RECIPES – Page 274 – Chasing MY Life WHEREVER it Leads ME

Raspberry Streusel Muffins: Lovin’ From The Oven

Muffins are one of the easiest breakfasts to make. You can make them ahead and freeze them, simply make them the night before or if you have the time, make them fresh in the morning. Their flavor doesn’t diminish with early baking. We got some raspberries on sale a month ago and froze them. I brought one bag out this week and made these scrumptious muffins. The tartness of the raspberries goes well with the sweetness of the streusel. One helpful tip: make up a bunch of streusel and store it in a glass jar in your fridge. It lasts a long time and saves you time when you want a fun topping on a cake, pie or muffin.

Raspberry Streusel Muffins:

Muffins:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp lemon peel

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup raspberries

Topping:

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp lemon peel

2 Tbsp melted butter

Glaze:(optional)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Mix all ingredients for muffins except the berries. Fold in berries. Fill muffin cups with batter. Mix topping ingredients and crumble the topping over muffins. Bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Mix glaze ingredients and drizzle glaze on muffins after they have cooled 15 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.

Come visit me at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker!

Banana Budding – Best you ever had and a huge THANK YOU! ala Year on the Grill

Hello my friends… Last weekend, I was so touched by the surprise beach party many of you participated in when Our Krazy Kitchen tossed their KraZy Beachwarming Party! It was wonderful reading all your comments, and I have certainly saved the recipes and will be sharing my versions of them soon. You all were so nice, I felt a little like the ghost of a guy hearing what people say at a funeral. I think this was a GREAT idea, and I hope that we are able to do something like this again for some of you all… Any ideas???

And speaking of intending to cook one of the recipes, last night I was all set to cook …

Tamy, from 3 Sides of Crazy and Our Krazy Kitchen,
brought Creole Baked Goat Cheese in Roasted Red Pepper Cups,
I will be first in line to try these!

Doesn‘t that look AMAZING??? Had all the ingredients, and was all set to see if I could do as well. this was to be my post today to honor all those that played along for my party and to find a new AMAZING menu item. Go ahead and click the link above… read the ingredient list… I can’t wait to make this!

BUT… best laid plans and all that …

OR… Road to Hell is paved with good intentions …

OR… Don’t put off what you can do today …

You know what is coming, circumstances interrupted my plans and I was not able to make the peppers. Actually, that makes it sound a little nicer than the truth. Truth is, some new friends called just as I was dicing and chopping the ingredients and asked us to go bar hopping around the island. Much as I would have liked to chomp into the peppers, bar hopping on ST THOMAS sounded just a bit more fun.

So, I had a few choices… First was to fudge a little and create something out of not very much (go to my post today on my own site, where I fudge a posting out of not much… click HERE and you will see what I mean). The lovely ladies (and Chris) of Our krazy kitchen could possibly have been called on to fill in for me. I could have done a song and dance about moving thousands of miles, small tiny kitchen and moving again this weekend (to a HUGE kitchen) and just not being able to come up with a post this week. Besides the fact that it would be a lie to those selfsame friends that had been so nice to me just a few days ago, I have also made a commitment to do a weekly posting here, and just 8 weeks after starting, i could not see it being fair to miss my day.

OR…

I had a recipe saved for a “just in case” day. Not only is it a terrific dessert, but it also can fit into my island lifestyle. What says island eating more than bananas, and what is better to do with a banana than to make a homemade banana pudding… So, here goes a terrific recipe for you all…

The recipe comes from one that is printed on the website for Paula Dean on the Foodnetwork site. You can read her version of the recipe by clicking HERE.

This is my final product. It worked so well, I took this to a dinner where I was asked to share a dessert. I did so proudly!

Here is the original recipe…

30 to 60 vanilla wafers

6 to 8 bananas, sliced

2 cups milk

1 – 5 ounce box instant French Vanilla Pudding

1 – 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 -12 ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with vanilla wafers and layer bananas on top.

Crush to remaining wafers and reserve.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding, blend well using a whisk or hand mixer. Using another bowl, combine cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold in whipped topping into cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the wafers and bananas and cover with the remaining crushed wafers. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

YIELDS: 12 servings

I pretty much followed the recipe as posted.

I added the little flourish at the end with a few of the Bananas standing up. BUT, the important part, the taste was out of this world. You will never make the box version again without feeling a little guilty because you know that you can do better!

So, Thanks to Paula Dean for this terrific recipe.

Do plan to return next week when I will indeed have something new from my ALL NEW HUGE Island kitchen to share. Thanks for your understanding, and please be a little quiet this morning… the rum drinks were flowing and I have a bit of a well deserved head ache!

CHOCOLATE SIN IN A CUP

My mom emailed me this recipe a few days ago and I scheduled making them for today as Football treats. LOL I read on Sandra’s blog that she made them today too. So I guess that the email is really making the rounds since Sandra and I live on opposite ends of the country! The email called them Dangerous Chocolate Cake in a MUG, I call them SIN IN A CUP.

