Author: QuiltLady

COOKING THURSDAY ~ SNICKERDOODLE CHEESECAKE BARS ~ BLOG 366.18

For years many trusted name brands featured recipes on the labels – Bisquick, Campbell’s Soup, Quaker Oats, Nestles, Philadelphia Cream Cheese… These days the recipes are fewer and farther between. I did decide to try a recent Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe and found it exceptionally flavorless. A few tweaks later and we love the recipe.

SNICKERDOODLE CHEESECAKE BARS
CRUST
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons QUALITY cinnamon
3/4 cup COLD butter

  • Preheat oven to 325°.
  • Line 8 inch baking pan with foil so that it overlaps to create handles.
  • Sift together the flour, sugar and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.
  • Use a cheese grate and grate cold butter into bowl. Use a pastry blender or your gloved hands to cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse sand. Reserve 1/3 of the mixture to use as topping.
  • Press remaining dough into baking pan.
  • Bake 20 minutes until lightly browned.

FILLING
1/2 cup sugar
16 ounces QUALITY cream cheese
1 tablespoon PURE vanilla
Seeds from one vanilla bean
1/2 teaspoon PURE almond paste
1/4 cup sour cream
2 LARGE eggs

  • While crust is baking prepare the filling.
  • Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, vanilla seeds and almond paste together until well blended.
  • Add sour cream and eggs one at a time, mixing on low JUST until blended.
  • Set aside until crust is done baking.

TOPPING
2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon QUALITY cinnamon.

  • Mix sugar and cinnamon together.

ASSEMBLY

  • When crust is out of the oven pour the filling into crust.
  • Top with reserved crumb topping.
  • Top with cinnamon sugar mixture.
  • Bake 45-50 minutes until center of cheesecake is almost set.
  • Cool COMPLETELY.
  • Refrigerate for 4-5 hours before cutting and serving.

30th ANNIVERSARY of the NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE ~ BLOG 366.17

This is ALWAYS one of those dates that sticks with me! 30 years ago today, on a holiday Monday, my world turned upside down (along with thousands of others) when at 4:31 AM the Northridge earthquake struck and we lost it all. Even after growing up in southern California and knowing about, as well as living through other major quakes, the memories of this one in particular are VERY vivid. I honestly thought a jet plane had crashed into the neighborhood from the violent way it all happened (I was literally thrown out of bed across the room and had bruises on the bottoms of my feet for a month), but I lived on a street near a DWP plant and what I thought I saw was actually the transformers on the pole tops all blowing one after another…

I realize now that we were very fortunate.

The major shock lasted 10–20 seconds and its peak ground acceleration of 1.82 g was the highest ever instrumentally recorded in an urban area in North America and registered a magnitude of 6.7. It was caused by dip slip on a thrust fault—the overriding movement of one crustal block up and over a second crustal block.

This is what was left of the parking garage I would have been parked in later that day had it not been a federal holiday for Martin Luther King day.

When it was all over, my feet were bruised so badly on the bottom I could barely stand, a freight train had gone through my hallway while a volcano had gone off in my house – at least that’s how it felt.  I was thrown from bed into a doorway, thank God.  When I was able to look into that same room all I saw was chaos and my bed was covered in shattered glass as well as several hundred pounds of books from the nearby bookcase. The new semester had just started, but there’d b about no college for quite some time as CSUN had sustained just as much damage.

When it did begin classes were held under trees, in tents and just about anywhere available. But, we also had nowhere to park as you can see and had to walk quite a ways from parking on side streets and such. They quickly converted some previous fields to parking lots, but it was still near impossible to get parking unless you got there at the crack of dawn.

This is the first piece of Princess House crystal I ever purchased and the ONLY piece I have left. Only God knows how it survived that day since NOTHING else did. In it are the shells from the Galveston, Texas Gulf Coast that I have collected with my cousin Jenn throughout my life. She and I neither one live there now, but do still have friends and family in the vicinity.

I still can’t believe it’s been 30 years today. Life has carried on and we no longer live in earthquake land, but since then we’ve been through other natural disasters like blizzards, tornadoes, major floods, hurricanes, SNOWMAGEDDON… all of this making me realize it doesn’t matter where you are there is always going to be something…

GARLIC BUTTER ROAST CHICKEN ~ BLOG 366.16

GARLIC BUTTER ROAST CHICKEN

8-10 chicken thighs
1 head garlic, cleaned and minced to a paste
FRESH ground sea salt and pepper
1/3 cup butter, melted

  • Preheat oven to 425°.
  • Add a piece of foil to a roasting pan.
  • Pat dry chicken thighs.
  • Season to taste with FRESH ground sea salt and pepper.
  • Arrange chicken thighs skin side up on roasting pan.
  • In a small bowl combine melted butter and mixed garlic until you have a paste.
  • Spread paste over the skins.
  • Roast 45 minutes and then loosely cover with foil (to prevent burning) for another 30-45 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
  • Let stand, covered for 5 minutes before serving.

