THIS BLOG HAS MOVED TO www.simpleandhomemade.com!

Blog Has Moved!

2013-03-06T13:13:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! I am excited to announce that my blog has now moved to www.simpleandhomemade.com! Thanks everyone!

Doughnuts - Second Edition

2013-02-15T20:00:00.002-08:00

After many recipes and trials, I think I have found our personal favorite. This recipe is probably the best donut recipe I have ever tried! It's the only recipe I ever use now when I make donuts. Just a fair warning, these are very time consuming but it's really worth the time and effort that goes into these decadent donuts!

Doughnuts
Adapted from here

1 cup whole milk

¼ cup butter

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

2 eggs, beaten

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 ½ cups sifted all purpose flour

Vanilla Glaze

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup warm water
Directions
Combine milk, butter, salt and 1 tsp sugar in small sauce pan, heat until butter has melted. Remove from heat and pour into medium sized mixing bowl. Add the eggs, yeast, nutmeg and vanilla and to the bowl and mix with wooden spoon. Sift 1 1/2 cups of flour into the bowl and mix until batter is moist. Add remaining sugar and (2 cups) sifted flour and mix until combined (dough will be very sticky, that is perfectly fine. See the photo of my dough? :)). Knead for 5 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Generously lour your surface area, pat out dough and cut into shapes. Place on floured sheet pan. Then allow to rise for 30-45 minutes, uncovered (this creates a nice crisp outside).

Heat oil to 365° and fry 1 - 2 minutes on each side or until brown. If you do not have a thermometer, then just try your heat at medium to begin with and do little testers, until you have a good heat. Donuts should fry in 1 - 2 minutes per side. Let them cool on a paper towel - it helps get the glaze to stick. Dip in glaze and sprinkle with sprinkles if desired. Best if eaten the day they are made.

Keep in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. You can also freeze in ziplock bags for up to 3 months.

Chocolate Glaze
Adopted from here

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup whole milk, warmed

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Sprinkle with sprinkles if desired.

Note: So far, this is THE BEST chocolate glaze for donuts I have ever tried!

There are some doughnut fillings that I want to post about sometime.... Fillings that are SO tasty and yummy! So stay tuned for that (hopefully in the near future).

Pita Bites

2013-02-07T23:31:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! It has been SO long since I have last posted...over a year already! I am so sorry to everyone who has asked me questions and never got an answer. So what happened to me? Well, I started my own photography business and got caught up the past year in a half with it. So caught up that I sort of forgot about this blog. If anyone is interested, here is my website for my photography: www.kpgphotography.com.

Thanks and I promise to try and post at least once a week from now on! :)

Pita Bites
Makes: 16 small pieces

Ingredients:
2 pieces of pocket thins (or some kind of flat bread) cut in half
1/4 cup shredded cheese
1 tbsp each of any kind of veggies, finely chopped
(I used carrots, cucumber and cauliflower)
Ranch dressing

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (I used my toaster oven and set it to broil (heat source is from the top element only)).

Cut each pocket thin into 8 wedges, and place them onto a cookie sheet. Then squeeze a dollop of ranch dressing on each piece and spread with a butter knife to cover the wedge. Sprinkle your veggies on evenly, then top with cheese.

Put them into the oven (or toaster oven) and let them bake until the cheese is melted and corners are browned and crispy, about 5-7 minutes. Serve warm as a snack or appetizer!

Enjoy :)

Vanilla Yogurt Bread

2011-05-31T01:53:00.000-07:00

This Vanilla Yogurt Bread - is a very moist, soft, delicious and an easy recipe! This is one of our favorite's, it's simply one of the best yogurt bread recipe out there :) What's the secret? It's actually the same exact recipe I use for banana bread, except one time I didn't have bananas, so I tried yogurt in total place. Wow! Did it ever surprise me. This makes for a breakfast, snack or even dessert...yep it's that good!

Vanilla Yogurt Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Grease a bread pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, salt and baking soda 3 times, and set aside. In a large bowl, with a wooden spoon, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in one egg at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Gently fold the flour mixture to the creamed mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the yogurt in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until the the batter looks well blended but do not over mix. If you over mix, the bread will come out less moist and more tough.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes minutes, then lower the heat to 325 degrees F and bake for another 20-30 minutes. Be sure to check it periodically.

Store in an air tight container at room temperature or in the fridge.

Try this: for breakfast in a hurry, toast the bread (instead of microwave) and spread some butter. It's very tasty when it's toasted!

