Cat's Muse

Sweet & Spicy Snack Mix

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 14:41:00 +0000

This recipe has been requested off & on for a few years now when I've made it. I've been asked twice in the last two weeks so thought I'd go ahead & share it. I came up with this recipe while trying to figure out something different to make for a bake sale. It would sell out every time.

For this recipe you will need:

3 Cups Chocolate Lucky Charms Cereal (or equivalent. Basically you want a chocolate cereal with marshmallows)

3 Cups Corn Pops Cereal

3 Cups Honeycomb Cereal

3 Cups Honey Teddy Grahams

3 Cups Pretzels (Can use twists, sticks, or snaps, or goldfish)

3 Cups Cheese Crackers (whole wheat goldfish, square cheese crackers)

1 Bag M & M's

1 Can Honey Roasted Peanuts

1/4 Cup + 1 Tbsp Sugar

6 Tbsp Butter

3 Tbsp Maple Syrup (use the real stuff, it's worth it)

1 & 1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 tsp Ground Red Pepper (make sure it's fresh)

1 tsp Salt (I usually use sea salt)

I don't have as many pictures of this recipe, but it's an easy one. Ask questions if I don't explain it well enough here.

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a large bowl (through the honey roasted peanuts).

Melt the butter in the microwave (or on the stove). Blend/whisk in the sugar, syrup & spices. Put the sugar in to the butter first so it melts, then add the other ingredients. Pour onto the cereal mixture & toss all over to disperse the seasonings using your gloved hands or wooden spoons.

Spread mixture out onto at least 2 half sheet pans. I usually line mine with silicone baking mats.

Bake in a 300 F oven for 30 minutes making sure to stir the mix on the pan every 10 minutes. Allow to cool & dig in. Enjoy!

Here is what my last batch of the finished mix looked like when it was done.

Cinnamon Chip Scones

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:40:00 +0000

Found this one when I was writing the other post today. Thought I would get it posted since it was already written.

I have been on a quest to make a Cinnamon Chip Scone for my tea party class. I know cream scones are traditional, but I really like cinnamon.

For this recipe you will need:

1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Cinnamon Bits (I will talk more about these below)
2 & 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp. Light Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon, ground
1 & 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup Butter, unsalted
1 Egg
1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

For the topping:
6 Tbsp. Sugar
2 tsp. Cinnamon, ground
3 Tbsp. Sparkling Sugar (I'll talk more about this below as well)

Preheat your oven to 400 F.

First thing first you need to soak the cinnamon bits in the 1/2 & 1/2 for 20 minutes. I wouldn't do this for longer because they will weep and then you don't get the concentration of flavor that you want. If you don't soak them first; you have hard bits in your scones that are unappealing. I purchased the ones I used from the King Arthur website here. The picture above are my bits soaking in the half and half.

While your bits are soaking, go ahead & measure out your dry ingredients into a bowl. Make sure that you also take your butter out of the fridge. You want it to soften a little, but not get TOO soft.

Start to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. I do this by hand. I find that I get less large lumps this way & it also prevents over mixing/blending.

The above picture shows what it looks like after I've worked the butter in to the proper consistency. The picture below shows where I've taken & pressed part of the mixture together & it's held, but it's also easy to break back up again. It's hard to describe this, you just need to try it & get a feel for it. The flour mixture will not press together if the butter isn't dispersed through it properly. Hope this helps to explain it.

Add your egg & vanilla to the half & half/cinnamon bit bowl & then mix into the dry ingredients. Do not over mix. Just get it all to come together.

Turn it out onto a lightly floured board & then roll out or shape by hand evenly. I worked my into a rectangle because I knew I was going to cut mine with a knife.

Sprinkle evenly with 2 Tbsp. of the topping. I used a Sparkling Sugar to add a little bit of definition to the surface of the scone. I just think it's going to look better for the class & eye appeal is important when it comes to plate presentation.

Here are my cut scones before they go into the oven. You can use a round cutter if you prefer that shape, I was going for 2" squares (I'm going to have to shape my corners better in the class) & that worked out pretty well for me.

Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool & enjoy! I had 20 scones come out of the oven, 1 just didn't make it on the tray long enough for the picture.

Keep in mind if you cut your scones larger that you will probably need to increase your baking time.

Also, I read somewhere while I was working on these, if you freeze your scones for 20 minutes after cutting them it is supposed to increase their rise. I didn't try this, but at some point might try it since I like to freeze doughs & bake then when I'm ready . It would make for a nice weekend morning breakfast treat to just pull a few scones out of the oven & bake them. Let me know if any of you try it before I get a chance.

Ramen Slaw

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:10:00 +0000

This one's for Arlene, who asked me to post this recipe 2 weeks ago or so. Sorry it took so long!

For this recipe you will need:

5 packages of Ramen Noodles *make sure to have 2 that are ORIENTAL flavor. I'm going to use 4 the next time I make this...I thought it was a little noodle heavy this time.
2 Carrots, grated. 3 would also be good
1 bag Broccoli Slaw. I'm probably also going to use 2 of these next time. I purchased the Organic version, which was very nice but might have a slightly lower package weight.
1 bunch scallions aka green onions
6 Tbsp. Rice Wine Vinegar, seasoned
5 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
2 tsp. Toasted Sesame Oil
1/2 Cup Sesame Seeds
Salt & Pepper to taste
Optional: Cashews, Broccoli florets

Break "bricks" of Ramen noodles before opening the packages into 4 or 6 pieces (this saves having to cut the noodles later). Open packages and set aside seasoning packet. Boil Ramen Noodles according to package directions, drain and set aside.

I grated my carrot directly into my large bowl to save washing extra dishes later. Slice the green onions & add them into the bowl as well. I added my bag of broccoli slaw and then tossed in the ramen noodles after they cooled off a little.

While the ramen was cooking I mixed the dressing. I used 2 of the Oriental Flavor packets that came in with the ramen noodles. Add the vinegar & oil and whisk to combine. Taste it & see if you think this needs a little sweetness. I *think* I added a little light brown sugar to the dressing, but can't remember.

Toss the dressing onto the mixture, add the sunflower seeds & you are ready to go! Season with salt & pepper to taste. After I made the initial batch of this I found some cashews & those fit in really well with this. I also think some blanched broccoli would also add some more color & a nice crunch to this salad. As you can tell, I want it to have more vegetables and less noodles next time.