BRINED ROAST TURKEY BREAST ~ BLOG 365.

We’re had a SMALL group for Thanksgiving this year and I ordered a LARGE boneless turkey breast, but was afraid it would be too dry so decided to try a brine to keep it juicy. This recipe calls for an overnight wet brine overnight creating maximum flavor and keeping it extremely moist. It is then roasted to a golden perfection.

BRINED ROAST TURKEY BREAST
Prep Time 15 minutes
Brine Time 12 hours
Cook Time 3 hours
Rest Time 15 minutes
+/- Total Time 15 hours 15 minutes

BRINE
8 cups water
½ cup kosher salt
½ cup PACKED brown sugar
8 cloves garlic, FINELY minced
1 cinnamon stick
¼ cup FRESH tarragon
2 sprigs FRESH rosemary
2 lemons, cut in half and juiced
1 LARGE orange, peeled, cut in half and juiced
4 cups ice, optional

  • Bring the water to a boil in a LARGE pot.
  • Add all ingredients to the pot except the ice and return to a boil, stirring to dissolve all the salt and sugar.
  • Remove from heat and cool completely.
  • To speed up the cooling add about 4 cups of ice to the brine.
Once the brine is cooled, place the turkey breast in the brine making sure it’s fully submerged. You may have to weigh it down with another pot of water to keep it submerged.
  • Store it in the refrigerator overnight or for at least for 12 hours.


TURKEY
2 medium onions, quartered
4 large carrots, rustic cut
4 cloves garlic, FINELY minced
5-8 pound turkey breast, thawed
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
8 tablespoon butter, melted
1 cup homemade chicken broth

  • Preheat your oven to 350°.
  • Remove the turkey breast from the brine solution and pat it dry with paper towels.
  • Rinse the turkey breast thoroughly to remove excess salt and pat dry.
Place the quartered onions, carrot pieces, minced garlic and 4 tablespoons diced butter in a large roasting pan then place the turkey breast on top.
  • Rub the turkey with the melted butter, keep remaining butter for later.
  • Generously season with salt and pepper on both sides. 
Add the chicken broth to the pan. 

  • Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in the oven.
  • Roast covered for 1½ hours, basting with the melted butter, remelting as necessary every 20 minutes.
  • After 1½ hours, remove the foil and roast for another 1 hour or until golden brown. The breast is done when a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast registers at 165°.
Transfer the turkey breast to a platter or cutting board and let it rest for a full 15 minutes before slicing into it.
  • With a slotted spoon remove carrots to a serving bow. Cover and keep warm.


GRAVY
pan drippings
¾ cup homemade chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch or more for a thicker gravy

  • Skim some of the fat from the pan drippings if necessary.
  • Place the pan on the stove over medium-high heat.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the cornstarch with a couple tablespoons of the chicken broth. Add mixture to the pan, whisking it all together.
  • Strain gravy through a sieve pressing all the liquid out of the onions and garlic for additional flavor.
Add more cornstarch until you reach the desired consistency. Cook for a few minutes, until the gravy thickens a bit.
  • Adjust seasoning as necessary.

NOTES

  • Turkey breast cooking guidelines:
    4 to 6 pounds – 2 1/2 to 3 hours
    6 to 8 pounds – 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours
  • Use a shallow roaster so that the oven air can flow completely around the turkey breast.

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY with MENUS & RECIPE LINKS week 3 of 2024 ~ BLOG 366.15

Be sure to join us for Happy Homemaker Monday and link up with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

We are SOOOOOO WET! This past weekend especially it seriously rained. It rained so much I swear I saw Noah float by on an ark. In all seriousness there is major ice, cold, flooding… businesses north of us closed early due to power outages… airport closed… and then Saturday night it hit us with a power outage that left us thinking about taking a trip. After SNOWMAGGEDON a few years ago we vowed we’d take a small trip if it happened again and as the temperature was dropping we sat in the dark contemplating just that for about 3 hours when it came back on. It was nice to snuggle in and just read, but it really threw off my timeline for things I was trying to accomplish for the new project.

I mean this is the Pacific North West and we’re used to rain and wet, but I’m seeing standing water with ducks paddling in it where there used to be a road. Our local pond “normally” has a path all the way around, but when I left the estate house (which looks down on the whole pond) last night I noticed that the back end is completely under water.

Today is supposed to be cloudy and then back to the rain tomorrow and Wednesday and for the rest of the week. I’ll be working on a new estate sale a good part of this week, but all the work is NOT indoors so it may get a bit dicey at times. This estate sale is more of a clean out than higher end things and antiques that we are used to, so may use today to start making outdoor trash piles…so grungy clothes it is today.

