Roast Turkey

I made this turkey a few weeks ago. Isn't it pretty?

What I am baking right now...

Lemon Yogurt Loaf from Quick Cooking Magazine (Angela Biggin).

I made this once a long time ago and I have been craving something with poppy seeds so I thought I'd make this. It didn't call for poppy seeds but I added 1/2 tsp. per loaf. I don't normally have all these ingredients on hand so it's something I have to plan ahead for. I usually avoid these types of recipes because I like to keep it simple but last time I made it I remember it was worth.

3/4 cup plus 2 tsp. lemon yogurt, divided
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. confectioner's sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. grated lemon peel
2 cups self-rising flour*

In a blender, combine 3/4 cup yogurt and apricots; cover and process until smooth.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar.

Beat in eggs, lemon peel and yogurt mixture; mix well. Add flour just until combined. Spoon into a greased 8-in.x4-in.x2 in. loaf pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Combine the remaining yogurt and confectioner's sugar; drizzle over loaf. yeild: 1 loaf

*As a substitute for each cup of self-rising flour, place 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt in measuring cup. Add all purpose flour to measure 1 cup.

Rice Pudding

My Mom was the best at making rice pudding and my brother Calvin also makes it very well. I have the recipe for the ingredients but never knew the order and the method to making it. It's one of those things I put off learning because it seemed too complicated. I found this recipe so I thought I would try it. It's sooooooooooo yummy. The only sad part being that I haven't had any raisins around to add to it. I love raisins in rice pudding and oatmeal cookies. If you have been afraid to try Rice pudding this is a "If I can do it, you can do it" lesson.

Rice Pudding
From Escape Artist blog

1 ½ cups of cooked rice
2 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt

1 egg beaten

1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Cinnamon to taste ½ to 1 tsp.
Raisins (optional)

1. In medium saucepan combine rice, 1 ½ cups milk, sugar and salt; cook over medium heat until thick and foamy. (15-20 min) Stir frequently.
2. Stir in ½ cup more milk and the beaten egg. Cook 2 min. more, stirring constantly (CONSTANTLY).
3. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, and as much cinnamon as you like and the raisins.

Finnish Coffee Braid

This recipe is taken directly from the Sunset Cookbook of Breads, a quirky little book I got at the library sale.

1/2 C butter ( 2 sticks)
2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 envelope)
3 T warm water (105-115)
2 eggs, beaten
1 C milk, scalded and cooled
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
Zest of one orange*
5-6 C flour
1 egg yolk
1 T milk

Melt butter and set aside to cool. Dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large mixing bowl, combine beaten eggs, milk, sugar, salt, cardamom, grated orange peel, yeast mixture & butter. Stir in enough flour to make a fairly stiff dough. Knead until smooth. Shape into a ball and place in a greased bowl; cover. Put in a warm place & let rise until nearly doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Punch down and divide into 2 equal portions, then divide each portion into thirds. Roll into strands until about 24 inches long. Cross the strands in the center, and braid out. Form braid into a ring and pinch ends together. Place on a greased baking sheet. Repeat for second braid. Cover lightly with waxed paper and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled, 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

Paint each braid with a mixture of egg yolk beaten with 1 T milk. Bake in a 350° oven for 30-45 minutes or until a medium brown. Let cool on wire racks. Wrap airtight. Can be frozen if wrapped in foil.

*I use 1-2 tsp of dried zest from Penzey's, in 3-6 tsp water.

Macaroni & Cheese

3 T unsalted butter
3 T finely chopped onion
1/2 garlic clove, minced
3 T flour
3 1/2 C whole milk
1 pound cheddar, shredded
2 T Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp salt plus more to taste
1 pound elbow macaroni or any short tubular pasta
2 T dry bread crumbs

1. 400°. Butter a 10-inch round casserole that is at least 3 inches deep. I use a big casserole stoneware bowl from Pampered Chef.

2. Melt butter over medium heat, then add onion & garlic and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the flour to form a roux, stirring for about 1 minute. Whisk in milk. Return to medium-low and simmer, stirring regularly, until smooth but still liquidy, about 15 minutes. It will not be thickened. Add the cheese in handfuls, stirring until melted. Add mustard, Worcestershire & salt.

3. Meanwhile, cook elbow macaroni for HALF the time specified on the box. Pour into the casserole, then pour sauce over and stir well. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and bake until delicious and golden and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes.