Hope you all enjoy it. We had this with the baked beans I posted a couple weeks ago & some pulled pork sandwiches.

Come & See Me Cook in May

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000

For any of you that might be in Olympia, Wa. this coming May, I will be teaching an English Tea Class at the Bayview School of Cooking May 9. I'm currently working on several recipes for the class & it would be wonderful to see some friendly faces there. Call the school directly at 360-754-1448. It costs $45 to attend the class, but if you bring a friend it's $80 for both of you. It sounds like it's starting to fill up, so if you want to come, sign up sooner rather than later.

Baked Beans from Dried Beans

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:07:00 +0000

I made baked beans from scratch for the first time this week & they turned out great!

For this recipe you will need:

1 LB dried navy beans
1/2 of a med size onion (I will probably use a whole onion in my next batch)
Approx. 1/2 LB of Black Pepper Bacon Ends, you can also use a nice lean bacon with the excess fat trimmed off of it. See your local butcher to find out if they sell the ends. They usually are priced less per pound.
3/4 C. Packed Light Brown Sugar (or Dark Brown, see below)
1 C. Ketchup
1 C. BBQ Sauce (I used a darker, Kansas City style)
2 Tbsp. Whole Seed Mustard, basically I used a nicer mustard, not the yellow kind
2 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar, I like a little extra tang, if you don't then you won't need this.
1/2 C. Cooking Liquid from the beans

I cooked a 1 LB bag of navy beans in salted water over low heat for a couple of hours and then allowed it to cool slightly and refrigerated them overnight in the pan. I used enough water to cover the beans & kept adding water if the level got too low. When I started the beans on the heat, I did bring the pan to a boil first, and then reduced the heat to low. The picture above is what they looked like in the morning when I put them back on the stove to warm up while I got the other parts of the beans ready to bake.

I really didn't want raw or super crunchy onion with my beans, so I put them in a saute pan with a little olive oil on the stove first over a medium to medium high temperature.

Here are my Black Pepper Bacon Ends that I've diced up & removed the fattiest parts from. It looks almost like ham, doesn't it? It was GOOD! Like I said above, check with your local butcher to see if they sell these in your area. Ours sells them for a price that is more than half off per pound than the regular bacon & I found this batch to be very meaty, which was really nice.

Drain your beans (reserving some of the liquid to cook with), and then place them in an oven safe container. Preheat your oven to 375 F.

Here are my onions after about 10 minutes or so. I didn't intentionally try to brown them, I just got busy with the bacon ends. So, at this point I'm adding in the bacon ends.

I wanted to go ahead & get out some of the excess liquid from the meat & brown it up a little.

Another perk of cooking the onions/meat on the stove ahead of time was that I could go ahead & melt my sugar before putting it in the oven. This just gives it a smoother texture. Once the sugar melted, everything went in with the beans.

I added all of the other ingredients listed above, along with some salt & pepper, gave it a stir & then let it bake for 2 & 1/2 hours or so. I did stir it a couple of times at the beginning. The above picture is what it looked like after about a half hour of cooking, and the bottom picture is what they looked like when they finished.

Did I mention that they turned out really good? The beans were so nice and tender, and all of the flavors did come together nicely. I did taste them again about a half hour before taking them out of the oven just to see if I needed to add anything else, and I did add a touch more salt & vinegar & an extra squirt of ketchup. If you like them sweeter, go ahead & add a little more brown sugar, or use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar for more of a molasses sweetness. Hmmm. I may have to try that next time.

Hope you all enjoy these as much as we did.

Working on the blog/ Test Post

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:11:00 +0000

I've been working to add a Pinterest Pin to my posts, so wanted to test it out to see if I was able to get the code inserted properly. I do now have a "Pin It" button on the right side of my blog. So if you have liked some of my previous posts and want to pin them go ahead. They are ready to be pinned.

The other code I was working with was supposed to put a pin it button on each post so you don't even have to go to the side of the blog. Let's see if it worked.

Nope. Didn't work, so I'll try to get it fixed tomorrow. I did get a button inserted on the bottom of each post so if you want to post to twitter, facebook or google plus.

Homemade Oatmeal Waffles

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:28:00 +0000

One of my friends asked me the other day if I had a waffle recipe that I liked. I told her that I had an oatmeal pancake recipe that we really liked, but I had never thought to try it in the waffle maker. Well, today I corrected that, and the mix worked out really well. So well, in fact that we had no leftovers. It could also be that it's been a long time since I've made waffles, but either way I was happy with them.

For the Oatmeal dry mix of this recipe you will need:

5 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour (Bleached will work the same, I just don't think it's necessary)

1 cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal (the fast cooking stuff should work fine here as well, just not my preference)

1 cup Cornmeal (I used yellow, white is fine as well)

1 cup Ground Flax (I use this brand found on Amazon) I'll talk a little about flax later in this post.

1/2 cup Sugar ( I use cane sugar)

3 Tbsp. Baking Powder

1 Tbsp. Salt

For the batter of this recipe you will need:

2 Tbsp. Butter, melted (I put this in the bowl first & then melt it in the microwave before adding the other ingredients)

2 Cups Oatmeal Dry Mix from above

1 Cup Milk (I use 2%, you can use what you regularly buy for your house)

2 Eggs

Put all of your dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together until well combined.

I used a whisk, but a spoon would work fine as well.

This is what the dry mix looks like when I finished mixing it. If you want the oatmeal broken up more, you can run your mix through a food processor, but my family likes it the way it's done above. I store the extra dry mix in a plastic container in a cool, dark place (one of my kitchen cabinets), but you could also use a zipper bag or canning jar. Another friend of mine also recently told me that some of the creamer bottles are clear under the label, so take off the label & you can store you pancake mix in one of those, too. If you have enough jars, you could even measure out 2 cup portions that you could add the eggs, milk & butter to later & just shake to combine.

Here is my batter with the melted butter at the bottom so it's not as visible.

Here it is after mixing. I would give it about a few minutes to rest before making the first waffles (or pancakes). This will help the cornmeal & oatmeal not to be quite as crunchy/chewy.

I put a couple of large scoops into my waffle maker. I did spray it first with some non-stick spray.

The light has gone off telling me it's done now.

