Category: MISC

BROWN SUGAR PECAN LOAF CAKE

This is a delicious cake, so good in fact that my Honey wanted me to share this with all of you for Try A New Recipe day. And in some ways it is a new recipe, because this cake, while delicious and moist only has 1/4 cup of butter in the whole cake. That has to be new.
I also think it has to do with the separation of the eggs. However, you do use all of the eggs, first beating in the yolks and then the egg whites. That has to be new.

Let’s make cake, shall we?

Brown Sugar Loaf Cake
adapted from:  cakes from scratch in half the time
by:  Linda West Eckhardt
400 degree oven – a cooks wisdom:  375 degrees at most!

the intro:  Luscious and sweet, this dark, caramel-colored sugar cake is crumbly, spicy and everything nice.

2 large eggs – room temperature or see warming tip below
1/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour – divided
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves (original recipe called for 1/2 t, but cloves and I don’t get along!)
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Before we begin:  I do not own or use aluminum pans, it is a personal choice. This cake will be baked in my steel loaf pan. There is a theory and practice for shiny pans and it is thought to affect the end product for crust and appearance, and while this may be true, my guess is, this cake will not suffer for being baked in a pan different than prescribed by the author.

Prepare to bake:  Arrange the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 400 degrees. Spritz a 9X5 inch shiny aluminum loaf pan and the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the top of the pan with pan spray. Place the unbroken eggs into a bowl of (comfortable) hot water.
Make the batter:  Cream the butter until light, then add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Separate the eggs. Add 2 of the yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the egg whites and beat well.  Toss 1/4 cup of the flour with the nuts. Mix the remaining 1 cup flour with the baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Add to the butter mixture in thirds, alternately with the milk and vanilla. Fold in the nuts.
Bake the cake:  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, lay the foil, shiny side down, loosely over the top, and bake for 25 minutes.
Quickly remove the foil and continue baking until a wooden pick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 20 more minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto the rack to cool completely.
When cool, place on a serving platter, add a knife and let everyone serve themselves. Store any leftovers in plastic wrap to keep it moist.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by!
I appreciate your time and your comments.

And for more great recipes and food and kitchen ideas, stop by Mom’s Sunday Cafe!

BLACK & BLUE COBBLER

BLACK & BLUE COBBLER BOWLS
1 cup blackberries
1 cup blueberries
1 cup whole milk
1 cup self-rising flour*
1/2 cup butter + 2 tablespoons, both melted separately
3/4 cup fine sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

  • Mix together the fine sugar and flour.
  • Whisk in the milk.
  • Whisk in 1/2 cup melted butter.
  • Pour into well greased bowls.
  • Distribute berries evenly on top of batter.
  • Mix 2 tablespoons melted butter with brown sugar until crumbly.
  • Sprinkle on tops.
  • Bake 45-60 minutes until golden and toothpick comes out clean.

*If you prefer a heavier crust, use bisquick

RASPBERRY TURKEY TENDERLOINS ~

RASPBERRY TURKEY TENDERLOINS
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/8 dried thyme
4 turkey breast tenderloins
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:  In a small saucepan, combine the jam, vinegar, mustard, orange peel and thyme.  Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until heated through.  Set aside 1/4 cup for serving.
Sprinkle turkey with salt.  Moisten a paper towel with cooking oil; using long-handled tongs, lightly coat the grill rack.  Grill turkey, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 inches from the heat for 13-18 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees, turning occassionaly.  Baste with remaining sauce during last 5 minutes of cooking. 

Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.  Serve with reserved sauce.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Put jam, apple cider vinegar, mustard, and orange peel in a saucepan on low.

Add the thyme.

Salt the turkey breasts and put them on the grill for 16-18 minutes or until 190 degrees in the center.  Use some of the sauce to baste the turkey.

Pull off the grill and let rest.  

Pour the remainder of the sauce of the turkey breast.

Here’ what you’ll end up with:

SKILLET CHICKEN & RICE

Son2 as a Junior this past year took cooking for one of his electives… This past week he made dinner for the family…


This is the recipe he used from class… I copied it word for word straight from the cookbook he made in class… 

Boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs 
1 tablespoon oil 
1/2 cup chopped onions 
1-2 garlic cloves 
1 cup broccoli 
1 1/4 cup rice 
2 3/4 cup water 
2-3 teaspoon chicken bouillon 
Pepper, dash 
Garlic salt, dash 
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese 
Optional–1/2 cup thinly sliced red peppers and or 1/4 cup shredded carrot
1. Wash and pat dry chicken.
2. Cut chicken into thin strips about 1/4 inch wide.