There are a few things on my mind that I’m working through, but it’s just day to day things. I’m feeling well other than a few aches and pains, but am still avoiding people like the plague as COVID works its way through our community once again. 🙁

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS
  • LAUNDRY & CLEANING I have 2 loads of laundry to do and am hoping to finish clearing the house of the Christmas totes with a break in the rain today.
  • GROCERIES & ERRANDS I have to do the shopping for one of the auxiliary women’s dinner on Friday so will do our errands at that time on Tuesday. Unfortunately it is supposed to be raining 🙁
  • PAPERWORK, PHONE CALLS, PROJECTS & TRAVELS I have several this I want to accomplish this week.
  • RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I’m a bit uninspired right now with all that’s going on, but just like Stella, I WILL get my groove back. 🙂

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV
  • The DVR is pretty empty while we wait for the “new” season to finally begin. As always I catch the Kid’s Baking Championship and a few other cooking shows. We did watch a couple of good movies on Prime though. Champions with Woody Harrelson and Cheech Marin was really cute and we finally saw the Peanut Butter Falcon.

I’m working on finishing the Canary Girls, but got a bit sidetracked with the power outage. I do love historical novels – I always seem to learn something new. Do you know why they were called Canary girls? I’ll give you a clue – it has nothing to do with birds or singing.

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀
MONDAY 1/15
TUESDAY 1/16
WEDNESDAY 1/17
THURSDAY 1/18
FRIDAY 1/19
SATURDAY 1/20
SUNDAY 1/21
DINNER
 BBQ BAKED CHICKEN & POTATO SALAD
 BROWN CRACKER MEATLOAF with MASHED POTATOES & GRAVY
 SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS
 MISO BUTTER  ROASTED CHICKEN & CARROTS
 BRIDGE CLUB CHICKEN & SALAD
 CHILE LIME SALMON & ARTICHOKES
 CHICKEN FRIED STEAKS with MASHED POTATOES & GRAVY
DESSERT
 
 
DANISH APPLE SLAB PIE
 

We went to an impromptu comedy show on Friday night to support a local winery family who has been in the valley for over 100 years, but is being forced out of business due to family infighting over a recent patriarch death 🙁 so sad. We then went to a favorite local haunt for karaoke and a couple of friends (sisters who were drinking pretty good) did a duet to Dirty Laundry 😀

COCONUT MILK CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA NUT COOKIES ~ BLOG 366.12

While on a holiday shopping trip last October, a bestie took me to a favorite coffeehouse of hers. Funny thing, I ordered iced tea, but she made me try her favorite cookie, a soft and chewy cookie that was LOADED with milk chocolate chips, macadamia nuts and a sweet shredded coconut.

I instantly fell in love – I mean heart thudding, swooning kind of love and had to immediately experiment to recreate these incredible cookies.

Well, I did actually wait until the next day, but boy did I nail it, if I do say so myself 😀

You will want to make these cookies a little on the larger side so that you get lots of chewy goodness in each and every bite.

COCONUT MILK CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA NUT COOKIES 16-18 cookies
1 cup cold butter, chopped
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 LARGE eggs
1 teaspoon almond paste
1 teaspoon PURE vanilla
1 1/2 cups of cake flour
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups QUALITY milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups Sweetened Flaked Coconut
1 1/2 cups Macadamia Nuts

  • Preheat oven to 375-400°.
  • In a large mixing bowl, cream together cold cubed butter, almond paste, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until creamy.

  • Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one.
  • Add vanilla.
  • 
Sift in flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt mixing until JUST combined.
  • Gradually add flour mixture into creamed mixture until well blended.
  • Fold in chocolate chips, coconut, and macadamia nuts. 

  • Roll dough into medium-sized balls and place on a silpat or parchment covered cookie sheet.
  • Bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown on the top.
  • Let them rest for AT LEAST 10 minutes to set.


COOKING THURSDAY ~ GERMAN POTATO DUMPLINGS ~ BLOG 366.11

In Germany potato dumplings are known as Kartoffel Kloesse. They are traditionally served with a brown butter sauce, but I usually serve them with my Chicken Paprikash and top them with that sauce.

GERMAN POTATO DUMPLINGS
3 pounds potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup AP flour
3 LARGE eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon FRESH ground nutmeg
1/4 cup minced shallots
6 cups homemade chicken bone broth
6 cups water

  • Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender.
  • Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
  • Mash potatoes.
  • Stir in flour, eggs, bread crumbs, salt and nutmeg.
  • Shape into 16 2 inch balls.
  • Bring bone broth and water to a boil in a Dutch oven.
  • Carefully add the dumplings. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 7-8 minutes until dumplings float and a toothpick comes out clean.

BROWNED BUTTER SAUCE
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1 tablespoon chopped shallots
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

  • In a small saucepan melt butter and onions over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5-7 minutes or until butter is golden brown.
  • Remove from heat and stir in bread crumbs.