Here is the finished waffle on my cooling rack. It was only there long enough for the picture. One of the kids came & ate it shortly after this pic was taken. In the past, I have frozen leftover waffles & then just popped them into the toaster in the mornings when we've wanted to have them. This would be a great recipe to do that with.

I want to let you all know I tend to go lighter on the sugar in the mix because my family tends to put cinnamon sugar or maple syrup on their pancakes/waffles. If you find the mix not sweet enough for your family, increase the sugar a bit. If you find it too sweet, reduce it. This is part of that recipes are guides I told you all about before. Also, if you tend to like thinner pancakes, add some more milk to the mix. I like my pancakes think & fluffy, so I tend to add just the cup of milk.

I told you above in the ingredient listing I would talk a little about flax. Flax is one of those really good for you whole grains and it's one of the highest plant based source of omega - 3s. The reason I use it ground is because it's the best way for your body to absorb the nutrients. It's really hard for your teeth to crack into those whole flax seeds. They look pretty, but they are hard for your body to get the nutrition out of. I had a hard time finding a reasonably priced package of the ground flax at the stores in my area, so that's why I wound up using the Subscribe & Save option at Amazon. You may be fortunate enough to have a better selection in your area. Besides this recipe, I use the ground flax in pizza and bread doughs, and I have been known to slip a little bit into cookie batter from time to time. It's just an easy way to add some extra protein and fiber to your baking without changing the flavor.

Hope you all enjoy the waffles as much as we did! Let me know if you have any questions/comments about it.

This post contains an Affiliate link. When you use it, you help to support this blog. You can find my Disclosure Policy here.

Monster Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:41:00 +0000

For this recipe you will need:

5 C. All Purpose Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Salt
2 sticks Butter
2 sticks Margarine
1 & 1/2 C. Granulated Sugar
1 & 1/2 C. Packed Light Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 18 oz. Jar Crunchy Peanut Butter (a 16 oz jar is ok, too)
4 Eggs
1 & 1/2 C. Oatmeal
1 C. Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
1 8 oz. pkg. Heath Bits 'O Brickle Toffee Bits, or 1Multi-pack of Heath Bars (see Note)
1 14 oz. Package M & M's

Preheat oven to 375 F Degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl & set aside.

Beat butter, margarine, sugar, brown sugar & vanilla in a large mixer bowl.

Add peanut butter and mix well.

Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Gradually beat in flour mixture, add oatmeal, chips, bits (or Heath Bar pieces), and M&M's.

Add the M&M's last and mix minimally so you don't break the shells. This can be done by hand, but it is a BIG batch of dough, so takes some muscle to get it mixed in.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. I really like the baking mats because they are washable & reusable. They are also non-stick. These can be purchased from Amazon, as well as from other retailers. Bake for 12 - 16 minutes or until golden brown in your 375 F oven. I like to rotate the pans half way through cooking moving the one on the top rack to the bottom & turning it at the same time. It just gets that nice crispy on the outside, soft on the inside cookie going. Let stand for 2 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approx. 7 dozen cookies.

**Note: If you can afford it, I really like using the whole Heath bars broken into pieces in these cookies. The overall flavor is just so much better & richer.

Now, if you don't want to bake all of these cookies the day you make the dough, don't. I usually make a big batch of this dough and then freeze off portions in freezer bags to take out when we want some cookies around. I also will make them for Christmas cookie exchanges, potlucks, or other things that seem to pop up from time to time. It's nice to be able to pull of homemade cookies in less than a half hour when you need to. The dough can be thawed overnight in the refrigerator the day before baking. I have been known to cut off chunks of mostly frozen dough from time to time and bake those off as well. If you're really organized, you can scoop the dough out onto a cookie sheet, freeze the dough balls, and then store them in the freezer bags. Then you'll have your frozen dough pucks ready to go when you want cookies.

Hope you all enjoy these cookies as much as my friends and family have when they eat them!

This post contains an Affiliate link. When you use it, you help to support this blog. You can find my Disclosure Policy here.

My Disclosure Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:50:00 +0000

So, the disclosure policy thing is something that has come up since the first time I blogged, and now that I am blogging again it's time I go ahead and address it. I will start talking about where I have gotten some of my kitchen items from, and as a result, will probably post a link to a store where you can get the same item or something similar.
I am an associate with Amazon, and will earn a small percent of anything you purchase on there. It is less than the sales tax in the state that I live in, but it's nice to know that by clicking the link and making a purchase you are supporting my site as well. I appreciate the support for my blog, and your making a purchase of something I have posted about tells me that you like what I am blogging about.
I also am affiliated with a couple of other companies besides Amazon, and will post a link to this disclosure policy once I make sure the links still work. I am not doing this blog to earn money, but to share my cooking style and recipes with you all. To earn a few bucks doing something I enjoy is a nice perk, but I won't post something that earns me money but doesn't make sense for the blog. I know I've seen other bloggers do this and it's a bit annoying when they are promoting something that you know really isn't worth the money.
I hope that all of you are enjoying trying out some new foods & recipes, and that I am helping to make cooking fun and enjoyable for you. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to e-mail me through the blog (chefcatnky (at) gmail (dot) com).
Thanks again for reading, and I'll be posting some more recipes soon!

All works copyrighted under federal copyright law. All rights reserved.

Last updated 2/14/2012

Hummus

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:48:00 +0000

For this recipe you will need:

1/2 to 3/4 cup Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas), dried
7 Tbsp. Olive Oil
6 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
3 Garlic Cloves, peeled
1 tsp. Sesame Oil
Salt to taste
**Optional: 1/4 c. Plain Greek Yogurt

I want to start by saying Hummus usually has Tahini in it, which is a paste usually made from sesame seeds & olive oil. It can be found in most of your local grocery stores, I usually forget to buy it. I do, however, usually have a bottle of Sesame Oil in my fridge & find it can be a nice substitute when combined with the olive oil. Feel free to make hummus both ways & make up your mind as to how you like it. I do recommend keeping Sesame Oil in the fridge after it's open so it doesn't go bad as fast. You will notice that it does get a little cloudy when cold, that's perfectly normal. As it comes back to room temperature the cloud will disappear. If you decide to leave it at room temperature, just be aware that it will probably oxidize in about a month or so.