Strawberry Apple Fruit Leather

2011-05-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

Strawberry Apple Fruit Leather! I was so excited to finally try it (with strawberries finally [almost]in season. I made these with my food dehydrator and they turned out very tasty!! They are a great snack (especially for lunches or hikes.) Fruit leather is also very healthy if it's sweetened by natural sweeteners :)

Strawberry Apple Fruit Leather

Ingredients
600 grams strawberries (about 2 lbs)
4 apples of your choice (I used grannysmith)
3/4-1 cup 100% real juice [no sugar added]
a few drops of oil

Directions
Prepare your dehydrator by putting plastic wrap on top of each tray, either leaving room at the sides for ventilation or by poking holes in it. Add a couple drops of oil to each tray covered with plastic wrap and spread evenly with a pastry brush.

Cut off tops of strawberries and slice into chunks. Core and slice the apples. In a food processor, at a portion at a time, puree strawberries. If your food processor is big enough, add the apples with it and puree. If not, place strawberries in separate bowl, then process the apples. Once both are pureed, place them both back into the food processor, and start adding the juice slowly, while pulsing. Stop when the consistency is like a thick smoothie.

Portion out the puree onto the trays in what ever shape you want (I did about 2 1/2 inch circles) just make sure your puree portion is very thick. If they aren't thick enough, then as it dries it will shrink, be very thin and you'll have holes in your fruit leather. Fill the trays up but leave room in between each portion of puree.

If your dehydrator cannot be set to any specific temperature (I'm sorry! That's how mine is too) then just turn on the dehydrator and begin the fruit leather process. Dehydrate for about 5-6 hours, depending on your dehydrator. Check on it periodically and switch the tray order, so that the bottom ones don't get hard while the top ones still aren't done.

If your dehydrator can be set to a specific time (you're lucky!) here's what to set it to: 100 degrees F and dehydrate for about 16 hrs.

Finished consistency of the fruit leather should be pliable, sort of soft and easy to roll, yet still dry.

Store immediately when you take them out while they are still warm and fresh. Do this by rolling them up and tightly wrapping plastic wrap around each one. Keep them in an air tight container, and store in a cool, dry, and dark place. You can keep them out on the counter if you want to, but light causes the fruit leather to discolor.

Most importantly...enjoy!

Medium-Rare Steak

2011-05-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

Steak! This is one of my husbands most favorite dinners...steak, asparagus, potatoes and a dinner roll. We get our steak from Safeway and have had nothing but great tasting meat from them :) This steak is done on the grill which makes it exciting to make (I love to grill around here, especially with summer coming!)

Medium-Rare Steak

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients
2-3 pieces of steak from the meat department (I got baseball cut and have them season it with teriyaki marinade and ranchers)
A handful of asparagus, chopped
3 red potatoes, cubed
1 thick slice of onion, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, minced
Oil, for frying
Seasoning salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Dinner rolls

Note: for extra flavor, I suggest letting the meat marinade in it's sauce for a day, up to a few days, although it's not necessary.

Directions
Chop asparagus about 2 1/2 inches from the bottom of each piece (that is a very hard part of the vegetable.) Heat a skillet or frying pan on medium heat, then add oil, onion, and garlic. Sauté until onion is transparent and garlic is golden brown. Now add the cubed potatoes and start frying, adding more oil if necessary. Season with seasoning salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until potatoes are soft (it was about 15 minutes for me.)

In a metal sieve over a covered pan filled with 2 inches of boiling water cook chopped asparagus, until tender (about 10 minutes.)

Begin heating the grill to high heat, add the steak and cook on each side for about 1-2 minutes on each side (this seals the steak, it should be just brown at this point.) Turn the heat down to medium-low heat and begin to cook the steak. Check on it often and flip it, because it can burn! After it's been cooking for a bit, use a meat thermometer to check it's temperature by sticking it in on the side. For medium-rare the temperature should be at 130 to 135 degrees F. (55 to 57 degrees C.) Do not poke it with a knife to check if it's done. Poking it let's out quite a bit of the juice and can cause the steak to become less juicy.

Once steak has reached that temperature, take off heat and serve with asparagus, potatoes and a dinner roll.

Rare — (52 °C [125 °F] core temperature) The outside is grey-brown, and the middle of the steak is red and slightly warm.
Medium rare — (55 °C [130 °F] core temperature) The steak will have a fully red, warm center. This is the standard degree of cooking at most steakhouses, unless specified otherwise.
Medium — (60 °C [140 °F] core temperature) The middle of the steak is hot and red with pink surrounding the center. The outside is grey-brown.
Medium well done — (65 °C [150 °F] core temperature) The meat is light pink surrounding the center.
Well done — (71 °C [160 °F] and above core temperature) The meat is grey-brown throughout and slightly charred.
Overcook — (much more than 71 °C [160 °F] core temperature) The meat is dark throughout and slightly bitter.