3. Heat oil in Teflon frying pan or a frying pan with a lid. Be careful for smoke point.
 4. Add chicken, onions, garlic, and (shredded carrots if you choose to have them). Stir constantly browning the onions and chicken. Spice with pepper and garlic salt.
 5. Carefully add water, bouillon, and rice. Bring to a hard boil.
 6. Add broccoli and any other vegetables.
 7. Cover and lower temperature to simmer 15 minutes without looking. (Do not allow the steam to escape).
 8. After 15 minutes, check to see if rice is soft. If not, cover and cook another five minutes. Add small amount of water if needed.

9. When rice is soft, turn off temperature. Add cheese and cover with lid for 3 minutes to melt the cheese.



Happy Eating…



WEEKLY MENU

Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie

 DATE BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER
Monday 6/13 YOGURT SANDWICHES KRABBY CHICKEN CASSEROLE
Tuesday 6/14 TOAST LEFTOVERS PARSLEY BUTTER CHICKEN with PARMESAN GLAZED TOMATOES
Wednesday 6/15 YOGURT SOUP BAKED APRICOT CHICKEN
Thursday 6/16 FRUIT CHEESE & FRUIT PORK CHOPS with BALSAMIC BUTTER SAUCE
Friday 6/17 OATMEAL C.O.R.N. MOROCCAN BEEF and NOODLES
Saturday 6/18 OUT leftovers CHICKEN SALTIMBOCA with BROCCOLI in ORANGE SAUCE
Sunday 6/19 BACON & EGGS ??? YUCATAN CHICKEN

Fire Day Friday: Spicy Grilled Shrimp

Now that summer is almost here, I like to grill shellfish. The seafood is fresher and grilling it brings out the best in it. This spicy marinade packs the heat of summer into these grilled shrimp.
Grilling Tip: You know how they always say to soak your bamboo skewers for 30 minutes before grilling, right? And you probably know how sometimes that works and sometimes it does not. Sometimes, the skewers still burn off. You can use a “grill shield” like the one I am using here or you can make you’re own by folding up a piece of HD aluminum foil several times to protect the skewers.
Spicy Summer Grilled Shrimp
1 lb medium count shrimp, cleaned, peeled, and deveined
3 oz clarified butter, melted
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz sriracha sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp turbinado sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ shallot, finely minced
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp black pepper
Mix the marinade ingredients together. Add the shrimp and marinate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, fire up your grill to 450f or medium-high. 
Place the shrimp on skewers and grill 2 minutes per side.
They are done when the tails turn pink.
These disappeared with my 22 y/o son’s friends devouring them as fast as I could get them off the grill.

LUAU BENEDICTS

I saw a recipe similar to these on a menu and set out to replicate it.  I’m not sure how close I came, but we loved them!

LUAU BENEDICTS
1 English muffin per person
2 eggs per person
enough leftover sweet and sour pulled pork
hollandaise sauce

  • Prepare Hollandaise sauce.
  • Toast English muffins.
  • Poach eggs.
  • Layer together starting with English muffin, pulled pork, poached egg and the hollandaise sauce.
  • Enjoy.

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
1/2 cup butter
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons hot water
finely chopped fresh parsley, if desired

  • Heat butter in a heavy saucepan until hot and foamy, but not browned.
  • In a small bowl, whisk or beat egg yolks with lemon juice, salt, and  hot sauce.
  • Gradually beat in butter, then water.
  • Return mixture to saucepan and beat over very low heat until mixture is slightly thickened.
  • Serve immediately or let stand over warm water for up to 30 minutes.
  • If desired, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley before serving.

Makes about 2/3 cup of hollandaise sauce.

GRILLED CORN with CHIPOTLE LIME BROWNED BUTTER

We grill a lot of corn on the cob in the summer.  Who doesn’t, right?  Well, my standard way is to keep the husks on, soak them in water for awhile and grill them in the husks.  I like this as there is no silk left and they are easy to peel.

Well, I’ve been seeing the corn grilled straight on the grill a lot lately and thought I’d try it today.  It was awesome. I did find the kernels a bit more chewy but not necessarily in a bad way.

Often because of calories, I skip the butter altogether but today I made the most awesome chipotle lime browned butter.  This seriously brought corn to a new level!  It was super tasty! 
The great thing about this butter, if you don’t use it all, just stick it in the frig for next time.