You may also have noticed that I use dried chickpeas in my recipe. I just find that they have a better flavor and add a nuttiness to the finished product. I also like to use the cooking liquid in the hummus to help reduce the amount of fat/oil I'm adding. You probably could used canned beans (drained & rinsed) and vegetable broth, but you'd have to play around with the amounts/ingredients a bit.

Start by putting your beans in a pan and adding water to cover the beans by a couple inches. Throw in a pinch of salt. Bring the beans to a boil, reduce heat to medium (to simmer the beans, you still want a couple of bubbles rising to the surface) for an hour to 90 minutes. Go ahead & taste one of the beans to make sure they are done, but blow on it first, so you don't burn your mouth! You don't want them to be mushy, you want them to have some bite/texture to them, but you don't want them hard either. Basically the texture is like a soft peanut.

Here are what my beans looked like in the pan:

Pour around 1 cup of the cooking liquid off the top of the beans, and set aside. Drain the beans the rest of the way. Place beans into a food processor. Add garlic, 4 Tbsp. of the lemon juice, the sesame oil, 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid, and 4 Tbsp. of the olive oil. Pulse and then run the machine until a smooth paste is formed. you will probably need to scrape down the bowl at least one time. Now taste what you have. Adjust as needed. Add more lemon juice if it needs to be a little more tart, add more salt if you need it. If you want more creaminess, add more olive oil & some more of the cooking liquid. **Here is where you can also add that little bit of greek yogurt. It will provide an extra creaminess to the texture without adding more fat.

If you want more garlic, go ahead & add more! Pulse again and taste. It should be close. Adjust seasonings again if you need to, otherwise, go ahead & put it into a serving dish and enjoy! I have heard about people adding kalamata olives or roasted red peppers to their hummus. I haven't tried it, but it you want to add them, give it a try. Just remember to adjust your salt down if you're using olives. You can also add a dash of cumin & ground red pepper as well.

Here is what mine looked like in the food processor:

Since I used my small food processor, it did take a couple of batches to do the amount of beans I had.

And here is what my finished Hummus looked like:

I like to eat my hummus with Pita Chips & carrots. I know others that like colored peppers, celery, or pretzels. You can also use it as a spread on sandwiches. Let me know what you think if you try this recipe out!

Ham & Cheese Quiche

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:01:00 +0000

For this recipe you will need:

1 prepared pie crust, I used a Pillsbury refrigerator crust, but you could easily use one of the frozen crusts that come in the pan in the freezer section.
1/2 - 1 LB of Diced Ham
1/2 medium sized onion, diced
6 eggs
1/2 cup Milk (I used 2% since that's what we have in the house)
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Salt and Pepper to taste, Dried Herbs (or fresh) of your choice

Quiche is such a great, easy dinner. You can fill it with so many wonderful things, especially leftovers you may want to try a different way. I originally wasn't going to post this to the blog, but since I had a couple of my facebook friends ask for the recipe, figured others would be interested and that I would share. Preheat your oven to 375 F.

The first thing I did was cooked my onions in a small saute pan over medium heat on the stove until they were translucent with a little bit of browning, about 10 minutes. These probably would cook in the oven in the quiche, I just don't like my onions overly crunchy coming out of the oven. I set my onions aside and then put the ham into the pan that the onions were in. I turned the pan up to medium high and sauteed the ham a little to remove the extra water.

When ham is processed, water is typically added to it. My ham we purchased from a local butcher, so it is minimally processed, but I had pulled it out of the freezer, so knew it probably still had a little liquid in it.

While the ham was in the pan, I went ahead and scrambled the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, and I used several shakes of a Fine Herb Blend from Penzeys Spices.

So, toss the ham and onions together, and put them into a raw pie crust. Pour on the eggs, and then top with the cheese. Place into the oven for 30-40 minutes. I would suggest either putting your pie pan on a cookie sheet, or putting a cookie sheet on the oven rack under your quiche. This way if things bubble over a bit the clean up is much easier than having to clean the entire oven. A knife inserted into the center of the quiche should come out cleanly. Well, you might pull out a little melted cheese, but you shouldn't feel a soft, gooey center and see egg come out on your knife.

Bear in mind that if you have a smaller crust/pan than mine you may not use all of the eggs, or if you have a super deep dish crust you may need an extra one or two. Also if you don't like cheddar cheese or happen to have a different cheese or filling in your house, go ahead & use them! This is a suggestion based on what we had for dinner last night.

*edit - I forgot to mention if you want to reduce the calories a bit make a crust-less quiche. I used to make one with imitation crab & scallions without a crust that was pretty tasty on its own.

Here is what my finished quiche looked like:

And a single piece. SO tasty!

I served it with Honey Corn Bread, and wished I had a salad to round it out the rest of the way. We ~~had apple pieces instead.~~ Just remembered we actually had grapes I found on sale yesterday. I also had roasted a couple of beets I had in the fridge with the other half of the onion. I still think a salad would have been nice.

So, still think Quiche would be hard to make? What types of quiche do you enjoy most?

A Reader's Question: How do I Blanch Vegetables?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:52:00 +0000

I had one of my friends text me this morning asking how to freeze broccoli, and I asked her if she knew how to blanch in response. She said she didn't know, so I told her I was going to turn it into a blog post. Too much to type in a text, and I think it's something that others would want to learn about.

This basic guide should help you when preserving your fresh vegetables. I used this method quite a bit this past summer, and I'm sure I'll get some pictures taken this coming summer to update this post.

First things first, what do you need to blanch vegetables. Well, you'll need a cutting board & knife, alarge pot of boiling water, a colander or spider tool (basically a handheld strainer...works better than a slotted spoon, especially if you're working with a bigger batch of vegetables), a large bowl filled with cold water and ice, and a sheet pan. Once your vegetables are frozen you will also need a bag or container to store them in.

First things first, wash and cut your broccoli into florets, or spears or whatever size you know you will want to use it in later.

Second, put broccoli into your pot of boiling water. Now here comes the tricky part. Depending on the size of your broccoli will depend on how long you boil it for (usually at least 2 minutes). Watch for the color change. The color of the broccoli will turn a brighter green. Once you see that color change, immediately pull it out of the boiling water using your spider tool, or drain into your colander. Shake off the excess hot water & immediately put it into your large bowl. The reason you have water in the bowl with your ice is to transfer the cold faster. The idea is to stop the cooking process as quickly as possible. Go ahead & move the broccoli in the cold water to speed the process. Another thing that will help speed the process is to add additional ice once you see how fast your other ice is melting, or to even add a little salt to the water.

