Sourdough Adventure!

I was given some Sourdough starter by a friend, so I decided to turn it into an adventure!

The adventure starts by researching Sourdough recipes. So far I've found three that I am trying right away. The first is Sourdough Soft Pretzels. The second is Oatmeal Sourdough Bread. The third is Sourdough Pizza Crust. I picked these recipes because they are things that everyone in my Family will eat or at least try even though not everyone likes Sourdough Bread.

The adventure begins on Thursday! I'll keep you posted about the results of this adventure. Have a yummy day!

Comfort Food.......

What is comfort food? That depends on who you ask and where you are.

For me comfort food is the food that I gravitate to when I feel in need of some comfort or when I want to think of a good memory.

My all time comfort food is fresh baked bread hot from the oven smothered in real butter. This makes me feel good and warm. It's not the best thing to eat all the time, but that's why it's a special comfort food.

Sugar Cookies are one of my Memory food's. I have fond memories of waking up early and going to Grandma's house in November and baking tons of yummy sugar cookies for the Christmas parties in December. My job's at these cookie baking marathons were to crack the eggs with out getting any shells in the bowl, and frosting the cookies with red or green frosting, and green and red sprinkles. The best party about making all these cookies was we got to eat some of them while we spent time with our family.

So as the weather gets colder and we start to make our Winter Comfort foods, remember to make good memories with new favorites and to ponder about past memories with old favorites.

Quebec Maple-Pecan Drops

One year for Christmas my Aunt got me a cook book called

The Cookie Bible

Today I made these really good Maple Pecan Cookies! I did do a bit of Ceratizing to this recipe. My family gave them two thumbs up! Here is my spin on the recipe. Enjoy!

Cookies;

1/2 cup(1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar (with about 1 Tbsp.brown sugar)

3 Tbsp. real maple syrup

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup uncooked quick oats (not old-fashioned oats)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup chopped packaged pitted dates

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Beat in the maple syrup. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into butter mixture. On low speed, beat in oats, chopped pecans and dates.

2. Use a 9/16-ounce (just over 1 tablespoon) disher. Place balls of dough about 2 inches apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until cookies are just golden brown. Let cool for 2 minutes on sheet, then move to wire racks to cool completely.

Frosting;

2 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 Tbsp. real maple syrup

1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Beat cream cheese and butter in a small bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in 2 Tbsp. syrup. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies. Top with finely chopped pecans if desired.

Jamming Seesion.

This last week I had a lot of fruit in my fridge that needed to be used to make room for fresh food. So I made some Jam. Forty-Four half pint jars of Strawberry, Apple, Mango Jam. It past the "Toast Test" and the "PB&J Test". These are important test's that my jam must go through.

Rice Pudding

I made some rice pudding for the first time, and it turned out okay. I was a bit heavy handed with the Cinnamon, so it's a little one the spicy side. I have to call it Cinnamon rice pudding.
I just hope that I didn't dry it out!
Next time I make it I will make it better!

Spam Musubi (Recipe Coming Soon)

I LOVE Spam Musubi!
I remember the first time I had it was at a birthday party sleep over, and I just could not stop eating it, it was so good!
 I've made Musubi for my Dad to take into work and share, and people either want to try it, or they are turned off by one of two things. The Spam, or the Nori, (a.k.a. Seaweed). But more often then not, if they try it they come to realized the yummy amazingness of Spam Musubi.

Now I've been doing a lot of research before I post my recipe, because I wanted to see if anyone else makes it like I do. The verdict......... No one makes it like I make it. All the recipes I looked at tell you to dry fry the spam, some tell you to put a mixture of Soy Sauce and Sugar over the spam the last few minutes if frying, others tell you to fry the spam and then soak it in sauce.  Now the way I do it, is I cook my spam IN  the sauce! Yes that's right, I said IN THE SAUCE!  By cooking the spam in the sauce I find that the spam is able to soak up the sauce and then as the sauce reduces the spam becomes crispy and oh so delicious!

I will try to get the recipe and the picture's up as soon as I can, but I have to make another batch of Musubi, because I forgot to take pictures of some of the steps. Plus I only got ONE Musubi out of the last batch!

Have a Yummy Day,
Cera

Mint Simple Syrup

Mint Simple Syrup
1 Bunch of Fresh Mint
2 Cups of Sugar
2 Cups of Water



Place sugar and mint leaves and steams into a blender or food processor. Blend together until sugar is green and mint in blended in. Put mint sugar into a sauce pan and add the water. Heat on high heat until it comes to a boil, reduce heat and boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Once syrup had cooled strain out the mint leaves and steams. The finished syrup should be green, and have a good minty flavor.



This syrup can be added to drinks, fruit, and desserts

Mint Simple Syrup with Fresh Mint

Pork Chops

Yesterday I tried this recipe that I found on the food network website and it was for Lemonade Pork Chops.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/baked-lemonade-pork-chops-recipe/index.html

This is a little weird, but with some ceratizing it could be pretty good.
If you are an adventurous person then I would say go a head and try this recipe. The idea of the recipe is a good one. It's pretty much a barbeque pork chop that is baked.
 One of the things that I didn't like about the outcome of this recipe was that it turned out too watery, the sauce was not thick like it was meant to be. Also the spices did not go well together, it was almost like an Italian,Texas Chili barbeque-ish sauce with a slight lemon flavor. It was not my cup of sauce.

I think that I might try something like this some time in the future, but using Orange Juice and my own combo of spices. When / If, I try this I'll let ya know how it turns out.

Have a Yummy Day!
Cera 

Turkey

For Christmas my Dad and I made a brine for a Turkey that we ate at a Family Christmas at my Grandmothers house. The Turkey was so GOOD! Here's what was in the brine;
10 lbs. Ice
1 gal. Hot Water
2 qt. Cold Water
3 lbs. Brown Sugar
1 lb. Pickling Salt
Hickory Liquid Smoke
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Parsley
Fresh Garlic
Black Pepper
(Note: The amount of spices added depends are what flavor you want to achieve)