GRILLED CORN with CHIPOTLE-LIME BROWNED BUTTER  Adapted from A Veggie Venture

6 ears sweet corn, silk and husks removed
4 tablespoons butter **
Juice of a lime (about 1 tablespoon)
Pinch of ground chipotle powder
Good salt to taste

Grill the corn, turning occasionally, until many of the kernels have turned dark and caramel-like.

Meanwhile, inside: 
  • melt the butter in a small saucepan, then let it sizzle, stirring occasionally, until the butter begins to brown. 
  • Add the lime, chipotle and salt, let gently sizzle a bit. 
  • Turn off the heat, if needed, rewarm before serving. 
  • Transfer to a small dish. 
  • Refrigerate leftovers, heat and stir before serving again.
**This butter makes enough for at least 12 ears of corn and refrigerates well.

Total calories = 111 calories per ear of corn with about 1 tsp. butter mixture. I just brushed it lightly. The husband put way more butter on his.

CHERRY APRICOT GALETTE

Pie Dough Ingredients*
For a 9-inch crust
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) of butter, cold and cubed
  • 1/4 cup ice water
Filling Ingredients**
For one 9-inch galette
  • 3/4 pound fresh apricots, pitted and chopped
  • 1/2 pound fresh cherries, pitted
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup sugar + more for sprinkling
  • Juice of half a lemon
Ingredients for Assembly
  • 1 egg, beaten
ASSEMBLY
  • Cut butter into small cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
  • Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
  • Pulse flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. 
  • Add butter and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal. 
  • Gradually add ice water and pulse until the dough forms a coarse meal. 
  • Turn the dough out onto a work surface and very lightly and sparingly, knead just to incorporate dry ingredients. 
  • Flatten into a circle; wrap individually in plastic. 
  • Refrigerate dough for at least an hour. 
  • Remove dough from refrigerator; place on floured work surface. 
  • Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a rough 11-inch circle. 
  • Trim the edges to a clean circle with a pairing knife. 
  • Transfer the circle to a baking sheet or pizza pan lined with parchment paper. 
  • Mix 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl and spread on the bottom of the dough. 
  • Toss apricots and cherries with the rest of the cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice. 
  • Arrange the fruit on the bottom of the dough, leaving 2 inches of dough left outside. 
  • Fold up and pleat the dough over the top of the fruit, leaving the center uncovered. 
  • Lightly brush the top of the pastry with the beaten egg and sprinkle both the dough and the fruit with 1/4 – 1/3 cup sugar. 
  • Place the Galette in the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. 
  • Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack immediately. 
  • Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
*If you are in a huge hurry, Pillsbury from the dairy case can be substituted.
**1 can Comstock cherries can be substituted.  Just add apricots!

RANTS, RAVES, BUTTS, BASKETS, PEDESTRIAN RIGHT OF WAY, COMMON SENSE & RESPONSIBILITY and THE PURSUIT OF THE ICONIC TV 50’S WAY OF LIFE

Life is busy these days, real busy, but there are a few things I still notice.  We are all overworked, over stimulated and over tired!  I seem to notice less and less quality in everything around me whether it’s sitting down to dinner as a family or the quality of the products that sit on my kitchen counter.

My brother and I had a conversation not too long ago about the pursuit of the iconic TV 50’s way of life – you know, slower and kinder.  Now you need to know that my brother and I, at times, are as far apart on the political spectrum as 2 siblings can be.  We’re close, but there are many a subject that we have an agreement to agree to disagree on and move on to another topic.  He pointed out that the 50’s that many seem to want to return to is nothing but a TV iconic way of life.  I beg to disagree though.  Now I wasn’t alive in the 50’s, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that life in general was kinder, slower and calmer and MUCH less stressful.  This is one of those spots that I would go off on a rant about.  You see, I believe that stress is a catalyst of much of what ails us today, specifically cancer.  But, that is a story for another post.

If you were to watch say the Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, Happy Days or Leave it to Beaver, you would see homemakers vacuuming in high heels and pearls or maybe cleaning the refrigerator.  Husbands would be in ties and coats or at least a sport shirt and loafers.  Now while I don’t think things need to return to that formal, I do expect guys to pull up their pants.  I don’t want to see their butts.  In my era, the only butt to see was in a pair of tight jeans – where you had to use your imagination and fantasize. WOW that made me sound old, but I’m not really, just tired of seeing ugly underwear hanging out of over sized pants that are falling off some guy’s butt.  Many women aren’t much better though.  No one wants to see rolls of fat hanging out of a midriff top and low cut jeans – both of which are things for teen girls, not overweight 20, 30, 40, 50 somethings or even overweight teens.  Get the picture here – fat is not something to show off, but something to lose and hide while you’re doing it!