4 tablespoons cake flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
small splash of vanilla
3 tablespoons chocolate chips*

In a large coffee mug add the dry ingredients and mix well with a fork.
Add the egg and mix throughly.
Add the milk, oil and vanilla and mix again.
Add the chocolate chips.
Microwave for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
Cake will rise above mug – don’t worry.
Allow it to cool a bit before eating.

*hubby requested peanut butter chips and loved it. I like mine a little moister than this recipe so I drizzled caramel sauce over it before eating. I also think next time I will add a tablespoon of crushed walnuts to each cup.

Originally posted at 3 Sides of Crazy.

Purim Hamantashen

The Jewish holiday of Purim, just passed. This is a day of fun and good food as well as remembrances. It is common to eat foods like kreplach, dough stuffed with meat, and hamantaschen filled pastry. These are made in the same shape. One is boiled and one is baked.

I have an assortment of hamantaschen, left from Purim which I want to share with you and the recipe for making them from Susie Fishbein, who has written some beautiful kosher cookbooks.

HAMANTASCH

“This is an old family recipe. It is a very easy dough to make and work with. The egg glaze and cinnamon/sugar on top give the cookies a beautiful color. My Mom and Aunt make these in advance and freeze them. Do this at your own risk. At a group confession, every one of my cousins and siblings admitted to sneaking hamantaschen and eating them frozen weeks before Purim. ” Susie Fishbein

Ingredients:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup cold water
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
6 cups all-purpose flour
flour for dipping

apricot butter or prune butter (As you will see there are many spreads you can use besides these. Chocolate is very popular. Peanut butter is another choice. All flavors of jams are used. Use your imagination and you can make a new hamantash.) (I have a jar of pear butter which I should have used.)

1 large egg, beaten
cinnamon/sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment or foil.

Either by hand or in a mixer combine the oil, egg, vanilla, water, sugar, baking powder, and flour. Knead until it forms a soft dough. Roll the dough out into a very thin layer. Dip the rim of a 3- to 4-inch cup or glass in flour. Use the glass like a cookie cutter to cut out circles. Re-roll the scraps of dough and reuse.

In the center of each circle, drop a teaspoon of apricot butter or prune butter. Shape into a triangle by folding 2 sides of the circle to the center and pinch together at the corners.

Fold remaining side up to the center and pinch together at the corners.

Place hamantaschen 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar. Make sure corners are tightly pinched so they don’t open during baking. Bake 20 minutes. Can be made in advance and frozen.

Yield: 4 dozen

“This cookie dough is great for all year round: After cutting the dough into flat circles or any shape, transfer them to the baking sheet and put a dollop of the thickest all-fruit preserves you can find, in the center. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar and bake as indicated. “

Susie Fishbein is the creator of the highly acclaimed Kosher by Design series, whose books have each sold tens of thousands of copies. Jewish World Review.

For more recipes by Susie, check here.

Stop by Chaya’s Comfy Cook and Sweet and Savory and let’s share.

BLUEBERRY CORN MUFFINS with a HINT OF CHOCOALTE

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 Jumbo eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1/4 cup Bacardi rum
1/3 cup dried wild blueberries
1/4 cup chocolate pieces

Pour rum over the blueberries and let sit an hour or so at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners or use a new toy like mine!
In a large bowl, sift together corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and sea salt.
Add eggs, oil and milk; whisking gently to combine.
Drain blueberries.
Fold in blueberries and chocolate pieces.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups or pans.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

PEANUT BUTTER BANANA RUM RAISIN BREAD

It’s National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a new recipe. The only thing that would make this better was to add some milk chocolate chips – always next time.

PEANUT BUTTER BANANA RUM RAISIN BREAD
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 jumbo eggs
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup Parrot Bay coconut rum
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
2 large, RIPE bananas, pureed
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 hour to 1 day before pour rum over raisins and let sit at room temperature.

In a medium saucepan melt butter.
Add brown sugar and bananas in a sauce pan.
Cook until smooth and then add nuts and raisins.
Stir until well coated & set aside to cool.
Cream peanut butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
Add this to the creamed mixture gradually until well blended.
Add cooled banana mixture.
Pour into greased and floured pan(s)*
Bake at 350 degrees for 45+ minutes.

*This recipe will make 2 large loaves or 1 cake.

FROSTING
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
juice of 1 small lemon
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Add lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until blended.
Add powdered sugar gradually until well blended and smooth.
Refrigerate 1 hour to set icing before serving.

ROASTED RED PEPPER BBQ CHICKEN CASSEROLE

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts or tenders cut into pieces
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons sweet BBQ sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin tops and all
2 cups chicken broth, boiling
chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, BBQ sauce, chicken broth, garlic and 1/2 of the salt and pepper.
In a Tupperware marinader or a large Ziploc bag pour sauce over chicken pieces and marinade 2 hours or overnight is really yummy too.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray a 9×9 baking dish with PURE.
Place rice, onions and red peppers in the baking dish.
Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.
Remove chicken pieces from the marinade to a plate.
Stir remaining marinade into the boiling water and then stir that into the rice.
Evenly layer chicken pieces over rice.
Cover tightly with foil.
Bake 1 hour or until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
Sprinkle with fresh parsley as garnish.