Source from Wikipedia

Honey Oat Bread

2011-05-27T00:49:00.000-07:00

Honey Oat Bread - this bread is perfect for sandwich making, toasting for breakfast, grilled cheese...just about any bread need :) The sweetness (in our opinion) is superb. It uses honey as the main sweetener, so the flavor is great.

Making homemade bread is worth it all, because once you have it you never want to go back to store bought. The freshness is the main difference I notice! Especially when you toast it, so crisp and not stale.

Honey Oat Bread
adapted from Stick to Your Hips

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup butter, softened

2 ½ teaspoons Drizzle of honey
1/2 cup warm water (warmer than lukewarm, but not hot-hot)
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (2 1/4 oz packets)

1 egg
3-3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (i used half AP and half whole wheat)

Directions
In a large bowl stir together the boiling water, whole wheat flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, honey, salt, and butter. In a small bowl dissolve the yeast and drizzle of honey in the 1/2 cup of warm water. Let rest for one minute.

Mix the dissolved yeast and egg into the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add one cup of flour and stir in until incorporated. Add another cup and repeat. Repeat for the third cup.

Flour your hands and pull the dough to one side of the bowl. Add 1/2 cup of flour to the bottom of the bowl and lay the dough on it. Bring up one side of the dough and fold it over, pushing down with the heel of your hand, hard.

Turn the bowl 1/4 turn and pull the top edge of the dough up and fold it over, pushing down with the heel of your hand. Continue doing this, adding flour as needed, until the dough is very elastic - about 6-10 minutes. Cover and let rise (until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.)

Punch the dough down, removing as much air as possible. Form into loaves and let rise until doubled again. Once done, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and bake for 35-45 minutes.

Remove from pans to a wire rack and brush the tops with oil (I used butter) while still warm.

Boston Cream Doughnuts

2011-05-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

Boston Cream Doughnuts - is almost definitely in every dozen of doughnuts from the bakery section. You know...where you go to the bakery section and see a case of doughnuts on shelves behind glass doors...and you just grab any you want? :) They're even better homemade.

This was my first attempt to make any homemade doughnuts and without a thermometer or deep fryer, well, they're not too bad! They do take a good chunk of time to make, but it was well worth the effort and time that went into these doughnuts.

Boston Cream Doughnuts

NOTE: these doughnuts are not the sweetest, if you want really sweet, just add more sugar to everything :)

Vanilla Pastry Cream Filling
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 egg yolks, at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Yeast Dough
3/4 cup warm whole milk (105° to 115ºF.)
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/3 cup sugar
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 egg yolks, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Chocolate Glaze
3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (or bittersweet chocolate for sweeter topping)
2 tablespoons water
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

Make Filling: (note: this is the very first thing you should do, the filling needs to chill)
Place sugar and 1 cup milk in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat until mixture boils.Place cornstarch in medium bowl. Using wire whisk, gradually whisk in remaining milk and whisk until mixture is smooth. Add yolks and whisk until well blended. Slowly pour 1/3 cup hot milk into yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in remaining hot milk. Return milk-yolk mixture to saucepan and heat to a boil over medium heat. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. (If pastry cream is lumpy, pass it through a sieve.) Transfer pastry cream to a nonreactive (glass, ceramic, tin..) bowl. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto surface of cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold.

Make Dough:
Place warm milk, yeast and 1 teaspoon granulated sugar in bowl of electric mixer. Using a wire whisk, stir mixture until yeast granules are evenly dispersed. Let stand for 3 minutes until yeast is dissolved and mixture begins to foam. Add 1 1/2 cups flour to yeast mixture. Using paddle attachment (or with hands) beat on low speed 2 minutes. Remove paddle attachment and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature 45 minutes. Sponge will have increased in volume. Thoroughly grease a large bowl with 1 tablespoon room temperature butter. To sponge, add remaining butter and sugar, yolks, salt, cardamom and nutmeg. Mix on low speed until blended. Add 1 1/2 cups remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Beat dough on medium speed 5 minutes. Dough will not form a ball – it will be soft and part of it will wrap itself around paddle. If dough is very sticky, add remaining flour 1 tablespoon at a time, as necessary. Scrape dough into prepared bowl, turning over dough so that top is greased. Cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature about 2 hours, or until it has slightly more than doubled in volume. (Rising time will depend upon room temperature.)

Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper and evenly dust with flour. Dust a clean work surface with flour. Turn out risen dough onto surface and gently press down on it to deflate. With your hands, flatten dough into a rectangle about 1/2-inch thick. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let dough rest 5 minutes. Using a floured 2 1/2-inch round biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out about 12 to 14 rounds of dough. With a floured spatula, gently transfer rounds to prepared baking sheet, reshaping them if necessary. Leave at least 1-inch between doughnuts to allow for expansion. Let doughnuts rise for about 20 minutes, or until almost doubled in size.