Another thing you saw more of in the past was Common Courtesy.  I find this ironic since we seem to need it more now, but it appears to be non-existent many times.  Whether it’s driving on the freeway or driving basket at the supermarket, common courtesy seems to always be in the backseat.  When I was a kid, I was taught to ‘drive’ my basket at the supermarket the same way you would a car on a 2 lane road – stay to the right, park off the pavement and use your signals.  More and more I notice at the supermarket that people leave their baskets in the middle of the aisle while they are roaming up and down looking at various things.  While I commend the label reading, how hard is it to park your cart off to the side and out of the way?  Interestingly enough, if there is no one around and I go to move the basket aside so I can pass, someone always magically appears and is miffed that “their” basket is being moved.  Well excuse me! The sense of entitlement and the self righteous (and unearned I might add) indignation is way too over the top.

On this same subject we all know that pedestrians have the right of way.  But don’t they also have a responsibility to NOT just walk willy nilly and blindly out into traffic?  What happened to looking both ways before entering a street?
Okay, I will get off my soap box now and return you to your regularly scheduled blog hopping.

RANTS, RAVES, BUTTS, BASKETS, PEDESTRIAN RIGHT OF WAY, COMMON SENSE & RESPONSIBILITY and THE PURSUIT OF THE ICONIC TV 50’S WAY OF LIFE

Life is busy these days, real busy, but there are a few things I still notice.  We are all overworked, over stimulated and over tired!  I seem to notice less and less quality in everything around me whether it’s sitting down to dinner as a family or the quality of the products that sit on my kitchen counter.

My brother and I had a conversation not too long ago about the pursuit of the iconic TV 50’s way of life – you know, slower and kinder.  Now you need to know that my brother and I, at times, are as far apart on the political spectrum as 2 siblings can be.  We’re close, but there are many a subject that we have an agreement to agree to disagree on and move on to another topic.  He pointed out that the 50’s that many seem to want to return to is nothing but a TV iconic way of life.  I beg to disagree though.  Now I wasn’t alive in the 50’s, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that life in general was kinder, slower and calmer and MUCH less stressful.  This is one of those spots that I would go off on a rant about.  You see, I believe that stress is a catalyst of much of what ails us today, specifically cancer.  But, that is a story for another post.

If you were to watch say the Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, Happy Days or Leave it to Beaver, you would see homemakers vacuuming in high heels and pearls or maybe cleaning the refrigerator.  Husbands would be in ties and coats or at least a sport shirt and loafers.  Now while I don’t think things need to return to that formal, I do expect guys to pull up their pants.  I don’t want to see their butts.  In my era, the only butt to see was in a pair of tight jeans – where you had to use your imagination and fantasize. WOW that made me sound old, but I’m not really, just tired of seeing ugly underwear hanging out of over sized pants that are falling off some guy’s butt.  Many women aren’t much better though.  No one wants to see rolls of fat hanging out of a midriff top and low cut jeans – both of which are things for teen girls, not overweight 20, 30, 40, 50 somethings or even overweight teens.  Get the picture here – fat is not something to show off, but something to lose and hide while you’re doing it!

Another thing you saw more of in the past was Common Courtesy.  I find this ironic since we seem to need it more now, but it appears to be non-existent many times.  Whether it’s driving on the freeway or driving basket at the supermarket, common courtesy seems to always be in the backseat.  When I was a kid, I was taught to ‘drive’ my basket at the supermarket the same way you would a car on a 2 lane road – stay to the right, park off the pavement and use your signals.  More and more I notice at the supermarket that people leave their baskets in the middle of the aisle while they are roaming up and down looking at various things.  While I commend the label reading, how hard is it to park your cart off to the side and out of the way?  Interestingly enough, if there is no one around and I go to move the basket aside so I can pass, someone always magically appears and is miffed that “their” basket is being moved.  Well excuse me! The sense of entitlement and the self righteous (and unearned I might add) indignation is way too over the top.

On this same subject we all know that pedestrians have the right of way.  But don’t they also have a responsibility to NOT just walk willy nilly and blindly out into traffic?  What happened to looking both ways before entering a street?
Okay, I will get off my soap box now and return you to your regularly scheduled blog hopping.