TROPICAL GLAZED ROAST CHICKEN

1 Whole Chicken
kosher salt & pepper
16 oz. can*
1 Bartles & Jaymes Tropical Mango Malt Ale
2-3 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup apricot pineapple jam or plain apricot
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Spray can with PURE.

Rinse and pat dry chicken. Tuck wings on the chicken. Puncture large fat deposits at top of thighs and breasts. Pat kosher salt and pepper onto chicken.
Fill can ½ full of Tropical Mango malt ale. Drink the rest. Spray 9 inch baking dish with PURE. Stand chicken over can in 9 inch baking dish.
Set oven shelf to lowest position.
Roast chicken 90 minutes OR until internal temperature is 140 degrees.
While chicken is cooking whisk cornstarch and water together until there are no lumps – set aside. Bring remaining ingredients to a simmer in a medium saucepan until reduced and thickened to about ¾ cup, 6-8 minutes.
Remove chicken from oven and increase heat to 500 degrees.
Slowly whisk cornstarch mix into glaze and simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Place 1 cup water in saute’ pan and place in bottom of oven. Return chicken to oven for 15 minutes more.
Remove chicken and brush with ⅓ of glaze.** Return to oven until glaze is browned and sticky. About 10-15 minutes.
Remove from oven and brush with another ⅓ cup of glaze. Let rest 20 minutes.
Strain drippings and add to remaining glaze over low heat until heated through and use as gravy. I like to serve with mashed potatoes.

Recipe works really well on chicken legs too. If using these, foil tent the pan with the legs and can of ale for first 60 minutes to infuse the flavor.

*I use a green bean can that I put in the dishwasher after each use and reuse for future chickens. I like it better because of the more substantial than a beer can and supports the chicken throughout the cooking time.

**If glaze has become stiff, return to heat for a few minutes to soften.

BANANA BLUEBERRY CRUNCH

BANANA BLUEBERRY CRUNCH
I usually make everything from scratch, but this recipe is too good to mess with much. I have reduced the fat a bit and altered the ingredients to meet my family’s likes, but other than that this recipe is fantastic as is. The key is to remember to layer exactly as listed! It is great in a pinch since most ingredients are always in the cupboard or freezer. The original recipe called for the butter before the nuts and coconut, but I changed that. By putting it last, the nuts and coconut toast up fantastically.

1 large can crushed pineapple, undrained
2-3 cups frozen blueberries
1-3 ripe banana(s), sliced thin
1 cup sugar
1 box yellow cake mix, dry
1/2-1 cup minced walnuts
1/2-1 cup flaked coconut
1 1/2 -2 sticks butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Layer exactly as listed in even layers
Bake 45-60 minutes until it tests done

BAKED PINEAPPLE

I got this recipe from my cousin Jenn years ago and she got it from her hubby’s family. My family affectionately calls it PINEAPPLE FLUFF, but BAKED PINEAPPLE is the technical name Jenn gave me.

2 large cans crushed pineapple, drained, but save the juice
2 cups pineapple juice
2 JUMBO eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar
mini marshmallows
*2 bananas
*2 cups vanilla wafers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Over a medium heat whisk the sugar into the pineapple juice until dissolved in a medium saucepan.
Next whisk in the eggs until well blended.
Gradually add cornstarch and cook until thick. Watch closely, it will burn quickly.
Spray an 8×8 baking dish with PURE.
Spread pineapple pieces evenly along the bottom.
Pour the thickened sauce over the pineapple pieces.
Bake 20 minutes.
Top with a layer of marshmallows.
Return to the oven for a few minutes until marshmallows are golden.
Serve hot or cold.
This is great leftover and re-heated.

*Now for my optional additions.
Crush vanilla wafers and place on the bottom of the baking dish.
Slice the bananas and layer on top of vanilla wafers before the pineapple pieces.

HEIRLOOM CAULIFLOWER with AGED WHITE CHEDDAR CHEESE SAUCE

6-12 heirloom cauliflower
2 cups grated aged white cheddar cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 small bunch green onions

Steam cauliflower until tender.
Toss cheese mixture together in a large saucepan and add cream.
Heat over low heat , stirring occasionally, until mixture is smooth and melted, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Stir in onion until well combined and heat through.

GARLIC SMASHERS

GARLIC SMASHERS
6-8 small YUKON potatoes, skin on
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 stick butter, melted
4 cloves minced garlic
olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Scrub potatoes
Boil potatoes until tender
Generously spread olive oil on cookie sheet
Sprinkle with a little sea salt
Space potatoes a couple of inches apart
With a potato masher, SMASH each potato
Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika
Melt butter and whisk butter and garlic together
Pour a tablespoon of butter mixture over each potato
Bake 30 minutes or until tops are crispy

Category: RECIPES