Fry Doughnuts:
Pour enough oil in a deep-fat fryer or large straight-sided saucepan to come halfway up sides. Oil should be a depth of 2 to 3 inches. Heat oil to 365ºF. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Dip a spatula in hot oil and use it to transfer doughnuts from baking sheet to oil. Fry doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time, for 1 to 1 minute 30 seconds or until golden brown. (The midline of the doughnut will be lighter than the rest of it, which is characteristic.) Remove doughnuts from hot oil using a slotted spoon and transfer them to paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain and cool. When cool enough to handle, use a long, plain pastry tip to poke a hole through the midline of each doughnut. Let cool completely before filling.

Make Glaze:
Cook water, corn syrup and sugar in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat until mixture boils. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Let stand 2 minutes. Whisk in butter until mixture is smooth.

Assemble Doughnuts:
Remove pastry cream from refrigerator and whisk cream until it is smooth. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/4-inch round tip with pastry cream. Pipe pastry cream into hole in middle of each doughnut until pastry cream bulges out and doughnut feels full. Wipe off any excess cream. Place filled doughnuts on rack after they are filled.

Dip top of each filled doughnut into bowl of warm chocolate glaze, letting excess glaze drip back into bowl. Place glazed doughnuts back onto rack to set. Let sit for 30 minutes before serving. The doughnuts are best when prepared and served on the same day, otherwise store at room temperature for a few days in an air tight container.

Be careful...these are addicting! :)

Key Lime Cheesecake

2011-05-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

Key lime and cheese cake: what a great combo! This very tart with a hint of sweet makes the perfect dessert right at home or if you're bringing it out for a gathering. Around here, anything citrus-y is worth making because we love it.

Being my first time making this scrumptious cheesecake, I sure did have fun. The crust was a bit tricky but I managed :)

Key Lime Cheesecake
Adapted-ish from here

For the crust
10 graham crackers
6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

For the cheesecake
14 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
2 cups plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
3 large eggs + 1 large egg white
2 freshly grated lime zest, preferably Key lime
1/2 c fresh lime juice, preferably Key lime

To prepare crust: Preheat oven to 325° F. Put a kettle or pot of water on to heat for the water bath. Coat a 10 or 11″ springform pan with cooking spray. Tightly wrap the bottom and outside of the pan with a double layer of foil [fold a sheet in half lengthwise].

Process cookies and walnuts in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add butter and toss until evenly moist. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. (I like my crust big and thick, if you don't then don't make as much crust).

To prepare cheesecake: When the crust is almost cool, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth — in a large bowl with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Add yogurt, egg whites, lime zest and juice; beat until well blended. Pour the batter over the cooled crust.

Place the cheesecake in a roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to come 1″ up the outside of the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake in the center of the oven until set around the edges but the center still jiggles, about 45 minutes. Turn oven off and let sit in the oven with the door ajar for 1 hour. Let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour more. Place in the refrigerator with sides still in tact.
Once ready to serve, remove the sides from the springform. Top with zest and slices of Key lime, if desired.

Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard

2011-05-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

Chicken fingers!! The ultimate finger food (other than french fries) made with some very scrumptious honey mustard. You can't go wrong with these, it beats going out and spending too much money on them :) living frugally is what we do best.

Here is how I set my work area up. Everything next to each other for easy maneuvering.

Having some sort of tongs handy will really help the dipping and setting on rack procedure, a lot faster.

This is my "tester." It helps me to determine whether or not to start putting them all in :)

Chicken Fingers

Ingredients
3 lbs of skinless boneless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon chipolte pepper
1/2 teaspoon regular pepper
3-4 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
2-3 cups Panko bread crumbs
some canola oil for frying

Directions
Fill your frying pan with oil, about 1/2 inch. Wash and slice chicken into strips (about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.) Get a cookie sheet and put a couple cooking racks on top of it, set aside. In a zip lock bag or a regular grocery bag, add all dry ingredients into it and shake until mixed. In a separate bowl, add eggs and milk, mix until combined. Now add the chicken to the flour mixture, close the bag, and shake it up until all the chicken pieces are coated. Add all chicken pieces to the egg and milk mixture and mix it until all the chicken pieces are coated once more.

In a baking dish, add Panko bread crumbs (I found this at Safeway in the Asian aisle). Begin heating oil in pan over medium heat. Dip the chicken fingers to coat each side with Panko crumbs and then place them on the cooling rack for 15 minutes. Now, to know the oil is hot enough put a tiny "tester" in and see if it starts to fry. When the oil is ready, start adding chicken pieces cooking for 3-7 minutes on each side until golden (this depends entirely on how thick you cut them. If thick slices fry longer, if thinner, fry shorter). Once they are done you can serve immediately or put them on a warm plate in the oven with a paper towel until all chicken fingers are done frying.