You will see the ice melt slow as your product cools, and you can leave it in the cold water for a minute or two. The reason I prefer the spider tool to the colander method is because you can do more than one batch of vegetables in your boiling water. First corn, then cauliflower, then broccoli or beans or peppers. It's easiest to learn what to look for with the green vegetables first. Then you can get a better feel for the timing of the piece size with your equipment. If you boil for too long, your vegetables cook too long and will get mushy.

So, once your broccoli is cooled pull it out of the cold water with the spider tool or drain into a colander. Pick out any extra ice by hand. Spread into an even layer on your sheet pan and then place in the freezer for about an hour. You can leave it in there overnight as well & then pack off your broccoli in the morning. Just depends on how many pans you're putting into your freezer.

Finally, package your broccoli into freezer storage bags, vac seal, or use containers. Don't forget to label & date your product so you know what to eat first. First in, First out is a saying we learned in school and it makes sense to use up your oldest product first.

Hope this helps simplify the blanching process. Let me know if something isn't clear!

Pfannekuchen (A German wrap or pancake)

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:20:00 +0000

This recipe was shared with me by one of my friends, Regina, who is German from the area near Frankfurt. She says that the recipe originally came from her Grandmother's 1957 Bertelsmann Kochbuch.

For this recipe you will need:

2 1/2 cups Flour

2 1/2 cups Milk

3 Eggs
Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. It's ok to put the bowl in the refrigerator if you can't cook them off right away. You do want to make sure your batter doesn't have any lumps & that it's thinner than what is shown in my picture below. Just keep adding Milk. It's ok if you need more than what the recipe calls for. You want it to be like a very thin pancake batter, slightly thicker than crepe batter.

You will add about 1 1/2 Tbsp. oil & 3/4 c. batter to the pan to make one "pancake". Make sure that your pan is over a medium high heat. You don't want it on high or you will burn one side of your pancake before you have a chance to flip it.

Put your oil in the pan & spread it over the whole surface. Ladle or use a cup measure to put your batter into the pan and roll the pan to get it to spread quickly.

As you can see from the pictures, the batter gets darker as it cooks. Use a spatula or tongs to make sure that your Pfannekuchen isn't sticking. The easiest way to flip it is to slide it towards the front of the pan & flip it in the air catching it back in the pan. Kind of like what you see some of us chefs do with an omelette. You can probably try flipping it with a large spatula, let me know if it works for you. Regina flipped it, so that's how I do it. Just keeps things simple.

Once flipped, let the other side cook & then place on a plate in a stack or on a cooling rack in a stack. Here are what a couple of mine looked like. My pan was getting a bit hot as you can see from this bottom pic. I like the lighter brown coloring like above better, but they both tasted good.

Now, what to fill it with....well for this time I used a round steak because I had one in the freezer. I cooked it in that same 375 F oven that I had used for the cauliflower & brussel sprouts. I put salt & pepper on it and cooked it for about 20 minutes or so.

I then sliced it thin and put some onions & mushrooms I cooked up with it. I'll post the recipe for those next.

Fill it kind of like you would fill a tortilla for a fajita. Roll it up & enjoy! We did.

Other ideas for filling these? How's about grilled chicken or steak, lunch meat & cheese with lettuce and tomato, a vegetarian option with roasted vegetables. My friend Regina also does one with Nutella that she sprinkles on the top with cocoa powder & powdered sugar. You could fill them with pie filling, chocolate chips, peanut butter & bananas. You could also turn them into a breakfast on the go with a slice of bacon and eggs or part of an omelette with cheese or the possibilities just keep on going. Let me know what combinations you come up with!

A reader's question: What kind of potatoes did you use for the mashed potatoes?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:13:00 +0000

Well, the answer to this question is I'm not sure. I used either Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes. They work really well with both. We get a produce delivery box bi-weekly from Full Circle Farms, and I know that's where my potatoes came from. If you decide to sign up please tell them Catherine Skinner sent you so we can both get a $10 credit. :)

Anyhow, back to the potatoes. The yukon golds are usually a bit more yellow fleshed, so I'm inclined to think that I used russet potatoes. I'm guessing I used around 3#. I also tend to roast the yukons since they are a bit more delicate, creamy potato.

I also did have another question that I've answered in the comments section of the post. The brussel sprout recipe also has some good comments/questions as well.

Finally, feel free to enjoy the cauliflower roasted on its own. Add some herbs or garlic if you like! Hope this clarifies things a bit. Keep the questions coming!

Roasted Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Here is another side dish we had with our dinner the other night. For some odd reason, my kids won't eat mashed potatoes that don't have roasted cauliflower in them. So, here is a small head of cauliflower that I've prepped to go into the oven with salt & pepper and drizzled with olive oil.

I already had the oven set to 375 F for when I was making the brussel sprouts, so these fit in the oven just fine. I baked them for 35 - 40 minutes until it was nice and tender. You can check it by looking at the nice lightly browned color & when you insert a knife it should go in easily.

Once I got the cauliflower in the oven, I got the potatoes boiling. A lot of the time when I make mashed potatoes, I also roast the potatoes, but this time I decided to boil them. Once your salted water with the potatoes in it starts to boil, it usually takes about 20 minutes for them to be cooked. Again, an inserted insert knife should go in easily. Drain & return them to the pan & burner that it was on (this will help the butter to melt & the potatoes to stay warm).

Yes, I also left the skins on this time as well. You can peel them before you boil them if you don't want the skins in your mashed potatoes. When I roast them, I leave the skins on and then peel them before mashing. I freeze the skins and then pull them out for loaded potato skins for lunches.

Now here's where I'm going to tell you NOT to do what I did. I don't make mashed potatoes all that often & I forgot I needed to separate the cauliflower and put them into a separate food processor with some milk. Once those are processed into a fine paste they can go into the pot.

What did I do? I used my immersion blender & that wound up creating too much shear for the potatoes, making them a bit on the gummy side. They were still tasty, but the texture would have been better if I had used my old fashioned hand masher & added in the already pureed cauliflower.

Here is what my final product looked like. I used 1 stick of butter and a generous 1/2 cup of milk in this batch. I also added salt to taste. Sometimes I also add pepper, this time I didn't. Some purists chefs will say to only use white pepper so you can't see it as much in the potatoes. I say use what you & your family like.

