Summer Adventure

Over the Summer of 2015 I worked as a Nanny, here are some of the foods I made while working.

Pretzels

Build Your Own Pizza

Build Your Own Pizza

Mini Apple Pies

Mini Apple Pies

Spam Musubi

S'mores Oreo Truffles

Pound Cake

Strawberry Short Cake

Apple Pie and Blueberry Pie

Cinnamon Sugar Pie Crust

Peach Cobbler Cake

Citrus Roasted Chicken

Peach Cobbler Cake

Peach Cobbler Cake

Chicken Pot Pie

Zucchini Bread

12 Egg Pound Cake

Yesterday I made a TWELVE Egg Pound Cake! Now you might think I am crazy, but I have twelve Hens and they give me LOTS of eggs, and I got tired of always making breakfast foods. Plus I don't like eating eggs all that much I really have to be in the mood for them. So I started my quest for any recipe that used a lot of eggs and I found this one.

Original Recipe from: Just a Pinch Recipes

Ingredients

1lb. Unsalted Butter, softend
3 1/2 Cups Sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Powder
12 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
4 Cups All-Purpose Flour, Sifted

 

Directions

1. In a large bowl cream butter thoroughly, gradually add sugar, beat until light and fluffy, add vanilla mix well.

2. In a medium bowl mix baking powder and salt with flour. Add 3 tablespoons flour mixture to butter and sugar mixture; beat well.

3. Add remaining flour and eggs alternating between the two until all the flour and eggs have been incorporated starting and ending with flour. 

4. Buttered and flour two 10 inch bunt pans. (I like to use a nonstick spray that already has flour in it) Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit  for 1 hour. Cakes are done when knife comes out clean from middle of cake.

This cake is very tasty and for me it is a good way to use lots of eggs without having to make breakfast food!

Have a Yummy Day,

Cera

Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Today I am experimenting with making Sourdough dinner rolls, by request from my Dad.

So far the experiment has turned out fairly well. The dough is proofing and it looks good.

I looked at a lot of recipes online and I was getting pretty frustrated, because all the recipes I was coming across used Active or Rapid-Rise Yeast! I don't want to use yeast because I am using a sourdough starter. So the search continued. Finally I found it! A recipe for sourdough dinner rolls that didn't call for yeast, only the starter.

I found it on Sourdough Companion. I used a tiny bit more milk then what is called for and my dough looked great! 

I'll post an update about this experiment with some pictures of the finished product later.

Have a Yummy Day!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Yesterday we had a really nice Sunday dinner after Church.
We had Bacon Wrapped Chicken, Roasted Asparagus and Crock Pot Potatoes and Rainbow Carrots! YUM!

For The Chicken I cut some boneless skinless breast and thigh meat into chunks. Seasoned with salt and Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper. Cut each piece of bacon in half, then wrapped the chicken and placed it on a sheet pan. Baked at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. To crisp up the bacon place it back in the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.

For the Asparagus I just trimmed them and put them on a sheet pan seasoned with salt and pepper and baked at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

For the potatoes and rainbow carrots I cut them into chunks and placed in a crock pot cooker with one small onion. Seasoned them with Salt and Mrs. Dash Table blend. Cook on high for about 3 hours or until tender.

I also made a gravy from the drippings of the chicken and bacon. So it was a chicken bacon lemon pepper gravy. I added a little chicken broth to the drippings after removing them from the pan, seasoned with a little Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper and brought it to a boil. Thickened with a rue of flour and water. It was so GOOD!

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)

Waffles

This morning I made waffles for Breakfast. I used Alton Brown's recipe for Oat Waffles.
They were really tasty. The only thing I added was a teaspoon of Vanilla extract. I also heated up some syrup with butter, YUM!

Here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/oat-waffle-recipe/index.html

The waffle has a chewy, crunchy texture that is a lot like a whole wheat bread. It does taste like Oats, but I like that taste, I would expect nothing less from an OAT Waffle! In my waffle iron I had to give it five extra minutes to make it nice and crispy.

Hope y'all enjoy this.

Granola Bar's

Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups Old-Fashioned Oats
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Honey
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Chocolate Chips


Directions:
Preheat Oven to 325 degrees.


In a sauce pan melt butter and honey, once melted remove from heat and let cool.
Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar, and baking soda, mix until combined.Once butter and honey mixture has cooled mix it into the oat mixture, until well combined. In a small bowl or cup beat the egg with the vanilla, mix into the oat mixture. 
      
Before adding your chocolate chips, test your oat mixture to make sure you chocolate will not melt. (Now if you want chocolate Granola Bar's don't worry about having the butter and honey cool before mixing it into the oat mixture and then adding your chocolate chips.)


Once you have mixed in you chocolate chips and any other yummy mix-ins, you want to put your mixture in a greased 13x9 inch pan. Spread mixture out evenly. 
          
Bake for 18 minutes in 325 degree oven. Remove and press down with the back of a spoon until granola is flat, then bake for 5 more minutes. Remove and tap the pan on the counter to release the air. Let cool for 10 minutes, then cut bar's to desired size, let cool completely and then consume! Share if you feel so inclined.


These are YUMMY! I am going to keep making them. I've tried other recipes and this is the best one by far, I found it on one of my favorite recipe sights; http://allrecipes.com . It is a great sight to find recipes that can help you make up your own. The recipe that I have posted in not the same as the one I found, because I have made it my own. I encourage all of you to do the same!


Enjoy!

Recipes.

Okay so I do have some recipes that I want to put up on here. The problem is that I am in the midst of cleaning my BLACK HOLE! 
So my notebook that has my recipes written in it is currently missing in action. Once I find it I will steal the computer from my Sister and I will post some recipes! 
Sorry that I haven't been very good at posting things. I will try to be better! 
Keep On Cooking and eating Yummy Food! 

The Black Box

Okay so here are the pictures of the black box.
There are two chickens and one corned beef brisket.
They are all rubbed down with prepared yellow mustard, and a homemade seasoning rub made up of;
Salt
Pepper
Papricka
Dry Mustard
Parsley
Thyme
Rosemary
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Brown Sugar

Here are the pictures. Please try not to get drool on your computer!

The Black Box

The Black Boxes Temp

The Black Box

The top of The Black Box. With a peek at the Chicken!

Let the drooling begin!

The Chickens! Aren't they Pretty Birds!

The Pastrami!

Another shot of the Chicken!

Pictures!

Mint Lemonade

Spaghetti and Meatballs Cupcakes

Beehive Cupcakes

Fried Zucchini

Coconut Curry Chicken

Apricot Chicken, Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Candied Carrots

Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Eclairs with Vanilla Bean Custard

Chile Relleno Casserole with Roasted Veggies

These are some pictures of different things that I have made. 
The sugar cookies are a family tradition that we do with my Grandma, Aunt's, Uncle and Cousins every year around Christmas.
I haven't put much up on here, but I thought some pictures might be nice. I will try to get recipes up.

The Black Box!

My Dad got a new smoker for his birthday and it is a tall black box. Today I put two butterflied Chickens and a Corned Beef Brisket on there to smoke for his birthday dinner. They look really good.
We haven't had dinner yet, so I'm not sure how tasty they are, but they sure do look good.
      To go with the meat we are having Potato Salad, Grilled Corn on the cob, fresh baked Rolls, and for dessert Oatmeal Cake with Penuche Icing.
I will post pictures of the meal soon.

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