Honey Mustard

Ingredients
1/3 cup real mayonnaise
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons regular mustard
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 tsp hot sauce (optional)

Directions
Mix all ingredients together with a fork or whisk and serve or store in the refrigerator.

Pineapple Cranberry Muffins

2011-05-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

These pineapple cranberry muffins are a great snack, breakfast, dessert or if you just want to have a little treat! They satisfy any snacking craves ;) The buttermilk that this recipe calls for makes these especially moist! I froze them for an easy breakfast and they freeze great, and are still yummy when reheated.

Pineapple Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 cup chopped pineapple (fresh if possible)
1 cup cranberries

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease them if you don't have any paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

In a medium bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together buttermilk, melted butter egg and orange zest. Add to flour mixture and stir to combine, mixing only until no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Stir in chopped pineapple and cranberries. (I just put the pineapple in a food processor until they were little chunks and let it drain over a sieve until most juice was gone).
Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups (cups will be very full.) Bake for 16-19 minutes.

Store at room temperature in an air tight container.

Pineapple Glaze

Ingredients
4-5 tablespoons fresh pineapple juice
Icing/powdered sugar

Directions
In a small bowl, add pineapple juice and start putting in sugar; and mix with hand mixer. Keep adding as much sugar as you want until it has reached a consistency that you like. Pour glaze over warm muffins.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

Curried Cream of Corn Soup

2011-05-07T22:13:00.000-07:00

After buying a soup cook book, I was extremely excited to try one! We sure do enjoy soup around here because it makes for a light dinner (most of the time.) This one especially goes good with some sort of sandwich because it is a light soup. Here I made it with a ham and cheese sandwhich, and was it ever good!

Curried Cream of Corn Soup
From the book "Homemade Soups" from the editors of Sunset Books and Sunset Magazines

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 cups corn, fresh or frozen and thawed
1/4 medium sized onion, sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 cups chicken stock or broth
2 cups milk

Directions
In a medium sized pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add corn and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until corn is tender (about 5 minutes). Stir in flour, curry powder, salt, and pepper; cook, stirring for about 1 minute. Gradually stir in stock; cook, stirring, until bubbly and slightly thickened. Add milk.

Whirl corn mixture, a portion a time, in a food processor or blender until smooth. Pour through a wire strainer; discard residue. Return to pan; heat until steaming. Makes 4 or 5 servings.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

Turkey Soup with Homemade Dumplings

2011-05-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

Turkey soup: this is one thing you can do, with that thanksgiving leftover turkey. Although, this doesn't have all the ingredients that make a turkey meal, this does have ingredients to make you feel less guilty while you indulge in this turkey soup.

I always look forward to a big turkey meal, but often find myself enjoying it too much! So a nice light meal after a big dense meal is quite satisfying for me :)

For the Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 or 2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
Turkey stock
Chicken broth
3 medium carrots, sliced
2 celery stocks, sliced
1 large sweet potato, chopped
1-2 cups cooked turkey, cut or broken into bite sized chunks
Prepared dumplings
spinach leaves, chopped(optional)
1/4 head of cabbage, thinly sliced (optional)
Parsley
Thyme
1 or 2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in butter on medium heat, until translucent. Add turkey stock (I have a recipe for that here) and chicken broth. How much to add depends on how much liquid you want in your soup, I added them in until I had just over half of my pot filled. (You may always add more later if you want.) If you do not have turkey stock, using all chicken broth is just fine too. Add carrots, celery, sweet potato, bay leaves, spices, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, until carrots are soft (but not too soft.) Add Turkey, spinach and cabbage, cook until cabbage is tender. At the very end take out bay leaves and add in the prepared dumplings. Serve immediately because the longer the dumplings cook, the more mushy they get.

For the Dumplings

Ingredients
this is my sisters recipe :)

1 large russet potato
1 egg, room temperature
flour

Directions

In a pot big enough for the potato to fit in, add potato and water to cover. Bring to soft boil until potato is done but still firm enough to hold it's form (about 10 minutes.)Remove from water and rinse under cold water to cool it off. Add more water to the pot and continue to keep the water hot. Using a cheese grater, grate the potato into a bowl (this is to get an even texture for the dumplings.) You can also use a food processor, just make sure it mostly has the same consistency. Add the egg and mix until blended, don't worry about clumping, just get it all incorporated.

Now, a tablespoon at a time, add the flour. Keep adding flour until it has reached a dough-like form. With floured hands, take a small chunk off and roll into a ball (or you can get creative and make any kind of shape!) Do not stack them because they will stick to each other. When you only have a few more to go, bring the water to a boil again. Put them in the boiling water and cook until they float to the top (about 2 minutes for mine, yours may be more or less depending on how big you made them) Take them out and add them to the soup immediately. If they do not float to the top, you have put too much flour in, but that is ok they will still turn out.