This recipe is adapted from Bake Until Bubbly by Clifford A. Wright.

My new favorite way to cook bacon...

I got this from About.com

Baking bacon is an easy, mess-proof way to prepare this pork product. You don't have to turn it or deal with spatters.

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet or baking pan with sides with heavy-duty foil. Arrange the bacon on the pan, side-by side, being sure not to overlap the pieces.

Don wrote me and said that to give the bacon that pretty 'ridged' look he wads and unfolds the foil first so it is wavy, then puts the bacon on it. That gives the fat somewhere to go so the bacon isn't sitting in the fat as it cooks and shapes the bacon while baking.

Bake the bacon for 10-15 minutes for thin-cut, or until desired doneness. I myself like my bacon very crisp, so I bake it 15-17 minutes. For thick bacon, add another 4-6 minutes. Carefully remove from the oven, drain on paper towels, and use.

Mushroom Tarts

First, you make the mushrooms:

4 T butter in a large skillet
Add 1/2 C minced onion and cook until translucent.
Add 1.5 lbs mushrooms, coarsely chopped and a few good shakes of dried thyme. Cook 15 minutes, or until brown and dry. This can be refrigerated for up to 2 days, or frozen.

Then, make the tart shells:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brush 1/2 C softened butter into the cups of two mini-muffin pans.
Using a 2 1/2" biscuit cutter, cut out circles from two loaves of white bread. Carefully work the bread circles into the cups (so the bread doesn't rip) and then press them firmly into the cups. Bake 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

Spoon the mushrooms into the shells and toss on a dollop of sour cream. Good served warm or at room temperature.

Makes about 40.

EdgyK's Spaghetti Sauce

I kind of created this from trying several different recipes. So I didn't come up with it completely on my own. We have spaghetti every Monday night. Now that I make this I don't like the taste of store bought sauce. I canned some last year from the tomatoes I had grown but that was a lot of work for only a few quarts.

1 can diced tomatoes
2 small cans or 1 large can tomato sauce
2 tsp. Italian seasoning*
1/2 cup chopped peppers**
2 tsp. diced garlic
3 Tbsp. dried, minced onion or 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. beef bouillon
pepper

Optional:
ground fennel seeds

Mix everything together in a saucepan and let simmer 20 minutes. Add meatballs or ground beef if you want. Serves 6-8 people.

*I use Penzey's Tuscan sunset
**I buy 4 or 5 red and yellow peppers, chop them and freeze them. I like to make my sauce fresh each week.

Christmas Yummies

Somehow I just knew Blogger was going to put my pictures in the wrong order! So in the above picture you see the delicious Christmas dinner we enjoyed. Honey-glazed ham, homemade rolls, and Harvest Green Beans. With Martinelli's to drink, natch.

The picture below shows part of Christmas breakfast. My husband and I have a traditional Christmas breakfast, as I suspect most do. Ours is bacon, eggs & orange juice. We made an addition this year. My husband treated us to the bacon and eggs...

...while I provided the cinnamon rolls. This recipe is very handy as you make the rolls the night before and then pop them in the fridge. Half an hour to warm up in the morning and half an hour to bake and you've got fresh, gooey cinnamon rolls without having to wake up early! The dough is very rich and eggy. Yum! We decided these are now part of our traditional Christmas breakfast.

Pre-frosting.

If you love veggies as much as I do then you'll want to sign up for this contest. I signed up and I hope I win so I can go to Chicago and become a Veggie growing expert!!!

Trying something new

We decided to try these new steam in the bag veggies. They were nice pieces of veggies and cooked up perfectly and tasted good. I think a little more expensive but handy and quick.

Mommy that's de-gusting

That's how my little one say disgusting. When I am tired and we just have pasta and sauce for dinner even thought it's usually considered a side dish.

Once a month we do a big shopping trip to get the majority of the items we need for dinners for the month. My DH helps me and sometimes he doesn't get exactly what I tell him to get. I told him Linguine and we Spinach Linguine.

On this night I decided to pull it out and try it with an alfredo sauce. No one thought it was going to be any good because it was green.

But to everyone's surprise they loved. All six of us loved it. That only happens a couple times a month. (TWSS)

I too love Basmati Rice

Anth encouraged us to try Basmati rice. So our last trip to Costco we each bought a big bag. This naturally aromatic rice tastes "dewicious" as my girls would say. We had it with stir fry but I was content to eat it plain as well. Everyone in the family loved it.

