excess.  Add mozzarella cheese and mix well.

Place patties in preheated cast iron skillet on medium heat and cook for 7 minutes.  Flip and cook an additional 4-5 minutes.  In the meantime, preheat broiler.  

Divide parmesan mixture over each patty.  Place under broiler for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is slightly golden and bubbly.  Remove from skillet and serve on buns or alone with favorite sides.

© Crackerberries 2012

Peanut Butter Crunch Buns

Peanut Butter Yeast Buns

(Bread machine)

Yeast Bun Dough

1 egg

¾ cup water (70°-80°)

¼ cup butter flavored Crisco

¼ cup dry milk powder

¾ tsp salt

1½ cup all purpose flour

1½ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup sugar

2¼ tsp yeast

Combine all ingredients (starting with wet items first and ending with yeast last) in bread machine.  Make a small well in the top of the dry ingredients for the yeast.  Select the dough setting (this typically takes an hour and 20 minutes so plan accordingly). 

Turn out dough on lightly floured surface.  Divide dough in half.  (I freeze one for later).  Roll each into 10x15 inch rectangles.  Let rest and make filling.  (Each half will make 12 buns).

Peanut Butter Filling

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup flour

¾ cup crunchy peanut butter

3 Tbsp margarine

Combine in bowl and mix well.  Divide in half and spread over each rectangle.  Roll up the long side of the dough and pinch along the sides to seal.  Slice into twelve rolls.

Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and cover with dish towel to let rise 30-45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375°.  Bake 20 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet and place on wire racks to cool slightly.  Drizzle with orange glace if desired.

Orange Glaze

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2-3 Tbsp orange juice

Combine in bowl and mix to desired spreading consistency.  Drizzle over each bun and serve immediately.  Store leftovers in air tight container.

© Crackerberries 2012

Pizza Burgers

Pizza Burgers

1 lb ground beef

12 slices pepperoni

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup pizza sauce

4 hamburger buns

Condiments

Shape hamburger into 4 1 inch thick patties.  Place in freezer for about an hour to slightly freeze. 

Preheat oven to 375°

Remove from freezer and slice each burger through the center.  Press down gently with thumb on bottom patty creating a small well in each burger.  Add 1 tablespoon of pizza sauce to each well, top with chopped pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.  Place tops of burgers back on top and squeeze to seal sides. 

Place on rack on cookie sheet.  Cook at 375°for 20 minutes; flip and cook an additional 10 minutes.  Serve on toasted buns with more pizza sauce or other favorite condiments.       

© Crackerberries 2012

Homemade Shake N Bake Chicken

Chicken

 1 lb chicken leg/thigh pieces

2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 tsp Sriracha hot chili sauce (A.K.A. Rooster Sauce)

½ cup Italian style bread crumbs

½ cup whole wheat flour                    

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp BBQ spice

1½ tsp coarse sea salt

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

 

Combine teriyaki sauce and Sriracha sauce in zip lock bag.  Add chicken and let stand for 30 minutes on counter top, flipping over often.  Remove from bag and discard marinade.

In another zip lock bag combine bread crumbs, flour, onion powder, pepper, BBQ spice and salt.  Shake well to combine.  Add chicken pieces a couple at a time and shake well to coat. 

Place vegetable oil in cast iron skillet and swirl around to cover bottom.  Place chicken in skillet.  Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, flip chicken and bake 20 more minutes.  Remove from skillet immediately.

© Crackerberries 2012

Rice Globs

Rice Globs

Rice itself needs to be doctored up to taste good the first time, let alone eating leftovers.  Here’s an idea to use up leftover rice and they won’t even know it’s made out of leftovers.

3 cups leftover cooked rice (I used 1 cup white and 2 cups fried)

1 large egg, well beaten

¼ cup margarine (softened)

¼ cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp dried chopped onion

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl.  (Note:  if you are using plain white rice add in 1/2 cup chopped deli meat, green peppers, onions, or bacon bits or a combination.)  Roll into balls or use small ice cream scoop and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake 30 minutes until firm.  Serve with duck sauce, ketchup or marinara sauce.

© Crackerberries 2012