Turkey Stock

2011-05-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

What to do with left over Turkey? Turkey stock! This year was the first year I tried this and we loved the stock. It has a very homemade taste (which is a bonus!)

Ingredients

Turkey carcass (everything but meat that is edible)
Water
2 medium carrots, thickly sliced
1 yellow onion, thickly sliced
a few celery tops, thickly sliced
Peppercorn (however much you'd like)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon parsley (can add more if you wish)
1/2 teaspoon thyme (can add more if you wish)

Directions

In a large pot, break up turkey carcass to fit your pot. Cover with an inch of water from the top of the bones (if your bones float to the top then just push them down and eye an inch...doesn't have to be exact:)) Add carrots, onion, celery tops, peppercorn, bay leaf, parsley and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least 4 hours, either partially covered or entirely uncovered (this is to reduce it.)While this simmers, check it periodically and skim off the stuff that groups on the very top (I'm not sure what it's called..)

Remove all bones and big chunks of veggies, then pour through a sieve or some sort of fine strainer to take out any lumps.

Place in fridge, covered over night. Check the next day for that same stuff on top and take it off. Then your ready to use it for whatever you want!

Note: for a more concentrated stock, simmer on very low and for a longer period of time.

Cinnamon Rolls

2011-04-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

This recipe is an in-law family recipe. For my first Christmas with the in-laws, my sister in-law gave me a recipe book of all her favorite/family recipes!

Frosting, icing or butter all go well with these. The dough has a mild taste (but you can add more sugar to sweeten it up for those of you who have more of a sweet tooth.) If baked the perfect amount of time, these cinnamon rolls turn out moist and delicious! The dough is very workable and is easy to roll up into a spiral. Cinnamon rolls have always been a favorite (and probably will be for the rest of my life!) There is nothing like the aroma of sweetness, cinnamon-y, yeast-y smell that fills the house when they bake. (Except maybe apple pie!)

Cinnamon Rolls
from the in-laws

Ingredients

The Dough
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 tsp salt
approx. 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

The Filling
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

The Icing
3/4 cup icing/powdered sugar
1/8 cup margarine or butter
1 1/2 tablespoons milk or water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
For the dough: In a medium sized bowl, add sugar and water, mix. Sprinkle yeast on top and let stand for 10 minutes. Mix in egg, oil and salt. (note: for the oil, you can use melted butter but if it is salted butter omit the salt.) Work in enough flour until dough pulls away from bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 8-10 times until smooth and elastic. Divide dough into 2 equal parts. Place in separate greased bowls and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour) in a warm place.

Punch dough down and let rest for a few seconds. Then turn out onto a floured surface and either roll or pat each dough into a 9 x 12 inch rectangle, 1/4 inch thick.

For the filling: Spread each rectangle with 1/2 the amount of butter and sugar with 1/2 the amount cinnamon. Roll each rectangle up. Slice into 1 inch pieces with dental floss (the floss technique works great!)

Place each roll into a greased 9 x 13 pan, cover and let rise till doubled (about 45 minutes) in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f, bake for 25-30 minutes.

For the icing: In a small bowl add all ingredients and either with a fork or stand mixer, mix until smooth and little to no clumps. You can either put the icing on every roll at once or keep separate and add whenever a roll is eaten. The benefit of keeping it separate is the cinnamon rolls can be kept at room temperature in an air tight container. But if it's all covered with icing then you'll wanted to keep it in the fridge because of the milk in the icing.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

2011-04-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

Here we come Ireland! Well, not really but I wish :) Since we can't there, we'll bring some Ireland here. This dish, my dad introduced to me. He brought over the already seasoned corned beef and told me how to make it and said "you will love it!" With lots of enthusiasm. So, I had to try it and not to my surprise, this turned out wonderfully!

The meat is tender and sort of salty. But not too salty! :)

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs corned beef brisket
4 small red potato's, cubed
3 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1/3 of a cabbage head, slivered
Horseraddish (optional)

Directions
In a 5 quart baking dish, pot or crock pot place corned beef brisket in and add water to cover. Make sure that whatever you are using, it has a cover. If using a crock pot turn heat to high. If using a pot turn heat to medium. If using a baking dish turn oven to 350 degrees f. Cover dish and let the meat simmer. One hour of baking/cooking time per one pound of meat. When there is only one hour left of baking/cooking time, add the potato's and carrots. Then, 8-10 minutes before the meat is done, add the cabbage. To make sure the meat is cooked thoroughly, use a thermometer and it should reach 180 degrees f.