Roasted Cauliflower with Paprika

Here's another recipe from Everyday Food. I picked up some local cauliflower today and decided to oven-roast it. If you like cauliflower, you'll like this dish. The paprika gives it a teensy kick. I found it perfect for a rainy fall day!

This is the cauliflower just before putting it in the oven. Just toss cauliflower florets with 2 T olive oil and 1 1/2 tsp paprika. 20-25 minutes at 450 degrees.

Here's the finished product - delicious!

Braised Chicken with Dried Plums

from Everyday Food

First you brown 8 chicken thighs. I forgot to take a picture of the thighs browning. Oil was splattering and I had to have Dh do the flipping to avoid getting disfiguring burns. Here are the thighs sort of browned, removed to a platter:

(Raw meat. Yummy!)

Then you brown onions in the remaining oil and chicken fat, scraping up the bits. The onions get nice and soft. Add in a bit of flour and two cups of grape juice:

Then you put the chicken back in the pot. I was excited to use my locking silicone-tipped tongs for the first time:



Here is something I've realized about Everyday Food in relation to myself: I have to cook food 2-3 times longer than listed in EF. Pretty much every time I'm cooking meat. I suspect this is because my pans all suck and therefore do not conduct heat well. Someday I will have an All-Clad 12-inch and a La Crueset Dutch oven, but until then I will have to fiddle with cooking times. The recipe said cook 8-10 minutes. I had to cook these babies 30 minutes (granted, I did a piss-poor browning job, which extended the braise time).

It doesn't look that great, does it? But, oh yum!

Here is my bowl. My favorite part of this dish was definitely the sauce. Serve this dish with a crusty French bread to sop up the sauce. I could have just eaten the sauce with bread and been fine.


This dish is economical and easy. Two thumbs up!

Braised Chicken with Dried Plums
Serves 4

2 T olive oil
8 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (I used a 3-lb. bag from Winco)
coarse salt & ground pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T flour
2 C dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
1 C pitted dried plums (aka prunes)

1. In a 5-qt Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt & pepper. Cook in 2 batches until browned, 6-8 minutes, flipping once. Transfer to a plate.

2. To pot, add onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until onion begins to brown, 3-5 minutes. Reduce heat if necessary. Add flour, cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and chicken along with any accumulated juices.

3. Cover and cook until chicken is opaque throughout, 8-10 minutes (or thirty if your pan sucks too!). Stir in prunes.

My Approach to Cooking

Hi. I'm Anth. EK and I have been talking about starting this blog 4-ever. It was left up to EK to take the initiative because I can sometimes be quite lazy. I am super excited to have this little forum. Even though its only readers will be myself and EK.

I love cooking. It is about as creative as I get. I like taking basic foodstuffs and combining them into something delicious and satisfying. It makes me happy when people enjoy the food I make for them.* My contributions to this blog will reflect my current cooking interests: hearty soups and stews, crockpot dinners, breads, frugal cooking, and delicious desserts and treats.

As I get more confident in my cooking ability, I find myself experimenting more. I am getting more comfortable substituting ingredients or not following a recipe too closely if I just don't feel like it. I can also be a bit of a food snob. For instance, the taste of real Parmesan is five hundred times superior to that Kraft junk. I've phased Kraft Parmesan right out of my life. It's worth it to me to spend a little more for something that tastes a lot better.


*This is why, oddly enough, my father-in-law is very fun to cook for. He really enjoys his food.

Foodies

Last week my husband complained because there was no Basmati rice to go with the Tandoori chicken, just regular white rice.

He complained about a lack of Basmati. I didn't know he even knew what that was.

I have turned my husband into a foodie! My evil plan is a success!

Getting Started

My friend Anth and I will share our love of food. We love to create fabulous dishes for our family and Friends. I am EK and I mostly in the business feeding my four kids and one husband. I love to have family and friends over. I do like to dabble in Jell-o from time to time. I am a big fan of simple and easy recipes that taste delicious. One of my goals is to learn how to decorate cakes. Anth and I both own KitchenAids which have become members of the family. I will let Anth introduce herself later but you should know she is the creative and more outgoing one when it comes to cooking. And for some odd reason her cookies always turn out better than mine.

We are excited to share our experiences and look forward to your comments and critiques.