All in all, this batch turned out pretty tasty, and we have been enjoying leftovers warmed up in the microwave with some melted shredded cheese on them. You could also add some bacon crumbles, sour cream, green onions, or whatever you have on hand that you like to have with potatoes.

Let me know what you all think of these & what combinations you come up with to use the leftovers with!

Caramelized Brussel Sprouts

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:49:00 +0000

Thought I would share a recipe that several people have asked me for after trying these at my house. I know that my husband always thought he didn't like brussel sprouts until I started to make them this way. Now, he would eat them every night of the week if I made them that often.

First things first, do yourself a favor & buy some FRESH brussel sprouts. Take a small amount off the bottom, remove any outside leaves that still look dirty after washing, and cut them in half. For this recipe, I'm guessing I used about a pound of sprouts, but I didn't weigh them first.

Place them in an oven safe saute pan, add a Tablespoon or two of Olive Oil, some salt and pepper. Preheat your oven to 375 F.

Turn the heat up to Medium Hi, almost Hi and toss them around ever minute or so, just not constantly. You want your sprouts to get some browning/caramelization going on them.

When the sprouts have some nice browning on them and start to stick to the pan a little, it's time to deglaze the pan.

Add a little bit of water to the pan & toss around your spouts a bit (or use a spoon). For a batch this size you really don't want to use more than 1/4 cup of water. You really don't want to make the sprouts soggy. Most of the water should steam off instantly really leaving no water in the pan (like in above picture).

Place the pan in your preheated oven and let them finish cooking for about 20 minutes.

This is how mine looked after they came out of the oven last night. They usually turn out a little brighter, so I'm thinking I got a touch too much water in my pan. They were still good & we had no leftovers, so they must have been acceptable. My daughter has even decided that she likes sprouts from time to time. My son is still working on it...

Hope you all enjoy this easy side dish. Give them a try, you just might like it! You can put a little more olive oil on them before you serve them & adjust the salt & pepper to your taste. I'm looking forward to hearing your comments & questions!

Update from a reader & a couple of new questions.

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 04:23:00 +0000

I wanted to let you all know that the loaf pan worked for the Monkey Bread recipe. Also the cooking at 325 F for 35 minutes turned out to be a time that worked for her pan. So, if you don't have a bunt pan & want to try it out using a loaf pan this might be an option for you. Just be aware that different pans may require a slightly different bake time. She used the Pillsbury brand instead of Rhodes, so that's another option.

She also wanted to know some additional suggestions for the Vanilla Sugar recipe besides using it on berries. Essentially, you can use vanilla sugar in the place of regular white sugar in any recipes you want a touch of vanilla flavor added to. You can also use it in coffee, tea, or other drinks you use sugar to sweeten. You can use a coarser baking sugar when making the vanilla sugar and then use it to top muffins or cookies. You can also use a glass container to hold your sugar in; basically you want a container that won't let extra air into it. You want to keep all of the vanilla goodness inside.

Finally, I wanted to share that I made a batch of meatballs last night but I didn't make them into soup. In fact, I didn't even add any seasonings except for salt & pepper. I did use the rest of the ingredients pretty much like what I did for the soup, though. I started to brown them up, got lazy & then threw them into a 350 degree oven to finish cooking. You could bake them in the oven the whole time if you don't want to brown them on the stove. The caramelized/browned parts taste the best, but sometimes we all need an easy meal. Make your meatballs, put them on a baking sheet, and then put that into a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Go ahead & cut one in half to see if they are done. The time will vary depending on the size of your meatballs. The reason I used a 350 degree oven to finish mine the other night was because I was getting ready to bake some muffins and I didn't want to change the oven temperature. (The muffin recipe is on the Cat's Muse facebook page for those who want it - Gingerbread Pear with dark chocolate, they were yummy).

What did I do with my meatballs the other night? I made meatball sandwiches. I took hamburger buns, put a piece of Provolone cheese on one half & then toasted them in the toaster oven. I topped them with the meatballs & some Roasted Marinara Sauce I had in the fridge (I did warm it up first before putting it on the sandwiches). Any tomato sauce you like will work. The kids didn't want sauce & one didn't want bread, so it was an easy meal for our family. I served it with chips, which we don't have very often, sauteed rainbow chard, and some fresh blueberries. The muffins were dessert.

Another option that the meatballs can be used for is the traditional spaghetti & meatballs.

Hope this answers most of the questions for now! Keep them coming. I think that the questions & answers help everyone.

Vanilla Sugar

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:55:00 +0000

First of all, I would like to apologize for how long it's taken me to post this. I took pics shortly after the new year and well, life has happened. I love the blogging, but my real life comes first.

So, let's talk vanilla sugar. Here is a batch I made about a month ago. We get a bi-weekly organic produce delivery & they have a grocery area you can order items from . So, I ordered 2 vanilla beans one week since they had them for a decent price.

I put 4 cups of sugar into one of my taller ziploc plastic containers, dropped in my two vanilla beans, put the lid on, and then forgot about it for a couple of weeks. Here's what the vanilla beans looked like in the container:

Here's what the vanilla bean looked like when I went to pull one out when I went to make some gelato (recipe will be coming soon). I did leave the other bean in the sugar so I'll know where to find it when I need to use it:

So, this is the vanilla sugar I used on the strawberries when we had our Italian Wedding Soup a couple of weeks ago.

I also wanted to talk about another way you can make your vanilla sugar. You can go ahead and harvest the seeds from the middle of the vanilla bean using a knife or other scraper and use them in a recipe or what you have planned for them. Before you throw away the pod you can go to step one and insert the split pot into some sugar to make the vanilla sugar that way. Set aside the container for at least a couple of weeks.

When I make custard, I usually soften up the entire pod in the warm cream/milk before I put in the sugar/egg part. I take out the vanilla seeds and then put it into the custard and then discard the pod. By making my vanilla sugar first, I've re-used my pod a couple of ways before harvesting the seeds for what I want to use them in. You can't make vanilla sugar with a pod that's been soaked in milk/cream first.

Any questions?