Cut meat into thin slices and scoop out veggies. Serve with horseraddish, if desired.

Store any left overs in an air tight container in the fridge.

If you want to know how to prepare your own corned beef there is a recipe here.

Lemon Buttermilk Sticky Buns

2011-04-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

These are very moist, and very delicious! Around here, we love to try recipe's that have anything to do with lemons! (So if you have any awesome recipe's that call for some sort of lemon juice/rind please leave a comment about it!)

This recipe makes a very wet dough (which can be challenging to work with!) Although, with gentle hands and persistence, this can be done! :)

One thing I have found that makes quick breads especially moist is, buttermilk. It's so wonderful to bake with! I've learned to be gentle with the batter because if over-mixed, the end result will be a tougher bread.

Lemon Buttermilk Sticky Buns

For The Dough
1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 oz) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (4 1/8 oz) bread flour
3 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/8 cups buttermilk
3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 lemon, zested
2 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

For The Lemon Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup powdered sugar

For The Lemon Filling
1 cup sugar
1 lemon, zested and juiced
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Directions
Preheat oven to 425F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

Prepare the filling: Mix sugar and lemon zest together. Crumble it around a little with your fingertips until it feels like wet sand. Start by stirring in the juice a little at a time, to ensure the filling does not get too runny. (If it does get too wet, then add more sugar.)

Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, or the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine. Add in the buttermilk and butter, gently fold in until dough starts to come together into a shaggy ball. Carefully fold lemon zest into the dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes, until dough begins to look smooth and can be handled easily. This can also be done by kneading for about 1 minute with a paddle attachment or dough hook, and adding a tablespoon or two of flour to a mixer bowl.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and press or roll out. Take the butter and brush over the dough rectangle. Sprinkle evenly with lemon filling mixture. Roll the dough up into a tight spiral. Pinch seam to seal. Use dental floss to cut each roll (it works the best but if you do not have any on hand, a serrated knife works just as well). Gently flatten each roll before placing them in the prepared pan, to even them out if they were misshaped when sliced. Place in greased pan. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for 12 minutes covered, then uncover the rolls and bake for 12-16 minutes, until golden brown.
Take the rolls out of the baking pan and place them on a wire rack. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Prepare the frosting: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy, add in other ingredients and mix until very smooth. Spread over slightly cooled rolls and serve.

Makes 12 rolls.

Grilled Cheese With Tomato's

2011-04-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

I never used to like tomato's so much until I met my husband! These sandwiches are like your ordinary grilled cheese, but with a twist: some tomato's on top. And they are scrumptious (they're also super quick and easy for those last second dinner's.)

Grilled Cheese With Tomato's

Ingredients
6 bread slices of any kind
3 tomato's, sliced
Slices of cheese (enough to fill each sandwich)
Soft butter for spreading
Mayonnaise for spreading

Directions
Heat a skillet to medium-low heat. Slice some cheese and tomato's, set aside. Butter one side of each bread slice. Take one bread slice, butter side down, and put it on the skillet, fill with cheese, then put another bread slice with butter side up. Do the same for the other sandwich. When the bottom side is done and brown, flip the sandwich. After the sandwiches are done, put them on a plate and in a warm place to keep until they are ready to eat.

Next, with the last 2 slices of bread, place both butter side down on the skillet and let it cook until it's done. Now, spread mayonnaise over the none-fried part of the 2 slices of bread you just fried. Place sliced tomato's on top of the 2 grilled cheese sandwiches, and top with the 2 slices of bread with mayonnaise (so that the fried end is facing up and the mayonnaise side is holding the tomato's in place.) Then serve!

Makes: 2 sandwiches.

Orange Crepes

2011-04-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

The first time I made crepes, I did not have a clue what I was doing (because I was trying to copy-cat some amazing orange crepes I've had before (but I did not have the equipment they used) and I goofed up the batch. The second time (this time) I made them, I looked up different ways to do it without any special tools. And only 3 turned out worthy of taking pictures of!

These crepes are very good! We love oranges, so these are a perfect Saturday morning (or brunch) breakfast :)

Orange Crepes

Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
2 oranges cut in half
powdered sugar (for sprinkling)

Directions
Heat a skillet to medium-low heat. Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, add all milk, egg and vanilla, then mix well until the egg is mixed in. Add sugar, flour and salt and mix until a very liquidly batter is formed. (Do not worry if the batter seems really liquidly, it's supposed to be!) Now pour about 1/4 cup batter per crepe onto the pan. This is the tricky part! Immediately after you pour the batter into the pan, you need to grab the pan and move it in a circular motion to spread the batter into a bigger circle. Take an orange half and squeeze some juice onto the crepe (as much or as little as you wish.) There will be some batter that shoots out like a branch, just cut those off when it's done. Cook until it's a little brown, then flip and cook until it's done. You can keep the made ones in a warmed oven on a oven safe plate, then sprinkle with powdered sugar before you serve. And enjoy!