Recipes Are Guides

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 03:19:00 +0000

I'm going to head on to my soapbox for a minute here. The people who have taken a class with me have heard me say this, but I'm going to say it again. Recipes are guides. If you need to substitute something, go ahead. If you have canned chicken broth or powdered bullion instead of the better than bullion, go ahead & use what you have.
The main time I would say to follow a recipe is when baking. There is quite a bit more science involved and for a novice cook substitutions can be a challenge.
Otherwise, if you only have a half of an onion and the recipe calls for a full onion, you can probably still make it. If you don't like spinach, don't add it, or replace it with chard, or put in something else you like. If you make food that you and your family enjoy you will probably cook more. And it will probably not feel like you're working much at all.
Ok. Soapbox time is done. Hope you all are having fun doing a little cooking!

Italian Wedding Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 03:19:00 +0000

Every time I make this soup, my husband always tells me he wishes I made a bigger pot.

You will need for the meatballs:
1 LB Lean Ground Beef
1/4 Milk
2/3 Cup Breadcrumbs (I'll show you how to make these if you're like me & don't have any in the house)
1 egg
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated or shredded
1 tsp. McCormick Italian Herb Blend
1/4 tsp. Onion Powder
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
Ground Pepper to taste

For the Soup:
2 - 3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 medium sized Onion
3 medium sized Carrots
A couple handfuls of Spinach (this will cook down, so see how much you like)
1 big spoonful Better than Bullion Chicken
1 small spoonful Better than Bullion Vegetable
12 cups water
Salt & Pepper to taste

In a separate Pan:
1/2 box of Pasta - Orecchiette works nicely, for this batch I used Barilla Piccolini Mini Farfalle

Here's a look at my ingredients minus the milk, oil, water & pasta:

First things first, I needed to make bread crumbs. So, I found an Italian Style Bread in my house and put a couple of the pieces close to the end of the bread into my mini food processor and pulsed it until I had a nice coarse bread crumb.

I left them a little on the coarse side, which is fine. If you want your smaller, pulse a bit longer.

I wound up with close to a cup of bread crumbs according to the measurement on the side of my bowl, so plenty for the batch of meatballs I'm making. The extra crumbs can be stored in a container in the fridge (where they will continue to go stale), or can be put into the compost.

Now that I have the breadcrumbs made, I can add the rest of my meatball ingredients into a bowl. I usually mix these by hand, but I do wear disposable gloves. I just find it easier when dealing with meat to wear the gloves, and they do sell these in the grocery store now. So, mix by hand until well blended.

Now it's time to roll into balls. You can see that I got quite a lot of meatballs from my pound of meat. I like to make them small, so they fit on the spoon better. When you make a dish, it's good to think about how you're going to eat it. When we had this soup, I found that I did cut a few of the meatballs in half with my spoon, but overall they were easy to eat at just one bite. So, set those aside a minute, or jump ahead to the browning step. I chose to set them aside.

Time to cut the carrots. I usually put a slit in my carrots through the thicker part as shown here, so when I go to slice them I don't have to make smaller pieces later.

Here are my diced carrots for the soup, not too big, not too small, just a nice bite to go on a spoon.

Here is my diced onion. If anyone would like to know how to cut an onion, let me know & I will post it. Just wanted to show my piece size for now.

Here is the spinach. I had a half of a bag of baby spinach left over from something else I was cooking, so it wound up being 2 larger handfuls for this batch of soup. I cut through it each way so that pieces would also fit on a spoon nicely as well.

Here's how I started out cooking my meatballs, which turned out not to be the best way to do them. It's been awhile since I've made them & I knew not to crowd them in the pan, but since my meat was very lean, they stuck to the bottom of my soup pan. So much for my trying to save washing an extra pan.

Here's how I wound up finishing browning the meatballs. In my non stick saute pan with a little bit of oil added to it. I really like browning the meatballs first. It just adds an extra flavor dimension to the soup. Your meatballs will cook in the broth of the soup if you want to skip this step, they just might not taste as good. Once you have all your meatballs browned, set them aside on a clean plate. You never want to put cooked food in a place where you've had raw meat. That's just asking for a nasty foodborne illness.

Before we start to cook the soup, go ahead & put a pot of water to boil on another burner for your pasta. I typically add a pinch of salt to the water since it's the way I learned to cook pasta in Italy. Once your water starts boiling, you're going to add your pasta and cook it for about 2 minutes less than what the package tells you to cook it. Drain & by the time that's ready it will probably be time to add it to the soup.

So, while you're waiting for the water to boil for you're pasta it's time to get the soup started.

In the pan that you're going to make your soup in heat your olive oil (if you don't have olive oil, use vegetable or canola oil, or what you have on hand) over medium hi heat. Add your diced onion and saute until the onion is translucent about 5 minutes. We're not trying to brown the onion, just start the cooking process. Add your carrots and cook for another 2 - 3 minutes until they soften. Add the spinach and allow that to cook down for a minute. Put your meatballs in the pan and then add 12 cups of water.

Add 1 Tbsp + a couple of tsp (or just use one of the big spoons from your drawer & add that) of the Chicken Better Than Bullion, and add 1 & 1/2 tsp (or use one of the small spoons out of your drawer) of the Vegetable Better Than Bullion.

Bring temp up until a few bubbles rise to the surface and then add your drained pasta. Simmer* for 5 minutes, then TASTE your soup. This is where you adjust your seasonings by adding any salt & pepper, or if you need a touch more chicken flavor (if the soup tastes watery) add a little more of the Better than Bullion. If the soup is too salty, add a little more water. Enjoy!

*Simmer is a culinary term used frequently that I want to explain here. You will probably turn the heat back down to about medium or so on your stove, but you want to make sure that you still have some bubbles coming to the surface of your pan. Not boiling, but a light bubbling.

Here is what my finished soup looked like:

Sorry for the slightly blurred picture. Here is what my soup looked like when served:

Feel free to sprinkle on some extra Parmesan Cheese as a garnish!

Here's a quick look at what my kids had for dinner. They usually have soup with us, but since I had the minor fiasco with the meatballs sticking I put those bits that stuck to the pan and tossed it back into my non stick pan after I wiped out the extra grease. I tossed in some pasta that I finished cooking and then topped with some extra Parmesan cheese. They were happy with their meal.

I served our soup with some strawberries I tossed with some homemade vanilla sugar. Let me know if anyone wants to know how to do this later & I'll make it a blog post.

We also had homemade baguette as well. This probably will be a future blog post. For some reason people think it's hard and time consuming to make homemade bread, stay tuned. Hopefully I'll be able to change some of your minds about this.

Let me know what you think about the soup if you give it a try!

A Reader's Question: What happens if I don't have a bunt pan?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:10:00 +0000

So, I am excited to report that I've had a question about how to make the Monkey Bread if you don't have a bunt pan. Well, I'm thinking that the recipe would work fine using a loaf pan, just adjust your cooking temperature to 325 F for 35 minutes. I haven't had a chance to try this, so make sure to keep an eye on it. You don't want your bread to burn, but you want to make sure the middle is cooked.

Also, the second part of the question was where to find the Rhodes Roll 12 pack of Cinnamon Rolls. Well, those you find in a bag in the freezer section of your grocery store. If you want a recipe that works even faster, you can buy two packages of 6 rolls that comes in the foil pan, thaw them slightly, cut them, put on the cinnamon sugar, pour on the butter & throw them in a cold oven following their package directions.

Hope this helped to clear things up a bit! Glad to hear that several of you want to try my recipe. I want to hear how it turns out for you all.

I've been working on the blog a bit today; getting things linked on facebook and coming soon google plus. Look for another recipe coming soon.

A little about my Culinary Background

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:10:00 +0000

Starting out here & switching over my blog, several of my friends probably already know this. For those of you who are finding me for the first time, Welcome! I've always have had a love of cooking & would help out my mom in the kitchen a lot when I was growing up. By the time I got to College, I studied for a degree in Nutrition and Food Science with the Food Science emphasis. My first job out of college was in quality control at an industrial Bakery. From there, I went into flavor applications at a small flavor company that manufactured liquid smoke. I realized there that I really wanted to go back to school to get my Culinary Arts degree. So, while I was working I started my Culinary Studies and did my restaurant internship at the Wisconsin Room at the American Club in Kohler, WI. Now that was a learning experience! It was a good thing I did it while I was young, because I worked full time at the flavor company, spent Fridays at Culinary School, and then went and worked the dinner shift at the restaurant on the weekends Fri - Sun. From here, life happened a bit. I wound up changing positions to work in flavor applications for another flavor company and wasn't able to make it back to finish my culinary degree for a couple of years and several moves later. So, about 4 years after I started, I finally re-entered a Culinary Program in Cincinnati and later earned my Culinary Certificate by going to night classes. (The counselor at the school told me an Associates Degree would be repetitive since I already held a Bachelor's Degree). This also helped my career a bit and I was able to switch a bit from just doing flavor applications to expanding into Creative Development. I also was promoted to a Senior Food Scientist/Research Chef. I waited until others recognized me as a chef, before I called myself one. I felt like it was something I had worked hard for and was proud to be recognized as such. Then, after a few more years, life happened a bit again. My husband went active duty in the Army and our first duty station was overseas in Germany. It was time for me to walk away from the flavor industry for a bit and focus on being a mom & wife. I've enjoyed my time exploring new recipes and cooking for my family, and as I've shared on facebook I've started to have more friends ask me for recipes, and ask food questions in general. I also had some fun teaching a few cooking classes while we were overseas. Now that we're back in the States I decided to go ahead & start taking some pictures and share what I'm cooking.
Feel free to look around, ask some questions, post some comments. If you have a dish that you've been wanting to cook but feel like it's too intimidating, let me know. I may already have a recipe for it and would be happy to share.
Thanks for joining me in my cooking adventures! I may not post every day, or I may post every day. Life kind of has it's way of keeping things interesting, but I hope you all will enjoy this as much as I do.

Catherine

Monkey Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:55:00 +0000

The first recipe I want to share with you all is for a quick and easy Monkey Bread. For this recipe you will need:

Rhodes Rolls - Traditional Cinnamon Rolls (12 pack)
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
4 Tbsp. Butter, Melted

Cooking Spray Oil (like Pam, Crisco, etc.)
Bunt Pan

Take the rolls out of the freezer & allow to thaw slightly, around 15 minutes. Then, place on a cutting board and cut into fourths.

In a separate bowl, blend sugar and cinnamon.

Place pieces of dough in the bowl with the sugar & toss to coat. Transfer into a greased bunt pan.

This is what my pieces looked like while tossing in the sugar:

When finished tossing all the pieces, sprinkle any extra cinnamon sugar over the dough in the bunt pan. Cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate overnight.

You can see that mine really doesn't look like it's risen a whole lot overnight. It's ok though. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Melt butter in the microwave & pour over the dough after you remove the plastic wrap and then bake for 20 minutes.

This is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven (almost to the top of the pan). Allow to cool for about 5 minutes & then turn out on to a plate. You need to flip it while it's still warm or you will probably have trouble getting it to come out of the pan:

The next 2 pictures show what it looks like if you forget to grease your pan or spray it with non-stick spray:

And this is how it turns out when you remember to spray your pan:

Enjoy this recipe with the cream cheese icing that comes in the package. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you try this out.

Fair Warning - Getting Ready to Blog Again

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:41:00 +0000

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I'm working on the blog and getting ready to post again soon. I probably will still have a few deals now and then, but will mostly be focused on food. More details to come soon.
Enjoy!
Catherine

I now have an Amazon Store!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:15:00 +0000

I'm pretty excited about this! We had talked about it in my last coupon class that people were unsure of where to get the baseball card holders over here. Well, I've found a spot on Amazon that has them with the FREE super saver shipping over $25 or FREE shipping for those with Amazon Prime memberships.

For those of you who are stateside, this also is an easy way to get the baseball card holders, although you do have more store options than we do here.

For those of you who are unsure of what I'm talking about, I sort my coupons using the binder method where multiple coupons are sorted into the baseball card holders so you can see and find coupons quickly and easily at the store. I use dividers to separate the categories, and my binder is a Mead 5 star notebook. Although I do have some friends who have upgraded to a binder with a handle for easier carrying, I haven't done that yet.

To find my store, just scroll down to the bottom of the page on my blog. You'll see the pictures there of some binders and coupon sorters that I've added as a start. I need to contact Amazon to find out why part of it is being cut off with some of the extra categories, but the store is working!

I'll probably add a few books and other things as I get used to having a store. I have several cookbooks I'd like to put in there since many of you know I'm a (retired for now) chef.

Enjoy!