Place in an air tight container and into the fridge to store them.

Teriyaki Sauce with White Rice

2011-04-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

Rice: what a comfort food to us! Something I never feel bad for eating too much of (nor can I since it seems to be so filling.) Then to add teriyaki sauce makes it even more of a comfort food.

Making teriyaki sauce is so easy...if you use the cornstarch correctly. The first time I made teriyaki sauce, the recipe called for cornstarch and I followed as directed but the sauce was still just as runny as water. That left me puzzled with one question; why? After I "googled" some information on how to cook with cornstarch, I soon realized that it's a delicate ingredient to work with. I read; if it's too hot or cold it won't thicken properly, wait to put it in until the last few minutes of what ever you're putting into, it thickens 3 times more than flour, you need to put it in cold water before you add it to the recipe...etc etc. So, with all this in mind, I tried it once more. And it worked!

Perfectly Cooked Rice

Ingredients
2 cups white rice
2 cups water

Directions
In the pan of your rice cooker or a medium sauce pan, wash rice under cool water until water runs clear (about 2-3 times.) Place in rice cooker and press cook. If you are using a regular pan, cover and bring to boil. Once it comes to a boil reduce heat to a simmer (low-medium) and cook for about 20 minutes. Do not lift lid because it uses steam too cook. Start the teriyaki sauce while the rice is cooking, so it is warm when you serve it. After 20 minutes, you can check the rice to feel its texture, if it feels soft enough, turn off heat and serve while still warm.

Teriyaki Sauce
Ingredients
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder (or 2 minced cloves)
5 tablespoons brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Directions
In a small sauce pan, combine all ingredients, except the cornstarch and cold water. Begin heating over medium heat. Meanwhile, measure out the cornstarch into a small bowl and add the cold water to it (I just used tap water and ran the cold water a bit to get it real cold.) Mix the cornstarch mixture well, and add to the teriyaki sauce mixture. Now raise the heat to medium and let it come to a boil (you will see little dark brown specks appear as it heats but don't worry! This is supposed to happen.) Boil until it comes to a consistency that you like. If it has become too thick, simply add some more water. Then serve over warm cooked rice (or whatever dish you have made.)

Store any left over sauce in an air tight container in the fridge. Note: the sauce becomes very thick after it has been refrigerated, I found adding water helps when I want to reserve the teriyaki sauce. But that is up to you.

Homemade "Rasins"

2011-04-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

My very first blog entry! These little "raisins" were something I tried making but almost turned out to be a disaster. My husband and I called them "sour skins" rather than raisins. But, none the less, they are good.

I had been planning on using the food dehydrator for a while...and I finally did. I was so excited to make these but when I realized that they did not look at all like raisins I knew I had done something wrong. How do you go wrong with homemade raisins? Well, somehow I managed to do it! But, I did not give up yet, after tasting them I thought they might be good with cereal.

I went to our stash of cereals and decided to try it with some Honey Nut Cheerios. Success! These were great in the Cheerios. It was a sour sweet taste, which I do like (but others may not.)

Real Raisins

Ingredients

green or red seedless grapes (how much depends on how many raisins you want)

Directions

Wash grapes under warm water, take the stems off and discard any bad grapes. Meanwhile, in a sauce pan that is big enough to hold the grapes in, fill with water and bring the water to a rapid boil. Place the grapes into the boiling water for 1-2 minutes (this process is called blanching, it softens the skin of the grape.) Take them out and immediately run cold water over them then place on a paper towel to dry. Set the food-dehydrator thermostat to 140 degrees. If your dehydrator does not have a thermostat (like mine) the process takes more time.

Put the grapes in your dehydrator, leaving space between each grape (try not to over fill it.) Leave them in the dehydrator for 2 hours, after 2 hours lower the temperature to 100 degrees. Leave them for about 12-15 hours. Check the grapes occasionally, they are considered "raisins" once their skin is tough and all moisture is gone from the center of them.

You can store these in a cool dry place, in a air tight container.

If you like more plump raisins for baking then rehydrate by soaking them in hot water for about 20-30 minutes before adding to a recipe. (Save the water and use it in your recipe, if it calls for water. It'll add extra flavor!)

Sour Skins
My version of "raisins"

Do everything the same in the Real Raisins recipe, but after you place the grapes into the boiling water and run them under cold water, cut them in half (yep each one) lengthwise. Then let them dry on paper towels and proceed as normal.

The reason why I cut them in half is because they were so big that they did not fit in my dehydrator (in between the trays) and I thought that if I cut them they would be fine but they shrank up to what I call "sour skins."